High School Athletic Directors: An Examination of the Role, Realities and Career Progressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ray, Tamela J.

2010-01-01

In this qualitative study of public high school athletic directors (ADs), the experiences and contacts of eight White ADs (four men and four women) that influenced their ability to attain (achieve) and retain (maintain) the AD position are examined, compared and analyzed, with a specific focus on gender. Specifically, this study examines the…

Longitudinal study of low and high achievers in early mathematics.

PubMed

Navarro, Jose I; Aguilar, Manuel; Marchena, Esperanza; Ruiz, Gonzalo; Menacho, Inmaculada; Van Luit, Johannes E H

2012-03-01

Longitudinal studies allow us to identify, which specific maths skills are weak in young children, and whether there is a continuing weakness in these areas throughout their school years. This 2-year study investigated whether certain socio-demographic variables affect early mathematical competency in children aged 5-7 years. A randomly selected sample of 127 students (64 female; 63 male) participated. At the start of the study, the students were approximately 5 years old (M= 5.2; SD= 0.28; range = 4.5-5.8). The students were assessed using the Early Numeracy Test and then allocated to a high (n= 26), middle (n= 76), or low (n= 25) achievers group. The same children were assessed again with the Early Numeracy Test at 6 and 7 years old, respectively. Eight socio-demographic characteristics were also evaluated: family model, education of the parent(s), job of the parent(s), number of family members, birth order, number of computers at home, frequency of teacher visits, and hours watching television. Early Numeracy Test scores were more consistent for the high-achievers group than for the low-achievers group. Approximately 5.5% of low achievers obtained low scores throughout the study. A link between specific socio-demographic characteristics and early achievement in mathematics was only found for number of computers at home. The level of mathematical ability among students aged 5-7 years remains relatively stable regardless of the initial level of achievement. However, early screening for mathematics learning disabilities could be useful in helping low-achieving students overcome learning obstacles. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Highly conductive electrospun carbon nanofiber/MnO2 coaxial nano-cables for high energy and power density supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhi, Mingjia; Manivannan, Ayyakkannu; Meng, Fanke; Wu, Nianqiang

2012-06-01

This paper presents highly conductive carbon nanofiber/MnO2 coaxial cables in which individual electrospun carbon nanofibers are coated with an ultrathin hierarchical MnO2 layer. In the hierarchical MnO2 structure, an around 4 nm thick sheath surrounds the carbon nanofiber (CNF) in a diameter of 200 nm, and nano-whiskers grow radically outward from the sheath in view of the cross-section of the coaxial cables, giving a high specific surface area of MnO2. The CNFs are synthesized by electrospinning a precursor containing iron acetylacetonate (AAI). The addition of AAI not only enlarges the specific surface area of the CNF but also greatly enhances their electronic conductivity, which leads to a dramatic improvement in the specific capacitance and the rate capability of the CNF/MnO2 electrode. The AAI-CNF/MnO2 electrode shows a specific capacitance of 311 F g-1 for the whole electrode and 900 F g-1 for the MnO2 shell at a scan rate of 2 mV s-1. Good cycling stability, high energy density (80.2 Wh kg-1) and high power density (57.7 kW kg-1) are achieved. This work indicates that high electronic conductivity of the electrode material is crucial to achieving high power and energy density for pseudo-supercapacitors.

High specific energy, high capacity nickel-hydrogen cell design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wheeler, James R.

1993-01-01

A 3.5 inch rabbit-ear-terminal nickel-hydrogen cell has been designed and tested to deliver high capacity at a C/1.5 discharge rate. Its specific energy yield of 60.6 wh/kg is believed to be the highest yet achieved in a slurry-process nickel-hydrogen cell, and its 10 C capacity of 113.9 AH the highest capacity yet made at a discharge rate this high in the 3.5 inch diameter size. The cell also demonstrated a pulse capability of 180 amps for 20 seconds. Specific cell parameters, performance, and future test plans are described.

The Impact of Principal Leadership on School Culture and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Troutman, Lisa Dorman

2012-01-01

Throughout the United States school principals are subject to increasingly high demands for student accountability. Under the pressures and mandates of this federal legislation, principals are asking themselves what specific leadership practices affect student achievement. A review of literature shows that principals are regarded as a major factor…

Science Teachers' Data Use Practices: A Descriptive Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rangel, Virginia Snodgrass; Monroy, Carlos; Bell, Elizabeth R.

2016-01-01

There is a debate on students' low science achievement in the United States, particularly among low income, African American students, and Latino students. An important part of the education community's response to low achievement generally and in science specifically has been the implementation of high stakes accountability policies. Because of…

Shaping your career to maximize personal satisfaction in the practice of oncology.

PubMed

Shanafelt, Tait; Chung, Harold; White, Heather; Lyckholm, Laurie Jean

2006-08-20

The practice of oncology can be a source of both great satisfaction and great stress. Although many oncologists experience burnout, depression, and dissatisfaction with work, others experience tremendous career satisfaction and achieve a high overall quality of life. Identifying professional goals, optimizing career fit, identifying and managing stressors specific to practice type, and achieving the optimal personal work-life balance can increase the likelihood of individual oncologists' achieving personal and professional satisfaction. In this article, we will explore how oncologists can accomplish these tasks and will examine several pervasive professional myths that often distort perspective. The article concludes in a conversation with four oncologists regarding what they find most meaningful about their work, how they manage career-specific stressors, and how they achieve balance between their personal and professional lives.

Who needs innate ability to succeed in math and literacy? Academic-domain-specific theories of intelligence about peers versus adults.

PubMed

Gunderson, Elizabeth A; Hamdan, Noora; Sorhagen, Nicole S; D'Esterre, Alexander P

2017-06-01

Individuals' implicit theories of intelligence exist on a spectrum, from believing intelligence is fixed and unchangeable, to believing it is malleable and can be improved with effort. A belief in malleable intelligence leads to adaptive responses to challenge and higher achievement. However, surprisingly little is known about the development of academic-domain-specific theories of intelligence (i.e., math vs. reading and writing). The authors examined this in a cross-section of students from 1st grade to college (N = 523). They also examined whether students hold different beliefs about the role of fixed ability in adult jobs versus their own grade. The authors' adult-specific beliefs hypothesis states that when children learn societally held beliefs from adults, they first apply these beliefs specifically to adults and later to students their own age. Consistent with this, even the youngest students (1st and 2nd graders) believed that success in an adult job requires more fixed ability in math than reading and writing. However, when asked about students in their own grade, only high school and college students reported that math involves more fixed ability than reading and writing. High school and college students' math-specific theories of intelligence were related to their motivation and achievement in math, controlling for reading and writing-specific theories. Reading and writing-specific theories did not predict reading and writing-specific motivations or achievement, perhaps because students perceive reading and writing as less challenging than math. In summary, academic-domain-specific theories of intelligence develop early but may not become self-relevant until adolescence, and math-specific beliefs may be especially important targets for intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Homogeneous Grouping in the Context of High-Stakes Testing: Does It Improve Reading Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salcedo-Gonzalez, Trena

2012-01-01

As accountability reform intensifies, urban school districts strive to meet No Child Left Behind mandates to avoid severe penalties. This study investigated the resurgence of homogeneous grouping methods as a means to increase reading achievement and meet English Language Arts Adequate Yearly Progress requirements. Specifically, this study…

Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement among Latino/a Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estela Zarate, Maria; Bhimji, Fazila; Reese, Leslie

2005-01-01

This study examines Latino/a adolescents' ethnic identities and academic achievement. In open-ended interviews, the high school aged youth employed cultural and nationality explanations for their ethnic label choices. In many cases, they did not commit to a specific label, employing instead language that indexed their fluid, border identities.…

High School Graduation Rates across English Learner Student Subgroups in Arizona. REL 2017-205

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Min; Haas, Eric; Zhu, Niufeng; Tran, Loan

2016-01-01

Recent studies have documented differences in academic achievement between current and former English learner students. These differences validate calls for more focused analyses of achievement across English learner student subgroups. Specifically, there is interest in examining variation in academic success based on the amount of time a student…

Academic Achievement and Risk Factors for Adolescents with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Middle School and Early High School.

PubMed

Zendarski, Nardia; Sciberras, Emma; Mensah, Fiona; Hiscock, Harriet

Examine academic achievement of students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during the early high school period and identify potentially modifiable risk factors for low achievement. Data were collected through surveys (adolescent, parent, and teacher) and direct assessment of Australian adolescents (12-15 yr; n = 130) with ADHD in early high school (i.e., US middle and high school grades). Academic achievement outcomes were measured by linking to individual performance on the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, direct assessment of reading and math, and teacher report of academic competence. Linear regression models examined associations between adolescent, parent/family, and school factors and NAPLAN domain scores. Students with ADHD had lower NAPLAN scores on all domains and fewer met minimum academic standards in comparison with state benchmarks. The poorest results were for persuasive writing. Poor achievement was associated with lower intelligence quotient across all academic domains. Adolescent inattention, bullying, poor family management, male sex, and attending a low socioeconomic status school were associated with lower achievement on specific domains. Students with ADHD are at increased academic risk during the middle school and early high school period. In addition to academic support, interventions targeting modifiable factors including inattention, bullying, and poor family management may improve academic achievement across this critical period.

NASP X-30 Propulsion technology status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powell, William E.

1992-01-01

The performance goals of the NASP program require an aero-propulsion system with a high effective specific impulse. In order to achieve these goals, the high potential performance of air-breathing engines must be achieved over a very wide Mach number operating range. This, in turn, demands high component performance and involves many important technical issues which must be resolved. Scramjet Propulsion Technology is divided into five major areas: (1) inlets, (2) combustors, (3) nozzles, (4) component integration, and (5) test facilities. A status report covering the five areas is presented.

The Impact of Online Programs Used as a Home Resource to Improve Student Achievement in Mathematics in Low-Achieving Students in a Large Chicago Suburban High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanahan, Anne

2017-01-01

The purpose of this quasi-experimental ex post-facto mixed methods study was to investigate the impact of an online homework program on the academic growth of students in the area of mathematics. For this study, achievement in a specific mathematics course, Plane Geometry, was studied to determine the impact of using an online homework method…

Adaptable, high recall, event extraction system with minimal configuration

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Biomedical event extraction has been a major focus of biomedical natural language processing (BioNLP) research since the first BioNLP shared task was held in 2009. Accordingly, a large number of event extraction systems have been developed. Most such systems, however, have been developed for specific tasks and/or incorporated task specific settings, making their application to new corpora and tasks problematic without modification of the systems themselves. There is thus a need for event extraction systems that can achieve high levels of accuracy when applied to corpora in new domains, without the need for exhaustive tuning or modification, whilst retaining competitive levels of performance. Results We have enhanced our state-of-the-art event extraction system, EventMine, to alleviate the need for task-specific tuning. Task-specific details are specified in a configuration file, while extensive task-specific parameter tuning is avoided through the integration of a weighting method, a covariate shift method, and their combination. The task-specific configuration and weighting method have been employed within the context of two different sub-tasks of BioNLP shared task 2013, i.e. Cancer Genetics (CG) and Pathway Curation (PC), removing the need to modify the system specifically for each task. With minimal task specific configuration and tuning, EventMine achieved the 1st place in the PC task, and 2nd in the CG, achieving the highest recall for both tasks. The system has been further enhanced following the shared task by incorporating the covariate shift method and entity generalisations based on the task definitions, leading to further performance improvements. Conclusions We have shown that it is possible to apply a state-of-the-art event extraction system to new tasks with high levels of performance, without having to modify the system internally. Both covariate shift and weighting methods are useful in facilitating the production of high recall systems. These methods and their combination can adapt a model to the target data with no deep tuning and little manual configuration. PMID:26201408

From rice bran to high energy density supercapacitors: a new route to control porous structure of 3D carbon.

PubMed

Hou, Jianhua; Cao, Chuanbao; Ma, Xilan; Idrees, Faryal; Xu, Bin; Hao, Xin; Lin, Wei

2014-12-01

Controlled micro/mesopores interconnected structures of three-dimensional (3D) carbon with high specific surface areas (SSA) are successfully prepared by carbonization and activation of biomass (raw rice brans) through KOH. The highest SSA of 2475 m(2) g(-1) with optimized pore volume of 1.21 cm(3) g(-1) (40% for mesopores) is achieved for KOH/RBC = 4 mass ratio, than others. The as-prepared 3D porous carbon-based electrode materials for supercapacitors exhibit high specific capacitance specifically at large current densities of 10 A g(-1) and 100 A g(-1) i.e., 265 F g(-1) and 182 F g(-1) in 6 M KOH electrolyte, respectively. Moreover, a high power density ca. 1223 W kg(-1) (550 W L(-1)) and energy density 70 W h kg(-1) (32 W h L(-1)) are achieved on the base of active material loading (~10 mg cm(2)) in the ionic liquid. The findings can open a new avenue to use abundant agricultural by-products as ideal materials with promising applications in high-performance energy-storage devices.

From Rice Bran to High Energy Density Supercapacitors: A New Route to Control Porous Structure of 3D Carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Jianhua; Cao, Chuanbao; Ma, Xilan; Idrees, Faryal; Xu, Bin; Hao, Xin; Lin, Wei

2014-12-01

Controlled micro/mesopores interconnected structures of three-dimensional (3D) carbon with high specific surface areas (SSA) are successfully prepared by carbonization and activation of biomass (raw rice brans) through KOH. The highest SSA of 2475 m2 g-1 with optimized pore volume of 1.21 cm3 g-1 (40% for mesopores) is achieved for KOH/RBC = 4 mass ratio, than others. The as-prepared 3D porous carbon-based electrode materials for supercapacitors exhibit high specific capacitance specifically at large current densities of 10 A g-1 and 100 A g-1 i.e., 265 F g-1 and 182 F g-1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte, respectively. Moreover, a high power density ca. 1223 W kg-1 (550 W L-1) and energy density 70 W h kg-1 (32 W h L-1) are achieved on the base of active material loading (~10 mg cm2) in the ionic liquid. The findings can open a new avenue to use abundant agricultural by-products as ideal materials with promising applications in high-performance energy-storage devices.

From Rice Bran to High Energy Density Supercapacitors: A New Route to Control Porous Structure of 3D Carbon

PubMed Central

Hou, Jianhua; Cao, Chuanbao; Ma, Xilan; Idrees, Faryal; Xu, Bin; Hao, Xin; Lin, Wei

2014-01-01

Controlled micro/mesopores interconnected structures of three-dimensional (3D) carbon with high specific surface areas (SSA) are successfully prepared by carbonization and activation of biomass (raw rice brans) through KOH. The highest SSA of 2475 m2 g−1 with optimized pore volume of 1.21 cm3 g−1 (40% for mesopores) is achieved for KOH/RBC = 4 mass ratio, than others. The as-prepared 3D porous carbon-based electrode materials for supercapacitors exhibit high specific capacitance specifically at large current densities of 10 A g−1 and 100 A g−1 i.e., 265 F g−1 and 182 F g−1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte, respectively. Moreover, a high power density ca. 1223 W kg−1 (550 W L−1) and energy density 70 W h kg−1 (32 W h L−1) are achieved on the base of active material loading (~10 mg cm2) in the ionic liquid. The findings can open a new avenue to use abundant agricultural by-products as ideal materials with promising applications in high-performance energy-storage devices. PMID:25434348

Design concepts of high power bipolar rechargeable lithium battery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, David H.; Halpert, Gerald

1993-01-01

The present study shows that current bipolar Li/TiS2 batteries using a 0.38 mm thick TiS2 bipolar plate can yield moderate specific power and also high specific energy battery. The computer design studies project that a 100 V, 10 A h bipolar Li/TiS2 battery can achieve 150 W h/kg, 210 W h/l, and 150 W/kg. The unoptimized experimental bipolar Li/TiS2 batteries (3 cells, 90 mA h) exhibited 47 W h/kg, 90 W h/l, and 140 W/kg. Preliminary results on the cycleability of the bipolar batteries are demonstrated. The results also show that enhanced rate capability can be achieved by using pulse discharge and longer rest period between pulses.

Enabling Requirements-Based Programming for Highly-Dependable Complex Parallel and Distributed Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinchey, Michael G.; Rash, James L.; Rouff, Christopher A.

2005-01-01

The manual application of formal methods in system specification has produced successes, but in the end, despite any claims and assertions by practitioners, there is no provable relationship between a manually derived system specification or formal model and the customer's original requirements. Complex parallel and distributed system present the worst case implications for today s dearth of viable approaches for achieving system dependability. No avenue other than formal methods constitutes a serious contender for resolving the problem, and so recognition of requirements-based programming has come at a critical juncture. We describe a new, NASA-developed automated requirement-based programming method that can be applied to certain classes of systems, including complex parallel and distributed systems, to achieve a high degree of dependability.

Extracurricular activities: Investigating the affects of participation-nonparticipation on the Georgia High School Science Graduation Test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moran, Ray A.

Student achievement research suggests that participation in extracurricular activities has a positive impact on the academic and developmental outcomes for adolescents. Specifically, several studies reported that adolescents who participate in extra-curricular activities are more likely to experience increases in academic achievement, self-esteem, high school graduation rates, and pro-social behaviors. On the other hand, there is research suggesting that participation in extracurricular activities may distract students from their academic pursuits. The state of Georgia requires all eleventh grade students to participate in the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT). The GHSGT consists of five separate tests that include (a) English/language arts, (b) math, (c) writing, (d) social studies, and (e) science. Each comprehensive exam is worth 600 points. A high school diploma will be awarded if the student scores at least 500 points on each individual exam. Further, review of student outcomes on the GHSGT revealed that first-time test takers were failing the science portion of the test at a greater percentage than any other subject on the GHSGT. Specifically, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) reported that from 2002 through 2004, a total of 70,451 students or 30.3% of students that were first-time test takers failed the science portion of the GHSGT. As a result, investigating factors that potentially could increase student achievement in science became the impetus for this study. In particular, this study examined the relationships between the levels of student participation in school sponsored extracurricular activities in relation to the level of student achievement in the area of science.

Effective specific impulse of external nuclear pulse propulsion systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reynolds, T. W.

1972-01-01

An investigation of a simple self-similar flow model for an external nuclear pulse propulsion system indicates that to achieve the high effective specific impulse of such a system three principal factors are required. The are (1) attaining pulses of optimum energy, (2) attaining good propellant collimation, and (3) using an ablative material for the pusher surface which has high absorptivity for radiant energy at the propellant stagnation temperature.

Epidemiology of Chronic Wasting Disease: PrPres Detection, Shedding, and Environmental Contamination

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-01

encephalopathies (TSEs) in that it occurs in free- ranging as well as captive wild ruminants and environmental contamination appears to play a...sensitivity and high specificity and second, dogma suggests that current assays for the detection of PrPres utilize protease digestion . Proving a highly...to achieve specificity as samples require protease digestion , protein precipitation, or extensive processing in order to distinguish PrPres from the

Synthesis of carbon core–shell pore structures and their performance as supercapacitors

DOE PAGES

Ariyanto, Teguh; Dyatkin, Boris; Zhang, Gui-Rong; ...

2015-07-15

High-power supercapacitors require excellent electrolyte mobility within the pore network and high electrical conductivity for maximum capacitance and efficiency. Achieving high power typically requires sacrificing energy densities, as the latter demands a high specific surface area and narrow porosity that impedes ion transport. Here, we present a novel solution for this optimization problem: a nanostructured core–shell carbonaceous material that exhibits a microporous carbon core surrounded by a mesoporous, graphitic shell. The tunable synthesis parameters yielded a structure that features either a sharp or a gradual transition between the core and shell sections. Electrochemical supercapacitor testing using organic electrolyte revealed thatmore » these novel core–shell materials outperform carbons with homogeneous pore structures. The hybrid core–shell materials showed a combination of good capacitance retention, typical for the carbon present in the shell and high specific capacitance, typical for the core material. These materials achieved power densities in excess of 40 kW kg -1 at energy densities reaching 27 Wh kg -1.« less

Fabricating hierarchically porous carbon with well-defined open pores via polymer dehalogenation for high-performance supercapacitor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Mei; Li, Yu; Du, Kewen; Qiu, Chaochao; Dou, Gang; Zhang, Guoxin

2018-05-01

Improving specific energy of supercapacitors (SCs) at high power has been intensively investigated as a hot and challengeable topic. In this work, hierarchically porous carbon (HPC) materials with well-defined meso-/macro-pores are reported via the dehalogenation reaction of polyvinyl fluoride (PVDF) by NaNH2. The pore hierarchy is achievable mainly because of the coupled effects of NaNH2 activation and the template/bubbling effects of byproducts of NaF and NH3. Electron microscopy studies and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements confirm that the structures of HPC samples contain multiple-scale pores assembled in a hierarchical pattern, and most of their volumes are contributed by mesopores. Aqueous symmetric supercapacitors (ASSCs) were fabricated using HPC-M7 materials, achieving an ultrahigh specific energy of 18.8 Wh kg-1 at specific power of 986.8 W kg-1. Remarkably, at the ultrahigh power of 14.3 kW kg-1, the HPC-ASSCs still output a very high specific energy of 16.7 Wh kg-1, which means the ASSCs can be charged or discharged within 4 s. The outstanding rate capacitive performance is mainly benefited from the hierarchical porous structure that allows highly efficient ion diffusion.

Advanced high-temperature batteries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, Paul A.

1989-01-01

The promise of very high specific energy and power was not yet achieved for practical battery systems. Some recent approaches are discussed for new approaches to achieving high performance for lithium/DeS2 cells and sodium/metal chloride cells. The main problems for the development of successful LiAl/FeS2 cells were the instability of the FeS2 electrode, which has resulted in rapidly declining capacity, the lack of an internal mechanism for accommodating overcharge of a cell, thus requiring the use of external charge control on each individual cell, and the lack of a suitable current collector for the positive electrode other than expensive molybdenum sheet material. Much progress was made in solving the first two problems. Reduction of the operating temperatures to 400 C by a change in electrolyte composition has increased the expected life to 1000 cycles. Also, a lithium shuttle mechanism was demonstrated for selected electrode compositions that permits sufficient overcharge tolerance to adjust for the normally expected cell-to-cell deviation in coulombic efficiency. Sodium/sulfur batteries and sodium/metal chloride batteries have demonstrated good reliability and long cycle life. For applications where very high power is desired, new electrolyte coinfigurations would be required. Design work was carried out for the sodium/metal chloride battery that demonstrates the feasibility of achieving high specific energy and high power for large battery cells having thin-walled high-surface area electrolytes.

Achieving Broad Participation in Congregational Health Surveys at African American and Latino Churches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawes-Dawson, Jennifer; Derose, Kathryn P.; Aunon, Frances M.; Dominguez, Blanca X.; Felton, Alexandria; Mata, Michael A.; Oden, Clyde W.; Paffen, Sandra

2017-01-01

Congregation-based health program evaluations often rely on surveys, but little documentation is available regarding specific methods and challenges. Here we describe methods used to achieve acceptable response rates (73-79%) in a survey of HIV-related attitudes and behaviors in two African American and three Latino churches in high HIV-prevalence…

Mathematically Gifted Students and High Achievement: The Role of Motivation and Classroom Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lüftenegger, Marko; Kollmayer, Marlene; Bergsmann, Evelyn; Jöstl, Gregor; Spiel, Christiane; Schober, Barbara

2015-01-01

One of the most intriguing questions for those who study intellectually gifted students is why some of them reach peak performances at school and others don't. Moderator theories of giftedness assume that domain-specific gifts are transformed into achievement in a process influenced by non-cognitive and environmental variables. Thus, the current…

Unequal Academic Achievement in High School: The Mediating Roles of Concerted Cultivation and Close Friends

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carolan, Brian V.

2016-01-01

Building from the classic Wisconsin model of status attainment, this study examines whether a specific style of parenting, concerted cultivation, and a close friend's school-related attitudes and behaviors mediate the relationship between a family's socioeconomic status and their child's academic achievement in the United States. Using a recursive…

Domain Specific Aspects of Locus of Control: Implications for Modifying Locus of Control Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley, Robert H.; Gaa, John P.

1977-01-01

Goal-setting conferences were employed to improve LOC orientation for academic achievement situations among junior high school students (N=36). Results were interpreted as supporting domain-specific aspects of LOC. Results implied that educators can design programs to modify LOC orientation. (Author)

Simulation of Thermal Behavior in High-Precision Measurement Instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weis, Hanna Sophie; Augustin, Silke

2008-06-01

In this paper, a way to modularize complex finite-element models is described. The modularization is done with temperature fields that appear in high-precision measurement instruments. There, the temperature negatively impacts the achievable uncertainty of measurement. To correct for this uncertainty, the temperature must be known at every point. This cannot be achieved just by measuring temperatures at specific locations. Therefore, a numerical treatment is necessary. As the system of interest is very complex, modularization is unavoidable to obtain good numerical results.

Stimulated Raman photoacoustic imaging

PubMed Central

Yakovlev, Vladislav V.; Zhang, Hao F.; Noojin, Gary D.; Denton, Michael L.; Thomas, Robert J.; Scully, Marlan O.

2010-01-01

Achieving label-free, molecular-specific imaging with high spatial resolution in deep tissue is often considered the grand challenge of optical imaging. To accomplish this goal, significant optical scattering in tissues has to be overcome while achieving molecular specificity without resorting to extrinsic labeling. We demonstrate the feasibility of developing such an optical imaging modality by combining the molecularly specific stimulated Raman excitation with the photoacoustic detection. By employing two ultrashort excitation laser pulses, separated in frequency by the vibrational frequency of a targeted molecule, only the specific vibrational level of the target molecules in the illuminated tissue volume is excited. This targeted optical absorption generates ultrasonic waves (referred to as stimulated Raman photoacoustic waves) which are detected using a traditional ultrasonic transducer to form an image following the design of the established photoacoustic microscopy. PMID:21059930

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

Doczi, Julian, Dorr, Tobias; Mason, Nathaniel; Scott, Andrew

In this new working paper, the authors focus specifically on what would be necessary to achieve High Level Panel-style goals and targets for water, energy and transport, if these were to be eventually adopted by world leaders. In all three cases, much of the advocacy - and the proposed High Level Panel goals - have emphasized the need to strive for universal and sustainable access to at least basic levels of services from these sectors. Many of the proposals for post-2015 goals and targets appear ambitious, but what would it take to achieve them? This paper assesses what is neededmore » to achieve goals for universal and sustainable access to infrastructure, specifically water, energy and transport. Using illustrative goals and targets, the paper reviews the development challenges in each sector, and what will be necessary to overcome the barriers to universal and sustainable access to water, energy and transport infrastructure services, in the areas of governance, finance, capacity development and environmental protection. The paper ends with general conclusions about infrastructure in the post-2015 development agenda.« less

In situ growth of NiCo2S4 nanotube arrays on Ni foam for supercapacitors: Maximizing utilization efficiency at high mass loading to achieve ultrahigh areal pseudocapacitance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Haichao; Jiang, Jianjun; Zhang, Li; Xia, Dandan; Zhao, Yuandong; Guo, Danqing; Qi, Tong; Wan, Houzhao

2014-05-01

Self-standing NiCo2S4 nanotube arrays have been in situ grown on Ni foam by the anion-exchange reaction and directly used as the electrode for supercapacitors. The NiCo2S4 nanotube in the arrays effectively reduces the inactive material and increases the electroactive surface area because of the ultrathin wall, which is quite competent to achieve high utilization efficiency at high electroactive materials mass loading. The NiCo2S4 nanotube arrays hybrid electrode exhibits an ultrahigh specific capacitance of 14.39 F cm-2 at 5 mA cm-2 with excellent rate performance (67.7% retention for current increases 30 times) and cycling stability (92% retention after 5000 cycles) at a high mass loading of 6 mg cm-2. High areal capacitance (4.68 F cm-2 at 10 mA cm-2), high energy density (31.5 Wh kg-1 at 156.6 W kg-1) and high power density (2348.5 W kg-1 at 16.6 Wh kg-1) can be achieved by assembling asymmetric supercapacitor with reduced graphene oxide at a total active material mass loading as high as 49.5 mg. This work demonstrates that NiCo2S4 nanotube arrays structure is a superior electroactive material for high-performance supercapacitors even at a mass loading of potential application-specific scale.

Development of new sealed bipolar lead-acid battery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Attia, Alan I.; Rowlette, J. J.

1987-01-01

New light weight composite bipolar plates which can withstand the corrosive environment of the lead acid battery have made possible the construction of a sealed bipolar lead acid battery that promises to achieve very high specific power levels and substantially higher energy densities than conventional lead acid batteries. Performance projections based on preliminary experimental results show that the peak specific power of the battery can be as high as 90 kW/kg, and that a specific power of 5 kW/kg can be sustained over several thousand pulses.

The development of a new sealed bipolar lead-acid battery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Attia, A. I.; Rowlette, J. J.

1988-01-01

New light weight composite bipolar plates which can withstand the corrosive environment of the lead acid battery have made possible the construction of a sealed bipolar lead acid battery that promises to achieve very high specific power levels and substantially higher energy densities than conventional lead acid batteries. Performance projections based on preliminary experimental results show that the peak specific power of the battery can be as high as 90 kW/kg, and that a specific power of 5 kW/kg can be sustained over several thousand pulses.

Integration of Biological Specificity with Solid-State Devices for Selective Chemical Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-29

materials onto a single sensor chip. We demonstrate a path to combine a large number of DNA aptamers with nanoscale device arrays to achieve integrated...solid-state, sensor chips with specificity. 15. SUBJECT TERMS DNA sensors aptamers chemiresistors nanosensors LSER specificity vapor 16. SECURITY...and engineering. In particular, DNA and RNA aptamers are a class of man- made receptors with a high degree of specificity that rivals proteins. DNA

3D polyaniline porous layer anchored pillared graphene sheets: enhanced interface joined with high conductivity for better charge storage applications.

PubMed

Sekar, Pandiaraj; Anothumakkool, Bihag; Kurungot, Sreekumar

2015-04-15

Here, we report synthesis of a 3-dimensional (3D) porous polyaniline (PANI) anchored on pillared graphene (G-PANI-PA) as an efficient charge storage material for supercapacitor applications. Benzoic acid (BA) anchored graphene, having spatially separated graphene layers (G-Bz-COOH), was used as a structure controlling support whereas 3D PANI growth has been achieved by a simple chemical oxidation of aniline in the presence of phytic acid (PA). The BA groups on G-Bz-COOH play a critical role in preventing the restacking of graphene to achieve a high surface area of 472 m(2)/g compared to reduced graphene oxide (RGO, 290 m(2)/g). The carboxylic acid (-COOH) group controls the rate of polymerization to achieve a compact polymer structure with micropores whereas the chelating nature of PA plays a crucial role to achieve the 3D growth pattern of PANI. This type of controlled interplay helps G-PANI-PA to achieve a high conductivity of 3.74 S/cm all the while maintaining a high surface area of 330 m(2)/g compared to PANI-PA (0.4 S/cm and 60 m(2)/g). G-PANI-PA thus conceives the characteristics required for facile charge mobility during fast charge-discharge cycles, which results in a high specific capacitance of 652 F/g for the composite. Owing to the high surface area along with high conductivity, G-PANI-PA displays a stable specific capacitance of 547 F/g even with a high mass loading of 3 mg/cm(2), an enhanced areal capacitance of 1.52 F/cm(2), and a volumetric capacitance of 122 F/cm(3). The reduced charge-transfer resistance (RCT) of 0.67 Ω displayed by G-PANI-PA compared to pure PANI (0.79 Ω) stands out as valid evidence of the improved charge mobility achieved by the system by growing the 3D PANI layer along the spatially separated layers of the graphene sheets. The low RCT helps the system to display capacitance retention as high as 65% even under a high current dragging condition of 10 A/g. High charge/discharge rates and good cycling stability are the other highlights of the supercapacitor system derived from this composite material.

Dog and human inflammatory bowel disease rely on overlapping yet distinct dysbiosis networks.

PubMed

Vázquez-Baeza, Yoshiki; Hyde, Embriette R; Suchodolski, Jan S; Knight, Rob

2016-10-03

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune condition that is difficult to diagnose, and animal models of this disease have questionable human relevance 1 . Here, we show that the dysbiosis network underlying IBD in dogs differs from that in humans, with some bacteria such as Fusobacterium switching roles between the two species (as Bacteroides fragilis switches roles between humans and mice) 2 . For example, a dysbiosis index trained on humans fails when applied to dogs, but a dog-specific dysbiosis index achieves high correlations with the overall dog microbial community diversity patterns. In addition, a random forest classifier trained on dog-specific samples achieves high discriminatory power, even when using stool samples rather than the mucosal biopsies required for high discriminatory power in humans 2 . These relationships were not detected in previously published dog IBD data sets due to their limited sample size and statistical power 3 . Taken together, these results reveal the need to train host-specific dysbiosis networks and point the way towards a generalized understanding of IBD across different mammalian models.

Detection of IL-6 by magnetic nanoparticles grown with the assistance of mid-infrared lighting.

PubMed

Jiang, Xiufeng; Zhang, Ye; Miao, Xiaofei; Li, Zenghui; Bao, Zengtao; Wang, Tong

2013-01-01

Nanomedical systems have attracted considerable attention primarily due to suitability in applications for specific cell selection through biomolecular targeting and rare cell detection enhancement in a diverse, multicellular population. In the present study, magnetic nanoparticles were prepared for use in high accuracy cell sensing. Magnetic nanoparticle growth was assisted by mid-infrared lighting. By this mechanism, a narrow window, estimated to be 2%, was achieved for the dimension distribution of grown nanoparticles. Combined with silicon nanowire (SiNW) transistors, a sensor with ultra high sensitivity for the detection of specific potential low abundance biomarkers has been achieved, which has been specifically used to detect interleukin-6 (IL-6) at extremely low concentrations. A novel biosensor with high sensitivity has been fabricated and utilized in the detection of IL-6 at 75 fM to 50 pM. The system consists of an SiNW transistor and magnetic nanoparticles with even dimension distribution. The novel sensor system is suitable for quantifying IL-6 at low concentrations in protein samples.

Alabama: Taking Stock and Pushing Forward. 2014 State Progress Report on the Challenge to Lead 2020, Goals for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2014

2014-01-01

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP, high school graduation rates, and access…

Virginia: Taking Stock and Pushing Forward. 2014 State Progress Report on the Challenge to Lead 2020, Goals for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2014

2014-01-01

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP, high school graduation rates, and access…

Florida: Taking Stock and Pushing Forward. 2014 State Progress Report on the Challenge to Lead 2020, Goals for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2014

2014-01-01

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP, high school graduation rates, and access…

Gender Differences of Neighborhood and Social Control Processes: A Study of the Timing of First Intercourse among Low- Achieving, Urban, African American Youth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez-Valles, Jesus; Zimmerman, Marc A.; Juarez, Lucia

2002-01-01

Investigated gender-specific contextual and individual socioeconomic predictors of the timing of first intercourse among low-achieving African American high school students, following financial deprivation and collective socialization theories. Data from 3 years of surveys indicated that males and females were affected differently by social…

Turnaround Schools: Practices Used by Nationally Recognized Principals to Improve Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Angela Antuanette

2012-01-01

The specific purpose of this study was to identify the practices used by leaders of National Blue Ribbon Awarded Schools to successfully turnaround a school or to maintain proficient achievement scores within the school. The school principals answered a four part questionnaire for this study. Part 1 of the questionnaire asked about the extent to…

Development of glycosynthases with broad glycan specificity for the efficient glyco-remodeling of antibodies.

PubMed

Shivatare, Sachin S; Huang, Lin-Ya; Zeng, Yi-Fang; Liao, Jung-Yu; You, Tsai-Hong; Wang, Shi-Yun; Cheng, Ting; Chiu, Chih-Wei; Chao, Ping; Chen, Li-Tzu; Tsai, Tsung-I; Huang, Chiu-Chen; Wu, Chung-Yi; Lin, Nan-Horng; Wong, Chi-Huey

2018-06-12

The first systematic investigation of the effect of high mannose, hybrid, and bi- and tri-antennary complex type glycans on the effector functions of antibodies was achieved by the discovery of novel Endo-S2 mutants generated by site-directed mutagenesis as glycosynthases with broad substrate specificity.

Academic attainment and the high school science experiences among high-achieving African American males

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trice, Rodney Nathaniel

This study examines the educational experiences of high achieving African American males. More specifically, it analyzes the influences on their successful navigation through high school science. Through a series of interviews, observations, questionnaires, science portfolios, and review of existing data the researcher attempted to obtain a deeper understanding of high achieving African American males and their limitations to academic attainment and high school science experiences. The investigation is limited to ten high achieving African American male science students at Woodcrest High School. Woodcrest is situated at the cross section of a suburban and rural community located in the southeastern section of the United States. Although this investigation involves African American males, all of whom are successful in school, its findings should not be generalized to this nor any other group of students. The research question that guided this study is: What are the limitations to academic attainment and the high school science experiences of high achieving African American males? The student participants expose how suspension and expulsion, special education placement, academic tracking, science instruction, and teacher expectation influence academic achievement. The role parents play, student self-concept, peer relationships, and student learning styles are also analyzed. The anthology of data rendered three overarching themes: (1) unequal access to education, (2) maintenance of unfair educational structures, and (3) authentic characterizations of African American males. Often the policies and practices set in place by school officials aid in creating hurdles to academic achievement. These policies and practices are often formed without meaningful consideration of the unintended consequences that may affect different student populations, particularly the most vulnerable. The findings from this study expose that high achieving African American males face major obstacles and limitations to achievement. Student study participants believe African American male students are targeted for suspension more often because of their gender and race, parents of high achieving African American males show some uncertainty about the school's ability to treat their sons in a fair and equitable manner, and teachers see indifference and the lack of science skills as the root cause of the diminished presence of African American male participation in higher level science classes.

Achieving donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is associated with FOXP3+ regulatory T cell recruitment in human renal allograft infiltrates.

PubMed

Bestard, Oriol; Cruzado, Josep M; Mestre, Mariona; Caldés, Anna; Bas, Jordi; Carrera, Marta; Torras, Joan; Rama, Inés; Moreso, Francesc; Serón, Daniel; Grinyó, Josep M

2007-10-01

Exploring new immunosuppressive strategies inducing donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is an important challenge in transplantation. For this purpose, a careful immune monitoring and graft histology assessment is mandatory. Here, we report the results of a pilot study conducted in twenty renal transplant recipients, analyzing the immunomodulatory effects of a protocol based on induction therapy with rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin low doses, sirolimus, and mofetil mycophenolate. Evolution of donor-specific cellular and humoral alloimmune response, peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and apoptosis was evaluated. Six-month protocol biopsies were performed to assess histological lesions and presence of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in interstitial infiltrates. After transplantation, there was an early and transient apoptotic effect, mainly within the CD8+ HLADR+ T cells, combined with a sustained enhancement of CD4+ CD25(+high) lymphocytes in peripheral blood. The incidence of acute rejection was 35%, all steroid sensitive. Importantly, only pretransplant donor-specific cellular alloreactivity could discriminate patients at risk to develop acute rejection. Two thirds of the patients became donor-specific hyporesponders at 6 and 24 mo, and the achievement of this immunologic state was not abrogated by prior acute rejection episodes. Remarkably, donor-specific hyporesponders had the better renal function and less chronic renal damage. Donor-specific hyporesponsiveness was inhibited by depleting CD4+ CD25(+high) T cells, which showed donor-Ag specificity. FOXP3+ CD4+ CD25(+high) Tregs both in peripheral blood and in renal infiltrates were higher in donor-specific hyporesponders than in nonhyporesponders, suggesting that the recruitment of Tregs in the allograft plays an important role for renal acceptance. In conclusion, reaching donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is feasible after renal transplantation and associated with Treg recruitment in the graft.

Principals' Leadership Practices and Mathematics Pass Rate in Jamaican High Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, David; Hermond, Douglas; Gardiner, Carl

2014-01-01

This research was intended to explore the degree to which leadership practices impacted Jamaican schools' mathematics achievement. More specifically, the researchers examined Jamaica's high school students' CSEC mathematics performance in relation to principals' instructional leadership behaviors as measured by teachers' perceptions, using Kouzes…

Kainate Receptors in the Striatum: Implications for Excitotoxicity in Huntington’s Disease

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-08-01

called ionotropic glutamate receptors. Using specific antibodies and glutamate-related compounds, we have achieved successfully a series of studies of the...them from AMPA receptors. However, the recent development of specific antibodies and selective AMPA receptor antagonists allowed various groups to...highly specific antibodies and/or cDNA probes allowed the better characterization of the cellular localization of various GABA and glutamate receptor

Noncovalently-functionalized reduced graphene oxide sheets by water-soluble methyl green for supercapacitor application

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

Ren, Xiaoying; Hu, Zhongai, E-mail: zhongai@nwnu.edu.cn; Hu, Haixiong

2015-10-15

Graphical abstract: Electroactive methyl green (MG) is selected to functionalize reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through non-covalent modification and the composite achieves high specific capacitance, good rate capability and excellent long life cycle. - Highlights: • MG–RGO composites were firstly prepared through non-covalent modification. • The mass ratio in composites is a key for achieving high specific capacitance. • MG–RGO 5:4 exhibits the highest specific capacitance of 341 F g{sup −1}. • MG–RGO 5:4 shows excellent rate capability and long life cycle. - Abstract: In the present work, water-soluble electroactive methyl green (MG) has been used to non-covalently functionalize reduced graphenemore » oxide (RGO) for enhancing supercapacitive performance. The microstructure, composition and morphology of MG–RGO composites are systematically characterized by UV–vis absorption, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical performances are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The fast redox reactions from MG could generate additional pseudocapacitance, which endows RGO higher capacitances. As a result, the MG–RGO composite (with the 5:4 mass ratio of MG:RGO) achieve a maximum value of 341 F g{sup −1} at 1 A g{sup −1} within the potential range from −0.25 to 0.75 V and provide a 180% enhancement in specific capacitance in comparison with pure RGO. Furthermore, excellent rate capability (72% capacitance retention from 1 A g{sup −1} to 20 A g{sup −1}) and long life cycle (12% capacitance decay after 5000 cycles) are achieved for the MG–RGO composite electrode.« less

A highly efficient colorimetric immunoassay using a nanocomposite entrapping magnetic and platinum nanoparticles in ordered mesoporous carbon.

PubMed

Kim, Moon Il; Ye, Youngjin; Woo, Min-Ah; Lee, Jinwoo; Park, Hyun Gyu

2014-01-01

Nanocomposite to achieve ultrafast immunoassay: a new synergistically integrated nanocomposite consisting of magnetic and platinum nanoparticles, simultaneously entrapped in mesoporous carbon, is developed as a promising enzyme mimetic candidate to achieve ultrafast colorimetric immunoassays. Using new assay system, clinically important target molecules, such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and diarrhea-causing rotavirus, can be detected in only 3 min at room temperature with high specificity and sensitivity. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Effects of an after School Program on At-Risk Tenth Grade Students' Achievement in English/Language Arts and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryal, Robyn R.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative comparative descriptive study was to analyze the effect of an after school program on high school at-risk students' English/language arts and mathematics achievement on state standardized tests. This investigation examined the effects of out-of-school time support, specifically a nationwide after school program,…

Exploring the Relationship between Social Capitals and English Language Achievement within a Specific Grade and Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khodadady, Ebrahim; Pishghadam, Reza; Alaee, Farnaz Farokh

2012-01-01

An achievement test based on schema theory (S-Test) was developed on the passages comprising the English textbook taught at grade three in state high schools in Iran and administered concurrently with a validated and reliable Social Capital Scale (SCS) to four hundred seventy seven male and female participants. The Z-scores obtained on the S-Test…

A Coherent Approach to High School Improvement: A District and School Self-Assessment Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fryer, Lindsay; Johnson, Amy

2012-01-01

High school improvement initiatives often focus on specific intervention strategies, programs, or priority topics (e.g., dropout intervention, dual enrollment, freshman academies). However, research shows that systemic and sustainable improvement can be achieved only when initiatives are implemented with consideration for the broader education…

Isolation by ion-exchange methods. In Sarker S.D. (ed) Natural Products Isolation, 3rd edition

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The primary goal of many natural products chemists is to extract, isolate, and characterize specific analytes from complex plant, animal, microbial, and food matrices. To achieve this goal, they rely considerably on highly sophisticated and highly hyphenated modern instrumentation. Yet, the vast maj...

Sex-Role Ideology and the Aspirations of High School Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaskell, Jane

1977-01-01

Variables specifically related to sex-role definitions in our society must be considered in accounting for the generally lower aspirations of women since after controlling the variables of social class and academic achievement, sex continues to make a difference in the aspiration levels of high school girls. (MJB)

Vocational Interests of Intellectually Gifted and Highly Achieving Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vock, Miriam; Koller, Olaf; Nagy, Gabriel

2013-01-01

Background: Vocational interests play a central role in the vocational decision-making process and are decisive for the later job satisfaction and vocational success. Based on Ackerman's (1996) notion of "trait complexes," specific interest profiles of gifted high-school graduates can be expected. Aims: Vocational interests of gifted and…

High specific energy, high capacity nickel-hydrogen cell design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wheeler, James R.

1993-01-01

A 3.5 inch rabbit-ear-terminal nickel-hydrogen cell was designed and tested to deliver high capacity at steady discharge rates up to and including a C rate. Its specific energy yield of 60.6 wh/kg is believed to be the highest yet achieved in a slurry-process nickel-hydrogen cell, and its 10 C capacity of 113.9 AH the highest capacity yet of any type in a 3.5 inch diameter size. The cell also demonstrated a pulse capability of 180 amps for 20 seconds. Specific cell parameters and performance are described. Also covered is an episode of capacity fading due to electrode swelling and its successful recovery by means of additional activation procedures.

Fast response pyroelectric detector-preamplifier assembled device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, PiJi; Tai, Yunjian; Liu, Huiping

2008-03-01

The pyroelectric detector is wide used for its simple structure and high performance to price ratio. It has been used in thermal detecting, infrared spectrum and laser testing. When the pyroelectric detector was applied in practice, fast reponse speed is need. For improving the response speed of the pyroelectric detector some specific technology has been used in the preamplifier schematic. High sense and fast response character of the pyroelectric detector-preamplifier assembled device had been achieved. When the device is applied in acute concussion condition, it must survive from the acute concussion condition testing. For it reliability some specific technology was used in the device fabricating procedure. At last the performance parameter testing result and simulation application condition result given in this paper show the performance of the pyroelectric detector-preamplifier assembled device had achieved the advance goal.

Gender-specific heart rate dynamics in severe intrauterine growth-restricted fetuses.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Hernâni; Bernardes, João; Ayres-de-Campos, Diogo

2013-06-01

Management of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) remains a major issue in perinatology. The objective of this paper was the assessment of gender-specific fetal heart rate (FHR) dynamics as a diagnostic tool in severe IUGR. FHR was analyzed in the antepartum period in 15 severe IUGR fetuses and 18 controls, matched for gestational age, in relation to fetal gender. Linear and entropy methods, such as mean FHR (mFHR), low (LF), high (HF) and movement frequency (MF), approximate, sample and multiscale entropy. Sensitivities and specificities were estimated using Fisher linear discriminant analysis and the leave-one-out method. Overall, IUGR fetuses presented significantly lower mFHR and entropy compared with controls. However, gender-specific analysis showed that significantly lower mFHR was only evident in IUGR males and lower entropy in IUGR females. In addition, lower LF/(MF+HF) was patent in IUGR females compared with controls, but not in males. Rather high sensitivities and specificities were achieved in the detection of the FHR recordings related with IUGR male fetuses, when gender-specific analysis was performed at gestational ages less than 34 weeks. Severe IUGR fetuses present gender-specific linear and entropy FHR changes, compared with controls, characterized by a significantly lower entropy and sympathetic-vagal balance in females than in males. These findings need to be considered in order to achieve better diagnostic results. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Metal Oxide/Carbon Nano Material as Anode for High Capacity Lithium-ion Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, James Jianjun; Hong, Haiping

2014-01-01

NASA is developing high specific energy and high specific capacity lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology for future NASA missions. Current state-of-art LIBs have issues in terms of safety and thermal stability, and are reaching limits in specific energy capability based on the electrochemical materials selected. For example, the graphite anode has a limited capability to store Li since the theoretical capacity of graphite is 372 mAh/g. To achieve higher specific capacity and energy density, and to improve safety for current LIBs, alternative advanced anode, cathode, and electrolyte materials are pursued under the NASA Advanced Space Power System Project. In this study, the nanostructed metal oxide, such as Fe2O3 on carbon nanotubes (CNT) composite as an LIB anode has been investigated.

A High-Performance Lithium-Ion Capacitor Based on 2D Nanosheet Materials.

PubMed

Li, Shaohui; Chen, Jingwei; Cui, Mengqi; Cai, Guofa; Wang, Jiangxin; Cui, Peng; Gong, Xuefei; Lee, Pooi See

2017-02-01

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are promising electrical energy storage systems for mid-to-large-scale applications due to the high energy and large power output without sacrificing long cycle stability. However, due to the different energy storage mechanisms between anode and cathode, the energy densities of LICs often degrade noticeably at high power density, because of the sluggish kinetics limitation at the battery-type anode side. Herein, a high-performance LIC by well-defined ZnMn 2 O 4 -graphene hybrid nanosheets anode and N-doped carbon nanosheets cathode is presented. The 2D nanomaterials offer high specific surface areas in favor of a fast ion transport and storage with shortened ion diffusion length, enabling fast charge and discharge. The fabricated LIC delivers a high specific energy of 202.8 Wh kg -1 at specific power of 180 W kg -1 , and the specific energy remains 98 Wh kg -1 even when the specific power achieves as high as 21 kW kg -1 . © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Concordance between actual and pharmacogenetic predicted desvenlafaxine dose needed to achieve remission in major depressive disorder: a 10-week open-label study

PubMed Central

Müller, Daniel J.; Ng, Chee H.; Byron, Keith; Berk, Michael; Singh, Ajeet B.

2017-01-01

Background Pharmacogenetic-based dosing support tools have been developed to personalize antidepressant-prescribing practice. However, the clinical validity of these tools has not been adequately tested, particularly for specific antidepressants. Objective To examine the concordance between the actual dose and a polygene pharmacogenetic predicted dose of desvenlafaxine needed to achieve symptom remission. Materials and methods A 10-week, open-label, prospective trial of desvenlafaxine among Caucasian adults with major depressive disorder (n=119) was conducted. Dose was clinically adjusted and at the completion of the trial, the clinical dose needed to achieve remission was compared with the predicted dose needed to achieve remission. Results Among remitters (n=95), there was a strong concordance (Kendall’s τ-b=0.84, P=0.0001; Cohen’s κ=0.82, P=0.0001) between the actual and the predicted dose need to achieve symptom remission, showing high sensitivity (≥85%), specificity (≥86%), and accuracy (≥89%) of the tool. Conclusion Findings provide initial evidence for the clinical validity of a polygene pharmacogenetic-based tool for desvenlafaxine dosing. PMID:27779571

Concordance between actual and pharmacogenetic predicted desvenlafaxine dose needed to achieve remission in major depressive disorder: a 10-week open-label study.

PubMed

Bousman, Chad A; Müller, Daniel J; Ng, Chee H; Byron, Keith; Berk, Michael; Singh, Ajeet B

2017-01-01

Pharmacogenetic-based dosing support tools have been developed to personalize antidepressant-prescribing practice. However, the clinical validity of these tools has not been adequately tested, particularly for specific antidepressants. To examine the concordance between the actual dose and a polygene pharmacogenetic predicted dose of desvenlafaxine needed to achieve symptom remission. A 10-week, open-label, prospective trial of desvenlafaxine among Caucasian adults with major depressive disorder (n=119) was conducted. Dose was clinically adjusted and at the completion of the trial, the clinical dose needed to achieve remission was compared with the predicted dose needed to achieve remission. Among remitters (n=95), there was a strong concordance (Kendall's τ-b=0.84, P=0.0001; Cohen's κ=0.82, P=0.0001) between the actual and the predicted dose need to achieve symptom remission, showing high sensitivity (≥85%), specificity (≥86%), and accuracy (≥89%) of the tool. Findings provide initial evidence for the clinical validity of a polygene pharmacogenetic-based tool for desvenlafaxine dosing.

Assessment of microbiology students' progress with an audience response system.

PubMed

Chaudhry, M Ahmad

2011-01-01

The development of new approaches to teaching of large lecture courses is needed. Today's classroom has a wide range of students including high-achieving motivated learners, students struggling to understand basic concepts, and learning-challenged students. Many of these students can be lost in large classes under the shadow of the high-achieving extroverted students who dominate classroom question-and-answer sessions. Measuring a student's understanding and achievement of content standards becomes difficult until an assessment has been done. To close this gap, an audience response system was introduced in an introductory Principles of Microbiology course. This technology specifically addressed the goal of individualizing instruction to the needs of the students. The evaluation of this project indicated an overall positive impact on student learning.

Anxiety is not enough to drive me away: A latent profile analysis on math anxiety and math motivation.

PubMed

Wang, Zhe; Shakeshaft, Nicholas; Schofield, Kerry; Malanchini, Margherita

2018-01-01

Mathematics anxiety (MA) and mathematics motivation (MM) are important multi-dimensional non-cognitive factors in mathematics learning. While the negative relation between global MA and MM is well replicated, the relations between specific dimensions of MA and MM are largely unexplored. The present study utilized latent profile analysis to explore profiles of various aspects of MA (including learning MA and exam MA) and MM (including importance, self-perceived ability, and interest), to provide a more holistic understanding of the math-specific emotion and motivation experiences. In a sample of 927 high school students (13-21 years old), we found 8 distinct profiles characterized by various combinations of dimensions of MA and MM, revealing the complexity in the math-specific emotion-motivation relation beyond a single negative correlation. Further, these profiles differed on mathematics learning behaviors and mathematics achievement. For example, the highest achieving students reported modest exam MA and high MM, whereas the most engaged students were characterized by a combination of high exam MA and high MM. These results call for the need to move beyond linear relations among global constructs to address the complexity in the emotion-motivation-cognition interplay in mathematics learning, and highlight the importance of customized intervention for these heterogeneous groups.

Anxiety is not enough to drive me away: A latent profile analysis on math anxiety and math motivation

PubMed Central

Shakeshaft, Nicholas; Schofield, Kerry; Malanchini, Margherita

2018-01-01

Mathematics anxiety (MA) and mathematics motivation (MM) are important multi-dimensional non-cognitive factors in mathematics learning. While the negative relation between global MA and MM is well replicated, the relations between specific dimensions of MA and MM are largely unexplored. The present study utilized latent profile analysis to explore profiles of various aspects of MA (including learning MA and exam MA) and MM (including importance, self-perceived ability, and interest), to provide a more holistic understanding of the math-specific emotion and motivation experiences. In a sample of 927 high school students (13–21 years old), we found 8 distinct profiles characterized by various combinations of dimensions of MA and MM, revealing the complexity in the math-specific emotion-motivation relation beyond a single negative correlation. Further, these profiles differed on mathematics learning behaviors and mathematics achievement. For example, the highest achieving students reported modest exam MA and high MM, whereas the most engaged students were characterized by a combination of high exam MA and high MM. These results call for the need to move beyond linear relations among global constructs to address the complexity in the emotion-motivation-cognition interplay in mathematics learning, and highlight the importance of customized intervention for these heterogeneous groups. PMID:29444137

Perceived Academic Control and Academic Emotions Predict Undergraduate University Student Success: Examining Effects on Dropout Intention and Achievement.

PubMed

Respondek, Lisa; Seufert, Tina; Stupnisky, Robert; Nett, Ulrike E

2017-01-01

The present study addressed concerns over the high risk of university students' academic failure. It examined how perceived academic control and academic emotions predict undergraduate students' academic success, conceptualized as both low dropout intention and high achievement (indicated by GPA). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 883 undergraduate students across all disciplines of a German STEM orientated university. The study additionally compared freshman students ( N = 597) vs. second-year students ( N = 286). Using structural equation modeling, for the overall sample of undergraduate students we found that perceived academic control positively predicted enjoyment and achievement, as well as negatively predicted boredom and anxiety. The prediction of dropout intention by perceived academic control was fully mediated via anxiety. When taking perceived academic control into account, we found no specific impact of enjoyment or boredom on the intention to dropout and no specific impact of all three academic emotions on achievement. The multi-group analysis showed, however, that perceived academic control, enjoyment, and boredom among second-year students had a direct relationship with dropout intention. A major contribution of the present study was demonstrating the important roles of perceived academic control and anxiety in undergraduate students' academic success. Concerning corresponding institutional support and future research, the results suggested distinguishing incoming from advanced undergraduate students.

Combining two serological assays optimises sensitivity and specificity for the identification of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi exposure.

PubMed

Robinson, Carl; Steward, Karen F; Potts, Nicola; Barker, Colin; Hammond, Toni-ann; Pierce, Karen; Gunnarsson, Eggert; Svansson, Vilhjálmur; Slater, Josh; Newton, J Richard; Waller, Andrew S

2013-08-01

The detection of anti-Streptococcus equi antibodies in the blood serum of horses can assist with the identification of apparently healthy persistently infected carriers and the prevention of strangles outbreaks. The aim of the current study was to use genome sequencing data to develop an indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) that targets two S. equi-specific protein fragments. The sensitivity and specificity of the antigen A and antigen C iELISAs were compared to an SeM-based iELISA marketed by IDvet - diagnostic Vétérinaire (IDvet). Individually, each assay compromised specificity in order to achieve sufficient sensitivity (SeM iELISA had a sensitivity of 89.9%, but a specificity of only 77.0%) or sensitivity to achieve high specificity. However, combining the results of the antigen A and antigen C iELISAs permitted optimisation of both sensitivity (93.3%) and specificity (99.3%), providing a robust assay for the identification of horses exposed to S. equi. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Parental Level of Income on Students' Academic Performance in High School in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machebe, Chioma Henrietta; Ezegbe, Bernedeth N.; Onuoha, Joseph

2017-01-01

The socioeconomic status of a child parent impacts on the educational development and achievement of the child. This study evaluated the effect of socioeconomic status, specifically parents income and parents-child relationship on student's academic performance in Senior High School in Japan. Three hundred students of Senior High Schools in Osaka…

Avian Diagnostic and Therapeutic Antibodies to Viral Emerging Pathogens

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

David Bradley

2011-03-31

During the current period the following key objectives were achieved: demonstration of high titer antibody production by geese following immunization with inactived H1N1 virus; completion of the epitope mapping of West Nile Virus-specific goose antibodies and initiation of epitope mapping of H1N1 flu-specific goose antibodies; advancement in scalable purification of goose antibodies.

Emissions tradeoffs associated with cofiring forest biomass with coal: A case study in Colorado, USA

Treesearch

Dan Loeffler; Nathaniel Anderson

2014-01-01

Cofiring forest biomass residues with coal to generate electricity is often cited for its potential to offset fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the extent to which cofiring achieves these objectives is highly dependent on case specific variables. This paper uses facility and forest specific data to examine emissions from cofiring forest biomass with...

The Silverton Field Experience: A Model Geography Course for Achieving High-Impact Educational Practices (HEPs)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogt, Brandon J.; Skop, Emily

2017-01-01

High-Impact Educational Practices (HEPs) are a set of specific teaching and learning approaches proven effective in university education. This paper focuses on the benefits derived from utilizing three particular HEPs (inquiry-based collaborative activities, undergraduate research, and experiential learning) while teaching a snow and ice field…

Using Laptop Technology to Improve Mathematical Achievement Rates: A Quasi-Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Rebecca

2018-01-01

The specific problem that initiated this study was a continually high percentage of students not passing the mathematics section of the state mandated end of course assessment. The purpose of this study centered on determining whether or not laptop interventions, directed towards increasing student success on high stakes standardized assessments…

Targeted Teacher Recruitment: What Is the Issue and Why Does It Matter? Policy Snapshot

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aragon, Stephanie

2018-01-01

Districts across the country are facing severe shortages of teachers--especially in certain subjects (math, science, special education, career and technical education, and bilingual education) and in specific schools (urban, rural, high-poverty, high-minority, and low-achieving). The severity of the teacher shortage problem varies significantly by…

High Schools Try out RTI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuels, Christina A.

2009-01-01

"Response to intervention" (RTI) as a model for boosting student achievement has taken off like wildfire. When it comes to research on how best to implement the process for students in middle and high school, though, the flame abruptly fizzles out. There's little RTI research that is specific to secondary schools, although it has been…

A Coherent Approach to High School Improvement: A School and District Needs Assessment Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National High School Center, 2010

2010-01-01

High school improvement initiatives often focus on specific intervention strategies, programs, or priority topics (e.g., dropout intervention). However, research shows that systemic and sustainable improvement can only be achieved when initiatives are implemented with consideration for the broader education contexts in which they operate. The…

From SPOT 5 to Pleiades HR: evolution of the instrumental specifications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosak, A.; Latry, C.; Pascal, V.; Laubier, D.

2017-11-01

Image quality specifications should aimed to fulfil high resolution mission requirements of remote sensing satellites with a minimum cost. The most important trade-off to be taken into account is between Modulation Transfer Function, radiometric noise and sampling scheme. This compromise is the main driver during design optimisation and requirement definition in order to achieve good performances and to minimise the mission cost. For the SPOT 5 satellite, a new compromise had been chosen. The supermode principle of imagery (sampling at 2.5 meter with a pixel size of 5 meter) imp roves the resolution by a factor of four compared with the SPOT 4 satellite (10 meter resolution). This paper presents the image quality specifications of the HRG-SPOT 5 instrument. We introduce all the efforts made on the instrument to achieve good image quality and low radiometric noise, then we compare the results with the SPOT 4 instrument's performances to highlight the improvements achieved. Then, the in-orbit performance will be described. Finally, we will present the new goals of image quality specifications for the new Pleiades-HR satellite for earth observation (0.7 meter resolution) and the instrument concept.

Inspiring science achievement: a mixed methods examination of the practices and characteristics of successful science programs in diverse high schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scogin, Stephen C.; Cavlazoglu, Baki; LeBlanc, Jennifer; Stuessy, Carol L.

2017-08-01

While the achievement gap in science exists in the US, research associated with our investigation reveals some high school science programs serving diverse student bodies are successfully closing the gap. Using a mixed methods approach, we identified and investigated ten high schools in a large Southwestern state that fit the definition of "highly successful, highly diverse". By conducting interviews with science liaisons associated with each school and reviewing the literature, we developed a rubric identifying specific characteristics associated with successful science programs. These characteristics and practices included setting high expectations for students, providing extensive teacher support for student learning, and utilizing student-centered pedagogy. We used the rubric to assess the successful high school science programs and compare them to other high school science programs in the state (i.e., less successful and less diverse high school science programs). Highly successful, highly diverse schools were very different in their approach to science education when compared to the other programs. The findings from this study will help schools with diverse students to strengthen hiring practices, enhance teacher support mechanisms, and develop student-focused strategies in the classroom that increase science achievement.

Vocational interests of intellectually gifted and highly achieving young adults.

PubMed

Vock, Miriam; Köller, Olaf; Nagy, Gabriel

2013-06-01

Vocational interests play a central role in the vocational decision-making process and are decisive for the later job satisfaction and vocational success. Based on Ackerman's (1996) notion of trait complexes, specific interest profiles of gifted high-school graduates can be expected. Vocational interests of gifted and highly achieving adolescents were compared to those of their less intelligent/achieving peers according to Holland's (1997) RIASEC model. Further, the impact of intelligence and achievement on interests were analysed while statistically controlling for potentially influencing variables. Changes in interests over time were investigated. N= 4,694 German students (age: M= 19.5, SD= .80; 54.6% females) participated in the study (TOSCA; Köller, Watermann, Trautwein, & Lüdtke, 2004). Interests were assessed in participants' final year at school and again 2 years later (N= 2,318). Gifted participants reported stronger investigative and realistic interests, but lower social interests than less intelligent participants. Highly achieving participants reported higher investigative and (in wave 2) higher artistic interests. Considerable gender differences were found: gifted girls had a flat interest profile, while gifted boys had pronounced realistic and investigative and low social interests. Multilevel multiple regression analyses predicting interests by intelligence and school achievement revealed stable interest profiles. Beyond a strong gender effect, intelligence and school achievement each contributed substantially to the prediction of vocational interests. At the time around graduation from high school, gifted young adults show stable interest profiles, which strongly differ between gender and intelligence groups. These differences are relevant for programmes for the gifted and for vocational counselling. ©2012 The British Psychological Society.

Development of in vitro-in vivo correlation for extended-release niacin after administration of hypromellose-based matrix formulations to healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Kesisoglou, Filippos; Rossenu, Stefaan; Farrell, Colm; Van Den Heuvel, Michiel; Prohn, Marita; Fitzpatrick, Shaun; De Kam, Pieter-Jan; Vargo, Ryan

2014-11-01

Development of in vitro-in vivo correlations (IVIVCs) for extended-release (ER) products is commonly pursued during pharmaceutical development to increase product understanding, set release specifications, and support biowaivers. This manuscript details the development of Level C and Level A IVIVCs for ER formulations of niacin, a highly variable and extensively metabolized compound. Three ER formulations were screened in a cross-over study against immediate-release niacin. A Multiple Level C IVIVC was established for both niacin and its primary metabolite nicotinuric acid (NUA) as well as total niacin metabolites urinary excretion. For NUA, but not for niacin, Level A IVIVC models with acceptable prediction errors were achievable via a modified IVIVC rather than a traditional deconvolution/convolution approach. Hence, this is in contradiction with current regulatory guidelines that suggest that when a Multiple Level C IVIVC is established, Level A models should also be readily achievable. We demonstrate that for a highly variable, highly metabolized compound such as niacin, development of a Level A IVIVC model fully validated according to agency guidelines may be challenging. However, Multiple Level C models are achievable and could be used to guide release specifications and formulation/manufacturing changes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

Hierarchical Nafion enhanced carbon aerogels for sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng, Bo; Ding, Ailing; Liu, Yuqing; Diao, Jianglin; Razal, Joselito; Lau, King Tong; Shepherd, Roderick; Li, Changming; Chen, Jun

2016-02-01

This work describes the fabrication of hierarchical 3D Nafion enhanced carbon aerogels (NECAGs) for sensing applications via a fast freeze drying method. Graphene oxide, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Nafion were mixed and extruded into liquid nitrogen followed by the removal of ice crystals by freeze drying. The addition of Nafion enhanced the mechanical strength of NECAGs and effective control of the cellular morphology and pore size was achieved. The resultant NECAGs demonstrated high strength, low density, and high specific surface area and can achieve a modulus of 20 kPa, an electrical conductivity of 140 S m-1, and a specific capacity of 136.8 F g-1 after reduction. Therefore, NECAG monoliths performed well as a gas sensor and as a biosensor with high sensitivity and selectivity. The remarkable sensitivity of 8.52 × 103 μA mM-1 cm-2 was obtained in dopamine (DA) detection, which is two orders of magnitude better than the literature reported values using graphene aerogel electrodes made from a porous Ni template. These outstanding properties make the NECAG a promising electrode candidate for a wide range of applications. Further in-depth investigations are being undertaken to probe the structure-property relationship of NECAG monoliths prepared under various conditions.This work describes the fabrication of hierarchical 3D Nafion enhanced carbon aerogels (NECAGs) for sensing applications via a fast freeze drying method. Graphene oxide, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Nafion were mixed and extruded into liquid nitrogen followed by the removal of ice crystals by freeze drying. The addition of Nafion enhanced the mechanical strength of NECAGs and effective control of the cellular morphology and pore size was achieved. The resultant NECAGs demonstrated high strength, low density, and high specific surface area and can achieve a modulus of 20 kPa, an electrical conductivity of 140 S m-1, and a specific capacity of 136.8 F g-1 after reduction. Therefore, NECAG monoliths performed well as a gas sensor and as a biosensor with high sensitivity and selectivity. The remarkable sensitivity of 8.52 × 103 μA mM-1 cm-2 was obtained in dopamine (DA) detection, which is two orders of magnitude better than the literature reported values using graphene aerogel electrodes made from a porous Ni template. These outstanding properties make the NECAG a promising electrode candidate for a wide range of applications. Further in-depth investigations are being undertaken to probe the structure-property relationship of NECAG monoliths prepared under various conditions. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr08631k

Influence of carbon conductive additives on electrochemical double-layer supercapacitor parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiseleva, E. A.; Zhurilova, M. A.; Kochanova, S. A.; Shkolnikov, E. J.; Tarasenko, A. B.; Zaitseva, O. V.; Uryupina, O. V.; Valyano, G. V.

2018-01-01

Electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLC) offer energy storage technology, highly demanded for rapid transition processes in transport and stationary applications, concerned with fast power fluctuations. Rough structure of activated carbon, widely used as electrode material because of its high specific area, leads to poor electrode conductivity. Therefore there is the need for conductive additive to decrease internal resistance and to achieve high specific power and high specific energy. Usually carbon blacks are widely used as conductive additive. In this paper electrodes with different conductive additives—two types of carbon blacks and single-walled carbon nanotubes—were prepared and characterized in organic electrolyte-based EDLC cells. Electrodes are based on original wood derived activated carbon produced by potassium hydroxide high-temperature activation at Joint Institute for High Temperatures RAS. Electrodes were prepared from slurry by cold-rolling. For electrode characterization cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectra analysis, equivalent series resistance measurements and galvanostatic charge-discharge were used.

Quantification of Azospirillum brasilense FP2 Bacteria in Wheat Roots by Strain-Specific Quantitative PCR.

PubMed

Stets, Maria Isabel; Alqueres, Sylvia Maria Campbell; Souza, Emanuel Maltempi; Pedrosa, Fábio de Oliveira; Schmid, Michael; Hartmann, Anton; Cruz, Leonardo Magalhães

2015-10-01

Azospirillum is a rhizobacterial genus containing plant growth-promoting species associated with different crops worldwide. Azospirillum brasilense strains exhibit a growth-promoting effect by means of phytohormone production and possibly by N2 fixation. However, one of the most important factors for achieving an increase in crop yield by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria is the survival of the inoculant in the rhizosphere, which is not always achieved. The objective of this study was to develop quantitative PCR protocols for the strain-specific quantification of A. brasilense FP2. A novel approach was applied to identify strain-specific DNA sequences based on a comparison of the genomic sequences within the same species. The draft genome sequences of A. brasilense FP2 and Sp245 were aligned, and FP2-specific regions were filtered and checked for other possible matches in public databases. Strain-specific regions were then selected to design and evaluate strain-specific primer pairs. The primer pairs AzoR2.1, AzoR2.2, AzoR5.1, AzoR5.2, and AzoR5.3 were specific for the A. brasilense FP2 strain. These primer pairs were used to monitor quantitatively the population of A. brasilense in wheat roots under sterile and nonsterile growth conditions. In addition, coinoculations with other plant growth-promoting bacteria in wheat were performed under nonsterile conditions. The results showed that A. brasilense FP2 inoculated into wheat roots is highly competitive and achieves high cell numbers (∼10(7) CFU/g [fresh weight] of root) in the rhizosphere even under nonsterile conditions and when coinoculated with other rhizobacteria, maintaining the population at rather stable levels for at least up to 13 days after inoculation. The strategy used here can be applied to other organisms whose genome sequences are available. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Quantification of Azospirillum brasilense FP2 Bacteria in Wheat Roots by Strain-Specific Quantitative PCR

PubMed Central

Stets, Maria Isabel; Alqueres, Sylvia Maria Campbell; Souza, Emanuel Maltempi; Pedrosa, Fábio de Oliveira; Schmid, Michael

2015-01-01

Azospirillum is a rhizobacterial genus containing plant growth-promoting species associated with different crops worldwide. Azospirillum brasilense strains exhibit a growth-promoting effect by means of phytohormone production and possibly by N2 fixation. However, one of the most important factors for achieving an increase in crop yield by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria is the survival of the inoculant in the rhizosphere, which is not always achieved. The objective of this study was to develop quantitative PCR protocols for the strain-specific quantification of A. brasilense FP2. A novel approach was applied to identify strain-specific DNA sequences based on a comparison of the genomic sequences within the same species. The draft genome sequences of A. brasilense FP2 and Sp245 were aligned, and FP2-specific regions were filtered and checked for other possible matches in public databases. Strain-specific regions were then selected to design and evaluate strain-specific primer pairs. The primer pairs AzoR2.1, AzoR2.2, AzoR5.1, AzoR5.2, and AzoR5.3 were specific for the A. brasilense FP2 strain. These primer pairs were used to monitor quantitatively the population of A. brasilense in wheat roots under sterile and nonsterile growth conditions. In addition, coinoculations with other plant growth-promoting bacteria in wheat were performed under nonsterile conditions. The results showed that A. brasilense FP2 inoculated into wheat roots is highly competitive and achieves high cell numbers (∼107 CFU/g [fresh weight] of root) in the rhizosphere even under nonsterile conditions and when coinoculated with other rhizobacteria, maintaining the population at rather stable levels for at least up to 13 days after inoculation. The strategy used here can be applied to other organisms whose genome sequences are available. PMID:26187960

Learning nanotechnology with texts and comics: the impacts on students of different achievement levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Shu-Fen; Lin, Huann-shyang

2016-05-01

Comics are popular with adolescents because of their features of humor, narrative, and visual imagery. The purposes of this study were to examine the learning outcomes and emotional perceptions of reading a science comic book and a science text booklet for students of different levels of achievement, and to explore the main factors of the two media which attract high-school students to learn science. A mixed-method quasi-experimental design was adopted. The participants were 697 grade ten students from eight schools with different levels of academic achievement. Two similar classes in each of the eight schools were assigned as the comic group or the text group. The results indicated that the science comic book benefited medium achievers more than the science text booklet did, but the contrary result was found for the high achievers. In comparison, the two media benefited the low achievers equally, but both had only a limited effect due to the students' lack of prior knowledge. We conclude four kinds of evidence, including perceived difficulty of comprehension, reasons for interest/disinterest, emotional perceptions of learning science, and learning time, to support the phenomenon of the learning benefit of media specific to certain achievers' science learning.

Assessment of Microbiology Students’ Progress With an Audience Response System

PubMed Central

Chaudhry, M. Ahmad

2011-01-01

The development of new approaches to teaching of large lecture courses is needed. Today’s classroom has a wide range of students including high-achieving motivated learners, students struggling to understand basic concepts, and learning-challenged students. Many of these students can be lost in large classes under the shadow of the high-achieving extroverted students who dominate classroom question-and-answer sessions. Measuring a student’s understanding and achievement of content standards becomes difficult until an assessment has been done. To close this gap, an audience response system was introduced in an introductory Principles of Microbiology course. This technology specifically addressed the goal of individualizing instruction to the needs of the students. The evaluation of this project indicated an overall positive impact on student learning. PMID:23653765

Development of high power VRLA batteries using novel materials and processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soria, M. L.; Valenciano, J.; Ojeda, A.; Raybaut, G.; Ihmels, K.; Deiters, J.; Clement, N.; Morales, J.; Sánchez, L.

Nowadays UPS manufacturers demand batteries with very high specific power and relatively low specific energy, because most mains failures can be defined as "microfailures", usually of the order of seconds. Due to this fact, it is not necessary to provide energy but power. Within a 3-year EU funded project, a new AGM valve-regulated lead-acid battery with weight and volume substantially reduced, as well as a substantial improvement in its reliability, is under development. These aspects can provide the achievement of a more efficient, safe and economic energy supply. Battery specific power is practically related to electrode area, so that its increase, and therefore an electrode thickness reduction, appear essential to achieve the project objectives. Furthermore, it is necessary to achieve a similar reduction in the conventional glass microfibre separator. But such thin material should have improved mechanical properties and can make the battery more prone to develop short circuits across the separator. In order to avoid this problem, a new microporous polyethylene membrane has been developed and tested, with excellent mechanical properties, high porosity and low pore size. For these reasons, the final separator configuration includes a combination of both materials, improved non-woven glass microfibre and the polyethylene membrane. Batteries are designed and assembled by Tudor (Exide Technologies) as battery manufacturer and will be tested in real conditions by MGE UPS Systems as end user. Daramic for the membrane and Bernard Dumas for the glass microfibre mat, have developed and supplied the separators, while the Inorganic Chemistry Department of Córdoba University carries out fundamental research studies on very thin electrodes.

75 FR 20656 - Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Request for Grant Proposals: smART Power: Visual...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-20

... specific projects must demonstrate high artistic ability, excellent interpersonal skills, and be conversant... progress towards outcomes or the results achieved. Examples of outputs include the number of people trained...

Vessel discoloration detection in malarial retinopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agurto, C.; Nemeth, S.; Barriga, S.; Soliz, P.; MacCormick, I.; Taylor, T.; Harding, S.; Lewallen, S.; Joshi, V.

2016-03-01

Cerebral malaria (CM) is a life-threatening clinical syndrome associated with malarial infection. It affects approximately 200 million people, mostly sub-Saharan African children under five years of age. Malarial retinopathy (MR) is a condition in which lesions such as whitening and vessel discoloration that are highly specific to CM appear in the retina. Other unrelated diseases can present with symptoms similar to CM, therefore the exact nature of the clinical symptoms must be ascertained in order to avoid misdiagnosis, which can lead to inappropriate treatment and, potentially, death. In this paper we outline the first system to detect the presence of discolored vessels associated with MR as a means to improve the CM diagnosis. We modified and improved our previous vessel segmentation algorithm by incorporating the `a' channel of the CIELab color space and noise reduction. We then divided the segmented vasculature into vessel segments and extracted features at the wall and in the centerline of the segment. Finally, we used a regression classifier to sort the segments into discolored and not-discolored vessel classes. By counting the abnormal vessel segments in each image, we were able to divide the analyzed images into two groups: normal and presence of vessel discoloration due to MR. We achieved an accuracy of 85% with sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 67%. In clinical practice, this algorithm would be combined with other MR retinal pathology detection algorithms. Therefore, a high specificity can be achieved. By choosing a different operating point in the ROC curve, our system achieved sensitivity of 67% with specificity of 100%.

When Volunteering Is Mandatory: A Call for Research about Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cloyd, Melissa

2017-01-01

Stakeholders have long been concerned about high school drop-out rates and associated achievement gaps between groups, specifically racial, of high school students. While significant improvements have been made to these drop-out rates at the national level, the largest group of drop-out students continues to be those of Hispanic heritage. Research…

Immigration and Resiliency: Unpacking the Experiences of High School Students from Cape Verde and Ethiopia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hersi, Afra Ahmed

2011-01-01

This article explores the complex factors, both individual and social, that contribute to the resiliency and academic achievement of six adolescent African immigrant students from Cape Verde and Ethiopia who were enrolled in a small high school in the United States. The school was designed specifically for recent adolescent immigrant students.…

How Do the Different Types of Computer Use Affect Math Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Raymond; Inan, Fethi; Lin, Zhangxi

2013-01-01

In this study, the National Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002) dataset was used and a predictive data mining technique, decision tree analysis, was implemented in order to examine which factors, in conjunction to computer use, can be used to predict high or low probability of success in high school mathematics. Specifically, this study…

Teachers' Perceptions of Teacher Supervision and Evaluation: A Reflection of School Improvement Practices in the Age of Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mette, Ian M.; Range, Bret G.; Anderson, Jason; Hvidston, David J.; Nieuwenhuizen, Lisa

2015-01-01

This study examined how principals in eight high-functioning elementary schools provide teacher supervision and evaluation to promote high levels of student achievement. Perceptions of teachers were measured to provide an understanding of which specific principal behaviors translated into better instructional practices within the selected schools.…

Key Topics for High-Lift Research: A Joint Wind Tunnel/Flight Test Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, David; Thomas, Flint O.; Nelson, Robert C.

1996-01-01

Future high-lift systems must achieve improved aerodynamic performance with simpler designs that involve fewer elements and reduced maintenance costs. To expeditiously achieve this, reliable CFD design tools are required. The development of useful CFD-based design tools for high lift systems requires increased attention to unresolved flow physics issues. The complex flow field over any multi-element airfoil may be broken down into certain generic component flows which are termed high-lift building block flows. In this report a broad spectrum of key flow field physics issues relevant to the design of improved high lift systems are considered. It is demonstrated that in-flight experiments utilizing the NASA Dryden Flight Test Fixture (which is essentially an instrumented ventral fin) carried on an F-15B support aircraft can provide a novel and cost effective method by which both Reynolds and Mach number effects associated with specific high lift building block flows can be investigated. These in-flight high lift building block flow experiments are most effective when performed in conjunction with coordinated ground based wind tunnel experiments in low speed facilities. For illustrative purposes three specific examples of in-flight high lift building block flow experiments capable of yielding a high payoff are described. The report concludes with a description of a joint wind tunnel/flight test approach to high lift aerodynamics research.

Fabrication of a microresonator-fiber assembly maintaining a high-quality factor by CO₂ laser welding.

PubMed

Fang, Zhiwei; Lin, Jintian; Wang, Min; Liu, Zhengming; Yao, Jinping; Qiao, Lingling; Cheng, Ya

2015-10-19

We demonstrate fabrication of a microtoroid resonator of a high-quality (high-Q) factor using femtosecond laser three-dimensional (3D) micromachining. A fiber taper is reliably assembled to the microtoroid using CO2 laser welding. Specifically, we achieve a high-Q-factor of 2.12 × 10(6) in the microresonator-fiber assembly by optimizing the contact position between the fiber taper and the microtoroid.

Social influences on adaptive criterion learning.

PubMed

Cassidy, Brittany S; Dubé, Chad; Gutchess, Angela H

2015-07-01

People adaptively shift decision criteria when given biased feedback encouraging specific types of errors. Given that work on this topic has been conducted in nonsocial contexts, we extended the literature by examining adaptive criterion learning in both social and nonsocial contexts. Specifically, we compared potential differences in criterion shifting given performance feedback from social sources varying in reliability and from a nonsocial source. Participants became lax when given false positive feedback for false alarms, and became conservative when given false positive feedback for misses, replicating prior work. In terms of a social influence on adaptive criterion learning, people became more lax in response style over time if feedback was provided by a nonsocial source or by a social source meant to be perceived as unreliable and low-achieving. In contrast, people adopted a more conservative response style over time if performance feedback came from a high-achieving and reliable source. Awareness that a reliable and high-achieving person had not provided their feedback reduced the tendency to become more conservative, relative to those unaware of the source manipulation. Because teaching and learning often occur in a social context, these findings may have important implications for many scenarios in which people fine-tune their behaviors, given cues from others.

Perceived Academic Control and Academic Emotions Predict Undergraduate University Student Success: Examining Effects on Dropout Intention and Achievement

PubMed Central

Respondek, Lisa; Seufert, Tina; Stupnisky, Robert; Nett, Ulrike E.

2017-01-01

The present study addressed concerns over the high risk of university students' academic failure. It examined how perceived academic control and academic emotions predict undergraduate students' academic success, conceptualized as both low dropout intention and high achievement (indicated by GPA). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 883 undergraduate students across all disciplines of a German STEM orientated university. The study additionally compared freshman students (N = 597) vs. second-year students (N = 286). Using structural equation modeling, for the overall sample of undergraduate students we found that perceived academic control positively predicted enjoyment and achievement, as well as negatively predicted boredom and anxiety. The prediction of dropout intention by perceived academic control was fully mediated via anxiety. When taking perceived academic control into account, we found no specific impact of enjoyment or boredom on the intention to dropout and no specific impact of all three academic emotions on achievement. The multi-group analysis showed, however, that perceived academic control, enjoyment, and boredom among second-year students had a direct relationship with dropout intention. A major contribution of the present study was demonstrating the important roles of perceived academic control and anxiety in undergraduate students' academic success. Concerning corresponding institutional support and future research, the results suggested distinguishing incoming from advanced undergraduate students. PMID:28326043

Gravimetric chemical sensors based on silica-based mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrids.

PubMed

Xu, Jiaqiang; Zheng, Qi; Zhu, Yongheng; Lou, Huihui; Xiang, Qun; Cheng, Zhixuan

2014-09-01

Silica-based mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid material modified quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors have been examined for their ability to achieve highly sensitive and selective detection. Mesoporous silica SBA-15 serves as an inorganic host with large specific surface area, facilitating gas adsorption, and thus leads to highly sensitive response; while the presence of organic functional groups contributes to the greatly improved specific sensing property. In this work, we summarize our efforts in the rational design and synthesis of novel sensing materials for the detection of hazardous substances, including simulant nerve agent, organic vapor, and heavy metal ion, and develop high-performance QCM-based chemical sensors.

The contribution of goal specificity to goal achievement in collaborative goal setting for the management of asthma.

PubMed

Smith, Lorraine; Alles, Chehani; Lemay, Kate; Reddel, Helen; Saini, Bandana; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Emmerton, Lynne; Stewart, Kay; Burton, Debbie; Krass, Ines; Armour, Carol

2013-01-01

Goal setting was investigated as part of an implementation trial of an asthma management service (PAMS) conducted in 96 Australian community pharmacies. Patients and pharmacists identified asthma-related issues of concern to the patient and collaboratively set goals to address these. Although goal setting is commonly integrated into disease state management interventions, the nature of goals, and their contribution to goal attainment and health outcomes are not well understood. To identify and describe: 1) goals set collaboratively between adult patients with asthma and their pharmacist, 2) goal specificity and goal achievement, and 3) describe the relationships between specificity, achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Measures of goal specificity, and goal achievement were developed and applied to patient data records. Goals set were thematically analyzed into goal domains. Proportions of goals set, goals achieved and their specificity were calculated. Correlational and regression analyses were undertaken to determine the relationships between goal specificity, goal achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Data were drawn from 498 patient records. Findings showed that patients set a wide range and number of asthma-related goals (N = 1787) and the majority (93%) were either achieved or being working toward by the end of the study. Goal achievement was positively associated with specific and moderately specific goals, but not non-specific goals. However, on closer inspection, an inconsistent pattern of relationships emerged as a function of goal domain. Findings also showed that goal setting was associated with end-of-study asthma control but not to asthma-related quality of life. Pharmacists can help patients to set achievable and specific asthma management goals, and these have the potential to directly impact health outcomes such as asthma control. Goal specificity appears to be an important feature in the achievement of goals, but other factors may also play a role. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Feasibility of High-Repetition, Task-Specific Training for Individuals With Upper-Extremity Paresis

PubMed Central

Waddell, Kimberly J.; Birkenmeier, Rebecca L.; Moore, Jennifer L.; Hornby, T. George

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE. We investigated the feasibility of delivering an individualized, progressive, high-repetition upper-extremity (UE) task-specific training protocol for people with stroke in the inpatient rehabilitation setting. METHOD. Fifteen patients with UE paresis participated in this study. Task-specific UE training was scheduled for 60 min/day, 4 days/wk, during occupational therapy for the duration of a participant’s inpatient stay. During each session, participants were challenged to complete ≥300 repetitions of various tasks. RESULTS. Participants averaged 289 repetitions/session, spending 47 of 60 min in active training. Participants improved on impairment and activity level outcome measures. CONCLUSION. People with stroke in an inpatient setting can achieve hundreds of repetitions of task-specific training in 1-hr sessions. As expected, all participants improved on functional outcome measures. Future studies are needed to determine whether this high-repetition training program results in better outcomes than current UE interventions. PMID:25005508

Predicting Mathematics Achievement by Motivation and Self-Efficacy across Gender and Achievement Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sartawi, AbdelAziz; Alsawaie, Othman N.; Dodeen, Hamzeh; Tibi, Sana; Alghazo, Iman M.

2012-01-01

This study investigated the extent to which self-efficacy and motivation served as a predictor for mathematics achievement of fifth grade students in United Arab Emirates (UAE) across gender and achievement levels. Self-efficacy was measured by two scales, which differed in levels of specificity--Category Specific and Task Specific. Motivation was…

School factors affecting postsecondary career pursuits of high-achieving girls in mathematics and science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoo, Hyunsil

This study examined the influences of secondary school experiences of high-achieving girls in math and science on their postsecondary career pursuits in science fields. Specifically, using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), the study investigated how science class experiences in high school affect science career persistence of high-achieving girls over and above personal and family factors. Selecting the top 10% on the 8 th grade math and science achievement tests from two panel samples of 1988--1994 and 1988--2000, this study examined which science instructional experiences (i.e., lecture-oriented, experiment-oriented, and student-oriented) best predicted college major choices and postsecondary degree attainments in the fields of science after controlling for personal and family factors. A two-stage test was employed for the analysis of each panel sample. The first test examined the dichotomous career pursuits between science careers and non-science careers and the second test examined the dichotomous pursuits within science careers: "hard" science and "soft" science. Logistic regression procedures were used with consideration of panel weights and design effects. This study identified that experiment-oriented and student-oriented instructional practices seem to positively affect science career pursuits of high-achieving females, while lecture-oriented instruction negatively affected their science career pursuits, and that the longitudinal effects of the two positive instructional contributors to science career pursuits appear to be differential between major choice and degree attainment. This study also found that the influences of instructional practices seem to be slight for general females, while those for high-achieving females were highly considerable, regardless of whether negative or positive. Another result of the study found that only student-oriented instruction seemed to have positive effects for high-achieving males. In addition, this study found that the lecture-oriented and experiment-oriented instructional practices were more likely to contribute to the choice of soft sciences for general and high-achieving females, while student-oriented instructional practices were more likely to contribute to the degree attainment in hard sciences for high-achieving females in science. The results should provide information for educational policies regarding school instruction and curriculum and career development targeted towards improving gender equity in science career pursuits.

Two-Dimensional, Porous Nickel-Cobalt Sulfide for High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors.

PubMed

Li, Xiaoming; Li, Qiguang; Wu, Ye; Rui, Muchen; Zeng, Haibo

2015-09-02

High specific surface area, high electrical conductivity, and abundant channels have been recognized to favor pseudocapacitors, but their realization at the same time is still a great challenge. Here, we report on nickel-cobalt sulfide nanosheets (NSs) with both ultrathin thickness and nanoscale pores for supercapacitors. The porous Ni-Co sulfide NSs were facilely synthesized through micelle-confined growth and subsequent sulfuration. The NSs are as thin as several nanometers and have a large number of pores with a mean size of ∼7 nm, resulting in ultrahigh atom ratio at surface with unique chemical and electronic structure. Therefore, fast diffusion of ions, facile transportation of electrons and high activity make great synergistic contributions to the surface-dependent reversible redox reactions. In the resulted supercapacitors, a specific capacitance of 1304 F g(-1) is achieved at a current density of 2 A g(-1) with excellent rate capability that 85.6% of the original capacitance is remained at 20 A g(-1). The effects of crystallinity and self-doping are optimized so that 93.5% of the original capacitance is obtained after 6000 cycles at a high current density of 8 A g(-1). Finally, asymmetric supercapacitors with a high energy density of 41.4 Wh/kg are achieved at a power density of 414 W/kg.

Self-assembling synthesis of free-standing nanoporous graphene-transition-metal oxide flexible electrodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.

PubMed

Huang, Xiaodan; Sun, Bing; Chen, Shuangqiang; Wang, Guoxiu

2014-01-01

The synthesis of nanoporous graphene by a convenient carbon nanofiber assisted self-assembly approach is reported. Porous structures with large pore volumes, high surface areas, and well-controlled pore sizes were achieved by employing spherical silica as hard templates with different diameters. Through a general wet-immersion method, transition-metal oxide (Fe3O4, Co3O4, NiO) nanocrystals can be easily loaded into nanoporous graphene papers to form three-dimensional flexible nanoarchitectures. When directly applied as electrodes in lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, the materials exhibited superior electrochemical performances, including an ultra-high specific capacity, an extended long cycle life, and a high rate capability. In particular, nanoporous Fe3O4-graphene composites can deliver a reversible specific capacity of 1427.5 mAh g(-1) at a high current density of 1000 mA g(-1) as anode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, nanoporous Co3O4-graphene composites achieved a high supercapacitance of 424.2 F g(-1) . This work demonstrated that the as-developed freestanding nanoporous graphene papers could have significant potential for energy storage and conversion applications. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Very high temperature fiber processing and testing through the use of ultrahigh solar energy concentration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, Benjamin A.; Gleckman, Philip L.; Holman, Robert L.; Sagie, Daniel; Winston, Roland

1991-10-01

We have demonstrated the feasibility of a high temperature cool-wall optical furnace that harnesses the unique power of concentrated solar heating for advanced materials processing and testing. Out small-scale test furnace achieved temperatures as high as 2400 C within a 10 mm X 0.44 mm cylindrical hot-zone. Optimum performance and efficiency resulted from an innovative two-stage optical design using a long-focal length, point-focus, conventional primary concentrator and a non-imaging secondary concentrator specifically designed for the cylindrical geometry of the target fiber. A scale-up analysis suggests that even higher temperatures can be achieved over hot zones large enough for practical commercial fiber post- processing and testing.

Developmental Change in the Influence of Domain-General Abilities and Domain-Specific Knowledge on Mathematics Achievement: An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Geary, David C.; Nicholas, Alan; Li, Yaoran; Sun, Jianguo

2016-01-01

The contributions of domain-general abilities and domain-specific knowledge to subsequent mathematics achievement were longitudinally assessed (n = 167) through 8th grade. First grade intelligence and working memory and prior grade reading achievement indexed domain-general effects and domain-specific effects were indexed by prior grade mathematics achievement and mathematical cognition measures of prior grade number knowledge, addition skills, and fraction knowledge. Use of functional data analysis enabled grade-by-grade estimation of overall domain-general and domain-specific effects on subsequent mathematics achievement, the relative importance of individual domain-general and domain-specific variables on this achievement, and linear and non-linear across-grade estimates of these effects. The overall importance of domain-general abilities for subsequent achievement was stable across grades, with working memory emerging as the most important domain-general ability in later grades. The importance of prior mathematical competencies on subsequent mathematics achievement increased across grades, with number knowledge and arithmetic skills critical in all grades and fraction knowledge in later grades. Overall, domain-general abilities were more important than domain-specific knowledge for mathematics learning in early grades but general abilities and domain-specific knowledge were equally important in later grades. PMID:28781382

DNA nanosensor based on biocompatible graphene quantum dots and carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Qian, Zhao Sheng; Shan, Xiao Yue; Chai, Lu Jing; Ma, Juan Juan; Chen, Jian Rong; Feng, Hui

2014-10-15

An ultrasensitive nanosensor based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between biocompatible graphene quantum dots and carbon nanotubes for DNA detection was reported. We take advantage of good biocompatibility and strong fluorescence of graphene quantum dots, base pairing specificity of DNA and unique fluorescence resonance energy transfer between graphene quantum dots and carbon nanotubes to achieve the analysis of low concentrations of DNA. Graphene quantum dots with high quantum yield up to 0.20 were prepared and served as the fluorophore of DNA probe. FRET process between graphene quantum dots-labeled probe and oxidized carbon nanotubes is easily achieved due to their efficient self-assembly through specific π-π interaction. This nanosensor can distinguish complementary and mismatched nucleic acid sequences with high sensitivity and good reproducibility. The detection method based on this nanosensor possesses a broad linear span of up to 133.0 nM and ultralow detection limit of 0.4 nM. The constructed nanosensor is expected to be highly biocompatible because of all its components with excellent biocompatibility. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-resolution neutron powder diffractometer SPODI at research reactor FRM II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoelzel, M.; Senyshyn, A.; Juenke, N.; Boysen, H.; Schmahl, W.; Fuess, H.

2012-03-01

SPODI is a high-resolution thermal neutron diffractometer at the research reactor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) especially dedicated to structural studies of complex systems. Unique features like a very large monochromator take-off angle of 155° and a 5 m monochromator-sample distance in its standard configuration achieve both high-resolution and a good profile shape for a broad scattering angle range. Two dimensional data are collected by an array of 80 vertical position sensitive 3He detectors. SPODI is well suited for studies of complex structural and magnetic order and disorder phenomena at non-ambient conditions. In addition to standard sample environment facilities (cryostats, furnaces, magnet) specific devices (rotatable load frame, cell for electric fields, multichannel potentiostat) were developed. Thus the characterisation of functional materials at in-operando conditions can be achieved. In this contribution the details of the design and present performance of the instrument are reported along with its specifications. A new concept for data reduction using a 2 θ dependent variable height for the intensity integration along the Debye-Scherrer lines is introduced.

A colorimetric and fluorescent probe for detecting intracellular biothiols.

PubMed

Chen, Chunyang; Liu, Wei; Xu, Cong; Liu, Weisheng

2016-11-15

A new rapid and highly sensitive coumarin-based probe (probe 1) has been designed and synthesized for detecting intracellular thiols. Probe 1 was prepared by a 4-step procedure as a latent fluorescence probe to achieve high sensitivity and fluorescence turn-on response toward cysteine and homocysteine over GSH and other various natural amino acids under physiological conditions. Owing to specific cyclization between thiols and aldehyde group, probe 1 displayed a highly selectivity toward cysteine and homocysteine. Above all, probe 1 was successfully used for fluorescence imaging of biothiols in Hela cells, and quantitative determination had been achieved within a certain range. Then specific fluorescence imaging of mice organ tissues was obtained for proving the permeability of probe 1. Simultaneously, the viability was measured to be more than 80%, which shows probe 1 can be a rapid and biocompatible probe for biothiols in cells. Furthermore, the measurement of thiols detection in 5 kinds of animal serum showed that probe 1 can be used in determination of biothiols in blood. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Shifted Transversal Design smart-pooling for high coverage interactome mapping

PubMed Central

Xin, Xiaofeng; Rual, Jean-François; Hirozane-Kishikawa, Tomoko; Hill, David E.; Vidal, Marc; Boone, Charles; Thierry-Mieg, Nicolas

2009-01-01

“Smart-pooling,” in which test reagents are multiplexed in a highly redundant manner, is a promising strategy for achieving high efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity in systems-level projects. However, previous applications relied on low redundancy designs that do not leverage the full potential of smart-pooling, and more powerful theoretical constructions, such as the Shifted Transversal Design (STD), lack experimental validation. Here we evaluate STD smart-pooling in yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) interactome mapping. We employed two STD designs and two established methods to perform ORFeome-wide Y2H screens with 12 baits. We found that STD pooling achieves similar levels of sensitivity and specificity as one-on-one array-based Y2H, while the costs and workloads are divided by three. The screening-sequencing approach is the most cost- and labor-efficient, yet STD identifies about twofold more interactions. Screening-sequencing remains an appropriate method for quickly producing low-coverage interactomes, while STD pooling appears as the method of choice for obtaining maps with higher coverage. PMID:19447967

Performance analysis of radiation cooled dc transmission lines for high power space systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwarze, G. E.

1985-01-01

As space power levels increase to meet mission objectives and also as the transmission distance between power source and load increases, the mass, volume, power loss, and operating voltage and temperature become important system design considerations. This analysis develops the dependence of the specific mass and percent power loss on hte power and voltage levels, transmission distance, operating temperature and conductor material properties. Only radiation cooling is considered since the transmission line is assumed to operate in a space environment. The results show that the limiting conditions for achieving low specific mass, percent power loss, and volume for a space-type dc transmission line are the permissible transmission voltage and operating temperature. Other means to achieve low specific mass include the judicious choice of conductor materials. The results of this analysis should be immediately applicable to power system trade-off studies including comparisons with ac transmission systems.

Discrimination against RNA Backbones by a ssDNA Binding Protein.

PubMed

Lloyd, Neil R; Wuttke, Deborah S

2018-05-01

Pot1 is the shelterin component responsible for the protection of the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) overhang at telomeres in nearly all eukaryotic organisms. The C-terminal domain of the DNA-binding domain, Pot1pC, exhibits non-specific ssDNA recognition, achieved through thermodynamically equivalent alternative binding conformations. Given this flexibility, it is unclear how specificity for ssDNA over RNA, an activity required for biological function, is achieved. Examination of the ribose-position specificity of Pot1pC shows that ssDNA specificity is additive but not uniformly distributed across the ligand. High-resolution structures of several Pot1pC complexes with RNA-DNA chimeric ligands reveal Pot1pC discriminates against RNA by utilizing non-compensatory binding modes that feature significant rearrangement of the binding interface. These alternative conformations, accessed through both ligand and protein flexibility, recover much, but not all, of the binding energy, leading to the observed reduction in affinities. These findings suggest that intermolecular interfaces are remarkably sophisticated in their tuning of specificity toward flexible ligands. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Probing the Hydrogen Enhanced Near-Field Emission of ITO without a Vacuum-Gap

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

Poole, Jacob L.; Yu, Yang; Ohodnicki, Paul R.

In-situ monitoring of the multi-component gas streams in high temperature energy conversion devices offer the promises to higher efficiency via improved understanding of the chemical environments during device operation. While conventional resistive based metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors suffer from strong cross-sensitivity, optical sensing approaches offer intrinsic advantages to achieve gas selectivity based on wavelength specific interactions. This manuscript describes a novel method to achieve multicomponent gas sensing during gas exposure of H2, CO2, CH4and CO in humid high temperature environments. A single sensor element comprised of a perovskite La0.3Sr0.7TiO3(LSTO) oxide thin film layer coated on silica optical fiber wasmore » used. The sensing responses consisted of two wavelength-specific near infrared (NIR) mechanisms, namely broadband absorption associated with the metal oxide layer, and wavelength localized thermal emission responses associated with the hydroxyl defects within the silica fiber. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to couple the two mechanisms to achieve selective gas identification. Successful discrimination of H2and CO2on a single fiber sensor was achieved, where the results are both stable and reversible. This design demonstrates that by coupling multiple optical mechanisms on a single oxide coated fiber sensor, simple platforms can also achieve multi-component sensing functionality without the added complexity of a sensor array. Thus, it suggests a new approach to construct simple, robust and functional sensor designs capable of gas discrimination and quantification in multi-component gas streams.« less

The Building Blocks of Success: Higher-Level Math for All Students. Achieve Policy Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Achieve, Inc., 2008

2008-01-01

High schools may still be anchored to 20th century expectations, but what are the critical guideposts for a 21st century high school education? There are many specific skills and competencies that young people will need to succeed, but more than particular skills, they will need the cognitive capacity to educate themselves throughout their entire…

Highly Concurrent Scalar Processing.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-01-01

rearrangement arise from data dependencies between instructions, hence it is critical that artificial - dependencies are eliminated whenever possible...An important class of artificial depen- *. dencies arise due to register reuse. In the following example, no parallelism can be • . exploited in the...specific procedure call site. The use of inteligent procedure expansion techniques is expected to be crucial to the achievement of high performance

Biosilica-Immobilized Enzymes for Biocatalysis (Preprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

strengthening of dough Lipases, Proteases Accelerates cheese ripening Glucose Isomerase Production of high fructose corn syrup Pectinases Fruit juice...Manufacture of glucose syrups and starch modification Maltogenic alpha-amylase Improves shelf life of bread Lipoxygenase Used for bleaching and...such as pH, ionic strength or temperature. In any approach to immobilize enzymes, the goal is to achieve a high specific activity without

The Neural Correlates of Highly Iconic Structures and Topographic Discourse in French Sign Language as Observed in Six Hearing Native Signers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Courtin, C.; Herve, P. -Y.; Petit, L.; Zago, L.; Vigneau, M.; Beaucousin, V.; Jobard, G.; Mazoyer, B.; Mellet, E.; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N.

2010-01-01

"Highly iconic" structures in Sign Language enable a narrator to act, switch characters, describe objects, or report actions in four-dimensions. This group of linguistic structures has no real spoken-language equivalent. Topographical descriptions are also achieved in a sign-language specific manner via the use of signing-space and…

Strategies Used by Intellectually Gifted Students to Cope with Stress during Their Participation in a High School International Baccalaureate Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaunessy, Elizabeth; Suldo, Shannon M.

2010-01-01

Individuals respond to threats to affiliation and achievement needs through drawing on a repertoire of coping strategies specific to a given situation. Gifted adolescents in college-preparatory high school programs may be faced with novel stressors, and may have unique coping strategies to manage these challenges. The current study considers…

34 CFR 200.47 - SEA responsibilities for supplemental educational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... high quality, research-based, and specifically designed to increase the academic achievement of... State's approved provider list; (ii) Parent recommendations or results from parent surveys, if any... results from parent surveys regarding the success of the provider's instructional program in increasing...

Performance and Environmental Test Results of the High Voltage Hall Accelerator Engineering Development Unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamhawi, Hani; Haag, Thomas; Huang, Wensheng; Shastry, Rohit; Pinero, Luis; Peterson, Todd; Mathers, Alex

2012-01-01

NASA Science Mission Directorate's In-Space Propulsion Technology Program is sponsoring the development of a 3.5 kW-class engineering development unit Hall thruster for implementation in NASA science and exploration missions. NASA Glenn and Aerojet are developing a high fidelity high voltage Hall accelerator that can achieve specific impulse magnitudes greater than 2,700 seconds and xenon throughput capability in excess of 300 kilograms. Performance, plume mappings, thermal characterization, and vibration tests of the high voltage Hall accelerator engineering development unit have been performed. Performance test results indicated that at 3.9 kW the thruster achieved a total thrust efficiency and specific impulse of 58%, and 2,700 sec, respectively. Thermal characterization tests indicated that the thruster component temperatures were within the prescribed material maximum operating temperature limits during full power thruster operation. Finally, thruster vibration tests indicated that the thruster survived the 3-axes qualification full-level random vibration test series. Pre and post-vibration test performance mappings indicated almost identical thruster performance. Finally, an update on the development progress of a power processing unit and a xenon feed system is provided.

Micropropulsion devices based on molecular acceleration by pulsed optical lattices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shneider, Mikhail N.; Gimelshein, Sergey F.; Barker, Peter F.

2006-03-01

The ability of a traveling periodic optical potential to increase the thrust and specific impulse of microthrusters is investigated. Two flow regimes, high density and low density, are considered. The thrust from a micronozzle, with a stagnation pressure of 1 atm and temperature of 300 K, can be increased by more than an order of magnitude. These conditions can be achieved for a constant velocity lattice, produced by two near counterpropagating optical fields that are focused into the nozzle throat. A propulsion system that operates in low-density regime and is driven by molecules trapped by an accelerating optical lattice is proposed. It is shown that such a system has a potential to achieve a specific impulse of thousands of seconds.

Parenting practices and peer group affiliation in adolescence.

PubMed

Brown, B B; Mounts, N; Lamborn, S D; Steinberg, L

1993-04-01

Social scientists have often assumed that parental influence is sharply curtailed at adolescence because of the rising counterinfluence of peer groups, over which parents have little control. The present study tested a conceptual model that challenged this view by arguing that parents retain a notable but indirect influence over their teenage child's peer associates. Data from a sample of 3,781 high school students (ages 15-19) indicated that specific parenting practices (monitoring, encouragement of achievement, joint decision making) were significantly associated with specific adolescent behaviors (academic achievement, drug use, self-reliance), which in turn were significantly related to membership in common adolescent crowds (jocks, druggies, etc). Findings encourage investigators to assess more carefully parents' role in adolescents' peer group affiliations.

Inorganic nanostructured materials for high performance electrochemical supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Sheng; Sun, Shouheng; You, Xiao-Zeng

2014-01-01

Electrochemical supercapacitors (ES) are a well-known energy storage system that has high power density, long life-cycle and fast charge-discharge kinetics. Nanostructured materials are a new generation of electrode materials with large surface area and short transport/diffusion path for ions and electrons to achieve high specific capacitance in ES. This mini review highlights recent developments of inorganic nanostructure materials, including carbon nanomaterials, metal oxide nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanowires/nanotubes, for high performance ES applications.

Inorganic nanostructured materials for high performance electrochemical supercapacitors.

PubMed

Liu, Sheng; Sun, Shouheng; You, Xiao-Zeng

2014-02-21

Electrochemical supercapacitors (ES) are a well-known energy storage system that has high power density, long life-cycle and fast charge-discharge kinetics. Nanostructured materials are a new generation of electrode materials with large surface area and short transport/diffusion path for ions and electrons to achieve high specific capacitance in ES. This mini review highlights recent developments of inorganic nanostructure materials, including carbon nanomaterials, metal oxide nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanowires/nanotubes, for high performance ES applications.

Measuring the Level of Effectiveness of the High School Assistant Principal and the High School Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) in Preparing Their English I, II, and III Teachers and Students for End of Course/TN Ready Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Rhonda

2016-01-01

This research study addressed measuring the level of instructional leadership effectiveness of the high school assistant principal and the high school instructional leadership teams (ILT) at over forty (40) Shelby County Schools. More specifically, this research study examined their impact on teacher effectiveness and student achievement in their…

Do rewards reinforce the growth mindset?: Joint effects of the growth mindset and incentive schemes in a field intervention.

PubMed

Chao, Melody Manchi; Visaria, Sujata; Mukhopadhyay, Anirban; Dehejia, Rajeev

2017-10-01

The current study draws on the motivational model of achievement which has been guiding research on the growth mindset intervention (Dweck & Leggett, 1988) and examines how this intervention interacts with incentive systems to differentially influence performance for high- and low-achieving students in Indian schools that serve low-SES communities. Although, as expected, the growth mindset intervention did interact with incentive systems and prior achievement to influence subsequent academic performance, the existing growth mindset framework cannot fully account for the observed effects. Specifically, we found that the growth mindset intervention did facilitate performance through persistence, but only when the incentive system imparted individuals with a sense of autonomy. Such a facilitation effect was only found among those students who had high prior achievement, but not among those who had underperformed. When the incentive did not impart a sense of autonomy, the growth mindset intervention undermined the performance of those who had high initial achievement. To reconcile these discrepancies and to advance understanding of the impacts of psychological interventions on achievement outcomes, we discuss how the existing theory can be extended and integrated with an identity-based motivation framework (Oyserman & Destin, 2010). We also discuss the implications of our work for future research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Hypoxia-activated genes from early placenta are elevated in Preeclampsia, but not in Intra-Uterine Growth Retardation

PubMed Central

Vaiman, Daniel; Mondon, Françoise; Garcès-Duran, Alexandra; Mignot, Thérèse-Marie; Robert, Brigitte; Rebourcet, Régis; Jammes, Hélène; Chelbi, Sonia T; Quetin, Frédérique; Marceau, Geoffrey; Sapin, Vincent; Piumi, François; Danan, Jean-Louis; Rigourd, Virginie; Carbonne, Bruno; Ferré, Françoise

2005-01-01

Background As a first step to explore the possible relationships existing between the effects of low oxygen pressure in the first trimester placenta and placental pathologies developing from mid-gestation, two subtracted libraries totaling 2304 cDNA clones were constructed. For achieving this, two reciprocal suppressive/subtractive hybridization procedures (SSH) were applied to early (11 weeks) human placental villi after incubation either in normoxic or in hypoxic conditions. The clones from both libraries (1440 hypoxia-specific and 864 normoxia-specific) were spotted on nylon macroarrays. Complex cDNAs probes prepared from placental villi (either from early pregnancy, after hypoxic or normoxic culture conditions, or near term for controls or pathological placentas) were hybridized to the membranes. Results Three hundred and fifty nine clones presenting a hybridization signal above the background were sequenced and shown to correspond to 276 different genes. Nine of these genes are mitochondrial, while 267 are nuclear. Specific expression profiles characteristic of preeclampsia (PE) could be identified, as well as profiles specific of intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR). Focusing on the chromosomal distribution of the fraction of genes that responded in at least one hybridization experiment, we could observe a highly significant chromosomal clustering of 54 genes into 8 chromosomal regions, four of which containing imprinted genes. Comparative mapping data indicate that these imprinted clusters are maintained in synteny in mice, and apparently in cattle and pigs, suggesting that the maintenance of such syntenies is requested for achieving a normal placental physiology in eutherian mammals. Conclusion We could demonstrate that genes induced in PE were also genes highly expressed under hypoxic conditions (P = 5.10-5), which was not the case for isolated IUGR. Highly expressed placental genes may be in syntenies conserved interspecifically, suggesting that the maintenance of such clusters is requested for achieving a normal placental physiology in eutherian mammals. PMID:16129025

High resolution microendoscopy for classification of colorectal polyps.

PubMed

Chang, S S; Shukla, R; Polydorides, A D; Vila, P M; Lee, M; Han, H; Kedia, P; Lewis, J; Gonzalez, S; Kim, M K; Harpaz, N; Godbold, J; Richards-Kortum, R; Anandasabapathy, S

2013-07-01

It can be difficult to distinguish adenomas from benign polyps during routine colonoscopy. High resolution microendoscopy (HRME) is a novel method for imaging colorectal mucosa with subcellular detail. HRME criteria for the classification of colorectal neoplasia have not been previously described. Study goals were to develop criteria to characterize HRME images of colorectal mucosa (normal, hyperplastic polyps, adenomas, cancer) and to determine the accuracy and interobserver variability for the discrimination of neoplastic from non-neoplastic polyps when these criteria were applied by novice and expert microendoscopists. Two expert pathologists created consensus HRME image criteria using images from 68 patients with polyps who had undergone colonoscopy plus HRME. Using these criteria, HRME expert and novice microendoscopists were shown a set of training images and then tested to determine accuracy and interobserver variability. Expert microendoscopists identified neoplasia with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 67 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] 58 % - 75 %), 97 % (94 % - 100 %), and 87 %, respectively. Nonexperts achieved sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 73 % (66 % - 80 %), 91 % (80 % - 100 %), and 85 %, respectively. Overall, neoplasia were identified with sensitivity 70 % (65 % - 76 %), specificity 94 % (87 % - 100 %), and accuracy 85 %. Kappa values were: experts 0.86; nonexperts 0.72; and overall 0.78. Using the new criteria, observers achieved high specificity and substantial interobserver agreement for distinguishing benign polyps from neoplasia. Increased expertise in HRME imaging improves accuracy. This low-cost microendoscopic platform may be an alternative to confocal microendoscopy in lower-resource or community-based settings.

Strategies for achieving high-level expression of genes in Escherichia coli.

PubMed Central

Makrides, S C

1996-01-01

Progress in our understanding of several biological processes promises to broaden the usefulness of Escherichia coli as a tool for gene expression. There is an expanding choice of tightly regulated prokaryotic promoters suitable for achieving high-level gene expression. New host strains facilitate the formation of disulfide bonds in the reducing environment of the cytoplasm and offer higher protein yields by minimizing proteolytic degradation. Insights into the process of protein translocation across the bacterial membranes may eventually make it possible to achieve robust secretion of specific proteins into the culture medium. Studies involving molecular chaperones have shown that in specific cases, chaperones can be very effective for improved protein folding, solubility, and membrane transport. Negative results derived from such studies are also instructive in formulating different strategies. The remarkable increase in the availability of fusion partners offers a wide range of tools for improved protein folding, solubility, protection from proteases, yield, and secretion into the culture medium, as well as for detection and purification of recombinant proteins. Codon usage is known to present a potential impediment to high-level gene expression in E. coli. Although we still do not understand all the rules governing this phenomenon, it is apparent that "rare" codons, depending on their frequency and context, can have an adverse effect on protein levels. Usually, this problem can be alleviated by modification of the relevant codons or by coexpression of the cognate tRNA genes. Finally, the elucidation of specific determinants of protein degradation, a plethora of protease-deficient host strains, and methods to stabilize proteins afford new strategies to minimize proteolytic susceptibility of recombinant proteins in E. coli. PMID:8840785

Early childhood trajectories of separation anxiety: Bearing on mental health, academic achievement, and physical health from mid-childhood to preadolescence.

PubMed

Battaglia, Marco; Garon-Carrier, Gabrielle; Côté, Sylvana M; Dionne, Ginette; Touchette, Evelyne; Vitaro, Frank; Tremblay, Richard E; Boivin, Michel

2017-10-01

Separation anxiety disorder is the most prevalent childhood anxiety condition, but no study assessed children for separation anxiety at preschool age and followed them longitudinally and directly until mid-childhood/early adolescence. Multi-informant (children, teachers, family), multipoint (at age 8, 10, 12, 13) assessments of 1,290 children of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, who had been categorized between age 1.5 and 6 into four specific separation anxiety trajectories (1, low-persistent; 2, low-increasing; 3, high-decreasing, and the less common: 4, high-increasing) by growth mixture modeling. Participants in the high-increasing trajectory were compared to participants in the other three trajectories for: (a) child's internalizing and externalizing problem behavior; (b) physical health; (c) academic achievement; (d) maternal anxiety. Multivariate analyses of variance/covariance at separate time points showed the high-increasing trajectory mostly associated with: (a) higher internalizing, but not externalizing, behavior; (b) worse academic achievement (most consistently by comparisons to the normative low-persistent trajectory; (c) higher rates of maternal panic/agoraphobic anxiety; (d) worse physical health (most consistently by comparisons to the low-persistent trajectory). The high-increasing trajectory had twofold to threefold higher incidences of physical illnesses than the normative low-persistent group; this was specific for headaches at age 12 years, chronic asthma at age 10 and 13, and having received asthma-related medication during the past 12 months. High-increasing separation anxiety in preschool maintains longitudinal relationships to independent health and academic outcomes, at least until preadolescence. This knowledge can inform the deployment of clinical resources at the earlier signs of the more impairing manifestations. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

High energy density supercapacitors from lignin derived submicron activated carbon fibers in aqueous electrolytes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Sixiao; Zhang, Sanliang; Pan, Ning; Hsieh, You-Lo

2014-12-01

Highly porous submicron activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were robustly generated from low sulfonated alkali lignin and fabricated into supercapacitors for capacitive energy storage. The hydrophilic and high specific surface ACFs exhibited large-size nanographites and good electrical conductivity to demonstrate outstanding electrochemical performance. ACFs from KOH activation, in particular, showed very high 344 F g-1 specific capacitance at low 1.8 mg cm-2 mass loading and 10 mV s-1 scan rate in aqueous electrolytes. Even at relatively high scan rate of 50 mV s-1 and mass loading of 10 mg cm-2, a decent specific capacitance of 196 F g-1 and a remarkable areal capacitance of 0.55 F cm-2 was obtained, leading to high energy density of 8.1 Wh kg-1 based on averaged electrodes mass. Furthermore, over 96% capacitance retention rates were achieved after 5000 charge/discharge cycles. Such excellent performance demonstrated great potential of lignin derived carbons for electrical energy storage.

Comparative analysis of hospital energy use: pacific northwest and scandinavia.

PubMed

Burpee, Heather; McDade, Erin

2014-01-01

This study aimed to establish the potential for significant energy reduction in hospitals in the United States by providing evidence of Scandinavian operational precedents with high Interior Environmental Quality (IEQ) and substantially lower energy profiles than comparable U.S. facilities. These facilities set important precedents for design teams seeking operational examples for achieving aggressive energy and interior environmental quality goals. This examination of operational hospitals is intended to offer hospital owners, designers, and building managers a strong case and concrete framework for strategies to achieve exceptionally high performing buildings. Energy efficient hospitals have the potential to significantly impact the U.S.'s overall energy profile, and key stakeholders in the hospital industry need specific, operationally grounded precedents in order to successfully implement informed energy reduction strategies. This study is an outgrowth of previous research evaluating high quality, low energy hospitals that serve as examples for new high performance hospital design, construction, and operation. Through extensive interviews, numerous site visits, the development of case studies, and data collection, this team has established thorough qualitative and quantitative analyses of several contemporary hospitals in Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest. Many Scandinavian hospitals demonstrate a low energy profile, and when analyzed in comparison with U.S. hospitals, such Scandinavian precedents help define the framework required to make significant changes in the U.S. hospital building industry. Eight hospitals, four Scandinavian and four Pacific Northwest, were quantitatively compared using the Environmental Protection Agency's Portfolio Manager, allowing researchers to answer specific questions about the impact of energy source and architectural and mechanical strategies on energy efficiency in operational hospitals. Specific architectural, mechanical, and plant systems make these Scandinavian hospitals more energy efficient than their Pacific Northwest counterparts. More importantly, synergistic systems integration allows for their significant reductions in energy consumption. This quantitative comparison of operational Scandinavian and Pacific Northwest hospitals resulted in compelling evidence of the potential for deep energy savings in the U.S., and allowed researchers to outline specific strategies for achieving such reductions. © 2014 Vendome Group, LLC.

Classroom Management with Exceptional Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Diane; Freeman, Jennifer; Simonsen, Brandi; Sugai, George

2017-01-01

Effective and engaging instruction is the cornerstone of any well-managed classroom. Even the best behavior support practices will not lead to academic achievement if the academic instruction is ineffective. Specific teacher practices associated with improved student behavior include high rates of opportunities to respond, direct instruction, and…

Aircraft Update Programmes. The Economical Alternative

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-04-01

will drive the desired level of integration but cost will determine the achieved level. Paper #15 by Christian Dedieu-Eric Loffler ( SAGEM SA) presented...requirements. The SAGEM SA upgrade concept allows one to match specifications ranging from basics performance enhancement, such as high accuracy navigation for

Nano-aggregates: emerging delivery tools for tumor therapy.

PubMed

Sharma, Vinod Kumar; Jain, Ankit; Soni, Vandana

2013-01-01

A plethora of formulation techniques have been reported in the literature for site-specific targeting of water-soluble and -insoluble anticancer drugs. Along with other vesicular and particulate carrier systems, nano-aggregates have recently emerged as a novel supramolecular colloidal carrier with promise for using poorly water-soluble drugs in molecular targeted therapies. Nano-aggregates possess some inherent properties such as size in the nanometers, high loading efficiency, and in vivo stability. Nano-aggregates can provide site-specific drug delivery via either a passive or active targeting mechanism. Nano-aggregates are formed from a polymer-drug conjugated amphiphilic block copolymer. They are suitable for encapsulation of poorly water-soluble drugs by covalent conjugation as well as physical encapsulation. Because of physical encapsulation, a maximum amount of drug can be loaded in nano-aggregates, which helps to achieve a sufficiently high drug concentration at the target site. Active transport can be achieved by conjugating a drug with vectors or ligands that bind specifically to receptors being overexpressed in the tumor cells. In this review, we explore synthesis and tumor targeting potential of nano-aggregates with active and passive mechanisms, and we discuss various characterization parameters, ex vivo studies, biodistribution studies, clinical trials, and patents.

Design and testing of regulatory cassettes for optimal activity in skeletal and cardiac muscles.

PubMed

Himeda, Charis L; Chen, Xiaolan; Hauschka, Stephen D

2011-01-01

Gene therapy for muscular dystrophies requires efficient gene delivery to the striated musculature and specific, high-level expression of the therapeutic gene in a physiologically diverse array of muscles. This can be achieved by the use of recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors in conjunction with muscle-specific regulatory cassettes. We have constructed several generations of regulatory cassettes based on the enhancer and promoter of the muscle creatine kinase gene, some of which include heterologous enhancers and individual elements from other muscle genes. Since the relative importance of many control elements varies among different anatomical muscles, we are aiming to tailor these cassettes for high-level expression in cardiac muscle, and in fast and slow skeletal muscles. With the achievement of efficient intravascular gene delivery to isolated limbs, selected muscle groups, and heart in large animal models, the design of cassettes optimized for activity in different muscle types is now a practical goal. In this protocol, we outline the key steps involved in the design of regulatory cassettes for optimal activity in skeletal and cardiac muscle, and testing in mature muscle fiber cultures. The basic principles described here can also be applied to engineering tissue-specific regulatory cassettes for other cell types.

Optimization of extraction of novel pectinase enzyme discovered in red pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) peel.

PubMed

Zohdi, Nor Khanani; Amid, Mehrnoush

2013-11-20

Plant peels could be a potential source of novel pectinases for use in various industrial applications due to their broad substrate specificity with high stability under extreme conditions. Therefore, the extraction conditions of a novel pectinase enzyme from pitaya peel was optimized in this study. The effect of extraction variables, namely buffer to sample ratio (2:1 to 8:1, X₁), extraction temperature (-15 to +25 °C, X₂) and buffer pH (4.0 to 12.0, X₃) on specific activity, temperature stability, storage stability and surfactant agent stability of pectinase from pitaya peel was investigated. The study demonstrated that the optimum conditions for the extraction of pectinase from pitaya sources could improve the enzymatic characteristics of the enzyme and protect its activity and stability during the extraction procedure. The optimum extraction conditions cause the pectinase to achieve high specific activity (15.31 U/mg), temperature stability (78%), storage stability (88%) and surfactant agent stability (83%). The most desirable conditions to achieve the highest activity and stability of pectinase enzyme from pitaya peel were the use of 5:1 buffer to sample ratio at 5 °C and pH 8.0.

The spatial resolution of silicon-based electron detectors in beta-autoradiography.

PubMed

Cabello, Jorge; Wells, Kevin

2010-03-21

Thin tissue autoradiography is an imaging modality where ex-vivo tissue sections are placed in direct contact with autoradiographic film. These tissue sections contain a radiolabelled ligand bound to a specific biomolecule under study. This radioligand emits beta - or beta+ particles ionizing silver halide crystals in the film. High spatial resolution autoradiograms are obtained using low energy radioisotopes, such as (3)H where an intrinsic 0.1-1 microm spatial resolution can be achieved. Several digital alternatives have been presented over the past few years to replace conventional film but their spatial resolution has yet to equal film, although silicon-based imaging technologies have demonstrated higher sensitivity compared to conventional film. It will be shown in this work how pixel size is a critical parameter for achieving high spatial resolution for low energy uncollimated beta imaging. In this work we also examine the confounding factors impeding silicon-based technologies with respect to spatial resolution. The study considers charge diffusion in silicon and detector noise, and this is applied to a range of radioisotopes typically used in autoradiography. Finally an optimal detector geometry to obtain the best possible spatial resolution for a specific technology and a specific radioisotope is suggested.

Design Approach and Implementation of Application Specific Instruction Set Processor for SHA-3 BLAKE Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yuli; Han, Jun; Weng, Xinqian; He, Zhongzhu; Zeng, Xiaoyang

This paper presents an Application Specific Instruction-set Processor (ASIP) for the SHA-3 BLAKE algorithm family by instruction set extensions (ISE) from an RISC (reduced instruction set computer) processor. With a design space exploration for this ASIP to increase the performance and reduce the area cost, we accomplish an efficient hardware and software implementation of BLAKE algorithm. The special instructions and their well-matched hardware function unit improve the calculation of the key section of the algorithm, namely G-functions. Also, relaxing the time constraint of the special function unit can decrease its hardware cost, while keeping the high data throughput of the processor. Evaluation results reveal the ASIP achieves 335Mbps and 176Mbps for BLAKE-256 and BLAKE-512. The extra area cost is only 8.06k equivalent gates. The proposed ASIP outperforms several software approaches on various platforms in cycle per byte. In fact, both high throughput and low hardware cost achieved by this programmable processor are comparable to that of ASIC implementations.

Characterization of the crosslinking reaction in high performance phenolic resins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Jigneshkumar; Zou, Guo Xiang; Hsu, Shaw Ling; university of massachusetts/Polymer science; Engineering Team

In this study, a combination of thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy (near and mid) in conjunction with low field NMR, was used to characterize the crosslinking reaction involving phenol formaldehyde resin and a crosslinking agent, Hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA). The strong hydrogen bonds in the resin and the completely crystalline HMTA (Tm = 280 °C) severely hamper the crosslinking process. Yet the addition of a small amount of plasticizer can induce a highly efficient crosslinking reaction to achieve the desired mechanical properties needed in a number of high performance organic-inorganic composites. The infrared spectroscopy clarifies the dissolution process of the crystalline crosslinker and the specific interactions needed to achieve miscibility of the reactants. The thermal analysis enabled us to follow the changing mobility of the system as a function of temperature. The low field NMR with the T1 inverse recovery technique allowed us to monitor the crosslinking process directly. For the first time, it is now possible to identify the functionality of the plasticizer and correlate the crosslinked structure achieved to the macroscopic performance needed for high performance organic-inorganic composites.

Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety.

PubMed

Maloney, Erin A; Ramirez, Gerardo; Gunderson, Elizabeth A; Levine, Susan C; Beilock, Sian L

2015-09-01

A large field study of children in first and second grade explored how parents' anxiety about math relates to their children's math achievement. The goal of the study was to better understand why some students perform worse in math than others. We tested whether parents' math anxiety predicts their children's math achievement across the school year. We found that when parents are more math anxious, their children learn significantly less math over the school year and have more math anxiety by the school year's end-but only if math-anxious parents report providing frequent help with math homework. Notably, when parents reported helping with math homework less often, children's math achievement and attitudes were not related to parents' math anxiety. Parents' math anxiety did not predict children's reading achievement, which suggests that the effects of parents' math anxiety are specific to children's math achievement. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of low math achievement and high math anxiety. © The Author(s) 2015.

Low Substrate Loading Limits Methanogenesis and Leads to High Coulombic Efficiency in Bioelectrochemical Systems

PubMed Central

Sleutels, Tom H. J. A.; Molenaar, Sam D.; Heijne, Annemiek Ter; Buisman, Cees J. N.

2016-01-01

A crucial aspect for the application of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) as a wastewater treatment technology is the efficient oxidation of complex substrates by the bioanode, which is reflected in high Coulombic efficiency (CE). To achieve high CE, it is essential to give a competitive advantage to electrogens over methanogens. Factors that affect CE in bioanodes are, amongst others, the type of wastewater, anode potential, substrate concentration and pH. In this paper, we focus on acetate as a substrate and analyze the competition between methanogens and electrogens from a thermodynamic and kinetic point of view. We reviewed experimental data from earlier studies and propose that low substrate loading in combination with a sufficiently high anode overpotential plays a key-role in achieving high CE. Low substrate loading is a proven strategy against methanogenic activity in large-scale reactors for sulfate reduction. The combination of low substrate loading with sufficiently high overpotential is essential because it results in favorable growth kinetics of electrogens compared to methanogens. To achieve high current density in combination with low substrate concentrations, it is essential to have a high specific anode surface area. New reactor designs with these features are essential for BESs to be successful in wastewater treatment in the future. PMID:27681899

Low Substrate Loading Limits Methanogenesis and Leads to High Coulombic Efficiency in Bioelectrochemical Systems.

PubMed

Sleutels, Tom H J A; Molenaar, Sam D; Heijne, Annemiek Ter; Buisman, Cees J N

2016-01-05

A crucial aspect for the application of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) as a wastewater treatment technology is the efficient oxidation of complex substrates by the bioanode, which is reflected in high Coulombic efficiency (CE). To achieve high CE, it is essential to give a competitive advantage to electrogens over methanogens. Factors that affect CE in bioanodes are, amongst others, the type of wastewater, anode potential, substrate concentration and pH. In this paper, we focus on acetate as a substrate and analyze the competition between methanogens and electrogens from a thermodynamic and kinetic point of view. We reviewed experimental data from earlier studies and propose that low substrate loading in combination with a sufficiently high anode overpotential plays a key-role in achieving high CE. Low substrate loading is a proven strategy against methanogenic activity in large-scale reactors for sulfate reduction. The combination of low substrate loading with sufficiently high overpotential is essential because it results in favorable growth kinetics of electrogens compared to methanogens. To achieve high current density in combination with low substrate concentrations, it is essential to have a high specific anode surface area. New reactor designs with these features are essential for BESs to be successful in wastewater treatment in the future.

High-Performance Ttransparent and Stretchable All-Solid Supercapacitors Based on Highly Aligned Carbon Nanotube Sheets

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-09

High-performance transparent and stretchable all-solid supercapacitors based on highly aligned carbon nanotube sheets Tao Chen1, Huisheng Peng2...stretchable all-solid supercapacitors with a good stability were developed. A transmittance up to 75% at the wavelength of 550 nmwas achieved for a...supercapacitormade from a cross-over assembly of two single-layer CNT sheets. The transparent supercapacitor has a specific capacitance of 7.3 F g21 and can be

Neighborhoods, Schools, and Academic Achievement: A Formal Mediation Analysis of Contextual Effects on Reading and Mathematics Abilities.

PubMed

Wodtke, Geoffrey T; Parbst, Matthew

2017-10-01

Although evidence indicates that neighborhoods affect educational outcomes, relatively little research has explored the mechanisms thought to mediate these effects. This study investigates whether school poverty mediates the effect of neighborhood context on academic achievement. Specifically, it uses longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, counterfactual methods, and a value-added modeling strategy to estimate the total, natural direct, and natural indirect effects of exposure to an advantaged rather than disadvantaged neighborhood on reading and mathematics abilities during childhood and adolescence. Contrary to expectations, results indicate that school poverty is not a significant mediator of neighborhood effects during either developmental period. Although moving from a disadvantaged neighborhood to an advantaged neighborhood is estimated to substantially reduce subsequent exposure to school poverty and improve academic achievement, school poverty does not play an important mediating role because even the large differences in school composition linked to differences in neighborhood context appear to have no appreciable effect on achievement. An extensive battery of sensitivity analyses indicates that these results are highly robust to unobserved confounding, alternative model specifications, alternative measures of school context, and measurement error, which suggests that neighborhood effects on academic achievement are largely due to mediating factors unrelated to school poverty.

PrimerStation: a highly specific multiplex genomic PCR primer design server for the human genome

PubMed Central

Yamada, Tomoyuki; Soma, Haruhiko; Morishita, Shinichi

2006-01-01

PrimerStation () is a web service that calculates primer sets guaranteeing high specificity against the entire human genome. To achieve high accuracy, we used the hybridization ratio of primers in liquid solution. Calculating the status of sequence hybridization in terms of the stringent hybridization ratio is computationally costly, and no web service checks the entire human genome and returns a highly specific primer set calculated using a precise physicochemical model. To shorten the response time, we precomputed candidates for specific primers using a massively parallel computer with 100 CPUs (SunFire 15 K) about 3 months in advance. This enables PrimerStation to search and output qualified primers interactively. PrimerStation can select highly specific primers suitable for multiplex PCR by seeking a wider temperature range that minimizes the possibility of cross-reaction. It also allows users to add heuristic rules to the primer design, e.g. the exclusion of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in primers, the avoidance of poly(A) and CA-repeats in the PCR products, and the elimination of defective primers using the secondary structure prediction. We performed several tests to verify the PCR amplification of randomly selected primers for ChrX, and we confirmed that the primers amplify specific PCR products perfectly. PMID:16845094

A Mutant Mouse with a Highly Specific Contextual Fear-Conditioning Deficit Found in an N-Ethyl-N-Nitrosourea (ENU) Mutagenesis Screen

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pletcher, Mathew T.; Wiltshire, Tim; Tarantino, Lisa M.; Mayford, Mark; Reijmers, Leon G.; Coats, Jennifer K.

2006-01-01

Targeted mutagenesis in mice has shown that genes from a wide variety of gene families are involved in memory formation. The efficient identification of genes involved in learning and memory could be achieved by random mutagenesis combined with high-throughput phenotyping. Here, we provide the first report of a mutagenesis screen that has…

SSME Alternate Turbopump Development Program: Design verification specification for high-pressure fuel turbopump

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

The design and verification requirements are defined which are appropriate to hardware at the detail, subassembly, component, and engine levels and to correlate these requirements to the development demonstrations which provides verification that design objectives are achieved. The high pressure fuel turbopump requirements verification matrix provides correlation between design requirements and the tests required to verify that the requirement have been met.

Influence of Peer Buddy Program Interventions for Adolescents with Disabilities in a High School Setting: Impact on Social and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alqahtani, Ragea Mohammed

2013-01-01

A mixed methods research design was chosen for this study in order to examine the effectiveness of the Peer Buddy Program across one year on the social and academic skill acquisition of high school students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or emotional/behavioral disabilities (EBD). Specifically, this research focused on identifying the…

Optically isolated, 2 kHz repetition rate, 4 kV solid-state pulse trigger generator.

PubMed

Barnett, D H; Parson, J M; Lynn, C F; Kelly, P M; Taylor, M; Calico, S; Scott, M C; Dickens, J C; Neuber, A A; Mankowski, J J

2015-03-01

This paper presents the design and operation characteristics of a solid-state high voltage pulse generator. Its primary utilization is aimed at triggering a gaseous spark gap with high repeatability. Specifically, the trigger generator is designed to achieve a risetime on the order of 0.1 kV/ns to trigger the first stage, trigatron spark gap of a 10-stage, 500 kV Marx generator. The major design components are comprised of a 60 W constant current DC-DC converter for high voltage charging, a single 4 kV thyristor, a step-up pulse transformer, and magnetic switch for pulse steepening. A risetime of <30 ns and pulse magnitude of 4 kV is achieved matching the simulated performance of the design.

Multijunction cells for concentrators: Technology prospects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferber, R. R. (Compiler); Costogue, E. N. (Compiler); Shimada, K. (Compiler)

1984-01-01

Development of high-efficiency multijunction solar cells for concentrator applications is a key step in achieving the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy National Photovoltaics Program. This report summarizes findings of an issue study conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Photovoltaic Analysis and Integration Center, with the assistance of the Solar Energy Research Institute and Sandia National laboratoies, which surveyed multijunction cell research for concentrators undertaken by federal agencies and by private industry. The team evaluated the potentials of research activities sponsored by DOE and by corporate funding to achieve projected high-efficiency goals and developed summary statements regarding industry expectations. Recommendations are made for the direction of future work to address specific unresolved aspects of multijunction cell technology.

Diagnostic application of polymerase chain reaction for detection of Ehrlichia risticii in equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac horse fever).

PubMed

Biswas, B; Mukherjee, D; Mattingly-Napier, B L; Dutta, S K

1991-10-01

Genomic amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify a unique genomic sequence of Ehrlichia risticii directly in DNA isolated from peripheral-blood buffy coat cells of E. risticii-infected horses (Potomac horse fever) and from infected cell cultures. A specific primer pair, selected from a cloned, species-specific, 1-kb DNA fragment of the E. risticii genome as a template, was used for the amplification of the target DNA of 247 bp. The optimal number of 40 PCR cycles, determined by analyzing an amplification profile obtained with a constant Taq polymerase concentration, was used to achieve maximum amplification of the E. risticii DNA segment. Efficient amplification of target DNA was achieved with specimens processed by either the phenol extraction or rapid lysis method. The specificity of the amplified DNA product was confirmed by the proper size (247 bp) and appropriate restriction enzyme cleavage pattern of the amplified target DNA, as well as by the specific hybridization signal obtained by using a PCR-amplified 185-bp internal DNA probe. A 10(5)- to 10(6)-fold amplification of target DNA, which allowed detection of E. risticii from as few as two to three infected cells in culture and from a very small volume of buffy coat cells from infected horses, was achieved. This PCR amplification procedure was found to be highly specific and sensitive for the detection of E. risticii for the study of Potomac horse fever.

Peninsula Academies Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sequoia Union High School District, Redwood City, CA.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: The Peninsula Academies program helps educationally disadvantaged youth overcome the handicaps of low academic achievement, lack of skills, and chronic unemployment. This is accomplished by providing a high school curriculum that is clearly related to work, training in specific job skills, emphasis…

Are High-Quality Schools Enough?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bracey, Gerald W.

2009-01-01

In this article, the author talks about "the Harlem miracle" described by "New York Times" columnist David Brooks and the big effects produced by no-excuses schools. The author first examines "economic inequality" in Berliner's (2009) more specific terms--seven out-of-school factors that affect achievement. These are:…

Multicolour probes for sequence-specific DNA detection based on graphene oxide.

PubMed

Zhu, Qing; Xiang, Dongshan; Zhang, Cuiling; Ji, Xinghu; He, Zhike

2013-09-21

The bifunctionality of graphene oxide (GO) which can highly adsorb single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and effectively quench the emission of organic dyes is reasonably utilized in a multiplexed DNA detection system, achieving sensitive and selective detection of HIV, VV and EV, respectively.

The Use of Nanomaterials to Achieve NASA's Exploration Program Power Goals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jeevarajan, J.

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the power requirements for the space exploration and the lunar surface mobility programs. It includes information about the specifications for high energy batteries and the power requirements for lunar rovers, lunar outposts, lunar ascent module, and the lunar EVA suit.

Electrostatic Induced Stretch Growth of Homogeneous β-Ni(OH)2 on Graphene with Enhanced High-Rate Cycling for Supercapacitors

PubMed Central

Wu, Zhong; Huang, Xiao-Lei; Wang, Zhong-Li; Xu, Ji-Jing; Wang, Heng-Guo; Zhang, Xin-Bo

2014-01-01

Supercapacitors, as one of alternative energy devices, have been characterized by the rapid rate of charging and discharging, and high power density. But they are now challenged to achieve their potential energy density that is related to specific capacitance. Thus it is extremely important to make such materials with high specific capacitances. In this report, we have gained homogenous Ni(OH)2 on graphene by efficiently using of a facile and effective electrostatic induced stretch growth method. The electrostatic interaction triggers advantageous change in morphology and the ordered stacking of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets on graphene also enhances the crystallization of Ni(OH)2. When the as-prepared Ni(OH)2/graphene composite is applied to supercapacitors, they show superior electrochemical properties including high specific capacitance (1503 F g−1 at 2 mV s−1) and excellent cycling stability up to 6000 cycles even at a high scan rate of 50 mV s−1. PMID:24413283

Eminence, IQ, physical and mental health, and achievement domain : Cox's 282 Geniuses revisited.

PubMed

Simonton, Dean Keith; Song, Anna V

2009-04-01

Catharine Cox published two studies of highly eminent creators and leaders, the first in 1926 as the second volume of Terman's landmark Genetic Studies of Genius and the second in 1936 as a coauthored article. The former publication concentrated on the relation between IQ and achieved eminence, and the latter focused on early physical and mental health. Taking advantage of unpublished data from the second study, we examined, for the first time, the relationships among achieved eminence, IQ, early physical and mental health, and achievement domain. The correlation and regression analyses showed, for these 282 individuals, that eminence is a positive function of IQ and that IQ is a positive function of mental health and a negative function of physical health, implying an indirect effect of physical and mental health on eminence. Furthermore, levels of early physical and mental health vary across 10 specific domains of achievement.

Sensitivity and Specificity of Cardiac Tissue Discrimination Using Fiber-Optics Confocal Microscopy.

PubMed

Huang, Chao; Sachse, Frank B; Hitchcock, Robert W; Kaza, Aditya K

2016-01-01

Disturbances of the cardiac conduction system constitute a major risk after surgical repair of complex cases of congenital heart disease. Intraoperative identification of the conduction system may reduce the incidence of these disturbances. We previously developed an approach to identify cardiac tissue types using fiber-optics confocal microscopy and extracellular fluorophores. Here, we applied this approach to investigate sensitivity and specificity of human and automated classification in discriminating images of atrial working myocardium and specialized tissue of the conduction system. Two-dimensional image sequences from atrial working myocardium and nodal tissue of isolated perfused rodent hearts were acquired using a fiber-optics confocal microscope (Leica FCM1000). We compared two methods for local application of extracellular fluorophores: topical via pipette and with a dye carrier. Eight blinded examiners evaluated 162 randomly selected images of atrial working myocardium (n = 81) and nodal tissue (n = 81). In addition, we evaluated the images using automated classification. Blinded examiners achieved a sensitivity and specificity of 99.2 ± 0.3% and 98.0 ± 0.7%, respectively, with the dye carrier method of dye application. Sensitivity and specificity was similar for dye application via a pipette (99.2 ± 0.3% and 94.0 ± 2.4%, respectively). Sensitivity and specificity for automated methods of tissue discrimination were similarly high. Human and automated classification achieved high sensitivity and specificity in discriminating atrial working myocardium and nodal tissue. We suggest that our findings facilitate clinical translation of fiber-optics confocal microscopy as an intraoperative imaging modality to reduce the incidence of conduction disturbances during surgical correction of congenital heart disease.

Instructional Quality Features in Videotaped Biology Lessons: Content-Independent Description of Characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorfner, Tobias; Förtsch, Christian; Boone, William; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2017-09-01

A number of studies on single instructional quality features have been reported for mathematics and science instruction. For summarizing single instructional quality features, researchers have created a model of three basic dimensions (classroom management, supportive climate, and cognitive activation) of instructional quality mainly through observing mathematics instruction. Considering this model as valid for all subjects and as usable for describing instruction, we used it in this study which aimed to analyze characteristics of instructional quality in biology lessons of high-achieving and low-achieving classes, independently of content. Therefore, we used the data of three different previous video studies of biology instruction conducted in Germany. From each video study, we selected three high-achieving and three low-achieving classes (N = 18 teachers; 35 videos) for our multiple-case study, in which conspicuous characteristics of instructional quality features were qualitatively identified and qualitatively analyzed. The amount of these characteristics was counted in a quantitative way in all the videos. The characteristics we found could be categorized using the model of three basic dimensions of instructional quality despite some subject-specific differences for biology instruction. Our results revealed that many more characteristics were observable in high-achieving classes than in low-achieving classes. Thus, we believe that this model could be used to describe biology instruction independently of the content. We also make the claims about the qualities for biology instruction—working with concentration in a content-structured environment, getting challenged in higher order thinking, and getting praised for performance—that could have positive influence on students' achievement.

Inattention in primary school is not good for your future school achievement-A pattern classification study.

PubMed

Lundervold, Astri J; Bøe, Tormod; Lundervold, Arvid

2017-01-01

Inattention in childhood is associated with academic problems later in life. The contribution of specific aspects of inattentive behaviour is, however, less known. We investigated feature importance of primary school teachers' reports on nine aspects of inattentive behaviour, gender and age in predicting future academic achievement. Primary school teachers of n = 2491 children (7-9 years) rated nine items reflecting different aspects of inattentive behaviour in 2002. A mean academic achievement score from the previous semester in high school (2012) was available for each youth from an official school register. All scores were at a categorical level. Feature importances were assessed by using multinominal logistic regression, classification and regression trees analysis, and a random forest algorithm. Finally, a comprehensive pattern classification procedure using k-fold cross-validation was implemented. Overall, inattention was rated as more severe in boys, who also obtained lower academic achievement scores in high school than girls. Problems related to sustained attention and distractibility were together with age and gender defined as the most important features to predict future achievement scores. Using these four features as input to a collection of classifiers employing k-fold cross-validation for prediction of academic achievement level, we obtained classification accuracy, precision and recall that were clearly better than chance levels. Primary school teachers' reports of problems related to sustained attention and distractibility were identified as the two most important features of inattentive behaviour predicting academic achievement in high school. Identification and follow-up procedures of primary school children showing these characteristics should be prioritised to prevent future academic failure.

A strategy for high specific power pyroelectric energy harvesting from a fluid source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maheux, E.; Hrebtov, M. Yu.; Sukhorukov, G.; Kozyulin, N. N.; Bobrov, M. S.; Dobroselsky, K. G.; Chikishev, L. M.; Dulin, V. M.; Yudin, P. V.

2017-12-01

Conversion of waste heat into usable electricity is now one of the important strategies for saving natural resources and minimizing impact on the environment. In contrast to Seebeck devices, utilizing a temperature gradient, pyroelectric scavengers use temporal temperature oscillations. Here, optimal strategies for pyroelectric energy harvesting are theoretically investigated from the point of view of non-stationary heat exchange for the application-relevant case of harvesting with a pyroelectric lamella from a fluid heat source. It is shown that for a fixed lamella thickness by choosing appropriate phase shift between the temperature oscillations and the voltage on the pyroelectric lamella, one can effectively operate at high frequencies and achieve a two to three-fold increase in specific power with respect to the classical Olsen cycle. A further increase in specific power is achieved by thinning down the lamella. For devices with a thickness down to a few hundreds of nanometers, specific power linearly increases with the inverse thickness. Further scaling down of the device is hampered with the heat exchange in the boundary layer. Our simulations for a representative pyroelectric Pb(Zr0,5Ti0,5)O3 predict harvestable powers of the order of kW/kg for a device with a thickness in the range from 100 nm to 1 μm, operating at hundreds of Hz.

Wide band gap Ga2O3 as efficient UV-C photocatalyst for gas-phase degradation applications.

PubMed

Jędrzejczyk, Marcin; Zbudniewek, Klaudia; Rynkowski, Jacek; Keller, Valérie; Grams, Jacek; Ruppert, Agnieszka M; Keller, Nicolas

2017-12-01

α, β, γ, and δ polymorphs of 4.6-4.8 eV wide band gap Ga 2 O 3 photocatalysts were prepared via a soft chemistry route. Their photocatalytic activity under 254 nm UV-C light in the degradation of gaseous toluene was strongly depending on the polymorph phase. α- and β-Ga 2 O 3 photocatalysts enabled achieving high and stable conversions of toluene with selectivities to CO 2 within the 50-90% range, by contrast to conventional TiO 2 photocatalysts that fully deactivate very rapidly on stream in similar operating conditions with rather no CO 2 production, no matter whether UV-A or UV-C light was used. The highest performances were achieved on the high specific surface area β-Ga 2 O 3 photocatalyst synthesized by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) as porogen before precipitation, with stable toluene conversion and mineralization rate into CO 2 strongly overcoming those obtained on commercial β-Ga 2 O 3 . They were attributed to favorable physicochemical properties in terms of high specific surface area, small mean crystallite size, good crystallinity, high pore volume with large size mesopore distribution and appropriate surface acidity, and to the possible existence of a double local internal field within Ga 3+ units. In the degradation of hydrogen sulfide, PEG-derived β-Ga 2 O 3 takes advantage from its high specific surface area for storing sulfate, and thus for increasing its resistance to deactivation and the duration at total sulfur removal when compared to other β-Ga 2 O 3 photocatalysts. So, we illustrated the interest of using high surface area β-Ga 2 O 3 in environmental photocatalysis for gas-phase depollution applications.

In vivo cation exchange in quantum dots for tumor-specific imaging.

PubMed

Liu, Xiangyou; Braun, Gary B; Qin, Mingde; Ruoslahti, Erkki; Sugahara, Kazuki N

2017-08-24

In vivo tumor imaging with nanoprobes suffers from poor tumor specificity. Here, we introduce a nanosystem, which allows selective background quenching to gain exceptionally tumor-specific signals. The system uses near-infrared quantum dots and a membrane-impermeable etchant, which serves as a cation donor. The etchant rapidly quenches the quantum dots through cation exchange (ionic etching), and facilitates renal clearance of metal ions released from the quantum dots. The quantum dots are intravenously delivered into orthotopic breast and pancreas tumors in mice by using the tumor-penetrating iRGD peptide. Subsequent etching quenches excess quantum dots, leaving a highly tumor-specific signal provided by the intact quantum dots remaining in the extravascular tumor cells and fibroblasts. No toxicity is noted. The system also facilitates the detection of peritoneal tumors with high specificity upon intraperitoneal tumor targeting and selective etching of excess untargeted quantum dots. In vivo cation exchange may be a promising strategy to enhance specificity of tumor imaging.The imaging of tumors in vivo using nanoprobes has been challenging due to the lack of sufficient tumor specificity. Here, the authors develop a tumor-specific quantum dot system that permits in vivo cation exchange to achieve selective background quenching and high tumor-specific imaging.

The Use of Instructional Objectives: A Model for Second-Year Podiatric Surgical Residency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lepow, Gary M.; Levy, Leonard A.

1980-01-01

The use of highly specific objectives can be the basis for a second-year podiatric surgical residency program. They show both residents and attending staff precisely the knowledge and skills to be achieved and aid evaluation of students. A series of objectives is provided. (MSE)

National Syllabuses. ELT Documents, 108.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

British Council, London (England). English-Teaching Information Centre.

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) tested the high school populations of a number of foreign countries in English as a foreign language. The test is described and results are reported. A variety of specific findings and their implications for curriculum development in English as a foreign language are…

Teaching Quality Object-Oriented Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldman, Yishai A.

2005-01-01

Computer science students need to learn how to write high-quality software. An important methodology for achieving quality is design-by-contract, in which code is developed together with its specification, which is given as class invariants and method pre- and postconditions. This paper describes practical experience in teaching design-by-contract…

Assessment in Alberta: Dimensions of Authenticity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horvath, Frank G.

The assessment programs of Alberta Education (Canada) are described, and the principles that guide these programs are reviewed. Alberta is committed to authentic assessment in its three major assessment programs: (1) the Diploma Examinations Program for certification in specific courses at the end of high school; (2) the Achievement Testing…

Restructuring Nigerian Tertiary (University) Education for Better Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyebade, Stephen Adebanjo; Dike, Chika

2013-01-01

This study assesses the goals of university level of education, namely, development of high level manpower, scholarship and community service, and found that universities have not been able to achieve close to average. Problems range from social, political, financial as well as personnel issues. Specifically, they include problems of…

Leading under Pressure: Leadership for Social Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muijs, Daniel; Ainscow, Mel; Dyson, Alan; Raffo, Carlo; Goldrick, Sue; Kerr, Kirstin; Lennie, Clare; Miles, Susie

2010-01-01

In this study we undertook to look at leadership issues specifically in relation to social inclusion, through a series of six case studies in three districts showing high levels of disadvantage. Findings indicated that schools' views on social inclusion could be typified as leaning towards three main orientations: (1) improving achievement and…

High density arrays of micromirrors

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

Folta, J. M.; Decker, J. Y.; Kolman, J.

We established and achieved our goal to (1) fabricate and evaluate test structures based on the micromirror design optimized for maskless lithography applications, (2) perform system analysis and code development for the maskless lithography concept, and (3) identify specifications for micromirror arrays (MMAs) for LLNL's adaptive optics (AO) applications and conceptualize new devices.

Struggling Adolescent Readers: A Collection of Teaching Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, David W., Ed.; Alvermann, Donna E., Ed.; Hinchman, Kathleen A., Ed.

Recognizing that productively engaging low-achieving adolescents in print-rich classrooms is complicated, this book presents 40 articles that focus specifically on teaching struggling readers in middle school and high school classrooms. The articles in the book are drawn primarily from the "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy." The book is…

Encore Performances: Tapping the Potential of Midcareer and Second-Career Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haselkorn, David; Hammerness, Karen

2008-01-01

In 2007, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, with support from the Lehman Brothers Foundation, commissioned Public Agenda to explore interest in teaching careers among high-achieving college students, recent graduates, and potential career changers. MetLife Foundation, specifically interested in potential career changers as…

Principals Make Assignments Matter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dougherty, Eleanor

2013-01-01

The inner-city high school in Washington, DC, that Guillaume Gendre joined as an assistant principal had a modest reputation for achievement but was nevertheless challenged to raise expectations for student work. In other schools, Gendre had used assignments--a specific kind of instructional task in which students are charged to think about an…

77 FR 44161 - Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 2012 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Quota Specifications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-27

... Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). DATES: Effective August 27, 2012 through December 31... Review, and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, as well as others, such as the Fishery Management...

Academically Gifted Undergraduate Students: Their Preferred Teaching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AL-Khayat, Majed M.; AL-Hrout, Mosa A.; Hyassat, Mizyed A.

2017-01-01

Much attention is being paid to the students who give evidence of high achievement capability in specific academic fields. This interest includes choosing sufficient teaching strategies that suit their characteristics. However, this study aims at identifying what teaching strategies are preferred by academically gifted students in Princess Rahma…

HMMER Cut-off Threshold Tool (HMMERCTTER): Supervised classification of superfamily protein sequences with a reliable cut-off threshold.

PubMed

Pagnuco, Inti Anabela; Revuelta, María Victoria; Bondino, Hernán Gabriel; Brun, Marcel; Ten Have, Arjen

2018-01-01

Protein superfamilies can be divided into subfamilies of proteins with different functional characteristics. Their sequences can be classified hierarchically, which is part of sequence function assignation. Typically, there are no clear subfamily hallmarks that would allow pattern-based function assignation by which this task is mostly achieved based on the similarity principle. This is hampered by the lack of a score cut-off that is both sensitive and specific. HMMER Cut-off Threshold Tool (HMMERCTTER) adds a reliable cut-off threshold to the popular HMMER. Using a high quality superfamily phylogeny, it clusters a set of training sequences such that the cluster-specific HMMER profiles show cluster or subfamily member detection with 100% precision and recall (P&R), thereby generating a specific threshold as inclusion cut-off. Profiles and thresholds are then used as classifiers to screen a target dataset. Iterative inclusion of novel sequences to groups and the corresponding HMMER profiles results in high sensitivity while specificity is maintained by imposing 100% P&R self detection. In three presented case studies of protein superfamilies, classification of large datasets with 100% precision was achieved with over 95% recall. Limits and caveats are presented and explained. HMMERCTTER is a promising protein superfamily sequence classifier provided high quality training datasets are used. It provides a decision support system that aids in the difficult task of sequence function assignation in the twilight zone of sequence similarity. All relevant data and source codes are available from the Github repository at the following URL: https://github.com/BBCMdP/HMMERCTTER.

HMMER Cut-off Threshold Tool (HMMERCTTER): Supervised classification of superfamily protein sequences with a reliable cut-off threshold

PubMed Central

Pagnuco, Inti Anabela; Revuelta, María Victoria; Bondino, Hernán Gabriel; Brun, Marcel

2018-01-01

Background Protein superfamilies can be divided into subfamilies of proteins with different functional characteristics. Their sequences can be classified hierarchically, which is part of sequence function assignation. Typically, there are no clear subfamily hallmarks that would allow pattern-based function assignation by which this task is mostly achieved based on the similarity principle. This is hampered by the lack of a score cut-off that is both sensitive and specific. Results HMMER Cut-off Threshold Tool (HMMERCTTER) adds a reliable cut-off threshold to the popular HMMER. Using a high quality superfamily phylogeny, it clusters a set of training sequences such that the cluster-specific HMMER profiles show cluster or subfamily member detection with 100% precision and recall (P&R), thereby generating a specific threshold as inclusion cut-off. Profiles and thresholds are then used as classifiers to screen a target dataset. Iterative inclusion of novel sequences to groups and the corresponding HMMER profiles results in high sensitivity while specificity is maintained by imposing 100% P&R self detection. In three presented case studies of protein superfamilies, classification of large datasets with 100% precision was achieved with over 95% recall. Limits and caveats are presented and explained. Conclusions HMMERCTTER is a promising protein superfamily sequence classifier provided high quality training datasets are used. It provides a decision support system that aids in the difficult task of sequence function assignation in the twilight zone of sequence similarity. All relevant data and source codes are available from the Github repository at the following URL: https://github.com/BBCMdP/HMMERCTTER. PMID:29579071

The Kirkendall effect towards oxynitride nanotubes with improved visible light driven conversion of CO2 into CH4.

PubMed

Zhou, P; Gao, H L; Yan, S C; Zou, Z G

2016-02-28

Functional hollow nanomaterials are of great interest due to their unique physical-chemical properties. Oxynitride photocatalysts are a kind of promising material for solar energy conversion. However, nanoscale design of hollow oxynitrides was difficult to achieve due to the thermal instability of oxide precursors at high temperature. Here, single crystal zinc gallium oxynitride nanotubes were successfully synthesized via the Kirkendall effect with ZnO nanorods and Ga2O3 nanosheets as precursors, which can be attributed to the high diffusion rate of ZnO and the high melting point of oxynitride. Enhanced photocatalytic performance in CO2 reduction was achieved over the as-prepared ZnGaNO nanotubes, due to their higher specific surface area and less recombination of the photogenerated carriers. These results are expected to provide new guidance in the design and preparation of highly efficient nano-scaled oxynitride photocatalysts.

NASA / Pratt and Whitney Collaborative Partnership Research in Ultra High Bypass Cycle Propulsion Concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, Chris; Lord, Wed

2008-01-01

Current collaborative research with Pratt & Whitney on Ultra High Bypass Engine Cycle noise, performance and emissions improvements as part of the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project Ultra High Bypass Engine Partnership Element is discussed. The Subsonic Fixed Wing Project goals are reviewed, as well as their relative technology level compared to previous NASA noise program goals. Progress toward achieving the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project goals over the 2008 fiscal year by the UHB Partnership in this area of research are reviewed. The current research activity in Ultra High Bypass Engine Cycle technology, specifically the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan, at NASA and Pratt & Whitney are discussed including the contributions each entity bring toward the research project, and technical plans and objectives. Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan current and future technology and business plans are also discussed, including the role the NASA SFW UHB partnership plays toward achieving those goals.

Automated fiber placement: Evolution and current demonstrations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grant, Carroll G.; Benson, Vernon M.

1993-01-01

The automated fiber placement process has been in development at Hercules since 1980. Fiber placement is being developed specifically for aircraft and other high performance structural applications. Several major milestones have been achieved during process development. These milestones are discussed in this paper. The automated fiber placement process is currently being demonstrated on the NASA ACT program. All demonstration projects to date have focused on fiber placement of transport aircraft fuselage structures. Hercules has worked closely with Boeing and Douglas on these demonstration projects. This paper gives a description of demonstration projects and results achieved.

Antigen clasping by two antigen-binding sites of an exceptionally specific antibody for histone methylation

DOE PAGES

Hattori, Takamitsu; Lai, Darson; Dementieva, Irina S.; ...

2016-02-09

Antibodies have a well-established modular architecture wherein the antigen-binding site residing in the antigen-binding fragment (Fab or Fv) is an autonomous and complete unit for antigen recognition. Here, we describe antibodies departing from this paradigm. We developed recombinant antibodies to trimethylated lysine residues on histone H3, important epigenetic marks and challenging targets for molecular recognition. Quantitative characterization demonstrated their exquisite specificity and high affinity, and they performed well in common epigenetics applications. Surprisingly, crystal structures and biophysical analyses revealed that two antigen-binding sites of these antibodies form a head-to-head dimer and cooperatively recognize the antigen in the dimer interface. Thismore » “antigen clasping” produced an expansive interface where trimethylated Lys bound to an unusually extensive aromatic cage in one Fab and the histone N terminus to a pocket in the other, thereby rationalizing the high specificity. A long-neck antibody format with a long linker between the antigen-binding module and the Fc region facilitated antigen clasping and achieved both high specificity and high potency. Antigen clasping substantially expands the paradigm of antibody–antigen recognition and suggests a strategy for developing extremely specific antibodies.« less

Significant Performance Enhancement in Asymmetric Supercapacitors based on Metal Oxides, Carbon nanotubes and Neutral Aqueous Electrolyte.

PubMed

Singh, Arvinder; Chandra, Amreesh

2015-10-23

Amongst the materials being investigated for supercapacitor electrodes, carbon based materials are most investigated. However, pure carbon materials suffer from inherent physical processes which limit the maximum specific energy and power that can be achieved in an energy storage device. Therefore, use of carbon-based composites with suitable nano-materials is attaining prominence. The synergistic effect between the pseudocapacitive nanomaterials (high specific energy) and carbon (high specific power) is expected to deliver the desired improvements. We report the fabrication of high capacitance asymmetric supercapacitor based on electrodes of composites of SnO2 and V2O5 with multiwall carbon nanotubes and neutral 0.5 M Li2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The advantages of the fabricated asymmetric supercapacitors are compared with the results published in the literature. The widened operating voltage window is due to the higher over-potential of electrolyte decomposition and a large difference in the work functions of the used metal oxides. The charge balanced device returns the specific capacitance of ~198 F g(-1) with corresponding specific energy of ~89 Wh kg(-1) at 1 A g(-1). The proposed composite systems have shown great potential in fabricating high performance supercapacitors.

Antigen clasping by two antigen-binding sites of an exceptionally specific antibody for histone methylation

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

Hattori, Takamitsu; Lai, Darson; Dementieva, Irina S.

Antibodies have a well-established modular architecture wherein the antigen-binding site residing in the antigen-binding fragment (Fab or Fv) is an autonomous and complete unit for antigen recognition. Here, we describe antibodies departing from this paradigm. We developed recombinant antibodies to trimethylated lysine residues on histone H3, important epigenetic marks and challenging targets for molecular recognition. Quantitative characterization demonstrated their exquisite specificity and high affinity, and they performed well in common epigenetics applications. Surprisingly, crystal structures and biophysical analyses revealed that two antigen-binding sites of these antibodies form a head-to-head dimer and cooperatively recognize the antigen in the dimer interface. Thismore » “antigen clasping” produced an expansive interface where trimethylated Lys bound to an unusually extensive aromatic cage in one Fab and the histone N terminus to a pocket in the other, thereby rationalizing the high specificity. A long-neck antibody format with a long linker between the antigen-binding module and the Fc region facilitated antigen clasping and achieved both high specificity and high potency. Antigen clasping substantially expands the paradigm of antibody–antigen recognition and suggests a strategy for developing extremely specific antibodies.« less

An Overview of the Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System (NEXIS) Activity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Randolph, Thomas M.; Polk, James E., Jr.

2004-01-01

The Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System (NEXIS) research and development activity within NASA's Project Prometheus, was one of three proposals selected by NASA to develop thruster technologies for long life, high power, high specific impulse nuclear electric propulsion systems that would enable more robust and ambitious science exploration missions to the outer solar system. NEXIS technology represents a dramatic improvement in the state-of-the-art for ion propulsion and is designed to achieve propellant throughput capabilities >= 2000 kg and efficiencies >= 78% while increasing the thruster power to >= 20 kW and specific impulse to >= 6000 s. The NEXIS technology uses erosion resistant carbon-carbon grids, a graphite keeper, a new reservoir hollow cathode, a 65-cm diameter chamber masked to produce a 57-cm diameter ion beam, and a shared neutralizer architecture to achieve these goals. The accomplishments of the NEXIS activity so far include performance testing of a laboratory model thruster, successful completion of a proof of concept reservoir cathode 2000 hour wear test, structural and thermal analysis of a completed development model thruster design, fabrication of most of the development model piece parts, and the nearly complete vacuum facility modifications to allow long duration wear testing of high power ion thrusters.

Reunification of East and West German School Systems and the Big Fish Little Pond Effect on Academic Self-Concept. German Reunification and Self-Concept.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Herbert W.; Koller, Olaf; Baumert, Jurgen

This paper examines the educational results of the reunification of East and West Germany. Specifically, it discusses what happened to students' self-concept when the East German system, which was highly standardized, was combined with the West German schools, which were highly differentiated and based on achievement. To study this result,…

Self-Concept Predicts Academic Achievement Across Levels of the Achievement Distribution: Domain Specificity for Math and Reading.

PubMed

Susperreguy, Maria Ines; Davis-Kean, Pamela E; Duckworth, Kathryn; Chen, Meichu

2017-09-18

This study examines whether self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later math and reading attainment across different levels of achievement. Data from three large-scale longitudinal data sets, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, and Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement, were used to answer this question by employing quantile regression analyses. After controlling for demographic variables, child characteristics, and early ability, the findings indicate that self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later achievement in each respective domain across all quantile levels of achievement. These results were replicated across the three data sets representing different populations and provide robust evidence for the role of self-concept of ability in understanding achievement from early childhood to adolescence across the spectrum of performance (low to high). © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Toward achieving flexible and high sensitivity hexagonal boron nitride neutron detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maity, A.; Grenadier, S. J.; Li, J.; Lin, J. Y.; Jiang, H. X.

2017-07-01

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) detectors have demonstrated the highest thermal neutron detection efficiency to date among solid-state neutron detectors at about 51%. We report here the realization of h-BN neutron detectors possessing one order of magnitude enhancement in the detection area but maintaining an equal level of detection efficiency of previous achievement. These 3 mm × 3 mm detectors were fabricated from 50 μm thick freestanding and flexible 10B enriched h-BN (h-10BN) films, grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition followed by mechanical separation from sapphire substrates. Mobility-lifetime results suggested that holes are the majority carriers in unintentionally doped h-BN. The detectors were tested under thermal neutron irradiation from californium-252 (252Cf) moderated by a high density polyethylene moderator. A thermal neutron detection efficiency of ˜53% was achieved at a bias voltage of 200 V. Conforming to traditional solid-state detectors, the realization of h-BN epilayers with enhanced electrical transport properties is the key to enable scaling up the device sizes. More specifically, the present results revealed that achieving an electrical resistivity of greater than 1014 Ωṡcm and a leakage current density of below 3 × 10-10 A/cm2 is needed to fabricate large area h-BN detectors and provided guidance for achieving high sensitivity solid state neutron detectors based on h-BN.

A three-dimensional graphene aerogel containing solvent-free polyaniline fluid for high performance supercapacitors.

PubMed

Gao, Zhaodongfang; Yang, Junwei; Huang, Jing; Xiong, Chuanxi; Yang, Quanling

2017-11-23

Conducting polymer based supercapacitors usually suffer from the difficulty of achieving high specific capacitance and good long-term stability simultaneously. In this communication, a long-chain protonic acid doped solvent-free self-suspended polyaniline (S-PANI) fluid and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were used to fabricate a three-dimensional RGO/S-PANI aerogel via a simple self-assembled hydrothermal method, which was then applied as a supercapacitor electrode. This 3D RGO/S-PANI composite exhibited a high specific capacitance of up to 480 F g -1 at a current density of 1 A g -1 and 334 F g -1 even at a high discharge rate of 40 A g -1 . An outstanding cycling performance, with 96.14% of the initial capacitance remaining after 10 000 charging/discharging cycles at a rate of 10 A g -1 , was also achieved. Compared with the conventional conducting polymer materials, the 3D RGO/S-PANI composite presented more reliable rate capability and cycling stability. Moreover, S-PANI possesses excellent processability, thereby revealing its enormous potential in large scale production. We anticipate that the solvent-free fluid technique is also applicable to the preparation of other 3D graphene/polymer materials for energy storage.

A History of Welding on the Space Shuttle Main Engine (1975 to 2010)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zimmerman, Frank R.; Russell, Carolyn K.

2010-01-01

The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) is a high performance, throttleable, liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine. High thrust and specific impulse (Isp) are achieved through a staged combustion engine cycle, combined with high combustion pressure (approx.3000psi) generated by the two-stage pump and combustion process. The SSME is continuously throttleable from 67% to 109% of design thrust level. The design criteria for this engine maximize performance and weight, resulting in a 7,800 pound rocket engine that produces over a half million pounds of thrust in vacuum with a specific impulse of 452/sec. It is the most reliable rocket engine in the world, accumulating over one million seconds of hot-fire time and achieving 100% flight success in the Space Shuttle program. A rocket engine with the unique combination of high reliability, performance, and reusability comes at the expense of manufacturing simplicity. Several innovative design features and fabrication techniques are unique to this engine. This is as true for welding as any other manufacturing process. For many of the weld joints it seemed mean cheating physics and metallurgy to meet the requirements. This paper will present a history of the welding used to produce the world s highest performance throttleable rocket engine.

Design of a cusped field thruster for drag-free flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, H.; Chen, P. B.; Sun, Q. Q.; Hu, P.; Meng, Y. C.; Mao, W.; Yu, D. R.

2016-09-01

Drag-free flight has played a more and more important role in many space missions. The thrust control system is the key unit to achieve drag-free flight by providing a precise compensation for the disturbing force except gravity. The cusped field thruster has shown a significant potential to be capable of the function due to its long life, high efficiency, and simplicity. This paper demonstrates a cusped field thruster's feasibility in drag-free flight based on its instinctive characteristics and describes a detailed design of a cusped field thruster made by Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). Furthermore, the performance test is conducted, which shows that the cusped field thruster can achieve a continuously variable thrust from 1 to 20 mN with a low noise and high resolution below 650 W, and the specific impulse can achieve 1800 s under a thrust of 18 mN and discharge voltage of 1000 V. The thruster's overall performance indicates that the cusped field thruster is quite capable of achieving drag-free flight. With the further optimization, the cusped field thruster will exhibit a more extensive application value.

Achievement emotions in elementary, middle, and high school: how do students feel about specific contexts in terms of settings and subject-domains?

PubMed

Raccanello, Daniela; Brondino, Margherita; De Bernardi, Bianca

2013-12-01

The present work investigates students' representation of achievement emotions, focusing in context-specific situations in terms of settings and subject-domains, as a function of grade level. We involved 527 fourth-, seventh-, and eleventh-graders, who evaluated ten discrete emotions through questionnaires, with reference to verbal language and mathematics, and different settings (class, homework, tests). Confirmatory multitrait-multimethod analyses indicated higher salience of subject-domains rather than settings for all the emotions; however, complexity of reality was best explained when also settings were accounted for. Analyses of variance revealed higher intensity of positive emotions for younger students, and the opposite pattern for older students; significant differences for most of the emotions based on the evaluative nature of settings, moderated by class levels; more intense positive emotions for mathematics and more intense negative emotions for Italian. Results are discussed considering their theoretical and applied relevance, corroborating previous literature on domain-specificity. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Screening phage display libraries for organ-specific vascular immunotargeting in vivo

PubMed Central

Valadon, Philippe; Garnett, Jeff D.; Testa, Jacqueline E.; Bauerle, Marc; Oh, Phil; Schnitzer, Jan E.

2006-01-01

The molecular diversity of the luminal endothelial cell surface arising in vivo from local variations in genetic expression and tissue microenvironment may create opportunities for achieving targeted molecular imaging and therapies. Here, we describe a strategy to identify probes and their cognate antigens for targeting vascular endothelia of specific organs in vivo. We differentially screen phage libraries to select organ-targeting antibodies by using luminal endothelial cell plasma membranes isolated directly from tissue and highly enriched in natively expressed proteins exposed to the bloodstream. To obviate liver uptake of intravenously injected phage, we convert the phage-displayed antibodies into scFv-Fc fusion proteins, which then are able to rapidly target select organ(s) in vivo as visualized directly by γ-scintigraphic whole-body imaging. Mass spectrometry helps identify the antigen targets. This comprehensive strategy provides new promise for harnessing the power of phage display for mapping vascular endothelia natively in tissue and for achieving vascular targeting of specific tissues in vivo. PMID:16384919

Impurity Resonant States p-type Doping in Wide-Band-Gap Nitrides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhiqiang; Yi, Xiaoyan; Yu, Zhiguo; Yuan, Gongdong; Liu, Yang; Wang, Junxi; Li, Jinmin; Lu, Na; Ferguson, Ian; Zhang, Yong

2016-01-01

In this work, a new strategy for achieving efficient p-type doping in high bandgap nitride semiconductors to overcome the fundamental issue of high activation energy has been proposed and investigated theoretically, and demonstrated experimentally. Specifically, in an AlxGa1-xN/GaN superlattice structure, by modulation doping of Mg in the AlxGa1-xN barriers, high concentration of holes are generated throughout the material. A hole concentration as high as 1.1 × 1018 cm-3 has been achieved, which is about one order of magnitude higher than that typically achievable by direct doping GaN. Results from first-principle calculations indicate that the coupling and hybridization between Mg 2p impurity and the host N 2p orbitals are main reasons for the generation of resonant states in the GaN wells, which further results in the high hole concentration. We expect this approach to be equally applicable for other high bandgap materials where efficient p-type doing is difficult. Furthermore, a two-carrier-species Hall-effect model is proposed to delineate and discriminate the characteristics of the bulk and 2D hole, which usually coexist in superlattice-like doping systems. The model reported here can also be used to explain the abnormal freeze-in effect observed in many previous reports.

Impurity Resonant States p-type Doping in Wide-Band-Gap Nitrides.

PubMed

Liu, Zhiqiang; Yi, Xiaoyan; Yu, Zhiguo; Yuan, Gongdong; Liu, Yang; Wang, Junxi; Li, Jinmin; Lu, Na; Ferguson, Ian; Zhang, Yong

2016-01-18

In this work, a new strategy for achieving efficient p-type doping in high bandgap nitride semiconductors to overcome the fundamental issue of high activation energy has been proposed and investigated theoretically, and demonstrated experimentally. Specifically, in an AlxGa(1-x)N/GaN superlattice structure, by modulation doping of Mg in the AlxGa(1-x)N barriers, high concentration of holes are generated throughout the material. A hole concentration as high as 1.1 × 10(18) cm(-3) has been achieved, which is about one order of magnitude higher than that typically achievable by direct doping GaN. Results from first-principle calculations indicate that the coupling and hybridization between Mg 2p impurity and the host N 2p orbitals are main reasons for the generation of resonant states in the GaN wells, which further results in the high hole concentration. We expect this approach to be equally applicable for other high bandgap materials where efficient p-type doing is difficult. Furthermore, a two-carrier-species Hall-effect model is proposed to delineate and discriminate the characteristics of the bulk and 2D hole, which usually coexist in superlattice-like doping systems. The model reported here can also be used to explain the abnormal freeze-in effect observed in many previous reports.

Maintaining embryonic stem cell pluripotency with Wnt signaling.

PubMed

Sokol, Sergei Y

2011-10-01

Wnt signaling pathways control lineage specification in vertebrate embryos and regulate pluripotency in embryonic stem (ES) cells, but how the balance between progenitor self-renewal and differentiation is achieved during axis specification and tissue patterning remains highly controversial. The context- and stage-specific effects of the different Wnt pathways produce complex and sometimes opposite outcomes that help to generate embryonic cell diversity. Although the results of recent studies of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in ES cells appear to be surprising and controversial, they converge on the same conserved mechanism that leads to the inactivation of TCF3-mediated repression.

Strategies to Achieve High-Performance White Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

PubMed Central

Zhang, Lirong; Li, Xiang-Long; Luo, Dongxiang; Xiao, Peng; Xiao, Wenping; Song, Yuhong; Ang, Qinshu; Liu, Baiquan

2017-01-01

As one of the most promising technologies for next-generation lighting and displays, white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) have received enormous worldwide interest due to their outstanding properties, including high efficiency, bright luminance, wide viewing angle, fast switching, lower power consumption, ultralight and ultrathin characteristics, and flexibility. In this invited review, the main parameters which are used to characterize the performance of WOLEDs are introduced. Subsequently, the state-of-the-art strategies to achieve high-performance WOLEDs in recent years are summarized. Specifically, the manipulation of charges and excitons distribution in the four types of WOLEDs (fluorescent WOLEDs, phosphorescent WOLEDs, thermally activated delayed fluorescent WOLEDs, and fluorescent/phosphorescent hybrid WOLEDs) are comprehensively highlighted. Moreover, doping-free WOLEDs are described. Finally, issues and ways to further enhance the performance of WOLEDs are briefly clarified. PMID:29194426

Improved imputation accuracy of rare and low-frequency variants using population-specific high-coverage WGS-based imputation reference panel.

PubMed

Mitt, Mario; Kals, Mart; Pärn, Kalle; Gabriel, Stacey B; Lander, Eric S; Palotie, Aarno; Ripatti, Samuli; Morris, Andrew P; Metspalu, Andres; Esko, Tõnu; Mägi, Reedik; Palta, Priit

2017-06-01

Genetic imputation is a cost-efficient way to improve the power and resolution of genome-wide association (GWA) studies. Current publicly accessible imputation reference panels accurately predict genotypes for common variants with minor allele frequency (MAF)≥5% and low-frequency variants (0.5≤MAF<5%) across diverse populations, but the imputation of rare variation (MAF<0.5%) is still rather limited. In the current study, we evaluate imputation accuracy achieved with reference panels from diverse populations with a population-specific high-coverage (30 ×) whole-genome sequencing (WGS) based reference panel, comprising of 2244 Estonian individuals (0.25% of adult Estonians). Although the Estonian-specific panel contains fewer haplotypes and variants, the imputation confidence and accuracy of imputed low-frequency and rare variants was significantly higher. The results indicate the utility of population-specific reference panels for human genetic studies.

Improved imputation accuracy of rare and low-frequency variants using population-specific high-coverage WGS-based imputation reference panel

PubMed Central

Mitt, Mario; Kals, Mart; Pärn, Kalle; Gabriel, Stacey B; Lander, Eric S; Palotie, Aarno; Ripatti, Samuli; Morris, Andrew P; Metspalu, Andres; Esko, Tõnu; Mägi, Reedik; Palta, Priit

2017-01-01

Genetic imputation is a cost-efficient way to improve the power and resolution of genome-wide association (GWA) studies. Current publicly accessible imputation reference panels accurately predict genotypes for common variants with minor allele frequency (MAF)≥5% and low-frequency variants (0.5≤MAF<5%) across diverse populations, but the imputation of rare variation (MAF<0.5%) is still rather limited. In the current study, we evaluate imputation accuracy achieved with reference panels from diverse populations with a population-specific high-coverage (30 ×) whole-genome sequencing (WGS) based reference panel, comprising of 2244 Estonian individuals (0.25% of adult Estonians). Although the Estonian-specific panel contains fewer haplotypes and variants, the imputation confidence and accuracy of imputed low-frequency and rare variants was significantly higher. The results indicate the utility of population-specific reference panels for human genetic studies. PMID:28401899

Developmental Change in the Influence of Domain-General Abilities and Domain-Specific Knowledge on Mathematics Achievement: An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geary, David C.; Nicholas, Alan; Li, Yaoran; Sun, Jianguo

2017-01-01

The contributions of domain-general abilities and domain-specific knowledge to subsequent mathematics achievement were longitudinally assessed (n = 167) through 8th grade. First grade intelligence and working memory and prior grade reading achievement indexed domain-general effects, and domain-specific effects were indexed by prior grade…

Identifying Country-Specific Cultures of Physics Education: A differential item functioning approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mesic, Vanes

2012-11-01

In international large-scale assessments of educational outcomes, student achievement is often represented by unidimensional constructs. This approach allows for drawing general conclusions about country rankings with respect to the given achievement measure, but it typically does not provide specific diagnostic information which is necessary for systematic comparisons and improvements of educational systems. Useful information could be obtained by exploring the differences in national profiles of student achievement between low-achieving and high-achieving countries. In this study, we aimed to identify the relative weaknesses and strengths of eighth graders' physics achievement in Bosnia and Herzegovina in comparison to the achievement of their peers from Slovenia. For this purpose, we ran a secondary analysis of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 data. The student sample consisted of 4,220 students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 4,043 students from Slovenia. After analysing the cognitive demands of TIMSS 2007 physics items, the correspondent differential item functioning (DIF)/differential group functioning contrasts were estimated. Approximately 40% of items exhibited large DIF contrasts, indicating significant differences between cultures of physics education in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The relative strength of students from Bosnia and Herzegovina showed to be mainly associated with the topic area 'Electricity and magnetism'. Classes of items which required the knowledge of experimental method, counterintuitive thinking, proportional reasoning and/or the use of complex knowledge structures proved to be differentially easier for students from Slovenia. In the light of the presented results, the common practice of ranking countries with respect to universally established cognitive categories seems to be potentially misleading.

Differential Peer Effects, Student Achievement, and Student Absenteeism: Evidence From a Large-Scale Randomized Experiment.

PubMed

Eren, Ozkan

2017-04-01

Using data from a well-executed randomized experiment, I examine the effects of gender composition and peer achievement on high school students' outcomes in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Results show that having a higher proportion of female peers in the classroom improves girls' math test scores only in less-advanced courses. For male students, the estimated gender peer effects are positive but less precisely estimated. I also find no effect of average classroom achievement on female math test scores. Males, on the other hand, seem to benefit from a higher-achieving classroom. I propose mechanisms relating to lower gender stereotype influences and gender-specific attitudes toward competition as potential explanations for peer effects findings. Finally, having a higher proportion of female students in the classroom decreases student absenteeism among male students but has no impact on female attendance.

Impaired acuity of the approximate number system underlies mathematical learning disability (dyscalculia).

PubMed

Mazzocco, Michèle M M; Feigenson, Lisa; Halberda, Justin

2011-01-01

Many children have significant mathematical learning disabilities (MLD, or dyscalculia) despite adequate schooling. The current study hypothesizes that MLD partly results from a deficiency in the Approximate Number System (ANS) that supports nonverbal numerical representations across species and throughout development. In this study of 71 ninth graders, it is shown that students with MLD have significantly poorer ANS precision than students in all other mathematics achievement groups (low, typically, and high achieving), as measured by psychophysical assessments of ANS acuity (w) and of the mappings between ANS representations and number words (cv). This relation persists even when controlling for domain-general abilities. Furthermore, this ANS precision does not differentiate low-achieving from typically achieving students, suggesting an ANS deficit that is specific to MLD. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Aligned carbon nanotube/zinc oxide nanowire hybrids as high performance electrodes for supercapacitor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Asadi, Ahmed S.; Henley, Luke Alexander; Wasala, Milinda; Muchharla, Baleeswaraiah; Perea-Lopez, Nestor; Carozo, Victor; Lin, Zhong; Terrones, Mauricio; Mondal, Kanchan; Kordas, Krisztian; Talapatra, Saikat

2017-03-01

Carbon nanotube/metal oxide based hybrids are envisioned as high performance electrochemical energy storage electrodes since these systems can provide improved performances utilizing an electric double layer coupled with fast faradaic pseudocapacitive charge storage mechanisms. In this work, we show that high performance supercapacitor electrodes with a specific capacitance of ˜192 F/g along with a maximum energy density of ˜3.8 W h/kg and a power density of ˜ 28 kW/kg can be achieved by synthesizing zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) directly on top of aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In comparison to pristine MWCNTs, these constitute a 12-fold of increase in specific capacitance as well as corresponding power and energy density values. These electrodes also possess high cycling stability and were able to retain ˜99% of their specific capacitance value over 2000 charging discharging cycles. These findings indicate potential use of a MWCNT/ZnO NW hybrid material for future electrochemical energy storage applications.

Enhancing pseudocapacitive kinetics of nanostructured MnO2 through anchoring onto biomass-derived porous carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Qiongyu; Chen, Jizhang; Zhou, Yuyang; Song, Chao; Tian, Qinghua; Xu, Junling; Wong, Ching-Ping

2018-05-01

The rational construction of heterostructured electrode materials that deliver superior performances to their individual counterparts offers an attractive strategy for supercapacitors. Herein, we anchor low-crystalline nanostructured MnO2 onto soybean stalk-derived carbon matrix through chemical activation and subsequent hydrothermal reaction. The highly porous and conductive matrix can effectively enhance pseudocapacitive kinetics of nanostructured MnO2. Therefore, the obtained nanocomposite exhibits high specific capacitance (384.9 F g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1), great rate capability (185.0 F g-1 at 20 A g-1), and superior cyclability (90.7% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles). Using this nanocomposite as the positive electrode material, an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) is assembled, and achieves high specific energy of 34.2 Wh kg-1 and high specific power of 9.58 kW kg-1. The results of this study demonstrate great potential of combining biomass-derived porous carbon with metal oxides.

High-Resolution Large Field-of-View FUV Compact Camera

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spann, James F.

2006-01-01

The need for a high resolution camera with a large field of view and capable to image dim emissions in the far-ultraviolet is driven by the widely varying intensities of FUV emissions and spatial/temporal scales of phenomena of interest in the Earth% ionosphere. In this paper, the concept of a camera is presented that is designed to achieve these goals in a lightweight package with sufficient visible light rejection to be useful for dayside and nightside emissions. The camera employs the concept of self-filtering to achieve good spectral resolution tuned to specific wavelengths. The large field of view is sufficient to image the Earth's disk at Geosynchronous altitudes and capable of a spatial resolution of >20 km. The optics and filters are emphasized.

Motivational and emotional profiles in university undergraduates: a self-determination theory perspective.

PubMed

González, Antonio; Paoloni, Verónica; Donolo, Danilo; Rinaudo, Cristina

2012-11-01

Previous research has focused on specific forms of self-determined motivation or discrete class-related emotions, but few studies have simultaneously examined both constructs. The aim of this study on 472 undergraduates was twofold: to perform cluster analysis to identify homogeneous groups of motivation in the sample; and to determine the profile of each cluster for emotions and academic achievement. Cluster analysis configured four groups in terms of motivation: controlled, autonomous, both high, and both low. Each cluster revealed a distinct emotional profile, autonomous motivation being the most adaptable with high scores for academic achievement and pleasant emotions and low values for unpleasant emotions. The results are discussed in the light of their implications for academic adjustment.

OBJ-1, A Study in Executable Algebraic Formal Specification.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

natural way; 2. Achievement of a high level of abstraction in a natural way; 3. The possibility of executing test cases; 4I. User definition of data types...languages. Goguen has defined a new data type, called symboltree, in OBJ. The purpose of this data type is to provide for fast checking of certain... data type work, is given in Appendix C of this report. K. Parsaye-Ghomi, with A. B. C. Sampaio of UCLA, has written a specification of a hardware

An eFTD-VP framework for efficiently generating patient-specific anatomically detailed facial soft tissue FE mesh for craniomaxillofacial surgery simulation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xiaoyan; Kim, Daeseung; Shen, Shunyao; Yuan, Peng; Liu, Siting; Tang, Zhen; Zhang, Guangming; Zhou, Xiaobo; Gateno, Jaime

2017-01-01

Accurate surgical planning and prediction of craniomaxillofacial surgery outcome requires simulation of soft tissue changes following osteotomy. This can only be achieved by using an anatomically detailed facial soft tissue model. The current state-of-the-art of model generation is not appropriate to clinical applications due to the time-intensive nature of manual segmentation and volumetric mesh generation. The conventional patient-specific finite element (FE) mesh generation methods are to deform a template FE mesh to match the shape of a patient based on registration. However, these methods commonly produce element distortion. Additionally, the mesh density for patients depends on that of the template model. It could not be adjusted to conduct mesh density sensitivity analysis. In this study, we propose a new framework of patient-specific facial soft tissue FE mesh generation. The goal of the developed method is to efficiently generate a high-quality patient-specific hexahedral FE mesh with adjustable mesh density while preserving the accuracy in anatomical structure correspondence. Our FE mesh is generated by eFace template deformation followed by volumetric parametrization. First, the patient-specific anatomically detailed facial soft tissue model (including skin, mucosa, and muscles) is generated by deforming an eFace template model. The adaptation of the eFace template model is achieved by using a hybrid landmark-based morphing and dense surface fitting approach followed by a thin-plate spline interpolation. Then, high-quality hexahedral mesh is constructed by using volumetric parameterization. The user can control the resolution of hexahedron mesh to best reflect clinicians’ need. Our approach was validated using 30 patient models and 4 visible human datasets. The generated patient-specific FE mesh showed high surface matching accuracy, element quality, and internal structure matching accuracy. They can be directly and effectively used for clinical simulation of facial soft tissue change. PMID:29027022

An eFTD-VP framework for efficiently generating patient-specific anatomically detailed facial soft tissue FE mesh for craniomaxillofacial surgery simulation.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaoyan; Kim, Daeseung; Shen, Shunyao; Yuan, Peng; Liu, Siting; Tang, Zhen; Zhang, Guangming; Zhou, Xiaobo; Gateno, Jaime; Liebschner, Michael A K; Xia, James J

2018-04-01

Accurate surgical planning and prediction of craniomaxillofacial surgery outcome requires simulation of soft tissue changes following osteotomy. This can only be achieved by using an anatomically detailed facial soft tissue model. The current state-of-the-art of model generation is not appropriate to clinical applications due to the time-intensive nature of manual segmentation and volumetric mesh generation. The conventional patient-specific finite element (FE) mesh generation methods are to deform a template FE mesh to match the shape of a patient based on registration. However, these methods commonly produce element distortion. Additionally, the mesh density for patients depends on that of the template model. It could not be adjusted to conduct mesh density sensitivity analysis. In this study, we propose a new framework of patient-specific facial soft tissue FE mesh generation. The goal of the developed method is to efficiently generate a high-quality patient-specific hexahedral FE mesh with adjustable mesh density while preserving the accuracy in anatomical structure correspondence. Our FE mesh is generated by eFace template deformation followed by volumetric parametrization. First, the patient-specific anatomically detailed facial soft tissue model (including skin, mucosa, and muscles) is generated by deforming an eFace template model. The adaptation of the eFace template model is achieved by using a hybrid landmark-based morphing and dense surface fitting approach followed by a thin-plate spline interpolation. Then, high-quality hexahedral mesh is constructed by using volumetric parameterization. The user can control the resolution of hexahedron mesh to best reflect clinicians' need. Our approach was validated using 30 patient models and 4 visible human datasets. The generated patient-specific FE mesh showed high surface matching accuracy, element quality, and internal structure matching accuracy. They can be directly and effectively used for clinical simulation of facial soft tissue change.

Wide-Bandgap CIAS Thin-film Photovoltaics with Transparent Back Contacts for Next-Generation Single and Multijunction Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woods, Lawrence M.; Kalla, Ajay; Gonzalez, Damian; Ribelin, Rosine

2005-01-01

Future spacecraft and high-altitude airship (HAA) technologies will require high array specific power (W/kg), which can be met using thin-film photovoltaics (PV) on lightweight and flexible substrates. It has been calculated that the thin-film array technology, including the array support structure, begins to exceed the specific power of crystalline multi-junction arrays when the thin-film device efficiencies begin to exceed 12%. Thin-film PV devices have other advantages in that they are more easily integrated into HAA s, and are projected to be much less costly than their crystalline PV counterparts. Furthermore, it is likely that only thin-film array technology will be able to meet device specific power requirements exceeding 1 kW/kg (photovoltaic and integrated substrate/blanket mass only). Of the various thin-film technologies, single junction and radiation resistant CuInSe2 (CIS) and associated alloys with gallium, aluminum and sulfur have achieved the highest levels of thin-film device performance, with the best efficiency, reaching 19.2% under AM1.5 illumination conditions and on thick glass substrates.(3) Thus, it is anticipated that single- and tandem-junction devices with flexible substrates and based on CIS and related alloys could achieve the highest levels of thin-film space and HAA solar array performance.

Evaluation of quantitative image analysis criteria for the high-resolution microendoscopic detection of neoplasia in Barrett's esophagus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muldoon, Timothy J.; Thekkek, Nadhi; Roblyer, Darren; Maru, Dipen; Harpaz, Noam; Potack, Jonathan; Anandasabapathy, Sharmila; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

2010-03-01

Early detection of neoplasia in patients with Barrett's esophagus is essential to improve outcomes. The aim of this ex vivo study was to evaluate the ability of high-resolution microendoscopic imaging and quantitative image analysis to identify neoplastic lesions in patients with Barrett's esophagus. Nine patients with pathologically confirmed Barrett's esophagus underwent endoscopic examination with biopsies or endoscopic mucosal resection. Resected fresh tissue was imaged with fiber bundle microendoscopy; images were analyzed by visual interpretation or by quantitative image analysis to predict whether the imaged sites were non-neoplastic or neoplastic. The best performing pair of quantitative features were chosen based on their ability to correctly classify the data into the two groups. Predictions were compared to the gold standard of histopathology. Subjective analysis of the images by expert clinicians achieved average sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 61%, respectively. The best performing quantitative classification algorithm relied on two image textural features and achieved a sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 85%, respectively. This ex vivo pilot trial demonstrates that quantitative analysis of images obtained with a simple microendoscope system can distinguish neoplasia in Barrett's esophagus with good sensitivity and specificity when compared to histopathology and to subjective image interpretation.

Assessing the Pathogenicity of Insertion and Deletion Variants with the Variant Effect Scoring Tool (VEST‐Indel)

PubMed Central

Douville, Christopher; Masica, David L.; Stenson, Peter D.; Cooper, David N.; Gygax, Derek M.; Kim, Rick; Ryan, Michael

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Insertion/deletion variants (indels) alter protein sequence and length, yet are highly prevalent in healthy populations, presenting a challenge to bioinformatics classifiers. Commonly used features—DNA and protein sequence conservation, indel length, and occurrence in repeat regions—are useful for inference of protein damage. However, these features can cause false positives when predicting the impact of indels on disease. Existing methods for indel classification suffer from low specificities, severely limiting clinical utility. Here, we further develop our variant effect scoring tool (VEST) to include the classification of in‐frame and frameshift indels (VEST‐indel) as pathogenic or benign. We apply 24 features, including a new “PubMed” feature, to estimate a gene's importance in human disease. When compared with four existing indel classifiers, our method achieves a drastically reduced false‐positive rate, improving specificity by as much as 90%. This approach of estimating gene importance might be generally applicable to missense and other bioinformatics pathogenicity predictors, which often fail to achieve high specificity. Finally, we tested all possible meta‐predictors that can be obtained from combining the four different indel classifiers using Boolean conjunctions and disjunctions, and derived a meta‐predictor with improved performance over any individual method. PMID:26442818

Assessing the Pathogenicity of Insertion and Deletion Variants with the Variant Effect Scoring Tool (VEST-Indel).

PubMed

Douville, Christopher; Masica, David L; Stenson, Peter D; Cooper, David N; Gygax, Derek M; Kim, Rick; Ryan, Michael; Karchin, Rachel

2016-01-01

Insertion/deletion variants (indels) alter protein sequence and length, yet are highly prevalent in healthy populations, presenting a challenge to bioinformatics classifiers. Commonly used features--DNA and protein sequence conservation, indel length, and occurrence in repeat regions--are useful for inference of protein damage. However, these features can cause false positives when predicting the impact of indels on disease. Existing methods for indel classification suffer from low specificities, severely limiting clinical utility. Here, we further develop our variant effect scoring tool (VEST) to include the classification of in-frame and frameshift indels (VEST-indel) as pathogenic or benign. We apply 24 features, including a new "PubMed" feature, to estimate a gene's importance in human disease. When compared with four existing indel classifiers, our method achieves a drastically reduced false-positive rate, improving specificity by as much as 90%. This approach of estimating gene importance might be generally applicable to missense and other bioinformatics pathogenicity predictors, which often fail to achieve high specificity. Finally, we tested all possible meta-predictors that can be obtained from combining the four different indel classifiers using Boolean conjunctions and disjunctions, and derived a meta-predictor with improved performance over any individual method. © 2015 The Authors. **Human Mutation published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Big school, small school: (re)testing assumptions about high school size, school engagement and mathematics achievement.

PubMed

Weiss, Christopher C; Carolan, Brian V; Baker-Smith, E Christine

2010-02-01

In an effort to increase both adolescents' engagement with school and academic achievement, school districts across the United States have created small high schools. However, despite the widespread adoption of size reduction reforms, relatively little is known about the relationship between size, engagement and outcomes in high school. In response, this article employs a composite measure of engagement that combines organizational, sociological, and psychological theories. We use this composite measure with the most recent nationally-representative dataset of tenth graders, Educational Longitudinal Study: 2002, (N = 10,946, 46% female) to better assess a generalizable relationship among school engagement, mathematics achievement and school size with specific focus on cohort size. Findings confirm these measures to be highly related to student engagement. Furthermore, results derived from multilevel regression analysis indicate that, as with school size, moderately sized cohorts or grade-level groups provide the greatest engagement advantage for all students and that there are potentially harmful changes when cohorts grow beyond 400 students. However, it is important to note that each group size affects different students differently, eliminating the ability to prescribe an ideal cohort or school size.

Analytical performance of 17 general chemistry analytes across countries and across manufacturers in the INPUtS project of EQA organizers in Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom and Spain.

PubMed

Weykamp, Cas; Secchiero, Sandra; Plebani, Mario; Thelen, Marc; Cobbaert, Christa; Thomas, Annette; Jassam, Nuthar; Barth, Julian H; Perich, Carmen; Ricós, Carmen; Faria, Ana Paula

2017-02-01

Optimum patient care in relation to laboratory medicine is achieved when results of laboratory tests are equivalent, irrespective of the analytical platform used or the country where the laboratory is located. Standardization and harmonization minimize differences and the success of efforts to achieve this can be monitored with international category 1 external quality assessment (EQA) programs. An EQA project with commutable samples, targeted with reference measurement procedures (RMPs) was organized by EQA institutes in Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, UK, and Spain. Results of 17 general chemistry analytes were evaluated across countries and across manufacturers according to performance specifications derived from biological variation (BV). For K, uric acid, glucose, cholesterol and high-density density (HDL) cholesterol, the minimum performance specification was met in all countries and by all manufacturers. For Na, Cl, and Ca, the minimum performance specifications were met by none of the countries and manufacturers. For enzymes, the situation was complicated, as standardization of results of enzymes toward RMPs was still not achieved in 20% of the laboratories and questionable in the remaining 80%. The overall performance of the measurement of 17 general chemistry analytes in European medical laboratories met the minimum performance specifications. In this general picture, there were no significant differences per country and no significant differences per manufacturer. There were major differences between the analytes. There were six analytes for which the minimum quality specifications were not met and manufacturers should improve their performance for these analytes. Standardization of results of enzymes requires ongoing efforts.

Focus on Pivotal Role of Dietary Intake (Diet and Supplement) and Blood Levels of Tocopherols and Tocotrienols in Obtaining Successful Aging

PubMed Central

Rondanelli, Mariangela; Faliva, Milena Anna; Peroni, Gabriella; Moncaglieri, Francesca; Infantino, Vittoria; Naso, Maurizio; Perna, Simone

2015-01-01

Numerous specific age-related morbidities have been correlated with low intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols. We performed a review in order to evaluate the extant evidence regarding: (1) the association between intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols and age-related pathologies (osteoporosis, sarcopenia and cognitive impairment); and (2) the optimum diet therapy or supplementation with tocopherols and tocotrienols for the treatment of these abnormalities. This review included 51 eligible studies. The recent literature underlines that, given the detrimental effect of low intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols on bone, muscle mass, and cognitive function, a change in the lifestyle must be the cornerstone in the prevention of these specific age-related pathologies related to vitamin E-deficient status. The optimum diet therapy in the elderly for avoiding vitamin E deficiency and its negative correlates, such as high inflammation and oxidation, must aim at achieving specific nutritional goals. These goals must be reached through: accession of the elderly subjects to specific personalized dietary programs aimed at achieving and/or maintaining body weight (avoid malnutrition); increase their intake of food rich in vitamin E, such as derivatives of oily seeds (in particular wheat germ oil), olive oil, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, and cereals rich in vitamin E (such as specific rice cultivar rich in tocotrienols) or take vitamin E supplements. In this case, vitamin E can be correctly used in a personalized way either for the outcome from the pathology or to achieve healthy aging and longevity without any adverse effects. PMID:26404241

Focus on Pivotal Role of Dietary Intake (Diet and Supplement) and Blood Levels of Tocopherols and Tocotrienols in Obtaining Successful Aging.

PubMed

Rondanelli, Mariangela; Faliva, Milena Anna; Peroni, Gabriella; Moncaglieri, Francesca; Infantino, Vittoria; Naso, Maurizio; Perna, Simone

2015-09-25

Numerous specific age-related morbidities have been correlated with low intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols. We performed a review in order to evaluate the extant evidence regarding: (1) the association between intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols and age-related pathologies (osteoporosis, sarcopenia and cognitive impairment); and (2) the optimum diet therapy or supplementation with tocopherols and tocotrienols for the treatment of these abnormalities. This review included 51 eligible studies. The recent literature underlines that, given the detrimental effect of low intake and serum levels of tocopherols and tocotrienols on bone, muscle mass, and cognitive function, a change in the lifestyle must be the cornerstone in the prevention of these specific age-related pathologies related to vitamin E-deficient status. The optimum diet therapy in the elderly for avoiding vitamin E deficiency and its negative correlates, such as high inflammation and oxidation, must aim at achieving specific nutritional goals. These goals must be reached through: accession of the elderly subjects to specific personalized dietary programs aimed at achieving and/or maintaining body weight (avoid malnutrition); increase their intake of food rich in vitamin E, such as derivatives of oily seeds (in particular wheat germ oil), olive oil, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, and cereals rich in vitamin E (such as specific rice cultivar rich in tocotrienols) or take vitamin E supplements. In this case, vitamin E can be correctly used in a personalized way either for the outcome from the pathology or to achieve healthy aging and longevity without any adverse effects.

Freezing of Gait Detection in Parkinson's Disease: A Subject-Independent Detector Using Anomaly Scores.

PubMed

Pham, Thuy T; Moore, Steven T; Lewis, Simon John Geoffrey; Nguyen, Diep N; Dutkiewicz, Eryk; Fuglevand, Andrew J; McEwan, Alistair L; Leong, Philip H W

2017-11-01

Freezing of gait (FoG) is common in Parkinsonian gait and strongly relates to falls. Current clinical FoG assessments are patients' self-report diaries and experts' manual video analysis. Both are subjective and yield moderate reliability. Existing detection algorithms have been predominantly designed in subject-dependent settings. In this paper, we aim to develop an automated FoG detector for subject independent. After extracting highly relevant features, we apply anomaly detection techniques to detect FoG events. Specifically, feature selection is performed using correlation and clusterability metrics. From a list of 244 feature candidates, 36 candidates were selected using saliency and robustness criteria. We develop an anomaly score detector with adaptive thresholding to identify FoG events. Then, using accuracy metrics, we reduce the feature list to seven candidates. Our novel multichannel freezing index was the most selective across all window sizes, achieving sensitivity (specificity) of (). On the other hand, freezing index from the vertical axis was the best choice for a single input, achieving sensitivity (specificity) of () for ankle and () for back sensors. Our subject-independent method is not only significantly more accurate than those previously reported, but also uses a much smaller window (e.g., versus ) and/or lower tolerance (e.g., versus ).Freezing of gait (FoG) is common in Parkinsonian gait and strongly relates to falls. Current clinical FoG assessments are patients' self-report diaries and experts' manual video analysis. Both are subjective and yield moderate reliability. Existing detection algorithms have been predominantly designed in subject-dependent settings. In this paper, we aim to develop an automated FoG detector for subject independent. After extracting highly relevant features, we apply anomaly detection techniques to detect FoG events. Specifically, feature selection is performed using correlation and clusterability metrics. From a list of 244 feature candidates, 36 candidates were selected using saliency and robustness criteria. We develop an anomaly score detector with adaptive thresholding to identify FoG events. Then, using accuracy metrics, we reduce the feature list to seven candidates. Our novel multichannel freezing index was the most selective across all window sizes, achieving sensitivity (specificity) of (). On the other hand, freezing index from the vertical axis was the best choice for a single input, achieving sensitivity (specificity) of () for ankle and () for back sensors. Our subject-independent method is not only significantly more accurate than those previously reported, but also uses a much smaller window (e.g., versus ) and/or lower tolerance (e.g., versus ).

Small high cooling power space cooler

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

Nguyen, T. V.; Raab, J.; Durand, D.

The small High Efficiency pulse tube Cooler (HEC) cooler, that has been produced and flown on a number of space infrared instruments, was originally designed to provide cooling of 10 W @ 95 K. It achieved its goal with >50% margin when limited by the 180 W output ac power of its flight electronics. It has also been produced in 2 stage configurations, typically for simultaneously cooling of focal planes to temperatures as low as 35 K and optics at higher temperatures. The need for even higher cooling power in such a low mass cryocooler is motivated by the adventmore » of large focal plane arrays. With the current availability at NGAS of much larger power cryocooler flight electronics, reliable long term operation in space with much larger cooling powers is now possible with the flight proven 4 kg HEC mechanical cooler. Even though the single stage cooler design can be re-qualified for those larger input powers without design change, we redesigned both the linear and coaxial version passive pulse tube cold heads to re-optimize them for high power cooling at temperatures above 130 K while rejecting heat to 300 K. Small changes to the regenerator packing, the re-optimization of the tuned inertance and no change to the compressor resulted in the increased performance at 150 K. The cooler operating at 290 W input power achieves 35 W@ 150 K corresponding to a specific cooling power at 150 K of 8.25 W/W and a very high specific power of 72.5 W/Kg. At these powers the cooler still maintains large stroke, thermal and current margins. In this paper we will present the measured data and the changes to this flight proven cooler that were made to achieve this increased performance.« less

Dengue Virus NS2B/NS3 Protease Inhibitors Exploiting the Prime Side.

PubMed

Lin, Kuan-Hung; Ali, Akbar; Rusere, Linah; Soumana, Djade I; Kurt Yilmaz, Nese; Schiffer, Celia A

2017-05-15

The mosquito-transmitted dengue virus (DENV) infects millions of people in tropical and subtropical regions. Maturation of DENV particles requires proper cleavage of the viral polyprotein, including processing of 8 of the 13 substrate cleavage sites by dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease. With no available direct-acting antiviral targeting DENV, NS2/NS3 protease is a promising target for inhibitor design. Current design efforts focus on the nonprime side of the DENV protease active site, resulting in highly hydrophilic and nonspecific scaffolds. However, the prime side also significantly modulates DENV protease binding affinity, as revealed by engineering the binding loop of aprotinin, a small protein with high affinity for DENV protease. In this study, we designed a series of cyclic peptides interacting with both sides of the active site as inhibitors of dengue virus protease. The design was based on two aprotinin loops and aimed to leverage both key specific interactions of substrate sequences and the entropic advantage driving aprotinin's high affinity. By optimizing the cyclization linker, length, and amino acid sequence, the tightest cyclic peptide achieved a K i value of 2.9 μM against DENV3 wild-type (WT) protease. These inhibitors provide proof of concept that both sides of DENV protease active site can be exploited to potentially achieve specificity and lower hydrophilicity in the design of inhibitors targeting DENV. IMPORTANCE Viruses of the flaviviral family, including DENV and Zika virus transmitted by Aedes aegypti , continue to be a threat to global health by causing major outbreaks in tropical and subtropical regions, with no available direct-acting antivirals for treatment. A better understanding of the molecular requirements for the design of potent and specific inhibitors against flaviviral proteins will contribute to the development of targeted therapies for infections by these viruses. The cyclic peptides reported here as DENV protease inhibitors provide novel scaffolds that enable exploiting the prime side of the protease active site, with the aim of achieving better specificity and lower hydrophilicity than those of current scaffolds in the design of antiflaviviral inhibitors. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful, Expanded-Time Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Claire; Chan, Roy

2012-01-01

This report reshapes the field for expanded-time schools by outlining specific practices that can lead to dramatic increases in student achievement and preparation for success in college and the workforce. This report offers an in-depth examination of 30 expanded-time schools serving high-poverty populations with impressive track records of…

Urban Middle-School Teachers' Beliefs about Astronomy Learner Characteristics: Implications for Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miranda, Rommel J.

2010-01-01

This study addresses the link between urban teachers' beliefs about their students' ability to succeed in astronomy and their instructional decisions and practices in response to those beliefs. The findings suggest that teachers believe that the student characteristics that are necessary for high achievement in astronomy include specific cognitive…

Arithmetic Abilities in Children with Developmental Dyslexia: Performance on French ZAREKI-R Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Clercq-Quaegebeur, Maryse; Casalis, Séverine; Vilette, Bruno; Lemaitre, Marie-Pierre; Vallée, Louis

2018-01-01

A high comorbidity between reading and arithmetic disabilities has already been reported. The present study aims at identifying more precisely patterns of arithmetic performance in children with developmental dyslexia, defined with severe and specific criteria. By means of a standardized test of achievement in mathematics ("Calculation and…

Does the Use of Connective Words in Written Assessments Predict High School Students' Reading and Writing Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duggleby, Sandra J.; Tang, Wei; Kuo-Newhouse, Amy

2016-01-01

This study examined the relationship between ninth-grade students' use of connectives (temporal, causal, adversative, and additive) in functional writing and performance on standards-based/criterion-referenced measures of reading and writing. Specifically, structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to examine the relationship between…

Hmong High School Students in Afterschool: Effects on Achievement, Behavior, and Self-Esteem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyer, Kimberley A. M.; Tracz, Susan M.

2014-01-01

Afterschool programs can support Asian-American young people by providing academic support and culturally specific programming designed to help them bridge their native and adopted cultures. However, little is known about the effect of afterschool participation on academic and social outcomes for Asian-American students. This causal-comparative…

Early College Entrance: How Will My Child Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Rachel U.; Hertzog, Nancy B.

2014-01-01

Early college entrance is a form of acceleration, or the process of advancing students in academic programs faster than their same-aged peers. Many early entrants have demonstrated academic ability to achieve at high levels but they exhibit tremendous variety in their age, specific abilities, social and emotional maturity, family support, and…

Earth Orbiter 1: Wideband Advanced Recorder and Processor (WARP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Terry; Kessler, John

1999-01-01

An advanced on-board spacecraft data system component is presented. The component is computer-based and provides science data acquisition, processing, storage, and base-band transmission functions. Specifically, the component is a very high rate solid state recorder, serving as a pathfinder for achieving the data handling requirements of next-generation hyperspectral imaging missions.

Longitudinal Study of Low and High Achievers in Early Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Navarro, Jose I.; Aguilar, Manuel; Marchena, Esperanza; Ruiz, Gonzalo; Menacho, Inmaculada; Van Luit, Johannes E. H.

2012-01-01

Background: Longitudinal studies allow us to identify, which specific maths skills are weak in young children, and whether there is a continuing weakness in these areas throughout their school years. Aims: This 2-year study investigated whether certain socio-demographic variables affect early mathematical competency in children aged 5-7 years.…

Differentiated Literacy Strategies for English Language Learners, Grades K-6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregory, Gayle H.; Burkman, Amy

2011-01-01

As you tailor your teaching to engage the increasing number of English language learners, the key to success is focusing on literacy. Adapted from the highly successful "Differentiated Literacy Strategies for Student Growth and Achievement in Grades K-6", this book provides a wealth of grade-specific literacy strategies that not only increase…

"Having Our Say": High Achieving African American Male College Graduates Speak about Parental Involvement and Parenting Style

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Lynn Cheryl Lanier

2013-01-01

This study examined the patterns of parental involvement and parenting styles of a particular sample of academically successful African American males who attended and graduated from historically Black colleges or universities. More specifically, investigated was the presence of any relationships between parental involvement, parenting styles,…

Structuring Formal Control Systems Specifications for Reuse: Surviving Hardware Changes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Jeffrey M.; Heimdahl, Mats P. E.; Erickson, Debra M.

2000-01-01

Formal capture and analysis of the required behavior of control systems have many advantages. For instance, it encourages rigorous requirements analysis, the required behavior is unambiguously defined, and we can assure that various safety properties are satisfied. Formal modeling is, however, a costly and time consuming process and if one could reuse the formal models over a family of products, significant cost savings would be realized. In an ongoing project we are investigating how to structure state-based models to achieve a high level of reusability within product families. In this paper we discuss a high-level structure of requirements models that achieves reusability of the desired control behavior across varying hardware platforms in a product family. The structuring approach is demonstrated through a case study in the mobile robotics domain where the desired robot behavior is reused on two diverse platforms-one commercial mobile platform and one build in-house. We use our language RSML (-e) to capture the control behavior for reuse and our tool NIMBUS to demonstrate how the formal specification can be validated and used as a prototype on the two platforms.

Experimental investigation on the miniature mixed refrigerant cooler driven by a mini-compressor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Gaofei; Gong, Maoqiong; Wu, Yinong

2018-05-01

Three miniature Joule-Thomson cryogenic coolers and a testing set up were built to investigate the cooling performance in this work. Shell-and-tube heat exchanger and plate fin heat exchangers with rectangular micro channels were designed to achieve high specific surface area. The main processing technology of micro mixed refrigerant cooler (MMRC) was described. The design and fabrication processing of the plate fin heat exchangers were also described. The new developed micro plate-fin type heat exchanger shows high compactness with the specific heat surface larger than 1.0x104 m2/m3. The results of experimental investigations on miniature mixed refrigerant J-T cryogenic coolers driven by a Mini-Compressor were discussed. The performance evaluation and comparison of the three coolers was made to find out the features for each type of cooler. Expressions of refrigeration coefficient and exergy efficiency were pointed out. No-load temperature of about 112 K, and the cooling power of 4.0W at 118K with the input power of 120W is achieved. The exergy efficiency of the SJTC is 5.14%.

Statistical algorithms improve accuracy of gene fusion detection

PubMed Central

Hsieh, Gillian; Bierman, Rob; Szabo, Linda; Lee, Alex Gia; Freeman, Donald E.; Watson, Nathaniel; Sweet-Cordero, E. Alejandro

2017-01-01

Abstract Gene fusions are known to play critical roles in tumor pathogenesis. Yet, sensitive and specific algorithms to detect gene fusions in cancer do not currently exist. In this paper, we present a new statistical algorithm, MACHETE (Mismatched Alignment CHimEra Tracking Engine), which achieves highly sensitive and specific detection of gene fusions from RNA-Seq data, including the highest Positive Predictive Value (PPV) compared to the current state-of-the-art, as assessed in simulated data. We show that the best performing published algorithms either find large numbers of fusions in negative control data or suffer from low sensitivity detecting known driving fusions in gold standard settings, such as EWSR1-FLI1. As proof of principle that MACHETE discovers novel gene fusions with high accuracy in vivo, we mined public data to discover and subsequently PCR validate novel gene fusions missed by other algorithms in the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR3. These results highlight the gains in accuracy achieved by introducing statistical models into fusion detection, and pave the way for unbiased discovery of potentially driving and druggable gene fusions in primary tumors. PMID:28541529

An Approach to the Articulation and Coordination of Occupational Preparatory Curriculums from the High School Through the Community College; Paper and Reports of Task Forces I and II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oregon State Dept. of Employment, Salem.

The primary objective of this project was to produce a suggested plan for promoting and guiding the development and expansion of occupational education in Oregon high schools and community colleges. To achieve the major objective, special task force groups were assembled to work on specific aspects of the total project: labor market data,…

High voltage spark carbon fiber detection system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, L. C.

1980-01-01

The pulse discharge technique was used to determine the length and density of carbon fibers released from fiber composite materials during a fire or aircraft accident. Specifications are given for the system which uses the ability of a carbon fiber to initiate spark discharge across a high voltage biased grid to achieve accurate counting and sizing of fibers. The design of the system was optimized, and prototype hardware proved satisfactory in laboratory and field tests.

Achievement of a 920-MHz High Resolution NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashi, Kenjiro; Shimizu, Tadashi; Goto, Atsushi; Kiyoshi, Tsukasa; Matsumoto, Shinji; Wada, Hitoshi; Fujito, Teruaki; Hasegawa, Ken-ichi; Yoshikawa, Masatoshi; Miki, Takashi; Ito, Satoshi; Hamada, Mamoru; Hayashi, Seiji

2002-06-01

We have developed a 920-MHz NMR system and performed the proton NMR measurement of H 2O and ethylbenzene using the superconducting magnet operating at 21.6 T (920 MHz for proton), which is the highest field produced by a superconducting NMR magnet in the persistent mode. From the NMR measurements, it is verified that both homogeneity and stability of the magnet have a specification sufficient for a high resolution NMR.

PSA Nadir of <0.5 ng/mL Following Brachytherapy for Early-Stage Prostate Adenocarcinoma is Associated With Freedom From Prostate-Specific Antigen Failure

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

Ko, Eric C.; Stone, Nelson N.; Department of Urology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY

2012-06-01

Purpose: Because limited information exists regarding whether the rate or magnitude of PSA decline following brachytherapy predicts long-term clinical outcomes, we evaluated whether achieving a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir (nPSA) <0.5 ng/mL following brachytherapy is associated with decreased PSA failure and/or distant metastasis. Methods and Materials: We retrospectively analyzed our database of early-stage prostate adenocarcinoma patients who underwent brachytherapy, excluding those receiving androgen-deprivation therapy and those with <2 years follow-up. Median and mean pretreatment PSA were 6 ng/mL and 7.16 ng/mL, respectively. By clinical stage, 775 were low risk ({<=}T2a), 126 were intermediate risk (T2b), and 20 were high riskmore » (>T2b). By Gleason score, 840 were low risk ({<=}6), 71 were intermediate risk (7), and 10 were high risk (>7). Patients were treated with brachytherapy only (I-125, n = 779, or Pd-103, n = 47), or brachytherapy + external-beam radiation therapy (n = 95). Median follow-up was 6.3 years. We noted whether nPSA <0.5 ng/mL was achieved and the time to achieve this nadir and tested for associations with pretreatment risk factors. We also determined whether this PSA endpoint was associated with decreased PSA failure or distant metastasis. Results: Absence of high-risk factors in clinical stage ({<=}T2b), Gleason score ({<=}7), and pretreatment PSA ({<=}20 ng/mL) was significantly associated with achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL had significantly higher long-term freedom from biochemical failure (FFBF) than nonresponders (5-year FFBF: 95.2 {+-} 0.8% vs. 71.5 {+-} 6.7%; p < 0.0005). Among responders, those who achieved nPSA <0.5 ng/mL in {<=}5 years had higher FFBF than those requiring >5 years (5-year FFBF: 96.7 {+-} 0.7% vs. 80.8 {+-} 4.6%; p < 0.0005). On multivariate analysis, patients who achieved nPSA <0.5 ng/mL in {<=}5 years had significantly higher FFBF than other patients. Conclusions: Pretreatment risk factors (clinical tumor stage, Gleason score, pretreatment PSA) strongly predict for patients achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL following brachytherapy, and this cohort had significantly higher long-term FFBF.« less

PSA nadir of <0.5 ng/mL following brachytherapy for early-stage prostate adenocarcinoma is associated with freedom from prostate-specific antigen failure.

PubMed

Ko, Eric C; Stone, Nelson N; Stock, Richard G

2012-06-01

Because limited information exists regarding whether the rate or magnitude of PSA decline following brachytherapy predicts long-term clinical outcomes, we evaluated whether achieving a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir (nPSA) <0.5 ng/mL following brachytherapy is associated with decreased PSA failure and/or distant metastasis. We retrospectively analyzed our database of early-stage prostate adenocarcinoma patients who underwent brachytherapy, excluding those receiving androgen-deprivation therapy and those with <2 years follow-up. Median and mean pretreatment PSA were 6 ng/mL and 7.16 ng/mL, respectively. By clinical stage, 775 were low risk (≤ T2a), 126 were intermediate risk (T2b), and 20 were high risk (>T2b). By Gleason score, 840 were low risk (≤ 6), 71 were intermediate risk (7), and 10 were high risk (>7). Patients were treated with brachytherapy only (I-125, n = 779, or Pd-103, n = 47), or brachytherapy + external-beam radiation therapy (n = 95). Median follow-up was 6.3 years. We noted whether nPSA <0.5 ng/mL was achieved and the time to achieve this nadir and tested for associations with pretreatment risk factors. We also determined whether this PSA endpoint was associated with decreased PSA failure or distant metastasis. Absence of high-risk factors in clinical stage (≤ T2b), Gleason score (≤ 7), and pretreatment PSA (≤ 20 ng/mL) was significantly associated with achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL had significantly higher long-term freedom from biochemical failure (FFBF) than nonresponders (5-year FFBF: 95.2 ± 0.8% vs. 71.5 ± 6.7%; p < 0.0005). Among responders, those who achieved nPSA <0.5 ng/mL in ≤ 5 years had higher FFBF than those requiring >5 years (5-year FFBF: 96.7 ± 0.7% vs. 80.8 ± 4.6%; p < 0.0005). On multivariate analysis, patients who achieved nPSA <0.5 ng/mL in ≤ 5 years had significantly higher FFBF than other patients. Pretreatment risk factors (clinical tumor stage, Gleason score, pretreatment PSA) strongly predict for patients achieving nPSA <0.5 ng/mL following brachytherapy, and this cohort had significantly higher long-term FFBF. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical Fabrication Used to Produce Thin-Film Materials for High Power-to- Weight-Ratio Space Photovoltaic Arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hepp, Aloysius F.; Rybicki, George C.; Raffaelle, Ryne P.; Harris, Jerry D.; Hehemann, David G.; Junek, William; Gorse, Joseph; Thompson, Tracy L.; Hollingsworth, Jennifer A.; Buhro, William E.

2000-01-01

The key to achieving high specific power (watts per kilogram) space solar arrays is the development of a high-efficiency, thin-film solar cell that can be fabricated directly on a flexible, lightweight, space-qualified durable substrate such as Kapton (DuPont) or other polyimide or suitable polymer film. Cell efficiencies approaching 20 percent at AM0 (air mass zero) are required. Current thin-film cell fabrication approaches are limited by either (1) the ultimate efficiency that can be achieved with the device material and structure or (2) the requirement for high-temperature deposition processes that are incompatible with all presently known flexible polyimide or other polymer substrate materials. Cell fabrication processes must be developed that will produce high-efficiency cells at temperatures below 400 degrees Celsius, and preferably below 300 degress Celsius to minimize the problems associated with the difference between the coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrate and thin-film solar cell and/or the decomposition of the substrate.

Nuclear transformation of eukaryotic microalgae: historical overview, achievements and problems.

PubMed

León, Rosa; Fernández, Emilio

2007-01-01

Transformation of microalgae is a first step in their use for biotechnological applications involving foreign protein production or molecular modifications of specific cell metabolic pathways. Since the first reliable achievements of nuclear transformation in Chlamydomonas, other eukaryotic microalgae have become transformed with molecular markers that allow a direct selection. Different methods--glass beads, electroporation, particle bombardment, or Agrobacterium--and constructions have been set up in several organisms and successfully used. However, some problems associated with efficiency, integration, or stability of the transgenes still persist and are analysed herein. Though the number of microalgae species successfully transformed is not very high, prospects for transformation of many more are good enough on the basis of what has been achieved so far.

Impaired acuity of the approximate number system underlies mathematical learning disability (dyscalculia)

PubMed Central

Mazzocco, Michèle M. M.; Feigenson, Lisa; Halberda, Justin

2015-01-01

Many children have significant mathematical learning disabilities (MLD, or dyscalculia) despite adequate schooling. We hypothesize that MLD partly results from a deficiency in the Approximate Number System (ANS) that supports nonverbal numerical representations across species and throughout development. Here we show that ninth grade students with MLD have significantly poorer ANS precision than students in all other mathematics achievement groups (low-, typically-, and high-achieving), as measured by psychophysical assessments of ANS acuity (w) and of the mappings between ANS representations and number words (cv). This relationship persists even when controlling for domain-general abilities. Furthermore, this ANS precision does not differentiate low- from typically-achieving students, suggesting an ANS deficit that is specific to MLD. PMID:21679173

Optimal CINAHL search strategies for identifying therapy studies and review articles.

PubMed

Wong, Sharon S L; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Haynes, R Brian

2006-01-01

To design optimal search strategies for locating sound therapy studies and review articles in CiNAHL in the year 2000. An analytic survey was conducted, comparing hand searches of 75 journals with retrievals from CINAHL for 5,020 candidate search terms and 17,900 combinations for therapy and 5,977 combinations for review articles. All articles were rated with purpose and quality indicators. Candidate search strategies were used in CINAHL, and the retrievals were compared with results of the hand searches. The proposed search strategies were treated as "diagnostic tests" for sound studies and the manual review of the literature was treated as the "gold standard." Operating characteristics of the search strategies were calculated. Of the 1,383 articles about treatment, 506 (36.6%) met basic criteria for scientific merit and 127 (17.9%) of the 711 articles classified as a review met the criteria for systematic reviews. For locating sound treatment studies, a three-term strategy maximized sensitivity at 99.4% but with compromised specificity at 58.3%, and a two-term strategy maximized specificity at 98.5% but with compromised sensitivity at 52.0%. For detecting systematic reviews, a three-term strategy maximized sensitivity at 91.3% while keeping specificity high at 95.4%, and a single-term strategy maximized specificity at 99.6% but with compromised sensitivity at 42.5%. Three-term search strategies optimizing sensitivity and specificity achieved these values over 91% for detecting sound treatment studies and over 76% for detecting systematic reviews. Search strategies combining indexing terms and text words can achieve high sensitivity and specificity for retrieving sound treatment studies and review articles in CINAHL.

Improved Anatomical Specificity of Non-invasive Neuro-stimulation by High Frequency (5 MHz) Ultrasound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Guo-Feng; Zhao, Hui-Xia; Zhou, Hui; Yan, Fei; Wang, Jing-Yao; Xu, Chang-Xi; Wang, Cong-Zhi; Niu, Li-Li; Meng, Long; Wu, Song; Zhang, Huai-Ling; Qiu, Wei-Bao; Zheng, Hai-Rong

2016-04-01

Low frequency ultrasound (<1 MHz) has been demonstrated to be a promising approach for non-invasive neuro-stimulation. However, the focal width is limited to be half centimeter scale. Minimizing the stimulation region with higher frequency ultrasound will provide a great opportunity to expand its application. This study first time examines the feasibility of using high frequency (5 MHz) ultrasound to achieve neuro-stimulation in brain, and verifies the anatomical specificity of neuro-stimulation in vivo. 1 MHz and 5 MHz ultrasound stimulation were evaluated in the same group of mice. Electromyography (EMG) collected from tail muscles together with the motion response videos were analyzed for evaluating the stimulation effects. Our results indicate that 5 MHz ultrasound can successfully achieve neuro-stimulation. The equivalent diameter (ED) of the stimulation region with 5 MHz ultrasound (0.29 ± 0.08 mm) is significantly smaller than that with 1 MHz (0.83 ± 0.11 mm). The response latency of 5 MHz ultrasound (45 ± 31 ms) is also shorter than that of 1 MHz ultrasound (208 ± 111 ms). Consequently, high frequency (5 MHz) ultrasound can successfully activate the brain circuits in mice. It provides a smaller stimulation region, which offers improved anatomical specificity for neuro-stimulation in a non-invasive manner.

Inattention in primary school is not good for your future school achievement—A pattern classification study

PubMed Central

Bøe, Tormod; Lundervold, Arvid

2017-01-01

Inattention in childhood is associated with academic problems later in life. The contribution of specific aspects of inattentive behaviour is, however, less known. We investigated feature importance of primary school teachers’ reports on nine aspects of inattentive behaviour, gender and age in predicting future academic achievement. Primary school teachers of n = 2491 children (7–9 years) rated nine items reflecting different aspects of inattentive behaviour in 2002. A mean academic achievement score from the previous semester in high school (2012) was available for each youth from an official school register. All scores were at a categorical level. Feature importances were assessed by using multinominal logistic regression, classification and regression trees analysis, and a random forest algorithm. Finally, a comprehensive pattern classification procedure using k-fold cross-validation was implemented. Overall, inattention was rated as more severe in boys, who also obtained lower academic achievement scores in high school than girls. Problems related to sustained attention and distractibility were together with age and gender defined as the most important features to predict future achievement scores. Using these four features as input to a collection of classifiers employing k-fold cross-validation for prediction of academic achievement level, we obtained classification accuracy, precision and recall that were clearly better than chance levels. Primary school teachers’ reports of problems related to sustained attention and distractibility were identified as the two most important features of inattentive behaviour predicting academic achievement in high school. Identification and follow-up procedures of primary school children showing these characteristics should be prioritised to prevent future academic failure. PMID:29182663

Promising Practices for Achieving Patient-centered Hospital Care: A National Study of High-performing US Hospitals.

PubMed

Aboumatar, Hanan J; Chang, Bickey H; Al Danaf, Jad; Shaear, Mohammad; Namuyinga, Ruth; Elumalai, Sathyanarayanan; Marsteller, Jill A; Pronovost, Peter J

2015-09-01

Patient-centered care is integral to health care quality, yet little is known regarding how to achieve patient-centeredness in the hospital setting. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measures patients' reports on clinician behaviors deemed by patients as key to a high-quality hospitalization experience. We conducted a national study of hospitals that achieved the highest performance on HCAHPS to identify promising practices for improving patient-centeredness, common challenges met, and how those were addressed. We identified hospitals that achieved the top ranks or remarkable recent improvements on HCAHPS and surveyed key informants at these hospitals. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we described the interventions used at these hospitals and developed an explanatory model for achieving patient-centeredness in hospital care. Fifty-two hospitals participated in this study. Hospitals used similar interventions that focused on improving responsiveness to patient needs, the discharge experience, and patient-clinician interactions. To improve responsiveness, hospitals used proactive nursing rounds (reported at 83% of hospitals) and executive/leader rounds (62%); for the discharge experience, multidisciplinary rounds (56%), postdischarge calls (54%), and discharge folders (52%) were utilized; for clinician-patient interactions, hospitals promoted specific desired behaviors (65%) and set behavioral standards (60%) for which employees were held accountable. Similar strategies were also used to achieve successful intervention implementation including HCAHPS data feedback, and employee and leader engagement and accountability. High-performing hospitals used a set of patient-centered care processes that involved both leaders and clinicians in ensuring that patient needs and preferences are addressed.

An Electrochemical Capacitor with Applicable Energy Density of 7.4 Wh/kg at Average Power Density of 3000 W/kg.

PubMed

Zhai, Teng; Lu, Xihong; Wang, Hanyu; Wang, Gongming; Mathis, Tyler; Liu, Tianyu; Li, Cheng; Tong, Yexiang; Li, Yat

2015-05-13

Electrochemical capacitors represent a new class of charge storage devices that can simultaneously achieve high energy density and high power density. Previous reports have been primarily focused on the development of high performance capacitor electrodes. Although these electrodes have achieved excellent specific capacitance based on per unit mass of active materials, the gravimetric energy densities calculated based on the weight of entire capacitor device were fairly small. This is mainly due to the large mass ratio between current collector and active material. We aimed to address this issue by a 2-fold approach of minimizing the mass of current collector and increasing the electrode performance. Here we report an electrochemical capacitor using 3D graphene hollow structure as current collector, vanadium sulfide and manganese oxide as anode and cathode materials, respectively. 3D graphene hollow structure provides a lightweight and highly conductive scaffold for deposition of pseudocapacitive materials. The device achieves an excellent active material ratio of 24%. Significantly, it delivers a remarkable energy density of 7.4 Wh/kg (based on the weight of entire device) at the average power density of 3000 W/kg. This is the highest gravimetric energy density reported for asymmetric electrochemical capacitors at such a high power density.

An overview of the Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System (NEXIS) program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polk, Jay E.; Goebel, Don; Brophy, John R.; Beatty, John; Monheiser, J.; Giles, D.; Hobson, D.; Wilson, F.; Christensen, J.; De Pano, M.;

In vivo optical detection of intranuclear cancer biomarkers using gold nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sonia; Sokolov, Konstantin; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

2006-02-01

Specific genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) are well correlated with cervical oncogenesis. The major transforming and immortalizing protein in high risk HPVs, namely HPV16, is E7 protein. E7 protein functions by deregulating the cell cycle and promoting S-phase reentry in differentiated keratinocytes. Currently, clinical diagnosis of cervical cancer is based on phenotypic changes observed in a screening Papanicolaou smear. Although screening has been effective in reducing the occurrence of cervical cancer, the low specificity of the Pap smear results in resources wasted on the evaluation of low-grade lesions not likely to progress to cervical cancer. Molecular characterization of active HPV infections using molecular specific contrast agents are combined with in-vivo optical imaging is proposed to be a cost-effective, non-invasive technique for the detection of cervical pre-cancers. Contrast is achieved by exploiting the peak absorbance and scattering shift in aggregated gold nanoparticles over isolated ones and molecular specificity is achieved via recognition moieties with high affinities for E7. Conjugates of gold nanoparticles and HPV16 anti-E7 antibodies are delivered into the nucleus of living cells and imaged with reflectance confocal microscopy. These contrast agents have been used to successfully enhance contrast in HPV16+ cervical cancer cells over HPV- cells by a factor of 2.5. Further characterization and development of these contrast agents will provide a robust, low cost screening tool for the detection of cervical pre-cancers.

Advanced Solar Panel Designs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ralph, E. L.; Linder, E. B.

1995-01-01

Solar panel designs that utilize new high-efficiency solar cells and lightweight rigid panel technologies are described. The resulting designs increase the specific power (W/kg) achievable in the near-term and are well suited to meet the demands of higher performance small satellites (smallsats). Advanced solar panel designs have been developed and demonstrated on two NASA SBIR contracts at Applied Solar. The first used 19% efficient, large area (5.5 cm x 6.5 cm) GaAs/Ge solar cells with a lightweight rigid graphite epoxy isogrid substrate configuration. A 1,445 sq cm coupon was fabricated and tested to demonstrate 60 W/kg with a high potential of achieving 80 W/kg. The second panel design used new 22% efficiency, dual-junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge solar cells combined with a lightweight aluminum core/graphite fiber mesh facesheet substrate. A 1,445 sq cm coupon was fabricated and tested to demonstrate 105 W/kg with the potential of achieving 115 W/kg.

Evaluation of Improved Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3α Inhibitors in Models of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

PubMed

Neumann, Theresa; Benajiba, Lina; Göring, Stefan; Stegmaier, Kimberly; Schmidt, Boris

2015-11-25

The challenge for glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) inhibitor design lies in achieving high selectivity for one isoform over the other. The therapy of certain diseases, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), may require α-isoform specific targeting. The scorpion shaped GSK-3 inhibitors developed by our group achieved the highest GSK-3α selectivity reported so far but suffered from insufficient aqueous solubility. This work presents the solubility-driven optimization of our isoform-selective inhibitors using a scorpion shaped lead. Among 15 novel compounds, compound 27 showed high activity against GSK-3α/β with the highest GSK-3α selectivity reported to date. Compound 27 was profiled for bioavailability and toxicity in a zebrafish embryo phenotype assay. Selective GSK-3α targeting in AML cell lines was achieved with compound 27, resulting in a strong differentiation phenotype and colony formation impairment, confirming the potential of GSK-3α inhibition in AML therapy.

ITO nanoparticles reused from ITO scraps and their applications to sputtering target for transparent conductive electrode layer.

PubMed

Hong, Sung-Jei; Song, Sang-Hyun; Kim, Byeong Jun; Lee, Jae-Yong; Kim, Young-Sung

2017-01-01

In this study, ITO nanoparticles (ITO-NPs) were reused from ITO target scraps to synthesize low cost ITO-NPs and to apply to make sputtering target for transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). By controlling heat-treatment temperature as 980 °C, we achieved reused ITO-NPs having Brunauer, Emmett and Teller specific surface area (BET SSA) and average particle size 8.05 m 2 /g and 103.8 nm, respectively. The BET SSA decreases along with increasing heat-treatment temperature. The ITO-NPs were grown as round mound shape, and highly crystallized to (222) preferred orientations. Also, applying the reused ITO-NPs, we achieved an ITO target of which density was 99.6%. Using the ITO target, we achieved high quality TCE layer of which sheet resistance and optical transmittance at 550 nm were 29.5 Ω/sq. and 82.3%. Thus, it was confirmed that the reused ITO-NPs was feasible to sputtering target for TCEs layer.

ITO nanoparticles reused from ITO scraps and their applications to sputtering target for transparent conductive electrode layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Sung-Jei; Song, Sang-Hyun; Kim, Byeong Jun; Lee, Jae-Yong; Kim, Young-Sung

2017-09-01

In this study, ITO nanoparticles (ITO-NPs) were reused from ITO target scraps to synthesize low cost ITO-NPs and to apply to make sputtering target for transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). By controlling heat-treatment temperature as 980 °C, we achieved reused ITO-NPs having Brunauer, Emmett and Teller specific surface area (BET SSA) and average particle size 8.05 m2/g and 103.8 nm, respectively. The BET SSA decreases along with increasing heat-treatment temperature. The ITO-NPs were grown as round mound shape, and highly crystallized to (222) preferred orientations. Also, applying the reused ITO-NPs, we achieved an ITO target of which density was 99.6%. Using the ITO target, we achieved high quality TCE layer of which sheet resistance and optical transmittance at 550 nm were 29.5 Ω/sq. and 82.3%. Thus, it was confirmed that the reused ITO-NPs was feasible to sputtering target for TCEs layer.

Porous dimanganese trioxide microflowers derived from microcoordinations for flexible solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Huan; Li, Xinran; Li, Bing; Zhang, Yizhou; Zhao, Qunxing; Lai, Wen-Yong; Huang, Wei

2016-06-01

Dimanganese trioxide microflowers are easily obtained from a Mn(ii) 8-hydroxyquinoline microcoordination after calcination in air. We also look into the possible formation mechanism of the flower-like morphology, and find that the reaction time affects the morphology of the coordination. Furthermore, the as-prepared porous Mn2O3 microflowers are made of many nanoplates which form many nanogaps and nanochannels. Interestingly, the assembled electrode based on the as-prepared porous Mn2O3 microflowers proves to be a high-performance electrode material for supercapacitors. The electrode shows a specific capacitance of 994 F g-1, which can work well even after 4000 cycles at 0.75 A g-1. More importantly, the porous Mn2O3 microflowers and activated carbons are assembled into a high-performance flexible solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor with a specific capacitance of 312.5 mF cm-2. The cycle test shows that the device can offer 95.6% capacity of the initial capacitance at 2.0 mA cm-2 after 5000 cycles with little decay. The maximum energy density of the device can achieve 6.56 mWh cm-3 and the maximum power density can also achieve 283.5 mW cm-3, which are among the best results for manganese based materials.Dimanganese trioxide microflowers are easily obtained from a Mn(ii) 8-hydroxyquinoline microcoordination after calcination in air. We also look into the possible formation mechanism of the flower-like morphology, and find that the reaction time affects the morphology of the coordination. Furthermore, the as-prepared porous Mn2O3 microflowers are made of many nanoplates which form many nanogaps and nanochannels. Interestingly, the assembled electrode based on the as-prepared porous Mn2O3 microflowers proves to be a high-performance electrode material for supercapacitors. The electrode shows a specific capacitance of 994 F g-1, which can work well even after 4000 cycles at 0.75 A g-1. More importantly, the porous Mn2O3 microflowers and activated carbons are assembled into a high-performance flexible solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor with a specific capacitance of 312.5 mF cm-2. The cycle test shows that the device can offer 95.6% capacity of the initial capacitance at 2.0 mA cm-2 after 5000 cycles with little decay. The maximum energy density of the device can achieve 6.56 mWh cm-3 and the maximum power density can also achieve 283.5 mW cm-3, which are among the best results for manganese based materials. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr02267g

Scaling of Ion Thrusters to Low Power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Michael J.; Grisnik, Stanley P.; Soulas, George C.

1998-01-01

Analyses were conducted to examine ion thruster scaling relationships in detail to determine performance limits, and lifetime expectations for thruster input power levels below 0.5 kW. This was motivated by mission analyses indicating the potential advantages of high performance, high specific impulse systems for small spacecraft. The design and development status of a 0.1-0.3 kW prototype small thruster and its components are discussed. Performance goals include thruster efficiencies on the order of 40% to 54% over a specific impulse range of 2000 to 3000 seconds, with a lifetime in excess of 8000 hours at full power. Thruster technologies required to achieve the performance and lifetime targets are identified.

Novel MRF fluid for ultra-low roughness optical surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumas, Paul; McFee, Charles

2014-08-01

Over the past few years there have been an increasing number of applications calling for ultra-low roughness (ULR) surfaces. A critical demand has been driven by EUV optics, EUV photomasks, X-Ray, and high energy laser applications. Achieving ULR results on complex shapes like aspheres and X-Ray mirrors is extremely challenging with conventional polishing techniques. To achieve both tight figure and roughness specifications, substrates typically undergo iterative global and local polishing processes. Typically the local polishing process corrects the figure or flatness but cannot achieve the required surface roughness, whereas the global polishing process produces the required roughness but degrades the figure. Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF) is a local polishing technique based on a magnetically-sensitive fluid that removes material through a shearing mechanism with minimal normal load, thus removing sub-surface damage. The lowest surface roughness produced by current MRF is close to 3 Å RMS. A new ULR MR fluid uses a nano-based cerium as the abrasive in a proprietary aqueous solution, the combination of which reliably produces under 1.5Å RMS roughness on Fused Silica as measured by atomic force microscopy. In addition to the highly convergent figure correction achieved with MRF, we show results of our novel MR fluid achieving <1.5Å RMS roughness on fused silica and other materials.

Design of high breakdown voltage vertical GaN p-n diodes with high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure for power electronics applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Jiangfeng; Li, Zhenchao; Liu, Dong; Bai, Zhiyuan; Liu, Yang; Yu, Qi

2017-11-01

In this work, a vertical GaN p-n diode with a high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure (GaN CD-VGD) is proposed and designed to achieve a record high breakdown voltage (BV) with a low specific on-resistance (Ron,sp). By introducing compound dielectric structure, the electric field near the p-n junction interface is suppressed due to the effects of high-K passivation layer, and a new electric field peak is induced into the n-type drift region, because of a discontinuity of electrical field at the interface of high-K and low-K layer. Therefore the distribution of electric field in GaN p-n diode becomes more uniform and an enhancement of breakdown voltage can be achieved. Numerical simulations demonstrate that GaN CD-VGD with a BV of 10650 V and a Ron,sp of 14.3 mΩ cm2, resulting in a record high figure-of-merit of 8 GW/cm2.

Method for producing through extrusion an anisotropic magnet with high energy product

DOEpatents

Chandhok, Vijay K.

2004-09-07

A method for producing an anisotropic magnet with high energy product through extrusion and, more specifically, by placing a particle charge of a composition from the which magnet is to be produced in a noncircular container, heating the container and particle charge and extruding the container and particle charge through a noncircular extrusion die in such a manner that one of the cross-sectional axes or dimension of the container and particle charge is held substantially constant during the extrusion to compact the particle charge to substantially full density by mechanical deformation produced during the extrusion to achieve a magnet with anisotropic magnetic properties along the axes or dimension thereof and, more specifically, a high energy product along the transverse of the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the extruded magnet.

Development of the Sunpower 35 We Free-Piston Stirling Convertor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, J. Gary; Lane, Neill

2005-02-01

This paper describes the development and performance of the Sunpower 35 We free-piston Stirling convertor. Exceptional thermodynamic performance has been achieved in a small lightweight machine. Efficiency of over 30 percent, at a temperature ratio of 2.6 has been achieved. Specific power of the convertor in final low mass hermetically-sealed form is projected to exceed 90 watts/Kg. This convertor was developed under NASA SBIR funding. Potential applications for this convertor include highly efficient and low mass radioisotope fueled space power systems, as well as terrestrial use as a fuel fired battery replacement.

Highly conductive and porous activated reduced graphene oxide films for high-power supercapacitors.

PubMed

Zhang, Li Li; Zhao, Xin; Stoller, Meryl D; Zhu, Yanwu; Ji, Hengxing; Murali, Shanthi; Wu, Yaping; Perales, Stephen; Clevenger, Brandon; Ruoff, Rodney S

2012-04-11

We present a novel method to prepare highly conductive, free-standing, and flexible porous carbon thin films by chemical activation of reduced graphene oxide paper. These flexible carbon thin films possess a very high specific surface area of 2400 m(2) g(-1) with a high in-plane electrical conductivity of 5880 S m(-1). This is the highest specific surface area for a free-standing carbon film reported to date. A two-electrode supercapacitor using these carbon films as electrodes demonstrated an excellent high-frequency response, an extremely low equivalent series resistance on the order of 0.1 ohm, and a high-power delivery of about 500 kW kg(-1). While higher frequency and power values for graphene materials have been reported, these are the highest values achieved while simultaneously maintaining excellent specific capacitances and energy densities of 120 F g(-1) and 26 W h kg(-1), respectively. In addition, these free-standing thin films provide a route to simplify the electrode-manufacturing process by eliminating conducting additives and binders. The synthetic process is also compatible with existing industrial level KOH activation processes and roll-to-roll thin-film fabrication technologies. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Second language learners who are at-risk for reading disabilities: A growth mixture model study.

PubMed

Yeung, Susanna S

2018-05-11

This one-year longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of English reading in Chinese children learning English as a second language (ESL) and identified cognitive profiles of children who are at risk for English reading disability. One hundred and eighty-four Chinese ESL children from eight Hong Kong kindergartens were measured four times during their last year of kindergarten for phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary and English word reading. Growth mixture modeling was applied to classify the children based on their growth trajectories in English word reading. Four subgroups of word reading growth were classified, namely high-achieving, fast-growth, slow-growth and low-achieving groups. The cognitive-linguistic skills were compared across different groups with age, non-verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary in L1 controlled. The results showed that low-achieving groups, who were expected to be at-risk for L2 reading disability, showed deficits in letter-name knowledge, phonemic awareness, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Fast-growth and high-achieving groups were not distinguishable on the measured cognitive-linguistic skills. Children in the low-growth groups were significantly weaker in phonemic awareness, receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary than children in the high-achieving group. Our findings identified specific cognitive-linguistic deficits that were associated with children who are at-risk for reading disability. Implications for the early identification of L2 reading disability were discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of playing rugby union for professional and amateur players.

PubMed

Treasure, D C; Carpenter, P J; Power, K T

2000-08-01

The recent professionalization of rugby union makes it an excellent achievement context in which to examine the relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of sport as a function of competitive standard. During the 1996-97 season, 73 professional and 106 amateur rugby players in England completed a series of questionnaires assessing their achievement goal orientations, beliefs about the purposes of rugby and demographic information. The results of a canonical correlation analysis revealed a conceptually coherent relationship between achievement goal orientations and purposes of rugby. Specifically, a high ego/moderate task orientation was positively related to fitness, aggression and financial remuneration as significant purposes of rugby. Professional players scored higher on those purposes of rugby related to aggression, financial remuneration and fitness, but lower on sportspersonship than amateur players. Professional players also reported higher task and ego goal orientations than amateur players. The findings are discussed in terms of the differences in lifestyle and motivation of professional and amateur rugby union players.

Producing specific milks for speciality cheeses.

PubMed

Bertoni, G; Calamari, L; Maianti, M G

2001-05-01

Protected denomination of origin (PDO) cheeses have distinctive sensorial characteristics. They can be made only from raw milk possessing specific features, which is processed through the 'art' of the cheesemaker. In general, the distinctive sensorial traits of PDO cheese cannot be achieved under different environmental-production conditions for two main reasons: (1) some milk features are linked to specific animal production systems; (2) cheese ripening is affected by the interaction between milk (specific) and the traditional technology applied to the transformation process (non-specific). Also, the environment for a good ripening stage can be quite specific and not reproducible. With reference to milk, factors of typicality are species and/or breed, pedoclimatic conditions, animal management system and feeding. Other factors that influence cheese quality are milk treatments, milk processing and the ripening procedures. The technology applied to most cheeses currently known as PDO utilizes only raw milk, rennet and natural lactic acid bacteria, so that milk must be, at its origin, suitable for processing. The specific milk characteristics that ensure a high success rate for PDO cheeses are high protein content and good renneting properties, appropriate fat content with appropriate fatty acid composition and the presence of chemical flavours originating from local feeds. Moreover, an appropriate microflora is also of major importance. The factors that contribute to achieving milk suitable for transformation into PDO cheese are genetics, age, lactation stage, season and climate, general management and health conditions, milking and particularly feeding, which affect nutrient availability, endocrine response and health status, and also the presence of microbes and chemical substances which enrich or reduce the milk-cheese quality. Many of these factors are regulated by the Producer Associations. However, the secret of the success of PDO cheeses is the combination of modern technology and tradition, with the objective of adapting the product to market demand, without losing specificity, originality and authenticity.

Development of a Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR Assay for Global Differentiation of Yellow Fever Virus Vaccine-Related Adverse Events from Natural Infections.

PubMed

Hughes, Holly R; Russell, Brandy J; Mossel, Eric C; Kayiwa, John; Lutwama, Julius; Lambert, Amy J

2018-06-01

Yellow fever (YF) is a reemerging public health threat, with frequent outbreaks prompting large vaccination campaigns in regions of endemicity in Africa and South America. Specific detection of vaccine-related adverse events is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and difficult to achieve during an outbreak. To address this, we have developed a highly transferable rapid yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay that distinguishes vaccine from wild-type lineages. The assay utilizes a specific hydrolysis probe that includes locked nucleic acids to enhance specific discrimination of the YFV17D vaccine strain genome. Promisingly, sensitivity and specificity analyses reveal this assay to be highly specific to vaccine strain(s) when tested on clinical samples and YFV cell culture isolates of global origin. Taken together, our data suggest the utility of this assay for use in laboratories of varied capacity for the identification and differentiation of vaccine-related adverse events from wild-type infections of both African and South American origin. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.

Structural Basis for Specific Inhibition of tRNA Synthetase by an ATP Competitive Inhibitor.

PubMed

Fang, Pengfei; Han, Hongyan; Wang, Jing; Chen, Kaige; Chen, Xin; Guo, Min

2015-06-18

Pharmaceutical inhibitors of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases demand high species and family specificity. The antimalarial ATP-mimetic cladosporin selectively inhibits Plasmodium falciparum LysRS (PfLysRS). How the binding to a universal ATP site achieves the specificity is unknown. Here we report three crystal structures of cladosporin with human LysRS, PfLysRS, and a Pf-like human LysRS mutant. In all three structures, cladosporin occupies the class defining ATP-binding pocket, replacing the adenosine portion of ATP. Three residues holding the methyltetrahydropyran moiety of cladosporin are critical for the specificity of cladosporin against LysRS over other class II tRNA synthetase families. The species-exclusive inhibition of PfLysRS is linked to a structural divergence beyond the active site that mounts a lysine-specific stabilizing response to binding cladosporin. These analyses reveal that inherent divergence of tRNA synthetase structural assembly may allow for highly specific inhibition even through the otherwise universal substrate binding pocket and highlight the potential for structure-driven drug development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Significant Performance Enhancement in Asymmetric Supercapacitors based on Metal Oxides, Carbon nanotubes and Neutral Aqueous Electrolyte

PubMed Central

Singh, Arvinder; Chandra, Amreesh

2015-01-01

Amongst the materials being investigated for supercapacitor electrodes, carbon based materials are most investigated. However, pure carbon materials suffer from inherent physical processes which limit the maximum specific energy and power that can be achieved in an energy storage device. Therefore, use of carbon-based composites with suitable nano-materials is attaining prominence. The synergistic effect between the pseudocapacitive nanomaterials (high specific energy) and carbon (high specific power) is expected to deliver the desired improvements. We report the fabrication of high capacitance asymmetric supercapacitor based on electrodes of composites of SnO2 and V2O5 with multiwall carbon nanotubes and neutral 0.5 M Li2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The advantages of the fabricated asymmetric supercapacitors are compared with the results published in the literature. The widened operating voltage window is due to the higher over-potential of electrolyte decomposition and a large difference in the work functions of the used metal oxides. The charge balanced device returns the specific capacitance of ~198 F g−1 with corresponding specific energy of ~89 Wh kg−1 at 1 A g−1. The proposed composite systems have shown great potential in fabricating high performance supercapacitors. PMID:26494197

Significant Performance Enhancement in Asymmetric Supercapacitors based on Metal Oxides, Carbon nanotubes and Neutral Aqueous Electrolyte

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Arvinder; Chandra, Amreesh

2015-10-01

Amongst the materials being investigated for supercapacitor electrodes, carbon based materials are most investigated. However, pure carbon materials suffer from inherent physical processes which limit the maximum specific energy and power that can be achieved in an energy storage device. Therefore, use of carbon-based composites with suitable nano-materials is attaining prominence. The synergistic effect between the pseudocapacitive nanomaterials (high specific energy) and carbon (high specific power) is expected to deliver the desired improvements. We report the fabrication of high capacitance asymmetric supercapacitor based on electrodes of composites of SnO2 and V2O5 with multiwall carbon nanotubes and neutral 0.5 M Li2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The advantages of the fabricated asymmetric supercapacitors are compared with the results published in the literature. The widened operating voltage window is due to the higher over-potential of electrolyte decomposition and a large difference in the work functions of the used metal oxides. The charge balanced device returns the specific capacitance of ~198 F g-1 with corresponding specific energy of ~89 Wh kg-1 at 1 A g-1. The proposed composite systems have shown great potential in fabricating high performance supercapacitors.

Method for Predicting the Energy Characteristics of Li-Ion Cells Designed for High Specific Energy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bennett, William, R.

2012-01-01

Novel electrode materials with increased specific capacity and voltage performance are critical to the NASA goals for developing Li-ion batteries with increased specific energy and energy density. Although performance metrics of the individual electrodes are critically important, a fundamental understanding of the interactions of electrodes in a full cell is essential to achieving the desired performance, and for establishing meaningful goals for electrode performance in the first place. This paper presents design considerations for matching positive and negative electrodes in a viable design. Methods for predicting cell-level performance, based on laboratory data for individual electrodes, are presented and discussed.

The design analysis of a rechargeable lithium cell for space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Subba Rao, S.; Shen, D. H.; Yen, S. P. S.; Somoano, R. B.

1986-01-01

Ambient temperature rechargeable lithium batteries are needed by NASA for advanced space power applications for future missions. Specific energies of not less than 100 Wh/kg and long cycle life are critical performance goals. A design analysis of a 35 Ah Li-TiS2 cell was carried out using literature and experimental data to identify key design parameters governing specific energy. It is found that high specific energies are achievable in prismatic cells, especially with the use of advanced hardware materials. There is a serious need for a greatly expanded engineering database in order to enable more quantitative design analysis.

Design and applications of biomimetic anthraquinone dyes. Purification of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase with immobilised terminal ring analogues of C.I. reactive blue 2.

PubMed

Lindner, N M; Jeffcoat, R; Lowe, C R

1989-06-28

A 330-fold one-step purification of alkaline phosphatase from a crude calf intestinal extract has been achieved using specific elution with inorganic phosphate (5 mM) from a purpose designed adsorbent comprising a terminal ring phosphonate analogue of C.I. Reactive Blue 2 coupled to Sepharose CL-6B-200. The resulting alkaline phosphatase preparation displayed a specific activity in excess of 1000 U/mg and was of equivalent purity to commercial "high purity" preparations as deduced by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and specific activity comparisons.

A powerful and flexible statistical framework for testing hypotheses of allele-specific gene expression from RNA-seq data

PubMed Central

Skelly, Daniel A.; Johansson, Marnie; Madeoy, Jennifer; Wakefield, Jon; Akey, Joshua M.

2011-01-01

Variation in gene expression is thought to make a significant contribution to phenotypic diversity among individuals within populations. Although high-throughput cDNA sequencing offers a unique opportunity to delineate the genome-wide architecture of regulatory variation, new statistical methods need to be developed to capitalize on the wealth of information contained in RNA-seq data sets. To this end, we developed a powerful and flexible hierarchical Bayesian model that combines information across loci to allow both global and locus-specific inferences about allele-specific expression (ASE). We applied our methodology to a large RNA-seq data set obtained in a diploid hybrid of two diverse Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, as well as to RNA-seq data from an individual human genome. Our statistical framework accurately quantifies levels of ASE with specified false-discovery rates, achieving high reproducibility between independent sequencing platforms. We pinpoint loci that show unusual and biologically interesting patterns of ASE, including allele-specific alternative splicing and transcription termination sites. Our methodology provides a rigorous, quantitative, and high-resolution tool for profiling ASE across whole genomes. PMID:21873452

Novel rolling circle amplification and DNA origami-based DNA belt-involved signal amplification assay for highly sensitive detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

PubMed

Yan, Juan; Hu, Chongya; Wang, Ping; Liu, Rui; Zuo, Xiaolei; Liu, Xunwei; Song, Shiping; Fan, Chunhai; He, Dannong; Sun, Gang

2014-11-26

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is one of the most important biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer. Although many efforts have been made to achieve significant progress for the detection of PSA, challenges including relative low sensitivity, complicated operation, sophisticated instruments, and high cost remain unsolved. Here, we have developed a strategy combining rolling circle amplification (RCA)-based DNA belts and magnetic bead-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the highly sensitive and specific detection of PSA. At first, a 96-base circular DNA template was designed and prepared for the following RCA. Single stranded DNA (ssDNA) products from RCA were used as scaffold strand for DNA origami, which was hybridized with three staple strands of DNA. The resulting DNA belts were conjugated with multiple enzymes for signal amplification and then employed to magnetic bead based ELISA for PSA detection. Through our strategy, as low as 50 aM of PSA can be detected with excellent specificity.

Hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon derived from the activation of agriculture waste by potassium hydroxide and urea for high-performance supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Kaixiang; Deng, Yuanfu; Chen, Juping; Qian, Yunqian; Yang, Yuewang; Li, Yingwei; Chen, Guohua

2018-02-01

Nitrogen-doped carbon with an ultra-high specific surface area and a hierarchically interconnected porous structure is synthesized in large scale from a green route, that is, the activation of bagasse via a one-step method using KOH and urea. KOH and urea play a synergistic effect for the enhancement of the specific surface area and the modification of pore size of the as-prepared material. Benefiting from the multiple synergistic roles originated from an ultra-high specific area (2905.4 m2 g-1), a high porous volume (2.05 mL g-1 with 75.6 vol% micropores, which is an ideal proportion of micropores for obtaining high specific capacitance), a suitable nitrogen content (2.63 wt%), and partial graphitization, the hierarchically interconnected porous N-doped carbon exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance with a high specific capacitance (350.8, 301.9, and 259.5 F g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 in acidic, alkaline, and neutral electrolytes, respectively), superior rate capability and excellent cycling stability (almost no capacitance loss up to 5000 cycles). Furthermore, the symmetric device assembled by this material achieves high energy densities of 39.1 and 23.5 Wh kg-1 at power densities of 1.0 and 20 kW kg-1, respectively, and exhibits an excellent long-term cycling stability (with capacitance retention above 95.0% after 10 000 cycles).

Trajectory Specification for Automation of Terminal Air Traffic Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paielli, Russell A.

2016-01-01

"Trajectory specification" is the explicit bounding and control of aircraft tra- jectories such that the position at each point in time is constrained to a precisely defined volume of space. The bounding space is defined by cross-track, along-track, and vertical tolerances relative to a reference trajectory that specifies position as a function of time. The tolerances are dynamic and will be based on the aircraft nav- igation capabilities and the current traffic situation. A standard language will be developed to represent these specifications and to communicate them by datalink. Assuming conformance, trajectory specification can guarantee safe separation for an arbitrary period of time even in the event of an air traffic control (ATC) sys- tem or datalink failure, hence it can help to achieve the high level of safety and reliability needed for ATC automation. As a more proactive form of ATC, it can also maximize airspace capacity and reduce the reliance on tactical backup systems during normal operation. It applies to both enroute airspace and the terminal area around airports, but this paper focuses on arrival spacing in the terminal area and presents ATC algorithms and software for achieving a specified delay of runway arrival time.

Efficient Purification and Release of Circulating Tumor Cells by Synergistic Effect of Biomarker and SiO2 @Gel-Microbead-Based Size Difference Amplification.

PubMed

Huang, Qinqin; Cai, Bo; Chen, Bolei; Rao, Lang; He, Zhaobo; He, Rongxiang; Guo, Feng; Zhao, Libo; Kondamareddy, Kiran Kumar; Liu, Wei; Guo, Shishang; Zhao, Xing-Zhong

2016-07-01

Microfluidics-based circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation is achieved by using gelatin-coated silica microbeads conjugated to CTC-specific antibodies. Bead-binding selectively enlarges target cell size, providing efficient high-purity capture. CTCs captured can be further released non-invasively. This stratagem enables high-performance CTC isolation for subsequent studies. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High Acetic Acid Production Rate Obtained by Microbial Electrosynthesis from Carbon Dioxide.

PubMed

Jourdin, Ludovic; Grieger, Timothy; Monetti, Juliette; Flexer, Victoria; Freguia, Stefano; Lu, Yang; Chen, Jun; Romano, Mark; Wallace, Gordon G; Keller, Jurg

2015-11-17

High product specificity and production rate are regarded as key success parameters for large-scale applicability of a (bio)chemical reaction technology. Here, we report a significant performance enhancement in acetate formation from CO2, reaching comparable productivity levels as in industrial fermentation processes (volumetric production rate and product yield). A biocathode current density of -102 ± 1 A m(-2) and an acetic acid production rate of 685 ± 30 (g m(-2) day(-1)) have been achieved in this study. High recoveries of 94 ± 2% of the CO2 supplied as the sole carbon source and 100 ± 4% of electrons into the final product (acetic acid) were achieved after development of a mature biofilm, reaching an elevated product titer of up to 11 g L(-1). This high product specificity is remarkable for mixed microbial cultures, which would make the product downstream processing easier and the technology more attractive. This performance enhancement was enabled through the combination of a well-acclimatized and enriched microbial culture (very fast start-up after culture transfer), coupled with the use of a newly synthesized electrode material, EPD-3D. The throwing power of the electrophoretic deposition technique, a method suitable for large-scale production, was harnessed to form multiwalled carbon nanotube coatings onto reticulated vitreous carbon to generate a hierarchical porous structure.

Impurity Resonant States p-type Doping in Wide-Band-Gap Nitrides

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhiqiang; Yi, Xiaoyan; Yu, Zhiguo; Yuan, Gongdong; Liu, Yang; Wang, Junxi; Li, Jinmin; Lu, Na; Ferguson, Ian; Zhang, Yong

2016-01-01

In this work, a new strategy for achieving efficient p-type doping in high bandgap nitride semiconductors to overcome the fundamental issue of high activation energy has been proposed and investigated theoretically, and demonstrated experimentally. Specifically, in an AlxGa1−xN/GaN superlattice structure, by modulation doping of Mg in the AlxGa1−xN barriers, high concentration of holes are generated throughout the material. A hole concentration as high as 1.1 × 1018 cm−3 has been achieved, which is about one order of magnitude higher than that typically achievable by direct doping GaN. Results from first-principle calculations indicate that the coupling and hybridization between Mg 2p impurity and the host N 2p orbitals are main reasons for the generation of resonant states in the GaN wells, which further results in the high hole concentration. We expect this approach to be equally applicable for other high bandgap materials where efficient p-type doing is difficult. Furthermore, a two-carrier-species Hall-effect model is proposed to delineate and discriminate the characteristics of the bulk and 2D hole, which usually coexist in superlattice-like doping systems. The model reported here can also be used to explain the abnormal freeze-in effect observed in many previous reports. PMID:26777294

Error Patterns with Fraction Calculations at Fourth Grade as a Function of Students' Mathematics Achievement Status.

PubMed

Schumacher, Robin F; Malone, Amelia S

2017-09-01

The goal of the present study was to describe fraction-calculation errors among 4 th -grade students and determine whether error patterns differed as a function of problem type (addition vs. subtraction; like vs. unlike denominators), orientation (horizontal vs. vertical), or mathematics-achievement status (low- vs. average- vs. high-achieving). We specifically addressed whether mathematics-achievement status was related to students' tendency to operate with whole number bias. We extended this focus by comparing low-performing students' errors in two instructional settings that focused on two different types of fraction understandings: core instruction that focused on part-whole understanding vs. small-group tutoring that focused on magnitude understanding. Results showed students across the sample were more likely to operate with whole number bias on problems with unlike denominators. Students with low or average achievement (who only participated in core instruction) were more likely to operate with whole number bias than students with low achievement who participated in small-group tutoring. We suggest instruction should emphasize magnitude understanding to sufficiently increase fraction understanding for all students in the upper elementary grades.

Control-value theory: using achievement emotions to improve understanding of motivation, learning, and performance in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 64.

PubMed

Artino, Anthony R; Holmboe, Eric S; Durning, Steven J

2012-01-01

In this AMEE Guide, we consider the emergent theoretical and empirical work on human emotion and how this work can inform the theory, research, and practice of medical education. In the Guide, we define emotion, in general, and achievement emotions, more specifically. We describe one of the leading contemporary theories of achievement emotions, control-value theory (Pekrun 2006), and we distinguish between different types of achievement emotions, their proximal antecedents, and their consequences for motivation, learning, and performance. Next, we review the empirical support for control-value theory from non-medical fields and suggest several important implications for educational practice. In this section, we highlight the importance of designing learning environments that foster a high degree of control and value for students. Finally, we end with a discussion of the need for more research on achievement emotions in medical education, and we propose several key research questions we believe will facilitate our understanding of achievement emotions and their impact on important educational outcomes.

Near-infrared light-responsive nanomaterials in cancer therapeutics.

PubMed

Shanmugam, Vijayakumar; Selvakumar, S; Yeh, Chen-Sheng

2014-09-07

Noninvasive techniques, such as breath tests (urea breath test), blood pressure measurements using a sphygmomanometer and electrocardiography, were employed by a physician to perform classical diagnosis. The use of state-of-the-art noninvasive therapies at the organ level in modern medicine has gradually become possible. However, cancer treatment demands spatially and temporally controlled noninvasive therapy at the cell level because nonspecific toxicity often causes complicated side effects. To increase survival in cancer patients further, combination therapy and combination drugs are explored which demand high specificity to avoid combined-drug side effects. We believe that high specificity could be obtained by implementing near-infrared (NIR) light-assisted nanoparticles in photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, and photodynamic therapy. To refine this therapy and subsequently achieve high efficiency, novel nanomaterials have been designed and modified either to enhance the uptake and drug delivery to the cancer site, or control treatment to administer therapy efficiently. These modifications and developments have been demonstrated to achieve spatial and temporal control when conducting an in vivo xenograft, because the NIR light penetrated effectively the biological tissue. The nanoplatforms discussed in this review are grouped under the following subheadings: Au nanorods (NRs), Au nanoshells, other Au-related nanomaterials, graphene oxide, upconversion nanoparticles, and other related materials (including materials such as CuS, Fe3O4-related systems, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)).

RFIC's challenges for third-generation wireless systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boric-Lubecke, Olga; Lin, Jenshan; Gould, Penny; Kermalli, Munawar

2001-11-01

Third generation (3G) cellular wireless systems are envisioned to offer low cost, high-capacity mobile communications with data rates of up to 2 Mbit/s, with global roaming and advanced data services. Besides adding mobility to the internet, 3G systems will provide location-based services, as well as personalized information and entertainment. Low cost, high dynamic-range radios, both for base stations (BS) and for mobile stations (MS) are required to enable worldwide deployment of such networks. A receiver's reference sensitivity, intermodulation characteristics, and blocking characteristics, set by a wireless standard, define performance requirements of individual components of a receiver front end. Since base station handles multiple signals from various distances simultaneously, its radio specifications are significantly more demanding than those for mobile devices. While high level of integration has already been achieved for second generation hand-sets using low-cost silicon technologies, the cost and size reduction of base stations still remains a challenge and necessity. While silicon RFIC technology is steadily improving, it is still difficult to achieve noise figure (NF), linearity, and phase noise requirements with presently available devices. This paper will discuss base station specification for 2G (GSM) and 3G (UMTS) systems, as well as the feasibility of implementing base station radios in low-cost silicon processes.

Co-Immobilization of Proteins and DNA Origami Nanoplates to Produce High-Contrast Biomolecular Nanoarrays.

PubMed

Hager, Roland; Burns, Jonathan R; Grydlik, Martyna J; Halilovic, Alma; Haselgrübler, Thomas; Schäffler, Friedrich; Howorka, Stefan

2016-06-01

The biofunctionalization of nanopatterned surfaces with DNA origami nanostructures is an important topic in nanobiotechnology. An unexplored challenge is, however, to co-immobilize proteins with DNA origami at pre-determined substrate sites in high contrast relative to the nontarget areas. The immobilization should, in addition, preferably be achieved on a transparent substrate to allow ultrasensitive optical detection. If successful, specific co-binding would be a step towards stoichiometrically defined arrays with few to individual protein molecules per site. Here, we successfully immobilize with high specificity positively charged avidin proteins and negatively charged DNA origami nanoplates on 100 nm-wide carbon nanoislands while suppressing undesired adsorption to surrounding nontarget areas. The arrays on glass slides achieve unprecedented selectivity factors of up to 4000 and allow ultrasensitive fluorescence read-out. The co-immobilization onto the nanoislands leads to layered biomolecular architectures, which are functional because bound DNA origami influences the number of capturing sites on the nanopatches for other proteins. The novel hybrid DNA origami-protein nanoarrays allow the fabrication of versatile research platforms for applications in biosensing, biophysics, and cell biology, and, in addition, represent an important step towards single-molecule protein arrays. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Requirements on Needed Frequency Bandwidth Depending on Pulse Waveforms and Their Allowed Distortion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sigmund, Milan; Brancik, Lubomir

2016-12-01

This paper deals with pulse signals influenced by loss of energy in high frequency band. Five types of pulses were tested and evaluated under various conditions. Achieved results can be helpful for some specific tasks in signal transmission. An example presents highest frequency of periodic pulse signals processed on printed circuit board.

The Association between Standards- Based Grading and Standardized Test Scores in a High School Reform Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollio, Marty; Hochbein, Craig

2015-01-01

Background/Context: From two decades of research on the grading practices of teachers in secondary schools, researchers discovered that teachers evaluated students on numerous factors that do not validly assess a student's achievement level in a specific content area. These consistent findings suggested that traditional grading practices evolved…

Peer Victimization Trajectories from Kindergarten through High School: Differential Pathways for Children's School Engagement and Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladd, Gary W.; Ettekal, Idean; Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky

2017-01-01

This investigation's aims were to map prevalence, normative trends, and patterns of continuity or change in school-based peer victimization throughout formal schooling (i.e., Grades K-12), and determine whether specific victimization patterns (i.e., differential trajectories) were associated with children's academic performance. A sample of 383…

Learning Disabled Adolescents' Use of Pragmatic Functions and Code-Switching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biller, Maysoon F.

The study examined whether a difference existed between 10 learning disabled (LD) and 10 normally achieving (NA) high school students in terms of comprehension and production or use of pragmatic skills. The skills examined were pragmatic function (i.e., an utterance spoken in context with specific intent), and code-switching (i.e., modification of…

Public Support for Successful Instructional Practices for At-Risk Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilliard, Asa G., III

It is possible for at-risk students to perform at demanding academic levels, and their achievement can be improved dramatically in a relatively short time. Effective ways to teach at-risk children have already been identified; no new research is needed. This report covers the following specific issues related to educating high-risk students. It…

X-ray microtomography of porous media at BNL

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

Dowd, B.

This session is comprised of pertinent information about the historical aspects, current status of research, technical achievements, and future plans in X-ray computed microtomography at Brookhaven National Laboratories. An explanation with specifications and diagrams of X-ray instrumentation is provided. Several high resolution 3-D color images of reservoir rock drill cores and other materials are included.

VA State Profile. Virginia: Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course Exams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center on Education Policy, 2010

2010-01-01

This paper provides information about Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course Exams. The purpose of the end-of-course assessments is to measure the achievement of students on the Standards of Learning adopted by the Virginia Board of Education for specific high school courses, and to ensure that students graduating from Virginia…

Grammatical Gender in L2: A Production or a Real-Time Processing Problem?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gruter, Theres; Lew-Williams, Casey; Fernald, Anne

2012-01-01

Mastery of grammatical gender is difficult to achieve in a second language (L2). This study investigates whether persistent difficulty with grammatical gender often observed in the speech of otherwise highly proficient L2 learners is best characterized as a production-specific performance problem, or as difficulty with the retrieval of gender…

Sensitivity of Value Added School Effect Estimates to Different Model Specifications and Outcome Measures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pride, Bryce L.

2012-01-01

The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Model has been used to make many high-stakes decisions concerning schools, though it does not provide a complete assessment of student academic achievement and school effectiveness. To provide a clearer perspective, many states have implemented various Growth and Value Added Models, in addition to AYP. The…

"Having Our Say": High Achieving African American Male College Graduates Speak about Parental Involvement and Parenting Style

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Lynn Lanier; McNeese, Rose M.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the patterns of parental involvement and parenting styles of the parents of academically successful African American males who graduated from historically Black colleges or universities (Odom, 2013). More specifically, the study investigated relationships among students' perceptions of their parents'…

Education, Social Capital and State Formation in Comparative Historical Perspective: Preliminary Investigations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beadie, Nancy

2010-01-01

The relationship between education and state formation in the United States differed from that in other countries in ways that have yet to be adequately accounted for in comparative and theoretical literatures. Specifically, in the northern United States, very high levels of mass school attendance and funding were achieved prior to and outside…

"I Am Asking the Scope of the Paper": Negative Washback and Examination (Under)Preparedness in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hove, Muchativugwa Liberty; Hlatshwayo, Abigail

2015-01-01

University education has been massified in South Africa and this has disrupted conventions and practices of assessment. Universities are perceived as promoting complex achievements and complex skills through rigorous curriculum specifications and assessment instruments. Due to experiences in high school and the novelty of university education,…

What Are the Effects of Implementing Learning-Focused Strategies in Biology and Physical Science Classrooms?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Robin

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine if Learning-Focused Strategies (LFS) implemented in high school science courses would affect student achievement and the pass rate of biology and physical science Common District Assessments (CDAs). The LFS, specific teaching strategies contained in the Learning-Focused Strategies Model (LFSM) Program…

Lot quality assurance sampling for monitoring immunization programmes: cost-efficient or quick and dirty?

PubMed

Sandiford, P

1993-09-01

In recent years Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS), a method derived from production-line industry, has been advocated as an efficient means to evaluate the coverage rates achieved by child immunization programmes. This paper examines the assumptions on which LQAS is based and the effect that these assumptions have on its utility as a management tool. It shows that the attractively low sample sizes used in LQAS are achieved at the expense of specificity unless unrealistic assumptions are made about the distribution of coverage rates amongst the immunization programmes to which the method is applied. Although it is a very sensitive test and its negative predictive value is probably high in most settings, its specificity and positive predictive value are likely to be low. The implications of these strengths and weaknesses with regard to management decision-making are discussed.

Engineering the temporal response of photoconductive photodetectors via selective introduction of surface trap states.

PubMed

Konstantatos, Gerasimos; Levina, Larissa; Fischer, Armin; Sargent, Edward H

2008-05-01

Photoconductive photodetectors fabricated using simple solution-processing have recently been shown to exhibit high gains (>1000) and outstanding sensitivities ( D* > 10(13) Jones). One ostensible disadvantage of exploiting photoconductive gain is that the temporal response is limited by the release of carriers from trap states. Here we show that it is possible to introduce specific chemical species onto the surfaces of colloidal quantum dots to produce only a single, desired trap state having a carefully selected lifetime. In this way we demonstrate a device that exhibits an attractive photoconductive gain (>10) combined with a response time ( approximately 25 ms) useful in imaging. We achieve this by preserving a single surface species, lead sulfite, while eliminating lead sulfate and lead carboxylate. In doing so we preserve the outstanding sensitivity of these devices, achieving a specific detectivity of 10(12) Jones in the visible, while generating a temporal response suited to imaging applications.

Evaluation of multiplex assay platforms for detection of influenza hemagglutinin subtype specific antibody responses.

PubMed

Li, Zhu-Nan; Weber, Kimberly M; Limmer, Rebecca A; Horne, Bobbi J; Stevens, James; Schwerzmann, Joy; Wrammert, Jens; McCausland, Megan; Phipps, Andrew J; Hancock, Kathy; Jernigan, Daniel B; Levine, Min; Katz, Jacqueline M; Miller, Joseph D

2017-05-01

Influenza hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and virus microneutralization assays (MN) are widely used for seroprevalence studies. However, these assays have limited field portability and are difficult to fully automate for high throughput laboratory testing. To address these issues, three multiplex influenza subtype-specific antibody detection assays were developed using recombinant hemagglutinin antigens in combination with Chembio, Luminex ® , and ForteBio ® platforms. Assay sensitivity, specificity, and subtype cross-reactivity were evaluated using a panel of well characterized human sera. Compared to the traditional HI, assay sensitivity ranged from 87% to 92% and assay specificity in sera collected from unexposed persons ranged from 65% to 100% across the platforms. High assay specificity (86-100%) for A(H5N1) rHA was achieved for sera from exposed or unexposed to hetorosubtype influenza HAs. In contrast, assay specificity for A(H1N1)pdm09 rHA using sera collected from A/Vietnam/1204/2004 (H5N1) vaccinees in 2008 was low (22-30%) in all platforms. Although cross-reactivity against rHA subtype proteins was observed in each assay platform, the correct subtype specific responses were identified 78%-94% of the time when paired samples were available for analysis. These results show that high throughput and portable multiplex assays that incorporate rHA can be used to identify influenza subtype specific infections. Published by Elsevier B.V.

High speed multiphoton axial scanning through an optical fiber in a remotely scanned temporal focusing setup

PubMed Central

Straub, Adam; Durst, Michael E.; Xu, Chris

2011-01-01

Simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing is used to acquire high speed (200Hz), chemically specific axial scans of mouse skin through a single-mode fiber. The temporal focus is remotely scanned by modulating the group delay dispersion (GDD) at the proximal end of the fiber. No moving parts or electronics are required at the distal end. A novel GDD modulation technique is implemented using a piezo bimorph mirror in a folded grating pair to achieve a large GDD tuning range at high speed. PMID:21326638

Role of phytohormones in insect-specific plant reactions

PubMed Central

Erb, Matthias; Meldau, Stefan; Howe, Gregg A.

2012-01-01

The capacity to perceive and respond is integral to biological immune systems, but to what extent can plants specifically recognize and respond to insects? Recent findings suggest that plants possess surveillance systems that are able to detect general patterns of cellular damage as well as highly specific herbivore-associated cues. The jasmonate (JA) pathway has emerged as the major signaling cassette that integrates information perceived at the plant–insect interface into broad-spectrum defense responses. Specificity can be achieved via JA-independent processes and spatio-temporal changes of JA-modulating hormones, including ethylene, salicylic acid, abscisic acid, auxin, cytokinins, brassinosteroids and gibberellins. The identification of receptors and ligands and an integrative view of hormone-mediated response systems are crucial to understand specificity in plant immunity to herbivores. PMID:22305233

A proposed research program in information processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schorr, Herbert

1992-01-01

The goal of the Formalized Software Development (FSD) project was to demonstrate improvements productivity of software development and maintenance through the use of a new software lifecycle paradigm. The paradigm calls for the mechanical, but human-guided, derivation of software implementations from formal specifications of the desired software behavior. It relies on altering a system's specification and rederiving its implementation as the standard technology for software maintenance. A system definition for this paradigm is composed of a behavioral specification together with a body of annotations that control the derivation of executable code from the specification. Annotations generally achieve the selection of certain data representations and/or algorithms that are consistent with, but not mandated by, the behavioral specification. In doing this, they may yield systems which exhibit only certain behaviors among multiple alternatives permitted by the behavioral specification. The FSD project proposed to construct a testbed in which to explore the realization of this new paradigm. The testbed was to provide operational support environment for software design, implementation, and maintenance. The testbed was proposed to provide highly automated support for individual programmers ('programming in the small'), but not to address the additional needs of programming teams ('programming in the large'). The testbed proposed to focus on supporting rapid construction and evolution of useful prototypes of software systems, as opposed to focusing on the problems of achieving production quality performance of systems.

Shoot Na+ exclusion and increased salinity tolerance engineered by cell type-specific alteration of Na+ transport in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Møller, Inge S; Gilliham, Matthew; Jha, Deepa; Mayo, Gwenda M; Roy, Stuart J; Coates, Juliet C; Haseloff, Jim; Tester, Mark

2009-07-01

Soil salinity affects large areas of cultivated land, causing significant reductions in crop yield globally. The Na+ toxicity of many crop plants is correlated with overaccumulation of Na+ in the shoot. We have previously suggested that the engineering of Na+ exclusion from the shoot could be achieved through an alteration of plasma membrane Na+ transport processes in the root, if these alterations were cell type specific. Here, it is shown that expression of the Na+ transporter HKT1;1 in the mature root stele of Arabidopsis thaliana decreases Na+ accumulation in the shoot by 37 to 64%. The expression of HKT1;1 specifically in the mature root stele is achieved using an enhancer trap expression system for specific and strong overexpression. The effect in the shoot is caused by the increased influx, mediated by HKT1;1, of Na+ into stelar root cells, which is demonstrated in planta and leads to a reduction of root-to-shoot transfer of Na+. Plants with reduced shoot Na+ also have increased salinity tolerance. By contrast, plants constitutively expressing HKT1;1 driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter accumulated high shoot Na+ and grew poorly. Our results demonstrate that the modification of a specific Na+ transport process in specific cell types can reduce shoot Na+ accumulation, an important component of salinity tolerance of many higher plants.

Adaptive evolution influences the infectious dose of MERS-CoV necessary to achieve severe respiratory disease.

PubMed

Douglas, Madeline G; Kocher, Jacob F; Scobey, Trevor; Baric, Ralph S; Cockrell, Adam S

2018-04-01

We recently established a mouse model (288-330 +/+ ) that developed acute respiratory disease resembling human pathology following infection with a high dose (5 × 10 6 PFU) of mouse-adapted MERS-CoV (icMERSma1). Although this high dose conferred fatal respiratory disease in mice, achieving similar pathology at lower viral doses may more closely reflect naturally acquired infections. Through continued adaptive evolution of icMERSma1 we generated a novel mouse-adapted MERS-CoV (maM35c4) capable of achieving severe respiratory disease at doses between 10 3 and 10 5 PFU. Novel mutations were identified in the maM35c4 genome that may be responsible for eliciting etiologies of acute respiratory distress syndrome at 10-1000 fold lower viral doses. Importantly, comparative genetics of the two mouse-adapted MERS strains allowed us to identify specific mutations that remained fixed through an additional 20 cycles of adaptive evolution. Our data indicate that the extent of MERS-CoV adaptation determines the minimal infectious dose required to achieve severe respiratory disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Conductive Polymer Binder-Enabled SiO–Sn xCo yC z Anode for High-Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries

DOE PAGES

Zhao, Hui; Fu, Yanbao; Ling, Min; ...

2016-05-10

In this paper, a SiOSnCoC composite anode is assembled using a conductive polymer binder for the application in next-generation high energy density lithium-ion batteries. A specific capacity of 700 mAh/g is achieved at a 1C (900 mA/g) rate. A high active material loading anode with an areal capacity of 3.5 mAh/cm 2 is demonstrated by mixing SiOSnCoC with graphite. To compensate for the lithium loss in the first cycle, stabilized lithium metal powder (SLMP) is used for prelithiation; when paired with a commercial cathode, a stable full cell cycling performance with a 86% first cycle efficiency is realized. Finally, bymore » achieving these important metrics toward a practical application, this conductive polymer binder/SiOSnCoC anode system presents great promise to enable the next generation of high-energy lithium-ion batteries.« less

Magnetic field configurations on thruster performance in accordance with ion beam characteristics in cylindrical Hall thruster plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Holak; Choe, Wonho; Lim, Youbong; Lee, Seunghun; Park, Sanghoo

2017-03-01

Magnetic field configuration is critical in Hall thrusters for achieving high performance, particularly in thrust, specific impulse, efficiency, etc. Ion beam features are also significantly influenced by magnetic field configurations. In two typical magnetic field configurations (i.e., co-current and counter-current configurations) of a cylindrical Hall thruster, ion beam characteristics are compared in relation to multiply charged ions. Our study shows that the co-current configuration brings about high ion current (or low electron current), high ionization rate, and small plume angle that lead to high thruster performance.

Encapsulation of S/SWNT with PANI Web for Enhanced Rate and Cycle Performance in Lithium Sulfur Batteries

PubMed Central

Kim, Joo Hyun; Fu, Kun; Choi, Junghyun; Kil, Kichun; Kim, Jeonghyun; Han, Xiaogang; Hu, Liangbing; Paik, Ungyu

2015-01-01

Lithium-sulfur batteries show great potential to compete with lithium-ion batteries due to the fact that sulfur can deliver a high theoretical capacity of 1672 mAh/g and a high theoretical energy density of 2500 Wh/kg. But it has several problems to be solved in order to achieve high sulfur utilization with high Coulombic efficiency and long cycle life of Li-S batteries. These problems are mainly caused by the dissoluble polysulfide species, which are a series of complex reduced sulfur products, associating with shuttle effect between electrodes as well as side reactions on lithium metal anode. To alleviate these challenges, we developed a sulfur-carbon nanotube (S/SWNT) composite coated with polyaniline (PANI) polymer as polysulfide block to achieve high sulfur utilization, high Coulombic efficiency, and long cycle life. The PANI coated S/SWNT composite showed a superior specific capacity of 1011 mAh/g over 100 cycles and a good rate retention, demonstrating the synergic contribution of porous carbon and conducting polymer protection to address challenges underlying sulfur cathode. PMID:25752298

High-power lithium ion batteries based on preorganized necklace type Li4Ti5O12/VACNT nano-composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pawlitzek, Fabian; Pampel, Jonas; Schmuck, Martin; Althues, Holger; Schumm, Benjamin; Kaskel, Stefan

2016-09-01

Li4Ti5O12 as anode material for high power Li+-ion batteries is very promising due to its unique electronic properties. However, the lack of electronic conductivity as well as the low Li+-ion diffusion coefficient are major drawbacks in achieving high power densities. In this work, therefore, we prepared a nano-composite consisting of vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays decorated with in-situ grown necklace type Li4Ti5O12 nanoparticles. Owing to this structure the electrodes exhibit outstanding rate performances with specific capacities of 110 mAh g-1 up to 300C and cycling performance with high capacity retention of 97% after 500 cycles at 10C. Thus, the combination of short Li+-ion diffusion distances within Li4Ti5O12 particles, remarkable electronic conductivity by carbon nanotubes directly grown on the current collector as well as a high contact surface area due to an open pore geometry is essential in achieving high power Li4Ti5O12 anodes.

Influence of the coating formulation on enzymatic digestibility and drug release from 5-aminosalicylic acid pellets coated with mixtures of high-amylose starch and Surelease intended for colon-specific drug delivery.

PubMed

Freire, Cristina; Podczeck, Fridrun; Veiga, Francisco; Sousa, João

2010-02-01

Colon-specific delivery of drugs can be achieved with dosage forms coated with biopolymers that are metabolized selectively by the colonic microflora and yet resistant to enzymatic digestion in the small intestine. The aim of this study was to study the influence of formulation factors on the performance of mixed films from high-amylose starches and Surelease((R)), applied using a spray-coating process, as potential colon-specific delivery devices. 5-Aminosalicylic acid-loaded pellets were prepared by an extrusion-spheronization process and film coated with mixtures of the starches and Surelease((R)). Optimization of the coating formulation, that is, starch-to-Surelease((R)) ratio, film-coating thickness, and type of starch, was undertaken first in enzyme-free media resembling the conditions in the stomach and small intestine. The effect of curing of the film coating on the drug release profile upon storage was also evaluated. Optimized coating formulations were further assessed for enzymatic digestibility using artificial gastric and intestinal juices containing commercially available pepsin and pancreatin or alpha-amylase from hog pancreas, respectively. Finally, drug release was assessed in fluid-simulating conditions in the colon (SCF) containing Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase. Film coatings comprising high-amylose starches and Surelease((R)) in a ratio of 1:2 (w/w) and film thickness of approximately 45 microm were able to withstand the chemical and enzymatic environment of the upper gastrointestinal tract, in particular, resisted degradation by the pancreatic alpha-amylases. Stability of the coatings during storage was achieved with additional curing. In SCF, these coatings were susceptible to enzymatic degradation. This study showed that high amylose starch-mixed films can be successfully used as colon-specific delivery devices. The preparation of the coating dispersions described is simple and rapid, without the need to extract the amylose component of starch.

Hierarchically structured MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Zhipeng; Firdoz, Shaik; Ying-Xuan Yap, Esther; Li, Lan; Lu, Xianmao

2013-05-01

We report a hierarchical Ni@MnO2 structure consisting of MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors. The Ni@MnO2 structure, which was prepared via a facile electrodeposition method, is highly porous and appears like a forest of pine trees grown vertically on a substrate. At a MnO2 mass loading of 0.35 mg cm-2, the Ni@MnO2 electrode demonstrated a specific capacitance of 1125 F g-1 that is close to the theoretical value. In addition, a remarkable high-rate performance (766 F g-1 at a discharge current density of 100 A g-1) was achieved. Electrochemical tests in a two-electrode configuration for the Ni@MnO2 structure with a high MnO2 loading of 3.6 mg cm-2 showed a low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 1 Ω and a high specific power of 72 kW kg-1. This superior performance can be attributed to the highly porous and hierarchical structure of Ni@MnO2 that favors rapid diffusion of an electrolyte, highly conductive pathway for electron transport, and efficient material utilization.We report a hierarchical Ni@MnO2 structure consisting of MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors. The Ni@MnO2 structure, which was prepared via a facile electrodeposition method, is highly porous and appears like a forest of pine trees grown vertically on a substrate. At a MnO2 mass loading of 0.35 mg cm-2, the Ni@MnO2 electrode demonstrated a specific capacitance of 1125 F g-1 that is close to the theoretical value. In addition, a remarkable high-rate performance (766 F g-1 at a discharge current density of 100 A g-1) was achieved. Electrochemical tests in a two-electrode configuration for the Ni@MnO2 structure with a high MnO2 loading of 3.6 mg cm-2 showed a low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 1 Ω and a high specific power of 72 kW kg-1. This superior performance can be attributed to the highly porous and hierarchical structure of Ni@MnO2 that favors rapid diffusion of an electrolyte, highly conductive pathway for electron transport, and efficient material utilization. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: More TEM and SEM images, digital photo, XPS, and XRD of the samples. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr00209h

Thermophysical properties of substantially undercooled liquid Ti-Al-Nb ternary alloy measured by electromagnetic levitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, K.; Wang, H. P.; Wei, B.

2013-03-01

The thermophysical properties of undercooled liquid alloys at high temperature are usually difficult to measure by experiment. Here, we report the specific heat of liquid Ti45Al45Nb10 ternary alloy in the undercooled state. By using electromagnetic levitation technique, a maximum undercooling of 287 K (0.15 T L) is achieved for this alloy. Its specific heat is determined to be 32.72 ± 2.51 J mol-1 K-1 over a broad temperature range of 1578-2010 K.

GRIDSS: sensitive and specific genomic rearrangement detection using positional de Bruijn graph assembly

PubMed Central

Do, Hongdo; Molania, Ramyar

2017-01-01

The identification of genomic rearrangements with high sensitivity and specificity using massively parallel sequencing remains a major challenge, particularly in precision medicine and cancer research. Here, we describe a new method for detecting rearrangements, GRIDSS (Genome Rearrangement IDentification Software Suite). GRIDSS is a multithreaded structural variant (SV) caller that performs efficient genome-wide break-end assembly prior to variant calling using a novel positional de Bruijn graph-based assembler. By combining assembly, split read, and read pair evidence using a probabilistic scoring, GRIDSS achieves high sensitivity and specificity on simulated, cell line, and patient tumor data, recently winning SV subchallenge #5 of the ICGC-TCGA DREAM8.5 Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge. On human cell line data, GRIDSS halves the false discovery rate compared to other recent methods while matching or exceeding their sensitivity. GRIDSS identifies nontemplate sequence insertions, microhomologies, and large imperfect homologies, estimates a quality score for each breakpoint, stratifies calls into high or low confidence, and supports multisample analysis. PMID:29097403

Ridge Waveguide Structures in Magnesium-Doped Lithium Niobate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Himmer, Phillip; Battle, Philip; Suckow, William; Switzer, Greg

2011-01-01

This work proposes to establish the feasibility of fabricating isolated ridge waveguides in 5% MgO:LN. Ridge waveguides in MgO:LN will significantly improve power handling and conversion efficiency, increase photonic component integration, and be well suited to spacebased applications. The key innovation in this effort is to combine recently available large, high-photorefractive-damage-threshold, z-cut 5% MgO:LN with novel ridge fabrication techniques to achieve high-optical power, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing of frequency conversion structures. The proposed ridge waveguide structure should maintain the characteristics of the periodically poled bulk substrate, allowing for the efficient frequency conversion typical of waveguides and the high optical damage threshold and long lifetimes typical of the 5% doped bulk substrate. The low cost and large area of 5% MgO:LN wafers, and the improved performance of the proposed ridge waveguide structure, will enhance existing measurement capabilities as well as reduce the resources required to achieve high-performance specifications. The purpose of the ridge waveguides in MgO:LN is to provide platform technology that will improve optical power handling and conversion efficiency compared to existing waveguide technology. The proposed ridge waveguide is produced using standard microfabrication techniques. The approach is enabled by recent advances in inductively coupled plasma etchers and chemical mechanical planarization techniques. In conjunction with wafer bonding, this fabrication methodology can be used to create arbitrarily shaped waveguides allowing complex optical circuits to be engineered in nonlinear optical materials such as magnesium doped lithium niobate. Researchers here have identified NLO (nonlinear optical) ridge waveguide structures as having suitable value to be the leading frequency conversion structures. Its value is based on having the low-cost fabrication necessary to satisfy the challenging pricing requirements as well as achieve the power handling and other specifications in a suitably compact package.

Development and Validation of a Quality Assurance Score for Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy: A 10-year Analysis.

PubMed

Hussein, Ahmed A; Dibaj, Shiva; Hinata, Nobuyuki; Field, Erinn; O'leary, Kathleen; Kuvshinoff, Boris; Mohler, James L; Wilding, Gregory; Guru, Khurshid A

2016-11-01

To develop quality assessment tool to evaluate surgical performance for robot-assisted radical cystectomy program. A prospectively maintained quality assurance database of 425 consecutive robot-assisted radical cystectomies performed by a single surgeon between 2005 and 2015 was retrospectively reviewed. Potentially modifiable factors, related to the management and perioperative care of patients, were used to evaluate patient care. Criteria included the following: preoperative (administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy); operative (operative time <6.5 hours and estimated blood loss <500 cc); pathologic (negative soft tissue surgical margins and lymph node yield ≥20); and postoperative (no high-grade complications, readmission, or noncancer-related mortality within 30 days).The Quality Cystectomy Score (QCS) was developed (1 star: achieving ≤2 criteria or mortality within 30 days; 2 stars: 3 or 4 criteria met; 3 stars: 5 or 6 criteria met; and 4 stars: 7 or all criteria met). Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were fitted to test for the association between QCS and survival outcomes. Most patients (85%) achieved at least 3 stars, and more patients achieved 4 stars with time. High QCS was associated with better recurrence-free, cancer-specific, and overall survival (P values <.05). None of the patients with 1-star were alive at 1 year. Patients with 4 stars achieved the best survival rates (recurrence-free survival [62%], cancer-specific survival [70%], and overall survival [53%] at 5 years) (log rank P < .0001). Continuous assessment for quality improvement facilitated implementation and maintenance of robot-assisted program for bladder cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

PubMed Central

Costa, Ana; Faria, Luísa

2018-01-01

The current study intended to model the link between implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) and students' academic achievement, within a meta-analytic review procedure. To assess studies' effect size, the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was used. The review of 46 studies (94 effect sizes) with 412,022 students presented a low-to-moderate association between the ITI and students' academic achievement. The results indicated that incremental theorists are more likely to have higher grades in specific subjects (verbal and quantitative) and in overall achievement. The entity beliefs were positively associated with students' specific verbal and quantitative domains but at a lower magnitude than incremental beliefs. Moreover, the moderator effect analyses results indicated that the link between ITI and students' achievement was not moderated by gender, but there was a moderate association in student's middle school grade. Additionally, the ITI assessment based on the most recent versions of Dweck's scales, the use of specific academic scales instead of general ITI scales, and the use of the original measures rather than adapted versions strongly moderated the link between ITI and achievement. Moreover, students from Eastern continents (Asia and Oceania) reported a positive association between incremental beliefs and achievement, Europe displayed a positive link between entity beliefs and achievement, whereas North America presented negative correlations between entity perspectives and academic achievement. This meta-analysis updates the current evidence supporting the direct link of ITI and students' academic achievement and acknowledges specific effects that ITI could have in different academic outcomes. PMID:29922195

Multi-test cervical cancer diagnosis with missing data estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Tao; Huang, Xiaolei; Kim, Edward; Long, L. Rodney; Antani, Sameer

2015-03-01

Cervical cancer is a leading most common type of cancer for women worldwide. Existing screening programs for cervical cancer suffer from low sensitivity. Using images of the cervix (cervigrams) as an aid in detecting pre-cancerous changes to the cervix has good potential to improve sensitivity and help reduce the number of cervical cancer cases. In this paper, we present a method that utilizes multi-modality information extracted from multiple tests of a patient's visit to classify the patient visit to be either low-risk or high-risk. Our algorithm integrates image features and text features to make a diagnosis. We also present two strategies to estimate the missing values in text features: Image Classifier Supervised Mean Imputation (ICSMI) and Image Classifier Supervised Linear Interpolation (ICSLI). We evaluate our method on a large medical dataset and compare it with several alternative approaches. The results show that the proposed method with ICSLI strategy achieves the best result of 83.03% specificity and 76.36% sensitivity. When higher specificity is desired, our method can achieve 90% specificity with 62.12% sensitivity.

Enzyme Prodrug Therapy Achieves Site-Specific, Personalized Physiological Responses to the Locally Produced Nitric Oxide

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly potent but short-lived endogenous radical with a wide spectrum of physiological activities. In this work, we developed an enzymatic approach to the site-specific synthesis of NO mediated by biocatalytic surface coatings. Multilayered polyelectrolyte films were optimized as host compartments for the immobilized β-galactosidase (β-Gal) enzyme through a screen of eight polycations and eight polyanions. The lead composition was used to achieve localized production of NO through the addition of β-Gal–NONOate, a prodrug that releases NO following enzymatic bioconversion. The resulting coatings afforded physiologically relevant flux of NO matching that of the healthy human endothelium. The antiproliferative effect due to the synthesized NO in cell culture was site-specific: within a multiwell dish with freely shared media and nutrients, a 10-fold inhibition of cell growth was achieved on top of the biocatalytic coatings compared to the immediately adjacent enzyme-free microwells. The physiological effect of NO produced via the enzyme prodrug therapy was validated ex vivo in isolated arteries through the measurement of vasodilation. Biocatalytic coatings were deposited on wires produced using alloys used in clinical practice and successfully mediated a NONOate concentration-dependent vasodilation in the small arteries of rats. The results of this study present an exciting opportunity to manufacture implantable biomaterials with physiological responses controlled to the desired level for personalized treatment. PMID:29570264

The Prevalence, Development and Domain Specificity of Elementary School Students' Achievement Goal Profiles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen in de Wal, Joost; Hornstra, Lisette; Prins, Frans J.; Peetsma, Thea; van der Veen, Ineke

2016-01-01

This study's aim was to examine the prevalence, development and domain specificity of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students' achievement goal profiles. Achievement goals were measured for language and mathematics among 722 pupils at three points in time. These data were analysed through latent profile analysis and latent transition…

A proposal of criteria for the classification of systemic sclerosis.

PubMed

Nadashkevich, Oleg; Davis, Paul; Fritzler, Marvin J

2004-11-01

Sensitive and specific criteria for the classification of systemic sclerosis are required by clinicians and investigators to achieve higher quality clinical studies and approaches to therapy. A clinical study of systemic sclerosis patients in Europe and Canada led to a set of criteria that achieve high sensitivity and specificity. Both clinical and laboratory investigations of patients with systemic sclerosis, related conditions and diseases with clinical features that can be mistaken as part of the systemic sclerosis spectrum were undertaken. Laboratory investigations included the detection of autoantibodies to centromere proteins, Scl-70 (topoisomerase I), and fibrillarin (U3-RNP). Based on the investigation of 269 systemic sclerosis patients and 720 patients presenting with related and confounding conditions, the following set of criteria for the classification of systemic sclerosis was proposed: 1) autoantibodies to: centromere proteins, Scl-70 (topo I), fibrillarin; 2) bibasilar pulmonary fibrosis; 3) contractures of the digital joints or prayer sign; 4) dermal thickening proximal to the wrists; 5) calcinosis cutis; 6) Raynaud's phenomenon; 7) esophageal distal hypomotility or reflux-esophagitis; 8) sclerodactyly or non-pitting digital edema; 9) teleangiectasias. The classification of definite SSc requires at least three of the above criteria. Criteria for the classification of systemic sclerosis have been proposed. Preliminary testing has defined the sensitivity and specificity of these criteria as high as 99% and 100%, respectively. Testing and validation of the proposed criteria by other clinical centers is required.

Ectoderm gene activation in sea urchin embryos mediated by the CCAAT-binding factor.

PubMed

Li, Xiaotao; Bhattacharya, Chitralekha; Dayal, Sandeep; Maity, Sankar; Klein, William H

2002-05-01

Transcriptional enhancers are short stretches of DNA that function to achieve highly specific patterns of gene expression. To identify the mechanisms by which enhancers achieve their specificity, we made use of an enhancer from the aboral ectoderm-specific spec2a gene of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. The spec2a enhancer contains five cis-regulatory elements within 78 base pairs that interact with five distinct DNA-binding proteins to confer aboral ectoderm expression. Here, we present an analysis of the sea urchin CCAAT binding factor (CBF), which binds to a CCAAT motif within the spec2a enhancer. S. purpuratus CBF and SpOtx, a ubiquitously expressed factor, act together at closely placed cis-regulatory elements to mediate spec2a transcription in the ectoderm. SpCBF was the sole factor that bound to the spec2a CCAAT element, and two of the three subunits that make up the CBF holoprotein were cloned and shown to have high sequence conservation with their vertebrate orthologs. Based on its involvement in the regulation of several other sea urchin genes, SpCBF appears to be a major transcription factor in the sea urchin embryo for positive regulation of ectoderm gene expression. In addition to its role in vertebrate cell growth and proliferation, our results indicate that CBF also functions at the early stages of germ layer formation, namely ectoderm differentiation.

Functional MRI registration with tissue-specific patch-based functional correlation tensors.

PubMed

Zhou, Yujia; Zhang, Han; Zhang, Lichi; Cao, Xiaohuan; Yang, Ru; Feng, Qianjin; Yap, Pew-Thian; Shen, Dinggang

2018-06-01

Population studies of brain function with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) rely on accurate intersubject registration of functional areas. This is typically achieved through registration using high-resolution structural images with more spatial details and better tissue contrast. However, accumulating evidence has suggested that such strategy cannot align functional regions well because functional areas are not necessarily consistent with anatomical structures. To alleviate this problem, a number of registration algorithms based directly on rs-fMRI data have been developed, most of which utilize functional connectivity (FC) features for registration. However, most of these methods usually extract functional features only from the thin and highly curved cortical grey matter (GM), posing great challenges to accurate estimation of whole-brain deformation fields. In this article, we demonstrate that additional useful functional features can also be extracted from the whole brain, not restricted to the GM, particularly the white-matter (WM), for improving the overall functional registration. Specifically, we quantify local anisotropic correlation patterns of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals using tissue-specific patch-based functional correlation tensors (ts-PFCTs) in both GM and WM. Functional registration is then performed by integrating the features from different tissues using the multi-channel large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (mLDDMM) algorithm. Experimental results show that our method achieves superior functional registration performance, compared with conventional registration methods. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evolution and development of the vertebrate ear

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritzsch, B.; Beisel, K. W.

2001-01-01

This review outlines major aspects of development and evolution of the ear, specifically addressing issues of cell fate commitment and the emerging molecular governance of these decisions. Available data support the notion of homology of subsets of mechanosensors across phyla (proprioreceptive mechanosensory neurons in insects, hair cells in vertebrates). It is argued that this conservation is primarily related to the specific transducing environment needed to achieve mechanosensation. Achieving this requires highly conserved transcription factors that regulate the expression of the relevant structural genes for mechanosensory transduction. While conserved at the level of some cell fate assignment genes (atonal and its mammalian homologue), the ear has also radically reorganized its development by implementing genes used for cell fate assignment in other parts of the developing nervous systems (e.g., neurogenin 1) and by evolving novel sets of genes specifically associated with the novel formation of sensory neurons that contact hair cells (neurotrophins and their receptors). Numerous genes have been identified that regulate morphogenesis, but there is only one common feature that emerges at the moment: the ear appears to have co-opted genes from a large variety of other parts of the developing body (forebrain, limbs, kidneys) and establishes, in combination with existing transcription factors, an environment in which those genes govern novel, ear-related morphogenetic aspects. The ear thus represents a unique mix of highly conserved developmental elements combined with co-opted and newly evolved developmental elements.

Characterization of ion-assisted induced absorption in A-Si thin-films used for multivariate optical computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayak, Aditya B.; Price, James M.; Dai, Bin; Perkins, David; Chen, Ding Ding; Jones, Christopher M.

2015-06-01

Multivariate optical computing (MOC), an optical sensing technique for analog calculation, allows direct and robust measurement of chemical and physical properties of complex fluid samples in high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) downhole environments. The core of this MOC technology is the integrated computational element (ICE), an optical element with a wavelength-dependent transmission spectrum designed to allow the detector to respond sensitively and specifically to the analytes of interest. A key differentiator of this technology is it uses all of the information present in the broadband optical spectrum to determine the proportion of the analyte present in a complex fluid mixture. The detection methodology is photometric in nature; therefore, this technology does not require a spectrometer to measure and record a spectrum or a computer to perform calculations on the recorded optical spectrum. The integrated computational element is a thin-film optical element with a specific optical response function designed for each analyte. The optical response function is achieved by fabricating alternating layers of high-index (a-Si) and low-index (SiO2) thin films onto a transparent substrate (BK7 glass) using traditional thin-film manufacturing processes (e.g., ion-assisted e-beam vacuum deposition). A proprietary software and process are used to control the thickness and material properties, including the optical constants of the materials during deposition to achieve the desired optical response function. The ion-assisted deposition is useful for controlling the densification of the film, stoichiometry, and material optical constants as well as to achieve high deposition growth rates and moisture-stable films. However, the ion-source can induce undesirable absorption in the film; and subsequently, modify the optical constants of the material during the ramp-up and stabilization period of the e-gun and ion-source, respectively. This paper characterizes the unwanted absorption in the a-Si thin-film using advanced thin-film metrology methods, including spectroscopic ellipsometry and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The resulting analysis identifies a fundamental mechanism contributing to this absorption and a method for minimizing and accounting for the unwanted absorption in the thin-film such that the exact optical response function can be achieved.

Synergistic effects from graphene and carbon nanotubes endow ordered hierarchical structure foams with a combination of compressibility, super-elasticity and stability and potential application as pressure sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuang, Jun; Dai, Zhaohe; Liu, Luqi; Yang, Zhou; Jin, Ming; Zhang, Zhong

2015-05-01

Nanostructured carbon material based three-dimensional porous architectures have been increasingly developed for various applications, e.g. sensors, elastomer conductors, and energy storage devices. Maintaining architectures with good mechanical performance, including elasticity, load-bearing capacity, fatigue resistance and mechanical stability, is prerequisite for realizing these functions. Though graphene and CNT offer opportunities as nanoscale building blocks, it still remains a great challenge to achieve good mechanical performance in their microarchitectures because of the need to precisely control the structure at different scales. Herein, we fabricate a hierarchical honeycomb-like structured hybrid foam based on both graphene and CNT. The resulting materials possess excellent properties of combined high specific strength, elasticity and mechanical stability, which cannot be achieved in neat CNT and graphene foams. The improved mechanical properties are attributed to the synergistic-effect-induced highly organized, multi-scaled hierarchical architectures. Moreover, with their excellent electrical conductivity, we demonstrated that the hybrid foams could be used as pressure sensors in the fields related to artificial skin.Nanostructured carbon material based three-dimensional porous architectures have been increasingly developed for various applications, e.g. sensors, elastomer conductors, and energy storage devices. Maintaining architectures with good mechanical performance, including elasticity, load-bearing capacity, fatigue resistance and mechanical stability, is prerequisite for realizing these functions. Though graphene and CNT offer opportunities as nanoscale building blocks, it still remains a great challenge to achieve good mechanical performance in their microarchitectures because of the need to precisely control the structure at different scales. Herein, we fabricate a hierarchical honeycomb-like structured hybrid foam based on both graphene and CNT. The resulting materials possess excellent properties of combined high specific strength, elasticity and mechanical stability, which cannot be achieved in neat CNT and graphene foams. The improved mechanical properties are attributed to the synergistic-effect-induced highly organized, multi-scaled hierarchical architectures. Moreover, with their excellent electrical conductivity, we demonstrated that the hybrid foams could be used as pressure sensors in the fields related to artificial skin. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr00841g

One-Dimensional Porous Silicon Nanowires with Large Surface Area for Fast Charge⁻Discharge Lithium-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Chen, Xu; Bi, Qinsong; Sajjad, Muhammad; Wang, Xu; Ren, Yang; Zhou, Xiaowei; Xu, Wen; Liu, Zhu

2018-04-27

In this study, one-dimensional porous silicon nanowire (1D⁻PSiNW) arrays were fabricated by one-step metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) to etch phosphorus-doped silicon wafers. The as-prepared mesoporous 1D⁻PSiNW arrays here had especially high specific surface areas of 323.47 m²·g -1 and were applied as anodes to achieve fast charge⁻discharge performance for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The 1D⁻PSiNWs anodes with feature size of ~7 nm exhibited reversible specific capacity of 2061.1 mAh·g -1 after 1000 cycles at a high current density of 1.5 A·g -1 . Moreover, under the ultrafast charge⁻discharge current rate of 16.0 A·g -1 , the 1D⁻PSiNWs anodes still maintained 586.7 mAh·g -1 capacity even after 5000 cycles. This nanoporous 1D⁻PSiNW with high surface area is a potential anode candidate for the ultrafast charge⁻discharge in LIBs with high specific capacity and superior cycling performance.

Preparation of highly porous binderless activated carbon electrodes from fibres of oil palm empty fruit bunches for application in supercapacitors.

PubMed

Farma, R; Deraman, M; Awitdrus, A; Talib, I A; Taer, E; Basri, N H; Manjunatha, J G; Ishak, M M; Dollah, B N M; Hashmi, S A

2013-03-01

Fibres from oil palm empty fruit bunches, generated in large quantities by palm oil mills, were processed into self-adhesive carbon grains (SACG). Untreated and KOH-treated SACG were converted without binder into green monolith prior to N2-carbonisation and CO2-activation to produce highly porous binderless carbon monolith electrodes for supercapacitor applications. Characterisation of the pore structure of the electrodes revealed a significant advantage from combining the chemical and physical activation processes. The electrochemical measurements of the supercapacitor cells fabricated using these electrodes, using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge-discharge techniques consistently found that approximately 3h of activation time, achieved via a multi-step heating profile, produced electrodes with a high surface area of 1704m(2)g(-1) and a total pore volume of 0.889cm(3)g(-1), corresponding to high values for the specific capacitance, specific energy and specific power of 150Fg(-1), 4.297Whkg(-1) and 173Wkg(-1), respectively. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improved specific energy Ni-H2 cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, L. E.

1985-12-01

Significant improvements in specific energy for Ni-H2 battery cells have been and will be achieved. Current flight cell designs in operation on multiple satellites have achieved a specific energy of 52 Whr/Kg (this value may be compared to 45 Whr/Kg for advanced, light-weight Ni-Cd space cells). Battery cells operating at increased pressures (61 atm/900 psi) have been manufactured and successfully tested demonstrating a specific energy of 70 Whr/Kg. Further optimization of electrode substrate, pressure vessel wall thickness and cell terminal/conductor assembly designs will permit achievement of specific energies between 75-80 Whr/Kg. Energy density (outline volume) will be improved from 49 Whr/L to 79 Whr/L.

Integrated poly(dimethysiloxane) with an intrinsic nonfouling property approaching "absolute" zero background in immunoassays.

PubMed

Ma, Hongwei; Wu, Yuanzi; Yang, Xiaoli; Liu, Xing; He, Jianan; Fu, Long; Wang, Jie; Xu, Hongke; Shi, Yi; Zhong, Renqian

2010-08-01

The key to achieve a highly sensitive and specific protein microarray assay is to prevent nonspecific protein adsorption to an "absolute" zero level because any signal amplification method will simultaneously amplify signal and noise. Here, we develop a novel solid supporting material, namely, polymer coated initiator integrated poly(dimethysiloxane) (iPDMS), which was able to achieve such "absolute" zero (i.e., below the detection limit of instrument). The implementation of this iPDMS enables practical and high-quality multiplexed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of 11 tumor markers. This iPDMS does not need any blocking steps and only require mild washing conditions. It also uses on an average 8-fold less capture antibodies compared with the mainstream nitrocellulose (NC) film. Besides saving time and materials, iPDMS achieved a limit-of-detection (LOD) as low as 19 pg mL(-1), which is sufficiently low for most current clinical diagnostic applications. We expect to see an immediate impact of this iPDMS on the realization of the great potential of protein microarray in research and practical uses such as large scale and high-throughput screening, clinical diagnosis, inspection, and quarantine.

First laboratory results with the LINC-NIRVANA high layer wavefront sensor.

PubMed

Zhang, Xianyu; Gaessler, Wolfgang; Conrad, Albert R; Bertram, Thomas; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Herbst, Thomas M; Kuerster, Martin; Bizenberger, Peter; Meschke, Daniel; Rix, Hans-Walter; Rao, Changhui; Mohr, Lars; Briegel, Florian; Kittmann, Frank; Berwein, Juergen; Trowitzsch, Jan; Schreiber, Laura; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Diolaiti, Emiliano

2011-08-15

In the field of adaptive optics, multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) can greatly increase the size of the corrected field of view (FoV) and also extend sky coverage. By applying layer oriented MCAO (LO-MCAO) [4], together with multiple guide stars (up to 20) and pyramid wavefront sensors [7], LINC-NIRVANA (L-N for short) [1] will provide two AO-corrected beams to a Fizeau interferometer to achieve 10 milliarcsecond angular resolution on the Large Binocular Telescope. This paper presents first laboratory results of the AO performance achieved with the high layer wavefront sensor (HWS). This sensor, together with its associated deformable mirror (a Xinetics-349), is being operated in one of the L-N laboratories. AO reference stars, spread across a 2 arc-minute FoV and with aberrations resulting from turbulence introduced at specific layers in the atmosphere, are simulated in this lab environment. This is achieved with the Multi-Atmosphere Phase screen and Stars (MAPS) [2] unit. From the wavefront data, the approximate residual wavefront error after correction has been calculated for different turbulent layer altitudes and wind speeds. Using a somewhat undersampled CCD, the FWHM of stars in the nearly 2 arc-minute FoV has also been measured. These test results demonstrate that the high layer wavefront sensor of LINC-NIRVANA will be able to achieve uniform AO correction across a large FoV. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Targeted polymeric micelles for delivery of poorly soluble drugs.

PubMed

Torchilin, V P

2004-10-01

Polymeric micelles (micelles formed by amphiphilic block copolymers) demonstrate a series of attractive properties as drug carriers, such as high stability both in vitro and in vivo and good biocompatibility, and can be successfully used for the solubilization of various poorly soluble pharmaceuticals. These micelles can also be used as targeted drug delivery systems. The targeting can be achieved via the enhanced permeability and retention effect (into the areas with the compromised vasculature), by making micelles of stimuli-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers, or by attaching specific targeting ligand molecules to the micelle surface. Immunomicelles prepared by coupling monoclonal antibody molecules to p-nitrophenylcarbonyl groups on the water-exposed termini of the micelle corona-forming blocks demonstrate high binding specificity and targetability. Immunomicelles prepared with cancer-specific monoclonal antibody 2C5 specifically bind to different cancer cells in vitro and demonstrate increased therapeutic activity in vivo. This new family of pharmaceutical carriers can be used for the solubilization and targeted delivery of poorly soluble drugs to various pathological sites in the body.

Development of a nickel/metal hydride battery (Ni/MH) system for EV application

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

Ikoma, M.; Hamada, S.; Morishita, N.

1994-12-31

In order to satisfy basic battery characteristics for electric vehicles (EV) such as specific energy, specific power and cycle life that are required for driving on urban streets, the authors have selected the valve-regulated lead acid battery as a conventional battery and the nickel/metal-hydride battery as an advanced battery, and have been studying their development in order to put them into practical use by 1998. Regarding the nickel/metal-hydride battery, excellent nickel positive electrode with high temperature charge efficiency accomplished with additives such as Ca compounds, and an exceedingly good hydrogen absorbing alloy negative electrode with high capacity and long cyclemore » life, achieved by adjustment of alloy composition, surface treatment, and control of binder and conductive additive have been developed to overcome difficulties in the scale-up of battery size. Modular batteries using this technology possess specific energy twice (70 Wh/kg) that of the lead-acid battery, and have superior specific power (160 Wh/kg) and cycle life. 5 refs.« less

Structure-matched Phthalocyanine Ion Pair as a Red-emitting Fluorescent Optical Probe for the Analysis of Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate with High Specificity and Sensitivity.

PubMed

Yu, Fei; Guo, Menglin; Deng, Yabin; Lu, Yin; Chen, Lin; Huang, Ping; Li, Donghui

2016-01-01

We have found that a positively charged cationic copper phthalocyanine, Alcian blue (Alcian blue 8GX), can efficiently quench the fluorescence of an oppositely charged red fluorescent phthalocyanine compound with a matched molecular structure, tetrasulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlS4Pc), because of the formation of an ion pair complex (AlS4Pc-Alcian blue 8GX) that exhibits almost no fluorescence. An investigation was carried out on the fluorescence recovery of AlS4Pc-Alcian blue 8GX caused by a series of anionic surfactants containing a sulfonic group (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)). The results showed that SDBS exhibited a significant response, and the highest sensitivity among the surfactants. Due to its high efficiency of fluorescence quenching and the high level of fluorescence recovery, direct observes can even be performed by the naked eye. The results revealed that the Alcian blue 8GX-AlS4Pc ion-pair complex fluorescent probe only responded to SDBS in the low-concentration range. Based on the new founding, this study proposed a novel principle and method of fluorescence enhancement to specifically measure the concentration of SDBS, thereby achieving a highly sensitive and highly specific determination of SDBS. Under the optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensity (I(f)) of the system and the concentration of SDBS in the range of 1 × 10(-7) - 1 × 10(-5) mol/dm(3) exhibited a good linear relationship. This method is highly sensitive, and the operation is simple and rapid. It had been applied for the quantitative analysis of SDBS in environmental water, while achieving satisfactory results compared with those of the standard method. This study developed a new application of the fluorescent phthalocyanine compounds used as molecular probes in analytical sciences.

High-Speed Soft-Decision Decoding of Two Reed-Muller Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Uehara, Gregory T.

1996-01-01

In this research, we have proposed the (64, 40, 8) subcode of the third-order Reed-Muller (RM) code to NASA for high-speed satellite communications. This RM subcode can be used either alone or as an inner code of a concatenated coding system with the NASA standard (255, 233, 33) Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the outer code to achieve high performance (or low bit-error rate) with reduced decoding complexity. It can also be used as a component code in a multilevel bandwidth efficient coded modulation system to achieve reliable bandwidth efficient data transmission. This report will summarize the key progress we have made toward achieving our eventual goal of implementing, a decoder system based upon this code. In the first phase of study, we investigated the complexities of various sectionalized trellis diagrams for the proposed (64, 40, 8) RM subcode. We found a specific 8-trellis diagram for this code which requires the least decoding complexity with a high possibility of achieving a decoding speed of 600 M bits per second (Mbps). The combination of a large number of states and a high data rate will be made possible due to the utilization of a high degree of parallelism throughout the architecture. This trellis diagram will be presented and briefly described. In the second phase of study, which was carried out through the past year, we investigated circuit architectures to determine the feasibility of VLSI implementation of a high-speed Viterbi decoder based on this 8-section trellis diagram. We began to examine specific design and implementation approaches to implement a fully custom integrated circuit (IC) which will be a key building block for a decoder system implementation. The key results will be presented in this report. This report will be divided into three primary sections. First, we will briefly describe the system block diagram in which the proposed decoder is assumed to be operating, and present some of the key architectural approaches being used to implement the system at high speed. Second, we will describe details of the 8-trellis diagram we found to best meet the trade-offs between chip and overall system complexity. The chosen approach implements the trellis for the (64, 40, 8) RM subcode with 32 independent sub-trellises. And third, we will describe results of our feasibility study on the implementation of such an IC chip in CMOS technology to implement one of these sub-trellises.

High surface area carbon and process for its production

DOEpatents

Romanos, Jimmy; Burress, Jacob; Pfeifer, Peter; Rash, Tyler; Shah, Parag; Suppes, Galen

2016-12-13

Activated carbon materials and methods of producing and using activated carbon materials are provided. In particular, biomass-derived activated carbon materials and processes of producing the activated carbon materials with prespecified surface areas and pore size distributions are provided. Activated carbon materials with preselected high specific surface areas, porosities, sub-nm (<1 nm) pore volumes, and supra-nm (1-5 nm) pore volumes may be achieved by controlling the degree of carbon consumption and metallic potassium intercalation into the carbon lattice during the activation process.

The Detection of Protein via ZnO Resonant Raman Scattering Signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shan, Guiye; Yang, Guoliang; Wang, Shuang; Liu, Yichun

2008-03-01

Detecting protein with high sensitivity and specificity is essential for disease diagnostics, drug screening and other application. Semiconductor nanoparticles show better properties than organic dye molecules when used as markers for optical measurements. We used ZnO nanoparticles as markers for detecting protein in resonant Raman scattering measurements. The highly sensitive detection of proteins was achieved by an antibody-based sandwich assay. A probe for the target protein was constructed by binding the ZnO/Au nanoparticles to a primary antibody by eletrostatic interaction between Au and the antibody. A secondary antibody, which could be specifically recognized by target protein, was attached to a solid surface. The ZnO/Au-antibody probe could specifically recognize and bind to the complex of the target protein and secondary antibody. Our measurements using the resonant Raman scattering signal of ZnO nanoparticles showed good selectivity and sensitivity for the target protein.

Search strategies for identifying qualitative studies in CINAHL.

PubMed

Wilczynski, Nancy L; Marks, Susan; Haynes, R Brian

2007-05-01

Nurses, allied health professionals, clinicians, and researchers increasingly use online access to evidence in the course of patient care or when conducting reviews on a particular topic. Qualitative research has an important role in evidence-based health care. Online searching for qualitative studies can be difficult, however, resulting in the need to develop search filters. The objective of this study was to develop optimal search strategies to retrieve qualitative studies in CINAHL for the 2000 publishing year. The authors conducted an analytic survey comparing hand searches of journals with retrievals from CINAHL for candidate search terms and combinations. Combinations of search terms reached peak sensitivities of 98.9% and peak specificities of 99.5%. Combining search terms optimized both sensitivity and specificity at 94.2%. Empirically derived search strategies combining indexing terms and textwords can achieve high sensitivity and high specificity for retrieving qualitative studies from CINAHL.

MOF-Bacteriophage Biosensor for Highly Sensitive and Specific Detection of Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed

Bhardwaj, Neha; Bhardwaj, Sanjeev K; Mehta, Jyotsana; Kim, Ki-Hyun; Deep, Akash

2017-10-04

To produce a sensitive and specific biosensor for Staphylococcus aureus, bacteriophages have been interfaced with a water-dispersible and environmentally stable metal-organic framework (MOF), NH 2 -MIL-53(Fe). The conjugation of the MOF with bacteriophages has been achieved through the use of glutaraldehyde as cross-linker. Highly sensitive detection of S. aureus in both synthetic and real samples was realized by the proposed MOF-bacteriophage biosensor based on the photoluminescence quenching phenomena: limit of detection (31 CFU/mL) and range of detection (40 to 4 × 10 8 CFU/mL). This is the first report exploiting the use of an MOF-bacteriophage complex for the biosensing of S. aureus. The results of our study highlight that the proposed biosensor is more sensitive than most of the previous methods while exhibiting some advanced features like specificity, regenerability, extended range of linear detection, and stability for long-term storage (even at room temperature).

Multi-modal approach using Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography for the discrimination of colonic adenocarcinoma from normal colon

PubMed Central

Ashok, Praveen C.; Praveen, Bavishna B.; Bellini, Nicola; Riches, Andrew; Dholakia, Kishan; Herrington, C. Simon

2013-01-01

We report a multimodal optical approach using both Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in tandem to discriminate between colonic adenocarcinoma and normal colon. Although both of these non-invasive techniques are capable of discriminating between normal and tumour tissues, they are unable individually to provide both the high specificity and high sensitivity required for disease diagnosis. We combine the chemical information derived from Raman spectroscopy with the texture parameters extracted from OCT images. The sensitivity obtained using Raman spectroscopy and OCT individually was 89% and 78% respectively and the specificity was 77% and 74% respectively. Combining the information derived using the two techniques increased both sensitivity and specificity to 94% demonstrating that combining complementary optical information enhances diagnostic accuracy. These data demonstrate that multimodal optical analysis has the potential to achieve accurate non-invasive cancer diagnosis. PMID:24156073

Winnowing DNA for rare sequences: highly specific sequence and methylation based enrichment.

PubMed

Thompson, Jason D; Shibahara, Gosuke; Rajan, Sweta; Pel, Joel; Marziali, Andre

2012-01-01

Rare mutations in cell populations are known to be hallmarks of many diseases and cancers. Similarly, differential DNA methylation patterns arise in rare cell populations with diagnostic potential such as fetal cells circulating in maternal blood. Unfortunately, the frequency of alleles with diagnostic potential, relative to wild-type background sequence, is often well below the frequency of errors in currently available methods for sequence analysis, including very high throughput DNA sequencing. We demonstrate a DNA preparation and purification method that through non-linear electrophoretic separation in media containing oligonucleotide probes, achieves 10,000 fold enrichment of target DNA with single nucleotide specificity, and 100 fold enrichment of unmodified methylated DNA differing from the background by the methylation of a single cytosine residue.

Discharge start-up and ramp-up development for NSTX-U and MAST-U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battaglia, D. J.; Boyer, M. D.; Gerhardt, S. P.; Menard, J. E.; Mueller, D.; Cunningham, G.; Kirk, A.; Kogan, L.; McArdle, G.; Pangione, L.; Thornton, A. J.; Ren, E.

2017-10-01

A collaborative modeling effort is underway to develop robust inductive start-up and ramp-up scenarios for NSTX-U and MAST-U. These complementary spherical tokamak devices aim to generate the physics basis for achieving steady-state, high-beta and high-confinement plasma discharges with a self-consistent solution for managing the divertor heat flux. High-performance discharges in these devices require sufficient plasma elongation (κ = 2.4 - 2.8) to maximize the bootstrap and beam-driven current drive, increase MHD stability at high Ip and high βN, and realize advanced divertor geometries such as the snowflake and super-X. Achieving the target elongation on NSTX-U is enabled by an L-H transition in the current ramp-up that slows the current diffusion and maintains a low internal inductance (li <= 0.8). Modeling focuses on developing scenarios that achieve a suitable field null for breakdown and discharge conditions conducive to an early L-H transition while maintaining vertical and MHD stability, with appropriate margin for variation in experimental conditions. The toroidal currents induced in conducting structures and the specifications of the real-time control and power supply systems are unique constraints for the two devices. Work Supported by U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-09CH11466 and the RCUK Energy Programme [Grant Number EP/P012450/1].

Aloe vera Derived Activated High-Surface-Area Carbon for Flexible and High-Energy Supercapacitors.

PubMed

Karnan, M; Subramani, K; Sudhan, N; Ilayaraja, N; Sathish, M

2016-12-28

Materials which possess high specific capacitance in device configuration with low cost are essential for viable application in supercapacitors. Herein, a flexible high-energy supercapacitor device was fabricated using porous activated high-surface-area carbon derived from aloe leaf (Aloe vera) as a precursor. The A. vera derived activated carbon showed mesoporous nature with high specific surface area of ∼1890 m 2 /g. A high specific capacitance of 410 and 306 F/g was achieved in three-electrode and symmetric two-electrode system configurations in aqueous electrolyte, respectively. The fabricated all-solid-state device showed a high specific capacitance of 244 F/g with an energy density of 8.6 Wh/kg. In an ionic liquid electrolyte, the fabricated device showed a high specific capacitance of 126 F/g and a wide potential window up to 3 V, which results in a high energy density of 40 Wh/kg. Furthermore, it was observed that the activation temperature has significant role in the electrochemical performance, as the activated sample at 700 °C showed best activity than the samples activated at 600 and 800 °C. The electron microscopic images (FE-SEM and HR-TEM) confirmed the formation of pores by the chemical activation. A fabricated supercapacitor device in ionic liquid with 3 V could power up a red LED for 30 min upon charging for 20s. Also, it is shown that the operation voltage and capacitance of flexible all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitors fabricated using aloe-derived activated carbon could be easily tuned by series and parallel combinations. The performance of fabricated supercapacitor devices using A. vera derived activated carbon in all-solid-state and ionic liquid indicates their viable applications in flexible devices and energy storage.

Toward a domain-specific approach to the study of parental psychological control: distinguishing between dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control.

PubMed

Soenens, Bart; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Luyten, Patrick

2010-02-01

Theory and research suggest that psychologically controlling parenting can be driven by parental concerns in two different domains, that is, interpersonal closeness and achievement. Three studies addressing this hypothesis are presented. Study 1 provides evidence for the validity of the Dependency-Oriented and Achievement-Oriented Psychological Control Scale (DAPCS), a new measure assessing psychological control in these two domains. Study 2 showed that dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control were related in expected ways to parental separation anxiety and perfectionism in a sample of mothers and fathers. Finally, Study 3 showed that dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control were differentially related to middle adolescent dependency and self-criticism and that these personality features act as specific intervening variables between the domain-specific expressions of psychological control and depressive symptoms. It is argued that the distinction between two domain-specific expressions of psychological control may allow for a more intricate analysis of the processes involved in intrusive parenting.

High concentration biotherapeutic formulation and ultrafiltration: Part 1 pressure limits.

PubMed

Lutz, Herb; Arias, Joshua; Zou, Yu

2017-01-01

High therapeutic dosage requirements and the desire for ease of administration drive the trend to subcutaneous administration using delivery systems such as subcutaneous pumps and prefilled syringes. Because of dosage volume limits, prefilled syringe administration requires higher concentration liquid formulations, limited to about 30 cP or roughly 100-300 g L -1 for mAb's. Ultrafiltration (UF) processes are routinely used to formulate biological therapeutics. This article considers pressure constraints on the UF process that may limit its ability to achieve high final product concentrations. A system hardware analysis shows that the ultrafiltration cassette pressure drop is the major factor limiting UF systems. Additional system design recommendations are also provided. The design and performance of a new cassette with a lower feed channel flow resistance is described along with 3D modeling of feed channel pressure drop. The implications of variations in cassette flow channel resistance for scaling up and setting specifications are considered. A recommendation for a maximum pressure specification is provided. A review of viscosity data and theory shows that molecular engineering, temperature, and the use of viscosity modifying excipients including pH adjustment can be used to achieve higher concentrations. The combined use of a low pressure drop cassette with excipients further increased final concentrations by 35%. Guidance is provided on system operation to control hydraulics during final concentration. These recommendations should allow one to design and operate systems to routinely achieve the 30 cP target final viscosity capable of delivery using a pre-filled syringe. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:113-124, 2017. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Improving Reading Achievement Through Increased Motivation, Specific Skill Enhancement, and Practice Time for Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ecklund, Britt K.; Lamon, Kathryn M.

2008-01-01

The action research project report began when the teacher researchers determined that students at Sites A and B struggled with reading achievement. The purpose of the project was to improve students' reading achievement through increased motivation, specific skill instruction, and additional practice time. The project involved 26 students: 17…

Computer aided detection of surgical retained foreign object for prevention

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

Hadjiiski, Lubomir, E-mail: lhadjisk@umich.edu; Marentis, Theodore C.; Rondon, Lucas

2015-03-15

Purpose: Surgical retained foreign objects (RFOs) have significant morbidity and mortality. They are associated with approximately $1.5 × 10{sup 9} annually in preventable medical costs. The detection accuracy of radiographs for RFOs is a mediocre 59%. The authors address the RFO problem with two complementary technologies: a three-dimensional (3D) gossypiboma micro tag, the μTag that improves the visibility of RFOs on radiographs, and a computer aided detection (CAD) system that detects the μTag. It is desirable for the CAD system to operate in a high specificity mode in the operating room (OR) and function as a first reader for themore » surgeon. This allows for fast point of care results and seamless workflow integration. The CAD system can also operate in a high sensitivity mode as a second reader for the radiologist to ensure the highest possible detection accuracy. Methods: The 3D geometry of the μTag produces a similar two dimensional (2D) depiction on radiographs regardless of its orientation in the human body and ensures accurate detection by a radiologist and the CAD. The authors created a data set of 1800 cadaver images with the 3D μTag and other common man-made surgical objects positioned randomly. A total of 1061 cadaver images contained a single μTag and the remaining 739 were without μTag. A radiologist marked the location of the μTag using an in-house developed graphical user interface. The data set was partitioned into three independent subsets: a training set, a validation set, and a test set, consisting of 540, 560, and 700 images, respectively. A CAD system with modules that included preprocessing μTag enhancement, labeling, segmentation, feature analysis, classification, and detection was developed. The CAD system was developed using the training and the validation sets. Results: On the training set, the CAD achieved 81.5% sensitivity with 0.014 false positives (FPs) per image in a high specificity mode for the surgeons in the OR and 96.1% sensitivity with 0.81 FPs per image in a high sensitivity mode for the radiologists. On the independent test set, the CAD achieved 79.5% sensitivity with 0.003 FPs per image in a high specificity mode for the surgeons and 90.2% sensitivity with 0.23 FPs per image in a high sensitivity mode for the radiologists. Conclusions: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a 3D μTag is used to produce a recognizable, substantially similar 2D projection on radiographs regardless of orientation in space. It is the first time a CAD system is used to search for man-made objects over anatomic background. The CAD system for the μTags achieved reasonable performance in both the high specificity and the high sensitivity modes.« less

Remediation Trends in an Undergraduate Anatomy Course and Assessment of an Anatomy Supplemental Study Skills Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schutte, Audra Faye

2013-01-01

Anatomy A215: Basic Human Anatomy (Anat A215) is an undergraduate human anatomy course at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) that serves as a requirement for many degree programs at IUB. The difficulty of the course, coupled with pressure to achieve grades for admittance into specific programs, has resulted in high remediation rates. In an…

The Effect of Resource Services on Academic Achievement in Reading and Math in South Texas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birdwell, Jeanine; Kupczynski, Lori; Mundy, Marie-Anne; Bain, Steve

2015-01-01

Accountability measures with increased emphasis placed on assessment for all students have led more special education students to be placed in the general education classroom. The sample included students identified with specific learning disabilities at two high schools, 4A or larger, in South Texas. ANCOVA was utilized to analyze the data. This…

Washington State Birth to 3 Plan: Building on Existing Efforts to Improve Services and Achieve Measurable Outcomes for Children and Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington State Department of Early Learning, 2010

2010-01-01

Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) contracted with Thrive by Five Washington to facilitate and write this report. A collaborative group of key stakeholders helped develop this plan, which consists of actionable policy recommendations in seven high-level focus areas. Within each area are specific "next steps" that build…

Differences in Academic Achievement among Texas High School Students as a Function of Music Enrollment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Robert Wayne

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the score differences on the Texas Academic Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Reading and Mathematics measures among students in Grades 10 and 11 as a function of music enrollment. Specifically, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and enrollment in choir, band, or orchestra or no music enrollment…

Visualizing the Future: Technology Competency Development in Clinical Medicine, and Implications for Medical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srinivasan, Malathi; Keenan, Craig R.; Yager, Joel

2006-01-01

Objective: In this article, the authors ask three questions. First, what will physicians need to know in order to be effective in the future? Second, what role will technology play in achieving that high level of effectiveness? Third, what specific skill sets will physicians need to master in order to become effective? Method: Through three case…

FCAT Retakes: Trends in Multiple Attempts at Satisfying FCAT Graduation Requirements. Research Brief. Volume 0805

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froman, Terry; Brown, Shelly

2009-01-01

According to Florida Law, students must pass the Grade 10 FCAT, among other academic requirements, in order to receive a standard high school diploma. Specifically, students must achieve a "passing" score of 300 or above on both the FCAT SSS Reading and the FCAT SSS Mathematics tests. Technically, students can retake the FCAT as many…

Estimating the Effects of Teacher Certification on the Academic Achievement of Exceptional High School Students in North Carolina

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montrosse, Bianca Elizabeth

2009-01-01

Legislative amendments contained in the most recent reauthorization of IDEA and NCLB have mandated that all students, including those with special needs, be taught by an appropriately certified teacher. Specifically, both of these laws require that teachers of special education students in core academic classes must meet state special education…

Evaluation Realities or How I Learned to Love "The Standards" While Evaluating a Computer Assisted Instruction Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, David A.

This case study presents a narrative summary of the evaluation of a two semester computer assisted instruction (CAI) project in an all minority high school. Use of PLATO software with Control Data microcomputers brought about modest achievement advantages, higher internal locus of control, more positive attitudes toward school and specific course…

Safety First: A Quantitative Study on Teachers' Perceptions of School Climate in Rural Louisiana Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brumfield-Sanders, Tongia M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to explore the perceptions of school safety among middle and high school teachers in rural Louisiana. In order to achieve this objective, a specific research question was formulated pertaining to teacher perceptions. The Safe Communities Safe Schools (SCSS) survey was used to assess teachers'…

Evaluating Phase II of a New York City-Wide STEM Initiative Using Propensity Score Methods: A Replication Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Ally S.; Bonner, Sarah M.; Everson, Howard T.

2014-01-01

Recently, the authors have been exploring the use of propensity score methods for developing evidence of program impact. Specifically, they have been developing evidence (after one year of implementation) of the effects of the Math Science Partnership in New York City ("MSPinNYC2") on high school students' achievement--both in terms of…

Assessment Skills: A Case of Mathematics Examination and Its Place in Math-Teacher Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qudah, Ahmad Hassan

2016-01-01

The research aims to reveal the specific way to evaluate learning mathematics, so that we get the "measuring tool" for the achievement of learners in mathematics that reflect their level of understanding by score (mark), which we trust it with high degree. The behavior of the learner can be measured by a professional way to build the…

Methods to Efficiently Achieve High-Quality Teaching of Accounting at the University--A Teaching Innovation Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hruška, Ing. Zdenek

2018-01-01

Teaching of accounting is specific due to its frequently updated content, because Czech legal regulations significantly change annually, either because of the legislative or harmonization modifications, hence there is a need to constantly seek new ways to ensure a good quality of teaching in the efficient education process. The paper is based on…

Teachers Guide to Economic Concepts: Grade 10-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCabe, Milo F.

This grades 10-12 teachers guide is one of five resource guides developed to aid teachers in helping students in South Dakota to achieve a high degree of economic literacy. It is felt that schools must prepare students at all grade levels to develop an understanding of the economy in which they live. This guide was specifically prepared to assist…

Fundamentals and applications of SERS-based bioanalytical sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahraman, Mehmet; Mullen, Emma R.; Korkmaz, Aysun; Wachsmann-Hogiu, Sebastian

2017-03-01

Plasmonics is an emerging field that examines the interaction between light and metallic nanostructures at the metal-dielectric interface. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that uses plasmonics to obtain detailed chemical information of molecules or molecular assemblies adsorbed or attached to nanostructured metallic surfaces. For bioanalytical applications, these surfaces are engineered to optimize for high enhancement factors and molecular specificity. In this review we focus on the fabrication of SERS substrates and their use for bioanalytical applications. We review the fundamental mechanisms of SERS and parameters governing SERS enhancement. We also discuss developments in the field of novel SERS substrates. This includes the use of different materials, sizes, shapes, and architectures to achieve high sensitivity and specificity as well as tunability or flexibility. Different fundamental approaches are discussed, such as label-free and functional assays. In addition, we highlight recent relevant advances for bioanalytical SERS applied to small molecules, proteins, DNA, and biologically relevant nanoparticles. Subsequently, we discuss the importance of data analysis and signal detection schemes to achieve smaller instruments with low cost for SERS-based point-of-care technology developments. Finally, we review the main advantages and challenges of SERS-based biosensing and provide a brief outlook.

Strategic enzyme patterning for microfluidic biofuel cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kjeang, E.; Sinton, D.; Harrington, D. A.

The specific character of biological enzyme catalysts enables combined fuel and oxidant channels and simplified non-compartmentalized fuel cell assemblies. In this work, a microstructured enzymatic biofuel cell architecture is proposed, and species transport phenomena combined with consecutive chemical reactions are studied computationally in order to provide guidelines for optimization. This is the first computational study of this technology, and a 2D CFD model for species transport coupled with laminar fluid flow and Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics is established. It is shown that the system is reaction rate limited, indicating that enzyme specific turnover numbers are key parameters for biofuel cell performance. Separated and mixed enzyme patterns in different proportions are analyzed for various Peclet numbers. High fuel utilization is achieved in the diffusion dominated and mixed species transport regimes with separated enzymes arranged in relation to individual turnover rates. However, the Peclet number has to be above a certain threshold value to obtain satisfying current densities. The mixed transport regime is particularly attractive while current densities are maintained close to maximum levels. Optimum performance is achieved by mixed enzyme patterning tailored with respect to individual turnover rates, enabling high current densities combined with nearly complete fuel utilization.

Housing Instability Among Current and Former Welfare Recipients

PubMed Central

Phinney, Robin; Danziger, Sheldon; Pollack, Harold A.; Seefeldt, Kristin

2007-01-01

Objectives. We examined correlates of eviction and homelessness among current and former welfare recipients from 1997 to 2003 in an urban Michigan community. Methods. Longitudinal cohort data were drawn from the Women’s Employment Study, a representative panel study of mothers who were receiving cash welfare in February 1997. We used logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors for both eviction and homelessness over the survey period. Results. Twenty percent (95% confidence interval [CI]=16%, 23%) of respondents were evicted and 12% (95% CI=10%, 15%) experienced homelessness at least once between fall 1997 and fall 2003. Multivariate analyses indicated 2 consistent risk factors: having less than a high school education and having used illicit drugs other than marijuana. Mental and physical health problems were significantly associated with homelessness but not evictions. A multivariate screening algorithm achieved 75% sensitivity and 67% specificity in identifying individuals at risk for homelessness. A corresponding algorithm for eviction achieved 75% sensitivity and 50% specificity. Conclusions. The high prevalence of housing instability among our respondents suggests the need to better target housing assistance and other social services to current and former welfare recipients with identifiable personal problems. PMID:17267717

Gene silencing using the recessive rice bacterial blight resistance gene xa13 as a new paradigm in plant breeding.

PubMed

Li, Changyan; Wei, Jing; Lin, Yongjun; Chen, Hao

2012-05-01

Resistant germplasm resources are valuable for developing resistant varieties in agricultural production. However, recessive resistance genes are usually overlooked in hybrid breeding. Compared with dominant traits, however, they may confer resistance to different pathogenic races or pest biotypes with different mechanisms of action. The recessive rice bacterial blight resistance gene xa13, also involved in pollen development, has been cloned and its resistance mechanism has been recently characterized. This report describes the conversion of bacterial blight resistance mediated by the recessive xa13 gene into a dominant trait to facilitate its use in a breeding program. This was achieved by knockdown of the corresponding dominant allele Xa13 in transgenic rice using recently developed artificial microRNA technology. Tissue-specific promoters were used to exclude most of the expression of artificial microRNA in the anther to ensure that Xa13 functioned normally during pollen development. A battery of highly bacterial blight resistant transgenic plants with normal seed setting rates were acquired, indicating that highly specific gene silencing had been achieved. Our success with xa13 provides a paradigm that can be adapted to other recessive resistance genes.

ChemicalTagger: A tool for semantic text-mining in chemistry.

PubMed

Hawizy, Lezan; Jessop, David M; Adams, Nico; Murray-Rust, Peter

2011-05-16

The primary method for scientific communication is in the form of published scientific articles and theses which use natural language combined with domain-specific terminology. As such, they contain free owing unstructured text. Given the usefulness of data extraction from unstructured literature, we aim to show how this can be achieved for the discipline of chemistry. The highly formulaic style of writing most chemists adopt make their contributions well suited to high-throughput Natural Language Processing (NLP) approaches. We have developed the ChemicalTagger parser as a medium-depth, phrase-based semantic NLP tool for the language of chemical experiments. Tagging is based on a modular architecture and uses a combination of OSCAR, domain-specific regex and English taggers to identify parts-of-speech. The ANTLR grammar is used to structure this into tree-based phrases. Using a metric that allows for overlapping annotations, we achieved machine-annotator agreements of 88.9% for phrase recognition and 91.9% for phrase-type identification (Action names). It is possible parse to chemical experimental text using rule-based techniques in conjunction with a formal grammar parser. ChemicalTagger has been deployed for over 10,000 patents and has identified solvents from their linguistic context with >99.5% precision.

Germline replacement by blastula cell transplantation in the fish medaka.

PubMed

Li, Mingyou; Hong, Ni; Xu, Hongyan; Song, Jianxing; Hong, Yunhan

2016-07-13

Primordial germ cell (PGC) specification early in development establishes the germline for reproduction and reproductive technologies. Germline replacement (GR) is a powerful tool for conservation of valuable or endangered animals. GR is achievable by germ cell transplantation into the PGC migration pathway or gonads. Blastula cell transplantation (BCT) can also lead to the chimeric germline containing PGCs of both donor and host origins. It has remained largely unknown whether BCT is able to achieve GR at a high efficiency. Here we report efficient GR by BCT into blastula embryos in the fish medaka (Oryzias latipes). Specifically, dnd depletion completely ablated host PGCs and fertility, and dnd overexpression remarkably boosted PGCs in donor blastulae. BCT between normal donor and host produced a germline transmission rate of ~4%. This rate was enhanced up to ~30% upon PGC boosting in donors. Most importantly, BCT between PGC-boosted donors and PGC-ablated hosts led to more than 90% fertility restoration and 100% GR. Therefore, BCT features an extremely high efficiency of fertility recovery and GR in medaka. This finding makes medaka an ideal model to analyze genetic and physiological donor-host compatibilities for BCT-mediated surrogate production and propagation of endangered lower vertebrates and biodiversity.

Germline replacement by blastula cell transplantation in the fish medaka

PubMed Central

Li, Mingyou; Hong, Ni; Xu, Hongyan; Song, Jianxing; Hong, Yunhan

2016-01-01

Primordial germ cell (PGC) specification early in development establishes the germline for reproduction and reproductive technologies. Germline replacement (GR) is a powerful tool for conservation of valuable or endangered animals. GR is achievable by germ cell transplantation into the PGC migration pathway or gonads. Blastula cell transplantation (BCT) can also lead to the chimeric germline containing PGCs of both donor and host origins. It has remained largely unknown whether BCT is able to achieve GR at a high efficiency. Here we report efficient GR by BCT into blastula embryos in the fish medaka (Oryzias latipes). Specifically, dnd depletion completely ablated host PGCs and fertility, and dnd overexpression remarkably boosted PGCs in donor blastulae. BCT between normal donor and host produced a germline transmission rate of ~4%. This rate was enhanced up to ~30% upon PGC boosting in donors. Most importantly, BCT between PGC-boosted donors and PGC-ablated hosts led to more than 90% fertility restoration and 100% GR. Therefore, BCT features an extremely high efficiency of fertility recovery and GR in medaka. This finding makes medaka an ideal model to analyze genetic and physiological donor-host compatibilities for BCT-mediated surrogate production and propagation of endangered lower vertebrates and biodiversity. PMID:27406328

Developing models to predict 8th grade students' achievement levels on timss science based on opportunity-to-learn variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitford, Melinda M.

Science educational reforms have placed major emphasis on improving science classroom instruction and it is therefore vital to study opportunity-to-learn (OTL) variables related to student science learning experiences and teacher teaching practices. This study will identify relationships between OTL and student science achievement and will identify OTL predictors of students' attainment at various distinct achievement levels (low/intermediate/high/advanced). Specifically, the study (a) address limitations of previous studies by examining a large number of independent and control variables that may impact students' science achievement and (b) it will test hypotheses of structural relations to how the identified predictors and mediating factors impact on student achievement levels. The study will follow a multi-stage and integrated bottom-up and top-down approach to identify predictors of students' achievement levels on standardized tests using TIMSS 2011 dataset. Data mining or pattern recognition, a bottom-up approach will identify the most prevalent association patterns between different student achievement levels and variables related to student science learning experiences, teacher teaching practices and home and school environments. The second stage is a top-down approach, testing structural equation models of relations between the significant predictors and students' achievement levels according.

Comparison of digital mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis in the detection of architectural distortion.

PubMed

Dibble, Elizabeth H; Lourenco, Ana P; Baird, Grayson L; Ward, Robert C; Maynard, A Stanley; Mainiero, Martha B

2018-01-01

To compare interobserver variability (IOV), reader confidence, and sensitivity/specificity in detecting architectural distortion (AD) on digital mammography (DM) versus digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). This IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant reader study used a counterbalanced experimental design. We searched radiology reports for AD on screening mammograms from 5 March 2012-27 November 2013. Cases were consensus-reviewed. Controls were selected from demographically matched non-AD examinations. Two radiologists and two fellows blinded to outcomes independently reviewed images from two patient groups in two sessions. Readers recorded presence/absence of AD and confidence level. Agreement and differences in confidence and sensitivity/specificity between DBT versus DM and attendings versus fellows were examined using weighted Kappa and generalised mixed modeling, respectively. There were 59 AD patients and 59 controls for 1,888 observations (59 × 2 (cases and controls) × 2 breasts × 2 imaging techniques × 4 readers). For all readers, agreement improved with DBT versus DM (0.61 vs. 0.37). Confidence was higher with DBT, p = .001. DBT achieved higher sensitivity (.59 vs. .32), p < .001; specificity remained high (>.90). DBT achieved higher positive likelihood ratio values, smaller negative likelihood ratio values, and larger ROC values. DBT decreases IOV, increases confidence, and improves sensitivity while maintaining high specificity in detecting AD. • Digital breast tomosynthesis decreases interobserver variability in the detection of architectural distortion. • Digital breast tomosynthesis increases reader confidence in the detection of architectural distortion. • Digital breast tomosynthesis improves sensitivity in the detection of architectural distortion.

Dielectric capacitors with three-dimensional nanoscale interdigital electrodes for energy storage.

PubMed

Han, Fangming; Meng, Guowen; Zhou, Fei; Song, Li; Li, Xinhua; Hu, Xiaoye; Zhu, Xiaoguang; Wu, Bing; Wei, Bingqing

2015-10-01

Dielectric capacitors are promising candidates for high-performance energy storage systems due to their high power density and increasing energy density. However, the traditional approach strategies to enhance the performance of dielectric capacitors cannot simultaneously achieve large capacitance and high breakdown voltage. We demonstrate that such limitations can be overcome by using a completely new three-dimensional (3D) nanoarchitectural electrode design. First, we fabricate a unique nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane with two sets of interdigitated and isolated straight nanopores opening toward opposite planar surfaces. By depositing carbon nanotubes in both sets of pores inside the AAO membrane, the new dielectric capacitor with 3D nanoscale interdigital electrodes is simply realized. In our new capacitors, the large specific surface area of AAO can provide large capacitance, whereas uniform pore walls and hemispheric barrier layers can enhance breakdown voltage. As a result, a high energy density of 2 Wh/kg, which is close to the value of a supercapacitor, can be achieved, showing promising potential in high-density electrical energy storage for various applications.

Dielectric capacitors with three-dimensional nanoscale interdigital electrodes for energy storage

PubMed Central

Han, Fangming; Meng, Guowen; Zhou, Fei; Song, Li; Li, Xinhua; Hu, Xiaoye; Zhu, Xiaoguang; Wu, Bing; Wei, Bingqing

2015-01-01

Dielectric capacitors are promising candidates for high-performance energy storage systems due to their high power density and increasing energy density. However, the traditional approach strategies to enhance the performance of dielectric capacitors cannot simultaneously achieve large capacitance and high breakdown voltage. We demonstrate that such limitations can be overcome by using a completely new three-dimensional (3D) nanoarchitectural electrode design. First, we fabricate a unique nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane with two sets of interdigitated and isolated straight nanopores opening toward opposite planar surfaces. By depositing carbon nanotubes in both sets of pores inside the AAO membrane, the new dielectric capacitor with 3D nanoscale interdigital electrodes is simply realized. In our new capacitors, the large specific surface area of AAO can provide large capacitance, whereas uniform pore walls and hemispheric barrier layers can enhance breakdown voltage. As a result, a high energy density of 2 Wh/kg, which is close to the value of a supercapacitor, can be achieved, showing promising potential in high-density electrical energy storage for various applications. PMID:26601294

Aqueous lithium air batteries

DOEpatents

Visco, Steven J.; Nimon, Yevgeniy S.; De Jonghe, Lutgard C.; Petrov, Alexei; Goncharenko, Nikolay

2017-05-23

Aqueous Li/Air secondary battery cells are configurable to achieve high energy density and prolonged cycle life. The cells include a protected a lithium metal or alloy anode and an aqueous catholyte in a cathode compartment. The aqueous catholyte comprises an evaporative-loss resistant and/or polyprotic active compound or active agent that partakes in the discharge reaction and effectuates cathode capacity for discharge in the acidic region. This leads to improved performance including one or more of increased specific energy, improved stability on open circuit, and prolonged cycle life, as well as various methods, including a method of operating an aqueous Li/Air cell to simultaneously achieve improved energy density and prolonged cycle life.

Nutrition guidelines for strength sports: sprinting, weightlifting, throwing events, and bodybuilding.

PubMed

Slater, Gary; Phillips, Stuart M

2011-01-01

Strength and power athletes are primarily interested in enhancing power relative to body weight and thus almost all undertake some form of resistance training. While athletes may periodically attempt to promote skeletal muscle hypertrophy, key nutritional issues are broader than those pertinent to hypertrophy and include an appreciation of the sports supplement industry, the strategic timing of nutrient intake to maximize fuelling and recovery objectives, plus achievement of pre-competition body mass requirements. Total energy and macronutrient intakes of strength-power athletes are generally high but intakes tend to be unremarkable when expressed relative to body mass. Greater insight into optimization of dietary intake to achieve nutrition-related goals would be achieved from assessment of nutrient distribution over the day, especially intake before, during, and after exercise. This information is not readily available on strength-power athletes and research is warranted. There is a general void of scientific investigation relating specifically to this unique group of athletes. Until this is resolved, sports nutrition recommendations for strength-power athletes should be directed at the individual athlete, focusing on their specific nutrition-related goals, with an emphasis on the nutritional support of training.

Psychosocial presentation of revisional LAGB patients: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Janse Van Vuuren, M; Strodl, E; White, K M; Lockie, P

2015-10-01

This qualitative study offers insight into the experiences, expectations, perceptions and beliefs that may lead to laparoscopic adjustable gastric band patients' failure to achieve expected weight loss and seek revisional bariatric surgery. The 23 participants from two sites were interviewed and data were analysed from a grounded theory methodology in order to build a causal model. Analysis of participants' reports identified 'unrealistic expectations of the LAGB' as the core category. Additionally, the restriction of the band had a negative impact on participants' social interactions, leading to feelings of deprivation and, thus, to a desire for reward from food choices and consequently an increase of consumption of high-calorie-dense foods. These foods were chosen because of their specific texture or ability to provide reward. The resulting increase in weight or failure to achieve excess weight loss, led to feelings of shame and loneliness and emotional eating resulting in increased the consumption of rewarding foods. Thus, identifying unrealistic expectations of laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) and emotional eating behaviours are important in those who are present initially for primary bariatric and revisional bariatric surgery, as they may contribute specifically to these patients' weight regain and consequent failure to achieve excess weight loss. © 2015 World Obesity.

Long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of congenital diaphragmatic hernia survivors not treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

PubMed

Frisk, Virginia; Jakobson, Lorna S; Unger, Sharon; Trachsel, Daniel; O'Brien, Karel

2011-07-01

Although there has been a marked improvement in the survival of children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in the past 2 decades, there are few reports of long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in this population. The present study examined neurodevelopmental outcomes in 10- to 16-year-old CDH survivors not treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Parents of 27 CDH survivors completed questionnaires assessing medical problems, daily living skills, educational outcomes, behavioral problems, and executive functioning. Fifteen CDH survivors and matched full-term controls completed standardized intelligence, academic achievement, phonological processing, and working memory tests. Non-ECMO-treated CDH survivors demonstrated high rates of clinically significant difficulties on standardized academic achievement measures, and 14 of the 27 survivors had a formal diagnosis of specific learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or developmental disability. Specific problems with executive function, cognitive and attentional weaknesses, and social difficulties were more common in CDH patients than controls. Perioperative hypocapnia was linked to executive dysfunction, behavioral problems, lowered intelligence, and poor achievement in mathematics. Non-ECMO-treated CDH survivors are at substantial risk for neurodevelopmental problems in late childhood and adolescence. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Determining the microwave coupling and operational efficiencies of a microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition reactor under high pressure diamond synthesis operating conditions

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

Nad, Shreya; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824; Gu, Yajun

2015-07-15

The microwave coupling efficiency of the 2.45 GHz, microwave plasma assisted diamond synthesis process is investigated by experimentally measuring the performance of a specific single mode excited, internally tuned microwave plasma reactor. Plasma reactor coupling efficiencies (η) > 90% are achieved over the entire 100–260 Torr pressure range and 1.5–2.4 kW input power diamond synthesis regime. When operating at a specific experimental operating condition, small additional internal tuning adjustments can be made to achieve η > 98%. When the plasma reactor has low empty cavity losses, i.e., the empty cavity quality factor is >1500, then overall microwave discharge coupling efficienciesmore » (η{sub coup}) of >94% can be achieved. A large, safe, and efficient experimental operating regime is identified. Both substrate hot spots and the formation of microwave plasmoids are eliminated when operating within this regime. This investigation suggests that both the reactor design and the reactor process operation must be considered when attempting to lower diamond synthesis electrical energy costs while still enabling a very versatile and flexible operation performance.« less

Examining Specific Effects of Context on Adaptive Behavior and Achievement in Rural Africa: Six Case Studies from Southern Province, Zambia

PubMed Central

Reich, Jodi; Hart, Lesley; Thuma, Philip E.

2011-01-01

Generally accepted as universal, the construct of adaptive behavior differs in its manifestations across different cultures and settings. The Vineland-II was translated into Chitonga and adapted to the setting of rural Southern Province, Zambia. This version was administered to the parents/caregivers of 114 children (grades 3-7, mean age = 12.94, sd = 2.34). The relationships between these children's adaptive behavior, academic achievement and cognitive ability indicators are compared to those usually observed in US samples. Results reflect no association between adaptive behavior and cognitive ability indicators, but a strong relationship between high adaptive behavior and reading-related measures. Six case studies of children with high and low scores on the Vineland-II are presented to illustrate the possible factors affecting these outcomes. PMID:22391811

Radio-frequency measurement in semiconductor quantum computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, TianYi; Chen, MingBo; Cao, Gang; Li, HaiOu; Xiao, Ming; Guo, GuoPing

2017-05-01

Semiconductor quantum dots have attracted wide interest for the potential realization of quantum computation. To realize efficient quantum computation, fast manipulation and the corresponding readout are necessary. In the past few decades, considerable progress of quantum manipulation has been achieved experimentally. To meet the requirements of high-speed readout, radio-frequency (RF) measurement has been developed in recent years, such as RF-QPC (radio-frequency quantum point contact) and RF-DGS (radio-frequency dispersive gate sensor). Here we specifically demonstrate the principle of the radio-frequency reflectometry, then review the development and applications of RF measurement, which provides a feasible way to achieve high-bandwidth readout in quantum coherent control and also enriches the methods to study these artificial mesoscopic quantum systems. Finally, we prospect the future usage of radio-frequency reflectometry in scaling-up of the quantum computing models.

MnO2-Based Electrochemical Supercapacitors on Flexible Carbon Substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadjer, Marko J.; Mastro, Michael A.; Rojo, José M.; Mojena, Alberto Boscá; Calle, Fernando; Kub, Francis J.; Eddy, Charles R.

2014-04-01

Manganese dioxide films were grown on large area flexible carbon aerogel substrates. Characterization by x-ray diffraction confirmed α-MnO2 growth. Three types of films were compared as a function of hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) concentration during growth. The highest concentration of HM TA produced MnO2 flower-like films, as observed by scanning electron microscopy, whose thickness and surface coverage lead to both a higher specific capacitance and higher series resistance. Specific capacitance was measured to be 64 F/g using a galvanostatic setup, compared to the 47 F/g-specific capacitance of the carbon aerogel substrate. Such supercapacitor devices can be fabricated on large area sheets of carbon aerogel to achieve high total capacitance.

Evaluation of Li/CF(x)Cells For Aerospace Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaidyanathan, Hari; Rao, Gopalakrishna M.

2007-01-01

Panasonic commercialized LiICF(x) cell technology in the 1970's. This technology was a promising primary battery for Aerospace applications such as: Exploration missions, Launch vehicles, Tools and more. This technology offers Wide operation temperature range, Low self-discharge and High specific energy CF(x) cathode material has a theoretical specific energy of 2260 Wh/Kg. Specific energy however achieved as of now is only 10% of theoretical value unless used at a very low rate of C/1000. Research both at Government Labs and Industries is currently in progress to improve the performance. This viewgraph presentation describes the cells, and reviews the results of some of the research using tables and charts.

Pseudocapacitive organic catechol derivative-functionalized three-dimensional graphene aerogel hybrid electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Jaewon; Yang, MinHo; Kim, Sung-Kon

2017-11-01

Bio-inspired and environmentally friendly chemical functionalization is a successful way to a new class of hybrid electrode materials for applications in energy storage. Quinone (Q)-hydroquinone (QH2) couples, a prototypical example of organic redox systems, provide fast and reversible proton-coupled electron-transfer reactions which lead to increased capacity. To achieve high capacitance and rate performance, constructing three-dimensional (3D) continuous porous structure is highly desirable. Here we report the hybrid electrodes (GA-C) consisting of 3D graphene aerogel (GA) functionalized with organic redox-active material, catechol derivative, for application to high-performance supercapacitors. The catechol derivative is adsorbed on the surface of GA through non-covalent interactions and promotes fast and reversible Q/QH2 faradaic reactions, providing large specific capacitance of 188 F g-1 at a current of 1 A g-1 and a specific energy of ∼25 Wh kg-1 at a specific power of ∼18,000 W kg-1. 3D continuous porous structure of GA electrode facilitates ion and electron transports, resulting in high rate performance (∼140 F g-1 at a current of 10 A g-1).

Controlling protein release using biodegradable microparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kline, Benjamin Patrick

Research in the field of protein therapeutics has exploded over the past decade and continues to grow in both academia and in industry. Protein drugs have advantages of being highly specific and highly active making them coveted targets for high profile disease states like cancer and multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, their many advantages are complemented by their obstacles. Because proteins are highly active and highly specific, the window between efficacy and toxicity is very narrow and drug development can be long and arduous. In addition, protein activity is dependent on its specific folding conformation that is easily disrupted by a variety of development processes. This research aimed to identify microparticle formulations to control protein release and also to determine which formulation parameters affected burst release, encapsulation, and steady-state release the most. It was found that polymer type and composition were two of the most important factors. Long-term controlled release of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was achieved as well as a wide variety of release profiles. A method was identified for micronizing protein at low cost to retain activity and coacervation was evaluated as a method for preparing protein loaded microspheres. This research provides a basis from which researchers can create better controlled release formulations for future protein therapeutics.

Magnetoresistive biosensors for quantitative proteomics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Xiahan; Huang, Chih-Cheng; Hall, Drew A.

2017-08-01

Quantitative proteomics, as a developing method for study of proteins and identification of diseases, reveals more comprehensive and accurate information of an organism than traditional genomics. A variety of platforms, such as mass spectrometry, optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, magnetic sensors, etc., have been developed for detecting proteins quantitatively. The sandwich immunoassay is widely used as a labeled detection method due to its high specificity and flexibility allowing multiple different types of labels. While optical sensors use enzyme and fluorophore labels to detect proteins with high sensitivity, they often suffer from high background signal and challenges in miniaturization. Magnetic biosensors, including nuclear magnetic resonance sensors, oscillator-based sensors, Hall-effect sensors, and magnetoresistive sensors, use the specific binding events between magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and target proteins to measure the analyte concentration. Compared with other biosensing techniques, magnetic sensors take advantage of the intrinsic lack of magnetic signatures in biological samples to achieve high sensitivity and high specificity, and are compatible with semiconductor-based fabrication process to have low-cost and small-size for point-of-care (POC) applications. Although still in the development stage, magnetic biosensing is a promising technique for in-home testing and portable disease monitoring.

Universal and specific quantitative detection of botulinum neurotoxin genes

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Clostridium botulinum, an obligate anaerobic spore-forming bacterium, produces seven antigenic variants of botulinum toxin that are distinguished serologically and termed "serotypes". Botulinum toxin blocks the release of acetylcholine at neuromuscular junctions resulting in flaccid paralysis. The potential lethality of the disease warrants a fast and accurate means of diagnosing suspected instances of food contamination or human intoxication. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-accepted assay to detect and type botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) is the mouse protection bioassay. While specific and sensitive, this assay requires the use of laboratory animals, may take up to four days to achieve a diagnosis, and is unsuitable for high-throughput analysis. We report here a two-step PCR assay that identifies all toxin types, that achieves the specificity of the mouse bioassay while surpassing it in equivalent sensitivity, that has capability for high-throughput analysis, and that provides quantitative results within hours. The first step of our assay consists of a conventional PCR that detects the presence of C. botulinum regardless of the neurotoxin type. The second step uses quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology to determine the specific serotype of the neurotoxin. Results We assayed purified C. botulinum DNA and crude toxin preparations, as well as food and stool from healthy individuals spiked with purified BoNT DNA, and one stool sample from a case of infant botulism for the presence of the NTNH gene, which is part of the BoNT gene cluster, and for the presence of serotype-specific BoNT genes. The PCR surpassed the mouse bioassay both in specificity and sensitivity, detecting positive signals in BoNT preparations containing well below the 1 LD50 required for detection via the mouse bioassay. These results were type-specific and we were reliably able to quantify as few as 10 genomic copies. Conclusions While other studies have reported conventional or quantitative PCR-based assays for the detection of C. botulinum genes, our procedure's high-throughput capability and its portability allows most laboratories to quickly assess the possible presence of BoNTs either in food processing samples or in suspected cases of botulism. Thus, this assay provides rapid and specific detection of BoNT and toxin complex genes and would enable the targeting of appropriate therapeutics to infected individuals in a timely manner. PMID:20961439

Results achieved by emergency physicians in teaching basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation to secondary school students.

PubMed

Jiménez-Fábrega, Xavier; Escalada-Roig, Xavier; Sánchez, Miquel; Culla, Alexandre; Díaz, Núria; Gómez, Xavier; Villena, Olga; Rodríguez, Esther; Gaspar, Alberto; Molina, José Emilio; Salvador, Jordi; Miró, Oscar

2009-06-01

We investigated the results obtained with a basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (b-CPR) program (PROCES) specifically designed for secondary school students (14-16 years old) and taught by emergency physicians. We used a multiple-choice test with 20 questions (10 on theory and 10 on skills) answered before and immediately after and 1 year after receiving the b-CPR course. Satisfactory learning was considered when at least 8 out of 10 skill questions were correctly answered. We investigated student variables associated with better immediate and deferred (1 year after) PROCES performance. We compared the results with those obtained using a more standardized program to teach b-CPR to police cadets. We enrolled 600 high school students. PROCES achieved significant improvement in overall, theory and skill marks immediately after the course (P<0.001), with a significant decay in all of them 1 year after the course (P<0.001). Satisfactory learning was achieved by 57% of school students immediately after PROCES and by 37% when assessed 1 year later. Students without pending study subjects (P=0.001) and those from private schools (P<0.01) achieved significantly better performance immediately after PROCES and only female students achieved greater performance 1 year after the course (P<0.05). With respect to police cadets instructed through a standardized course, immediate satisfactory learning of school students was lower (79 vs. 57%, respectively; P<0.001), whereas deferred satisfactory learning was higher (23 vs. 37%, respectively; P<0.05). Emergency physicians can satisfactorily instruct secondary school students in b-CPR using PROCES, and this specific program achieves a reasonable amount of satisfactory learning.

Progress of OLED devices with high efficiency at high luminance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Carmen; Ingram, Grayson; Lu, Zhenghong

2014-03-01

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have progressed significantly over the last two decades. For years, OLEDs have been promoted as the next generation technology for flat panel displays and solid-state lighting due to their potential for high energy efficiency and dynamic range of colors. Although high efficiency can readily be obtained at low brightness levels, a significant decline at high brightness is commonly observed. In this report, we will review various strategies for achieving highly efficient phosphorescent OLED devices at high luminance. Specifically, we will provide details regarding the performance and general working principles behind each strategy. We will conclude by looking at how some of these strategies can be combined to produce high efficiency white OLEDs at high brightness.

Deep Sequencing-guided Design of a High Affinity Dual Specificity Antibody to Target Two Angiogenic Factors in Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration* ♦

PubMed Central

Koenig, Patrick; Lee, Chingwei V.; Sanowar, Sarah; Wu, Ping; Stinson, Jeremy; Harris, Seth F.; Fuh, Germaine

2015-01-01

The development of dual targeting antibodies promises therapies with improved efficacy over mono-specific antibodies. Here, we engineered a Two-in-One VEGF/angiopoietin 2 antibody with dual action Fab (DAF) as a potential therapeutic for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Crystal structures of the VEGF/angiopoietin 2 DAF in complex with its two antigens showed highly overlapping binding sites. To achieve sufficient affinity of the DAF to block both angiogenic factors, we turned to deep mutational scanning in the complementarity determining regions (CDRs). By mutating all three CDRs of each antibody chain simultaneously, we were able not only to identify affinity improving single mutations but also mutation pairs from different CDRs that synergistically improve both binding functions. Furthermore, insights into the cooperativity between mutations allowed us to identify fold-stabilizing mutations in the CDRs. The data obtained from deep mutational scanning reveal that the majority of the 52 CDR residues are utilized differently for the two antigen binding function and permit, for the first time, the engineering of several DAF variants with sub-nanomolar affinity against two structurally unrelated antigens. The improved variants show similar blocking activity of receptor binding as the high affinity mono-specific antibodies against these two proteins, demonstrating the feasibility of generating a dual specificity binding surface with comparable properties to individual high affinity mono-specific antibodies. PMID:26088137

Intensive training program for ultrasound diagnosis of adnexal masses: protocol and preliminary results.

PubMed

Alcázar, J L; Díaz, L; Flórez, P; Guerriero, S; Jurado, M

2013-08-01

To assess the feasibility of a specific training program for ultrasound diagnosis of adnexal masses. A 2-month intensive training program was developed. The program protocol consisted of a 1-day intensive theoretical course focused on clinical and sonographic issues related to adnexal masses and ovarian cancer, followed by a 4-week real-time ultrasound training program in a tertiary center (25-30 adnexal masses evaluated per month) and a final 4-week period for offline assessment of three-dimensional (3D) volumes from adnexal masses. In this final period, each trainee evaluated five sets of 100 3D volumes. 3D volumes contained gray-scale and power Doppler information, and the trainee was provided with clinical data for each case (patient age, menopausal status and reported symptoms). 3D volumes were obtained from surgically removed masses that had undergone histological diagnosis or from masses that had been followed up until resolution. After assessment of each set, the trainee's diagnostic performance was calculated (sensitivity and specificity) and each incorrectly classified mass was evaluated with the trainer. The objective was to achieve a sensitivity of > 95% and a specificity of > 90%. Learning curve cumulative summation (LC-CUSUM) graphs were plotted to assess the learning curve for the trainees. One trainer and two trainees with little experience in gynecological ultrasound (one gynecologist and one radiologist) participated in this study. LC-CUSUM graphs showed that competence was achieved after 170 or 185 examinations. The objectives for diagnostic performance were achieved after assessment of the second set of 3D volumes (200 cases) for each trainee. The proposed training program appears to be feasible. High diagnostic performance can be achieved after analysis of 200 cases and maintained thereafter. Copyright © 2013 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Highly sensitive detection of cancer cells using femtosecond dual-wavelength near-IR two-photon imaging.

PubMed

Starkey, Jean R; Makarov, Nikolay S; Drobizhev, Mikhail; Rebane, Aleksander

2012-07-01

We describe novel imaging protocols that allow detection of small cancer cell colonies deep inside tissue phantoms with high sensitivity and specificity. We compare fluorescence excited in Styryl-9M molecules by femtosecond pulses at near IR wavelengths, where Styryl-9M shows the largest dependence of the two-photon absorption (2PA) cross section on the local environment. We show that by calculating the normalized ratio of the two-photon excited fluorescence (2PEF) intensity at 1200 nm and 1100 nm excitation wavelengths we can achieve high sensitivity and specificity for determining the location of cancer cells surrounded by normal cells. The 2PEF results showed a positive correlation with the levels of MDR1 proteins expressed by the cells, and, for high MDR1 expressors, as few as ten cancer cells could be detected. Similar high sensitivity is also demonstrated for tumor colonies induced in mouse external ears. This technique could be useful in early cancer detection, and, perhaps, also in monitoring dormant cancer deposits.

Effect of Carbon and Binder on High Sulfur Loading Electrode for Li-S Battery Technology

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

Sun, Ke; Cama, Christina A.; Huang, Jian

For the Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery to be competitive in commercialization, it is requested that the sulfur electrode must have deliverable areal capacity > 8 mAh cm -2, which corresponds to a sulfur loading > 6 mg cm -2. At this relatively high sulfur loading, we evaluated the impact of binder and carbon type on the mechanical integrity and the electrochemical properties of sulfur electrodes. We identified hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) as a new binder for the sulfur electrode because it offers better adhesion between the electrode and the aluminum current collector than the commonly used polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder. In combinationmore » with the binder study, multiple types of carbon with high specific surface area were evaluated as sulfur hosts for high loading sulfur electrodes. A commercial microporous carbon derived from wood with high pore volume showed the best performance. An electrode with sulfur loading up to 10 mg cm -2 was achieved with the optimized recipe. Based on systematic electrochemical studies, the soluble polysulfide to insoluble Li 2S 2/Li 2S conversion was identified to be the major barrier for high loading sulfur electrodes to achieve high sulfur utilization.« less

Effect of Carbon and Binder on High Sulfur Loading Electrode for Li-S Battery Technology

DOE PAGES

Sun, Ke; Cama, Christina A.; Huang, Jian; ...

2017-03-10

For the Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery to be competitive in commercialization, it is requested that the sulfur electrode must have deliverable areal capacity > 8 mAh cm -2, which corresponds to a sulfur loading > 6 mg cm -2. At this relatively high sulfur loading, we evaluated the impact of binder and carbon type on the mechanical integrity and the electrochemical properties of sulfur electrodes. We identified hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) as a new binder for the sulfur electrode because it offers better adhesion between the electrode and the aluminum current collector than the commonly used polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder. In combinationmore » with the binder study, multiple types of carbon with high specific surface area were evaluated as sulfur hosts for high loading sulfur electrodes. A commercial microporous carbon derived from wood with high pore volume showed the best performance. An electrode with sulfur loading up to 10 mg cm -2 was achieved with the optimized recipe. Based on systematic electrochemical studies, the soluble polysulfide to insoluble Li 2S 2/Li 2S conversion was identified to be the major barrier for high loading sulfur electrodes to achieve high sulfur utilization.« less

Circuit Design Approaches for Implementation of a Subtrellis IC for a Reed-Muller Subcode

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Uehara, Gregory T.; Nakamura, Eric B.; Chu, Cecilia W. P.

1996-01-01

In his research, we have proposed the (64, 40, 8) subcode of the third-order Reed-Muller (RM) code to NASA for high-speed satellite communications. This RM subcode can be used either alone or as an inner code of a concatenated coding system with the NASA standard (255, 233, 33) Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the outer code to achieve high performance (or low bit-error rate) with reduced decoding complexity. It can also be used as a component code in a multilevel bandwidth efficient coded modulation system to achieve reliable bandwidth efficient data transmission. This report will summarize the key progress we have made toward achieving our eventual goal of implementing a decoder system based upon this code. In the first phase of study, we investigated the complexities of various sectionalized trellis diagrams for the proposed (64, 40, 8) RM subcode. We found a specific 8-trellis diagram for this code which requires the least decoding complexity with a high possibility of achieving a decoding speed of 600 M bits per second(Mbps). The combination of a large number of states and a high data rate will be made possible due to the utilization of a high degree of parallelism throughout the architecture. This trellis diagram will be presented and briefly described. In the second phase of study which was carried out through the past year, we investigated circuit architectures to determine the feasibility of VLSI implementation of a high- speed Viterbi decoder based on this 8-section trellis diagram. We began to examine specific design and implementation approaches to implement a fully custom integrated circuit (IC) which will be a key building block for a decoder system implementation. The key results will be presented in this report. This report will be divided into three primary sections. First, we will briefly describe the system block diagram in which the proposed decoder is assumed to be operating and present some of the key architectural approaches being used to implement the system at high speed. Second, we will describe details of the 8-trellis diagram we found to best meet the trade-offs between chip and overall system complexity. The chosen approach implements the trellis for the (64, 40, 8) RM subcode with 32 independent sub-trellises. And third, we will describe results of our feasibility study on the implementation of such an IC chip in CMOS technology to implement one of these subtrellises.

Circuit Design Approaches for Implementation of a Subtrellis IC for a Reed-Muller Subcode

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Uehara, Gregory T.; Nakamura, Eric B.; Chu, Cecilia W. P.

1996-01-01

In this research, we have proposed the (64, 40, 8) subcode of the third-order Reed-Muller (RM) code to NASA for high-speed satellite communications. This RM subcode can be used either alone or as an inner code of a concatenated coding system with the NASA standard (255, 233, 33) Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the outer code to achieve high performance (or low bit-error rate) with reduced decoding complexity. It can also be used as a component code in a multilevel bandwidth efficient coded modulation system to achieve reliable bandwidth efficient data transmission. This report will summarize the key progress we have made toward achieving our eventual goal of implementing a decoder system based upon this code. In the first phase of study, we investigated the complexities of various sectionalized trellis diagrams for the proposed (64, 40, 8) RM subcode. We found a specific 8-trellis diagram for this code which requires the least decoding complexity with a high possibility of achieving a decoding speed of 600 M bits per second (Mbps). The combination of a large number of states and a high data rate will be made possible due to the utilization of a high degree of parallelism throughout the architecture. This trellis diagram will be presented and briefly described. In the second phase of study which was carried out through the past year, we investigated circuit architectures to determine the feasibility of VLSI implementation of a high-speed Viterbi decoder based on this 8-section trellis diagram. We began to examine specific design and implementation approaches to implement a fully custom integrated circuit (IC) which will be a key building block for a decoder system implementation. The key results will be presented in this report. This report will be divided into three primary sections. First, we will briefly describe the system block diagram in which the proposed decoder is assumed to be operating and present some of the key architectural approaches being used to implement the system at high speed. Second, we will describe details of the 8-trellis diagram we found to best meet the trade-offs between chip and overall system complexity. The chosen approach implements the trellis for the (64, 40, 8) RM subcode with 32 independent sub-trellises. And third, we will describe results of our feasibility study on the implementation of such an IC chip in CMOS technology to implement one of these subtrellises.

High-Speed Soft-Decision Decoding of Two Reed-Muller Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Uehara, Gregory T.

1996-01-01

In his research, we have proposed the (64, 40, 8) subcode of the third-order Reed-Muller (RM) code to NASA for high-speed satellite communications. This RM subcode can be used either alone or as an inner code of a concatenated coding system with the NASA standard (255, 233, 33) Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the outer code to achieve high performance (or low bit-error rate) with reduced decoding complexity. It can also be used as a component code in a multilevel bandwidth efficient coded modulation system to achieve reliable bandwidth efficient data transmission. This report will summarize the key progress we have made toward achieving our eventual goal of implementing a decoder system based upon this code. In the first phase of study, we investigated the complexities of various sectionalized trellis diagrams for the proposed (64, 40, 8) RNI subcode. We found a specific 8-trellis diagram for this code which requires the least decoding complexity with a high possibility of achieving a decoding speed of 600 M bits per second (Mbps). The combination of a large number of states and a hi ch data rate will be made possible due to the utilization of a high degree of parallelism throughout the architecture. This trellis diagram will be presented and briefly described. In the second phase of study which was carried out through the past year, we investigated circuit architectures to determine the feasibility of VLSI implementation of a high-speed Viterbi decoder based on this 8-section trellis diagram. We began to examine specific design and implementation approaches to implement a fully custom integrated circuit (IC) which will be a key building block for a decoder system implementation. The key results will be presented in this report. This report will be divided into three primary sections. First, we will briefly describe the system block diagram in which the proposed decoder is assumed to be operating and present some of the key architectural approaches being used to implement the system at high speed. Second, we will describe details of the 8-trellis diagram we found to best meet the trade-offs between chip and overall system complexity. The chosen approach implements the trellis for the (64, 40, 8) RM subcode with 32 independent sub-trellises. And third, we will describe results of our feasibility study on the implementation of such an IC chip in CMOS technology to implement one of these sub-trellises.

Simultaneous detection and determination of mercury (II) and lead (II) ions through the achievement of novel functional nucleic acid-based biosensors.

PubMed

Khoshbin, Zahra; Housaindokht, Mohammad Reza; Verdian, Asma; Bozorgmehr, Mohammad Reza

2018-09-30

The serious threats of mercury (Hg 2+ ) and lead (Pb 2+ ) ions for the public health makes it important to achieve the detection methods of the ions with high affinity and specificity. Metal ions usually coexist in some environment and foodstuff or clinical samples. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop a fast and simple method for simultaneous monitoring the amount of metal ions, especially when Hg 2+ and Pb 2+ coexist. DNAzyme-based biosensors and aptasensors have been highly regarded for this purpose as two main groups of the functional nucleic acid (FNA)-based biosensors. In this review, we summarize the recent achievements of functional nucleic acid-based biosensors for the simultaneous detection of Hg 2+ and Pb 2+ ions in two main optical and electrochemical groups. The tremendous interest in utilizing the various nanomaterials is also highlighted in the fabrication of the FNA-based biosensors. Finally, some results are presented based on the advantages and disadvantages of the studied FNA-based biosensors to compare their validation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exploration of Force Myography and surface Electromyography in hand gesture classification.

PubMed

Jiang, Xianta; Merhi, Lukas-Karim; Xiao, Zhen Gang; Menon, Carlo

2017-03-01

Whereas pressure sensors increasingly have received attention as a non-invasive interface for hand gesture recognition, their performance has not been comprehensively evaluated. This work examined the performance of hand gesture classification using Force Myography (FMG) and surface Electromyography (sEMG) technologies by performing 3 sets of 48 hand gestures using a prototyped FMG band and an array of commercial sEMG sensors worn both on the wrist and forearm simultaneously. The results show that the FMG band achieved classification accuracies as good as the high quality, commercially available, sEMG system on both wrist and forearm positions; specifically, by only using 8 Force Sensitive Resisters (FSRs), the FMG band achieved accuracies of 91.2% and 83.5% in classifying the 48 hand gestures in cross-validation and cross-trial evaluations, which were higher than those of sEMG (84.6% and 79.1%). By using all 16 FSRs on the band, our device achieved high accuracies of 96.7% and 89.4% in cross-validation and cross-trial evaluations. Copyright © 2017 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conformal fabrication of colloidal quantum dot solids for optically enhanced photovoltaics.

PubMed

Labelle, André J; Thon, Susanna M; Kim, Jin Young; Lan, Xinzheng; Zhitomirsky, David; Kemp, Kyle W; Sargent, Edward H

2015-05-26

Colloidal quantum dots (CQD) are an attractive thin-film material for photovoltaic applications due to low material costs, ease of fabrication, and size-tunable band gap. Unfortunately, today they suffer from a compromise between light absorption and photocarrier extraction, a fact that currently prevents the complete harvest of incoming above-band-gap solar photons. We have investigated the use of structured substrates and/or electrodes to increase the effective light path through the active material and found that these designs require highly conformal application of the light-absorbing films to achieve the greatest enhancement. This conformality requirement derives from the need for maximal absorption enhancement combined with shortest-distance charge transport. Here we report on a means of processing highly conformal layer-by-layer deposited CQD absorber films onto microstructured, light-recycling electrodes. Specifically, we engineer surface hydrophilicity to achieve conformal deposition of upper layers atop underlying ones. We show that only with the application of conformal coating can we achieve optimal quantum efficiency and enhanced power conversion efficiency in structured-electrode CQD cells.

Cell-Specific Multifunctional Processing of Heterogeneous Cell Systems in a Single Laser Pulse Treatment

PubMed Central

Lukianova-Hleb, Ekaterina Y.; Mutonga, Martin B. G.; Lapotko, Dmitri O.

2012-01-01

Current methods of cell processing for gene and cell therapies use several separate procedures for gene transfer and cell separation or elimination, because no current technology can offer simultaneous multi-functional processing of specific cell sub-sets in highly heterogeneous cell systems. Using the cell-specific generation of plasmonic nanobubbles of different sizes around cell-targeted gold nanoshells and nanospheres, we achieved simultaneous multifunctional cell-specific processing in a rapid single 70 ps laser pulse bulk treatment of heterogeneous cell suspension. This method supported the detection of cells, delivery of external molecular cargo to one type of cells and the concomitant destruction of another type of cells without damaging other cells in suspension, and real-time guidance of the two above cellular effects. PMID:23167546

Enzyme immunoassays for IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii based on enhanced chemiluminescence.

PubMed Central

Crouch, C F

1995-01-01

AIMS--To evaluate the clinical performance of enzyme immunoassays for IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii based on enhanced chemiluminescence. METHODS--Classification of routine clinical samples from the originating laboratories was compared with that obtained using the chemiluminescence based assays. Resolution of discordant results was achieved by testing in alternative enzyme immunoassays (IgM) or by an independent laboratory using the dye test (IgG). RESULTS--Compared with resolved data, the IgM assay was found to be highly specific (100%) with a cut off selected to give optimal performance with respect to both the early detection of specific IgM and the detection of persistent levels of specific IgM (sensitivity 98%). Compared with resolved data, the IgG assay was shown to have a sensitivity and a specificity of 99.4%. CONCLUSIONS--The Amerlite Toxo IgM assay possesses high levels of sensitivity and specificity. Assay interference due to rheumatoid factor like substances is not a problem. The Amerlite Toxo IgG assay possesses good sensitivity and specificity, but is less sensitive for the detection of seroconversion than methods detecting both IgG and IgM. PMID:7560174

Biowaste-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon Nanosheets for Ultrahigh Power Density Supercapacitors.

PubMed

Yu, Dengfeng; Chen, Chong; Zhao, Gongyuan; Sun, Lei; Du, Baosheng; Zhang, Hong; Li, Zhuo; Sun, Ye; Besenbacher, Flemming; Yu, Miao

2018-03-05

Low-cost activated carbons with high capacitive properties remain desirable for supercapacitor applications. Herein, a three-dimensional scaffolding framework of porous carbon nanosheets (PCNSs) has been produced from a typical biowaste, namely, ground cherry calyces, the specific composition and natural structures of which have contributed to the PCNSs having a very large specific surface area of 1612 m 2  g -1 , a hierarchical pore size distribution, a turbostratic carbon structure with a high degree graphitization, and about 10 % oxygen and nitrogen heteroatoms. A high specific capacitance of 350 F g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 has been achieved in a two-electrode system with 6 m KOH; this value is among the highest specific capacitance of biomass-derived carbon materials. More inspiringly, a high energy density of 22.8 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 198.8 W kg -1 can be obtained with 1 m aqueous solution of Li 2 SO 4 , and an ultrahigh energy density of 81.4 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 446.3 W kg -1 is realized with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate electrolyte. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Hitting bacteria at the heart of the central dogma: sequence-specific inhibition.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Louise Carøe Vohlander; Sperling-Petersen, Hans Uffe; Mortensen, Kim Kusk

2007-08-10

An important objective in developing new drugs is the achievement of high specificity to maximize curing effect and minimize side-effects, and high specificity is an integral part of the antisense approach. The antisense techniques have been extensively developed from the application of simple long, regular antisense RNA (asRNA) molecules to highly modified versions conferring resistance to nucleases, stability of hybrid formation and other beneficial characteristics, though still preserving the specificity of the original nucleic acids. These new and improved second- and third-generation antisense molecules have shown promising results. The first antisense drug has been approved and more are in clinical trials. However, these antisense drugs are mainly designed for the treatment of different human cancers and other human diseases. Applying antisense gene silencing and exploiting RNA interference (RNAi) are highly developed approaches in many eukaryotic systems. But in bacteria RNAi is absent, and gene silencing by antisense compounds is not nearly as well developed, despite its great potential and the intriguing possibility of applying antisense molecules in the fight against multiresistant bacteria. Recent breakthrough and current status on the development of antisense gene silencing in bacteria including especially phosphorothioate oligonucleotides (PS-ODNs), peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) and phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) will be presented in this review.

Novel biomarkers in critical care: utility or futility?

PubMed Central

Ackland, Gareth L; Mythen, Michael G

2007-01-01

One of the holy grails of modern medicine, across a range of clinical sub-specialties, is establishing highly sensitive and specific biomarkers for various diseases. Significant success has been achieved in some of these clinical areas, most notably identifying high-sensitivity C-reactive peptide, troponin I/T and brain natriuretic peptide as significant prognosticators for both the acute outcome and the development of cardiovascular pathology. However, it is highly debatable whether this translates to complex, multi-system pathophysiological insults. Is critical care immune from the application of these novel biomarkers, given the numerous confounding factors interfering with their interpretation? PMID:18001503

Stimulating ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) activity drives the ammonium oxidation rate in a constructed wetland (CW).

PubMed

Su, Yu; Wang, Weidong; Wu, Di; Huang, Wei; Wang, Mengzi; Zhu, Guibing

2018-05-15

An integrated approach to document high ammonium oxidation rate in Guanjinggang constructed wetland (GJG-CW) was performed and the results showed that the substantial ammonium oxidation rate could be obtained by enhancing Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) activity rather than Ammonia Oxidizing Archaea (AOA) activity. In the plant-bed/ditch system, ditch center and plant-bed fringe were two active zones for NH 4 + -N removal with ammonium oxidation rate peaking at 2.98±0.04 and 2.15±0.02mgNkg -1 d -1 , respectively. The enhanced AOB activity were achieved by increasing water level fluctuations, extending hydraulic retention time (HRT) and stimulating substrate availability, which subsequently enhanced NH 4 + -N removal by 34.06% in GJG-CW. However, the high AOB activity was not correlated with high AOB abundance, but was instead mostly determined by specific AOB taxa, particularly Nitrosomonas, which dominated in the active AOB. The increased cell-specific AOA activity and high AOA diversity were also achieved using those engineering measures. Although the AOA activity decreased overall with extended HRT and increased NH 4 + -N contents in GJG-CW, AOA still played a major role on ammonium oxidation in plant-bed soil. The study illustrated that artificially enhancing AOB activity and certain species in anthropogenically polluted water ecosystems would be an effective strategy to improve NH 4 + -N removal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Pre- and posttreatment results of an inpatient neurotologic and psychosomatic tinnitus therapy].

PubMed

Schaaf, H; Hesse, G

2015-08-01

Inpatient treatment of chronic complex tinnitus can be necessary for patients with a high symptomatic strain, mostly accompanied by a corresponding mental comorbidity, and/or for patients that can only perceive their psychogenic suffering through somatization into tinnitus. We report the results of 368 consecutively treated inpatients with chronic complex tinnitus. Patients' audiometric data were collected, and at the beginning and end of treatment, the Mini-Tinnitus Questionnaire (Mini-TQ12; Hiller und Goebel) was completed, as was the German version of the Hospitality Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS). Effect sizes were calculated for both questionnaires. Mean treatment duration was 38.8 days (standard deviation, SD: 13.6 days). The main therapeutic elements were intensive disorder-specific neurotologic counselling and psychoeducation; improvement of hearing by fitting of hearing aids, complemented by an individualized hearing therapy; and intensive individual and group-based psychotherapy. In addition to tinnitus, 82.1% of the patients had reduced hearing requiring rehabilitation with hearing aids. After hospitalization, a highly significant improvement in tinnitus strain could be demonstrated by the Mini-TQ12. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the depression and anxiety components of HADS was also achieved, with high effect sizes of 1.6 to 2.2. No reduction of tinnitus symptoms to a medium- or low-range level was experienced by 8.9% of patients. With corresponding symptomatic suffering, disorder-specific inpatient tinnitus treatment comprising neurotologic and psychosomatic alignment can achieve medium- to high-range therapeutic effects.

High-performance transparent and stretchable all-solid supercapacitors based on highly aligned carbon nanotube sheets

PubMed Central

Chen, Tao; Peng, Huisheng; Durstock, Michael; Dai, Liming

2014-01-01

By using highly aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) sheets of excellent optical transmittance and mechanical stretchability as both the current collector and active electrode, high-performance transparent and stretchable all-solid supercapacitors with a good stability were developed. A transmittance up to 75% at the wavelength of 550 nm was achieved for a supercapacitor made from a cross-over assembly of two single-layer CNT sheets. The transparent supercapacitor has a specific capacitance of 7.3 F g−1 and can be biaxially stretched up to 30% strain without any obvious change in electrochemical performance even over hundreds stretching cycles. PMID:24402400

Classifying the molecular functions of Rab GTPases in membrane trafficking using deep convolutional neural networks.

PubMed

Le, Nguyen-Quoc-Khanh; Ho, Quang-Thai; Ou, Yu-Yen

2018-06-13

Deep learning has been increasingly used to solve a number of problems with state-of-the-art performance in a wide variety of fields. In biology, deep learning can be applied to reduce feature extraction time and achieve high levels of performance. In our present work, we apply deep learning via two-dimensional convolutional neural networks and position-specific scoring matrices to classify Rab protein molecules, which are main regulators in membrane trafficking for transferring proteins and other macromolecules throughout the cell. The functional loss of specific Rab molecular functions has been implicated in a variety of human diseases, e.g., choroideremia, intellectual disabilities, cancer. Therefore, creating a precise model for classifying Rabs is crucial in helping biologists understand the molecular functions of Rabs and design drug targets according to such specific human disease information. We constructed a robust deep neural network for classifying Rabs that achieved an accuracy of 99%, 99.5%, 96.3%, and 97.6% for each of four specific molecular functions. Our approach demonstrates superior performance to traditional artificial neural networks. Therefore, from our proposed study, we provide both an effective tool for classifying Rab proteins and a basis for further research that can improve the performance of biological modeling using deep neural networks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

3D architecture of a graphene/CoMoO(4) composite for asymmetric supercapacitors usable at various temperatures.

PubMed

Jiang, Yaru; Zheng, Xin; Yan, Xiaoqin; Li, Yong; Zhao, Xuan; Zhang, Yue

2017-05-01

Designing and optimizing the electrode materials and studying the electrochemical performance or cycle life of the supercapacitor under different working conditions are crucial to its practical application. Herein, we proposed a rational design of 3D-graphene/CoMoO 4 nanoplates by a facile two-step hydrothermal method. Owing to the high electron transfer rate of graphene and the high activity of the CoMoO 4 nanoplates, the three-dimensional electrode architectures achieved remarkable electrochemical performances with high areal specific capacitance (1255.24F/g at 1A/g) and superior cycling stability (91.3% of the original specific capacitance after 3000 cycles at 1A/g). The all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor composed of 3D-graphene/CoMoO 4 and activated carbon (AC) exhibited a specific capacitance of 109F/g at 0.2A/g and an excellent cycling stability with only 12.1% of the initial specific capacitance off after 3000 cycles at 2A/g. The effects of temperature and charge-discharge current densities on the charge storage capacity of the supercapacitor were also investigated in detail for practical applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The negative influence of significant others on high academic achieving school pupils' choice of nursing as a career.

PubMed

Neilson, Gavin R; McNally, Jim

2013-03-01

The International Council of Nurses proposes that the shortage of nurses is global in scale and is expected to become much worse in the years ahead. A major factor impacting on the worldwide nursing shortage is the diminishing number of young people choosing nursing as a career (International Council of Nurses, 2008). One important dimension of the school pupils' career choice process is their interactions with significant others and the influence of these significant others (Hodkinson and Sparkes, 1997). As Schools/Departments of Nursing endeavour to attract more intellectual school leavers it is important to examine what advice and opinions are significant others giving regarding nursing as a career choice and how influential is this advice. This paper is based on interview data from 20 high academic achieving 5th and 6th year school pupils in Scotland, paradigmatic cases from a larger sample, who had considered nursing as a possible career choice within their career preference cluster, but then later disregarded nursing and decided to pursue medicine or another health care profession. The data was particularly striking in revealing the negative influence of significant others on high academic achieving school pupils' choice of nursing as a career. The influence of significant others, these being specifically parents, guardians, guidance teachers and career advisors was very apparent in the data in that they had a very negative view regarding nursing as a career choice for high academic achieving school pupils. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shoot Na+ Exclusion and Increased Salinity Tolerance Engineered by Cell Type–Specific Alteration of Na+ Transport in Arabidopsis[W][OA

PubMed Central

Møller, Inge S.; Gilliham, Matthew; Jha, Deepa; Mayo, Gwenda M.; Roy, Stuart J.; Coates, Juliet C.; Haseloff, Jim; Tester, Mark

2009-01-01

Soil salinity affects large areas of cultivated land, causing significant reductions in crop yield globally. The Na+ toxicity of many crop plants is correlated with overaccumulation of Na+ in the shoot. We have previously suggested that the engineering of Na+ exclusion from the shoot could be achieved through an alteration of plasma membrane Na+ transport processes in the root, if these alterations were cell type specific. Here, it is shown that expression of the Na+ transporter HKT1;1 in the mature root stele of Arabidopsis thaliana decreases Na+ accumulation in the shoot by 37 to 64%. The expression of HKT1;1 specifically in the mature root stele is achieved using an enhancer trap expression system for specific and strong overexpression. The effect in the shoot is caused by the increased influx, mediated by HKT1;1, of Na+ into stelar root cells, which is demonstrated in planta and leads to a reduction of root-to-shoot transfer of Na+. Plants with reduced shoot Na+ also have increased salinity tolerance. By contrast, plants constitutively expressing HKT1;1 driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter accumulated high shoot Na+ and grew poorly. Our results demonstrate that the modification of a specific Na+ transport process in specific cell types can reduce shoot Na+ accumulation, an important component of salinity tolerance of many higher plants. PMID:19584143

Cyanate ester-nanoparticle composites as multifunctional structural capacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Leon, J. Eliseo

An important goal of engineering is to increase the energy density of electrical energy storage devices used to deliver power onboard mobile platforms. Equally important is the goal to reduce the overall mass of the vehicles transporting these devices to achieve increased fuel and cost efficiency. One approach to meeting both these objectives is to develop multifunctional systems that serve as both energy storage and load bearing structural devices. Multifunctional devices consist of constituents that individually perform a subset of the overall desired functions. However, the synergy achieved by the combination of each constituent's characteristics allows for system-level benefits that cannot be achieved by simply optimizing the separate subsystems. We investigated multifunctional systems consisting of light weight polymer matrix and high dielectric constant fillers to achieve these objectives. The monomer of bisphenol E cyanate ester exhibited excellent processing ability because of its low room temperature viscosity. Additionally, the fully cured thermoset demonstrated excellent thermal stability, specific strength and stiffness. Fillers, including multi-walled carbon nanotubes, nanometer scale barium titanate and nanometer scale calcium copper titanate, offer high dielectric constants that raised the effective dielectric constant of the polymer matrix composite. The combination of high epsilon'and high dielectric strength produce high energy density components exhibiting increased electrical energy storage. Mechanical (load bearing) improvements of the PMCs were attributed to covalently bonded nanometer and micrometer sized filler particles, as well as the continuous glass fiber, integrated into the resin systems which increased the structural characteristics of the cured composites. Breakdown voltage tests and dynamic mechanical analysis were employed to demonstrate that precise combinations of these constituents, under the proper processing conditions, can satisfy the needs presented by the aerospace industry and military forces.

Success in School for Justice-Involved Girls: Do Specific Aspects of Developmental Immaturity Matter?

PubMed Central

Haney-Caron, Emily; Goldstein, Naomi E. S.; Giallella, Christy L.; Kemp, Kathleen; Romaine, Christina Riggs

2016-01-01

Developmental immaturity (DI) may help explain some of the variability in aspects of academic achievement among girls in the juvenile justice system, a population with high rates of truancy, dropout, and school failure. This study examined the relationships among the decision making and independent functioning components of DI, verbal intelligence, and academic achievement within this population. Using data from 60 girls in residential juvenile justice facilities, multiple regression analyses indicated that verbal IQ moderated the relationship between the DI construct of decision making and academic achievement. Self-reported school attendance and number of previous arrests did not significantly mediate the relationship between DI and academic achievement. These results may indicate that the decision-making factor of DI may be particularly important, and, if results are replicated, future intervention efforts could focus more on improving this skill within this juvenile justice population. Additionally, the overall importance of the full DI construct is an important area of future study. PMID:28082833

Formation Control for the Maxim Mission.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luquette, Richard J.; Leitner, Jesse; Gendreau, Keith; Sanner, Robert M.

2004-01-01

Over the next twenty years, a wave of change is occurring in the spacebased scientific remote sensing community. While the fundamental limits in the spatial and angular resolution achievable in spacecraft have been reached, based on today's technology, an expansive new technology base has appeared over the past decade in the area of Distributed Space Systems (DSS). A key subset of the DSS technology area is that which covers precision formation flying of space vehicles. Through precision formation flying, the baselines, previously defined by the largest monolithic structure which could fit in the largest launch vehicle fairing, are now virtually unlimited. Several missions including the Micro-Arcsecond X-ray Imaging Mission (MAXIM), and the Stellar Imager will drive the formation flying challenges to achieve unprecedented baselines for high resolution, extended-scene, interferometry in the ultraviolet and X-ray regimes. This paper focuses on establishing the feasibility for the formation control of the MAXIM mission. The Stellar Imager mission requirements are on the same order of those for MAXIM. This paper specifically addresses: (1) high-level science requirements for these missions and how they evolve into engineering requirements; (2) the formation control architecture devised for such missions; (3) the design of the formation control laws to maintain very high precision relative positions; and (4) the levels of fuel usage required in the duration of these missions. Specific preliminary results are presented for two spacecraft within the MAXIM mission.

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of SmFeAs(O,F) films with Tc = 55 K using the new fluorine source FeF3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakoda, Masahito; Ishii, Akihiro; Takinaka, Kenji; Naito, Michio

2017-07-01

REFeAs(O,F) (RE: rare-earth element) has the highest-Tc (˜58 K) among the iron-based superconductors, but a thin-film growth of REFeAs(O,F) is difficult. This is because it is not only a complex compound consisting of five elements but also requires doping of highly reactive fluorine to achieve superconductivity. We have reported in our previous article that fluorine can be supplied to a film by subliming solid-state fluorides such as FeF2 or SmF3. In this article, we report on the growth of SmFeAs(O,F) using FeF3 as an alternative fluorine source. FeF3 is solid at ambient temperatures and decomposes at temperatures as low as 100-200 °C, and releases fluorine-containing gas during the thermal decomposition. With this alternative fluorine source, we have grown SmFeAs(O,F) films with Tc as high as 55 K. This achievement demonstrates that FeF3 has potential as a fluorine source that can be employed ubiquitously for a thin-film growth of any fluorine containing compounds. One problem specific to FeF3 is that the compound is highly hydroscopic and contains a substantial amount of water even in its anhydrous form. In this article, we describe how to overcome this specific problem.

Printed energy storage devices by integration of electrodes and separators into single sheets of paper

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Liangbing; Wu, Hui; Cui, Yi

2010-05-01

We report carbon nanotube thin film-based supercapacitors fabricated with printing methods, where electrodes and separators are integrated into single sheets of commercial paper. Carbon nanotube films are easily printed with Meyer rod coating or ink-jet printing onto a paper substrate due to the excellent ink absorption of paper. A specific capacity of 33 F/g at a high specific power of 250 000 W/kg is achieved with an organic electrolyte. Such a lightweight paper-based supercapacitor could be used to power paper electronics such as transistors or displays.

High yield neutron generators using the DD reaction

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

Vainionpaa, J. H.; Harris, J. L.; Piestrup, M. A.

2013-04-19

A product line of high yield neutron generators has been developed at Adelphi technology inc. The generators use the D-D fusion reaction and are driven by an ion beam supplied by a microwave ion source. Yields of up to 5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} n/s have been achieved, which are comparable to those obtained using the more efficient D-T reaction. The microwave-driven plasma uses the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) to produce a high plasma density for high current and high atomic ion species. These generators have an actively pumped vacuum system that allows operation at reduced pressure in the target chamber,more » increasing the overall system reliability. Since no radioactive tritium is used, the generators can be easily serviced, and components can be easily replaced, providing essentially an unlimited lifetime. Fast neutron source size can be adjusted by selecting the aperture and target geometries according to customer specifications. Pulsed and continuous operation has been demonstrated. Minimum pulse lengths of 50 {mu}s have been achieved. Since the generators are easily serviceable, they offer a long lifetime neutron generator for laboratories and commercial systems requiring continuous operation. Several of the generators have been enclosed in radiation shielding/moderator structures designed for customer specifications. These generators have been proven to be useful for prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA), neutron activation analysis (NAA) and fast neutron radiography. Thus these generators make excellent fast, epithermal and thermal neutron sources for laboratories and industrial applications that require neutrons with safe operation, small footprint, low cost and small regulatory burden.« less

High yield neutron generators using the DD reaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vainionpaa, J. H.; Harris, J. L.; Piestrup, M. A.; Gary, C. K.; Williams, D. L.; Apodaca, M. D.; Cremer, J. T.; Ji, Qing; Ludewigt, B. A.; Jones, G.

2013-04-01

A product line of high yield neutron generators has been developed at Adelphi technology inc. The generators use the D-D fusion reaction and are driven by an ion beam supplied by a microwave ion source. Yields of up to 5 × 109 n/s have been achieved, which are comparable to those obtained using the more efficient D-T reaction. The microwave-driven plasma uses the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) to produce a high plasma density for high current and high atomic ion species. These generators have an actively pumped vacuum system that allows operation at reduced pressure in the target chamber, increasing the overall system reliability. Since no radioactive tritium is used, the generators can be easily serviced, and components can be easily replaced, providing essentially an unlimited lifetime. Fast neutron source size can be adjusted by selecting the aperture and target geometries according to customer specifications. Pulsed and continuous operation has been demonstrated. Minimum pulse lengths of 50 μs have been achieved. Since the generators are easily serviceable, they offer a long lifetime neutron generator for laboratories and commercial systems requiring continuous operation. Several of the generators have been enclosed in radiation shielding/moderator structures designed for customer specifications. These generators have been proven to be useful for prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA), neutron activation analysis (NAA) and fast neutron radiography. Thus these generators make excellent fast, epithermal and thermal neutron sources for laboratories and industrial applications that require neutrons with safe operation, small footprint, low cost and small regulatory burden.

Additive Manufacturing of Multifunctional Components Using High Density Carbon Nanotube Yarn Filaments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gardner, John M.; Sauti, Godfrey; Kim, Jae-Woo; Cano, Roberto J.; Wincheski, Russell A.; Stelter, Christopher J.; Grimsley, Brian W.; Working, Dennis C.; Siochi, Emilie J.

2016-01-01

Additive manufacturing allows for design freedom and part complexity not currently attainable using traditional manufacturing technologies. Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), for example, can yield novel component geometries and functionalities because the method provides a high level of control over material placement and processing conditions. This is achievable by extrusion of a preprocessed filament feedstock material along a predetermined path. However if fabrication of a multifunctional part relies only on conventional filament materials, it will require a different material for each unique functionality printed into the part. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an attractive material for many applications due to their high specific strength as well as good electrical and thermal conductivity. The presence of this set of properties in a single material presents an opportunity to use one material to achieve multifunctionality in an additively manufactured part. This paper describes a recently developed method for processing continuous CNT yarn filaments into three-dimensional articles, and summarizes the mechanical, electrical, and sensing performance of the components fabricated in this way.

Design and characterization of high-speed CMOS pseudo-LVDS transceivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kondratenko, S. V.

2016-02-01

High-speed transceiver for on-board systems of data collection and processing need to meet additional requirements, such as low power consumption and increased radiation hardness. It is therefore necessary to compare and search for alternative variants of transceivers on the physical layer, where high transfer speed is not achieved at the cost of a significant increase in power consumption or a limitation of transmission distance by the size of a printed circuit board. For on-board applications, it is also necessary to solve the problem of increasing the radiation hardness without going to expensive types of technology. In this paper, we studied some variants of implementation of pseudo-LVDS transceivers and analyzed their achievable quantitative characteristics. According to the results of calculations and analysis of the literature, specialized transceivers of this type, intended for the manufacture or manufactured according to the bulk CMOS technology processes in the range of 250-80 nm, can provide data speeds up to 6 Gbps at a specific power consumption of less than 4 mW/Gbps.

A chiral-based magnetic memory device without a permanent magnet

PubMed Central

Dor, Oren Ben; Yochelis, Shira; Mathew, Shinto P.; Naaman, Ron; Paltiel, Yossi

2013-01-01

Several technologies are currently in use for computer memory devices. However, there is a need for a universal memory device that has high density, high speed and low power requirements. To this end, various types of magnetic-based technologies with a permanent magnet have been proposed. Recent charge-transfer studies indicate that chiral molecules act as an efficient spin filter. Here we utilize this effect to achieve a proof of concept for a new type of chiral-based magnetic-based Si-compatible universal memory device without a permanent magnet. More specifically, we use spin-selective charge transfer through a self-assembled monolayer of polyalanine to magnetize a Ni layer. This magnitude of magnetization corresponds to applying an external magnetic field of 0.4 T to the Ni layer. The readout is achieved using low currents. The presented technology has the potential to overcome the limitations of other magnetic-based memory technologies to allow fabricating inexpensive, high-density universal memory-on-chip devices. PMID:23922081

A chiral-based magnetic memory device without a permanent magnet.

PubMed

Ben Dor, Oren; Yochelis, Shira; Mathew, Shinto P; Naaman, Ron; Paltiel, Yossi

2013-01-01

Several technologies are currently in use for computer memory devices. However, there is a need for a universal memory device that has high density, high speed and low power requirements. To this end, various types of magnetic-based technologies with a permanent magnet have been proposed. Recent charge-transfer studies indicate that chiral molecules act as an efficient spin filter. Here we utilize this effect to achieve a proof of concept for a new type of chiral-based magnetic-based Si-compatible universal memory device without a permanent magnet. More specifically, we use spin-selective charge transfer through a self-assembled monolayer of polyalanine to magnetize a Ni layer. This magnitude of magnetization corresponds to applying an external magnetic field of 0.4 T to the Ni layer. The readout is achieved using low currents. The presented technology has the potential to overcome the limitations of other magnetic-based memory technologies to allow fabricating inexpensive, high-density universal memory-on-chip devices.

Academic Goals and Self-Handicapping Strategies in University Students.

PubMed

Ferradás, María del Mar; Freire, Carlos; Valle, Antonio; Núñez, José Carlos

2016-05-23

In highly competitive settings like university, the fear of failure leads some students to protect their self-worth using self-handicapping strategies. The present investigation examines to what extent academic goals are related to those tactics in university students. Specifically, MANCOVA was applied to estimate statistical differences linked to behavioral and claimed self-handicapping strategies according to the level (high/medium/low) of four types of academic goal (achievement approach, achievement avoidance, mastery approach, and work avoidance). Degree, year in school, and gender were entered as covariates. 940 students (86.5% women) from University of A Coruña (M = 20.44; SD = 1.73) participated. Results show that: (a) both behavioral and claimed self-handicapping are promoted by ego-oriented goals (achievement avoidance, F(2, 937) = 23.56, p < .001, η p 2 = .048; achievement approach, F(2, 937) = 7.49, p < .001, η p 2 = .016); (b) work avoidance goals are related to behavioral self-handicapping (F(2, 937) = 9.09, p < .001, η p 2 = .019), but are not statistically linked to claimed self-handicapping; and (c) mastery approach goals are significantly, negatively related to both types of self-handicapping (F(2, 937) = 20.09, p < .001, η p 2 = .041). Psychological and educational implications of the findings are discussed.

Multiplex enrichment quantitative PCR (ME-qPCR): a high-throughput, highly sensitive detection method for GMO identification.

PubMed

Fu, Wei; Zhu, Pengyu; Wei, Shuang; Zhixin, Du; Wang, Chenguang; Wu, Xiyang; Li, Feiwu; Zhu, Shuifang

2017-04-01

Among all of the high-throughput detection methods, PCR-based methodologies are regarded as the most cost-efficient and feasible methodologies compared with the next-generation sequencing or ChIP-based methods. However, the PCR-based methods can only achieve multiplex detection up to 15-plex due to limitations imposed by the multiplex primer interactions. The detection throughput cannot meet the demands of high-throughput detection, such as SNP or gene expression analysis. Therefore, in our study, we have developed a new high-throughput PCR-based detection method, multiplex enrichment quantitative PCR (ME-qPCR), which is a combination of qPCR and nested PCR. The GMO content detection results in our study showed that ME-qPCR could achieve high-throughput detection up to 26-plex. Compared to the original qPCR, the Ct values of ME-qPCR were lower for the same group, which showed that ME-qPCR sensitivity is higher than the original qPCR. The absolute limit of detection for ME-qPCR could achieve levels as low as a single copy of the plant genome. Moreover, the specificity results showed that no cross-amplification occurred for irrelevant GMO events. After evaluation of all of the parameters, a practical evaluation was performed with different foods. The more stable amplification results, compared to qPCR, showed that ME-qPCR was suitable for GMO detection in foods. In conclusion, ME-qPCR achieved sensitive, high-throughput GMO detection in complex substrates, such as crops or food samples. In the future, ME-qPCR-based GMO content identification may positively impact SNP analysis or multiplex gene expression of food or agricultural samples. Graphical abstract For the first-step amplification, four primers (A, B, C, and D) have been added into the reaction volume. In this manner, four kinds of amplicons have been generated. All of these four amplicons could be regarded as the target of second-step PCR. For the second-step amplification, three parallels have been taken for the final evaluation. After the second evaluation, the final amplification curves and melting curves have been achieved.

Fluidic conduits for highly efficient purification of target species in EWOD-driven droplet microfluidics.

PubMed

Shah, Gaurav J; Kim, Chang-Jin Cj

2009-08-21

Due to the lack of continuous flows that would wash unwanted specifies and impurities off from a target location, droplet microfluidics commonly employs a long serial dilution process to purify target species. In this work, we achieve high-purity separation for the case of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) based droplet microfluidics by introducing a "fluidic conduit" between a sample droplet and a buffer droplet. The long and slender fluidic path minimizes the diffusion and fluidic mixing between the two droplets (thus eliminating non-specific transport) but provides a conduit between them for actively transported particles (thus allowing the specific transport). The conduit is purely fluidic, stabilized chemically (e.g. using surfactants) and controlled by EWOD. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated by eliminating approximately 97% non-magnetic beads in just one purification step, while maintaining high collection efficiency (>99%) of magnetic beads.

Design optimization of a high specific speed Francis turbine runner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enomoto, Y.; Kurosawa, S.; Kawajiri, H.

2012-11-01

Francis turbine is used in many hydroelectric power stations. This paper presents the development of hydraulic performance in a high specific speed Francis turbine runner. In order to achieve the improvements of turbine efficiency throughout a wide operating range, a new runner design method which combines the latest Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and a multi objective optimization method with an existing design system was applied in this study. The validity of the new design system was evaluated by model performance tests. As the results, it was confirmed that the optimized runner presented higher efficiency compared with an originally designed runner. Besides optimization of runner, instability vibration which occurred at high part load operating condition was investigated by model test and gas-liquid two-phase flow analysis. As the results, it was confirmed that the instability vibration was caused by oval cross section whirl which was caused by recirculation flow near runner cone wall.

Computational challenges, tools and resources for analyzing co- and post-transcriptional events in high throughput

PubMed Central

Bahrami-Samani, Emad; Vo, Dat T.; de Araujo, Patricia Rosa; Vogel, Christine; Smith, Andrew D.; Penalva, Luiz O. F.; Uren, Philip J.

2014-01-01

Co- and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression is complex and multi-faceted, spanning the complete RNA lifecycle from genesis to decay. High-throughput profiling of the constituent events and processes is achieved through a range of technologies that continue to expand and evolve. Fully leveraging the resulting data is non-trivial, and requires the use of computational methods and tools carefully crafted for specific data sources and often intended to probe particular biological processes. Drawing upon databases of information pre-compiled by other researchers can further elevate analyses. Within this review, we describe the major co- and post-transcriptional events in the RNA lifecycle that are amenable to high-throughput profiling. We place specific emphasis on the analysis of the resulting data, in particular the computational tools and resources available, as well as looking towards future challenges that remain to be addressed. PMID:25515586

Nanofluidic Pre-Concentration Devices for Enhancing the Detection Sensitivity and Selectivity of Biomarkers for Human Performance Monitoring

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-24

aptamers to enhance specificity. Additionally, pre-concentration was coupled to various detection paradigms to achieve high-sensitivity biomarker... Aptamers , Biomarkers, Nanofluidics, Pre-concentration Devices, Sensing 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT SAR 18. NUMBER...devices and optimized electrokinetic pre-concentration conditions for key neurological biomarkers of interest, by using nanoparticles and aptamers to

Economics within Social Studies: A Comparative Analysis of Student Performance on the 2012 Kansas History-Government Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deplazes, Svetlana P.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the overall level of student achievement on the 2012 Kansas History-Government Assessment in Grades 6, 8, and high school, with major emphasis on the subject area of economics. It explored four specific research questions in order to: (1) determine the level of student knowledge of assessed economic…

Instructor's Perceptions towards the Use of an Online Instructional Tool in an Academic English Setting in Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erguvan, Deniz

2014-01-01

This study sets out to explore the faculty members' perceptions of a specific web-based instruction tool (Achieve3000) in a private higher education institute in Kuwait. The online tool provides highly differentiated instruction, which is initiated with a level set at the beginning of the term. The program is used in two consecutive courses as…

An Inexpensive and Versatile Version of Kundt's Tube for Measuring the Speed of Sound in Air

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papacosta, Pangratios; Linscheid, Nathan

2016-01-01

Experiments that measure the speed of sound in air are common in high schools and colleges. In the Kundt's tube experiment, a horizontal air column is adjusted until a resonance mode is achieved for a specific frequency of sound. When this happens, the cork dust in the tube is disturbed at the displacement antinode regions. The location of the…

A conjugated microporous polymer based visual sensing platform for aminoglycoside antibiotics in water.

PubMed

Bhunia, Subhajit; Dey, Nilanjan; Pradhan, Anirban; Bhattacharya, Santanu

2018-06-20

A donor-acceptor based conjugated microporous polymer, PER@NiP-CMOP-1, has been synthesized which can achieve highly sensitive stereo-specific "Turn ON" biosensing of an aminoglycoside up to the ppb level. The coordination-driven inhibition of photo-induced electron transfer (d-PET) for d-electrons and the rotational freezing are the key factors for the recovery of the emission.

Guidelines for developing a high-visibility enforcement campaign to reduce unsafe driving behaviors among drivers of passenger and commercial motor vehicles : a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) based on the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) pilot project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-10-01

The goal of Selective Traffic Enforcement Programs (STEPs) is to induce motorists to drive safely. To achieve this goal, the STEP model combines intensive enforcement of a specific traffic safety law with extensive communication, education, and outre...

The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement.

PubMed

Nunes, Terezinha; Bryant, Peter; Barros, Rossana; Sylva, Kathy

2012-03-01

Two distinct abilities, mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill, might make separate and specific contributions to mathematical achievement. However, there is little evidence to inform theory and educational practice on this matter. The aims of this study were (1) to assess whether mathematical reasoning and arithmetic make independent contributions to the longitudinal prediction of mathematical achievement over 5 years and (2) to test the specificity of this prediction. Data from Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were available on 2,579 participants for analyses of KS2 achievement and on 1,680 for the analyses of KS3 achievement. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the independence and specificity of the contribution of mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill to the prediction of achievement in KS2 and KS3 mathematics, science, and English. Age, intelligence, and working memory (WM) were controls in these analyses. Mathematical reasoning and arithmetic did make independent contributions to the prediction of mathematical achievement; mathematical reasoning was by far the stronger predictor of the two. These predictions were specific in so far as these measures were more strongly related to mathematics than to science or English. Intelligence and WM were non-specific predictors; intelligence contributed more to the prediction of science than of maths, and WM predicted maths and English equally well. There is clear justification for making a distinction between mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skills. The implication is that schools must plan explicitly to improve mathematical reasoning as well as arithmetic skills. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Robust High-Resolution Cloth Using Parallelism, History-Based Collisions and Accurate Friction

PubMed Central

Selle, Andrew; Su, Jonathan; Irving, Geoffrey; Fedkiw, Ronald

2015-01-01

In this paper we simulate high resolution cloth consisting of up to 2 million triangles which allows us to achieve highly detailed folds and wrinkles. Since the level of detail is also influenced by object collision and self collision, we propose a more accurate model for cloth-object friction. We also propose a robust history-based repulsion/collision framework where repulsions are treated accurately and efficiently on a per time step basis. Distributed memory parallelism is used for both time evolution and collisions and we specifically address Gauss-Seidel ordering of repulsion/collision response. This algorithm is demonstrated by several high-resolution and high-fidelity simulations. PMID:19147895

Development of advanced inert-gas ion thrusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poeschel, R. L.

1983-01-01

Inert gas ion thruster technology offers the greatest potential for providing high specific impulse, low thrust, electric propulsion on large, Earth orbital spacecraft. The development of a thruster module that can be operated on xenon or argon propellant to produce 0.2 N of thrust at a specific impulse of 3000 sec with xenon propellant and at 6000 sec with argon propellant is described. The 30 cm diameter, laboratory model thruster is considered to be scalable to produce 0.5 N thrust. A high efficiency ring cusp discharge chamber was used to achieve an overall thruster efficiency of 77% with xenon propellant and 66% with argon propellant. Measurements were performed to identify ion production and loss processes and to define critical design criteria (at least on a preliminary basis).

Designing collective behavior in a termite-inspired robot construction team.

PubMed

Werfel, Justin; Petersen, Kirstin; Nagpal, Radhika

2014-02-14

Complex systems are characterized by many independent components whose low-level actions produce collective high-level results. Predicting high-level results given low-level rules is a key open challenge; the inverse problem, finding low-level rules that give specific outcomes, is in general still less understood. We present a multi-agent construction system inspired by mound-building termites, solving such an inverse problem. A user specifies a desired structure, and the system automatically generates low-level rules for independent climbing robots that guarantee production of that structure. Robots use only local sensing and coordinate their activity via the shared environment. We demonstrate the approach via a physical realization with three autonomous climbing robots limited to onboard sensing. This work advances the aim of engineering complex systems that achieve specific human-designed goals.

Winnowing DNA for Rare Sequences: Highly Specific Sequence and Methylation Based Enrichment

PubMed Central

Thompson, Jason D.; Shibahara, Gosuke; Rajan, Sweta; Pel, Joel; Marziali, Andre

2012-01-01

Rare mutations in cell populations are known to be hallmarks of many diseases and cancers. Similarly, differential DNA methylation patterns arise in rare cell populations with diagnostic potential such as fetal cells circulating in maternal blood. Unfortunately, the frequency of alleles with diagnostic potential, relative to wild-type background sequence, is often well below the frequency of errors in currently available methods for sequence analysis, including very high throughput DNA sequencing. We demonstrate a DNA preparation and purification method that through non-linear electrophoretic separation in media containing oligonucleotide probes, achieves 10,000 fold enrichment of target DNA with single nucleotide specificity, and 100 fold enrichment of unmodified methylated DNA differing from the background by the methylation of a single cytosine residue. PMID:22355378

The Role of Standardized and Study-specific Human Brain Diffusion Tensor Templates in Inter-subject Spatial Normalization

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shengwei; Arfanakis, Konstantinos

2012-01-01

Purpose To investigate the effect of standardized and study-specific human brain diffusion tensor templates on the accuracy of spatial normalization, without ignoring the important roles of data quality and registration algorithm effectiveness. Materials and Methods Two groups of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) datasets, with and without visible artifacts, were normalized to two standardized diffusion tensor templates (IIT2, ICBM81) as well as study-specific templates, using three registration approaches. The accuracy of inter-subject spatial normalization was compared across templates, using the most effective registration technique for each template and group of data. Results It was demonstrated that, for DTI data with visible artifacts, the study-specific template resulted in significantly higher spatial normalization accuracy than standardized templates. However, for data without visible artifacts, the study-specific template and the standardized template of higher quality (IIT2) resulted in similar normalization accuracy. Conclusion For DTI data with visible artifacts, a carefully constructed study-specific template may achieve higher normalization accuracy than that of standardized templates. However, as DTI data quality improves, a high-quality standardized template may be more advantageous than a study-specific template, since in addition to high normalization accuracy, it provides a standard reference across studies, as well as automated localization/segmentation when accompanied by anatomical labels. PMID:23034880

Precision-guided antimicrobial peptide as a targeted modulator of human microbial ecology.

PubMed

Guo, Lihong; McLean, Jeffrey S; Yang, Youngik; Eckert, Randal; Kaplan, Christopher W; Kyme, Pierre; Sheikh, Omid; Varnum, Brian; Lux, Renate; Shi, Wenyuan; He, Xuesong

2015-06-16

One major challenge to studying human microbiome and its associated diseases is the lack of effective tools to achieve targeted modulation of individual species and study its ecological function within multispecies communities. Here, we show that C16G2, a specifically targeted antimicrobial peptide, was able to selectively kill cariogenic pathogen Streptococcus mutans with high efficacy within a human saliva-derived in vitro oral multispecies community. Importantly, a significant shift in the overall microbial structure of the C16G2-treated community was revealed after a 24-h recovery period: several bacterial species with metabolic dependency or physical interactions with S. mutans suffered drastic reduction in their abundance, whereas S. mutans' natural competitors, including health-associated Streptococci, became dominant. This study demonstrates the use of targeted antimicrobials to modulate the microbiome structure allowing insights into the key community role of specific bacterial species and also indicates the therapeutic potential of C16G2 to achieve a healthy oral microbiome.

Use of Aquaporins to Achieve Needed Water Purity On ISS for the EMU Space Suit System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Terry; Taylor ,Brandon W.

2012-01-01

Use of Aquaporins to Achieve Needed Water Purity On ISS for the EMU Space Suit System. With the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet retired, the supply of extremely high-quality water "super-Q" - required for the EMU Space suit cooling on this ISS - will become a significant operational hardware challenge in the very near future. A proposed potential solution is the use of a filtration system consisting of a semi-permeable membrane embedded with aquaporin proteins. Aquaporins are a special class of trans-membrane proteins that facilitate passive transport of water and other substances across a membrane. The specificity of these proteins is such that only water is allowed through the protein structure, and this novel property invites their adaptation for use in water filtration systems, specifically usage on the ISS for the EMU space suit system. These proteins are found in many living systems and have been developed for commercial use today.

Challenges in microbial ecology: building predictive understanding of community function and dynamics

PubMed Central

Widder, Stefanie; Allen, Rosalind J; Pfeiffer, Thomas; Curtis, Thomas P; Wiuf, Carsten; Sloan, William T; Cordero, Otto X; Brown, Sam P; Momeni, Babak; Shou, Wenying; Kettle, Helen; Flint, Harry J; Haas, Andreas F; Laroche, Béatrice; Kreft, Jan-Ulrich; Rainey, Paul B; Freilich, Shiri; Schuster, Stefan; Milferstedt, Kim; van der Meer, Jan R; Groβkopf, Tobias; Huisman, Jef; Free, Andrew; Picioreanu, Cristian; Quince, Christopher; Klapper, Isaac; Labarthe, Simon; Smets, Barth F; Wang, Harris; Soyer, Orkun S

2016-01-01

The importance of microbial communities (MCs) cannot be overstated. MCs underpin the biogeochemical cycles of the earth's soil, oceans and the atmosphere, and perform ecosystem functions that impact plants, animals and humans. Yet our ability to predict and manage the function of these highly complex, dynamically changing communities is limited. Building predictive models that link MC composition to function is a key emerging challenge in microbial ecology. Here, we argue that addressing this challenge requires close coordination of experimental data collection and method development with mathematical model building. We discuss specific examples where model–experiment integration has already resulted in important insights into MC function and structure. We also highlight key research questions that still demand better integration of experiments and models. We argue that such integration is needed to achieve significant progress in our understanding of MC dynamics and function, and we make specific practical suggestions as to how this could be achieved. PMID:27022995

Systematic and progressive implementation of the centers of excellence for rheumatoid arthritis: a methodological proposal.

PubMed

Santos-Moreno, Pedro; Caballero-Uribe, Carlo V; Massardo, Maria Loreto; Maldonado, Claudio Galarza; Soriano, Enrique R; Pineda, Carlos; Cardiel, Mario; Benavides, Juan Alberto; Beltrán, Paula Andrea

2017-12-01

The implementation of excellence centers in specific diseases has been gaining recognition in the field of health; specifically in rheumatoid arthritis, where the prognosis of the disease is related to an early diagnosis and a timely intervention, it is necessary that the provision of health services is developed in an environment of quality, opportunity, and safety with the highest standards of care. A methodology that allows this implementation in such a way that is achievable by the most of the care centers is a priority to achieve a better attention to populations with this disease. In this paper, we propose a systematic and progressive methodology that will help all the institutions to develop successful models without faltering in the process. The expected impact on public health is defined by a better effective coverage of high-quality treatments, obtaining better health outcomes with safety and accessibility that reduces the budgetary impact for the health systems of our countries.

Ultra-low specific contact resistivity (1.4 × 10-9 Ω.cm2) for metal contacts on in-situ Ga-doped Ge0.95Sn0.05 film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Ying; Luo, Sheng; Wang, Wei; Masudy-Panah, Saeid; Lei, Dian; Liang, Gengchiau; Gong, Xiao; Yeo, Yee-Chia

2017-12-01

A heavily Ga-doped Ge0.95Sn0.05 layer was grown on the Ge (100) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), achieving an active doping concentration of 1.6 × 1020 cm-3 without the use of ion implantation and high temperature annealing that could cause Sn precipitation or surface segregation. An advanced nano-scale transfer length method was used to extract the specific contact resistivity ρc between the metal and the heavily doped p-Ge0.95Sn0.05 layer. By incorporating Sn into Ge and in-situ Ga doping during the MBE growth, an ultra-low ρc of 1.4 × 10-9 Ω.cm2 was achieved, which is 50% lower than the ρc of p+-Ge control and is also the lowest value obtained for metal/p-type semiconductor contacts.

[Relationship between cognitive content and emotions following dilatory behavior: considering the level of trait procrastination].

PubMed

Hayashi, Junichiro

2009-02-01

The present study developed and evaluated the Automatic Thoughts List following Dilatory Behavior (ATL-DB) to explore the mediation hypothesis and the content-specificity hypothesis about the automatic thoughts with trait procrastination and emotions. In Study 1, data from 113 Japanese college students were used to choose 22 items to construct the ATL-DB. Two factors were indentified, I. Criticism of Self and Behavior, II. Difficulty in Achievement. These factors had high degrees of internal consistency and had positive correlations to trait procrastination. In Study 2, the relationships among trait procrastination, the automatic thoughts, depression, and anxiety were examined in 261 college students by using Structural Equation Modeling. The results showed that the influence of trait procrastination on depression was mainly mediated through Criticism of Self and Behavior only, while the influence of trait procrastination to anxiety was mediated through Criticism of Self and Behavior and Difficulty in Achievement. Therefore, the mediation hypothesis was supported and the content-specificity hypothesis was partially supported.

Adsorption Characteristics of Pb(2+) onto Wine Lees-Derived Biochar.

PubMed

Zhu, Qihong; Wu, Jun; Wang, Lilin; Yang, Gang; Zhang, Xiaohong

2016-08-01

Biochar has great advantages in soil amendment and polluted soil remediation. Herein, the pore and adsorption properties of wine lees-derived biochar were explored. Specifically, the adsorption isotherm and kinetics of Pb(2+) onto wine lees-derived biochar were examined. Experimental results revealed that wine lees-derived biochar featured large specific surface area and total pore volume, and high contents of -COOH and -OH on its surface. Adsorption of Pb(2+) onto wine lees-derived biochar proceeded via a multilayer adsorption mechanism, as described by the Freundlich adsorption model. Adsorption kinetics followed the Lagergren pseudo-second-order kinetics model; adsorption equilibrium was achieved within 30-60 min. Furthermore, the effect of solution pH on the adsorption of Pb(2+) was investigated. Within the studied pH range of 3-6, the adsorption capacity increased with increasing pH. Under established optimized conditions, wine lees-derived biochar achieved a Pb(2+) adsorption capacity of 79.12 mg/g.

Discrimination of soft tissues using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in combination with k nearest neighbors (kNN) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaohui; Yang, Sibo; Fan, Rongwei; Yu, Xin; Chen, Deying

2018-06-01

In this paper, discrimination of soft tissues using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in combination with multivariate statistical methods is presented. Fresh pork fat, skin, ham, loin and tenderloin muscle tissues are manually cut into slices and ablated using a 1064 nm pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Discrimination analyses between fat, skin and muscle tissues, and further between highly similar ham, loin and tenderloin muscle tissues, are performed based on the LIBS spectra in combination with multivariate statistical methods, including principal component analysis (PCA), k nearest neighbors (kNN) classification, and support vector machine (SVM) classification. Performances of the discrimination models, including accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, are evaluated using 10-fold cross validation. The classification models are optimized to achieve best discrimination performances. The fat, skin and muscle tissues can be definitely discriminated using both kNN and SVM classifiers, with accuracy of over 99.83%, sensitivity of over 0.995 and specificity of over 0.998. The highly similar ham, loin and tenderloin muscle tissues can also be discriminated with acceptable performances. The best performances are achieved with SVM classifier using Gaussian kernel function, with accuracy of 76.84%, sensitivity of over 0.742 and specificity of over 0.869. The results show that the LIBS technique assisted with multivariate statistical methods could be a powerful tool for online discrimination of soft tissues, even for tissues of high similarity, such as muscles from different parts of the animal body. This technique could be used for discrimination of tissues suffering minor clinical changes, thus may advance the diagnosis of early lesions and abnormalities.

Questionnaire Predictors of Atopy in a US Population Sample: Findings From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005–2006

PubMed Central

Hoppin, Jane A.; Jaramillo, Renee; Salo, Paivi; Sandler, Dale P.; London, Stephanie J.; Zeldin, Darryl C.

2011-01-01

Allergic conditions and biochemical measures are both used to characterize atopy. To assess questionnaires’ ability to predict biochemical measures of atopy, the authors used data on 5 allergic conditions (allergy, hay fever, eczema, rhinitis, and itchy rash) and serum-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels from the 2005–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Atopy was defined as 1 or more positive specific IgEs (≥0.35 kU/L). Questionnaire responses were assessed for sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for atopy. In this population-based US sample, 44% of participants were specific IgE-positive and 53% reported at least 1 allergic condition. Discordance between atopy and allergic conditions was considerable; 37% of persons with atopy reported no allergic condition, and 48% of persons who reported an allergic condition were not atopic. Thus, no combination of self-reported allergic conditions achieved both high sensitivity and high specificity for IgE. The positive predictive value of reported allergic conditions for atopy ranged from 50% for eczema to 72% for hay fever, while the negative predictive value ranged from 57% for eczema to 65% for any condition. Given the high proportion of asymptomatic participants who were specific IgE-positive and persons who reported allergic conditions but were specific IgE-negative, it is unlikely that questionnaires will ever capture the same participants as those found to be atopic by biochemical measures. PMID:21273397

High Speed Computational Ghost Imaging via Spatial Sweeping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuwang; Liu, Yang; Suo, Jinli; Situ, Guohai; Qiao, Chang; Dai, Qionghai

2017-03-01

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) achieves single-pixel imaging by using a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) to generate structured illuminations for spatially resolved information encoding. The imaging speed of CGI is limited by the modulation frequency of available SLMs, and sets back its practical applications. This paper proposes to bypass this limitation by trading off SLM’s redundant spatial resolution for multiplication of the modulation frequency. Specifically, a pair of galvanic mirrors sweeping across the high resolution SLM multiply the modulation frequency within the spatial resolution gap between SLM and the final reconstruction. A proof-of-principle setup with two middle end galvanic mirrors achieves ghost imaging as fast as 42 Hz at 80 × 80-pixel resolution, 5 times faster than state-of-the-arts, and holds potential for one magnitude further multiplication by hardware upgrading. Our approach brings a significant improvement in the imaging speed of ghost imaging and pushes ghost imaging towards practical applications.

Premigration School Quality, Time Spent in the United States, and the Math Achievement of Immigrant High School Students.

PubMed

Bozick, Robert; Malchiodi, Alessandro; Miller, Trey

2016-10-01

Using a nationally representative sample of 1,189 immigrant youth in American high schools, we examine whether the quality of education in their country of origin is related to post-migration math achievement in the 9th grade. To measure the quality of their education in the country of origin, we use country-specific average test scores from two international assessments: the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). We find that the average PISA or TIMSS scores for immigrant youth's country of origin are positively associated with their performance on the 9th grade post-migration math assessment. We also find that each year spent in the United States is positively associated with performance on the 9th grade post-migration math assessment, but this effect is strongest for immigrants from countries with low PISA/TIMSS scores.

Land-use Scene Classification in High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images by Multiscale Deeply Described Correlatons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, K.; Qingfeng, G.

2017-12-01

With the popular use of High-Resolution Satellite (HRS) images, more and more research efforts have been placed on land-use scene classification. However, it makes the task difficult with HRS images for the complex background and multiple land-cover classes or objects. This article presents a multiscale deeply described correlaton model for land-use scene classification. Specifically, the convolutional neural network is introduced to learn and characterize the local features at different scales. Then, learnt multiscale deep features are explored to generate visual words. The spatial arrangement of visual words is achieved through the introduction of adaptive vector quantized correlograms at different scales. Experiments on two publicly available land-use scene datasets demonstrate that the proposed model is compact and yet discriminative for efficient representation of land-use scene images, and achieves competitive classification results with the state-of-art methods.

A Hollow-Structured Manganese Oxide Cathode for Stable Zn-MnO₂ Batteries.

PubMed

Guo, Xiaotong; Li, Jianming; Jin, Xu; Han, Yehu; Lin, Yue; Lei, Zhanwu; Wang, Shiyang; Qin, Lianjie; Jiao, Shuhong; Cao, Ruiguo

2018-05-05

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-manganese dioxide (Zn-MnO₂) batteries are considered as one of the most promising energy storage devices for large scale-energy storage systems due to their low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness. However, only a few cathode materials have been demonstrated to achieve stable cycling for aqueous rechargeable Zn-MnO₂ batteries. Here, we report a new material consisting of hollow MnO₂ nanospheres, which can be used for aqueous Zn-MnO₂ batteries. The hollow MnO₂ nanospheres can achieve high specific capacity up to ~405 mAh g −1 at 0.5 C. More importantly, the hollow structure of birnessite-type MnO₂ enables long-term cycling stability for the aqueous Zn-MnO₂ batteries. The excellent performance of the hollow MnO₂ nanospheres should be due to their unique structural properties that enable the easy intercalation of zinc ions.

Tree crickets optimize the acoustics of baffles to exaggerate their mate-attraction signal.

PubMed

Mhatre, Natasha; Malkin, Robert; Deb, Rittik; Balakrishnan, Rohini; Robert, Daniel

2017-12-11

Object manufacture in insects is typically inherited, and believed to be highly stereotyped. Optimization, the ability to select the functionally best material and modify it appropriately for a specific function, implies flexibility and is usually thought to be incompatible with inherited behaviour. Here, we show that tree-crickets optimize acoustic baffles, objects that are used to increase the effective loudness of mate-attraction calls. We quantified the acoustic efficiency of all baffles within the naturally feasible design space using finite-element modelling and found that design affects efficiency significantly. We tested the baffle-making behaviour of tree crickets in a series of experimental contexts. We found that given the opportunity, tree crickets optimised baffle acoustics; they selected the best sized object and modified it appropriately to make a near optimal baffle. Surprisingly, optimization could be achieved in a single attempt, and is likely to be achieved through an inherited yet highly accurate behavioural heuristic.

R&D around a photoneutralizer-based NBI system (Siphore) in view of a DEMO Tokamak steady state fusion reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simonin, A.; Achard, Jocelyn; Achkasov, K.; Bechu, S.; Baudouin, C.; Baulaigue, O.; Blondel, C.; Boeuf, J. P.; Bresteau, D.; Cartry, G.; Chaibi, W.; Drag, C.; de Esch, H. P. L.; Fiorucci, D.; Fubiani, G.; Furno, I.; Futtersack, R.; Garibaldi, P.; Gicquel, A.; Grand, C.; Guittienne, Ph.; Hagelaar, G.; Howling, A.; Jacquier, R.; Kirkpatrick, M. J.; Lemoine, D.; Lepetit, B.; Minea, T.; Odic, E.; Revel, A.; Soliman, B. A.; Teste, P.

2015-11-01

Since the signature of the ITER treaty in 2006, a new research programme targeting the emergence of a new generation of neutral beam (NB) system for the future fusion reactor (DEMO Tokamak) has been underway between several laboratories in Europe. The specifications required to operate a NB system on DEMO are very demanding: the system has to provide plasma heating, current drive and plasma control at a very high level of power (up to 150 MW) and energy (1 or 2 MeV), including high performances in term of wall-plug efficiency (η  >  60%), high availability and reliability. To this aim, a novel NB concept based on the photodetachment of the energetic negative ion beam is under study. The keystone of this new concept is the achievement of a photoneutralizer where a high power photon flux (~3 MW) generated within a Fabry-Perot cavity will overlap, cross and partially photodetach the intense negative ion beam accelerated at high energy (1 or 2 MeV). The aspect ratio of the beam-line (source, accelerator, etc) is specifically designed to maximize the overlap of the photon beam with the ion beam. It is shown that such a photoneutralized based NB system would have the capability to provide several tens of MW of D0 per beam line with a wall-plug efficiency higher than 60%. A feasibility study of the concept has been launched between different laboratories to address the different physics aspects, i.e. negative ion source, plasma modelling, ion accelerator simulation, photoneutralization and high voltage holding under vacuum. The paper describes the present status of the project and the main achievements of the developments in laboratories.

Transient, Inducible, Placenta-Specific Gene Expression in Mice

PubMed Central

Fan, Xiujun; Petitt, Matthew; Gamboa, Matthew; Huang, Mei; Dhal, Sabita; Druzin, Maurice L.; Wu, Joseph C.

2012-01-01

Molecular understanding of placental functions and pregnancy disorders is limited by the absence of methods for placenta-specific gene manipulation. Although persistent placenta-specific gene expression has been achieved by lentivirus-based gene delivery methods, developmentally and physiologically important placental genes have highly stage-specific functions, requiring controllable, transient expression systems for functional analysis. Here, we describe an inducible, placenta-specific gene expression system that enables high-level, transient transgene expression and monitoring of gene expression by live bioluminescence imaging in mouse placenta at different stages of pregnancy. We used the third generation tetracycline-responsive tranactivator protein Tet-On 3G, with 10- to 100-fold increased sensitivity to doxycycline (Dox) compared with previous versions, enabling unusually sensitive on-off control of gene expression in vivo. Transgenic mice expressing Tet-On 3G were created using a new integrase-based, site-specific approach, yielding high-level transgene expression driven by a ubiquitous promoter. Blastocysts from these mice were transduced with the Tet-On 3G-response element promoter-driving firefly luciferase using lentivirus-mediated placenta-specific gene delivery and transferred into wild-type pseudopregnant recipients for placenta-specific, Dox-inducible gene expression. Systemic Dox administration at various time points during pregnancy led to transient, placenta-specific firefly luciferase expression as early as d 5 of pregnancy in a Dox dose-dependent manner. This system enables, for the first time, reliable pregnancy stage-specific induction of gene expression in the placenta and live monitoring of gene expression during pregnancy. It will be widely applicable to studies of both placental development and pregnancy, and the site-specific Tet-On G3 mouse will be valuable for studies in a broad range of tissues. PMID:23011919

Diabetes quality of care in academic endocrinology practice: a descriptive study.

PubMed

Shah, Baiju R; James, Jacqueline E; Lawton, Carolyn; Montada-Atin, Tess; Sigmond, Marianne; Cauch-Dudek, Karen; Booth, Gillian L

2009-01-01

To describe the quality of diabetes care delivered by academic endocrinologists practicing at 4 teaching hospitals affiliated with a single medical school. Up to 30 patients who first saw an endocrinologist for an ambulatory consultation for diabetes between January 2004 and December 2005 were randomly selected for chart review. Process and intermediate measures of quality of care were abstracted. There were 417 patient charts available for analysis. Quality of care was generally high, with 61% of patients achieving a glycated hemoglobin of ≤7.0%, 77% achieving blood pressure ≤130/80 mm Hg and 73% achieving a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of ≤2.5 mmol/L. More than 80% of patients had had eye examinations, microalbuminuria screening and foot examinations. There were no significant differences in quality between hospitals. The quality of diabetes care delivered by academic endocrinologists in this setting was high and approached the "ideal" levels of care recommended by practice guidelines. Compared to past studies in both the primary and specialist care settings, the results show that high-quality care can be delivered in routine academic clinical practice without having previously instituted a specific quality improvement program. Copyright © 2009 Canadian Diabetes Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Metal-Polydopamine Framework (MPDA) as an Effective Fluorescent Quencher for Highly Sensitive Detection of Hg (II) And Ag (I) ions Through Exonuclease III Activity.

PubMed

Ravikumar, Ayyanu; Panneerselvam, Perumal; Morad, Norhashimah

2018-05-24

In this paper, we propose a metal-polydopamine framework (MPDA) with specific molecular probe which appears to be the most promising approach to a strong fluorescence quencher. The MPDA framework quenching ability towards various organic fluorophore such as aminoethylcomarin acetate (AMCA), 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM), carboxyteramethylrhodamine (TAMRA) and Cy5 are used to establish a fluorescent biosensor that can selectively recognize Hg2+ and Ag+ ion. The fluorescent quenching efficiency was sufficient to achieve more than 96%. The MPDA framework also exhibits different affinities with ssDNA and dsDNA. In addition, the FAM labelled ssDNA was adsorbed onto MPDA framework, based on their interaction with the complex formed between MPDA frameworks/ssDNA taken as a sensing platform. By taking advantage of this sensor highly sensitive and selective determination of Hg2+and Ag+ ions is achieved through Exonuclease III signal amplification activity. The detection limits of Hg2+and Ag+ achieved to be 1.2 pM and 34 pM respectively, were compared to co-existing metal ions and GO based sensors. Furthermore, the potential applications of this study establish the highly sensitive fluorescence detection targets in environmental and biological fields.

A new method of making ohmic contacts to p-GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Gutierrez, C. A.; Kudriavtsev, Yu.; Mota, Esteban; Hernández, A. G.; Escobosa-Echavarría, A.; Sánchez-Resendiz, V.; Casallas-Moreno, Y. L.; López-López, M.

2016-12-01

The structural, chemical, and electrical characteristics of In+ ion-implanted Au/Ni, Au/Nb and Au/W ohmic contacts to p-GaN were investigated. After the preparation of Ni, Nb and W electrode on the surface of p-GaN, the metal/p-GaN contact interface was implanted by 30 keV In+ ions with an implantation dose of 5 × 1015 ions/cm2 at room temperature to form a thin layer of InxGa1-xN located at the metal-semiconductor interface, achieved to reduce the specific contact resistance due to the improving quantum tunneling transport trough to the structure. The characterization was carried out by high-resolution X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry to investigate the formation of ternary alloy, re-crystallization by rapid thermal annealing process after In+ implantation, and the redistribution of elements. The specific contact resistance was extracted by current-voltage (I-V) curves using transmission line method; the lowest specific contact resistance of 2.5 × 10-4 Ωcm2 was achieved for Au/Ni/p-InxGa1-xN/p-GaN ohmic contacts.

Terahertz imaging through self-mixing in a quantum cascade laser.

PubMed

Dean, Paul; Lim, Yah Leng; Valavanis, Alex; Kliese, Russell; Nikolić, Milan; Khanna, Suraj P; Lachab, Mohammad; Indjin, Dragan; Ikonić, Zoran; Harrison, Paul; Rakić, Aleksandar D; Linfield, Edmund H; Davies, A Giles

2011-07-01

We demonstrate terahertz (THz) frequency imaging using a single quantum cascade laser (QCL) device for both generation and sensing of THz radiation. Detection is achieved by utilizing the effect of self-mixing in the THz QCL, and, specifically, by monitoring perturbations to the voltage across the QCL, induced by light reflected from an external object back into the laser cavity. Self-mixing imaging offers high sensitivity, a potentially fast response, and a simple, compact optical design, and we show that it can be used to obtain high-resolution reflection images of exemplar structures.

A highly sensitive and specific capacitive aptasensor for rapid and label-free trace analysis of Bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods.

PubMed

Mirzajani, Hadi; Cheng, Cheng; Wu, Jayne; Chen, Jiangang; Eda, Shigotoshi; Najafi Aghdam, Esmaeil; Badri Ghavifekr, Habib

2017-03-15

A rapid, highly sensitive, specific and low-cost capacitive affinity biosensor is presented here for label-free and single step detection of Bisphenol A (BPA). The sensor design allows rapid prototyping at low-cost using printed circuit board material by benchtop equipment. High sensitivity detection is achieved through the use of a BPA-specific aptamer as probe molecule and large electrodes to enhance AC-electroelectrothermal effect for long-range transport of BPA molecules toward electrode surface. Capacitive sensing technique is used to determine the bounded BPA level by measuring the sample/electrode interfacial capacitance of the sensor. The developed biosensor can detect BPA level in 20s and exhibits a large linear range from 1 fM to 10 pM, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 152.93 aM. This biosensor was applied to test BPA in canned food samples and could successfully recover the levels of spiked BPA. This sensor technology is demonstrated to be highly promising and reliable for rapid, sensitive and on-site monitoring of BPA in food samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting Children's Reading and Mathematics Achievement from Early Quantitative Knowledge and Domain-General Cognitive Abilities

PubMed Central

Chu, Felicia W.; vanMarle, Kristy; Geary, David C.

2016-01-01

One hundred children (44 boys) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the development of basic quantitative competencies and the relation between these competencies and later mathematics and reading achievement. The children's preliteracy knowledge, intelligence, executive functions, and parental educational background were also assessed. The quantitative tasks assessed a broad range of symbolic and nonsymbolic knowledge and were administered four times across 2 years of preschool. Mathematics achievement was assessed at the end of each of 2 years of preschool, and mathematics and word reading achievement were assessed at the end of kindergarten. Our goals were to determine how domain-general abilities contribute to growth in children's quantitative knowledge and to determine how domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to children's preschool mathematics achievement and kindergarten mathematics and reading achievement. We first identified four core quantitative competencies (e.g., knowledge of the cardinal value of number words) that predict later mathematics achievement. The domain-general abilities were then used to predict growth in these competencies across 2 years of preschool, and the combination of domain-general abilities, preliteracy skills, and core quantitative competencies were used to predict mathematics achievement across preschool and mathematics and word reading achievement at the end of kindergarten. Both intelligence and executive functions predicted growth in the four quantitative competencies, especially across the first year of preschool. A combination of domain-general and domain-specific competencies predicted preschoolers' mathematics achievement, with a trend for domain-specific skills to be more strongly related to achievement at the beginning of preschool than at the end of preschool. Preschool preliteracy skills, sensitivity to the relative quantities of collections of objects, and cardinal knowledge predicted reading and mathematics achievement at the end of kindergarten. Preliteracy skills were more strongly related to word reading, whereas sensitivity to relative quantity was more strongly related to mathematics achievement. The overall results indicate that a combination of domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to development of children's early mathematics and reading achievement. PMID:27252675

Predicting Children's Reading and Mathematics Achievement from Early Quantitative Knowledge and Domain-General Cognitive Abilities.

PubMed

Chu, Felicia W; vanMarle, Kristy; Geary, David C

2016-01-01

One hundred children (44 boys) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the development of basic quantitative competencies and the relation between these competencies and later mathematics and reading achievement. The children's preliteracy knowledge, intelligence, executive functions, and parental educational background were also assessed. The quantitative tasks assessed a broad range of symbolic and nonsymbolic knowledge and were administered four times across 2 years of preschool. Mathematics achievement was assessed at the end of each of 2 years of preschool, and mathematics and word reading achievement were assessed at the end of kindergarten. Our goals were to determine how domain-general abilities contribute to growth in children's quantitative knowledge and to determine how domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to children's preschool mathematics achievement and kindergarten mathematics and reading achievement. We first identified four core quantitative competencies (e.g., knowledge of the cardinal value of number words) that predict later mathematics achievement. The domain-general abilities were then used to predict growth in these competencies across 2 years of preschool, and the combination of domain-general abilities, preliteracy skills, and core quantitative competencies were used to predict mathematics achievement across preschool and mathematics and word reading achievement at the end of kindergarten. Both intelligence and executive functions predicted growth in the four quantitative competencies, especially across the first year of preschool. A combination of domain-general and domain-specific competencies predicted preschoolers' mathematics achievement, with a trend for domain-specific skills to be more strongly related to achievement at the beginning of preschool than at the end of preschool. Preschool preliteracy skills, sensitivity to the relative quantities of collections of objects, and cardinal knowledge predicted reading and mathematics achievement at the end of kindergarten. Preliteracy skills were more strongly related to word reading, whereas sensitivity to relative quantity was more strongly related to mathematics achievement. The overall results indicate that a combination of domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to development of children's early mathematics and reading achievement.

kW-class diode laser bars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strohmaier, S. G.; Erbert, G.; Meissner-Schenk, A. H.; Lommel, M.; Schmidt, B.; Kaul, T.; Karow, M.; Crump, P.

2017-02-01

Progress will be presented on ongoing research into the development of ultra-high power and efficiency bars achieving significantly higher output power, conversion efficiency and brightness than currently commercially available. We combine advanced InAlGaAs/GaAs-based epitaxial structures and novel lateral designs, new materials and superior cooling architectures to enable improved performance. Specifically, we present progress in kilowatt-class 10-mm diode laser bars, where recent studies have demonstrated 880 W continuous wave output power from a 10 mm x 4 mm laser diode bar at 850 A of electrical current and 15°C water temperature. This laser achieves < 60% electro-optical efficiency at 880 W CW output power.

Teaching Gene Technology in an Outreach Lab: Students' Assigned Cognitive Load Clusters and the Clusters' Relationships to Learner Characteristics, Laboratory Variables, and Cognitive Achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scharfenberg, Franz-Josef; Bogner, Franz X.

2013-02-01

This study classified students into different cognitive load (CL) groups by means of cluster analysis based on their experienced CL in a gene technology outreach lab which has instructionally been designed with regard to CL theory. The relationships of the identified student CL clusters to learner characteristics, laboratory variables, and cognitive achievement were examined using a pre-post-follow-up design. Participants of our day-long module Genetic Fingerprinting were 409 twelfth-graders. During the module instructional phases (pre-lab, theoretical, experimental, and interpretation phases), we measured the students' mental effort (ME) as an index of CL. By clustering the students' module-phase-specific ME pattern, we found three student CL clusters which were independent of the module instructional phases, labeled as low-level, average-level, and high-level loaded clusters. Additionally, we found two student CL clusters that were each particular to a specific module phase. Their members reported especially high ME invested in one phase each: within the pre-lab phase and within the interpretation phase. Differentiating the clusters, we identified uncertainty tolerance, prior experience in experimentation, epistemic interest, and prior knowledge as relevant learner characteristics. We found relationships to cognitive achievement, but no relationships to the examined laboratory variables. Our results underscore the importance of pre-lab and interpretation phases in hands-on teaching in science education and the need for teachers to pay attention to these phases, both inside and outside of outreach laboratory learning settings.

Ultrathin porous NiCo2O4 nanosheet arrays on flexible carbon fabric for high-performance supercapacitors.

PubMed

Du, Jun; Zhou, Gang; Zhang, Haiming; Cheng, Chao; Ma, Jianmin; Wei, Weifeng; Chen, Libao; Wang, Taihong

2013-08-14

NiCo2O4 with higher specific capacitance is an excellent pseudocapacitive material. However, the bulk NiCo2O4 material prevents the achievement of high energy desity and great rate performance due to the limited electroactive surface area. In this work, NiCo2O4 nanosheet arrays were deposited on flexible carbon fabric (CF) as a high-performance electrode for supercapacitors. The NiCo2O4 arrays were constructed by interconnected ultrathin nanosheets (10 nm) with many interparticle pores. The porous feature of NiCo2O4 nanosheets increases the amount of electroactive sites and facilitates the electrolyte penetration. Hence, the NiCo2O4/CF composites exhibited a high specific capacitance of 2658 F g(-1) (2 A g(-1)), good rate performance, and superior cycling life, suggesting the NiCo2O4/CF is a promising electrode material for flexible electrochemical capacitors.

FPGA-Based Smart Sensor for Online Displacement Measurements Using a Heterodyne Interferometer

PubMed Central

Vera-Salas, Luis Alberto; Moreno-Tapia, Sandra Veronica; Garcia-Perez, Arturo; de Jesus Romero-Troncoso, Rene; Osornio-Rios, Roque Alfredo; Serroukh, Ibrahim; Cabal-Yepez, Eduardo

2011-01-01

The measurement of small displacements on the nanometric scale demands metrological systems of high accuracy and precision. In this context, interferometer-based displacement measurements have become the main tools used for traceable dimensional metrology. The different industrial applications in which small displacement measurements are employed requires the use of online measurements, high speed processes, open architecture control systems, as well as good adaptability to specific process conditions. The main contribution of this work is the development of a smart sensor for large displacement measurement based on phase measurement which achieves high accuracy and resolution, designed to be used with a commercial heterodyne interferometer. The system is based on a low-cost Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) allowing the integration of several functions in a single portable device. This system is optimal for high speed applications where online measurement is needed and the reconfigurability feature allows the addition of different modules for error compensation, as might be required by a specific application. PMID:22164040

Biomass-derived carbonaceous positive electrodes for sustainable lithium-ion storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Tianyuan; Kavian, Reza; Chen, Zhongming; Cruz, Samuel S.; Noda, Suguru; Lee, Seung Woo

2016-02-01

Biomass derived carbon materials have been widely used as electrode materials; however, in most cases, only electrical double layer capacitance (EDLC) is utilized and therefore, only low energy density can be achieved. Herein, we report on redox-active carbon spheres that can be simply synthesized from earth-abundant glucose via a hydrothermal process. These carbon spheres exhibit a specific capacity of ~210 mA h gCS-1, with high redox potentials in the voltage range of 2.2-3.7 V vs. Li, when used as positive electrode in lithium cells. Free-standing, flexible composite films consisting of the carbon spheres and few-walled carbon nanotubes deliver high specific capacities up to ~155 mA h gelectrode-1 with no obvious capacity fading up to 10 000 cycles, proposing to be promising positive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries or capacitors. Furthermore, considering that the carbon spheres were obtained in an aqueous glucose solution and no toxic or hazardous reagents were used, this process opens up a green and sustainable method for designing high performance, environmentally-friendly energy storage devices.Biomass derived carbon materials have been widely used as electrode materials; however, in most cases, only electrical double layer capacitance (EDLC) is utilized and therefore, only low energy density can be achieved. Herein, we report on redox-active carbon spheres that can be simply synthesized from earth-abundant glucose via a hydrothermal process. These carbon spheres exhibit a specific capacity of ~210 mA h gCS-1, with high redox potentials in the voltage range of 2.2-3.7 V vs. Li, when used as positive electrode in lithium cells. Free-standing, flexible composite films consisting of the carbon spheres and few-walled carbon nanotubes deliver high specific capacities up to ~155 mA h gelectrode-1 with no obvious capacity fading up to 10 000 cycles, proposing to be promising positive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries or capacitors. Furthermore, considering that the carbon spheres were obtained in an aqueous glucose solution and no toxic or hazardous reagents were used, this process opens up a green and sustainable method for designing high performance, environmentally-friendly energy storage devices. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr07064c

Application of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting cox1 gene for the detection of Clonorchis sinensis in human fecal samples

PubMed Central

Rahman, S. M. Mazidur; Song, Hyun Beom; Jin, Yan; Oh, Jin-Kyoung; Lim, Min Kyung; Hong, Sung-Tae

2017-01-01

Background Clonorchiasis is prevalent in the Far East, and a major health problem in endemic areas. Infected persons may experience, if not treated, serious complications such as bile stone formation, pyogenic cholangitis, and even cholangiocarcinoma. Early diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent serious complications and, therefore, the simple and reliable diagnostic method is necessary to control clonorchiasis in endemic areas, where resources for the diagnosis are limited. Methodology/Principle findings The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay has been applied for the detection of Clonorchis sinensis DNA. Six primers targeting eight locations on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene of C. sinensis were designed for species-specific amplification using the LAMP assay. The LAMP assay was sensitive enough to detect as little as 100 fg of C. sinensis genomic DNA and the detection limit in 100 mg of stool was as low as one egg. The assay was highly specific because no cross-reactivity was observed with the DNA of other helminths, protozoa or Escherichia coli. Then, LAMP assay was applied to human fecal samples collected from an endemic area of clonorchiasis in Korea. Using samples showing consistent results by both Kato-Katz method and real-time PCR as reference standards, the LAMP assay showed 97.1% (95% CI, 90.1–99.2) of sensitivity and 100% (95% CI, 92.9–100) of specificity. In stool samples with more than 100 eggs per gram of feces, the sensitivity achieved 100%. Conclusions To detect C. sinensis in human fecal samples, the LAMP assay was applied and achieved high sensitivity and specificity. The LAMP assay can be utilized in field laboratories as a powerful tool for diagnosis and epidemiological survey of clonorchiasis. PMID:28991924

Quantivirus® HPV E6/E7 RNA 3.0 assay (bDNA) is as sensitive, but less specific than Hybrid Capture 2 test.

PubMed

Shen, Yong; Gong, Jiaomei; He, Yanxia; Cheng, Guomei; Okunieff, Paul; Li, Xiaofu

2013-02-01

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the primary cause of cervical cancer. The Quantivirus(®) HPV E6/E7 RNA 3.0 assay (DiaCarta, CA, USA) detects E6/E7 mRNA of 13 high risk subtypes and 6 low risk subtypes. Cervical specimens collected in PreservCyt were processed for HPV detection. Cervical biopsies were taken only from those women with abnormal colposcopy. 200 out of 272 (73.5%) cases were mRNA positive. The percentage of HPV E6/E7 mRNA positive samples increases with the severity of the cytological diagnosis, but not in histological diagnosis. In 146 patients with both tests, the E6/E7 mRNA assay had significant higher positivity rate than the Hybrid Capture 2 assay (75.3% versus 62.3%). The HPV mRNA assay and the HC2 assay had the same sensitivity of high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 2+), 82.4% (14/17) (95% confidence interval [CI], 64.3, 100). However, the specificity of CIN 2+ for the HPV mRNA assay was significantly lower than HC2 assay. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to compare the diagnostic performance of the E6/E7 mRNA and HC2. E6/E7 mRNA achieved 58.8% sensitivity with 74.1% specificity, HC2, achieved 47.1% sensitivity with 70.7% specificity. The overall performance of HPV E6/E7 mRNA assay for detecting CIN 2+ was lower than HC2. This study does not support the use of this assay in screening for cervical cancer prevention alone. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Application of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting cox1 gene for the detection of Clonorchis sinensis in human fecal samples.

PubMed

Rahman, S M Mazidur; Song, Hyun Beom; Jin, Yan; Oh, Jin-Kyoung; Lim, Min Kyung; Hong, Sung-Tae; Choi, Min-Ho

2017-10-01

Clonorchiasis is prevalent in the Far East, and a major health problem in endemic areas. Infected persons may experience, if not treated, serious complications such as bile stone formation, pyogenic cholangitis, and even cholangiocarcinoma. Early diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent serious complications and, therefore, the simple and reliable diagnostic method is necessary to control clonorchiasis in endemic areas, where resources for the diagnosis are limited. The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay has been applied for the detection of Clonorchis sinensis DNA. Six primers targeting eight locations on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene of C. sinensis were designed for species-specific amplification using the LAMP assay. The LAMP assay was sensitive enough to detect as little as 100 fg of C. sinensis genomic DNA and the detection limit in 100 mg of stool was as low as one egg. The assay was highly specific because no cross-reactivity was observed with the DNA of other helminths, protozoa or Escherichia coli. Then, LAMP assay was applied to human fecal samples collected from an endemic area of clonorchiasis in Korea. Using samples showing consistent results by both Kato-Katz method and real-time PCR as reference standards, the LAMP assay showed 97.1% (95% CI, 90.1-99.2) of sensitivity and 100% (95% CI, 92.9-100) of specificity. In stool samples with more than 100 eggs per gram of feces, the sensitivity achieved 100%. To detect C. sinensis in human fecal samples, the LAMP assay was applied and achieved high sensitivity and specificity. The LAMP assay can be utilized in field laboratories as a powerful tool for diagnosis and epidemiological survey of clonorchiasis.

Hydrothermal synthesis of novel Mn3O4 nano-octahedrons with enhanced supercapacitors performances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Hao; Zhao, Ting; Yan, Chaoyi; Ma, Jan; Li, Chunzhong

2010-10-01

Uniform and single-crystalline Mn3O4 nano-octahedrons have been successfully synthesized by a simple ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-2Na) assisted hydrothermal route. The octahedron structures exhibit a high geometric symmetry with smooth surfaces and the mean side length of square base of octahedrons is ~160 nm. The structure is reckoned to provide superior functional properties and the nano-size achieved in the present work is noted to further facilitate the material property enhancement. The formation process was proposed to begin with a ``dissolution-recrystallization'' which is followed by an ``Ostwald ripening'' mechanism. The Mn3O4 nano-octahedrons exhibited an enhanced specific capacitance of 322 F g-1 compared with the truncated octahedrons with specific capacitances of 244 F g-1, making them a promising electrode material for supercapacitors.Uniform and single-crystalline Mn3O4 nano-octahedrons have been successfully synthesized by a simple ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-2Na) assisted hydrothermal route. The octahedron structures exhibit a high geometric symmetry with smooth surfaces and the mean side length of square base of octahedrons is ~160 nm. The structure is reckoned to provide superior functional properties and the nano-size achieved in the present work is noted to further facilitate the material property enhancement. The formation process was proposed to begin with a ``dissolution-recrystallization'' which is followed by an ``Ostwald ripening'' mechanism. The Mn3O4 nano-octahedrons exhibited an enhanced specific capacitance of 322 F g-1 compared with the truncated octahedrons with specific capacitances of 244 F g-1, making them a promising electrode material for supercapacitors. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: TEM images; EDTA-2Na reaction details. See DOI: 10.1039/c0nr00257g

A new PCR-CGE (size and color) method for simultaneous detection of genetically modified maize events.

PubMed

Nadal, Anna; Coll, Anna; La Paz, Jose-Luis; Esteve, Teresa; Pla, Maria

2006-10-01

We present a novel multiplex PCR assay for simultaneous detection of multiple transgenic events in maize. Initially, five PCR primers pairs specific to events Bt11, GA21, MON810, and NK603, and Zea mays L. (alcohol dehydrogenase) were included. The event specificity was based on amplification of transgene/plant genome flanking regions, i.e., the same targets as for validated real-time PCR assays. These short and similarly sized amplicons were selected to achieve high and similar amplification efficiency for all targets; however, its unambiguous identification was a technical challenge. We achieved a clear distinction by a novel CGE approach that combined the identification by size and color (CGE-SC). In one single step, all five targets were amplified and specifically labeled with three different fluorescent dyes. The assay was specific and displayed an LOD of 0.1% of each genetically modified organism (GMO). Therefore, it was adequate to fulfill legal thresholds established, e.g., in the European Union. Our CGE-SC based strategy in combination with an adequate labeling design has the potential to simultaneously detect higher numbers of targets. As an example, we present the detection of up to eight targets in a single run. Multiplex PCR-CGE-SC only requires a conventional sequencer device and enables automation and high throughput. In addition, it proved to be transferable to a different laboratory. The number of authorized GMO events is rapidly growing; and the acreage of genetically modified (GM) varieties cultivated and commercialized worldwide is rapidly increasing. In this context, our multiplex PCR-CGE-SC can be suitable for screening GM contents in food.

Highly flexible and all-solid-state paperlike polymer supercapacitors.

PubMed

Meng, Chuizhou; Liu, Changhong; Chen, Luzhuo; Hu, Chunhua; Fan, Shoushan

2010-10-13

In recent years, much effort have been dedicated to achieve thin, lightweight and even flexible energy-storage devices for wearable electronics. Here we demonstrate a novel kind of ultrathin all-solid-state supercapacitor configuration with an extremely simple process using two slightly separated polyaniline-based electrodes well solidified in the H(2)SO(4)-polyvinyl alcohol gel electrolyte. The thickness of the entire device is much comparable to that of a piece of commercial standard A4 print paper. Under its highly flexible (twisting) state, the integrate device shows a high specific capacitance of 350 F/g for the electrode materials, well cycle stability after 1000 cycles and a leakage current of as small as 17.2 μA. Furthermore, due to its polymer-based component structure, it has a specific capacitance of as high as 31.4 F/g for the entire device, which is more than 6 times that of current high-level commercial supercapacitor products. These highly flexible and all-solid-state paperlike polymer supercapacitors may bring new design opportunities of device configuration for energy-storage devices in the future wearable electronic area.

High-Spatial and High-Mass Resolution Imaging of Surface Metabolites of Arabidopsis thaliana by Laser Desorption-Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using Colloidal Silver

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

Jun, Ji Hyun; Song, Zhihong; Liu, Zhenjiu

High-spatial resolution and high-mass resolution techniques are developed and adopted for the mass spectrometric imaging of epicuticular lipids on the surface of Arabidopsis thaliana. Single cell level spatial resolution of {approx}12 {micro}m was achieved by reducing the laser beam size by using an optical fiber with 25 {micro}m core diameter in a vacuum matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-linear ion trap (vMALDI-LTQ) mass spectrometer and improved matrix application using an oscillating capillary nebulizer. Fine chemical images of a whole flower were visualized in this high spatial resolution showing substructure of an anther and single pollen grains at the stigma and anthers. Themore » LTQ-Orbitrap with a MALDI ion source was adopted to achieve MS imaging in high mass resolution. Specifically, isobaric silver ion adducts of C29 alkane (m/z 515.3741) and C28 aldehyde (m/z 515.3377), indistinguishable in low-resolution LTQ, can now be clearly distinguished and their chemical images could be separately constructed. In the application to roots, the high spatial resolution allowed molecular MS imaging of secondary roots and the high mass resolution allowed direct identification of lipid metabolites on root surfaces.« less

The Computer Book of the Internal Medicine Resident: competence acquisition and achievement of learning objectives.

PubMed

Oristrell, J; Oliva, J C; Casanovas, A; Comet, R; Jordana, R; Navarro, M

2014-01-01

The Computer Book of the Internal Medicine resident (CBIMR) is a computer program that was validated to analyze the acquisition of competences in teams of Internal Medicine residents. To analyze the characteristics of the rotations during the Internal Medicine residency and to identify the variables associated with the acquisition of clinical and communication skills, the achievement of learning objectives and resident satisfaction. All residents of our service (n=20) participated in the study during a period of 40 months. The CBIMR consisted of 22 self-assessment questionnaires specific for each rotation, with items on services (clinical workload, disease protocolization, resident responsibilities, learning environment, service organization and teamwork) and items on educational outcomes (acquisition of clinical and communication skills, achievement of learning objectives, overall satisfaction). Associations between services features and learning outcomes were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analysis. An intense clinical workload, high resident responsibilities and disease protocolization were associated with the acquisition of clinical skills. High clinical competence and teamwork were both associated with better communication skills. Finally, an adequate learning environment was associated with increased clinical competence, the achievement of educational goals and resident satisfaction. Potentially modifiable variables related with the operation of clinical services had a significant impact on the acquisition of clinical and communication skills, the achievement of educational goals, and resident satisfaction during the specialized training in Internal Medicine. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Controlled release strategy of paclitaxel by conjugating to matrix metalloproteinases-2 sensitive peptide

PubMed Central

Huang, Changjiang; Yi, Xiulin; Kong, Dexin; Chen, Ligong; Min, Gong

2016-01-01

Peptide drug conjugates offer a novel strategy to achieve controlled drug release. This approach avoids the clinical obstacles of non-specific toxicity and overall drug resistance of conventional cytotoxic agents, such as paclitaxel. MMP2 plays important functions in tumour proliferation and metastasis. Herein, we conjugated the paclitaxel with a hexapeptide which is specific recognized by MMP2 protein. The conjugate is dissociated upon the MMP2 specific proteolysis at COOH terminal of hexapeptide, PVGLIG. The results clearly indicated that the PVGLIG-paclitaxel conjugate significantly enhanced the tumor specificity against HT-1080 and U87-MG tumour cells. Our finding suggested that the hexapeptide PVGLIG is capable to act as a controlled and sustained drug carrier of paclitaxel for the treatment against tumour proliferation and metastasis with high MMP2 expression. PMID:27447567

Specificity, Privacy, and Degeneracy in the CD4 T Cell Receptor Repertoire Following Immunization

PubMed Central

Sun, Yuxin; Best, Katharine; Cinelli, Mattia; Heather, James M.; Reich-Zeliger, Shlomit; Shifrut, Eric; Friedman, Nir; Shawe-Taylor, John; Chain, Benny

2017-01-01

T cells recognize antigen using a large and diverse set of antigen-specific receptors created by a complex process of imprecise somatic cell gene rearrangements. In response to antigen-/receptor-binding-specific T cells then divide to form memory and effector populations. We apply high-throughput sequencing to investigate the global changes in T cell receptor sequences following immunization with ovalbumin (OVA) and adjuvant, to understand how adaptive immunity achieves specificity. Each immunized mouse contained a predominantly private but related set of expanded CDR3β sequences. We used machine learning to identify common patterns which distinguished repertoires from mice immunized with adjuvant with and without OVA. The CDR3β sequences were deconstructed into sets of overlapping contiguous amino acid triplets. The frequencies of these motifs were used to train the linear programming boosting (LPBoost) algorithm LPBoost to classify between TCR repertoires. LPBoost could distinguish between the two classes of repertoire with accuracies above 80%, using a small subset of triplet sequences present at defined positions along the CDR3. The results suggest a model in which such motifs confer degenerate antigen specificity in the context of a highly diverse and largely private set of T cell receptors. PMID:28450864

Nonparametric Bayesian clustering to detect bipolar methylated genomic loci.

PubMed

Wu, Xiaowei; Sun, Ming-An; Zhu, Hongxiao; Xie, Hehuang

2015-01-16

With recent development in sequencing technology, a large number of genome-wide DNA methylation studies have generated massive amounts of bisulfite sequencing data. The analysis of DNA methylation patterns helps researchers understand epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Highly variable methylation patterns reflect stochastic fluctuations in DNA methylation, whereas well-structured methylation patterns imply deterministic methylation events. Among these methylation patterns, bipolar patterns are important as they may originate from allele-specific methylation (ASM) or cell-specific methylation (CSM). Utilizing nonparametric Bayesian clustering followed by hypothesis testing, we have developed a novel statistical approach to identify bipolar methylated genomic regions in bisulfite sequencing data. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method achieves good performance in terms of specificity and sensitivity. We used the method to analyze data from mouse brain and human blood methylomes. The bipolar methylated segments detected are found highly consistent with the differentially methylated regions identified by using purified cell subsets. Bipolar DNA methylation often indicates epigenetic heterogeneity caused by ASM or CSM. With allele-specific events filtered out or appropriately taken into account, our proposed approach sheds light on the identification of cell-specific genes/pathways under strong epigenetic control in a heterogeneous cell population.

Analysis of Serum Total and Free PSA Using Immunoaffinity Depletion Coupled to SRM: Correlation with Clinical Immunoassay Tests

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

Liu, Tao; Hossain, Mahmud; Schepmoes, Athena A.

2012-08-03

Sandwich immunoassay is the standard technique used in clinical labs for quantifying protein biomarkers for disease detection, monitoring and therapeutic intervention. Albeit highly sensitive, the development of a specific immunoassay is rather time-consuming and associated with extremely high cost due to the requirement for paired immunoaffinity reagents of high specificity. Recently, mass spectrometry-based methods, specifically selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (SRM-MS), have been increasingly applied to measure low abundance biomarker candidates in tissue and biofluids, owing to high sensitivity and specificity, simplicity of assay configuration, and great multiplexing capability. In this study, we report for the first time the developmentmore » of immunoaffinity depletion-based workflows and SRM-MS assays that enable sensitive and accurate quantification of total and free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in serum without the requirement for specific PSA antibodies. With stable isotope dilution and external calibration, low ng/mL level detection of both total and free PSA was consistently achieved in both PSA-spiked female serum samples and actual patient serum samples. Moreover, comparison of the results obtained when SRM PSA assays and conventional immunoassays were applied to the same samples showed very good correlation (R2 values ranging from 0.90 to 0.99) in several independent clinical serum sample sets, including a set of 33 samples assayed in a blinded test. These results demonstrate that the workflows and SRM assays developed here provide an attractive alternative for reliably measuring total and free PSA in human blood. Furthermore, simultaneous measurement of free and total PSA and many other biomarkers can be performed in a single analysis using high-resolution liquid chromatographic separation coupled with SRM-MS.« less

[Validation and adhesion to GESIDA quality indicators in patients with HIV infection].

PubMed

Riera, Melchor; Esteban, Herminia; Suarez, Ignacio; Palacios, Rosario; Lozano, Fernando; Blanco, Jose R; Valencia, Eulalia; Ocampo, Antonio; Amador, Concha; Frontera, Guillem; vonWichmann-de Miguel, Miguel Angel

2016-01-01

The objective of the study is to validate the relevant GESIDA quality indicators for HIV infection, assessing the reliability, feasibility and adherence to them. The reliability was evaluated using the reproducibility of 6 indicators in peer review, with the second observer being an outsider. The feasibility and measurement of the level of adherence to the 22 indicators was conducted with annual fragmented retrospective collection of information from specific databases or the clinical charts of the nine participating hospitals. Reliability was very high, with interobserver agreement levels higher than 95% in 5 of the 6 indicators. The median time to achieve the indicators ranged between 5 and 600minutes, but could be achieved progressively from specific databases, enabling obtaining them automatically. As regards adherence to the indicators related with the initial evaluation of the patients, instructions and suitability of the guidelines for ART, adherence to ART, follow-up in clinics, and achieve an undetectable HIV by PCR at week 48 of the ART. Indicators of quality related to the prevention of opportunistic infections and control of comorbidities, the standards set were not achieved, and significant heterogeneity was observed between hospitals. The GESIDA quality indicators of HIV infection enabled the relevant indicators to be feasibly and reliably measured, and should be collected in all the units that care for patients with HIV infection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica. All rights reserved.

Checking the predictive accuracy of basic symptoms against ultra high-risk criteria and testing of a multivariable prediction model: Evidence from a prospective three-year observational study of persons at clinical high-risk for psychosis.

PubMed

Hengartner, M P; Heekeren, K; Dvorsky, D; Walitza, S; Rössler, W; Theodoridou, A

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to critically examine the prognostic validity of various clinical high-risk (CHR) criteria alone and in combination with additional clinical characteristics. A total of 188 CHR positive persons from the region of Zurich, Switzerland (mean age 20.5 years; 60.2% male), meeting ultra high-risk (UHR) and/or basic symptoms (BS) criteria, were followed over three years. The test battery included the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS), verbal IQ and many other screening tools. Conversion to psychosis was defined according to ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia (F20) or brief psychotic disorder (F23). Altogether n=24 persons developed manifest psychosis within three years and according to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the projected conversion rate was 17.5%. The predictive accuracy of UHR was statistically significant but poor (area under the curve [AUC]=0.65, P<.05), whereas BS did not predict psychosis beyond mere chance (AUC=0.52, P=.730). Sensitivity and specificity were 0.83 and 0.47 for UHR, and 0.96 and 0.09 for BS. UHR plus BS achieved an AUC=0.66, with sensitivity and specificity of 0.75 and 0.56. In comparison, baseline antipsychotic medication yielded a predictive accuracy of AUC=0.62 (sensitivity=0.42; specificity=0.82). A multivariable prediction model comprising continuous measures of positive symptoms and verbal IQ achieved a substantially improved prognostic accuracy (AUC=0.85; sensitivity=0.86; specificity=0.85; positive predictive value=0.54; negative predictive value=0.97). We showed that BS have no predictive accuracy beyond chance, while UHR criteria poorly predict conversion to psychosis. Combining BS with UHR criteria did not improve the predictive accuracy of UHR alone. In contrast, dimensional measures of both positive symptoms and verbal IQ showed excellent prognostic validity. A critical re-thinking of binary at-risk criteria is necessary in order to improve the prognosis of psychotic disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Deep Sequencing-guided Design of a High Affinity Dual Specificity Antibody to Target Two Angiogenic Factors in Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration.

PubMed

Koenig, Patrick; Lee, Chingwei V; Sanowar, Sarah; Wu, Ping; Stinson, Jeremy; Harris, Seth F; Fuh, Germaine

2015-09-04

The development of dual targeting antibodies promises therapies with improved efficacy over mono-specific antibodies. Here, we engineered a Two-in-One VEGF/angiopoietin 2 antibody with dual action Fab (DAF) as a potential therapeutic for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Crystal structures of the VEGF/angiopoietin 2 DAF in complex with its two antigens showed highly overlapping binding sites. To achieve sufficient affinity of the DAF to block both angiogenic factors, we turned to deep mutational scanning in the complementarity determining regions (CDRs). By mutating all three CDRs of each antibody chain simultaneously, we were able not only to identify affinity improving single mutations but also mutation pairs from different CDRs that synergistically improve both binding functions. Furthermore, insights into the cooperativity between mutations allowed us to identify fold-stabilizing mutations in the CDRs. The data obtained from deep mutational scanning reveal that the majority of the 52 CDR residues are utilized differently for the two antigen binding function and permit, for the first time, the engineering of several DAF variants with sub-nanomolar affinity against two structurally unrelated antigens. The improved variants show similar blocking activity of receptor binding as the high affinity mono-specific antibodies against these two proteins, demonstrating the feasibility of generating a dual specificity binding surface with comparable properties to individual high affinity mono-specific antibodies. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

First Stage of a Highly Reliable Reusable Launch System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kloesel, Kurt J.; Pickrel, Jonathan B.; Sayles, Emily L.; Wright, Michael; Marriott, Darin; Holland, Leo; Kuznetsov, Stephen

2009-01-01

Electromagnetic launch assist has the potential to provide a highly reliable reusable first stage to a space access system infrastructure at a lower overall cost. This paper explores the benefits of a smaller system that adds the advantages of a high specific impulse air-breathing stage and supersonic launch speeds. The method of virtual specific impulse is introduced as a tool to emphasize the gains afforded by launch assist. Analysis shows launch assist can provide a 278-s virtual specific impulse for a first-stage solid rocket. Additional trajectory analysis demonstrates that a system composed of a launch-assisted first-stage ramjet plus a bipropellant second stage can provide a 48-percent gross lift-off weight reduction versus an all-rocket system. The combination of high-speed linear induction motors and ramjets is identified, as the enabling technologies and benchtop prototypes are investigated. The high-speed response of a standard 60 Hz linear induction motor was tested with a pulse width modulated variable frequency drive to 150 Hz using a 10-lb load, achieving 150 mph. A 300-Hz stator-compensated linear induction motor was constructed and static-tested to 1900 lbf average. A matching ramjet design was developed for use on the 300-Hz linear induction motor.