Training Letter and Orthographic Pattern Recognition in Children with Slow Naming Speed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conrad, Nicole J.; Levy, Betty Ann

2011-01-01

Although research has established that performance on a rapid automatized naming (RAN) task is related to reading, the nature of this relationship is unclear. Bowers (2001) proposed that processes underlying performance on the RAN task and orthographic knowledge make independent and additive contributions to reading performance. We examined the…

Multicomponent Treatment of Rapid Naming, Reading Rate, and Visual Attention in Single and Double Deficit Dyslexics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Kary A.

2013-01-01

While the relationship between rapid automatic naming (RAN) deficiencies and dyslexia (reading disability) is well developed and supported in the behavioral and medical research literature to date, direct treatment of the specific RAN deficiency in addition to subsequently poor reading outcomes in the lexical skill of reading rate and the…

Effects of sequential and discrete rapid naming on reading in Japanese children with reading difficulty.

PubMed

Wakamiya, Eiji; Okumura, Tomohito; Nakanishi, Makoto; Takeshita, Takashi; Mizuta, Mekumi; Kurimoto, Naoko; Tamai, Hiroshi

2011-06-01

To clarify whether rapid naming ability itself is a main underpinning factor of rapid automatized naming tests (RAN) and how deep an influence the discrete decoding process has on reading, we performed discrete naming tasks and discrete hiragana reading tasks as well as sequential naming tasks and sequential hiragana reading tasks with 38 Japanese schoolchildren with reading difficulty. There were high correlations between both discrete and sequential hiragana reading and sentence reading, suggesting that some mechanism which automatizes hiragana reading makes sentence reading fluent. In object and color tasks, there were moderate correlations between sentence reading and sequential naming, and between sequential naming and discrete naming. But no correlation was found between reading tasks and discrete naming tasks. The influence of rapid naming ability of objects and colors upon reading seemed relatively small, and multi-item processing may work in relation to these. In contrast, in the digit naming task there was moderate correlation between sentence reading and discrete naming, while no correlation was seen between sequential naming and discrete naming. There was moderate correlation between reading tasks and sequential digit naming tasks. Digit rapid naming ability has more direct effect on reading while its effect on RAN is relatively limited. The ratio of how rapid naming ability influences RAN and reading seems to vary according to kind of the stimuli used. An assumption about components in RAN which influence reading is discussed in the context of both sequential processing and discrete naming speed. Copyright © 2010 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mediating Effects of Working Memory in the Relation Between Rapid Automatized Naming and Chinese Reading Comprehension.

PubMed

Weng, Xiaoqian; Li, Guangze; Li, Rongbao

2016-08-01

This study examined the mediating role of working memory (WM) in the relation between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and Chinese reading comprehension. Three tasks assessing differentially visual and verbal components of WM were programmed by E-prime 2.0. Data collected from 55 Chinese college students were analyzed using correlations and hierarchical regression methods to determine the connection among RAN, reading comprehension, and WM components. Results showed that WM played a significant mediating role in the RAN-reading relation and that auditory WM made stronger contributions than visual WM. Taking into account of the multi-component nature of WM and the specificity of Chinese reading processing, this study discussed the mediating powers of the WM components, particularly auditory WM, further clarifying the possible components involved in the RAN-reading relation and thus providing some insight into the complicated Chinese reading process.

Efficient Word Reading: Automaticity of Print-Related Skills Indexed by Rapid Automatized Naming through Cusp-Catastrophe Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sideridis, Georgios D.; Simos, Panagiotis; Mouzaki, Angeliki; Stamovlasis, Dimitrios

2016-01-01

The study explored the moderating role of rapid automatized naming (RAN) in reading achievement through a cusp-catastrophe model grounded on nonlinear dynamic systems theory. Data were obtained from a community sample of 496 second through fourth graders who were followed longitudinally over 2 years and split into 2 random subsamples (validation…

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) in children with ADHD: An ex-Gaussian analysis.

PubMed

Ryan, Matthew; Jacobson, Lisa A; Hague, Cole; Bellows, Alison; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark

2017-07-01

Children with ADHD demonstrate increased frequent "lapses" in performance on tasks in which the stimulus presentation rate is externally controlled, leading to increased variability in response times. It is less clear whether these lapses are also evident during performance on self-paced tasks, e.g., rapid automatized naming (RAN), or whether RAN inter-item pause time variability uniquely predicts reading performance. A total of 80 children aged 9 to 14 years-45 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 35 typically developing (TD) children-completed RAN and reading fluency measures. RAN responses were digitally recorded for analyses. Inter-stimulus pause time distributions (excluding between-row pauses) were analyzed using traditional (mean, standard deviation [SD], coefficient of variation [CV]) and ex-Gaussian (mu, sigma, tau) methods. Children with ADHD were found to be significantly slower than TD children (p < .05) on RAN letter naming mean response time as well as on oral and silent reading fluency. RAN response time distributions were also significantly more variable (SD, tau) in children with ADHD. Hierarchical regression revealed that the exponential component (tau) of the letter-naming response time distribution uniquely predicted reading fluency in children with ADHD (p < .001, ΔR 2  = .16), even after controlling for IQ, basic reading, ADHD symptom severity and age. The findings suggest that children with ADHD (without word-level reading difficulties) manifest slowed performance on tasks of reading fluency; however, this "slowing" may be due in part to lapses from ongoing performance that can be assessed directly using ex-Gaussian methods that capture excessively long response times.

Different RAN Components Relate to Reading at Different Points in Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Georgiou, George K.; Papadopoulos, Timothy C.; Kaizer, Eleni L.

2014-01-01

The present 10-year longitudinal study examined how rapid automatized naming (RAN) components--articulation time and pause time--relate to reading fluency. Seventy-five Greek-speaking children were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 10 and were assessed five times (in Grades 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10) on RAN (digits and objects) and reading fluency (word…

[Developmental changes of rapid automatized naming and Hiragana reading of Japanese in elementary-school children].

PubMed

Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Gunji, Atsuko; Yatabe, Kiyomi; Kita, Yosuke; Kaga, Makiko; Gotoh, Takaaki; Koike, Toshihide

2011-11-01

Two hundred and seven Japanese elementary school children aged from 6 (Grade 1) to 12 (Grade 6) years old were tested for their abilities to name numbers and pictured objects along with reading Hiragana characters and words. These children all showed typical development and their classroom teachers judged that they were not having any problems with reading or writing. The children were randomly divided into two groups, the first group was assigned to two naming tasks;the rapid automatized naming (RAN) of "numbers" and "pictured objects," the second group was assigned to two rapid alternative stimulus (RAS) naming tasks using numbers and pictured objects. All children were asked to perform two reading tasks that were written in Hiragana script: single mora reading task and four syllable word reading task. The total articulation time for naming and reading and performance in terms of accuracy were measured for each task. Developmental changes in these variables were evaluated. The articulation time was significantly longer for the first graders, and it gradually shortened as they moved through to the upper grades in all tasks. The articulation time reached a plateau in the 5th grade for the number naming, while gradual change continued after drastic change in the lower grades for the pictured object naming. The articulation times for the single mora reading and RAN of numbers correlated strongly. The articulation time for the RAS naming was significantly longer compared to that for the RAN, though there were very few errors. The RAS naming showed the highest correlation with the four syllable word reading. This study demonstrated that the performance in rapid automatized naming of numbers and pictures were closely related with performance on reading tasks. Thus Japanese children with reading disorders such as developmental dyslexia should also be evaluated for rapid automatized naming.

Modeling the relationship between rapid automatized naming and literacy skills across languages varying in orthographic consistency.

PubMed

Georgiou, George K; Aro, Mikko; Liao, Chen-Huei; Parrila, Rauno

2016-03-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to contrast the prominent theoretical explanations of the rapid automatized naming (RAN)-reading relationship across languages varying in orthographic consistency (Chinese, English, and Finnish) and (b) to examine whether the same accounts can explain the RAN-spelling relationship. In total, 304 Grade 4 children (102 Chinese-speaking Taiwanese children, 117 English-speaking Canadian children, and 85 Finnish-speaking children) were assessed on measures of RAN, speed of processing, phonological processing, orthographic processing, reading fluency, and spelling. The results of path analysis indicated that RAN had a strong direct effect on reading fluency that was of the same size across languages and that only in English was a small proportion of its predictive variance mediated by orthographic processing. In contrast, RAN did not exert a significant direct effect on spelling, and a substantial proportion of its predictive variance was mediated by phonological processing (in Chinese and Finnish) and orthographic processing (in English). Given that RAN predicted reading fluency equally well across languages and that phonological/orthographic processing had very little to do with this relationship, we argue that the reason why RAN is related to reading fluency should be sought in domain-general factors such as serial processing and articulation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Usefulness and limitations of rapid automatized naming to predict reading difficulties after school entry in preschool children].

PubMed

Kaneko, Masato; Uno, Akira; Haruhara, Noriko; Awaya, Noriko

2012-01-01

We investigated the usability and limitations of Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) results in 6-year-old Japanese preschool children to estimate whether reading difficulties will be encountered after school entry. We administered a RAN task to 1,001 preschool children. Then after they had entered school, we performed follow-up surveys yearly to assess their reading performance when these children were in the first, second, third and fourth grades. Also, we examined Hiragana non-words and Kanji words at each time point to detect the children who were having difficulty with reading Hiragana and Kanji. Results by Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis showed that the RAN result in 6-year-old preschool children was predictive of Kanji reading difficulty in the lower grades of elementary school, especially in the second grade with a probability of 0.86, and the area under the curve showed a probability of 0.84 in the third grade. These results suggested that the RAN task was useful as a screening tool.

Can the Relationship Between Rapid Automatized Naming and Word Reading Be Explained by a Catastrophe? Empirical Evidence From Students With and Without Reading Difficulties.

PubMed

Sideridis, Georgios D; Simos, Panagiotis; Mouzaki, Angeliki; Stamovlasis, Dimitrios; Georgiou, George K

2018-05-01

The purpose of the present study was to explain the moderating role of rapid automatized naming (RAN) in word reading with a cusp catastrophe model. We hypothesized that increases in RAN performance speed beyond a critical point would be associated with the disruption in word reading, consistent with a "generic shutdown" hypothesis. Participants were 587 elementary schoolchildren (Grades 2-4), among whom 87 had reading comprehension difficulties per the IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion. Data were analyzed via a cusp catastrophe model derived from the nonlinear dynamics systems theory. Results indicated that for children with reading comprehension difficulties, as naming speed falls below a critical level, the association between core reading processes (word recognition and decoding) becomes chaotic and unpredictable. However, after the significant common variance attributed to motivation, emotional, and internalizing symptoms measures from RAN scores was partialed out, its role as a bifurcation variable was no longer evident. Taken together, these findings suggest that RAN represents a salient cognitive measure that may be associated with psychoemotional processes that are, at least in part, responsible for unpredictable and chaotic word reading behavior among children with reading comprehension deficits.

Counting and RAN: Predictors of Arithmetic Calculation and Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koponen, Tuire; Salmi, Paula; Eklund, Kenneth; Aro, Tuija

2013-01-01

This study examined whether counting and rapid automatized naming (RAN) could operate as significant predictors of both later arithmetic calculation and reading fluency. The authors also took an important step to clarify the cognitive mechanisms underlying these predictive relationships by controlling for the effect of phonological awareness and…

Visual Processing Deficits in Children with Slow RAN Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stainthorp, Rhona; Stuart, Morag; Powell, Daisy; Quinlan, Philip; Garwood, Holly

2010-01-01

Two groups of 8- to 10-year-olds differing in rapid automatized naming speed but matched for age, verbal and nonverbal ability, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visual acuity participated in four experiments investigating early visual processing. As low RAN children had significantly slower simple reaction times (SRT) this was…

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming Predicting Early Development in Reading and Spelling: Results from a Cross-Linguistic Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Furnes, Bjarte; Samuelsson, Stefan

2010-01-01

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages. PMID:21359098

Does the Relation between Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading Depend on Age or on Reading Level? A Behavioral and ERP Study

PubMed Central

Cohen, Marjolaine; Mahé, G.; Laganaro, Marina; Zesiger, Pascal

2018-01-01

Reading predictors evolve through age: phonological awareness is the best predictor of reading abilities at the beginning of reading acquisition while Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) becomes the best reading predictor in more experienced readers (around 9–10 years old). Those developmental changes in the relationship between RAN and reading have so far been explained in term of participants' age. However, it should be noted that in the previous experiments age always co-vary with participants reading level. It is thus not clear whether RAN-reading relationship is developmental in nature or related to the reading system itself. This study investigates whether the behavioral changes in the relationship between RAN and reading and their electrophysiological correlates are related to the chronological age or to the reading level of the participants. Thirty two French-speaking children aged 7–10 years took part to the experiment: they were divided into groups contrasted on age but with similar reading levels and the other way round. Participants performed two reading tasks and four RAN tasks. EEG/ERP was recorded during discrete letter and picture RAN. Behavioral results revealed that alphanumeric RAN is more sensitive to age variations than reading level differences. The inverse profile was revealed for picture RAN, which discriminate poor and good readers among typically developed children within the same age-group. ERPs of both letter and picture RAN differed across age groups whereas only for the picture RAN ERPs differed across reading levels. Taken together, these results suggest that picture RAN is a particularly good indicator of reading level variance independently of age. PMID:29520226

The Impact of Rapid Automatized Naming and Phonological Awareness on the Reading Fluency of a Minority Student Population

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taub, Gordon E.; Szente, Judit

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) on the reading fluency (RF) of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. The study included 86 participants attending 1st through 4th grade within an inner-city charter school located in a high-poverty, urban…

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming Predicting Early Development in Reading and Spelling: Results from a Cross-Linguistic Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furnes, Bjarte; Samuelsson, Stefan

2011-01-01

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230…

A Meta-Analysis of the Relation between RAN and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koponen, Tuire; Georgiou, George; Salmi, Paula; Leskinen, Markku; Aro, Mikko

2017-01-01

Several studies have shown that rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a significant predictor of mathematics, but the nature of their relationship remains elusive. Thus, the purpose of this meta-analysis was to estimate the size of their relationship and determine the conditions under which they correlate. We used a random-effects model analysis of…

The Relationships among Cognitive Correlates and Irregular Word, Non-Word, and Word Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abu-Hamour, Bashir; University, Mu'tah; Urso, Annmarie; Mather, Nancy

2012-01-01

This study explored four hypotheses: (a) the relationships among rapid automatized naming (RAN) and processing speed (PS) to irregular word, non-word, and word reading; (b) the predictive power of various RAN and PS measures, (c) the cognitive correlates that best predicted irregular word, non-word, and word reading, and (d) reading performance of…

Effects of mora deletion, nonword repetition, rapid naming, and visual search performance on beginning reading in Japanese.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Maya Shiho; Haynes, Charles W; Macaruso, Paul; Hook, Pamela E; Kato, Junko

2005-06-01

This study examined the extent to which mora deletion (phonological analysis), nonword repetition (phonological memory), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual search abilities predict reading in Japanese kindergartners and first graders. Analogous abilities have been identified as important predictors of reading skills in alphabetic languages like English. In contrast to English, which is based on grapheme-phoneme relationships, the primary components of Japanese orthography are two syllabaries-hiragana and katakana (collectively termed "kana")-and a system of morphosyllabic symbols (kanji). Three RAN tasks (numbers, objects, syllabary symbols [hiragana]) were used with kindergartners, with an additional kanji RAN task included for first graders. Reading measures included accuracy and speed of passage reading for kindergartners and first graders, and reading comprehension for first graders. In kindergartners, hiragana RAN and number RAN were the only significant predictors of reading accuracy and speed. In first graders, kanji RAN and hiragana RAN predicted reading speed, whereas accuracy was predicted by mora deletion. Reading comprehension was predicted by kanji RAN, mora deletion, and nonword repetition. Although number RAN did not contribute unique variance to any reading measure, it correlated highly with kanji RAN. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

The Effect of Orthographic Depth on Letter String Processing: The Case of Visual Attention Span and Rapid Automatized Naming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antzaka, Alexia; Martin, Clara; Caffarra, Sendy; Schlöffel, Sophie; Carreiras, Manuel; Lallier, Marie

2018-01-01

The present study investigated whether orthographic depth can increase the bias towards multi-letter processing in two reading-related skills: visual attention span (VAS) and rapid automatized naming (RAN). VAS (i.e., the number of visual elements that can be processed at once in a multi-element array) was tested with a visual 1-back task and RAN…

Rapid Automatized Naming in Children with Dyslexia: Is Inhibitory Control Involved?

PubMed

Bexkens, Anika; van den Wildenberg, Wery P M; Tijms, Jurgen

2015-08-01

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is widely seen as an important indicator of dyslexia. The nature of the cognitive processes involved in rapid naming is however still a topic of controversy. We hypothesized that in addition to the involvement of phonological processes and processing speed, RAN is a function of inhibition processes, in particular of interference control. A total 86 children with dyslexia and 31 normal readers were recruited. Our results revealed that in addition to phonological processing and processing speed, interference control predicts rapid naming in dyslexia, but in contrast to these other two cognitive processes, inhibition is not significantly associated with their reading and spelling skills. After variance in reading and spelling associated with processing speed, interference control and phonological processing was partialled out, naming speed was no longer consistently associated with the reading and spelling skills of children with dyslexia. Finally, dyslexic children differed from normal readers on naming speed, literacy skills, phonological processing and processing speed, but not on inhibition processes. Both theoretical and clinical interpretations of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Elucidating the Component Processes Involved in Dyslexic and Non-Dyslexic Reading Fluency: An Eye-Tracking Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Manon W.; Obregon, Mateo; Kelly, M. Louise; Branigan, Holly P.

2008-01-01

The relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading fluency is well documented (see Wolf, M. & Bowers, P.G. (1999). "The double-deficit hypothesis for the 'developmental dyslexias.'" "Journal of Educational Psychology," 91(3), 415-438, for a review), but little is known about which component processes are important in RAN, and why…

Rapid Automatized Naming, Verbal Working Memory, and Rhythm Discrimination as Predictors of Reading in Italian Undergraduate Students with and without Dyslexia.

PubMed

Cancer, Alice; Antonietti, Alessandro

2018-05-13

Whereas the clinical manifestations and the neuropsychological predictors of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) are already well documented in Italian-speaking children, empirical evidence on DD in Italian adults is in contrast rather scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of a subset of neuropsychological skills, which have been identified by previous literature to be related to reading, in the decoding abilities of a group of Italian undergraduates with and without DD. For this purpose, 39 university students aged between 19 and 27 years, 19 of whom with a diagnosis of DD, underwent an assessment battery including standardized reading tests, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal working memory, and rhythmic pattern discrimination tests. Cross-group differences confirmed significantly lower performances of undergraduates with DD in all measures but rhythm discrimination, compared to typical readers, thus showing a non-compensated neuropsychological profile. Regression analyses showed that, while reading speed was strongly and uniquely predicted by RAN speed, reading accuracy was concurrently predicted by RAN and rhythmic abilities. Finally, RAN speed emerged as a strong predictor of reading performance and risk of receiving a diagnosis of DD.

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming Are Independent Phonological Competencies With Specific Impacts on Word Reading and Spelling: An Intervention Study.

PubMed

Vander Stappen, Caroline; Reybroeck, Marie Van

2018-01-01

Phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) have been shown to be powerful predictors of reading achievement across many languages. However, literature remains unclear: (a) whether RAN is independent of PA, (b) about the specific influences of PA and RAN on reading and spelling, and (c) about the efficacy of a RAN intervention. This study aims to address these issues by means of an intervention design. Precisely, the objectives are (a) to determine whether training one competence involves or not an effect on the other, (b) to examine whether each intervention based on oral abilities (PA vs. RAN) could improve word reading and word spelling performances, and (c) to assess the efficacy of a RAN-objects' intervention. Thirty-six French-speaking second graders, from two Belgian elementary schools, were divided into two groups, and received either a PA- or a RAN-objects' intervention. Twenty-five-minute lessons took place at school twice a week over a period of 2 months. Both groups were compared on multiple experimental measures (PA, RAN, word reading, and word spelling), before and immediately after the intervention, and 6 months later. Results showed specific efficacy of the two interventions, with participants trained in one ability outperforming those from the other group on this specific ability at post-test. Moreover, the PA intervention revealed transfer effects on the sub-lexical processes of spelling, while the RAN intervention enhanced word reading speed. Finally, the results demonstrated the efficacy of a RAN-objects' intervention for the first time. These findings provide a new piece of evidence showing the independence of PA and RAN, each process influencing the acquisition of literacy skills in a different way. The efficacy and the specific transfer effects of both interventions open up new perspectives for prevention and targeted remediation of reading disabilities.

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming Are Independent Phonological Competencies With Specific Impacts on Word Reading and Spelling: An Intervention Study

PubMed Central

Vander Stappen, Caroline; Reybroeck, Marie Van

2018-01-01

Phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) have been shown to be powerful predictors of reading achievement across many languages. However, literature remains unclear: (a) whether RAN is independent of PA, (b) about the specific influences of PA and RAN on reading and spelling, and (c) about the efficacy of a RAN intervention. This study aims to address these issues by means of an intervention design. Precisely, the objectives are (a) to determine whether training one competence involves or not an effect on the other, (b) to examine whether each intervention based on oral abilities (PA vs. RAN) could improve word reading and word spelling performances, and (c) to assess the efficacy of a RAN-objects’ intervention. Thirty-six French-speaking second graders, from two Belgian elementary schools, were divided into two groups, and received either a PA- or a RAN-objects’ intervention. Twenty-five-minute lessons took place at school twice a week over a period of 2 months. Both groups were compared on multiple experimental measures (PA, RAN, word reading, and word spelling), before and immediately after the intervention, and 6 months later. Results showed specific efficacy of the two interventions, with participants trained in one ability outperforming those from the other group on this specific ability at post-test. Moreover, the PA intervention revealed transfer effects on the sub-lexical processes of spelling, while the RAN intervention enhanced word reading speed. Finally, the results demonstrated the efficacy of a RAN-objects’ intervention for the first time. These findings provide a new piece of evidence showing the independence of PA and RAN, each process influencing the acquisition of literacy skills in a different way. The efficacy and the specific transfer effects of both interventions open up new perspectives for prevention and targeted remediation of reading disabilities. PMID:29593618

Pathways of the inferior frontal occipital fasciculus in overt speech and reading.

PubMed

Rollans, Claire; Cheema, Kulpreet; Georgiou, George K; Cummine, Jacqueline

2017-11-19

In this study, we examined the relationship between tractography-based measures of white matter integrity (ex. fractional anisotropy [FA]) from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and five reading-related tasks, including rapid automatized naming (RAN) of letters, digits, and objects, and reading of real words and nonwords. Twenty university students with no reported history of reading difficulties were tested on all five tasks and their performance was correlated with diffusion measures extracted through DTI tractography. A secondary analysis using whole-brain Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) was also used to find clusters showing significant negative correlations between reaction time and FA. Results showed a significant relationship between the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus FA and performance on the RAN of objects task, as well as a strong relationship to nonword reading, which suggests a role for this tract in slower, non-automatic and/or resource-demanding speech tasks. There were no significant relationships between FA and the faster, more automatic speech tasks (RAN of letters and digits, and real word reading). These findings provide evidence for the role of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in tasks that are highly demanding of orthography-phonology translation (e.g., nonword reading) and semantic processing (e.g., RAN object). This demonstrates the importance of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in basic naming and suggests that this tract may be a sensitive predictor of rapid naming performance within the typical population. We discuss the findings in the context of current models of reading and speech production to further characterize the white matter pathways associated with basic reading processes. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Naming Speed in Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willburger, Edith; Fussenegger, Barbara; Moll, Kristina; Wood, Guilherme; Landerl, Karin

2008-01-01

In four carefully selected samples of 8- to 10-year old children with dyslexia (but age adequate arithmetic skills), dyscalculia (but age adequate reading skills), dyslexia/dyscalculia and controls a domain-general deficit in rapid automatized naming (RAN) was found for both dyslexia groups. Dyscalculic children exhibited a domain-specific deficit…

Rapid Serial Naming Is a Unique Predictor of Spelling in Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savage, Robert; Pillay, Vanitha; Melidona, Santo

2008-01-01

Some previous research has shown strong associations between spelling ability and rapid automatic naming (RAN) after controls for phonological processing and nonsense-word reading ability, consistent with the double-deficit hypothesis in reading and spelling. Previous studies did not, however, control for nonsense-word spelling ability before…

Effects of Mora Deletion, Nonword Repetition, Rapid Naming, and Visual Search Performance on Beginning Reading in Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kobayashi, Maya Shiho; Haynes, Charles W.; Macaruso, Paul; Hook, Pamela E.; Kato, Junko

2005-01-01

This study examined the extent to which mora deletion (phonological analysis), nonword repetition (phonological memory), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual search abilities predict reading in Japanese kindergartners and first graders. Analogous abilities have been identified as important predictors of reading skills in alphabetic languages…

Predictors of Reading in Urdu: Does Deep Orthography Have an Impact?

PubMed Central

Farukh, Ammara; Vulchanova, Mila

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which rapid automatized naming (RAN) and non-word repetition (NWR) tasks predict reading fluency and reading accuracy in Urdu. One hundred sixty (8–9 years) children attending two types of schools (Urdu and English medium schools) were distributed into two groups, a control and a reading disability group on the basis of teacher’s report. The results confirmed the role of RAN in predicting reading fluency in both groups. The role of NWR as a predictor of accuracy was also confirmed, although the strength of the relationship was modulated by RAN in the reading disability group. There are no tests available to identify children with reading problems in Urdu. Our study supports the validity of NWR and RAN tasks for the purposes of screening for reading deficits. The performance results also confirm the original grouping based on teacher reports. The study further highlights the importance of medium of instruction and increased oral language input in learning to read. © 2014 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Key Messages Reliability of teacher reports in screening for reading difficulties in the classroom. Appropriateness of non-word repetition and rapid automatized naming tasks for establishing reading problems in Urdu. School type and exposure to instruction influences reading skills. PMID:24664499

Language proficiency and metacognition as predictors of spontaneous rehearsal in children.

PubMed

Bebko, James M; McMorris, Carly A; Metcalfe, Alisa; Ricciuti, Christina; Goldstein, Gayle

2014-03-01

Despite decades of research on fundamental memory strategies such as verbal rehearsal, the potential underlying skills associated with the emergence of rehearsal are still not fully understood. Two studies examined the relative roles of language proficiency and metamemory in predicting rehearsal use, as well as the prediction of metamemory performance by language proficiency. In Study 1, 59 children, 5 to 8 years old, were administered a serial recall task, 2 language measures, a nonverbal cognitive measure, and a rapid automatized naming (RAN) task. Language proficiency, RAN, and age were significant individual predictors of rehearsal use. In hierarchical regression analyses, language proficiency mediated almost completely the age → rehearsal use relation. In addition, automatized naming was a strong but partial mediator of the contribution of language proficiency to rehearsal use. In Study 2, 54 children were administered a metamemory test, a language measure, and a serial recall task. Metamemory skills and, again, language proficiency significantly predicted rehearsal use in the task. The predictive strength of metamemory skills was mediated by the children's language proficiency. The mutually supportive roles of automatized naming, language, and metamemory in the emergence of spontaneous cumulative verbal rehearsal are discussed in the context of the resulting model, along with the minimal roles of age and aspects of intelligence.

What Is in the Naming? A 5-Year Longitudinal Study of Early Rapid Naming and Phonological Sensitivity in Relation to Subsequent Reading Skills in Both Native Chinese and English as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pan, Jinger; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Shu, Hua; Liu, Hongyun; Zhang, Yuping; Li, Hong

2011-01-01

Among 262 Chinese children, syllable awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN) at age 5 years and invented spelling of Pinyin at age 6 years independently predicted subsequent Chinese character recognition and English word reading at ages 8 years and 10 years, even with initial Chinese character reading ability statistically controlled. In…

Spelling well Despite Developmental Language Disorder: What Makes It Possible?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rakhlin, Natalia; Cardoso-Martins, Cláudia; Kornilov, Sergey A.; Grigorenko, Elena L.

2013-01-01

The goal of the study was to investigate the overlap between developmental language disorder (DLD) and developmental dyslexia, identified through spelling difficulties (SD), in Russian-speaking children. In particular, we studied the role of phoneme awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), pseudoword repetition (PWR), morphological (MA),…

Separating Speed from Accuracy in Beginning Reading Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juul, Holger; Poulsen, Mads; Elbro, Carsten

2014-01-01

Phoneme awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) are well-known kindergarten predictors of later word recognition skills, but it is not clear whether they predict developments in accuracy or speed, or both. The present longitudinal study of 172 Danish beginning readers found that speed of word recognition mainly developed…

Single and Double Deficits in Early Readers in Rural, Low-Wealth Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedora, Pledger M.

2016-01-01

This study used secondary data to test the double-deficit hypothesis that rapid automatized naming (RAN) deficits and phonological awareness (PA) deficits are 2 core reading-related deficits and that students exhibiting deficits in both areas would be the most severely impaired in entry-level reading ability. Specifically, this study investigated…

Predictors of Early versus Later Spelling Development in Danish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Anne-Mette Veber; Juul, Holger

2016-01-01

The present study examined phoneme awareness, phonological short term memory, letter knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual-verbal paired associate learning (PAL) as longitudinal predictors of spelling skills in an early phase (Grade 2) and a later phase (Grade 5) of development in a sample of 140 children learning to spell in the…

Longitudinal Stability of Pre-Reading Skill Profiles of Kindergarten Children: Implications for Early Screening and Theories of Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozernov-Palchik, Ola; Norton, Elizabeth S.; Sideridis, Georgios; Beach, Sara D.; Wolf, Maryanne; Gabrieli, John D. E.; Gaab, Nadine

2017-01-01

Research suggests that early identification of developmental dyslexia is important for mitigating the negative effects of dyslexia, including reduced educational attainment and increased socioemotional difficulties. The strongest pre-literacy predictors of dyslexia are rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological awareness (PA), letter knowledge,…

RAN as a predictor of reading skills, and vice versa: results from a randomised reading intervention.

PubMed

Wolff, Ulrika

2014-07-01

Although phonemic awareness is a well-known factor predicting early reading development, there is also evidence that Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is an independent factor that contributes to early reading. The aim of this study is to examine phonemic awareness and RAN as predictors of reading speed, reading comprehension and spelling for children with reading difficulties. It also investigates a possible reciprocal relationship between RAN and reading skills, and the possibility of enhancing RAN by intervention. These issues are addressed by examining longitudinal data from a randomised reading intervention study carried out in Sweden for 9-year-old children with reading difficulties (N = 112). The intervention comprised three main elements: training of phonics, reading comprehension strategies and reading speed. The analysis of the data was carried out using structural equation modelling. The results demonstrated that after controlling for autoregressive effects and non-verbal IQ, RAN predicts reading speed whereas phonemic awareness predicts reading comprehension and spelling. RAN was significantly enhanced by training and a reciprocal relationship between reading speed and RAN was found. These findings contribute to support the view that both phonemic awareness and RAN independently influence early phases of reading, and that both are possible to enhance by training.

Phonological Processing and Word Reading in Typically Developing and Reading Disabled Children: Severity Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Groot, Barry J. A.; van den Bos, Kees P.; Minnaert, Alexander E. M. G.; van der Meulen, Bieuwe F.

2015-01-01

In this study word reading (WR) fluency was used to dichotomously classify 1,598 Dutch children at different cutoffs, indicating (very) poor or (very) good reading performance. Analysis of variance and receiver operating characteristics were used to investigate the effects of rapid automatized naming (RAN) and phonemic awareness (PA) in predicting…

Predicting Reading in Vowelized and Unvowelized Arabic Script: An Investigation of Reading in First and Second Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asadi, Ibrahim A.; Khateb, Asaid

2017-01-01

This study examined the orthographic transparency of Arabic by investigating the contribution of phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) to reading vowelized and unvowelized words. The results from first and second grade children showed that PA contribution was similar in the vowelized and unvowelized…

Pathways to Third-Grade Calculation versus Word-Reading Competence: Are They More Alike or Different?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Geary, David C.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Hamlett, Carol L.

2016-01-01

Children (n = 747; 6.5 years) were assessed on domain-general processes and mathematics and reading-related competencies (start of first grade), addition retrieval (end of second grade), and calculations and word reading (end of third grade). Attentive behavior, reasoning, visuospatial memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) indirectly…

The Double Deficit Hypothesis in the Transparent Finnish Orthography: A Longitudinal Study from Kindergarten to Grade 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torppa, Minna; Parrila, Rauno; Niemi, Pekka; Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2013-01-01

We examined the double deficit hypothesis (Wolf & Bowers, 1999) and literacy development in a longitudinal dataset of 1,006 Finnish children who were nonreaders at school entry. A single phonological awareness (PA) deficit was a predictor of pseudoword spelling accuracy and reading fluency, and a single rapid automatized naming (RAN) deficit…

Unpacking Direct and Indirect Relationships of Short-Term Memory to Word Reading: Evidence From Korean-Speaking Children.

PubMed

Kim, Young-Suk Grace; Cho, Jeung-Ryeul; Park, Soon-Gil

2017-08-01

We examined the relations of short-term memory (STM), metalinguistic awareness (phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness), and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word reading in Korean, a language with a relatively transparent orthography. STM, metalinguistic awareness, and RAN have been shown to be important to word reading, but the nature of the relations of STM, metalinguistic awareness, and RAN to word reading has rarely been investigated. Two alternative models were fitted. In the indirect relation model, STM was hypothesized to be indirectly related to word reading via metalinguistic awareness and RAN. In the direct and indirect relations model, STM was hypothesized to be directly and indirectly related to word reading. Results from 207 beginning readers in South Korea showed that STM was directly related to word reading as well as indirectly via metalinguistic awareness and RAN. Although the direct effect of STM was relatively small (.16), the total effect incorporating the indirect effect was substantial (.42). These results suggest that STM is an important, foundational cognitive capacity that underpins metalinguistic awareness and RAN as well as word reading, and further indicate the importance of considering both direct and indirect effects of language and cognitive skills on word reading.

Too little or too much? Parafoveal preview benefits and parafoveal load costs in dyslexic adults.

PubMed

Silva, Susana; Faísca, Luís; Araújo, Susana; Casaca, Luis; Carvalho, Loide; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Reis, Alexandra

2016-07-01

Two different forms of parafoveal dysfunction have been hypothesized as core deficits of dyslexic individuals: reduced parafoveal preview benefits ("too little parafovea") and increased costs of parafoveal load ("too much parafovea"). We tested both hypotheses in a single eye-tracking experiment using a modified serial rapid automatized naming (RAN) task. Comparisons between dyslexic and non-dyslexic adults showed reduced parafoveal preview benefits in dyslexics, without increased costs of parafoveal load. Reduced parafoveal preview benefits were observed in a naming task, but not in a silent letter-finding task, indicating that the parafoveal dysfunction may be consequent to the overload with extracting phonological information from orthographic input. Our results suggest that dyslexics' parafoveal dysfunction is not based on strict visuo-attentional factors, but nevertheless they stress the importance of extra-phonological processing. Furthermore, evidence of reduced parafoveal preview benefits in dyslexia may help understand why serial RAN is an important reading predictor in adulthood.

Rapid Naming in Brazilian Students with Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Alves, Luciana Mendonça; Siqueira, Cláudia M.; Ferreira, Maria do Carmo Mangelli; Alves, Juliana Flores Mendonça; Lodi, Débora F.; Bicalho, Lorena; Celeste, Letícia C.

2016-01-01

Introduction: The effective development of reading and writing skills requires the concerted action of several abilities, one of which is phonological processing. One of the main components of phonological processing is rapid automatized naming (RAN)—the ability to identify and recognize a given item by the activation and concomitant articulation of its name. Objective: To assess the RAN performance of schoolchildren with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with their peers. Methods: In total, 70 schoolchildren aged between 8 and 11 years participated in the study. Of these, 16 children had a multiprofessional diagnosis of ADHD while 14 were diagnosed with dyslexia. Matched with these groups, 40 schoolchildren with no history of developmental impairments were also evaluated. The RAN test was administered to assess the length of time required to name a series of familiar visual stimuli. The statistical analysis was conducted using measures of descriptive statistics and the 2-sample t-test at the 5% significance level. Results: The performance of the group with dyslexia was inferior to that of the control group in all tasks and the ADHD group had inferior performance for color and letters-naming tasks. The schoolchildren with dyslexia and those with ADHD showed very similar response times. Age was an important variable to be analyzed separately. As they aged, children with typical language development had fast answers on colors and digits tasks while children with dyslexia or ADHD did not show improvement with age. Conclusions: The schoolchildren with dyslexia took longer to complete all tasks and ADHD took longer to complete digits and objects tasks in comparison to their peers with typical development. This ability tended to improve with age, which was not the case, however, with schoolchildren who had ADHD or dyslexia. PMID:26858672

Predictors of reading fluency in Italian orthography: evidence from a cross-sectional study of primary school students.

PubMed

Tobia, Valentina; Marzocchi, Gian Marco

2014-01-01

This study investigates the role of linguistic and visuospatial attentional processes in predicting reading fluency in typical Italian readers attending primary school. Tasks were administered to 651 children with reading fluency z scores > -1.5 standard deviation to evaluate their phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, visual search skills, verbal-visual recall, and visual-spatial attention. Hybrid models combining confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to evaluate the data obtained from younger (first and second grade) and older (third-fifth grade) children, respectively. The results showed that phonological awareness and RAN played a significant role among younger children, while also vocabulary, verbal short-term memory, and visuospatial attention were significant factors among older children.

Pathways to Third-Grade Calculation versus Word-Reading Competence: Are They More Alike or Different?

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Geary, David C.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Hamlett, Carol L.

2015-01-01

Children (n=747; 6.5 years) were assessed on domain-general processes and mathematics and reading-related competencies (start of 1st grade); addition retrieval (end of 2nd grade); and calculations and word reading (end of 3rd grade). Attentive behavior, reasoning, visuospatial memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) indirectly contributed to both outcomes, via retrieval. However, there was no overlap in domain-general direct effects on calculations (attentive behavior, reasoning, working memory) versus word reading (language, phonological memory, RAN). Results suggest ease of forming associative relations and abilities engaged during the formation of these long-term memories are common to both outcomes and can be indexed by addition fact retrieval, but further growth in calculations and word reading is driven by different constellations of domain-general abilities. PMID:26700885

Pathways to Third-Grade Calculation Versus Word-Reading Competence: Are They More Alike or Different?

PubMed

Fuchs, Lynn S; Geary, David C; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L; Hamlett, Carol L

2016-01-01

Children (n = 747; 6.5 years) were assessed on domain-general processes and mathematics and reading-related competencies (start of first grade), addition retrieval (end of second grade), and calculations and word reading (end of third grade). Attentive behavior, reasoning, visuospatial memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) indirectly contributed to both outcomes, via retrieval. However, there was no overlap in domain-general direct effects on calculations (attentive behavior, reasoning, working memory) versus word reading (language, phonological memory, RAN). Results suggest ease of forming associative relations and abilities engaged during the formation of these long-term memories are common to both outcomes and can be indexed by addition-fact retrieval, but further growth in calculations and word reading is driven by different constellations of domain-general abilities. © 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Rapid Naming Speed and Chinese Character Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liao, Chen-Huei; Georgiou, George K.; Parrila, Rauno

2008-01-01

We examined the relationship between rapid naming speed (RAN) and Chinese character recognition accuracy and fluency. Sixty-three grade 2 and 54 grade 4 Taiwanese children were administered four RAN tasks (colors, digits, Zhu-Yin-Fu-Hao, characters), and two character recognition tasks. RAN tasks accounted for more reading variance in grade 4 than…

Spelling Well Despite Developmental Language Disorder: What Makes it Possible?

PubMed Central

Rakhlin, Natalia; Cardoso-Martins, Cláudia; Kornilov, Sergey A.; Grigorenko, Elena L.

2013-01-01

The goal of the study was to investigate the overlap between Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Developmental Dyslexia, identified through spelling difficulties (SD), in Russian-speaking children. In particular, we studied the role of phoneme awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), pseudoword repetition (PWR), morphological (MA) and orthographic awareness (OA) in differentiating between children with DLD who have SD from children with DLD who are average spellers by comparing the two groups to each other, to typically developing children as well as children with SD but without spoken language deficits. One hundred forty nine children, aged 10.40 to 14.00, participated in the study. The results indicated that the SD, DLD, and DLD/SD groups did not differ from each other on PA and RAN Letters and underperformed in comparison to the control groups. However, whereas the children with written language deficits (SD and DLD/SD groups) underperformed on RAN Objects and Digits, PWR, OA and MA, the children with DLD and no SD performed similarly to the children from the control groups on these measures. In contrast, the two groups with spoken language deficits (DLD and DLD/SD) underperformed on RAN Colors in comparison to the control groups and the group of children with SD only. The results support the notion that those children with DLD who have unimpaired PWR and RAN skills are able to overcome their weaknesses in spoken language and PA and acquire basic literacy on a par with their age peers with typical language. We also argue that our findings support a multifactorial model of developmental language disorders (DLD). PMID:23860907

Multiple Mediation Analysis of the Relationship between Rapid Naming and Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulsen, Mads; Juul, Holger; Elbro, Carsten

2015-01-01

It is well established that rapid automatised naming (RAN) correlates with reading ability. Despite several attempts, no single component process (mediator) has been identified that fully accounts for the correlation. The present paper estimated the explanatory value of several mediators for the RAN--reading correlation. One hundred and sixty-nine…

Development of reading and phonological skills of children at family risk for dyslexia: a longitudinal analysis from kindergarten to sixth grade.

PubMed

Dandache, Sophie; Wouters, Jan; Ghesquière, Pol

2014-11-01

The main focus of this article is to develop a better understanding of the developmental trajectories of literacy and phonological skills within Dutch-speaking children. Children at high and low risk for dyslexia were followed and compared at four different moments: kindergarten and first, third and sixth grades. Three groups were then compared: (1) dyslexic readers; (2) normal readers at high risk for dyslexia; and (3) normal readers at low risk for dyslexia. Children diagnosed with dyslexia scored lower than high-risk normal readers on phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory and literacy skills. Normal readers at high risk scored between both groups, confirming that dyslexia is to be considered as a continuum rather than an all-or-none condition. Growth analyses showed that the three groups evolved similarly on all measures except for phoneme deletion and literacy measures. Finally, solely PA and RAN explained a significant amount of variance in the evolution of reading skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Beyond Phonology: Visual Processes Predict Alphanumeric and Nonalphanumeric Rapid Naming in Poor Early Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruk, Richard S.; Luther Ruban, Cassia

2018-01-01

Visual processes in Grade 1 were examined for their predictive influences in nonalphanumeric and alphanumeric rapid naming (RAN) in 51 poor early and 69 typical readers. In a lagged design, children were followed longitudinally from Grade 1 to Grade 3 over 5 testing occasions. RAN outcomes in early Grade 2 were predicted by speeded and nonspeeded…

Longitudinal stability of pre-reading skill profiles of kindergarten children: implications for early screening and theories of reading.

PubMed

Ozernov-Palchik, Ola; Norton, Elizabeth S; Sideridis, Georgios; Beach, Sara D; Wolf, Maryanne; Gabrieli, John D E; Gaab, Nadine

2017-09-01

Research suggests that early identification of developmental dyslexia is important for mitigating the negative effects of dyslexia, including reduced educational attainment and increased socioemotional difficulties. The strongest pre-literacy predictors of dyslexia are rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological awareness (PA), letter knowledge, and verbal short-term memory. The relationship among these constructs has been debated, and several theories have emerged to explain the unique role of each in reading ability/disability. Furthermore, the stability of identification of risk based on these measures varies widely across studies, due in part to the different cut-offs employed to designate risk. We applied a latent profile analysis technique with a diverse sample of 1215 kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students from 20 schools, to investigate whether PA, RAN, letter knowledge, and verbal short-term memory measures differentiated between homogenous profiles of performance on these measures. Six profiles of performance emerged from the data: average performers, below average performers, high performers, PA risk, RAN risk, and double-deficit risk (both PA and RAN). A latent class regression model was employed to investigate the longitudinal stability of these groups in a representative subset of children (n = 95) nearly two years later, at the end of 1st grade. Profile membership in the spring semester of pre-kindergarten or fall semester of kindergarten was significantly predictive of later reading performance, with the specific patterns of performance on the different constructs remaining stable across the years. There was a higher frequency of PA and RAN deficits in children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. There was no evidence for the IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion traditionally used to diagnose dyslexia. Our results support the feasibility of early identification of dyslexia risk and point to the heterogeneity of risk profiles. These findings carry important implications for improving outcomes for children with dyslexia, based on more targeted interventions. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reconstitution of the Recombinant RanBP2 SUMO E3 Ligase Complex.

PubMed

Ritterhoff, Tobias; Das, Hrishikesh; Hao, Yuqing; Sakin, Volkan; Flotho, Annette; Werner, Andreas; Melchior, Frauke

2016-01-01

One of the few proteins that have SUMO E3 ligase activity is the 358 kDa nucleoporin RanBP2 (Nup358). While small fragments of RanBP2 can stimulate SUMOylation in vitro, the physiologically relevant E3 ligase is a stable multi-subunit complex comprised of RanBP2, SUMOylated RanGAP1, and Ubc9. Here, we provide a detailed protocol to in vitro reconstitute the RanBP2 SUMO E3 ligase complex. With the exception of RanBP2, reconstitution involves untagged full-length proteins. We describe the bacterial expression and purification of all complex components, namely an 86 kDa His-tagged RanBP2 fragment, the SUMO E2-conjugating enzyme Ubc9, RanGAP1, and SUMO1, and we provide a protocol for quantitative SUMOylation of RanGAP1. Finally, we present details for the assembly and final purification of the catalytically active RanBP2/RanGAP1*SUMO1/Ubc9 complex.

Rapid Naming in Relation to Reading and Writing in Korean (Hangul), Chinese (Hanja) and English among Korean Children: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Jeung-Ryeul; Chiu, Ming Ming

2015-01-01

The relation of rapid automatised naming (RAN) to word recognition may depend on the phonological regularity of the orthography. This study examined differential contributions of RAN to reading and writing in Korean alphabetic Hangul, logographic Hanja (Chinese) and English as a second language among 73 fifth graders in Korea across 1?year. RAN…

The Longitudinal Contribution of Early Morphological Awareness Skills to Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Greek

PubMed Central

Manolitsis, George; Grigorakis, Ioannis; Georgiou, George K.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the role of three morphological awareness (MA) skills (inflection, derivation, and compounding) in word reading fluency and reading comprehension in a relatively transparent orthography (Greek). Two hundred and fifteen (104 girls; Mage = 67.40 months, at kindergarten) Greek children were followed from kindergarten (K) to grade 2 (G2). In K and grade 1 (G1), they were tested on measures of MA (two inflectional, two derivational, and three compounding), letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and general cognitive ability (vocabulary and non-verbal IQ). At the end of G1 and G2, they were also tested on word reading fluency and reading comprehension. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the inflectional and derivational aspects of MA in K as well as all aspects of MA in G1 accounted for 2–5% of unique variance in reading comprehension. None of the MA skills predicted word reading fluency, after controlling for the effects of vocabulary and RAN. These findings suggest that the MA skills, even when assessed as early as in kindergarten, play a significant role in reading comprehension development. PMID:29081759

Modeling individual differences in text reading fluency: a different pattern of predictors for typically developing and dyslexic readers

PubMed Central

Zoccolotti, Pierluigi; De Luca, Maria; Marinelli, Chiara V.; Spinelli, Donatella

2014-01-01

This study was aimed at predicting individual differences in text reading fluency. The basic proposal included two factors, i.e., the ability to decode letter strings (measured by discrete pseudo-word reading) and integration of the various sub-components involved in reading (measured by Rapid Automatized Naming, RAN). Subsequently, a third factor was added to the model, i.e., naming of discrete digits. In order to use homogeneous measures, all contributing variables considered the entire processing of the item, including pronunciation time. The model, which was based on commonality analysis, was applied to data from a group of 43 typically developing readers (11- to 13-year-olds) and a group of 25 chronologically matched dyslexic children. In typically developing readers, both orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components contributed significantly to the overall prediction of text reading fluency. The model prediction was higher (from ca. 37 to 52% of the explained variance) when we included the naming of discrete digits variable, which had a suppressive effect on pseudo-word reading. In the dyslexic readers, the variance explained by the two-factor model was high (69%) and did not change when the third factor was added. The lack of a suppression effect was likely due to the prominent individual differences in poor orthographic decoding of the dyslexic children. Analyses on data from both groups of children were replicated by using patches of colors as stimuli (both in the RAN task and in the discrete naming task) obtaining similar results. We conclude that it is possible to predict much of the variance in text-reading fluency using basic processes, such as orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components, even without taking into consideration higher-order linguistic factors such as lexical, semantic and contextual abilities. The approach validity of using proximal vs. distal causes to predict reading fluency is discussed. PMID:25477856

High Reading Skills Mask Dyslexia in Gifted Children.

PubMed

van Viersen, Sietske; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; Slot, Esther M; de Bree, Elise H

2016-01-01

This study investigated how gifted children with dyslexia might be able to mask literacy problems and the role of possible compensatory mechanisms. The sample consisted of 121 Dutch primary school children that were divided over four groups (typically developing [TD] children, children with dyslexia, gifted children, gifted children with dyslexia). The test battery included measures of literacy (reading/spelling) and cognitive abilities related to literacy and language (phonological awareness [PA], rapid automatized naming [RAN], verbal short-term memory [VSTM], working memory [WM], grammar, and vocabulary). It was hypothesized that gifted children with dyslexia would outperform children with dyslexia on literacy tests. In addition, a core-deficit model including dyslexia-related weaknesses and a compensational model involving giftedness-related strengths were tested using Bayesian statistics to explain their reading/spelling performance. Gifted children with dyslexia performed on all literacy tests in between children with dyslexia and TD children. Their cognitive profile showed signs of weaknesses in PA and RAN and strengths in VSTM, WM, and language skills. Findings indicate that phonology is a risk factor for gifted children with dyslexia, but this is moderated by other skills such as WM, grammar, and vocabulary, providing opportunities for compensation of a cognitive deficit and masking of literacy difficulties. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

Examining the Relationships of Component Reading Skills to Reading Comprehension in Struggling Adult Readers: A Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Tighe, Elizabeth L; Schatschneider, Christopher

2016-07-01

The current study employed a meta-analytic approach to investigate the relative importance of component reading skills to reading comprehension in struggling adult readers. A total of 10 component skills were consistently identified across 16 independent studies and 2,707 participants. Random effects models generated 76 predictor-reading comprehension effect sizes among the 10 constructs. The results indicated that six of the component skills exhibited strong relationships with reading comprehension (average rs ≥ .50): morphological awareness, language comprehension, fluency, oral vocabulary knowledge, real word decoding, and working memory. Three of the component skills yielded moderate relationships with reading comprehension (average rs ≥ .30 and < .50): pseudoword decoding, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) was the only component skill that was weakly related to reading comprehension (r = .15). Morphological awareness was a significantly stronger correlate of reading comprehension than phonological awareness and RAN. This study provides the first attempt at a systematic synthesis of the recent research investigating the reading skills of adults with low literacy skills, a historically understudied population. Directions for future research, the relation of our results to the children's literature, and the implications for researchers and adult basic education programs are discussed. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

Examining the Relationships of Component Reading Skills to Reading Comprehension in Struggling Adult Readers: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Tighe, Elizabeth L.; Schatschneider, Christopher

2015-01-01

The current study employed a meta-analytic approach to investigate the relative importance of component reading skills to reading comprehension in struggling adult readers. A total of 10 component skills were consistently identified across 16 independent studies and 2,707 participants. Random effects models generated 76 predictor-reading comprehension effect sizes among the 10 constructs. The results indicated that six of the component skills exhibited strong relationships with reading comprehension (average rs ≥ .50): morphological awareness, language comprehension, fluency, oral vocabulary knowledge, real word decoding, and working memory. Three of the component skills yielded moderate relationships with reading comprehension (average rs ≥ .30 and < .50): pseudoword decoding, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) was the only component skill that was weakly related to reading comprehension (r = .15). Morphological awareness was a significantly stronger correlate of reading comprehension than phonological awareness and RAN. This study provides the first attempt at a systematic synthesis of the recent research investigating the reading skills of adults with low literacy skills, a historically under-studied population. Directions for future research, the relation of our results to the children’s literature, and the implications for researchers and Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs are discussed. PMID:25350926

Separating the influences of prereading skills on early word and nonword reading.

PubMed

Shapiro, Laura R; Carroll, Julia M; Solity, Jonathan E

2013-10-01

The essential first step for a beginning reader is to learn to match printed forms to phonological representations. For a new word, this is an effortful process where each grapheme must be translated individually (serial decoding). The role of phonological awareness in developing a decoding strategy is well known. We examined whether beginning readers recruit different skills depending on the nature of the words being read (familiar words vs. nonwords). Print knowledge, phoneme and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological short-term memory (STM), nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary, auditory skills, and visual attention were measured in 392 prereaders 4 and 5 years of age. Word and nonword reading were measured 9 months later. We used structural equation modeling to examine the skills-reading relationship and modeled correlations between our two reading outcomes and among all prereading skills. We found that a broad range of skills were associated with reading outcomes: early print knowledge, phonological STM, phoneme awareness and RAN. Whereas all of these skills were directly predictive of nonword reading, early print knowledge was the only direct predictor of word reading. Our findings suggest that beginning readers draw most heavily on their existing print knowledge to read familiar words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Processes in the Development of Mathematics in Kindergarten Children from Title 1 Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Matthew E.; Anthony, Jason L.; Clements, Doug H.; Sarama, Julie H.

2015-01-01

This study examined how well nonverbal IQ (or fluid intelligence), vocabulary, phonological awareness (PA), rapid autonomized naming (RAN), and phonological short-term memory (STM) predicted mathematics outcomes. The 208 participating kindergartners were administered tests of fluid intelligence, vocabulary, PA, RAN, STM, and numeracy in the fall…

The prevalence of specific reading disability in an amblyopic population. A preliminary report.

PubMed

Koklanis, Konstandina; Georgievski, Zoran; Brassington, Kate; Bretherton, Lesley

2006-01-01

To investigate the prevalence of specific reading disability in children with functional amblyopia and to explore the relationship between the two. In this prospective study, 20 consecutive children, aged 6 to 15 years (mean 8 +/-1.99 years), and diagnosed with amblyopia underwent a vision and reading assessment. The orthoptic examination included the assessment of participants' visual acuity, ocular motility and binocular functions. Specific reading disability was diagnosed using the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT III Reading Subtest). Intelligence, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and the ability to read pseudo or nonsense words was also assessed using various psycho-linguistic reading tests. The prevalence of specific reading disability in this small series of amblyopic children was found to be 5% (n=1/20). This was even less than that reported in the local Victoria general population (16%). The type of amblyopia appeared related to phonological awareness (p=0.018) and decoding words (p=0.024), those with anisometropic amblyopia performing significantly better on these tasks than the strabismic amblyopes. The presence of binocular vision functions was also related to decoding words; those with binocular single vision performed better than those with suppression and lacking single binocular vision (p=0.007). Generally, amblyopic children also showed a lower RAN score when compared to phonological awareness score. There was no statistically significant difference for the severity of amblyopia (p=>0.05). In this very small pilot series, reading disorders were relatively rare in children with amblyopia. However, strabismic amblyopia and presence of suppression may have an adverse effect on phonological skills. In addition, amblyopia may be associated with a deficit in RAN. Further research is needed and planned to gain a better understanding about the relationship between amblyopia and reading ability.

Hybrid LES/RANS simulation of a turbulent boundary layer over a rectangular cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qi; Haering, Sigfried; Oliver, Todd; Moser, Robert

2016-11-01

We report numerical investigations of a turbulent boundary layer over a rectangular cavity using a new hybrid RANS/LES model and the traditional Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). Our new hybrid method aims to address many of the shortcomings from the traditional DES. In the new method, RANS/LES blending controlled by a parameter that measures the ratio of the modeled subgrid kinetic energy to an estimate of the subgrid energy based on the resolved scales. The result is a hybrid method automatically resolves as much turbulence as can be supported by the grid and transitions appropriately from RANS to LES without the need for ad hoc delaying functions that are often required for DES. Further, the new model is designed to improve upon DES by accounting for the effects of grid anisotropy and inhomogeneity in the LES region. We present comparisons of the flow features inside the cavity and the pressure time history and spectra as computed using the new hybrid model and DES.

The Relationship between Rapid Naming and Word Spelling in English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stainthorp, Rhona; Powell, Daisy; Stuart, Morag

2013-01-01

A study of the concurrent relationships between naming speed, phonological awareness and spelling ability in 146 children in Years 3 and 4 of state-funded schools in South-East England (equivalent to US Grades 2 and 3) is reported. Seventy-two children identified as having normal phonological awareness but reduced rapid automatised naming (RAN)…

Developmental Trajectories for Children With Dyslexia and Low IQ Poor Readers

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Reading difficulties are found in children with both high and low IQ and it is now clear that both groups exhibit difficulties in phonological processing. Here, we apply the developmental trajectories approach, a new methodology developed for studying language and cognitive impairments in developmental disorders, to both poor reader groups. The trajectory methodology enables identification of atypical versus delayed development in datasets gathered using group matching designs. Regarding the cognitive predictors of reading, which here are phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and rapid automatized naming (RAN), the method showed that trajectories for the two groups diverged markedly. Children with dyslexia showed atypical development in phonological awareness, while low IQ poor readers showed developmental delay. Low IQ poor readers showed atypical PSTM and RAN development, but children with dyslexia showed developmental delay. These divergent trajectories may have important ramifications for supporting each type of poor reader, although all poor readers showed weakness in all areas. Regarding auditory processing, the developmental trajectories were very similar for the two poor reader groups. However, children with dyslexia demonstrated developmental delay for auditory discrimination of Duration, while the low IQ children showed atypical development on this measure. The data show that, regardless of IQ, poor readers have developmental trajectories that differ from typically developing children. The trajectories approach enables differences in trajectory classification to be identified across poor reader group, as well as specifying the individual nature of these trajectories. PMID:27110928

Shared and Unique Risk Factors Underlying Mathematical Disability and Reading and Spelling Disability.

PubMed

Slot, Esther M; van Viersen, Sietske; de Bree, Elise H; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H

2016-01-01

High comorbidity rates have been reported between mathematical learning disabilities (MD) and reading and spelling disabilities (RSD). Research has identified skills related to math, such as number sense (NS) and visuospatial working memory (visuospatial WM), as well as to literacy, such as phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN) and verbal short-term memory (Verbal STM). In order to explain the high comorbidity rates between MD and RSD, 7-11-year-old children were assessed on a range of cognitive abilities related to literacy (PA, RAN, Verbal STM) and mathematical ability (visuospatial WM, NS). The group of children consisted of typically developing (TD) children (n = 32), children with MD (n = 26), children with RSD (n = 29), and combined MD and RSD (n = 43). It was hypothesized that, in line with the multiple deficit view on learning disorders, at least one unique predictor for both MD and RSD and a possible shared cognitive risk factor would be found to account for the comorbidity between the symptom dimensions literacy and math. Secondly, our hypotheses were that (a) a probabilistic multi-factorial risk factor model would provide a better fit to the data than a deterministic single risk factor model and (b) that a shared risk factor model would provide a better fit than the specific multi-factorial model. All our hypotheses were confirmed. NS and visuospatial WM were identified as unique cognitive predictors for MD, whereas PA and RAN were both associated with RSD. Also, a shared risk factor model with PA as a cognitive predictor for both RSD and MD fitted the data best, indicating that MD and RSD might co-occur due to a shared underlying deficit in phonological processing. Possible explanations are discussed in the context of sample selection and composition. This study shows that different cognitive factors play a role in mathematics and literacy, and that a phonological processing deficit might play a role in the occurrence of MD and RSD.

The real-time prediction and inhibition of linguistic outcomes: Effects of language and literacy skill.

PubMed

Kukona, Anuenue; Braze, David; Johns, Clinton L; Mencl, W Einar; Van Dyke, Julie A; Magnuson, James S; Pugh, Kenneth R; Shankweiler, Donald P; Tabor, Whitney

2016-11-01

Recent studies have found considerable individual variation in language comprehenders' predictive behaviors, as revealed by their anticipatory eye movements during language comprehension. The current study investigated the relationship between these predictive behaviors and the language and literacy skills of a diverse, community-based sample of young adults. We found that rapid automatized naming (RAN) was a key determinant of comprehenders' prediction ability (e.g., as reflected in predictive eye movements to a white cake on hearing "The boy will eat the white…"). Simultaneously, comprehension-based measures predicted participants' ability to inhibit eye movements to objects that shared features with predictable referents but were implausible completions (e.g., as reflected in eye movements to a white but inedible white car). These findings suggest that the excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms that support prediction during language processing are closely linked with specific cognitive abilities that support literacy. We show that a self-organizing cognitive architecture captures this pattern of results. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Retrospective cost adaptive Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes k-ω model for data-driven unsteady turbulent simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhiyong; Hoagg, Jesse B.; Martin, Alexandre; Bailey, Sean C. C.

2018-03-01

This paper presents a data-driven computational model for simulating unsteady turbulent flows, where sparse measurement data is available. The model uses the retrospective cost adaptation (RCA) algorithm to automatically adjust the closure coefficients of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) k- ω turbulence equations to improve agreement between the simulated flow and the measurements. The RCA-RANS k- ω model is verified for steady flow using a pipe-flow test case and for unsteady flow using a surface-mounted-cube test case. Measurements used for adaptation of the verification cases are obtained from baseline simulations with known closure coefficients. These verification test cases demonstrate that the RCA-RANS k- ω model can successfully adapt the closure coefficients to improve agreement between the simulated flow field and a set of sparse flow-field measurements. Furthermore, the RCA-RANS k- ω model improves agreement between the simulated flow and the baseline flow at locations at which measurements do not exist. The RCA-RANS k- ω model is also validated with experimental data from 2 test cases: steady pipe flow, and unsteady flow past a square cylinder. In both test cases, the adaptation improves agreement with experimental data in comparison to the results from a non-adaptive RANS k- ω model that uses the standard values of the k- ω closure coefficients. For the steady pipe flow, adaptation is driven by mean stream-wise velocity measurements at 24 locations along the pipe radius. The RCA-RANS k- ω model reduces the average velocity error at these locations by over 35%. For the unsteady flow over a square cylinder, adaptation is driven by time-varying surface pressure measurements at 2 locations on the square cylinder. The RCA-RANS k- ω model reduces the average surface-pressure error at these locations by 88.8%.

Closing the Loop on Critical Care Life Support for Military en route Care Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

pig’s blood volume. Resuscitation was then initiated by turning on the autocontrol software which ran on an external computer which was receiving mean...that initiated the occlusion alarm. When the occlusion was released, the autocontrol resumed automatically and restored the blood pressure once again

Cross-Language Correlates in Phonological Awareness and Naming Speed: Evidence from Deep and Shallow Orthographies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pae, Hye Kyeong; Sevcik, Rose A.; Morris, Robin D.

2010-01-01

Phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatised naming (RAN) skills in relation to reading acquisition were examined using two languages, one with a deep orthography (English) and the other with a shallow orthography (Korean). Participants were 50 Korean American children who spoke English as a dominant language (DL) and were learning to read…

First-Grade Cognitive Abilities as Long-Term Predictors of Reading Comprehension and Disability Status

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Bryant, V. Joan; Hamlett, Carol L.; Lambert, Warren

2012-01-01

In a sample of 195 first graders selected for poor reading performance, the authors explored four cognitive predictors of later reading comprehension and reading disability (RD) status. In fall of first grade, the authors measured the children’s phonological processing, rapid automatized naming (RAN), oral language comprehension, and nonverbal reasoning. Throughout first grade, they also modeled the students’ reading progress by means of weekly Word Identification Fluency (WIF) tests to derive December and May intercepts. The authors assessed their reading comprehension in the spring of Grades 1–5. With the four cognitive variables and the WIF December intercept as predictors, 50.3% of the variance in fifth-grade reading comprehension was explained: 52.1% of this 50.3% was unique to the cognitive variables, 13.1% to the WIF December intercept, and 34.8% was shared. All five predictors were statistically significant. The same four cognitive variables with the May (rather than December) WIF intercept produced a model that explained 62.1% of the variance. Of this amount, the cognitive variables and May WIF intercept accounted for 34.5% and 27.7%, respectively; they shared 37.8%. All predictors in this model were statistically significant except RAN. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the accuracy with which the cognitive variables predicted end-of-fifth-grade RD status was 73.9%. The May WIF intercept contributed reliably to this prediction; the December WIF intercept did not. Results are discussed in terms of a role for cognitive abilities in identifying, classifying, and instructing students with severe reading problems. PMID:22539057

First-grade cognitive abilities as long-term predictors of reading comprehension and disability status.

PubMed

Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L; Fuchs, Lynn S; Bryant, V Joan; Hamlett, Carol L; Lambert, Warren

2012-01-01

In a sample of 195 first graders selected for poor reading performance, the authors explored four cognitive predictors of later reading comprehension and reading disability (RD) status. In fall of first grade, the authors measured the children's phonological processing, rapid automatized naming (RAN), oral language comprehension, and nonverbal reasoning. Throughout first grade, they also modeled the students' reading progress by means of weekly Word Identification Fluency (WIF) tests to derive December and May intercepts. The authors assessed their reading comprehension in the spring of Grades 1-5. With the four cognitive variables and the WIF December intercept as predictors, 50.3% of the variance in fifth-grade reading comprehension was explained: 52.1% of this 50.3% was unique to the cognitive variables, 13.1% to the WIF December intercept, and 34.8% was shared. All five predictors were statistically significant. The same four cognitive variables with the May (rather than December) WIF intercept produced a model that explained 62.1% of the variance. Of this amount, the cognitive variables and May WIF intercept accounted for 34.5% and 27.7%, respectively; they shared 37.8%. All predictors in this model were statistically significant except RAN. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the accuracy with which the cognitive variables predicted end-of-fifth-grade RD status was 73.9%. The May WIF intercept contributed reliably to this prediction; the December WIF intercept did not. Results are discussed in terms of a role for cognitive abilities in identifying, classifying, and instructing students with severe reading problems.

Integral Method for the Assessment of U-RANS Effectiveness in Non-Equilibrium Flows and Heat Transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pond, Ian; Edabi, Alireza; Dubief, Yves; White, Christopher

2015-11-01

Reynolds Average Navier Stokes (RANS) modeling has established itself as a critical design tool in many engineering applications, thanks to its superior computational efficiency. The drawbacks of RANS models are well known, but not necessarily well understood: poor prediction of transition, non equilibrium flows, mixing and heat transfer, to name the ones relevant to our study. In the present study, we use a DNS of a reciprocating channel flow driven by an oscillating pressure gradient to test several low- and high-Reynolds RANS models. Temperature is introduced as a passive scalar to study heat transfer modeling. Low-Reynolds models manage to capture the overall physics of wall shear and heat flux well, yet with some phase discrepancies, whereas high Reynolds models fail. Under the microscope of the integral method for wall shear and wall heat flux, the qualitative agreement appears more serendipitous than driven by the ability of the models to capture the correct physics. The integral method is shown to be more insightful in the benchmarking of RANS models than the typical comparisons of statistical quantities. The authors acknowledges the support of NSF and DOE under grant NSF/DOE 1258697 (VT) and 1258702 (NH).

Differential Relationships between RAN Performance, Behaviour Ratings, and Executive Function Measures: Searching for a Double Dissociation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stringer, Ronald W.; Toplak, Maggie E.; Stanovich, Keith E.

2004-01-01

In this study, we investigated the relationships between rapid naming of letters, digits and colours, and reading ability and executive function. We gave fifty-six grade three and four children rapid automatised naming tasks using letters and digits as stimuli, executive function measures including the Stroop task, a working memory task and the…

Hybrid LES RANS technique based on a one-equation near-wall model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breuer, M.; Jaffrézic, B.; Arora, K.

2008-05-01

In order to reduce the high computational effort of wall-resolved large-eddy simulations (LES), the present paper suggests a hybrid LES RANS approach which splits up the simulation into a near-wall RANS part and an outer LES part. Generally, RANS is adequate for attached boundary layers requiring reasonable CPU-time and memory, where LES can also be applied but demands extremely large resources. Contrarily, RANS often fails in flows with massive separation or large-scale vortical structures. Here, LES is without a doubt the best choice. The basic concept of hybrid methods is to combine the advantages of both approaches yielding a prediction method, which, on the one hand, assures reliable results for complex turbulent flows, including large-scale flow phenomena and massive separation, but, on the other hand, consumes much fewer resources than LES, especially for high Reynolds number flows encountered in technical applications. In the present study, a non-zonal hybrid technique is considered (according to the signification retained by the authors concerning the terms zonal and non-zonal), which leads to an approach where the suitable simulation technique is chosen more or less automatically. For this purpose the hybrid approach proposed relies on a unique modeling concept. In the LES mode a subgrid-scale model based on a one-equation model for the subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy is applied, where the length scale is defined by the filter width. For the viscosity-affected near-wall RANS mode the one-equation model proposed by Rodi et al. (J Fluids Eng 115:196 205, 1993) is used, which is based on the wall-normal velocity fluctuations as the velocity scale and algebraic relations for the length scales. Although the idea of combined LES RANS methods is not new, a variety of open questions still has to be answered. This includes, in particular, the demand for appropriate coupling techniques between LES and RANS, adaptive control mechanisms, and proper subgrid-scale and RANS models. Here, in addition to the study on the behavior of the suggested hybrid LES RANS approach, special emphasis is put on the investigation of suitable interface criteria and the adjustment of the RANS model. To investigate these issues, two different test cases are considered. Besides the standard plane channel flow test case, the flow over a periodic arrangement of hills is studied in detail. This test case includes a pressure-induced flow separation and subsequent reattachment. In comparison with a wall-resolved LES prediction encouraging results are achieved.

Design of a 3 kW wind turbine generator with thin airfoil blades

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

Ameku, Kazumasa; Nagai, Baku M.; Roy, Jitendro Nath

2008-09-15

Three blades of a 3 kW prototype wind turbine generator were designed with thin airfoil and a tip speed ratio of 3. The wind turbine has been controlled via two control methods: the variable pitch angle and by regulation of the field current of the generator and examined under real wind conditions. The characteristics of the thin airfoil, called ''Seven arcs thin airfoil'' named so because the airfoil is composed of seven circular arcs, are analyzed with the airfoil design and analysis program XFOIL. The thin airfoil blade is designed and calculated by blade element and momentum theory. The performancemore » characteristics of the machine such as rotational speed, generator output as well as stability for wind speed changes are described. In the case of average wind speeds of 10 m/s and a maximum of 19 m/s, the automatically controlled wind turbine ran safely through rough wind conditions and showed an average generator output of 1105 W and a power coefficient 0.14. (author)« less

The role of visual spatial attention in adult developmental dyslexia.

PubMed

Collis, Nathan L; Kohnen, Saskia; Kinoshita, Sachiko

2013-01-01

The present study investigated the nature of visual spatial attention deficits in adults with developmental dyslexia, using a partial report task with five-letter, digit, and symbol strings. Participants responded by a manual key press to one of nine alternatives, which included other characters in the string, allowing an assessment of position errors as well as intrusion errors. The results showed that the dyslexic adults performed significantly worse than age-matched controls with letter and digit strings but not with symbol strings. Both groups produced W-shaped serial position functions with letter and digit strings. The dyslexics' deficits with letter string stimuli were limited to position errors, specifically at the string-interior positions 2 and 4. These errors correlated with letter transposition reading errors (e.g., reading slat as "salt"), but not with the Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) task. Overall, these results suggest that the dyslexic adults have a visual spatial attention deficit; however, the deficit does not reflect a reduced span in visual-spatial attention, but a deficit in processing a string of letters in parallel, probably due to difficulty in the coding of letter position.

Systems and methods for automatically identifying and linking names in digital resources

DOEpatents

Parker, Charles T.; Lyons, Catherine M.; Roston, Gerald P.; Garrity, George M.

2017-06-06

The present invention provides systems and methods for automatically identifying name-like-strings in digital resources, matching these name-like-string against a set of names held in an expertly curated database, and for those name-like-strings found in said database, enhancing the content by associating additional matter with the name, wherein said matter includes information about the names that is held within said database and pointers to other digital resources which include the same name and it synonyms.

Atmospheric Structure. Part 3. Upper Air and Surface Data: Stallion Site

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-01-01

Structure Part 3, Upper Air and Surface Data Stallion Site S. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED 6- PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHORS...Marjorie M. Hoidale Michael P. Dayton Lamar Newman •. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBERS DA Task 1T665702D127-02 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADORESS 10...Sciences Laboratory White Sands Missile Ran^e, New Mexico 12. REPORT DATE January 1975 13. NUMBER OF PAGES «Ä33 ; U MONITORING AGENCY NAME

The CCDC55 couples cannabinoid receptor CNR1 to a putative DISC1 schizophrenia pathway.

PubMed

Xie, J; Gizatullin, R; Vukojevic, V; Leopardi, R

2015-12-03

Our previous study suggested that the coiled coil domain-containing 55 gene (CCDC55), also named as NSRP1 (nuclear speckle splicing regulatory protein 1 (NSRP1)), was encompassed in a haplotype block spanning over the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, the neurobiological function of CCDC55 gene remains unknown. This study aims to uncover the potential role of CCDC55 in SCZ-associated molecular pathways. Using molecular cloning, sequencing and immune blotting to identify basic properties, yeast two-hybrid screening and glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down assay to test protein-protein interaction, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CSLM) to show intracellular interaction of proteins. (i) CCDC55 is expressed as a nuclear protein in human neuronal cells; (ii) Protein-protein interaction analyses showed CCDC55 physically interacted with Ran binding protein 9 (RanBP9) and disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1); (iii) CCDC55 and RanBP9 co-localized in the nucleus of human neuronal cells; (iv) CCDC55 also interacted with the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1), and with the brain cannabinoid receptor-interacting protein 1a (CNRIP1a); (v) CNR1 activation in differentiated human neuronal cells resulted in an altered RanBP9 localization. CCDC55 may be involved in a functional bridging between the CNR1 activation and the DISC1/RanBP9-associated pathways. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vision Problems and Reduced Reading Outcomes in Queensland Schoolchildren.

PubMed

Hopkins, Shelley; Sampson, Geoff P; Hendicott, Peter L; Wood, Joanne M

2017-03-01

To assess the relationship between vision and reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren to determine whether vision problems are associated with lower reading outcomes in these populations. Vision testing and reading assessments were performed on 508 Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren in Queensland, Australia divided into two age groups: Grades 1 and 2 (6-7 years of age) and Grades 6 and 7 (12-13 years of age). Vision parameters measured included cycloplegic refraction, near point of convergence, heterophoria, fusional vergence range, rapid automatized naming, and visual motor integration. The following vision conditions were then classified based on the vision findings: uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension were measured with the Neale reading test. The effect of uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration on reading accuracy and reading comprehension were investigated with ANCOVAs. The ANCOVAs explained a significant proportion of variance in both reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores in both age groups, with 40% of the variation in reading accuracy and 33% of the variation in reading comprehension explained in the younger age group, and 27% and 10% of the variation in reading accuracy and reading comprehension, respectively, in the older age group. The vision parameters of visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming were significant predictors in all ANCOVAs (P < .01). The direction of the relationship was such that reduced reading results were explained by reduced visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming results. Both reduced rapid automatized naming and visual motor integration were associated with poorer reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This is an important finding given the recent emphasis placed on Indigenous children's reading skills and the fact that reduced rapid automatized naming and visual motor integration skills are more common in this group.

Two-Dimensional Stochastic Projections for Tight Integration of Optical and Inertial Sensors for Navigation

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol- ume 1, pp. 123–128, September 2002. [2] R. G. Brown and P. Y. Hwang . Introduction to Ran- dom Signals and Applied... Kalman Filter-based) method for calculat- ing a trajectory by tracking features at an unknown location on the Earth’s surface, provided the topography...Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and an automatic target tracking algorithm. In the following section, the integration architecture is presented, which in

Latinas in Need

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dempsey, Beth

2007-01-01

In the summer of 2006, the New York City-based Spanish-language newspaper "La Prensa" ran a series of articles on the surprisingly stressful life of the young Latina in America. The series brought to light grim statistics uncovered in the academic community that had largely escaped the mainstream. Namely, young Latinas--ages 12-17--are more likely…

Automatic perception and synaesthesia: evidence from colour and photism naming in a stroop-negative priming task.

PubMed

Lupiáñez, Juan; Callejas, Alicia

2006-02-01

It is widely assumed that synaesthetic perception is highly automatic, as shown by Stroop test. Furthermore, it has been shown that, although automatic, it can be suppressed leading to Negative Priming (NP). However, these assumptions have not been consistently investigated, as not many papers have measured Stroop in synaesthesia, and only one used a NP procedure. Two experiments were carried out in a female synaesthete (MA), and 13 control participants, in which numbers and letters were displayed in colours either congruent or incongruent with MA's photisms. In contrast to control participants, MA showed significant Stroop effect both when naming the colours and when naming the photisms (slower RT when naming a colour or photism that was incongruently coloured versus congruently coloured). For comparison, we also report a control experiment in which the first letters of colour names were displayed in either congruent (e.g., B in blue) or incongruent (e.g., B in red) colours. Significant Stroop and NP effects were found when a control group named the displayed colour of these letters. The synaesthesic Stroop effect shown by MA was greater than that observed in the Control Experiment when MA was to name the displayed colour, but smaller when she was to name the photism of the stimuli. Regarding NP, MA showed an effect similar to that observed in the Control Experiment, but only when she was to name the photisms of the stimuli. Altogether, these results show that synaesthetic perception is highly automatic and difficult to inhibit.

A Three-Year Longitudinal Study of Reading and Spelling Difficulty in Chinese Developmental Dyslexia: The Matter of Morphological Awareness.

PubMed

Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine; Lo, Jason Chor Ming; Shu, Hua

2017-11-01

In the present study, we used a three-time point longitudinal design to investigate the associations of morphological awareness to word reading and spelling in a small group of those with and without dyslexia taken from a larger sample of 164 Hong Kong Chinese children who remained in a longitudinal study across ages 6, 7 and 8. Among those 164 children, 15 had been diagnosed as having dyslexia by professional psychologists, and 15 other children manifested average reading ability and had been randomly selected from the sample for comparison. All children were administered a battery of tasks including Chinese character recognition, word dictation, morphological awareness, phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming. Multivariate analysis of variance and predictive discriminate analysis were performed to examine whether the dyslexic children showed differences in the cognitive-linguistic tasks in comparison with controls. Results suggested that the dyslexic groups had poorer performance in morphological awareness and RAN across all 3 years. However, phonological awareness was not stable in distinguishing the groups. Findings suggest that morphological awareness is a relatively strong correlate of spelling difficulties in Chinese, but phonological awareness is not. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Semiannual Report October 1, 1999 through March 31, 2000

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-04-01

Mark Carpenter (NASA Langley). Textbook Multigrid Efficiency for the Navier-Stokes Equations Boris Diskin A typical modern Reynolds-Averaged...defined as textbook multigrid efficiency (TME), meaning the solutions to the governing system of equations are attained in a computational work...basic elements of the barriers to be overcome in extending textbook efficiencies to the compressible RANS equations, namely entering flows, far wake

Automatic vigilance for negative words in lexical decision and naming: comment on Larsen, Mercer, and Balota (2006).

PubMed

Estes, Zachary; Adelman, James S

2008-08-01

An automatic vigilance hypothesis states that humans preferentially attend to negative stimuli, and this attention to negative valence disrupts the processing of other stimulus properties. Thus, negative words typically elicit slower color naming, word naming, and lexical decisions than neutral or positive words. Larsen, Mercer, and Balota analyzed the stimuli from 32 published studies, and they found that word valence was confounded with several lexical factors known to affect word recognition. Indeed, with these lexical factors covaried out, Larsen et al. found no evidence of automatic vigilance. The authors report a more sensitive analysis of 1011 words. Results revealed a small but reliable valence effect, such that negative words (e.g., "shark") elicit slower lexical decisions and naming than positive words (e.g., "beach"). Moreover, the relation between valence and recognition was categorical rather than linear; the extremity of a word's valence did not affect its recognition. This valence effect was not attributable to word length, frequency, orthographic neighborhood size, contextual diversity, first phoneme, or arousal. Thus, the present analysis provides the most powerful demonstration of automatic vigilance to date.

Development of a Computer-aided Diagnosis System for Early Detection of Masses Using Retrospectively Detected Cancers on Prior Mammograms

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

131 cases with 131 biopsy proven masses, of which 27 were malignant and 104 benign. The true locations of the masses were identified by an experi- enced ...two acquisitions would cause differ- ences in the subtlety of the masses on the FFDMs and SFMs. However, assuming that the differences are ran- dom... Lado , M. Souto, and J. J. Vidal, “Computer-aided diagnosis: Automatic detection of malignant masses in digitized mammograms,” Med. Phys. 25, 957–964

Parameter investigation with line-implicit lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel on 3D stretched grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otero, Evelyn; Eliasson, Peter

2015-03-01

An implicit lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel (LU-SGS) solver has been implemented as a multigrid smoother combined with a line-implicit method as an acceleration technique for Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation on stretched meshes. The computational fluid dynamics code concerned is Edge, an edge-based finite volume Navier-Stokes flow solver for structured and unstructured grids. The paper focuses on the investigation of the parameters related to our novel line-implicit LU-SGS solver for convergence acceleration on 3D RANS meshes. The LU-SGS parameters are defined as the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy number, the left-hand side dissipation, and the convergence of iterative solution of the linear problem arising from the linearisation of the implicit scheme. The influence of these parameters on the overall convergence is presented and default values are defined for maximum convergence acceleration. The optimised settings are applied to 3D RANS computations for comparison with explicit and line-implicit Runge-Kutta smoothing. For most of the cases, a computing time acceleration of the order of 2 is found depending on the mesh type, namely the boundary layer and the magnitude of residual reduction.

Numerical and experimental investigation of turbine blade film cooling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berkache, Amar; Dizene, Rabah

2017-12-01

The blades in a gas turbine engine are exposed to extreme temperature levels that exceed the melting temperature of the material. Therefore, efficient cooling is a requirement for high performance of the gas turbine engine. The present study investigates film cooling by means of 3D numerical simulations using a commercial code: Fluent. Three numerical models, namely k-ɛ, RSM and SST turbulence models; are applied and then prediction results are compared to experimental measurements conducted by PIV technique. The experimental model realized in the ENSEMA laboratory uses a flat plate with several rows of staggered holes. The performance of the injected flow into the mainstream is analyzed. The comparison shows that the RANS closure models improve the over-predictions of center-line film cooling velocities that is caused by the limitations of the RANS method due to its isotropy eddy diffusivity.

Comparison of ASTM D613 and ASTM D6890

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

product , process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement...state or reflect those of the United States Government or the DoA, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes...methylnaphthalene proved to be an impractical material for reference values. The ASTM Diesel National Exchange Group ran a study and determined that

Adding Automatic Evaluation to Interactive Virtual Labs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farias, Gonzalo; Muñoz de la Peña, David; Gómez-Estern, Fabio; De la Torre, Luis; Sánchez, Carlos; Dormido, Sebastián

2016-01-01

Automatic evaluation is a challenging field that has been addressed by the academic community in order to reduce the assessment workload. In this work we present a new element for the authoring tool Easy Java Simulations (EJS). This element, which is named automatic evaluation element (AEE), provides automatic evaluation to virtual and remote…

Semantic effects in naming perceptual identification but not in delayed naming: implications for models and tasks.

PubMed

Wurm, Lee H; Seaman, Sean R

2008-03-01

Previous research has demonstrated that the subjective danger and usefulness of words affect lexical decision times. Usually, an interaction is found: Increasing danger predicts faster reaction times (RTs) for words low on usefulness, but increasing danger predicts slower RTs for words high on usefulness. The authors show the same interaction with immediate auditory naming. The interaction disappeared with a delayed auditory naming control experiment, suggesting that it has a perceptual basis. In an attempt to separate input (signal to ear) from output (brain to muscle) processes in word recognition, the authors ran 2 auditory perceptual identification experiments. The interaction was again significant, but performance was best for words high on both danger and usefulness. This suggests that initial demonstrations of the interaction were reflecting an output approach/withdraw response conflict induced by stimuli that are both dangerous and useful. The interaction cannot be characterized as a tradeoff of speed versus accuracy.

An Arabidopsis Ran-binding protein, AtRanBP1c, is a co-activator of Ran GTPase-activating protein and requires the C-terminus for its cytoplasmic localization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Soo-Hwan; Roux, Stanley J.

2003-01-01

Ran-binding proteins (RanBPs) are a group of proteins that bind to Ran (Ras-related nuclear small GTP-binding protein), and thus either control the GTP/GDP-bound states of Ran or help couple the Ran GTPase cycle to a cellular process. AtRanBP1c is a Ran-binding protein from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. that was recently shown to be critically involved in the regulation of auxin-induced mitotic progression [S.-H. Kim et al. (2001) Plant Cell 13:2619-2630]. Here we report that AtRanBP1c inhibits the EDTA-induced release of GTP from Ran and serves as a co-activator of Ran-GTPase-activating protein (RanGAP) in vitro. Transient expression of AtRanBP1c fused to a beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter reveals that the protein localizes primarily to the cytosol. Neither the N- nor C-terminus of AtRanBP1c, which flank the Ran-binding domain (RanBD), is necessary for the binding of PsRan1-GTP to the protein, but both are needed for the cytosolic localization of GUS-fused AtRanBP1c. These findings, together with a previous report that AtRanBP1c is critically involved in root growth and development, imply that the promotion of GTP hydrolysis by the Ran/RanGAP/AtRanBP1c complex in the cytoplasm, and the resulting concentration gradient of Ran-GDP to Ran-GTP across the nuclear membrane could be important in the regulation of auxin-induced mitotic progression in root tips of A. thaliana.

Oral Language Deficits in Familial Dyslexia: A Meta-Analysis and Review

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

This article reviews 95 publications (based on 21 independent samples) that have examined children at family risk of reading disorders. We report that children at family risk of dyslexia experience delayed language development as infants and toddlers. In the preschool period, they have significant difficulties in phonological processes as well as with broader language skills and in acquiring the foundations of decoding skill (letter knowledge, phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming [RAN]). Findings are mixed with regard to auditory and visual perception: they do not appear subject to slow motor development, but lack of control for comorbidities confounds interpretation. Longitudinal studies of outcomes show that children at family risk who go on to fulfil criteria for dyslexia have more severe impairments in preschool language than those who are defined as normal readers, but the latter group do less well than controls. Similarly at school age, family risk of dyslexia is associated with significantly poor phonological awareness and literacy skills. Although there is no strong evidence that children at family risk are brought up in an environment that differs significantly from that of controls, their parents tend to have lower educational levels and read less frequently to themselves. Together, the findings suggest that a phonological processing deficit can be conceptualized as an endophenotype of dyslexia that increases the continuous risk of reading difficulties; in turn its impact may be moderated by protective factors. PMID:26727308

Ran-binding protein 5 (RanBP5) is related to the nuclear transport factor importin-beta but interacts differently with RanBP1.

PubMed Central

Deane, R; Schäfer, W; Zimmermann, H P; Mueller, L; Görlich, D; Prehn, S; Ponstingl, H; Bischoff, F R

1997-01-01

We report the identification and characterization of a novel 124-kDa Ran binding protein, RanBP5. This protein is related to importin-beta, the key mediator of nuclear localization signal (NLS)-dependent nuclear transport. RanBP5 was identified by two independent methods: it was isolated from HeLa cells by using its interaction with RanGTP in an overlay assay to monitor enrichment, and it was also found by the yeast two-hybrid selection method with RanBP1 as bait. RanBP5 binds to RanBP1 as part of a trimeric RanBP1-Ran-RanBP5 complex. Like importin-beta, RanBP5 strongly binds the GTP-bound form of Ran, stabilizing it against both intrinsic and RanGAP1-induced GTP hydrolysis and also against nucleotide exchange. The GAP resistance of the RanBP5-RanGTP complex can be relieved by RanBP1, which might reflect an in vivo role for RanBP1. RanBP5 is a predominantly cytoplasmic protein that can bind to nuclear pore complexes. We propose that RanBP5 is a mediator of a nucleocytoplasmic transport pathway that is distinct from the importin-alpha-dependent import of proteins with a classical NLS. PMID:9271386

Automatic comparison of striation marks and automatic classification of shoe prints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geradts, Zeno J.; Keijzer, Jan; Keereweer, Isaac

1995-09-01

A database for toolmarks (named TRAX) and a database for footwear outsole designs (named REBEZO) have been developed on a PC. The databases are filled with video-images and administrative data about the toolmarks and the footwear designs. An algorithm for the automatic comparison of the digitized striation patterns has been developed for TRAX. The algorithm appears to work well for deep and complete striation marks and will be implemented in TRAX. For REBEZO some efforts have been made to the automatic classification of outsole patterns. The algorithm first segments the shoeprofile. Fourier-features are selected for the separate elements and are classified with a neural network. In future developments information on invariant moments of the shape and rotation angle will be included in the neural network.

Word reading practice reduces Stroop interference in children.

PubMed

Protopapas, Athanassios; Vlahou, Eleni L; Moirou, Despoina; Ziaka, Laoura

2014-05-01

Stroop interference is thought to index reading automaticity and is expected to increase with reading practice and to decrease with improved color naming. We investigated the effects of practice in word reading and color naming on interference in 92 adults and 109 children in Grades 4-5. For children, interference was reduced after reading practice with color words. In neither group was interference affected by practice in color naming of neutral stimuli. These findings are consistent with a direct negative relationship between reading ability and interference and challenge the automaticity account in favor of a blocking mechanism whereby interference is determined by the delay to inhibit the reading response rather than by the efficiency of color naming. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The RanBP2/RanGAP1*SUMO1/Ubc9 SUMO E3 ligase is a disassembly machine for Crm1-dependent nuclear export complexes

PubMed Central

Ritterhoff, Tobias; Das, Hrishikesh; Hofhaus, Götz; Schröder, Rasmus R.; Flotho, Annette; Melchior, Frauke

2016-01-01

Continuous cycles of nucleocytoplasmic transport require disassembly of transport receptor/Ran-GTP complexes in the cytoplasm. A basic disassembly mechanism in all eukaryotes depends on soluble RanGAP and RanBP1. In vertebrates, a significant fraction of RanGAP1 stably interacts with the nucleoporin RanBP2 at a binding site that is flanked by FG-repeats and Ran-binding domains, and overlaps with RanBP2's SUMO E3 ligase region. Here, we show that the RanBP2/RanGAP1*SUMO1/Ubc9 complex functions as an autonomous disassembly machine with a preference for the export receptor Crm1. We describe three in vitro reconstituted disassembly intermediates, which show binding of a Crm1 export complex via two FG-repeat patches, cargo-release by RanBP2's Ran-binding domains and retention of free Crm1 at RanBP2 after Ran-GTP hydrolysis. Intriguingly, all intermediates are compatible with SUMO E3 ligase activity, suggesting that the RanBP2/RanGAP1*SUMO1/Ubc9 complex may link Crm1- and SUMO-dependent functions. PMID:27160050

Motor Skills, Automaticity and Developmental Dyslexia: A Review of the Research Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savage, Robert

2004-01-01

This paper reviews a body of prominent theories of automaticity in developmental dyslexia. The first part of the review considers the relationship between dyslexia and rapid automatic naming and fluency. Additional theoretical and empirical advances are suggested to this already strong research base. In particular, there is a need is for…

A State-of-the-Art Assessment of Automatic Name Placement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-08-01

develop an automatic name placement system. 11 Balodis, M., "Positioning of typography on maps," Proc. ACSM Pall Con- vention, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept...1983, pp. 28-44. This article deals with the selection of typography for maps. It describes psycho-visual experiments with groups of individuals to...Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12181, May 1984. (Also available as Tech. Rept. IPL-TR-063.) SBalodis, M., "Positioning of typography on maps," Proc

Co-activation of RanGTPase and inhibition of GTP dissociation by Ran-GTP binding protein RanBP1.

PubMed Central

Bischoff, F R; Krebber, H; Smirnova, E; Dong, W; Ponstingl, H

1995-01-01

RCC1 (the regulator of chromosome condensation) stimulates guanine nucleotide dissociation on the Ras-related nuclear protein Ran. Both polypeptides are components of a regulatory pathway that has been implicated in regulating DNA replication, onset of and exit from mitosis, mRNA processing and transport, and import of proteins into the nucleus. In a search for further members of the RCC1-Ran signal pathway, we have identified proteins of 23, 45 and 300 kDa which tightly bind to Ran-GTP but not Ran-GDP. The purified soluble 23 kDa Ran binding protein RanBP1 does not activate RanGTPase, but increases GTP hydrolysis induced by the RanGTPase-activating protein RanGAP1 by an order of magnitude. In the absence of RanGAP, it strongly inhibits RCC1-induced exchange of Ran-bound GTP. In addition, it forms a stable complex with nucleotide-free RCC1-Ran. With these properties, it differs markedly from guanine diphosphate dissociation inhibitors which preferentially prevent the exchange of protein-bound GDP and in some cases were shown to inhibit GAP-induced GTP hydrolysis. RanBP1 is the first member of a new class of proteins regulating the binding and hydrolysis of GTP by Ras-related proteins. Images PMID:7882974

Do perceived context pictures automatically activate their phonological code?

PubMed

Jescheniak, Jörg D; Oppermann, Frank; Hantsch, Ansgar; Wagner, Valentin; Mädebach, Andreas; Schriefers, Herbert

2009-01-01

Morsella and Miozzo (Morsella, E., & Miozzo, M. (2002). Evidence for a cascade model of lexical access in speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 555-563) have reported that the to-be-ignored context pictures become phonologically activated when participants name a target picture, and took this finding as support for cascaded models of lexical retrieval in speech production. In a replication and extension of their experiment in German, we failed to obtain priming effects from context pictures phonologically related to a to-be-named target picture. By contrast, corresponding context words (i.e., the names of the respective pictures) and the same context pictures, when used in an identity condition, did reliably facilitate the naming process. This pattern calls into question the generality of the claim advanced by Morsella and Miozzo that perceptual processing of pictures in the context of a naming task automatically leads to the activation of corresponding lexical-phonological codes.

The Contributions of Vocabulary and Letter Writing Automaticity to Word Reading and Spelling for Kindergartners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Young-Suk; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Puranik, Cynthia; Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Gruelich, Luana

2014-01-01

In the present study we examined the relation between alphabet knowledge fluency (letter names and sounds) and letter writing automaticity, and unique relations of letter writing automaticity and semantic knowledge (i.e., vocabulary) to word reading and spelling over and above code-related skills such as phonological awareness and alphabet…

RanBP2 modulates Cox11 and hexokinase I activities and haploinsufficiency of RanBP2 causes deficits in glucose metabolism.

PubMed

Aslanukov, Azamat; Bhowmick, Reshma; Guruju, Mallikarjuna; Oswald, John; Raz, Dorit; Bush, Ronald A; Sieving, Paul A; Lu, Xinrong; Bock, Cheryl B; Ferreira, Paulo A

2006-10-01

The Ran-binding protein 2 (RanBP2) is a large multimodular and pleiotropic protein. Several molecular partners with distinct functions interacting specifically with selective modules of RanBP2 have been identified. Yet, the significance of these interactions with RanBP2 and the genetic and physiological role(s) of RanBP2 in a whole-animal model remain elusive. Here, we report the identification of two novel partners of RanBP2 and a novel physiological role of RanBP2 in a mouse model. RanBP2 associates in vitro and in vivo and colocalizes with the mitochondrial metallochaperone, Cox11, and the pacemaker of glycolysis, hexokinase type I (HKI) via its leucine-rich domain. The leucine-rich domain of RanBP2 also exhibits strong chaperone activity toward intermediate and mature folding species of Cox11 supporting a chaperone role of RanBP2 in the cytosol during Cox11 biogenesis. Cox11 partially colocalizes with HKI, thus supporting additional and distinct roles in cell function. Cox11 is a strong inhibitor of HKI, and RanBP2 suppresses the inhibitory activity of Cox11 over HKI. To probe the physiological role of RanBP2 and its role in HKI function, a mouse model harboring a genetically disrupted RanBP2 locus was generated. RanBP2(-/-) are embryonically lethal, and haploinsufficiency of RanBP2 in an inbred strain causes a pronounced decrease of HKI and ATP levels selectively in the central nervous system. Inbred RanBP2(+/-) mice also exhibit deficits in growth rates and glucose catabolism without impairment of glucose uptake and gluconeogenesis. These phenotypes are accompanied by a decrease in the electrophysiological responses of photosensory and postreceptoral neurons. Hence, RanBP2 and its partners emerge as critical modulators of neuronal HKI, glucose catabolism, energy homeostasis, and targets for metabolic, aging disorders and allied neuropathies.

Crystal structure of importin-α3 bound to the nuclear localization signal of Ran-binding protein 3.

PubMed

Koyama, Masako; Matsuura, Yoshiyuki

2017-09-23

Ran-binding protein 3 (RanBP3) is a primarily nuclear Ran-binding protein that functions as an accessory factor in the Ran GTPase system. RanBP3 associates with Ran-specific nucleotide exchange factor RCC1 and enhances its catalytic activity towards Ran. RanBP3 also promotes CRM1-mediated nuclear export as well as CRM1-independent nuclear export of β-catenin, Smad2, and Smad3. Nuclear import of RanBP3 is dependent on the nuclear import adaptor protein importin-α and, RanBP3 is imported more efficiently by importin-α3 than by other members of the importin-α family. Protein kinase signaling pathways control nucleocytoplasmic transport through phosphorylation of RanBP3 at Ser58, immediately C-terminal to the nuclear localization signal (NLS) in the N-terminal region of RanBP3. Here we report the crystal structure of human importin-α3 bound to an N-terminal fragment of human RanBP3 containing the NLS sequence that is necessary and sufficient for nuclear import. The structure reveals that RanBP3 binds to importin-α3 residues that are strictly conserved in all seven isoforms of human importin-α at the major NLS-binding site, indicating that the region of importin-α outside the NLS-binding site, possibly the autoinhibotory importin-β1-binding domain, may be the key determinant for the preferential binding of RanBP3 to importin-α3. Computational docking simulation indicates that phosphorylation of RanBP3 at Ser58 could potentially stabilize the association of RanBP3 with importin-α through interactions between the phosphate moiety of phospho-Ser58 of RanBP3 and a cluster of basic residues (Arg96 and Lys97 in importin-α3) on armadillo repeat 1 of importin-α. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic Recognition of Object Names in Literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonnin, C.; Lesteven, S.; Derriere, S.; Oberto, A.

2008-08-01

SIMBAD is a database of astronomical objects that provides (among other things) their bibliographic references in a large number of journals. Currently, these references have to be entered manually by librarians who read each paper. To cope with the increasing number of papers, CDS develops a tool to assist the librarians in their work, taking advantage of the Dictionary of Nomenclature of Celestial Objects, which keeps track of object acronyms and of their origin. The program searches for object names directly in PDF documents by comparing the words with all the formats stored in the Dictionary of Nomenclature. It also searches for variable star names based on constellation names and for a large list of usual names such as Aldebaran or the Crab. Object names found in the documents often correspond to several astronomical objects. The system retrieves all possible matches, displays them with their object type given by SIMBAD, and lets the librarian make the final choice. The bibliographic reference can then be automatically added to the object identifiers in the database. Besides, the systematic usage of the Dictionary of Nomenclature, which is updated manually, permitted to automatically check it and to detect errors and inconsistencies. Last but not least, the program collects some additional information such as the position of the object names in the document (in the title, subtitle, abstract, table, figure caption...) and their number of occurrences. In the future, this will permit to calculate the 'weight' of an object in a reference and to provide SIMBAD users with an important new information, which will help them to find the most relevant papers in the object reference list.

JPRS Report, Soviet Union, Kommunist, no. 15, October 1989.

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-11

Fots] 43 SPIRITUAL LIFE OF SOCIETY Mankind and Civilization on the Threshold of the New Millennium 45 A Name on the Map ; Topical Interview [O...34 Describing the Provisional Government as a " wolf in sheep’s clothing," a group of soldiers from the Western Front demanded that it be replaced... medieval poet: JPRS-UKO-89-021 11 December 1989 15 "I did not become wealthy, nor learned; I did not acquire the merits of a saint, and my time ran

18 CFR 157.218 - Changes in customer name.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Changes in customer name. 157.218 Section 157.218 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... Act for Certain Transactions and Abandonment § 157.218 Changes in customer name. (a) Automatic...

18 CFR 157.218 - Changes in customer name.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Changes in customer name. 157.218 Section 157.218 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... Act for Certain Transactions and Abandonment § 157.218 Changes in customer name. (a) Automatic...

18 CFR 157.218 - Changes in customer name.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Changes in customer name. 157.218 Section 157.218 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... Act for Certain Transactions and Abandonment § 157.218 Changes in customer name. (a) Automatic...

18 CFR 157.218 - Changes in customer name.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Changes in customer... Act for Certain Transactions and Abandonment § 157.218 Changes in customer name. (a) Automatic... reflect the change in the name of an existing customer, if the certificate holder has filed any necessary...

The Construct and Predictive Validity of a Dynamic Assessment of Young Children Learning to Read: Implications for RTI Frameworks

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Bouton, Bobette; Caffrey, Erin

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic assessment (DA) of decoding learning. Students (N = 318) were assessed in the fall of first grade on an array of instruments that were given in hopes of forecasting responsiveness to reading instruction. These instruments included DA as well as one-point-in-time (static) measures of early alphabetic knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, listening comprehension, attentive behavior, and hyperactive or impulsive behavior. An IQ test was administered in spring of second grade. Measures of reading outcomes administered in spring of first grade were accuracy and fluency of word identification skills and reading comprehension. Factor analysis using principal axis factor extraction indicated that DA loaded on a first factor that also included language abilities and IQ, which the authors refer to as the “language, IQ, and DA” factor. It was relatively distinct from two additional factors: (a) “speeded alphabetic knowledge and RAN” and (b) “task-oriented behavior.” A three-level (children nested within classroom; classrooms nested within school) random intercept model with fixed effects predictors suggested that DA differed from word attack in predicting future reading skill and that DA was a significant predictor of responsiveness to instruction, contributing unique variance to end-of-first-grade word identification and reading comprehension beyond that explained by other well-established predictors of reading development. PMID:21685347

Ran Fu | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Ran Fu Photo of Ran Fu Ran Fu Researcher IV-Economic/Financial Analysis Ran.Fu@nrel.gov | 303-384 -7522 Ran Fu is a member of the Techno-Economic Analysis Group in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center . Areas of Expertise Technology, policy, and economic analysis for public- and private-sector's R&D

Chemical name extraction based on automatic training data generation and rich feature set.

PubMed

Yan, Su; Spangler, W Scott; Chen, Ying

2013-01-01

The automation of extracting chemical names from text has significant value to biomedical and life science research. A major barrier in this task is the difficulty of getting a sizable and good quality data to train a reliable entity extraction model. Another difficulty is the selection of informative features of chemical names, since comprehensive domain knowledge on chemistry nomenclature is required. Leveraging random text generation techniques, we explore the idea of automatically creating training sets for the task of chemical name extraction. Assuming the availability of an incomplete list of chemical names, called a dictionary, we are able to generate well-controlled, random, yet realistic chemical-like training documents. We statistically analyze the construction of chemical names based on the incomplete dictionary, and propose a series of new features, without relying on any domain knowledge. Compared to state-of-the-art models learned from manually labeled data and domain knowledge, our solution shows better or comparable results in annotating real-world data with less human effort. Moreover, we report an interesting observation about the language for chemical names. That is, both the structural and semantic components of chemical names follow a Zipfian distribution, which resembles many natural languages.

SST algorithms in ACSPO reanalysis of AVHRR GAC data from 2002-2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrenko, B.; Ignatov, A.; Kihai, Y.; Zhou, X.; Stroup, J.

2014-05-01

In response to a request from the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program, NOAA SST Team initiated reprocessing of 4 km resolution GAC data from AVHRRs flown onboard NOAA and MetOp satellites. The objective is to create a longterm Level 2 Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Oceans (ACSPO) SST product, consistent with NOAA operations. ACSPO-Reanalysis (RAN) is used as input in the NOAA geo-polar blended Level 4 SST and potentially other Level 4 SST products. In the first stage of reprocessing (reanalysis 1, or RAN1), data from NOAA-15, -16, -17, -18, -19, and Metop-A and -B, from 2002-present have been processed with ACSPO v2.20, and matched up with quality controlled in situ data from in situ Quality Monitor (iQuam) version 1. The ~12 years time series of matchups were used to develop and explore the SST retrieval algorithms, with emphasis on minimizing spatial biases in retrieved SSTs, close reproduction of the magnitudes of true SST variations, and maximizing temporal, spatial and inter-platform stability of retrieval metrics. Two types of SST algorithms were considered: conventional SST regressions, and recently developed incremental regressions. The conventional equations were adopted in the EUMETSAT OSI-SAF formulation, which, according to our previous analyses, provide relatively small regional biases and well-balanced combination of precision and sensitivity, in its class. Incremental regression equations were specifically elaborated to automatically correct for model minus observation biases, always present when RTM simulations are employed. Improved temporal stability was achieved by recalculation of SST coefficients from matchups on a daily basis, with a +/-45 day window around the current date. This presentation describes the candidate SST algorithms considered for the next round of ACSPO reanalysis, RAN2.

Analysis of Ran related to pesticide resistance in Drosophila Kc cells.

PubMed

Bo, Qian; Chen, Lu; Liu, Yahui; Chang, Chunjie; Ying, Xiaoli; Li, Fengliang; Cheng, Luogen

2018-07-15

Pesticides have been used extensively for pest control, resulting in serious pesticide resistance. It is extremely valuable to identify the resistance genes related to pest control. In our previous studies, we reported that Ran is the deltamethrin (DM) resistance-associated gene. To clarify whether Ran is also related to the resistance of other pesticides, we selected four kinds of pesticides, including parathion, DDT, carbaryl and pleocidin, for further study. The results showed that Ran could be up-regulated by all pesticides. We further verified the relationship between Ran and resistance to the 4 pesticides by Ran RNAi, Ran overexpression and cell apoptosis. We found that the dsRNA of Ran induced more cell apoptosis than the control. Ran overexpression can significantly improve cell tolerance to various pesticides. These results demonstrate that Ran is associated with the resistance to and tolerance of multiple pesticides. Our evidence suggests the Ran is a potential molecular target gene of resistance control. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Think the thought, walk the walk - social priming reduces the Stroop effect.

PubMed

Goldfarb, Liat; Aisenberg, Daniela; Henik, Avishai

2011-02-01

In the Stroop task, participants name the color of the ink that a color word is written in and ignore the meaning of the word. Naming the color of an incongruent color word (e.g., RED printed in blue) is slower than naming the color of a congruent color word (e.g., RED printed in red). This robust effect is known as the Stroop effect and it suggests that the intentional instruction - "do not read the word" - has limited influence on one's behavior, as word reading is being executed via an automatic path. Herein is examined the influence of a non-intentional instruction - "do not read the word" - on the Stroop effect. Social concept priming tends to trigger automatic behavior that is in line with the primed concept. Here participants were primed with the social concept "dyslexia" before performing the Stroop task. Because dyslectic people are perceived as having reading difficulties, the Stroop effect was reduced and even failed to reach significance after the dyslectic person priming. A similar effect was replicated in a further experiment, and overall it suggests that the human cognitive system has more success in decreasing the influence of another automatic process via an automatic path rather than via an intentional path. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Pressure Plate-Based Method for the Automatic Assessment of Foot Strike Patterns During Running.

PubMed

Santuz, Alessandro; Ekizos, Antonis; Arampatzis, Adamantios

2016-05-01

The foot strike pattern (FSP, description of how the foot touches the ground at impact) is recognized to be a predictor of both performance and injury risk. The objective of the current investigation was to validate an original foot strike pattern assessment technique based on the numerical analysis of foot pressure distribution. We analyzed the strike patterns during running of 145 healthy men and women (85 male, 60 female). The participants ran on a treadmill with integrated pressure plate at three different speeds: preferred (shod and barefoot 2.8 ± 0.4 m/s), faster (shod 3.5 ± 0.6 m/s) and slower (shod 2.3 ± 0.3 m/s). A custom-designed algorithm allowed the automatic footprint recognition and FSP evaluation. Incomplete footprints were simultaneously identified and corrected from the software itself. The widely used technique of analyzing high-speed video recordings was checked for its reliability and has been used to validate the numerical technique. The automatic numerical approach showed a good conformity with the reference video-based technique (ICC = 0.93, p < 0.01). The great improvement in data throughput and the increased completeness of results allow the use of this software as a powerful feedback tool in a simple experimental setup.

Design of underwater robot lines based on a hybrid automatic optimization strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Wenjing; Luo, Weilin

2014-09-01

In this paper, a hybrid automatic optimization strategy is proposed for the design of underwater robot lines. Isight is introduced as an integration platform. The construction of this platform is based on the user programming and several commercial software including UG6.0, GAMBIT2.4.6 and FLUENT12.0. An intelligent parameter optimization method, the particle swarm optimization, is incorporated into the platform. To verify the strategy proposed, a simulation is conducted on the underwater robot model 5470, which originates from the DTRC SUBOFF project. With the automatic optimization platform, the minimal resistance is taken as the optimization goal; the wet surface area as the constraint condition; the length of the fore-body, maximum body radius and after-body's minimum radius as the design variables. With the CFD calculation, the RANS equations and the standard turbulence model are used for direct numerical simulation. By analyses of the simulation results, it is concluded that the platform is of high efficiency and feasibility. Through the platform, a variety of schemes for the design of the lines are generated and the optimal solution is achieved. The combination of the intelligent optimization algorithm and the numerical simulation ensures a global optimal solution and improves the efficiency of the searching solutions.

Scaffolding protein RanBPM and its interactions in diverse signaling pathways in health and disease.

PubMed

Das, Soumyadip; Haq, Saba; Ramakrishna, Suresh

2018-04-01

Ran-binding protein in the microtubule-organizing center (RanBPM) is an evolutionarily conserved, nucleocytoplasmic scaffolding protein involved in various cellular processes and several signal transduction pathways. RanBPM has a crucial role in mediating disease pathology by interacting with diverse proteins to regulate their functions. Previously, we compiled diverse cellular functions of RanBPM. Since then the functions of RanBPM have increased exponentially. In this article, we have updated the functions of RanBPM through its manifold interactions that have been investigated to date, according to their roles in protein stability, transcriptional activity, cellular development, neurobiology, and the cell cycle. Our review provides a complete guide on RanBPM interactors, the physiological role of RanBPM in cellular functions, and potential applications in disease therapeutics.

How automatic is the musical stroop effect? Commentary on “the musical stroop effect: opening a new avenue to research on automatisms” by l. Grégoire, P. Perruchet, and B. Poulin-Charronnat (Experimental Psychology, 2013, vol. 60, pp. 269–278).

PubMed

Moeller, Birte; Frings, Christian

2014-01-01

Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronnat (2013) investigated a musical variant of the reversed Stroop effect. According to the authors, one big advantage of this variant is that the automaticity of note naming can be better controlled than in other Stroop variants as musicians are very practiced in note reading whereas non-musicians are not. In this comment we argue that at present the exact impact of automaticity in this Stroop variant remains somewhat unclear for at least three reasons, namely due to the type of information that is automatically retrieved when notes are encountered, due to the possible influence of object-based attention, and finally due to the fact that the exact influence of expertise on interference cannot be pinpointed with an extreme group design.

Automated selection of computed tomography display parameters using neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Di; Neu, Scott; Valentino, Daniel J.

2001-07-01

A collection of artificial neural networks (ANN's) was trained to identify simple anatomical structures in a set of x-ray computed tomography (CT) images. These neural networks learned to associate a point in an image with the anatomical structure containing the point by using the image pixels located on the horizontal and vertical lines that ran through the point. The neural networks were integrated into a computer software tool whose function is to select an index into a list of CT window/level values from the location of the user's mouse cursor. Based upon the anatomical structure selected by the user, the software tool automatically adjusts the image display to optimally view the structure.

Automatic theory generation from analyst text files using coherence networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaffer, Steven C.

2014-05-01

This paper describes a three-phase process of extracting knowledge from analyst textual reports. Phase 1 involves performing natural language processing on the source text to extract subject-predicate-object triples. In phase 2, these triples are then fed into a coherence network analysis process, using a genetic algorithm optimization. Finally, the highest-value sub networks are processed into a semantic network graph for display. Initial work on a well- known data set (a Wikipedia article on Abraham Lincoln) has shown excellent results without any specific tuning. Next, we ran the process on the SYNthetic Counter-INsurgency (SYNCOIN) data set, developed at Penn State, yielding interesting and potentially useful results.

Students' performance in phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading, and writing.

PubMed

Capellini, Simone Aparecida; Lanza, Simone Cristina

2010-01-01

phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading and writing in students with learning difficulties of a municipal public school. to characterize and compare the performance of students from public schools with and without learning difficulties in phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading and writing. participants were 60 students from the 2nd to the 4th grades of municipal public schools divided into 6 groups. Each group was composed by 10 students, being 3 groups of students without learning difficulties and 3 groups with students with learning difficulties. As testing procedure phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, oral reading and writing under dictation assessments were used. the results highlighted the better performance of students with no learning difficulties. Students with learning difficulties presented a higher ratios considering time/speed in rapid naming tasks and, consequently, lower production in activities of phonological awareness and reading and writing, when compared to students without learning difficulties. students with learning difficulties presented deficits when considering the relationship between naming and automatization skills, and among lexical access, visual discrimination, stimulus frequency use and competition in using less time for code naming, i.e. necessary for the phoneme-grapheme conversion process required in the reading and writing alphabetic system like the Portuguese language.

How Is RAN Related to Reading Fluency? A Comprehensive Examination of the Prominent Theoretical Accounts

PubMed Central

Papadopoulos, Timothy C.; Spanoudis, George C.; Georgiou, George K.

2016-01-01

We examined the prominent theoretical explanations of the RAN-reading relationship in a relatively transparent language (Greek) in a sample of children (n = 286) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Specifically, we tested the fit of eight different models, as defined by the type of reading performance predicted (oral vs. silent word reading fluency), the type of RAN tasks (non-alphanumeric vs. alphanumeric), and the RAN effects (direct vs. indirect). Working memory, attention, processing speed, and motor skills were used as “common cause” variables predicting both RAN and reading fluency and phonological awareness and orthographic processing were used as mediators of RAN's effects on reading fluency. The findings of both concurrent and longitudinal analyses indicated that RAN is a unique predictor of oral reading fluency, but not silent reading fluency. Using alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric RAN did not particularly affect the RAN-reading relationship. Both phonological awareness and orthographic processing partly mediated RAN's effects on reading fluency. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:27605918

Comprehensive Evaluation of Fast-Response, Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes, and Large-Eddy Simulation Methods Against High-Spatial-Resolution Wind-Tunnel Data in Step-Down Street Canyons

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

Hayati, Arash Nemati; Stoll, Rob; Kim, J. J.

Three computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods with different levels of flow-physics modelling are comprehensively evaluated against high-spatial-resolution wind-tunnel velocity data from step-down street canyons (i.e., a short building downwind of a tall building). The first method is a semi-empirical fast-response approach using the Quick Urban Industrial Complex (QUIC-URB) model. The second method solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations, and the third one utilizes a fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction large-eddy simulation (LES) model with a grid-turbulence inflow generator. Unlike typical point-by-point evaluation comparisons, here the entire two-dimensional wind-tunnel dataset is used to evaluate the dynamics of dominant flow topological features in themore » street canyon. Each CFD method is scrutinized for several geometric configurations by varying the downwind-to-upwind building-height ratio (H d/H u) and street canyon-width to building-width aspect ratio (S / W) for inflow winds perpendicular to the upwind building front face. Disparities between the numerical results and experimental data are quantified in terms of their ability to capture flow topological features for different geometric configurations. Ultimately, all three methods qualitatively predict the primary flow topological features, including a saddle point and a primary vortex. But, the secondary flow topological features, namely an in-canyon separation point and secondary vortices, are only well represented by the LES method despite its failure for taller downwind building cases. Misrepresentation of flow-regime transitions, exaggeration of the coherence of recirculation zones and wake fields, and overestimation of downwards vertical velocity into the canyon are the main defects in QUIC-URB, RANS and LES results, respectively. All three methods underestimate the updrafts and, surprisingly, QUIC-URB outperforms RANS for the streamwise velocity component, while RANS is superior to QUIC-URB for the vertical velocity component in the street canyon.« less

Comprehensive Evaluation of Fast-Response, Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes, and Large-Eddy Simulation Methods Against High-Spatial-Resolution Wind-Tunnel Data in Step-Down Street Canyons

DOE PAGES

Hayati, Arash Nemati; Stoll, Rob; Kim, J. J.; ...

2017-05-18

Three computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods with different levels of flow-physics modelling are comprehensively evaluated against high-spatial-resolution wind-tunnel velocity data from step-down street canyons (i.e., a short building downwind of a tall building). The first method is a semi-empirical fast-response approach using the Quick Urban Industrial Complex (QUIC-URB) model. The second method solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations, and the third one utilizes a fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction large-eddy simulation (LES) model with a grid-turbulence inflow generator. Unlike typical point-by-point evaluation comparisons, here the entire two-dimensional wind-tunnel dataset is used to evaluate the dynamics of dominant flow topological features in themore » street canyon. Each CFD method is scrutinized for several geometric configurations by varying the downwind-to-upwind building-height ratio (H d/H u) and street canyon-width to building-width aspect ratio (S / W) for inflow winds perpendicular to the upwind building front face. Disparities between the numerical results and experimental data are quantified in terms of their ability to capture flow topological features for different geometric configurations. Ultimately, all three methods qualitatively predict the primary flow topological features, including a saddle point and a primary vortex. But, the secondary flow topological features, namely an in-canyon separation point and secondary vortices, are only well represented by the LES method despite its failure for taller downwind building cases. Misrepresentation of flow-regime transitions, exaggeration of the coherence of recirculation zones and wake fields, and overestimation of downwards vertical velocity into the canyon are the main defects in QUIC-URB, RANS and LES results, respectively. All three methods underestimate the updrafts and, surprisingly, QUIC-URB outperforms RANS for the streamwise velocity component, while RANS is superior to QUIC-URB for the vertical velocity component in the street canyon.« less

Comprehensive Evaluation of Fast-Response, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes, and Large-Eddy Simulation Methods Against High-Spatial-Resolution Wind-Tunnel Data in Step-Down Street Canyons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayati, Arash Nemati; Stoll, Rob; Kim, J. J.; Harman, Todd; Nelson, Matthew A.; Brown, Michael J.; Pardyjak, Eric R.

2017-08-01

Three computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods with different levels of flow-physics modelling are comprehensively evaluated against high-spatial-resolution wind-tunnel velocity data from step-down street canyons (i.e., a short building downwind of a tall building). The first method is a semi-empirical fast-response approach using the Quick Urban Industrial Complex (QUIC-URB) model. The second method solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, and the third one utilizes a fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction large-eddy simulation (LES) model with a grid-turbulence inflow generator. Unlike typical point-by-point evaluation comparisons, here the entire two-dimensional wind-tunnel dataset is used to evaluate the dynamics of dominant flow topological features in the street canyon. Each CFD method is scrutinized for several geometric configurations by varying the downwind-to-upwind building-height ratio (H_d/H_u) and street canyon-width to building-width aspect ratio ( S / W) for inflow winds perpendicular to the upwind building front face. Disparities between the numerical results and experimental data are quantified in terms of their ability to capture flow topological features for different geometric configurations. Overall, all three methods qualitatively predict the primary flow topological features, including a saddle point and a primary vortex. However, the secondary flow topological features, namely an in-canyon separation point and secondary vortices, are only well represented by the LES method despite its failure for taller downwind building cases. Misrepresentation of flow-regime transitions, exaggeration of the coherence of recirculation zones and wake fields, and overestimation of downwards vertical velocity into the canyon are the main defects in QUIC-URB, RANS and LES results, respectively. All three methods underestimate the updrafts and, surprisingly, QUIC-URB outperforms RANS for the streamwise velocity component, while RANS is superior to QUIC-URB for the vertical velocity component in the street canyon.

Word Naming in the L1 and L2: A Dynamic Perspective on Automatization and the Degree of Semantic Involvement in Naming.

PubMed

Plat, Rika; Lowie, Wander; de Bot, Kees

2017-01-01

Reaction time data have long been collected in order to gain insight into the underlying mechanisms involved in language processing. Means analyses often attempt to break down what factors relate to what portion of the total reaction time. From a dynamic systems theory perspective or an interaction dominant view of language processing, it is impossible to isolate discrete factors contributing to language processing, since these continually and interactively play a role. Non-linear analyses offer the tools to investigate the underlying process of language use in time, without having to isolate discrete factors. Patterns of variability in reaction time data may disclose the relative contribution of automatic (grapheme-to-phoneme conversion) processing and attention-demanding (semantic) processing. The presence of a fractal structure in the variability of a reaction time series indicates automaticity in the mental structures contributing to a task. A decorrelated pattern of variability will indicate a higher degree of attention-demanding processing. A focus on variability patterns allows us to examine the relative contribution of automatic and attention-demanding processing when a speaker is using the mother tongue (L1) or a second language (L2). A word naming task conducted in the L1 (Dutch) and L2 (English) shows L1 word processing to rely more on automatic spelling-to-sound conversion than L2 word processing. A word naming task with a semantic categorization subtask showed more reliance on attention-demanding semantic processing when using the L2. A comparison to L1 English data shows this was not only due to the amount of language use or language dominance, but also to the difference in orthographic depth between Dutch and English. An important implication of this finding is that when the same task is used to test and compare different languages, one cannot straightforwardly assume the same cognitive sub processes are involved to an equal degree using the same task in different languages.

A domain unique to plant RanGAP is responsible for its targeting to the plant nuclear rim

PubMed Central

Rose, Annkatrin; Meier, Iris

2001-01-01

Ran is a small signaling GTPase that is involved in nucleocytoplasmic transport. Two additional functions of animal Ran in the formation of spindle asters and the reassembly of the nuclear envelope in mitotic cells have been recently reported. In contrast to Ras or Rho, Ran is not associated with membranes. Instead, the spatial sequestering of its accessory proteins, the Ran GTPase-activating protein RanGAP and the nucleotide exchange factor RCC1, appears to define the local concentration of RanGTP vs. RanGDP involved in signaling. Mammalian RanGAP is bound to the nuclear pore by a mechanism involving the attachment of small ubiquitin-related modifier protein (SUMO) to its C terminus and the subsequent binding of the SUMOylated domain to the nucleoporin Nup358. Here we show that plant RanGAP utilizes a different mechanism for nuclear envelope association, involving a novel targeting domain that appears to be unique to plants. The N-terminal WPP domain is highly conserved among plant RanGAPs and the small, plant-specific nuclear envelope-associated protein MAF1, but not present in yeast or animal RanGAP. Confocal laser scanning microscopy of green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion proteins showed that it is necessary for RanGAP targeting and sufficient to target the heterologous protein GFP to the plant nuclear rim. The highly conserved tryptophan and proline residues of the WPP motif are necessary for its function. The 110-aa WPP domain is the first nuclear-envelope targeting domain identified in plants. Its fundamental difference to its mammalian counterpart implies that different mechanisms have evolved in plants and animals to anchor RanGAP at the nuclear surface. PMID:11752475

Automatic Clustering Using FSDE-Forced Strategy Differential Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasid, A.

2018-01-01

Clustering analysis is important in datamining for unsupervised data, cause no adequate prior knowledge. One of the important tasks is defining the number of clusters without user involvement that is known as automatic clustering. This study intends on acquiring cluster number automatically utilizing forced strategy differential evolution (AC-FSDE). Two mutation parameters, namely: constant parameter and variable parameter are employed to boost differential evolution performance. Four well-known benchmark datasets were used to evaluate the algorithm. Moreover, the result is compared with other state of the art automatic clustering methods. The experiment results evidence that AC-FSDE is better or competitive with other existing automatic clustering algorithm.

Ran Involved in the Development and Reproduction Is a Potential Target for RNA-Interference-Based Pest Management in Nilaparvata lugens

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei-Xia; Lai, Feng-Xiang; Fu, Qiang

2015-01-01

Ran (RanGTPase) in insects participates in the 20-hydroxyecdysone signal transduction pathway in which downstream genes, FTZ-F1, Krüppel-homolog 1 (Kr-h1) and vitellogenin, are involved. A putative Ran gene (NlRan) was cloned from Nilaparvata lugens, a destructive phloem-feeding pest of rice. NlRan has the typical Ran primary structure features that are conserved in insects. NlRan showed higher mRNA abundance immediately after molting and peaked in newly emerged female adults. Among the examined tissues ovary had the highest transcript level, followed by fat body, midgut and integument, and legs. Three days after dsNlRan injection the NlRan mRNA abundance in the third-, fourth-, and fifth-instar nymphs was decreased by 94.3%, 98.4% and 97.0%, respectively. NlFTZ-F1 expression levels in treated third- and fourth-instar nymphs were reduced by 89.3% and 23.8%, respectively. In contrast, NlKr-h1 mRNA levels were up-regulated by 67.5 and 1.5 folds, respectively. NlRan knockdown significantly decreased the body weights, delayed development, and killed >85% of the nymphs at day seven. Two apparent phenotypic defects were observed: (1) Extended body form, and failed to molt; (2) The cuticle at the notum was split open but cannot completely shed off. The newly emerged female adults from dsNlRan injected fifth-instar nymphs showed lower levels of NlRan and vitellogenin, lower weight gain and honeydew excretion comparing with the blank control, and no offspring. Those results suggest that NlRan encodes a functional protein that was involved in development and reproduction. The study established proof of concept that NlRan could serve as a target for dsRNA-based pesticides for N. lugens control. PMID:26554926

Large Eddy Simulation of Flow in Turbine Cascades Using LESTool and UNCLE Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, P. G.

2004-01-01

During the period December 23,1997 and December August 31,2004, we accomplished the development of 2 CFD codes for DNS/LES/RANS simulation of turbine cascade flows, namely LESTool and UNCLE. LESTool is a structured code making use of 5th order upwind differencing scheme and UNCLE is a second-order-accuracy unstructured code. LESTool has both Dynamic SGS and Spalart's DES models and UNCLE makes use of URANS and DES models. The current report provides a description of methodologies used in the codes.

Large Eddy Simulation of Flow in Turbine Cascades Using LEST and UNCLE Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ashpis, David (Technical Monitor); Huang, P. G.

2004-01-01

During the period December 23, 1997 and December August 31, 2004, we accomplished the development of 2 CFD codes for DNS/LES/RANS simulation of turbine cascade flows, namely LESTool and UNCLE. LESTool is a structured code making use of 5th order upwind differencing scheme and UNCLE is a second-order-accuracy unstructured code. LESTool has both Dynamic SGS and Sparlart's DES models and UNCLE makes use of URANS and DES models. The current report provides a description of methodologies used in the codes.

Planned Focus on Form: Automatization of Procedural Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khatib, Mohammad; Nikouee, Majid

2012-01-01

The present study is premised on Anderson's ACT model that proposes declarative knowledge is automatizable through practice (1982). The research examined the extent to which declarative knowledge of one morphosyntactic structure, namely present perfect, can be automatized 2 days after practice and can be retained 2 weeks after practice. Twenty…

Molecular Characterization of the SUMO-1 Modification of RanGAP1 and Its Role in Nuclear Envelope Association

PubMed Central

Mahajan, Rohit; Gerace, Larry; Melchior, Frauke

1998-01-01

The mammalian guanosine triphosphate (GTP)ase-activating protein RanGAP1 is the first example of a protein covalently linked to the ubiquitin-related protein SUMO-1. Here we used peptide mapping, mass spectroscopy analysis, and mutagenesis to identify the nature of the link between RanGAP1 and SUMO-1. SUMO-1 is linked to RanGAP1 via glycine 97, indicating that the last 4 amino acids of this 101– amino acid protein are proteolytically removed before its attachment to RanGAP1. Recombinant SUMO-1 lacking the last four amino acids is efficiently used for modification of RanGAP1 in vitro and of multiple unknown proteins in vivo. In contrast to most ubiquitinated proteins, only a single lysine residue (K526) in RanGAP1 can serve as the acceptor site for modification by SUMO-1. Modification of RanGAP1 with SUMO-1 leads to association of RanGAP1 with the nuclear envelope (NE), where it was previously shown to be required for nuclear protein import. Sufficient information for modification and targeting resides in a 25-kD domain of RanGAP1. RanGAP1–SUMO-1 remains stably associated with the NE during many cycles of in vitro import. This indicates that removal of RanGAP1 from the NE is not a required element of nuclear protein import and suggests that the reversible modification of RanGAP1 may have a regulatory role. PMID:9442102

Longitudinal Stability and Predictors of Poor Oral Comprehenders and Poor Decoders

PubMed Central

Elwér, Åsa; Keenan, Janice M.; Olson, Richard K.; Byrne, Brian; Samuelsson, Stefan

2012-01-01

Two groups of 4th grade children were selected from a population sample (N= 926) to either be Poor Oral Comprehenders (poor oral comprehension but normal word decoding), or Poor Decoders (poor decoding but normal oral comprehension). By examining both groups in the same study with varied cognitive and literacy predictors, and examining them both retrospectively and prospectively, we could assess how distinctive and stable the predictors of each deficit are. Predictors were assessed retrospectively at preschool, at the end of kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades. Group effects were significant at all test occasions, including those for preschool vocabulary (worse in poor oral comprehenders) and rapid naming (RAN) (worse in poor decoders). Preschool RAN and Vocabulary prospectively predicted grade 4 group membership (77–79% correct classification) within the selected samples. Reselection in preschool of at-risk poor decoder and poor oral comprehender subgroups based on these variables led to significant but relatively weak prediction of subtype membership at grade 4. Implications of the predictive stability of our results for identification and intervention of these important subgroups are discussed. PMID:23528975

Processes in the development of mathematics in kindergarten children from Title 1 schools.

PubMed

Foster, Matthew E; Anthony, Jason L; Clements, Doug H; Sarama, Julie H

2015-12-01

This study examined how well nonverbal IQ (or fluid intelligence), vocabulary, phonological awareness (PA), rapid autonomized naming (RAN), and phonological short-term memory (STM) predicted mathematics outcomes. The 208 participating kindergartners were administered tests of fluid intelligence, vocabulary, PA, RAN, STM, and numeracy in the fall of kindergarten, whereas tests of numeracy and applied problems were administered in the spring of kindergarten. Fall numeracy scores accounted for substantial variation in spring outcomes (R(2) values = .49 and .32 for numeracy and applied problems, respectively), which underscores the importance of preschool math instruction and screening for mathematics learning difficulties on entry into kindergarten. Fluid intelligence and PA significantly predicted unique variation in spring numeracy scores (ΔR(2) = .05) after controlling for autoregressive effects and classroom nesting. Fluid intelligence, PA, and STM significantly predicted unique variation in spring applied problems scores (ΔR(2) = .14) after controlling for autoregressive effects and classroom nesting. Although the contributions of fluid intelligence, PA, and STM toward math outcomes were reliable and arguably important, they were small. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bin-Carver: Automatic Recovery of Binary Executable Files

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Texas A&M University,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,College Station,TX,77840 8...PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT...least 23 4K data blocks) and observed how this binary file gets organized in a brand new disk. We found that this simple ls file actually gets

RAN1 is involved in plant cold resistance and development in rice (Oryza sativa).

PubMed

Xu, Peipei; Cai, Weiming

2014-07-01

Of the diverse abiotic stresses, low temperature is one of the major limiting factors that lead to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes in plants. Ran, an evolutionarily conserved small G-protein family, has been shown to be essential for the nuclear translocation of proteins. It also mediates the regulation of cell cycle progression in mammalian cells. However, little is known about Ran function in rice (Oryza sativa). We report here that Ran gene OsRAN1 is essential for the molecular improvement of rice for cold tolerance. Ran also affects plant morphogenesis in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana. OsRAN1 is ubiquitously expressed in rice tissues with the highest expression in the spike. The levels of mRNA encoding OsRAN1 were greatly increased by cold and indoleacetic acid treatment rather than by addition of salt and polyethylene glycol. Further, OsRAN1 overexpression in Arabidopsis increased tiller number, and altered root development. OsRAN1 overexpression in rice improves cold tolerance. The levels of cellular free Pro and sugar levels were highly increased in transgenic plants under cold stress. Under cold stress, OsRAN1 maintained cell division and cell cycle progression, and also promoted the formation of an intact nuclear envelope. The results suggest that OsRAN1 protein plays an important role in the regulation of cellular mitosis and the auxin signalling pathway. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Knockdown of Ran GTPase expression inhibits the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells.

PubMed

Sheng, Chenyi; Qiu, Jian; Wang, Yingying; He, Zhixian; Wang, Hua; Wang, Qingqing; Huang, Yeqing; Zhu, Lianxin; Shi, Feng; Chen, Yingying; Xiong, Shiyao; Xu, Zhen; Ni, Qichao

2018-05-03

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality in women worldwide. Strong evidence has suggested that Ran, which is a small GTP binding protein involved in the transport of RNA and protein across the nucleus, may be a key cellular protein involved in the metastatic progression of cancer. The present study investigated Ran gene expression in breast cancer tissue samples obtained from 140 patients who had undergone surgical resection for breast cancer. Western blot analysis of Ran in breast cancer tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues showed that expression of Ran was significantly increased in breast cancer tissues. Immunohistochemistry analyses conducted on formalin‑fixed paraffin‑embedded breast cancer tissue sections revealed that Ran expression was associated with tumor histological grade, nerve invasion and metastasis, vascular metastasis and Ki‑67 expression (a marker of cell proliferation). Kaplan‑Meier survival analysis showed that increased Ran expression in patients with breast cancer was positively associated with a poor survival prognosis. Furthermore, in vitro experiments demonstrated that highly migratory MDA‑MB‑231 cancer cells treated with Ran‑si‑RNA (si‑Ran), which knocked down expression of Ran, exhibited decreased motility in trans‑well migration and wound healing assays. Cell cycle analysis of Ran knocked down MDA‑MB‑231 cells implicated Ran in cell cycle arrest and the inhibition of proliferation. Furthermore, a starvation and re‑feeding (CCK‑8) assay was performed, which indicated that Ran regulated breast cancer cell proliferation. Taken together, the results provide strong in vitro evidence of the involvement of Ran in the progression of breast cancer and suggest that it could have high potential as a therapeutic target and/or marker of disease.

A New Formulation for Hybrid LES-RANS Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodruff, Stephen L.

2013-01-01

Ideally, a hybrid LES-RANS computation would employ LES only where necessary to make up for the failure of the RANS model to provide sufficient accuracy or to provide time-dependent information. Current approaches are fairly restrictive in the placement of LES and RANS regions; an LES-RANS transition in a boundary layer, for example, yields an unphysical log-layer shift. A hybrid computation is formulated here to allow greater control over the placement of LES and RANS regions and the transitions between them. The concept of model invariance is introduced, which provides a basis for interpreting hybrid results within an LES-RANS transition zone. Consequences of imposing model invariance include the addition of terms to the governing equations that compensate for unphysical gradients created as the model changes between RANS and LES. Computational results illustrate the increased accuracy of the approach and its insensitivity to the location of the transition and to the blending function employed.

Creation of a master table for checking indication and contraindication of medicine from a knowledge base linked with a thesaurus.

PubMed

Ji, Shanmei; Matsumura, Yasushi; Kuwata, Shigeki; Nakano, Hirohiko; Chen, Yufeng; Teratani, Tadamasa; Zhang, Qiyan; Mineno, Takahiro; Takeda, Hiroshi

2004-12-01

To develop a system for checking indication and contraindication of medicines in prescription order entry system, a master table consisting of the disease names corresponding to the medicines adopted in a hospital is needed. The creation of this table requires a considerable manpower. We developed a Web-based system for constructing a medicine/disease thesaurus and a knowledge base. By authority management of users, this system enables many specialists to create the thesaurus collaboratively without confusion. It supports the creation of a knowledge base using concept names by referring to the thesaurus, which is automatically converted to the check master table. When a disease name or medicine name was added to the thesaurus, the check table was automatically updated. We constructed a thesaurus and a knowledge base in the field of circulatory system disease. The knowledge base linked with the thesaurus proved to be efficient for making the check master table for indication/contraindication of medicines.

Kinesin-1 and mitochondrial motility control by discrimination of structurally equivalent but distinct subdomains in Ran-GTP-binding domains of Ran-binding protein 2.

PubMed

Patil, Hemangi; Cho, Kyoung-in; Lee, James; Yang, Yi; Orry, Andrew; Ferreira, Paulo A

2013-03-27

The pleckstrin homology (PH) domain is a versatile fold that mediates a variety of protein-protein and protein-phosphatidylinositol lipid interactions. The Ran-binding protein 2 (RanBP2) contains four interspersed Ran GTPase-binding domains (RBD(n = 1-4)) with close structural homology to the PH domain of Bruton's tyrosine kinase. The RBD2, kinesin-binding domain (KBD) and RBD3 comprise a tripartite domain (R2KR3) of RanBP2 that causes the unfolding, microtubule binding and biphasic activation of kinesin-1, a crucial anterograde motor of mitochondrial motility. However, the interplay between Ran GTPase and R2KR3 of RanBP2 in kinesin-1 activation and mitochondrial motility is elusive. We use structure-function, biochemical, kinetic and cell-based assays with time-lapse live-cell microscopy of over 260,000 mitochondrial-motility-related events to find mutually exclusive subdomains in RBD2 and RBD3 towards Ran GTPase binding, kinesin-1 activation and mitochondrial motility regulation. The RBD2 and RBD3 exhibit Ran-GTP-independent, subdomain and stereochemical-dependent discrimination on the biphasic kinetics of kinesin-1 activation or regulation of mitochondrial motility. Further, KBD alone and R2KR3 stimulate and suppress, respectively, multiple biophysical parameters of mitochondrial motility. The regulation of the bidirectional transport of mitochondria by either KBD or R2KR3 is highly coordinated, because their kinetic effects are accompanied always by changes in mitochondrial motile events of either transport polarity. These studies uncover novel roles in Ran GTPase-independent subdomains of RBD2 and RBD3, and KBD of RanBP2, that confer antagonizing and multi-modal mechanisms of kinesin-1 activation and regulation of mitochondrial motility. These findings open new venues towards the pharmacological harnessing of cooperative and competitive mechanisms regulating kinesins, RanBP2 or mitochondrial motility in disparate human disorders.

Ranolazine triggers pharmacological preconditioning and postconditioning in anesthetized rabbits through activation of RISK pathway.

PubMed

Efentakis, Panagiotis; Andreadou, Ioanna; Bibli, Sophia-Iris; Vasileiou, Styliani; Dagres, Nikolaos; Zoga, Anastasia; Lougiakis, Nikolaos; Kremastinos, Dimitrios Th; Iliodromitis, Efstathios K

2016-10-15

We tested the hypothesis that ranolazine (Ran) is cardioprotective in a model of ischemia /reperfusion and we elucidated the intracellular mechanism. Anesthetized rabbits were subjected to is chemia and reperfusion and were divided into 5 groups: 1) Control, 2) Preconditioning (PreC), 3) Postconditioning (PostC), 4) RanA and 5) RanB, respectively treated with intravenous ranolazine, either 10min before or during index ischemia. Ranolazine was initially given over 60s and then from the beginning and throughout the whole reperfusion period. The infarcted to the risk ratio was calculated (%I/R). In a second series consisting of respective to the first series groups, the animals were subjected to the same interventions up to the 10th min of reperfusion where tissue samples were taken for immunoblotting of Akt, eNOS, ERK½ and GSK3β (RISK pathway). In a third series, RanA+Wort, RanB+Wort and Wort groups were treated with ranolazine as RanA and RanB groups but with the addition of the PI3 inhibitor Wortmaninn (Wort) and %I/R calculated. Ranolazine reduced the % I/R in RanA and RanB compared to the Control (23.1±1.7%, 17.6±2.0% vs 47.6±1.0%, P<0.05). %I/R reduction achieved in the RanA and RanB groups was comparable to that observed in PreC and PostC (16.3±2.1%, 26.2±2.1%, respectively P<0.05 vs Control). Phosphorylation of Akt, ERK½, eNOS and GSK3β were higher in PreC, PostC and in both ranolazine treated groups. Wortmannin abrogated ranolazine's %I/R reduction (RanA+Wort 31.4±1.7%, RanB+Wort 32.4±2.4%). Ranolazine reduces %I/R and triggers cardioprotection with a similar to conditioning mechanism which upregulates the RISK pathway. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ran GTPase promotes cancer progression via Met receptor-mediated downstream signaling

PubMed Central

Yuen, Hiu-Fung; Chan, Ka-Kui; Platt-Higgins, Angela; Dakir, El-Habib; Matchett, Kyle B.; Haggag, Yusuf Ahmed; Jithesh, Puthen V.; Habib, Tanwir; Faheem, Ahmed; Dean, Fennell A.; Morgan, Richard; Rudland, Philip S.; El-Tanani, Mohamed

2016-01-01

It has been shown previously that cancer cells with an activated oncogenic pathway, including Met activation, require Ran for growth and survival. Here, we show that knockdown of Ran leads to a reduction of Met receptor expression in several breast and lung cancer cell lines. This, in turn suppressed HGF expression and the Met-mediated activation of the Akt pathway, as well as cell adhesion, migration, and invasion. In a cell line model where Met amplification has previously been shown to contribute to gefitinib resistance, Ran knockdown sensitized cells to gefitinib-mediated inhibition of Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation and consequently reduced cell proliferation. We further demonstrate that Met reduction-mediated by knockdown of Ran, occurs at the post-transcriptional level, probably via a matrix metalloproteinase. Moreover, the level of immunoreactive Ran and Met are positively associated in human breast cancer specimens, suggesting that a high level of Ran may be a pre-requisite for Met overexpression. Interestingly, a high level of immunoreactive Ran dictates the prognostic significance of Met, indicating that the co-overexpression of Met and Ran may be associated with cancer progression and could be used in combination as a prognostic indicator. PMID:27716616

Combining Facial Recognition, Automatic License Plate Readers and Closed Circuit Television to Create an Interstate Identification System for Wanted Subjects

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

IPSFRP search request. The candidate list will contain the agency’s requested number (minimum of2) of candidates or a default number of 20 candidates if...INTERSTATE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR WANTED SUBJECTS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Michael J. Thomas 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES...Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943-5000 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND

Efficacy of a Classroom Integrated Intervention of Phonological Awareness and Word Recognition in "Double-Deficit Children" Learning a Regular Orthography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Andreas; Motsch, Hans-Joachim

2015-01-01

This study analysed the effects of a classroom intervention focusing on phonological awareness and/or automatized word recognition in children with a deficit in the domains of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming ("double deficit"). According to the double-deficit hypothesis (Wolf & Bowers, 1999), these children belong…

Proceeding of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (1st, Roanoke, Virginia, June 24-28, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY.

Papers in this Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (Roanoke, Virginia, June 24-28, 2001) discuss: automatic genre analysis; text categorization; automated name authority control; automatic event generation; linked active content; designing e-books for legal research; metadata harvesting; mapping the…

Naming Speed and Effortful and Automatic Inhibition in Children with Arithmetic Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Amico, Antonella; Passolunghi, Maria Chiara

2009-01-01

We report a two-year longitudinal study aimed at investigating the rate of access to numerical and non-numerical information in long-term memory and the functioning of automatic and effortful cognitive inhibition processes in children with arithmetical learning disabilities (ALDs). Twelve children with ALDs, of age 9.3 years, and twelve…

Solid state characterization and crystal structure from X-ray powder diffraction of two polymorphic forms of ranitidine base.

PubMed

de Armas, Héctor Novoa; Peeters, Oswald M; Blaton, Norbert; Van Gyseghem, Elke; Martens, Johan; Van Haele, Gerrit; Van Den Mooter, Guy

2009-01-01

Ranitidine hydrochloride (RAN-HCl), a known anti-ulcer drug, is the product of reaction between HCl and ranitidine base (RAN-B). RAN-HCl has been extensively studied; however this is not the case of the RAN-B. The solid state characterization of RAN-B polymorphs has been carried out using different analytical techniques (microscopy, thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry in the attenuated total reflection mode, (13)C-CPMAS-NMR spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction). The crystal structures of RAN-B form I and form II have been determined using conventional X-ray powder diffraction in combination with simulated annealing and whole profile pattern matching, and refined using rigid-body Rietveld refinement. RAN-B form I is a monoclinic polymorph with cell parameters: a = 7.317(2), b = 9.021(2), c = 25.098(6) A, beta = 95.690(1) degrees and space group P2(1)/c. The form II is orthorhombic: a = 31.252(4), b = 13.052(2), c = 8.0892(11) A with space group Pbca. In RAN-B polymorphs, the nitro group is involved in a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond responsible for the existence of a Z configuration in the enamine portion of the molecules. A tail to tail packing motif can be denoted via intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The crystal structures of RAN-B forms are compared to those of RAN-HCl polymorphs. RAN-B polymorphs are monotropic polymorphic pairs. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association

Word Naming in the L1 and L2: A Dynamic Perspective on Automatization and the Degree of Semantic Involvement in Naming

PubMed Central

Plat, Rika; Lowie, Wander; de Bot, Kees

2018-01-01

Reaction time data have long been collected in order to gain insight into the underlying mechanisms involved in language processing. Means analyses often attempt to break down what factors relate to what portion of the total reaction time. From a dynamic systems theory perspective or an interaction dominant view of language processing, it is impossible to isolate discrete factors contributing to language processing, since these continually and interactively play a role. Non-linear analyses offer the tools to investigate the underlying process of language use in time, without having to isolate discrete factors. Patterns of variability in reaction time data may disclose the relative contribution of automatic (grapheme-to-phoneme conversion) processing and attention-demanding (semantic) processing. The presence of a fractal structure in the variability of a reaction time series indicates automaticity in the mental structures contributing to a task. A decorrelated pattern of variability will indicate a higher degree of attention-demanding processing. A focus on variability patterns allows us to examine the relative contribution of automatic and attention-demanding processing when a speaker is using the mother tongue (L1) or a second language (L2). A word naming task conducted in the L1 (Dutch) and L2 (English) shows L1 word processing to rely more on automatic spelling-to-sound conversion than L2 word processing. A word naming task with a semantic categorization subtask showed more reliance on attention-demanding semantic processing when using the L2. A comparison to L1 English data shows this was not only due to the amount of language use or language dominance, but also to the difference in orthographic depth between Dutch and English. An important implication of this finding is that when the same task is used to test and compare different languages, one cannot straightforwardly assume the same cognitive sub processes are involved to an equal degree using the same task in different languages. PMID:29403404

Into the Wind, Against the Tide: Change and the Operational Commander

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-08

j~y ~LY T.C&.C4C SAV "RE 0 DOCUMENTATION AD-A279 635 * -~l; .,Ec*. Ty~’ CA/S5;; CA7:GS Ab RZESiR.CT;Vd A - 27 3 * tUNCLASSIFIED D C.. * -...... €v...Z ;U -C -DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A : APPROVED FOR . DECLASS CAT:Cr. . PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION IS UNLIMITED. E.NAMY -FPRO~N RAN ZA- ON NAME...this .... . e~efsc~ ..... ,71 p .... ,,--’ a -1 .b --,r,,,-t n ecessarily a ,.-. d ’-,y ’-,e .=avo.=* ,,at 1;. COSATI CODES 18. SU ECt TERIMS (Continue

Ada Compiler Validation Summary Report. Certificate Number 880728S1. 09141 DDC-I, Inc., DACS-386/UNIX, Version 4.2, ICL DRS 300 Host and Target

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-07-28

r R ~l~ F COPV en Data Entered) AT ION PAGE -ErOP RCoMrE-EoNGFOP. A D-A 204 928 1Z. GOVT ACCESSION NO. 3. RECIPIENT’S CATALOG NUMBER 4...PAGE (When Data Entered) Ada Compiler Validation Summary Repor-: Compiler Name: DACS-386/UNIX, Version 4.2 Certificate Number: 880728S1.09141 Host...which have the STORAGE SIZE length clause were changed to comment lines under the direction of the AVF Manager . These modified tests ran to a successful

Mutations in Ran system affected telomere silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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

Hayashi, Naoyuki; Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0934; Kobayashi, Masahiko

The Ran GTPase system regulates the direction and timing of several cellular events, such as nuclear-cytosolic transport, centrosome formation, and nuclear envelope assembly in telophase. To gain insight into the Ran system's involvement in chromatin formation, we investigated gene silencing at the telomere in several mutants of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which had defects in genes involved in the Ran system. A mutation of the RanGAP gene, rna1-1, caused reduced silencing at the telomere, and partial disruption of the nuclear Ran binding factor, yrb2-{delta}2, increased this silencing. The reduced telomere silencing in rna1-1 cells was suppressed by a highmore » dosage of the SIR3 gene or the SIT4 gene. Furthermore, hyperphosphorylated Sir3 protein accumulated in the rna1-1 mutant. These results suggest that RanGAP is required for the heterochromatin structure at the telomere in budding yeast.« less

[Relationship between magnocellular function and reading skills in children: a study using visual evoked potentials].

PubMed

Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Yamazaki, Hiroko; Kita, Yosuke; Kaga, Makiko; Oka, Akira

2014-11-01

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. The magnocellular deficit theory is one of several hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the pathophysiology of DD. In this study, we investigated magnocellular system dysfunction in Japanese dyslexic children. Subjects were 19 dyslexic children (DD group) and 19 aged-matched healthy children (TD group). They were aged between 7 and 16 years. Reversed patterns of black and white sinusoidal gratings generated at a low spatial frequency, high reversal frequency of 7.5 Hz, and low contrasts were used specifically to stimulate the magnocellular system. We recorded visual evoked potentials (VEP) from the occipital area and examined their relationship with reading and naming tasks, such as the time to read hiragana characters, rapid automatized naming of pictured objects, and phonological manipulation. Compared to the TD group, the DD group showed a significantly lower peak amplitude of VEPs through the complex demodulation method. Structural equation modeling showed that VEP peak amplitudes were related to the rapid automatized naming of pictured objects, and better rapid automatized naming resulted in higher reading skills. There was no correlation between VEP findings and the capacity for phonological manipulation. VEPs in response to the magnocellular system are useful for understanding the pathophysiology of DD. Single phonological deficit may not be sufficient to cause DD.

RanBPM (RanBP9) regulates mouse c-Kit receptor level and is essential for normal development of bone marrow progenitor cells

PubMed Central

Singh, Satyendra; Klarmann, Kimberly D.; Coppola, Vincenzo; Keller, Jonathan R.; Tessarollo, Lino

2016-01-01

c-Kit is a tyrosine kinase receptor important for gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, melanogenesis and mast cell biology. Dysregulation of c-Kit function is oncogenic and its expression in the stem cell niche of a number of tissues has underlined its relevance for regenerative medicine and hematopoietic stem cell biology. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms that control c-Kit protein levels. Here we show that the RanBPM/RanBP9 scaffold protein binds to c-Kit and is necessary for normal c-Kit protein expression in the mouse testis and subset lineages of the hematopoietic system. RanBPM deletion causes a reduction in c-Kit protein but not its mRNA suggesting a posttranslational mechanism. This regulation is specific to the c-Kit receptor since RanBPM reduction does not affect other membrane proteins examined. Importantly, in both mouse hematopoietic system and testis, RanBPM deficiency causes defects consistent with c-Kit loss of expression suggesting that RanBPM is an important regulator of c-Kit function. The finding that this regulatory mechanism is also present in human cells expressing endogenous RanBPM and c-Kit suggests a potential new strategy to target oncogenic c-Kit in malignancies. PMID:27835883

RanBPM (RanBP9) regulates mouse c-Kit receptor level and is essential for normal development of bone marrow progenitor cells.

PubMed

Puverel, Sandrine; Kiris, Erkan; Singh, Satyendra; Klarmann, Kimberly D; Coppola, Vincenzo; Keller, Jonathan R; Tessarollo, Lino

2016-12-20

c-Kit is a tyrosine kinase receptor important for gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, melanogenesis and mast cell biology. Dysregulation of c-Kit function is oncogenic and its expression in the stem cell niche of a number of tissues has underlined its relevance for regenerative medicine and hematopoietic stem cell biology. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms that control c-Kit protein levels. Here we show that the RanBPM/RanBP9 scaffold protein binds to c-Kit and is necessary for normal c-Kit protein expression in the mouse testis and subset lineages of the hematopoietic system. RanBPM deletion causes a reduction in c-Kit protein but not its mRNA suggesting a posttranslational mechanism. This regulation is specific to the c-Kit receptor since RanBPM reduction does not affect other membrane proteins examined. Importantly, in both mouse hematopoietic system and testis, RanBPM deficiency causes defects consistent with c-Kit loss of expression suggesting that RanBPM is an important regulator of c-Kit function. The finding that this regulatory mechanism is also present in human cells expressing endogenous RanBPM and c-Kit suggests a potential new strategy to target oncogenic c-Kit in malignancies.

Nanoformulation of D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-b-poly(ε-caprolactone-ran-glycolide) diblock copolymer for breast cancer therapy.

PubMed

Huang, Laiqiang; Chen, Hongbo; Zheng, Yi; Song, Xiaosong; Liu, Ranyi; Liu, Kexin; Zeng, Xiaowei; Mei, Lin

2011-10-01

The purpose of this research was to develop formulation of docetaxel-loaded biodegradable TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles for breast cancer chemotherapy. A novel diblock copolymer, d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-b-poly(ε-caprolactone-ran-glycolide) [TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA)], was synthesized from ε-caprolactone, glycolide and d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate by ring-opening polymerization using stannous octoate as catalyst. The obtained copolymers were characterized by (1)H NMR, GPC and TGA. The docetaxel-loaded TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles were prepared and characterized. The data showed that the fluorescence TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles could be internalized by MCF-7 cells. The TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles achieved significantly higher level of cytotoxicity than commercial Taxotere®. MCF-7 xenograft tumor model on SCID mice showed that docetaxel formulated in the TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles could effectively inhibit the growth of tumor over a longer period of time than Taxotere® at the same dose. In conclusion, the TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) copolymer could be acted as a novel and potential biologically active polymeric material for nanoformulation in breast cancer chemotherapy. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

A Strong Loss-of-Function Mutation in RAN1 Results in Constitutive Activation of the Ethylene Response Pathway as Well as a Rosette-Lethal Phenotype

PubMed Central

Woeste, Keith E.; Kieber, Joseph J.

2000-01-01

A recessive mutation was identified that constitutively activated the ethylene response pathway in Arabidopsis and resulted in a rosette-lethal phenotype. Positional cloning of the gene corresponding to this mutation revealed that it was allelic to responsive to antagonist1 (ran1), a mutation that causes seedlings to respond in a positive manner to what is normally a competitive inhibitor of ethylene binding. In contrast to the previously identified ran1-1 and ran1-2 alleles that are morphologically indistinguishable from wild-type plants, this ran1-3 allele results in a rosette-lethal phenotype. The predicted protein encoded by the RAN1 gene is similar to the Wilson and Menkes disease proteins and yeast Ccc2 protein, which are integral membrane cation-transporting P-type ATPases involved in copper trafficking. Genetic epistasis analysis indicated that RAN1 acts upstream of mutations in the ethylene receptor gene family. However, the rosette-lethal phenotype of ran1-3 was not suppressed by ethylene-insensitive mutants, suggesting that this mutation also affects a non-ethylene-dependent pathway regulating cell expansion. The phenotype of ran1-3 mutants is similar to loss-of-function ethylene receptor mutants, suggesting that RAN1 may be required to form functional ethylene receptors. Furthermore, these results suggest that copper is required not only for ethylene binding but also for the signaling function of the ethylene receptors. PMID:10715329

A strong loss-of-function mutation in RAN1 results in constitutive activation of the ethylene response pathway as well as a rosette-lethal phenotype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woeste, K. E.; Kieber, J. J.; Evans, M. L. (Principal Investigator)

2000-01-01

A recessive mutation was identified that constitutively activated the ethylene response pathway in Arabidopsis and resulted in a rosette-lethal phenotype. Positional cloning of the gene corresponding to this mutation revealed that it was allelic to responsive to antagonist1 (ran1), a mutation that causes seedlings to respond in a positive manner to what is normally a competitive inhibitor of ethylene binding. In contrast to the previously identified ran1-1 and ran1-2 alleles that are morphologically indistinguishable from wild-type plants, this ran1-3 allele results in a rosette-lethal phenotype. The predicted protein encoded by the RAN1 gene is similar to the Wilson and Menkes disease proteins and yeast Ccc2 protein, which are integral membrane cation-transporting P-type ATPases involved in copper trafficking. Genetic epistasis analysis indicated that RAN1 acts upstream of mutations in the ethylene receptor gene family. However, the rosette-lethal phenotype of ran1-3 was not suppressed by ethylene-insensitive mutants, suggesting that this mutation also affects a non-ethylene-dependent pathway regulating cell expansion. The phenotype of ran1-3 mutants is similar to loss-of-function ethylene receptor mutants, suggesting that RAN1 may be required to form functional ethylene receptors. Furthermore, these results suggest that copper is required not only for ethylene binding but also for the signaling function of the ethylene receptors.

Activation of Ran GTPase by a Legionella Effector Promotes Microtubule Polymerization, Pathogen Vacuole Motility and Infection

PubMed Central

Rothmeier, Eva; Pfaffinger, Gudrun; Hoffmann, Christine; Harrison, Christopher F.; Grabmayr, Heinrich; Repnik, Urska; Hannemann, Mandy; Wölke, Stefan; Bausch, Andreas; Griffiths, Gareth; Müller-Taubenberger, Annette; Itzen, Aymelt; Hilbi, Hubert

2013-01-01

The causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, Legionella pneumophila, uses the Icm/Dot type IV secretion system (T4SS) to form in phagocytes a distinct “Legionella-containing vacuole” (LCV), which intercepts endosomal and secretory vesicle trafficking. Proteomics revealed the presence of the small GTPase Ran and its effector RanBP1 on purified LCVs. Here we validate that Ran and RanBP1 localize to LCVs and promote intracellular growth of L. pneumophila. Moreover, the L. pneumophila protein LegG1, which contains putative RCC1 Ran guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) domains, accumulates on LCVs in an Icm/Dot-dependent manner. L. pneumophila wild-type bacteria, but not strains lacking LegG1 or a functional Icm/Dot T4SS, activate Ran on LCVs, while purified LegG1 produces active Ran(GTP) in cell lysates. L. pneumophila lacking legG1 is compromised for intracellular growth in macrophages and amoebae, yet is as cytotoxic as the wild-type strain. A downstream effect of LegG1 is to stabilize microtubules, as revealed by conventional and stimulated emission depletion (STED) fluorescence microscopy, subcellular fractionation and Western blot, or by microbial microinjection through the T3SS of a Yersinia strain lacking endogenous effectors. Real-time fluorescence imaging indicates that LCVs harboring wild-type L. pneumophila rapidly move along microtubules, while LCVs harboring ΔlegG1 mutant bacteria are stalled. Together, our results demonstrate that Ran activation and RanBP1 promote LCV formation, and the Icm/Dot substrate LegG1 functions as a bacterial Ran activator, which localizes to LCVs and promotes microtubule stabilization, LCV motility as well as intracellular replication of L. pneumophila. PMID:24068924

Large-Eddy / Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of a Dual-Mode Scramjet Combustor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fulton, Jesse A.; Edwards, Jack R.; Hassan, Hassan A.; Rockwell, Robert; Goyne, Christopher; McDaniel, James; Smith, Chad; Cutler, Andrew; Johansen, Craig; Danehy, Paul M.;

Impact of translation on named-entity recognition in radiology texts

PubMed Central

Pedro, Vasco

2017-01-01

Abstract Radiology reports describe the results of radiography procedures and have the potential of being a useful source of information which can bring benefits to health care systems around the world. One way to automatically extract information from the reports is by using Text Mining tools. The problem is that these tools are mostly developed for English and reports are usually written in the native language of the radiologist, which is not necessarily English. This creates an obstacle to the sharing of Radiology information between different communities. This work explores the solution of translating the reports to English before applying the Text Mining tools, probing the question of what translation approach should be used. We created MRRAD (Multilingual Radiology Research Articles Dataset), a parallel corpus of Portuguese research articles related to Radiology and a number of alternative translations (human, automatic and semi-automatic) to English. This is a novel corpus which can be used to move forward the research on this topic. Using MRRAD we studied which kind of automatic or semi-automatic translation approach is more effective on the Named-entity recognition task of finding RadLex terms in the English version of the articles. Considering the terms extracted from human translations as our gold standard, we calculated how similar to this standard were the terms extracted using other translations. We found that a completely automatic translation approach using Google leads to F-scores (between 0.861 and 0.868, depending on the extraction approach) similar to the ones obtained through a more expensive semi-automatic translation approach using Unbabel (between 0.862 and 0.870). To better understand the results we also performed a qualitative analysis of the type of errors found in the automatic and semi-automatic translations. Database URL: https://github.com/lasigeBioTM/MRRAD PMID:29220455

Towards an Automatic Classification System for Supporting the Development of Critical Reflective Skills in L2 Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Gary

2017-01-01

This study aimed to develop an automatic classification system, namely ACTIVE, for generating immediate and individualised feedback on students' reflective entries about their second language (L2) learning experiences. It also aimed to explore students' attitudes towards using the system to support the development of their reflective skills in L2…

Speech Processing and Recognition (SPaRe)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

results in the areas of automatic speech recognition (ASR), speech processing, machine translation (MT), natural language processing ( NLP ), and...Processing ( NLP ), Information Retrieval (IR) 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: UNCLASSIFED 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME...Figure 9, the IOC was only expected to provide document submission and search; automatic speech recognition (ASR) for English, Spanish, Arabic , and

The Development of a Web-Based Assessment System to Identify Students' Misconception Automatically on Linear Kinematics with a Four-Tier Instrument Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pujayanto, Pujayanto; Budiharti, Rini; Adhitama, Egy; Nuraini, Niken Rizky Amalia; Putri, Hanung Vernanda

2018-01-01

This research proposes the development of a web-based assessment system to identify students' misconception. The system, named WAS (web-based assessment system), can identify students' misconception profile on linear kinematics automatically after the student has finished the test. The test instrument was developed and validated. Items were…

Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading Performance: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Araújo, Susana; Reis, Alexandra; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Faísca, Luís

2015-01-01

Evidence that rapid naming skill is associated with reading ability has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. However, there is considerable variation in the literature concerning the magnitude of this relationship. The objective of the present study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of the evidence on the relationship between rapid…

RanBPM: a potential therapeutic target for modulating diverse physiological disorders.

PubMed

Das, Soumyadip; Suresh, Bharathi; Kim, Hyongbum Henry; Ramakrishna, Suresh

2017-12-01

The Ran-binding protein microtubule-organizing center (RanBPM) is a highly conserved nucleocytoplasmic protein involved in a variety of intracellular signaling pathways that control diverse cellular functions. RanBPM interacts with proteins that are linked to various diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and cancer. In this article, we define the characteristics of the scaffolding protein RanBPM and focus on its interaction partners in diverse physiological disorders, such as neurological diseases, fertility disorders, and cancer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

3D Orbit Visualization for Earth-Observing Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jacob, Joseph C.; Plesea, Lucian; Chafin, Brian G.; Weiss, Barry H.

2011-01-01

This software visualizes orbit paths for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), but was designed to be general and applicable to any Earth-observing mission. The software uses the Google Earth user interface to provide a visual mechanism to explore spacecraft orbit paths, ground footprint locations, and local cloud cover conditions. In addition, a drill-down capability allows for users to point and click on a particular observation frame to pop up ancillary information such as data product filenames and directory paths, latitude, longitude, time stamp, column-average dry air mole fraction of carbon dioxide, and solar zenith angle. This software can be integrated with the ground data system for any Earth-observing mission to automatically generate daily orbit path data products in Google Earth KML format. These KML data products can be directly loaded into the Google Earth application for interactive 3D visualization of the orbit paths for each mission day. Each time the application runs, the daily orbit paths are encapsulated in a KML file for each mission day since the last time the application ran. Alternatively, the daily KML for a specified mission day may be generated. The application automatically extracts the spacecraft position and ground footprint geometry as a function of time from a daily Level 1B data product created and archived by the mission s ground data system software. In addition, ancillary data, such as the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of carbon dioxide and solar zenith angle, are automatically extracted from a Level 2 mission data product. Zoom, pan, and rotate capability are provided through the standard Google Earth interface. Cloud cover is indicated with an image layer from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) aboard the Aqua satellite, which is automatically retrieved from JPL s OnEarth Web service.

CFD Analysis and Design Optimization Using Parallel Computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martinelli, Luigi; Alonso, Juan Jose; Jameson, Antony; Reuther, James

1997-01-01

A versatile and efficient multi-block method is presented for the simulation of both steady and unsteady flow, as well as aerodynamic design optimization of complete aircraft configurations. The compressible Euler and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are discretized using a high resolution scheme on body-fitted structured meshes. An efficient multigrid implicit scheme is implemented for time-accurate flow calculations. Optimum aerodynamic shape design is achieved at very low cost using an adjoint formulation. The method is implemented on parallel computing systems using the MPI message passing interface standard to ensure portability. The results demonstrate that, by combining highly efficient algorithms with parallel computing, it is possible to perform detailed steady and unsteady analysis as well as automatic design for complex configurations using the present generation of parallel computers.

Variation in Foot Strike Patterns during Running among Habitually Barefoot Populations

PubMed Central

Hatala, Kevin G.; Dingwall, Heather L.; Wunderlich, Roshna E.; Richmond, Brian G.

2013-01-01

Endurance running may have a long evolutionary history in the hominin clade but it was not until very recently that humans ran wearing shoes. Research on modern habitually unshod runners has suggested that they utilize a different biomechanical strategy than runners who wear shoes, namely that barefoot runners typically use a forefoot strike in order to avoid generating the high impact forces that would be experienced if they were to strike the ground with their heels first. This finding suggests that our habitually unshod ancestors may have run in a similar way. However, this research was conducted on a single population and we know little about variation in running form among habitually barefoot people, including the effects of running speed, which has been shown to affect strike patterns in shod runners. Here, we present the results of our investigation into the selection of running foot strike patterns among another modern habitually unshod group, the Daasanach of northern Kenya. Data were collected from 38 consenting adults as they ran along a trackway with a plantar pressure pad placed midway along its length. Subjects ran at self-selected endurance running and sprinting speeds. Our data support the hypothesis that a forefoot strike reduces the magnitude of impact loading, but the majority of subjects instead used a rearfoot strike at endurance running speeds. Their percentages of midfoot and forefoot strikes increased significantly with speed. These results indicate that not all habitually barefoot people prefer running with a forefoot strike, and suggest that other factors such as running speed, training level, substrate mechanical properties, running distance, and running frequency, influence the selection of foot strike patterns. PMID:23326341

Variation in foot strike patterns during running among habitually barefoot populations.

PubMed

Hatala, Kevin G; Dingwall, Heather L; Wunderlich, Roshna E; Richmond, Brian G

2013-01-01

Endurance running may have a long evolutionary history in the hominin clade but it was not until very recently that humans ran wearing shoes. Research on modern habitually unshod runners has suggested that they utilize a different biomechanical strategy than runners who wear shoes, namely that barefoot runners typically use a forefoot strike in order to avoid generating the high impact forces that would be experienced if they were to strike the ground with their heels first. This finding suggests that our habitually unshod ancestors may have run in a similar way. However, this research was conducted on a single population and we know little about variation in running form among habitually barefoot people, including the effects of running speed, which has been shown to affect strike patterns in shod runners. Here, we present the results of our investigation into the selection of running foot strike patterns among another modern habitually unshod group, the Daasanach of northern Kenya. Data were collected from 38 consenting adults as they ran along a trackway with a plantar pressure pad placed midway along its length. Subjects ran at self-selected endurance running and sprinting speeds. Our data support the hypothesis that a forefoot strike reduces the magnitude of impact loading, but the majority of subjects instead used a rearfoot strike at endurance running speeds. Their percentages of midfoot and forefoot strikes increased significantly with speed. These results indicate that not all habitually barefoot people prefer running with a forefoot strike, and suggest that other factors such as running speed, training level, substrate mechanical properties, running distance, and running frequency, influence the selection of foot strike patterns.

Innervation of Extrahepatic Biliary Tract, With Special Reference to the Direct Bidirectional Neural Connections of the Gall Bladder, Sphincter of Oddi and Duodenum in Suncus murinus, in Whole-Mount Immunohistochemical Study.

PubMed

Yi, S-Q; Ren, K; Kinoshita, M; Takano, N; Itoh, M; Ozaki, N

2016-06-01

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction is one of the most important symptoms in post-cholecystectomy syndrome. Using either electrical or mechanical stimulation and retrogradely transported neuronal dyes, it has been demonstrated that there are direct neural pathways connecting gall bladder and the sphincter of Oddi in the Australian opossum and the golden hamster. In the present study, we employed whole-mount immunohistochemistry staining to observe and verify that there are two different plexuses of the extrahepatic biliary tract in Suncus murinus. One, named Pathway One, showed a fine, irregular but dense network plexus that ran adhesively and resided on/in the extrahepatic biliary tract wall, and the plexus extended into the intrahepatic area. On the other hand, named Pathway Two, exhibiting simple, thicker and straight neural bundles, ran parallel to the surface of the extrahepatic biliary tract and passed between the gall bladder and duodenum, but did not give off any branches to the liver. Pathway Two was considered to involve direct bidirectional neural connections between the duodenum and the biliary tract system. For the first time, morphologically, we demonstrated direct neural connections between gall bladder and duodenum in S. murinus. Malfunction of the sphincter of Oddi may be caused by injury of the direct neural pathways between gall bladder and duodenum by cholecystectomy. From the viewpoint of preserving the function of the major duodenal papilla and common bile duct, we emphasize the importance of avoiding kocherization of the common bile duct so as to preserve the direct neural connections between gall bladder and sphincter of Oddi. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Providing Cryptographic Security and Evidentiary Chain-of-Custody with the Advanced Forensic Format, Library, and Tools

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-19

1 hash of the page page%d sha256 The segment for the SHA256 hash of the page Bad Sector Management: badsectors The number of sectors in the image...written, AFFLIB can automatically compute the page’s MD5, SHA-1, and/or SHA256 hash and write an associated segment containing the hash value. The...are written into segments themselves, with the segment name being name/ sha256 where name is the original segment name sha256 is the hash algorithm used

Automatic Artifact Removal from Electroencephalogram Data Based on A Priori Artifact Information.

PubMed

Zhang, Chi; Tong, Li; Zeng, Ying; Jiang, Jingfang; Bu, Haibing; Yan, Bin; Li, Jianxin

2015-01-01

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is susceptible to various nonneural physiological artifacts. Automatic artifact removal from EEG data remains a key challenge for extracting relevant information from brain activities. To adapt to variable subjects and EEG acquisition environments, this paper presents an automatic online artifact removal method based on a priori artifact information. The combination of discrete wavelet transform and independent component analysis (ICA), wavelet-ICA, was utilized to separate artifact components. The artifact components were then automatically identified using a priori artifact information, which was acquired in advance. Subsequently, signal reconstruction without artifact components was performed to obtain artifact-free signals. The results showed that, using this automatic online artifact removal method, there were statistical significant improvements of the classification accuracies in both two experiments, namely, motor imagery and emotion recognition.

Automatic Artifact Removal from Electroencephalogram Data Based on A Priori Artifact Information

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chi; Tong, Li; Zeng, Ying; Jiang, Jingfang; Bu, Haibing; Li, Jianxin

2015-01-01

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is susceptible to various nonneural physiological artifacts. Automatic artifact removal from EEG data remains a key challenge for extracting relevant information from brain activities. To adapt to variable subjects and EEG acquisition environments, this paper presents an automatic online artifact removal method based on a priori artifact information. The combination of discrete wavelet transform and independent component analysis (ICA), wavelet-ICA, was utilized to separate artifact components. The artifact components were then automatically identified using a priori artifact information, which was acquired in advance. Subsequently, signal reconstruction without artifact components was performed to obtain artifact-free signals. The results showed that, using this automatic online artifact removal method, there were statistical significant improvements of the classification accuracies in both two experiments, namely, motor imagery and emotion recognition. PMID:26380294

Antisense expression of an Arabidopsis ran binding protein renders transgenic roots hypersensitive to auxin and alters auxin-induced root growth and development by arresting mitotic progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, S. H.; Arnold, D.; Lloyd, A.; Roux, S. J.

2001-01-01

We cloned a cDNA encoding an Arabidopsis Ran binding protein, AtRanBP1c, and generated transgenic Arabidopsis expressing the antisense strand of the AtRanBP1c gene to understand the in vivo functions of the Ran/RanBP signal pathway. The transgenic plants showed enhanced primary root growth but suppressed growth of lateral roots. Auxin significantly increased lateral root initiation and inhibited primary root growth in the transformants at 10 pM, several orders of magnitude lower than required to induce these responses in wild-type roots. This induction was followed by a blockage of mitosis in both newly emerged lateral roots and in the primary root, ultimately resulting in the selective death of cells in the tips of both lateral and primary roots. Given the established role of Ran binding proteins in the transport of proteins into the nucleus, these findings are consistent with a model in which AtRanBP1c plays a key role in the nuclear delivery of proteins that suppress auxin action and that regulate mitotic progress in root tips.

Modulation of Ca(v)3.1 T-type Ca2+ channels by the ran binding protein RanBPM.

PubMed

Kim, Taehyun; Kim, Sunoh; Yun, Hyung-Mun; Chung, Kwang Chul; Han, Ye Sun; Shin, Hee-Sup; Rhim, Hyewhon

2009-01-02

In order to study the currently unknown cellular signaling pathways of Ca(v)3.1 T-type Ca(2+) channels (Ca(v)3.1 channels), we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening using intracellular domains of Ca(v)3.1 alpha1 subunit as bait. After screening the human brain cDNA library, several proteins, including RanBPM, were identified as interacting with Ca(v)3.1 channels. RanBPM was found to bind to the cytoplasmic intracellular loop between transmembrane domains I and II of Ca(v)3.1 channels. Using whole-cell patch-clamp techniques, we found that Ca(v)3.1 currents were increased by the expression of RanBPM in HEK293/Ca(v)3.1 cells. We next examined whether RanBPM affected the biophysical properties and plasma membrane expression of Ca(v)3.1 channels. Furthermore, we showed that the PKC activator inhibited Ca(v)3.1 currents, an effect that was abolished by the expression of RanBPM. These results suggest that RanBPM could be a key regulator of Ca(v)3.1 channel-mediated signaling pathways.

Ran GTPase protein promotes human pancreatic cancer proliferation by deregulating the expression of Survivin and cell cycle proteins

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

Deng, Lin; Department of Oncology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710038; Lu, Yuanyuan

2013-10-18

Highlights: •Overexpression of Ran in pancreatic cancer was correlated with histological grade. •Downregulation of Ran could induce cell apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation. •The effects were mediated by cell cycle proteins, Survivin and cleaved Caspase-3. -- Abstract: Ran, a member of the Ras GTPase family, has important roles in nucleocytoplasmic transport. Herein, we detected Ran expression in pancreatic cancer and explored its potential role on tumour progression. Overexpressed Ran in pancreatic cancer tissues was found highly correlated with the histological grade. Downregulation of Ran led to significant suppression of cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest at the G1/S phase and inductionmore » of apoptosis. In vivo studies also validated that result. Further studies revealed that those effects were at least partly mediated by the downregulation of Cyclin A, Cyclin D1, Cyclin E, CDK2, CDK4, phospho-Rb and Survivin proteins and up regulation of cleaved Caspase-3.« less

[Development of a Software for Automatically Generated Contours in Eclipse TPS].

PubMed

Xie, Zhao; Hu, Jinyou; Zou, Lian; Zhang, Weisha; Zou, Yuxin; Luo, Kelin; Liu, Xiangxiang; Yu, Luxin

2015-03-01

The automatic generation of planning targets and auxiliary contours have achieved in Eclipse TPS 11.0. The scripting language autohotkey was used to develop a software for automatically generated contours in Eclipse TPS. This software is named Contour Auto Margin (CAM), which is composed of operational functions of contours, script generated visualization and script file operations. RESULTS Ten cases in different cancers have separately selected, in Eclipse TPS 11.0 scripts generated by the software could not only automatically generate contours but also do contour post-processing. For different cancers, there was no difference between automatically generated contours and manually created contours. The CAM is a user-friendly and powerful software, and can automatically generated contours fast in Eclipse TPS 11.0. With the help of CAM, it greatly save plan preparation time and improve working efficiency of radiation therapy physicists.

COPS5 (Jab1) protein increases β site processing of amyloid precursor protein and amyloid β peptide generation by stabilizing RanBP9 protein levels.

PubMed

Wang, Hongjie; Dey, Debleena; Carrera, Ivan; Minond, Dmitriy; Bianchi, Elisabetta; Xu, Shaohua; Lakshmana, Madepalli K

2013-09-13

Increased processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and accumulation of neurotoxic amyloid β peptide (Aβ) in the brain is central to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, the identification of molecules that regulate Aβ generation is crucial for future therapeutic approaches for AD. We demonstrated previously that RanBP9 regulates Aβ generation in a number of cell lines and primary neuronal cultures by forming tripartite protein complexes with APP, low-density lipoprotein-related protein, and BACE1, consequently leading to increased amyloid plaque burden in the brain. RanBP9 is a scaffold protein that exists and functions in multiprotein complexes. To identify other proteins that may bind RanBP9 and regulate Aβ levels, we used a two-hybrid analysis against a human brain cDNA library and identified COPS5 as a novel RanBP9-interacting protein. This interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation experiments in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells and mouse brain. Colocalization of COPS5 and RanBP9 in the same subcellular compartments further supported the interaction of both proteins. Furthermore, like RanBP9, COPS5 robustly increased Aβ generation, followed by increased soluble APP-β (sAPP-β) and decreased soluble-APP-α (sAPP-α) levels. Most importantly, down-regulation of COPS5 by siRNAs reduced Aβ generation, implying that endogenous COPS5 regulates Aβ generation. Finally, COPS5 levels were increased significantly in AD brains and APΔE9 transgenic mice, and overexpression of COPS5 strongly increased RanBP9 protein levels by increasing its half-life. Taken together, these results suggest that COPS5 increases Aβ generation by increasing RanBP9 levels. Thus, COPS5 is a novel RanBP9-binding protein that increases APP processing and Aβ generation by stabilizing RanBP9 protein levels.

Catalysis of GTP Hydrolysis by Small GTPases at Atomic Detail by Integration of X-ray Crystallography, Experimental, and Theoretical IR Spectroscopy*

PubMed Central

Rudack, Till; Jenrich, Sarah; Brucker, Sven; Vetter, Ingrid R.; Gerwert, Klaus; Kötting, Carsten

2015-01-01

Small GTPases regulate key processes in cells. Malfunction of their GTPase reaction by mutations is involved in severe diseases. Here, we compare the GTPase reaction of the slower hydrolyzing GTPase Ran with Ras. By combination of time-resolved FTIR difference spectroscopy and QM/MM simulations we elucidate that the Mg2+ coordination by the phosphate groups, which varies largely among the x-ray structures, is the same for Ran and Ras. A new x-ray structure of a Ran·RanBD1 complex with improved resolution confirmed this finding and revealed a general problem with the refinement of Mg2+ in GTPases. The Mg2+ coordination is not responsible for the much slower GTPase reaction of Ran. Instead, the location of the Tyr-39 side chain of Ran between the γ-phosphate and Gln-69 prevents the optimal positioning of the attacking water molecule by the Gln-69 relative to the γ-phosphate. This is confirmed in the RanY39A·RanBD1 crystal structure. The QM/MM simulations provide IR spectra of the catalytic center, which agree very nicely with the experimental ones. The combination of both methods can correlate spectra with structure at atomic detail. For example the FTIR difference spectra of RasA18T and RanT25A mutants show that spectral differences are mainly due to the hydrogen bond of Thr-25 to the α-phosphate in Ran. By integration of x-ray structure analysis, experimental, and theoretical IR spectroscopy the catalytic center of the x-ray structural models are further refined to sub-Å resolution, allowing an improved understanding of catalysis. PMID:26272610

Catalysis of GTP hydrolysis by small GTPases at atomic detail by integration of X-ray crystallography, experimental, and theoretical IR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Rudack, Till; Jenrich, Sarah; Brucker, Sven; Vetter, Ingrid R; Gerwert, Klaus; Kötting, Carsten

2015-10-02

Small GTPases regulate key processes in cells. Malfunction of their GTPase reaction by mutations is involved in severe diseases. Here, we compare the GTPase reaction of the slower hydrolyzing GTPase Ran with Ras. By combination of time-resolved FTIR difference spectroscopy and QM/MM simulations we elucidate that the Mg(2+) coordination by the phosphate groups, which varies largely among the x-ray structures, is the same for Ran and Ras. A new x-ray structure of a Ran·RanBD1 complex with improved resolution confirmed this finding and revealed a general problem with the refinement of Mg(2+) in GTPases. The Mg(2+) coordination is not responsible for the much slower GTPase reaction of Ran. Instead, the location of the Tyr-39 side chain of Ran between the γ-phosphate and Gln-69 prevents the optimal positioning of the attacking water molecule by the Gln-69 relative to the γ-phosphate. This is confirmed in the RanY39A·RanBD1 crystal structure. The QM/MM simulations provide IR spectra of the catalytic center, which agree very nicely with the experimental ones. The combination of both methods can correlate spectra with structure at atomic detail. For example the FTIR difference spectra of RasA18T and RanT25A mutants show that spectral differences are mainly due to the hydrogen bond of Thr-25 to the α-phosphate in Ran. By integration of x-ray structure analysis, experimental, and theoretical IR spectroscopy the catalytic center of the x-ray structural models are further refined to sub-Å resolution, allowing an improved understanding of catalysis. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

RAN/RANBP2 polymorphisms and neuroblastoma risk in Chinese children: a three-center case-control study.

PubMed

Wang, Juxiang; Zhuo, Zhenjian; Chen, Min; Zhu, Jinhong; Zhao, Jie; Zhang, Jiao; Chen, Shanshan; He, Jing; Zhou, Haixia

2018-04-28

The genetic etiology of sporadic neuroblastoma remains largely obscure. RAN and RANBP2 genes encode Ras-related nuclear protein and Ran-binding protein 2, respectively. These two proteins form Ran-RanBP2 complex that regulate various cellular activities including nuclear transport. Aberrant functions of the two proteins are implicated in carcinogenesis. Given the unknown role of RAN/RANBP2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in neuroblastoma risk, we performed a multi-center case-control study in Chinese children to assess the association of the RAN/RANBP2 SNPs with neuroblastoma risk. We analyzed three potentially functional SNPs in RAN gene (rs56109543 C>T, rs7132224 A>G, rs14035 C>T) and one in RANBP2 (rs2462788 C>T) in 429 cases and 884 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to access the association between these four polymorphisms and neuroblastoma risk. No single variant was found to statistically significantly associate with neuroblastoma risk. However, individuals with 3 protective genotypes were less likely to develop neuroblastoma, in comparison to non-carriers (adjusted OR=0.33; 95% CI=0.12-0.96; P =0.042), as well as those with 0-2 protective genotypes (adjusted OR=0.33; 95% CI=0.11-0.94; P =0.038). Stratified analysis revealed no significant association for any of the four polymorphisms. Further studies are warranted to validate the weak impact of RAN/RANBP2 SNPs on neuroblastoma risk.

Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for prediction of regions of high Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes uncertainty

DOE PAGES

Ling, Julia; Templeton, Jeremy Alan

2015-08-04

Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models are widely used in industry to predict fluid flows, despite their acknowledged deficiencies. Not only do RANS models often produce inaccurate flow predictions, but there are very limited diagnostics available to assess RANS accuracy for a given flow configuration. If experimental or higher fidelity simulation results are not available for RANS validation, there is no reliable method to evaluate RANS accuracy. This paper explores the potential of utilizing machine learning algorithms to identify regions of high RANS uncertainty. Three different machine learning algorithms were evaluated: support vector machines, Adaboost decision trees, and random forests.more » The algorithms were trained on a database of canonical flow configurations for which validated direct numerical simulation or large eddy simulation results were available, and were used to classify RANS results on a point-by-point basis as having either high or low uncertainty, based on the breakdown of specific RANS modeling assumptions. Classifiers were developed for three different basic RANS eddy viscosity model assumptions: the isotropy of the eddy viscosity, the linearity of the Boussinesq hypothesis, and the non-negativity of the eddy viscosity. It is shown that these classifiers are able to generalize to flows substantially different from those on which they were trained. As a result, feature selection techniques, model evaluation, and extrapolation detection are discussed in the context of turbulence modeling applications.« less

Online model checking approach based parameter estimation to a neuronal fate decision simulation model in Caenorhabditis elegans with hybrid functional Petri net with extension.

PubMed

Li, Chen; Nagasaki, Masao; Koh, Chuan Hock; Miyano, Satoru

2011-05-01

Mathematical modeling and simulation studies are playing an increasingly important role in helping researchers elucidate how living organisms function in cells. In systems biology, researchers typically tune many parameters manually to achieve simulation results that are consistent with biological knowledge. This severely limits the size and complexity of simulation models built. In order to break this limitation, we propose a computational framework to automatically estimate kinetic parameters for a given network structure. We utilized an online (on-the-fly) model checking technique (which saves resources compared to the offline approach), with a quantitative modeling and simulation architecture named hybrid functional Petri net with extension (HFPNe). We demonstrate the applicability of this framework by the analysis of the underlying model for the neuronal cell fate decision model (ASE fate model) in Caenorhabditis elegans. First, we built a quantitative ASE fate model containing 3327 components emulating nine genetic conditions. Then, using our developed efficient online model checker, MIRACH 1.0, together with parameter estimation, we ran 20-million simulation runs, and were able to locate 57 parameter sets for 23 parameters in the model that are consistent with 45 biological rules extracted from published biological articles without much manual intervention. To evaluate the robustness of these 57 parameter sets, we run another 20 million simulation runs using different magnitudes of noise. Our simulation results concluded that among these models, one model is the most reasonable and robust simulation model owing to the high stability against these stochastic noises. Our simulation results provide interesting biological findings which could be used for future wet-lab experiments.

Developmental dyslexia: predicting individual risk

PubMed Central

Thompson, Paul A; Hulme, Charles; Nash, Hannah M; Gooch, Debbie; Hayiou-Thomas, Emma; Snowling, Margaret J

2015-01-01

Background Causal theories of dyslexia suggest that it is a heritable disorder, which is the outcome of multiple risk factors. However, whether early screening for dyslexia is viable is not yet known. Methods The study followed children at high risk of dyslexia from preschool through the early primary years assessing them from age 3 years and 6 months (T1) at approximately annual intervals on tasks tapping cognitive, language, and executive-motor skills. The children were recruited to three groups: children at family risk of dyslexia, children with concerns regarding speech, and language development at 3;06 years and controls considered to be typically developing. At 8 years, children were classified as ‘dyslexic’ or not. Logistic regression models were used to predict the individual risk of dyslexia and to investigate how risk factors accumulate to predict poor literacy outcomes. Results Family-risk status was a stronger predictor of dyslexia at 8 years than low language in preschool. Additional predictors in the preschool years include letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and executive skills. At the time of school entry, language skills become significant predictors, and motor skills add a small but significant increase to the prediction probability. We present classification accuracy using different probability cutoffs for logistic regression models and ROC curves to highlight the accumulation of risk factors at the individual level. Conclusions Dyslexia is the outcome of multiple risk factors and children with language difficulties at school entry are at high risk. Family history of dyslexia is a predictor of literacy outcome from the preschool years. However, screening does not reach an acceptable clinical level until close to school entry when letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and RAN, rather than family risk, together provide good sensitivity and specificity as a screening battery. PMID:25832320

The RanGTP Pathway: From Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Transport to Spindle Assembly and Beyond

PubMed Central

Cavazza, Tommaso; Vernos, Isabelle

2016-01-01

The small GTPase Ran regulates the interaction of transport receptors with a number of cellular cargo proteins. The high affinity binding of the GTP-bound form of Ran to import receptors promotes cargo release, whereas its binding to export receptors stabilizes their interaction with the cargo. This basic mechanism linked to the asymmetric distribution of the two nucleotide-bound forms of Ran between the nucleus and the cytoplasm generates a switch like mechanism controlling nucleo-cytoplasmic transport. Since 1999, we have known that after nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) Ran and the above transport receptors also provide a local control over the activity of factors driving spindle assembly and regulating other aspects of cell division. The identification and functional characterization of RanGTP mitotic targets is providing novel insights into mechanisms essential for cell division. Here we review our current knowledge on the RanGTP system and its regulation and we focus on the recent advances made through the characterization of its mitotic targets. We then briefly review the novel functions of the pathway that were recently described. Altogether, the RanGTP system has moonlighting functions exerting a spatial control over protein interactions that drive specific functions depending on the cellular context. PMID:26793706

[Doctor Albéric Pont (1870-1960). Dental surgeon, doctor and creator of the center of maxillo-facial surgery of Lyon in 1914].

PubMed

Riaud, Xavier

2008-01-01

As Stomatologist and Dental Surgeon Albéric Pont founded with six other Dental Surgeons the School of Dentistry in Lyons which he ran for a long time. When he enlisted in the French Army in 1914 he soon became aware of the extent of facial damage that occurred among the injured soldiers. His subsequent decision was to create and run a Centre for maxillofacial surgery in Lyons. He died in 1960 and left a significant scientific work as well as technical elements of surgery, dental index and devices which still bear his name.

Ran1 functions to control the Cdc10/Sct1 complex through Puc1.

PubMed Central

Caligiuri, M; Connolly, T; Beach, D

1997-01-01

We have undertaken a biochemical analysis of the regulation of the G1/S-phase transition and commitment to the cell cycle in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The execution of Start requires the activity of the Cdc2 protein kinase and the Sct1/Cdc10 transcription complex. Progression through G1 also requires the Ran1 protein kinase whose inactivation leads to activation of the meiotic pathway under conditions normally inhibitory to this process. We have found that in addition to Cdc2, Sct1/Cdc10 complex formation requires Ran1. We demonstrate that the Puc1 cyclin associates with Ran1 and Cdc10 in vivo and that the Ran1 protein kinase functions to control the association between Puc1 and Cdc10. In addition, we present evidence that the phosphorylation state of Cdc10 is altered upon inactivation of Ran1. These results provide biochemical evidence that demonstrate one mechanism by which the Ran1 protein kinase serves to control cell fate through Cdc10 and Puc1. Images PMID:9201720

NEMO: Extraction and normalization of organization names from PubMed affiliations.

PubMed

Jonnalagadda, Siddhartha Reddy; Topham, Philip

2010-10-04

Today, there are more than 18 million articles related to biomedical research indexed in MEDLINE, and information derived from them could be used effectively to save the great amount of time and resources spent by government agencies in understanding the scientific landscape, including key opinion leaders and centers of excellence. Associating biomedical articles with organization names could significantly benefit the pharmaceutical marketing industry, health care funding agencies and public health officials and be useful for other scientists in normalizing author names, automatically creating citations, indexing articles and identifying potential resources or collaborators. Large amount of extracted information helps in disambiguating organization names using machine-learning algorithms. We propose NEMO, a system for extracting organization names in the affiliation and normalizing them to a canonical organization name. Our parsing process involves multi-layered rule matching with multiple dictionaries. The system achieves more than 98% f-score in extracting organization names. Our process of normalization that involves clustering based on local sequence alignment metrics and local learning based on finding connected components. A high precision was also observed in normalization. NEMO is the missing link in associating each biomedical paper and its authors to an organization name in its canonical form and the Geopolitical location of the organization. This research could potentially help in analyzing large social networks of organizations for landscaping a particular topic, improving performance of author disambiguation, adding weak links in the co-author network of authors, augmenting NLM's MARS system for correcting errors in OCR output of affiliation field, and automatically indexing the PubMed citations with the normalized organization name and country. Our system is available as a graphical user interface available for download along with this paper.

Priming production: Neural evidence for enhanced automatic semantic activity preceding language production in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Kuperberg, Gina R; Delaney-Busch, Nathaniel; Fanucci, Kristina; Blackford, Trevor

2018-01-01

Lexico-semantic disturbances are considered central to schizophrenia. Clinically, their clearest manifestation is in language production. However, most studies probing their underlying mechanisms have used comprehension or categorization tasks. Here, we probed automatic semantic activity prior to language production in schizophrenia using event-related potentials (ERPs). 19 people with schizophrenia and 16 demographically-matched healthy controls named target pictures that were very quickly preceded by masked prime words. To probe automatic semantic activity prior to production, we measured the N400 ERP component evoked by these targets. To determine the origin of any automatic semantic abnormalities, we manipulated the type of relationship between prime and target such that they overlapped in (a) their semantic features (semantically related, e.g. "cake" preceding a < picture of a pie >, (b) their initial phonemes (phonemically related, e.g. "stomach" preceding a < picture of a starfish >), or (c) both their semantic features and their orthographic/phonological word form (identity related, e.g. "socks" preceding a < picture of socks >). For each of these three types of relationship, the same targets were paired with unrelated prime words (counterbalanced across lists). We contrasted ERPs and naming times to each type of related target with its corresponding unrelated target. People with schizophrenia showed abnormal N400 modulation prior to naming identity related (versus unrelated) targets: whereas healthy control participants produced a smaller amplitude N400 to identity related than unrelated targets, patients showed the opposite pattern, producing a larger N400 to identity related than unrelated targets. This abnormality was specific to the identity related targets. Just like healthy control participants, people with schizophrenia produced a smaller N400 to semantically related than to unrelated targets, and showed no difference in the N400 evoked by phonemically related and unrelated targets. There were no differences between the two groups in the pattern of naming times across conditions. People with schizophrenia can show abnormal neural activity associated with automatic semantic processing prior to language production. The specificity of this abnormality to the identity related targets suggests that that, rather than arising from abnormalities of either semantic features or lexical form alone, it may stem from disruptions of mappings (connections) between the meaning of words and their form.

Quality Evaluation of Coatings by Automatic Scratch Testing

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-11-01

MTL TR 89-98 IADII QUALITY EVALUATION OF COATINGS BY AUTOMATIC SCRATCH TESTING KIRIT J. BHANSALI LBRTR A1 U.S. ARMY MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY...distribution unlimited. LABORATORY COMMANO U.S. ARMY MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY PMUNKS wcamaauv LUaAMUv Watertown, Massachusetts 02172-0001 .o...Theo 7- Kattamis* 9 PEWNWING ORGANIZATION NAME AMO ADDRESS 1.PORUEEET RJC.TS AREA & WORK UNIT NUMSS U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory Watertown

The pattern of name tokens in narrative clinical text and a comparison of five systems for redacting them

PubMed Central

Kayaalp, Mehmet; Browne, Allen C; Callaghan, Fiona M; Dodd, Zeyno A; Divita, Guy; Ozturk, Selcuk; McDonald, Clement J

2014-01-01

Objective To understand the factors that influence success in scrubbing personal names from narrative text. Materials and methods We developed a scrubber, the NLM Name Scrubber (NLM-NS), to redact personal names from narrative clinical reports, hand tagged words in a set of gold standard narrative reports as personal names or not, and measured the scrubbing success of NLM-NS and that of four other scrubbing/name recognition tools (MIST, MITdeid, LingPipe, and ANNIE/GATE) against the gold standard reports. We ran three comparisons which used increasingly larger name lists. Results The test reports contained more than 1 million words, of which 2388 were patient and 20 160 were provider name tokens. NLM-NS failed to scrub only 2 of the 2388 instances of patient name tokens. Its sensitivity was 0.999 on both patient and provider name tokens and missed fewer instances of patient name tokens in all comparisons with other scrubbers. MIST produced the best all token specificity and F-measure for name instances in our most relevant study (study 2), with values of 0.997 and 0.938, respectively. In that same comparison, NLM-NS was second best, with values of 0.986 and 0.748, respectively, and MITdeid was a close third, with values of 0.985 and 0.796 respectively. With the addition of the Clinical Center name list to their native name lists, Ling Pipe, MITdeid, MIST, and ANNIE/GATE all improved substantially. MITdeid and Ling Pipe gained the most—reaching patient name sensitivity of 0.995 (F-measure=0.705) and 0.989 (F-measure=0.386), respectively. Discussion The privacy risk due to two name tokens missed by NLM-NS was statistically negligible, since neither individual could be distinguished among more than 150 000 people listed in the US Social Security Registry. Conclusions The nature and size of name lists have substantial influences on scrubbing success. The use of very large name lists with frequency statistics accounts for much of NLM-NS scrubbing success. PMID:24026308

Effects of Word Recognition Training in a Picture-Word Interference Task: Automaticity vs. Speed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehri, Linnea C.

First and second graders were taught to recognize a set of written words either more accurately or more rapidly. Both before and after word training, they named pictures printed with and without these words as distractors. Of interest was whether training would enhance or diminish the interference created by these words in the picture naming task.…

Construct Abstraction for Automatic Information Abstraction from Digital Images

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-30

objects and features and the names of objects of objects and features. For example, in Figure 15 the parts of the fish could be named the ‘mouth... fish -1 fish -2 fish -3 tennis shoe tennis racquet...of abstraction and generality. For example, an algorithm might usefully find a polygon ( blob ) in an image and calculate numbers such as the

Path Expressions

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-01

ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS Carnegie-Mellon University Computer Science Dept Pittsburgh, Pa 15213 II. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAMF AND ADDRESS...programmer. Example 1. A communciation between two procasses is initiated by declaring a buffer which can hold a message whose interpretation is Known...words, the functions named in a path are automatically embedded in a critical region specific for that path.) The computation of the next state in

Ran is a potential therapeutic target for cancer cells with molecular changes associated with activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and Ras/MEK/ERK pathways

PubMed Central

Yuen, Hiu-Fung; Chan, Ka-Kui; Grills, Claire; Murray, James T.; Platt-Higgins, Angela; Eldin, Osama Sharaf; O’Byrne, Ken; Janne, Pasi; Fennell, Dean A.; Johnston, Patrick G.; Rudland, Philip S.; El-Tanani, Mohamed

2011-01-01

Purpose Cancer cells have been shown to be more susceptible to Ran knockdown compared to normal cells. We now investigate whether Ran is a potential therapeutic target of cancers with frequently found mutations that lead to higher Ras/MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 activities. Experimental Design Apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry (PI and Annexin V staining) and MTT assay in cancer cells grown under different conditions after knockdown of Ran.. The correlations between Ran expression and patient survival were examined in breast and lung cancers. Results Cancer cells with their PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and Ras/MEK/ERK pathways inhibited are less susceptible to Ran silencing-induced apoptosis. KRas mutated, c-Met amplified and Pten-deleted cancer cells are also more susceptible to Ran silencing-induced apoptosis than their wild-type counterparts and this effect is reduced by inhibitors of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and MEK/ERK pathways. Overexpression of Ran in clinical specimens is significantly associated with poor patient outcome in both breast and lung cancers. This association is dramatically enhanced in cancers with increased c-Met or osteopontin expression, or with oncogenic mutations of KRas or PIK3CA, all of which are mutations that potentially correlate with activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and/or Ras/MEK/ERK pathways. Silencing Ran also results in dysregulation of nucleocytoplasmic transport of transcription factors and downregulation of Mcl-1 expression, at the transcriptional level, which are reversed by inhibitors of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and MEK/ERK pathways. Conclusion Ran is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of cancers with mutations/changes of expression in protooncogenes that lead to activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and Ras/MEK/ERK pathways. PMID:22090358

Importin-β modulates the permeability of the nuclear pore complex in a Ran-dependent manner

PubMed Central

Lowe, Alan R; Tang, Jeffrey H; Yassif, Jaime; Graf, Michael; Huang, William YC; Groves, Jay T; Weis, Karsten; Liphardt, Jan T

2015-01-01

Soluble karyopherins of the importin-β (impβ) family use RanGTP to transport cargos directionally through the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Whether impβ or RanGTP regulate the permeability of the NPC itself has been unknown. In this study, we identify a stable pool of impβ at the NPC. A subpopulation of this pool is rapidly turned-over by RanGTP, likely at Nup153. Impβ, but not transportin-1 (TRN1), alters the pore's permeability in a Ran-dependent manner, suggesting that impβ is a functional component of the NPC. Upon reduction of Nup153 levels, inert cargos more readily equilibrate across the NPC yet active transport is impaired. When purified impβ or TRN1 are mixed with Nup153 in vitro, higher-order, multivalent complexes form. RanGTP dissolves the impβ•Nup153 complexes but not those of TRN1•Nup153. We propose that impβ and Nup153 interact at the NPC's nuclear face to form a Ran-regulated mesh that modulates NPC permeability. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04052.001 PMID:25748139

The new Mobile Universal Lexicon Evaluation System (MULES): A test of rapid picture naming for concussion sized for the sidelines.

PubMed

Akhand, Omar; Galetta, Matthew S; Cobbs, Lucy; Hasanaj, Lisena; Webb, Nikki; Drattell, Julia; Amorapanth, Prin; Rizzo, John-Ross; Nolan, Rachel; Serrano, Liliana; Rucker, Janet C; Cardone, Dennis; Jordan, Barry D; Silverio, Arlene; Galetta, Steven L; Balcer, Laura J

2018-04-15

Measures of rapid automatized naming (RAN) have been used for over 50 years to capture vision-based aspects of cognition. The Mobile Universal Lexicon Evaluation System (MULES) is a test of rapid picture naming under investigation for detection of concussion and other neurological disorders. MULES was designed as a series of 54 grouped color photographs (fruits, random objects, animals) that integrates saccades, color perception and contextual object identification. Recent changes to the MULES test have been made to improve ease of use on the athletic sidelines. Originally an 11 × 17-inch single-sided paper, the test has been reduced to a laminated 8.5 × 11-inch double-sided version. We identified performance changes associated with transition to the new, MULES, now sized for the sidelines, and examined MULES on the sideline for sports-related concussion. We administered the new laminated MULES to a group of adult office volunteers as well as youth and collegiate athletes during pre-season baseline testing. Athletes with concussion underwent sideline testing after injury. Time scores for the new laminated MULES were compared to those for the larger version (big MULES). Among 501 athletes and office volunteers (age 16 ± 7 years, range 6-59, 29% female), average test times at baseline were 44.4 ± 14.4 s for the new laminated MULES (n = 196) and 46.5 ± 16.3 s for big MULES (n = 248). Both versions were completed by 57 participants, with excellent agreement (p < 0.001, linear regression, accounting for age). Age was a predictor of test times for both MULES versions, with longer times noted for younger participants (p < 0.001). Among 6 athletes with concussion thus far during the fall sports season (median age 15 years, range 11-21) all showed worsening of MULES scores from pre-season baseline (median 4.0 s, range 2.1-16.4). The MULES test has been converted to an 11 × 8.5-inch laminated version, with excellent agreement between versions across age groups. Feasibly administered at pre-season and in an office setting, the MULES test shows preliminary evidence of capacity to identify athletes with sports-related concussion. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating hidden Markov model and PRAAT: a toolbox for robust automatic speech transcription

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kabir, A.; Barker, J.; Giurgiu, M.

2010-09-01

An automatic time-aligned phone transcription toolbox of English speech corpora has been developed. Especially the toolbox would be very useful to generate robust automatic transcription and able to produce phone level transcription using speaker independent models as well as speaker dependent models without manual intervention. The system is based on standard Hidden Markov Models (HMM) approach and it was successfully experimented over a large audiovisual speech corpus namely GRID corpus. One of the most powerful features of the toolbox is the increased flexibility in speech processing where the speech community would be able to import the automatic transcription generated by HMM Toolkit (HTK) into a popular transcription software, PRAAT, and vice-versa. The toolbox has been evaluated through statistical analysis on GRID data which shows that automatic transcription deviates by an average of 20 ms with respect to manual transcription.

RanBP9 at the intersection between cofilin and Aβ pathologies: rescue of neurodegenerative changes by RanBP9 reduction.

PubMed

Woo, J A; Boggess, T; Uhlar, C; Wang, X; Khan, H; Cappos, G; Joly-Amado, A; De Narvaez, E; Majid, S; Minamide, L S; Bamburg, J R; Morgan, D; Weeber, E; Kang, D E

2015-03-05

Molecular pathways underlying the neurotoxicity and production of amyloid β protein (Aβ) represent potentially promising therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We recently found that overexpression of the scaffolding protein RanBP9 increases Aβ production in cell lines and in transgenic mice while promoting cofilin activation and mitochondrial dysfunction. Translocation of cofilin to mitochondria and induction of cofilin-actin pathology require the activation/dephosphorylation of cofilin by Slingshot homolog 1 (SSH1) and cysteine oxidation of cofilin. In this study, we found that endogenous RanBP9 positively regulates SSH1 levels and mediates Aβ-induced translocation of cofilin to mitochondria and induction of cofilin-actin pathology in cultured cells, primary neurons, and in vivo. Endogenous level of RanBP9 was also required for Aβ-induced collapse of growth cones in immature neurons (days in vitro 9 (DIV9)) and depletion of synaptic proteins in mature neurons (DIV21). In vivo, amyloid precursor protein (APP)/presenilin-1 (PS1) mice exhibited 3.5-fold increased RanBP9 levels, and RanBP9 reduction protected against cofilin-actin pathology, synaptic damage, gliosis, and Aβ accumulation associated with APP/PS1 mice. Brains slices derived from APP/PS1 mice showed significantly impaired long-term potentiation (LTP), and RanBP9 reduction significantly enhanced paired pulse facilitation and LTP, as well as partially rescued contextual memory deficits associated with APP/PS1 mice. Therefore, these results underscore the critical importance of endogenous RanBP9 not only in Aβ accumulation but also in mediating the neurotoxic actions of Aβ at the level of synaptic plasticity, mitochondria, and cofilin-actin pathology via control of the SSH1-cofilin pathway in vivo.

RanBP9 overexpression down-regulates phospho-cofilin, causes early synaptic deficits and impaired learning, and accelerates accumulation of amyloid plaques in the mouse brain.

PubMed

Palavicini, Juan Pablo; Wang, Hongjie; Minond, Dmitriy; Bianchi, Elisabetta; Xu, Shaohua; Lakshmana, Madepalli K

2014-01-01

Loss of synaptic proteins and functional synapses in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as transgenic mouse models expressing amyloid-β protein precursor is now well established. However, the earliest age at which such loss of synapses occurs, and whether known markers of AD progression accelerate functional deficits is completely unknown. We previously showed that RanBP9 overexpression leads to enhanced amyloid plaque burden in a mouse model of AD. In this study, we found significant reductions in the levels of synaptophysin and spinophilin, compared with wild-type controls, in both the cortex and the hippocampus of 5- and 6-month old but not 3- or 4-month old APΔE9/RanBP9 triple transgenic mice, and not in APΔE9 double transgenic mice, nor in RanBP9 single transgenic mice. Interestingly, amyloid plaque burden was also increased in the APΔE9/RanBP9 mice at 5-6 months. Consistent with these results, we found significant deficits in learning and memory in the APΔE9/RanBP9 mice at 5 and 6 month. These data suggest that increased amyloid plaques and accelerated learning and memory deficits and loss of synaptic proteins induced by RanBP9 are correlated. Most importantly, APΔE9/RanBP9 mice also showed significantly reduced levels of the phosphorylated form of cofilin in the hippocampus. Taken together these data suggest that RanBP9 overexpression down-regulates cofilin, causes early synaptic deficits and impaired learning, and accelerates accumulation of amyloid plaques in the mouse brain.

Overexpression of OsRAN2 in rice and Arabidopsis renders transgenic plants hypersensitive to salinity and osmotic stress

PubMed Central

Zang, Aiping; Xu, Xiaojie; Neill, Steven; Cai, Weiming

2010-01-01

Nucleo-cytoplasmic partitioning of regulatory proteins is increasingly being recognized as a major control mechanism for the regulation of signalling in plants. Ras-related nuclear protein (Ran) GTPase is required for regulating transport of proteins and RNA across the nuclear envelope and also has roles in mitotic spindle assembly and nuclear envelope (NE) assembly. However, thus far little is known of any Ran functions in the signalling pathways in plants in response to changing environmental stimuli. The OsRAN2 gene, which has high homology (77% at the amino acid level) with its human counterpart, was isolated here. Subcellular localization results showed that OsRan2 is mainly localized in the nucleus, with some in the cytoplasm. Transcription of OsRAN2 was reduced by salt, osmotic, and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatments, as determined by real-time PCR. Overexpression of OsRAN2 in rice resulted in enhanced sensitivity to salinity, osmotic stress, and ABA. Seedlings of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants overexpressing OsRAN2 were overly sensitive to salinity stress and exogenous ABA treatment. Furthermore, three ABA- or stress-responsive genes, AtNCED3, AtPLC1, and AtMYB2, encoding a key enzyme in ABA synthesis, a phospholipase C homologue, and a putative transcriptional factor, respectively, were shown to have differentially induced expression under salinity and ABA treatments in transgenic and wild-type Arabidopsis plants. OsRAN2 overexpression in tobacco epidermal leaf cells disturbed the nuclear import of a maize (Zea mays L.) leaf colour transcription factor (Lc). In addition, gene-silenced rice plants generated via RNA interference (RNAi) displayed pleiotropic developmental abnormalities and were male sterile. PMID:20018899

Evolution and variability of Solanum RanGAP2, a cofactor in the incompatible interaction between the resistance protein GPA2 and the Globodera pallida effector Gp-RBP-1.

PubMed

Carpentier, Jean; Grenier, Eric; Esquibet, Magalie; Hamel, Louis-Philippe; Moffett, Peter; Manzanares-Dauleux, Maria J; Kerlan, Marie-Claire

2013-04-19

The Ran GTPase Activating Protein 2 (RanGAP2) was first described as a regulator of mitosis and nucleocytoplasmic trafficking. It was then found to interact with the Coiled-Coil domain of the Rx and GPA2 resistance proteins, which confer resistance to Potato Virus X (PVX) and potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida, respectively. RanGAP2 is thought to mediate recognition of the avirulence protein GP-RBP-1 by GPA2. However, the Gpa2-induced hypersensitive response appears to be relatively weak and Gpa2 is limited in terms of spectrum of efficiency as it is effective against only two nematode populations. While functional and evolutionary analyses of Gp-Rbp-1 and Gpa2 identified key residues in both the resistance and avirulence proteins that are involved in recognition determination, whether variation in RanGAP2 also plays a role in pathogen recognition has not been investigated. We amplified a total of 147 RanGAP2 sequences from 55 accessions belonging to 18 different di-and tetraploid Solanum species from the section Petota. Among the newly identified sequences, 133 haplotypes were obtained and 19.1% of the nucleotide sites were found to be polymorphic. The observed intra-specific nucleotide diversity ranges from 0.1 to 1.3%. Analysis of the selection pressures acting on RanGAP2 suggests that this gene evolved mainly under purifying selection. Nonetheless, we identified polymorphic positions in the protein sequence at the intra-specific level, which could modulate the activity of RanGAP2. Two polymorphic sites and a three amino-acid deletion in RanGAP2 were found to affect the timing and intensity of the Gpa2-induced hypersensitive response to avirulent GP-RBP-1 variants even though they did not confer any gain of recognition of virulent GP-RBP-1 variants. Our results highlight how a resistance gene co-factor can manage in terms of evolution both an established role as a cell housekeeping gene and an implication in plant parasite interactions. StRanGAP2 gene appears to evolve under purifying selection. Its variability does not seem to influence the specificity of GPA2 recognition but is able to modulate this activity by enhancing the defence response. It seems therefore that the interaction with the plant resistance protein GPA2 (and/or Rx) rather than with the nematode effector was the major force in the evolution of the RanGAP2 locus in potato. From a mechanistic point of view these results are in accordance with a physical interaction of RanGAP2 with GPA2 and suggest that RBP-1 would rather bind the RanGAP2-GPA2 complex than the RanGAP2 protein alone.

Enhanced Virtual Presence for Immersive Visualization of Complex Situations for Mission Rehearsal

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-06-01

taken. We propose to join both these technologies together in a registration device . The registration device would be small and portable and easily...registering the panning of the camera (or other sensing device ) and also stitch together the shots to automatically generate panoramic files necessary to...database and as the base information changes each of the linked drawings is automatically updated. Filename Format A specific naming convention should be

Yeast Ran-Binding Protein 1 (Yrb1) Shuttles between the Nucleus and Cytoplasm and Is Exported from the Nucleus via a CRM1 (XPO1)-Dependent Pathway

PubMed Central

Künzler, Markus; Gerstberger, Thomas; Stutz, Françoise; Bischoff, F. Ralf; Hurt, Ed

2000-01-01

The RanGTP-binding protein RanBP1, which is located in the cytoplasm, has been implicated in release of nuclear export complexes from the cytoplasmic side of the nuclear pore complex. Here we show that Yrb1 (the yeast homolog of RanBP1) shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Nuclear import of Yrb1 is a facilitated process that requires a short basic sequence within the Ran-binding domain (RBD). By contrast, nuclear export of Yrb1 requires an intact RBD, which forms a ternary complex with the Xpo1 (Crm1) NES receptor in the presence of RanGTP. Nuclear export of Yrb1, however, is insensitive towards leptomycin B, suggesting a novel type of substrate recognition between Yrb1 and Xpo1. Taken together, these data suggest that ongoing nuclear import and export is an important feature of Yrb1 function in vivo. PMID:10825193

Subliminal food images compromise superior working memory performance in women with restricting anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Brooks, Samantha J; O'Daly, Owen G; Uher, Rudolf; Schiöth, Helgi B; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C

2012-06-01

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is dysregulated in women with restricting anorexia nervosa (RAN). It is not known whether appetitive non-conscious stimuli bias cognitive responses in those with RAN. Thirteen women with RAN and 20 healthy controls (HC) completed a dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) working memory task and an anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) conflict task, while masked subliminal food, aversive and neutral images were presented. During the DLPFC task, accuracy was higher in the RAN compared to the HC group, but superior performance was compromised when subliminal food stimuli were presented: errors positively correlated with self-reported trait anxiety in the RAN group. These effects were not observed in the ACC task. Appetitive activation is intact and anxiogenic in women with RAN, and non-consciously interacts with working memory processes associated with the DLPFC. This interaction mechanism may underlie cognitive inhibition of appetitive processes that are anxiety inducing, in people with AN. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Examining the Neurocognitive Profile of Dysnomia: A Comparison of School-Aged Children with and without Dyslexia across the Domains of Expressive Language, Attention/Memory, and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howarth, Robyn Ann

2010-01-01

Word-retrieval and rapid naming abilities play an important role in language processing and cognitive development. Researchers have demonstrated that early language difficulties may lead to later reading impairments and several decades of research has convincingly demonstrated that rapid automatized naming is a powerful predictor of concurrent and…

Text Comprehension in Chinese Children: Relative Contribution of Verbal Working Memory, Pseudoword Reading, Rapid Automated Naming, and Onset-Rime Phonological Segmentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leong, Che Kan; Tse, Shek Kam; Loh, Ka Yee; Hau, Kit Tai

2008-01-01

The present study examined the role of verbal working memory (memory span, tongue twister), 2-character Chinese pseudoword reading, rapid automatized naming (letters, numbers), and phonological segmentation (deletion of rimes and onsets) in inferential text comprehension in Chinese in 518 Chinese children in Hong Kong in Grades 3 to 5. It was…

RanGAP1 is a continuous marker of the Arabidopsis cell division plane

PubMed Central

Xu, Xianfeng Morgan; Zhao, Qiao; Rodrigo-Peiris, Thushani; Brkljacic, Jelena; He, Chao Sylvia; Müller, Sabine; Meier, Iris

2008-01-01

In higher plants, the plane of cell division is faithfully predicted by the preprophase band (PPB). The PPB, a cortical ring of microtubules and F-actin, disassembles upon nuclear-envelope breakdown. During cytokinesis, the expanding cell plate fuses with the plasma membrane at the cortical division site, the site of the former PPB. The nature of the “molecular memory” that is left behind by the PPB and is proposed to guide the cell plate to the cortical division site is unknown. RanGAP is the GTPase activating protein of the small GTPase Ran, which provides spatial information for nucleocytoplasmic transport and various mitotic processes in animals. Here, we show that, in dividing root cells, Arabidopsis RanGAP1 concentrates at the PPB and remains associated with the cortical division site during mitosis and cytokinesis, requiring its N-terminal targeting domain. In a fass/ton2 mutant, which affects PPB formation, RanGAP1 recruitment to the PPB site is lost, while its PPB retention is microtubule-independent. RanGAP1 persistence at the cortical division site, but not its initial accumulation at the PPB requires the 2 cytokinesis-regulating kinesins POK1 and POK2. Depletion of RanGAP by inducible RNAi leads to oblique cell walls and cell-wall stubs in root cell files, consistent with cytokinesis defects. We propose that Arabidopsis RanGAP, a continuous positive protein marker of the plant division plane, has a role in spatial signaling during plant cell division. PMID:19011093

Fortune Favors the Brave. Tactical Behaviors in the Middle Distance Running Events at the 2017 IAAF World Championships.

PubMed

Casado, Arturo; Renfree, Andrew

2018-05-29

To assess tactical and performance factors associated with progression from qualification rounds in the 800 m and 1500 m running events at the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Official results were used to access final and intermediate positions and times, as well as performance characteristics of competitors. Shared variance between intermediate positions and rank order lap times (ROSPT) with finishing positions were calculated, along with probability of automatic qualification, for athletes in each available race position at the end of every 400 m lap. Differences in race positions and lap times relative to season´s best (SB) performances were assessed between automatic qualifiers (AQ), fastest losers (FL), and non-qualifiers (NQ). Race positions at the end of each 400 m lap remained more stable through 800 m races than 1500 m races. Probability of automatic qualification decreased with both race position and ROSPT on each lap, although ROSPT accounted for a higher degree of shared variance than did intermediate position. In the 1500 m event FL ran at a higher percentage of SB speed, and adopted positions closer to the race lead in the early stages. This was not the case in the 800 m. Intermediate positioning and the ability to produce a fast final race segment are strongly related to advancement from qualification rounds in middle distance running events. The adoption of a more 'risky' strategy characterized by higher speeds relative to SB may be associated with increased likelihood of qualification as FL in the 1500 m event.

Automatic video shot boundary detection using k-means clustering and improved adaptive dual threshold comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sa, Qila; Wang, Zhihui

2018-03-01

At present, content-based video retrieval (CBVR) is the most mainstream video retrieval method, using the video features of its own to perform automatic identification and retrieval. This method involves a key technology, i.e. shot segmentation. In this paper, the method of automatic video shot boundary detection with K-means clustering and improved adaptive dual threshold comparison is proposed. First, extract the visual features of every frame and divide them into two categories using K-means clustering algorithm, namely, one with significant change and one with no significant change. Then, as to the classification results, utilize the improved adaptive dual threshold comparison method to determine the abrupt as well as gradual shot boundaries.Finally, achieve automatic video shot boundary detection system.

A Comparison of Hybrid Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes/Large Eddy Simulation (RANS/LES) and Unsteady RANS Predictions of Separated Flow for a Variable Speed Power Turbine Blade Operating with Low Inlet Turbulence Levels

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

Facility is a large-scale cascade that allows detailed flow field surveys and blade surface measurements.10–12 The facility has a continuous run ...structured grids at 2 flow conditions, cruise and takeoff, of the VSPT blade . Computations were run in parallel on a Department of Defense...RANS/LES) and Unsteady RANS Predictions of Separated Flow for a Variable-Speed Power- Turbine Blade Operating with Low Inlet Turbulence Levels

Identification of related gene/protein names based on an HMM of name variations.

PubMed

Yeganova, L; Smith, L; Wilbur, W J

2004-04-01

Gene and protein names follow few, if any, true naming conventions and are subject to great variation in different occurrences of the same name. This gives rise to two important problems in natural language processing. First, can one locate the names of genes or proteins in free text, and second, can one determine when two names denote the same gene or protein? The first of these problems is a special case of the problem of named entity recognition, while the second is a special case of the problem of automatic term recognition (ATR). We study the second problem, that of gene or protein name variation. Here we describe a system which, given a query gene or protein name, identifies related gene or protein names in a large list. The system is based on a dynamic programming algorithm for sequence alignment in which the mutation matrix is allowed to vary under the control of a fully trainable hidden Markov model.

Accelerometer-based automatic voice onset detection in speech mapping with navigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.

PubMed

Vitikainen, Anne-Mari; Mäkelä, Elina; Lioumis, Pantelis; Jousmäki, Veikko; Mäkelä, Jyrki P

2015-09-30

The use of navigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in mapping of speech-related brain areas has recently shown to be useful in preoperative workflow of epilepsy and tumor patients. However, substantial inter- and intraobserver variability and non-optimal replicability of the rTMS results have been reported, and a need for additional development of the methodology is recognized. In TMS motor cortex mappings the evoked responses can be quantitatively monitored by electromyographic recordings; however, no such easily available setup exists for speech mappings. We present an accelerometer-based setup for detection of vocalization-related larynx vibrations combined with an automatic routine for voice onset detection for rTMS speech mapping applying naming. The results produced by the automatic routine were compared with the manually reviewed video-recordings. The new method was applied in the routine navigated rTMS speech mapping for 12 consecutive patients during preoperative workup for epilepsy or tumor surgery. The automatic routine correctly detected 96% of the voice onsets, resulting in 96% sensitivity and 71% specificity. Majority (63%) of the misdetections were related to visible throat movements, extra voices before the response, or delayed naming of the previous stimuli. The no-response errors were correctly detected in 88% of events. The proposed setup for automatic detection of voice onsets provides quantitative additional data for analysis of the rTMS-induced speech response modifications. The objectively defined speech response latencies increase the repeatability, reliability and stratification of the rTMS results. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A dual-task investigation of automaticity in visual word processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCann, R. S.; Remington, R. W.; Van Selst, M.

2000-01-01

An analysis of activation models of visual word processing suggests that frequency-sensitive forms of lexical processing should proceed normally while unattended. This hypothesis was tested by having participants perform a speeded pitch discrimination task followed by lexical decisions or word naming. As the stimulus onset asynchrony between the tasks was reduced, lexical-decision and naming latencies increased dramatically. Word-frequency effects were additive with the increase, indicating that frequency-sensitive processing was subject to postponement while attention was devoted to the other task. Either (a) the same neural hardware shares responsibility for lexical processing and central stages of choice reaction time task processing and cannot perform both computations simultaneously, or (b) lexical processing is blocked in order to optimize performance on the pitch discrimination task. Either way, word processing is not as automatic as activation models suggest.

In situ SUMOylation analysis reveals a modulatory role of RanBP2 in the nuclear rim and PML bodies

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

Saitoh, Noriko; Uchimura, Yasuhiro; The 21st Century Center of Excellence, Kumamoto University, 2-2-1 Honjo, Kumamoto 860-0811

2006-05-01

SUMO modification plays a critical role in a number of cellular functions including nucleocytoplasmic transport, gene expression, cell cycle and formation of subnuclear structures such as promyelocytic leukemia (PML) bodies. In order to identify the sites where SUMOylation takes place in the cell, we developed an in situ SUMOylation assay using a semi-intact cell system and subsequently combined it with siRNA-based knockdown of nucleoporin RanBP2, also known as Nup358, which is one of the known SUMO E3 proteins. With the in situ SUMOylation assay, we found that both nuclear rim and PML bodies, besides mitotic apparatuses, are major targets formore » active SUMOylation. The ability to analyze possible SUMO conjugation sites would be a valuable tool to investigate where SUMO E3-like activities and/or SUMO substrates exist in the cell. Specific knockdown of RanBP2 completely abolished SUMOylation along the nuclear rim and dislocated RanGAP1 from the nuclear pore complexes. Interestingly, the loss of RanBP2 markedly reduced the number of PML bodies, in contrast to other, normal-appearing nuclear compartments including the nuclear lamina, nucleolus and chromatin, suggesting a novel link between RanBP2 and PML bodies. SUMOylation facilitated by RanBP2 at the nuclear rim may be a key step for the formation of a particular subnuclear organization. Our data imply that SUMO E3 proteins like RanBP2 facilitate spatio-temporal SUMOylation for certain nuclear structure and function.« less

Triplin, a small molecule, reveals copper ion transport in ethylene signaling from ATX1 to RAN1.

PubMed

Li, Wenbo; Lacey, Randy F; Ye, Yajin; Lu, Juan; Yeh, Kuo-Chen; Xiao, Youli; Li, Laigeng; Wen, Chi-Kuang; Binder, Brad M; Zhao, Yang

2017-04-01

Copper ions play an important role in ethylene receptor biogenesis and proper function. The copper transporter RESPONSIVE-TO-ANTAGONIST1 (RAN1) is essential for copper ion transport in Arabidopsis thaliana. However it is still unclear how copper ions are delivered to RAN1 and how copper ions affect ethylene receptors. There is not a specific copper chelator which could be used to explore these questions. Here, by chemical genetics, we identified a novel small molecule, triplin, which could cause a triple response phenotype on dark-grown Arabidopsis seedlings through ethylene signaling pathway. ran1-1 and ran1-2 are hypersensitive to triplin. Adding copper ions in growth medium could partially restore the phenotype on plant caused by triplin. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that triplin could bind copper ion. Compared to the known chelators, triplin acts more specifically to copper ion and it suppresses the toxic effects of excess copper ions on plant root growth. We further showed that mutants of ANTIOXIDANT PROTEIN1 (ATX1) are hypersensitive to tiplin, but with less sensitivity comparing with the ones of ran1-1 and ran1-2. Our study provided genetic evidence for the first time that, copper ions necessary for ethylene receptor biogenesis and signaling are transported from ATX1 to RAN1. Considering that triplin could chelate copper ions in Arabidopsis, and copper ions are essential for plant and animal, we believe that, triplin not only could be useful for studying copper ion transport of plants, but also could be useful for copper metabolism study in animal and human.

Automatic control in multidrive electrotechnical complexes with semiconductor converters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasilev, B. U.; Mardashov, D. V.

2017-01-01

The frequency convertor and the automatic control system, which can be used in the multi-drive electromechanical system with a few induction motions, are considered. The paper presents the structure of existing modern multi-drive electric drives inverters, namely, electric drives with a total frequency converter and few electric motions, and an electric drive, in which the converter is used for power supply and control of the independent frequency. It was shown that such technical solutions of frequency converters possess a number of drawbacks. The drawbacks are given. It was shown that the control of technological processes using the electric drive of this structure may be provided under very limited conditions, as the energy efficiency and the level of electromagnetic compatibility of electric drives is low. The authors proposed using a multi-inverter structure with an active rectifier in multidrive electric drives with induction motors frequency converters. The application of such frequency converter may solve the problem of electromagnetic compatibility, namely, consumption of sinusoidal currents from the network and the maintenance of a sinusoidal voltage and energy compatibility, namely, consumption of practically active energy from the network. Also, the paper proposes the use of the automatic control system, which by means of a multi-inverter frequency converter provides separate control of drive machines and flexible regulation of technological processes. The authors present oscillograms, which confirm the described characteristics of the developed electrical drive. The possible subsequent ways to improve the multi-motor drives are also described.

SOA approach to battle command: simulation interoperability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayott, Gregory; Self, Mid; Miller, Gordon J.; McDonnell, Joseph S.

2010-04-01

NVESD is developing a Sensor Data and Management Services (SDMS) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that provides an innovative approach to achieve seamless application functionality across simulation and battle command systems. In 2010, CERDEC will conduct a SDMS Battle Command demonstration that will highlight the SDMS SOA capability to couple simulation applications to existing Battle Command systems. The demonstration will leverage RDECOM MATREX simulation tools and TRADOC Maneuver Support Battle Laboratory Virtual Base Defense Operations Center facilities. The battle command systems are those specific to the operation of a base defense operations center in support of force protection missions. The SDMS SOA consists of four components that will be discussed. An Asset Management Service (AMS) will automatically discover the existence, state, and interface definition required to interact with a named asset (sensor or a sensor platform, a process such as level-1 fusion, or an interface to a sensor or other network endpoint). A Streaming Video Service (SVS) will automatically discover the existence, state, and interfaces required to interact with a named video stream, and abstract the consumers of the video stream from the originating device. A Task Manager Service (TMS) will be used to automatically discover the existence of a named mission task, and will interpret, translate and transmit a mission command for the blue force unit(s) described in a mission order. JC3IEDM data objects, and software development kit (SDK), will be utilized as the basic data object definition for implemented web services.

Automatically Recognizing Medication and Adverse Event Information From Food and Drug Administration’s Adverse Event Reporting System Narratives

PubMed Central

Polepalli Ramesh, Balaji; Belknap, Steven M; Li, Zuofeng; Frid, Nadya; West, Dennis P

2014-01-01

Background The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) is a repository of spontaneously-reported adverse drug events (ADEs) for FDA-approved prescription drugs. FAERS reports include both structured reports and unstructured narratives. The narratives often include essential information for evaluation of the severity, causality, and description of ADEs that are not present in the structured data. The timely identification of unknown toxicities of prescription drugs is an important, unsolved problem. Objective The objective of this study was to develop an annotated corpus of FAERS narratives and biomedical named entity tagger to automatically identify ADE related information in the FAERS narratives. Methods We developed an annotation guideline and annotate medication information and adverse event related entities on 122 FAERS narratives comprising approximately 23,000 word tokens. A named entity tagger using supervised machine learning approaches was built for detecting medication information and adverse event entities using various categories of features. Results The annotated corpus had an agreement of over .9 Cohen’s kappa for medication and adverse event entities. The best performing tagger achieves an overall performance of 0.73 F1 score for detection of medication, adverse event and other named entities. Conclusions In this study, we developed an annotated corpus of FAERS narratives and machine learning based models for automatically extracting medication and adverse event information from the FAERS narratives. Our study is an important step towards enriching the FAERS data for postmarketing pharmacovigilance. PMID:25600332

Automatic vs. manual curation of a multi-source chemical dictionary: the impact on text mining.

PubMed

Hettne, Kristina M; Williams, Antony J; van Mulligen, Erik M; Kleinjans, Jos; Tkachenko, Valery; Kors, Jan A

2010-03-23

Previously, we developed a combined dictionary dubbed Chemlist for the identification of small molecules and drugs in text based on a number of publicly available databases and tested it on an annotated corpus. To achieve an acceptable recall and precision we used a number of automatic and semi-automatic processing steps together with disambiguation rules. However, it remained to be investigated which impact an extensive manual curation of a multi-source chemical dictionary would have on chemical term identification in text. ChemSpider is a chemical database that has undergone extensive manual curation aimed at establishing valid chemical name-to-structure relationships. We acquired the component of ChemSpider containing only manually curated names and synonyms. Rule-based term filtering, semi-automatic manual curation, and disambiguation rules were applied. We tested the dictionary from ChemSpider on an annotated corpus and compared the results with those for the Chemlist dictionary. The ChemSpider dictionary of ca. 80 k names was only a 1/3 to a 1/4 the size of Chemlist at around 300 k. The ChemSpider dictionary had a precision of 0.43 and a recall of 0.19 before the application of filtering and disambiguation and a precision of 0.87 and a recall of 0.19 after filtering and disambiguation. The Chemlist dictionary had a precision of 0.20 and a recall of 0.47 before the application of filtering and disambiguation and a precision of 0.67 and a recall of 0.40 after filtering and disambiguation. We conclude the following: (1) The ChemSpider dictionary achieved the best precision but the Chemlist dictionary had a higher recall and the best F-score; (2) Rule-based filtering and disambiguation is necessary to achieve a high precision for both the automatically generated and the manually curated dictionary. ChemSpider is available as a web service at http://www.chemspider.com/ and the Chemlist dictionary is freely available as an XML file in Simple Knowledge Organization System format on the web at http://www.biosemantics.org/chemlist.

Automatic vs. manual curation of a multi-source chemical dictionary: the impact on text mining

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Previously, we developed a combined dictionary dubbed Chemlist for the identification of small molecules and drugs in text based on a number of publicly available databases and tested it on an annotated corpus. To achieve an acceptable recall and precision we used a number of automatic and semi-automatic processing steps together with disambiguation rules. However, it remained to be investigated which impact an extensive manual curation of a multi-source chemical dictionary would have on chemical term identification in text. ChemSpider is a chemical database that has undergone extensive manual curation aimed at establishing valid chemical name-to-structure relationships. Results We acquired the component of ChemSpider containing only manually curated names and synonyms. Rule-based term filtering, semi-automatic manual curation, and disambiguation rules were applied. We tested the dictionary from ChemSpider on an annotated corpus and compared the results with those for the Chemlist dictionary. The ChemSpider dictionary of ca. 80 k names was only a 1/3 to a 1/4 the size of Chemlist at around 300 k. The ChemSpider dictionary had a precision of 0.43 and a recall of 0.19 before the application of filtering and disambiguation and a precision of 0.87 and a recall of 0.19 after filtering and disambiguation. The Chemlist dictionary had a precision of 0.20 and a recall of 0.47 before the application of filtering and disambiguation and a precision of 0.67 and a recall of 0.40 after filtering and disambiguation. Conclusions We conclude the following: (1) The ChemSpider dictionary achieved the best precision but the Chemlist dictionary had a higher recall and the best F-score; (2) Rule-based filtering and disambiguation is necessary to achieve a high precision for both the automatically generated and the manually curated dictionary. ChemSpider is available as a web service at http://www.chemspider.com/ and the Chemlist dictionary is freely available as an XML file in Simple Knowledge Organization System format on the web at http://www.biosemantics.org/chemlist. PMID:20331846

Reducing RANS Model Error Using Random Forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jian-Xun; Wu, Jin-Long; Xiao, Heng; Ling, Julia

2016-11-01

Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models are still the work-horse tools in the turbulence modeling of industrial flows. However, the model discrepancy due to the inadequacy of modeled Reynolds stresses largely diminishes the reliability of simulation results. In this work we use a physics-informed machine learning approach to improve the RANS modeled Reynolds stresses and propagate them to obtain the mean velocity field. Specifically, the functional forms of Reynolds stress discrepancies with respect to mean flow features are trained based on an offline database of flows with similar characteristics. The random forest model is used to predict Reynolds stress discrepancies in new flows. Then the improved Reynolds stresses are propagated to the velocity field via RANS equations. The effects of expanding the feature space through the use of a complete basis of Galilean tensor invariants are also studied. The flow in a square duct, which is challenging for standard RANS models, is investigated to demonstrate the merit of the proposed approach. The results show that both the Reynolds stresses and the propagated velocity field are improved over the baseline RANS predictions. SAND Number: SAND2016-7437 A

The effect of epsilon-caproyl/D,L-lactyl unit composition on the hydrolytic degradation of poly(D,L-lactide-ran-epsilon-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(D,L-lactide-ran-epsilon-caprolactone).

PubMed

Cho, Hanjin; An, Jeongho

2006-02-01

The degradation of P(DLAX-ran-CLY)-b-PEG-b-P(DLAX-ran-CLY)s ( P(DLAX-ran-CLY): Poly(D,L-lactide-ran-epsilon-caprolactone), PEG: Poly(ethylene glycol), X: D,L-lactyl unit fraction, Y: epsilon-caproyl unit fraction) is investigated. The fraction of DLA in the both end blocks is varied while the overall molecular weight and molecular weight of PEG are kept constant. DSC, XRD and GPC are employed to track the degradation process up to 200 days. Also the change in the surface and cross-sectional morphology is provided by SEM micro-photographs. The result of water absorption and weight loss characterization reveals that the incorporation of DLA in the polyester block could be an effective tool to facilitate degradation as well as water absorption. By tracking the change of molecular weight and polydispersity, chain scission and transport or removal of degraded product from the specimen were found to play a complex role in overall degradation.

Ran-dependent nuclear export mediators: a structural perspective

PubMed Central

Güttler, Thomas; Görlich, Dirk

2011-01-01

Nuclear export is an essential eukaryotic activity. It proceeds through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) and is mediated by soluble receptors that shuttle between nucleus and cytoplasm. RanGTPase-dependent export mediators (exportins) constitute the largest class of these carriers and are functionally highly versatile. All of these exportins load their substrates in response to RanGTP binding in the nucleus and traverse NPCs as ternary RanGTP–exportin–cargo complexes to the cytoplasm, where GTP hydrolysis leads to export complex disassembly. The different exportins vary greatly in their substrate range. Recent structural studies of both protein- and RNA-specific exporters have illuminated how exportins bind their cargoes, how Ran triggers cargo loading and how export complexes are disassembled in the cytoplasm. Here, we review the current state of knowledge and highlight emerging principles as well as prevailing questions. PMID:21878989

Sumoylation in p27kip1 via RanBP2 promotes cancer cell growth in cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939.

PubMed

Yang, Jun; Liu, Yan; Wang, Bing; Lan, Hongzhen; Liu, Ying; Chen, Fei; Zhang, Ju; Luo, Jian

2017-09-07

Cholangiocarcinoma is one of the deadly disease with poor 5-year survival and poor response to conventional therapies. Previously, we found that p27kip1 nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation confers proliferation potential to cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939 and this process is mediated by crm-1. However, no other post-transcriptional regulation was found in this process including sumoylation in cholangiocarcinoma. In this study, we explored the role of sumoylation in the nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation of p27kip1 and its involvement of QBC939 cells' proliferation. First, we identified K73 as the sumoylation site in p27kip1. By utilizing plasmid flag-p27kip1, HA-RanBP2, GST-RanBP2 and His-p27kip1 and immunoprecipitation assay, we validated that p27kip1 can serve as the sumoylation target of RanBP2 in QBC939. Furthermore, we confirmed crm-1's role in promoting nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation of p27kip1 and found that RanBP2's function relies on crm-1. However, K73R mutated p27kip1 can't be identified by crm-1 or RanBP2 in p27kip1 translocation process, suggesting sumoylation of p27kip1 via K73 site is necessary in this process by RanBP2 and crm-1. Phenotypically, the overexpression of either RanBP2 or crm-1 can partially rescue the anti-proliferative effect brought by p27kip1 overexpression in both the MTS and EdU assay. For the first time, we identified and validated the K73 sumoylation site in p27kip1, which is critical to RanBP2 and crm-1 in p27kip1 nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation process. Taken together, targeted inhibition of sumoylation of p27kip1 may serve as a potentially potent therapeutic target in the eradication of cholangiocarcinoma development and relapses.

Antitumor efficiency of D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-b-poly(epsilon-caprolactone-ran-lactide) nanoparticle-based delivery of docetaxel in mice bearing cervical cancer.

PubMed

Wang, Zhongyuan; Zeng, Xiaowei; Ma, Yaping; Liu, Jian; Tang, Xiaolong; Gao, Yongfeng; Liu, Kewei; Zhang, Jinxie; Ming, Pinghong; Huang, Laiqiang; Mei, Lin

2014-08-01

Pharmaceutical nanotechnology holds potential in cancer chemotherapy. In this research, the docetaxel-loaded D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-b-poly(epsilon-caprolactone-ran-lactide) (TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA)) nanoparticles were prepared by a modified nanoprecipitation method and then the particle size, surface morphology, nanoparticle stability, in vitro drug release and cellular uptake of nanoparticles were characterized. Finally, we evaluated the therapeutic effects of nanoparticle formulation in comparison with Taxotere both in vitro and in vivo. The size of TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA) nanoparticles was about 150 nm and much smaller than PCL nanoparticles (about 185 nm) and the absolute value of zeta potential was higher than PCL nanoparticles (16.49 mV vs. 13.17 mV). FESEM images further confirmed the morphology and size of nanoparticles. The drug-loaded nanoparticles were considered to be stable, showing no change in the particle size and surface charge during three-month storage of its aqueous solution. In vitro drug release of TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA) nanoparticles was much faster than PCL and PCL-TPGS nanoparticles. The cumulative drug release of docetaxel-loaded TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA), PCL-TPGS, and PCL NPs were 38.00%, 34.48% and 29.04%, respectively. TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA) nanoparticles showed an obvious increase of cellular uptake. Due to the advantages of TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA) nanoparticles, it could achieve significantly higher level of cytotoxicity in vitro and better inhibition effect of tumor growth on xenograft BALB/c nude mice tumor model than commercial Taxotere at the same dose (1.49-fold more effective). The TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PLA) could be used as a novel and potential biodegradable polymeric material for nanoformulation in cervical cancer chemotherapy.

RanGTPase regulates the interaction between the inner nuclear membrane proteins, Samp1 and Emerin.

PubMed

Vijayaraghavan, Balaje; Figueroa, Ricardo A; Bergqvist, Cecilia; Gupta, Amit J; Sousa, Paulo; Hallberg, Einar

2018-06-01

Samp1, spindle associated membrane protein 1, is a type II integral membrane protein localized in the inner nuclear membrane. Recent studies have shown that the inner nuclear membrane protein, Emerin and the small monomeric GTPase, Ran are direct binding partners of Samp1. Here we addressed the question whether Ran could regulate the interaction between Samp1 and Emerin in the inner nuclear membrane. To investigate the interaction between Samp1 and Emerin in live cells, we performed FRAP experiments in cells overexpressing YFP-Emerin. We compared the mobility of YFP-Emerin in Samp1 knock out cells and cells overexpressing Samp1. The results showed that the mobility of YFP-Emerin was higher in Samp1 knock out cells and lower in cells overexpressing Samp1, suggesting that Samp1 significantly attenuates the mobility of Emerin in the nuclear envelope. FRAP experiments using tsBN2 cells showed that the mobility of Emerin depends on RanGTP. Consistently, in vitro binding experiments showed that the affinity between Samp1 and Emerin is decreased in the presence of Ran, suggesting that Ran attenuates the interaction between Samp1 and Emerin. This is the first demonstration that Ran can regulate the interaction between two proteins in the nuclear envelope. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Examining the Cross-Lagged Relationships between RAN and Word Reading in Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Wei; Georgiou, George K.; Deng, Ciping

2015-01-01

The purpose of this 4-year longitudinal study was to specify the direction of the relationship between RAN and word reading (accuracy and fluency) in Chinese. This is important in light of arguments that the developmental relationships between RAN and reading can disclose changes in the reading processes underlying reading as development proceeds.…

A stacked sequential learning method for investigator name recognition from web-based medical articles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaoli; Zou, Jie; Le, Daniel X.; Thoma, George

2010-01-01

"Investigator Names" is a newly required field in MEDLINE citations. It consists of personal names listed as members of corporate organizations in an article. Extracting investigator names automatically is necessary because of the increasing volume of articles reporting collaborative biomedical research in which a large number of investigators participate. In this paper, we present an SVM-based stacked sequential learning method in a novel application - recognizing named entities such as the first and last names of investigators from online medical journal articles. Stacked sequential learning is a meta-learning algorithm which can boost any base learner. It exploits contextual information by adding the predicted labels of the surrounding tokens as features. We apply this method to tag words in text paragraphs containing investigator names, and demonstrate that stacked sequential learning improves the performance of a nonsequential base learner such as an SVM classifier.

A gene delivery system containing nuclear localization signal: Increased nucleus import and transfection efficiency with the assistance of RanGAP1.

PubMed

Chen, Kang; Guo, Lingling; Zhang, Jiulong; Chen, Qing; Wang, Kuanglei; Li, Chenxi; Li, Weinan; Qiao, Mingxi; Zhao, Xiuli; Hu, Haiyang; Chen, Dawei

2017-01-15

In the present report, a degradable gene delivery system (PAMS/DNA/10NLS) containing nucleus location signal peptide (NLS) was prepared. The agarose gel electrophoresis, particle size and zeta potential of PAMS/DNA/10NLS were similar to those of PAMS/DNA, which proved that NLS did not affect the interaction between PAMS and DNA. PAMS/DNA/10NLS exhibited marked extracellular and intracellular degradation under acidic conditions. The degradation was believed to allow NLS to come into contact with importins easily, which was able to mediate the nucleus import. With the help of NLS, PAMS/DNA/10NLS exhibited a higher transfection capability than PAMS/DNA. Moreover, the transfection of PAMS/DNA/10NLS was less dependent on the breakdown of the nucleus envelope than PAMS/DNA. Considering that GTPase-activating protein 1 (RanGAP1) was able to activate the endogenous GTPase, which was necessary for NLS-mediated nucleus import, RanGAP1 overexpressed cells (RanGAP1 cells) were produced. This result showed that RanGAP1 cells had higher GTPase activities than normal cells. Both the nucleus import and transfection efficiency of PAMS/DNA/10NLS were markedly higher in RanGAP1 cells than that in normal cells. The in vivo transfection results also showed that the transfection efficiency of PAMS/DNA/10NLS was higher in RanGAP1 pre-treated mice than that in normal mice. These findings showed that PAMS/DNA/10NLS is a promising gene delivery system with the assistance of RanGAP1. The present report describes the increased transfection efficiency of a degradable gene delivery system (PAMS/DNA/10NLS) containing nuclear location signal (NLS) with the assistance of GTPase-activating protein 1 (RanGAP1). The physicochemical properties of PAMS/DNA/10NLS were similar to those of PAMS/DNA. PAMS/DNA/10NLS exhibited great extracellular and intracellular degradations, which might allow NLS to contact with importins easily. With the help of NLS, PAMS/DNA/10NLS exhibited a higher transfection capability than PAMS/DNA. The transfection of PAMS/DNA/10NLS had less dependence on the breakdown of nuclear envelope. Both the nuclear import and transfection efficiency of PAMS/DNA/10NLS were higher in RanGAP1 overexpressed cells than that in normal cells. Moreover, the transfection efficiency of PAMS/DNA/10NLS was higher in RanGAP1 pre-treated mice than that in normal mice. Copyright © 2016 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finding geospatial pattern of unstructured data by clustering routes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boustani, M.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.; Burke, W.

2016-12-01

Today the majority of data generated has a geospatial context to it. Either in attribute form as a latitude or longitude, or name of location or cross referenceable using other means such as an external gazetteer or location service. Our research is interested in exploiting geospatial location and context in unstructured data such as that found on the web in HTML pages, images, videos, documents, and other areas, and in structured information repositories found on intranets, in scientific environments, and otherwise. We are working together on the DARPA MEMEX project to exploit open source software tools such as the Lucene Geo Gazetteer, Apache Tika, Apache Lucene, and Apache OpenNLP, to automatically extract, and make meaning out of geospatial information. In particular, we are interested in unstructured descriptors e.g., a phone number, or a named entity, and the ability to automatically learn geospatial paths related to these descriptors. For example, a particular phone number may represent an entity that travels on a monthly basis, according to easily identifiable and somes more difficult to track patterns. We will present a set of automatic techniques to extract descriptors, and then to geospatially infer their paths across unstructured data.

Triplin, a small molecule, reveals copper ion transport in ethylene signaling from ATX1 to RAN1

PubMed Central

Li, Wenbo; Ye, Yajin; Lu, Juan; Yeh, Kuo-Chen; Xiao, Youli; Li, Laigeng; Binder, Brad M.

2017-01-01

Copper ions play an important role in ethylene receptor biogenesis and proper function. The copper transporter RESPONSIVE-TO-ANTAGONIST1 (RAN1) is essential for copper ion transport in Arabidopsis thaliana. However it is still unclear how copper ions are delivered to RAN1 and how copper ions affect ethylene receptors. There is not a specific copper chelator which could be used to explore these questions. Here, by chemical genetics, we identified a novel small molecule, triplin, which could cause a triple response phenotype on dark-grown Arabidopsis seedlings through ethylene signaling pathway. ran1-1 and ran1-2 are hypersensitive to triplin. Adding copper ions in growth medium could partially restore the phenotype on plant caused by triplin. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that triplin could bind copper ion. Compared to the known chelators, triplin acts more specifically to copper ion and it suppresses the toxic effects of excess copper ions on plant root growth. We further showed that mutants of ANTIOXIDANT PROTEIN1 (ATX1) are hypersensitive to tiplin, but with less sensitivity comparing with the ones of ran1-1 and ran1-2. Our study provided genetic evidence for the first time that, copper ions necessary for ethylene receptor biogenesis and signaling are transported from ATX1 to RAN1. Considering that triplin could chelate copper ions in Arabidopsis, and copper ions are essential for plant and animal, we believe that, triplin not only could be useful for studying copper ion transport of plants, but also could be useful for copper metabolism study in animal and human. PMID:28388654

AWSCS-A System to Evaluate Different Approaches for the Automatic Composition and Execution of Web Services Flows

PubMed Central

Tardiole Kuehne, Bruno; Estrella, Julio Cezar; Nunes, Luiz Henrique; Martins de Oliveira, Edvard; Hideo Nakamura, Luis; Gomes Ferreira, Carlos Henrique; Carlucci Santana, Regina Helena; Reiff-Marganiec, Stephan; Santana, Marcos José

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a system named AWSCS (Automatic Web Service Composition System) to evaluate different approaches for automatic composition of Web services, based on QoS parameters that are measured at execution time. The AWSCS is a system to implement different approaches for automatic composition of Web services and also to execute the resulting flows from these approaches. Aiming at demonstrating the results of this paper, a scenario was developed, where empirical flows were built to demonstrate the operation of AWSCS, since algorithms for automatic composition are not readily available to test. The results allow us to study the behaviour of running composite Web services, when flows with the same functionality but different problem-solving strategies were compared. Furthermore, we observed that the influence of the load applied on the running system as the type of load submitted to the system is an important factor to define which approach for the Web service composition can achieve the best performance in production. PMID:26068216

[Development of a Compared Software for Automatically Generated DVH in Eclipse TPS].

PubMed

Xie, Zhao; Luo, Kelin; Zou, Lian; Hu, Jinyou

2016-03-01

This study is to automatically calculate the dose volume histogram(DVH) for the treatment plan, then to compare it with requirements of doctor's prescriptions. The scripting language Autohotkey and programming language C# were used to develop a compared software for automatically generated DVH in Eclipse TPS. This software is named Show Dose Volume Histogram (ShowDVH), which is composed of prescription documents generation, operation functions of DVH, software visualization and DVH compared report generation. Ten cases in different cancers have been separately selected, in Eclipse TPS 11.0 ShowDVH could not only automatically generate DVH reports but also accurately determine whether treatment plans meet the requirements of doctor’s prescriptions, then reports gave direction for setting optimization parameters of intensity modulated radiated therapy. The ShowDVH is an user-friendly and powerful software, and can automatically generated compared DVH reports fast in Eclipse TPS 11.0. With the help of ShowDVH, it greatly saves plan designing time and improves working efficiency of radiation therapy physicists.

AWSCS-A System to Evaluate Different Approaches for the Automatic Composition and Execution of Web Services Flows.

PubMed

Tardiole Kuehne, Bruno; Estrella, Julio Cezar; Nunes, Luiz Henrique; Martins de Oliveira, Edvard; Hideo Nakamura, Luis; Gomes Ferreira, Carlos Henrique; Carlucci Santana, Regina Helena; Reiff-Marganiec, Stephan; Santana, Marcos José

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a system named AWSCS (Automatic Web Service Composition System) to evaluate different approaches for automatic composition of Web services, based on QoS parameters that are measured at execution time. The AWSCS is a system to implement different approaches for automatic composition of Web services and also to execute the resulting flows from these approaches. Aiming at demonstrating the results of this paper, a scenario was developed, where empirical flows were built to demonstrate the operation of AWSCS, since algorithms for automatic composition are not readily available to test. The results allow us to study the behaviour of running composite Web services, when flows with the same functionality but different problem-solving strategies were compared. Furthermore, we observed that the influence of the load applied on the running system as the type of load submitted to the system is an important factor to define which approach for the Web service composition can achieve the best performance in production.

RANS Simulation of the Separated Flow over a Bump with Active Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iaccarino, Gianluca; Marongiu, Claudio; Catalano, Pietro; Amato, Marcello

2003-01-01

The objective of this paper is to investigate the accuracy of Reynolds-Averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) techniques in predicting the effect of steady and unsteady flow control devices. This is part of a larger effort in applying numerical simulation tools to investigate of the performance of synthetic jets in high Reynolds number turbulent flows. RANS techniques have been successful in predicting isolated synthetic jets as reported by Kral et al. Nevertheless, due to the complex, and inherently unsteady nature of the interaction between the synthetic jet and the external boundary layer flow, it is not clear whether RANS models can represent the turbulence statistics correctly.

The One to Multiple Automatic High Accuracy Registration of Terrestrial LIDAR and Optical Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Hu, C.; Xia, G.; Xue, H.

2018-04-01

The registration of ground laser point cloud and close-range image is the key content of high-precision 3D reconstruction of cultural relic object. In view of the requirement of high texture resolution in the field of cultural relic at present, The registration of point cloud and image data in object reconstruction will result in the problem of point cloud to multiple images. In the current commercial software, the two pairs of registration of the two kinds of data are realized by manually dividing point cloud data, manual matching point cloud and image data, manually selecting a two - dimensional point of the same name of the image and the point cloud, and the process not only greatly reduces the working efficiency, but also affects the precision of the registration of the two, and causes the problem of the color point cloud texture joint. In order to solve the above problems, this paper takes the whole object image as the intermediate data, and uses the matching technology to realize the automatic one-to-one correspondence between the point cloud and multiple images. The matching of point cloud center projection reflection intensity image and optical image is applied to realize the automatic matching of the same name feature points, and the Rodrigo matrix spatial similarity transformation model and weight selection iteration are used to realize the automatic registration of the two kinds of data with high accuracy. This method is expected to serve for the high precision and high efficiency automatic 3D reconstruction of cultural relic objects, which has certain scientific research value and practical significance.

Playing biology's name game: identifying protein names in scientific text.

PubMed

Hanisch, Daniel; Fluck, Juliane; Mevissen, Heinz-Theodor; Zimmer, Ralf

2003-01-01

A growing body of work is devoted to the extraction of protein or gene interaction information from the scientific literature. Yet, the basis for most extraction algorithms, i.e. the specific and sensitive recognition of protein and gene names and their numerous synonyms, has not been adequately addressed. Here we describe the construction of a comprehensive general purpose name dictionary and an accompanying automatic curation procedure based on a simple token model of protein names. We designed an efficient search algorithm to analyze all abstracts in MEDLINE in a reasonable amount of time on standard computers. The parameters of our method are optimized using machine learning techniques. Used in conjunction, these ingredients lead to good search performance. A supplementary web page is available at http://cartan.gmd.de/ProMiner/.

A Chain of Modeling Tools For Gas and Aqueous Phase Chemstry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Audiffren, N.; Djouad, R.; Sportisse, B.

Atmospheric chemistry is characterized by the use of large set of chemical species and reactions. Handling with the set of data required for the definition of the model is a quite difficult task. We prsent in this short article a preprocessor for diphasic models (gas phase and aqueous phase in cloud droplets) named SPACK. The main interest of SPACK is the automatic generation of lumped species related to fast equilibria. We also developped a linear tangent model using the automatic differentiation tool named ODYSSEE in order to perform a sensitivity analysis of an atmospheric multi- phase mechanism based on RADM2 kinetic scheme.Local sensitivity coefficients are computed for two different scenarii. We focus in this study on the sensitivity of the ozone,NOx,HOx, system with respect to some aqueous phase reactions and we inves- tigate the influence of the reduction in the photolysis rates in the area below the cloud region.

A Fuzzy Description Logic with Automatic Object Membership Measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Yi; Leung, Ho-Fung

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy description logic named f om -DL by combining the classical view in cognitive psychology and fuzzy set theory. A formal mechanism used to determine object memberships automatically in concepts is also proposed, which is lacked in previous work fuzzy description logics. In this mechanism, object membership is based on the defining properties of concept definition and properties in object description. Moreover, while previous works cannot express the qualitative measurements of an object possessing a property, we introduce two kinds of properties named N-property and L-property, which are quantitative measurements and qualitative measurements of an object possessing a property respectively. The subsumption and implication of concepts and properties are also explored in our work. We believe that it is useful to the Semantic Web community for reasoning the fuzzy membership of objects for concepts in fuzzy ontologies.

Massive separation around bluff bodies: comparisons among different cfd solvers and turbulence models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armenio, Vincenzo; Fakhari, Ahmad; Petronio, Andrea; Padovan, Roberta; Pittaluga, Chiara; Caprino, Giovanni

2015-11-01

Massive flow separation is ubiquitous in industrial applications, ruling drag and hydrodynamic noise. In spite of considerable efforts, its numerical prediction still represents a challenge for CFD models in use in engineering. Aside commercial software, over the latter years the opensource software OpenFOAMR (OF) has emerged as a valid tool for prediction of complex industrial flows. In the present work, we simulate two flows representative of a class of situations occurring in industrial problems: the flow around sphere and that around a wall-mounted square cylinder at Re = 10000 . We compare the performance two different tools, namely OF and ANSYS CFX 15.0 (CFX) using different unstructured grids and turbulence models. The grids have been generated using SNAPPYHEXMESH and ANSYS ICEM CFD 15.0 with different near wall resolutions. The codes have been run in a RANS mode using k - ɛ model (OF) and SST - k - ω (CFX) with and without wall-layer models. OF has been also used in LES, WMLES and DES mode. Regarding the sphere, RANS models were not able to catch separation, while good prediction of separation and distribution of stresses over the surface were obtained using LES, WMLES and DES. Results for the second test case are currently under analysis. Financial support from COSMO ``cfd open source per opera mortta'' PAR FSC 2007-2013, Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The attentional blink in typically developing and reading-disabled children.

PubMed

de Groot, Barry J A; van den Bos, Kees P; van der Meulen, Bieuwe F; Minnaert, Alexander E M G

2015-11-01

This study's research question was whether selective visual attention, and specifically the attentional blink (AB) as operationalized by a dual target rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task, can explain individual differences in word reading (WR) and reading-related phonological performances in typically developing children and reading-disabled subgroups. A total of 407 Dutch school children (Grades 3-6) were classified either as typically developing (n = 302) or as belonging to one of three reading-disabled subgroups: reading disabilities only (RD-only, n = 69), both RD and attention problems (RD+ADHD, n = 16), or both RD and a specific language impairment (RD+SLI, n = 20). The RSVP task employed alphanumeric stimuli that were presented in two blocks. Standardized Dutch tests were used to measure WR, phonemic awareness (PA), and alphanumeric rapid naming (RAN). Results indicate that, controlling for PA and RAN performance, general RSVP task performance contributes significant unique variance to the prediction of WR. Specifically, consistent group main effects for the parameter of AB(minimum) were found, whereas there were no AB-specific effects (i.e., AB(width) and AB(amplitude)) except for the RD+SLI group. Finally, there was a group by measurement interaction, indicating that the RD-only and comorbid groups are differentially sensitive for prolonged testing sessions. These results suggest that more general factors involved in RSVP processing may explain the group differences found. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voices from the bush: remote area nurses prioritise hazards that contribute to violence in their workplace.

PubMed

McCullough, K M; Williams, A M; Lenthall, S

2012-01-01

Remote Area Nurses (RANs) in Australia frequently encounter hazards that contribute to violence in the work place. Resources to deal with this problem are limited. Adopting a risk management approach and using the Delphi method, a panel of expert RANs (n=10) from geographically diverse communities across Australia, identified and prioritised hazards that increase the risk of violence to nurses. This descriptive study found that RANs encounter a wide variety of hazards from a variety of sources. Environmental hazards are complicated by living in remote areas and practicing in different locations. Relationships between the nurse and the community can be complex and lack of experience and organisational support may contribute to an increased risk of violence. Hazards prioritised as 'major' or 'extreme' risks included: clinic maintenance and security features, attending to patients at staff residences, RAN inexperience and lack of knowledge about the community, as well as intoxicated clients with mental health issues. A work culture that accepts verbal abuse as 'part of the job' was identified as a significant organisational risk to RANs. A lack of action from management when hazards are identified by clinic staff and insufficient recognition of the risk of violence by employers were also significant hazards. Further consideration of the hazards described in this study following the risk management process, may provide opportunities to reduce the risk of violence towards RANs. Proposed control measures should be developed in consultation with RANs and the remote communities they work in.

What stresses remote area nurses? Current knowledge and future action.

PubMed

Lenthall, Sue; Wakerman, John; Opie, Tess; Dollard, Maureen; Dunn, Sandra; Knight, Sabina; Macleod, Martha; Watson, Colin

2009-08-01

Review and synthesise the literature identifying the stresses experienced by remote area nurses (RANs). Identify interventions implemented to address identified stresses. Explore the use of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. A comprehensive literature review was conducted using the meta-databases Ovid and Informit. Remote Australian primary health care centres. The reported demands experienced by RANs can be grouped into four themes: (i) the remote context; (ii) workload and extended scope of practice; (iii) poor management; and (iv) violence in the workplace and community. In this high-demand, low-resource context, the JD-R model of occupational stress is particularly pertinent to examining occupational stress among RANs. The demands on RANs, such as the isolated geographical context, are immutable. However, there are key areas where resources can be enhanced to better meet the high level of need. These are: (i) adequate and appropriate education, training and orientation; (ii) appropriate funding of remote health services; and (iii) improved management practices and systems. There is a lack of empirical evidence relating to stresses experienced by RANs. The literature identifies some of the stresses experienced by RANs as unique to the remote context, while some are related to high demands coupled with a deficit of appropriate resources. Use of models, such as the JD-R model of occupational stress, might assist in identifying key areas where resources can be enhanced to better meet the high level of need and reduce RANs' levels of stress.

Do I Have My Attention? Speed of Processing Advantages for the Self-Face Are Not Driven by Automatic Attention Capture

PubMed Central

Keyes, Helen; Dlugokencka, Aleksandra

2014-01-01

We respond more quickly to our own face than to other faces, but there is debate over whether this is connected to attention-grabbing properties of the self-face. In two experiments, we investigate whether the self-face selectively captures attention, and the attentional conditions under which this might occur. In both experiments, we examined whether different types of face (self, friend, stranger) provide differential levels of distraction when processing self, friend and stranger names. In Experiment 1, an image of a distractor face appeared centrally – inside the focus of attention – behind a target name, with the faces either upright or inverted. In Experiment 2, distractor faces appeared peripherally – outside the focus of attention – in the left or right visual field, or bilaterally. In both experiments, self-name recognition was faster than other name recognition, suggesting a self-referential processing advantage. The presence of the self-face did not cause more distraction in the naming task compared to other types of face, either when presented inside (Experiment 1) or outside (Experiment 2) the focus of attention. Distractor faces had different effects across the two experiments: when presented inside the focus of attention (Experiment 1), self and friend images facilitated self and friend naming, respectively. This was not true for stranger stimuli, suggesting that faces must be robustly represented to facilitate name recognition. When presented outside the focus of attention (Experiment 2), no facilitation occurred. Instead, we report an interesting distraction effect caused by friend faces when processing strangers’ names. We interpret this as a “social importance” effect, whereby we may be tuned to pick out and pay attention to familiar friend faces in a crowd. We conclude that any speed of processing advantages observed in the self-face processing literature are not driven by automatic attention capture. PMID:25338170

Do I have my attention? Speed of processing advantages for the self-face are not driven by automatic attention capture.

PubMed

Keyes, Helen; Dlugokencka, Aleksandra

2014-01-01

We respond more quickly to our own face than to other faces, but there is debate over whether this is connected to attention-grabbing properties of the self-face. In two experiments, we investigate whether the self-face selectively captures attention, and the attentional conditions under which this might occur. In both experiments, we examined whether different types of face (self, friend, stranger) provide differential levels of distraction when processing self, friend and stranger names. In Experiment 1, an image of a distractor face appeared centrally - inside the focus of attention - behind a target name, with the faces either upright or inverted. In Experiment 2, distractor faces appeared peripherally - outside the focus of attention - in the left or right visual field, or bilaterally. In both experiments, self-name recognition was faster than other name recognition, suggesting a self-referential processing advantage. The presence of the self-face did not cause more distraction in the naming task compared to other types of face, either when presented inside (Experiment 1) or outside (Experiment 2) the focus of attention. Distractor faces had different effects across the two experiments: when presented inside the focus of attention (Experiment 1), self and friend images facilitated self and friend naming, respectively. This was not true for stranger stimuli, suggesting that faces must be robustly represented to facilitate name recognition. When presented outside the focus of attention (Experiment 2), no facilitation occurred. Instead, we report an interesting distraction effect caused by friend faces when processing strangers' names. We interpret this as a "social importance" effect, whereby we may be tuned to pick out and pay attention to familiar friend faces in a crowd. We conclude that any speed of processing advantages observed in the self-face processing literature are not driven by automatic attention capture.

Identifying temporal and causal contributions of neural processes underlying the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

PubMed Central

Forbes, Chad E.; Cameron, Katherine A.; Grafman, Jordan; Barbey, Aron; Solomon, Jeffrey; Ritter, Walter; Ruchkin, Daniel S.

2012-01-01

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a popular behavioral measure that assesses the associative strength between outgroup members and stereotypical and counterstereotypical traits. Less is known, however, about the degree to which the IAT reflects automatic processing. Two studies examined automatic processing contributions to a gender-IAT using a data driven, social neuroscience approach. Performance on congruent (e.g., categorizing male names with synonyms of strength) and incongruent (e.g., categorizing female names with synonyms of strength) IAT blocks were separately analyzed using EEG (event-related potentials, or ERPs, and coherence; Study 1) and lesion (Study 2) methodologies. Compared to incongruent blocks, performance on congruent IAT blocks was associated with more positive ERPs that manifested in frontal and occipital regions at automatic processing speeds, occipital regions at more controlled processing speeds and was compromised by volume loss in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), insula and medial PFC. Performance on incongruent blocks was associated with volume loss in supplementary motor areas, cingulate gyrus and a region in medial PFC similar to that found for congruent blocks. Greater coherence was found between frontal and occipital regions to the extent individuals exhibited more bias. This suggests there are separable neural contributions to congruent and incongruent blocks of the IAT but there is also a surprising amount of overlap. Given the temporal and regional neural distinctions, these results provide converging evidence that stereotypic associative strength assessed by the IAT indexes automatic processing to a degree. PMID:23226123

Automatic textual annotation of video news based on semantic visual object extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boujemaa, Nozha; Fleuret, Francois; Gouet, Valerie; Sahbi, Hichem

2003-12-01

In this paper, we present our work for automatic generation of textual metadata based on visual content analysis of video news. We present two methods for semantic object detection and recognition from a cross modal image-text thesaurus. These thesaurus represent a supervised association between models and semantic labels. This paper is concerned with two semantic objects: faces and Tv logos. In the first part, we present our work for efficient face detection and recogniton with automatic name generation. This method allows us also to suggest the textual annotation of shots close-up estimation. On the other hand, we were interested to automatically detect and recognize different Tv logos present on incoming different news from different Tv Channels. This work was done jointly with the French Tv Channel TF1 within the "MediaWorks" project that consists on an hybrid text-image indexing and retrieval plateform for video news.

Strontium ranelate reduces the progression of experimental dog osteoarthritis by inhibiting the expression of key proteases in cartilage and of IL-1β in the synovium.

PubMed

Pelletier, Jean-Pierre; Kapoor, Mohit; Fahmi, Hassan; Lajeunesse, Daniel; Blesius, Alexia; Maillet, Juliette; Martel-Pelletier, Johanne

2013-02-01

To explore the disease-modifying effect, under therapeutic conditions, of strontium ranelate (SrRan) on the progression of joint structural changes and on the major pathophysiological pathways in an experimental osteoarthritis dog model. Dogs underwent sectioning of the anterior cruciate ligament, and 4 weeks after surgery received oral treatment of SrRan 25, 50 or 75 mg/kg per day, or placebo for 12 weeks. Methods included macroscopy, picrosirius red staining, histology, subchondral bone histomorphometry, quantitative PCR, and ELISA for CTX-II level in serum. Strontium plasma and synovial fluid levels were also measured. At steady state, strontium blood exposures were within the clinical therapeutic range of osteoarthritis patients and correlated with strontium concentrations in synovial fluid. SrRan treatment significantly reduced the osteoarthritis cartilage lesions at all doses tested (p≤0.05). Significantly better preservation of the collagen network was also found in SrRan-treated dogs at 50 and 75 mg/kg per day (p=0.03). The osteoarthritis subchondral bone thickening observed in osteoarthritis-placebo dogs was significantly reduced by SrRan at 50 mg/kg per day (p=0.02). The increased gene expression levels of MMP-1, MMP-13 and cathepsin K in osteoarthritis cartilage were all significantly reduced by SrRan at 75 mg/kg per day (p≤0.03) as were, in osteoarthritis synovium, IL-1β at 50 and 75 mg/kg per day (p=0.05) and MMP-3 at all doses tested (p≤0.02). The serum level of CTX-II was reduced (p≤0.04) by SrRan at 16 weeks in dogs treated with 50 and 75 mg/kg per day. This study is the first to demonstrate in vivo in an animal model that SrRan reduced the progression of osteoarthritis structural changes. The inhibition of several key proteases as well as IL-1β may have contributed to the beneficial effect of SrRan.

Graphs and Enhancing Maple Multiplication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cecil, David R.; Wang, Rongdong

2002-01-01

Description of a technique in Maple programming language that automatically prints all paths of any desired length along with the name of each vertex, proceeding in order from the beginning vertex to the ending vertex for a given graph. (Author/MM)

LES, DNS and RANS for the analysis of high-speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, Peyman

1994-01-01

The objective of this research is to continue our efforts in advancing the state of knowledge in Large Eddy Simulation (LES), Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), and Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) methods for the analysis of high-speed reacting turbulent flows. In the first phase of this research, conducted within the past six months, focus was in three directions: RANS of turbulent reacting flows by Probability Density Function (PDF) methods, RANS of non-reacting turbulent flows by advanced turbulence closures, and LES of mixing dominated reacting flows by a dynamics subgrid closure. A summary of our efforts within the past six months of this research is provided in this semi-annual progress report.

Developmental dyslexia in adults: behavioural manifestations and cognitive correlates.

PubMed

Nergård-Nilssen, Trude; Hulme, Charles

2014-08-01

This paper explores the nature of residual literacy and cognitive deficits in self-reported dyslexic Norwegian adults. The performance of 26 self-reported dyslexic adults was compared with that of a comparison group of 47 adults with no history of reading or spelling difficulties. Participants completed standardized and experimental measures tapping literacy skills, working memory, phonological awareness and rapid naming. Spelling problems were the most prominent marker of dyslexia in adults, followed by text reading fluency and nonword decoding. Working memory and phoneme awareness explained unique variance in spelling, whereas rapid automatized naming explained unique variance in reading fluency and nonword reading. The moderate to strong correlations between self-reported history, self-rating of current literacy skills and outcomes on literacy tests indicate that adults estimated their literacy skills fairly well. Results suggest that spelling impairments, more strongly than reading impairments, make adults perceive themselves as being dyslexic. A combination of three literacy and three cognitive tests predicted group membership with 90.4% accuracy. It appears that weaknesses in phoneme awareness, rapid automatized naming and working memory are strong and persistent correlates of literacy problems even in adults learning a relatively transparent orthography. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Plasma klotho levels decrease in both anorexia nervosa and obesity.

PubMed

Amitani, Marie; Asakawa, Akihiro; Amitani, Haruka; Kaimoto, Kaori; Sameshima, Nanami; Koyama, Ken Ichiro; Haruta, Izumi; Tsai, Minglun; Nakahara, Toshihiro; Ushikai, Miharu; Cheng, Kai-Chun; Hamada, Satoshi; Inui, Akio

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to examine the associations of klotho with body mass index (BMI) in patients with restricting-type anorexia nervosa (r-AN) and obesity. We examined plasma klotho as well as adiponectin and its isoform levels in comparison in 11 obese patients, 12 r-AN patients, and 11 control participants. Plasma klotho levels were markedly lower in the obesity and r-AN groups than in the control group. Moreover, plasma klotho levels increased significantly after the recovery of BMI in r-AN patients. Total and high-molecular-weight adiponectin levels were significantly decreased only in obesity. There was no relationship between klotho and total adiponectin levels or klotho and respective adiponectin isoform levels in the entire study population. These results suggest that klotho may reflect normal nutritional state, and that the decrease of klotho in r-AN and obesity may underlie the deteriorating processes of these disorders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inadequacy representation of flamelet-based RANS model for turbulent non-premixed flame

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Myoungkyu; Oliver, Todd; Moser, Robert

2017-11-01

Stochastic representations for model inadequacy in RANS-based models of non-premixed jet flames are developed and explored. Flamelet-based RANS models are attractive for engineering applications relative to higher-fidelity methods because of their low computational costs. However, the various assumptions inherent in such models introduce errors that can significantly affect the accuracy of computed quantities of interest. In this work, we develop an approach to represent the model inadequacy of the flamelet-based RANS model. In particular, we pose a physics-based, stochastic PDE for the triple correlation of the mixture fraction. This additional uncertain state variable is then used to construct perturbations of the PDF for the instantaneous mixture fraction, which is used to obtain an uncertain perturbation of the flame temperature. A hydrogen-air non-premixed jet flame is used to demonstrate the representation of the inadequacy of the flamelet-based RANS model. This work was supported by DARPA-EQUiPS(Enabling Quantification of Uncertainty in Physical Systems) program.

Ran-dependent TPX2 activation promotes acentrosomal microtubule nucleation in neurons

PubMed Central

Chen, Wen-Shin; Chen, Yi-Ju; Huang, Yung-An; Hsieh, Bing-Yuan; Chiu, Ho-Chieh; Kao, Pei-Ying; Chao, Chih-Yuan; Hwang, Eric

2017-01-01

The microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton is essential for the formation of morphologically appropriate neurons. The existence of the acentrosomal MT organizing center in neurons has been proposed but its identity remained elusive. Here we provide evidence showing that TPX2 is an important component of this acentrosomal MT organizing center. First, neurite elongation is compromised in TPX2-depleted neurons. In addition, TPX2 localizes to the centrosome and along the neurite shaft bound to MTs. Depleting TPX2 decreases MT formation frequency specifically at the tip and the base of the neurite, and these correlate precisely with the regions where active GTP-bound Ran proteins are enriched. Furthermore, overexpressing the downstream effector of Ran, importin, compromises MT formation and neuronal morphogenesis. Finally, applying a Ran-importin signaling interfering compound phenocopies the effect of TPX2 depletion on MT dynamics. Together, these data suggest a model in which Ran-dependent TPX2 activation promotes acentrosomal MT nucleation in neurons. PMID:28205572

EARLY CHILDHOOD PEREFCTIONISM

PubMed Central

Halmi, Katherine A.; Bellace, Dara; Berthod, Samantha; Ghosh, Samiran; Berrettini, Wade; Brandt, Harry A.; Bulik, Cynthia M.; Crawford, Steve; Fichter, Manfred M.; Johnson, Craig L.; Kaplan, Allan; Kaye, Walter H.; Thornton, Laura; Treasure, Janet; Woodside, D. Blake; Strober, Michael

2012-01-01

Objective To examine childhood perfectionism in anorexia nervosa (AN) restricting (RAN), purging (PAN), and binge eating with or without purging (BAN) subtypes. Method The EATATE, a retrospective assessment of childhood perfectionism, and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2) were administered to 728 AN participants. Results EATATE responses revealed General Childhood Perfectionism, 22.3% of 333 with RAN, 29.2% of 220 with PAN, and 24.8% of 116 with BAN; School Work Perfectionism, 31.2% with RAN, 30.4% with PAN, and 24.8% with BAN; Childhood Order and Symmetry, 18.7% with RAN, 21.7% with PAN, and 17.8% with BAN; and Global Childhood Rigidity, 42.6% with RAN, 48.3% with PAN and 48.1% with BAN. Perfectionism preceded the onset of AN in all subtypes. Significant associations between EDI-2 Drive for Thinness and Body Dissatisfaction were present with four EATATE subscales. Discussion Global Childhood Rigidity was the predominate feature that preceded all AN subtypes. This may be a risk factor for AN. PMID:22488115

RSAT matrix-clustering: dynamic exploration and redundancy reduction of transcription factor binding motif collections

PubMed Central

Jaeger, Sébastien; Thieffry, Denis

2017-01-01

Abstract Transcription factor (TF) databases contain multitudes of binding motifs (TFBMs) from various sources, from which non-redundant collections are derived by manual curation. The advent of high-throughput methods stimulated the production of novel collections with increasing numbers of motifs. Meta-databases, built by merging these collections, contain redundant versions, because available tools are not suited to automatically identify and explore biologically relevant clusters among thousands of motifs. Motif discovery from genome-scale data sets (e.g. ChIP-seq) also produces redundant motifs, hampering the interpretation of results. We present matrix-clustering, a versatile tool that clusters similar TFBMs into multiple trees, and automatically creates non-redundant TFBM collections. A feature unique to matrix-clustering is its dynamic visualisation of aligned TFBMs, and its capability to simultaneously treat multiple collections from various sources. We demonstrate that matrix-clustering considerably simplifies the interpretation of combined results from multiple motif discovery tools, and highlights biologically relevant variations of similar motifs. We also ran a large-scale application to cluster ∼11 000 motifs from 24 entire databases, showing that matrix-clustering correctly groups motifs belonging to the same TF families, and drastically reduced motif redundancy. matrix-clustering is integrated within the RSAT suite (http://rsat.eu/), accessible through a user-friendly web interface or command-line for its integration in pipelines. PMID:28591841

The Immune Adaptor SLP-76 Binds to SUMO-RANGAP1 at Nuclear Pore Complex Filaments to Regulate Nuclear Import of Transcription Factors in T Cells

PubMed Central

Liu, Hebin; Schneider, Helga; Recino, Asha; Richardson, Christine; Goldberg, Martin W.; Rudd, Christopher E.

2015-01-01

Summary While immune cell adaptors regulate proximal T cell signaling, direct regulation of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) has not been reported. NPC has cytoplasmic filaments composed of RanGAP1 and RanBP2 with the potential to interact with cytoplasmic mediators. Here, we show that the immune cell adaptor SLP-76 binds directly to SUMO-RanGAP1 of cytoplasmic fibrils of the NPC, and that this interaction is needed for optimal NFATc1 and NF-κB p65 nuclear entry in T cells. Transmission electron microscopy showed anti-SLP-76 cytoplasmic labeling of the majority of NPCs in anti-CD3 activated T cells. Further, SUMO-RanGAP1 bound to the N-terminal lysine 56 of SLP-76 where the interaction was needed for optimal RanGAP1-NPC localization and GAP exchange activity. While the SLP-76-RanGAP1 (K56E) mutant had no effect on proximal signaling, it impaired NF-ATc1 and p65/RelA nuclear entry and in vivo responses to OVA peptide. Overall, we have identified SLP-76 as a direct regulator of nuclear pore function in T cells. PMID:26321253

The Immune Adaptor SLP-76 Binds to SUMO-RANGAP1 at Nuclear Pore Complex Filaments to Regulate Nuclear Import of Transcription Factors in T Cells.

PubMed

Liu, Hebin; Schneider, Helga; Recino, Asha; Richardson, Christine; Goldberg, Martin W; Rudd, Christopher E

2015-09-03

While immune cell adaptors regulate proximal T cell signaling, direct regulation of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) has not been reported. NPC has cytoplasmic filaments composed of RanGAP1 and RanBP2 with the potential to interact with cytoplasmic mediators. Here, we show that the immune cell adaptor SLP-76 binds directly to SUMO-RanGAP1 of cytoplasmic fibrils of the NPC, and that this interaction is needed for optimal NFATc1 and NF-κB p65 nuclear entry in T cells. Transmission electron microscopy showed anti-SLP-76 cytoplasmic labeling of the majority of NPCs in anti-CD3 activated T cells. Further, SUMO-RanGAP1 bound to the N-terminal lysine 56 of SLP-76 where the interaction was needed for optimal RanGAP1-NPC localization and GAP exchange activity. While the SLP-76-RanGAP1 (K56E) mutant had no effect on proximal signaling, it impaired NF-ATc1 and p65/RelA nuclear entry and in vivo responses to OVA peptide. Overall, we have identified SLP-76 as a direct regulator of nuclear pore function in T cells. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Determination of Scaled Wind Turbine Rotor Characteristics from Three Dimensional RANS Calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burmester, S.; Gueydon, S.; Make, M.

2016-09-01

Previous studies have shown the importance of 3D effects when calculating the performance characteristics of a scaled down turbine rotor [1-4]. In this paper the results of 3D RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) computations by Make and Vaz [1] are taken to calculate 2D lift and drag coefficients. These coefficients are assigned to FAST (Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) tool from NREL) as input parameters. Then, the rotor characteristics (power and thrust coefficients) are calculated using BEMT. This coupling of RANS and BEMT was previously applied by other parties and is termed here the RANS-BEMT coupled approach. Here the approach is compared to measurements carried out in a wave basin at MARIN applying Froude scaled wind, and the direct 3D RANS computation. The data of both a model and full scale wind turbine are used for the validation and verification. The flow around a turbine blade at full scale has a more 2D character than the flow properties around a turbine blade at model scale (Make and Vaz [1]). Since BEMT assumes 2D flow behaviour, the results of the RANS-BEMT coupled approach agree better with the results of the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation at full- than at model-scale.

Structural basis for nuclear import complex dissociation by RanGTP.

PubMed

Lee, Soo Jae; Matsuura, Yoshiyuki; Liu, Sai Man; Stewart, Murray

2005-06-02

Nuclear protein import is mediated mainly by the transport factor importin-beta that binds cytoplasmic cargo, most often via the importin-alpha adaptor, and then transports it through nuclear pore complexes. This active transport is driven by disassembly of the import complex by nuclear RanGTP. The switch I and II loops of Ran change conformation with nucleotide state, and regulate its interactions with nuclear trafficking components. Importin-beta consists of 19 HEAT repeats that are based on a pair of antiparallel alpha-helices (referred to as the A- and B-helices). The HEAT repeats stack to yield two C-shaped arches, linked together to form a helicoidal molecule that has considerable conformational flexibility. Here we present the structure of full-length yeast importin-beta (Kap95p or karyopherin-beta) complexed with RanGTP, which provides a basis for understanding the crucial cargo-release step of nuclear import. We identify a key interaction site where the RanGTP switch I loop binds to the carboxy-terminal arch of Kap95p. This interaction produces a change in helicoidal pitch that locks Kap95p in a conformation that cannot bind importin-alpha or cargo. We suggest an allosteric mechanism for nuclear import complex disassembly by RanGTP.

Elastic Network Model of a Nuclear Transport Complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, Patrick; Liu, Wing K.; Lee, Dockjin; Seo, Sangjae; Kim, Young-Jin; Kim, Moon K.

2010-05-01

The structure of Kap95p was obtained from the Protein Data Bank (www.pdb.org) and analyzed RanGTP plays an important role in both nuclear protein import and export cycles. In the nucleus, RanGTP releases macromolecular cargoes from importins and conversely facilitates cargo binding to exportins. Although the crystal structure of the nuclear import complex formed by importin Kap95p and RanGTP was recently identified, its molecular mechanism still remains unclear. To understand the relationship between structure and function of a nuclear transport complex, a structure-based mechanical model of Kap95p:RanGTP complex is introduced. In this model, a protein structure is simply modeled as an elastic network in which a set of coarse-grained point masses are connected by linear springs representing biochemical interactions at atomic level. Harmonic normal mode analysis (NMA) and anharmonic elastic network interpolation (ENI) are performed to predict the modes of vibrations and a feasible pathway between locked and unlocked conformations of Kap95p, respectively. Simulation results imply that the binding of RanGTP to Kap95p induces the release of the cargo in the nucleus as well as prevents any new cargo from attaching to the Kap95p:RanGTP complex.

RANS simulations of wind turbine wakes: optimal tuning of turbulence closure and aerodynamic loads from LiDAR and SCADA data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Letizia, Stefano; Puccioni, Matteo; Zhan, Lu; Viola, Francesco; Camarri, Simone; Iungo, Giacomo Valerio

2017-11-01

Numerical simulations of wakes produced by utility-scale wind turbines still present challenges related to the variability of the atmospheric conditions and, in the most of the cases, the lack of information about the geometry and aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine blades. In order to overcome the mentioned difficulties, we propose a RANS solver for which turbine aerodynamic forcing and turbulence closure are calibrated through LiDAR and SCADA data acquired for an onshore wind farm. The wind farm under examination is located in North Texas over a relatively flat terrain. The experimental data are leveraged to maximize accuracy of the RANS predictions in terms of wake velocity field and power capture for different atmospheric stability conditions and settings of the wind turbines. The optimization of the RANS parameters is performed through an adjoint-RANS formulation and a gradient-based procedure. The optimally-tuned aerodynamic forcing and turbulence closure are then analyzed in order to investigate effects of the atmospheric stability on the evolution of wind turbine wakes and power performance. The proposed RANS solver has low computational costs comparable to those of wake engineering models, which make it a compelling tool for wind farm control and optimization. Acknowledgments: NSF I/UCRC WindSTAR IIP 1362033 and TACC.

Fluid flow analysis behind heliostat using LES and RANS: A step towards optimized field design in desert regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boddupalli, Nibodh; Goenka, Vikash; Chandra, Laltu

2017-06-01

Heliostats are used for concentrating beam radiation onto a receiver. The flow induced dust deposition on these reflectors will lead to failure of the receiver. For this purpose, the wake behind a heliostat is analyzed at 25° of inclination and at a Reynolds number of 60000. In this paper the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches are used for analyzing the air-flow behind a heliostat. LES and RANS are performed with a wall-resolved grid. For the purpose of validation, the horizontal velocity is measured in a wind-tunnel with a model heliostat using laser Doppler velocimetry technique. RANS and LES approaches are found to qualitatively predict the statistical quantities, like the mean horizontal-velocity in comparison to experiment. RANS under-predicts root-mean-square of the horizontal-velocity and even failed to capture the flow features behind heliostat. Thus, it is concluded that RANS will suffice with well-resolved grid for analyzing mean flow features. For analyzing wake and to understand the induced dust deposition LES is required. Further, the analysis reveals that the wake-affected region is up to three times the length of the heliostat's mirror. This can be recommended as the minimum distance between any two aligned heliostats in Jodhpur.

AKT activation drives the nuclear localization of CSE1L and a pro-oncogenic transcriptional activation in ovarian cancer cells

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

Lorenzato, Annalisa; Biolatti, Marta; Institute for Cancer Research at Candiolo, Candiolo, Torino

The human homolog of the yeast cse1 gene (CSE1L) is over-expressed in ovarian cancer. CSE1L forms complex with Ran and importin-α and has roles in nucleocytoplasmic traffic and gene expression. CSE1L accumulated in the nucleus of ovarian cancer cell lines, while it was localized also in the cytoplasm of other cancer cell lines. Nuclear localization depended on AKT, which was constitutively active in ovarian cancer cells, as the CSE1L protein translocated to the cytoplasm when AKT was inactivated. Moreover, the expression of a constitutively active AKT forced the translocation of CSE1L from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in other cancermore » cells. Nuclear accrual of CSE1L was associated to the nuclear accumulation of the phosphorylated Ran Binding protein 3 (RanBP3), which depended on AKT as well. Also in samples of human ovarian cancer, AKT activation was associated to nuclear accumulation of CSE1L and phosphorylation of RanBP3. Expression profiling of ovarian cancer cells after CSE1L silencing showed that CSE1L was required for the expression of genes promoting invasion and metastasis. In agreement, CSE1L silencing impaired motility and invasiveness of ovarian cancer cells. Altogether these data show that in ovarian cancer cells activated AKT by affecting RanBP3 phosphorylation determines the nuclear accumulation of CSE1L and likely the nuclear concentration of transcription factors conveying pro-oncogenic signals. - highlights: • CSE1L is a key player in nucleocytoplasmic traffic by forming complex with Ran. • AKT phosphorylates RanBP3 that regulates the nucleocytoplasmic gradient of Ran. • The activated oncogenic AKT drives the nuclear accumulation of CSE1L. • CSE1L in the nucleus up-regulates genes conveying pro-oncogenic signals. • CSE1L might contribute to tumor progression driven by the activated oncogenic AKT.« less

Real-Life Experience with Aflibercept and Ranibizumab in the Treatment of Newly Diagnosed Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration over 24 Months.

PubMed

Garweg, Justus G; Gerhardt, Christin; Kodjikian, Laurent; Pfister, Isabel B

2017-09-01

Comparative data appertaining to the long-term effects of Aflibercept or Ranibizumab in newly diagnosed cases of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) over follow-up periods exceeding 12 months in clinical routine are scarce. In this retrospective comparative analysis, a case series of patients with treatment-naïve nAMD and requiring anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy in a routine clinical setting were treated with either Aflibercept [Afl (n = 106)] or Ranibizumab [Ran (n = 47)]. During the drug-loading phase, 3 monthly injections were administered. Thereafter, a treat-and-extend protocol was pursued for a maximum of 24 months. Ran was administered predominantly in eyes with classical lesions; Afl was administered in all others. The primary outcome parameters included anatomical and functional stability after 24 months. Patients were comparable regarding age, gender distribution, and lens status. Fewer patients presented with intraretinal fluid in the Afl- than in the Ran group at diagnosis (46.2% vs. 67.4%; P = 0.02), but not after the drug-loading phase. After the drug-loading phase, visual acuity [-4.2 letters (Afl) vs. -4.5 letters (Ran); P = 0.78] and the central foveal thickness remained stable. Linked to the lesion type, the number of scheduled clinical visits during the course of 24 months was higher for the Ran- than for the Afl group [11.9 ± 4.7 visits (Ran) vs. 8.4 ± 3.1 visits (Afl); P = 0.0005]. However, the total number of injections was similar [10.5 ± 2.8 (Ran) vs. 11.7 ± 3.6 (Afl); P = 0.06]. Based on tailoring according to the lesion type in cases of nAMD, the anatomical and the functional outcomes of treatment with either Afl or Ran were comparable for a maximum of 2 years.

Evaluating automatic attentional capture by self-relevant information.

PubMed

Ocampo, Brenda; Kahan, Todd A

2016-01-01

Our everyday decisions and memories are inadvertently influenced by self-relevant information. For example, we are faster and more accurate at making perceptual judgments about stimuli associated with ourselves, such as our own face or name, as compared with familiar non-self-relevant stimuli. Humphreys and Sui propose a "self-attention network" to account for these effects, wherein self-relevant stimuli automatically capture our attention and subsequently enhance the perceptual processing of self-relevant information. We propose that the masked priming paradigm and continuous flash suppression represent two ways to experimentally examine these controversial claims.

Automatic indexing of scanned documents: a layout-based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esser, Daniel; Schuster, Daniel; Muthmann, Klemens; Berger, Michael; Schill, Alexander

2012-01-01

Archiving official written documents such as invoices, reminders and account statements in business and private area gets more and more important. Creating appropriate index entries for document archives like sender's name, creation date or document number is a tedious manual work. We present a novel approach to handle automatic indexing of documents based on generic positional extraction of index terms. For this purpose we apply the knowledge of document templates stored in a common full text search index to find index positions that were successfully extracted in the past.

Automatic blood detection in capsule endoscopy video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novozámský, Adam; Flusser, Jan; Tachecí, Ilja; Sulík, Lukáš; Bureš, Jan; Krejcar, Ondřej

2016-12-01

We propose two automatic methods for detecting bleeding in wireless capsule endoscopy videos of the small intestine. The first one uses solely the color information, whereas the second one incorporates the assumptions about the blood spot shape and size. The original idea is namely the definition of a new color space that provides good separability of blood pixels and intestinal wall. Both methods can be applied either individually or their results can be fused together for the final decision. We evaluate their individual performance and various fusion rules on real data, manually annotated by an endoscopist.

A System to Automatically Classify and Name Any Individual Genome-Sequenced Organism Independently of Current Biological Classification and Nomenclature

PubMed Central

Song, Yuhyun; Leman, Scotland; Monteil, Caroline L.; Heath, Lenwood S.; Vinatzer, Boris A.

2014-01-01

A broadly accepted and stable biological classification system is a prerequisite for biological sciences. It provides the means to describe and communicate about life without ambiguity. Current biological classification and nomenclature use the species as the basic unit and require lengthy and laborious species descriptions before newly discovered organisms can be assigned to a species and be named. The current system is thus inadequate to classify and name the immense genetic diversity within species that is now being revealed by genome sequencing on a daily basis. To address this lack of a general intra-species classification and naming system adequate for today’s speed of discovery of new diversity, we propose a classification and naming system that is exclusively based on genome similarity and that is suitable for automatic assignment of codes to any genome-sequenced organism without requiring any phenotypic or phylogenetic analysis. We provide examples demonstrating that genome similarity-based codes largely align with current taxonomic groups at many different levels in bacteria, animals, humans, plants, and viruses. Importantly, the proposed approach is only slightly affected by the order of code assignment and can thus provide codes that reflect similarity between organisms and that do not need to be revised upon discovery of new diversity. We envision genome similarity-based codes to complement current biological nomenclature and to provide a universal means to communicate unambiguously about any genome-sequenced organism in fields as diverse as biodiversity research, infectious disease control, human and microbial forensics, animal breed and plant cultivar certification, and human ancestry research. PMID:24586551

About the unidirectionality of interference: insight from the musical Stroop effect.

PubMed

Grégoire, Laurent; Perruchet, Pierre; Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte

2014-01-01

The asymmetry of interference in a Stroop task usually refers to the well-documented result that incongruent colour words slow colour naming (Stroop effect) but incongruent colours do not slow colour word reading (no reverse Stroop effect). A few other studies have suggested that, more generally, a reverse Stroop effect can be occasionally observed but at the expense of the Stroop effect itself, as if interference was inherently unidirectional, from the stronger to the weaker of the two competing processes. We describe here a situation conducive to a pervasive mutual interference effect. Musicians were exposed to congruent and incongruent note name/note position patterns, and they were asked either to read the word while ignoring the location of the note within the staff, or to name the note while ignoring the note name written inside the note picture. Most of the participants exhibited interference in the two tasks. Overall, this result pattern runs against the still prevalent model of the Stroop phenomenon [Cohen, J. D., Dunbar, K., & McClelland, J. L. (1990). On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the Stroop effect. Psychological Review, 97(3), 332-361]. However, further analyses lend support to one of the key tenets of the model, namely that the pattern of interference depends on the relative strength of the two competing pathways. The reasons for the impressive differences between the results collected in the present study and in the standard colour-word (or picture-word) paradigms are also examined. We suggest that these differences reveal the importance of stimulus-response contingency in the formation of automatisms.

Dissociation between controlled and automatic processes in the behavioral variant of fronto-temporal dementia.

PubMed

Collette, Fabienne; Van der Linden, Martial; Salmon, Eric

2010-01-01

A decline of cognitive functioning affecting several cognitive domains was frequently reported in patients with frontotemporal dementia. We were interested in determining if these deficits can be interpreted as reflecting an impairment of controlled cognitive processes by using an assessment tool specifically developed to explore the distinction between automatic and controlled processes, namely the process dissociation procedure (PDP) developed by Jacoby. The PDP was applied to a word stem completion task to determine the contribution of automatic and controlled processes to episodic memory performance and was administered to a group of 12 patients with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD) and 20 control subjects (CS). Bv-FTD patients obtained a lower performance than CS for the estimates of controlled processes, but no group differences was observed for estimates of automatic processes. The between-groups comparison of the estimates of controlled and automatic processes showed a larger contribution of automatic processes to performance in bv-FTD, while a slightly more important contribution of controlled processes was observed in control subjects. These results are clearly indicative of an alteration of controlled memory processes in bv-FTD.

Analysis of mobile fronthaul bandwidth and wireless transmission performance in split-PHY processing architecture.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Kenji; Kuwano, Shigeru; Terada, Jun; Otaka, Akihiro

2016-01-25

We analyze the mobile fronthaul (MFH) bandwidth and the wireless transmission performance in the split-PHY processing (SPP) architecture, which redefines the functional split of centralized/cloud RAN (C-RAN) while preserving high wireless coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission/reception performance. The SPP architecture splits the base stations (BS) functions between wireless channel coding/decoding and wireless modulation/demodulation, and employs its own CoMP joint transmission and reception schemes. Simulation results show that the SPP architecture reduces the MFH bandwidth by up to 97% from conventional C-RAN while matching the wireless bit error rate (BER) performance of conventional C-RAN in uplink joint reception with only 2-dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) penalty.

BEYOND MIXING-LENGTH THEORY: A STEP TOWARD 321D

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

Arnett, W. David; Meakin, Casey; Viallet, Maxime

2015-08-10

We examine the physical basis for algorithms to replace mixing-length theory (MLT) in stellar evolutionary computations. Our 321D procedure is based on numerical solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations. These implicit large eddy simulations (ILES) are three-dimensional (3D), time-dependent, and turbulent, including the Kolmogorov cascade. We use the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) formulation to make concise the 3D simulation data, and use the 3D simulations to give closure for the RANS equations. We further analyze this data set with a simple analytical model, which is non-local and time-dependent, and which contains both MLT and the Lorenz convective roll as particular subsets ofmore » solutions. A characteristic length (the damping length) again emerges in the simulations; it is determined by an observed balance between (1) the large-scale driving, and (2) small-scale damping. The nature of mixing and convective boundaries is analyzed, including dynamic, thermal and compositional effects, and compared to a simple model. We find that (1) braking regions (boundary layers in which mixing occurs) automatically appear beyond the edges of convection as defined by the Schwarzschild criterion, (2) dynamic (non-local) terms imply a non-zero turbulent kinetic energy flux (unlike MLT), (3) the effects of composition gradients on flow can be comparable to thermal effects, and (4) convective boundaries in neutrino-cooled stages differ in nature from those in photon-cooled stages (different Péclet numbers). The algorithms are based upon ILES solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations, so that, unlike MLT, they do not require any calibration to astronomical systems in order to predict stellar properties. Implications for solar abundances, helioseismology, asteroseismology, nucleosynthesis yields, supernova progenitors and core collapse are indicated.« less

Beyond Mixing-length Theory: A Step Toward 321D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arnett, W. David; Meakin, Casey; Viallet, Maxime; Campbell, Simon W.; Lattanzio, John C.; Mocák, Miroslav

2015-08-01

We examine the physical basis for algorithms to replace mixing-length theory (MLT) in stellar evolutionary computations. Our 321D procedure is based on numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. These implicit large eddy simulations (ILES) are three-dimensional (3D), time-dependent, and turbulent, including the Kolmogorov cascade. We use the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) formulation to make concise the 3D simulation data, and use the 3D simulations to give closure for the RANS equations. We further analyze this data set with a simple analytical model, which is non-local and time-dependent, and which contains both MLT and the Lorenz convective roll as particular subsets of solutions. A characteristic length (the damping length) again emerges in the simulations; it is determined by an observed balance between (1) the large-scale driving, and (2) small-scale damping. The nature of mixing and convective boundaries is analyzed, including dynamic, thermal and compositional effects, and compared to a simple model. We find that (1) braking regions (boundary layers in which mixing occurs) automatically appear beyond the edges of convection as defined by the Schwarzschild criterion, (2) dynamic (non-local) terms imply a non-zero turbulent kinetic energy flux (unlike MLT), (3) the effects of composition gradients on flow can be comparable to thermal effects, and (4) convective boundaries in neutrino-cooled stages differ in nature from those in photon-cooled stages (different Péclet numbers). The algorithms are based upon ILES solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, so that, unlike MLT, they do not require any calibration to astronomical systems in order to predict stellar properties. Implications for solar abundances, helioseismology, asteroseismology, nucleosynthesis yields, supernova progenitors and core collapse are indicated.

Automatic Imitation of Intransitive Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Press, Clare; Bird, Geoffrey; Walsh, Eamonn; Heyes, Cecilia

2008-01-01

Previous research has indicated a potential discontinuity between monkey and human ventral premotor-parietal mirror systems, namely that monkey mirror systems process only transitive (object-directed) actions, whereas human mirror systems may also process intransitive (non-object-directed) actions. The present study investigated this discontinuity…

Developmental dyslexia: predicting individual risk.

PubMed

Thompson, Paul A; Hulme, Charles; Nash, Hannah M; Gooch, Debbie; Hayiou-Thomas, Emma; Snowling, Margaret J

2015-09-01

Causal theories of dyslexia suggest that it is a heritable disorder, which is the outcome of multiple risk factors. However, whether early screening for dyslexia is viable is not yet known. The study followed children at high risk of dyslexia from preschool through the early primary years assessing them from age 3 years and 6 months (T1) at approximately annual intervals on tasks tapping cognitive, language, and executive-motor skills. The children were recruited to three groups: children at family risk of dyslexia, children with concerns regarding speech, and language development at 3;06 years and controls considered to be typically developing. At 8 years, children were classified as 'dyslexic' or not. Logistic regression models were used to predict the individual risk of dyslexia and to investigate how risk factors accumulate to predict poor literacy outcomes. Family-risk status was a stronger predictor of dyslexia at 8 years than low language in preschool. Additional predictors in the preschool years include letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and executive skills. At the time of school entry, language skills become significant predictors, and motor skills add a small but significant increase to the prediction probability. We present classification accuracy using different probability cutoffs for logistic regression models and ROC curves to highlight the accumulation of risk factors at the individual level. Dyslexia is the outcome of multiple risk factors and children with language difficulties at school entry are at high risk. Family history of dyslexia is a predictor of literacy outcome from the preschool years. However, screening does not reach an acceptable clinical level until close to school entry when letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and RAN, rather than family risk, together provide good sensitivity and specificity as a screening battery. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Capturing Cyclic Variability in EGR Dilute SI Combustion using Multi-Cycle RANS

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

Scarcelli, Riccardo; Sevik, James; Wallner, Thomas

Dilute combustion is an effective approach to increase the thermal efficiency of spark-ignition (SI) internal combustion engines (ICEs). However, high dilution levels typically result in large cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) and poor combustion stability, therefore limiting the efficiency improvement. In order to extend the dilution tolerance of SI engines, advanced ignition systems are the subject of extensive research. When simulating the effect of the ignition characteristics on CCV, providing a numerical result matching the measured average in-cylinder pressure trace does not deliver useful information regarding combustion stability. Typically Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are performed to simulate cyclic engine variations, since Reynold-Averagedmore » Navier-Stokes (RANS) modeling is expected to deliver an ensemble-averaged result. In this paper it is shown that, when using RANS, the cyclic perturbations coming from different initial conditions at each cycle are not damped out even after many simulated cycles. As a result, multi-cycle RANS results feature cyclic variability. This allows evaluating the effect of advanced ignition sources on combustion stability but requires validation against the entire cycle-resolved experimental dataset. A single-cylinder GDI research engine is simulated using RANS and the numerical results for 20 consecutive engine cycles are evaluated for several operating conditions, including stoichiometric as well as EGR dilute operation. The effect of the ignition characteristics on CCV is also evaluated. Results show not only that multi-cycle RANS simulations can capture cyclic variability and deliver similar trends as the experimental data, but more importantly that RANS might be an effective, lower-cost alternative to LES for the evaluation of ignition strategies for combustion systems that operate close to the stability limit.« less

Adequacy of nutrient intake in women with restrictive anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Chiurazzi, Chiara; Cioffi, Iolanda; De Caprio, Carmela; De Filippo, Emilia; Marra, Maurizio; Sammarco, Rosa; Di Guglielmo, Maria Luisa; Contaldo, Franco; Pasanisi, Fabrizio

2017-06-01

The aim of the present study was to assess energy and nutrient intake in a group of women with restrictive AN (r-AN) compared with a control group. Thirteen r-AN patients and 13 healthy female controls completed 7-d food records. Intake of macro- and micronutrients was compared between the two groups as well as to the Dietary Reference Intake for the Italian Population (LARN) for specific ages. Additionally, the r-AN patients underwent indirect calorimetry for measuring resting energy expenditure (REE). Total energy intake was significantly lower in the r-AN group than in controls (906 ± 224 vs 1660 ± 139, respectively; P < 0.01). Nutrient composition significantly differed, as well. Mean intake of sodium, phosphorus, and zinc was higher in controls than in the women with r-AN (P < 0.01), but neither group of women met LARN recommendations for potassium, calcium, or iron intake. With respect to vitamins, no significant differences were found for riboflavin or vitamins A, B 12 , or C between groups, whereas levels of other vitamins differed (P < 0.01). Both groups failed to meet the LARN recommendation for vitamin D intake; moreover, none of the r-AN patients met recommended intake levels of vitamin E, thiamine, niacin, and folate. Intakes reported by r-AN patients did not meet requirements for most micronutrients evaluated in this study and, as expected, both energy needs and specific dietary patterns differed between groups. Therefore, a careful evaluation of food consumption should be recommended to reduce nutritional gaps in these patients. According to these preliminary observations, nutritional counseling, mainly focused on calcium and vitamin D intake, should be suggested for healthy women, as well. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aggregation-prone c9FTD/ALS poly(GA) RAN-translated proteins cause neurotoxicity by inducing ER stress.

PubMed

Zhang, Yong-Jie; Jansen-West, Karen; Xu, Ya-Fei; Gendron, Tania F; Bieniek, Kevin F; Lin, Wen-Lang; Sasaguri, Hiroki; Caulfield, Thomas; Hubbard, Jaime; Daughrity, Lillian; Chew, Jeannie; Belzil, Veronique V; Prudencio, Mercedes; Stankowski, Jeannette N; Castanedes-Casey, Monica; Whitelaw, Ena; Ash, Peter E A; DeTure, Michael; Rademakers, Rosa; Boylan, Kevin B; Dickson, Dennis W; Petrucelli, Leonard

2014-10-01

The occurrence of repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation, an atypical form of translation of expanded repeats that results in the synthesis of homopolymeric expansion proteins, is becoming more widely appreciated among microsatellite expansion disorders. Such disorders include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia caused by a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the C9ORF72 gene (c9FTD/ALS). We and others have recently shown that this bidirectionally transcribed repeat is RAN translated, and the "c9RAN proteins" thusly produced form neuronal inclusions throughout the central nervous system of c9FTD/ALS patients. Nonetheless, the potential contribution of c9RAN proteins to disease pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrate that poly(GA) c9RAN proteins are neurotoxic and may be implicated in the neurodegenerative processes of c9FTD/ALS. Specifically, we show that expression of poly(GA) proteins in cultured cells and primary neurons leads to the formation of soluble and insoluble high molecular weight species, as well as inclusions composed of filaments similar to those observed in c9FTD/ALS brain tissues. The expression of poly(GA) proteins is accompanied by caspase-3 activation, impaired neurite outgrowth, inhibition of proteasome activity, and evidence of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Of importance, ER stress inhibitors, salubrinal and TUDCA, provide protection against poly(GA)-induced toxicity. Taken together, our data provide compelling evidence towards establishing RAN translation as a pathogenic mechanism of c9FTD/ALS, and suggest that targeting the ER using small molecules may be a promising therapeutic approach for these devastating diseases.

GTPase Ran strongly accumulates at the kinetochores of somatic chromosomes in the spermatogonial mitoses of Acricotopus lucidus (Diptera, Chironomidae).

PubMed

Staiber, Wolfgang

2014-07-01

Unequal chromosome segregation and spindle formation occurs in the last gonial mitosis in the germ line of the chironomid Acricotopus lucidus. During this differential mitosis, all germ line-limited chromosomes (=Ks) migrate undivided to only one pole of the cell, while the somatic chromosomes (=Ss) first remain in the metaphase plane, and with the arrival of the Ks at the pole, they then separate equally. The evolutionarily conserved GTPase Ran plays a crucial role in many cellular processes. This includes the regulation of microtubule nucleation and stabilisation at kinetochores and of spindle assembly during mitosis, which is promoted by a RanGTP concentration gradient that forms around the mitotic chromosomes (Kalab et al. in Science 295:2452-2456, 2002, Nature 440:697-701, 2006). In the present study, a strong accumulation of Ran was detected by immunofluorescence at the kinetochores of the Ss in normal gonial and differential gonial mitoses of males of A. lucidus. In contrast, no Ran accumulation was observed at the kinetochores of the Ss in the metaphases of brain ganglia mitoses or of aberrant spermatocytes or in metaphases I and II of spermatocyte meiotic divisions. Likewise, there was no accumulation at the kinetochores of Drosophila melanogaster mitotic chromosomes from larval brains. The specific accumulation of Ran at the kinetochores of the Ss in differential gonial mitoses of A. lucidus strongly suggests that Ran is involved in a mechanism acting in this exceptional mitosis, which retains the Ss at the metaphase plane and prevents a premature separation and unequal segregation of the Ss during monopolar migration of the Ks.

Angina Relief by Ranolazine Identifies False-Negative SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Scans in Patients with Coronary Disease Demonstrated by Coronary Angiography.

PubMed

Murray, Gary L

2014-09-01

Normal myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) reduces intermediate- or high-risk pretest probability patients to low- or intermediate-risk posttest probability, respectively, for coronary disease (CD). Since ranolazine (RAN) relieves only angina, anginal patients with normal MPI whose angina is relieved by RAN present a significant dilemma. The purpose of this retrospective chart review was to confirm the impression that coronary angiography (CA) is indicated in patients whose class 3 to 4 angina is relieved by RAN, but have normal myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) MPIs. Charts of patients with stable class 3 to 4 angina (typical and atypical) and normal MPIs (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] ≥50% and segmental score = 0) were reviewed. CA was done on all the patients with complete angina relief taking RAN, as well as nonresponders whose anginal etiology could not be explained. Stenoses were considered flow-restrictive when more than 70% diameter stenosis is observed by quantitative CA, or, when 50 to 70%, fractional flow reserve (FFR) measured ≤0.80. RAN relieved angina in 36 of 54 (67%) patients. Of the known cases, 25 of these 36 (69%) had 43 stenoses ≥50% (mean = 66%): 15 (60%) had 1 vessel disease; 9 (36%) had multivessel disease; 18 (72%) had left anterior descending (LAD) disease; 1 (4%) had left main disease. Twenty one of 43 (49%) stenosis were > 70%; 22 (51%) stenoses were 50 to 70% and required FFR measurement. Twenty nine of 43 stenoses (67%) were considered flow-restrictive in 18 of these 25 (72%) patients. Eight RAN nonresponders with no explanation for angina had no CD at CA. RAN angina relief is invaluable in identifying falsely negative SPECT MPI, and 50% of these patients have flow-restrictive stenoses.

Modeling of Complex Coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction Systems in Arbitrary Water Depth

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

model in a particle finite element method ( PFEM ) based framework for the ALE-RANS solver and submitted a journal paper recently [1]. In the paper, we...developing a fluid-flexible structure interaction model without free surface using ALE-RANS and k-ε turbulence closure model implemented by PFEM . In...the ALE_RANS and k-ε turbulence closure model based on the particle finite element Method ( PFEM ) and obtained some satisfying results [1-2]. The

The Defective Nuclear Lamina in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome Disrupts the Nucleocytoplasmic Ran Gradient and Inhibits Nuclear Localization of Ubc9▿

PubMed Central

Kelley, Joshua B.; Datta, Sutirtha; Snow, Chelsi J.; Chatterjee, Mandovi; Ni, Li; Spencer, Adam; Yang, Chun-Song; Cubeñas-Potts, Caelin; Matunis, Michael J.; Paschal, Bryce M.

2011-01-01

The mutant form of lamin A responsible for the premature aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (termed progerin) acts as a dominant negative protein that changes the structure of the nuclear lamina. How the perturbation of the nuclear lamina in progeria is transduced into cellular changes is undefined. Using patient fibroblasts and a variety of cell-based assays, we determined that progerin expression in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome inhibits the nucleocytoplasmic transport of several factors with key roles in nuclear function. We found that progerin reduces the nuclear/cytoplasmic concentration of the Ran GTPase and inhibits the nuclear localization of Ubc9, the sole E2 for SUMOylation, and of TPR, the nucleoporin that forms the basket on the nuclear side of the nuclear pore complex. Forcing the nuclear localization of Ubc9 in progerin-expressing cells rescues the Ran gradient and TPR import, indicating that these pathways are linked. Reducing nuclear SUMOylation decreases the nuclear mobility of the Ran nucleotide exchange factor RCC1 in vivo, and the addition of SUMO E1 and E2 promotes the dissociation of RCC1 and Ran from chromatin in vitro. Our data suggest that the cellular effects of progerin are transduced, at least in part, through reduced function of the Ran GTPase and SUMOylation pathways. PMID:21670151

The defective nuclear lamina in Hutchinson-gilford progeria syndrome disrupts the nucleocytoplasmic Ran gradient and inhibits nuclear localization of Ubc9.

PubMed

Kelley, Joshua B; Datta, Sutirtha; Snow, Chelsi J; Chatterjee, Mandovi; Ni, Li; Spencer, Adam; Yang, Chun-Song; Cubeñas-Potts, Caelin; Matunis, Michael J; Paschal, Bryce M

2011-08-01

The mutant form of lamin A responsible for the premature aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (termed progerin) acts as a dominant negative protein that changes the structure of the nuclear lamina. How the perturbation of the nuclear lamina in progeria is transduced into cellular changes is undefined. Using patient fibroblasts and a variety of cell-based assays, we determined that progerin expression in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome inhibits the nucleocytoplasmic transport of several factors with key roles in nuclear function. We found that progerin reduces the nuclear/cytoplasmic concentration of the Ran GTPase and inhibits the nuclear localization of Ubc9, the sole E2 for SUMOylation, and of TPR, the nucleoporin that forms the basket on the nuclear side of the nuclear pore complex. Forcing the nuclear localization of Ubc9 in progerin-expressing cells rescues the Ran gradient and TPR import, indicating that these pathways are linked. Reducing nuclear SUMOylation decreases the nuclear mobility of the Ran nucleotide exchange factor RCC1 in vivo, and the addition of SUMO E1 and E2 promotes the dissociation of RCC1 and Ran from chromatin in vitro. Our data suggest that the cellular effects of progerin are transduced, at least in part, through reduced function of the Ran GTPase and SUMOylation pathways.

Synthesis, characterization, and biocompatibility of alternating block polyurethanes based on PLA and PEG.

PubMed

Mei, Tingzhen; Zhu, Yonghe; Ma, Tongcui; He, Tao; Li, Linjing; Wei, Chiju; Xu, Kaitian

2014-09-01

A series of alternating block polyurethanes (abbreviated as PULA-alt-PEG) and random block polyurethanes (abbreviated as PULA-ran-PEG) based on poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were synthesized. The differences of PULA-alt/ran-PEG chemical structure, molecular weight, distribution, thermal properties, mechanical properties and static contact angle were systematically investigated. The PULA-alt/ran-PEG polyurethanes exhibited low T(g) (-47.3 ∼ -34.4°C), wide mechanical properties (stress σ(t): 4.6-32.6 MPa, modulus E: 11.4-323.9 MPa and strain ε: 468-1530%) and low water contact angle (35.4-51.4°). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation showed that PULA-alt-PEG film displays rougher and more patterned surface morphology than PULA-ran-PEG does, due to more regular structures of PULA-alt-PEG. Hydrolytic degradation shows that degradation rate of random block polyurethane series PULA-ran-PEG is higher than the alternating counterpart PULA-alt-PEG. PLA segment degradation is faster than urethane linkage and PEG segment almost does not degrade in the buffer solution. Platelet adhesion study showed that all the polyurethanes possess excellent hemocompatibility. The cell culture assay revealed that PULA-alt/ran-PEG polyurethanes were cell inert and unfavorable for the attachment of rat glial cell due to the hydrophilic characters of the materials. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Systemic Treatment with Strontium Ranelate Accelerates the Filling of a Bone Defect and Improves the Material Level Properties of the Healing Bone

PubMed Central

Zacchetti, Giovanna; Rizzoli, René

2014-01-01

Rapid bone defect filling with normal bone is a challenge in orthopaedics and dentistry. Strontium ranelate (SrRan) has been shown to in vitro decrease bone resorption and increase bone formation, and represents a potential agent with the capacity to accelerate bone defect filling. In this study, bone tibial defects of 2.5 mm in diameter were created in 6-month-old female rats orally fed SrRan (625 mg/kg/d; 5/7 days) or vehicle for 4, 8, or 12 weeks (10 rats per group per time point) from the time of surgery. Tibias were removed. Micro-architecture was determined by micro-computed tomography (µCT) and material level properties by nanoindentation analysis. µCT analysis showed that SrRan administration significantly improved microarchitecture of trabecular bone growing into the defect after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment compared to vehicle. SrRan treatment also accelerated the growth of cortical bone over the defect, but with different kinetics compared to trabecular bone, as the effects were already significant after 4 weeks. Nanoindentation analysis demonstrated that SrRan treatment significantly increased material level properties of both trabecular bone and cortical bone filling the defect compared to vehicle. SrRan accelerates the filling of bone defect by improving cortical and trabecular bone microarchitecture both quantitatively and qualitatively. PMID:25243150

Evaluation of National Adaptation Planning: A Case Study in Indonesia

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

Kawanishi, Masato; Ridwan, Nadia Amelia

2016-01-01

The present study aims to evaluate national adaptation planning, using the National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation (RAN-API) in Indonesia as a case. In doing so, the current study applies the methodology used in Preston et al. (2011), where a set of 57 adaptation plans from three developed countries was evaluated against 19 planning processes. The same criteria and scoring system were applied to the current study to evaluate RAN-API, both as identified in its document and as viewed by the stakeholders. A desktop review and questionnaires were undertaken to this end. It was found that discrepancies exist betweenmore » the status of RAN-API as documented and the stakeholders views of some criteria, suggesting that information or knowledge gaps may still exist despite the efforts made for stakeholder engagement. In some of the other criteria, the stakeholders views match the status as identified in the document. Most notably, they both agree that the weakness of RAN-API is related to limited consideration for non-climatic factors. While the development of RAN-API is a critical step taken in the country, the current study finds that there remains room for further improvement. The criteria or indicators to be used to assess the progress of RAN-API as a whole may need to be further elaborated.« less

A Novel In Vivo Assay Reveals Inhibition of Ribosomal Nuclear Export in Ran-Cycle and Nucleoporin Mutants

PubMed Central

Hurt, Ed; Hannus, Stefan; Schmelzl, Birgit; Lau, Denise; Tollervey, David; Simos, George

1999-01-01

To identify components involved in the nuclear export of ribosomes in yeast, we developed an in vivo assay exploiting a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged version of ribosomal protein L25. After its import into the nucleolus, L25-GFP assembles with 60S ribosomal subunits that are subsequently exported into the cytoplasm. In wild-type cells, GFP-labeled ribosomes are only detected by fluorescence in the cytoplasm. However, thermosensitive rna1-1 (Ran-GAP), prp20-1 (Ran-GEF), and nucleoporin nup49 and nsp1 mutants are impaired in ribosomal export as revealed by nuclear accumulation of L25-GFP. Furthermore, overexpression of dominant-negative RanGTP (Gsp1-G21V) and the tRNA exportin Los1p inhibits ribosomal export. The pattern of subnuclear accumulation of L25-GFP observed in different mutants is not identical, suggesting that transport can be blocked at different steps. Thus, nuclear export of ribosomes requires the nuclear/cytoplasmic Ran-cycle and distinct nucleoporins. This assay can be used to identify soluble transport factors required for nuclear exit of ribosomes. PMID:9971735

Cognitive Endophenotypes of Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moll, Kristina; Loff, Ariana; Snowling, Margaret J.

2013-01-01

The study investigated cognitive deficits associated with dyslexia and familial risk of dyslexia (endophenotypes) by comparing children from families with and without a history of dyslexia. Eighty-eight school-aged children were assessed on measures of phonology, language and rapid automatized naming. A series of regression analyses with family…

UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS IN WATER QUALITY MODELING USING QUAL2E

EPA Science Inventory

A strategy for incorporating uncertainty analysis techniques (sensitivity analysis, first order error analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation) into the mathematical water quality model QUAL2E is described. The model, named QUAL2E-UNCAS, automatically selects the input variables or p...

10. View of Draper darby chain loom from warp beam ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

10. View of Draper darby chain loom from warp beam end, patent date 1913, made by Drpaer Corporation, Hopedale, Massachusetts. Acquired ca. 1941. Note Draper-Northrop name on automatic spindle changer. - Riverdale Cotton Mill, Corner of Middle & Lower Streets, Valley, Chambers County, AL

Automatic generation of investigator bibliographies for institutional research networking systems.

PubMed

Johnson, Stephen B; Bales, Michael E; Dine, Daniel; Bakken, Suzanne; Albert, Paul J; Weng, Chunhua

2014-10-01

Publications are a key data source for investigator profiles and research networking systems. We developed ReCiter, an algorithm that automatically extracts bibliographies from PubMed using institutional information about the target investigators. ReCiter executes a broad query against PubMed, groups the results into clusters that appear to constitute distinct author identities and selects the cluster that best matches the target investigator. Using information about investigators from one of our institutions, we compared ReCiter results to queries based on author name and institution and to citations extracted manually from the Scopus database. Five judges created a gold standard using citations of a random sample of 200 investigators. About half of the 10,471 potential investigators had no matching citations in PubMed, and about 45% had fewer than 70 citations. Interrater agreement (Fleiss' kappa) for the gold standard was 0.81. Scopus achieved the best recall (sensitivity) of 0.81, while name-based queries had 0.78 and ReCiter had 0.69. ReCiter attained the best precision (positive predictive value) of 0.93 while Scopus had 0.85 and name-based queries had 0.31. ReCiter accesses the most current citation data, uses limited computational resources and minimizes manual entry by investigators. Generation of bibliographies using named-based queries will not yield high accuracy. Proprietary databases can perform well but requite manual effort. Automated generation with higher recall is possible but requires additional knowledge about investigators. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic generation of investigator bibliographies for institutional research networking systems

PubMed Central

Johnson, Stephen B.; Bales, Michael E.; Dine, Daniel; Bakken, Suzanne; Albert, Paul J.; Weng, Chunhua

2014-01-01

Objective Publications are a key data source for investigator profiles and research networking systems. We developed ReCiter, an algorithm that automatically extracts bibliographies from PubMed using institutional information about the target investigators. Methods ReCiter executes a broad query against PubMed, groups the results into clusters that appear to constitute distinct author identities and selects the cluster that best matches the target investigator. Using information about investigators from one of our institutions, we compared ReCiter results to queries based on author name and institution and to citations extracted manually from the Scopus database. Five judges created a gold standard using citations of a random sample of 200 investigators. Results About half of the 10,471 potential investigators had no matching citations in PubMed, and about 45% had fewer than 70 citations. Interrater agreement (Fleiss’ kappa) for the gold standard was 0.81. Scopus achieved the best recall (sensitivity) of 0.81, while name-based queries had 0.78 and ReCiter had 0.69. ReCiter attained the best precision (positive predictive value) of 0.93 while Scopus had 0.85 and name-based queries had 0.31. Discussion ReCiter accesses the most current citation data, uses limited computational resources and minimizes manual entry by investigators. Generation of bibliographies using named-based queries will not yield high accuracy. Proprietary databases can perform well but requite manual effort. Automated generation with higher recall is possible but requires additional knowledge about investigators. PMID:24694772

Detached-Eddy Simulation Based on the v2-f Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jee, Sol Keun; Shariff, Karim

2012-01-01

Detached eddy simulation (DES) based on the v2-f RANS model is proposed. This RANS model incorporates the anisotropy of near-wall turbulence which is absent in other RANS models commonly used in the DES community. In LES mode, the proposed DES formulation reduces to a transport equation for the subgrid-scale kinetic energy. The constant, CDES, required by this model was calibrated by simulating isotropic turbulence. In the final paper, DES simulations of canonical separated flows will be presented.

Memory systems, processes, and tasks: taxonomic clarification via factor analysis.

PubMed

Bruss, Peter J; Mitchell, David B

2009-01-01

The nature of various memory systems was examined using factor analysis. We reanalyzed data from 11 memory tasks previously reported in Mitchell and Bruss (2003). Four well-defined factors emerged, closely resembling episodic and semantic memory and conceptual and perceptual implicit memory, in line with both memory systems and transfer-appropriate processing accounts. To explore taxonomic issues, we ran separate analyses on the implicit tasks. Using a cross-format manipulation (pictures vs. words), we identified 3 prototypical tasks. Word fragment completion and picture fragment identification tasks were "factor pure," tapping perceptual processes uniquely. Category exemplar generation revealed its conceptual nature, yielding both cross-format priming and a picture superiority effect. In contrast, word stem completion and picture naming were more complex, revealing attributes of both processes.

Chameleon sequences in neurodegenerative diseases.

PubMed

Bahramali, Golnaz; Goliaei, Bahram; Minuchehr, Zarrin; Salari, Ali

2016-03-25

Chameleon sequences can adopt either alpha helix sheet or a coil conformation. Defining chameleon sequences in PDB (Protein Data Bank) may yield to an insight on defining peptides and proteins responsible in neurodegeneration. In this research, we benefitted from the large PDB and performed a sequence analysis on Chameleons, where we developed an algorithm to extract peptide segments with identical sequences, but different structures. In order to find new chameleon sequences, we extracted a set of 8315 non-redundant protein sequences from the PDB with an identity less than 25%. Our data was classified to "helix to strand (HE)", "helix to coil (HC)" and "strand to coil (CE)" alterations. We also analyzed the occurrence of singlet and doublet amino acids and the solvent accessibility in the chameleon sequences; we then sorted out the proteins with the most number of chameleon sequences and named them Chameleon Flexible Proteins (CFPs) in our dataset. Our data revealed that Gly, Val, Ile, Tyr and Phe, are the major amino acids in Chameleons. We also found that there are proteins such as Insulin Degrading Enzyme IDE and GTP-binding nuclear protein Ran (RAN) with the most number of chameleons (640 and 405 respectively). These proteins have known roles in neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore it can be inferred that other CFP's can serve as key proteins in neurodegeneration, and a study on them can shed light on curing and preventing neurodegenerative diseases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chameleon sequences in neurodegenerative diseases

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

Bahramali, Golnaz; Goliaei, Bahram, E-mail: goliaei@ut.ac.ir; Minuchehr, Zarrin, E-mail: minuchehr@nigeb.ac.ir

2016-03-25

Chameleon sequences can adopt either alpha helix sheet or a coil conformation. Defining chameleon sequences in PDB (Protein Data Bank) may yield to an insight on defining peptides and proteins responsible in neurodegeneration. In this research, we benefitted from the large PDB and performed a sequence analysis on Chameleons, where we developed an algorithm to extract peptide segments with identical sequences, but different structures. In order to find new chameleon sequences, we extracted a set of 8315 non-redundant protein sequences from the PDB with an identity less than 25%. Our data was classified to “helix to strand (HE)”, “helix tomore » coil (HC)” and “strand to coil (CE)” alterations. We also analyzed the occurrence of singlet and doublet amino acids and the solvent accessibility in the chameleon sequences; we then sorted out the proteins with the most number of chameleon sequences and named them Chameleon Flexible Proteins (CFPs) in our dataset. Our data revealed that Gly, Val, Ile, Tyr and Phe, are the major amino acids in Chameleons. We also found that there are proteins such as Insulin Degrading Enzyme IDE and GTP-binding nuclear protein Ran (RAN) with the most number of chameleons (640 and 405 respectively). These proteins have known roles in neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore it can be inferred that other CFP's can serve as key proteins in neurodegeneration, and a study on them can shed light on curing and preventing neurodegenerative diseases.« less

Computational fluid dynamics analysis of cyclist aerodynamics: performance of different turbulence-modelling and boundary-layer modelling approaches.

PubMed

Defraeye, Thijs; Blocken, Bert; Koninckx, Erwin; Hespel, Peter; Carmeliet, Jan

2010-08-26

This study aims at assessing the accuracy of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for applications in sports aerodynamics, for example for drag predictions of swimmers, cyclists or skiers, by evaluating the applied numerical modelling techniques by means of detailed validation experiments. In this study, a wind-tunnel experiment on a scale model of a cyclist (scale 1:2) is presented. Apart from three-component forces and moments, also high-resolution surface pressure measurements on the scale model's surface, i.e. at 115 locations, are performed to provide detailed information on the flow field. These data are used to compare the performance of different turbulence-modelling techniques, such as steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS), with several k-epsilon and k-omega turbulence models, and unsteady large-eddy simulation (LES), and also boundary-layer modelling techniques, namely wall functions and low-Reynolds number modelling (LRNM). The commercial CFD code Fluent 6.3 is used for the simulations. The RANS shear-stress transport (SST) k-omega model shows the best overall performance, followed by the more computationally expensive LES. Furthermore, LRNM is clearly preferred over wall functions to model the boundary layer. This study showed that there are more accurate alternatives for evaluating flow around bluff bodies with CFD than the standard k-epsilon model combined with wall functions, which is often used in CFD studies in sports. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Approaches to Multiphase Flows in Geophysics - Application to nonisothermal, nonhomogenous, unsteady, large-scale, turbulent dusty clouds I. Hydrodynamic and Thermodynamic RANS and LES Models

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

S. Dartevelle

2005-09-05

The objective of this manuscript is to fully derive a geophysical multiphase model able to ''accommodate'' different multiphase turbulence approaches; viz., the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS), the Large Eddy Simulation (LES), or hybrid RANSLES. This manuscript is the first part of a larger geophysical multiphase project--lead by LANL--that aims to develop comprehensive modeling tools for large-scale, atmospheric, transient-buoyancy dusty jets and plume (e.g., plinian clouds, nuclear ''mushrooms'', ''supercell'' forest fire plumes) and for boundary-dominated geophysical multiphase gravity currents (e.g., dusty surges, diluted pyroclastic flows, dusty gravity currents in street canyons). LES is a partially deterministic approach constructed on either amore » spatial- or a temporal-separation between the large and small scales of the flow, whereas RANS is an entirely probabilistic approach constructed on a statistical separation between an ensemble-averaged mean and higher-order statistical moments (the so-called ''fluctuating parts''). Within this specific multiphase context, both turbulence approaches are built up upon the same phasic binary-valued ''function of presence''. This function of presence formally describes the occurrence--or not--of any phase at a given position and time and, therefore, allows to derive the same basic multiphase Navier-Stokes model for either the RANS or the LES frameworks. The only differences between these turbulence frameworks are the closures for the various ''turbulence'' terms involving the unknown variables from the fluctuating (RANS) or from the subgrid (LES) parts. Even though the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic models for RANS and LES have the same set of Partial Differential Equations, the physical interpretations of these PDEs cannot be the same, i.e., RANS models an averaged field, while LES simulates a filtered field. In this manuscript, we also demonstrate that this multiphase model fully fulfills the second law of thermodynamics and fulfills the necessary requirements for a well-posed initial-value problem. In the next manuscripts, we will further develop specific closures for multiphase RANS, LES, and hybrid-LES.« less

Automatic P-S phase picking procedure based on Kurtosis: Vanuatu region case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baillard, C.; Crawford, W. C.; Ballu, V.; Hibert, C.

2012-12-01

Automatic P and S phase picking is indispensable for large seismological data sets. Robust algorithms, based on short term and long term average ratio comparison (Allen, 1982), are commonly used for event detection, but further improvements can be made in phase identification and picking. We present a picking scheme using consecutively Kurtosis-derived Characteristic Functions (CF) and Eigenvalue decompositions on 3-component seismic data to independently pick P and S arrivals. When computed over a sliding window of the signal, a sudden increase in the CF reveals a transition from a gaussian to a non-gaussian distribution, characterizing the phase onset (Saragiotis, 2002). One advantage of the method is that it requires much fewer adjustable parameters than competing methods. We modified the Kurtosis CF to improve pick precision, by computing the CF over several frequency bandwidths, window sizes and smoothing parameters. Once phases were picked, we determined the onset type (P or S) using polarization parameters (rectilinearity, azimuth and dip) calculated using Eigenvalue decompositions of the covariance matrix (Cichowicz, 1993). Finally, we removed bad picks using a clustering procedure and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The pick quality index was also assigned based on the SNR value. Amplitude calculation is integrated into the procedure to enable automatic magnitude calculation. We applied this procedure to data from a network of 30 wideband seismometers (including 10 oceanic bottom seismometers) in Vanuatu that ran for 10 months from May 2008 to February 2009. We manually picked the first 172 events of June, whose local magnitudes range from 0.7 to 3.7. We made a total of 1601 picks, 1094 P and 507 S. We then applied our automatic picking to the same dataset. 70% of the manually picked onsets were picked automatically. For P-picks, the difference between manual and automatic picks is 0.01 ± 0.08 s overall; for the best quality picks (quality index 0: 64% of the P-picks) the difference is -0.01 ± 0.07 s. For S-picks, the difference is -0.09 ± 0.26 s overall and -0.06 ± 0.14 s for good quality picks (index 1: 26% of the S-picks). Residuals showed no dependence on the event magnitudes. The method independently picks S and P waves with good precision and only a few parameters to adjust for relatively small earthquakes (mostly ≤ 2 Ml). The automatic procedure was then applied to the whole dataset. Earthquake locations obtained by inverting onset arrivals revealed clustering and lineations that helped us to constrain the subduction plane. Those key parameters will be integrated to a 3D finite-difference modeling and compared to GPS data in order to better understand the complex geodynamics behavior of the Vanuatu region.

Preoperative trajectory planning for closed reduction of long-bone diaphyseal fracture using a computer-assisted reduction system.

PubMed

Du, Hailong; Hu, Lei; Li, Changsheng; He, Chunqing; Zhang, Lihai; Tang, Peifu

2015-03-01

Balancing reduction accuracy with soft-tissue preservation is a challenge in orthopaedics. Computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) can improve accuracy and reduce radiation exposure. However, previous reports have not summarized the fracture patterns to which CAOS has been applied. We used a CAOS system and a stereolithography model to define a new fracture classification. Twenty reduction tests were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of preoperative trajectory planning. Twenty tests ran automatically and smoothly. Only three slight scratches occurred. Seventy-six path points represented displacement deviations of < 2 mm (average < 1 mm) and angulation deviation of < 1.5°. Because of the strength of muscles, mechanical sensors are used to prevent iatrogenic soft-tissue injury. Secondary fractures are prevented mainly through preoperative trajectory planning. Based on our data, a 1 mm gap between the edges of fractures spikes is sufficient to avoid emergency braking from spike interference. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hyper-X Stage Separation Trajectory Validation Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tartabini, Paul V.; Bose, David M.; McMinn, John D.; Martin, John G.; Strovers, Brian K.

2003-01-01

An independent twelve degree-of-freedom simulation of the X-43A separation trajectory was created with the Program to Optimize Simulated trajectories (POST II). This simulation modeled the multi-body dynamics of the X-43A and its booster and included the effect of two pyrotechnically actuated pistons used to push the vehicles apart as well as aerodynamic interaction forces and moments between the two vehicles. The simulation was developed to validate trajectory studies conducted with a 14 degree-of-freedom simulation created early in the program using the Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanics Systems (ADAMS) simulation software. The POST simulation was less detailed than the official ADAMS-based simulation used by the Project, but was simpler, more concise and ran faster, while providing similar results. The increase in speed provided by the POST simulation provided the Project with an alternate analysis tool. This tool was ideal for performing separation control logic trade studies that required the running of numerous Monte Carlo trajectories.

Automatic and continuous landslide monitoring: the Rotolon Web-based platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frigerio, Simone; Schenato, Luca; Mantovani, Matteo; Bossi, Giulia; Marcato, Gianluca; Cavalli, Marco; Pasuto, Alessandro

2013-04-01

Mount Rotolon (Eastern Italian Alps) is affected by a complex landslide that, since 1985, is threatening the nearby village of Recoaro Terme. The first written proof of a landslide occurrence dated back to 1798. After the last re-activation on November 2010 (637 mm of intense rainfall recorded in the 12 days prior the event), a mass of approximately 320.000 m3 detached from the south flank of Mount Rotolon and evolved into a fast debris flow that ran for about 3 km along the stream bed. A real-time monitoring system was required to detect early indication of rapid movements, potentially saving lives and property. A web-based platform for automatic and continuous monitoring was designed as a first step in the implementation of an early-warning system. Measurements collected by the automated geotechnical and topographic instrumentation, deployed over the landslide body, are gathered in a central box station. After the calibration process, they are transmitted by web services on a local server, where graphs, maps, reports and alert announcement are automatically generated and updated. All the processed information are available by web browser with different access rights. The web environment provides the following advantages: 1) data is collected from different data sources and matched on a single server-side frame 2) a remote user-interface allows regular technical maintenance and direct access to the instruments 3) data management system is synchronized and automatically tested 4) a graphical user interface on browser provides a user-friendly tool for decision-makers to interact with a system continuously updated. On this site two monitoring systems are actually on course: 1) GB-InSAR radar interferometer (University of Florence - Department of Earth Science) and 2) Automated Total Station (ATS) combined with extensometers network in a Web-based solution (CNR-IRPI Padova). This work deals with details on methodology, services and techniques adopted for the second monitoring solution. The activity directly interfaces with local Civil Protection agency, Regional Geological Service and local authorities with integrated roles and aims.

Large Eddy Simulation and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes modeling of flow in a realistic pharyngeal airway model: an investigation of obstructive sleep apnea.

PubMed

Mihaescu, Mihai; Murugappan, Shanmugam; Kalra, Maninder; Khosla, Sid; Gutmark, Ephraim

2008-07-19

Computational fluid dynamics techniques employing primarily steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methodology have been recently used to characterize the transitional/turbulent flow field in human airways. The use of RANS implies that flow phenomena are averaged over time, the flow dynamics not being captured. Further, RANS uses two-equation turbulence models that are not adequate for predicting anisotropic flows, flows with high streamline curvature, or flows where separation occurs. A more accurate approach for such flow situations that occur in the human airway is Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The paper considers flow modeling in a pharyngeal airway model reconstructed from cross-sectional magnetic resonance scans of a patient with obstructive sleep apnea. The airway model is characterized by a maximum narrowing at the site of retropalatal pharynx. Two flow-modeling strategies are employed: steady RANS and the LES approach. In the RANS modeling framework both k-epsilon and k-omega turbulence models are used. The paper discusses the differences between the airflow characteristics obtained from the RANS and LES calculations. The largest discrepancies were found in the axial velocity distributions downstream of the minimum cross-sectional area. This region is characterized by flow separation and large radial velocity gradients across the developed shear layers. The largest difference in static pressure distributions on the airway walls was found between the LES and the k-epsilon data at the site of maximum narrowing in the retropalatal pharynx.

Harmonizing Automatic Test System Assets, Drivers, and Control Methodologies

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-07-18

ORGANIZATION PRINCIPAL AREAS OF INTEREST TO ATS NAME 1394 TA Firewire Trade Association Defining high speed bus protocol Active Group Accelerating ActiveX ...System Assets, Drivers, and Control Methodologies 17 JUL, 1999 component is a diagonal matrix containing scaling values such that when the three

The Structure of Phonological Processing and Its Relationship to Basic Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Jason M.; Lindstrom, Jennifer H.; Lindstrom, Will; Denis, Daniel

2012-01-01

We investigated various structural models of phonological processing and the relationship of phonological processing abilities to basic reading. Data were collected on 116 kindergarten and first grade students. The specific ability model, which included phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming as separate…

Is a Cerebellar Deficit the Underlying Cause of Reading Disabilities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irannejad, Shahrzad; Savage, Robert

2012-01-01

This study investigated whether children with dyslexia differed in their performance on reading, phonological, rapid naming, motor, and cerebellar-related tasks and automaticity measures compared to reading age (RA)-matched and chronological age (CA)-matched control groups. Participants were 51 children attending mainstream English elementary…

Culture-Based Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quantz, Richard; Cambron-McCabe, Nelda; Dantley, Michael; Hachem, Ali H.

2017-01-01

The field of educational leadership is beset with a barrage of different "leadership theories". There are so many differently named theories and models of leadership that the student and practitioner have difficulty understanding them as anything other than an automat of alternatives. To confuse matters even more, nearly all of these…

Assessment of RANS and LES Turbulence Modeling for Buoyancy-Aided/Opposed Forced and Mixed Convection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clifford, Corey; Kimber, Mark

2017-11-01

Over the last 30 years, an industry-wide shift within the nuclear community has led to increased utilization of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to supplement nuclear reactor safety analyses. One such area that is of particular interest to the nuclear community, specifically to those performing loss-of-flow accident (LOFA) analyses for next-generation very-high temperature reactors (VHTR), is the capacity of current computational models to predict heat transfer across a wide range of buoyancy conditions. In the present investigation, a critical evaluation of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) turbulence modeling techniques is conducted based on CFD validation data collected from the Rotatable Buoyancy Tunnel (RoBuT) at Utah State University. Four different experimental flow conditions are investigated: (1) buoyancy-aided forced convection; (2) buoyancy-opposed forced convection; (3) buoyancy-aided mixed convection; (4) buoyancy-opposed mixed convection. Overall, good agreement is found for both forced convection-dominated scenarios, but an overly-diffusive prediction of the normal Reynolds stress is observed for the RANS-based turbulence models. Low-Reynolds number RANS models perform adequately for mixed convection, while higher-order RANS approaches underestimate the influence of buoyancy on the production of turbulence.

Discovery of a biomarker and lead small molecules to target r(GGGGCC)-associated defects in c9FTD/ALS.

PubMed

Su, Zhaoming; Zhang, Yongjie; Gendron, Tania F; Bauer, Peter O; Chew, Jeannie; Yang, Wang-Yong; Fostvedt, Erik; Jansen-West, Karen; Belzil, Veronique V; Desaro, Pamela; Johnston, Amelia; Overstreet, Karen; Oh, Seok-Yoon; Todd, Peter K; Berry, James D; Cudkowicz, Merit E; Boeve, Bradley F; Dickson, Dennis; Floeter, Mary Kay; Traynor, Bryan J; Morelli, Claudia; Ratti, Antonia; Silani, Vincenzo; Rademakers, Rosa; Brown, Robert H; Rothstein, Jeffrey D; Boylan, Kevin B; Petrucelli, Leonard; Disney, Matthew D

2014-09-03

A repeat expansion in C9ORF72 causes frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (c9FTD/ALS). RNA of the expanded repeat (r(GGGGCC)exp) forms nuclear foci or undergoes repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation, producing "c9RAN proteins." Since neutralizing r(GGGGCC)exp could inhibit these potentially toxic events, we sought to identify small-molecule binders of r(GGGGCC)exp. Chemical and enzymatic probing of r(GGGGCC)8 indicate that it adopts a hairpin structure in equilibrium with a quadruplex structure. Using this model, bioactive small molecules targeting r(GGGGCC)exp were designed and found to significantly inhibit RAN translation and foci formation in cultured cells expressing r(GGGGCC)66 and neurons transdifferentiated from fibroblasts of repeat expansion carriers. Finally, we show that poly(GP) c9RAN proteins are specifically detected in c9ALS patient cerebrospinal fluid. Our findings highlight r(GGGGCC)exp-binding small molecules as a possible c9FTD/ALS therapeutic and suggest that c9RAN proteins could potentially serve as a pharmacodynamic biomarker to assess efficacy of therapies that target r(GGGGCC)exp. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discovery of a Biomarker and Lead Small Molecules to Target r(GGGGCC)-Associated Defects in c9FTD/ALS

PubMed Central

Su, Zhaoming; Zhang, Yongjie; Gendron, Tania F.; Bauer, Peter O.; Chew, Jeannie; Yang, Wang-Yong; Fostvedt, Erik; Jansen-West, Karen; Belzil, Veronique V.; Desaro, Pamela; Johnston, Amelia; Overstreet, Karen; Oh, Seok-Yoon; Todd, Peter K.; Berry, James D.; Cudkowicz, Merit E.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Dickson, Dennis; Floeter, Mary Kay; Traynor, Bryan J.; Morelli, Claudia; Ratti, Antonia; Silani, Vincenzo; Rademakers, Rosa; Brown, Robert H.; Rothstein, Jeffrey D.; Boylan, Kevin B.; Petrucelli, Leonard; Disney, Matthew D.

2014-01-01

Summary A repeat expansion in C9ORF72 causes frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (c9FTD/ALS). RNA of the expanded repeat (r(GGGGCC)exp) forms nuclear foci or undergoes repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation producing “c9RAN proteins”. Since neutralizing r(GGGGCC)exp could inhibit these potentially toxic events, we sought to identify small molecule binders of r(GGGGCC)exp. Chemical and enzymatic probing of r(GGGGCC)8 indicate it adopts a hairpin structure in equilibrium with a quadruplex structure. Using this model, bioactive small molecules targeting r(GGGGCC)exp were designed and found to significantly inhibit RAN translation and foci formation in cultured cells expressing r(GGGGCC)66 and neurons trans-differentiated from fibroblasts of repeat expansion carriers. Finally, we show that poly(GP) c9RAN proteins are specifically detected in c9ALS patient cerebrospinal fluid. Our findings highlight r(GGGGCC)exp-binding small molecules as a possible c9FTD/ALS therapeutic, and suggest c9RAN proteins could potentially serve as a pharmacodynamic biomarker to assess efficacy of therapies that target r(GGGGCC)exp. PMID:25132468

Hybrid RANS-LES using high order numerical methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henry de Frahan, Marc; Yellapantula, Shashank; Vijayakumar, Ganesh; Knaus, Robert; Sprague, Michael

2017-11-01

Understanding the impact of wind turbine wake dynamics on downstream turbines is particularly important for the design of efficient wind farms. Due to their tractable computational cost, hybrid RANS/LES models are an attractive framework for simulating separation flows such as the wake dynamics behind a wind turbine. High-order numerical methods can be computationally efficient and provide increased accuracy in simulating complex flows. In the context of LES, high-order numerical methods have shown some success in predictions of turbulent flows. However, the specifics of hybrid RANS-LES models, including the transition region between both modeling frameworks, pose unique challenges for high-order numerical methods. In this work, we study the effect of increasing the order of accuracy of the numerical scheme in simulations of canonical turbulent flows using RANS, LES, and hybrid RANS-LES models. We describe the interactions between filtering, model transition, and order of accuracy and their effect on turbulence quantities such as kinetic energy spectra, boundary layer evolution, and dissipation rate. This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Exascale Computing Project, under Contract No. DE-AC36-08-GO28308 with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Polydopamine-Functionalized CA-(PCL-ran-PLA) Nanoparticles for Target Delivery of Docetaxel and Chemo-photothermal Therapy of Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Kong, Na; Deng, Mei; Sun, Xiu-Na; Chen, Yi-Ding; Sui, Xin-Bing

2018-01-01

Current limitations of cancer therapy include the lack of effective strategy for target delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs, and the difficulty of achieving significant efficacy by single treatment. Herein, we reported a synergistic chemo-photothermal strategy based on aptamer (Apt)-polydopamine (pD) functionalized CA-(PCL-ran-PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) for effective delivery of docetaxel (DTX) and enhanced therapeutic effect. The developed DTX-loaded Apt-pD-CA-(PCL-ran-PLA) NPs achieved promising advantages, such as (i) improved drug loading content (LC) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) initiated by star-shaped copolymer CA-(PCL-ran-PLA); (ii) effective target delivery of drugs to tumor sites by incorporating AS1411 aptamers; (iii) significant therapeutic efficacy caused by synergistic chemo-photothermal treatment. In addition, the pD coating strategy with simple procedures could address the contradiction between targeting modification and maintaining formerly excellent bio-properties. Therefore, with excellent bio-properties and simple preparation procedures, the DTX-loaded Apt-pD-CA-(PCL-ran-PLA) NPs effectively increased the local drug concentration in tumor sites, minimized side effects, and significantly eliminated tumors, indicating the promising application of these NPs for cancer therapy. PMID:29527167

Spatiotemporal Regulation of Nuclear Transport Machinery and Microtubule Organization

PubMed Central

Okada, Naoyuki; Sato, Masamitsu

2015-01-01

Spindle microtubules capture and segregate chromosomes and, therefore, their assembly is an essential event in mitosis. To carry out their mission, many key players for microtubule formation need to be strictly orchestrated. Particularly, proteins that assemble the spindle need to be translocated at appropriate sites during mitosis. A small GTPase (hydrolase enzyme of guanosine triphosphate), Ran, controls this translocation. Ran plays many roles in many cellular events: nucleocytoplasmic shuttling through the nuclear envelope, assembly of the mitotic spindle, and reorganization of the nuclear envelope at the mitotic exit. Although these events are seemingly distinct, recent studies demonstrate that the mechanisms underlying these phenomena are substantially the same as explained by molecular interplay of the master regulator Ran, the transport factor importin, and its cargo proteins. Our review focuses on how the transport machinery regulates mitotic progression of cells. We summarize translocation mechanisms governed by Ran and its regulatory proteins, and particularly focus on Ran-GTP targets in fission yeast that promote spindle formation. We also discuss the coordination of the spatial and temporal regulation of proteins from the viewpoint of transport machinery. We propose that the transport machinery is an essential key that couples the spatial and temporal events in cells. PMID:26308057

Hybrid LES/RANS Simulation of Transverse Sonic Injection into a Mach 2 Flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boles, John A.; Edwards, Jack R.; Baurle, Robert A.

2008-01-01

A computational study of transverse sonic injection of air and helium into a Mach 1.98 cross-flow is presented. A hybrid large-eddy simulation / Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (LES/RANS) turbulence model is used, with the two-equation Menter baseline (Menter-BSL) closure for the RANS part of the flow and a Smagorinsky-type model for the LES part of the flow. A time-dependent blending function, dependent on modeled turbulence variables, is used to shift the closure from RANS to LES. Turbulent structures are initiated and sustained through the use of a recycling / rescaling technique. Two higher-order discretizations, the Piecewise Parabolic Method (PPM) of Colella and Woodward, and the SONIC-A ENO scheme of Suresh and Huyhn are used in the study. The results using the hybrid model show reasonably good agreement with time-averaged Mie scattering data and with experimental surface pressure distributions, even though the penetration of the jet into the cross-flow is slightly over-predicted. The LES/RANS results are used to examine the validity of commonly-used assumptions of constant Schmidt and Prandtl numbers in the intense mixing zone downstream of the injection location.

Automated Data Base Implementation Requirements for the Avionics Planning Baseline - Army

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-07-01

PJRQT PJRSG .... PRJR owns PJRQTR Item EFT A32 A26 In record EFR Item ESFT A36 A40 In record ESFR Item EQPOC ALCPOC A20 In record EQR Iten EPHONE LPHONE...USING EF DUPLICATES ARE NOT ALLOWED WITHIN EQSEG. EF TYPE CHARACTER 4. EFT TYPE CHARACTER 32. EG TYPE CHARACTER 4. RECORD NAME IS ESFR LOCATION MODE... ESFR MANDATORY AUTOMATIC LINKED TO OWNER ASCENDING KEY IS ESF DUPLICATES NOT SET SELECTION THRU LOCATION MODE OF OWNER. SET NAME IS ESEQ MODE CHAIN

Development of an Automatic Dispensing System for Traditional Chinese Herbs.

PubMed

Lin, Chi-Ying; Hsieh, Ping-Jung

2017-01-01

The gathering of ingredients for decoctions of traditional Chinese herbs still relies on manual dispensation, due to the irregular shape of many items and inconsistencies in weights. In this study, we developed an automatic dispensing system for Chinese herbal decoctions with the aim of reducing manpower costs and the risk of mistakes. We employed machine vision in conjunction with a robot manipulator to facilitate the grasping of ingredients. The name and formulation of the decoction are input via a human-computer interface, and the dispensing of multiple medicine packets is performed automatically. An off-line least-squared curve fitting method was used to calculate the amount of material grasped by the claws and thereby improve system efficiency as well as the accuracy of individual dosages. Experiments on the dispensing of actual ingredients demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system.

Electrophysiological evidence of automatic early semantic processing.

PubMed

Hinojosa, José A; Martín-Loeches, Manuel; Muñoz, Francisco; Casado, Pilar; Pozo, Miguel A

2004-01-01

This study investigates the automatic-controlled nature of early semantic processing by means of the Recognition Potential (RP), an event-related potential response that reflects lexical selection processes. For this purpose tasks differing in their processing requirements were used. Half of the participants performed a physical task involving a lower-upper case discrimination judgement (shallow processing requirements), whereas the other half carried out a semantic task, consisting in detecting animal names (deep processing requirements). Stimuli were identical in the two tasks. Reaction time measures revealed that the physical task was easier to perform than the semantic task. However, RP effects elicited by the physical and semantic tasks did not differ in either latency, amplitude, or topographic distribution. Thus, the results from the present study suggest that early semantic processing is automatically triggered whenever a linguistic stimulus enters the language processor.

Report of the Hydrographic Service Royal Australian Navy for the Year ended 30th June 1985, Issue Number 21.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-01-01

Mapping Council which will be held in October 1985. IJS. COMPTONAPTAIN RAN HYDROGRAPHER RAN Accesion For NTIS -CRAMI LDrIC TAB U,.annournced 0 J ...itifcation By .-........ . Di.. t ibution Availability Codes Dit Avail ar-.I or A-1 QUALITYSSPECTED - 2 L. 2. GENERAL The RAN Hydrographic Service, the...FLINDERS used Side Scan Sonar and her diving team to find, and determine the least depths over, the wrecks SAFARI and ERICA J lying on the sea-bed in the

RSAT matrix-clustering: dynamic exploration and redundancy reduction of transcription factor binding motif collections.

PubMed

Castro-Mondragon, Jaime Abraham; Jaeger, Sébastien; Thieffry, Denis; Thomas-Chollier, Morgane; van Helden, Jacques

2017-07-27

Transcription factor (TF) databases contain multitudes of binding motifs (TFBMs) from various sources, from which non-redundant collections are derived by manual curation. The advent of high-throughput methods stimulated the production of novel collections with increasing numbers of motifs. Meta-databases, built by merging these collections, contain redundant versions, because available tools are not suited to automatically identify and explore biologically relevant clusters among thousands of motifs. Motif discovery from genome-scale data sets (e.g. ChIP-seq) also produces redundant motifs, hampering the interpretation of results. We present matrix-clustering, a versatile tool that clusters similar TFBMs into multiple trees, and automatically creates non-redundant TFBM collections. A feature unique to matrix-clustering is its dynamic visualisation of aligned TFBMs, and its capability to simultaneously treat multiple collections from various sources. We demonstrate that matrix-clustering considerably simplifies the interpretation of combined results from multiple motif discovery tools, and highlights biologically relevant variations of similar motifs. We also ran a large-scale application to cluster ∼11 000 motifs from 24 entire databases, showing that matrix-clustering correctly groups motifs belonging to the same TF families, and drastically reduced motif redundancy. matrix-clustering is integrated within the RSAT suite (http://rsat.eu/), accessible through a user-friendly web interface or command-line for its integration in pipelines. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Ontology-guided organ detection to retrieve web images of disease manifestation: towards the construction of a consumer-based health image library.

PubMed

Chen, Yang; Ren, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Guo-Qiang; Xu, Rong

2013-01-01

Visual information is a crucial aspect of medical knowledge. Building a comprehensive medical image base, in the spirit of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), would greatly benefit patient education and self-care. However, collection and annotation of such a large-scale image base is challenging. To combine visual object detection techniques with medical ontology to automatically mine web photos and retrieve a large number of disease manifestation images with minimal manual labeling effort. As a proof of concept, we first learnt five organ detectors on three detection scales for eyes, ears, lips, hands, and feet. Given a disease, we used information from the UMLS to select affected body parts, ran the pretrained organ detectors on web images, and combined the detection outputs to retrieve disease images. Compared with a supervised image retrieval approach that requires training images for every disease, our ontology-guided approach exploits shared visual information of body parts across diseases. In retrieving 2220 web images of 32 diseases, we reduced manual labeling effort to 15.6% while improving the average precision by 3.9% from 77.7% to 81.6%. For 40.6% of the diseases, we improved the precision by 10%. The results confirm the concept that the web is a feasible source for automatic disease image retrieval for health image database construction. Our approach requires a small amount of manual effort to collect complex disease images, and to annotate them by standard medical ontology terms.

Zonal PANS: evaluation of different treatments of the RANS-LES interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, L.

2016-03-01

The partially Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) model can be used to simulate turbulent flows either as RANS, large eddy simulation (LES) or DNS. Its main parameter is fk whose physical meaning is the ratio of the modelled to the total turbulent kinetic energy. In RANS fk = 1, in DNS fk = 0 and in LES fk takes values between 0 and 1. Three different ways of prescribing fk are evaluated for decaying grid turbulence and fully developed channel flow: fk = 0.4, fk = k3/2tot/ɛ and, from its definition, fk = k/ktot where ktot is the sum of the modelled, k, and resolved, kres, turbulent kinetic energy. It is found that the fk = 0.4 gives the best results. In Girimaji and Wallin, a method was proposed to include the effect of the gradient of fk. This approach is used at RANS- LES interface in the present study. Four different interface models are evaluated in fully developed channel flow and embedded LES of channel flow: in both cases, PANS is used as a zonal model with fk = 1 in the unsteady RANS (URANS) region and fk = 0.4 in the LES region. In fully developed channel flow, the RANS- LES interface is parallel to the wall (horizontal) and in embedded LES, it is parallel to the inlet (vertical). The importance of the location of the horizontal interface in fully developed channel flow is also investigated. It is found that the location - and the choice of the treatment at the interface - may be critical at low Reynolds number or if the interface is placed too close to the wall. The reason is that the modelled turbulent shear stress at the interface is large and hence the relative strength of the resolved turbulence is small. In RANS, the turbulent viscosity - and consequently also the modelled Reynolds shear stress - is only weakly dependent on Reynolds number. It is found in the present work that it also applies in the URANS region.

Automaticity of Basic-Level Categorization Accounts for Labeling Effects in Visual Recognition Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richler, Jennifer J.; Gauthier, Isabel; Palmeri, Thomas J.

2011-01-01

Are there consequences of calling objects by their names? Lupyan (2008) suggested that overtly labeling objects impairs subsequent recognition memory because labeling shifts stored memory representations of objects toward the category prototype (representational shift hypothesis). In Experiment 1, we show that processing objects at the basic…

Agency and Learning: Some Implications for Educational Technology Theory and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanchar, Stephen C.; Spackman, Jonathan S.

2012-01-01

Clark (2011) recently reviewed literature on cognitive phenomena such as automaticity, non-conscious processing, and the "illusion of conscious will," concluding that most learning theories and instructional design models are informed by faulty assumptions regarding psychological functioning--namely, that most cognitive activity is conscious and…

Enabling Creative Learning Design through Semantic Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlton, Patricia; Magoulas, George; Laurillard, Diana

2012-01-01

The paper advocates an approach to learning design that considers it as creating digital artefacts that can be extended, modified and used for different purposes. This is realised through an "act becoming artefact" cycle, where users' actions in the authors' software environment, named Learning Designer, are automatically interpreted on…

Cognitive Profiles of Italian Children with Developmental Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tobia, Valentina; Marzocchi, Gian Marco

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate verbal and nonverbal cognitive deficits in Italian students with developmental dyslexia. The performances of 32 dyslexic students, 64 age-matched typically reading controls, and 64 reading age-matched controls were compared on tests of lexical knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming,…

Classroom Tech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Instructor, 2006

2006-01-01

This article features the latest classroom technologies namely the FLY Pentop, WriteToLearn, and a new iris scan identification system. The FLY Pentop is a computerized pen from Leapster that "magically" understands what kids write and draw on special FLY paper. WriteToLearn is an automatic grading software from Pearson Knowledge Technologies and…

Accurately Predicting Future Reading Difficulty for Bilingual Latino Children at Risk for Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, Douglas B.; Gillam, Ronald B.

2013-01-01

Sixty-three bilingual Latino children who were at risk for language impairment were administered reading-related measures in English and Spanish (letter identification, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and sentence repetition) and descriptive measures including English language proficiency (ELP), language ability (LA),…

A Hybrid RANS/LES Approach for Predicting Jet Noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldstein, Marvin E.

2006-01-01

Hybrid acoustic prediction methods have an important advantage over the current Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) based methods in that they only involve modeling of the relatively universal subscale motion and not the configuration dependent larger scale turbulence. Unfortunately, they are unable to account for the high frequency sound generated by the turbulence in the initial mixing layers. This paper introduces an alternative approach that directly calculates the sound from a hybrid RANS/LES flow model (which can resolve the steep gradients in the initial mixing layers near the nozzle lip) and adopts modeling techniques similar to those used in current RANS based noise prediction methods to determine the unknown sources in the equations for the remaining unresolved components of the sound field. The resulting prediction method would then be intermediate between the current noise prediction codes and previously proposed hybrid noise prediction methods.

Constitutional Thinness and Anorexia Nervosa: A Possible Misdiagnosis?

PubMed Central

Estour, Bruno; Galusca, Bogdan; Germain, Natacha

2014-01-01

Clinical and biological aspects of restrictive anorexia nervosa (R-AN) are well documented. More than 10,000 articles since 1911 and more than 600 in 2013 have addressed R-AN psychiatric, somatic, and biological aspects. Genetic background, ineffectiveness of appetite regulating hormones on refeeding process, bone loss, and place of amenorrhea in the definition are widely discussed and reviewed. Oppositely, constitutional thinness (CT) is an almost unknown entity. Only 32 articles have been published on this topic since 1953. Similar symptoms associating low body mass index, low fat, and bone mass are reported in both CT and R-AN subjects. Conversely, menses are preserved in CT women and almost the entire hormonal profile is normal, except for leptin and PYY. The aim of the present review is to alert the clinician on the confusing clinical presentation of these two situations, a potential source of misdiagnosis, especially since R-AN definition has changed in DSM5. PMID:25368605

Constitutional thinness and anorexia nervosa: a possible misdiagnosis?

PubMed

Estour, Bruno; Galusca, Bogdan; Germain, Natacha

2014-01-01

Clinical and biological aspects of restrictive anorexia nervosa (R-AN) are well documented. More than 10,000 articles since 1911 and more than 600 in 2013 have addressed R-AN psychiatric, somatic, and biological aspects. Genetic background, ineffectiveness of appetite regulating hormones on refeeding process, bone loss, and place of amenorrhea in the definition are widely discussed and reviewed. Oppositely, constitutional thinness (CT) is an almost unknown entity. Only 32 articles have been published on this topic since 1953. Similar symptoms associating low body mass index, low fat, and bone mass are reported in both CT and R-AN subjects. Conversely, menses are preserved in CT women and almost the entire hormonal profile is normal, except for leptin and PYY. The aim of the present review is to alert the clinician on the confusing clinical presentation of these two situations, a potential source of misdiagnosis, especially since R-AN definition has changed in DSM5.

Development of a Hybrid RANS/LES Method for Compressible Mixing Layer Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Georgiadis, Nicholas J.; Alexander, J. Iwan D.; Reshotko, Eli

2001-01-01

A hybrid method has been developed for simulations of compressible turbulent mixing layers. Such mixing layers dominate the flows in exhaust systems of modem day aircraft and also those of hypersonic vehicles currently under development. The hybrid method uses a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) procedure to calculate wall bounded regions entering a mixing section, and a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) procedure to calculate the mixing dominated regions. A numerical technique was developed to enable the use of the hybrid RANS/LES method on stretched, non-Cartesian grids. The hybrid RANS/LES method is applied to a benchmark compressible mixing layer experiment. Preliminary two-dimensional calculations are used to investigate the effects of axial grid density and boundary conditions. Actual LES calculations, performed in three spatial directions, indicated an initial vortex shedding followed by rapid transition to turbulence, which is in agreement with experimental observations.

RCC1 regulates inner centromeric composition in a Ran-independent fashion.

PubMed

Zhang, Michael Shaofei; Furuta, Maiko; Arnaoutov, Alexei; Dasso, Mary

2018-01-01

RCC1 associates to chromatin dynamically within mitosis and catalyzes Ran-GTP production. Exogenous RCC1 disrupts kinetochore structure in Xenopus egg extracts (XEEs), but the molecular basis of this disruption remains unknown. We have investigated this question, utilizing replicated chromosomes that possess paired sister kinetochores. We find that exogenous RCC1 evicts a specific subset of inner KT proteins including Shugoshin-1 (Sgo1) and the chromosome passenger complex (CPC). We generated RCC1 mutants that separate its enzymatic activity and chromatin binding. Strikingly, Sgo1 and CPC eviction depended only on RCC1's chromatin affinity but not its capacity to produce Ran-GTP. RCC1 similarly released Sgo1 and CPC from synthetic kinetochores assembled on CENP-A nucleosome arrays. Together, our findings indicate RCC1 regulates kinetochores at the metaphase-anaphase transition through Ran-GTP-independent displacement of Sgo1 and CPC.

Absolute pitch among students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music: a large-scale direct-test study.

PubMed

Deutsch, Diana; Li, Xiaonuo; Shen, Jing

2013-11-01

This paper reports a large-scale direct-test study of absolute pitch (AP) in students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Overall note-naming scores were very high, with high scores correlating positively with early onset of musical training. Students who had begun training at age ≤5 yr scored 83% correct not allowing for semitone errors and 90% correct allowing for semitone errors. Performance levels were higher for white key pitches than for black key pitches. This effect was greater for orchestral performers than for pianists, indicating that it cannot be attributed to early training on the piano. Rather, accuracy in identifying notes of different names (C, C#, D, etc.) correlated with their frequency of occurrence in a large sample of music taken from the Western tonal repertoire. There was also an effect of pitch range, so that performance on tones in the two-octave range beginning on Middle C was higher than on tones in the octave below Middle C. In addition, semitone errors tended to be on the sharp side. The evidence also ran counter to the hypothesis, previously advanced by others, that the note A plays a special role in pitch identification judgments.

The role of the P3 and CNV components in voluntary and automatic temporal orienting: A high spatial-resolution ERP study.

PubMed

Mento, Giovanni

2017-12-01

A main distinction has been proposed between voluntary and automatic mechanisms underlying temporal orienting (TO) of selective attention. Voluntary TO implies the endogenous directing of attention induced by symbolic cues. Conversely, automatic TO is exogenously instantiated by the physical properties of stimuli. A well-known example of automatic TO is sequential effects (SEs), which refer to the adjustments in participants' behavioral performance as a function of the trial-by-trial sequential distribution of the foreperiod between two stimuli. In this study a group of healthy adults underwent a cued reaction time task purposely designed to assess both voluntary and automatic TO. During the task, both post-cue and post-target event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded by means of a high spatial resolution EEG system. In the results of the post-cue analysis, the P3a and P3b were identified as two distinct ERP markers showing distinguishable spatiotemporal features and reflecting automatic and voluntary a priori expectancy generation, respectively. The brain source reconstruction further revealed that distinct cortical circuits supported these two temporally dissociable components. Namely, the voluntary P3b was supported by a left sensorimotor network, while the automatic P3a was generated by a more distributed frontoparietal circuit. Additionally, post-cue contingent negative variation (CNV) and post-target P3 modulations were observed as common markers of voluntary and automatic expectancy implementation and response selection, although partially dissociable neural networks subserved these two mechanisms. Overall, these results provide new electrophysiological evidence suggesting that distinct neural substrates can be recruited depending on the voluntary or automatic cognitive nature of the cognitive mechanisms subserving TO. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gimli: open source and high-performance biomedical name recognition

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Automatic recognition of biomedical names is an essential task in biomedical information extraction, presenting several complex and unsolved challenges. In recent years, various solutions have been implemented to tackle this problem. However, limitations regarding system characteristics, customization and usability still hinder their wider application outside text mining research. Results We present Gimli, an open-source, state-of-the-art tool for automatic recognition of biomedical names. Gimli includes an extended set of implemented and user-selectable features, such as orthographic, morphological, linguistic-based, conjunctions and dictionary-based. A simple and fast method to combine different trained models is also provided. Gimli achieves an F-measure of 87.17% on GENETAG and 72.23% on JNLPBA corpus, significantly outperforming existing open-source solutions. Conclusions Gimli is an off-the-shelf, ready to use tool for named-entity recognition, providing trained and optimized models for recognition of biomedical entities from scientific text. It can be used as a command line tool, offering full functionality, including training of new models and customization of the feature set and model parameters through a configuration file. Advanced users can integrate Gimli in their text mining workflows through the provided library, and extend or adapt its functionalities. Based on the underlying system characteristics and functionality, both for final users and developers, and on the reported performance results, we believe that Gimli is a state-of-the-art solution for biomedical NER, contributing to faster and better research in the field. Gimli is freely available at http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/gimli. PMID:23413997

Two Bears Walk Into a Bar…. A Quest to Communicate Climate Change Ends in Puppets and Sketches and Songs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willis, J. K.; O'Brien, R.

2015-12-01

Like most colleagues, I struggle to connect with a broad audience about my research. And after years of falling short, I decided to do something about it. So I took a comedy class. And then another. And another. Pretty soon I met a talented director, writer and actor named Rani O'Brien and together we created the Lollygaggers—a sketch comedy musical about climate change for kids of all ages. For 16 weeks in 2014, The Lollygaggers ran in the Second City Studio Theater on Hollywood Blvd, brining laughs and lessons on climate change to a wide audience using puppets, characters and songs. This presentation will focus on how climate change and comedy can unite, how the Lollygaggers came to be, and will include a song from the show.

Improved Convergence and Robustness of USM3D Solutions on Mixed Element Grids (Invited)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pandya, Mohagna J.; Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Frink, Neal T.

2015-01-01

Several improvements to the mixed-element USM3D discretization and defect-correction schemes have been made. A new methodology for nonlinear iterations, called the Hierarchical Adaptive Nonlinear Iteration Scheme (HANIS), has been developed and implemented. It provides two additional hierarchies around a simple and approximate preconditioner of USM3D. The hierarchies are a matrix-free linear solver for the exact linearization of Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations and a nonlinear control of the solution update. Two variants of the new methodology are assessed on four benchmark cases, namely, a zero-pressure gradient flat plate, a bump-in-channel configuration, the NACA 0012 airfoil, and a NASA Common Research Model configuration. The new methodology provides a convergence acceleration factor of 1.4 to 13 over the baseline solver technology.

Failure to exercise due diligence costs plaintiff her suit.

PubMed

1997-11-28

The Mississippi State Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a last-minute suit filed by a plaintiff against United Blood Services of Mississippi and the American Association of Blood Banks. A woman known as D. Doe was a recipient of a tainted transfusion. She contracted HIV in 1983 and died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. Her daughter, the plaintiff, filed a contaminated blood transfusion lawsuit just five days before the statute of limitations ran out but failed to ascertain the correct identity of the blood bank. She named two blood banks in her suit because she was unable to determine the source of the blood. The Supreme Court ruled that waiting until five days before the statute elapsed indicated that the plaintiff did not exercise reasonable diligence within a specific time frame.

USAWC (US Army War College) Military Studies Program Paper. An Investigation of the Value of Taiwan To Future United States Relations with the People’s Republic of China.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-02-18

instrum-ent of power in future U.S.- PRC relations. During the 1949-1978 timeframe, U.S.-PRC relations ran the gamut from armed conflict in the Korean...PRC relations ran the gamut from armed conflict in the Korean War to diplomatic relations declared in 1978. The first thawing in relations occurred...PRC relations. US-PRC relations during the 1949-1978 timeframe ran the gamut frou armed conflict during the Korean War to diplomatic recognition. With

Analysis Of Direct Numerical Simulation Results Of Adverse Pressure Gradient Boundary Layer Through Anisotropy Invariant Mapping And Comparison With The Rans Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gungor, Ayse Gul; Nural, Ozan Ekin; Ertunc, Ozgur

2017-11-01

Purpose of this study is to analyze the direct numerical simulation data of a turbulent boundary layer subjected to strong adverse pressure gradient through anisotropy invariant mapping. RANS simulation using the ``Elliptic Blending Model'' of Manceau and Hanjolic (2002) is also conducted for the same flow case with commercial software Star-CCM+ and comparison of the results with DNS data is done. RANS simulation captures the general trends in the velocity field but, significant deviations are found when skin friction coefficients are compared. Anisotropy invariant map of Lumley and Newman (1977) and barycentric map of Banerjee et al. (2007) are used for the analysis. Invariant mapping of the DNS data has yielded that at locations away from the wall, flow is close to one component turbulence state. In the vicinity of the wall, turbulence is at two component limit which is one border of the barycentric map and as the flow evolves along the streamwise direction, it approaches to two component turbulence state. Additionally, at the locations away from the wall, turbulence approaches to two component limit. Furthermore, analysis of the invariants of the RANS simulations shows dissimilar results. In RANS simulations invariants do not approach to any of the limit states unlike the DNS.

Design and Integration of a Rotor Alone Nacelle for Acoustic Fan Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shook, Tony D.; Hughes, Christoper E.; Thompson, William K.; Tavernelli, Paul F.; Cunningham, Cameron C.; Shah, Ashwin

2001-01-01

A brief summary of the design, integration and testing of a rotor alone nacelle (RAN) in NASA Glenn's 9'x 15' Low Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT) is presented. The purpose of the RAN system was to provide an "acoustically clean" flow path within the nacelle to isolate that portion of the total engine system acoustic signature attributed to fan noise. The RAN design accomplished this by removing the stators that provided internal support to the nacelle. In its place, two external struts mounted to a two-axis positioning table located behind the tunnel wall provided the support. Nacelle-mounted lasers and a closed-loop control system provided the input to the table to maintain nacelle to fan concentricity as thermal and thrust loads displaced the strut-mounted fan. This unique design required extensive analysis and verification testing to ensure the safety of the fan model, propulsion simulator drive rig, and facility, along with experimental consistency of acoustic data obtained while using the RAN system. Initial testing was used to optimize the positioning system and resulted in concentricity errors of +/- 0.0031 in. in the horizontal direction and +0.0035/-0.0013 in, in the vertical direction. As a result of successful testing, the RAN system will be transitioned into other acoustic research programs at NASA Glenn Research Center.

Data-driven RANS for simulations of large wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iungo, G. V.; Viola, F.; Ciri, U.; Rotea, M. A.; Leonardi, S.

2015-06-01

In the wind energy industry there is a growing need for real-time predictions of wind turbine wake flows in order to optimize power plant control and inhibit detrimental wake interactions. To this aim, a data-driven RANS approach is proposed in order to achieve very low computational costs and adequate accuracy through the data assimilation procedure. The RANS simulations are implemented with a classical Boussinesq hypothesis and a mixing length turbulence closure model, which is calibrated through the available data. High-fidelity LES simulations of a utility-scale wind turbine operating with different tip speed ratios are used as database. It is shown that the mixing length model for the RANS simulations can be calibrated accurately through the Reynolds stress of the axial and radial velocity components, and the gradient of the axial velocity in the radial direction. It is found that the mixing length is roughly invariant in the very near wake, then it increases linearly with the downstream distance in the diffusive region. The variation rate of the mixing length in the downstream direction is proposed as a criterion to detect the transition between near wake and transition region of a wind turbine wake. Finally, RANS simulations were performed with the calibrated mixing length model, and a good agreement with the LES simulations is observed.

POPCORN: a Supervisory Control Simulation for Workload and Performance Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hart, S. G.; Battiste, V.; Lester, P. T.

1984-01-01

A multi-task simulation of a semi-automatic supervisory control system was developed to provide an environment in which training, operator strategy development, failure detection and resolution, levels of automation, and operator workload can be investigated. The goal was to develop a well-defined, but realistically complex, task that would lend itself to model-based analysis. The name of the task (POPCORN) reflects the visual display that depicts different task elements milling around waiting to be released and pop out to be performed. The operator's task was to complete each of 100 task elements that ere represented by different symbols, by selecting a target task and entering the desired a command. The simulated automatic system then completed the selected function automatically. Highly significant differences in performance, strategy, and rated workload were found as a function of all experimental manipulations (except reward/penalty).

How to differentiate collective variables in free energy codes: Computer-algebra code generation and automatic differentiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giorgino, Toni

2018-07-01

The proper choice of collective variables (CVs) is central to biased-sampling free energy reconstruction methods in molecular dynamics simulations. The PLUMED 2 library, for instance, provides several sophisticated CV choices, implemented in a C++ framework; however, developing new CVs is still time consuming due to the need to provide code for the analytical derivatives of all functions with respect to atomic coordinates. We present two solutions to this problem, namely (a) symbolic differentiation and code generation, and (b) automatic code differentiation, in both cases leveraging open-source libraries (SymPy and Stan Math, respectively). The two approaches are demonstrated and discussed in detail implementing a realistic example CV, the local radius of curvature of a polymer. Users may use the code as a template to streamline the implementation of their own CVs using high-level constructs and automatic gradient computation.

Evaluation of techniques for increasing recall in a dictionary approach to gene and protein name identification.

PubMed

Schuemie, Martijn J; Mons, Barend; Weeber, Marc; Kors, Jan A

2007-06-01

Gene and protein name identification in text requires a dictionary approach to relate synonyms to the same gene or protein, and to link names to external databases. However, existing dictionaries are incomplete. We investigate two complementary methods for automatic generation of a comprehensive dictionary: combination of information from existing gene and protein databases and rule-based generation of spelling variations. Both methods have been reported in literature before, but have hitherto not been combined and evaluated systematically. We combined gene and protein names from several existing databases of four different organisms. The combined dictionaries showed a substantial increase in recall on three different test sets, as compared to any single database. Application of 23 spelling variation rules to the combined dictionaries further increased recall. However, many rules appeared to have no effect and some appear to have a detrimental effect on precision.

Attentional effects of masked famous faces (but not names) and subjective evaluations of a target person.

PubMed

Stone, Anna

2011-04-01

Two experiments are reported using a 1986 version of the dot-probe paradigm of MacLeod, Mathews, and Tata, in which the masked subliminal faces of famous persons were differentially associated with attention depending on participants' attitudes toward the famous person. There was attentional avoidance of the faces of persons invoking high disgust (Exp. 1, n=20) or dislike (Exp. 2) but attentional orientation toward the faces of persons invoking low disgust or liking. In Exp. 2 (n=28), this effect was apparent for the faces but not the names of famous persons, despite evidence that the famous names were recognised without awareness. The aversion of attention from faces, but not the names of famous persons who are regarded in a negative light but who are not particularly threatening, may suggest an automatic tendency to avoid making eye contact with an undesirable person thereby avoiding unwanted social interaction.

An automatic tsunami warning system: TREMORS application in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reymond, D.; Robert, S.; Thomas, Y.; Schindelé, F.

1996-03-01

An integrated system named TREMORS (Tsunami Risk Evaluation through seismic Moment of a Real-time System) has been installed in EVORA station, in Portugal which has been affected by historical tsunamis. The system is based on a three component long period seismic station linked to a compatible IBM_PC with a specific software. The goals of this system are the followings: detect earthquake, locate them, compute their seismic moment, give a seismic warning. The warnings are based on the seismic moment estimation and all the processing are made automatically. The finality of this study is to check the quality of estimation of the main parameters of interest in a goal of tsunami warning: the location which depends of azimuth and distance, and at last the seismic moment, M 0, which controls the earthquake size. The sine qua non condition for obtaining an automatic location is that the 3 main seismic phases P, S, R must be visible. This study gives satisfying results (automatic analysis): ± 5° errors in azimuth and epicentral distance, and a standard deviation of less than a factor 2 for the seismic moment M 0.

Automatic recognition of topic-classified relations between prostate cancer and genes using MEDLINE abstracts

PubMed Central

Chun, Hong-Woo; Tsuruoka, Yoshimasa; Kim, Jin-Dong; Shiba, Rie; Nagata, Naoki; Hishiki, Teruyoshi; Tsujii, Jun'ichi

2006-01-01

Background Automatic recognition of relations between a specific disease term and its relevant genes or protein terms is an important practice of bioinformatics. Considering the utility of the results of this approach, we identified prostate cancer and gene terms with the ID tags of public biomedical databases. Moreover, considering that genetics experts will use our results, we classified them based on six topics that can be used to analyze the type of prostate cancers, genes, and their relations. Methods We developed a maximum entropy-based named entity recognizer and a relation recognizer and applied them to a corpus-based approach. We collected prostate cancer-related abstracts from MEDLINE, and constructed an annotated corpus of gene and prostate cancer relations based on six topics by biologists. We used it to train the maximum entropy-based named entity recognizer and relation recognizer. Results Topic-classified relation recognition achieved 92.1% precision for the relation (an increase of 11.0% from that obtained in a baseline experiment). For all topics, the precision was between 67.6 and 88.1%. Conclusion A series of experimental results revealed two important findings: a carefully designed relation recognition system using named entity recognition can improve the performance of relation recognition, and topic-classified relation recognition can be effectively addressed through a corpus-based approach using manual annotation and machine learning techniques. PMID:17134477

Automatic recognition of topic-classified relations between prostate cancer and genes using MEDLINE abstracts.

PubMed

Chun, Hong-Woo; Tsuruoka, Yoshimasa; Kim, Jin-Dong; Shiba, Rie; Nagata, Naoki; Hishiki, Teruyoshi; Tsujii, Jun'ichi

2006-11-24

Automatic recognition of relations between a specific disease term and its relevant genes or protein terms is an important practice of bioinformatics. Considering the utility of the results of this approach, we identified prostate cancer and gene terms with the ID tags of public biomedical databases. Moreover, considering that genetics experts will use our results, we classified them based on six topics that can be used to analyze the type of prostate cancers, genes, and their relations. We developed a maximum entropy-based named entity recognizer and a relation recognizer and applied them to a corpus-based approach. We collected prostate cancer-related abstracts from MEDLINE, and constructed an annotated corpus of gene and prostate cancer relations based on six topics by biologists. We used it to train the maximum entropy-based named entity recognizer and relation recognizer. Topic-classified relation recognition achieved 92.1% precision for the relation (an increase of 11.0% from that obtained in a baseline experiment). For all topics, the precision was between 67.6 and 88.1%. A series of experimental results revealed two important findings: a carefully designed relation recognition system using named entity recognition can improve the performance of relation recognition, and topic-classified relation recognition can be effectively addressed through a corpus-based approach using manual annotation and machine learning techniques.

SNAD: Sequence Name Annotation-based Designer.

PubMed

Sidorov, Igor A; Reshetov, Denis A; Gorbalenya, Alexander E

2009-08-14

A growing diversity of biological data is tagged with unique identifiers (UIDs) associated with polynucleotides and proteins to ensure efficient computer-mediated data storage, maintenance, and processing. These identifiers, which are not informative for most people, are often substituted by biologically meaningful names in various presentations to facilitate utilization and dissemination of sequence-based knowledge. This substitution is commonly done manually that may be a tedious exercise prone to mistakes and omissions. Here we introduce SNAD (Sequence Name Annotation-based Designer) that mediates automatic conversion of sequence UIDs (associated with multiple alignment or phylogenetic tree, or supplied as plain text list) into biologically meaningful names and acronyms. This conversion is directed by precompiled or user-defined templates that exploit wealth of annotation available in cognate entries of external databases. Using examples, we demonstrate how this tool can be used to generate names for practical purposes, particularly in virology. A tool for controllable annotation-based conversion of sequence UIDs into biologically meaningful names and acronyms has been developed and placed into service, fostering links between quality of sequence annotation, and efficiency of communication and knowledge dissemination among researchers.

The Impact of Facial Emotional Expressions on Behavioral Tendencies in Women and Men

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seidel, Eva-Maria; Habel, Ute; Kirschner, Michaela; Gur, Ruben C.; Derntl, Birgit

2010-01-01

Emotional faces communicate both the emotional state and behavioral intentions of an individual. They also activate behavioral tendencies in the perceiver, namely approach or avoidance. Here, we compared more automatic motor to more conscious rating responses to happy, sad, angry, and disgusted faces in a healthy student sample. Happiness was…

Now We're Really Clicking!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Popelka, Susan R.

2010-01-01

Interactive response systems go by a multitude of names--clickers, polling devices, automatic hand raisers, "those cell phone thingies." In this article, the author describes how she used a clicker with her precalculus students. The clicker is one of several types widely used in K-12 classrooms, each of which has its own variety of features and…

Automatic Line Network Extraction from Aerial Imagery of Urban Areas through Knowledge-Based Image Analysis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-19

approach for the analysis of aerial images. In this approach image analysis is performed ast three levels of abstraction, namely iconic or low-level... image analysis , symbolic or medium-level image analysis , and semantic or high-level image analysis . Domain dependent knowledge about prototypical urban

Development of Word Reading Fluency and Spelling in a Consistent Orthography: An 8-Year Follow-Up

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landerl, Karin; Wimmer, Heinz

2008-01-01

In a longitudinal study, development of word reading fluency and spelling were followed for almost 8 years. In a group of 115 students (65 girls, 50 boys) acquiring the phonologically transparent German orthography, prediction measures (letter knowledge, phonological short-term memory, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and…

Viewing a Phonological Deficit within a Multifactorial Model of Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Catts, Hugh W.; McIlraith, Autumn; Bridges, Mindy Sittner; Nielsen, Diane Corcoran

2017-01-01

Participants were administered multiple measures of phonological awareness, oral language, and rapid automatized naming at the beginning of kindergarten and multiple measures of word reading at the end of second grade. A structural equation model was fit to the data and latent scores were used to identify children with a deficit in phonological…

The Contributions of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency to Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Katherine W.; Meisinger, Elizabeth B.; Louwerse, Max M.; D'Mello, Sidney

2016-01-01

Silent reading fluency has received limited attention in the school-based literatures across the past decade. We fill this gap by examining both oral and silent reading fluency and their relation to overall abilities in reading comprehension in fourth-grade students. Lower-level reading skills (word reading, rapid automatic naming) and vocabulary…

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Continuous Shoulder Rumble Strips in Reducing "Ran-off-roadway" Single-vehicle Crashes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-03-01

The research efforts presented in this report, prepared for the Nevada Department of Transportation, summarizes the evaluation of the effectiveness of continuous shoulder rumble strip treatment to reduce single-vehicle ran-off-roadway crashes in Neva...

Year 1 of the Washington nighttime seat belt enforcement program : traffic tech.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-09-01

The first year of the Washington nighttime belt program : ran from May 2007 through May 2008. During this period, WTSC ran three, two-week nighttime seat belt enforcement : campaigns. The primary message of the ad was that extra : seat-belt-focuse...

Analysis of multiuser mixed RF/FSO relay networks for performance improvements in Cloud Computing-Based Radio Access Networks (CC-RANs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alimi, Isiaka A.; Monteiro, Paulo P.; Teixeira, António L.

2017-11-01

The key paths toward the fifth generation (5G) network requirements are towards centralized processing and small-cell densification systems that are implemented on the cloud computing-based radio access networks (CC-RANs). The increasing recognitions of the CC-RANs can be attributed to their valuable features regarding system performance optimization and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, realization of the stringent requirements of the fronthaul that connects the network elements is highly demanding. In this paper, considering the small-cell network architectures, we present multiuser mixed radio-frequency/free-space optical (RF/FSO) relay networks as feasible technologies for the alleviation of the stringent requirements in the CC-RANs. In this study, we use the end-to-end (e2e) outage probability, average symbol error probability (ASEP), and ergodic channel capacity as the performance metrics in our analysis. Simulation results show the suitability of deployment of mixed RF/FSO schemes in the real-life scenarios.

Numerical investigation of the vortex-induced vibration of an elastically mounted circular cylinder at high Reynolds number (Re = 104) and low mass ratio using the RANS code.

PubMed

Khan, Niaz Bahadur; Ibrahim, Zainah; Nguyen, Linh Tuan The; Javed, Muhammad Faisal; Jameel, Mohammed

2017-01-01

This study numerically investigates the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted rigid cylinder by using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools. CFD analysis is performed for a fixed-cylinder case with Reynolds number (Re) = 104 and for a cylinder that is free to oscillate in the transverse direction and possesses a low mass-damping ratio and Re = 104. Previously, similar studies have been performed with 3-dimensional and comparatively expensive turbulent models. In the current study, the capability and accuracy of the RANS model are validated, and the results of this model are compared with those of detached eddy simulation, direct numerical simulation, and large eddy simulation models. All three response branches and the maximum amplitude are well captured. The 2-dimensional case with the RANS shear-stress transport k-w model, which involves minimal computational cost, is reliable and appropriate for analyzing the characteristics of VIV.

Statistical Inference of a RANS closure for a Jet-in-Crossflow simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heyse, Jan; Edeling, Wouter; Iaccarino, Gianluca

2016-11-01

The jet-in-crossflow is found in several engineering applications, such as discrete film cooling for turbine blades, where a coolant injected through hols in the blade's surface protects the component from the hot gases leaving the combustion chamber. Experimental measurements using MRI techniques have been completed for a single hole injection into a turbulent crossflow, providing full 3D averaged velocity field. For such flows of engineering interest, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence closure models are often the only viable computational option. However, RANS models are known to provide poor predictions in the region close to the injection point. Since these models are calibrated on simple canonical flow problems, the obtained closure coefficient estimates are unlikely to extrapolate well to more complex flows. We will therefore calibrate the parameters of a RANS model using statistical inference techniques informed by the experimental jet-in-crossflow data. The obtained probabilistic parameter estimates can in turn be used to compute flow fields with quantified uncertainty. Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering.

Large Eddy/Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of CUBRC Base Heating Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salazar, Giovanni; Edwards, Jack R.; Amar, Adam J.

2012-01-01

ven with great advances in computational techniques and computing power during recent decades, the modeling of unsteady separated flows, such as those encountered in the wake of a re-entry vehicle, continues to be one of the most challenging problems in CFD. Of most interest to the aerothermodynamics community is accurately predicting transient heating loads on the base of a blunt body, which would result in reduced uncertainties and safety margins when designing a re-entry vehicle. However, the prediction of heat transfer can vary widely depending on the turbulence model employed. Therefore, selecting a turbulence model which realistically captures as much of the flow physics as possible will result in improved results. Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models have become increasingly popular due to their good performance with attached flows, and the relatively quick turnaround time to obtain results. However, RANS methods cannot accurately simulate unsteady separated wake flows, and running direct numerical simulation (DNS) on such complex flows is currently too computationally expensive. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) techniques allow for the computation of the large eddies, which contain most of the Reynolds stress, while modeling the smaller (subgrid) eddies. This results in models which are more computationally expensive than RANS methods, but not as prohibitive as DNS. By complimenting an LES approach with a RANS model, a hybrid LES/RANS method resolves the larger turbulent scales away from surfaces with LES, and switches to a RANS model inside boundary layers. As pointed out by Bertin et al., this type of hybrid approach has shown a lot of promise for predicting turbulent flows, but work is needed to verify that these models work well in hypersonic flows. The very limited amounts of flight and experimental data available presents an additional challenge for researchers. Recently, a joint study by NASA and CUBRC has focused on collecting heat transfer data on the backshell of a scaled model of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). Heat augmentation effects due to the presence of cavities and RCS jet firings were also investigated. The high quality data produced by this effort presents a new set of data which can be used to assess the performance of CFD methods. In this work, a hybrid LES/RANS model developed at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is used to simulate several runs from these experiments, and evaluate the performance of high fidelity methods as compared to more typical RANS models. .

A Split Forcing Technique to Reduce Log-layer Mismatch in Wall-modeled Turbulent Channel Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deleon, Rey; Senocak, Inanc

2016-11-01

The conventional approach to sustain a flow field in a periodic channel flow seems to be the culprit behind the log-law mismatch problem that has been reported in many studies hybridizing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) techniques, commonly referred to as hybrid RANS-LES. To address this issue, we propose a split-forcing approach that relies only on the conservation of mass principle. We adopt a basic hybrid RANS-LES technique on a coarse mesh with wall-stress boundary conditions to simulate turbulent channel flows at friction Reynolds numbers of 2000 and 5200 and demonstrate good agreement with benchmark data. We also report a duality in velocity scale that is a specific consequence of the split forcing framework applied to hybrid RANS-LES. The first scale is the friction velocity derived from the wall shear stress. The second scale arises in the core LES region, a value different than at the wall. Second-order turbulence statistics agree well with the benchmark data when normalized by the core friction velocity, whereas the friction velocity at the wall remains the appropriate scale for the mean velocity profile. Based on our findings, we suggest reevaluating more sophisticated hybrid RANS-LES approaches within the split-forcing framework. Work funded by National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1056110 and 1229709. First author acknowledges the University of Idaho President's Doctoral Scholars Award.

Prediction of Turbulent Temperature Fluctuations in Hot Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeBonis, James R.

2017-01-01

Large-eddy simulations (LES) were used to investigate turbulent temperature fluctuations and turbulent heat flux in hot jets. A high-resolution finite-difference Navier-Stokes solver was used to compute the flow from a 2-inch round nozzle. Three different flow conditions of varying jet Mach numbers and temperature ratios were examined. The LES results showed that the temperature field behaves similar to the velocity field, but with a more rapidly spreading mixing layer. Predictions of mean, mu-bar(sub i), and fluctuating, mu'(sub i), velocities were compared to particle image velocimetry data. Predictions of mean, T-bar, and fluctuating, T', temperature were compared to data obtained using Rayleigh scattering and Raman spectroscopy. Very good agreement with experimental data was demonstrated for the mean and fluctuating velocities. The LES correctly predicts the behavior of the turbulent temperature field, but over-predicts the levels of the fluctuations. The turbulent heat flux was examined and compared to Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) results. The LES and RANS simulations produced very similar results for the radial heat flux. However, the axial heat flux obtained from the LES differed significantly from the RANS result in both structure and magnitude, indicating that the gradient diffusion type model in RANS is inadequate. Finally, the LES data was used to compute the turbulent Prandtl number and verify that a constant value of 0.7 used in the RANS models is a reasonable assumption.

Evaluation of the photoprotective effect of β-cyclodextrin on the emission of volatile degradation products of ranitidine.

PubMed

Jamrógiewicz, Marzena; Wielgomas, Bartosz; Strankowski, Michał

2014-09-01

The process of the photo-excitation of ranitidine hydrochloride (RAN) in a solid state makes visible changes to its colour and generates an unpleasant odour. The purpose of the present study was to observe the protective effects of β-cyclodextrin (CD) complexation as well as the effect of the mixture of two stoichiometries 1:1 and 1:2 (RAN:CD, IC) on the photostability of samples in a solid state. Samples of inclusion complexes (IC) and physical mixtures (PM) were prepared and irradiated for 48h in a Suntest CPS+ chamber. Irradiated samples were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), the differential scanning calorimetry method (DSC) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). Volatiles were monitored with the use of headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). The protective effect of CD was noticed with respect to IC, and also PM. Achieved photostabilization of complexed RAN against photodegradation could be explained due to either the inclusion of the furan part of RAN into the CD cavity as shown by the (1)H NMR ROESY (rotation frame nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy) spectrum or the screening effect of CD. FT-IR spectra, DSC curves and microscope images of irradiated samples of protected RAN did not indicate any physical changes, such as phase transfer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biotransformation of Two Pharmaceuticals by the Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaeon Nitrososphaera gargensis.

PubMed

Men, Yujie; Han, Ping; Helbling, Damian E; Jehmlich, Nico; Herbold, Craig; Gulde, Rebekka; Onnis-Hayden, Annalisa; Gu, April Z; Johnson, David R; Wagner, Michael; Fenner, Kathrin

2016-05-03

The biotransformation of some micropollutants has previously been observed to be positively associated with ammonia oxidation activities and the transcript abundance of the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase gene (amoA) in nitrifying activated sludge. Given the increasing interest in and potential importance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), we investigated the capabilities of an AOA pure culture, Nitrososphaera gargensis, to biotransform ten micropollutants belonging to three structurally similar groups (i.e., phenylureas, tertiary amides, and tertiary amines). N. gargensis was able to biotransform two of the tertiary amines, mianserin (MIA) and ranitidine (RAN), exhibiting similar compound specificity as two ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) strains that were tested for comparison. The same MIA and RAN biotransformation reactions were carried out by both the AOA and AOB strains. The major transformation product (TP) of MIA, α-oxo MIA was likely formed via a two-step oxidation reaction. The first hydroxylation step is typically catalyzed by monooxygenases. Three RAN TP candidates were identified from nontarget analysis. Their tentative structures and possible biotransformation pathways were proposed. The biotransformation of MIA and RAN only occurred when ammonia oxidation was active, suggesting cometabolic transformations. Consistently, a comparative proteomic analysis revealed no significant differential expression of any protein-encoding gene in N. gargensis grown on ammonium with MIA or RAN compared with standard cultivation on ammonium only. Taken together, this study provides first important insights regarding the roles played by AOA in micropollutant biotransformation.

A Novel Quasi-3D Method for Cascade Flow Considering Axial Velocity Density Ratio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhiqiang; Zhou, Ming; Xu, Quanyong; Huang, Xudong

2018-03-01

A novel quasi-3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method of mid-span flow simulation for compressor cascades is proposed. Two dimension (2D) Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method is shown facing challenge in predicting mid-span flow with a unity Axial Velocity Density Ratio (AVDR). Three dimension (3D) RANS solution also shows distinct discrepancies if the AVDR is not predicted correctly. In this paper, 2D and 3D CFD results discrepancies are analyzed and a novel quasi-3D CFD method is proposed. The new quasi-3D model is derived by reducing 3D RANS Finite Volume Method (FVM) discretization over a one-spanwise-layer structured mesh cell. The sidewall effect is considered by two parts. The first part is explicit interface fluxes of mass, momentum and energy as well as turbulence. The second part is a cell boundary scaling factor representing sidewall boundary layer contraction. The performance of the novel quasi-3D method is validated on mid-span pressure distribution, pressure loss and shock prediction of two typical cascades. The results show good agreement with the experiment data on cascade SJ301-20 and cascade AC6-10 at all test condition. The proposed quasi-3D method shows superior accuracy over traditional 2D RANS method and 3D RANS method in performance prediction of compressor cascade.

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

Zhu Shanshan; Zhang Hong; Matunis, Michael J.

SUMOs (small ubiquitin-related modifiers) are eukaryotic proteins that are covalently conjugated to other proteins and thereby regulate a wide range of important cellular processes. The molecular mechanisms by which SUMO modification influences the functions of most target proteins and cellular processes, however, remain poorly defined. A major obstacle to investigating the effects of SUMO modification is the availability of a system for selectively inducing the modification or demodification of an individual protein. To address this problem, we have developed a procedure using the rapamycin heterodimerizer system. This procedure involves co-expression of rapamycin-binding domain fusion proteins of SUMO and candidate SUMOmore » substrates in living cells. Treating cells with rapamycin induces a tight association between SUMO and a single SUMO substrate, thereby allowing specific downstream effects to be analyzed. Using RanGAP1 as a model SUMO substrate, the heterodimerizer system was used to investigate the molecular mechanism by which SUMO modification targets RanGAP1 from the cytoplasm to nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). Our results revealed a dual role for Ubc9 in targeting RanGAP1 to NPCs: In addition to conjugating SUMO-1 to RanGAP1, Ubc9 is also required to form a stable ternary complex with SUMO-1 modified RanGAP1 and Nup358. As illustrated by our studies, the rapamycin heterodimerizer system represents a novel tool for studying the molecular effects of SUMO modification.« less

Should Non Department of Defense Meteorological Satellites Be Used to Meet Department of Defense Environmental Requirements?

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-06-06

Information Support laboratory, Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite. (Moscow, RU: SMIS IKI RAN and SRC PLANETA , January 2003); Internet...Operational Meteorological Satellite. Moscow, RU: SMIS IKI RAN and SRC PLANETA , January 2003. Squitieri, Tom. “In Bosnia, Weather is primary Foe”. USA Today

The Influence of Partner-Specific Memory Associations on Language Production: Evidence from Picture Naming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, William S.

2007-01-01

In typical interactions, speakers frequently produce utterances that appear to reflect beliefs about the common ground shared with particular addressees. Horton and Gerrig (2005a) proposed that one important basis for audience design is the manner in which conversational partners serve as cues for the automatic retrieval of associated information…

Possible Detection of Perchlorates by Evolved Gas Analysis of Rocknest Soils: Global Implication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Archer, P. D., Jr.; Sutter, B.; Ming, D. W.; McKay, C. P.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.; Franz, H. B.; McAdam, A.; Mahaffy, P. R.

2013-01-01

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on board the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) recently ran four samples from an aeolian bedform named Rocknest. Rocknest was selected as the source of the first samples analyzed because it is representative of both windblown material in Gale crater as well as the globally-distributed dust. The four samples analyzed by SAM were portioned from the fifth scoop at this location. The material delivered to SAM passed through a 150 m sieve and should have been well mixed during the sample acquisition/ preparation/handoff process. Rocknest samples were heated to 835 C at a 35 C/minute ramp rate with a He carrier gas flow rate of 1.5 standard cubic centimeters per minute and at an oven pressure of 30 mbar. Evolved gases were detected by a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS).

Turbulence modeling for hypersonic flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bardina, Jorge E.

1992-01-01

The objective of the present work is to develop, verify, and incorporate two equation turbulence models which account for the effect of compressibility at high speeds into a three dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes code and to provide documented model descriptions and numerical procedures so that they can be implemented into the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) codes. A summary of accomplishments is listed: (1) Four codes have been tested and evaluated against a flat plate boundary layer flow and an external supersonic flow; (2) a code named RANS was chosen because of its speed, accuracy, and versatility; (3) the code was extended from thin boundary layer to full Navier-Stokes; (4) the K-omega two equation turbulence model has been implemented into the base code; (5) a 24 degree laminar compression corner flow has been simulated and compared to other numerical simulations; and (6) work is in progress in writing the numerical method of the base code including the turbulence model.

Whisker growth studies under conditions which resemble those available on an orbiting space station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hobbs, Herman H.

1992-01-01

Minimal funding was provided by NASA with one designated 'mission' being the clear demonstration of the relevance of previously supported whisker growth studies to microgravity research. While in one sense this work has shown the converse, namely, that ambient gravitational fields as high as 1 Earth normal have no relevance to growth of whiskers by hydrogen reduction of metal halides, a case is made that this does not demonstrate lack of relevance to microgravity research. On the contrary, the driving forces for this growth are precisely those which must be understood in order to understand growth in microgravity. The results described suggest that knowledge gained from this work may be highly fundamental to our understanding of the genesis of metal crystals. Time and money ran out before this work could be considered complete. At least another year's study and analysis will be required before publications could be justified.

Calm water resistance prediction of a bulk carrier using Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes based solver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahaman, Md. Mashiur; Islam, Hafizul; Islam, Md. Tariqul; Khondoker, Md. Reaz Hasan

2017-12-01

Maneuverability and resistance prediction with suitable accuracy is essential for optimum ship design and propulsion power prediction. This paper aims at providing some of the maneuverability characteristics of a Japanese bulk carrier model, JBC in calm water using a computational fluid dynamics solver named SHIP Motion and OpenFOAM. The solvers are based on the Reynolds average Navier-Stokes method (RaNS) and solves structured grid using the Finite Volume Method (FVM). This paper comprises the numerical results of calm water test for the JBC model with available experimental results. The calm water test results include the total drag co-efficient, average sinkage, and trim data. Visualization data for pressure distribution on the hull surface and free water surface have also been included. The paper concludes that the presented solvers predict the resistance and maneuverability characteristics of the bulk carrier with reasonable accuracy utilizing minimum computational resources.

Deserts on the sea floor: Edward Forbes and his azoic hypothesis for a lifeless deep ocean.

PubMed

Anderson, Thomas R; Rice, Tony

2006-12-01

While dredging in the Aegean Sea during the mid-19th century, Manxman Edward Forbes noticed that plants and animals became progressively more impoverished the greater the depth they were from the surface of the water. By extrapolation Forbes proposed his now infamous azoic hypothesis, namely that life would be extinguished altogether in the murky depths of the deep ocean. The whole idea seemed so entirely logical given the enormous pressure, cold and eternal darkness of this apparently uninhabitable environment. Yet we now know that the sea floor is teeming with life. Curiously, it took 25 years for the azoic hypothesis to fall from grace. This was despite the presence of ample contrary evidence, including starfishes, worms and other organisms that seemingly originated from the deep seabed. This is a tale of scientists ignoring observations that ran counter to their deep-seated, yet entirely erroneous, beliefs.

Eye Movements During Everyday Behavior Predict Personality Traits.

PubMed

Hoppe, Sabrina; Loetscher, Tobias; Morey, Stephanie A; Bulling, Andreas

2018-01-01

Besides allowing us to perceive our surroundings, eye movements are also a window into our mind and a rich source of information on who we are, how we feel, and what we do. Here we show that eye movements during an everyday task predict aspects of our personality. We tracked eye movements of 42 participants while they ran an errand on a university campus and subsequently assessed their personality traits using well-established questionnaires. Using a state-of-the-art machine learning method and a rich set of features encoding different eye movement characteristics, we were able to reliably predict four of the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness) as well as perceptual curiosity only from eye movements. Further analysis revealed new relations between previously neglected eye movement characteristics and personality. Our findings demonstrate a considerable influence of personality on everyday eye movement control, thereby complementing earlier studies in laboratory settings. Improving automatic recognition and interpretation of human social signals is an important endeavor, enabling innovative design of human-computer systems capable of sensing spontaneous natural user behavior to facilitate efficient interaction and personalization.

Eye Movements During Everyday Behavior Predict Personality Traits

PubMed Central

Hoppe, Sabrina; Loetscher, Tobias; Morey, Stephanie A.; Bulling, Andreas

2018-01-01

Besides allowing us to perceive our surroundings, eye movements are also a window into our mind and a rich source of information on who we are, how we feel, and what we do. Here we show that eye movements during an everyday task predict aspects of our personality. We tracked eye movements of 42 participants while they ran an errand on a university campus and subsequently assessed their personality traits using well-established questionnaires. Using a state-of-the-art machine learning method and a rich set of features encoding different eye movement characteristics, we were able to reliably predict four of the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness) as well as perceptual curiosity only from eye movements. Further analysis revealed new relations between previously neglected eye movement characteristics and personality. Our findings demonstrate a considerable influence of personality on everyday eye movement control, thereby complementing earlier studies in laboratory settings. Improving automatic recognition and interpretation of human social signals is an important endeavor, enabling innovative design of human–computer systems capable of sensing spontaneous natural user behavior to facilitate efficient interaction and personalization. PMID:29713270

Is there more than one circadian clock in humans? Evidence from fractional desynchronization studies.

PubMed Central

Folkard, S; Minors, D S; Waterhouse, J M

1984-01-01

Three groups of four healthy volunteers lived in an isolation unit for 24 days. During this time they lived by a clock which, unknown to themselves, ran progressively faster so that, by real time, the 'day' decreased from 24.0 to 22.0 h in length. Throughout this protocol, the subjects lived a regular regimen of sleep, waking and meals based upon their 'local' time clock. They collected regular urine samples that were analysed for a variety of constituents. Rectal temperature was also recorded automatically throughout. The effects of such a protocol upon circadian rhythmicity in these variables were investigated by a variety of techniques including cosinor analysis. The results showed that the temperature rhythm was less able to adjust to a shortening 'day' than were the urinary variables, with the possible exception of potassium; that is, the protocol forced an internal desynchronization to exist between different variables. These results are discussed in terms of both the possibility that more than one internal circadian clock might exist and the direct effect that sleep exerts upon the expression of circadian rhythms. PMID:6512693

The Virtual Xenbase: transitioning an online bioinformatics resource to a private cloud

PubMed Central

Karimi, Kamran; Vize, Peter D.

2014-01-01

As a model organism database, Xenbase has been providing informatics and genomic data on Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis and Xenopus laevis frogs for more than a decade. The Xenbase database contains curated, as well as community-contributed and automatically harvested literature, gene and genomic data. A GBrowse genome browser, a BLAST+ server and stock center support are available on the site. When this resource was first built, all software services and components in Xenbase ran on a single physical server, with inherent reliability, scalability and inter-dependence issues. Recent advances in networking and virtualization techniques allowed us to move Xenbase to a virtual environment, and more specifically to a private cloud. To do so we decoupled the different software services and components, such that each would run on a different virtual machine. In the process, we also upgraded many of the components. The resulting system is faster and more reliable. System maintenance is easier, as individual virtual machines can now be updated, backed up and changed independently. We are also experiencing more effective resource allocation and utilization. Database URL: www.xenbase.org PMID:25380782

Analysis of vegetation effect on waves using a vertical 2-D RANS model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A vertical two-dimensional (2-D) model has been applied in the simulation of wave propagation through vegetated water bodies. The model is based on an existing model SOLA-VOF which solves the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the finite difference method on a staggered rectangula...

Western Culture in Japanese Film: Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" and "Ran."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kane, Peter E.

Akira Kurosawa, the most popular Asian film maker with audiences in the United States, has found in William Shakespeare's plays themes and plots that resonate within Japanese culture. While the translations of "Macbeth" into "Throne of Blood" and "King Lear" into "Ran" are quite direct and literal with only…

Tracer Evolution at High Latitudes in Winter (SOLVE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plumb, R. Alan

2001-01-01

Prior to the SOLVE deployment, we modified and ran a chemical transport model (CTM) to set up a stratospheric climatology for 1 September 1999. During and immediately following the SOLVE deployments, we ran the model in near-real-time and used these results in conjunction with SOLVE observations to draw conclusions about stratospheric transport.

Numerical investigation of the vortex-induced vibration of an elastically mounted circular cylinder at high Reynolds number (Re = 104) and low mass ratio using the RANS code

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

This study numerically investigates the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted rigid cylinder by using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools. CFD analysis is performed for a fixed-cylinder case with Reynolds number (Re) = 104 and for a cylinder that is free to oscillate in the transverse direction and possesses a low mass-damping ratio and Re = 104. Previously, similar studies have been performed with 3-dimensional and comparatively expensive turbulent models. In the current study, the capability and accuracy of the RANS model are validated, and the results of this model are compared with those of detached eddy simulation, direct numerical simulation, and large eddy simulation models. All three response branches and the maximum amplitude are well captured. The 2-dimensional case with the RANS shear–stress transport k-w model, which involves minimal computational cost, is reliable and appropriate for analyzing the characteristics of VIV. PMID:28982172

A non-canonical mechanism for Crm1-export cargo complex assembly.

PubMed

Fischer, Ute; Schäuble, Nico; Schütz, Sabina; Altvater, Martin; Chang, Yiming; Faza, Marius Boulos; Panse, Vikram Govind

2015-04-21

The transport receptor Crm1 mediates the export of diverse cargos containing leucine-rich nuclear export signals (NESs) through complex formation with RanGTP. To ensure efficient cargo release in the cytoplasm, NESs have evolved to display low affinity for Crm1. However, mechanisms that overcome low affinity to assemble Crm1-export complexes in the nucleus remain poorly understood. In this study, we reveal a new type of RanGTP-binding protein, Slx9, which facilitates Crm1 recruitment to the 40S pre-ribosome-associated NES-containing adaptor Rio2. In vitro, Slx9 binds Rio2 and RanGTP, forming a complex. This complex directly loads Crm1, unveiling a non-canonical stepwise mechanism to assemble a Crm1-export complex. A mutation in Slx9 that impairs Crm1-export complex assembly inhibits 40S pre-ribosome export. Thus, Slx9 functions as a scaffold to optimally present RanGTP and the NES to Crm1, therefore, triggering 40S pre-ribosome export. This mechanism could represent one solution to the paradox of weak binding events underlying rapid Crm1-mediated export.

Cardiovirus Leader proteins bind exportins: Implications for virus replication and nucleocytoplasmic trafficking inhibition

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

Ciomperlik, Jessica J.; Basta, Holly A.; Palmenberg, Ann C., E-mail: acpalmen@wisc.edu

2016-01-15

Cardiovirus Leader proteins (L{sub X}) inhibit cellular nucleocytoplasmic trafficking by directing host kinases to phosphorylate Phe/Gly-containing nuclear pore proteins (Nups). Resolution of the Mengovirus L{sub M} structure bound to Ran GTPase, suggested this complex would further recruit specific exportins (karyopherins), which in turn mediate kinase selection. Pull-down experiments and recombinant complex reconstitution now confirm that Crm1 and CAS exportins form stable dimeric complexes with encephalomyocarditis virus L{sub E}, and also larger complexes with L{sub E}:Ran. shRNA knockdown studies support this idea. Similar activities could be demonstrated for recombinant L{sub S} and L{sub T} from Theiloviruses. When mutations were introduced tomore » alter the L{sub E} zinc finger domain, acidic domain, or dual phosphorylation sites, there was reduced exportin selection. These regions are not involved in Ran interactions, so the Ran and Crm1 binding sites on L{sub E} must be non-overlapping. The involvement of exportins in this mechanism is important to viral replication and the observation of trafficking inhibition by L{sub E}.« less

C9orf72 BAC Transgenic Mice Display Typical Pathologic Features of ALS/FTD.

PubMed

O'Rourke, Jacqueline G; Bogdanik, Laurent; Muhammad, A K M G; Gendron, Tania F; Kim, Kevin J; Austin, Andrew; Cady, Janet; Liu, Elaine Y; Zarrow, Jonah; Grant, Sharday; Ho, Ritchie; Bell, Shaughn; Carmona, Sharon; Simpkinson, Megan; Lall, Deepti; Wu, Kathryn; Daughrity, Lillian; Dickson, Dennis W; Harms, Matthew B; Petrucelli, Leonard; Lee, Edward B; Lutz, Cathleen M; Baloh, Robert H

2015-12-02

Noncoding expansions of a hexanucleotide repeat (GGGGCC) in the C9orf72 gene are the most common cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Here we report transgenic mice carrying a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing the full human C9orf72 gene with either a normal allele (15 repeats) or disease-associated expansion (∼100-1,000 repeats; C9-BACexp). C9-BACexp mice displayed pathologic features seen in C9orf72 expansion patients, including widespread RNA foci and repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translated dipeptides, which were suppressed by antisense oligonucleotides targeting human C9orf72. Nucleolin distribution was altered, supporting that either C9orf72 transcripts or RAN dipeptides promote nucleolar dysfunction. Despite early and widespread production of RNA foci and RAN dipeptides in C9-BACexp mice, behavioral abnormalities and neurodegeneration were not observed even at advanced ages, supporting the hypothesis that RNA foci and RAN dipeptides occur presymptomatically and are not sufficient to drive neurodegeneration in mice at levels seen in patients. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Preparation and Physical Characterization of a Diclofenac-Ranitidine Co-precipitate for Improving the Dissolution of Diclofenac.

PubMed

Gaitano, Robertino O; Calvo, Natalia L; Narda, Griselda E; Kaufman, Teodoro S; Maggio, Rubén M; Brusau, Elena V

2016-03-01

Mixing aqueous solutions of sodium diclofenac (DIC-Na) and ranitidine hydrochloride (RAN·HCl) afforded an off-white solid (DIC-RAN) that was investigated from the microscopic, thermal, diffractometric, spectroscopic, and functional (chemometrics-assisted dissolution) points of view. The solid has a 2:1 (DIC:RAN) molar ratio according to (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It is thermally stable, displaying a broad endothermic signal centered at 105°C in the thermogram, and its characteristic reflections in the powder X-ray diffractogram remained unchanged after a 3-month aging period. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs uncovered its morphology, whereas the spectral data suggested an interaction between the carboxylic acid of DIC and the alkyldimethylamino moiety of RAN. The dissolution of DIC-RAN was monitored at different pH values by an ultraviolet/chemometrics procedure, being complete within 5 min at pH 6.8. This compares favorably with the dissolution of a DIC-Na sample of the same particle size. Copyright © 2016 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Revisiting Turbulence Model Validation for High-Mach Number Axisymmetric Compression Corner Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Georgiadis, Nicholas J.; Rumsey, Christopher L.; Huang, George P.

2015-01-01

Two axisymmetric shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction (SWBLI) cases are used to benchmark one- and two-equation Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models. This validation exercise was executed in the philosophy of the NASA Turbulence Modeling Resource and the AIAA Turbulence Model Benchmarking Working Group. Both SWBLI cases are from the experiments of Kussoy and Horstman for axisymmetric compression corner geometries with SWBLI inducing flares of 20 and 30 degrees, respectively. The freestream Mach number was approximately 7. The RANS closures examined are the Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model and the Menter family of kappa - omega two equation models including the Baseline and Shear Stress Transport formulations. The Wind-US and CFL3D RANS solvers are employed to simulate the SWBLI cases. Comparisons of RANS solutions to experimental data are made for a boundary layer survey plane just upstream of the SWBLI region. In the SWBLI region, comparisons of surface pressure and heat transfer are made. The effects of inflow modeling strategy, grid resolution, grid orthogonality, turbulent Prandtl number, and code-to-code variations are also addressed.

Adaptive inferential sensors based on evolving fuzzy models.

PubMed

Angelov, Plamen; Kordon, Arthur

2010-04-01

A new technique to the design and use of inferential sensors in the process industry is proposed in this paper, which is based on the recently introduced concept of evolving fuzzy models (EFMs). They address the challenge that the modern process industry faces today, namely, to develop such adaptive and self-calibrating online inferential sensors that reduce the maintenance costs while keeping the high precision and interpretability/transparency. The proposed new methodology makes possible inferential sensors to recalibrate automatically, which reduces significantly the life-cycle efforts for their maintenance. This is achieved by the adaptive and flexible open-structure EFM used. The novelty of this paper lies in the following: (1) the overall concept of inferential sensors with evolving and self-developing structure from the data streams; (2) the new methodology for online automatic selection of input variables that are most relevant for the prediction; (3) the technique to detect automatically a shift in the data pattern using the age of the clusters (and fuzzy rules); (4) the online standardization technique used by the learning procedure of the evolving model; and (5) the application of this innovative approach to several real-life industrial processes from the chemical industry (evolving inferential sensors, namely, eSensors, were used for predicting the chemical properties of different products in The Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, TX). It should be noted, however, that the methodology and conclusions of this paper are valid for the broader area of chemical and process industries in general. The results demonstrate that well-interpretable and with-simple-structure inferential sensors can automatically be designed from the data stream in real time, which predict various process variables of interest. The proposed approach can be used as a basis for the development of a new generation of adaptive and evolving inferential sensors that can address the challenges of the modern advanced process industry.

Robust Multi-unit Auction Protocol against False-name Bids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokoo, Makoto; Sakurai, Yuko; Matsubara, Shigeo

This paper presents a new multi-unit auction protocol (IR protocol) that is robust against false-name bids. Internet auctions have become an integral part of Electronic Commerce and a promising field for applying agent and Artificial Intelligence technologies. Although the Internet provides an excellent infrastructure for executing auctions, the possibility of a new type of cheating called false-name bids has been pointed out. A false-name bid is a bid submitted under a fictitious name. A protocol called LDS has been developed for combinatorial auctions of multiple different items and has proven to be robust against false-name bids. Although we can modify the LDS protocol to handle multi-unit auctions, in which multiple units of an identical item are auctioned, the protocol is complicated and requires the auctioneer to carefully pre-determine the combination of bundles to obtain a high social surplus or revenue. For the auctioneer, our newly developed IR protocol is easier to use than the LDS, since the combination of bundles is automatically determined in a flexible manner according to the declared evaluation values of agents. The evaluation results show that the IR protocol can obtain a better social surplus than that obtained by the LDS protocol.

Numerical simulation of transitional flow on a wind turbine airfoil with RANS-based transition model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ye; Sun, Zhengzhong; van Zuijlen, Alexander; van Bussel, Gerard

2017-09-01

This paper presents a numerical investigation of transitional flow on the wind turbine airfoil DU91-W2-250 with chord-based Reynolds number Rec = 1.0 × 106. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes based transition model using laminar kinetic energy concept, namely the k - kL - ω model, is employed to resolve the boundary layer transition. Some ambiguities for this model are discussed and it is further implemented into OpenFOAM-2.1.1. The k - kL - ω model is first validated through the chosen wind turbine airfoil at the angle of attack (AoA) of 6.24° against wind tunnel measurement, where lift and drag coefficients, surface pressure distribution and transition location are compared. In order to reveal the transitional flow on the airfoil, the mean boundary layer profiles in three zones, namely the laminar, transitional and fully turbulent regimes, are investigated. Observation of flow at the transition location identifies the laminar separation bubble. The AoA effect on boundary layer transition over wind turbine airfoil is also studied. Increasing the AoA from -3° to 10°, the laminar separation bubble moves upstream and reduces in size, which is in close agreement with wind tunnel measurement.

Aberrant Cerebral Blood Flow in Response to Hunger and Satiety in Women Remitted from Anorexia Nervosa

PubMed Central

Wierenga, Christina E.; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Rasmusson, Grace; Bailer, Ursula F.; Berner, Laura A.; Liu, Thomas T.; Kaye, Walter H.

2017-01-01

The etiology of pathological eating in anorexia nervosa (AN) remains poorly understood. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is an indirect marker of neuronal function. In healthy adults, fasting increases CBF, reflecting increased delivery of oxygen and glucose to support brain metabolism. This study investigated whether women remitted from restricting-type AN (RAN) have altered CBF in response to hunger that may indicate homeostatic dysregulation contributing to their ability to restrict food. We compared resting CBF measured with pulsed arterial spin labeling in 21 RAN and 16 healthy comparison women (CW) when hungry (after a 16-h fast) and after a meal. Only remitted subjects were examined to avoid the confounding effects of malnutrition on brain function. Compared to CW, RAN demonstrated a reduced difference in the Hungry − Fed CBF contrast in the right ventral striatum, right subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (pcorr < 0.05) and left posterior insula (punc < 0.05); RAN had decreased CBF when hungry versus fed, whereas CW had increased CBF when hungry versus fed. Moreover, decreased CBF when hungry in the left insula was associated with greater hunger ratings on the fasted day for RAN. This represents the first study to show that women remitted from AN have aberrant resting neurovascular function in homeostatic neural circuitry in response to hunger. Regions involved in homeostatic regulation showed group differences in the Hungry − Fed contrast, suggesting altered cellular energy metabolism in this circuitry that may reduce motivation to eat. PMID:28770207

Aberrant Cerebral Blood Flow in Response to Hunger and Satiety in Women Remitted from Anorexia Nervosa.

PubMed

Wierenga, Christina E; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Rasmusson, Grace; Bailer, Ursula F; Berner, Laura A; Liu, Thomas T; Kaye, Walter H

2017-01-01

The etiology of pathological eating in anorexia nervosa (AN) remains poorly understood. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is an indirect marker of neuronal function. In healthy adults, fasting increases CBF, reflecting increased delivery of oxygen and glucose to support brain metabolism. This study investigated whether women remitted from restricting-type AN (RAN) have altered CBF in response to hunger that may indicate homeostatic dysregulation contributing to their ability to restrict food. We compared resting CBF measured with pulsed arterial spin labeling in 21 RAN and 16 healthy comparison women (CW) when hungry (after a 16-h fast) and after a meal. Only remitted subjects were examined to avoid the confounding effects of malnutrition on brain function. Compared to CW, RAN demonstrated a reduced difference in the Hungry - Fed CBF contrast in the right ventral striatum, right subgenual anterior cingulate cortex ( p corr  < 0.05) and left posterior insula ( p unc  < 0.05); RAN had decreased CBF when hungry versus fed, whereas CW had increased CBF when hungry versus fed. Moreover, decreased CBF when hungry in the left insula was associated with greater hunger ratings on the fasted day for RAN. This represents the first study to show that women remitted from AN have aberrant resting neurovascular function in homeostatic neural circuitry in response to hunger. Regions involved in homeostatic regulation showed group differences in the Hungry - Fed contrast, suggesting altered cellular energy metabolism in this circuitry that may reduce motivation to eat.

Mechanistic Insights from Structural Analyses of Ran-GTPase-Driven Nuclear Export of Proteins and RNAs.

PubMed

Matsuura, Yoshiyuki

2016-05-22

Understanding how macromolecules are rapidly exchanged between the nucleus and the cytoplasm through nuclear pore complexes is a fundamental problem in biology. Exportins are Ran-GTPase-dependent nuclear transport factors that belong to the karyopherin-β family and mediate nuclear export of a plethora of proteins and RNAs, except for bulk mRNA nuclear export. Exportins bind cargo macromolecules in a Ran-GTP-dependent manner in the nucleus, forming exportin-cargo-Ran-GTP complexes (nuclear export complexes). Transient weak interactions between exportins and nucleoporins containing characteristic FG (phenylalanine-glycine) repeat motifs facilitate nuclear pore complex passage of nuclear export complexes. In the cytoplasm, nuclear export complexes are disassembled, thereby releasing the cargo. GTP hydrolysis by Ran promoted in the cytoplasm makes the disassembly reaction virtually irreversible and provides thermodynamic driving force for the overall export reaction. In the past decade, X-ray crystallography of some of the exportins in various functional states coupled with functional analyses, single-particle electron microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations, and small-angle solution X-ray scattering has provided rich insights into the mechanism of cargo binding and release and also begins to elucidate how exportins interact with the FG repeat motifs. The knowledge gained from structural analyses of nuclear export is being translated into development of clinically useful inhibitors of nuclear export to treat human diseases such as cancer and influenza. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biotransformation of Two Pharmaceuticals by the Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaeon Nitrososphaera gargensis

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The biotransformation of some micropollutants has previously been observed to be positively associated with ammonia oxidation activities and the transcript abundance of the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase gene (amoA) in nitrifying activated sludge. Given the increasing interest in and potential importance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), we investigated the capabilities of an AOA pure culture, Nitrososphaera gargensis, to biotransform ten micropollutants belonging to three structurally similar groups (i.e., phenylureas, tertiary amides, and tertiary amines). N. gargensis was able to biotransform two of the tertiary amines, mianserin (MIA) and ranitidine (RAN), exhibiting similar compound specificity as two ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) strains that were tested for comparison. The same MIA and RAN biotransformation reactions were carried out by both the AOA and AOB strains. The major transformation product (TP) of MIA, α-oxo MIA was likely formed via a two-step oxidation reaction. The first hydroxylation step is typically catalyzed by monooxygenases. Three RAN TP candidates were identified from nontarget analysis. Their tentative structures and possible biotransformation pathways were proposed. The biotransformation of MIA and RAN only occurred when ammonia oxidation was active, suggesting cometabolic transformations. Consistently, a comparative proteomic analysis revealed no significant differential expression of any protein-encoding gene in N. gargensis grown on ammonium with MIA or RAN compared with standard cultivation on ammonium only. Taken together, this study provides first important insights regarding the roles played by AOA in micropollutant biotransformation. PMID:27046099

Mobile Genome Express (MGE): A comprehensive automatic genetic analyses pipeline with a mobile device.

PubMed

Yoon, Jun-Hee; Kim, Thomas W; Mendez, Pedro; Jablons, David M; Kim, Il-Jin

2017-01-01

The development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology allows to sequence whole exomes or genome. However, data analysis is still the biggest bottleneck for its wide implementation. Most laboratories still depend on manual procedures for data handling and analyses, which translates into a delay and decreased efficiency in the delivery of NGS results to doctors and patients. Thus, there is high demand for developing an automatic and an easy-to-use NGS data analyses system. We developed comprehensive, automatic genetic analyses controller named Mobile Genome Express (MGE) that works in smartphones or other mobile devices. MGE can handle all the steps for genetic analyses, such as: sample information submission, sequencing run quality check from the sequencer, secured data transfer and results review. We sequenced an Actrometrix control DNA containing multiple proven human mutations using a targeted sequencing panel, and the whole analysis was managed by MGE, and its data reviewing program called ELECTRO. All steps were processed automatically except for the final sequencing review procedure with ELECTRO to confirm mutations. The data analysis process was completed within several hours. We confirmed the mutations that we have identified were consistent with our previous results obtained by using multi-step, manual pipelines.

Automatic luminous reflections detector using global threshold with increased luminosity contrast in images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Ricardo Petri; Naozuka, Gustavo Taiji; Mastelini, Saulo Martiello; Felinto, Alan Salvany

2018-01-01

The incidence of luminous reflections (LR) in captured images can interfere with the color of the affected regions. These regions tend to oversaturate, becoming whitish and, consequently, losing the original color information of the scene. Decision processes that employ images acquired from digital cameras can be impaired by the LR incidence. Such applications include real-time video surgeries, facial, and ocular recognition. This work proposes an algorithm called contrast enhancement of potential LR regions, which is a preprocessing to increase the contrast of potential LR regions, in order to improve the performance of automatic LR detectors. In addition, three automatic detectors were compared with and without the employment of our preprocessing method. The first one is a technique already consolidated in the literature called the Chang-Tseng threshold. We propose two automatic detectors called adapted histogram peak and global threshold. We employed four performance metrics to evaluate the detectors, namely, accuracy, precision, exactitude, and root mean square error. The exactitude metric is developed by this work. Thus, a manually defined reference model was created. The global threshold detector combined with our preprocessing method presented the best results, with an average exactitude rate of 82.47%.

Surface Mechanical and Rheological Behaviors of Biocompatible Poly((D,L-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG) and Poly((D,L-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid-ran-ε-caprolactone)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGACL-PEG) Block Copolymers at the Air-Water Interface

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

Kim, Hyun Chang; Lee, Hoyoung; Khetan, Jawahar

Air–water interfacial monolayers of poly((d,l-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGA–PEG) exhibit an exponential increase in surface pressure under high monolayer compression. In order to understand the molecular origin of this behavior, a combined experimental and theoretical investigation (including surface pressure–area isotherm, X-ray reflectivity (XR) and interfacial rheological measurements, and a self-consistent field (SCF) theoretical analysis) was performed on air–water monolayers formed by a PLGA–PEG diblock copolymer and also by a nonglassy analogue of this diblock copolymer, poly((d,l-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid-ran-caprolactone)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGACL–PEG). The combined results of this study show that the two mechanisms, i.e., the glass transition of the collapsed PLGA filmmore » and the lateral repulsion of the PEG brush chains that occur simultaneously under lateral compression of the monolayer, are both responsible for the observed PLGA–PEG isotherm behavior. Upon cessation of compression, the high surface pressure of the PLGA–PEG monolayer typically relaxes over time with a stretched exponential decay, suggesting that in this diblock copolymer situation, the hydrophobic domain formed by the PLGA blocks undergoes glass transition in the high lateral compression state, analogously to the PLGA homopolymer monolayer. In the high PEG grafting density regime, the contribution of the PEG brush chains to the high monolayer surface pressure is significantly lower than what is predicted by the SCF model because of the many-body attraction among PEG segments (referred to in the literature as the “n-cluster” effects). The end-grafted PEG chains were found to be protein resistant even under the influence of the “n-cluster” effects.« less

Computational fluid dynamics modeling of laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows with sensitivity to streamline curvature and rotational effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chitta, Varun

Modeling of complex flows involving the combined effects of flow transition and streamline curvature using two advanced turbulence models, one in the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) category and the other in the hybrid RANS-Large eddy simulation (LES) category is considered in this research effort. In the first part of the research, a new scalar eddy-viscosity model (EVM) is proposed, designed to exhibit physically correct responses to flow transition, streamline curvature, and system rotation effects. The four equation model developed herein is a curvature-sensitized version of a commercially available three-equation transition-sensitive model. The physical effects of rotation and curvature (RC) enter the model through the added transport equation, analogous to a transverse turbulent velocity scale. The eddy-viscosity has been redefined such that the proposed model is constrained to reduce to the original transition-sensitive model definition in nonrotating flows or in regions with negligible RC effects. In the second part of the research, the developed four-equation model is combined with a LES technique using a new hybrid modeling framework, dynamic hybrid RANS-LES. The new framework is highly generalized, allowing coupling of any desired LES model with any given RANS model and addresses several deficiencies inherent in most current hybrid models. In the present research effort, the DHRL model comprises of the proposed four-equation model for RANS component and the MILES scheme for LES component. Both the models were implemented into a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver and tested on a number of engineering and generic flow problems. Results from both the RANS and hybrid models show successful resolution of the combined effects of transition and curvature with reasonable engineering accuracy, and for only a small increase in computational cost. In addition, results from the hybrid model indicate significant levels of turbulent fluctuations in the flowfield, improved accuracy compared to RANS models predictions, and are obtained at a significant reduction of computational cost compared to full LES models. The results suggest that the advanced turbulence modeling techniques presented in this research effort have potential as practical tools for solving low/high Re flows over blunt/curved bodies for the prediction of transition and RC effects.

Overcoming the exacerbating effects of ranitidine on NSAID-induced small intestinal toxicity with quercetin: Providing a complete GI solution.

PubMed

Singh, Devendra Pratap; Borse, Swapnil P; Nivsarkar, Manish

2017-06-25

There is a need to find/discover novel leads to treat complex and/or multi-factorial-pathogenic disease(s) like Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)-induced gastroenteropathy or gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity as it has emerged as an important medical and socioeconomic problem. There is no approved therapeutic strategy to prevent NSAID-induced enteropathic damage and highly effective gastro-protective drugs such as ranitidine hydrochloride (RAN) exacerbate it. In this purview, the multi target drug discovery approach (MTDD), combination approach and hit to lead strategies based on the foundation of ethnopharmacology and/or reverse pharmacology holds strong potential. Hence, the primary objectives of the current study were to explore the mechanism behind the preventative/curative effects of quercetin (QCT) on RAN exacerbated diclofenac sodium (DIC)-induced enteropathic damage and to assess the effects of co-administration of QCT and RAN on DIC-induced gastropathic damage in rats. Rats were treated twice daily with QCT (35, 50 and 100 mg kg -1 PO) and/or RAN (15 mg kg -1 PO) or vehicle for a total of 10 days. In some experiments, DIC (9 mg kg -1 ) was administered orally twice daily for the final 5 days of RAN/QCT + RAN/vehicle administration. Rats in all the groups were fasted after the last dose on 9th day (free access to water). 12 h after the last dose on 10th day, rats were euthanized and their GI tracts were assessed for haemorrhagic damage, alteration in xanthine oxidase (XO) activity, lipid peroxidation, intestinal permeability and GI luminal pH alterations along with haematological and biochemical estimations. The macroscopic, haematological, biochemical and histological evidences suggested that, though, RAN prevented the DIC-induced gastric injury, it exacerbated enteropathic damage. However, QCT not only significantly attenuated the RAN-induced exacerbation of enteropathic damage caused by DIC at the doses of 50 and 100 mg kg -1 , but, this combination provided complete GI safety against the toxic effects of DIC too. The mechanisms behind the gastro-enteroprotective ability of QCT may be related to its ability to inhibit XO activity thus, preventing enhanced oxidative stress on GI tissues, prevent lipid peroxidation, IP alteration and alteration in GI luminal pH. The preventative effects of QCT on NSAID-induced gastroenteropathy were ably supported by the QCT induced prevention of GI blood loss and serum protein loss. These pharmaco-mechanistic results of QCT are aligning to combination based MTDD approach and hence we propose it as a promising lead to treat NSAID-gastroenteropahty and related complications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Character-level neural network for biomedical named entity recognition.

PubMed

Gridach, Mourad

2017-06-01

Biomedical named entity recognition (BNER), which extracts important named entities such as genes and proteins, is a challenging task in automated systems that mine knowledge in biomedical texts. The previous state-of-the-art systems required large amounts of task-specific knowledge in the form of feature engineering, lexicons and data pre-processing to achieve high performance. In this paper, we introduce a novel neural network architecture that benefits from both word- and character-level representations automatically, by using a combination of bidirectional long short-term memory (LSTM) and conditional random field (CRF) eliminating the need for most feature engineering tasks. We evaluate our system on two datasets: JNLPBA corpus and the BioCreAtIvE II Gene Mention (GM) corpus. We obtained state-of-the-art performance by outperforming the previous systems. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to investigate the combination of deep neural networks, CRF, word embeddings and character-level representation in recognizing biomedical named entities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Associative and semantic priming effects occur at very short stimulus-onset asynchronies in lexical decision and naming.

PubMed

Perea, M; Gotor, A

1997-02-01

Prior research has found significant associative/semantic priming effects at very short stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) in experimental tasks such as lexical decision, but not in naming tasks (however, see Lukatela and Turvey, 1994). In this paper, the time course of associative priming effects was analyzed a several very short SOAs (33, 50, and 67 ms), using the masked priming paradigm (Forster and Davis, 1984), both in lexical decision (Experiment 1) and naming (Experiment 2). The results show small--but significant--associative priming effects in both tasks. Additionally, using the masked priming procedure at the 67 ms SOA. Experiments 3 and 4, shows facilitatory priming effects for both associatively and semantically (unassociated) related pairs in lexical decision and naming tasks. That is, automatic priming can be semantic. Taken together our data appear to support interactive models of word recognition in which semantic activation may influence the early stages of word processing.

A semi-automatic computer-aided method for surgical template design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiaojun; Xu, Lu; Yang, Yue; Egger, Jan

2016-02-01

This paper presents a generalized integrated framework of semi-automatic surgical template design. Several algorithms were implemented including the mesh segmentation, offset surface generation, collision detection, ruled surface generation, etc., and a special software named TemDesigner was developed. With a simple user interface, a customized template can be semi- automatically designed according to the preoperative plan. Firstly, mesh segmentation with signed scalar of vertex is utilized to partition the inner surface from the input surface mesh based on the indicated point loop. Then, the offset surface of the inner surface is obtained through contouring the distance field of the inner surface, and segmented to generate the outer surface. Ruled surface is employed to connect inner and outer surfaces. Finally, drilling tubes are generated according to the preoperative plan through collision detection and merging. It has been applied to the template design for various kinds of surgeries, including oral implantology, cervical pedicle screw insertion, iliosacral screw insertion and osteotomy, demonstrating the efficiency, functionality and generality of our method.

Novel 3-D free-form surface profilometry for reverse engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Liang-Chia; Huang, Zhi-Xue

2005-01-01

This article proposes an innovative 3-D surface contouring approach for automatic and accurate free-form surface reconstruction using a sensor integration concept. The study addresses a critical problem in accurate measurement of free-form surfaces by developing an automatic reconstruction approach. Unacceptable measuring accuracy issues are mainly due to the errors arising from the use of inadequate measuring strategies, ending up with inaccurate digitised data and costly post-data processing in Reverse Engineering (RE). This article is thus aimed to develop automatic digitising strategies for ensuring surface reconstruction efficiency, as well as accuracy. The developed approach consists of two main stages, namely the rapid shape identification (RSI) and the automated laser scanning (ALS) for completing 3-D surface profilometry. This developed approach effectively utilises the advantages of on-line geometric information to evaluate the degree of satisfaction of user-defined digitising accuracy under a triangular topological patch. An industrial case study was used to attest the feasibility of the approach.

Digital signal processing algorithms for automatic voice recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Botros, Nazeih M.

1987-01-01

The current digital signal analysis algorithms are investigated that are implemented in automatic voice recognition algorithms. Automatic voice recognition means, the capability of a computer to recognize and interact with verbal commands. The digital signal is focused on, rather than the linguistic, analysis of speech signal. Several digital signal processing algorithms are available for voice recognition. Some of these algorithms are: Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), Short-time Fourier Analysis, and Cepstrum Analysis. Among these algorithms, the LPC is the most widely used. This algorithm has short execution time and do not require large memory storage. However, it has several limitations due to the assumptions used to develop it. The other 2 algorithms are frequency domain algorithms with not many assumptions, but they are not widely implemented or investigated. However, with the recent advances in the digital technology, namely signal processors, these 2 frequency domain algorithms may be investigated in order to implement them in voice recognition. This research is concerned with real time, microprocessor based recognition algorithms.

Kinase Pathway Database: An Integrated Protein-Kinase and NLP-Based Protein-Interaction Resource

PubMed Central

Koike, Asako; Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki; Takagi, Toshihisa

2003-01-01

Protein kinases play a crucial role in the regulation of cellular functions. Various kinds of information about these molecules are important for understanding signaling pathways and organism characteristics. We have developed the Kinase Pathway Database, an integrated database involving major completely sequenced eukaryotes. It contains the classification of protein kinases and their functional conservation, ortholog tables among species, protein–protein, protein–gene, and protein–compound interaction data, domain information, and structural information. It also provides an automatic pathway graphic image interface. The protein, gene, and compound interactions are automatically extracted from abstracts for all genes and proteins by natural-language processing (NLP).The method of automatic extraction uses phrase patterns and the GENA protein, gene, and compound name dictionary, which was developed by our group. With this database, pathways are easily compared among species using data with more than 47,000 protein interactions and protein kinase ortholog tables. The database is available for querying and browsing at http://kinasedb.ontology.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/. PMID:12799355

The impact of facial emotional expressions on behavioral tendencies in females and males

PubMed Central

Seidel, Eva-Maria; Habel, Ute; Kirschner, Michaela; Gur, Ruben C.; Derntl, Birgit

2010-01-01

Emotional faces communicate both the emotional state and behavioral intentions of an individual. They also activate behavioral tendencies in the perceiver, namely approach or avoidance. Here, we compared more automatic motor to more conscious rating responses to happy, sad, angry and disgusted faces in a healthy student sample. Happiness was associated with approach and anger with avoidance. However, behavioral tendencies in response to sadness and disgust were more complex. Sadness produced automatic approach but conscious withdrawal, probably influenced by interpersonal relations or personality. Disgust elicited withdrawal in the rating task whereas no significant tendency emerged in the joystick task, probably driven by expression style. Based on our results it is highly relevant to further explore actual reactions to emotional expressions and to differentiate between automatic and controlled processes since emotional faces are used in various kinds of studies. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of gender of poser effects when applying emotional expressions as stimuli. PMID:20364933

A semi-automatic computer-aided method for surgical template design

PubMed Central

Chen, Xiaojun; Xu, Lu; Yang, Yue; Egger, Jan

2016-01-01

This paper presents a generalized integrated framework of semi-automatic surgical template design. Several algorithms were implemented including the mesh segmentation, offset surface generation, collision detection, ruled surface generation, etc., and a special software named TemDesigner was developed. With a simple user interface, a customized template can be semi- automatically designed according to the preoperative plan. Firstly, mesh segmentation with signed scalar of vertex is utilized to partition the inner surface from the input surface mesh based on the indicated point loop. Then, the offset surface of the inner surface is obtained through contouring the distance field of the inner surface, and segmented to generate the outer surface. Ruled surface is employed to connect inner and outer surfaces. Finally, drilling tubes are generated according to the preoperative plan through collision detection and merging. It has been applied to the template design for various kinds of surgeries, including oral implantology, cervical pedicle screw insertion, iliosacral screw insertion and osteotomy, demonstrating the efficiency, functionality and generality of our method. PMID:26843434

A semi-automatic computer-aided method for surgical template design.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaojun; Xu, Lu; Yang, Yue; Egger, Jan

2016-02-04

This paper presents a generalized integrated framework of semi-automatic surgical template design. Several algorithms were implemented including the mesh segmentation, offset surface generation, collision detection, ruled surface generation, etc., and a special software named TemDesigner was developed. With a simple user interface, a customized template can be semi- automatically designed according to the preoperative plan. Firstly, mesh segmentation with signed scalar of vertex is utilized to partition the inner surface from the input surface mesh based on the indicated point loop. Then, the offset surface of the inner surface is obtained through contouring the distance field of the inner surface, and segmented to generate the outer surface. Ruled surface is employed to connect inner and outer surfaces. Finally, drilling tubes are generated according to the preoperative plan through collision detection and merging. It has been applied to the template design for various kinds of surgeries, including oral implantology, cervical pedicle screw insertion, iliosacral screw insertion and osteotomy, demonstrating the efficiency, functionality and generality of our method.

Early preschool processing abilities predict subsequent reading outcomes in bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

PubMed

Aguilar-Mediavilla, Eva; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Pérez-Castelló, Josep A; Rigo-Carratalà, Eduard; Adrover-Roig, Daniel

2014-01-01

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have severe language difficulties without showing hearing impairments, cognitive deficits, neurological damage or socio-emotional deprivation. However, previous studies have shown that children with SLI show some cognitive and literacy problems. Our study analyses the relationship between preschool cognitive and linguistic abilities and the later development of reading abilities in Spanish-Catalan bilingual children with SLI. The sample consisted of 17 bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI and 17 age-matched controls. We tested eight distinct processes related to phonological, attention, and language processing at the age of 6 years and reading at 8 years of age. Results show that bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI show significantly lower scores, as compared to typically developing peers, in phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN), together with a lower outcome in tasks measuring sentence repetition and verbal fluency. Regarding attentional processes, bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI obtained lower scores in auditory attention, but not in visual attention. At the age of 8 years Spanish-Catalan children with SLI had lower scores than their age-matched controls in total reading score, letter identification (decoding), and in semantic task (comprehension). Regression analyses identified both phonological awareness and verbal fluency at the age of 6 years to be the best predictors of subsequent reading performance at the age of 8 years. Our data suggest that language acquisition problems and difficulties in reading acquisition in bilingual children with SLI might be related to the close interdependence between a limitation in cognitive processing and a deficit at the linguistic level. After reading this article, readers will be able to: identify their understanding of the relation between language difficulties and reading outcomes; explain how processing abilities influence reading performance in bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI; and recognize the relation between language and reading via a developmental model in which the phonological system is considered central for the development of decoding abilities and comprehension. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Northwest range-plant symbols adapted to automatic data processing.

Treesearch

George A. Garrison; Jon M. Skovlin

1960-01-01

Many range technicians, agronomists, foresters, biologists, and botanists of various educational institutions and government agencies in the Northwest have been using a four-letter symbol list or code compiled 12 years ago from records of plants collected by the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon and Washington, This code has served well as a means of entering plant names...

Automatic Synthesis of Fine-Motion Strategies for Robots.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

ADA-A39 532 AUTOMATI CSYNTHESISOF FNE-MOTIONSTRATEGIESFORa R080 S(U) MASSACHUSETTS INS OF TECH CAMBRIDOE ARTIFCIAL INTELLGENCE LAB IOZANO-PEREZ DEC...N00014-82-K-0334 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK Artificial Intelligence Laboratory AREA...provides correct- ness criteria for compliant motion strategies. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY A. I. MEMO 759

Reduction of astrographic catalogues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stock, J.; Prugna, F. D.; Cova, J.

1984-01-01

An automatic program for the reduction of overlapping Carte du Ciel plates is described. The projection and transformation equations are given and the RAA subprogram flow is outlined. The program was applied to two different sets of data, namely to nine overlapping plates of the Cape Zone of the CdC, and to fifteen plates taken with the CIDA-refractor of the open cluster Tr10.

Vocalization Latencies of Skilled and Less Skilled Comprehenders for Words Written in Hiragana and Kanji.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhara-Kojima, Keiko; And Others

1996-01-01

Finds that Japanese fifth graders' naming speed was a good indicator of the automaticity of the lexical access for both syllabaries and morphograms, but that skilled/less-skilled differences in vocalization latencies were greater for real words than for pseudowords for both hiragana and kanji. Discusses the applicability of C. A. Perfetti's verbal…

The Role of Categorical Speech Perception and Phonological Processing in Familial Risk Children With and Without Dyslexia.

PubMed

Hakvoort, Britt; de Bree, Elise; van der Leij, Aryan; Maassen, Ben; van Setten, Ellie; Maurits, Natasha; van Zuijen, Titia L

2016-12-01

This study assessed whether a categorical speech perception (CP) deficit is associated with dyslexia or familial risk for dyslexia, by exploring a possible cascading relation from speech perception to phonology to reading and by identifying whether speech perception distinguishes familial risk (FR) children with dyslexia (FRD) from those without dyslexia (FRND). Data were collected from 9-year-old FRD (n = 37) and FRND (n = 41) children and age-matched controls (n = 49) on CP identification and discrimination and on the phonological processing measures rapid automatized naming, phoneme awareness, and nonword repetition. The FRD group performed more poorly on CP than the FRND and control groups. Findings on phonological processing align with the literature in that (a) phonological processing related to reading and (b) the FRD group showed the lowest phonological processing outcomes. Furthermore, CP correlated weakly with reading, but this relationship was fully mediated by rapid automatized naming. Although CP phonological skills are related to dyslexia, there was no strong evidence for a cascade from CP to phonology to reading. Deficits in CP at the behavioral level are not directly associated with dyslexia.

Automatic de-identification of French clinical records: comparison of rule-based and machine-learning approaches.

PubMed

Grouin, Cyril; Zweigenbaum, Pierre

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a comparison of two approaches to automatically de-identify medical records written in French: a rule-based system and a machine-learning based system using a conditional random fields (CRF) formalism. Both systems have been designed to process nine identifiers in a corpus of medical records in cardiology. We performed two evaluations: first, on 62 documents in cardiology, and on 10 documents in foetopathology - produced by optical character recognition (OCR) - to evaluate the robustness of our systems. We achieved a 0.843 (rule-based) and 0.883 (machine-learning) exact match overall F-measure in cardiology. While the rule-based system allowed us to achieve good results on nominative (first and last names) and numerical data (dates, phone numbers, and zip codes), the machine-learning approach performed best on more complex categories (postal addresses, hospital names, medical devices, and towns). On the foetopathology corpus, although our systems have not been designed for this corpus and despite OCR character recognition errors, we obtained promising results: a 0.681 (rule-based) and 0.638 (machine-learning) exact-match overall F-measure. This demonstrates that existing tools can be applied to process new documents of lower quality.

Attention modifies sound level detection in young children.

PubMed

Sussman, Elyse S; Steinschneider, Mitchell

2011-07-01

Have you ever shouted your child's name from the kitchen while they were watching television in the living room to no avail, so you shout their name again, only louder? Yet, still no response. The current study provides evidence that young children process loudness changes differently than pitch changes when they are engaged in another task such as watching a video. Intensity level changes were physiologically detected only when they were behaviorally relevant, but frequency level changes were physiologically detected without task relevance in younger children. This suggests that changes in pitch rather than changes in volume may be more effective in evoking a response when sounds are unexpected. Further, even though behavioral ability may appear to be similar in younger and older children, attention-based physiologic responses differ from automatic physiologic processes in children. Results indicate that 1) the automatic auditory processes leading to more efficient higher-level skills continue to become refined through childhood; and 2) there are different time courses for the maturation of physiological processes encoding the distinct acoustic attributes of sound pitch and sound intensity. The relevance of these findings to sound perception in real-world environments is discussed.

Priming, not inhibition, of related concepts during future imagining.

PubMed

Campbell, Karen L; Benoit, Roland G; Schacter, Daniel L

2017-10-01

Remembering the past and imagining the future both involve the retrieval of details stored in episodic memory and rely on the same core network of brain regions. Given these parallels, one might expect similar component processes to be involved in remembering and imagining. While a strong case can be made for the role of inhibition in memory retrieval, few studies have examined whether inhibition is also necessary for future imagining and results to-date have been mixed. In the current study, we test whether related concepts are inhibited during future imagining using a modified priming approach. Participants first generated a list of familiar places and for each place, the people they most strongly associate with it. A week later, participants imagined future events involving recombinations of people and places, immediately followed by a speeded response task in which participants made familiarity decisions about people's names. Across two experiments, our results suggest that related concepts are not inhibited during future imagining, but rather are automatically primed. These results fit with recent work showing that autobiographically significant concepts (e.g., friends' names) are more episodic than semantic in nature, automatically activating related details in memory and potentially fuelling the flexible simulation of future events.

Writing in dyslexia: product and process.

PubMed

Morken, Frøydis; Helland, Turid

2013-08-01

Research on dyslexia has largely centred on reading. The aim of this study was to assess the writing of 13 children with and 28 without dyslexia at age 11 years. A programme for keystroke logging was used to allow recording of typing activity as the children performed a sentence dictation task. Five sentences were read aloud twice each. The task was to type the sentence as correctly as possible, with no time constraints. The data were analysed from a product (spelling, grammar and semantics) and process (transcription fluency and revisions) perspective, using repeated measures ANOVA and t-tests to investigate group differences. Furthermore, the data were correlated with measures of rapid automatic naming and working memory. Results showed that the group with dyslexia revised their texts as much as the typical group, but they used more time, and the result was poorer. Moreover, rapid automatic naming correlated with transcription fluency, and working memory correlated with the number of semantic errors. This shows that dyslexia is generally not an issue of effort and that cognitive skills that are known to be important for reading also affect writing. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Construction, implementation and testing of an image identification system using computer vision methods for fruit flies with economic importance (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Wang, Jiang-Ning; Chen, Xiao-Lin; Hou, Xin-Wen; Zhou, Li-Bing; Zhu, Chao-Dong; Ji, Li-Qiang

2017-07-01

Many species of Tephritidae are damaging to fruit, which might negatively impact international fruit trade. Automatic or semi-automatic identification of fruit flies are greatly needed for diagnosing causes of damage and quarantine protocols for economically relevant insects. A fruit fly image identification system named AFIS1.0 has been developed using 74 species belonging to six genera, which include the majority of pests in the Tephritidae. The system combines automated image identification and manual verification, balancing operability and accuracy. AFIS1.0 integrates image analysis and expert system into a content-based image retrieval framework. In the the automatic identification module, AFIS1.0 gives candidate identification results. Afterwards users can do manual selection based on comparing unidentified images with a subset of images corresponding to the automatic identification result. The system uses Gabor surface features in automated identification and yielded an overall classification success rate of 87% to the species level by Independent Multi-part Image Automatic Identification Test. The system is useful for users with or without specific expertise on Tephritidae in the task of rapid and effective identification of fruit flies. It makes the application of computer vision technology to fruit fly recognition much closer to production level. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Automatic testing and assessment of neuroanatomy using a digital brain atlas: method and development of computer- and mobile-based applications.

PubMed

Nowinski, Wieslaw L; Thirunavuukarasuu, Arumugam; Ananthasubramaniam, Anand; Chua, Beng Choon; Qian, Guoyu; Nowinska, Natalia G; Marchenko, Yevgen; Volkau, Ihar

2009-10-01

Preparation of tests and student's assessment by the instructor are time consuming. We address these two tasks in neuroanatomy education by employing a digital media application with a three-dimensional (3D), interactive, fully segmented, and labeled brain atlas. The anatomical and vascular models in the atlas are linked to Terminologia Anatomica. Because the cerebral models are fully segmented and labeled, our approach enables automatic and random atlas-derived generation of questions to test location and naming of cerebral structures. This is done in four steps: test individualization by the instructor, test taking by the students at their convenience, automatic student assessment by the application, and communication of the individual assessment to the instructor. A computer-based application with an interactive 3D atlas and a preliminary mobile-based application were developed to realize this approach. The application works in two test modes: instructor and student. In the instructor mode, the instructor customizes the test by setting the scope of testing and student performance criteria, which takes a few seconds. In the student mode, the student is tested and automatically assessed. Self-testing is also feasible at any time and pace. Our approach is automatic both with respect to test generation and student assessment. It is also objective, rapid, and customizable. We believe that this approach is novel from computer-based, mobile-based, and atlas-assisted standpoints.

Entropy generation minimization for the sloshing phenomenon in half-full elliptical storage tanks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saghi, Hassan

2018-02-01

In this paper, the entropy generation in the sloshing phenomenon was obtained in elliptical storage tanks and the optimum geometry of tank was suggested. To do this, a numerical model was developed to simulate the sloshing phenomenon by using coupled Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver and the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method. The RANS equations were discretized and solved using the staggered grid finite difference and SMAC methods, and the available data were used for the model validation. Some parameters consisting of maximum free surface displacement (MFSD), maximum horizontal force exerted on the tank perimeter (MHF), tank perimeter (TP), and total entropy generation (Sgen) were introduced as design criteria for elliptical storage tanks. The entropy generation distribution provides designers with useful information about the causes of the energy loss. In this step, horizontal periodic sway motions as X =amsin(ωt) were applied to elliptical storage tanks with different aspect ratios namely ratios of large diameter to small diameter of elliptical storage tank (AR). Then, the effect of am and ω was studied on the results. The results show that the relation between MFSD and MHF is almost linear relative to the sway motion amplitude. Moreover, the results show that an increase in the AR causes a decrease in the MFSD and MHF. The results, also, show that the relation between MFSD and MHF is nonlinear relative to the sway motion angular frequency. Furthermore, the results show that an increase in the AR causes that the relation between MFSD and MHF becomes linear relative to the sway motion angular frequency. In addition, MFSD and MHF were minimized in a sway motion with a 7 rad/s angular frequency. Finally, the results show that the elliptical storage tank with AR =1.2-1.4 is the optimum section.

1994 SSRL Activity Report

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

Not Available

2011-11-18

SSRL, a division of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a national user facility which provides synchrotron radiation, a name given to x-rays or light produced by electrons circulating in a storage ring at nearly the speed of light. The synchrotron radiation is produced by the 3.3 GeV storage ring, SPEAR. SPEAR is a fully dedicated synchrotron radiation facility which has been operating for user experiments 6 to 7 months per year. 1994, the third year of operation of SSRL as a fully dedicated, low-emittance, independent user facility was superb. The facility ran extremely well, delivering 89% of the scheduledmore » user beam to 25 experimental stations during 6.5 months of user running. Over 600 users came from 167 institutions to participate in 343 experiments. Users from private industry were involved in 31% of these experiments. The SPEAR accelerator ran very well with no major component failures and an unscheduled down time of only 2.9%. In addition to this increased reliability, there was a significant improvement in the stability of the beam. The enhancements to the SPEAR orbit as part of a concerted three-year program were particularly noticeable to users. the standard deviation of beam movement (both planes) in the last part of the run was 80 microns, major progress toward the ultimate goal of 50-micron stability. This was a significant improvement from the previous year when the movement was 400 microns in the horizontal and 200 microns in the vertical. A new accelerator Personal Protection System (PPS), built with full redundancy and providing protection from both radiation exposure and electrical hazards, was installed in 1994.« less

3-D Wave-Structure Interaction with Coastal Sediments - A Multi-Physics/Multi-Solution Techniques Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

Stokes (RANS) and the particle finite element method ( PFEM ) will be used in the water/mine/sand domain. Sand and the geomaterials around the sand will...wave propagation over a bottom mine at various time steps (Soil and Foam model) 8 SOLID/FEM SAND/SPH GEOMATERIALS FNPF/BEM FNPF/BEM RANS/ PFEM

RANS Simulation (Actuator Disk Model[ADM]) of the NREL Phase VI wind turbine modeled as MHK Turbine

DOE Data Explorer

Javaherchi, Teymour

2016-06-08

Attached are the .cas and .dat files for the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation of a single lab-scaled DOE RM1 turbine implemented in ANSYS FLUENT CFD-package. In this case study the flow field around and in the wake of the NREL Phase VI wind turbine, modeled is MHK turbine, is simulated using Actuator Disk Model (a.k.a Porous Media) by solving RANS equations coupled with a turbulence closure model. It should be highlighted that in this simulation the actual geometry of the rotor blade is not modeled. The effect of turbine rotating blades are modeled using the Actuator Disk Theory (see the stated section of attached M.Sc. thesis for more details).

Francis-99 turbine numerical flow simulation of steady state operation using RANS and RANS/LES turbulence model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minakov, A.; Platonov, D.; Sentyabov, A.; Gavrilov, A.

2017-01-01

We performed numerical simulation of flow in a laboratory model of a Francis hydroturbine at three regimes, using two eddy-viscosity- (EVM) and a Reynolds stress (RSM) RANS models (realizable k-ɛ, k-ω SST, LRR) and detached-eddy-simulations (DES), as well as large-eddy simulations (LES). Comparison of calculation results with the experimental data was carried out. Unlike the linear EVMs, the RSM, DES, and LES reproduced well the mean velocity components, and pressure pulsations in the diffusor draft tube. Despite relatively coarse meshes and insufficient resolution of the near-wall region, LES, DES also reproduced well the intrinsic flow unsteadiness and the dominant flow structures and the associated pressure pulsations in the draft tube.

Power and energy ratios in mechanical CVT drive control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balakin, P. D.; Stripling, L. O.

2017-06-01

Being based on the principle of providing the systems with adaptation property to the real parameters and operational condition, the mechanical system capable to control automatically the components of convertible power is offered and this allows providing stationary operation of the vehicle engine in the terms of variable external loading. This is achieved by drive control integrated in the power transmission, which implements an additional degree of freedom and operates on the basis of the laws of motion, with the energy of the main power flow by changing automatically the kinematic characteristics of the power transmission, this system being named CVT. The power and energy ratios found allow performing the necessary design calculations of the sections and the links of the mechanical CVT scheme.

Automatic Microaneurysms Detection Based on Multifeature Fusion Dictionary Learning

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhenzhu; Du, Wenyou

2017-01-01

Recently, microaneurysm (MA) detection has attracted a lot of attention in the medical image processing community. Since MAs can be seen as the earliest lesions in diabetic retinopathy, their detection plays a critical role in diabetic retinopathy diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a novel MA detection approach named multifeature fusion dictionary learning (MFFDL). The proposed method consists of four steps: preprocessing, candidate extraction, multifeature dictionary learning, and classification. The novelty of our proposed approach lies in incorporating the semantic relationships among multifeatures and dictionary learning into a unified framework for automatic detection of MAs. We evaluate the proposed algorithm by comparing it with the state-of-the-art approaches and the experimental results validate the effectiveness of our algorithm. PMID:28421125

Automatic Microaneurysms Detection Based on Multifeature Fusion Dictionary Learning.

PubMed

Zhou, Wei; Wu, Chengdong; Chen, Dali; Wang, Zhenzhu; Yi, Yugen; Du, Wenyou

2017-01-01

Recently, microaneurysm (MA) detection has attracted a lot of attention in the medical image processing community. Since MAs can be seen as the earliest lesions in diabetic retinopathy, their detection plays a critical role in diabetic retinopathy diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a novel MA detection approach named multifeature fusion dictionary learning (MFFDL). The proposed method consists of four steps: preprocessing, candidate extraction, multifeature dictionary learning, and classification. The novelty of our proposed approach lies in incorporating the semantic relationships among multifeatures and dictionary learning into a unified framework for automatic detection of MAs. We evaluate the proposed algorithm by comparing it with the state-of-the-art approaches and the experimental results validate the effectiveness of our algorithm.

The integration of system specifications and program coding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luebke, W. R.

1970-01-01

Experience in maintaining up-to-date documentation for one module of the large-scale Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System 2 (MEDLARS 2) is described. Several innovative techniques were explored in the development of this system's data management environment, particularly those that use PL/I as an automatic documenter. The PL/I data description section can provide automatic documentation by means of a master description of data elements that has long and highly meaningful mnemonic names and a formalized technique for the production of descriptive commentary. The techniques discussed are practical methods that employ the computer during system development in a manner that assists system implementation, provides interim documentation for customer review, and satisfies some of the deliverable documentation requirements.

A paper form processing system with an error correcting function for reading handwritten Kanji strings

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

Katsumi Marukawa; Kazuki Nakashima; Masashi Koga

1994-12-31

This paper presents a paper form processing system with an error correcting function for reading handwritten kanji strings. In the paper form processing system, names and addresses are important key data, and especially this paper takes up an error correcting method for name and address recognition. The method automatically corrects errors of the kanji OCR (Optical Character Reader) with the help of word dictionaries and other knowledge. Moreover, it allows names and addresses to be written in any style. The method consists of word matching {open_quotes}furigana{close_quotes} verification for name strings, and address approval for address strings. For word matching, kanjimore » name candidates are extracted by automaton-type word matching. In {open_quotes}furigana{close_quotes} verification, kana candidate characters recognized by the kana OCR are compared with kana`s searched from the name dictionary based on kanji name candidates, given by the word matching. The correct name is selected from the results of word matching and furigana verification. Also, the address approval efficiently searches for the right address based on a bottom-up procedure which follows hierarchical relations from a lower placename to a upper one by using the positional condition among the placenames. We ascertained that the error correcting method substantially improves the recognition rate and processing speed in experiments on 5,032 forms.« less

When the Eyes No Longer Lead: Familiarity and Length Effects on Eye-Voice Span

PubMed Central

Silva, Susana; Reis, Alexandra; Casaca, Luís; Petersson, Karl M.; Faísca, Luís

2016-01-01

During oral reading, the eyes tend to be ahead of the voice (eye-voice span, EVS). It has been hypothesized that the extent to which this happens depends on the automaticity of reading processes, namely on the speed of print-to-sound conversion. We tested whether EVS is affected by another automaticity component – immunity from interference. To that end, we manipulated word familiarity (high-frequency, low-frequency, and pseudowords, PW) and word length as proxies of immunity from interference, and we used linear mixed effects models to measure the effects of both variables on the time interval at which readers do parallel processing by gazing at word N + 1 while not having articulated word N yet (offset EVS). Parallel processing was enhanced by automaticity, as shown by familiarity × length interactions on offset EVS, and it was impeded by lack of automaticity, as shown by the transformation of offset EVS into voice-eye span (voice ahead of the offset of the eyes) in PWs. The relation between parallel processing and automaticity was strengthened by the fact that offset EVS predicted reading velocity. Our findings contribute to understand how the offset EVS, an index that is obtained in oral reading, may tap into different components of automaticity that underlie reading ability, oral or silent. In addition, we compared the duration of the offset EVS with the average reference duration of stages in word production, and we saw that the offset EVS may accommodate for more than the articulatory programming stage of word N. PMID:27853446

AKT activation drives the nuclear localization of CSE1L and a pro-oncogenic transcriptional activation in ovarian cancer cells.

PubMed

Lorenzato, Annalisa; Biolatti, Marta; Delogu, Giuseppe; Capobianco, Giampiero; Farace, Cristiano; Dessole, Salvatore; Cossu, Antonio; Tanda, Francesco; Madeddu, Roberto; Olivero, Martina; Di Renzo, Maria Flavia

2013-10-15

The human homolog of the yeast cse1 gene (CSE1L) is over-expressed in ovarian cancer. CSE1L forms complex with Ran and importin-α and has roles in nucleocytoplasmic traffic and gene expression. CSE1L accumulated in the nucleus of ovarian cancer cell lines, while it was localized also in the cytoplasm of other cancer cell lines. Nuclear localization depended on AKT, which was constitutively active in ovarian cancer cells, as the CSE1L protein translocated to the cytoplasm when AKT was inactivated. Moreover, the expression of a constitutively active AKT forced the translocation of CSE1L from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in other cancer cells. Nuclear accrual of CSE1L was associated to the nuclear accumulation of the phosphorylated Ran Binding protein 3 (RanBP3), which depended on AKT as well. Also in samples of human ovarian cancer, AKT activation was associated to nuclear accumulation of CSE1L and phosphorylation of RanBP3. Expression profiling of ovarian cancer cells after CSE1L silencing showed that CSE1L was required for the expression of genes promoting invasion and metastasis. In agreement, CSE1L silencing impaired motility and invasiveness of ovarian cancer cells. Altogether these data show that in ovarian cancer cells activated AKT by affecting RanBP3 phosphorylation determines the nuclear accumulation of CSE1L and likely the nuclear concentration of transcription factors conveying pro-oncogenic signals. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hunger does not motivate reward in women remitted from anorexia nervosa

PubMed Central

Wierenga, Christina E.; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Melrose, A. James; Irvine, Zoe; Torres, Laura; Bailer, Ursula F.; Simmons, Alan; Fudge, Julie L.; McClure, Samuel M.; Ely, Alice; Kaye, Walter H.

2014-01-01

Background Hunger enhances sensitivity to reward, yet individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are not motivated to eat when starved. This study examined whether diminished response to reward could underlie food restriction in AN by investigating brain response to rewards during hunger and satiated states. Methods Using a delay discounting monetary decision task known to discriminate brain regions contributing to processing of immediate rewards and cognitive control important for decision making regarding future rewards, we compared 23 adults remitted from AN (to reduce the confounding effects of starvation [RAN]) to 17 healthy women (CW). Monetary rewards were used because the rewarding value of food may be confounded by anxiety in AN. Results Interactions of group (RAN, CW) × visit (hunger, satiety) revealed that, for CW, hunger significantly increased activation in reward salience circuitry (ventral striatum, dorsal caudate, anterior cingulate cortex) during processing of immediate reward, whereas satiety increased activation in cognitive control circuitry (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, insula) during decision-making. In contrast, brain response in reward and cognitive neurocircuitry did not differ during hunger and satiety in RAN. A main effect of group revealed elevated response in the middle frontal gyrus for RAN. Conclusions RAN failed to increase activation of reward valuation circuitry when hungry and showed elevated response in cognitive control circuitry independent of metabolic state. Decreased sensitivity to hunger’s motivational drive may explain AN individuals’ ability to restrict food when emaciated. Moreover, difficulties in valuating emotional salience may contribute to inabilities to appreciate the risks inherent in this deadly disorder. PMID:25481622

Computational Analyses of the LIMX TBCC Inlet High-Speed Flowpath

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dippold, Vance F., III

2012-01-01

Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed for the high-speed flowpath and isolator of a dual-flowpath Turbine-Based Combined-Cycle (TBCC) inlet using the Wind-US code. The RANS simulations were performed in preparation for the Large-scale Inlet for Mode Transition (LIMX) model tests in the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 10- by 10-ft Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The LIMX inlet has a low-speed flowpath that is coupled to a turbine engine and a high-speed flowpath designed to be coupled to a Dual-Mode Scramjet (DMSJ) combustor. These RANS simulations were conducted at a simulated freestream Mach number of 4.0, which is the nominal Mach number for the planned wind tunnel testing with the LIMX model. For the simulation results presented in this paper, the back pressure, cowl angles, and freestream Mach number were each varied to assess the performance and robustness of the high-speed inlet and isolator. Under simulated wind tunnel conditions at maximum inlet mass flow rates, the high-speed flowpath pressure rise was found to be greater than a factor of four. Furthermore, at a simulated freestream Mach number of 4.0, the high-speed flowpath and isolator showed stability for freestream Mach number that drops 0.1 Mach below the design point. The RANS simulations indicate the yet-untested highspeed inlet and isolator flowpath should operate as designed. The RANS simulation results also provided important insight to researchers as they developed test plans for the LIMX experiment in GRC s 10- by 10-ft Supersonic Wind Tunnel.

The C9orf72 repeat expansion disrupts nucleocytoplasmic transport.

PubMed

Zhang, Ke; Donnelly, Christopher J; Haeusler, Aaron R; Grima, Jonathan C; Machamer, James B; Steinwald, Peter; Daley, Elizabeth L; Miller, Sean J; Cunningham, Kathleen M; Vidensky, Svetlana; Gupta, Saksham; Thomas, Michael A; Hong, Ingie; Chiu, Shu-Ling; Huganir, Richard L; Ostrow, Lyle W; Matunis, Michael J; Wang, Jiou; Sattler, Rita; Lloyd, Thomas E; Rothstein, Jeffrey D

2015-09-03

The hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE) GGGGCC (G4C2) in C9orf72 is the most common cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Recent studies support an HRE RNA gain-of-function mechanism of neurotoxicity, and we previously identified protein interactors for the G4C2 RNA including RanGAP1. A candidate-based genetic screen in Drosophila expressing 30 G4C2 repeats identified RanGAP (Drosophila orthologue of human RanGAP1), a key regulator of nucleocytoplasmic transport, as a potent suppressor of neurodegeneration. Enhancing nuclear import or suppressing nuclear export of proteins also suppresses neurodegeneration. RanGAP physically interacts with HRE RNA and is mislocalized in HRE-expressing flies, neurons from C9orf72 ALS patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-derived neurons), and in C9orf72 ALS patient brain tissue. Nuclear import is impaired as a result of HRE expression in the fly model and in C9orf72 iPSC-derived neurons, and these deficits are rescued by small molecules and antisense oligonucleotides targeting the HRE G-quadruplexes. Nucleocytoplasmic transport defects may be a fundamental pathway for ALS and FTD that is amenable to pharmacotherapeutic intervention.

Accuracy of the actuator disc-RANS approach for predicting the performance and wake of tidal turbines.

PubMed

Batten, W M J; Harrison, M E; Bahaj, A S

2013-02-28

The actuator disc-RANS model has widely been used in wind and tidal energy to predict the wake of a horizontal axis turbine. The model is appropriate where large-scale effects of the turbine on a flow are of interest, for example, when considering environmental impacts, or arrays of devices. The accuracy of the model for modelling the wake of tidal stream turbines has not been demonstrated, and flow predictions presented in the literature for similar modelled scenarios vary significantly. This paper compares the results of the actuator disc-RANS model, where the turbine forces have been derived using a blade-element approach, to experimental data measured in the wake of a scaled turbine. It also compares the results with those of a simpler uniform actuator disc model. The comparisons show that the model is accurate and can predict up to 94 per cent of the variation in the experimental velocity data measured on the centreline of the wake, therefore demonstrating that the actuator disc-RANS model is an accurate approach for modelling a turbine wake, and a conservative approach to predict performance and loads. It can therefore be applied to similar scenarios with confidence.

A non-canonical mechanism for Crm1-export cargo complex assembly

PubMed Central

Fischer, Ute; Schäuble, Nico; Schütz, Sabina; Altvater, Martin; Chang, Yiming; Boulos Faza, Marius; Panse, Vikram Govind

2015-01-01

The transport receptor Crm1 mediates the export of diverse cargos containing leucine-rich nuclear export signals (NESs) through complex formation with RanGTP. To ensure efficient cargo release in the cytoplasm, NESs have evolved to display low affinity for Crm1. However, mechanisms that overcome low affinity to assemble Crm1-export complexes in the nucleus remain poorly understood. In this study, we reveal a new type of RanGTP-binding protein, Slx9, which facilitates Crm1 recruitment to the 40S pre-ribosome-associated NES-containing adaptor Rio2. In vitro, Slx9 binds Rio2 and RanGTP, forming a complex. This complex directly loads Crm1, unveiling a non-canonical stepwise mechanism to assemble a Crm1-export complex. A mutation in Slx9 that impairs Crm1-export complex assembly inhibits 40S pre-ribosome export. Thus, Slx9 functions as a scaffold to optimally present RanGTP and the NES to Crm1, therefore, triggering 40S pre-ribosome export. This mechanism could represent one solution to the paradox of weak binding events underlying rapid Crm1-mediated export. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05745.001 PMID:25895666

A Very Large Eddy Simulation of the Nonreacting Flow in a Single-Element Lean Direct Injection Combustor Using PRNS with a Nonlinear Subscale Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Tsan-Hsing; Liu, Nan-Suey

2009-01-01

Very large eddy simulation (VLES) of the nonreacting turbulent flow in a single-element lean direct injection (LDI) combustor has been successfully performed via the approach known as the partially resolved numerical simulation (PRNS/VLES) using a nonlinear subscale model. The grid is the same as the one used in a previous RANS simulation, which was considered as too coarse for a traditional LES simulation. In this study, we first carry out a steady RANS simulation to provide the initial flow field for the subsequent PRNS/VLES simulation. We have also carried out an unsteady RANS (URANS) simulation for the purpose of comparing its results with that of the PRNS/VLES simulation. In addition, these calculated results are compared with the experimental data. The present effort has demonstrated that the PRNS/VLES approach, while using a RANS type of grid, is able to reveal the dynamically important, unsteady large-scale turbulent structures occurring in the flow field of a single-element LDI combustor. The interactions of these coherent structures play a critical role in the dispersion of the fuel, hence, the mixing between the fuel and the oxidizer in a combustor.

Nuclear size is sensitive to NTF2 protein levels in a manner dependent on Ran binding

PubMed Central

Vuković, Lidija D.; Jevtić, Predrag; Zhang, Zhaojie; Stohr, Bradley A.; Levy, Daniel L.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Altered nuclear size is associated with many cancers, and determining whether cancer-associated changes in nuclear size contribute to carcinogenesis necessitates an understanding of mechanisms of nuclear size regulation. Although nuclear import rates generally positively correlate with nuclear size, NTF2 levels negatively affect nuclear size, despite the role of NTF2 (also known as NUTF2) in nuclear recycling of the import factor Ran. We show that binding of Ran to NTF2 is required for NTF2 to inhibit nuclear expansion and import of large cargo molecules in Xenopus laevis egg and embryo extracts, consistent with our observation that NTF2 reduces the diameter of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) in a Ran-binding-dependent manner. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ectopic NTF2 expression in Xenopus embryos and mammalian tissue culture cells alters nuclear size. Finally, we show that increases in nuclear size during melanoma progression correlate with reduced NTF2 expression, and increasing NTF2 levels in melanoma cells is sufficient to reduce nuclear size. These results show a conserved capacity for NTF2 to impact on nuclear size, and we propose that NTF2 might be a new cancer biomarker. PMID:26823604

Turbulence Modeling Verification and Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rumsey, Christopher L.

2014-01-01

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software that solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations has been in routine use for more than a quarter of a century. It is currently employed not only for basic research in fluid dynamics, but also for the analysis and design processes in many industries worldwide, including aerospace, automotive, power generation, chemical manufacturing, polymer processing, and petroleum exploration. A key feature of RANS CFD is the turbulence model. Because the RANS equations are unclosed, a model is necessary to describe the effects of the turbulence on the mean flow, through the Reynolds stress terms. The turbulence model is one of the largest sources of uncertainty in RANS CFD, and most models are known to be flawed in one way or another. Alternative methods such as direct numerical simulations (DNS) and large eddy simulations (LES) rely less on modeling and hence include more physics than RANS. In DNS all turbulent scales are resolved, and in LES the large scales are resolved and the effects of the smallest turbulence scales are modeled. However, both DNS and LES are too expensive for most routine industrial usage on today's computers. Hybrid RANS-LES, which blends RANS near walls with LES away from walls, helps to moderate the cost while still retaining some of the scale-resolving capability of LES, but for some applications it can still be too expensive. Even considering its associated uncertainties, RANS turbulence modeling has proved to be very useful for a wide variety of applications. For example, in the aerospace field, many RANS models are considered to be reliable for computing attached flows. However, existing turbulence models are known to be inaccurate for many flows involving separation. Research has been ongoing for decades in an attempt to improve turbulence models for separated and other nonequilibrium flows. When developing or improving turbulence models, both verification and validation are important steps in the process. Verification insures that the CFD code is solving the equations as intended (no errors in the implementation). This is typically done either through the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) or through careful step-by-step comparisons with other verified codes. After the verification step is concluded, validation is performed to document the ability of the turbulence model to represent different types of flow physics. Validation can involve a large number of test case comparisons with experiments, theory, or DNS. Organized workshops have proved to be valuable resources for the turbulence modeling community in its pursuit of turbulence modeling verification and validation. Workshop contributors using different CFD codes run the same cases, often according to strict guidelines, and compare results. Through these comparisons, it is often possible to (1) identify codes that have likely implementation errors, and (2) gain insight into the capabilities and shortcomings of different turbulence models to predict the flow physics associated with particular types of flows. These are valuable lessons because they help bring consistency to CFD codes by encouraging the correction of faulty programming and facilitating the adoption of better models. They also sometimes point to specific areas needed for improvement in the models. In this paper, several recent workshops are summarized primarily from the point of view of turbulence modeling verification and validation. Furthermore, the NASA Langley Turbulence Modeling Resource website is described. The purpose of this site is to provide a central location where RANS turbulence models are documented, and test cases, grids, and data are provided. The goal of this paper is to provide an abbreviated survey of turbulence modeling verification and validation efforts, summarize some of the outcomes, and give some ideas for future endeavors in this area.

SERC 2014-2018 Technical Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-25

assurance-case analysis that are not only more powerful in anomaly detection , but also leading to stronger possibilities for positive assurance and to...PAGES 50 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON a. REPORT unclassified b. ABSTRACT unclassified c . THIS PAGE unclassified Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8...base for responding to cyber-attacks; and ( c ) combine techniques developed for automatic control systems in a manner that will both enable defense

Cross-Language Transfer of Word Reading Accuracy and Word Reading Fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English Bilinguals: Script-Universal and Script-Specific Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pasquarella, Adrian; Chen, Xi; Gottardo, Alexandra; Geva, Esther

2015-01-01

This study examined cross-language transfer of word reading accuracy and word reading fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants included 51 Spanish-English and 64 Chinese-English bilinguals. Both groups of children completed parallel measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy,…

Large Scale System Defense

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

AD); Aeolos, a distributed intrusion detection and event correlation infrastructure; STAND, a training-set sanitization technique applicable to ADs...UU 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 25 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON Frank H. Born a. REPORT U b. ABSTRACT U c . THIS PAGE U 19b. TELEPHONE...Summary of findings 2 (a) Automatic Patch Generation 2 (b) Better Patch Management 2 ( c ) Artificial Diversity 3 (d) Distributed Anomaly Detection 3

A reversed-typicality effect in pictures but not in written words in deaf and hard of hearing adolescents.

PubMed

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Xong, Ying; Chen, Xiaojun; He, Weiwei; Li, Ling; Huang, Jingjia

2015-01-01

Two experiments investigated Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) adolescents' recognition of category names in an innovative task of semantic categorization. In each trial, the category-name target appeared briefly at the screen center followed by two words or two pictures for two basic-level exemplars of high or middle typicality, which appeared briefly approximately where the target had appeared. Participants' reaction times when they were deciding whether the target referred to living or nonliving things consistently revealed the typicality effect for the word, but a reversed-typicality effect for picture-presented exemplars. It was found that in automatically processing a category name, DHH adolescents with natural sign language as their first language evidently activate two sets of exemplar representations: those for middle-typicality exemplars, which they develop in interactions with the physical world and in sign language uses; and those in written-language learning.

A tentative protocol for measurement of radon availability from the ground

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tanner, A.B.

1988-01-01

A procedure is being tested in order to determine its suitability for assessing the intrinsic ability of the ground at a particular site to supply radon (222Rn) to a basement structure to be built on the site. The mean migration distance, multiplied by the measured radon concentration gives the "Radon Availability Number' (RAN). Measurements at sites of known indoor radon concentration suggest that RANs below 2 kBq/m2 (5x104 pCi/m2) indicate little chance of elevated indoor radon and RANs above 20 kBq/m2 (5x105 pCi/m2) indicate that elevated indoor radon is likely. The range of uncertainty and the point-to-point and seasonal variations to be expected are under investigation. -from Author

Evaluation of RANS and LES models for Natural Convection in High-Aspect-Ratio Parallel Plate Channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fradeneck, Austen; Kimber, Mark

2017-11-01

The present study evaluates the effectiveness of current RANS and LES models in simulating natural convection in high-aspect ratio parallel plate channels. The geometry under consideration is based on a simplification of the coolant and bypass channels in the very high-temperature gas reactor (VHTR). Two thermal conditions are considered, asymmetric and symmetric wall heating with an applied heat flux to match Rayleigh numbers experienced in the VHTR during a loss of flow accident (LOFA). RANS models are compared to analogous high-fidelity LES simulations. Preliminary results demonstrate the efficacy of the low-Reynolds number k- ɛ formulations and their enhancement to the standard form and Reynolds stress transport model in terms of calculating the turbulence production due to buoyancy and overall mean flow variables.

Identification of RAN1 orthologue associated with sex determination through whole genome sequencing analysis in fig (Ficus carica L.).

PubMed

Mori, Kazuki; Shirasawa, Kenta; Nogata, Hitoshi; Hirata, Chiharu; Tashiro, Kosuke; Habu, Tsuyoshi; Kim, Sangwan; Himeno, Shuichi; Kuhara, Satoru; Ikegami, Hidetoshi

2017-01-25

With the aim of identifying sex determinants of fig, we generated the first draft genome sequence of fig and conducted the subsequent analyses. Linkage analysis with a high-density genetic map established by a restriction-site associated sequencing technique, and genome-wide association study followed by whole-genome resequencing analysis identified two missense mutations in RESPONSIVE-TO-ANTAGONIST1 (RAN1) orthologue encoding copper-transporting ATPase completely associated with sex phenotypes of investigated figs. This result suggests that RAN1 is a possible sex determinant candidate in the fig genome. The genomic resources and genetic findings obtained in this study can contribute to general understanding of Ficus species and provide an insight into fig's and plant's sex determination system.

New insights into the classification and nomenclature of cortical GABAergic interneurons.

PubMed

DeFelipe, Javier; López-Cruz, Pedro L; Benavides-Piccione, Ruth; Bielza, Concha; Larrañaga, Pedro; Anderson, Stewart; Burkhalter, Andreas; Cauli, Bruno; Fairén, Alfonso; Feldmeyer, Dirk; Fishell, Gord; Fitzpatrick, David; Freund, Tamás F; González-Burgos, Guillermo; Hestrin, Shaul; Hill, Sean; Hof, Patrick R; Huang, Josh; Jones, Edward G; Kawaguchi, Yasuo; Kisvárday, Zoltán; Kubota, Yoshiyuki; Lewis, David A; Marín, Oscar; Markram, Henry; McBain, Chris J; Meyer, Hanno S; Monyer, Hannah; Nelson, Sacha B; Rockland, Kathleen; Rossier, Jean; Rubenstein, John L R; Rudy, Bernardo; Scanziani, Massimo; Shepherd, Gordon M; Sherwood, Chet C; Staiger, Jochen F; Tamás, Gábor; Thomson, Alex; Wang, Yun; Yuste, Rafael; Ascoli, Giorgio A

2013-03-01

A systematic classification and accepted nomenclature of neuron types is much needed but is currently lacking. This article describes a possible taxonomical solution for classifying GABAergic interneurons of the cerebral cortex based on a novel, web-based interactive system that allows experts to classify neurons with pre-determined criteria. Using Bayesian analysis and clustering algorithms on the resulting data, we investigated the suitability of several anatomical terms and neuron names for cortical GABAergic interneurons. Moreover, we show that supervised classification models could automatically categorize interneurons in agreement with experts' assignments. These results demonstrate a practical and objective approach to the naming, characterization and classification of neurons based on community consensus.

New insights into the classification and nomenclature of cortical GABAergic interneurons

PubMed Central

DeFelipe, Javier; López-Cruz, Pedro L.; Benavides-Piccione, Ruth; Bielza, Concha; Larrañaga, Pedro; Anderson, Stewart; Burkhalter, Andreas; Cauli, Bruno; Fairén, Alfonso; Feldmeyer, Dirk; Fishell, Gord; Fitzpatrick, David; Freund, Tamás F.; González-Burgos, Guillermo; Hestrin, Shaul; Hill, Sean; Hof, Patrick R.; Huang, Josh; Jones, Edward G.; Kawaguchi, Yasuo; Kisvárday, Zoltán; Kubota, Yoshiyuki; Lewis, David A.; Marín, Oscar; Markram, Henry; McBain, Chris J.; Meyer, Hanno S.; Monyer, Hannah; Nelson, Sacha B.; Rockland, Kathleen; Rossier, Jean; Rubenstein, John L. R.; Rudy, Bernardo; Scanziani, Massimo; Shepherd, Gordon M.; Sherwood, Chet C.; Staiger, Jochen F.; Tamás, Gábor; Thomson, Alex; Wang, Yun; Yuste, Rafael; Ascoli, Giorgio A.

2013-01-01

A systematic classification and accepted nomenclature of neuron types is much needed but is currently lacking. This article describes a possible taxonomical solution for classifying GABAergic interneurons of the cerebral cortex based on a novel, web-based interactive system that allows experts to classify neurons with pre-determined criteria. Using Bayesian analysis and clustering algorithms on the resulting data, we investigated the suitability of several anatomical terms and neuron names for cortical GABAergic interneurons. Moreover, we show that supervised classification models could automatically categorize interneurons in agreement with experts’ assignments. These results demonstrate a practical and objective approach to the naming, characterization and classification of neurons based on community consensus. PMID:23385869

Automatic target validation based on neuroscientific literature mining for tractography

PubMed Central

Vasques, Xavier; Richardet, Renaud; Hill, Sean L.; Slater, David; Chappelier, Jean-Cedric; Pralong, Etienne; Bloch, Jocelyne; Draganski, Bogdan; Cif, Laura

2015-01-01

Target identification for tractography studies requires solid anatomical knowledge validated by an extensive literature review across species for each seed structure to be studied. Manual literature review to identify targets for a given seed region is tedious and potentially subjective. Therefore, complementary approaches would be useful. We propose to use text-mining models to automatically suggest potential targets from the neuroscientific literature, full-text articles and abstracts, so that they can be used for anatomical connection studies and more specifically for tractography. We applied text-mining models to three structures: two well-studied structures, since validated deep brain stimulation targets, the internal globus pallidus and the subthalamic nucleus and, the nucleus accumbens, an exploratory target for treating psychiatric disorders. We performed a systematic review of the literature to document the projections of the three selected structures and compared it with the targets proposed by text-mining models, both in rat and primate (including human). We ran probabilistic tractography on the nucleus accumbens and compared the output with the results of the text-mining models and literature review. Overall, text-mining the literature could find three times as many targets as two man-weeks of curation could. The overall efficiency of the text-mining against literature review in our study was 98% recall (at 36% precision), meaning that over all the targets for the three selected seeds, only one target has been missed by text-mining. We demonstrate that connectivity for a structure of interest can be extracted from a very large amount of publications and abstracts. We believe this tool will be useful in helping the neuroscience community to facilitate connectivity studies of particular brain regions. The text mining tools used for the study are part of the HBP Neuroinformatics Platform, publicly available at http://connectivity-brainer.rhcloud.com/. PMID:26074781

KnowLife: a versatile approach for constructing a large knowledge graph for biomedical sciences.

PubMed

Ernst, Patrick; Siu, Amy; Weikum, Gerhard

2015-05-14

Biomedical knowledge bases (KB's) have become important assets in life sciences. Prior work on KB construction has three major limitations. First, most biomedical KBs are manually built and curated, and cannot keep up with the rate at which new findings are published. Second, for automatic information extraction (IE), the text genre of choice has been scientific publications, neglecting sources like health portals and online communities. Third, most prior work on IE has focused on the molecular level or chemogenomics only, like protein-protein interactions or gene-drug relationships, or solely address highly specific topics such as drug effects. We address these three limitations by a versatile and scalable approach to automatic KB construction. Using a small number of seed facts for distant supervision of pattern-based extraction, we harvest a huge number of facts in an automated manner without requiring any explicit training. We extend previous techniques for pattern-based IE with confidence statistics, and we combine this recall-oriented stage with logical reasoning for consistency constraint checking to achieve high precision. To our knowledge, this is the first method that uses consistency checking for biomedical relations. Our approach can be easily extended to incorporate additional relations and constraints. We ran extensive experiments not only for scientific publications, but also for encyclopedic health portals and online communities, creating different KB's based on different configurations. We assess the size and quality of each KB, in terms of number of facts and precision. The best configured KB, KnowLife, contains more than 500,000 facts at a precision of 93% for 13 relations covering genes, organs, diseases, symptoms, treatments, as well as environmental and lifestyle risk factors. KnowLife is a large knowledge base for health and life sciences, automatically constructed from different Web sources. As a unique feature, KnowLife is harvested from different text genres such as scientific publications, health portals, and online communities. Thus, it has the potential to serve as one-stop portal for a wide range of relations and use cases. To showcase the breadth and usefulness, we make the KnowLife KB accessible through the health portal (http://knowlife.mpi-inf.mpg.de).

Effect of task demands on dual coding of pictorial stimuli.

PubMed

Babbitt, B C

1982-01-01

Recent studies have suggested that verbal labeling of a picture does not occur automatically. Although several experiments using paired-associate tasks produced little evidence indicating the use of a verbal code with picture stimuli, the tasks were probably not sensitive to whether the codes were activated initially. It is possible that verbal labels were activated at input, but not used later in performing the tasks. The present experiment used a color-naming interference task in order to assess, with a more sensitive measure, the amount of verbal coding occurring in response to word or picture input. Subjects named the color of ink in which words were printed following either word or picture input. If verbal labeling of the input occurs, then latency of color naming should increase when the input item and color-naming word are related. The results provided substantial evidence of such verbal activation when the input items were words. However, the presence of verbal activation with picture input was a function of task demands. Activation occurred when a recall memory test was used, but not when a recognition memory test was used. The results support the conclusion that name information (labels) need not be activated during presentation of visual stimuli.

Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Flow Physics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-24

team of expert experimentalists and numerical and chemical kinetic modelers. Flowfields were examined in the turbine /ramjet dual inlet mode transition...using data from the NASA Glenn IMX facility and RANS calculations. In the ramjet/scramjet mode regime a dual-mode combustion wind tunnel was developed...SUBJECT TERMS Hypersonic combined cycle propulsion, turbine /ram dual-inlet transition, ram/scram dual-mode transition, hypervelocity regime, RANS, Hybrid

Performance of the Tin-Free Antifouling Coating International Ecoloflex in DSTO/RAN Trials

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

Science and Technology Organisation DSTO-TR-2203 ABSTRACT A national and global ban on the application of antifouling paints containing tributyltin (TBT...Ecoloflex in DSTO/RAN Trials Executive Summary The antifouling biocide tributyltin (TBT) has provided the most effective means of preventing fouling...24 DSTO-TR-2203 1. Introduction Antifouling paints containing tributyltin (TBT) as the primary biocide were

Estimation of k-ε parameters using surrogate models and jet-in-crossflow data

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

Lefantzi, Sophia; Ray, Jaideep; Arunajatesan, Srinivasan

2014-11-01

We demonstrate a Bayesian method that can be used to calibrate computationally expensive 3D RANS (Reynolds Av- eraged Navier Stokes) models with complex response surfaces. Such calibrations, conditioned on experimental data, can yield turbulence model parameters as probability density functions (PDF), concisely capturing the uncertainty in the parameter estimates. Methods such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimate the PDF by sampling, with each sample requiring a run of the RANS model. Consequently a quick-running surrogate is used instead to the RANS simulator. The surrogate can be very difficult to design if the model's response i.e., the dependence of themore » calibration variable (the observable) on the parameter being estimated is complex. We show how the training data used to construct the surrogate can be employed to isolate a promising and physically realistic part of the parameter space, within which the response is well-behaved and easily modeled. We design a classifier, based on treed linear models, to model the "well-behaved region". This classifier serves as a prior in a Bayesian calibration study aimed at estimating 3 k - ε parameters ( C μ, C ε2 , C ε1 ) from experimental data of a transonic jet-in-crossflow interaction. The robustness of the calibration is investigated by checking its predictions of variables not included in the cal- ibration data. We also check the limit of applicability of the calibration by testing at off-calibration flow regimes. We find that calibration yield turbulence model parameters which predict the flowfield far better than when the nomi- nal values of the parameters are used. Substantial improvements are still obtained when we use the calibrated RANS model to predict jet-in-crossflow at Mach numbers and jet strengths quite different from those used to generate the ex- perimental (calibration) data. Thus the primary reason for poor predictive skill of RANS, when using nominal values of the turbulence model parameters, was parametric uncertainty, which was rectified by calibration. Post-calibration, the dominant contribution to model inaccuraries are due to the structural errors in RANS.« less

EFFECTS OF INTRAVITREAL RANIBIZUMAB AND BEVACIZUMAB ON THE RETINAL VESSEL SIZE IN DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA.

PubMed

Kurt, Muhammed Mustafa; Çekiç, Osman; Akpolat, Çetin; Elçioglu, Mustafa

2018-06-01

The goal of this study was to assess the effects of a single injection of intravitreal ranibizumab (RAN) or bevacizumab (BEV) on the retinal vessel size in eyes with diabetic macular edema. In total, 32 patients were enrolled in the RAN group, and 30 patients were included in BEV group. Each of these groups was also subdivided into two others groups: a study group and a control group. The study groups were composed of the injected eyes, whereas the noninjected fellow eyes served as the control groups. The patients underwent complete ophthalmic examinations, including optical coherence tomography and fundus fluorescein angiography, and the primary outcome measures included the central retinal artery equivalent, central retinal vein equivalent, and artery-to-vein ratio. In the RAN study group (n = 32), the preinjection mean central retinal artery equivalent (175.42 μm) decreased to 169.01 μm after 1 week, and to 167.47 μm after 1 month (P < 0.001), whereas the baseline central retinal vein equivalent (235.29 μm) decreased initially to 219.90 μm after 1 week, and to 218.36 μm after 1 month (P < 0.001). In the BEV study group (n = 30), the preinjection central retinal artery equivalent (150.21 μm) decreased to 146.25 μm after 1 week, and to 145.89 μm after 1 month (P < 0.001); whereas the baseline central retinal vein equivalent (211.87 μm) decreased initially to 204.59 μm after 1 week and was 205.24 μm after 1 month (P < 0.001). The preinjection artery-to-vein ratio values changed significantly (P = 0.001) after 1 week and after 1 month in the RAN group, but no significant alteration in the artery-to-vein ratio was observed in the BEV group (P = 0.433). In both the RAN (n = 32) and BEV (n = 30) control groups, none of the 3 parameters changed throughout the study period, when compared with the baseline. The results of this study showed that both RAN and BEV injections significantly constricted the retinal blood vessel diameters.

Fully Automatic Speech-Based Analysis of the Semantic Verbal Fluency Task.

PubMed

König, Alexandra; Linz, Nicklas; Tröger, Johannes; Wolters, Maria; Alexandersson, Jan; Robert, Phillipe

2018-06-08

Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tests are routinely used in screening for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this task, participants name as many items as possible of a semantic category under a time constraint. Clinicians measure task performance manually by summing the number of correct words and errors. More fine-grained variables add valuable information to clinical assessment, but are time-consuming. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether automatic analysis of the SVF could provide these as accurate as manual and thus, support qualitative screening of neurocognitive impairment. SVF data were collected from 95 older people with MCI (n = 47), Alzheimer's or related dementias (ADRD; n = 24), and healthy controls (HC; n = 24). All data were annotated manually and automatically with clusters and switches. The obtained metrics were validated using a classifier to distinguish HC, MCI, and ADRD. Automatically extracted clusters and switches were highly correlated (r = 0.9) with manually established values, and performed as well on the classification task separating HC from persons with ADRD (area under curve [AUC] = 0.939) and MCI (AUC = 0.758). The results show that it is possible to automate fine-grained analyses of SVF data for the assessment of cognitive decline. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Automatic segmentation of the bone and extraction of the bone cartilage interface from magnetic resonance images of the knee

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fripp, Jurgen; Crozier, Stuart; Warfield, Simon K.; Ourselin, Sébastien

2007-03-01

The accurate segmentation of the articular cartilages from magnetic resonance (MR) images of the knee is important for clinical studies and drug trials into conditions like osteoarthritis. Currently, segmentations are obtained using time-consuming manual or semi-automatic algorithms which have high inter- and intra-observer variabilities. This paper presents an important step towards obtaining automatic and accurate segmentations of the cartilages, namely an approach to automatically segment the bones and extract the bone-cartilage interfaces (BCI) in the knee. The segmentation is performed using three-dimensional active shape models, which are initialized using an affine registration to an atlas. The BCI are then extracted using image information and prior knowledge about the likelihood of each point belonging to the interface. The accuracy and robustness of the approach was experimentally validated using an MR database of fat suppressed spoiled gradient recall images. The (femur, tibia, patella) bone segmentation had a median Dice similarity coefficient of (0.96, 0.96, 0.89) and an average point-to-surface error of 0.16 mm on the BCI. The extracted BCI had a median surface overlap of 0.94 with the real interface, demonstrating its usefulness for subsequent cartilage segmentation or quantitative analysis.

Inter-speaker speech variability assessment using statistical deformable models from 3.0 tesla magnetic resonance images.

PubMed

Vasconcelos, Maria J M; Ventura, Sandra M R; Freitas, Diamantino R S; Tavares, João Manuel R S

2012-03-01

The morphological and dynamic characterisation of the vocal tract during speech production has been gaining greater attention due to the motivation of the latest improvements in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging; namely, with the use of higher magnetic fields, such as 3.0 Tesla. In this work, the automatic study of the vocal tract from 3.0 Tesla MR images was assessed through the application of statistical deformable models. Therefore, the primary goal focused on the analysis of the shape of the vocal tract during the articulation of European Portuguese sounds, followed by the evaluation of the results concerning the automatic segmentation, i.e. identification of the vocal tract in new MR images. In what concerns speech production, this is the first attempt to automatically characterise and reconstruct the vocal tract shape of 3.0 Tesla MR images by using deformable models; particularly, by using active and appearance shape models. The achieved results clearly evidence the adequacy and advantage of the automatic analysis of the 3.0 Tesla MR images of these deformable models in order to extract the vocal tract shape and assess the involved articulatory movements. These achievements are mostly required, for example, for a better knowledge of speech production, mainly of patients suffering from articulatory disorders, and to build enhanced speech synthesizer models.

Mining Patients' Narratives in Social Media for Pharmacovigilance: Adverse Effects and Misuse of Methylphenidate.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaoyi; Faviez, Carole; Schuck, Stéphane; Lillo-Le-Louët, Agnès; Texier, Nathalie; Dahamna, Badisse; Huot, Charles; Foulquié, Pierre; Pereira, Suzanne; Leroux, Vincent; Karapetiantz, Pierre; Guenegou-Arnoux, Armelle; Katsahian, Sandrine; Bousquet, Cédric; Burgun, Anita

2018-01-01

Background: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have recognized social media as a new data source to strengthen their activities regarding drug safety. Objective: Our objective in the ADR-PRISM project was to provide text mining and visualization tools to explore a corpus of posts extracted from social media. We evaluated this approach on a corpus of 21 million posts from five patient forums, and conducted a qualitative analysis of the data available on methylphenidate in this corpus. Methods: We applied text mining methods based on named entity recognition and relation extraction in the corpus, followed by signal detection using proportional reporting ratio (PRR). We also used topic modeling based on the Correlated Topic Model to obtain the list of the matics in the corpus and classify the messages based on their topics. Results: We automatically identified 3443 posts about methylphenidate published between 2007 and 2016, among which 61 adverse drug reactions (ADR) were automatically detected. Two pharmacovigilance experts evaluated manually the quality of automatic identification, and a f-measure of 0.57 was reached. Patient's reports were mainly neuro-psychiatric effects. Applying PRR, 67% of the ADRs were signals, including most of the neuro-psychiatric symptoms but also palpitations. Topic modeling showed that the most represented topics were related to Childhood and Treatment initiation , but also Side effects . Cases of misuse were also identified in this corpus, including recreational use and abuse. Conclusion: Named entity recognition combined with signal detection and topic modeling have demonstrated their complementarity in mining social media data. An in-depth analysis focused on methylphenidate showed that this approach was able to detect potential signals and to provide better understanding of patients' behaviors regarding drugs, including misuse.

Developing a standard for de-identifying electronic patient records written in Swedish: precision, recall and F-measure in a manual and computerized annotation trial.

PubMed

Velupillai, Sumithra; Dalianis, Hercules; Hassel, Martin; Nilsson, Gunnar H

2009-12-01

Electronic patient records (EPRs) contain a large amount of information written in free text. This information is considered very valuable for research but is also very sensitive since the free text parts may contain information that could reveal the identity of a patient. Therefore, methods for de-identifying EPRs are needed. The work presented here aims to perform a manual and automatic Protected Health Information (PHI)-annotation trial for EPRs written in Swedish. This study consists of two main parts: the initial creation of a manually PHI-annotated gold standard, and the porting and evaluation of an existing de-identification software written for American English to Swedish in a preliminary automatic de-identification trial. Results are measured with precision, recall and F-measure. This study reports fairly high Inter-Annotator Agreement (IAA) results on the manually created gold standard, especially for specific tags such as names. The average IAA over all tags was 0.65 F-measure (0.84 F-measure highest pairwise agreement). For name tags the average IAA was 0.80 F-measure (0.91 F-measure highest pairwise agreement). Porting a de-identification software written for American English to Swedish directly was unfortunately non-trivial, yielding poor results. Developing gold standard sets as well as automatic systems for de-identification tasks in Swedish is feasible. However, discussions and definitions on identifiable information is needed, as well as further developments both on the tag sets and the annotation guidelines, in order to get a reliable gold standard. A completely new de-identification software needs to be developed.

Comparative Analysis of Automatic Exudate Detection between Machine Learning and Traditional Approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sopharak, Akara; Uyyanonvara, Bunyarit; Barman, Sarah; Williamson, Thomas

To prevent blindness from diabetic retinopathy, periodic screening and early diagnosis are neccessary. Due to lack of expert ophthalmologists in rural area, automated early exudate (one of visible sign of diabetic retinopathy) detection could help to reduce the number of blindness in diabetic patients. Traditional automatic exudate detection methods are based on specific parameter configuration, while the machine learning approaches which seems more flexible may be computationally high cost. A comparative analysis of traditional and machine learning of exudates detection, namely, mathematical morphology, fuzzy c-means clustering, naive Bayesian classifier, Support Vector Machine and Nearest Neighbor classifier are presented. Detected exudates are validated with expert ophthalmologists' hand-drawn ground-truths. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy and time complexity of each method are also compared.

General Framework for Animal Food Safety Traceability Using GS1 and RFID

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Weizhu; Zheng, Limin; Zhu, Hong; Wu, Ping

GS1 is global traceability standard, which is composed by the encoding system (EAN/UCC, EPC), the data carriers identified automatically (bar codes, RFID), electronic data interchange standards (EDI, XML). RFID is a non-contact, multi-objective automatic identification technique. Tracing of source food, standardization of RFID tags, sharing of dynamic data are problems to solve urgently for recent traceability systems. The paper designed general framework for animal food safety traceability using GS1 and RFID. This framework uses RFID tags encoding with EPCglobal tag data standards. Each information server has access tier, business tier and resource tier. These servers are heterogeneous and distributed, providing user access interfaces by SOAP or HTTP protocols. For sharing dynamic data, discovery service and object name service are used to locate dynamic distributed information servers.

Turbulence and sediment transport over sand dunes and ripples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennis, A.; Le Bot, S.; lafite, R.; Bonneton, P.; Ardhuin, F.

2013-12-01

Several bedforms are present near to the surfzone of natural beaches. Dunes and ripples are frequently observed. Understanding the turbulence over these forms is essential for the sediment transport. The turbulent flow and the suspended sand particles interact with each other. At the moment, the modelling strategy for turbulence is still a challenge. According to the spatial scales, some different methods to model the turbulence are employed, in particular the RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) and the LES (Large Eddy Simulation). A hybrid method combining both RANS and LES is set up here. We have adapted this method, initially developed for atmospheric flow, to the oceanic flow. This new method is implemented inside the 3D hydrodynamic model, MARS 3D, which is forced by waves. LES is currently the best way to simulate turbulent flow but its higher cost prevents it from being used for large scale applications. So, here we use RANS near the bottom while LES is set elsewhere. It allows us minimize the computational cost and ensure a better accuracy of the results than with a fully RANS model. In the case of megaripples, the validation step was performed with two sets of field data (Sandy Duck'97 and Forsoms'13) but also with the data from Dune2D model which uses only RANS for turbulence. The main findings are: a) the vertical profiles of the velocity are similar throughout the data b) the turbulent kinetic energy, which was underestimated by Dune2D, is in line with the observations c) the concentration of the suspended sediment is simulated with a better accuracy than with Dune2D but this remains lower than the observations.

Neutrophil interaction with the hemostatic system contributes to liver injury in rats cotreated with lipopolysaccharide and ranitidine.

PubMed

Deng, Xiaomin; Luyendyk, James P; Zou, Wei; Lu, Jingtao; Malle, Ernst; Ganey, Patricia E; Roth, Robert A

2007-08-01

Cotreatment of rats with nontoxic doses of ranitidine (RAN) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes liver injury, and this drug-inflammation interaction might be a model for idiosyncratic adverse drug responses in humans. Both polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and the hemostatic system have been shown to be important in the injury. We tested the hypothesis that PMNs cause liver injury by interacting with the hemostatic system and producing subsequent hypoxia. In rats cotreated with LPS/RAN, PMN depletion by anti-PMN serum reduced fibrin deposition and hypoxia in the liver. PMN depletion also reduced the plasma concentration of active plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), a major down-regulator of the fibrinolytic system. This suggests that PMNs promote fibrin deposition by increasing PAI-1 concentration. PMNs were activated in the livers of LPS/RAN-cotreated rats as evidenced by increased staining for hypochlorous acid-modified proteins generated by the myeloperoxidase-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system of activated phagocytes. Antiserum against the PMN adhesion molecule CD18 protected against LPS/RAN-induced liver injury. Because CD18 is important for PMN transmigration and activation, these results suggest that PMN activation is required for the liver injury. Furthermore, anti-CD18 serum reduced biomarkers of hemostasis and hypoxia, suggesting the necessity for PMN activation in the interaction between PMNs and the hemostatic system/hypoxia. Liver injury, liver fibrin, and plasma PAI-1 concentration were also reduced by eglin C, an inhibitor of proteases released by activated PMNs. In summary, PMNs are activated in LPS/RAN-cotreated rats and participate in the liver injury in part by contributing to hemostasis and hypoxia.

Cex1p facilitates Rna1p-mediated dissociation of the Los1p-tRNA-Gsp1p-GTP export complex.

PubMed

McGuire, Andrew T; Mangroo, Dev

2012-02-01

Nuclear tRNA export plays an essential role in key cellular processes such as regulation of protein synthesis, cell cycle progression, response to nutrient availability and DNA damage and development. Like other nuclear export processes, assembly of the nuclear tRNA export complex in the nucleus is dependent on Ran-GTP/Gsp1p-GTP, and dissociation of the export receptor-tRNA-Ran-GTP/Gsp1p-GTP complex in the cytoplasm requires RanBP1/Yrb1p and RanGAP/Rna1p to activate the GTPase activity of Ran-GTP/Gsp1p-GTP. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cex1p and Human Scyl1 have also been proposed to participate in unloading of the tRNA export receptors at the cytoplasmic face of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Here, we provide evidence suggesting that Cex1p is required for activation of the GTPase activity of Gsp1p and dissociation of the receptor-tRNA-Gsp1p export complex in S. cerevisiae. The data suggest that Cex1p recruits Rna1p from the cytoplasm to the NPC and facilitates Rna1p activation of the GTPase activity of Gsp1p by enabling Rna1p to gain access to Gsp1p-GTP bound to the export receptor tRNA complex. It is possible that this tRNA unloading mechanism is conserved in evolutionarily diverse organisms and that other Gsp1p-GTP-dependent export processes use a pathway-specific component to recruit Rna1p to the NPC. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Insights into the Structural Dynamics of Nucleocytoplasmic Transport of tRNA by Exportin-t

PubMed Central

Gupta, Asmita; Kailasam, Senthilkumar; Bansal, Manju

2016-01-01

Exportin-t (Xpot) transports mature 5′- and 3′-end processed tRNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm by associating with a small G-protein Ran (RAs-related nuclear protein), in the nucleus. The release of tRNA in cytoplasm involves RanGTP hydrolysis. Despite the availability of crystal structures of nuclear and cytosolic forms of Xpot, the molecular details regarding the sequential events leading to tRNA release and subsequent conformational changes occurring in Xpot remain unknown. We have performed a combination of classical all-atom and accelerated molecular dynamics simulations on a set of complexes involving Xpot to study a range of features including conformational flexibility of free and cargo-bound Xpot and functionally critical contacts between Xpot and its cargo. The systems investigated include free Xpot and its different complexes, bound either to Ran (GTP/GDP) or tRNA or both. This approach provided a statistically reliable estimate of structural dynamics of Xpot after cargo release. The mechanistic basis for Xpot opening after cargo release has been explained in terms of dynamic structural hinges, about which neighboring region could be displaced to facilitate the nuclear to cytosolic state transition. Post-RanGTP hydrolysis, a cascade of events including local conformational change in RanGTP and loss of critical contacts at Xpot/tRNA interface suggest factors responsible for eventual release of tRNA. The level of flexibility in different Xpot complexes varied depending on the arrangement of individual HEAT repeats. Current study provides one of the most comprehensive and robust analysis carried out on this protein using molecular dynamics schemes. PMID:27028637

A Hybrid Numerical Method for Turbulent Mixing Layers. Degree awarded by Case Western Reserve Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Georgiadis, Nicholas J.

2001-01-01

A hybrid method has been developed for simulations of compressible turbulent mixing layers. Such mixing layers dominate the flows in exhaust systems of modern day aircraft and also those of hypersonic vehicles currently under development. The method configurations in which a dominant structural feature provides an unsteady mechanism to drive the turbulent development in the mixing layer. The hybrid method uses a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) procedure to calculate wall bounded regions entering a mixing section, and a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) procedure to calculate the mixing dominated regions. A numerical technique was developed to enable the use of the hybrid RANS-LES method on stretched, non-Cartesian grids. Closure for the RANS equations was obtained using the Cebeci-Smith algebraic turbulence model in conjunction with the wall-function approach of Ota and Goldberg. The wall-function approach enabled a continuous computational grid from the RANS regions to the LES region. The LES equations were closed using the Smagorinsky subgrid scale model. The hybrid RANS-LES method is applied to a benchmark compressible mixing layer experiment. Preliminary two dimensional calculations are used to investigate the effects of axial grid density and boundary conditions. Vortex shedding from the base region of a splitter plate separating the upstream flows was observed to eventually transition to turbulence. The location of the transition, however, was much further downstream than indicated by experiments. Actual LES calculations, performed in three spatial directions, also indicated vortex shedding, but the transition to turbulence was found to occur much closer to the beginning of the mixing section. which is in agreement with experimental observations. These calculations demonstrated that LES simulations must be performed in three dimensions. Comparisons of time-averaged axial velocities and turbulence intensities indicated reasonable agreement with experimental data.

Unsteady RANS/DES analysis of flow around helicopter rotor blades at forword flight conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhenyu; Qian, Yaoru

2018-05-01

In this paper, the complex flows around forward-flying helicopter blades are numerically investigated. Both the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) methods are used for the analysis of characteristics like local dynamic flow separation, effects of radial sweeping and reversed flow. The flow was solved by a highly efficient finite volume solver with multi-block structured grids. Focusing upon the complexity of the advance ratio effects, above properties are fully recognized. The current results showed significant agreements between both RANS and DES methods at phases with attached flow phases. Detailed information of separating flow near the withdrawal phases are given by DES results. The flow analysis of these blades under reversed flow reveals a significant interaction between the reversed flow and the span-wise sweeping.