[Influence of cold spot temperature on 253.7 nm resonance spectra line of electrodeless discharge lamps].

PubMed

Dong, Jin-yang; Zhang, Gui-xin; Wang, Chang-quan

2012-01-01

As a kind of new electric light source, electrodeless discharge lamps are of long life, low mercury and non-stroboscopic light. The lighting effect of electrodeless discharge lamps depends on the radiation efficiency of 253.7 nm resonance spectra line to a large extent. The influence of cold temperature on 253.7 nm resonance spectra line has been studied experimentally by atomic emission spectral analysis. It was found that the radiation efficiency of 253.7 nm resonance spectra line is distributed in a nearly normal fashion with the variation of cold spot temperature, in other words, there is an optimum cold spot temperature for an electrodeless discharge lamp. At last, the results of experiments were analyzed through gas discharge theory, which offers guidance to the improvement of lighting effect for electrodeless discharge lamps.

TES premapping data: Slab ice and snow flurries in the Martian north polar night

USGS Publications Warehouse

Titus, T.N.; Kieffer, H.H.; Mullins, K.F.; Christensen, P.R.

2001-01-01

In the 1970s, Mariner and Viking spacecraft observations of the north polar region of Mars revealed polar brightness temperatures that were significantly below the expected kinetic temperatures for CO2 sublimation. For the past few decades, the scientific community has speculated as to the nature of these Martian polar cold spots. Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) thermal spectral data have shown these cold spots to result largely from fine-grained, CO2 and have constrained most of these cold spots to the surface (or near-surface). Cold spot formation is strongly dependent on topography, forming preferentially near craters and on polar slopes. TES data, combined with Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) cloud data, suggest atmospheric condensates form a small fraction of the observed cold spots. TES observations of spectra close to a blackbody indicate that another major component of the polar cap is slab CO2 ice; these spectrally bland regions commonly have a low albedo. The cause is uncertain but may result from most of the light being reflected toward the specular direction, from the slab ice being intrinsically dark, or from it being transparent. Regions of the cap where the difference between the brightness temperatures at 18 ??m (T18) and 25 ??m (T25) is less than 5?? are taken to indicate deposits of slab ice. Slab ice is the dominant component of the polar cap at latitudes outside of the polar night. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.

Note: implementation of a cold spot setup for controlled variation of vapor pressures and its application to an InBr containing discharge lamp.

PubMed

Briefi, S

2013-02-01

In order to allow for a systematic investigation of the plasma properties of discharges containing indium halides, which are proposed as an efficient alternative for mercury based low pressure discharge lamps, a controlled variation of the indium halide density is mandatory. This can be achieved by applying a newly designed setup in which a well-defined cold spot location is implemented and the cold spot temperature can be adjusted between 50 and 350 °C without influencing the gas temperature. The performance of the setup has been proved by comparing the calculated evaporated InBr density (using the vapor pressure curve) with the one measured via white light absorption spectroscopy.

Expression profiling reveals Spot 42 small RNA as a key regulator in the central metabolism of Aliivibrio salmonicida

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Spot 42 was discovered in Escherichia coli nearly 40 years ago as an abundant, small and unstable RNA. Its biological role has remained obscure until recently, and is today implicated in having broader roles in the central and secondary metabolism. Spot 42 is encoded by the spf gene. The gene is ubiquitous in the Vibrionaceae family of gamma-proteobacteria. One member of this family, Aliivibrio salmonicida, causes cold-water vibriosis in farmed Atlantic salmon. Its genome encodes Spot 42 with 84% identity to E. coli Spot 42. Results We generated a A. salmonicida spf deletion mutant. We then used microarray and Northern blot analyses to monitor global effects on the transcriptome in order to provide insights into the biological roles of Spot 42 in this bacterium. In the presence of glucose, we found a surprisingly large number of ≥ 2X differentially expressed genes, and several major cellular processes were affected. A gene encoding a pirin-like protein showed an on/off expression pattern in the presence/absence of Spot 42, which suggests that Spot 42 plays a key regulatory role in the central metabolism by regulating the switch between fermentation and respiration. Interestingly, we discovered an sRNA named VSsrna24, which is encoded immediately downstream of spf. This new sRNA has an expression pattern opposite to that of Spot 42, and its expression is repressed by glucose. Conclusions We hypothesize that Spot 42 plays a key role in the central metabolism, in part by regulating the pyruvat dehydrogenase enzyme complex via pirin. PMID:22272603

A Multi-year Multi-passband CCD Photometric Study of the W UMa Binary EQ Tauri

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alton, K. B.

2009-12-01

A revised ephemeris and updated orbital period for EQ Tau have been determined from newly acquired (2007-2009) CCD-derived photometric data. A Roche-type model based on the Wilson-Devinney code produced simultaneous theoretical fits of light curve data in three passbands by invoking cold spots on the primary component. These new model fits, along with similar light curve data for EQ Tau collected during the previous six seasons (2000-2006), provided a rare opportunity to follow the seasonal appearance of star spots on a W UMa binary system over nine consecutive years. Fixed values for q, ?1,2, T1, T2, and i based upon the mean of eleven separately determined model fits produced for this system are hereafter proposed for future light curve modeling of EQ Tau. With the exception of the 2001 season all other light curves produced since then required a spotted solution to address the flux asymmetry exhibited by this binary system at Max I and Max II. At least one cold spot on the primary appears in seven out of twelve light curves for EQ Tau produced over the last nine years, whereas in six instances two cold spots on the primary star were invoked to improve the model fit. Solutions using a hot spot were less common and involved positioning a single spot on the primary constituent during the 2001-2002, 2002-2003, and 2005-2006 seasons.

Analysis of Biological Features Associated with Meiotic Recombination Hot and Cold Spots in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

PubMed Central

Hansen, Loren; Kim, Nak-Kyeong; Mariño-Ramírez, Leonardo; Landsman, David

2011-01-01

Meiotic recombination is not distributed uniformly throughout the genome. There are regions of high and low recombination rates called hot and cold spots, respectively. The recombination rate parallels the frequency of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that initiate meiotic recombination. The aim is to identify biological features associated with DSB frequency. We constructed vectors representing various chromatin and sequence-based features for 1179 DSB hot spots and 1028 DSB cold spots. Using a feature selection approach, we have identified five features that distinguish hot from cold spots in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with high accuracy, namely the histone marks H3K4me3, H3K14ac, H3K36me3, and H3K79me3; and GC content. Previous studies have associated H3K4me3, H3K36me3, and GC content with areas of mitotic recombination. H3K14ac and H3K79me3 are novel predictions and thus represent good candidates for further experimental study. We also show nucleosome occupancy maps produced using next generation sequencing exhibit a bias at DSB hot spots and this bias is strong enough to obscure biologically relevant information. A computational approach using feature selection can productively be used to identify promising biological associations. H3K14ac and H3K79me3 are novel predictions of chromatin marks associated with meiotic DSBs. Next generation sequencing can exhibit a bias that is strong enough to lead to incorrect conclusions. Care must be taken when interpreting high throughput sequencing data where systematic biases have been documented. PMID:22242140

Ion distribution in the hot spot of an inertial confinement fusion plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xianzhu; Guo, Zehua; Berk, Herb

2012-10-01

Maximizing the fusion gain of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) for inertial fusion energy (IFE) applications leads to the standard scenario of central hot spot ignition followed by propagating burn wave through the cold/dense assembled fuel. The fact that the hot spot is surrounded by cold but dense fuel layer introduces subtle plasma physics which requires a kinetic description. Here we perform Fokker-Planck calculations and kinetic PIC simulations for an ICF plasma initially in pressure balance but having large temperature gradient over a narrow transition layer. The loss of the fast ion tail from the hot spot, which is important for fusion reactivity, is quantified by Fokker-Planck models. The role of electron energy transport and the ambipolar electric field is investigated via kinetic simulations and the fluid moment models. The net effect on both hot spot ion temperature and the ion tail distribution, and hence the fusion reactivity, is elucidated.

[Temperature sensitivity and the indicators of respiration in humans in the normal state and during local cooling].

PubMed

Kozyreva, T V; Simonova, T G

1991-01-01

The examination has shown that people who have many cold spots on the forearm possess high ventilation volume and breathing frequency and low value of oxygen utilization. These facts can evidence for the effect of cold skin receptors on the respiratory patterns. The skin temperature, at which the maximal cooling-induced changes of respiratory parameters are observed depends on the dynamic activity of cold skin thermoreceptors: the greater number of cold spots in the hand and forearm, the lesser cooling is necessary to cause the maximal increase of oxygen consumption and change of respiratory volume. The latter increased in the case of hand cooling and decreased in the case of the forearm cooling.

Cold Spots in the Martian Polar Regions: Evidence of Carbon Dioxide Depletion?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weiss, Benjamin P.; Ingersoll, Andrew P.

2000-01-01

Regions of very low, rapidly varying brightness temperatures have been observed near the martian winter poles by several spacecraft. One possibility is that the CO2 condensation temperature is lowered by depletion of CO2 in the air at the surface. We estimate the rate at which this low-molecular-weight air would disperse into the high-molecular-weight air above and show that it is generally faster than the rate of supply. This dispersal could be prevented if there is a strong temperature inversion (warm air above colder air) near the surface. Without an inversion, the entire atmospheric column could become depleted. However, depleted columns take a long time to form, and they are inconsistent with the rapid fluctuations in the cold spot locations and temperatures. Because low-altitude temperature inversions cannot be ruled out by existing observations, CO2 depletion is still a viable explanation for the martian cold spots.

How deep is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, C.; Oyafuso, F. A.; Brown, S. T.; Atreya, S. K.; Orton, G.; Ingersoll, A. P.; Janssen, M. A.

2017-12-01

On its seventh flyby, the Juno spacecraft flew over Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) on its seventh flyby. Its Microwave Radiometer (MWR) measured the thermal emission from Jupiter's atmosphere at six wavelengths. The longest wavelength channel penetrates down to a few hundred bars. This unique observation unveils the internal structure of the GRS for the first time in the history. All six channels have observed brightness temperature anomalies with respect to the background atmosphere. The two longest-wavelength channels, which see the deepest, show warm anomalies and the other four channels show cold anomalies. The structure and magnitude of brightness temperature anomalies agree with the hypothesis that the ammonia gas is well-mixed within the GRS, probably due to rapid overturning. Based on this model, the depth of the GRS is estimated. Further evidence including the gravity signal, the abundance of PH3 and para-hydrogen will also be discussed.

A hybrid model for coupling kinetic corrections of fusion reactivity to hydrodynamic implosion simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xian-Zhu; McDevitt, C. J.; Guo, Zehua; Berk, H. L.

2014-03-01

Inertial confinement fusion requires an imploded target in which a central hot spot is surrounded by a cold and dense pusher. The hot spot/pusher interface can take complicated shape in three dimensions due to hydrodynamic mix. It is also a transition region where the Knudsen and inverse Knudsen layer effect can significantly modify the fusion reactivity in comparison with the commonly used value evaluated with background Maxwellians. Here, we describe a hybrid model that couples the kinetic correction of fusion reactivity to global hydrodynamic implosion simulations. The key ingredient is a non-perturbative treatment of the tail ions in the interface region where the Gamow ion Knudsen number approaches or surpasses order unity. The accuracy of the coupling scheme is controlled by the precise criteria for matching the non-perturbative kinetic model to perturbative solutions in both configuration space and velocity space.

Encephalitis

MedlinePlus

... and the germs that cause Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever (transmitted through tick bites). Viruses that cause childhood ... Cold Sores (HSV-1) West Nile Virus Meningitis Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Lyme Disease View more About Us Contact Us ...

Stand-off molecular composition analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, Gary B.; Lubin, Philip; Meinhold, Peter; O'Neill, Hugh; Brashears, Travis; Zhang, Qicheng; Griswold, Janelle; Riley, Jordan; Motta, Caio

2015-09-01

Molecular composition of distant stars is explored by observing absorption spectra. The star produces blackbody radiation that passes through the molecular cloud of vaporized material surrounding the star. Characteristic absorption lines are discernible with a spectrometer, and molecular composition is investigated by comparing spectral observations with known material profiles. Most objects in the solar system—asteroids, comets, planets, moons—are too cold to be interrogated in this manner. Molecular clouds around cold objects consist primarily of volatiles, so bulk composition cannot be probed. Additionally, low volatile density does not produce discernible absorption lines in the faint signal generated by low blackbody temperatures. This paper describes a system for probing the molecular composition of cold solar system targets from a distant vantage. The concept utilizes a directed energy beam to melt and vaporize a spot on a distant target, such as from a spacecraft orbiting the object. With sufficient flux (~10 MW/m2), the spot temperature rises rapidly (to ~2 500 K), and evaporation of all materials on the target surface occurs. The melted spot creates a high-temperature blackbody source, and ejected material creates a molecular plume in front of the spot. Bulk composition is investigated by using a spectrometer to view the heated spot through the ejected material. Spatial composition maps could be created by scanning the surface. Applying the beam to a single spot continuously produces a borehole, and shallow sub-surface composition profiling is also possible. Initial simulations of absorption profiles with laser heating show great promise for molecular composition analysis.

The part and the whole: voids, supervoids, and their ISW imprint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovács, András

2018-04-01

The integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) imprint of extreme structures in the cosmic web probes the dynamical nature of dark energy. Looking through typical cosmic voids, no anomalous signal has been reported. On the contrary, supervoids, associated with large-scale fluctuations in the gravitational potential, have shown potentially disturbing excess signals. In this study, we used the Jubilee ISW simulation to demonstrate how the stacked signal depends on the void definition. We found that large underdensities, with at least ≈5 merged sub-voids, show a peculiar ISW imprint shape with central cold spots and surrounding hot rings, offering a natural way to define supervoids in the cosmic web. We then inspected the real-world Baryon Oscillations Spectroscopic Survey data release 12 (BOSS DR12) data using the simulated imprints as templates. The imprinted profile of BOSS supervoids appears to be more compact than in simulations, requiring an extra α ≈ 0.7 re-scaling of filter sizes. The data reveal an excess ISW-like signal with AISW ≈ 9 amplitude at the ≈2.5σ significance level, unlike previous studies that used isolated voids and reported good consistency with AISW = 1. The tension with the Jubilee-based Λ cold dark matter predictions is ≳2σ, in consistency with independent analyses of supervoids in Dark Energy Survey data. We show that such a very large enhancement of the AISW parameter hints at a possible causal relation between the cosmic microwave background Cold Spot and the Eridanus supervoid. The origin of these findings remains unclear.

Robust constraint on cosmic textures from the cosmic microwave background.

PubMed

Feeney, Stephen M; Johnson, Matthew C; Mortlock, Daniel J; Peiris, Hiranya V

2012-06-15

Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information which has been pivotal in establishing the current cosmological model. These data can also be used to test well-motivated additions to this model, such as cosmic textures. Textures are a type of topological defect that can be produced during a cosmological phase transition in the early Universe, and which leave characteristic hot and cold spots in the CMB. We apply bayesian methods to carry out a rigorous test of the texture hypothesis, using full-sky data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. We conclude that current data do not warrant augmenting the standard cosmological model with textures. We rule out at 95% confidence models that predict more than 6 detectable cosmic textures on the full sky.

Controlling the vapor pressure of a mercury lamp

DOEpatents

Grossman, Mark W.; George, William A.

1988-01-01

The invention described herein discloses a method and apparatus for controlling the Hg vapor pressure within a lamp. This is done by establishing and controlling two temperature zones within the lamp. One zone is colder than the other zone. The first zone is called the cold spot. By controlling the temperature of the cold spot, the Hg vapor pressure within the lamp is controlled. Likewise, by controlling the Hg vapor pressure of the lamp, the intensity and linewidth of the radiation emitted from the lamp is controlled.

ScienceCast 132: The Coolest Spot in the Universe

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-30

NASA researchers plan to create the coldest spot in the known Universe--inside the International Space Station. The device, known as the Cold Atom Lab, could discover new forms of matter and novel quantum phenomena.

Controlling the vapor pressure of a mercury lamp

DOEpatents

Grossman, M.W.; George, W.A.

1988-05-24

The invention described herein discloses a method and apparatus for controlling the Hg vapor pressure within a lamp. This is done by establishing and controlling two temperature zones within the lamp. One zone is colder than the other zone. The first zone is called the cold spot. By controlling the temperature of the cold spot, the Hg vapor pressure within the lamp is controlled. Likewise, by controlling the Hg vapor pressure of the lamp, the intensity and linewidth of the radiation emitted from the lamp is controlled. 2 figs.

Nociceptive sensations evoked from 'spots' in the skin by mild cooling and heating.

PubMed

Green, Barry G; Roman, Carolyn; Schoen, Kate; Collins, Hannah

2008-03-01

It was recently found that nociceptive sensations (stinging, pricking, or burning) can be evoked by cooling or heating the skin to innocuous temperatures (e.g., 29 and 37 degrees C). Here, we show that this low-threshold thermal nociception (LTN) can be traced to sensitive 'spots' in the skin equivalent to classically defined warm spots and cold spots. Because earlier work had shown that LTN is inhibited by simply touching a thermode to the skin, a spatial search procedure was devised that minimized tactile stimulation by sliding small thermodes (16 and 1mm(2)) set to 28 or 36 degrees C slowly across the lubricated skin of the forearm. The procedure uncovered three types of temperature-sensitive sites (thermal, bimodal, and nociceptive) that contained one or more thermal, nociceptive, or (rarely) bimodal spots. Repeated testing indicated that bimodal and nociceptive sites were less stable over time than thermal sites, and that mechanical contact differentially inhibited nociceptive sensations. Intensity ratings collected over a range of temperatures showed that LTN increased monotonically on heat-sensitive sites but not on cold-sensitive sites. These results provide psychophysical evidence that stimulation from primary afferent fibers with thresholds in the range of warm fibers and cold fibers is relayed to the pain pathway. However, the labile nature of LTN implies that these low-threshold nociceptive inputs are subject to inhibitory controls. The implications of these findings for the roles of putative temperature receptors and nociceptors in innocuous thermoreception and thermal pain are discussed.

Mean protein evolutionary distance: a method for comparative protein evolution and its application.

PubMed

Wise, Michael J

2013-01-01

Proteins are under tight evolutionary constraints, so if a protein changes it can only do so in ways that do not compromise its function. In addition, the proteins in an organism evolve at different rates. Leveraging the history of patristic distance methods, a new method for analysing comparative protein evolution, called Mean Protein Evolutionary Distance (MeaPED), measures differential resistance to evolutionary pressure across viral proteomes and is thereby able to point to the proteins' roles. Different species' proteomes can also be compared because the results, consistent across virus subtypes, concisely reflect the very different lifestyles of the viruses. The MeaPED method is here applied to influenza A virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dengue virus, rotavirus A, polyomavirus BK and measles, which span the positive and negative single-stranded, doubled-stranded and reverse transcribing RNA viruses, and double-stranded DNA viruses. From this analysis, host interaction proteins including hemagglutinin (influenza), and viroporins agnoprotein (polyomavirus), p7 (hepatitis C) and VPU (HIV) emerge as evolutionary hot-spots. By contrast, RNA-directed RNA polymerase proteins including L (measles), PB1/PB2 (influenza) and VP1 (rotavirus), and internal serine proteases such as NS3 (dengue and hepatitis C virus) emerge as evolutionary cold-spots. The hot spot influenza hemagglutinin protein is contrasted with the related cold spot H protein from measles. It is proposed that evolutionary cold-spot proteins can become significant targets for second-line anti-viral therapeutics, in cases where front-line vaccines are not available or have become ineffective due to mutations in the hot-spot, generally more antigenically exposed proteins. The MeaPED package is available from www.pam1.bcs.uwa.edu.au/~michaelw/ftp/src/meaped.tar.gz.

Mean Protein Evolutionary Distance: A Method for Comparative Protein Evolution and Its Application

PubMed Central

Wise, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Proteins are under tight evolutionary constraints, so if a protein changes it can only do so in ways that do not compromise its function. In addition, the proteins in an organism evolve at different rates. Leveraging the history of patristic distance methods, a new method for analysing comparative protein evolution, called Mean Protein Evolutionary Distance (MeaPED), measures differential resistance to evolutionary pressure across viral proteomes and is thereby able to point to the proteins’ roles. Different species’ proteomes can also be compared because the results, consistent across virus subtypes, concisely reflect the very different lifestyles of the viruses. The MeaPED method is here applied to influenza A virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dengue virus, rotavirus A, polyomavirus BK and measles, which span the positive and negative single-stranded, doubled-stranded and reverse transcribing RNA viruses, and double-stranded DNA viruses. From this analysis, host interaction proteins including hemagglutinin (influenza), and viroporins agnoprotein (polyomavirus), p7 (hepatitis C) and VPU (HIV) emerge as evolutionary hot-spots. By contrast, RNA-directed RNA polymerase proteins including L (measles), PB1/PB2 (influenza) and VP1 (rotavirus), and internal serine proteases such as NS3 (dengue and hepatitis C virus) emerge as evolutionary cold-spots. The hot spot influenza hemagglutinin protein is contrasted with the related cold spot H protein from measles. It is proposed that evolutionary cold-spot proteins can become significant targets for second-line anti-viral therapeutics, in cases where front-line vaccines are not available or have become ineffective due to mutations in the hot-spot, generally more antigenically exposed proteins. The MeaPED package is available from www.pam1.bcs.uwa.edu.au/~michaelw/ftp/src/meaped.tar.gz. PMID:23613826

Evaluation of the StressWave Cold Working (SWCW) Process on High-Strength Aluminum Alloys for Aerospace

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-02-01

Alloy Spot- welds by Cold Working,” 13 International Pacific Conference on Automotive Engineering (IPC-13), Gyeongju, Korea, August 2005. 7. Kim...so that it remains normal to the indenting direction. The restraint provided around the area to be cold worked minimizes surface upset (albeit...direction. The restraint provided around the area to be cold worked minimizes surface upset (albeit small without a PF). The stabilizing aspect

SU-F-T-504: Non-Divergent Planning Method for Craniospinal Irradiation

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

Sperling, N; Bogue, J; Parsai, E

2016-06-15

Purpose: Traditional Craniospinal Irradiation (CSI) planning techniques require careful field placement to allow optimal divergence and field overlap at depth, and measurement of skin gap. The result of this is a necessary field overlap resulting in dose heterogeneity in the spinal canal. A novel, nondivergent field matching method has been developed to allow simple treatment planning and delivery without the need to measure skin gap. Methods: The CSI patient was simulated in the prone, and a plan was developed. Bilateral cranial fields were designed with couch and collimator rotation to eliminate divergence with the upper spine field and minimize anteriormore » divergence into the lenses. Spinal posterior-to-anterior fields were designed with the couch rotated to 90 degrees to allow gantry rotation to eliminate divergence at the match line, and the collimator rotated to 90 degrees to allow appropriate field blocking with the MLCs. A match line for the two spinal fields was placed and the gantry rotated to equal angles in opposite directions about the match line. Jaw positions were then defined to allow 1mm overlap at the match line to avoid cold spots. A traditional CSI plan was generated using diverging spinal fields, and a comparison between the two techniques was generated. Results: The non-divergent treatment plan was able to deliver a highly uniform dose to the spinal cord with a cold spot of only 95% and maximum point dose of 115.8%, as compared to traditional plan cold spots of 87% and hot spots of 132% of the prescription dose. Conclusion: A non-divergent method for planning CSI patients has been developed and clinically implemented. Planning requires some geometric manipulation in order to achieve an adequate dose distribution, however, it can help to manage cold spots and simplify the shifts needed between spinal fields.« less

Radiosonde observational evidence of the influence of extreme SST gradient upon atmospheric meso-scale circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishikawa, H.; Tachibana, Y.; Udagawa, Y.

2012-12-01

Although the influence of the anomalous midlatitude SST upon atmospheric local circulation has been getting common in particular over the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream regions, observational studies on the influence of the Okhotsk Sea, which is to the north of the Kuroshio, upon the atmospheric local circulation is much less than those of the Kuroshio. The climate of the Okhotsk SST is very peculiar. Extremely cold SST spots, whose summertime SST is lower than 5 Celsius degrees, are formed around Kuril Islands. Because SSTs are generally determined by local air-sea interaction as well as temperature advection, it is very difficult to isolate only the oceanic influence upon the atmosphere. The SST in this cold spot is, however, dominated by the tidal mixing, which is independent of the atmospheric processes. This unique condition may ease the account for the oceanic influence only. Although the SST environment of the Okhotsk Sea is good for understanding the oceanic influence upon the atmosphere, only a few studies has been executed in this region because of the difficulty of observations by research vessels in this region, where territory problems between Japan and Russia is unsolved. Because of the scant of direct observation, the Okhotsk Sea was still mysterious. In 2006 August, GPS radiosonde observation was carried out by Russian research vessel Khromov in the Sea of Okhotsk by the cooperation between Japan and Russia, and strong SST gradient of about 7 Celsius degrees/10km was observed around the Kuril Islands. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate observational finding of meso-scale atmospheric anticyclonic circulation influenced by the cold oceanic spot around the Kuril Island. The summaries of the observation are as follows. Meso-scale atmospheric ageostrophic anticyclonic circulation in the atmospheric marine-boundary layer is observed in and around the cold spot. A high air pressure area as compared with other surrounding areas is also located at the area of the ageostrophic anticyclonic circulation. In addition, the location of the cold dome in the atmospheric marine-boundary layer is in accordance with that of the large SST gradient. The cold dome with denser air than the surroundings probably strengthened the high pressure associated with subsidence over the cold dome. The downward direction of the sensible heat flux estimated by surface meteorological observation suggests that the cold dome was formed by the cooling by the cold sea. During the observation period around this area, the synoptic-scale sea level pressure field hardly changed. No reanalysis data sets resolve this anticyclonic circulation in this area. Therefore, we can conclude that the meso-scale anticyclone was formed by the influence of this cold SST and its large gradient.

Thermophysical behavior of the uppermost lunar surface from Diviner high time-resolution, post-sunset observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, P.; Greenhagen, B. T.; Paige, D. A.; Hayne, P. O.; Williams, J. P.

2016-12-01

Lunar "Cold Spots" are areas around small fresh craters that are colder than their surroundings in nighttime regolith temperature (e.g., Bandfield et al., 2014, Williams et al., 2016), implying that the thermophysical properties of the surface here, exterior to the visible ejecta, have somehow been altered by the impact process. Intriguingly, this cold anomaly does not appear in Diviner observations during eclipses, when the sun has been blocked for only a short period of time (Hayne et al., 2011). Here, we extend the investigation of the immediate reaction of Cold Spots and other areas of interest to the cessation of solar heating by specifically targeting and analyzing observations in the post-sunset, or twilight, period (i.e., 16:00-17:00 local time). Analysis of this time period focuses specifically on variability in the thermophysical structure of the upper 1 cm of lunar surface, whereas previous analyses of nighttime temperatures typically speak to the upper 10s of cm. Initial results suggest that twilight temperatures mimic the behavior of eclipse temperatures, in that the Cold Spot does not become colder until 30-45 min. after sunset. In fact, it is warmer than surroundings in the first 30 min. This suggests that the thermal inertia of the upper 1 cm is higher than surroundings, while the thermal inertia of the upper 10s of cm may be lower. A current impediment to such a study is that, the finer the Diviner data is resolved temporally, the fewer areas exist that have data at all time resolutions. As part of a goal of the LRO extended mission to better constrain the thermophysical properties of the upper regolith, we plan to take advantage of the 5 twilight crossings between 10/2016 - 10/2018 to make targeted observations of a variety of types of geological features up to 5 times, spaced 4 lunar min. apart, during the post-sunset hour. A trial campaign 4-5/2015 observed 22 targets a total of 94 times. At one of the 2 targeted large Cold Spots, 4 co-located data points were obtained within the first 15 min. after sunset, all of which showed the Cold Spot surface to be warmer than surroundings. These results are consistent with and more robust than the eclipse and non-targeted observations above. Further results from this campaign, possible implied scenarios of regolith structure, and extended mission plans will be discussed.

Atmospheric cold plasma jet for plant disease treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xianhui; Liu, Dongping; Zhou, Renwu; Song, Ying; Sun, Yue; Zhang, Qi; Niu, Jinhai; Fan, Hongyu; Yang, Si-ze

2014-01-01

This study shows that the atmospheric cold plasma jet is capable of curing the fungus-infected plant leaves and controlling the spread of infection as an attractive tool for plant disease management. The healing effect was significantly dependent on the size of the black spots infected with fungal cells and the leaf age. The leaves with the diameter of black spots of <2 mm can completely recover from the fungus-infected state. The plasma-generated species passing through the microns-sized stomas in a leaf can weaken the function of the oil vacuoles and cell membrane of fungal cells, resulting in plasma-induced inactivation.

Multi objective Taguchi optimization approach for resistance spot welding of cold rolled TWIP steel sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tutar, Mumin; Aydin, Hakan; Bayram, Ali

2017-08-01

Formability and energy absorption capability of a steel sheet are highly desirable properties in manufacturing components for automotive applications. TWinning Induced Plastisity (TWIP) steels are, new generation high Mn alloyed steels, attractive for the automotive industry due to its outstanding elongation (%40-45) and tensile strength (~1000MPa). So, TWIP steels provide excellent formability and energy absorption capability. Another required property from the steel sheets is suitability for manufacturing methods such as welding. The use of the steel sheets in the automotive applications inevitably involves welding. Considering that there are 3000-5000 welded spots on a vehicle, it can be interpreted that one of the most important manufacturing method is Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) for the automotive industry. In this study; firstly, TWIP steel sheet were cold rolled to 15% reduction in thickness. Then, the cold rolled TWIP steel sheets were welded with RSW method. The welding parameters (welding current, welding time and electrode force) were optimized for maximizing the peak tensile shear load and minimizing the indentation of the joints using a Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. The effect of welding parameters was also evaluated by examining the signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) results.

Determining the spatial variability of crop yields of two different climatic regions in Southwest Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eshonkulov, Ravshan; Poyda, Arne; Ingwersen, Joachim; Streck, Thilo

2017-04-01

Assessing the spatial variability of soil physical properties is crucial for agricultural land management. We determined the spatial variability within two agricultural fields in the regions of Kraichgau and Swabian Jura in Southwest Germany. We determined soil physical properties and recorded the temporal development of soil mineral nitrogen (N) and water content as well as that of plant variables (phenology, biomass, leaf area index (LAI), N content, green vegetation fraction (GVF). The work was conducted during the vegetation periods of 2015 and 2016 in winter wheat, and winter rapeseed in Kraichgau and winter barley and silage maize on Swabian Jura. Measurements were taken in three-weekly intervals. On each field, we identified three plots with reduced plant development using high-resolution (RapidEye) satellite images ("cold spots"). Measurements taken on these cold spots were compared to those from five established (long-term) reference plots representing the average field variability. The software EXPERT-N was used to simulate the soil crop system at both cold spots and reference plots. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify the most important parameters for the determination of spatial variability in crop growth dynamics.

Bridging the gap between sample collection and laboratory analysis: using dried blood spots to identify human exposure to chemical agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamelin, Elizabeth I.; Blake, Thomas A.; Perez, Jonas W.; Crow, Brian S.; Shaner, Rebecca L.; Coleman, Rebecca M.; Johnson, Rudolph C.

2016-05-01

Public health response to large scale chemical emergencies presents logistical challenges for sample collection, transport, and analysis. Diagnostic methods used to identify and determine exposure to chemical warfare agents, toxins, and poisons traditionally involve blood collection by phlebotomists, cold transport of biomedical samples, and costly sample preparation techniques. Use of dried blood spots, which consist of dried blood on an FDA-approved substrate, can increase analyte stability, decrease infection hazard for those handling samples, greatly reduce the cost of shipping/storing samples by removing the need for refrigeration and cold chain transportation, and be self-prepared by potentially exposed individuals using a simple finger prick and blood spot compatible paper. Our laboratory has developed clinical assays to detect human exposures to nerve agents through the analysis of specific protein adducts and metabolites, for which a simple extraction from a dried blood spot is sufficient for removing matrix interferents and attaining sensitivities on par with traditional sampling methods. The use of dried blood spots can bridge the gap between the laboratory and the field allowing for large scale sample collection with minimal impact on hospital resources while maintaining sensitivity, specificity, traceability, and quality requirements for both clinical and forensic applications.

Improving Strength-Ductility Balance of High Strength Dual-Phase Steels by Addition of Vanadium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Yu; Hua, M.; Uusitalo, J.; DeArdo, A. J.

For galvanized or galvannealed steels to be commercially successful, they must exhibit several attributes: (i) easy and inexpensive processing in the hot mill, cold mill and on the coating line, (ii) high strength with good formability and spot weldability, and (iii) good corrosion resistance, especially after cold forming. For good corrosion resistance, the coating must have sufficient coverage, be of uniform thickness, and most importantly, the coating must survive the cold stamping or forming operation. The purpose of this paper is to present research aiming at improving the steel substrate, such that high strength can be obtained while maintaining good global formability (tensile ductility), local formability (sheared-edge ductility), and good spot weldability. It is well-known that the strength of DP steels is controlled by several factors, including the amount of martensite found in the final microstructure. Recent research has revealed that the amount of austenite formed during intercritical annealing can be strongly influenced by the annealing temperature and the pre-annealing conditions of the hot band (coiling temperature) and cold band (% cold reduction). Current experiments have explored the combination of pre-annealing conditions and four annealing practices to help define the best practice to optimize the strength-formability balance in these higher strength DP steels. The steels used in these experiments contained (i) low carbon content for good spot weldability, (ii) the hardenability additions Mo and Cr for strength, and (iii) V for grain refinement, precipitation hardening and temper resistance. When processed correctly, these steels exhibited UTS levels up to 1000MPa, total elongation to 25%, reduction in area to 45%, and Hole Expansion Ratios to 50%. The results of this program will be presented and discussed.

Cold plasma reduces Salmonella on sliced roma tomatoes: efficacy of air versus nitrogen

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A rapid, waterless, contact-free method of decontamination for tomatoes and tomato slices is of interest to processors and the food service industry. Cold plasma is a novel antimicrobial treatment for fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Slices of Roma tomatoes were spot inoculated with three ...

Alightment of Spotted Wing Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae) on Odorless Disks Varying in Color.

PubMed

Kirkpatrick, D M; McGhee, P S; Hermann, S L; Gut, L J; Miller, J R

2016-02-01

Methods for trapping spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsmura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), have not yet been optimized for detecting this devastating pest of soft-skinned fruits. Here, we report outcomes of choice and no-choice laboratory bioassays quantifying the rates of spotted wing drosophila alightment on 5-cm-diameter sticky disks of various colors, but no fruit odors. Red, purple, and black disks captured the most spotted wing drosophila when presented against a white background. Male and female spotted wing drosophila responded identically in these tests. Significantly more D. suzukii were captured on the red and yellow disks than those presenting the corresponding grayscale for that color, proving that D. suzukii perceives colors and not just the level of target brightness. Fluorescent red is the best candidate for trap color, while clear and white are the least desirable. However, when the background was switched to black, all nonfluorescent colors were equally acceptable to spotted wing drosophila, suggesting that background must be specified when reporting spotted wing drosophila color preference. Additional spotted wing drosophila research is justified on the effects of target color against natural backgrounds. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.

Recent advances in nuclear cardiology Hot-spot and cold-spot myocardial scintigraphy

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

Willerson, J.T.; Lewis, S.E.; Buja, L.M.

1981-09-01

Nuclear cardiology is a comparatively new field of cardiovascular medicine in which technologic advances have provided relatively noninvasive means of evaluating cardiovascular abnormalities. The purpose of this two-part review is to emphasize some important recent advances and to place in perspective the advantages and disadvantages of those new techniques that are particularly useful clinically.

Temperature uniformity in hyperthermal tumor therapy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harrison, G. H.; Robinson, J. E.; Samaras, G. M.

1978-01-01

Mouse mammary tumors heated by water bath or by microwave-induced hyperthermia exhibit a response that varies sharply with treatment temperature; therefore, uniform heating of the tumor is essential to quantitate the biological response as a function of temperature. C3H tumors implanted on the mouse flank were easily heated to uniformities within 0.1 C by using water baths. Cold spots up to 1 C below the desired treatment temperature were observed in the same tumors implanted on the hind leg. These cold spots were attributed to cooling by major blood vessels near the tumor. In this case temperature uniformity was achieved by the deposition of 2450 MHz microwave energy into the tumor volume by using parallel-opposed applicators.

Deciphering the Metabolic Changes Associated with Diapause Syndrome and Cold Acclimation in the Two-Spotted Spider Mite Tetranychus urticae

PubMed Central

Khodayari, Samira; Moharramipour, Saeid; Larvor, Vanessa; Hidalgo, Kévin; Renault, David

2013-01-01

Diapause is a common feature in several arthropod species that are subject to unfavorable growing seasons. The range of environmental cues that trigger the onset and termination of diapause, in addition to associated hormonal, biochemical, and molecular changes, have been studied extensively in recent years; however, such information is only available for a few insect species. Diapause and cold hardening usually occur together in overwintering arthropods, and can be characterized by recording changes to the wealth of molecules present in the tissue, hemolymph, or whole body of organisms. Recent technological advances, such as high throughput screening and quantification of metabolites via chromatographic analyses, are able to identify such molecules. In the present work, we examined the survival ability of diapausing and non-diapausing females of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, in the presence (0 or 5°C) or absence of cold acclimation. Furthermore, we examined the metabolic fingerprints of these specimens via gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) of metabolites revealed that major metabolic variations were related to diapause, indicating in a clear cut-off between diapausing and non-diapausing females, regardless of acclimation state. Signs of metabolic depression were evident in diapausing females, with most amino acids and TCA cycle intermediates being significantly reduced. Out of the 40 accurately quantified metabolites, seven metabolites remained elevated or were accumulated in diapausing mites, i.e. cadaverine, gluconolactone, glucose, inositol, maltose, mannitol and sorbitol. The capacity to accumulate winter polyols during cold-acclimation was restricted to diapausing females. We conclude that the induction of increased cold hardiness in this species is associated with the diapause syndrome, rather than being a direct effect of low temperature. Our results provide novel information about biochemical events related to the cold hardening process in the two-spotted spider mite. PMID:23349779

Non-Gaussian microwave background fluctuations from nonlinear gravitational effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salopek, D. S.; Kunstatter, G. (Editor)

1991-01-01

Whether the statistics of primordial fluctuations for structure formation are Gaussian or otherwise may be determined if the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite makes a detection of the cosmic microwave-background temperature anisotropy delta T(sub CMB)/T(sub CMB). Non-Gaussian fluctuations may be generated in the chaotic inflationary model if two scalar fields interact nonlinearly with gravity. Theoretical contour maps are calculated for the resulting Sachs-Wolfe temperature fluctuations at large angular scales (greater than 3 degrees). In the long-wavelength approximation, one can confidently determine the nonlinear evolution of quantum noise with gravity during the inflationary epoch because: (1) different spatial points are no longer in causal contact; and (2) quantum gravity corrections are typically small-- it is sufficient to model the system using classical random fields. If the potential for two scalar fields V(phi sub 1, phi sub 2) possesses a sharp feature, then non-Gaussian fluctuations may arise. An explicit model is given where cold spots in delta T(sub CMB)/T(sub CMB) maps are suppressed as compared to the Gaussian case. The fluctuations are essentially scale-invariant.

An improved algorithm of laser spot center detection in strong noise background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Le; Wang, Qianqian; Cui, Xutai; Zhao, Yu; Peng, Zhong

2018-01-01

Laser spot center detection is demanded in many applications. The common algorithms for laser spot center detection such as centroid and Hough transform method have poor anti-interference ability and low detection accuracy in the condition of strong background noise. In this paper, firstly, the median filtering was used to remove the noise while preserving the edge details of the image. Secondly, the binarization of the laser facula image was carried out to extract target image from background. Then the morphological filtering was performed to eliminate the noise points inside and outside the spot. At last, the edge of pretreated facula image was extracted and the laser spot center was obtained by using the circle fitting method. In the foundation of the circle fitting algorithm, the improved algorithm added median filtering, morphological filtering and other processing methods. This method could effectively filter background noise through theoretical analysis and experimental verification, which enhanced the anti-interference ability of laser spot center detection and also improved the detection accuracy.

CO2 Condensation Models for Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colaprete, A.; Haberle, R.

2004-01-01

During the polar night in both hemispheres of Mars, regions of low thermal emission, frequently referred to as "cold spots", have been observed by Mariner 9, Viking and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. These cold spots vary in time and appear to be associated with topographic features suggesting that they are the result of a spectral-emission effect due to surface accumulation of fine-grained frost or snow. Presented here are simulations of the Martian polar night using the NASA Ames General Circulation Cloud Model. This cloud model incorporates all the microphysical processes of carbon dioxide cloud formation, including nucleation, condensation and sedimentation and is coupled to a surface frost scheme that includes both direct surface condensation and precipitation. Using this cloud model we simulate the Mars polar nights and compare model results to observations from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Model predictions of "cold spots" compare well with TES observations of low emissivity regions, both spatially and as a function of season. The model predicted frequency of CO2 cloud formation also agrees well with MOLA observations of polar night cloud echoes. Together the simulations and observations in the North indicate a distinct shift in atmospheric state centered about Ls 270 which we believe may be associated with the strength of the polar vortex.

The influence of the interactions between anthropogenic activities and multiple ecological factors on land surface temperatures of urban forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Y.

2017-12-01

Context Land surface temperatures (LSTs) spatio-temporal distribution pattern of urban forests are influenced by many ecological factors; the identification of interaction between these factors can improve simulations and predictions of spatial patterns of urban cold islands. This quantitative research requires an integrated method that combines multiple sources data with spatial statistical analysis. Objectives The purpose of this study was to clarify urban forest LST influence interaction between anthropogenic activities and multiple ecological factors using cluster analysis of hot and cold spots and Geogdetector model. We introduced the hypothesis that anthropogenic activity interacts with certain ecological factors, and their combination influences urban forests LST. We also assumed that spatio-temporal distributions of urban forest LST should be similar to those of ecological factors and can be represented quantitatively. Methods We used Jinjiang as a representative city in China as a case study. Population density was employed to represent anthropogenic activity. We built up a multi-source data (forest inventory, digital elevation models (DEM), population, and remote sensing imagery) on a unified urban scale to support urban forest LST influence interaction research. Through a combination of spatial statistical analysis results, multi-source spatial data, and Geogdetector model, the interaction mechanisms of urban forest LST were revealed. Results Although different ecological factors have different influences on forest LST, in two periods with different hot spots and cold spots, the patch area and dominant tree species were the main factors contributing to LST clustering in urban forests. The interaction between anthropogenic activity and multiple ecological factors increased LST in urban forest stands, linearly and nonlinearly. Strong interactions between elevation and dominant species were generally observed and were prevalent in either hot or cold spots areas in different years. Conclusions In conclusion, a combination of spatial statistics and GeogDetector models should be effective for quantitatively evaluating interactive relationships among ecological factors, anthropogenic activity and LST.

Individual and Interactive Effects of Socio-Ecological Factors on Dengue Fever at Fine Spatial Scale: A Geographical Detector-Based Analysis

PubMed Central

Li, Xing; Wang, Jin; Lin, Hualiang; Chen, Lingling; Wu, Zhifeng; Ma, Wenjun

2017-01-01

Background: Large spatial heterogeneity was observed in the dengue fever outbreak in Guangzhou in 2014, however, the underlying reasons remain unknown. We examined whether socio-ecological factors affected the spatial distribution and their interactive effects. Methods: Moran’s I was applied to first examine the spatial cluster of dengue fever in Guangzhou. Nine socio-ecological factors were chosen to represent the urbanization level, economy, accessibility, environment, and the weather of the 167 townships/streets in Guangzhou, and then the geographical detector was applied to analyze the individual and interactive effects of these factors on the dengue outbreak. Results: Four clusters of dengue fever were identified in Guangzhou in 2014, including one hot spot in the central area of Guangzhou and three cold spots in the suburban districts. For individual effects, the temperature (q = 0.33) was the dominant factor of dengue fever, followed by precipitation (q = 0.24), road density (q = 0.24), and water body area (q = 0.23). For the interactive effects, the combination of high precipitation, high temperature, and high road density might result in increased dengue fever incidence. Moreover, urban villages might be the dengue fever hot spots. Conclusions: Our study suggests that some socio-ecological factors might either separately or jointly influence the spatial distribution of dengue fever in Guangzhou. PMID:28714925

Individual and Interactive Effects of Socio-Ecological Factors on Dengue Fever at Fine Spatial Scale: A Geographical Detector-Based Analysis.

PubMed

Cao, Zheng; Liu, Tao; Li, Xing; Wang, Jin; Lin, Hualiang; Chen, Lingling; Wu, Zhifeng; Ma, Wenjun

2017-07-17

Background : Large spatial heterogeneity was observed in the dengue fever outbreak in Guangzhou in 2014, however, the underlying reasons remain unknown. We examined whether socio-ecological factors affected the spatial distribution and their interactive effects. Methods : Moran's I was applied to first examine the spatial cluster of dengue fever in Guangzhou. Nine socio-ecological factors were chosen to represent the urbanization level, economy, accessibility, environment, and the weather of the 167 townships/streets in Guangzhou, and then the geographical detector was applied to analyze the individual and interactive effects of these factors on the dengue outbreak. Results : Four clusters of dengue fever were identified in Guangzhou in 2014, including one hot spot in the central area of Guangzhou and three cold spots in the suburban districts. For individual effects, the temperature ( q = 0.33) was the dominant factor of dengue fever, followed by precipitation ( q = 0.24), road density ( q = 0.24), and water body area ( q = 0.23). For the interactive effects, the combination of high precipitation, high temperature, and high road density might result in increased dengue fever incidence. Moreover, urban villages might be the dengue fever hot spots. Conclusions : Our study suggests that some socio-ecological factors might either separately or jointly influence the spatial distribution of dengue fever in Guangzhou.

Combining near infrared spectra of feces and geostatistics to generate forage nutritional quality maps across landscapes.

PubMed

Pierre-Olivier, Jean; Bradley, Robert L; Tremblay, Jean-Pierre; Côté, Steeve D

2015-09-01

An important asset for the management of wild ungulates is recognizing the spatial distribution of forage quality across heterogeneous landscapes. To do so typically requires knowledge of which plant species are eaten, in what abundance they are eaten, and what their nutritional quality might be. Acquiring such data, however, may be difficult and time consuming. Here, we are proposing a rapid and cost-effective forage quality monitoring tool that combines near infrared (NIR) spectra of fecal samples and easily obtained data on plant community composition. Our approach rests on the premise that NIR spectra of fecal samples collected within low population density exclosures reflect the optimal forage quality of a given landscape. Forage quality can thus be based on the Mahalanobis distance of fecal spectral scans across the landscape relative to fecal spectral scans inside exclosures (referred to as DISTEX). The Gi* spatial autocorrelation statistic can then be applied among neighboring DISTEX values to detect and map "hot spots" and "cold spots" of nutritional quality over the landscape. We tested our approach in a heterogeneous boreal landscape on Anticosti Island (Québec, Canada), where white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations over the landscape have ranged from 20 to 50 individuals/km2 for at least 80 years, resulting in a loss of most palatable and nutritious plant species. Our results suggest that hot spots of forage quality occur when old-growth balsam fir stands comprise >39.8% of 300 ha neighborhoods, whereas cold spots occur in laggs (i.e., transition zones from forest to peatland). In terms of ground-level indicator plant species, the presence of Canada bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) was highly correlated with hot spots, whereas tamarack (Larix laricina) was highly correlated with cold spots. Mean DISTEX values were positively and significantly correlated with the neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin contents of feces. While our approach would need more independent field trials before it is fully validated, its low cost and ease of execution should make it a valuable tool for advancing both the basic and applied ecology of large herbivores.

Radiotherapy Dose Perturbation of Esophageal Stents Examined in an Experimental Model

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

Atwood, Todd F.; Hsu, Annie; Ogara, Maydeen M.

2012-04-01

Purpose: To investigate the radiotherapy dose perturbations caused by esophageal stents in patients undergoing external beam treatments for esophageal cancer. Methods and Materials: Four esophageal stents were examined (three metallic stents: WallFlex, Ultraflex, and Alveolus; one nonmetallic stent with limited radiopaque markers for visualization: Polyflex). All experiments were performed in a liquid water phantom with a custom acrylic stent holder. Radiochromic film was used to measure the dose distributions adjacent to the stents at locations proximal and distal to the radiation source. The stents were placed in an air-filled cavity to simulate the esophagus. Treatment plans were created and deliveredmore » for photon energies of 6 and 15 MV, and data analysis was performed on uniform regions of interest, according to the size and geometric placement of the films, to quantify the dose perturbations. Results: The three metallic stents produced the largest dose perturbations with distinct patterns of 'hot' spots (increased dose) measured proximal to the radiation source (up to 15.4%) and both 'cold' (decreased dose) and hot spots measured distal to the radiation source (range, -6.1%-5.8%). The polymeric Polyflex stent produced similar dose perturbations when the radiopaque markers were examined (range, -7.6%-15.4%). However, when the radiopaque markers were excluded from the analysis, the Polyflex stent produced significantly smaller dose perturbations, with maximum hot spots of 7.3% and cold spots of -3.2%. Conclusions: The dose perturbations caused by esophageal stents during the treatment of esophageal cancer using external beam radiotherapy should be understood. These perturbations will result in hot and cold spots in the esophageal mucosa, with varying magnitudes depending on the stent. The nonmetallic Polyflex stent appears to be the most suitable for patients undergoing radiotherapy, but further studies are necessary to determine the clinical significance of the dose perturbations.« less

Radiotherapy dose perturbation of esophageal stents examined in an experimental model.

PubMed

Atwood, Todd F; Hsu, Annie; Ogara, Maydeen M; Luba, Daniel G; Tamler, Bradley J; Disario, James A; Maxim, Peter G

2012-04-01

To investigate the radiotherapy dose perturbations caused by esophageal stents in patients undergoing external beam treatments for esophageal cancer. Four esophageal stents were examined (three metallic stents: WallFlex, Ultraflex, and Alveolus; one nonmetallic stent with limited radiopaque markers for visualization: Polyflex). All experiments were performed in a liquid water phantom with a custom acrylic stent holder. Radiochromic film was used to measure the dose distributions adjacent to the stents at locations proximal and distal to the radiation source. The stents were placed in an air-filled cavity to simulate the esophagus. Treatment plans were created and delivered for photon energies of 6 and 15 MV, and data analysis was performed on uniform regions of interest, according to the size and geometric placement of the films, to quantify the dose perturbations. The three metallic stents produced the largest dose perturbations with distinct patterns of "hot" spots (increased dose) measured proximal to the radiation source (up to 15.4%) and both "cold" (decreased dose) and hot spots measured distal to the radiation source (range, -6.1%-5.8%). The polymeric Polyflex stent produced similar dose perturbations when the radiopaque markers were examined (range, -7.6%-15.4%). However, when the radiopaque markers were excluded from the analysis, the Polyflex stent produced significantly smaller dose perturbations, with maximum hot spots of 7.3% and cold spots of -3.2%. The dose perturbations caused by esophageal stents during the treatment of esophageal cancer using external beam radiotherapy should be understood. These perturbations will result in hot and cold spots in the esophageal mucosa, with varying magnitudes depending on the stent. The nonmetallic Polyflex stent appears to be the most suitable for patients undergoing radiotherapy, but further studies are necessary to determine the clinical significance of the dose perturbations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Proteome profiling reveals insights into cold-tolerant growth in sea buckthorn.

PubMed

He, Caiyun; Gao, Guori; Zhang, Jianguo; Duan, Aiguo; Luo, Hongmei

2016-01-01

Low temperature is one of the crucial environmental factors limiting the productivity and distribution of plants. Sea buckthorn ( Hippophae rhamnoides L.), a well recognized multipurpose plant species, live successfully in in cold desert regions. But their molecular mechanisms underlying cold tolerance are not well understood. Physiological and biochemical responses to low-temperature stress were studied in seedlings of sea buckthorn. Differentially expressed protein spots were analyzed using multiplexing fluorescent two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight/time-of-flight (TOF/TOF) mass spectrometry (MS), the concentration of phytohormone was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and a spectrophotometric assay was used to measure enzymatic reactions. With the increase of cold stress intensity, the photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance in leaves and contents of abscisic acid (ABA) and indole acetic acid (IAA) in roots decreased significantly; however, water-use efficiency, ABA and zeatin riboside in leaves increased significantly, while cell membrane permeability, malondialdehyde and IAA in leaves increased at 7 d and then decreased at 14 d. DIGE and MS/MS analysis identified 32 of 39 differentially expressed protein spots under low-temperature stress, and their functions were mainly involved in metabolism, photosynthesis, signal transduction, antioxidative systems and post-translational modification. The changed protein abundance and corresponding physiological-biochemical response shed light on the molecular mechanisms related to cold tolerance in cold-tolerant plants and provide key candidate proteins for genetic improvement of plants.

Mapping Sensory Spots for Moderate Temperatures on the Back of Hand.

PubMed

Yang, Fan; Chen, Guixu; Zhou, Sikai; Han, Danhong; Xu, Jingjing; Xu, Shengyong

2017-12-04

Thermosensation with thermoreceptors plays an important role in maintaining body temperature at an optimal state and avoiding potential damage caused by harmful hot or cold environmental temperatures. In this work, the locations of sensory spots for sensing moderate temperatures of 40-50 °C on the back of the hands of young Chinese people were mapped in a blind-test manner with a thermal probe of 1.0 mm spatial resolution. The number of sensory spots increased along with the testing temperature; however, the surface density of sensory spots was remarkably lower than those reported previously. The locations of the spots were irregularly distributed and subject-dependent. Even for the same subject, the number and location of sensory spots were unbalanced and asymmetric between the left and right hands. The results may offer valuable information for designing artificial electronic skin and wearable devices, as well as for clinical applications.

Sniff Sniff...: Your Easy Tear-Out Guide for Stopping Classroom Bugs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gelbwasser, Margaret

2007-01-01

The author's first two years of teaching were filled with read alouds, eager faces, a-ha moments, and weekends stuck at home with cold after cold. No matter how quickly she bolted from students' incoming coughs and sneezes, come winter, she always seemed to get sick again and again. Thus, in this article, the author offers ways on how to spot,…

Hives (Urticaria)

MedlinePlus

... look like tiny little spots, blotches, or large connected bumps. Individual hives can last anywhere from a ... cold or place a sandbag or other heavy object on your thighs to see if the pressure ...

Acclimation to cold and warm temperatures is associated with differential expression of male carp blood proteins involved in acute phase and stress responses, and lipid metabolism.

PubMed

Dietrich, Mariola A; Hliwa, Piotr; Adamek, Mikołaj; Steinhagen, Dieter; Karol, Halina; Ciereszko, Andrzej

2018-05-01

The environmental temperature affects plasma biochemical indicators, antioxidant status and hematological and immunological parameters in fish. So far, only single blood proteins have been identified in response to temperature changes. The aim of this study was to compare the proteome of carp blood plasma from males acclimated to warm (30 °C) and cold (10 °C) temperatures by two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. A total of 47 spots were found to be differentially regulated by temperature (>1.2-fold change, p < 0.05): 25 protein spots were more abundant in warm-acclimated males and 22 were enriched in cold-acclimated males. The majority of differentially regulated proteins were associated with acute phase response signalling involved in: i) activation of the complement system (complement C3-H1), ii) neutralization of proteolytic enzymes (inter-alpha inhibitor H3, fetuin, serpinA1, antithrombin, alpha2-macroglobulin), iii) scavenging of free hemoglobin and radicals (haptoglobin, Wap65 kDa), iv) clot-formation (fibrinogen beta and alpha chain, T-kininogen) and v) the host's immune response modulation (ApoA1 and ApoA2). However, quite different sets of these proteins or proteoforms were involved in response to cold and warm temperatures. In addition, cold acclimation seems to be related to the proteins involved in lipid metabolism (apolipoproteins A and 14 kDa) and stress response (corticosteroid binding globulin). We discovered a strongly regulated protein Cap31 upon cold acclimation, which can serve as a potential blood biomarker of cold response in carp. These studies significantly extend our knowledge concerning mechanisms underlying thermal adaptation in poikilotherms. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Scaling of Liquid DT Layer Capsules to an ICF Burning Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, R. E.; Peterson, R. R.; Haines, B. M.; Yi, S. A.; Bradley, P. A.; Zylstra, A. B.; Kline, J. L.; Leeper, R. J.; Batha, S. H.

2017-10-01

Recent experiments at the NIF demonstrated cryogenic liquid DT layer ICF implosions. Unlike DT ice layer implosions, DT liquid layer designs can operate with low-to-moderate convergence ratio (12

Use of Dried Blood Spots to Elucidate Full-Length Transmitted/Founder HIV-1 Genomes

PubMed Central

Salazar-Gonzalez, Jesus F.; Salazar, Maria G.; Tully, Damien C.; Ogilvie, Colin B.; Learn, Gerald H.; Allen, Todd M.; Heath, Sonya L.; Goepfert, Paul; Bar, Katharine J.

2016-01-01

Background Identification of HIV-1 genomes responsible for establishing clinical infection in newly infected individuals is fundamental to prevention and pathogenesis research. Processing, storage, and transportation of the clinical samples required to perform these virologic assays in resource-limited settings requires challenging venipuncture and cold chain logistics. Here, we validate the use of dried-blood spots (DBS) as a simple and convenient alternative to collecting and storing frozen plasma. Methods We performed parallel nucleic acid extraction, single genome amplification (SGA), next generation sequencing (NGS), and phylogenetic analyses on plasma and DBS. Results We demonstrated the capacity to extract viral RNA from DBS and perform SGA to infer the complete nucleotide sequence of the transmitted/founder (TF) HIV-1 envelope gene and full-length genome in two acutely infected individuals. Using both SGA and NGS methodologies, we showed that sequences generated from DBS and plasma display comparable phylogenetic patterns in both acute and chronic infection. SGA was successful on samples with a range of plasma viremia, including samples as low as 1,700 copies/ml and an estimated ∼50 viral copies per blood spot. Further, we demonstrated reproducible efficiency in gp160 env sequencing in DBS stored at ambient temperature for up to three weeks or at -20°C for up to five months. Conclusions These findings support the use of DBS as a practical and cost-effective alternative to frozen plasma for clinical trials and translational research conducted in resource-limited settings. PMID:27819061

SPALEED Studies of the Growth of Zero to Mono-layer Graphene on SiC(0001)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hupalo, M.; Hershberger, M. T.; Hattab, H.; McDougall, D. C.; Horn von Hoegen, M.; Tringides, M. C.

The growth of graphene on SiC was studied in detail with SPA LEED to understand the transition from zero to monolayer graphene with increasing temperature starting at 1200°C. Both the changing diffraction spots with annealing and their line shapes are studied in detail until a fully completed monolayer is obtained with only 6x6 spots remaining. In particular we focus on two strong features not investigated previously: (i) superstructures spots at n/13 locations present between the specular and the graphene spots. These spots are possibly related to different coincidence lattices before graphene locks into its final 6x6 orientation. (ii) The presence of a very broad background intensity covering ~60% of the BZ both around the specular and graphene spots whose origin is still unknown. Detailed studies of the dependence of this background component on energy and comparison between the graphene and specular spots suggest that the origin is not due to the standard variation with electron energy, i.e. a g(s) curve caused by the topography. Throughout the literature this broad background has been seen in graphene grown in different types of substrates. We comment on possible reasons for the origin of the background. Ames Laboratory is operated by the US-DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358.

An examination of Mars' north seasonal polar cap using MGS: Composition and infrared radiation balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Gary B.

2013-08-01

A detailed analysis of data from one revolution of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is presented. Approximately 80% of this revolution observes the mid-winter northern seasonal polar cap, which covers the surface to <60°N, and which is predominantly within polar night. The surface composition and temperature are determined through analysis of 6-50 μm infrared spectra from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). The infrared radiative balance, which is the entire heat balance in the polar night except for small subsurface and atmospheric advection terms, is calculated for the surface and atmospheric column. The primary constituent, CO2 ice, also dominates the infrared spectral properties by variations in its grain size and by admixtures of dust and water ice, which cause large variations in the 20-50 μm emissivity. This is modified by incomplete areal coverage, and clouds or hazes. This quantitative analysis reveals CO2 grain radii ranging from ˜100 μm in isolated areas, to 1-5 mm in more widespread regions. The water ice content varies from none to about one part per thousand by mass, with a clear increase towards the periphery of the polar cap. The dust content is typically a few parts per thousand by mass, but is as much as an order of magnitude less abundant in "cold spot" regions, where the low emissivity of pure CO2 ice is revealed. This is the first quantitative analysis of thermal spectra of the seasonal polar cap and the first to estimate water ice content. Our models show that the cold spots represent cleaner, dust-free ice rather than finer grained ice than the background. Our guess is that the dust in cold spots is hidden in the center of the CO2 frost particles rather than not present. The fringes of the cap have more dust and water ice, and become patchy, with warmer water snow filling the gaps on the night side, and warmer bare soil on the day side. A low optical depth (<1 in the visible) water ice atmospheric haze is apparent on the night side, and appears with smaller optical depth on the day side. The infrared radiative balance at the surface is typically 20-25 W m-2 in the central polar cap, with ˜25% dips in the regions of dust-free CO2. The atmospheric radiative terms are typically 1-3 W m-2.

Microarray image analysis: background estimation using quantile and morphological filters.

PubMed

Bengtsson, Anders; Bengtsson, Henrik

2006-02-28

In a microarray experiment the difference in expression between genes on the same slide is up to 103 fold or more. At low expression, even a small error in the estimate will have great influence on the final test and reference ratios. In addition to the true spot intensity the scanned signal consists of different kinds of noise referred to as background. In order to assess the true spot intensity background must be subtracted. The standard approach to estimate background intensities is to assume they are equal to the intensity levels between spots. In the literature, morphological opening is suggested to be one of the best methods for estimating background this way. This paper examines fundamental properties of rank and quantile filters, which include morphological filters at the extremes, with focus on their ability to estimate between-spot intensity levels. The bias and variance of these filter estimates are driven by the number of background pixels used and their distributions. A new rank-filter algorithm is implemented and compared to methods available in Spot by CSIRO and GenePix Pro by Axon Instruments. Spot's morphological opening has a mean bias between -47 and -248 compared to a bias between 2 and -2 for the rank filter and the variability of the morphological opening estimate is 3 times higher than for the rank filter. The mean bias of Spot's second method, morph.close.open, is between -5 and -16 and the variability is approximately the same as for morphological opening. The variability of GenePix Pro's region-based estimate is more than ten times higher than the variability of the rank-filter estimate and with slightly more bias. The large variability is because the size of the background window changes with spot size. To overcome this, a non-adaptive region-based method is implemented. Its bias and variability are comparable to that of the rank filter. The performance of more advanced rank filters is equal to the best region-based methods. However, in order to get unbiased estimates these filters have to be implemented with great care. The performance of morphological opening is in general poor with a substantial spatial-dependent bias.

Hives (Urticaria) (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... look like tiny little spots, blotches, or large connected bumps. Individual hives can last anywhere from a ... cold or place a sandbag or other heavy object on the thighs to see if the pressure ...

Urban area and green space: volume estimation using medium resolution satellite imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handayani, H. H.

2017-12-01

The latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects predicts the world's urban population to increase by 1.4 billion between 2010 and 2030, 60% of the population will live in cities. Consequently, this expansion affects the existence of ecosystem services in the context of sustainability environment. Green space is a focal point of the ecological system and is affected by the urbanization process. The green space has essential functions in cleaning the water, adjusting the microclimate, eliminating noise, and beautifying the surrounding makes the green quantity as well as quality very vital to its existence. The urban expansion leads the growth into vertical development. Therefore, the third dimension using urban volume as an indicator of vertical development is introduced. Therefore, this study estimates the urban and green volume by using medium resolution remote sensing. Surabaya is used as a case study since the city has grown up significantly in both of population and capital investment in this decade. Here, urban and green volume is investigated by ALOS datasets with urban referring built-up. Also, we examine the area with low and high green volume by performing hot and cold spots analysis. The average of built-up volume reaches 173.05 m3/pixel presented by the building for a residential single house with the height less than 7m. The average of green volume is 14.74m3/pixel performed by the vegetation with the height generally 0.6 to 1m which is frequently planted in the backyard of house. However, the ratio of green volume to the built-up volume shows a small portion which is around 8.52%. Therefore, we identify the hot and cold spots, we evaluate 5 areas having cold spot regarding lack of green volume. The two locations of cold spot are located in the northern part and another is in the southern part. Those areas have high number of built-up volume which is in particularly as sub-CBD area. We emphasize that the improvement of green quantity is needed in those areas, in order to enhance the green quantity and also for the city's image improvement.

Radiative Transfer Analysis of Neptune’s New Dark Vortex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tollefson, Joshua; Luszcz-Cook, Statia H.; Wong, Michael H.; de Pater, Imke

2017-10-01

A new dark spot on Neptune was discovered in late 2015, named: "SDS-2015" for "Southern Dark Spot discovered in 2015". Subsequent observations from Hubble Space Telescope Mid-Cycle 23 (PI: Wong) and the Outer Planetary Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) programs (PI: Simon-Miller) took the first multispectral data over multiple viewing geometries of a Neptunian dark spot, spanning wavelengths from 336 to 763nm. SDS-2015 is visible at blue wavelengths, with contrast from the background atmosphere peaking at 467nm. In this abstract, we present a radiative transfer analysis of the dark spot and surrounding background atmosphere. We summarize our retrieved properties of Neptune's background atmosphere, including its aerosol structure and methane profile, and compare our findings in the optical wavelengths to those in the near-infrared. We then discuss various hypotheses about the make up of SDS-2015 and its interaction with the background atmosphere.

The evolutionary turnover of recombination hot spots contributes to speciation in mice.

PubMed

Smagulova, Fatima; Brick, Kevin; Pu, Yongmei; Camerini-Otero, R Daniel; Petukhova, Galina V

2016-02-01

Meiotic recombination is required for the segregation of homologous chromosomes and is essential for fertility. In most mammals, the DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that initiate meiotic recombination are directed to a subset of genomic loci (hot spots) by sequence-specific binding of the PRDM9 protein. Rapid evolution of the DNA-binding specificity of PRDM9 and gradual erosion of PRDM9-binding sites by gene conversion will alter the recombination landscape over time. To better understand the evolutionary turnover of recombination hot spots and its consequences, we mapped DSB hot spots in four major subspecies of Mus musculus with different Prdm9 alleles and in their F1 hybrids. We found that hot spot erosion governs the preferential usage of some Prdm9 alleles over others in hybrid mice and increases sequence diversity specifically at hot spots that become active in the hybrids. As crossovers are disfavored at such hot spots, we propose that sequence divergence generated by hot spot turnover may create an impediment for recombination in hybrids, potentially leading to reduced fertility and, eventually, speciation. Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Searching for cold spots in multipion systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bialas, A.; Zalewski, K.

1999-05-01

Local fluctuations of pion density in momentum space may lead to Bose-Einstein condensation. Conditions for this phenomenon to occur in high-energy collisions and possibilities of its experimental investigation are discussed.

Local properties of the large-scale peaks of the CMB temperature

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

Marcos-Caballero, A.; Martínez-González, E.; Vielva, P., E-mail: marcos@ifca.unican.es, E-mail: martinez@ifca.unican.es, E-mail: vielva@ifca.unican.es

2017-05-01

In the present work, we study the largest structures of the CMB temperature measured by Planck in terms of the most prominent peaks on the sky, which, in particular, are located in the southern galactic hemisphere. Besides these large-scale features, the well-known Cold Spot anomaly is included in the analysis. All these peaks would contribute significantly to some of the CMB large-scale anomalies, as the parity and hemispherical asymmetries, the dipole modulation, the alignment between the quadrupole and the octopole, or in the case of the Cold Spot, to the non-Gaussianity of the field. The analysis of the peaks ismore » performed by using their multipolar profiles, which characterize the local shape of the peaks in terms of the discrete Fourier transform of the azimuthal angle. In order to quantify the local anisotropy of the peaks, the distribution of the phases of the multipolar profiles is studied by using the Rayleigh random walk methodology. Finally, a direct analysis of the 2-dimensional field around the peaks is performed in order to take into account the effect of the galactic mask. The results of the analysis conclude that, once the peak amplitude and its first and second order derivatives at the centre are conditioned, the rest of the field is compatible with the standard model. In particular, it is observed that the Cold Spot anomaly is caused by the large value of curvature at the centre.« less

Effects of a recombinant complement component C3b functional fragment α2MR (α2-macroglobulin receptor) additive on the immune response of juvenile orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) after the exposure to cold shock challenge.

PubMed

Luo, Sheng-Wei; Cai, Luo; Qi, Zeng-Hua; Wang, Cong; Liu, Yuan; Wang, Wei-Na

2015-08-01

The effects of Ec-α2MR (Epinephelus coiodes-α2-macroglobulin receptor) on growth performance, enzymatic activity, respiratory burst, MDA level, total antioxidant capacity, DPPH radical scavenging percentage and immune-related gene expressions of the juvenile orange-spotted grouper were evaluated. The commercial diet supplemented with α2MR additive was used to feed the orange-spotted grouper for six weeks. Although a slight increase was observed in the specific growth rate, survival rate and weight gain, no significance was observed among different group. After the feeding trial, the groupers were exposed to cold stress. Respiratory burst activity and MDA level decreased significantly in α2MR additive group by comparing with the control and additive control group, while a sharp increase of ACP activity, ALP activity, total antioxidant capacity and DPPH radial scavenging percentage was observed in α2MR additive group. qRT-PCR analyses confirmed that the up-regulated mRNA expressions of C3, TNF1, TNF2, IL-6, CTL, LysC, SOD1 and SOD2 were observed in α2MR additive group at 20 °C. These results showed that α2MR additive may moderate the immune response in grouper following cold shock challenge. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sources of CMB Spots in Closed Hyperbolic Universes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fagundes, Helio V.

2002-12-01

Some years ago Cayón and Smoot1; hereafter CS, identified a number of 'cold' and 'hot' spots in the COBE maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), as patches of physical density fluctuations (rather than noise) on the surface of last scattering (SLS). A cold (hot) spot, interpreted as gravitational Sachs-Wolfe effect plus fluctuation of radiation temperature on the SLS, corresponds to an increase (decrease) of matter density2. These results were used by the author3; henceforth Paper I, in connection with the possibility of the universe's spatial section being a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold (CHM). In the electronic version of this paper Tables 1a-b list the galactic coordinates for the six overerdense and the eight underdense CS spots. Given the comoving nature of cosmic geometry, it was argued that those spots, for example the overdense ones, might have evolved into galaxy superclusters which are - or may become - observable in our epoch. The underdense spots would have evolved into the relative voids in the observed structure of the large-scale matter distribution. The purpose of Paper I was to fit a number of CHM's to the CS spots. Since these are interpreted as density inhomogeneities in the fundamental polyhedron (FP) for the manifold, we hoped the positions of the latter, when compared with those of observed structures and voids, might favor some of those CHM's as the real cosmic space. In Paper I a lopsided method was adopted to choose a possible source for a given CS spot. The sources obtained in Paper I are usually concentrated in narrow bands of galactic latitude. Another problem with Paper I was that we looked for sources inside the maximum injectivity FP, with basepoint at the center (which is the standard in SnapPea4) and the observer displaced from the center; this produces an asymmetry in the distances of the found candidate sources. Here I make two improvements on this research, both with the help of our geometer guru, Jeff Weeks. One of them is that now FP is chosen with basepoint on the observer's position, which makes the source distribution centered on the the observer. The other one is in the search procedure. The new computer search for P and γ is shown in the electronic paper as a flow chart. It is based on the very definition of a fundamental region. There the results for manifold m007(+3, 1) in the notation of SnapPea are shown. The observer was supposed to be at position (0.3, 0.0, 0.0) in Klein coordinates relative to the standard FP in SnapPea, and axes rotated by (4.5669, 0.1078, 5.3451) in Euler angles in radians, with respect to the axes obtained for the displaced basepoint. The values Ω0 = 0.3 and ZSLS = 1300 were adopted. The idea to pursue, which is illustrated in Paper I, is to vary these positions and orientations randomly, until we get sources that match data in catalogs of galaxy superclusters and voids - which, for this to become possible, should reach much deeper space than the present limit of about Z = 0.12 in Einasto et al.'s5 list of superclusters.

The thermal background determines how the infrared and visual systems interact in pit vipers.

PubMed

Chen, Qin; Liu, Yang; Brauth, Steven E; Fang, Guangzhan; Tang, Yezhong

2017-09-01

The thermal infrared (IR) sensing system of pit vipers is believed to complement vision and provide a substitute imaging system in dark environments. Theoretically, the IR system would best image a scene consisting of a homothermal target in cold surroundings as a bright spot on a dark background. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated how the pit viper ( Gloydius brevicaudus ) discriminates and strikes prey when the background temperature is either higher or lower than that of the prey (approximately 32-33°C) in different parts of the scene. Snakes were tested in a modified predation cage in which background temperatures were set to 26°C on one side and either 33 or 40°C on the opposite side when the eyes, the pit organs or neither sensory system was occluded. When the eyes were blocked, snakes preferred to strike prey on the 26°C side rather than on the 33°C side but showed no bias in the other conditions. Snakes showed no preference for 26 versus 40°C background temperature, although more missed strikes occurred when the eyes were occluded. The results thus revealed that the pit viper IR system can accomplish a 'brightness constancy' computation reflecting the difference between the target and background temperatures, much as the visual system compares the luminance of a figure and the background. Furthermore, the results show that the IR system performs less well for locating prey when the background is warmer than the target. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

A Study of the Batch Annealing of Cold-Rolled HSLA Steels Containing Niobium or Titanium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Chao; Garcia, C. Isaac; Choi, Shi-Hoon; DeArdo, Anthony J.

2015-08-01

The batch annealing behavior of two cold-rolled, microalloyed HSLA steels has been studied in this program. One steel was microalloyed with niobium while the other with titanium. A successfully batch annealed steel will exhibit minimum variation in properties along the length of the coil, even though the inner and outer wraps experience faster heating and cooling rates and lower soaking temperatures, i.e., the so-called "cold spot" areas, than the mid-length portion of the coil, i.e., the so-called "hot spot" areas. The variation in strength and ductility is caused by differences in the extent of annealing in the different areas. It has been known for 30 years that titanium-bearing HSLA steels show more variability after batch annealing than do the niobium-bearing steels. One of the goals of this study was to try to explain this observation. In this study, the annealing kinetics of the surface and center layers of the cold-rolled sheet were compared. The surface and center layers of the niobium steel and the surface layer of the titanium steel all showed similar annealing kinetics, while the center layer of the titanium steel exhibited much slower kinetics. Metallographic results indicate that the stored energy of the cold-rolled condition, as revealed by grain center sub-grain boundary density, appeared to strongly influence the annealing kinetics. The kinetics were followed by the Kernel Average Misorientation reconstruction of the microstructure at different stages on annealing. Possible pinning effects caused by microalloy precipitates were also considered. Methods of improving uniformity and increasing kinetics, involving optimizing both hot-rolled and cold-rolled microstructure, are suggested.

Heat penetration and thermocouple location in home canning.

PubMed

Etzel, Mark R; Willmore, Paola; Ingham, Barbara H

2015-01-01

We processed applesauce, tomato juice, and cranberries in pint jars in a boiling water canner to test thermal processing theories against home canning of high-acid foods. For each product, thermocouples were placed at various heights in the jar. Values for f h (heating), f cl (cooling), and F 82.2°C (lethality) were determined for each thermocouple location, and did not depend substantially on thermocouple location in accordance with heat transfer theory. There was a cold spot in the jar, but the cold spot during heating became the hot spot during cooling. During heating, the geometric center was the last to heat, and remained coldest the longest, but during coooling, it was also the last to cool, and remained hottest the longest. The net effect was that calculated lethality in home canning was not affected by thermocouple location. Most of the lethality during home canning occurred during air cooling, making cooling of home canned foods of great importance. Calculated lethality was far greater than the required 5-log reduction of spores in tomato juice and vegetative cells in cranberries, suggesting a wide margin of safety for approved home-canning processes for high-acid foods.

Heat penetration and thermocouple location in home canning

PubMed Central

Etzel, Mark R; Willmore, Paola; Ingham, Barbara H

2015-01-01

We processed applesauce, tomato juice, and cranberries in pint jars in a boiling water canner to test thermal processing theories against home canning of high-acid foods. For each product, thermocouples were placed at various heights in the jar. Values for fh (heating), fcl (cooling), and F82.2°C (lethality) were determined for each thermocouple location, and did not depend substantially on thermocouple location in accordance with heat transfer theory. There was a cold spot in the jar, but the cold spot during heating became the hot spot during cooling. During heating, the geometric center was the last to heat, and remained coldest the longest, but during coooling, it was also the last to cool, and remained hottest the longest. The net effect was that calculated lethality in home canning was not affected by thermocouple location. Most of the lethality during home canning occurred during air cooling, making cooling of home canned foods of great importance. Calculated lethality was far greater than the required 5-log reduction of spores in tomato juice and vegetative cells in cranberries, suggesting a wide margin of safety for approved home-canning processes for high-acid foods. PMID:25649758

The Teton-Yellowstone Tornado of 21 July 1987

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fujita, T. Theodore

1989-01-01

The Teton-Yellowstone Tornado, rated F4, crossed the Continental Divide at 3070 m, leaving behind a damage swath 39.2-km long and 2.5-km wide. A detailed damage analysis by using stereo-pair and color photos revealed the existence of four spinup swirl marks and 72 microburst outflows inside the damage area. The tornado was spawned by a mesocyclone that formed at the intersection of a mesohigh boundary and a warm front. The parent cloud of the tornado, tracked on eight infrared-temperature maps from GOES East and West, moved at 25 m s-1 and the number of cold temperature pixels below -60 C reached a distinct peak during the tornado time. Identified and tracked also are two warm spots enclosed inside the cold anvil cloud. On the basis of their identity and movement, an attempt was made to explain the cause of these spots as being the stratospheric cirrus clouds.

Development of a Multileaf Collimator for Proton Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

Hounsfield Units (HU) into density bins (of width 10 kg/m^3), we now define a unique density for each Hounsfield Unit . The density resolution is thus...patient basis given some knowledge about any implants they might have. 24 The calibration of CT Hounsfield unit to material type and density was...that region, resulting in a hot ring around the cold spot. It was determined that the Hounsfield unit values corresponding to the voxels in the cold

Live-Cell Pyrophosphate Imaging by in Situ Hot-Spot Generation.

PubMed

Li, Mingmin; Li, Jin; Di, Huixia; Liu, Huiqiao; Liu, Dingbin

2017-03-21

Controlling the electromagnetic hot-spot generation is essential for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) assays. Current hot-spot-based SERS assays have been extensively studied in solutions or on substrates. However, probing biospecies by controlling the hot-spot assembly in living systems has not been demonstrated thus far. Herein, we report a background-free SERS probe for imaging pyrophosphate (PPi), a biochemically significant anion, in living cells. Intracellular PPi is able to induce the nanoparticle dimerization, thus creating an intense electromagnetic hot spot and dramatically enhancing the signal of the Raman reporters residing in the hot spot. More impressively, the reporter we used in this study provides a strong and sharp single peak in the cellular Raman-silent region (1800-2800 cm -1 ), thus eliminating the possible background interference. This strategy could be readily extended to detect other biomarkers by only replacing the recognition ligands.

Gravitational Lensing Effect on the Two-Point Correlation of Hot Spots in the Cosmic Microwave Background.

PubMed

Takada; Komatsu; Futamase

2000-04-20

We investigate the weak gravitational lensing effect that is due to the large-scale structure of the universe on two-point correlations of local maxima (hot spots) in the two-dimensional sky map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. According to the Gaussian random statistics, as most inflationary scenarios predict, the hot spots are discretely distributed, with some characteristic angular separations on the last scattering surface that are due to oscillations of the CMB angular power spectrum. The weak lensing then causes pairs of hot spots, which are separated with the characteristic scale, to be observed with various separations. We found that the lensing fairly smooths out the oscillatory features of the two-point correlation function of hot spots. This indicates that the hot spot correlations can be a new statistical tool for measuring the shape and normalization of the power spectrum of matter fluctuations from the lensing signatures.

X-ray emission reduction and photon dose lowering by energy loss of fast electrons induced by return current during the interaction of a short-pulse high-intensity laser on a metal solid target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Compant La Fontaine, A.

2018-04-01

During the interaction of a short-pulse high-intensity laser with the preplasma produced by the pulse's pedestal in front of a high-Z metal solid target, high-energy electrons are produced, which in turn create an X-ray source by interacting with the atoms of the converter target. The current brought by the hot electrons is almost completely neutralized by a return current j → driven by the background electrons of the conductive target, and the force exerted on the hot electrons by the electric field E → which induces Ohmic heating j → .E → , produced by the background electrons, reduces the energy of the hot electrons and thus lowers the X-ray emission and photon dose. This effect is analyzed here by means of a simple 1-D temperature model which contains the most significant terms of the relativistic Fokker-Planck equation with electron multiple scattering, and the energy equations of ions, hot, and cold electrons are then solved numerically. This Ohmic heating energy loss fraction τOh is introduced as a corrective term in an improved photon dose model. For instance, for a ps laser pulse with 10 μm spot size, the dose obtained with a tantalum target is reduced by less than about 10% to 40% by the Ohmic heating, depending upon the plasma scale length, target thickness, laser parameters, and in particular its spot size. The laser and plasma parameters may be optimized to limit the effect of Ohmic heating, for instance at a small plasma scale length or small laser spot size. Conversely, others regimes not suitable for dose production are identified. For instance, the resistive heating is enhanced in a foam target or at a long plasma scale length and high laser spot size and intensity, as the mean emission angle θ0 of the incident hot electron bunch given by the ponderomotive force is small; thus, the dose produced by a laser interacting in a gas jet may be inhibited under these circumstances. The resistive heating may also be maximized in order to reduce the X-ray emission to lower the radiation level for instance in a safety radiological goal.

Basal tolerance to heat and cold exposure of the spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii

PubMed Central

Enriquez, Thomas

2017-01-01

The spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a new pest in Europe and America which causes severe damages, mostly to stone fruit crops. Temperature and humidity are among the most important abiotic factors governing insect development and fitness. In many situations, temperature can become stressful thus compromising survival. The ability to cope with thermal stress depends on basal level of thermal tolerance. Basic knowledge on temperature-dependent mortality of D. suzukii is essential to facilitate management of this pest. The objective of the present study was to investigate D. suzukii basal cold and heat tolerance. Adults and pupae were subjected to six low temperatures (−5–7.5 °C) and seven high temperatures (30–37 °C) for various durations, and survival-time-temperature relationships were investigated. Data showed that males were globally more cold tolerant than females. At temperature above 5 °C, adult cold mortality became minor even after prolonged exposures (e.g., only 20% mortality after one month at 7.5 °C). Heat tolerance of males was lower than that of females at the highest tested temperatures (34, 35 and 37 °C). Pupae appeared much less cold tolerant than adults at all temperatures (e.g., Lt50 at 5° C: 4–5 d for adults vs. 21 h for pupae). Pupae were more heat tolerant than adults at the most extreme high temperatures (e.g., Lt50 at 37 °C: 30 min for adults vs. 4 h for pupae). The pupal thermal tolerance was further investigated under low vs. high humidity. Low relative humidity did not affect pupal cold survival, but it reduced survival under heat stress. Overall, this study shows that survival of D. suzukii under heat and cold conditions can vary with stress intensity, duration, humidity, sex and stage, and the methodological approach used here, which was based on thermal tolerance landscapes, provides a comprehensive description of D. suzukiithermal tolerance and limits. PMID:28348931

Carbon sources and trophic relationships of ice seals during recent environmental shifts in the Bering Sea.

PubMed

Wang, Shiway W; Springer, Alan M; Budge, Suzanne M; Horstmann, Lara; Quakenbush, Lori T; Wooller, Matthew J

2016-04-01

Dramatic multiyear fluctuations in water temperature and seasonal sea ice extent and duration across the Bering-Chukchi continental shelf have occurred in this century, raising a pressing ecological question: Do such environmental changes alter marine production processes linking primary producers to upper trophic-level predators? We examined this question by comparing the blubber fatty acid (FA) composition and stable carbon isotope ratios of individual FA (δ¹³CFA) of adult ringed seals (Pusa hispida), bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus), spotted seals (Phoca largha), and ribbon seals (Histriophoca fasciata), collectively known as "ice seals," sampled during an anomalously warm, low sea ice period in 2002-2005 in the Bering Sea and a subsequent cold, high sea ice period in 2007-2010. δ¹³C(FA) values, used to estimate the contribution to seals of carbon derived from sea ice algae (sympagic production) relative to that derived from water column phytoplankton (pelagic production), indicated that during the cold period, sympagic production accounted for 62-80% of the FA in the blubber of bearded seals, 51-62% in spotted seals, and 21-60% in ringed seals. Moreover, the δ¹³CFA values of bearded seals indicated a greater incorporation of sympagic FAs during the cold period than the warm period. This result provides the first empirical evidence of an ecosystem-scale effect of a putative change in sympagic production in the Western Arctic. The FA composition of ice seals showed clear evidence of resource partitioning among ringed, bearded, and spotted seals, and little niche separation between spotted and ribbon seals, which is consistent with previous studies. Despite interannual variability, the FA composition of ringed and bearded seals showed little evidence of differences in diet between the warm and cold periods. The findings that sympagic production contributes significantly to food webs supporting ice seals, and that the contribution apparently is less in warm years with low sea ice, raise an important concern: Will the projected warming and continuing loss of seasonal sea ice in the Arctic, and the associated decline of organic matter input from sympagic production, be compensated for by pelagic production to satisfy both pelagic and benthic carbon and energy needs?

Detection of surface carbon and hydrocarbons in hot spot regions of niobium superconducting rf cavities by Raman spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Cao, C.; Argonne National Lab.; Ford, D.; ...

2013-06-26

Raman microscopy/spectroscopy measurements are presented on high purity niobium (Nb) samples, including pieces from hot spot regions of a tested superconducting rf cavity that exhibit a high density of etch pits. Measured spectra are compared with density functional theory calculations of Raman-active, vibrational modes of possible surface Nb-O and Nb-H complexes. The Raman spectra inside particularly rough pits in all Nb samples show clear differences from surrounding areas, exhibiting enhanced intensity and sharp peaks. While some of the sharp peaks are consistent with calculated NbH and NbH 2 modes, there is better overall agreement with C-H modes in chain-type hydrocarbons.more » Other spectra reveal two broader peaks attributed to amorphous carbon. Niobium foils annealed to >2000°C in high vacuum develop identical Raman peaks when subjected to cold working. Regions with enhanced C and O have also been found by SEM/EDX spectroscopy in the hot spot samples and cold-worked foils, corroborating the Raman results. Such regions with high concentrations of impurities are expected to suppress the local superconductivity and this may explain the correlation between hot spots in superconducting rf (SRF) cavities and the observation of a high density of surface pits. Finally, the origin of localized high carbon and hydrocarbon regions is unclear at present but it is suggested that particular processing steps in SRF cavity fabrication may be responsible.« less

Detection of surface carbon and hydrocarbons in hot spot regions of niobium superconducting rf cavities by Raman spectroscopy

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

Cao, C.; Argonne National Lab.; Ford, D.

Raman microscopy/spectroscopy measurements are presented on high purity niobium (Nb) samples, including pieces from hot spot regions of a tested superconducting rf cavity that exhibit a high density of etch pits. Measured spectra are compared with density functional theory calculations of Raman-active, vibrational modes of possible surface Nb-O and Nb-H complexes. The Raman spectra inside particularly rough pits in all Nb samples show clear differences from surrounding areas, exhibiting enhanced intensity and sharp peaks. While some of the sharp peaks are consistent with calculated NbH and NbH 2 modes, there is better overall agreement with C-H modes in chain-type hydrocarbons.more » Other spectra reveal two broader peaks attributed to amorphous carbon. Niobium foils annealed to >2000°C in high vacuum develop identical Raman peaks when subjected to cold working. Regions with enhanced C and O have also been found by SEM/EDX spectroscopy in the hot spot samples and cold-worked foils, corroborating the Raman results. Such regions with high concentrations of impurities are expected to suppress the local superconductivity and this may explain the correlation between hot spots in superconducting rf (SRF) cavities and the observation of a high density of surface pits. Finally, the origin of localized high carbon and hydrocarbon regions is unclear at present but it is suggested that particular processing steps in SRF cavity fabrication may be responsible.« less

Comparative proteomic analysis of the stolon cold stress response between the C4 perennial grass species Zoysia japonica and Zoysia metrella.

PubMed

Xuan, Jiping; Song, Yufeng; Zhang, Hongxiao; Liu, Jianxiu; Guo, Zhongren; Hua, Yuelou

2013-01-01

Zoysiagrass, the most cold-tolerant grass among the warm-season turfgrasses, is often used as a model species for isolating cellular components related to cold stress. To understand the proteomic responses to cold stress in zoysiagrass stolons, we extracted stolon proteins from Zoysiajaponica, cv. Meyer (cold-tolerant) and Z. metrella, cv. Diamond (cold-sensitive), which were grown with or without cold treatment. Approximately 700 proteins were resolved on 2-DE gels, and 70 protein spots were differentially accumulated. We further observed that 45 of the identified proteins participate in 10 metabolic pathways and cellular processes. A significantly greater number of proteins accumulated in the Meyer than in the Diamond and 15 increased proteins were detected only in the Meyer cultivar under cold stress. Furthermore, we propose a cold stress-responsive protein network composed of several different functional components that exhibits a balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and scavenging, accelerated protein biosynthesis and proteolysis, reduced protein folding, enhanced photosynthesis, abundant energy supply and enhanced biosynthesis of carbohydrates and nucleotides. Generally, the cold-tolerant Meyer cultivar showed a greater ROS scavenging ability, more abundant energy supply and increased photosynthesis and protein synthesis than did the cold-sensitive Diamond cultivar, which may partly explain why Meyer is more cold tolerant.

Spatiotemporal chaos of self-replicating spots in reaction-diffusion systems.

PubMed

Wang, Hongli; Ouyang, Qi

2007-11-23

The statistical properties of self-replicating spots in the reaction-diffusion Gray-Scott model are analyzed. In the chaotic regime of the system, the spots that dominate the spatiotemporal chaos grow and divide in two or decay into the background randomly and continuously. The rates at which the spots are created and decay are observed to be linearly dependent on the number of spots in the system. We derive a probabilistic description of the spot dynamics based on the statistical independence of spots and thus propose a characterization of the spatiotemporal chaos dominated by replicating spots.

Jobs and the resource curse in the sun: The effects of oil production on female labor force participation in California counties from 1980-2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavala, Gabriel

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between oil income and the female labor force participation rate in California for the years of 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 using panel linear regression models. This study also aims to visualize the spatial patterns of both variables in California through Hot Spot analysis at the county level for the same years. The regression found no sign of a relationship between oil income and female labor force participation rate but did find evidence of a positive relationship between two income control variables and the female labor force participation rate. The hot spot analysis also found that female labor force participation cold spots are not spatially correlated with oil production hot spots. These findings contribute new methodologies at a finer scale to the very nuanced discussion of the resource curse in the United States.

Dark Spots and Fans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

As winter turns to spring at the south polar ice cap of Mars, the rising sun reveals dark spots and fans emerging from the cold polar night. Using visual images (left) and temperature data (right) from the Thermal Emission Imaging system on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, scientists have built a new model for the origin of the dark markings. Scientists propose the markings come from dark sand and dust strewn by high-speed jets of carbon-dioxide gas. These erupt from under a layer of carbon-dioxide ice that forms each Martian winter.

Proteome analysis of Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) seeds dormancy breaking and germination: influence of abscisic and gibberellic acids

PubMed Central

Pawłowski, Tomasz A

2009-01-01

Background Seed dormancy is controlled by the physiological or structural properties of a seed and the external conditions. It is induced as part of the genetic program of seed development and maturation. Seeds with deep physiological embryo dormancy can be stimulated to germinate by a variety of treatments including cold stratification. Hormonal imbalance between germination inhibitors (e.g. abscisic acid) and growth promoters (e.g. gibberellins) is the main cause of seed dormancy breaking. Differences in the status of hormones would affect expression of genes required for germination. Proteomics offers the opportunity to examine simultaneous changes and to classify temporal patterns of protein accumulation occurring during seed dormancy breaking and germination. Analysis of the functions of the identified proteins and the related metabolic pathways, in conjunction with the plant hormones implicated in seed dormancy breaking, would expand our knowledge about this process. Results A proteomic approach was used to analyse the mechanism of dormancy breaking in Norway maple seeds caused by cold stratification, and the participation of the abscisic (ABA) and gibberellic (GA) acids. Forty-four proteins showing significant changes were identified by mass spectrometry. Of these, eight spots were identified as water-responsive, 18 spots were ABA- and nine GA-responsive and nine spots were regulated by both hormones. The classification of proteins showed that most of the proteins associated with dormancy breaking in water were involved in protein destination. Most of the ABA- and GA-responsive proteins were involved in protein destination and energy metabolism. Conclusion In this study, ABA was found to mostly down-regulate proteins whereas GA up-regulated proteins abundance. Most of the changes were observed at the end of stratification in the germinated seeds. This is the most active period of dormancy breaking when seeds pass from the quiescent state to germination. Seed dormancy breaking involves proteins of various processes but the proteasome proteins, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, glycine-rich RNA binding protein, ABI3-interacting protein 1, EF-2 and adenosylhomocysteinase are of particular importance. The effect of exogenously applied hormones was not a determining factor for total inhibition (ABA) or stimulation (GA) of Norway maple seed dormancy breaking and germination but proteomic data has proven these hormones play a role. PMID:19413897

RuBisCO depletion improved proteome coverage of cold responsive S-nitrosylated targets in Brassica juncea

PubMed Central

Sehrawat, Ankita; Abat, Jasmeet K.; Deswal, Renu

2013-01-01

Although in the last few years good number of S-nitrosylated proteins are identified but information on endogenous targets is still limiting. Therefore, an attempt is made to decipher NO signaling in cold treated Brassica juncea seedlings. Treatment of seedlings with substrate, cofactor and inhibitor of Nitric-oxide synthase and nitrate reductase (NR), indicated NR mediated NO biosynthesis in cold. Analysis of the in vivo thiols showed depletion of low molecular weight thiols and enhancement of available protein thiols, suggesting redox changes. To have a detailed view, S-nitrosylation analysis was done using biotin switch technique (BST) and avidin-affinity chromatography. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is S-nitrosylated and therefore, is identified as target repeatedly due to its abundance. It also competes out low abundant proteins which are important NO signaling components. Therefore, RuBisCO was removed (over 80%) using immunoaffinity purification. Purified S-nitrosylated RuBisCO depleted proteins were resolved on 2-D gel as 110 spots, including 13 new, which were absent in the crude S-nitrosoproteome. These were identified by nLC-MS/MS as thioredoxin, fructose biphosphate aldolase class I, myrosinase, salt responsive proteins, peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase and malate dehydrogenase. Cold showed differential S-nitrosylation of 15 spots, enhanced superoxide dismutase activity (via S-nitrosylation) and promoted the detoxification of superoxide radicals. Increased S-nitrosylation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase sedoheptulose-biphosphatase, and fructose biphosphate aldolase, indicated regulation of Calvin cycle by S-nitrosylation. The results showed that RuBisCO depletion improved proteome coverage and provided clues for NO signaling in cold. PMID:24032038

Automated IMRT planning with regional optimization using planning scripts

PubMed Central

Wong, Eugene; Bzdusek, Karl; Lock, Michael; Chen, Jeff Z.

2013-01-01

Intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has become a standard technique in radiation therapy for treating different types of cancers. Various class solutions have been developed for simple cases (e.g., localized prostate, whole breast) to generate IMRT plans efficiently. However, for more complex cases (e.g., head and neck, pelvic nodes), it can be time‐consuming for a planner to generate optimized IMRT plans. To generate optimal plans in these more complex cases which generally have multiple target volumes and organs at risk, it is often required to have additional IMRT optimization structures such as dose limiting ring structures, adjust beam geometry, select inverse planning objectives and associated weights, and additional IMRT objectives to reduce cold and hot spots in the dose distribution. These parameters are generally manually adjusted with a repeated trial and error approach during the optimization process. To improve IMRT planning efficiency in these more complex cases, an iterative method that incorporates some of these adjustment processes automatically in a planning script is designed, implemented, and validated. In particular, regional optimization has been implemented in an iterative way to reduce various hot or cold spots during the optimization process that begins with defining and automatic segmentation of hot and cold spots, introducing new objectives and their relative weights into inverse planning, and turn this into an iterative process with termination criteria. The method has been applied to three clinical sites: prostate with pelvic nodes, head and neck, and anal canal cancers, and has shown to reduce IMRT planning time significantly for clinical applications with improved plan quality. The IMRT planning scripts have been used for more than 500 clinical cases. PACS numbers: 87.55.D, 87.55.de PMID:23318393

Vaccine delivery management.

PubMed

Cheyne, J

1989-01-01

During the typical 12- to 18-month voyage of a vaccine from manufacturer to immunization site, many situations arise in which the cold chain may be interrupted. Extensive efforts have been made in the 1980s to ensure an uninterrupted cold chain through the use of improved equipment and better training of personnel. One important advance is the vaccine cold-chain monitor, which identifies weak spots in the cold chain and prevents the use of heat-damaged vaccine. Further improvements will require efforts by the recipient countries (e.g., better use of the private sector for transport and equipment management), by donor agencies (e.g., greater consideration of the operational and maintenance costs of the equipment selected and resolution of fuel shortages), and by industry (e.g., more appropriate packaging and pricing of vaccine, extension of the expiration period, and increased heat stability.

5. VIEW NORTHWEST FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: COLD CALIBRATION OBSERVATION ...

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

5. VIEW NORTHWEST FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: COLD CALIBRATION OBSERVATION BUNKER BACKGROUND, COLD CALIBRATION TOWER. - Marshall Space Flight Center, East Test Area, Cold Calibration Test Stand, Huntsville, Madison County, AL

Comparative Proteomic Analysis of the Stolon Cold Stress Response between the C4 Perennial Grass Species Zoysia japonica and Zoysia metrella

PubMed Central

Xuan, Jiping; Song, Yufeng; Zhang, Hongxiao; Liu, Jianxiu; Guo, Zhongren; Hua, Yuelou

2013-01-01

Zoysiagrass, the most cold-tolerant grass among the warm-season turfgrasses, is often used as a model species for isolating cellular components related to cold stress. To understand the proteomic responses to cold stress in zoysiagrass stolons, we extracted stolon proteins from Zoysia japonica , cv. Meyer (cold-tolerant) and Z . metrella , cv. Diamond (cold-sensitive), which were grown with or without cold treatment. Approximately 700 proteins were resolved on 2-DE gels, and 70 protein spots were differentially accumulated. We further observed that 45 of the identified proteins participate in 10 metabolic pathways and cellular processes. A significantly greater number of proteins accumulated in the Meyer than in the Diamond and 15 increased proteins were detected only in the Meyer cultivar under cold stress. Furthermore, we propose a cold stress-responsive protein network composed of several different functional components that exhibits a balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and scavenging, accelerated protein biosynthesis and proteolysis, reduced protein folding, enhanced photosynthesis, abundant energy supply and enhanced biosynthesis of carbohydrates and nucleotides. Generally, the cold-tolerant Meyer cultivar showed a greater ROS scavenging ability, more abundant energy supply and increased photosynthesis and protein synthesis than did the cold-sensitive Diamond cultivar, which may partly explain why Meyer is more cold tolerant. PMID:24086619

The Light and Dark Sides of a Distant Planet

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-10-12

The top graph consists of infrared data from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. It tells astronomers that a distant planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, always has a giant hot spot on the side that faces the star, while the other side is cold and dark.

Quantitative assessment of anthrax vaccine immunogenicity using the dried blood spot matrix.

PubMed

Schiffer, Jarad M; Maniatis, Panagiotis; Garza, Ilana; Steward-Clark, Evelene; Korman, Lawrence T; Pittman, Phillip R; Mei, Joanne V; Quinn, Conrad P

2013-03-01

The collection, processing and transportation to a testing laboratory of large numbers of clinical samples during an emergency response situation present significant cost and logistical issues. Blood and serum are common clinical samples for diagnosis of disease. Serum preparation requires significant on-site equipment and facilities for immediate processing and cold storage, and significant costs for cold-chain transport to testing facilities. The dried blood spot (DBS) matrix offers an alternative to serum for rapid and efficient sample collection with fewer on-site equipment requirements and considerably lower storage and transport costs. We have developed and validated assay methods for using DBS in the quantitative anti-protective antigen IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), one of the primary assays for assessing immunogenicity of anthrax vaccine and for confirmatory diagnosis of Bacillus anthracis infection in humans. We have also developed and validated high-throughput data analysis software to facilitate data handling for large clinical trials and emergency response. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Knudsen and inverse Knudsen layer effect on tail ion distribution and fusion reactivity in inertial confinement fusion targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDevitt, C. J.; Tang, X.-Z.; Guo, Z.; Berk, H. L.

2014-10-01

A series of reduced models are used to study the fast ion tail in the vicinity of a transition layer between plasmas at disparate temperatures and densities, which is typical of the gas-pusher interface in inertial confinement fusion targets. Emphasis is placed on utilizing progressively more comprehensive models in order to identify the essential physics for computing the fast ion tail at energies comparable to the Gamow peak. The resulting fast ion tail distribution is subsequently used to compute the fusion reactivity as a function of collisionality and temperature. It is found that while the fast ion distribution can be significantly depleted in the hot spot, leading to a reduction of the fusion reactivity in this region, a surplus of fast ions is present in the neighboring cold region. The presence of this fast ion surplus in the neighboring cold region is shown to lead to a partial recovery of the fusion yield lost in the hot spot.

NEUTRON STAR MASS–RADIUS CONSTRAINTS USING EVOLUTIONARY OPTIMIZATION

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

Stevens, A. L.; Morsink, S. M.; Fiege, J. D.

The equation of state of cold supra-nuclear-density matter, such as in neutron stars, is an open question in astrophysics. A promising method for constraining the neutron star equation of state is modeling pulse profiles of thermonuclear X-ray burst oscillations from hot spots on accreting neutron stars. The pulse profiles, constructed using spherical and oblate neutron star models, are comparable to what would be observed by a next-generation X-ray timing instrument like ASTROSAT , NICER , or a mission similar to LOFT . In this paper, we showcase the use of an evolutionary optimization algorithm to fit pulse profiles to determinemore » the best-fit masses and radii. By fitting synthetic data, we assess how well the optimization algorithm can recover the input parameters. Multiple Poisson realizations of the synthetic pulse profiles, constructed with 1.6 million counts and no background, were fitted with the Ferret algorithm to analyze both statistical and degeneracy-related uncertainty and to explore how the goodness of fit depends on the input parameters. For the regions of parameter space sampled by our tests, the best-determined parameter is the projected velocity of the spot along the observer’s line of sight, with an accuracy of ≤3% compared to the true value and with ≤5% statistical uncertainty. The next best determined are the mass and radius; for a neutron star with a spin frequency of 600 Hz, the best-fit mass and radius are accurate to ≤5%, with respective uncertainties of ≤7% and ≤10%. The accuracy and precision depend on the observer inclination and spot colatitude, with values of ∼1% achievable in mass and radius if both the inclination and colatitude are ≳60°.« less

Simultaneous diagnosis of radial profiles and mix in NIF ignition-scale implosions via X-ray spectroscopy

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

Ciricosta, O.; Scott, H.; Durey, P.

In a National Ignition Facility implosion, hydrodynamic instabilities may cause the cold material from the imploding shell to be injected into the hot-spot (hot-spot mix), enhancing the radiative and conductive losses, which in turn may lead to a quenching of the ignition process. The bound-bound features of the spectrum emitted by high-Z ablator dopants that get mixed into the hot-spot have been previously used to infer the total amount of mixed mass; however, the typical errorbars are larger than the maximum tolerable mix. We present in this paper an improved 2D model for mix spectroscopy which can be used tomore » retrieve information on both the amount of mixed mass and the full imploded plasma profile. By performing radiation transfer and simultaneously fitting all of the features exhibited by the spectra, we are able to constrain self-consistently the effect of the opacity of the external layers of the target on the emission, thus improving the accuracy of the inferred mixed mass. The model's predictive capabilities are first validated by fitting simulated spectra arising from fully characterized hydrodynamic simulations, and then, the model is applied to previously published experimental results, providing values of mix mass in agreement with previous estimates. Finally, we show that the new self consistent procedure leads to better constrained estimates of mix and also provides insight into the sensitivity of the hot-spot spectroscopy to the spatial properties of the imploded capsule, such as the in-flight aspect ratio of the cold fuel surrounding the hotspot.« less

Simultaneous diagnosis of radial profiles and mix in NIF ignition-scale implosions via X-ray spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Ciricosta, O.; Scott, H.; Durey, P.; ...

2017-11-06

In a National Ignition Facility implosion, hydrodynamic instabilities may cause the cold material from the imploding shell to be injected into the hot-spot (hot-spot mix), enhancing the radiative and conductive losses, which in turn may lead to a quenching of the ignition process. The bound-bound features of the spectrum emitted by high-Z ablator dopants that get mixed into the hot-spot have been previously used to infer the total amount of mixed mass; however, the typical errorbars are larger than the maximum tolerable mix. We present in this paper an improved 2D model for mix spectroscopy which can be used tomore » retrieve information on both the amount of mixed mass and the full imploded plasma profile. By performing radiation transfer and simultaneously fitting all of the features exhibited by the spectra, we are able to constrain self-consistently the effect of the opacity of the external layers of the target on the emission, thus improving the accuracy of the inferred mixed mass. The model's predictive capabilities are first validated by fitting simulated spectra arising from fully characterized hydrodynamic simulations, and then, the model is applied to previously published experimental results, providing values of mix mass in agreement with previous estimates. Finally, we show that the new self consistent procedure leads to better constrained estimates of mix and also provides insight into the sensitivity of the hot-spot spectroscopy to the spatial properties of the imploded capsule, such as the in-flight aspect ratio of the cold fuel surrounding the hotspot.« less

Simultaneous diagnosis of radial profiles and mix in NIF ignition-scale implosions via X-ray spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciricosta, O.; Scott, H.; Durey, P.; Hammel, B. A.; Epstein, R.; Preston, T. R.; Regan, S. P.; Vinko, S. M.; Woolsey, N. C.; Wark, J. S.

2017-11-01

In a National Ignition Facility implosion, hydrodynamic instabilities may cause the cold material from the imploding shell to be injected into the hot-spot (hot-spot mix), enhancing the radiative and conductive losses, which in turn may lead to a quenching of the ignition process. The bound-bound features of the spectrum emitted by high-Z ablator dopants that get mixed into the hot-spot have been previously used to infer the total amount of mixed mass; however, the typical errorbars are larger than the maximum tolerable mix. We present here an improved 2D model for mix spectroscopy which can be used to retrieve information on both the amount of mixed mass and the full imploded plasma profile. By performing radiation transfer and simultaneously fitting all of the features exhibited by the spectra, we are able to constrain self-consistently the effect of the opacity of the external layers of the target on the emission, thus improving the accuracy of the inferred mixed mass. The model's predictive capabilities are first validated by fitting simulated spectra arising from fully characterized hydrodynamic simulations, and then, the model is applied to previously published experimental results, providing values of mix mass in agreement with previous estimates. We show that the new self consistent procedure leads to better constrained estimates of mix and also provides insight into the sensitivity of the hot-spot spectroscopy to the spatial properties of the imploded capsule, such as the in-flight aspect ratio of the cold fuel surrounding the hotspot.

Spectral properties and associated plasma energization by magnetosonic waves in the Earth's magnetosphere: Particle-in-cell simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jicheng; Gao, Xinliang; Lu, Quanming; Chen, Lunjin; Liu, Xu; Wang, Xueyi; Tao, Xin; Wang, Shui

2017-05-01

In this paper, we perform a 1-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation model consisting of three species, cold electrons, cold ions, and energetic ion ring, to investigate spectral structures of magnetosonic waves excited by ring distribution protons in the Earth's magnetosphere, and dynamics of charged particles during the excitation of magnetosonic waves. As the wave normal angle decreases, the spectral range of excited magnetosonic waves becomes broader with upper frequency limit extending beyond the lower hybrid resonant frequency, and the discrete spectra tends to merge into a continuous one. This dependence on wave normal angle is consistent with the linear theory. The effects of magnetosonic waves on the background cold plasma populations also vary with wave normal angle. For exactly perpendicular magnetosonic waves (parallel wave number k|| = 0), there is no energization in the parallel direction for both background cold protons and electrons due to the negligible fluctuating electric field component in the parallel direction. In contrast, the perpendicular energization of background plasmas is rather significant, where cold protons follow unmagnetized motion while cold electrons follow drift motion due to wave electric fields. For magnetosonic waves with a finite k||, there exists a nonnegligible parallel fluctuating electric field, leading to a significant and rapid energization in the parallel direction for cold electrons. These cold electrons can also be efficiently energized in the perpendicular direction due to the interaction with the magnetosonic wave fields in the perpendicular direction. However, cold protons can be only heated in the perpendicular direction, which is likely caused by the higher-order resonances with magnetosonic waves. The potential impacts of magnetosonic waves on the energization of the background cold plasmas in the Earth's inner magnetosphere are also discussed in this paper.

VIEW OF CEMETERY SECTIONS B AND A, WITH LODGE BUILDING ...

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

VIEW OF CEMETERY SECTIONS B AND A, WITH LODGE BUILDING AT RIGHT BACKGROUND AND MAINTENANCE BUILDING FAR LEFT BACKGROUND. VIEW TO NORTHEAST. - Cold Harbor National Cemetery, 6038 Cold Harbor Road, Mechanicsville, Hanover County, VA

Writing News Spots about Science: A Way to Promote Scientific Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marks, Ralf; Otten, Juliane; Eilks, Ingo

2010-01-01

Use of the "Journalist Method" in science education is described, in which pupils are asked to create short news presentations (we call them news spots) for a fictitious television newscast about science-related issues. The writing of such news spots by cooperative teams of pupils is supported by collections of background information…

Estimation of cold stress effect on dairy cows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brouček, J.; Letkovičová, M.; Kovalčuj, K.

1991-03-01

Twelve crossbred heifers (Slovak Spotted x Holstein-Friesian) were housed in an open, uninsulated barn with straw bedding and a concrete-floored yard. Minimum temperatures inside the barn were as low as -19°C. The average milk yield decreased as the temperatures approached these minima. Compared with the temperate conditions, the feed intake and blood levels of glucose and free fatty acids increased. The level of sodium declined significantly during the second cold period. Correlations and regressions between milk yield and biochemical parameters were calculated, and the results indicate that the concentrations of free fatty acids, cholesterol, and triiodothyronine and the haematocrit values may serve to predict milk production during periods of cold stress, or in lactations of 305 days.

Investigation of non-stationary self-focusing of intense laser pulse in cold quantum plasma using ramp density profile

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

Habibi, M.; Ghamari, F.

2012-11-15

The authors have investigated the non-stationary self-focusing of Gaussian laser pulse in cold quantum plasma. In case of high dense plasma, the nonlinearity in the dielectric constant is mainly due to relativistic high intense interactions and quantum effects. In this paper, we have introduced a ramp density profile for plasma and presented graphically the behavior of spot size oscillations of pulse at rear and front portions of the pulse. It is observed that the ramp density profile and quantum effects play a vital role in stronger and better focusing at the rear of the pulse than at the front inmore » cold quantum plasmas.« less

[Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Anisotropies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silk, Joseph

1998-01-01

One of the main areas of research is the theory of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and analysis of CMB data. Using the four year COBE data we were able to improve existing constraints on global shear and vorticity. We found that, in the flat case (which allows for greatest anisotropy), (omega/H)0 less than 10(exp -7), where omega is the vorticity and H is the Hubble constant. This is two orders of magnitude lower than the tightest, previous constraint. We have defined a new set of statistics which quantify the amount of non-Gaussianity in small field cosmic microwave background maps. By looking at the distribution of power around rings in Fourier space, and at the correlations between adjacent rings, one can identify non-Gaussian features which are masked by large scale Gaussian fluctuations. This may be particularly useful for identifying unresolved localized sources and line-like discontinuities. Levin and collaborators devised a method to determine the global geometry of the universe through observations of patterns in the hot and cold spots of the CMB. We have derived properties of the peaks (maxima) of the CMB anisotropies expected in flat and open CDM models. We represent results for angular resolutions ranging from 5 arcmin to 20 arcmin (antenna FWHM), scales that are relevant for the MAP and COBRA/SAMBA space missions and the ground-based interferometer. Results related to galaxy formation and evolution are also discussed.

Lunar Surface Properties from Diviner Eclipse Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayne, Paul; Paige, David; Greenhagen, Benjamin; Bandfield, Joshua; Siegler, Matthew; Lucey, Paul

2015-04-01

The thermal behavior of planetary bodies can reveal information about fundamental processes shaping their surfaces and interiors. Diviner [1] has been mapping the Moon's diurnal temperatures since the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) arrived in 2009, yielding new insights into regolith formation [2, 3], the distribution of volatiles [4, 5], lunar volcanism [6, 7, 8], and impact processes [9]. The Moon's cooling during eclipse provides complementary information on the physical properties of the uppermost surface layer, which can be used to further investigate these and other processes. We used data from Diviner's seven thermal infrared spectral channels to measure surface temperatures before, during and after the 8 Oct., 2014 eclipse. In its standard nadir-pushbroom mode, Diviner maps surface temperatures in a ~6-km swath with a spatial resolution of ~250 m. Using Diviner's independent scanning capability [11], we also targeted two regions of interest on sequential orbits to create a time series of thermal observations: 1) Kepler crater (-38°E, 8°N) and 2) an unnamed nighttime "cold spot" (-33.3°E, 3°N). Pre-eclipse surface temperatures in these regions were ~380 K. As a relatively young Copernican-aged impact crater, Kepler was selected to investigate the abundance and size distribution of rocks in the ejecta and interior. Lunar nighttime "cold spots" are anomalous features around very young impact craters, extending for up to hundreds of crater radii, notable for their low temperatures in the Diviner nighttime data [9]. Although their origins are not fully explained, they are likely the result of in-situ disruption and decompression of regolith during the impact process. The selected cold spot (one of hundreds or even thousands on the lunar surface) was located with good viewing ge- ometry from LRO, and had a diameter of ~10 km surrounding a crater < 1 km in diameter. At Kepler crater, we observed dramatic differences in the amount of cooling related to the presence of blocky ejecta material. Comparisons of the rock abundance derived from the eclipse measurements can be made to those derived from the standard Diviner diurnal data [2] in order to constrain the rock size distribution. At a small nighttime cold spot, we observed brightness temperatures during the eclipse that were more than 10K higher than those observed in surrounding non-cold-spot regions. This seemingly paradoxical result implies that the vertical stratigraphy of the Moon's near-surface regolith may be more complex than has been previously appreciated. We are in the process of evaluating several possible explanations for this phenomenon quantitatively. References: [1] Paige D. A., et al. (2010) Space Sci. Rev. 150, 125-160. [2] Bandfield J. L., et al. (2011) J. Geophys. Res., 116, E12. [3] Ghent R. R., et al. (2014) Geology, 42 (12), 1059-1062. [4] Paige D. A., et al. (2010) Science, 330, 479-482. [5] Hayne P. O., et al. (2015) Icarus, submitted. [6] Greenhagen B. T., et al. (2010) Science, 329, 1507-1509. [7] Glotch T. D., et al. (2010) Science, 329, 1510-1513. [8] Allen C. C., et al. (2012) J. Geophys. Res., 117, E12. [9] Bandfield J. L., et al. (2014) Icarus, 231, 221-231. [10] Hayne P. O., et al. (2011) AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, p. 1712. [11] Hayne P. O., et al. (2010) Science, 330, 477-479. Acknowledgement: Part of this work was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Spatial Analysis of Skin Cancer Incidence in Iran.

PubMed

Pakzad, Reza; Ghoncheh, Mahshid; Pournamdar, Zahra; Pakzad, Iraj; Momenimovahed, Zohre; Salehiniya, Hamid; Makhsosi, Behnam Reza

2016-01-01

Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, including in Iran. Variations in its incidence rate among geographical areas are due to various contributing factors. Since there has been a lack of studies on this topic in our country, the present spatial analysis of skin cancer incidence in Iran in 2009 was conducted using data from the cancer registry system for the country. The reported incidences of the disease were standardized on the basis of the World Health Organization population and the direct method. Then the data were inserted into the GIS software, and finally, using the analysis of hot spots (Getis-Ord Gi), high-risk areas were drawn. Provinces that were 1.9 SD higher or lower than the national average were considered hot spots or cold spots, with significance at the level of 0.05. In 2009, a total of 9,964 cases of skin cancer occurred, 3,696 in women and 6,268 in men (standardized incidence rates of 15.8 and 22.6, respectively). The results of the study showed that in men and women, the disease demonstrated high incidence in the central provinces and desert regions. In women, Yazd Province and in men, Qom Province had significant hot spots (p =0.05). While Isfahan, Markazi, Tehran and Kurdistan provinces were expected to be hot spots, the differences from the national average were not significant at the 0.05 level. As well, the provinces of Sistan Va Baluchistan, Kerman, and Hormozgan were identified as cold or low-risk disease regions (p <0.05). The central provinces of the country due to hot weather conditions, more solar radiation, and closer vicinity to the central desert of Iran demonstrated higher incidence rates for skin cancer, so further epidemiological studies into the etiology and early detection are essential in these areas.

VIEW OF CEMETERY SECTIONS C AND D, WITH LODGE BUILDING ...

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

VIEW OF CEMETERY SECTIONS C AND D, WITH LODGE BUILDING AT LEFT BACKGROUND AND NEW YORK (8TH NY ARTILLERY) MONUMENT AT RIGHT BACKGROUND. VIEW TO SOUTHEAST. - Cold Harbor National Cemetery, 6038 Cold Harbor Road, Mechanicsville, Hanover County, VA

Variational dynamic background model for keyword spotting in handwritten documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Gaurav; Wshah, Safwan; Govindaraju, Venu

2013-12-01

We propose a bayesian framework for keyword spotting in handwritten documents. This work is an extension to our previous work where we proposed dynamic background model, DBM for keyword spotting that takes into account the local character level scores and global word level scores to learn a logistic regression classifier to separate keywords from non-keywords. In this work, we add a bayesian layer on top of the DBM called the variational dynamic background model, VDBM. The logistic regression classifier uses the sigmoid function to separate keywords from non-keywords. The sigmoid function being neither convex nor concave, exact inference of VDBM becomes intractable. An expectation maximization step is proposed to do approximate inference. The advantage of VDBM over the DBM is multi-fold. Firstly, being bayesian, it prevents over-fitting of data. Secondly, it provides better modeling of data and an improved prediction of unseen data. VDBM is evaluated on the IAM dataset and the results prove that it outperforms our prior work and other state of the art line based word spotting system.

Cosmic background radiation anisotropy in an open inflation, cold dark matter cosmogony

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamionkowski, Marc; Ratra, Bharat; Spergel, David N.; Sugiyama, Naoshi

1994-01-01

We compute the cosmic background radiation anisotropy, produced by energy-density fluctuations generated during an early epoch of inflation, in an open cosmological model based on the cold dark matter scenario. At Omega(sub 0) is approximately 0.3-0.4, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) normalized open model appears to be consistent with most observations.

Extended morphological processing: a practical method for automatic spot detection of biological markers from microscopic images.

PubMed

Kimori, Yoshitaka; Baba, Norio; Morone, Nobuhiro

2010-07-08

A reliable extraction technique for resolving multiple spots in light or electron microscopic images is essential in investigations of the spatial distribution and dynamics of specific proteins inside cells and tissues. Currently, automatic spot extraction and characterization in complex microscopic images poses many challenges to conventional image processing methods. A new method to extract closely located, small target spots from biological images is proposed. This method starts with a simple but practical operation based on the extended morphological top-hat transformation to subtract an uneven background. The core of our novel approach is the following: first, the original image is rotated in an arbitrary direction and each rotated image is opened with a single straight line-segment structuring element. Second, the opened images are unified and then subtracted from the original image. To evaluate these procedures, model images of simulated spots with closely located targets were created and the efficacy of our method was compared to that of conventional morphological filtering methods. The results showed the better performance of our method. The spots of real microscope images can be quantified to confirm that the method is applicable in a given practice. Our method achieved effective spot extraction under various image conditions, including aggregated target spots, poor signal-to-noise ratio, and large variations in the background intensity. Furthermore, it has no restrictions with respect to the shape of the extracted spots. The features of our method allow its broad application in biological and biomedical image information analysis.

Morphological spot counting from stacked images for automated analysis of gene copy numbers by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

PubMed

Grigoryan, Artyom M; Dougherty, Edward R; Kononen, Juha; Bubendorf, Lukas; Hostetter, Galen; Kallioniemi, Olli

2002-01-01

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a molecular diagnostic technique in which a fluorescent labeled probe hybridizes to a target nucleotide sequence of deoxyribose nucleic acid. Upon excitation, each chromosome containing the target sequence produces a fluorescent signal (spot). Because fluorescent spot counting is tedious and often subjective, automated digital algorithms to count spots are desirable. New technology provides a stack of images on multiple focal planes throughout a tissue sample. Multiple-focal-plane imaging helps overcome the biases and imprecision inherent in single-focal-plane methods. This paper proposes an algorithm for global spot counting in stacked three-dimensional slice FISH images without the necessity of nuclei segmentation. It is designed to work in complex backgrounds, when there are agglomerated nuclei, and in the presence of illumination gradients. It is based on the morphological top-hat transform, which locates intensity spikes on irregular backgrounds. After finding signals in the slice images, the algorithm groups these together to form three-dimensional spots. Filters are employed to separate legitimate spots from fluorescent noise. The algorithm is set in a comprehensive toolbox that provides visualization and analytic facilities. It includes simulation software that allows examination of algorithm performance for various image and algorithm parameter settings, including signal size, signal density, and the number of slices.

Self-Generated Magnetic Fields in the Stagnation Phase of Indirect-Drive Implosions on the National Ignition Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, C. A.; Chittenden, J. P.; McGlinchey, K.; Niasse, N. P. L.; Appelbe, B. D.

2017-04-01

Three-dimensional extended-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the stagnation phase of inertial confinement fusion implosion experiments at the National Ignition Facility are presented, showing self-generated magnetic fields over 104 T . Angular high mode-number perturbations develop large magnetic fields, but are localized to the cold, dense hot-spot surface, which is hard to magnetize. When low-mode perturbations are also present, the magnetic fields are injected into the hot core, reaching significant magnetizations, with peak local thermal conductivity reductions greater than 90%. However, Righi-Leduc heat transport effectively cools the hot spot and lowers the neutron spectra-inferred ion temperatures compared to the unmagnetized case. The Nernst effect qualitatively changes the results by demagnetizing the hot-spot core, while increasing magnetizations at the edge and near regions of large heat loss.

Self-Generated Magnetic Fields in the Stagnation Phase of Indirect-Drive Implosions on the National Ignition Facility.

PubMed

Walsh, C A; Chittenden, J P; McGlinchey, K; Niasse, N P L; Appelbe, B D

2017-04-14

Three-dimensional extended-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the stagnation phase of inertial confinement fusion implosion experiments at the National Ignition Facility are presented, showing self-generated magnetic fields over 10^{4}  T. Angular high mode-number perturbations develop large magnetic fields, but are localized to the cold, dense hot-spot surface, which is hard to magnetize. When low-mode perturbations are also present, the magnetic fields are injected into the hot core, reaching significant magnetizations, with peak local thermal conductivity reductions greater than 90%. However, Righi-Leduc heat transport effectively cools the hot spot and lowers the neutron spectra-inferred ion temperatures compared to the unmagnetized case. The Nernst effect qualitatively changes the results by demagnetizing the hot-spot core, while increasing magnetizations at the edge and near regions of large heat loss.

Ignition and pusher adiabat

DOE PAGES

Cheng, B. L.; Kwan, T. J. T.; Wang, Y. M.; ...

2018-05-18

In the last five years, large amounts of high quality experimental data in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) were produced at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). From the NIF data, we have significantly advanced our scientific understanding of the physics of thermonuclear (TN) ignition in ICF and identified the critical physical issues important to achieve ignition, such as implosion energetics, pusher adiabat, tamping effects in fuel confinement, and confinement time. In this article, we will present recently developed TN ignition theory and implosion scaling laws [1, 2] characterizing the thermodynamic properties of the hot spot and the TN ignition metrics atmore » NIF. We compare our theoretical predictions with NIF data with good agreement between theory and experiments. We will also demonstrate the fundamental effects of the pusher adiabat on the energy partition between the cold shell and the hot deuterium-tritium and on the neutron yields of ICF capsules. Applications [3–5] to NIF experiments and physical explanations of the discrepancies among theory, data and simulations will be presented. In our theory, the actual adiabat of the cold DT fuel can be inferred from neutron image data of a burning capsule. With the experimentally inferred hot spot mix, the CH mix in the cold fuel could be estimated, as well as the preheat. Finally, possible path forwards to reach high yields are discussed.« less

Cold hardiness of winter-acclimated Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) adults

Treesearch

A.R. Stephens; M.K. Asplen; W.D. Hutchison; Robert C. Venette

2015-01-01

Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, often called spotted wing drosophila, is an exotic vinegar fly that is native to Southeast Asia and was first detected in the continental United States in 2008. Previous modeling studies have suggested that D. suzukii might not survive in portions of the northern United States or southern Canada...

IR Thermography of International Space Station Radiator Panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koshti, Ajay; Winfree, WIlliam; Morton, Richard; Howell, Patricia

2010-01-01

Several non-flight qualification test radiators were inspected using flash thermography. Flash thermography data analysis used raw and second derivative images to detect anomalies (Echotherm and Mosaic). Simple contrast evolutions were plotted for the detected anomalies to help in anomaly characterization. Many out-of-family indications were noted. Some out-of-family indications were classified as cold spot indications and are due to additional adhesive or adhesive layer behind the facesheet. Some out-of-family indications were classified as hot spot indications and are due to void, unbond or lack of adhesive behind the facesheet. The IR inspection helped in assessing expected manufacturing quality of the radiators.

Comparative proteomic analysis of seedling leaves of cold-tolerant and -sensitive spring soybean cultivars.

PubMed

Tian, Xin; Liu, Ying; Huang, Zhigang; Duan, Huaping; Tong, Jianhua; He, Xiaoling; Gu, Weihong; Ma, Hao; Xiao, Langtao

2015-03-01

Cold stress adversely affects the growth and development of seedling of spring soybean. Revealing responses in seedling to cold stress at proteomic level will help us to breed cold-tolerant spring soybean cultivars. In this study, to understand the responses, a proteomic analysis on the leaves of seedlings of one cold-tolerant soybean cultivar and one cold-sensitive soybean cultivar at 5°C for different times (12 and 24 h) was performed, with some proteomic results being further validated by physiological and biochemical analysis. Our results showed that 57 protein spots were found to be significantly changed in abundance and identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. All the identified proteins were found to be involved in 13 metabolic pathways and cellular processes, including photosynthesis, protein folding and assembly, cell rescue and defense, cytoskeletal proteins, transcription and translation regulation, amino acid and nitrogen metabolism, protein degradation, storage proteins, signal transduction, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, energy metabolism, and unknown. Based on the majority of the identified cold-responsive proteins, the effect of cold stress on seedling leaves of the two spring soybean cultivars was discussed. The reason that soybean cv. Guliqing is more cold-tolerant than soybean cv. Nannong 513 was due to its more protein, lipid and polyamine biosynthesis, more effective sulfur-containing metabolite recycling, and higher photosynthetic rate, as well as less ROS production and lower protein proteolysis and energy depletion under cold stress. Such a result will provide more insights into cold stress responses and for further dissection of cold tolerance mechanisms in spring soybean.

The mechanical properties and microstructures of vanadium bearing high strength dual phase steels processed with continuous galvanizing line simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Yu

For galvanized or galvannealed steels to be commercially successful, they must exhibit several attributes: (i) easy and inexpensive processing in the hot mill, cold mill and on the coating line, (ii) high strength with good formability and spot weldability, and (iii) good corrosion resistance. At the beginning of this thesis, compositions with a common base but containing various additions of V or Nb with or without high N were designed and subjected to Gleeble simulations of different galvanizing(GI), galvannealing(GA) and supercooling processing. The results revealed the phase balance was strongly influenced by the different microalloying additions, while the strengths of each phase were somewhat less affected. Our research revealed that the amount of austenite formed during intercritical annealing can be strongly influenced by the annealing temperature and the pre-annealing conditions of the hot band (coiling temperature) and cold band (% cold reduction). In the late part of this thesis, the base composition was a low carbon steel which would exhibit good spot weldability. To this steel were added two levels of Cr and Mo for strengthening the ferrite and increasing the hardenability of intercritically formed austenite. Also, these steels were produced with and without the addition of vanadium in an effort to further increase the strength. Since earlier studies revealed a relationship between the nature of the starting cold rolled microstructure and the response to CGL processing, the variables of hot band coiling temperature and level of cold reduction prior to annealing were also studied. Finally, in an effort to increase strength and ductility of both the final sheet (general formability) and the sheared edges of cold punched holes (local formability), a new thermal path was developed that replaced the conventional GI ferrite-martensite microstructure with a new ferrite-martensite-tempered martensite and retained austenite microstructure. The new microstructure exhibited a somewhat lower strength but much high general and local formabilities. In this thesis, both the physical and mechanical metallurgy of these steels and processes will be discussed. This research has shown that simple compositions and processes can result in DP steels with so-called Generation III properties.

Cold and Heat Stress Diversely Alter Both Cauliflower Respiration and Distinct Mitochondrial Proteins Including OXPHOS Components and Matrix Enzymes

PubMed Central

Rurek, Michał; Czołpińska, Magdalena; Pawłowski, Tomasz Andrzej; Krzesiński, Włodzimierz; Spiżewski, Tomasz

2018-01-01

Complex proteomic and physiological approaches for studying cold and heat stress responses in plant mitochondria are still limited. Variations in the mitochondrial proteome of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) curds after cold and heat and after stress recovery were assayed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) in relation to mRNA abundance and respiratory parameters. Quantitative analysis of the mitochondrial proteome revealed numerous stress-affected protein spots. In cold, major downregulations in the level of photorespiratory enzymes, porine isoforms, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and some low-abundant proteins were observed. In contrast, carbohydrate metabolism enzymes, heat-shock proteins, translation, protein import, and OXPHOS components were involved in heat response and recovery. Several transcriptomic and metabolic regulation mechanisms are also suggested. Cauliflower plants appeared less susceptible to heat; closed stomata in heat stress resulted in moderate photosynthetic, but only minor respiratory impairments, however, photosystem II performance was unaffected. Decreased photorespiration corresponded with proteomic alterations in cold. Our results show that cold and heat stress not only operate in diverse modes (exemplified by cold-specific accumulation of some heat shock proteins), but exert some associations at molecular and physiological levels. This implies a more complex model of action of investigated stresses on plant mitochondria. PMID:29547512

Cloning, expression and decoding of the cold adaptation of a new widely represented thermolabile subtilisin-like protease.

PubMed

Acevedo, J P; Rodriguez, V; Saavedra, M; Muñoz, M; Salazar, O; Asenjo, J A; Andrews, B A

2013-02-01

Cloning, expression and characterization of a new cold-adapted protease with potential biotechnological application, isolated from Antarctic bacteria. A subtilisin-like gene was isolated from several Antarctic bacterial genus using CODPEHOP-designed primers and a genome walking method. This gene encodes a precursor protein, which undergoes an autocatalytic cleavage resulting in a 34.6 kDa active cold-adapted protease with a maximum activity at 25-35°C and optimum pH of 8.0-9.0. It showed a higher catalytic efficiency at lower temperatures compared to its mesophilic counterpart. Heat-induced inactivation resulted in a very low melting point. Local packing analysis using the homology model indicated Ala284 as an important cold-adaptation determinant, which was corroborated by the site-directed mutagenesis. A new thermolabile subtilisin-like protease has been successfully cloned and analysed, and an important hot spot in the evolution of the cold adaptation and substrate specificity of this enzyme was identified and tested. This work reports a new cold-adapted protease with a vast representation amongst Antarctic genus, suggesting therefore its evolutionary success in this cold environment. Likewise, important sites for genetic potentiation have been identified, which are extrapolated to other enzymes of the same kind. © 2012 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Spatial analysis to identify high risk areas for traffic crashes resulting in death of pedestrians in Tehran

PubMed Central

Moradi, Ali; Soori, Hamid; Kavousi, Amir; Eshghabadi, Farshid; Jamshidi, Ensiyeh; Zeini, Salahdien

2016-01-01

Background: More than 20% of deaths from traffic crashes are related to pedestrians. This figure in Tehran, the capital of Iran, reaches to 40%. This study aimed to determine the high-risk areas and spatially analyze the traffic crashes, causing death to pedestrians in Tehran. Methods: Mapping was used to display the distribution of the crashes. Determining the distribution pattern of crashes and the hot spots/ low-risk areas were done, using Moran’s I index and Getis-Ord G, respectively. Results: A total of 198 crashes were studied; 92 of which, (46.4%) occurred in 2013 to 2014 and other 106 cases (63.6%) occurred in 2014 to 2015. The highest and the lowest frequency of crashes was related to January (26 cases) and June (10 cases), respectively. One hundred fifty- eight cases (79.8%) of crashes occurred in Tehran highways. Moran’s index showed that the studied traffic crashes had a cluster distribution (p<0.001). Getis- Ord General G index indicated that the distribution of hot and cold spots of the studied crashes was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: The majority of traffic crashes causing death to pedestrians occurred in highways located in the main entrances and exits of Tehran. Given the important role of environmental factors in the occurrence of traffic crashes related to pedestrians, identification of these factors requires more studies with casual inferences. PMID:28210615

Spotting effect in microarray experiments

PubMed Central

Mary-Huard, Tristan; Daudin, Jean-Jacques; Robin, Stéphane; Bitton, Frédérique; Cabannes, Eric; Hilson, Pierre

2004-01-01

Background Microarray data must be normalized because they suffer from multiple biases. We have identified a source of spatial experimental variability that significantly affects data obtained with Cy3/Cy5 spotted glass arrays. It yields a periodic pattern altering both signal (Cy3/Cy5 ratio) and intensity across the array. Results Using the variogram, a geostatistical tool, we characterized the observed variability, called here the spotting effect because it most probably arises during steps in the array printing procedure. Conclusions The spotting effect is not appropriately corrected by current normalization methods, even by those addressing spatial variability. Importantly, the spotting effect may alter differential and clustering analysis. PMID:15151695

Medical students’ attitudes and perspectives regarding novel computer-based practical spot tests compared to traditional practical spot tests

PubMed Central

Wijerathne, Buddhika; Rathnayake, Geetha

2013-01-01

Background Most universities currently practice traditional practical spot tests to evaluate students. However, traditional methods have several disadvantages. Computer-based examination techniques are becoming more popular among medical educators worldwide. Therefore incorporating the computer interface in practical spot testing is a novel concept that may minimize the shortcomings of traditional methods. Assessing students’ attitudes and perspectives is vital in understanding how students perceive the novel method. Methods One hundred and sixty medical students were randomly allocated to either a computer-based spot test (n=80) or a traditional spot test (n=80). The students rated their attitudes and perspectives regarding the spot test method soon after the test. The results were described comparatively. Results Students had higher positive attitudes towards the computer-based practical spot test compared to the traditional spot test. Their recommendations to introduce the novel practical spot test method for future exams and to other universities were statistically significantly higher. Conclusions The computer-based practical spot test is viewed as more acceptable to students than the traditional spot test. PMID:26451213

Social huddling and physiological thermoregulation are related to melanism in the nocturnal barn owl.

PubMed

Dreiss, Amélie N; Séchaud, Robin; Béziers, Paul; Villain, Nicolas; Genoud, Michel; Almasi, Bettina; Jenni, Lukas; Roulin, Alexandre

2016-02-01

Endothermic animals vary in their physiological ability to maintain a constant body temperature. Since melanin-based coloration is related to thermoregulation and energy homeostasis, we predict that dark and pale melanic individuals adopt different behaviours to regulate their body temperature. Young animals are particularly sensitive to a decrease in ambient temperature because their physiological system is not yet mature and growth may be traded-off against thermoregulation. To reduce energy loss, offspring huddle during periods of cold weather. We investigated in nestling barn owls (Tyto alba) whether body temperature, oxygen consumption and huddling were associated with melanin-based coloration. Isolated owlets displaying more black feather spots had a lower body temperature and consumed more oxygen than those with fewer black spots. This suggests that highly melanic individuals display a different thermoregulation strategy. This interpretation is also supported by the finding that, at relatively low ambient temperature, owlets displaying more black spots huddled more rapidly and more often than those displaying fewer spots. Assuming that spot number is associated with the ability to thermoregulate not only in Swiss barn owls but also in other Tytonidae, our results could explain geographic variation in the degree of melanism. Indeed, in the northern hemisphere, barn owls and allies are less spotted polewards than close to the equator, and in the northern American continent, barn owls are also less spotted in colder regions. If melanic spots themselves helped thermoregulation, we would have expected the opposite results. We therefore suggest that some melanogenic genes pleiotropically regulate thermoregulatory processes.

Performance of promising clones from Atlantic x Superior and Superior x Snowden populations evaluated in several locations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Atlantic is the standard variety for chipping from the field or very short-term cold storage. It has traits desired by the chip industry such as uniformity, high specific gravity and high yield. However, Atlantic tubers are susceptible to common scab and internal defects such as internal brown spot,...

[Rocky Mountain spotted fever in an American tourist].

PubMed

de Pender, A M G; Bauer, A G C; van Genderen, P J J

2005-04-02

In a 28-year-old male American tourist who presented in the hospital with fever, cold shivers, headache, nausea, myalgia and arthralgia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever was suspected, partly because he came from an endemic region (the state of Georgia). The patient was treated with doxycycline, 100 mg b.i.d.; 9 days after the first appearance of the symptoms, the diagnosis was confirmed by the report of a positive antibody titre against Rickettsia rickettsii. The patient did not have exanthema. He was discharged in good general condition after two weeks of treatment. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, caused by the Gram-negative bacterium R. rickettsii, is a serious rickettsiosis. The disease is seen only sporadically in the Netherlands because the ticks in the Netherlands do not carry the bacterium. The travel history is still not a standard component of the anamnesis and is therefore often forgotten. This can lead to under-diagnosis and delayed treatment of diseases that were formerly limited to the continent. The early recognition and treatment of Rocky Mountain spotted fever is important since delayed treatment is associated with a clear increase in both morbidity and mortality.

Clustering-based spot segmentation of cDNA microarray images.

PubMed

Uslan, Volkan; Bucak, Ihsan Ömür

2010-01-01

Microarrays are utilized as that they provide useful information about thousands of gene expressions simultaneously. In this study segmentation step of microarray image processing has been implemented. Clustering-based methods, fuzzy c-means and k-means, have been applied for the segmentation step that separates the spots from the background. The experiments show that fuzzy c-means have segmented spots of the microarray image more accurately than the k-means.

Wetted Foam Liquid DT Layer ICF Experiments at the NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, R. E.; Leeper, R. J.; Peterson, R. R.; Yi, S. A.; Zylstra, A. B.; Kline, J. L.; Bradley, P. A.; Yin, L.; Wilson, D. C.; Haines, B. M.; Batha, S. H.

2016-10-01

A key physics issue in indirect-drive ICF relates to the understanding of the limitations on hot spot convergence ratio (CR), principally set by the hohlraum drive symmetry, the capsule mounting hardware (the ``tent''), and the capsule fill tube. An additional key physics issue relates to the complex process by which a hot spot must be dynamically formed from the inner ice surface in a DT ice-layer implosion. These physics issues have helped to motivate the development of a new liquid DT layer wetted foam platform at the NIF that provides an ability to form the hot spot from DT vapor and experimentally study and understand hot spot formation at a variety of CR's in the range of 12

Local and sex-specific biases in crossover vs. noncrossover outcomes at meiotic recombination hot spots in mice.

PubMed

de Boer, Esther; Jasin, Maria; Keeney, Scott

2015-08-15

Meiotic recombination initiated by programmed double-strand breaks (DSBs) yields two types of interhomolog recombination products, crossovers and noncrossovers, but what determines whether a DSB will yield a crossover or noncrossover is not understood. In this study, we analyzed the influence of sex and chromosomal location on mammalian recombination outcomes by constructing fine-scale recombination maps in both males and females at two mouse hot spots located in different regions of the same chromosome. These include the most comprehensive maps of recombination hot spots in oocytes to date. One hot spot, located centrally on chromosome 1, behaved similarly in male and female meiosis: Crossovers and noncrossovers formed at comparable levels and ratios in both sexes. In contrast, at a distal hot spot, crossovers were recovered only in males even though noncrossovers were obtained at similar frequencies in both sexes. These findings reveal an example of extreme sex-specific bias in recombination outcome. We further found that estimates of relative DSB levels are surprisingly poor predictors of relative crossover frequencies between hot spots in males. Our results demonstrate that the outcome of mammalian meiotic recombination can be biased, that this bias can vary depending on location and cellular context, and that DSB frequency is not the only determinant of crossover frequency. © 2015 de Boer et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Measuring Solar Radiation Incident on Earth: Solar Constant-3 (SOLCON-3)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crommelynck, Dominique; Joukoff, Alexandre; Dewitte, Steven

2002-01-01

Life on Earth is possible because the climate conditions on Earth are relatively mild. One element of the climate on Earth, the temperature, is determined by the heat exchanges between the Earth and its surroundings, outer space. The heat exchanges take place in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The Earth gains energy because it absorbs solar radiation, and it loses energy because it emits thermal infrared radiation to cold space. The heat exchanges are in balance: the heat gained by the Earth through solar radiation equals the heat lost through thermal radiation. When the balance is perturbed, a temperature change and hence a climate change of the Earth will occur. One possible perturbation of the balance is the CO2 greenhouse effect: when the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, this will reduce the loss of thermal infrared radiation to cold space. Earth will gain more heat and hence the temperature will rise. Another perturbation of the balance can occur through variation of the amount of energy emitted by the sun. When the sun emits more energy, this will directly cause a rise of temperature on Earth. For a long time scientists believed that the energy emitted by the sun was constant. The 'solar constant' is defined as the amount of solar energy received per unit surface at a distance of one astronomical unit (the average distance of Earth's orbit) from the sun. Accurate measurements of the variations of the solar constant have been made since 1978. From these we know that the solar constant varies approximately with the 11-year solar cycle observed in other solar phenomena, such as the occurrence of sunspots, dark spots that are sometimes visible on the solar surface. When a sunspot occurs on the sun, since the spot is dark, the radiation (light) emitted by the sun drops instantaneously. Oddly, periods of high solar activity, when a lot of sunspot numbers increase, correspond to periods when the average solar constant is high. This indicates that the background on which the sunspots occur becomes brighter during high solar activity.

Comparative Study of Early Cold-Regulated Proteins by Two-Dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis Reveals a Key Role for Phospholipase Dα1 in Mediating Cold Acclimation Signaling Pathway in Rice.

PubMed

Huo, Chenmin; Zhang, Baowen; Wang, Hui; Wang, Fawei; Liu, Meng; Gao, Yingjie; Zhang, Wenhua; Deng, Zhiping; Sun, Daye; Tang, Wenqiang

2016-04-01

To understand the early signaling steps that regulate cold responses in rice, two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE)(1)was used to study early cold-regulated proteins in rice seedlings. Using mass spectrometry, 32 spots, which represent 26 unique proteins that showed an altered expression level within 5 min of cold treatment were identified. Among these proteins, Western blot analyses confirmed that the cellular phospholipase D α1 (OsPLDα1) protein level was increased as early as 1 min after cold treatment. Genetic studies showed that reducing the expression ofOsPLDα1makes rice plants more sensitive to chilling stress as well as cold acclimation increased freezing tolerance. Correspondingly, cold-regulated proteomic changes and the expression of the cold-responsive C repeat/dehydration-responsive element binding 1 (OsDREB1) family of transcription factors were inhibited in thepldα1mutant. We also found that the expression ofOsPLDα1is directly regulated by OsDREB1A. This transcriptional regulation ofOsPLDα1could provide positive feedback regulation of the cold signal transduction pathway in rice. OsPLDα1 hydrolyzes phosphatidylcholine to produce the signal molecule phosphatidic acid (PA). By lipid-overlay assay, we demonstrated that the rice cold signaling proteins, MAP kinase 6 (OsMPK6) and OsSIZ1, bind directly to PA. Taken together, our results suggest that OsPLDα1 plays a key role in transducing cold signaling in rice by producing PA and regulatingOsDREB1s' expression by OsMPK6, OsSIZ1, and possibly other PA-binding proteins. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

IN12-UFO: new frontiers for cold triple-axis spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Wolfgang; Ohl, Michael

2006-11-01

The IN12 instrument is operated by the Research Centre at Jülich in collaboration with CEA Grenoble as a CRG-B instrument at the Institute Laue Langevin in Grenoble. As a triple-axis spectrometer for cold neutrons it is dedicated for high-resolution studies of low-energy excitations. To meet further challenges as a state-of-the-art instrument we will now upgrade IN12 with a multi-analyzer option. IN12 will then be equipped with a large 2-dimensional position sensitive detector and an array of 15 individual analyser blades which can be rotated and positioned separately in order to map the scattered beam on a user-chosen path in Q- ω-space. We refer to this set-up as IN12-UFO (Universal Focusing Option). The innovative flexibility of the analyzer array is realized by completely non-magnetic drive mechanisms where all relevant parameters are controlled by an absolute encoding system. This mechanics allows to position the individual analyzers so that (a) there are no gaps or overlaps as seen from the sample (optimum coverage) and (b) all reflected beams from the analyzers meet at one single focus point on their way to different spots on the detector surface. The focus point is controlled by a movable diaphragm and provides the only opening between analyzer and detector shielding to prevent cross-talk and to keep the background low. We will present further details of this set-up and demonstrate its flexibility and multiplex advantages for specific physical applications.

Probabilistic segmentation and intensity estimation for microarray images.

PubMed

Gottardo, Raphael; Besag, Julian; Stephens, Matthew; Murua, Alejandro

2006-01-01

We describe a probabilistic approach to simultaneous image segmentation and intensity estimation for complementary DNA microarray experiments. The approach overcomes several limitations of existing methods. In particular, it (a) uses a flexible Markov random field approach to segmentation that allows for a wider range of spot shapes than existing methods, including relatively common 'doughnut-shaped' spots; (b) models the image directly as background plus hybridization intensity, and estimates the two quantities simultaneously, avoiding the common logical error that estimates of foreground may be less than those of the corresponding background if the two are estimated separately; and (c) uses a probabilistic modeling approach to simultaneously perform segmentation and intensity estimation, and to compute spot quality measures. We describe two approaches to parameter estimation: a fast algorithm, based on the expectation-maximization and the iterated conditional modes algorithms, and a fully Bayesian framework. These approaches produce comparable results, and both appear to offer some advantages over other methods. We use an HIV experiment to compare our approach to two commercial software products: Spot and Arrayvision.

African hot spot volcanism: small-scale convection in the upper mantle beneath cratons.

PubMed

King, S D; Ritsema, J

2000-11-10

Numerical models demonstrate that small-scale convection develops in the upper mantle beneath the transition of thick cratonic lithosphere and thin oceanic lithosphere. These models explain the location and geochemical characteristics of intraplate volcanos on the African and South American plates. They also explain the presence of relatively high seismic shear wave velocities (cold downwellings) in the mantle transition zone beneath the western margin of African cratons and the eastern margin of South American cratons. Small-scale, edge-driven convection is an alternative to plumes for explaining intraplate African and South American hot spot volcanism, and small-scale convection is consistent with mantle downwellings beneath the African and South American lithosphere.

The flip-over effect in pulsed laser deposition: Is it relevant at high background gas pressures?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ojeda-G-P, Alejandro; Schneider, Christof W.; Döbeli, Max; Lippert, Thomas; Wokaun, Alexander

2015-12-01

In pulsed laser deposition the use of a rectangular or elliptical beam spot with a non 1:1 aspect ratio leads to the so called flip-over effect. Here, the longest dimension of the laser spot results in the shortest direction of plasma plume expansion. This effect has been mainly reported for vacuum depositions of single element targets and is particularly noticeable when the aspect ratio of the beam spot is large. We investigate the flip-over effect in vacuum and at three relevant background-gas pressures for pulsed laser deposition using a La0.4Ca0.6MnO3 target by measuring the thickness dependence of the deposited material as a function of angle. The film thicknesses and compositions are determined by Rutherford backscattering and argon is used to reduce the influence of additional chemical reactions in the plasma. The results show the prevalence of the flip-over effect for all pressures except for the highest, i.e. 1 × 10-1 mbar, where the film thickness is constant for all angles. The composition profiles show noticeable compositional variations of up to 30% with respect to the target material depending on the background gas pressure, the angular location, and the laser spot dimensions.

Unique Bioreactor Finds Algae's Sweet Spot | News | NREL

Science.gov Websites

warmer nights of Arizona look more conducive to optimal growth than the high desert climate and very cold high-energy organic molecules. It's a change that can be seen over the course of a few days. "Once respond to light energy. Early on, the protein content is high; then carbohydrates have their day in the

Thermal structure and dynamics of the Jovian Atmosphere. 1: The Great Red Spot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flasar, F. M.; Cunrath, B. J.; Pirraglia, J. A.; Clark, P. C.; French, R. G.; Gierasch, P. J.

1980-01-01

Temperatures and thermal winds, derived from Voyager infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) data over the Great Red Spot (GRS) and its environs, are presented. The atmosphere over the GRS is characterized by a tropopause which is cold relative to its environment and an upper stratosphere which is relatively warm. The cold tropopause implies a decrease in anticyclonic vorticity with height above 500 mb through the lower stratosphere. IRIS observations at 5 microns indicate little emission from the GRS itself, but enhanced emission in a ring about it, in agreement with recent ground based results. The behavior of the tropopause and 5 micron temperatures can be consistently interpreted as resulting from a circulation which rises within the GRS and subsides in the area around it. The explanation of the upper stratospheric temperatures is not so straightforward. A previous suggestion that they may be a manifestation of the linear vertical propagation of Rossby waves appears inconsistent with the gross east-west symmetry in the stratospheric temperatures over the GRS. The implications of the present results for various theoretical models of the GRS are examined, and the possibility that latent heat release drives the GRS is discussed.

Performance of low-voltage STEM/TEM with delta corrector and cold field emission gun.

PubMed

Sasaki, Takeo; Sawada, Hidetaka; Hosokawa, Fumio; Kohno, Yuji; Tomita, Takeshi; Kaneyama, Toshikatsu; Kondo, Yukihito; Kimoto, Koji; Sato, Yuta; Suenaga, Kazu

2010-08-01

To reduce radiation damage caused by the electron beam and to obtain high-contrast images of specimens, we have developed a highly stabilized transmission electron microscope equipped with a cold field emission gun and spherical aberration correctors for image- and probe-forming systems, which operates at lower acceleration voltages than conventional transmission electron microscopes. A delta-type aberration corrector is designed to simultaneously compensate for third-order spherical aberration and fifth-order 6-fold astigmatism. Both were successfully compensated in both scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) modes in the range 30-60 kV. The Fourier transforms of raw high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) images of a Si[110] sample revealed spots corresponding to lattice spacings of 111 and 96 pm at 30 and 60 kV, respectively, and those of raw TEM images of an amorphous Ge film with gold particles showed spots corresponding to spacings of 91 and 79 pm at 30 and 60 kV, respectively. Er@C(82)-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are carbon-based samples, were successfully observed by HAADF-STEM imaging with an atomic-level resolution.

System-dependent regulations of colour-pattern development: a mutagenesis study of the pale grass blue butterfly

PubMed Central

Iwata, Masaki; Hiyama, Atsuki; Otaki, Joji M.

2013-01-01

Developmental studies on wing colour patterns have been performed in nymphalid butterflies, but efficient genetic manipulations, including mutagenesis, have not been well established. Here, we have performed mutagenesis experiments in a lycaenid butterfly, the pale grass blue Zizeeria maha, to produce colour-pattern mutants. We fed the P-generation larvae an artificial diet containing the mutagen ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), and the F1- and F2-generation adults showed various aberrant colour patterns: dorsoventral transformation, anterioposterior background colouration gap, weak contrast, disarrangement of spots, reduction of the size of spots, loss of spots, fusion of spots, and ectopic spots. Among them, the disarrangement, reduction, and loss of spots were likely produced by the coordinated changes of many spots of a single wing around the discal spot in a system-dependent manner, demonstrating the existence of the central symmetry system. The present study revealed multiple genetic regulations for system-dependent and wing-wide colour-pattern determination in lycaenid butterflies. PMID:23917124

Effect of Extreme Cold Treatment on Morphology and Behavior of Hydrogels and Microgels (Poster Session)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-20

UNCLASSIFIED Effect of Extreme Cold Treatment on Morphology and Behavior of Hydrogels and Microgels BACKGROUND • Stimuli responsive hydrogel systems...particularly for cold weather and Arctic uniforms, • The effect of extreme cold on gel responsiveness however is not well studied • This project seeks...to understand the effect of cold temperature ( down to -80 ° C) on hydrogel and microgel particles properties and response to thermal stimuli • We

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

Kinney, William H., E-mail: whkinney@buffalo.edu

We consider observational limits on a proposed model of the string landscape in inflation. In this scenario, effects from the decoherence of entangled quantum states in long-wavelength modes in the universe result in modifications to the Friedmann Equation and a corresponding modification to inflationary dynamics. Previous work [1, 2] suggested that such effects could provide an explanation for well-known anomalies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), such as the lack of power on large scales and the ''cold spot'' seen by both the WMAP and Planck satellites. In this paper, we compute limits on these entanglement effects from the Planckmore » CMB data combined with the BICEP/Keck polarization measurement, and find no evidence for observable modulations to the power spectrum from landscape entanglement, and no sourcing of observable CMB anomalies. The originally proposed model with an exponential potential is ruled out to high significance. Assuming a Starobinsky-type R {sup 2} inflation model, which is consistent with CMB constraints, data place a 2σ lower bound of b > 6.46 × 10{sup 7} GeV on the Supersymmetry breaking scale associated with entanglement corrections.« less

Investigation of the use of thermography for research and clinical applications in pregnant women

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topalidou, Anastasia; Downe, Soo

2016-03-01

Background: The possibility of using thermal imaging, as a non-invasive method, in medicine may provide potential ability of advanced imaging. Objective: The conduction of a preliminary study in healthy non-pregnant females in order to investigate the imaging ability of thermography and its implementation; and to determine hot and cold areas in order to create a "map" of temperature distribution of the abdomen and the torso. Methods: Participants were 18-45 years old non-pregnant women (n = 10), who were measured at 4 different distances. Two thermal imaging cameras and their corresponding software were used to measure abdomen, low back, left and right side of the torso. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean values of the exported temperatures according the distance and the angle between the camera and the subject. The inferior part of the rectus abdominis muscle recorded the coldest zone and the umbilicus appeared as the most prominent hot spot. Conclusions: Thermography shows to be a potential non-invasive technique offering new options in the evaluation of pregnant and laboring women.

From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2008-01-01

The Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago started the expansion of our piece of the universe, and portions of it stopped expanding and made stars, galaxies, planets, and people. I summarize the history of the universe, and explain how humans have learned about its size, its expansion, and its constituents. The COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) mission measured the remnant heat radiation from the Big Bang, showed that its color (spectrum) matches the predictions perfectly, and discovered hot and cold spots in the radiation that reveal the primordial density variations that enabled us to exist. My current project, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is the planned successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and will extend its scientific discoveries to ever greater distances and ever closer to the Big Bang itself. Its infrared capabilities enable it to see inside dust clouds to study the formation of stars and planets, and it may reveal the atmospheric properties of planets around other stars. Planned for launch in 2013, it is an international project led by NASA along with the European and Canadian Space Agencies.

Magnetic dipole discharges. II. Cathode and anode spot discharges and probe diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stenzel, R. L.; Urrutia, J. M.; Ionita, C.; Schrittwieser, R.

2013-08-01

The high current regime of a magnetron-type discharge has been investigated. The discharge uses a permanent magnet as a cold cathode which emits secondary electrons while the chamber wall or a grounded electrode serves as the anode. As the discharge voltage is increased, the magnet develops cathode spots, which are short duration arcs that provide copious electrons to increase the discharge current dramatically. Short (1 μs), high current (200 A) and high voltage (750 V) discharge pulses are produced in a relaxation instability between the plasma and a charging capacitor. Spots are also observed on a negatively biased plane Langmuir probe. The probe current pulses are as large as those on the magnet, implying that the high discharge current does not depend on the cathode surface area but on the properties of the spots. The fast current pulses produce large inductive voltages, which can reverse the electrical polarity of the magnet and temporarily operate it as an anode. The discharge current may also oscillate at the frequency determined by the charging capacitor and the discharge circuit inductance. Each half cycle of high-current current pulses exhibits a fast (≃10 ns) current rise when a spot is formed. It induces high frequency (10-100 MHz) transients and ringing oscillations in probes and current circuits. Most probes behave like unmatched antennas for the electromagnetic pulses of spot discharges. Examples are shown to distinguish the source of oscillations and some rf characteristics of Langmuir probes.

Remote laser evaporative molecular absorption spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, Gary B.; Lubin, Philip; Cohen, Alexander; Madajian, Jonathan; Kulkarni, Neeraj; Zhang, Qicheng; Griswold, Janelle; Brashears, Travis

2016-09-01

We describe a novel method for probing bulk molecular and atomic composition of solid targets from a distant vantage. A laser is used to melt and vaporize a spot on the target. With sufficient flux, the spot temperature rises rapidly, and evaporation of surface materials occurs. The melted spot creates a high-temperature blackbody source, and ejected material creates a plume of surface materials in front of the spot. Molecular and atomic absorption occurs as the blackbody radiation passes through the ejected plume. Bulk molecular and atomic composition of the surface material is investigated by using a spectrometer to view the heated spot through the ejected plume. The proposed method is distinct from current stand-off approaches to composition analysis, such as Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), which atomizes and ionizes target material and observes emission spectra to determine bulk atomic composition. Initial simulations of absorption profiles with laser heating show great promise for Remote Laser-Evaporative Molecular Absorption (R-LEMA) spectroscopy. The method is well-suited for exploration of cold solar system targets—asteroids, comets, planets, moons—such as from a spacecraft orbiting the target. Spatial composition maps could be created by scanning the surface. Applying the beam to a single spot continuously produces a borehole or trench, and shallow subsurface composition profiling is possible. This paper describes system concepts for implementing the proposed method to probe the bulk molecular composition of an asteroid from an orbiting spacecraft, including laser array, photovoltaic power, heating and ablation, plume characteristics, absorption, spectrometry and data management.

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

Yu, Juan; Beltran, Chris J., E-mail: beltran.chris@mayo.edu; Herman, Michael G.

Purpose: To quantitatively and systematically assess dosimetric effects induced by spot positioning error as a function of spot spacing (SS) on intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plan quality and to facilitate evaluation of safety tolerance limits on spot position. Methods: Spot position errors (PE) ranging from 1 to 2 mm were simulated. Simple plans were created on a water phantom, and IMPT plans were calculated on two pediatric patients with a brain tumor of 28 and 3 cc, respectively, using a commercial planning system. For the phantom, a uniform dose was delivered to targets located at different depths from 10 tomore » 20 cm with various field sizes from 2{sup 2} to 15{sup 2} cm{sup 2}. Two nominal spot sizes, 4.0 and 6.6 mm of 1 σ in water at isocenter, were used for treatment planning. The SS ranged from 0.5 σ to 1.5 σ, which is 2–6 mm for the small spot size and 3.3–9.9 mm for the large spot size. Various perturbation scenarios of a single spot error and systematic and random multiple spot errors were studied. To quantify the dosimetric effects, percent dose error (PDE) depth profiles and the value of percent dose error at the maximum dose difference (PDE [ΔDmax]) were used for evaluation. Results: A pair of hot and cold spots was created per spot shift. PDE[ΔDmax] is found to be a complex function of PE, SS, spot size, depth, and global spot distribution that can be well defined in simple models. For volumetric targets, the PDE [ΔDmax] is not noticeably affected by the change of field size or target volume within the studied ranges. In general, reducing SS decreased the dose error. For the facility studied, given a single spot error with a PE of 1.2 mm and for both spot sizes, a SS of 1σ resulted in a 2% maximum dose error; a SS larger than 1.25 σ substantially increased the dose error and its sensitivity to PE. A similar trend was observed in multiple spot errors (both systematic and random errors). Systematic PE can lead to noticeable hot spots along the field edges, which may be near critical structures. However, random PE showed minimal dose error. Conclusions: Dose error dependence for PE was quantitatively and systematically characterized and an analytic tool was built to simulate systematic and random errors for patient-specific IMPT. This information facilitates the determination of facility specific spot position error thresholds.« less

Integrative “omic” analysis reveals distinctive cold responses in leaves and roots of strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa ‘Korona’

PubMed Central

Koehler, Gage; Rohloff, Jens; Wilson, Robert C.; Kopka, Joachim; Erban, Alexander; Winge, Per; Bones, Atle M.; Davik, Jahn; Alsheikh, Muath K.; Randall, Stephen K.

2015-01-01

To assess underlying metabolic processes and regulatory mechanisms during cold exposure of strawberry, integrative “omic” approaches were applied to Fragaria × ananassa Duch. ‘Korona.’ Both root and leaf tissues were examined for responses to the cold acclimation processes. Levels of metabolites, proteins, and transcripts in tissues from plants grown at 18°C were compared to those following 1–10 days of cold (2°C) exposure. When leaves and roots were subjected to GC/TOF-MS-based metabolite profiling, about 160 compounds comprising mostly structurally annotated primary and secondary metabolites, were found. Overall, ‘Korona’ showed a modest increase of protective metabolites such as amino acids (aspartic acid, leucine, isoleucine, and valine), pentoses, phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated hexoses, and distinct compounds of the raffinose pathway (galactinol and raffinose). Distinctive responses were observed in roots and leaves. By 2DE proteomics a total of 845 spots were observed in leaves; 4.6% changed significantly in response to cold. Twenty-one proteins were identified, many of which were associated with general metabolism or photosynthesis. Transcript levels in leaves were determined by microarray, where dozens of cold associated transcripts were quantitatively characterized, and levels of several potential key contributors (e.g., the dehydrin COR47 and GADb) to cold tolerance were confirmed by qRT-PCR. Cold responses are placed within the existing knowledge base of low temperature-induced changes in plants, allowing an evaluation of the uniqueness or generality of Fragaria responses in photosynthetic tissues. Overall, the cold response characteristics of ‘Korona’ are consistent with a moderately cold tolerant plant. PMID:26528299

MASQOT: a method for cDNA microarray spot quality control

PubMed Central

Bylesjö, Max; Eriksson, Daniel; Sjödin, Andreas; Sjöström, Michael; Jansson, Stefan; Antti, Henrik; Trygg, Johan

2005-01-01

Background cDNA microarray technology has emerged as a major player in the parallel detection of biomolecules, but still suffers from fundamental technical problems. Identifying and removing unreliable data is crucial to prevent the risk of receiving illusive analysis results. Visual assessment of spot quality is still a common procedure, despite the time-consuming work of manually inspecting spots in the range of hundreds of thousands or more. Results A novel methodology for cDNA microarray spot quality control is outlined. Multivariate discriminant analysis was used to assess spot quality based on existing and novel descriptors. The presented methodology displays high reproducibility and was found superior in identifying unreliable data compared to other evaluated methodologies. Conclusion The proposed methodology for cDNA microarray spot quality control generates non-discrete values of spot quality which can be utilized as weights in subsequent analysis procedures as well as to discard spots of undesired quality using the suggested threshold values. The MASQOT approach provides a consistent assessment of spot quality and can be considered an alternative to the labor-intensive manual quality assessment process. PMID:16223442

Using spatial analysis to demonstrate the heterogeneity of the cardiovascular drug-prescribing pattern in Taiwan

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Geographic Information Systems (GIS) combined with spatial analytical methods could be helpful in examining patterns of drug use. Little attention has been paid to geographic variation of cardiovascular prescription use in Taiwan. The main objective was to use local spatial association statistics to test whether or not the cardiovascular medication-prescribing pattern is homogenous across 352 townships in Taiwan. Methods The statistical methods used were the global measures of Moran's I and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). While Moran's I provides information on the overall spatial distribution of the data, LISA provides information on types of spatial association at the local level. LISA statistics can also be used to identify influential locations in spatial association analysis. The major classes of prescription cardiovascular drugs were taken from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), which has a coverage rate of over 97%. The dosage of each prescription was converted into defined daily doses to measure the consumption of each class of drugs. Data were analyzed with ArcGIS and GeoDa at the township level. Results The LISA statistics showed an unusual use of cardiovascular medications in the southern townships with high local variation. Patterns of drug use also showed more low-low spatial clusters (cold spots) than high-high spatial clusters (hot spots), and those low-low associations were clustered in the rural areas. Conclusions The cardiovascular drug prescribing patterns were heterogeneous across Taiwan. In particular, a clear pattern of north-south disparity exists. Such spatial clustering helps prioritize the target areas that require better education concerning drug use. PMID:21609462

Topology and the universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gott, J. Richard, III

1998-09-01

Topology may play an important role in cosmology in several different ways. First, Einstein's field equations tell us about the local geometry of the universe but not about its topology. Therefore, the universe may be multiply connected. Inflation predicts that the fluctuations that made clusters and groups of galaxies arose from random quantum fluctuations in the early universe. These should be Gaussian random phase. This can be tested by quantitatively measuring the topology of large-scale structure in the universe using the genus statistic. If the original fluctuations were Gaussian random phase then the structure we see today should have a spongelike topology. A number of studies by our group and others have shown that this is indeed the case. Future tests using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey should be possible. Microwave background fluctuations should also exhibit a characteristic symmetric pattern of hot and cold spots. The COBE data are consistent with this pattern and the MAP and PLANCK satellites should provide a definitive test. If the original inflationary state was metastable then it should decay by making an infinite number of open inflationary bubble universes. This model makes a specific prediction for the power spectrum of fluctuations in the microwave background which can be checked by the MAP and PLANCK satellites. Finally, Gott and Li have proposed how a multiply connected cosmology with an early epoch of closed timelike curves might allow the universe to be its own mother.

Do owls use torpor? Winter thermoregulation in free-ranging pearl-spotted owlets and African scops-owls.

PubMed

Smit, Ben; McKechnie, Andrew E

2010-01-01

Numerous avian taxa use torpor, which involves pronounced reductions in body temperature (T(b)) to below normothermic levels. However, the occurrence of this phenomenon in owls (Strigidae) remains largely unknown. We investigated winter patterns of thermoregulation in the crepuscular 80-g pearl-spotted owlet Glaucidium perlatum and the strictly nocturnal 61-g African scops-owl Otus senegalensis by obtaining telemetric measurements of skin temperature (T(skin)) from free-ranging individuals in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa. Pearl-spotted owlets remained homeothermic throughout the study period, whereas African scops-owls routinely used shallow torpor, with T(skin) reduced by 3.3 degrees -8.6 degrees C (pooled mean, 5.3+/- 1.1 degrees C) below normothermic levels for 3-4 h after sunrise. The mean lowest T(skin) recorded in three African scops-owl individuals was 29.0 degrees C +/- 0.1 degrees C. The thermoregulatory differences between these two species may be related to their diets and activity patterns. African scops-owls are almost exclusively insectivorous and experience a marked reduction in food availability on cold winter nights. In contrast, pearl-spotted owlets have more flexible activity patterns and include larger or diurnal vertebrate prey in their diet.

New Binary Systems With Asymmetric Light Curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virnina, Natalia A.

2010-12-01

We present the results of investigation of the light curves of 27 newly discovered binary systems. Among the examined curves, there were 10 curves with statistically significant asymmetry of maximums, according the 3σ criterion for the difference between the maximal brightness. Half of these 10 curves have a higher first maximum, another half the second one. Two of these 10 curves, USNO-B1.0 1629-0064825 = VSX J052807.9+725606 and USNO-B1.0 1586-0116785, show the largest difference between magnitudes in maxima. The star VSX J052807.9+725606 also shows the secondary minimum, which is shifted from the phase φ = 0.5. The shape of the curve argues that the physical processes of this star could be close to that of well known short periodic binary system V361 Lyr, which has a spot on the surface of one star of the system. Another star, USNO-B1.0 1586-0116785, probably has a cold spot, or several spots, in the photosphere of one of the components.

Absorptivity modulation on wavy molten steel surfaces: The influence of laser wavelength and angle of incidence

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

Kaplan, A. F. H.

The modulation of the angle-dependent Fresnel absorptivity across wavy molten steel surfaces during laser materials processing, like drilling, cutting, or welding, has been calculated. The absorptivity is strongly altered by the grazing angle of incidence of the laser beam on the processing front. Owing to its specific Brewster-peak characteristics, the 10.64 {mu}m wavelength CO{sub 2}-laser shows an opposite trend with respect to roughness and angle-of-incidence compared to lasers in the wavelength range of 532-1070 nm. Plateaus or rings of Brewster-peak absorptivity can lead to hot spots on a wavy surface, often in close proximity to cold spots caused by shadowmore » domains.« less

Integrating species distributional, conservation planning, and individual based population models: A case study in critical habitat evaluation for the Northern Spotted Owl

EPA Science Inventory

Background / Question / Methods As part of the ongoing northern spotted owl recovery planning effort, we evaluated a series of alternative potential critical habitat scenarios using a species-distribution model (MaxEnt), a conservation-planning model (Zonation), and an individua...

Automatic image analysis and spot classification for detection of fruit fly infestation in hyperspectral images of mangoes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An algorithm has been developed to identify spots generated in hyperspectral images of mangoes infested with fruit fly larvae. The algorithm incorporates background removal, application of a Gaussian blur, thresholding, and particle count analysis to identify locations of infestations. Each of the f...

78 FR 44588 - Experimental Removal of Barred Owls To Benefit Threatened Northern Spotted Owls; Final...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-24

... experimental design, duration of the study, and the method of barred owl removal. Background The Service listed... and nonlethal), and the type of experimental design (demography vs. occupancy). All action...-FF01E00000] Experimental Removal of Barred Owls To Benefit Threatened Northern Spotted Owls; Final...

Chronic Mild Cold Conditioning Modulates the Expression of Hypothalamic Neuropeptide and Intermediary Metabolic-related Genes and Improves Growth Performances in Young Chicks

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Low environmental temperatures are among the most challenging stressors in poultry industries. Although landmark studies using acute severe cold exposure have been conducted, still the molecular mechanisms underlying cold-stress responses in birds are not completely defined. In the pre...

High resolution as a key feature to perform accurate ELISPOT measurements using Zeiss KS ELISPOT readers.

PubMed

Malkusch, Wolf

2005-01-01

The enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay was originally developed for the detection of individual antibody secreting B-cells. Since then, the method has been improved, and ELISPOT is used for the determination of the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interferon (IFN)-gamma, or various interleukins (IL)-4, IL-5. ELISPOT measurements are performed in 96-well plates with nitrocellulose membranes either visually or by means of image analysis. Image analysis offers various procedures to overcome variable background intensity problems and separate true from false spots. ELISPOT readers offer a complete solution for precise and automatic evaluation of ELISPOT assays. Number, size, and intensity of each single spot can be determined, printed, or saved for further statistical evaluation. Cytokine spots are always round, but because of floating edges with the background, they have a nonsmooth borderline. Resolution is a key feature for a precise detection of ELISPOT. In standard applications shape and edge steepness are essential parameters in addition to size and color for an accurate spot recognition. These parameters need a minimum spot diameter of 6 pixels. Collecting one single image per well with a standard color camera with 750 x 560 pixels will result in a resolution much too low to get all of the spots in a specimen. IFN-gamma spots may have only 25 microm diameters, and TNF-alpha spots just 15 microm. A 750 x 560 pixel image of a 6-mm well has a pixel size of 12 microm, resulting in only 1 or 2 pixel for a spot. Using a precise microscope optic in combination with a high resolution (1300 x 1030 pixel) integrating digital color camera, and at least 2 x 2 images per well will result in a pixel size of 2.5 microm and, as a minimum, 6 pixel diameter per spot. New approaches try to detect two cytokines per cell at the same time (i.e., IFN-gamma and IL-5). Standard staining procedures produce brownish spots (horseradish peroxidase) and blue spots (alkaline phosphatase). Problems may occur with color overlaps from cells producing both cytokines, resulting in violet spots. The latest experiments therefore try to use fluorescence labels as a marker. Fluorescein isothiocyanate results in green spots and Rhodamine in red spots. Cells producing both cytokines appear yellow. These colors can be separated much easier than the violet, red, and blue, especially using a high resolution.

Cold dark matter confronts the cosmic microwave background - Large-angular-scale anisotropies in Omega sub 0 + lambda 1 models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorski, Krzysztof M.; Silk, Joseph; Vittorio, Nicola

1992-01-01

A new technique is used to compute the correlation function for large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies resulting from both the space and time variations in the gravitational potential in flat, vacuum-dominated, cold dark matter cosmological models. Such models with Omega sub 0 of about 0.2, fit the excess power, relative to the standard cold dark matter model, observed in the large-scale galaxy distribution and allow a high value for the Hubble constant. The low order multipoles and quadrupole anisotropy that are potentially observable by COBE and other ongoing experiments should definitively test these models.

All or nothing: Survival, reproduction and oxidative balance in Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) in response to cold.

PubMed

Plantamp, Christophe; Salort, Katleen; Gibert, Patricia; Dumet, Adeline; Mialdea, Gladys; Mondy, Nathalie; Voituron, Yann

2016-06-01

Winter severity and overwintering capacity are key ecological factors in successful invasions, especially in ectotherms. The integration of physiological approaches into the study of invasion processes is emerging and promising. Physiological information describes the mechanisms underlying observed survival and reproductive capacities, and it can be used to predict an organism's response to environmental perturbations such as cold temperatures. We investigated the effects of various cold treatments on life history and physiological traits of an invasive pest species, Drosophila suzukii, such as survival, fertility and oxidative balance. This species, a native of temperate Asian areas, is known to survive where cold temperatures are particularly harsh and has been recently introduced into Europe and North America. We found that cold treatments had a strong impact on adult survival but no effect on female's fertility. Although only minor changes were observed after cold treatment on studied physiological traits, a strong sex-based difference was observed in both survival and physiological markers (antioxidant defences and oxidative markers). Females exhibited higher survival, reduced oxidative defences, less damage to nucleic acids, and more damage to lipids. These results suggest that D. suzukii relies on a pathway other than oxidative balance to resist cold injury. Altogether, our results provide information concerning the mechanisms of successful invasion by D. suzukii. These findings may assist in the development of population models that predict the current and future geographic ranges of this species. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Repeatability of a cold stress test to assess cold sensitization.

PubMed

House, C M; Taylor, R J; Oakley, E H N

2015-10-01

Non-freezing cold injury (NFCI) is a syndrome in which damage to peripheral tissues occurs without the tissues freezing following exposure to low ambient temperatures. To assess the test-retest reliability of a cold stress test (CST) used to assess cold sensitization. Volunteers with no self-reported history of NFCI undertook the CST on three occasions. Thermal images were taken of the foot and hand before, immediately after and 5min after immersion of the limb in cold water for 2min. Cold sensitization was graded by the two clinicians and the lead author. Spot temperatures from the toe and finger pads were recorded. There were 30 white and 19 black male participants. The ratings indicated substantial agreement [a Cohen's kappa (κ) value of 0.61-0.8] to within ± one grading category for the hands and feet of the white volunteers and the hands of the black volunteers. Limits of agreement (LoA) analysis for toe and finger pad temperatures indicated high agreement (absolute 95% LoA < 5.5°C). Test-retest reliability for the feet of the black volunteers was not supported by the gradings (κ = 0.38) and toe pad temperatures (absolute 95% LoA = 9.5°C and coefficient of variation = 11%). The test-retest reliability of the CST is considered adequate for the assessment of the cold sensitization of the hands and feet of white and the hands of black healthy non-patients. The study should be repeated with patients who have suffered a NFCI. © Crown copyright 2015.

Mass-transport limitations in spot-based microarrays.

PubMed

Zhao, Ming; Wang, Xuefeng; Nolte, David

2010-09-20

Mass transport of analyte to surface-immobilized affinity reagents is the fundamental bottleneck for sensitive detection in solid-support microarrays and biosensors. Analyte depletion in the volume adjacent to the sensor causes deviation from ideal association, significantly slows down reaction kinetics, and causes inhomogeneous binding across the sensor surface. In this paper we use high-resolution molecular interferometric imaging (MI2), a label-free optical interferometry technique for direct detection of molecular films, to study the inhomogeneous distribution of intra-spot binding across 100 micron-diameter protein spots. By measuring intra-spot binding inhomogeneity, reaction kinetics can be determined accurately when combined with a numerical three-dimensional finite element model. To ensure homogeneous binding across a spot, a critical flow rate is identified in terms of the association rate k(a) and the spot diameter. The binding inhomogeneity across a spot can be used to distinguish high-affinity low-concentration specific reactions from low-affinity high-concentration non-specific binding of background proteins.

Modelling the penumbra in Computed Tomography1

PubMed Central

Kueh, Audrey; Warnett, Jason M.; Gibbons, Gregory J.; Brettschneider, Julia; Nichols, Thomas E.; Williams, Mark A.; Kendall, Wilfrid S.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: In computed tomography (CT), the spot geometry is one of the main sources of error in CT images. Since X-rays do not arise from a point source, artefacts are produced. In particular there is a penumbra effect, leading to poorly defined edges within a reconstructed volume. Penumbra models can be simulated given a fixed spot geometry and the known experimental setup. OBJECTIVE: This paper proposes to use a penumbra model, derived from Beer’s law, both to confirm spot geometry from penumbra data, and to quantify blurring in the image. METHODS: Two models for the spot geometry are considered; one consists of a single Gaussian spot, the other is a mixture model consisting of a Gaussian spot together with a larger uniform spot. RESULTS: The model consisting of a single Gaussian spot has a poor fit at the boundary. The mixture model (which adds a larger uniform spot) exhibits a much improved fit. The parameters corresponding to the uniform spot are similar across all powers, and further experiments suggest that the uniform spot produces only soft X-rays of relatively low-energy. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, the precision of radiographs can be estimated from the penumbra effect in the image. The use of a thin copper filter reduces the size of the effective penumbra. PMID:27232198

Was the Big Bang hot?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, E. L.

1983-01-01

Techniques for verifying the spectrum defined by Woody and Richards (WR, 1981), which serves as a base for dust-distorted models of the 3 K background, are discussed. WR detected a sharp deviation from the Planck curve in the 3 K background. The absolute intensity of the background may be determined by the frequency dependence of the dipole anisotropy of the background or the frequency dependence effect in galactic clusters. Both methods involve the Doppler shift; analytical formulae are defined for characterization of the dipole anisotropy. The measurement of the 30-300 GHz spectra of cold galactic dust may reveal the presence of significant amounts of needle-shaped grains, which would in turn support a theory of a cold Big Bang.

Cold electron beams from cryocooled, alkali antimonide photocathodes

DOE PAGES

Cultrera, L.; Karkare, S.; Lee, H.; ...

2015-11-30

In this study we report on the generation of cold electron beams using a Cs 3Sb photocathode grown by codeposition of Sb and Cs. By cooling the photocathode to 90 K we demonstrate a significant reduction in the mean transverse energy validating the long-standing speculation that the lattice temperature contributes to limiting the mean transverse energy or intrinsic emittance near the photoemission threshold, opening new frontiers in generating ultrabright beams. At 90 K, we achieve a record low intrinsic emittance of 0.2 μm (rms) per mm of laser spot diameter from an ultrafast (subpicosecond) photocathode with quantum efficiency greater thanmore » 7 × 10 -5 using a visible laser wavelength of 690 nm.« less

When Organic-Rich Turbidites Reach 5000 m: "Cold-Seep Like" Life in the Congo Deep-Sea Fan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastor, L.; Toffin, L.; Cathalot, C.; Olu, K.; Brandily, C.; Bessette, S.; Lesongeur, F.; Godfroy, A.; Khripounoff, A.; Decker, C.; Taillefert, M.; Rabouille, C.

2016-12-01

The Congo canyon, located on the west coast of Africa, is a unique example of a canyon directly connected to a major river (The Congo River). Turbidites are responsible for a large input of terrestrial organic matter at depths up to 5000 m. These high inputs led to global high organic matter mineralization rates, with very localized hot spots that were visually observed and specifically sampled with a ROV. These hot spots, featuring substantial concentration of reduced compounds, mainly methane and sulfides, were recognizable in surface by the presence of reduced sediment patches, bacterial mats, and/or vesicomyid bivalves that host bacterial endosymbionts able to process H2S. In this paper we present geochemical sediment profiles of sulfate, methane, sulfide and dissolved iron together with phylogenetic diversity of 16S rRNA communities. This will give a first understanding of biogeochemical processes occurring in this peculiar ecosystem, mainly sulfate reduction, methanogenesis and subsequent anaerobic oxidation of methane with bacterial and archaeal assemblages similar to cold seeps environments. Iron also seems to play a major role in this system and iron/sulfur interactions as a sink for H2S can probably compete with H2S consumption by chemosynthetic bivalves, estimated at one site by vesicomyds gills incubations in a sulfide-rich solution.

Spatiotemporal Risk of Bacillary Dysentery and Sensitivity to Meteorological Factors in Hunan Province, China.

PubMed

Xu, Chengdong; Xiao, Gexin; Wang, Jinfeng; Zhang, Xiangxue; Liang, Jinjun

2017-12-29

Bacillary dysentery remains a public health concern in the world. Hunan Province is one of the provinces having the highest risk of bacillary dysentery in China, however, the spatial-temporal distribution, variation of bacillary dysentery and sensitivity to meteorological factors in there are unclear. In this paper, a Bayesian space-time hierarchical model (BSTHM) was used to detect space-time variation, and effects of meteorological factors between 2010 and 2015. The risk of bacillary dysentery showed apparent spatial-temporal heterogeneity. The highest risk occurred in the summer season. Economically undeveloped mountainous areas in the west and south of the province had the highest incidence rates. Twenty three (18.9%) and 20 (16.4%) counties were identified as hot and cold spots, respectively. Among the hotspots, 11 counties (47.8%) exhibited a rapidly decreasing trend, suggesting they may become low-risk areas in the future. Of the cold spot counties, six (30%) showed a slowly decreasing trend, and may have a higher risk in the future. Among meteorological factors, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed all played a significant role in the spatial-temporal distribution of bacillary dysentery risk. These findings can contribute to the implementation of an early warning system for controlling and preventing bacillary dysentery.

Spatiotemporal Risk of Bacillary Dysentery and Sensitivity to Meteorological Factors in Hunan Province, China

PubMed Central

Xu, Chengdong; Xiao, Gexin; Wang, Jinfeng; Zhang, Xiangxue; Liang, Jinjun

2017-01-01

Bacillary dysentery remains a public health concern in the world. Hunan Province is one of the provinces having the highest risk of bacillary dysentery in China, however, the spatial-temporal distribution, variation of bacillary dysentery and sensitivity to meteorological factors in there are unclear. In this paper, a Bayesian space-time hierarchical model (BSTHM) was used to detect space-time variation, and effects of meteorological factors between 2010 and 2015. The risk of bacillary dysentery showed apparent spatial-temporal heterogeneity. The highest risk occurred in the summer season. Economically undeveloped mountainous areas in the west and south of the province had the highest incidence rates. Twenty three (18.9%) and 20 (16.4%) counties were identified as hot and cold spots, respectively. Among the hotspots, 11 counties (47.8%) exhibited a rapidly decreasing trend, suggesting they may become low-risk areas in the future. Of the cold spot counties, six (30%) showed a slowly decreasing trend, and may have a higher risk in the future. Among meteorological factors, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed all played a significant role in the spatial-temporal distribution of bacillary dysentery risk. These findings can contribute to the implementation of an early warning system for controlling and preventing bacillary dysentery. PMID:29286297

Characteristics of cold atmospheric plasma source based on low-current pulsed discharge with coaxial electrodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bureyev, O. A.; Surkov, Yu S.; Spirina, A. V.

2017-05-01

This work investigates the characteristics of the gas discharge system used to create an atmospheric pressure plasma flow. The plasma jet design with a cylindrical graphite cathode and an anode rod located on the axis of the system allows to realize regularly reproducible spark breakdowns mode with a frequency ∼ 5 kHz and a duration ∼ 40 μs. The device generates a cold atmospheric plasma flame with 1 cm in diameter in the flow of various plasma forming gases including nitrogen and air at about 100 mA average discharge current. In the described construction the cathode spots of individual spark channels randomly move along the inner surface of the graphite electrode creating the secondary plasma stream time-average distributed throughout the whole exit aperture area after the decay of numerous filamentary discharge channels. The results of the spectral diagnostics of plasma in the discharge gap and in the stream coming out of the source are presented. Despite the low temperature of atoms and molecules in plasma stream the cathode spots operation with temperature of ∼ 4000 °C at a graphite electrode inside a discharge system enables to saturate the plasma by CN-radicals and atomic carbon in the case of using nitrogen as the working gas.

Effect of formation and state of interface on joint strength in friction stir spot welding for advanced high strength steel sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taniguchi, Koichi; Matsushita, Muneo; Ikeda, Rinsei; Oi, Kenji

2014-08-01

The tensile shear strength and cross tension strength of friction stir spot welded joints were evaluated in the cases of lap joints of 270 N/mm2 grade and 980 N/mm2 grade cold rolled steel sheets with respect to the stir zone area, hardness distribution, and interface condition between the sheets. The results suggested that both the tensile shear strength and cross tension strength were based on the stir zone area and its hardness in both grades of steel. The "hook" shape of the interface also affected the joint strength. However, the joining that occurred across the interfaces had a significant influence on the value of the joint strength in the case of the 270 N/mm2 grade steel.

High-gain magnetized inertial fusion.

PubMed

Slutz, Stephen A; Vesey, Roger A

2012-01-13

Magnetized inertial fusion (MIF) could substantially ease the difficulty of reaching plasma conditions required for significant fusion yields, but it has been widely accepted that the gain is not sufficient for fusion energy. Numerical simulations are presented showing that high-gain MIF is possible in cylindrical liner implosions based on the MagLIF concept [S. A. Slutz et al Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] with the addition of a cryogenic layer of deuterium-tritium (DT). These simulations show that a burn wave propagates radially from the magnetized hot spot into the surrounding much denser cold DT given sufficient hot-spot areal density. For a drive current of 60 MA the simulated gain exceeds 100, which is more than adequate for fusion energy applications. The simulated gain exceeds 1000 for a drive current of 70 MA.

Simple, reliable, and nondestructive method for the measurement of vacuum pressure without specialized equipment.

PubMed

Yuan, Jin-Peng; Ji, Zhong-Hua; Zhao, Yan-Ting; Chang, Xue-Fang; Xiao, Lian-Tuan; Jia, Suo-Tang

2013-09-01

We present a simple, reliable, and nondestructive method for the measurement of vacuum pressure in a magneto-optical trap. The vacuum pressure is verified to be proportional to the collision rate constant between cold atoms and the background gas with a coefficient k, which can be calculated by means of the simple ideal gas law. The rate constant for loss due to collisions with all background gases can be derived from the total collision loss rate by a series of loading curves of cold atoms under different trapping laser intensities. The presented method is also applicable for other cold atomic systems and meets the miniaturization requirement of commercial applications.

Effects of Stratospheric Lapse Rate on Thunderstorm Cloud-Top Structure in a Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation. Part I: Some Basic Results of Comparative Experiments.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlesinger, Robert E.

1988-05-01

An anelastic three-dimensional model is used to investigate the effects of stratospheric temperature lapse rate on cloud top height/temperature structure for strongly sheared mature isolated midlatitude thunderstorms. Three comparative experiments are performed, differing only with respect to the stratospheric stability. The assumed stratospheric lapse rate is 0 K km1 (isothermal) in the first experiment, 3 K km1 in the second, and 3 K km1 (inversion) in the third.Kinematic storm structure is very similar in all three cases, especially in the troposphere. A strong quasi-steady updraft evolves splitting into a dominant cyclonic overshooting right-mover and a weaker anticyclonic left-mover that does not reach the tropopause. Strongest downdrafts occur at low to middle levels between the updrafts, and in the lower stratosphere a few kilometers upshear and downshear of the tapering updraft summit.Each storm shows a cloud-top thermal couplet, relatively cold near and upshear of the summit, and with a `close-in' warm region downshear. Both cold and warm regions become warmer, with significant morphological changes and a lowering of the cloud summit, as stratospheric stability is increased, though the temperature spread is not greatly affected.The coldest and highest cloud-top points are nearly colocated in the absence of a stratospheric inversion, but the coldest point is offset well upshear of the summit when an inversion is present. The cold region as a whole in each case shows at least a transient `V' shape, with the arms pointing downshear, although this shape is persistent only with the inversion.In the experiment with a 3 K km1 stratospheric lapse rate (weakest stability), the warm region is small and separates into two spots with secondary cold spots downshear of them. The warm region becomes larger, and remains single, as stratospheric stability increase. In each run, the warm regions are not accompanied by corresponding cloud-top height minima except very briefly.The cold cloud-top points are near or slightly downwind of relative vertical velocity maxima, usually positive, while the warm points are imbedded in subsidence downwind of the principal cloud-top downdraft core. The storm-relative cloud-top horizontal wind fields are consistent with the `V' shape of the cold region, showing strong diffluent flow directed downshear along the flanks from an upshear stagnation zone.

Spatial patterns of the congenital heart disease prevalence among 0- to 14-year-old children in Sichuan Basin, P. R China, from 2004 to 2009

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of major birth defects in Sichuan, the most populous province in China. The detailed etiology of CHD is unknown but some environmental factors are suspected as the cause of this disease. However, the geographical variations in CHD prevalence would be highly valuable in providing a clue on the role of the environment in CHD etiology. Here, we investigate the spatial patterns and geographic differences in CHD prevalence among 0- to 14-year-old children, discuss the possible environmental risk factors that might be associated with CHD prevalence in Sichuan Basin from 2004 to 2009. Methods The hierarchical Bayesian model was used to estimate CHD prevalence at the township level. Spatial autocorrelation statistics were performed, and a hot-spot analysis with different distance thresholds was used to identify the spatial pattern of CHD prevalence. Distribution and clustering maps were drawn using geographic information system tools. Results CHD prevalence was significantly clustered in Sichuan Basin in different spatial scale. Typical hot/cold clusters were identified, and possible CHD causes were discussed. The association between selected hypothetical environmental factors of maternal exposure and CHD prevalence was evaluated. Conclusions The largest hot-spot clustering phenomena and the CHD prevalence clustering trend among 0- to 14-year-old children in the study area showed a plausibly close similarity with those observed in the Tuojiang River Basin. The high ecological risk of heavy metal(Cd, As, and Pb)sediments in the middle and lower streams of the Tuojiang River watershed and ammonia–nitrogen pollution may have contribution to the high prevalence of CHD in this area. PMID:24924350

A single gene controls leaf background color in caladium (Araceae) and is tightly linked to genes for leaf main vein color, spotting and rugosity.

PubMed

Cao, Zhe; Sui, Shunzhao; Yang, Qian; Deng, Zhanao

2017-01-01

Modern cultivated caladiums ( Caladium × hortulanum ) are grown for their long-lasting and colorful leaves. Understanding the mode of inheritance for caladium leaf characteristics is critical for plant breeders to select appropriate parents, predict progeny performance, estimate breeding population sizes needed, and increase breeding efficiencies. This study was conducted to determine the mode of inheritance of two leaf background colors (lemon and green) in caladium and to understand their relationships with four other important leaf characteristics including leaf shape, main vein color, spotting, and rugosity. Seven caladium cultivars and three breeding lines were used as parents in 19 crosses, and their progeny were phenotyped for segregation of leaf traits. Results showed that the two leaf background colors are controlled by a single nuclear locus, with two alleles, LEM and lem , which control the dominant lemon and the recessive green leaf background color, respectively. The lemon-colored cultivar 'Miss Muffet' and breeding lines UF-52 and UF-53 have a heterozygous genotype LEMlem . Chi-square tests showed that the leaf background color locus LEM is independent from the leaf shape locus F , but is tightly linked to three loci ( S , V and RLF ) controlling leaf spotting, main vein color, and rugosity in caladium. A linkage map that consists of four loci controlling major caladium leaf characteristics and extends ~15 cM was developed based on the observed recombination frequencies. This is the first report on the mode of inheritance of leaf background colors in caladium and in the Araceae family. The information gained in this study will be very useful for caladium breeding and study of the inheritance of leaf colors in other ornamental aroids, an important group of ornamental plants in the world.

A single gene controls leaf background color in caladium (Araceae) and is tightly linked to genes for leaf main vein color, spotting and rugosity

PubMed Central

Cao, Zhe; Sui, Shunzhao; Yang, Qian; Deng, Zhanao

2017-01-01

Modern cultivated caladiums (Caladium×hortulanum) are grown for their long-lasting and colorful leaves. Understanding the mode of inheritance for caladium leaf characteristics is critical for plant breeders to select appropriate parents, predict progeny performance, estimate breeding population sizes needed, and increase breeding efficiencies. This study was conducted to determine the mode of inheritance of two leaf background colors (lemon and green) in caladium and to understand their relationships with four other important leaf characteristics including leaf shape, main vein color, spotting, and rugosity. Seven caladium cultivars and three breeding lines were used as parents in 19 crosses, and their progeny were phenotyped for segregation of leaf traits. Results showed that the two leaf background colors are controlled by a single nuclear locus, with two alleles, LEM and lem, which control the dominant lemon and the recessive green leaf background color, respectively. The lemon-colored cultivar ‘Miss Muffet’ and breeding lines UF-52 and UF-53 have a heterozygous genotype LEMlem. Chi-square tests showed that the leaf background color locus LEM is independent from the leaf shape locus F, but is tightly linked to three loci (S, V and RLF) controlling leaf spotting, main vein color, and rugosity in caladium. A linkage map that consists of four loci controlling major caladium leaf characteristics and extends ~15 cM was developed based on the observed recombination frequencies. This is the first report on the mode of inheritance of leaf background colors in caladium and in the Araceae family. The information gained in this study will be very useful for caladium breeding and study of the inheritance of leaf colors in other ornamental aroids, an important group of ornamental plants in the world. PMID:28101369

ELISPOTs Produced by CD8 and CD4 Cells Follow Log Normal Size Distribution Permitting Objective Counting

PubMed Central

Karulin, Alexey Y.; Karacsony, Kinga; Zhang, Wenji; Targoni, Oleg S.; Moldovan, Ioana; Dittrich, Marcus; Sundararaman, Srividya; Lehmann, Paul V.

2015-01-01

Each positive well in ELISPOT assays contains spots of variable sizes that can range from tens of micrometers up to a millimeter in diameter. Therefore, when it comes to counting these spots the decision on setting the lower and the upper spot size thresholds to discriminate between non-specific background noise, spots produced by individual T cells, and spots formed by T cell clusters is critical. If the spot sizes follow a known statistical distribution, precise predictions on minimal and maximal spot sizes, belonging to a given T cell population, can be made. We studied the size distributional properties of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-17 spots elicited in ELISPOT assays with PBMC from 172 healthy donors, upon stimulation with 32 individual viral peptides representing defined HLA Class I-restricted epitopes for CD8 cells, and with protein antigens of CMV and EBV activating CD4 cells. A total of 334 CD8 and 80 CD4 positive T cell responses were analyzed. In 99.7% of the test cases, spot size distributions followed Log Normal function. These data formally demonstrate that it is possible to establish objective, statistically validated parameters for counting T cell ELISPOTs. PMID:25612115

Optimization study of direct morphology observation by cold field emission SEM without gold coating.

PubMed

He, Dan; Fu, Cheng; Xue, Zhigang

2018-06-01

Gold coating is a general operation that is generally applied on non-conductive or low conductive materials, during which the morphology of the materials can be examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). However, fatal deficiencies in the materials can result in irreversible distortion and damage. The present study directly characterized different low conductive materials such as hydroxyapatite, modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fiber, and zinc oxide nanopillar by cold field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) without a gold coating. According to the characteristics of the low conductive materials, various test conditions, such as different working signal modes, accelerating voltages, electron beam spots, and working distances, were characterized to determine the best morphological observations of each sample. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fine mapping of a quantitative resistance gene for gray leaf spot of maize (Zea mays L.) derived from teosinte (Z. mays ssp. parviglumis)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In previous work, using near isogenic line (NIL) populations in which segments of the tesosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis) genome had been introgressed into the background of the maize line B73, we had identified a QTL on chromosome 8, here called Qgls8, for gray leaf spot resistance. We identified...

Stability of an ion-ring distribution in a multi-ion component plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mithaiwala, Manish; Rudakov, Leonid; Ganguli, Gurudas

2010-04-01

The stability of a cold ion-ring velocity distribution in a thermal plasma is analyzed. In particular, the effect of plasma temperature and density on the instability is considered. A high ring density (compared to the background plasma) neutralizes the stabilizing effect of the warm background plasma and the ring is unstable to the generation of waves below the lower-hybrid frequency even for a very high temperature plasma. For ring densities lower than the background plasma density, there is a slow instability where the growth rate is less than the background-ion cyclotron frequency and, consequently, the background-ion response is magnetized. This is in addition to the widely discussed fast instability where the wave growth rate exceeds the background-ion cyclotron frequency and hence the background ions are effectively unmagnetized. Thus, even a low density ring is unstable to waves around the lower-hybrid frequency range for any ring speed. This implies that effectively there is no velocity threshold for a sufficiently cold ring.

Evaluation of dynamic infrared thermography as an alternative to CT angiography for perforator mapping in breast reconstruction: a clinical study.

PubMed

Weum, Sven; Mercer, James B; de Weerd, Louis

2016-07-15

The current gold standard for preoperative perforator mapping in breast reconstruction with a DIEP flap is CT angiography (CTA). Dynamic infrared thermography (DIRT) is an imaging method that does not require ionizing radiation or contrast injection. We evaluated if DIRT could be an alternative to CTA in perforator mapping. Twenty-five patients scheduled for secondary breast reconstruction with a DIEP flap were included. Preoperatively, the lower abdomen was examined with hand-held Doppler, DIRT and CTA. Arterial Doppler sound locations were marked on the skin. DIRT examination involved rewarming of the abdominal skin after a mild cold challenge. The locations of hot spots on DIRT were compared with the arterial Doppler sound locations. The rate and pattern of rewarming of the hot spots were analyzed. Multiplanar CT reconstructions were used to see if hot spots were related to perforators on CTA. All flaps were based on the perforator selected with DIRT and the surgical outcome was analyzed. First appearing hot spots were always associated with arterial Doppler sounds and clearly visible perforators on CTA. The hot spots on DIRT images were always slightly laterally located in relation to the exit points of the associated perforators through the rectus abdominis fascia on CTA. Some periumbilical perforators were not associated with hot spots and showed communication with the superficial inferior epigastric vein on CTA. The selected perforators adequately perfused all flaps. This study confirms that perforators selected with DIRT have arterial Doppler sound, are clearly visible on CTA and provide adequate perfusion for DIEP breast reconstruction. Retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with identifier NCT02806518 .

How Deep-Sea Wood Falls Sustain Chemosynthetic Life

PubMed Central

Bienhold, Christina; Pop Ristova, Petra; Wenzhöfer, Frank; Dittmar, Thorsten; Boetius, Antje

2013-01-01

Large organic food falls to the deep sea – such as whale carcasses and wood logs – are known to serve as stepping stones for the dispersal of highly adapted chemosynthetic organisms inhabiting hot vents and cold seeps. Here we investigated the biogeochemical and microbiological processes leading to the development of sulfidic niches by deploying wood colonization experiments at a depth of 1690 m in the Eastern Mediterranean for one year. Wood-boring bivalves of the genus Xylophaga played a key role in the degradation of the wood logs, facilitating the development of anoxic zones and anaerobic microbial processes such as sulfate reduction. Fauna and bacteria associated with the wood included types reported from other deep-sea habitats including chemosynthetic ecosystems, confirming the potential role of large organic food falls as biodiversity hot spots and stepping stones for vent and seep communities. Specific bacterial communities developed on and around the wood falls within one year and were distinct from freshly submerged wood and background sediments. These included sulfate-reducing and cellulolytic bacterial taxa, which are likely to play an important role in the utilization of wood by chemosynthetic life and other deep-sea animals. PMID:23301092

From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2008-01-01

The history of the universe in a nutshell, from the Big Bang to now, and on to the future - John Mather will tell the story of how we got here, how the Universe began with a Big Bang, how it could have produced an Earth where sentient beings can live, and how those beings are discovering their history. Mather was Project Scientist for NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which measured the spectrum (the color) of the heat radiation from the Big Bang, discovered hot and cold spots in that radiation, and hunted for the first objects that formed after the great explosion. He will explain Einstein's biggest mistake, show how Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, how the COBE mission was built, and how the COBE data support the Big Bang theory. He will also show NASA's plans for the next great telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. It will look even farther back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will look inside the dusty cocoons where stars and planets are being born today. Planned for launch in 2013, it may lead to another Nobel Prize for some lucky observer.

From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2008-01-01

The history of the universe in a nutshell, from the Big Bang to now. and on to the future - John Mather will tell the story of how we got here, how the Universe began with a Big Bang, how it could have produced an Earth where sentient beings can live, and how those beings are discovering their history. Mather was Project Scientist for NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which measured the spectrum (the color) of the heat radiation from the Big Bang, discovered hot and cold spots in that radiation, and hunted for the first objects that formed after the great explosion. He will explain Einstein's biggest mistake, show how Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the univerre, how the COBE mission was built, and how the COBE data support the Big Bang theory. He will also show NASA's plans for the next great telescope in space, the Jarnes Webb Space Telescope. It will look even farther back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will look inside the dusty cocoons where rtars and planets are being born today. Planned for launch in 2013, it may lead to another Nobel Prize for some lucky observer.

From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2008-01-01

The history of the universe in a nutshell, from the Big Bang to now. and on to the future - John Mather will tell the story of how we got here, how the Universe began with a Big Bang, how it could have produced an Earth where sentient beings can live, and how those beings are discovering their history. Mather was Project Scientist for NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which measured the spectrum (the color) of the heat radiation from the Big Bang, discovered hot and cold spots in that radiation, and hunted for the first objects that formed after the great explosion. He will explain Einstein's biggest mistake, show how Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, how the COBE mission was built, and how the COBE data support the Big Bang theory. He will also show NASA's plans for the next great telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. It will look even farther back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will look inside the dusty cocoons where stars and planets are being born today. Planned for launch in 2013, it may lead to another Nobel Prize for some lucky observer.

From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2009-01-01

The history of the universe in a nutshell, from the Big Bang to now, and on to the future - John Mather will tell the story of how we got here, how the Universe began with a Big Bang, how it could have produced an Earth where sentient beings can live, and how those beings are discovering their history. Mather was Project Scientist for NASA s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which measured the spectrum (the color) of the heat radiation from the Big Bang, discovered hot and cold spots in that radiation, and hunted for the first objects that formed after the great explosion. He will explain Einstein s biggest mistake, show how Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, how the COBE mission was built, and how the COBE data support the Big Bang theory. He will also show NASA s plans for the next great telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. It will look even farther back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will look inside the dusty cocoons where stars and planets are being born today. Planned for launch in 2013, it may lead to another Nobel Prize for some lucky observer.

Scanning metallic nanosphere microscopy for vectorial profiling of optical focal spots.

PubMed

Yi, Hui; Long, Jing; Li, Hongquan; He, Xiaolong; Yang, Tian

2015-04-06

Recent years have witnessed fast progress in the development of spatially variant states of polarization under high numerical aperture focusing, and intensive exploration of their applications. We report a vectorial, broadband, high contrast and subwavelength resolution method for focal spot profiling. In this experiment, a 100 nm diameter gold nanosphere on a silica aerogel substrate is raster scanned across the focal spots, and the orthogonal polarization components can be obtained simultaneously by measuring the scattering far field in a confocal manner. The metallic-nanosphere-on-aerogel structure ensures negligible distortion to the focal spots, low crosstalk between orthogonal polarization components (1/39 in experiment), and a low level background noise (1/80 of peak intensity in experiment), while high contrast imaging is not limited by the resonance bandwidth.

Introduction to Understanding Latin Americans. CLIC Papers

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-08-01

differences between Bolivia and Chile alone are as diverse as those between Germany and India, and these ethnic and social differences make it very difficult...people in Bolivia, for instance, livs above 12,000 feet in a perpetually cold climate. Chile and Argentina have some of the finest ski areas in the world...Northern Chile also has one of the driest spots on eaih, the Atacama desert, arid Southern Chile looks like Scandinavia. In short, there is a great

Practical approaches for assessing local land use change and conservation priorities in the tropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivas, Cassandra J.

Tropical areas typically support high biological diversity; however, many are experiencing rapid land-use change. The resulting loss, fragmentation, and degradation of habitats place biodiversity at risk. For these reasons, the tropics are frequently identified as global conservation hotspots. Safeguarding tropical biodiversity necessitates successful and efficient conservation planning and implementation at local scales, where land use decisions are made and enforced. Yet, despite considerable agreement on the need for improved practices, planning may be difficult due to limited resources, such as funding, data, and expertise, especially for small conservation organizations in tropical developing countries. My thesis aims to assist small, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), operating in tropical developing countries, in overcoming resource limitations by providing recommendations for improved conservation planning. Following a brief introduction in Chapter 1, I present a literature review of systematic conservation planning (SCP) projects in the developing tropics. Although SCP is considered an efficient, effective approach, it requires substantial data and expertise to conduct the analysis and may present challenges for implementation. I reviewed and synthesized the methods and results of 14 case studies to identify practical ways to implement and overcome limitations for employing SCP. I found that SCP studies in the peer-reviewed literature were primarily implemented by researchers in large organizations or institutions, as opposed to on-the-ground conservation planners. A variety of data types were used in the SCP analyses, many of which data are freely available. Few case studies involved stakeholders and intended to implement the assessment; instead, the case studies were carried out in the context of research and development, limiting local involvement and implementation. Nonetheless, the studies provided valuable strategies for employing each step of the SCP assessment and ways to overcome limitations. These included obtaining and using publicly available data resources, collaborating with institutions or organizations with resources, and using expertise to employ the analytical process. In conclusion, the local conservation organization should ultimately decide whether or not to use the SCP approach using reviews such as this one and the feasibility assessment model provided in this chapter. In Chapter 3, to support locally based conservation planning efforts in southwestern Nicaragua, I collaborated with a small NGO and produced valuable data products for conservation planning. I produced a land-use and land cover change (LULC) classification and identified hot and cold spots (i.e., high and low concentration) of land cover change between the years of 2000 - 2009. I used SPOT satellite imagery from 2009, ground referenced data, and manual training points to classify 10 LULC types using a regression tree algorithm. I employed a post-classification change detection analysis to compare my classification to one from the year of 2000, applied a cluster analysis to delineate hot and cold spots of change, and used the resulting data products to identify preliminary conservation and restoration priorities. The LULC classification accuracy was 87.9% and deforestation rates were approximately 5.6% per year. I observed that pasture was the most converted-to class, plantation was a proliferating class, and some regrowth succeeded into secondary forest. Hotspots and cold spots of change for conservation concern included areas converted from forest into pasture, which often occurred in areas of rugged terrain. Hotspots from forest to plantation occurred in the northern isthmus, while cold spots occurred in the south. These two trends revealed the vulnerability of remaining secondary forests, which are of primary importance to regional conservation efforts. Conservation priorities included remaining old secondary forest patches and succeeding forests occurring near them and should factor into future conservation planning.

[CLINICAL UTILITY OF T-SPOT.TB ASSAY WITH T-Cell Xtend REAGENT FOR ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS DIAGNOSIS IN THE FIELD TEST AT OUR HOSPITAL].

PubMed

Nemoto, Kenji; Oh-ishi, Shuji; Taguchi, Masato; Hyodo, Kentaro; Kanazawa, Jun; Miura, Yukiko; Takaku, Takio; Usui, Shingo; Hayashihara, Kenji; Saito, Takefumi

2016-04-01

T-SPOT.TB (T-SPOT), an interferon-gamma release assay, has shown promise as a diagnostic tool for active tuberculosis (TB), and its use is expanding. Addition of the T-Cell Xtend (TCX) reagent may allow delayed processing, and this characteristic is important for using this test in the field. However, limited data is available on the usefulness of T-SPOT with TCX as a field test for diagnosing active TB. To investigate the clinical utility of T-SPOT with TCX and the risk factors for a false-negative result in patients with active TB. A total of 57 patients with active TB who underwent the T-SPOT test with TCX prior to treatment were enrolled between May 2013 and May 2015. One patient with an indeterminate result for T-SPOT was excluded; therefore, the data of 56 patients were eventually included in the final analysis. The basic characteristics and clinical findings were compared between the true-positive and false-negative T-SPOT groups. Of the 56 patients, 40 (71.4%), 13 (23.2%), 3 (5.4%) had true-positive, false-negative, and borderline T-SPOT results, respectively. This study did not reveal any significant risk factors for a false-negative T-SPOT result. In this clinical study, the proportion of patients with a false-negative result for T-SPOT with TCX for active TB was higher than that reported previously. Therefore, careful interpretation of a negative result for T-SPOT with TCX is necessary, regardless of the patient's background.

National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Environmental Cold Injuries

PubMed Central

Cappaert, Thomas A; Stone, Jennifer A; Castellani, John W; Krause, Bentley Andrew; Smith, Daniel; Stephens, Bradford A

2008-01-01

Objective: To present recommendations for the prevention, recognition, and treatment of environmental cold injuries. Background: Individuals engaged in sport-related or work-related physical activity in cold, wet, or windy conditions are at risk for environmental cold injuries. An understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology, risk management, recognition, and immediate care of environmental cold injuries is an essential skill for certified athletic trainers and other health care providers working with individuals at risk. Recommendations: These recommendations are intended to provide certified athletic trainers and others participating in athletic health care with the specific knowledge and problem-solving skills needed to address environmental cold injuries. Each recommendation has been graded (A, B, or C) according to the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy criterion scale. PMID:19030143

Nitric oxide modulates Lycopersicon esculentum C-repeat binding factor 1 (LeCBF1) transcriptionally as well as post-translationally by nitrosylation.

PubMed

Kashyap, Prakriti; Sehrawat, Ankita; Deswal, Renu

2015-11-01

Nitric oxide (NO) production increases in the cold stress. This cold enhanced NO manifests its effect either by regulating the gene expression or by modulating proteins by NO based post-translational modifications (PTMs) including S-nitrosylation. CBF (C-repeat binding factor) dependent cold stress signaling is most studied cold stress-signaling pathway in plants. SNP (sodium nitroprusside, a NO donor) treatment to tomato seedlings showed four fold induction of LeCBF1 (a cold inducible CBF) transcript in cold stress. S-nitrosylation as PTM of CBF has not been analyzed till date. In silico analysis using GPS-SNO 1.0 software predicted Cys 68 as the probable site for nitrosylation in LeCBF1. The 3D structure and motif prediction showed it to be present in the beta hairpin loop and hence available for S-nitrosylation. LeCBF1 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. LeCBF1 accumulated in the inclusion bodies, which were solubilized under denaturing conditions and purified after on column refolding by Ni-NTA His tag affinity chromatography. Purified LeCBF1 resolved as a 34 kDa spot with a slightly basic pI (8.3) on a 2-D gel. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry identified it as LeCBF1 and western blotting using anti-LeCBF1 antibodies confirmed its purification. Biotin switch assay and neutravidin affinity chromatography showed LeCBF1 to be S-nitrosylated in presence of GSNO (NO donor) as well as endogenously (without donor) in cold stress treated tomato seedlings. Dual regulation of LeCBF1 by NO at both transcriptional as well as post-translational level (by S-nitrosylation) is shown for the first time. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Transcriptional Analysis of Resistance to Low Temperatures in Bermudagrass Crown Tissues

PubMed Central

Melmaiee, Kalpalatha; Anderson, Michael; Elavarthi, Sathya; Guenzi, Arron; Canaan, Patricia

2015-01-01

Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L pers.) is one of the most geographically adapted and utilized of the warm-season grasses. However, bermudagrass adaptation to the Northern USA is limited by freeze damage and winterkill. Our study provides the first large-scale analyses of gene expression in bermudagrass regenerative crown tissues during cold acclimation. We compared gene expression patterns in crown tissues from highly cold tolerant “MSU” and susceptible “Zebra” genotypes exposed to near-freezing temperatures. Suppressive subtractive hybridization was used to isolate putative cold responsive genes Approximately, 3845 transcript sequences enriched for cold acclimation were deposited in the GenBank. A total of 4589 ESTs (3184 unigenes) including 744 ESTs associated with the bermudagrass disease spring dead spot were printed on microarrays and hybridized with cold acclimated complementary Deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA). A total of 587 differentially expressed unigenes were identified in this study. Of these only 97 (17%) showed significant NCBI matches. The overall expression pattern revealed 40% more down- than up-regulated genes, which was particularly enhanced in MSU compared to Zebra. Among the up-regulated genes 68% were uniquely expressed in MSU (36%) or Zebra (32%). Among the down-regulated genes 40% were unique to MSU, while only 15% to Zebra. Overall expression intensity was significantly higher in MSU than in Zebra (p value ≤ 0.001) and the overall number of genes expressed at 28 days was 2.7 fold greater than at 2 days. These changes in expression patterns reflect the strong genotypic and temporal response to cold temperatures. Additionally, differentially expressed genes from this study can be utilized for developing molecular markers in bermudagrass and other warm season grasses for enhancing cold hardiness. PMID:26348040

Rod-cone interaction in light adaptation

PubMed Central

Latch, M.; Lennie, P.

1977-01-01

1. The increment-threshold for a small test spot in the peripheral visual field was measured against backgrounds that were red or blue. 2. When the background was a large uniform field, threshold over most of the scotopic range depended exactly upon the background's effect upon rods. This confirms Flamant & Stiles (1948). But when the background was small, threshold was elevated more by a long wave-length than a short wave-length background equated for its effect on rods. 3. The influence of cones was explored in a further experiment. The scotopic increment-threshold was established for a short wave-length test spot on a large, short wave-length background. Then a steady red circular patch, conspicuous to cones, but below the increment-threshold for rod vision, was added to the background. When it was small, but not when it was large, this patch substantially raised the threshold for the test. 4. When a similar experiment was made using, instead of a red patch, a short wave-length one that was conspicuous in rod vision, threshold varied similarly with patch size. These results support the notion that the influence of small backgrounds arises in some size-selective mechanism that is indifferent to the receptor system in which visual signals originate. Two corollaries of this hypothesis were tested in further experiments. 5. A small patch was chosen so as to lift scotopic threshold substantially above its level on a uniform field. This threshold elevation persisted for minutes after extinction of the patch, but only when the patch was small. A large patch made bright enough to elevate threshold by as much as the small one gave rise to no corresponding after-effect. 6. Increment-thresholds for a small red test spot, detected through cones, followed the same course whether a large uniform background was long- or short wave-length. When the background was small, threshold upon the short wave-length one began to rise for much lower levels of background illumination, suggesting the influence of rods. This was confirmed by repeating the experiment after a strong bleach when the cones, but not rods, had fully recovered their sensitivity. Increment-thresholds upon small backgrounds of long or short wave-lengths then followed the same course. PMID:894602

Automated analysis of hot spot X-ray images at the National Ignition Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, S. F.; Izumi, N.; Glenn, S.; Tommasini, R.; Benedetti, L. R.; Ma, T.; Pak, A.; Kyrala, G. A.; Springer, P.; Bradley, D. K.; Town, R. P. J.

2016-11-01

At the National Ignition Facility, the symmetry of the hot spot of imploding capsules is diagnosed by imaging the emitted x-rays using gated cameras and image plates. The symmetry of an implosion is an important factor in the yield generated from the resulting fusion process. The x-ray images are analyzed by decomposing the image intensity contours into Fourier and Legendre modes. This paper focuses on the additional protocols for the time-integrated shape analysis from image plates. For implosions with temperatures above ˜4 keV, the hard x-ray background can be utilized to infer the temperature of the hot spot.

Automated analysis of hot spot X-ray images at the National Ignition Facility

DOE PAGES

Khan, S. F.; Izumi, N.; Glenn, S.; ...

2016-09-02

At the National Ignition Facility, the symmetry of the hot spot of imploding capsules is diagnosed by imaging the emitted x-rays using gated cameras and image plates. The symmetry of an implosion is an important factor in the yield generated from the resulting fusion process. The x-ray images are analyzed by decomposing the image intensity contours into Fourier and Legendre modes. This paper focuses on the additional protocols for the time-integrated shape analysis from image plates. Here, for implosions with temperatures above ~4keV, the hard x-ray background can be utilized to infer the temperature of the hot spot.

Automated analysis of hot spot X-ray images at the National Ignition Facility

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

Khan, S. F., E-mail: khan9@llnl.gov; Izumi, N.; Glenn, S.

At the National Ignition Facility, the symmetry of the hot spot of imploding capsules is diagnosed by imaging the emitted x-rays using gated cameras and image plates. The symmetry of an implosion is an important factor in the yield generated from the resulting fusion process. The x-ray images are analyzed by decomposing the image intensity contours into Fourier and Legendre modes. This paper focuses on the additional protocols for the time-integrated shape analysis from image plates. For implosions with temperatures above ∼4 keV, the hard x-ray background can be utilized to infer the temperature of the hot spot.

Automated analysis of hot spot X-ray images at the National Ignition Facility.

PubMed

Khan, S F; Izumi, N; Glenn, S; Tommasini, R; Benedetti, L R; Ma, T; Pak, A; Kyrala, G A; Springer, P; Bradley, D K; Town, R P J

2016-11-01

At the National Ignition Facility, the symmetry of the hot spot of imploding capsules is diagnosed by imaging the emitted x-rays using gated cameras and image plates. The symmetry of an implosion is an important factor in the yield generated from the resulting fusion process. The x-ray images are analyzed by decomposing the image intensity contours into Fourier and Legendre modes. This paper focuses on the additional protocols for the time-integrated shape analysis from image plates. For implosions with temperatures above ∼4 keV, the hard x-ray background can be utilized to infer the temperature of the hot spot.

ENSO's far reaching connection to Indian cold waves.

PubMed

Ratnam, J V; Behera, Swadhin K; Annamalai, H; Ratna, Satyaban B; Rajeevan, M; Yamagata, Toshio

2016-11-23

During boreal winters, cold waves over India are primarily due to transport of cold air from higher latitudes. However, the processes associated with these cold waves are not yet clearly understood. Here by diagnosing a suite of datasets, we explore the mechanisms leading to the development and maintenance of these cold waves. Two types of cold waves are identified based on observed minimum surface temperature and statistical analysis. The first type (TYPE1), also the dominant one, depicts colder than normal temperatures covering most parts of the country while the second type (TYPE2) is more regional, with significant cold temperatures only noticeable over northwest India. Quite interestingly the first (second) type is associated with La Niña (El Niño) like conditions, suggesting that both phases of ENSO provide a favorable background for the occurrence of cold waves over India. During TYPE1 cold wave events, a low-level cyclonic anomaly generated over the Indian region as an atmospheric response to the equatorial convective anomalies is seen advecting cold temperatures into India and maintaining the cold waves. In TYPE2 cold waves, a cyclonic anomaly generated over west India anomalously brings cold winds to northwest India causing cold waves only in those parts.

Machine-learned analysis of quantitative sensory testing responses to noxious cold stimulation in healthy subjects.

PubMed

Weyer-Menkhoff, I; Thrun, M C; Lötsch, J

2018-05-01

Pain in response to noxious cold has a complex molecular background probably involving several types of sensors. A recent observation has been the multimodal distribution of human cold pain thresholds. This study aimed at analysing reproducibility and stability of this observation and further exploration of data patterns supporting a complex background. Pain thresholds to noxious cold stimuli (range 32-0 °C, tonic: temperature decrease -1 °C/s, phasic: temperature decrease -8 °C/s) were acquired in 148 healthy volunteers. The probability density distribution was analysed using machine-learning derived methods implemented as Gaussian mixture modeling (GMM), emergent self-organizing maps and self-organizing swarms of data agents. The probability density function of pain responses was trimodal (mean thresholds at 25.9, 18.4 and 8.0 °C for tonic and 24.5, 18.1 and 7.5 °C for phasic stimuli). Subjects' association with Gaussian modes was consistent between both types of stimuli (weighted Cohen's κ = 0.91). Patterns emerging in self-organizing neuronal maps and swarms could be associated with different trends towards decreasing cold pain sensitivity in different Gaussian modes. On self-organizing maps, the third Gaussian mode emerged as particularly distinct. Thresholds at, roughly, 25 and 18 °C agree with known working temperatures of TRPM8 and TRPA1 ion channels, respectively, and hint at relative local dominance of either channel in respective subjects. Data patterns suggest involvement of further distinct mechanisms in cold pain perception at lower temperatures. Findings support data science approaches to identify biologically plausible hints at complex molecular mechanisms underlying human pain phenotypes. Sensitivity to pain is heterogeneous. Data-driven computational research approaches allow the identification of subgroups of subjects with a distinct pattern of sensitivity to cold stimuli. The subgroups are reproducible with different types of noxious cold stimuli. Subgroups show pattern that hints at distinct and inter-individually different types of the underlying molecular background. © 2018 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

DNA methylation epigenetically silences crossover hot spots and controls chromosomal domains of meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Yelina, Nataliya E; Lambing, Christophe; Hardcastle, Thomas J; Zhao, Xiaohui; Santos, Bruno; Henderson, Ian R

2015-10-15

During meiosis, homologous chromosomes undergo crossover recombination, which is typically concentrated in narrow hot spots that are controlled by genetic and epigenetic information. Arabidopsis chromosomes are highly DNA methylated in the repetitive centromeres, which are also crossover-suppressed. Here we demonstrate that RNA-directed DNA methylation is sufficient to locally silence Arabidopsis euchromatic crossover hot spots and is associated with increased nucleosome density and H3K9me2. However, loss of CG DNA methylation maintenance in met1 triggers epigenetic crossover remodeling at the chromosome scale, with pericentromeric decreases and euchromatic increases in recombination. We used recombination mutants that alter interfering and noninterfering crossover repair pathways (fancm and zip4) to demonstrate that remodeling primarily involves redistribution of interfering crossovers. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, we show that crossover remodeling is driven by loss of CG methylation within the centromeric regions. Using cytogenetics, we profiled meiotic DNA double-strand break (DSB) foci in met1 and found them unchanged relative to wild type. We propose that met1 chromosome structure is altered, causing centromere-proximal DSBs to be inhibited from maturation into interfering crossovers. These data demonstrate that DNA methylation is sufficient to silence crossover hot spots and plays a key role in establishing domains of meiotic recombination along chromosomes. © 2015 Yelina et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Proteomic analysis of middle and late stages of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain development

PubMed Central

Zhang, Ning; Chen, Feng; Huo, Wang; Cui, Dangqun

2015-01-01

Proteomic approaches were applied in four grain developmental stages of the Chinese bread wheat Yunong 201 and its ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutant line Yunong 3114. 2-DE and tandem MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS analyzed proteome characteristics during middle and late grain development of the Chinese bread wheat Yunong 201 and its EMS mutant line Yunong 3114 with larger grain sizes. We identified 130 differentially accumulated protein spots representing 88 unique proteins, and four main expression patterns displayed a dynamic description of middle and late grain formation. Those identified protein species participated in eight biochemical processes: stress/defense, carbohydrate metabolism, protein synthesis/assembly/degradation, storage proteins, energy production and transportation, photosynthesis, transcription/translation, signal transduction. Comparative proteomic characterization demonstrated 12 protein spots that co-accumulated in the two wheat cultivars with different expression patterns, and six cultivar-specific protein spots including serpin, small heat shock protein, β-amylase, α-amylase inhibitor, dimeric α-amylase inhibitor precursor, and cold regulated protein. These cultivar-specific protein spots possibly resulted in differential yield-related traits of the two wheat cultivars. Our results provide valuable information for dissection of molecular and genetics basis of yield-related traits in bread wheat and the proteomic characterization in this study could also provide insights in the biology of middle and late grain development. PMID:26442048

Exploring Greenland: science and technology in Cold War settings.

PubMed

Heymann, Matthias; Knudsen, Henrik; Lolck, Maiken L; Nielsen, Henry; Nielsen, Kristian H; Ries, Christopher J

2010-01-01

This paper explores a vacant spot in the Cold War history of science: the development of research activities in the physical environmental sciences and in nuclear science and technology in Greenland. In the post-war period, scientific exploration of the polar areas became a strategically important element in American and Soviet defence policy. Particularly geophysical fields like meteorology, geology, seismology, oceanography, and others profited greatly from military interest. While Denmark maintained formal sovereignty over Greenland, research activities were strongly dominated by U.S. military interests. This paper sets out to summarize the limited current state of knowledge about activities in the environmental physical sciences in Greenland and their entanglement with military, geopolitical, and colonial interests of both the USA and Denmark. We describe geophysical research in the Cold War in Greenland as a multidimensional colonial endeavour. In a period of decolonization after World War II, Greenland, being a Danish colony, became additionally colonized by the American military. Concurrently, in a period of emerging scientific internationalism, the U.S. military "colonized" geophysical research in the Arctic, which increasingly became subject to military directions, culture, and rules.

Colonization of Bacteria on the Surfaces of Cold-Sprayed Copper Coatings Alters Their Electrochemical Behaviors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suo, Xinkun; Abdoli, Leila; Liu, Yi; Xia, Peng; Yang, Guanjun; Li, Hua

2017-04-01

Copper coatings were fabricated on stainless steel plates by cold spraying. Attachment and colonization of Bacillus sp. on their surfaces in artificial seawater were characterized, and their effects on anticorrosion performances of the coatings were examined. Attached bacteria were observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical behaviors including potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with/without bacterial attachment were evaluated using commercial electrochemical analysis station Modulab. Results show that Bacillus sp. opt to settle on low-lying spots of the coating surfaces in early stage, followed by recruitment and attachment of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secreted through metabolism of Bacillus sp. The bacteria survive with the protection of EPS. An attachment model is proposed to illustrate the bacterial behaviors on the surfaces of the coatings. Electrochemical data show that current density under Bacillus sp. environment decreases compared to that without the bacteria. Charge-transfer resistance increases markedly in bacteria-containing seawater, suggesting that corrosion resistance increases and corrosion rate decreases. The influencing mechanism of bacteria settlement on corrosion resistance of the cold-sprayed copper coatings was discussed and elucidated.

Black spot poison ivy: A report of 5 cases and a review of the literature.

PubMed

Kurlan, J G; Lucky, A W

2001-08-01

Black-spot poison ivy dermatitis is a rare manifestation of a common condition. It occurs on exposure to the resins of the plants of the Rhus family also known as Toxicodendron. We describe 5 patients with black deposits on their skin and clothing after contact with poison ivy and review the literature reflecting different aspects of this phenomenon including clinical presentation, histologic findings, and historical background.

Identifying and Reconstructing Common Cold Misconceptions among Developing K-12 Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Marcus Lee; Bungum, Timothy

2013-01-01

Background: Common cold misconceptions may contribute to ill-informed decisions and recommendations made by K-12 educators who often encounter infected students. Understanding the structure of educators' misconceptions can be used to improve health instruction in teacher professional preparation programs. Purpose: The purposes of this project were…

Keeping the Peace in an Age of Conflict: Debating the U.S. Role. Public Policy Debate in the Classroom. Choices for the 21st Century Education Project. Revised Edition. [Student Guidebook and] Teacher's Resource Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown Univ., Providence, RI. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Inst. for International Studies.

Since the end of the Cold War, the international community has been called upon with increasing frequency to intervene in the world's hot spots. The United States has taken up its share of responsibilities. U.S. military forces have bombed targets in Serbia, waded ashore in Haiti, patrolled cease-fire lines in Bosnia, skirmished over the skies of…

High sensitivity boundary layer transition detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azzazy, M.; Modarress, D.; Hoeft, T.

1985-01-01

A high sensitivity differential interferometer has been developed to locate the region where the boundary layer flow changes from laminar to turbulent. Two experimental configurations have been used to evaluate the performance of the interferometer, open shear layer configuration and wind tunnel turbulent spot configuration. In each experiment small temperature fluctuations were introduced as the signal source. Simultaneous cold wire measurements have been compared with the interferometer data. The comparison shows that the interferometer is sensitive to very weak phase variations in the order of .001 the laser wavelength.

Dried blood spot specimen quality and validation of a new pre-analytical processing method for qualitative HIV-1 PCR, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

PubMed Central

Parboosing, Raveen; Siyaca, Ntombizandile; Moodley, Pravikrishnen

2016-01-01

Background Poor quality dried blood spot (DBS) specimens are usually rejected by virology laboratories, affecting early infant diagnosis of HIV. The practice of combining two incompletely-filled DBS in one specimen preparation tube during pre-analytical specimen processing (i.e., the two-spot method) has been implemented to reduce the number of specimens being rejected for insufficient volume. Objectives This study analysed laboratory data to describe the quality of DBS specimens and the use of the two-spot method over a one-year period, then validated the two-spot method against the standard (one-spot) method. Methods Data on HIV-1 PCR test requests submitted in 2014 to the Department of Virology at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa were analysed to describe reasons for specimen rejection, as well as results of the two-spot method. The accuracy, lower limit of detection and precision of the two-spot method were assessed. Results Of the 88 481 specimens received, 3.7% were rejected for pre-analytical problems. Of those, 48.9% were rejected as a result of insufficient specimen volume. Two health facilities had significantly more specimen rejections than other facilities. The two-spot method prevented 10 504 specimen rejections. The Pearson correlation coefficient comparing the standard to the two-spot method was 0.997. Conclusions The two-spot method was comparable with the standard method of pre-analytical specimen processing. Two health facilities were identified for targeted retraining on specimen quality. The two-spot method of DBS specimen processing can be used as an adjunct to retraining, to reduce the number of specimens rejected and improve linkage to care. PMID:28879108

Emerging deforestation trends in tropical dry forests ecoregions of Mexico and Central America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Portillo, C. A.; Cao, G.; Smith, V.

2015-12-01

Neotropical dry forests (TDF) have experienced an unprecedented deforestation that is leading to the loss of tropical biodiversity at a rapid pace, but information on deforestation dynamics in TDF is scarce. In this study, we present a sub-continental and national level assessment of TDF loss patterns in Mexico and Central America at high spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing and GIS technologies. We used the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset published by Hansen et al. (2013) which shows results from time-series analysis of Landsat images in characterizing global forest extent and change from 2000 through 2013. We analyzed forest loss within and around mapped TDF cover mapped by Portillo-Quintero et al. 2010. In order to minimize errors in source data, we overlaid a 25 x 25 km grid on top of the regional dataset and conducted a cell by cell and country by country inspection at multiple scales using high resolution ancillary data. We identified trends in the clustering of space-time TDF deforestation data using ArcGIS, categorizing trends in: new, consecutive, intensifying, persistent, diminishing, sporadic, oscillating and historical hotspots (high frequency of deforestation events) and cold spots (low frequency of deforestation). In general, the region is experiencing less frequent deforestation events with a higher number of intensifying and new cold spots across TDF landscapes. However, an important number of intensifying and persistent hotspots exist so no general trend in forest loss was detected for the period 2001-2013, except for El Salvador which shows a significant decreasing trend in forest loss. Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are the major sources of intensifying, persistent and new deforestation hot spots. These were identified in the southern pacific coast and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, northwestern Guatemala, both western and eastern Honduras and around Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

Emerging deforestation trends in tropical dry forests ecoregions of Mexico and Central America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Rodriguez, I. M.; Sievert, S. M.; Fogel, M. L.; Foustoukos, D.

2014-12-01

Neotropical dry forests (TDF) have experienced an unprecedented deforestation that is leading to the loss of tropical biodiversity at a rapid pace, but information on deforestation dynamics in TDF is scarce. In this study, we present a sub-continental and national level assessment of TDF loss patterns in Mexico and Central America at high spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing and GIS technologies. We used the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset published by Hansen et al. (2013) which shows results from time-series analysis of Landsat images in characterizing global forest extent and change from 2000 through 2013. We analyzed forest loss within and around mapped TDF cover mapped by Portillo-Quintero et al. 2010. In order to minimize errors in source data, we overlaid a 25 x 25 km grid on top of the regional dataset and conducted a cell by cell and country by country inspection at multiple scales using high resolution ancillary data. We identified trends in the clustering of space-time TDF deforestation data using ArcGIS, categorizing trends in: new, consecutive, intensifying, persistent, diminishing, sporadic, oscillating and historical hotspots (high frequency of deforestation events) and cold spots (low frequency of deforestation). In general, the region is experiencing less frequent deforestation events with a higher number of intensifying and new cold spots across TDF landscapes. However, an important number of intensifying and persistent hotspots exist so no general trend in forest loss was detected for the period 2001-2013, except for El Salvador which shows a significant decreasing trend in forest loss. Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are the major sources of intensifying, persistent and new deforestation hot spots. These were identified in the southern pacific coast and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, northwestern Guatemala, both western and eastern Honduras and around Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

Transcriptomic Insights into Phenological Development and Cold Tolerance of Wheat Grown in the Field1[OPEN

PubMed Central

Li, Qiang; Byrns, Brook; Badawi, Mohamed A.; Diallo, Abdoulaye Banire; Danyluk, Jean; Sarhan, Fathey; Zou, Jitao

2018-01-01

Cold acclimation and winter survival in cereal species is determined by complicated environmentally regulated gene expression. However, studies investigating these complex cold responses are mostly conducted in controlled environments that only consider the responses to single environmental variables. In this study, we have comprehensively profiled global transcriptional responses in crowns of field-grown spring and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes and their near-isogenic lines with the VRN-A1 alleles swapped. This in-depth analysis revealed multiple signaling, interactive pathways that influence cold tolerance and phenological development to optimize plant growth and development in preparation for a wide range of over-winter stresses. Investigation of genetic differences at the VRN-A1 locus revealed that a vernalization requirement maintained a higher level of cold response pathways while VRN-A1 genetically promoted floral development. Our results also demonstrated the influence of genetic background on the expression of cold and flowering pathways. The link between delayed shoot apex development and the induction of cold tolerance was reflected by the gradual up-regulation of abscisic acid-dependent and C-REPEAT-BINDING FACTOR pathways. This was accompanied by the down-regulation of key genes involved in meristem development as the autumn progressed. The chromosome location of differentially expressed genes between the winter and spring wheat genetic backgrounds showed a striking pattern of biased gene expression on chromosomes 6A and 6D, indicating a transcriptional regulation at the genome level. This finding adds to the complexity of the genetic cascades and gene interactions that determine the evolutionary patterns of both phenological development and cold tolerance traits in wheat. PMID:29259104

Memantine effects on liver and adrenal gland of rats exposed to cold stress

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Memantine attenuates heart stress due cold stress, however, no study focused its effects on liver and adrenal gland. We evaluated its effects on lipid depletion in adrenal gland and glycogen depletion in liver of rats exposed to cold stress. Methods Male rats divided into 4 groups: 1)Control (CON); 2)Memantine (MEM); 3)Induced cold stress (IH) and; 4)Induced cold stress memantine (IHF). Memantine were administrated by gavage (20 mg/kg/day) during eight days. Cold stress were performed during 4 hours once at - 8°C. Lipid and glycogen depletion were presented as its intensity levels. Results Rats exposed to cold stress presented the highest glycogen (p < 0.001) and lipid depletion (p < 0.001) in liver and adrenal gland, respectively. We noted that memantine significantly reduced lipid depletion in adrenal gland and glycogen depletion in liver. Conclusion Memantine prevented glycogen depletion in liver and lipid depletion in adrenal gland of rats under a cold stress condition. PMID:21255456

Dynamical prediction of flu seasonality driven by ambient temperature: influenza vs. common cold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Postnikov, Eugene B.

2016-01-01

This work presents a comparative analysis of Influenzanet data for influenza itself and common cold in the Netherlands during the last 5 years, from the point of view of modelling by linearised SIRS equations parametrically driven by the ambient temperature. It is argued that this approach allows for the forecast of common cold, but not of influenza in a strict sense. The difference in their kinetic models is discussed with reference to the clinical background.

Spot quantification in two dimensional gel electrophoresis image analysis: comparison of different approaches and presentation of a novel compound fitting algorithm

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Various computer-based methods exist for the detection and quantification of protein spots in two dimensional gel electrophoresis images. Area-based methods are commonly used for spot quantification: an area is assigned to each spot and the sum of the pixel intensities in that area, the so-called volume, is used a measure for spot signal. Other methods use the optical density, i.e. the intensity of the most intense pixel of a spot, or calculate the volume from the parameters of a fitted function. Results In this study we compare the performance of different spot quantification methods using synthetic and real data. We propose a ready-to-use algorithm for spot detection and quantification that uses fitting of two dimensional Gaussian function curves for the extraction of data from two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) images. The algorithm implements fitting using logical compounds and is computationally efficient. The applicability of the compound fitting algorithm was evaluated for various simulated data and compared with other quantification approaches. We provide evidence that even if an incorrect bell-shaped function is used, the fitting method is superior to other approaches, especially when spots overlap. Finally, we validated the method with experimental data of urea-based 2-DE of Aβ peptides andre-analyzed published data sets. Our methods showed higher precision and accuracy than other approaches when applied to exposure time series and standard gels. Conclusion Compound fitting as a quantification method for 2-DE spots shows several advantages over other approaches and could be combined with various spot detection methods. The algorithm was scripted in MATLAB (Mathworks) and is available as a supplemental file. PMID:24915860

Added value of delayed computed tomography angiography in primary intracranial hemorrhage and hematoma size for predicting spot sign.

PubMed

Wu, Te Chang; Chen, Tai Yuan; Shiue, Yow Ling; Chen, Jeon Hor; Hsieh, Tsyh-Jyi; Ko, Ching Chung; Lin, Ching Po

2018-04-01

Background The computed tomography angiography (CTA) spot sign represents active contrast extravasation within acute primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and is an independent predictor of hematoma expansion (HE) and poor clinical outcomes. The spot sign could be detected on first-pass CTA (fpCTA) or delayed CTA (dCTA). Purpose To investigate the additional benefits of dCTA spot sign in primary ICH and hematoma size for predicting spot sign. Material and Methods This is a retrospective study of 100 patients who underwent non-contrast CT (NCCT) and CTA within 24 h of onset of primary ICH. The presence of spot sign on fpCTA or dCTA, and hematoma size on NCCT were recorded. The spot sign on fpCTA or dCTA for predicting significant HE, in-hospital mortality, and poor clinical outcomes (mRS ≥ 4) are calculated. The hematoma size for prediction of CTA spot sign was also analyzed. Results Only the spot sign on dCTA could predict high risk of significant HE and poor clinical outcomes as on fpCTA ( P < 0.05). With dCTA, there is increased sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) for predicting significant HE, in-hospital mortality, and poor clinical outcomes. The XY value (product of the two maximum perpendicular axial dimensions) is the best predictor (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.82) for predicting spot sign on fpCTA or dCTA in the absence of intraventricular and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Conclusion This study clarifies that dCTA imaging could improve predictive performance of CTA in primary ICH. Furthermore, the XY value is the best predictor for CTA spot sign.

Segmentation and intensity estimation of microarray images using a gamma-t mixture model.

PubMed

Baek, Jangsun; Son, Young Sook; McLachlan, Geoffrey J

2007-02-15

We present a new approach to the analysis of images for complementary DNA microarray experiments. The image segmentation and intensity estimation are performed simultaneously by adopting a two-component mixture model. One component of this mixture corresponds to the distribution of the background intensity, while the other corresponds to the distribution of the foreground intensity. The intensity measurement is a bivariate vector consisting of red and green intensities. The background intensity component is modeled by the bivariate gamma distribution, whose marginal densities for the red and green intensities are independent three-parameter gamma distributions with different parameters. The foreground intensity component is taken to be the bivariate t distribution, with the constraint that the mean of the foreground is greater than that of the background for each of the two colors. The degrees of freedom of this t distribution are inferred from the data but they could be specified in advance to reduce the computation time. Also, the covariance matrix is not restricted to being diagonal and so it allows for nonzero correlation between R and G foreground intensities. This gamma-t mixture model is fitted by maximum likelihood via the EM algorithm. A final step is executed whereby nonparametric (kernel) smoothing is undertaken of the posterior probabilities of component membership. The main advantages of this approach are: (1) it enjoys the well-known strengths of a mixture model, namely flexibility and adaptability to the data; (2) it considers the segmentation and intensity simultaneously and not separately as in commonly used existing software, and it also works with the red and green intensities in a bivariate framework as opposed to their separate estimation via univariate methods; (3) the use of the three-parameter gamma distribution for the background red and green intensities provides a much better fit than the normal (log normal) or t distributions; (4) the use of the bivariate t distribution for the foreground intensity provides a model that is less sensitive to extreme observations; (5) as a consequence of the aforementioned properties, it allows segmentation to be undertaken for a wide range of spot shapes, including doughnut, sickle shape and artifacts. We apply our method for gridding, segmentation and estimation to cDNA microarray real images and artificial data. Our method provides better segmentation results in spot shapes as well as intensity estimation than Spot and spotSegmentation R language softwares. It detected blank spots as well as bright artifact for the real data, and estimated spot intensities with high-accuracy for the synthetic data. The algorithms were implemented in Matlab. The Matlab codes implementing both the gridding and segmentation/estimation are available upon request. Supplementary material is available at Bioinformatics online.

1. EXTERIOR VIEW OF BUILDING 25A (COLD CHAMBER), LOOKING NORTHEAST, ...

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

1. EXTERIOR VIEW OF BUILDING 25A (COLD CHAMBER), LOOKING NORTHEAST, WITH WIND TUNNEL IN BACKGROUND (1991). - Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Area B, Buildings 25 & 24,10-foot & 20-foot Wind Tunnel Complex, Northeast side of block bounded by K, G, Third, & Fifth Streets, Dayton, Montgomery County, OH

Current and future hot-spots and hot-moments of nitrous oxide emission in a cold climate river basin.

PubMed

Shrestha, Narayan Kumar; Wang, Junye

2018-08-01

An ecosystem in a cold climate river basin is vulnerable to the effects of climate change affecting permafrost thaw and glacier retreat. We currently lack sufficient data and information if and how hydrological processes such as glacier retreat, snowmelt and freezing-thawing affect sediment and nutrient runoff and transport, as well as N 2 O emissions in cold climate river basins. As such, we have implemented well-established, semi-empirical equations of nitrification and denitrification within the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), which correlate the emissions with water, sediment and nutrients. We have tested this implementation to simulate emission dynamics at three sites on the Canadian prairies. We then regionalized the optimized parameters to a SWAT model of the Athabasca River Basin (ARB), Canada, calibrated and validated for streamflow, sediment and water quality. In the base period (1990-2005), agricultural areas (2662 gN/ha/yr) constituted emission hot-spots. The spring season in agricultural areas and summer season in forest areas, constituted emission hot-moments. We found that warmer conditions (+13% to +106%) would have a greater influence on emissions than wetter conditions (-19% to +13%), and that the combined effect of wetter and warmer conditions would be more offsetting than synergetic. Our results imply that the spatiotemporal variability of N 2 O emissions will depend strongly on soil water changes caused by permafrost thaw. Early snow freshet leads to spatial variability of soil erosion and nutrient runoff, as well as increases of emissions in winter and decreases in spring. Our simulations suggest crop residue management may reduce emissions by 34%, but with the mixed results reported in the literature and the soil and hydrology problems associated with stover removal more research is necessary. This modelling tool can be used to refine bottom-up emission estimations at river basin scale, test plausible management scenarios, and assess climate change impacts including climate feedback. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Saccades to remembered targets: the effects of smooth pursuit and illusory stimulus motion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zivotofsky, A. Z.; Rottach, K. G.; Averbuch-Heller, L.; Kori, A. A.; Thomas, C. W.; Dell'Osso, L. F.; Leigh, R. J.

1996-01-01

1. Measurements were made in four normal human subjects of the accuracy of saccades to remembered locations of targets that were flashed on a 20 x 30 deg random dot display that was either stationary or moving horizontally and sinusoidally at +/-9 deg at 0.3 Hz. During the interval between the target flash and the memory-guided saccade, the "memory period" (1.4 s), subjects either fixated a stationary spot or pursued a spot moving vertically sinusoidally at +/-9 deg at 0.3 Hz. 2. When saccades were made toward the location of targets previously flashed on a stationary background as subjects fixated the stationary spot, median saccadic error was 0.93 deg horizontally and 1.1 deg vertically. These errors were greater than for saccades to visible targets, which had median values of 0.59 deg horizontally and 0.60 deg vertically. 3. When targets were flashed as subjects smoothly pursued a spot that moved vertically across the stationary background, median saccadic error was 1.1 deg horizontally and 1.2 deg vertically, thus being of similar accuracy to when targets were flashed during fixation. In addition, the vertical component of the memory-guided saccade was much more closely correlated with the "spatial error" than with the "retinal error"; this indicated that, when programming the saccade, the brain had taken into account eye movements that occurred during the memory period. 4. When saccades were made to targets flashed during attempted fixation of a stationary spot on a horizontally moving background, a condition that produces a weak Duncker-type illusion of horizontal movement of the primary target, median saccadic error increased horizontally to 3.2 deg but was 1.1 deg vertically. 5. When targets were flashed as subjects smoothly pursued a spot that moved vertically on the horizontally moving background, a condition that induces a strong illusion of diagonal target motion, median saccadic error was 4.0 deg horizontally and 1.5 deg vertically; thus the horizontal error was greater than under any other experimental condition. 6. In most trials, the initial saccade to the remembered target was followed by additional saccades while the subject was still in darkness. These secondary saccades, which were executed in the absence of visual feedback, brought the eye closer to the target location. During paradigms involving horizontal background movement, these corrections were more prominent horizontally than vertically. 7. Further measurements were made in two subjects to determine whether inaccuracy of memory-guided saccades, in the horizontal plane, was due to mislocalization at the time that the target flashed, misrepresentation of the trajectory of the pursuit eye movement during the memory period, or both. 8. The magnitude of the saccadic error, both with and without corrections made in darkness, was mislocalized by approximately 30% of the displacement of the background at the time that the target flashed. The magnitude of the saccadic error also was influenced by net movement of the background during the memory period, corresponding to approximately 25% of net background movement for the initial saccade and approximately 13% for the final eye position achieved in darkness. 9. We formulated simple linear models to test specific hypotheses about which combinations of signals best describe the observed saccadic amplitudes. We tested the possibilities that the brain made an accurate memory of target location and a reliable representation of the eye movement during the memory period, or that one or both of these was corrupted by the illusory visual stimulus. Our data were best accounted for by a model in which both the working memory of target location and the internal representation of the horizontal eye movements were corrupted by the illusory visual stimulus. We conclude that extraretinal signals played only a minor role, in comparison with visual estimates of the direction of gaze, in planning eye movements to remembered targ.

Re-examining the effect of low and intermediate mode number perturbations on Ignition Metrics Scaling Laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malka, Elad; Shvarts, Dov

2017-10-01

We re-examine the way 2/3D effects on scaling laws for ignition metrics, such as the generalized Lawson Criterion (GLC) and the Ignition Threshold Factor (ITF). These scaling laws were derived for 1D symmetrical case and 2/3D perturbations [Hann et al. PoP 2010; Lindl et al., PoP 2014; Betti et al., PoP 2010]. The main cause for the difference between the 1D and the 2/3D scaling laws in those works, is heat conduction losses from the hot-spot bubbles to the cold shell [Kishony and Shvarts, PoP 2001]. This ``dry out'' of the bubbles is the dominant mechanism for intermediate mode number perturbations (6

Diagnosis of a Poorly Performing Liquid Hydrogen Bulk Storage Sphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krenn, Angela G.

2011-01-01

There are two 850,000 gallon Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) storage spheres used to support the Space Shuttle Program; one residing at Launch Pad A and the other at Launch Pad B. The LH2 Sphere at Pad B has had a high boiloff rate since being brought into service in the 1960's. The daily commodity loss was estimated to be approximately double that of the Pad A sphere, and well above the minimum required by the sphere's specification. Additionally, after being re-painted in the late 1990's a "cold spot" appeared on the outer sphere which resulted in a poor paint bond, and mold formation. Thermography was used to characterize the area, and the boiloff rate was continually evaluated. All evidence suggested that the high boiloff rate was caused by an excessive heat leak into the inner sphere due to an insulation void in the annulus. Pad B was recently taken out of Space Shuttle program service which provided a unique opportunity to diagnose the sphere's poor performance. The sphere was drained and inerted, and then opened from the annular relief device on the top where a series of boroscoping operations were accomplished. Boroscoping revealed a large Perlite insulation void in the region of the sphere where the cold spot was apparent. Perlite was then trucked in and off-loaded into the annular void region until the annulus was full. The sphere has not yet been brought back into service.

Development of a Web GIS Application for Visualizing and Analyzing Community Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patterns

PubMed Central

Semple, Hugh; Qin, Han; Sasson, Comilla

2013-01-01

Improving survival rates at the neighborhood level is increasingly seen as a priority for reducing overall rates of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the United States. Since wide disparities exist in OHCA rates at the neighborhood level, it is important for public health officials and residents to be able to quickly locate neighborhoods where people are at elevated risk for cardiac arrest and to target these areas for educational outreach and other mitigation strategies. This paper describes an OHCA web mapping application that was developed to provide users with interactive maps and data for them to quickly visualize and analyze the geographic pattern of cardiac arrest rates, bystander CPR rates, and survival rates at the neighborhood level in different U.S. cities. The data comes from the CARES Registry and is provided over a period spanning several years so users can visualize trends in neighborhood out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patterns. Users can also visualize areas that are statistical hot and cold spots for cardiac arrest and compare OHCA and bystander CPR rates in the hot and cold spots. Although not designed as a public participation GIS (PPGIS), this application seeks to provide a forum around which data and maps about local patterns of OHCA can be shared, analyzed and discussed with a view of empowering local communities to take action to address the high rates of OHCA in their vicinity. PMID:23923097

Computer simulation for improving radio frequency (RF) heating uniformity of food products: A review.

PubMed

Huang, Zhi; Marra, Francesco; Subbiah, Jeyamkondan; Wang, Shaojin

2018-04-13

Radio frequency (RF) heating has great potential for achieving rapid and volumetric heating in foods, providing safe and high-quality food products due to deep penetration depth, moisture self-balance effects, and leaving no chemical residues. However, the nonuniform heating problem (usually resulting in hot and cold spots in the heated product) needs to be resolved. The inhomogeneous temperature distribution not only affects the quality of the food but also raises the issue of food safety when the microorganisms or insects may not be controlled in the cold spots. The mathematical modeling for RF heating processes has been extensively studied in a wide variety of agricultural products recently. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent progresses in computer simulation for RF heating uniformity improvement and the offered solutions to reduce the heating nonuniformity. It provides a brief introduction on the basic principle of RF heating technology, analyzes the applications of numerical simulation, and discusses the factors influencing the RF heating uniformity and the possible methods to improve heating uniformity. Mathematical modeling improves the understanding of RF heating of food and is essential to optimize the RF treatment protocol for pasteurization and disinfestation applications. Recommendations for future research have been proposed to further improve the accuracy of numerical models, by covering both heat and mass transfers in the model, validating these models with sample movement and mixing, and identifying the important model parameters by sensitivity analysis.

System Concept for Remote Measurement of Asteroid Molecular Composition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, G. B.; Lubin, P. M.; Zhang, Q.; Brashears, T.; Cohen, A. N.; Madajian, J.

2016-12-01

We propose a method for probing the molecular composition of cold solar system targets (asteroids, comets, planets, moons) from a distant vantage, such as from a spacecraft orbiting the object. A directed energy beam is focused on the target. With sufficient flux, the spot temperature rises rapidly, and evaporation of surface materials occurs. The melted spot creates a high-temperature blackbody source, and ejected material creates a plume of surface materials in front of the spot. Molecular and atomic absorption of the blackbody radiation occurs within the ejected plume. Bulk composition of the surface material is investigated by using a spectrometer to view the heated spot through the ejected material. Our proposed method differs from technologies such as Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), which atomizes and ionizes materials in the target; scattered ions emit characteristic radiation, and the LIBS detector performs atomic composition analysis by observing emission spectra. Standoff distance for LIBS is limited by the strength of characteristic emission, and distances greater than 10 m are problematic. Our proposed method detects atomic and molecular absorption spectra in the plume; standoff distance is limited by the size of heated spot, and the plume opacity; distances on the order of tens of kilometers are immediately feasible. Simulations have been developed for laser heating of a rocky target, with concomitant evaporation. Evaporation rates lead to determination of plume density and opacity. Absorption profiles for selected materials are estimated from plume properties. Initial simulations of absorption profiles with laser heating show great promise for molecular composition analysis from tens of kilometers distance. This paper explores the feasibility a hypothetical mission that seeks to perform surface molecular composition analysis of a near-earth asteroid while the craft orbits the asteroid. Such a system has compelling potential benefit for solar system exploration.

Storage and sterilization techniques: the specific role of the cold chain.

PubMed

Guinebault, A

1986-01-01

Focus in this discussion is on reasons for the cold chain, management of vaccine supplies (regional storage, peripheral centers, and the clinic), the facilities and their use, monitoring the cold chain, and training participants in the cold chain. To remain active, vaccines must be maintained continuously within a specific temperature range from the moment they are produced until they are injected. This is the meaning of the cold chain. If the cold chain is broken at any point, the vaccines must be destroyed for they will have lost their effectiveness. To function properly, a cold chain requires the combined presence of efficient, reliable equipment, and of qualified, vigilant personnel at all levels. The cold chain is composed of the following elements: a national storage center, near an international airport, with a 1-year supply of vaccines for the entire target population; regional storage centers with a 3-month supply of vaccines for the entire population of the region; peripheral immunization centers scattered throughout the region, managing a supply for about 1 month; clinics, which either perform vaccinations on the spot and/or supply mobile teams, depending on the strategy; and mobile teams, with portable cold boxes, with an autonomy of several days. The main problems occur at the local levels, and more specifically with respect to transportation and the fuel and power supplies, as well as cold packs. At the central level, the 1-year supply of vaccines generally is stored in cold rooms. Personnel in charge of central strorage also are responsible for transportation to and from these cold rooms. Once the space required for storing vaccines is determined, the facilities required at each level may be evaluated. The information essential to the choice must be considered in each case. The main criteria involved are outlined. There are many devices for monitoring the function of the cold chain: indicators, which accompany the vaccines from the central depot to the peripheral centers show any excesses in temperature and their duration; and devices such as thermometers show the present temperature, independently of the "history" of the vaccine. Some devices are available for checking individual elements of the cold chain from time to time. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a training strategy aimed at people on all levels: international consultants and decisionmakers involved in programming the Expanded Program on Immunization; technicians in charge of maintenance; and medical personnel.

Cosmic background radiation anisotropies in universes dominated by nonbaryonic dark matter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bond, J. R.; Efstathiou, G.

1984-01-01

Detailed calculations of the temperature fluctuations in the cosmic background radiation for universes dominated by massive collisionless relics of the big bang are presented. An initially adiabatic constant curvature perturbation spectrum is assumed. In models with cold dark matter, the simplest hypothesis - that galaxies follow the mass distribution leads to small-scale anisotropies which exceed current observational limits if omega is less than 0.2 h to the -4/3. Since low values of omega are indicated by dynamical studies of galaxy clustering, cold particle models in which light traces mass are probably incorrect. Reheating of the pregalactic medium is unlikely to modify this conclusion. In cold particle or neutrino-dominated universes with omega = 1, presented predictions for small-scale and quadrupole anisotropies are below current limits. In all cases, the small-scale fluctuations are predicted to be about 10 percent linearly polarized.

Eimeria Species and Genetic Background Influence the Serum Protein Profile of Broilers with Coccidiosis

PubMed Central

Gilbert, Elizabeth R.; Cox, Chasity M.; Williams, Patricia M.; McElroy, Audrey P.; Dalloul, Rami A.; Ray, W. Keith; Barri, Adriana; Emmerson, Derek A.; Wong, Eric A.; Webb, Kenneth E.

2011-01-01

Background Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease caused by protozoal parasites of the genus Eimeria. Despite the advent of anti-coccidial drugs and vaccines, the disease continues to result in substantial annual economic losses to the poultry industry. There is still much unknown about the host response to infection and to date there are no reports of protein profiles in the blood of Eimeria-infected animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the serum proteome of two genetic lines of broiler chickens after infection with one of three species of Eimeria. Methodology/Principal Findings Birds from lines A and B were either not infected or inoculated with sporulated oocysts from one of the three Eimeria strains at 15 d post-hatch. At 21 d (6 d post-infection), whole blood was collected and lesion scoring was performed. Serum was harvested and used for 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis. A total of 1,266 spots were quantitatively assessed by densitometry. Protein spots showing a significant effect of coccidia strain and/or broiler genetic line on density at P<0.05−0.01 (250 spots), P<0.01−0.001 (248 spots), and P<0.001 (314 spots) were excised and analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Proteins were identified in 172 spots. A total of 46 different proteins were identified. Of the spots with a corresponding protein identification, 57 showed a main effect of coccidia infection and/or 2-way interaction of coccidia infection×broiler genetic line at P<0.001. Conclusions/Significance Several of the metabolic enzymes identified in this study are potential candidates for early diagnostic markers of E. acervulina infection including malate dehydrogenase 2, NADH dehydrogenase 1 alpha subcomplex 9, and an ATP synthase. These proteins were detected only in Line A birds that were inoculated with E. acervulina. Results from this study provide a basic framework for future research aimed at uncovering the complex biochemical mechanisms involved in host response to Eimeria infection and in identifying molecular targets for diagnostic screening and development of alternative preventative and therapeutic methods. PMID:21297942

Is there a black hole in the sky?. [gravitational lensing candidate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paczynski, B.

1986-01-01

The consequences of the hypothesis that a supermassive black hole can serve as a gravitational lens are analytically studied. It is shown that the presence of a black hole could be established by the unique property that it would appear against the microwave background as a black spot with a diameter of 0.1 arcsec or greater. The only instrument capable of either resolving the black spot or at least noticing it as a negative luminosity source is the Very Large Array.

The Discrepant and Similar Responses of Genome-Wide Transcriptional Profiles between Drought and Cold Stresses in Cassava.

PubMed

Zeng, Changying; Ding, Zehong; Zhou, Fang; Zhou, Yufei; Yang, Ruiju; Yang, Zi; Wang, Wenquan; Peng, Ming

2017-12-12

Background : Cassava, an important tropical crop, has remarkable drought tolerance, but is very sensitive to cold. The growth, development, and root productivity of cassava are all adversely affected under cold and drought. Methods : To profile the transcriptional response to cold and drought stresses, cassava seedlings were respectively subjected to 0, 6, 24, and 48 h of cold stress and 0, 4, 6, and 10 days of drought stress. Their folded leaves, fully extended leaves, and roots were respectively investigated using RNA-seq. Results : Many genes specifically and commonly responsive to cold and drought were revealed: genes related to basic cellular metabolism, tetrapyrrole synthesis, and brassinosteroid metabolism exclusively responded to cold; genes related to abiotic stress and ethylene metabolism exclusively responded to drought; and genes related to cell wall, photosynthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism, DNA synthesis/chromatic structure, abscisic acid and salicylic acid metabolism, and calcium signaling commonly responded to both cold and drought. Discussion : Combined with cold- and/or drought-responsive transcription factors, the regulatory networks responding to cold and drought in cassava were constructed. All these findings will improve our understanding of the specific and common responses to cold and drought in cassava, and shed light on genetic improvement of cold and drought tolerance in cassava.

Excess Risk of Head and Chest Colds among Teachers and Other School Workers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tak, SangWoo; Groenewold, Matthew; Alterman, Toni; Park, Robert M.; Calvert, Geoffrey M.

2011-01-01

Background: Work-related injuries and illnesses in the educational services sector have not been well studied. This analysis examined whether teachers and other school workers are at higher risk of head/chest cold compared to all other workers in the United States. Methods: Seven years (1998-2004) of National Health Interview Survey data on…

Viscosity of Dysphagia-Oriented Cold-Thickened Beverages: Effect of Setting Time at Refrigeration Temperature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Sung-Gun; Yoo, Byoungseung

2015-01-01

Background: Although extensive literature is available on the viscosity of thickened beverages with food thickeners, no attempt has been made to study the effect of setting time on the viscosity of pudding-like cold-thickened beverages with xanthan gum (XG)-based thickeners by using a rheometer. In particular, it is of considerable practical…

"Hot", "Cold" and "Warm" Supports: Towards Theorising Where Refugee Students Go for Assistance at University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Sally; Ramsay, Georgina; Irwin, Evonne; Miles, Lauren

2018-01-01

This paper contributes a rich picture of how students from refugee backgrounds navigate their way into and through undergraduate studies in a regional Australian university, paying particular attention to their access to and use of different forms of support. We draw on the conceptualisation of "hot" and "cold" knowledge,…

Rigorous assessment and integration of the sequence and structure based features to predict hot spots

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Systematic mutagenesis studies have shown that only a few interface residues termed hot spots contribute significantly to the binding free energy of protein-protein interactions. Therefore, hot spots prediction becomes increasingly important for well understanding the essence of proteins interactions and helping narrow down the search space for drug design. Currently many computational methods have been developed by proposing different features. However comparative assessment of these features and furthermore effective and accurate methods are still in pressing need. Results In this study, we first comprehensively collect the features to discriminate hot spots and non-hot spots and analyze their distributions. We find that hot spots have lower relASA and larger relative change in ASA, suggesting hot spots tend to be protected from bulk solvent. In addition, hot spots have more contacts including hydrogen bonds, salt bridges, and atomic contacts, which favor complexes formation. Interestingly, we find that conservation score and sequence entropy are not significantly different between hot spots and non-hot spots in Ab+ dataset (all complexes). While in Ab- dataset (antigen-antibody complexes are excluded), there are significant differences in two features between hot pots and non-hot spots. Secondly, we explore the predictive ability for each feature and the combinations of features by support vector machines (SVMs). The results indicate that sequence-based feature outperforms other combinations of features with reasonable accuracy, with a precision of 0.69, a recall of 0.68, an F1 score of 0.68, and an AUC of 0.68 on independent test set. Compared with other machine learning methods and two energy-based approaches, our approach achieves the best performance. Moreover, we demonstrate the applicability of our method to predict hot spots of two protein complexes. Conclusion Experimental results show that support vector machine classifiers are quite effective in predicting hot spots based on sequence features. Hot spots cannot be fully predicted through simple analysis based on physicochemical characteristics, but there is reason to believe that integration of features and machine learning methods can remarkably improve the predictive performance for hot spots. PMID:21798070

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

Naidoo, Krishna; Benoit-Levy, Aurelien; Lahav, Ofer

Understanding the observed Cold Spot (CS) (temperature of ~ -150 mu K at its centre) on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is an outstanding problem. Explanations vary from assuming it is just a ≳ 3σ primordial Gaussian fluctuation to the imprint of a supervoid via the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe and Rees-Sciama (ISW+RS) effects. Since single spherical supervoids cannot account for the full profile, the ISW+RS of multiple line-of-sight voids is studied here to mimic the structure of the cosmic web. Two structure configurations are considered. The first, through simulations of 20 voids, produces a central mean temperature of ~-50 mu K.more » In this model the central CS temperature lies at ~ 2σ but fails to explain the CS hot ring. An alternative multi-void model (using more pronounced compensated voids) produces much smaller temperature profiles, but contains a prominent hot ring. Arrangements containing closely placed voids at low redshift are found to be particularly well suited to produce CS-like profiles. We then measure the significance of the CS if CS-like profiles (which are fitted to the ISW+RS of multi-void scenarios) are removed. Furthermore, the CS tension with the LCDM model can be reduced dramatically for an array of temperature profiles smaller than the CS itself.« less

Insights from ecological niche modeling on the taxonomic distinction and niche differentiation between the black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckoes (Gekko gecko).

PubMed

Zhang, Yueyun; Chen, Chongtao; Li, Li; Zhao, Chengjian; Chen, Weicai; Huang, Yong

2014-09-01

The black-spotted tokay and the red-spotted tokay are morphologically distinct and have largely allopatric distributions. The black-spotted tokay is characterized by a small body size and dark skin with sundry spots, while the red-spotted tokay has a relatively large body size and red spots. Based on morphological, karyotypic, genetic, and distribution differences, recent studies suggested their species status; however, their classifications remain controversial, and additional data such as ecological niches are necessary to establish firm hypotheses regarding their taxonomic status. We reconstructed their ecological niches models using climatic and geographic data. We then performed niche similarity tests (niche identity and background tests) and point-based analyses to explore whether ecological differentiation has occurred, and whether such differences are sufficient to explain the maintenance of their separate segments of environmental ranges. We found that both niche models of the black- and the red-spotted tokay had a good fit and a robust performance, as indicated by the high area under the curve (AUC) values ("black" = 0.982, SD = ± 0.002, "red" = 0.966 ± 0.02). Significant ecological differentiation across the entire geographic range was found, indicating that the involvement of ecological differentiation is important for species differentiation. Divergence along the environmental axes is highly associated with climatic conditions, with isothermality being important for the "black" form, while temperature seasonality, precipitation of warmest quarter, and annual temperature range together being important for the "red" form. These factors are likely important factors in niche differentiation between the two forms, which result in morphological replacement. Overall, beside morphological and genetic differentiation information, our results contribute to additional insights into taxonomic distinction and niche differentiation between the black- and the red-spotted tokay.

Timing of occurrence is the most important characteristic of spot sign

PubMed Central

Xu, Mengjun; Zhang, Sheng; Liu, Keqin; Hu, Haitao; Selim, Magdy; Lou, Min

2016-01-01

Background and Purpose Most previous studies have used single-phase CT angiography (CTA) to detect the spot sign, a marker for hematoma expansion (HE) in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH). We investigated whether defining the spot sign based on timing on perfusion CT (CTP) would improve its specificity for predicting HE. Methods We prospectively enrolled supratentorial SICH patients, who underwent CTP within 6 h of onset. Logistic regression were performed to assess the risk factors for HE and poor outcome. Predictive performance of individual CTP spot sign characteristics were examined with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results Sixty-two men and 21 women with SICH were included in this analysis. Spot sign was detected in 46% (38/83) patients. ROC analysis indicated that the timing of spot sign occurrence on CTP had the greatest AUC for HE (0.794; 95% CI, 0.630-0.958; P=0.007); the cutoff time was 23.13 seconds. On multivariable analysis, the presence of early-occurring spot sign (EOSS; i.e. spot sign before 23.13 seconds) was an independent predictor, not only of HE (OR=28.835; 95% CI, 6.960-119.458; P<0.001), but also of mortality at 3 months (OR=22.377; 95% CI, 1.773-282.334; P=0.016). Moreover, the predictive performance showed that the redefined EOSS maintained a higher specificity for HE compared to spot sign (91% vs 74%). Conclusions Redefining the spot sign based on timing of contrast leakage on CTP to determine EOSS, improves the specificity for predicting HE and 3-month mortality. The use of EOSS could improve the selection of ICH patients for potential hemostatic therapy. PMID:27026627

Dynamic of cold-atom tips in anharmonic potentials

PubMed Central

Menold, Tobias; Federsel, Peter; Rogulj, Carola; Hölscher, Hendrik; Fortágh, József

2016-01-01

Background: Understanding the dynamics of ultracold quantum gases in an anharmonic potential is essential for applications in the new field of cold-atom scanning probe microscopy. Therein, cold atomic ensembles are used as sensitive probe tips to investigate nanostructured surfaces and surface-near potentials, which typically cause anharmonic tip motion. Results: Besides a theoretical description of this anharmonic tip motion, we introduce a novel method for detecting the cold-atom tip dynamics in situ and real time. In agreement with theory, the first measurements show that particle interactions and anharmonic motion have a significant impact on the tip dynamics. Conclusion: Our findings will be crucial for the realization of high-sensitivity force spectroscopy with cold-atom tips and could possibly allow for the development of advanced spectroscopic techniques such as Q-control. PMID:28144505

Exclusion of EDNRB and KIT as the basis for white spotting in Border Collies

PubMed Central

Metallinos, Danika; Rine, Jasper

2000-01-01

Background: White spotting patterns in mammals can be caused by mutations in the genes for the endothelin B receptor and c-Kit, whose protein products are necessary for proper migration, differentiation or survival of the melanoblast population of cells. Although there are many different dog breeds that segregate white spotting patterns, no genes have been identified that are linked to these phenotypes. Results: An intercross was generated from a female Newfoundland and a male Border Collie and the white spotting phenotypes of the intercross progeny were evaluated by measuring percentage surface area of white in the puppies. The Border Collie markings segregated as a simple autosomal recessive (7/25 intercross progeny had the phenotype). Two candidate genes, for the endothelin B receptor (EDNRB) and c-Kit (KIT), were evaluated for segregation with the white spotting pattern. Polymorphisms between the Border Collie and Newfoundland were identified for EDNRB using Southern analysis after a portion of the canine gene had been cloned. Polymorphisms for KIT were identified using a microsatellite developed from a bacterial artificial chromosome containing the canine gene. Conclusions: Both EDNRB and KIT were excluded as a cause of the white spotting pattern in at least two of the intercross progeny. Although these genes have been implicated in white spotting in other mammals, including horses, pigs, cows, mice and rats, they do not appear to be responsible for the white spotting pattern found in the Border Collie breed of dog. PMID:11178229

Dried blood spots as a source of anti-malarial antibodies for epidemiological studies

PubMed Central

Corran, Patrick H; Cook, Jackie; Lynch, Caroline; Leendertse, Heleen; Manjurano, Alphaxard; Griffin, Jamie; Cox, Jonathan; Abeku, Tarekegn; Bousema, Teun; Ghani, Azra C; Drakeley, Chris; Riley, Eleanor

2008-01-01

Background Blood spots collected onto filter paper are an established and convenient source of antibodies for serological diagnosis and epidemiological surveys. Although recommendations for the storage and analysis of small molecule analytes in blood spots exist, there are no published systematic studies of the stability of antibodies under different storage conditions. Methods Blood spots, on filter paper or glass fibre mats and containing malaria-endemic plasma, were desiccated and stored at various temperatures for different times. Eluates of these spots were assayed for antibodies against two Plasmodium falciparum antigens, MSP-119 and MSP2, and calculated titres used to fit an exponential (first order kinetic) decay model. The first order rate constants (k) for each spot storage temperature were used to fit an Arrhenius equation, in order to estimate the thermal and temporal stability of antibodies in dried blood spots. The utility of blood spots for serological assays was confirmed by comparing antibodies eluted from blood spots with the equivalent plasma values in a series of samples from North Eastern Tanzania and by using blood spot-derived antibodies to estimate malaria transmission intensity in this site and for two localities in Uganda. Results Antibodies in spots on filter paper and glass fibre paper had similar stabilities but blood was more easily absorbed onto filter papers than glass fibre, spots were more regular and spot size was more closely correlated with blood volume for filter paper spots. Desiccated spots could be stored at or below 4°C for extended periods, but were stable for only very limited periods at ambient temperature. When desiccated, recoveries of antibodies that are predominantly of IgG1 or IgG3 subclasses were similar. Recoveries of antibodies from paired samples of serum and of blood spots from Tanzania which had been suitably stored showed similar recoveries of antibodies, but spots which had been stored for extended periods at ambient humidity and temperature showed severe loss of recoveries. Estimates of malaria transmission intensity obtained from serum and from blood spots were similar, and values obtained using blood spots agreed well with entomologically determined values. Conclusion This study has demonstrated the suitability of filter paper blood spots paper for collection of serum antibodies, and provided clear guidelines for the treatment and storage of filter papers which emphasize the importance of desiccation and minimisation of time spent at ambient temperatures. A recommended protocol for collecting, storing and assaying blood spots is provided. PMID:18826573

A chromosome inversion near the KIT gene and the Tobiano spotting pattern in horses.

PubMed

Brooks, S A; Lear, T L; Adelson, D L; Bailey, E

2007-01-01

Tobiano is a white spotting pattern in horses caused by a dominant gene, Tobiano(TO). Here, we report TO associated with a large paracentric chromosome inversion on horse chromosome 3. DNA sequences flanking the inversion were identified and a PCR test was developed to detect the inversion. The inversion was only found in horses with the tobiano pattern, including horses with diverse genetic backgrounds, which indicated a common genetic origin thousands of years ago. The inversion does not interrupt any annotated genes, but begins approximately 100 kb downstream of the KIT gene. This inversion may disrupt regulatory sequences for the KIT gene and cause the white spotting pattern. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Influence of Urine Creatinine on the Relationship between the Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio and Cardiovascular Events

PubMed Central

Carter, Caitlin E.; Gansevoort, Ronald T.; Scheven, Lieneke; Heerspink, Hiddo J. Lambers; Shlipak, Michael G.; de Jong, Paul E.

2012-01-01

Summary Background and objectives In the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (spot-ACR), urine creatinine corrects for tonicity but also reflects muscle mass. Low muscle mass is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). We hypothesized that the spot-ACR would be higher in women, lower-weight persons, and older individuals, independent of timed urine albumin excretion (24hr-UAE), and accordingly, that spot-ACR would be more strongly associated with CVD events than 24hr-UAE in these subgroups. Design, setting, participants, & methods 2627 PREVEND (Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-stage Disease) participants with 24hr-UAE <30 mg/d were followed for CVD events for 11 years. Cox regression evaluated associations of spot-ACR and 24hr-UAE with CVD events by sex, weight, and age. Results Female sex (26%), lower weight (2% per 5 kg), and older age (4% per 5 years) were associated with higher spot-ACR independent of 24hr-UAE (P<0.001). Spot urine albumin concentration (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26 per ln-SD higher) and 1/spot urine creatinine concentration (HR, 1.16 per ln-SD higher) were associated with CVD events. Spot-ACR was more strongly associated with CVD events than either component of the ratio (HR, 1.41 per ln-SD higher). Associations of spot-ACR ≥10 mg/g versus less (HR, 2.33) and 24hr-UAE ≥10 mg/d versus less (HR, 2.09) with CVD events were similar, and there were no significant differences across subgroups (P for interactions >0.06). Conclusions In community-living individuals with 24hr-UAE <30 mg/d, spot-ACR is higher in women, older persons, and lower-weight persons, independent of 24hr-UAE. Low spot urine creatinine is associated with CVD risk, but high urine albumin is a stronger determinant of the association of spot-ACR with CVD than is low urine creatinine. PMID:22383750

Transcriptome Dynamics in Mango Fruit Peel Reveals Mechanisms of Chilling Stress

PubMed Central

Sivankalyani, Velu; Sela, Noa; Feygenberg, Oleg; Zemach, Hanita; Maurer, Dalia; Alkan, Noam

2016-01-01

Cold storage is considered the most effective method for prolonging fresh produce storage. However, subtropical fruit is sensitive to cold. Symptoms of chilling injury (CI) in mango include red and black spots that start from discolored lenticels and develop into pitting. The response of ‘Keitt’ mango fruit to chilling stress was monitored by transcriptomic, physiological, and microscopic analyses. Transcriptomic changes in the mango fruit peel were evaluated during optimal (12°C) and suboptimal (5°C) cold storage. Two days of chilling stress upregulated genes involved in the plant stress response, including those encoding transmembrane receptors, calcium-mediated signal transduction, NADPH oxidase, MAP kinases, and WRKYs, which can lead to cell death. Indeed, cell death was observed around the discolored lenticels after 19 days of cold storage at 5°C. Localized cell death and cuticular opening in the lumen of discolored lenticels were correlated with increased general decay during shelf-life storage, possibly due to fungal penetration. We also observed increased phenolics accumulation around the discolored lenticels, which was correlated with the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids that were probably transported from the resin ducts. Increased lipid peroxidation was observed during CI by both the biochemical malondialdehyde method and a new non-destructive luminescent technology, correlated to upregulation of the α-linolenic acid oxidation pathway. Genes involved in sugar metabolism were also induced, possibly to maintain osmotic balance. This analysis provides an in-depth characterization of mango fruit response to chilling stress and could lead to the development of new tools, treatments and strategies to prolong cold storage of subtropical fruit. PMID:27812364

A novel class I Chitinase from Hippophae rhamnoides: Indications for participating in ICE-CBF cold stress signaling pathway.

PubMed

Kashyap, Prakriti; Deswal, Renu

2017-06-01

Plant chitinases are the members of PR (Pathogenesis related) proteins family and protect plants from biotic and abiotic stress. A novel chitinase HrCHI1 (Accession number JQ289153) of 954bp ORF encoding 317 amino acids protein was cloned, expressed and characterized from seabuckthorn, a cold/freeze tolerant shrub. The 3D structure (predicted with I-TASSER server) showed highest homology with Oryza sativa class I chitinase (PDB 2dkvA). Putative promoter region (obtained by genome walking) showed GCC box, E-boxes, the binding site for bHLH proteins and DRE elements, the CBF (C-repeat binding factor) binding site besides TATA and CAAT boxes. The gel shift assay with the nuclear extract indicated that the HrCHI1 might be participating in CBF/ERF dependent cold stress signaling pathway. The quantitative transcript profiling supported this observation as cold induced expression of HrCBF peaked earlier (at 1h) while HrCHI1 peaked latter (after 3h) indicating HrCHI1 expression might be induced by HrCBF. Further, HrCHI1 expression was methyl jasmonate (MeJa) dependent and salicylic acid (SA) independent. HrCHI1 was expressed in E. coli and purified using chitin affinity chromatography. It showed 512U/mg chitinase hydrolytic activity and resolved as a 34kDa spot with a slightly basic pI (8.5) on a 2-D gel. The E. coli cells containing recombinant chitinase showed higher rate of growth in cold in comparison with the cells containing the empty vector. In conclusion, we have isolated and characterized a cold responsive basic class I chitinase which is regulated by MeJa and seems to be functioning via CBF/ERF dependent cold stress signaling pathway. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ewing sarcoma of the rib with normal blood flow and blood pool imagings on a 3-phase bone scan.

PubMed

Alfeeli, Mahmoud A; Naddaf, Sleiman Y; Syed, Ghulam M S

2005-09-01

Ewing sarcoma is the second most common pediatric malignant bone tumor. It usually presents as a hot spot on a 3-phase bone scan as a result of increased vascularity of the tumor and new bone formation. However, aggressive Ewing sarcoma can also appear as a cold lesion. We present the features of a Ewing sarcoma of the rib on a 3-phase bone scan in a child who was being investigated for rib fracture after trauma.

Analysis and research on thermal infrared properties and adaptability of the camouflage net

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Guangzhen; Hu, Jianghua; Jian, Chaochao; Yang, Juntang

2016-10-01

As camouflage equipment, camouflage net which covers or obstruct the enemy reconnaissance and attack, have the compatibility such as optics, infrared, radar wave band performance. To improve the adaptive between the camouflage net with background in infrared wavelengths, the heat shield and heat integration requirements on the surface of the camouflage net was analyzed. The condition that satisfied the heat shield was when the average thermal infrared transmittance was less than 25.38% on camouflage screen surface. Studies have shown that camouflage nets and the background field fused together when infrared radiation temperature difference control is within the scope of ± 4K . Experiment on temperature contrast was tested in situ background, thermal camouflage spots and camouflage net with sponge material, the infrared heat maps was recorded in the period of experiment through the thermal imager. Results showed that the thermal inertia of camouflage net was markedly lower than the background and the exposed signs were obvious. It was difficult to reach camouflage thermal infrared fusion requirements by relying on camouflage spot emissivity, but sponge which mix with polymer resin can reduce target significance in the context of mottled and realize the fusion effect.

Comparison of the manual, semiautomatic, and automatic selection and leveling of hot spots in whole slide images for Ki-67 quantification in meningiomas.

PubMed

Swiderska, Zaneta; Korzynska, Anna; Markiewicz, Tomasz; Lorent, Malgorzata; Zak, Jakub; Wesolowska, Anna; Roszkowiak, Lukasz; Slodkowska, Janina; Grala, Bartlomiej

2015-01-01

Background. This paper presents the study concerning hot-spot selection in the assessment of whole slide images of tissue sections collected from meningioma patients. The samples were immunohistochemically stained to determine the Ki-67/MIB-1 proliferation index used for prognosis and treatment planning. Objective. The observer performance was examined by comparing results of the proposed method of automatic hot-spot selection in whole slide images, results of traditional scoring under a microscope, and results of a pathologist's manual hot-spot selection. Methods. The results of scoring the Ki-67 index using optical scoring under a microscope, software for Ki-67 index quantification based on hot spots selected by two pathologists (resp., once and three times), and the same software but on hot spots selected by proposed automatic methods were compared using Kendall's tau-b statistics. Results. Results show intra- and interobserver agreement. The agreement between Ki-67 scoring with manual and automatic hot-spot selection is high, while agreement between Ki-67 index scoring results in whole slide images and traditional microscopic examination is lower. Conclusions. The agreement observed for the three scoring methods shows that automation of area selection is an effective tool in supporting physicians and in increasing the reliability of Ki-67 scoring in meningioma.

Comparison of the Manual, Semiautomatic, and Automatic Selection and Leveling of Hot Spots in Whole Slide Images for Ki-67 Quantification in Meningiomas

PubMed Central

Swiderska, Zaneta; Korzynska, Anna; Markiewicz, Tomasz; Lorent, Malgorzata; Zak, Jakub; Wesolowska, Anna; Roszkowiak, Lukasz; Slodkowska, Janina; Grala, Bartlomiej

2015-01-01

Background. This paper presents the study concerning hot-spot selection in the assessment of whole slide images of tissue sections collected from meningioma patients. The samples were immunohistochemically stained to determine the Ki-67/MIB-1 proliferation index used for prognosis and treatment planning. Objective. The observer performance was examined by comparing results of the proposed method of automatic hot-spot selection in whole slide images, results of traditional scoring under a microscope, and results of a pathologist's manual hot-spot selection. Methods. The results of scoring the Ki-67 index using optical scoring under a microscope, software for Ki-67 index quantification based on hot spots selected by two pathologists (resp., once and three times), and the same software but on hot spots selected by proposed automatic methods were compared using Kendall's tau-b statistics. Results. Results show intra- and interobserver agreement. The agreement between Ki-67 scoring with manual and automatic hot-spot selection is high, while agreement between Ki-67 index scoring results in whole slide images and traditional microscopic examination is lower. Conclusions. The agreement observed for the three scoring methods shows that automation of area selection is an effective tool in supporting physicians and in increasing the reliability of Ki-67 scoring in meningioma. PMID:26240787

Cosmic microwave background anisotropies in cold dark matter models with cosmological constant: The intermediate versus large angular scales

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stompor, Radoslaw; Gorski, Krzysztof M.

1994-01-01

We obtain predictions for cosmic microwave background anisotropies at angular scales near 1 deg in the context of cold dark matter models with a nonzero cosmological constant, normalized to the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) detection. The results are compared to those computed in the matter-dominated models. We show that the coherence length of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy is almost insensitive to cosmological parameters, and the rms amplitude of the anisotropy increases moderately with decreasing total matter density, while being most sensitive to the baryon abundance. We apply these results in the statistical analysis of the published data from the UCSB South Pole (SP) experiment (Gaier et al. 1992; Schuster et al. 1993). We reject most of the Cold Dark Matter (CDM)-Lambda models at the 95% confidence level when both SP scans are simulated together (although the combined data set renders less stringent limits than the Gaier et al. data alone). However, the Schuster et al. data considered alone as well as the results of some other recent experiments (MAX, MSAM, Saskatoon), suggest that typical temperature fluctuations on degree scales may be larger than is indicated by the Gaier et al. scan. If so, CDM-Lambda models may indeed provide, from a point of view of CMB anisotropies, an acceptable alternative to flat CDM models.

Transcriptome Profiling of Buffalograss Challenged with the Leaf Spot Pathogen Curvularia inaequalis.

PubMed

Amaradasa, Bimal S; Amundsen, Keenan

2016-01-01

Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides) is a low maintenance U. S. native turfgrass species with exceptional drought, heat, and cold tolerance. Leaf spot caused by Curvularia inaequalis negatively impacts buffalograss visual quality. Two leaf spot susceptible and two resistant buffalograss lines were challenged with C. inaequalis. Samples were collected from treated and untreated leaves when susceptible lines showed symptoms. Transcriptome sequencing was done and differentially expressed genes were identified. Approximately 27 million raw sequencing reads were produced per sample. More than 86% of the sequencing reads mapped to an existing buffalograss reference transcriptome. De novo assembly of unmapped reads was merged with the existing reference to produce a more complete transcriptome. There were 461 differentially expressed transcripts between the resistant and susceptible lines when challenged with the pathogen and 1552 in its absence. Previously characterized defense-related genes were identified among the differentially expressed transcripts. Twenty one resistant line transcripts were similar to genes regulating pattern triggered immunity and 20 transcripts were similar to genes regulating effector triggered immunity. There were also nine up-regulated transcripts in resistance lines which showed potential to initiate systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and three transcripts encoding pathogenesis-related proteins which are downstream products of SAR. This is the first study characterizing changes in the buffalograss transcriptome when challenged with C. inaequalis.

The End of the Cold War and Its Effect on Slavic and East European Collections in the West.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Margaret S.

1995-01-01

Presents a historical background of effects that the end of the Cold War had on Slavic and East European collections, and focuses on declines in the acquisition of new materials via blanket orders and exchanges. Examines results of a survey of Slavic librarians to determine acquisition sources. Tables display survey responses. (JMV)

Development of the Science Data System for the International Space Station Cold Atom Lab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

van Harmelen, Chris; Soriano, Melissa A.

2015-01-01

Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is a facility that will enable scientists to study ultra-cold quantum gases in a microgravity environment on the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2016. The primary science data for each experiment consists of two images taken in quick succession. The first image is of the trapped cold atoms and the second image is of the background. The two images are subtracted to obtain optical density. These raw Level 0 atom and background images are processed into the Level 1 optical density data product, and then into the Level 2 data products: atom number, Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) lifetime, magnetic chip-trap atom lifetime, and condensate fraction. These products can also be used as diagnostics of the instrument health. With experiments being conducted for 8 hours every day, the amount of data being generated poses many technical challenges, such as downlinking and managing the required data volume. A parallel processing design is described, implemented, and benchmarked. In addition to optimizing the data pipeline, accuracy and speed in producing the Level 1 and 2 data products is key. Algorithms for feature recognition are explored, facilitating image cropping and accurate atom number calculations.

[A survey of knowledge on common cold in outpatient clinics].

PubMed

Liu, Guo-liang; Lin, Jiang-tao; Liu, Guan-jian; Lin, Yan-ping; Yin, Kai-sheng; Bai, Chun-xue; Ma, Li-jun; Qiu, Chen; Liu, Chun-tao; Chen, Ming-wei; Liu, Hua; Chen, Ping

2012-04-01

To investigate outpatients' cognition towards common cold and their habituated medication so as to provide evidence for future public healthcare education. Patients who attended hospital for diagnosis and treatment of common cold at least within past three months were asked to fill a questionnaire independently so as to learn their cognition towards common cold and medication habit. Among the patients underwent survey, 52.21% had incorrect knowledge about common cold; 12.99% didn't know about the hazards of common cold; 34.80% couldn't distinguish common cold from influenza; 30.07% considered common cold couldn't get relief without treatment; 68.24% didn't know about the proper effects of influenza vaccination; 61.14% often took oral medicine even intravenous injection when they caught a common cold; 59.77% often took medication from drugstore without prescription by doctor, and a few asked doctors to prescribe medicine on their request; 19.42% didn't know about the side effects of drug for cold treatment; and 19.72% didn't know about the active ingredients of drug for cold treatment. There were significant differences in the common cold cognition among population of different ages and education background. The older or the higher education status patients had a better cognition (P < 0.01). There exist a certain degree of wrong cognition towards common cold among patients of different literacy degree and different age. Public health education on common cold need to be further strengthened.

DBAC: A simple prediction method for protein binding hot spots based on burial levels and deeply buried atomic contacts

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background A protein binding hot spot is a cluster of residues in the interface that are energetically important for the binding of the protein with its interaction partner. Identifying protein binding hot spots can give useful information to protein engineering and drug design, and can also deepen our understanding of protein-protein interaction. These residues are usually buried inside the interface with very low solvent accessible surface area (SASA). Thus SASA is widely used as an outstanding feature in hot spot prediction by many computational methods. However, SASA is not capable of distinguishing slightly buried residues, of which most are non hot spots, and deeply buried ones that are usually inside a hot spot. Results We propose a new descriptor called “burial level” for characterizing residues, atoms and atomic contacts. Specifically, burial level captures the depth the residues are buried. We identify different kinds of deeply buried atomic contacts (DBAC) at different burial levels that are directly broken in alanine substitution. We use their numbers as input for SVM to classify between hot spot or non hot spot residues. We achieve F measure of 0.6237 under the leave-one-out cross-validation on a data set containing 258 mutations. This performance is better than other computational methods. Conclusions Our results show that hot spot residues tend to be deeply buried in the interface, not just having a low SASA value. This indicates that a high burial level is not only a necessary but also a more sufficient condition than a low SASA for a residue to be a hot spot residue. We find that those deeply buried atoms become increasingly more important when their burial levels rise up. This work also confirms the contribution of deeply buried interfacial atomic contacts to the energy of protein binding hot spot. PMID:21689480

The Accuracy of the Spot Sign and the Blend Sign for Predicting Hematoma Expansion in Patients with Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

PubMed

Zheng, Jun; Yu, Zhiyuan; Xu, Zhao; Li, Mou; Wang, Xiaoze; Lin, Sen; Li, Hao; You, Chao

2017-05-12

BACKGROUND Hematoma expansion is associated with poor outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients. The spot sign and the blend sign are reliable tools for predicting hematoma expansion in ICH patients. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of the two signs in the prediction of hematoma expansion. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients with spontaneous ICH were screened for the presence of the computed tomography angiography (CTA) spot sign and the non-contrast CT (NCCT) blend sign within 6 hours after onset of symptoms. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the spot sign and the blend sign in predicting hematoma expansion were calculated. The accuracy of the spot sign and the blend sign in predicting hematoma expansion was analyzed by receiver-operator analysis. RESULTS A total of 115 patients were enrolled in this study. The spot sign was observed in 25 (21.74%) patients, whereas the blend sign was observed in 22 (19.13%) patients. Of the 28 patients with hematoma expansion, the CTA spot sign was found on admission CT scans in 16 (57.14%) and the NCCT blend sign in 12 (42.86%), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the spot sign for predicting hematoma expansion were 57.14%, 89.66%, 64.00%, and 86.67%, respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the blend sign were 42.86%, 88.51%, 54.55%, and 82.80%, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) of the spot sign was 0.734, which was higher than that of the blend sign (0.657). CONCLUSIONS Both the spot sign and the blend sign seemed to be good predictors for hematoma expansion, and the spot sign appeared to have better predictive accuracy.

The Accuracy of the Spot Sign and the Blend Sign for Predicting Hematoma Expansion in Patients with Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage

PubMed Central

Zheng, Jun; Yu, Zhiyuan; Xu, Zhao; Li, Mou; Wang, Xiaoze; Lin, Sen; Li, Hao; You, Chao

2017-01-01

Background Hematoma expansion is associated with poor outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients. The spot sign and the blend sign are reliable tools for predicting hematoma expansion in ICH patients. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of the two signs in the prediction of hematoma expansion. Material/Methods Patients with spontaneous ICH were screened for the presence of the computed tomography angiography (CTA) spot sign and the non-contrast CT (NCCT) blend sign within 6 hours after onset of symptoms. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the spot sign and the blend sign in predicting hematoma expansion were calculated. The accuracy of the spot sign and the blend sign in predicting hematoma expansion was analyzed by receiver-operator analysis. Results A total of 115 patients were enrolled in this study. The spot sign was observed in 25 (21.74%) patients, whereas the blend sign was observed in 22 (19.13%) patients. Of the 28 patients with hematoma expansion, the CTA spot sign was found on admission CT scans in 16 (57.14%) and the NCCT blend sign in 12 (42.86%), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the spot sign for predicting hematoma expansion were 57.14%, 89.66%, 64.00%, and 86.67%, respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the blend sign were 42.86%, 88.51%, 54.55%, and 82.80%, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) of the spot sign was 0.734, which was higher than that of the blend sign (0.657). Conclusions Both the spot sign and the blend sign seemed to be good predictors for hematoma expansion, and the spot sign appeared to have better predictive accuracy. PMID:28498827

BV Observations of the Eclipsing Binary XZ Andromedae at the EKU Observatory (Abstract)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciocca, M.

2018-06-01

(Abstract only) XZ Andromedae is an Algol-type eclipsing binary. It has been the subject of many observing campaigns, all aiming at determining the mechanisms responsible for its period variation. Results have been inconsistent and the period changes did not seem to have a common explanation between authors. The latest of these observations (Y.-G. Yang, New Astronomy, 25, 2013, 109) concluded that a third companion may be present and that mass transfer from the secondary to the primary companion may be occurring. We performed measurements in the Bessel band passes B and V, measured several times of minimum and developed a model, using binary maker 3, that matches well the observations and includes mass transfer by adding a hot spot on the primary (the cool, more evolved companion) and a "cold" spot on the secondary (hotter, but smaller companion). The data were collected at the EKU observatory with a Celestron C14 telescope and a SBIG STL-6303 camera.

Hot spots, cluster detection and spatial outlier analysis of teen birth rates in the U.S., 2003-2012.

PubMed

Khan, Diba; Rossen, Lauren M; Hamilton, Brady E; He, Yulei; Wei, Rong; Dienes, Erin

2017-06-01

Teen birth rates have evidenced a significant decline in the United States over the past few decades. Most of the states in the US have mirrored this national decline, though some reports have illustrated substantial variation in the magnitude of these decreases across the U.S. Importantly, geographic variation at the county level has largely not been explored. We used National Vital Statistics Births data and Hierarchical Bayesian space-time interaction models to produce smoothed estimates of teen birth rates at the county level from 2003-2012. Results indicate that teen birth rates show evidence of clustering, where hot and cold spots occur, and identify spatial outliers. Findings from this analysis may help inform efforts targeting the prevention efforts by illustrating how geographic patterns of teen birth rates have changed over the past decade and where clusters of high or low teen birth rates are evident. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Hot spots, cluster detection and spatial outlier analysis of teen birth rates in the U.S., 2003–2012

PubMed Central

Khan, Diba; Rossen, Lauren M.; Hamilton, Brady E.; He, Yulei; Wei, Rong; Dienes, Erin

2017-01-01

Teen birth rates have evidenced a significant decline in the United States over the past few decades. Most of the states in the US have mirrored this national decline, though some reports have illustrated substantial variation in the magnitude of these decreases across the U.S. Importantly, geographic variation at the county level has largely not been explored. We used National Vital Statistics Births data and Hierarchical Bayesian space-time interaction models to produce smoothed estimates of teen birth rates at the county level from 2003–2012. Results indicate that teen birth rates show evidence of clustering, where hot and cold spots occur, and identify spatial outliers. Findings from this analysis may help inform efforts targeting the prevention efforts by illustrating how geographic patterns of teen birth rates have changed over the past decade and where clusters of high or low teen birth rates are evident. PMID:28552189

[Current radionuclear methods in the diagnosis of regional myocardial circulation disorders].

PubMed

Felix, R; Winkler, C

1977-01-29

Among nuclear medical diagnostic procedures a distinction can be made between non-invasive and invasive methods. The non-invasive methods serve either to image the still viable myocardium ("cold spot" technique) or for direct visualization of recently infarcted myocardial tissue ("hot spot" technique). These methods have the advantage of simple handling and good reproducibility. Side effects and risks are thus far unknown. Improvement of local dissolution should be aimed at in the future and wound greatly increase diagnostic and topographic security. The invasive procedures always require catheterization of the coronary arteries. This is the reason why they can be performed only with coronary arteriography. The Xenon "wash out" technique permits, with some restrictions, quantitative measurement of the regional flow rate. The "inflow technique" permits determination of perfusion distribution. The possibilities of the "double-radionuclide" scintigramm are discussed. For measurement of activity distribution, sationary detectors are generally preferred. In the case of the time-activity curves with the Xenon "wash out" technique, single detectors offer certain advantages.

Scientific support of the Apollo infrared scanning radiometer experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mendell, W. W.

1976-01-01

The Infrared Scanning Radiometer (ISR) was designed to map the thermal emission of the lunar surface from the service module of the orbiting Apollo 17 spacecraft. Lunar surface nighttime temperatures, which are extremely difficult to map from earth based telescopes were measured. The ISR transmitted approximately 90 hours of lunar data spread over 5 days in lunar orbit. Approximately 10 to the 8th power independent lunar temperature measurements were made with an absolute accuracy of 2K. Spatial resolution at nadir was approximately 2.2 km (depending on orbital altitude), exceeding that of earth based measurements by at least an order of magnitude. Preliminary studies of the data reveal the highest population of thermal anomalies (or hot spots) in Oceanus Procellarum. Very few anomalies exist on the far side of the moon as was predicted from the association of anomalies with mare on the near side. A number of negative anomalies (or cold spots) have also been found.

Assessing local resilience to typhoon disasters: A case study in Nansha, Guangzhou.

PubMed

Song, Jinglu; Huang, Bo; Li, Rongrong

2018-01-01

Building communities' resilience to natural weather hazards requires the appropriate assessment of such capabilities. The resilience of a community is affected not only by social, economic, and infrastructural factors but also by natural factors (including both site characteristics and the intensity and frequency of events). To date, studies of natural factors have tended to draw on annual censuses and to use aggregated data, thus allowing only a limited understanding of site-specific hot or cold spots of resilience. To improve this situation, we carried out a comprehensive assessment of resilience to typhoon disasters in Nansha district, Guangzhou, China. We measured disaster resilience on 1×1-km grid units with respect to socioeconomic and infrastructural dimensions using a set of variables and also estimated natural factors in a detailed manner with a meteorological modeling tool, the Weather Research and Forecast model. We selected typhoon samples over the past 10 years, simulated the maximum typhoon-borne strong winds and precipitation of each sample, and predicted the wind speed and precipitation volume at the 100-year return-level on the basis of extreme value analysis. As a result, a composite resilience index was devised by combining factors in different domains using factor analysis coupled with the analytic hierarchy process. Resilience mapping using this composite resilience index allows local governments and planners to identify potential hot or cold spots of resilience and the dominant factors in particular locations, thereby assisting them in making more rational site-specific measures to improve local resilience to future typhoon disasters.

Assessing local resilience to typhoon disasters: A case study in Nansha, Guangzhou

PubMed Central

Huang, Bo; Li, Rongrong

2018-01-01

Building communities’ resilience to natural weather hazards requires the appropriate assessment of such capabilities. The resilience of a community is affected not only by social, economic, and infrastructural factors but also by natural factors (including both site characteristics and the intensity and frequency of events). To date, studies of natural factors have tended to draw on annual censuses and to use aggregated data, thus allowing only a limited understanding of site-specific hot or cold spots of resilience. To improve this situation, we carried out a comprehensive assessment of resilience to typhoon disasters in Nansha district, Guangzhou, China. We measured disaster resilience on 1×1-km grid units with respect to socioeconomic and infrastructural dimensions using a set of variables and also estimated natural factors in a detailed manner with a meteorological modeling tool, the Weather Research and Forecast model. We selected typhoon samples over the past 10 years, simulated the maximum typhoon-borne strong winds and precipitation of each sample, and predicted the wind speed and precipitation volume at the 100-year return-level on the basis of extreme value analysis. As a result, a composite resilience index was devised by combining factors in different domains using factor analysis coupled with the analytic hierarchy process. Resilience mapping using this composite resilience index allows local governments and planners to identify potential hot or cold spots of resilience and the dominant factors in particular locations, thereby assisting them in making more rational site-specific measures to improve local resilience to future typhoon disasters. PMID:29522526

A comparison of DNA extraction protocols from blood spotted on FTA cards for the detection of tick-borne pathogens by Reverse Line Blot hybridization.

PubMed

Hailemariam, Zerihun; Ahmed, Jabbar Sabir; Clausen, Peter-Henning; Nijhof, Ard Menzo

2017-01-01

An essential step in the molecular detection of tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in blood is the extraction of DNA. When cooled storage of blood under field conditions prior to DNA extraction in a dedicated laboratory is not possible, the storage of blood on filter paper forms a promising alternative. We evaluated six DNA extraction methods from blood spotted on FTA Classic ® cards (FTA cards), to determine the optimal protocol for the subsequent molecular detection of TBPs by PCR and the Reverse Line Blot hybridization assay (RLB). Ten-fold serial dilutions of bovine blood infected with Babesia bovis, Theileria mutans, Anaplasma marginale or Ehrlichia ruminantium were made by dilution with uninfected blood and spotted on FTA cards. Subsequently, DNA was extracted from FTA cards using six different DNA extraction protocols. DNA was also isolated from whole blood dilutions using a commercial kit. PCR/RLB results showed that washing of 3mm discs punched from FTA cards with FTA purification reagent followed by DNA extraction using Chelex ® resin was the most sensitive procedure. The detection limit could be improved when more discs were used as starting material for the DNA extraction, whereby the use of sixteen 3mm discs proved to be most practical. The presented best practice method for the extraction of DNA from blood spotted on FTA cards will facilitate epidemiological studies on TBPs. It may be particularly useful for field studies where a cold chain is absent. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Local weather, regional climate, and annual survival of the northern spotted owl

USGS Publications Warehouse

Glenn, E.M.; Anthony, R.G.; Forsman, E.D.; Olson, G.S.

2011-01-01

We used an information-theoretical approach and Cormack-Jolly-Seber models for open populations in program MARK to examine relationships between survival rates of Northern Spotted Owls and a variety of local weather variables and long-term climate variables. In four of the six populations examined, survival was positively associated with wetter than normal conditions during the growing season or high summer temperatures. At the three study areas located at the highest elevations, survival was positively associated with winter temperature but also had a negative or quadratic relation with the number of storms and winter precipitation. A metaanalysis of all six areas combined indicated that annual survival was most strongly associated with phase shifts in the Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which reflect large-scale temperature and precipitation patterns in this region. Climate accounted for a variable amount (1-41%) of the total process variation in annual survival but for more year-to-year variation (3-66%) than did spatial variation among owl territories (0-7%). Negative associations between survival and cold, wet winters and nesting seasons were similar to those found in other studies of the Spotted Owl. The relationships between survival and growing-season precipitation and regional climate patterns, however, had not been reported for this species previously. Climate-change models for the first half of the 21st century predict warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers for the Pacific Northwest. Our results indicate that these conditions could decrease Spotted Owl survival in some areas. Copyright ?? The Cooper Ornithological Society 2011.

The Combined Effect of Cold and Moisture on Manual Performance.

PubMed

Ray, Matthew; Sanli, Elizabeth; Brown, Robert; Ennis, Kerri Ann; Carnahan, Heather

2018-02-01

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effect of cold and moisture on manual performance and tactile sensitivity. Background People working in the ocean environment often perform manual work in cold and wet conditions. Although the independent effects of cold and moisture on hand function are known, their combined effect has not been investigated. Method Participants completed sensory (Touch-Test, two-point discrimination) and motor (Purdue Pegboard, Grooved Pegboard, reef knot untying) tests in the following conditions: dry hand, wet hand, cold hand, and cold and wet hand. Results For the Purdue Pegboard and knot untying tasks, the greatest decrement in performance was observed in the cold-and-wet-hand condition, whereas the decrements seen in the cold-hand and wet-hand conditions were similar. In the Grooved Pegboard task, the performance decrements exhibited in the cold-and-wet-hand condition and the cold-hand condition were similar, whereas no decrement was observed in the wet-hand condition. Tactile sensitivity was reduced in the cold conditions for the Touch-Test but not the two-point discrimination test. The combined effect of cold and moisture led to the largest performance decrements except when intrinsic object properties helped with grasp maintenance. The independent effects of cold and moisture on manual performance were comparable. Application Tools and equipment for use in the cold ocean environment should be designed to minimize the effects of cold and moisture on manual performance by including object properties that enhance grasp maintenance and minimize the fine-dexterity requirements.

Determining Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection among BCG-Immunised Ugandan Children by T-SPOT.TB and Tuberculin Skin Testing

PubMed Central

Nkurunungi, Gyaviira; Lutangira, Jimreeves E.; Lule, Swaib A.; Akurut, Hellen; Kizindo, Robert; Fitchett, Joseph R.; Kizito, Dennison; Sebina, Ismail; Muhangi, Lawrence; Webb, Emily L.; Cose, Stephen; Elliott, Alison M.

2012-01-01

Background Children with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) represent a huge reservoir for future disease. We wished to determine Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection prevalence among BCG-immunised five-year-old children in Entebbe, Uganda, but there are limited data on the performance of immunoassays for diagnosis of tuberculosis infection in children in endemic settings. We therefore evaluated agreement between a commercial interferon gamma release assay (T-SPOT.TB) and the tuberculin skin test (TST; 2 units RT-23 tuberculin; positive defined as diameter ≥10 mm), along with the reproducibility of T-SPOT.TB on short-term follow-up, in this population. Methodology/Principal Findings We recruited 907 children of which 56 were household contacts of TB patients. They were tested with T-SPOT.TB at age five years and then re-examined with T-SPOT.TB (n = 405) and TST (n = 319) approximately three weeks later. The principal outcome measures were T-SPOT.TB and TST positivity. At five years, 88 (9.7%) children tested positive by T-SPOT.TB. More than half of those that were T-SPOT.TB positive at five years were negative at follow-up, whereas 96% of baseline negatives were consistently negative. We observed somewhat better agreement between initial and follow-up T-SPOT.TB results among household TB contacts (κ = 0.77) than among non-contacts (κ = 0.39). Agreement between T-SPOT.TB and TST was weak (κ = 0.28 and κ = 0.40 for T-SPOT.TB at 5 years and follow-up, respectively). Of 28 children who were positive on both T-SPOT.TB tests, 14 (50%) had a negative TST. Analysis of spot counts showed high levels of instability in responses between baseline and follow-up, indicating variability in circulating numbers of T cells specific for certain M.tb antigens. Conclusions/Significance We found that T-SPOT.TB positives are unstable over a three-week follow-up interval, and that TST compares poorly with T-SPOT.TB, making the categorisation of children as TB-infected or TB-uninfected difficult. Existing tools for the diagnosis of TB infection are unsatisfactory in determining infection among children in this setting. PMID:23077594

Cold dark matter and degree-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy statistics after COBE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorski, Krzysztof M.; Stompor, Radoslaw; Juszkiewicz, Roman

1993-01-01

We conduct a Monte Carlo simulation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in the UCSB South Pole 1991 degree-scale experiment. We examine cold dark matter cosmology with large-scale structure seeded by the Harrison-Zel'dovich hierarchy of Gaussian-distributed primordial inhomogeneities normalized to the COBE-DMR measurement of large-angle CMB anisotropy. We find it statistically implausible (in the sense of low cumulative probability F lower than 5 percent, of not measuring a cosmological delta-T/T signal) that the degree-scale cosmological CMB anisotropy predicted in such models could have escaped a detection at the level of sensitivity achieved in the South Pole 1991 experiment.

Diffuse neutrino supernova background as a cosmological test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barranco, J.; Bernal, A.; Delepine, D.

2018-05-01

The future detection and measurement of the diffuse neutrino supernova background will provide us with information about supernova neutrino emission and the cosmic core-collapse supernova rate. Little has been said about the information that this measurement could give us about the expansion history of the Universe. The purpose of this article is to study the change of the predicted diffuse supernova neutrino background as a function of the cosmological model. In particular, we study three different models: the Λ–Cold Dark Matter model, the Logotropic universe and a bulk viscous matter-dominated universe. By fitting the free parameters of each model with the supernova Ia probe, we calculate the predicted number of events in these three models. We found that the spectra and number of events for the Λ–Cold dark matter model and the Logotropic model are almost indistinguishable, while a bulk viscous matter-dominated cosmological model predicts more events.

Reduction of spontaneous somatic mutation frequency by a low-dose X irradiation of Drosophila larvae and possible involvement of DNA single-strand damage repair.

PubMed

Koana, Takao; Takahashi, Takashi; Tsujimura, Hidenobu

2012-03-01

The third instar larvae of Drosophila were irradiated with X rays, and the somatic mutation frequency in their wings was measured after their eclosion. In the flies with normal DNA repair and apoptosis functions, 0.2 Gy irradiation at 0.05 Gy/min reduced the frequency of the so-called small spot (mutant cell clone with reduced reproductive activity) compared with that in the sham-irradiated flies. When apoptosis was suppressed using the baculovirus p35 gene, the small spot frequency increased four times in the sham-irradiated control group, but the reduction by the 0.2-Gy irradiation was still evident. In a non-homologous end joining-deficient mutant, the small spot frequency was also reduced by 0.2 Gy radiation. In a mutant deficient in single-strand break repair, no reduction in the small spot frequency by 0.2 Gy radiation was observed, and the small spot frequency increased with the radiation dose. Large spot (mutant cell clone with normal reproductive activity) frequency was not affected by suppression of apoptosis and increased monotonically with radiation dose in wild-type larvae and in mutants for single- or double-strand break repair. It is hypothesized that some of the small spots resulted from single-strand damage and, in wild-type larvae, 0.2 Gy radiation activated the normal single-strand break repair gene, which reduced the background somatic mutation frequency.

The collection of images of an insulator taken outdoors in varying lighting conditions with additional laser spots.

PubMed

Tomaszewski, Michał; Ruszczak, Bogdan; Michalski, Paweł

2018-06-01

Electrical insulators are elements of power lines that require periodical diagnostics. Due to their location on the components of high-voltage power lines, their imaging can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially under varying lighting conditions. Insulator diagnostics with the use of visual methods may require localizing insulators in the scene. Studies focused on insulator localization in the scene apply a number of methods, including: texture analysis, MRF (Markov Random Field), Gabor filters or GLCM (Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix) [1], [2]. Some methods, e.g. those which localize insulators based on colour analysis [3], rely on object and scene illumination, which is why the images from the dataset are taken under varying lighting conditions. The dataset may also be used to compare the effectiveness of different methods of localizing insulators in images. This article presents high-resolution images depicting a long rod electrical insulator under varying lighting conditions and against different backgrounds: crops, forest and grass. The dataset contains images with visible laser spots (generated by a device emitting light at the wavelength of 532 nm) and images without such spots, as well as complementary data concerning the illumination level and insulator position in the scene, the number of registered laser spots, and their coordinates in the image. The laser spots may be used to support object-localizing algorithms, while the images without spots may serve as a source of information for those algorithms which do not need spots to localize an insulator.

Macropharyngodon pakoko, a new species of wrasse (Teleostei: Labridae) endemic to the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.

PubMed

Delrieu-Trottin, Erwan; Williams, Jeffrey T; Planes, Serge

2014-08-29

A new species of wrasse, Macropharyngodon pakoko, is described from the Marquesas Islands, bringing the total number of species of the genus Macropharyngodon to 12. Macropharyngodon pakoko was found at depths from 0-42 m and is endemic to the Marquesas Islands. Macropharyngodon pakoko is similar to M. meleagris, which is widely distributed from the central and western Pacific to Cocos-Keeling in the Indian Ocean, but differs genetically and in several coloration characters: males with irregularly curved black humeral blotch with incomplete iridescent blue border; inverted irregular "U"- shaped band on the cheek; a small black spot at the upper base of the pectoral fin; and background color of the body greenish with faint bluish black spots on each scale. Females lack black pigment on the chest posterior to the ventral attachment of the gill membranes; reddish black blotches on the body are widely spaced, particularly on the head where they are more reddish and half the size of those on body; caudal fin with small, bright yellow spots arranged in narrow vertical bands with pale interspaces; pelvic fins pale with three reddish yellow cross-bands; a small black spot at the upper base of the pectoral fin; and small reddish spots along the base of the anal fin. Juveniles have irregular black blotches on the body, a small black spot instead of an ocellus posteriorly on the dorsal fin and lack large black spots and ocellus on the anal fin. 

Real-time person detection in low-resolution thermal infrared imagery with MSER and CNNs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrmann, Christian; Müller, Thomas; Willersinn, Dieter; Beyerer, Jürgen

2016-10-01

In many camera-based systems, person detection and localization is an important step for safety and security applications such as search and rescue, reconnaissance, surveillance, or driver assistance. Long-wave infrared (LWIR) imagery promises to simplify this task because it is less affected by background clutter or illumination changes. In contrast to a lot of related work, we make no assumptions about any movement of persons or the camera, i.e. persons may stand still and the camera may move or any combination thereof. Furthermore, persons may appear arbitrarily in near or far distances to the camera leading to low-resolution persons in far distances. To address this task, we propose a two-stage system, including a proposal generation method and a classifier to verify, if the detected proposals really are persons. In contradiction to use all possible proposals as with sliding window approaches, we apply Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER) and classify the detected proposals afterwards with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The MSER algorithm acts as a hot spot detector when applied to LWIR imagery. Because the body temperature of persons is usually higher than the background, they appear as hot spots in the image. However, the MSER algorithm is unable to distinguish between different kinds of hot spots. Thus, all further LWIR sources such as windows, animals or vehicles will be detected, too. Still by applying MSER, the number of proposals is reduced significantly in comparison to a sliding window approach which allows employing the high discriminative capabilities of deep neural networks classifiers that were recently shown in several applications such as face recognition or image content classification. We suggest using a CNN as classifier for the detected hot spots and train it to discriminate between person hot spots and all further hot spots. We specifically design a CNN that is suitable for the low-resolution person hot spots that are common with LWIR imagery applications and is capable of fast classification. Evaluation on several different LWIR person detection datasets shows an error rate reduction of up to 80 percent compared to previous approaches consisting of MSER, local image descriptors and a standard classifier such as an SVM or boosted decision trees. Further time measurements show that the proposed processing chain is capable of real-time person detection in LWIR camera streams.

Spatiotemporal evolution of the remotely sensed global continental PM2.5 concentration from 2000-2014 based on Bayesian statistics.

PubMed

Li, Junming; Wang, Nannan; Wang, Jinfeng; Li, Honglin

2018-07-01

PM 2.5 pollution is threatening human health and quality of life, especially in some densely populated regions of Asia and Africa. This paper used remotely sensed annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations to explore the spatiotemporal evolution of global continental PM 2.5 pollution from 2000 to 2014. The work employed an improved Bayesian space-time hierarchy model combined with a multiscale homogeneous subdivision method. The statistical results quantitatively demonstrated a 'high-value increasing and low-value decreasing' trend. Areas with annual PM 2.5 concentrations of more than 70μg/m 3 and less than 10μg/m 3 expanded, while areas with of an annual PM 2.5 concentrations of 10-25μg/m 3 shrank. The most heavily PM 2.5 -polluted areas were located in northwest Africa, where the PM 2.5 pollution level was 12.0 times higher than the average global continental level; parts of China represented the second most PM 2.5 -polluted areas, followed by northern India and Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the Middle East region. Nearly all (96.50%) of the highly PM 2.5 -polluted area (hot spots) had an increasing local trend, while 68.98% of the lightly PM 2.5 -polluted areas (cold spots) had a decreasing local trend. In contrast, 22.82% of the cold spot areas exhibited an increasing local trend. Moreover, the spatiotemporal variation in the health risk from exposure to PM 2.5 over the global continents was also investigated. Four areas, India, eastern and southern China, western Africa and central Europe, had high health risks from PM 2.5 exposure. Northern India, northeastern Pakistan, and mid-eastern China had not only the highest risk but also a significant increasing trend; the areas of high PM 2.5 pollution risk are thus expanding, and the number of affected people is increasing. Northern and central Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, western Russia and central Europe also exhibited increasing PM 2.5 pollution health risks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatially selective photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence and application to background reduction for biomolecule detection assays

PubMed Central

Chaudhery, Vikram; Huang, Cheng-Sheng; Pokhriyal, Anusha; Polans, James; Cunningham, Brian T.

2011-01-01

By combining photonic crystal label-free biosensor imaging with photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence, it is possible to selectively enhance the fluorescence emission from regions of the PC surface based upon the density of immobilized capture molecules. A label-free image of the capture molecules enables determination of optimal coupling conditions of the laser used for fluorescence imaging of the photonic crystal surface on a pixel-by-pixel basis, allowing maximization of fluorescence enhancement factor from regions incorporating a biomolecule capture spot and minimization of background autofluorescence from areas between capture spots. This capability significantly improves the contrast of enhanced fluorescent images, and when applied to an antibody protein microarray, provides a substantial advantage over conventional fluorescence microscopy. Using the new approach, we demonstrate detection limits as low as 0.97 pg/ml for a representative protein biomarker in buffer. PMID:22109210

Spatially selective photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence and application to background reduction for biomolecule detection assays.

PubMed

Chaudhery, Vikram; Huang, Cheng-Sheng; Pokhriyal, Anusha; Polans, James; Cunningham, Brian T

2011-11-07

By combining photonic crystal label-free biosensor imaging with photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence, it is possible to selectively enhance the fluorescence emission from regions of the PC surface based upon the density of immobilized capture molecules. A label-free image of the capture molecules enables determination of optimal coupling conditions of the laser used for fluorescence imaging of the photonic crystal surface on a pixel-by-pixel basis, allowing maximization of fluorescence enhancement factor from regions incorporating a biomolecule capture spot and minimization of background autofluorescence from areas between capture spots. This capability significantly improves the contrast of enhanced fluorescent images, and when applied to an antibody protein microarray, provides a substantial advantage over conventional fluorescence microscopy. Using the new approach, we demonstrate detection limits as low as 0.97 pg/ml for a representative protein biomarker in buffer.

The cold reading technique.

PubMed

Dutton, D L

1988-04-15

For many people, belief in the paranormal derives from personal experience of face-to-face interviews with astrologers, palm readers, aura and Tarot readers, and spirit mediums. These encounters typically involve cold reading, a process in which a reader makes calculated guesses about a client's background and problems and, depending on the reaction, elaborates a reading which seems to the client so uniquely appropriate that it carries with it the illusion of having been produced by paranormal means. The cold reading process is shown to depend initially on the Barnum effect, the tendency for people to embrace generalized personality descriptions as idiosyncratically their own. Psychological research into the Barnum effect is critically reviewed, and uses of the effect by a professional magician are described. This is followed by detailed analysis of the cold reading performances of a spirit medium. Future research should investigate the degree to which cold readers may have convinced themselves that they actually possess psychic or paranormal abilities.

Health impact of the 2008 cold spell on mortality in subtropical China: the climate and health impact national assessment study (CHINAs)

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Many studies have investigated heat wave related mortality, but less attention has been given to the health effects of cold spells in the context of global warming. The 2008 cold spell in China provided a unique opportunity to estimate the effects of the 2008 cold spell on mortality in subtropical regions, spatial heterogeneity of the effects, stratification effect and added effects caused by sustained cold days. Methods Thirty-six study communities were selected from 15 provinces in subtropical China. Daily mortality and meteorological data were collected for each community from 2006 to 2010. A distributed lag linear non-linear model (DLNM) with a lag structure of up to 27 days was used to analyze the association between the 2008 cold spell and mortality. Multivariate meta-analyses were used to combine the cold effects across each community. Results The 2008 cold spell increased mortality by 43.8% (95% CI: 34.8% ~ 53.4%) compared to non-cold spell days with the highest effects in southern and central China. The effects were more pronounced for respiratory mortality (RESP) than for cardiovascular (CVD) or cerebrovascular mortality (CBD), for females more than for males, and for the elderly aged ≥75 years old more than for younger people. Overall, 148,279 excess deaths were attributable to the 2008 cold spell. The cold effect was mainly from extreme low temperatures rather than sustained cold days during this 2008 cold spell. Conclusions The 2008 cold spell increased mortality in subtropical China, which was mainly attributable to the low temperature rather than the sustained duration of the cold spell. The cold effects were spatially heterogeneous and modified by individual-specific characteristics such as gender and age. PMID:25060645

High-sensitivity density fluctuation detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azzazy, M.; Modarress, D.; Hoeft, T.

1987-01-01

A high-sensitivity differential interferometer has been developed to detect small density fluctuations over an optical path length of the order of the boundary layer thickness near transition. Two experimental configurations have been used to evaluate the performance of the interferometer: an open shear-layer configuration and a wind-tunnel turbulent spot configuration. In each experiment small temperature fluctuations were introduced as the signal source. Simultaneous cold-wire measurements have been compared with the interferometer data. The comparison shows that the interferometer is sensitive to very weak phase variations of the order of 0.001 of the laser wavelength.

Gas Dynamic Spray Technology Demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burford, Pattie Lewis

2011-01-01

Zinc primer systems are currently used across NASA and AFSPC for corrosion protection of steel. AFSPC and NASA have approved the use of Thermal Spray Coatings (TSCs) as an environmentally preferable alternative. TSCs are approved in NASA-STD-5008 and AFSPC and KSC is currently looking for additional applications in which TSC can be used. Gas Dynamic Spray (GDS, also known as Cold Spray) is being evaluated as a means of repairing TSCs and for areas such as corners and edges where TSCs do not work as well. Other applications could include spot repair/maintenance of steel on structures, facilities, and ground support equipment.

Evaluation of an improved fiberoptics luminescence skin monitor with background correction.

PubMed

Vo-Dinh, T

1987-06-01

In this work, an improved version of a fiberoptics luminescence monitor, the prototype luminoscope II, is evaluated for in situ quantitative measurements. The instrument was developed to detect traces of luminescing organic contaminants on skin. An electronic background-nulling system was designed and incorporated into the instrument to compensate for various skin background emissions. A dose-response curve for a coal liquid spotted on mouse skin was established. The results illustrated the usefulness of the instrument for in vivo detection of organic materials on laboratory mouse skin.

Evolution of Pre- and Post-Copulatory Traits in Male Drosophila melanogaster as a Correlated Response to Selection for Resistance to Cold Stress

PubMed Central

Singh, Karan; Samant, Manas Arun; Tom, Megha Treesa; Prasad, Nagaraj Guru

2016-01-01

Background In Drosophila melanogaster the fitness of males depends on a broad array of reproductive traits classified as pre- and post-copulatory traits. Exposure to cold stress, can reduce sperm number, male mating ability and courtship behavior. Therefore, it is expected that the adaptation to cold stress will involve changes in pre- and post-copulatory traits. Such evolution of reproductive traits in response to cold stress is not well studied. Methods We selected replicate populations of D. melanogaster for resistance to cold shock. Over 37–46 generations of selection, we investigated pre- and post-copulatory traits such as mating latency, copulation duration, mating frequency, male fertility, fitness (progeny production) and sperm competitive ability in male flies subjected to cold shock and those not subjected to cold shock. Results We found that post cold shock, the males from the selected populations had a significantly lower mating latency along with, higher mating frequency, fertility, sperm competitive ability and number of progeny relative to the control populations. Conclusion While most studies of experimental evolution of cold stress resistance have documented the evolution of survivorship in response to selection, our study clearly shows that adaptation to cold stress involves rapid changes in the pre- and post-copulatory traits. Additionally, improved performances under stressful conditions need not necessarily trade-off with performance under benign conditions. PMID:27093599

Simultaneous determination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole in dried plasma and urine spots

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Daniel; Melloni, Chiara; Poindexter, Brenda B; Yogev, Ram; Atz, Andrew M; Sullivan, Janice E; Mendley, Susan R; Delmore, Paula; Delinsky, Amy; Zimmerman, Kanecia; Lewandowski, Andrew; Harper, Barrie; Lewis, Kenneth C; Benjamin, Daniel K; Cohen-Wolkowiez, Michael

2015-01-01

Background: Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is an antimicrobial drug combination commonly prescribed in children and adults. The study objectives were to validate and apply an HPLC–MS/MS method to quantify TMP-SMX in dried plasma spots (DPS) and dried urine spots (DUS), and perform a comparability analysis with liquid matrices. Results: For TMP the validated range was 100–50,000 ng/ml for DPS and 500–250,000 ng/ml for DUS; for SMX, the validated range was 1000–500,000 ng/ml for both DPS and DUS. Good agreement was noted between DPS/DUS and liquid plasma and urine samples for TMP, while only modest agreement was observed for SMX in both matrices. Conclusion: A precise, accurate and reproducible method was developed to quantify TMP-SMX in DPS and DUS samples. PMID:26039810

Variability of Organophosphorous Pesticide Metabolite Levels in Spot and 24-hr Urine Samples Collected from Young Children during 1 Week

PubMed Central

Kogut, Katherine; Eisen, Ellen A.; Jewell, Nicholas P.; Quirós-Alcalá, Lesliam; Castorina, Rosemary; Chevrier, Jonathan; Holland, Nina T.; Barr, Dana Boyd; Kavanagh-Baird, Geri; Eskenazi, Brenda

2012-01-01

Background: Dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites in spot urine samples are frequently used to characterize children’s exposures to organophosphorous (OP) pesticides. However, variable exposure and short biological half-lives of OP pesticides could result in highly variable measurements, leading to exposure misclassification. Objective: We examined within- and between-child variability in DAP metabolites in urine samples collected during 1 week. Methods: We collected spot urine samples over 7 consecutive days from 25 children (3–6 years of age). On two of the days, we collected 24-hr voids. We assessed the reproducibility of urinary DAP metabolite concentrations and evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of spot urine samples as predictors of high (top 20%) or elevated (top 40%) weekly average DAP metabolite concentrations. Results: Within-child variance exceeded between-child variance by a factor of two to eight, depending on metabolite grouping. Although total DAP concentrations in single spot urine samples were moderately to strongly associated with concentrations in same-day 24-hr samples (r ≈ 0.6–0.8, p < 0.01), concentrations in spot samples collected > 1 day apart and in 24-hr samples collected 3 days apart were weakly correlated (r ≈ –0.21 to 0.38). Single spot samples predicted high (top 20%) and elevated (top 40%) full-week average total DAP excretion with only moderate sensitivity (≈ 0.52 and ≈ 0.67, respectively) but relatively high specificity (≈ 0.88 and ≈ 0.78, respectively). Conclusions: The high variability we observed in children’s DAP metabolite concentrations suggests that single-day urine samples provide only a brief snapshot of exposure. Sensitivity analyses suggest that classification of cumulative OP exposure based on spot samples is prone to type 2 classification errors. PMID:23052012

Population trends in northern spotted owls: Associations with climate in the Pacific Northwest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Glenn, E.M.; Anthony, R.G.; Forsman, E.D.

2010-01-01

We used reverse time capture-mark-recapture models to describe associations between rate of population change (??) and climate for northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) at six long-term study areas in Washington and Oregon, USA. Populations in three of six areas showed strong evidence of declining populations, while populations in two additional areas were likely declining as well. At four areas, ?? was positively associated with wetter-than-normal conditions during the growing season, which likely affects prey availability. Lambda was also negatively associated with cold, wet winters and nesting seasons, and the number of hot summer days. The amount of annual variation in ?? accounted for by climate varied across study areas (3-85%). Rate of population change was more sensitive to adult survival than to recruitment; however, there was considerable variation among years and across study areas for all demographic rates. While annual survival was more closely related to regional climate conditions, recruitment was often associated with local weather. In addition to climate, declines in recruitment at four of six areas were associated with increased presence of barred owls. Climate change models predict warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers for the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the 21st century. Our results indicate that these conditions have the potential to negatively affect annual survival, recruitment, and consequently population growth rates for northern spotted owls. ?? 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Radial-Poloidal Mapping of the Energy Distribution of Electrons Accelerated by Lower Hybrid Waves in the Scrape-Off Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunn, J. P.; Petržílka, V.; Fuchs, V.; Ekedahl, A.; Goniche, M.; Hillaret, J.; Kočan, M.; Saint-Laurent, F.

2009-11-01

According to theory, Landau damping transfers the power carried by the high n//>50 components of the lower hybrid (LH) wave to thermal SOL electrons and stochastically accelerates them up to a few keV [1]. What amounts to a few percent of the injected LH power is thus transported along field lines and strikes plasma facing components, leading to the formation of well known "LH hot spots." We report on the first measurements of both the energy from 0 to 1 keV and the radial-poloidal distributions of the accelerated electrons using a retarding field analyzer. Two distinct electron populations are present : a cold, thermal population with temperatures between 10 and 30 eV, and a suprathermal component. Only partial attenuation of the electron flux was achieved at maximum applied voltage, indicating energies greater than 1 keV. Detailed 2D mapping of the hot spots was obtained by varying the safety factor stepwise during a single discharge. The radial width of the suprathermal electron beam at full power is rather large, at least about 5-6 cm, in contrast to Landau damping theory of the launched wave that predicts the radial width of the hot spots should not exceed a few millimetres [2]. The electron flux far from the grill is intermittent, with a typical burst rate of the order of 10 kHz.

A connection between mix and adiabat in ICF capsules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Baolian; Kwan, Thomas; Wang, Yi-Ming; Yi, Sunghuan (Austin); Batha, Steven

2016-10-01

We study the relationship between instability induced mix, preheat and the adiabat of the deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel in fusion capsule experiments. Our studies show that hydrodynamic instability not only directly affects the implosion, hot spot shape and mix, but also affects the thermodynamics of the capsule, such as, the adiabat of the DT fuel, and, in turn, affects the energy partition between the pusher shell (cold DT) and the hot spot. It was found that the adiabat of the DT fuel is sensitive to the amount of mix caused by Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) and Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instabilities at the material interfaces due to its exponential dependence on the fuel entropy. An upper limit of mix allowed maintaining a low adiabat of DT fuel is derived. Additionally we demonstrated that the use of a high adiabat for the DT fuel in theoretical analysis and with the aid of 1D code simulations could explain some aspects of the 3D effects and mix in the capsule experiments. Furthermore, from the observed neutron images and our physics model, we could infer the adiabat of the DT fuel in the capsule and determine the possible amount of mix in the hot spot (LA-UR-16-24880). This work was conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-36.

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

Khan, S. F.; Izumi, N.; Glenn, S.

At the National Ignition Facility, the symmetry of the hot spot of imploding capsules is diagnosed by imaging the emitted x-rays using gated cameras and image plates. The symmetry of an implosion is an important factor in the yield generated from the resulting fusion process. The x-ray images are analyzed by decomposing the image intensity contours into Fourier and Legendre modes. This paper focuses on the additional protocols for the time-integrated shape analysis from image plates. Here, for implosions with temperatures above ~4keV, the hard x-ray background can be utilized to infer the temperature of the hot spot.

Transcriptomic characterization of cold acclimation in larval zebrafish

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Temperature is one of key environmental parameters that affect the whole life of fishes and an increasing number of studies have been directed towards understanding the mechanisms of cold acclimation in fish. However, the adaptation of larvae to cold stress and the cold-specific transcriptional alterations in fish larvae remain largely unknown. In this study, we characterized the development of cold-tolerance in zebrafish larvae and investigated the transcriptional profiles under cold stress using RNA-seq. Results Pre-exposure of 96 hpf zebrafish larvae to cold stress (16°C) for 24 h significantly increased their survival rates under severe cold stress (12°C). RNA-seq generated 272 million raw reads from six sequencing libraries and about 92% of the processed reads were mapped to the reference genome of zebrafish. Differential expression analysis identified 1,431 up- and 399 down-regulated genes. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of cold-induced genes revealed that RNA splicing, ribosome biogenesis and protein catabolic process were the most highly overrepresented biological processes. Spliceosome, proteasome, eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis and RNA transport were the most highly enriched pathways for genes up-regulated by cold stress. Moreover, alternative splicing of 197 genes and promoter switching of 64 genes were found to be regulated by cold stress. A shorter isoform of stk16 that lacks 67 amino acids at the N-terminus was specifically generated by skipping the second exon in cold-treated larvae. Alternative promoter usage was detected for per3 gene under cold stress, which leading to a highly up-regulated transcript encoding a truncated protein lacking the C-terminal domains. Conclusions These findings indicate that zebrafish larvae possess the ability to build cold-tolerance under mild low temperature and transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulations are extensively involved in this acclimation process. PMID:24024969

The stability and slow dynamics of spot patterns in the 2D Brusselator model: The effect of open systems and heterogeneities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tzou, J. C.; Ward, M. J.

2018-06-01

Spot patterns, whereby the activator field becomes spatially localized near certain dynamically-evolving discrete spatial locations in a bounded multi-dimensional domain, is a common occurrence for two-component reaction-diffusion (RD) systems in the singular limit of a large diffusivity ratio. In previous studies of 2-D localized spot patterns for various specific well-known RD systems, the domain boundary was assumed to be impermeable to both the activator and inhibitor, and the reaction-kinetics were assumed to be spatially uniform. As an extension of this previous theory, we use formal asymptotic methods to study the existence, stability, and slow dynamics of localized spot patterns for the singularly perturbed 2-D Brusselator RD model when the domain boundary is only partially impermeable, as modeled by an inhomogeneous Robin boundary condition, or when there is an influx of inhibitor across the domain boundary. In our analysis, we will also allow for the effect of a spatially variable bulk feed term in the reaction kinetics. By applying our extended theory to the special case of one-spot patterns and ring patterns of spots inside the unit disk, we provide a detailed analysis of the effect on spot patterns of these three different sources of heterogeneity. In particular, when there is an influx of inhibitor across the boundary of the unit disk, a ring pattern of spots can become pinned to a ring-radius closer to the domain boundary. Under a Robin condition, a quasi-equilibrium ring pattern of spots is shown to exhibit a novel saddle-node bifurcation behavior in terms of either the inhibitor diffusivity, the Robin constant, or the ambient background concentration. A spatially variable bulk feed term, with a concentrated source of "fuel" inside the domain, is shown to yield a saddle-node bifurcation structure of spot equilibria, which leads to qualitatively new spot-pinning behavior. Results from our asymptotic theory are validated from full numerical simulations of the Brusselator model.

Doubly curved mica diffractors and their applications to x-ray microprobe fluorescence and microanalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zewu

This thesis describes the experimental work in the fabrication of doubly-curved mica diffractors and their applications in monochromatic microprobe x-ray fluorescence analysis and wavelength dispersive spectrometry. Three-dimension focusing of x-rays can be achieved by diffraction from a doubly-curved diffractor. A Johann point-focusing mica diffractor was fabricated for focusing the Cu Kα1 radiation and characterized by using a microfocus x-ray source. The intensity of the focused beam was measured to be 1.01 × 108 photons/s at the focal spot. The spot size of the focused beam was measured by the knife edge scan method. A Cu Kα1 focal spot of 43 μm x 68 μm has been obtained. Monochromatic microprobe x-ray fluorescence (MMXRF) analysis was performed by using the focused Cu Kα1 radiation. The microfocus x-ray source was operated at 30 kV and 0.1 mA. MMXRF spectra of bulk specimens of GaAs, Si, ZnSe, Mg and 40 μm thick Muscovite were recorded with a Si(Li) energy dispersive detector. Exceptional high signal-to-background ratios were observed. Due to the low background, detection limits as low as 1.6 ppm were predicted for a measurement time of 500 s for bulk specimens. The detector background was determined by recording a spectrum from an Fe55 source and was found to be a significant contribution to the total observed background. A wavelength dispersive spectrometer was designed and constructed for the use in a JEOL transmission electron microscope. A logarithmic spiral of revolution diffractor was fabricated and used explored for measurement of Ca concentration in the TEM. Bench tests were carried out by using the microfocus x-ray source. Preliminary data of tests in the TEM indicated that the spectrometer may give better performance than EDS systems previously used.

COLD-PCR enriches low-level variant DNA sequences and increases the sensitivity of genetic testing.

PubMed

Castellanos-Rizaldos, Elena; Milbury, Coren A; Guha, Minakshi; Makrigiorgos, G Mike

2014-01-01

Detection of low-level mutations is important for cancer biomarker and therapy targets discovery, but reliable detection remains a technical challenge. The newly developed method of CO-amplification at Lower Denaturation temperature PCR (COLD-PCR) helps to circumvent this issue. This PCR-based technology preferentially enriches minor known or unknown variants present in samples with a high background of wild type DNA which often hampers the accurate identification of these minority alleles. This is a simple process that consists of lowering the temperature at the denaturation step during the PCR-cycling protocol (critical denaturation temperature, T c) and inducing DNA heteroduplexing during an intermediate step. COLD-PCR in its simplest forms does not need additional reagents or specific instrumentation and thus, can easily replace conventional PCR and at the same time improve the mutation detection sensitivity limit of downstream technologies. COLD-PCR can be applied in two basic formats: fast-COLD-PCR that can enrich T m-reducing mutations and full-COLD-PCR that can enrich all mutations, though it requires an intermediate cross-hybridization step that lengthens the thermocycling program. An improved version of full-COLD-PCR (improved and complete enrichment, ice-COLD-PCR) has also been described. Finally, most recently, we developed yet another form of COLD-PCR, temperature-tolerant-COLD-PCR, which gradually increases the denaturation temperature during the COLD-PCR reaction, enriching diverse targets using a single cycling program. This report describes practical considerations for application of fast-, full-, ice-, and temperature-tolerant-COLD-PCR for enrichment of mutations prior to downstream screening.

Vehicle monitoring under Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANET) parameters employing illumination invariant correlation filters for the Pakistan motorway police

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardezi, A.; Umer, T.; Butt, F.; Young, R. C. D.; Chatwin, C. R.

2016-04-01

A spatial domain optimal trade-off Maximum Average Correlation Height (SPOT-MACH) filter has been previously developed and shown to have advantages over frequency domain implementations in that it can be made locally adaptive to spatial variations in the input image background clutter and normalised for local intensity changes. The main concern for using the SPOT-MACH is its computationally intensive nature. However in the past enhancements techniques were proposed for the SPOT-MACH to make its execution time comparable to its frequency domain counterpart. In this paper a novel approach is discussed which uses VANET parameters coupled with the SPOT-MACH in order to minimise the extensive processing of the large video dataset acquired from the Pakistan motorways surveillance system. The use of VANET parameters gives us an estimation criterion of the flow of traffic on the Pakistan motorway network and acts as a precursor to the training algorithm. The use of VANET in this scenario would contribute heavily towards the computational complexity minimization of the proposed monitoring system.

Efficacy and safety of an antiviral Iota-Carrageenan nasal spray: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory study in volunteers with early symptoms of the common cold

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The common cold, the most prevalent contagious viral disease in humans still lacks a safe and effective antiviral treatment. Iota-Carrageenan is broadly active against respiratory viruses in-vitro and has an excellent safety profile. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of an Iota-Carrageenan nasal spray in patients with common cold symptoms. Methods In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory trial, 35 human subjects suffering from early symptoms of common cold received Iota-Carrageenan (0.12%) in a saline solution three times daily for 4 days, compared to placebo. Results Administration of Iota-Carrageenan nasal spray reduced the symptoms of common cold (p = 0.046) and the viral load in nasal lavages (p = 0.009) in patients with early symptoms of common cold. Pro-inflammatory mediators FGF-2, Fractalkine, GRO, G-CSF, IL-8, IL-1α, IP-10, IL-10, and IFN-α2 were reduced in the Iota-Carrageenan group. Conclusions Iota-Carrageenan nasal spray appears to be a promising treatment for safe and effective treatment of early symptoms of common cold. Larger trials are indicated to confirm the results. PMID:20696083

Relationship between seasonal cold acclimatization and mtDNA haplogroup in Japanese

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to elucidate the interaction between mtDNA haplogroup and seasonal variation that contributes to cold adaptation. Methods There were 15 subjects (seven haplotype D subjects and eight haplotype non-D subjects). In summer and winter, the subjects were placed in an environment where the ambient temperature dropped from 27 °C to 10 °C in 30 minutes. After that, they were exposed to cold for 60 minutes. Results In summer, the decrease in rectal temperature and increase in oxygen consumption was smaller and cold tolerance was higher in the haplotype non-D group than in the haplotype D group. In winter, no significant differences were seen in rectal temperature or oxygen consumption, but the respiratory exchange ratio decreased in the haplotype D group. Conclusions The results of the present study suggest that haplogroup D subjects are a group that changes energy metabolism more, and there appears to be a relationship between differences in cold adaptability and mtDNA polymorphism within the population. Moreover, group differences in cold adaptability seen in summer may decrease in winter due to supplementation by seasonal cold acclimatization. PMID:22929588

Infrared (IR) photon-sensitive spectromicroscopy in a cryogenic environment

DOEpatents

Pereverzev, Sergey

2016-06-14

A system designed to suppress thermal radiation background and to allow IR single-photon sensitive spectromicroscopy of small samples by using both absorption, reflection, and emission/luminescence measurements. The system in one embodiment includes: a light source; a plurality of cold mirrors configured to direct light along a beam path; a cold or warm sample holder in the beam path; windows of sample holder (or whole sample holder) are transparent in a spectral region of interest, so they do not emit thermal radiation in the same spectral region of interest; a cold monochromator or other cold spectral device configured to direct a selected fraction of light onto a cold detector; a system of cold apertures and shields positioned along the beam path to prevent unwanted thermal radiation from arriving at the cold monochromator and/or the detector; a plurality of optical, IR and microwave filters positioned along the beam path and configured to adjust a spectral composition of light incident upon the sample under investigation and/or on the detector; a refrigerator configured to maintain the detector at a temperature below 1.0K; and an enclosure configured to: thermally insulate the light source, the plurality of mirrors, the sample holder, the cold monochromator and the refrigerator.

Adaptive Weibull Multiplicative Model and Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks for Dark-Spot Detection from SAR Imagery

PubMed Central

Taravat, Alireza; Oppelt, Natascha

2014-01-01

Oil spills represent a major threat to ocean ecosystems and their environmental status. Previous studies have shown that Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), as its recording is independent of clouds and weather, can be effectively used for the detection and classification of oil spills. Dark formation detection is the first and critical stage in oil-spill detection procedures. In this paper, a novel approach for automated dark-spot detection in SAR imagery is presented. A new approach from the combination of adaptive Weibull Multiplicative Model (WMM) and MultiLayer Perceptron (MLP) neural networks is proposed to differentiate between dark spots and the background. The results have been compared with the results of a model combining non-adaptive WMM and pulse coupled neural networks. The presented approach overcomes the non-adaptive WMM filter setting parameters by developing an adaptive WMM model which is a step ahead towards a full automatic dark spot detection. The proposed approach was tested on 60 ENVISAT and ERS2 images which contained dark spots. For the overall dataset, an average accuracy of 94.65% was obtained. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is very robust and effective where the non-adaptive WMM & pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) model generates poor accuracies. PMID:25474376

3D Ultrasonic Non-destructive Evaluation of Spot Welds Using an Enhanced Total Focusing Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jasiuniene, Elena; Samaitis, Vykintas; Mazeika, Liudas; Sanderson, Ruth

2015-02-01

Spot welds are used to join sheets of metals in the automotive industry. When spot weld quality is evaluated using conventional ultrasonic manual pulse-echo method, the reliability of the inspection is affected by selection of the probe diameter and the positioning of the probe in the weld center. The application of a 2D matrix array is a potential solution to the aforementioned problems. The objective of this work was to develop a signal processing algorithm to reconstruct the 3D spot weld volume showing the size of the nugget and the defects in it. In order to achieve this, the conventional total focusing method was enhanced by taking into account the directivities of the single elements of the array and the divergence of the ultrasonic beam due to the propagation distance. Enhancements enabled a reduction in the background noise and uniform sensitivity at different depths to be obtained. The proposed algorithm was verified using a finite element model of ultrasonic wave propagation simulating three common spot weld conditions: a good weld, an undersized weld, and a weld containing a pore. The investigations have demonstrated that proposed method enables the determination of the size of the nugget and detection of discontinuities.

SU-E-T-115: Dose Perturbation Study of Self-Expandable Metal and Polyester Esophageal Stents in Proton Therapy Beams

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

Lee, S; Li, Z; Jalaj, S

2014-06-01

Purpose: This work investigates dose perturbations due to Self-expandable metal and polyester esophageal stents undergoing proton radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. Methods: Five commercially available esophageal stents made of nitinol (Evolution, Wallflex and Ultraflex), stainless steel (Z-Stent) and polyester (Polyflex) were tested. Radiochromic film (GafChromic EBT3 film, Ashland, Covington, KY) wrapped around a stent and a 12cc syringe was irradiated with 2CGE (Cobalt Gray Equivalent) of proton beam in a custom fabricated acrylic phantom. An air-hollow syringe simulates the esophagus. Results: The Z-stent created the largest dose perturbations ranges from -14.5% to 6.1% due to the steel composition. The WallFlex, Evolutionmore » and Ultraflex stents produced the dose perturbation ranges of (−9.2%∼8.6%), (−6.8%∼5.7%) and (−6.2%∼6.2%), respectively. The PolyFlex stent contains the radiopaque tungsten markers located top, middle and bottom portions. When the focal cold spots induced by the markers were excluded in the analysis, the dose perturbation range was changed from (−11.6%∼6.4%) to (−0.6%∼5.0%). Conclusion: The magnitude of dose perturbation is related to material of a metallic stent. The non-metallic stent such as PolyFlex shows relatively lower dose perturbation than metallic stents except a radiopaque marker region. Overall Evolution and Ultraflex stent appear to be less dose perturbations. The largest dose perturbations (cold spots) were located at both edges of stents in distal area for the single proton beam irradiation study. The analysis of more than two proton beam which is more typical clinical beam arrangement would be necessary to minimize the doe perturbation effect in proton ratiotherapy.« less

Comparative proteomic analysis of rd29A:RdreB1BI transgenic and non-transgenic strawberries exposed to low temperature.

PubMed

Gu, Xianbin; Gao, Zhihong; Zhuang, Weibing; Qiao, Yushan; Wang, Xiuyun; Mi, Lin; Zhang, Zhen; Lin, Zhilin

2013-05-01

Low-temperature stress is one of the major abiotic stresses in plants worldwide, and the dehydration responsive element binding protein (DREB) transcription factor induces expression of genes involved in environmental stress tolerance in plants. A proteomic approach based on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and subsequent mass spectrometric identification was used to study the changes in the leaf proteome profiles of rd29A:RdreB1BI transgenic and non-transgenic strawberries exposed to low-temperature conditions. By comparing the proteomic profiles, we located 21 protein spots that were reproducibly up- or down-regulated by more than twofold between transgenic and non-transgenic strawberries. Eight identified proteins function in energy and metabolism, four in biosynthetic processes, four were stress and defense related, three spots were identified as cold-stress related expressed sequence tags (ESTs), and two were unknown proteins. The change patterns of low-temperature tolerance proteins, including photosynthetic proteins (RuBisCO large subunit and RuBisCO activase), cytoplasmic Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD), late embryogenesis abundant protein 14-A (Lea14-A), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A), and cold-stress related ESTs, were differentially regulated between non-transgenic and rd29A:RdreB1BI transgenic strawberries. They are likely important gene products in the regulatory network of the RdreB1BI gene. Consequently, this study provides the first characterization of the transgenic strawberry proteome and the predicted target proteins of the RdreB1BI gene by using proteomic approaches. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Plankton Biomass Models Based on GIS and Remote Sensing Technique for Predicting Marine Megafauna Hotspots in the Solor Waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putra, MIH; Lewis, SA; Kurniasih, EM; Prabuning, D.; Faiqoh, E.

2016-11-01

Geographic information system and remote sensing techniques can be used to assist with distribution modelling; a useful tool that helps with strategic design and management plans for MPAs. This study built a pilot model of plankton biomass and distribution in the waters off Solor and Lembata, and is the first study to identify marine megafauna foraging areas in the region. Forty-three samples of zooplankton were collected every 4 km according to the range time and station of aqua MODIS. Generalized additive model (GAM) we used to modelling zooplankton biomass response from environmental properties.Thirty one samples were used to build a model of inverse distance weighting (IDW) (cell size 0.01°) and 12 samples were used as a control to verify the models accuracy. Furthermore, Getis-Ord Gi was used to identify the significance of the hotspot and cold-spot for foraging area. The GAM models was explain 88.1% response of zooplankton biomass and percent to full moon, phytopankton biomassbeing strong predictors. The sampling design was essential in order to build highly accurate models. Our models 96% accurate for phytoplankton and 88% accurate for zooplankton. The foraging behaviour was significantly related to plankton biomass hotspots, which were two times higher compared to plankton cold-spots. In addition, extremely steep slopes of the Lamakera strait support strong upwelling with highly productive waters that affect the presence of marine megafauna. This study detects that the Lamakera strait provides the planktonic requirements for marine megafauna foraging, helping to explain why this region supports such high diversity and abundance of marine megafauna.

A Controlled Agitation Process for Improving Quality of Canned Green Beans during Agitation Thermal Processing.

PubMed

Singh, Anika; Pratap Singh, Anubhav; Ramaswamy, Hosahalli S

2016-06-01

This work introduces the concept of a controlled agitation thermal process to reduce quality damage in liquid-particulate products during agitation thermal processing. Reciprocating agitation thermal processing (RA-TP) was used as the agitation thermal process. In order to reduce the impact of agitation, a new concept of "stopping agitations after sufficient development of cold-spot temperature" was proposed. Green beans were processed in No. 2 (307×409) cans filled with liquids of various consistency (0% to 2% CMC) at various frequencies (1 to 3 Hz) of RA-TP using a full-factorial design and heat penetration results were collected. Corresponding operator's process time to impart a 10-min process lethality (Fo ) and agitation time (AT) were calculated using heat penetration results. Accordingly, products were processed again by stopping agitations as per 3 agitation regimes, namely; full time agitation, equilibration time agitation, and partial time agitation. Processed products were photographed and tested for visual quality, color, texture, breakage of green beans, turbidity, and percentage of insoluble solids in can liquid. Results showed that stopping agitations after sufficient development of cold-spot temperatures is an effective way of reducing product damages caused by agitation (for example, breakage of beans and its leaching into liquid). Agitations till one-log temperature difference gave best color, texture and visual product quality for low-viscosity liquid-particulate mixture and extended agitations till equilibration time was best for high-viscosity products. Thus, it was shown that a controlled agitation thermal process is more effective in obtaining high product quality as compared to a regular agitation thermal process. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

Assessment of the T-SPOT.CMV interferon-γ release assay in renal transplant recipients: A single center cohort study

PubMed Central

Borrows, Richard; Ball, Simon

2018-01-01

Background The measurement of CMV specific cellular immunity in organ transplant recipients could contribute additional acuity to serology based, CMV infection risk stratification, facilitating optimisation of immunosuppression and anti-viral prophylaxis. Methods A pilot study of renal transplant recipient (RTR’s) responses in the T-SPOT.CMV ELISPOT based assay. 108 RTR’s were recruited 3 months post-transplantation, immediately prior to the cessation of stratified anti-viral prophylaxis, used in recipients from seropositive donors. RTR’s were monitored for CMV viremia and disease. Cellular responses to peptides derived from CMV IE1 and pp65 were measured, using the T-SPOT.CMV assay. Results At recruitment, no CMV specific cellular immunity was detected by T-SPOT.CMV in CMV seronegative recipients (IE1 ≤ 1spot / 2.5x105 PBMC’s; pp65 ≤ 3 spots / 2.5x105 PBMC’s). At recruitment, CMV sero-positive recipients who made a robust response to both IE1 (>25 spots / 2.5x105 PBMC’s) and pp65 (>50 spots / 2.5x105 PBMC’s), were less likely to develop high level viremia than those who responded to one or neither antigen (0/28 vs 5/25; p<0.02). Conclusions In CMV seronegative RTR’s, CMV specific cellular immunity measured by T-SPOT.CMV was not detected prior to cessation of anti-viral prophylaxis. This differs from recent reports of CMV specific cellular immunity in a proportion of CMV seronegative RTR’s, associated with protection from CMV infection. In seropositive RTR’s, a dual response to IE1 and pp65 at recruitment, was associated with protection from subsequent viremia. This suggests that assessing the diversity of response to CMV antigens, may enhance risk stratification in this group. PMID:29558479

Rate of Contrast Extravasation on CT Angiography Predicts Hematoma Expansion and Mortality in Primary Intracerebral Hemorrhage

PubMed Central

Brouwers, H. Bart; Battey, Thomas W.K.; Musial, Hayley H.; Ciura, Viesha A.; Falcone, Guido J.; Ayres, Alison M.; Vashkevich, Anastasia; Schwab, Kristin; Viswanathan, Anand; Anderson, Christopher D.; Greenberg, Steven M.; Pomerantz, Stuart R.; Ortiz, Claudia J.; Goldstein, Joshua N.; Gonzalez, R. Gilberto; Rosand, Jonathan; Romero, Javier M.

2015-01-01

Background and Purpose In primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), the presence of contrast extravasation following CT angiography (CTA), termed the ‘spot sign’, predicts hematoma expansion and mortality. Since the biological underpinnings of the spot sign are not fully understood, we investigated whether the rate of contrast extravasation - which may reflect the rate of bleeding - predicts expansion and mortality beyond the simple presence of the spot sign. Methods Consecutive ICH patients with first-pass CTA followed by a 90-second delayed post-contrast CT (delayed CTA) were included. CTAs were reviewed for spot sign presence by two blinded readers. Spot sign volumes on first-pass and delayed CTA and ICH volumes were measured using semi-automated software. Extravasation rates were calculated and tested for association with hematoma expansion and mortality using uni- and multivariable logistic regression. Results 162 patients were included, 48 (30%) of whom had ≥1 spot sign. Median spot sign volume was 0.04mL on first-pass CTA and 0.4mL on delayed CTA. Median extravasation rate was 0.23mL/min overall, and 0.30mL/min among expanders versus 0.07mL/min in non-expanders. Extravasation rates were also significantly higher in patients who died in hospital: 0.27mL/min versus 0.04mL/min. In multivariable analysis, the extravasation rate was independently associated with in-hospital mortality (OR1.09 [95%CI 1.04–1.18], p=0.004), 90-day mortality (OR1.15 [95%CI 1.08–1.27], p=0.0004), and hematoma expansion (OR1.03 [95%CI 1.01–1.08], p=0.047). Conclusions Contrast extravasation rate, or spot sign growth, further refines the ability to predict hematoma expansion and mortality. Our results support the hypothesis that the spot sign directly measures active bleeding in acute ICH. PMID:26243220

Analysis of data from LEND instrument on LRO: May water deposits be expected on poles of Mercury?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitrofanov, I.

2012-04-01

Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) of LRO measured the flux of epithermal neutrons with high spatial resolution ˜10 km for the amplitude of 50 km. The LEND data from the polar caps above 80° latitude were tested for the presence of local spots of epithermal Neutron Suppression Regions (NSRs), which have been identified with wa-ter ice permafrost. The model has been proposed, which explains the origin of water at lunar poles by chemical reactions between hydrogen of solar wind with oxygen of lunar regolith. The so-called solar water could be produced under the sunlit surface, and than migrate either at cold traps in he local vicinity from the irradiated spot of origin, or at cold subsur-face layer just below of the uppermost layer of origin. Similarly to the Moon, there are data of radio sensing of Mercury, which points out that this planet might have the water ice deposits at poles. Therefore, one may suspect that the main physics could also be similar at poles of the Moon and the Mercury: - if the water ice deposits are on the lunar poles, they should be at the Hermean poles as well; - if comets are not the main source for the water at lunar poles, they should not also be the main source for the polar water deposits on the Mercury. However, one should also take into account that the Moon and the Mercury have rather different physics of inter-action between the plasma of solar wind and the surface: - the Mercury have the dipole magnetic field, which is large enough to shield the equatorial belt of the planet from the direct interaction with the plasma of solar wind; - flux of solar wind and solar radiation at the orbit of Mercury are much larger than they are at the Earth orbit; - the average temperature of illuminated spots at Hermean poles is much larger than the temperature of illuminated spots at poles of the Moon. In addition to current neutron data from LRO, the data from MESSENGER should be studied for better under-standing of polar water ice deposits at the Moon and at the Mercury. Additional data will be provided by neutron mapping from the BeppiColombo spacecraft, which will map neutron albedo of bother Hermean poles (the MESSENGER maps only the southern hemisphere). First of all, one have to test that Mercury have extended suppression regions of epithermal neutrons around both poles, as the Moon has. If hydrogen at polar regolith is delivered by the solar wind, the polar suppression of Mercury should be rather different from one of the Moon, because Hermean magnetosphere should chanelize the plasma of solar wind plasma toward the poles. Second, one have to test the presence of local NSEs at the Hermean poles and to compare them with the lunar NSRs. If NSRs at both celestial bodies are associated with deposits of solar water, one could expect to find more water rich permafrost on the Mercury than on the Moon at areas with similarly cold surfaces, because at the same thermal conditions production rate of water molecules from the solar wind should be higher on Mercury than on the Moon.

Modeling interactions betweenspotted owl and barred owl populations in fire-prone forests

EPA Science Inventory

Background / Question / Methods Efforts to conserve northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in the eastern Cascades of Washington must merge the challenges of providing sufficient structurally complex forest habitat in a fire-prone landscape with the limitations impos...

The β3-adrenergic receptor is dispensable for browning of adipose tissues.

PubMed

de Jong, Jasper M A; Wouters, René T F; Boulet, Nathalie; Cannon, Barbara; Nedergaard, Jan; Petrovic, Natasa

2017-06-01

Brown and brite/beige adipocytes are attractive therapeutic targets to treat metabolic diseases. To maximally utilize their functional potential, further understanding is required about their identities and their functional differences. Recent studies with β 3 -adrenergic receptor knockout mice reported that brite/beige adipocytes, but not classical brown adipocytes, require the β 3 -adrenergic receptor for cold-induced transcriptional activation of thermogenic genes. We aimed to further characterize this requirement of the β 3 -adrenergic receptor as a functional distinction between classical brown and brite/beige adipocytes. However, when comparing wild-type and β 3 -adrenergic receptor knockout mice, we observed no differences in cold-induced thermogenic gene expression ( Ucp1 , Pgc1a , Dio2 , and Cidea ) in brown or white (brite/beige) adipose tissues. Irrespective of the duration of the cold exposure or the sex of the mice, we observed no effect of the absence of the β 3 -adrenergic receptor. Experiments with the β 3 -adrenergic receptor agonist CL-316,243 verified the functional absence of β 3 -adrenergic signaling in these knockout mice. The β 3 -adrenergic receptor knockout model in the present study was maintained on a FVB/N background, whereas earlier reports used C57BL/6 and 129Sv mice. Thus our data imply background-dependent differences in adrenergic signaling mechanisms in response to cold exposure. Nonetheless, the present data indicate that the β 3 -adrenergic receptor is dispensable for cold-induced transcriptional activation in both classical brown and, as opposed to earlier studies, brite/beige cells. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Heat stabilization of blood spot samples for determination of metabolically unstable drug compounds

PubMed Central

Blessborn, Daniel; Sköld, Karl; Zeeberg, David; Kaewkhao, Karnrawee; Sköld, Olof; Ahnoff, Martin

2014-01-01

Background Sample stability is critical for accurate analysis of drug compounds in biosamples. The use of additives to eradicate the enzymatic activity causing loss of these analytes has its limitations. Results A novel technique for sample stabilization by rapid, high-temperature heating was used. The stability of six commercial drugs in blood and blood spots was investigated under various conditions with or without heat stabilization at 95°C. Oseltamivir, cefotaxime and ribavirin were successfully stabilized by heating whereas significant losses were seen in unheated samples. Amodiaquine was stable with and without heating. Artemether and dihydroartemisinin were found to be very heat sensitive and began to decompose even at 60°C. Conclusion Heat stabilization is a viable technique to maintain analytes in blood spot samples, without the use of chemical additives, by stopping the enzymatic activity that causes sample degradation. PMID:23256470

Fine mapping of a quantitative resistance gene for gray leaf spot of maize (Zea mays L.) derived from teosinte (Z. mays ssp. parviglumis).

PubMed

Zhang, Xinye; Yang, Qin; Rucker, Elizabeth; Thomason, Wade; Balint-Kurti, Peter

2017-06-01

In this study we mapped the QTL Qgls8 for gray leaf spot (GLS) resistance in maize to a ~130 kb region on chromosome 8 including five predicted genes. In previous work, using near isogenic line (NIL) populations in which segments of the teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis) genome had been introgressed into the background of the maize line B73, we had identified a QTL on chromosome 8, here called Qgls8, for gray leaf spot (GLS) resistance. We identified alternate teosinte alleles at this QTL, one conferring increased GLS resistance and one increased susceptibility relative to the B73 allele. Using segregating populations derived from NIL parents carrying these contrasting alleles, we were able to delimit the QTL region to a ~130 kb (based on the B73 genome) which encompassed five predicted genes.

Refolding of β-Stranded Class I Chitinases of Hippophae rhamnoides Enhances the Antifreeze Activity during Cold Acclimation

PubMed Central

Gupta, Ravi; Deswal, Renu

2014-01-01

Class I chitinases hydrolyse the β-1,4-linkage of chitin and also acquire antifreeze activity in some of the overwintering plants during cold stress. Two chitinases, HrCHT1a of 31 kDa and HrCHT1b of 34 kDa, were purified from cold acclimated and non-acclimated seabuckthorn seedlings using chitin affinity chromatography. 2-D gels of HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b showed single spots with pIs 7.0 and 4.6 respectively. N-terminal sequence of HrCHT1b matched with the class I chitinase of rice and antifreeze proteins while HrCHT1a could not be sequenced as it was N-terminally blocked. Unlike previous reports, where antifreeze activity of chitinase was cold inducible, our results showed that antifreeze activity is constitutive property of class I chitinase as both HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b isolated even from non-acclimated seedlings, exhibited antifreeze activity. Interestingly, HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b purified from cold acclimated seedlings, exhibited 4 and 2 times higher antifreeze activities than those purified from non-acclimated seedlings, suggesting that antifreeze activity increased during cold acclimation. HrCHT1b exhibited 23–33% higher hydrolytic activity and 2–4 times lower antifreeze activity than HrCHT1a did. HrCHT1b was found to be a glycoprotein; however, its antifreeze activity was independent of glycosylation as even deglycosylated HrCHT1b exhibited antifreeze activity. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis showed that both these chitinases were rich in unusual β-stranded conformation (36–43%) and the content of β-strand increased (∼11%) during cold acclimation. Surprisingly, calcium decreased both the activities of HrCHT1b while in case of HrCHT1a, a decrease in the hydrolytic activity and enhancement in its antifreeze activity was observed. CD results showed that addition of calcium also increased the β-stranded conformation of HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b. This is the first report, which shows that antifreeze activity is constitutive property of class I chitinase and cold acclimation and calcium regulate these activities of chitinases by changing the secondary structure. PMID:24626216

Refolding of β-stranded class I chitinases of Hippophae rhamnoides enhances the antifreeze activity during cold acclimation.

PubMed

Gupta, Ravi; Deswal, Renu

2014-01-01

Class I chitinases hydrolyse the β-1,4-linkage of chitin and also acquire antifreeze activity in some of the overwintering plants during cold stress. Two chitinases, HrCHT1a of 31 kDa and HrCHT1b of 34 kDa, were purified from cold acclimated and non-acclimated seabuckthorn seedlings using chitin affinity chromatography. 2-D gels of HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b showed single spots with pIs 7.0 and 4.6 respectively. N-terminal sequence of HrCHT1b matched with the class I chitinase of rice and antifreeze proteins while HrCHT1a could not be sequenced as it was N-terminally blocked. Unlike previous reports, where antifreeze activity of chitinase was cold inducible, our results showed that antifreeze activity is constitutive property of class I chitinase as both HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b isolated even from non-acclimated seedlings, exhibited antifreeze activity. Interestingly, HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b purified from cold acclimated seedlings, exhibited 4 and 2 times higher antifreeze activities than those purified from non-acclimated seedlings, suggesting that antifreeze activity increased during cold acclimation. HrCHT1b exhibited 23-33% higher hydrolytic activity and 2-4 times lower antifreeze activity than HrCHT1a did. HrCHT1b was found to be a glycoprotein; however, its antifreeze activity was independent of glycosylation as even deglycosylated HrCHT1b exhibited antifreeze activity. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis showed that both these chitinases were rich in unusual β-stranded conformation (36-43%) and the content of β-strand increased (∼11%) during cold acclimation. Surprisingly, calcium decreased both the activities of HrCHT1b while in case of HrCHT1a, a decrease in the hydrolytic activity and enhancement in its antifreeze activity was observed. CD results showed that addition of calcium also increased the β-stranded conformation of HrCHT1a and HrCHT1b. This is the first report, which shows that antifreeze activity is constitutive property of class I chitinase and cold acclimation and calcium regulate these activities of chitinases by changing the secondary structure.

Spatial variation in colour morph, spotting and allozyme frequencies in the candy-stripe spider, Enoplognatha ovata (Theridiidae) on two Swedish archipelagos.

PubMed

Oxford, G S; Gunnarsson, B

2006-01-01

The selective significance, if any, of many invertebrate visible polymorphisms is still not fully understood. Here we examine colour- and black spotting-morph frequencies in the spider Enoplognatha ovata in populations on two Swedish archipelagos with respect to different spatial scales and, in one archipelago, against the background of variation at four putative neutral allozyme marker loci. Every population studied was polymorphic for colour and 28 out of 30 contained all three colour morphs--lineata, redimita and ovata. We found no evidence for a breakdown in the traditional colour morph designation previously suggested for other northern European populations of this species. For colour there is no significant heterogeneity at spatial scales greater than between local populations within islands. Black spotting frequencies show a similar lack of pattern over larger spatial scales except that there are significant differences between the Stockholm and Göteborg archipelagos. Measures of population differentiation (theta) within the Stockholm islands for the two visible systems show them to be significantly more differentiated than the neutral markers, suggesting local selection acting on them in a population-specific manner. On the basis of previous observations and the distribution of spotting phenotypes on a European scale, it is argued that thermal selection might operate on black spotting during the juvenile stages favouring more spots in continental climates. It is not clear what selective forces act on colour.

Depth Of Modulation And Spot Size Selection In Bar-Code Laser Scanners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barkan, Eric; Swartz, Jerome

1982-04-01

Many optical and electronic considerations enter into the selection of optical spot size in flying spot laser scanners of the type used in modern industrial and commerical environments. These include: the scale of the symbols to be read, optical background noise present in the symbol substrate, and factors relating to the characteristics of the signal processor. Many 'front ends' consist of a linear signal conditioner followed by nonlinear conditioning and digitizing circuitry. Although the nonlinear portions of the circuit can be difficult to characterize mathematically, it is frequently possible to at least give a minimum depth of modulation measure to yield a worst-case guarantee of adequate performance with respect to digitization accuracy. Depth of modulation actually delivered to the nonlinear circuitry will depend on scale, contrast, and noise content of the scanned symbol, as well as the characteristics of the linear conditioning circuitry (eg. transfer function and electronic noise). Time and frequency domain techniques are applied in order to estimate the effects of these factors in selecting a spot size for a given system environment. Results obtained include estimates of the effects of the linear front end transfer function on effective spot size and asymmetries which can affect digitization accuracy. Plots of convolution-computed modulation patterns and other important system properties are presented. Considerations are limited primarily to Gaussian spot profiles but also apply to more general cases. Attention is paid to realistic symbol models and to implications with respect to printing tolerances.

Methodology and software to detect viral integration site hot-spots

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Modern gene therapy methods have limited control over where a therapeutic viral vector inserts into the host genome. Vector integration can activate local gene expression, which can cause cancer if the vector inserts near an oncogene. Viral integration hot-spots or 'common insertion sites' (CIS) are scrutinized to evaluate and predict patient safety. CIS are typically defined by a minimum density of insertions (such as 2-4 within a 30-100 kb region), which unfortunately depends on the total number of observed VIS. This is problematic for comparing hot-spot distributions across data sets and patients, where the VIS numbers may vary. Results We develop two new methods for defining hot-spots that are relatively independent of data set size. Both methods operate on distributions of VIS across consecutive 1 Mb 'bins' of the genome. The first method 'z-threshold' tallies the number of VIS per bin, converts these counts to z-scores, and applies a threshold to define high density bins. The second method 'BCP' applies a Bayesian change-point model to the z-scores to define hot-spots. The novel hot-spot methods are compared with a conventional CIS method using simulated data sets and data sets from five published human studies, including the X-linked ALD (adrenoleukodystrophy), CGD (chronic granulomatous disease) and SCID-X1 (X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency) trials. The BCP analysis of the human X-linked ALD data for two patients separately (774 and 1627 VIS) and combined (2401 VIS) resulted in 5-6 hot-spots covering 0.17-0.251% of the genome and containing 5.56-7.74% of the total VIS. In comparison, the CIS analysis resulted in 12-110 hot-spots covering 0.018-0.246% of the genome and containing 5.81-22.7% of the VIS, corresponding to a greater number of hot-spots as the data set size increased. Our hot-spot methods enable one to evaluate the extent of VIS clustering, and formally compare data sets in terms of hot-spot overlap. Finally, we show that the BCP hot-spots from the repopulating samples coincide with greater gene and CpG island density than the median genome density. Conclusions The z-threshold and BCP methods are useful for comparing hot-spot patterns across data sets of disparate sizes. The methodology and software provided here should enable one to study hot-spot conservation across a variety of VIS data sets and evaluate vector safety for gene therapy trials. PMID:21914224

AMC-SWMO Countermeasures Study. Volume 1. Guide to How Countermeasures Affect Smart Weapons

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-06-01

low reflectivity) in a white background (high reflectivity). 4.1.2 IR Slanature Alteration Nonimaging IR signature alteration techniques involve...spots. These techniques can 4-5 SEEKER S......DETETEDSIGNAL AL CONTRAST BETWEEN TARGET AND BACKGROUND Ltgf-’ £tgt L(Ttgt )+ pjgt Lsky/sun/jl 0u Solar ...Reflected Lbklg: 4Okg L(1bkg ) + kg Lsky/sunvcloud Cloud/Sky Reflected Ground Reflected where, Target Emitted Solar Reflected L = integrated radiance

Propagation of Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in an Anisotropic Magnetized Plasma

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

Moskaliuk, S. S.

2010-01-01

The polarization plane of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) can be rotated either in a space-time with metric of anisotropic type and in a magnetized plasma or in the presence of a quintessential background with pseudoscalar coupling to electromagnetism. A unified treatment of these three phenomena is presented for cold anisotropic plasma at the pre-recombination epoch. It is argued that the generalized expressions derived in the present study may be relevant for direct searches of a possible rotation of the cosmic microwave background polarization.

The extraction of spot signal in Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor based on sparse representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yanyan; Xu, Wentao; Chen, Suting; Ge, Junxiang; Wan, Fayu

2016-07-01

Several techniques have been used with Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors to determine the local wave-front gradient across each lenslet. While the centroid error of Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is relatively large since the skylight background and the detector noise. In this paper, we introduce a new method based on sparse representation to extract the target signal from the background and the noise. First, an over complete dictionary of the spot signal is constructed based on two-dimensional Gaussian model. Then the Shack-Hartmann image is divided into sub blocks. The corresponding coefficients of each block is computed in the over complete dictionary. Since the coefficients of the noise and the target are large different, then extract the target by setting a threshold to the coefficients. Experimental results show that the target can be well extracted and the deviation, RMS and PV of the centroid are all smaller than the method of subtracting threshold.

Determination of Efavirenz in Human Dried Blood Spots by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography with UV Detection

PubMed Central

Hoffman, Justin T; Rossi, Steven S; Espina-Quinto, Rowena; Letendre, Scott; Capparelli, Edmund V

2013-01-01

Background Previously published methods for determination of efavirenz (EFV) in human dried blood spots (DBS) employ costly and complex liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. We describe the validation and evaluation of a simple and inexpensive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for EFV quantification in human DBS and dried plasma spots (DPS), using ultraviolet (UV) detection appropriate for resource-limited settings. Methods 100μl of heparinized whole blood or plasma were spotted onto blood collection cards, dried, punched, and eluted. Eluates are injected onto a C-18 reversed phase HPLC column. EFV is separated isocratically using a potassium phosphate and ACN mobile phase. UV detection is at 245nm. Quantitation is by use of external calibration standards. Following validation, the method was evaluated using whole blood and plasma from HIV-positive patients undergoing EFV therapy. Results Mean recovery of drug from dried blood spots is 91.5%. The method is linear over the validated concentration range of 0.3125 – 20.0μg/mL. A good correlation (Spearman r=0.96) between paired plasma and DBS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed, and hematocrit level was not found to be a significant determinant of the EFV DBS level. The mean observed CDBS/Cplasma ratio was 0.68. A good correlation (Spearman r=0.96) between paired plasma and DPS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed. The mean percent deviation of DPS samples from plasma samples is 1.68%. Conclusions Dried whole blood spot or dried plasma spot sampling is well suited for monitoring EFV therapy in resource limited settings, particularly when high sensitivity is not essential. PMID:23503446

Tuberculin skin test and ELISPOT/T. SPOT.TB in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background There are controversies regarding the accuracy of the tuberculin skin test (TST) and methods based on the production of interferon gamma by sensitized T cells for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in pediatrics and immunosuppressed patients. Our objectives are to study TST and ELISPOT/T. SPOT.TB in the diagnosis of LTBI in children and adolescents with JIA undergoing methotrexate, the correlation between both and the sensitivity and specificity of T. SPOT.TB. Methods This is an observational prospective longitudinal study in which children and adolescents with JIA undergoing methotrexate therapy were assessed for clinical and epidemiological data for LTBI, in addition to performing TST and T. SPOT.TB at baseline and after 3 and 12months. Results There were 24 patients. The prevalence of LTBI at inclusion was 20.8%, the incidence after initiation of immunosuppressions 26.3% and the prevalence at the end of the study 41.6%. Epidemiological history positive for TB showed a relative risk of 2.0 for the development of LTBI. Only 2 patients had positive T. SPOT.TB but only in one it was useful for detecting early LTBI. T. SPOT.TB presented a sensitivity of 10%, specificity of 92.8%, and low correlation with TST. No patient developed TB disease at a mean follow-up of 47months. Conclusions We found a high prevalence of ILTB that doubled with immunosuppression and that epidemiological history was an important relative risk. T. SPOT.TB showed low sensitivity and high specificity, and no superiority over TST. There was low agreement and little influence of immunosuppression on the results of both tests. PMID:24904240

Method of controlling the mercury vapor pressure in a photo-chemical lamp or vapor filter used for Hg.sup.196 enrichment

DOEpatents

Grossman, Mark W.

1993-01-01

The present invention is directed to a method of eliminating the cold spot zones presently used on Hg.sup.196 isotope separation lamps and filters by the use of a mercury amalgams, preferably mercury - indium amalgams. The use of an amalgam affords optimization of the mercury density in the lamp and filter of a mercury enrichment reactor, particularly multilamp enrichment reactors. Moreover, the use of an amalgam in such lamps and/or filters affords the ability to control the spectral line width of radiation emitted from lamps, a requirement for mercury enrichment.

Method of controlling the mercury vapor pressure in a photo-chemical lamp or vapor filter used for Hg[sup 196] enrichment

DOEpatents

Grossman, M.W.

1993-02-16

The present invention is directed to a method of eliminating the cold spot zones presently used on Hg[sup 196] isotope separation lamps and filters by the use of a mercury amalgams, preferably mercury - indium amalgams. The use of an amalgam affords optimization of the mercury density in the lamp and filter of a mercury enrichment reactor, particularly multilamp enrichment reactors. Moreover, the use of an amalgam in such lamps and/or filters affords the ability to control the spectral line width of radiation emitted from lamps, a requirement for mercury enrichment.

Thermo-elasto-plastic simulations of femtosecond laser-induced multiple-cavity in fused silica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beuton, R.; Chimier, B.; Breil, J.; Hébert, D.; Mishchik, K.; Lopez, J.; Maire, P. H.; Duchateau, G.

2018-04-01

The formation and the interaction of multiple cavities, induced by tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses, are studied using a developed numerical tool, including the thermo-elasto-plastic material response. Simulations are performed in fused silica in cases of one, two, and four spots of laser energy deposition. The relaxation of the heated matter, launching shock waves in the surrounding cold material, leads to cavity formation and emergence of areas where cracks may be induced. Results show that the laser-induced structure shape depends on the energy deposition configuration and demonstrate the potential of the used numerical tool to obtain the desired designed structure or technological process.

Keeping the Peace in an Age of Conflict: Debating the U.S. Role. Choices for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lhowe, Mary, Ed.

This document presents a particularly challenging unit that thrusts students into the new foreign policy frontier that has developed since the end of the Cold War. The unit contains background reading and foreign policy options. The first part of the background reading introduces students to the institutions and conceptual framework of the…

The Role of Inducible Hsp70, and Other Heat Shock Proteins, in Adaptive Complex of Cold Tolerance of the Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster)

PubMed Central

Štětina, Tomáš; Koštál, Vladimír; Korbelová, Jaroslava

2015-01-01

Background The ubiquitous occurrence of inducible Heat Shock Proteins (Hsps) up-regulation in response to cold-acclimation and/or to cold shock, including massive increase of Hsp70 mRNA levels, often led to hasty interpretations of its role in the repair of cold injury expressed as protein denaturation or misfolding. So far, direct functional analyses in Drosophila melanogaster and other insects brought either limited or no support for such interpretations. In this paper, we analyze the cold tolerance and the expression levels of 24 different mRNA transcripts of the Hsps complex and related genes in response to cold in two strains of D. melanogaster: the wild-type and the Hsp70- null mutant lacking all six copies of Hsp70 gene. Principal Findings We found that larvae of both strains show similar patterns of Hsps complex gene expression in response to long-term cold-acclimation and during recovery from chronic cold exposures or acute cold shocks. No transcriptional compensation for missing Hsp70 gene was seen in Hsp70- strain. The cold-induced Hsps gene expression is most probably regulated by alternative splice variants C and D of the Heat Shock Factor. The cold tolerance in Hsp70- null mutants was clearly impaired only when the larvae were exposed to severe acute cold shock. No differences in mortality were found between two strains when the larvae were exposed to relatively mild doses of cold, either chronic exposures to 0°C or acute cold shocks at temperatures down to -4°C. Conclusions The up-regulated expression of a complex of inducible Hsps genes, and Hsp70 mRNA in particular, is tightly associated with cold-acclimation and cold exposure in D. melanogaster. Genetic elimination of Hsp70 up-regulation response has no effect on survival of chronic exposures to 0°C or mild acute cold shocks, while it negatively affects survival after severe acute cold shocks at temperaures below -8°C. PMID:26034990

Event attribution: Human influence on the record-breaking cold event in January of 2016 in Eastern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, C.; Wang, J.; Dong, S.; Yin, H.; Burke, C.; Ciavarella, A.; Dong, B.; Freychet, N.; Lott, F. C.; Tett, S. F.

2017-12-01

It is controversial whether Asian mid-latitude cold surges are becoming more likely as a consequence of Arctic warming. Here, we present an event attribution study in mid-latitude Eastern China. A strong cold surge occurred during 21st-25th January 2016 affecting most areas of China, especially Eastern China. Daily minimum temperature (Tmin) records were broken at many stations. The area averaged anomaly of Tmin over the region (20-44N, 100-124E) for this pentad was the lowest temperature recorded since modern meteorological observations started in 1960. This cold event occurred in a background of the warmest winter Tmin since 1960. Given the vast damages caused by this extreme cold event in Eastern China and the previous mentioned controversy, it is compelling to investigate how much anthropogenic forcing agents have affected the probability of cold events with an intensity equal to or larger than the January 2016 extreme event. We use the Met Office Hadley Centre system for Attribution of extreme weather and Climate Events and station observations to investigate the effect of anthropogenic forcings on the likelihood of such a cold event. Anthropogenic influences are estimated to have reduced the likelihood of an extreme cold event in mid-winter with the intensity equal to or stronger than the record of 2016 in Eastern China by about 2/3.

Preparing for Hiking and Rock-Climbing At Altitude

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenleaf, John E.

2002-01-01

Exposure to altitude with or without exercise usually results in body dehydration. Psychological and physiological preparation for exercise at altitude involves consideration of maintaining body warmth in a cool to cold environment with progressively lower oxygen content (partial pressure) as altitude increases. However, this discussion will focus on altitudes below 14,000 it where supplemental breathing oxygen is not required for sojourns of healthy people. Background information and helpful advice for those who exercise in the cold can be found in selected articles in the 2001 Winter Issue of this Newsletter: M.B. Ducharme, Get ready for outdoor winter play: prepare yourself for the cold; C. O'Brien, Think layers when dressing for exercise in the cold; B.G. Rice and R. Ellis, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow - but be aware of winter hazards; and L.B. Mayers, Exercise - induced asthma.

The cold-induced basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor gene MdCIbHLH1 encodes an ICE-like protein in apple

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Plant growth is greatly affected by low temperatures, and the expression of a number of genes is induced by cold stress. Although many genes in the cold signaling pathway have been identified in Arabidopsis, little is known about the transcription factors involved in the cold stress response in apple. Results Here, we show that the apple bHLH (basic helix-loop-helix) gene MdCIbHLH1 (Cold-Induced bHLH1), which encodes an ICE-like protein, was noticeably induced in response to cold stress. The MdCIbHLH1 protein specifically bound to the MYC recognition sequences in the AtCBF3 promoter, and MdCIbHLH1 overexpression enhanced cold tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. In addition, the MdCIbHLH1 protein bound to the promoters of MdCBF2 and favorably contributed to cold tolerance in transgenic apple plants by upregulating the expression of MdCBF2 through the CBF (C-repeat-binding factor) pathway. Our findings indicate that MdCIbHLH1 functions in stress tolerance in different species. For example, ectopic MdCIbHLH1 expression conferred enhanced chilling tolerance in transgenic tobacco. Finally, we observed that cold induces the degradation of the MdCIbHLH1 protein in apple and that this degradation was potentially mediated by ubiquitination and sumoylation. Conclusions Based on these findings, MdCIbHLH1 encodes a transcription factor that is important for the cold tolerance response in apple. PMID:22336381

A proteome analysis of freezing tolerance in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.).

PubMed

Bertrand, Annick; Bipfubusa, Marie; Castonguay, Yves; Rocher, Solen; Szopinska-Morawska, Aleksandra; Papadopoulos, Yousef; Renaut, Jenny

2016-03-10

Improvement of freezing tolerance of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) would increase its persistence under cold climate. In this study, we assessed the freezing tolerance and compared the proteome composition of non-acclimated and cold-acclimated plants of two initial cultivars of red clover: Endure (E-TF0) and Christie (C-TF0) and of populations issued from these cultivars after three (TF3) and four (TF4) cycles of phenotypic recurrent selection for superior freezing tolerance. Through this approach, we wanted to identify proteins that are associated with the improvement of freezing tolerance in red clover. Freezing tolerance expressed as the lethal temperature for 50 % of the plants (LT50) increased markedly from approximately -2 to -16 °C following cold acclimation. Recurrent selection allowed a significant 2 to 3 °C increase of the LT50 after four cycles of recurrent selection. Two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) was used to study variations in protein abundance. Principal component analysis based on 2D-DIGE revealed that the largest variability in the protein data set was attributable to the cold acclimation treatment and that the two genetic backgrounds had differential protein composition in the acclimated state only. Vegetative storage proteins (VSP), which are essential nitrogen reserves for plant regrowth, and dehydrins were among the most striking changes in proteome composition of cold acclimated crowns of red clovers. A subset of proteins varied in abundance in response to selection including a dehydrin that increased in abundance in TF3 and TF4 populations as compared to TF0 in the Endure background. Recurrent selection performed indoor is an effective approach to improve the freezing tolerance of red clover. Significant improvement of freezing tolerance by recurrent selection was associated with differential accumulation of a small number of cold-regulated proteins that may play an important role in the determination of the level of freezing tolerance.

Neptune's New Dark Vortex: Aerosol Properties from Optical Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tollefson, J.; Luszcz-Cook, S.; Wong, M. H.; De Pater, I.

2016-12-01

Over the past year, amateur and professional astronomers alike have monitored the appearance of a new dark vortex on Neptune, dubbed SDS-2015 for "southern dark spot discovered in 2015" (Wong et al. 2016; CBET 4278). The discovery of SDS-2015 is fortuitous, being one of only five dark spots observed on Neptune since Voyager 2 imaged the Great Dark Spot (Smith et al. 1989, Science 246, 1422). A companion abstract (Wong et al., this meeting) will present Hubble Space Telescope images of SDS-2015, showcasing the discovery of the vortex in September 2015 and subsequent observations in May 2016. These observations span the optical regime. Longer wavelengths track bright companion clouds thought to form as air is diverted around SDS-2015. Shorter wavelengths reveal the dark spot itself. Combined, these data probe the vertical extent of the dark spot and Neptune's surrounding upper atmosphere. We present preliminary radiative transfer analyses of SDS-2015 using our multispectral data. Our model is the same as that in Luszcz-Cook et al. (2016, Icarus 276, 52) but extended to optical wavelengths. Prior to this work, little was known about the composition and vertical extent of Neptune's dark spots. Only data at optical wavelengths reveal these vortices, suggesting they consist of clearings in the background of fine, evenly-distributed haze particle. Alternatively, the spots may consist of low-albedo aerosols, causing their apparent darkness. Radiative transfer modeling is also one way to determine the vortex top altitude. Simulations of the Great Dark Spot by Stratman et al. (2001, Icarus 151, 275) found that the vortex top altitude is coupled to the brightness of companion clouds, where cloud opacity weakened as the top of the vortex reached higher into the tropopause region. The modeling presented here will compare these hypotheses and provide the first glimpses into the vertical structure of SDS-2015.

A universal reference sample derived from clone vector for improved detection of differential gene expression

PubMed Central

Khan, Rishi L; Gonye, Gregory E; Gao, Guang; Schwaber, James S

2006-01-01

Background Using microarrays by co-hybridizing two samples labeled with different dyes enables differential gene expression measurements and comparisons across slides while controlling for within-slide variability. Typically one dye produces weaker signal intensities than the other often causing signals to be undetectable. In addition, undetectable spots represent a large problem for two-color microarray designs and most arrays contain at least 40% undetectable spots even when labeled with reference samples such as Stratagene's Universal Reference RNAs™. Results We introduce a novel universal reference sample that produces strong signal for all spots on the array, increasing the average fraction of detectable spots to 97%. Maximizing detectable spots on the reference image channel also decreases the variability of microarray data allowing for reliable detection of smaller differential gene expression changes. The reference sample is derived from sequence contained in the parental EST clone vector pT7T3D-Pac and is called vector RNA (vRNA). We show that vRNA can also be used for quality control of microarray printing and PCR product quality, detection of hybridization anomalies, and simplification of spot finding and segmentation tasks. This reference sample can be made inexpensively in large quantities as a renewable resource that is consistent across experiments. Conclusion Results of this study show that vRNA provides a useful universal reference that yields high signal for almost all spots on a microarray, reduces variation and allows for comparisons between experiments and laboratories. Further, it can be used for quality control of microarray printing and PCR product quality, detection of hybridization anomalies, and simplification of spot finding and segmentation tasks. This type of reference allows for detection of small changes in differential expression while reference designs in general allow for large-scale multivariate experimental designs. vRNA in combination with reference designs enable systems biology microarray experiments of small physiologically relevant changes. PMID:16677381

Hot Spot Detection System Using Landsat 8/OLI Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, S.; Nakamura, R.; Oda, A.; Iijima, A.; Kouyama, T.; Iwata, T.

2015-12-01

We developed a simple algorithm and a Web-based visualizing system to detect hot spots using Landsat 8 OLI multispectral data as one of the applications of the real-time processing of Landsat 8 data. An empirical equation and radiometric and reflective thresholds were derived to detect hot spots using the OLI data at band 5 (0.865 μm) and band 7 (2.200 μm) based on the increase in spectral radiance at shortwave infrared (SWIR) region due to the emission from objects with high surface temperature. We surveyed typical patterns of surface spectra using the ASTER spectral library to delineate a threshold to distinguish hot spots from background surfaces. To adjust the empirical coefficients of our detection algorithm, we visually inspected the detected hot spots using 6593 Landsat 8 scenes, which cover eastern part of East Asia, taken from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014, displayed on a dedicated Web GIS system. Eventually we determined threshold equations which can theoretically detect hot spots at temperatures above 230 °C over isothermal pixels and hot spots as small as 1 m2 at temperatures of 1000 °C as the lowest temperature and the smallest subpixel coverage, respectively, for daytime scenes. The algorithm detected hot spots including wildfires, volcanos, open burnings and factories. 30-m spatial resolution of Landsat 8 enabled to detect wild fires and open burnings accompanied by clearer shapes of fire front lines than MODIS and VIIRS fire products. Although the 16-day revisit cycle of Landsat 8 is too long to effectively find unexpected wildfire or outbreak of eruption, the revisit cycle is enough to monitor temporally stable heat sources, such as continually erupting volcanos and factories. False detection was found over building rooftops, which have relatively smooth surfaces at longer wavelengths, when specular reflection occurred at the satellite overpass.

New Insights into the Roles of Host Gene-Necrotrophic Effector Interactions in Governing Susceptibility of Durum Wheat to Tan Spot and Septoria nodorum Blotch.

PubMed

Virdi, Simerjot K; Liu, Zhaohui; Overlander, Megan E; Zhang, Zengcui; Xu, Steven S; Friesen, Timothy L; Faris, Justin D

2016-12-07

Tan spot and Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) are important diseases of wheat caused by the necrotrophic fungi Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and Parastagonospora nodorum, respectively. The P. tritici-repentis necrotrophic effector (NE) Ptr ToxB causes tan spot when recognized by the Tsc2 gene. The NE ToxA is produced by both pathogens and has been associated with the development of both tan spot and SNB when recognized by the wheat Tsn1 gene. Most work to study these interactions has been conducted in common wheat, but little has been done in durum wheat. Here, quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of a segregating biparental population indicated that the Tsc2-Ptr ToxB interaction plays a prominent role in the development of tan spot in durum. However, analysis of two biparental populations indicated that the Tsn1-ToxA interaction was not associated with the development of tan spot, but was strongly associated with the development of SNB. Pa. nodorum expressed ToxA at high levels in infected Tsn1 plants, whereas ToxA expression in P. tritici-repentis was barely detectable, suggesting that the differences in disease levels associated with the Tsn1-ToxA interaction were due to differences in pathogen expression of ToxA These and previous results together indicate that: (1) the effects of Tsn1-ToxA on tan spot in common wheat can range from nonsignificant to highly significant depending on the host genetic background; (2) Tsn1-ToxA is not a significant factor for tan spot development in durum wheat; and (3) Tsn1-ToxA plays a major role in SNB development in both common and durum wheat. Durum and common wheat breeders alike should strive to remove both Tsc2 and Tsn1 from their materials to achieve disease resistance. Copyright © 2016 Virdi et al.

Generation of a focused hollow beam by an 2π-phase plate and its application in atom or molecule optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, Yong; Yin, Jianping

2005-03-01

We propose a new scheme to generate a focusing hollow beam (FHB) by use of an azimuthally distributed 2π-phase plate and a convergent thin lens. From the Fresnel diffraction theory, we calculate the intensity distributions of the FHB in free propagation space and study the relationship between the waist w0 of the incident Gaussian beam (or the focal length f of the lens) and the dark spot size (or the beam radius) at the focal point and the relationship between the maximum radial intensity of the FHB and the dark spot size (or the beam radius) at the focal point, respectively. Our study shows that the FHB can be used to cool and trap neutral atoms by intensity-gradient-induced Sisyphus cooling due to an extremely high intensity gradient of the FHB itself near the focal point, or to guide and focus a cold molecular beam. We also calculate the optical potential of the blue-detuned FHB for 85Rb atoms and find that in the focal plane, the smaller the dark spot size of the FHB is, the higher the optical potential is, and the greater the corresponding optimal detuning δ is; these qualities are beneficial to an atomic lens not only because it is profitable to obtain an atomic lens with a higher resolution, but also because it is helpful to reduce the spontaneous photon-scattering effect of atoms in the FHB.

A physically-based Mie–Gruneisen equation of state to determine hot spot temperature distributions

DOE PAGES

Kittell, David Erik; Yarrington, Cole Davis

2016-07-14

Here, a physically-based form of the Mie–Grüneisen equation of state (EOS) is derived for calculating 1d planar shock temperatures, as well as hot spot temperature distributions from heterogeneous impact simulations. This form utilises a multi-term Einstein oscillator model for specific heat, and is completely algebraic in terms of temperature, volume, an integrating factor, and the cold curve energy. Moreover, any empirical relation for the reference pressure and energy may be substituted into the equations via the use of a generalised reference function. The complete EOS is then applied to calculations of the Hugoniot temperature and simulation of hydrodynamic pore collapsemore » using data for the secondary explosive, hexanitrostilbene (HNS). From these results, it is shown that the choice of EOS is even more significant for determining hot spot temperature distributions than planar shock states. The complete EOS is also compared to an alternative derivation assuming that specific heat is a function of temperature alone, i.e. cv(T). Temperature discrepancies on the order of 100–600 K were observed corresponding to the shock pressures required to initiate HNS (near 10 GPa). Overall, the results of this work will improve confidence in temperature predictions. By adopting this EOS, future work may be able to assign physical meaning to other thermally sensitive constitutive model parameters necessary to predict the shock initiation and detonation of heterogeneous explosives.« less

IMPULSIVE SPOT HEATING AND THERMAL EXPLOSION OF INTERSTELLAR GRAINS REVISITED

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

Ivlev, A. V.; Röcker, T. B.; Vasyunin, A.

The problem of the impulsive heating of dust grains in cold, dense interstellar clouds is revisited theoretically with the aim of better understanding the leading mechanisms of the explosive desorption of icy mantles. We rigorously show that if the heating of a reactive medium occurs within a sufficiently localized spot (e.g., the heating of mantles by cosmic rays (CRs)), then the subsequent thermal evolution is characterized by a single dimensionless number λ. This number identifies a bifurcation between two distinct regimes: when λ exceeds a critical value (threshold), the heat equation exhibits the explosive solution, i.e., the thermal (chemical) explosionmore » is triggered. Otherwise, thermal diffusion causes the deposited heat to spread over the entire grain—this regime is commonly known as whole-grain heating. The theory allows us to find a critical combination of physical parameters that govern the explosion of icy mantles due to impulsive spot heating. In particular, our calculations suggest that heavy CR species (e.g., iron ions) colliding with dust are able to trigger the explosion. Based on recently calculated local CR spectra, we estimate the expected rate of explosive desorption. The efficiency of the desorption, which in principle affects all solid species independent of their binding energy, is shown to be comparable to other CR desorption mechanisms typically considered in the literature. Also, the theory allows us to estimate the maximum abundances of reactive species that may be stored in the mantles, which provides important constraints on the available astrochemical models.« less

Evaluation of the performance of Abbott m2000 and Roche COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS Taqman assays for HIV-1 viral load determination using dried blood spots and dried plasma spots in Kenya

PubMed Central

Ndiege, Kenneth; Inzaule, Seth; Achieng, Rebecca; Williamson, John; Chih-Wei Chang, Joy; Ellenberger, Dennis; Nkengasong, John

2017-01-01

Background Routine HIV viral load testing is not widely accessible in most resource-limited settings, including Kenya. To increase access to viral load testing, alternative sample types like dried blood spots (DBS), which overcome the logistic barriers associated with plasma separation and cold chain shipment need to be considered and evaluated. The current study evaluated matched dried blood spots (DBS) and dried plasma spots (DPS) against plasma using the Abbott M 2000 (Abbott) and Roche Cobas Ampliprep/Cobas TaqMan (CAP/CTM) quantitative viral load assays in western Kenya. Methods Matched plasma DBS and DPS were obtained from 200 HIV-1 infected antiretroviral treatment (ART)-experienced patients attending patient support centers in Western Kenya. Standard quantitative assay performance parameters with accompanying 95% confidence intervals (CI) were assessed at the assays lower detection limit (400cps/ml for CAP/CTM and 550cps/ml for Abbott) using SAS version 9.2. Receiver operating curves (ROC) were further used to assess viral-load thresholds with best assay performance (reference assay CAP/CTM plasma). Results Using the Abbott test, the sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for DPS were (97.3%, [95%CI: 93.2–99.2] and 98.1% [95%CI: 89.7–100]) and those for DBS (93.9% [95%CI: 88.8–97.2] and 88.0% [95%CI: 82.2–92.4]). The correlation and agreement using paired plasma and DPS/DBS were strong, with r2 = 90.5 and rc = 68.1. The Bland-Altman relative percent change was 95.3 for DPS, (95%CI: 90.4–97.7) and 73.6 (95%CI: 51.6–86.5) for DBS. Using the CAP/CTM assay, the sensitivity for DBS was significantly higher compared to DPS (100.0% [95% CI: 97.6–100.0] vs. 94.7% [95%CI: 89.8–97.7]), while the specificity for DBS was lower: 4%, [95% CI: 0.4–13.7] compared to DPS: 94.0%, [95% CI: 83.5–98.7]. When compared under different clinical relevant thresholds, the accuracy for the Abbott assay was 95% at the 1000cps/ml cut-off with a sensitivity and specificity of 96.6% [95% CI 91.8–98.7] and 90.4% [95% CI 78.2–96.4] respectively. The optimum threshold was at 3000 cps/ml with an accuracy of 95.5%, sensitivity and specificity of 94.6% [95%CI 89.3–97.5] and 98.1% [95%CI 88.4–99.9]) respectively. The best threshold for CAP/CTM was at 4000 copies /mL, with 92.5% accuracy (sensitivity of 96.0% [95%CI 91.0–98.3] and specificity of 82.7% [95%CI 69.2–91.3]). Conclusions There was similar performance between matched DBS, DPS and plasma using the Abbott test, and good correlation for matched DPS and plasma using the CAPCTM test. The findings suggest that DBS and DPS may be reliably used as alternative specimens to plasma to measure HIV-1 VL using Abbott, and DPS may be reliably used with CAP/CTM in resource-limited settings. PMID:28622370

Proteome analysis of Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) seeds dormancy breaking and germination: influence of abscisic and gibberellic acids.

PubMed

Pawłowski, Tomasz A

2009-05-04

Seed dormancy is controlled by the physiological or structural properties of a seed and the external conditions. It is induced as part of the genetic program of seed development and maturation. Seeds with deep physiological embryo dormancy can be stimulated to germinate by a variety of treatments including cold stratification. Hormonal imbalance between germination inhibitors (e.g. abscisic acid) and growth promoters (e.g. gibberellins) is the main cause of seed dormancy breaking. Differences in the status of hormones would affect expression of genes required for germination. Proteomics offers the opportunity to examine simultaneous changes and to classify temporal patterns of protein accumulation occurring during seed dormancy breaking and germination. Analysis of the functions of the identified proteins and the related metabolic pathways, in conjunction with the plant hormones implicated in seed dormancy breaking, would expand our knowledge about this process. A proteomic approach was used to analyse the mechanism of dormancy breaking in Norway maple seeds caused by cold stratification, and the participation of the abscisic (ABA) and gibberellic (GA) acids. Forty-four proteins showing significant changes were identified by mass spectrometry. Of these, eight spots were identified as water-responsive, 18 spots were ABA- and nine GA-responsive and nine spots were regulated by both hormones. The classification of proteins showed that most of the proteins associated with dormancy breaking in water were involved in protein destination. Most of the ABA- and GA-responsive proteins were involved in protein destination and energy metabolism. In this study, ABA was found to mostly down-regulate proteins whereas GA up-regulated proteins abundance. Most of the changes were observed at the end of stratification in the germinated seeds. This is the most active period of dormancy breaking when seeds pass from the quiescent state to germination. Seed dormancy breaking involves proteins of various processes but the proteasome proteins, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, glycine-rich RNA binding protein, ABI3-interacting protein 1, EF-2 and adenosylhomocysteinase are of particular importance. The effect of exogenously applied hormones was not a determining factor for total inhibition (ABA) or stimulation (GA) of Norway maple seed dormancy breaking and germination but proteomic data has proven these hormones play a role.

A novel conformity index for intensity modulated radiation therapy plan evaluation

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

Cheung, Fion W. K.; Law, Maria Y. Y.; Medical Physics and Research Department, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, 999077 Hong Kong

2012-09-15

Purpose: Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has gained popularity in the treatment of cancers. Manual evaluation of IMRT plans for head-and-neck cancers has been especially challenging necessitating efficient and objective assessment tools. In this work, the authors address this issue by developing a personalized conformity index (CI) for comparison of IMRT plans for head-and-neck cancers and evaluating its plan quality discerning power in comparison with other widely used CIs. Methods: A two-dimensional CI with dose and distance incorporated (CI{sub DD}) was developed using the MATLAB program language, to quantify the planning target volume (PTV) coverage. Valuable information contained in themore » digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) RT objects were harvested for computation of each of the CI{sub DD} components. Apart from the dose penalty factor, a distance-based exponential function was employed by varying the penalty weight associated with the location of cold spots within the PTV. With the goal of deriving a customized penalty factor, the distances between individual pixel and its nearest PTV boundary was found. Using the exponential function, the impact of distance penalty was substantially larger for cold spots closer to the PTV centroid but petered out quickly wherever they were situated in the vicinity of PTV border. In order to evaluate the CI{sub DD} scoring system, three CT image data sets of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients were collected. Ten IMRT plans with degrading qualities were generated from each dataset and were ranked based on CI{sub DD} and other existing indices. The coefficient of variance was calculated for each dataset to compare the degree of variation. Results: The CI{sub DD} scoring system that considered spatial importance of each voxel within the PTV was successfully developed. The results demonstrated that the CI{sub DD} including four discrete factors could provide accurate rankings of plan quality by examining the relative importance of each cold spot within the PTVs. Apart from the dose penalty factor, a distance-based exponential function was employed taking the specific tumor geometry into account. Compared with other commonly used CIs, the CI{sub DD} resulted in the largest coefficient of variance among the ten IMRT plans for each dataset, indicating that its discerning power was the best among the CIs being compared. Conclusions: The CI{sub DD} scoring system was successfully developed to incorporate patient-specific spatial dose information and provide a geometry-based physical index for comparison of IMRT plans for head-and-neck cancers. By taking individual tumor geometry into account, the superiority of CI{sub DD} in plan discerning power was demonstrated. The use of CI{sub DD} could provide an effective means of benchmarking performance, reducing treatment plan variability, and advancing the quality of current IMRT planning.« less

Long-Term Cold Acclimation Extends Survival Time at 0°C and Modifies the Metabolomic Profiles of the Larvae of the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Koštál, Vladimír; Korbelová, Jaroslava; Rozsypal, Jan; Zahradníčková, Helena; Cimlová, Jana; Tomčala, Aleš; Šimek, Petr

2011-01-01

Background Drosophila melanogaster is a chill-susceptible insect. Previous studies on this fly focused on acute direct chilling injury during cold shock and showed that lower lethal temperature (LLT, approximately −5°C) exhibits relatively low plasticity and that acclimations, both rapid cold hardening (RCH) and long-term cold acclimation, shift the LLT by only a few degrees at the maximum. Principal Findings We found that long-term cold acclimation considerably improved cold tolerance in fully grown third-instar larvae of D. melanogaster. A comparison of the larvae acclimated at constant 25°C with those acclimated at constant 15°C followed by constant 6°C for 2 d (15°C→6°C) showed that long-term cold acclimation extended the lethal time for 50% of the population (Lt50) during exposure to constant 0°C as much as 630-fold (from 0.137 h to 86.658 h). Such marked physiological plasticity in Lt50 (in contrast to LLT) suggested that chronic indirect chilling injury at 0°C differs from that caused by cold shock. Long-term cold acclimation modified the metabolomic profiles of the larvae. Accumulations of proline (up to 17.7 mM) and trehalose (up to 36.5 mM) were the two most prominent responses. In addition, restructuring of the glycerophospholipid composition of biological membranes was observed. The relative proportion of glycerophosphoethanolamines (especially those with linoleic acid at the sn-2 position) increased at the expense of glycerophosphocholines. Conclusion Third-instar larvae of D. melanogaster improved their cold tolerance in response to long-term cold acclimation and showed metabolic potential for the accumulation of proline and trehalose and for membrane restructuring. PMID:21957472

Cold dark matter plus not-so-clumpy dark relics

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

Diamanti, Roberta; Ando, Shin'ichiro; Weniger, Christoph

Various particle physics models suggest that, besides the (nearly) cold dark matter that accounts for current observations, additional but sub-dominant dark relics might exist. These could be warm, hot, or even contribute as dark radiation. We present here a comprehensive study of two-component dark matter scenarios, where the first component is assumed to be cold, and the second is a non-cold thermal relic. Considering the cases where the non-cold dark matter species could be either a fermion or a boson, we derive consistent upper limits on the non-cold dark relic energy density for a very large range of velocity dispersions,more » covering the entire range from dark radiation to cold dark matter. To this end, we employ the latest Planck Cosmic Microwave Background data, the recent BOSS DR11 and other Baryon Acoustic Oscillation measurements, and also constraints on the number of Milky Way satellites, the latter of which provides a measure of the suppression of the matter power spectrum at the smallest scales due to the free-streaming of the non-cold dark matter component. We present the results on the fraction f {sub ncdm} of non-cold dark matter with respect to the total dark matter for different ranges of the non-cold dark matter masses. We find that the 2σ limits for non-cold dark matter particles with masses in the range 1–10 keV are f {sub ncdm}≤0.29 (0.23) for fermions (bosons), and for masses in the 10–100 keV range they are f {sub ncdm}≤0.43 (0.45), respectively.« less

Protein phosphorylation differs significantly among ontogenetic phases in Malus seedlings

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Although protein phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification affecting protein function and metabolism, dynamic changes in this process during ontogenesis remain unexplored in woody angiosperms. Methods Phosphorylated proteins from leaves of three apple seedlings at juvenile, adult vegetative and reproductive stages were extracted and subjected to alkaline phosphatase pre-treatment. After separating the proteins by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and phosphoprotein-specific Pro-Q Diamond staining, differentially expressed phosphoproteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. Results A total of 107 phosphorylated protein spots on nine gels (three ontogenetic phases × three seedlings) were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. The 55 spots of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) large-chain fragments varied significantly in protein abundance and degree of phosphorylation among ontogenetic phases. Abundances of the 27 spots corresponding to Rubisco activase declined between juvenile and reproductive phases. More extensively, phosphorylated β-tubulin chain spots with lower isoelectric points were most abundant during juvenile and adult vegetative phases. Conclusions Protein phosphorylation varied significantly during vegetative phase change and floral transition in apple seedlings. Most of the observed changes were consistent among seedlings and between hybrid populations. PMID:24904238

Thermal and Sedimentation Stress Are Unlikely Causes of Brown Spot Syndrome in the Coral Reef Sponge, Ianthella basta

PubMed Central

Luter, Heidi M.; Whalan, Steve; Webster, Nicole S.

2012-01-01

Background Marine diseases are being increasingly linked to anthropogenic factors including global and local stressors. On the Great Barrier Reef, up to 66% of the Ianthella basta population was recently found to be afflicted by a syndrome characterized by brown spot lesions and necrotic tissue. Methodology/Principal Findings Manipulative experiments were undertaken to ascertain the role of environmental stressors in this syndrome. Specifically, the effects of elevated temperature and sedimentation on sponge health and symbiont stability in I. basta were examined. Neither elevated temperature nor increased sedimentation were responsible for the brown spot lesions, but sponges exposed to 32°C developed substantial discoloration and deterioration of their tissues, resulting in death after eight days and a higher microbial diversity in those samples. No shifts in the microbial community of I. basta were observed across a latitudinal gradient or with increased sedimentation, with three previously described symbionts dominating the community of all sponges (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Thaumarchaea). Conclusions/Significance Results from this study highlight the stable microbial community of I. basta and indicate that thermal and sedimentation stress are not responsible for the brown spot lesions currently affecting this abundant and ecologically important sponge species. PMID:22745827

Amphibious hearing in spotted seals (Phoca largha): underwater audiograms, aerial audiograms and critical ratio measurements.

PubMed

Sills, Jillian M; Southall, Brandon L; Reichmuth, Colleen

2014-03-01

Spotted seals (Phoca largha) inhabit Arctic regions that are facing both rapid climate change and increasing industrialization. While little is known about their sensory capabilities, available knowledge suggests that spotted seals and other ice seals use sound to obtain information from the surrounding environment. To quantitatively assess their auditory capabilities, the hearing of two young spotted seals was tested using a psychophysical paradigm. Absolute detection thresholds for tonal sounds were measured in air and under water over the frequency range of hearing, and critical ratios were determined using octave-band masking noise in both media. The behavioral audiograms show a range of best sensitivity spanning four octaves in air, from approximately 0.6 to 11 kHz. The range of sensitive hearing extends across seven octaves in water, with lowest thresholds between 0.3 and 56 kHz. Critical ratio measurements were similar in air and water and increased monotonically from 12 dB at 0.1 kHz to 30 dB at 25.6 kHz, indicating that the auditory systems of these seals are quite efficient at extracting signals from background noise. This study demonstrates that spotted seals possess sound reception capabilities different from those previously described for ice seals, and more similar to those reported for harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). The results are consistent with the amphibious lifestyle of these seals and their apparent reliance on sound. The hearing data reported herein are the first available for spotted seals and can inform best management practices for this vulnerable species in a changing Arctic.

Ras mutations are rare in solitary cold and toxic thyroid nodules.

PubMed

Krohn, K; Reske, A; Ackermann, F; Müller, A; Paschke, R

2001-08-01

Activation of ras proto-oncogenes as a result of point mutations is detectable in a significant percentage of most types of tumour. Similar to neoplasms of other organs, mutations of all three ras genes can be found in thyroid tumours. H-, K- and N-ras mutations have been detected in up to 20% of follicular adenomas and adenomatous nodules which were not functionally characterized. This raises the question as to whether ras mutations are specific for hypofunctional nodules and TSH receptor mutations for hyperfunctioning nodules. To investigate ras and TSH receptor mutations with respect to functional differentiation we studied 41 scintigraphically cold nodules and 47 toxic thyroid nodules. To address the likelihood of a somatic mutation we also studied the clonal origin of these tumours. Genomic DNA was extracted from nodular and surrounding tissue. Mutational hot spots in exons 1 and 2 of the H- and K-ras gene were PCR amplified and sequenced using big dye terminator chemistry. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to verify sequencing results for the H-ras gene and to analyse the N-ras gene because its greater sensitivity in detecting somatic mutations. Clonality of nodular thyroid tissue was evaluated using X-Chromosome inactivation based on PCR amplification of the human androgen receptor locus. Monoclonal origin was detectable in 14 of 23 informative samples from cold thyroid nodules. In toxic thyroid nodules the frequency of clonal tissue was 20 in 30 informative cases. Only one point mutation could be found in the N-ras gene codon 61 (Gly to Arg) in a cold adenomatous nodule which was monoclonal. In toxic thyroid nodules no ras mutation was detectable. Our study suggests that ras mutations are rare in solitary cold and toxic thyroid nodules and that the frequent monoclonal origin of these tumours implies somatic mutations in genes other than H-, K- and N-ras.

Optical and dark characterization of the PLATO CCD at ESA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verhoeve, Peter; Prod'homme, Thibaut; Oosterbroek, Tim; Duvet, Ludovic; Beaufort, Thierry; Blommaert, Sander; Butler, Bart; Heijnen, Jerko; Lemmel, Frederic; van der Luijt, Cornelis; Smit, Hans; Visser, Ivo

2016-07-01

PLATO - PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars - is the third medium-class mission (M3) to be selected in the European Space Agency (ESA) Science and Robotic Exploration Cosmic Vision programme. It is due for launch in 2025 with the main objective to find and study terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around solar-like stars. The payload consists of >20 cameras; with each camera comprising 4 Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs), a large number of flight model devices procured by ESA shall ultimately be integrated on the spacecraft. The CCD270 - specially designed and manufactured by e2v for the PLATO mission - is a large format (8 cm x 8 cm) back-illuminated device operating at 4 MHz pixel rate and coming in two variants: full frame and frame transfer. In order to de-risk the PLATO CCD procurement and aid the mission definition process, ESA's Payload Technology Validation section is currently validating the PLATO CCD270. This validation consists in demonstrating that the device achieves its specified electrooptical performance in the relevant environment: operated at 4 MHz, at cold and before and after proton irradiation. As part of this validation, CCD270 devices have been characterized in the dark as well as optically with respect to performance parameters directly relevant for the photometric application of the CCDs. Dark tests comprise the measurement of gain sensitivity to bias voltages, charge injection tests, and measurement of hot and variable pixels after irradiation. In addition, the results of measurements of Quantum Efficiency for a range of angles of incidence, intra- pixel response (non-)uniformity, and response to spot illumination, before and after proton irradiation. In particular, the effect of radiation induced degradation of the charge transfer efficiency on the measured charge in a star-like spot has been studied as a function of signal level and of position on the pixel grid, Also, the effect of various levels of background light on the amount of charge lost from a star image are described. These results can serve as a direct input to the PLATO consortium to study the mission performance and as a basis for further optimization of the CCD operation.

Aerosol number size distributions in the lower troposphere over a background region and megalopolis (Novosibirsk) on result of airborne sounding in 2011-2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belan, Boris D.; Kozlov, Artem V.; Simonenkov, Denis V.; Tolmachev, Gennadii N.; Tsaruk, Victoria V.

2014-11-01

In this paper we present a comparison of the data on aerosol number size distribution measured with GRIMM 1.109 aerosol spectrometer in the lower troposphere over Novosibirsk and background area 150 km south-west of it during research flights of Optik TU-134 aircraft laboratory carried out along the route Novosibirsk - Ordynskoye - Novosibirsk in 2011-2013. Aerosol number size distributions averaged over 3 years as together so for warm and cold seasons separately are considered here. It is shown that the accumulation of anthropogenic aerosol within the BL over the city is typical for the cold period, which is most likely caused by inversions those are rapidly destroyed by vertical mixing during warm season and anthropogenic aerosols from the city are transported into the free troposphere.

Bounds on isocurvature perturbations from cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data.

PubMed

Crotty, Patrick; García-Bellido, Juan; Lesgourgues, Julien; Riazuelo, Alain

2003-10-24

We obtain very stringent bounds on the possible cold dark matter, baryon, and neutrino isocurvature contributions to the primordial fluctuations in the Universe, using recent cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data. Neglecting the possible effects of spatial curvature, tensor perturbations, and reionization, we perform a Bayesian likelihood analysis with nine free parameters, and find that the amplitude of the isocurvature component cannot be larger than about 31% for the cold dark matter mode, 91% for the baryon mode, 76% for the neutrino density mode, and 60% for the neutrino velocity mode, at 2sigma, for uncorrelated models. For correlated adiabatic and isocurvature components, the fraction could be slightly larger. However, the cross-correlation coefficient is strongly constrained, and maximally correlated/anticorrelated models are disfavored. This puts strong bounds on the curvaton model.

Short-term survival in renal transplantation from brain-death donors: focusing on recipients with diabetes background.

PubMed

Nakhjavani, Manoochehr; Ghaemi, Fatemeh; Ravaghi, Hamid; Aghighi, Mohammad; Ghaemi, Farahnaz

2014-05-06

Our aim was to evaluate short term survival rates in renal transplant recipients from deceased donors, while focusing on recipients with diabetes mellitus background. This is a longitudinal follow-up study based on national registry of recipients in Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran from 2010-11. Five hundred fifty-five recipients, 226 (40.8%) females and 328 (59.2%) males, were included in the study. Mean (± SD) age of the recipients was 39 ± 14 years. Of donors 18.4% were females and 81.6% were males. Age of the donors was 33 ± 14 years. All allograft recipients from deceased donors enrolled in the study. Short-term graft survival (1 year) was determined. Data regarding age, gender, background disease and cold ischemic time of recipients and donors were collected from the organ procurement units. Allografts were functioning in 499 (90.1%) of recipients after one year. Of recipients 38 (6.9%) died and rejection of transplanted kidney occurred in 17 (3.1%) cases. So, in 55 (9.9%) cases, allografts were not functioning. There were significant relationships between short term graft survival of donors' gender, age of recipients, cold ischemic time and level of clearance of creatinine of recipients. In addition to cold ischemic time, graft survival can be affected by recipients' age. There are some other considerations and implications regarding the short term graft survival in renal transplantation from cadaver donors which are discussed in this paper.

Shielding Design for the South Pole nToF Diagnostic at the NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khater, Hesham; Sitaraman, Shiva; Hall, James; Hatarik, Robert; Caggiano, Joseph; Waltz, Cory

2017-09-01

Neutron time of flight (nToF) detectors are fielded at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to measure neutron yield, ion temperature, and downscattering in the cold fuel for D-T implosions. Anisotropically assembled cold fuel may generate different nToF data when measured by detectors located at the Target Chamber equator and poles. A collimated nToF line of sight has been fielded near the Target Chamber South Pole (SP) to examine any possible anisotropy in the cold fuel. The SP nToF detector is located in the lowest floor level of the NIF's Target Bay and at a distance of 18 m from the Target Chamber Center. The detector utilizes a solid bibenzyl scintillator and four photomultiplier tubes. The line of sight includes a port collimator that is attached to the Target Chamber and a bore hole collimator in the concrete floor above the detector. In addition, a beam line get lost hole is constructed in the Target Bay floor to minimize the backscattered radiation at the detector location. Initial measurements indicated the need for installation of additional shielding to eliminate gamma background during the period before arrival of the 14.1 MeV neutrons to the detector. A set of MCNP Monte Carlo simulations with the full Target Bay model were conducted to provide an estimate of the expected neutron and gamma backgrounds during D-T shots. A new shielding scheme is designed to reduce the gamma background by an order of magnitude.

Neuroscience and Education: Blind Spots in a Strange Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraft, Volker

2012-01-01

This article--mainly referring to the situation in Germany--consists of three parts. In a first section the current presence of neurosciences in the public discourse will be described in order to illuminate the background which is relevant for contemporary educational thinking. The prefix "neuro-" is ubiquitous today and therefore…

Cyprus World Trouble Spot

DTIC Science & Technology

1966-04-08

transportation, and communications. It was no more than a cadre in training when violence broke out in 1963 and the army 9 Nancy Crawshaw , "Cyprus...Government.) 10. Crawshaw , Nancy. "Cyprus; Collapse of the Zurich Agreement." The World Today, Vol. 20, Aug. 1964, pp. 338-347. 11. "Cyprus, Background

Development of Mathematic Model of Cold Welding at Drawing-up the Flange Joint of Pneumohydraulic Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyko, Y. S.

2002-01-01

Provision of high airtightness of joints of pipe- lines of pneumohydraulic systems (PHS) operating under high pressure, is an important task for designing and operation of launch vehicles. In the process of assembly and tests of PHS of launch vehicles, it was found that detachable flange joints do not lose their airtightness after removal of fastening elements, even in conditions of standard loads. The task of this work is in studying a phenomenon connected with initiation of the observed effect of adhesion and also stresses in the zone of contact at drawing- up the flange detachable joints with a plastic gasket. Investigations have shown that density of the joint is kept due to cold welding, as the created conditions are helpful for that process. As a result of the investigations performed, we have developed a mathematic model which is based on application of the theory of metal bonds; that theory explains the essence of the effect observed. Basic factors which provide optimum mode of cold welding, are effort which can cause microplastic deformation and form maximum contact, and also quality of processing the material of the surfaces joined. Strength of all- metal joint depends on factual area of contact. So, surface processing quality defines a configuration of microbulges which come into contact not simultaneously, and their stressed state is different, and it influences the character of dependence of the contact area on loading. Results of calculations by the mathematic model are expressed by dependencies of factual area of contact and a single diameter of the contact spot on the load applied which compresses the materials with various physical properties, and on the surface processing quality. The mathematic model allows to explain the common character of the cold welding process in detachable flange joints with the plastic gasket, to determine the nature and the character of acting forces, to define kinetics and the mechanism of formation of cold welding of detachable joints. It also helps to analyze the state of airtightness and to metal welding technology in the plastic state at drawing- up of detachable flange joints with a plastic gasket and to review cold welding as a positive phenomenon.

Tissue distribution of metals in white-fronted geese and spot-billed ducks from Korea.

PubMed

Kim, Jungsoo; Oh, Jong-Min

2013-07-01

This study presents concentrations of Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb and Cd in livers, kidneys, muscles and bones of white-fronted geese Anser albifrons (geese) and spot-billed ducks Anas poecilorhyncha (ducks). Iron in livers, kidneys and muscles, Zn in muscles, Mn and Cd in every tissue, Cu in livers, muscles and bones and Pb in bones differed between species, and there were significant differences among tissues in both species. Essential elements such as Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu concentrations were within the background levels. Lead concentrations in livers of 7 of 14 geese and 7 of 19 ducks and in bones of 4 of 19 ducks exceeded background concentrations for waterfowl (5 μg/g dw for the liver, 10 μg/g dw for the bone). Almost all samples of both species had the background Cd concentrations in the liver (33 of 33 geese and ducks) and kidney (14 geese and 18 ducks). Tissue concentrations of Cd were greater in geese than ducks. In contrast, tissue concentrations of Pb in bones were greater in ducks than in geese. These different trends for Cd and Pb reflect a short and/or long term difference in exposure and degree of accumulation of these metals.

Fair Share or Freeride: Burden Sharing in Post-Cold War NATO

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-23

military facilities in Europe. 56 Carl Elk, NATO Common Funds Burdensharing: Background and Current Issues (Washington DC: Congressional Research...Defense Minister Franz Joseph Jung replied, “our contribution is excellent.”114 Germany was clearly proud of its contribution to NATO operations, but...Monsanto, Portugal: NATO Joint Analysis Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC), 2011. Elk, Carl . NATO Common Funds Burdensharing: Background and Current

Cold plasma inactivates Salmonella Stanley and Escherichia coli O157:H7 inoculated on golden delicious apples.

PubMed

Niemira, Brendan A; Sites, Joseph

2008-07-01

Cold plasma generated in a gliding arc was applied to outbreak strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Stanley on agar plates and inoculated onto the surfaces of Golden Delicious apples. This novel sanitizing technology inactivated both pathogens on agar plates, with higher flow rate (40 liters/min) observed to be more efficacious than were lower flow rates (20 liters/min), irrespective of treatment time (1 or 2 min). Golden Delicious apples were treated with various flow rates (10, 20, 30, or 40 liters/min) of cold plasma for various times (1, 2, or 3 min), applied to dried spot inoculations. All treatments resulted in significant (P < 0.05) reductions from the untreated control, with 40 liters/min more effective than were lower flow rates. Inactivation of Salmonella Stanley followed a time-dependent reduction for all flow rates. Reductions after 3 min ranged from 2.9 to 3.7 log CFU/ml, close to the limit of detection. For E. coli O157:H7, 40 liters/min gave similar reductions for all treatment times, 3.4 to 3.6 log CFU/ml. At lower flow rates, inactivation was related to exposure time, with 3 min resulting in reductions of 2.6 to 3 log CFU/ml. Temperature increase of the treated apples was related to exposure time for all flow rates. The maximum temperature of any plasma-treated apple was 50.8 degrees C (28 degrees C above ambient), after 20 liters/min for 3 min, indicating that antimicrobial effects were not the result of heat. These results indicate that cold plasma is a nonthermal process that can effectively reduce human pathogens inoculated onto fresh produce.

Proteomic analysis of Mortierella isabellina M6-22 during cold stress.

PubMed

Hu, Binbin; Luo, Minzhou; Ji, Xiuling; Lin, Lianbing; Wei, Yunlin; Zhang, Qi

2016-11-01

We aimed to gain a better understanding of cold adaption in Mortierella isabellina M6-22 by using proteomics approaches. The temperature range and optimal temperature for M6-22 growth were investigated, and composition changes in fatty acids were analyzed. Accompanied with the 2-D gel electrophoresis, MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS analysis was conducted to characterize alterations in protein profiling in M6-22 cultured at 30 °C for 24 h and 15 °C for another 24 h when compared with those cultured at 30 °C for 48 h. Gene Ontology (GO) cluster analysis was finally conducted for successfully identified proteins. M6-22 cells could grow well at temperatures ranging from 15 to 30 °C. As temperature decreased from 30 to 15 °C, LA and GLA significantly increased from 11.63 to 17.85 % and from 9.12 to 13.19 %, respectively, while oleic acid significantly decreased from 47.25 to 36.53 %. Proteomics analyses revealed 111 differentially expressed protein spots, among which 5 unique proteins (A38, A40, A47, A49 and A58), 29 up-regulated proteins and 10 down-regulated proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS. GO enrichment analysis demonstrated that these proteins mainly involved in glycolytic pathway (A34 and A50), electron transport (A28), ATP production (A35 and B39) and protein modification (A38). A total of 44 differentially expressed proteins have been successfully identified in M. isabellina M6-22 cultured at 15 °C. These proteins may play important roles in cold adaption via regulation of ATP synthesis, activation of cold-adaptive proteins, degradation of needless protein, accumulation of PUFAs, etc.

Snow Clouds and the Carbon Dioxide Cycle on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayne, P. O.; Paige, D. A.

2009-12-01

The present climate of Mars is strongly influenced by the energy balance at the planet’s poles, with ~30% of the atmospheric mass exchanged seasonally with the polar ice caps. While the spring and summer sublimation process is observable in sunlight, the deposition process occurs in the darkness of polar night. We present direct radiometric observations of carbon dioxide snow clouds from the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) and estimate the rate of deposition due to snowfall. We also present radiative transfer models capable of reproducing the observations and providing constraints on the radiative and thermal properties of the cap-atmosphere system. Snow clouds display a multi-layered structure with greatest opacity near the surface and extending to typical altitudes of about 20 km, with equivalent normal visible optical depths of ~0.1. Our modeling suggests the observed carbon dioxide snow grains are ~10 μm in radius, implying modest deposition rates, and suggesting the majority of the seasonal cap is deposited in a vertical region within one MCS field of view (or ~1 km) of the surface. Models reproducing the MCS limb observations only reproduce the nadir observations if the surface (or near-surface) is an optically thick layer of small (< 100 μm radius) carbon dioxide grains, which are therefore the primary cause of radiometrically cold areas (“cold spots”) observed since the Viking era. For the extreme polar regions, a persistent, ~500 km diameter snow cloud is strongly coupled to the most active cold spots, and smaller clouds (< 50 km diameter) in the latitude range 60-80°, though unobserved, cannot be ruled out by the MCS data. Based on this correlation, and observations of cold spots recurring near topographic slopes, we conclude that deposition is indeed linked to cloud formation, with the majority of material condensing below ~1 km altitude. Optically thin water ice layers are necessary to accurately model the MCS spectrum, particularly at altitudes above 20 km. This suggests water ice functions as the required condensation nucleus, consistent with earlier laboratory and theoretical studies. Important hemispherical differences are observed in the deposition process: 1) northern clouds are optically thicker at middle altitudes, ~5-15 km; 2) southern clouds are more often “detached”, showing a local maximum opacity near 20-25 km altitude; 3) mode particle radii are larger (~100 μm versus ~10 μm) in the north. Total normal optical depths are typically higher by a factor of ~2 in the north, and water ice content is relatively higher. Energy balance constraints can be placed on the system by MCS observations of outgoing infrared flux, which we map through time as an effective emissivity by taking account of the topography from MOLA and the expected frost point temperature.

The Role of Ethylene and Cold Temperature in the Regulation of the Apple POLYGALACTURONASE1 Gene and Fruit Softening1[W][OA

PubMed Central

Tacken, Emma; Ireland, Hilary; Gunaseelan, Kularajathevan; Karunairetnam, Sakuntala; Wang, Daisy; Schultz, Keith; Bowen, Judith; Atkinson, Ross G.; Johnston, Jason W.; Putterill, Jo; Hellens, Roger P.; Schaffer, Robert J.

2010-01-01

Fruit softening in apple (Malus × domestica) is associated with an increase in the ripening hormone ethylene. Here, we show that in cv Royal Gala apples that have the ethylene biosynthetic gene ACC OXIDASE1 suppressed, a cold treatment preconditions the apples to soften independently of added ethylene. When a cold treatment is followed by an ethylene treatment, a more rapid softening occurs than in apples that have not had a cold treatment. Apple fruit softening has been associated with the increase in the expression of cell wall hydrolase genes. One such gene, POLYGALACTURONASE1 (PG1), increases in expression both with ethylene and following a cold treatment. Transcriptional regulation of PG1 through the ethylene pathway is likely to be through an ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE3-like transcription factor, which increases in expression during apple fruit development and transactivates the PG1 promoter in transient assays in the presence of ethylene. A cold-related gene that resembles a COLD BINDING FACTOR (CBF) class of gene also transactivates the PG1 promoter. The transactivation by the CBF-like gene is greatly enhanced by the addition of exogenous ethylene. These observations give a possible molecular mechanism for the cold- and ethylene-regulated control of fruit softening and suggest that either these two pathways act independently and synergistically with each other or cold enhances the ethylene response such that background levels of ethylene in the ethylene-suppressed apples is sufficient to induce fruit softening in apples. PMID:20237022

Mapping the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manzotti, A.; Dodelson, S.

2014-12-01

On large scales, the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) reflect not only the primordial density field but also the energy gain when photons traverse decaying gravitational potentials of large scale structure, what is called the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect. Decomposing the anisotropy signal into a primordial piece and an ISW component, the main secondary effect on large scales, is more urgent than ever as cosmologists strive to understand the Universe on those scales. We present a likelihood technique for extracting the ISW signal combining measurements of the CMB, the distribution of galaxies, and maps of gravitational lensing. We test this technique with simulated data showing that we can successfully reconstruct the ISW map using all the data sets together. Then we present the ISW map obtained from a combination of real data: the NRAO VLA sky survey (NVSS) galaxy survey, temperature anisotropies, and lensing maps made by the Planck satellite. This map shows that, with the data sets used and assuming linear physics, there is no evidence, from the reconstructed ISW signal in the Cold Spot region, for an entirely ISW origin of this large scale anomaly in the CMB. However a large scale structure origin from low redshift voids outside the NVSS redshift range is still possible. Finally we show that future surveys, thanks to a better large scale lensing reconstruction will be able to improve the reconstruction signal to noise which is now mainly coming from galaxy surveys.

Camouflage through an active choice of a resting spot and body orientation in moths.

PubMed

Kang, C-K; Moon, J-Y; Lee, S-I; Jablonski, P G

2012-09-01

Cryptic colour patterns in prey are classical examples of adaptations to avoid predation, but we still know little about behaviours that reinforce the match between animal body and the background. For example, moths avoid predators by matching their colour patterns with the background. Active choice of a species-specific body orientation has been suggested as an important function of body positioning behaviour performed by moths after landing on the bark. However, the contribution of this behaviour to moths' crypticity has not been directly measured. From observations of geometrid moths, Hypomecis roboraria and Jankowskia fuscaria, we determined that the positioning behaviour, which consists of walking and turning the body while repeatedly lifting and lowering the wings, resulted in new resting spots and body orientations in J. fuscaria and in new resting spots in H. roboraria. The body positioning behaviour of the two species significantly decreased the probability of visual detection by humans, who viewed photographs of the moths taken before and after the positioning behaviour. This implies that body positioning significantly increases the camouflage effect provided by moth's cryptic colour pattern regardless of whether the behaviour involves a new body orientation or not. Our study demonstrates that the evolution of morphological adaptations, such as colour pattern of moths, cannot be fully understood without taking into account a behavioural phenotype that coevolved with the morphology for increasing the adaptive value of the morphological trait. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Spot detection and image segmentation in DNA microarray data.

PubMed

Qin, Li; Rueda, Luis; Ali, Adnan; Ngom, Alioune

2005-01-01

Following the invention of microarrays in 1994, the development and applications of this technology have grown exponentially. The numerous applications of microarray technology include clinical diagnosis and treatment, drug design and discovery, tumour detection, and environmental health research. One of the key issues in the experimental approaches utilising microarrays is to extract quantitative information from the spots, which represent genes in a given experiment. For this process, the initial stages are important and they influence future steps in the analysis. Identifying the spots and separating the background from the foreground is a fundamental problem in DNA microarray data analysis. In this review, we present an overview of state-of-the-art methods for microarray image segmentation. We discuss the foundations of the circle-shaped approach, adaptive shape segmentation, histogram-based methods and the recently introduced clustering-based techniques. We analytically show that clustering-based techniques are equivalent to the one-dimensional, standard k-means clustering algorithm that utilises the Euclidean distance.

The 70 kDa Heat Shock Protein Assists during the Repair of Chilling Injury in the Insect, Pyrrhocoris apterus

PubMed Central

Koštál, Vladimír; Tollarová-Borovanská, Michaela

2009-01-01

Background The Pyrrhocoris apterus (Insecta: Heteroptera) adults attain high levels of cold tolerance during their overwintering diapause. Non-diapause reproducing adults, however, lack the capacity to express a whole array of cold-tolerance adaptations and show relatively low survival when exposed to sub-zero temperatures. We assessed the competence of non-diapause males of P. apterus for responding to heat- and cold-stresses by up-regulation of 70 kDa heat shock proteins (Hsps) and the role of Hsps during repair of heat- and cold-induced injury. Principal Findings The fragments of P. apterus homologues of Hsp70 inducible (PaHsp70) and cognate forms (PaHsc70) were cloned and sequenced. The abundance of mRNA transcripts for the inducible form (qPCR) and corresponding protein (Western blotting) were significantly up-regulated in response to high and low temperature stimuli. In the cognate form, mRNA was slightly up-regulated in response to both stressors but very low or no up-regulation of protein was apparent after heat- or cold-stress, respectively. Injection of 695 bp-long Pahsp70 dsRNA (RNAi) caused drastic suppression of the heat- and cold-stress-induced Pahsp70 mRNA response and the up-regulation of corresponding protein was practically eliminated. Our RNAi predictably prevented recovery from heat shock and, in addition, negatively influenced repair of chilling injuries caused by cold stress. Cold tolerance increased when the insects were first exposed to a mild heat shock, in order to trigger the up-regulation of PaHsp70, and subsequently exposed to cold stress. Conclusion Our results suggest that accumulation of PaHsp70 belongs to a complex cold tolerance adaptation in the insect Pyrrhocoris apterus. PMID:19229329

Surveys for presence of Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa): background information and field methods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pearl, Christopher A.; Clayton, David; Turner, Lauri

2010-01-01

The Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) is the most aquatic of the native frogs in the Pacific Northwest. The common name derives from the pattern of black, ragged-edged spots set against a brown or red ground color on the dorsum of adult frogs. Oregon spotted frogs are generally associated with wetland complexes that have several aquatic habitat types and sizeable coverage of emergent vegetation. Like other ranid frogs native to the Northwest, Oregon spotted frogs breed in spring, larvae transform in summer of their breeding year, and adults tend to be relatively short lived (3-5 yrs). Each life stage (egg, tadpole, juvenile and adult) has characteristics that present challenges for detection. Breeding can be explosive and completed within 1-2 weeks. Egg masses are laid in aggregations, often in a few locations in large areas of potential habitat. Egg masses can develop, hatch, and disintegrate in <2 weeks during warm weather. Tadpoles can be difficult to identify, have low survival, and spend most of their 3-4 months hidden in vegetation or flocculant substrates. Juveniles and adults are often difficult to capture and can spend summers away from breeding areas. Moreover, a substantial portion of extant populations are of limited size (<100 breeding adults), and field densities of all life stages are often low. An understanding of the biology of the species and use of multiple visits are thus important for assessing presence of Oregon spotted frogs. This report is meant to be a resource for USDA Region 6 Forest Service (FS) and OR/WA Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel tasked with surveying for the presence of Oregon spotted frogs. Our objective was to summarize information to improve the efficiency of field surveys and increase chances of detection if frogs are present. We include overviews of historical and extant ranges of Oregon spotted frog. We briefly summarize what is known of Oregon spotted frog habitat associations and review aspects of behavior and ecology that are likely to affect detectability in the field. We summarize characteristics that can help differentiate Oregon spotted frog life stages from other northwestern ranid frogs encountered during surveys. Appendices include examples of data collection formats and a protocol for disinfecting field gear.

The first structure of a cold-active catalase from Vibrio salmonicida at 1.96 A reveals structural aspects of cold adaptation.

PubMed

Riise, Ellen Kristin; Lorentzen, Marit Sjo; Helland, Ronny; Smalås, Arne O; Leiros, Hanna-Kirsti S; Willassen, Nils Peder

2007-02-01

The cold-adapted catalase from the fish-pathogenic bacterium Vibrio salmonicida (VSC) has recently been characterized and shown to be two times more catalytically efficient compared with catalase from the mesophilic human pathogen Proteus mirabilis [PMC; Lorentzen et al. (2006), Extremophiles, 10, 427-440]. VSC is also less temperature-stable, with a half-life of 5 min at 333 K compared with 50 min for PMC. This was the background for solving the crystal structure of the cold-adapted VSC to 1.96 A and performing an extensive structural comparison of VSC and PMC. The comparison revealed that the entrance (the major channel) leading to the catalytically essential haem group, is locally more flexible and slightly wider in VSC. This might explain the enhanced catalytic efficiency of the nearly diffusion-controlled degradation of hydrogen peroxide into water and molecular oxygen in VSC. The reduced thermal stability of the cold-adapted VSC may be explained by a reduced number of ion-pair networks. The four C-terminal alpha-helices are displaced in the structures, probably owing to missing ionic interactions in VSC compared with PMC, and this is postulated as an initiation site for unfolding the cold-adapted enzyme. VSC is the first crystal structure reported of a cold-adapted monofunctional haem-containing catalase.

20 kHz, 25 kVA node power transformer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hussey, S.

1989-01-01

The electrical and mechanical design information and the electrical and thermal testing performed on the 440-208-V rms, 20-kHz, 25-kVa prototype node transformer are summarized. The calculated efficiency of the node transformer is 99.3 percent based on core loss and copper loss test data, and its maximum calculated load regulation is 0.7 percent. The node transformer has a weight of 19.7 lb and has a power density of 0.8 lb/kW. The hot-spot temperature rise is estimated to be 33 C above the cold plate mounting base. This proof-of-concept transformer design is a viable candidate for the space station Freedom application.

Simmering Vanuatu Volcano Imaged by NASA Satellite

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-06

On Sept. 28, 2017, Manaro Voui volcano on Ambae island in Vanuatu began spewing ash in a moderate eruption, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of all 11,000 residents. This nighttime thermal infrared image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), acquired on Oct. 7, shows a hot spot (white) on the volcano's summit crater, but no large eruption. Cold clouds are dark gray, the warmer island is gray, and the ocean, (warmer than the island), is light gray. The image covers an area of 17 by 26 miles (27 by 42.4 kilometers), and is centered at 15.4 degrees south, 167.8 degrees east. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22045

Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2007-08-01

Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all. Void Illustration Hole in Universe revealed by its effect on Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. CREDIT: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA Click on image for page of graphics and detailed information "Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick, along with Shea Brown and Liliya R. Williams, also of the University of Minnesota, reported their findings in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Astronomers have known for years that, on large scales, the Universe has voids largely empty of matter. However, most of these voids are much smaller than the one found by Rudnick and his colleagues. In addition, the number of discovered voids decreases as the size increases. "What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said. The astronomers drew their conclusion by studying data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), a project that imaged the entire sky visible to the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, part of the National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Their careful study of the NVSS data showed a remarkable drop in the number of galaxies in a region of sky in the constellation Eridanus. "We already knew there was something different about this spot in the sky," Rudnick said. The region had been dubbed the "WMAP Cold Spot," because it stood out in a map of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation made by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotopy Probe (WMAP) satellite, launched by NASA in 2001. The CMB, faint radio waves that are the remnant radiation from the Big Bang, is the earliest "baby picture" available of the Universe. Irregularities in the CMB show structures that existed only a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang. The WMAP satellite measured temperature differences in the CMB that are only millionths of a degree. The cold region in Eridanus was discovered in 2004. Astronomers wondered if the cold spot was intrinsic to the CMB, and thus indicated some structure in the very early Universe, or whether it could be caused by something more nearby through which the CMB had to pass on its way to Earth. Finding the dearth of galaxies in that region by studying NVSS data resolved that question. "Although our surprising results need independent confirmation, the slightly colder temperature of the CMB in this region appears to be caused by a huge hole devoid of nearly all matter roughly 6-10 billion light-years from Earth," Rudnick said. How does a lack of matter cause a cooler temperature in the Big Bang's remnant radiation as seen from Earth? Photons of the CMB gain a small amount of energy when they pass through a region of space populated by matter. This effect is caused by the enigmatic "dark energy" that is accelerating the expansion of the Universe. This gain in photon energy makes the CMB appear slightly warmer in that direction. When the photons pass through an empty void, they lose a small amount of energy from this effect, and so the CMB radiation passing through such a region appears cooler. The acceleration of the Universe's expansion, and thus dark energy, were discovered less than a decade ago. The physical properties of dark energy are unknown, though it is by far the most abundant form of energy in the Universe today. Learning its nature is one of the most fundamental current problems in astrophysics. The NVSS imaged the roughly 82 percent of the sky visible from the New Mexico site of the VLA. The survey consists of 217,446 individual observations that consumed 2,940 hours of telescope time between 1993 and 1997. A set of 2,326 images was produced from the data, and these images are available via the NRAO Web site. The survey also produced a catalog of more than 1.8 million individual objects identifiable in the images. The NVSS has been cited in more than 1,200 scientific papers. NASA's WMAP satellite, using microwave amplifiers produced by NRAO's Central Development Laboratory, has yielded a wealth of new information about the age and history of the Universe, the emergence of the first stars, and the composition of the Universe. WMAP results have been extensively cited by scientists in a wide variety of astrophysical specialties. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This research at the University of Minnesota is supported by individual investigator grants from the NSF and NASA.

The cosmic microwave background radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silk, Joseph

1992-01-01

A review the implications of the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background for cosmology. Thermalization and processes generating spectral distortions are discussed. Anisotropy predictions are described and compared with observational constraints. If the evidence for large-scale power in the galaxy distribution in excess of that predicted by the cold dark matter model is vindicated, and the observed structure originated via gravitational instabilities of primordial density fluctuations, the predicted amplitude of microwave background anisotropies on angular scales of a degree and larger must be at least several parts in 10 exp 6.

The cosmic microwave background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silk, Joseph

1991-01-01

Recent limits on spectral distortions and angular anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background are reviewed. The various backgrounds are described, and the theoretical implications are assessed. Constraints on inflationary cosmology dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) and on open cosmological models dominated by baryonic dark matter (BDM), with, respectively, primordial random phase scale-invariant curvature fluctuations or non-gaussian isocurvature fluctuations are described. More exotic theories are addressed, and I conclude with the 'bottom line': what theorists expect experimentalists to be measuring within the next two to three years without having to abandon their most cherished theories.

Analyzing Security Breaches in the U.S.: A Business Analytics Case-Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Rachida F.; Adams, Lascelles

2016-01-01

This is a real-world applicable case-study and includes background information, functional organization requirements, and real data. Business analytics has been defined as the technologies, skills, and practices needed to iteratively investigate historical performance to gain insight or spot trends. You are asked to utilize/apply critical thinking…

Early Childhood Program: Summary of Context Analysis Phase.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southwest Educational Development Lab., Austin, TX.

Progress made in the field of early childhood development during the past decade is examined to provide the background and rationale for tree programs funded by the National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1974: a parenting information center, a multimedia child care training package, and television spots related to child rearing principles. The…

Use of Dried Blood Spots for Estimating Children?s Exposures to Heavy Metals in Epidemiological Research

EPA Science Inventory

Background: Children’s exposures to arsenic (As), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and cadmium (Cd) are of particular concern in early-life. Exposures to heavy metals are traditionally measured in whole venous blood, which is costly and invasive. As an alternative we describe a met...

The genera Isorineloricaria and Aphanotorulus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae)
with description of a new species.

PubMed

Ray, C Keith; Armbruster, Jonathan W

2016-02-04

We review the complex history of those species included in the Hypostomus emarginatus species complex and recognize them in Isorineloricaria and Aphanotorulus. Isorineloricaria consists of four valid species: I. acuarius n. sp., I. spinosissima, I. tenuicauda, and I. villarsi. Aphanotorulus consists of six valid species: A. ammophilus, A, emarginatus, A. gomesi, A. horridus, A. phrixosoma, and A. unicolor. Plecostomus annae and Hypostoma squalinum are placed in the synonymy of A. emarginatus; Plecostomus biseriatus, P. scopularius, and P. virescens are placed in the synonymy of A. horridus; Plecostomus winzi is placed in the synonymy of I. tenuicauda, and one new species, I. acuarius is described from the Apure River basin of Venezuela. Aphanotoroulus can be distinguished from Isorineloricaria by having caudal peduncles that do not become greatly lengthed with size and that are oval in cross section (vs. caudal peduncle proportions that get proportionately longer with size and that become round in cross-section), and by having small dark spots (less than half plate diameter) on a light tan background (vs. spots almost as large as lateral plates on a nearly white background.

Highly Sensitive Detection of Low-Abundance White Spot Syndrome Virus by a Pre-Amplification PCR Method.

PubMed

Pan, Xiaoming; Zhang, Yanfang; Sha, Xuejiao; Wang, Jing; Li, Jing; Dong, Ping; Liang, Xingguo

2017-03-28

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a major threat to the shrimp farming industry and so far there is no effective therapy for it, and thus early diagnostic of WSSV is of great importance. However, at the early stage of infection, the extremely low-abundance of WSSV DNA challenges the detection sensitivity and accuracy of PCR. To effectively detect low-abundance WSSV, here we developed a pre-amplification PCR (pre-amp PCR) method to amplify trace amounts of WSSV DNA from massive background genomic DNA. Combining with normal specific PCR, 10 copies of target WSSV genes were detected from ~10 10 magnitude of backgrounds. In particular, multiple target genes were able to be balanced amplified with similar efficiency due to the usage of the universal primer. The efficiency of the pre-amp PCR was validated by nested-PCR and quantitative PCR, and pre-amp PCR showed higher efficiency than nested-PCR when multiple targets were detected. The developed method is particularly suitable for the super early diagnosis of WSSV, and has potential to be applied in other low-abundance sample detection cases.

Geographic variation in winter adaptations of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gigliotti, Laura C.; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Sheriff, M.J.

2017-01-01

Understanding adaptations of nonhibernating northern endotherms to cope with extreme cold is important because climate-induced changes in winter temperatures and snow cover are predicted to impact these species the most. We compared winter pelage characteristics and heat production of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) on the southern edge of their range, in Pennsylvania (USA), to a northern population, in the Yukon (Canada), to investigate how hares might respond to changing environmental conditions. We also investigated how hares in Pennsylvania altered movement rates and resting spot selection to cope with variable winter temperatures. Hares from Pennsylvania had shorter, less dense, and less white winter coats than their northern counterparts, suggesting lower coat insulation. Hares in the southern population had lower pelage temperatures, indicating that they produced less heat than those in the northern population. In addition, hares in Pennsylvania did not select for resting spots that offered thermal advantages, but selected locations offering visual obstruction from predators. Movement rates were associated with ambient temperature, with the smallest movements occurring at the lower and upper range of observed ambient temperatures. Our results indicate that snowshoe hares may be able to adapt to future climate conditions via changes in pelage characteristics, metabolism, and behavior.

Current drivers and future directions of global livestock disease dynamics

PubMed Central

Perry, Brian D.; Grace, Delia; Sones, Keith

2013-01-01

We review the global dynamics of livestock disease over the last two decades. Our imperfect ability to detect and report disease hinders assessment of trends, but we suggest that, although endemic diseases continue their historic decline in wealthy countries, poor countries experience static or deteriorating animal health and epidemic diseases show both regression and expansion. At a mesolevel, disease is changing in terms of space and host, which is illustrated by bluetongue, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus, and it is also emerging, as illustrated by highly pathogenic avian influenza and others. Major proximate drivers of change in disease dynamics include ecosystem change, ecosystem incursion, and movements of people and animals; underlying these are demographic change and an increasing demand for livestock products. We identify three trajectories of global disease dynamics: (i) the worried well in developed countries (demanding less risk while broadening the circle of moral concern), (ii) the intensifying and market-orientated systems of many developing countries, where highly complex disease patterns create hot spots for disease shifts, and (iii) the neglected cold spots in poor countries, where rapid change in disease dynamics is less likely but smallholders and pastoralists continue to struggle with largely preventable and curable livestock diseases. PMID:21576468

Simulations of the impact of localized defects on ICF implosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milovich, Jose; Robey, Harry; Weber, Christopher; Sepke, Scott; Clark, Daniel; Koning, Joe; Smalyuk, Vladimir; Martinez, David

2016-10-01

Recent experiments have identified the tent membranes that support the capsule as a source of a large azimuthal perturbation at the point of departure from the surface. Highly-resolved 2D simulations have shown that vorticity generated by the interaction of the ablated capsule material and the tent allows for the penetration of cold ablator material into the burning hot-spot likely cooling the central burning plasma. These observations have motivated the search for alternative supporting methods. One of the techniques being considered uses the existing fill-tube (needed to deliver the cryogenic fuel) supported against gravity by a thin rod (cantilever) spanning the hohlraum diameter. Recent experiments have assessed the perturbation induced on the target as the rod is positioned along the fill-tube at different distances from the capsule surface and found optical-depth modulations oriented along the cantilever direction, possibly caused by laser spot shadowing or hydro-coupling. To fully understand the data we have undertaken an extensive study of highly-resolved 2D integrated simulations abled to resolve the 12 um diameter cantilever. Results of our computations and comparison with the experiments will be presented. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Combining near infrared spectra of feces and geostatistics to generate forage nutritional quality maps across landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jean, Pierre-Olivier; Bradley, Robert; Tremblay, Jean-Pierre

2015-04-01

An important asset for the management of wild ungulates is the ability to recognize the spatial distribution of forage quality across heterogeneous landscapes. To do so typically requires knowledge of which plant species are eaten, in what abundance they are eaten, and what their nutritional quality might be. Acquiring such data may be, however, difficult and time consuming. Here, we are proposing a rapid and cost-effective forage quality monitoring tool that combines near infrared (NIR) spectra of fecal samples and easily obtained data on plant community composition. Our approach rests on the premise that NIR spectra of fecal samples collected within low population density exclosures reflect the optimal forage quality of a given landscape. Forage quality can thus be based on the Mahalanobis distance of fecal spectral scans across the landscape relative to fecal spectral scans inside exclosures (referred to as DISTEX). The Gi* spatial autocorrelation statistic can then be applied among neighbouring DISTEX values to detect and map 'hot-spots' and 'cold-spots' of nutritional quality over the landscape. We tested our approach in a heterogeneous boreal landscape on Anticosti Island (Qu

High contrast imaging through adaptive transmittance control in the focal plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhadwal, Harbans S.; Rastegar, Jahangir; Feng, Dake

2016-05-01

High contrast imaging, in the presence of a bright background, is a challenging problem encountered in diverse applications ranging from the daily chore of driving into a sun-drenched scene to in vivo use of biomedical imaging in various types of keyhole surgeries. Imaging in the presence of bright sources saturates the vision system, resulting in loss of scene fidelity, corresponding to low image contrast and reduced resolution. The problem is exacerbated in retro-reflective imaging systems where the light sources illuminating the object are unavoidably strong, typically masking the object features. This manuscript presents a novel theoretical framework, based on nonlinear analysis and adaptive focal plane transmittance, to selectively remove object domain sources of background light from the image plane, resulting in local and global increases in image contrast. The background signal can either be of a global specular nature, giving rise to parallel illumination from the entire object surface or can be represented by a mosaic of randomly orientated, small specular surfaces. The latter is more representative of real world practical imaging systems. Thus, the background signal comprises of groups of oblique rays corresponding to distributions of the mosaic surfaces. Through the imaging system, light from group of like surfaces, converges to a localized spot in the focal plane of the lens and then diverges to cast a localized bright spot in the image plane. Thus, transmittance of a spatial light modulator, positioned in the focal plane, can be adaptively controlled to block a particular source of background light. Consequently, the image plane intensity is entirely due to the object features. Experimental image data is presented to verify the efficacy of the methodology.

New Fks hot spot for acquired echinocandin resistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its contribution to intrinsic resistance of Scedosporium species.

PubMed

Johnson, Michael E; Katiyar, Santosh K; Edlind, Thomas D

2011-08-01

Echinocandins represent a new antifungal group with potent activity against Candida species. These lipopeptides inhibit the synthesis of β-1,3-glucan, the major cell wall polysaccharide. Acquired resistance or reduced echinocandin susceptibility (RES) is rare and associated with mutations in two "hot spot" regions of Fks1 or Fks2, the probable β-1,3-glucan synthases. In contrast, many fungi demonstrate intrinsic RES for reasons that remain unclear. We are using Saccharomyces cerevisiae to understand the basis for RES by modeling echinocandin-Fks interaction. Previously characterized mutations confer cross-RES; we screened for mutations conferring differential RES, implying direct interaction of that Fks residue with a variable echinocandin side chain. One mutant (in an fks1Δ background) exhibited ≥16-fold micafungin and anidulafungin versus caspofungin RES. Sequencing identified a novel Fks2 mutation, W714L/Y715N. Equivalent W695L/Y696N and related W695L/F/C mutations in Fks1 generated by site-directed mutagenesis and the isolation of a W695L-equivalent mutation in Candida glabrata confirmed the role of the new "hot spot 3" in RES. Further mutagenesis expanded hot spot 3 to Fks1 residues 690 to 700, yielding phenotypes ranging from cross-RES to differential hypersusceptibility. Fks1 sequences from intrinsically RES Scedosporium species revealed W695F-equivalent substitutions; Fks1 hybrids expressing Scedosporium prolificans hot spot 3 confirmed that this substitution imparts RES.

Magnifying Lenses with Weak Achromatic Bends for High-Energy Electron Radiography

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

Walstrom, Peter Lowell

2015-02-27

This memo briefly describes bremsstrahlung background effects in GeV-range electron radiography systems and the use of weak bending magnets to deflect the image to the side of the forward bremsstrahlung spot to reduce background. The image deflection introduces first-order chromatic image blur due to dispersion. Two approaches to eliminating the dispersion effect to first order by use of magnifying lens with achromatic bends are described. Also, higher-order image blur terms caused by weak bends are also discussed, and shown to be negligibly small in most cases of interest.

Expression Patterns of Three Genes Under Short and Long Term Cold Exposure in Thitarodes pui (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae), A Host of Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

PubMed

Min, Q; Cheng, S Y; Xi, J F; Ma, J; Xin, T R; Xia, B; Zou, Z W

　　BACKGROUND: Thitarodes larvae are the host of the caterpillar fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis. Low temperature is the main environmental limitation for larvae growth. To better understand the cold adaption process in T. pui larvae, the expression patterns of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TpTPS), heat shock protein 70 (TpHSP70), and heat shock protein 90 (TpHSP90) were investigated upon short and long-term exposure to 0°C. The 6th instar T. pui larvae were collected in July 2013. TpTPS was firstly sequenced and expression patterns of TpTPS, TpHSP70 and TpHSP90 were investigated using quantitative PCR. Full-length cDNA of TpTPS was 3,012 bp, with an open reading frame of 2,472 bp and an encoding protein of 823 amino acids. TpTPS up-regulation was induced by cold exposure. TpHSP70 expression is altered by cold exposure, but remained low. TpHSP90 expression was obviously up regulated in long-term cold stimulation. All three genes (TpTPS, TpHSP70 and TpHSP90) have likely contributed to cold tolerance in T. pui larvae, TpTPS and TpHSP90 potentially being more important.

Enhancing Self-Efficacy for Help-Seeking Among Transition-Aged Youth in Postsecondary Settings With Mental Health and/or Substance Use Concerns, Using Crowd-Sourced Online and Mobile Technologies: The Thought Spot Protocol

PubMed Central

Abi-Jaoude, Alexxa; Johnson, Andrew; Ferguson, Genevieve; Sanches, Marcos; Levinson, Andrea; Robb, Janine; Heffernan, Olivia; Herzog, Tyson; Chaim, Gloria; Cleverley, Kristin; Eysenbach, Gunther; Henderson, Joanna; S Hoch, Jeffrey; Hollenberg, Elisa; Jiang, Huan; Isaranuwatchai, Wanrudee; Law, Marcus; Sharpe, Sarah; Tripp, Tim; Voineskos, Aristotle

2016-01-01

Background Seventy percent of lifetime cases of mental illness emerge prior to age 24. While early detection and intervention can address approximately 70% of child and youth cases of mental health concerns, the majority of youth with mental health concerns do not receive the services they need. Objective The objective of this paper is to describe the protocol for optimizing and evaluating Thought Spot, a Web- and mobile-based platform cocreated with end users that is designed to improve the ability of students to access mental health and substance use services. Methods This project will be conducted in 2 distinct phases, which will aim to (1) optimize the existing Thought Spot electronic health/mobile health intervention through youth engagement, and (2) evaluate the impact of Thought Spot on self-efficacy for mental health help-seeking and health literacy among university and college students. Phase 1 will utilize participatory action research and participatory design research to cocreate and coproduce solutions with members of our target audience. Phase 2 will consist of a randomized controlled trial to test the hypothesis that the Thought Spot intervention will show improvements in intentions for, and self-efficacy in, help-seeking for mental health concerns. Results We anticipate that enhancements will include (1) user analytics and feedback mechanisms, (2) peer mentorship and/or coaching functionality, (3) crowd-sourcing and data hygiene, and (4) integration of evidence-based consumer health and research information. Conclusions This protocol outlines the important next steps in understanding the impact of the Thought Spot platform on the behavior of postsecondary, transition-aged youth students when they seek information and services related to mental health and substance use. PMID:27815232

Statistical Analysis And Treatment Of Accident Black Spots: A Case Study Of Nandyal Mandal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudharshan Reddy, B.; Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, L.; Sreenivasa Reddy, G., Dr

2017-08-01

Background: Increased, economic activity raised the consumption levels of the people across the country. This created scope for increase in travel and transportation. The increase in the vehicles since last 10 years has put lot of pressure on the existing roads and ultimately resulting in road accidents. Nandyal Mandal is located in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and well developed in both agricultural and industrial sectors after Kurnool. 567 accidents occurred in the last seven years at 143 locations shows the severity of the accidents in the Nandyal Mandal. There is a need to carry out some work in the Nandyal Mandal to improve the accidents black spots for reducing the accidents. Methods: Last seven years (2010-2016) of accident data collected from Police Stations. Weighted Severity Index (WSI), a scientific method is used for identifying the accident black spots. Statistical analysis has carried out for the collected data using Chi-Square Test to determine the independence of accidents with other attributes. Chi-Square Goodness of fit test conducted for test whether the accidents are occurring by chance or following any pattern. Results: WSI values are determined for the 143 locations. The Locations with high WSI are treated as accident black spots. Five black spots are taken for field study. After field observations and interaction with the public, some improvements are suggested for improving the accident black spots. There is no relationship between the severity of accidents and the other attributes like month, season, day, hours in day and the age group except type of vehicle. Road accidents are distributed throughout the Year, Month and Season. Road accidents are not distributed throughout the day.

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases.

PubMed

Kumar, Sundeep; Archak, Sunil; Tyagi, R K; Kumar, Jagdish; Vk, Vikas; Jacob, Sherry R; Srinivasan, Kalyani; Radhamani, J; Parimalan, R; Sivaswamy, M; Tyagi, Sandhya; Yadav, Mamata; Kumari, Jyotisna; Deepali; Sharma, Sandeep; Bhagat, Indoo; Meeta, Madhu; Bains, N S; Chowdhury, A K; Saha, B C; Bhattacharya, P M; Kumari, Jyoti; Singh, M C; Gangwar, O P; Prasad, P; Bharadwaj, S C; Gogoi, Robin; Sharma, J B; Gm, Sandeep Kumar; Saharan, M S; Bag, Manas; Roy, Anirban; Prasad, T V; Sharma, R K; Dutta, M; Sharma, Indu; Bansal, K C

2016-01-01

A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat-Triticum aestivum, T. durum and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011-14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels.

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases

PubMed Central

Jacob, Sherry R.; Srinivasan, Kalyani; Radhamani, J.; Parimalan, R.; Sivaswamy, M.; Tyagi, Sandhya; Yadav, Mamata; Kumari, Jyotisna; Deepali; Sharma, Sandeep; Bhagat, Indoo; Meeta, Madhu; Bains, N. S.; Chowdhury, A. K.; Saha, B. C.; Bhattacharya, P. M.; Kumari, Jyoti; Singh, M. C.; Gangwar, O. P.; Prasad, P.; Bharadwaj, S. C.; Gogoi, Robin; Sharma, J. B.; GM, Sandeep Kumar; Saharan, M. S.; Bag, Manas; Roy, Anirban; Prasad, T. V.; Sharma, R. K.; Dutta, M.; Sharma, Indu; Bansal, K. C.

2016-01-01

A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat–Triticum aestivum, T. durum and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011–14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels. PMID:27942031

Cold episodes in the Peruvian Central Andes: Composites, Types, and their Impacts over South America (1958-2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulca, J. C.; Vuille, M. F.; Roundy, P. E.; Trasmonte, G.; Silva, Y.; Takahashi, K.

2015-12-01

The Mantaro basin (MB) is located in the central Peruvian Andes. Occasionally, cold episodes are observed during austral summer (January-March), that strongly damage crops. However, little is known about the causes and impacts of such cold episodes. The main goal of this study is thus to characterize cold episodes in the MB and assess their large-scale circulation and teleconnections over South America (SA) during austral summer. To identify cold events in the MB daily minimum temperature (Tmin) for the period 1958-2014 from Huayao station, located within the MB was used. A cold episode is defined when daily minimum temperature drops below its 10-percentile for at least one day. Additionally, to study the sensitivity between physical mechanisms associated with cold episodes and temperature, cold episodes are classified in three groups: Weak cold episodes (7.5 ≤ Tmin ≤ 10 percentile), strong cold episodes (Tmin ≤ 2.5 percentile), but excluding the 9 coldest events (Tmin ≤ 0 ͦ C), henceforth referred to as extraordinary cold episodes. Several gridded reanalysis were used to characterize the large-scale circulation, cloud cover and rainfall over SA associated with these events. Weak and strong cold episodes in the MB are mainly associated with a weakening of the Bolivian High-Nordeste Low system by tropical-extratropical interactions. Both types of cold episodes are associated with westerly wind anomalies at mid- and upper-tropospheric levels aloft the Peruvian Central Andes, which inhibit the influx of humid air masses from the lowlands to the east and hence limit the development of cloud cover (e.g., positive OLR anomalies over MB). The resulting clear sky conditions cause nighttime temperatures to drop, leading to cold extremes below 10-percentile. Simultaneously, northeastern Brazil (NEB) registers negative OLR anomalies, strong convection and enhanced cloud cover because displacement of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) toward the northeast of its climatologic position. By contrast, extraordinary cold episodes in the MB are associated with cold and dry polar air advection at all tropospheric levels toward the central Peruvian Andes. On interannual timescales, El Niño may limit the occurrence of all types of cold episodes in the MB through enhanced tropical tropospheric background warming.

A Compact, High-Flux Cold Atom Beam Source

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellogg, James R.; Kohel, James M.; Thompson, Robert J.; Aveline, David C.; Yu, Nan; Schlippert, Dennis

2012-01-01

The performance of cold atom experiments relying on three-dimensional magneto-optical trap techniques can be greatly enhanced by employing a highflux cold atom beam to obtain high atom loading rates while maintaining low background pressures in the UHV MOT (ultra-high vacuum magneto-optical trap) regions. Several techniques exist for generating slow beams of cold atoms. However, one of the technically simplest approaches is a two-dimensional (2D) MOT. Such an atom source typically employs at least two orthogonal trapping beams, plus an additional longitudinal "push" beam to yield maximum atomic flux. A 2D atom source was created with angled trapping collimators that not only traps atoms in two orthogonal directions, but also provides a longitudinal pushing component that eliminates the need for an additional push beam. This development reduces the overall package size, which in turn, makes the 2D trap simpler, and requires less total optical power. The atom source is more compact than a previously published effort, and has greater than an order of magnitude improved loading performance.

Mu2e Transport Solenoid Cold-Mass Alignment Issues

DOE PAGES

Lopes, M.; Ambrosio, G.; Badgley, K.; ...

2017-01-05

The Muon-to-electron conversion experiment (Mu2e) at Fermilab is designed to explore charged lepton flavor violation. It is composed of three large superconducting solenoids: the Production Solenoid (PS), the Transport Solenoid (TS) and the Detector Solenoid (DS). The TS is formed by two magnets: TS upstream (TSu) and downstream (TSd). Each has its own cryostat and power supply. Tolerance sensitivity studies of the position and angular alignment of each coil in this magnet system were performed in the past with the objective to demonstrate that the magnet design meets all the field requirements. Furthermore, the alignment of the cold-masses is criticalmore » to maximize the transmission of muons and to avoid possible backgrounds that would reduce the sensitivity of the experiment. Each TS magnet cold-mass can be individually aligned. Here, we discuss implications of the alignment of the TS cold-masses in terms of the displacement of the magnetic center. Consideration of the practical mechanical limits are also presented.« less

Protein changes in the albedo of citrus fruits on postharvesting storage.

PubMed

Lliso, Ignacio; Tadeo, Francisco R; Phinney, Brett S; Wilkerson, Curtis G; Talón, Manuel

2007-10-31

In this work, major protein changes in the albedo of the fruit peel of Murcott tangor (tangerine x sweet orange) during postharvest ageing were studied through 2D PAGE. Protein content in matured on-tree fruits and in fruits stored in nonstressing [99% relative humidity (RH) and 25 degrees C], cold (99% RH and 4 degrees C), and drought (60% RH and 25 degrees C) conditions was initially determined. Protein identification through MS/MS determinations revealed in all samples analyzed the occurrence of manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn SOD), actin, ATP synthase beta subunit (ATPase), citrus salt-stress associated protein (CitSap), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP), and a cysteine proteinase (CP) of the papain family. The latter protein was identified in two different gel spots, with different molecular mass, suggesting the simultaneous presence of the proteinase precursor and its active form. While Mn SOD, actin, ATPase, and CitSap were unchanged in the assayed conditions, TCTP and APX were downregulated during the postharvest ageing process. Ageing-induced APX repression was also reversed by drought. CP contents in albedo, which were similar in on- and off-tree fruits, were strongly dependent upon cold storage. The active/total CP protein ratio significantly increased after cold exposure. This proteomic survey indicates that major changes in protein content in the albedo of the peel of postharvest stored citrus fruits are apparently related to the activation of programmed cell death (PCD).

Design and technical evaluation of fibre-coupled Raman probes for the image-guided discrimination of cancerous skin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schleusener, J.; Reble, C.; Helfmann, J.; Gersonde, I.; Cappius, H.-J.; Glanert, M.; Fluhr, J. W.; Meinke, M. C.

2014-03-01

Two different designs for fibre-coupled Raman probes are presented that are optimized for discriminating cancerous and normal skin by achieving high epithelial sensitivity to detect a major component of the Raman signal from the depth range of the epithelium. This is achieved by optimizing Raman spot diameters to the range of ≈200 µm, which distinguishes this approach from the common applications of either Raman microspectroscopy (1-5 µm) or measurements on larger sampling volume using spot sizes of a few mm. Video imaging with a depicted area in the order of a few cm, to allow comparing Raman measurements to the location of the histo-pathologic findings, is integrated in both designs. This is important due to the inhomogeneity of cancerous lesions. Video image acquisition is achieved using white light LED illumination, which avoids ambient light artefacts. The design requirements focus either on a compact light-weight configuration, for pen-like handling, or on a video-visible measurement spot to enable increased positioning accuracy. Both probes are evaluated with regard to spot size, Rayleigh suppression, background fluorescence, depth sensitivity, clinical handling and ambient light suppression. Ex vivo measurements on porcine ear skin correlates well with findings of other groups.

Infrared rotational light curves on Jupiter induced by wave activities and cloud patterns andimplications on brown dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Huazhi; Zhang, Xi; Fletcher, Leigh; Orton, Glenn S.; Sinclair, James Andrew; Fernandes,, Joshua; Momary, Thomas W.; Warren, Ari; Kasaba, Yasumasa; Sato, Takao M.; Fujiyoshi, Takuya

2017-10-01

Many brown dwarfs exhibit infrared rotational light curves with amplitude varying from a fewpercent to twenty percent (Artigau et al. 2009, ApJ, 701, 1534; Radigan et al. 2012, ApJ, 750,105). Recently, it was claimed that weather patterns, especially planetary-scale waves in thebelts and cloud spots, are responsible for the light curves and their evolutions on brown dwarfs(Apai et al. 2017, Science, 357, 683). Here we present a clear relationship between the direct IRemission maps and light curves of Jupiter at multiple wavelengths, which might be similar withthat on cold brown dwarfs. Based on infrared disk maps from Subaru/COMICS and VLT/VISIR,we constructed full maps of Jupiter and rotational light curves at different wavelengths in thethermal infrared. We discovered a strong relationship between the light curves and weatherpatterns on Jupiter. The light curves also exhibit strong multi-bands phase shifts and temporalvariations, similar to that detected on brown dwarfs. Together with the spectra fromTEXES/IRTF, our observations further provide detailed information of the spatial variations oftemperature, ammonia clouds and aerosols in the troposphere of Jupiter (Fletcher et al. 2016,Icarus, 2016 128) and their influences on the shapes of the light curves. We conclude that waveactivities in Jupiter’s belts (Fletcher et al. 2017, GRL, 44, 7140), cloud holes, and long-livedvortices such as the Great Red Spot and ovals control the shapes of IR light curves and multi-wavelength phase shifts on Jupiter. Our finding supports the hypothesis that observed lightcurves on brown dwarfs are induced by planetary-scale waves and cloud spots.

Morphometric evaluation of the Afşin-Elbistan lignite basin using kernel density estimation and Getis-Ord's statistics of DEM derived indices, SE Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarp, Gulcan; Duzgun, Sebnem

2015-11-01

A morphometric analysis of river network, basins and relief using geomorphic indices and geostatistical analyses of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) are useful tools for discussing the morphometric evolution of the basin area. In this study, three different indices including valley floor width to height ratio (Vf), stream gradient (SL), and stream sinuosity were applied to Afşin-Elbistan lignite basin to test the imprints of tectonic activity. Perturbations of these indices are usually indicative of differences in the resistance of outcropping lithological units to erosion and active faulting. To map the clusters of high and low indices values, the Kernel density estimation (K) and the Getis-Ord Gi∗ statistics were applied to the DEM-derived indices. The K method and Gi∗ statistic highlighting hot spots and cold spots of the SL index, the stream sinuosity and the Vf index values helped to identify the relative tectonic activity of the basin area. The results indicated that the estimation by the K and Gi∗ including three conceptualization of spatial relationships (CSR) for hot spots (percent volume contours 50 and 95 categorized as high and low respectively) yielded almost similar results in regions of high tectonic activity and low tectonic activity. According to the K and Getis-Ord Gi∗ statistics, the northern, northwestern and southern parts of the basin indicates a high tectonic activity. On the other hand, low elevation plain in the central part of the basin area shows a relatively low tectonic activity.

Optimum design on refrigeration system of high-repetition-frequency laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Gang; Li, Li; Jin, Yezhou; Sun, Xinhua; Mao, Shaojuan; Wang, Yuanbo

2014-12-01

A refrigeration system with fluid cycle, semiconductor cooler and air cooler is designed to solve the problems of thermal lensing effect and unstable output of high-repetition-frequency solid-state lasers. Utilizing a circulating water pump, water recycling system carries the water into laser cavity to absorb the heat then get to water cooling head. The water cooling head compacts cold spot of semiconductor cooling chips, so the heat is carried to hot spot which contacts the radiating fins, then is expelled through cooling fan. Finally, the cooled water return to tank. The above processes circulate to achieve the purposes of highly effective refrigeration in miniative solid-state lasers.The refrigeration and temperature control components are designed strictly to ensure refrigeration effect and practicability. we also set up a experiment to test the performances of this refrigeration system, the results show that the relationship between water temperature and cooling power of semiconductor cooling chip is linear at 20°C-30°C (operating temperature range of Nd:YAG), the higher of the water temperature, the higher of cooling power. According to the results, cooling power of single semiconductor cooling chip is above 60W, and the total cooling power of three semiconductor cooling chips achieves 200W that will satisfy the refrigeration require of the miniative solid-state lasers.The performance parameters of laser pulse are also tested, include pulse waveform, spectrogram and laser spot. All of that indicate that this refrigeration system can ensure the output of high-repetition-frequency pulse whit high power and stability.

Photospheric Spots and Flare on the Active Dwarf Star FR Cnc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozhevnikova, A. V.; Kozhevnikov, V. P.; Alekseev, I. Yu.

2018-03-01

We perform analysis of new BVRI photometry of young active dwarf star FR Cnc (K7V), obtained at Kourovka astronomical observatory of Ural Federal University with the help of multichannel electrophotometer in February 2010. The lightcurve displays sinusoidal rotation modulation with the amplitude of 0m.15 in V band. Reddening of the brightness at the photometric minimum confirms that this modulation is caused by cold photospheric spots. An analysis of the spottedness distribution in terms of a zonal model based on our own and published data shows that the spots are localized at lower and middle latitudes from 47° to 56°, occupy 10-21% of the star's area, and are colder than the photosphere by 1650 K. A flare was detected on February 3, 2010, at a time corresponding to HJD=2455231. 3136. A maximum amplitude of 0m.11 was observed in the B band, the amplitudes in the V, R, and I bands were 0m.04, 0m.03, and 0m.02, respectively, and the duration of the flare was 32.5 min. It was noted that the flare occurred near the maximum spottedness of the star. The calculated total energy of the flare was 2.4·1033 and 1.3·1033 erg in the B and V bands, respectively. The flare was found to have an afterglow, with an overall increase in the star's brightness by 0m.02 in the B band after the flare compared to the pre-flare level.

[Effect of climatic mean value change on the evaluation result of rice delayed cold damage in Liaoning Province, Northeast China].

PubMed

Ji, Rui-peng; Yu, Wen-ying; Wu, Jin-wen; Feng, Rui; Zhang, Yu-shu

2015-06-01

The anomaly of mean temperature summation from May to September (ΔT5-9) was commonly used to assess delayed cold damage of rice in Northeast China, but whether the change of statistics years for climatic mean value (ΣT5-9) would affect the, evaluation results of Liaoning rice under cold damage needed to be further studied. By using the meteorological industry standard of the People's Republic of China "technical standard on rice cold damage evaluation" (QX/T 182- 2013) and the supplemental indices (ΔT5-9), the index (ΣT5-9) was calculated in four periods 1961-1990 (S1), 1971-2000 (S2), 1981-2010 (S3) and 1961-2010 (S4), and the spatial and temporal changes of cold damage in Liaoning Province were analyzed based on the ratio between cold damage stations and total stations (IOC) and the occurrence frequency. The results showed that the heat condition (Σ T5-9) in rice growing season increased obviously and the spatial and temporal changes were significant from 1961 to 2010. The original meteorological index of rice cold damage was improved by using quadratic polynomial model. The identification results were similar between S2 and S4. The variation coefficient of IOC in S3 was lower than that of the other three. Compared with the typical rice yield reduction years, the evaluation results accorded better with the actual situation in evaluating the rice delayed cold damage in Liaoning during study period by using the S3 climate mean value. The results could provide evidence for accurately evaluating the variation of rice cold damage in spatial and temporal distribution in Liaoning Province under the background of global climate change.

Program on immunization and cold chain monitoring: the status in eight health districts in Cameroon

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Cold chain monitoring is a precondition to ensure immunization quality, efficacy and safety. In Cameroon, the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) has National Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that describes the vaccines, the cold chain system and equipment, its use and recommended procedures to control and monitor the temperatures and the cold chain. This study was conducted to assess the status of cold chain in eight health districts in Cameroon. Findings The study was carried out in eight health districts out of fifty with poor immunization coverage rate. Data were collected using a validated form by observation and consultation of related documents. District Health Services (DHS) and four Integrated. Health Centers (IHC) randomly selected were targeted per health district. Forty health facilities were included. Twenty eight (70.0%) had at least one functional refrigerator for EPI activities. The power supply was reported to be permanent in 7 (20.6%) out of 34. (85.0%) health facilities with access to power supply. The temperature monitoring chart was pasted on 27 (96.4%) of the cold chain equipment. On 16 (59.3%) of these charts, the temperature was recorded twice daily as recommended. Seven (25.9%) of 27 refrigerators assessed had temperature out of the recommended range of 2 to 8°C. Almost 23.30% of health centers did not received any supervision on cold chain monitoring during a vaccination campaign. Conclusion This study documents failure of the cold chain maintenance and questions the efficacy and safety of vaccines administered during EPI activities in Cameroun. These findings indicate that appropriate actions are needed to ensure monitoring of EPI cold chain in the country. PMID:23497720

Characterization and simulation of cDNA microarray spots using a novel mathematical model

PubMed Central

Kim, Hye Young; Lee, Seo Eun; Kim, Min Jung; Han, Jin Il; Kim, Bo Kyung; Lee, Yong Sung; Lee, Young Seek; Kim, Jin Hyuk

2007-01-01

Background The quality of cDNA microarray data is crucial for expanding its application to other research areas, such as the study of gene regulatory networks. Despite the fact that a number of algorithms have been suggested to increase the accuracy of microarray gene expression data, it is necessary to obtain reliable microarray images by improving wet-lab experiments. As the first step of a cDNA microarray experiment, spotting cDNA probes is critical to determining the quality of spot images. Results We developed a governing equation of cDNA deposition during evaporation of a drop in the microarray spotting process. The governing equation included four parameters: the surface site density on the support, the extrapolated equilibrium constant for the binding of cDNA molecules with surface sites on glass slides, the macromolecular interaction factor, and the volume constant of a drop of cDNA solution. We simulated cDNA deposition from the single model equation by varying the value of the parameters. The morphology of the resulting cDNA deposit can be classified into three types: a doughnut shape, a peak shape, and a volcano shape. The spot morphology can be changed into a flat shape by varying the experimental conditions while considering the parameters of the governing equation of cDNA deposition. The four parameters were estimated by fitting the governing equation to the real microarray images. With the results of the simulation and the parameter estimation, the phenomenon of the formation of cDNA deposits in each type was investigated. Conclusion This study explains how various spot shapes can exist and suggests which parameters are to be adjusted for obtaining a good spot. This system is able to explore the cDNA microarray spotting process in a predictable, manageable and descriptive manner. We hope it can provide a way to predict the incidents that can occur during a real cDNA microarray experiment, and produce useful data for several research applications involving cDNA microarrays. PMID:18096047

The mysterious Spotted Green Pigeon and its relation to the Dodo and its kindred

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The closely related and extinct Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) and Rodrigues Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria), both in the subfamily Raphinae, are members of a clade of morphologically very diverse pigeons. Genetic analyses have revealed that the Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) is the closest living relative of these birds, thereby highlighting their ancestors’ remarkable migration and morphological evolution. The Spotted Green Pigeon (Caloenas maculata) was described in 1783 and showed some similarities to the Nicobar Pigeon. Soon however the taxon fell into obscurity, as it was regarded as simply an abnormal form of the Nicobar Pigeon. The relationship between both taxa has occasionally been questioned, leading some ornithologists to suggest that the two may in fact be different taxa. Today only one of the original two specimens survives and nothing is known about the origin of the taxon. Due to its potential close relationship, the Spotted Green Pigeon may hold clues to the historical migration, isolation and morphological evolution of the Dodo and its kindred. Results We use ancient DNA methodologies to investigate the phylogeny and authenticity of the Spotted Green Pigeon. A novel extraction method with the ability to retain and purify heavily fragmented DNA is used to investigate two feathers from the sole surviving specimen. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analyses reveal that the Spotted Green Pigeon is a unique lineage and together with the Nicobar Pigeon, is basal to the Dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire. Conclusions The distance observed for the Spotted Green Pigeon and Nicobar Pigeon is larger than that observed within other Pigeon species, indicating that the Spotted Green pigeon is a unique taxon, thereby also indicating it is a genuine addition to the list of extinct species. The phylogenetic placement of the Spotted Green Pigeon indicates that the ancestors of both Caloenas and therefore Raphinae displayed and shared the following traits: ability of flight, semi-terrestrial habits and an affinity towards islands. This set of traits supports the stepping stone hypothesis, which states that the Raphinae got to their respective localities by island hopping from India or Southeast Asia. PMID:25027719

Global Analysis of Transcriptome Responses and Gene Expression Profiles to Cold Stress of Jatropha curcas L.

PubMed Central

Wang, Haibo; Zou, Zhurong; Wang, Shasha; Gong, Ming

2013-01-01

Background Jatropha curcas L., also called the Physic nut, is an oil-rich shrub with multiple uses, including biodiesel production, and is currently exploited as a renewable energy resource in many countries. Nevertheless, because of its origin from the tropical MidAmerican zone, J. curcas confers an inherent but undesirable characteristic (low cold resistance) that may seriously restrict its large-scale popularization. This adaptive flaw can be genetically improved by elucidating the mechanisms underlying plant tolerance to cold temperatures. The newly developed Illumina Hiseq™ 2000 RNA-seq and Digital Gene Expression (DGE) are deep high-throughput approaches for gene expression analysis at the transcriptome level, using which we carefully investigated the gene expression profiles in response to cold stress to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of cold response in J. curcas. Results In total, 45,251 unigenes were obtained by assembly of clean data generated by RNA-seq analysis of the J. curcas transcriptome. A total of 33,363 and 912 complete or partial coding sequences (CDSs) were determined by protein database alignments and ESTScan prediction, respectively. Among these unigenes, more than 41.52% were involved in approximately 128 known metabolic or signaling pathways, and 4,185 were possibly associated with cold resistance. DGE analysis was used to assess the changes in gene expression when exposed to cold condition (12°C) for 12, 24, and 48 h. The results showed that 3,178 genes were significantly upregulated and 1,244 were downregulated under cold stress. These genes were then functionally annotated based on the transcriptome data from RNA-seq analysis. Conclusions This study provides a global view of transcriptome response and gene expression profiling of J. curcas in response to cold stress. The results can help improve our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant cold resistance and favor the screening of crucial genes for genetically enhancing cold resistance in J. curcas. PMID:24349370

A prospective comparison of cold snare polypectomy using traditional or dedicated cold snares for the resection of small sessile colorectal polyps

PubMed Central

Dwyer, Jeremy P.; Tan, Jonathan Y. C.; Urquhart, Paul; Secomb, Robyn; Bunn, Catherine; Reynolds, John; La Nauze, Richard; Kemp, William; Roberts, Stuart; Brown, Gregor

2017-01-01

Background and study aims  The evidence for efficacy and safety of cold snare polypectomy is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the completeness of resection and safety of cold snare polypectomy, using either traditional or dedicated cold snares. Patients and methods  This was a prospective, non-randomized study performed at a single tertiary hospital. Adult patients with at least one colorectal polyp (size ≤ 10 mm) removed by cold snare were included. In the first phase, all patients had polyps removed by traditional snare without diathermy. In the second phase, all patients had polyps removed by dedicated cold snare. Complete endoscopic resection was determined from histological examination of quadrantic polypectomy margin biopsies. Immediate or delayed bleeding within 2 weeks was recorded. Results  In total, 181 patients with 299 eligible polyps (n = 93 (173 polyps) traditional snare group, n = 88 (126 polyps) dedicated cold snare group) were included. Patient demographics and procedure indications were similar between groups. Mean polyp size was 6 mm in both groups ( P  = 0.25). Complete polyp resection was 165 /173 (95.4 %; 95 %CI 90.5 – 97.6 %) in the traditional snare group and 124/126 (98.4 %; 95 %CI 93.7 – 99.6 %) in the dedicated cold snare group ( P  = 0.16). Serrated polyps, compared with adenomatous polyps, had a higher rate of incomplete resection (7 % vs. 2 %, P  = 0.03). There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of immediate bleeding (3 % vs. 1 %, P  = 0.41) and there were no delayed hemorrhages or perforations. Conclusions  Cold snare polypectomy is effective and safe for the complete endoscopic resection of small (≤ 10 mm) colorectal polyps with either traditional or dedicated cold snares. PMID:29250580

Reducing radiation dose to selected organs by selecting the tube start angle in MDCT helical scans: A Monte Carlo based study

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

Zhang Di; Zankl, Maria; DeMarco, John J.

Purpose: Previous work has demonstrated that there are significant dose variations with a sinusoidal pattern on the peripheral of a CTDI 32 cm phantom or on the surface of an anthropomorphic phantom when helical CT scanning is performed, resulting in the creation of ''hot'' spots or ''cold'' spots. The purpose of this work was to perform preliminary investigations into the feasibility of exploiting these variations to reduce dose to selected radiosensitive organs solely by varying the tube start angle in CT scans. Methods: Radiation dose to several radiosensitive organs (including breasts, thyroid, uterus, gonads, and eye lenses) resulting from MDCTmore » scans were estimated using Monte Carlo simulation methods on voxelized patient models, including GSF's Baby, Child, and Irene. Dose to fetus was also estimated using four pregnant female models based on CT images of the pregnant patients. Whole-body scans were simulated using 120 kVp, 300 mAs, both 28.8 and 40 mm nominal collimations, and pitch values of 1.5, 1.0, and 0.75 under a wide range of start angles (0 deg. - 340 deg. in 20 deg. increments). The relationship between tube start angle and organ dose was examined for each organ, and the potential dose reduction was calculated. Results: Some organs exhibit a strong dose variation, depending on the tube start angle. For small peripheral organs (e.g., the eye lenses of the Baby phantom at pitch 1.5 with 40 mm collimation), the minimum dose can be 41% lower than the maximum dose, depending on the tube start angle. In general, larger dose reductions occur for smaller peripheral organs in smaller patients when wider collimation is used. Pitch 1.5 and pitch 0.75 have different mechanisms of dose reduction. For pitch 1.5 scans, the dose is usually lowest when the tube start angle is such that the x-ray tube is posterior to the patient when it passes the longitudinal location of the organ. For pitch 0.75 scans, the dose is lowest when the tube start angle is such that the x-ray tube is anterior to the patient when it passes the longitudinal location of the organ. Conclusions: Helical MDCT scanning at pitch 1.5 and pitch 0.75 results in ''cold spots'' and ''hot spots'' that are created both at surface and in-depth locations within patients. For organs that have a relatively small longitudinal extent, dose can vary considerably with different start angles. While current MDCT systems do not provide the user with the ability to control the tube start angle, these results indicate that in these specific situations (pitch 1.5 or pitch 0.75, small organs and especially small patients), there could be significant dose savings to organs if that functionality would be provided.« less

Quantifying wintertime boundary layer ozone production from frequent profile measurements in the Uinta Basin, UT, oil and gas region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnell, Russell C.; Johnson, Bryan J.; Oltmans, Samuel J.; Cullis, Patrick; Sterling, Chance; Hall, Emrys; Jordan, Allen; Helmig, Detlev; Petron, Gabrielle; Ahmadov, Ravan; Wendell, James; Albee, Robert; Boylan, Patrick; Thompson, Chelsea R.; Evans, Jason; Hueber, Jacques; Curtis, Abigale J.; Park, Jeong-Hoo

2016-09-01

As part of the Uinta Basin Winter Ozone Study, January-February 2013, we conducted 937 tethered balloon-borne ozone vertical and temperature profiles from three sites in the Uinta Basin, Utah (UB). Emissions from oil and gas operations combined with snow cover were favorable for producing high ozone-mixing ratios in the surface layer during stagnant and cold-pool episodes. The highly resolved profiles documented the development of approximately week-long ozone production episodes building from regional backgrounds of 40 ppbv to >165 ppbv within a shallow cold pool up to 200 m in depth. Beginning in midmorning, ozone-mixing ratios increased uniformly through the cold pool layer at rates of 5-12 ppbv/h. During ozone events, there was a strong diurnal cycle with each succeeding day accumulating 4-8 ppbv greater than the previous day. The top of the elevated ozone production layer was nearly uniform in altitude across the UB independent of topography. Above the ozone production layer, mixing ratios decreased with height to 400 m above ground level where they approached regional background levels. Rapid clean-out of ozone-rich air occurred within a day when frontal systems brought in fresh air. Solar heating and basin topography led to a diurnal flow pattern in which daytime upslope winds distributed ozone precursors and ozone in the Basin. NOx-rich plumes from a coal-fired power plant in the eastern sector of the Basin did not appear to mix down into the cold pool during this field study.

Cold dark energy constraints from the abundance of galaxy clusters

DOE PAGES

Heneka, Caroline; Rapetti, David; Cataneo, Matteo; ...

2017-10-05

We constrain cold dark energy of negligible sound speed using galaxy cluster abundance observations. In contrast to standard quasi-homogeneous dark energy, negligible sound speed implies clustering of the dark energy fluid at all scales, allowing us to measure the effects of dark energy perturbations at cluster scales. We compare those models and set the stage for using non-linear information from semi-analytical modelling in cluster growth data analyses. For this, we recalibrate the halo mass function with non-linear characteristic quantities, the spherical collapse threshold and virial overdensity, that account for model and redshift-dependent behaviours, as well as an additional mass contributionmore » for cold dark energy. Here in this paper, we present the first constraints from this cold dark matter plus cold dark energy mass function using our cluster abundance likelihood, which self-consistently accounts for selection effects, covariances and systematic uncertainties. We combine cluster growth data with cosmic microwave background, supernovae Ia and baryon acoustic oscillation data, and find a shift between cold versus quasi-homogeneous dark energy of up to 1σ. We make a Fisher matrix forecast of constraints attainable with cluster growth data from the ongoing Dark Energy Survey (DES). For DES, we predict ~ 50 percent tighter constraints on (Ωm, w) for cold dark energy versus wCDM models, with the same free parameters. Overall, we show that cluster abundance analyses are sensitive to cold dark energy, an alternative, viable model that should be routinely investigated alongside the standard dark energy scenario.« less

Cold dark energy constraints from the abundance of galaxy clusters

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

Heneka, Caroline; Rapetti, David; Cataneo, Matteo

We constrain cold dark energy of negligible sound speed using galaxy cluster abundance observations. In contrast to standard quasi-homogeneous dark energy, negligible sound speed implies clustering of the dark energy fluid at all scales, allowing us to measure the effects of dark energy perturbations at cluster scales. We compare those models and set the stage for using non-linear information from semi-analytical modelling in cluster growth data analyses. For this, we recalibrate the halo mass function with non-linear characteristic quantities, the spherical collapse threshold and virial overdensity, that account for model and redshift-dependent behaviours, as well as an additional mass contributionmore » for cold dark energy. Here in this paper, we present the first constraints from this cold dark matter plus cold dark energy mass function using our cluster abundance likelihood, which self-consistently accounts for selection effects, covariances and systematic uncertainties. We combine cluster growth data with cosmic microwave background, supernovae Ia and baryon acoustic oscillation data, and find a shift between cold versus quasi-homogeneous dark energy of up to 1σ. We make a Fisher matrix forecast of constraints attainable with cluster growth data from the ongoing Dark Energy Survey (DES). For DES, we predict ~ 50 percent tighter constraints on (Ωm, w) for cold dark energy versus wCDM models, with the same free parameters. Overall, we show that cluster abundance analyses are sensitive to cold dark energy, an alternative, viable model that should be routinely investigated alongside the standard dark energy scenario.« less

Dose reduction in LDR brachytherapy by implanted prostate gold fiducial markers.

PubMed

Landry, Guillaume; Reniers, Brigitte; Lutgens, Ludy; Murrer, Lars; Afsharpour, Hossein; de Haas-Kock, Danielle; Visser, Peter; van Gils, Francis; Verhaegen, Frank

2012-03-01

The dosimetric impact of gold fiducial markers (FM) implanted prior to external beam radiotherapy of prostate cancer on low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy seed implants performed in the context of combined therapy was investigated. A virtual water phantom was designed containing a single FM. Single and multi source scenarios were investigated by performing Monte Carlo dose calculations, along with the influence of varying orientation and distance of the FM with respect to the sources. Three prostate cancer patients treated with LDR brachytherapy for a recurrence following external beam radiotherapy with implanted FM were studied as surrogate cases to combined therapy. FM and brachytherapy seeds were identified on post implant CT scans and Monte Carlo dose calculations were performed with and without FM. The dosimetric impact of the FM was evaluated by quantifying the amplitude of dose shadows and the volume of cold spots. D(90) was reported based on the post implant CT prostate contour. Large shadows are observed in the single source-FM scenarios. As expected from geometric considerations, the shadows are dependent on source-FM distance and orientation. Large dose reductions are observed at the distal side of FM, while at the proximal side a dose enhancement is observed. In multisource scenarios, the importance of shadows appears mitigated, although FM at the periphery of the seed distribution caused underdosage (

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

Demirag, N

Purpose: To verify the benefits of the biological cost functions. Methods: TG166 patients were used for the test case scenarios. Patients were planned using Monaco V5.0 (CMS/Elekta, St.Louis, MO) Monaco has 3 biological and 8 physical CFs. In this study the plans were optimized using 3 different scenarios. 1- Biological CFs only 2-Physical CFs only 3- Combination of Physical and Biological CFsMonaco has 3 biological CFs. Target EUD used for the targets, derived from the poisson cell kill model, has an α value that controls the cold spots inside the target. α values used in the optimization were 0.5 andmore » 0.8. if cold spots needs to be penalized α value increased. Serial CF: it's called serial to mimic the behaviour of the serial organs, if a high k value like 12 or 14 is used it controls the maximum dose. Serial CF has a k parameter that is used to shape the whole dvh curve. K value ranges between 1–20. k:1 is used to control the mean dose, lower k value controls the mean dose, higher k value controls the higher dose, using 2 serial CFs with different k values controls the whole DVH. Paralel CF controls the percentage of the volume that tolerates higher doses than the reference dose to mimic the behaviour of the paralel organs. Results: It was possible to achive clinically accepted plans in all 3 scenarios. The benefit of the biological cost functions were to control the mean dose for target and OAR, to shape the DVH curve using one EUD value and one k value simplifies the optimization process. Using the biological CFs alone, it was hard to control the dose at a point. Conclusion: Biological CFs in Monaco doesn't require the ntcp/tcp values from the labs and useful to shape the whole dvh curve. I work as an applications support specialist for Elekta and I am a Ph.D. Student in Istanbul University for radiation therapy physics.« less

Scanning microarray slides.

PubMed

Ares, Manuel

2014-02-01

Here we describe some practical concerns surrounding the scanning of microarray slides that have been hybridized with fluorescent dyes. We use a laser scanner that has two lasers, each set to excite a different fluor, and separate detectors to capture emission from each fluor. The laser passes over an address (position on the scanned surface) and the detectors capture photons emitted from each address. Two superimposed image files are written that carry intensities for each channel for each pixel of the image scan. These are the raw data. Image analysis software is used to identify and summarize the intensities of the pixels that make up each spot. After comparison to background pixels, the processed intensity levels representing the gene expression measurements are associated with the identity of each spot.

Acoustic monitoring indicates a correlation between calling and spawning in captive spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus)

PubMed Central

Hoover, Matt; Kehrer, Christopher; Yost, Justin; Brenkert, Karl; O’Donnell, Tim; Denson, Michael R.

2017-01-01

Background Fish sound production is widespread throughout many families. Territorial displays and courtship are the most common reasons for fish sound production. Yet, there is still some questions on how acoustic signaling and reproduction are correlated in many sound-producing species. In the present study, our aim was to determine if a quantitative relationship exists between calling and egg deposition in captive spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus). This type of data is essential if passive acoustics is to be used to identify spawning aggregations over large spatial scales and monitor reproductive activity over annual and decadal timeframes. Methods Acoustic recorders (i.e., DSG-Oceans) were placed in three laboratory tanks to record underwater sound over an entire, simulated reproductive season. We enumerated the number of calls, calculated the received sound pressure level, and counted the number of eggs every morning in each tank. Results Spotted seatrout produced three distinct call types characterized as “drums,” “grunts,” and “staccatos.” Spotted seatrout calling increased as the light cycle shifted from 13.5 to 14.5 h of light, and the temperature increased to 27.7 °C. Calling decreased once the temperature fell below 27.7 °C, and the light cycle shifted to 12 h of light. These temperature and light patterns followed the natural reproductive season observed in wild spotted seatrout in the Southeast United States. Spotted seatrout exhibited daily rhythms in calling. Acoustic signaling began once the lights turned off, and calling reached maximum activity approximately 3 h later. Eggs were released only on evenings in which spotted seatrout were calling. In all tanks, spotted seatrout were more likely to spawn when male fish called more frequently. A positive relationship between SPL and the number of eggs collected was found in Tanks 1 and 3. Discussion Our findings indicate that acoustic metrics can predict spawning potential. These findings are important because plankton tows may not accurately reflect spawning locations since egg capture is likely affected by predator activity and water currents. Instead, passive acoustics could be used to monitor spotted seatrout reproduction. Future studies can use this captive study as a model to record the estuarine soundscape precisely over long time periods to better understand how human-made stressors (e.g., climate change, noise pollution, and chemical pollutants) may affect spawning patterns. PMID:28289557

Egg Viability, Mating Frequency and Male Mating Ability Evolve in Populations of Drosophila melanogaster Selected for Resistance to Cold Shock

PubMed Central

Singh, Karan; Kochar, Ekta; Prasad, N. G.

2015-01-01

Background Ability to resist temperature shock is an important component of fitness of insects and other ectotherms. Increased resistance to temperature shock is known to affect life-history traits. Temperature shock is also known to affect reproductive traits such as mating ability and viability of gametes. Therefore selection for increased temperature shock resistance can affect the evolution of reproductive traits. Methods We selected replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster for resistance to cold shock. We then investigated the evolution of reproductive behavior along with other components of fitness- larval survivorship, adult mortality, fecundity, egg viability in these populations. Results We found that larval survivorship, adult mortality and fecundity post cold shock were not significantly different between selected and control populations. However, compared to the control populations, the selected populations laid significantly higher percentage of fertile eggs (egg viability) 24 hours post cold shock. The selected populations had higher mating frequency both with and without cold shock. After being subjected to cold shock, males from the selected populations successfully mated with significantly more non-virgin females and sired significantly more progeny compared to control males. Conclusions A number of studies have reported the evolution of survivorship in response to selection for temperature shock resistance. Our results clearly indicate that adaptation to cold shock can involve changes in components of reproductive fitness. Our results have important implications for our understanding of how reproductive behavior can evolve in response to thermal stress. PMID:26065704

Improved platelet survival after cold storage by prevention of glycoprotein Ibα clustering in lipid rafts

PubMed Central

Gitz, Eelo; Koekman, Cornelis A; van den Heuvel, Dave J.; Deckmyn, Hans; Akkerman, Jan W.; Gerritsen, Hans C.; Urbanus, Rolf T.

2012-01-01

Background Storing platelets for transfusion at room temperature increases the risk of microbial infection and decreases platelet functionality, leading to out-date discard rates of up to 20%. Cold storage may be a better alternative, but this treatment leads to rapid platelet clearance after transfusion, initiated by changes in glycoprotein Ibα, the receptor for von Willebrand factor. Design and Methods: We examined the change in glycoprotein Ibα distribution using Förster resonance energy transfer by time-gated fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. Results Cold storage induced deglycosylation of glycoprotein Ibα ectodomain, exposing N-acetyl-Dglucosamine residues, which sequestered with GM1 gangliosides in lipid rafts. Raft-associated glycoprotein Ibα formed clusters upon binding of 14-3-3ζ adaptor proteins to its cytoplasmic tail, a process accompanied by mitochondrial injury and phosphatidyl serine exposure. Cold storage left glycoprotein Ibα surface expression unchanged and although glycoprotein V decreased, the fall did not affect glycoprotein Ibα clustering. Prevention of glycoprotein Ibα clustering by blockade of deglycosylation and 14-3-3ζ translocation increased the survival of cold-stored platelets to above the levels of platelets stored at room temperature without compromising hemostatic functions. Conclusions We conclude that glycoprotein Ibα translocates to lipid rafts upon cold-induced deglycosylation and forms clusters by associating with 14-3-3ζ. Interference with these steps provides a means to enable cold storage of platelet concentrates in the near future. PMID:22733027

Automatic image analysis and spot classification for detection of pathogenic Escherichia coli on glass slide DNA microarrays

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A computer algorithm was created to inspect scanned images from DNA microarray slides developed to rapidly detect and genotype E. Coli O157 virulent strains. The algorithm computes centroid locations for signal and background pixels in RGB space and defines a plane perpendicular to the line connect...

Can History Stand Alone? Drawbacks and Blind Spots of a "Disciplinary" Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thornton, Stephen J.; Barton, Keith C.

2010-01-01

Background/Context: Over the past quarter-century, many historians, politicians, and educators have argued for an increase in the amount of history taught in schools, for a clear separation of history and social studies, and for an emphasis on disciplinary structures and norms as the proper focus for the subject. Unfortunately, discussions of…

Trapping of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) vectors using Light Emitting Diode (LED) CDC traps in two arboviral disease hot spots in Kenya

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Mosquitoes’ response to artificial lights including color has been exploited in trap designs for improved sampling of mosquito vectors. Earlier studies suggest that mosquitoes are attracted to specific wavelengths of light and thus the need to refine techniques to increase mosquito captu...

Accuracy of Rhenium-188 SPECT/CT activity quantification for applications in radionuclide therapy using clinical reconstruction methods.

PubMed

Esquinas, Pedro L; Uribe, Carlos F; Gonzalez, M; Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Cristina; Häfeli, Urs O; Celler, Anna

2017-07-20

The main applications of 188 Re in radionuclide therapies include trans-arterial liver radioembolization and palliation of painful bone-metastases. In order to optimize 188 Re therapies, the accurate determination of radiation dose delivered to tumors and organs at risk is required. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be used to perform such dosimetry calculations. However, the accuracy of dosimetry estimates strongly depends on the accuracy of activity quantification in 188 Re images. In this study, we performed a series of phantom experiments aiming to investigate the accuracy of activity quantification for 188 Re SPECT using high-energy and medium-energy collimators. Objects of different shapes and sizes were scanned in Air, non-radioactive water (Cold-water) and water with activity (Hot-water). The ordered subset expectation maximization algorithm with clinically available corrections (CT-based attenuation, triple-energy window (TEW) scatter and resolution recovery was used). For high activities, the dead-time corrections were applied. The accuracy of activity quantification was evaluated using the ratio of the reconstructed activity in each object to this object's true activity. Each object's activity was determined with three segmentation methods: a 1% fixed threshold (for cold background), a 40% fixed threshold and a CT-based segmentation. Additionally, the activity recovered in the entire phantom, as well as the average activity concentration of the phantom background were compared to their true values. Finally, Monte-Carlo simulations of a commercial [Formula: see text]-camera were performed to investigate the accuracy of the TEW method. Good quantification accuracy (errors  <10%) was achieved for the entire phantom, the hot-background activity concentration and for objects in cold background segmented with a 1% threshold. However, the accuracy of activity quantification for objects segmented with 40% threshold or CT-based methods decreased (errors  >15%), mostly due to partial-volume effects. The Monte-Carlo simulations confirmed that TEW-scatter correction applied to 188 Re, although practical, yields only approximate estimates of the true scatter.

Aro: a machine learning approach to identifying single molecules and estimating classification error in fluorescence microscopy images.

PubMed

Wu, Allison Chia-Yi; Rifkin, Scott A

2015-03-27

Recent techniques for tagging and visualizing single molecules in fixed or living organisms and cell lines have been revolutionizing our understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of fundamental biological processes. However, fluorescence microscopy images are often noisy, and it can be difficult to distinguish a fluorescently labeled single molecule from background speckle. We present a computational pipeline to distinguish the true signal of fluorescently labeled molecules from background fluorescence and noise. We test our technique using the challenging case of wide-field, epifluorescence microscope image stacks from single molecule fluorescence in situ experiments on nematode embryos where there can be substantial out-of-focus light and structured noise. The software recognizes and classifies individual mRNA spots by measuring several features of local intensity maxima and classifying them with a supervised random forest classifier. A key innovation of this software is that, by estimating the probability that each local maximum is a true spot in a statistically principled way, it makes it possible to estimate the error introduced by image classification. This can be used to assess the quality of the data and to estimate a confidence interval for the molecule count estimate, all of which are important for quantitative interpretations of the results of single-molecule experiments. The software classifies spots in these images well, with >95% AUROC on realistic artificial data and outperforms other commonly used techniques on challenging real data. Its interval estimates provide a unique measure of the quality of an image and confidence in the classification.

Dampness in dorm rooms and its associations with allergy and airways infections among college students in China: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Sun, Y; Zhang, Y; Sundell, J; Fan, Z; Bao, L

2009-08-01

A cross-sectional study was carried out at Tianjin University campus, China, from February 21 to June 10, 2006, to survey the association between dampness in dorms, and allergy and airways infections among college students. The health and dampness conditions were self-reported by 3436 students living in 1511 dorm rooms located in 13 buildings on the campus. The buildings were selected according to their positions, construction periods and occupant densities. The symptoms involved wheezing, dry cough during night, rhinitis, eczema, cold/flu, ear inflammation, pneumonia and tuberculosis. The indoor moisture signs were mould/damp spots on walls, ceilings and floors; suspected or ever happened water damage; condensation on windowpane in winter and odours perceived by subjects themselves. There was a significant positive association between condensation and dry cough. Eczema was often reported in rooms with moisture problem. Dampness was a significant risk factor for common cold. Dampness problems in dorms of Chinese students are a risk factor for allergic symptoms, and hence there is a need for dorm environment improvement. Health problems related to ventilation and microbiology problems in dorms should be further studied.

Roles of hot electrons in generating upper-hybrid waves in the earth's radiation belt

DOE PAGES

Hwang, J.; Shin, D. K.; Yoon, P. H.; ...

2017-05-01

Electrostatic fluctuations near upper-hybrid frequency, which are sometimes accompanied by multiple-harmonic electron cyclotron frequency bands above and below the upper-hybrid frequency, are common occurrences in the Earth's radiation belt, as revealed through the twin Van Allen Probe spacecrafts. It is customary to use the upper-hybrid emissions for estimating the background electron density, which in turn can be used to determine the plasmapause locations, but the role of hot electrons in generating such fluctuations has not been discussed in detail. The present paper carries out detailed analyses of data from the Waves instrument, which is part of the Electric and Magneticmore » Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science suite onboard the Van Allen Probes. Combined with the theoretical calculation, it is shown that the peak intensity associated with the upper-hybrid fluctuations might be predominantly determined by tenuous but hot electrons and that denser cold background electrons do not seem to contribute much to the peak intensity. This finding shows that upper-hybrid fluctuations detected during quiet time are not only useful for the determination of the background cold electron density but also contain information on the ambient hot electrons population as well.« less

Roles of hot electrons in generating upper-hybrid waves in the earth's radiation belt

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

Hwang, J.; Shin, D. K.; Yoon, P. H.

Electrostatic fluctuations near upper-hybrid frequency, which are sometimes accompanied by multiple-harmonic electron cyclotron frequency bands above and below the upper-hybrid frequency, are common occurrences in the Earth's radiation belt, as revealed through the twin Van Allen Probe spacecrafts. It is customary to use the upper-hybrid emissions for estimating the background electron density, which in turn can be used to determine the plasmapause locations, but the role of hot electrons in generating such fluctuations has not been discussed in detail. The present paper carries out detailed analyses of data from the Waves instrument, which is part of the Electric and Magneticmore » Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science suite onboard the Van Allen Probes. Combined with the theoretical calculation, it is shown that the peak intensity associated with the upper-hybrid fluctuations might be predominantly determined by tenuous but hot electrons and that denser cold background electrons do not seem to contribute much to the peak intensity. This finding shows that upper-hybrid fluctuations detected during quiet time are not only useful for the determination of the background cold electron density but also contain information on the ambient hot electrons population as well.« less

LWIR detector requirements for low-background space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deluccia, Frank J.

1990-01-01

Detection of cold bodies (200 to 300 K) against space backgrounds has many important applications, both military and non-military. The detector performance and design characteristics required to support low-background applications are discussed, with particular emphasis on those characteristics required for space surveillance. The status of existing detector technologies under active development for these applications is also discussed. In order to play a role in future systems, new, potentially competing detector technologies such as multiple quantum well detectors must not only meet system-derived requirements, but also offer distinct performance or other advantages over these incumbent technologies.

Cosmic microwave background probes models of inflation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Richard L.; Hodges, Hardy M.; Smoot, George F.; Steinhardt, Paul J.; Turner, Michael S.

1992-01-01

Inflation creates both scalar (density) and tensor (gravity wave) metric perturbations. We find that the tensor-mode contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy on large-angular scales can only exceed that of the scalar mode in models where the spectrum of perturbations deviates significantly from scale invariance. If the tensor mode dominates at large-angular scales, then the value of DeltaT/T predicted on 1 deg is less than if the scalar mode dominates, and, for cold-dark-matter models, bias factors greater than 1 can be made consistent with Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) DMR results.

Correlated perturbations from inflation and the cosmic microwave background.

PubMed

Amendola, Luca; Gordon, Christopher; Wands, David; Sasaki, Misao

2002-05-27

We compare the latest cosmic microwave background data with theoretical predictions including correlated adiabatic and cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature perturbations with a simple power-law dependence. We find that there is a degeneracy between the amplitude of correlated isocurvature perturbations and the spectral tilt. A negative (red) tilt is found to be compatible with a larger isocurvature contribution. Estimates of the baryon and CDM densities are found to be almost independent of the isocurvature amplitude. The main result is that current microwave background data do not exclude a dominant contribution from CDM isocurvature fluctuations on large scales.

Status of the NPDGamma experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fry, J.; Alarcon, R.; Allen, R.; Askanazi, E.; Balascuta, S.; Barron-Palos, L.; Baeßler, S.; Barzilov, A.; Blessinger, C.; Blyth, D.; Bowman, J. D.; Calarco, J. R.; Chupp, T. E.; Coppola, C. E.; Crawford, C.; Craycraft, K.; Dabaghyan, M.; Evans, D.; Favela, J.; Fieseler, C.; Fomin, N.; Fox, W.; Freedman, S.; Frlež, E.; Fu, C.; Garcia, C.; Garishvili, I.; Gericke, M. T.; Gillis, R. C.; Grammer, K.; Greene, G. L.; Hamblen, J.; Hayes, C.; Hersman, F. W.; Ino, T.; Iverson, E. B.; Jones, G. L.; Kabir, L.; Kucucker, S.; Lauss, B.; Li, Y.; Mahurin, R.; Maldonado-Velazquez, M.; McCrea, M.; Masuda, Y.; Mei, J.; Milburn, R.; Mitchell, G. S.; Mueller, P.; Muto, S.; Musgrave, M.; Nann, H.; Novikov, I.; Page, S.; Parsons, D.; Počanić, D.; Penttilä, S. I.; Ramsay, W. D.; Salas-Bacci, A.; Santra, S.; Seo, P.-N.; Sharapov, E.; Sharma, M.; Simmons, F.; Smith, T.; Snow, W. M.; Stuart, J.; Tang, E.; Tang, Z.; Thomison, J.; Tong, T.; Vanderwerp, J.; Waldecker, S.; Wilburn, W. S.; Xu, W.; Yuan, V.; Zhang, Y.

2017-11-01

The NPDGamma experiment measures the parity-violating (PV) gamma asymmetry from polarized cold neutrons captured on protons at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The (PV) neutron spin asymmetry A γ of photons from polarized cold neutron capture on protons is proportional to the Δ I=1 long range weak meson coupling h_{π }1 between nucleons in the hadronic weak interaction (HWI). Liquid para-hydrogen production data taking concluded in April 2014 and once the background aluminum asymmetry measurements are complete, the PV asymmetry A γ can be extracted. Preliminary results of the analysis of A γ are presented.

The CUORE cryostat and its bolometric detector

DOE PAGES

Santone, D.; Alduino, C.; Alfonso, K.; ...

2017-02-16

CUORE is a cryogenic detector that will be operated at LNGS to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of 130Te. The detector installation was completed in summer 2016. Before the installation, several cold runs were done to test the cryogenic system performance. In the last cold run the base temperature of 6.3 mK was reached in stable condition. CUORE-0, a CUORE prototype, has proven the feasibility of CUORE, demonstrating that the target background of 0.01 counts/keV/kg/y and the energy resolution of 5 keV are within reach.

Note: Measuring breakdown characteristics during the hot re-ignition of high intensity discharge lamps using high frequency alternating current voltage.

PubMed

van den Bos, R A J M; Sobota, A; Manders, F; Kroesen, G M W

2013-04-01

To investigate the cold and hot re-ignition properties of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps in more detail an automated setup was designed in such a way that HID lamps of various sizes and under different background pressures can be tested. The HID lamps are ignited with a ramped sinusoidal voltage signal with frequencies between 60 and 220 kHz and with amplitude up to 7.5 kV. Some initial results of voltage and current measurements on a commercially available HID lamp during hot and cold re-ignition are presented.

Memory Processes in the Response of Plants to Environmental Signals

PubMed Central

Tafforeau, M; Verdus, M C; Norris, V; Ripoll, C

2006-01-01

Plants are sensitive to stimuli from the environment (e.g., wind, rain, contact, pricking, wounding). They usually respond to such stimuli by metabolic or morphogenetic changes. Sometimes the information corresponding to a stimulus may be “stored” in the plant where it remains inactive until a second stimulus “recalls” this information and finally allows it to take effect. Two experimental systems have proved especially useful in unravelling the main features of these memory-like processes. In the system based on Bidens seedlings, an asymmetrical treatment (e.g., pricking, or gently rubbing one of the seedling cotyledons) causes the cotyledonary buds to grow asymmetrically after release of apical dominance by decapitation of the seedlings. This information may be stored within the seedlings, without taking effect, for at least two weeks; then the information may be recalled by subjecting the seedlings to a second, appropriate, treatment that permits transduction of the signal into the final response (differential growth of the buds). Whilst storage is an irreversible, all-or-nothing process, recall is sensitive to a number of factors, including the intensity of these factors, and can readily be enabled or disabled. In consequence, it is possible to recall the stored message several times successively. In the system based on flax seedlings, stimulation such as manipulation stimulus, drought, wind, cold shock and radiation from a GSM telephone or from a 105 GHz Gunn oscillator, has no apparent effect. If, however, the seedlings are subjected at the same time to transient calcium depletion, numerous epidermal meristems form in their hypocotyls. When the calcium depletion treatment is applied a few days after the mechanical treatment, the time taken for the meristems to appear is increased by a number of days exactly equal to that between the application of the mechanical treatment and the beginning of the calcium depletion treatment. This means that a meristem-production information corresponding to the stimulation treatment has been stored in the plants, without any apparent effect, until the calcium depletion treatment recalls this information to allow it to take effect. Gel electrophoresis has shown that a few protein spots are changed (pI shift, appearance or disappearance of a spot) as a consequence of the application of the treatments that store or recall a meristem-production signal in flax seedlings. A SIMS investigation has revealed that the pI shift of one of these spots is probably due to protein phosphorylation. Modifications of the proteome have also been observed in Arabidopsis seedlings subjected to stimuli such as cold shock or radiation from a GSM telephone. PMID:19521470

Renal neuroendocrine control of desiccation and cold tolerance by Drosophila suzukii

PubMed Central

Alford, Lucy; Yeoh, Joseph GC; Marley, Richard; Dornan, Anthony J; Dow, Julian AT; Davies, Shireen A

2017-01-01

Abstract BACKGROUND Neuropeptides are central to the regulation of physiological and behavioural processes in insects, directly impacting cold and desiccation survival. However, little is known about the control mechanisms governing these responses in Drosophila suzukii. The close phylogenetic relationship of D. suzukii with Drosophila melanogaster allows, through genomic and functional studies, an insight into the mechanisms directing stress tolerance in D. suzukii. RESULTS Capability (Capa), leucokinin (LK), diuretic hormone 44 (DH44) and DH31 neuropeptides demonstrated a high level of conservation between D. suzukii and D. melanogaster with respect to peptide sequences, neuronal expression, receptor localisation, and diuretic function in the Malpighian tubules. Despite D. suzukii's ability to populate cold environments, it proved sensitive to both cold and desiccation. Furthermore, in D. suzukii, Capa acts as a desiccation‐ and cold stress‐responsive gene, while DH 44 gene expression is increased only after desiccation exposure, and the LK gene after nonlethal cold stress recovery. CONCLUSION This study provides a comparative investigation into stress tolerance mediation by neuroendocrine signalling in two Drosophila species, providing evidence that similar signalling pathways control fluid secretion in the Malpighian tubules. Identifying processes governing specific environmental stresses affecting D. suzukii could lead to the development of targeted integrated management strategies to control insect pest populations. © 2017 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. PMID:28714258

A descriptive quantitative study of 7- and 8-year-old children’s outdoor recreation, cold exposure and symptoms in winter in Northern Finland

PubMed Central

Rasi, Hanna; Kuivila, Heli; Pölkki, Tarja; Bloigu, Risto; Rintamäki, Hannu; Tourula, Marjo

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: In Finland, children spend a lot of time outdoors in winter. Outdoor recreation in winter has a wide variety of effects on children’s well-being. Although children are a subgroup that is vulnerable to cold exposure, remarkably little research has been done on the subject. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe children’s outdoor recreation, cold exposure and symptoms in winter in Northern Finland. Design: This was a descriptive quantitative study. The participants consisted of 30 children aged 7–8 years who were living in the provinces of Lapland and Northern Ostrobothnia in Finland. Data were collected by using electronic data-logging thermometers fixed on children’s outerwear for a month. The thermometers recorded the environmental temperature every five minutes and from that temperature data, we were able to discern the exact amount and duration of children’s outdoor recreation. In addition, information on the children’s cold symptoms was collected with structured daily entries. Results: Cold weather was not an obstacle to children’s outdoor activities in Finland. However, the duration of outdoor recreation shortened when the outdoor air temperature decreased. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in terms of time spent outdoors. Remarkably, every child reported symptoms associated with cold. Almost half of the children reported experiencing respiratory symptoms and some children also experienced cold pain and numbness. Conclusions: The results of this study illustrate the many and varied effects that cold exposure can have on children’s health and well-being. In order to prevent negative health effects of cold exposure on children, structured prevention strategies are needed: therefore, children’s exposure to cold should be studied more. Future research should also bring out more the positive health effects of outdoor recreation on children’s growth and development.​​​​ PMID:28346080

Sodium Chloride Crystal-Induced SERS Platform for Controlled Highly Sensitive Detection of Illicit Drugs.

PubMed

Yu, Borong; Li, Pan; Zhou, Binbin; Tang, Xianghu; Li, Shaofei; Yang, Liangbao

2018-04-03

A sodium chloride crystal-driven spontaneous 'hot spot' structure was demonstrated as a SERS-active platform, to get reproducible SERS signals, and eliminate the need for mapping large areas, in comparison with solution phase testing. During the process of solvent evaporation, the crystals produced induced silver aggregates to assemble around themselves. The micro-scale crystals can also act as a template to obtain an optical position, such that the assembled hot area is conveniently located during SERS measurements. More importantly, the chloride ions added in colloids can also replace the citrate and on the surface of the silver sol, and further decrease the background interference. High quality SERS spectra from heroin, methamphetamine (MAMP), and cocaine have been obtained on the crystal-driven hot spot structure with high sensitivity and credible reproducibility. This approach can not only bring the nanoparticles to form plasmonic hot spots in a controlled way, and thus provide high sensitivity, but also potentially be explored as an active substrate for label-free detection of other illicit drugs or additives. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Array biosensor for detection of toxins

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ligler, Frances S.; Taitt, Chris Rowe; Shriver-Lake, Lisa C.; Sapsford, Kim E.; Shubin, Yura; Golden, Joel P.

2003-01-01

The array biosensor is capable of detecting multiple targets rapidly and simultaneously on the surface of a single waveguide. Sandwich and competitive fluoroimmunoassays have been developed to detect high and low molecular weight toxins, respectively, in complex samples. Recognition molecules (usually antibodies) were first immobilized in specific locations on the waveguide and the resultant patterned array was used to interrogate up to 12 different samples for the presence of multiple different analytes. Upon binding of a fluorescent analyte or fluorescent immunocomplex, the pattern of fluorescent spots was detected using a CCD camera. Automated image analysis was used to determine a mean fluorescence value for each assay spot and to subtract the local background signal. The location of the spot and its mean fluorescence value were used to determine the toxin identity and concentration. Toxins were measured in clinical fluids, environmental samples and foods, with minimal sample preparation. Results are shown for rapid analyses of staphylococcal enterotoxin B, ricin, cholera toxin, botulinum toxoids, trinitrotoluene, and the mycotoxin fumonisin. Toxins were detected at levels as low as 0.5 ng mL(-1).

Observed Structure and Characteristics of Cold Pools over Tropical Oceans using Vector Wind Retrievals and WRF simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garg, P.; Nesbitt, S. W.; Lang, T. J.; Chronis, T.; Thayer, J. D.; Hence, D. A.

2017-12-01

Cold pools generated in the wake of convective activity can enhance the surface sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and also changes in evaporation out of, and fresh water flux into, the ocean. Recent studies have shown that over the open ocean, cold pool outflow boundaries and their intersections can organize and initiate a spectrum of deep convective clouds, which is a key driver of shallow and deep convection over conditionally-unstable tropical oceans. The primary goal of this study is to understand the structure and characteristics of cold pools over the tropical oceans using observations. With the idea that cold pools will have strong wind gradients at their boundaries, we use ASCAT vector wind retrievals. We identify regions of steep gradients in wind vectors as gradient features (GFs), akin to cold pools. Corresponding to these GFs, sensible and latent heat fluxes were calculated using the observed winds and background temperatures from MERRA-2 reanalysis. To evaluate the proposed technique, cold pools were observed using S-PolKa radar from the DYNAMO/AMIE field campaign in the Indian Ocean for the period of 1 October 2011 to 31 March 2012 and were compared with ASCAT GFs. To relate the thermodynamic and kinematic characteristics of observed and simulated cold pools, simulations were carried out on WRF on a 3-km domain explicitly. The areas of cold pools were identified in the models using virtual temperature (Tv), which is a direct measure of air density, while GFs were identified using model simulated winds. Quantitative measures indicate that GFs are highly correspondent with model-simulated cold pools. In global measurements of cold pools from 2007-2015, it is possible to examine the characteristics of GFs across all tropical ocean basins, and relate them to meteorological conditions, as well as the characteristics of the parent precipitation systems. Our results indicate that while there is a general relationship between the amount of precipitation and the number of cold pools, the largest cold pools exist over the Eastern Pacific basin, where the most stratiform rain is produced from oceanic MCSs. It is anticipated that improved understanding of cold pools, which are a primary triggering mechanism of oceanic shallow and deep convection, will improve prediction of this important component of the climate system.

Application of a cold patch for relieving pain after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy

PubMed Central

Zeng, Yuan; Li, Yi; Gao, Jian-Hua

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: A return toward toward photorefractive keratectomy has occurred due to better corneal stability and fewer corneal flap complications; however, pain remains a major drawback of the procedure. Currently, clinical pain control measures focus on the administration of pain medications, which may delay corneal epithelial healing and has, occasionally, led to serious corneal toxicity. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the safety and efficacy of a cold patch on postoperative pain and other relevant consequences of transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy. METHODS: A prospective, randomized controlled study was conducted. Forty patients (80 eyes) scheduled to undergo transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy for myopia or myopic astigmatism were randomly and equally assigned to be treated with ice-cold balanced salt solution during surgery (wash group) or to wear a postoperative cold patch on the eye for 24 h. The main outcomes were pain score on a visual analogue scale, postoperative eyelid edema, conjunctival hyperemia, epithelial healing time, haze and postoperative best-corrected visual acuity. RESULTS: All patients completed the final tests. Demographic characteristics and pain scores during surgery were similar between the two groups. The mean postoperative pain scores of patients in the cold patch group at 8 h, 16 h and 24 h were significantly lower than those of patients in the wash group. Scores for postoperative eyelid edema and conjunctival hyperemia in the cold patch group were also lower than in the wash group. Patients in the cold patch group used fewer painkillers. Epithelial healing time, haze and early recovery of visual acuity were similar between the two groups. No eyelid frostbite was observed. CONCLUSION: Wearing a cold patch on the eye after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy effectively relieved pain and inflammation, and reduced the use of painkillers without any side effects. PMID:25992866

Spot drip application of dimethyl disulfide as post-planting treatment for the control of plant-parasitic nematodes and soilborne pathogens in grape production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

BACKGROUND: Plant-parasitic nematodes and soilborne pathogens can reduce the overall productivity in grape production. Not all grape growers apply soil fumigants before planting and there is no single rootstock resistant to all nematode species. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effe...

Hot Spots in the Earth's Crust. Crustal Evolution Education Project. Teacher's Guide [and] Student Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoever, Edward C., Jr.

Crustal Evolution Education Project (CEEP) modules were designed to: (1) provide students with the methods and results of continuing investigations into the composition, history, and processes of the earth's crust and the application of this knowledge to man's activities and (2) to be used by teachers with little or no previous background in the…

Detection of Rickettsia rickettsii, Rickettsia parkeri, and Rickettsia akari in Skin Biopsy Specimens Using a Multiplex Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

PubMed Central

Denison, Amy M.; Amin, Bijal D.; Nicholson, William L.; Paddock, Christopher D.

2015-01-01

Background Rickettsia rickettsii, Rickettsia parkeri, and Rickettsia akari are the most common causes of spotted fever group rickettsioses indigenous to the United States. Infected patients characteristically present with a maculopapular rash, often accompanied by an inoculation eschar. Skin biopsy specimens are often obtained from these lesions for diagnostic evaluation. However, a species-specific diagnosis is achieved infrequently from pathologic specimens because immunohistochemical stains do not differentiate among the causative agents of spotted fever group rickettsiae, and existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays generally target large gene segments that may be difficult or impossible to obtain from formalin-fixed tissues. Methods This work describes the development and evaluation of a multiplex real-time PCR assay for the detection of these 3 Rickettsia species from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) skin biopsy specimens. Results The multiplex PCR assay was specific at discriminating each species from FFPE controls of unrelated bacterial, viral, protozoan, and fungal pathogens that cause skin lesions, as well as other closely related spotted fever group Rickettsia species. Conclusions This multiplex real-time PCR demonstrates greater sensitivity than nested PCR assays in FFPE tissues and provides an effective method to specifically identify cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rickettsialpox, and R. parkeri rickettsiosis by using skin biopsy specimens. PMID:24829214

SimArray: a user-friendly and user-configurable microarray design tool

PubMed Central

Auburn, Richard P; Russell, Roslin R; Fischer, Bettina; Meadows, Lisa A; Sevillano Matilla, Santiago; Russell, Steven

2006-01-01

Background Microarrays were first developed to assess gene expression but are now also used to map protein-binding sites and to assess allelic variation between individuals. Regardless of the intended application, efficient production and appropriate array design are key determinants of experimental success. Inefficient production can make larger-scale studies prohibitively expensive, whereas poor array design makes normalisation and data analysis problematic. Results We have developed a user-friendly tool, SimArray, which generates a randomised spot layout, computes a maximum meta-grid area, and estimates the print time, in response to user-specified design decisions. Selected parameters include: the number of probes to be printed; the microtitre plate format; the printing pin configuration, and the achievable spot density. SimArray is compatible with all current robotic spotters that employ 96-, 384- or 1536-well microtitre plates, and can be configured to reflect most production environments. Print time and maximum meta-grid area estimates facilitate evaluation of each array design for its suitability. Randomisation of the spot layout facilitates correction of systematic biases by normalisation. Conclusion SimArray is intended to help both established researchers and those new to the microarray field to develop microarray designs with randomised spot layouts that are compatible with their specific production environment. SimArray is an open-source program and is available from . PMID:16509966

Proteomic Analysis of Kidney in Rats Chronically Exposed to Monosodium Glutamate

PubMed Central

Sharma, Amod; Wongkham, Chaisiri; Prasongwattana, Vitoon; Boonnate, Piyanard; Thanan, Raynoo; Reungjui, Sirirat; Cha’on, Ubon

2014-01-01

Background Chronic monosodium glutamate (MSG) intake causes kidney dysfunction and renal oxidative stress in the animal model. To gain insight into the renal changes induced by MSG, proteomic analysis of the kidneys was performed. Methods Six week old male Wistar rats were given drinking water with or without MSG (2 mg/g body weight, n = 10 per group) for 9 months. Kidneys were removed, frozen, and stored at –75°C. After protein extraction, 2-D gel electrophoresis was performed and renal proteome profiles were examined with Colloidal Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining. Statistically significant protein spots (ANOVA, p<0.05) with 1.2-fold difference were excised and analyzed by LC-MS. Proteomic data were confirmed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analyses. Results The differential image analysis showed 157 changed spots, of which 71 spots were higher and 86 spots were lower in the MSG-treated group compared with those in the control group. Eight statistically significant and differentially expressed proteins were identified: glutathione S-transferase class-pi, heat shock cognate 71 kDa, phosphoserine phosphatase, phosphoglycerate kinase, cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, 2-amino-3-carboxymuconate-6-semialdehyde decarboxylase, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and succinyl-CoA ligase. Conclusion The identified proteins are mainly related to oxidative stress and metabolism. They provide a valuable clue to explore the mechanism of renal handling and toxicity on chronic MSG intake. PMID:25551610

Seroprevalence survey of zoonoses in Extremadura, southwestern Spain, 2002-2003.

PubMed

Asencio, Maria Angeles; Herraez, Oscar; Tenias, Jose Maria; Garduño, Eugenio; Huertas, Maria; Carranza, Rafael; Ramos, Julian Mauro

2015-01-01

Our aims were to determine the seroprevalence rates for the most common types of zoonosis among the population of Extremadura (southwestern Spain) and to identify the associated risk factors. We conducted a seroepidemiological survey to collect information on family background and the habits of people residing in Extremadura between 2002 and 2003. Antibodies to Brucella were determined by Rose Bengal staining and a standard tube agglutination test; a titer of 1/80 was considered to be positive. Antibody titers for spotted fever, leishmaniasis, echinococcosis, and toxoplasmosis were determined by enzyme-immunoassays. Independent risk factors identified were age (younger age for brucellosis), male gender (brucellosis, spotted fever, and toxoplasmosis), occupation and contact with animals (brucellosis and spotted fever for those in contact with goats, hydatidosis for those in contact with sheep, leishmaniasis for those in contact with dogs, and toxoplasmosis for those in contact with cats and pigs), and consuming contaminated food (brucellosis by eating fresh cheese, hydatidosis by eating homemade sausages, and toxoplasmosis by eating pork). Except for leishmaniasis, the other zoonoses were more prevalent in rural areas, and, with the exception of brucellosis, they were all more prevalent in Badajoz. The distribution of zoonoses in Extremadura was strongly influenced by keeping livestock and eating habits. Thus, brucellosis was more prevalent in Caceres (associated with cheese consumption), while toxoplasmosis (pork consumption) and spotted fever (from hunting) were more common in Badajoz.

DNA-nanostructure-assembly by sequential spotting

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The ability to create nanostructures with biomolecules is one of the key elements in nanobiotechnology. One of the problems is the expensive and mostly custom made equipment which is needed for their development. We intended to reduce material costs and aimed at miniaturization of the necessary tools that are essential for nanofabrication. Thus we combined the capabilities of molecular ink lithography with DNA-self-assembling capabilities to arrange DNA in an independent array which allows addressing molecules in nanoscale dimensions. Results For the construction of DNA based nanostructures a method is presented that allows an arrangement of DNA strands in such a way that they can form a grid that only depends on the spotted pattern of the anchor molecules. An atomic force microscope (AFM) has been used for molecular ink lithography to generate small spots. The sequential spotting process allows the immobilization of several different functional biomolecules with a single AFM-tip. This grid which delivers specific addresses for the prepared DNA-strand serves as a two-dimensional anchor to arrange the sequence according to the pattern. Once the DNA-nanoarray has been formed, it can be functionalized by PNA (peptide nucleic acid) to incorporate advanced structures. Conclusions The production of DNA-nanoarrays is a promising task for nanobiotechnology. The described method allows convenient and low cost preparation of nanoarrays. PNA can be used for complex functionalization purposes as well as a structural element. PMID:22099392

Mosaic of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (Methane Filter)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

Great Red Spot of Jupiter as seen through the methane (886 nm) filter of the Galileo imaging system. The image is a mosaic of six images that have been map-projected to a uniform grid of latitude and longitude. North is at the top. The mosaic was taken over a 76 second interval beginning at universal time 14 hours, 33 minutes, 22 seconds, on June 26, 1996. The Red Spot is 20,000 km long and has been followed by observers on Earth since the telescope was invented 300 years ago. It is a huge storm made visible by variations in the composition of the cloud particles. The Red Spot is not unique, but is simply the largest of a class of long-lived vortices, some of which are visible in the lower part of the image. The range is 1.46 million kilometers.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA s Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo

Dried Blood Spots - Preparing and Processing for Use in Immunoassays and in Molecular Techniques

PubMed Central

Grüner, Nico; Stambouli, Oumaima; Ross, R. Stefan

2015-01-01

The idea of collecting blood on a paper card and subsequently using the dried blood spots (DBS) for diagnostic purposes originated a century ago. Since then, DBS testing for decades has remained predominantly focused on the diagnosis of infectious diseases especially in resource-limited settings or the systematic screening of newborns for inherited metabolic disorders and only recently have a variety of new and innovative DBS applications begun to emerge. For many years, pre-analytical variables were only inappropriately considered in the field of DBS testing and even today, with the exception of newborn screening, the entire pre-analytical phase, which comprises the preparation and processing of DBS for their final analysis has not been standardized. Given this background, a comprehensive step-by-step protocol, which covers al the essential phases, is proposed, i.e., collection of blood; preparation of blood spots; drying of blood spots; storage and transportation of DBS; elution of DBS, and finally analyses of DBS eluates. The effectiveness of this protocol was first evaluated with 1,762 coupled serum/DBS pairs for detecting markers of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus infections on an automated analytical platform. In a second step, the protocol was utilized during a pilot study, which was conducted on active drug users in the German cities of Berlin and Essen. PMID:25867233

Electron-acoustic solitary waves in dense quantum electron-ion plasmas

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

Misra, A. P.; Shukla, P. K.; Bhowmik, C.

2007-08-15

A quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model is used to investigate the propagation characteristics of nonlinear electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) in a dense quantum plasma whose constituents are two groups of electrons: one inertial cold electrons and other inertialess hot electrons, and the stationary ions which form the neutralizing background. By using the standard reductive perturbation technique, a Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation, which governs the dynamics of EASWs, is derived in both spherical and cylindrical geometry. The effects of cold electrons and the density correlations due to quantum fluctuations on the profiles of the amplitudes and widths of the solitary structures are examinedmore » numerically. The nondimensional parameter {delta}=n{sub c0}/n{sub h0}, which is the equilibrium density ratio of the cold to hot electron component, is shown to play a vital role in the formation of both bright and dark solitons. It is also found that the angular dependence of the physical quantities and the presence of cold electrons in a quantum plasma lead to the coexistence of some new interesting novel solitary structures quite distinctive from the classical ones.« less

An unusually strong Einstein ring in the radio source PKS1830 - 211

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jauncey, D. L.; Reynolds, J. E.; Tzioumis, A. K.; Murphy, D. W.; Preston, R. A.; Jones, D. L.; Meier, D. L.; Hoard, D. W.; Lobdell, E. T.; Skjerve, L.

1991-01-01

High-resolution radio images of PKS1830 - 211 are obtained to study the possibility that the double structure is a gravitationally lensed object. The VLBI observations, taken from interferometric radiotelescope networks, reveal an elliptical ring that connects two bright spots of similar composition. Because the lens and the lensed object are closely aligned, and because of the structure of the two spots, the source is concluded to be a radio Einstein ring. The source is found to be close to the galactic plane, and the lens and the lensed object are extragalactic. The source is also found to be unusually bright, suggesting that it is aligned with a bright background source or amplified by some mechanism related to a source that is not so bright.

Optimum parameters of image preprocessing method for Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in different SNR condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Ping; Li, Xinyang; Luo, Xi; Li, Jianfeng

2018-02-01

The centroid method is commonly adopted to locate the spot in the sub-apertures in the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SH-WFS), in which preprocessing image is required before calculating the spot location due to that the centroid method is extremely sensitive to noises. In this paper, the SH-WFS image was simulated according to the characteristics of the noises, background and intensity distribution. The Optimal parameters of SH-WFS image preprocessing method were put forward, in different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, where the wavefront reconstruction error was considered as the evaluation index. Two methods of image preprocessing, thresholding method and windowing combing with thresholding method, were compared by studying the applicable range of SNR and analyzing the stability of the two methods, respectively.

The high-resolution time-of-flight spectrometer TOFTOF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unruh, Tobias; Neuhaus, Jürgen; Petry, Winfried

2007-10-01

The TOFTOF spectrometer is a multi-disc chopper time-of-flight spectrometer for cold neutrons at the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II). After five reactor cycles of routine operation the characteristics of the instrument are reported in this article. The spectrometer features an excellent signal to background ratio due to its remote position in the neutron guide hall, an elaborated shielding concept and an s-shaped curved primary neutron guide which acts i.a. as a neutron velocity filter. The spectrometer is fed with neutrons from the undermoderated cold neutron source of the FRM II leading to a total neutron flux of ˜1010n/cm2/s in the continuous white beam at the sample position distributed over a continuous and particularly broad wavelength spectrum. A high energy resolution is achieved by the use of high speed chopper discs made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. In the combination of intensity, resolution and signal to background ratio the spectrometer offers new scientific prospects in the fields of inelastic and quasielastic neutron scattering.

High-Performance LWIR Superlattice Detectors and FPA Based on CBIRD Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soibel, Alexander; Nguyen, Jean; Khoshakhlagh, Arezou; Rafol, Sir B.; Hoeglund, Linda; Keo, Sam A.; Mumolo, Jason M.; Liu, John; Liao, Anna; Ting, David Z.-Y.;

Effect of Korean red ginseng on cold hypersensitivity in the hands and feet: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Cold hypersensitivity in the hands and feet (CHHF) is one of the most common complaints among Asians, especially in women. Korean red ginseng (KRG), which is a steamed form of Panax ginseng, has vasodilating action in the peripheral vessels and increases blood flow under cold stress. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of KRG on cold hypersensitivity. Methods/Design This trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 80 CHHF patients. The trial will be implemented at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong in Seoul, Korea. The participants will take KRG or a placebo for eight weeks, after which they will be followed-up for four weeks. During the administration period, six capsules of 500 mg KRG or placebo will be provided twice a day. The primary outcome is change of skin temperature in the hands between baseline and after treatment. The secondary outcomes include the visual analogue scale scores of cold hypersensitivity in the hands, change of skin temperature and the VAS scores of cold hypersensitivity in the feet, the recovery rate of the skin temperature by the cold stress test of the hands, the distal-dorsal difference of the hands, power variables of heart rate variability, and the 36-item short form health survey. Discussion This study is the first trial to evaluate the efficacy of KRG on CHHF by using infrared thermography. Our study will provide basic evidence regarding CHHF. Trial registration CliniacalTrials.gov NCT01664156 PMID:24354675

Arachidonic acid depletion extends survival of cold-stored platelets by interfering with the [glycoprotein Ibα – 14-3-3ζ] association

PubMed Central

van der Wal, Dianne E.; Gitz, Eelo; Du, Vivian X.; Lo, Kimberly S.L.; Koekman, Cornelis A.; Versteeg, Sabine; Akkerman, Jan Willem N.

2012-01-01

Background Cold storage of platelets reduces bacterial growth and preserves their hemostatic properties better than current procedures do. However, storage at 0°C induces [14-3-3ζ-glycoprotein Ibα] association, 14-3-3ζ release from phospho-Bad, Bad activation and apoptosis. Design and Methods We investigated whether arachidonic acid, which also binds 14-3-3ζ, contributes to coldinduced apoptosis. Results Cold storage activated P38-mitogen-activated protein kinase and released arachidonic acid, which accumulated due to cold inactivation of cyclooxygenase-1/thromboxane synthase. Accumulated arachidonic acid released 14-3-3ζ from phospho-Bad and decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential, which are steps in the induction of apoptosis. Addition of arachidonic acid did the same and its depletion made platelets resistant to cold-induced apoptosis. Incubation with biotin-arachidonic acid revealed formation of an [arachidonic acid-14-3-3ζ-glycoprotein Ibα] complex. Indomethacin promoted complex formation by accumulating arachidonic acid and released 14-3-3ζ from cyclo-oxygenase-1. Arachidonic acid depletion prevented the cold-induced reduction of platelet survival in mice. Conclusions We conclude that cold storage induced apoptosis through an [arachidonic acid-14-3-3ζ-glycoprotein Ibα] complex, which released 14-3-3ζ from Bad in an arachidonic acid-dependent manner. Although arachidonic acid depletion reduced agonist-induced thromboxane A2 formation and aggregation, arachidonic acid repletion restored these functions, opening ways to reduce apoptosis during storage without compromising hemostatic functions post-transfusion. PMID:22371179

Cryogenic Storage Tank Non-Destructive Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arens, Ellen

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the work in non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of cryogenic storage tanks. Four large cryogenic tanks, constructed in 1965 with perlite insulation in the annular regions, are of concern. The construction of the tanks, two Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and two Liquid Hydrogen (LH2), are described. The loss rate for the LOX tank at Pad A is slightly higher than that for the one at Pad B. The concerns for the LH2 tank at Pad B are that there is a significantly higher boil-off rate than that at Pad A, that there is mold growth, indicative of increased heat flow, that there is a long down-time needed for repairs, and that 3 of 5 full thermal cycles have been used on the Pad B LH2 tank. The advantages and disadvantages of thermal imaging are given. A detailed description of what is visible of the structures in the infra-red is given and views of the thermal images are included. Missing Perlite is given as the probable cause of the cold spot on the Pad B LH2 tank. There is no indications of problematic cold regions on the Pad A LH2 tank, as shown by the thermal images given in the presentation. There is definite indication of a cold region on the Pad A LOX tank. There is however concerns with thermal imaging, as thermal images can be significantly effected by environmental conditions, image differences on similar days but with different wind speeds. Other effects that must be considered include ambient temperature, humidity levels/dew, and cloud reflections

Assessment of Hammocks (Petenes) Resilience to Sea Level Rise Due to Climate Change in Mexico

PubMed Central

Posada Vanegas, Gregorio; de Jong, Bernardus H. J.

2016-01-01

There is a pressing need to assess resilience of coastal ecosystems against sea level rise. To develop appropriate response strategies against future climate disturbances, it is important to estimate the magnitude of disturbances that these ecosystems can absorb and to better understand their underlying processes. Hammocks (petenes) coastal ecosystems are highly vulnerable to sea level rise linked to climate change; their vulnerability is mainly due to its close relation with the sea through underground drainage in predominantly karstic soils. Hammocks are biologically important because of their high diversity and restricted distribution. This study proposes a strategy to assess resilience of this coastal ecosystem when high-precision data are scarce. Approaches and methods used to derive ecological resilience maps of hammocks are described and assessed. Resilience models were built by incorporating and weighting appropriate indicators of persistence to assess hammocks resilience against flooding due to climate change at “Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve”, in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. According to the analysis, 25% of the study area is highly resilient (hot spots), whereas 51% has low resilience (cold spots). The most significant hot spot clusters of resilience were located in areas distant to the coastal zone, with indirect tidal influence, and consisted mostly of hammocks surrounded by basin mangrove and floodplain forest. This study revealed that multi-criteria analysis and the use of GIS for qualitative, semi-quantitative and statistical spatial analyses constitute a powerful tool to develop ecological resilience maps of coastal ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise, even when high-precision data are not available. This method can be applied in other sites to help develop resilience analyses and decision-making processes for management and conservation of coastal areas worldwide. PMID:27611802

Assessment of Hammocks (Petenes) Resilience to Sea Level Rise Due to Climate Change in Mexico.

PubMed

Hernández-Montilla, Mariana C; Martínez-Morales, Miguel Angel; Posada Vanegas, Gregorio; de Jong, Bernardus H J

2016-01-01

There is a pressing need to assess resilience of coastal ecosystems against sea level rise. To develop appropriate response strategies against future climate disturbances, it is important to estimate the magnitude of disturbances that these ecosystems can absorb and to better understand their underlying processes. Hammocks (petenes) coastal ecosystems are highly vulnerable to sea level rise linked to climate change; their vulnerability is mainly due to its close relation with the sea through underground drainage in predominantly karstic soils. Hammocks are biologically important because of their high diversity and restricted distribution. This study proposes a strategy to assess resilience of this coastal ecosystem when high-precision data are scarce. Approaches and methods used to derive ecological resilience maps of hammocks are described and assessed. Resilience models were built by incorporating and weighting appropriate indicators of persistence to assess hammocks resilience against flooding due to climate change at "Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve", in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. According to the analysis, 25% of the study area is highly resilient (hot spots), whereas 51% has low resilience (cold spots). The most significant hot spot clusters of resilience were located in areas distant to the coastal zone, with indirect tidal influence, and consisted mostly of hammocks surrounded by basin mangrove and floodplain forest. This study revealed that multi-criteria analysis and the use of GIS for qualitative, semi-quantitative and statistical spatial analyses constitute a powerful tool to develop ecological resilience maps of coastal ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise, even when high-precision data are not available. This method can be applied in other sites to help develop resilience analyses and decision-making processes for management and conservation of coastal areas worldwide.

Salivary Cortisol and Cold Pain Sensitivity in Female Twins

PubMed Central

Godfrey, Kathryn M; Strachan, Eric; Dansie, Elizabeth; Crofford, Leslie J; Buchwald, Dedra; Goldberg, Jack; Poeschla, Brian; Succop, Annemarie; Noonan, Carolyn; Afari, Niloofar

2013-01-01

Background There is a dearth of knowledge about the link between cortisol and pain sensitivity. Purpose We examined the association of salivary cortisol with indices of cold pain sensitivity in 198 female twins and explored the role of familial confounding. Methods Three-day saliva samples were collected for cortisol levels and a cold pressor test was used to collect pain ratings and time to threshold and tolerance. Linear regression modeling with generalized estimating equations examined the overall and within-pair associations. Results Lower diurnal variation of cortisol was associated with higher pain ratings at threshold (p = 0.02) and tolerance (p < 0.01). The relationship of diurnal variation with pain ratings at threshold and tolerance was minimally influenced by familial factors (i.e., genetics and common environment). Conclusions Understanding the genetic and non-genetic mechanisms underlying the link between HPA axis dysregulation and pain sensitivity may help to prevent chronic pain development and maintenance. PMID:23955075

Changes in the location of biodiversity-ecosystem function hot spots across the seafloor landscape with increasing sediment nutrient loading.

PubMed

Thrush, Simon F; Hewitt, Judi E; Kraan, Casper; Lohrer, A M; Pilditch, Conrad A; Douglas, Emily

2017-04-12

Declining biodiversity and loss of ecosystem function threatens the ability of habitats to contribute ecosystem services. However, the form of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) and how relationships change with environmental change is poorly understood. This limits our ability to predict the consequences of biodiversity loss on ecosystem function, particularly in real-world marine ecosystems that are species rich, and where multiple ecosystem functions are represented by multiple indicators. We investigated spatial variation in BEF relationships across a 300 000 m 2 intertidal sandflat by nesting experimental manipulations of sediment pore water nitrogen concentration into sites with contrasting macrobenthic community composition. Our results highlight the significance of many different elements of biodiversity associated with environmental characteristics, community structure, functional diversity, ecological traits or particular species (ecosystem engineers) to important functions of coastal marine sediments (benthic oxygen consumption, ammonium pore water concentrations and flux across the sediment-water interface). Using the BEF relationships developed from our experiment, we demonstrate patchiness across a landscape in functional performance and the potential for changes in the location of functional hot and cold spots with increasing nutrient loading that have important implications for mapping and predicating change in functionality and the concomitant delivery of ecosystem services. © 2017 The Author(s).

Disentangling host, pathogen, and environmental determinants of a recently emerged wildlife disease: lessons from the first 15 years of amphibian chytridiomycosis research.

PubMed

James, Timothy Y; Toledo, L Felipe; Rödder, Dennis; da Silva Leite, Domingos; Belasen, Anat M; Betancourt-Román, Clarisse M; Jenkinson, Thomas S; Soto-Azat, Claudio; Lambertini, Carolina; Longo, Ana V; Ruggeri, Joice; Collins, James P; Burrowes, Patricia A; Lips, Karen R; Zamudio, Kelly R; Longcore, Joyce E

2015-09-01

The amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which affects species across all continents, recently emerged as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Yet, many aspects of the basic biology and epidemiology of the pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), are still unknown, such as when and from where did Bd emerge and what is its true ecological niche? Here, we review the ecology and evolution of Bd in the Americas and highlight controversies that make this disease so enigmatic. We explore factors associated with variance in severity of epizootics focusing on the disease triangle of host susceptibility, pathogen virulence, and environment. Reevaluating the causes of the panzootic is timely given the wealth of data on Bd prevalence across hosts and communities and the recent discoveries suggesting co-evolutionary potential of hosts and Bd. We generate a new species distribution model for Bd in the Americas based on over 30,000 records and suggest a novel future research agenda. Instead of focusing on pathogen "hot spots," we need to identify pathogen "cold spots" so that we can better understand what limits the pathogen's distribution. Finally, we introduce the concept of "the Ghost of Epizootics Past" to discuss expected patterns in postepizootic host communities.

Proteomic analysis of Oenococcus oeni freeze-dried culture to assess the importance of cell acclimation to conduct malolactic fermentation in wine.

PubMed

Cecconi, Daniela; Milli, Alberto; Rinalducci, Sara; Zolla, Lello; Zapparoli, Giacomo

2009-09-01

Cultures of Oenococcus oeni, the most important malolactic bacterium, are used to induce malolactic fermentation in wine. Survival assays in two different wines confirmed that cells acclimated for 24 h in half-strength wine-like medium (acclimation medium) enhanced the malolactic performances. To investigate the effect of the pre-incubation phase on cell physiology, a proteomic study was carried out. Total protein extracts of acclimated and non-acclimated cell cultures (control) were analyzed by 2-D-PAGE. A total of 20 out of approximately 400 spots varied significantly. All the spots were identified by MS analysis and most of them were proteins involved in metabolism, transcription/translation processes and stress response. The results revealed the different physiological status between non-acclimated and acclimated cells explaining, in part, their different behavior in wine. Regulation of stress proteins such as heat and cold shock proteins was involved. Moreover, the availability of sugars and amino acids (even if at low concentration) in acclimation medium determined a modulation of energy metabolism enhancing the resistance to stressful conditions (as those that cells find in wine when inoculated). Finally, this proteomic study increased knowledge concerning the physiological changes in freeze-dried culture occurring with pre-inoculation procedures.

siRNAs and piRNAs Collaborate for Transposon Control in the Two-Spotted Spider Mite.

PubMed

Mondal, Mosharrof; Mansfield, Kody; Flynt, Alex

2018-04-20

RNAi has revolutionized genetic research, and is being commercialized as an insect pest control technology. Mechanisms exploited for this purpose are antiviral and therefore rapidly evolving. Ideally, RNAi will also be used for non-insect pests, however, differences in RNAi biology makes this uncertain. Tetranychus urticae (two-spotted spider mite) is a destructive non-insect pest, which has a proclivity to develop pesticide resistance. Here we provide a comprehensive study of the endogenous RNAi pathways of spider mites to inform design of exogenous RNAi triggers. This effort revealed unexpected roles for small RNAs and novel genome surveillance pathways. Spider mites have an expanded RNAi machinery relative to insects, encoding RNA dependent RNA polymerase (Rdrp) and extra Piwi-class effectors. Through analyzing T. urticae transcriptome data we explored small RNA biogenesis, and discovered five siRNA loci that appear central to genome surveillance. These RNAs are expressed in the gonad, which we hypothesize to trigger production of piRNAs for control of transposable elements (TEs). This work highlights the need to investigate endogenous RNAi biology as lessons from model organisms may not hold in other species, impacting development of an RNAi strategy. Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society.

A multivariate geostatistical methodology to delineate areas of potential interest for future sedimentary gold exploration.

PubMed

Goovaerts, P; Albuquerque, Teresa; Antunes, Margarida

2016-11-01

This paper describes a multivariate geostatistical methodology to delineate areas of potential interest for future sedimentary gold exploration, with an application to an abandoned sedimentary gold mining region in Portugal. The main challenge was the existence of only a dozen gold measurements confined to the grounds of the old gold mines, which precluded the application of traditional interpolation techniques, such as cokriging. The analysis could, however, capitalize on 376 stream sediment samples that were analyzed for twenty two elements. Gold (Au) was first predicted at all 376 locations using linear regression (R 2 =0.798) and four metals (Fe, As, Sn and W), which are known to be mostly associated with the local gold's paragenesis. One hundred realizations of the spatial distribution of gold content were generated using sequential indicator simulation and a soft indicator coding of regression estimates, to supplement the hard indicator coding of gold measurements. Each simulated map then underwent a local cluster analysis to identify significant aggregates of low or high values. The one hundred classified maps were processed to derive the most likely classification of each simulated node and the associated probability of occurrence. Examining the distribution of the hot-spots and cold-spots reveals a clear enrichment in Au along the Erges River downstream from the old sedimentary mineralization.

Infrared Thermography as a Non-destructive Testing Solution for Thermal Spray Metal Coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santangelo, Paolo E.; Allesina, Giulio; Bolelli, Giovanni; Lusvarghi, Luca; Matikainen, Ville; Vuoristo, Petri

2017-12-01

In this work, an infrared (IR) thermographic procedure was evaluated as a non-destructive testing tool to detect damage in thermal spray metallic coatings. As model systems, polished HVOF- and HVAF-sprayed Fe-based layers deposited onto steel plates were employed. Damage by external-object impingement was simulated through a cyclic impact-test apparatus, which induced circumferential and radial cracks across all model systems, and interface cracks of different sizes in distinct samples. Damaged and undamaged plates were bulk-heated to above 100 °C using an IR lamp; their free-convection cooling was then recorded by an IR thermocamera. The intentionally induced defects were hardly detectable in IR thermograms, due to IR reflection and artificial "hot" spots induced by residuals of transfer material from the impacting counterbody. As a micrometer-thin layer of black paint was applied, surface emissivity got homogenized and any artifacts were effectively suppressed, so that failed coating areas clearly showed up as "cold spots." This effect was more apparent when large interface cracks occurred. Finite-element modeling proved the physical significance of the IR-thermography approach, showing that failed coating areas are cooled by surrounding air faster than they are heated by conduction from the hot substrate, which is due to the insulating effect of cracks.

Experimental Investigation of Tensile Test on Connection of Cold-formed Cut-curved Steel Section

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sani, Mohd Syahrul Hisyam Mohd; Muftah, Fadhluhartini; Rahman, Nurul Farraheeda Abdul; Fakri Muda, Mohd

2017-08-01

Cold-formed steel (CFS) is widely used as structural and non-structural components such as roof trusses and purlin. A CFS channel section with double intermediate web stiffener and lipped is chosen based on the broader usage in roof truss construction. CFS section is cut to form cold-formed pre-cut-curved steel section and lastly strengthened by several types of method or likely known as connection to establish the cold-formed cut-curved steel (CFCCS) section. CFCCS is proposed to be used as a top chord section in the roof truss system. The CFCCS is to resist the buckling phenomena of the roof truss structure and reduced the compression effect on the top chord. The tensile test connection of CFCCS section, especially at the flange element with eight types of connection by welding, plate with self-drilling screw and combination is investigated. The flange element is the weakest part that must be solved first other than the web element because they are being cut totally, 100% of their length for curving process. The testing is done using a universal testing machine for a tensile load. From the experiment, specimen with full welding has shown as a good result with an ultimate load of 13.37 kN and reported having 35.41% when compared with normal specimen without any of connection methods. Furthermore, the experimental result is distinguished by using Eurocode 3. The failure of a full welding specimen is due to breaking at the welding location. Additionally, all specimens with either full weld or spot weld or combination failed due to breaking on weld connection, but specimen with flange plate and self-drilling screw failed due to tilting and bearing. Finally, the full welding specimen is chosen as a good connection to perform the strengthening method of CFCCS section.

A new PET scanner with semiconductor detectors enables better identification of intratumoral inhomogeneity.

PubMed

Shiga, Tohru; Morimoto, Yuichi; Kubo, Naoki; Katoh, Norio; Katoh, Chietsugu; Takeuchi, Wataru; Usui, Reiko; Hirata, Kenji; Kojima, Shinichi; Umegaki, Kikuo; Shirato, Hiroki; Tamaki, Nagara

2009-01-01

An autoradiography method revealed intratumoral inhomogeneity in various solid tumors. It is becoming increasingly important to estimate intratumoral inhomogeneity. However, with low spatial resolution and high scatter noise, it is difficult to detect intratumoral inhomogeneity in clinical settings. We developed a new PET system with CdTe semiconductor detectors to provide images with high spatial resolution and low scatter noise. Both phantom images and patients' images were analyzed to evaluate intratumoral inhomogeneity. This study was performed with a cold spot phantom that had 6-mm-diameter cold sphenoid defects, a dual-cylinder phantom with an adjusted concentration of 1:2, and an "H"-shaped hot phantom. These were surrounded with water. Phantom images and (18)F-FDG PET images of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer were compared with conventional bismuth germanate PET images. Profile curves for the phantoms were measured as peak-to-valley ratios to define contrast. Intratumoral inhomogeneity and tumor edge sharpness were evaluated on the images of the patients. The contrast obtained with the semiconductor PET scanner (1.53) was 28% higher than that obtained with the conventional scanner (1.20) for the 6-mm-diameter cold sphenoid phantom. The contrast obtained with the semiconductor PET scanner (1.43) was 27% higher than that obtained with the conventional scanner (1.13) for the dual-cylinder phantom. Similarly, the 2-mm cold region between 1-mm hot rods was identified only by the new PET scanner and not by the conventional scanner. The new PET scanner identified intratumoral inhomogeneity in more detail than the conventional scanner in 6 of 10 patients. The tumor edge was sharper on the images obtained with the new PET scanner than on those obtained with the conventional scanner. These phantom and clinical studies suggested that this new PET scanner has the potential for better identification of intratumoral inhomogeneity, probably because of its high spatial resolution and low scatter noise.

Garlic for the common cold.

PubMed

Lissiman, Elizabeth; Bhasale, Alice L; Cohen, Marc

2014-11-11

Background Garlic is alleged to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties that relieve the common cold, among other beneficial effects. There is widespread usage of garlic supplements. The common cold is associated with significant morbidity and economic consequences. On average, children have six to eight colds per year and adults have two to four.Objectives To determine whether garlic (Allium sativum) is effective for the prevention or treatment of the common cold, when compared to placebo, no treatment or other treatments.Search methods We searched CENTRAL (2014, Issue 7),OLDMEDLINE (1950 to 1965),MEDLINE (January 1966 to July week 5, 2014), EMBASE(1974 to August 2014) and AMED (1985 to August 2014).Selection criteria Randomised controlled trials of common cold prevention and treatment comparing garlic with placebo, no treatment or standard treatment.Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently reviewed and selected trials from searches, assessed and rated study quality and extracted relevant data.Main results In this updated review, we identified eight trials as potentially relevant from our searches. Again, only one trial met the inclusion criteria.This trial randomly assigned 146 participants to either a garlic supplement (with 180 mg of allicin content) or a placebo (once daily)for 12 weeks. The trial reported 24 occurrences of the common cold in the garlic intervention group compared with 65 in the placebo group (P value < 0.001), resulting in fewer days of illness in the garlic group compared with the placebo group (111 versus 366). The number of days to recovery from an occurrence of the common cold was similar in both groups (4.63 versus 5.63). Only one trial met the inclusion criteria, therefore limited conclusions can be drawn. The trial relied on self reported episodes of the common cold but was of reasonable quality in terms of randomisation and allocation concealment. Adverse effects included rash and odour. Authors' conclusions There is insufficient clinical trial evidence regarding the effects of garlic in preventing or treating the common cold. A single trial suggested that garlic may prevent occurrences of the common cold but more studies are needed to validate this finding. Claims of effectiveness appear to rely largely on poor-quality evidence.

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

Roberson, G P; Logan, C M

We have estimated interference from external background radiation for a computed tomography (CT) scanner. Our intention is to estimate the interference that would be expected for the high-resolution SkyScan 1072 desk-top x-ray microtomography system. The SkyScan system uses a Microfocus x-ray source capable of a 10-{micro}m focal spot at a maximum current of 0.1 mA and a maximum energy of 130 kVp. All predictions made in this report assume using the x-ray source at the smallest spot size, maximum energy, and operating at the maximum current. Some of the systems basic geometry that is used for these estimates are: (1)more » Source-to-detector distance: 250 mm, (2) Minimum object-to-detector distance: 40 mm, and (3) Maximum object-to-detector distance: 230 mm. This is a first-order, rough estimate of the quantity of interference expected at the system detector caused by background radiation. The amount of interference is expressed by using the ratio of exposure expected at the detector of the CT system. The exposure values for the SkyScan system are determined by scaling the measured values of an x-ray source and the background radiation adjusting for the difference in source-to-detector distance and current. The x-ray source that was used for these measurements was not the SkyScan Microfocus x-ray tube. Measurements were made using an x-ray source that was operated at the same applied voltage but higher current for better statistics.« less

Element- and charge-state-resolved ion energies in the cathodic arc plasma from composite AlCr cathodes in argon, nitrogen and oxygen atmospheres

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

Franz, Robert; Polcik, Peter; Anders, André

The energy distribution functions of ions in the cathodic arc plasma using composite AlCr cathodes were measured as a function of the background gas pressure in the range 0.5 to 3.5 Pa for different cathode compositions and gas atmospheres. The most abundant aluminium ions were Al+ regardless of the background gas species, whereas Cr 2+ ions were dominating in Ar and N 2 and Cr + in O 2 atmospheres. The energy distributions of the aluminium and chromium ions typically consisted of a high-energy fraction due to acceleration in the expanding plasma plume from the cathode spot and thermalised ionsmore » that were subjected to collisions in the plasma cloud. The fraction of the latter increased with increasing background gas pressure. Atomic nitrogen and oxygen ions showed similar energy distributions as the aluminium and chromium ions, whereas the argon and molecular nitrogen and oxygen ions were formed at greater distance from the cathode spot and thus less subject to accelerating gradients. In addition to the positively charged metal and gas ions, negatively charged oxygen and oxygen-containing ions were observed in O 2 atmosphere. The obtained results are intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the ion energies and charge states in the arc plasma of AlCr composite cathodes in different gas atmospheres as such plasmas are frequently used to deposit thin films and coatings.« less

Element- and charge-state-resolved ion energies in the cathodic arc plasma from composite AlCr cathodes in argon, nitrogen and oxygen atmospheres

DOE PAGES

Franz, Robert; Polcik, Peter; Anders, André

2015-06-01

The energy distribution functions of ions in the cathodic arc plasma using composite AlCr cathodes were measured as a function of the background gas pressure in the range 0.5 to 3.5 Pa for different cathode compositions and gas atmospheres. The most abundant aluminium ions were Al+ regardless of the background gas species, whereas Cr 2+ ions were dominating in Ar and N 2 and Cr + in O 2 atmospheres. The energy distributions of the aluminium and chromium ions typically consisted of a high-energy fraction due to acceleration in the expanding plasma plume from the cathode spot and thermalised ionsmore » that were subjected to collisions in the plasma cloud. The fraction of the latter increased with increasing background gas pressure. Atomic nitrogen and oxygen ions showed similar energy distributions as the aluminium and chromium ions, whereas the argon and molecular nitrogen and oxygen ions were formed at greater distance from the cathode spot and thus less subject to accelerating gradients. In addition to the positively charged metal and gas ions, negatively charged oxygen and oxygen-containing ions were observed in O 2 atmosphere. The obtained results are intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the ion energies and charge states in the arc plasma of AlCr composite cathodes in different gas atmospheres as such plasmas are frequently used to deposit thin films and coatings.« less

The insect capa neuropeptides impact desiccation and cold stress responses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Insects are so successful because of great resistance to environmental stress, yet little is known about how such responses may be mediated by the neuroendocrine system. Results: We provide evidence that the capability (capa) neuropeptide gene and peptide are critical mediators of desic...

Effect of the Winter Wheat Cheyenne 5A Substituted Chromosome on Dynamics of Abscisic Acid and Cytokinins in Freezing-Sensitive Chinese Spring Genetic Background

PubMed Central

Kalapos, Balázs; Novák, Aliz; Dobrev, Petre; Vítámvás, Pavel; Marincs, Ferenc; Galiba, Gábor; Vanková, Radomira

2017-01-01

The effect of short- and long-term cold treatment on the abscisic acid (ABA) and cytokinin (CK) metabolism, and their main biosynthesis- and signaling-related genes were investigated in freezing-sensitive and freezing-tolerant wheat genotypes. Varieties Cheyenne and Chinese Spring substituted with the 5A Cheyenne chromosome, which represented freezing-tolerant genotypes, were compared with the freezing-sensitive Chinese Spring. Hormone levels and gene expression data indicated that the short- and long-term cold treatments are associated with specific regulation of the accumulation of cold-protective proteins and phytohormone levels, as well as the expression profiles of the hormone-related genes. The significant differences were observed between the genotypes, and between their leaf and crown tissues, too. The level of dehydrins, including WCS120 protein, and expression of WCS120 gene were considerably higher in the freezing-tolerant genotypes after 21 days of cold treatment. Expression of Cor14b and CBF14, cold-responsive regulator genes, was increased by cold treatment in all genotypes, to higher extent in freezing-tolerant genotypes. Cluster analysis revealed that the tolerant genotypes had a similar response to cold treatment, regarding expression of the ABA and CK metabolic genes, as well as hormone levels in leaves. As far as hormone levels in crowns are concerned, however, the strongly freezing-tolerant Cheyenne variety clustered separately from the Chinese Spring and the substitution line, which were more similar to each other after both 1 and 21 days of cold treatment than to Cheyenne. Based on these results we concluded that the 5A chromosome of wheat might have both a direct and an indirect impact on the phytohormone-dependent cold-induced freezing tolerance. Based on the gene expression data, novel genetic markers could be developed, which may be used to determine the freezing tolerance level in a wide range of wheat varieties. PMID:29238355

Patients’ experiences of cold exposure during ambulance care

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Exposure to cold temperatures is often a neglected problem in prehospital care. Cold exposure increase thermal discomfort and, if untreated causes disturbances of vital body functions until ultimately reaching hypothermia. It may also impair cognitive function, increase pain and contribute to fear and an overall sense of dissatisfaction. The aim of this study was to investigate injured and ill patients’ experiences of cold exposure and to identify related factors. Method During January to March 2011, 62 consecutively selected patients were observed when they were cared for by ambulance nursing staff in prehospital care in the north of Sweden. The field study was based on observations, questions about thermal discomfort and temperature measurements (mattress air and patients’ finger temperature). Based on the observation protocol the participants were divided into two groups, one group that stated it was cold in the patient compartment in the ambulance and another group that did not. Continuous variables were analyzed with independent sample t-test, paired sample t-test and dichotomous variables with cross tabulation. Results In the ambulance 85% of the patients had a finger temperature below comfort zone and 44% experienced the ambient temperature in the patient compartment in the ambulance to be cold. There was a significant decrease in finger temperature from the first measurement indoor compared to measurement in the ambulance. The mattress temperature at the ambulance ranged from −22.3°C to 8.4°C. Conclusion Cold exposure in winter time is common in prehospital care. Sick and injured patients immediately react to cold exposure with decreasing finger temperature and experience of discomfort from cold. Keeping the patient in the comfort zone is of great importance. Further studies are needed to increase knowledge which can be a base for implications in prehospital care for patients who probably already suffer for other reasons. PMID:23742143

Magnetic Reconnection Dynamics in the Presence of Low-energy Ion Component: PIC Simulations of Hidden Particle Population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Divin, A. V.; Toledo Redondo, S.; Andre, M.; Vaivads, A.; Markidis, S.; Lapenta, G.

2015-12-01

Magnetospheric and astrophysical plasmas are rarely in the state of thermal equilibrium. Plasma distribution functions may contain beams, supra-thermal tails, multiple ion and electron populations which are not thermalized over long time scales due to the lack of collisions between particles. In particular, the equatorial region of the dayside Earth's magnetosphere is often populated by plasma containing hot and cold ion components of comparable densities [Andre and Cully, 2012], and such ion distribution alters properties of the magnetic reconnection regions at the magnetopause [Toledo-Redondo et. al., 2015]. Motivated by these recent findings and also by fact that this region is one of the targets of the recently launched MMS mission, we performed 2D PIC simulations of magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma with hot and cold ion components. We used a standard Harris current sheet, to which a uniform cold ion background is added. We found that introduction of the cold component modifies the structure of reconnection diffusion region. Diffusion region displays three-scale structure, with the cold Ion Diffusion Region (cIDR) scale appearing in-between the Electron Diffusion Region (EDR) and Ion Diffusion Region (IDR) scales. Structure and strength of the Hall magnetic field depends weakly on cold ion temperature or density, and is rather controlled by the conditions (B, n) upstream the reconnection region. The cold ions are accelerated predominantly transverse to the magnetic field by the Hall electric fields inside the IDR, leading to a large ion pressure anisotropy, which is unstable to ion Weibel-type or mirror-type mode. On the opposite, acceleration of cold ions is mostly field-aligned at the reconnection jet fronts downstream the X-line, producing intense ion phase-space holes there. Despite comparable reconnection rates produced , we find that the overall evolution of reconnection in presence of cold ion population is more dynamic compared to the case with a single hot ion component.

Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectroscopy (BLISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradford, Charles Matt

2004-01-01

The bulk of the cosmic far-infrared background light will soon be resolved into its individual sources with Spitzer, Astro-F, Herschel, and submm/mm ground-based cameras. The sources will be dusty galaxies at z approximately equal to 1-4. Their physical conditions and processes in these galaxies are directly probed with moderate-resolution spectroscopy from 20 micrometers to 1 mm. Currently large cold telescopes are being combined with sensitive direct detectors, offering the potential for mid-far-IR spectroscopy at the background limit (BLISS). The capability will allow routine observations of even modest high-redshift galaxies in a variety of lines. The BLISS instrument's capabilities are described in this presentation.

Figure-ground assignment in pigeons: evidence for a figural benefit.

PubMed

Lazareva, Olga E; Castro, Leyre; Vecera, Shaun P; Wasserman, Edward A

2006-07-01

Four pigeons discriminated whether a target spot appeared on a colored figural shape or on a differently colored background by first pecking the target and then reporting its location: on the figure or the background. We recorded three dependent variables: target detection time, choice response time, and choice accuracy. The birds were faster to detect the target, to report its location, and to learn the correct response on figure trials than on background trials. Later tests suggested that the pigeons might have attended to the figural region as a whole rather than using local properties in performing the figure-background discrimination. The location of the figural region did not affect figure-ground assignment. Finally, when 4 other pigeons had to detect and peck the target without making a choice report, no figural advantage emerged in target detection time, suggesting that the birds' attention may not have been automatically summoned to the figural region.

Ecology, biology and distribution of spotted-fever tick vectors in Brazil.

PubMed

Szabó, Matias P J; Pinter, Adriano; Labruna, Marcelo B

2013-01-01

Spotted-fever-caused Rickettsia rickettsii infection is in Brazil the major tick-borne zoonotic disease. Recently, a second and milder human rickettsiosis caused by an agent genetically related to R. parkeri was discovered in the country (Atlantic rainforest strain). Both diseases clearly have an ecological background linked to a few tick species and their environment. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and Amblyomma cajennense ticks in urban and rural areas close to water sources are the main and long-known epidemiological feature behind R. rickettsii-caused spotted-fever. Unfortunately, this ecological background seems to be increasing in the country and disease spreading may be foreseen. Metropolitan area of São Paulo, the most populous of the country, is embedded in Atlantic rainforest that harbors another important R. rickettsii vector, the tick Amblyomma aureolatum. Thus, at the city-forest interface, dogs carry infected ticks to human dwellings and human infection occurs. A role for R. rickettsii vectoring to humans of a third tick species, Rhipicephalus sanguineus in Brazil, has not been proven; however, there is circumstantial evidence for that. A R. parkeri-like strain was found in A. ovale ticks from Atlantic rainforest and was shown to be responsible for a milder febrile human disease. Rickettsia-infected A. ovale ticks are known to be spread over large areas along the Atlantic coast of the country, and diagnosis of human infection is increasing with awareness and proper diagnostic tools. In this review, ecological features of the tick species mentioned, and that are important for Rickettsia transmission to humans, are updated and discussed. Specific knowledge gaps in the epidemiology of such diseases are highlighted to guide forthcoming research.

Ecology, biology and distribution of spotted-fever tick vectors in Brazil

PubMed Central

Szabó, Matias P. J.; Pinter, Adriano; Labruna, Marcelo B.

2013-01-01

Spotted-fever-caused Rickettsia rickettsii infection is in Brazil the major tick-borne zoonotic disease. Recently, a second and milder human rickettsiosis caused by an agent genetically related to R. parkeri was discovered in the country (Atlantic rainforest strain). Both diseases clearly have an ecological background linked to a few tick species and their environment. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and Amblyomma cajennense ticks in urban and rural areas close to water sources are the main and long-known epidemiological feature behind R. rickettsii-caused spotted-fever. Unfortunately, this ecological background seems to be increasing in the country and disease spreading may be foreseen. Metropolitan area of São Paulo, the most populous of the country, is embedded in Atlantic rainforest that harbors another important R. rickettsii vector, the tick Amblyomma aureolatum. Thus, at the city–forest interface, dogs carry infected ticks to human dwellings and human infection occurs. A role for R. rickettsii vectoring to humans of a third tick species, Rhipicephalus sanguineus in Brazil, has not been proven; however, there is circumstantial evidence for that. A R. parkeri-like strain was found in A. ovale ticks from Atlantic rainforest and was shown to be responsible for a milder febrile human disease. Rickettsia-infected A. ovale ticks are known to be spread over large areas along the Atlantic coast of the country, and diagnosis of human infection is increasing with awareness and proper diagnostic tools. In this review, ecological features of the tick species mentioned, and that are important for Rickettsia transmission to humans, are updated and discussed. Specific knowledge gaps in the epidemiology of such diseases are highlighted to guide forthcoming research. PMID:23875178

Quantitative assessment of local perfusion change in acute intracerebral hemorrhage areas with and without "dynamic spot sign" using CT perfusion imaging.

PubMed

Fu, Fan; Sui, Binbin; Liu, Liping; Su, Yaping; Sun, Shengjun; Li, Yingying

2018-01-01

Background Positive "dynamic spot sign" has been proven to be a potential risk factor for acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) expansion, but local perfusion change has not been quantitatively investigated. Purpose To quantitatively evaluate perfusion changes at the ICH area using computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging. Material and Methods Fifty-three patients with spontaneous ICH were recruited. Unenhanced computed tomography (NCCT), CTP within 6 h, and follow-up NCCT were performed for 21 patients in the "spot sign"-positive group and 32 patients in the control group. Cerebral perfusion change was quantitatively measured on regional cerebral blood flow/regional cerebral blood volume (rCBF/rCBV) maps. Regions of interest (ROIs) were set at the "spot-sign" region and the whole hematoma area for "spot-sign"-positive cases, and at one of the highest values of three interested areas and the whole hematoma area for the control group. Hematoma expansion was determined by follow-up NCCT. Results For the "spot-sign"-positive group, the average rCBF (rCBV) values at the "spot-sign" region and the whole hematoma area were 21.34 ± 15.24 mL/min/100 g (21.64 ± 21.48 mL/100g) and 5.78 ± 6.32 mL/min/100 g (6.07 ± 5.45 mL/100g); for the control group, the average rCBF (rCBV) values at the interested area and whole hematoma area were 2.50 ± 1.83 mL/min/100 g (3.13 ± 1.96 mL/100g) and 3.02 ± 1.80 mL/min/100 g (3.40 ± 1.44 mL/100g), respectively. Average rCBF and rCBV values of the "spot-sign" region were significantly different from other regions ( P < 0.001; P = 0.004). The average volumes of hematoma expansion in the "spot-sign"-positive and control groups were 25.24 ± 19.38 mL and -0.41 ± 1.34 mL, respectively. Conclusion The higher perfusion change at ICH on CTP images may reflect the contrast extravasation and be associated with the hematoma expansion.

Development of time projection chamber for precise neutron lifetime measurement using pulsed cold neutron beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arimoto, Y.; Higashi, N.; Igarashi, Y.; Iwashita, Y.; Ino, T.; Katayama, R.; Kitaguchi, M.; Kitahara, R.; Matsumura, H.; Mishima, K.; Nagakura, N.; Oide, H.; Otono, H.; Sakakibara, R.; Shima, T.; Shimizu, H. M.; Sugino, T.; Sumi, N.; Sumino, H.; Taketani, K.; Tanaka, G.; Tanaka, M.; Tauchi, K.; Toyoda, A.; Tomita, T.; Yamada, T.; Yamashita, S.; Yokoyama, H.; Yoshioka, T.

2015-11-01

A new time projection chamber (TPC) was developed for neutron lifetime measurement using a pulsed cold neutron spallation source at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Managing considerable background events from natural sources and the beam radioactivity is a challenging aspect of this measurement. To overcome this problem, the developed TPC has unprecedented features such as the use of polyether-ether-ketone plates in the support structure and internal surfaces covered with 6Li-enriched tiles to absorb outlier neutrons. In this paper, the design and performance of the new TPC are reported in detail.

To Treat or to Prevent?

PubMed Central

Cerdá, Magdalena; Tracy, Melissa; Keyes, Katherine M.; Galea, Sandro

2015-01-01

Background Violence-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a prevalent and disabling psychiatric disorder in urban areas. However, the most effective allocation of resources into prevention and treatment to reduce this problem is unknown. We contrasted the impact of two interventions on violence-related PTSD: (1) a population-level intervention intended to prevent violence (i.e., hot-spot policing), and (2) an individual-level intervention intended to shorten PTSD duration (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy—CBT). Methods We used agent-based modeling to simulate violence and PTSD in New York City under four scenarios: (1) no intervention, (2) targeted policing to hot spots of violence, (3) increased access to CBT for people who suffered from violence-related PTSD, and (4) a combination of the two interventions. Results Combined prevention and treatment produced the largest decrease in violence-related PTSD prevalence: hot-spot policing plus a 50% increase in CBT for 5 years reduced the annual prevalence of violence-related PTSD from 3.6% (95% confidence interval = 3.5%, 3.6%) to 3.4% (3.3%, 3.5%). It would have been necessary to implement hot-spot policing or to increase CBT by 200% for 10 years for either intervention to achieve the same reduction in isolation. Conclusions This study provides an empirically informed demonstration that investment in combined strategies that target social determinants of mental illness and provide evidence-based treatment to those affected by psychiatric disorders can produce larger reductions in the population burden from violence-related PTSD than either preventive or treatment interventions alone. However, neither hot-spot policing nor CBT, alone or combined, will produce large shifts in the population prevalence of violence-related PTSD. PMID:26237744

Inheritance of bacterial spot resistance in Capsicum annuum var. annuum.

PubMed

Silva, L R A; Rodrigues, R; Pimenta, S; Correa, J W S; Araújo, M S B; Bento, C S; Sudré, C P

2017-04-20

Since 2008, Brazil is the largest consumer of agrochemicals, which increases production costs and risks of agricultural products, environment, and farmers' contamination. Sweet pepper, which is one of the main consumed vegetables in the country, is on top of the list of the most sprayed crops. The bacterial spot, caused by Xanthomonas spp, is one of the most damaging diseases of pepper crops. Genetic resistant consists of a suitable way of disease control, but development of durable resistant cultivars as well as understanding of plant-bacterium interaction is being a challenge for plant breeders and pathologists worldwide. Inheritance of disease resistance is often variable, depending on genetic background of the parents. The knowledge of the genetic base controlling such resistance is the first step in a breeding program aiming to develop new genotypes, bringing together resistance and other superior agronomic traits. This study reports the genetic basis of bacterial spot resistance in Capsicum annuum var. annuum using mean generation analysis from crosses between accessions UENF 2285 (susceptible) and UENF 1381 (resistant). The plants of each generation were grown in a greenhouse and leaflets were inoculated with bacterial strain ENA 4135 at 10 5 CFU/mL in 1.0 cm 2 of the mesophyll. Evaluations were performed using a scoring scale whose grades ranged from 1.0 (resistant) to 5.0 (susceptible), depending on symptom manifestation. Genetic control of bacterial spot has a quantitative aspect, with higher additive effect. The quantitative analysis showed that five genes were the minimum number controlling bacterial spot resistance. Additive effect was higher (6.06) than dominant (3.31) and explained 86.36% of total variation.

Stability of Phosphatidylethanol in Dry Blood Spot Cards

PubMed Central

Bakhireva, Ludmila N.; Shrestha, Shikhar; Gutierrez, Hilda L.; Berry, Mike; Schmitt, Cheryl; Sarangarm, Dusadee

2016-01-01

Background The analysis of phosphatidylethanol, a promising direct ethanol metabolite, in dry blood spots (PEth-DBS) is advantageous due to ease of storage, transportation and minimal invasiveness of capillary blood collection. One potential application of PEth-DBS is to confirm prenatal alcohol exposure in newborns suspected of FASD; however, stability of PEth-DBS is largely unknown. Methods Phlebotomized samples from 31 adults with a history of alcoholism, admitted to the University of New Mexico Emergency Department, were analyzed for blood alcohol content and pipetted onto DBS cards (13 spots per patient). The first spot was analyzed within 2 weeks of collection for a baseline PEth; the remaining 12 spots were allocated into three temperature conditions (room temperature, 4°C, −80°C) for the repeated measures analysis. In addition, 5 newborn DBS samples with a baseline PEth>LOD were obtained from a prospective cohort at UNM and re-analyzed at 4 months after storage at −80°C. A mixed linear model was fitted to examine the effects of temperature, time and temperature–time interaction on PEth degradation over the first 9 months. Results The baseline PEth levels were 592.8 ± 86.7 ng/ml and 18.3 ± 4.8 ng/ml in adult and newborn samples, respectively. All DBS samples remained positive in successive samples in all temperature conditions. Results of mixed linear model demonstrated a significant effect of temperature (P < 0.001) on PEth degradation over 9 months. Conclusions PEth-DBS appears to be relatively stable, especially when stored at lower temperatures. These initial results are encouraging and highlight the PEth-DBS potential in retrospective assessment of alcohol exposure. PMID:26519350

A flat Universe from high-resolution maps of the cosmic microwave background radiation

PubMed

de Bernardis P; Ade; Bock; Bond; Borrill; Boscaleri; Coble; Crill; De Gasperis G; Farese; Ferreira; Ganga; Giacometti; Hivon; Hristov; Iacoangeli; Jaffe; Lange; Martinis; Masi; Mason; Mauskopf; Melchiorri; Miglio; Montroy; Netterfield

2000-04-27

The blackbody radiation left over from the Big Bang has been transformed by the expansion of the Universe into the nearly isotropic 2.73 K cosmic microwave background. Tiny inhomogeneities in the early Universe left their imprint on the microwave background in the form of small anisotropies in its temperature. These anisotropies contain information about basic cosmological parameters, particularly the total energy density and curvature of the Universe. Here we report the first images of resolved structure in the microwave background anisotropies over a significant part of the sky. Maps at four frequencies clearly distinguish the microwave background from foreground emission. We compute the angular power spectrum of the microwave background, and find a peak at Legendre multipole Ipeak = (197 +/- 6), with an amplitude delta T200 = (69 +/- 8) microK. This is consistent with that expected for cold dark matter models in a flat (euclidean) Universe, as favoured by standard inflationary models.

Canary Islands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This easterly looking view shows the seven major volcanic islands of the Canary Island chain (28.0N, 16.5W) and offers a unique view of the islands that have become a frequent vacation spot for Europeans. The northwest coastline of Africa, (Morocco and Western Sahara), is visible in the background. Frequently, these islands create an impact on local weather (cloud formations) and ocean currents (island wakes) as seen in this photo.

A True-Color Sensor and Suitable Evaluation Algorithm for Plant Recognition

PubMed Central

Schmittmann, Oliver; Schulze Lammers, Peter

2017-01-01

Plant-specific herbicide application requires sensor systems for plant recognition and differentiation. A literature review reveals a lack of sensor systems capable of recognizing small weeds in early stages of development (in the two- or four-leaf stage) and crop plants, of making spraying decisions in real time and, in addition, are that are inexpensive and ready for practical use in sprayers. The system described in this work is based on free cascadable and programmable true-color sensors for real-time recognition and identification of individual weed and crop plants. The application of this type of sensor is suitable for municipal areas and farmland with and without crops to perform the site-specific application of herbicides. Initially, databases with reflection properties of plants, natural and artificial backgrounds were created. Crop and weed plants should be recognized by the use of mathematical algorithms and decision models based on these data. They include the characteristic color spectrum, as well as the reflectance characteristics of unvegetated areas and areas with organic material. The CIE-Lab color-space was chosen for color matching because it contains information not only about coloration (a- and b-channel), but also about luminance (L-channel), thus increasing accuracy. Four different decision making algorithms based on different parameters are explained: (i) color similarity (ΔE); (ii) color similarity split in ΔL, Δa and Δb; (iii) a virtual channel ‘d’ and (iv) statistical distribution of the differences of reflection backgrounds and plants. Afterwards, the detection success of the recognition system is described. Furthermore, the minimum weed/plant coverage of the measuring spot was calculated by a mathematical model. Plants with a size of 1–5% of the spot can be recognized, and weeds in the two-leaf stage can be identified with a measuring spot size of 5 cm. By choosing a decision model previously, the detection quality can be increased. Depending on the characteristics of the background, different models are suitable. Finally, the results of field trials on municipal areas (with models of plants), winter wheat fields (with artificial plants) and grassland (with dock) are shown. In each experimental variant, objects and weeds could be recognized. PMID:28786922

A True-Color Sensor and Suitable Evaluation Algorithm for Plant Recognition.

PubMed

Schmittmann, Oliver; Schulze Lammers, Peter

2017-08-08

Plant-specific herbicide application requires sensor systems for plant recognition and differentiation. A literature review reveals a lack of sensor systems capable of recognizing small weeds in early stages of development (in the two- or four-leaf stage) and crop plants, of making spraying decisions in real time and, in addition, are that are inexpensive and ready for practical use in sprayers. The system described in this work is based on free cascadable and programmable true-color sensors for real-time recognition and identification of individual weed and crop plants. The application of this type of sensor is suitable for municipal areas and farmland with and without crops to perform the site-specific application of herbicides. Initially, databases with reflection properties of plants, natural and artificial backgrounds were created. Crop and weed plants should be recognized by the use of mathematical algorithms and decision models based on these data. They include the characteristic color spectrum, as well as the reflectance characteristics of unvegetated areas and areas with organic material. The CIE-Lab color-space was chosen for color matching because it contains information not only about coloration (a- and b-channel), but also about luminance (L-channel), thus increasing accuracy. Four different decision making algorithms based on different parameters are explained: (i) color similarity (ΔE); (ii) color similarity split in ΔL, Δa and Δb; (iii) a virtual channel 'd' and (iv) statistical distribution of the differences of reflection backgrounds and plants. Afterwards, the detection success of the recognition system is described. Furthermore, the minimum weed/plant coverage of the measuring spot was calculated by a mathematical model. Plants with a size of 1-5% of the spot can be recognized, and weeds in the two-leaf stage can be identified with a measuring spot size of 5 cm. By choosing a decision model previously, the detection quality can be increased. Depending on the characteristics of the background, different models are suitable. Finally, the results of field trials on municipal areas (with models of plants), winter wheat fields (with artificial plants) and grassland (with dock) are shown. In each experimental variant, objects and weeds could be recognized.

Tests of the Rockwell Si:As Back-Illuminated Blocked-Impurity Band (BIBIB) detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, J.; Groezinger, U.; Burgdorf, M.; Salama, A.

1989-01-01

Two arrays of Rockwell's Si:As back-illuminated blocked-impurity-band detectors were tested at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) at low background and low temperature for possible use in the astronomical space experiment ISOPHOT. For these measurements special test equipment was put together. A cryostat was mechanically modified to accommodate the arrays and special peripheral electronics was added to a microprocessor system to drive the cold multiplexer and to acquire the output data. The first device, a 16x50 element array on a fan-out board was used to test individual pixels with a trans-impedance-amplifier at a photon background of 10(exp 8) Ph s(-1)cm(-2) and at temperatures of 2.7 to 4.4 K. The noise-equivalent-power NEP is in the range 5 - 7 x 10(exp -18) WHz(exp -1/2), the responsivity is less than or equal to 100 AW(exp -1)(f = 10 Hz). The second device was a 10x50 array including a cold readout electronics of switched FETs (SWIFET). Measurements of this array were done in a background range of 5 x 10(exp 5) to 5 x 10(exp 11) Ph s(exp-1)cm(exp-2) and at operating temperatures between 3.0 and 4.8 K. The NEP ranges from less than 10(exp -18) at the lowest background to 2 x 10(exp -16) WHz(exp -1/2) at the highest flux.

Observation of increased space-charge limited thermionic electron emission current by neutral gas ionization in a weakly-ionized deuterium plasma

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

Hollmann, E. M.; Yu, J. H.; Doerner, R. P.

2015-09-14

The thermionic electron emission current emitted from a laser-produced hot spot on a tungsten target in weakly-ionized deuterium plasma is measured. It is found to be one to two orders of magnitude larger than expected for bipolar space charge limited thermionic emission current assuming an unperturbed background plasma. This difference is attributed to the plasma being modified by ionization of background neutrals by the emitted electrons. This result indicates that the allowable level of emitted thermionic electron current can be significantly enhanced in weakly-ionized plasmas due to the presence of large neutral densities.

78 FR 69371 - Diffusion-Annealed, Nickel-Plated Flat-Rolled Steel Products From Japan: Preliminary...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-19

... Memorandum 1. Background 2. Scope of the Investigation 3. Respondent Selection 4. Discussion of Methodology a...: Scope of the Investigation The diffusion-annealed, nickel-plated flat-rolled steel products included in this investigation are flat-rolled, cold-reduced steel products, regardless of chemistry; whether or...

Stellar Work of Art

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version

This painterly portrait of a star-forming cloud, called NGC 346, is a combination of multiwavelength light from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared), the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope (visible), and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope (X-ray).

The infrared observations highlight cold dust in red, visible data show glowing gas in green, and X-rays show very warm gas in blue. Ordinary stars appear as blue spots with white centers, while young stars enshrouded in dust appear as red spots with white centers.

The colorful picture demonstrates that stars in this region are being created by two different types of triggered star formation one involving wind, and the other, radiation. Triggered star formation occurs when massive stars spur new, smaller stars into existence. The first radiation-based mechanism is demonstrated near the center of the cloud. There, radiation from the massive stars is eating away at the surrounding dust cloud, creating shock waves that compress gas and dust into new stars. This compressed material appears as an arc-shaped orange-red filament, while the new stars within this filament are still blanketed with dust and cannot be seen.

The second wind-based mechanism is at play higher up in the cloud. The isolated, pinkish blob of stars at the upper left was triggered by winds from a massive star located to the left of it. This massive star blew up in a supernova explosion 50,000 years ago, but before it died, its winds pushed gas and dust together into new stars. While this massive star cannot be seen in the image, a bubble created when it exploded can be seen near the large, white spot with a blue halo at the upper left (this white spot is actually a collection of three stars).

NGC 346 is the brightest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, an irregular dwarf galaxy that orbits our Milky Way galaxy, 210,000 light-years away.

NASA Spacecraft Views Erupting Chilean Volcano

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-03-13

On March 3, 2015, Chile's Villarrica volcano erupted, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. The eruption deposited a layer of ash over the volcano's eastern slope, blanketing and darkening the normal winter snow cover. The eruption and its effects were captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft on March 9. Black flows on the other flanks are mud and ash flows. Vegetation is displayed in red colors. The thermal infrared image shows hot spots (white colored) at the summit crater, indicating continuing volcanic activity. The ash blanket is warmer (brighter) than the cold snow (black). The image covers an area of 13.5 by 16.5 kilometers, and is located at 39.4 degrees south, 71.9 degrees west. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19241