Sample records for central building block

  1. 23. The Stroud Building beard the 'Temme Springs' advertisement. Westfacing ...

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

    23. The Stroud Building beard the 'Temme Springs' advertisement. West-facing windows of the entire block are protected from the afternoon sun by awnings. The north-facing windows of the second-story restaurant were later blocked by an adjacent two-story building. Circa 1914. Credit PPL. - Stroud Building, 31-33 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ

  2. Top Value Added Chemicals From Biomass: I. Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas

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

    Werpy, Todd A.; Holladay, John E.; White, James F.

    2004-11-01

    This report identifies twelve building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars via biological or chemical conversions. The twelve building blocks can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials. Building block chemicals, as considered for this analysis, are molecules with multiple functional groups that possess the potential to be transformed into new families of useful molecules. The twelve sugar-based building blocks are 1,4-diacids (succinic, fumaric and malic), 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy propionic acid, aspartic acid, glucaric acid, glutamic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic acid, 3-hydroxybutyrolactone, glycerol, sorbitol, and xylitol/arabinitol. In addition to building blocks, themore » report outlines the central technical barriers that are preventing the widespread use of biomass for products and chemicals.« less

  3. Using the World Health Organization health system building blocks through survey of healthcare professionals to determine the performance of public healthcare facilities.

    PubMed

    Manyazewal, Tsegahun

    2017-01-01

    Acknowledging the health system strengthening agenda, the World Health Organization (WHO) has formulated a health systems framework that describes health systems in terms of six building blocks. This study aimed to determine the current status of the six WHO health system building blocks in public healthcare facilities in Ethiopia. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted in five public hospitals in central Ethiopia which were in a post-reform period. A self-administered, structured questionnaire which covered the WHO's six health system building blocks was used to collect data on healthcare professionals who consented. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20. The overall performance of the public hospitals was 60% when weighed against the WHO building blocks which, in this procedure, needed a minimum of 80% score. For each building block, performance scores were: information 53%, health workforce 55%, medical products and technologies 58%, leadership and governance 61%, healthcare financing 62%, and service delivery 69%. There existed a significant difference in performance among the hospitals ( p  < .001). The study proved that the WHO's health system building blocks are useful for assessing the process of strengthening health systems in Ethiopia. The six blocks allow identifying different improvement opportunities in each one of the hospitals. There was no contradiction between the indicators of the WHO building blocks and the health sustainable development goal (SDG) objectives. However, such SDG objectives should not be a substitute for strategies to strengthen health systems.

  4. A DNA-Encoded Library of Chemical Compounds Based on Common Scaffolding Structures Reveals the Impact of Ligand Geometry on Protein Recognition.

    PubMed

    Favalli, Nicholas; Biendl, Stefan; Hartmann, Marco; Piazzi, Jacopo; Sladojevich, Filippo; Gräslund, Susanne; Brown, Peter J; Näreoja, Katja; Schüler, Herwig; Scheuermann, Jörg; Franzini, Raphael; Neri, Dario

    2018-06-01

    A DNA-encoded chemical library (DECL) with 1.2 million compounds was synthesized by combinatorial reaction of seven central scaffolds with two sets of 343×492 building blocks. Library screening by affinity capture revealed that for some target proteins, the chemical nature of building blocks dominated the selection results, whereas for other proteins, the central scaffold also crucially contributed to ligand affinity. Molecules based on a 3,5-bis(aminomethyl)benzoic acid core structure were found to bind human serum albumin with a K d value of 6 nm, while compounds with the same substituents on an equidistant but flexible l-lysine scaffold showed 140-fold lower affinity. A 18 nm tankyrase-1 binder featured l-lysine as linking moiety, while molecules based on d-Lysine or (2S,4S)-amino-l-proline showed no detectable binding to the target. This work suggests that central scaffolds which predispose the orientation of chemical building blocks toward the protein target may enhance the screening productivity of encoded libraries. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. 24. Perspective view of central tower from roof of main ...

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

    24. Perspective view of central tower from roof of main block, looking northeast, with HABS team - National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Northwestern Branch, Main Building, 5000 West National Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI

  6. Characteristics of Recycled Concrete Aggregates from Precast Slab Block Buildings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Venkrbec, Václav; Nováková, Iveta; Henková, Svatava

    2017-10-01

    Precast slab block buildings (PSBB) typically and frequently occur in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as elsewhere in the world. Some of these buildings are currently used beyond their service life capacity. The utilization of recycled materials from these buildings with regard to applying the principles of sustainable construction and using recycled materials will probably be significant in the following years. Documentation from the manufacturing processes of prefabricated blocks for precast slab block buildings is not available, and also it is difficult to declare technological discipline during the construction of these buildings. Therefore, properties of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) produced from construction and demolition waste (C&DW) of precast slab block buildings build between 1950s to 1990s are not sufficiently known. The demolition of these buildings is very rare today, but it can be assumed an increase in demolitions of these buildings in the future. The use of RCA in new concrete requires verification/testing of the geometrical and physical properties of RCA according to the EN 12 620+A1 standard. The aim of the contribution is to present a case study of the demolition of slab block building with emphasis on RCA usage. The paper presents the results of the tests according to European standards for determining selected geometrical and physical properties of the RCA. The paper describes and evaluates tests such as determination of particle size distribution - Sieve Analysis, content of fine particles, determination of density and water absorption. The results of the properties testing of RCA are compared with the properties of natural aggregate. The general boundary conditions of RCA particular tests are presented.

  7. Fort Belvoir’s Engineer Replacement Training Center

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-12-01

    investing in permanent buildings of brick and tile. Makers of concrete and cinder blocks, cement siding, structural steel, and asbestos sheeting...in 1917. Hundreds of temporary wooden buildings and other structures , lining a central parade/training ground, were quickly built at a new...typical barracks building was considered significant because of the new technologies employed, including the standardization of plans, prefabrication of

  8. Getting "What Works" Working: Building Blocks for the Integration of Experimental and Improvement Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peterson, Amelia

    2016-01-01

    As a systemic approach to improving educational practice through research, "What Works" has come under repeated challenge from alternative approaches, most recently that of improvement science. While "What Works" remains a dominant paradigm for centralized knowledge-building efforts, there is need to understand why this…

  9. Molecular docking sites designed for the generation of highly crystalline covalent organic frameworks

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

    Ascherl, Laura; Sick, Torben; Margraf, Johannes

    Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) formed by connecting multidentate organic building blocks through covalent bonds provide a platform for designing multifunctional porous materials with atomic precision. As they are promising materials for applications in optoelectronics, they would benefit from a maximum degree of long-range order within the framework, which has remained a major challenge. We have developed a synthetic concept to allow consecutive COF sheets to lock in position during crystal growth, and thus minimize the occurrence of stacking faults and dislocations. Hereby, the three-dimensional conformation of propeller-shaped molecular building units was used to generate well-defined periodic docking sites, which guidedmore » the attachment of successive building blocks that, in turn, promoted long-range order during COF formation. This approach enables us to achieve a very high crystallinity for a series of COFs that comprise tri- and tetradentate central building blocks. We expect this strategy to be transferable to a broad range of customized COFs.« less

  10. Molecular docking sites designed for the generation of highly crystalline covalent organic frameworks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ascherl, Laura; Sick, Torben; Margraf, Johannes T.; Lapidus, Saul H.; Calik, Mona; Hettstedt, Christina; Karaghiosoff, Konstantin; Döblinger, Markus; Clark, Timothy; Chapman, Karena W.; Auras, Florian; Bein, Thomas

    2016-04-01

    Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) formed by connecting multidentate organic building blocks through covalent bonds provide a platform for designing multifunctional porous materials with atomic precision. As they are promising materials for applications in optoelectronics, they would benefit from a maximum degree of long-range order within the framework, which has remained a major challenge. We have developed a synthetic concept to allow consecutive COF sheets to lock in position during crystal growth, and thus minimize the occurrence of stacking faults and dislocations. Hereby, the three-dimensional conformation of propeller-shaped molecular building units was used to generate well-defined periodic docking sites, which guided the attachment of successive building blocks that, in turn, promoted long-range order during COF formation. This approach enables us to achieve a very high crystallinity for a series of COFs that comprise tri- and tetradentate central building blocks. We expect this strategy to be transferable to a broad range of customized COFs.

  11. Preservation of adobe buildings. Study of materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Velosa, A.; Rocha, F.; Costa, C.; Varum, H.

    2012-04-01

    Adobe buildings are common in the central region of Portugal due to the lack of natural stone in the surrounding area. This type of construction technique lasted until the 20th Century, at which time cementitious materials, with faster hardening and greater structural capacity substituted traditional materials and techniques. Currently, a significant percentage of these buildings is vacant and many are degraded and in need of conservation actions. Adobes from central Portugal are distinctive as they are lightly coloured and made from air lime and quarry sand. Although some adobes were manufactured locally, most were produced almost 'industrially' and sold to nearby regions. In order to preserve this heritage, conservation actions must be undertaken. So as to ensure the adequacy of these actions and compatibility between original materials and new ones, a thorough study of adobe compostion is mandatory. The current study is an initial step in the characterization of earth based construction materials from central Portugal. Adobe samples were collected from residential buildings in two different locations. The determination of the composition of adobe blocks encompassed the determination of the binder fraction and of their chemical composition and also the particle size analysis of the aggregate. For this purpose FRX analysis, acid dissolution and dry sieving were performed. Methylene blue test was also executed in order to determine the clay fraction. Additionally, the mineral composition of powder samples and oriented samples was performed using XRD analysis in order to determine the clay minerals present in the blocks. As adobe blocks are extremely prone to the action of water the Geelong test was undertaken in order to provide information in terms of durability. It was concluded that air lime was generally used in adobe compositions. However, the clay content varies in adobes from different regions, providing distinct durability characteristics to these materials.

  12. Toxicologic Pathology: The Basic Building Block of Risk Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    Human health risk assessment is a critical factor in many risk management decisions. Evaluation of human health risk requires research the provides information that appropriately characterizes potential hazards from exposure. Pathology endpoints are the central response around ...

  13. Decoding how a soil bacterium extracts building blocks and metabolic energy from ligninolysis provides road map for lignin valorization (Towards Lignin valorization: How a soil bacterium extracts building blocks and metabolic energy from "Lignolysis")

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

    Varman, Arul M.; He, Lian; Follenfant, Rhiannon

    Lignin is a major resources for the production of next generation renewable aromatics. Sphingobium sp. SYK-6 is a bacterium that has been well-studied for the breakdown of lignin-derived compounds. There has been a lot of interest in SYK-6 lignolytic activity and many recent works have focused on understanding the unique catabolic pathway it possesses for the degradation of lignin derived monomers and oligomers. Furthermore, there has been no prior effort in understanding the central fluxome based on lignin derived substrates into value-added chemicals.

  14. Decoding how a soil bacterium extracts building blocks and metabolic energy from ligninolysis provides road map for lignin valorization (Towards Lignin valorization: How a soil bacterium extracts building blocks and metabolic energy from "Lignolysis")

    DOE PAGES

    Varman, Arul M.; He, Lian; Follenfant, Rhiannon; ...

    2016-09-15

    Lignin is a major resources for the production of next generation renewable aromatics. Sphingobium sp. SYK-6 is a bacterium that has been well-studied for the breakdown of lignin-derived compounds. There has been a lot of interest in SYK-6 lignolytic activity and many recent works have focused on understanding the unique catabolic pathway it possesses for the degradation of lignin derived monomers and oligomers. Furthermore, there has been no prior effort in understanding the central fluxome based on lignin derived substrates into value-added chemicals.

  15. Ribozyme-catalysed RNA synthesis using triplet building blocks.

    PubMed

    Attwater, James; Raguram, Aditya; Morgunov, Alexey S; Gianni, Edoardo; Holliger, Philipp

    2018-05-15

    RNA-catalyzed RNA replication is widely believed to have supported a primordial biology. However, RNA catalysis is dependent upon RNA folding, and this yields structures that can block replication of such RNAs. To address this apparent paradox we have re-examined the building blocks used for RNA replication. We report RNA-catalysed RNA synthesis on structured templates when using trinucleotide triphosphates (triplets) as substrates, catalysed by a general and accurate triplet polymerase ribozyme that emerged from in vitro evolution as a mutualistic RNA heterodimer. The triplets cooperatively invaded and unraveled even highly stable RNA secondary structures, and support non-canonical primer-free and bidirectional modes of RNA synthesis and replication. Triplet substrates thus resolve a central incongruity of RNA replication, and here allow the ribozyme to synthesise its own catalytic subunit '+' and '-' strands in segments and assemble them into a new active ribozyme. © 2018, Attwater et al.

  16. Computational and experimental study of atmospheric moisture in ceramic blocks filled with waste fibres in winter season

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stastnik, S.

    2016-06-01

    Development of materials for vertical outer building structures tends to application of hollow clay blocks filled with some appropriate insulation material. Ceramic fittings provide high thermal resistance, but the walls built from them suffer from condensation of air humidity in winter season frequently. The paper presents the computational simulation and experimental laboratory validation of moisture behaviour of such masonry with insulation prepared from waste fibres under the Central European climatic conditions.

  17. The Mall

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-10-27

    This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This photograph from 1971 shows the open-air gathering area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory known as "The Mall." It looks east towards the Applied Mechanics building (the blocky white building now numbered 157). The person in the foreground is Robert Steinbacher, the project scientist for the Mariner 9 mission to Mars. The concrete bridge crossing the ponds remains, even though the ponds have been removed. Many trees and another building, the Central Engineering Building (301), block the view to Building 157 now. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21125

  18. Reading Comprehension and Autism in the Primary General Education Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen, Neal Nghia; Leytham, Patrick; Schaefer Whitby, Peggy; Gelfer, Jeffrey I.

    2015-01-01

    Reading comprehension is a critical building block for effective early literacy development. Many students with autism spectrum disorder demonstrate difficulties in reading comprehension. These difficulties may be attributed to deficits in Theory of Mind, Weak Central Coherence, and Executive Functioning. Given the rise in the number of students…

  19. Genetic Building Blocks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberg, Ezra

    2004-01-01

    The "Central Dogma" of genetics states that one gene, located in a DNA molecule, is ultimately translated into one protein. As important as this idea is, many teachers shy away from teaching the actual mechanism of gene translation, and many students find the concepts abstract and inaccessible. This article describes a unit, called Genetics…

  20. 15. The second story in the north segment of the ...

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

    15. The second story in the north segment of the building was originally constructed as a restaurant. The north wall of the dining room retains the original wood wainscot and double-hung windows. At some undetermined time, a building was constructed on the adjacent property; blocking the windows in the dining room. Several chimneys with stove-pipe connections occur in the room. The members seen on the floor are part of a system recently installed to support the failing roof. Credit GADA/MRM. - Stroud Building, 31-33 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ

  1. The Building Blocks of Community Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MDC, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC.

    The traditional economic development strategy of the South--concentrating on low-skill, low-wage labor--no longer works; the region cannot compete with other areas of the world that offer low-cost, high-skill labor. The challenges facing rural and central-city communities in the South are immense, and only a comprehensive approach to economic…

  2. 2017 Solar Eclipse Event

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-06-11

    Marshall Space Flight Center employees view the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse at the center’s activities building. The Huntsville area experienced 97 percent occultation, nearly a complete blocking out of the sun by the orbit of Earth's moon. The next opportunity to view a solar eclipse in the eastern and central United States will occur in April 2024.

  3. On the Adequacy of Current Empirical Evaluations of Formal Models of Categorization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wills, Andy J.; Pothos, Emmanuel M.

    2012-01-01

    Categorization is one of the fundamental building blocks of cognition, and the study of categorization is notable for the extent to which formal modeling has been a central and influential component of research. However, the field has seen a proliferation of noncomplementary models with little consensus on the relative adequacy of these accounts.…

  4. Doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as building blocks for nanoelectronics: a theoretical study.

    PubMed

    Dral, Pavlo O; Kivala, Milan; Clark, Timothy

    2013-03-01

    Density functional theory (DFT) and semiempirical UHF natural orbital configuration interaction (UNO-CI) calculations are used to investigate the effect of heteroatom substitution at the central position of a model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The effects of the substitution on structure, strain, electronic and spectral properties, and aromaticity of the compounds are discussed.

  5. 2017 Solar Eclipse Event

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-06-11

    Brad Addona views the beginning of the August 21, 2017 at a viewing event for Marshall Space Flight Center’s activities building for Marshall employees. The Huntsville area experienced 97 percent occultation, nearly a complete blocking out of the sun by the orbit of Earth's moon. The next opportunity to view a solar eclipse in the eastern and central United States will occur in April 2024.

  6. Design of a Digital Library for Human Movement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ben-Arie, Jezekiel; Pandit, Purvin; Rajaram, ShyamSundar

    This paper is focused on a central aspect in the design of a planned digital library for human movement, i.e. on the aspect of representation and recognition of human activity from video data. The method of representation is important since it has a major impact on the design of all the other building blocks of the system such as the user…

  7. Toe-to-hand transfer in symbrachydactyly.

    PubMed

    Richardson, Philip W F; Johnstone, Bruce R; Coombs, Christopher J

    2004-07-01

    Symbrachydactyly, or central atypical cleft, is classified as a failure of formation. For the adactylous or monodactylous forms, free toe transfer is the treatment of choice. We present 18 free toe transfers in 13 patients for symbrachydactyly. Despite abnormal anatomy, the functional building blocks have always been available and transfer technically possible. The result has been improved function and high levels of parental satisfaction.

  8. Piecemeal Buildup of the Genetic Code, Ribosomes, and Genomes from Primordial tRNA Building Blocks

    PubMed Central

    Caetano-Anollés, Derek; Caetano-Anollés, Gustavo

    2016-01-01

    The origin of biomolecular machinery likely centered around an ancient and central molecule capable of interacting with emergent macromolecular complexity. tRNA is the oldest and most central nucleic acid molecule of the cell. Its co-evolutionary interactions with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase protein enzymes define the specificities of the genetic code and those with the ribosome their accurate biosynthetic interpretation. Phylogenetic approaches that focus on molecular structure allow reconstruction of evolutionary timelines that describe the history of RNA and protein structural domains. Here we review phylogenomic analyses that reconstruct the early history of the synthetase enzymes and the ribosome, their interactions with RNA, and the inception of amino acid charging and codon specificities in tRNA that are responsible for the genetic code. We also trace the age of domains and tRNA onto ancient tRNA homologies that were recently identified in rRNA. Our findings reveal a timeline of recruitment of tRNA building blocks for the formation of a functional ribosome, which holds both the biocatalytic functions of protein biosynthesis and the ability to store genetic memory in primordial RNA genomic templates. PMID:27918435

  9. Piecemeal Buildup of the Genetic Code, Ribosomes, and Genomes from Primordial tRNA Building Blocks.

    PubMed

    Caetano-Anollés, Derek; Caetano-Anollés, Gustavo

    2016-12-02

    The origin of biomolecular machinery likely centered around an ancient and central molecule capable of interacting with emergent macromolecular complexity. tRNA is the oldest and most central nucleic acid molecule of the cell. Its co-evolutionary interactions with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase protein enzymes define the specificities of the genetic code and those with the ribosome their accurate biosynthetic interpretation. Phylogenetic approaches that focus on molecular structure allow reconstruction of evolutionary timelines that describe the history of RNA and protein structural domains. Here we review phylogenomic analyses that reconstruct the early history of the synthetase enzymes and the ribosome, their interactions with RNA, and the inception of amino acid charging and codon specificities in tRNA that are responsible for the genetic code. We also trace the age of domains and tRNA onto ancient tRNA homologies that were recently identified in rRNA. Our findings reveal a timeline of recruitment of tRNA building blocks for the formation of a functional ribosome, which holds both the biocatalytic functions of protein biosynthesis and the ability to store genetic memory in primordial RNA genomic templates.

  10. RNA and RNP as Building Blocks for Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology.

    PubMed

    Ohno, Hirohisa; Saito, Hirohide

    2016-01-01

    Recent technologies that aimed to elucidate cellular function have revealed essential roles for RNA molecules in living systems. Our knowledge concerning functional and structural information of naturally occurring RNA and RNA-protein (RNP) complexes is increasing rapidly. RNA and RNP interaction motifs are structural units that function as building blocks to constitute variety of complex structures. RNA-central synthetic biology and nanotechnology are constructive approaches that employ the accumulated information and build synthetic RNA (RNP)-based circuits and nanostructures. Here, we describe how to design and construct synthetic RNA (RNP)-based devices and structures at the nanometer-scale for biological and future therapeutic applications. RNA/RNP nanostructures can also be utilized as the molecular scaffold to control the localization or interactions of target molecule(s). Moreover, RNA motifs recognized by RNA-binding proteins can be applied to make protein-responsive translational "switches" that can turn gene expression "on" or "off" depending on the intracellular environment. This "synthetic RNA and RNP world" will expand tools for nanotechnology and synthetic biology. In addition, these reconstructive approaches would lead to a greater understanding of building principle in naturally occurring RNA/RNP molecules and systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Are trinuclear superhalogens promising candidates for building blocks of novel magnetic materials? A theoretical prospect from combined broken-symmetry density functional theory and ab initio study.

    PubMed

    Yu, Yang; Li, Chen; Yin, Bing; Li, Jian-Li; Huang, Yuan-He; Wen, Zhen-Yi; Jiang, Zhen-Yi

    2013-08-07

    The structures, relative stabilities, vertical electron detachment energies, and magnetic properties of a series of trinuclear clusters are explored via combined broken-symmetry density functional theory and ab initio study. Several exchange-correlation functionals are utilized to investigate the effects of different halogen elements and central atoms on the properties of the clusters. These clusters are shown to possess stronger superhalogen properties than previously reported dinuclear superhalogens. The calculated exchange coupling constants indicate the antiferromagnetic coupling between the transition metal ions. Spin density analysis demonstrates the importance of spin delocalization in determining the strengths of various couplings. Spin frustration is shown to occur in some of the trinuclear superhalogens. The coexistence of strong superhalogen properties and spin frustration implies the possibility of trinuclear superhalogens working as the building block of new materials of novel magnetic properties.

  12. New naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b‧]difuran based two-dimensional conjugated small molecules for photovoltaic application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Hongjian; Luan, Xiangfeng; Qiu, Lixia; Li, Hang; Liu, Ye; Zou, Yingping

    2017-10-01

    Two new A-D-A small molecules with alkoxyphenyl and alkylthiophenyl-substituted naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b‧]difuran (NDF) as the central building block named NDFPO-DPP and NDFPS-DPP were synthesized and firstly used as donor materials in organic solar cells (OSCs). The effects of the alkoxyphenyl and alkylthiophenyl side chains on the NDF unit have been investigated. With a single atom variation from O to S, NDFPS-DPP exhibited lower HOMO energy levels than its counterpart NDFPO-DPP, which resulted in enhanced Voc. The device based on NDFPO-DPP with thermal annealing exhibited a better PCE of 3.10% due to the higher and more balanced hole and electron mobilities. The investigations show that NDF could be a promising building block in OSCs via rational molecular structure design and device optimizations.

  13. SRA Real Math Building Blocks PreK. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

    2007-01-01

    "SRA Real Math Building Blocks PreK" (also referred to as "Building Blocks for Math") is a supplemental mathematics curriculum designed to develop preschool children's early mathematical knowledge through various individual and small- and large-group activities. It uses "Building Blocks for Math PreK" software,…

  14. Digital Alchemy for Materials Design: Colloids and Beyond

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Anders, Greg; Klotsa, Daphne; Karas, Andrew; Dodd, Paul; Glotzer, Sharon

    Starting with the early alchemists, a holy grail of science has been to make desired materials by manipulating basic building blocks. Building blocks that show promise for assembling new complex materials can be synthesized at the nanoscale with attributes that would astonish the ancient alchemists in their versatility. However, this versatility means that connecting building-block attributes to bulk structure is both necessary for rationally engineering materials and difficult because building block attributes can be altered in many ways. We show how to exploit the malleability of colloidal nanoparticle ``elements'' to quantitatively link building-block attributes to bulk structure through a statistical thermodynamic framework we term ``digital alchemy''. We use this framework to optimize building blocks for a given target structure and to determine which building-block attributes are most important to control for self-assembly, through a set of novel thermodynamic response functions. We thereby establish direct links between the attributes of colloidal building blocks and the bulk structures they form. Moreover, our results give concrete solutions to the more general conceptual challenge of optimizing emergent behaviors in nature and can be applied to other types of matter.

  15. Possible astronomical references in two megalithic building of ancient Latium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Magli, G.

    In the wide area of the ancient Latium Vetus - roughly enclosed within the coast and the Apennines between Rome and Terracina, in Central Italy - there are several examples of town's walls and buildings constructed with the spectacular megalithic technique called polygonal, in which enormous blocks are cut in irregular shapes and perfectly fit together without mortar. In many cases, for instance in Alatri, Arpino, Circei, Norba and Segni, the megalithic size of the blocks and the ingenuity in construction reach the same magnificence and impression of power and pride which characterize the worldwide famous Mycenaean towns of Tiryns and Mycenae, constructed around the XIII century BC. In Italy however, all polygonal walls are currently attributed to the Romans, and dated to the first centuries of the Roman republic (V-III century BC), although for most of these constructions no reliable stratigraphy is available. In the present work, which is part of an ongoing project aiming at a complete study of these buildings, we investigate the possible astronomical references in the planning of two among the most imposing of them, namely the so called Acropolis of Alatri and Circei.

  16. Gaussian curvature analysis allows for automatic block placement in multi-block hexahedral meshing.

    PubMed

    Ramme, Austin J; Shivanna, Kiran H; Magnotta, Vincent A; Grosland, Nicole M

    2011-10-01

    Musculoskeletal finite element analysis (FEA) has been essential to research in orthopaedic biomechanics. The generation of a volumetric mesh is often the most challenging step in a FEA. Hexahedral meshing tools that are based on a multi-block approach rely on the manual placement of building blocks for their mesh generation scheme. We hypothesise that Gaussian curvature analysis could be used to automatically develop a building block structure for multi-block hexahedral mesh generation. The Automated Building Block Algorithm incorporates principles from differential geometry, combinatorics, statistical analysis and computer science to automatically generate a building block structure to represent a given surface without prior information. We have applied this algorithm to 29 bones of varying geometries and successfully generated a usable mesh in all cases. This work represents a significant advancement in automating the definition of building blocks.

  17. Single cyanide-bridged Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based coordination polymers: Reactant- and stoichiometry-dependent syntheses, effective photocatalytic properties

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

    Zhang, Jinfang, E-mail: zjf260@jiangnan.edu.cn; Wang, Chao; Wang, Yinlin

    2015-11-15

    The systematic study on the reaction variables affecting single cyanide-bridged Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based coordination polymers (CPs) is firstly demonstrated. Five anionic single cyanide-bridged Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based CPs {[Pr_4N][WS_4Cu_3(CN)_2]}{sub n} (1), {[Pr_4N][WS_4Cu_4(CN)_3]}{sub n} (2), {[Pr_4N][WOS_3Cu_3(CN)_2]}{sub n} (3), {[Bu_4N][WOS_3Cu_3(CN)_2]}{sub n} (4) and {[Bu_4N][MoOS_3Cu_3(CN)_2]}{sub n} (5) were prepared by varying the molar ratios of the starting materials, and the specific cations, cluster building blocks and central metal atoms in the cluster building blocks. 1 possesses an anionic 3D diamondoid framework constructed from 4-connected T-shaped clusters [WS{sub 4}Cu{sub 3}]{sup +} and single CN{sup −} bridges. 2 is fabricated from 6-connected planar ‘open’ clusters [WS{sub 4}Cu{sub 4}]{supmore » 2+} and single CN{sup −} bridges, forming an anionic 3D architecture with an “ACS” topology. 3 and 4 exhibit novel anionic 2-D double-layer networks, both constructed from nest-shaped clusters [WOS{sub 3}Cu{sub 3}]{sup +} linked by single CN{sup −} bridges, but containing the different cations [Pr{sub 4}N]{sup +} and [Bu{sub 4}N]{sup +}, respectively. 5 is constructed from nest-shaped clusters [MoOS{sub 3}Cu{sub 3}]{sup +} and single CN{sup −} bridges, with an anionic 3D diamondoid framework. The anionic frameworks of 1-5, all sustained by single CN{sup −} bridges, are non-interpenetrating and exhibit huge potential void volumes. Employing differing molar ratios of the reactants and varying the cluster building blocks resulted in differing single cyanide-bridged Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based CPs, while replacing the cation ([Pr{sub 4}N]{sup +} vs. [Bu{sub 4}N]{sup +}) was found to have negligible impact on the nature of the architecture. Unexpectedly, replacement of the central metal atom (W vs. Mo) in the cluster building blocks had a pronounced effect on the framework. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activities of heterothiometallic cluster-based CPs were firstly explored by monitoring the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation, which reveals that 2 exhibits effective photocatalytic properties. - Highlights: • Reaction variables affecting Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based CPs is firstly explored. • Replacing central metal atom had a pronounced effect on W/S/Cu cluster-based CPs. • Photocatalytic activities of Mo(W)/S/Cu cluster-based CPs are firstly investigated.« less

  18. Multi-shape memory polymers achieved by the spatio-assembly of 3D printable thermoplastic building blocks.

    PubMed

    Li, Hongze; Gao, Xiang; Luo, Yingwu

    2016-04-07

    Multi-shape memory polymers were prepared by the macroscale spatio-assembly of building blocks in this work. The building blocks were methyl acrylate-co-styrene (MA-co-St) copolymers, which have the St-block-(St-random-MA)-block-St tri-block chain sequence. This design ensures that their transition temperatures can be adjusted over a wide range by varying the composition of the middle block. The two St blocks at the chain ends can generate a crosslink network in the final device to achieve strong bonding force between building blocks and the shape memory capacity. Due to their thermoplastic properties, 3D printing was employed for the spatio-assembly to build devices. This method is capable of introducing many transition phases into one device and preparing complicated shapes via 3D printing. The device can perform a complex action via a series of shape changes. Besides, this method can avoid the difficult programing of a series of temporary shapes. The control of intermediate temporary shapes was realized via programing the shapes and locations of building blocks in the final device.

  19. National Water-Quality Assessment Program - South-Central Texas

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1994-01-01

    Studies of 60 hydrologic systems that include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems (study-unit investigations) are the building blocks of the national assessment. Areas of the 60 study units range in size from less than 1,000 to more than 60,000 square miles (mi2) and represent 60 to 70 percent of the Nation's water use and population served by public water supplies. Twenty study-unit investigations were started in 1991, 20 additional started in 1994, and 20 are planned to start in 1997. Assessment activities in the South-Central Texas study area (see fig.) began in 1994.

  20. 2017 Solar Eclipse Event

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-06-11

    Krisdon Manecke and Danielle Burleson of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) view the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse at the Marshall Space Flight Center’s viewing opportunity at the activities building. The Huntsville area experienced 97 percent occultation, nearly a complete blocking out of the sun by the orbit of Earth's moon. The next opportunity to view a solar eclipse in the eastern and central United States will occur in April 2024.

  1. Data Policy Construction Set - Building Blocks from Childhood Constructions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fleischer, Dirk; Paul-Stueve, Thilo; Jobmann, Alexandra; Farrenkopf, Stefan

    2016-04-01

    A complete construction set of building blocks usually comes with instructions and these instruction include building stages. The products of these building stages usually build from very general parts become highly specialized building parts for very unique features of the whole construction model. This sounds very much like the construction or organization of an interdisciplinary research project, institution or association, doesn't it! The creation process of an overarching data policy for a project group or institution is exactly the combination of individual interests with the common goal of a collaborative data policy and can be compared with the building stages of a construction set of building blocks and the building instructions. Keeping this in mind we created the data policy construction set of textual building blocks. This construction set is subdivided into several building stages or parts each containing multiple building blocks as text blocks. By combining building blocks of all subdivisions it is supposed to create a cascading data policy document. Cascading from the top level as a construction set provider for all further down existing levels such as project, themes, work packages or Universities, faculties, institutes down to the working level of working groups. The working groups are picking from the remaining building blocks in the provided construction set the suitable blocks for its working procedures to create a very specific policy from the available construction set provided by the top level community. Nevertheless, if a working group realized that there are missing building blocks or worse that there are missing building parts, then they have the chance to add the missing pieces to the construction set of direct an future use. This cascading approach enables project or institution wide application of the encoded rules from the textual level on access to data storage infrastructure. This structured approach is flexible enough to allow for the fact that interdisciplinary research projects always bring together very diverse amount of working habits, methods and requirements. All these need to be considered for the creation of the general document on data sharing and research data management. This approach focused on the recommendation of the RDA practical policy working group to implement practical policies derived from the textual level. Therefore it aims to move the data policy creation procedure and implementation towards the consortium or institutional formation with all the benefits of an existing data policy construction set already during the proposal creation and proposal review. Picking up the metaphor of real building blocks in context of data policies provides also the insight that existing building blocks and building parts can be reused as they are, but also can be redesigned with very little changes or a full overhaul.

  2. The Impact of Individual Differences, Types of Model and Social Settings on Block Building Performance among Chinese Preschoolers.

    PubMed

    Tian, Mi; Deng, Zhu; Meng, Zhaokun; Li, Rui; Zhang, Zhiyi; Qi, Wenhui; Wang, Rui; Yin, Tingting; Ji, Menghui

    2018-01-01

    Children's block building performances are used as indicators of other abilities in multiple domains. In the current study, we examined individual differences, types of model and social settings as influences on children's block building performance. Chinese preschoolers ( N = 180) participated in a block building activity in a natural setting, and performance was assessed with multiple measures in order to identify a range of specific skills. Using scores generated across these measures, three dependent variables were analyzed: block building skills, structural balance and structural features. An overall MANOVA showed that there were significant main effects of gender and grade level across most measures. Types of model showed no significant effect in children's block building. There was a significant main effect of social settings on structural features, with the best performance in the 5-member group, followed by individual and then the 10-member block building. These findings suggest that boys performed better than girls in block building activity. Block building performance increased significantly from 1st to 2nd year of preschool, but not from second to third. The preschoolers created more representational constructions when presented with a model made of wooden rather than with a picture. There was partial evidence that children performed better when working with peers in a small group than when working alone or working in a large group. It is suggested that future study should examine other modalities rather than the visual one, diversify the samples and adopt a longitudinal investigation.

  3. Analog Building Blocks for Communications Modems.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-01-01

    x*—*- A0-A039 82b ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS INC ST PETERSBURG FLA F/6 9/5 ANALOG BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNICATIONS MODEMS .(U) JAN 77 B BLACK...F33615-7<t-C-1120 UNCLASSIFIED AFAL-TR-76-29 NL ANALOG BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNICATIONS MODEMS ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS INC. A SUBSIDIARY OF...Idantltr Or Mac* numb*,; Avionics Building-Block modules Frequency Synthesize* Costas Demodulator Amplifier Modem Frequency Multiplier ’ -^ « TRACT

  4. Fault-tolerant computer study. [logic designs for building block circuits

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rennels, D. A.; Avizienis, A. A.; Ercegovac, M. D.

    1981-01-01

    A set of building block circuits is described which can be used with commercially available microprocessors and memories to implement fault tolerant distributed computer systems. Each building block circuit is intended for VLSI implementation as a single chip. Several building blocks and associated processor and memory chips form a self checking computer module with self contained input output and interfaces to redundant communications buses. Fault tolerance is achieved by connecting self checking computer modules into a redundant network in which backup buses and computer modules are provided to circumvent failures. The requirements and design methodology which led to the definition of the building block circuits are discussed.

  5. Adolescent Boys' and Girls' Block Constructions Differ in Structural Balance: A Block-Building Characteristic Related to Math Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casey, Beth M.; Pezaris, Elizabeth E.; Bassi, Julie

    2012-01-01

    Two studies were conducted on block building in adolescents, assessing middle school (Study 1) and high school students (Study 2). Students were asked to build something interesting with blocks. In both samples, the same pattern of gender differences were found; boys built taller structures than girls, and balanced a larger number of blocks on a…

  6. Aerial Imagery and LIDAR Data Fusion for Unambiguous Extraction of Adjacent Level-Buildings Footprints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mola Ebrahimi, S.; Arefi, H.; Rasti Veis, H.

    2017-09-01

    Our paper aims to present a new approach to identify and extract building footprints using aerial images and LiDAR data. Employing an edge detector algorithm, our method first extracts the outer boundary of buildings, and then by taking advantage of Hough transform and extracting the boundary of connected buildings in a building block, it extracts building footprints located in each block. The proposed method first recognizes the predominant leading orientation of a building block using Hough transform, and then rotates the block according to the inverted complement of the dominant line's angle. Therefore the block poses horizontally. Afterwards, by use of another Hough transform, vertical lines, which might be the building boundaries of interest, are extracted and the final building footprints within a block are obtained. The proposed algorithm is implemented and tested on the urban area of Zeebruges, Belgium(IEEE Contest,2015). The areas of extracted footprints are compared to the corresponding areas in the reference data and mean error is equal to 7.43 m2. Besides, qualitative and quantitative evaluations suggest that the proposed algorithm leads to acceptable results in automated precise extraction of building footprints.

  7. Composition of clusters and building blocks in amylopectins from maize mutants deficient in starch synthase III.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Fan; Bertoft, Eric; Seetharaman, Koushik

    2013-12-18

    Branches in amylopectin are distributed along the backbone. Units of the branches are building blocks (smaller) and clusters (larger) based on the distance between branches. In this study, composition of clusters and building blocks of amylopectins from dull1 maize mutants deficient in starch synthase III (SSIII) with a common genetic background (W64A) were characterized and compared with the wild type. Clusters were produced from amylopectins by partial hydrolysis using α-amylase of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and were subsequently treated with phosphorylase a and β-amylase to produce φ,β-limit dextrins. Clusters were further extensively hydrolyzed with the α-amylase to produce building blocks. Structures of clusters and building blocks were analyzed by diverse chromatographic techniques. The results showed that the dull1 mutation resulted in larger clusters with more singly branched building blocks. The average cluster contained ~5.4 blocks in dull1 mutants and ~4.2 blocks in the wild type. The results are compared with previous results from SSIII-deficient amo1 barley and suggest fundamental differences in the cluster structures.

  8. Engineering the formation of secondary building blocks within hollow interiors.

    PubMed

    Li, Xiaobo; Liu, Xiao; Ma, Yi; Li, Mingrun; Zhao, Jiao; Xin, Hongchuan; Zhang, Lei; Yang, Yan; Li, Can; Yang, Qihua

    2012-03-15

    Secondary building blocks within the cavities of primary silica-architecture building blocks are successfully engineered. The immobilized surfactant directs the selective dissolution and reassembly of dissolved silicate species for the formation of secondary building blocks (hollow nanospheres/nanorods; see figure). Supported TiO(2) on nanostructures with multilevel interiors is shown to exhibit significantly enhanced activity in photocatalytic H(2) production. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. The Impact of Individual Differences, Types of Model and Social Settings on Block Building Performance among Chinese Preschoolers

    PubMed Central

    Tian, Mi; Deng, Zhu; Meng, Zhaokun; Li, Rui; Zhang, Zhiyi; Qi, Wenhui; Wang, Rui; Yin, Tingting; Ji, Menghui

    2018-01-01

    Children’s block building performances are used as indicators of other abilities in multiple domains. In the current study, we examined individual differences, types of model and social settings as influences on children’s block building performance. Chinese preschoolers (N = 180) participated in a block building activity in a natural setting, and performance was assessed with multiple measures in order to identify a range of specific skills. Using scores generated across these measures, three dependent variables were analyzed: block building skills, structural balance and structural features. An overall MANOVA showed that there were significant main effects of gender and grade level across most measures. Types of model showed no significant effect in children’s block building. There was a significant main effect of social settings on structural features, with the best performance in the 5-member group, followed by individual and then the 10-member block building. These findings suggest that boys performed better than girls in block building activity. Block building performance increased significantly from 1st to 2nd year of preschool, but not from second to third. The preschoolers created more representational constructions when presented with a model made of wooden rather than with a picture. There was partial evidence that children performed better when working with peers in a small group than when working alone or working in a large group. It is suggested that future study should examine other modalities rather than the visual one, diversify the samples and adopt a longitudinal investigation. PMID:29441031

  10. Aminobenzoates as building blocks for natural product assembly lines.

    PubMed

    Walsh, Christopher T; Haynes, Stuart W; Ames, Brian D

    2012-01-01

    The ortho-, meta-, and para- regioisomers of aminobenzoate are building blocks for a wide range of microbial natural products. Both the ortho-isomer (anthranilate) and PABA derive from the central shikimate pathway metabolite chorismate while the meta-isomer is not available by that route and starts from UDP-3-aminoglucose. PABA is largely funnelled into folate biosynthesis while anthranilate is the scaffold for biosynthetic elaboration into many natural heterocycles, most notably with its role in indole formation for tryptophan biosynthesis. Anthranilate is also converted to benzodiazepinones, fumiquinazolines, quinoxalines, phenoxazines, benzoxazolinates, quinolones, and phenazines, often with redox enzyme participation. The 5-hydroxy form of 3-aminobenzaote is the starter unit for ansa-bridged rifamycins, ansamitocins, and geldanamycins, whereas regioisomers 2-hydroxy, 4-hydroxy and 2,4-dihydroxy-3-aminobenzoate are key components of antimycin, grixazone, and platencin and platensimycin biosynthesis, respectively. The enzymatic mechanisms for generation of the aminobenzoate regioisomers and their subsequent utilization for diverse heterocycle and macrocycle construction are examined.

  11. A Solution-Processable Molecule using Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene as Building Block for Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

    PubMed

    Wei, Huan; Chen, Weichao; Han, Liangliang; Wang, Ting; Bao, Xichang; Li, Xiaoyun; Liu, Jie; Zhou, Yuanhang; Yang, Renqiang

    2015-08-01

    A solution-processed acceptor-π-donor-π-acceptor (A-π-D-π-A) type small molecule, namely DCATT, has been designed and synthesized for the application as donor material in organic solar cells. The fused aromatic unit thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT) flanked with thiophene is applied as π bridge, while 4,8-bisthienyl substituted benzodithiophene (BDT) and 2-ethylhexyl cyanoacetate are chosen as the central building block and end group, respectively. Introduction of fused ring to the small molecule enhances the conjugation length of the main chain, and gives a strong tendency to form π-π stacking with a large overlapping area which favors to high charge carrier transport. Small-molecule organic solar cells based on blends of DCATT and fullerene acceptor exhibit power conversion efficiencies as high as 5.20 % under the illumination of AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm(-2) . © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. NANOSTRUCTURED METAL OXIDE CATALYSTS VIA BUILDING BLOCK SYNTHESES

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

    Craig E. Barnes

    2013-03-05

    A broadly applicable methodology has been developed to prepare new single site catalysts on silica supports. This methodology requires of three critical components: a rigid building block that will be the main structural and compositional component of the support matrix; a family of linking reagents that will be used to insert active metals into the matrix as well as cross link building blocks into a three dimensional matrix; and a clean coupling reaction that will connect building blocks and linking agents together in a controlled fashion. The final piece of conceptual strategy at the center of this methodology involves dosingmore » the building block with known amounts of linking agents so that the targeted connectivity of a linking center to surrounding building blocks is obtained. Achieving targeted connectivities around catalytically active metals in these building block matrices is a critical element of the strategy by which single site catalysts are obtained. This methodology has been demonstrated with a model system involving only silicon and then with two metal-containing systems (titanium and vanadium). The effect that connectivity has on the reactivity of atomically dispersed titanium sites in silica building block matrices has been investigated in the selective oxidation of phenols to benezoquinones. 2-connected titanium sites are found to be five times as active (i.e. initial turnover frequencies) than 4-connected titanium sites (i.e. framework titanium sites).« less

  13. The Building Blocks of Geology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibson, Betty O.

    2001-01-01

    Discusses teaching techniques for teaching about rocks, minerals, and the differences between them. Presents a model-building activity that uses plastic building blocks to build crystal and rock models. (YDS)

  14. Functionalized Helical Building Blocks for Nanoelectronics.

    PubMed

    Khokhlov, Khrystofor; Schuster, Nathaniel J; Ng, Fay; Nuckolls, Colin

    2018-04-06

    Molecular building blocks are designed and created for the cis- and trans-dibrominated perylenediimides. The syntheses are simple and provide these useful materials on the gram scale. To demonstrate their synthetic versatility, these building blocks were used to create new dimeric perylenediimide helixes. Two of these helical dimers are twistacenes, and one is a helicene. Crucially, each possesses regiochemically defined functionality that allows the dimer helix to be elaborated into higher oligomers. It would be very difficult to prepare these helical PDI building blocks regioselectively without the methods described.

  15. The 10 building blocks of high-performing primary care.

    PubMed

    Bodenheimer, Thomas; Ghorob, Amireh; Willard-Grace, Rachel; Grumbach, Kevin

    2014-01-01

    Our experiences studying exemplar primary care practices, and our work assisting other practices to become more patient centered, led to a formulation of the essential elements of primary care, which we call the 10 building blocks of high-performing primary care. The building blocks include 4 foundational elements-engaged leadership, data-driven improvement, empanelment, and team-based care-that assist the implementation of the other 6 building blocks-patient-team partnership, population management, continuity of care, prompt access to care, comprehensiveness and care coordination, and a template of the future. The building blocks, which represent a synthesis of the innovative thinking that is transforming primary care in the United States, are both a description of existing high-performing practices and a model for improvement.

  16. Two innovative solutions based on fibre concrete blocks designed for building substructure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pazderka, J.; Hájek, P.

    2017-09-01

    Using of fibers in a high-strength concrete allows reduction of the dimensions of small precast concrete elements, which opens up new ways of solution for traditional construction details in buildings. The paper presents two innovative technical solutions for building substructure: The special shaped plinth block from fibre concrete and the fibre concrete elements for new technical solution of ventilated floor. The main advantages of plinth block from fibre concrete blocks (compared with standard plinth solutions) is: easier and faster assembly, higher durability and thanks to the air cavity between the vertical part of the block, the building substructure reduced moisture level of structures under the waterproofing layer and a comprehensive solution to the final surface of building plinth as well as the surface of adjacent terrain. The ventilated floor based on fibre concrete precast blocks is an attractive structural alternative for tackling the problem of increased moisture in masonry in older buildings, lacking a functional waterproof layer in the substructure.

  17. Development of Test Article Building Block (TABB) for deployable platform systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Greenberg, H. S.; Barbour, R. T.

    1984-01-01

    The concept of a Test Article Building Block (TABB) is described. The TABB is a ground test article that is representative of a future building block that can be used to construct LEO and GEO deployable space platforms for communications and scientific payloads. This building block contains a main housing within which the entire structure, utilities, and deployment/retraction mechanism are stowed during launch. The end adapter secures the foregoing components to the housing during launch. The main housing and adapter provide the necessary building-block-to-building-block attachments for automatically deployable platforms. Removal from the shuttle cargo bay can be accomplished with the remote manipulator system (RMS) and/or the handling and positioning aid (HAPA). In this concept, all the electrical connections are in place prior to launch with automatic latches for payload attachment provided on either the end adapters or housings. The housings also can contain orbiter docking ports for payload installation and maintenance.

  18. Efficient Risk Determination of Risk of Road Blocking by Means of MMS and Data of Buildings and Their Surrounding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nose, Kazuhito; Hatake, Shuhei

    2016-06-01

    Massive earthquake named "Tonankai Massive earthquake" is predicted to occur in the near future and is feared to cause severe damage in Kinki District . "Hanshin-Awaji Massive Earthquake" in 1995 destroyed most of the buildings constructed before 1981 and not complying with the latest earthquake resistance standards. Collapsed buildings blocked roads, obstructed evacuation, rescue and firefighting operations and inflicted further damages.To alleviate the damages, it is important to predict the points where collapsed buildings are likely block the roads and to take precautions in advance. But big cities have an expanse of urban areas with densely-distributed buildings, and it requires time and cost to check each and every building whether or not it will block the road. In order to reduce blocked roads when a disaster strikes, we made a study and confirmed that the risk of road blocking can be determined easily by means of the latest technologies of survey and geographical information.

  19. Exploiting the bad eating habits of Ras-driven cancers.

    PubMed

    White, Eileen

    2013-10-01

    Oncogenic Ras promotes glucose fermentation and glutamine use to supply central carbon metabolism, but how and why have only emerged recently. Ras-mediated metabolic reprogramming generates building blocks for growth and promotes antioxidant defense. To fuel metabolic pathways, Ras scavenges extracellular proteins and lipids. To bolster metabolism and mitigate stress, Ras activates cellular self-cannibalization and recycling of proteins and organelles by autophagy. Targeting these distinct features of Ras-driven cancers provides novel approaches to cancer therapy.

  20. The Development of Spatial Skills through Interventions Involving Block Building Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casey, Beth M.; Andrews, Nicole; Schindler, Holly; Kersh, Joanne E.; Samper, Alexandra; Copley, Juanita

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the use of block-building interventions to develop spatial-reasoning skills in kindergartners. Two intervention conditions and a control condition were included to determine, first, whether the block building activities themselves benefited children's spatial skills, and secondly, whether a story context further improved…

  1. Incorporating GIS building data and census housing statistics for sub-block-level population estimation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wu, S.-S.; Wang, L.; Qiu, X.

    2008-01-01

    This article presents a deterministic model for sub-block-level population estimation based on the total building volumes derived from geographic information system (GIS) building data and three census block-level housing statistics. To assess the model, we generated artificial blocks by aggregating census block areas and calculating the respective housing statistics. We then applied the model to estimate populations for sub-artificial-block areas and assessed the estimates with census populations of the areas. Our analyses indicate that the average percent error of population estimation for sub-artificial-block areas is comparable to those for sub-census-block areas of the same size relative to associated blocks. The smaller the sub-block-level areas, the higher the population estimation errors. For example, the average percent error for residential areas is approximately 0.11 percent for 100 percent block areas and 35 percent for 5 percent block areas.

  2. Building Blocks: Enmeshing Technology and Creativity with Artistic Pedagogical Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Janzen, Katherine J.; Perry, Beth; Edwards, Margaret

    2017-01-01

    Using the analogy of children's building blocks, the reader is guided through the results of a research study that explored the use of three Artistic Pedagogical Technologies (APTs). "Building blocks" was the major theme that emerged from the data. Sub-themes included developing community, enhancing creativity, and risk taking. The…

  3. Allocation private building in urban city and along the transport arteries for creating a modern energy-efficient living environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kasyanov, Vitaliy; Prelovskaya, Yana

    2017-10-01

    This article submits for consideration the structuring elements of the “private sector” development system, the so-called architectural heritage of the Russian province [1]. Three types of development, still present in central parts of settlement systems, i.e. parts of historical value, are revealed. Common features of private plot development for the majority of middle-scale and small towns are characterized. Dependence of the types on various factors: ethnical, natural (geographical), economical, is revealed. It is important to determine which buildings are located along the transport arteries. Does it have historical significance and cultural value, since it forms the image of the city. The outgoing line passes, as a rule, through the entire settlement system and leads to the central part. Basic principles of formation of historically emerged development types, such as blocks, streets and side streets, are shown, and also problems needed to be solved by the means of urban planning are generalized and casted.

  4. A Time to Build: An Expanded Role for United States Reserve Forces in Central America and the Caribbean

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-04-01

    individual research project for the Tnte_-American lnse Collee 17. COSATI DES 18. SUBJECT TERMS (Continue on rvrse if necessa y and identify by block...States policy for the are= is founded on four mutually supporting tenets--the "rrh D’s"-- Democracy, Dialogue, Development and De - ense. The I24...region’s natural resources, strategic location astride important transportation and communication routes and a high level o’ U.S. investment (Ratliff in

  5. Performance of the Defense Acquisition System. 2014 Annual Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-06-13

    for Goods and Services Competition—or at least creating competitive environments—is a central tenet of our Better Buying Power initiatives...percentages despite our stated goals. Various Better Buying Power initiatives have been established to turn this trend around. Table 2-1 provided a...64E New Build JASSM/JASSM-ER MQ-1C Gray Eagle JASSM/JASSM Baseline SBIRS High/Block Buy (GEO 5-6) AIM-9X Blk II JDAM AEHF/AEHF SV 5-6 WIN-T Inc 3 SDB

  6. 2-Aryl-2-nitroacetates as Central Precursors to Aryl Nitromethanes, α-Ketoesters, and α-Amino Acids

    PubMed Central

    Metz, Alison E.

    2013-01-01

    Nitroarylacetates are useful small molecular building blocks that act as precursors to α-ketoesters and aryl nitromethanes as well as α-amino acids. Methods were developed that produce each of these compound types in good yields. Two different conditions for decarboxylation are discussed for substrates with neutral and electron-poor aryl groups versus electron-rich aryl groups. For formation of the α-ketoesters, new mild conditions for the Nef disproportionation were identified. PMID:23245626

  7. Intercultural Communication Activities in the Classroom: Turning Stumbling Blocks into Building Blocks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dillon, Randy K.

    This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the…

  8. Interlocking Toy Building Blocks as Hands-On Learning Modules for Blind and Visually Impaired Chemistry Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Melaku, Samuel; Schreck, James O.; Griffin, Kameron; Dabke, Rajeev B.

    2016-01-01

    Interlocking toy building blocks (e.g., Lego) as chemistry learning modules for blind and visually impaired (BVI) students in high school and undergraduate introductory or general chemistry courses are presented. Building blocks were assembled on a baseplate to depict the relative changes in the periodic properties of elements. Modules depicting…

  9. The Building Blocks of Life Move from Ground to Tree to Animal and Back to Ground

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davidson, E. A.

    2015-12-01

    I generally use combinations of big words to describe my science, such as biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, nutrient cycling, stoichiometry, tropical deforestation, land-use change, agricultural intensification, eutrophication, greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable development. I didn't expect to use any of these words, but I was surprised that I couldn't use some others that seem simple enough to me, such as farm, plant, soil, and forest. I landed on "building blocks" as my metaphor for the forms of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements that I study as they cycle through and among ecosystems. I study what makes trees and other kinds of life grow. We all know that they need the sun and that they take up water from the ground, but what else do trees need from the ground? What do animals that eat leaves and wood get from the trees? Just as we need building blocks to grow our bodies, trees and animals also need building blocks for growing their bodies. Trees get part of their building blocks from the ground and animals get theirs from what they eat. When animals poop and when leaves fall, some of their building blocks return to the ground. When they die, their building blocks also go back to the ground. I also study what happens to the ground, the water, and the air when we cut down trees, kill or shoo away the animals, and make fields to grow our food. Can we grow enough food and still keep the ground, water, and air clean? I think the answer is yes, but it will take better understanding of how all of those building blocks fit together and move around, from ground to tree to animal and back to ground.

  10. Building Curriculum during Block Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andrews, Nicole

    2015-01-01

    Blocks are not just for play! In this article, Nicole Andrews describes observing the interactions of three young boys enthusiastically engaged in the kindergarten block center of their classroom, using blocks in a building project that displayed their ability to use critical thinking skills, physics exploration, and the development of language…

  11. Structurally Ordered Nanowire Formation from Co-Assembly of DNA Origami and Collagen-Mimetic Peptides

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

    Jiang, Tao; Meyer, Travis A.; Modlin, Charles

    In this paper, we describe the co-assembly of two different building units: collagen-mimetic peptides and DNA origami. Two peptides CP ++ and sCP ++ are designed with a sequence comprising a central block (Pro-Hyp-Gly) and two positively charged domains (Pro-Arg-Gly) at both N- and C-termini. Co-assembly of peptides and DNA origami two-layer (TL) nanosheets affords the formation of one-dimensional nanowires with repeating periodicity of similar to 10 nm. Structural analyses suggest a face-to-face stacking of DNA nanosheets with peptides aligned perpendicularly to the sheet surfaces. We demonstrate the potential of selective peptide-DNA association between face-to-face and edge-to-edge packing by tailoringmore » the size of DNA nanostructures. Finally, this study presents an attractive strategy to create hybrid biomolecular assemblies from peptide and DNA-based building blocks that takes advantage of the intrinsic chemical and physical properties of the respective components to encode structural and, potentially, functional complexity within readily accessible biomimetic materials.« less

  12. Structurally Ordered Nanowire Formation from Co-Assembly of DNA Origami and Collagen-Mimetic Peptides

    DOE PAGES

    Jiang, Tao; Meyer, Travis A.; Modlin, Charles; ...

    2017-09-26

    In this paper, we describe the co-assembly of two different building units: collagen-mimetic peptides and DNA origami. Two peptides CP ++ and sCP ++ are designed with a sequence comprising a central block (Pro-Hyp-Gly) and two positively charged domains (Pro-Arg-Gly) at both N- and C-termini. Co-assembly of peptides and DNA origami two-layer (TL) nanosheets affords the formation of one-dimensional nanowires with repeating periodicity of similar to 10 nm. Structural analyses suggest a face-to-face stacking of DNA nanosheets with peptides aligned perpendicularly to the sheet surfaces. We demonstrate the potential of selective peptide-DNA association between face-to-face and edge-to-edge packing by tailoringmore » the size of DNA nanostructures. Finally, this study presents an attractive strategy to create hybrid biomolecular assemblies from peptide and DNA-based building blocks that takes advantage of the intrinsic chemical and physical properties of the respective components to encode structural and, potentially, functional complexity within readily accessible biomimetic materials.« less

  13. The 10 Building Blocks of High-Performing Primary Care

    PubMed Central

    Bodenheimer, Thomas; Ghorob, Amireh; Willard-Grace, Rachel; Grumbach, Kevin

    2014-01-01

    Our experiences studying exemplar primary care practices, and our work assisting other practices to become more patient centered, led to a formulation of the essential elements of primary care, which we call the 10 building blocks of high-performing primary care. The building blocks include 4 foundational elements—engaged leadership, data-driven improvement, empanelment, and team-based care—that assist the implementation of the other 6 building blocks—patient-team partnership, population management, continuity of care, prompt access to care, comprehensiveness and care coordination, and a template of the future. The building blocks, which represent a synthesis of the innovative thinking that is transforming primary care in the United States, are both a description of existing high-performing practices and a model for improvement. PMID:24615313

  14. Block 3. Central view of Block 3 observed from the ...

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

    Block 3. Central view of Block 3 observed from the west to the east. This photograph reveals the alignment of trees within the central path of the park. In addition, this photograph exposes broken bricks aligning tree beds - Skyline Park, 1500-1800 Arapaho Street, Denver, Denver County, CO

  15. INFERENCE BUILDING BLOCKS

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2018-02-15

    address the problem that probabilistic inference algorithms are diÿcult and tedious to implement, by expressing them in terms of a small number of...building blocks, which are automatic transformations on probabilistic programs. On one hand, our curation of these building blocks reflects the way human...reasoning with low-level computational optimization, so the speed and accuracy of the generated solvers are competitive with state-of-the-art systems. 15

  16. 1. John C. Garner, Jr., Photographer 1967 PRINCIPAL (NORTH) SIDE, ...

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

    1. John C. Garner, Jr., Photographer 1967 PRINCIPAL (NORTH) SIDE, FROM NORTHWEST. THE RIGHT END OF THE BLOCK IS THE E.S. WOOD BUILDING; THE BUILDING WITH A FIRE ESCAPE IS THE ROSENFIELD BUILDING; THE T.W. HOUSE BUILDING IS TO THE LEFT OF THE PRECEDING BUILDING; JOHN BERLOCHER BUILDING IS AT THE LEFT END OF THE BLOCK. - Strand Historic District, Wood-Rosenfield-House-Berlocher Buildings, 2213-2223 Strand, Galveston, Galveston County, TX

  17. A Library of Rad Hard Mixed-Voltage/Mixed-Signal Building Blocks for Integration of Avionics Systems for Deep Space

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mojarradi, M. M.; Blaes, B.; Kolawa, E. A.; Blalock, B. J.; Li, H. W.; Buck, K.; Houge, D.

    2001-01-01

    To build the sensor intensive system-on-a-chip for the next generation spacecrafts for deep space, Center for Integration of Space Microsystems at JPL (CISM) takes advantage of the lower power rating and inherent radiation resistance of Silicon on Insulator technology (SOI). We are developing a suite of mixed-voltage and mixed-signal building blocks in Honeywell's SOI process that can enable the rapid integration of the next generation avionics systems with lower power rating, higher reliability, longer life, and enhanced radiation tolerance for spacecrafts such as the Europa Orbiter and Europa Lander. The mixed-voltage building blocks are predominantly for design of adaptive power management systems. Their design centers around an LDMOS structure that is being developed by Honeywell, Boeing Corp, and the University of Idaho. The mixed-signal building blocks are designed to meet the low power, extreme radiation requirement of deep space applications. These building blocks are predominantly used to interface analog sensors to the digital CPU of the next generation avionics system on a chip. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

  18. Solvent mediated hybrid 2D materials: black phosphorus - graphene heterostructured building blocks assembled for sodium ion batteries.

    PubMed

    Li, Mengya; Muralidharan, Nitin; Moyer, Kathleen; Pint, Cary L

    2018-06-07

    Here we demonstrate the broad capability to exploit interactions at different length scales in 2D materials to prepare macroscopic functional materials containing hybrid black phosphorus/graphene (BP/G) heterostructured building blocks. First, heterostructured 2D building blocks are self-assembled during co-exfoliation in the solution phase based on electrostatic attraction of different 2D materials. Second, electrophoretic deposition is used as a tool to assemble these building blocks into macroscopic films containing these self-assembled 2D heterostructures. Characterization of deposits formed using this technique elucidates the presence of stacked and sandwiched 2D heterostructures, and zeta potential measurements confirm the mechanistic interactions driving this assembly. Building on the exceptional sodium alloying capacity of BP, these materials were demonstrated as superior binder-free and additive-free anodes for sodium batteries with specific discharge capacity of 2365 mA h gP-1 and long stable cycling duration. This study demonstrates how controllable co-processing of 2D materials can enable material control for stacking and building block assembly relevant to broad future applications of 2D materials.

  19. Hierarchically assembled theranostic nanostructures for siRNA delivery and imaging applications.

    PubMed

    Shrestha, Ritu; Elsabahy, Mahmoud; Luehmann, Hannah; Samarajeewa, Sandani; Florez-Malaver, Stephanie; Lee, Nam S; Welch, Michael J; Liu, Yongjian; Wooley, Karen L

    2012-10-24

    Dual functional hierarchically assembled nanostructures, with two unique functions of carrying therapeutic cargo electrostatically and maintaining radiolabeled imaging agents covalently within separate component building blocks, have been developed via the supramolecular assembly of several spherical cationic shell cross-linked nanoparticles clustered around a central anionic shell cross-linked cylinder. The shells of the cationic nanoparticles and the hydrophobic core domain of the anionic central cylindrical nanostructure of the assemblies were utilized to complex negatively charged nucleic acids (siRNA) and to undergo radiolabeling, respectively, for potential theranostic applications. The assemblies exhibited exceptional cell transfection and radiolabeling efficiencies, providing an overall advantage over the individual components, which could each facilitate only one or the other of the functions.

  20. Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass - Volume I, Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas

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

    None

    2004-08-01

    This report identifies twelve building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars via biological or chemical conversions. The twelve building blocks can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials. Building block chemicals, as considered for this analysis, are molecules with multiple functional groups that possess the potential to be transformed into new families of useful molecules. The twelve sugar-based building blocks are 1,4-diacids (succinic, fumaric and malic), 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy propionic acid, aspartic acid, glucaric acid, glutamic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic acid, 3-hydroxybutyrolactone, glycerol, sorbitol, and xylitol/arabinitol.

  1. Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass: Volume I -- Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas

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

    Werpy, T.; Petersen, G.

    2004-08-01

    This report identifies twelve building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars via biological or chemical conversions. The twelve building blocks can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials. Building block chemicals, as considered for this analysis, are molecules with multiple functional groups that possess the potential to be transformed into new families of useful molecules. The twelve sugar-based building blocks are 1,4-diacids (succinic, fumaric and malic), 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy propionic acid, aspartic acid, glucaric acid, glutamic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic acid, 3-hydroxybutyrolactone, glycerol, sorbitol, and xylitol/arabinitol.

  2. Computational strategies for the automated design of RNA nanoscale structures from building blocks using NanoTiler.

    PubMed

    Bindewald, Eckart; Grunewald, Calvin; Boyle, Brett; O'Connor, Mary; Shapiro, Bruce A

    2008-10-01

    One approach to designing RNA nanoscale structures is to use known RNA structural motifs such as junctions, kissing loops or bulges and to construct a molecular model by connecting these building blocks with helical struts. We previously developed an algorithm for detecting internal loops, junctions and kissing loops in RNA structures. Here we present algorithms for automating or assisting many of the steps that are involved in creating RNA structures from building blocks: (1) assembling building blocks into nanostructures using either a combinatorial search or constraint satisfaction; (2) optimizing RNA 3D ring structures to improve ring closure; (3) sequence optimisation; (4) creating a unique non-degenerate RNA topology descriptor. This effectively creates a computational pipeline for generating molecular models of RNA nanostructures and more specifically RNA ring structures with optimized sequences from RNA building blocks. We show several examples of how the algorithms can be utilized to generate RNA tecto-shapes.

  3. Computational strategies for the automated design of RNA nanoscale structures from building blocks using NanoTiler☆

    PubMed Central

    Bindewald, Eckart; Grunewald, Calvin; Boyle, Brett; O’Connor, Mary; Shapiro, Bruce A.

    2013-01-01

    One approach to designing RNA nanoscale structures is to use known RNA structural motifs such as junctions, kissing loops or bulges and to construct a molecular model by connecting these building blocks with helical struts. We previously developed an algorithm for detecting internal loops, junctions and kissing loops in RNA structures. Here we present algorithms for automating or assisting many of the steps that are involved in creating RNA structures from building blocks: (1) assembling building blocks into nanostructures using either a combinatorial search or constraint satisfaction; (2) optimizing RNA 3D ring structures to improve ring closure; (3) sequence optimisation; (4) creating a unique non-degenerate RNA topology descriptor. This effectively creates a computational pipeline for generating molecular models of RNA nanostructures and more specifically RNA ring structures with optimized sequences from RNA building blocks. We show several examples of how the algorithms can be utilized to generate RNA tecto-shapes. PMID:18838281

  4. Synthesis of most polyene natural product motifs using just twelve building blocks and one coupling reaction

    PubMed Central

    Woerly, Eric M.; Roy, Jahnabi; Burke, Martin D.

    2014-01-01

    The inherent modularity of polypeptides, oligonucleotides, and oligosaccharides has been harnessed to achieve generalized building block-based synthesis platforms. Importantly, like these other targets, most small molecule natural products are biosynthesized via iterative coupling of bifunctional building blocks. This suggests that many small molecules also possess inherent modularity commensurate with systematic building block-based construction. Supporting this hypothesis, here we report that the polyene motifs found in >75% of all known polyene natural products can be synthesized using just 12 building blocks and one coupling reaction. Using the same general retrosynthetic algorithm and reaction conditions, this platform enabled the synthesis of a wide range of polyene frameworks covering all of this natural product chemical space, and first total syntheses of the polyene natural products asnipyrone B, physarigin A, and neurosporaxanthin β-D-glucopyranoside. Collectively, these results suggest the potential for a more generalized approach for making small molecules in the laboratory. PMID:24848233

  5. COMPRESSOR BUILDING, TRA626. ELEVATIONS. WINDOWS. WALL SECTIONS. PUMICE BLOCK BUILDING ...

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

    COMPRESSOR BUILDING, TRA-626. ELEVATIONS. WINDOWS. WALL SECTIONS. PUMICE BLOCK BUILDING HOUSED COMPRESSORS FOR AIRCRAFT NUCLEAR PROPULSION EXPERIMENTS. MTR-626-IDO-2S, 3/1952. INL INDEX NO. 531-0626-00-396-110535, REV. 2. - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Reactor Area, Materials & Engineering Test Reactors, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  6. Titan's organic chemistry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sagan, C.; Thompson, W. R.; Khare, B. N.

    1985-01-01

    Voyager discovered nine simple organic molecules in the atmosphere of Titan. Complex organic solids, called tholins, produced by irradiation of the simulated Titanian atmosphere, are consistent with measured properties of Titan from ultraviolet to microwave frequencies and are the likely main constituents of the observed red aerosols. The tholins contain many of the organic building blocks central to life on earth. At least 100-m, and possibly kms thicknesses of complex organics have been produced on Titan during the age of the solar system, and may exist today as submarine deposits beneath an extensive ocean of simple hydrocarbons.

  7. Encapsulation of an interpenetrated diamondoid inorganic building block in a metal-organic framework.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Huabin; Lin, Ping; Chen, Erxia; Tan, Yanxi; Wen, Tian; Aldalbahi, Ali; Alshehri, Saad M; Yamauchi, Yusuke; Du, Shaowu; Zhang, Jian

    2015-03-23

    The first example of an inorganic-organic composite framework with an interpenetrated diamondoid inorganic building block, featuring unique {InNa}n helices and {In12 Na16 } nano-rings, has been constructed and structurally characterized. This framework also represents a unique example of encapsulation of an interpenetrated diamondoid inorganic building block in a metal-organic framework. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  8. Polymer-based platform for microfluidic systems

    DOEpatents

    Benett, William [Livermore, CA; Krulevitch, Peter [Pleasanton, CA; Maghribi, Mariam [Livermore, CA; Hamilton, Julie [Tracy, CA; Rose, Klint [Boston, MA; Wang, Amy W [Oakland, CA

    2009-10-13

    A method of forming a polymer-based microfluidic system platform using network building blocks selected from a set of interconnectable network building blocks, such as wire, pins, blocks, and interconnects. The selected building blocks are interconnectably assembled and fixedly positioned in precise positions in a mold cavity of a mold frame to construct a three-dimensional model construction of a microfluidic flow path network preferably having meso-scale dimensions. A hardenable liquid, such as poly (dimethylsiloxane) is then introduced into the mold cavity and hardened to form a platform structure as well as to mold the microfluidic flow path network having channels, reservoirs and ports. Pre-fabricated elbows, T's and other joints are used to interconnect various building block elements together. After hardening the liquid the building blocks are removed from the platform structure to make available the channels, cavities and ports within the platform structure. Microdevices may be embedded within the cast polymer-based platform, or bonded to the platform structure subsequent to molding, to create an integrated microfluidic system. In this manner, the new microfluidic platform is versatile and capable of quickly generating prototype systems, and could easily be adapted to a manufacturing setting.

  9. A discriminative method for protein remote homology detection and fold recognition combining Top-n-grams and latent semantic analysis.

    PubMed

    Liu, Bin; Wang, Xiaolong; Lin, Lei; Dong, Qiwen; Wang, Xuan

    2008-12-01

    Protein remote homology detection and fold recognition are central problems in bioinformatics. Currently, discriminative methods based on support vector machine (SVM) are the most effective and accurate methods for solving these problems. A key step to improve the performance of the SVM-based methods is to find a suitable representation of protein sequences. In this paper, a novel building block of proteins called Top-n-grams is presented, which contains the evolutionary information extracted from the protein sequence frequency profiles. The protein sequence frequency profiles are calculated from the multiple sequence alignments outputted by PSI-BLAST and converted into Top-n-grams. The protein sequences are transformed into fixed-dimension feature vectors by the occurrence times of each Top-n-gram. The training vectors are evaluated by SVM to train classifiers which are then used to classify the test protein sequences. We demonstrate that the prediction performance of remote homology detection and fold recognition can be improved by combining Top-n-grams and latent semantic analysis (LSA), which is an efficient feature extraction technique from natural language processing. When tested on superfamily and fold benchmarks, the method combining Top-n-grams and LSA gives significantly better results compared to related methods. The method based on Top-n-grams significantly outperforms the methods based on many other building blocks including N-grams, patterns, motifs and binary profiles. Therefore, Top-n-gram is a good building block of the protein sequences and can be widely used in many tasks of the computational biology, such as the sequence alignment, the prediction of domain boundary, the designation of knowledge-based potentials and the prediction of protein binding sites.

  10. Probable Earthquake Archaeological Effects in the ancient pyramids of Quetzalcóatl and Sun in Teotihuacán (Central Mexico)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Perez-Lopez, Raul; Rodríguez-Pascua, Miguel Angel; Garduño-Monroy, Victor Hugo; Oliveros, Arturo; Giner-Robles, Jorge L.; Silva, Pablo G.

    2010-05-01

    Teotihuacán was one of the blooming and greater cities of the Prehispanic cultural period within the central valley of México and one of the best archaeological findings of the Earth. During the period of splendour (Middle-Late Classic Period, 350-650 AD), almost 125.000 inhabitants lived in a vast city with more than 2000 stucco and block buildings, including the great religious and ceremonial pyramids: the Great Sun Pyramid, built between 1- 150 AD, the Moon Pyramid, built during a large time span (1-650 AD) and the outstanding Quetzalcóatl Pyramid (Feathered Snake Temple), built in two phases: the first original edifice built before 350 AD and the second one mainly are repairs of the west side and dated post-350 AD. The Quetzalcóatl Pyramid (Q- pyramid) shows a quadrangular base of ca. 3500 m2 with an extraordinary decoration of feathered snakes (attributed to the God Quetzalcóatl) and lizards. The second phase of construction consisted in a townhouse façade covering the west side of the pyramid (post 350AD), up to now with no evidence to justify such annexed wrapper of this west side. This ceremonial building was built within the Citadel, a complex area of Teotihuacán with residential and common zones as well (i.e. market). A detailed view of the steps of the west side stairs, displays different patterns of deformation affecting the blocks of the stair. The original and ancient stair exhibits rotated, overturned and displaced blocks, being stronger this deformation at the base of the pyramid. Moreover, the upper corners of the blocks appear broken in a similar form than the seismic-related feature defined as dipping broken corners or chipped corners. However, the horizontal disposition of the blocks suggests lateral vibration between them from horizontal shaking propagation. Besides, this feature appears lesser evident affecting the lower blocks of the annexed west façade, the only originally preserved ones. We have carried out a systematic measurement of this feature across the original west stairs of the Q- pyramid and the first stair level of the Sun pyramid. Furthermore, these horizontal dipping broken corners were also described affecting the new stairs of the annexed façade of the Q- pyramid. This suggests that seismic shaking could produce that deformation with a relative date of 350 AD post-quem. More data are necessary to properly test the earthquake occurrence and to bracket a probable intensity value.

  11. Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities: Assistance from Grantees

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA awarded Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities grants to four nonprofit organizations with extensive expertise in community sustainability. These organizations deliver technical assistance to communities.

  12. Block Play and Mathematics Learning in Preschool: The Effects of Building Complexity, Peer and Teacher Interactions in the Block Area, and Replica Play Materials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trawick-Smith, Jeffrey; Swaminathan, Sudha; Baton, Brooke; Danieluk, Courtney; Marsh, Samantha; Szarwacki, Monika

    2017-01-01

    Block play has been included in early childhood classrooms for over a century, yet few studies have examined its effects on learning. Several previous investigations indicate that the complexity of block building is associated with math ability, but these studies were often conducted in adult-guided, laboratory settings. In the present…

  13. A geologic and morphological description of Ishtar terra (Venus)

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

    Sukhanov, A.L.; Kotel'nikov, V.A.; Ostrovskii, M.V.

    The main part of Ishtar Terra east of Maxwell Montes is covered by systems of area dislocations in several directions that are called ''parquet.'' From the structural pictures, 1) a stable central block, 2) smaller peripheral blocks separated from the central block by faults and grabens, 3) zones of mobilized parquet, the matter of which spread down below the slope in a direction away from the central block in the form of plastic flows, and 4) partially ''parquetized'' lava rock masses are distinguished here. The Maxwell Montes were formed as the result of the collision of the central block andmore » the Lakshmi Planum.« less

  14. DNA-Templated Polymerization of Side-Chain-Functionalized Peptide Nucleic Acid Aldehydes

    PubMed Central

    Kleiner, Ralph E.; Brudno, Yevgeny; Birnbaum, Michael E.; Liu, David R.

    2009-01-01

    The DNA-templated polymerization of synthetic building blocks provides a potential route to the laboratory evolution of sequence-defined polymers with structures and properties not necessarily limited to those of natural biopolymers. We previously reported the efficient and sequence-specific DNA-templated polymerization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) aldehydes. Here, we report the enzyme-free, DNA-templated polymerization of side-chain-functionalized PNA tetramer and pentamer aldehydes. We observed that the polymerization of tetramer and pentamer PNA building blocks with a single lysine-based side chain at various positions in the building block could proceed efficiently and sequence-specifically. In addition, DNA-templated polymerization also proceeded efficiently and in a sequence-specific manner with pentamer PNA aldehydes containing two or three lysine side chains in a single building block to generate more densely functionalized polymers. To further our understanding of side-chain compatibility and expand the capabilities of this system, we also examined the polymerization efficiencies of 20 pentamer building blocks each containing one of five different side-chain groups and four different side-chain regio- and stereochemistries. Polymerization reactions were efficient for all five different side-chain groups and for three of the four combinations of side-chain regio- and stereochemistries. Differences in the efficiency and initial rate of polymerization correlate with the apparent melting temperature of each building block, which is dependent on side-chain regio- and stereochemistry, but relatively insensitive to side-chain structure among the substrates tested. Our findings represent a significant step towards the evolution of sequence-defined synthetic polymers and also demonstrate that enzyme-free nucleic acid-templated polymerization can occur efficiently using substrates with a wide range of side-chain structures, functionalization positions within each building block, and functionalization densities. PMID:18341334

  15. Total synthesis of TMG-chitotriomycin based on an automated electrochemical assembly of a disaccharide building block.

    PubMed

    Isoda, Yuta; Sasaki, Norihiko; Kitamura, Kei; Takahashi, Shuji; Manmode, Sujit; Takeda-Okuda, Naoko; Tamura, Jun-Ichi; Nokami, Toshiki; Itoh, Toshiyuki

    2017-01-01

    The total synthesis of TMG-chitotriomycin using an automated electrochemical synthesizer for the assembly of carbohydrate building blocks is demonstrated. We have successfully prepared a precursor of TMG-chitotriomycin, which is a structurally-pure tetrasaccharide with typical protecting groups, through the methodology of automated electrochemical solution-phase synthesis developed by us. The synthesis of structurally well-defined TMG-chitotriomycin has been accomplished in 10-steps from a disaccharide building block.

  16. Big Questions: The Ultimate Building Blocks of Matter

    ScienceCinema

    Lincoln, Don

    2018-01-16

    The Standard Model of particle physics treats quarks and leptons as having no size at all. Quarks are found inside protons and neutrons and the most familiar lepton is the electron. While the best measurements to date support that idea, there is circumstantial evidence that suggests that perhaps the these tiny particles might be composed of even smaller building blocks. This video explains this circumstantial evidence and introduces some very basic ideas of what those building blocks might be.

  17. Building Blocks for Personal Brands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Lisa Carlucci

    2011-01-01

    In this article, the author discusses the four essential building blocks for personal brands: (1) name; (2) message; (3) channels; and (4) bridges. However, outstanding building materials can only take a person so far. The author emphasizes that vision, determination, faith, a sense of humor, and humility are also required.

  18. Shaping Crystal-Crystal Phase Transitions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Du, Xiyu; van Anders, Greg; Dshemuchadse, Julia; Glotzer, Sharon

    Previous computational and experimental studies have shown self-assembled structure depends strongly on building block shape. New synthesis techniques have led to building blocks with reconfigurable shape and it has been demonstrated that building block reconfiguration can induce bulk structural reconfiguration. However, we do not understand systematically how this transition happens as a function of building block shape. Using a recently developed ``digital alchemy'' framework, we study the thermodynamics of shape-driven crystal-crystal transitions. We find examples of shape-driven bulk reconfiguration that are accompanied by first-order phase transitions, and bulk reconfiguration that occurs without any thermodynamic phase transition. Our results suggest that for well-chosen shapes and structures, there exist facile means of bulk reconfiguration, and that shape-driven bulk reconfiguration provides a viable mechanism for developing functional materials.

  19. A generalized locomotion CPG architecture based on oscillatory building blocks.

    PubMed

    Yang, Zhijun; França, Felipe M G

    2003-07-01

    Neural oscillation is one of the most extensively investigated topics of artificial neural networks. Scientific approaches to the functionalities of both natural and artificial intelligences are strongly related to mechanisms underlying oscillatory activities. This paper concerns itself with the assumption of the existence of central pattern generators (CPGs), which are the plausible neural architectures with oscillatory capabilities, and presents a discrete and generalized approach to the functionality of locomotor CPGs of legged animals. Based on scheduling by multiple edge reversal (SMER), a primitive and deterministic distributed algorithm, it is shown how oscillatory building block (OBB) modules can be created and, hence, how OBB-based networks can be formulated as asymmetric Hopfield-like neural networks for the generation of complex coordinated rhythmic patterns observed among pairs of biological motor neurons working during different gait patterns. It is also shown that the resulting Hopfield-like network possesses the property of reproducing the whole spectrum of different gaits intrinsic to the target locomotor CPGs. Although the new approach is not restricted to the understanding of the neurolocomotor system of any particular animal, hexapodal and quadrupedal gait patterns are chosen as illustrations given the wide interest expressed by the ongoing research in the area.

  20. Heteroatom-bridged benzothiazolyls for organic solar cells: a theoretical study.

    PubMed

    Chen, Runfeng; Wang, Yang; Chen, Ting; Li, Huanhuan; Zheng, Chunhua; Yuan, Kai; Wang, Zhixiang; Tao, Ye; Zheng, Chao; Huang, Wei

    2015-01-15

    On the basis of a typical organic photovoltaic (OPV) building block of 4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (DTBT), a series of novel DTBT derivatives were designed following a heteroatom-bridging strategy to take advantage of the diversified interactions between heteroatoms and π-conjugated systems. These heteroatom-bridged DTBTs, whose outer electron-rich thiophene moieties are covalently fastened to the central electron-deficient benzothiadiazole with additional heteroatom bridges, exhibit promising features for OPV applications with rigid molecular structures, properly lain frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), broad and intense absorption spectra, and adequate charge transport properties, as revealed by systematic theoretical calculations on molecular geometries, FMOs, absorption spectra, and relaxation and reorganization energies. The structure-property relationship investigations show that the mono-/di-heteroatom bridging is effective not only in tuning the rigidity of the molecular geometries but also in adjusting the optoelectronic properties of the resulting materials. Among the studied heteroatoms, the C and Si were found to be the most efficient in designing novel molecules for OPV applications. These theoretical insights may provide a solid basis for experimental synthesis and device investigations of the proposed heteroatom-bridged DTBTs as potential high-performance building blocks for bulk heterojunction OPV molecules.

  1. Automate Your Physical Plant Using the Building Block Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michaelson, Matt

    1998-01-01

    Illustrates how Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax), by upgrading the control and monitoring of one building or section of the school at a time, could produce savings in energy and operating costs and improve the environment. Explains a gradual, "building block" approach to facility automation that provides flexibility without a…

  2. Building Numbers from Primes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burkhart, Jerry

    2009-01-01

    Prime numbers are often described as the "building blocks" of natural numbers. This article shows how the author and his students took this idea literally by using prime factorizations to build numbers with blocks. In this activity, students explore many concepts of number theory, including the relationship between greatest common factors and…

  3. Non-oscillatory central differencing for hyperbolic conservation laws

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nessyahu, Haim; Tadmor, Eitan

    1988-01-01

    Many of the recently developed high resolution schemes for hyperbolic conservation laws are based on upwind differencing. The building block for these schemes is the averaging of an appropriate Godunov solver; its time consuming part involves the field-by-field decomposition which is required in order to identify the direction of the wind. Instead, the use of the more robust Lax-Friedrichs (LxF) solver is proposed. The main advantage is simplicity: no Riemann problems are solved and hence field-by-field decompositions are avoided. The main disadvantage is the excessive numerical viscosity typical to the LxF solver. This is compensated for by using high-resolution MUSCL-type interpolants. Numerical experiments show that the quality of results obtained by such convenient central differencing is comparable with those of the upwind schemes.

  4. A contribution to the SHA of Eastern Thessaly, Central Greece: archaeological and historical evidences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helly, B.; Caputo, R.; Tsafalias, A.

    2003-04-01

    Eastern Thessaly region (Central Greece) shows numerous evidences of seismic activity ranging from structural, morphological, palaeoseismological, archaeological and historical. In the present note, we focus on the latter two aspects. A fundamental source of historic data are the "Chronicles" of the monasteries of the area. Doubtless, the most important ones are those located in the Meteora region (western Thessaly). In the "Chronicles" of these monasteries few events are reported relative to the investigated region and particularly the August 1668, occurred in the area of Larissa, the 1731, the November 9, 1766 and the August 28, 1781. Maximum inferred intensity of the three latter earthquakes has been estimated of the VIII degree. Based on the tectonic setting of the possible seismogenic structures, these events are tentatively located in the Tyrnavos Basin, while no other events are known in this sector neither before the 16th century nor in more recent times, except the March 1941 earthquake occurred East of Larissa. Archaeological information from the broader area concerns several sectors. i) Along the Rodià Fault, which is the major antithetic structure bordering to the north the Tyrnavos Basin, near the Arghyropouli village, the ancient site of Leimoné has been occupied since Neolithic times but it also represents an important Mycenaean site (13th-10th century BC). According to the historian Rhianos (3rd century BC), the town was still there during the Classical Period (5th-4th century BC) but according to Strabo it was disappeared at the end of the 1st century BC. ii) In Larissa, an inscription of the end of the 3rd century BC ascertain the bad conditions of a certain number of shrines and public buildings, reporting several damages like fallen columns. iii) Along the Tyrnavos Fault, the ancient settlement and ruins found on the rocky hill of the present-day Damasi village has been correlated to the ancient town of Phalanna and the alluvial plain extending to the north with its exploitable territory bordered by the western segment of the Tyrnavos Fault that generates a damming effect. As a consequence, frequent flooding events have continuously enriched the soil and probably enhanced the productivity of the area thus making it particularly appealing for farming. iv) At Pythion, 50 km N of Tyrnavos at the foothills of the Mount Olympus, the temple of Apollo Pythios has been rebuilt during the middle Imperial Epoch (Roman times 1st-4th century AD), probably at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The first excavations revealed that many blocks belonging to former buildings and stones with inscriptions were chaotically accumulated in hollows. On the other hand, the existence of this temple is documented during the third Macedonian War (first half of the 2nd century BC) without any doubt and consequently the destruction of the buildings must have occurred during this time window and they were rebuilt at some distance from its original location. v) In Larissa, some blocks belonging to former buildings have been used as grave-steles during the second half of the 1st century BC thus suggesting the probable destruction of these buildings and the consequent dereliction. vi) The more important evidences of historical seismic activity producing important damaging effects have been obtained from the excavations of the great theatre of Larissa. The theatre was built at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the Early Hellenistic times but following the traditional plan and architecture of the Classical time (koilon, orchestra and scenic building). During the 2nd century BC was added a Doric style proscenium in front of the scenic building. During the Imperial time (last 10 years of the 1st century BC), the theatre underwent a deep re-handling due to a different use as arena. In particular, a new and larger proscenium was built as a monumental decoration holding three frontispice with dedications of the Larissa people to the Emperor August, to Tiberius as "benefactor and founder". During the excavations of the theatre, several evidences of damages of the building have been observed. Probably the most important and more impressive damages are represented by the displacement of some of the blocks of the walls and the rupture of some of the blocks. For example, some of the blocks show a typical concoid fracture clearly induced by a strong mechanical shock occurred in one of its corners. These rupture conditions are likely to be associated to the dynamic motion of the overlying block which acted as a hammer due to a strong acceleration. Numerous blocks are also dislocated and rotated. According to the size of the shifted blocks, their weight and the amount of displacement they suffered, we can tentatively estimate the peak acceleration occurred in the area and possibly the direction of the seismic waves. The collected archaeological and historical data, have been also compared with the available palaeoseismological data, while possible inferences for the seismic hazard of the region will be discussed.

  5. 2. OBLIQUE VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST FROM 21ST STREET VIADUCT TOWARDS ...

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

    2. OBLIQUE VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST FROM 21ST STREET VIADUCT TOWARDS 2000 BLOCK OF MORRIS AVENUE WITH HEAVIEST CORNER ON EARTH BUILDINGS (TOP LEFT) AND COMER BUILDING (TOP RIGHT) - Morris Avenue Warehouse District, 2000-2400 blocks of Morris Avenue & 2100-2500 blocks of First Avenue, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL

  6. Automated electrochemical assembly of the protected potential TMG-chitotriomycin precursor based on rational optimization of the carbohydrate building block.

    PubMed

    Nokami, Toshiki; Isoda, Yuta; Sasaki, Norihiko; Takaiso, Aki; Hayase, Shuichi; Itoh, Toshiyuki; Hayashi, Ryutaro; Shimizu, Akihiro; Yoshida, Jun-ichi

    2015-03-20

    The anomeric arylthio group and the hydroxyl-protecting groups of thioglycosides were optimized to construct carbohydrate building blocks for automated electrochemical solution-phase synthesis of oligoglucosamines having 1,4-β-glycosidic linkages. The optimization study included density functional theory calculations, measurements of the oxidation potentials, and the trial synthesis of the chitotriose trisaccharide. The automated synthesis of the protected potential N,N,N-trimethyl-d-glucosaminylchitotriomycin precursor was accomplished by using the optimized building block.

  7. Total synthesis of TMG-chitotriomycin based on an automated electrochemical assembly of a disaccharide building block

    PubMed Central

    Isoda, Yuta; Sasaki, Norihiko; Kitamura, Kei; Takahashi, Shuji; Manmode, Sujit; Takeda-Okuda, Naoko; Tamura, Jun-ichi

    2017-01-01

    The total synthesis of TMG-chitotriomycin using an automated electrochemical synthesizer for the assembly of carbohydrate building blocks is demonstrated. We have successfully prepared a precursor of TMG-chitotriomycin, which is a structurally-pure tetrasaccharide with typical protecting groups, through the methodology of automated electrochemical solution-phase synthesis developed by us. The synthesis of structurally well-defined TMG-chitotriomycin has been accomplished in 10-steps from a disaccharide building block. PMID:28684973

  8. Strategies for Controlled Placement of Nanoscale Building Blocks

    PubMed Central

    2007-01-01

    The capability of placing individual nanoscale building blocks on exact substrate locations in a controlled manner is one of the key requirements to realize future electronic, optical, and magnetic devices and sensors that are composed of such blocks. This article reviews some important advances in the strategies for controlled placement of nanoscale building blocks. In particular, we will overview template assisted placement that utilizes physical, molecular, or electrostatic templates, DNA-programmed assembly, placement using dielectrophoresis, approaches for non-close-packed assembly of spherical particles, and recent development of focused placement schemes including electrostatic funneling, focused placement via molecular gradient patterns, electrodynamic focusing of charged aerosols, and others. PMID:21794185

  9. Inquiring Minds

    Science.gov Websites

    and leptons seem to be the fundamental building blocks - but perhaps there is something even smaller properties of the fundamental building blocks of our universe, there are untold mysteries still to solve

  10. Measuring health systems strength and its impact: experiences from the African Health Initiative.

    PubMed

    Sherr, Kenneth; Fernandes, Quinhas; Kanté, Almamy M; Bawah, Ayaga; Condo, Jeanine; Mutale, Wilbroad

    2017-12-21

    Health systems are essential platforms for accessible, quality health services, and population health improvements. Global health initiatives have dramatically increased health resources; however, funding to strengthen health systems has not increased commensurately, partially due to concerns about health system complexity and evidence gaps demonstrating health outcome improvements. In 2009, the African Health Initiative of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation began supporting Population Health Implementation and Training Partnership projects in five sub-Saharan African countries (Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia) to catalyze significant advances in strengthening health systems. This manuscript reflects on the experience of establishing an evaluation framework to measure health systems strength, and associate measures with health outcomes, as part of this Initiative. Using the World Health Organization's health systems building block framework, the Partnerships present novel approaches to measure health systems building blocks and summarize data across and within building blocks to facilitate analytic procedures. Three Partnerships developed summary measures spanning the building blocks using principal component analysis (Ghana and Tanzania) or the balanced scorecard (Zambia). Other Partnerships developed summary measures to simplify multiple indicators within individual building blocks, including health information systems (Mozambique), and service delivery (Rwanda). At the end of the project intervention period, one to two key informants from each Partnership's leadership team were asked to list - in rank order - the importance of the six building blocks in relation to their intervention. Though there were differences across Partnerships, service delivery and information systems were reported to be the most common focus of interventions, followed by health workforce and leadership and governance. Medical products, vaccines and technologies, and health financing, were the building blocks reported to be of lower focus. The African Health Initiative experience furthers the science of evaluation for health systems strengthening, highlighting areas for further methodological development - including the development of valid, feasible measures sensitive to interventions in multiple contexts (particularly in leadership and governance) and describing interactions across building blocks; in developing summary statistics to facilitate testing intervention effects on health systems and associations with health status; and designing appropriate analytic models for complex, multi-level open health systems.

  11. Systems thinking in practice: the current status of the six WHO building blocks for health system strengthening in three BHOMA intervention districts of Zambia: a baseline qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Mutale, Wilbroad; Bond, Virginia; Mwanamwenge, Margaret Tembo; Mlewa, Susan; Balabanova, Dina; Spicer, Neil; Ayles, Helen

    2013-08-01

    The primary bottleneck to achieving the MDGs in low-income countries is health systems that are too fragile to deliver the volume and quality of services to those in need. Strong and effective health systems are increasingly considered a prerequisite to reducing the disease burden and to achieving the health MDGs. Zambia is one of the countries that are lagging behind in achieving millennium development targets. Several barriers have been identified as hindering the progress towards health related millennium development goals. Designing an intervention that addresses these barriers was crucial and so the Better Health Outcomes through Mentorship (BHOMA) project was designed to address the challenges in the Zambia's MOH using a system wide approach. We applied systems thinking approach to describe the baseline status of the Six WHO building blocks for health system strengthening. A qualitative study was conducted looking at the status of the Six WHO building blocks for health systems strengthening in three BHOMA districts. We conducted Focus group discussions with community members and In-depth Interviews with key informants. Data was analyzed using Nvivo version 9. The study showed that building block specific weaknesses had cross cutting effect in other health system building blocks which is an essential element of systems thinking. Challenges noted in service delivery were linked to human resources, medical supplies, information flow, governance and finance building blocks either directly or indirectly. Several barriers were identified as hindering access to health services by the local communities. These included supply side barriers: Shortage of qualified health workers, bad staff attitude, poor relationships between community and health staff, long waiting time, confidentiality and the gender of health workers. Demand side barriers: Long distance to health facility, cost of transport and cultural practices. Participating communities seemed to lack the capacity to hold health workers accountable for the drugs and services. The study has shown that building block specific weaknesses had cross cutting effect in other health system building blocks. These linkages emphasised the need to use system wide approaches in assessing the performance of health system strengthening interventions.

  12. Rapid and annealing-free self-assembly of DNA building blocks for 3D hydrogel chaperoned by cationic comb-type copolymers.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zheng; Wu, Yuyang; Yu, Feng; Niu, Chaoqun; Du, Zhi; Chen, Yong; Du, Jie

    2017-10-01

    The construction and self-assembly of DNA building blocks are the foundation of bottom-up development of three-dimensional DNA nanostructures or hydrogels. However, most self-assembly from DNA components is impeded by the mishybridized intermediates or the thermodynamic instability. To enable rapid production of complicated DNA objects with high yields no need for annealing process, herein different DNA building blocks (Y-shaped, L- and L'-shaped units) were assembled in presence of a cationic comb-type copolymer, poly (L-lysine)-graft-dextran (PLL-g-Dex), under physiological conditions. The results demonstrated that PLL-g-Dex not only significantly promoted the self-assembly of DNA blocks with high efficiency, but also stabilized the assembled multi-level structures especially for promoting the complicated 3D DNA hydrogel formation. This study develops a novel strategy for rapid and high-yield production of DNA hydrogel even derived from instable building blocks at relatively low DNA concentrations, which would endow DNA nanotechnology for more practical applications.

  13. An Approach for On-Board Software Building Blocks Cooperation and Interfaces Definition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pascucci, Dario; Campolo, Giovanni; Candia, Sante; Lisio, Giovanni

    2010-08-01

    This paper provides an insight on the Avionic SW architecture developed by Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I) to achieve structuring of the OBSW as a set of self-standing and re-usable building blocks. It is initially described the underlying framework for building blocks cooperation, which is based on ECSSE-70 packets forwarding (for services request to a building block) and standard parameters exchange for data communication. Subsequently it is discussed the high level of flexibility and scalability of the resulting architecture, reporting as example an implementation of the Failure Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) function which exploits the proposed architecture. The presented approach evolves from avionic SW architecture developed in the scope of the project PRIMA (Mult-Purpose Italian Re-configurable Platform) and has been adopted for the Sentinel-1 Avionic Software (ASW).

  14. 15. WEST SIDE OF 1900 BLOCK, PACIFIC AVE. FROM RIGHT; ...

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

    15. WEST SIDE OF 1900 BLOCK, PACIFIC AVE. FROM RIGHT; 1920-22 PACIFIC AVE., WIEGAL COMPANY CANDY FACTORY (1904); 1924-26 PACIFIC AVE., CAMPBELL BUILDING (DAVIS BUILDING) (1890); 1928-30 PACIFIC AVE., REESE-CRANDALL & REDMAN BUILDING, (1890); 1932-36 PACIFIC AVE., MC DONALD & SMITH BUILDING (1890); 1938-48 PACIFIC AVE., F.S. HARMON COMPANY WAREHOUSE (1908), DESIGNED BY CARL AUGUST DARMER. - Union Depot Area Study, Tacoma, Pierce County, WA

  15. Application of soil block without burning process and calcium silicate panels as building wall in mountainous area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noerwasito, Vincentius Totok; Nasution, Tanti Satriana Rosary

    2017-11-01

    Utilization of local building materials in a residential location in mountainous area is very important, considering local material as a low-energy building material because of low transport energy. The local building materials used in this study are walls made from soil blocks. The material was made by the surrounding community from compacted soil without burning process. To maximize the potential of soil block to the outdoor temperature in the mountains, it is necessary to add non-local building materials as an insulator from the influence of the outside air. The insulator was calcium silicate panel. The location of the research is Trawas sub-district, Mojokerto regency, which is a mountainous area. The research problem is on applying the composition of local materials and calcium silicate panels that it will be able to meet the requirements as a wall building material and finding to what extent the impact of the wall against indoor temperature. The result from this research was the application of soil block walls insulated by calcium silicate panels in a building model. Besides, because of the utilization of those materials, the building has a specific difference between indoor and outdoor temperature. Thus, this model can be applied in mountainous areas in Indonesia.

  16. District-level local measuring program of the urban environment in Budapest

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dian, Csenge; Pongrácz, Rita; Dezsö, Zsuzsanna; Bartholy, Judit

    2016-04-01

    The natural environment and thus, the climatic conditions are modified by the concentrated human presence of urban areas. In our research we aim to analyze the resulting urban climatic effects in a downtown district of Budapest, Hungary. For this purpose, we have started a measuring program of in-situ measurements in the southern central located district called Ferencváros, which can be found near the river Danube, and mainly consists of 3- and 4-storey older and newly built buildings. The newly built buildings are mainly the results of the Ferencváros local government's efforts to improve the environment for the citizens. Within the framework of the block rehabilitation program, inner parts of the old house blocks were demolished, and inside the blocks common green areas have been created. In our urban climate measurement program air temperature and relative humidity are recorded along a pre-defined path consisting of 22 measuring points, which covers the studied area. The measuring sites are located in different characteristical points of the district, such as green parks, narrow streets, paved squares and roads. In order to calculate the urban heat island intensity, temperature measurements are compared to the hourly recorded data of the Budapest synoptic station (ID number: 12843) located in the southeastern suburb district of the city. After completing an entire year of measurements, the seasonal cycle of temperature and relative humidity differences are analyzed as well, as the diurnal changes and the spatial structure within the study area.

  17. The birth of quantum networks: merging remote entanglement with local multi-qubit control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanson, Ronald

    The realization of a highly connected network of qubit registers is a central challenge for quantum information processing and long-distance quantum communication. Diamond spins associated with NV centers are promising building blocks for such a network: they combine a coherent spin-photon interface that has already enabled creation of spin-spin entanglement over 1km with a local register of robust and well-controlled nuclear spin qubits for information processing and error correction. We are now entering a new research stage in which we can exploit these features simultaneously and build multi-qubit networks. I will present our latest results towards the first of such experiments: entanglement distillation between remote quantum network nodes. Finally, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead on the road to large-scale networks of qubit registers for quantum computation and communication.

  18. How Crossover Speeds up Building Block Assembly in Genetic Algorithms.

    PubMed

    Sudholt, Dirk

    2017-01-01

    We reinvestigate a fundamental question: How effective is crossover in genetic algorithms in combining building blocks of good solutions? Although this has been discussed controversially for decades, we are still lacking a rigorous and intuitive answer. We provide such answers for royal road functions and OneMax, where every bit is a building block. For the latter, we show that using crossover makes every ([Formula: see text]+[Formula: see text]) genetic algorithm at least twice as fast as the fastest evolutionary algorithm using only standard bit mutation, up to small-order terms and for moderate [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Crossover is beneficial because it can capitalize on mutations that have both beneficial and disruptive effects on building blocks: crossover is able to repair the disruptive effects of mutation in later generations. Compared to mutation-based evolutionary algorithms, this makes multibit mutations more useful. Introducing crossover changes the optimal mutation rate on OneMax from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text]. This holds both for uniform crossover and k-point crossover. Experiments and statistical tests confirm that our findings apply to a broad class of building block functions.

  19. Silicene Flowers: A Dual Stabilized Silicon Building Block for High-Performance Lithium Battery Anodes.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xinghao; Qiu, Xiongying; Kong, Debin; Zhou, Lu; Li, Zihao; Li, Xianglong; Zhi, Linjie

    2017-07-25

    Nanostructuring is a transformative way to improve the structure stability of high capacity silicon for lithium batteries. Yet, the interface instability issue remains and even propagates in the existing nanostructured silicon building blocks. Here we demonstrate an intrinsically dual stabilized silicon building block, namely silicene flowers, to simultaneously address the structure and interface stability issues. These original Si building blocks as lithium battery anodes exhibit extraordinary combined performance including high gravimetric capacity (2000 mAh g -1 at 800 mA g -1 ), high volumetric capacity (1799 mAh cm -3 ), remarkable rate capability (950 mAh g -1 at 8 A g -1 ), and excellent cycling stability (1100 mA h g -1 at 2000 mA g -1 over 600 cycles). Paired with a conventional cathode, the fabricated full cells deliver extraordinarily high specific energy and energy density (543 Wh kg ca -1 and 1257 Wh L ca -1 , respectively) based on the cathode and anode, which are 152% and 239% of their commercial counterparts using graphite anodes. Coupled with a simple, cost-effective, scalable synthesis approach, this silicon building block offers a horizon for the development of high-performance batteries.

  20. Single molecule magnets from magnetic building blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kroener, W.; Paretzki, A.; Cervetti, C.; Hohloch, S.; Rauschenbach, S.; Kern, K.; Dressel, M.; Bogani, L.; M&üLler, P.

    2013-03-01

    We provide a basic set of magnetic building blocks that can be rationally assembled, similar to magnetic LEGO bricks, in order to create a huge variety of magnetic behavior. Using rare-earth centers and multipyridine ligands, fine-tuning of intra and intermolecular exchange interaction is demonstrated. We have investigated a series of molecules with monomeric, dimeric and trimeric lanthanide centers using SQUID susceptometry and Hall bar magnetometry. A home-made micro-Hall-probe magnetometer was used to measure magnetic hysteresis loops at mK temperatures and fields up to 17 T. All compounds show hysteresis below blocking temperatures of 3 to 4 K. The correlation of the assembly of the building blocks with the magnetic properties will be discussed.

  1. Embeddable Reconfigurable Neuroprocessors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Daud, Taher; Duong, Tuan; Langenbacher, Harry; Tran, Mua; Thakoor, Anil

    1993-01-01

    Reconfigurable and cascadable building block neural network chips, fabricated using analog VLSI design tools, are interfaced to a PC. The building block chip designs, the cascadability and the hardware-in-the-loop supervised learning aspects of these chips are described.

  2. Faces of matrix models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morozov, A.

    2012-08-01

    Partition functions of eigenvalue matrix models possess a number of very different descriptions: as matrix integrals, as solutions to linear and nonlinear equations, as τ-functions of integrable hierarchies and as special-geometry prepotentials, as result of the action of W-operators and of various recursions on elementary input data, as gluing of certain elementary building blocks. All this explains the central role of such matrix models in modern mathematical physics: they provide the basic "special functions" to express the answers and relations between them, and they serve as a dream model of what one should try to achieve in any other field.

  3. Management and development of local area network upgrade prototype

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fouser, T. J.

    1981-01-01

    Given the situation of having management and development users accessing a central computing facility and given the fact that these same users have the need for local computation and storage, the utilization of a commercially available networking system such as CP/NET from Digital Research provides the building blocks for communicating intelligent microsystems to file and print services. The major problems to be overcome in the implementation of such a network are the dearth of intelligent communication front-ends for the microcomputers and the lack of a rich set of management and software development tools.

  4. Ice-gas interactions during planet formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Öberg, Karin I.

    2016-10-01

    Planets form in disks around young stars. In these disks, condensation fronts or snowlines of water, CO2, CO and other abundant molecules regulate the outcome of planet formation. Snowline locations determine how the elemental and molecular compositions of the gaseous and solid building blocks of planets evolve with distance from the central star. Snowlines may also locally increase the planet formation efficiency. Observations of snowlines have only become possible in the past couple of years. This proceeding reviews these observations as well as the theory on the physical and chemical processes in disks that affect snowline locations.

  5. Tops as building blocks for G 2 manifolds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Braun, Andreas P.

    2017-10-01

    A large number of examples of compact G 2 manifolds, relevant to supersymmetric compactifications of M-Theory to four dimensions, can be constructed by forming a twisted connected sum of two building blocks times a circle. These building blocks, which are appropriate K3-fibred threefolds, are shown to have a natural and elegant construction in terms of tops, which parallels the construction of Calabi-Yau manifolds via reflexive polytopes. In particular, this enables us to prove combinatorial formulas for the Hodge numbers and other relevant topological data.

  6. Origami-inspired building block and parametric design for mechanical metamaterials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Wei; Ma, Hua; Feng, Mingde; Yan, Leilei; Wang, Jiafu; Wang, Jun; Qu, Shaobo

    2016-08-01

    An origami-based building block of mechanical metamaterials is proposed and explained by introducing a mechanism model based on its geometry. According to our model, this origami mechanism supports response to uniaxial tension that depends on structure parameters. Hence, its mechanical properties can be tunable by adjusting the structure parameters. Experiments for poly lactic acid (PLA) samples were carried out, and the results are in good agreement with those of finite element analysis (FEA). This work may be useful for designing building blocks of mechanical metamaterials or other complex mechanical structures.

  7. Large space erectable structures - building block structures study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Armstrong, W. H.; Skoumal, D. E.; Straayer, J. W.

    1977-01-01

    A modular planar truss structure and a long slender boom concept identified as building block approaches to construction of large spacecraft configurations are described. The concepts are compatible in weight and volume goals with the Space Transportation System, use standard structural units, and represent high on-orbit productivity in terms of structural area or beam length. Results of structural trade studies involving static and dynamic analyses of a single module and rigid body deployment analyses to assess kinetics and kinematics of automatic deployment of the building block modules are presented.

  8. Tunable Encapsulation Structure of Block Copolymer Coated Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Aqueous Solution

    DOE PAGES

    Han, Youngkyu; Ahn, Suk-Kyun; Zhang, Zhe; ...

    2015-05-15

    The nano-sized and shape-tunable molecular building blocks can provide great opportunities for the fabrication of precisely controlled nanostructures. In this work, we have fabricated a molecular building block of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) coated by PPO-PEO-PPO block copolymers whose encapsulation structure can be controlled via temperature or addition of small molecules. The structure and optical properties of SWNT-block copolymers have been investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The structure of the hydrated block copolymer layer surrounding SWNT can be controlled reversibly by varying temperature as well asmore » by irreversibly adding 5-methylsalicylic acid (5MS). Increasing hydrophobicity of the polymers with temperature and strong tendency of 5MS to interact with both block copolymers and orbitals of the SWNTs are likely to be responsible for the significant structural change of the block copolymer encapsulation layer, from loose corona shell to tightly encapsulating compact shell. These result shows an efficient and simple way to fabricate and manipulate carbon-based nano building blocks in aqueous systems with tunable structure.« less

  9. View of the southwest guard tower, cell blocks seven and ...

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

    View of the southwest guard tower, cell blocks seven and eight, administration building west tower, and Fairmount Avenue, looking from the administration building facing west - Eastern State Penitentiary, 2125 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

  10. Synthesis of most polyene natural product motifs using just 12 building blocks and one coupling reaction.

    PubMed

    Woerly, Eric M; Roy, Jahnabi; Burke, Martin D

    2014-06-01

    The inherent modularity of polypeptides, oligonucleotides and oligosaccharides has been harnessed to achieve generalized synthesis platforms. Importantly, like these other targets, most small-molecule natural products are biosynthesized via iterative coupling of bifunctional building blocks. This suggests that many small molecules also possess inherent modularity commensurate with systematic building block-based construction. Supporting this hypothesis, here we report that the polyene motifs found in >75% of all known polyene natural products can be synthesized using just 12 building blocks and one coupling reaction. Using the same general retrosynthetic algorithm and reaction conditions, this platform enabled both the synthesis of a wide range of polyene frameworks that covered all of this natural-product chemical space and the first total syntheses of the polyene natural products asnipyrone B, physarigin A and neurosporaxanthin b-D-glucopyranoside. Collectively, these results suggest the potential for a more generalized approach to making small molecules in the laboratory.

  11. Synthesis of most polyene natural product motifs using just 12 building blocks and one coupling reaction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Woerly, Eric M.; Roy, Jahnabi; Burke, Martin D.

    2014-06-01

    The inherent modularity of polypeptides, oligonucleotides and oligosaccharides has been harnessed to achieve generalized synthesis platforms. Importantly, like these other targets, most small-molecule natural products are biosynthesized via iterative coupling of bifunctional building blocks. This suggests that many small molecules also possess inherent modularity commensurate with systematic building block-based construction. Supporting this hypothesis, here we report that the polyene motifs found in >75% of all known polyene natural products can be synthesized using just 12 building blocks and one coupling reaction. Using the same general retrosynthetic algorithm and reaction conditions, this platform enabled both the synthesis of a wide range of polyene frameworks that covered all of this natural-product chemical space and the first total syntheses of the polyene natural products asnipyrone B, physarigin A and neurosporaxanthin β-D-glucopyranoside. Collectively, these results suggest the potential for a more generalized approach to making small molecules in the laboratory.

  12. Expanding the biomass derived chemical space

    PubMed Central

    Brun, Nicolas; Hesemann, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Biorefinery aims at the conversion of biomass and renewable feedstocks into fuels and platform chemicals, in analogy to conventional oil refinery. In the past years, the scientific community has defined a number of primary building blocks that can be obtained by direct biomass decomposition. However, the large potential of this “renewable chemical space” to contribute to the generation of value added bio-active compounds and materials still remains unexplored. In general, biomass derived building blocks feature a diverse range of chemical functionalities. In order to be integrated into value-added compounds, they require additional functionalization and/or covalent modification thereby generating secondary building blocks. The latter can be thus regarded as functional components of bio-active molecules or materials and represent an expansion of the renewable chemical space. This perspective highlights the most recent developments and opportunities for the synthesis of secondary biomass derived building blocks and their application to the preparation of value added products. PMID:28959397

  13. A VLSI decomposition of the deBruijn graph

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Collins, O.; Dolinar, S.; Mceliece, R.; Pollara, F.

    1990-01-01

    A new Viterbi decoder for convolutional codes with constraint lengths up to 15, called the Big Viterbi Decoder, is under development for the Deep Space Network. It will be demonstrated by decoding data from the Galileo spacecraft, which has a rate 1/4, constraint-length 15 convolutional encoder on board. Here, the mathematical theory underlying the design of the very-large-scale-integrated (VLSI) chips that are being used to build this decoder is explained. The deBruijn graph B sub n describes the topology of a fully parallel, rate 1/v, constraint length n+2 Viterbi decoder, and it is shown that B sub n can be built by appropriately wiring together (i.e., connecting together with extra edges) many isomorphic copies of a fixed graph called a B sub n building block. The efficiency of such a building block is defined as the fraction of the edges in B sub n that are present in the copies of the building block. It is shown, among other things, that for any alpha less than 1, there exists a graph G which is a B sub n building block of efficiency greater than alpha for all sufficiently large n. These results are illustrated by describing a special hierarchical family of deBruijn building blocks, which has led to the design of the gate-array chips being used in the Big Viterbi Decoder.

  14. A Working Model of Protein Synthesis Using Lego(TM) Building Blocks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Templin, Mark A.; Fetters, Marcia K.

    2002-01-01

    Uses Lego building blocks to improve the effectiveness of teaching about protein synthesis. Provides diagrams and pictures for a 2-3 day student activity. Discusses mRNA, transfer RNA, and a protein synthesis model. (MVL)

  15. Enantiopure heterobimetallic single-chain magnets from the chiral Ru(III) building block.

    PubMed

    Ru, Jing; Gao, Feng; Wu, Tao; Yao, Min-Xia; Li, Yi-Zhi; Zuo, Jing-Lin

    2014-01-21

    A pair of one-dimensional enantiomers based on the versatile chiral dicyanoruthenate(III) building block have been synthesized and they are chiral single-chain magnets with the effective spin-reversal barrier of 28.2 K.

  16. Systems thinking in practice: the current status of the six WHO building blocks for health system strengthening in three BHOMA intervention districts of Zambia: a baseline qualitative study

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background The primary bottleneck to achieving the MDGs in low-income countries is health systems that are too fragile to deliver the volume and quality of services to those in need. Strong and effective health systems are increasingly considered a prerequisite to reducing the disease burden and to achieving the health MDGs. Zambia is one of the countries that are lagging behind in achieving millennium development targets. Several barriers have been identified as hindering the progress towards health related millennium development goals. Designing an intervention that addresses these barriers was crucial and so the Better Health Outcomes through Mentorship (BHOMA) project was designed to address the challenges in the Zambia’s MOH using a system wide approach. We applied systems thinking approach to describe the baseline status of the Six WHO building blocks for health system strengthening. Methods A qualitative study was conducted looking at the status of the Six WHO building blocks for health systems strengthening in three BHOMA districts. We conducted Focus group discussions with community members and In-depth Interviews with key informants. Data was analyzed using Nvivo version 9. Results The study showed that building block specific weaknesses had cross cutting effect in other health system building blocks which is an essential element of systems thinking. Challenges noted in service delivery were linked to human resources, medical supplies, information flow, governance and finance building blocks either directly or indirectly. Several barriers were identified as hindering access to health services by the local communities. These included supply side barriers: Shortage of qualified health workers, bad staff attitude, poor relationships between community and health staff, long waiting time, confidentiality and the gender of health workers. Demand side barriers: Long distance to health facility, cost of transport and cultural practices. Participating communities seemed to lack the capacity to hold health workers accountable for the drugs and services. Conclusion The study has shown that building block specific weaknesses had cross cutting effect in other health system building blocks. These linkages emphasised the need to use system wide approaches in assessing the performance of health system strengthening interventions. PMID:23902601

  17. Dendronized Metal Nanoparticles-Self-Organizing Building Blocks for the Design of New Functional Materials

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-04-01

    characterization has just started.       The hybrids that we have synthesized are based on plasmonic gold and  silver   nanoparticles  (NPs) but  the concept  is...AFRL-AFOSR-UK-TR-2016-0010 Dendronized metal nanoparticles - self-organizing building blocks for the design of new functional materials Bertrand...2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Dendronized metal nanoparticles - self-organizing building blocks for the design of new functional materials 5a. CONTRACT

  18. A mixed molecular building block strategy for the design of nested polyhedron metal-organic frameworks.

    PubMed

    Tian, Dan; Chen, Qiang; Li, Yue; Zhang, Ying-Hui; Chang, Ze; Bu, Xian-He

    2014-01-13

    A mixed molecular building block (MBB) strategy for the synthesis of double-walled cage-based porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is presented. By means of this method, two isostructural porous MOFs built from unprecedented double-walled metal-organic octahedron were obtained by introducing two size-matching C3 -symmetric molecular building blocks with different rigidities. With their unique framework structures, these MOFs provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first examples of double-walled octahedron-based MOFs. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  19. Three dimensional Origami-based metamaterial

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan; High Performance Materials; Structures Labratory Team

    We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson's ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments.

  20. Geological-morphological description of the Ishtar Terra (photomap of the Venusian surface sheet B-5)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sukhanov, A. L.; Pronin, A. A.; Tyuflin, Y. S.; Ostrovskiy, M. V.; Kotelnikov, V. A.; Rzhiga, O. N.; Petrov, G. I.; Sidorenko, A. I.; Aleksandrov, Y. N.; Zakharov, A. I.

    1986-01-01

    The main part of the Ishtar Terra east of the Maxwell Montes is covered with systems of areal dislocations of several directions, which are called Parquet. According to the structural patterns these may be divided into: (1) the central stable block; (2) the lesser peripheral blocks separated from the central one by gaps and grabens; (3) the zones of mobilized parquet, whose substance flowed downward at an incline in the directions away from the central block in the form of plastic flows; and (4) the partially parqueted lava sheets. The Maxwell Montes were formed as a result of the collision between the central parquet block and the Lakshmi Planum.

  1. PERTS: A Prototyping Environment for Real-Time Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Jane W. S.; Lin, Kwei-Jay; Liu, C. L.

    1991-01-01

    We discuss an ongoing project to build a Prototyping Environment for Real-Time Systems, called PERTS. PERTS is a unique prototyping environment in that it has (1) tools and performance models for the analysis and evaluation of real-time prototype systems, (2) building blocks for flexible real-time programs and the support system software, (3) basic building blocks of distributed and intelligent real time applications, and (4) an execution environment. PERTS will make the recent and future theoretical advances in real-time system design and engineering readily usable to practitioners. In particular, it will provide an environment for the use and evaluation of new design approaches, for experimentation with alternative system building blocks and for the analysis and performance profiling of prototype real-time systems.

  2. Transportable Payload Operations Control Center reusable software: Building blocks for quality ground data systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mahmot, Ron; Koslosky, John T.; Beach, Edward; Schwarz, Barbara

    1994-01-01

    The Mission Operations Division (MOD) at Goddard Space Flight Center builds Mission Operations Centers which are used by Flight Operations Teams to monitor and control satellites. Reducing system life cycle costs through software reuse has always been a priority of the MOD. The MOD's Transportable Payload Operations Control Center development team established an extensive library of 14 subsystems with over 100,000 delivered source instructions of reusable, generic software components. Nine TPOCC-based control centers to date support 11 satellites and achieved an average software reuse level of more than 75 percent. This paper shares experiences of how the TPOCC building blocks were developed and how building block developer's, mission development teams, and users are all part of the process.

  3. para-Azaquinodimethane: A Compact Quinodimethane Variant as an Ambient Stable Building Block for High-Performance Low Band Gap Polymers

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

    Liu, Xuncheng; He, Bo; Anderson, Christopher L.

    Quinoidal structures incorporating expanded para-quinodimethane (p-QM) units have garnered great interest as functional organic electronic, optical, and magnetic materials. The direct use of the compact p-QM unit as an electronic building block, however, has been inhibited by the high reactivity conveyed by its biradical character. Herein, we introduce a stable p-QM variant, namely p-azaquinodimethane (p-AQM), that incorporates nitrogen atoms in the central ring and alkoxy substituents on the periphery to increase the stability of the quinoidal structure. The succinct synthesis from readily available precursors leads to regio- and stereospecific p-AQMs that can be readily integrated into the backbone of conjugatedmore » polymers. The quinoidal character of the p-AQM unit endows the resulting polymers with narrow band gaps and high carrier transport mobilities. The study of a series of copolymers employing different numbers of thiophene units revealed an unconventional trend in band gaps, which is distinct from the widely adopted donor-acceptor approach to tuning the band gaps of conjugated polymers. Theoretical calculations have shed light on the nature of this trend, which may provide a unique class of conjugated polymers with promising optical and electronic properties.« less

  4. para-Azaquinodimethane: A Compact Quinodimethane Variant as an Ambient Stable Building Block for High-Performance Low Band Gap Polymers

    DOE PAGES

    Liu, Xuncheng; He, Bo; Anderson, Christopher L.; ...

    2017-05-24

    Quinoidal structures incorporating expanded para-quinodimethane (p-QM) units have garnered great interest as functional organic electronic, optical, and magnetic materials. The direct use of the compact p-QM unit as an electronic building block, however, has been inhibited by the high reactivity conveyed by its biradical character. Herein, we introduce a stable p-QM variant, namely p-azaquinodimethane (p-AQM), that incorporates nitrogen atoms in the central ring and alkoxy substituents on the periphery to increase the stability of the quinoidal structure. The succinct synthesis from readily available precursors leads to regio- and stereospecific p-AQMs that can be readily integrated into the backbone of conjugatedmore » polymers. The quinoidal character of the p-AQM unit endows the resulting polymers with narrow band gaps and high carrier transport mobilities. The study of a series of copolymers employing different numbers of thiophene units revealed an unconventional trend in band gaps, which is distinct from the widely adopted donor-acceptor approach to tuning the band gaps of conjugated polymers. Theoretical calculations have shed light on the nature of this trend, which may provide a unique class of conjugated polymers with promising optical and electronic properties.« less

  5. Logarithmic M(2,p) minimal models, their logarithmic couplings, and duality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mathieu, Pierre; Ridout, David

    2008-10-01

    A natural construction of the logarithmic extension of the M(2,p) (chiral) minimal models is presented, which generalises our previous model of percolation ( p=3). Its key aspect is the replacement of the minimal model irreducible modules by reducible ones obtained by requiring that only one of the two principal singular vectors of each module vanish. The resulting theory is then constructed systematically by repeatedly fusing these building block representations. This generates indecomposable representations of the type which signify the presence of logarithmic partner fields in the theory. The basic data characterising these indecomposable modules, the logarithmic couplings, are computed for many special cases and given a new structural interpretation. Quite remarkably, a number of them are presented in closed analytic form (for general p). These are the prime examples of "gauge-invariant" data—quantities independent of the ambiguities present in defining the logarithmic partner fields. Finally, mere global conformal invariance is shown to enforce strong constraints on the allowed spectrum: It is not possible to include modules other than those generated by the fusion of the model's building blocks. This generalises the statement that there cannot exist two effective central charges in a c=0 model. It also suggests the existence of a second "dual" logarithmic theory for each p. Such dual models are briefly discussed.

  6. Hydration effects on the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks

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

    Assis Oliveira, Leonardo Bruno; Departamento de Física - CEPAE, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74690-900 Goiânia, GO; Escola de Ciências Exatas e da Computação, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, 74605-010 Goiânia, GO

    2016-08-28

    Theoretical results for the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in the gas phase and water are presented. The building blocks presently investigated include the monomeric species DHI (5,6-dihydroxyindole) or hydroquinone (HQ), DHICA (5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid), indolequinone (IQ), quinone methide (MQ), two covalently bonded dimers [HM ≡ HQ + MQ and IM ≡ IQ + MQ], and two tetramers [HMIM ≡ HQ + IM, IMIM ≡ IM + IM]. The electronic properties in water were determined by carrying out sequential Monte Carlo/time dependent density functional theory calculations. The results illustrate the role played by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions in themore » electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in a polar environment. In water, the dipole moments of monomeric species are significantly increased ([54–79]%) relative to their gas phase values. Recently, it has been proposed that the observed enhancement of the higher-energy absorption intensity in eumelanin can be explained by excitonic coupling among eumelanin protomolecules [C.-T. Chen et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 3859 (2014)]. Here, we are providing evidence that for DHICA, IQ, and HMIM, the electronic absorption toward the higher-energy end of the spectrum ([180–220] nm) is enhanced by long-range Coulombic interactions with the water environment. It was verified that by superposing the absorption spectra of different eumelanin building blocks corresponding to the monomers, dimers, and tetramers in liquid water, the behaviour of the experimental spectrum, which is characterised by a nearly monotonic decay from the ultraviolet to the infrared, is qualitatively reproduced. This result is in keeping with a “chemical disorder model,” where the broadband absorption of eumelanin pigments is determined by the superposition of the spectra associated with the monomeric and oligomeric building blocks.« less

  7. Hydration effects on the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks.

    PubMed

    Assis Oliveira, Leonardo Bruno; L Fonseca, Tertius; Costa Cabral, Benedito J; Coutinho, Kaline; Canuto, Sylvio

    2016-08-28

    Theoretical results for the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in the gas phase and water are presented. The building blocks presently investigated include the monomeric species DHI (5,6-dihydroxyindole) or hydroquinone (HQ), DHICA (5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid), indolequinone (IQ), quinone methide (MQ), two covalently bonded dimers [HM ≡ HQ + MQ and IM ≡ IQ + MQ], and two tetramers [HMIM ≡ HQ + IM, IMIM ≡ IM + IM]. The electronic properties in water were determined by carrying out sequential Monte Carlo/time dependent density functional theory calculations. The results illustrate the role played by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions in the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in a polar environment. In water, the dipole moments of monomeric species are significantly increased ([54-79]%) relative to their gas phase values. Recently, it has been proposed that the observed enhancement of the higher-energy absorption intensity in eumelanin can be explained by excitonic coupling among eumelanin protomolecules [C.-T. Chen et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 3859 (2014)]. Here, we are providing evidence that for DHICA, IQ, and HMIM, the electronic absorption toward the higher-energy end of the spectrum ([180-220] nm) is enhanced by long-range Coulombic interactions with the water environment. It was verified that by superposing the absorption spectra of different eumelanin building blocks corresponding to the monomers, dimers, and tetramers in liquid water, the behaviour of the experimental spectrum, which is characterised by a nearly monotonic decay from the ultraviolet to the infrared, is qualitatively reproduced. This result is in keeping with a "chemical disorder model," where the broadband absorption of eumelanin pigments is determined by the superposition of the spectra associated with the monomeric and oligomeric building blocks.

  8. Hydration effects on the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Assis Oliveira, Leonardo Bruno; L. Fonseca, Tertius; Costa Cabral, Benedito J.; Coutinho, Kaline; Canuto, Sylvio

    2016-08-01

    Theoretical results for the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in the gas phase and water are presented. The building blocks presently investigated include the monomeric species DHI (5,6-dihydroxyindole) or hydroquinone (HQ), DHICA (5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid), indolequinone (IQ), quinone methide (MQ), two covalently bonded dimers [HM ≡ HQ + MQ and IM ≡ IQ + MQ], and two tetramers [HMIM ≡ HQ + IM, IMIM ≡ IM + IM]. The electronic properties in water were determined by carrying out sequential Monte Carlo/time dependent density functional theory calculations. The results illustrate the role played by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions in the electronic properties of eumelanin building blocks in a polar environment. In water, the dipole moments of monomeric species are significantly increased ([54-79]%) relative to their gas phase values. Recently, it has been proposed that the observed enhancement of the higher-energy absorption intensity in eumelanin can be explained by excitonic coupling among eumelanin protomolecules [C.-T. Chen et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 3859 (2014)]. Here, we are providing evidence that for DHICA, IQ, and HMIM, the electronic absorption toward the higher-energy end of the spectrum ([180-220] nm) is enhanced by long-range Coulombic interactions with the water environment. It was verified that by superposing the absorption spectra of different eumelanin building blocks corresponding to the monomers, dimers, and tetramers in liquid water, the behaviour of the experimental spectrum, which is characterised by a nearly monotonic decay from the ultraviolet to the infrared, is qualitatively reproduced. This result is in keeping with a "chemical disorder model," where the broadband absorption of eumelanin pigments is determined by the superposition of the spectra associated with the monomeric and oligomeric building blocks.

  9. Movement planning reflects skill level and age changes in toddlers

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Yu-ping; Keen, Rachel; Rosander, Kerstin; von Hofsten, Claes

    2010-01-01

    Kinematic measures of children’s reaching were found to reflect stable differences in skill level for planning for future actions. Thirty-five toddlers (18–21 months) were engaged in building block towers (precise task) and in placing blocks into an open container (imprecise task). Sixteen children were re-tested on the same tasks a year later. Longer deceleration as the hand approached the block for pickup was found in the tower task compared to the imprecise task, indicating planning for the second movement. More skillful toddlers who could build high towers had a longer deceleration phase when placing blocks on the tower than toddlers who built low towers. Kinematic differences between the groups remained a year later when all children could build high towers. PMID:21077868

  10. Source-to-sink constraints on tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the western Central Range and Cenderawasih Bay (Indonesia)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Babault, Julien; Viaplana-Muzas, Marc; Legrand, Xavier; Van Den Driessche, Jean; González-Quijano, Manuel; Mudd, Simon M.

    2018-05-01

    The island of New Guinea is the result of continent-arc collision that began building the island's Central Range during the late Miocene. Recent studies have shown that rapid subduction, uplift and exhumation events took place in response to rapid, oblique convergence between the Pacific and the Australian plates. The tectonic and sedimentary evolution of Cenderawasih Bay, in the northwestern part of the New Guinea Island is still poorly understood: this bay links a major structural block, the Kepala Burung block, to the island's Central Ranges. Previous studies have shown that Cenderawasih Bay contains a thick (>8 km) sequence of undated sediments. One hypothesis claims that the embayment resulted from a 3 Ma opening created by anticlockwise rotation of the Kepala Burung block with respect to the northern rim of the Australian plate. Alternatively, the current configuration of Cenderawasih Bay could have resulted from the southwest drift of a slice of volcanics and oceanic crust between 8 and 6 Ma. We test these hypotheses using (i) a geomorphologic analysis of the drainage network dynamics, (ii) a reassessment of available thermochronological data, and (iii) seismic lines interpretation. We suggest that sediments started to accumulate in Cenderawasih Bay and onshore in the Waipoga Basin in the late Miocene since the inception of growth of the Central Range, beginning at 12 Ma, resulting in sediment accumulation of up to 12,200 m. This evidence is more consistent with the second hypothesis, and the volume of sediment accumulated means it is unlikely that the embayment was the result of recent (2-3 Ma) rotation of structural blocks. At first order, we predict that infilling is mainly composed of siliciclastics sourced in the graphite-bearing Ruffaer Metamorphic Belt and its equivalent in the Weyland Overthrust. Ophiolites, volcanic arc rocks and diorites contribute minor proportions. From the unroofing paths in the Central Range we deduce two rates of solid phase accumulation (SPAR) since 12 Ma, the first one at a mean SPAR ranging between 0.12 and 0.25 mm/a with a maximum SPAR of 0.23-0.58 mm/a, and the second during the last 3 Ma, at a mean SPAR ranging between 0.93 and 1.62 mm/a and with a maximum SPAR between 2.13 and 3.17 mm/a, i.e., 6700-10,000 m of Plio-Pleistocene sediment accumulation. Local transtensional tectonics may explain these unusually high rates of sedimentation in an overall sinistral oblique convergence setting.

  11. Real World of Industrial Chemistry: Ethylene: The Organic Chemical Industry's Most Important Building Block.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fernelius, W. Conrad, Ed.; And Others

    1979-01-01

    The value of ethylene, as the organic chemical industry's most important building block, is discussed. The discussion focuses on the source of ethylene, its various forms and functions, and the ways in which the forms are made. (SA)

  12. Two integrator loop quadrature oscillators: A review.

    PubMed

    Soliman, Ahmed M

    2013-01-01

    A review of the two integrator loop oscillator circuits providing two quadrature sinusoidal output voltages is given. All the circuits considered employ the minimum number of capacitors namely two except one circuit which uses three capacitors. The circuits considered are classified to four different classes. The first class includes floating capacitors and floating resistors and the active building blocks realizing these circuits are the Op Amp or the OTRA. The second class employs grounded capacitors and includes floating resistors and the active building blocks realizing these circuits are the DCVC or the unity gain cells or the CFOA. The third class employs grounded capacitors and grounded resistors and the active building blocks realizing these circuits are the CCII. The fourth class employs grounded capacitors and no resistors and the active building blocks realizing these circuits are the TA. Transformation methods showing the generation of different classes from each other is given in details and this is one of the main objectives of this paper.

  13. Building Blocks of Psychology: on Remaking the Unkept Promises of Early Schools.

    PubMed

    Gozli, Davood G; Deng, Wei Sophia

    2018-03-01

    The appeal and popularity of "building blocks", i.e., simple and dissociable elements of behavior and experience, persists in psychological research. We begin our assessment of this research strategy with an historical review of structuralism (as espoused by E. B. Titchener) and behaviorism (espoused by J. B. Watson and B. F. Skinner), two movements that held the assumption in their attempts to provide a systematic and unified discipline. We point out the ways in which the elementism of the two schools selected, framed, and excluded topics of study. After the historical review, we turn to contemporary literature and highlight the persistence of research into building blocks and the associated framing and exclusions in psychological research. The assumption that complex categories of human psychology can be understood in terms of their elementary components and simplest forms seems indefensible. In specific cases, therefore, reliance on the assumption requires justification. Finally, we review alternative strategies that bypass the commitment to building blocks.

  14. Toward Generalization of Iterative Small Molecule Synthesis

    PubMed Central

    Lehmann, Jonathan W.; Blair, Daniel J.; Burke, Martin D.

    2018-01-01

    Small molecules have extensive untapped potential to benefit society, but access to this potential is too often restricted by limitations inherent to the customized approach currently used to synthesize this class of chemical matter. In contrast, the “building block approach”, i.e., generalized iterative assembly of interchangeable parts, has now proven to be a highly efficient and flexible way to construct things ranging all the way from skyscrapers to macromolecules to artificial intelligence algorithms. The structural redundancy found in many small molecules suggests that they possess a similar capacity for generalized building block-based construction. It is also encouraging that many customized iterative synthesis methods have been developed that improve access to specific classes of small molecules. There has also been substantial recent progress toward the iterative assembly of many different types of small molecules, including complex natural products, pharmaceuticals, biological probes, and materials, using common building blocks and coupling chemistry. Collectively, these advances suggest that a generalized building block approach for small molecule synthesis may be within reach. PMID:29696152

  15. Engineering multifunctional protein nanoparticles by in vitro disassembling and reassembling of heterologous building blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Unzueta, Ugutz; Serna, Naroa; Sánchez-García, Laura; Roldán, Mónica; Sánchez-Chardi, Alejandro; Mangues, Ramón; Villaverde, Antonio; Vázquez, Esther

    2017-12-01

    The engineering of protein self-assembling at the nanoscale allows the generation of functional and biocompatible materials, which can be produced by easy biological fabrication. The combination of cationic and histidine-rich stretches in fusion proteins promotes oligomerization as stable protein-only regular nanoparticles that are composed by a moderate number of building blocks. Among other applications, these materials are highly appealing as tools in targeted drug delivery once empowered with peptidic ligands of cell surface receptors. In this context, we have dissected here this simple technological platform regarding the controlled disassembling and reassembling of the composing building blocks. By applying high salt and imidazole in combination, nanoparticles are disassembled in a process that is fully reversible upon removal of the disrupting agents. By taking this approach, we accomplish here the in vitro generation of hybrid nanoparticles formed by heterologous building blocks. This fact demonstrates the capability to generate multifunctional and/or multiparatopic or multispecific materials usable in nanomedical applications.

  16. Building Quality Report Cards for Geriatric Care in The Netherlands: Using Concept Mapping to Identify the Appropriate "Building Blocks" from the Consumer's Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Groenewoud, A. Stef; van Exel, N. Job A.; Berg, Marc; Huijsman, Robbert

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This article reports on a study to identify "building blocks" for quality report cards for geriatric care. Its aim is to present (a) the results of the study and (b) the innovative step-by-step approach that was developed to arrive at these results. Design and Methods: We used Concept Mapping/Structured Conceptualization to…

  17. Building blocks for subleading helicity operators

    DOE PAGES

    Kolodrubetz, Daniel W.; Moult, Ian; Stewart, Iain W.

    2016-05-24

    On-shell helicity methods provide powerful tools for determining scattering amplitudes, which have a one-to-one correspondence with leading power helicity operators in the Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) away from singular regions of phase space. We show that helicity based operators are also useful for enumerating power suppressed SCET operators, which encode subleading amplitude information about singular limits. In particular, we present a complete set of scalar helicity building blocks that are valid for constructing operators at any order in the SCET power expansion. In conclusion, we also describe an interesting angular momentum selection rule that restricts how these building blocks canmore » be assembled.« less

  18. Origami-based cellular metamaterial with auxetic, bistable, and self-locking properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan

    2017-04-01

    We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson’s ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments.

  19. Origami-based cellular metamaterial with auxetic, bistable, and self-locking properties

    PubMed Central

    Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan

    2017-01-01

    We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson’s ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments. PMID:28387345

  20. Rapid formation of complexity in the total synthesis of natural products enabled by oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptene building blocks.

    PubMed

    Schindler, Corinna S; Carreira, Erick M

    2009-11-01

    This critical review showcases examples of rapid formation of complexity in total syntheses starting from 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene derivatives. An overview of methods allowing synthetic access to these building blocks is provided and their application in recently developed synthetic transformations to structurally complex systems is illustrated. In addition, the facile access to a novel oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptene derived building block is presented which significantly enlarges the possibilities of previously known chemical transformations and is highlighted in the enantioselective route to the core of the banyaside and suomilide natural products (107 references).

  1. Recent advances in synthesis of bacterial rare sugar building blocks and their applications.

    PubMed

    Emmadi, Madhu; Kulkarni, Suvarn S

    2014-07-01

    Covering: 1964 to 2013. Bacteria have unusual glycans on their surfaces which distinguish them from the host cells. These unique structures offer avenues for targeting bacteria with specific therapeutics and vaccine. However, these rare sugars are not accessible in acceptable purity and amounts by isolation from natural sources. Thus, procurement of orthogonally protected rare sugar building blocks through efficient chemical synthesis is regarded as a crucial step towards the development of glycoconjugate vaccines. This Highlight focuses on recent advances in the synthesis of the bacterial deoxy amino hexopyranoside building blocks and their application in constructing various biologically important bacterial O-glycans.

  2. Contextuality as a Resource for Models of Quantum Computation with Qubits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bermejo-Vega, Juan; Delfosse, Nicolas; Browne, Dan E.; Okay, Cihan; Raussendorf, Robert

    2017-09-01

    A central question in quantum computation is to identify the resources that are responsible for quantum speed-up. Quantum contextuality has been recently shown to be a resource for quantum computation with magic states for odd-prime dimensional qudits and two-dimensional systems with real wave functions. The phenomenon of state-independent contextuality poses a priori an obstruction to characterizing the case of regular qubits, the fundamental building block of quantum computation. Here, we establish contextuality of magic states as a necessary resource for a large class of quantum computation schemes on qubits. We illustrate our result with a concrete scheme related to measurement-based quantum computation.

  3. Ae2Sb2X4F2 (Ae = Sr, Ba): new members of the homologous series Ae2M(1+n)X(3+n)F2 designed from rock salt and fluorite 2D building blocks.

    PubMed

    Kabbour, Houria; Cario, Laurent

    2006-03-20

    We have designed new compounds within the homologous series Ae2F2M(1+n)X(3+n) (Ae = Sr, Ba; M = main group metal; n = integer) built up from the stacking of 2D building blocks of rock salt and fluorite types. By incrementally increasing the size of the rock salt 2D building blocks, we have obtained two new n = 1 members of this homologous series, namely, Sr2F2Sb2Se4 and Ba2F2Sb2Se4. We then succeeded in synthesizing these compounds using a high-temperature ceramic method. The structure refinements from the powder or single-crystal X-ray diffraction data confirmed presence of the expected alternating stacking of fluorite [Ae2F2] (Ae = Sr, Ba) and rock salt [Sb2Se4] 2D building blocks. However the Ba derivative shows a strong distortion of the [Sb2Se4] block and a concomitant change of the Sb atom coordination likely related to the lone-pair activity.

  4. Total synthesis of a CD-ring: side-chain building block for preparing 17-epi-calcitriol derivatives from the Hajos-Parrish dione.

    PubMed

    Michalak, Karol; Wicha, Jerzy

    2011-08-19

    An efficient synthesis of the key building block for 17-epi-calctriol from the Hajos-Parrish dione involving a sequence of diastereoselective transformation of the azulene core and the side-chain construction is presented.

  5. High-order central ENO finite-volume scheme for hyperbolic conservation laws on three-dimensional cubed-sphere grids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ivan, L.; De Sterck, H.; Susanto, A.; Groth, C. P. T.

    2015-02-01

    A fourth-order accurate finite-volume scheme for hyperbolic conservation laws on three-dimensional (3D) cubed-sphere grids is described. The approach is based on a central essentially non-oscillatory (CENO) finite-volume method that was recently introduced for two-dimensional compressible flows and is extended to 3D geometries with structured hexahedral grids. Cubed-sphere grids feature hexahedral cells with nonplanar cell surfaces, which are handled with high-order accuracy using trilinear geometry representations in the proposed approach. Varying stencil sizes and slope discontinuities in grid lines occur at the boundaries and corners of the six sectors of the cubed-sphere grid where the grid topology is unstructured, and these difficulties are handled naturally with high-order accuracy by the multidimensional least-squares based 3D CENO reconstruction with overdetermined stencils. A rotation-based mechanism is introduced to automatically select appropriate smaller stencils at degenerate block boundaries, where fewer ghost cells are available and the grid topology changes, requiring stencils to be modified. Combining these building blocks results in a finite-volume discretization for conservation laws on 3D cubed-sphere grids that is uniformly high-order accurate in all three grid directions. While solution-adaptivity is natural in the multi-block setting of our code, high-order accurate adaptive refinement on cubed-sphere grids is not pursued in this paper. The 3D CENO scheme is an accurate and robust solution method for hyperbolic conservation laws on general hexahedral grids that is attractive because it is inherently multidimensional by employing a K-exact overdetermined reconstruction scheme, and it avoids the complexity of considering multiple non-central stencil configurations that characterizes traditional ENO schemes. Extensive numerical tests demonstrate fourth-order convergence for stationary and time-dependent Euler and magnetohydrodynamic flows on cubed-sphere grids, and robustness against spurious oscillations at 3D shocks. Performance tests illustrate efficiency gains that can be potentially achieved using fourth-order schemes as compared to second-order methods for the same error level. Applications on extended cubed-sphere grids incorporating a seventh root block that discretizes the interior of the inner sphere demonstrate the versatility of the spatial discretization method.

  6. Evaluation of tsunami risk in Heraklion city, Crete, Greece, by using GIS methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Triantafyllou, Ioanna; Fokaefs, Anna; Novikova, Tatyana; Papadopoulos, Gerasimos A.; Vaitis, Michalis

    2016-04-01

    The Hellenic Arc is the most active seismotectonic structure in the Mediterranean region. The island of Crete occupies the central segment of the arc which is characterized by high seismic and tsunami activity. Several tsunamis generated by large earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides were reported that hit the capital city of Heraklion in the historical past. We focus our tsunami risk study in the northern coastal area of Crete (ca. 6 km in length and 1 km in maximum width) which includes the western part of the city of Heraklion and a large part of the neighboring municipality of Gazi. The evaluation of tsunami risk included calculations and mapping with QGIS of (1) cost for repairing buildings after tsunami damage, (2) population exposed to tsunami attack, (3) optimum routes and times for evacuation. To calculate the cost for building reparation after a tsunami attack we have determined the tsunami inundation zone in the study area after numerical simulations for extreme tsunami scenarios. The geographical distribution of buildings per building block, obtained from the 2011 census data of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT) and satellite data, was mapped. By applying the SCHEMA Damage Tool we assessed the building vulnerability to tsunamis according to the types of buildings and their expected damage from the hydrodynamic impact. A set of official cost rates varying with the building types and the damage levels, following standards set by the state after the strong damaging earthquakes in Greece in 2014, was applied to calculate the cost of rebuilding or repairing buildings damaged by the tsunami. In the investigation of the population exposed to tsunami inundation we have used the interpolation method to smooth out the population geographical distribution per building block within the inundation zone. Then, the population distribution was correlated with tsunami hydrodynamic parameters in the inundation zone. The last approach of tsunami risk assessment refers to the selection of optimal routes and times needed for evacuation from certain points within the inundation zone to a number of shelters outside the zone. The three different approaches were evaluated as for their overall contribution in the development of a plan for the tsunami risk mitigation. This research is a contribution to the EU-FP7 tsunami research project ASTARTE (Assessment, Strategy And Risk Reduction for Tsunamis in Europe), grant agreement no: 603839, 2013-10-30.

  7. Multiresonant Composite Optical Nanoantennas by Out-of-plane Plasmonic Engineering.

    PubMed

    Song, Junyeob; Zhou, Wei

    2018-06-27

    Optical nanoantennas can concentrate light and enhance light-matter interactions in subwavelength domain, which is useful for photodetection, light emission, optical biosensing, and spectroscopy. However, conventional optical nanoantennas operating at a single wavelength band are not suitable for multiband applications. Here, we propose and exploit an out-of-plane plasmonic engineering strategy to design and create composite optical nanoantennas that can support multiple nanolocalized modes at different resonant wavelengths. These multiresonant composite nanoantennas are composed of vertically stacked building blocks of metal-insulator-metal loop nanoantennas. Studies of multiresonant composite nanoantennas demonstrate that the number of supported modes depends on the number of vertically stacked building blocks and the resonant wavelengths of individual modes are tunable by controlling the out-of-plane geometries of their building blocks. In addition, numerical studies show that the resonant wavelengths of individual modes in composite nanoantennas can deviate from the optical response of building blocks due to hybridization of magnetic modes in neighboring building blocks. Using Au nanohole arrays as deposition masks to fabricate arrays of multilayered composite nanoantennas, we experimentally demonstrate their multiresonant optical properties in good agreement with theory predictions. These studies show that out-of-plane engineered multiresonant composite nanoantennas can provide new opportunities for fundamental nanophotonics research and practical applications involving optical multiband operations, such as multiphoton process, broadband solar energy conversion, and wavelength-multiplexed optical system.

  8. Branching patterns in leaf starches from Arabidopsis mutants deficient in diverse starch synthases.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Fan; Bertoft, Eric; Szydlowski, Nicolas; d'Hulst, Christophe; Seetharaman, Koushik

    2015-01-12

    This is the first report on the cluster structure of transitory starch from Arabidopsis leaves. In addition to wild type, the molecular structures of leaf starch from mutants deficient in starch synthases (SS) including single enzyme mutants ss1-, ss2-, or ss3-, and also double mutants ss1-ss2- and ss1-ss3- were characterized. The mutations resulted in increased amylose content. Clusters from whole starch were isolated by partial hydrolysis using α-amylase of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The clusters were then further hydrolyzed with concentrated α-amylase of B. amyloliquefaciens to produce building blocks (α-limit dextrins). Structures of the clusters and their building blocks were characterized by chromatography of samples before and after debranching treatment. While the mutations increased the size of clusters, the reasons were different as reflected by the composition of their unit chains and building blocks. In general, all mutants contained more of a-chains that preferentially increased the number of small building blocks with only two chains. The clusters of the double mutant ss1-ss3- were very large and possessed also more of large building blocks with four or more chains. The results from transitory starch are compared with those from agriculturally important crops in the context that to what extent the Arabidopsis can be a true biotechnological reflection for starch modifications through genetic means. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Alq3 nanorods: promising building blocks for optical devices.

    PubMed

    Chen, Wei; Peng, Qing; Li, Yadong

    2008-07-17

    Monodisperse Alq3 nanorods with hexagonal-prism-like morphology are produced via a facile, emulsion based synthesis route. The photoluminescence of individual nanorods differs from the bulk material. These nanorods are promising building blocks for novel optical devices. Copyright © 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Forecasting Maintenance Shortcomings of a Planned Equipment Density Listing in Support of Expeditionary Missions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    importantly, it examines the methodology used to build the class IX block embarked on ship prior to deployment. The class IX block is defined as a repository...compared to historical data to evaluate model and simulation outputs. This thesis provides recommendations on improving the methodology implemented in...improving the level of organic support available to deployed units. More importantly, it examines the methodology used to build the class IX block

  11. π-Extended Isoindigo-Based Derivative: A Promising Electron-Deficient Building Block for Polymer Semiconductors.

    PubMed

    Xu, Long; Zhao, Zhiyuan; Xiao, Mingchao; Yang, Jie; Xiao, Jian; Yi, Zhengran; Wang, Shuai; Liu, Yunqi

    2017-11-22

    The exploration of novel electron-deficient building blocks is a key task for developing high-performance polymer semiconductors in organic thin-film transistors. In view of the situation of the lack of strong electron-deficient building blocks, we designed two novel π-extended isoindigo-based electron-deficient building blocks, IVI and F 4 IVI. Owing to the strong electron-deficient nature and the extended π-conjugated system of the two acceptor units, their copolymers, PIVI2T and PF 4 IVI2T, containing 2,2'-bithiophene donor units, are endowed with deep-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels and strong intermolecular interactions. In comparison to PIVI2T, the fluorinated PF 4 IVI2T exhibits stronger intra- and intermolecular interactions, lower HOMO/LUMO energy levels up to -5.74/-4.17 eV, and more ordered molecular packing with a smaller π-π stacking distance of up to 3.53 Å, resulting in an excellent ambipolar transporting behavior and a promising application in logic circuits for PF 4 IVI2T in ambient with hole and electron mobilities of up to 1.03 and 1.82 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , respectively. The results reveal that F 4 IVI is a promising and strong electron-deficient building unit to construct high-performance semiconducting polymers, which provides an insight into the structure-property relationships for the exploration and molecular engineering of excellent electron-deficient building blocks in the field of organic electronics.

  12. Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adrián-Martínez, S.; Ageron, M.; Aharonian, F.; Aiello, S.; Albert, A.; Ameli, F.; Anassontzis, E.; Andre, M.; Androulakis, G.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Ardid, M.; Avgitas, T.; Barbarino, G.; Barbarito, E.; Baret, B.; Barrios-Martí, J.; Belhorma, B.; Belias, A.; Berbee, E.; van den Berg, A.; Bertin, V.; Beurthey, S.; van Beveren, V.; Beverini, N.; Biagi, S.; Biagioni, A.; Billault, M.; Bondì, M.; Bormuth, R.; Bouhadef, B.; Bourlis, G.; Bourret, S.; Boutonnet, C.; Bouwhuis, M.; Bozza, C.; Bruijn, R.; Brunner, J.; Buis, E.; Busto, J.; Cacopardo, G.; Caillat, L.; Calamai, M.; Calvo, D.; Capone, A.; Caramete, L.; Cecchini, S.; Celli, S.; Champion, C.; Cherkaoui El Moursli, R.; Cherubini, S.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Classen, L.; Cocimano, R.; Coelho, J. A. B.; Coleiro, A.; Colonges, S.; Coniglione, R.; Cordelli, M.; Cosquer, A.; Coyle, P.; Creusot, A.; Cuttone, G.; D'Amico, A.; De Bonis, G.; De Rosa, G.; De Sio, C.; Di Capua, F.; Di Palma, I.; Díaz García, A. F.; Distefano, C.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Dorosti-Hasankiadeh, Q.; Drakopoulou, E.; Drouhin, D.; Drury, L.; Durocher, M.; Eberl, T.; Eichie, S.; van Eijk, D.; El Bojaddaini, I.; El Khayati, N.; Elsaesser, D.; Enzenhöfer, A.; Fassi, F.; Favali, P.; Fermani, P.; Ferrara, G.; Filippidis, C.; Frascadore, G.; Fusco, L. A.; Gal, T.; Galatà, S.; Garufi, F.; Gay, P.; Gebyehu, M.; Giordano, V.; Gizani, N.; Gracia, R.; Graf, K.; Grégoire, T.; Grella, G.; Habel, R.; Hallmann, S.; van Haren, H.; Harissopulos, S.; Heid, T.; Heijboer, A.; Heine, E.; Henry, S.; Hernández-Rey, J. J.; Hevinga, M.; Hofestädt, J.; Hugon, C. M. F.; Illuminati, G.; James, C. W.; Jansweijer, P.; Jongen, M.; de Jong, M.; Kadler, M.; Kalekin, O.; Kappes, A.; Katz, U. F.; Keller, P.; Kieft, G.; Kießling, D.; Koffeman, E. N.; Kooijman, P.; Kouchner, A.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lahmann, R.; Lamare, P.; Leisos, A.; Leonora, E.; Clark, M. Lindsey; Liolios, A.; Llorens Alvarez, C. D.; Lo Presti, D.; Löhner, H.; Lonardo, A.; Lotze, M.; Loucatos, S.; Maccioni, E.; Mannheim, K.; Margiotta, A.; Marinelli, A.; Mariş, O.; Markou, C.; Martínez-Mora, J. A.; Martini, A.; Mele, R.; Melis, K. W.; Michael, T.; Migliozzi, P.; Migneco, E.; Mijakowski, P.; Miraglia, A.; Mollo, C. M.; Mongelli, M.; Morganti, M.; Moussa, A.; Musico, P.; Musumeci, M.; Navas, S.; Nicolau, C. A.; Olcina, I.; Olivetto, C.; Orlando, A.; Papaikonomou, A.; Papaleo, R.; Păvălaş, G. E.; Peek, H.; Pellegrino, C.; Perrina, C.; Pfutzner, M.; Piattelli, P.; Pikounis, K.; Poma, G. E.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Pratolongo, F.; Pühlhofer, G.; Pulvirenti, S.; Quinn, L.; Racca, C.; Raffaelli, F.; Randazzo, N.; Rapidis, P.; Razis, P.; Real, D.; Resvanis, L.; Reubelt, J.; Riccobene, G.; Rossi, C.; Rovelli, A.; Saldaña, M.; Salvadori, I.; Samtleben, D. F. E.; Sánchez García, A.; Sánchez Losa, A.; Sanguineti, M.; Santangelo, A.; Santonocito, D.; Sapienza, P.; Schimmel, F.; Schmelling, J.; Sciacca, V.; Sedita, M.; Seitz, T.; Sgura, I.; Simeone, F.; Siotis, I.; Sipala, V.; Spisso, B.; Spurio, M.; Stavropoulos, G.; Steijger, J.; Stellacci, S. M.; Stransky, D.; Taiuti, M.; Tayalati, Y.; Tézier, D.; Theraube, S.; Thompson, L.; Timmer, P.; Tönnis, C.; Trasatti, L.; Trovato, A.; Tsirigotis, A.; Tzamarias, S.; Tzamariudaki, E.; Vallage, B.; Van Elewyck, V.; Vermeulen, J.; Vicini, P.; Viola, S.; Vivolo, D.; Volkert, M.; Voulgaris, G.; Wiggers, L.; Wilms, J.; de Wolf, E.; Zachariadou, K.; Zornoza, J. D.; Zúñiga, J.

    2016-08-01

    The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

  13. Sonoanatomy relevant for ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach in the lumbar region

    PubMed Central

    Karmakar, M K; Li, X; Kwok, W H; Ho, A M-H; Ngan Kee, W D

    2012-01-01

    Objectives The use of ultrasound to guide peripheral nerve blocks is now a well-established technique in regional anaesthesia. However, despite reports of ultrasound guided epidural access via the paramedian approach, there are limited data on the use of ultrasound for central neuraxial blocks, which may be due to a poor understanding of spinal sonoanatomy. The aim of this study was to define the sonoanatomy of the lumbar spine relevant for central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach. Methods The sonoanatomy of the lumbar spine relevant for central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach was defined using a “water-based spine phantom”, young volunteers and anatomical slices rendered from the Visible Human Project data set. Results The water-based spine phantom was a simple model to study the sonoanatomy of the osseous elements of the lumbar spine. Each osseous element of the lumbar spine, in the spine phantom, produced a “signature pattern” on the paramedian sagittal scans, which was comparable to its sonographic appearance in vivo. In the volunteers, despite the narrow acoustic window, the ultrasound visibility of the neuraxial structures at the L3/L4 and L4/L5 lumbar intervertebral spaces was good, and we were able to delineate the sonoanatomy relevant for ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach. Conclusion Using a simple water-based spine phantom, volunteer scans and anatomical slices from the Visible Human Project (cadaver) we have described the sonoanatomy relevant for ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach in the lumbar region. PMID:22010025

  14. Determining Possible Building Blocks of the Earth and Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burbine, T. H.; OBrien, K. M.

    2004-01-01

    One of the fundamental questions concerning planetary formation is exactly what material did the planets form from? All the planets in our solar system are believed to have formed out of material from the solar nebula. Chondritic meteorites appear to sample this primitive material. Chondritic meteorites are generally classified into 13 major groups, which have a variety of compositions. Detailed studies of possible building blocks of the terrestrial planets require samples that can be used to estimate the bulk chemistry of these bodies. This study will focus on trying to determine possible building blocks of Earth and Mars since samples of these two planets can be studied in detail in the laboratory.

  15. Whether a Building or a State of Mind, the Central Office Must Evolve

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mizell, Hayes

    2010-01-01

    The central office is both a physical place and a state of mind. In some school systems, the central office is a separate building located away from schools. In other communities, the office is housed in one of the school buildings. When someone mentions "central office," they may not be referring only to the building. They may also mean the tip…

  16. Investigating the interactions of decentralized and centralized wastewater heat recovery systems.

    PubMed

    Sitzenfrei, Robert; Hillebrand, Sebastian; Rauch, Wolfgang

    2017-03-01

    In the urban water cycle there are different sources for extracting energy. In addition to potential and chemical energy in the wastewater, thermal energy can also be recovered. Heat can be recovered from the wastewater with heat exchangers that are located decentralized and/or centralized at several locations throughout the system. It can be recovered directly at the source (e.g. in the showers and bathrooms), at building block level (e.g. warm water tanks collecting all grey water), in sewers or at the wastewater treatment plant. However, an uncoordinated installation of systems on such different levels can lead to competing technologies. To investigate these interactions, a modelling environment is set up, tested and calibrated based on continuous sewer temperature and flow measurements. With that approach different heat recovery scenarios on a household level (decentralized) and of in-sewer heat recovery (centralized) are investigated. A maximum performance drop of 40% for a centralized energy recovery system was estimated when all bathrooms are equipped with decentralized recovery systems. Therefore, the proposed modelling approach is suitable for testing different future conditions and to identify robust strategies for heat recovery systems from wastewater.

  17. LEGO® Bricks as Building Blocks for Centimeter-Scale Biological Environments: The Case of Plants

    PubMed Central

    Lind, Kara R.; Sizmur, Tom; Benomar, Saida; Miller, Anthony; Cademartiri, Ludovico

    2014-01-01

    LEGO bricks are commercially available interlocking pieces of plastic that are conventionally used as toys. We describe their use to build engineered environments for cm-scale biological systems, in particular plant roots. Specifically, we take advantage of the unique modularity of these building blocks to create inexpensive, transparent, reconfigurable, and highly scalable environments for plant growth in which structural obstacles and chemical gradients can be precisely engineered to mimic soil. PMID:24963716

  18. LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.

    PubMed

    Lind, Kara R; Sizmur, Tom; Benomar, Saida; Miller, Anthony; Cademartiri, Ludovico

    2014-01-01

    LEGO bricks are commercially available interlocking pieces of plastic that are conventionally used as toys. We describe their use to build engineered environments for cm-scale biological systems, in particular plant roots. Specifically, we take advantage of the unique modularity of these building blocks to create inexpensive, transparent, reconfigurable, and highly scalable environments for plant growth in which structural obstacles and chemical gradients can be precisely engineered to mimic soil.

  19. Stable statistical representations facilitate visual search.

    PubMed

    Corbett, Jennifer E; Melcher, David

    2014-10-01

    Observers represent the average properties of object ensembles even when they cannot identify individual elements. To investigate the functional role of ensemble statistics, we examined how modulating statistical stability affects visual search. We varied the mean and/or individual sizes of an array of Gabor patches while observers searched for a tilted target. In "stable" blocks, the mean and/or local sizes of the Gabors were constant over successive displays, whereas in "unstable" baseline blocks they changed from trial to trial. Although there was no relationship between the context and the spatial location of the target, observers found targets faster (as indexed by faster correct responses and fewer saccades) as the global mean size became stable over several displays. Building statistical stability also facilitated scanning the scene, as measured by larger saccadic amplitudes, faster saccadic reaction times, and shorter fixation durations. These findings suggest a central role for peripheral visual information, creating context to free resources for detailed processing of salient targets and maintaining the illusion of visual stability.

  20. Building Blocks and Cognitive Building Blocks: Playing to Know the World Mathematically

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sarama, Julie; Clements, Douglas H.

    2009-01-01

    The authors explore how children's play can support the development of the foundations of mathematics learning and how adults can support children's representation of--and thus the "mathematization" of--their play. The authors review research about the amount and nature of mathematics found in the free play of children. They briefly…

  1. Trainer's Guide to Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs [CD-ROM

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joseph, Gail E.; Sandall, Susan R.; Schwartz, Ilene S.

    2010-01-01

    An essential teaching companion for instructors of pre-K educators, this convenient CD-ROM is a vivid blueprint for effective inclusive education using the popular "Building Blocks" approach. Following the structure of the bestselling textbook, this comprehensive guide helps teacher educators provide effective instruction on the three types of…

  2. 1. NORTHWEST FRONT AND SOUTHWEST SIDE, SHOWING LOCATION OF BUILDING ...

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

    1. NORTHWEST FRONT AND SOUTHWEST SIDE, SHOWING LOCATION OF BUILDING 0520 WEST OF FIRING CONTOL BLOCK HOUSE (BLDG. 0545), BETWEEN SLED TRACK AND CAMERA ACCESS ROAD. - Edwards Air Force Base, South Base Sled Track, Observation Block House, Station "O" area, east end of Sled Track, Lancaster, Los Angeles County, CA

  3. Building an Early Childhood Parent-Teacher Resource Center.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holloway, Mary A.

    This manual is a guidebook to the development of the Project Enlightenment Parent-Teacher Resource Center and serves as a reference for the replication of this type of center in other communities. The manual consists of three chapters that are conceptualized as building blocks, because they are sequential, incremental, and independent. Block A…

  4. Effects of a Preschool Mathematics Curriculum: Summative Research on the "Building Blocks" Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clements, Douglas H.; Sarama, Julie

    2007-01-01

    This study evaluated the efficacy of a preschool mathematics program based on a comprehensive model of developing research-based software and print curricula. Building Blocks, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a curriculum development project focused on creating research-based, technology-enhanced mathematics materials for pre-K…

  5. PBF Reactor Building (PER620). Detail of arrangement of highdensity blocks ...

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

    PBF Reactor Building (PER-620). Detail of arrangement of high-density blocks and other basement shielding. Date: February 1966. Ebasco Services 1205 PER/PBF 620-A-7. INEEL index no. 761-0620-00-205-123070 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, SPERT-I & Power Burst Facility Area, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  6. University Education in Ontario: Shared Goals & Building Blocks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of Ontario Universities, Toronto.

    This brochure suggests five goals that are likely to be shared by the people of Ontario, their government, and the province's publicly funded universities for a strong university system, and identifies the building blocks and resource-related commitments that would enable Ontario universities to achieve these goals. The goals are: (1) all…

  7. Stereoselective total synthesis of Oxylipin from open chain gluco-configured building block.

    PubMed

    Borkar, Santosh Ramdas; Aidhen, Indrapal Singh

    2017-04-18

    Total synthesis of naturally occurring Oxylipin has been achieved from open chain gluco-configured building block which is readily assembled from inexpensive and commercially available D-(+)-gluconolactone. Grignard reaction and Wittig olefination reactions are key steps for the requisite CC bond formation. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  8. Patterning nonisometric origami in nematic elastomer sheets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Plucinsky, Paul; Kowalski, Benjamin A.; White, Timothy J.; Bhattacharya, Kaushik

    Nematic elastomers dramatically change their shape in response to diverse stimuli including light and heat. In this paper, we provide a systematic framework for the design of complex three dimensional shapes through the actuation of heterogeneously patterned nematic elastomer sheets. These sheets are composed of \\textit{nonisometric origami} building blocks which, when appropriately linked together, can actuate into a diverse array of three dimensional faceted shapes. We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that: 1) the nonisometric origami building blocks actuate in the predicted manner, 2) the integration of multiple building blocks leads to complex multi-stable, yet predictable, shapes, 3) we can bias the actuation experimentally to obtain a desired complex shape amongst the multi-stable shapes. We then show that this experimentally realized functionality enables a rich possible design landscape for actuation using nematic elastomers. We highlight this landscape through theoretical examples, which utilize large arrays of these building blocks to realize a desired three dimensional origami shape. In combination, these results amount to an engineering design principle, which we hope will provide a template for the application of nematic elastomers to emerging technologies.

  9. Forest statistics for west central Oregon.

    Treesearch

    John W. Hazard; Melvin E. Metcalf

    1965-01-01

    This publication summarizes the results of the latest reinventory of four counties centrally located in western Oregon: Benton, Lane, Lincoln, and Linn. This block of four counties is one of 10 such blocks set up in the States of Oregon and Washington by the Forest Survey to facilitate orderly reinventories of the timber resources. Each block will be reinventoried at...

  10. Structure of clusters and building blocks in amylopectin from African rice accessions.

    PubMed

    Gayin, Joseph; Abdel-Aal, El-Sayed M; Marcone, Massimo; Manful, John; Bertoft, Eric

    2016-09-05

    Enzymatic hydrolysis in combination with gel-permeation and anion-exchange chromatography techniques were employed to characterise the composition of clusters and building blocks of amylopectin from two African rice (Oryza glaberrima) accessions-IRGC 103759 and TOG 12440. The samples were compared with one Asian rice (Oryza sativa) sample (cv WITA 4) and one O. sativa×O. glaberrima cross (NERICA 4). The average DP of clusters from the African rice accessions (ARAs) was marginally larger (DP=83) than in WITA 4 (DP=81). However, regarding average number of chains, clusters from the ARAs represented both the smallest and largest clusters. Overall, the result suggested that the structure of clusters in TOG 12440 was dense with short chains and high degree of branching, whereas the situation was the opposite in NERICA 4. IRGC 103759 and WITA 4 possessed clusters with intermediate characteristics. The commonest type of building blocks in all samples was group 2 (single branched dextrins) representing 40.3-49.4% of the blocks, while groups 3-6 were found in successively lower numbers. The average number of building blocks in the clusters was significantly larger in NERICA 4 (5.8) and WITA 4 (5.7) than in IRGC 103759 and TOG 12440 (5.1 and 5.3, respectively). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Effects of nanoparticle shape on the morphology and properties of porous CdSe assemblies (aerogels).

    PubMed

    Yu, Hongtao; Brock, Stephanie L

    2008-08-01

    We demonstrate the effect of differently shaped CdSe nanoscale building blocks (dots, rods, branched nanoparticles, and hyperbranched nanoparticles) on the morphologies, surface characteristics, and optical properties of resultant porous CdSe nanostructured aerogels. Monolithic CdSe aerogels were produced by controlled oxidative removal of surface thiolate ligands from differently shaped CdSe nanoparticles to yield a wet gel, followed by CO(2) supercritical drying. The X-ray diffraction data show that the resultant CdSe aerogels maintain the crystalline phase of the building blocks without significant grain growth. However, the transmission electron microscopy images indicate that the morphology of CdSe aerogels changes from a colloid-type morphology to a polymer-type morphology when the building block changes from dot to rod or the branched nanoparticle. The morphology of the CdSe aerogel assembled from hyperbranched nanoparticles appears to be intermediate between the colloid-type and the polymer-type. Nitrogen physisorption measurements suggest that the surface areas and porosity are a direct function of the shape of the primary building blocks, with aerogels formed from rods or branched particles exhibiting the greatest surface areas (>200 m(2)/g) and those prepared from hyperbranched nanoparticles exhibiting the least (<100 m(2)/g). Band gap measurements and photoluminescence studies show that the as-prepared CdSe aerogels retain to a large extent the intrinsic quantum confinement of the differently shaped building blocks, despite being connected into a 3D network.

  12. Source-to-Sink constraints on tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Central Range, Cenderawasih Bay (Indonesia) and Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Babault, J.; Viaplana-Muzas, M.; Legrand, X.; Van Den Driessche, J.; González-Quijano, M.; Mudd, S. M.; Kergaravat, C.; Ringenbach, J. C.; Callot, J. P.; Vetel, W.; Dhont, D.

    2017-12-01

    The island of Papua New Guinea is the result of continent-arc collision that began building the island's Central Range during the late Miocene. The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Cenderawasih Bay, in the northwestern part of the island of Papua New Guinea (Indonesia), which links the Kepala Burung block to the Central Range is still poorly understood. Previous studies have shown that this bay contains a thick (> 8 km) sequence of undated sediments. Hypothesis claim that the embayment resulted from a 3 Ma aperture created by anticlockwise rotation of the Kepala Burung block with respect to the northern rim of the Australian plate, or from the southwest drift of a slice of volcanics/oceanic crust between 8 and 6 Ma. Using a source-to-sink approach, based on i) a geomorphologic analysis of the drainage network dynamics, ii) a reassessment of available thermochronological data, and iii) seismic lines interpretation, we suggest that sediments started to accumulate in the Cenderawasih Bay and onshore in the Waipoga Basin in the late Miocene since the beginning of the Central Range building at 12 Ma, resulting in sediment accumulation of up to 12200 m. At first order, we predict that infilling is mainly composed of siliciclastics sourced in the graphite-bearing Ruffaer Metamorphic Belt and its equivalent in the Weyland Overthrust. From the unroofing paths in the Central Range we deduce two rates of solid phase accumulation (SPAR) since 12 Ma, the first one at a mean SPAR ranging between 0.12-0.25 mm/a with a maximum SPAR of 0.23-0.58 mm/a, and the second during the last 3 Ma, at a mean SPAR ranging between 0.93-1.62 mm/a and with a maximum SPAR between 2.13-3.17 mm/a, i.e., 6700-10000 m of Plio-Pleistocene sediment accumulation. Local transtensional tectonics may explain these unusually high rates of sedimentation in an overall sinistral oblique convergence setting. We further extended this approach to the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea), a foreland basin developed in the passive margin of the Coral Sea and fed by the Papuan fold-and-thrust belt and Aure fold-and-thrust belt. We compare these two source-to-sink systems to highlight the tectonic control on sedimentary flux, provenance and SPAR in the Cenderawasih Bay and Gulf of Papua.

  13. Selective local anesthetic placement using ultrasound guidance and neurostimulation for infraclavicular brachial plexus block.

    PubMed

    Bowens, Clifford; Gupta, Rajnish K; O'Byrne, William T; Schildcrout, Jonathan S; Shi, Yaping; Hawkins, Jermel J; Michaels, Damon R; Berry, James M

    2010-05-01

    In this study, we performed the infraclavicular block with combined ultrasound guidance and neurostimulation to selectively target cords to compare the success rates of placing a single injection of local anesthetic either in a central or peripheral location. Two hundred eighteen patients were enrolled in a consecutive, prospective study. Patients were randomized to injection of local anesthetic either centrally (posterior cord) or peripherally (medial or lateral cord) using ultrasound guidance and neurostimulation. Supervised senior anesthesiology residents or attending anesthesiologists performed the blocks. Both intent-to-treat and treatment-received analyses were used to compare central and peripheral placement efficacy. The overall success rate was significantly higher for the central placements than peripheral placements (96% vs 85%, P = 0.004). Individual cord success rates were as follows: posterior 99%, lateral 92%, and medial 84% (P = 0.001). The central group required attending physician intervention more frequently (27% vs 6%, P < 0.001). Postoperative pain scores of < or =3 were more likely with central placement (100% vs 94%, P = 0.012). Central placement of a single injection of local anesthetic targeted at the posterior cord resulted in a higher success rate for infraclavicular block.

  14. Effective Light Directed Assembly of Building Blocks with Microscale Control.

    PubMed

    Dinh, Ngoc-Duy; Luo, Rongcong; Christine, Maria Tankeh Asuncion; Lin, Weikang Nicholas; Shih, Wei-Chuan; Goh, James Cho-Hong; Chen, Chia-Hung

    2017-06-01

    Light-directed forces have been widely used to pattern micro/nanoscale objects with precise control, forming functional assemblies. However, a substantial laser intensity is required to generate sufficient optical gradient forces to move a small object in a certain direction, causing limited throughput for applications. A high-throughput light-directed assembly is demonstrated as a printing technology by introducing gold nanorods to induce thermal convection flows that move microparticles (diameter = 40 µm to several hundreds of micrometers) to specific light-guided locations, forming desired patterns. With the advantage of effective light-directed assembly, the microfluidic-fabricated monodispersed biocompatible microparticles are used as building blocks to construct a structured assembly (≈10 cm scale) in ≈2 min. The control with microscale precision is approached by changing the size of the laser light spot. After crosslinking assembly of building blocks, a novel soft material with wanted pattern is approached. To demonstrate its application, the mesenchymal stem-cell-seeded hydrogel microparticles are prepared as functional building blocks to construct scaffold-free tissues with desired structures. This light-directed fabrication method can be applied to integrate different building units, enabling the bottom-up formation of materials with precise control over their internal structure for bioprinting, tissue engineering, and advanced manufacturing. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. SynTrack: DNA Assembly Workflow Management (SynTrack) v2.0.1

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

    MENG, XIANWEI; SIMIRENKO, LISA

    2016-12-01

    SynTrack is a dynamic, workflow-driven data management system that tracks the DNA build process: Management of the hierarchical relationships of the DNA fragments; Monitoring of process tasks for the assembly of multiple DNA fragments into final constructs; Creations of vendor order forms with selectable building blocks. Organizing plate layouts barcodes for vendor/pcr/fusion/chewback/bioassay/glycerol/master plate maps (default/condensed); Creating or updating Pre-Assembly/Assembly process workflows with selected building blocks; Generating Echo pooling instructions based on plate maps; Tracking of building block orders, received and final assembled for delivering; Bulk updating of colony or PCR amplification information, fusion PCR and chewback results; Updating with QA/QCmore » outcome with .csv & .xlsx template files; Re-work assembly workflow enabled before and after sequencing validation; and Tracking of plate/well data changes and status updates and reporting of master plate status with QC outcomes.« less

  16. Building Trades. Block II. Foundations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas A and M Univ., College Station. Vocational Instructional Services.

    Twelve informational lessons and eleven manipulative lessons are provided on foundations as applied to the building trades. Informational lessons cover land measurements; blueprint reading; level instruments; building and site planning; building site preparation; laying out building lines; soil preparation and special evacuation; concrete forms;…

  17. Diachronous demise of the Neotethys Ocean as driver for non-cylindrical orogenesis in Anatolia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J.; Gurer, D.

    2017-12-01

    Continent-continent collision drives crustal deformation, topographic rise, and geodynamic change. Africa-Eurasia convergence accommodated in the Eastern Mediterranean involved subduction of the Neotethyan oceanic lithosphere in Anatolia. Subduction was followed by collision of Greater Adria continental crust with Eurasia forming the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone. Discerning the effects of this collision from pre-collisional ophiolite obduction-related orogeny of Greater Adria is notoriously difficult, and estimates from Central Anatolia based on a forearc-to-foreland basin transition along the Eurasian margin suggest a 60 Ma initial collision. Here we assess whether this age is also representative for collision in eastern Anatolia across the Cenozoic Sivas basin that straddles the Greater Adria-Europe suture by retro-deforming regional block rotations in the Pontides, Kırşehir and Taurides, building a first-order regional `block circuit' around the Sivas basin. We show that up to 700 km of convergence must have been accommodated after central Anatolian Kırşehir-Pontide collision at 65-60 Ma across the Sivas Basin - an order of magnitude more than estimated crustal shortening. We consequently infer that oceanic subduction continued much longer in eastern Anatolia, perhaps into the Oligocene or beyond, demonstrating the a recently postulated greater paleogeographic width of the Neotethys in eastern Anatolia. Prolonged oceanic subduction likely resulted from a paleogeography with a sharp kink in the former Kırşehir-Tauride passive margin. The strong non-cylindricity of the Anatolian collisional orogen is explained continued slab pull during ongoing oceanic subduction in eastern Anatolia following central Anatolian collision.

  18. The Building Blocks of Digital Media Literacy: Socio-Material Participation and the Production of Media Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dezuanni, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This article outlines the knowledge and skills students develop when they engage in digital media production and analysis in school settings. The metaphor of "digital building blocks" is used to describe the material practices, conceptual understandings and production of knowledge that lead to the development of digital media literacy.…

  19. Plumbing Specialist II & III, 3-22. Military Curriculum Materials for Vocational and Technical Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ohio State Univ., Columbus. National Center for Research in Vocational Education.

    These military-developed curriculum materials consist of a course description, course chart, plan of instruction, lesson plans, study guides, and workbooks for use in training plumbing specialists II and III. Covered in the course blocks are building waste systems and exterior and interior supply systems. Course block II, on building waste…

  20. Using Interlocking Toy Building Blocks to Assess Conceptual Understanding in Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geyer, Michael J.

    2017-01-01

    A current emphasis on teaching conceptual chemistry via the particulate nature of matter has led to the need for new, effective ways to assess students' conceptual understanding of this view of chemistry. This article provides a simple, inexpensive way to use interlocking toy building blocks (e.g., LEGOs) in both formative and summative…

  1. Functionalized coronenes: synthesis, solid structure, and properties.

    PubMed

    Wu, Di; Zhang, Hua; Liang, Jinhua; Ge, Haojie; Chi, Chunyan; Wu, Jishan; Liu, Sheng Hua; Yin, Jun

    2012-12-21

    The construction of coronenes using simple building blocks is a challenging task. In this work, triphenylene was used as a building block to construct functionalized coronenes, and their solid structures and optoelectronic properties were investigated. The single crystal structures showed that coronenes have different packing motifs. Their good solubility and photostability make them potential solution-processable candidates for organic devices.

  2. The Development of Logico-Mathematical Knowledge in a Block-Building Activity at Ages 1-4

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamii, Constance; Miyakawa, Yoko; Kato, Yasuhiko

    2004-01-01

    To study the developmental interrelationships among various aspects of logico-mathematical knowledge, 80 one- to 4-year-olds were individually asked to build "something tall" with 20 blocks. Percentages of new and significant behaviors increased with age and were analyzed in terms of the development of logico-mathematical relationships. It was…

  3. Building Blocks of Contemporary HRD Research: A Citation Analysis on Human Resource Development Quarterly between 2007 and 2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mehdiabadi, Amir Hedayati; Seo, Gaeun; Huang, Wenhao David; Han, Seung-hyun Caleb

    2017-01-01

    Human resource development is known to encapsulate a collection of social science disciplines including communications, psychology, and economics. Since these and other similar areas are the cornerstones of HRD, the changing nature of HRD demands constant reflections on the value and building blocks of contemporary HRD inquiries. This article…

  4. Quantitative NMR Approach to Optimize the Formation of Chemical Building Blocks from Abundant Carbohydrates.

    PubMed

    Elliot, Samuel G; Tolborg, Søren; Sádaba, Irantzu; Taarning, Esben; Meier, Sebastian

    2017-07-21

    The future role of biomass-derived chemicals relies on the formation of diverse functional monomers in high yields from carbohydrates. Recently, it has become clear that a series of α-hydroxy acids, esters, and lactones can be formed from carbohydrates in alcohol and water solvents using tin-containing catalysts such as Sn-Beta. These compounds are potential building blocks for polyesters bearing additional olefin and alcohol functionalities. An NMR approach was used to identify, quantify, and optimize the formation of these building blocks in the Sn-Beta-catalyzed transformation of abundant carbohydrates. Record yields of the target molecules can be achieved by obstructing competing reactions through solvent selection. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. Comprehensive assessment of the efficiency of high-rise construction projects in the form of urban blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orlov, Alexandr; Chubarkina, Irina

    2018-03-01

    The paper is dedicated to main modern trends in the area of high-rise construction. The classification of buildings and structures by height is given. Functional distribution by the height of buildings is presented. A review of positive and negative aspects of high-rise construction from the economic point of view is given. On the basis of the data obtained, it is proposed to build up residential microdistricts in the form of urban blocks. A plan of microdistricts development is presented. It takes into account urban blocks and includes their main characteristics. An economic and mathematical model was developed to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of high-rise construction projects.

  6. Advances in metabolic pathway and strain engineering paving the way for sustainable production of chemical building blocks.

    PubMed

    Chen, Yun; Nielsen, Jens

    2013-12-01

    Bio-based production of chemical building blocks from renewable resources is an attractive alternative to petroleum-based platform chemicals. Metabolic pathway and strain engineering is the key element in constructing robust microbial chemical factories within the constraints of cost effective production. Here we discuss how the development of computational algorithms, novel modules and methods, omics-based techniques combined with modeling refinement are enabling reduction in development time and thus advance the field of industrial biotechnology. We further discuss how recent technological developments contribute to the development of novel cell factories for the production of the building block chemicals: adipic acid, succinic acid and 3-hydroxypropionic acid. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. An Ap-Structure with Finslerian Flavor I:. the Principal Idea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wanas, M. I.

    A geometric structure (FAP-structure), having both absolute parallelism and Finsler properties, is constructed. The building blocks of this structure are assumed to be functions of position and direction. A nonlinear connection emerges naturally and is defined in terms of the building blocks of the structure. Two linear connections, one of Berwald type and the other of the Cartan type, are defined using the nonlinear connection of the FAP. Both linear connections are nonsymmetric and consequently admit torsion. A metric tensor is defined in terms of the building blocks of the structure. The condition for this metric to be a Finslerian one is obtained. Also, the condition for an FAP-space to be an AP-one is given.

  8. One-Pot Synthesis of N-Substituted β-Amino Alcohols from Aldehydes and Isocyanides.

    PubMed

    Cioc, Răzvan C; van der Niet, Daan J H; Janssen, Elwin; Ruijter, Eelco; Orru, Romano V A

    2015-05-18

    A practical two-stage one-pot synthesis of N-substituted β-amino alcohols using aldehydes and isocyanides as starting materials has been developed. This method features mild reaction conditions, broad scope, and general tolerance of functional groups. Based on a less common central carbon-carbon bond disconnection, this protocol complements traditional approaches that involve amines and various carbon electrophiles (epoxides, α-halo ketones, β-halohydrins). Medicinally relevant products can be prepared in a concise and efficient way from simple building blocks, as demonstrated in the synthesis of the antiasthma drug salbutamol. Upgrading the synthesis to an enantioselective variant is also feasible. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. High-Rise Buildings versus Outdoor Thermal Environment in Chongqing

    PubMed Central

    Lu, Jun; Chen, Jin-hua; Tang, Ying; Feng, Yuan; Wang, Jin-sha

    2007-01-01

    This paper gives a brief description of the over quick urbanization since Chongqing, one of the biggest cities in China, has been a municipality directly under the Central Government in 1997, excessive development and exceeding increase of high-rise buildings because of its special geographical position which finally leads to the worsening of the urban outdoor thermal environment. Then, this paper makes a bright balance to the field measurement and simulated results of the wind speed field, temperature field of one multifunctional high-rise building in Chongqing university located in the city center, and the contrasted results validate the correctness of CFD in the outdoor thermal environmental simulation, expose the disadvantages of high-rise buildings on the aspects of blocking the wind field, decreasing wind speed which results in accumulation of the air-conditioning heat revolving around and periscian region where sunshine can not rip into. Finally, in order to improve the urban outdoor thermal environment near the high-rise buildings especially for the angle of natural ventilation, this paper simulates the wind environment in different architectural compositions and architectural layouts by CFD, and the simulated results show that freestyle and tower buildings which can guarantee the wind speed and take the air-conditioning heat away are much suitable and reasonable for the special Chongqing geography. These conclusions can also be used as a reference in other mountain cities, especially for the one with a great number of populations. PMID:28903222

  10. Blockbusters: Ideas for the Block Center.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, Polly K.; Nesmith, Jaynie

    1996-01-01

    Goals of block building in early childhood classrooms focus on physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development. Reports survey results of the value teachers place on block play. Offers illustrations of task cards to use with blocks in math, language arts, social studies, and science. Discusses guidelines and suggests idea cards and sentence…

  11. Molecular Building Block-Based Electronic Charges for High-Throughput Screening of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Adsorption Applications.

    PubMed

    Argueta, Edwin; Shaji, Jeena; Gopalan, Arun; Liao, Peilin; Snurr, Randall Q; Gómez-Gualdrón, Diego A

    2018-01-09

    Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials with attractive properties for gas separation and storage. Their remarkable tunability makes it possible to create millions of MOF variations but creates the need for fast material screening to identify promising structures. Computational high-throughput screening (HTS) is a possible solution, but its usefulness is tied to accurate predictions of MOF adsorption properties. Accurate adsorption simulations often require an accurate description of electrostatic interactions, which depend on the electronic charges of the MOF atoms. HTS-compatible methods to assign charges to MOF atoms need to accurately reproduce electrostatic potentials (ESPs) and be computationally affordable, but current methods present an unsatisfactory trade-off between computational cost and accuracy. We illustrate a method to assign charges to MOF atoms based on ab initio calculations on MOF molecular building blocks. A library of building blocks with built-in charges is thus created and used by an automated MOF construction code to create hundreds of MOFs with charges "inherited" from the constituent building blocks. The molecular building block-based (MBBB) charges are similar to REPEAT charges-which are charges that reproduce ESPs obtained from ab initio calculations on crystallographic unit cells of nanoporous crystals-and thus similar predictions of adsorption loadings, heats of adsorption, and Henry's constants are obtained with either method. The presented results indicate that the MBBB method to assign charges to MOF atoms is suitable for use in computational high-throughput screening of MOFs for applications that involve adsorption of molecules such as carbon dioxide.

  12. Statistical analysis of atmospheric turbulence about a simulated block building

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steely, S. L., Jr.

    1981-01-01

    An array of towers instrumented to measure the three components of wind speed was used to study atmospheric flow about a simulated block building. Two-point spacetime correlations of the longitudinal velocity component were computed along with two-point spatial correlations. These correlations are in good agreement with fundamental concepts of fluid mechanics. The two-point spatial correlations computed directly were compared with correlations predicted by Taylor's hypothesis and excellent agreement was obtained at the higher levels which were out of the building influence. The correlations fall off significantly in the building wake but recover beyond the wake to essentially the same values in the undisturbed, higher regions.

  13. "Looking through the Eyes of the Learner": Implementation of Building Blocks for Student Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    D'Annolfo, Suzanne Cordier; Schumann, Jeffrey A.

    2012-01-01

    The Building Blocks for Student Engagement (BBSE) protocol was designed to provide a consistent framework of common language and a visual point of reference shared among students, teachers and school leaders to keep a laser-like focus on the instructional core and student engagement. Grounded in brain-based learning and implemented in urban,…

  14. Oligomers and Polymers Based on Pentacene Building Blocks

    PubMed Central

    Lehnherr, Dan; Tykwinski, Rik R.

    2010-01-01

    Functionalized pentacene derivatives continue to provide unique materials for organic semiconductor applications. Although oligomers and polymers based on pentacene building blocks remain quite rare, recent synthetic achievements have provided a number of examples with varied structural motifs. This review highlights recent work in this area and, when possible, contrasts the properties of defined-length pentacene oligomers to those of mono- and polymeric systems.

  15. Public Opinion on Youth, Crime and Race: A Guide for Advocates. Building Blocks for Youth.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Soler, Mark

    This guide summarizes public opinion research on youth and juvenile justice issues from the Building Blocks for Youth focus groups and various national polls. Overall, the public is less fearful about crime than in the past but believes juvenile crime is increasing. There is serious public concern about the effectiveness of the juvenile justice…

  16. C–H arylation of unsubstituted furan and thiophene with acceptor bromides: access to donor–acceptor–donor-type building blocks for organic electronics.

    PubMed

    Matsidik, Rukiya; Martin, Johannes; Schmidt, Simon; Obermayer, Johannes; Lombeck, Florian; Nübling, Fritz; Komber, Hartmut; Fazzi, Daniele; Sommer, Michael

    2015-01-16

    Pd-catalyzed direct arylation (DA) reaction conditions have been established for unsubstituted furan (Fu) and thiophene (Th) with three popular acceptor building blocks to be used in materials for organic electronics, namely 4,7-dibromo-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTBr2), N,N′-dialkylated 2,6-dibromonaphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide) (NDIBr2), and 1,4-dibromotetrafluorobenzene (F4Br2). Reactions with BTBr2, F4Br2, and NDIBr2 require different solvents to obtain high yields. The use of dimethylacetamide (DMAc) is essential for the successful coupling of BTBr2 and F4Br2, but detrimental for NDIBr2, as the electron-deficient NDI core is prone to nucleophilic core substitution in DMAc as solvent but not in toluene. NDIFu2 is much more planar compared to NDITh2, resulting in an enhanced charge-transfer character, which makes it an interesting building block for conjugated systems designed for organic electronics. This study highlights direct arylation as a simple and inexpensive method to construct a series of important donor–acceptor–donor building blocks to be further used for the preparation of a variety of conjugated materials.

  17. A “fullerene-carbon nanotube” structure with tunable mechanical properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ji, W. M.; Zhang, L. W.; Liew, K. M.

    2018-03-01

    Carbon-based nanostructures have drawn tremendous research interest and become promising building blocks for the new generation of smart sensors and devices. Utilizing a bottom-up strategy, the chemical interconnecting sp 3 covalent bond between carbon building blocks is an efficient way to enhance its Young's modulus and ductility. The formation of sp 3 covalent bond, however, inevitably degrades its ultimate tensile strength caused by stress concentration at the junction. By performing a molecular dynamics simulation of tensile deformation for a fullerene-carbon nanotube (FCNT) structure, we propose a tunable strategy in which fullerenes with various angle energy absorption capacities are utilized as building blocks to tune their ductile behavior, while still maintaining a good ultimate tensile strength of the carbon building blocks. A higher ultimate tensile strength is revealed with the reduction of stress concentration at the junction. A brittle-to-ductile transition during the tensile deformation is detected through the structural modification. The development of ductile behavior is attributed to the improvement of energy propagation ability during the fracture initiation, in which the released energy from bonds fracture is mitigated properly, leading to the further development of mechanical properties.

  18. De novo design of molecular architectures by evolutionary assembly of drug-derived building blocks.

    PubMed

    Schneider, G; Lee, M L; Stahl, M; Schneider, P

    2000-07-01

    An evolutionary algorithm was developed for fragment-based de novo design of molecules (TOPAS, TOPology-Assigning System). This stochastic method aims at generating a novel molecular structure mimicking a template structure. A set of approximately 25,000 fragment structures serves as the building block supply, which were obtained by a straightforward fragmentation procedure applied to 36,000 known drugs. Eleven reaction schemes were implemented for both fragmentation and building block assembly. This combination of drug-derived building blocks and a restricted set of reaction schemes proved to be a key for the automatic development of novel, synthetically tractable structures. In a cyclic optimization process, molecular architectures were generated from a parent structure by virtual synthesis, and the best structure of a generation was selected as the parent for the subsequent TOPAS cycle. Similarity measures were used to define 'fitness', based on 2D-structural similarity or topological pharmacophore distance between the template molecule and the variants. The concept of varying library 'diversity' during a design process was consequently implemented by using adaptive variant distributions. The efficiency of the design algorithm was demonstrated for the de novo construction of potential thrombin inhibitors mimicking peptide and non-peptide template structures.

  19. Versatile plasmid-based expression systems for Gram-negative bacteria--General essentials exemplified with the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16.

    PubMed

    Gruber, Steffen; Schwab, Helmut; Koefinger, Petra

    2015-12-25

    The Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli is currently the most efficient and widely used prokaryotic host for recombinant protein and metabolite production. However, due to some limitations and to various interesting features of other Gram-negative bacteria efficient vector systems applicable to a broad range are desired. Basic building blocks for plasmid-based vectors include besides the need for a suitable selection marker in the first line a proper replication and maintenance system. In addition to these basic requirements, further elements are needed for Gram-negative bacteria beyond E. coli, such as Pseudomonas pudita, Ralstonia eutropha, Burkholderia glumae or Acinetobacter sp.. Established building blocks have to be adapted and new building blocks providing the desired functions need to be identified and exploited. This minireview addresses so far described and used genetic elements for broad host range replication, efficient plasmid maintenance, and conjugative plasmid transfer as well as expression elements and protein secretion signals. The industrially important bacterium R. eutropha H16 was chosen as a model organism to provide specific data on the effectivity and utility of building blocks based on such genetic elements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Geospatial-enabled Data Exploration and Computation through Data Infrastructure Building Blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, C. X.; Biehl, L. L.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

    2015-12-01

    Geospatial data are present everywhere today with the proliferation of location-aware computing devices and sensors. This is especially true in the scientific community where large amounts of data are driving research and education activities in many domains. Collaboration over geospatial data, for example, in modeling, data analysis and visualization, must still overcome the barriers of specialized software and expertise among other challenges. The GABBs project aims at enabling broader access to geospatial data exploration and computation by developing spatial data infrastructure building blocks that leverage capabilities of end-to-end application service and virtualized computing framework in HUBzero. Funded by NSF Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBS) initiative, GABBs provides a geospatial data architecture that integrates spatial data management, mapping and visualization and will make it available as open source. The outcome of the project will enable users to rapidly create tools and share geospatial data and tools on the web for interactive exploration of data without requiring significant software development skills, GIS expertise or IT administrative privileges. This presentation will describe the development of geospatial data infrastructure building blocks and the scientific use cases that help drive the software development, as well as seek feedback from the user communities.

  1. 13. A southeastward view of buildings #3 (on the right), ...

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

    13. A southeastward view of buildings #3 (on the right), building #5 ( to the immediate left of building #3), and buildings #6-B (low building on the far left) and #6 ( to the immediate rear of #6-B). - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  2. 1. Historic American Buildings Survey E. W. Russell, Photographer, October ...

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

    1. Historic American Buildings Survey E. W. Russell, Photographer, October 17, 1935 51-69 Government St. BLOCK OF BUILDINGS ON GOVERNMENT ST. (S. SIDE) BETWEEN WATER AND ROYAL STREETS - 51-69 Government Street (Commercial Building), Mobile, Mobile County, AL

  3. Computational Design of Self-Assembling Protein Nanomaterials with Atomic Level Accuracy

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

    King, Neil P.; Sheffler, William; Sawaya, Michael R.

    2015-09-17

    We describe a general computational method for designing proteins that self-assemble to a desired symmetric architecture. Protein building blocks are docked together symmetrically to identify complementary packing arrangements, and low-energy protein-protein interfaces are then designed between the building blocks in order to drive self-assembly. We used trimeric protein building blocks to design a 24-subunit, 13-nm diameter complex with octahedral symmetry and a 12-subunit, 11-nm diameter complex with tetrahedral symmetry. The designed proteins assembled to the desired oligomeric states in solution, and the crystal structures of the complexes revealed that the resulting materials closely match the design models. The method canmore » be used to design a wide variety of self-assembling protein nanomaterials.« less

  4. Expressivism, Relativism, and the Analytic Equivalence Test

    PubMed Central

    Frápolli, Maria J.; Villanueva, Neftalí

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to show that, pace (Field, 2009), MacFarlane’s assessment relativism and expressivism should be sharply distinguished. We do so by arguing that relativism and expressivism exemplify two very different approaches to context-dependence. Relativism, on the one hand, shares with other contemporary approaches a bottom–up, building block, model, while expressivism is part of a different tradition, one that might include Lewis’ epistemic contextualism and Frege’s content individuation, with which it shares an organic model to deal with context-dependence. The building-block model and the organic model, and thus relativism and expressivism, are set apart with the aid of a particular test: only the building-block model is compatible with the idea that there might be analytically equivalent, and yet different, propositions. PMID:26635690

  5. Fast and Facile Synthesis of 4-Nitrophenyl 2-Azidoethylcarbamate Derivatives from N-Fmoc-Protected α-Amino Acids as Activated Building Blocks for Urea Moiety-Containing Compound Library.

    PubMed

    Chen, Ying-Ying; Chang, Li-Te; Chen, Hung-Wei; Yang, Chia-Ying; Hsin, Ling-Wei

    2017-03-13

    A fast and facile synthesis of a series of 4-nitrophenyl 2-azidoethylcarbamate derivatives as activated urea building blocks was developed. The N-Fmoc-protected 2-aminoethyl mesylates derived from various commercially available N-Fmoc-protected α-amino acids, including those having functionalized side chains with acid-labile protective groups, were directly transformed into 4-nitrophenyl 2-azidoethylcarbamate derivatives in 1 h via a one-pot two-step reaction. These urea building blocks were utilized for the preparation of a series of urea moiety-containing mitoxantrone-amino acid conjugates in 75-92% yields and parallel solution-phase synthesis of a urea compound library consisted of 30 members in 38-70% total yields.

  6. Mission building blocks for outer solar system exploration.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Herman, D.; Tarver, P.; Moore, J.

    1973-01-01

    Description of the technological building blocks required for exploring the outer planets with maximum scientific yields under stringent resource constraints. Two generic spacecraft types are considered: the Mariner and the Pioneer. Following a discussion of the outer planet mission constraints, the evolutionary development of spacecraft, probes, and propulsion building blocks is presented. Then, program genealogies are shown for Pioneer and Mariner missions and advanced propulsion systems to illustrate the soundness of a program based on spacecraft modification rather than on the development of new spacecraft for each mission. It is argued that, for minimum costs, technological advancement should occur in an evolutionary manner from mission to mission. While this strategy is likely to result in compromises on specific missions, the realization of the overall objectives calls for an advance commitment to the entire mission series.

  7. 2. EXTERIOR VIEW OF BUILDING 25B (TEST CHAMBER BUILDING) AND ...

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

    2. EXTERIOR VIEW OF BUILDING 25B (TEST CHAMBER BUILDING) AND WIND TUNNEL, LOOKING NORTHWEST (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

  8. 22. AERIAL VIEW LOOKING EAST DOWN CENTRAL AVENUE FROM WEST ...

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

    22. AERIAL VIEW LOOKING EAST DOWN CENTRAL AVENUE FROM WEST OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT AREA OF THE PLANT. ON THE LEFT (NORTH) SIDE OF THE STREET IN THE FOREGROUND OF THE PHOTOGRAPH IS BUILDING 111, THE GENERAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. TO THE EAST OF BUILDING 111 IS BUILDING 112, THE CAFETERIA. FURTHER TO THE EAST IS BUILDING 331, THE VEHICLE MAINTENANCE GARAGE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT; BUILDING 333, THE PAINT SHOP; BUILDING 334, THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL MAINTENANCE SHOP; AND BUILDING 551, THE GENERAL WAREHOUSE. ON THE RIGHT (SOUTH) SIDE OF CENTRAL AVENUE, IN THE FOREGROUND IS BUILDING 121, FIREARMS REPAIR. BEHIND BUILDING 121 IS BUILDING 122, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES, AND BUILDING 123, HEALTH PHYSICS LABORATORY. BUILDING 441, THE PRODUCTION ... - Rocky Flats Plant, Bounded by Indiana Street & Routes 93, 128 & 72, Golden, Jefferson County, CO

  9. Block Play: Practical Suggestions for Common Dilemmas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tunks, Karyn Wellhousen

    2009-01-01

    Learning materials and teaching methods used in early childhood classrooms have fluctuated greatly over the past century. However, one learning tool has stood the test of time: Wood building blocks, often called unit blocks, continue to be a source of pleasure and learning for young children at play. Wood blocks have the unique capacity to engage…

  10. Emergent mechanics of biological structures

    PubMed Central

    Dumont, Sophie; Prakash, Manu

    2014-01-01

    Mechanical force organizes life at all scales, from molecules to cells and tissues. Although we have made remarkable progress unraveling the mechanics of life's individual building blocks, our understanding of how they give rise to the mechanics of larger-scale biological structures is still poor. Unlike the engineered macroscopic structures that we commonly build, biological structures are dynamic and self-organize: they sculpt themselves and change their own architecture, and they have structural building blocks that generate force and constantly come on and off. A description of such structures defies current traditional mechanical frameworks. It requires approaches that account for active force-generating parts and for the formation of spatial and temporal patterns utilizing a diverse array of building blocks. In this Perspective, we term this framework “emergent mechanics.” Through examples at molecular, cellular, and tissue scales, we highlight challenges and opportunities in quantitatively understanding the emergent mechanics of biological structures and the need for new conceptual frameworks and experimental tools on the way ahead. PMID:25368421

  11. Elfin: An algorithm for the computational design of custom three-dimensional structures from modular repeat protein building blocks.

    PubMed

    Yeh, Chun-Ting; Brunette, T J; Baker, David; McIntosh-Smith, Simon; Parmeggiani, Fabio

    2018-02-01

    Computational protein design methods have enabled the design of novel protein structures, but they are often still limited to small proteins and symmetric systems. To expand the size of designable proteins while controlling the overall structure, we developed Elfin, a genetic algorithm for the design of novel proteins with custom shapes using structural building blocks derived from experimentally verified repeat proteins. By combining building blocks with compatible interfaces, it is possible to rapidly build non-symmetric large structures (>1000 amino acids) that match three-dimensional geometric descriptions provided by the user. A run time of about 20min on a laptop computer for a 3000 amino acid structure makes Elfin accessible to users with limited computational resources. Protein structures with controlled geometry will allow the systematic study of the effect of spatial arrangement of enzymes and signaling molecules, and provide new scaffolds for functional nanomaterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The Influence of Building Block Play on Mathematics Achievement and Logical and Divergent Thinking in Italian Primary School Mathematics Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pirrone, Concetta; Tienken, Christopher H.; Pagano, Tatiana; Di Nuovo, Santo

    2018-01-01

    In an experimental study to explain the effect of structured Building Block Play with LEGO™ bricks on 6-year-old student mathematics achievement and in the areas of logical thinking, divergent thinking, nonverbal reasoning, and mental imagery, students in the experimental group scored significantly higher (p = 0.05) in mathematics achievement and…

  13. Novel single photon sources for new generation of quantum communications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-13

    be used as building blocks for quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution There were numerous important achievements for the projects in the...single photon sources that will be used as build- ing blocks for quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution There were numerous im- portant...and enable absolutely secured information transfer between distant nodes – key prerequisite for quantum cryptography . Experiment: the experimental

  14. Building Blocks for Transport-Class Hybrid and Turboelectric Vehicles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jankovsky, Amy; Bowman, Cheryl; Jansen, Ralph

    2016-01-01

    NASA has been investing in research efforts to define potential vehicles that use hybrid and turboelectric propulsion to enable savings in fuel burn and carbon usage. This paper overviews the fundamental building blocks that have been derived from those studies and details what key performance parameters have been defined, what key ground and flight tests need to occur, and highlights progress toward each.

  15. 2016 Summer Series - Kenneth Cheung: Building Blocks for Aerospace Structures

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-06-16

    Strong, ultra-lightweight materials are expected to play a key role in the design of future aircraft and space vehicles. Lower structural mass leads to improved performance, maneuverability, efficiency, range and payload capacity. Dr. Kenneth Cheung is developing cellular composite building blocks, or digital materials, to create transformable aerostructures. In his presentation, Dr. Cheung will discuss the implications of the digital materials and morphing structures.

  16. Supramolecular Lego assembly towards three-dimensional multi-responsive hydrogels.

    PubMed

    Ma, Chunxin; Li, Tiefeng; Zhao, Qian; Yang, Xuxu; Wu, Jingjun; Luo, Yingwu; Xie, Tao

    2014-08-27

    Inspired by the assembly of Lego toys, hydrogel building blocks with heterogeneous responsiveness are assembled utilizing macroscopic supramolecular recognition as the adhesion force. The Lego hydrogel provides 3D transformation upon pH variation. After disassembly of the building blocks by changing the oxidation state, they can be re-assembled into a completely new shape. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. [Damage of modern building materials by microscopic fungi].

    PubMed

    Chuenko, A I; Karpenko, Iu V

    2011-01-01

    Resistance of three materials, produced on the basis of concrete compounds to the action of microscopic fungi, isolated from damaged living buildings, has been first investigated. It has been shown that samples of froth-block and thermoeffective block had low fungal resistance, in contrast to samples of cellular polystyrene concrete, which were resistant to fungal action, that can be associated with peculiarities of their component composition.

  18. Building Blocks for Father Involvement: Building Block 1--Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    US Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start Bureau, 2004

    2004-01-01

    Nearly 30 years ago, leading child psychologist Michael E. Lamb reminded us that fathers are the "forgotten contributors to child development." Since then, much work has been done to explore the ways fathers uniquely contribute to the healthy development of their children. Scholars now know that boys and girls who grow up with an involved father,…

  19. Highly crystalline covalent organic frameworks from flexible building blocks.

    PubMed

    Xu, Liqian; Ding, San-Yuan; Liu, Junmin; Sun, Junliang; Wang, Wei; Zheng, Qi-Yu

    2016-03-28

    Two novel 2D covalent organic frameworks (TPT-COF-1 and TPT-COF-2) were synthesized from the flexible 2,4,6-triaryloxy-1,3,5-triazine building blocks on a gram scale, which show high crystallinity and large surface area. The controllable formation of highly ordered frameworks is mainly attributed to the self-assembly Piedfort unit of 2,4,6-triaryloxy-1,3,5-triazine.

  20. Functional Perfluoroalkyl Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (F-POSS): Building Blocks for Low Surface Energy Materials

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-10-21

    Technical Paper 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Functional Perfluoroalkyl Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (F...long chain fluorinated alkyl groups ranging from 6-12 carbon atoms in length. Herein, a disilanol perfluoroalkyl polyhedral oligomeric...FUNCTIONAL PERFLUOROALKYL POLYHEDRAL OLIGOMERIC SILSESQUIOXANES (F-POSS): BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LOW SURFACE ENERGY MATERIA LS Sean M Rami,.e:, Yvonne Dia

  1. RNA self-assembly and RNA nanotechnology.

    PubMed

    Grabow, Wade W; Jaeger, Luc

    2014-06-17

    CONSPECTUS: Nanotechnology's central goal involves the direct control of matter at the molecular nanometer scale to build nanofactories, nanomachines, and other devices for potential applications including electronics, alternative fuels, and medicine. In this regard, the nascent use of nucleic acids as a material to coordinate the precise arrangements of specific molecules marked an important milestone in the relatively recent history of nanotechnology. While DNA served as the pioneer building material in nucleic acid nanotechnology, RNA continues to emerge as viable alternative material with its own distinct advantages for nanoconstruction. Several complementary assembly strategies have been used to build a diverse set of RNA nanostructures having unique structural attributes and the ability to self-assemble in a highly programmable and controlled manner. Of the different strategies, the architectonics approach uniquely endeavors to understand integrated structural RNA architectures through the arrangement of their characteristic structural building blocks. Viewed through this lens, it becomes apparent that nature routinely uses thermodynamically stable, recurrent modular motifs from natural RNA molecules to generate unique and more complex programmable structures. With the design principles found in natural structures, a number of synthetic RNAs have been constructed. The synthetic nanostructures constructed to date have provided, in addition to affording essential insights into RNA design, important platforms to characterize and validate the structural self-folding and assembly properties of RNA modules or building blocks. Furthermore, RNA nanoparticles have shown great promise for applications in nanomedicine and RNA-based therapeutics. Nevertheless, the synthetic RNA architectures achieved thus far consist largely of static, rigid particles that are still far from matching the structural and functional complexity of natural responsive structural elements such as the ribosome, large ribozymes, and riboswitches. Thus, the next step in synthetic RNA design will involve new ways to implement these same types of dynamic and responsive architectures into nanostructures functioning as real nanomachines in and outside the cell. RNA nanotechnology will likely garner broader utility and influence with a greater focus on the interplay between thermodynamic and kinetic influences on RNA self-assembly and using natural RNAs as guiding principles.

  2. Expansion and improvements of the FORMA system for response and load analysis. Volume 1: Programming manual

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wohlen, R. L.

    1976-01-01

    Techniques are presented for the solution of structural dynamic systems on an electronic digital computer using FORMA (FORTRAN Matrix Analysis). FORMA is a library of subroutines coded in FORTRAN 4 for the efficient solution of structural dynamics problems. These subroutines are in the form of building blocks that can be put together to solve a large variety of structural dynamics problems. The obvious advantage of the building block approach is that programming and checkout time are limited to that required for putting the blocks together in the proper order.

  3. Dual-mode MOS SOI nanoscale transistor serving as a building block for optical communication between blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bendayan, Michael; Sabo, Roi; Zolberg, Roee; Mandelbaum, Yaakov; Chelly, Avraham; Karsenty, Avi

    2017-02-01

    We developed a new type of silicon MOSFET Quantum Well transistor, coupling both electronic and optical properties which should overcome the indirect silicon bandgap constraint, and serve as a future light emitting device in the range 0.8-2μm, as part of a new building block in integrated circuits allowing ultra-high speed processors. Such Quantum Well structure enables discrete energy levels for light recombination. Model and simulations of both optical and electric properties are presented pointing out the influence of the channel thickness and the drain voltage on the optical emission spectrum.

  4. Accommodation of missing shear strain in the Central Walker Lane, western North America: Constraints from dense GPS measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bormann, Jayne M.; Hammond, William C.; Kreemer, Corné; Blewitt, Geoffrey

    2016-04-01

    We present 264 new interseismic GPS velocities from the Mobile Array of GPS for Nevada Transtension (MAGNET) and continuous GPS networks that measure Pacific-North American plate boundary deformation in the Central Walker Lane. Relative to a North America-fixed reference frame, northwestward velocities increase smoothly from ∼4 mm/yr in the Basin and Range province to 12.2 mm/yr in the central Sierra Nevada resulting in a Central Walker Lane deformation budget of ∼8 mm/yr. We use an elastic block model to estimate fault slip and block rotation rates and patterns of deformation from the GPS velocities. Right-lateral shear is distributed throughout the Central Walker Lane with strike-slip rates generally <1.5 mm/yr predicted by the block model, but extension rates are highest near north-striking normal faults found along the Sierra Nevada frontal fault system and in a left-stepping, en-echelon series of asymmetric basins that extend from Walker Lake to Lake Tahoe. Neotectonic studies in the western Central Walker Lane find little evidence of strike-slip or oblique faulting in the asymmetric basins, prompting the suggestion that dextral deformation in this region is accommodated through clockwise block rotations. We test this hypothesis and show that a model relying solely on the combination of clockwise block rotations and normal faulting to accommodate dextral transtensional strain accumulation systematically misfits the GPS data in comparison with our preferred model. This suggests that some component of oblique or partitioned right-lateral fault slip is needed to accommodate shear in the asymmetric basins of the western Central Walker Lane. Present-day clockwise vertical axis rotation rates in the Bodie Hills, Carson Domain, and Mina Deflection are between 1-4°/Myr, lower than published paleomagnetic rotation rates, suggesting that block rotation rates have decreased since the Late to Middle Miocene.

  5. Photoresponsive liquid crystalline epoxy networks with shape memory behavior and dynamic ester bonds

    DOE PAGES

    Rios, Orlando; Chen, Jihua; Li, Yuzhan; ...

    2016-06-01

    Functional polymers are intelligent materials that can respond to a variety of external stimuli. However, these materials have not yet found widespread real world applications because of the difficulties in fabrication and the limited number of functional building blocks that can be incorporated into a material. Here, we demonstrate a simple route to incorporate three functional building blocks (azobenzene chromophores, liquid crystals, and dynamic covalent bonds) into an epoxy-based liquid crystalline network (LCN), in which an azobenzene-based epoxy monomer is polymerized with an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid to create exchangeable ester bonds that can be thermally activated. Lastly, all three functionalmore » building blocks exhibited good compatibility, and the resulting materials exhibits various photomechanical, shape memory, and self-healing properties because of the azobenzene molecules, liquid crystals, and dynamic ester bonds, respectively.« less

  6. General synthesis of inorganic single-walled nanotubes

    PubMed Central

    Ni, Bing; Liu, Huiling; Wang, Peng-peng; He, Jie; Wang, Xun

    2015-01-01

    The single-walled nanotube (SWNT) is an interesting nanostructure for fundamental research and potential applications. However, very few inorganic SWNTs are available to date due to the lack of efficient fabrication methods. Here we synthesize four types of SWNT: sulfide; hydroxide; phosphate; and polyoxometalate. Each type of SWNT possesses essentially uniform diameters. Detailed studies illustrate that the formation of SWNTs is initiated by the self-coiling of the corresponding ultrathin nanostructure embryo/building blocks on the base of weak interactions between them, which is not limited to specific compounds or crystal structures. The interactions between building blocks can be modulated by varying the solvents used, thus multi-walled tubes can also be obtained. Our results reveal that the generalized synthesis of inorganic SWNTs can be achieved by the self-coiling of ultrathin building blocks under the proper weak interactions. PMID:26510862

  7. Incorporating residual temperature and specific humidity in predicting weather-dependent warm-season electricity consumption

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guan, Huade; Beecham, Simon; Xu, Hanqiu; Ingleton, Greg

    2017-02-01

    Climate warming and increasing variability challenges the electricity supply in warm seasons. A good quantitative representation of the relationship between warm-season electricity consumption and weather condition provides necessary information for long-term electricity planning and short-term electricity management. In this study, an extended version of cooling degree days (ECDD) is proposed for better characterisation of this relationship. The ECDD includes temperature, residual temperature and specific humidity effects. The residual temperature is introduced for the first time to reflect the building thermal inertia effect on electricity consumption. The study is based on the electricity consumption data of four multiple-street city blocks and three office buildings. It is found that the residual temperature effect is about 20% of the current-day temperature effect at the block scale, and increases with a large variation at the building scale. Investigation of this residual temperature effect provides insight to the influence of building designs and structures on electricity consumption. The specific humidity effect appears to be more important at the building scale than at the block scale. A building with high energy performance does not necessarily have low specific humidity dependence. The new ECDD better reflects the weather dependence of electricity consumption than the conventional CDD method.

  8. 7. Historic American Buildings Survey Verlin Berry, Photographer November 10, ...

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

    7. Historic American Buildings Survey Verlin Berry, Photographer November 10, 1977 FIRST FLOOR, VIEW OF PRESSED TIN CEILING WITH WOOD BLOCKING AT CROWN MOLDING - 111 West First Street (Commercial Building), Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, IN

  9. Main-chain supramolecular block copolymers.

    PubMed

    Yang, Si Kyung; Ambade, Ashootosh V; Weck, Marcus

    2011-01-01

    Block copolymers are key building blocks for a variety of applications ranging from electronic devices to drug delivery. The material properties of block copolymers can be tuned and potentially improved by introducing noncovalent interactions in place of covalent linkages between polymeric blocks resulting in the formation of supramolecular block copolymers. Such materials combine the microphase separation behavior inherent to block copolymers with the responsiveness of supramolecular materials thereby affording dynamic and reversible materials. This tutorial review covers recent advances in main-chain supramolecular block copolymers and describes the design principles, synthetic approaches, advantages, and potential applications.

  10. GENERAL VIEW OF TYPE HB54s (BUILDINGS T1088 TO T1093) & ...

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

    GENERAL VIEW OF TYPE HB-54s (BUILDINGS T-1088 TO T-1093) & CONVERTED TYPE HB-54S (BUILDINGS T-1094 TO T-1096), LOOKING SOUTHWEST; BUILDING T-1088 AT LEFT, BUILDING T-1096 AT RIGHT - Fort McCoy, Building No. T-1096, South side of South Ninth Avenue, Block 10, Sparta, Monroe County, WI

  11. Flexible Fabrication of Shape-Controlled Collagen Building Blocks for Self-Assembly of 3D Microtissues.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xu; Meng, Zhaoxu; Ma, Jingyun; Shi, Yang; Xu, Hui; Lykkemark, Simon; Qin, Jianhua

    2015-08-12

    Creating artificial tissue-like structures that possess the functionality, specificity, and architecture of native tissues remains a big challenge. A new and straightforward strategy for generating shape-controlled collagen building blocks with a well-defined architecture is presented, which can be used for self-assembly of complex 3D microtissues. Collagen blocks with tunable geometries are controllably produced and released via a membrane-templated microdevice. The formation of functional microtissues by embedding tissue-specific cells into collagen blocks with expression of specific proteins is described. The spontaneous self-assembly of cell-laden collagen blocks into organized tissue constructs with predetermined configurations is demonstrated, which are largely driven by the synergistic effects of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. This new strategy would open up new avenues for the study of tissue/organ morphogenesis, and tissue engineering applications. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. An easy access to 2-Amino-5,6-dihydro-3H-pyrimidin-4-one building blocks: the reaction under conventional and microwave conditions.

    PubMed

    Ostras, Konstantin S; Gorobets, Nikolay Yu; Desenko, Sergey M; Musatov, Vladimir I

    2006-08-01

    A new one-stage fast multicomponent synthesis of title compounds leads to products in 21-55% isolated yields under both conventional and microwave conditions. The primary amino group in the building blocks can be easily acylated by various usual electophilic agents that can be utilized in the synthesis of diverse heterocylic compounds libraries.

  13. [Spatial distribution characteristics of urban potential population in Shenyang City based on QuickBird image and GIS].

    PubMed

    Li, Jun-Ying; Hu, Yuan-Man; Chen, Wei; Liu, Miao; Hu, Jian-Bo; Zhong, Qiao-Lin; Lu, Ning

    2012-06-01

    Population is the most active factor affecting city development. To understand the distribution characteristics of urban population is of significance for making city policy decisions and for optimizing the layout of various urban infrastructures. In this paper, the information of the residential buildings in Shenyang urban area was extracted from the QuickBird remote sensing images, and the spatial distribution characteristics of the population within the Third-Ring Road of the City were analyzed, according to the social and economic statistics data. In 2010, the population density in different types of residential buildings within the Third-Ring Road of the City decreased in the order of high-storey block, mixed block, mixed garden, old multi-storey building, high-storey garden, multi-storey block, multi-storey garden, villa block, shanty, and villa garden. The vacancy rate of the buildings within the Third-Ring Road was more than 30%, meaning that the real estate market was seriously overstocked. Among the five Districts of Shenyang City, Shenhe District had the highest potential population density, while Tiexi District and Dadong District had a lower one. The gravity center of the City and its five Districts was also analyzed, which could provide basic information for locating commercial facilities and planning city infrastructure.

  14. Wrapping cytochrome c around single-wall carbon nanotube: engineered nanohybrid building blocks for infrared detection at high quantum efficiency

    PubMed Central

    Gong, Youpin; Liu, Qingfeng; Wilt, Jamie Samantha; Gong, Maogang; Ren, Shenqiang; Wu, Judy

    2015-01-01

    Biomolecule cytochrome c (Cty c), a small molecule of a chain of amino acids with extraordinary electron transport, was helically wrapped around a semiconductive single-wall carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT) to form a molecular building block for uncooled infrared detection with two uniquely designed functionalities: exciton dissociation to free charge carriers at the heterojunction formed on the s-SWCNT/Cty c interface and charge transport along the electron conducting chain of Cty c (acceptor) and hole conducting channel through s-SWCNT (donor). Such a design aims at addressing the long-standing challenges in exciton dissociation and charge transport in an SWCNT network, which have bottlenecked development of photonic SWCNT-based infrared detectors. Using these building blocks, uncooled s-SWCNT/Cyt c thin film infrared detectors were synthesized and shown to have extraordinary photoresponsivity up to 0.77 A W−1 due to a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) in exceeding 90%, which represents a more than two orders of magnitude enhancement than the best previously reported on CNT-based infrared detectors with EQE of only 1.72%. From a broad perspective, this work on novel s-SWCNT/Cyt c nanohybrid infrared detectors has developed a successful platform of engineered carbon nanotube/biomolecule building blocks with superior properties for optoelectronic applications. PMID:26066737

  15. Wrapping cytochrome c around single-wall carbon nanotube: engineered nanohybrid building blocks for infrared detection at high quantum efficiency.

    PubMed

    Gong, Youpin; Liu, Qingfeng; Wilt, Jamie Samantha; Gong, Maogang; Ren, Shenqiang; Wu, Judy

    2015-06-11

    Biomolecule cytochrome c (Cty c), a small molecule of a chain of amino acids with extraordinary electron transport, was helically wrapped around a semiconductive single-wall carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT) to form a molecular building block for uncooled infrared detection with two uniquely designed functionalities: exciton dissociation to free charge carriers at the heterojunction formed on the s-SWCNT/Cty c interface and charge transport along the electron conducting chain of Cty c (acceptor) and hole conducting channel through s-SWCNT (donor). Such a design aims at addressing the long-standing challenges in exciton dissociation and charge transport in an SWCNT network, which have bottlenecked development of photonic SWCNT-based infrared detectors. Using these building blocks, uncooled s-SWCNT/Cyt c thin film infrared detectors were synthesized and shown to have extraordinary photoresponsivity up to 0.77 A W(-1) due to a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) in exceeding 90%, which represents a more than two orders of magnitude enhancement than the best previously reported on CNT-based infrared detectors with EQE of only 1.72%. From a broad perspective, this work on novel s-SWCNT/Cyt c nanohybrid infrared detectors has developed a successful platform of engineered carbon nanotube/biomolecule building blocks with superior properties for optoelectronic applications.

  16. Intrinsic Folding Proclivities in Cyclic β-Peptide Building Blocks: Configuration and Heteroatom Effects Analyzed by Conformer-Selective Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemistry.

    PubMed

    Alauddin, Mohammad; Gloaguen, Eric; Brenner, Valérie; Tardivel, Benjamin; Mons, Michel; Zehnacker-Rentien, Anne; Declerck, Valérie; Aitken, David J

    2015-11-09

    This work describes the use of conformer-selective laser spectroscopy following supersonic expansion to probe the local folding proclivities of four-membered ring cyclic β-amino acid building blocks. Emphasis is placed on stereochemical effects as well as on the structural changes induced by the replacement of a carbon atom of the cycle by a nitrogen atom. The amide A IR spectra are obtained and interpreted with the help of quantum chemistry structure calculations. Results provide evidence that the building block with a trans-substituted cyclobutane ring has a predilection to form strong C8 hydrogen bonds. Nitrogen-atom substitution in the ring induces the formation of the hydrazino turn, with a related but distinct hydrogen-bonding network: the structure is best viewed as a bifurcated C8/C5 bond with the N heteroatom lone electron pair playing a significant acceptor role, which supports recent observations on the hydrazino turn structure in solution. Surprisingly, this study shows that the cis-substituted cyclobutane ring derivative also gives rise predominantly to a C8 hydrogen bond, although weaker than in the two former cases, a feature that is not often encountered for this building block. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Microzonation of seismic risk in a low-rise Latin American city based on the macroseismic evaluation of the vulnerability of residential buildings: Colima city, México

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zobin, V. M.; Cruz-Bravo, A. A.; Ventura-Ramírez, F.

    2010-06-01

    A macroseismic methodology of seismic risk microzonation in a low-rise city based on the vulnerability of residential buildings is proposed and applied to Colima city, Mexico. The seismic risk microzonation for Colima consists of two elements: the mapping of residential blocks according to their vulnerability level and the calculation of an expert-opinion based damage probability matrix (DPM) for a given level of earthquake intensity and a given type of residential block. A specified exposure time to the seismic risk for this zonation is equal to the interval between two destructive earthquakes. The damage probability matrices were calculated for three types of urban buildings and five types of residential blocks in Colima. It was shown that only 9% of 1409 residential blocks are able to resist to the Modify Mercalli (MM) intensity VII and VIII earthquakes without significant damage. The proposed DPM-2007 is in good accordance with the experimental damage curves based on the macroseismic evaluation of 3332 residential buildings in Colima that was carried out after the 21 January 2003 intensity MM VII earthquake. This methodology and the calculated PDM-2007 curves may be applied also to seismic risk microzonation for many low-rise cities in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

  18. Advanced space system concepts and their orbital support needs (1980 - 2000). Volume 4: Detailed data. Part 2: Program plans and common support needs (a study of the commonality of space vehicle applications to future national needs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bekey, I.; Mayer, H. L.; Wolfe, M. G.

    1976-01-01

    The methodology of alternate world future scenarios is utilized for selecting a plausible, though not advocated, set of future scenarios each of which results in a program plan appropriate for the respective environment. Each such program plan gives rise to different building block and technology requirements, which are analyzed for common need between the NASA and the DoD for each of the alternate world scenarios. An essentially invariant set of system, building block, and technology development plans is presented at the conclusion, intended to allow protection of most of the options for system concepts regardless of what the actual future world environment turns out to be. Thus, building block and technology needs are derived which support: (1) each specific world scenario; (2) all the world scenarios identified in this study; or (3) generalized scenarios applicable to almost any future environment. The output included in this volume consists of the building blocks, i.e.: transportation vehicles, orbital support vehicles, and orbital support facilities; the technology required to support the program plans; identification of their features which could support the DoD and NASA in common; and a complete discussion of the planning methodology.

  19. Toward the renewables - A natural gas/solar energy transition strategy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hanson, J. A.; Escher, W. J. D.

    1979-01-01

    The inevitability of an energy transition from today's non-renewable fossil base toward a renewable energy base is considered from the viewpoint of the need for a national transition strategy. Then, one such strategy is offered. Its technological building blocks are described in terms of both energy use and energy supply. The strategy itself is then sketched at four points in its implementation; (1) initiation, (2) early transition, (3) late transition, and (4) completion. The transition is assumed to evolve from a heavily natural gas-dependent energy economy. It then proceeds through its transition toward a balanced, hybrid energy system consisting of both centralized and dispersed energy supply technologies supplying hydrogen and electricity from solar energy. Related institutional, environmental and economic factors are examined briefly.

  20. Coordination of Cell Polarity, Mechanics and Fate in Tissue Self-organization.

    PubMed

    Kim, Esther Jeong Yoon; Korotkevich, Ekaterina; Hiiragi, Takashi

    2018-07-01

    Self-organization guides robust, spatiotemporally ordered formation of complex tissues and ultimately whole organisms. While products of gene expression serve as building blocks of living matter, how these interact to give rise to tissues of distinct patterns and function remains a central question in biology. Tissue self-organization relies on dynamic interactions between constituents spanning a range of spatiotemporal scales with tuneable chemical and mechanical parameters. This review highlights recent studies dissecting mechanisms of these interactions. We propose that feedback interactions between cell polarity, mechanics, and fate are a key principle underlying tissue self-organization. We also provide a glimpse into how such processes can be studied in future endeavors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Optimised design for a 1 kJ diode-pumped solid-state laser system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mason, Paul D.; Ertel, Klaus; Banerjee, Saumyabrata; Phillips, P. Jonathan; Hernandez-Gomez, Cristina; Collier, John L.

    2011-06-01

    A conceptual design for a kJ-class diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) system based on cryogenic gas-cooled multislab ceramic Yb:YAG amplifier technology has been developed at the STFC as a building block towards a MJ-class source for inertial fusion energy (IFE) projects such as HiPER. In this paper, we present an overview of an amplifier design optimised for efficient generation of 1 kJ nanosecond pulses at 10 Hz repetition rate. In order to confirm the viability of this technology, a prototype version of this amplifier scaled to deliver 10 J at 10 Hz, DiPOLE, is under development at the Central Laser Facility. A progress update on the status of this system is also presented.

  2. Making Your Own Hollow Blocks. What We Make. Science and Technology Education in Philippine Society.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Philippines Univ., Quezon City. Inst. for Science and Mathematics Education Development.

    The procedures needed to make hollow blocks from palay hull, sawdust, soil, or sand are outlined in this module. Also outlined are the procedures needed to construct the wooden molds used to make the blocks. The hollow blocks can be used in building a one story house where the roof does not rest on the hollow block wall, an additional room to the…

  3. Cell block one and southeast guard tower, looking from the ...

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

    Cell block one and southeast guard tower, looking from the central guard tower, facing southeast (note view also includes cell block ten (left) and cell block nine (right)) - Eastern State Penitentiary, 2125 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

  4. Exploring Integration in Action: Competencies as Building Blocks of Expertise.

    PubMed

    Mylopoulos, Maria; Borschel, Debaroti Tina; O'Brien, Tara; Martimianakis, Sofia; Woods, Nicole N

    2017-12-01

    Competency frameworks such as the CanMEDS roles and the ACGME core competencies may lead to the implicit assumption that physicians can learn and practice individual competencies in isolation. In contrast, models of adaptive expertise suggest that the integration of competencies reflects the capabilities of an expert physician. Thus, educational programming aimed at teaching discrete roles or competencies might overlook expert physician capabilities that are central to patient care. To develop expertise, learning opportunities must reflect expert capabilities. To better understand the relationship between competency-based medical education and expert development, the authors sought to explore how integrated competencies are enacted during patient care by postgraduate medical trainees. Using a cognitive ethnographic approach, in 2014-2015 the authors conducted observations and-to refine and elaborate these observations-ad hoc informal interviews with 13 postgraduate trainee participants. Data collection resulted in 92 hours of observation, 26 patient case portraits, and a total of 220 pages of field notes for analysis. Through analysis, the authors identified and examined moments when postgraduate trainees appeared to be simultaneously enacting multiple competencies. The authors identified two key expert capabilities in moments of integrated competence: finding complexity and being patient-centered. They described two mechanisms for these forms of integration: valuing the patient's narrative of their illness, and integrated understanding. Understanding integrated competencies as the building blocks of expert capabilities, along with recognizing the importance of mechanisms that support integration, offers an opportunity to use existing competency-based frameworks to understand and teach adaptive expertise.

  5. Motifs in triadic random graphs based on Steiner triple systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Winkler, Marco; Reichardt, Jörg

    2013-08-01

    Conventionally, pairwise relationships between nodes are considered to be the fundamental building blocks of complex networks. However, over the last decade, the overabundance of certain subnetwork patterns, i.e., the so-called motifs, has attracted much attention. It has been hypothesized that these motifs, instead of links, serve as the building blocks of network structures. Although the relation between a network's topology and the general properties of the system, such as its function, its robustness against perturbations, or its efficiency in spreading information, is the central theme of network science, there is still a lack of sound generative models needed for testing the functional role of subgraph motifs. Our work aims to overcome this limitation. We employ the framework of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to define models based on triadic substructures. The fact that only a small portion of triads can actually be set independently poses a challenge for the formulation of such models. To overcome this obstacle, we use Steiner triple systems (STSs). These are partitions of sets of nodes into pair-disjoint triads, which thus can be specified independently. Combining the concepts of ERGMs and STSs, we suggest generative models capable of generating ensembles of networks with nontrivial triadic Z-score profiles. Further, we discover inevitable correlations between the abundance of triad patterns, which occur solely for statistical reasons and need to be taken into account when discussing the functional implications of motif statistics. Moreover, we calculate the degree distributions of our triadic random graphs analytically.

  6. Mapping from Space - Ontology Based Map Production Using Satellite Imageries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asefpour Vakilian, A.; Momeni, M.

    2013-09-01

    Determination of the maximum ability for feature extraction from satellite imageries based on ontology procedure using cartographic feature determination is the main objective of this research. Therefore, a special ontology has been developed to extract maximum volume of information available in different high resolution satellite imageries and compare them to the map information layers required in each specific scale due to unified specification for surveying and mapping. ontology seeks to provide an explicit and comprehensive classification of entities in all sphere of being. This study proposes a new method for automatic maximum map feature extraction and reconstruction of high resolution satellite images. For example, in order to extract building blocks to produce 1 : 5000 scale and smaller maps, the road networks located around the building blocks should be determined. Thus, a new building index has been developed based on concepts obtained from ontology. Building blocks have been extracted with completeness about 83%. Then, road networks have been extracted and reconstructed to create a uniform network with less discontinuity on it. In this case, building blocks have been extracted with proper performance and the false positive value from confusion matrix was reduced by about 7%. Results showed that vegetation cover and water features have been extracted completely (100%) and about 71% of limits have been extracted. Also, the proposed method in this article had the ability to produce a map with largest scale possible from any multi spectral high resolution satellite imagery equal to or smaller than 1 : 5000.

  7. Mapping from Space - Ontology Based Map Production Using Satellite Imageries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asefpour Vakilian, A.; Momeni, M.

    2013-09-01

    Determination of the maximum ability for feature extraction from satellite imageries based on ontology procedure using cartographic feature determination is the main objective of this research. Therefore, a special ontology has been developed to extract maximum volume of information available in different high resolution satellite imageries and compare them to the map information layers required in each specific scale due to unified specification for surveying and mapping. ontology seeks to provide an explicit and comprehensive classification of entities in all sphere of being. This study proposes a new method for automatic maximum map feature extraction and reconstruction of high resolution satellite images. For example, in order to extract building blocks to produce 1 : 5000 scale and smaller maps, the road networks located around the building blocks should be determined. Thus, a new building index has been developed based on concepts obtained from ontology. Building blocks have been extracted with completeness about 83 %. Then, road networks have been extracted and reconstructed to create a uniform network with less discontinuity on it. In this case, building blocks have been extracted with proper performance and the false positive value from confusion matrix was reduced by about 7 %. Results showed that vegetation cover and water features have been extracted completely (100 %) and about 71 % of limits have been extracted. Also, the proposed method in this article had the ability to produce a map with largest scale possible from any multi spectral high resolution satellite imagery equal to or smaller than 1 : 5000.

  8. 17. A southward view of buildings #6B and #6 in ...

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

    17. A southward view of buildings #6-B and #6 in the left background and buildings #5 (center) and #3 (right of center). - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  9. Streambank Protection Guidelines,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-10-01

    the types of rubble suitable for dumping on an eroding bank include broken pavement, bricks, building blocks , slag , and quarry waste. Large flat slabs...not provide any long-termn protection. blocks , and house brick. I rfbiae omrilgbo akt Completed gabion revetment made from prefabricated baskets...prevent pressure buildup that could cause revetment failure. BLOCKS . Precast cellular blocks can be ypi i .,, p no- , ,,, ,hag ,.,.,,,,t

  10. Rockfall vulnerability assessment for masonry buildings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mavrouli, Olga

    2015-04-01

    The methodologies for the quantitative risk assessment vary in function of the application scale and the available data. For fragmental rockfalls, risk calculation requires data for the expected damage of the exposed elements due to potential rock block impacts with a range of trajectories, magnitudes and intensities. Although the procedures for the quantification of the rock block characteristics in terms of magnitude-frequency relationships are well established, there are few methodologies for the calculation of the vulnerability, and these are usually empirical or judgmental. The response of buildings to rock block impacts using analytical methods has been mainly realised so far for reinforced concrete buildings, and some fragility curves have been calculated with the results, indicating the potential damage for a range of rock block characteristics. Masonry buildings, as a common structural typology in mountainous areas, are in many cases impacted by rock blocks during rockfalls. Their response presents some peculiarities in comparison with reinforced-concrete structures given the non-homogeneity and variability of the compound materials (blocks and mortar), their orthotropy, low strength in tension, the statically indeterminate load-bearing system and the non-monolithic connections. To this purpose, analytical procedures which are specifically adapted to masonry structures should be used for the evaluation of the expected damage due to rock impacts. In this contribution we discuss the application of the analytical approach for the assessment of the expected damage in rockfall prone areas and the simulation assumptions that can be made concerning the materials, geometry, loading and the relevant simplifications. The amount of uncertainties introduced during their analytical simulation is high due to the dispersion of the data for material mechanical properties and the construction techniques and quality and thus a probabilistic assessment is suggested. The random nature of the rockfall as far as it concerns the magnitude and the intensity of the rock blocks can also be introduced using parametric analyses.

  11. Thermochronologic constraints on post-Paleozoic tectonic evolution of the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fitzgerald, Paul G.

    1994-08-01

    Built upon the roots of a compressive orogenic belt of late Proterozoic-early Paleozoic age and once adjacent to North America, the present-day Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) represent a rift flank, resulting from episodic uplift in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Fault blocks are discernible in present-day topography and subglacial morphology. Fission track results give information on differential block movement (uplift and denudation) and are important in constraining models for the uplift of the range. Apatite fission track thermochronology on samples collected from the central TAM record a complex thermotectonic history for this region over the past 350 m.y. Apatite ages in the Miller Range vary from ˜250 to ˜350 Ma and are from an exhumed apatite partial annealing zone formed following cooling of Cambro-Ordovician granitoids. A period of Cretaceous denudation (≲2 km), beginning at ˜115 Ma, is recorded at Moody Nunatak on the inland side of the TAM. Near the coast, samples along the Beardmore Glacier record rapid cooling indicative of denudation initiated in the early Cenozoic (˜50 Ma). The amount of uplift ˜70 km inland of the coast in the Queen Alexandra Range since the early Cenozoic is ˜7 km, with the likelihood of an additional ˜3 km at the coast. Eastward facing topographic escarpments in the Queen Alexandra Range mark the likely position of steeply dipping normal faults, which offset the apatite ages. Apatite ages on the east side of the Beardmore Glacier mouth are generally younger (average 27 Ma) than on the west side (average 33 Ma), reflecting greater denudation. Assumptions made regarding the use of an assumed paleogeothermal gradient are tested with available geologic evidence. The fission track data neither conflict with nor confirm paleobotanical evidence from the Sirius Group in the central TAM which suggests significant surface uplift (2-3 km) of the TAM since the Pliocene. Results build upon the available fission track database along the TAM and emphasize the subtle variability of uplift along the TAM due to episodic uplift involving differential block movements.

  12. Design and synthesis of unnatural heparosan and chondroitin building blocks

    PubMed Central

    Bera, Smritilekha; Linhardt, Robert J.

    2011-01-01

    Triazole linked heparosan and chondroitin disaccharide and tetrasaccharide building blocks were synthesized in a stereoselective manner by applying a very efficient Copper Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions (CuAAC) reaction of appropriately substituted azido-glucuronic acid and propargyluted N-acetyl glucosamine and N-acetyl galactosamine derivative respectively. The resulting suitably substituted tetrasaccharide analogs can be easily converted into azide and alkyne unit for further synthesis of higher oligosaccharide analogs. PMID:21438620

  13. PBF Reactor Building (PER620). After lowering reactor vessel onto blocks, ...

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

    PBF Reactor Building (PER-620). After lowering reactor vessel onto blocks, it is rolled on logs into PBF. Metal framework under vessel is handling device. Various penetrations in reactor bottom were for instrumentation, poison injection, drains. Large one, below center "manhole" was for primary coolant. Photographer: Larry Page. Date: February 13, 1970. INEEL negative no. 70-736 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, SPERT-I & Power Burst Facility Area, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  14. 11. VIEW OF INTERIOR OF BUILDING 220 FIRST FLOOR, CELL ...

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

    11. VIEW OF INTERIOR OF BUILDING 220 FIRST FLOOR, CELL BLOCK 'A' (SOLITARY CONFINEMENT CELL BLOCK), TYPICAL SOLITARY CONFINEMENT CELL. THE CELL SHOWN IN CENTER OF PHOTO, HAS A 2-1/2' THICK STEEL DOOR. THE CELL SHOWN IN THE LEFT OF PHOTO, HAS A 3/4' DIAMETER IRON GRILLE DOOR. - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Brig, Neville Way near Ninth Street at Marine Barracks, Pearl City, Honolulu County, HI

  15. Advanced information processing system: Local system services

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burkhardt, Laura; Alger, Linda; Whittredge, Roy; Stasiowski, Peter

    1989-01-01

    The Advanced Information Processing System (AIPS) is a multi-computer architecture composed of hardware and software building blocks that can be configured to meet a broad range of application requirements. The hardware building blocks are fault-tolerant, general-purpose computers, fault-and damage-tolerant networks (both computer and input/output), and interfaces between the networks and the computers. The software building blocks are the major software functions: local system services, input/output, system services, inter-computer system services, and the system manager. The foundation of the local system services is an operating system with the functions required for a traditional real-time multi-tasking computer, such as task scheduling, inter-task communication, memory management, interrupt handling, and time maintenance. Resting on this foundation are the redundancy management functions necessary in a redundant computer and the status reporting functions required for an operator interface. The functional requirements, functional design and detailed specifications for all the local system services are documented.

  16. Effector-Triggered Self-Replication in Coupled Subsystems.

    PubMed

    Komáromy, Dávid; Tezcan, Meniz; Schaeffer, Gaël; Marić, Ivana; Otto, Sijbren

    2017-11-13

    In living systems processes like genome duplication and cell division are carefully synchronized through subsystem coupling. If we are to create life de novo, similar control over essential processes such as self-replication need to be developed. Here we report that coupling two dynamic combinatorial subsystems, featuring two separate building blocks, enables effector-mediated control over self-replication. The subsystem based on the first building block shows only self-replication, whereas that based on the second one is solely responsive toward a specific external effector molecule. Mixing the subsystems arrests replication until the effector molecule is added, resulting in the formation of a host-effector complex and the liberation of the building block that subsequently engages in self-replication. The onset, rate and extent of self-replication is controlled by the amount of effector present. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Laboratory testing of a building envelope segment based on cellular concrete

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fořt, Jan; Pavlík, Zbyšek; Černý, Robert

    2016-07-01

    Hygrothermal performance of a building envelope based on cellular concrete blocks is studied in the paper. Simultaneously, the strain fields induced by the heat and moisture changes are monitored. The studied wall is exposed to the climatic load corresponding to the winter climatic conditions of the moderate year for Prague. The winter climatic exposure is chosen in order to simulate the critical conditions of the building structure from the point of view of material performance and temperature and humidity loading. The evaluation of hygrothermal performance of a researched wall is done on the basis of relative humidity and temperature profiles measured along the cross section of the cellular concrete blocks. Strain gauges are fixed on the wall surface in expected orientation of the blocks expansion. The obtained results show a good hygrothermal function of the analyzed cellular concrete wall and its insignificant strain.

  18. Synthesis of Triamino Acid Building Blocks with Different Lipophilicities

    PubMed Central

    Maity, Jyotirmoy; Honcharenko, Dmytro; Strömberg, Roger

    2015-01-01

    To obtain different amino acids with varying lipophilicity and that can carry up to three positive charges we have developed a number of new triamino acid building blocks. One set of building blocks was achieved by aminoethyl extension, via reductive amination, of the side chain of ortnithine, diaminopropanoic and diaminobutanoic acid. A second set of triamino acids with the aminoethyl extension having hydrocarbon side chains was synthesized from diaminobutanoic acid. The aldehydes needed for the extension by reductive amination were synthesized from the corresponding Fmoc-L-2-amino fatty acids in two steps. Reductive amination of these compounds with Boc-L-Dab-OH gave the C4-C8 alkyl-branched triamino acids. All triamino acids were subsequently Boc-protected at the formed secondary amine to make the monomers appropriate for the N-terminus position when performing Fmoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis. PMID:25876040

  19. Tandem Repeat Proteins Inspired By Squid Ring Teeth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pena-Francesch, Abdon

    Proteins are large biomolecules consisting of long chains of amino acids that hierarchically assemble into complex structures, and provide a variety of building blocks for biological materials. The repetition of structural building blocks is a natural evolutionary strategy for increasing the complexity and stability of protein structures. However, the relationship between amino acid sequence, structure, and material properties of protein systems remains unclear due to the lack of control over the protein sequence and the intricacies of the assembly process. In order to investigate the repetition of protein building blocks, a recently discovered protein from squids is examined as an ideal protein system. Squid ring teeth are predatory appendages located inside the suction cups that provide a strong grasp of prey, and are solely composed of a group of proteins with tandem repetition of building blocks. The objective of this thesis is the understanding of sequence, structure and property relationship in repetitive protein materials inspired in squid ring teeth for the first time. Specifically, this work focuses on squid-inspired structural proteins with tandem repeat units in their sequence (i.e., repetition of alternating building blocks) that are physically cross-linked via beta-sheet structures. The research work presented here tests the hypothesis that, in these systems, increasing the number of building blocks in the polypeptide chain decreases the protein network defects and improves the material properties. Hence, the sequence, nanostructure, and properties (thermal, mechanical, and conducting) of tandem repeat squid-inspired protein materials are examined. Spectroscopic structural analysis, advanced materials characterization, and entropic elasticity theory are combined to elucidate the structure and material properties of these repetitive proteins. This approach is applied not only to native squid proteins but also to squid-inspired synthetic polypeptides that allow for a fine control of the sequence and network morphology. The results provided in this work establish a clear dependence between the repetitive building blocks, the network morphology, and the properties of squid-inspired repetitive protein materials. Increasing the number of tandem repeat units in SRT-inspired proteins led to more effective protein networks with superior properties. Through increasing tandem repetition and optimization of network morphology, highly efficient protein materials capable of withstanding deformations up to 400% of their original length, with MPa-GPa modulus, high energy absorption (50 MJ m-3), peak proton conductivity of 3.7 mS cm-1 (at pH 7, highest reported to date for biological materials), and peak thermal conductivity of 1.4 W m-1 K -1 (which exceeds that of most polymer materials) were developed. These findings introduce new design rules in the engineering of proteins based on tandem repetition and morphology control, and provide a novel framework for tailoring and optimizing the properties of protein-based materials.

  20. Molecular Clusters: Nanoscale Building Blocks for Solid-State Materials.

    PubMed

    Pinkard, Andrew; Champsaur, Anouck M; Roy, Xavier

    2018-04-17

    The programmed assembly of nanoscale building blocks into multicomponent hierarchical structures is a powerful strategy for the bottom-up construction of functional materials. To develop this concept, our team has explored the use of molecular clusters as superatomic building blocks to fabricate new classes of materials. The library of molecular clusters is rich with exciting properties, including diverse functionalization, redox activity, and magnetic ordering, so the resulting cluster-assembled solids, which we term superatomic crystals (SACs), hold the promise of high tunability, atomic precision, and robust architectures among a diverse range of other material properties. Molecular clusters have only seldom been used as precursors for functional materials. Our team has been at the forefront of new developments in this exciting research area, and this Account focuses on our progress toward designing materials from cluster-based precursors. In particular, this Account discusses (1) the design and synthesis of molecular cluster superatomic building blocks, (2) their self-assembly into SACs, and (3) their resulting collective properties. The set of molecular clusters discussed herein is diverse, with different cluster cores and ligand arrangements to create an impressive array of solids. The cluster cores include octahedral M 6 E 8 and cubane M 4 E 4 (M = metal; E = chalcogen), which are typically passivated by a shell of supporting ligands, a feature upon which we have expanded upon by designing and synthesizing more exotic ligands that can be used to direct solid-state assembly. Building from this library, we have designed whole families of binary SACs where the building blocks are held together through electrostatic, covalent, or van der Waals interactions. Using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) to determine the atomic structure, a remarkable range of compositional variability is accessible. We can also use this technique, in tandem with vibrational spectroscopy, to ascertain features about the constituent superatomic building blocks, such as the charge of the cluster cores, by analysis of bond distances from the SCXRD data. The combination of atomic precision and intercluster interactions in these SACs produces novel collective properties, including tunable electrical transport, crystalline thermal conductivity, and ferromagnetism. In addition, we have developed a synthetic strategy to insert redox-active guests into the superstructure of SACs via single-crystal-to-single-crystal intercalation. This intercalation process allows us to tune the optical and electrical transport properties of the superatomic crystal host. These properties are explored using a host of techniques, including Raman spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometry, electrical transport measurements, electronic absorption spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and frequency-domain thermoreflectance. Superatomic crystals have proven to be both robust and tunable, representing a new method of materials design and architecture. This Account demonstrates how precisely controlling the structure and properties of nanoscale building blocks is key in developing the next generation of functional materials; several examples are discussed and detailed herein.

  1. Building a Case for Blocks as Kindergarten Mathematics Learning Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kinzer, Cathy; Gerhardt, Kacie; Coca, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Kindergarteners need access to blocks as thinking tools to develop, model, test, and articulate their mathematical ideas. In the current educational landscape, resources such as blocks are being pushed to the side and being replaced by procedural worksheets and academic "seat time" in order to address standards. Mathematics research…

  2. Revisit Pattern Blocks to Develop Rational Number Sense

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Champion, Joe; Wheeler, Ann

    2014-01-01

    Pattern blocks are inexpensive wooden, foam, or plastic manipulatives developed in the 1960s to help students build an understanding of shapes, proportions, equivalence, and fractions (EDC 1968). The colorful collection of basic shapes in classic pattern block kits affords opportunities for amazing puzzle-like problem-solving tasks and for…

  3. 8. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. LONGITUDINAL CENTRAL PASSAGEWAY IN ...

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

    8. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. LONGITUDINAL CENTRAL PASSAGEWAY IN BASEMENT. LOOKING SOUTHWEST. - Fairchild Air Force Base, Engine Test Cell Building, Near intersection of Arnold Street & George Avenue, Spokane, Spokane County, WA

  4. 5. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. CENTRAL ROOM ON MAIN ...

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

    5. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. CENTRAL ROOM ON MAIN FLOOR. LOOKING NORTHWEST. - Fairchild Air Force Base, Engine Test Cell Building, Near intersection of Arnold Street & George Avenue, Spokane, Spokane County, WA

  5. 6. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. CENTRAL OFFICE AREA ON ...

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

    6. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. CENTRAL OFFICE AREA ON BASEMENT LEVEL. LOOKING WEST. - Fairchild Air Force Base, Engine Test Cell Building, Near intersection of Arnold Street & George Avenue, Spokane, Spokane County, WA

  6. Two new hybrid molybdenum arsenate derivative constructed from [As2Mo6O26]6- building: Synthesis, structural characterization and photocatalysis property

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xiao; Luo, Xuan; Duan, Yuanling; Huang, Yanping; Zhang, Nanxi; Zhao, Liyan; Wu, Jie

    2017-08-01

    Two new inorganic-organic hybrid materials [Cu(enMe)2]2{(As2Mo6O26) [Cu(enMe)2]}·4H2O (1) and [As2Mo6(OH)2O24][Cu(H2O)2(phen)]2 (2) (enMe = 1,2'-propanediamine, phen = 1,10'-phenanthroline) based on [As2Mo6O26]6- building blocks, denoted as [As2Mo6], have been obtained by hydrothermal methods. 1 shows a 1-D straight chain structure constructed form [As2Mo6] building blocks and [Cu(enMe)2] complexes, and then extended to 3-D supramolecular network by lattice water via hydrogen bonds interactions. 2 exhibits a new 1-D covalent ribbon with large rectangular grids formed from [As2Mo6] building blocks connected by [Cu(H2O)2(phen)] complexes, then extended into 3-D supramolecular network via hydrogen bonds and π···π interactions. In additional, the photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation under visible-light irradiation of 2 was investigated.

  7. 76 FR 36143 - Central Utah Project Completion Act: Availability of Draft Environmental Assessment; Block Notice...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Central Utah Project Completion Act: Availability of Draft Environmental Assessment; Block Notice 1A, Heber Sub-Area Irrigation to M&I Water Conversion, Wasatch County, UT AGENCY: Department of the Interior, Office of the Assistant Secretary-- Water and Science. ACTION: Notice...

  8. 7. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. WALL MAP IN CENTRAL ...

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

    7. ENGINE TEST CELL BUILDING INTERIOR. WALL MAP IN CENTRAL BASEMENT OFFICE AREA. LOOKING SOUTHWEST. - Fairchild Air Force Base, Engine Test Cell Building, Near intersection of Arnold Street & George Avenue, Spokane, Spokane County, WA

  9. Self-assembly: Misfits unite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grason, Gregory M.

    2017-12-01

    The spontaneous assembly of particulate or molecular 'building blocks' into larger architectures underlies structure formation in many biological and synthetic materials. Shape frustration of ill-fitting blocks holds a surprising key to more regular assemblies.

  10. Door in west wall of the center block, positioned near ...

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

    Door in west wall of the center block, positioned near the detached kitchen/bake house building. - Lazaretto Quarantine Station, Wanamaker Avenue and East Second Street, Essington, Delaware County, PA

  11. A crown-like heterometallic unit as the building block for a 3D In-Ge-S framework.

    PubMed

    Han, Xiaohui; Wang, Zhenqing; Xu, Jin; Liu, Dan; Wang, Cheng

    2015-12-14

    Supertetrahedral clusters are the most common building blocks in constructing Group 13/14/16 microporous metal chalcogenide materials while other types of clusters are yet scarcely explored. Herein, a new crown-like building unit [In3Ge3S16] has been obtained. The units assemble into a 3D framework [C6H14NO]4[In6Ge3S17]·1.5H2O (1) via a dual-connection mode and a SrSi2 (srs)-type topology could be achieved by treating each unit as a tri-connected node.

  12. Architectural design and physical activity: an observational study of staircase and elevator use in different buildings.

    PubMed

    Bassett, David R; Browning, Ray; Conger, Scott A; Wolff, Dana L; Flynn, Jennifer I

    2013-05-01

    The indoor built environment has the potential to influence levels of physical activity. However, the extent to which architectural design in commercial buildings can influence the percentage of people choosing to use the stairs versus elevators is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if buildings with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases result in a greater percentage of people taking the stairs. Direct observations of stair and elevator use were conducted in 3 buildings on a university campus. One of the buildings had a bank of 4 centrally located elevators and a fire escape stairwell behind a steel door. The other 2 buildings had centrally located staircases and out-of-the-way elevators. The percentage of people who ascended the stairs was 8.1% in the elevator-centric building, compared with 72.8% and 81.1% in the 2 stair-centric buildings (P < .001). In addition, the percentage of people who descended the stairs was 10.8% in the first building, compared with 89.5% and 93.7% in the stair-centric buildings (P < .001). The results of the current study suggest that if buildings are constructed with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases, a greater percentage of people will choose to take the stairs.

  13. This image, looking due south shows the central part of ...

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

    This image, looking due south shows the central part of the north wing of the building, a 2 story facade. In the foreground are several utility chases which span this elevation of the building - Department of Energy, Mound Facility, Electronics Laboratory Building (E Building), One Mound Road, Miamisburg, Montgomery County, OH

  14. 29. INTERIOR VIEW OF FERRY MOUSE, SOUTH CENTRAL BUILDING, FIRST ...

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

    29. INTERIOR VIEW OF FERRY MOUSE, SOUTH CENTRAL BUILDING, FIRST LEVEL, LOOKING WEST, FERRYMEN'S QUARTERS - Central Railroad of New Jersey, Jersey City Ferry Terminal, Johnson Avenue at Hudson River, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

  15. 9. Interior of Building 1009, view of central hall, looking ...

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

    9. Interior of Building 1009, view of central hall, looking southeast - Naval Air Station Chase Field, Building 1009, Essex Street, .68 mile South-southeast of intersection of Texas State Highway 202 & Independence Street, Beeville, Bee County, TX

  16. PERTS: A Prototyping Environment for Real-Time Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Jane W. S.; Lin, Kwei-Jay; Liu, C. L.

    1993-01-01

    PERTS is a prototyping environment for real-time systems. It is being built incrementally and will contain basic building blocks of operating systems for time-critical applications, tools, and performance models for the analysis, evaluation and measurement of real-time systems and a simulation/emulation environment. It is designed to support the use and evaluation of new design approaches, experimentations with alternative system building blocks, and the analysis and performance profiling of prototype real-time systems.

  17. VLSI architecture for a Reed-Solomon decoder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hsu, In-Shek (Inventor); Truong, Trieu-Kie (Inventor)

    1992-01-01

    A basic single-chip building block for a Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder system is partitioned into a plurality of sections, the first of which consists of a plurality of syndrome subcells each of which contains identical standard-basis finite-field multipliers that are programmable between 10 and 8 bit operation. A desired number of basic building blocks may be assembled to provide a RS decoder of any syndrome subcell size that is programmable between 10 and 8 bit operation.

  18. Exploring endoperoxides as a new entry for the synthesis of branched azasugars

    PubMed Central

    Domeyer, Svenja; Bjerregaard, Mark; Johansson, Henrik

    2017-01-01

    A new class of nitrogen-containing endoperoxides were synthesised by a photochemical [4 + 2]-cycloaddition between a diene and singlet oxygen. The endoperoxides were dihydroxylated and protected to provide a series of endoperoxide building blocks for organic synthesis, with potential use as precursors for the synthesis of branched azasugars. Preliminary exploration of the chemistry of these building blocks provided access to a variety of derivatives including tetrahydrofurans, epoxides and protected amino-tetraols. PMID:28487758

  19. Cascaded VLSI neural network architecture for on-line learning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thakoor, Anilkumar P. (Inventor); Duong, Tuan A. (Inventor); Daud, Taher (Inventor)

    1992-01-01

    High-speed, analog, fully-parallel, and asynchronous building blocks are cascaded for larger sizes and enhanced resolution. A hardware compatible algorithm permits hardware-in-the-loop learning despite limited weight resolution. A computation intensive feature classification application was demonstrated with this flexible hardware and new algorithm at high speed. This result indicates that these building block chips can be embedded as an application specific coprocessor for solving real world problems at extremely high data rates.

  20. Spontaneous self-assembly of a giant spherical metal-oxide Keplerate: addition of one building block induces "immediate" formation of the complementary one from a constitutional dynamic library.

    PubMed

    Schäffer, Christian; Todea, Ana Maria; Gouzerh, Pierre; Müller, Achim

    2012-01-11

    The addition of dinuclear {Mo(2)} units to a dynamic library containing molybdates results in the spontaneous self-assembly of a giant spherical metal-oxide species of the type {(Mo)Mo(5)}(12){Mo(2)}(30) while the required pentagonal {(Mo)Mo(5)} building blocks are "immediately" formed. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012

  1. Fluorescence enhancement through the formation of a single-layer two-dimensional supramolecular organic framework and its application in highly selective recognition of picric acid.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Ying; Zhan, Tian-Guang; Zhou, Tian-You; Qi, Qiao-Yan; Xu, Xiao-Na; Zhao, Xin

    2016-06-18

    A two-dimensional (2D) supramolecular organic framework (SOF) has been constructed through the co-assembly of a triphenylamine-based building block and cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]). Fluorescence turn-on of the non-emissive building block was observed upon the formation of the 2D SOF, which displayed highly selective and sensitive recognition of picric acid over a variety of nitroaromatics.

  2. Cascaded VLSI neural network architecture for on-line learning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Duong, Tuan A. (Inventor); Daud, Taher (Inventor); Thakoor, Anilkumar P. (Inventor)

    1995-01-01

    High-speed, analog, fully-parallel and asynchronous building blocks are cascaded for larger sizes and enhanced resolution. A hardware-compatible algorithm permits hardware-in-the-loop learning despite limited weight resolution. A comparison-intensive feature classification application has been demonstrated with this flexible hardware and new algorithm at high speed. This result indicates that these building block chips can be embedded as application-specific-coprocessors for solving real-world problems at extremely high data rates.

  3. Building blocks for the development of an interface for high-throughput thin layer chromatography/ambient mass spectrometric analysis: a green methodology.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Sy-Chyi; Huang, Min-Zong; Wu, Li-Chieh; Chou, Chih-Chiang; Cheng, Chu-Nian; Jhang, Siou-Sian; Shiea, Jentaie

    2012-07-17

    Interfacing thin layer chromatography (TLC) with ambient mass spectrometry (AMS) has been an important area of analytical chemistry because of its capability to rapidly separate and characterize the chemical compounds. In this study, we have developed a high-throughput TLC-AMS system using building blocks to deal, deliver, and collect the TLC plate through an electrospray-assisted laser desorption ionization (ELDI) source. This is the first demonstration of the use of building blocks to construct and test the TLC-MS interfacing system. With the advantages of being readily available, cheap, reusable, and extremely easy to modify without consuming any material or reagent, the use of building blocks to develop the TLC-AMS interface is undoubtedly a green methodology. The TLC plate delivery system consists of a storage box, plate dealing component, conveyer, light sensor, and plate collecting box. During a TLC-AMS analysis, the TLC plate was sent to the conveyer from a stack of TLC plates placed in the storage box. As the TLC plate passed through the ELDI source, the chemical compounds separated on the plate would be desorbed by laser desorption and subsequently postionized by electrospray ionization. The samples, including a mixture of synthetic dyes and extracts of pharmaceutical drugs, were analyzed to demonstrate the capability of this TLC-ELDI/MS system for high-throughput analysis.

  4. Mussel-inspired nano-building block assemblies for mimicking extracellular matrix microenvironments with multiple functions.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zhenming; Jia, Zhanrong; Jiang, Yanan; Li, Pengfei; Han, Lu; Lu, Xiong; Ren, Fuzeng; Wang, Kefeng; Yuan, Huiping

    2017-08-03

    The assembly of nano-building blocks is an effective way to produce artificial extracellular matrix microenvironments with hierarchical micro/nano structures. However, it is hard to assemble different types of nano-building blocks, to form composite coatings with multiple functions, by traditional layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly methods. Inspired by the mussel adhesion mechanism, we developed polydopamine (PDA)-decorated bovine serum albumin microspheres (BSA-MS) and nano-hydroxyapatite (nano-HA), and assembled them to form bioactive coatings with micro/nano structures encapsulating bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). First, PDA-decorated nano-HA (nano-pHA) was obtained by oxidative polymerization of dopamine on nano-HA. Second, BMP-2-encapsulated BSA microspheres were prepared through desolvation, and then were also decorated by PDA (pBSA-MS). Finally, the nano-pHA and pBSA-MS were assembled using the adhesive properties of PDA. Bone marrow stromal cell cultures and in vivo implantation, showed that the pHA/pBSA (BMP-2) coatings can promote cell adhesion, proliferation, and benefited for osteoinductivity. PDA decoration was also applied to assemble various functional nanoparticles, such as nano-HA, polystyrene, and Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles. In summary, this study provides a novel strategy for the assembly of biofunctional nano-building blocks, which surpasses traditional LbL self-assembly of polyelectrolytes, and can find broad applications in bioactive agents delivery or multi-functional coatings.

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

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

    1996-01-01

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

  6. Single-trabecula building block for large-scale finite element models of cancellous bone.

    PubMed

    Dagan, D; Be'ery, M; Gefen, A

    2004-07-01

    Recent development of high-resolution imaging of cancellous bone allows finite element (FE) analysis of bone tissue stresses and strains in individual trabeculae. However, specimen-specific stress/strain analyses can include effects of anatomical variations and local damage that can bias the interpretation of the results from individual specimens with respect to large populations. This study developed a standard (generic) 'building-block' of a trabecula for large-scale FE models. Being parametric and based on statistics of dimensions of ovine trabeculae, this building block can be scaled for trabecular thickness and length and be used in commercial or custom-made FE codes to construct generic, large-scale FE models of bone, using less computer power than that currently required to reproduce the accurate micro-architecture of trabecular bone. Orthogonal lattices constructed with this building block, after it was scaled to trabeculae of the human proximal femur, provided apparent elastic moduli of approximately 150 MPa, in good agreement with experimental data for the stiffness of cancellous bone from this site. Likewise, lattices with thinner, osteoporotic-like trabeculae could predict a reduction of approximately 30% in the apparent elastic modulus, as reported in experimental studies of osteoporotic femora. Based on these comparisons, it is concluded that the single-trabecula element developed in the present study is well-suited for representing cancellous bone in large-scale generic FE simulations.

  7. Monitoring Thermal Performance of Hollow Bricks with Different Cavity Fillers in Difference Climate Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pavlík, Zbyšek; Jerman, Miloš; Fořt, Jan; Černý, Robert

    2015-03-01

    Hollow brick blocks have found widespread use in the building industry during the last decades. The increasing requirements to the thermal insulation properties of building envelopes given by the national standards in Europe led the brick producers to reduce the production of common solid bricks. Brick blocks with more or less complex systems of internal cavities replaced the traditional bricks and became dominant on the building ceramics market. However, contrary to the solid bricks where the thermal conductivity can easily be measured by standard methods, the complex geometry of hollow brick blocks makes the application of common techniques impossible. In this paper, a steady-state technique utilizing a system of two climatic chambers separated by a connecting tunnel for sample positioning is used for the determination of the thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, and thermal transmittance ( U value) of hollow bricks with the cavities filled by air, two different types of mineral wool, polystyrene balls, and foam polyurethane. The particular brick block is provided with the necessary temperature- and heat-flux sensors and thermally insulated in the tunnel. In the climatic chambers, different temperatures are set. After steady-state conditions are established in the measuring system, the effective thermal properties of the brick block are calculated using the measured data. Experimental results show that the best results are achieved with hydrophilic mineral wool as a cavity filler; the worst performance exhibits the brick block with air-filled cavities.

  8. 47 CFR 52.20 - Thousands-block number pooling.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Thousands-block number pooling. 52.20 Section... (CONTINUED) NUMBERING Number Portability § 52.20 Thousands-block number pooling. (a) Definition. Thousands-block number pooling is a process by which the 10,000 numbers in a central office code (NXX) are...

  9. Developing a clinical trial unit to advance research in an academic institution.

    PubMed

    Croghan, Ivana T; Viker, Steven D; Limper, Andrew H; Evans, Tamara K; Cornell, Alissa R; Ebbert, Jon O; Gertz, Morie A

    2015-11-01

    Research, clinical care, and education are the three cornerstones of academic health centers in the United States. The research climate has always been riddled with ebbs and flows, depending on funding availability. During a time of reduced funding, the number and scope of research studies have been reduced, and in some instances, a field of study has been eliminated. Recent reductions in the research funding landscape have led institutions to explore new ways to continue supporting research. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN has developed a clinical trial unit within the Department of Medicine, which provides shared resources for many researchers and serves as a solution for training and mentoring new investigators and study teams. By building on existing infrastructure and providing supplemental resources to existing research, the Department of Medicine clinical trial unit has evolved into an effective mechanism for conducting research. This article discusses the creation of a central unit to provide research support in clinical trials and presents the advantages, disadvantages, and required building blocks for such a unit. Copyright © 2015 Mayo Clinic. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Mars habitat modules: launch, scaling and functional design considerations.

    PubMed

    Bell, Larry; Hines, Gerald D

    2005-07-01

    The Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA) is undertaking a multi-year research, planning and design study that is exploring near- and long-term commercial space development opportunities. The central goal of this activity is to conceptualize a scenario of sequential, integrated private enterprise initiatives that can carry humankind forward to Mars. Each development stage is planned as a building block to provide the economic foundation, technology advancements and operational infrastructure to support others that follow. This report presents fundamental issues and requirements associated with planning human Mars initiatives that can transfer crews, habitats and equipment from Earth to Mars orbit, deliver them to the planet's surface, and return people and samples safely back to Earth. The study builds in part upon previous studies which are summarized in SICSA's: Commercial Space Development Plan and the Artificial Gravity Science and Excursion Vehicle reports. Information and conclusions produced in this study provide assumptions and a conceptual foundation for a subsequent report titled The First Mars Outpost: Planning and Concepts. c2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Timber resource statistics for central Oregon.

    Treesearch

    John M. Berger

    1968-01-01

    This publication summarizes the results of the third inventory of the timber resources of nine counties in central Oregon: Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Sherman, Wasco, and Wheeler. This block of nine counties is one of 10 such blocks set up in the States of Oregon and Washington by the Forest Survey to facilitate orderly reinventories of the...

  12. Colloidal polymers with controlled sequence and branching constructed from magnetic field assembled nanoparticles.

    PubMed

    Bannwarth, Markus B; Utech, Stefanie; Ebert, Sandro; Weitz, David A; Crespy, Daniel; Landfester, Katharina

    2015-03-24

    The assembly of nanoparticles into polymer-like architectures is challenging and usually requires highly defined colloidal building blocks. Here, we show that the broad size-distribution of a simple dispersion of magnetic nanocolloids can be exploited to obtain various polymer-like architectures. The particles are assembled under an external magnetic field and permanently linked by thermal sintering. The remarkable variety of polymer-analogue architectures that arises from this simple process ranges from statistical and block copolymer-like sequencing to branched chains and networks. This library of architectures can be realized by controlling the sequencing of the particles and the junction points via a size-dependent self-assembly of the single building blocks.

  13. ETR BUILDING, TRA642. SOUTH SIDE VIEW INCLUDES SOUTH SIDES OF ...

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

    ETR BUILDING, TRA-642. SOUTH SIDE VIEW INCLUDES SOUTH SIDES OF ETR BUILDING (HIGH ROOF LINE); ELECTRICAL BUILDING (ONE-STORY, MADE OF PUMICE BLOCKS), TRA-648; AND HEAT EXCHANGER BUILDING (WITH BUILDING NUMBERS), TRA-644. NOTE PROJECTION OF ELECTRICAL BUILDING AT LEFT EDGE OF VIEW. CAMERA FACES NORTH. INL NEGATIVE NO. HD46-37-3. Mike Crane, Photographer, 4/2005 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Reactor Area, Materials & Engineering Test Reactors, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  14. Microfibres and macroscopic films from the coordination-driven hierarchical self-assembly of cylindrical micelles

    PubMed Central

    Lunn, David J.; Gould, Oliver E. C.; Whittell, George R.; Armstrong, Daniel P.; Mineart, Kenneth P.; Winnik, Mitchell A.; Spontak, Richard J.; Pringle, Paul G.; Manners, Ian

    2016-01-01

    Anisotropic nanoparticles prepared from block copolymers are of growing importance as building blocks for the creation of synthetic hierarchical materials. However, the assembly of these structural units is generally limited to the use of amphiphilic interactions. Here we report a simple, reversible coordination-driven hierarchical self-assembly strategy for the preparation of micron-scale fibres and macroscopic films based on monodisperse cylindrical block copolymer micelles. Coordination of Pd(0) metal centres to phosphine ligands immobilized within the soluble coronas of block copolymer micelles is found to induce intermicelle crosslinking, affording stable linear fibres comprised of micelle subunits in a staggered arrangement. The mean length of the fibres can be varied by altering the micelle concentration, reaction stoichiometry or aspect ratio of the micelle building blocks. Furthermore, the fibres aggregate on drying to form robust, self-supporting macroscopic micelle-based thin films with useful mechanical properties that are analogous to crosslinked polymer networks, but on a longer length scale. PMID:27538877

  15. Electrophoretic deposition of fluorescent Cu and Au sheets for light-emitting diodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jiale; Wu, Zhennan; Li, Tingting; Zhou, Ding; Zhang, Kai; Sheng, Yu; Cui, Jianli; Zhang, Hao; Yang, Bai

    2015-12-01

    Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a conventional method for fabricating film materials from nanometer-sized building blocks, and exhibits the advantages of low-cost, high-efficiency, wide-range thickness adjustment, and uniform deposition. Inspired by the interest in the application of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, the EPD technique has been recently extended to building blocks with 2D features. However, the studies are mainly focused on simplex building blocks. The utilization of multiplex building blocks is rarely reported. In this work, we demonstrate a controlled EPD of Cu and Au sheets, which are 2D assemblies of luminescent Cu and Au nanoclusters. Systematic investigations reveal that both the deposition efficiency and the thickness are determined by the lateral size of the sheets. For Cu sheets with a large lateral size, a high ζ-potential and strong face-to-face van der Waals interactions facilitate the deposition with high efficiency. However, for Au sheets, the small lateral size and ζ-potential limit the formation of a thick film. To solve this problem, the deposition dynamics are controlled by increasing the concentration of the Au sheets and adding acetone. This understanding permits the fabrication of a binary EPD film by the stepwise deposition of Cu and Au sheets, thus producing a luminescent film with both Cu green emission and Au red emission. A white light-emitting diode prototype with color coordinates (x, y) = (0.31, 0.36) is fabricated by employing the EPD film as a color conversion layer on a 365 nm GaN clip and further tuning the amount of deposited Cu and Au sheets.Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a conventional method for fabricating film materials from nanometer-sized building blocks, and exhibits the advantages of low-cost, high-efficiency, wide-range thickness adjustment, and uniform deposition. Inspired by the interest in the application of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, the EPD technique has been recently extended to building blocks with 2D features. However, the studies are mainly focused on simplex building blocks. The utilization of multiplex building blocks is rarely reported. In this work, we demonstrate a controlled EPD of Cu and Au sheets, which are 2D assemblies of luminescent Cu and Au nanoclusters. Systematic investigations reveal that both the deposition efficiency and the thickness are determined by the lateral size of the sheets. For Cu sheets with a large lateral size, a high ζ-potential and strong face-to-face van der Waals interactions facilitate the deposition with high efficiency. However, for Au sheets, the small lateral size and ζ-potential limit the formation of a thick film. To solve this problem, the deposition dynamics are controlled by increasing the concentration of the Au sheets and adding acetone. This understanding permits the fabrication of a binary EPD film by the stepwise deposition of Cu and Au sheets, thus producing a luminescent film with both Cu green emission and Au red emission. A white light-emitting diode prototype with color coordinates (x, y) = (0.31, 0.36) is fabricated by employing the EPD film as a color conversion layer on a 365 nm GaN clip and further tuning the amount of deposited Cu and Au sheets. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional experimental information, and SEM images of Cu EPD films. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06599b

  16. Streambank Protection Guidelines for Landowners and Local Governments,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-10-01

    building blocks , slag , and quarry waste. UNCHE SON / / Large flat slabs should be broken up into /smaller pieces. Garbage, vegetation, scrap lumber...concrete blocks , and house brick. but will not provide any long-term protection. Preabrfirated commercial gabion basket. Completed gabion revetment made...prevent pressure buildup that could cause revetment failure. BLOCKS . Precast cellular blocks can be *,-’e : Typi.tal sa.d- e, .t bag r ’etment

  17. VIEW LOOKING SOUTHEAST AT BUILDING 121. THE BUILDING HOUSES OFFICES, ...

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

    VIEW LOOKING SOUTHEAST AT BUILDING 121. THE BUILDING HOUSES OFFICES, THE ROCKY FLATS PLANT CENTRAL ALARM STATION, ALARM CONSOLES, THE ARMORY, THE LOCK AND KEY SECTION, A COMPUTER ROOM, A UTILITY ROOM, AND LOCKER ROOMS WITH SHOWERS. (1/98) - Rocky Flats Plant, Security & Armory, West of Third Street, south of Central Avenue, Golden, Jefferson County, CO

  18. 44. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE ...

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

    44. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE COMPANY FACTORY AND WAREHOUSE AND DUBUQUE SEED COMPANY WAREHOUSE IN BACKGROUND. VIEW TO SOUTHWEST. - Dubuque Commercial & Industrial Buildings, Dubuque, Dubuque County, IA

  19. 43. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE ...

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

    43. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE COMPANY FACTORY AND WAREHOUSE AND DUBUQUE SEED COMPANY WAREHOUSE IN BACKGROUND. VIEW TO SOUTHWEST. - Dubuque Commercial & Industrial Buildings, Dubuque, Dubuque County, IA

  20. 42. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE ...

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

    42. RAILROAD TRACKS, WITH BISHOP'S BLOCK, MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE COMPANY FACTORY AND WAREHOUSE AND DUBUQUE SEED COMPANY WAREHOUSE IN BACKGROUND. VIEW TO SOUTHWEST. - Dubuque Commercial & Industrial Buildings, Dubuque, Dubuque County, IA

  1. Participatory Approach to Long-Term Socio-Economic Scenarios as Building Block of a Local Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Tool - The Case Study Lienz (East-Tyrol)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meyer, Ina; Eder, Brigitte; Hama, Michiko; Leitner, Markus

    2016-04-01

    Risks associated with climate change are mostly still understood and analyzed in a sector- or hazard-specific and rarely in a systemic, dynamic and scenario-based manner. In addition, socio-economic trends are often neglected in local vulnerability and risk assessments although they represent potential key determinants of risk and vulnerability. The project ARISE (Adaptation and Decision Support via Risk Management Through Local Burning Embers) aims at filling this gap by applying a participatory approach to socio-economic scenario building as building block of a local vulnerability assessment and risk management tool. Overall, ARISE aims at developing a decision support system for climate-sensitive iterative risk management as a key adaptation tool for the local level using Lienz in the East-Tyrol as a test-site City. One central building block is participatory socio-economic scenario building that - together with regionalized climate change scenarios - form a centrepiece in the process-oriented assessment of climate change risks and vulnerability. Major vulnerabilities and risks may stem from the economic performance, the socio-economic or socio-demographic developments or changes in asset exposition and not from climate change impacts themselves. The IPCC 5th assessment report underlines this and states that for most economic sectors, the impact of climate change may be small relative to the impacts of other driving forces such as changes in population growth, age, income, technology, relative prices, lifestyle, regulation, governance and many other factors in the socio-economy (Arent et al., 2014). The paper presents the methodology, process and results with respect to the building of long-term local socio-economic scenarios for the City of Lienz and the surrounding countryside. Scenarios were developed in a participatory approach using a scenario workshop that involved major stakeholders from the region. Participatory approaches are increasingly recognized as an important element in management and decision-making as problems in today's world are complex and require knowledge from many different domains and disciplines. Participation is also said to be a process of collective learning that changes the way people think and act which is a relevant point in forming appropriate region-specific climate adaptation strategies. The scenarios are based on an analysis of data on recent states and trends in major local sector developments concerning absolute and relative employment and value creation as well as on distinct socio-demographic developments in the region. Categories discussed in the scenario workshop cover inter alia institutions and governance, demographics, production and demand, markets, value-chains and trade, scientific and technological innovations, education and health. The derived stakeholder-based socio-economic scenarios were, in a second step, matched with the Shared Socio-economic reference Pathways (SSPs) in order to frame the locally produced scenarios with global narratives. Both strains were, in a third step, combined and backed-up by scientific literature in order to build the local socio-economic scenarios that served as background information in the analysis of risks, vulnerability and appropriate adaptation measures in the case-study region.

  2. The interplay between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles

    PubMed Central

    Cervera, Javier; Manzanares, José A.; Mafe, Salvador

    2014-01-01

    The interplay between cooperativity and diversity is crucial for biological ensembles because single molecule experiments show a significant degree of heterogeneity and also for artificial nanostructures because of the high individual variability characteristic of nanoscale units. We study the cross-effects between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles composed of individually different units that show a cooperative behaviour. The units are modelled as statistical distributions of parameters (the individual threshold potentials here) characterized by central and width distribution values. The simulations show that the interplay between cooperativity and diversity results in ensemble-averaged responses of interest for the understanding of electrical transduction in cell membranes, the experimental characterization of heterogeneous groups of biomolecules and the development of biologically inspired engineering designs with individually different building blocks. PMID:25142516

  3. A modular synthesis of teraryl-based α-helix mimetics, part 1: Synthesis of core fragments with two electronically differentiated leaving groups.

    PubMed

    Peters, Martin; Trobe, Melanie; Tan, Hao; Kleineweischede, Rolf; Breinbauer, Rolf

    2013-02-11

    Teraryl-based α-helix mimetics have proven to be useful compounds for the inhibition of protein-protein interactions (PPI). We have developed a modular and flexible approach for the synthesis of teraryl-based α-helix mimetics. Central to our strategy is the use of a benzene core unit featuring two leaving groups of differentiated reactivity in the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling used for terphenyl assembly. With the halogen/diazonium route and the halogen/triflate route, two strategies have successfully been established. The synthesis of core building blocks with aliphatic (Ala, Val, Leu, Ile), aromatic (Phe), polar (Cys, Lys), hydrophilic (Ser, Gln), and acidic (Glu) amino acid side chains are reported. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  4. Bacteria like sharing their sweets.

    PubMed

    Cuccui, Jon; Wren, Brendan W

    2013-09-01

    Protein glycosylation and capsular polysaccharide formation are increasingly recognized as playing central roles in the survival and virulence of bacterial pathogens. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, structural analysis in Acinetobacter baumannii 17978 revealed that a pentasaccharide that decorates glycoproteins is formed of the same building blocks used for capsule biosynthesis demonstrating split roles for this glycan. Disruption of PglC, the initiating glycosyltransferase responsible for attachment of the first sugar to undecaprenylphosphate abolished glycoprotein production and capsule biosynthesis. Both pathways are demonstrated to be important in biofilm formation and pathogenesis, and disabling their synthesis should provide a useful route for antimicrobial design. Shared polysaccharide usage reduces the genetic and metabolic burden in a bacterial cell and is an emerging theme among bacterial pathogens that need to be energy efficient for their streamlined lifestyle. © 2013 Crown copyright.

  5. Quantification of Soluble Sugars and Sugar Alcohols by LC-MS/MS.

    PubMed

    Feil, Regina; Lunn, John Edward

    2018-01-01

    Sugars are simple carbohydrates composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They play a central role in metabolism as sources of energy and as building blocks for synthesis of structural and nonstructural polymers. Many different techniques have been used to measure sugars, including refractometry, colorimetric and enzymatic assays, gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In this chapter we describe a method that combines an initial separation of sugars by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) with detection and quantification by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). This combination of techniques provides exquisite specificity, allowing measurement of a diverse range of high- and low-abundance sugars in biological samples. This method can also be used for isotopomer analysis in stable-isotope labeling experiments to measure metabolic fluxes.

  6. Photochemical Approaches to Complex Chemotypes: Applications in Natural Product Synthesis.

    PubMed

    Kärkäs, Markus D; Porco, John A; Stephenson, Corey R J

    2016-09-14

    The use of photochemical transformations is a powerful strategy that allows for the formation of a high degree of molecular complexity from relatively simple building blocks in a single step. A central feature of all light-promoted transformations is the involvement of electronically excited states, generated upon absorption of photons. This produces transient reactive intermediates and significantly alters the reactivity of a chemical compound. The input of energy provided by light thus offers a means to produce strained and unique target compounds that cannot be assembled using thermal protocols. This review aims at highlighting photochemical transformations as a tool for rapidly accessing structurally and stereochemically diverse scaffolds. Synthetic designs based on photochemical transformations have the potential to afford complex polycyclic carbon skeletons with impressive efficiency, which are of high value in total synthesis.

  7. 12. SOUTHWEST VIEW OF BUILDING 25C (SUBSONIC AERODYNAMICS TEST FACILITY) ...

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

    12. SOUTHWEST VIEW OF BUILDING 25C (SUBSONIC AERODYNAMICS TEST FACILITY) (1992). - 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

  8. Photogrammetric Recording and Reconstruction of Town Scale Models - the Case of the Plan-Relief of Strasbourg

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Macher, H.; Grussenmeyer, P.; Landes, T.; Halin, G.; Chevrier, C.; Huyghe, O.

    2017-08-01

    The French collection of Plan-Reliefs, scale models of fortified towns, constitutes a precious testimony of the history of France. The aim of the URBANIA project is the valorisation and the diffusion of this Heritage through the creation of virtual models. The town scale model of Strasbourg at 1/600 currently exhibited in the Historical Museum of Strasbourg was selected as a case study. In this paper, the photogrammetric recording of this scale model is first presented. The acquisition protocol as well as the data post-processing are detailed. Then, the modelling of the city and more specially building blocks is investigated. Based on point clouds of the scale model, the extraction of roof elements is considered. It deals first with the segmentation of the point cloud into building blocks. Then, for each block, points belonging to roofs are identified and the extraction of chimney point clouds as well as roof ridges and roof planes is performed. Finally, the 3D parametric modelling of the building blocks is studied by considering roof polygons and polylines describing chimneys as input. In a future works section, the semantically enrichment and the potential usage scenarios of the scale model are envisaged.

  9. School's Out, Let's Eat: FRAC's Guide to Using the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to Expand Afterschool Opportunities for Children. The Building Blocks Project. Promoting Education and Child Development with Nutrition Resources.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wierwille, Jennifer; Parker, Lynn; Henchy, Geraldine; Driscoll, Christin M.; Tingling-Clemmons, Michele

    The provision of quality before- and after-school child care is a major challenge facing educators. This guide from the Food Research and Action Center's Building Blocks Project provides information to providers of before and after school programs on using the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to provide snacks and meals. Following…

  10. Molecularly Defined Nanostructures Based on a Novel AAA-DDD Triple Hydrogen-Bonding Motif.

    PubMed

    Papmeyer, Marcus; Vuilleumier, Clément A; Pavan, Giovanni M; Zhurov, Konstantin O; Severin, Kay

    2016-01-26

    A facile and flexible method for the synthesis of a new AAA-DDD triple hydrogen-bonding motif is described. Polytopic supramolecular building blocks with precisely oriented AAA and DDD groups are thus accessible in few steps. These building blocks were used for the assembly of large macrocycles featuring four AAA-DDD interactions and a macrobicyclic complex with a total of six AAA-DDD interactions. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. Enantioselective Copper-Catalyzed Oxy-Alkynylation of Diazo Compounds.

    PubMed

    Hari, Durga Prasad; Waser, Jerome

    2017-06-28

    Enantioselective catalytic methods allowing the addition of both a nucleophile and an electrophile onto diazo compounds give a fast access into important building blocks. Herein, we report the highly enantioselective oxyalkynylation of diazo compounds using ethynylbenziodoxol-(on)e reagents and a simple copper bisoxazoline catalyst. The obtained α-benzoyloxy propargylic esters are useful building blocks, which are difficult to synthesize in enantiopure form using other methods. The obtained products could be efficiently transformed into vicinal diols and α-hydroxy propargylic esters without loss in enantiopurity.

  12. Single crystalline Ge(1-x)Mn(x) nanowires as building blocks for nanoelectronics.

    PubMed

    van der Meulen, Machteld I; Petkov, Nikolay; Morris, Michael A; Kazakova, Olga; Han, Xinhai; Wang, Kang L; Jacob, Ajey P; Holmes, Justin D

    2009-01-01

    Magnetically doped Si and Ge nanowires have potential application in future nanowire spin-based devices. Here, we report a supercritical fluid method for producing single crystalline Mn-doped Ge nanowires with a Mn-doping concentration of between 0.5-1.0 atomic % that display ferromagnetism above 300 K and a superior performance with respect to the hole mobility of around 340 cm(2)/Vs, demonstrating the potential of using these nanowires as building blocks for electronic devices.

  13. An Image-Based Modeling Experience about Social Facilities, Built during the Fascist Period in Middle Italy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rossi, D.

    2011-09-01

    The main focus of this article is to explain a teaching activity. This experience follows a research aimed to testing innovative systems for formal and digital analysis of architectural building. In particular, the field of investigation is the analytical drawing. An analytical draw allows to develope an interpretative and similar models of reality; these models are built using photomodeling techniques and are designed to re-write modern and contemporary architecture. The typology of the buildings surveyed belong to a cultural period, called Modern Movement, historically placed between the two world wars. The Modern Movement aimed to renew existing architectural principle and to a functional redefinition of the same one. In Italy these principles arrived during the Fascist period. Heritage made up of public social buildings (case del Balilla, G.I.L., recreation center...) built during the fascist period in middle Italy is remarkable for quantity and in many cases for architectural quality. This kind of buildings are composed using pure shapes: large cube (gyms) alternate with long rectangular block containing offices creates compositions made of big volumes and high towers. These features are perfectly suited to the needs of a surveying process by photomodeling where the role of photography is central and where there is the need to identify certain and easily distinguishable points on all picture, leaning on the edges of the volume or lininig on the texture discontinuity. The goal is the documentation to preserve and to develop buildings and urban complexes of modern architecture, directed to encourage an artistic preservation.

  14. Effects of Cocos Ridge Collision on the Western Caribbean: Is there a Panama Block?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kobayashi, D.; La Femina, P. C.; Geirsson, H.; Chichaco, E.; Abrego M, A. A.; Fisher, D. M.; Camacho, E. I.

    2011-12-01

    It has been recognized that the subduction and collision of the Cocos Ridge, a 2 km high aseismic ridge standing on >20 km thick oceanic crust of the Cocos plate, drives upper plate deformation in southern Central America. Recent studies of Global Positioning System (GPS) derived horizontal velocities relative to the Caribbean Plate showed a radial pattern centered on the Cocos Ridge axis where Cocos-Caribbean convergence is orthogonal, and margin-parallel velocities to the northwest. Models of the full three-dimensional GPS velocity field and earthquake slip vectors demonstrate low mechanical coupling along the Middle America subduction zone in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and a broad zone of high coupling beneath the Osa Peninsula, where the Cocos Ridge intersects the margin. These results suggest that Cocos Ridge collision may be the main driver for trench-parallel motion of the fore arc to the northwest and for uplift and shortening of the outer fore arc in southern Central America, whereby thickened and hence buoyant Cocos Ridge crust acts as an indenter causing the tectonic escape of the fore arc. These studies, however, were not able to constrain well the pattern of surface deformation east-southeast of the ridge axis due to a lack of GPS stations, and Cocos Ridge collision may be responsible for the kinematics and deformation of the proposed Panama block. Recent reinforcement of the GPS network in southeastern Costa Rica and Panama has increased the spatial and temporal resolution of the network and made it possible to further investigate surface deformation of southern Central America and the Panama block. We present a new regional surface velocity field for Central America from geodetic GPS data collected at 11 recently-installed and 178 existing episodic, semi-continuous, and continuous GPS sites in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. We investigate the effects of Cocos Ridge collision on the Panama block through kinematic block modeling. Published earthquake relocation and geologic data are used to define block boundaries and fault geometries. We invert the three-dimensional GPS velocity vectors and earthquake slip vectors to estimate the magnitude and spatial distribution of interplate mechanical coupling on active plate and block boundaries around the Panama block; the Middle America Trench - South Panama Deformed Belt, the Central Costa Rican Deformed Belt, and the North Panama Deformed Belt in particular, and the rates of relative plate motion between the Panama block and the adjacent Cocos, Nazca, and Caribbean plates. This study tests whether the Panama block responds to the ridge collision as a rigid tectonic block or as a deforming zone consisting of multiple blocks.

  15. Blocks as a Tool for Learning: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hewitt, Karen

    2001-01-01

    Examines the central historical and contemporary role of blocks and construction toys in early childhood education. Describes how commercially produced blocks were conceptualized as a surface for displaying symbols, as pure form, or as a way to transmit a cultural heritage of architectural styles. Discusses how blocks were used in early…

  16. The Crustal and Mantle Velocity Structure in Central Asia from 3D Travel Time Tomography

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-09-01

    the Turan plate, and the Tarim block. This geologically and tectonically complicated area is also one of the most seismically active regions in the...Asia features large blocks such as the Indian plate, the Afghan block, the Turan plate, and the Tarim block. This geologically and tectonically

  17. 4. Historic American Buildings Survey Nathaniel R. Ewan, Photographer January ...

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

    4. Historic American Buildings Survey Nathaniel R. Ewan, Photographer January 6, 1939 INTERIOR - END CARRIAGE 'BLOCK AND DOGS' - McMurtry's Saw Mill, Hardscrabble Road, Basking Ridge, Somerset County, NJ

  18. Historic American Buildings Survey PHOTOCOPY OF MEASURED DRAWING BY DIETER ...

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

    Historic American Buildings Survey PHOTOCOPY OF MEASURED DRAWING BY DIETER SENGLER, 1964 CROSS SECTION AND ORIGINAL JACKSON BOULEVARD ELEVATION - Monadnock Block, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Cook County, IL

  19. Modular Assembly of Hierarchically Structured Polymers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leophairatana, Porakrit

    The synthesis of macromolecules with complex yet highly controlled molecular architectures has attracted significant attention in the past few decades due to the growing demand for specialty polymers that possess novel properties. Despite recent efforts, current synthetic routes lack the ability to control several important architectural variables while maintaining low polydispersity index. This dissertation explores a new synthetic scheme for the modular assembly of hierarchically structured polymers (MAHP) that allows virtually any complex polymer to be assembled from a few basic molecular building blocks using a single common coupling chemistry. Complex polymer structures can be assembled from a molecular toolkit consisting of (1) copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), (2) linear heterobifunctional macromonomers, (3) a branching heterotrifunctional molecule, (4) a protection/deprotection strategy, (5) "click" functional solid substrates, and (6) functional and responsive polymers. This work addresses the different challenges that emerged during the development of this synthetic scheme, and presents strategies to overcome those challenges. Chapter 3 investigates the alkyne-alkyne (i.e. Glaser) coupling side reactions associated with the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) synthesis of alkyne-functional macromonomers, as well as with the CuAAC reaction of alkyne functional building blocks. In typical ATRP synthesis of unprotected alkyne functional polymers, Glaser coupling reactions can significantly compromise the polymer functionality and undermine the success of subsequent click reactions in which the polymers are used. Two strategies are reported that effectively eliminate these coupling reactions: (1) maintaining low temperature post-ATRP upon exposure to air, followed by immediate removal of copper catalyst; and (2) adding excess reducing agents post-ATRP, which prevents the oxidation of Cu(I) catalyst required by the Glaser coupling mechanism. Post-ATRP Glaser coupling was also influenced by the ATRP synthesis ligand used. The order of ligand activity for catalyzing Glaser coupling was: linear bidentate > tridentate > tetradentate. Glaser coupling can also occur for alkynes held under CuAAC reaction conditions but again can be eliminated by adding appropriate reducing agents. With the strategy presented in Chapter 3, alkyne-terminated polymers of high-functionality were produced without the need for alkyne protecting groups. These "click" functional building blocks were employed to investigate the overall efficiency of the CuAAC "click" coupling reactions between alkyne- and azide-terminated macromonomers as discussed in Chapter 4. Quantitative convolution modeling of the entire molecular weight distribution post-CuAAC indicates a CuAAC efficiency of about 94% and an azide substitution efficiency of >99%. However, incomplete functionality of the azide-terminated macromonomer (˜92%) proves to be the largest factor compromising the overall efficacy of the coupling reactions, and is attributed primarily to the loss of bromine functionality during synthesis by ATRP. To address this issue, we discuss in Chapter 6 the development of a new set of molecular building blocks consisting of alkyne functional substrates and heterobifunctional degradable linkers that allow the growth and subsequent detachment of polymers from the solid substrate. Complex polymeric structures are created by progressive cycles of CuAAC and deprotection reactions that add building blocks to the growing polymer chain ends. We demonstrate that these building blocks were completely stable under both CuAAC and deprotection reaction conditions. Since the desired product is covalently bound to the solid surface, the unreacted monomers/macromonomers and by-products (i.e. non-functional building blocks) can be easily separated from the product via removal of the polymer-tethered solid substrate in one step. Chapter 5 discusses how MAHP was employed to prepare a variety of hierarchically structured polymers and copolymers with controlled branching architectures. alpha-azido,o-TIPS-alkyne-heterobifunctional and heterotrifunctional building blocks were first prepared via ATRP and organic synthesis. Preliminary NMR and SEC studies demonstrated that these building blocks all satisfied the criteria necessary for MAHP: (1) the TIPS protecting group is stable during ATRP and CuAAC, (2) the "click" functionality is completely regenerated during the deprotection step, and (3) the CuAAC reaction of branching macromonomers is quantitative (>94%). To demonstrate the concept, poly(n-butyl acrylate)-b-dipolystyrene- b-dipoly(tert-butyl acrylate) penta-block branching copolymacromer was prepared via MAHP and quantitively characterized with SEC and NMR. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

  20. Development of volume deposition on cast iron by additive manufacturing

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

    Sridharan, Niyanth; Dehoff, Ryan R.; Jordan, Brian H.

    2016-11-10

    ORNL partnered with Cummins to demonstrate the feasibility of using additive manufacturing techniques to help develop repair techniques for refurbished cast iron engine blocks. Cummins is interested in the refurbished engine business due to the increased cost savings and reduced emissions. It is expected that by refurbishing engines could help reduce the green house gas emissions by as much as 85%. Though such repair techniques are possible in principle there has been no major industry in the automotive sector that has deployed this technology. Therefore phase-1 would seek to evaluate the feasibility of using the laser directed energy deposition techniquemore » to repair cast iron engine blocks. The objective of the phase-1 would be to explore various strategies and understand the challenges involved. During phase-1 deposits were made using Inconel-718, Nickel, Nr-Cr-B braze filler. Inconel 718 builds showed significant cracking in the heat-affected zone in the cast iron. Nickel was used to reduce the cracking in the cast iron substrate, however the Ni builds did not wet the substrate sufficiently resulting in poor dimensional tolerance. In order to increase wetting the Ni was alloyed with the Ni-Cr-B braze to decrease the surface tension of Ni. This however resulted in significant cracks in the build due to shrinkage stresses associated with multiple thermal cycling. Hence to reduce the residual stresses in the builds the DMD-103D equipment was modified and the cast iron block was pre heated using cartridge heaters. Inconel-718 alloyed with Ni was deposited on the engine block. The pre-heated deposits showed a reduced susceptibility to cracking. If awarded the phase-2 of the project would aim to develop process parameters to achieve a crack free deposit engine block.« less

  1. Chilled water study EEAP program for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Book 1. Final Submission

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

    NONE

    1996-02-01

    The Energy Engineering Analysis Program (EEAP) Study for Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) was to provide a thorough examination of the central chilled water plants on site. WRAMC is comprised of seventy-one (71) buildings located on a 113-acre site in Washington, D.C. There are two (2) central chilled water plants (Buildings 48 and 49) each with a primary chilled water distribution system. In addition to the two (2) central plants, three (3) buildings utilize their own independent chillers. Two (2) of the independent chillers (Buildings 7 and T-2), one of which is inoperative (T-2), are smaller air-cooled units, whilemore » the third (Building 54) has a 1,900-ton chilled water plant comprised of three (3) centrifugal chillers. Of the two (2) central chilled water plants, Building 48 houses six (6) chillers totalling 7,080 tons of cooling and Building 49 houses one (1) chiller with 660 tons of cooling. The total chiller cooling capacity available on site is 9,840 tons.« less

  2. Where are lifesaving automated external defibrillators located and how hard is it to find them in a large urban city?

    PubMed Central

    Leung, Alison C.; Asch, David A.; Lozada, Kirkland N.; Saynisch, Olivia B.; Asch, Jeremy M.; Becker, Nora; Griffis, Heather M.; Shofer, Frances; Hershey, John C.; Hill, Shawndra; Branas, Charles C.; Nichol, Graham; Becker, Lance B.; Merchant, Raina M.

    2013-01-01

    Objectives Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are lifesaving, but little is known about where they are located or how to find them. We sought to locate AEDs in high employment areas of Philadelphia and characterize the process of door-to-door surveying to identify these devices. Methods Block groups representing approximately the top 3rd of total primary jobs in Philadelphia were identified using the US Census Local Employment Dynamics database. All buildings within these block groups were surveyed during regular working hours over six weeks during July-August 2011. Buildings were characterized as publically accessible or inaccessible. For accessible buildings, address, location type, and AED presence were collected. Total devices, location description and prior use were gathered in locations with AEDs. Process information (total people contacted, survey duration) was collected for all buildings. Results Of 1420 buildings in 17 block groups, 949 (67%) were accessible, but most 834 (88%) did not have an AED. 283 AEDs were reported in 115 buildings (12%). 81 (29%) were validated through visualization and 68 (24%) through photo because employees often refused access. In buildings with AEDs, several employees (median 2; range 1–8) were contacted to ascertain information, which required several minutes (mean 4; range 1–55). Conclusions Door-to-door surveying is a feasible, but time-consuming method for identifying AEDs in high employment areas. Few buildings reported having AEDs and few permitted visualization, which raises concerns about AED access. To improve cardiac arrest outcomes, efforts are needed to improve the availability of AEDs, awareness of their location and access to them. PMID:23357702

  3. Where are lifesaving automated external defibrillators located and how hard is it to find them in a large urban city?

    PubMed

    Leung, Alison C; Asch, David A; Lozada, Kirkland N; Saynisch, Olivia B; Asch, Jeremy M; Becker, Nora; Griffis, Heather M; Shofer, Frances; Hershey, John C; Hill, Shawndra; Branas, Charles C; Nichol, Graham; Becker, Lance B; Merchant, Raina M

    2013-07-01

    Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are lifesaving, but little is known about where they are located or how to find them. We sought to locate AEDs in high employment areas of Philadelphia and characterize the process of door-to-door surveying to identify these devices. Block groups representing approximately the top 3rd of total primary jobs in Philadelphia were identified using the US Census Local Employment Dynamics database. All buildings within these block groups were surveyed during regular working hours over six weeks during July-August 2011. Buildings were characterized as publically accessible or inaccessible. For accessible buildings, address, location type, and AED presence were collected. Total devices, location description and prior use were gathered in locations with AEDs. Process information (total people contacted, survey duration) was collected for all buildings. Of 1420 buildings in 17 block groups, 949 (67%) were accessible, but most 834 (88%) did not have an AED. 283 AEDs were reported in 115 buildings (12%). 81 (29%) were validated through visualization and 68 (24%) through photo because employees often refused access. In buildings with AEDs, several employees (median 2; range 1-8) were contacted to ascertain information, which required several minutes (mean 4; range 1-55). Door-to-door surveying is a feasible, but time-consuming method for identifying AEDs in high employment areas. Few buildings reported having AEDs and few permitted visualization, which raises concerns about AED access. To improve cardiac arrest outcomes, efforts are needed to improve the availability of AEDs, awareness of their location and access to them. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Three-dimensional structure of the crust in the central Tien Shan and implications for the geodynamic process of continental mountain building

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Omuralieva, A.; Nakajima, J.; Hasegawa, A.

    2006-12-01

    Applying a tomographic method to arrival-time data from shallow local earthquakes registered by Kyrgyz seismic NETwork (KNET), the three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure of the crust beneath Central Tien Shan has been studied. Kyrgyzstan occupies western and central parts of the Tien-Shan and northern Pamir which are prominent consequences of India-Asia Collision surrounded by relatively stable Kazakh shield, Tarim Basin and Turan plate. Accurate and precise tomographic imaging helps us to better understand dynamics of the mountain building, interaction of these tectonic blocks associated with simultaneous mountain building and crustal deformation processes in this complicated region. This study is the first attempt to investigate crustal structure of the Central Tien Shan by means of relatively new data set. Study area is enclosed by 42.00-43.50N and 73.50-76.50E owing to dense station distribution and ray coverage. Arrival time data from ~1500 local earthquakes recorded by a broadband network KNET consisting of 10 stations located in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan during 1995-2005 have been used. We selected earthquakes as uniform as possible in the study area. Most of the earthquakes are located in a depth range of 10 and 20 km. The tomography method by Zhao et al. (JGR, 1992) has been used in this study. We set all layers of grid-net up to Moho discontinuity in the upper and lower crust with spacing 5 km and 10 km depths, respectively. The spacing between grid nodes is 0.3 degree (about 30 km) in horizontal direction. The total number of grid nodes is ~400. The 3-D structure of the upper crust reveals thick sediments within each of the major depression in the region bounded by high-V zone that are believed to be basement. The study area is characterized by an alternation of high-V and low-V layers beneath ranges and basins. The tomographic results exhibit considerable amount of crustal heterogeneities, which confirms the tectonic complexities of the study area. Earthquakes are located either in or on the edge (transition zone) of low-V layers in the southern and northern foot-hills of Tien Shan, respectively. Location of the faults is consistent with transition basin-range zones.

  5. Properties of Clay for Ceramics with Rock Waste for Production Structural Block by Pressing and Firing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cerqueira, N. A.; Choe, D.; Alexandre, J.; Azevedo, A. R. G.; Xavier, C. G.; Souza, V. B.

    Building work requires optimization of materials and labor, so that the execution of its subsystems contribute to the quality, reduce costs, decrease waste in buildings, productivity, practicality and especially agility. Thus, the fitting blocks can contribute in this direction. This work therefore consists of physical characterization (determination of fitness levels, grain size and bulk density), chemical (EDX) and thermal (DTA and TGA) sample clay Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ and waste rock ornamental Cachoeiro de Itapemirim-ES, to verify potential for producing red ceramic blocks, pressed and burned, male and female type. The output of block will be with different pe rcentages of incorporation of residues of ornamental rocks (0%, 5% and 10%). With the results obtained, it was found that the raw materials under consideration has the potential for application in the production of ceramic articles.

  6. Electric-field-induced assembly and propulsion of chiral colloidal clusters.

    PubMed

    Ma, Fuduo; Wang, Sijia; Wu, David T; Wu, Ning

    2015-05-19

    Chiral molecules with opposite handedness exhibit distinct physical, chemical, or biological properties. They pose challenges as well as opportunities in understanding the phase behavior of soft matter, designing enantioselective catalysts, and manufacturing single-handed pharmaceuticals. Microscopic particles, arranged in a chiral configuration, could also exhibit unusual optical, electric, or magnetic responses. Here we report a simple method to assemble achiral building blocks, i.e., the asymmetric colloidal dimers, into a family of chiral clusters. Under alternating current electric fields, two to four lying dimers associate closely with a central standing dimer and form both right- and left-handed clusters on a conducting substrate. The cluster configuration is primarily determined by the induced dipolar interactions between constituent dimers. Our theoretical model reveals that in-plane dipolar repulsion between petals in the cluster favors the achiral configuration, whereas out-of-plane attraction between the central dimer and surrounding petals favors a chiral arrangement. It is the competition between these two interactions that dictates the final configuration. The theoretical chirality phase diagram is found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. We further demonstrate that the broken symmetry in chiral clusters induces an unbalanced electrohydrodynamic flow surrounding them. As a result, they rotate in opposite directions according to their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms revealed here can be potentially applied to other types of asymmetric particles. Such kinds of chiral colloids will be useful for fabricating metamaterials, making model systems for both chiral molecules and active matter, or building propellers for microscale transport.

  7. Current deformation in Central Afar and triple junction kinematics deduced from GPS and InSAR measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doubre, Cécile; Déprez, Aline; Masson, Frédéric; Socquet, Anne; Lewi, Elias; Grandin, Raphaël; Nercessian, Alexandre; Ulrich, Patrice; De Chabalier, Jean-Bernard; Saad, Ibrahim; Abayazid, Ahmadine; Peltzer, Gilles; Delorme, Arthur; Calais, Eric; Wright, Tim

    2017-02-01

    Kinematics of divergent boundaries and Rift-Rift-Rift junctions are classically studied using long-term geodetic observations. Since significant magma-related displacements are expected, short-term deformation provides important constraints on the crustal mechanisms involved both in active rifting and in transfer of extensional deformation between spreading axes. Using InSAR and GPS data, we analyse the surface deformation in the whole Central Afar region in detail, focusing on both the extensional deformation across the Quaternary magmato-tectonic rift segments, and on the zones of deformation transfer between active segments and spreading axes. The largest deformation occurs across the two recently activated Asal-Ghoubbet (AG) and Manda Hararo-Dabbahu (MH-D) magmato-tectonic segments with very high strain rates, whereas the other Quaternary active segments do not concentrate any large strain, suggesting that these rifts are either sealed during interdyking periods or not mature enough to remain a plate boundary. Outside of these segments, the GPS horizontal velocity field shows a regular gradient following a clockwise rotation of the displacements from the Southeast to the East of Afar, with respect to Nubia. Very few shallow creeping structures can be identified as well in the InSAR data. However, using these data together with the strain rate tensor and the rotations rates deduced from GPS baselines, the present-day strain field over Central Afar is consistent with the main tectonic structures, and therefore with the long-term deformation. We investigate the current kinematics of the triple junction included in our GPS data set by building simple block models. The deformation in Central Afar can be described by adding a central microblock evolving separately from the three surrounding plates. In this model, the northern block boundary corresponds to a deep EW-trending trans-tensional dislocation, locked from the surface to 10-13 km and joining at depth the active spreading axes of the Red Sea and the Aden Ridge, from AG to MH-D rift segments. Over the long-term, this plate configuration could explain the presence of the en-échelon magmatic basins and subrifts. However, the transient behaviour of the spreading axes implies that the deformation in Central Afar evolves depending on the availability of magma supply within the well-established segments.

  8. A high resolution agent-based model to support walk-bicycle infrastructure investment decisions: A case study with New York City

    DOE PAGES

    Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Park, Byung H.; Morton, April M.; ...

    2017-11-24

    Active transportation modes--walk and bicycle--are central for low carbon transport, healthy living, and complete streets initiative. Building a community with amenable walk and bicycle facilities asks for smart planning and investments. It is critical to investigate the impact of infrastructure building or expansion on the overall walk and bicycle mode usage prior to making investment choices utilizing public tax money. This research developed an agent-based model to support investment decisions that allows to assess the impact of changes in walk-bike infrastructures at a high spatial resolution (e.g., block group level). The agent-based model (ABM) utilizes data from a synthetic populationmore » simulator generating agents with corresponding socio-demographic characteristics, and integrates facility attributes regarding walking and bicycling (e.g., sidewalk width, bike lane length) into the mode choice decision making process. Moreover, the ABM accounts for the effect of social interactions among agents who live and work at the same geographic locations. Finally, GIS-based maps are developed at block group resolution that allows exploring the effect of walk-bike infrastructure related investments. The results from New York City case study indicate that infrastructure investments such as widening sidewalk and increasing bike lane network can positively influence the active transportation mode choices. In addition, the level of impact varies with geographic locations--different boroughs of New York City will have different impacts. Lastly, social promotions resulting in higher social interaction among agents can reinforce the impacts of infrastructure changes.« less

  9. A high resolution agent-based model to support walk-bicycle infrastructure investment decisions: A case study with New York City

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

    Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Park, Byung H.; Morton, April M.

    Active transportation modes--walk and bicycle--are central for low carbon transport, healthy living, and complete streets initiative. Building a community with amenable walk and bicycle facilities asks for smart planning and investments. It is critical to investigate the impact of infrastructure building or expansion on the overall walk and bicycle mode usage prior to making investment choices utilizing public tax money. This research developed an agent-based model to support investment decisions that allows to assess the impact of changes in walk-bike infrastructures at a high spatial resolution (e.g., block group level). The agent-based model (ABM) utilizes data from a synthetic populationmore » simulator generating agents with corresponding socio-demographic characteristics, and integrates facility attributes regarding walking and bicycling (e.g., sidewalk width, bike lane length) into the mode choice decision making process. Moreover, the ABM accounts for the effect of social interactions among agents who live and work at the same geographic locations. Finally, GIS-based maps are developed at block group resolution that allows exploring the effect of walk-bike infrastructure related investments. The results from New York City case study indicate that infrastructure investments such as widening sidewalk and increasing bike lane network can positively influence the active transportation mode choices. In addition, the level of impact varies with geographic locations--different boroughs of New York City will have different impacts. Lastly, social promotions resulting in higher social interaction among agents can reinforce the impacts of infrastructure changes.« less

  10. Ab initio determination of geometries and vibrational characteristics of building blocks of organic super-conductors: TTF and its derivatives.

    PubMed

    Rani, P; Yadav, R A

    2012-12-01

    Molecular behavior of the building block {[2-(1,3-dithiole-2-ylidene)-1,3-dithiole] ≡ tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)} of organic superconductors have been investigated along with its three derivatives, namely, {[2-(1,3-dioxole-2-ylidene)-1,3-dioxole] ≡ tetraoxafulvalene (TOF)}; [2,2]-bi -[[1,3] oxathiolylidene] ≡ Der I and 2-(3H-Furan-2-ylidene)-[1,3] oxathiole ≡ Der II. The properties of the molecules such as molecular geometries, frontier MOs and vibrational spectra have been investigated by using DFT method at the B3LYP level employing 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The geometrical parameters and atomic charges on various atomic sites of the TTF, TOF, Ders I and II suggest extended conjugation in these systems. The present calculations lead to the reassignments for of some of the fundamentals and new interpretations for some of the observed IR and Raman frequencies. One of the two modes involved in the Fermi resonance giving rise to the doublet 1555 and 1564 cm(-1) needed to be revised and another doublet 3083 and 3108 cm(-1) could be interpreted as a Fermi resonance doublet. Out of the two ν(C = C) modes under the a(1) species, the lower frequency mode is assigned to the ν(C = C) of the ring and the higher one to the ν(C = C) of the central C = C bond contrary to the assignment reported in literature. The conducting properties of these molecules depend mainly on this mode. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Development, features and application of DIET ASSESS & PLAN (DAP) software in supporting public health nutrition research in Central Eastern European Countries (CEEC).

    PubMed

    Gurinović, Mirjana; Milešević, Jelena; Kadvan, Agnes; Nikolić, Marina; Zeković, Milica; Djekić-Ivanković, Marija; Dupouy, Eleonora; Finglas, Paul; Glibetić, Maria

    2018-01-01

    In order to meet growing public health nutrition challenges in Central Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and Balkan countries, development of a Research Infrastructure (RI) and availability of an effective nutrition surveillance system are a prerequisite. The building block of this RI is an innovative tool called DIET ASSESS & PLAN (DAP), which is a platform for standardized and harmonized food consumption collection, comprehensive dietary intake assessment and nutrition planning. Its unique structure enables application of national food composition databases (FCDBs) from the European food composition exchange platform (28 national FCDBs) developed by EuroFIR (http://www.eurofir.org/) and in addition allows communication with other tools. DAP is used for daily menu and/or long-term diet planning in diverse public sector settings, foods design/reformulation, food labelling, nutrient intake assessment and calculation of the dietary diversity indicator, Minimum Dietary Diversity-Women (MDD-W). As a validated tool in different national and international projects, DAP represents an important RI in public health nutrition epidemiology in the CEEC region. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Microhabitat and biology of Sphaerium striatinum in a central New York stream

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dittman, Dawn E.; Johnson, James H.; Nack, Christopher C.

    2018-01-01

    In many lotic systems, drastic declines in freshwater bivalve populations, including fingernail clams (Sphaeriidae), have created concerns about biodiversity and future ecosystem services. We examined the local occurrence of the historically common fingernail clam, Sphaerium striatinum, in a central New York stream. We sampled the density of sphaeriids and measured the associated habitat variables (substrate, depth, water flow) to test within-stream multivariate benthic microhabitat association. Size distribution, density, and diel feeding periodicity were measured as focal aspects of fingernail clam biology and ecology. S. striatinum tended to be found in microhabitats that had harder substrates and faster flow. The Labrador Creek fingernail clam local population had positive indicators (size distribution, density). There was significant diel periodicity in feeding behavior. The clams fed most actively during the 0400–0800 h periods. This kind of behavioral periodicity can indicate a significant ecological interaction between predators and bivalve prey. Increased understanding of the behavioral ecology of small native freshwater bivalves in an unimpacted headwater stream is a fundamental building block for development of overall ecological conservation goals for freshwater bivalves and their lotic habitats.

  13. Cortical sources of ERP in prosaccade and antisaccade eye movements using realistic source models

    PubMed Central

    Richards, John E.

    2013-01-01

    The cortical sources of event-related-potentials (ERP) using realistic source models were examined in a prosaccade and antisaccade procedure. College-age participants were presented with a preparatory interval and a target that indicated the direction of the eye movement that was to be made. In some blocks a cue was given in the peripheral location where the target was to be presented and in other blocks no cue was given. In Experiment 1 the prosaccade and antisaccade trials were presented randomly within a block; in Experiment 2 procedures were compared in which either prosaccade and antisaccade trials were mixed in the same block, or trials were presented in separate blocks with only one type of eye movement. There was a central negative slow wave occurring prior to the target, a slow positive wave over the parietal scalp prior to the saccade, and a parietal spike potential immediately prior to saccade onset. Cortical source analysis of these ERP components showed a common set of sources in the ventral anterior cingulate and orbital frontal gyrus for the presaccadic positive slow wave and the spike potential. In Experiment 2 the same cued- and non-cued blocks were used, but prosaccade and antisaccade trials were presented in separate blocks. This resulted in a smaller difference in reaction time between prosaccade and antisaccade trials. Unlike the first experiment, the central negative slow wave was larger on antisaccade than on prosaccade trials, and this effect on the ERP component had its cortical source primarily in the parietal and mid-central cortical areas contralateral to the direction of the eye movement. These results suggest that blocked prosaccade and antisaccade trials results in preparatory or set effects that decreases reaction time, eliminates some cueing effects, and is based on contralateral parietal-central brain areas. PMID:23847476

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

    Lockwood, Jr., Neil; McLellan, Jason G; Crossley, Brian

    The Resident Fish Stock Status above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams Project, commonly known as the Joint Stock Assessment Project (JSAP) is a management tool using ecosystem principles to manage artificial fish assemblages and native fish in altered environments existing in the Columbia River System above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams (blocked area). The three-phase approach of this project will enhance the fisheries resources of the blocked area by identifying data gaps, filling data gaps with research, and implementing management recommendations based on research results. The Blocked Area fisheries information housed in a central location will allow managersmore » to view the entire system while making decisions, rather than basing management decisions on isolated portions of the system. The JSAP (NWPPC program measure 10.8B.26) is designed and guided jointly by fisheries managers in the blocked area and the Columbia Basin blocked area management plan (1998). The initial year of the project (1997) identified the need for a central data storage and analysis facility, coordination with the StreamNet project, compilation of blocked area fisheries information, and a report on the ecological condition of the Spokane River System. These needs were addressed in 1998 by acquiring a central location with a data storage and analysis system, coordinating a pilot project with StreamNet, compiling fisheries distribution data throughout the blocked area, identifying data gaps based on compiled information, and researching the ecological condition of the Spokane River. In order to ensure that any additional information collected throughout the life of this project will be easily stored and manipulated by the central storage facility, it was necessary to develop standardized methodologies between the JSAP fisheries managers. The use of common collection and analytical tools is essential to the process of streamlining joint management decisions. In 1999 and 2000 the project began to address some of the identified data gaps, throughout the blocked area, with a variety of newly developed sampling projects, as well as, continuing with ongoing data collection of established projects.« less

  15. Virasoro conformal blocks and thermality from classical background fields

    DOE PAGES

    Fitzpatrick, A. Liam; Kaplan, Jared; Walters, Matthew T.

    2015-11-30

    We show that in 2d CFTs at large central charge, the coupling of the stress tensor to heavy operators can be re-absorbed by placing the CFT in a non-trivial background metric. This leads to a more precise computation of the Virasoro conformal blocks between heavy and light operators, which are shown to be equivalent to global conformal blocks evaluated in the new background. We also generalize to the case where the operators carry U(1) charges. The refined Virasoro blocks can be used as the seed for a new Virasoro block recursion relation expanded in the heavy-light limit. Furthermore, we commentmore » on the implications of our results for the universality of black hole thermality in AdS 3 , or equivalently, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis for CFT 2 at large central charge.« less

  16. Evaluation of Sunshine Duration around a Building in an Urban Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, J. E.; Kim, J.

    2017-12-01

    In this study, sunshine duration around a building in a building-congested district in Busan, Korea was analyzed using a numerical model. This model considers sunshine duration blocking caused by topography and buildings and it is properly applicable to evaluation of sunshine duration environment in urban areas. The 2 km Í 2 km area where the building with 45-m height was located at the center was selected as a target area. We selected the target period from December 21 to December 23, 2015, considering the winter solstice (December 22, 2015) when it is expected to have the largest effect of sunshine blocking due to buildings. We validated the calculated solar altitude and azimuth angles against those provided by Korea astronomy and space science institute (KASI) and the calculated results gave very good agreement with those provided by KASI. Topography and buildings used as the input data of the model were constructed using a geographic information system (GIS) data. In order to analyze, in detail, the change in sunshine duration caused by the construction of the building, the sunshine duration on the roof and walls (eastern, western, southern, northern side) were investigated before and after the construction.

  17. Synthetic fermentation of bioactive non-ribosomal peptides without organisms, enzymes or reagents

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Yi-Lin; Bode, Jeffrey W.

    2014-10-01

    Microbial fermentation can rapidly provide potent compounds that can be easily screened for biological activity, and the active components can be isolated. Its success in drug discovery has inspired extensive efforts to modulate and control the products. In this Article, we document a ‘synthetic fermentation’ of bioactive, unnatural peptides ‘grown’ from small building blocks in water using amide-forming ligations. No organisms, enzymes or reagents are needed. The sequences, structures and compositions of the products can be modulated by adjusting the building blocks and conditions. No specialized knowledge of organic chemistry or handling of toxic material is required to produce complex organic molecules. The ‘fermentations’ can be conducted in arrays and screened for biological activity without isolation or workup. As a proof-of-concept, about 6,000 unnatural peptides were produced from just 23 building blocks, from which a hepatitis C virus NS3/4A protease inhibitor with a half-maximum inhibitory concentration of 1.0 μM was identified and characterized.

  18. A triaxial supramolecular weave

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lewandowska, Urszula; Zajaczkowski, Wojciech; Corra, Stefano; Tanabe, Junki; Borrmann, Ruediger; Benetti, Edmondo M.; Stappert, Sebastian; Watanabe, Kohei; Ochs, Nellie A. K.; Schaeublin, Robin; Li, Chen; Yashima, Eiji; Pisula, Wojciech; Müllen, Klaus; Wennemers, Helma

    2017-11-01

    Despite recent advances in the synthesis of increasingly complex topologies at the molecular level, nano- and microscopic weaves have remained difficult to achieve. Only a few diaxial molecular weaves exist—these were achieved by templation with metals. Here, we present an extended triaxial supramolecular weave that consists of self-assembled organic threads. Each thread is formed by the self-assembly of a building block comprising a rigid oligoproline segment with two perylene-monoimide chromophores spaced at 18 Å. Upon π stacking of the chromophores, threads form that feature alternating up- and down-facing voids at regular distances. These voids accommodate incoming building blocks and establish crossing points through CH-π interactions on further assembly of the threads into a triaxial woven superstructure. The resulting micrometre-scale supramolecular weave proved to be more robust than non-woven self-assemblies of the same building block. The uniform hexagonal pores of the interwoven network were able to host iridium nanoparticles, which may be of interest for practical applications.

  19. Morphology-Controlled Synthesis and Metalation of Porphyrin Nanoparticles with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

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

    Wang, Jiefei; Zhong, Yong; Wang, Liang

    The design and engineering of the size, shape, and chemistry of photoactive building blocks enables the fabrication of functional nanoparticles for applications in light harvesting, photocatalytic synthesis, water splitting, phototherapy, and photodegradation. Here, we report the synthesis of such nanoparticles through a surfactant-assisted interfacial self-assembly process using optically active porphyrin as a functional building block. The self-assembly process relies on specific interactions such as π–π stacking and metalation (metal atoms and ligand coordination) between individual porphyrin building blocks. Depending on the kinetic conditions and type of surfactants, resulting structures exhibit well-defined one- to three-dimensional morphologies such as nanowires, nanooctahedra, andmore » hierarchically ordered internal architectures. Specifically, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that these nanoparticles exhibit stable single-crystalline and nanoporous frameworks. In conclusion, due to the hierarchical ordering of the porphyrins, the nanoparticles exhibit collective optical properties resulted from coupling of molecular porphyrins and photocatalytic activities such as photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutants and hydrogen production.« less

  20. Plasmid Vectors and Molecular Building Blocks for the Development of Genetic Manipulation Tools for Trypanosoma cruzi

    PubMed Central

    Bouvier, León A.; Cámara, María de los Milagros; Canepa, Gaspar E.; Miranda, Mariana R.; Pereira, Claudio A.

    2013-01-01

    The post genomic era revealed the need for developing better performing, easier to use and more sophisticated genetic manipulation tools for the study of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. In this work a series of plasmids that allow genetic manipulation of this protozoan parasite were developed. First of all we focused on useful tools to establish selection strategies for different strains and which can be employed as expression vectors. On the other hand molecular building blocks in the form of diverse selectable markers, modifiable fluorescent protein and epitope-tag coding sequences were produced. Both types of modules were harboured in backbone molecules conceived to offer multiple construction and sub-cloning strategies. These can be used to confer new properties to already available genetic manipulation tools or as starting points for whole novel designs. The performance of each plasmid and building block was determined independently. For illustration purposes, some simple direct practical applications were conducted. PMID:24205392

  1. Robust excitons inhabit soft supramolecular nanotubes

    PubMed Central

    Eisele, Dörthe M.; Arias, Dylan H.; Fu, Xiaofeng; Bloemsma, Erik A.; Steiner, Colby P.; Jensen, Russell A.; Rebentrost, Patrick; Eisele, Holger; Tokmakoff, Andrei; Lloyd, Seth; Nelson, Keith A.; Nicastro, Daniela; Knoester, Jasper; Bawendi, Moungi G.

    2014-01-01

    Nature's highly efficient light-harvesting antennae, such as those found in green sulfur bacteria, consist of supramolecular building blocks that self-assemble into a hierarchy of close-packed structures. In an effort to mimic the fundamental processes that govern nature’s efficient systems, it is important to elucidate the role of each level of hierarchy: from molecule, to supramolecular building block, to close-packed building blocks. Here, we study the impact of hierarchical structure. We present a model system that mirrors nature’s complexity: cylinders self-assembled from cyanine-dye molecules. Our work reveals that even though close-packing may alter the cylinders’ soft mesoscopic structure, robust delocalized excitons are retained: Internal order and strong excitation-transfer interactions—prerequisites for efficient energy transport—are both maintained. Our results suggest that the cylindrical geometry strongly favors robust excitons; it presents a rational design that is potentially key to nature’s high efficiency, allowing construction of efficient light-harvesting devices even from soft, supramolecular materials. PMID:25092336

  2. Biomimetic, Strong, Tough, and Self-Healing Composites Using Universal Sealant-Loaded, Porous Building Blocks.

    PubMed

    Hwang, Sung Hoon; Miller, Joseph B; Shahsavari, Rouzbeh

    2017-10-25

    Many natural materials, such as nacre and dentin, exhibit multifunctional mechanical properties via structural interplay between compliant and stiff constituents arranged in a particular architecture. Herein, we present, for the first time, the bottom-up synthesis and design of strong, tough, and self-healing composite using simple but universal spherical building blocks. Our composite system is composed of calcium silicate porous nanoparticles with unprecedented monodispersity over particle size, particle shape, and pore size, which facilitate effective loading and unloading with organic sealants, resulting in 258% and 307% increases in the indentation hardness and elastic modulus of the compacted composite. Furthermore, heating the damaged composite triggers the controlled release of the nanoconfined sealant into the surrounding area, enabling moderate recovery in strength and toughness. This work paves the path towards fabricating a novel class of biomimetic composites using low-cost spherical building blocks, potentially impacting bone-tissue engineering, insulation, refractory and constructions materials, and ceramic matrix composites.

  3. Morphology-Controlled Synthesis and Metalation of Porphyrin Nanoparticles with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

    DOE PAGES

    Wang, Jiefei; Zhong, Yong; Wang, Liang; ...

    2016-09-12

    The design and engineering of the size, shape, and chemistry of photoactive building blocks enables the fabrication of functional nanoparticles for applications in light harvesting, photocatalytic synthesis, water splitting, phototherapy, and photodegradation. Here, we report the synthesis of such nanoparticles through a surfactant-assisted interfacial self-assembly process using optically active porphyrin as a functional building block. The self-assembly process relies on specific interactions such as π–π stacking and metalation (metal atoms and ligand coordination) between individual porphyrin building blocks. Depending on the kinetic conditions and type of surfactants, resulting structures exhibit well-defined one- to three-dimensional morphologies such as nanowires, nanooctahedra, andmore » hierarchically ordered internal architectures. Specifically, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that these nanoparticles exhibit stable single-crystalline and nanoporous frameworks. In conclusion, due to the hierarchical ordering of the porphyrins, the nanoparticles exhibit collective optical properties resulted from coupling of molecular porphyrins and photocatalytic activities such as photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutants and hydrogen production.« less

  4. Templated Assembly of a Functional Ordered Protein Macromolecular Framework from P22 Virus-like Particles.

    PubMed

    McCoy, Kimberly; Uchida, Masaki; Lee, Byeongdu; Douglas, Trevor

    2018-04-24

    Bottom-up construction of mesoscale materials using biologically derived nanoscale building blocks enables engineering of desired physical properties using green production methods. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are exceptional building blocks due to their monodispersed sizes, geometric shapes, production ease, proteinaceous composition, and our ability to independently functionalize the interior and exterior interfaces. Here a VLP, derived from bacteriophage P22, is used as a building block for the fabrication of a protein macromolecular framework (PMF), a tightly linked 3D network of functional protein cages that exhibit long-range order and catalytic activity. Assembly of PMFs was electrostatically templated, using amine-terminated dendrimers, then locked into place with a ditopic cementing protein that binds to P22. Long-range order is preserved on removal of the dendrimer, leaving a framework material composed completely of protein. Encapsulation of β-glucosidase enzymes inside of P22 VLPs results in formation of stable, condensed-phase materials with high local concentration of enzymes generating catalytically active PMFs.

  5. Designed synthesis of double-stage two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Xiong; Addicoat, Matthew; Jin, Enquan; Xu, Hong; Hayashi, Taku; Xu, Fei; Huang, Ning; Irle, Stephan; Jiang, Donglin

    2015-01-01

    Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of crystalline porous polymers in which organic building blocks are covalently and topologically linked to form extended crystalline polygon structures, constituting a new platform for designing π-electronic porous materials. However, COFs are currently synthesised by a few chemical reactions, limiting the access to and exploration of new structures and properties. The development of new reaction systems that avoid such limitations to expand structural diversity is highly desired. Here we report that COFs can be synthesised via a double-stage connection that polymerises various different building blocks into crystalline polygon architectures, leading to the development of a new type of COFs with enhanced structural complexity and diversity. We show that the double-stage approach not only controls the sequence of building blocks but also allows fine engineering of pore size and shape. This strategy is widely applicable to different polymerisation systems to yield hexagonal, tetragonal and rhombus COFs with predesigned pores and π-arrays. PMID:26456081

  6. Engineering cell factories for producing building block chemicals for bio-polymer synthesis.

    PubMed

    Tsuge, Yota; Kawaguchi, Hideo; Sasaki, Kengo; Kondo, Akihiko

    2016-01-21

    Synthetic polymers are widely used in daily life. Due to increasing environmental concerns related to global warming and the depletion of oil reserves, the development of microbial-based fermentation processes for the production of polymer building block chemicals from renewable resources is desirable to replace current petroleum-based methods. To this end, strains that efficiently produce the target chemicals at high yields and productivity are needed. Recent advances in metabolic engineering have enabled the biosynthesis of polymer compounds at high yield and productivities by governing the carbon flux towards the target chemicals. Using these methods, microbial strains have been engineered to produce monomer chemicals for replacing traditional petroleum-derived aliphatic polymers. These developments also raise the possibility of microbial production of aromatic chemicals for synthesizing high-performance polymers with desirable properties, such as ultraviolet absorbance, high thermal resistance, and mechanical strength. In the present review, we summarize recent progress in metabolic engineering approaches to optimize microbial strains for producing building blocks to synthesize aliphatic and high-performance aromatic polymers.

  7. Recurrence of 49-base decamers, nonomers, and octamers within mouse C mu gene of Ig heavy chain and its primordial building block.

    PubMed Central

    Yazaki, A; Ohno, S

    1983-01-01

    Within the published 2,168-base-long mouse C mu gene of Ig heavy chain consisting of four coding and four noncoding segments, 2 base decamers, 8 nonomers, and 39 octamers recurred. Recurring base heptamers (about 100) and hexamers (about 350) were simply too numerous to merit individual identification. In spite of extensive overlaps between these recurring base decamers to hexamers, they occupied nearly the entire length of mouse Ig C mu gene. As with other genes of the beta-sheet-forming beta 2-microglobulin family, the Ig C mu gene (flanking and intervening noncoding sequences included) is not a unique sequence but rather it is degenerate repeats of the 45-base-long primordial building-block sequence uniquely its own. This primordial building block must originally have specified the 15-amino-acid-residue-long primordial arm of beta-sheet-forming loops, the characteristics of the beta 2-microglobulin family of polypeptides. PMID:6403948

  8. Exploring the building blocks of social cognition: spontaneous agency perception and visual perspective taking in autism.

    PubMed

    Zwickel, Jan; White, Sarah J; Coniston, Devorah; Senju, Atsushi; Frith, Uta

    2011-10-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum disorders have highly characteristic impairments in social interaction and this is true also for those with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome (AS). These social cognitive impairments are far from global and it seems likely that some of the building blocks of social cognition are intact. In our first experiment, we investigated whether high functioning adults who also had a diagnosis of AS would be similar to control participants in terms of their eye movements when watching animated triangles in short movies that normally evoke mentalizing. They were. Our second experiment using the same movies, tested whether both groups would spontaneously adopt the visuo-spatial perspective of a triangle protagonist. They did. At the same time autistic participants differed in their verbal accounts of the story line underlying the movies, confirming their specific difficulties in on-line mentalizing. In spite of this difficulty, two basic building blocks of social cognition appear to be intact: spontaneous agency perception and spontaneous visual perspective taking.

  9. Fuel-Mediated Transient Clustering of Colloidal Building Blocks.

    PubMed

    van Ravensteijn, Bas G P; Hendriksen, Wouter E; Eelkema, Rienk; van Esch, Jan H; Kegel, Willem K

    2017-07-26

    Fuel-driven assembly operates under the continuous influx of energy and results in superstructures that exist out of equilibrium. Such dissipative processes provide a route toward structures and transient behavior unreachable by conventional equilibrium self-assembly. Although perfected in biological systems like microtubules, this class of assembly is only sparsely used in synthetic or colloidal analogues. Here, we present a novel colloidal system that shows transient clustering driven by a chemical fuel. Addition of fuel causes an increase in hydrophobicity of the building blocks by actively removing surface charges, thereby driving their aggregation. Depletion of fuel causes reappearance of the charged moieties and leads to disassembly of the formed clusters. This reassures that the system returns to its initial, equilibrium state. By taking advantage of the cyclic nature of our system, we show that clustering can be induced several times by simple injection of new fuel. The fuel-mediated assembly of colloidal building blocks presented here opens new avenues to the complex landscape of nonequilibrium colloidal structures, guided by biological design principles.

  10. Appendices for the Space Applications program, 1974

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1974-01-01

    To achieve truly low cost system design with direct evolution for inorbit shuttle resupply, a modular building block approach has been adopted. The heart of the modular building block concept lies in the ability to use a common set of nonoptimized subsystems in such a way that a wide variety of missions can be flown with no detrimental impact on performance. By standardizing the mechanical configurations and electrical interfaces of the subsystem modules, and by designing each of them to be structurally and thermally independent entities, it is possible to cluster these building blocks or modules about an instrument system so as to adequately perform the mission without the need for subsystem redevelopments for each mission. This system concept offers the following capabilities: (1) the ability to launch and orbit the observatory by either the Delta, the Titan, or the space shuttle. (2) the ability to completely reconfigure the spacecraft subsystems for different launch vehicles, and (3) the ability to perform in-orbit resupply and/or emergency retrieval of the observatory.

  11. Elasticity-dependent fast underwater adhesion demonstrated by macroscopic supramolecular assembly.

    PubMed

    Ju, Guannan; Cheng, Mengjiao; Guo, Fengli; Zhang, Qian; Shi, Feng

    2018-05-30

    Macroscopic supramolecular assembly (MSA) is a recent progress in supramolecular chemistry to associate visible building blocks through non-covalent interactions in a multivalent manner. Although various substrates (e. g. hydrogels, rigid materials) have been used, a general design rule of building blocks in MSA systems and interpretation of the assembly mechanism are still lacking and urgently in demand. Here we design three model systems with varied modulus and correlated the MSA probability with the elasticity. Based on the effects of substrate deformability on multivalency, we have proposed an elastic-modulus-dependent rule that building blocks below a critical modulus of 2.5 MPa can achieve MSA for the used host/guest system. Moreover, this MSA rule applies well to the design of materials applicable for fast underwater adhesion: Soft substrates (0.5 MPa) can achieve underwater adhesion within 10 s with one magnitude higher strength than that of rigid substrates (2.5 MPa). © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. High-flexibility combinatorial peptide synthesis with laser-based transfer of monomers in solid matrix material.

    PubMed

    Loeffler, Felix F; Foertsch, Tobias C; Popov, Roman; Mattes, Daniela S; Schlageter, Martin; Sedlmayr, Martyna; Ridder, Barbara; Dang, Florian-Xuan; von Bojničić-Kninski, Clemens; Weber, Laura K; Fischer, Andrea; Greifenstein, Juliane; Bykovskaya, Valentina; Buliev, Ivan; Bischoff, F Ralf; Hahn, Lothar; Meier, Michael A R; Bräse, Stefan; Powell, Annie K; Balaban, Teodor Silviu; Breitling, Frank; Nesterov-Mueller, Alexander

    2016-06-14

    Laser writing is used to structure surfaces in many different ways in materials and life sciences. However, combinatorial patterning applications are still limited. Here we present a method for cost-efficient combinatorial synthesis of very-high-density peptide arrays with natural and synthetic monomers. A laser automatically transfers nanometre-thin solid material spots from different donor slides to an acceptor. Each donor bears a thin polymer film, embedding one type of monomer. Coupling occurs in a separate heating step, where the matrix becomes viscous and building blocks diffuse and couple to the acceptor surface. Furthermore, we can consecutively deposit two material layers of activation reagents and amino acids. Subsequent heat-induced mixing facilitates an in situ activation and coupling of the monomers. This allows us to incorporate building blocks with click chemistry compatibility or a large variety of commercially available non-activated, for example, posttranslationally modified building blocks into the array's peptides with >17,000 spots per cm(2).

  13. Designed synthesis of double-stage two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Xiong; Addicoat, Matthew; Jin, Enquan; Xu, Hong; Hayashi, Taku; Xu, Fei; Huang, Ning; Irle, Stephan; Jiang, Donglin

    2015-10-01

    Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of crystalline porous polymers in which organic building blocks are covalently and topologically linked to form extended crystalline polygon structures, constituting a new platform for designing π-electronic porous materials. However, COFs are currently synthesised by a few chemical reactions, limiting the access to and exploration of new structures and properties. The development of new reaction systems that avoid such limitations to expand structural diversity is highly desired. Here we report that COFs can be synthesised via a double-stage connection that polymerises various different building blocks into crystalline polygon architectures, leading to the development of a new type of COFs with enhanced structural complexity and diversity. We show that the double-stage approach not only controls the sequence of building blocks but also allows fine engineering of pore size and shape. This strategy is widely applicable to different polymerisation systems to yield hexagonal, tetragonal and rhombus COFs with predesigned pores and π-arrays.

  14. Correlating the magic numbers of inorganic nanomolecular assemblies with a {Pd84} molecular-ring Rosetta Stone

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Feng; Miras, Haralampos N.; Scullion, Rachel A.; Long, De-Liang; Thiel, Johannes; Cronin, Leroy

    2012-01-01

    Molecular self-assembly has often been suggested as the ultimate route for the bottom-up construction of building blocks atom-by-atom for functional nanotechnology, yet structural design or prediction of nanomolecular assemblies is still far from reach. Whereas nature uses complex machinery such as the ribosome, chemists use painstakingly engineered step-by-step approaches to build complex molecules but the size and complexity of such molecules, not to mention the accessible yields, can be limited. Herein we present the discovery of a palladium oxometalate {Pd84}-ring cluster 3.3 nm in diameter; [Pd84O42(OAc)28(PO4)42]70- ({Pd84} ≡ {Pd12}7) that is formed in water just by mixing two reagents at room temperature, giving crystals of the compound in just a few days. The structure of the {Pd84}-ring has sevenfold symmetry, comprises 196 building blocks, and we also show, using mass spectrometry, that a large library of other related nanostructures is present in solution. Finally, by analysis of the symmetry and the building block library that construct the {Pd84} we show that the correlation of the symmetry, subunit number, and overall cluster nuclearity can be used as a “Rosetta Stone” to rationalize the “magic numbers” defining a number of other systems. This is because the discovery of {Pd84} allows the relationship between seemingly unrelated families of molecular inorganic nanosystems to be decoded from the overall cluster magic-number nuclearity, to the symmetry and building blocks that define such structures allowing the prediction of other members of these nanocluster families. PMID:22753516

  15. Final Report. Montpelier District Energy Project

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

    Baker, Jessie; Motyka, Kurt; Aja, Joe

    2015-03-30

    The City of Montpelier, in collaboration with the State of Vermont, developed a central heat plant fueled with locally harvested wood-chips and a thermal energy distribution system. The project provides renewable energy to heat a complex of state buildings and a mix of commercial, private and municipal buildings in downtown Montpelier. The State of Vermont operates the central heat plant and the system to heat the connected state buildings. The City of Montpelier accepts energy from the central heat plant and operates a thermal utility to heat buildings in downtown Montpelier which elected to take heat from the system.

  16. Hydrophilic interaction chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry method for basic building block analysis of low molecular weight heparins prepared through nitrous acid depolymerization.

    PubMed

    Sun, Xiaojun; Guo, Zhimou; Yu, Mengqi; Lin, Chao; Sheng, Anran; Wang, Zhiyu; Linhardt, Robert J; Chi, Lianli

    2017-01-06

    Low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) are important anticoagulant drugs that are prepared through depolymerization of unfractionated heparin. Based on the types of processing reactions and the structures of the products, LMWHs can be divided into different classifications. Enoxaparin is prepared by benzyl esterification and alkaline depolymerization, while dalteparin and nadroparin are prepared through nitrous acid depolymerization followed by borohydride reduction. Compositional analysis of their basic building blocks is an effective way to provide structural information on heparin and LMWHs. However, most current compositional analysis methods have been limited to heparin and enoxaparin. A sensitive and comprehensive approach is needed for detailed investigation of the structure of LMWHs prepared through nitrous acid depolymerization, especially their characteristic saturated non-reducing end (NRE) and 2,5-anhydro-d-mannitol reducing end (RE). A maltose modified hydrophilic interaction column offers improved separation of complicated mixtures of acidic disaccharides and oligosaccharides. A total of 36 basic building blocks were unambiguously identified by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (MS). Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) MS/MS quantification was developed and validated in the analysis of dalteparin and nadroparin samples. Each group of building blocks revealed different aspects of the properties of LMWHs, such as functional motifs required for anticoagulant activity, the structure of heparin starting materials, cleavage sites in the depolymerization reaction, and undesired structural modifications resulting from side reactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Modular and Orthogonal Synthesis of Hybrid Polymers and Networks

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Shuang; Dicker, Kevin T.; Jia, Xinqiao

    2015-01-01

    Biomaterials scientists strive to develop polymeric materials with distinct chemical make-up, complex molecular architectures, robust mechanical properties and defined biological functions by drawing inspirations from biological systems. Salient features of biological designs include (1) repetitive presentation of basic motifs; and (2) efficient integration of diverse building blocks. Thus, an appealing approach to biomaterials synthesis is to combine synthetic and natural building blocks in a modular fashion employing novel chemical methods. Over the past decade, orthogonal chemistries have become powerful enabling tools for the modular synthesis of advanced biomaterials. These reactions require building blocks with complementary functionalities, occur under mild conditions in the presence of biological molecules and living cells and proceed with high yield and exceptional selectivity. These chemistries have facilitated the construction of complex polymers and networks in a step-growth fashion, allowing facile modulation of materials properties by simple variations of the building blocks. In this review, we first summarize features of several types of orthogonal chemistries. We then discuss recent progress in the synthesis of step growth linear polymers, dendrimers and networks that find application in drug delivery, 3D cell culture and tissue engineering. Overall, orthogonal reactions and modulular synthesis have not only minimized the steps needed for the desired chemical transformations but also maximized the diversity and functionality of the final products. The modular nature of the design, combined with the potential synergistic effect of the hybrid system, will likely result in novel hydrogel matrices with robust structures and defined functions. PMID:25572255

  18. Layer-by-layer assembly of two-dimensional materials into wafer-scale heterostructures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, Kibum; Lee, Kan-Heng; Han, Yimo; Gao, Hui; Xie, Saien; Muller, David A.; Park, Jiwoong

    2017-10-01

    High-performance semiconductor films with vertical compositions that are designed to atomic-scale precision provide the foundation for modern integrated circuitry and novel materials discovery. One approach to realizing such films is sequential layer-by-layer assembly, whereby atomically thin two-dimensional building blocks are vertically stacked, and held together by van der Waals interactions. With this approach, graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides--which represent one- and three-atom-thick two-dimensional building blocks, respectively--have been used to realize previously inaccessible heterostructures with interesting physical properties. However, no large-scale assembly method exists at present that maintains the intrinsic properties of these two-dimensional building blocks while producing pristine interlayer interfaces, thus limiting the layer-by-layer assembly method to small-scale proof-of-concept demonstrations. Here we report the generation of wafer-scale semiconductor films with a very high level of spatial uniformity and pristine interfaces. The vertical composition and properties of these films are designed at the atomic scale using layer-by-layer assembly of two-dimensional building blocks under vacuum. We fabricate several large-scale, high-quality heterostructure films and devices, including superlattice films with vertical compositions designed layer-by-layer, batch-fabricated tunnel device arrays with resistances that can be tuned over four orders of magnitude, band-engineered heterostructure tunnel diodes, and millimetre-scale ultrathin membranes and windows. The stacked films are detachable, suspendable and compatible with water or plastic surfaces, which will enable their integration with advanced optical and mechanical systems.

  19. Layer-by-layer assembly of two-dimensional materials into wafer-scale heterostructures.

    PubMed

    Kang, Kibum; Lee, Kan-Heng; Han, Yimo; Gao, Hui; Xie, Saien; Muller, David A; Park, Jiwoong

    2017-10-12

    High-performance semiconductor films with vertical compositions that are designed to atomic-scale precision provide the foundation for modern integrated circuitry and novel materials discovery. One approach to realizing such films is sequential layer-by-layer assembly, whereby atomically thin two-dimensional building blocks are vertically stacked, and held together by van der Waals interactions. With this approach, graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides-which represent one- and three-atom-thick two-dimensional building blocks, respectively-have been used to realize previously inaccessible heterostructures with interesting physical properties. However, no large-scale assembly method exists at present that maintains the intrinsic properties of these two-dimensional building blocks while producing pristine interlayer interfaces, thus limiting the layer-by-layer assembly method to small-scale proof-of-concept demonstrations. Here we report the generation of wafer-scale semiconductor films with a very high level of spatial uniformity and pristine interfaces. The vertical composition and properties of these films are designed at the atomic scale using layer-by-layer assembly of two-dimensional building blocks under vacuum. We fabricate several large-scale, high-quality heterostructure films and devices, including superlattice films with vertical compositions designed layer-by-layer, batch-fabricated tunnel device arrays with resistances that can be tuned over four orders of magnitude, band-engineered heterostructure tunnel diodes, and millimetre-scale ultrathin membranes and windows. The stacked films are detachable, suspendable and compatible with water or plastic surfaces, which will enable their integration with advanced optical and mechanical systems.

  20. To Know, or Not to Know - Why it is Important to Understand Both What we Know, and What We Don't Know, When Studying Our Air and Sky

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brown-Steiner, B.

    2017-12-01

    I study the air and the sky, which can get really, really confusing. When you cup your hands and catch some air, you are holding many hundreds of hundreds of hundreds (do this about ten more times) of really tiny building blocks that keep hitting (and changing) one another every second of every day. We need some of these tiny building blocks to live and breathe, but there are many tiny building blocks that can hurt us - or even kill us. Right now, the way we live - how we make power, how we make food, how we get from place to place - adds a lot of bad building blocks to our air and our sky, and is changing our world in ways we do not really understand. As we learn more about the air and the sky, we get better at knowing how things are changing, but it is also really important to think about the things we do not know, and the things we do not understand. I study our air and our sky by thinking hard not only about the things that we know, but also about the things we do not know, and I try to use what I learn to help us make more sense out of the really confusing stuff. I want to share some of what I have learned with you.

  1. Mononuclear, trinuclear, and hetero-trinuclear supramolecular complexes containing a new tri-sulfonate ligand and cobalt(II)/copper(II)-(1,10-phenanthroline) 2 building blocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Yunfang; Wei, Yongqin; Broer, Ria; Sa, Rongjian; Wu, Kechen

    2008-03-01

    Novel mononuclear, trinuclear, and hetero-trinuclear supermolecular complexes, [Co(phen) 2(H 2O)(HTST)]·2H 2O ( 1), [Co 3(phen) 6(H 2O) 2(TST) 2]·7H 2O ( 2), and [Co 2Cu(phen) 6(H 2O) 2(TST) 2]·10H 2O ( 3), have been synthesized by the reactions of a new tri-sulfonate ligand (2,4,6-tris(4-sulfophenylamino)-1,3,5-triazine, H 3TST) with the M2+ ( M=Co, Cu) and the second ligand 1,10-phenanthroline (phen). Complex 1 contains a cis-Co(II)(phen) 2 building block and an HTST as monodentate ligand; complex 2 consists of two TST as bidentate ligands connecting one trans- and two cis-Co(II)(phen) 2 building blocks; complex 3 is formed by replacing the trans-Co(II)(phen) 2 in 2 with a trans-Cu(II)(phen) 2, which is the first reported hetero-trinuclear supramolecular complex containing both the Co(II)(phen) 2 and Cu(II)(phen) 2 as building blocks. The study shows the flexible multifunctional self-assembly capability of the H 3TST ligands presenting in these supramolecular complexes through coordinative, H-bonding and even π- π stacking interactions. The photoluminescent optical properties of these complexes are also investigated and discussed as well as the second-order nonlinear optical properties of 1.

  2. The Building Blocks for JWST I and T (Integrations and Test) to Operations - From Simulator to Flight Units

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fatig, Curtis; Ochs, William; Johns, Alan; Seaton, Bonita; Adams, Cynthia; Wasiak, Francis; Jones, Ronald; Jackson, Wallace

    2012-01-01

    The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project has an extended integration and test (I&T) phase due to long procurement and development times of various components as well as recent launch delays. The JWST Ground Segment and Operations group has developed a roadmap of the various ground and flight elements and their use in the various JWST I&T test programs. The JWST Project s building block approach to the eventual operational systems, while not new, is complex and challenging; a large-scale mission like JWST involves international partners, many vendors across the United States, and competing needs for the same systems. One of the challenges is resource balancing so simulators and flight products for various elements congeal into integrated systems used for I&T and flight operations activities. This building block approach to an incremental buildup provides for early problem identification with simulators and exercises the flight operations systems, products, and interfaces during the JWST I&T test programs. The JWST Project has completed some early I&T with the simulators, engineering models and some components of the operational ground system. The JWST Project is testing the various flight units as they are delivered and will continue to do so for the entire flight and operational system. The JWST Project has already and will continue to reap the value of the building block approach on the road to launch and flight operations.

  3. Fault geometries illuminated from seismicity in central Taiwan: Implications for crustal scale structural boundaries in the northern Central Range

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gourley, Jonathan R.; Byrne, Timothy; Chan, Yu-Chang; Wu, Francis; Rau, Ruey-Juin

    2007-12-01

    Data sets of collapsed earthquake locations, earthquake focal mechanisms, GPS velocities and geologic data are integrated to constrain the geometry and kinematics of a crustal block within the accreted continental margin rocks of Taiwan's northeastern Central Range. This block is laterally extruding and exhuming towards the north-northeast. The block is bound on the west-southwest by the previously recognized Sanyi-Puli seismic zone and on the east by a vertical seismic structure that projects to the eastern mountain front of the Central Range. Focal mechanisms from the Broadband Array of Taiwan Seismicity (BATS) catalog consistently show west-side-up reverse displacements for this fault zone. A second vertical structure is recognized beneath the Slate Belt-Metamorphic Belt boundary as a post-Chi-Chi relaxation oblique normal fault. BATS focal mechanisms show east-side-up, normal displacements with a minor left-lateral component. The vertical and lateral extrusion of this crustal block may be driven by the current collision between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Puli basement high indenter on the Eurasian Plate and/or trench rollback along the Ryukyu subduction zone. In addition, the vertical extent of the two shear zones suggests that a basal décollement below the eastern Central Range is deeper than previously proposed and may extend below the brittle-ductile transition.

  4. Broadscale postseismic deformation and lower crustal relaxation in the central Bayankala Block (central Tibetan Plateau) observed using InSAR data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Dezheng; Qu, Chunyan; Shan, Xinjian; Zuo, Ronghu; Liu, Yunhua; Gong, Wenyu; Zhang, Guohong

    2018-04-01

    We have generated a more than 500 km long postseismic deformation rate map and cumulative displacement time series in the central Bayankala Block of the Tibetan Plateau using ENVISAT/ASAR data from 2003 to 2010 by the π-RATE stacking algorithm. This rate map spans a period of ∼7.2 years and reveals that postseismic motion of 2001 Kokoxili earthquake exhibits a striking signal, dominating crustal deformation of the central Bayankala Block with a cross-fault magnitude ∼9-11 mm/yr in line of sight (LOS) (∼93.1°E). The southern and northern parts of the postseismic deformation field exhibit different patterns and variable magnitudes, reflecting asymmetry of the displacement distribution. Postseismic motion affects eastward extrusion of the central Bayankala Block, which reaches ∼15 km north of the Ganzi-Yushu fault. To further investigate viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust in this area after approximately two years, E-M, E-M-M and E-S models are constructed. The result shows that the best fit viscosity for the lower crust is about 1 × 1019 Pa·s. Comparison between cumulative displacements resolved by these three models shows that viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust makes the most significant contribution to postseismic stress relaxation after 2001 event.

  5. Parasitoid wasp sting: a cocktail of GABA, taurine, and beta-alanine opens chloride channels for central synaptic block and transient paralysis of a cockroach host.

    PubMed

    Moore, Eugene L; Haspel, Gal; Libersat, Frederic; Adams, Michael E

    2006-07-01

    The wasp Ampulex compressa injects venom directly into the prothoracic ganglion of its cockroach host to induce a transient paralysis of the front legs. To identify the biochemical basis for this paralysis, we separated venom components according to molecular size and tested fractions for inhibition of synaptic transmission at the cockroach cercal-giant synapse. Only fractions in the low molecular weight range (<2 kDa) caused synaptic block. Dabsylation of venom components and analysis by HPLC and MALDI-TOF-MS revealed high levels of GABA (25 mM), and its receptor agonists beta-alanine (18 mM), and taurine (9 mM) in the active fractions. Each component produces transient block of synaptic transmission at the cercal-giant synapse and block of efferent motor output from the prothoracic ganglion, which mimics effects produced by injection of whole venom. Whole venom evokes picrotoxin-sensitive chloride currents in cockroach central neurons, consistent with a GABAergic action. Together these data demonstrate that Ampulex utilizes GABAergic chloride channel activation as a strategy for central synaptic block to induce transient and focal leg paralysis in its host. Copyright 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Renaissance architecture for Ground Data Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perkins, Dorothy C.; Zeigenfuss, Lawrence B.

    1994-01-01

    The Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate (MO&DSD) has embarked on a new approach for developing and operating Ground Data Systems (GDS) for flight mission support. This approach is driven by the goals of minimizing cost and maximizing customer satisfaction. Achievement of these goals is realized through the use of a standard set of capabilities which can be modified to meet specific user needs. This approach, which is called the Renaissance architecture, stresses the engineering of integrated systems, based upon workstation/local area network (LAN)/fileserver technology and reusable hardware and software components called 'building blocks.' These building blocks are integrated with mission specific capabilities to build the GDS for each individual mission. The building block approach is key to the reduction of development costs and schedules. Also, the Renaissance approach allows the integration of GDS functions that were previously provided via separate multi-mission facilities. With the Renaissance architecture, the GDS can be developed by the MO&DSD or all, or part, of the GDS can be operated by the user at their facility. Flexibility in operation configuration allows both selection of a cost-effective operations approach and the capability for customizing operations to user needs. Thus the focus of the MO&DSD is shifted from operating systems that we have built to building systems and, optionally, operations as separate services. Renaissance is actually a continuous process. Both the building blocks and the system architecture will evolve as user needs and technology change. Providing GDS on a per user basis enables this continuous refinement of the development process and product and allows the MO&DSD to remain a customer-focused organization. This paper will present the activities and results of the MO&DSD initial efforts toward the establishment of the Renaissance approach for the development of GDS, with a particular focus on both the technical and process implications posed by Renaissance to the MO&DSD.

  7. Genetics Home Reference: phenylketonuria

    MedlinePlus

    ... that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood. Phenylalanine is a building block of proteins ( an amino ... some artificial sweeteners. If PKU is not treated, phenylalanine can build up to harmful levels in the ...

  8. Electrophoretic build-up of alternately multilayered films and micropatterns based on graphene sheets and nanoparticles and their applications in flexible supercapacitors.

    PubMed

    Niu, Zhiqiang; Du, Jianjun; Cao, Xuebo; Sun, Yinghui; Zhou, Weiya; Hng, Huey Hoon; Ma, Jan; Chen, Xiaodong; Xie, Sishen

    2012-10-22

    Graphene nanosheets and metal nanoparticles (NPs) have been used as nano-building-blocks for assembly into macroscale hybrid structures with promising performance in electrical devices. However, in most graphene and metal NP hybrid structures, the graphene sheets and metal NPs (e.g., AuNPs) do not enable control of the reaction process, orientation of building blocks, and organization at the nanoscale. Here, an electrophoretic layer-by-layer assembly for constructing multilayered reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/AuNP films and lateral micropatterns is presented. This assembly method allows easy control of the nano-architecture of building blocks along the normal direction of the film, including the number and thickness of RGO and AuNP layers, in addition to control of the lateral orientation of the resultant multilayered structures. Conductivity of multilayered RGO/AuNP hybrid nano-architecture shows great improvement caused by a bridging effect of the AuNPs along the out-of-plane direction between the upper and lower RGO layers. The results clearly show the potential of electrophoretic build-up in the fabrication of graphene-based alternately multilayered films and patterns. Finally, flexible supercapacitors based on multilayered RGO/AuNP hybrid films are fabricated, and excellent performance, such as high energy and power densities, are achieved. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. Dynamic system simulation of small satellite projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raif, Matthias; Walter, Ulrich; Bouwmeester, Jasper

    2010-11-01

    A prerequisite to accomplish a system simulation is to have a system model holding all necessary project information in a centralized repository that can be accessed and edited by all parties involved. At the Institute of Astronautics of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen a modular approach for modeling and dynamic simulation of satellite systems has been developed called dynamic system simulation (DySyS). DySyS is based on the platform independent description language SysML to model a small satellite project with respect to the system composition and dynamic behavior. A library of specific building blocks and possible relations between these blocks have been developed. From this library a system model of the satellite of interest can be created. A mapping into a C++ simulation allows the creation of an executable system model with which simulations are performed to observe the dynamic behavior of the satellite. In this paper DySyS is used to model and simulate the dynamic behavior of small satellites, because small satellite projects can act as a precursor to demonstrate the feasibility of a system model since they are less complex compared to a large scale satellite project.

  10. Holographic entanglement and Poincaré blocks in three-dimensional flat space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hijano, Eliot; Rabideau, Charles

    2018-05-01

    We propose a covariant prescription to compute holographic entanglement entropy and Poincaré blocks (Global BMS blocks) in the context of three-dimensional Einstein gravity in flat space. We first present a prescription based on worldline methods in the probe limit, inspired by recent analog calculations in AdS/CFT. Building on this construction, we propose a full extrapolate dictionary and use it to compute holographic correlators and blocks away from the probe limit.

  11. Strategies to integrate patient and family education into patient care redesign.

    PubMed

    Yingling, L; Trocino, L

    1997-05-01

    This article discusses five strategies to effectively integrate patient and family education into patient care redesign. The strategies include building the plan, building a shared mission and vision, building involvement, building collaboration through initiatives, and building accountability. Each strategy or "building block" is vital to the resulting structure of patient and family education. Effective results of the strategies are discussed as milestones. The process must be ongoing to ensure continuous improvement in quality patient care outcomes, consumer satisfaction and cost-effectiveness.

  12. 8. Historic view of the building: 'Warren Street from State ...

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

    8. Historic view of the building: 'Warren Street from State Street' ca. 1890. Courtesy of the Trenton Free Public Library. This shows the building before the True American's renovations of 1893. It is the three-story buildings, flanked by lower ones in the middle of the block. At the time of the photograph, the brick exterior was painted a light color and dark-colored louvered shutters flanked all the upper story windows. - 14 North Warren Street (Commercial Building), True American Building, Trenton, Mercer County, NJ

  13. 16. A southward view of buildings #6B, #6, #6A, #7, ...

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

    16. A southward view of buildings #6-B, #6, #6-A, #7, #8-A, and #8. The water tower is situated directly behind building #8. To the right ia the eastern wall of the five-storied building #5. In the center background is part of the north face of building #9. All structures to the north of building #9 are to be demolished. - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  14. 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

  15. Building Our Children's Future: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Grades K-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mumma, Tracy; Gant, Shaun; Stone, Laura Armstrong; Harnish, Chris; Fowle, Abigail

    This interdisciplinary curriculum provides students with the opportunity to learn about the connection between natural resources and buildings while practicing skills in language arts, math, science, social studies, and visual arts. The learning activities are divided by topic into 15 Building Blocks (units). These units cover such topics as…

  16. The Master Clock Building at USNO Infrastructure

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-12-01

    type finish on top of about 3.5 inches of foam insulation. This along with cinder block, fiber glass insulation, and 5/8-inch-X drywall provides a...keep the building on temperature. The outside surface of the building is an “Exterior Finish Insulation Systems” (EFIS). This is made up of a stucco

  17. Central Venous Catheter (Central Line)

    MedlinePlus

    ... the skin entry site. With care, central venous catheters can remain in the body for several months without becoming infected. ■ ■ Blocking or kinking— Blood clots may begin to form in the catheter but ...

  18. 6. VIEW LOOKING NORTH ON SIXTH STREET, ACROSS CENTRAL AVENUE. ...

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

    6. VIEW LOOKING NORTH ON SIXTH STREET, ACROSS CENTRAL AVENUE. THE BUILDING ON THE RIGHT IS BUILDING 551, BUILT IN 1953 AS A WAREHOUSE AND METAL FABRICATION SHOP. THE BUILDING ON THE LEFT IS BUILDING 334, ALSO BUILT IN 1953, AS THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL MAINTENANCE SHOP. IN THE CENTER OF THE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE BACKGROUND IS BUILDING 374, THE AQUEOUS PROCESS WASTE TREATMENT PLANT. - Rocky Flats Plant, Bounded by Indiana Street & Routes 93, 128 & 72, Golden, Jefferson County, CO

  19. LPT. Elevations of low power test building (TAN640 and 641). ...

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

    LPT. Elevations of low power test building (TAN-640 and -641). West and south elevations show stepped shield wall. South and east elevations show pumice block passageway on south side. Reactor cell walls are concrete. One-story parts are pumice block. Metal rollup doors. Ralph M. Parsons 1229-12 ANP/GE-7-640-A-2. November 1956. Approved by INEEL Classification Office for public release. INEEL index code no. 038-0640-00-693-107275 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Area North, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  20. A building block for hardware belief networks.

    PubMed

    Behin-Aein, Behtash; Diep, Vinh; Datta, Supriyo

    2016-07-21

    Belief networks represent a powerful approach to problems involving probabilistic inference, but much of the work in this area is software based utilizing standard deterministic hardware based on the transistor which provides the gain and directionality needed to interconnect billions of them into useful networks. This paper proposes a transistor like device that could provide an analogous building block for probabilistic networks. We present two proof-of-concept examples of belief networks, one reciprocal and one non-reciprocal, implemented using the proposed device which is simulated using experimentally benchmarked models.

  1. Engineering of M13 Bacteriophage for Development of Tissue Engineering Materials.

    PubMed

    Jin, Hyo-Eon; Lee, Seung-Wuk

    2018-01-01

    M13 bacteriophages have several qualities that make them attractive candidates as building blocks for tissue regenerating scaffold materials. Through genetic engineering, a high density of functional peptides and proteins can be simultaneously displayed on the M13 bacteriophage's outer coat proteins. The resulting phage can self-assemble into nanofibrous network structures and can guide the tissue morphogenesis through proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. In this manuscript, we will describe methods to develop major coat-engineered M13 phages as a basic building block and aligned tissue-like matrices to develop regenerative nanomaterials.

  2. A new dielectric metamaterial building block with a strong magnetic response in the sub-1.5-micrometer region: silicon colloid nanocavities.

    PubMed

    Shi, Lei; Tuzer, T Umut; Fenollosa, Roberto; Meseguer, Francisco

    2012-11-20

    A new dielectric metamaterial building block based on high refractive index silicon spherical nanocavities with Mie resonances appearing in the near infrared optical region is prepared and characterized. It is demonstrated both experimentally and theoretically that a single silicon nanocavity supports well-defined and robust magnetic resonances, even in a liquid medium environment, at wavelength values up to six times larger than the cavity radius. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Thiophene-based covalent organic frameworks

    PubMed Central

    Bertrand, Guillaume H. V.; Michaelis, Vladimir K.; Ong, Ta-Chung; Griffin, Robert G.; Dincă, Mircea

    2013-01-01

    We report the synthesis and characterization of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) incorporating thiophene-based building blocks. We show that these are amenable to reticular synthesis, and that bent ditopic monomers, such as 2,5-thiophenediboronic acid, are defect-prone building blocks that are susceptible to synthetic variations during COF synthesis. The synthesis and characterization of an unusual charge transfer complex between thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-diboronic acid and tetracyanoquinodimethane enabled by the unique COF architecture is also presented. Together, these results delineate important synthetic advances toward the implementation of COFs in electronic devices. PMID:23479656

  4. 7. Historic American Buildings Survey, August, 1966 EXTERIOR STAIR TO ...

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

    7. Historic American Buildings Survey, August, 1966 EXTERIOR STAIR TO SECOND FLOOR, SHOWING PASSAGE BETWEEN MAIN BLOCK AND REAR ELL. - Andrews-Taylor House, State Route 43, Farm Road 2862 Vicinity, Karnack, Harrison County, TX

  5. ASBESTOS RELEASE DURING BUILDING DEMOLITION ACTIVITIES

    EPA Science Inventory

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory (RREL) monitored block-wide building demolition and debris disposal activities at Santa Cruz and Watsonsville, California following the 1989 earthquake; an implosion demolition of a 26-story bu...

  6. KSC Headquarters Building Groundbreaking Ceremony

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-10-07

    Groundbreaking for the new Central Campus took place in the Industrial Area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Steve Belflower, vice president of HuntonBrady Architects of Orlando, points to a scale model of the Central Campus building on display during the groundbreaking ceremony. Kennedy is transforming into a multi-user, 21st century spaceport supporting both commercial and government users and operations. Central Campus Phase I includes construction of a new Headquarters Building as one of the major components of the strategy. The new Headquarters Building will be a seven-story, 200,000-square-foot facility that will house about 500 NASA civil service and contractor employees.

  7. Bus bar electrical feedthrough for electrorefiner system

    DOEpatents

    Williamson, Mark; Wiedmeyer, Stanley G; Willit, James L; Barnes, Laurel A; Blaskovitz, Robert J

    2013-12-03

    A bus bar electrical feedthrough for an electrorefiner system may include a retaining plate, electrical isolator, and/or contact block. The retaining plate may include a central opening. The electrical isolator may include a top portion, a base portion, and a slot extending through the top and base portions. The top portion of the electrical isolator may be configured to extend through the central opening of the retaining plate. The contact block may include an upper section, a lower section, and a ridge separating the upper and lower sections. The upper section of the contact block may be configured to extend through the slot of the electrical isolator and the central opening of the retaining plate. Accordingly, relatively high electrical currents may be transferred into a glovebox or hot-cell facility at a relatively low cost and higher amperage capacity without sacrificing atmosphere integrity.

  8. Preschoolers' Thinking during Block Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piccolo, Diana L.; Test, Joan

    2010-01-01

    Children build foundations for mathematical thinking in early play and exploration. During the preschool years, children enjoy exploring mathematical concepts--such as patterns, shape, spatial relationships, and measurement--leading them to spontaneously engage in mathematical thinking during play. Block play is one common example that engages…

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

    Not Available

    The final design, performance analysis, and economic analysis of a solar hot water system for curing concrete blocks at the new Rotoclave block fabricating plant being built by the York Building Products Co. Inc. at Harrisburg, Pa. are presented. The system will use AAI Corporation's 24/1 concentrating collectors. (WHK)

  10. Buildings vs. ballistics: Quantifying the vulnerability of buildings to volcanic ballistic impacts using field studies and pneumatic cannon experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Williams, G. T.; Kennedy, B. M.; Wilson, T. M.; Fitzgerald, R. H.; Tsunematsu, K.; Teissier, A.

    2017-09-01

    Recent casualties in volcanic eruptions due to trauma from blocks and bombs necessitate more rigorous, ballistic specific risk assessment. Quantitative assessments are limited by a lack of experimental and field data on the vulnerability of buildings to ballistic hazards. An improved, quantitative understanding of building vulnerability to ballistic impacts is required for informing appropriate life safety actions and other risk reduction strategies. We assessed ballistic impacts to buildings from eruptions at Usu Volcano and Mt. Ontake in Japan and compiled available impact data from eruptions elsewhere to identify common damage patterns from ballistic impacts to buildings. We additionally completed a series of cannon experiments which simulate ballistic block impacts to building claddings to investigate their performance over a range of ballistic projectile velocities, masses and energies. Our experiments provide new insights by quantifying (1) the hazard associated with post-impact shrapnel from building and rock fragments; (2) the effect of impact obliquity on damage; and (3) the additional impact resistance buildings possess when claddings are struck in areas directly supported by framing components. This was not well identified in previous work which may have underestimated building vulnerability to ballistic hazards. To improve assessment of building vulnerability to ballistics, we use our experimental and field data to develop quantitative vulnerability models known as fragility functions. Our fragility functions and field studies show that although unreinforced buildings are highly vulnerable to large ballistics (> 20 cm diameter), they can still provide shelter, preventing death during eruptions.

  11. Comparison of heat exchanger and solar block wall in a swine nursery

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

    Jones, D.D.; Friday, W.H.; Thieme, R.H.

    1984-01-01

    A pig nursery building was divided into two equal rooms, one with a heat exchanger and one with a solar block wall. The average air inlet temperatures were 16.4/sup 0/C in the heat exchanger room and 11.9/sup 0/C in the solar heated room. Supplemental heating costs were 67% higher in the solar block wall room.

  12. The interplay between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles.

    PubMed

    Cervera, Javier; Manzanares, José A; Mafe, Salvador

    2014-10-06

    The interplay between cooperativity and diversity is crucial for biological ensembles because single molecule experiments show a significant degree of heterogeneity and also for artificial nanostructures because of the high individual variability characteristic of nanoscale units. We study the cross-effects between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles composed of individually different units that show a cooperative behaviour. The units are modelled as statistical distributions of parameters (the individual threshold potentials here) characterized by central and width distribution values. The simulations show that the interplay between cooperativity and diversity results in ensemble-averaged responses of interest for the understanding of electrical transduction in cell membranes, the experimental characterization of heterogeneous groups of biomolecules and the development of biologically inspired engineering designs with individually different building blocks. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  13. Silk-Its Mysteries, How It Is Made, and How It Is Used.

    PubMed

    Ebrahimi, Davoud; Tokareva, Olena; Rim, Nae Gyune; Wong, Joyce Y; Kaplan, David L; Buehler, Markus J

    2015-10-12

    This article reviews fundamental and applied aspects of silk-one of Nature's most intriguing materials in terms of its strength, toughness, and biological role-in its various forms, from protein molecules to webs and cocoons, in the context of mechanical and biological properties. A central question that will be explored is how the bridging of scales and the emergence of hierarchical structures are critical elements in achieving novel material properties, and how this knowledge can be explored in the design of synthetic materials. We review how the function of a material system at the macroscale can be derived from the interplay of fundamental molecular building blocks. Moreover, guidelines and approaches to current experimental and computational designs in the field of synthetic silklike materials are provided to assist the materials science community in engineering customized finetuned biomaterials for biomedical applications.

  14. Sibling Relationships and Influences in Childhood and Adolescence

    PubMed Central

    McHale, Susan M.; Updegraff, Kimberly A.; Whiteman, Shawn D.

    2014-01-01

    The authors review the literature on sibling relationships in childhood and adolescence, starting by tracing themes from foundational research and theory and then focusing on empirical research during the past 2 decades. This literature documents siblings’ centrality in family life, sources of variation in sibling relationship qualities, and the significance of siblings for child and adolescent development and adjustment. Sibling influences emerge not only in the context of siblings’ frequent and often emotionally intense interactions but also by virtue of siblings’ role in larger family system dynamics. Although siblings are building blocks of family structure and key players in family dynamics, their role has been relatively neglected by family scholars and by those who study close relationships. Incorporating study of siblings into family research provides novel insights into the operation of families as social and socializing systems. PMID:24653527

  15. Photochemical Approaches to Complex Chemotypes: Applications in Natural Product Synthesis

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    The use of photochemical transformations is a powerful strategy that allows for the formation of a high degree of molecular complexity from relatively simple building blocks in a single step. A central feature of all light-promoted transformations is the involvement of electronically excited states, generated upon absorption of photons. This produces transient reactive intermediates and significantly alters the reactivity of a chemical compound. The input of energy provided by light thus offers a means to produce strained and unique target compounds that cannot be assembled using thermal protocols. This review aims at highlighting photochemical transformations as a tool for rapidly accessing structurally and stereochemically diverse scaffolds. Synthetic designs based on photochemical transformations have the potential to afford complex polycyclic carbon skeletons with impressive efficiency, which are of high value in total synthesis. PMID:27120289

  16. Enzymes for the biocatalytic production of rare sugars.

    PubMed

    Beerens, Koen; Desmet, Tom; Soetaert, Wim

    2012-06-01

    Carbohydrates are much more than just a source of energy as they also mediate a variety of recognition processes that are central to human health. As such, saccharides can be applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries to stimulate our immune system (e.g., prebiotics), to control diabetes (e.g., low-calorie sweeteners), or as building blocks for anticancer and antiviral drugs (e.g., L: -nucleosides). Unfortunately, only a small number of all possible monosaccharides are found in nature in sufficient amounts to allow their commercial exploitation. Consequently, so-called rare sugars have to be produced by (bio)chemical processes starting from cheap and widely available substrates. Three enzyme classes that can be used for rare sugar production are keto-aldol isomerases, epimerases, and oxidoreductases. In this review, the recent developments in rare sugar production with these biocatalysts are discussed.

  17. A truly Lego®-like modular microfluidics platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vittayarukskul, Kevin; Lee, Abraham Phillip

    2017-03-01

    Ideally, a modular microfluidics platform should be simple to assemble and support 3D configurations for increased versatility. The modular building blocks should also be mass producible like electrical components. These are fundamental features of world-renowned Legos® and why Legos® inspire many existing modular microfluidics platforms. In this paper, a truly Lego®-like microfluidics platform is introduced, and its basic feasibility is demonstrated. Here, PDMS building blocks resembling 2  ×  2 Lego® bricks are cast from 3D-printed master molds. The blocks are pegged and stacked on a traditional Lego® plate to create simple, 3D microfluidic networks, such as a single basket weave. Characteristics of the platform, including reversible sealing and automatic alignment of channels, are also analyzed and discussed in detail.

  18. Non-covalent synthesis of supermicelles with complex architectures using spatially confined hydrogen-bonding interactions

    PubMed Central

    Li, Xiaoyu; Gao, Yang; Boott, Charlotte E.; Winnik, Mitchell A.; Manners, Ian

    2015-01-01

    Nature uses orthogonal interactions over different length scales to construct structures with hierarchical levels of order and provides an important source of inspiration for the creation of synthetic functional materials. Here, we report the programmed assembly of monodisperse cylindrical block comicelle building blocks with crystalline cores to create supermicelles using spatially confined hydrogen-bonding interactions. We also demonstrate that it is possible to further program the self-assembly of these synthetic building blocks into structures of increased complexity by combining hydrogen-bonding interactions with segment solvophobicity. The overall approach offers an efficient, non-covalent synthesis method for the solution-phase fabrication of a range of complex and potentially functional supermicelle architectures in which the crystallization, hydrogen-bonding and solvophobic interactions are combined in an orthogonal manner. PMID:26337527

  19. Composability-Centered Convolutional Neural Network Pruning

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

    Shen, Xipeng; Guan, Hui; Lim, Seung-Hwan

    This work studies the composability of the building blocks ofstructural CNN models (e.g., GoogleLeNet and Residual Networks) in thecontext of network pruning. We empirically validate that a networkcomposed of pre-trained building blocks (e.g. residual blocks andInception modules) not only gives a better initial setting fortraining, but also allows the training process to converge at asignificantly higher accuracy in much less time. Based on thatinsight, we propose a {\\em composability-centered} design for CNNnetwork pruning. Experiments show that this new scheme shortens theconfiguration process in CNN network pruning by up to 186.8X forResNet-50 and up to 30.2X for Inception-V3, and meanwhile, themore » modelsit finds that meet the accuracy requirement are significantly morecompact than those found by default schemes.« less

  20. New Early and Late Carboniferous paleomagnetic results from the Qaidam Block, NW China: Implications for the paleogeography of Central Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cao, Yong; Sun, Zhiming; Li, Haibing; Pei, Junling; Xu, Wei; Pan, Jiawei; Zhang, Lei; Ye, Xiaozhou; Huang, Baochun; Wang, Zongxiu

    2017-10-01

    There is an ongoing debate regarding the paleogeographic evolution of the Qaidam Block (37.3 °N/96.4 °E) in northwest China during the late Paleozoic. To provide a reliable constraint on the paleogeographic reconstruction and to determine the relationship with the adjacent area, we performed a paleomagnetic investigation of Early and Late Carboniferous sediments from the Qaidam Block. Stepwise thermal demagnetization successfully isolated high unblocking-temperature characteristic directions from the samples. The tilt-corrected mean direction of the Early Carboniferous sediments is Ds/Is = 298.6°/- 46.4° with α95 = 4.7° and N = 15 sites, corresponding to a paleopole at - 3.2 °N, 147.5 °E with A95 = 4.8°. The Late Carboniferous paleomagnetic direction is Ds/Is = 320.1°/- 46.1° with α95 = 5.3° and N = 8 sites, corresponding to a paleopole at - 15.1 °N, 132.2 °E with A95 = 5.4°. A positive fold test for the Early Carboniferous paleomagnetic directions, and consistency with the Kiaman reversed superchron for the Late Carboniferous paleomagnetic directions, indicates the primary origin of the characteristic remanence of the studied section. The new paleomagnetic results suggest that the Qaidam Block was located at about 27 °N and did not undergo significant N-S movement during the Carboniferous. However, the Qaidam Block experienced a counter-clockwise rotation of about 21° during this period. Comparisons of the paleomagnetic results from the major blocks of Central Asia suggest that the Qaidam Block may have experienced a relatively rapid northward movement and collided with the Tarim Block after the Late Permian. Based on the paleomagnetic poles of the Qaidam Block and adjacent blocks, we present a tentative paleogeographic reconstruction for central Asia during the Early and Late Carboniferous.

  1. Perspectives of the KM3NeT project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Margiotta, A.; KM3NeT Collaboration

    2016-10-01

    KM3NeT is a large distributed research infrastructure that comprises a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea with user ports for Earth and Sea sciences. The main objectives of KM3NeT are the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe (ARCA) and the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos (ORCA). Technically, the network of telescopes will consist of building blocks of 115 vertical detection units anchored at the seabed and connected to shore via a deep sea electro-optical cable. Each detection unit carries 18 optical modules equipped with 31 3; photomultipliers. Two configurations for the building blocks are defined to optimally detect neutrinos in different ranges of energy. The modular technical design of the KM3NeT telescope allows for a progressive implementation and for data taking even with an incomplete detector. The first phase of implementation has started. The next phase foresees the installation of three building blocks: two building blocks, for a total instrumented volume of 1 km3 (ARCA), at the KM3NeT-It site, at a depth of 3500 m, about 100 km offshore Capo Passero, Sicily. The main scientific goals of the ARCA detector is the exploration of the neutrino sky with unprecedented resolution, searching for neutrinos coming from defined sources or sky regions, like the Galactic Plane. It will also look for diffuse high energy neutrino fluxes following the indication provided by the IceCube signal. The third building block, with a more compact distribution of the optical modules, will be deployed at the KM3NeT-Fr site, 40 km offshore Toulon at a depth of 2500 m (ORCA). The main objective of ORCA is studying the neutrino mass-hierarchy problem and exploring the low energy region of the spectrum. The status of the first phase of the KM3NeT implementation is described and a survey of the physics potentiality of the telescope is given in this contribution, with particular emphasis on the high energy studies.

  2. Building blocks for social accountability: a conceptual framework to guide medical schools.

    PubMed

    Preston, Robyn; Larkins, Sarah; Taylor, Judy; Judd, Jenni

    2016-08-26

    This paper presents a conceptual framework developed from empirical evidence, to guide medical schools aspiring towards greater social accountability. Using a multiple case study approach, seventy-five staff, students, health sector representatives and community members, associated with four medical schools, participated in semi-structured interviews. Two schools were in Australia and two were in the Philippines. These schools were selected because they were aspiring to be socially accountable. Data was collected through on-site visits, field notes and a documentary review. Abductive analysis involved both deductive and inductive iterative theming of the data both within and across cases. The conceptual framework for socially accountable medical education was built from analyzing the internal and external factors influencing the selected medical schools. These factors became the building blocks that might be necessary to assist movement to social accountability. The strongest factor was the demands of the local workforce situation leading to innovative educational programs established with or without government support. The values and professional experiences of leaders, staff and health sector representatives, influenced whether the organizational culture of a school was conducive to social accountability. The wider institutional environment and policies of their universities affected this culture and the resourcing of programs. Membership of a coalition of socially accountable medical schools created a community of learning and legitimized local practice. Communities may not have recognized their own importance but they were fundamental for socially accountable practices. The bedrock of social accountability, that is, the foundation for all building blocks, is shared values and aspirations congruent with social accountability. These values and aspirations are both a philosophical understanding for innovation and a practical application at the health systems and education levels. While many of these building blocks are similar to those conceptualized in social accountability theory, this conceptual framework is informed by what happens in practice - empirical evidence rather than prescriptions. Consequently it is valuable in that it puts some theoretical thinking around everyday practice in specific contexts; addressing a gap in the medical education literature. The building blocks framework includes guidelines for social accountable practice that can be applied at policy, school and individual levels.

  3. Historic American Buildings Survey PHOTOCOPY OF MEASURED DRAWING BY DIETER ...

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

    Historic American Buildings Survey PHOTOCOPY OF MEASURED DRAWING BY DIETER SENGLER, 1964 ELEVATION, PLAN AND SECTION OF TYPICAL BAY SHOWING SECOND, THIRD, FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH FLOORS - Monadnock Block, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Cook County, IL

  4. 5. Within building #5, the forming of chain from wire, ...

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

    5. Within building #5, the forming of chain from wire, as well as other operations, was powered by such belt-driven wheels and shafts. - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  5. 626628 North Eutaw Street (Commercial Building), 626628 North Eutaw Street ...

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

    626-628 North Eutaw Street (Commercial Building), 626-628 North Eutaw Street & 400-412 Druid Hill Avenue on a block bounded by North Eutaw Street, George Street, Jaspar Street, & Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore, Independent City, MD

  6. Geophysical characterization of the Chicxulub impact structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gulick, S. P.; Christeson, G. L.; Barton, P. J.; Grieve, R. A.; Morgan, J. V.; Fucugauchi, J. U.

    2013-05-01

    The Chicxulub impact structure, conclusively linked to the 65.5 Ma mass extinction, includes three sets of inward dipping, ring faults, between 70 and 130 km radially with a topographically elevated inner rim, at the inner edge of these faults except in the northeast where such a rim is absent. Slump blocks offset by large faults result in a terrace zone, that steps down from the inner rim into the annular trough. The inner blocks underlie the peak ring --an internal topographic ring of topography that exhibits variable relief due to target asymmetries and bounds the coherent melt sheet within the central basin. Impact breccias lie within the annular trough above the slump blocks and proximal ejecta and within the central basin above the melt sheet. Beneath the melt sheet is the top of the central uplift, displaced by >10 km vertically, and an upwarped Moho, displaced by 1-2 km. These interpretations and hydrocode models support the following working hypothesis for the formation of Chicxulub: a 50 km radius transient cavity, lined with melt and impact breccia, formed within 10s of seconds of the 65.5 Ma impact and within minutes, weakened rebounding crust rose above kilometers above the surface, the transient crater rim underwent localized, brittle deformation and collapsed into large slump blocks resulting in a inner rim being preserved 70-85 km from crater center, and ring faults forming farther outwards. The overheightened central uplift of weakened crust collapsed outwards forming the peak ring, and buried the inner slump blocks. Most impact melt that lined the transient cavity was transported on top of the central uplift, ultimately emplaced as a coherent <3-km thick melt sheet that shallows within the inner regions of the peak ring. Smaller pockets of melt flowed into the annular trough. During and likely for sometime after these events, slope collapse, proximal ejecta, ground surge, and tsunami waves infilled the annular trough with sediments up to 3 km thick and the central basin with sediments up to 900 m thick. Testing this working hypothesis requires direct observation and measurements on the impact materials, especially within and adjacent to the peak ring and central basin.

  7. Empty Tissue Boxes: Considering Poverty in Diversity Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cuthrell, Kristen; Ledford, Carolyn; Stapleton, Joy

    2007-01-01

    A preservice teacher doing her internship overhears some of her students asking a classmate why he regularly takes home empty tissue boxes. The boy replies that he builds cities and bridges with his empty boxes. His classmates then ask why he does not just build a city with Legos or building blocks. The preservice teacher listens intently as the…

  8. Building Blocks for Building Skills: An Inventory of Adult Learning Models and Innovations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klein-Collins, Rebecca

    2006-01-01

    The skills of the workforce are an important contributor to the economic vitality of any region, leading economic developers to consider how to connect their efforts to workforce development and help to build the skills of adults generally. This report, produced for the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic…

  9. Superimposed extension and shortening in the southern Salinas Basin and La Panza Range, California: A guide to Neogene deformation in the Salinian block of the central California Coast Ranges

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Colgan, Joseph P.; McPhee, Darcy K.; McDougall, Kristin; Hourigan, Jeremy K.

    2013-01-01

    We synthesized data from geologic maps, wells, seismic-reflection profiles, potential-field interpretations, and low-temperature thermochronology to refine our understanding of late Cenozoic extension and shortening in the Salinian block of the central California Coast Ranges. Data from the La Panza Range and southern Salinas Basin document early to middle Miocene extension, followed by Pliocene and younger shortening after a period of little deformation in the late Miocene. Extension took place on high-angle normal faults that accommodated ∼2% strain at the scale of the ∼50-km-wide Salinian block (oriented perpendicular to the San Andreas fault). Shortening was accommodated by new reverse faults, reactivation of older normal faults, and strike-slip faulting that resulted in a map-view change in the width of the Salinian block. The overall magnitude of shortening was ∼10% strain, roughly 4–5 times greater than the amount of extension. The timing and magnitude of deformation in our study area are comparable to that documented in other Salinian block basins, and we suggest that the entire block deformed in a similar manner over a similar time span. The timing and relative magnitude of extension and shortening may be understood in the context of central Coast Range tectonic boundary conditions linked to rotation of the western Transverse Ranges at the south end of the Salinian block. Older models for Coast Range shortening based on balanced fault-bend fold-style cross sections are a poor approximation of Salinian block deformation, and may lead to mechanically improbable fault geometries that overestimate the amount of shortening.

  10. Combining techniques for screening and evaluating interaction terms on high-dimensional time-to-event data.

    PubMed

    Sariyar, Murat; Hoffmann, Isabell; Binder, Harald

    2014-02-26

    Molecular data, e.g. arising from microarray technology, is often used for predicting survival probabilities of patients. For multivariate risk prediction models on such high-dimensional data, there are established techniques that combine parameter estimation and variable selection. One big challenge is to incorporate interactions into such prediction models. In this feasibility study, we present building blocks for evaluating and incorporating interactions terms in high-dimensional time-to-event settings, especially for settings in which it is computationally too expensive to check all possible interactions. We use a boosting technique for estimation of effects and the following building blocks for pre-selecting interactions: (1) resampling, (2) random forests and (3) orthogonalization as a data pre-processing step. In a simulation study, the strategy that uses all building blocks is able to detect true main effects and interactions with high sensitivity in different kinds of scenarios. The main challenge are interactions composed of variables that do not represent main effects, but our findings are also promising in this regard. Results on real world data illustrate that effect sizes of interactions frequently may not be large enough to improve prediction performance, even though the interactions are potentially of biological relevance. Screening interactions through random forests is feasible and useful, when one is interested in finding relevant two-way interactions. The other building blocks also contribute considerably to an enhanced pre-selection of interactions. We determined the limits of interaction detection in terms of necessary effect sizes. Our study emphasizes the importance of making full use of existing methods in addition to establishing new ones.

  11. Metabolomics analysis: Finding out metabolic building blocks

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we propose a new methodology for the analysis of metabolic networks. We use the notion of strongly connected components of a graph, called in this context metabolic building blocks. Every strongly connected component is contracted to a single node in such a way that the resulting graph is a directed acyclic graph, called a metabolic DAG, with a considerably reduced number of nodes. The property of being a directed acyclic graph brings out a background graph topology that reveals the connectivity of the metabolic network, as well as bridges, isolated nodes and cut nodes. Altogether, it becomes a key information for the discovery of functional metabolic relations. Our methodology has been applied to the glycolysis and the purine metabolic pathways for all organisms in the KEGG database, although it is general enough to work on any database. As expected, using the metabolic DAGs formalism, a considerable reduction on the size of the metabolic networks has been obtained, specially in the case of the purine pathway due to its relative larger size. As a proof of concept, from the information captured by a metabolic DAG and its corresponding metabolic building blocks, we obtain the core of the glycolysis pathway and the core of the purine metabolism pathway and detect some essential metabolic building blocks that reveal the key reactions in both pathways. Finally, the application of our methodology to the glycolysis pathway and the purine metabolism pathway reproduce the tree of life for the whole set of the organisms represented in the KEGG database which supports the utility of this research. PMID:28493998

  12. 49 CFR 387.301 - Surety bond, certificate of insurance, or other securities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... in bulk. Cement, building blocks. Charcoal. Chemical fertilizer. Cinder blocks. Cinders, coal. Coal. Coke. Commercial fertilizer. Concrete materials and added mixtures. Corn cobs. Cottonseed hulls... nitrate of soda. Anhydrous ammonia—used as a fertilizer only. Ashes, wood or coal. Bituminous concrete...

  13. Assessing the Potential of Folded Globular Polyproteins As Hydrogel Building Blocks

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    The native states of proteins generally have stable well-defined folded structures endowing these biomolecules with specific functionality and molecular recognition abilities. Here we explore the potential of using folded globular polyproteins as building blocks for hydrogels. Photochemically cross-linked hydrogels were produced from polyproteins containing either five domains of I27 ((I27)5), protein L ((pL)5), or a 1:1 blend of these proteins. SAXS analysis showed that (I27)5 exists as a single rod-like structure, while (pL)5 shows signatures of self-aggregation in solution. SANS measurements showed that both polyprotein hydrogels have a similar nanoscopic structure, with protein L hydrogels being formed from smaller and more compact clusters. The polyprotein hydrogels showed small energy dissipation in a load/unload cycle, which significantly increased when the hydrogels were formed in the unfolded state. This study demonstrates the use of folded proteins as building blocks in hydrogels, and highlights the potential versatility that can be offered in tuning the mechanical, structural, and functional properties of polyproteins. PMID:28006103

  14. Biophysical properties of dermal building-blocks affects extra cellular matrix assembly in 3D endogenous macrotissue.

    PubMed

    Urciuolo, F; Garziano, A; Imparato, G; Panzetta, V; Fusco, S; Casale, C; Netti, P A

    2016-01-29

    The fabrication of functional tissue units is one of the major challenges in tissue engineering due to their in vitro use in tissue-on-chip systems, as well as in modular tissue engineering for the construction of macrotissue analogs. In this work, we aim to engineer dermal tissue micromodules obtained by culturing human dermal fibroblasts into porous gelatine microscaffold. We proved that such stromal cells coupled with gelatine microscaffolds are able to synthesize and to assemble an endogenous extracellular matrix (ECM) resulting in tissue micromodules, which evolve their biophysical features over the time. In particular, we found a time-dependent variation of oxygen consumption kinetic parameters, of newly formed ECM stiffness and of micromodules self-aggregation properties. As consequence when used as building blocks to fabricate larger tissues, the initial tissue micromodules state strongly affects the ECM organization and maturation in the final macrotissue. Such results highlight the role of the micromodules properties in controlling the formation of three-dimensional macrotissue in vitro, defining an innovative design criterion for selecting tissue-building blocks for modular tissue engineering.

  15. Insights into Inverse Materials Design from Phase Transitions in Shape Space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cersonsky, Rose; van Anders, Greg; Dodd, Paul M.; Glotzer, Sharon C.

    In designing new materials for synthesis, the inverse materials design approach posits that, given a structure, we can predict a building block optimized for self- assembly. How does that building block change as pressure is varied to maintain the same crystal structure? We address this question for entropically stabilized colloidal crystals by working in a generalized statistical thermodynamic ensemble where an alchemical potential variable is fixed and its conjugate variable, particle shape, is allowed to fluctuate. We show that there are multiple regions of shape behavior and phase transitions in shape space between these regions. Furthermore, while past literature has looked towards packing arguments for proposing shape-filling candidate building blocks for structure formation, we show that even at very high pressures, a structure will attain lowest free energy by modifying these space-filling shapes. U.S. Army Research Office under Grant Award No. W911NF-10-1-0518, Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Award EFRI-1240264, National Science Foundation Grant Number ACI- 1053575, XSEDE award DMR 140129, Rackham Merit Fellowship Program.

  16. Exploiting three kinds of interface propensities to identify protein binding sites.

    PubMed

    Liu, Bin; Wang, Xiaolong; Lin, Lei; Dong, Qiwen; Wang, Xuan

    2009-08-01

    Predicting the binding sites between two interacting proteins provides important clues to the function of a protein. In this study, we present a building block of proteins called order profiles to use the evolutionary information of the protein sequence frequency profiles and apply this building block to produce a class of propensities called order profile interface propensities. For comparisons, we revisit the usage of residue interface propensities and binary profile interface propensities for protein binding site prediction. Each kind of propensities combined with sequence profiles and accessible surface areas are inputted into SVM. When tested on four types of complexes (hetero-permanent complexes, hetero-transient complexes, homo-permanent complexes and homo-transient complexes), experimental results show that the order profile interface propensities are better than residue interface propensities and binary profile interface propensities. Therefore, order profile is a suitable profile-level building block of the protein sequences and can be widely used in many tasks of computational biology, such as the sequence alignment, the prediction of domain boundary, the designation of knowledge-based potentials and the protein remote homology detection.

  17. Structural design principles for delivery of bioactive components in nutraceuticals and functional foods.

    PubMed

    McClements, David Julian; Decker, Eric Andrew; Park, Yeonhwa; Weiss, Jochen

    2009-06-01

    There have been major advances in the design and fabrication of structured delivery systems for the encapsulation of nutraceutical and functional food components. A wide variety of delivery systems is now available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages for particular applications. This review begins by discussing some of the major nutraceutical and functional food components that need to be delivered and highlights the main limitations to their current utilization within the food industry. It then discusses the principles underpinning the rational design of structured delivery systems: the structural characteristics of the building blocks; the nature of the forces holding these building blocks together; and, the different ways of assembling these building blocks into structured delivery systems. Finally, we review the major types of structured delivery systems that are currently available to food scientists: lipid-based (simple, multiple, multilayer, and solid lipid particle emulsions); surfactant-based (simple micelles, mixed micelles, vesicles, and microemulsions) and biopolymer-based (soluble complexes, coacervates, hydrogel droplets, and particles). For each type of delivery system we describe its preparation, properties, advantages, and limitations.

  18. Building blocks toward contemporary trauma theory: Ferenczi 's paradigm shift.

    PubMed

    Mészáros, Judit

    2010-12-01

    In laying down the building blocks of contemporary trauma theory, Ferenczi asserted that trauma is founded on real events and that it occurs in the interpersonal and intersubjective dynamics of object relations. He stressed the significance of the presence or lack of a trusted person in the post-traumatic situation. After the trauma, the loneliness and later the isolation of the victim represent a serious pathogenic source. In the traumatic situation, the victim and the persecutor/aggressor operate differing ego defense mechanisms. Ferenczi was the first to describe the ego defense mechanism of identification with the aggressor. Ferenczi pointed out the characteristic features of the role of analyst/therapist with which (s)he may assist the patient in working through the trauma, among them being the development of a therapeutic atmosphere based on trust, so that the traumatic experiences can be relived, without which effective therapeutic change cannot be achieved. For the analyst, countertransference, as part of authentic communication, is incorporated into the therapeutic process. These are the key building blocks that are laid down by Ferenczi in his writings and appear in later works on trauma theory.

  19. Hierarchical Materials Design by Pattern Transfer Printing of Self-Assembled Binary Nanocrystal Superlattices

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

    Paik, Taejong; Yun, Hongseok; Fleury, Blaise

    We demonstrate the fabrication of hierarchical materials by controlling the structure of highly ordered binary nanocrystal superlattices (BNSLs) on multiple length scales. Combinations of magnetic, plasmonic, semiconducting, and insulating colloidal nanocrystal (NC) building blocks are self-assembled into BNSL membranes via the liquid–interfacial assembly technique. Free-standing BNSL membranes are transferred onto topographically structured poly(dimethylsiloxane) molds via the Langmuir–Schaefer technique and then deposited in patterns onto substrates via transfer printing. BNSLs with different structural motifs are successfully patterned into various meso- and microstructures such as lines, circles, and even three-dimensional grids across large-area substrates. A combination of electron microscopy and grazing incidencemore » small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) measurements confirm the ordering of NC building blocks in meso- and micropatterned BNSLs. This technique demonstrates structural diversity in the design of hierarchical materials by assembling BNSLs from NC building blocks of different composition and size by patterning BNSLs into various size and shape superstructures of interest for a broad range of applications.« less

  20. Operating unit time use is associated with anaesthesia type in below-knee surgery in adults.

    PubMed

    Lohela, T J; Chase, R P; Hiekkanen, T A; Kontinen, V K; Hynynen, M J

    2017-03-01

    Peripheral nerve blocks could reduce the operating unit and theatre time spent on high-risk patients who are particularly vulnerable to complications of general anaesthesia or have medications that prevent application of central neuraxial blocks. Medical record data of 617 and 254 elderly adults undergoing below-knee surgery in Jorvi and Meilahti hospitals (Helsinki University Hospital) between January 2010 and December 2012 were used to investigate the influence of anaesthetic technique on operating theatre times and on operating unit times using flexible parametric survival models. We report operating theatre and unit exit ratios (i.e. hazard ratios but using ratios of exit rates) for different types of anaesthesia. Adjusted analyses: In Jorvi Hospital, anaesthesia type was associated with large initial differentials in operating theatre times. The theatre exit ratios remained lower for general anaesthesia and central neuraxial blocks compared to peripheral nerve blocks until 30 min. In Meilahti Hospital, anaesthesia type did not influence theatre time, but was the best predictor of operating unit times. Compared to peripheral nerve blocks, the exit ratio remained lower for general anaesthesia until five operating unit hours in both hospitals and for central neuraxial blocks until 1 h in Meilahti Hospital and until 3 h in Jorvi Hospital. Holding area was used more in Jorvi Hospital compared to Meilahti Hospital. Peripheral nerve block anaesthesia reduces time spent in the operating unit and can reduce time spent in the operating theatre if induced in holding area outside of theatre. © 2017 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. 4. DETAIL EXTERIOR VIEW OF FISH HATCHERY BUILDING'S CENTRAL GABLE; ...

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

    4. DETAIL EXTERIOR VIEW OF FISH HATCHERY BUILDING'S CENTRAL GABLE; MASONRY WALL AND FLOWERBED IN FOREGROUND. - Bonneville Project, Fish Hatchery, On Columbia River bordered on South by Union Pacific, Bonneville, Multnomah County, OR

  2. 1. AERIAL VIEW OF WEST/FRONT AND NORTH/SIDE FACADES, LOOKING SOUTHEAST ...

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

    1. AERIAL VIEW OF WEST/FRONT AND NORTH/SIDE FACADES, LOOKING SOUTHEAST (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): VA-1272 Ball Building, 1437 N. Court House Road. VA-1273 Jesse Building, 1423-27 N. Court House Road. VA-1276 Jesse-Hosmer Building, 1419 N. Court House Road. VA-1275 Moncure (Adams, Porter, Radigan) Building, N. 1415 Court House Road. VA-1274 Rucker Building, N. 1403 Court House Road. - Lawyers' Row Block, North Court House Road between Fourteenth & Fifteenth Streets, Arlington, Arlington County, VA

  3. 14. A westward view of building #5 in the background, ...

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

    14. A westward view of building #5 in the background, low buildings #22 and #23 in the center and supports for the water tower. The roadway was previously rail service to buildings #3, #5, and #9. The trackage had been mostly covered with fill, representing the transition from rail to truck service. The two enclosed passageways to the left of center carried semi-processed tire chain from building #9, on the left, to buildings #3 and #5. - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  4. 8. This metal chute in building #3 carried the cloth ...

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

    8. This metal chute in building #3 carried the cloth bags full of finished tire chains from upper floors to the warehouse on the first floor. - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  5. Connecting Students, Creating Futures at Central Campus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosin, Julie; Erbes, Elizabeth; Britt, James; Good, Bill

    2012-01-01

    Des Moines is an urban community located in the heart of Iowa. Des Moines Public Schools serves 32,000 students in a system with 62 buildings, including Central Campus--a Regional Academy. Central Campus is housed in four buildings, including the main campus at 1800 Grand located on the western edge of downtown Des Moines. As a regional academy,…

  6. Synthetic analog computation in living cells.

    PubMed

    Daniel, Ramiz; Rubens, Jacob R; Sarpeshkar, Rahul; Lu, Timothy K

    2013-05-30

    A central goal of synthetic biology is to achieve multi-signal integration and processing in living cells for diagnostic, therapeutic and biotechnology applications. Digital logic has been used to build small-scale circuits, but other frameworks may be needed for efficient computation in the resource-limited environments of cells. Here we demonstrate that synthetic analog gene circuits can be engineered to execute sophisticated computational functions in living cells using just three transcription factors. Such synthetic analog gene circuits exploit feedback to implement logarithmically linear sensing, addition, ratiometric and power-law computations. The circuits exhibit Weber's law behaviour as in natural biological systems, operate over a wide dynamic range of up to four orders of magnitude and can be designed to have tunable transfer functions. Our circuits can be composed to implement higher-order functions that are well described by both intricate biochemical models and simple mathematical functions. By exploiting analog building-block functions that are already naturally present in cells, this approach efficiently implements arithmetic operations and complex functions in the logarithmic domain. Such circuits may lead to new applications for synthetic biology and biotechnology that require complex computations with limited parts, need wide-dynamic-range biosensing or would benefit from the fine control of gene expression.

  7. Flow-driven Assembly of Microcapsule Towers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shum, Henry; Balazs, Anna

    2016-11-01

    Large populations of the slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum, are able to aggregate over a surface and collectively form a long, vertical stalk. Inspired by this biological behavior, we develop a synthetic mechanism for assembling tower-like structures using microcapsules as the building blocks. We accomplish this in simulations by generating a fluid flow field that draws microcapsules together along a surface and lifts them up at a central point. We considered a fluid flow generated by the local release of a chemical species from a patch on the surface. The concentration gradient of the diffusing chemical species causes radial diffusioosmotic flow along the solid surface toward the patch. Adhesive interactions keep the microcapsules attached to the surface as they are drawn together above the patch. To build a tower-like structure, some of the microcapsules must detach from the surface but remain attached to the rest of the cluster. The upward directed fluid flow above the patch then draws out the cluster into a tower shape. The final morphology of the aggregate structure depends on the flow field, the adhesive capsule-capsule and capsule-surface interaction strengths, and the sedimentation force on the capsules. Tuning these factors changes the structures that are produced.

  8. Using distances between Top-n-gram and residue pairs for protein remote homology detection.

    PubMed

    Liu, Bin; Xu, Jinghao; Zou, Quan; Xu, Ruifeng; Wang, Xiaolong; Chen, Qingcai

    2014-01-01

    Protein remote homology detection is one of the central problems in bioinformatics, which is important for both basic research and practical application. Currently, discriminative methods based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) achieve the state-of-the-art performance. Exploring feature vectors incorporating the position information of amino acids or other protein building blocks is a key step to improve the performance of the SVM-based methods. Two new methods for protein remote homology detection were proposed, called SVM-DR and SVM-DT. SVM-DR is a sequence-based method, in which the feature vector representation for protein is based on the distances between residue pairs. SVM-DT is a profile-based method, which considers the distances between Top-n-gram pairs. Top-n-gram can be viewed as a profile-based building block of proteins, which is calculated from the frequency profiles. These two methods are position dependent approaches incorporating the sequence-order information of protein sequences. Various experiments were conducted on a benchmark dataset containing 54 families and 23 superfamilies. Experimental results showed that these two new methods are very promising. Compared with the position independent methods, the performance improvement is obvious. Furthermore, the proposed methods can also provide useful insights for studying the features of protein families. The better performance of the proposed methods demonstrates that the position dependant approaches are efficient for protein remote homology detection. Another advantage of our methods arises from the explicit feature space representation, which can be used to analyze the characteristic features of protein families. The source code of SVM-DT and SVM-DR is available at http://bioinformatics.hitsz.edu.cn/DistanceSVM/index.jsp.

  9. 9. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, ...

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

    9. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 PALLADIAN WINDOW AT NORTH END OF CENTRAL HALL. 10. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 CENTRAL VIEW OF DOUBLE PARLORS FROM SOUTHWEST PARLOR TOWARD NORTHWEST PARLOR. 11. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 WALLPAPER IN SOUTHWEST PARLOR. 12. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 FIREPLACE IN SOUTHWEST PARLOR. 13. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 WINDOW IN SOUTHWEST PARLOR. 14. Historic American Buildings Survey, Laurence E. Tilley, Photographer April, 1958 DETAIL OF WALLPAPER AND WOODWORK IN ... - Eliza Ward House, 2 George Street, Providence, Providence County, RI

  10. MTR BUILDING, TRA603. SOUTHEAST CORNER, EAST SIDE FACING TOWARD RIGHT ...

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

    MTR BUILDING, TRA-603. SOUTHEAST CORNER, EAST SIDE FACING TOWARD RIGHT OF VIEW. CAMERA FACING NORTHWEST. LIGHT-COLORED PROJECTION AT LEFT IS ENGINEERING SERVICES BUILDING, TRA-635. SMALL CONCRETE BLOCK BUILDING AT CENTER OF VIEW IS FAST CHOPPER DETECTOR HOUSE, TRA-665. INL NEGATIVE NO. HD46-43-3. Mike Crane, Photographer, 4/2005 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Reactor Area, Materials & Engineering Test Reactors, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  11. 11. A westward view within building #8A of space used ...

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

    11. A westward view within building #8-A of space used as a foreman's office, as storage, and for rectifiers (converters of alternating current to direct current for the zinc-electro-plating equipment). Buildings #6-A and #8-A were the enclosed outside spaces between the outer walls of buildings #6 and #7, and #8 and #7 respectively. - American Chain & Cable Company, East Princess Street (400 Block), York, York County, PA

  12. Scalable geocomputation: evolving an environmental model building platform from single-core to supercomputers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmitz, Oliver; de Jong, Kor; Karssenberg, Derek

    2017-04-01

    There is an increasing demand to run environmental models on a big scale: simulations over large areas at high resolution. The heterogeneity of available computing hardware such as multi-core CPUs, GPUs or supercomputer potentially provides significant computing power to fulfil this demand. However, this requires detailed knowledge of the underlying hardware, parallel algorithm design and the implementation thereof in an efficient system programming language. Domain scientists such as hydrologists or ecologists often lack this specific software engineering knowledge, their emphasis is (and should be) on exploratory building and analysis of simulation models. As a result, models constructed by domain specialists mostly do not take full advantage of the available hardware. A promising solution is to separate the model building activity from software engineering by offering domain specialists a model building framework with pre-programmed building blocks that they combine to construct a model. The model building framework, consequently, needs to have built-in capabilities to make full usage of the available hardware. Developing such a framework providing understandable code for domain scientists and being runtime efficient at the same time poses several challenges on developers of such a framework. For example, optimisations can be performed on individual operations or the whole model, or tasks need to be generated for a well-balanced execution without explicitly knowing the complexity of the domain problem provided by the modeller. Ideally, a modelling framework supports the optimal use of available hardware whichsoever combination of model building blocks scientists use. We demonstrate our ongoing work on developing parallel algorithms for spatio-temporal modelling and demonstrate 1) PCRaster, an environmental software framework (http://www.pcraster.eu) providing spatio-temporal model building blocks and 2) parallelisation of about 50 of these building blocks using the new Fern library (https://github.com/geoneric/fern/), an independent generic raster processing library. Fern is a highly generic software library and its algorithms can be configured according to the configuration of a modelling framework. With manageable programming effort (e.g. matching data types between programming and domain language) we created a binding between Fern and PCRaster. The resulting PCRaster Python multicore module can be used to execute existing PCRaster models without having to make any changes to the model code. We show initial results on synthetic and geoscientific models indicating significant runtime improvements provided by parallel local and focal operations. We further outline challenges in improving remaining algorithms such as flow operations over digital elevation maps and further potential improvements like enhancing disk I/O.

  13. On the Road to Quality: Turning Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonstingl, John Jay

    1996-01-01

    W. Edwards Deming's quality philosophy can help organizations develop collaborative, community-building leadership practices. This article outlines five personal practices of quality based on personal leadership, partnerships, a systems focus, a process orientation, and constant dedication to continuous improvement. Stumbling blocks can be…

  14. 45. OVERALL VIEW OF 100 AND 200 BLOCKS OF IOWA ...

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

    45. OVERALL VIEW OF 100 AND 200 BLOCKS OF IOWA STREET WITH MCFADDEN SPICE AND COFFEE COMPANY FACTORY AND WAREHOUSE AT LEFT, DUBUQUE SEED COMPANY IN CENTER, AND DUBUQUE PAPER COMPANY WAREHOUSE AT RIGHT. VIEW TO NORTHEAST. - Dubuque Commercial & Industrial Buildings, Dubuque, Dubuque County, IA

  15. Electric-field–induced assembly and propulsion of chiral colloidal clusters

    PubMed Central

    Ma, Fuduo; Wang, Sijia; Wu, David T.; Wu, Ning

    2015-01-01

    Chiral molecules with opposite handedness exhibit distinct physical, chemical, or biological properties. They pose challenges as well as opportunities in understanding the phase behavior of soft matter, designing enantioselective catalysts, and manufacturing single-handed pharmaceuticals. Microscopic particles, arranged in a chiral configuration, could also exhibit unusual optical, electric, or magnetic responses. Here we report a simple method to assemble achiral building blocks, i.e., the asymmetric colloidal dimers, into a family of chiral clusters. Under alternating current electric fields, two to four lying dimers associate closely with a central standing dimer and form both right- and left-handed clusters on a conducting substrate. The cluster configuration is primarily determined by the induced dipolar interactions between constituent dimers. Our theoretical model reveals that in-plane dipolar repulsion between petals in the cluster favors the achiral configuration, whereas out-of-plane attraction between the central dimer and surrounding petals favors a chiral arrangement. It is the competition between these two interactions that dictates the final configuration. The theoretical chirality phase diagram is found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. We further demonstrate that the broken symmetry in chiral clusters induces an unbalanced electrohydrodynamic flow surrounding them. As a result, they rotate in opposite directions according to their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms revealed here can be potentially applied to other types of asymmetric particles. Such kinds of chiral colloids will be useful for fabricating metamaterials, making model systems for both chiral molecules and active matter, or building propellers for microscale transport. PMID:25941383

  16. Using triggered operations to offload collective communication operations.

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

    Barrett, Brian W.; Hemmert, K. Scott; Underwood, Keith Douglas

    2010-04-01

    Efficient collective operations are a major component of application scalability. Offload of collective operations onto the network interface reduces many of the latencies that are inherent in network communications and, consequently, reduces the time to perform the collective operation. To support offload, it is desirable to expose semantic building blocks that are simple to offload and yet powerful enough to implement a variety of collective algorithms. This paper presents the implementation of barrier and broadcast leveraging triggered operations - a semantic building block for collective offload. Triggered operations are shown to be both semantically powerful and capable of improving performance.

  17. RHIC on "How the Universe Works"

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

    Lisa, Mike

    2014-08-11

    If you want to know how the universe works, part of the answer lies in understanding the building blocks of matter—before they became inextricably bound within the protons, neutrons, and atoms that make up everything visible in our universe today. That’s why producers for the Science Channel’s documentary series “How the Universe Works” made a point of stopping by the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where physicists recreate post-Big Bang “primal matter” millions of times each day. Learn about RHIC’s role in exploring the building blocks of matter by watching this segment.

  18. Road map to adaptive optimal control. [jet engine control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Boyer, R.

    1980-01-01

    A building block control structure leading toward adaptive, optimal control for jet engines is developed. This approach simplifies the addition of new features and allows for easier checkout of the control by providing a baseline system for comparison. Also, it is possible to eliminate certain features that do not have payoff by being selective in the addition of new building blocks to be added to the baseline system. The minimum risk approach specifically addresses the need for active identification of the plant to be controlled in real time and real time optimization of the control for the identified plant.

  19. Impact: a low cost, reconfigurable, digital beamforming common module building block for next generation phased arrays

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paulsen, Lee; Hoffmann, Ted; Fulton, Caleb; Yeary, Mark; Saunders, Austin; Thompson, Dan; Chen, Bill; Guo, Alex; Murmann, Boris

    2015-05-01

    Phased array systems offer numerous advantages to the modern warfighter in multiple application spaces, including Radar, Electronic Warfare, Signals Intelligence, and Communications. However, a lack of commonality in the underlying technology base for DoD Phased Arrays has led to static systems with long development cycles, slow technology refreshes in response to emerging threats, and expensive, application-specific sub-components. The IMPACT module (Integrated Multi-use Phased Array Common Tile) is a multi-channel, reconfigurable, cost-effective beamformer that provides a common building block for multiple, disparate array applications.

  20. Student-driven courses on the social and ecological responsibilities of engineers : commentary on "student-inspired activities for the teaching and learning of engineering ethics".

    PubMed

    Baier, André

    2013-12-01

    A group of engineering students at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, designed a course on engineering ethics. The core element of the developed Blue Engineering course are self-contained teaching-units, "building blocks". These building blocks typically cover one complex topic and make use of various teaching methods using moderators who lead discussions, rather than experts who lecture. Consequently, the students themselves started to offer the credited course to their fellow students who take an active role in further developing the course themselves.

  1. Three-dimensional {Co(3+)-Zn2+} and {Co(3+)-Cd2+} networks originated from carboxylate-rich building blocks: syntheses, structures, and heterogeneous catalysis.

    PubMed

    Kumar, Girijesh; Gupta, Rajeev

    2013-10-07

    The present work shows the utilization of Co(3+) complexes appended with either para- or meta-arylcarboxylic acid groups as the molecular building blocks for the construction of three-dimensional {Co(3+)-Zn(2+)} and {Co(3+)-Cd(2+)} heterobimetallic networks. The structural characterizations of these networks show several interesting features including well-defined pores and channels. These networks function as heterogeneous and reusable catalysts for the regio- and stereoselective ring-opening reactions of various epoxides and size-selective cyanation reactions of assorted aldehydes.

  2. From synthesis to function via iterative assembly of N-methyliminodiacetic acid boronate building blocks.

    PubMed

    Li, Junqi; Grillo, Anthony S; Burke, Martin D

    2015-08-18

    The study and optimization of small molecule function is often impeded by the time-intensive and specialist-dependent process that is typically used to make such compounds. In contrast, general and automated platforms have been developed for making peptides, oligonucleotides, and increasingly oligosaccharides, where synthesis is simplified to iterative applications of the same reactions. Inspired by the way natural products are biosynthesized via the iterative assembly of a defined set of building blocks, we developed a platform for small molecule synthesis involving the iterative coupling of haloboronic acids protected as the corresponding N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronates. Here we summarize our efforts thus far to develop this platform into a generalized and automated approach for small molecule synthesis. We and others have employed this approach to access many polyene-based compounds, including the polyene motifs found in >75% of all polyene natural products. This platform further allowed us to derivatize amphotericin B, the powerful and resistance-evasive but also highly toxic last line of defense in treating systemic fungal infections, and thereby understand its mechanism of action. This synthesis-enabled mechanistic understanding has led us to develop less toxic derivatives currently under evaluation as improved antifungal agents. To access more Csp(3)-containing small molecules, we gained a stereocontrolled entry into chiral, non-racemic α-boryl aldehydes through the discovery of a chiral derivative of MIDA. These α-boryl aldehydes are versatile intermediates for the synthesis of many Csp(3) boronate building blocks that are otherwise difficult to access. In addition, we demonstrated the utility of these types of building blocks in accessing pharmaceutically relevant targets via an iterative Csp(3) cross-coupling cycle. We have further expanded the scope of the platform to include stereochemically complex macrocyclic and polycyclic molecules using a linear-to-cyclized strategy, in which Csp(3) boronate building blocks are iteratively assembled into linear precursors that are then cyclized into the cyclic frameworks found in many natural products and natural product-like structures. Enabled by the serendipitous discovery of a catch-and-release protocol for generally purifying MIDA boronate intermediates, the platform has been automated. The synthesis of 14 distinct classes of small molecules, including pharmaceuticals, materials components, and polycyclic natural products, has been achieved using this new synthesis machine. It is anticipated that the scope of small molecules accessible by this platform will continue to expand via further developments in building block synthesis, Csp(3) cross-coupling methodologies, and cyclization strategies. Achieving these goals will enable the more generalized synthesis of small molecules and thereby help shift the rate-limiting step in small molecule science from synthesis to function.

  3. Prefinishing of Exterior Building Components. Proceedings of a Conference of the Building Research Institute, Division of Engineering and Industrial Research (Fall 1961).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC.

    Current trends in architectural design and construction are described which may affect the prefinishing of exterior building components. Contents include--(1) prefinishing of ferrous metals, (2) prefinishing of nonferrous metals, (3) prefinishing of wood and composition board, (4) prefinishing of masonry concrete block, (5) prefinishing of…

  4. PBF Reactor Building (PER620). Camera facing north toward south facade. ...

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

    PBF Reactor Building (PER-620). Camera facing north toward south facade. Note west-wing siding on concrete block; high-bay siding of metal. Excavation and forms for signal and cable trenches proceed from building. Photographer: Kirsh. Date August 20, 1968. INEEL negative no. 68-3332 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, SPERT-I & Power Burst Facility Area, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  5. Modeling lift operations with SASmacr Simulation Studio

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kar, Leow Soo

    2016-10-01

    Lifts or elevators are an essential part of multistorey buildings which provide vertical transportation for its occupants. In large and high-rise apartment buildings, its occupants are permanent, while in buildings, like hospitals or office blocks, the occupants are temporary or users of the buildings. They come in to work or to visit, and thus, the population of such buildings are much higher than those in residential apartments. It is common these days that large office blocks or hospitals have at least 8 to 10 lifts serving its population. In order to optimize the level of service performance, different transportation schemes are devised to control the lift operations. For example, one lift may be assigned to solely service the even floors and another solely for the odd floors, etc. In this paper, a basic lift system is modelled using SAS Simulation Studio to study the effect of factors such as the number of floors, capacity of the lift car, arrival rate and exit rate of passengers at each floor, peak and off peak periods on the system performance. The simulation is applied to a real lift operation in Sunway College's North Building to validate the model.

  6. Retrofit Audits and Cost Estimates. A Look at Quality and Consistency

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

    Eisenberg, L.; Shapiro, C.; Fleischer, W.

    Retrofit NYC Block by Block is an outreach program targeting owners of one- to four-family homes, the most common building type in New York City, with more than 600,000 structures citywide. Administered by the Pratt Center for Community Development and implemented by four nonprofit, community-based organizations, Block by Block connects residents, businesses, and religious and civic organizations in predominantly low-and moderate-income neighborhoods with one or more of a half-dozen public and private financial incentive programs that facilitate energy-efficiency retrofits. This research project sought to evaluate the approach, effectiveness, and the energy use reductions accomplished by the Retrofit NYC: Block bymore » Block program.« less

  7. Retrofit Audits and Cost Estimates: A Look at Quality and Consistency

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

    Eisenberg, L.; Shapiro, C.; Fleischer, W.

    Retrofit NYC Block by Block is an outreach program targeting owners of one- to four-family homes, the most common building type in New York City, with more than 600,000 structures citywide. Administered by the Pratt Center for Community Development and implemented by four nonprofit, community based organizations, Block by Block connects residents, businesses, and religious and civic organizations in predominantly low- and moderate-income neighborhoods with one or more of a half-dozen public and private financial incentive programs that facilitate energy-efficiency retrofits. This research project sought to evaluate the approach, effectiveness, and the energy use reductions accomplished by the Retrofit NYC:more » Block by Block program.« less

  8. ETR COMPRESSOR BUILDING, TRA643. COMPRESSORS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT INSTALLED. METAL ...

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

    ETR COMPRESSOR BUILDING, TRA-643. COMPRESSORS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT INSTALLED. METAL ROOF AND CONCRETE BLOCK WALLS. INL NEGATIVE NO. 61-4536. Unknown Photographer, ca. 1961. - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Reactor Area, Materials & Engineering Test Reactors, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  9. Appendices of an appraisal for the use of geothermal energy in state-owned buildings in Colorado. Section D. Durango

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

    Meyer, R.T.; Coe, B.A.; Dick, J.D.

    1981-01-01

    Four state-owned building complexes ahve been evaluated within the city of Durango: The State Fish Hatchery, Fort Lewis College, new State Highway Department Building near the Bodo Industrial Park, and the National Guard Building. Three of the state facilities in Durango are evaluated for geothermal systems on thea ssumption of taking geothermal water from a trunk-line originating at the area northof Durango: State Fish Hatchery, Fort Lewis College and new State Highway Department Building. The National Guard Building is evaluated on the basis of a water-to-air heat pump, with warm water derived from a hypothetical shallow aquifer immediately below themore » building site. Two geothermal options were separately evaluated for Fort Lewis College: a central heat exchanger system for delivery of 145/sup 0/F heating water to the campus buildings and a central heat pump system for boosting the heating water to 200/sup 0/F prior to delivery to the buildings; both systems require the installation of a distribution piping network for the entire campus area. Retrofit engineering for the State Fish Hatchery provides for the installation of a small scale central distribution piping system to the several buildings, a central heat excanger coupled to the geothermal trunk line, and the use of various fan coil and unit heaters for space heating. An option is provided for discharge-mixing the geothermal water into the fish ponds and runs in order to raise the hatchery water temperature a couple degrees for increasing fish production and yield. The heating system for the new State Highway Department Building is redesigned to replace the natural-gas-fired forced-air furnaces with a heat exchanger, hot water fan coils and unit heaters.« less

  10. Central Campus Construction Progress

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-10-18

    A large crane towers overhead as the new, seven-story headquarters building takes shape in the industrial area at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 200,000-square-foot facility will anchor the spaceport’s Central Campus and house about 500 NASA civil service and contractor employees. The building will be more energy efficient than the current Headquarters building and will feature the latest in office and administrative building technology to fulfill Kennedy's role as the premiere multi-user spaceport for NASA and, increasingly, commercial entities.

  11. Creative Curriculum Integration in Atlantic Canada: A "MindShift"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Warner, Alan; de Vreede, Cate

    2011-01-01

    Curriculum integration through block programs has not taken hold in Atlantic Canada, but another approach has blossomed in Nova Scotia that is achieving some of the key benefits--interdisciplinary, holistic and problem-based learning, student engagement, community building, collaborative relationships, and real-world experiences. If block programs…

  12. [Carbon footprint of buildings in the urban agglomeration of central Liaoning, China].

    PubMed

    Shi, Yu; Yun, Ying Xia; Liu, Chong; Chu, Ya Qi

    2017-06-18

    With the development of urbanization in China, buildings consumed lots of material and energy. How to estimate carbon emission of buildings is an important scientific problem. Carbon footprint of the central Liaoning agglomeration was studied with carbon footprint approach, geographic information system (GIS) and high-resolution remote sensing (HRRS) technology. The results showed that the construction carbon footprint coefficient of central Liaoning urban agglomeration was 269.16 kg·m -2 . The approach of interpreting total building area and spatial distribution with HRRS was effective, and the accuracy was 89%. The extraction approach was critical for total carbon footprint and spatial distribution estimation. The building area and total carbon footprint of central Liaoning urban agglomeration in descending order was Shenyang, Anshan, Fushun, Liao-yang, Yingkou, Tieling and Benxi. The annual average increment of footprint from 2011 to 2013 in descending order was Shenyang, Benxi, Fushun, Anshan, Tieling, Yingkou and Liaoyang. The accurate estimation of construction carbon footprint spatial and its distribution was of significance for the planning and optimization of carbon emission reduction.

  13. Receiver-exciter controller design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jansma, P. A.

    1982-01-01

    A description of the general design of both the block 3 and block 4 receiver-exciter controllers for the Deep Space Network (DSN) Mark IV-A System is presented along with the design approach. The controllers are designed to enable the receiver-exciter subsystem (RCV) to be configured, calibrated, initialized and operated from a central location via high level instructions. The RECs are designed to be operated under the control of the DMC subsystem. The instructions are in the form of standard subsystem blocks (SSBs) received via the local area network (LAN). The centralized control provided by RECs and other DSCC controllers in Mark IV-A is intended to reduce DSN operations costs from the Mark III era.

  14. Downtown Crossing: Auto Restricted Zone in Boston

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1982-07-01

    The Downtown Crossing auto restricted zone, implemented in 1978, involved the : elimination of all auto traffic froma zone of twelve blocks encompassing six : different streets in Bostn's central business district. Some of the blocks were : pedestria...

  15. GENERAL VIEW OF FLIGHT LINE BUILDINGS. FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, ...

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

    GENERAL VIEW OF FLIGHT LINE BUILDINGS. FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, PETROLEUM OPERATIONS BUILDING (BUILDING, 2840), SECURITY POLICE CENTRAL CONTROL BUILDING (BUILDING 2841). MAINTENANCE DOCK (BUILDING 2837) AND MAINTENANCE DOCK (BUILDING 2890). VIEW TO NORTHWEST - Plattsburgh Air Force Base, U.S. Route 9, Plattsburgh, Clinton County, NY

  16. Analysis of an international collaboration for capacity building of human resources for eye care: case study of the college-college VISION 2020 LINK.

    PubMed

    Mwangi, Nyawira; Zondervan, Marcia; Bascaran, Covadonga

    2017-03-14

    There is an extreme health workforce shortage in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. Shortage of eye care workers impedes effective implementation of prevention of blindness programs. The World Health Organization has identified education, partnership, leadership, financing, and policy as intertwined interventions that are critical to resolving this crisis on the long term. The VISION 2020 LINK between the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom aims to increase the quantity and quality of eye care training in East, Central, and Southern Africa through a focus on five strategic areas: fellowship examination for ophthalmologists, training the trainers, curriculum development for residents in ophthalmology and ophthalmic clinical officers, continuous professional development (CPD), and mentoring program for young ophthalmologists. This study examined how education and partnership can be linked to improve eye care, through an evaluation of this north-south link based on its own targets and established frameworks to guide north-south links. An exploratory qualitative case study design was used. Twenty-nine link representatives were recruited through purposive sampling and snowballing. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule that incorporated the components of a successful link from an existing framework. Documents pertaining to the link were also examined. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings revealed that the perception to the contribution of the link to eye care in the region is generally positive. Process indicators showed that the targets in three strategic objectives of the link have been achieved. Framework-based evaluation also showed that the link is successful. Mutual learning and development of friendships were the most commonly identified success factors. Inadequate awareness of the link by college members is a key challenge. The study concludes that the link is active and evolving and has achieved most of its targets. Further developments should be directed to influence health system strengthening in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa more strategically. The study recommends expansion of the scope of collaboration to involve multiple health system building blocks.

  17. Cajal and the Conceptual Weakness of Neural Sciences

    PubMed Central

    Delgado-García, José M.

    2015-01-01

    The experimental and conceptual contributions of Santiago Ramón y Cajal remain almost as fresh and valuable as when his original proposals were published more than a century ago—a rare example, contrasting with other related sciences. His basic concepts on the neuron as the main building block of the central nervous system, the dynamic polarization principle as a way to understand how neurons deal with ongoing active processes, and brain local structural arrangements as a result of the functional specialization of selected neural circuits are concepts still surviving in present research papers dealing with brain function during the performance of cognitive and/or behavioral activities. What is more, the central dogma of the Neuroscience of today, i.e., brain plasticity as the morpho-functional substrate of memory and learning processes, was already proposed and documented with notable insights by Ramón y Cajal. From this background, I will try to discuss in this chapter which new functional and structural concepts have been introduced in contemporary Neuroscience and how we will be able to construct a set of basic principles underlying brain functions for the twenty-first century. PMID:26483644

  18. National Water-Quality Assessment Program: Central Arizona Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cordy, Gail E.

    1994-01-01

    In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began to implement a full-scale National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The long-term goals of the NAWQA program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface-water and ground-water resources and to provide a sound, scientific understanding of the primary natural and human factors affecting the quality of these resources. In meeting these goals, the program will produce a wealth of water-quality information that will be useful to policymakers and managers at the National, State, and local levels. Studies of 60 hydrologic systems that include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems (study-unit investigations) are the building blocks of the national assessment. The 60 study units range in size from 1,000 to about 60,000 mi2 and represent 60 to 70 percent of the Nation's water use and population served by public water supplies. Twenty study-unit investigations were started in 1991, 20 additional studies started in 1994, and 20 more are planned to start in 1997. The Central Arizona Basins study unit began assessment activities in 1994.

  19. Advancing metropolitan planning for operations : the building blocks of a model transportation plan incorporating operations : a desk reference

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-04-01

    This publication is a resource designed to enable transportation planners and their planning partners to build a transportation plan that includes operations objectives, performance measures, and strategies that are relevant to their region, that ref...

  20. Interior, detail view of last original windows and filed in ...

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

    Interior, detail view of last original windows and filed in wall arches, also concrete block wall of beryllum/uranium labs to left, looking southwest near center of west elevation, main building. - Watertown Arsenal, Building No. 312, Wooley Avenue, Watertown, Middlesex County, MA

  1. Knowledge Gateways: The Building Blocks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawkins, Donald T.; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Discusses the need for knowledge gateway systems to provide access to scattered information and the use of technologies in gateway building, including artificial intelligence and expert systems, networking, online retrieval systems, optical storage, and natural language processing. The status of four existing gateways is described. (20 references)…

  2. Building Learning into the Teaching Job.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Renyi, Judith

    1998-01-01

    A two-year study of professional development recommended that schools build professional development into school life via flexible scheduling and extended time blocks; help teachers assume responsibility for their own professional development; find common ground with the community via resource sharing; and find revenues to support professional…

  3. POSSIBLE ROLES OF FUNGAL HEMOLYSINS IN SICK BUILDING SYNDROME

    EPA Science Inventory

    The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of SBS includes such symptoms in the occupants as headache, distraction, dizziness, fatigue, watery eyes, runny or blocked or bleeding nose, dry or sore throat and skin irritation. The WHO has set a criterion for a healthy building ...

  4. Building an Understanding of Functions: A Series of Activities for Pre-Calculus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carducci, Olivia M.

    2008-01-01

    Building block toys can be used to illustrate various concepts connected with functions including graphs and rates of change of linear and exponential functions, piecewise functions, and composition of functions. Five brief activities suitable for a pre-calculus course are described.

  5. Photocopy of War Department drawing (original located at Fort McCoy, ...

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

    Photocopy of War Department drawing (original located at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin). FOUNDATION SETTING (PLAN, DETAILS),PLAN NUMBER 6150-20-B - Fort McCoy, Building No. T-10127, Northwest of Hospital Boiler House, Building T-10111, Block 10, Sparta, Monroe County, WI

  6. Gigadalton-scale shape-programmable DNA assemblies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagenbauer, Klaus F.; Sigl, Christian; Dietz, Hendrik

    2017-12-01

    Natural biomolecular assemblies such as molecular motors, enzymes, viruses and subcellular structures often form by self-limiting hierarchical oligomerization of multiple subunits. Large structures can also assemble efficiently from a few components by combining hierarchical assembly and symmetry, a strategy exemplified by viral capsids. De novo protein design and RNA and DNA nanotechnology aim to mimic these capabilities, but the bottom-up construction of artificial structures with the dimensions and complexity of viruses and other subcellular components remains challenging. Here we show that natural assembly principles can be combined with the methods of DNA origami to produce gigadalton-scale structures with controlled sizes. DNA sequence information is used to encode the shapes of individual DNA origami building blocks, and the geometry and details of the interactions between these building blocks then control their copy numbers, positions and orientations within higher-order assemblies. We illustrate this strategy by creating planar rings of up to 350 nanometres in diameter and with atomic masses of up to 330 megadaltons, micrometre-long, thick tubes commensurate in size to some bacilli, and three-dimensional polyhedral assemblies with sizes of up to 1.2 gigadaltons and 450 nanometres in diameter. We achieve efficient assembly, with yields of up to 90 per cent, by using building blocks with validated structure and sufficient rigidity, and an accurate design with interaction motifs that ensure that hierarchical assembly is self-limiting and able to proceed in equilibrium to allow for error correction. We expect that our method, which enables the self-assembly of structures with sizes approaching that of viruses and cellular organelles, can readily be used to create a range of other complex structures with well defined sizes, by exploiting the modularity and high degree of addressability of the DNA origami building blocks used.

  7. Gigadalton-scale shape-programmable DNA assemblies.

    PubMed

    Wagenbauer, Klaus F; Sigl, Christian; Dietz, Hendrik

    2017-12-06

    Natural biomolecular assemblies such as molecular motors, enzymes, viruses and subcellular structures often form by self-limiting hierarchical oligomerization of multiple subunits. Large structures can also assemble efficiently from a few components by combining hierarchical assembly and symmetry, a strategy exemplified by viral capsids. De novo protein design and RNA and DNA nanotechnology aim to mimic these capabilities, but the bottom-up construction of artificial structures with the dimensions and complexity of viruses and other subcellular components remains challenging. Here we show that natural assembly principles can be combined with the methods of DNA origami to produce gigadalton-scale structures with controlled sizes. DNA sequence information is used to encode the shapes of individual DNA origami building blocks, and the geometry and details of the interactions between these building blocks then control their copy numbers, positions and orientations within higher-order assemblies. We illustrate this strategy by creating planar rings of up to 350 nanometres in diameter and with atomic masses of up to 330 megadaltons, micrometre-long, thick tubes commensurate in size to some bacilli, and three-dimensional polyhedral assemblies with sizes of up to 1.2 gigadaltons and 450 nanometres in diameter. We achieve efficient assembly, with yields of up to 90 per cent, by using building blocks with validated structure and sufficient rigidity, and an accurate design with interaction motifs that ensure that hierarchical assembly is self-limiting and able to proceed in equilibrium to allow for error correction. We expect that our method, which enables the self-assembly of structures with sizes approaching that of viruses and cellular organelles, can readily be used to create a range of other complex structures with well defined sizes, by exploiting the modularity and high degree of addressability of the DNA origami building blocks used.

  8. Synthesis of orthogonally protected bacterial, rare-sugar and D-glycosamine building blocks.

    PubMed

    Emmadi, Madhu; Kulkarni, Suvarn S

    2013-10-01

    Bacterial glycoconjugates comprise atypical deoxy amino sugars that are not present on the human cell surface, making them good targets for drug discovery and carbohydrate-based vaccine development. Unfortunately, they cannot be isolated with sufficient purity in acceptable amounts, and therefore chemical synthesis is a crucial step toward the development of these products. Here we describe a detailed protocol for the synthesis of orthogonally protected bacterial deoxy amino hexopyranoside (2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxyhexose (DATDH), D-bacillosamine, D-fucosamine, and 2-acetamido-4-amino-2,4,6-trideoxy-D-galactose (AAT)), D-glucosamine and D-galactosamine building blocks starting from β-D-thiophenylmannoside. Readily available β-D-thiophenylmannoside was first converted into the corresponding 2,4-diols via deoxygenation or silylation at C6, followed by O3 acylation. The 2,4-diols were converted into 2,4-bis-trifluoromethanesulfonates, which underwent highly regioselective, one-pot, double-serial and double-parallel displacements by azide, phthalimide, acetate and nitrite ions as nucleophiles. Thus, D-rhamnosyl- and D-mannosyl 2,4-diols can be efficiently transformed into various rare sugars and D-galactosamine, respectively, as orthogonally protected thioglycoside building blocks on a gram scale in 1-2 d, in 54-85% overall yields, after a single chromatographic purification. This would otherwise take 1-2 weeks. D-Glucosamine building blocks can be prepared from β-D-thiophenylmannoside in four steps via C2 displacement of triflates by azide in 2 d and in 66-70% overall yields. These procedures have been applied to the synthesis of L-serine-linked trisaccharide of Neisseria meningitidis and a rare disaccharide fragment of the zwitterionic polysaccharide (ZPS) A1 (ZPS A1) of Bacteroides fragilis.

  9. Identifying block structure in the Pacific Northwest, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Savage, James C.; Wells, Ray E.

    2015-01-01

    We have identified block structure in the Pacific Northwest (west of 116°W between 38°N and 49°N) by clustering GPS stations so that the same Euler vector approximates the velocity of each station in a cluster. Given the total number k of clusters desired, the clustering procedure finds the best assignment of stations to clusters. Clustering is calculated for k= 2 to 14. In geographic space, cluster boundaries that remain relatively stable as k is increased are tentatively identified as block boundaries. That identification is reinforced if the cluster boundary coincides with a geologic feature. Boundaries identified in northern California and Nevada are the Central Nevada Seismic Belt, the west side of the Northern Walker Lane Belt, and the Bartlett Springs Fault. Three blocks cover all of Oregon and Washington. The principal block boundary there extends west-northwest along the Brothers Fault Zone, then north and northwest along the eastern boundary of Siletzia, the accreted oceanic basement of the forearc. East of this boundary is the Intermountain block, its eastern boundary undefined. A cluster boundary at Cape Blanco subdivides the forearc along the faulted southern margin of Siletzia. South of Cape Blanco the Klamath Mountains-Basin and Range block extends east to the Central Nevada Seismic Belt and south to the Sierra Nevada-Great Valley block. The Siletzia block north of Cape Blanco coincides almost exactly with the accreted Siletz terrane. The cluster boundary in the eastern Olympic Peninsula may mark permanent shortening of Siletzia against the Intermountain block.

  10. Chilled water study EEAP program for Walter Reed Army Medical Center: Book 2. Final report

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

    NONE

    1996-02-01

    The Energy Engineering Analysis Program (EEAP) Study for Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) was to provide a thorough examination of the central chilled water plants on site. WRAMC is comprised of seventy-one (71) buildings located on a 113-acre site in Washington, D.C. There are two (2) central chilled water plants (Buildings 48 and 49) each with a primary chilled water distribution system. In addition to the two (2) central plants, three (3) buildings utilize their own independent chillers. Two (2) of the independent chillers (Buildings 7 and T-2), one of which is inoperative (T-2), are smaller air-cooled units, whilemore » the third (Building 54) has a 1,900-ton chilled water plant comprised of three (3) centrifugal chillers. Of the two (2) central chilled water plants, Building 48 houses six (6) chillers totalling 7,080 tons of cooling and Building 49 houses one (1) chiller with 660 tons of cooling. The total chiller cooling capacity available on site is 9,840 tons. The chilled water systems were reviewed for alternative ways of conserving energy on site and reducing the peak-cooling load. Distribution systems were reviewed to determine which buildings were served by each of the chilled water plants and to determine chilled water usage on site. Evaluations were made of building exterior and interior composition in order to estimate cooling loads. Interviews with site personnel helped Entech better understand the chilled water plants, the distribution systems, and how each system was utilized.« less

  11. Building damage assessment from PolSAR data using texture parameters of statistical model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Linlin; Liu, Xiuguo; Chen, Qihao; Yang, Shuai

    2018-04-01

    Accurate building damage assessment is essential in providing decision support for disaster relief and reconstruction. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) has become one of the most effective means of building damage assessment, due to its all-day/all-weather ability and richer backscatter information of targets. However, intact buildings that are not parallel to the SAR flight pass (termed oriented buildings) and collapsed buildings share similar scattering mechanisms, both of which are dominated by volume scattering. This characteristic always leads to misjudgments between assessments of collapsed buildings and oriented buildings from PolSAR data. Because the collapsed buildings and the intact buildings (whether oriented or parallel buildings) have different textures, a novel building damage assessment method is proposed in this study to address this problem by introducing texture parameters of statistical models. First, the logarithms of the estimated texture parameters of different statistical models are taken as a new texture feature to describe the collapse of the buildings. Second, the collapsed buildings and intact buildings are distinguished using an appropriate threshold. Then, the building blocks are classified into three levels based on the building block collapse rate. Moreover, this paper also discusses the capability for performing damage assessment using texture parameters from different statistical models or using different estimators. The RADARSAT-2 and ALOS-1 PolSAR images are used to present and analyze the performance of the proposed method. The results show that using the texture parameters avoids the problem of confusing collapsed and oriented buildings and improves the assessment accuracy. The results assessed by using the K/G0 distribution texture parameters estimated based on the second moment obtain the highest extraction accuracies. For the RADARSAT-2 and ALOS-1 data, the overall accuracy (OA) for these three types of buildings is 73.39% and 68.45%, respectively.

  12. Matriarch: A Python Library for Materials Architecture.

    PubMed

    Giesa, Tristan; Jagadeesan, Ravi; Spivak, David I; Buehler, Markus J

    2015-10-12

    Biological materials, such as proteins, often have a hierarchical structure ranging from basic building blocks at the nanoscale (e.g., amino acids) to assembled structures at the macroscale (e.g., fibers). Current software for materials engineering allows the user to specify polypeptide chains and simple secondary structures prior to molecular dynamics simulation, but is not flexible in terms of the geometric arrangement of unequilibrated structures. Given some knowledge of a larger-scale structure, instructing the software to create it can be very difficult and time-intensive. To this end, the present paper reports a mathematical language, using category theory, to describe the architecture of a material, i.e., its set of building blocks and instructions for combining them. While this framework applies to any hierarchical material, here we concentrate on proteins. We implement this mathematical language as an open-source Python library called Matriarch. It is a domain-specific language that gives the user the ability to create almost arbitrary structures with arbitrary amino acid sequences and, from them, generate Protein Data Bank (PDB) files. In this way, Matriarch is more powerful than commercial software now available. Matriarch can be used in tandem with molecular dynamics simulations and helps engineers design and modify biologically inspired materials based on their desired functionality. As a case study, we use our software to alter both building blocks and building instructions for tropocollagen, and determine their effect on its structure and mechanical properties.

  13. [The effects of nicergoline on the heart rate in the normotensive or spontaneously hypertensive rat. Possible participation of central alpha-1 receptors].

    PubMed

    Huchet, A M; Schmitt, H

    1986-01-01

    The cardiovascular effects of nicergoline, a preferential alpha 1-adrenoceptor blocking drug, were studied in anaesthetized normotensive or spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rats. Nicergoline (300 micrograms/kg, i.v.) significantly reduced blood pressure and heart rate in control, bivagotomized or beta-blocked normotensive or SH rats. In bilaterally vagotomized and beta-blocked rats, nicergoline reduced mean blood pressure but did no longer modify heart rate. Thus, it is postulated that nicergoline could reduce the sympathetic tone and increase the vagal nerve activity, possibly by inhibiting central alpha 1-adrenoceptors. The nicergoline--induced bradycardia was greater in bivagotomized SHR than in normotensive ones. Intracerebroventricular injections of nicergoline (30 micrograms/kg) did not modify heart rate in normotensive control, bivagotomized or beta-blocked rats. On the contrary, nicergoline (30 micrograms/kg) injected into the cisterna magna induced a significant bradycardia in the three groups of normotensive rats. Blood pressure was reduced in the same way in all groups centrally treated by nicergoline. In conclusion, it seems that nicergoline reduces blood pressure by peripheral alpha-adrenoceptor blockade and modulates the autonomic nervous activity by inhibiting alpha 1-adrenoceptors mainly localized in the brainstem.

  14. Dynamics of a magnetic skyrmionium driven by spin waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Sai; Xia, Jing; Zhang, Xichao; Ezawa, Motohiko; Kang, Wang; Liu, Xiaoxi; Zhou, Yan; Zhao, Weisheng

    2018-04-01

    A magnetic skyrmionium is a skyrmion-like structure, but carries a zero net skyrmion number which can be used as a building block for non-volatile information processing devices. Here, we study the dynamics of a magnetic skyrmionium driven by propagating spin waves. It is found that the skyrmionium can be effectively driven into motion by spin waves showing a tiny skyrmion Hall effect, whose mobility is much better than that of the skyrmion at the same condition. We also show that the skyrmionium mobility depends on the nanotrack width and the damping coefficient and can be controlled by an external out-of-plane magnetic field. In addition, we demonstrate that the skyrmionium motion driven by spin waves is inertial. Our results indicate that the skyrmionium is a promising building block for building spin-wave spintronic devices.

  15. GPS Space Service Volume: Ensuring Consistent Utility Across GPS Design Builds for Space Users

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauer, Frank H.; Parker, Joel Jefferson Konkl; Valdez, Jennifer Ellen

    2015-01-01

    GPS availability and signal strength originally specified for users on or near surface of Earth with transmitted power levels specified at edge-of-Earth, 14.3 degrees. Prior to the SSV specification, on-orbit performance of GPS varied from block build to block build (IIA, IIRM, IIF) due to antenna gain and beam width variances. Unstable on-orbit performance results in significant risk to space users. Side-lobe signals, although not specified, were expected to significantly boost GPS signal availability for users above the constellation. During GPS III Phase A, NASA noted significant discrepancies in power levels specified in GPS III specification documents, and measured on-orbit performance. To stabilize the signal for high altitude space users, NASA DoD team in 2003-2005 led the creation of new Space Service Volume (SSV) definition and specifications.

  16. Programmable resistive-switch nanowire transistor logic circuits.

    PubMed

    Shim, Wooyoung; Yao, Jun; Lieber, Charles M

    2014-09-10

    Programmable logic arrays (PLA) constitute a promising architecture for developing increasingly complex and functional circuits through nanocomputers from nanoscale building blocks. Here we report a novel one-dimensional PLA element that incorporates resistive switch gate structures on a semiconductor nanowire and show that multiple elements can be integrated to realize functional PLAs. In our PLA element, the gate coupling to the nanowire transistor can be modulated by the memory state of the resistive switch to yield programmable active (transistor) or inactive (resistor) states within a well-defined logic window. Multiple PLA nanowire elements were integrated and programmed to yield a working 2-to-4 demultiplexer with long-term retention. The well-defined, controllable logic window and long-term retention of our new one-dimensional PLA element provide a promising route for building increasingly complex circuits with nanoscale building blocks.

  17. Selective positioning and integration of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes.

    PubMed

    Jiao, Liying; Xian, Xiaojun; Wu, Zhongyun; Zhang, Jin; Liu, Zhongfan

    2009-01-01

    We present a general selective positioning and integration technique for fabricating single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) circuits with preselected individual SWNTs as building blocks by utilizing poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) thin film as a macroscopically handlable mediator. The transparency and marker-replicating capability of PMMA mediator allow the selective placement of chirality-specific nanotubes onto predesigned patterned surfaces with a resolution of ca. 1 mum. This technique is compatible with multiple operations and p-n conversion by chemical doping, which enables the construction of complex and logic circuits. As demonstrations of building SWNTs circuits, we fabricated a field effect inverter, a 2 x 2 all-SWNT crossbar field effect transistor (FET), and flexible FETs on plastic with this technique. This selective positioning approach can also be extended to construct purpose-directed architecture with various nanoscale building blocks.

  18. Use of Uas for the Conservation of Historical Buildings in Case of Emergencies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gagliolo, S.; Fagandini, R.; Federici, B.; Ferrando, I.; Passoni, D.; Pagliari, D.; Pinto, L.; Sguerso, D.

    2017-05-01

    The task of conservation and management of cultural heritage is quite central in Italy, which lists a high number of beautiful architectures. A quick and precise survey may be requested in case of calamity. In the present paper, the most commonly used survey techniques are discussed, focusing on their applications for the conservation of the artistic heritage in case of emergency. Particular attention is given to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) photogrammetry and its potentiality in obtaining good results in terms of speed, cheapness, precision and accuracy, assuring at the same time the safety of the operators in critical situations (e.g. natural disasters). A case study, realized at the Castle of Casalbagliano (Alessandria, Italy), is discussed. Different image block configurations and acquisition geometries (nadiral and oblique images) have been exploited, with the aim of defining useful guidelines for emergencies UAS survey of partially collapsed structures. An application to a significative case study is introduced.

  19. Formalizing Darwinism and inclusive fitness theory.

    PubMed

    Grafen, Alan

    2009-11-12

    Inclusive fitness maximization is a basic building block for biological contributions to any theory of the evolution of society. There is a view in mathematical population genetics that nothing is caused to be maximized in the process of natural selection, but this is explained as arising from a misunderstanding about the meaning of fitness maximization. Current theoretical work on inclusive fitness is discussed, with emphasis on the author's 'formal Darwinism project'. Generally, favourable conclusions are drawn about the validity of assuming fitness maximization, but the need for continuing work is emphasized, along with the possibility that substantive exceptions may be uncovered. The formal Darwinism project aims more ambitiously to represent in a formal mathematical framework the central point of Darwin's Origin of Species, that the mechanical processes of inheritance and reproduction can give rise to the appearance of design, and it is a fitting ambition in Darwin's bicentenary year to capture his most profound discovery in the lingua franca of science.

  20. The Silicon Tracking System of the CBM experiment at FAIR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teklishyn, Maksym

    2018-03-01

    The Silicon Tracking System (STS) is the central detector in the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR. Operating in the 1Tm dipole magnetic field, the STS will enable pile-up free detection and momentum measurement of the charged particles originating from beam-target nuclear interactions at rates up to 10 MHz. The STS consists of 8 tracking stations based on double-sided silicon micro-strip sensors equipped with fast, self-triggering read-out electronics. With about two million read-out channels, the STS will deliver a high-rate stream of time-stamped data that is transferred to a computing farm for on-line event determination and analysis. The functional building block is a detector module consisting of a sensor, micro-cables and two front-end electronics boards. In this contribution, the development status of the STS components and the system integration is discussed and an outlook on the detector construction is given.

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