Identification of DreI as an Antiviral Factor Regulated by RLR Signaling Pathway

PubMed Central

Li, Shun; Sun, Fan; Zhang, Yi-Bing; Gui, Jian-Fang; Zhang, Qi-Ya

2012-01-01

Background Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)–like receptors (RLRs) had been demonstrated to prime interferon (IFN) response against viral infection via the conserved RLR signaling in fish, and a novel fish-specific gene, the grass carp reovirus (GCRV)-induced gene 2 (Gig2), had been suggested to play important role in host antiviral response. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we cloned and characterized zebrafish Gig2 homolog (named Danio rerio Gig2-I, DreI), and revealed its antiviral role and expressional regulation signaling pathway. RT-PCR, Western blot and promoter activity assay indicate that DreI can be induced by poly I:C, spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) and recombinant IFN (rIFN), showing that DreI is a typical ISG. Using the pivotal signaling molecules of RLR pathway, including RIG-I, MDA5 and IRF3 from crucian carp, it is found that DreI expression is regulated by RLR cascade and IRF3 plays an important role in this regulation. Furthermore, promoter mutation assay confirms that the IFN-stimulated regulatory elements (ISRE) in the 5′ flanking region of DreI is essential for its induction. Finally, overexpression of DreI leads to establish a strong antiviral state against SVCV and Rana grylio virus (RGV) infection in EPC (Epithelioma papulosum cyprinid) cells. Conclusions/Significance These data indicate that DreI is an antiviral protein, which is regulated by RLR signaling pathway. PMID:22412872

Maize DRE-binding proteins DBF1 and DBF2 are involved in rab17 regulation through the drought-responsive element in an ABA-dependent pathway.

PubMed

Kizis, Dimosthenis; Pagès, Montserrat

2002-06-01

The abscisic acid-responsive gene rab17 of maize is expressed during late embryogenesis, and is induced by ABA and desiccation in embryo and vegetative tissues. ABRE and DRE cis-elements are involved in regulation of the gene by ABA and drought. Using yeast one-hybrid screening, we isolated two cDNAs encoding two new DRE-binding proteins, designated DBF1 and DBF2, that are members of the AP2/EREBP transcription factor family. Analysis of mRNA accumulation profiles showed that DBF1 is induced during maize embryogenesis and after desiccation, NaCl and ABA treatments in plant seedlings, whereas the DBF2 mRNA is not induced. DNA-binding preferences of DBFs were analysed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays, and showed that both DBF1 and DBF2 bound to the wild-type DRE2 element, but not to the DRE2 mutant or to the DRE1 element which differs only in a single nucleotide. Transactivation activity using particle bombardment showed that DBF1 functioned as activator of DRE2-dependent transcription of rab17 promoter by ABA, whereas DBF2 overexpression had a repression action downregulating not only the basal promoter activity, but also the ABA effect. These results show that ABA plays a role in the regulation of DBF activity, and suggests the existence of an ABA-dependent pathway for the regulation of genes through the C-repeat/DRE element.

Identification of the Drosophila eIF4A gene as a target of the DREF transcription factor

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

Ida, Hiroyuki; Insect Biomedical Research Center, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585; Yoshida, Hideki

2007-12-10

The DNA replication-related element-binding factor (DREF) regulates cell proliferation-related gene expression in Drosophila. We have carried out a genetic screening, taking advantage of the rough eye phenotype of transgenic flies that express full-length DREF in the eye imaginal discs and identified the eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A) gene as a dominant suppressor of the DREF-induced rough eye phenotype. The eIF4A gene was here found to carry three DRE sequences, DRE1 (- 40 to - 47), DRE2 (- 48 to - 55), and DRE3 (- 267 to - 274) in its promoter region, these all being important for the eIF4A genemore » promoter activity in cultured Drosophila Kc cells and in living flies. Knockdown of DREF in Drosophila S2 cells decreased the eIF4A mRNA level and the eIF4A gene promoter activity. Furthermore, specific binding of DREF to genomic regions containing DRE sequences was demonstrated by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays using anti-DREF antibodies. Band mobility shift assays using Kc cell nuclear extracts revealed that DREF could bind to DRE1 and DRE3 sequences in the eIF4A gene promoter in vitro, but not to the DRE2 sequence. The results suggest that the eIF4A gene is under the control of the DREF pathway and DREF is therefore involved in the regulation of protein synthesis.« less

ParDRe: faster parallel duplicated reads removal tool for sequencing studies.

PubMed

González-Domínguez, Jorge; Schmidt, Bertil

2016-05-15

Current next generation sequencing technologies often generate duplicated or near-duplicated reads that (depending on the application scenario) do not provide any interesting biological information but can increase memory requirements and computational time of downstream analysis. In this work we present ParDRe, a de novo parallel tool to remove duplicated and near-duplicated reads through the clustering of Single-End or Paired-End sequences from fasta or fastq files. It uses a novel bitwise approach to compare the suffixes of DNA strings and employs hybrid MPI/multithreading to reduce runtime on multicore systems. We show that ParDRe is up to 27.29 times faster than Fulcrum (a representative state-of-the-art tool) on a platform with two 8-core Sandy-Bridge processors. Source code in C ++ and MPI running on Linux systems as well as a reference manual are available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/pardre/ jgonzalezd@udc.es. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Direct Radiative Effects of Aerosols Over South Asia From Observations and Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nair, Vijayakumar S.; Babu, S. Suresh; Manoj, M. R.; Moorthy, Krishna K.; Chin, Mian

2016-01-01

Quantitative assessment of the seasonal variations in the direct radiative effect (DRE) of composite aerosols as well as the constituent species over the Indian sub continent has been carried out using a synergy of observations from a dense network of ground based aerosol observatories and modeling based on chemical transport model simulations. Seasonal variation of aerosol constituents depict significant influence of anthropogenic aerosol sources in winter and the dominance of natural sources in spring, even though the aerosol optical depth doesn't change significantly between these two seasons. A significant increase in the surface cooling and atmospheric warming has been observed as season changes from winter DRE(sub SUR) = -28 +/- 12 W m(exp -2) and DRE(sub ATM) = +19.6 +/- 9 W m(exp -2) to spring DRE(sub SUR) = -33.7 +/- 12 W m(exp -2) and DRE(sub ATM) = +27 +/- 9 W m(exp-2). Interestingly, springtime aerosols are more absorptive in nature compared to winter and consequently the aerosol induced diabatic heating of the atmosphere goes as high as approximately 1 K day(exp -1) during spring, especially over eastern India. The atmospheric DRE due to dust aerosols (+14 +/- 7 W m(exp 2) during spring overwhelms that of black carbon DRE (+11.8 +/- 6 W m(exp -2) during winter. The DRE at the top of the atmosphere is mostly governed by the anthropogenic aerosols during all the seasons. The columnar aerosol loading, its anthropogenic fraction and radiative effects shows a steady increase with latitude across Indian mainland leading to a larger aerosol-induced atmospheric warming during spring than in winter.

Sulfate Aerosol in the Arctic: Source Attribution and Radiative Forcing

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

Yang, Yang; Wang, Hailong; Smith, Steven J.

Source attributions of Arctic sulfate and its direct radiative effect for 2010–2014 are quantified in this study using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) equipped with an explicit sulfur source-tagging technique. Regions that have high emissions and/or are near/within the Arctic present relatively large contributions to Arctic sulfate burden, with the largest contribution from sources in East Asia (27%). East Asia and South Asia together have the largest contributions to Arctic sulfate concentrations at 9–12 km, whereas sources within or near the Arctic account largely below 2 km. For remote sources with strong emissions, their contributions to Arctic sulfate burdenmore » are primarily driven by meteorology, while contributions of sources within or near the Arctic are dominated by their emission strength. The sulfate direct radiative effect (DRE) is –0.080 W m-2 at the Arctic surface, offsetting the net warming effect from the combination of in-snow heating and DRE cooling from black carbon. East Asia, Arctic local and Russia/Belarus/Ukraine sources contribute –0.017, –0.016 and –0.014 W m-2, respectively, to Arctic sulfate DRE. A 20% reduction in anthropogenic SO2 emissions leads to a net increase of +0.013 W m-2 forcing at the Arctic surface. These results indicate that a joint reduction in BC emissions could prevent possible Arctic warming from future reductions in SO2 emissions. Sulfate DRE efficiency calculations suggest that short transport pathways together with meteorology favoring long sulfate lifetimes make certain sources more efficient in influencing the Arctic sulfate DRE.« less

Barriers and Facilitators to Digital Rectal Examination Screening among African-American and Afro-Caribbean Men

PubMed Central

Lee, Daniel J; Consedine, Nathan S; Spencer, Benjamin A

2011-01-01

Objective To examine the effect of race/ethnicity and fear characteristics on the initiation and maintenance of DRE screening. Methods 533 men from Brooklyn, NY, aged 45–70, were classified into four race/ethnic groups: US-born whites, US-born African-American, Jamaican, and Trinidadian/Tobagonian. Participants recorded the number of DRE’s in the past 10 years. Demographics and structural variables, as well as prostate cancer worry and screening fear were measured with validated tools. Results Overall, 30% of subjects reported never having a DRE and 24% reported annual DRE’s. African-American, Jamaican, and Trinidadian/Tobagonian men have higher prostate cancer worry and screening fear scores than white men (all p<0.05). African-American, Jamaican, and Trinidadian/Tobagonian men were less likely to maintain annual DRE’s than white males (ORs = 0.17, 0.26, and 0.16, respectively, all p<0.05). Men with low screening fear were more likely to have an initial DRE (OR=2.3, p<0.05 vs. high screening fear), but no more or less likely to have annual DRE’s. Having a regular physician, comprehensive physician discussion, and annual visits were also associated with undergoing DRE. Conclusion We identified several ethnically-varying barriers and facilitators to DRE screening. African-American and Afro-Caribbean men undergo DRE less often and have higher prostate cancer worry and screening fear scores than white men. Screening fear predicts the likelihood of undergoing an initial, but not annual, DRE screen. Access to a physician and annual visits facilitate DRE screening. Interventions that include both culturally-sensitive education and patient navigation, and consider whether patients should be initiating or maintaining screening, may facilitate guideline-consistent screening. PMID:21477716

Improving the sensory and oxidative stability of cooked and chill-stored lamb using dietary rosemary diterpenes.

PubMed

Serrano, Rafael; Ortuño, Jordi; Bañón, Sancho

2014-09-01

Two dietary rosemary extracts (DREs) containing diterpenes (carnosic acid and carnosol at 1:1 and 2:1 w:w) were tested in fattening lambs to stabilize the sensory quality of cooked and chill-stored patties. A total of 63 lambs were fed freely for 80 ± 5 d with a basal diet supplemented or not with DRE. Minced leg meat from each lamb was used to make patty batches. The patties were cooked at 72 ºC for 2 min, aerobically packed, kept at 2 ºC for up to 4 d and then reheated. Sensory traits (color, odor, flavor, and texture), CIELab color, and lipid oxidation (assessed as TBARS) were determined. In a first experiment, the lamb diet was supplemented with 600 mg of 1:1-DRE or 2:1-DRE kg(-1) feed. The 1:1-DRE diet delayed discoloration, flavor deterioration, and rancidity, while the 2:1-DRE diet was ineffective in this respect. In a second experiment, 4 supplementation levels of 1:1-DRE (0, 200, 400, and 600 mg kg(-1) feed) were compared. Flavor deterioration was delayed when the lamb diet was supplemented with at least 400 mg 1:1-DRE kg(-1) feed. The effects of the diet on the odor, flavor, and color were corroborated by differences in TBARS and CIELab. The results obtained suggest that rosemary diterpenes and/or their active secondary compounds deposited in muscle can act as endogenous antioxidants in cooked lamb. The carnosol intake seems crucial in the antioxidant actions achieved through DRE. The use of rosemary antioxidants in animal feeding would allow meat-based dishes to be preserved longer without adding preservatives. © 2014 Institute of Food Technologists®

CALIPSO-Inferred Aerosol Direct Radiative Effects: Bias Estimates Using Ground-Based Raman Lidars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorsen, Tyler; Fu, Qiang

2016-01-01

Observational constraints on the change in the radiative energy budget caused by the presence of aerosols, i.e. the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE), have recently been made using observations from the Cloud- Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite (CALIPSO). CALIPSO observations have the potential to provide improved global estimates of aerosol DRE compared to passive sensor-derived estimates due to CALIPSO's ability to perform vertically-resolved aerosol retrievals over all surface types and over cloud. In this study we estimate the uncertainties in CALIPSO-inferred aerosol DRE using multiple years of observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Raman lidars (RL) at midlatitude and tropical sites. Examined are assumptions about the ratio of extinction-to-backscatter (i.e. the lidar ratio) made by the CALIPSO retrievals, which are needed to retrieve the aerosol extinction profile. The lidar ratio is shown to introduce minimal error in the mean aerosol DRE at the top-of-atmosphere and surface. It is also shown that CALIPSO is unable to detect all radiatively-significant aerosol, resulting in an underestimate in the magnitude of the aerosol DRE by 30-50%. Therefore, global estimates of the aerosol DRE inferred from CALIPSO observations are likely too weak.

MarDRe: efficient MapReduce-based removal of duplicate DNA reads in the cloud.

PubMed

Expósito, Roberto R; Veiga, Jorge; González-Domínguez, Jorge; Touriño, Juan

2017-09-01

This article presents MarDRe, a de novo cloud-ready duplicate and near-duplicate removal tool that can process single- and paired-end reads from FASTQ/FASTA datasets. MarDRe takes advantage of the widely adopted MapReduce programming model to fully exploit Big Data technologies on cloud-based infrastructures. Written in Java to maximize cross-platform compatibility, MarDRe is built upon the open-source Apache Hadoop project, the most popular distributed computing framework for scalable Big Data processing. On a 16-node cluster deployed on the Amazon EC2 cloud platform, MarDRe is up to 8.52 times faster than a representative state-of-the-art tool. Source code in Java and Hadoop as well as a user's guide are freely available under the GNU GPLv3 license at http://mardre.des.udc.es . rreye@udc.es. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

CALIPSO-Inferred Aerosol Direct Radiative Effects: Bias Estimates Using Ground-Based Raman Lidars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorsen, Tyler; Fu, Qiang

2015-01-01

Observational constraints on the change in the radiative energy budget caused by the presence of aerosols, i.e. the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE), have recently been made using observations from the Cloud- Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite (CALIPSO). CALIPSO observations have the potential to provide improved global estimates of aerosol DRE compared to passive sensor-derived estimates due to CALIPSO's ability to perform vertically-resolved aerosol retrievals over all surface types and over cloud. In this study we estimate the uncertainties in CALIPSO-inferred aerosol DRE using multiple years of observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Raman lidars (RL) at mid-latitude and tropical sites. Examined are assumptions about the ratio of extinction-to-backscatter (i.e. the lidar ratio) made by the CALIPSO retrievals, which are needed to retrieve the aerosol extinction profile. The lidar ratio is shown to introduce minimal error in the mean aerosol DRE at the top-of-atmosphere and surface. It is also shown that CALIPSO is unable to detect all radiatively-significant aerosol, resulting in an underestimate in the magnitude of the aerosol DRE by 30â€"50%. Therefore, global estimates of the aerosol DRE inferred from CALIPSO observations are likely too weak.

Barriers to prostate cancer screening: psychological aspects and descriptive variables---is there a correlation?

PubMed

Naccarato, Angela Maria Elizabeth Piccolotto; Reis, Leonardo Oliveira; Matheus, Wagner Eduardo; Ferreira, Ubirajara; Denardi, Fernandes

2011-03-01

To evaluate psychological and demographic aspects of men who received DRE during the PCa screening in an outpatient clinical setting. Patients (345) who underwent DRE for the first time from February 2006 to December 2007 were evaluated for their psychological reactions and feelings after the examination. The average age of the patients was 52.8 years (25 - 85 years); 40.94% had felt fear (examination fear 15.94%, and diagnosis fear 25%), 26.45% shame and 48.26% indicated they were not thinking about anything. There was no correlation between age, educational level and emotional reactions. Most patients (96.8%) would undergo a DRE again and 52.35% had considered it better than they had imagined. Of these patients, 41.81% were illiterate/incomplete elementary school. Only 4.12% described having a negative experience. The factors that persuaded the patients to book an appointment were: 50.1% made their own decision, 26.67% were recommended by a physician, 18.55% family/friends and 6.67% were influenced by the media. Wives booked 24.06% of the consultations. Although 85.47% of patients had some previous knowledge about the examination, 80.81% felt they had further clarification afterward. Lower educational level was related to lack of information about DRE, while 52.38% who made their own decision had previous knowledge of the importance of DRE. The majority of the patients found DRE less awkward than they had imagined it to be and would repeat the examination in the future. Fear and shame before the examination are present and are barriers to the DRE.

Consensus-recommended diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for drug-resistant epilepsy in Spain (Consenso RATE-España).

PubMed

Sánchez-Álvarez, J C; Mauri-Llerda, J A; Gil-Nagel, A; Casas-Fernández, C; Salas-Puig, J; Lahuerta, J; Sancho-Rieger, J

2012-10-01

To ascertain the opinions of an Epilepsy Expert Group and prepare a consensus document on the definition of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) according to the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the different healthcare levels for the patient with epilepsy in Spain. The study was conducted using the Delphi method, by means of successive rounds of questionnaires. A scientific committee prepared a preliminary document and fourteen associated questions, which were sent by e-mail to the panel of experts. They included items related to the concept of DRE, health care levels and the route between these levels for patients with DRE. A total of 41 experts answered the questionnaire. They agreed regarding the necessity and applicability of the DRE definition according to the ILAE, the need for an expert panel on epilepsy, specialist epilepsy clinics, and clinical epilepsy units stratified depending on the level of activities they carried out. There was moderate consensus on the resources and activity of the clinical units of reference and there was no consensus on the referral of patients who have suffered an epileptic seizure to an epilepsy clinic. The expert panel agreed with the definition of DRE according to the ILAE and on referring patients with DRE for a detailed study in an epilepsy clinic or epilepsy clinical unit. They highlighted the need for video-EEG monitoring in the study of patients with DRE and the need to propose other forms of treatment in selected patients. Copyright © 2011 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Digital Rectal Examination and Balloon Expulsion Test in the Study of Defecatory Disorders: Are They Suitable as Screening or Excluding Tests?

PubMed

Caetano, Ana C; Santa-Cruz, André; Rolanda, Carla

2016-01-01

Background . Rome III criteria add physiological criteria to symptom-based criteria of chronic constipation (CC) for the diagnosis of defecatory disorders (DD). However, a gold-standard test is still lacking and physiological examination is expensive and time-consuming. Aim . Evaluate the usefulness of two low-cost tests-digital rectal examination (DRE) and balloon expulsion test (BET)-as screening or excluding tests of DD. Methods . We performed a systematic search in PUBMED and MEDLINE. We selected studies where constipated patients were evaluated by DRE or BET. Heterogeneity was assessed and random effect models were used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value (NPV) of the DRE and the BET. Results . Thirteen studies evaluating BET and four studies evaluating DRE (2329 patients) were selected. High heterogeneity ( I 2 > 80%) among studies was demonstrated. The studies evaluating the BET showed a sensitivity and specificity of 67% and 80%, respectively. Regarding the DRE, a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 84% were calculated. NPV of 72% for the BET and NPV of 64% for the DRE were estimated. The sensitivity and specificity were similar when we restrict the analysis to studies using Rome criteria to define CC. The BET seems to perform better when a cut-off time of 2 minutes is used and when it is compared with a combination of physiological tests. Considering the DRE, strict criteria seem to improve the sensitivity but not the specificity of the test. Conclusion . Neither of the low-cost tests seems suitable for screening or excluding DD.

The effect of digital rectal exam on the 4Kscore for aggressive prostate cancer.

PubMed

Maccini, Michael A; Westfall, Nicholas J; Van Bokhoven, Adrie; Lucia, Marshall Scott; Poage, Wendy; Maroni, Paul D; Wilson, Shandra S; Glodé, Leonard Michael; Arangua, Paul; Newmark, Jay; Steiner, Mitchell; Werahera, Priya N; Crawford, Elward David

2018-05-01

The 4Kscore is a new commercially available blood-based diagnostic test which predicts risk for aggressive, clinically significant prostate cancer on prostate biopsy. The 4Kscore is currently restricted to patients who have not had a digital rectal exam (DRE) in the previous 96 h, owing to prior mixed data suggesting that prostate specific antigen (PSA) isoforms may increase by a statistically significant-if not necessarily clinically significant-amount shortly after DRE. Our primary objective was to determine if 4Kscore test results are affected by a preceding DRE. Participants at a Prostate Cancer Awareness Week screening event sponsored by the Prostate Conditions Education Council filled out clinical history questionnaires and had blood samples for 4Kscore testing drawn prior to DRE, then 15-45 min following DRE. Patients with prior cancer diagnosis, 5-alpha reductase inhibitor medication use, or lower urinary tract procedures in the prior 6 months were excluded, resulting in a population of 162 participants for analysis. Values were then compared to determine if there was a significant difference in 4Kscore following DRE. A statistically significant increase was seen in levels of 3 kallikreins measured (total PSA, free PSA, and intact PSA; median <0.03 ng/mL for all). This resulted in a small but statistically significant decrease in post-DRE 4Kscore (median absolute score decrease 0.43%). Using a 4Kscore cutoff of 7.5% resulted in reclassification of 10 patients (6.2%), nine of whom were "downgraded" from above the cutoff to below. If the blood draw for the 4 K score is performed after a screening DRE, there is a statistically significant difference in the 4 K score results, but in the vast majority of cases it would not affect clinical decision making. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Freud-2/CC2D1B mediates dual repression of the serotonin-1A receptor gene.

PubMed

Hadjighassem, Mahmoud R; Galaraga, Kimberly; Albert, Paul R

2011-01-01

The serotonin-1A (5-HT1A) receptor functions as a pre-synaptic autoreceptor in serotonin neurons that regulates their activity, and is also widely expressed on non-serotonergic neurons as a post-synaptic heteroreceptor to mediate serotonin action. The 5-HT1A receptor gene is strongly repressed by a dual repressor element (DRE), which is recognized by two proteins: Freud-1/CC2D1A and another unknown protein. Here we identify mouse Freud-2/CC2D1B as the second repressor of the 5-HT1A-DRE. Freud-2 shares 50% amino acid identity with Freud-1, and contains conserved structural domains. Mouse Freud-2 bound specifically to the rat 5-HT1A-DRE adjacent to, and partially overlapping, the Freud-1 binding site. By supershift assay using nuclear extracts from L6 myoblasts, Freud-2-DRE complexes were distinguished from Freud-1-DRE complexes. Freud-2 mRNA and protein were detected throughout mouse brain and peripheral tissues. Freud-2 repressed 5-HT1A promoter-reporter constructs in a DRE-dependent manner in non-neuronal (L6) or 5-HT1A-expressing neuronal (NG108-15, RN46A) cell models. In NG108-15 cells, knockdown of Freud-2 using a specific short-interfering RNA reduced endogenous Freud-2 protein levels and decreased Freud-2 bound to the 5-HT1A-DRE as detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, but increased 5-HT1A promoter activity and 5-HT1A protein levels. Taken together, these data show that Freud-2 is the second component that, with Freud-1, mediates dual repression of the 5-HT1A receptor gene at the DRE. © 2010 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2010 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Postencephalitic epilepsy and drug-resistant epilepsy after infectious and antibody-associated encephalitis in childhood: Clinical and etiologic risk factors.

PubMed

Pillai, Sekhar C; Mohammad, Shekeeb S; Hacohen, Yael; Tantsis, Esther; Prelog, Kristina; Barnes, Elizabeth H; Gill, Deepak; Lim, Ming J; Brilot, Fabienne; Vincent, Angela; Dale, Russell C

2016-01-01

To define the risk factors for postencephalitic epilepsy (PE) and drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) in childhood following infectious and autoimmune encephalitis, we included 147 acute encephalitis patients with a median follow-up of 7.3 years (range 2-15.8 years). PE was defined as the use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for ≥24 months, and DRE was defined as the persistence of seizures despite ≥2 appropriate AEDs at final follow-up. PE and DRE were diagnosed in 31 (21%) and 15 (10%) of patients, respectively. The features during acute encephalitis predictive of DRE (presented as odds ratio [OR] with confidence intervals [CIs]) were status epilepticus (OR 10.8, CI 3.4-34.3), visual disturbance (6.4, 1.4-29.9), focal seizures (6.2, 1.9-20.6), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hippocampal/amygdala involvement (5.0, 1.7-15.4), intensive care admission (4.7, 1.4-15.4), use of >3 AEDs (4.5, 1.2-16.1), MRI gadolinium enhancement (4.1, 1.2-14.2), any seizure (3.9, 1.1-14.4), and electroencephalography (EEG) epileptiform discharges (3.9, 1.3-12.0). On multivariable regression analysis, only status epilepticus remained predictive of DRE in all models. DRE was common in herpes simplex virus (3/9, 33%) and unknown (8/40, 20%) encephalitis, but absent in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (0/32, 0%), enterovirus (0/18), and anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-NMDAR encephalitis (0/9). We have identified risk factors for DRE and demonstrated "high-risk," and "low-risk" etiologies. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International League Against Epilepsy.

Identification, occurrence, and validation of DRE and ABRE Cis-regulatory motifs in the promoter regions of genes of Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Mishra, Sonal; Shukla, Aparna; Upadhyay, Swati; Sanchita; Sharma, Pooja; Singh, Seema; Phukan, Ujjal J; Meena, Abha; Khan, Feroz; Tripathi, Vineeta; Shukla, Rakesh Kumar; Shrama, Ashok

2014-04-01

Plants posses a complex co-regulatory network which helps them to elicit a response under diverse adverse conditions. We used an in silico approach to identify the genes with both DRE and ABRE motifs in their promoter regions in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results showed that Arabidopsis contains a set of 2,052 genes with ABRE and DRE motifs in their promoter regions. Approximately 72% or more of the total predicted 2,052 genes had a gap distance of less than 400 bp between DRE and ABRE motifs. For positional orientation of the DRE and ABRE motifs, we found that the DR form (one in direct and the other one in reverse orientation) was more prevalent than other forms. These predicted 2,052 genes include 155 transcription factors. Using microarray data from The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) database, we present 44 transcription factors out of 155 which are upregulated by more than twofold in response to osmotic stress and ABA treatment. Fifty-one transcripts from the one predicted above were validated using semiquantitative expression analysis to support the microarray data in TAIR. Taken together, we report a set of genes containing both DRE and ABRE motifs in their promoter regions in A. thaliana, which can be useful to understand the role of ABA under osmotic stress condition. © 2013 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Shelf life of meat from lambs given essential oil-free rosemary extract containing carnosic acid plus carnosol at 200 or 400 mg kg⁻¹.

PubMed

Ortuño, Jordi; Serrano, Rafael; Jordán, María José; Bañón, Sancho

2014-04-01

The use of dietary rosemary extract (DRE) at low doses is proposed as a nutritional strategy to improve meat preservation. Lamb diet was supplemented with 0, 200 or 400mg DRE (containing carnosic acid and carnosol at 1:1 w:w) per kg feed during the fattening stage. Meat quality was evaluated in lamb fillets packed under protective atmosphere and kept in retail conditions for up to 14 days. The effects of diet and storage time were determined on different physical-chemical (L*a*b* color, pH, TBARS, protein oxidation and volatiles from lipid oxidation), microbial (total viable and psychrophilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, molds and yeasts) and sensory (appearance and odor) characteristics of the meat. The antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of DRE on meat were demonstrated. DRE delayed lean and fat discoloration, lipid oxidation, odor deterioration and microbial spoilage, extending the shelf life time of fillets from around 9 to 13 days. Both DRE doses provided similar shelf life extension. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive gene and microRNA expression profiling on cardiovascular system in zebrafish co-exposured of SiNPs and MeHg.

PubMed

Hu, Hejing; Shi, Yanfeng; Zhang, Yannan; Wu, Jing; Asweto, Collins Otieno; Feng, Lin; Yang, Xiaozhe; Duan, Junchao; Sun, Zhiwei

2017-12-31

Air pollution has been shown to increase cardiovascular diseases. However, little attention has been paid to the combined effects of PM and air pollutants on the cardiovascular system. To explore this, a high-throughput sequencing technology was used to determine combined effects of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) and MeHg in zebrafish. Our study demonstrated that SiNPs and MeHg co-exposure could cause significant changes in mRNA and miRNA expression patterns in zebrafish. The differentially expressed (DE) genes in profiles 17 and 26 of STC analysis suggest that SiNPs and MeHg co-exposure had more proinflammatory and cardiovascular toxicity in zebrafish than single exposure. Major gene functions associated with cardiovascular system in the co-exposed zebrafish were discerned from the dynamic-gene-network, including stxbp1a, celf4, ahr1b and bai2. In addition, the prominently expressed pathway of cardiac muscle contraction was targeted by 3 DE miRNAs identified by the miRNA-pathway-network (dre-miR-7147, dre-miR-26a and dre-miR-375), which included 23 DE genes. This study presents a global view of the combined SiNPs and MeHg toxicity on the dynamic expression of both mRNAs and miRNAs in zebrafish, and could serve as fundamental research clues for future studies, especially on cardiovascular system toxicity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel method to decompose two potent greenhouse gases: photoreduction of SF6 and SF5CF3 in the presence of propene.

PubMed

Huang, Li; Shen, Yan; Dong, Wenbo; Zhang, Renxi; Zhang, Jianliang; Hou, Huiqi

2008-03-01

SF5CF3 and SF6 are the most effective greenhouse gases on a per molecule basis in the atmosphere. Original laboratory trial for photoreduction of them by use of propene as a reactant was performed to develop a novel technique to destroy them. The highly reductive radicals produced during the photolysis of propene at 184.9 nm, such as .CH3, .C2H3, and .C3H5, could efficiently decompose SF6 and SF5CF3 to CH4, elemental sulfur and trace amounts of fluorinated organic compounds. It was further demonstrated that the destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of SF5X (X represented F or CF3) was highly dependent on the initial propene-to-SF5X ratio. The addition of certain amounts of oxygen and water vapor not only enhanced the DRE but avoided the generation of deposits. In both systems, employment nitrogen as dilution gas lessened the DRE slightly. Given the advantage of less toxic products, the technique might contribute to SF5X remediation.

Stages of Anal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... past illnesses and treatments will also be taken. Digital rectal examination (DRE) : An exam of the anus ... lumps or anything else that seems unusual. Enlarge Digital rectal exam (DRE). The doctor inserts a gloved, ...

Treatment Option Overview (Anal Cancer)

MedlinePlus

... past illnesses and treatments will also be taken. Digital rectal examination (DRE) : An exam of the anus ... lumps or anything else that seems unusual. Enlarge Digital rectal exam (DRE). The doctor inserts a gloved, ...

DRE-Enhanced Swept-Wing Natural Laminar Flow at High Reynolds Numbers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malik, Mujeeb; Liao, Wei; Li, Fe; Choudhari, Meelan

2013-01-01

Nonlinear parabolized stability equations and secondary instability analyses are used to provide a computational assessment of the potential use of the discrete roughness elements (DRE) technology for extending swept-wing natural laminar flow at chord Reynolds numbers relevant to transport aircraft. Computations performed for the boundary layer on a natural laminar flow airfoil with a leading-edge sweep angle of 34.6deg, free-stream Mach number of 0.75 and chord Reynolds numbers of 17 x 10(exp 6), 24 x 10(exp 6) and 30 x 10(exp 6) suggest that DRE could delay laminar-turbulent transition by about 20% when transition is caused by stationary crossflow disturbances. Computations show that the introduction of small wavelength stationary crossflow disturbances (i.e., DRE) also suppresses the growth of most amplified traveling crossflow disturbances.

Dandelion Root Extract Induces Intracellular Ca2+ Increases in HEK293 Cells.

PubMed

Gerbino, Andrea; Russo, Daniela; Colella, Matilde; Procino, Giuseppe; Svelto, Maria; Milella, Luigi; Carmosino, Monica

2018-04-07

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber ex F.H.Wigg.) has been used for centuries as an ethnomedical remedy. Nonetheless, the extensive use of different kinds of dandelion extracts and preparations is based on empirical findings. Some of the tissue-specific effects reported for diverse dandelion extracts may result from their action on intracellular signaling cascades. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an ethanolic dandelion root extract (DRE) on Ca 2+ signaling in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. The cytotoxicity of increasing doses of crude DRE was determined by the Calcein viability assay. Fura-2 and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based probe ERD1 were used to measure cytoplasmic and intraluminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca 2+ levels, respectively. Furthermore, a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-based probe was used to monitor phospholipase C (PLC) activation (pleckstrin homology [PH]-PLCδ-GFP). DRE (10-400 µg/mL) exposure, in the presence of external Ca 2+ , dose-dependently increased intracellular Ca 2+ levels. The DRE-induced Ca 2+ increase was significantly reduced in the absence of extracellular Ca 2+ . In addition, DRE caused a significant Ca 2+ release from the ER of intact cells and a concomitant translocation of PH-PLCδ-GFP. In conclusion, DRE directly activates both the release of Ca 2+ from internal stores and a significant Ca 2+ influx at the plasma membrane. The resulting high Ca 2+ levels within the cell seem to directly stimulate PLC activity.

Sensitivity of inorganic aerosol radiative effects to U.S. emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holt, J. I.; Solomon, S.; Selin, N. E.

2017-06-01

Between 2005 and 2012, U.S. emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) decreased by 42% and 62%, respectively. These species, as well as ammonia (NH3), are precursors of inorganic fine aerosols, which scatter incoming shortwave radiation and thus affect climate. Scaling aerosol concentrations to emissions, as might be done for near-term climate projections, neglects nonlinear chemical interactions. To estimate the magnitude of these nonlinearities, we conduct a suite of simulations with a chemical transport model and an off-line radiative transfer model. We find that the direct radiative effect (DRE) over the North American domain decreases by 59 and 160 mW m-2 in winter and summer, respectively, between 2005 and 2012. The sensitivities of DRE to NOx and SO2 emissions increase, by 11% and 21% in summer, while sensitivity to NH3 emissions decreases. The wintertime sensitivity of DRE to NOx emissions is small in 2005 but is 5 times as large in 2012. Scaling radiative effects from 2005 to 2012 based on 2005 sensitivities overestimates the magnitude of the DRE of 7% and 6% of the U.S. attributable DRE in January and July, respectively. The difference between the changes in DRE and the changes in sensitivity suggests that scaling to SO2 emissions alone has so far been an accurate approximation, but it may not be in the near future. These values represent the level of accuracy that can be expected in adjusting aerosol radiative effects in climate models without chemistry.

Dandelion Root Extract Induces Intracellular Ca2+ Increases in HEK293 Cells

PubMed Central

Russo, Daniela; Svelto, Maria; Carmosino, Monica

2018-01-01

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber ex F.H.Wigg.) has been used for centuries as an ethnomedical remedy. Nonetheless, the extensive use of different kinds of dandelion extracts and preparations is based on empirical findings. Some of the tissue-specific effects reported for diverse dandelion extracts may result from their action on intracellular signaling cascades. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an ethanolic dandelion root extract (DRE) on Ca2+ signaling in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. The cytotoxicity of increasing doses of crude DRE was determined by the Calcein viability assay. Fura-2 and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based probe ERD1 were used to measure cytoplasmic and intraluminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ levels, respectively. Furthermore, a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-based probe was used to monitor phospholipase C (PLC) activation (pleckstrin homology [PH]–PLCδ–GFP). DRE (10–400 µg/mL) exposure, in the presence of external Ca2+, dose-dependently increased intracellular Ca2+ levels. The DRE-induced Ca2+ increase was significantly reduced in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. In addition, DRE caused a significant Ca2+ release from the ER of intact cells and a concomitant translocation of PH–PLCδ–GFP. In conclusion, DRE directly activates both the release of Ca2+ from internal stores and a significant Ca2+ influx at the plasma membrane. The resulting high Ca2+ levels within the cell seem to directly stimulate PLC activity. PMID:29642457

A Novel Method for Estimating Shortwave Direct Radiative Effect of Above-cloud Aerosols over Ocean Using CALIOP and MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Z.; Meyer, K.; Platnick, S.; Oreopoulos, L.; Lee, D.; Yu, H.

2013-01-01

This paper describes an efficient and unique method for computing the shortwave direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosol residing above low-level liquid-phase clouds using CALIOP and MODIS data. It accounts for the overlapping of aerosol and cloud rigorously by utilizing the joint histogram of cloud optical depth and cloud top pressure. Effects of sub-grid scale cloud and aerosol variations on DRE are accounted for. It is computationally efficient through using grid-level cloud and aerosol statistics, instead of pixel-level products, and a pre-computed look-up table in radiative transfer calculations. We verified that for smoke over the southeast Atlantic Ocean the method yields a seasonal mean instantaneous shortwave DRE that generally agrees with more rigorous pixel-level computation within 4%. We have also computed the annual mean instantaneous shortwave DRE of light-absorbing aerosols (i.e., smoke and polluted dust) over global ocean based on 4 yr of CALIOP and MODIS data. We found that the variability of the annual mean shortwave DRE of above-cloud light-absorbing aerosol is mainly driven by the optical depth of the underlying clouds.

A Novel Method for Estimating Shortwave Direct Radiative Effect of Above-Cloud Aerosols Using CALIOP and MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Z.; Meyer, K.; Platnick, S.; Oreopoulos, L.; Lee, D.; Yu, H.

2014-01-01

This paper describes an efficient and unique method for computing the shortwave direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosol residing above low-level liquid-phase clouds using CALIOP and MODIS data. It accounts for the overlapping of aerosol and cloud rigorously by utilizing the joint histogram of cloud optical depth and cloud top pressure. Effects of sub-grid scale cloud and aerosol variations on DRE are accounted for. It is computationally efficient through using grid-level cloud and aerosol statistics, instead of pixel-level products, and a pre-computed look-up table in radiative transfer calculations. We verified that for smoke over the southeast Atlantic Ocean the method yields a seasonal mean instantaneous shortwave DRE that generally agrees with more rigorous pixel-level computation within 4. We have also computed the annual mean instantaneous shortwave DRE of light-absorbing aerosols (i.e., smoke and polluted dust) over global ocean based on 4 yr of CALIOP and MODIS data. We found that the variability of the annual mean shortwave DRE of above-cloud light-absorbing aerosol is mainly driven by the optical depth of the underlying clouds.

2006 evaluation of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) bus rapid transit project : December 1, 2006

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-12-01

The surface transportation system plays a crucial role in responding to natural disasters, terrorist acts, and other catastrophic events. The Disaster Response and Evacuation (DRE) User Service uses intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to enhance...

Integration of Genome-Wide Computation DRE Search, AhR ChIP-chip and Gene Expression Analyses of TCDD-Elicited Responses in the Mouse Liver

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor (TF) that mediates responses to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Integration of TCDD-induced genome-wide AhR enrichment, differential gene expression and computational dioxin response element (DRE) analyses further elucidate the hepatic AhR regulatory network. Results Global ChIP-chip and gene expression analyses were performed on hepatic tissue from immature ovariectomized mice orally gavaged with 30 μg/kg TCDD. ChIP-chip analysis identified 14,446 and 974 AhR enriched regions (1% false discovery rate) at 2 and 24 hrs, respectively. Enrichment density was greatest in the proximal promoter, and more specifically, within ± 1.5 kb of a transcriptional start site (TSS). AhR enrichment also occurred distal to a TSS (e.g. intergenic DNA and 3' UTR), extending the potential gene expression regulatory roles of the AhR. Although TF binding site analyses identified over-represented DRE sequences within enriched regions, approximately 50% of all AhR enriched regions lacked a DRE core (5'-GCGTG-3'). Microarray analysis identified 1,896 number of TCDD-responsive genes (|fold change| ≥ 1.5, P1(t) > 0.999). Integrating this gene expression data with our ChIP-chip and DRE analyses only identified 625 differentially expressed genes that involved an AhR interaction at a DRE. Functional annotation analysis of differentially regulated genes associated with AhR enrichment identified overrepresented processes related to fatty acid and lipid metabolism and transport, and xenobiotic metabolism, which are consistent with TCDD-elicited steatosis in the mouse liver. Conclusions Details of the AhR regulatory network have been expanded to include AhR-DNA interactions within intragenic and intergenic genomic regions. Moreover, the AhR can interact with DNA independent of a DRE core suggesting there are alternative mechanisms of AhR-mediated gene regulation. PMID:21762485

The Efficacy of Dandelion Root Extract in Inducing Apoptosis in Drug-Resistant Human Melanoma Cells

PubMed Central

Chatterjee, S. J.; Ovadje, P.; Mousa, M.; Hamm, C.; Pandey, S.

2011-01-01

Notoriously chemoresistant melanoma has become the most prevalent form of cancer for the 25–29 North American age demographic. Standard treatment after early detection involves surgical excision (recurrence is possible), and metastatic melanoma is refractory to immuno-, radio-, and most harmful chemotherapies. Various natural compounds have shown efficacy in killing different cancers, albeit not always specifically. In this study, we show that dandelion root extract (DRE) specifically and effectively induces apoptosis in human melanoma cells without inducing toxicity in noncancerous cells. Characteristic apoptotic morphology of nuclear condensation and phosphatidylserine flipping to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane of A375 human melanoma cells was observed within 48 hours. DRE-induced apoptosis activates caspase-8 in A375 cells early on, demonstrating employment of an extrinsic apoptotic pathway to kill A375 cells. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generated from DRE-treated isolated mitochondria indicates that natural compounds in DRE can also directly target mitochondria. Interestingly, the relatively resistant G361 human melanoma cell line responded to DRE when combined with the metabolism interfering antitype II diabetic drug metformin. Therefore, treatment with this common, yet potent extract of natural compounds has proven novel in specifically inducing apoptosis in chemoresistant melanoma, without toxicity to healthy cells. PMID:21234313

Eddy current compensation for delta relaxation enhanced MR by dynamic reference phase modulation.

PubMed

Hoelscher, Uvo Christoph; Jakob, Peter M

2013-04-01

Eddy current compensation by dynamic reference phase modulation (eDREAM) is a compensation method for eddy current fields induced by B 0 field-cycling which occur in delta relaxation enhanced MR (dreMR) imaging. The presented method is based on a dynamic frequency adjustment and prevents eddy current related artifacts. It is easy to implement and can be completely realized in software for any imaging sequence. In this paper, the theory of eDREAM is derived and two applications are demonstrated. The theory describes how to model the behavior of the eddy currents and how to implement the compensation. Phantom and in vivo measurements are carried out and demonstrate the benefits of eDREAM. A comparison of images acquired with and without eDREAM shows a significant improvement in dreMR image quality. Images without eDREAM suffer from severe artifacts and do not allow proper interpretation while images with eDREAM are artifact free. In vivo experiments demonstrate that dreMR imaging without eDREAM is not feasible as artifacts completely change the image contrast. eDREAM is a flexible eddy current compensation for dreMR. It is capable of completely removing the influence of eddy currents such that the dreMR images do not suffer from artifacts.

An Assessment of the Surface Longwave Direct Radiative Effect of Airborne Saharan Dust During the NAMMA Field Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansell, R. A.; Tsay, S. C.; Ji, Q.; Hsu, N. C.; Jeong, M. J.; Wang, S. H.; Reid, J. S.; Liou, K. N.; Ou, S. C.

2010-01-01

In September 2006, NASA Goddard s mobile ground-based laboratories were deployed to Sal Island in Cape Verde (16.73degN, 22.93degW) to support the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (NAMMA) field study. The Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), a key instrument for spectrally characterizing the thermal IR, was used to retrieve the dust IR aerosol optical depths (AOTs) in order to examine the diurnal variability of airborne dust with emphasis on three separate dust events. AERI retrievals of dust AOT are compared with those from the coincident/collocated multifilter rotating shadow-band radiometer (MFRSR), micropulse lidar (MPL), and NASA Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) sensors. The retrieved AOTs are then inputted into the Fu-Liou 1D radiative transfer model to evaluate local instantaneous direct longwave radiative effects (DRE(sub LW)) of dust at the surface in cloud-free atmospheres and its sensitivity to dust microphysical parameters. The top-of-atmosphere DRE(sub LW) and longwave heating rate profiles are also evaluated. Instantaneous surface DRE(sub LW) ranges from 2 to 10 W/sq m and exhibits a strong linear dependence with dust AOT yielding a DRE(sub LW) of 16 W/sq m per unit dust AOT. The DRE(sub LW) is estimated to be approx.42% of the diurnally averaged direct shortwave radiative effect at the surface but of opposite sign, partly compensating for the shortwave losses. Certainly nonnegligible, the authors conclude that DRE(sub LW) can significantly impact the atmospheric energetics, representing an important component in the study of regional climate variation.

Some Insights on Roughness Induced Transition and Control from DNS and Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryanarayanan, Saikishan; Ibitayo, Ifeoluwa; Goldstein, David; Brown, Garry

2016-11-01

We study the receptivity and subsequent evolution of an initially laminar flat boundary layer on a flat plate to single and multiple discrete roughness elements (DRE) using a combination of immersed boundary DNS and water channel flow visualization experiments. We examine the transition caused by a single DRE and demonstrate the possibility of suppressing it by an appropriately designed second DRE in both DNS and experiments. The different phases of transition are identified and the roles of Reynolds numbers based on roughness height and boundary layer thickness are investigated. The underlying mechanisms in the observed transition and its control are understood by examining detailed vorticity flux balances. Connections are also made to recent developments in transient growth and streak instability. A unified picture is sought from a parametric study of different DRE dimensions and orientations. The potential applicability of the observations and understanding derived from this study to controlling transition caused by design and environmental roughness over aircraft wings is discussed. Supported by AFOSR # FA9550-15-1-0345.

Regulation of the yeast RAD2 gene: DNA damage-dependent induction correlates with protein binding to regulatory sequences and their deletion influences survival.

PubMed

Siede, W; Friedberg, E C

1992-03-01

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae the RAD2 gene is absolutely required for damage-specific incision of DNA during nucleotide excision repair and is inducible by DNA-damaging agents. In the present study we correlated sensitivity to killing by DNA-damaging agents with the deletion of previously defined specific promoter elements. Deletion of the element DRE2 increased the UV sensitivity of cells in both the G1/early S and S/G2 phases of the cell cycle as well as in stationary phase. On the other hand, increased UV sensitivity associated with deletion of the sequence-related element DRE1 was restricted to cells irradiated in G1/S. Specific binding of protein(s) to the promoter elements DRE1 and DRE2 was observed under non-inducing conditions using gel retardation assays. Exposure of cells to DNA-damaging agents resulted in increased protein binding that was dependent on de novo protein synthesis.

Direct radiative effect of carbonaceous aerosols from crop residue burning during the summer harvest season in East China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Huan; Song, Yu; Liu, Mingxu; Archer-Nicholls, Scott; Lowe, Douglas; McFiggans, Gordon; Xu, Tingting; Du, Pin; Li, Jianfeng; Wu, Yusheng; Hu, Min; Zhao, Chun; Zhu, Tong

2017-04-01

East China experiences extensive crop residue burnings in fields during harvest season. The direct radiative effect (DRE) of carbonaceous aerosols from crop residue burning in June 2013 in East China was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Absorption of organic aerosol (OA) in the presence of brown carbon was considered using the parameterization of Saleh et al. (2014), in which the imaginary part of the OA refractive index is a function of wavelength and the ratio of black carbon (BC) and OA. The carbonaceous emissions from crop fires were estimated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire radiative power (FRP) product with a localized crop-burning-sourced BC-to-organic carbon (OC) ratio emission ratio of 0.27. Evaluation of the model results with in situ measurements of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2. 5) chemical composition, MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) detections and meteorological observations showed that this model was able to reproduce the magnitude, spatial variation and optical characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol pollution. The observed BC and OC peak concentrations at the site in Suixi, Anhui province, during the 2013 wheat burning season reached 55.3 µg m-3 and 157.9 µg m-3. WRF-Chem simulations reproduced these trends with a correlation coefficient of 0.74, estimating that crop residue burning contributed 86 and 90 % of peak BC and OC, respectively. The simulated hourly DRE from crop residue burning at the top of atmosphere (TOA) reached a maximum of +22.66 W m-2 at the Suixi site. On average, the simulations showed that the crop residue burning introduced a net positive DRE of +0.14 W m-2 at TOA throughout East China, with BC from this source as the main heating contributor (+0.79 W m-2). The OA DRE from crop burning (-0.22 W m-2) was a combined effect of the positive DRE of absorption (+0.21 W m-2) and a stronger negative DRE of scattering (-0.43 W m-2). Sensitivity tests showed that the DRE of OA absorption strongly depended on the imaginary part of the OA refractive index, the BC-to-OA emission ratio from crop residue burning and the assumed mixing state of the aerosol, whereby the volume mixing treatment resulted in a higher positive DRE compared to the core-shell treatment. The BC mixing state and associated absorption enhancement during BC aging processes will be investigated in detail in future research.

Significance of serum total prostate specific antigen and digital rectal examination in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

PubMed

Abdrabo, Abdelkarim A; Fadlalla, Adil I; Fadl-Elmula, Imad M

2011-11-01

To assess the significance of serum total prostate specific antigen (tPSA) and digital rectal examination (DRE) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PC). One hundred and eighteen patients with serum tPSA ranging between 2.5 and 10 ng/ml with lower urinary tract symptoms presented at the Urology Clinic of Soba University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan from August 2008 and January 2010 were included in the study. Serum tPSA was measured using enzyme immunoassay method, and accordingly, the patients were classified into 2 groups: patients that had tPSA between 2.5-4.0 ng/ml; and patients that had tPSA between 4.1-10 ng/ml. The DRE was performed on all patients by a qualified urologist, and were recorded as a group with suspicion of PC, and a group with no suspicion of PC. All patients underwent transrectal sextant prostate biopsy. The DRE alone showed 63.8% sensitivity and 68% specificity with 46.9% positive predictive value (PPV) for the diagnosis of PC. The tPSA test revealed 91.6% sensitivity and 24% specificity with PPV of 34%. However, when combining DRE and tPSA, the sensitivity reached 100% and the specificity increased to 92% with PPV of 49%. Combining DRE and tPSA test increases the sensitivity, specificity, and PPV of PC detection.

Discovery of Nigri/nox and Panto/pox site-specific recombinase systems facilitates advanced genome engineering.

PubMed

Karimova, Madina; Splith, Victoria; Karpinski, Janet; Pisabarro, M Teresa; Buchholz, Frank

2016-07-22

Precise genome engineering is instrumental for biomedical research and holds great promise for future therapeutic applications. Site-specific recombinases (SSRs) are valuable tools for genome engineering due to their exceptional ability to mediate precise excision, integration and inversion of genomic DNA in living systems. The ever-increasing complexity of genome manipulations and the desire to understand the DNA-binding specificity of these enzymes are driving efforts to identify novel SSR systems with unique properties. Here, we describe two novel tyrosine site-specific recombination systems designated Nigri/nox and Panto/pox. Nigri originates from Vibrio nigripulchritudo (plasmid VIBNI_pA) and recombines its target site nox with high efficiency and high target-site selectivity, without recombining target sites of the well established SSRs Cre, Dre, Vika and VCre. Panto, derived from Pantoea sp. aB, is less specific and in addition to its native target site, pox also recombines the target site for Dre recombinase, called rox. This relaxed specificity allowed the identification of residues that are involved in target site selectivity, thereby advancing our understanding of how SSRs recognize their respective DNA targets.

Structural hierarchy controlling dimerization and target DNA recognition in the AHR transcriptional complex.

PubMed

Seok, Seung-Hyeon; Lee, Woojong; Jiang, Li; Molugu, Kaivalya; Zheng, Aiping; Li, Yitong; Park, Sanghyun; Bradfield, Christopher A; Xing, Yongna

2017-05-23

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) belongs to the PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) family transcription factors and mediates broad responses to numerous environmental pollutants and cellular metabolites, modulating diverse biological processes from adaptive metabolism, acute toxicity, to normal physiology of vascular and immune systems. The AHR forms a transcriptionally active heterodimer with ARNT (AHR nuclear translocator), which recognizes the dioxin response element (DRE) in the promoter of downstream genes. We determined the crystal structure of the mammalian AHR-ARNT heterodimer in complex with the DRE, in which ARNT curls around AHR into a highly intertwined asymmetric architecture, with extensive heterodimerization interfaces and AHR interdomain interactions. Specific recognition of the DRE is determined locally by the DNA-binding residues, which discriminates it from the closely related hypoxia response element (HRE), and is globally affected by the dimerization interfaces and interdomain interactions. Changes at the interdomain interactions caused either AHR constitutive nuclear localization or failure to translocate to nucleus, underlying an allosteric structural pathway for mediating ligand-induced exposure of nuclear localization signal. These observations, together with the global higher flexibility of the AHR PAS-A and its loosely packed structural elements, suggest a dynamic structural hierarchy for complex scenarios of AHR activation induced by its diverse ligands.

Structural hierarchy controlling dimerization and target DNA recognition in the AHR transcriptional complex

PubMed Central

Lee, Woojong; Jiang, Li; Molugu, Kaivalya; Zheng, Aiping; Li, Yitong; Park, Sanghyun; Bradfield, Christopher A.; Xing, Yongna

2017-01-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) belongs to the PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) family transcription factors and mediates broad responses to numerous environmental pollutants and cellular metabolites, modulating diverse biological processes from adaptive metabolism, acute toxicity, to normal physiology of vascular and immune systems. The AHR forms a transcriptionally active heterodimer with ARNT (AHR nuclear translocator), which recognizes the dioxin response element (DRE) in the promoter of downstream genes. We determined the crystal structure of the mammalian AHR–ARNT heterodimer in complex with the DRE, in which ARNT curls around AHR into a highly intertwined asymmetric architecture, with extensive heterodimerization interfaces and AHR interdomain interactions. Specific recognition of the DRE is determined locally by the DNA-binding residues, which discriminates it from the closely related hypoxia response element (HRE), and is globally affected by the dimerization interfaces and interdomain interactions. Changes at the interdomain interactions caused either AHR constitutive nuclear localization or failure to translocate to nucleus, underlying an allosteric structural pathway for mediating ligand-induced exposure of nuclear localization signal. These observations, together with the global higher flexibility of the AHR PAS-A and its loosely packed structural elements, suggest a dynamic structural hierarchy for complex scenarios of AHR activation induced by its diverse ligands. PMID:28396409

Structural hierarchy controlling dimerization and target DNA recognition in the AHR transcriptional complex

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

Seok, Seung-Hyeon; Lee, Woojong; Jiang, Li

he aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) belongs to the PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) family transcription factors and mediates broad responses to numerous environmental pollutants and cellular metabolites, modulating diverse biological processes from adaptive metabolism, acute toxicity, to normal physiology of vascular and immune systems. The AHR forms a transcriptionally active heterodimer with ARNT (AHR nuclear translocator), which recognizes the dioxin response element (DRE) in the promoter of downstream genes. We determined the crystal structure of the mammalian AHR–ARNT heterodimer in complex with the DRE, in which ARNT curls around AHR into a highly intertwined asymmetric architecture, with extensive heterodimerization interfaces and AHR interdomainmore » interactions. Specific recognition of the DRE is determined locally by the DNA-binding residues, which discriminates it from the closely related hypoxia response element (HRE), and is globally affected by the dimerization interfaces and interdomain interactions. Changes at the interdomain interactions caused either AHR constitutive nuclear localization or failure to translocate to nucleus, underlying an allosteric structural pathway for mediating ligand-induced exposure of nuclear localization signal. These observations, together with the global higher flexibility of the AHR PAS-A and its loosely packed structural elements, suggest a dynamic structural hierarchy for complex scenarios of AHR activation induced by its diverse ligands.« less

Fear, knowledge, and efficacy beliefs differentially predict the frequency of digital rectal examination versus prostate specific antigen screening in ethnically diverse samples of older men.

PubMed

Consedine, Nathan S; Horton, David; Ungar, Tracey; Joe, Andrew K; Ramirez, Paul; Borrell, Luisa

2007-03-01

Emotional and cognitive characteristics have been studied in the context of women's cancer screening but have received scant attention in the study of men's screening behavior. Researchers know little about how such factors interact to predict screening or whether digital rectal examination (DRE) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) screens are predicted by the same characteristics. This study examines the relevance of emotional and cognitive characteristics to DRE and PSA screening among 180 U.S.-born African American, U.S.- born European American, and immigrant Jamaican men. The study identifies the expected effects in which fear is negatively related and efficacy beliefs positively related to DRE and PSA screening. Greater efficacy and (marginally) knowledge appear to "offset" the negative impact of fear on screening, and fear appears particularly relevant to DRE frequency. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of health belief and self-regulatory models in the context of prostate cancer screening among minority men.

Prevalence of BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms in West Africans.

PubMed

Chokkalingam, A P; Yeboah, E D; Demarzo, A; Netto, G; Yu, K; Biritwum, R B; Tettey, Y; Adjei, A; Jadallah, S; Li, Y; Chu, L W; Chia, D; Niwa, S; Partin, A; Thompson, I M; Roehrborn, C; Hoover, R N; Hsing, A W

2012-06-01

BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are very common among older men in Western countries. However, the prevalence of these two conditions in the developing countries is less clear. We assessed the age-standardized prevalence of BPH and/or LUTS among West Africans in a probability sample of 950 men aged 50-74 in Accra, Ghana, with no evidence of biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer after screening with PSA and digital rectal examination (DRE). Information on LUTS was based on self-reports of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). BPH was estimated using DRE, PSA levels and imputed prostate volume. The prevalence of DRE-detected enlarged prostate was 62.3%, while that of PSA≥1.5 ng ml(-1) (an estimate of prostate volume ≥ 30 cm(3)) was 35.3%. The prevalence of moderate-to-severe LUTS (IPSS≥8) was 19.9%. The prevalence of IPSS≥8 and an enlarged prostate on DRE was 13.3%. Although there is no universally agreed-upon definition of BPH/LUTS, making comparisons across populations difficult, BPH and/or LUTS appear to be quite common among older Ghanaian men. We found that after age standardization, the prevalence of DRE-detected enlarged prostate in Ghanaian men is higher than previously reported for American men, but the prevalence of LUTS was lower than previously reported for African Americans. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and identify the risk factors for BPH in both Africans and African Americans.

Direct radiative effect due to brownness in organic carbon aerosols generated from biomass combustion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rathod, T. D.; Sahu, S. K.; Tiwari, M.; Pandit, G. G.

2016-12-01

We report the enhancement in the direct radiative effect due the presence of Brown carbon (BrC) as a part of organic carbon aerosols. The optical properties of organic carbon aerosols generated from pyrolytic combustion of mango tree wood (Magnifera Indica) and dung cake at different temperatures were considered. Mie codes were used to calculate absorption and scattering coefficients coupled with experimentally derived imaginary complex refractive index. The direct radiative effect (DRE) for sampled organic carbon aerosols was estimated using a wavelength dependent radiative transfer equation. The BrC DRE was estimated taking virtually non absorbing organic aerosols as reference. The BrC DRE from wood and dung cake was compared at different combustion temperatures and conditions. The BrC contributed positively to the direct top of the atmosphere radiative effect. Dung cake generated BrC aerosols were found to be strongly light absorbing as compared to BrC from wood combustion. It was noted that radiative effects of BrC from wood depended on its generation temperature and conditions. For BrC aerosols from dung cake such strong dependence was not observed. The average BrC aerosol DRE values were 1.53±0.76 W g-1 and 17.84±6.45 W g-1 for wood and dung cake respectively. The DRE contribution of BrC aerosols came mainly (67-90%) from visible light absorption though they exhibited strong absorption in shorter wavelengths of the UV-visible spectrum.

Need for and relevance of prostate cancer screening in Nigeria.

PubMed

Akinremi, To; Adeniyi, A; Olutunde, A; Oduniyi, A; Ogo, Cn

2014-01-01

Prostate cancer (PCa) has become the most prevalent cancer among males in Nigeria, and similar to other black populations, Nigerian men present with more advanced disease at an earlier age than in several other ethnic groups. In this unscreened, high-risk group, the reference range for early detection and diagnosis as well as risk factors need to be determined through large-scale screening. Over 4 years, 1124 previously unscreened men between 40 and 85 years of age were screened at free community health programmes for PCa, using the common parameters of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) plus digital rectal examination (DRE). We thereby assessed the practicality and importance of screening. Consent was obtained, demographic data obtained, PSA measured using qualitative laboratory kits, and DRE performed by surgeons. We found that the number of men attending and consenting to screening increases from year to year. Of 40-85-year-old men, 85.4% consented, of whom 33.3% (a third) and 60% were 51-60 years old and 51-65 years, respectively. While 11.5% of men had PSA >4 ng/ml, 31.45% showed abnormal DRE. Of the men who took the PSA test, 79.2% also consented to the DRE, of whom 5.8% had combined abnormal DRE and PSA >4 ng/ml. Our findings suggest that Nigerian men are a willing group for screening by both the PSA and DRE with the positive response to calls for health screening and interest in prostate health. The finding of PSA >4 ng/ml in 11.15% of this population reveals the need for greater awareness and measures to increase early detection. However, the value and validity of established PSA reference ranges and cutoff of 'normal' still need to be established. Screening is very important to better define the PCa prevalence and characteristics in our population; otherwise political and economic circumstances will ensure that men still present late with aggressive PCa.

Site remediation using photocatalytic VOC destruction of chlorinated hydrocarbons

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

Brunet, R.A.H.; Pearcey, R.; Kittrell, J.R.

1999-07-01

An innovative environmental technology has been developed and demonstrated for cost-effective control of toxic air emissions, such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), found in soil and groundwater at hazardous waste sites and in industrial effluents. The technology uses UV light and a proprietary photocatalyst to adsorb and destroy pollutants at ambient conditions, even with high humidity. Air stripping and soil vapor extraction efficiently transfer the pollutants to the gas phase, where they can be economically treated by photocatalysis without the risk of hazardous by-product formation. The AIR2000 photocatalytic technology was successfully installed at the Stamina Mills Superfund site inmore » Rhode Island, where a commercial scale unit is treating 700 cfm of up to 1,000 ppm TCE, mixed with PCE, dichloroethylene (DCE), trichloroethane (TCA), and vinyl chloride (VC) produced through a combination of soil vapor extraction (SVE) and air stripping. As part of the EPA SITE program, the system was monitored for overall destruction removal efficiency (DRE) and hazardous by-product formation. A DRE in excess of 99% was reported over the first four months of operation, with greater than 99.99% DRE achieved, without production of hazardous by-products. The operating cost of the system is approximately 20% of activated carbon adsorption, which provides approximately $1,500,000 in cost savings over the life of the Stamina Mills project. The Adsorption Integrated Reaction (AIR) process is the recipient of the 1997 SBIR Technology of the Year award, the 1998 EPA Environmental Technology Innovator Award, and the 1998 R and D 100 Award.« less

Detection of prostate cancer-specific transcripts in extracellular vesicles isolated from post-DRE urine

PubMed Central

Pellegrini, Kathryn L.; Patil, Dattatraya; Douglas, Kristen J.S.; Lee, Grace; Wehrmeyer, Kathryn; Torlak, Mersiha; Clark, Jeremy; Cooper, Colin S.; Moreno, Carlos S.; Sanda, Martin G.

2018-01-01

Background The measurement of gene expression in post-digital rectal examination (DRE) urine specimens provides a non-invasive method to determine a patient’s risk of prostate cancer. Many currently available assays use whole urine or cell pellets for the analysis of prostate cancer-associated genes, although the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has also recently been of interest. We investigated the expression of prostate-, kidney-, and bladder-specific transcripts and known prostate cancer biomarkers in urine EVs. Methods Cell pellets and EVs were recovered from post-DRE urine specimens, with the total RNA yield and quality determined by Bioanalyzer. The levels of prostate, kidney, and bladder-associated transcripts in EVs were assessed by TaqMan qPCR and targeted sequencing. Results RNA was more consistently recovered from the urine EV specimens, with over 80% of the patients demonstrating higher RNA yields in the EV fraction as compared to urine cell pellets. The median EV RNA yield of 36.4 ng was significantly higher than the median urine cell pellet RNA yield of 4.8 ng. Analysis of the post-DRE urine EVs indicated that prostate-specific transcripts were more abundant than kidney- or bladder-specific transcripts. Additionally, patients with prostate cancer had significantly higher levels of the prostate cancer-associated genes PCA3 and ERG. Conclusions Post-DRE urine EVs are a viable source of prostate-derived RNAs for biomarker discovery and prostate cancer status can be distinguished from analysis of these specimens. Continued analysis of urine EVs offers the potential discovery of novel biomarkers for pre-biopsy prostate cancer detection. PMID:28419548

Detection of prostate cancer-specific transcripts in extracellular vesicles isolated from post-DRE urine.

PubMed

Pellegrini, Kathryn L; Patil, Dattatraya; Douglas, Kristen J S; Lee, Grace; Wehrmeyer, Kathryn; Torlak, Mersiha; Clark, Jeremy; Cooper, Colin S; Moreno, Carlos S; Sanda, Martin G

2017-06-01

The measurement of gene expression in post-digital rectal examination (DRE) urine specimens provides a non-invasive method to determine a patient's risk of prostate cancer. Many currently available assays use whole urine or cell pellets for the analysis of prostate cancer-associated genes, although the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has also recently been of interest. We investigated the expression of prostate-, kidney-, and bladder-specific transcripts and known prostate cancer biomarkers in urine EVs. Cell pellets and EVs were recovered from post-DRE urine specimens, with the total RNA yield and quality determined by Bioanalyzer. The levels of prostate, kidney, and bladder-associated transcripts in EVs were assessed by TaqMan qPCR and targeted sequencing. RNA was more consistently recovered from the urine EV specimens, with over 80% of the patients demonstrating higher RNA yields in the EV fraction as compared to urine cell pellets. The median EV RNA yield of 36.4 ng was significantly higher than the median urine cell pellet RNA yield of 4.8 ng. Analysis of the post-DRE urine EVs indicated that prostate-specific transcripts were more abundant than kidney- or bladder-specific transcripts. Additionally, patients with prostate cancer had significantly higher levels of the prostate cancer-associated genes PCA3 and ERG. Post-DRE urine EVs are a viable source of prostate-derived RNAs for biomarker discovery and prostate cancer status can be distinguished from analysis of these specimens. Continued analysis of urine EVs offers the potential discovery of novel biomarkers for pre-biopsy prostate cancer detection. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Direct radiative effect by multicomponent aerosol over China

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

Huang, Xin; Song, Yu; Zhao, Chun

The direct radiative effect (DRE) of multiple aerosol species (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and mineral aerosol) and their spatiotemporal variations over China were investigated using a fully coupled meteorology–chemistry model (WRF-Chem) for the entire year of 2006. We made modifications to improve model performance, including updating land surface parameters, improving the calculation of transition metal-catalyzed oxidation of SO 2, and adding in heterogeneous reactions between mineral aerosol and acid gases. The modified model well reproduced the magnitude, seasonal pattern, and spatial distribution of the measured meteorological conditions, concentrations of PM 10 and its components, andmore » aerosol optical depth (AOD). A diagnostic iteration method was used to estimate the overall DRE of aerosols and contributions from different components. At the land surface, all kinds of aerosol species reduced the incident net radiation flux with a total DRE of 10.2 W m -2 over China. Aerosols significantly warm the atmosphere with the national mean DRE of +10.8 W m -2. BC was the leading radiative-heating component (+8.7 W m -2), followed by mineral aerosol (+1.1 W m -2). At the top of the atmosphere (TOA), BC introduced the largest radiative perturbation (+4.5 W m -2), followed by sulfate (-1.4 W m -2). The overall perturbation of aerosols on radiation transfer is quite small over China, demonstrating the counterbalancing effect between scattering and adsorbing aerosols. Aerosol DRE at the TOA had distinct seasonality, generally with a summer maximum and winter minimum, mainly determined by mass loadings, hygroscopic growth, and incident radiation flux.« less

Integrative Analysis of Desert Dust Size and Abundance Suggests Less Dust Climate Cooling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kok, Jasper F.; Ridley, David A.; Zhou, Qing; Miller, Ron L.; Zhao, Chun; Heald, Colette L.; Ward, Daniel S.; Albani, Samuel; Haustein, Karsten

2017-01-01

Desert dust aerosols affect Earths global energy balance through interactions with radiation, clouds, and ecosystems. But the magnitudes of these effects are so uncertain that it remains unclear whether atmospheric dust has a net warming or cooling effect on global climate. Consequently, it is still uncertain whether large changes in atmospheric dust loading over the past century have slowed or accelerated anthropogenic climate change, and the climate impact of possible future alterations in dust loading is similarly disputed. Here we use an integrative analysis of dust aerosol sizes and abundance to constrain the climatic impact of dust through direct interactions with radiation. Using a combination of observational, experimental, and model data, we find that atmospheric dust is substantially coarser than represented in current climate models. Since coarse dust warms global climate, the dust direct radiative effect (DRE) is likely less cooling than the 0.4 W m superscript 2 estimated by models in a current ensemble. We constrain the dust DRE to -0.20 (-0.48 to +0.20) W m superscript 2, which suggests that the dust DRE produces only about half the cooling that current models estimate, and raises the possibility that dust DRE is actually net warming the planet.

Gene silencing in Tribolium castaneum as a tool for the targeted identification of candidate RNAi targets in crop pests.

PubMed

Knorr, Eileen; Fishilevich, Elane; Tenbusch, Linda; Frey, Meghan L F; Rangasamy, Murugesan; Billion, Andre; Worden, Sarah E; Gandra, Premchand; Arora, Kanika; Lo, Wendy; Schulenberg, Greg; Valverde-Garcia, Pablo; Vilcinskas, Andreas; Narva, Kenneth E

2018-02-01

RNAi shows potential as an agricultural technology for insect control, yet, a relatively low number of robust lethal RNAi targets have been demonstrated to control insects of agricultural interest. In the current study, a selection of lethal RNAi target genes from the iBeetle (Tribolium castaneum) screen were used to demonstrate efficacy of orthologous targets in the economically important coleopteran pests Diabrotica virgifera virgifera and Meligethes aeneus. Transcript orthologs of 50 selected genes were analyzed in D. v. virgifera diet-based RNAi bioassays; 21 of these RNAi targets showed mortality and 36 showed growth inhibition. Low dose injection- and diet-based dsRNA assays in T. castaneum and D. v. virgifera, respectively, enabled the identification of the four highly potent RNAi target genes: Rop, dre4, ncm, and RpII140. Maize was genetically engineered to express dsRNA directed against these prioritized candidate target genes. T 0 plants expressing Rop, dre4, or RpII140 RNA hairpins showed protection from D. v. virgifera larval feeding damage. dsRNA targeting Rop, dre4, ncm, and RpII140 in M. aeneus also caused high levels of mortality both by injection and feeding. In summary, high throughput systems for model organisms can be successfully used to identify potent RNA targets for difficult-to-work with agricultural insect pests.

Discovery of Nigri/nox and Panto/pox site-specific recombinase systems facilitates advanced genome engineering

PubMed Central

Karimova, Madina; Splith, Victoria; Karpinski, Janet; Pisabarro, M. Teresa; Buchholz, Frank

2016-01-01

Precise genome engineering is instrumental for biomedical research and holds great promise for future therapeutic applications. Site-specific recombinases (SSRs) are valuable tools for genome engineering due to their exceptional ability to mediate precise excision, integration and inversion of genomic DNA in living systems. The ever-increasing complexity of genome manipulations and the desire to understand the DNA-binding specificity of these enzymes are driving efforts to identify novel SSR systems with unique properties. Here, we describe two novel tyrosine site-specific recombination systems designated Nigri/nox and Panto/pox. Nigri originates from Vibrio nigripulchritudo (plasmid VIBNI_pA) and recombines its target site nox with high efficiency and high target-site selectivity, without recombining target sites of the well established SSRs Cre, Dre, Vika and VCre. Panto, derived from Pantoea sp. aB, is less specific and in addition to its native target site, pox also recombines the target site for Dre recombinase, called rox. This relaxed specificity allowed the identification of residues that are involved in target site selectivity, thereby advancing our understanding of how SSRs recognize their respective DNA targets. PMID:27444945

A Novel Method for Estimating Shortwave Direct Radiative Effect of Above-Cloud Aerosols Using CALIOP and MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Zhibo; Meyer, Kerry G.; Platnick, Steven; Oreopoulos, Lazaros; Lee, Dongmin; Yu, Hongbin

2014-01-01

This paper describes an efficient and unique method for computing the shortwave direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosol residing above low-level liquid-phase clouds using CALIOP and MODIS data. It addresses the overlap of aerosol and cloud rigorously by utilizing the joint histogram of cloud optical depth and cloud top pressure while also accounting for subgrid-scale variations of aerosols. The method is computationally efficient because of its use of grid-level cloud and aerosol statistics, instead of pixel-level products, and a pre-computed look-up table based on radiative transfer calculations. We verify that for smoke over the southeast Atlantic Ocean the method yields a seasonal mean instantaneous (approximately 1:30PM local time) shortwave DRE of above cloud aerosol (ACA) that generally agrees with more rigorous pixel-level computation within 4 percent. We also estimate the impact of potential CALIOP aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval bias of ACA on DRE. We find that the regional and seasonal mean instantaneous DRE of ACA over southeast Atlantic Ocean would increase, from the original value of 6.4 W m(-2) based on operational CALIOP AOD to 9.6 W m(-2) if CALIOP AOD retrieval are biased low by a factor of 1.5 (Meyer et al., 2013) and further to 30.9 W m(-2) if CALIOP AOD retrieval are biased low by a factor of 5 as suggested in (Jethva et al., 2014). In contrast, the instantaneous ACA radiative forcing efficiency (RFE) remains relatively invariant in all cases at about 53 W m(-2) AOD(-1), suggesting a near linear relation between the instantaneous RFE and AOD. We also compute the annual mean instantaneous shortwave DRE of light-absorbing aerosols (i.e., smoke and polluted dust) over global oceans based on 4 years of CALIOP and MODIS data. We find that the variability of the annual mean shortwave DRE of above-cloud light-absorbing aerosol is mainly driven by the optical depth of the underlying clouds. While we demonstrate our method using CALIOP and MODIS data, it can also be extended to other satellite data sets, as well as climate model outputs.

Seizure frequency reduction after posteromedial hypothalamus deep brain stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy associated with intractable aggressive behavior.

PubMed

Benedetti-Isaac, Juan C; Torres-Zambrano, Martin; Vargas-Toscano, Andres; Perea-Castro, Esther; Alcalá-Cerra, Gabriel; Furlanetti, Luciano L; Reithmeier, Thomas; Tierney, Travis S; Anastasopoulos, Constantin; Fonoff, Erich T; Contreras Lopez, William Omar

2015-07-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the posteromedial hypothalamus (pHyp) on seizure frequency in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) associated with intractable aggressive behavior (IAB). Data were collected retrospectively from nine patients, who received bilateral stereotactic pHyp-DBS for the treatment of medically intractable aggressive behavior, focusing on five patients who also had DRE. All patients were treated at the Colombian Center and Foundation of Epilepsy and Neurological Diseases-FIRE (Chapter of the International Bureau for Epilepsy), in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia from 2010 to 2014. Each case was evaluated previously by the institutional ethical committee, assessing the impact of aggressive behavior on the patient's family and social life, the humanitarian aspects of preserving the safety and physical integrity of caregivers, and the need to prevent self-harm. Epilepsy improvement was measured by a monthly seizure reduction percentage, comparing preoperative state and outcome. Additional response to epilepsy was defined by reduction of the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Aggressive behavior response was measured using the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS). All the patients with DRE associated with IAB presented a significant decrease of the rate of epileptic seizures after up to 4 years follow-up, achieving a general 89.6% average seizure reduction from the state before the surgery. Aggressiveness was significantly controlled, with evident improvement in the OAS, enhancing the quality of life of patients and families. In well-selected patients, DBS of the pHyp seems to be a safe and effective procedure for treatment of DRE associated with refractory aggressive behavior. Larger and prospective series are needed to define the pHyp as a target for DRE in different contexts. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International League Against Epilepsy.

Seasonal variation in non-structural carbohydrates, sucrolytic activity and secondary metabolites in deciduous and perennial Diospyros species sampled in Western Mexico

PubMed Central

Ramírez-Briones, Ernesto; Rodríguez-Macías, Ramón; Salcedo-Pérez, Eduardo; Martínez-Gallardo, Norma; Tiessen, Axel; Molina-Torres, Jorge; Délano-Frier, John P.; Zañudo-Hernández, Julia

2017-01-01

This study was performed to test the working hypothesis that the primary determinants influencing seasonal driven modifications in carbon mobilization and other key biochemical parameters in leaves of poorly known Diospyros digyna (Ddg; semi-domesticated; perennial) and D. rekoi (Dre; undomesticated; deciduous) trees are determined by environmental growing conditions, agronomic management and physiological plasticity. Thus, biochemical changes in leaves of both trees were recorded seasonally during two successive fruiting years. Trees were randomly sampled in Western Mexico habitats with differing soil quality, climatic conditions, luminosity, and cultivation practices. Leaves of Ddg had consistently higher total chlorophyll contents (CT) that, unexpectedly, peaked in the winter of 2015. In Dre, the highest leaf CT values recorded in the summer of 2015 inversely correlated with low average luminosity and high Chl a/ Chlb ratios. The seasonal CT variations in Dre were congruent with varying luminosity, whereas those in Ddg were probably affected by other factors, such as fluctuating leaf protein contents and the funneling of light energy to foliar non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) accumulation, which were consistently higher than those detected in Dre leaves. Seasonal foliar NSC fluctuations in both species were in agreement with the carbon (C) demands of flowering, fruiting and/ or leaf regrowth. Seasonal changes in foliar hexose to sucrose (Hex/ Suc) ratios coincided with cell wall invertase activity in both species. In Dre, high Hex/ Suc ratios in spring leaves possibly allowed an accumulation of phenolic acids, not observed in Ddg. The above results supported the hypothesis proposed by showing that leaf responses to changing environmental conditions differ in perennial and deciduous Diospyros trees, including a dynamic adjustment of NSCs to supply the C demands imposed by reproduction, leaf regrowth and, possibly, stress. PMID:29073239

Etiological associations and outcome predictors of acute electroencephalography in childhood encephalitis.

PubMed

Mohammad, Shekeeb S; Soe, Samantha M; Pillai, Sekhar C; Nosadini, Margherita; Barnes, Elizabeth H; Gill, Deepak; Dale, Russell C

2016-10-01

To examine EEG features in a retrospective 13-year cohort of children with encephalitis. 354 EEGs from 119 patients during their admission were rated blind using a proforma with demonstrated inter-rater reliability (mean k=0.78). Patients belonged to 12 etiological groups that could be grouped into infectious and infection-associated (n=47), immune-mediated (n=36) and unknown (n=33). EEG features were analyzed between groups and for risk of abnormal Liverpool Outcome Score and drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) at last follow up. 86% children had an abnormal first EEG and 89% had at least one abnormal EEG. 55% had an abnormal outcome, and 13% had DRE after median follow-up of 7.3years (2.0-15.8years). Reactive background on first EEGs (9/11, p=0.04) and extreme spindles (4/11, p<0.001) distinguished patients with anti-N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor encephalitis. Non-reactive EEG background (48% first EEGs) predicted abnormal outcome (OR 3.8, p<0.001). A shifting focal seizure pattern, seen in FIRES (4/5), anti-voltage gated potassium channel (2/3), Mycoplasma (1/10), other viral (1/10) and other unknown (1/28) encephalitis, was most predictive of DRE after multivariable analysis (OR 11.9, p<0.001). Non-reactive EEG background and the presence of shifting focal seizures resembling migrating partial seizures of infancy are predictors of abnormal outcome and DRE respectively in childhood encephalitis. EEG is a sensitive but non-discriminatory marker of childhood encephalitis. We highlight the EEG features that predict abnormal outcome and DRE. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. All rights reserved.

Exploring the observational constraints on the simulation of brown carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, X.; Heald, C. L.; Liu, J.; Weber, R. J.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Jimenez, J. L.; Schwarz, J. P.; Perring, A. E.

2017-12-01

Brown carbon (BrC) is the component of organic aerosols (OA) which strongly absorbs solar radiation in the near-UV range of the spectrum. However the sources, evolution, and optical properties of BrC remain highly uncertain, and therefore constitute a large source of uncertainty in estimating the global direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosols. Previous modeling studies of BrC optical properties and DRE have been unable to fully evaluate the skill of their simulations, given the lack of direct measurements of organic aerosol absorption. In this study, we develop a global model simulation (GEOS-Chem) of BrC and test it against BrC absorption measurements from two aircraft campaigns in the U.S. (SEAC4RS and DC3). To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare simulated BrC absorption with direct, continuous ambient measurements. We show that the laboratory-based BrC absorption properties from biomass burning overestimate the aircraft measurements of ambient BrC. In addition, applying a photochemical whitening scheme to simulated BrC is better able to represent the observed BrC absorption. These observations are consistent with a mass absorption coefficient (MAC) of freshly emitted biomass burning OA of 0.57m2g-1. Using the RRTMG model integrated with GEOS-Chem, we estimate that the all-sky top-of-atmosphere direct radiative effect (DRE) of OA is -0.350 Wm-2, 10% higher than that without consideration of BrC absorption. Therefore, our best estimate of the absorption DRE of BrC is +0.042 Wm-2. We suggest that the DRE of BrC has been overestimated previously due to the lack of observational constraints from direct measurements as well as neglect of the effects of photochemical whitening.

Remediation of 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene contaminated soil using a combined thermal desorption-molten salt oxidation reactor system.

PubMed

Li, Jin-hui; Sun, Xiao-fei; Yao, Zhi-tong; Zhao, Xiang-yang

2014-02-01

A combined thermal desorption (TD)-molten salt oxidation (MSO) reactor system was applied to remediate the 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene (1,2,3-TCB) contaminated soil. The TD reactor was used to enrich the contaminant from soil, and its dechlorination of the contaminant was achieved in the MSO reactor. The optimum operating conditions of TD, and the effects of MSO reactor temperatures, additive amounts of the TCB on destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of TCB and chlorine retention efficiency (CRE) were investigated. The reaction mechanism and pathway were proposed as well. The combined system could remediate the contaminated soil at a large scale of concentration from 5 to 25gkg(-1), and the DRE and CRE reached more than 99% and 95%, respectively, at temperatures above 850°C. The reaction emissions included C6H6, CH4, CO and CO2, and chlorinated species were not detected. It was found that a little increase in the temperature can considerably reduce the emission of C6H6, CH4, and CO, while the CO2 level increased. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Modeling Integrated Cave Drip Recharge Data using DReAM (Daily Recharge Assessment Model) in a Dry Eastern Mediterranean Area, Sif Cave - Israel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anker, Y.; Sheffer, N. A.; Scanlon, B. R.; Gimburg, A.; Morin, E.

2010-12-01

Understanding recharge mechanisms and controls in karst regions is extremely important for managing water resources because of the dynamic nature of the system. To better understand this mechanism, a cave in the recharge area of the karstic Western Mountain Aquifer (WMA) of Israel was equipped to measure precipitation infiltration (2006-2008) by collecting integrated water drips from three areas in the cave (14, 46, and 52 m2 areas). Barrels equipped with pressure transducers record drip rate and volume for each of the three areas and enable estimation of recharge. A water budget model - DReAM (Daily Recharge Assessment Model) was used to quantify and predict infiltration behavior at the cave. DReAM includes calculations of all water cycle components - precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff and recharge. The model was calibrated and validated using two independent sets of values, providing good agreement between calculated and observed data. Modeling results agree with previous studies that show: 1) three distinct flow paths (slow, intermediate, and fast flows) of water infiltrating at the cave; 2) a threshold of ~100 mm rain at the beginning of the rainy season for infiltration to begin; and 3) a decrease in lag time between rain events and infiltration response throughout the rainy season. This modeling tool and analysis approach can translate precipitation to groundwater recharge which will be very important for projecting future water resources in response to climate variability.

Mycobacterium avium restriction fragment length polymorphism-IS IS1245 and the simple double repetitive element polymerase chain reaction typing method to screen genetic diversity in Brazilian strains.

PubMed

Sequeira, Patrícia Carvalho de; Fonseca, Leila de Souza; Silva, Marlei Gomes da; Saad, Maria Helena Féres

2005-11-01

Simple double repetitive element polymerase chain reaction (MaDRE-PCR) and Pvu II-IS1245 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing methods were used to type 41 Mycobacterium avium isolates obtained from 14 AIDS inpatients and 10 environment and animals specimens identified among 53 mycobacteria isolated from 237 food, chicken, and pig. All environmental and animals strains showed orphan patterns by both methods. By MaDRE-PCR four patients, with multiple isolates, showed different patterns, suggesting polyclonal infection that was confirmed by RFLP in two of them. This first evaluation of MaDRE-PCR on Brazilian M. avium strains demonstrated that the method seems to be useful as simple and less expensive typing method for screening genetic diversity in M. avium strains on selected epidemiological studies, although with limitation on analysis identical patterns except for one band.

Selfish DNA: a pharmaceutical perspective.

PubMed

Winckler, T

2013-07-01

Almost 25 years ago, Theo Dingermann published the discovery of a new mobile genetic element in the unicellular microbe Dictyostelium discoideum in the journal Science. An interesting property of this new molecular parasite, the Dictyostelium Repetitive Element (DRE), was that all integrations were found approximately 50 base pairs (bp) upstream of transfer RNA (tRNA) genes in the D. discoideum genome, thus implying an active targeting mechanism to avoid the disruption of host cell genes by the retrotransposition process. Since then, the facultative multicellular "social amoeba" D. discoideum has become a popular model for analyzing complex cellular functions such as cell movement, chemotaxis, phagocytosis, and cell differentiation, important areas of biomedical research that are often hard to investigate in cells from "higher organisms" including humans. Therefore, progress in the development of methods to study Dictyostelium biology has also provoked research on transposable elements in this organism. Early work on the DRE element suggested that studying its molecular mechanism of site-specific integration might promote human gene therapy technology through the design of integrating gene transfer vectors with low intrinsic genotoxic potential. In this review article, I will briefly review the original research performed on the DRE transposable element in the Dingermann lab and report on how the emergence of genomics technologies and the development of tools to analyze de novo retrotransposition events in D. discoideum cells will expand our knowledge of DRE biology in the future.

Prostate cancer diagnosis in a resource-poor setting: the changing role of digital rectal examination.

PubMed

Ahmed, Muhammed

2011-07-01

We undertook this study in order to determine the current role of digital rectal examination (DRE) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer in a resource-poor setting. The diagnosis of prostate cancer has been revolutionized by the introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for biopsy guidance and more efficient biopsy equipment, but they are not readily available in most developing countries. This is a prospective study of 131 patients with suspected prostate cancer based on clinical presentation, DRE and elevated PSA. The presence or absence of cancer was confirmed by biopsy and histologic examination. Patients with screen- or incidentally-detected prostate cancer were excluded. The most common symptom was the development of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). All patients had abnormal DRE and indurated prostate was the most frequent finding (50%). The mean PSA was 33.9 ng/mL: of the 131 patients, 80 (61.1%) had a malignant histology following biopsy, 47 (35.9%) were benign and four (3.0%) were prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). The low specificity of DRE in the diagnosis of prostate cancer requires that it should be combined with other diagnostic modalities such as PSA and TRUS-guided prostate biopsy. Thus government and health-care providers in resource-poor countries must strive to make these facilities available in order to improve prostate cancer diagnosis.

Ten-core versus 16-core transrectal ultrasonography guided prostate biopsy for detection of prostatic carcinoma: a prospective comparative study in Indian population

PubMed Central

Prakash, V. Surya; Mohan, G. Chandra; Krishnaiah, S. Venkata; Vijaykumar, V.; Babu, G. Ramesh; Reddy, G. Vijaya Bhaskar; Mahaboob, V. S.

2013-01-01

Purpose: To compare the cancer detection rate in patients with raised serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) results between the 10-core and the 16-core biopsy techniques in an Indian population. Methods: Between November 2010 and November 2012, 95 men aged >50 years who presented to the Urology Department with lower urinary tract symptoms, elevated serum PSA, and/or abnormal DRE findings underwent transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy. A total of 53 patients underwent 10-core biopsy and 42 patients underwent 16-core biopsy. Results: Of the 53 men in the 10-core group, 8 had cancer, whereas in the 16-core biopsy group, 23 of 42 men had cancer. Detection of prostate cancer was significantly higher in patients who underwent 16-core biopsy than in those who underwent 10-core biopsy (P<0.001). Among the 95 men, 44 men had abnormal DRE findings (46.3%), of whom 23 showed cancer (52.27%). Of 51 men with normal DRE findings and elevated PSA, 8 men had malignancy with a cancer detection rate of 15.68%. Among 20 men with PSA between 4.1 and 10 ng/mL, 2 (10%) had cancer. In 31 men with PSA between 10.1 and 20 ng/mL, 3 cancers (9.67%) were detected, and in 44 men with PSA >20 ng/mL, 26 cancers were detected (59.09%). Conclusions: The cancer detection rate with 16-core TRUS-guided biopsy is significantly higher than that with 10-core biopsy (54.76% vs. 15.09%, P<0.001). In patients with both normal and abnormal DRE findings, 16-core biopsy has a better detection rate than the 10-core biopsy protocol. With increasing PSA, there is a high rate of detection of prostate cancer in both 10-core and 16-core biopsy patients. PMID:24392441

Ten-core versus 16-core transrectal ultrasonography guided prostate biopsy for detection of prostatic carcinoma: a prospective comparative study in Indian population.

PubMed

Prakash, V Surya; Mohan, G Chandra; Krishnaiah, S Venkata; Vijaykumar, V; Babu, G Ramesh; Reddy, G Vijaya Bhaskar; Mahaboob, V S

2013-01-01

To compare the cancer detection rate in patients with raised serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) results between the 10-core and the 16-core biopsy techniques in an Indian population. Between November 2010 and November 2012, 95 men aged >50 years who presented to the Urology Department with lower urinary tract symptoms, elevated serum PSA, and/or abnormal DRE findings underwent transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy. A total of 53 patients underwent 10-core biopsy and 42 patients underwent 16-core biopsy. Of the 53 men in the 10-core group, 8 had cancer, whereas in the 16-core biopsy group, 23 of 42 men had cancer. Detection of prostate cancer was significantly higher in patients who underwent 16-core biopsy than in those who underwent 10-core biopsy (P<0.001). Among the 95 men, 44 men had abnormal DRE findings (46.3%), of whom 23 showed cancer (52.27%). Of 51 men with normal DRE findings and elevated PSA, 8 men had malignancy with a cancer detection rate of 15.68%. Among 20 men with PSA between 4.1 and 10 ng/mL, 2 (10%) had cancer. In 31 men with PSA between 10.1 and 20 ng/mL, 3 cancers (9.67%) were detected, and in 44 men with PSA >20 ng/mL, 26 cancers were detected (59.09%). The cancer detection rate with 16-core TRUS-guided biopsy is significantly higher than that with 10-core biopsy (54.76% vs. 15.09%, P<0.001). In patients with both normal and abnormal DRE findings, 16-core biopsy has a better detection rate than the 10-core biopsy protocol. With increasing PSA, there is a high rate of detection of prostate cancer in both 10-core and 16-core biopsy patients.

Exploring the observational constraints on the simulation of brown carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xuan; Heald, Colette L.; Liu, Jiumeng; Weber, Rodney J.; Campuzano-Jost, Pedro; Jimenez, Jose L.; Schwarz, Joshua P.; Perring, Anne E.

2018-01-01

Organic aerosols (OA) that strongly absorb solar radiation in the near-UV are referred to as brown carbon (BrC). The sources, evolution, and optical properties of BrC remain highly uncertain and contribute significantly to uncertainty in the estimate of the global direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosols. Previous modeling studies of BrC optical properties and DRE have been unable to fully evaluate model performance due to the lack of direct measurements of BrC absorption. In this study, we develop a global model simulation (GEOS-Chem) of BrC and test it against BrC absorption measurements from two aircraft campaigns in the continental US (SEAC4RS and DC3). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to compare simulated BrC absorption with direct aircraft measurements. We show that BrC absorption properties estimated based on previous laboratory measurements agree with the aircraft measurements of freshly emitted BrC absorption but overestimate aged BrC absorption. In addition, applying a photochemical scheme to simulate bleaching/degradation of BrC improves model skill. The airborne observations are therefore consistent with a mass absorption coefficient (MAC) of freshly emitted biomass burning OA of 1.33 m2 g-1 at 365 nm coupled with a 1-day whitening e-folding time. Using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model integrated with the RRTMG radiative transfer model, we estimate that the top-of-the-atmosphere all-sky direct radiative effect (DRE) of OA is -0.344 Wm-2, 10 % higher than that without consideration of BrC absorption. Therefore, our best estimate of the absorption DRE of BrC is +0.048 Wm-2. We suggest that the DRE of BrC has been overestimated previously due to the lack of observational constraints from direct measurements and omission of the effects of photochemical whitening.

2013 Annual National Digital Rectal Exam Day: impact on prostate health awareness and disease detection.

PubMed

Chua, Michael E; Lapitan, Marie Carmela M; Morales, Marcelino L; Roque, Aristotle Bernard Maniego; Domingo, John Kenneth

2014-03-01

"Mag-paDRE" is a yearly prostate health public awareness program initiated by the Philippine Urological Association. This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical data of the participants in the 2013 "Mag-paDRE" program and to identify factors that will further improve prostate health public awareness. A descriptive cross-sectional study undertaken to collect and assess the demographic data, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and digital rectal examination findings of the participants in the "Mag-paDRE" conducted in the 10 Philippine Board of Urology (PBU) different accredited training institutions. Descriptive statistics was used to report the proportion of Filipino men aged 40 or older who presented for their first prostate health evaluation. Clinical profile were reviewed and summarized. The study protocol was registered in the Clinicaltrial.gov under Identifier NCT01886547. A total of 925 participants from the 10 PBU accredited training institutions were assessed. Among the 10 training institutions the large tertiary government owned medical center had the highest number of participants and target participants recruited; while the private sectors owned tertiary hospitals have the highest proportion of target participants and cases. According to the predetermined definition of this study, 614 (66%) were considered the target population for the "Mag-paDRE" program. The mean age of the target participants was 58.9±9.9. Only 360 of 614 (59%) were new case, 118 (32.7%) had severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), 223 (62%) had moderate LUTS, 19 (5.3%) were asymptomatic but with hard prostates, palpable prostate nodules or prostate tenderness. The most bothersome symptoms were incomplete bladder emptying (30.2%), and frequency (22.9%). Overall, the 2013 "Mag-paDRE" among the 10 training institutions was effective in promoting prostate health awareness. A need to modify the preactivity information dissemination by these institutions can be done to further increase the attendance of targeted population of the prostate health awareness program.

Add-on perampanel and aggressive behaviour in severe drug-resistant focal epilepsies.

PubMed

Juhl, S; Rubboli, G

This study aimed to investigate the incidence of aggressiveness in patients with severe drug-refractory focal epilepsy (DRE) who started perampanel (PER) as add-on treatment, and to identify possible predisposing factors. Data on 49 consecutive patients with severe DRE who initiated PER were retrospectively collected. Twelve of the 49 patients experienced aggressiveness as adverse event related to PER treatment, one third of them on low (2-4 mg/day) PER dosages. PER was discontinued in 10/12 patients because of aggressive behaviors. Aggressiveness could appear after several months or even more than one year of PER treatment. One third of patients with PER-related aggressiveness had intellectual disabilities and 5/12 patients took levetiracetam as a concomitant antiepileptic drug. Our study suggests that the occurrence of aggressive behaviors in patients with severe DRE is not uncommon during PER treatment and that it may occur after months or even years of treatment with a stable dosage, requiring PER discontinuation in the great majority of patients.

An Agent-Based Modeling Framework and Application for the Generic Nuclear Fuel Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gidden, Matthew J.

Key components of a novel methodology and implementation of an agent-based, dynamic nuclear fuel cycle simulator, Cyclus , are presented. The nuclear fuel cycle is a complex, physics-dependent supply chain. To date, existing dynamic simulators have not treated constrained fuel supply, time-dependent, isotopic-quality based demand, or fuel fungibility particularly well. Utilizing an agent-based methodology that incorporates sophisticated graph theory and operations research techniques can overcome these deficiencies. This work describes a simulation kernel and agents that interact with it, highlighting the Dynamic Resource Exchange (DRE), the supply-demand framework at the heart of the kernel. The key agent-DRE interaction mechanisms are described, which enable complex entity interaction through the use of physics and socio-economic models. The translation of an exchange instance to a variant of the Multicommodity Transportation Problem, which can be solved feasibly or optimally, follows. An extensive investigation of solution performance and fidelity is then presented. Finally, recommendations for future users of Cyclus and the DRE are provided.

A validation of the new definition of drug-resistant epilepsy by the International League Against Epilepsy.

PubMed

Téllez-Zenteno, Jose F; Hernández-Ronquillo, Lizbeth; Buckley, Samantha; Zahagun, Ricardo; Rizvi, Syed

2014-06-01

To establish applicability, the recently proposed International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) consensus on drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) requires testing in clinical and research settings. This study evaluates the reliability and validity of these criteria in a clinical population. In phase I, two independent evaluators reviewed 97 randomly selected medical records of patients with epilepsy at two separate intervals. Both ILEA consensus and standard diagnostic criteria were employed. Kappa, weighted kappa, and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to determine interobserver and intraobserver variability. In phase II, ILAE consensus criteria were applied to 250 patients with epilepsy to determine risk factors associated with development of DRE and to calculate point prevalence. The interobserver agreement of the four definitions was as follows: Berg (0.56), Kwan and Brodie (0.58), Camfield and Camfield (0.69), and ILAE (0.77). The intraobserver agreement of the four definition was as follows: Berg (0.81), Kwan and Brodie (0.82), Camfield and Camfield (0.72), and ILAE (0.82). The prevalence of DRE was the following: with the Berg's definition was 28.4%, Kwan and Brodie 34%, Camfield and Camfield 37%, and with ILAE was 33%. This is first study to establish reliability and validity of ILAE criteria for the diagnosis of DRE. This new definition compares favorably with previously established constructs, which continue to retain clinical significance. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.

Prostate cancer marker panel with single cell sensitivity in urine.

PubMed

Nickens, Kristen P; Ali, Amina; Scoggin, Tatiana; Tan, Shyh-Han; Ravindranath, Lakshmi; McLeod, David G; Dobi, Albert; Tacha, David; Sesterhenn, Isabell A; Srivastava, Shiv; Petrovics, Gyorgy

2015-06-15

Over one million men undergo prostate biopsies annually in the United States, a majority of whom due to elevated serum PSA. More than half of the biopsies turn out to be negative for prostate cancer (CaP). The limitations of both the PSA test and the biopsy procedure have led to the development for more precise CaP detection assays in urine (e.g., PCA3, TMPRSS2-ERG) or blood (e.g., PHI, 4K). Here, we describe the development and evaluation of the Urine CaP Marker Panel (UCMP) assay for sensitive and reproducible detection of CaP cells in post-digital rectal examination (post-DRE) urine. The cellular content of the post-DRE urine was captured on a translucent filter membrane, which is placed on Cytoclear slides for direct evaluation by microscopy and immuno-cytochemistry (ICC). Cells captured on the membrane were assayed for PSA and Prostein expression to identify prostate epithelial cells, and for ERG and AMACR to identify prostate tumor cells. Immunostained cells were analyzed for quantitative and qualitative features and correlated with biopsy positive and negative status for malignancy. The assay was optimized for single cell capture sensitivity and downstream evaluations by spiking a known number of cells from established CaP cell lines, LNCaP and VCaP, into pre-cleared control urine. The cells captured from the post-DRE urine of subjects, obtained prior to biopsy procedure, were co-stained for ERG, AMACR (CaP specific), and Prostein or PSA (prostate epithelium specific) rendering a whole cell based analysis and characterization. A feasibility cohort of 63 post-DRE urine specimens was assessed. Comparison of the UCMP results with blinded biopsy results showed an assay sensitivity of 64% (16 of 25) and a specificity of 68.8% (22 of 32) for CaP detection by biopsy. This pilot study assessing a minimally invasive CaP detection assay with single cell sensitivity cell-capture and characterization from the post-DRE urine holds promise for further development of this novel assay platform. Prostate 75: 969-975, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. The Prostate, published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 The Authors. The Prostate, published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Direct radiative effects of aerosols over South Asia from observations and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nair, Vijayakumar S.; Babu, S. Suresh; Manoj, M. R.; Moorthy, K. Krishna; Chin, Mian

2017-08-01

Quantitative assessment of the seasonal variations in the direct radiative effect (DRE) of composite aerosols as well as the constituent species over the Indian sub continent has been carried out using a synergy of observations from a dense network of ground based aerosol observatories and modeling based on chemical transport model simulations. Seasonal variation of aerosol constituents depict significant influence of anthropogenic aerosol sources in winter and the dominance of natural sources in spring, even though the aerosol optical depth doesn't change significantly between these two seasons. A significant increase in the surface cooling and atmospheric warming has been observed as season changes from winter (DRESUR = -28 ± 12 W m-2 and DREATM = +19.6 ± 9 W m-2) to spring (DRESUR = -33.7 ± 12 W m-2 and DREATM = +27 ± 9 W m-2). Interestingly, springtime aerosols are more absorptive in nature compared to winter and consequently the aerosol induced diabatic heating of the atmosphere goes as high as 1 K day-1 during spring, especially over eastern India. The atmospheric DRE due to dust aerosols (+14 ± 7 W m-2) during spring overwhelms that of black carbon DRE (+11.8 ± 6 W m-2) during winter. The DRE at the top of the atmosphere is mostly governed by the anthropogenic aerosols during all the seasons. The columnar aerosol loading, its anthropogenic fraction and radiative effects shows a steady increase with latitude across Indian mainland leading to a larger aerosol-induced atmospheric warming during spring than in winter.

Epigenetic role for the conserved Fe-S cluster biogenesis protein AtDRE2 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Buzas, Diana Mihaela; Nakamura, Miyuki; Kinoshita, Tetsu

2014-09-16

On fertilization in Arabidopsis thaliana, one maternal gamete, the central cell, forms a placenta-like tissue, the endosperm. The DNA glycosylase DEMETER (DME) excises 5-methylcytosine via the base excision repair pathway in the central cell before fertilization, creating patterns of asymmetric DNA methylation and maternal gene expression across DNA replications in the endosperm lineage (EDL). Active DNA demethylation in the central cell is essential for transcriptional activity in the EDL of a set of genes, including FLOWERING WAGENINGEN (FWA). A DME-binding motif for iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster cofactors is indispensable for its catalytic activity. We used an FWA-GFP reporter to find mutants defective in maternal activation of FWA-GFP in the EDL, and isolated an allele of the yeast Dre2/human antiapoptotic factor CIAPIN1 homolog, encoding an enzyme previously implicated in the cytosolic Fe-S biogenesis pathway (CIA), which we named atdre2-2. We found that AtDRE2 acts in the central cell to regulate genes maternally activated in the EDL by DME. Furthermore, the FWA-GFP expression defect in atdre2-2 was partially suppressed genetically by a mutation in the maintenance DNA methyltransferase MET1; the DNA methylation levels at four DME targets increased in atdre2-2 seeds relative to WT. Although atdre2-2 shares zygotic seed defects with CIA mutants, it also uniquely manifests dme phenotypic hallmarks. These results demonstrate a previously unidentified epigenetic function of AtDRE2 that may be separate from the CIA pathway.

NASA Deputy Administrator Tours Sierra Nevada Space Systems' Dre

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-02-05

Sierra Nevada Space Systems chairman Mark Sirangello talks during a press conference with Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft in the background on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

PCA3 Reference Set Application: T2-Erg-Martin Sanda-Emory (2014) — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

We hypothesize that combining T2:erg (T2:erg) fusion and PCA3 detection in urine collected after digital rectal exam can improve the specificity of identifying clinically significant prostate cancer presence over the standard PSA and DRE. To address this hypothesis we propose to validate the performance of the urinary T2:erg in a multiplex model predicting the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer on subsequent prostate biopsy using post-DRE pre biopsy urine specimens from a cohort of 900 men on the EDRN’s PCA3 trial.

Hand Anthropometry of U.S. Army Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

warrant extra attention . Dr. Parham has been extreme! y helpful in obtaining the necessary resources to keep the hand system running, and in listening to...ethnicjracial groups. A report by Wagner ( 1988) explored the anthropometry of 127· male arrl 111 female pianists . Wagner was able to show that the...harrls of professional pianists , as a specialized occupational group, are unique in their anthropometric characteristics when compared with nDre

Regulatory mechanism of the flavoprotein Tah18-dependent nitric oxide synthesis and cell death in yeast.

PubMed

Yoshikawa, Yuki; Nasuno, Ryo; Kawahara, Nobuhiro; Nishimura, Akira; Watanabe, Daisuke; Takagi, Hiroshi

2016-07-01

Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous signaling molecule involved in the regulation of a large number of cellular functions. The regulatory mechanism of NO generation in unicellular eukaryotic yeast cells is poorly understood due to the lack of mammalian and bacterial NO synthase (NOS) orthologues, even though yeast produces NO under oxidative stress conditions. Recently, we reported that the flavoprotein Tah18, which was previously shown to transfer electrons to the iron-sulfur cluster protein Dre2, is involved in NOS-like activity in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. On the other hand, Tah18 was reported to promote apoptotic cell death after exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Here, we showed that NOS-like activity requiring Tah18 induced cell death upon treatment with H2O2. Our experimental results also indicate that Tah18-dependent NO production and cell death are suppressed by enhancement of the interaction between Tah18 and its molecular partner Dre2. Our findings indicate that the Tah18-Dre2 complex regulates cell death as a molecular switch via Tah18-dependent NOS-like activity in response to environmental changes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Debate: the per rectal/digital rectal examination exam in the emergency department, still best practice?

PubMed

Quinn, John; Zeleny, Tomas; Rajaratnam, Venu; Ghiurluc, Dan-Lucian; Bencko, Vladimir

2018-03-27

Emergency medicine practice in the UK and Ireland offers a junior and middle grade doctor great learning opportunities that force engagement with multiple specialties, life-saving procedures, exposure to a myriad of patient presentations, and opportunities for best practices in medicine. The emergency department (ED) can be a hectic and dynamic environment; communication from the ED to specialists is essential to ensure best clinical outcomes for patients. The "per rectal" (PR) or "digital rectal exam" (DRE) can be a very difficult diagnostic test for even the most skilled operator to discern pathological versus normal; we propose this is especially the case in the emergency department patient population. Some specialists require this exam performed by an unskilled junior doctor with varying results prior to reviewing a referred and sick patient. The PR/DRE benefits may be limited in the ED setting for some pathologies, and the result of the exam may have limited impact in the overall treatment plan in the ED. This short paper reviews the indications, benefits, shortfalls, and limitations of the PR/DRE in the emergency department setting and offers novel alternatives to maximize best practice, ensure best clinical outcomes for patients, and, to first, do no harm.

Evaluation test on a landfill gas-fired internal-combustion-engine system at the City of Glendale No. 1 Scholl Canyon Power Plant. Air pollution test report

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

Not Available

1986-07-01

A cooperative test program was conducted from January 28 through January 31, 1986, by Air Resources Board (ARB) and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) staff to evaluate the gaseous constituents from untreated landfill gas used to fuel an internal combustion engine (ICE) and the emissions from that ICE located at the City of Glendale Scholl Canyon Power Plant. The ICE was fueled with gases generated by the anaerobic decomposition of buried refuse at the No. 1 Scholl Canyon Landfill operated by the City of Glendale, Public Service Department. The test was conducted as part of an ongoing programmore » by the SCAQMD to allow assessment of the inlet fuel gas (landfill gas) and exhaust gas characteristics from such devices as ICEs, gas turbines, and flares. Emissions of criteria pollutants as determined from test data are reported. Mass flow rates and destruction and removal efficiencies (DRE's) of non-criteria pollutants compounds determined from SCAQMD bag sample test data and mass flow rates and DRE's for chlorinated and aromatic compounds determined from data from ARB resin samples are presented.« less

Pilot Test of Hot Gas Decontamination of Explosives-Contaminated Equipment at Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant (HWAAP), Hawthorne, Nevada

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-06-01

modifications be made to the system to increase the overall efficiency, these conditions will change. Stack test results indicate that the DRE for TNT...those whose values were not affected by test operations (e.g., ambient air temperature). No attempts were made to modify or control independent...attempts were made to change the initial contaminant concentration (those items that were grossly contaminated (e.g., clay pipe and motors) or

Disaster Risk Education of Final Year High School Students Requires a Partnership with Families and Charity Organizations: An International Cross-sectional Survey.

PubMed

Codreanu, Tudor A; Celenza, Antonio; Ngo, Hanh

2016-06-01

Introduction The aim of disaster reduction education (DRE) is to achieve behavioral change. Over the past two decades, many efforts have been directed towards this goal, but educational activities have been developed based on unverified assumptions. Further, the literature has not identified any significant change towards disaster preparedness at the individual level. In addition, previous research suggests that change is dependent on multiple independent predictors. It is difficult to determine what specific actions DRE might result in; therefore, the preamble of such an action, which is to have discussions about it, has been chosen as the surrogate outcome measure for DRE success. This study describes the relationship of the perceived entity responsible for disaster education, disaster education per se, sex, and country-specific characteristics, with students discussing disasters with friends and family as a measure of proactive behavioral change in disaster preparedness. A total of 3,829 final year high school students participated in an international, multi-center prospective, cross-sectional study using a validated questionnaire. Nine countries with different levels of disaster exposure risk and economic development were surveyed. Regression analyses examined the relationship between the likelihood of discussing disasters with friends and family (dependent variable) and a series of independent variables. There was no statistically significant relationship between a single entity responsible for disaster education and discussions about potential hazards and risks with friends and/or family. While several independent predictors showed a significant main effect, DRE through school lessons in interaction with Family & Charity Organizations had the highest predictive value. Disaster reduction education might require different delivery channels and methods and should engage with the entities with which the teenagers are more likely to collaborate. Codreanu TA , Celenza A , Ngo H . Disaster risk education of final year high school students requires a partnership with families and charity organizations: an international cross-sectional survey. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(3):242-254.

Clinical correlates of enlarged prostate size in subjects with sexual dysfunction

PubMed Central

Corona, Giovanni; Gacci, Mauro; Maseroli, Elisa; Rastrelli, Giulia; Vignozzi, Linda; Sforza, Alessandra; Forti, Gianni; Mannucci, Edoardo; Maggi, Mario

2014-01-01

Digito-rectal examination (DRE) of the prostate provides useful information on the state of prostate growth and on the presence of suspected peripheral nodules. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical and biochemical correlates of finding an enlarged prostate size at DRE in subjects with sexual dysfunction (SD). A consecutive series of 2379 patients was retrospectively studied. The analysis was focused on a subset of subjects (n = 1823; mean age 54.7 ± 11.4) selected for being free from overt prostatic diseases. Several parameters were investigated. After adjusting for confounders, the presence of an enlarged prostate size at DRE was associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome (HR = 1.346 (1.129–1.759); P = 0.030), type 2 diabetes mellitus (HR = 1.489 (1.120–1.980); P = 0.006), increased LDL cholesterol (>100 mg dl−1; HR = 1.354 (1.018–1.801); P = 0.037) and increased mean blood pressure (BP) values (HR = 1.017 (1.007–1.027) for each mmHg increment; P = 0.001). Accordingly, enlarged prostate size was also associated with a higher risk of arteriogenic erectile dysfunction (ED), as well as with other andrological conditions, such as varicocele and premature ejaculation (PE). PSA levels were significantly higher in subjects with enlarged prostate size when compared to the rest of the sample (HR = 3.318 (2.304; 4.799) for each log unit increment in PSA levels; P < 0.0001). Arteriogenic ED, according to different criteria, was also associated with increased PSA levels. In conclusion, our data support the need to examine prostate size either by clinical (DRE) or biochemical (PSA) inspection in subjects with SD, in order to have insights into the nature of the SD and the metabolic and cardiovascular (CV) background of the patient. PMID:24830688

Left lobe of the prostate during clinical prostate cancer screening: the dark side of the gland for right-handed examiners.

PubMed

Ploussard, G; Nicolaiew, N; Mongiat-Artus, P; Terry, S; Allory, Y; Vacherot, F; Abbou, C-C; Desgrandchamps, F; Salomon, L; de la Taille, A

2014-06-01

The predictive value of the abnormality side during digital rectal examination (DRE) has never been studied, suggesting that physicians examined the left lobe of the gland as well as the right lobe. We aimed to assess the predictive value of the side of DRE abnormality for prostate cancer (PCa) detection and aggressiveness in right-handed urologists. An analysis of a prospective database was carried out that included all consecutive men undergoing prostate biopsies between 2001 and 2012. The main end point was the predictive value of the abnormality side during DRE for cancer detection in clinically suspicious unilateral T2 disease. The diagnostic performance of left- versus right-sided abnormality was also assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity and negative/positive predictive values. Overall, 308 patients had a suspicious unilateral clinical disease (detection rate 57.5%). The cancer detection rate was significantly higher in case of left-sided compared with right-sided clinical T2 stage (odds ratio 2.1). In case of left-sided disease, the number of positive cores, the rate of perineural invasion, the rate of primary grade 4 pattern and the percentage of cancer involvement per core were significantly higher compared with those reported for right-sided disease. The predictive value of abnormality laterality for cancer detection and aggressiveness remained statistically independent in multivariate models. The positive predictive value for cancer detection was 64.6 in case of suspicious left-sided disease versus 46.9 in case of right-sided disease. The risks of detecting PCa and aggressive disease on biopsy are significantly higher when DRE reveals a suspicious left-sided clinical disease as compared with right-sided disease. Right-handed physicians should be aware of this variance in diagnostic performance and potential underdetection of left-sided clinical disease, and should improve their examination of the left lobe of the gland by conducting longer exams or changing the patient's position.

NASA Deputy Administrator Tours Sierra Nevada Space Systems' Dre

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-02-05

Director of Advanced Programs, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Jim Voss talks during a press conference with Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft in the background on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Deputy Administrator Tours Sierra Nevada Space Systems' Dre

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-02-05

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks during a press conference with Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft in the background on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Deputy Administrator Tours Sierra Nevada Space Systems' Dre

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-02-05

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is seen as NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks during a press conference on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Dual Production Sources in the Procurement of Weapon Systems: A Policy Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-11-01

Competitive Aspects of the AIM-9B Seeker Assembly Procurement, memorandum to Carl Wilbourn , U.S. Navy OP-96D, December 16, 1977. 3 sARINC Report, p...Corporation, R-2706-DR&E, February 1981. Carroll, Frank, Competitive Aspects of the AIM-9B Seeker Assembly Procurement, Memorandum to Carl Wilbourn , U.S...David J., and Joseph P. Large, Estimated Costs of Extended Low Rate Airframe Production, The Rand Corporation, R-2243-AF, March 1978, Fisher, Gene H

[On the role of selective silencer Freud-1 in the regulation of the brain 5-HT(1A) receptor gene expression].

PubMed

Naumenko, V S; Osipova, D V; Tsybko, A S

2010-01-01

Selective 5-HT(1A) receptor silencer (Freud-1) is known to be one of the main factors for transcriptional regulation of brain serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor. However, there is a lack of data on implication of Freud-1 in the mechanisms underlying genetically determined and experimentally altered 5-HT(1A) receptor system state in vivo. In the present study we have found a difference in the 5-HT(1A) gene expression in the midbrain of AKR and CBA inbred mouse strains. At the same time no distinction in Freud-1 expression was observed. We have revealed 90.3% of homology between mouse and rat 5-HT(1A) receptor DRE-element, whereas there was no difference in DRE-element sequence between AKR and CBA mice. This indicates the absence of differences in Freud-1 binding site in these mouse strains. In the model of 5-HT(1A) receptor desensitization produced by chronic 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist administration, a significant reduction of 5-HT(1A) receptor gene expression together with considerable increase of Freud-1 expression were found. These data allow us to conclude that the selective silencer of 5-HT(1A) receptor, Freud-1, is involved in the compensatory mechanisms that modulate the functional state of brain serotonin system, although it is not the only factor for 5-HT(1A) receptor transcriptional regulation.

Prostate cancer screening

MedlinePlus

Prostate cancer screening - PSA; Prostate cancer screening - digital rectal exam; Prostate cancer screening - DRE ... level of PSA could mean you have prostate cancer. But other conditions can also cause a high ...

Health Technology Assessment report on the presurgical evaluation and surgical treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.

PubMed

Marras, Carlo Efisio; Canevini, Maria Paola; Colicchio, Gabriella; Guerrini, Renzo; Rubboli, Guido; Scerrati, Massimo; Spreafico, Roberto; Tassi, Laura; LoRusso, Giorgio; Tinuper, Paolo

2013-10-01

Epilepsy is a neurologic disorder with major social impact. Surgery is a valuable option in patients who are not responding to antiepileptic drugs. The literature reports demonstrate that a proportion ranging from 40 to 100% of patients with epilepsy achieve seizure remission after surgery. A presurgical evaluation (clinical and instrumental) must be performed in all patients with drug-resistant epilepsy to assess their suitability for surgical intervention. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) represents a modern approach to the analysis of technologies used for health care. HTA could be considered a bridge between science that produces evidence and the decisions that can be taken on the basis of that evidence at different levels of the health care system. The aim of this study is the HTA of epilepsy surgery including clinical, ethical, social, and economic features. The present study includes an analysis of the diagnostic and surgical workup performed at the Italian centers for the diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). The study includes the following issues: (1) social, ethical impact, and costs of the disease; (2) clinical results, efficacy, and safety of surgery; (3) ethics and quality of life after surgery; and (4) economic impact and productivity regained after surgery. The cost of managing a patient with DRE included in the presurgical study was estimated by the bottom-up microcosting technique that starts from a detailed collection of data on consumption of resources and full costing. The phases analyzed were (1) noninvasive diagnostic workup; (2) neurosurgical intervention; and (3) follow-up. The literature reports indicate epilepsy surgery as an effective treatment both on clinical results and on ethical, social, and quality of life aspects. The workup including the noninvasive presurgical study followed by surgery has a total cost of €20,827. Management of short-term follow-up increases the overhead to €22,291 at the first year, and then to €23,571 after 5 years. According to the estimates made in this survey, funding based on diagnosis-related group (DRG) tariff for the noninvasive diagnostic stage involving hospital admission is not remunerative in Italy either at regional or national levels. Effectively the difference between full cost and DRG has a delta of €3,402 and €2,537 respectively. The total cost of the presurgical, surgical, and follow-up evaluation is not remunerative for €10,554 (national data). Economic surveys in Italy have shown that surgery for DRE is an advantageous treatment from the standpoint of third-party payers and is cost-effective for society. DRE presurgical evaluation and surgery are not remunerative either at regional or national levels. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 International League Against Epilepsy.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Ballesteros-Pomar, María; Villar-Taibo, Rocío; Calleja-Fernández, Alicia; Pintor-de-la-Maza, Begoña; Álvarez-Del-Campo, Cecilia; Vidal-Casariego, Alfonso; Cano-Rodríguez, Isidoro

2016-06-03

Los datos del estudio PREDYCES® nos revelaron que en España la desnutrición relacionada con la enfermedad (DRE) afecta a uno de cada cuatro pacientes hospitalizados. Esta cifra aumenta hasta el 36,8% en los pacientes hematológicos. Se calcula que un 20% de los pacientes oncológicos muere por complicaciones relacionadas con la DRE. Nuestro grupo se planteó en 2011 comenzar la implantación de un cribado nutricional en los servicios con mayor riesgo de DRE. La presente revisión trata de describir todo el proceso que hemos seguido para mejorar la situación nutricional en los pacientes ingresados en el Servicio de Hematología del Complejo Asistencial Universitario de León (CAULE), mayoritariamente con diagnóstico de neoplasias hematológicas. En un primer estudio piloto, detectamos una alta prevalencia de desnutrición, que tendió a aumentar durante la hospitalización. Además, solo el 8,3% los enfermos valorados recibieron algún tipo de soporte nutricional y no se estaban cubriendo sus necesidades ni calóricas ni proteicas, lo que se asociaba a un peor pronóstico. Por este motivo, nos decidimos a implantar de manera sistemática un cribado y una intervención nutricional adecuada, que comenzó en 2011 y que ha recibido el reconocimiento como Buena Práctica del Sistema Nacional de Salud.

Abatement of fluorinated compounds using a 2.45GHz microwave plasma torch with a reverse vortex plasma reactor.

PubMed

Kim, J H; Cho, C H; Shin, D H; Hong, Y C; Shin, Y W

2015-08-30

Abatement of fluorinated compounds (FCs) used in semiconductor and display industries has received an attention due to the increasingly stricter regulation on their emission. We have developed a 2.45GHz microwave plasma torch with reverse vortex reactor (RVR). In order to design a reverse vortex plasma reactor, we calculated a volume fraction and temperature distribution of discharge gas and waste gas in RVR by ANSYS CFX of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation code. Abatement experiments have been performed with respect to SF6, NF3 by varying plasma power and N2 flow rates, and FCs concentration. Detailed experiments were conducted on the abatement of NF3 and SF6 in terms of destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The DRE of 99.9% for NF3 was achieved without an additive gas at the N2 flow rate of 150 liter per minute (L/min) by applying a microwave power of 6kW with RVR. Also, a DRE of SF6 was 99.99% at the N2 flow rate of 60 L/min using an applied microwave power of 6kW. The performance of reverse vortex reactor increased about 43% of NF3 and 29% of SF6 abatements results definition by decomposition energy per liter more than conventional vortex reactor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards quantifying global aerosol radiative effects using lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorsen, T. J.

2017-12-01

Spaceborne lidar observations alleviate many of the limitations of passivesensors and have great potential to provide accurate global all-sky estimatesof the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE). However, analysis of CALIPSOlidar observations show that CALIPSO does not detect allradiatively-significant aerosol, i.e. aerosol that directly modifies theEarth's radiation budget. We estimated that using CALIPSO observationsresults in an underestimate of the magnitude of the global mean aerosol DREby up to 54%. The CATS lidar on-board the ISS is shown to have a poorersensitivity than CALIPSO and the expected sensitivity of the upcoming ATLIDlidar on EarthCARE indicates that calculations of the aerosol DRE willcontinue to be significantly biased. Improvements to our knowledge of aerosol forcing, which contributes thelargest uncertainty to climate sensitivity, could be achieved by a futurespace-based HSRL mission. To this end, high-accuracy ground-based andairborne lidar datasets have been used to compute the detection sensitivityrequired to accurately resolve the aerosol DRE. Multiwavelength HSRLmeasurements also can retrieve vertically-resolved aerosol optical propertiesneeded for radiative transfer calculations which are not provided by currentsatellite observations. Current satellite observations also do not provideall the quantities needed to compute the aerosol direct radiative forcing,i.e. the radiative effect of just anthropogenic aerosols. A multiwavelengthHSRL allows for a more refined aerosol classification to be made enablingboth calculations of anthropogenic aerosol radiative effects and betterconstraints on global models.

Predictors of participation in prostate cancer screening at worksites.

PubMed

Weinrich, S P; Greiner, E; Reis-Starr, C; Yoon, S; Weinrich, M

1998-01-01

Unfortunately, African American men have a higher incidence of and a higher mortality rate for prostate cancer than White men but are less likely to participate in prostate cancer screening. This correlational survey research identifies predictors for participation in a free prostate cancer screening in 179 men, 64% of whom are African American. Each man was invited to see his personal physician for a free prostate cancer screening following a prostate cancer educational program given at his worksite. Forty-seven percent of the African American men went to their personal physician following the educational program and received a digital rectal examination (DRE) and a prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening. In the original cohort of educational program attendees, only 16% of the African Americans had obtained a DRE in the previous 12 months. However, 44% subsequently did participate in free DRE screening. Similarly, only 6% of the African American men had received a PSA screening in the previous 12 months, yet 42% obtained a PSA screening after the educational program, a sevenfold increase. Implications for allocating limited resources for education and screening to the high-risk group of African American men are discussed. This study's model of a prostate cancer educational program at worksites followed by attendees visiting their personal physician for screening could be replicated throughout the United States to increase African American men's participation in prostate cancer screening.

Characterization and prediction of monomer-based dose rate effects in electron-beam polymerization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schissel, Sage M.; Lapin, Stephen C.; Jessop, Julie L. P.

2017-12-01

Properties of some materials produced by electron-beam (EB) induced polymerization appear dependent upon the rate at which the initiating dose was delivered. However, the magnitude of these dose rate effects (DREs) can vary greatly with different monomer formulations, suggesting DREs are dependent on chemical structure. The relationship among dose, dose rate, conversion, and the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the cured material was explored for an acrylate monomer series. A strong correlation was determined between the DRE magnitude and monomer size, and this correlation may be attributed to chain transfer. Using the Tg shift caused by changes in dose, a preliminary predictive relationship was developed to estimate the magnitude of the Tg DRE, enabling scale-up of process variables for polymers prone to dose rate effects.

Near-memory data reorganization engine

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

Gokhale, Maya; Lloyd, G. Scott

A memory subsystem package is provided that has processing logic for data reorganization within the memory subsystem package. The processing logic is adapted to reorganize data stored within the memory subsystem package. In some embodiments, the memory subsystem package includes memory units, a memory interconnect, and a data reorganization engine ("DRE"). The data reorganization engine includes a stream interconnect and DRE units including a control processor and a load-store unit. The control processor is adapted to execute instructions to control a data reorganization. The load-store unit is adapted to process data move commands received from the control processor via themore » stream interconnect for loading data from a load memory address of a memory unit and storing data to a store memory address of a memory unit.« less

Radiative characteristics of aerosol during extreme fire event over Siberia in summer 2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuravleva, Tatiana B.; Kabanov, Dmitriy M.; Nasrtdinov, Ilmir M.; Russkova, Tatiana V.; Sakerin, Sergey M.; Smirnov, Alexander; Holben, Brent N.

2017-01-01

Microphysical and optical properties of aerosol were studied during a mega-fire event in summer 2012 over Siberia using ground-based measurements of spectral solar radiation at the AERONET site in Tomsk and satellite observations. The data were analysed using multi-year (2003-2013) measurements of aerosol characteristics under background conditions and for less intense fires, differing in burning biomass type, stage of fire, remoteness from observation site, etc. (ordinary smoke). In June-August 2012, the average aerosol optical depth (AOD, 500 nm) had been 0.95 ± 0.86, about a factor of 6 larger than background values (0.16 ± 0.08), and a factor of 2.5 larger than in ordinary smoke. The AOD values were extremely high on 24-28 July and reached 3-5. A comparison with satellite observations showed that ground-based measurements in the region of Tomsk not only reflect the local AOD features, but are also characteristic for the territory of Western Siberia as a whole. Single scattering albedo (SSA, 440 nm) in this period ranged from 0.91 to 0.99 with an average of ˜ 0.96 in the entire wavelength range of 440-1020 nm. The increase in absorptance of aerosol particles (SSA(440 nm) = 0.92) and decrease in SSA with wavelength observed in ordinary smoke agree with the data from multi-year observations in analogous situations in the boreal zone of USA and Canada. Volume aerosol size distribution in extreme and ordinary smoke had a bimodal character with significant prevalence of fine-mode particles, but in summer 2012 the mean median radius and the width of the fine-mode distribution somewhat increased. In contrast to data from multi-year observations, in summer 2012 an increase in the volume concentration and median radius of the coarse mode was observed with growing AOD. The calculations of the average radiative effects of smoke and background aerosol are presented. Compared to background conditions and ordinary smoke, under the extreme smoke conditions the cooling effect of aerosol considerably intensifies: direct radiative effects (DRE) at the bottom (BOA) and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) are -13, -35, and -60 W m-2 and -5, -14, and -35 W m-2 respectively. The maximal values of DRE were observed on 27 July (AOD(500 nm) = 3.5), when DRE(BOA) reached -150 W m-2, while DRE(TOA) and DRE of the atmosphere were -75 W m-2. During the fire event in summer 2012 the direct radiative effect efficiency varied in range: at the BOA it was -80-40 W m-2, at the TOA it was -50-20 W m-2 and in the atmosphere it was -35-20 W m-2.

Development of a Retractable Compressible Fluid Suspension System. Task 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

the design and fabrication cost of the suspension units, the roadwheel hub and spindle currently used on the AAV -7AI amphibious vehicle dre to be...SUSPENSION HOUSING FIGURE .5. FEM HOUSING STRESS ANALYSIS, SOLID MODEL, SECTION VIEW -16- ,"~1 /IZ4: 45 "" / EAL UN ~iST=h~~ / 6DIE5.8la DTJJ.-RER.SUSP. HSC ...SHX M1784 DS=-792 IIDDEN - 9983 -1779 Ti___ 4869 5_ 6334 64959- 71784 DTli--RETR. SUSP. HSC .,CiASE1:HAX VERT, 29K OUT FIGURE 7. PIVOT SHAFT, SOLID

Shortwave direct radiative effects of above cloud aerosols over global oceans derived from eight years of CALIOP and MODIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Z.; Meyer, K.; Yu, H.; Platnick, S.; Colarco, P.; Liu, Z.; Oreopoulos, L.

2015-09-01

In this paper, we studied the frequency of occurrence and shortwave direct radiative effects (DRE) of above-cloud aerosols (ACAs) over global oceans using eight years of collocated CALIOP and MODIS observations. Similar to previous work, we found high ACA occurrence in four regions: Southeast (SE) Atlantic region where ACAs are mostly light-absorbing aerosols, i.e., smoke and polluted dust according to CALIOP classification, originating from biomass burning over African Savanna; Tropical Northeast Atlantic and Arabian Sea where ACAs are predominantly windblown dust from the Sahara and Arabian desert, respectively; and Northwest Pacific where ACAs are mostly transported smoke and polluted dusts from Asian. From radiative transfer simulations based on CALIOP-MODIS observations and a set of the preselected aerosol optical models, we found the DREs of ACAs at the top of atmosphere (TOA) to be positive (i.e., warming) in the SE Atlantic and NW Pacific regions, but negative (i.e., cooling) in TNE Atlantic and Arabian Sea. The cancellation of positive and negative regional DREs results in a global ocean annual mean diurnally averaged cloudy-sky DRE of 0.015 W m-2 (range of -0.03 to 0.06 W m-2) at TOA. The DREs at surface and within atmosphere are -0.15 W m-2 (range of -0.09 to -0.21 W m-2), and 0.17 W m-2 (range of 0.11 to 0.24 W m-2), respectively. The regional and seasonal mean DREs are much stronger. For example, in the SE Atlantic region the JJA (July ~ August) seasonal mean cloudy-sky DRE is about 0.7 W m-2 (range of 0.2 to 1.2 W m-2) at TOA. The uncertainty in our DRE computations is mainly cause by the uncertainties in the aerosol optical properties, in particular aerosol absorption, and uncertainties in the CALIOP operational aerosol optical thickness retrieval. In situ and remotely sensed measurements of ACA from future field campaigns and satellite missions, and improved lidar retrieval algorithm, in particular vertical feature masking, would help reduce the uncertainty.

Understanding Prostate Changes

Cancer.gov

Prostate changes and symptoms that are not cancer. Learn about symptoms, risk factors, and treatment for prostatitis, enlarged prostate (BPH), prostate cancer. Talk with doctor about prostate cancer screening tests (DRE, PSA), biopsy, and Gleason score.

Feature-based component model for design of embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zha, Xuan Fang; Sriram, Ram D.

2004-11-01

An embedded system is a hybrid of hardware and software, which combines software's flexibility and hardware real-time performance. Embedded systems can be considered as assemblies of hardware and software components. An Open Embedded System Model (OESM) is currently being developed at NIST to provide a standard representation and exchange protocol for embedded systems and system-level design, simulation, and testing information. This paper proposes an approach to representing an embedded system feature-based model in OESM, i.e., Open Embedded System Feature Model (OESFM), addressing models of embedded system artifacts, embedded system components, embedded system features, and embedded system configuration/assembly. The approach provides an object-oriented UML (Unified Modeling Language) representation for the embedded system feature model and defines an extension to the NIST Core Product Model. The model provides a feature-based component framework allowing the designer to develop a virtual embedded system prototype through assembling virtual components. The framework not only provides a formal precise model of the embedded system prototype but also offers the possibility of designing variation of prototypes whose members are derived by changing certain virtual components with different features. A case study example is discussed to illustrate the embedded system model.

Cancer Today

MedlinePlus

... your doctor if you are considering having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or digital rectal examination (DRE). Skin ... regular colonoscopy for cancer of the colon, serum prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, mammography for breast cancer, ...

EDRN Pre-Validation of Multiplex Biomarker in Urine — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

The goal of this proposal is to begin to establish an EDRN “pre-validation” trial of a multiplex set of transcripts, including the ETS gene fusions, in post-DRE urine sediments. As can be evidenced by our preliminary data, we have established the utility of this multiplex urine test (which includes TMPRSS-ERG, SPINK1, PCA3 and GOLPH2) in a cohort of prospectively collected urine sediments from the University of Michigan EDRN CEVC site (collected by co-I, Dr. John Wei). In this proposal, we will run this multiplex assay on prospectively collected post-DRE urines collected from other EDRN sites. The idea is to couple this “pre-validation” study with an EDRN validation trial under consideration for the Gen-Probe PCA3 urine test (directed by Drs. John Wei and Harry Rittenhouse).

Event processing in X-IFU detector onboard Athena.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceballos, M. T.; Cobos, B.; van der Kuurs, J.; Fraga-Encinas, R.

2015-05-01

The X-ray Observatory ATHENA was proposed in April 2014 as the mission to implement the science theme "The Hot and Energetic Universe" selected by ESA for L2 (the second Large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision science programme). One of the two X-ray detectors designed to be onboard ATHENA is X-IFU, a cryogenic microcalorimeter based on Transition Edge Sensor (TES) technology that will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy. X-IFU will be developed by a consortium of European research institutions currently from France (leadership), Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Germany and Spain. From Spain, IFCA (CSIC-UC) is involved in the Digital Readout Electronics (DRE) unit of the X-IFU detector, in particular in the Event Processor Subsytem. We at IFCA are in charge of the development and implementation in the DRE unit of the Event Processing algorithms, designed to recognize, from a noisy signal, the intensity pulses generated by the absorption of the X-ray photons, and lately extract their main parameters (coordinates, energy, arrival time, grade, etc.) Here we will present the design and performance of the algorithms developed for the event recognition (adjusted derivative), and pulse grading/qualification as well as the progress in the algorithms designed to extract the energy content of the pulses (pulse optimal filtering). IFCA will finally have the responsibility of the implementation on board in the (TBD) FPGAs or micro-processors of the DRE unit, where this Event Processing part will take place, to fit into the limited telemetry of the instrument.

The transcriptional repressor DREAM is involved in thyroid gene expression

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

D'Andrea, Barbara; Di Palma, Tina; Mascia, Anna

2005-04-15

Downstream regulatory element antagonistic modulator (DREAM) was originally identified in neuroendocrine cells as a calcium-binding protein that specifically binds to downstream regulatory elements (DRE) on DNA, and represses transcription of its target genes. To explore the possibility that DREAM may regulate the endocrine activity of the thyroid gland, we analyzed its mRNA expression in undifferentiated and differentiated thyroid cells. We demonstrated that DREAM is expressed in the normal thyroid tissue as well as in differentiated thyroid cells in culture while it is absent in FRT poorly differentiated cells. In the present work, we also show that DREAM specifically binds tomore » DRE sites identified in the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of the thyroid-specific transcription factors Pax8 and TTF-2/FoxE1 in a calcium-dependent manner. By gel retardation assays we demonstrated that thapsigargin treatment increases the binding of DREAM to the DRE sequences present in Pax8 and TTF-2/Foxe1 5' UTRs, and this correlates with a significant reduction of the expression of these genes. Interestingly, in poorly differentiated thyroid cells overexpression of exogenous DREAM strongly inhibits Pax8 expression. Moreover, we provide evidence that a mutated form of DREAM unable to bind Ca{sup 2+} interferes with thyroid cell proliferation. Therefore, we propose that in thyroid cells DREAM is a mediator of the calcium-signaling pathway and it is involved in the regulation of thyroid cell function.« less

Digital Rectal Exam (DRE)

MedlinePlus

... Considerations How Cancer is Treated Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Water soluble contrast enema examination of the integrity of the rectal anastomosis prior to loop ileostomy reversal may be superfluous.

PubMed

Larsson, Anna; Lindmark, Gudrun; Syk, Ingvar; Buchwald, Pamela

2015-03-01

Defunctioning loop ileostomy in low anterior resection (LAR) is routinely used to reduce consequences of anastomotic leakage. The purpose of this study was to analyze which examination technique is optimal for evaluating the integrity of the anastomosis prior to loop ileostomy reversal. Retrospective analysis of 95 patients who had been subjected to LAR at Helsingborg Hospital and Skåne University Hospital, Sweden, was undertaken between January 2007 and June 2009. The examination techniques of the rectal anastomosis prior to reversal and the clinical outcome after reversal were studied. Radiologic anastomosis control using water soluble contrast enema, digital rectal examination (DRE), and rectoscopy were performed in 53 % (50/95), 98 % (93/95), and 69 % (66/95), respectively. In two patients, no control of the anastomosis was performed before reversal. Fifty-two percent (49/95) of the patients were examined using all techniques. Six patients demonstrated leakage detected before reversal of which two were only radiological leakages. These two patients underwent loop ileostomy reversal after delay without complications. They were the only ones where the three examination techniques did not prove coherence. Four patients had symptomatic leakage; these were detected with rectoscopy and DRE and verified with enema. Three patients developed anastomotic leakage after loop ileostomy reversal despite normal preoperative examinations. Two of these patients had rectovaginal fistulas (AVFs). This retrospective study indicates that contrast enema does not provide additional information if rectoscopy and DRE are normal. Despite negative examinations, three of nine leakages were diagnosed after loop ileostomy reversal. Especially, AVFs seem difficult to diagnose.

Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry Reveals Calcium Binding Properties and Allosteric Regulation of Downstream Regulatory Element Antagonist Modulator (DREAM).

PubMed

Zhang, Jun; Li, Jing; Craig, Theodore A; Kumar, Rajiv; Gross, Michael L

2017-07-18

Downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) is an EF-hand Ca 2+ -binding protein that also binds to a specific DNA sequence, downstream regulatory elements (DRE), and thereby regulates transcription in a calcium-dependent fashion. DREAM binds to DRE in the absence of Ca 2+ but detaches from DRE under Ca 2+ stimulation, allowing gene expression. The Ca 2+ binding properties of DREAM and the consequences of the binding on protein structure are key to understanding the function of DREAM. Here we describe the application of hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and site-directed mutagenesis to investigate the Ca 2+ binding properties and the subsequent conformational changes of full-length DREAM. We demonstrate that all EF-hands undergo large conformation changes upon calcium binding even though the EF-1 hand is not capable of binding to Ca 2+ . Moreover, EF-2 is a lower-affinity site compared to EF-3 and -4 hands. Comparison of HDX profiles between wild-type DREAM and two EF-1 mutated constructs illustrates that the conformational changes in the EF-1 hand are induced by long-range structural interactions. HDX analyses also reveal a conformational change in an N-terminal leucine-charged residue-rich domain (LCD) remote from Ca 2+ -binding EF-hands. This LCD domain is responsible for the direct interaction between DREAM and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and regulates the recruitment of the co-activator, CREB-binding protein. These long-range interactions strongly suggest how conformational changes transmit the Ca 2+ signal to CREB-mediated gene transcription.

Prostate cancer screening behavior in men from seven ethnic groups: the fear factor.

PubMed

Consedine, Nathan S; Morgenstern, Amy H; Kudadjie-Gyamfi, Elizabeth; Magai, Carol; Neugut, Alfred I

2006-02-01

Rates of prostate cancer screening are known to vary among the major ethnic groups. However, likely variations in screening behavior among ethnic subpopulations and the likely role of psychological characteristics remain understudied. We examined differences in prostate cancer screening among samples of 44 men from each of seven ethnic groups (N = 308; U.S.-born European Americans, U.S.-born African Americans, men from the English-speaking Caribbean, Haitians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Eastern Europeans) and the associations among trait fear, emotion regulatory characteristics, and screening. As expected, there were differences in the frequency of both digital rectal exam (DRE) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests among the groups, even when demographic factors and access were controlled. Haitian men reported fewer DRE and PSA tests than either U.S.-born European American or Dominican men, and immigrant Eastern European men reported fewer tests than U.S.-born European Americans; consistent with prior research, U.S.-born African Americans differed from U.S.-born European Americans for DRE but not PSA frequency. Second, the addition of trait fear significantly improved model fit, as did the inclusion of a quadratic, inverted U, trait fear term, even where demographics, access, and ethnicity were controlled. Trait fear did not interact with ethnicity, suggesting its effect may operate equally across groups, and adding patterns of information processing and emotion regulation to the model did not improve model fit. Overall, our data suggest that fear is among the key psychological determinants of male screening behavior and would be usefully considered in models designed to increase male screening frequency.

Cross-talk between abscisic acid-dependent and abscisic acid-independent pathways during abiotic stress.

PubMed

Roychoudhury, Aryadeep; Paul, Saikat; Basu, Supratim

2013-07-01

Salinity, drought and low temperature are the common forms of abiotic stress encountered by land plants. To cope with these adverse environmental factors, plants execute several physiological and metabolic responses. Both osmotic stress (elicited by water deficit or high salt) and cold stress increase the endogenous level of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). ABA-dependent stomatal closure to reduce water loss is associated with small signaling molecules like nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species and cytosolic free calcium, and mediated by rapidly altering ion fluxes in guard cells. ABA also triggers the expression of osmotic stress-responsive (OR) genes, which usually contain single/multiple copies of cis-acting sequence called abscisic acid-responsive element (ABRE) in their upstream regions, mostly recognized by the basic leucine zipper-transcription factors (TFs), namely, ABA-responsive element-binding protein/ABA-binding factor. Another conserved sequence called the dehydration-responsive element (DRE)/C-repeat, responding to cold or osmotic stress, but not to ABA, occurs in some OR promoters, to which the DRE-binding protein/C-repeat-binding factor binds. In contrast, there are genes or TFs containing both DRE/CRT and ABRE, which can integrate input stimuli from salinity, drought, cold and ABA signaling pathways, thereby enabling cross-tolerance to multiple stresses. A strong candidate that mediates such cross-talk is calcium, which serves as a common second messenger for abiotic stress conditions and ABA. The present review highlights the involvement of both ABA-dependent and ABA-independent signaling components and their interaction or convergence in activating the stress genes. We restrict our discussion to salinity, drought and cold stress.

Characterization of carotenoid hydroxylase gene promoter in Haematococcus pluvialis.

PubMed

Meng, C X; Wei, W; Su, Z- L; Qin, S

2006-10-01

Astaxanthin, a high-value ketocarotenoid is mainly used in fish aquaculture. It also has potential in human health due to its higher antioxidant capacity than beta-carotene and vitamin E. The unicellular green alga Haematococcus pluvialis is known to accumulate astaxanthin in response to environmental stresses, such as high light intensity and salt stress. Carotenoid hydroxylase plays a key role in astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis. In this paper, we report the characterization of a promoter-like region (-378 to -22 bp) of carotenoid hydroxylase gene by cloning, sequence analysis and functional verification of its 919 bp 5'-flanking region in H. pluvialis. The 5'-flanking region was characterized using micro-particle bombardment method and transient expression of LacZ reporter gene. Results of sequence analysis showed that the 5'-flanking region might have putative cis-acting elements, such as ABA (abscisic acid)-responsive element (ABRE), C-repeat/dehydration responsive element (C-repeat/DRE), ethylene-responsive element (ERE), heat-shock element (HSE), wound-responsive element (WUN-motif), gibberellin-responsive element (P-box), MYB-binding site (MBS) etc., except for typical TATA and CCAAT boxes. Results of 5' deletions construct and beta-galactosidase assays revealed that a highest promoter-like region might exist from -378 to -22 bp and some negative regulatory elements might lie in the region from -919 to -378 bp. Results of site-directed mutagenesis of a putative C-repeat/DRE and an ABRE-like motif in the promoter-like region (-378 to -22 bp) indicated that the putative C-repeat/DRE and ABRE-like motif might be important for expression of carotenoid hydroxylase gene.

Drosophila nuclear factor DREF regulates the expression of the mitochondrial DNA helicase and mitochondrial transcription factor B2 but not the mitochondrial translation factor B1

PubMed Central

Fernández-Moreno, Miguel A.; Hernández, Rosana; Adán, Cristina; Roberti, Marina; Bruni, Francesco; Polosa, Paola Loguercio; Cantatore, Palmiro; Matsushima, Yuichi; Kaguni, Laurie S.; Garesse, Rafael

2016-01-01

DREF [DRE (DNA replication-related element)-binding factor] controls the transcription of numerous genes in Drosophila, many involved in nuclear DNA (nDNA) replication and cell proliferation, three in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication and two in mtDNA transcription termination. In this work, we have analysed the involvement of DREF in the expression of the known remaining genes engaged in the minimal mtDNA replication (d-mtDNA helicase) and transcription (the activator d-mtTFB2) machineries and of a gene involved in mitochondrial mRNA translation (d-mtTFB1). We have identified their transcriptional initiation sites and DRE sequences in their promoter regions. Gel-shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrate that DREF interacts in vitro and in vivo with the d-mtDNA helicase and d-mtTFB2, but not with the d-mtTFB1 promoters. Transient transfection assays in Drosophila S2 cells with mutated DRE motifs and truncated promoter regions show that DREF controls the transcription of d-mtDNA helicase and d-mtTFB2, but not that of d-mtTFB1. RNA interference of DREF in S2 cells reinforces these results showing a decrease in the mRNA levels of d-mtDNA helicase and d-mtTFB2 and no changes in those of the d-mtTFB1. These results link the genetic regulation of nuclear DNA replication with the genetic control of mtDNA replication and transcriptional activation in Drosophila. PMID:23916463

Health Screening: What Tests You Need and When

MedlinePlus

... cancer screening if you are considering having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or digital rectal examination (DRE). Sexually ... regular colonoscopy for cancer of the colon, serum prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, mammography for breast cancer, ...

Shortwave direct radiative effects of above-cloud aerosols over global oceans derived from 8 years of CALIOP and MODIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhibo; Meyer, Kerry; Yu, Hongbin; Platnick, Steven; Colarco, Peter; Liu, Zhaoyan; Oreopoulos, Lazaros

2016-03-01

In this paper, we studied the frequency of occurrence and shortwave direct radiative effects (DREs) of above-cloud aerosols (ACAs) over global oceans using 8 years (2007-2014) of collocated CALIOP and MODIS observations. Similar to previous work, we found high ACA occurrence in four regions: southeastern (SE) Atlantic region, where ACAs are mostly light-absorbing aerosols, i.e., smoke and polluted dust according to CALIOP classification, originating from biomass burning over the African Savanna; tropical northeastern (TNE) Atlantic and the Arabian Sea, where ACAs are predominantly windblown dust from the Sahara and Arabian deserts, respectively; and the northwestern (NW) Pacific, where ACAs are mostly transported smoke and polluted dusts from Asian. From radiative transfer simulations based on CALIOP-MODIS observations and a set of the preselected aerosol optical models, we found the DREs of ACAs at the top of atmosphere (TOA) to be positive (i.e., warming) in the SE Atlantic and NW Pacific regions, but negative (i.e., cooling) in the TNE Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The cancellation of positive and negative regional DREs results in a global ocean annual mean diurnally averaged cloudy-sky DRE of 0.015 W m-2 (range of -0.03 to 0.06 W m-2) at TOA. The DREs at surface and within the atmosphere are -0.15 W m-2 (range of -0.09 to -0.21 W m-2), and 0.17 W m-2 (range of 0.11 to 0.24 W m-2), respectively. The regional and seasonal mean DREs are much stronger. For example, in the SE Atlantic region, the JJA (July-August) seasonal mean cloudy-sky DRE is about 0.7 W m-2 (range of 0.2 to 1.2 W m-2) at TOA. All our DRE computations are publicly available1. The uncertainty in our DRE computations is mainly caused by the uncertainties in the aerosol optical properties, in particular aerosol absorption, the uncertainties in the CALIOP operational aerosol optical thickness retrieval, and the ignorance of cloud and potential aerosol diurnal cycle. In situ and remotely sensed measurements of ACA from future field campaigns and satellite missions and improved lidar retrieval algorithm, in particular vertical feature masking, would help reduce the uncertainty.

Shortwave Direct Radiative Effects of Above-Cloud Aerosols Over Global Oceans Derived From 8 Years of CALIOP and MODIS Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Zhibo; Meyer, Kerry; Yu, Hongbin; Platnick, Steven; Colarco, Peter; Liu, Zhaoyan; Oraiopoulos, Lazaros

2016-01-01

In this paper, we studied the frequency of occurrence and shortwave direct radiative effects (DREs) of above-cloud aerosols (ACAs) over global oceans using 8 years (2007-2014) of collocated CALIOP and MODIS observations. Similar to previous work, we found high ACA occurrence in four regions: southeastern (SE) Atlantic region, where ACAs are mostly light-absorbing aerosols, i.e., smoke and polluted dust according to CALIOP classification, originating from biomass burning over the African Savanna; tropical northeastern (TNE) Atlantic and the Arabian Sea, where ACAs are predominantly windblown dust from the Sahara and Arabian deserts, respectively; and the northwestern (NW) Pacific, where ACAs are mostly transported smoke and polluted dusts from Asia. From radiative transfer simulations based on CALIOP-MODIS observations and a set of the preselected aerosol optical models, we found the DREs of ACAs at the top of atmosphere (TOA) to be positive (i.e., warming) in the SE Atlantic and NW Pacific regions, but negative (i.e., cooling) in the TNE Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The cancellation of positive and negative regional DREs results in a global ocean annual mean diurnally averaged cloudy-sky DRE of 0.015 W m(exp. -2) [range of -0.03 to 0.06 W m (exp. -2)] at TOA. The DREs at surface and within the atmosphere are -0.015 W m(exp. -2) [range of -0.09 to -0.21 W m(exp. -2)], and 0.17 W m(exp. -2) [range of 0.11 to 0.24 W m(exp. -2)], respectively. The regional and seasonal mean DREs are much stronger. For example, in the SE Atlantic region, the JJA (July-August) seasonal mean cloudy-sky DRE is about 0.7 W m(exp. -2) [range of 0.2 to 1.2 W m(exp. -2)] at TOA. All our DRE computations are publicly available. The uncertainty in our DRE computations is mainly caused by the uncertainties in the aerosol optical properties, in particular aerosol absorption, the uncertainties in the CALIOP operational aerosol optical thickness retrieval, and the ignorance of cloud and potential aerosol diurnal cycle. In situ and remotely sensed measurements of ACA from future field campaigns and satellite missions and improved lidar retrieval algorithm, in particular vertical feature masking, would help reduce the uncertainty.

Energy efficiency of task allocation for embedded JPEG systems.

PubMed

Fan, Yang-Hsin; Wu, Jan-Ou; Wang, San-Fu

2014-01-01

Embedded system works everywhere for repeatedly performing a few particular functionalities. Well-known products include consumer electronics, smart home applications, and telematics device, and so forth. Recently, developing methodology of embedded systems is applied to conduct the design of cloud embedded system resulting in the applications of embedded system being more diverse. However, the more energy consumes result from the more embedded system works. This study presents hyperrectangle technology (HT) to embedded system for obtaining energy saving. The HT adopts drift effect to construct embedded systems with more hardware circuits than software components or vice versa. It can fast construct embedded system with a set of hardware circuits and software components. Moreover, it has a great benefit to fast explore energy consumption for various embedded systems. The effects are presented by assessing a JPEG benchmarks. Experimental results demonstrate that the HT, respectively, achieves the energy saving by 29.84%, 2.07%, and 68.80% on average to GA, GHO, and Lin.

Energy Efficiency of Task Allocation for Embedded JPEG Systems

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Embedded system works everywhere for repeatedly performing a few particular functionalities. Well-known products include consumer electronics, smart home applications, and telematics device, and so forth. Recently, developing methodology of embedded systems is applied to conduct the design of cloud embedded system resulting in the applications of embedded system being more diverse. However, the more energy consumes result from the more embedded system works. This study presents hyperrectangle technology (HT) to embedded system for obtaining energy saving. The HT adopts drift effect to construct embedded systems with more hardware circuits than software components or vice versa. It can fast construct embedded system with a set of hardware circuits and software components. Moreover, it has a great benefit to fast explore energy consumption for various embedded systems. The effects are presented by assessing a JPEG benchmarks. Experimental results demonstrate that the HT, respectively, achieves the energy saving by 29.84%, 2.07%, and 68.80% on average to GA, GHO, and Lin. PMID:24982983

Embedded Web Technology: Applying World Wide Web Standards to Embedded Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ponyik, Joseph G.; York, David W.

2002-01-01

Embedded Systems have traditionally been developed in a highly customized manner. The user interface hardware and software along with the interface to the embedded system are typically unique to the system for which they are built, resulting in extra cost to the system in terms of development time and maintenance effort. World Wide Web standards have been developed in the passed ten years with the goal of allowing servers and clients to intemperate seamlessly. The client and server systems can consist of differing hardware and software platforms but the World Wide Web standards allow them to interface without knowing about the details of system at the other end of the interface. Embedded Web Technology is the merging of Embedded Systems with the World Wide Web. Embedded Web Technology decreases the cost of developing and maintaining the user interface by allowing the user to interface to the embedded system through a web browser running on a standard personal computer. Embedded Web Technology can also be used to simplify an Embedded System's internal network.

Healthy Family 2009: Practicing Healthy Adult Living

MedlinePlus

... doctor the pros and cons of having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or digital rectal examination (DRE) to ... colonoscopies for cancer of the colon, serum prostatin-specific antigen (PSA) tests for prostate cancer, and mammograms for breast cancer. Work out ...

RESLanjut: The learning media for improve students understanding in embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Indrianto, Susanti, Meilia Nur Indah; Karina, Djunaidi

2017-08-01

The use of network in embedded system can be done with many kinds of network, with the use of mobile phones, bluetooths, modems, ethernet cards, wireless technology and so on. Using network in embedded system could help people to do remote controlling. On previous research, researchers found that many students have the ability to comprehend the basic concept of embedded system. They could also make embedded system tools but without network integration. And for that, a development is needed for the embedded system module. The embedded system practicum module design needs a prototype method in order to achieve the desired goal. The prototype method is often used in the real world. Or even, a prototype method is a part of products that consist of logic expression or external physical interface. The embedded system practicum module is meant to increase student comprehension of embedded system course, and also to encourage students to innovate on technology based tools. It is also meant to help teachers to teach the embedded system concept on the course. The student comprehension is hoped to increase with the use of practicum course.

40 CFR 266.110 - Waiver of DRE trial burn for boilers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... percent of fuel fired to the device shall be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or, if... comparable to fossil fuel. Such fuels are termed “primary fuel” for purposes of this section. (Tall oil is a...

40 CFR 266.110 - Waiver of DRE trial burn for boilers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... percent of fuel fired to the device shall be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or, if... comparable to fossil fuel. Such fuels are termed “primary fuel” for purposes of this section. (Tall oil is a...

40 CFR 266.110 - Waiver of DRE trial burn for boilers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... percent of fuel fired to the device shall be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or, if... comparable to fossil fuel. Such fuels are termed “primary fuel” for purposes of this section. (Tall oil is a...

40 CFR 266.110 - Waiver of DRE trial burn for boilers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... percent of fuel fired to the device shall be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or, if... comparable to fossil fuel. Such fuels are termed “primary fuel” for purposes of this section. (Tall oil is a...

40 CFR 266.110 - Waiver of DRE trial burn for boilers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... percent of fuel fired to the device shall be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or, if... comparable to fossil fuel. Such fuels are termed “primary fuel” for purposes of this section. (Tall oil is a...

TRIAL BURN RESULTS AND FUTURE ACTIVITES OF THE EPA MOBILE INCINERATOR

EPA Science Inventory

The EPA Mobile Incinerator has demonstrated its ability to successfully destroy dioxin. A trial burn conducted in 1987 demonstrated the incinerator's ability to destroy a wide variety of compounds. The destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of carbon tetrachloride, hexachloro...

Fighting Fire with Fire: Surgical Options for Patients with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy.

PubMed

Bayer, Alina D; Blum, Andrew S; Asaad, Wael F; Roth, Julie; Toms, Steven A; Deck, Gina M

2018-03-01

While antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) provide adequate seizure control for most patients with epilepsy, ~30% continue to have seizures despite treatment with two or more AEDs.1 In addition to direct harm from seizures, poor epilepsy control correlates with higher mortality, morbidity, 2, 3 and cost to the healthcare system.4 In the subset of patients with persistent seizures despite medical management, surgical intervention and neuromodulation may be more effective. Primary care physicians and general neurologists should be aware of non-AED treatment options that are standard of care for drug- resistant epilepsy (DRE). [Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2018-03.asp].

Holistic care for pediatric organ transplant recipients and their families during their dark postoperative recovery stage in the hospital.

PubMed

Yang, F C; Shih, F Jong; Tseng, P H; Wang, S S; Shih, F Jin

2014-05-01

This study explored the difficulties in caring for pediatric organ transplant recipients (POTR) and their families during dark recovery experiences (DRE) in the hospital from the perspectives of Taiwan organ transplant health professionals (OTHP). A qualitative design was used, with a purposive sample of OTHP including OT surgeons (OTS) and nursing groups. Data were collected by thorough face-to-face interviews and were analyzed using content analysis. Fifty-five subjects (39 female, 16 male) participated in this project. They included 15 OTS and 40 nurses. The nurses included registered nurses (n = 27), nurse practitioners (n = 5), and assistant or head nurses (n = 8). Their ages ranged from 25 to 66 (mean = 38.4) years old. Thirty-eight (69%) had college education, and 17 (31%) had graduate education. Their OT careers ranged from between 3 to 40 (mean = 23.8) years for OTS, and 0.5 to 15 (mean = 4.10) years for the OT nursing group. Five types of caring difficulties were reported: (1) threat of OT failure, (2) work overload, (3) insufficient collaboration within interdisciplinary teams due to incongruent surgical and nursing opinions, (4) poor communication between OTHP and POTR, and (5) lack of competent professional OT care. The following suggestions were made to help relieve the OTHPs' stress in providing holistic care for POTR and their families during DRE: (1) increasing the amount of experienced OT manpower and professional communication liaisons, (2) providing systematic on-the-job interdisciplinary case seminars and OT workshops, and (3) enhancing the POTR's mental health care and helping manage their distress of DRE. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stereo-EEG: Diagnostic and therapeutic tool for periventricular nodular heterotopia epilepsies.

PubMed

Mirandola, Laura; Mai, Roberto F; Francione, Stefano; Pelliccia, Veronica; Gozzo, Francesca; Sartori, Ivana; Nobili, Lino; Cardinale, Francesco; Cossu, Massimo; Meletti, Stefano; Tassi, Laura

2017-11-01

Periventricular nodular heterotopias (PNHs) are malformations of cortical development related to neuronal migration disorders, frequently associated with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) is considered a very effective step of the presurgical evaluation, providing the recognition of the epileptogenic zone (EZ). At the same time, via the intracerebral electrodes it is possible to perform radiofrequency thermocoagulation (SEEG-guided RF-TC) with the aim of ablating and/or disrupting the EZ. The purpose of this study was to evaluate both the relationships between PNH and the EZ, and the efficacy of SEEG-guided RF-TC. Twenty patients with DRE related to PNHs were studied. Inclusion criteria were the following: (1) patients with epilepsy and PNHs (unilateral or bilateral, single or multiple nodules) diagnosed on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); (2) SEEG recordings available as part of the presurgical investigations, with at least one intracerebral electrode inside the heterotopia; (3) complete surgical workup with SEEG-guided RF-TC and/or with traditional neurosurgery, with a follow-up of at least 12 months. Complex and heterogenic epileptic networks were found in these patients. SEEG-guided RF-TC both into the nodules and/or the cortex was efficacious in the 76% of patients. Single or multiple, unilateral or bilateral PNHs are the most suitable for this procedure, whereas patients with PNHs associated with complex cortical malformations obtained excellent outcome only with traditional resective surgery. Each patient had a specific epileptogenic network, independent from the number, size, or location of nodules and from the cortical malformation associated with. SEEG-guided RF-TC appears as a new and very effective diagnostic and therapeutic approach for DRE related to PNHs. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International League Against Epilepsy.

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Dependent Retention of Nuclear HuR Suppresses Cigarette Smoke-Induced Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression Independent of DNA-Binding

PubMed Central

Zago, Michela; Sheridan, Jared A.; Nair, Parameswaran; Rico de Souza, Angela; Gallouzi, Imed-Eddine; Rousseau, Simon; Di Marco, Sergio; Hamid, Qutayba; Eidelman, David H.; Baglole, Carolyn J.

2013-01-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-activated transcription factor that responds to man-made environmental toxicants, has emerged as an endogenous regulator of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) by a mechanism that is poorly understood. In this study, we first used AhR-deficient (AhR−/−) primary pulmonary cells, together with pharmacological tools to inhibit new RNA synthesis, to show that the AhR is a prominent factor in the destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA. The destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA and subsequent suppression of cigarette smoke-induced COX-2 protein expression by the AhR was independent of its ability to bind the dioxin response element (DRE), thereby differentiating the DRE-driven toxicological AhR pathway from its anti-inflammatory abilities. We further describe that the AhR destabilizes Cox-2 mRNA by sequestering HuR within the nucleus. The role of HuR in AhR stabilization of Cox-2 mRNA was confirmed by knockdown of HuR, which resulted in rapid Cox-2 mRNA degradation. Finally, in the lungs of AhR−/− mice exposed to cigarette smoke, there was little Cox-2 mRNA despite robust COX-2 protein expression, a finding that correlates with almost exclusive cytoplasmic HuR within the lungs of AhR−/− mice. Therefore, we propose that the AhR plays an important role in suppressing the expression of inflammatory proteins, a function that extends beyond the ability of the AhR to respond to man-made toxicants. These findings open the possibility that a DRE-independent AhR pathway may be exploited therapeutically as an anti-inflammatory target. PMID:24086407

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-dependent retention of nuclear HuR suppresses cigarette smoke-induced cyclooxygenase-2 expression independent of DNA-binding.

PubMed

Zago, Michela; Sheridan, Jared A; Nair, Parameswaran; Rico de Souza, Angela; Gallouzi, Imed-Eddine; Rousseau, Simon; Di Marco, Sergio; Hamid, Qutayba; Eidelman, David H; Baglole, Carolyn J

2013-01-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-activated transcription factor that responds to man-made environmental toxicants, has emerged as an endogenous regulator of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) by a mechanism that is poorly understood. In this study, we first used AhR-deficient (AhR(-/-) ) primary pulmonary cells, together with pharmacological tools to inhibit new RNA synthesis, to show that the AhR is a prominent factor in the destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA. The destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA and subsequent suppression of cigarette smoke-induced COX-2 protein expression by the AhR was independent of its ability to bind the dioxin response element (DRE), thereby differentiating the DRE-driven toxicological AhR pathway from its anti-inflammatory abilities. We further describe that the AhR destabilizes Cox-2 mRNA by sequestering HuR within the nucleus. The role of HuR in AhR stabilization of Cox-2 mRNA was confirmed by knockdown of HuR, which resulted in rapid Cox-2 mRNA degradation. Finally, in the lungs of AhR(-/-) mice exposed to cigarette smoke, there was little Cox-2 mRNA despite robust COX-2 protein expression, a finding that correlates with almost exclusive cytoplasmic HuR within the lungs of AhR(-/-) mice. Therefore, we propose that the AhR plays an important role in suppressing the expression of inflammatory proteins, a function that extends beyond the ability of the AhR to respond to man-made toxicants. These findings open the possibility that a DRE-independent AhR pathway may be exploited therapeutically as an anti-inflammatory target.

MaRAP2-4, a waterlogging-responsive ERF from Mentha, regulates bidirectional sugar transporter AtSWEET10 to modulate stress response in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Phukan, Ujjal J; Jeena, Gajendra Singh; Tripathi, Vineeta; Shukla, Rakesh Kumar

2018-01-01

As waterlogging and successive events severely influence growth and development of economically important plants, we attempted to characterize the role of a waterlogging-responsive group I (A-6) ethylene response factor (MaRAP2-4) from Mentha arvensis. Waterlogging, ethylene and methyl jasmonate rapidly induced the expression of MaRAP2-4. MaRAP2-4 interacted with multiple cis-elements like dehydration response elements (DRE1/2), anoxia/jasmonic acid response element (JARE) and GCC box showing its involvement in multiple responses. MaRAP2-4 localizes in the nucleus and acts as a transcriptional activator. Truncation and internal deletion identified a 20 amino acids potential transactivation domain (PLPSSVDAKLEAICQSLAIN) in MaRAP2-4. MaRAP2-4 transgenic Arabidopsis showed enhanced waterlogging and subsequent oxidative stress tolerance. Microarray analysis revealed that within up-regulated genes 483, 212 and 132 promoters carry either single or multiple copies of DRE, JARE and GCC cis-element/s, respectively. Within these promoters, a large section belongs to carbohydrate metabolism/transport, including many SWEET transporters. Further analysis showed MaRAP2-4 specifically targets two positions in AtSWEEET10 promoter carrying DRE and/or GCC box that might regulate carbohydrate availability and waterlogging tolerance. These results demonstrate that MaRAP2-4 is a positive regulator of waterlogging tolerance, and as energy-consuming processes such as carbohydrate biosynthesis are reduced under waterlogging-induced hypoxia, sugar transport through SWEETs may be the primary option to make sugar available to the required tissue. © 2017 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Constraints for recently discovered ignimbrites in the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex (APVC), northern Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Layana, S.; Aguilera, F.

2014-12-01

One of most voluminous ignimbrite provinces in the world (>30.000 km3) is located in the Central Andean Volcanic Zone (CAVZ), which has been continuously active since Upper Oligocene. Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex (APVC), located between 21 and 24ºS, is a volcano-tectonic province constituted by diverse caldera complexes and ignimbrite deposits (Upper Miocene - Lower Pleistocene) that covers an area ~50.000 km2. In this work, we present data from three new ignimbrites discovered in a portion of APVC (22°-22,4°S), with the objective to establish its origin and provenance. Were identified 3 new ignimbrites: 1) Cabana ignimbrite (>7.5 Ma), constituted by 3 pyroclastic flow and 1 pyroclastic surge units of crystal-glass rich dacitic tuffs, 80 m maximum thick, 0.18 km3 volume and 0.14 km3 DRE; 2) Inacaliri ignimbrite (7.5 Ma) constituted by two members, corresponding to glassy dacitic (basal member) and basaltic andesites (upper member) tuffs, the total thick reach up 20 m, 0.003 km3 volume and 0.002 km3 DRE; 3) Tolar ignimbrite (>1.3 Ma), constituted by a single pyroclastic flow and a basal fall glassy dacitic deposits, 50 m maximum thick, 0.04 km3 volume and 0.03 km3 DRE. Cabana ignimbrite seems to have been originated from a single caldera complex, whose cannot be recognized in the field. Inacaliri ignimbrite could be related to initial phases of building of Inacaliri and Apacheta-Aguilucho volcanic complexes, or originated to a buried caldera located below both volcanic complexes. Finally, Tolar ignimbrite corresponds to initial building stage of Toconce volcano, located 2 km at NE from these deposits.

A potential endogenous ligand for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor has potent agonist activity in vitro and in vivo.

PubMed

Henry, E C; Bemis, J C; Henry, O; Kende, A S; Gasiewicz, T A

2006-06-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is best known as a mediator of toxicity of a diverse family of xenobiotic chemicals such as dioxins and PCBs. However, many naturally occurring compounds also activate AhR. One such compound, 2-(1'H-indole-3'-carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (ITE), was isolated from tissue and found to be potent in preliminary tests [J. Song, M. Clagett-Dame, R.E. Peterson, M.E. Hahn, W.M. Westler, R.R. Sicinski, H.F. DeLuca, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 (2002) 14694-14699]. We have synthesized ITE and [(3)H]ITE and further evaluated its AhR activity in several in vitro and in vivo assays in comparison with the toxic ligand, TCDD. AhR in Hepa1c1c7 cell cytosol bound [(3)H]ITE with high affinity and the AhR.ITE complex formed in vitro bound dioxin response element (DRE) oligonucleotide as potently as TCDD.AhR. In cells treated with ITE, nuclear translocation of AhR, and induction of CYP1A1 protein and of a DRE-dependent luciferase reporter gene were observed. ITE administered to pregnant DRE-LacZ transgenic mice activated fetal AhR, observed as X-gal staining in the same sites as in TCDD-treated mice. However, unlike TCDD, ITE did not induce cleft palate or hydronephrosis. TCDD but not ITE induced thymic atrophy in young adult mice, but both ITE and TCDD caused similar loss of cells and alterations of cell profiles in cultured fetal thymi. These data demonstrate that ITE is a potent AhR agonist in cell extracts, cultured cells, and intact animals, but does not cause the toxicity associated with the more stable xenobiotic ligand, TCDD.

A functional polymorphism of the microRNA-146a gene is associated with susceptibility to drug-resistant epilepsy and seizures frequency.

PubMed

Cui, Lili; Tao, Hua; Wang, Yan; Liu, Zhou; Xu, Zhien; Zhou, Haihong; Cai, Yujie; Yao, Lifen; Chen, Beichu; Liang, Wandong; Liu, Yu; Cheng, Wanwen; Liu, Tingting; Ma, Guoda; Li, You; Zhao, Bin; Li, Keshen

2015-04-01

Epilepsy is the third most common chronic brain disorder and is characterized by an enduring predisposition for seizures. Recently, a growing body of evidence has suggested that microRNA-146a (miR-146a) is upregulated in the brains of epilepsy patients and of mouse models; furthermore, miR-146a may be involved in the development and progression of seizures through the regulation of inflammation and immune responses. In this report, we performed a case-control study to analyze the relationship between the two potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the miR-146a gene (rs2910464 and rs57095329) and the risk of epilepsy in a Chinese population comprising 249 cases and 249 healthy controls. Our study comprised 249 epilepsy patients and 249 healthy controls in two regions of China. The DNA was genotyped using the ABI PRISM SNapShot method. The statistical analysis was estimated using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Our results indicated a significant association between the rs57095329 SNP of the miR-146a gene and the risk of drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) (genotypes, p = 0.0258 and alleles, p = 0.0108). Moreover, the rs57095329 A allele was found to be associated with a reduced risk of seizures frequency in DRE patients (all p < 0.001). However, the rs2910164 variant was not associated with epilepsy. Our data indicate that the rs57095329 polymorphism in the promoter region of miR-146a is involved in the genetic susceptibility to DRE and the seizures frequency. Copyright © 2015 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic approach to constipation impacts pediatric emergency department disposition.

PubMed

Chumpitazi, Corrie E; Rees, Chris A; Camp, Elizabeth A; Henkel, Erin B; Valdez, Karina L; Chumpitazi, Bruno P

2017-10-01

Constipation is a common cause of abdominal pain in children presenting to the emergency department (ED). The objectives of this study were to determine the diagnostic evaluation undertaken for constipation and to assess the association of the evaluation with final ED disposition. A retrospective chart review of children presenting to the pediatric ED of a quaternary care children's hospital with abdominal pain that received a soap suds enema therapy. A total of 512 children were included, 270 (52.7%) were female, and the median age was 8.0 (IQR: 4.0-11.0). One hundred and thirty eight patients (27%) had a digital rectal exam (DRE), 120 (22.8%) had bloodwork performed, 218 (43%) had urinalysis obtained, 397 (77.5%) had abdominal radiographs, 120 (23.4%) had abdominal ultrasounds, and 18 (3.5%) had computed tomography scans. Children who had a DRE had a younger median age (6.0, IQR: 3.0-9.25 vs. 8.0, IQR: 4.0-12.0; p<0.001) and were significantly less likely to have radiologic imaging (OR=0.50, 95% CI 0.32-0.78; p=0.002), but did not have an increased odds of being discharged home. After adjusting for gender, ethnicity, and significant past medical history those with an abdominal radiograph were less likely to be discharged to home (aOR=0.56, 95% CI 0.31-1.01; p=0.05). The diagnostic evaluation of children diagnosed with fecal impaction in the ED varied. Abdominal imaging may be avoided if children receive a DRE. When children presenting to the ED with abdominal pain had an abdominal radiograph, they were more likely to be admitted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prevalence and characteristics of prostate cancer among participants of a community-based screening in Nigeria using serum prostate specific antigen and digital rectal examination.

PubMed

Ikuerowo, Stephen Odunayo; Omisanjo, Olufunmilade Adefolarin; Bioku, Muftau Jimoh; Ajala, Michael Olawale; Mordi, Victor Patrick Nonyelim; Esho, Julius Olusanmi

2013-01-01

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Nigerian men but CaP screening is not a common practice. The true burden of the disease in Nigeria is not known. The study was aimed at studying the community burden of CaP in Lagos. During a community-based prostate cancer awareness program in 13 local government areas of Lagos, men aged >40 years had serum total PSA (tPSA) test and digital rectal examination (DRE). Those with abnormal DRE or tPSA >95th percentile of the cohort or both were selected for prostate biopsy (TRPB). 4172 men were screened and complete data was available for 4110 (98.5%). The mean age was 60.8 years. DRE was abnormal in 410 men and was significantly correlated with the age of the patient and tPSA (p<0.001). The tPSA ranged from 0 to 438.3 ng/ml with a median, mean and 95th percentile of 1.5, 2.5 and 10.0 ng/ml respectively. 341 out of the 438 (78%) men selected were subjected to TRBP. Forty-three men had histological diagnosis of CaP, giving an estimated prevalence rate of at least 1.046% or 1046 per 100,000 men of age ≥40. Only 11 (26%) had organ-confined disease while 17 (40%) had locally advanced disease and 15 (35%) men had metastatic disease. The majority of the men, 32 (74%) were reported to have Gleason's score of ≥7. The prevalence rate of CaP among men aged ≥40 years in Lagos is higher than previously reported in hospital-based study. Majority have advanced and high-grade disease.

Next-generation sequencing improves treatment efficacy and reduces hospitalization in children with drug-resistant epilepsy.

PubMed

Peng, Jing; Pang, Nan; Wang, Ying; Wang, Xiao-Le; Chen, Jian; Xiong, Juan; Peng, Pan; Zhu, Can-Hui; Kessi, Miriam Barakael; He, Fang; Yin, Fei

2018-06-22

The purposes of this study were three-fold: (i) to determine the contribution of known genes to the causation of a broad-spectrum of pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), (ii) to compare the diagnostic yield and cost among different next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches, and especially (iii) to assess how NGS approaches can benefit patients by improving diagnosis and treatment efficiency. This study enrolled 273 pediatric DRE patients with no obvious acquired etiology. Seventy-four patients underwent whole-exome sequencing (WES), 141 patients had epilepsy-related gene panel testing, and another 58 patients had clinical WES gene panel testing. We obtained these patients' seizure and hospitalization frequency by periodic follow-up phone calls and outpatient visits. Genetic diagnosis was achieved in 86 patients (31.5%) and involved 93 likely disease-causing mutations in 33 genes. In this study, the detection rates of the epilepsy-related gene panel, the clinical WES gene panel, and WES were 32.6% (46/141), 44.8% (26/58), and 17.3% (13/74), respectively. Moreover, 34 patients accepted corrective therapy according to their mutant genes, after which 52.9% (18/34) became seizure-free and 38.2% (13/34) achieved seizure reduction. In the end, patients with either positive or negative genetic results had significantly fewer hospitalization incidents (times/half year) than before (positive genetic results group 0.58 ± 1.14 vs 0.10 ± 0.26; negative genetic results group 0.72 ± 1.65 vs 0.12 ± 0.33). These results offer further proof that NGS approaches represent powerful tools for establishing a definitive diagnosis. Moreover, this study indicated how NGS can improve treatment efficacy and reduce hospitalization in children with DRE. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integrated Design and Implementation of Embedded Control Systems with Scilab

PubMed Central

Ma, Longhua; Xia, Feng; Peng, Zhe

2008-01-01

Embedded systems are playing an increasingly important role in control engineering. Despite their popularity, embedded systems are generally subject to resource constraints and it is therefore difficult to build complex control systems on embedded platforms. Traditionally, the design and implementation of control systems are often separated, which causes the development of embedded control systems to be highly time-consuming and costly. To address these problems, this paper presents a low-cost, reusable, reconfigurable platform that enables integrated design and implementation of embedded control systems. To minimize the cost, free and open source software packages such as Linux and Scilab are used. Scilab is ported to the embedded ARM-Linux system. The drivers for interfacing Scilab with several communication protocols including serial, Ethernet, and Modbus are developed. Experiments are conducted to test the developed embedded platform. The use of Scilab enables implementation of complex control algorithms on embedded platforms. With the developed platform, it is possible to perform all phases of the development cycle of embedded control systems in a unified environment, thus facilitating the reduction of development time and cost. PMID:27873827

Integrated Design and Implementation of Embedded Control Systems with Scilab.

PubMed

Ma, Longhua; Xia, Feng; Peng, Zhe

2008-09-05

Embedded systems are playing an increasingly important role in control engineering. Despite their popularity, embedded systems are generally subject to resource constraints and it is therefore difficult to build complex control systems on embedded platforms. Traditionally, the design and implementation of control systems are often separated, which causes the development of embedded control systems to be highly timeconsuming and costly. To address these problems, this paper presents a low-cost, reusable, reconfigurable platform that enables integrated design and implementation of embedded control systems. To minimize the cost, free and open source software packages such as Linux and Scilab are used. Scilab is ported to the embedded ARM-Linux system. The drivers for interfacing Scilab with several communication protocols including serial, Ethernet, and Modbus are developed. Experiments are conducted to test the developed embedded platform. The use of Scilab enables implementation of complex control algorithms on embedded platforms. With the developed platform, it is possible to perform all phases of the development cycle of embedded control systems in a unified environment, thus facilitating the reduction of development time and cost.

Natural Assurance Scheme: A level playing field framework for Green-Grey infrastructure development.

PubMed

Denjean, Benjamin; Altamirano, Mónica A; Graveline, Nina; Giordano, Raffaele; van der Keur, Peter; Moncoulon, David; Weinberg, Josh; Máñez Costa, María; Kozinc, Zdravko; Mulligan, Mark; Pengal, Polona; Matthews, John; van Cauwenbergh, Nora; López Gunn, Elena; Bresch, David N

2017-11-01

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to systematize the use of Nature-based solutions (NBS) by integrating their resilience potential into Natural Assurance Scheme (NAS), focusing on insurance value as corner stone for both awareness-raising and valuation. As such one of its core goal is to align research and pilot projects with infrastructure development constraints and priorities. Under NAS, the integrated contribution of natural infrastructure to Disaster Risk Reduction is valued in the context of an identified growing need for climate robust infrastructure. The potential of NAS benefits and trade-off are explored by through the alternative lens of Disaster Resilience Enhancement (DRE). Such a system requires a joint effort of specific knowledge transfer from research groups and stakeholders to potential future NAS developers and investors. We therefore match the knowledge gaps with operational stages of the development of NAS from a project designer perspective. We start by highlighting the key role of the insurance industry in incentivizing and assessing disaster and slow onset resilience enhancement strategies. In parallel we place the public sector as potential kick-starters in DRE initiatives through the existing initiatives and constraints of infrastructure procurement. Under this perspective the paper explores the required alignment of Integrated Water resources planning and Public investment systems. Ultimately this will provide the possibility for both planners and investors to design no regret NBS and mixed Grey-Green infrastructures systems. As resources and constraints are widely different between infrastructure development contexts, the framework does not provide explicit methodological choices but presents current limits of knowledge and know-how. In conclusion the paper underlines the potential of NAS to ease the infrastructure gap in water globally by stressing the advantages of investment in the protection, enhancement and restoration of natural capital as an effective climate change adaptation investment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

DRE Directions: What Makes an Effective Catechetical Leader?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Thomas P.; Walters, Rita Tyson

2003-01-01

Discusses the top ten characteristics of effective Catechetical leaders: (1) prayerful/spiritual people; (2) passion for Catechetical Ministry; (3) creativity; (4) cooperative behavior; (5) active in professional organizations; (6) learns continuously; (7) respected by peers; (8) possesses administrative skills and run creative programs; (9)…

Abatement of Perfluorinated Compounds Using Cylindrical Microwave Plasma Source at Low Pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seong Bong; Park, S.; Park, Y.; Youn, S.; Yoo, S. J.

2016-10-01

Microwave plasma source with a cylindrical cavity has been proposed to abate the perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). This plasma source was designed to generate microwave plasma with the cylindrical shape and to be easily installed in existing exhaust line. The microwave frequency is 2.45 GHz and the operating pressure range is 0.1 Torr to 0.3 Torr. The plasma characteristic of the cylindrical microwave plasma source was measured using the optical spectrometer, and tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS). The destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of CF4 and CHF3 were measured by a quadrupole mass spectroscopy (QMS) with the various operation conditions. The effect of the addition of the oxygen gas were tested and also the correlation between the plasma parameters and the DRE are presented in this study. This work was supported by R&D Program of ``Plasma Advanced Technology for Agriculture and Food (Plasma Farming)'' through the National Fusion Research Institute of Korea (NFRI) funded by the Government funds.

Isolation and characterization of a water stress-specific genomic gene, pwsi 18, from rice.

PubMed

Joshee, N; Kisaka, H; Kitagawa, Y

1998-01-01

One of the water stress-specific cDNA clones of rice characterised previously, wsi18, was selected for further study. The wsi18 gene can be induced by water stress conditions such as mannitol, NaCl, and dryness, but not by ABA, cold, or heat. A genomic clone for wsi18, pwsi18, contained about 1.7 kbp of the 5' upstream sequence, two introns, and the full coding sequence. The 5'-upstream sequence of pwsi18 contained putative cis-acting elements, namely an ABA-responsive element (ABRE), three G-boxes, three E-boxes, a MEF-2 sequence, four direct and two inverted repeats, and four sequences similar to DRE, which is involved in the dehydration response of Arabidopsis genes. The gusA reporter gene under the control of the pwsi18 promoter showed transient expression in response to water stress. Deletion of the downstream DRE-like sequence between the distal G-boxes-2 and -3 resulted in rather low GUS expression.

UV Exposure, Vitamin D, and Prostate Cancer Risk in African Americans

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-01

positive DRE. They were recruited through Howard University Hospital. Nine age- and ethnicity-matched controls have been recruited through the free...screenings program at Howard University Cancer Center. For patients and controls, the authors have collected medical histories and blood samples for gene

A biomedical information system for retrieval and manipulation of NHANES data.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Sukrit; Martins, David; Norris, Keith C; Jenders, Robert A

2013-01-01

The retrieval and manipulation of data from large public databases like the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) may require sophisticated statistical software and significant expertise that may be unavailable in the university setting. In response, we have developed the Data Retrieval And Manipulation System (DReAMS), an automated information system to handle all processes of data extraction and cleaning and then joining different subsets to produce analysis-ready output. The system is a browser-based data warehouse application in which the input data from flat files or operational systems are aggregated in a structured way so that the desired data can be read, recoded, queried and extracted efficiently. The current pilot implementation of the system provides access to a limited amount of NHANES database. We plan to increase the amount of data available through the system in the near future and to extend the techniques to other large databases from CDU archive with a current holding of about 53 databases.

DRE Directions: Determining Fair Compensation for Parish Catechetical Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almon, Sister Marianne

2001-01-01

Reports that those who work as professional directors of religious education and coordinators of religious education have often been compensated with a volunteers stipend only. States that the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors met to share information on what can be done to better compensate these leaders. (CJW)

40 CFR 266.104 - Standards to control organic emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... DRE trial burn. (5) Low risk waste. Owners and operators of boilers or industrial furnaces that burn... HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces § 266.104...) of this section, a boiler or industrial furnace burning hazardous waste must achieve a destruction...

40 CFR 266.104 - Standards to control organic emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... DRE trial burn. (5) Low risk waste. Owners and operators of boilers or industrial furnaces that burn... HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces § 266.104...) of this section, a boiler or industrial furnace burning hazardous waste must achieve a destruction...

Teratogenic impact of dioxin-activated AHR in laboratory animals

EPA Science Inventory

AHR and ARNT are expressed in mouse and human palatal shelves and in the urinary tract of the mouse fetus. AHR expression, translocation to the nucleus, binding to DRE, and activation are required for mediation of TCDD-induction of CP and HN. Although the human palate requires a ...

40 CFR 266.104 - Standards to control organic emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces § 266.104...) of this section, a boiler or industrial furnace burning hazardous waste must achieve a destruction... demonstrate conformance with this requirement, 99.99% DRE must be demonstrated during a trial burn for each...

40 CFR 266.104 - Standards to control organic emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces § 266.104...) of this section, a boiler or industrial furnace burning hazardous waste must achieve a destruction... demonstrate conformance with this requirement, 99.99% DRE must be demonstrated during a trial burn for each...

40 CFR 266.104 - Standards to control organic emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces § 266.104...) of this section, a boiler or industrial furnace burning hazardous waste must achieve a destruction... demonstrate conformance with this requirement, 99.99% DRE must be demonstrated during a trial burn for each...

Review of battery powered embedded systems design for mission-critical low-power applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malewski, Matthew; Cowell, David M. J.; Freear, Steven

2018-06-01

The applications and uses of embedded systems is increasingly pervasive. Mission and safety critical systems relying on embedded systems pose specific challenges. Embedded systems is a multi-disciplinary domain, involving both hardware and software. Systems need to be designed in a holistic manner so that they are able to provide the desired reliability and minimise unnecessary complexity. The large problem landscape means that there is no one solution that fits all applications of embedded systems. With the primary focus of these mission and safety critical systems being functionality and reliability, there can be conflicts with business needs, and this can introduce pressures to reduce cost at the expense of reliability and functionality. This paper examines the challenges faced by battery powered systems, and then explores at more general problems, and several real-world embedded systems.

Research on numerical control system based on S3C2410 and MCX314AL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Qiang; Jiang, Tingbiao

2008-10-01

With the rapid development of micro-computer technology, embedded system, CNC technology and integrated circuits, numerical control system with powerful functions can be realized by several high-speed CPU chips and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) chips which have small size and strong stability. In addition, the real-time operating system also makes the attainment of embedded system possible. Developing the NC system based on embedded technology can overcome some shortcomings of common PC-based CNC system, such as the waste of resources, low control precision, low frequency and low integration. This paper discusses a hardware platform of ENC (Embedded Numerical Control) system based on embedded processor chip ARM (Advanced RISC Machines)-S3C2410 and DSP (Digital Signal Processor)-MCX314AL and introduces the process of developing ENC system software. Finally write the MCX314AL's driver under the embedded Linux operating system. The embedded Linux operating system can deal with multitask well moreover satisfy the real-time and reliability of movement control. NC system has the advantages of best using resources and compact system with embedded technology. It provides a wealth of functions and superior performance with a lower cost. It can be sure that ENC is the direction of the future development.

The Use of Video-Gaming Devices as a Motivation for Learning Embedded Systems Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, J.; Pomares, H.; Damas, M.; Garcia-Sanchez,P.; Rodriguez-Alvarez, M.; Palomares, J. M.

2013-01-01

As embedded systems are becoming prevalent in everyday life, many universities are incorporating embedded systems-related courses in their undergraduate curricula. However, it is not easy to motivate students in such courses since they conceive of embedded systems as bizarre computing elements, different from the personal computers with which they…

FY2015 Analysis of the Teamwork USA Program. Memorandum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Mark

2015-01-01

The Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) has completed an analysis of the performance of students who participated in the Teamwork USA Program, administered in FY2014 at three District schools. Teamwork USA hopes to improve student achievement at select Title I elementary schools via its Instrumental Music Program grant. This memorandum to…

40 CFR 63.1221 - What are the replacement standards for hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? 63.1221 Section 63.1221 Protection of Environment... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? (a) Emission and hazardous waste feed limits for... prior to release to the atmosphere. (2) 99.9999% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes...

40 CFR 63.1221 - What are the replacement standards for hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? 63.1221 Section 63.1221 Protection of Environment... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? (a) Emission and hazardous waste feed limits for... prior to release to the atmosphere. (2) 99.9999% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes...

A Two-Year Study of Δ 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol Concentrations in Drivers; Part 2: Physiological Signs on Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and non-DRE Examinations,.

PubMed

Declues, Kari; Perez, Shelli; Figueroa, Ariana

2018-03-01

Whole blood samples were examined for ∆ 9 -Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) over 2 years in drivers suspected of driving under the influence. Part one of the study examined the link between [THC] and performance on field sobriety tests. This portion examined objective signs, eye examinations and physiological indicators; and their relationship to the presence of THC. Several objective signs were excellent indicators of the presence of THC: red eyes (94%), droopy eyelids (85.6%), affected speech (87.6%), tongue coating (96.2%), and odor of marijuana (82.4%). About 63.6% of THC positive subjects had dialted pupils (room light). THC positive subjects had either rebound dilation or hippus in 88.8% of cases. Pulse and blood pressure (BP) were evaluated to determine any correlation with [THC]. An increased pulse rate correlated well to the presence of THC (88.5%), but not [THC]. BP did not correlate to [THC] and was also a poor indicator of THC in the blood (50% high). © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

The Impact of Aerosol Microphysical Representation in Models on the Direct Radiative Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ridley, D. A.; Heald, C. L.

2017-12-01

Aerosol impacts the radiative balance of the atmosphere both directly and indirectly. There is considerable uncertainty remaining in the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE), hampering understanding of the present magnitude of anthropogenic aerosol forcing and how future changes in aerosol loading will influence climate. Computationally expensive explicit aerosol microphysics are usually reserved for modelling of the aerosol indirect radiative effects that depend upon aerosol particle number. However, the direct radiative effects of aerosol are also strongly dependent upon the aerosol size distribution, especially particles between 0.2µm - 2µm diameter. In this work, we use a consistent model framework and consistent emissions to explore the impact of prescribed size distributions (bulk scheme) relative to explicit microphysics (sectional scheme) on the aerosol radiative properties. We consider the difference in aerosol burden, water uptake, and extinction efficiency resulting from the two representations, highlighting when and where the bulk and sectional schemes diverge significantly in their estimates of the DRE. Finally, we evaluate the modelled size distributions using in-situ measurements over a range of regimes to provide constraints on both the accumulation and coarse aerosol sizes.

Assessment of removal efficiency of perfluorocompounds (PFCs) in a semiconductor fabrication plant by gas chromatography.

PubMed

Ou Yang, Chang-Feng; Kam, Seak-Hong; Liu, Chia-Hung; Tzou, Jiren; Wang, Jia-Lin

2009-08-01

This study investigated a gas chromatographic (GC) method to assess the destruction or removal efficiency (DRE) of local scrubbers on five perfluorocompounds (PFCs), i.e., SF(6), NF(3), CF(4), C(2)F(6), and C(3)F(8), which are very potent greenhouse gases used in a semiconductor fabrication plant. Air samples taken at inlets and outlets of local scrubbers were analyzed by a self-constructed multi-column GC system equipped with thermal conductivity detection. Three packed columns were integrated into the heart-cut GC system to allow simultaneous analysis of the five target PFCs. The Porapak Q pre-column performs rough separation and cuts eluent groups to two analytical columns for optimal separation. The Molecular Sieve - 5A column separated NF(3), CF(4), and C(3)F(8) and the second Porapak Q separated SF(6) and C(2)F(6). Linearity was greater than 0.995 (R(2)) for the five PFCs, and the reproducibility was about 4% (relative standard deviation) for NF(3), and better than 0.5% for the other four PFCs. DRE for the combustion (CB) and electric-thermal types of local scrubbers was evaluated by taking into account the in-line dilution from air and fuel gases. Both flow and tracer methods were employed to deduce the dilution factors (DFs). For the tracer method, helium was employed as the tracer and injected upstream of the scrubbers and thus mixed with the exhaust gas. With this method, the DFs were determined to be in the range from 4.8 to 5.9 for the CB unit, significantly higher than the value of 3.3 based on the flow method. The DREs for the CB unit for C(3)F(8) were greater than 90% and between 40% and 50% for CF(4).

Human Freud-2/CC2D1B: a novel repressor of postsynaptic serotonin-1A receptor expression.

PubMed

Hadjighassem, Mahmoud R; Austin, Mark C; Szewczyk, Bernadeta; Daigle, Mireille; Stockmeier, Craig A; Albert, Paul R

2009-08-01

Altered expression of serotonin-1A (5-HT1A) receptors, both presynaptic in the raphe nuclei and post-synaptic in limbic and cortical target areas, has been implicated in mood disorders such as major depression and anxiety. Within the 5-HT1A receptor gene, a powerful dual repressor element (DRE) is regulated by two protein complexes: Freud-1/CC2D1A and a second, unknown repressor. Here we identify human Freud-2/CC2D1B, a Freud-1 homologue, as the second repressor. Freud-2 distribution was examined with Northern and Western blot, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence; Freud-2 function was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift, reporter assay, and Western blot. Freud-2 RNA was widely distributed in brain and peripheral tissues. Freud-2 protein was enriched in the nuclear fraction of human prefrontal cortex and hippocampus but was weakly expressed in the dorsal raphe nucleus. Freud-2 immunostaining was co-localized with 5-HT1A receptors, neuronal and glial markers. In prefrontal cortex, Freud-2 was expressed at similar levels in control and depressed male subjects. Recombinant hFreud-2 protein bound specifically to 5' or 3' human DRE adjacent to the Freud-1 site. Human Freud-2 showed strong repressor activity at the human 5-HT1A or heterologous promoter in human HEK-293 5-HT1A-negative cells and neuronal SK-N-SH cells, a model of postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptor-positive cells. Furthermore, small interfering RNA knockdown of endogenous hFreud-2 expression de-repressed 5-HT1A promoter activity and increased levels of 5-HT1A receptor protein in SK-N-SH cells. Human Freud-2 binds to the 5-HT1A DRE and represses the human 5-HT1A receptor gene to regulate its expression in non-serotonergic cells and neurons.

Detection rate of prostate cancer following biopsy among the northern Han Chinese population: a single-center retrospective study of 1022 cases.

PubMed

Jia, Yong; Zhu, Lei-Yi; Xian, Yu-Xin; Sun, Xiao-Qing; Gao, Jian-Gang; Zhang, Xin-Hong; Hou, Si-Chuan; Zhang, Chang-Cun; Liu, Zhao-Xu

2017-08-29

Prostate cancer is known to have ethnic and regional differences. The study aimed to clinically evaluate the detection rate of prostate cancer on transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy and analyze its characteristics among the northern Han Chinese population at a single center. Between October 2009 and September 2016, a total of 1027 Chinese men, who had undergone TRUS-guided prostate biopsy at Qingdao Municipal Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed. Prostate biopsies were performed in the case of an abnormally elevated serum PSA level, and/or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) findings, and/or suspicious prostatic imaging findings. Of the 1022 men enrolled in the analysis, 438 patients (42.8%) were diagnosed with prostate adenocarcinoma histologically. When serum PSA levels were divided into five subgroups (less than 4.0, 4.0 to 10.0, 10.0 to 20.0, 20.0 to 100.0, and ≥ 100.0 ng/ml), the detection rates of prostate cancer were 12.4, 15.9, 34.1, 66.2, and 93.8%, respectively. With serum PSA levels of 4.0 to 10.0 ng/ml, the cancer detection rates for a normal DRE and a suspect DRE finding were 13.5 and 58.2%, respectively. Accordingly, the cancer detection rates for a normal imaging and a suspect imaging finding were 13.5 and 58.2%, respectively. Besides, a large proportion of the patients were in the clinically advanced stage. The present study data reported a relatively higher prostate cancer detection rate of 42.8% and that the majority of the patients presented with clinically advanced prostate cancers within a local clinical urologic practice. An early detection and screening program for prostate cancer is of great need to reduce the burden from this disease among the northern Han Chinese population.

ACTIVATION OF DIOXIN RESPONSE ELEMENT (DRE)-ASSOCIATED GENES BY BENZO(A)PYRENE 3,6-QUINONE AND BENZO(A)PYRENE 1,6-QUINONE IN MCF-10A HUMAN MAMMARY EPITHELIAL CELLS

PubMed Central

Burchiel, Scott W.; Thompson, Todd A.; Lauer, Fredine T.; Oprea, Tudor I.

2007-01-01

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a known human carcinogen and a suspected breast cancer complete carcinogen. BaP is metabolized by several metabolic pathways, some having bioactivation and others detoxification properties. BaP-quinones (BPQs) are formed via cytochrome P450 and peroxidase dependent pathways. Previous studies by our laboratory have shown that BPQs have significant growth promoting and anti-apoptotic activities in human MCF-10A mammary epithelial cells examined in vitro. Previous results suggest that BPQs act via redox-cycling and oxidative stress. However, because two specific BPQs (1,6-BPQ and 3,6-BPQ) differed in their ability to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and yet both had strong proliferative and EGF receptor activating activity, we utilized mRNA expression arrays and qRT-PCR to determine potential pathways and mechanisms of gene activation. The results of the present studies demonstrated that 1,6-BPQ and 3,6-BPQ activate dioxin response elements (DRE, also known as xenobiotic response elements, XRE) and anti-oxidant response elements (ARE, also known and electrophile response elements, EpRE). 3,6-BPQ had greater DRE activity than 1,6-BPQ, whereas the opposite was true for the activation of ARE. Both 3,6-BPQ and 1,6-BPQ induced oxidative stress associated genes (HMOX1, GCLC, GCLM, and SLC7A11), phase 2 enzyme genes (NQO1, NQO2, ALDH3A1) PAH metabolizing genes (CYP1B1, EPHX1, AKR1C1), and certain EGF receptor associated genes (EGFR, IER3, ING1, SQSTM1 and TRIM16). The results of these studies demonstrate that BPQs activate numerous pathways in human mammary epithelial cells associated with increased cell growth and survival that may play important roles in tumor promotion. PMID:17466351

Dust layer effects on the atmospheric radiative budget and heating rate profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perrone, Maria Rita; Tafuro, A. M.; Kinne, S.

2012-11-01

The effect of mineral aerosol optical properties and vertical distribution on clear-sky, instantaneous and daily-average aerosol direct radiative effects (DREs) and heating rates (HRs) is analyzed in the solar (S, 0.3-4 μm) and terrestrial (T, 4-80 μm) spectral domain, respectively. The used radiative transfer model is based on lidar, sun-sky photometer, and radiosonde measurements. The study focuses on the Sahara dust outbreak of July 16, 2009 which advected dust particles from north-western Africa over south-eastern Italy. Clear-sky, instantaneous aerosol DREs and HRs undergo large changes within few hours, for the variability of the dust aerosol properties and vertical distribution. The daily-average, clear-sky aerosol S-DRE is near -5 Wm-2 and -12 Wm-2 at the top of the atmosphere (ToA) and surface (sfc), respectively. The daily-average aerosol T-DRE offsets the S-DRE by about one third at the ToA and by about one half at the surface. The daily average aerosol HR integrated over the whole aerosol column is 0.5 and -0.3 K day-1 in the S and T domain, respectively. Thus, the all-wave integrated HR is 0.2 K day-1. These results highlight the importance of accounting for the interaction of dust particles with T and S radiation. Sensitivity tests indicate that the uncertainties of the aerosol refractive index, size distribution, and vertical distribution have on average a large impact on aerosol HRs in the S and T domain, respectively. Refractive index and aerosol size distribution uncertainties also have a large impact on S- and T-DREs. The aerosol vertical distribution that has a negligible impact on aerosol S-DREs, is important for aerosol T-DREs. It is also shown that aerosol HRs and DREs in the terrestrial domain are affected by the water vapour vertical distribution.

Structural characterization of a novel full-length transcript promoter from Horseradish Latent Virus (HRLV) and its transcriptional regulation by multiple stress responsive transcription factors.

PubMed

Khan, Ahamed; Shrestha, Ankita; Bhuyan, Kashyap; Maiti, Indu B; Dey, Nrisingha

2018-01-01

The promoter fragment described in this study can be employed for strong transgene expression under both biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Plant-infecting Caulimoviruses have evolved multiple regulatory mechanisms to address various environmental stimuli during the course of evolution. One such mechanism involves the retention of discrete stress responsive cis-elements which are required for their survival and host-specificity. Here we describe the characterization of a novel Caulimoviral promoter isolated from Horseradish Latent Virus (HRLV) and its regulation by multiple stress responsive Transcription factors (TFs) namely DREB1, AREB1 and TGA1a. The activity of full length transcript (Flt-) promoter from HRLV (- 677 to + 283) was investigated in both transient and transgenic assays where we identified H12 (- 427 to + 73) as the highest expressing fragment having ~ 2.5-fold stronger activity than the CaMV35S promoter. The H12 promoter was highly active and near-constitutive in the vegetative and reproductive parts of both Tobacco and Arabidopsis transgenic plants. Interestingly, H12 contains a distinct cluster of cis-elements like dehydration-responsive element (DRE-core; GCCGAC), an ABA-responsive element (ABRE; ACGTGTC) and as-1 element (TGACG) which are known to be induced by cold, drought and pathogen/SA respectively. The specific binding of DREB1, AREB1 and TGA1a to DRE, ABRE and as-1 elements respectively were confirmed by the gel-binding assays using H12 promoter-specific probes. Detailed mutational analysis of the H12 promoter suggested that the presence of DRE-core and as-1 element was indispensable for its activity which was further confirmed by the transactivation assays. Our studies imply that H12 could be a valuable genetic tool for regulated transgene expression under diverse environmental conditions.

An ABRE promoter sequence is involved in osmotic stress-responsive expression of the DREB2A gene, which encodes a transcription factor regulating drought-inducible genes in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Kim, June-Sik; Mizoi, Junya; Yoshida, Takuya; Fujita, Yasunari; Nakajima, Jun; Ohori, Teppei; Todaka, Daisuke; Nakashima, Kazuo; Hirayama, Takashi; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, Kazuko

2011-12-01

In plants, osmotic stress-responsive transcriptional regulation depends mainly on two major classes of cis-acting elements found in the promoter regions of stress-inducible genes: ABA-responsive elements (ABREs) and dehydration-responsive elements (DREs). ABRE has been shown to perceive ABA-mediated osmotic stress signals, whereas DRE is known to be involved in an ABA-independent pathway. Previously, we reported that the transcription factor DRE-BINDING PROTEIN 2A (DREB2A) regulates DRE-mediated transcription of target genes under osmotic stress conditions in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). However, the transcriptional regulation of DREB2A itself remains largely uncharacterized. To elucidate the transcriptional mechanism associated with the DREB2A gene under osmotic stress conditions, we generated a series of truncated and base-substituted variants of the DREB2A promoter and evaluated their transcriptional activities individually. We found that both ABRE and coupling element 3 (CE3)-like sequences located approximately -100 bp from the transcriptional initiation site are necessary for the dehydration-responsive expression of DREB2A. Coupling our transient expression analyses with yeast one-hybrid and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays indicated that the ABRE-BINDING PROTEIN 1 (AREB1), AREB2 and ABRE-BINDING FACTOR 3 (ABF3) bZIP transcription factors can bind to and activate the DREB2A promoter in an ABRE-dependent manner. Exogenous ABA application induced only a modest accumulation of the DREB2A transcript when compared with the osmotic stress treatment. However, the osmotic stress-induced DREB2A expression was found to be markedly impaired in several ABA-deficient and ABA-insensitive mutants. These results suggest that in addition to an ABA-independent pathway, the ABA-dependent pathway plays a positive role in the osmotic stress-responsive expression of DREB2A.

PCA3-based nomogram for predicting prostate cancer and high grade cancer on initial transrectal guided biopsy.

PubMed

Elshafei, Ahmed; Chevli, K Kent; Moussa, Ayman S; Kara, Onder; Chueh, Shih-Chieh; Walter, Peter; Hatem, Asmaa; Gao, Tianming; Jones, J Stephen; Duff, Michael

2015-12-01

To develop a validated prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) based nomogram that predicts likelihood of overall prostate cancer (PCa) and intermediate/high grade prostate cancer (HGPCa) in men pursuing initial transrectal prostate biopsy (TRUS-PBx). Data were collected on 3,675 men with serum prostate specific antigen level (PSA) ≤ 20 ng/ml who underwent initial prostate biopsy with at least 10 cores sampling at time of the biopsy. Two logistic regression models were constructed to predict overall PCa and HGPCa incorporating age, race, family history (FH) of PCa, PSA at diagnosis, PCA3, total prostate volume (TPV), and digital rectal exam (DRE). One thousand six hundred twenty (44%) patients had biopsy confirmed PCa with 701 men (19.1%) showing HGPCa. Statistically significant predictors of overall PCa were age (P < 0.0001, OR. 1.51), PSA at diagnosis (P < 0.0001, OR.1.95), PCA3 (P < 0.0001, OR.3.06), TPV (P < 0.0001, OR.0.47), FH (P = 0.003, OR.1.32), and abnormal DRE (P = 0.001, OR. 1.32). While for HGPCa, predictors were age (P < 0.0001, OR.1.77), PSA (P < 0.0001, OR.2.73), PCA3 (P < 0.0001, OR.2.26), TPV (P < 0.0001, OR.0.4), and DRE (P < 0.0001, OR.1.53). Two nomograms were reconstructed for predicted overall PCa probability at time of initial biopsy with a concordance index of 0.742 (Fig. 1), and HGPCa with a concordance index of 0.768 (Fig. 2). Our internally validated initial biopsy PCA3 based nomogram is reconstructed based on a large dataset. The c-index indicates high predictive accuracy, especially for high grade PCa and improves the ability to predict biopsy outcomes. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

78 FR 29392 - Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems, Systems Important to Safety, and Items Relied...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-20

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2013-0098] Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems... (NRC) is issuing for public comment Draft Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2013-XX, ``Embedded Digital... requirements for the quality and reliability of basic components with embedded digital devices. DATES: Submit...

[In Process Citation].

PubMed

Cuerda, Cristina; Álvarez, Julia; Ramos, Primitivo; Abánades, Juan Carlos; García-de-Lorenzo, Abelardo; Gil, Pedro; De-la-Cruz, Juan José

2016-03-25

Introducción: la desnutrición relacionada con la enfermedad (DRE) es un problema sociosanitario frecuente que afecta preferentemente a los mayores de 65 años, que aumenta la morbimortalidad y disminuye la calidad de vida.  Objetivo: estudiar la prevalencia de DRE en mayores de 65 años en diferentes centros sociosanitarios del Servicio Regional de Bienestar Social de la Comunidad de Madrid. Métodos: estudio transversal en 33 centros sociosanitarios de Madrid (6 centros de atención primaria [AP], 9 centros de mayores [CM], 9 hospitales [H] y 9 residencias [R]) seleccionados mediante muestreo polietápico. Las variables estudiadas fueron edad, sexo, nivel de dependencia según la escala de incapacidad de la Cruz Roja, motivo de ingreso y enfermedad de base, hábitat (urbano-periurbano-rural) y distribución geográfica (norte centro-sur). Como herramienta de cribado nutricional se utilizó el Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-cribaje) en todos los centros. En los pacientes con cribado positivo (en riesgo-desnutrición) se realizó el MNA-evaluación. El estudio estadístico se realizó con el paquete SSS 21.0 e incluyó estadística descriptiva, test de Chi-cuadrado y prueba exacta de Fisher, ANOVA de un factor, Kruskal-Wallis y análisis de regresión logística (RL) binaria univariante y multivariante. Se consideró significación estadística p < 0,05. Resultados: se reclutaron 1.103 sujetos (275 AP, 278 CM, 281 H, 269 R), edad media de 79,5 ± 8,4 años (41,2% varones, 58,8% mujeres). Los sujetos procedentes de H y R tuvieron un mayor grado de incapacidad (p < 0,001). La prevalencia global de DRE fue del 10%, encontrándose un 23,3% en riesgo de desnutrición, con diferencias entre los cuatro tipos de centros sociosanitarios (p < 0,001). El análisis univariante de RL mostró diferencia significativas en la prevalencia de desnutrición según la edad, sexo, grado de dependencia, tipo de centro sociosanitario, hábitat y zona geográfica. Sin embargo, en el análisis multivariante solo el grado de dependencia, el tipo de centro y el hábitat tuvieron significación estadística. Conclusiones: la prevalencia de DRE en mayores de 65 años en la Comunidad de Madrid es del 10%, encontrándose además un 23,3% en riesgo de desnutrición. Las únicas variables que se relacionaron de forma independiente con la desnutrición en el análisis multivariante fueron el nivel de dependencia de los pacientes y el tipo y hábitat de centro sociosanitario.

An integrated compact airborne multispectral imaging system using embedded computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yuedong; Wang, Li; Zhang, Xuguo

2015-08-01

An integrated compact airborne multispectral imaging system using embedded computer based control system was developed for small aircraft multispectral imaging application. The multispectral imaging system integrates CMOS camera, filter wheel with eight filters, two-axis stabilized platform, miniature POS (position and orientation system) and embedded computer. The embedded computer has excellent universality and expansibility, and has advantages in volume and weight for airborne platform, so it can meet the requirements of control system of the integrated airborne multispectral imaging system. The embedded computer controls the camera parameters setting, filter wheel and stabilized platform working, image and POS data acquisition, and stores the image and data. The airborne multispectral imaging system can connect peripheral device use the ports of the embedded computer, so the system operation and the stored image data management are easy. This airborne multispectral imaging system has advantages of small volume, multi-function, and good expansibility. The imaging experiment results show that this system has potential for multispectral remote sensing in applications such as resource investigation and environmental monitoring.

FingerScanner: Embedding a Fingerprint Scanner in a Raspberry Pi.

PubMed

Sapes, Jordi; Solsona, Francesc

2016-02-06

Nowadays, researchers are paying increasing attention to embedding systems. Cost reduction has lead to an increase in the number of platforms supporting the operating system Linux, jointly with the Raspberry Pi motherboard. Thus, embedding devices on Raspberry-Linux systems is a goal in order to make competitive commercial products. This paper presents a low-cost fingerprint recognition system embedded into a Raspberry Pi with Linux.

Use of Student Experiments for Teaching Embedded Software Development Including HW/SW Co-Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitsui, H.; Kambe, H.; Koizumi, H.

2009-01-01

Embedded systems have been applied widely, not only to consumer products and industrial machines, but also to new applications such as ubiquitous or sensor networking. The increasing role of software (SW) in embedded system development has caused a great demand for embedded SW engineers, and university education for embedded SW engineering has…

Incidental prostate cancer in radical cystoprostatectomy specimens.

PubMed

Jin, Xiao-Dong; Chen, Zhao-Dian; Wang, Bo; Cai, Song-Liang; Yao, Xiao-Lin; Jin, Bai-Ye

2008-09-01

To investigate the rates of prostate cancer (PCa) in radical cystoprostatectomy (RCP) specimens for bladder cancer in mainland China. To determine the follow-up outcome of patients with two concurrent cancers and identify whether prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a useful tool for the detection of PCa prior to surgery. From January 2002 to January 2007, 264 male patients with bladder cancer underwent RCP at our center. All patients underwent digital rectal examination (DRE) and B ultrasound. Serum PSA levels were tested in 168 patients. None of the patients had any evidence of PCa before RCP. Entire prostates were embedded and sectioned at 5 mm intervals. Incidental PCa was observed in 37 of 264 (14.0%) RCP specimens. Of these, 12 (32.4%) were clinically significant according to an accepted definition. The PSA levels were not significantly different between patients with PCa and those without PCa, nor between patients with significant PCa and those with insignificant PCa. Thirty-four patients with incidental PCa were followed up. During a mean follow-up period of 26 months, two patients with PSA > 4 ng/mL underwent castration. None of the patients died of PCa. The incidence of PCa in RCP specimens in mainland China is lower than that in most developed countries. PSA cannot identify asymptomatic PCa prior to RCP. In line with published reports, incidental PCa does not impact the prognosis of bladder cancer patients undergoing RCP. (c) 2008, Asian Journal of Andrology, SIMM and SJTU. All rights reserved.

Endocrine activity in an urban river system and the biodegradation of estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemicals through a bio-analytical approach using DRE- and ERE-CALUX bioassays.

PubMed

Vandermarken, T; Croes, K; Van Langenhove, K; Boonen, I; Servais, P; Garcia-Armisen, T; Brion, N; Denison, M S; Goeyens, L; Elskens, M

2018-06-01

The Zenne River, crossing the Brussels region (Belgium) is an extremely urbanized river impacted by both domestic and industrial effluents. The objective of this study was to monitor the occurrence and activity of Endocrine Active Substances (EAS) in river water and sediments in the framework of the Environmental Quality Standards Directive (2008/105/EC and 2013/39/EU). Activities were determined using Estrogen and Dioxin Responsive Elements (ERE and DRE) Chemical Activated Luciferase Gene Expression (CALUX) bioassays. A potential contamination source of estrogen active compounds was identified in the river at an industrial area downstream from Brussels with a peak value of 938 pg E2 eq./L water (above the EQS of 0.4 ng/L) and 195 pg E2 eq./g sediment. Estrogens are more abundantly present in the sediments than in the dissolved phase. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed high correlations between Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), Particulate (POC) and Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and estrogenic EAS. The dioxin fractions comply with previous data and all were above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) low-level risk, with one (42 pg TCDD eq./g sediment) exceeding the high-level risk value for mammals. The self-purifying ability of the Zenne River regarding estrogens was examined with an in vitro biodegradation experiment using the bacterial community naturally present in the river. Hill coefficient and EC 50 values (Effective Concentration at 50%) revealed a process of biodegradation in particulate and dissolved phase. The estrogenic activity was decreased by 80%, demonstrating the ability of self-purification of estrogenic compounds in the Zenne River. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Roadside drug testing: An evaluation of the Alere DDS® 2 mobile test system.

PubMed

Rohrig, Timothy P; Moore, Christine M; Stephens, Kimberly; Cooper, Kelsey; Coulter, Cynthia; Baird, Tyson; Garnier, Margaux; Miller, Samuel; Tuyay, James; Osawa, Kei; Chou, Joshua; Nuss, Carson; Collier, Jeff; Wittman, Karen Cudlin

2018-04-01

The number of drivers using drugs has increased over the last few years, and is likely to continue its upward trend. Testing drivers for alcohol use is routine and standardized, but the same is not true for the identification of driving under the influence of drugs (DUID). The Drug Evaluation and Classification Program (DECP) was developed to train police officers to recognize the signs and symptoms of recent drug use and remains an invaluable program; however, there are insufficient numbers of these highly trained drug recognition experts (DREs) available to attend every potential drug involved traffic incident. While blood and urine samples are used to test for drugs in a driver, both have disadvantages, particularly as they pertain to the length of time required after a traffic stop to sample collection. Therefore, the development of oral fluid testing devices which can be operated at the roadside and have the potential to assist officers in the identification of drug use is a major advancement in DUID cases. This project evaluated the performance of one instrumental oral fluid roadside testing device (Alere DDS®2) compared to DRE opinion, oral fluid laboratory-based analysis, and routine blood testing. The results showed that there was a good correlation with DRE observations and the device performance was >80% in all drug categories compared to laboratory-based analytical testing, both in oral fluid and blood, with few exceptions. The instrument can be considered a useful tool to assist law enforcement in identifying a drugged driver. Because the device does not test for all potentially impairing drugs, the opinion of the police officer regarding the condition of the driver should still be considered the most important aspect for arrest and further action. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Research and application of embedded real-time operating system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Bo

2013-03-01

In this paper, based on the analysis of existing embedded real-time operating system, the architecture of an operating system is designed and implemented. The experimental results show that the design fully complies with the requirements of embedded real-time operating system, can achieve the purposes of reducing the complexity of embedded software design and improving the maintainability, reliability, flexibility. Therefore, this design program has high practical value.

FingerScanner: Embedding a Fingerprint Scanner in a Raspberry Pi

PubMed Central

Sapes, Jordi; Solsona, Francesc

2016-01-01

Nowadays, researchers are paying increasing attention to embedding systems. Cost reduction has lead to an increase in the number of platforms supporting the operating system Linux, jointly with the Raspberry Pi motherboard. Thus, embedding devices on Raspberry-Linux systems is a goal in order to make competitive commercial products. This paper presents a low-cost fingerprint recognition system embedded into a Raspberry Pi with Linux. PMID:26861340

Research and Design of Embedded Wireless Meal Ordering System Based on SQLite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jihong; Chen, Xiaoquan

The paper describes features and internal architecture and developing method of SQLite. And then it gives a design and program of meal ordering system. The system realizes the information interaction among the users and embedded devices with SQLite as database system. The embedded database SQLite manages the data and achieves wireless communication by using Bluetooth. A system program based on Qt/Embedded and Linux drivers realizes the local management of environmental data.

Design and implementation of embedded un-interruptible power supply system (EUPSS) for web-based mobile application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, De-gan; Zhang, Xiao-dan

2012-11-01

With the growth of the amount of information manipulated by embedded application systems, which are embedded into devices and offer access to the devices on the internet, the requirements of saving the information systemically is necessary so as to fulfil access from the client and the local processing more efficiently. For supporting mobile applications, a design and implementation solution of embedded un-interruptible power supply (UPS) system (in brief, EUPSS) is brought forward for long-distance monitoring and controlling of UPS based on Web. The implementation of system is based on ATmega161, RTL8019AS and Arm chips with TCP/IP protocol suite for communication. In the embedded UPS system, an embedded file system is designed and implemented which saves the data and index information on a serial EEPROM chip in a structured way and communicates with a microcontroller unit through I2C bus. By embedding the file system into UPS system or other information appliances, users can access and manipulate local data on the web client side. Embedded file system on chips will play a major role in the growth of IP networking. Based on our experiment tests, the mobile users can easily monitor and control UPS in different places of long-distance. The performance of EUPSS has satisfied the requirements of all kinds of Web-based mobile applications.

A Student Experiment Method for Learning the Basics of Embedded Software Technologies Including Hardware/Software Co-design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kambe, Hidetoshi; Mitsui, Hiroyasu; Endo, Satoshi; Koizumi, Hisao

The applications of embedded system technologies have spread widely in various products, such as home appliances, cellular phones, automobiles, industrial machines and so on. Due to intensified competition, embedded software has expanded its role in realizing sophisticated functions, and new development methods like a hardware/software (HW/SW) co-design for uniting HW and SW development have been researched. The shortfall of embedded SW engineers was estimated to be approximately 99,000 in the year 2006, in Japan. Embedded SW engineers should understand HW technologies and system architecture design as well as SW technologies. However, a few universities offer this kind of education systematically. We propose a student experiment method for learning the basics of embedded system development, which includes a set of experiments for developing embedded SW, developing embedded HW and experiencing HW/SW co-design. The co-design experiment helps students learn about the basics of embedded system architecture design and the flow of designing actual HW and SW modules. We developed these experiments and evaluated them.

A Numerical Approximation Framework for the Stochastic Linear Quadratic Regulator on Hilbert Spaces

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

Levajković, Tijana, E-mail: tijana.levajkovic@uibk.ac.at, E-mail: t.levajkovic@sf.bg.ac.rs; Mena, Hermann, E-mail: hermann.mena@uibk.ac.at; Tuffaha, Amjad, E-mail: atufaha@aus.edu

We present an approximation framework for computing the solution of the stochastic linear quadratic control problem on Hilbert spaces. We focus on the finite horizon case and the related differential Riccati equations (DREs). Our approximation framework is concerned with the so-called “singular estimate control systems” (Lasiecka in Optimal control problems and Riccati equations for systems with unbounded controls and partially analytic generators: applications to boundary and point control problems, 2004) which model certain coupled systems of parabolic/hyperbolic mixed partial differential equations with boundary or point control. We prove that the solutions of the approximate finite-dimensional DREs converge to the solutionmore » of the infinite-dimensional DRE. In addition, we prove that the optimal state and control of the approximate finite-dimensional problem converge to the optimal state and control of the corresponding infinite-dimensional problem.« less

Heterogeneous Embedded Real-Time Systems Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-12-01

AFRL-IF-RS-TR-2003-290 Final Technical Report December 2003 HETEROGENEOUS EMBEDDED REAL - TIME SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENT Integrated...HETEROGENEOUS EMBEDDED REAL - TIME SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENT 6. AUTHOR(S) Cosmo Castellano and James Graham 5. FUNDING NUMBERS C - F30602-97-C-0259

An Incremental Life-cycle Assurance Strategy for Critical System Certification

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-04

for Safe Aircraft Operation Embedded software systems introduce a new class of problems not addressed by traditional system modeling & analysis...Platform Runtime Architecture Application Software Embedded SW System Engineer Data Stream Characteristics Latency jitter affects control behavior...do system level failures still occur despite fault tolerance techniques being deployed in systems ? Embedded software system as major source of

High Resolution Anatomic and Elastographic Transrectal Ultrasound for Improved Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-01

Elastographic Transrectal Ultrasound for Improved Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: John A. Hossack, Ph.D...Resolution Anatomic and Elastographic Transrectal Ultrasound for Improved 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer 5b. GRANT NUMBER...improve upon conventional Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) and PSA blood test by using ultrasound elasticity imaging. A latex sheath over the transrectal

40 CFR 63.1216 - What are the standards for solid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1216 Section 63.1216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

40 CFR 63.1216 - What are the standards for solid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1216 Section 63.1216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

40 CFR 63.1221 - What are the replacement standards for hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? 63.1221 Section 63.1221 Protection of Environment... burning lightweight aggregate kilns? (a) Emission and hazardous waste feed limits for existing sources... atmosphere. (2) 99.9999% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or...

40 CFR 63.1216 - What are the standards for solid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1216 Section 63.1216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

40 CFR 63.1221 - What are the replacement standards for hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? 63.1221 Section 63.1221 Protection of Environment... burning lightweight aggregate kilns? (a) Emission and hazardous waste feed limits for existing sources... atmosphere. (2) 99.9999% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or...

40 CFR 63.1216 - What are the standards for solid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1216 Section 63.1216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

40 CFR 63.1221 - What are the replacement standards for hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... hazardous waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns? 63.1221 Section 63.1221 Protection of Environment... burning lightweight aggregate kilns? (a) Emission and hazardous waste feed limits for existing sources... atmosphere. (2) 99.9999% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or...

40 CFR 63.1216 - What are the standards for solid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1216 Section 63.1216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

Explaining the disease phenotype of intergenic SNP through predicted long range regulation

PubMed Central

Chen, Jingqi; Tian, Weidong

2016-01-01

Thousands of disease-associated SNPs (daSNPs) are located in intergenic regions (IGR), making it difficult to understand their association with disease phenotypes. Recent analysis found that non-coding daSNPs were frequently located in or approximate to regulatory elements, inspiring us to try to explain the disease phenotypes of IGR daSNPs through nearby regulatory sequences. Hence, after locating the nearest distal regulatory element (DRE) to a given IGR daSNP, we applied a computational method named INTREPID to predict the target genes regulated by the DRE, and then investigated their functional relevance to the IGR daSNP's disease phenotypes. 36.8% of all IGR daSNP-disease phenotype associations investigated were possibly explainable through the predicted target genes, which were enriched with, were functionally relevant to, or consisted of the corresponding disease genes. This proportion could be further increased to 60.5% if the LD SNPs of daSNPs were also considered. Furthermore, the predicted SNP-target gene pairs were enriched with known eQTL/mQTL SNP-gene relationships. Overall, it's likely that IGR daSNPs may contribute to disease phenotypes by interfering with the regulatory function of their nearby DREs and causing abnormal expression of disease genes. PMID:27280978

OsDREB2A, a Rice Transcription Factor, Significantly Affects Salt Tolerance in Transgenic Soybean

PubMed Central

Ma, Qi-bin; Yang, Cun-yi; Mu, Ying-hui; Suo, Hai-cui; Luo, Lai-hui; Nian, Hai

2013-01-01

The dehydration responsive element binding (DREB) transcription factors play an important role in regulating stress-related genes. OsDREB2A, a member of the DREBP subfamily of AP2/ERF transcription factors in rice (Oryza sativa), is involved in the abiotic stress response. OsDREB2A expression is induced by drought, low-temperature and salt stresses. Here, we report the ability of OsDREB2A to regulate high-salt response in transgenic soybean. Overexpressing OsDREB2A in soybeans enhanced salt tolerance by accumulating osmolytes, such as soluble sugars and free proline, and improving the expression levels of some stress-responsive transcription factors and key genes. The phenotypic characterization of transgenic soybean were significantly better than those of wild-type (WT). Electrophoresis mobility shift assay (EMSA) revealed that the OsDREB2A can bind to the DRE core element in vitro. These results indicate that OsDREB2A may participate in abiotic stress by directly binding with DRE element to regulate the expression of downstream genes. Overexpression of OsDREB2A in soybean might be used to improve tolerance to salt stress. PMID:24376625

Quantifying palpation techniques in relation to performance in a clinical prostate exam.

PubMed

Wang, Ninghuan; Gerling, Gregory J; Childress, Reba Moyer; Martin, Marcus L

2010-07-01

This paper seeks to quantify finger palpation techniques in the prostate clinical exam, determine their relationship with performance in detecting abnormalities, and differentiate the tendencies of nurse practitioner students and resident physicians. One issue with the digital rectal examination (DRE) is that performance in detecting abnormalities varies greatly and agreement between examiners is low. The utilization of particular palpation techniques may be one way to improve clinician ability. Based on past qualitative instruction, this paper algorithmically defines a set of palpation techniques for the DRE, i.e., global finger movement (GFM), local finger movement (LFM), and average intentional finger pressure, and utilizes a custom-built simulator to analyze finger movements in an experiment with two groups: 18 nurse practitioner students and 16 resident physicians. Although technique utilization varied, some elements clearly impacted performance. For example, those utilizing the LFM of vibration were significantly better at detecting abnormalities. Also, the V GFM led to greater success, but finger pressure played a lesser role. Interestingly, while the residents were clearly the superior performers, their techniques differed only subtly from the students. In summary, the quantified palpation techniques appear to account for examination ability at some level, but not entirely for differences between groups.

Improved site-specific recombinase-based method to produce selectable marker- and vector-backbone-free transgenic cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yuan; Tong, Qi; Li, Zhongxia; Tian, Jinhai; Wang, Yizhi; Su, Feng; Wang, Yongsheng; Liu, Jun; Zhang, Yong

2014-02-01

PhiC31 integrase-mediated gene delivery has been extensively used in gene therapy and animal transgenesis. However, random integration events are observed in phiC31-mediated integration in different types of mammalian cells; as a result, the efficiencies of pseudo attP site integration and evaluation of site-specific integration are compromised. To improve this system, we used an attB-TK fusion gene as a negative selection marker, thereby eliminating random integration during phiC31-mediated transfection. We also excised the selection system and plasmid bacterial backbone by using two other site-specific recombinases, Cre and Dre. Thus, we generated clean transgenic bovine fetal fibroblast cells free of selectable marker and plasmid bacterial backbone. These clean cells were used as donor nuclei for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), indicating a similar developmental competence of SCNT embryos to that of non-transgenic cells. Therefore, the present gene delivery system facilitated the development of gene therapy and agricultural biotechnology.

AADL and Model-based Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-20

and MBE Feiler, Oct 20, 2014 © 2014 Carnegie Mellon University We Rely on Software for Safe Aircraft Operation Embedded software systems ...D eveloper Compute Platform Runtime Architecture Application Software Embedded SW System Engineer Data Stream Characteristics Latency...confusion Hardware Engineer Why do system level failures still occur despite fault tolerance techniques being deployed in systems ? Embedded software

Reappraisal of Los Humeros Volcanic Complex by New U/Th Zircon and 40Ar/39Ar Dating: Implications for Greater Geothermal Potential

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrasco-Núñez, G.; Bernal, J. P.; Dávila, P.; Jicha, B.; Giordano, G.; Hernández, J.

2018-01-01

Longevity and size of magmatic systems are fundamental factors for assessing the potential of a geothermal field. At Los Humeros volcanic complex (LHVC), the first caldera-forming event was reported at 460 ± 40 ka. New zircon U/Th and plagioclase 40Ar/39Ar dates of pre-, syn- and postcaldera volcanics allow a reappraisal of the evolution of the geothermally active LHVC. The age of the voluminous Xaltipan ignimbrite (115 km3 dense rock equivalent [DRE]) associated with the formation of the Los Humeros caldera is now constrained by two geochronometers (zircon U/Th and plagioclase 40Ar/39Ar dating) to 164 ± 4.2 ka, which postdates a long episode of precaldera volcanism (rhyolitic domes), the oldest age of which is 693.0 ± 1.9 ka (40Ar/39Ar). The inferred short residence time (around 5 ka) for the paroxysmal Xaltipan ignimbrite is indicative of rapid assembly of a large magma body and rejuvenation of the system due to recurrent recharge magmas, as it has been occurred in some other large magmatic systems. Younger ages than previously believed have been obtained also for the other voluminous explosive phases of the Faby fall tuff at ˜70 ka and the second caldera-forming Zaragoza ignimbrite with 15 km3 DRE, which erupted immediately after. Thus, the time interval that separates the two caldera-forming episodes at Los Humeros is only 94 kyr, which is a much shorter interval than suggested by previous K-Ar dates (410 kyr). This temporal proximity allows us to propose a caldera stage encompassing the Xaltipan and the Zaragoza ignimbrites, followed by emplacement at 44.8 ± 1.7 ka of rhyolitic magmas interpreted to represent a postcaldera, resurgent stage. Rhyolitic eruptions have also occurred during the Holocene (<7.3 ± 0.1 ka) along with olivine-rich basalts that suggest recharge of the system. The estimated large volume magmatic reservoir for Los Humeros (>˜1,200 km3) and these new ages indicating much younger caldera-forming volcanism than previously believed are fundamental factors in the application of classical conductive models of heat resource, enhancing the heat production capacity and favor a higher geothermal potential.

An algorithm of a real time image tracking system using a camera with pan/tilt motors on an embedded system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hie-Sik; Nam, Chul; Ha, Kwan-Yong; Ayurzana, Odgeral; Kwon, Jong-Won

2005-12-01

The embedded systems have been applied to many fields, including households and industrial sites. The user interface technology with simple display on the screen was implemented more and more. The user demands are increasing and the system has more various applicable fields due to a high penetration rate of the Internet. Therefore, the demand for embedded system is tend to rise. An embedded system for image tracking was implemented. This system is used a fixed IP for the reliable server operation on TCP/IP networks. Using an USB camera on the embedded Linux system developed a real time broadcasting of video image on the Internet. The digital camera is connected at the USB host port of the embedded board. All input images from the video camera are continuously stored as a compressed JPEG file in a directory at the Linux web-server. And each frame image data from web camera is compared for measurement of displacement Vector. That used Block matching algorithm and edge detection algorithm for past speed. And the displacement vector is used at pan/tilt motor control through RS232 serial cable. The embedded board utilized the S3C2410 MPU, which used the ARM 920T core form Samsung. The operating system was ported to embedded Linux kernel and mounted of root file system. And the stored images are sent to the client PC through the web browser. It used the network function of Linux and it developed a program with protocol of the TCP/IP.

Heartbeat-based error diagnosis framework for distributed embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Swagat; Khilar, Pabitra Mohan

2012-01-01

Distributed Embedded Systems have significant applications in automobile industry as steer-by-wire, fly-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems. In this paper, we provide a general framework for fault detection in a distributed embedded real time system. We use heartbeat monitoring, check pointing and model based redundancy to design a scalable framework that takes care of task scheduling, temperature control and diagnosis of faulty nodes in a distributed embedded system. This helps in diagnosis and shutting down of faulty actuators before the system becomes unsafe. The framework is designed and tested using a new simulation model consisting of virtual nodes working on a message passing system.

Heartbeat-based error diagnosis framework for distributed embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Swagat; Khilar, Pabitra Mohan

2011-12-01

Distributed Embedded Systems have significant applications in automobile industry as steer-by-wire, fly-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems. In this paper, we provide a general framework for fault detection in a distributed embedded real time system. We use heartbeat monitoring, check pointing and model based redundancy to design a scalable framework that takes care of task scheduling, temperature control and diagnosis of faulty nodes in a distributed embedded system. This helps in diagnosis and shutting down of faulty actuators before the system becomes unsafe. The framework is designed and tested using a new simulation model consisting of virtual nodes working on a message passing system.

Integrated Environment for Development and Assurance

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-26

Jan 26, 2015 © 2015 Carnegie Mellon University We Rely on Software for Safe Aircraft Operation Embedded software systems introduce a new class of...eveloper Compute Platform Runtime Architecture Application Software Embedded SW System Engineer Data Stream Characteristics Latency jitter affects...Why do system level failures still occur despite fault tolerance techniques being deployed in systems ? Embedded software system as major source of

Modeling and forecasting tephra hazards at Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, during 2009 unrest and eruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mastin, L. G.; Denlinger, R. P.; Wallace, K. L.; Schaefer, J. R.

2009-12-01

In late 2008, Redoubt Volcano, on the west coast of Alaska’s Cook Inlet, began a period of unrest that culminated in more than 19 small tephra-producing events between March 19 and April 4, 2009, followed by growth of a lava dome whose volume now exceeds 70 million cubic meters. The explosive events lasted from <1 to 31 minutes, sent tephra columns to heights of 19 km asl, and emitted dense-rock (DRE) tephra volumes up to several million cubic meters. Tephra fall affected transportation and infrastructure throughout Cook Inlet, including the Anchorage metropolitan area. The months of unrest that preceded the first explosive event allowed us to develop tools to forecast tephra hazards. As described in an accompanying abstract, colleagues at the University of Pisa produced automated, daily tephra-fall forecast maps using the 3-D VOL-CALPUFF model with input scenarios that represented likely event sizes and durations. Tephra-fall forecast maps were also generated every six hours for hypothetical events of 10M m3 volume DRE using the 2-D model ASHFALL, and relationships between hypothetical plume height and eruption rate were evaluated four times daily under then-current atmospheric conditions using the program PLUMERIA. Eruptive deposits were mapped and isomass contours constructed for the two largest events, March 24 (0340-0355Z) and April 4 (1358-1429Z), which produced radar-determined plume heights of 18.3 and 15.2 km asl (~15.6 and 12.5 km above the vent), and tephra volumes (DRE) of 6.3M and 3.1M m3, respectively. For the volumetric eruption rates calculated from mapped erupted volume and seismic duration (V=6.2×103 and 1.7×103 m3/s DRE), measured plume heights H above the vent fall within 10% of the empirical best-fit curve H=1.67V0.259 published in the book Volcanic Plumes by Sparks et al. (1997, eq. 5.1). The plume heights are slightly higher than (but still within 13% of) the 14.6 and 11.1 km predicted by PLUMERIA under the existing atmospheric conditions. We have also modeled these two events using the 3-D transient model FALL3D, which considers topographic effects on wind and tephra dispersal. Using the eruption rates and plume heights constrained by deposit mapping, seismic data, and Doppler radar, and an archived wind field obtained from the NOAA GDAS model for these dates, modeled isomass contours from the April 4 event closely resemble measured values, but modeled contours from the March 24 event extend only about half to three fourths as far from the volcano as measured. This discrepancy may result from inaccuracies in the modeled wind pattern, the grain-size distribution, or turbulent entrainment algorithms. The deposit pattern may also have been affected by a lateral blast which is thought to have accompanied this event.

Bubbling and on-off intermittency in bailout embeddings.

PubMed

Cartwright, Julyan H E; Magnasco, Marcelo O; Piro, Oreste; Tuval, Idan

2003-07-01

We establish and investigate the conceptual connection between the dynamics of the bailout embedding of a Hamiltonian system and the dynamical regimes associated with the occurrence of bubbling and blowout bifurcations. The roles of the invariant manifold and the dynamics restricted to it, required in bubbling and blowout bifurcating systems, are played in the bailout embedding by the embedded Hamiltonian dynamical system. The Hamiltonian nature of the dynamics is precisely the distinctive feature of this instance of a bubbling or blowout bifurcation. The detachment of the embedding trajectories from the original ones can thus be thought of as transient on-off intermittency, and noise-induced avoidance of some regions of the embedded phase space can be recognized as Hamiltonian bubbling.

Design of signal reception and processing system of embedded ultrasonic endoscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ming; Yu, Feng; Zhang, Ruiqiang; Li, Yan; Chen, Xiaodong; Yu, Daoyin

2009-11-01

Embedded Ultrasonic Endoscope, based on embedded microprocessor and embedded real-time operating system, sends a micro ultrasonic probe into coelom through the biopsy channel of the Electronic Endoscope to get the fault histology features of digestive organs by rotary scanning, and acquires the pictures of the alimentary canal mucosal surface. At the same time, ultrasonic signals are processed by signal reception and processing system, forming images of the full histology of the digestive organs. Signal Reception and Processing System is an important component of Embedded Ultrasonic Endoscope. However, the traditional design, using multi-level amplifiers and special digital processing circuits to implement signal reception and processing, is no longer satisfying the standards of high-performance, miniaturization and low power requirements that embedded system requires, and as a result of the high noise that multi-level amplifier brought, the extraction of small signal becomes hard. Therefore, this paper presents a method of signal reception and processing based on double variable gain amplifier and FPGA, increasing the flexibility and dynamic range of the Signal Reception and Processing System, improving system noise level, and reducing power consumption. Finally, we set up the embedded experiment system, using a transducer with the center frequency of 8MHz to scan membrane samples, and display the image of ultrasonic echo reflected by each layer of membrane, with a frame rate of 5Hz, verifying the correctness of the system.

A Vision-Based Driver Nighttime Assistance and Surveillance System Based on Intelligent Image Sensing Techniques and a Heterogamous Dual-Core Embedded System Architecture

PubMed Central

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Yuan, Shyan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study proposes a vision-based intelligent nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system (VIDASS system) implemented by a set of embedded software components and modules, and integrates these modules to accomplish a component-based system framework on an embedded heterogamous dual-core platform. Therefore, this study develops and implements computer vision and sensing techniques of nighttime vehicle detection, collision warning determination, and traffic event recording. The proposed system processes the road-scene frames in front of the host car captured from CCD sensors mounted on the host vehicle. These vision-based sensing and processing technologies are integrated and implemented on an ARM-DSP heterogamous dual-core embedded platform. Peripheral devices, including image grabbing devices, communication modules, and other in-vehicle control devices, are also integrated to form an in-vehicle-embedded vision-based nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system. PMID:22736956

A vision-based driver nighttime assistance and surveillance system based on intelligent image sensing techniques and a heterogamous dual-core embedded system architecture.

PubMed

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Yuan, Shyan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study proposes a vision-based intelligent nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system (VIDASS system) implemented by a set of embedded software components and modules, and integrates these modules to accomplish a component-based system framework on an embedded heterogamous dual-core platform. Therefore, this study develops and implements computer vision and sensing techniques of nighttime vehicle detection, collision warning determination, and traffic event recording. The proposed system processes the road-scene frames in front of the host car captured from CCD sensors mounted on the host vehicle. These vision-based sensing and processing technologies are integrated and implemented on an ARM-DSP heterogamous dual-core embedded platform. Peripheral devices, including image grabbing devices, communication modules, and other in-vehicle control devices, are also integrated to form an in-vehicle-embedded vision-based nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system.

Teaching Embedded System Concepts for Technological Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winzker, M.; Schwandt, A.

2011-01-01

A basic understanding of technology is recognized as important knowledge even for students not connected with engineering and computer science. This paper shows that embedded system concepts can be taught in a technological literacy course. An embedded system teaching block that has been used in an electronics module for non-engineers is…

A telepresence robot system realized by embedded object concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallius, Tero; Röning, Juha

2006-10-01

This paper presents the Embedded Object Concept (EOC) and a telepresence robot system which is a test case for the EOC. The EOC utilizes common object-oriented methods used in software by applying them to combined Lego-like software-hardware entities. These entities represent objects in object-oriented design methods, and they are the building blocks of embedded systems. The goal of the EOC is to make the designing embedded systems faster and easier. This concept enables people without comprehensive knowledge in electronics design to create new embedded systems, and for experts it shortens the design time of new embedded systems. We present the current status of a telepresence robot created with second-generation Atomi-objects, which is the name for our implementation of the embedded objects. The telepresence robot is a relatively complex test case for the EOC. The robot has been constructed using incremental device development, which is made possible by the architecture of the EOC. The robot contains video and audio exchange capability and a controlling system for driving with two wheels. The robot is built in two versions, the first consisting of a PC device and Atomi-objects, and the second consisting of only Atomi-objects. The robot is currently incomplete, but most of it has been successfully tested.

Static Schedulers for Embedded Real-Time Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-01

Because of the need for having efficient scheduling algorithms in large scale real time systems , software engineers put a lot of effort on developing...provide static schedulers for he Embedded Real Time Systems with single processor using Ada programming language. The independent nonpreemptable...support the Computer Aided Rapid Prototyping for Embedded Real Time Systems so that we determine whether the system, as designed, meets the required

Subsystem real-time time dependent density functional theory.

PubMed

Krishtal, Alisa; Ceresoli, Davide; Pavanello, Michele

2015-04-21

We present the extension of Frozen Density Embedding (FDE) formulation of subsystem Density Functional Theory (DFT) to real-time Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (rt-TDDFT). FDE is a DFT-in-DFT embedding method that allows to partition a larger Kohn-Sham system into a set of smaller, coupled Kohn-Sham systems. Additional to the computational advantage, FDE provides physical insight into the properties of embedded systems and the coupling interactions between them. The extension to rt-TDDFT is done straightforwardly by evolving the Kohn-Sham subsystems in time simultaneously, while updating the embedding potential between the systems at every time step. Two main applications are presented: the explicit excitation energy transfer in real time between subsystems is demonstrated for the case of the Na4 cluster and the effect of the embedding on optical spectra of coupled chromophores. In particular, the importance of including the full dynamic response in the embedding potential is demonstrated.

Grand Marais Harbor, Cook County, Minnesota, Operation and Maintenance Activities, Environment Assessment Report.

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-12-01

34 - . .. .. . . . . . . -.. 2.523 In rocky crevices along the shore walls there are a variety of sedges, rushes, grasses, mosses, lichens ...our dre~tinn anid d!’aonal planu ~ for 1rand ’N r~ls Hxariors ihe a1tcrrat.v.e deacrit’,ed In’ tti..i; le.tter ealicatn. dipoa plans for l𔃺tii pollato-4

40 CFR 63.1218 - What are the standards for hydrochloric acid production furnaces that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... acid production furnaces that burn hazardous waste? 63.1218 Section 63.1218 Protection of Environment... production furnaces that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not...% DRE. If you burn the dioxin-listed hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026, or F027 (see § 261...

Areal distribution, thickness, mass, volume, and grain size of tephra-fall deposits from the 1992 eruptions of Crater Peak vent, Mt. Spurr Volcano, Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

McGimsey, Robert G.; Neal, Christina A.; Riley, Colleen M.

2001-01-01

The Crater Peak flank vent of Mount Spurr volcano erupted June 27, August 18, and September 16-17, 1992. The three eruptions were similar in intensity (vulcanian to subplinian eruption columns reaching up to 14 km Above Sea Level) and duration (3.5 to 4.0 hours) and produced tephra-fall deposits (12, 14, 15 x 106 m3 Dense Rock Equivalent [DRE]) discernible up to 1,000 km downwind. The June 27 ash cloud traveled north over the rugged, ice- and snow-covered Alaska Range. The August 18 ash cloud was carried southeastward over Anchorage, across Prince William Sound, and down the southeastern shoreline of the Gulf of Alaska. The September 16-17 ash plume was directed eastward over the Talkeetna and Wrangell mountains and into the Yukon Territory of Canada. Over 50 mass-per-unit-area (MPUA) samples were collected for each of the latter two fall deposits at distances ranging from about 2 km to 370 km downwind from the volcano. Only 10 (mostly proximal) samples were collected for the June fall deposit due to inaccessible terrain and funding constraints. MPUA data were plotted and contoured (isomass lines) to graphically display the distribution of each fall deposit. For the August and September eruptions, fallout was concentrated along a narrow (30 to 50 km wide) belt. The fallout was most concentrated (100,000 to greater than 250,000 g/m2) within about 80 km of the volcano. Secondary maxima occur at 200 km (2,620 g/m2) and 300 km (4,659 g/m2), respectively, down axis for the August and September deposits. The maxima contain bimodal grain size distributions (with peaks at 88.4 and 22.1 microns) indicating aggregation within the ash cloud. Combined tephra-volume for the 1992 Mount Spurr eruptions (41 x 106 m3 DRE) is comparable to that (tephra-fall only) of the 1989-90 eruptions of nearby Redoubt volcano (31-49 x 106 m3 DRE).

Predictors of spontaneous transient seizure remission in patients of medically refractory epilepsy due to mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS).

PubMed

Dhiman, Vikas; Sinha, Sanjib; Arimappamagan, Arivazhagan; Mahadevan, Anita; Bharath, Rose Dawn; Saini, Jitender; Rajeswaran, Jamuna; Rao, Malla Bhaskar; Shankar, Susrala K; Satishchandra, Parathasarthy

2015-02-01

To analyze the predictors of spontaneous transient seizure remission for ≥1 year in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) due to mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). This analysis included 38 patients with DRE (M:F = 20:18, age: 31.7 ± 10.9 years) diagnosed with unilateral MTS (right:left = 16:22). Group I ('remission' group) comprised of patients with seizure remission (M:F = 10:8, age: 32.8 ± 12.3 years, mean seizure free period: 2.2 ± 1.1 years; median: 2.1 years). Group II ('non-remission' group) comprised of age and gender matched 20 patients (M:F = 10:10, age: 30.7 ± 9.7 years) with unilateral MTS who never had seizure remission and subsequently underwent epilepsy surgery. Groups I and II were compared to find the predictors associated with transient seizure remission. The age at onset of seizures in group I was 13.2 ± 11.8 years and in group II was 12.0 ± 7.6 years. The duration of seizure was: group I - 19.7 ± 12.5 years and group II - 19.3 ± 7.7 years. Past history of seizure remissions (p < 0.001), frequent periods of remissions (p < 0.001), first remission within a year of onset of seizures (p = 0.04) and normal EEG (p = 0.04) were the important clinical predictors associated with seizure remission in this cohort. Fifteen patients in group I (83.3%) experienced remission following either change in AED (p ≤ 0.001) or increase in AED dosages (p < 0.001). There was no difference between the two groups regarding the type of semiology (partial vs. secondarily generalized) (p = 0.50), family history of seizures (p = 1.0), side of the lesion (p = 0.34), history of febrile seizures (p = 1.0) and the number of AEDs used (p = 0.53). The present study unfolds, some of the clinically relevant predictors associated with transient seizure remission in patients with DRE and MTS. Future molecular and network studies are required to understand its mechanism. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Crystal Structures of Two Bacterial 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA Lyases Suggest a Common Catalytic Mechanism among a Family of TIM Barrel Metalloenzymes Cleaving Carbon-Carbon Bonds

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

Forouhar,F.; Hussain, M.; Farid, R.

The enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) lyase catalyzes the terminal steps in ketone body generation and leucine degradation. Mutations in this enzyme cause a human autosomal recessive disorder called primary metabolic aciduria, which typically kills victims because of an inability to tolerate hypoglycemia. Here we present crystal structures of the HMG-CoA lyases from Bacillus subtilis and Brucella melitensis at 2.7 and 2.3 {angstrom} resolution, respectively. These enzymes share greater than 45% sequence identity with the human orthologue. Although the enzyme has the anticipated triose-phosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel fold, the catalytic center contains a divalent cation-binding site formed by a cluster ofmore » invariant residues that cap the core of the barrel, contrary to the predictions of homology models. Surprisingly, the residues forming this cation-binding site and most of their interaction partners are shared with three other TIM barrel enzymes that catalyze diverse carbon-carbon bond cleavage reactions believed to proceed through enolate intermediates (4-hydroxy-2-ketovalerate aldolase, 2-isopropylmalate synthase, and transcarboxylase 5S). We propose the name 'DRE-TIM metallolyases' for this newly identified enzyme family likely to employ a common catalytic reaction mechanism involving an invariant Asp-Arg-Glu (DRE) triplet. The Asp ligates the divalent cation, while the Arg probably stabilizes charge accumulation in the enolate intermediate, and the Glu maintains the precise structural alignment of the Asp and Arg. We propose a detailed model for the catalytic reaction mechanism of HMG-CoA lyase based on the examination of previously reported product complexes of other DRE-TIM metallolyases and induced fit substrate docking studies conducted using the crystal structure of human HMG-CoA lyase (reported in the accompanying paper by Fu, et al. (2006) J. Biol. Chem. 281, 7526-7532). Our model is consistent with extensive mutagenesis results and can guide subsequent studies directed at definitive experimental elucidation of this enzyme's reaction mechanism.« less

Embedded arrays of vertically aligned carbon nanotube carpets and methods for making them

DOEpatents

Kim, Myung Jong; Nicholas, Nolan Walker; Kittrell, W. Carter; Schmidt, Howard K.

2015-06-30

According to some embodiments, the present invention provides a system and method for supporting a carbon nanotube array that involve an entangled carbon nanotube mat integral with the array, where the mat is embedded in an embedding material. The embedding material may be depositable on a carbon nanotube. A depositable material may be metallic or nonmetallic. The embedding material may be an adhesive material. The adhesive material may optionally be mixed with a metal powder. The embedding material may be supported by a substrate or self-supportive. The embedding material may be conductive or nonconductive. The system and method provide superior mechanical and, when applicable, electrical, contact between the carbon nanotubes in the array and the embedding material. The optional use of a conductive material for the embedding material provides a mechanism useful for integration of carbon nanotube arrays into electronic devices.

Smart Prosthetic Hand Technology - Phase 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

identification and estimation, hand motion estimation, intelligent embedded systems and control, robotic hand and biocompatibility and signaling. The...Smart Prosthetics, Bio- Robotics , Intelligent EMG Signal Processing, Embedded Systems and Intelligent Control, Inflammatory Responses of Cells, Toxicity...estimation, intelligent embedded systems and control, robotic hand and biocompatibility and signaling. The developed identification algorithm using a new

Multi-modal demands of a smartphone used to place calls and enter addresses during highway driving relative to two embedded systems.

PubMed

Reimer, Bryan; Mehler, Bruce; Reagan, Ian; Kidd, David; Dobres, Jonathan

2016-12-01

There is limited research on trade-offs in demand between manual and voice interfaces of embedded and portable technologies. Mehler et al. identified differences in driving performance, visual engagement and workload between two contrasting embedded vehicle system designs (Chevrolet MyLink and Volvo Sensus). The current study extends this work by comparing these embedded systems with a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S4). None of the voice interfaces eliminated visual demand. Relative to placing calls manually, both embedded voice interfaces resulted in less eyes-off-road time than the smartphone. Errors were most frequent when calling contacts using the smartphone. The smartphone and MyLink allowed addresses to be entered using compound voice commands resulting in shorter eyes-off-road time compared with the menu-based Sensus but with many more errors. Driving performance and physiological measures indicated increased demand when performing secondary tasks relative to 'just driving', but were not significantly different between the smartphone and embedded systems. Practitioner Summary: The findings show that embedded system and portable device voice interfaces place fewer visual demands on the driver than manual interfaces, but they also underscore how differences in system designs can significantly affect not only the demands placed on drivers, but also the successful completion of tasks.

Scheduling of network access for feedback-based embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liberatore, Vincenzo

2002-07-01

nd communication capabilities. Examples range from smart dust embedded in building materials to networks of appliances in the home. Embedded devices will be deployed in unprecedented numbers, will enable pervasive distributed computing, and will radically change the way people interact with the surrounding environment [EGH00a]. The paper targets embedded systems and their real-time (RT) communication requirements. RT requirements arise from the

Effective scheme for partitioning covalent bonds in density-functional embedding theory: From molecules to extended covalent systems.

PubMed

Huang, Chen; Muñoz-García, Ana Belén; Pavone, Michele

2016-12-28

Density-functional embedding theory provides a general way to perform multi-physics quantum mechanics simulations of large-scale materials by dividing the total system's electron density into a cluster's density and its environment's density. It is then possible to compute the accurate local electronic structures and energetics of the embedded cluster with high-level methods, meanwhile retaining a low-level description of the environment. The prerequisite step in the density-functional embedding theory is the cluster definition. In covalent systems, cutting across the covalent bonds that connect the cluster and its environment leads to dangling bonds (unpaired electrons). These represent a major obstacle for the application of density-functional embedding theory to study extended covalent systems. In this work, we developed a simple scheme to define the cluster in covalent systems. Instead of cutting covalent bonds, we directly split the boundary atoms for maintaining the valency of the cluster. With this new covalent embedding scheme, we compute the dehydrogenation energies of several different molecules, as well as the binding energy of a cobalt atom on graphene. Well localized cluster densities are observed, which can facilitate the use of localized basis sets in high-level calculations. The results are found to converge faster with the embedding method than the other multi-physics approach ONIOM. This work paves the way to perform the density-functional embedding simulations of heterogeneous systems in which different types of chemical bonds are present.

An embedded real-time red peach detection system based on an OV7670 camera, ARM cortex-M4 processor and 3D look-up tables.

PubMed

Teixidó, Mercè; Font, Davinia; Pallejà, Tomàs; Tresanchez, Marcel; Nogués, Miquel; Palacín, Jordi

2012-10-22

This work proposes the development of an embedded real-time fruit detection system for future automatic fruit harvesting. The proposed embedded system is based on an ARM Cortex-M4 (STM32F407VGT6) processor and an Omnivision OV7670 color camera. The future goal of this embedded vision system will be to control a robotized arm to automatically select and pick some fruit directly from the tree. The complete embedded system has been designed to be placed directly in the gripper tool of the future robotized harvesting arm. The embedded system will be able to perform real-time fruit detection and tracking by using a three-dimensional look-up-table (LUT) defined in the RGB color space and optimized for fruit picking. Additionally, two different methodologies for creating optimized 3D LUTs based on existing linear color models and fruit histograms were implemented in this work and compared for the case of red peaches. The resulting system is able to acquire general and zoomed orchard images and to update the relative tracking information of a red peach in the tree ten times per second.

An Embedded Real-Time Red Peach Detection System Based on an OV7670 Camera, ARM Cortex-M4 Processor and 3D Look-Up Tables

PubMed Central

Teixidó, Mercè; Font, Davinia; Pallejà, Tomàs; Tresanchez, Marcel; Nogués, Miquel; Palacín, Jordi

2012-01-01

This work proposes the development of an embedded real-time fruit detection system for future automatic fruit harvesting. The proposed embedded system is based on an ARM Cortex-M4 (STM32F407VGT6) processor and an Omnivision OV7670 color camera. The future goal of this embedded vision system will be to control a robotized arm to automatically select and pick some fruit directly from the tree. The complete embedded system has been designed to be placed directly in the gripper tool of the future robotized harvesting arm. The embedded system will be able to perform real-time fruit detection and tracking by using a three-dimensional look-up-table (LUT) defined in the RGB color space and optimized for fruit picking. Additionally, two different methodologies for creating optimized 3D LUTs based on existing linear color models and fruit histograms were implemented in this work and compared for the case of red peaches. The resulting system is able to acquire general and zoomed orchard images and to update the relative tracking information of a red peach in the tree ten times per second. PMID:23202040

Reliability Analysis and Optimal Release Problem Considering Maintenance Time of Software Components for an Embedded OSS Porting Phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamura, Yoshinobu; Yamada, Shigeru

OSS (open source software) systems which serve as key components of critical infrastructures in our social life are still ever-expanding now. Especially, embedded OSS systems have been gaining a lot of attention in the embedded system area, i.e., Android, BusyBox, TRON, etc. However, the poor handling of quality problem and customer support prohibit the progress of embedded OSS. Also, it is difficult for developers to assess the reliability and portability of embedded OSS on a single-board computer. In this paper, we propose a method of software reliability assessment based on flexible hazard rates for the embedded OSS. Also, we analyze actual data of software failure-occurrence time-intervals to show numerical examples of software reliability assessment for the embedded OSS. Moreover, we compare the proposed hazard rate model for the embedded OSS with the typical conventional hazard rate models by using the comparison criteria of goodness-of-fit. Furthermore, we discuss the optimal software release problem for the porting-phase based on the total expected software maintenance cost.

Risk of Clinically Significant Prostate Cancer Associated With Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System Category 3 (Equivocal) Lesions Identified on Multiparametric Prostate MRI.

PubMed

Sheridan, Alison D; Nath, Sameer K; Syed, Jamil S; Aneja, Sanjay; Sprenkle, Preston C; Weinreb, Jeffrey C; Spektor, Michael

2018-02-01

The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of clinically significant cancer (CSC) in Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) category 3 (equivocal) lesions prospectively identified on multiparametric prostate MRI and to identify risk factors (RFs) for CSC that may aid in decision making. Between January 2015 and July 2016, a total of 977 consecutively seen men underwent multiparametric prostate MRI, and 342 underwent MRI-ultrasound (US) fusion targeted biopsy. A total of 474 lesions were retrospectively reviewed, and 111 were scored as PI-RADS category 3 and were visualized using a 3-T MRI scanner. Multiparametric prostate MR images were prospectively interpreted by body subspecialty radiologists trained to use PI-RADS version 2. CSC was defined as a Gleason score of at least 7 on targeted biopsy. A multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to identify the RFs associated with CSC. Of the 111 PI-RADS category 3 lesions, 81 (73.0%) were benign, 11 (9.9%) were clinically insignificant (Gleason score, 6), and 19 (17.1%) were clinically significant. On multivariate analysis, three RFs were identified as significant predictors of CSC: older patient age (odds ratio [OR], 1.13; p = 0.002), smaller prostate volume (OR, 0.94; p = 0.008), and abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) findings (OR, 3.92; p = 0.03). For PI-RADS category 3 lesions associated with zero, one, two, or three RFs, the risk of CSC was 4%, 16%, 62%, and 100%, respectively. PI-RADS category 3 lesions for which two or more RFs were noted (e.g., age ≥ 70 years, gland size ≤ 36 mL, or abnormal DRE findings) had a CSC detection rate of 67% with a sensitivity of 53%, a specificity of 95%, a positive predictive value of 67%, and a negative predictive value of 91%. Incorporating clinical parameters into risk stratification algorithms may improve the ability to detect clinically significant disease among PI-RADS category 3 lesions and may aid in the decision to perform biopsy.

A Project-Based Laboratory for Learning Embedded System Design with Industry Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chyi-Shyong; Su, Juing-Huei; Lin, Kuo-En; Chang, Jia-Hao; Lin, Gu-Hong

2010-01-01

A project-based laboratory for learning embedded system design with support from industry is presented in this paper. The aim of this laboratory is to motivate students to learn the building blocks of embedded systems and practical control algorithms by constructing a line-following robot using the quadratic interpolation technique to predict the…

A Middleware Platform for Providing Mobile and Embedded Computing Instruction to Software Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mattmann, C. A.; Medvidovic, N.; Malek, S.; Edwards, G.; Banerjee, S.

2012-01-01

As embedded software systems have grown in number, complexity, and importance in the modern world, a corresponding need to teach computer science students how to effectively engineer such systems has arisen. Embedded software systems, such as those that control cell phones, aircraft, and medical equipment, are subject to requirements and…

A Spiral Step-by-Step Educational Method for Cultivating Competent Embedded System Engineers to Meet Industry Demands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jing,Lei; Cheng, Zixue; Wang, Junbo; Zhou, Yinghui

2011-01-01

Embedded system technologies are undergoing dramatic change. Competent embedded system engineers are becoming a scarce resource in the industry. Given this, universities should revise their specialist education to meet industry demands. In this paper, a spirally tight-coupled step-by-step educational method, based on an analysis of industry…

Integrating Embedded Computing Systems into High School and Early Undergraduate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benson, B.; Arfaee, A.; Choon Kim; Kastner, R.; Gupta, R. K.

2011-01-01

Early exposure to embedded computing systems is crucial for students to be prepared for the embedded computing demands of today's world. However, exposure to systems knowledge often comes too late in the curriculum to stimulate students' interests and to provide a meaningful difference in how they direct their choice of electives for future…

Viewpoints, Formalisms, Languages, and Tools for Cyber-Physical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-16

Organization]: Special-Purpose and Application-Based Systems —real-time and embedded sys- tems; F.1.2 [Computation by Abstract Devices]: Mod- els of...domain CPS is not new. For example, early automotive embedded systems in the 1970s already combined closed-loop control of the brake and engine subsystems...Consider for example the development of an embedded control system such as an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) (e.g., adaptive cruise control

EOS: A project to investigate the design and construction of real-time distributed Embedded Operating Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, R. H.; Essick, Ray B.; Johnston, Gary; Kenny, Kevin; Russo, Vince

1987-01-01

Project EOS is studying the problems of building adaptable real-time embedded operating systems for the scientific missions of NASA. Choices (A Class Hierarchical Open Interface for Custom Embedded Systems) is an operating system designed and built by Project EOS to address the following specific issues: the software architecture for adaptable embedded parallel operating systems, the achievement of high-performance and real-time operation, the simplification of interprocess communications, the isolation of operating system mechanisms from one another, and the separation of mechanisms from policy decisions. Choices is written in C++ and runs on a ten processor Encore Multimax. The system is intended for use in constructing specialized computer applications and research on advanced operating system features including fault tolerance and parallelism.

An open and configurable embedded system for EMG pattern recognition implementation for artificial arms.

PubMed

Jun Liu; Fan Zhang; Huang, He Helen

2014-01-01

Pattern recognition (PR) based on electromyographic (EMG) signals has been developed for multifunctional artificial arms for decades. However, assessment of EMG PR control for daily prosthesis use is still limited. One of the major barriers is the lack of a portable and configurable embedded system to implement the EMG PR control. This paper aimed to design an open and configurable embedded system for EMG PR implementation so that researchers can easily modify and optimize the control algorithms upon our designed platform and test the EMG PR control outside of the lab environments. The open platform was built on an open source embedded Linux Operating System running a high-performance Gumstix board. Both the hardware and software system framework were openly designed. The system was highly flexible in terms of number of inputs/outputs and calibration interfaces used. Such flexibility enabled easy integration of our embedded system with different types of commercialized or prototypic artificial arms. Thus far, our system was portable for take-home use. Additionally, compared with previously reported embedded systems for EMG PR implementation, our system demonstrated improved processing efficiency and high system precision. Our long-term goals are (1) to develop a wearable and practical EMG PR-based control for multifunctional artificial arms, and (2) to quantify the benefits of EMG PR-based control over conventional myoelectric prosthesis control in a home setting.

A hardware-in-the-loop simulation program for ground-based radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Eric P.; Black, Dennis W.; Ebisu, Jason S.; Magallon, Julianna

2011-06-01

A radar system created using an embedded computer system needs testing. The way to test an embedded computer system is different from the debugging approaches used on desktop computers. One way to test a radar system is to feed it artificial inputs and analyze the outputs of the radar. More often, not all of the building blocks of the radar system are available to test. This will require the engineer to test parts of the radar system using a "black box" approach. A common way to test software code on a desktop simulation is to use breakpoints so that is pauses after each cycle through its calculations. The outputs are compared against the values that are expected. This requires the engineer to use valid test scenarios. We will present a hardware-in-the-loop simulator that allows the embedded system to think it is operating with real-world inputs and outputs. From the embedded system's point of view, it is operating in real-time. The hardware in the loop simulation is based on our Desktop PC Simulation (PCS) testbed. In the past, PCS was used for ground-based radars. This embedded simulation, called Embedded PCS, allows a rapid simulated evaluation of ground-based radar performance in a laboratory environment.

Genome Sequence of Vibrio cholerae Strain O1 Ogawa El Tor, Isolated in Mexico, 2013

PubMed Central

Hernández-Monroy, Irma; López-Martínez, Irma; Ortiz-Alcántara, Joanna; González-Durán, Elizabeth; Ruiz-Matus, Cuitláhuac; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Ramírez-González, José Ernesto

2014-01-01

We present the draft genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae InDRE 3140 recovered in 2013 during a cholera outbreak in Mexico. The genome showed the Vibrio 7th pandemic islands VSP1 and VSP2, the pathogenic islands VPI-1 and VPI-2, the integrative and conjugative element SXT/R391 (ICE-SXT), and both prophages CTXφ and RS1φ. PMID:25359919

Bassett Creek Watershed, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Feasibility Report for Control. Appendixes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-03-01

maintenance of the creek corridor . The local interests objected to any plan that would impair the aesthetics of the creek. The needs of the watershed with...OPEN CHANNEL CORRIDOR TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVR (Alternate 5-E) ...... .............. D-26 COMBINATIONS OF NONSTRUCTURAL AND STRUCTURAL ALTERNATIVES...AND DRE TURNEL (Alternate 6-D) . . ... . . . . . . . . . . D-30 FLOOD STORAGE AND FLOOD PROOFIM. WIT7 AN O(IUI SPACE-- OPEN CHANNEL CORRIDOR TO THE

Apparatus for high flux photocatalytic pollution control using a rotating fluidized bed reactor

DOEpatents

Tabatabaie-Raissi, Ali; Muradov, Nazim Z.; Martin, Eric

2003-06-24

An apparatus based on optimizing photoprocess energetics by decoupling of the process energy efficiency from the DRE for target contaminants. The technique is applicable to both low- and high-flux photoreactor design and scale-up. An apparatus for high-flux photocatalytic pollution control is based on the implementation of multifunctional metal oxide aerogels and other media in conjunction with a novel rotating fluidized particle bed reactor.

Comparing association of preoperative transrectal ultrasound prostate weight with prostate weight obtained after radical prostatectomy after adjustment for other prognostic factors in a subset of the Northwestern University Prostate SPORE database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helenowski, Irene; Jovanovic, Borko; Gurley, Michael; Leikin, Robin; Catalona, William; Roston, Arden; Kuzel, Timothy

Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) is a non-invasive approach to measure prostate size as a surrogate (density =1.0) for prostate weight with implications in prostate cancer prognosis. But the question is how reliable is this preoperative measurement compared to other measures of prostate weight. This work presents the correlations between preoperative TRUS prostate weight and prostate weight obtained after radical prostatectomy in 434 patients with mean TRUS weight 36g (range: 10g-120g) and the mean prostate weight obtained after radical prostatectomy 51g (range: 16g-180g) from the Northwestern University Prostate SPORE database. 311 patients with weight obtained by digital rectal exam (DRE) were also compared to the TRUS prostate weights with mean and range of DRE weights 33g (10g - 78g). Correlations were adjusted by age, BMI, an indicator variable for a pathological stage of III or greater, and for Gleason score greater than 7. Correlations were also computed for separately for European American and Other Race populations. Differences in means were evaluated via the paired t-test. Results indicate TRUS measures obtained via ultrasound as promising but improvement in the technology still appears needed.

Explaining the disease phenotype of intergenic SNP through predicted long range regulation.

PubMed

Chen, Jingqi; Tian, Weidong

2016-10-14

Thousands of disease-associated SNPs (daSNPs) are located in intergenic regions (IGR), making it difficult to understand their association with disease phenotypes. Recent analysis found that non-coding daSNPs were frequently located in or approximate to regulatory elements, inspiring us to try to explain the disease phenotypes of IGR daSNPs through nearby regulatory sequences. Hence, after locating the nearest distal regulatory element (DRE) to a given IGR daSNP, we applied a computational method named INTREPID to predict the target genes regulated by the DRE, and then investigated their functional relevance to the IGR daSNP's disease phenotypes. 36.8% of all IGR daSNP-disease phenotype associations investigated were possibly explainable through the predicted target genes, which were enriched with, were functionally relevant to, or consisted of the corresponding disease genes. This proportion could be further increased to 60.5% if the LD SNPs of daSNPs were also considered. Furthermore, the predicted SNP-target gene pairs were enriched with known eQTL/mQTL SNP-gene relationships. Overall, it's likely that IGR daSNPs may contribute to disease phenotypes by interfering with the regulatory function of their nearby DREs and causing abnormal expression of disease genes. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Study on regional air quality impact from a chemical plant emergency shutdown.

PubMed

Ge, Sijie; Wang, Sujing; Xu, Qiang; Ho, Thomas

2018-06-01

Emergency shutdowns of chemical plants (ESCP) inevitably generate intensive and huge amounts of VOCs and NO x emissions through flaring that can cause highly localized and transient air pollution events with elevated ozone concentrations. However, quantitative studies of regional ozone impact due to ESCP, in terms of how ESCP would affect and to what extent ESCP could impact, are still lacking. This paper reports a systematic study on regional air quality impact from an olefin plant emergency shutdown due to the sudden failure of its cracked gas compressor (CGC). It demonstrates that emergency shutdown may cause significant ozone increment subject to different factors such as the starting time of emergency shutdown, flare destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) and plant location. In our studied case, the 8-hr ozone increment ranges from 0.4 to 3.3 ppb under different starting time, from 3.3 to 24.8 ppb under different DRE, and from 1.6 to 3.3 ppb under different locations. The results enable us to understand how and to what extent emergency operating activities of the chemical process will affect local air quality, which might be beneficial for decision makings on emergency air-quality response and control in the future. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thinking Style as a Predictor of Men’s Participation in Cancer Screening

PubMed Central

McGuiness, Clare E.; Turnbull, Deborah; Wilson, Carlene; Duncan, Amy; Flight, Ingrid H.; Zajac, Ian

2016-01-01

Men’s participation in cancer screening may be influenced by their thinking style. Men’s need for cognition (NFC) and faith in intuition were measured to explore whether they varied by demographic variables or predicted screening behavior. Australian males (n = 585, aged 50-74 years) completed surveys about past screening and were subsequently offered mailed fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs). Demographic predictors included age, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and language spoken at home. The screening behaviors were self-reported prostate cancer screening (prostate-specific antigen testing and digital rectal examinations [DREs]), and colorectal cancer screening (self-reported FOBT participation and recorded uptake of the FOBT offer). Analysis comprised principal component analysis and structural equation modelling. NFC was positively related to demographic variables education, socioeconomic status, and speaking English at home. Faith in intuition was negatively related to educational attainment. NFC predicted variance in self-reported DRE participation (r = .11, p = .016). No other relationships with thinking style were statistically significant. The relationship of NFC to DRE participation may reflect the way certain attributes of this screening method are processed, or alternatively, it may reflect willingness to report participation. The relationship of thinking style to a range of healthy behaviors should be further explored. PMID:27923966

Research experiences and mentoring practices in selected east Asian graduate programs: predictors of research productivity among doctoral students in molecular biology.

PubMed

Ynalvez, Ruby; Garza-Gongora, Claudia; Ynalvez, Marcus Antonius; Hara, Noriko

2014-01-01

Although doctoral mentors recognize the benefits of providing quality advisement and close guidance, those of sharing project management responsibilities with mentees are still not well recognized. We observed that mentees, who have the opportunity to co-manage projects, generate more written output. Here we examine the link between research productivity, doctoral mentoring practices (DMP), and doctoral research experiences (DRE) of mentees in programs in the non-West. Inspired by previous findings that early career productivity is a strong predictor of later productivity, we examine the research productivity of 210 molecular biology doctoral students in selected programs in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Using principal component (PC) analysis, we derive two sets of PCs: one set from 15 DMP and another set from 16 DRE items. We model research productivity using Poisson and negative-binomial regression models with these sets as predictors. Our findings suggest a need to re-think extant practices and to allocate resources toward professional career development in training future scientists. We contend that doctoral science training must not only be an occasion for future scientists to learn scientific and technical skills, but it must also be the opportunity to experience, to acquire, and to hone research management skills. © 2014 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

High clustering rates of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes in Panama

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Tuberculosis continues to be one of the leading causes of death worldwide and in the American region. Although multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains a threat to TB control in Panama, few studies have focused in typing MDR-TB strains. The aim of our study was to characterize MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates using PCR-based genetic markers. Methods From 2002 to 2004, a total of 231 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from TB cases country-wide were screened for antibiotic resistance, and MDR-TB isolates were further genotyped by double repetitive element PCR (DRE-PCR), (GTG)5-PCR and spoligotyping. Results A total of 37 isolates (0.85%) were resistant to both isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIF). Among these 37 isolates, only two (5.4%) were resistant to all five drugs tested. Dual genotyping using DRE-PCR and (GTG)5-PCR of MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates revealed eight clusters comprising 82.9% of the MDR-TB strain collection, and six isolates (17.1%) showed unique fingerprints. The spoligotyping of MDR-TB clinical isolates identified 68% as members of the 42 (LAM9) family genotype. Conclusion Our findings suggest that MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis is highly clustered in Panama’s metropolitan area corresponding to Panama City and Colon City, and our study reveals the genotype distribution across the country. PMID:24053690

Characterisation of antimicrobial extracts from dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) using LC-SPE-NMR.

PubMed

Kenny, O; Brunton, N P; Walsh, D; Hewage, C M; McLoughlin, P; Smyth, T J

2015-04-01

Plant extracts have traditionally been used as sources of natural antimicrobial compounds, although in many cases, the compounds responsible for their antimicrobial efficacy have not been identified. In this study, crude and dialysed extracts from dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties against Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains. The methanol hydrophobic crude extract (DRE3) demonstrated the strongest inhibition of microbial growth against Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus and Bacillus cereus strains. Normal phase (NP) fractionation of DRE3 resulted in two fractions (NPF4 and NPF5) with enhanced antimicrobial activity. Further NP fractionation of NPF4 resulted in two fractions (NPF403 and NPF406) with increased antimicrobial activity. Further isolation and characterisation of compounds in NPF406 using liquid chromatography solid phase extraction nuclear magnetic resonance LC-SPE-NMR resulted in the identification of 9-hydroxyoctadecatrienoic acid and 9-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, while the phenolic compounds vanillin, coniferaldehyde and p-methoxyphenylglyoxylic acid were also identified respectively. The molecular mass of these compounds was confirmed by LC mass spectroscopy (MS)/MS. In summary, the antimicrobial efficacy of dandelion root extracts demonstrated in this study support the use of dandelion root as a source of natural antimicrobial compounds. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A remorin gene SiREM6, the target gene of SiARDP, from foxtail millet (Setaria italica) promotes high salt tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Yue, Jing; Li, Cong; Liu, Yuwei; Yu, Jingjuan

2014-01-01

Remorin proteins (REMs) form a plant-specific protein family, with some REMs being responsive to abiotic stress. However, the precise functions of REMs in abiotic stress tolerance are not clear. In this study, we identified 11 remorin genes from foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and cloned a remorin gene, SiREM6, for further investigation. The transcript level of SiREM6 was increased by high salt stress, low temperature stress and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment, but not by drought stress. The potential oligomerization of SiREM6 was examined by negative staining electron microscopy. The overexpression of SiREM6 improved high salt stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis at the germination and seedling stages as revealed by germination rate, survival rate, relative electrolyte leakage and proline content. The SiREM6 promoter contains two dehydration responsive elements (DRE) and one ABA responsive element (ABRE). An ABA responsive DRE-binding transcription factor, SiARDP, and an ABRE-binding transcription factor, SiAREB1, were cloned from foxtail millet. SiARDP could physically bind to the DREs, but SiAREB1 could not. These results revealed that SiREM6 is a target gene of SiARDP and plays a critical role in high salt stress tolerance.

Embedded System Implementation on FPGA System With μCLinux OS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fairuz Muhd Amin, Ahmad; Aris, Ishak; Syamsul Azmir Raja Abdullah, Raja; Kalos Zakiah Sahbudin, Ratna

2011-02-01

Embedded systems are taking on more complicated tasks as the processors involved become more powerful. The embedded systems have been widely used in many areas such as in industries, automotives, medical imaging, communications, speech recognition and computer vision. The complexity requirements in hardware and software nowadays need a flexibility system for further enhancement in any design without adding new hardware. Therefore, any changes in the design system will affect the processor that need to be changed. To overcome this problem, a System On Programmable Chip (SOPC) has been designed and developed using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). A softcore processor, NIOS II 32-bit RISC, which is the microprocessor core was utilized in FPGA system together with the embedded operating system(OS), μClinux. In this paper, an example of web server is explained and demonstrated

Results of SEI Independent Research and Development Projects

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

Achieving Predictable Performance in Multicore Embedded Real - Time Systems Dionisio de Niz, Jeffrey Hansen, Gabriel Moreno, Daniel Plakosh, Jorgen Hanson...Description Languages.‖ Fourth Congress on Embedded Real - Time Systems (ERTS), January 2008. [Hansson 2008b] J. Hansson, P. H. Feiler, & J. Morley...Predictable Performance in Multicore Embedded Real - Time Systems Dionisio de Niz, Jeffrey Hansen, Gabriel Moreno, Daniel Plakosh, Jorgen Hanson, Mark

Embedded object concept: case balancing two-wheeled robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallius, Tero; Röning, Juha

2007-09-01

This paper presents the Embedded Object Concept (EOC) and a telepresence robot system which is a test case for the EOC. The EOC utilizes common object-oriented methods used in software by applying them to combined Lego-like software-hardware entities. These entities represent objects in object-oriented design methods, and they are the building blocks of embedded systems. The goal of the EOC is to make the designing of embedded systems faster and easier. This concept enables people without comprehensive knowledge in electronics design to create new embedded systems, and for experts it shortens the design time of new embedded systems. We present the current status of a telepresence robot created with Atomi-objects, which is the name for our implementation of the embedded objects. The telepresence robot is a relatively complex test case for the EOC. The robot has been constructed using incremental device development, which is made possible by the architecture of the EOC. The robot contains video and audio exchange capability and a controlling system for driving with two wheels. The robot consists of Atomi-objects, demonstrating the suitability of the EOC for prototyping and easy modifications, and proving the capabilities of the EOC by realizing a function that normally requires a computer. The computer counterpart is a regular PC with audio and video capabilities running with a robot control application. The robot is functional and successfully tested.

Multi-modal demands of a smartphone used to place calls and enter addresses during highway driving relative to two embedded systems

PubMed Central

Reimer, Bryan; Mehler, Bruce; Reagan, Ian; Kidd, David; Dobres, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Abstract There is limited research on trade-offs in demand between manual and voice interfaces of embedded and portable technologies. Mehler et al. identified differences in driving performance, visual engagement and workload between two contrasting embedded vehicle system designs (Chevrolet MyLink and Volvo Sensus). The current study extends this work by comparing these embedded systems with a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S4). None of the voice interfaces eliminated visual demand. Relative to placing calls manually, both embedded voice interfaces resulted in less eyes-off-road time than the smartphone. Errors were most frequent when calling contacts using the smartphone. The smartphone and MyLink allowed addresses to be entered using compound voice commands resulting in shorter eyes-off-road time compared with the menu-based Sensus but with many more errors. Driving performance and physiological measures indicated increased demand when performing secondary tasks relative to ‘just driving’, but were not significantly different between the smartphone and embedded systems. Practitioner Summary: The findings show that embedded system and portable device voice interfaces place fewer visual demands on the driver than manual interfaces, but they also underscore how differences in system designs can significantly affect not only the demands placed on drivers, but also the successful completion of tasks. PMID:27110964

Embedding methods for the steady Euler equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, S. H.; Johnson, G. M.

1983-01-01

An approach to the numerical solution of the steady Euler equations is to embed the first-order Euler system in a second-order system and then to recapture the original solution by imposing additional boundary conditions. Initial development of this approach and computational experimentation with it were previously based on heuristic physical reasoning. This has led to the construction of a relaxation procedure for the solution of two-dimensional steady flow problems. The theoretical justification for the embedding approach is addressed. It is proven that, with the appropriate choice of embedding operator and additional boundary conditions, the solution to the embedded system is exactly the one to the original Euler equations. Hence, solving the embedded version of the Euler equations will not produce extraneous solutions.

ETHERNET BASED EMBEDDED SYSTEM FOR FEL DIAGNOSTICS AND CONTROLS

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

Jianxun Yan; Daniel Sexton; Steven Moore

2006-10-24

An Ethernet based embedded system has been developed to upgrade the Beam Viewer and Beam Position Monitor (BPM) systems within the free-electron laser (FEL) project at Jefferson Lab. The embedded microcontroller was mounted on the front-end I/O cards with software packages such as Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) and Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor System (RTEMS) running as an Input/Output Controller (IOC). By cross compiling with the EPICS, the RTEMS kernel, IOC device supports, and databases all of these can be downloaded into the microcontroller. The first version of the BPM electronics based on the embedded controller wasmore » built and is currently running in our FEL system. The new version of BPM that will use a Single Board IOC (SBIOC), which integrates with an Field Programming Gate Array (FPGA) and a ColdFire embedded microcontroller, is presently under development. The new system has the features of a low cost IOC, an open source real-time operating system, plug&play-like ease of installation and flexibility, and provides a much more localized solution.« less

An embedded system developed for hand held assay used in water monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Lin; Wang, Jianwei; Ramakrishna, Bharath; Hsueh, Mingkai; Liu, Jonathan; Wu, Qufei; Wu, Chao-Cheng; Cao, Mang; Chang, Chein-I.; Jensen, Janet L.; Jensen, James O.; Knapp, Harlan; Daniel, Robert; Yin, Ray

2005-11-01

The US Army Joint Service Agent Water Monitor (JSAWM) program is currently interested in an approach that can implement a hardware- designed device in ticket-based hand-held assay (currently being developed) used for chemical/biological agent detection. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the proof of concept. Three components are envisioned to accomplish the task. One is the ticket development which has been undertaken by the ANP, Inc. Another component is the software development which has been carried out by the Remote Sensing Signal and Image Processing Laboratory (RSSIPL) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). A third component is an embedded system development which can be used to drive the UMBC-developed software to analyze the ANP-developed HHA tickets on a small pocket-size device like a PDA. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the third component that is viable and is yet to be explored. In order to facilitate to prove the concept, a flatbed scanner is used to replace a ticket reader to serve as an input device. The Stargate processor board is used as the embedded System with Embedded Linux installed. It is connected to an input device such as scanner as well as output devices such as LCD display or laptop etc. It executes the C-Coded processing program developed for this embedded system and outputs its findings on a display device. The embedded system to be developed and investigated in this paper is the core of a future hardware device. Several issues arising in such an embedded system will be addressed. Finally, the proof-of-concept pilot embedded system will be demonstrated.

Applications and assessment of QM:QM electronic embedding using generalized asymmetric Mulliken atomic charges.

PubMed

Parandekar, Priya V; Hratchian, Hrant P; Raghavachari, Krishnan

2008-10-14

Hybrid QM:QM (quantum mechanics:quantum mechanics) and QM:MM (quantum mechanics:molecular mechanics) methods are widely used to calculate the electronic structure of large systems where a full quantum mechanical treatment at a desired high level of theory is computationally prohibitive. The ONIOM (our own N-layer integrated molecular orbital molecular mechanics) approximation is one of the more popular hybrid methods, where the total molecular system is divided into multiple layers, each treated at a different level of theory. In a previous publication, we developed a novel QM:QM electronic embedding scheme within the ONIOM framework, where the model system is embedded in the external Mulliken point charges of the surrounding low-level region to account for the polarization of the model system wave function. Therein, we derived and implemented a rigorous expression for the embedding energy as well as analytic gradients that depend on the derivatives of the external Mulliken point charges. In this work, we demonstrate the applicability of our QM:QM method with point charge embedding and assess its accuracy. We study two challenging systems--zinc metalloenzymes and silicon oxide cages--and demonstrate that electronic embedding shows significant improvement over mechanical embedding. We also develop a modified technique for the energy and analytic gradients using a generalized asymmetric Mulliken embedding method involving an unequal splitting of the Mulliken overlap populations to offer improvement in situations where the Mulliken charges may be deficient.

Embedded ubiquitous services on hospital information systems.

PubMed

Kuroda, Tomohiro; Sasaki, Hiroshi; Suenaga, Takatoshi; Masuda, Yasushi; Yasumuro, Yoshihiro; Hori, Kenta; Ohboshi, Naoki; Takemura, Tadamasa; Chihara, Kunihiro; Yoshihara, Hiroyuki

2012-11-01

A Hospital Information Systems (HIS) have turned a hospital into a gigantic computer with huge computational power, huge storage and wired/wireless local area network. On the other hand, a modern medical device, such as echograph, is a computer system with several functional units connected by an internal network named a bus. Therefore, we can embed such a medical device into the HIS by simply replacing the bus with the local area network. This paper designed and developed two embedded systems, a ubiquitous echograph system and a networked digital camera. Evaluations of the developed systems clearly show that the proposed approach, embedding existing clinical systems into HIS, drastically changes productivity in the clinical field. Once a clinical system becomes a pluggable unit for a gigantic computer system, HIS, the combination of multiple embedded systems with application software designed under deep consideration about clinical processes may lead to the emergence of disruptive innovation in the clinical field.

Spatial network surrogates for disentangling complex system structure from spatial embedding of nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiedermann, Marc; Donges, Jonathan F.; Kurths, Jürgen; Donner, Reik V.

2016-04-01

Networks with nodes embedded in a metric space have gained increasing interest in recent years. The effects of spatial embedding on the networks' structural characteristics, however, are rarely taken into account when studying their macroscopic properties. Here, we propose a hierarchy of null models to generate random surrogates from a given spatially embedded network that can preserve certain global and local statistics associated with the nodes' embedding in a metric space. Comparing the original network's and the resulting surrogates' global characteristics allows one to quantify to what extent these characteristics are already predetermined by the spatial embedding of the nodes and links. We apply our framework to various real-world spatial networks and show that the proposed models capture macroscopic properties of the networks under study much better than standard random network models that do not account for the nodes' spatial embedding. Depending on the actual performance of the proposed null models, the networks are categorized into different classes. Since many real-world complex networks are in fact spatial networks, the proposed approach is relevant for disentangling the underlying complex system structure from spatial embedding of nodes in many fields, ranging from social systems over infrastructure and neurophysiology to climatology.

Transplant Image Processing Technology under Windows into the Platform Based on MiniGUI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Lan; Zhang, Xu; Lv, Wenya; Yu, Jia

MFC has a large number of digital image processing-related API functions, object-oriented and class mechanisms which provides image processing technology strong support in Windows. But in embedded systems, image processing technology dues to the restrictions of hardware and software do not have the environment of MFC in Windows. Therefore, this paper draws on the experience of image processing technology of Windows and transplants it into MiniGUI embedded systems. The results show that MiniGUI/Embedded graphical user interface applications about image processing which used in embedded image processing system can be good results.

Landscape fires dominate terrestrial natural aerosol - climate feedbacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, C.; Arnold, S.; Monks, S. A.; Asmi, A.; Paasonen, P.; Spracklen, D. V.

2017-12-01

The terrestrial biosphere is an important source of natural aerosol including landscape fire emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). Atmospheric aerosol alters the Earth's climate by absorbing and scattering radiation (direct radiative effect; DRE) and by perturbing the properties of clouds (aerosol indirect effect; AIE). Natural aerosol sources are strongly controlled by, and can influence, climate; giving rise to potential natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. Earth System Models (ESMs) include a description of some of these natural aerosol-climate feedbacks, predicting substantial changes in natural aerosol over the coming century with associated radiative perturbations. Despite this, the sensitivity of natural aerosols simulated by ESMs to changes in climate or emissions has not been robustly tested against observations. Here we combine long-term observations of aerosol number and a global aerosol microphysics model to assess terrestrial natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. We find a strong positive relationship between the summertime anomaly in observed concentration of particles greater than 100 nm diameter and the anomaly in local air temperature. This relationship is reproduced by the model and driven by variability in dynamics and meteorology, as well as natural sources of aerosol. We use an offline radiative transfer model to determine radiative effects due to changes in two natural aerosol sources: landscape fire and biogenic SOA. We find that interannual variability in the simulated global natural aerosol radiative effect (RE) is negatively related to the global temperature anomaly. The magnitude of global aerosol-climate feedback (sum of DRE and AIE) is estimated to be -0.15 Wm-2 K-1 for landscape fire aerosol and -0.06 Wm-2 K-1 for biogenic SOA. These feedbacks are comparable in magnitude, but opposite in sign to the snow albedo feedback, highlighting the need for natural aerosol feedbacks to be included in climate simulations.

Constitutive expression of DaCBF7, an Antarctic vascular plant Deschampsia antarctica CBF homolog, resulted in improved cold tolerance in transgenic rice plants.

PubMed

Byun, Mi Young; Lee, Jungeun; Cui, Li Hua; Kang, Yoonjee; Oh, Tae Kyung; Park, Hyun; Lee, Hyoungseok; Kim, Woo Taek

2015-07-01

Deschampsia antarctica is an Antarctic hairgrass that grows on the west coast of the Antarctic peninsula. In this report, we have identified and characterized a transcription factor, D. antarctica C-repeat binding factor 7 (DaCBF7), that is a member of the monocot group V CBF homologs. The protein contains a single AP2 domain, a putative nuclear localization signal, and the typical CBF signature. DaCBF7, like other monocot group V homologs, contains a distinct polypeptide stretch composed of 43 amino acids in front of the AP2 motif. DaCBF7 was predominantly localized to nuclei and interacted with the C-repeat/dehydration responsive element (CRT/DRE) core sequence (ACCGAC) in vitro. DaCBF7 was induced by abiotic stresses, including drought, cold, and salinity. To investigate its possible cellular role in cold tolerance, a transgenic rice system was employed. DaCBF7-overexpressing transgenic rice plants (Ubi:DaCBF7) exhibited markedly increased tolerance to cold stress compared to wild-type plants without growth defects; however, overexpression of DaCBF7 exerted little effect on tolerance to drought or salt stress. Transcriptome analysis of a Ubi:DaCBF7 transgenic line revealed 13 genes that were up-regulated in DaCBF7-overexpressing plants compared to wild-type plants in the absence of cold stress and in short- or long-term cold stress. Five of these genes, dehydrin, remorin, Os03g63870, Os11g34790, and Os10g22630, contained putative CRT/DRE or low-temperature responsive elements in their promoter regions. These results suggest that overexpression of DaCBF7 directly and indirectly induces diverse genes in transgenic rice plants and confers enhanced tolerance to cold stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging-based risk model to determine the risk of significant prostate cancer prior to biopsy.

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Pim J; Hayen, Andrew; Thompson, James E; Moses, Daniel; Shnier, Ron; Böhm, Maret; Abuodha, Magdaline; Haynes, Anne-Maree; Ting, Francis; Barentsz, Jelle; Roobol, Monique; Vass, Justin; Rasiah, Krishan; Delprado, Warick; Stricker, Phillip D

2017-12-01

To develop and externally validate a predictive model for detection of significant prostate cancer. Development of the model was based on a prospective cohort including 393 men who underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) before biopsy. External validity of the model was then examined retrospectively in 198 men from a separate institution whom underwent mpMRI followed by biopsy for abnormal prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level or digital rectal examination (DRE). A model was developed with age, PSA level, DRE, prostate volume, previous biopsy, and Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PIRADS) score, as predictors for significant prostate cancer (Gleason 7 with >5% grade 4, ≥20% cores positive or ≥7 mm of cancer in any core). Probability was studied via logistic regression. Discriminatory performance was quantified by concordance statistics and internally validated with bootstrap resampling. In all, 393 men had complete data and 149 (37.9%) had significant prostate cancer. While the variable model had good accuracy in predicting significant prostate cancer, area under the curve (AUC) of 0.80, the advanced model (incorporating mpMRI) had a significantly higher AUC of 0.88 (P < 0.001). The model was well calibrated in internal and external validation. Decision analysis showed that use of the advanced model in practice would improve biopsy outcome predictions. Clinical application of the model would reduce 28% of biopsies, whilst missing 2.6% significant prostate cancer. Individualised risk assessment of significant prostate cancer using a predictive model that incorporates mpMRI PIRADS score and clinical data allows a considerable reduction in unnecessary biopsies and reduction of the risk of over-detection of insignificant prostate cancer at the cost of a very small increase in the number of significant cancers missed. © 2017 The Authors BJU International © 2017 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Soybean DREB1/CBF-type transcription factors function in heat and drought as well as cold stress-responsive gene expression.

PubMed

Kidokoro, Satoshi; Watanabe, Keitaro; Ohori, Teppei; Moriwaki, Takashi; Maruyama, Kyonoshin; Mizoi, Junya; Myint Phyu Sin Htwe, Nang; Fujita, Yasunari; Sekita, Sachiko; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, Kazuko

2015-02-01

Soybean (Glycine max) is a globally important crop, and its growth and yield are severely reduced by abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat, and cold. The cis-acting element DRE (dehydration-responsive element)/CRT plays an important role in activating gene expression in response to these stresses. The Arabidopsis DREB1/CBF genes that encode DRE-binding proteins function as transcriptional activators in the cold stress responsive gene expression. In this study, we identified 14 DREB1-type transcription factors (GmDREB1s) from a soybean genome database. The expression of most GmDREB1 genes in soybean was strongly induced by a variety of abiotic stresses, such as cold, drought, high salt, and heat. The GmDREB1 proteins activated transcription via DREs (dehydration-responsive element) in Arabidopsis and soybean protoplasts. Transcriptome analyses using transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing GmDREB1s indicated that many of the downstream genes are cold-inducible and overlap with those of Arabidopsis DREB1A. We then comprehensively analyzed the downstream genes of GmDREB1B;1, which is closely related to DREB1A, using a transient expression system in soybean protoplasts. The expression of numerous genes induced by various abiotic stresses were increased by overexpressing GmDREB1B;1 in soybean, and DREs were the most conserved element in the promoters of these genes. The downstream genes of GmDREB1B;1 included numerous soybean-specific stress-inducible genes that encode an ABA receptor family protein, GmPYL21, and translation-related genes, such as ribosomal proteins. We confirmed that GmDREB1B;1 directly activates GmPYL21 expression and enhances ABRE-mediated gene expression in an ABA-independent manner. These results suggest that GmDREB1 proteins activate the expression of numerous soybean-specific stress-responsive genes under diverse abiotic stress conditions. © 2014 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Localized attacks on spatially embedded networks with dependencies.

PubMed

Berezin, Yehiel; Bashan, Amir; Danziger, Michael M; Li, Daqing; Havlin, Shlomo

2015-03-11

Many real world complex systems such as critical infrastructure networks are embedded in space and their components may depend on one another to function. They are also susceptible to geographically localized damage caused by malicious attacks or natural disasters. Here, we study a general model of spatially embedded networks with dependencies under localized attacks. We develop a theoretical and numerical approach to describe and predict the effects of localized attacks on spatially embedded systems with dependencies. Surprisingly, we find that a localized attack can cause substantially more damage than an equivalent random attack. Furthermore, we find that for a broad range of parameters, systems which appear stable are in fact metastable. Though robust to random failures-even of finite fraction-if subjected to a localized attack larger than a critical size which is independent of the system size (i.e., a zero fraction), a cascading failure emerges which leads to complete system collapse. Our results demonstrate the potential high risk of localized attacks on spatially embedded network systems with dependencies and may be useful for designing more resilient systems.

Micro-precise spatiotemporal delivery system embedded in 3D printing for complex tissue regeneration.

PubMed

Tarafder, Solaiman; Koch, Alia; Jun, Yena; Chou, Conrad; Awadallah, Mary R; Lee, Chang H

2016-04-25

Three dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as an efficient tool for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, given its advantages for constructing custom-designed scaffolds with tunable microstructure/physical properties. Here we developed a micro-precise spatiotemporal delivery system embedded in 3D printed scaffolds. PLGA microspheres (μS) were encapsulated with growth factors (GFs) and then embedded inside PCL microfibers that constitute custom-designed 3D scaffolds. Given the substantial difference in the melting points between PLGA and PCL and their low heat conductivity, μS were able to maintain its original structure while protecting GF's bioactivities. Micro-precise spatial control of multiple GFs was achieved by interchanging dispensing cartridges during a single printing process. Spatially controlled delivery of GFs, with a prolonged release, guided formation of multi-tissue interfaces from bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSCs). To investigate efficacy of the micro-precise delivery system embedded in 3D printed scaffold, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc scaffolds were fabricated with micro-precise spatiotemporal delivery of CTGF and TGFβ3, mimicking native-like multiphase fibrocartilage. In vitro, TMJ disc scaffolds spatially embedded with CTGF/TGFβ3-μS resulted in formation of multiphase fibrocartilaginous tissues from MSCs. In vivo, TMJ disc perforation was performed in rabbits, followed by implantation of CTGF/TGFβ3-μS-embedded scaffolds. After 4 wks, CTGF/TGFβ3-μS embedded scaffolds significantly improved healing of the perforated TMJ disc as compared to the degenerated TMJ disc in the control group with scaffold embedded with empty μS. In addition, CTGF/TGFβ3-μS embedded scaffolds significantly prevented arthritic changes on TMJ condyles. In conclusion, our micro-precise spatiotemporal delivery system embedded in 3D printing may serve as an efficient tool to regenerate complex and inhomogeneous tissues.

Cluster Computing for Embedded/Real-Time Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Katz, D.; Kepner, J.

1999-01-01

Embedded and real-time systems, like other computing systems, seek to maximize computing power for a given price, and thus can significantly benefit from the advancing capabilities of cluster computing.

Design and realization of flash translation layer in tiny embedded system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Xiaoping; Sui, Chaoya; Luo, Zhenghua; Cao, Wenji

2018-05-01

We design a solution of tiny embedded device NAND Flash storage system on the basis of deeply studying the characteristics of widely used NAND Flash in the embedded devices in order to adapt to the development of intelligent interconnection trend and solve the storage problem of large data volume in tiny embedded system. The hierarchical structure and function purposes of the system are introduced. The design and realization of address mapping, error correction, bad block management, wear balance, garbage collection and other algorithms in flash memory transformation layer are described in details. NAND Flash drive and management are realized on STM32 micro-controller, thereby verifying design effectiveness and feasibility.

Implementation of image transmission server system using embedded Linux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jong-Hyun; Jung, Yeon Sung; Nam, Boo Hee

2005-12-01

In this paper, we performed the implementation of image transmission server system using embedded system that is for the specified object and easy to install and move. Since the embedded system has lower capability than the PC, we have to reduce the quantity of calculation of the baseline JPEG image compression and transmission. We used the Redhat Linux 9.0 OS at the host PC and the target board based on embedded Linux. The image sequences are obtained from the camera attached to the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) board with ALTERA cooperation chip. For effectiveness and avoiding some constraints from the vendor's own, we made the device driver using kernel module.

Modeling of Embedded Human Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

ISAT study [7] for DARPA in 20051 concretized the notion of an embedded human, who is a necessary component of the system. The proposed work integrates...Technology, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 229–244, March 2008. [7] C. J. Tomlin and S. S. Sastry, “Embedded humans,” tech. rep., DARPA ISAT

Soft-error tolerance and energy consumption evaluation of embedded computer with magnetic random access memory in practical systems using computer simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nebashi, Ryusuke; Sakimura, Noboru; Sugibayashi, Tadahiko

2017-08-01

We evaluated the soft-error tolerance and energy consumption of an embedded computer with magnetic random access memory (MRAM) using two computer simulators. One is a central processing unit (CPU) simulator of a typical embedded computer system. We simulated the radiation-induced single-event-upset (SEU) probability in a spin-transfer-torque MRAM cell and also the failure rate of a typical embedded computer due to its main memory SEU error. The other is a delay tolerant network (DTN) system simulator. It simulates the power dissipation of wireless sensor network nodes of the system using a revised CPU simulator and a network simulator. We demonstrated that the SEU effect on the embedded computer with 1 Gbit MRAM-based working memory is less than 1 failure in time (FIT). We also demonstrated that the energy consumption of the DTN sensor node with MRAM-based working memory can be reduced to 1/11. These results indicate that MRAM-based working memory enhances the disaster tolerance of embedded computers.

Dust radiative effect over Europe, Mediterranean, Sahara and Middle East from a radiative transfer model using BSC-DREAM8b aerosol optical data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadimas, Christos; Gkikas, Antonis; Hatzianastassiou, Nikos; Matsoukas, Christos; Kazadzis, Stelios; Basart, Sara; Baldasano, Jose; Vardavas, Ilias

2013-04-01

The arid regions of Saharan desert and Middle East are the world's major dust sources. However, dust particles from these areas are transported to nearby regions, through favourable synoptic conditions, even reaching remote locations in Europe or in the Arctic. This transport is very important in numerous aspects. One of its most important effects is on the radiation budget, and more specifically on solar radiation, through the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE). Previous studies have shown that this effect is great under dust load conditions. Therefore, it is very important to simulate dust transport processes and associated radiative effects. The simulation of dust production, transport and removal is done by numerical models, which however have their own limitations as to the consideration of physical and dynamical processes as well as their initial conditions. On the other hand, the computation of dust DRE is ideally done with radiative transfer models (RTMs), which however imply uncertainties associated with the input aerosol optical properties. The most important aerosol optical properties used in RTMs and climate models are aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry parameter (AP). The main target of the present study is to reduce the uncertainties of dust DRE by using a detailed spectral RTM and an acknowledged regional and meso-scale model describing the distribution of dust. The combined use of these tools is applied to the region covering the deserts of Sahara, Arabian Peninsula and Middle East, and the neighbouring Mediterranean basin and European continent (extending from 15°N to 60°N and from 21°W to 54°E). The computations are performed on a monthly mean basis, refer to the 11-year period 2000-2010, and quantify the effects of dust on the reflected solar radiation at the top of atmosphere (DRETOA), on the absorbed solar radiation within the atmosphere (DREatmab), and on the downwelling and absorbed solar radiation at the surface (DREsurf and DREsurfnet, respectively). The RTM takes into account all physical parameters of the Earth-Atmosphere system that interact with solar radiation, namely ozone, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, clouds (low, middle, high), aerosol and atmospheric molecules (Rayleigh scattering) as well as surface reflection. Emphasis is given to aerosol optical properties (AOD, SSA and AP) which are all obtained from the dust regional BSC-DREAM8b model. Detailed analysis is undertaken of the modelled aerosol properties, and the spatial and temporal (seasonal and year by year) variation of these properties and of the model DREs are thoroughly investigated. In addition, the computed DREs are inter-compared with corresponding ones obtained with the same RTM using aerosol data from satellites (e.g. MODIS) or other datasets (e.g. Global Aerosol DataSet, GADS and Hamburg Aerosol Climatology, HAC).

The 23,500 y 14C BP White Pumice Plinian eruption and associated debris avalanche and Tochimilco lava flow of Popocatépetl volcano, México

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siebe, Claus; Salinas, Sergio; Arana-Salinas, Lilia; Macías, José Luis; Gardner, James; Bonasia, Rosanna

2017-03-01

The White Pumice (WP) is one of the thickest and most voluminous Plinian fallouts produced by Popocatépetl volcano in central Mexico during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene. Its eruption 23,500 14C y BP (27,800 cal BP) was triggered by the catastrophic failure of the SW flank of the volcano. The resulting debris avalanche was highly mobile reaching 72 km from the cone with an apparent coefficient of friction (L/H) of 0.06. The deposit covers an area of 1200 km2, and has a volume of 10.4 km3. This gigantic landslide, characterized by exceptionally large proximal hummocks (> 400 m) provoked the sudden decompression of the hydrothermal and magmatic systems, which produced an initial blast followed by the rise of a Plinian column that reached an altitude of 33 km. The isopach map allows the recognition of a dispersal axis pointing toward the south, where an area of 2490 km2 was covered by > 10 cm of pumice and ash. The total volume of the pumice fallout was estimated at 1.9 km3 DRE (Dense Rock Equivalent). Pumice clasts are dacitic (62-66 wt.% SiO2, anhydrous basis), highly vesicular (55-88 vol.%) and display a seriate texture with phenocrysts of plagioclase + hornblende + augite + hypersthene + oxides (Ti-magnetite and ilmenite) + apatite. As the eruption advanced, discharge rates became more intermittent and the height of the column fluctuated and finally collapsed, generating pumice-and-ash flows that were emplaced around the volcano. This short but intense activity was followed during subsequent years by rain-induced lahars that reached great distances from the volcano. At the same time, more degassed andesitic-dacitic (61-65 wt.% SiO2) magma was erupted effusively (4.4 km3, DRE) in the new horseshoe-shaped 5 km-wide crater from which the Tochimilco lava flow descended toward the SSE, where it inundated an area of 68 km2 and reached as far as 22 km from its source. Since then, multiple eruptions have reconstructed the summit cone, almost completely obliterating the horseshoe-shaped crater. During the course of this catastrophic eruption (VEI = 5) a total volume of 6.3 km3 (DRE) of juvenile magma (pumice and lava) were emitted and at least an additional 10 km3 of pre-existing rocks (debris avalanche) mobilized. It surpasses in magnitude most other known Plinian eruptions from Popocatépetl and can be envisaged as an example of a worst-case scenario for hazard evaluation purposes. It dramatically changed the morphology of the volcano and had profound and far-reaching effects beyond its immediate vicinity along rivers draining surrounding plains as well as on the lacustrine basins (e.g. Chalco) to the NE. A repeat of such an eruption in this densely populated area would certainly cause a major calamity of unprecedented dimensions.

Time-Centric Models For Designing Embedded Cyber-physical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-09

Time -centric Models For Designing Embedded Cyber- physical Systems John C. Eidson Edward A. Lee Slobodan Matic Sanjit A. Seshia Jia Zou Electrical... Time -centric Models For Designing Embedded Cyber-physical Systems ∗ John C. Eidson , Edward A. Lee, Slobodan Matic, Sanjit A. Seshia, Jia Zou...implementations, such a uniform notion of time cannot be precisely realized. Time triggered networks [10] and time synchronization [9] can be used to

Breast Cancer Center Support Grant

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-09-01

indicator for the disease. Am J Epidemiol 1980 ; 111:301-8. (42) Dupont WD, Page DL. Breast cancer risk associated with proliferative disease, age...1993;187:75-9. (52) Burhenne HJ, Burhenne LW, Goldberg F, Hislop TG, Worth AJ, Rebbeck PM, et al. Interval breast cancers in the Screening Mammography...Basier, Ian M. Thompson Until the mid- 1980s , early detection for prostate cancer had only one tool—digital rectal examination (DRE). The tool is

Embedded object concept with a telepresence robot system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallius, Tero; Röning, Juha

2005-10-01

This paper presents the Embedded Object Concept (EOC) and a telepresence robot system which is a test case for the EOC. The EOC utilizes common object-oriented methods used in software by applying them to combined Lego-like software-hardware entities. These entities represent objects in object-oriented design methods, and they are the building blocks of embedded systems. The goal of the EOC is to make the designing of embedded systems faster and easier. This concept enables people without comprehensive knowledge in electronics design to create new embedded systems, and for experts it shortens the design time of new embedded systems. We present the current status of the EOC, including two generations of embedded objects named Atomi objects. The first generation of the Atomi objects has been tested with different applications, and found to be functional, but not optimal. The second generation aims to correct the issues found with the first generation, and it is being tested in a relatively complex test case. The test case is a telepresence robot consisting of a two wheeled human height robot and its computer counter part. The robot has been constructed using incremental device development, which is made possible by the architecture of the EOC. The robot contains video and audio exchange capability, and a controlling and balancing system for driving with two wheels. The robot is built in two versions, the first consisting of a PDA device and Atomi objects, and the second consisting of only Atomi objects. The robot is currently incomplete, but for the most part it has been successfully tested.

Component Composition for Embedded Systems Using Semantic Aspect-Oriented Programming

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-10-01

real - time systems for the defense community. Our research focused on Real-Time Java implementation and analysis techniques. Real-Time Java is important for the defense community because it holds out the promise of enabling developers to apply COTS Java technology to specialized military embedded systems. It also promises to allow the defense community to utilize a large Java-literate workforce for building defense systems. Our research has delivered several techniques that may make Real-Time Java a better platform for developing embedded

A Study of the Ethernet Troughput Performance of the Embedded System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Zhi-Yu; Zhao, Zhao-Wang

2007-09-01

An ethernet acceleration solution developed for the NIOS II Embedded System in astronomical applications - Mason Express is introduced in this paper. By manually constructing the proper network protocol headers and directly driving the hardware, Mason Express goes around the performance bottleneck of the Light Weighted IP stack (LWIP), and achieves up to 90Mb/s unidirectional data troughput rate from the embedded system board to the data collecting computer. With the LWIP stack, the maximum data rate is about 10.57Mb/s. Mason Express is a total software solution and no hardware changes required, neither does it affect the uCOS II operating system nor the LWIP stack, and can be implemented with or without any embedded operating system. It maximally protects the intelligence investment of the users.

Embedded system of image storage based on fiber channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiaodong; Su, Wanxin; Xing, Zhongbao; Wang, Hualong

2008-03-01

In domains of aerospace, aviation, aiming, and optic measure etc., the embedded system of imaging, processing and recording is absolutely necessary, which has small volume, high processing speed and high resolution. But the embedded storage technology becomes system bottleneck because of developing slowly. It is used to use RAID to promote storage speed, but it is unsuitable for the embedded system because of its big volume. Fiber channel (FC) technology offers a new method to develop the high-speed, portable storage system. In order to make storage subsystem meet the needs of high storage rate, make use of powerful Virtex-4 FPGA and high speed fiber channel, advance a project of embedded system of digital image storage based on Xilinx Fiber Channel Arbitrated Loop LogiCORE. This project utilizes Virtex- 4 RocketIO MGT transceivers to transmit the data serially, and connects many Fiber Channel hard drivers by using of Arbitrated Loop optionally. It can achieve 400MBps storage rate, breaks through the bottleneck of PCI interface, and has excellences of high-speed, real-time, portable and massive capacity.

[Design of an embedded stroke rehabilitation apparatus system based on Linux computer engineering].

PubMed

Zhuang, Pengfei; Tian, XueLong; Zhu, Lin

2014-04-01

A realizaton project of electrical stimulator aimed at motor dysfunction of stroke is proposed in this paper. Based on neurophysiological biofeedback, this system, using an ARM9 S3C2440 as the core processor, integrates collection and display of surface electromyography (sEMG) signal, as well as neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) into one system. By embedding Linux system, the project is able to use Qt/Embedded as a graphical interface design tool to accomplish the design of stroke rehabilitation apparatus. Experiments showed that this system worked well.

Embedded expert system for space shuttle main engine maintenance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pooley, J.; Thompson, W.; Homsley, T.; Teoh, W.; Jones, J.; Lewallen, P.

1987-01-01

The SPARTA Embedded Expert System (SEES) is an intelligent health monitoring system that directs analysis by placing confidence factors on possible engine status and then recommends a course of action to an engineer or engine controller. The technique can prevent catastropic failures or costly rocket engine down time because of false alarms. Further, the SEES has potential as an on-board flight monitor for reusable rocket engine systems. The SEES methodology synergistically integrates vibration analysis, pattern recognition and communications theory techniques with an artificial intelligence technique - the Embedded Expert System (EES).

Exact density functional and wave function embedding schemes based on orbital localization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hégely, Bence; Nagy, Péter R.; Ferenczy, György G.; Kállay, Mihály

2016-08-01

Exact schemes for the embedding of density functional theory (DFT) and wave function theory (WFT) methods into lower-level DFT or WFT approaches are introduced utilizing orbital localization. First, a simple modification of the projector-based embedding scheme of Manby and co-workers [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 18A507 (2014)] is proposed. We also use localized orbitals to partition the system, but instead of augmenting the Fock operator with a somewhat arbitrary level-shift projector we solve the Huzinaga-equation, which strictly enforces the Pauli exclusion principle. Second, the embedding of WFT methods in local correlation approaches is studied. Since the latter methods split up the system into local domains, very simple embedding theories can be defined if the domains of the active subsystem and the environment are treated at a different level. The considered embedding schemes are benchmarked for reaction energies and compared to quantum mechanics (QM)/molecular mechanics (MM) and vacuum embedding. We conclude that for DFT-in-DFT embedding, the Huzinaga-equation-based scheme is more efficient than the other approaches, but QM/MM or even simple vacuum embedding is still competitive in particular cases. Concerning the embedding of wave function methods, the clear winner is the embedding of WFT into low-level local correlation approaches, and WFT-in-DFT embedding can only be more advantageous if a non-hybrid density functional is employed.

Two challenges in embedded systems design: predictability and robustness.

PubMed

Henzinger, Thomas A

2008-10-28

I discuss two main challenges in embedded systems design: the challenge to build predictable systems, and that to build robust systems. I suggest how predictability can be formalized as a form of determinism, and robustness as a form of continuity.

Delay differential analysis of time series.

PubMed

Lainscsek, Claudia; Sejnowski, Terrence J

2015-03-01

Nonlinear dynamical system analysis based on embedding theory has been used for modeling and prediction, but it also has applications to signal detection and classification of time series. An embedding creates a multidimensional geometrical object from a single time series. Traditionally either delay or derivative embeddings have been used. The delay embedding is composed of delayed versions of the signal, and the derivative embedding is composed of successive derivatives of the signal. The delay embedding has been extended to nonuniform embeddings to take multiple timescales into account. Both embeddings provide information on the underlying dynamical system without having direct access to all the system variables. Delay differential analysis is based on functional embeddings, a combination of the derivative embedding with nonuniform delay embeddings. Small delay differential equation (DDE) models that best represent relevant dynamic features of time series data are selected from a pool of candidate models for detection or classification. We show that the properties of DDEs support spectral analysis in the time domain where nonlinear correlation functions are used to detect frequencies, frequency and phase couplings, and bispectra. These can be efficiently computed with short time windows and are robust to noise. For frequency analysis, this framework is a multivariate extension of discrete Fourier transform (DFT), and for higher-order spectra, it is a linear and multivariate alternative to multidimensional fast Fourier transform of multidimensional correlations. This method can be applied to short or sparse time series and can be extended to cross-trial and cross-channel spectra if multiple short data segments of the same experiment are available. Together, this time-domain toolbox provides higher temporal resolution, increased frequency and phase coupling information, and it allows an easy and straightforward implementation of higher-order spectra across time compared with frequency-based methods such as the DFT and cross-spectral analysis.

Value of transrectal power Doppler sonography in the detection of low-risk prostate cancers.

PubMed

Sauvain, J-L; Sauvain, E; Rohmer, P; Louis, D; Nader, N; Papavero, R; Bremon, J-M; Jehl, J

2013-01-01

To evaluate the risk of low-risk prostate cancer or prostate cancer that may benefit from surveillance in patients with a PSA level less than 10 ng/ml, a normal digital rectal examination (DRE) and a transrectal power Doppler sonography (PDS) without anomaly. Two hundred and forty-three consecutive patients with a PSA level less than 10 ng/ml and a DRE without anomaly had PDS-guided biopsies: 12 to 15 samples were systematically taken and echo-guided in the suspect areas. The PDS results were rated from 1 to 4: 1: normal, 2: slightly hypoechogenic avascular area in which the hypo-echogenicity disappears after compression by probe, 3: hypoechogenic avascular area, 4: hypoechogenic vascularised area with power Doppler sonography. Patients rated 3 or 4 were considered to be pathological. D'Amico's criteria were used to assess the risk of a biological recurrence after treatment and those of Dall'Era were used to select the patients that could benefit from active surveillance (AS). The PDS was considered to be a true positive if at least one biopsy was positive in the same sextant as the suspect image. In a prospective manner, 106 cancers were diagnosed that could be qualified as low-risk in 84% of the cases (89% with a normal PDS and 79% with an abnormal PDS). Sixty-nine percent of the cases could be subject to AS (86% of the normal PDS cases and 47% of the abnormal PDS cases; P<0.001). The PDS was normal in 159 of the 243 patients (65%). With a normal PDS, there was a 96% probability of not having a high-risk cancer. With an abnormal PDS, at least one biopsy was positive in 57% of the cases and the probability of having a significant cancer was 30% according to the Dall'Era criteria. A significant reduction was noted with a normal PDS, to 36% and 5%, respectively (VPN=95%) (P=0.015). A normal PDS in patients presenting a PSA level less than 10 ng/ml and a DRE without anomaly may be used to put off the indication for a biopsy in order to reduce their number as well as the risks of overtreatment for a latent cancer. Copyright © 2012 Éditions françaises de radiologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A novel urinary long non-coding RNA transcript improves diagnostic accuracy in patients undergoing prostate biopsy.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei; Ren, Shan-Cheng; Shi, Xiao-Lei; Liu, Ya-Wei; Zhu, Ya-Sheng; Jing, Tai-Le; Wang, Fu-Bo; Chen, Rui; Xu, Chuan-Liang; Wang, Hui-Qing; Wang, Hai-Feng; Wang, Yan; Liu, Bing; Li, Yao-Ming; Fang, Zi-Yu; Guo, Fei; Lu, Xin; Shen, Dan; Gao, Xu; Hou, Jian-Guo; Sun, Ying-Hao

2015-05-01

Long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) PCA3 has been a well-established urine biomarker for the detection of prostate cancer (PCa). Our previous study showed a novel LncRNA FR0348383 is up-regulated in over 70% of PCa compared with matched benign tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of urinary FR0348383 for men undergoing prostate biopsy due to elevated PSA (PSA > 4.0 ng/ml) and/or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE). Post-DRE first-catch urine specimens prior to prostate biopsies were prospectively collected. After the whole transcriptome amplification, quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction was applied to quantify urine FR0348383 and PSA levels. The FR0348383 score was calculated as the ratio of PSA and FR0348383 mRNA (PSA mRNA/FR0348383 mRNA × 1000). The diagnostic value of FR0348383 score was evaluated by logistic regression and decision curve analysis. 213 cases with urine samples containing sufficient mRNA were included, 94 cases had serum PSA level 4.0-10.0 ng/ml. PCa was identified in 72 cases. An increasing FR0348383 score was correlated with an increasing probability of a positive biopsy (P < 0.001). Multivariable logistic analysis indicated FR0348383 score (P < 0.001), PSA (P = 0.004), age (P = 0.007), prostate volume (P < 0.001) were independent predictors of PCa. ROC analysis demonstrated FR0348383 score outperformed PSA, %free PSA, and PSA Density in the prediction of PCa in the subgroup of patients with grey area PSA (AUC: 0.815 vs. 0.562 vs. 0.599 vs. 0.645). When using a probability threshold of 30% in the grey zone cohort, The FR0348383 score would save 52.0% of avoidable biopsies without missing any high grade cancers. FR0348383 transcript in post-DRE urine may be a novel biomarker for detection of PCa with great diagnostic value, especially in the grey zone cohort. The application of FR0348383 score in clinical practice might avoid unnecessary prostate biopsies and increase the specificity of PCa diagnosis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The embedded software life cycle - An expanded view

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larman, Brian T.; Loesh, Robert E.

1989-01-01

Six common issues that are encountered in the development of software for embedded computer systems are discussed from the perspective of their interrelationships with the development process and/or the system itself. Particular attention is given to concurrent hardware/software development, prototyping, the inaccessibility of the operational system, fault tolerance, the long life cycle, and inheritance. It is noted that the life cycle for embedded software must include elements beyond simply the specification and implementation of the target software.

Embedded optical interconnect technology in data storage systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitwon, Richard C. A.; Hopkins, Ken; Milward, Dave; Muggeridge, Malcolm

2010-05-01

As both data storage interconnect speeds increase and form factors in hard disk drive technologies continue to shrink, the density of printed channels on the storage array midplane goes up. The dominant interconnect protocol on storage array midplanes is expected to increase to 12 Gb/s by 2012 thereby exacerbating the performance bottleneck in future digital data storage systems. The design challenges inherent to modern data storage systems are discussed and an embedded optical infrastructure proposed to mitigate this bottleneck. The proposed solution is based on the deployment of an electro-optical printed circuit board and active interconnect technology. The connection architecture adopted would allow for electronic line cards with active optical edge connectors to be plugged into and unplugged from a passive electro-optical midplane with embedded polymeric waveguides. A demonstration platform has been developed to assess the viability of embedded electro-optical midplane technology in dense data storage systems and successfully demonstrated at 10.3 Gb/s. Active connectors incorporate optical transceiver interfaces operating at 850 nm and are connected in an in-plane coupling configuration to the embedded waveguides in the midplane. In addition a novel method of passively aligning and assembling passive optical devices to embedded polymer waveguide arrays has also been demonstrated.

Genome Sequence of Vibrio cholerae Strain O1 Ogawa El Tor, Isolated in Mexico, 2013.

PubMed

Díaz-Quiñonez, José Alberto; Hernández-Monroy, Irma; López-Martínez, Irma; Ortiz-Alcántara, Joanna; González-Durán, Elizabeth; Ruiz-Matus, Cuitláhuac; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Ramírez-González, José Ernesto

2014-10-30

We present the draft genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae InDRE 3140 recovered in 2013 during a cholera outbreak in Mexico. The genome showed the Vibrio 7th pandemic islands VSP1 and VSP2, the pathogenic islands VPI-1 and VPI-2, the integrative and conjugative element SXT/R391 (ICE-SXT), and both prophages CTXφ and RS1φ. Copyright © 2014 Díaz-Quiñonez et al.

40 CFR Table I-16 to Subpart I of... - Default Emission Destruction or Removal Efficiency (DRE) Factors for Electronics Manufacturing

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Manufacturing: Plasma Etch/Wafer Clean Process Type: CF4 75 CH3F 97 CHF3 97 CH2F2 97 C2F6 97 C3F8 97 C4F6 97 C4F8 97 C5F8 97 SF6 97 NF3 96 All other carbon-based plasma etch/wafer clean fluorinated GHG 60 Chamber...

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

Hégely, Bence; Nagy, Péter R.; Kállay, Mihály, E-mail: kallay@mail.bme.hu

Exact schemes for the embedding of density functional theory (DFT) and wave function theory (WFT) methods into lower-level DFT or WFT approaches are introduced utilizing orbital localization. First, a simple modification of the projector-based embedding scheme of Manby and co-workers [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 18A507 (2014)] is proposed. We also use localized orbitals to partition the system, but instead of augmenting the Fock operator with a somewhat arbitrary level-shift projector we solve the Huzinaga-equation, which strictly enforces the Pauli exclusion principle. Second, the embedding of WFT methods in local correlation approaches is studied. Since the latter methods split up themore » system into local domains, very simple embedding theories can be defined if the domains of the active subsystem and the environment are treated at a different level. The considered embedding schemes are benchmarked for reaction energies and compared to quantum mechanics (QM)/molecular mechanics (MM) and vacuum embedding. We conclude that for DFT-in-DFT embedding, the Huzinaga-equation-based scheme is more efficient than the other approaches, but QM/MM or even simple vacuum embedding is still competitive in particular cases. Concerning the embedding of wave function methods, the clear winner is the embedding of WFT into low-level local correlation approaches, and WFT-in-DFT embedding can only be more advantageous if a non-hybrid density functional is employed.« less

GPU surface extraction using the closest point embedding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Mark; Hansen, Charles

2015-01-01

Isosurface extraction is a fundamental technique used for both surface reconstruction and mesh generation. One method to extract well-formed isosurfaces is a particle system; unfortunately, particle systems can be slow. In this paper, we introduce an enhanced parallel particle system that uses the closest point embedding as the surface representation to speedup the particle system for isosurface extraction. The closest point embedding is used in the Closest Point Method (CPM), a technique that uses a standard three dimensional numerical PDE solver on two dimensional embedded surfaces. To fully take advantage of the closest point embedding, it is coupled with a Barnes-Hut tree code on the GPU. This new technique produces well-formed, conformal unstructured triangular and tetrahedral meshes from labeled multi-material volume datasets. Further, this new parallel implementation of the particle system is faster than any known methods for conformal multi-material mesh extraction. The resulting speed-ups gained in this implementation can reduce the time from labeled data to mesh from hours to minutes and benefits users, such as bioengineers, who employ triangular and tetrahedral meshes

Estimating the eruptive volume of a large pyroclastic body: the Otowi Member of the Bandelier Tuff, Valles caldera, New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Geoffrey W.; Wolff, John A.; Self, Stephen

2016-02-01

The 1.60 Ma caldera-forming eruption of the Otowi Member of the Bandelier Tuff produced Plinian and coignimbrite fall deposits, outflow and intracaldera ignimbrite, all of it deposited on land. We present a detailed approach to estimating and reconstructing the original volume of the eroded, partly buried large ignimbrite and distal ash-fall deposits. Dense rock equivalent (DRE) volume estimates for the eruption are 89 + 33/-10 km3 of outflow ignimbrite and 144 ± 72 km3 of intracaldera ignimbrite. Also, there was at least 65 km3 (DRE) of Plinian fall when extrapolated distally, and 107 + 40/-12 km3 of coignimbrite ash was "lost" from the outflow sheet to form an unknown proportion of the distal ash fall. The minimum total volume is 216 km3 and the maximum is 550 km3; hence, the eruption overlaps the low end of the super-eruption spectrum (VEI ˜8.0). Despite an abundance of geological data for the Otowi Member, the errors attached to these estimates do not allow us to constrain the proportions of intracaldera (IC), outflow (O), and distal ash (A) to better than a factor of three. We advocate caution in applying the IC/O/A = 1:1:1 relation of Mason et al. (2004) to scaling up mapped volumes of imperfectly preserved caldera-forming ignimbrites.

Jasmonate Regulates the INDUCER OF CBF EXPRESSION–C-REPEAT BINDING FACTOR/DRE BINDING FACTOR1 Cascade and Freezing Tolerance in Arabidopsis[W

PubMed Central

Hu, Yanru; Jiang, Liqun; Wang, Fang; Yu, Diqiu

2013-01-01

The INDUCER OF CBF EXPRESSION (ICE)–C-REPEAT BINDING FACTOR/DRE BINDING FACTOR1 (CBF/DREB1) transcriptional pathway plays a critical role in modulating cold stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Dissecting crucial upstream regulatory signals or components of the ICE-CBF/DREB1 cascade will enhance our understanding of plant cold-tolerance mechanisms. Here, we show that jasmonate positively regulates plant responses to freezing stress in Arabidopsis. Exogenous application of jasmonate significantly enhanced plant freezing tolerance with or without cold acclimation. By contrast, blocking endogenous jasmonate biosynthesis and signaling rendered plants hypersensitive to freezing stress. Consistent with the positive role of jasmonate in freezing stress, production of endogenous jasmonate was triggered by cold treatment. In addition, cold induction of genes acting in the CBF/DREB1 signaling pathway was upregulated by jasmonate. Further investigation revealed that several JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins, the repressors of jasmonate signaling, physically interact with ICE1 and ICE2 transcription factors. JAZ1 and JAZ4 repress the transcriptional function of ICE1, thereby attenuating the expression of its regulon. Consistent with this, overexpression of JAZ1 or JAZ4 represses freezing stress responses of Arabidopsis. Taken together, our study provides evidence that jasmonate functions as a critical upstream signal of the ICE-CBF/DREB1 pathway to positively regulate Arabidopsis freezing tolerance. PMID:23933884

Jasmonate regulates the inducer of cbf expression-C-repeat binding factor/DRE binding factor1 cascade and freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Hu, Yanru; Jiang, Liqun; Wang, Fang; Yu, Diqiu

2013-08-01

The inducer of cbf expression (ICE)-C-repeat binding factor/DRE binding factor1 (CBF/DREB1) transcriptional pathway plays a critical role in modulating cold stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Dissecting crucial upstream regulatory signals or components of the ICE-CBF/DREB1 cascade will enhance our understanding of plant cold-tolerance mechanisms. Here, we show that jasmonate positively regulates plant responses to freezing stress in Arabidopsis. Exogenous application of jasmonate significantly enhanced plant freezing tolerance with or without cold acclimation. By contrast, blocking endogenous jasmonate biosynthesis and signaling rendered plants hypersensitive to freezing stress. Consistent with the positive role of jasmonate in freezing stress, production of endogenous jasmonate was triggered by cold treatment. In addition, cold induction of genes acting in the CBF/DREB1 signaling pathway was upregulated by jasmonate. Further investigation revealed that several jasmonate ZIM-domain (JAZ) proteins, the repressors of jasmonate signaling, physically interact with ICE1 and ICE2 transcription factors. JAZ1 and JAZ4 repress the transcriptional function of ICE1, thereby attenuating the expression of its regulon. Consistent with this, overexpression of JAZ1 or JAZ4 represses freezing stress responses of Arabidopsis. Taken together, our study provides evidence that jasmonate functions as a critical upstream signal of the ICE-CBF/DREB1 pathway to positively regulate Arabidopsis freezing tolerance.

Effects and possible mechanisms of simulated-microgravity on zebrafish embryonic cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hang, Xiaoming; Sun, Yeqing; Wu, Di; Li, Yixiao; Wang, Ruonan

2016-07-01

Cellular level studies are helpful for revealing the underlying mechanisms of microgravity effects on living organisms. Many cell types, ranging from bacteria to mammalian cells, are sensitive to the microgravity environment. In this study, zebrafish embryonic cells (ZF4) were exposed to simulated-microgravity (SMG) for different times to investigate the effects and possible mechanisms of microgravity on fibroblasts. A significant arrest in G2/M phase was detected in ZF4 cells after 24 or 48 hour of SMG exposure, respectively. The mRNA levels of G2/M phase regulators cyclinB1 and cdc2 were significantly decreased, while wee1 was significantly increased. Additionally, CEP135, a core centrosome protein throughout the cell cycle, seems to play a key role in modulating this effect. Quantitative analysis showed that cep135 expression was significantly increased, while CEP135 protein expression level was significantly decreased two times after SMG. Further investigation demonstrated the transfection of dre-miR-22a, a miRNA for targeting cep135, also induced G2/M arrest in ZF4 cells. These results suggest that SMG induced G2/M arrest in ZF4 cells may due to the regulation of dre-miR-22a and its target cep135. Key Words: Simulated-microgravity; zebrafish embryonic cell; G2/M arrest; molecular mechanism

Analysis of urinary PSA glycosylation is not indicative of high-risk prostate cancer.

PubMed

Barrabés, Sílvia; Llop, Esther; Ferrer-Batallé, Montserrat; Ramírez, Manel; Aleixandre, Rosa N; Perry, Antoinette S; de Llorens, Rafael; Peracaula, Rosa

2017-07-01

The levels of core fucosylation and α2,3-linked sialic acid in serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), using the lectins Pholiota squarrosa lectin (PhoSL) and Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA), can discriminate between Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and indolent prostate cancer (PCa) from aggressive PCa. In the present work we evaluated whether these glycosylation determinants could also be altered in urinary PSA obtained after digital rectal examination (DRE) and could also be useful for diagnosis determinations. For this purpose, α2,6-sialic acid and α1,6-fucose levels of urinary PSA from 53 patients, 18 biopsy-negative and 35 PCa patients of different aggressiveness degree, were analyzed by sandwich ELLA (Enzyme Linked Lectin Assay) using PhoSL and SNA. Changes in the levels of specific glycosylation determinants, that in serum PSA samples were indicative of PCa aggressiveness, were not found in PSA from DRE urine samples. Although urine is a simpler matrix for analyzing PSA glycosylation compared to serum, an immunopurification step was necessary to specifically detect the glycans on the PSA molecule. Those specific glycosylation determinants on urinary PSA were however not useful to improve PCa diagnosis. This could be probably due to the low proportion of PSA from the tumor in urine samples, which precludes the identification of aberrantly glycosylated PSA. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Can Prostate-Specific Antigen Kinetics before Prostate Biopsy Predict the Malignant Potential of Prostate Cancer?

PubMed

Kim, Sang Jin; Jeong, Tae Yoong; Yoo, Dae Seon; Park, Jinsung; Cho, Seok; Kang, Seok Ho; Lee, Sang Hyub; Jeon, Seung Hyun; Lee, Tchun Yong; Park, Sung Yul

2015-11-01

To predict the malignant potential of prostate cancer (PCa) according to prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV), PSA density (PSAD), free/total PSA ratio (%fPSA), and digital rectal examination (DRE). From January 2009 to December 2012, 548 adult male patients were diagnosed with PCa by prostate biopsy at four hospitals in Korea. We retrospectively analyzed 155 adult male patients with an initial PSA level≤10 ng/mL and whose PSA levels had been checked more than two times at least 6 months before they had been diagnosed with PCa, with test intervals of more than 3 months. Patients with a urinary tract infection, and patients who had previously undergone cystoscopy or surgery of the prostate were excluded. We separated patients into two groups according to Gleason sum [Gleason sum≤7 (n=134) or Gleason sum≥8 (n=21)] and the presence of extracapsular invasion [organ confined (n=129) or extracapsular invasion (n=26)]. Differences between the groups were compared. The group with a Gleason sum≥8 or extracapsular invasion of PCa showed high PSAV and significantly lower %fPSA. There were no significant differences in PSAD and the presence of an abnormality on DRE between two groups. In PCa patients treated with other therapies besides prostatectomy, a high PSA velocity and a low %fPSA may predict high grade PCa with a Gleason sum≥8 or the presence of extracapsular invasion.

N-acetylglucosamine-Mediated Expression of nagA and nagB in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

PubMed

Afzal, Muhammad; Shafeeq, Sulman; Manzoor, Irfan; Henriques-Normark, Birgitta; Kuipers, Oscar P

2016-01-01

In this study, we have explored the transcriptomic response of Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 to N-acetylglucosamine (NAG). Transcriptome comparison of S. pneumoniae D39 wild-type grown in chemically defined medium (CDM) in the presence of 0.5% NAG to that grown in the presence of 0.5% glucose revealed elevated expression of many genes/operons, including nagA, nagB, manLMN , and nanP . We have further confirmed the NAG-dependent expression of nagA, nagB, manLMN , and nanP by β-galactosidase assays. nagA, nagB and glmS are putatively regulated by a transcriptional regulator NagR. We predicted the operator site of NagR ( dre site) in P nagA , P nagB , and P glmS , which was further confirmed by mutating the predicted dre site in the respective promoters ( nagA, nagB , and glmS ). Growth comparison of Δ nagA , Δ nagB , and Δ glmS with the D39 wild-type demonstrates that nagA and nagB are essential for S. pneumoniae D39 to grow in the presence of NAG as a sole carbon source. Furthermore, deletion of ccpA shows that CcpA has no effect on the expression of nagA, nagB , and glmS in the presence of NAG in S . pneumoniae .

N-acetylglucosamine-Mediated Expression of nagA and nagB in Streptococcus pneumoniae

PubMed Central

Afzal, Muhammad; Shafeeq, Sulman; Manzoor, Irfan; Henriques-Normark, Birgitta; Kuipers, Oscar P.

2016-01-01

In this study, we have explored the transcriptomic response of Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 to N-acetylglucosamine (NAG). Transcriptome comparison of S. pneumoniae D39 wild-type grown in chemically defined medium (CDM) in the presence of 0.5% NAG to that grown in the presence of 0.5% glucose revealed elevated expression of many genes/operons, including nagA, nagB, manLMN, and nanP. We have further confirmed the NAG-dependent expression of nagA, nagB, manLMN, and nanP by β-galactosidase assays. nagA, nagB and glmS are putatively regulated by a transcriptional regulator NagR. We predicted the operator site of NagR (dre site) in PnagA, PnagB, and PglmS, which was further confirmed by mutating the predicted dre site in the respective promoters (nagA, nagB, and glmS). Growth comparison of ΔnagA, ΔnagB, and ΔglmS with the D39 wild-type demonstrates that nagA and nagB are essential for S. pneumoniae D39 to grow in the presence of NAG as a sole carbon source. Furthermore, deletion of ccpA shows that CcpA has no effect on the expression of nagA, nagB, and glmS in the presence of NAG in S. pneumoniae. PMID:27900287

Spacesuit Data Display and Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, David G.; Sells, Aaron; Shah, Hemal

2009-01-01

A prototype embedded avionics system has been designed for the next generation of NASA extra-vehicular-activity (EVA) spacesuits. The system performs biomedical and other sensor monitoring, image capture, data display, and data transmission. An existing NASA Phase I and II award winning design for an embedded computing system (ZIN vMetrics - BioWATCH) has been modified. The unit has a reliable, compact form factor with flexible packaging options. These innovations are significant, because current state-of-the-art EVA spacesuits do not provide capability for data displays or embedded data acquisition and management. The Phase 1 effort achieved Technology Readiness Level 4 (high fidelity breadboard demonstration). The breadboard uses a commercial-grade field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with embedded processor core that can be upgraded to a space-rated device for future revisions.

Nested Interrupt Analysis of Low Cost and High Performance Embedded Systems Using GSPN Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Cheng-Min

Interrupt service routines are a key technology for embedded systems. In this paper, we introduce the standard approach for using Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPNs) as a high-level model for generating CTMC Continuous-Time Markov Chains (CTMCs) and then use Markov Reward Models (MRMs) to compute the performance for embedded systems. This framework is employed to analyze two embedded controllers with low cost and high performance, ARM7 and Cortex-M3. Cortex-M3 is designed with a tail-chaining mechanism to improve the performance of ARM7 when a nested interrupt occurs on an embedded controller. The Platform Independent Petri net Editor 2 (PIPE2) tool is used to model and evaluate the controllers in terms of power consumption and interrupt overhead performance. Using numerical results, in spite of the power consumption or interrupt overhead, Cortex-M3 performs better than ARM7.

Constraint Embedding for Multibody System Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jain, Abhinandan

2009-01-01

This paper describes a constraint embedding approach for the handling of local closure constraints in multibody system dynamics. The approach uses spatial operator techniques to eliminate local-loop constraints from the system and effectively convert the system into tree-topology systems. This approach allows the direct derivation of recursive O(N) techniques for solving the system dynamics and avoiding the expensive steps that would otherwise be required for handling the closedchain dynamics. The approach is very effective for systems where the constraints are confined to small-subgraphs within the system topology. The paper provides background on the spatial operator O(N) algorithms, the extensions for handling embedded constraints, and concludes with some examples of such constraints.

Development of a patch type embedded cardiac function monitoring system using dual microprocessor for arrhythmia detection in heart disease patient.

PubMed

Jang, Yongwon; Noh, Hyung Wook; Lee, I B; Jung, Ji-Wook; Song, Yoonseon; Lee, Sooyeul; Kim, Seunghwan

2012-01-01

A patch type embedded cardiac function monitoring system was developed to detect arrhythmias such as PVC (Premature Ventricular Contraction), pause, ventricular fibrillation, and tachy/bradycardia. The overall system is composed of a main module including a dual processor and a Bluetooth telecommunication module. The dual microprocessor strategy minimizes power consumption and size, and guarantees the resources of embedded software programs. The developed software was verified with standard DB, and showed good performance.

Applied research of embedded WiFi technology in the motion capture system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gui, Haixia

2012-04-01

Embedded wireless WiFi technology is one of the current wireless hot spots in network applications. This paper firstly introduces the definition and characteristics of WiFi. With the advantages of WiFi such as using no wiring, simple operation and stable transmission, this paper then gives a system design for the application of embedded wireless WiFi technology in the motion capture system. Also, it verifies the effectiveness of design in the WiFi-based wireless sensor hardware and software program.

Embedded Hyperchaotic Generators: A Comparative Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadoudi, Said; Tanougast, Camel; Azzaz, Mohamad Salah; Dandache, Abbas

In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of FPGA implementation performances, in terms of throughput and resources cost, of five well known autonomous continuous hyperchaotic systems. The goal of this analysis is to identify the embedded hyperchaotic generator which leads to designs with small logic area cost, satisfactory throughput rates, low power consumption and low latency required for embedded applications such as secure digital communications between embedded systems. To implement the four-dimensional (4D) chaotic systems, we use a new structural hardware architecture based on direct VHDL description of the forth order Runge-Kutta method (RK-4). The comparative analysis shows that the hyperchaotic Lorenz generator provides attractive performances compared to that of others. In fact, its hardware implementation requires only 2067 CLB-slices, 36 multipliers and no block RAMs, and achieves a throughput rate of 101.6 Mbps, at the output of the FPGA circuit, at a clock frequency of 25.315 MHz with a low latency time of 316 ns. Consequently, these good implementation performances offer to the embedded hyperchaotic Lorenz generator the advantage of being the best candidate for embedded communications applications.

Sustained release of VEGF from PLGA nanoparticles embedded thermo-sensitive hydrogel in full-thickness porcine bladder acellular matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geng, Hongquan; Song, Hua; Qi, Jun; Cui, Daxiang

2011-12-01

We fabricated a novel vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-loaded poly(lactic- co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-nanoparticles (NPs)-embedded thermo-sensitive hydrogel in porcine bladder acellular matrix allograft (BAMA) system, which is designed for achieving a sustained release of VEGF protein, and embedding the protein carrier into the BAMA. We identified and optimized various formulations and process parameters to get the preferred particle size, entrapment, and polydispersibility of the VEGF-NPs, and incorporated the VEGF-NPs into the (poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (Pluronic®) F127 to achieve the preferred VEGF-NPs thermo-sensitive gel system. Then the thermal behavior of the system was proven by in vitro and in vivo study, and the kinetic-sustained release profile of the system embedded in porcine bladder acellular matrix was investigated. Results indicated that the bioactivity of the encapsulated VEGF released from the NPs was reserved, and the VEGF-NPs thermo-sensitive gel system can achieve sol-gel transmission successfully at appropriate temperature. Furthermore, the system can create a satisfactory tissue-compatible environment and an effective VEGF-sustained release approach. In conclusion, a novel VEGF-loaded PLGA NPs-embedded thermo-sensitive hydrogel in porcine BAMA system is successfully prepared, to provide a promising way for deficient bladder reconstruction therapy.

Grinding Wheel System

DOEpatents

Malkin, Stephen; Gao, Robert; Guo, Changsheng; Varghese, Biju; Pathare, Sumukh

2003-08-05

A grinding wheel system includes a grinding wheel with at least one embedded sensor. The system also includes an adapter disk containing electronics that process signals produced by each embedded sensor and that transmits sensor information to a data processing platform for further processing of the transmitted information.

Grinding Wheel System

DOEpatents

Malkin, Stephen; Gao, Robert; Guo, Changsheng; Varghese, Biju; Pathare, Sumukh

2006-01-10

A grinding wheel system includes a grinding wheel with at least one embedded sensor. The system also includes an adapter disk containing electronics that process signals produced by each embedded sensor and that transmits sensor information to a data processing platform for further processing of the transmitted information.

Logic flowgraph methodology - A tool for modeling embedded systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Muthukumar, C. T.; Guarro, S. B.; Apostolakis, G. E.

1991-01-01

The logic flowgraph methodology (LFM), a method for modeling hardware in terms of its process parameters, has been extended to form an analytical tool for the analysis of integrated (hardware/software) embedded systems. In the software part of a given embedded system model, timing and the control flow among different software components are modeled by augmenting LFM with modified Petrinet structures. The objective of the use of such an augmented LFM model is to uncover possible errors and the potential for unanticipated software/hardware interactions. This is done by backtracking through the augmented LFM mode according to established procedures which allow the semiautomated construction of fault trees for any chosen state of the embedded system (top event). These fault trees, in turn, produce the possible combinations of lower-level states (events) that may lead to the top event.

HERA: A New Platform for Embedding Agents in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alonso, Ricardo S.; de Paz, Juan F.; García, Óscar; Gil, Óscar; González, Angélica

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) based systems require the development of innovative solutions that integrate distributed intelligent systems with context-aware technologies. In this sense, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are two key technologies for developing distributed systems based on AmI scenarios. This paper presents the new HERA (Hardware-Embedded Reactive Agents) platform, that allows using dynamic and self-adaptable heterogeneous WSNs on which agents are directly embedded on the wireless nodes This approach facilitates the inclusion of context-aware capabilities in AmI systems to gather data from their surrounding environments, achieving a higher level of ubiquitous and pervasive computing.

Speculation detection for Chinese clinical notes: Impacts of word segmentation and embedding models.

PubMed

Zhang, Shaodian; Kang, Tian; Zhang, Xingting; Wen, Dong; Elhadad, Noémie; Lei, Jianbo

2016-04-01

Speculations represent uncertainty toward certain facts. In clinical texts, identifying speculations is a critical step of natural language processing (NLP). While it is a nontrivial task in many languages, detecting speculations in Chinese clinical notes can be particularly challenging because word segmentation may be necessary as an upstream operation. The objective of this paper is to construct a state-of-the-art speculation detection system for Chinese clinical notes and to investigate whether embedding features and word segmentations are worth exploiting toward this overall task. We propose a sequence labeling based system for speculation detection, which relies on features from bag of characters, bag of words, character embedding, and word embedding. We experiment on a novel dataset of 36,828 clinical notes with 5103 gold-standard speculation annotations on 2000 notes, and compare the systems in which word embeddings are calculated based on word segmentations given by general and by domain specific segmenters respectively. Our systems are able to reach performance as high as 92.2% measured by F score. We demonstrate that word segmentation is critical to produce high quality word embedding to facilitate downstream information extraction applications, and suggest that a domain dependent word segmenter can be vital to such a clinical NLP task in Chinese language. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The embedded operating system project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, R. H.

1984-01-01

This progress report describes research towards the design and construction of embedded operating systems for real-time advanced aerospace applications. The applications concerned require reliable operating system support that must accommodate networks of computers. The report addresses the problems of constructing such operating systems, the communications media, reconfiguration, consistency and recovery in a distributed system, and the issues of realtime processing. A discussion is included on suitable theoretical foundations for the use of atomic actions to support fault tolerance and data consistency in real-time object-based systems. In particular, this report addresses: atomic actions, fault tolerance, operating system structure, program development, reliability and availability, and networking issues. This document reports the status of various experiments designed and conducted to investigate embedded operating system design issues.

Method and apparatus for decoupled thermo-catalytic pollution control

DOEpatents

Tabatabaie-Raissi, Ali; Muradov, Nazim Z.; Martin, Eric

2006-07-11

A new method for design and scale-up of thermocatalytic processes is disclosed. The method is based on optimizing process energetics by decoupling of the process energetics from the DRE for target contaminants. The technique is applicable to high temperature thermocatalytic reactor design and scale-up. The method is based on the implementation of polymeric and other low-pressure drop support for thermocatalytic media as well as the multifunctional catalytic media in conjunction with a novel rotating fluidized particle bed reactor.

Annual Progress Report, October 1, 1982 - September 15, 1983 on Contract N00014-79-C-0126,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-15

bulk of bound Na+ (i.e., 77/) ar displaced by 300 rrM guar =dre. However, at 100 mrM concentration, the most effective displacement was not guanidine...polyvinylmethylether (PVME), and a counter and expressed as a ratio to thenumber of native gums , polysaccharides, etc.A labelled Na" concentration in...precipitation and deterioration of the organic components in the GIB medium. The GIB medium was obtained in sterile dry powder form from Grand Island

AIS Data Base Generation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-04-01

intelligence and Reconnaissance Djvisi F~~THE COM&NADER: If your addres a"s cbagd (m If ymo wisn = be remwd f r t-e RAMC m Iins Liac, or if the adresme I...information content? 2. How reliable is the source? 3. How "credible" is the data? His evaluations of incoming information are based on his cognitive...therefC)re, dre 2-2 evaluated in the light of the needs and requirements of the particular intelligence activities they are to serve. The OSI approach

Research on memory management in embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Xian-ying; Yang, Wu

2005-12-01

Memory is a scarce resource in embedded system due to cost and size. Thus, applications in embedded systems cannot use memory randomly, such as in desktop applications. However, data and code must be stored into memory for running. The purpose of this paper is to save memory in developing embedded applications and guarantee running under limited memory conditions. Embedded systems often have small memory and are required to run a long time. Thus, a purpose of this study is to construct an allocator that can allocate memory effectively and bear a long-time running situation, reduce memory fragmentation and memory exhaustion. Memory fragmentation and exhaustion are related to the algorithm memory allocated. Static memory allocation cannot produce fragmentation. In this paper it is attempted to find an effective allocation algorithm dynamically, which can reduce memory fragmentation. Data is the critical part that ensures an application can run regularly, which takes up a large amount of memory. The amount of data that can be stored in the same size of memory is relevant with the selected data structure. Skills for designing application data in mobile phone are explained and discussed also.

Self-consistent Green's function embedding for advanced electronic structure methods based on a dynamical mean-field concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chibani, Wael; Ren, Xinguo; Scheffler, Matthias; Rinke, Patrick

2016-04-01

We present an embedding scheme for periodic systems that facilitates the treatment of the physically important part (here a unit cell or a supercell) with advanced electronic structure methods, that are computationally too expensive for periodic systems. The rest of the periodic system is treated with computationally less demanding approaches, e.g., Kohn-Sham density-functional theory, in a self-consistent manner. Our scheme is based on the concept of dynamical mean-field theory formulated in terms of Green's functions. Our real-space dynamical mean-field embedding scheme features two nested Dyson equations, one for the embedded cluster and another for the periodic surrounding. The total energy is computed from the resulting Green's functions. The performance of our scheme is demonstrated by treating the embedded region with hybrid functionals and many-body perturbation theory in the GW approach for simple bulk systems. The total energy and the density of states converge rapidly with respect to the computational parameters and approach their bulk limit with increasing cluster (i.e., computational supercell) size.

Analyzing Software Requirements Errors in Safety-Critical, Embedded Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutz, Robyn R.

1993-01-01

This paper analyzes the root causes of safety-related software errors in safety-critical, embedded systems. The results show that software errors identified as potentially hazardous to the system tend to be produced by different error mechanisms than non- safety-related software errors. Safety-related software errors are shown to arise most commonly from (1) discrepancies between the documented requirements specifications and the requirements needed for correct functioning of the system and (2) misunderstandings of the software's interface with the rest of the system. The paper uses these results to identify methods by which requirements errors can be prevented. The goal is to reduce safety-related software errors and to enhance the safety of complex, embedded systems.

Design method of ARM based embedded iris recognition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuanbo; He, Yuqing; Hou, Yushi; Liu, Ting

2008-03-01

With the advantages of non-invasiveness, uniqueness, stability and low false recognition rate, iris recognition has been successfully applied in many fields. Up to now, most of the iris recognition systems are based on PC. However, a PC is not portable and it needs more power. In this paper, we proposed an embedded iris recognition system based on ARM. Considering the requirements of iris image acquisition and recognition algorithm, we analyzed the design method of the iris image acquisition module, designed the ARM processing module and its peripherals, studied the Linux platform and the recognition algorithm based on this platform, finally actualized the design method of ARM-based iris imaging and recognition system. Experimental results show that the ARM platform we used is fast enough to run the iris recognition algorithm, and the data stream can flow smoothly between the camera and the ARM chip based on the embedded Linux system. It's an effective method of using ARM to actualize portable embedded iris recognition system.

Embedded biofilm, a new biofilm model based on the embedded growth of bacteria.

PubMed

Jung, Yong-Gyun; Choi, Jungil; Kim, Soo-Kyoung; Lee, Joon-Hee; Kwon, Sunghoon

2015-01-01

A variety of systems have been developed to study biofilm formation. However, most systems are based on the surface-attached growth of microbes under shear stress. In this study, we designed a microfluidic channel device, called a microfluidic agarose channel (MAC), and found that microbial cells in the MAC system formed an embedded cell aggregative structure (ECAS). ECASs were generated from the embedded growth of bacterial cells in an agarose matrix and better mimicked the clinical environment of biofilms formed within mucus or host tissue under shear-free conditions. ECASs were developed with the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), the most important feature of biofilms, and eventually burst to release planktonic cells, which resembles the full developmental cycle of biofilms. Chemical and genetic effects have also confirmed that ECASs are a type of biofilm. Unlike the conventional biofilms formed in the flow cell model system, this embedded-type biofilm completes the developmental cycle in only 9 to 12 h and can easily be observed with ordinary microscopes. We suggest that ECASs are a type of biofilm and that the MAC is a system for observing biofilm formation. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Influence of Parameters of a Reactive Interatomic Potential on the Properties of Saturated Hydrocarbons

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

Methodology 3 2.1 Modified Embedded-Atom Method Theory 3 2.1.1 Embedding Energy Function 3 2.1.2 Screening Factor 8 2.1.3 Modified Embedded-Atom...Simulation Methodology 2.1 Modified Embedded-Atom Method Theory In the EAM and MEAM formalisms1,2,5 the total energy of a system of atoms (Etot) is...An interatomic potential for saturated hydrocarbons using the modified embedded-atom method (MEAM), a semiempirical many-body potential based on

Research about Memory Detection Based on the Embedded Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Hao; Chu, Jian

As is known to us all, the resources of memory detection of the embedded systems are very limited. Taking the Linux-based embedded arm as platform, this article puts forward two efficient memory detection technologies according to the characteristics of the embedded software. Especially for the programs which need specific libraries, the article puts forwards portable memory detection methods to help program designers to reduce human errors,improve programming quality and therefore make better use of the valuable embedded memory resource.

High-speed event detector for embedded nanopore bio-systems.

PubMed

Huang, Yiyun; Magierowski, Sebastian; Ghafar-Zadeh, Ebrahim; Wang, Chengjie

2015-08-01

Biological measurements of microscopic phenomena often deal with discrete-event signals. The ability to automatically carry out such measurements at high-speed in a miniature embedded system is desirable but compromised by high-frequency noise along with practical constraints on filter quality and sampler resolution. This paper presents a real-time event-detection method in the context of nanopore sensing that helps to mitigate these drawbacks and allows accurate signal processing in an embedded system. Simulations show at least a 10× improvement over existing on-line detection methods.

Implementing technology-based embedded assessment in the home and community life of individuals aging with disabilities: a participatory research and development study.

PubMed

Chen, Ke-Yu; Harniss, Mark; Patel, Shwetak; Johnson, Kurt

2014-03-01

The goal of the study was to investigate the accuracy, feasibility and acceptability of implementing an embedded assessment system in the homes of individuals aging with disabilities. We developed and studied a location tracking system, UbiTrack, which can be used for both indoor and outdoor location sensing. The system was deployed in the homes of five participants with spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and late effects of polio. We collected sensor data throughout the deployment, conducted pre and post interviews and collected weekly diaries to measure ground truth. The system was deployed successfully although there were challenges related to system installation and calibration. System accuracy ranged from 62% to 87% depending upon room configuration and number of wireless access points installed. In general, participants reported that the system was easy to use, did not require significant effort on their part and did not interfere with their daily lives. Embedded assessment has great potential as a mechanism to gather ongoing information about the health of individuals aging with disabilities; however, there are significant challenges to its implementation in real-world settings with people with disabilities that will need to be resolved before it can be practically implemented. Technology-based embedded assessment has the potential to promote health for adults with disabilities and allow for aging in place. It may also reduce the difficulty, cost and intrusiveness of health measurement. Many new commercial and non-commercial products are available to support embedded assessment; however, most products have not been well-tested in real-world environments with individuals aging with disability. Community settings and diverse population of people with disabilities pose significant challenges to the implementation of embedded assessment systems.

The Quality of the Embedding Potential Is Decisive for Minimal Quantum Region Size in Embedding Calculations: The Case of the Green Fluorescent Protein.

PubMed

Nåbo, Lina J; Olsen, Jógvan Magnus Haugaard; Martínez, Todd J; Kongsted, Jacob

2017-12-12

The calculation of spectral properties for photoactive proteins is challenging because of the large cost of electronic structure calculations on large systems. Mixed quantum mechanical (QM) and molecular mechanical (MM) methods are typically employed to make such calculations computationally tractable. This study addresses the connection between the minimal QM region size and the method used to model the MM region in the calculation of absorption properties-here exemplified for calculations on the green fluorescent protein. We find that polarizable embedding is necessary for a qualitatively correct description of the MM region, and that this enables the use of much smaller QM regions compared to fixed charge electrostatic embedding. Furthermore, absorption intensities converge very slowly with system size and inclusion of effective external field effects in the MM region through polarizabilities is therefore very important. Thus, this embedding scheme enables accurate prediction of intensities for systems that are too large to be treated fully quantum mechanically.

47 CFR 10.440 - Embedded reference prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Embedded reference prohibition. 10.440 Section 10.440 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM Alert Message Requirements § 10.440 Embedded reference prohibition. A CMAS Alert Message processed by a...

47 CFR 10.440 - Embedded reference prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Embedded reference prohibition. 10.440 Section 10.440 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM Alert Message Requirements § 10.440 Embedded reference prohibition. A CMAS Alert Message processed by a...

47 CFR 10.440 - Embedded reference prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Embedded reference prohibition. 10.440 Section 10.440 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM Alert Message Requirements § 10.440 Embedded reference prohibition. A CMAS Alert Message processed by a...

Platform for real-time simulation of dynamic systems and hardware-in-the-loop for control algorithms.

PubMed

de Souza, Isaac D T; Silva, Sergio N; Teles, Rafael M; Fernandes, Marcelo A C

2014-10-15

The development of new embedded algorithms for automation and control of industrial equipment usually requires the use of real-time testing. However, the equipment required is often expensive, which means that such tests are often not viable. The objective of this work was therefore to develop an embedded platform for the distributed real-time simulation of dynamic systems. This platform, called the Real-Time Simulator for Dynamic Systems (RTSDS), could be applied in both industrial and academic environments. In industrial applications, the RTSDS could be used to optimize embedded control algorithms. In the academic sphere, it could be used to support research into new embedded solutions for automation and control and could also be used as a tool to assist in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching related to the development of projects concerning on-board control systems.

Platform for Real-Time Simulation of Dynamic Systems and Hardware-in-the-Loop for Control Algorithms

PubMed Central

de Souza, Isaac D. T.; Silva, Sergio N.; Teles, Rafael M.; Fernandes, Marcelo A. C.

2014-01-01

The development of new embedded algorithms for automation and control of industrial equipment usually requires the use of real-time testing. However, the equipment required is often expensive, which means that such tests are often not viable. The objective of this work was therefore to develop an embedded platform for the distributed real-time simulation of dynamic systems. This platform, called the Real-Time Simulator for Dynamic Systems (RTSDS), could be applied in both industrial and academic environments. In industrial applications, the RTSDS could be used to optimize embedded control algorithms. In the academic sphere, it could be used to support research into new embedded solutions for automation and control and could also be used as a tool to assist in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching related to the development of projects concerning on-board control systems. PMID:25320906

Noncontact power/interrogation system for smart structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spillman, William B., Jr.; Durkee, S.

1994-05-01

The field of smart structures has been largely driven by the development of new high performance designed materials. Use of these materials has been generally limited due to the fact that they have not been in use long enough for statistical data bases to be developed on their failure modes. Real time health monitoring is therefore required for the benefits of structures using these materials to be realized. In this paper a non-contact method of powering and interrogating embedded electronic and opto-electronic systems is described. The technique utilizes inductive coupling between external and embedded coils etched on thin electronic circuit cards. The technique can be utilized to interrogate embedded sensors and to provide > 250 mW for embedded electronics. The system has been successfully demonstrated with a number of composite and plastic materials through material thicknesses up to 1 cm. An analytical description of the system is provided along with experimental results.

Evaluation of Embedded System Component Utilized in Delivery Integrated Design Project Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Junid, Syed Abdul Mutalib Al; Hussaini, Yusnira; Nazmie Osman, Fairul; Razak, Abdul Hadi Abdul; Idros, Mohd Faizul Md; Karimi Halim, Abdul

2018-03-01

This paper reports the evaluation of the embedded system component utilized in delivering the integrated electronic engineering design project course. The evaluation is conducted based on the report project submitted as to fulfil the assessment criteria for the integrated electronic engineering design project course named; engineering system design. Six projects were assessed in this evaluation. The evaluation covers the type of controller, programming language and the number of embedded component utilization as well. From the evaluation, the C-programming based language is the best solution preferred by the students which provide them flexibility in the programming. Moreover, the Analog to Digital converter is intensively used in the projects which include sensors in their proposed design. As a conclusion, in delivering the integrated design project course, the knowledge over the embedded system solution is very important since the high density of the knowledge acquired in accomplishing the project assigned.

Embedded CLIPS for SDI BM/C3 simulation and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gossage, Brett; Nanney, Van

1990-01-01

Nichols Research Corporation is developing the BM/C3 Requirements Analysis Tool (BRAT) for the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command. BRAT uses embedded CLIPS/Ada to model the decision making processes used by the human commander of a defense system. Embedding CLlPS/Ada in BRAT allows the user to explore the role of the human in Command and Control (C2) and the use of expert systems for automated C2. BRAT models assert facts about the current state of the system, the simulated scenario, and threat information into CLIPS/Ada. A user-defined rule set describes the decision criteria for the commander. We have extended CLIPS/Ada with user-defined functions that allow the firing of a rule to invoke a system action such as weapons release or a change in strategy. The use of embedded CLIPS/Ada will provide a powerful modeling tool for our customer at minimal cost.

Extending density functional embedding theory for covalently bonded systems.

PubMed

Yu, Kuang; Carter, Emily A

2017-12-19

Quantum embedding theory aims to provide an efficient solution to obtain accurate electronic energies for systems too large for full-scale, high-level quantum calculations. It adopts a hierarchical approach that divides the total system into a small embedded region and a larger environment, using different levels of theory to describe each part. Previously, we developed a density-based quantum embedding theory called density functional embedding theory (DFET), which achieved considerable success in metals and semiconductors. In this work, we extend DFET into a density-matrix-based nonlocal form, enabling DFET to study the stronger quantum couplings between covalently bonded subsystems. We name this theory density-matrix functional embedding theory (DMFET), and we demonstrate its performance in several test examples that resemble various real applications in both chemistry and biochemistry. DMFET gives excellent results in all cases tested thus far, including predicting isomerization energies, proton transfer energies, and highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gaps for local chromophores. Here, we show that DMFET systematically improves the quality of the results compared with the widely used state-of-the-art methods, such as the simple capped cluster model or the widely used ONIOM method.

Development of a wireless MEMS multifunction sensor system and field demonstration of embedded sensors for monitoring concrete pavements, volume II

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-01

This two-pronged study evaluated the performance of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) micro-electromechanical sensors and systems (MEMS) embedded in concrete pavement (Final Report Volume I) and developed a wireless MEMS multifunctional sensor system f...

Recurrent neural networks with specialized word embeddings for health-domain named-entity recognition.

PubMed

Jauregi Unanue, Iñigo; Zare Borzeshi, Ehsan; Piccardi, Massimo

2017-12-01

Previous state-of-the-art systems on Drug Name Recognition (DNR) and Clinical Concept Extraction (CCE) have focused on a combination of text "feature engineering" and conventional machine learning algorithms such as conditional random fields and support vector machines. However, developing good features is inherently heavily time-consuming. Conversely, more modern machine learning approaches such as recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have proved capable of automatically learning effective features from either random assignments or automated word "embeddings". (i) To create a highly accurate DNR and CCE system that avoids conventional, time-consuming feature engineering. (ii) To create richer, more specialized word embeddings by using health domain datasets such as MIMIC-III. (iii) To evaluate our systems over three contemporary datasets. Two deep learning methods, namely the Bidirectional LSTM and the Bidirectional LSTM-CRF, are evaluated. A CRF model is set as the baseline to compare the deep learning systems to a traditional machine learning approach. The same features are used for all the models. We have obtained the best results with the Bidirectional LSTM-CRF model, which has outperformed all previously proposed systems. The specialized embeddings have helped to cover unusual words in DrugBank and MedLine, but not in the i2b2/VA dataset. We present a state-of-the-art system for DNR and CCE. Automated word embeddings has allowed us to avoid costly feature engineering and achieve higher accuracy. Nevertheless, the embeddings need to be retrained over datasets that are adequate for the domain, in order to adequately cover the domain-specific vocabulary. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Embedded real-time operating system micro kernel design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Xiao-hui; Li, Ming-qiang; Wang, Xin-zheng

2005-12-01

Embedded systems usually require a real-time character. Base on an 8051 microcontroller, an embedded real-time operating system micro kernel is proposed consisting of six parts, including a critical section process, task scheduling, interruption handle, semaphore and message mailbox communication, clock managent and memory managent. Distributed CPU and other resources are among tasks rationally according to the importance and urgency. The design proposed here provides the position, definition, function and principle of micro kernel. The kernel runs on the platform of an ATMEL AT89C51 microcontroller. Simulation results prove that the designed micro kernel is stable and reliable and has quick response while operating in an application system.

A simplified plastic embedding and immunohistologic technique for immunophenotypic analysis of human hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues.

PubMed Central

Casey, T. T.; Cousar, J. B.; Collins, R. D.

1988-01-01

Routine fixation and paraffin embedding destroys many hematopoietic and lymphoid differentiation antigens detected by flow cytometry or frozen section immunohistochemistry. On the other hand, morphologic evaluation is difficult in flow cytometric or frozen section studies. A simplified three-step plastic embedding system using acetone-fixed tissues embedded in glycol-methacrylate (GMA) resin has been found to provide both excellent morphologic and antigenic preservation. With our system, a wide variety of antigens are detected in plastic sections without trypsinization or prolonged embedding procedures; pan-B (CD19, CD22), pan-T (CD7, CD5, CD3, CD2), T-subset (CD4, CD8, CD1, CD25) markers as well as surface immunoglobulin and markers for myeloid and mononuclear-phagocyte cells are preserved. In summary, modifications of plastic embedding techniques used in this study simplify the procedure, apparently achieve excellent antigenic preservation, and facilitate evaluation of morphologic details in relation to immunocytochemical markers. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 PMID:3282442

SVM classifier on chip for melanoma detection.

PubMed

Afifi, Shereen; GholamHosseini, Hamid; Sinha, Roopak

2017-07-01

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a common classifier used for efficient classification with high accuracy. SVM shows high accuracy for classifying melanoma (skin cancer) clinical images within computer-aided diagnosis systems used by skin cancer specialists to detect melanoma early and save lives. We aim to develop a medical low-cost handheld device that runs a real-time embedded SVM-based diagnosis system for use in primary care for early detection of melanoma. In this paper, an optimized SVM classifier is implemented onto a recent FPGA platform using the latest design methodology to be embedded into the proposed device for realizing online efficient melanoma detection on a single system on chip/device. The hardware implementation results demonstrate a high classification accuracy of 97.9% and a significant acceleration factor of 26 from equivalent software implementation on an embedded processor, with 34% of resources utilization and 2 watts for power consumption. Consequently, the implemented system meets crucial embedded systems constraints of high performance and low cost, resources utilization and power consumption, while achieving high classification accuracy.

Breaking down the barriers of using strong authentication and encryption in resource constrained embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knobler, Ron; Scheffel, Peter; Jackson, Scott; Gaj, Kris; Kaps, Jens Peter

2013-05-01

Various embedded systems, such as unattended ground sensors (UGS), are deployed in dangerous areas, where they are subject to compromise. Since numerous systems contain a network of devices that communicate with each other (often times with commercial off the shelf [COTS] radios), an adversary is able to intercept messages between system devices, which jeopardizes sensitive information transmitted by the system (e.g. location of system devices). Secret key algorithms such as AES are a very common means to encrypt all system messages to a sufficient security level, for which lightweight implementations exist for even very resource constrained devices. However, all system devices must use the appropriate key to encrypt and decrypt messages from each other. While traditional public key algorithms (PKAs), such as RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), provide a sufficiently secure means to provide authentication and a means to exchange keys, these traditional PKAs are not suitable for very resource constrained embedded systems or systems which contain low reliability communication links (e.g. mesh networks), especially as the size of the network increases. Therefore, most UGS and other embedded systems resort to pre-placed keys (PPKs) or other naïve schemes which greatly reduce the security and effectiveness of the overall cryptographic approach. McQ has teamed with the Cryptographic Engineering Research Group (CERG) at George Mason University (GMU) to develop an approach using revolutionary cryptographic techniques that provides both authentication and encryption, but on resource constrained embedded devices, without the burden of large amounts of key distribution or storage.

The DEK oncogene activates VEGF expression and promotes tumor angiogenesis and growth in HIF-1α-dependent and -independent manners

PubMed Central

Li, Yang; Lv, Zhaohui; Zhu, Jie; Lin, Jing; Ding, Lihua; Ye, Qinong

2016-01-01

The DEK oncogene is overexpressed in various cancers and overexpression of DEK correlates with poor clinical outcome. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the most important regulator of tumor angiogenesis, a process essential for tumor growth and metastasis. However, whether DEK enhances tumor angiogenesis remains unclear. Here, we show that DEK is a key regulator of VEGF expression and tumor angiogenesis. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we found that DEK promoted VEGF transcription in breast cancer cells (MCF7, ZR75-1 and MDA-MB-231) by directly binding to putative DEK-responsive element (DRE) of the VEGF promoter and indirectly binding to hypoxia response element (HRE) upstream of the DRE through its interaction with the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), a master regulator of tumor angiogenesis and growth. DEK is responsible for recruitment of HIF-1α and the histone acetyltransferase p300 to the VEGF promoter. DEK-enhanced VEGF increases vascular endothelial cell proliferation, migration and tube formation as well as angiogenesis in the chick chorioallantoic membrane. DEK promotes tumor angiogenesis and growth in nude mice in HIF-1α-dependent and -independent manners. Immunohistochemical staining showed that DEK expression positively correlates with the expression of VEGF and microvessel number in 58 breast cancer patients. Our data establish DEK as a sequence-specific binding transcription factor, a novel coactivator for HIF-1α in regulation of VEGF transcription and a novel promoter of angiogenesis. PMID:26988756

Cell phone exposures and hearing loss in children in the Danish National Birth Cohort.

PubMed

Sudan, Madhuri; Kheifets, Leeka; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Olsen, Jorn

2013-05-01

Children today are exposed to cell phones early in life, and may be the most vulnerable if exposure is harmful to health. We investigated the association between cell phone use and hearing loss in children. The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) enrolled pregnant women between 1996 and 2002. Detailed interviews were conducted during gestation, and when the children were 6 months, 18 months and 7 years of age. We used multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, marginal structural models (MSM) with inverse-probability weighting, and doubly robust estimation (DRE) to relate hearing loss at age 18 months to cell phone use at age 7 years, and to investigate cell phone use reported at age 7 in relation to hearing loss at age 7. Our analyses included data from 52 680 children. We observed weak associations between cell phone use and hearing loss at age 7, with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals from the traditional logistic regression, MSM and DRE models being 1.21 [95% confidence interval [CI] 0.99, 1.46], 1.23 [95% CI 1.01, 1.49] and 1.22 [95% CI 1.00, 1.49], respectively. Our findings could have been affected by various biases and are not sufficient to conclude that cell phone exposures have an effect on hearing. This is the first large-scale epidemiologic study to investigate this potentially important association among children, and replication of these findings is needed. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Cell Phone Exposures and Hearing Loss in Children in the Danish National Birth Cohort

PubMed Central

Sudan, Madhuri; Kheifets, Leeka; Arah, Onyebuchi A.; Olsen, Jorn

2013-01-01

Background Children today are exposed to cell phones early in life, and may be the most vulnerable if exposure is harmful to health. We investigated the association between cell phone use and hearing loss in children. Methods The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) enrolled pregnant women between 1996 and 2002. Detailed interviews were conducted during gestation, and when the children were 6 months, 18 months, and 7 years of age. We used multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, marginal structural models (MSM) with inverse-probability weighting, and doubly-robust estimation (DRE) to relate hearing loss at age 18 months to cell phone use at age seven years, and to investigate cell phone use reported at age seven in relation to hearing loss at age seven. Results Our analyses included data from 52,680 children. We observed weak associations between cell phone use and hearing loss at age seven, with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals from the traditional logistic regression, MSM, and DRE models being 1.21 [0.99–1.46], 1.23 [1.01–1.49], and 1.22 [1.00–1.49], respectively. Conclusions Our findings could have been affected by various biases and are not sufficient to conclude that cell phone exposures have an effect on hearing. This is the first large-scale epidemiologic study to investigate this potentially important association among children, and replication of these findings is needed. PMID:23574412

Drosophila myeloid leukemia factor acts with DREF to activate the JNK signaling pathway

PubMed Central

Yanai, H; Yoshioka, Y; Yoshida, H; Nakao, Y; Plessis, A; Yamaguchi, M

2014-01-01

Drosophila myelodysplasia/myeloid leukemia factor (dMLF), a homolog of human MLF1, oncogene was first identified by yeast two-hybrid screen using the DNA replication-related element-binding factor (DREF) as bait. DREF is a transcription factor that regulates proliferation-related genes in Drosophila. It is known that overexpression of dMLF in the wing imaginal discs through the engrailed-GAL4 driver causes an atrophied wing phenotype associated with the induction of apoptosis. However, the precise mechanisms involved have yet to be clarified. Here, we found the atrophied phenotype to be suppressed by loss-of-function mutation of Drosophila Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), basket (bsk). Overexpression of dMLF induced ectopic JNK activation in the wing disc monitored with the puckered-lacZ reporter line, resulting in induction of apoptosis. The DREF-binding consensus DRE sequence could be shown to exist in the bsk promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays in S2 cells with anti-dMLF IgG and quantitative real-time PCR revealed that dMLF binds specifically to the bsk promoter region containing the DRE sequence. Furthermore, using a transient luciferase expression assay, we provide evidence that knockdown of dMLF reduced bsk gene promoter activity in S2 cells. Finally, we show that dMLF interacts with DREF in vivo. Altogether, these data indicate that dMLF acts with DREF to stimulate the bsk promoter and consequently activates the JNK pathway to promote apoptosis. PMID:24752236

Drosophila myeloid leukemia factor acts with DREF to activate the JNK signaling pathway.

PubMed

Yanai, H; Yoshioka, Y; Yoshida, H; Nakao, Y; Plessis, A; Yamaguchi, M

2014-04-21

Drosophila myelodysplasia/myeloid leukemia factor (dMLF), a homolog of human MLF1, oncogene was first identified by yeast two-hybrid screen using the DNA replication-related element-binding factor (DREF) as bait. DREF is a transcription factor that regulates proliferation-related genes in Drosophila. It is known that overexpression of dMLF in the wing imaginal discs through the engrailed-GAL4 driver causes an atrophied wing phenotype associated with the induction of apoptosis. However, the precise mechanisms involved have yet to be clarified. Here, we found the atrophied phenotype to be suppressed by loss-of-function mutation of Drosophila Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), basket (bsk). Overexpression of dMLF induced ectopic JNK activation in the wing disc monitored with the puckered-lacZ reporter line, resulting in induction of apoptosis. The DREF-binding consensus DRE sequence could be shown to exist in the bsk promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays in S2 cells with anti-dMLF IgG and quantitative real-time PCR revealed that dMLF binds specifically to the bsk promoter region containing the DRE sequence. Furthermore, using a transient luciferase expression assay, we provide evidence that knockdown of dMLF reduced bsk gene promoter activity in S2 cells. Finally, we show that dMLF interacts with DREF in vivo. Altogether, these data indicate that dMLF acts with DREF to stimulate the bsk promoter and consequently activates the JNK pathway to promote apoptosis.

Penthrox inhaler analgesia in transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy.

PubMed

Lee, Chanyang; Woo, Henry H

2015-06-01

Periprostatic injection of local anaesthetic (PILA) has been shown to significantly reduce pain in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSPB). However, this method does not address pain that is associated with ultrasound probe insertion, and the injection of local anaesthetic itself causes pain. The aim of this study was to explore the efficacy of methoxyflurane delivered by a Penthrox inhaler as a novel method of pain relief during TRUSPB. From July 2012 to July 2013, 64 patients were scheduled at a single centre to undergo TRUSPB while receiving analgesia via Penthrox inhaler. Fifteen minutes after the biopsy procedure, these patients were asked to complete a pain score survey using a 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS) to separately report the degree of pain experienced during digital rectal examination (DRE), ultrasound probe insertion and core biopsy. The median pain scores on a 10-cm VAS were 2.0, 2.4 and 3.0 during DRE, probe insertion and needle biopsy, respectively, while using the Penthrox inhaler. Of the 64 patients, 11 had undergone TRUSPB previously receiving PILA. In these patients, PILA was significantly better than the Penthrox inhaler for pain relief during needle biopsy (median pain score 2.0 versus 4.0; P = 0.012). The Penthrox inhaler appears to be a safe and effective method of analgesia for TRUSPB. Patients who had experienced both PILA and Penthrox reported pain scores that significantly favoured PILA over the Penthrox inhaler. © 2014 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Ectopic Overexpression of SsCBF1, a CRT/DRE-Binding Factor from the Nightshade Plant Solanum lycopersicoides, Confers Freezing and Salt Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis

PubMed Central

Zhang, Lili; Li, Zhenjun; Li, Jingfu; Wang, Aoxue

2013-01-01

The C-repeat (CRT)/dehydration-responsive element (DRE) binding factor (CBF/DREB1) transcription factors play a key role in cold response. However, the detailed roles of many plant CBFs are far from fully understood. A CBF gene (SsCBF1) was isolated from the cold-hardy plant Solanum lycopersicoides. A subcellular localization study using GFP fusion protein indicated that SsCBF1 is localized in the nucleus. We delimited the SsCBF1 transcriptional activation domain to the C-terminal segment comprising amino acid residues 193–228 (SsCBF1193–228). The expression of SsCBF1 could be dramatically induced by cold, drought and high salinity. Transactivation assays in tobacco leaves revealed that SsCBF1 could specifically bind to the CRT cis-elements in vivo to activate the expression of downstream reporter genes. The ectopic overexpression of SsCBF1 conferred increased freezing and high-salinity tolerance and late flowering phenotype to transgenic Arabidopsis. RNA-sequencing data exhibited that a set of cold and salt stress responsive genes were up-regulated in transgenic Arabidopsis. Our results suggest that SsCBF1 behaves as a typical CBF to contribute to plant freezing tolerance. Increased resistance to high-salinity and late flowering phenotype derived from SsCBF1 OE lines lend more credence to the hypothesis that plant CBFs participate in diverse physiological and biochemical processes related to adverse conditions. PMID:23755095

Percentage of free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a useful method in deciding to perform prostate biopsy with higher core numbers in patients with low PSA cut-off values.

PubMed

Yilmaz, Hasan; Ciftci, Seyfettin; Yavuz, Ufuk; Ustuner, Murat; Saribacak, Ali; Dillioglugil, Ozdal

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive role of percentage of free prostate-specific antigen (%fPSA) cut-points in prostate cancer (PCa) detection in patients with total PSA (tPSA) levels between 2.5 ng/mL and 10.0 ng/mL. In total, 1321 consecutive initial transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided 12-core biopsies performed between 2005 and 2011 were evaluated retrospectively. Benign pathologies, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and atypical small acinary proliferations were categorized as noncancerous (benign), and prostate adenocarcinomas were categorized as cancerous (malignant). The patients were categorized according to: Catalona's published %fPSA categories (<10%, 10-15%, 15-20%, 20-25%, or > 25%); digital rectal examination (DRE) results [benign (negative) or suspicious of malignancy (positive)]. There was a significant relationship between the %fPSA cut-points and detection of PCa in DRE-negative patients. The presence of a 10% cut-point increased the probability of PCa threefold. The %fPSA was significantly more related to PCa than the tPSA value in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses (p = 0.001). Based on our findings, a lower %fPSA, especially <10%, is an important parameter when deciding whether to perform a biopsy on patients with a tPSA between 2.5 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Taiwan.

Development, implementation, and characterization of a standalone embedded viscosity measurement system based on the impedance spectroscopy of a vibrating wire sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, José; Janeiro, Fernando M.; Ramos, Pedro M.

2015-10-01

This paper presents an embedded liquid viscosity measurement system based on a vibrating wire sensor. Although multiple viscometers based on different working principles are commercially available, there is still a market demand for a dedicated measurement system capable of performing accurate, fast measurements and requiring little or no operator training for simple systems and solution monitoring. The developed embedded system is based on a vibrating wire sensor that works by measuring the impedance response of the sensor, which depends on the viscosity and density of the liquid in which the sensor is immersed. The core of the embedded system is a digital signal processor (DSP) which controls the waveform generation and acquisitions for the measurement of the impedance frequency response. The DSP also processes the acquired waveforms and estimates the liquid viscosity. The user can interact with the measurement system through a keypad and an LCD or through a computer with a USB connection for data logging and processing. The presented system is tested on a set of viscosity standards and the estimated values are compared with the standard manufacturer specified viscosity values. A stability study of the measurement system is also performed.

A Course in Real-Time Embedded Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archibald, J. K.; Fife, W. S.

2007-01-01

Embedded systems are increasingly pervasive, and the creation of reliable controlling software offers unique challenges. Embedded software must interact directly with hardware, it must respond to events in a time-critical fashion, and it typically employs concurrency to meet response time requirements. This paper describes an innovative course…

Tools for Embedded Computing Systems Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

A workshop was held to assess the state of tools for embedded systems software and to determine directions for tool development. A synopsis of the talk and the key figures of each workshop presentation, together with chairmen summaries, are presented. The presentations covered four major areas: (1) tools and the software environment (development and testing); (2) tools and software requirements, design, and specification; (3) tools and language processors; and (4) tools and verification and validation (analysis and testing). The utility and contribution of existing tools and research results for the development and testing of embedded computing systems software are described and assessed.

Exploring packaging strategies of nano-embedded thermoelectric generators

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

Singha, Aniket; Muralidharan, Bhaskaran, E-mail: bm@ee.iitb.ac.in; Mahanti, Subhendra D.

2015-10-15

Embedding nanostructures within a bulk matrix is an important practical approach towards the electronic engineering of high performance thermoelectric systems. For power generation applications, it ideally combines the efficiency benefit offered by low dimensional systems along with the high power output advantage offered by bulk systems. In this work, we uncover a few crucial details about how to embed nanowires and nanoflakes in a bulk matrix so that an overall advantage over pure bulk may be achieved. First and foremost, we point out that a performance degradation with respect to bulk is inevitable as the nanostructure transitions to a multimore » moded one. It is then shown that a nano embedded system of suitable cross-section offers a power density advantage over a wide range of efficiencies at higher packing fractions, and this range gradually narrows down to the high efficiency regime, as the packing fraction is reduced. Finally, we introduce a metric - the advantage factor, to elucidate quantitatively, the enhancement in the power density offered via nano-embedding at a given efficiency. In the end, we explore the maximum effective width of nano-embedding which serves as a reference in designing generators in the efficiency range of interest.« less

Java Source Code Analysis for API Migration to Embedded Systems

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

Winter, Victor; McCoy, James A.; Guerrero, Jonathan

Embedded systems form an integral part of our technological infrastructure and oftentimes play a complex and critical role within larger systems. From the perspective of reliability, security, and safety, strong arguments can be made favoring the use of Java over C in such systems. In part, this argument is based on the assumption that suitable subsets of Java’s APIs and extension libraries are available to embedded software developers. In practice, a number of Java-based embedded processors do not support the full features of the JVM. For such processors, source code migration is a mechanism by which key abstractions offered bymore » APIs and extension libraries can made available to embedded software developers. The analysis required for Java source code-level library migration is based on the ability to correctly resolve element references to their corresponding element declarations. A key challenge in this setting is how to perform analysis for incomplete source-code bases (e.g., subsets of libraries) from which types and packages have been omitted. This article formalizes an approach that can be used to extend code bases targeted for migration in such a manner that the threats associated the analysis of incomplete code bases are eliminated.« less

Architecture of an E-Learning System with Embedded Authoring Support.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baudry, Andreas; Bungenstock, Michael; Mertsching, Barbel

This paper introduces an architecture for an e-learning system with an embedded authoring system. Based on the metaphor of a construction kit, this approach offers a general solution for specific content creation and publication. The learning resources are IMS "Content Packages" with a special structure to separate content and presentation. These…

The added value of percentage of free to total prostate-specific antigen, PCA3, and a kallikrein panel to the ERSPC risk calculator for prostate cancer in prescreened men.

PubMed

Vedder, Moniek M; de Bekker-Grob, Esther W; Lilja, Hans G; Vickers, Andrew J; van Leenders, Geert J L H; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Roobol, Monique J

2014-12-01

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has limited accuracy for the early detection of prostate cancer (PCa). To assess the value added by percentage of free to total PSA (%fPSA), prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3), and a kallikrein panel (4k-panel) to the European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) multivariable prediction models: risk calculator (RC) 4, including transrectal ultrasound, and RC 4 plus digital rectal examination (4+DRE) for prescreened men. Participants were invited for rescreening between October 2007 and February 2009 within the Dutch part of the ERSPC study. Biopsies were taken in men with a PSA level ≥3.0 ng/ml or a PCA3 score ≥10. Additional analyses of the 4k-panel were done on serum samples. Outcome was defined as PCa detectable by sextant biopsy. Receiver operating characteristic curve and decision curve analyses were performed to compare the predictive capabilities of %fPSA, PCA3, 4k-panel, the ERSPC RCs, and their combinations in logistic regression models. PCa was detected in 119 of 708 men. The %fPSA did not perform better univariately or added to the RCs compared with the RCs alone. In 202 men with an elevated PSA, the 4k-panel discriminated better than PCA3 when modelled univariately (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.78 vs. 0.62; p=0.01). The multivariable models with PCA3 or the 4k-panel were equivalent (AUC: 0.80 for RC 4+DRE). In the total population, PCA3 discriminated better than the 4k-panel (univariate AUC: 0.63 vs. 0.56; p=0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the multivariable model with PCA3 (AUC: 0.73) versus the model with the 4k-panel (AUC: 0.71; p=0.18). The multivariable model with PCA3 performed better than the reference model (0.73 vs. 0.70; p=0.02). Decision curves confirmed these patterns, although numbers were small. Both PCA3 and, to a lesser extent, a 4k-panel have added value to the DRE-based ERSPC RC in detecting PCa in prescreened men. We studied the added value of novel biomarkers to previously developed risk prediction models for prostate cancer. We found that inclusion of these biomarkers resulted in an increase in predictive ability. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A re-appraisal of the stratigraphy and volcanology of the Cerro Galán volcanic system, NW Argentina

USGS Publications Warehouse

Folkes, Christopher B.; Wright, Heather M.; Cas, Ray A.F.; de Silva, Shanaka L.; Lesti, Chiara; Viramonte, Jose G.

2011-01-01

From detailed fieldwork and biotite 40Ar/39Ar dating correlated with paleomagnetic analyses of lithic clasts, we present a revision of the stratigraphy, areal extent and volume estimates of ignimbrites in the Cerro Galán volcanic complex. We find evidence for nine distinct outflow ignimbrites, including two newly identified ignimbrites in the Toconquis Group (the Pitas and Vega Ignimbrites). Toconquis Group Ignimbrites (~5.60–4.51 Ma biotite ages) have been discovered to the southwest and north of the caldera, increasing their spatial extents from previous estimates. Previously thought to be contemporaneous, we distinguish the Real Grande Ignimbrite (4.68 ± 0.07 Ma biotite age) from the Cueva Negra Ignimbrite (3.77 ± 0.08 Ma biotite age). The form and collapse processes of the Cerro Galán caldera are also reassessed. Based on re-interpretation of the margins of the caldera, we find evidence for a fault-bounded trapdoor collapse hinged along a regional N-S fault on the eastern side of the caldera and accommodated on a N-S fault on the western caldera margin. The collapsed area defines a roughly isosceles trapezoid shape elongated E-W and with maximum dimensions 27 × 16 km. The Cerro Galán Ignimbrite (CGI; 2.08 ± 0.02 Ma sanidine age) outflow sheet extends to 40 km in all directions from the inferred structural margins, with a maximum runout distance of ~80 km to the north of the caldera. New deposit volume estimates confirm an increase in eruptive volume through time, wherein the Toconquis Group Ignimbrites increase in volume from the ~10 km3 Lower Merihuaca Ignimbrite to a maximum of ~390 km3 (Dense Rock Equivalent; DRE) with the Real Grande Ignimbrite. The climactic CGI has a revised volume of ~630 km3 (DRE), approximately two thirds of the commonly quoted value.

Linking Job-Embedded Professional Development and Mandated Teacher Evaluation: Teacher as Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derrington, Mary Lynne; Kirk, Julia

2017-01-01

This study explores the link between individualized, job-embedded professional development and teacher evaluation. Moreover, the study explores and describes job-embedded strategies that principals used to facilitate teacher development while working within a state-mandated evaluation system. The theoretical frame utilized four elements of…

Reliability Validation and Improvement Framework

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

systems . Steps in that direction include the use of the Architec- ture Tradeoff Analysis Method ® (ATAM®) developed at the Carnegie Mellon...embedded software • cyber - physical systems (CPSs) to indicate that the embedded software interacts with, manag - es, and controls a physical system [Lee...the use of formal static analysis methods to increase our confidence in system operation beyond testing. However, analysis results

A biomedical sensor system for real-time monitoring of astronauts' physiological parameters during extra-vehicular activities.

PubMed

Fei, Ding-Yu; Zhao, Xiaoming; Boanca, Cosmin; Hughes, Esther; Bai, Ou; Merrell, Ronald; Rafiq, Azhar

2010-07-01

To design and test an embedded biomedical sensor system that can monitor astronauts' comprehensive physiological parameters, and provide real-time data display during extra-vehicle activities (EVA) in the space exploration. An embedded system was developed with an array of biomedical sensors that can be integrated into the spacesuit. Wired communications were tested for physiological data acquisition and data transmission to a computer mounted on the spacesuit during task performances simulating EVA sessions. The sensor integration, data collection and communication, and the real-time data monitoring were successfully validated in the NASA field tests. The developed system may work as an embedded system for monitoring health status during long-term space mission. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cosimulation of embedded system using RTOS software simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shihao; Duan, Zhigang; Liu, Mingye

2003-09-01

Embedded system design often employs co-simulation to verify system's function; one efficient verification tool of software is Instruction Set Simulator (ISS). As a full functional model of target CPU, ISS interprets instruction of embedded software step by step, which usually is time-consuming since it simulates at low-level. Hence ISS often becomes the bottleneck of co-simulation in a complicated system. In this paper, a new software verification tools, the RTOS software simulator (RSS) was presented. The mechanism of its operation was described in a full details. In RSS method, RTOS API is extended and hardware simulator driver is adopted to deal with data-exchange and synchronism between the two simulators.

New technologies for supporting real-time on-board software development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerridge, D.

1995-03-01

The next generation of on-board data management systems will be significantly more complex than current designs, and will be required to perform more complex and demanding tasks in software. Improved hardware technology, in the form of the MA31750 radiation hard processor, is one key component in addressing the needs of future embedded systems. However, to complement these hardware advances, improved support for the design and implementation of real-time data management software is now needed. This will help to control the cost and risk assoicated with developing data management software development as it becomes an increasingly significant element within embedded systems. One particular problem with developing embedded software is managing the non-functional requirements in a systematic way. This paper identifies how Logica has exploited recent developments in hard real-time theory to address this problem through the use of new hard real-time analysis and design methods which can be supported by specialized tools. The first stage in transferring this technology from the research domain to industrial application has already been completed. The MA37150 Hard Real-Time Embedded Software Support Environment (HESSE) is a loosely integrated set of hardware and software tools which directly support the process of hard real-time analysis for software targeting the MA31750 processor. With further development, this HESSE promises to provide embedded system developers with software tools which can reduce the risks associated with developing complex hard real-time software. Supported in this way by more sophisticated software methods and tools, it is foreseen that MA31750 based embedded systems can meet the processing needs for the next generation of on-board data management systems.

An artificial test substrate for evaluating electron microscopic immunocytochemical labeling reactions.

PubMed

Gagne, G D; Miller, M F

1987-08-01

We describe an artificial substrate system for optimization of labeling parameters in electron microscope immunocytochemical studies. The system involves use of blocks of glutaraldehyde-polymerized BSA into which a desired antigen is incorporated by a simple soaking procedure. The resulting antigen-impregnated artificial substrate can then be fixed and embedded identically to a piece of tissue. The BSA substrate can also be dried and then sectioned for immunolabeling with or without chemical fixation and without exposing the antigen to dehydrating agents and embedding resins. The effects of various fixation and embedding procedures can thus be evaluated separately. Other parameters affecting immunocytochemical labeling, such as antibody and conjugate concentration, can also be evaluated. We used this system, along with immunogold labeling, to determine quantitatively the optimal fixation and embedding conditions for labeling of hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg), human IgG, and horseradish peroxidase. Using unfixed and unembedded HBsAg, we were able to detect antigen concentrations below 20 micrograms/ml. We have shown that it is not possible to label HBsAg within resin-embedded cells using conventional aldehyde fixation protocols and polyclonal antibodies.

The nature, origin and evolution of embedded star clusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lada, Charles J.; Lada, Elizabeth A.

1991-01-01

The recent development of imaging infrared array cameras has enabled the first systematic studies of embedded protoclusters in the galaxy. Initial investigations suggest that rich embedded clusters are quite numerous and that a significant fraction of all stars formed in the galaxy may begin their lives in such stellar systems. These clusters contain extremely young stellar objects and are important laboratories for star formation research. However, observational and theoretical considerations suggest that most embedded clusters do not survive emergence from molecular clouds as bound clusters. Understanding the origin, nature, and evolution of embedded clusters requires understanding the intimate physical relation between embedded clusters and the dense molecular cloud cores from which they form.

Embedded Thermal Control for Subsystems for Next Generation Spacecraft Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Didion, Jeffrey R.

2015-01-01

Thermal Fluids and Analysis Workshop, Silver Spring MD NCTS 21070-15. NASA, the Defense Department and commercial interests are actively engaged in developing miniaturized spacecraft systems and scientific instruments to leverage smaller cheaper spacecraft form factors such as CubeSats. This paper outlines research and development efforts among Goddard Space Flight Center personnel and its several partners to develop innovative embedded thermal control subsystems. Embedded thermal control subsystems is a cross cutting enabling technology integrating advanced manufacturing techniques to develop multifunctional intelligent structures to reduce Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) consumption of both the thermal control subsystem and overall spacecraft. Embedded thermal control subsystems permit heat acquisition and rejection at higher temperatures than state of the art systems by employing both advanced heat transfer equipment (integrated heat exchangers) and high heat transfer phenomena. The Goddard Space Flight Center Thermal Engineering Branch has active investigations seeking to characterize advanced thermal control systems for near term spacecraft missions. The embedded thermal control subsystem development effort consists of fundamental research as well as development of breadboard and prototype hardware and spaceflight validation efforts. This paper will outline relevant fundamental investigations of micro-scale heat transfer and electrically driven liquid film boiling. The hardware development efforts focus upon silicon based high heat flux applications (electronic chips, power electronics etc.) and multifunctional structures. Flight validation efforts include variable gravity campaigns and a proposed CubeSat based flight demonstration of a breadboard embedded thermal control system. The CubeSat investigation is technology demonstration will characterize in long-term low earth orbit a breadboard embedded thermal subsystem and its individual components to develop optimized operational schema.

Calculating hyperfine couplings in large ionic crystals containing hundreds of QM atoms: subsystem DFT is the key.

PubMed

Kevorkyants, Ruslan; Wang, Xiqiao; Close, David M; Pavanello, Michele

2013-11-14

We present an application of the linear scaling frozen density embedding (FDE) formulation of subsystem DFT to the calculation of isotropic hyperfine coupling constants (hfcc's) of atoms belonging to a guanine radical cation embedded in a guanine hydrochloride monohydrate crystal. The model systems range from an isolated guanine to a 15,000 atom QM/MM cluster where the QM region is comprised of 36 protonated guanine cations, 36 chlorine anions, and 42 water molecules. Our calculations show that the embedding effects of the surrounding crystal cannot be reproduced by small model systems nor by a pure QM/MM procedure. Instead, a large QM region is needed to fully capture the complicated nature of the embedding effects in this system. The unprecedented system size for a relativistic all-electron isotropic hfcc calculation can be approached in this work because the local nature of the electronic structure of the organic crystals considered is fully captured by the FDE approach.

Sensitivity vector fields in time-delay coordinate embeddings: theory and experiment.

PubMed

Sloboda, A R; Epureanu, B I

2013-02-01

Identifying changes in the parameters of a dynamical system can be vital in many diagnostic and sensing applications. Sensitivity vector fields (SVFs) are one way of identifying such parametric variations by quantifying their effects on the morphology of a dynamical system's attractor. In many cases, SVFs are a more effective means of identification than commonly employed modal methods. Previously, it has only been possible to construct SVFs for a given dynamical system when a full set of state variables is available. This severely restricts SVF applicability because it may be cost prohibitive, or even impossible, to measure the entire state in high-dimensional systems. Thus, the focus of this paper is constructing SVFs with only partial knowledge of the state by using time-delay coordinate embeddings. Local models are employed in which the embedded states of a neighborhood are weighted in a way referred to as embedded point cloud averaging. Application of the presented methodology to both simulated and experimental time series demonstrates its utility and reliability.

Embedding EfS in Teacher Education through a Multi-Level Systems Approach: Lessons from Queensland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Neus; Ferreira, Jo-Anne; Davis, Julie; Stevenson, Robert B.

2016-01-01

This article reports on the fourth stage of an evolving study to develop a systems model for embedding education for sustainability (EfS) into preservice teacher education. The fourth stage trialled the extension of the model to a comprehensive state-wide systems approach involving representatives from all eight Queensland teacher education…

Clinical Utility of Urinary CD90 as a Biomarker for Prostate Cancer Detection — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

Tumor-associated stromal cells differ from normal gland-associated stromal cells in gene expression. Genes up-regulated in these stromal cells are potential cancer biomarkers, especially those encoding secreted or extracellular proteins. These proteins might be detected in urine. CD90/THY1 is one such candidate. A clinical test based on urinary CD90 would be useful in reducing the number of unnecessary biopsies done because of abnormal serum PSA and/or DRE finding. Elevated CD90 protein is found in tumor tissue and urine.

ETS Gene Fusions as Predictive Biomarkers of Resistance to Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

Figure 4D).re run three times in quadruplicate. All bar graphs are shown with ±SEM unless Cancer Cell 19, 664–678, May 17, 2011 ª2011 Elsevier Inc. 669...All bar graphs are shown with ±SEM unless otherwise indicated. See also Figure S6. Cancer Cell PARP1 Inhibition in ETS Positive Prostate Cancer 674...Pal, P., Kirchhoff , T., Balistreri, L., Vora, K., Bhatia, J., Stadler, Z., Fine, S.W., Reuter, V., et al. (2010). Germline BRCA mutations denote a

Embedded Gaussian unitary ensembles with U(Ω)⊗SU(r) embedding generated by random two-body interactions with SU(r) symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vyas, Manan; Kota, V. K. B.

2012-12-01

Following the earlier studies on embedded unitary ensembles generated by random two-body interactions [EGUE(2)] with spin SU(2) and spin-isospin SU(4) symmetries, developed is a general formulation, for deriving lower order moments of the one- and two-point correlation functions in eigenvalues, that is valid for any EGUE(2) and BEGUE(2) ("B" stands for bosons) with U(Ω)⊗SU(r) embedding and with two-body interactions preserving SU(r) symmetry. Using this formulation with r = 1, we recover the results derived by Asaga et al. [Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 297, 344 (2002)], 10.1006/aphy.2002.6248 for spinless boson systems. Going further, new results are obtained for r = 2 (this corresponds to two species boson systems) and r = 3 (this corresponds to spin 1 boson systems).

How much of Toyota's philosophy is embedded in health care at the organisational level? A review.

PubMed

Antierens, Alain; Beeckman, Dimitri; Verhaeghe, Sofie; Myny, Dries; Van Hecke, Ann

2018-05-01

Identify which of Toyota's principles are reported in health care institutions at the organisational level and to identify the type of reported outcomes related to the effectiveness of lean production reported in these studies. No scientific research has been conducted to determine which of Toyota's principles are embedded in health care systems. This knowledge is needed to perform targeted adjustments in health care. Sixty studies were identified for the final analysis. Some Toyota Way principles appear more deeply embedded in health care institutions than others are. Not all principles of Toyota's philosophy and production system were embedded in the studies in this review. The type of reported outcomes at the organisational level was diverse. This literature review increases our knowledge about how many (and which) of the Toyota Way principles are embedded in health care. This knowledge may support reflection by nursing managers about how the full range of lean management principles could be embedded at the managerial and/or operational level. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dependence of Impedance of Embedded Single Cells on Cellular Behaviour

PubMed Central

Cho, Sungbo; Castellarnau, Marc; Samitier, Josep; Thielecke, Hagen

2008-01-01

Non-invasive single cell analyses are increasingly required for the medical diagnostics of test substances or the development of drugs and therapies on the single cell level. For the non-invasive characterisation of cells, impedance spectroscopy which provides the frequency dependent electrical properties has been used. Recently, microfludic systems have been investigated to manipulate the single cells and to characterise the electrical properties of embedded cells. In this article, the impedance of partially embedded single cells dependent on the cellular behaviour was investigated by using the microcapillary. An analytical equation was derived to relate the impedance of embedded cells with respect to the morphological and physiological change of extracellular interface. The capillary system with impedance measurement showed a feasibility to monitor the impedance change of embedded single cells caused by morphological and physiological change of cell during the addition of DMSO. By fitting the derived equation to the measured impedance of cell embedded at different negative pressure levels, it was able to extrapolate the equivalent gap and gap conductivity between the cell and capillary wall representing the cellular behaviour. PMID:27879760

Information-theoretic model selection for optimal prediction of stochastic dynamical systems from data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darmon, David

2018-03-01

In the absence of mechanistic or phenomenological models of real-world systems, data-driven models become necessary. The discovery of various embedding theorems in the 1980s and 1990s motivated a powerful set of tools for analyzing deterministic dynamical systems via delay-coordinate embeddings of observations of their component states. However, in many branches of science, the condition of operational determinism is not satisfied, and stochastic models must be brought to bear. For such stochastic models, the tool set developed for delay-coordinate embedding is no longer appropriate, and a new toolkit must be developed. We present an information-theoretic criterion, the negative log-predictive likelihood, for selecting the embedding dimension for a predictively optimal data-driven model of a stochastic dynamical system. We develop a nonparametric estimator for the negative log-predictive likelihood and compare its performance to a recently proposed criterion based on active information storage. Finally, we show how the output of the model selection procedure can be used to compare candidate predictors for a stochastic system to an information-theoretic lower bound.

Data entry and error embedding system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woo, Daniel N. (Inventor); Woo, Jr., John (Inventor)

1998-01-01

A data entry and error embedding system in which, first, a document is bitmapped and recorded in a first memory. Then, it is displayed, and portions of it to be replicated by data entry are underlayed by a window, into which window replicated data is entered in location and size such that it is juxtaposed just below that which is replicated, enhancing the accuracy of replication. Second, with this format in place, selected portions of the replicated data are altered by the insertion of character or word substitutions, thus the embedding of errors. Finally, a proofreader would endeavor to correct the error embedded data and a record of his or her changes recorded. In this manner, the skill level of the proofreader and accuracy of the data are computed.

Development and application of course-embedded assessment system for program outcome evaluation in the Korean nursing education: A pilot study.

PubMed

Park, Jee Won; Seo, Eun Ji; You, Mi-Ae; Song, Ju-Eun

2016-03-01

Program outcome evaluation is important because it is an indicator for good quality of education. Course-embedded assessment is one of the program outcome evaluation methods. However, it is rarely used in Korean nursing education. The study purpose was to develop and apply preliminarily a course-embedded assessment system to evaluate one program outcome and to share our experiences. This was a methodological study to develop and apply the course-embedded assessment system based on the theoretical framework in one nursing program in South Korea. Scores for 77 students generated from the three practicum courses were used. The course-embedded assessment system was developed following the six steps suggested by Han's model as follows. 1) One program outcome in the undergraduate program, "nursing process application ability", was selected and 2) the three clinical practicum courses related to the selected program outcome were identified. 3) Evaluation tools including rubric and items were selected for outcome measurement and 4) performance criterion, the educational goal level for the program, was established. 5) Program outcome was actually evaluated using the rubric and evaluation items in the three practicum courses and 6) the obtained scores were analyzed to identify the achievement rate, which was compared with the performance criterion. Achievement rates for the selected program outcome in adult, maternity, and pediatric nursing practicum were 98.7%, 100%, and 66.2% in the case report and 100% for all three in the clinical practice, and 100%, 100%, and 87% respectively for the conference. These are considered as satisfactory levels when compared with the performance criterion of "at least 60% or more". Course-embedded assessment can be used as an effective and economic method to evaluate the program outcome without running an integrative course additionally. Further studies to develop course-embedded assessment systems for other program outcomes in nursing education are needed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Securely Partitioning Spacecraft Computing Resources: Validation of a Separation Kernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bremer, Leon; Schreutelkamp, Erwin

2011-08-01

The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, will be the first operational fighter aircraft equipped with an operational MultiShip Embedded Training capability. This onboard training system allows teams of fighter pilots to jointly operate their F-35 in flight against virtual threats, avoiding the need for real adversary air threats and surface threat systems in their training. The European Real-time Operations Simulator (EuroSim) framework is well known in the space domain, particularly in support of engineering and test phases of space system development. In the MultiShip Embedded Training project, EuroSim is not only the essential tool for development and verification throughout the project but is also the engine of the final embedded simulator on board of the F-35 aircraft. The novel ways in which EuroSim is applied in the project in relation to distributed simulation problems, team collaboration, tool chains and embedded systems can benefit many projects and applications. The paper describes the application of EuroSim as the simulation engine of the F-35 Embedded Training solution, the extensions to the EuroSim product that enable this application, and its usage in development and verification of the whole project as carried out at the sites of Dutch Space and the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR).

A compact, portable and low cost generic interrogation strain sensor system using an embedded VCSEL, detector and fibre Bragg grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Graham C. B.; Van Hoe, Bram; Yan, Zhijun; Maskery, Oliver; Sugden, Kate; Webb, David; Van Steenberge, Geert

2012-03-01

We present a compact, portable and low cost generic interrogation strain sensor system using a fibre Bragg grating configured in transmission mode with a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) light source and a GaAs photodetector embedded in a polymer skin. The photocurrent value is read and stored by a microcontroller. In addition, the photocurrent data is sent via Bluetooth to a computer or tablet device that can present the live data in a real time graph. With a matched grating and VCSEL, the system is able to automatically scan and lock the VCSEL to the most sensitive edge of the grating. Commercially available VCSEL and photodetector chips are thinned down to 20 μm and integrated in an ultra-thin flexible optical foil using several thin film deposition steps. A dedicated micro mirror plug is fabricated to couple the driving optoelectronics to the fibre sensors. The resulting optoelectronic package can be embedded in a thin, planar sensing sheet and the host material for this sheet is a flexible and stretchable polymer. The result is a fully embedded fibre sensing system - a photonic skin. Further investigations are currently being carried out to determine the stability and robustness of the embedded optoelectronic components.

Accuracy of embedded fragment calculation for evaluating electron interactions in mixed valence magnetic systems: study of 2e-reduced lindqvist polyoxometalates.

PubMed

Suaud, Nicolas; López, Xavier; Ben Amor, Nadia; Bandeira, Nuno A G; de Graaf, Coen; Poblet, Josep M

2015-02-10

Accurate quantum chemical calculations on real-world magnetic systems are challenging, the inclusion of electron correlation being the bottleneck of such task. One method proposed to overcome this difficulty is the embedded fragment approach. It tackles a chemical problem by dividing it into small fragments, which are treated in a highly accurate way, surrounded by an embedding included at an approximate level. For the vast family of medium-to-large sized polyoxometalates, two-electron-reduced systems are habitual and their magnetic properties are interesting. In this paper, we aim at assessing the quality of embedded fragment calculations by checking their ability to reproduce the electronic spectra of a complete system, here the mixed-metal series [MoxW6-xO19](4-) (x = 0-6). The microscopic parameters extracted from fragment calculations (electron hopping, intersite electrostatic repulsion, local orbital energy, etc.) have been used to reproduce the spectra through model Hamiltonian calculations. These energies are compared to the results of the highly accurate ab initio difference dedicated configuration interaction (DDCI) method on the complete system. In general, the model Hamiltonian calculations using parameters extracted from embedded fragments nearly exactly reproduce the DDCI spectra. This is quite an important result since it can be generalized to any inorganic magnetic system. Finally, the occurrence of singlet or triplet ground states in the series of molecules studied is rationalized upon the interplay of the parameters extracted.

Embedded calibration system for the DIII-D Langmuir probe analog fiber optic links

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

Watkins, J. G.; Rajpal, R.; Mandaliya, H.

2012-10-15

This paper describes a generally applicable technique for simultaneously measuring offset and gain of 64 analog fiber optic data links used for the DIII-D fixed Langmuir probes by embedding a reference voltage waveform in the optical transmitted signal before every tokamak shot. The calibrated data channels allow calibration of the power supply control fiber optic links as well. The array of fiber optic links and the embedded calibration system described here makes possible the use of superior modern data acquisition electronics in the control room.

A straightforward strategy toward large BN-embedded π-systems: synthesis, structure, and optoelectronic properties of extended BN heterosuperbenzenes.

PubMed

Wang, Xiao-Ye; Zhuang, Fang-Dong; Wang, Rui-Bo; Wang, Xin-Chang; Cao, Xiao-Yu; Wang, Jie-Yu; Pei, Jian

2014-03-12

A straightforward strategy has been used to construct large BN-embedded π-systems simply from azaacenes. BN heterosuperbenzene derivatives, the largest BN heteroaromatics to date, have been synthesized in three steps. The molecules exhibit curved π-surfaces, showing two different conformations which are self-organized into a sandwich structure and further packed into a π-stacking column. The assembled microribbons exhibit good charge transport properties and photoconductivity, representing an important step toward the optoelectronic applications of BN-embedded aromatics.

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

Huang, Chen, E-mail: chuang3@fsu.edu

A key element in the density functional embedding theory (DFET) is the embedding potential. We discuss two major issues related to the embedding potential: (1) its non-uniqueness and (2) the numerical difficulty for solving for it, especially for the spin-polarized systems. To resolve the first issue, we extend DFET to finite temperature: all quantities, such as the subsystem densities and the total system’s density, are calculated at a finite temperature. This is a physical extension since materials work at finite temperatures. We show that the embedding potential is strictly unique at T > 0. To resolve the second issue, wemore » introduce an efficient iterative embedding potential solver. We discuss how to relax the magnetic moments in subsystems and how to equilibrate the chemical potentials across subsystems. The solver is robust and efficient for several non-trivial examples, in all of which good quality spin-polarized embedding potentials were obtained. We also demonstrate the solver on an extended periodic system: iron body-centered cubic (110) surface, which is related to the modeling of the heterogeneous catalysis involving iron, such as the Fischer-Tropsch and the Haber processes. This work would make it efficient and accurate to perform embedding simulations of some challenging material problems, such as the heterogeneous catalysis and the defects of complicated spin configurations in electronic materials.« less

Integrating an embedded system in a microwave moisture meter

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The conversion of a PC- or laptop-controlled microwave moisture meter to a stand-alone meter hosting its own embedded system is discussed. The moisture meter measures the attenuation and phase shift of low power microwaves traversing the sample, from which the dielectric properties are calculated. T...

Integrating an Embedded System within a Microwave Moisture Meter

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In this paper, the conversion of a PC or laptop-controlled microwave moisture meter to a stand-alone meter hosting its own embedded system is discussed. The moisture meter uses low-power microwaves to measure the attenuation and phase shift of the sample, from which the dielectric properties are cal...

Small Private Key PKS on an Embedded Microprocessor

PubMed Central

Seo, Hwajeong; Kim, Jihyun; Choi, Jongseok; Park, Taehwan; Liu, Zhe; Kim, Howon

2014-01-01

Multivariate quadratic ( ) cryptography requires the use of long public and private keys to ensure a sufficient security level, but this is not favorable to embedded systems, which have limited system resources. Recently, various approaches to cryptography using reduced public keys have been studied. As a result of this, at CHES2011 (Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2011), a small public key scheme, was proposed, and its feasible implementation on an embedded microprocessor was reported at CHES2012. However, the implementation of a small private key scheme was not reported. For efficient implementation, random number generators can contribute to reduce the key size, but the cost of using a random number generator is much more complex than computing on modern microprocessors. Therefore, no feasible results have been reported on embedded microprocessors. In this paper, we propose a feasible implementation on embedded microprocessors for a small private key scheme using a pseudo-random number generator and hash function based on a block-cipher exploiting a hardware Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) accelerator. To speed up the performance, we apply various implementation methods, including parallel computation, on-the-fly computation, optimized logarithm representation, vinegar monomials and assembly programming. The proposed method reduces the private key size by about 99.9% and boosts signature generation and verification by 5.78% and 12.19% than previous results in CHES2012. PMID:24651722

Small private key MQPKS on an embedded microprocessor.

PubMed

Seo, Hwajeong; Kim, Jihyun; Choi, Jongseok; Park, Taehwan; Liu, Zhe; Kim, Howon

2014-03-19

Multivariate quadratic (MQ) cryptography requires the use of long public and private keys to ensure a sufficient security level, but this is not favorable to embedded systems, which have limited system resources. Recently, various approaches to MQ cryptography using reduced public keys have been studied. As a result of this, at CHES2011 (Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2011), a small public key MQ scheme, was proposed, and its feasible implementation on an embedded microprocessor was reported at CHES2012. However, the implementation of a small private key MQ scheme was not reported. For efficient implementation, random number generators can contribute to reduce the key size, but the cost of using a random number generator is much more complex than computing MQ on modern microprocessors. Therefore, no feasible results have been reported on embedded microprocessors. In this paper, we propose a feasible implementation on embedded microprocessors for a small private key MQ scheme using a pseudo-random number generator and hash function based on a block-cipher exploiting a hardware Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) accelerator. To speed up the performance, we apply various implementation methods, including parallel computation, on-the-fly computation, optimized logarithm representation, vinegar monomials and assembly programming. The proposed method reduces the private key size by about 99.9% and boosts signature generation and verification by 5.78% and 12.19% than previous results in CHES2012.

Communication: Density functional theory embedding with the orthogonality constrained basis set expansion procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Culpitt, Tanner; Brorsen, Kurt R.; Hammes-Schiffer, Sharon

2017-06-01

Density functional theory (DFT) embedding approaches have generated considerable interest in the field of computational chemistry because they enable calculations on larger systems by treating subsystems at different levels of theory. To circumvent the calculation of the non-additive kinetic potential, various projector methods have been developed to ensure the orthogonality of molecular orbitals between subsystems. Herein the orthogonality constrained basis set expansion (OCBSE) procedure is implemented to enforce this subsystem orbital orthogonality without requiring a level shifting parameter. This scheme is a simple alternative to existing parameter-free projector-based schemes, such as the Huzinaga equation. The main advantage of the OCBSE procedure is that excellent convergence behavior is attained for DFT-in-DFT embedding without freezing any of the subsystem densities. For the three chemical systems studied, the level of accuracy is comparable to or higher than that obtained with the Huzinaga scheme with frozen subsystem densities. Allowing both the high-level and low-level DFT densities to respond to each other during DFT-in-DFT embedding calculations provides more flexibility and renders this approach more generally applicable to chemical systems. It could also be useful for future extensions to embedding approaches combining wavefunction theories and DFT.

A systematic approach to embedded biomedical decision making.

PubMed

Song, Zhe; Ji, Zhongkai; Ma, Jian-Guo; Sputh, Bernhard; Acharya, U Rajendra; Faust, Oliver

2012-11-01

An embedded decision making is a key feature for many biomedical systems. In most cases human life directly depends on correct decisions made by these systems, therefore they have to work reliably. This paper describes how we applied systems engineering principles to design a high performance embedded classification system in a systematic and well structured way. We introduce the structured design approach by discussing requirements capturing, specifications refinement, implementation and testing. Thereby, we follow systems engineering principles and execute each of these processes as formal as possible. The requirements, which motivate the system design, describe an automated decision making system for diagnostic support. These requirements are refined into the implementation of a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm which enables us to integrate automated decision making in embedded systems. With a formal model we establish functionality, stability and reliability of the system. Furthermore, we investigated different parallel processing configurations of this computationally complex algorithm. We found that, by adding SVM processes, an almost linear speedup is possible. Once we established these system properties, we translated the formal model into an implementation. The resulting implementation was tested using XMOS processors with both normal and failure cases, to build up trust in the implementation. Finally, we demonstrated that our parallel implementation achieves the speedup, predicted by the formal model. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kcnip1 a Ca²⁺-dependent transcriptional repressor regulates the size of the neural plate in Xenopus.

PubMed

Néant, Isabelle; Mellström, Britt; Gonzalez, Paz; Naranjo, Jose R; Moreau, Marc; Leclerc, Catherine

2015-09-01

In amphibian embryos, our previous work has demonstrated that calcium transients occurring in the dorsal ectoderm at the onset of gastrulation are necessary and sufficient to engage the ectodermal cells into a neural fate by inducing neural specific genes. Some of these genes are direct targets of calcium. Here we search for a direct transcriptional mechanism by which calcium signals are acting. The only known mechanism responsible for a direct action of calcium on gene transcription involves an EF-hand Ca²⁺ binding protein which belongs to a group of four proteins (Kcnip1 to 4). Kcnip protein can act in a Ca²⁺-dependent manner as a transcriptional repressor by binding to a specific DNA sequence, the Downstream Regulatory Element (DRE) site. In Xenopus, among the four kcnips, we show that only kcnip1 is timely and spatially present in the presumptive neural territories and is able to bind DRE sites in a Ca²⁺-dependent manner. The loss of function of kcnip1 results in the expansion of the neural plate through an increased proliferation of neural progenitors. Later on, this leads to an impairment in the development of anterior neural structures. We propose that, in the embryo, at the onset of neurogenesis Kcnip1 is the Ca²⁺-dependent transcriptional repressor that controls the size of the neural plate. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: 13th European Symposium on Calcium. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Ca2+–calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II represses cardiac transcription of the L-type calcium channel α1C-subunit gene (Cacna1c) by DREAM translocation

PubMed Central

Ronkainen, Jarkko J; Hänninen, Sandra L; Korhonen, Topi; Koivumäki, Jussi T; Skoumal, Reka; Rautio, Sini; Ronkainen, Veli-Pekka; Tavi, Pasi

2011-01-01

Abstract Recent studies have demonstrated that changes in the activity of calcium–calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) induce a unique cardiomyocyte phenotype through the regulation of specific genes involved in excitation–contraction (E–C)-coupling. To explain the transcriptional effects of CaMKII we identified a novel CaMKII-dependent pathway for controlling the expression of the pore-forming α-subunit (Cav1.2) of the L-type calcium channel (LTCC) in cardiac myocytes. We show that overexpression of either cytosolic (δC) or nuclear (δB) CaMKII isoforms selectively downregulate the expression of the Cav1.2. Pharmacological inhibition of CaMKII activity induced measurable changes in LTCC current density and subsequent changes in cardiomyocyte calcium signalling in less than 24 h. The effect of CaMKII on the α1C-subunit gene (Cacna1c) promoter was abolished by deletion of the downstream regulatory element (DRE), which binds transcriptional repressor DREAM/calsenilin/KChIP3. Imaging DREAM–GFP (green fluorescent protein)-expressing cardiomyocytes showed that CaMKII potentiates the calcium-induced nuclear translocation of DREAM. Thereby CaMKII increases DREAM binding to the DRE consensus sequence of the endogenous Cacna1c gene. By mathematical modelling we demonstrate that the LTCC downregulation through the Ca2+–CaMKII–DREAM cascade constitutes a physiological feedback mechanism enabling cardiomyocytes to adjust the calcium intrusion through LTCCs to the amount of intracellular calcium detected by CaMKII. PMID:21486818

An ABA-responsive DRE-binding protein gene from Setaria italica, SiARDP, the target gene of SiAREB, plays a critical role under drought stress.

PubMed

Li, Cong; Yue, Jing; Wu, Xiaowei; Xu, Cong; Yu, Jingjuan

2014-10-01

The DREB (dehydration-responsive element binding)-type transcription factors regulate the expression of stress-inducible genes by binding the DRE/CRT cis-elements in promoter regions. The upstream transcription factors that regulate the transcription of DREB transcription factors have not been clearly defined, although the function of DREB transcription factors in abiotic stress is known. In this study, an abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive DREB-binding protein gene (SiARDP) was cloned from foxtail millet (Setaria italica). The transcript level of SiARDP increased not only after drought, high salt, and low temperature stresses, but also after an ABA treatment in foxtail millet seedlings. Two ABA-responsive elements (ABRE1: ACGTGTC; ABRE2: ACGTGGC) exist in the promoter of SiARDP. Further analyses showed that two ABA-responsive element binding (AREB)-type transcription factors, SiAREB1 and SiAREB2, could physically bind to the ABRE core element in vitro and in vivo. The constitutive expression of SiARDP in Arabidopsis thaliana enhanced drought and salt tolerance during seed germination and seedling development, and overexpression of SiARDP in foxtail millet improved drought tolerance. The expression levels of target genes of SiARDP were upregulated in transgenic Arabidopsis and foxtail millet. These results reveal that SiARDP, one of the target genes of SiAREB, is involved in ABA-dependent signal pathways and plays a critical role in the abiotic stress response in plants. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

HMGB1 regulates P-glycoprotein expression in status epilepticus rat brains via the RAGE/NF-κB signaling pathway

PubMed Central

Xie, Yuan; Yu, Nian; Chen, Yan; Zhang, Kang; Ma, Hai-Yan; Di, Qing

2017-01-01

Overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the brain is an important mechanism involved in drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), an inflammatory cytokine, significantly increases following seizures and may be involved in upregulation of P-gp. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of HMGB1 and its downstream signaling components, receptor for advanced glycation end-product (RAGE) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), on P-gp expression in rat brains during status epilepticus (SE). Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was administered to rats prior to induction of SE by pilocarpine, to block transcription of the genes encoding HMGB1 and RAGE, respectively. An inhibitor of NF-κB, pyrrolidinedithiocarbamic acid (PDTC), was utilized to inhibit activation of NF-κB. The expression levels of HMGB1, RAGE, phosphorylated-NF-κB p65 (p-p65) and P-gp were detected by western blotting. The relative mRNA expression levels of the genes encoding these proteins were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and the cellular localization of the proteins was determined by immunofluorescence. Pre-treatment with HMGB1 siRNA reduced the expression levels of RAGE, p-p65 and P-gp. PDTC reduced the expression levels of P-gp. These findings suggested that overexpression of P-gp during seizures may be regulated by HMGB1 via the RAGE/NF-κB signaling pathway, and may be a novel target for treating DRE. PMID:28627626

Drug-resistant epilepsy: current recommendations for diagnosis and treatment in Spain.

PubMed

Sánchez-Álvarez, J C; Gil-Nagel, A; Casas-Fernández, C; Mauri-Llerda, J A; Salas-Puig, J; Sancho-Rieger, J

2012-01-01

Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is a top-priority social health problem which requires early individual treatment due to its dramatic repercussions for the patient and society. The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) has recently defined DRE as that in which the seizures are not controlled after having correctly taken two appropriate and well tolerated anti-epileptic drugs, with lack of control being understood as the appearance of seizures within one year or in a period less than three times the inter-seizure interval before starting treatment. This International Society recommends a rapid and detailed assessment of all patients in an Epilepsy Unit. A Clinical Epilepsy Unit (CEU) is understood as a group of professionals who, acting in collaboration, have the diagnosis and treatment of the patient with epilepsy as their primary objective. CEUs in Spain may be stratified into different levels depending on the activity carried out in each of them. The specific epilepsy clinic is considered the fundamental type of CEU and includes the necessary figure of an expert in epilepsy. Prolonged video-monitoring is performed in medical CEUs. In medical-surgical CEUs epilepsy surgery with varying degrees of difficulty is also performed. All CEUs must cooperate with consensus protocols, and there must be a two-way flow between them. Stratification of CEUs increases efficacy and efficiency, due to there being a sufficient number of them to ensure easy access by all patients with epilepsy. © 2011 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Accuracy of high resolution (1.5 tesla) pelvic phased array magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in staging prostate cancer in candidates for radical prostatectomy: results from a prospective study.

PubMed

Renard-Penna, Raphaële; Rouprêt, Morgan; Comperat, Eva; Ayed, Amine; Coudert, Mathieu; Mozer, Pierre; Xylinas, Evanguelos; Bitker, Marc-Olivier; Grenier, Philippe

2013-05-01

To evaluate the role of pelvic phased array MRI in staging prostate cancer (CaP). We prospectively collected data over 12 months on CaP patients who underwent preoperative MR imaging with a pelvic phased array before radical prostatectomy. MR images were analyzed prospectively by 2 radiologists. MR imaging findings were then correlated with pathologic findings. Overall, 101 patients were included with a mean PSA level of 8 (range 1.8-30). Reader 1 (AUC 0.895, 95% CI 0.791-0.999) had a higher performance than reader 2 (AUC 0.687, 95% CI, 0.555-0.819) and than DRE (AUC 0.728, 95% CI, 0.599-0.857) in discriminating T2 from T3 CaP (P = 0.01). The κ-index of inter-observer agreement was 0.56. A model that combines MRI findings, DRE, PSA, and Gleason score was the most competitive for staging (AUC 0.895, 95% CI, 0.791-0.999). For the multivariate analysis, 3 criteria were significantly associated with extracapsular extension: asymmetry of the neuro-vascular bundles (P = 0.001), asymmetric enhancement of neurovascular bundles (P = 0.02), and bulging of the capsule (P = 0.0003). Pelvic phased array MRI presented satisfying results in its ability to adequately stage CaP and notably in detecting the extracapsular extension of tumors. It is likely to provide reliable information but rather in the hands of an experienced radiologist. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is there a link between BPH and prostate cancer?

PubMed

Chang, R T M; Kirby, Roger; Challacombe, B J

2012-04-01

BPH is one of the most common diseases of older men, with more than 70% of men over 70 years affected, and prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. Prostate cancer generally presents in one of three ways: asymptomatic patients who are screened (usually by a PSA test); men with LUTS who are investigated and undergo prostate biopsy; or patients with symptoms of metastasis such as bone pain. Men can be reassured that the main cause of LUTS is BPH. Only a small proportion of men have LUTS that are directly attributable to prostate cancer. Digital rectal examination (DRE) gives an evaluation of prostate size, which is relevant in particular to BPH management, and along with PSA testing it is one of the only ways of differentiating clinically between BPH and prostate cancer. If a nodular abnormality is present there is around a 50% chance of a diagnosis of prostate cancer being made on biopsy. Raised levels of serum PSA may be suggestive of prostate cancer, but diagnosis requires histological confirmation in almost every case. A normal PSA, PSA density and DRE can give reasonable confidence with regards to excluding clinically significant prostate cancer. BPH is not a known risk factor for prostate cancer, although the two frequently coexist. Age is the strongest predictor of prostate cancer risk, along with family history. BPH is not considered to be a precursor of prostate cancer. It is likely that although BPH may not make prostate cancer more likely to occur, it may increase the chance of diagnosing an incidental cancer.

An Embedded Multi-Agent Systems Based Industrial Wireless Sensor Network

PubMed Central

Brennan, Robert W.

2017-01-01

With the emergence of cyber-physical systems, there has been a growing interest in network-connected devices. One of the key requirements of a cyber-physical device is the ability to sense its environment. Wireless sensor networks are a widely-accepted solution for this requirement. In this study, an embedded multi-agent systems-managed wireless sensor network is presented. A novel architecture is proposed, along with a novel wireless sensor network architecture. Active and passive wireless sensor node types are defined, along with their communication protocols, and two application-specific examples are presented. A series of three experiments is conducted to evaluate the performance of the agent-embedded wireless sensor network. PMID:28906452

Systematic Model-in-the-Loop Test of Embedded Control Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krupp, Alexander; Müller, Wolfgang

Current model-based development processes offer new opportunities for verification automation, e.g., in automotive development. The duty of functional verification is the detection of design flaws. Current functional verification approaches exhibit a major gap between requirement definition and formal property definition, especially when analog signals are involved. Besides lack of methodical support for natural language formalization, there does not exist a standardized and accepted means for formal property definition as a target for verification planning. This article addresses several shortcomings of embedded system verification. An Enhanced Classification Tree Method is developed based on the established Classification Tree Method for Embeded Systems CTM/ES which applies a hardware verification language to define a verification environment.

An Embedded Multi-Agent Systems Based Industrial Wireless Sensor Network.

PubMed

Taboun, Mohammed S; Brennan, Robert W

2017-09-14

With the emergence of cyber-physical systems, there has been a growing interest in network-connected devices. One of the key requirements of a cyber-physical device is the ability to sense its environment. Wireless sensor networks are a widely-accepted solution for this requirement. In this study, an embedded multi-agent systems-managed wireless sensor network is presented. A novel architecture is proposed, along with a novel wireless sensor network architecture. Active and passive wireless sensor node types are defined, along with their communication protocols, and two application-specific examples are presented. A series of three experiments is conducted to evaluate the performance of the agent-embedded wireless sensor network.

Dependence of Impedance of Embedded Single Cells on Cellular Behaviour.

PubMed

Cho, Sungbo; Castellarnau, Marc; Samitier, Josep; Thielecke, Hagen

2008-02-21

Non-invasive single cell analyses are increasingly required for the medicaldiagnostics of test substances or the development of drugs and therapies on the single celllevel. For the non-invasive characterisation of cells, impedance spectroscopy whichprovides the frequency dependent electrical properties has been used. Recently,microfludic systems have been investigated to manipulate the single cells and tocharacterise the electrical properties of embedded cells. In this article, the impedance ofpartially embedded single cells dependent on the cellular behaviour was investigated byusing the microcapillary. An analytical equation was derived to relate the impedance ofembedded cells with respect to the morphological and physiological change ofextracellular interface. The capillary system with impedance measurement showed afeasibility to monitor the impedance change of embedded single cells caused bymorphological and physiological change of cell during the addition of DMSO. By fittingthe derived equation to the measured impedance of cell embedded at different negativepressure levels, it was able to extrapolate the equivalent gap and gap conductivity betweenthe cell and capillary wall representing the cellular behaviour.

Aerosol direct effect on solar radiation over the eastern Mediterranean Sea based on AVHRR satellite measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgakaki, Paraskevi; Papadimas, Christos D.; Hatzianastassiou, Nikos; Fotiadi, Aggeliki; Matsoukas, Christos; Stackhouse, Paul; Kanakidou, Maria; Vardavas, Ilias M.

2017-04-01

Despite the improved scientific understanding of the direct effect of aerosols on solar radiation (direct radiative effect, DRE) improvements are necessary, for example regarding the accuracy of the magnitude of estimated DREs and their spatial and temporal variability. This variability cannot be ensured by in-situ surface and airborne measurements, while it is also relatively difficult to capture through satellite observations. This becomes even more difficult when complete spatial coverage of extended areas is required, especially concerning areas that host various aerosol types with variable physico-chemical and optical aerosol properties. Better assessments of aerosol DREs are necessary, relying on aerosol optical properties with high spatial and temporal variation. The present study aims to provide a refined, along these lines, assessment of aerosol DREs over the eastern Mediterranean (EM) Sea, which is a key area for aerosol studies. Daily DREs are computed for 1˚ x1˚ latitude-longitude grids with the FORTH detailed spectral radiation transfer model (RTM) using input data for various atmospheric and surface parameters, such as clouds, water vapor, ozone and surface albedo, taken from the NASA-Langley Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) database. The model spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter are taken from the Global Aerosol Data Set and the NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) version 2 of Advanced Very High resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) AOD dataset which is available over oceans at 0.63 microns and at 0.1˚ x0.1˚ . The aerosol DREs are computed at the surface, the top-of-atmosphere and within the atmosphere, over the period 1985-1995. Preliminary model results for the period 1990-1993 reveal a significant spatial and temporal variability of DREs over the EM Sea, for example larger values over the Aegean and Black Seas, surrounded by land areas with significant anthropogenic aerosol sources, and over the southernmost parts of EM Sea, affected by frequent Saharan dust export. The mean regional annual AODs range from 0.17±0.05 to 0.23±0.06. The corresponding regional annual DREs at surface range from -14±3 to -18±4 W/m2 (surface radiative cooling), while in the atmosphere they vary between 7±2 and 10±2 W/m2 (atmospheric heating), yielding a planetary cooling above the EM Sea between -6±1 and -8±2 W/m2. However, these AOD and DRE values vary depending on the criteria of data spatial and temporal availability applied in the AOD and DRE calculation, because of the limited availability of retrieved AVHRR AOD over specific areas and in specific days. The DREs reach larger magnitudes at pixel-level; for example the surface DREs slightly exceed -30 W/m2, whereas they take larger values (magnitudes larger than -50 W/m2 in summer) when computed on a monthly basis, and even larger values on daily basis. The model results underline the high spatial and temporal variability of aerosol DREs, and the care that must be taken when averaging over space and time. It also points to the need for availability of aerosol data with concurrent high spatial and temporal coverage and resolution, which should be sought in ongoing and future satellite missions.

Digital interface of electronic transformers based on embedded system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Qiufeng; Qi, Yincheng

2008-10-01

Benefited from digital interface of electronic transformers, information sharing and system integration in substation can be realized. An embedded system-based digital output scheme of electronic transformers is proposed. The digital interface is designed with S3C44B0X 32bit RISC microprocessor as the hardware platform. The μCLinux operation system (OS) is transplanted on ARM7 (S3C44B0X). Applying Ethernet technology as the communication mode in the substation automation system is a new trend. The network interface chip RTL8019AS is adopted. Data transmission is realized through the in-line TCP/IP protocol of uClinux embedded OS. The application result and character analysis show that the design can meet the real-time and reliability requirements of IEC60044-7/8 electronic voltage/current instrument transformer standards.

Shaping Collective Functions in Privatized Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems: The Positioning and Embedding of a Network Broker in the Dutch Dairy Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klerkx, Laurens; Leeuwis, Cees

2009-01-01

This paper examines new organizational arrangements that have emerged in the context of a privatized extension system. It investigates the positioning and embedding of a network broker aimed at enhancing interaction in the privatized agricultural knowledge and information system (AKIS), to assess whether tensions reported in other sectors also…

Real-Time Considerations for Rugged Embedded Systems

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

Tumeo, Antonino; Ceriani, Marco; Palermo, Gianluca

This chapter introduces the characterizing aspects of embedded systems, and discusses the specific features that a designer should address to an embedded system “rugged”, i.e., able to operate reliably in harsh environments. The chapter addresses both the hardware and the less obvious software aspect. After presenting a current list of certifications for ruggedization, the chapters present a case study that focuses on the interaction of the hardware and software layers in reactive real-time system. In particular, it shows how the use of fast FPGA prototyping could provide insights on unexpected factors that influence the performance and thus responsiveness to eventsmore » of a scheduling algorithm for multiprocessor systems that manages both periodic, hard real-time task, and aperiodic tasks. The main lesson is that to make the system “rugged”, a designer should consider these issues by, for example, overprovisioning resources and/or computation capabilities.« less

Assessing frequency-dependent site polarisabilities in linear response polarisable embedding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nørby, Morten S.; Vahtras, Olav; Norman, Patrick; Kongsted, Jacob

2017-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the impact of using a frequency-dependent embedding potential in quantum chemical embedding calculations of response properties. We show that the introduction of a frequency-dependent embedding potential leads to further model complications upon solving the central equations defining specific molecular properties. On the other hand, we also show from a numerical point of view that the consequences of using such a frequency-dependent embedding potential is almost negligible. Thus, for the kind of systems and processes studied in this paper the general recommendation is to use frequency-independent embedding potentials since this leads to less complicated model issues. However, larger effects are expected if the absorption bands of the environment are closer to that of the region treated using quantum mechanics.

Project-Based Learning to Enhance Teaching Embedded Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sababha, Belal H.; Alqudah, Yazan A.; Abualbasal, Abdelraheem; AlQaralleh, Esam A.

2016-01-01

Exposing engineering students during their education to real-world problems and giving them the chance to apply what they learn in the classroom is a vital element of engineering education. The Embedded Systems course at Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) is one of the main courses that bridge the gap between theoretical electrical…

Embedded Multiprocessor Technology for VHSIC Insertion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayes, Paul J.

1990-01-01

Viewgraphs on embedded multiprocessor technology for VHSIC insertion are presented. The objective was to develop multiprocessor system technology providing user-selectable fault tolerance, increased throughput, and ease of application representation for concurrent operation. The approach was to develop graph management mapping theory for proper performance, model multiprocessor performance, and demonstrate performance in selected hardware systems.

A robust embedded vision system feasible white balance algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuan; Yu, Feihong

2018-01-01

White balance is a very important part of the color image processing pipeline. In order to meet the need of efficiency and accuracy in embedded machine vision processing system, an efficient and robust white balance algorithm combining several classical ones is proposed. The proposed algorithm mainly has three parts. Firstly, in order to guarantee higher efficiency, an initial parameter calculated from the statistics of R, G and B components from raw data is used to initialize the following iterative method. After that, the bilinear interpolation algorithm is utilized to implement demosaicing procedure. Finally, an adaptive step adjustable scheme is introduced to ensure the controllability and robustness of the algorithm. In order to verify the proposed algorithm's performance on embedded vision system, a smart camera based on IMX6 DualLite, IMX291 and XC6130 is designed. Extensive experiments on a large amount of images under different color temperatures and exposure conditions illustrate that the proposed white balance algorithm avoids color deviation problem effectively, achieves a good balance between efficiency and quality, and is suitable for embedded machine vision processing system.

In Bed with the Library: A Critical Exploration of Embedded Librarianship at the City University of New York

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollack, Julia

2017-01-01

This project considers the efficacy and scalability of embedded librarianship initiatives within the City University of New York (CUNY) library system and presents findings of an original research study conducted in 2015. Through an analysis of recent LIS literature on embedment, response data from a survey of librarians, and a selection of…

Teacher Trainers' and Trainee Teachers' Understanding towards the Curriculum Philosophy Regarding Soft Skills Embedment in the Malaysian Institute of Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassan, Aminuddin; Maharoff, Marina; Abiddin, Norhasni Zainal; Ro'is, Ihsan

2016-01-01

The embedment of soft skills into education programs in higher education is closely related to the curriculum philosophy brought by the respective institutions. The soft skills are embedded through understanding belief systems and practices among the teacher trainers. Furthermore it provides an insight into the curriculum philosophy on how to…

Increasing component functionality via multi-process additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coronel, Jose L.; Fehr, Katherine H.; Kelly, Dominic D.; Espalin, David; Wicker, Ryan B.

2017-05-01

Additively manufactured components, although extensively customizable, are often limited in functionality. Multi-process additive manufacturing (AM) grants the ability to increase the functionality of components via subtractive manufacturing, wire embedding, foil embedding and pick and place. These processes are scalable to include several platforms ranging from desktop to large area printers. The Multi3D System is highlighted, possessing the capability to perform the above mentioned processes, all while transferring a fabricated component with a robotic arm. Work was conducted to fabricate a patent inspired, printed missile seeker. The seeker demonstrated the advantage of multi-process AM via introduction of the pick and place process. Wire embedding was also explored, with the successful interconnect of two layers of embedded wires in different planes. A final demonstration of a printed contour bracket, served to show the reduction of surface roughness on a printed part is 87.5% when subtractive manufacturing is implemented in tandem with AM. Functionality of the components on all the cases was improved. Results included optical components embedded within the printed housing, wires embedded with interconnection, and reduced surface roughness. These results highlight the improved functionality of components through multi-process AM, specifically through work conducted with the Multi3D System.

Strain monitoring of a newly developed precast concrete track for high speed railway traffic using embedded fiber optic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crail, Stephanie; Reichel, D.; Schreiner, U.; Lindner, E.; Habel, Wolfgang R.; Hofmann, Detlef; Basedau, Frank; Brandes, K.; Barner, A.; Ecke, Wolfgang; Schroeder, Kerstin

2002-07-01

In a German slab track system (Feste Fahrbahn FF, system Boegl) for speeds up to 300 km/h and more different fiber optic sensors have been embedded in several levels and locations of the track system. The track system consists of prestressed precast panels of steel fiber concrete which are supported by a cat-in-situ concrete or asphalt base course. The sensors are to measure the bond behavior or the stress transfer in the track system. For that, tiny fiber-optic sensors - fiber Fabry-Perot and Bragg grating sensors - have been embedded very near to the interface of the layers. Measurements were taken on a full scale test sample (slab track panel of 6.45 m length) as well as on a real high speed track. The paper describes the measurement task and discusses aspects with regard to sensor design and prefabrication of the sensor frames as well as the embedding procedure into the concrete track. Results from static and dynamic full scale tests carried out in the testing laboratory of BAM and from measurements on a track are given.

Run-time implementation issues for real-time embedded Ada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maule, Ruth A.

1986-01-01

A motivating factor in the development of Ada as the department of defense standard language was the high cost of embedded system software development. It was with embedded system requirements in mind that many of the features of the language were incorporated. Yet it is the designers of embedded systems that seem to comprise the majority of the Ada community dissatisfied with the language. There are a variety of reasons for this dissatisfaction, but many seem to be related in some way to the Ada run-time support system. Some of the areas in which the inconsistencies were found to have the greatest impact on performance from the standpoint of real-time systems are presented. In particular, a large part of the duties of the tasking supervisor are subject to the design decisions of the implementer. These include scheduling, rendezvous, delay processing, and task activation and termination. Some of the more general issues presented include time and space efficiencies, generic expansions, memory management, pragmas, and tracing features. As validated compilers become available for bare computer targets, it is important for a designer to be aware that, at least for many real-time issues, all validated Ada compilers are not created equal.

Embedded Data Processor and Portable Computer Technology testbeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alena, Richard; Liu, Yuan-Kwei; Goforth, Andre; Fernquist, Alan R.

1993-01-01

Attention is given to current activities in the Embedded Data Processor and Portable Computer Technology testbed configurations that are part of the Advanced Data Systems Architectures Testbed at the Information Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center. The Embedded Data Processor Testbed evaluates advanced microprocessors for potential use in mission and payload applications within the Space Station Freedom Program. The Portable Computer Technology (PCT) Testbed integrates and demonstrates advanced portable computing devices and data system architectures. The PCT Testbed uses both commercial and custom-developed devices to demonstrate the feasibility of functional expansion and networking for portable computers in flight missions.

Design of embedded intelligent monitoring system based on face recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Weidong; Ding, Yan; Zhao, Liangjin; Li, Jia; Hu, Xuemei

2017-01-01

In this paper, a new embedded intelligent monitoring system based on face recognition is proposed. The system uses Pi Raspberry as the central processor. A sensors group has been designed with Zigbee module in order to assist the system to work better and the two alarm modes have been proposed using the Internet and 3G modem. The experimental results show that the system can work under various light intensities to recognize human face and send alarm information in real time.

Stabilizing embedology: Geometry-preserving delay-coordinate maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eftekhari, Armin; Yap, Han Lun; Wakin, Michael B.; Rozell, Christopher J.

2018-02-01

Delay-coordinate mapping is an effective and widely used technique for reconstructing and analyzing the dynamics of a nonlinear system based on time-series outputs. The efficacy of delay-coordinate mapping has long been supported by Takens' embedding theorem, which guarantees that delay-coordinate maps use the time-series output to provide a reconstruction of the hidden state space that is a one-to-one embedding of the system's attractor. While this topological guarantee ensures that distinct points in the reconstruction correspond to distinct points in the original state space, it does not characterize the quality of this embedding or illuminate how the specific parameters affect the reconstruction. In this paper, we extend Takens' result by establishing conditions under which delay-coordinate mapping is guaranteed to provide a stable embedding of a system's attractor. Beyond only preserving the attractor topology, a stable embedding preserves the attractor geometry by ensuring that distances between points in the state space are approximately preserved. In particular, we find that delay-coordinate mapping stably embeds an attractor of a dynamical system if the stable rank of the system is large enough to be proportional to the dimension of the attractor. The stable rank reflects the relation between the sampling interval and the number of delays in delay-coordinate mapping. Our theoretical findings give guidance to choosing system parameters, echoing the tradeoff between irrelevancy and redundancy that has been heuristically investigated in the literature. Our initial result is stated for attractors that are smooth submanifolds of Euclidean space, with extensions provided for the case of strange attractors.

Stabilizing embedology: Geometry-preserving delay-coordinate maps.

PubMed

Eftekhari, Armin; Yap, Han Lun; Wakin, Michael B; Rozell, Christopher J

2018-02-01

Delay-coordinate mapping is an effective and widely used technique for reconstructing and analyzing the dynamics of a nonlinear system based on time-series outputs. The efficacy of delay-coordinate mapping has long been supported by Takens' embedding theorem, which guarantees that delay-coordinate maps use the time-series output to provide a reconstruction of the hidden state space that is a one-to-one embedding of the system's attractor. While this topological guarantee ensures that distinct points in the reconstruction correspond to distinct points in the original state space, it does not characterize the quality of this embedding or illuminate how the specific parameters affect the reconstruction. In this paper, we extend Takens' result by establishing conditions under which delay-coordinate mapping is guaranteed to provide a stable embedding of a system's attractor. Beyond only preserving the attractor topology, a stable embedding preserves the attractor geometry by ensuring that distances between points in the state space are approximately preserved. In particular, we find that delay-coordinate mapping stably embeds an attractor of a dynamical system if the stable rank of the system is large enough to be proportional to the dimension of the attractor. The stable rank reflects the relation between the sampling interval and the number of delays in delay-coordinate mapping. Our theoretical findings give guidance to choosing system parameters, echoing the tradeoff between irrelevancy and redundancy that has been heuristically investigated in the literature. Our initial result is stated for attractors that are smooth submanifolds of Euclidean space, with extensions provided for the case of strange attractors.

Development of EPA Protocol Information Enquiry Service System Based on Embedded ARM Linux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Daogang; Zhang, Hao; Weng, Jiannian; Li, Hui; Xia, Fei

Industrial Ethernet is a new technology for industrial network communications developed in recent years. In the field of industrial automation in China, EPA is the first standard accepted and published by ISO, and has been included in the fourth edition IEC61158 Fieldbus of NO.14 type. According to EPA standard, Field devices such as industrial field controller, actuator and other instruments are all able to realize communication based on the Ethernet standard. The Atmel AT91RM9200 embedded development board and open source embedded Linux are used to develop an information inquiry service system of EPA protocol based on embedded ARM Linux in this paper. The system is capable of designing an EPA Server program for EPA data acquisition procedures, the EPA information inquiry service is available for programs in local or remote host through Socket interface. The EPA client can access data and information of other EPA equipments on the EPA network when it establishes connection with the monitoring port of the server.

Portable wireless ultrasonic systems for remote inspection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, C. H.; Croxford, A. J.; Wilcox, P. D.

2015-03-01

The weight and power storage of conventional wire and active wireless systems limit their applications to composite structures such as wind turbines and aerospace structures. In this paper, a structurally-integrated, inert, wireless guided wave system for rapid composite inspection is demonstrated. The wireless interface is based on electromagnetic coupling between three coils, one of which is physically connected to an ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer and embedded in the structure, while the other two are in a separate probing unit. Compact encapsulated sensor units are designed, built and successfully embedded into carbon fibre composite panel at manufacture. Chirp-based excitation is used to enable single-shot measurements with high signal-to-noise ratios to be obtained. Results from sensors embedded in carbon fibre reinforced composite panel show that signal amplitude obtained by embedding the sensor into composite is almost twice that of a surface-bonded sensor. The promising results indicate that the developed sensor can be potentially used for impact damage in a large composite structure.

Embedded Triboelectric Active Sensors for Real-Time Pneumatic Monitoring.

PubMed

Fu, Xian Peng; Bu, Tian Zhao; Xi, Feng Ben; Cheng, Ting Hai; Zhang, Chi; Wang, Zhong Lin

2017-09-20

Pneumatic monitoring sensors have great demands for power supply in cylinder systems. Here, we present an embedded sliding triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) in air cylinder as active sensors for position and velocity monitoring. The embedded TENG is composed of a circular poly(tetrafluoroethylene) polymer and a triangular copper electrode. The working mechanism as triboelectric active sensors and electric output performance are systematically investigated. By integrating into the pneumatic system, the embedded triboelectric active sensors have been used for real-time air pressure/flow monitoring and energy storage. Air pressures are measured from 0.04 to 0.12 MPa at a step of 0.02 MPa with a sensitivity of 49.235 V/MPa, as well as airflow from 50 to 250 L/min at a step of 50 L/min with a sensitivity of 0.002 μA·min/L. This work has first demonstrated triboelectric active sensors for pneumatic monitoring and may promote the development of TENG in intelligent pneumatic system.

Designing the role of the embedded care manager.

PubMed

Hines, Patricia; Mercury, Marge

2013-01-01

: The role of the professional case manager is changing rapidly. Health reform has called upon the industry to ensure that care is delivered in an efficient, effective, and high-quality and low cost manner. As a means to achieve this objective, health plans and health systems are moving the care manager out of a centralized location within their organizations to "embedding" them into physician offices. This move enables the care manager to work alongside the primary care physicians and their high-risk patients. This article discusses the framework for designing and implementing an embedded care manager role into a physician practice. Key elements of the program are discussed. IMPLICATIONS FOR CARE MANAGEMENT:: Historically care management has played a foundational role in improving the quality of care for individuals and populations via the efficient and effective use of resources. Now with the goals of health care reform, a successful transition from a volume-based to value-based reimbursement system requires primary care physicians to welcome care managers into their practices to improve patient care, quality, and costs through care coordination across health care settings and populations. : As patient-centered medical homes and integrated delivery systems formulate their plans for population health management, their efforts have included embedding a care manager in the primary practice setting. Having care managers embedded at the physician offices increases their ability to collaborate with the physician and their staff in the implementation and monitoring care plans for their patients. : Implementing an embedded care manager into an existing physician's practice requires the following:Although the embedded care manager is a highly evolving role, physician groups are beginning to realize the benefits from their care management collaborations. Examples cited include improved outreach and coordination, patient adherence to care plans, and improved quality of life.

Hydrological Monitoring System Design and Implementation Based on IOT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Kun; Zhang, Dacheng; Bo, Jingyi; Zhang, Zhiguang

In this article, an embedded system development platform based on GSM communication is proposed. Through its application in hydrology monitoring management, the author makes discussion about communication reliability and lightning protection, suggests detail solutions, and also analyzes design and realization of upper computer software. Finally, communication program is given. Hydrology monitoring system from wireless communication network is a typical practical application of embedded system, which has realized intelligence, modernization, high-efficiency and networking of hydrology monitoring management.

Rule based design of conceptual models for formative evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Loretta A.; Chang, Kai; Hale, Joseph P.; Bester, Terri; Rix, Thomas; Wang, Yaowen

1994-01-01

A Human-Computer Interface (HCI) Prototyping Environment with embedded evaluation capability has been investigated. This environment will be valuable in developing and refining HCI standards and evaluating program/project interface development, especially Space Station Freedom on-board displays for payload operations. This environment, which allows for rapid prototyping and evaluation of graphical interfaces, includes the following four components: (1) a HCI development tool; (2) a low fidelity simulator development tool; (3) a dynamic, interactive interface between the HCI and the simulator; and (4) an embedded evaluator that evaluates the adequacy of a HCI based on a user's performance. The embedded evaluation tool collects data while the user is interacting with the system and evaluates the adequacy of an interface based on a user's performance. This paper describes the design of conceptual models for the embedded evaluation system using a rule-based approach.

Rule based design of conceptual models for formative evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Loretta A.; Chang, Kai; Hale, Joseph P.; Bester, Terri; Rix, Thomas; Wang, Yaowen

1994-01-01

A Human-Computer Interface (HCI) Prototyping Environment with embedded evaluation capability has been investigated. This environment will be valuable in developing and refining HCI standards and evaluating program/project interface development, especially Space Station Freedom on-board displays for payload operations. This environment, which allows for rapid prototyping and evaluation of graphical interfaces, includes the following four components: (1) a HCI development tool, (2) a low fidelity simulator development tool, (3) a dynamic, interactive interface between the HCI and the simulator, and (4) an embedded evaluator that evaluates the adequacy of a HCI based on a user's performance. The embedded evaluation tool collects data while the user is interacting with the system and evaluates the adequacy of an interface based on a user's performance. This paper describes the design of conceptual models for the embedded evaluation system using a rule-based approach.

Galvanic Liquid Applied Coating System for Protection of Embedded Steel Surfaces from Corrosion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curran, Joseph; MacDowell, Louis; Voska, N. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete is an insidious problem for the Kennedy Space Center, government agencies, and the general public. Existing corrosion protection systems on the market are costly, complex, and time-consuming to install, require continuous maintenance and monitoring, and require specialized skills for installation. NASA's galvanic liquid-applied coating offers companies the ability to conveniently protect embedded steel rebar surfaces from corrosion. Liquid-applied inorganic galvanic coating contains one ore more of the following metallic particles: magnesium, zinc, or indium and may contain moisture attracting compounds that facilitate the protection process. The coating is applied to the outer surface of reinforced concrete so that electrical current is established between metallic particles and surfaces of embedded steel rebar; and electric (ionic) current is responsible for providing the necessary cathodic protection for embedded rebar surfaces.

Development and Evaluation of Educational Materials for Embedded Systems to Increase the Learning Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koshino, Makoto; Kojima, Yuki; Kanedera, Noboru

2013-01-01

Educational materials of embedded systems are currently used in many educational institutions. However, they have difficulties in arousing the interest of students. One of the reasons is that a poor CPU (central processing unit), which has been loaded in the current materials, cannot execute the multimedia processing. In order to make the…

The Game Embedded CALL System to Facilitate English Vocabulary Acquisition and Pronunciation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Shelley Shwu-Ching; Wang, Yi-Hsuan

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to make a new attempt to explore the potential of integrating game strategies with automatic speech recognition technologies to provide learners with individual opportunities for English pronunciation learning. The study developed the Game Embedded CALL (GeCALL) system with two activities for on-line speaking practice. For…

Introduction for Freshmen to Embedded Systems Using LEGO Mindstorms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Seung Han; Jeon, Jae Wook

2009-01-01

The purpose of the course presented here is to introduce freshmen to embedded systems using LEGO Mindstorms, under an ANSI-C programming environment. The students build their own LEGO robots, make programs for them using ANSI-C, and operate them. By creating these LEGO robots, the students become more motivated, learning the basic concepts of…

An Embedded Systems Laboratory to Support Rapid Prototyping of Robotics and the Internet of Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamblen, J. O.; van Bekkum, G. M. E.

2013-01-01

This paper describes a new approach for a course and laboratory designed to allow students to develop low-cost prototypes of robotic and other embedded devices that feature Internet connectivity, I/O, networking, a real-time operating system (RTOS), and object-oriented C/C++. The application programming interface (API) libraries provided permit…

Closing the Gap: Cybersecurity for U.S. Forces and Commands

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-30

Dickson, Ph.D. Professor of Military Studies , JAWS Thesis Advisor Kevin Therrien, Col, USAF Committee Member Stephen Rogers, Colonel, USA Director...infrastructures, and includes the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers in critical industries.”5...of information technology infrastructures, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and

Embedding global and collective in a torus network with message class map based tree path selection

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

Chen, Dong; Coteus, Paul W.; Eisley, Noel A.

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for embedding a global barrier and global interrupt network in a parallel computer system organized as a torus network. The computer system includes a multitude of nodes. In one embodiment, the method comprises taking inputs from a set of receivers of the nodes, dividing the inputs from the receivers into a plurality of classes, combining the inputs of each of the classes to obtain a result, and sending said result to a set of senders of the nodes. Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computermore » program product for embedding a collective network in a parallel computer system organized as a torus network. In one embodiment, the method comprises adding to a torus network a central collective logic to route messages among at least a group of nodes in a tree structure.« less

Energy efficient sensor network implementations

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

Frigo, Janette R; Raby, Eric Y; Brennan, Sean M

In this paper, we discuss a low power embedded sensor node architecture we are developing for distributed sensor network systems deployed in a natural environment. In particular, we examine the sensor node for energy efficient processing-at-the-sensor. We analyze the following modes of operation; event detection, sleep(wake-up), data acquisition, data processing modes using low power, high performance embedded technology such as specialized embedded DSP processors and a low power FPGAs at the sensing node. We use compute intensive sensor node applications: an acoustic vehicle classifier (frequency domain analysis) and a video license plate identification application (learning algorithm) as a case study.more » We report performance and total energy usage for our system implementations and discuss the system architecture design trade offs.« less

Apparatus for decoupled thermo-photocatalytic pollution control

DOEpatents

Tabatabaie-Raissi, Ali; Muradov, Nazim Z.; Martin, Eric

2003-04-22

A new method for design and scale-up of photocatalytic and thermocatalytic processes is disclosed. The method is based on optimizing photoprocess energetics by decoupling of the process energy efficiency from the DRE for target contaminants. The technique is applicable to photo-thermocatalytic reactor design and scale-up. At low irradiance levels, the method is based on the implementation of low pressure drop biopolymeric and synthetic polymeric support for titanium dioxide and other band-gap media. At high irradiance levels, the method utilizes multifunctional metal oxide aerogels and other media within a novel rotating fluidized particle bed reactor.

Nonspecific Resistance Induced by an Immunopharmacologic Agent Derived from Bordetella pertussis

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-02-02

inv-,st i ation of 3 cell. T cell , NK cell , and 1rohq 3 i’_- ’o4Jp fii’lod to dre’oýnst" rate any stt-king mechanism "hat mini)ht accrunt for ant...addition, the EP-LPS induced antiviral state may decay more rapidly than BPV induced resistance. Table 2.3.1. Kinetics of Resistance to Virus Challenge... chloramine -T. Unincorporated label was removed by passage of the label proteins over a G-25 Sephadex column. Mice were inoculated i.p. with 1.2 x 10

Embedded Sensors and Controls to Improve Component Performance and Reliability -- Loop-scale Testbed Design Report

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

Melin, Alexander M.; Kisner, Roger A.

2016-09-01

Embedded instrumentation and control systems that can operate in extreme environments are challenging to design and operate. Extreme environments limit the options for sensors and actuators and degrade their performance. Because sensors and actuators are necessary for feedback control, these limitations mean that designing embedded instrumentation and control systems for the challenging environments of nuclear reactors requires advanced technical solutions that are not available commercially. This report details the development of testbed that will be used for cross-cutting embedded instrumentation and control research for nuclear power applications. This research is funded by the Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologymore » program's Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation topic. The design goal of the loop-scale testbed is to build a low temperature pump that utilizes magnetic bearing that will be incorporated into a water loop to test control system performance and self-sensing techniques. Specifically, this testbed will be used to analyze control system performance in response to nonlinear and cross-coupling fluid effects between the shaft axes of motion, rotordynamics and gyroscopic effects, and impeller disturbances. This testbed will also be used to characterize the performance losses when using self-sensing position measurement techniques. Active magnetic bearings are a technology that can reduce failures and maintenance costs in nuclear power plants. They are particularly relevant to liquid salt reactors that operate at high temperatures (700 C). Pumps used in the extreme environment of liquid salt reactors provide many engineering challenges that can be overcome with magnetic bearings and their associated embedded instrumentation and control. This report will give details of the mechanical design and electromagnetic design of the loop-scale embedded instrumentation and control testbed.« less

Interpreting the Ultraviolet Aerosol Index Observed with the OMI Satellite Instrument to Understand Absorption by Organic Aerosols: Implications for Atmospheric Oxidation and Direct Radiative Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hammer, Melanie S.; Martin, Randall V.; Donkelaar, Aaron van; Buchard, Virginie; Torres, Omar; Ridley, David A.; Spurr, Robert J. D.

2016-01-01

Satellite observations of the ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) are sensitive to absorption of solar radiation by aerosols; this absorption affects photolysis frequencies and radiative forcing. We develop a global simulation of the UVAI using the 3-D chemical transport model GEOSChem coupled with the Vector Linearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer model (VLIDORT). The simulation is applied to interpret UVAI observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for the year 2007. Simulated and observed values are highly consistent in regions where mineral dust dominates the UVAI, but a large negative bias (-0.32 to -0.97) exists between simulated and observed values in biomass burning regions. We determine effective optical properties for absorbing organic aerosol, known as brown carbon (BrC), and implement them into GEOS-Chem to better represent observed UVAI values over biomass burning regions. The inclusion of absorbing BrC decreases the mean bias between simulated and OMI UVAI values from -0.57 to -0.09 over West Africa in January, from -0.32 to +0.0002 over South Asia in April, from -0.97 to -0.22 over southern Africa in July, and from -0.50 to +0.33 over South America in September. The spectral dependence of absorption after including BrC in the model is broadly consistent with reported observations for biomass burning aerosol, with absorbing Angstrom exponent (AAE) values ranging from 2.9 in the ultraviolet (UV) to 1.3 across the UV-Near IR spectrum. We assess the effect of the additional UV absorption by BrC on atmospheric photochemistry by examining tropospheric hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations in GEOS-Chem. The inclusion of BrC decreases OH by up to 30% over South America in September, up to 20% over southern Africa in July, and up to 15% over other biomass burning regions. Global annual mean OH concentrations in GEOS-Chem decrease due to the presence of absorbing BrC, increasing the methyl chloroform lifetime from 5.62 to 5.68 years, thus reducing the bias against observed values. We calculate the direct radiative effect (DRE) of BrC using GEOS-Chem coupled with the radiative transfer model RRTMG (GC-RT). Treating organic aerosol as containing more strongly absorbing BrC changes the global annual mean all-sky top of atmosphere (TOA) DRE by +0.03Wm(exp -2) and all-sky surface DRE by -0.08Wm(exp -2). Regional changes of up to +0.3Wm(exp -2) at TOA and down to -1.5Wm(exp -2) at the surface are found over major biomass burning regions.

Deciphering the Role of CBF/DREB Transcription Factors and Dehydrins in Maintaining the Quality of Table Grapes cv. Autumn Royal Treated with High CO2 Levels and Stored at 0°C

PubMed Central

Vazquez-Hernandez, Maria; Romero, Irene; Escribano, M. I.; Merodio, Carmen; Sanchez-Ballesta, M. T.

2017-01-01

C-repeat/dehydration-responsive element binding factors (CBF/DREB) are transcription factors which play a role in improving plant cold stress resistance and recognize the DRE/CRT element in the promoter of a set of cold regulated genes. Dehydrins (DHNs) are proteins that accumulate in plants in response to cold stress, which present, in some cases, CBF/DREB recognition sequences in their promoters and are activated by members of this transcription factor family. The application of a 3-day gaseous treatment with 20 kPa CO2 at 0°C to table grapes cv. Autumn Royal maintained the quality of the bunches during postharvest storage at 0°C, reducing weight loss and rachis browning. In order to determine the role of CBF/DREB genes in the beneficial effect of the gaseous treatment by regulating DHNs, we have analyzed the gene expression pattern of three VviDREBA1s (VviDREBA1-1, VviDREBA1-6, and VviDREBA1-7) as well as three VviDHNs (VviDHN1a, VviDHN2, and VviDHN4), in both alternative splicing forms. Results showed that the differences in VviDREBA1s expression were tissue and atmosphere composition dependent, although the application of high levels of CO2 caused a greater increase of VviDREBA1-1 in the skin, VviDREBA1-6 in the pulp and VviDREBA1-7 in the skin and pulp. Likewise, the application of high levels of CO2 regulated the retention of introns in the transcripts of the dehydrins studied in the different tissues analyzed. The DHNs promoter analysis showed that VviDHN2 presented the cis-acting DRE and CRT elements, whereas VviDHN1a presented only the DRE motif. Our electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) showed that VviDREBA1-1 was the only transcription factor that had in vitro binding capacity to the CRT element of the VviDHN2 promoter region, indicating that the transcriptional regulation of VviDHN1a and VviDHN4 would be carried out by activating other independent routes of these transcription factors. Our results suggest that the application of high CO2 levels to maintain table grape quality during storage at 0°C, leads to an activation of CBF/DREBs transcription factors. Among these factors, VviDREBA1-1 seems to participate in the transcriptional activation of VviDHN2 via CRT binding, with the unspliced form of this DHN being activated by high CO2 levels in all the tissues analyzed. PMID:28970842

Strength and fatigue life evaluation of composite laminate with embedded sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rathod, Vivek T.; Hiremath, S. R.; Roy Mahapatra, D.

2014-04-01

Prognosis regarding durability of composite structures using various Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques is an important and challenging topic of research. Ultrasonic SHM systems with embedded transducers have potential application here due to their instant monitoring capability, compact packaging potential toward unobtrusiveness and noninvasiveness as compared to non-contact ultrasonic and eddy current techniques which require disassembly of the structure. However, embedded sensors pose a risk to the structure by acting as a flaw thereby reducing life. The present paper focuses on the determination of strength and fatigue life of the composite laminate with embedded film sensors like CNT nanocomposite, PVDF thin films and piezoceramic films. First, the techniques of embedding these sensors in composite laminates is described followed by the determination of static strength and fatigue life at coupon level testing in Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Failure mechanisms of the composite laminate with embedded sensors are studied for static and dynamic loading cases. The coupons are monitored for loading and failure using the embedded sensors. A comparison of the performance of these three types of embedded sensors is made to study their suitability in various applications. These three types of embedded sensors cover a wide variety of applications, and prove to be viable in embedded sensor based SHM of composite structures.

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

Wickstrom, Gregory Lloyd; Gale, Jason Carl; Ma, Kwok Kee

The Sandia Secure Processor (SSP) is a new native Java processor that has been specifically designed for embedded applications. The SSP's design is a system composed of a core Java processor that directly executes Java bytecodes, on-chip intelligent IO modules, and a suite of software tools for simulation and compiling executable binary files. The SSP is unique in that it provides a way to control real-time IO modules for embedded applications. The system software for the SSP is a 'class loader' that takes Java .class files (created with your favorite Java compiler), links them together, and compiles a binary. Themore » complete SSP system provides very powerful functionality with very light hardware requirements with the potential to be used in a wide variety of small-system embedded applications. This paper gives a detail description of the Sandia Secure Processor and its unique features.« less

Groundwater connectivity of upland-embedded wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Neff, Brian; Rosenberry, Donald O.

2018-01-01

Groundwater connections from upland-embedded wetlands to downstream waterbodies remain poorly understood. In principle, water from upland-embedded wetlands situated high in a landscape should flow via groundwater to waterbodies situated lower in the landscape. However, the degree of groundwater connectivity varies across systems due to factors such as geologic setting, hydrologic conditions, and topography. We use numerical models to evaluate the conditions suitable for groundwater connectivity between upland-embedded wetlands and downstream waterbodies in the prairie pothole region of North Dakota (USA). Results show groundwater connectivity between upland-embedded wetlands and other waterbodies is restricted when these wetlands are surrounded by a mounding water table. However, connectivity exists among adjacent upland-embedded wetlands where water–table mounds do not form. In addition, the presence of sand layers greatly facilitates groundwater connectivity of upland-embedded wetlands. Anisotropy can facilitate connectivity via groundwater flow, but only if it becomes unrealistically large. These findings help consolidate previously divergent views on the significance of local and regional groundwater flow in the prairie pothole region.

Failure and recovery in dynamical networks.

PubMed

Böttcher, L; Luković, M; Nagler, J; Havlin, S; Herrmann, H J

2017-02-03

Failure, damage spread and recovery crucially underlie many spatially embedded networked systems ranging from transportation structures to the human body. Here we study the interplay between spontaneous damage, induced failure and recovery in both embedded and non-embedded networks. In our model the network's components follow three realistic processes that capture these features: (i) spontaneous failure of a component independent of the neighborhood (internal failure), (ii) failure induced by failed neighboring nodes (external failure) and (iii) spontaneous recovery of a component. We identify a metastable domain in the global network phase diagram spanned by the model's control parameters where dramatic hysteresis effects and random switching between two coexisting states are observed. This dynamics depends on the characteristic link length of the embedded system. For the Euclidean lattice in particular, hysteresis and switching only occur in an extremely narrow region of the parameter space compared to random networks. We develop a unifying theory which links the dynamics of our model to contact processes. Our unifying framework may help to better understand controllability in spatially embedded and random networks where spontaneous recovery of components can mitigate spontaneous failure and damage spread in dynamical networks.

Cell-Averaged discretization for incompressible Navier-Stokes with embedded boundaries and locally refined Cartesian meshes: a high-order finite volume approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhalla, Amneet Pal Singh; Johansen, Hans; Graves, Dan; Martin, Dan; Colella, Phillip; Applied Numerical Algorithms Group Team

2017-11-01

We present a consistent cell-averaged discretization for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on complex domains using embedded boundaries. The embedded boundary is allowed to freely cut the locally-refined background Cartesian grid. Implicit-function representation is used for the embedded boundary, which allows us to convert the required geometric moments in the Taylor series expansion (upto arbitrary order) of polynomials into an algebraic problem in lower dimensions. The computed geometric moments are then used to construct stencils for various operators like the Laplacian, divergence, gradient, etc., by solving a least-squares system locally. We also construct the inter-level data-transfer operators like prolongation and restriction for multi grid solvers using the same least-squares system approach. This allows us to retain high-order of accuracy near coarse-fine interface and near embedded boundaries. Canonical problems like Taylor-Green vortex flow and flow past bluff bodies will be presented to demonstrate the proposed method. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, ASCR (Award Number DE-AC02-05CH11231).

Development of active and sensitive material systems based on composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asanuma, Hiroshi

2002-07-01

This paper describes new concepts proposed by the author to realize active and sensitive structural material systems. Two examples of multifunctional composites were fabricated and evaluated in this study as follows: (1) An active laminate of aluminum plate (works as muscle), epoxy film (as insulator), unidirectional CFRP prepreg (as bone and blood vessel) and copper foil electrode (to apply voltage on CFRP) was made with an embedded optical fiber multiply fractured in the CFRP layer (works as nerve), of which curvature change could be effectively monitored with the fractured optical fiber. (2) A stainless steel fiber/aluminum active composite with embedded Ti oxide/Ti composite fiber was fabricated. The Ti oxide/Ti fiber could work as a sensor for temperature by removing a part of the oxide before embedment to make a metallic contact between the embedded titanium fiber and aluminum matrix to be able to generate thermal electromotive force, and also could work as a sensor for strain and as a heater for actuation. In the both cases, the outputs from their embedded sensors can be used to control their actuations.

Random matrix ensembles for many-body quantum systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vyas, Manan; Seligman, Thomas H.

2018-04-01

Classical random matrix ensembles were originally introduced in physics to approximate quantum many-particle nuclear interactions. However, there exists a plethora of quantum systems whose dynamics is explained in terms of few-particle (predom-inantly two-particle) interactions. The random matrix models incorporating the few-particle nature of interactions are known as embedded random matrix ensembles. In the present paper, we provide a brief overview of these two ensembles and illustrate how the embedded ensembles can be successfully used to study decoherence of a qubit interacting with an environment, both for fermionic and bosonic embedded ensembles. Numerical calculations show the dependence of decoherence on the nature of the environment.

The Process of Becoming an Embedded Curriculum Librarian in Multiple Health Sciences Programs.

PubMed

Wilson, Gwen

2015-01-01

Higher education is moving to offer more fully online programs, and the health science fields are no different. These programs are either hybrid or completely online. It is up to the health sciences librarian to adapt services offered by the academic library to these types of courses. This column discusses the multiple ways a librarian can be an embedded librarian in a course using a learning management system (LMS). The process of creating a customized embedded librarian program, results, and lessons learned from the different embedded librarian roles are also discussed.

Experiences with Ada in an embedded system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Labaugh, Robert J.

1988-01-01

Recent experiences with using Ada in a real time environment are described. The application was the control system for an experimental robotic arm. The objectives of the effort were to experiment with developing embedded applications in Ada, evaluating the suitability of the language for the application, and determining the performance of the system. Additional objectives were to develop a control system based on the NASA/NBS Standard Reference Model for Telerobot Control System Architecture (NASREM) in Ada, and to experiment with the control laws and how to incorporate them into the NASREM architecture.

The Moral Construction of the Good Pupil Embedded in School Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thornberg, Robert

2009-01-01

The aim of this field study was to investigate the hidden curriculum of school rules delimited to the moral construction of "the good pupil" embedded in the system of school rules in two primary schools. According to the findings, the rule system mediates a moral construction of the good pupil to the children, and this actually includes…

On the Embedded Complementarity of Agent-Based and Aggregate Reasoning in Students' Developing Understanding of Dynamic Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroup, Walter M.; Wilensky, Uri

2014-01-01

Placed in the larger context of broadening the engagement with systems dynamics and complexity theory in school-aged learning and teaching, this paper is intended to introduce, situate, and illustrate--with results from the use of network supported participatory simulations in classrooms--a stance we call "embedded complementarity" as an…

Evaluation of guardrail embedded lighting system in Trinidad, Colorado.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-02-01

This report provides information on the design considerations of the embedded highway lighting : design on Interstate-25 in Trinidad, Colorado, in terms of visibility. The information is based on : visibility characterizations of small targets using ...

Embedded-monolith armor

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

McElfresh, Michael W.; Groves, Scott E; Moffet, Mitchell L.

2016-07-19

A lightweight armor system utilizing a face section having a multiplicity of monoliths embedded in a matrix supported on low density foam. The face section is supported with a strong stiff backing plate. The backing plate is mounted on a spall plate.

An embedded multi-core parallel model for real-time stereo imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Wenjing; Hu, Jian; Niu, Jingyu; Li, Chuanrong; Liu, Guangyu

2018-04-01

The real-time processing based on embedded system will enhance the application capability of stereo imaging for LiDAR and hyperspectral sensor. The task partitioning and scheduling strategies for embedded multiprocessor system starts relatively late, compared with that for PC computer. In this paper, aimed at embedded multi-core processing platform, a parallel model for stereo imaging is studied and verified. After analyzing the computing amount, throughout capacity and buffering requirements, a two-stage pipeline parallel model based on message transmission is established. This model can be applied to fast stereo imaging for airborne sensors with various characteristics. To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the parallel model, a parallel software was designed using test flight data, based on the 8-core DSP processor TMS320C6678. The results indicate that the design performed well in workload distribution and had a speed-up ratio up to 6.4.

Trade in and Valuation of Virtual Water Impacts in a City: A Case Study Of Flagstaff, Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rushforth, R.; Ruddell, B. L.

2013-12-01

An increasingly intense component of the global coupled natural and human system (CNH) is the economic trade of various types of resources and the outsourcing of resource impacts between geographically distant economic systems. The human economy's trade arrangements allow specific localities, especially cities, to exceed spatially local resource stock sustainability and footprint constraints, as evidenced in the urban metabolism literature. Each movement or trade of a resource along a network is associated with an embedded or 'virtual' exchange of indirect impacts on the inputs to the production process. The networked trade of embedded resources, therefore, is an essential human adaptation to resource limitations. Using the Embedded Resource Impact Accounting (ERA) framework, we examine the network of embedded water flows created through the trade of goods and services and economic development in Flagstaff, Arizona, and associate these flows with the creation of value in sectors of the economy

[Comparison of two different real-time PCR systems in postmortem diagnosis of tuberculosis in paraffin-embedded tissues].

PubMed

Yağmur, Gülhan; Albayrak, Nurhan; Daş, Taner; Yıldırım, Muzaffer; Ozgün, Ayşe; Büyük, Yalçın

2014-10-01

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of those infections with high morbidity and mortality in all around the world. Hundreds of people died from this disease without diagnosed or due to resistant strains in Turkey. Therefore, it is important to identify postmortem cases who have died from tuberculosis. Molecular methods have been widely used as well as conventional methods in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to compare the two different real-time polymerase chain reaction (Rt-PCR) system in the postmortem diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections in paraffin-embedded tissues. A total of 40 paraffin-embedded tissue samples [lung (n= 35), brain (n= 2), heart (n= 2), lymph node (n= 1)] in which histopathologic findings consistent with TB (necrotizing granulomatous inflammation, gelatinous caseous pneumonia, necrotic fibrous nodul) obtained from 37 autopsy cases (31 male, 6 female; age range: 25-85 yrs) were included in the study. Paraffin-embedded tissues were deparafinized with xylene and ethyl alcohol and then DNA isolation was done with QIAsymphony DSP Virus/Pathogen Midi kit in the QIAsymphony device. DNA amplification process was performed by Rt-PCR using the kit Artus® M. tuberculosis RG-PCR in the Rotor-Gene® Q device (Qiagen, Germany). Likewise, after deparafinization process, samples placed in the cartridge and isolation and Rt-PCR was performed by Xpert® MTB/RIF (Cepheid, USA) system, simultaneosly. Seventeen and 20 out of the 40 paraffin-embedded tissues yielded positive results with Qiagen and Xpert system, respectively. M.tuberculosis DNA was found positive in 13 (32.5%) and negative in 16 (40%) of the samples by both of the systems, exhibiting 72.5% (29/40) of concordance. On the other hand, seven (17.5%) samples that were positive with Xpert system yielded negative result with the Qiagen, while four (10%) samples that were positive with Qiagen yielded negative result with the Xpert system. Of the 20 positive cases detected with Xpert MTB/RIF system, 15 were found rifampicin-susceptible, and three were rifampicin-resistant. In two samples in which M. tuberculosis DNA was low positive, rifampicin resistance could not be detected. The identification of M.tuberculosis infections in postmortem cases will contribute epidemiological data in Turkey. In these cases, effective sampling and diagnosing of M.tuberculosis infections by acid-fast stain and culture methods are crucial. However, in cases without microbiological sampling the detection of M.tuberculosis DNA in paraffin-embedded tissues with PCR, although there are differences between PCR systems has diagnostic value. In conclusion, our data indicated that Xpert MTB/RIF system is more favourable to detect M.tuberculosis DNA in paraffin-embedded tissues, with the advantages of determination of rifampicin resistance, and detection of more positive results within a shorter time.

Structural and functional properties of spatially embedded scale-free networks.

PubMed

Emmerich, Thorsten; Bunde, Armin; Havlin, Shlomo

2014-06-01

Scale-free networks have been studied mostly as non-spatially embedded systems. However, in many realistic cases, they are spatially embedded and these constraints should be considered. Here, we study the structural and functional properties of a model of scale-free (SF) spatially embedded networks. In our model, both the degree and the length of links follow power law distributions as found in many real networks. We show that not all SF networks can be embedded in space and that the largest degree of a node in the network is usually smaller than in nonembedded SF networks. Moreover, the spatial constraints (each node has only few neighboring nodes) introduce degree-degree anticorrelations (disassortativity) since two high degree nodes cannot stay close in space. We also find significant effects of space embedding on the hopping distances (chemical distance) and the vulnerability of the networks.

Volcanism in Iceland in historical time: Volcano types, eruption styles and eruptive history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thordarson, T.; Larsen, G.

2007-01-01

The large-scale volcanic lineaments in Iceland are an axial zone, which is delineated by the Reykjanes, West and North Volcanic Zones (RVZ, WVZ, NVZ) and the East Volcanic Zone (EVZ), which is growing in length by propagation to the southwest through pre-existing crust. These zones are connected across central Iceland by the Mid-Iceland Belt (MIB). Other volcanically active areas are the two intraplate belts of Öræfajökull (ÖVB) and Snæfellsnes (SVB). The principal structure of the volcanic zones are the 30 volcanic systems, where 12 are comprised of a fissure swarm and a central volcano, 7 of a central volcano, 9 of a fissure swarm and a central domain, and 2 are typified by a central domain alone. Volcanism in Iceland is unusually diverse for an oceanic island because of special geological and climatological circumstances. It features nearly all volcano types and eruption styles known on Earth. The first order grouping of volcanoes is in accordance with recurrence of eruptions on the same vent system and is divided into central volcanoes (polygenetic) and basalt volcanoes (monogenetic). The basalt volcanoes are categorized further in accordance with vent geometry (circular or linear), type of vent accumulation, characteristic style of eruption and volcanic environment (i.e. subaerial, subglacial, submarine). Eruptions are broadly grouped into effusive eruptions where >95% of the erupted magma is lava, explosive eruptions if >95% of the erupted magma is tephra (volume calculated as dense rock equivalent, DRE), and mixed eruptions if the ratio of lava to tephra occupy the range in between these two end-members. Although basaltic volcanism dominates, the activity in historical time (i.e. last 11 centuries) features expulsion of basalt, andesite, dacite and rhyolite magmas that have produced effusive eruptions of Hawaiian and flood lava magnitudes, mixed eruptions featuring phases of Strombolian to Plinian intensities, and explosive phreatomagmatic and magmatic eruptions spanning almost the entire intensity scale; from Surtseyan to Phreatoplinian in case of "wet" eruptions and Strombolian to Plinian in terms of "dry" eruptions. In historical time the magma volume extruded by individual eruptions ranges from ˜1 m 3 to ˜20 km 3 DRE, reflecting variable magma compositions, effusion rates and eruption durations. All together 205 eruptive events have been identified in historical time by detailed mapping and dating of events along with extensive research on documentation of eruptions in historical chronicles. Of these 205 events, 192 represent individual eruptions and 13 are classified as "Fires", which include two or more eruptions defining an episode of volcanic activity that lasts for months to years. Of the 159 eruptions verified by identification of their products 124 are explosive, effusive eruptions are 14 and mixed eruptions are 21. Eruptions listed as reported-only are 33. Eight of the Fires are predominantly effusive and the remaining five include explosive activity that produced extensive tephra layers. The record indicates an average of 20-25 eruptions per century in Iceland, but eruption frequency has varied on time scale of decades. An apparent stepwise increase in eruption frequency is observed over the last 1100 years that reflects improved documentation of eruptive events with time. About 80% of the verified eruptions took place on the EVZ where the four most active volcanic systems (Grímsvötn, Bárdarbunga-Veidivötn, Hekla and Katla) are located and 9%, 5%, 1% and 0.5% on the RVZ-WVZ, NVZ, ÖVB, and SVB, respectively. Source volcano for ˜4.5% of the eruptions is not known. Magma productivity over 1100 years equals about 87 km 3 DRE with basaltic magma accounting for about 79% and intermediate and acid magma accounting for 16% and 5%, respectively. Productivity is by far highest on the EVZ where 71 km 3 (˜82%) were erupted, with three flood lava eruptions accounting for more than one half of that volume. RVZ-WVZ accounts for 13% of the magma and the NWZ and the intraplate belts for 2.5% each. Collectively the axial zone (RVZ, WVZ, NVZ) has only erupted 15-16% of total magma volume in the last 1130 years.

Vision-based Nano Robotic System for High-throughput Non-embedded Cell Cutting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Wanfeng; Lu, Haojian; Wan, Wenfeng; Fukuda, Toshio; Shen, Yajing

2016-03-01

Cell cutting is a significant task in biology study, but the highly productive non-embedded cell cutting is still a big challenge for current techniques. This paper proposes a vision-based nano robotic system and then realizes automatic non-embedded cell cutting with this system. First, the nano robotic system is developed and integrated with a nanoknife inside an environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). Then, the positions of the nanoknife and the single cell are recognized, and the distance between them is calculated dynamically based on image processing. To guarantee the positioning accuracy and the working efficiency, we propose a distance-regulated speed adapting strategy, in which the moving speed is adjusted intelligently based on the distance between the nanoknife and the target cell. The results indicate that the automatic non-embedded cutting is able to be achieved within 1-2 mins with low invasion benefiting from the high precise nanorobot system and the sharp edge of nanoknife. This research paves a way for the high-throughput cell cutting at cell’s natural condition, which is expected to make significant impact on the biology studies, especially for the in-situ analysis at cellular and subcellular scale, such as cell interaction investigation, neural signal transduction and low invasive cell surgery.

A telehealth architecture for networked embedded systems: a case study in in vivo health monitoring.

PubMed

Dabiri, Foad; Massey, Tammara; Noshadi, Hyduke; Hagopian, Hagop; Lin, C K; Tan, Robert; Schmidt, Jacob; Sarrafzadeh, Majid

2009-05-01

The improvement in processor performance through continuous breakthroughs in transistor technology has resulted in the proliferation of lightweight embedded systems. Advances in wireless technology and embedded systems have enabled remote healthcare and telemedicine. While medical examinations could previously extract only localized symptoms through snapshots, now continuous monitoring can discretely analyze how a patient's lifestyle affects his/her physiological conditions and if additional symptoms occur under various stimuli. We demonstrate how medical applications in particular benefit from a hierarchical networking scheme that will improve the quantity and quality of ubiquitous data collection. Our Telehealth networking infrastructure provides flexibility in terms of functionality and the type of applications that it supports. We specifically present a case study that demonstrates the effectiveness of our networked embedded infrastructure in an in vivo pressure application. Experimental results of the in vivo system demonstrate how it can wirelessly transmit pressure readings measuring from 0 to 1.5 lbf/in (2) with an accuracy of 0.02 lbf/in (2). The challenges in biocompatible packaging, transducer drift, power management, and in vivo signal transmission are also discussed. This research brings researchers a step closer to continuous, real-time systemic monitoring that will allow one to analyze the dynamic human physiology.

Preliminary Development of Online Monitoring Acoustic Emission System for the Integrity of Research Reactor Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakhri, S.; Sumarno, E.; Himawan, R.; Akbar, T. Y.; Subekti, M.; Sunaryo, G. R.

2018-02-01

Three research reactors owned by BATAN have been more than 25 years. Aging of (Structure, System and Component) SSC which is mainly related to mechanical causes become the most important issue for the sustainability and safety operation. Acoustic Emission (AE) is one of the appropriate and recommended methods by the IAEA for inspection as well as at the same time for the monitoring of mechanical SSC related. However, the advantages of AE method in detecting the acoustic emission both for the inspection and the online monitoring require a relatively complex measurement system including hardware software system for the signal detection and analysis purposes. Therefore, aim of this work was to develop an AE system based on an embedded system which capable for doing both the online monitoring and inspection of the research reactor’s integrity structure. An embedded system was selected due to the possibility to install the equipment on the field in extreme environmental condition with capability to store, analyses, and send the required information for further maintenance and operation. The research was done by designing the embedded system based on the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform, because of their execution speed and system reconfigurable opportunities. The AE embedded system is then tested to identify the AE source location and AE characteristic under tensile material testing. The developed system successfully acquire the AE elastic waveform and determine the parameter-based analysis such as the amplitude, peak, duration, rise time, counts and the average frequency both for the source location test and the tensile test.

Stereoscopic 3D reconstruction using motorized zoom lenses within an embedded system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Pengcheng; Willis, Andrew; Sui, Yunfeng

2009-02-01

This paper describes a novel embedded system capable of estimating 3D positions of surfaces viewed by a stereoscopic rig consisting of a pair of calibrated cameras. Novel theoretical and technical aspects of the system are tied to two aspects of the design that deviate from typical stereoscopic reconstruction systems: (1) incorporation of an 10x zoom lens (Rainbow- H10x8.5) and (2) implementation of the system on an embedded system. The system components include a DSP running μClinux, an embedded version of the Linux operating system, and an FPGA. The DSP orchestrates data flow within the system and performs complex computational tasks and the FPGA provides an interface to the system devices which consist of a CMOS camera pair and a pair of servo motors which rotate (pan) each camera. Calibration of the camera pair is accomplished using a collection of stereo images that view a common chess board calibration pattern for a set of pre-defined zoom positions. Calibration settings for an arbitrary zoom setting are estimated by interpolation of the camera parameters. A low-computational cost method for dense stereo matching is used to compute depth disparities for the stereo image pairs. Surface reconstruction is accomplished by classical triangulation of the matched points from the depth disparities. This article includes our methods and results for the following problems: (1) automatic computation of the focus and exposure settings for the lens and camera sensor, (2) calibration of the system for various zoom settings and (3) stereo reconstruction results for several free form objects.

Nonlinear soil parameter effects on dynamic embedment of offshore pipeline on soft clay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Su Young; Choi, Han Suk; Lee, Seung Keon; Park, Kyu-Sik; Kim, Do Kyun

2015-06-01

In this paper, the effects of nonlinear soft clay on dynamic embedment of offshore pipeline were investigated. Seabed embedment by pipe-soil interactions has impacts on the structural boundary conditions for various subsea structures such as pipeline, riser, pile, and many other systems. A number of studies have been performed to estimate real soil behavior, but their estimation of seabed embedment has not been fully identified and there are still many uncertainties. In this regards, comparison of embedment between field survey and existing empirical models has been performed to identify uncertainties and investigate the effect of nonlinear soil parameter on dynamic embedment. From the comparison, it is found that the dynamic embedment with installation effects based on nonlinear soil model have an influence on seabed embedment. Therefore, the pipe embedment under dynamic condition by nonlinear parameters of soil models was investigated by Dynamic Embedment Factor (DEF) concept, which is defined as the ratio of the dynamic and static embedment of pipeline, in order to overcome the gap between field embedment and currently used empirical and numerical formula. Although DEF through various researches is suggested, its range is too wide and it does not consider dynamic laying effect. It is difficult to find critical parameters that are affecting to the embedment result. Therefore, the study on dynamic embedment factor by soft clay parameters of nonlinear soil model was conducted and the sensitivity analyses about parameters of nonlinear soil model were performed as well. The tendency on dynamic embedment factor was found by conducting numerical analyses using OrcaFlex software. It is found that DEF was influenced by shear strength gradient than other factors. The obtained results will be useful to understand the pipe embedment on soft clay seabed for applying offshore pipeline designs such as on-bottom stability and free span analyses.

An Infrastructure for UML-Based Code Generation Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wehrmeister, Marco A.; Freitas, Edison P.; Pereira, Carlos E.

The use of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques in the domain of distributed embedded real-time systems are gain importance in order to cope with the increasing design complexity of such systems. This paper discusses an infrastructure created to build GenERTiCA, a flexible tool that supports a MDE approach, which uses aspect-oriented concepts to handle non-functional requirements from embedded and real-time systems domain. GenERTiCA generates source code from UML models, and also performs weaving of aspects, which have been specified within the UML model. Additionally, this paper discusses the Distributed Embedded Real-Time Compact Specification (DERCS), a PIM created to support UML-based code generation tools. Some heuristics to transform UML models into DERCS, which have been implemented in GenERTiCA, are also discussed.

Software Support for Transiently Powered Computers

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

Van Der Woude, Joel Matthew

With the continued reduction in size and cost of computing, power becomes an increasingly heavy burden on system designers for embedded applications. While energy harvesting techniques are an increasingly desirable solution for many deeply embedded applications where size and lifetime are a priority, previous work has shown that energy harvesting provides insufficient power for long running computation. We present Ratchet, which to the authors knowledge is the first automatic, software-only checkpointing system for energy harvesting platforms. We show that Ratchet provides a means to extend computation across power cycles, consistent with those experienced by energy harvesting devices. We demonstrate themore » correctness of our system under frequent failures and show that it has an average overhead of 58.9% across a suite of benchmarks representative for embedded applications.« less

An embedded fibre optic sensor for impact damage detection in composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glossop, Neil David William

1989-09-01

A structurally embedded fiber optic damage detection sensor for composite materials is described. The system is designed specifically for the detection of barely visible damage resulting from low velocity impacts in Kevlar-epoxy laminates. By monitoring the light transmission properties of optical fiber embedded in the composite, it was shown that the integrity of the material can be accurately determined. The effect of several parameters on the sensitivity of the system was investigated, including the effect of the optical fiber orientation and depth of embedding within the composite. A novel surface was also developed for the optical fibers to ensure they will fracture at the requisite damage level. The influence of the optical fiber sensors on the tensile and compressive material properties and on the impact resistance of the laminate was also studied. Extensive experimental results from impact tests are reported and a numerical model of the impact event is presented which is able to predict and model the damage mechanism and sensor system. A new and powerful method of nondestructive evaluation for translucent composite materials based on image enhanced backlighting is also described.

Image-Based Environmental Monitoring Sensor Application Using an Embedded Wireless Sensor Network

PubMed Central

Paek, Jeongyeup; Hicks, John; Coe, Sharon; Govindan, Ramesh

2014-01-01

This article discusses the experiences from the development and deployment of two image-based environmental monitoring sensor applications using an embedded wireless sensor network. Our system uses low-power image sensors and the Tenet general purpose sensing system for tiered embedded wireless sensor networks. It leverages Tenet's built-in support for reliable delivery of high rate sensing data, scalability and its flexible scripting language, which enables mote-side image compression and the ease of deployment. Our first deployment of a pitfall trap monitoring application at the James San Jacinto Mountain Reserve provided us with insights and lessons learned into the deployment of and compression schemes for these embedded wireless imaging systems. Our three month-long deployment of a bird nest monitoring application resulted in over 100,000 images collected from a 19-camera node network deployed over an area of 0.05 square miles, despite highly variable environmental conditions. Our biologists found the on-line, near-real-time access to images to be useful for obtaining data on answering their biological questions. PMID:25171121

A FPGA embedded web server for remote monitoring and control of smart sensors networks.

PubMed

Magdaleno, Eduardo; Rodríguez, Manuel; Pérez, Fernando; Hernández, David; García, Enrique

2013-12-27

This article describes the implementation of a web server using an embedded Altera NIOS II IP core, a general purpose and configurable RISC processor which is embedded in a Cyclone FPGA. The processor uses the μCLinux operating system to support a Boa web server of dynamic pages using Common Gateway Interface (CGI). The FPGA is configured to act like the master node of a network, and also to control and monitor a network of smart sensors or instruments. In order to develop a totally functional system, the FPGA also includes an implementation of the time-triggered protocol (TTP/A). Thus, the implemented master node has two interfaces, the webserver that acts as an Internet interface and the other to control the network. This protocol is widely used to connecting smart sensors and actuators and microsystems in embedded real-time systems in different application domains, e.g., industrial, automotive, domotic, etc., although this protocol can be easily replaced by any other because of the inherent characteristics of the FPGA-based technology.

A FPGA Embedded Web Server for Remote Monitoring and Control of Smart Sensors Networks

PubMed Central

Magdaleno, Eduardo; Rodríguez, Manuel; Pérez, Fernando; Hernández, David; García, Enrique

2014-01-01

This article describes the implementation of a web server using an embedded Altera NIOS II IP core, a general purpose and configurable RISC processor which is embedded in a Cyclone FPGA. The processor uses the μCLinux operating system to support a Boa web server of dynamic pages using Common Gateway Interface (CGI). The FPGA is configured to act like the master node of a network, and also to control and monitor a network of smart sensors or instruments. In order to develop a totally functional system, the FPGA also includes an implementation of the time-triggered protocol (TTP/A). Thus, the implemented master node has two interfaces, the webserver that acts as an Internet interface and the other to control the network. This protocol is widely used to connecting smart sensors and actuators and microsystems in embedded real-time systems in different application domains, e.g., industrial, automotive, domotic, etc., although this protocol can be easily replaced by any other because of the inherent characteristics of the FPGA-based technology. PMID:24379047

Image-based environmental monitoring sensor application using an embedded wireless sensor network.

PubMed

Paek, Jeongyeup; Hicks, John; Coe, Sharon; Govindan, Ramesh

2014-08-28

This article discusses the experiences from the development and deployment of two image-based environmental monitoring sensor applications using an embedded wireless sensor network. Our system uses low-power image sensors and the Tenet general purpose sensing system for tiered embedded wireless sensor networks. It leverages Tenet's built-in support for reliable delivery of high rate sensing data, scalability and its flexible scripting language, which enables mote-side image compression and the ease of deployment. Our first deployment of a pitfall trap monitoring application at the James San Cannot Mountain Reserve provided us with insights and lessons learned into the deployment of and compression schemes for these embedded wireless imaging systems. Our three month-long deployment of a bird nest monitoring application resulted in over 100,000 images collected from a 19-camera node network deployed over an area of 0.05 square miles, despite highly variable environmental conditions. Our biologists found the on-line, near-real-time access to images to be useful for obtaining data on answering their biological questions.

Integration of Si-CMOS embedded photo detector array and mixed signal processing system with embedded optical waveguide input

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Daeik D.; Thomas, Mikkel A.; Brooke, Martin A.; Jokerst, Nan M.

2004-06-01

Arrays of embedded bipolar junction transistor (BJT) photo detectors (PD) and a parallel mixed-signal processing system were fabricated as a silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (Si-CMOS) circuit for the integration optical sensors on the surface of the chip. The circuit was fabricated with AMI 1.5um n-well CMOS process and the embedded PNP BJT PD has a pixel size of 8um by 8um. BJT PD was chosen to take advantage of its higher gain amplification of photo current than that of PiN type detectors since the target application is a low-speed and high-sensitivity sensor. The photo current generated by BJT PD is manipulated by mixed-signal processing system, which consists of parallel first order low-pass delta-sigma oversampling analog-to-digital converters (ADC). There are 8 parallel ADCs on the chip and a group of 8 BJT PDs are selected with CMOS switches. An array of PD is composed of three or six groups of PDs depending on the number of rows.

Deep learning methods for protein torsion angle prediction.

PubMed

Li, Haiou; Hou, Jie; Adhikari, Badri; Lyu, Qiang; Cheng, Jianlin

2017-09-18

Deep learning is one of the most powerful machine learning methods that has achieved the state-of-the-art performance in many domains. Since deep learning was introduced to the field of bioinformatics in 2012, it has achieved success in a number of areas such as protein residue-residue contact prediction, secondary structure prediction, and fold recognition. In this work, we developed deep learning methods to improve the prediction of torsion (dihedral) angles of proteins. We design four different deep learning architectures to predict protein torsion angles. The architectures including deep neural network (DNN) and deep restricted Boltzmann machine (DRBN), deep recurrent neural network (DRNN) and deep recurrent restricted Boltzmann machine (DReRBM) since the protein torsion angle prediction is a sequence related problem. In addition to existing protein features, two new features (predicted residue contact number and the error distribution of torsion angles extracted from sequence fragments) are used as input to each of the four deep learning architectures to predict phi and psi angles of protein backbone. The mean absolute error (MAE) of phi and psi angles predicted by DRNN, DReRBM, DRBM and DNN is about 20-21° and 29-30° on an independent dataset. The MAE of phi angle is comparable to the existing methods, but the MAE of psi angle is 29°, 2° lower than the existing methods. On the latest CASP12 targets, our methods also achieved the performance better than or comparable to a state-of-the art method. Our experiment demonstrates that deep learning is a valuable method for predicting protein torsion angles. The deep recurrent network architecture performs slightly better than deep feed-forward architecture, and the predicted residue contact number and the error distribution of torsion angles extracted from sequence fragments are useful features for improving prediction accuracy.

Dioxin mediates downregulation of the reduced folate carrier transport activity via the arylhydrocarbon receptor signalling pathway

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

Halwachs, Sandra, E-mail: halwachs@vetmed.uni-leipzig.d; Lakoma, Cathleen; Gebhardt, Rolf

2010-07-15

Dioxins such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlordibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) are common environmental contaminants known to regulate several genes via activation of the transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) associated with the development of numerous adverse biological effects. However, comparatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which dioxins display their toxic effects in vertebrates. The 5' untranslated region of the hepatocellular Reduced folate carrier (Rfc1; Slc19a1) exhibits AhR binding sites termed dioxin responsive elements (DRE) that have as yet only been found in the promoter region of prototypical TCDD target genes. Rfc1 mediated transport of reduced folates and antifolate drugs such as methotrexatemore » (MTX) plays an essential role in physiological folate homeostasis and MTX cancer chemotherapy. In order to determine whether this carrier represents a target gene of dioxins we have investigated the influence of TCDD on functional Rfc1 activity in rat liver. Pre-treatment of rats with TCDD significantly diminished hepatocellular Rfc1 uptake activity in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In further mechanistic studies we demonstrated that this reduction was due to TCDD-dependent activation of the AhR signalling pathway. We additionally showed that binding of the activated receptor to DRE motifs in the Rfc1 promoter resulted in downregulation of Rfc1 gene expression and reduced carrier protein levels. As downregulation of pivotal Rfc1 activity results in functional folate deficiency associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases or carcinogenesis, our results indicate that deregulation of this essential transport pathway represents a novel regulatory mechanism how dioxins display their toxic effects through the Ah receptor.« less

Distribution and mass of tephra-fall deposits from volcanic eruptions of Sakurajima Volcano based on posteruption surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oishi, Masayuki; Nishiki, Kuniaki; Geshi, Nobuo; Furukawa, Ryuta; Ishizuka, Yoshihiro; Oikawa, Teruki; Yamamoto, Takahiro; Nanayama, Futoshi; Tanaka, Akiko; Hirota, Akinari; Miwa, Takahiro; Miyabuchi, Yasuo

2018-04-01

We estimate the total mass of ash fall deposits for individual eruptions of Sakurajima Volcano, southwest Japan based on distribution maps of the tephra fallout. Five ash-sampling campaigns were performed between 2011 and 2015, during which time Sakurajima continued to emit ash from frequent Vulcanian explosions. During each survey, between 29 and 53 ash samplers were installed in a zone 2.2-43 km downwind of the source crater. Total masses of erupted tephra were estimated using several empirical methods based on the relationship between the area surrounded by a given isopleth and the thickness of ash fall within each isopleth. We obtained 70-40,520 t (4.7 × 10-8-2.7 × 10-5-km3 DRE) as the minimum estimated mass of erupted materials for each eruption period. The minimum erupted mass of tephra produced during the recorded events was calculated as being 890-5140 t (5.9 × 10-7-3.6 × 10-6-km3 DRE). This calculation was based on the total mass of tephra collected during any one eruptive period and the number of eruptions during that period. These values may thus also include the contribution of continuous weak ash emissions before and after prominent eruptions. We analyzed the meteorological effects on ash fall distribution patterns and concluded that the width of distribution area of an ash fall is strongly controlled by the near-ground wind speed. The direction of the isopleth axis for larger masses is affected by the local wind direction at ground level. Furthermore, the wind direction influences the direction of the isopleth axes more at higher altitude. While a second maximum of ash fall can appear, the influence of rain might only affect the finer particles in distal areas.

Ultrasound detection of prostatic calculi as a parameter to predict the appearance of hematospermia after a prostate biopsy.

PubMed

Dell'Atti, Lucio

2017-01-01

We evaluated the correlation between prostate calculi and hematospermia in patients undergoing prostate biopsy, and its impact on sexual activity of patients. A single-center prospective randomized study of 212 patients referred for transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSBx) was performed. All patients were divided into two groups: Group A (GA), 106 patients with moderate/marked presence of prostatic calculi visualized by TRUS; Group B (GB), 106 patients with absence/scarce of prostatic calcifications. Patients were handed questionnaires to obtain a validated data on the duration and impact of hematospermia on sexual activity. The anxiety scores were recorded using a visual analogue scale. No significant difference was noted between the two groups when comparing age, preoperative PSA level, prostate volume, and biopsy number, except for digital rectal examination (DRE) findings. Post-biopsy results of patients included in GA revealed that the complication of hematospermia was present in 65.1%, while in GB was present in 39.7% (p<0.001). On multivariate analysis for identifying significant preoperative predictors of hematospermia, which included variables of age, PSA, prostate volume, and prostate cancer were not shown to be significant predictors of hematospermia, except DRE and prostate calculi (p<0.001). The mean anxiety score was 3.7±2.8 in GA and 2.3±1.9 in GB, respectively (p<0.001). Prostatic calculi are an independent predictive factor of severe hematospermia after TRUSBx on the basis of multivariate analysis, but don't affect the positive rate of prostate cancer. Patients should be adequately counselled before TRUSBx to avoid undue anxiety and alterations in sexual activity. Copyright® by the International Brazilian Journal of Urology.

The violent Strombolian eruption of 10 ka Pelado shield volcano, Sierra Chichinautzin, Central Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenzo-Merino, A.; Guilbaud, M.-N.; Roberge, J.

2018-03-01

Pelado volcano is a typical example of an andesitic Mexican shield with a summital scoria cone. It erupted ca. 10 ka in the central part of an elevated plateau in what is today the southern part of Mexico City. The volcano forms a roughly circular, 10-km wide lava shield with two summital cones, surrounded by up to 2.7-m thick tephra deposits preserved up to a distance of 3 km beyond the shield. New cartographic, stratigraphic, granulometric, and componentry data indicate that Pelado volcano was the product of a single, continuous eruption marked by three stages. In the early stage, a > 1.5-km long fissure opened and was active with mild explosive activity. Intermediate and late stages were mostly effusive and associated with the formation of a 250-m high lava shield. Nevertheless, during these stages, the emission of lava alternated and/or coexisted with highly explosive events that deposited a widespread tephra blanket. In the intermediate stage, multiple vents were active along the fissure, but activity was centered at the main cone during the late stage. The final activity was purely effusive. The volcano emitted > 0.9 km3 dense-rock equivalent (DRE) of tephra and up to 5.6 km3 DRE of lavas. Pelado shares various features with documented "violent Strombolian" eruptions, including a high fragmentation index, large dispersal area, occurrence of plate tephra, high eruptive column, and simultaneous explosive and effusive activity. Our results suggest that the associated hazards (mostly tephra fallout and emplacement of lava) would seriously affect areas located up to 25 km from the vent for fallout and 5 km from the vent for lava, an important issue for large cities built near or on potentially active zones, such as Mexico City.

NMR spectroscopy of filtered serum of prostate cancer: A new frontier in metabolomics.

PubMed

Kumar, Deepak; Gupta, Ashish; Mandhani, Anil; Sankhwar, Satya Narain

2016-09-01

To address the shortcomings of digital rectal examinations (DRE), serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) for precise determination of prostate cancer (PC) and differentiation from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), we applied (1) H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a surrogate tactic for probing and prediction of PC and BPH. The study comprises 210 filtered sera from suspected PC, BPH, and a healthy subjects' cohort (HC). The filtered serum approach delineates to identify and quantify 52 metabolites using (1) H NMR spectroscopy. All subjects had undergone clinical evaluations (DRE, PSA, and TRUS) followed by biopsy for Gleason score, if needed. NMR-measured metabolites and clinical evaluation data were examined separately using linear multivariate discriminant function analysis (DFA) to probe the signature descriptors for each cohort. DFA indicated that glycine, sarcosine, alanine, creatine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine were able to determine abnormal prostate (BPH + PC). DFA-based classification presented high precision (86.2% by NMR and 68.1% by clinical laboratory method) in discriminating HC from BPH + PC. DFA reveals that alanine, sarcosine, creatinine, glycine, and citrate were able to discriminate PC from BPH. DFA-based categorization exhibited high accuracy (88.3% by NMR and 75.2% by clinical laboratory method) to differentiate PC from BPH. (1) H NMR-based metabolic profiling of filtered-serum sample appears to be assuring, swift, and least-invasive for probing and prediction of PC and BPH with its signature metabolic profile. This novel technique is not only on a par with histopathological evaluation of PC determination but is also comparable to liquid chromatography-based mass spectrometry to identify the metabolites. Prostate 76:1106-1119, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Can one blood draw replace transrectal ultrasonography-estimated prostate volume to predict prostate cancer risk?

PubMed

Carlsson, Sigrid V; Peltola, Mari T; Sjoberg, Daniel; Schröder, Fritz H; Hugosson, Jonas; Pettersson, Kim; Scardino, Peter T; Vickers, Andrew J; Lilja, Hans; Roobol, Monique J

2013-09-01

To explore whether a panel of kallikrein markers in blood: total, free and intact prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and kallikrein-related peptidase 2, could be used as a non-invasive alternative for predicting prostate cancer on biopsy in a screening setting. The study cohort comprised previously unscreened men who underwent sextant biopsy owing to elevated PSA (≥3 ng/mL) in two different centres of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, Rotterdam (n = 2914) and Göteborg (n = 740). A statistical model, based on kallikrein markers, was compared with one based on established clinical factors for the prediction of biopsy outcome. The clinical tests were found to be no better than blood markers, with an area under the curve in favour of the blood measurements of 0.766 vs. 0.763 in Rotterdam and 0.809 vs. 0.774 in Göteborg. Adding digital rectal examination (DRE) or DRE plus transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) volume to the markers improved discrimination, although the increases were small. Results were similar for predicting high-grade cancer. There was a strong correlation between the blood measurements and TRUS-estimated prostate volume (Spearman's correlation 0.60 in Rotterdam and 0.57 in Göteborg). In previously unscreened men, each with indication for biopsy, a statistical model based on kallikrein levels was similar to a clinical model in predicting prostate cancer in a screening setting, outside the day-to-day clinical practice. Whether a clinical approach can be replaced by laboratory analyses or used in combination with decision models (nomograms) is a clinical judgment that may vary from clinician to clinician depending on how they weigh the different advantages and disadvantages (harms, costs, time, invasiveness) of both approaches. © 2013 BJU International.

A 'One Stop' Prostate Clinic for rural and remote men: a report on the first 200 patients.

PubMed

McCombie, Steve P; Hawks, Cynthia; Emery, Jon D; Hayne, Dickon

2015-10-01

To report on the structure and outcomes of a new 'One Stop' Prostate Clinic (OSPC) designed specifically for rural and remote men. Prospective cohort study of the first 200 rural or remote men to access a new OSPC at a public tertiary-level hospital in Western Australia between August 2011 and August 2014. Men attended for urological assessment, and proceeded to same-day transrectal ultrasonography-guided prostate biopsies, if appropriate. Referral criteria were either two abnormal age-related prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the absence of urinary tract infection (UTI), or an abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) regardless of PSA level. The median (range) distance travelled was 1545 (56-3229) km and median (range) time from referral to assessment was 33 (2-165) days. The median (range) age was 62 (38-85) years, PSA level was 6.7 (0.5-360) ng/mL and 39% (78/200) had a suspicious DRE. In all, 92% (184/200) of men proceeded to prostate biopsies, and 60% (111/184) of these men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Our complication rate was 3.5% (6/172). Radical prostatectomy (46/111), active surveillance (28/111) and external beam radiation therapy (26/111) were the commonest subsequent treatment methods. A $1045 (Australian dollars) cost-saving per person was estimated based on the reduced need for travel with the OSPC model. The OSPC is an effective and efficient model for assessing men suspected of having prostate cancer living in rural and remote areas of Western Australia, and this model may be applicable to other areas. © 2015 The Authors BJU International © 2015 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Optical coherence elastography (OCE) as a method for identifying benign and malignant prostate biopsies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chunhui; Guan, Guangying; Ling, Yuting; Lang, Stephen; Wang, Ruikang K.; Huang, Zhihong; Nabi, Ghulam

2015-03-01

Objectives. Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy in men. Digital rectal examination (DRE) - a known clinical tool based on alteration in the mechanical properties of tissues due to cancer has traditionally been used for screening prostate cancer. Essentially, DRE estimates relative stiffness of cancerous and normal prostate tissue. Optical coherence elastography (OCE) are new optical imaging techniques capable of providing cross-sectional imaging of tissue microstructure as well as elastogram in vivo and in real time. In this preliminary study, OCE was used in the setting of the human prostate biopsies ex vivo, and the images acquired were compared with those obtained using standard histopathologic methods. Methods. 120 prostate biopsies were obtained by TRUS guided needle biopsy procedures from 9 patients with clinically suspected cancer of the prostate. The biopsies were approximately 0.8mm in diameter and 12mm in length, and prepared in Formalin solution. Quantitative assessment of biopsy samples using OCE was obtained in kilopascals (kPa) before histopathologic evaluation. The results obtained from OCE and standard histopathologic evaluation were compared provided the cross-validation. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for OCE (histopathology was a reference standard). Results. OCE could provide quantitative elasticity properties of prostate biopsies within benign prostate tissue, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, atypical hyperplasia and malignant prostate cancer. Data analysed showed that the sensitivity and specificity of OCE for PCa detection were 1 and 0.91, respectively. PCa had significantly higher stiffness values compared to benign tissues, with a trend of increasing in stiffness with increasing of malignancy. Conclusions. Using OCE, microscopic resolution elastogram is promising in diagnosis of human prostatic diseases. Further studies using this technique to improve the detection and staging of malignant cancer of the prostate are ongoing.

Prostate cancer risk prediction in a urology clinic in Mexico

PubMed Central

Liang, Yuanyuan; Messer, Jamie C; Louden, Christopher; Jimenez-Rios, Miguel A; Thompson, Ian M; Camarena-Reynoso, Hector R

2012-01-01

Objectives To evaluate factors affecting the risk of prostate cancer (PCa) and high-grade disease (HGPCa, Gleason score ≥7) in a Mexican referral population, with comparison to the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator (PCPTRC). Methods and Materials From a retrospective study of 826 patients who underwent prostate biopsy between January 2005 and December 2009 at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Mexico, logistic regression was used to assess the effects of age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), digital rectal exam (DRE), first-degree family history of PCa, and history of a prior prostate biopsy on PCa and HGPCa separately. Internal discrimination, goodness-of-fit and clinical utility of the resulting models were assessed with comparison to the PCPTRC. Results Rates of both PCa (73.2%) and HGPCa (33.3%) were high among referral patients in this Mexican urology clinic. The PCPTRC generally underestimated the risk of PCa but overestimated the risk of HGPCa. Four factors influencing PCa on biopsy were logPSA, DRE, family history and a prior biopsy history (all p<0.001). The internal AUC of the logistic model was 0.823 compared to 0.785 of the PCPTRC for PCa (p<0.001). The same four factors were significantly associated with HGPCa as well and the AUC was 0.779 compared to 0.766 of the PCPTRC for HGPCa (p=0.13). Conclusions Lack of screening programs or regular urological checkups in Mexico imply that men typically first reach specialized clinics with a high cancer risk. This renders diagnostic tools developed on comparatively healthy populations, such as the PCPTRC, of lesser utility. Continued efforts are needed to develop and externally validate new clinical diagnostic tools specific to high-risk referral populations incorporating new biomarkers and more clinical characteristics. PMID:22306115

Mentoring Strategies and Outcomes of Two Federally Funded Cancer Research Training Programs for Underrepresented Students in the Biomedical Sciences.

PubMed

Ford, Marvella E; Abraham, Latecia M; Harrison, Anita L; Jefferson, Melanie S; Hazelton, Tonya R; Varner, Heidi; Cannady, Kimberly; Frichtel, Carla S; Bagasra, Omar; Davis, Leroy; Rivers, David E; Slaughter, Sabra C; Salley, Judith D

2016-06-01

The US is experiencing a severe shortage of underrepresented biomedical researchers. The purpose of this paper is to present two case examples of cancer research mentoring programs for underrepresented biomedical sciences students. The first case example is a National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) P20 grant titled "South Carolina Cancer Disparities Research Center (SC CaDRe)" Training Program, contributing to an increase in the number of underrepresented students applying to graduate school by employing a triple-level mentoring strategy. Since 2011, three undergraduate and four graduate students have participated in the P20 SC CaDRe program. One graduate student published a peer-reviewed scientific paper. Two graduate students (50 %) have completed their master's degrees, and the other two graduate students will receive their degrees in spring 2015. Two undergraduate students (67 %) are enrolled in graduate or professional school (grad./prof. school), and the other graduate student is completing her final year of college. The second case example is a prostate cancer-focused Department of Defense grant titled "The SC Collaborative Undergraduate HBCU Student Summer Training Program," providing 24 students training since 2009. Additionally, 47 students made scientific presentations, and two students have published peer-reviewed scientific papers. All 24 students took a GRE test preparation course; 15 (63 %) have applied to graduate school, and 11 of them (73 %) are enrolled in grad./prof. school. Thirteen remaining students (54 %) are applying to grad./prof. school. Leveraged funding provided research-training opportunities to an additional 201 National Conference on Health Disparities Student Forum participants and to 937 Ernest E. Just Research Symposium participants at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Simultaneously inferring above-cloud absorbing aerosol optical thickness and underlying liquid phase cloud optical and microphysical properties using MODIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Kerry; Platnick, Steven; Zhang, Zhibo

2015-06-01

The regional haze over the southeast (SE) Atlantic Ocean induced by biomass burning in southern Africa can be problematic for passive imager-based retrievals of the underlying quasi-permanent marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds and for estimates of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE). Here an algorithm is introduced to simultaneously retrieve above-cloud aerosol optical thickness (AOT), the cloud optical thickness (COT), and cloud effective particle radius (CER) of the underlying MBL clouds while also providing pixel-level estimates of retrieval uncertainty. This approach utilizes reflectance measurements at six Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) channels from the visible to the shortwave infrared. Retrievals are run under two aerosol model assumptions on 8 years (2006-2013) of June-October Aqua MODIS data over the SE Atlantic, from which a regional cloud and above-cloud aerosol climatology is produced. The cloud retrieval methodology is shown to yield COT and CER consistent with those from the MODIS operational cloud product (MOD06) when forcing AOT to zero, while the full COT-CER-AOT retrievals that account for the above-cloud aerosol attenuation increase regional monthly mean COT and CER by up to 9% and 2%, respectively. Retrieved AOT is roughly 3 to 5 times larger than the collocated 532 nm Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) retrievals, though closer agreement is observed with the CALIOP 1064 nm retrievals, a result consistent with previous case study analyses. Regional cloudy-sky above-cloud aerosol DRE calculations are also performed that illustrate the importance of the aerosol model assumption and underlying cloud retrievals.

Development of Interpretable Predictive Models for BPH and Prostate Cancer.

PubMed

Bermejo, Pablo; Vivo, Alicia; Tárraga, Pedro J; Rodríguez-Montes, J A

2015-01-01

Traditional methods for deciding whether to recommend a patient for a prostate biopsy are based on cut-off levels of stand-alone markers such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or any of its derivatives. However, in the last decade we have seen the increasing use of predictive models that combine, in a non-linear manner, several predictives that are better able to predict prostate cancer (PC), but these fail to help the clinician to distinguish between PC and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) patients. We construct two new models that are capable of predicting both PC and BPH. An observational study was performed on 150 patients with PSA ≥3 ng/mL and age >50 years. We built a decision tree and a logistic regression model, validated with the leave-one-out methodology, in order to predict PC or BPH, or reject both. Statistical dependence with PC and BPH was found for prostate volume (P-value < 0.001), PSA (P-value < 0.001), international prostate symptom score (IPSS; P-value < 0.001), digital rectal examination (DRE; P-value < 0.001), age (P-value < 0.002), antecedents (P-value < 0.006), and meat consumption (P-value < 0.08). The two predictive models that were constructed selected a subset of these, namely, volume, PSA, DRE, and IPSS, obtaining an area under the ROC curve (AUC) between 72% and 80% for both PC and BPH prediction. PSA and volume together help to build predictive models that accurately distinguish among PC, BPH, and patients without any of these pathologies. Our decision tree and logistic regression models outperform the AUC obtained in the compared studies. Using these models as decision support, the number of unnecessary biopsies might be significantly reduced.

A national survey of medical students' beliefs and knowledge in screening for prostate cancer.

PubMed

Marcella, Stephen; Delnevo, Cristine D; Coughlin, Steven S

2007-01-01

Today's medical students are being educated at a time when there are no evidence-based guidelines for prostate cancer screening. To examine medical students' knowledge and beliefs concerning prostate cancer screening and specific determinants for their beliefs. One thousand six hundred and forty four students were sampled at 20 medical schools using a web-based, cross-sectional survey. Basic knowledge and beliefs about prostate cancer testing, epidemiology, and therapy were ascertained. Four of 8 knowledge items were answered incorrectly by 50% or more of students. Seven of 8 students believe that early diagnosis from screening can improve survival from prostate cancer. Second- and third-year students were more likely than fourth-year students to believe that the digital rectal exam (DRE) and the prostate-specific antigen test were accurate, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.8; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2 to 2.7 and 1.7; 1.3 to 2.2 for second and third years, respectively, for the DRE. Black and Hispanic students were no more likely than white students to agree that early screening diagnosis improves survival, but blacks were more likely to agree with screening black or Hispanic men (AOR 7.8; 95% CI, 5.3 to 11.4 and 3.2; 2.2 to 4.7, respectively). More knowledgeable students were less likely to believe in the benefit of early detection and the accuracy of the prostate-specific antigen (AOR 0.3; 95%CI, 0.2 to 0.5). Medical students generally are very optimistic about the benefits of screening for prostate cancer. Increased knowledge about prostate cancer is associated with a more conservative view of screening. Other predictors are independent of this knowledge.

SiASR4, the Target Gene of SiARDP from Setaria italica, Improves Abiotic Stress Adaption in Plants.

PubMed

Li, Jianrui; Dong, Yang; Li, Cong; Pan, Yanlin; Yu, Jingjuan

2016-01-01

Drought and other types of abiotic stresses negatively affect plant growth and crop yields. The abscisic acid-, stress-, and ripening-induced (ASR) proteins play important roles in the protection of plants against abiotic stress. However, the regulatory pathway of the gene encoding this protein remains to be elucidated. In this study, the foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ) ASR gene, SiASR4 , was cloned and characterized. SiASR4 localized to the cell nucleus, cytoplasm and cytomembrane, and the protein contained 102 amino acids, including an ABA/WDS (abscisic acid/water-deficit stress) domain, with a molecular mass of 11.5 kDa. The abundance of SiASR4 transcripts increased after treatment with ABA, NaCl, and PEG in foxtail millet seedlings. It has been reported that the S. italica ABA-responsive DRE-binding protein (SiARDP) binds to a DNA sequence with a CCGAC core and that there are five dehydration-responsive element (DRE) motifs within the SiASR4 promoter. Our analyses demonstrated that the SiARDP protein could bind to the SiASR4 promoter in vitro and in vivo . The expression of SiASR4 increased in SiARDP -overexpressing plants. SiASR4 -transgenic Arabidopsis and SiASR4 -overexpressing foxtail millet exhibited enhanced tolerance to drought and salt stress. Furthermore, the transcription of stress-responsive and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger-associated genes was activated in SiASR4 transgenic plants. Together, these findings show that SiASR4 functions in the adaption to drought and salt stress and is regulated by SiARDP via an ABA-dependent pathway.

Merging digital rectal exam, family history, age and prostate-specific antigen to create a decision-making tool.

PubMed

Ankerst, Donna Pauler; Thompson, Ian M

2006-12-01

In this paper, we report on risk factors for prostate cancer detection on biopsy as found in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), with special emphasis on the independent contribution of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity to prostate cancer risk over that provided by PSA. For this study, we used a subset of PCPT placebo arm participants who had had at least one prostate biopsy and a digital rectal examination (DRE) and PSA measured within 1 year prior to biopsy. In order to evaluate PSA velocity, we also required an additional PSA measurement within 3 years prior to biopsy, yielding 5,519 PCPT placebo arm participants for inclusion in the analysis. The risk of prostate cancer rose from 11.1% for PSA values less than 1 ng/mL to 43.3% for PSA values greater than 6 ng/mL and the risk of high-grade disease rose from 1.0% to 22.0% across these two PSA intervals. It was in fact no longer statistically significant as soon as the single predictor PSA was added to the risk equation, whereas PSA remained statistically significant even when velocity was in the risk equation. Furthermore, in a head-to-head comparison of predictive strength as a single predictor in a model, assessed by maximized log likelihood, PSA was more predictive than PSA velocity. These findings occurred for every definition of velocity that was considered and hence we concluded that velocity did not add independent prognostic information to prostate cancer risk over that provided by PSA. Similarly, age, which is also a predictor of prostate cancer in the absence of other factors, did not add independent prognostic information to PSA, DRE, family history, and prior biopsy.