Background rejection in NEXT using deep neural networks

DOE PAGES

Renner, J.; Farbin, A.; Vidal, J. Muñoz; ...

2017-01-16

Here, we investigate the potential of using deep learning techniques to reject background events in searches for neutrinoless double beta decay with high pressure xenon time projection chambers capable of detailed track reconstruction. The differences in the topological signatures of background and signal events can be learned by deep neural networks via training over many thousands of events. These networks can then be used to classify further events as signal or background, providing an additional background rejection factor at an acceptable loss of efficiency. The networks trained in this study performed better than previous methods developed based on the usemore » of the same topological signatures by a factor of 1.2 to 1.6, and there is potential for further improvement.« less

SYSTEMATIC EFFECTS IN POLARIZING FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETERS FOR COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND OBSERVATIONS

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

Nagler, Peter C.; Tucker, Gregory S.; Fixsen, Dale J.

The detection of the primordial B-mode polarization signal of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) would provide evidence for inflation. Yet as has become increasingly clear, the detection of a such a faint signal requires an instrument with both wide frequency coverage to reject foregrounds and excellent control over instrumental systematic effects. Using a polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) for CMB observations meets both of these requirements. In this work, we present an analysis of instrumental systematic effects in polarizing FTSs, using the Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) as a worked example. We analytically solve for the most important systematic effects inherentmore » to the FTS—emissive optical components, misaligned optical components, sampling and phase errors, and spin synchronous effects—and demonstrate that residual systematic error terms after corrections will all be at the sub-nK level, well below the predicted 100 nK B-mode signal.« less

First observation of low energy electron neutrinos in a liquid argon time projection chamber

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

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; Asaadi, J.

The capabilities of liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) to reconstruct the spatial and calorimetric information of neutrino events have made them the detectors of choice in a number of experiments, specically those looking to observe electron neutrino (e) appearance. The LArTPC promises excellent background rejection capabilities, especially in this \\golden" channel for both short and long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. We present the rst experimental observation of electron neutrinos and anti-neutrinos in the ArgoNeut LArTPC, in the energy range relevant to DUNE and the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino Program. We have selected 37 electron candidate events and 274 gammamore » candidate events, and measured an 80% purity of electrons based on a topological selection. Additionally, we present a of separation of electrons from gammas using calorimetric energy deposition, demonstrating further separation of electrons from background gammas.« less

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO -60 C 3F8 Bubble Chamber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amole, C.; Ardid, M.; Arnquist, I. J.; Asner, D. M.; Baxter, D.; Behnke, E.; Bhattacharjee, P.; Borsodi, H.; Bou-Cabo, M.; Campion, P.; Cao, G.; Chen, C. J.; Chowdhury, U.; Clark, K.; Collar, J. I.; Cooper, P. S.; Crisler, M.; Crowder, G.; Dahl, C. E.; Das, M.; Fallows, S.; Farine, J.; Felis, I.; Filgas, R.; Girard, F.; Giroux, G.; Hall, J.; Harris, O.; Hoppe, E. W.; Jin, M.; Krauss, C. B.; Laurin, M.; Lawson, I.; Leblanc, A.; Levine, I.; Lippincott, W. H.; Mamedov, F.; Maurya, D.; Mitra, P.; Nania, T.; Neilson, R.; Noble, A. J.; Olson, S.; Ortega, A.; Plante, A.; Podviyanuk, R.; Priya, S.; Robinson, A. E.; Roeder, A.; Rucinski, R.; Scallon, O.; Seth, S.; Sonnenschein, A.; Starinski, N.; Štekl, I.; Tardif, F.; Vázquez-Jáuregui, E.; Wells, J.; Wichoski, U.; Yan, Y.; Zacek, V.; Zhang, J.; PICO Collaboration

2017-06-01

New results are reported from the operation of the PICO-60 dark matter detector, a bubble chamber filled with 52 kg of C3 F8 located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. As in previous PICO bubble chambers, PICO -60 C 3F8 exhibits excellent electron recoil and alpha decay rejection, and the observed multiple-scattering neutron rate indicates a single-scatter neutron background of less than one event per month. A blind analysis of an efficiency-corrected 1167-kg day exposure at a 3.3-keV thermodynamic threshold reveals no single-scattering nuclear recoil candidates, consistent with the predicted background. These results set the most stringent direct-detection constraint to date on the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-proton spin-dependent cross section at 3.4 ×10-41 cm2 for a 30 -GeV c-2 WIMP, more than 1 order of magnitude improvement from previous PICO results.

Improved dark matter search results from PICO-2L Run 2

DOE PAGES

Amole, C.

2016-03-01

New data are reported from a second run of the 2-liter PICO-2L C 3F 8 bubble chamber with a total exposure of 129 kg-days at a thermodynamic threshold energy of 3.3 keV. These data show that measures taken to control particulate contamination in the superheated fluid resulted in the absence of the anomalous background events observed in the first run of this bubble chamber. One single nuclear-recoil event was observed in the data, consistent both with the predicted background rate from neutrons and with the observed rate of unambiguous multiple-bubble neutron scattering events. The chamber exhibits the same excellent electron-recoil and alphamore » decay rejection as was previously reported. These data provide the most stringent direct detection constraints on weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-proton spin-dependent scattering to date for WIMP masses <50 GeV/c 2.« less

Case studies on sugar production from underutilized woody biomass using sulfite chemistry

Treesearch

J.Y. Zhu; M. Subhosh Chandra; Roland Gleisner; William Gilles; Johnway Gao; Gevan Marrs; Dwight Anderson; John Sessions

2015-01-01

We examined two case studies to demonstrate the advantages of sulfite chemistry for pretreating underutilized woody biomass to produce sugars through enzymatic saccharification. In the first case study, we evaluated knot rejects from a magnesium-basedsulfite mill for direct enzymatic sugar production.We found that the sulfite mill rejects are an excellent feedstock for...

Segmentation and pulse shape discrimination techniques for rejecting background in germanium detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, J.; Primbsch, J. H.; Lin, R. P.

1984-01-01

The possibility of rejecting the internal beta-decay background in coaxial germanium detectors by distinguishing between the multi-site energy losses characteristic of photons and the single-site energy losses of electrons in the range 0.2 - 2 MeV is examined. The photon transport was modeled with a Monte Carlo routine. Background rejection by both multiple segmentation and pulse shape discrimination techniques is investigated. The efficiency of a six 1 cm-thick segment coaxial detector operating in coincidence mode alone is compared to that of a two-segment (1 cm and 5 cm) detector employing both front-rear coincidence and PSD in the rear segment to isolate photon events. Both techniques can provide at least 95 percent rejection of single-site events while accepting at least 80 percent of the multi-site events above 500 keV.

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-60 CF$$_3$$I Bubble Chamber

DOE PAGES

Amole, C.; Ardid, M.; Asner, D. M.; ...

2016-03-01

We reported new data from the operation of the PICO-60 dark matter detector, a bubble chamber filled with 36.8 kg of CF 3I and located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. PICO-60 is the largest bubble chamber to search for dark matter to date. With an analyzed exposure of 92.8 live-days, PICO-60 exhibits the same excellent background rejection observed in smaller bubble chambers. Alpha decays in PICO-60 exhibit frequency-dependent acoustic calorimetry, similar but not identical to that reported recently in a C 3F 8 bubble chamber. PICO-60 also observes a large population of unknown background events, exhibiting acoustic, spatial, and timingmore » behaviors inconsistent with those expected from a dark matter signal. We found these behaviors allow for analysis cuts to remove all background events while retaining 48.2%of the exposure. Stringent limits on WIMPs interacting via spin-dependent proton and spin-independent processes are set, and the interpretation of the DAMA/LIBRA modulation signal as dark matter interacting with iodine nuclei is ruled out.« less

Dark matter search results from the PICO-60 CF 3 I bubble chamber

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

Amole, C.; Ardid, M.; Asner, D. M.

2016-03-01

New data are reported from the operation of the PICO-60 dark matter detector, a bubble chamber filled with 36.8 kg of CF3I and located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. PICO-60 is the largest bubble chamber to search for dark matter to date. With an analyzed exposure of 92.8 livedays, PICO-60 exhibits the same excellent background rejection observed in smaller bubble chambers. Alpha decays in PICO-60 exhibit frequency-dependent acoustic calorimetry, similar but not identical to that reported recently in a C3F8 bubble chamber. PICO-60 also observes a large population of unknown background events, exhibiting acoustic, spatial, and timing behaviors inconsistent withmore » those expected from a dark matter signal. These behaviors allow for analysis cuts to remove all background events while retaining 48.2% of the exposure. Stringent limits on weakly interacting massive particles interacting via spin-dependent proton and spin-independent processes are set, and most interpretations of the DAMA/LIBRA modulation signal as dark matter interacting with iodine nuclei are ruled out.« less

Concept for a dark matter detector using liquid helium-4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, W.; McKinsey, D. N.

2013-06-01

Direct searches for light dark matter particles (mass<10GeV) are especially challenging because of the low energies transferred in elastic scattering to typical heavy nuclear targets. We investigate the possibility of using liquid helium-4 as a target material, taking advantage of the favorable kinematic matching of the helium nucleus to light dark matter particles. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to calculate the charge, scintillation, and triplet helium molecule signals produced by recoil He ions, for a variety of energies and electric fields. We show that excellent background rejection might be achieved based on the ratios between different signal channels. The sensitivity of the helium-based detector to light dark matter particles is estimated for various electric fields and light collection efficiencies.

Spectral anomaly methods for aerial detection using KUT nuisance rejection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Detwiler, R. S.; Pfund, D. M.; Myjak, M. J.; Kulisek, J. A.; Seifert, C. E.

2015-06-01

This work discusses the application and optimization of a spectral anomaly method for the real-time detection of gamma radiation sources from an aerial helicopter platform. Aerial detection presents several key challenges over ground-based detection. For one, larger and more rapid background fluctuations are typical due to higher speeds, larger field of view, and geographically induced background changes. As well, the possible large altitude or stand-off distance variations cause significant steps in background count rate as well as spectral changes due to increased gamma-ray scatter with detection at higher altitudes. The work here details the adaptation and optimization of the PNNL-developed algorithm Nuisance-Rejecting Spectral Comparison Ratios for Anomaly Detection (NSCRAD), a spectral anomaly method previously developed for ground-based applications, for an aerial platform. The algorithm has been optimized for two multi-detector systems; a NaI(Tl)-detector-based system and a CsI detector array. The optimization here details the adaptation of the spectral windows for a particular set of target sources to aerial detection and the tailoring for the specific detectors. As well, the methodology and results for background rejection methods optimized for the aerial gamma-ray detection using Potassium, Uranium and Thorium (KUT) nuisance rejection are shown. Results indicate that use of a realistic KUT nuisance rejection may eliminate metric rises due to background magnitude and spectral steps encountered in aerial detection due to altitude changes and geographically induced steps such as at land-water interfaces.

Which egg features predict egg rejection responses in American robins? Replicating Rothstein's (1982) study.

PubMed

Luro, Alec B; Igic, Branislav; Croston, Rebecca; López, Analía V; Shawkey, Matthew D; Hauber, Mark E

2018-02-01

Rothstein (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 11, 1982, 229) was one of the first comprehensive studies to examine how different egg features influence egg rejection behaviors of avian brood parasite-hosts. The methods and conclusions of Rothstein (1982) laid the foundation for subsequent experimental brood parasitism studies over the past thirty years, but its results have never been evaluated with replication. Here, we partially replicated Rothstein's (1982) experiments using parallel artificial model egg treatments to simulate cowbird ( Molothrus ater ) parasitism in American robin ( Turdus migratorius ) nests. We compared our data with those of Rothstein (1982) and confirmed most of its original findings: (1) robins reject model eggs that differ from the appearance of a natural robin egg toward that of a natural cowbird egg in background color, size, and maculation; (2) rejection responses were best predicted by model egg background color; and (3) model eggs differing by two or more features from natural robin eggs were more likely to be rejected than model eggs differing by one feature alone. In contrast with Rothstein's (1982) conclusion that American robin egg recognition is not specifically tuned toward rejection of brown-headed cowbird eggs, we argue that our results and those of other recent studies of robin egg rejection suggest a discrimination bias toward rejection of cowbird eggs. Future work on egg recognition will benefit from utilizing a range of model eggs varying continuously in background color, maculation patterning, and size in combination with avian visual modeling, rather than using model eggs which vary only discretely.

A Culture-Focused Study with Accomplished Black Educators on Pedagogical Excellence for African American Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acosta, Melanie M.

2013-01-01

To address the pedagogical needs of African American learners, some educational researchers have rejected the seductive tendency to document damage, but rather intentionally showcase excellence in Black education. They have studied highly successful teachers of African American students, their teaching practices, beliefs, and self-efficacy. What…

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-60 C$$_3$$F$$_8$$ Bubble Chamber

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

Amole, C.; et al.

2017-02-24

New results are reported from the operation of the PICO-60 dark matter detector, a bubble chamber filled with 52 kg of Cmore » $$_3$$F$$_8$$ located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. As in previous PICO bubble chambers, PICO-60 C$$_3$$F$$_8$$ exhibits excellent electron recoil and alpha decay rejection, and the observed multiple-scattering neutron rate indicates a single-scatter neutron background of less than 1 event per month. A blind analysis of an efficiency-corrected 1167-kg-day exposure at a 3.3-keV thermodynamic threshold reveals no single-scattering nuclear recoil candidates, consistent with the predicted background. These results set the most stringent direct-detection constraint to date on the WIMP-proton spin-dependent cross section at 3.4 $$\\times$$ 10$$^{-41}$$ cm$^2$ for a 30-GeV$$\\thinspace$$c$$^{-2}$$ WIMP, more than one order of magnitude improvement from previous PICO results.« less

Ion-Induced Afterpulsing in the Neutron Multiplicity Meter's Photomultiplier Tubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nedlik, Christopher; Schnee, Richard; Bunker, Raymond; Chen, Yu; Neutron Multiplicity Meter Collaboration

2013-10-01

The nature of the dark matter in the Universe remains a mystery in modern physics. A leading candidate, Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), may be detectable via scattering from nuclear targets in terrestrial detectors, located underground to prevent fake signals from cosmic-ray showers. The Neutron Multiplicity Meter (NMM) is a detector capable of measuring the muon-induced neutron flux deep underground, a problematic background for WIMP detection. The NMM is a 4.4-tonne Gd-loaded water-Cherenkov detector atop a 20-kilotonne lead target in the Soudan Mine. It measures high-energy neutrons (>50 MeV) by moderating and then detecting (via Gd capture gammas) the secondary neutrons emerging from the lead following a high-energy neutron interaction. The short time scale (~10 μs) for neutron capture in Gd-loaded water enables a custom multiplicity trigger to discriminate against the dominant gamma-ray background. Despite excellent rejection of the gamma-ray-induced background, NMM neutron-candidate events are not entirely background-free. One type of background is from ion-induced afterpulsing (AP) in the four 20'' Hamamatsu R7250 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) used to monitor the NMM's two water tanks. We show that ion-induced AP in the PMTs can mimic the NMM's low-energy neutron response, potentially biasing a candidate event's measured multiplicity. We present detailed studies of the AP in order to allow identification of AP-induced background events.

Monte Carlo Simulations of Background Spectra in Integral Imager Detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Armstrong, T. W.; Colborn, B. L.; Dietz, K. L.; Ramsey, B. D.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1998-01-01

Predictions of the expected gamma-ray backgrounds in the ISGRI (CdTe) and PiCsIT (Csl) detectors on INTEGRAL due to cosmic-ray interactions and the diffuse gamma-ray background have been made using a coupled set of Monte Carlo radiation transport codes (HETC, FLUKA, EGS4, and MORSE) and a detailed, 3-D mass model of the spacecraft and detector assemblies. The simulations include both the prompt background component from induced hadronic and electromagnetic cascades and the delayed component due to emissions from induced radioactivity. Background spectra have been obtained with and without the use of active (BGO) shielding and charged particle rejection to evaluate the effectiveness of anticoincidence counting on background rejection.

Scanning light-sheet microscopy in the whole mouse brain with HiLo background rejection.

PubMed

Mertz, Jerome; Kim, Jinhyun

2010-01-01

It is well known that light-sheet illumination can enable optically sectioned wide-field imaging of macroscopic samples. However, the optical sectioning capacity of a light-sheet macroscope is undermined by sample-induced scattering or aberrations that broaden the thickness of the sheet illumination. We present a technique to enhance the optical sectioning capacity of a scanning light-sheet microscope by out-of-focus background rejection. The technique, called HiLo microscopy, makes use of two images sequentially acquired with uniform and structured sheet illumination. An optically sectioned image is then synthesized by fusing high and low spatial frequency information from both images. The benefits of combining light-sheet macroscopy and HiLo background rejection are demonstrated in optically cleared whole mouse brain samples, using both green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fluorescence and dark-field scattered light contrast.

Scanning light-sheet microscopy in the whole mouse brain with HiLo background rejection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mertz, Jerome; Kim, Jinhyun

2010-01-01

It is well known that light-sheet illumination can enable optically sectioned wide-field imaging of macroscopic samples. However, the optical sectioning capacity of a light-sheet macroscope is undermined by sample-induced scattering or aberrations that broaden the thickness of the sheet illumination. We present a technique to enhance the optical sectioning capacity of a scanning light-sheet microscope by out-of-focus background rejection. The technique, called HiLo microscopy, makes use of two images sequentially acquired with uniform and structured sheet illumination. An optically sectioned image is then synthesized by fusing high and low spatial frequency information from both images. The benefits of combining light-sheet macroscopy and HiLo background rejection are demonstrated in optically cleared whole mouse brain samples, using both green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fluorescence and dark-field scattered light contrast.

Prioritisation in haemophilia A: a qualitative study of stakeholder attitudes and preferences.

PubMed

Dörries, A; Ude-Koeller, S; Wermes, C; Eisert, R; Ganser, A

2012-04-01

To learn more about prioritisation in the health care system, we performed an exploratory qualitative study on haemophilia A. The aim was to generate haemophilia disease-specific criteria and to learn more about reasoning in the decision-making process. The 40 participants (patients, relatives, physicians, nurses) were asked in semi-structured interviews about their experiences regarding the German health care system in general and the management of haemophilia A. The 4 stakeholder groups agreed that treatment in haemophilia A was very good; there were complaints about increased bureaucracy. Arguments originated in personal past experiences (patients, relatives) and in the professional background (healthcare professionals). Decision-making criteria ranking high were the maintenance of mobility, social responsibility and the prospect of a long working life span. Criteria with lower ranking were a high social professional status and age. There was ambivalence as to whether savings in the healthcare system in general were necessary or inacceptable. Prophylactic factor administration was rejected when high-risk sports were practiced regularly. Decision-making among actual individuals was rejected as 'immoral'. Patient representatives should be included in the political decision-making process. In conclusion, solidarity in the German health insurance is a highly esteemed principle, but was not well comprehended. The findings demonstrate the variety of individual attitudes with strong context affinity to the disease and the background of the stakeholder groups. The challenge will be to find ways of prioritising in an accountable and transparent way to maintain an excellent health care service for the individual haemophilia patient while also serving the public good. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Victimization and Its Associations with Peer Rejection and Fear of Victimization: Moderating Effects of Individual-Level and Classroom-Level Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kollerová, Lenka; Smolík, Filip

2016-01-01

Background: Past research has shown that peer victimization by bullying is associated with peer rejection and fear of victimization, but little is known about the interplay between victimization and other characteristics in the prediction of these experiences. We assume that the associations between victimization and peer rejection/fear of…

Anti-IL-17 therapy restricts and reverses late-term corneal allo-rejection

PubMed Central

Yin, Xiao-Tang; Zobell, Stephanie; Jarosz, Jason G.; Stuart, Patrick M.

2015-01-01

Corneal allograft rejection has been described as a Th1-mediated process involving IFN-γ production. However, recent evidence has also implicated IL-17 as being involved during acute corneal allograft responses. Our data supports those that maintain that IL-17 is involved in early acute corneal allograft acceptance. However, we decided to extend these studies to include a later phase of rejection in which there is a peak of IL-17 production that is >15 fold higher than seen during acute rejection that occurs >45 days post-engraftment at the onset of late-term rejection. We demonstrate that neutralizing IL-17A at this time significantly reduced corneal graft rejection. Surprisingly, when corneal grafts that are undergoing this later phase of rejection are treated with anti-IL17A there is a reversal of both opacity and neovascularization. When compared to the early phase of rejection, the cellular infiltrate is significantly less with a greatly reduced presence of Gr-1+ neutrophils with a relative increase in CD4+ T cells and macrophages. We went on to identify that the cells expressing IL-17 were CD4+ IL-17+ T cells and somewhat surprisingly, IL-17+ F4/80+ macrophages within the rejecting corneal allografts. Taken together, these findings describe a distinct late phase of corneal allograft rejection which is likely mediated by Th17 cells and that therapeutic neutralization of IL-17A reverses this rejection. This further suggests that IL-17 might serve as an excellent therapeutic target to reduce this form of corneal allograft rejection. PMID:25754737

An ultra-compact rejection filter based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons.

PubMed

Zhao, Shumin; Zhang, Hao Chi; Zhao, Jiahao; Tang, Wen Xuan

2017-09-05

In this paper, we propose a scheme to construct a new type of ultra-compact rejection filter by loading split-ring resonators (SRRs) on the transmission line of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). From the dispersion analysis of the spoof SPP transmission line with and without the SRR loading, we clearly reveal the mechanism of the rejection characteristic for this compact filter. Meanwhile, we fabricate two spoof SPPs waveguides loaded with different amounts of metamaterials particles, and experimentally test them using an Agilent Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and a homemade near-field scanning system. Both the simulated and measured results agree well with our theoretical analysis and demonstrate the excellent filtering characteristics of our design. The isolation of both filters can be less than -20 dB, and even reach -40 dB at rejection frequencies. The proposed rejection and stop-band filters show important potentials to develop integrated plasmonic functional devices and circuits at microwave and terahertz frequencies.

All-optical, ultra-wideband microwave I/Q mixer and image-reject frequency down-converter.

PubMed

Gao, Yongsheng; Wen, Aijun; Chen, Wei; Li, Xiaoyan

2017-03-15

An all-optical and ultra-wideband microwave in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) mixer, based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator and a wavelength division multiplexer, is proposed. Due to the simultaneous frequency down-conversion and 360-deg tunable phase shifting in the optical domain, the proposed I/Q mixer has the advantages of high conversion gain and excellent quadrature phase balance (<±1.3 deg⁡) with a wide operating frequency from 10 to 40 GHz. Assisted by an analog or digital intermediate-frequency quadrature coupler, an image-reject frequency down-converter is then implemented, with an image rejection exceeding 50 dB over the working band.

Scanning light-sheet microscopy in the whole mouse brain with HiLo background rejection

PubMed Central

Mertz, Jerome; Kim, Jinhyun

2010-01-01

It is well known that light-sheet illumination can enable optically sectioned wide-field imaging of macroscopic samples. However, the optical sectioning capacity of a light-sheet macroscope is undermined by sample-induced scattering or aberrations that broaden the thickness of the sheet illumination. We present a technique to enhance the optical sectioning capacity of a scanning light-sheet microscope by out-of-focus background rejection. The technique, called HiLo microscopy, makes use of two images sequentially acquired with uniform and structured sheet illumination. An optically sectioned image is then synthesized by fusing high and low spatial frequency information from both images. The benefits of combining light-sheet macroscopy and HiLo background rejection are demonstrated in optically cleared whole mouse brain samples, using both green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fluorescence and dark-field scattered light contrast. PMID:20210471

A search for double beta decays of 136Xe to the excited state of 136Ba with EXO-200

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yen, Yung-Ruey; EXO-200 Collaboration

2015-10-01

EXO-200 is one of the most sensitive searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of 136Xe in the world. The experiment uses 110 kg of active enriched liquid xenon in an ultralow background time projection chamber installed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a salt mine with a 1600 m water equivalent overburden. This detector has demonstrated excellent energy resolution and background rejection capabilities. While the experiment is designed to search for the double beta decays of 136Xe to the ground state of 136Ba, transitions to the excited states of 136Ba are also plausible. The ββ 2 ν decay to the first 0+ excited state of the daughter nuclei has been observed for 100Mo and 150Nd; this particular transition for 136Xe has a theoretical lifetime on the order of 1025 year, which is right around the sensitivity of EXO-200. We present the results from the search of double beta decays to the excited state using two years of EXO-200 data.

A study of nuclear recoil backgrounds in dark matter detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westerdale, Shawn S.

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the 1-1000 GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering off of nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating (alpha, n) yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development that informed the design of the DarkSide-50 boron-loaded liquid scintillator neutron veto. We describe the specific implementation of this veto system in DarkSide-50, including a description of its performance, and show that it can reject neutrons with a high enough efficiency to allow DarkSide-50 to run background-free for three years.

Pulse shape discrimination for background rejection in germanium gamma-ray detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feffer, P. T.; Smith, D. M.; Campbell, R. D.; Primbsch, J. H.; Lin, R. P.

1989-01-01

A pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) technique is developed to reject the beta-decay background resulting from activation of Ge gamma-ray detectors by cosmic-ray secondaries. These beta decays are a major source of background at 0.2-2 MeV energies in well shielded Ge detector systems. The technique exploits the difference between the detected current pulse shapes of single- and multiple-site energy depositions within the detector: beta decays are primarily single-site events, while photons at these energies typically Compton scatter before being photoelectrically absorbed to produce multiple-site events. Depending upon the amount of background due to sources other than beta decay, PSD can more than double the detector sensitivity.

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

Renner, J.; Farbin, A.; Vidal, J. Muñoz

Here, we investigate the potential of using deep learning techniques to reject background events in searches for neutrinoless double beta decay with high pressure xenon time projection chambers capable of detailed track reconstruction. The differences in the topological signatures of background and signal events can be learned by deep neural networks via training over many thousands of events. These networks can then be used to classify further events as signal or background, providing an additional background rejection factor at an acceptable loss of efficiency. The networks trained in this study performed better than previous methods developed based on the usemore » of the same topological signatures by a factor of 1.2 to 1.6, and there is potential for further improvement.« less

A series of compact rejection filters based on the interaction between spoof SPPs and CSRRs.

PubMed

Zhang, Qian; Zhang, Hao Chi; Yin, Jia Yuan; Pan, Bai Cao; Cui, Tie Jun

2016-06-21

We propose a method to synthesize several band-rejection filters by etching split-ring resonators (SRRs) on the transmission line for spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which is made of double-side or single-side corrugated metal strips. From dispersion relations, the corrugated strips can support spoof SPP modes when the operating frequency is less than the cutoff frequency. The electric field component perpendicular to the strip surface of the SPP modes can excite the complementary SRRs (CSRRs), leading to resonant modes preventing the SPP propagation near the resonant frequencies. Using this principle, single-frequency rejection filters, double-frequency rejection filters, and broad band-stop filters with bandwidth of 1.5 GHz have been designed and fabricated using the single- and/or double-side corrugated strips. Both measured results and numerical simulations demonstrate the excellent filtering characteristics of all design, which are in good agreements. The isolation of all filters can be less than -20 dB, and even reach to -38 dB at rejection frequencies. The proposed rejection and stop-band filters give important potentials to develop integrated plasmonic functional devices and circuits at microwave and terahertz frequencies.

Background rejection of TEXONO experiment to explore the sub-keV energy region with HPGe detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, M. K.; Sharma, V.; Singh, L.; Chen, J. H.; Singh, V.; Subrahmanyam, V. S.; Soma, A. K.; Wong, H. T.

2017-10-01

To observe the neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering as well as for dark matter search, a detection system with ultra-low energy high purity germanium detector has been set up by the TEXONO Collaboration in Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Plant. Owing to the weak nature and small recoil energy of these rare events, understanding of background sources and their contribution to the energy spectrum are the key factors in this experiment. In this report, we will focus in detail on the different sources of backgrounds in the TEXONO experiment and the techniques used to reject/minimize them.

Toroidal magnetized iron neutrino detector for a neutrino factory

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

Bross, A.; Wands, R.; Bayes, R.

2013-08-01

A neutrino factory has unparalleled physics reach for the discovery and measurement of CP violation in the neutrino sector. A far detector for a neutrino factory must have good charge identification with excellent background rejection and a large mass. An elegant solution is to construct a magnetized iron neutrino detector (MIND) along the lines of MINOS, where iron plates provide a toroidal magnetic field and scintillator planes provide 3D space points. In this report, the current status of a simulation of a toroidal MIND for a neutrino factory is discussed in light of the recent measurements of largemore » $$\\theta_{13}$$. The response and performance using the 10 GeV neutrino factory configuration are presented. It is shown that this setup has equivalent $$\\delta_{CP}$$ reach to a MIND with a dipole field and is sensitive to the discovery of CP violation over 85% of the values of $$\\delta_{CP}$$.« less

Pile-Up Discrimination Algorithms for the HOLMES Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferri, E.; Alpert, B.; Bennett, D.; Faverzani, M.; Fowler, J.; Giachero, A.; Hays-Wehle, J.; Maino, M.; Nucciotti, A.; Puiu, A.; Ullom, J.

2016-07-01

The HOLMES experiment is a new large-scale experiment for the electron neutrino mass determination by means of the electron capture decay of ^{163}Ho. In such an experiment, random coincidence events are one of the main sources of background which impair the ability to identify the effect of a non-vanishing neutrino mass. In order to resolve these spurious events, detectors characterized by a fast response are needed as well as pile-up recognition algorithms. For that reason, we have developed a code for testing the discrimination efficiency of various algorithms in recognizing pile up events in dependence of the time separation between two pulses. The tests are performed on simulated realistic TES signals and noise. Indeed, the pulse profile is obtained by solving the two coupled differential equations which describe the response of the TES according to the Irwin-Hilton model. To these pulses, a noise waveform which takes into account all the noise sources regularly present in a real TES is added. The amplitude of the generated pulses is distributed as the ^{163}Ho calorimetric spectrum. Furthermore, the rise time of these pulses has been chosen taking into account the constraints given by both the bandwidth of the microwave multiplexing read out with a flux ramp demodulation and the bandwidth of the ADC boards currently available for ROACH2. Among the different rejection techniques evaluated, the Wiener Filter technique, a digital filter to gain time resolution, has shown an excellent pile-up rejection efficiency. The obtained time resolution closely matches the baseline specifications of the HOLMES experiment. We report here a description of our simulation code and a comparison of the different rejection techniques.

Small Infrared Target Detection by Region-Adaptive Clutter Rejection for Sea-Based Infrared Search and Track

PubMed Central

Kim, Sungho; Lee, Joohyoung

2014-01-01

This paper presents a region-adaptive clutter rejection method for small target detection in sea-based infrared search and track. In the real world, clutter normally generates many false detections that impede the deployment of such detection systems. Incoming targets (missiles, boats, etc.) can be located in the sky, horizon and sea regions, which have different types of clutters, such as clouds, a horizontal line and sea-glint. The characteristics of regional clutter were analyzed after the geometrical analysis-based region segmentation. The false detections caused by cloud clutter were removed by the spatial attribute-based classification. Those by the horizontal line were removed using the heterogeneous background removal filter. False alarms by sun-glint were rejected using the temporal consistency filter, which is the most difficult part. The experimental results of the various cluttered background sequences show that the proposed region adaptive clutter rejection method produces fewer false alarms than that of the mean subtraction filter (MSF) with an acceptable degradation detection rate. PMID:25054633

Coplanar waveguide metamaterials: The role of bandwidth modifying slots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibraheem, Ibraheem A.; Koch, Martin

2007-09-01

The authors propose a coplanar waveguide stopband metasurface based on the Babinet principle. The resulting layout is a compact planar metal structure with complementary split ring resonators, which exhibits a high rejection stop band. The complementary rings provide a frequency band with an effective negative dielectric permittivity. Moreover, the rejected bandwidth can be expanded by introducing slots close to the rings. The authors provide a simple physical model which explains the impact of the slots. Simulations confirm the expected behavior and are in excellent agreement with the measurements.

[Acculturation orientations and psychosocial adaptation among adolescents with immigrant background].

PubMed

Goutaudier, N; Chauchard, E; Melioli, T; Valls, M; van Leeuwen, N; Chabrol, H

2015-09-01

The aim of the study was to explore the typology of adolescents with immigrant background based on the orientations of acculturation and to estimate the psychosocial adaptation of the various subtypes. A sample of 228 French high school students with an immigrant background completed a questionnaire assessing acculturation orientations (Immigrant Acculturation Scale; Barrette et al., 2004), antisocial behaviors, depressive symptoms and self-esteem. Cluster analysis based on acculturation orientations was performed using the k-means method. Cluster analysis produced four distinct acculturation profiles: bicultural (31%), separated (28%), marginalized (21%), and assimilated-individualistic (20%). Adolescents in the separated and marginalized clusters, both characterized by rejection of the host culture, reported higher levels of antisocial behavior. Depressive symptoms and self-esteem did not differ between clusters. Several hypotheses may explain the association between separation and delinquency. First, separation and rejection of the host culture may lead to rebellious behavior such as delinquency. Conversely, delinquent behavior may provoke rejection or discrimination by peers or school, or legal sanctions that induce a reciprocal process of rejection of the host culture and separation. The relationship between separation and antisocial behavior may be bidirectional, each one reinforcing the other, resulting in a negative spiral. This study confirms the interest of the study of the orientations of acculturation in the understanding of the antisocial behavior of adolescents with immigrant background. Copyright © 2014 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Imaging proportional counters for the stellar X-ray polarimeter. [on Soviet Spectrum X-Gamma mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watkins, R. B., Jr.; Kaaret, P.

1990-01-01

The xenon-filled IPCs being developed for the Stellar X-ray Polarimeter are described. The requirements placed on the IPCs by the design of the polarimeter are discussed and results on the performance of prototype counters are presented. The design of a prototype of the IPCs is described. Finally, the performance of the prototype is reported. Due to the extremely low count rates encountered in X-ray polarimetry, efficient background rejection is the most critical parameter of the IPCs. Using a background rejection scheme employing anticoincidence and pulse shape discrimination, a rejection efficiency of 99 percent has been achieved for Co-60-induced events over an energy range of 2 to 15 keV while retaining more than 80 percent of the X-ray efficiency.

Development of a multivariate tool to reject background in a WZ diboson search for the CDF experiment

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

Cremonesi, Matteo

In the frame of the strong on-going data analysis effort of the CDF collaboration at Fermilab, a method was developed by the candidate to improve the background rejection efficiency in the search for associated pair production of electroweak W, Z bosons. The performaces of the method for vetoing the tt background in a WZ/ZZ → fνqmore » $$\\bar{q}$$ diboson search are reported. The method was developed in the inclusive 2-jets sample and applied to the “tag-2 jets" region, the subsample defined by the request that the two jets carry beauty flavor. In this region the tt production is one of the largest backgrounds. The tt veto proceeds in two steps: first, a set of pre-selection cuts are applied in a candidate sample where up to two leptons are accepted in addition to a jet pair, and the ZZ component of the signal is thus preserved; next, a Neural Network is trained to indicate the probability that the event be top-pair production. To validate the the method as developed in the inclusive 2-jets sample, it is applied to veto region providing a significant rejection of this important background.« less

A Study of Nuclear Recoil Backgrounds in Dark Matter Detectors

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

Westerdale, Shawn S.

2016-01-01

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on themore » $1-1000$ GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering from nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating ($$\\alpha$$, n)yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development that informed the design of the DarkSide-50 boron-loaded liquid scintillator neutron veto. We describe the specific implementation of this veto system in DarkSide-50, including a description of its performance, and show that it can reject neutrons with a high enough e_ciency to allow DarkSide-50 to run background-free for three years.« less

Materialistic Values among Chinese Adolescents: Effects of Parental Rejection and Self-Esteem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fu, Xinyuan; Kou, Yu; Yang, Ying

2015-01-01

Background: Materialistic values among today's adolescents have been a concern around the world, yet few studies concerning Chinese adolescents' materialistic values have been conducted. Additionally, the joint effects of parental rejection and self-esteem on materialistic values remain unclear. Objective: We examined materialistic values in a…

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS)-Science Highlights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley, J.; Coppi, P.; Digel, S.; Funk, S.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Pohl, M.; Romani, R.; Vassiliev, V.

2008-12-01

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS), a future gamma-ray telescope consisting of an array of ~50 atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes distributed over an area of ~1 km2, will provide a powerful new tool for exploring the high-energy universe. The order-of-magnitude increase in sensitivity and improved angular resolution could provide the first detailed images of γ-ray emission from other nearby galaxies or galaxy clusters. The large effective area will provide unprecedented sensitivity to short transients (such as flares from AGNs and GRBs) probing both intrinsic spectral variability (revealing the details of the acceleration mechanism and geometry) as well as constraining the high-energy dispersion in the velocity of light (probing the structure of spacetime and Lorentz invariance). A wide field of view (~4 times that of current instruments) and excellent angular resolution (several times better than current instruments) will allow for an unprecedented survey of the Galactic plane, providing a deep unobscured survey of SNRs, X-ray binaries, pulsar-wind nebulae, molecular cloud complexes and other sources. The differential flux sensitivity of ~10-13 erg cm-2 sec-1 will rival the most sensitive X-ray instruments for these extended Galactic sources. The excellent capabilities of AGIS at energies below 100 GeV will provide sensitivity to AGN and GRBs out to cosmological redshifts, increasing the number of AGNs detected at high energies from about 20 to more than 100, permitting population studies that will provide valuable insights into both a unified model for AGN and a detailed measurement of the effects of intergalactic absorption from the diffuse extragalactic background light. A new instrument with fast-slewing wide-field telescopes could provide detections of a number of long-duration GRBs providing important physical constraints from this new spectral component. The new array will also have excellent background rejection and very large effective area, providing the very high sensitivity needed to detect emission from dark matter annihilation in Galactic substructure or nearby Dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Analysis techniques for background rejection at the Majorana Demonstrator

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

Cuestra, Clara; Rielage, Keith Robert; Elliott, Steven Ray

2015-06-11

The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, an ultra-low background, 40-kg modular HPGe detector array to search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge. In view of the next generation of tonne-scale Ge-based 0νββ-decay searches that will probe the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region, a major goal of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 count/tonne/year in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. The background rejection techniques to be applied to the data include cuts based on data reduction, pulsemore » shape analysis, event coincidences, and time correlations. The Point Contact design of the DEMONSTRATOR's germanium detectors allows for significant reduction of gamma background.« less

Social Rejection and Alcohol Use in Daily Life

PubMed Central

Laws, Holly B.; Ellerbeck, Nicole E.; Rodrigues, Alyne S.; Simmons, Jessica A; Ansell, Emily B.

2017-01-01

Background Prior studies have found that social rejection is associated with increases in negative affect, distress, and hostility. Fewer studies, however, have examined the impact of social rejection on alcohol use, and no known studies have tested whether the impact of social rejection by close others differs from social rejection by acquaintances in its association with subsequent drinking. Methods Participants completed event-contingent reports of their social interactions and alcohol use for 14 consecutive days on smartphones. Multilevel negative binomial regression models tested whether experiencing more social rejection than usual was associated with increased drinking, and whether this association was stronger when participants were rejected by close others (e.g. friends, spouses, family members) versus strangers or acquaintances. Results Results showed a significant interaction between social rejection and relationship closeness. On days characterized by rejection by close others, the likelihood of drinking significantly increased. On days characterized by rejection by acquaintances, by contrast, there was no increase in the likelihood of drinking. There was no main effect of rejection on likelihood of drinking. Conclusions These results suggest that relationship type is a key factor in whether social rejection translates to potentially harmful behaviors, such as increased alcohol use. This finding is in contrast to many laboratory paradigms of rejection, which emphasize rejection and ostracism by strangers rather than known others. In the more naturalistic setting of measuring social interactions on smartphone in daily life, however, our findings suggest that only social rejection delivered by close others, and not strangers, led to subsequent drinking. PMID:28253539

Study of Higgs effective couplings at electron-proton colliders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesari, Hoda; Khanpour, Hamzeh; Najafabadi, Mojtaba Mohammadi

2018-05-01

We perform a search for beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) dimension-six operators relevant to the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC) and the Future Circular Hadron Electron Collider (FCC-he). With a large amount of data (few ab-1 ) and collisions at the TeV scale, both LHeC and FCC-he provide excellent opportunities to search for the BSM effects. The study is done through the process e-p →h j νe , where the Higgs boson decays into a pair of b b ¯, and we consider the main sources of background processes, including a realistic simulation of detector effects. For the FCC-he case, in some signal scenarios, to obtain an efficient event reconstruction and to have a good background rejection, jet substructure techniques are employed to reconstruct the boosted Higgs boson in the final state. In order to assess the sensitivity to the dimension-six operators, a shape analysis on the differential cross sections is performed. Stringent bounds are found on the Wilson coefficients of dimension-six operators with the integrated luminosities of 1 ab-1 and 10 ab-1 , which in some cases show improvements with respect to the high-luminosity LHC results.

The SuperNemo ββ0ν enriched 82Se source foils and their radiopurity measurement with the BiPo-3 detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loaiza, P.; SuperNemo Collaboration

2017-09-01

The SuperNemo collaboration is currently building the SuperNemo demonstrator at the Modane Underground Laboratory, as the proof of concept for the full SuperNemo program. The enriched ββ0ν source consisting of thin foils containing 7 kg of 82Se is enclosed by the gas tracker and the plastic scintillator calorimeter. The full reconstruction of the ββ0ν event topology ensures an excellent background rejection and points at a true zero-background search. One of the most critical sources of background is a contamination in the source foils. The required radiopurity is 208Tl < 2 µBq/kg and 214Bi < 10 µBq/kg to achieve the sensitivity T1/2(ββ0ν) > 1026 years. The collaboration has developed a dedicated detector to measure the ultra high natural radiopurities requested, the BiPo-3 detector, installed in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The experimental design and performances of BiPo-3 are presented. Dedicated background measurements have been performed. After an exposure of about 2 years.m2 the surface activities of the scintillators of A(208Tl) = 1.0 ± 0.2 µBq/m2 and A(214Bi) = 1.0 ± 0.3 µBq/m2 are measured. Results of the 208Tl and 214Bi activity measurements of the first enriched 82Se foils of SuperNemo are also presented.

The relationship between visual search and categorization of own- and other-age faces.

PubMed

Craig, Belinda M; Lipp, Ottmar V

2018-03-13

Young adult participants are faster to detect young adult faces in crowds of infant and child faces than vice versa. These findings have been interpreted as evidence for more efficient attentional capture by own-age than other-age faces, but could alternatively reflect faster rejection of other-age than own-age distractors, consistent with the previously reported other-age categorization advantage: faster categorization of other-age than own-age faces. Participants searched for own-age faces in other-age backgrounds or vice versa. Extending the finding to different other-age groups, young adult participants were faster to detect young adult faces in both early adolescent (Experiment 1) and older adult backgrounds (Experiment 2). To investigate whether the own-age detection advantage could be explained by faster categorization and rejection of other-age background faces, participants in experiments 3 and 4 also completed an age categorization task. Relatively faster categorization of other-age faces was related to relatively faster search through other-age backgrounds on target absent trials but not target present trials. These results confirm that other-age faces are more quickly categorized and searched through and that categorization and search processes are related; however, this correlational approach could not confirm or reject the contribution of background face processing to the own-age detection advantage. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Topological signature in the NEXT high pressure xenon TPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrario, Paola; NEXT Collaboration

2017-09-01

The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of 136Xe in a high-pressure xenon gas TPC using electroluminescence to amplify the signal from ionization. One of the main advantages of this technology is the possibility to use the topology of events with energies close to Qββ as an extra tool to reject background. In these proceedings we show with data from prototypes that an extra background rejection factor of 24.3 ± 1.4 (stat.)% can be achieved, while maintaining an efficiency of 66.7 ± 1.% for signal events. The performance expected in NEW, the next stage of the experiment, is to improve to 12.9% ± 0.6% background acceptance for 66.9% ± 0.6% signal efficiency.

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

McKay, Clare, E-mail: clmck7@student.monash.edu; Knight, Kellie A; Wright, Caroline

Immunosuppressive drugs used in the management of heart and lung transplants have a large monetary and quality of life cost due to their side effects. Total lymphoid irradiation (TLI) is one method of minimising the need for or replacing post-operative immunosuppressive drugs. A literature review was conducted on electronic databases using defined search terms. The aim was to establish the indications for the use of TLI, its advantages and disadvantages and the weaknesses associated with the methods used in related research. Eight articles were located that focused on TLI usage in combating organ rejection. These studies identified that the usemore » of TLI resulted in a reduction in early rejection. One study reported a drop in rejection episodes from 0.46 to 0.14 episodes per patient per month once the TLI was complete. While the short-term prognosis is excellent, the long-term outlook is less positive with an increased risk of organ rejection and myelodysplasia 3.5 years post-TLI. This review reminds us that radiation therapy (RT) is not exclusively indicated for cancer treatment. While TLI cannot replace immunosuppressive drug therapy, it can offer a treatment option for people that cannot tolerate immunosuppressive drugs, or when conventional anti-rejection treatment is no longer viable. Reported long-term complications suggest that TLI should be used with caution. However, this modality should not be overlooked in cases of chronic rejection. Further research is required to establish the efficacy of RT in the treatment of transplant patients who are unsuitable for drug-based anti-rejection therapies.« less

Prosthesis rejection in acquired major upper-limb amputees: a population-based survey.

PubMed

Østlie, Kristin; Lesjø, Ingrid Marie; Franklin, Rosemary Joy; Garfelt, Beate; Skjeldal, Ola Hunsbeth; Magnus, Per

2012-07-01

To estimate the rates of primary and secondary prosthesis rejection in acquired major upper-limb amputees (ULAs), to describe the most frequently reported reasons for rejection and to estimate the influence of background factors on the risk of rejection. Cross-sectional study analysing population-based questionnaire data (n = 224). Effects were analysed by logistic regression analyses and Cox regression analyses. Primary prosthesis rejection was found in 4.5% whereas 13.4% had discontinued prosthesis use. The main reasons reported for primary non-wear were a perceived lack of need and discrepancies between perceived need and the prostheses available. The main reasons reported for secondary prosthesis rejection were dissatisfaction with prosthetic comfort, function and control. Primary prosthesis rejection was more likely in ULAs amputated at high age and in ULAs with proximal amputations. Secondary prosthesis rejection was more likely in proximal ULAs and in women. Clinicians should be aware of the increased risk of rejection in proximal ULAs, elderly ULAs and in women. Emphasising individual needs will probably facilitate successful prosthetic fitting. Improved prosthesis quality and individualised prosthetic training may increase long-term prosthesis use. Further studies of the effect of prosthetic training and of the reasons for rejection of different prosthetic types are suggested.

Avian vision and the evolution of egg color mimicry in the common cuckoo.

PubMed

Stoddard, Mary Caswell; Stevens, Martin

2011-07-01

Coevolutionary arms races are a potent force in evolution, and brood parasite-host dynamics provide classical examples. Different host-races of the common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, lay eggs in the nests of other species, leaving all parental care to hosts. Cuckoo eggs often (but not always) appear to match remarkably the color and pattern of host eggs, thus reducing detection by hosts. However, most studies of egg mimicry focus on human assessments or reflectance spectra, which fail to account for avian vision. Here, we use discrimination and tetrachromatic color space modeling of bird vision to quantify egg background and spot color mimicry in the common cuckoo and 11 of its principal hosts, and we relate this to egg rejection by different hosts. Egg background color and luminance are strongly mimicked by most cuckoo host-races, and mimicry is better when hosts show strong rejection. We introduce a novel measure of color mimicry-"color overlap"-and show that cuckoo and host background colors increasingly overlap in avian color space as hosts exhibit stronger rejection. Finally, cuckoos with better background color mimicry also have better pattern mimicry. Our findings reveal new information about egg mimicry that would be impossible to derive by the human eye. © 2011 The Author(s). Evolution© 2011 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

The Closing of the "Bazaar of Cultures": Anthropology as Scapegoat.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klass, Morton

1990-01-01

Notes Allan Bloom's attack on anthropologists and the concept of cultural relativism. Rejects the idea that the study of other cultures leads to giving up one's own culture. Suggests that Bloom represents a nativistic revitalization movement which has found that anthropologists make excellent scapegoats. (EVL)

[Husband to wife kidney transplantation in five multiparous women: sensitization or tolerance after pregnancy?].

PubMed

Ortiz-Arroyo, Víctor M; Granados, Julio; Uribe-Uribe, Norma; de Leo, Claudia; Castelán, Natalia; González, Norma; López, Mayra; Alberú, Josefina

2004-01-01

Pregnancy is a known cause of immunological sensitization and it has been reported graft survival to be lower in husband to wife kidney transplantation if the wife had been pregnant (mutual children) as compare to those cases without pregnancies. Previous exposure to husband HLA antigens during pregnancies may lead to specific sensitization to subsequent allografts. To communicate the fate of kidney allograft in husband to wife transplantation when the recipient had been pregnant. From 682 renal transplants performed at INCMNSZ 5 corresponded to husband to wife transplants. All the recipients were multiparous and had received multiple blood transfusions. Pretransplantation lymphocytotoxic cross-match testing were performed by complement dependent citotoxicity with antihuman globulin added (AHG-CDC), being negative in all cases for T and B cells. All the patients received triple-drug immunosuppressive therapy, additionally, anti-IL2R monoclonal antibodies were used in two cases. Two patients developed: accelerated acute rejection (case 1), and acute humoral rejection (case 5), respectively. Graft in these patients were loss to rejection and transplant nephrectomy accomplished. The remaining three patients (cases 2, 3, and 4) has not had any rejection episode, and have had excellent graft outcome at 34, 30, and 21 months posttransplant, respectively. Why under similar conditions some husband to wife kidney transplant recipients developed an adverse humoral immunological events while others maintain excellent long-term graft outcome? Is it possible to speculate that for some women pregnancy is in fact a sensitizing event, while in others it promotes "immunological acceptance"? At present there is no a test that characterized one and other group. Even though pretransplantation cross-match testing by flow cytometry is more sensitive than AHG-CDC, its negative result is by no means an absolute guarantee that an adverse anamnestic immunological event will not occur.

Systemic Rejection: Political Pressures Seen from the Science System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Mitchell; Sørensen, Mads P.; Bloch, Carter; Degn, Lise

2017-01-01

The emphasis on competitiveness and the knowledge-based economy in European policymaking has resulted in a heightened focus on monitoring and steering the science system, particularly through metric-based instruments. Policymakers' general aims of fostering excellent research and breakthroughs are shared by researchers as well; however, below the…

Safety, Dignity and the Quest for a Democratic Campus Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ben-Porath, Sigal

2016-01-01

In his excellent paper, Callan (2016) differentiates intellectual safety, which fosters smugness, indifference and lack of effort, from dignity safety, which is needed for participation, learning and engagement. He suggests that college classrooms that reject the first and espouse the second would be ones that focus on "cultivating…

Input Shaping enhanced Active Disturbance Rejection Control for a twin rotor multi-input multi-output system (TRMS).

PubMed

Yang, Xiaoyan; Cui, Jianwei; Lao, Dazhong; Li, Donghai; Chen, Junhui

2016-05-01

In this paper, a composite control based on Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) and Input Shaping is presented for TRMS with two degrees of freedom (DOF). The control tasks consist of accurately tracking desired trajectories and obtaining disturbance rejection in both horizontal and vertical planes. Due to un-measurable states as well as uncertainties stemming from modeling uncertainty and unknown disturbance torques, ADRC is employed, and feed-forward Input Shaping is used to improve the dynamical response. In the proposed approach, because the coupling effects are maintained in controller derivation, there is no requirement to decouple the TRMS into horizontal and vertical subsystems, which is usually performed in the literature. Finally, the proposed method is implemented on the TRMS platform, and the results are compared with those of PID and ADRC in a similar structure. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The operation of the controller allows for an excellent set-point tracking behavior and disturbance rejection with system nonlinearity and complex coupling conditions. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance and advantages of a soft-core based parallel architecture for energy peak detection in the calorimeter Level 0 trigger for the NA62 experiment at CERN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammendola, R.; Barbanera, M.; Bizzarri, M.; Bonaiuto, V.; Ceccucci, A.; Checcucci, B.; De Simone, N.; Fantechi, R.; Federici, L.; Fucci, A.; Lupi, M.; Paoluzzi, G.; Papi, A.; Piccini, M.; Ryjov, V.; Salamon, A.; Salina, G.; Sargeni, F.; Venditti, S.

2017-03-01

The NA62 experiment at CERN SPS has started its data-taking. Its aim is to measure the branching ratio of the ultra-rare decay K+ → π+ν ν̅ . In this context, rejecting the background is a crucial topic. One of the main background to the measurement is represented by the K+ → π+π0 decay. In the 1-8.5 mrad decay region this background is rejected by the calorimetric trigger processor (Cal-L0). In this work we present the performance of a soft-core based parallel architecture built on FPGAs for the energy peak reconstruction as an alternative to an implementation completely founded on VHDL language.

Temporal focusing microscopy combined with three-dimensional structured illumination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isobe, Keisuke; Toda, Keisuke; Song, Qiyuan; Kannari, Fumihiko; Kawano, Hiroyuki; Miyawaki, Atsushi; Midorikawa, Katsumi

2017-05-01

Temporal focusing microscopy provides the optical sectioning capability in wide-field two-photon fluorescence imaging. Here, we demonstrate temporal focusing microscopy combined with three-dimensional structured illumination, which enables us to enhance the three-dimensional spatial resolution and reject the background fluorescence. Experimentally, the periodic pattern of the illumination was produced not only in the lateral direction but also in the axial direction by the interference between three temporal focusing pulses, which were easily generated using a digital micromirror device. The lateral resolution and optical sectioning capability were successfully enhanced by factors of 1.6 and 3.6, respectively, compared with those of temporal focusing microscopy. In the two-photon fluorescence imaging of a tissue-like phantom, the out-of-focus background fluorescence and the scattered background fluorescence could also be rejected.

The Daily Relation between Parental Rejection and Emotional Eating in Youngsters: A Diary Study

PubMed Central

Vandewalle, Julie; Mabbe, Elien; Debeuf, Taaike; Braet, Caroline; Moens, Ellen

2017-01-01

KEY POINTS  Cross-sectional survey studies have demonstrated significant associations between parental rejection and peer rejection on the one hand and disturbed eating in youngsters, like emotional eating, on the other hand. In this study, we wanted to expand our knowledge on these relationships by investigating the daily fluctuations in these variables. Youngsters completed a 7-day diary to assess daily parental rejection, peer rejection and emotional eating. Using multilevel analyses, our results showed that daily variations in parental rejection were related to daily variations in emotional eating of the youngsters. This highlights the importance of addressing the parent-child relationship in interventions for emotional eating in youngsters. Background: This study investigated the daily relation between parental rejection and peer rejection on the one hand and emotional eating in youngsters on the other hand. Methods: Participants (N = 55) between the ages of 11 and 15 years completed a 7-day diary. A multilevel design was used to examine day-to-day within-person relationships between parental and peer rejection (measured by CHS) and emotional eating (measured by DEBQ-C) of youngsters. Results: The results showed that daily variations in parental rejection were related to daily variations in emotional eating of the youngsters. Daily peer rejection was only marginally significantly related to the emotional eating of the youngsters. Conclusions: These results indicate that especially parental rejection, and to a lesser extent peer rejection, are associated with the emotional eating of youngsters. The findings highlight the importance of addressing the parent-child relationship in interventions for emotional eating in youngsters. PMID:28553239

Segmented Ge detector rejection of internal beta activity produced by neutron irradiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Varnell, L. S.; Callas, J. L.; Mahoney, W. A.; Pehl, R. H.; Landis, D. A.

1991-01-01

Future Ge spectrometers flown in space to observe cosmic gamma-ray sources will incorporate segmented detectors to reduce the background from radioactivity produced by energetic particle reactions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of a segmented Ge detector in rejecting background events due to the beta decay of internal radioactivity, a laboratory experiment has been carried out in which radioactivity was produced in the detector by neutron irradiation. A Cf-252 source of neutrons was used to produce, by neutron capture on Ge-74 (36.5 percent of natural Ge) in the detector itself, Ge-75 (t sub 1/2 = 82.78 min), which decays by beta emission with a maximum electron kinetic energy of 1188 keV. By requiring that an ionizing event deposit energy in two or more of the five segments of the detector, each about 1-cm thick, the beta particles, which have a range of about 1-mm, are rejected, while most external gamma rays incident on the detector are counted. Analysis of this experiment indicates that over 85 percent of the beta events from the decay of Ge-75 are rejected, which is in good agreement with Monte Carlo calculations.

CUORE and beyond: Bolometric techniques to explore inverted neutrino mass hierarchy

DOE PAGES

Artusa, D. R.; Avignone, F. T.; Azzolini, O.; ...

2015-03-24

The CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te. With 741 kg of TeO 2 crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, CUORE will be one of the most competitive neutrinoless double beta decay experiments on the horizon. With five years of live time, CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is 1.6 × 10 26 y at 1σ (9.5 × 10 25 y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in themore » range 40–100 meV (50–130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary light detector can significantly improve the search sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors to fully explore the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy with 130Te and possibly other double beta decay candidate nuclei.« less

Wide-field two-photon microscopy with temporal focusing and HiLo background rejection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yew, Elijah Y. S.; Choi, Heejin; Kim, Daekeun; So, Peter T. C.

2011-03-01

Scanningless depth-resolved microscopy is achieved through spatial-temporal focusing and has been demonstrated previously. The advantage of this method is that a large area may be imaged without scanning resulting in higher throughput of the imaging system. Because it is a widefield technique, the optical sectioning effect is considerably poorer than with conventional spatial focusing two-photon microscopy. Here we propose wide-field two-photon microscopy based on spatio-temporal focusing and employing background rejection based on the HiLo microscope principle. We demonstrate the effects of applying HiLo microscopy to widefield temporally focused two-photon microscopy.

Questions of Degree? Middle-Class Rejection of Higher Education and Intra-Class Differences in Educational Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Andrew

2011-01-01

This article is an analysis of middle-class rejection of higher education. The author uses accounts of the educational decision-making of three female students, all identified to be from broadly middle-class backgrounds, from within full-time vocational further education in the United Kingdom, as a means to consider two issues. First, the author…

Isolated v-lesion represents a benign phenotype of vascular rejection of the kidney allograft- a retrospective study.

PubMed

Novotny, Marek; Hruba, Petra; Vichova, Petra; Maluskova, Jana; Honsova, Eva; Viklicky, Ondrej; Wohlfahrtova, Mariana

2018-05-31

While the detrimental impact of the humoral acute vascular rejection (AVR) phenotype is recognized, the prognostic significance of isolated v-lesion (IV) remains unclear. In this retrospective single-centre study, AVR was found in 98 out of 1015 patients (9.7%) who had undergone kidney transplantation in 2010-2014, with donor-specific antibodies (DSA) evaluated in all of them. The outcome of four AVR phenotypes was evaluated during median follow-up of 59 months; in 25 patients with IV, 18 with T cell-mediated vascular rejection (TCMRV), 19 with antibody-mediated vascular rejection (AMRV) and 36 with suspected antibody-mediated rejection (sAMRV). AVR was diagnosed mainly by for-cause biopsy (81%) early after transplantation (median 19 POD) and appeared as mild grade intimal arteritis. IV occurred in low sensitized patients after the first transplantation (96%) in the absence of DSA. IV responded satisfactorily to treatment (88%), showed no persistence of rejection in surveillance biopsy, had stable graft function, minimal proteinuria and excellent DCGS (96%). Contrary to that, Kaplan-Meier estimate of 3-year DCGS of AMRV was 66% (log rank=0.0004). Early IV represents a benign phenotype of AVR with a favourable outcome. This study prompts further research to evaluate the nature of IV before considering any change in the classification and management. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Optical communication noise rejection using corelated photons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, D.; Hockney, G. M.; Dowling, J. P.

2002-01-01

This paper describes a completely new way to perform noise rejection using photons correlated through quantum entanglement to improve an optical communications link in the presence of uncorrelated noise. In particular, a detailed analysis is made of the case where a classical link would be saturated by an intense background, such as when a satellite is in front of the sun, and identifies where the quantum correlating system has superior performance.

Pile-up correction by Genetic Algorithm and Artificial Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kafaee, M.; Saramad, S.

2009-08-01

Pile-up distortion is a common problem for high counting rates radiation spectroscopy in many fields such as industrial, nuclear and medical applications. It is possible to reduce pulse pile-up using hardware-based pile-up rejections. However, this phenomenon may not be eliminated completely by this approach and the spectrum distortion caused by pile-up rejection can be increased as well. In addition, inaccurate correction or rejection of pile-up artifacts in applications such as energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometers can lead to losses of counts, will give poor quantitative results and even false element identification. Therefore, it is highly desirable to use software-based models to predict and correct any recognized pile-up signals in data acquisition systems. The present paper describes two new intelligent approaches for pile-up correction; the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The validation and testing results of these new methods have been compared, which shows excellent agreement with the measured data with 60Co source and NaI detector. The Monte Carlo simulation of these new intelligent algorithms also shows their advantages over hardware-based pulse pile-up rejection methods.

Immune Desensitization Allows Pediatric Blood Group Incompatible Kidney Transplantation.

PubMed

Stojanovic, Jelena; Adamusiak, Anna; Kessaris, Nicos; Chandak, Pankaj; Ahmed, Zubir; Sebire, Neil J; Walsh, Grainne; Jones, Helen E; Marks, Stephen D; Mamode, Nizam

2017-06-01

Blood group incompatible transplantation (ABOi) in children is rare as pretransplant conditioning remains challenging and concerns persist about the potential increased risk of rejection. We describe the results of 11 ABOi pediatric renal transplant recipients in the 2 largest centers in the United Kingdom, sharing the same tailored desensitization protocol. Patients with pretransplant titers of 1 or more in 8 received rituximab 1 month before transplant; tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil were started 1 week before surgery. Antibody removal was performed to reduce titers to 1 or less in 8 on the day of the operation. No routine postoperative antibody removal was performed. Death-censored graft survival at last follow-up was 100% in the ABOi and 98% in 50 compatible pediatric transplants. One patient developed grade 2A rejection successfully treated with antithymocyte globulin. Another patient had a titer rise of 2 dilutions treated with 1 immunoadsorption session. There was no histological evidence of rejection in the other 9 patients. One patient developed cytomegalovirus and BK and 2 others EBV and BK viremia. Tailored desensitization in pediatric blood group incompatible kidney transplantation results in excellent outcomes with graft survival and rejection rates comparable with compatible transplants.

Track reconstruction and background rejection for the Baikal neutrino telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belolaptikov, I. A.; Djilkibaev, J.-A. M.; Domogatsky, G. V.; Klimushin, S. I.; Krabi, J.; Lanin, O. Ju.; Osipova, E. A.; Pavlov, A. A.; Spiering, Ch.; Wischnewski, R.

1994-05-01

We describe procedures to reconstruct muon tracks in the Baikal Neutrino Telescope including effective filtering of badly reconstructed events. Special attention is payed to reject downward going muons faking upward going muons from neutrino interactions. It is shown that a rejection factor of 106-as it is needed to operate a neutrino telescope at 1100 m.w.e. depth - can be obtained with a 200 PMT array. We present first results from NT-36, the 1993 array consisting of 36 PMTs. We observe satisfying agreement between Monte Carlo results and experimental data. This gives us confidence to our simulations of the full detector.

Dark matter sensitivity of multi-ton liquid xenon detectors

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

Schumann, Marc; Bütikofer, Lukas; Baudis, Laura

2015-10-01

We study the sensitivity of multi ton-scale time projection chambers using a liquid xenon target, e.g., the proposed DARWIN instrument, to spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon scattering interactions. Taking into account realistic backgrounds from the detector itself as well as from neutrinos, we examine the impact of exposure, energy threshold, background rejection efficiency and energy resolution on the dark matter sensitivity. With an exposure of 200 t × y and assuming detector parameters which have been already demonstrated experimentally, spin-independent cross sections as low as 2.5 × 10{sup −49} cm{sup 2} can be probed for WIMP masses around 40 GeV/c{sup 2}. Additional improvementsmore » in terms of background rejection and exposure will further increase the sensitivity, while the ultimate WIMP science reach will be limited by neutrinos scattering coherently off the xenon nuclei.« less

The German Excellence Initiative: Update. Go8 Backgrounder 24a

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frohlich, Ellen

2012-01-01

As described in "Go8 Backgrounder 24: Answering the Global Challenge--Experiences from European Excellence Initiatives," Germany began a debate about how to strengthen its position as an excellent location for science and research in 2004. This debate focussed in particular on the competitiveness of the country's universities and…

The Lived Experience of Psoriasis Patients from Social Stigma and Rejection: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Ghorbanibirgani, Alireza; Fallahi-Khoshknab, Masoud; Zarea, Kourosh; Abedi, Heidarali

2016-01-01

Background Psoriasis is a common, chronic skin disease that causes challenges such as stigma and labeling from both the community and individuals due to its effects on appearance. Objectives The objective of this study was to describe and explain the social stigma and rejection experienced by patients with psoriasis. Patients and Methods The present research is a qualitative study with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach conducted among psoriasis patients referring to the dermatology clinic and ward of Imam Khomeini hospital in Ahvaz, Iran between June and December 2014. In this study, 15 patients with psoriasis were selected by purposeful sampling, and they were asked to express their experience of stigma and rejection. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, and Diekelmann and colleagues’ method was used for data analysis. Results After analysis of interviews, four themes were extracted: lack of social support, unrealistic and inappropriate labeling, rejection and isolation, and feeling of absurdity and futility. These can be indicative of the patients’ experience from social stigma and rejection phenomena. Conclusions Patients’ experiences of stigma and rejection phenomena indicated that all aspects of their lives are affected. Moreover, these findings highlight the significance of stigma and rejection concepts in providing better care to these patients. PMID:27656290

Style-by-style analysis of two sporadic self-compatible Solanum chacoense lines supports a primary role for S-RNases in determining pollen rejection thresholds.

PubMed

Qin, Xike; Liu, Bolin; Soulard, Jonathan; Morse, David; Cappadocia, Mario

2006-01-01

A method for the quantification of S-RNase levels in single styles of self-incompatible Solanum chacoense was developed and applied toward an experimental determination of the S-RNase threshold required for pollen rejection. It was found that, when single style values are averaged, accumulated levels of the S(11)- and S(12)-RNases can differ up to 10-fold within a genotype, while accumulated levels of the S(12)-RNase can differ by over 3-fold when different genotypes are compared. Surprisingly, the amount of S(12)-RNase accumulated in different styles of the same plant can differ by over 20-fold. A low level of 160 ng S-RNase in individual styles of fully incompatible plants, and a high value of 68 ng in a sporadic self-compatible (SSC) line during a bout of complete compatibility was measured, suggesting that these values bracket the threshold level of S-RNase needed for pollen rejection. Remarkably, correlations of S-RNase values to average fruit sets in different plant lines displaying sporadic self-compatibility (SSC) to different extents as well as to fruit set in immature flowers, are all consistent with a threshold value of 80 ng S(12)-RNase. Taken together, these results suggest that S-RNase levels alone are the principal determinant of the incompatibility phenotype. Interestingly, while the S-RNase threshold required for rejection of S(12)-pollen from a given genetic background is the same in styles of different genetic backgrounds, it is different when pollen donors of different genetic backgrounds are used. These results reveal a previously unsuspected level of complexity in the incompatibility reaction.

Perceived mother and father acceptance-rejection predict four unique aspects of child adjustment across nine countries

PubMed Central

Putnick, Diane L.; Bornstein, Marc H.; Lansford, Jennifer E.; Malone, Patrick S.; Pastorelli, Concetta; Skinner, Ann T.; Sorbring, Emma; Tapanya, Sombat; Tirado, Liliana Maria Uribe; Zelli, Arnaldo; Alampay, Liane Peña; Al-Hassan, Suha M.; Bacchini, Dario; Bombi, Anna Silvia; Chang, Lei; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Di Giunta, Laura; Dodge, Kenneth A.; Oburu, Paul

2014-01-01

Background It is generally believed that parental rejection of children leads to child maladaptation. However, the specific effects of perceived parental acceptance-rejection on diverse domains of child adjustment and development have been incompletely documented, and whether these effects hold across diverse populations and for mothers and fathers are still open questions. Methods This study assessed children's perceptions of mother and father acceptance-rejection in 1247 families from China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States as antecedent predictors of later internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, school performance, prosocial behavior, and social competence. Results Higher perceived parental rejection predicted increases in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and decreases in school performance and prosocial behavior across three years controlling for within-wave relations, stability across waves, and parental age, education, and social desirability bias. Patterns of relations were similar across mothers and fathers and, with a few exceptions, all 9 countries. Conclusions Children's perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection have small but nearly universal effects on multiple aspects of their adjustment and development regardless of the family's country of origin. PMID:25492267

Re-Transplantation, Higher Creatinine Levels in Hepatitis C Virus Patients, and Donor Age Are Predictors of Mortality in Long-Term Analysis of Late Acute Rejection in Liver Transplantation.

PubMed

Nacif, Lucas Souto; Pinheiro, Rafael Soares; de Arruda Pécora, Rafael Antônio; Tanigawa, Ryan Yukimatsu; Rocha-Santos, Vinicius; Andraus, Wellington; Alves, Venancio Avancini Ferreira; D'Albuquerque, Luiz Carneiro

2017-01-10

BACKGROUND Late acute rejection (LAR) differs in its clinical and histological presentation and management from early acute rejection. This clinical entity is not completely understood; thus, we aimed to identify significant prognostic factors that can influence post-transplant survival in LAR patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and post-transplant survival of patients from a single center with a focus on late acute rejection. MATERIAL AND METHODS From January 2002 to June 2013, all liver biopsies from patients with rejection were scored using the Banff criteria. The groups were compared, and simple and multiple logistic regression and survival curves were created. RESULTS A total of 779 liver transplants were performed; 585 patients with no rejections and 194 patients with rejections were analyzed. The overall incidence of LAR was 6.7%, and there was a higher prevalence of early acute cellular rejection than LAR. The mean time to LAR was 564 days (median 214 days, range 91-2642). LAR had a more severe grade (35.3%) than early acute rejection (23.5%). The survival rates were similar between both modalities for the long-term period. Worse mortality rates were observed in liver re-transplantation (HR 4.77; p<0.0001); in hepatitis C virus patients with increased creatinine levels (HR 22.48; p=0.016); and in donors >41 years of age (OR 2.1; p=0.047) in a long-term analysis of LAR. CONCLUSIONS Liver re-transplantation, higher creatinine levels in hepatitis C virus patients, and donor age were predictors of mortality in this long-term analysis of late acute rejection in liver transplantation.

Chronic Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Nonhuman Primate Renal Allografts: Validation of Human Histological and Molecular Phenotypes.

PubMed

Adam, B A; Smith, R N; Rosales, I A; Matsunami, M; Afzali, B; Oura, T; Cosimi, A B; Kawai, T; Colvin, R B; Mengel, M

2017-11-01

Molecular testing represents a promising adjunct for the diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). Here, we apply a novel gene expression platform in sequential formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples from nonhuman primate (NHP) renal transplants. We analyzed 34 previously described gene transcripts related to AMR in humans in 197 archival NHP samples, including 102 from recipients that developed chronic AMR, 80 from recipients without AMR, and 15 normal native nephrectomies. Three endothelial genes (VWF, DARC, and CAV1), derived from 10-fold cross-validation receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, demonstrated excellent discrimination between AMR and non-AMR samples (area under the curve = 0.92). This three-gene set correlated with classic features of AMR, including glomerulitis, capillaritis, glomerulopathy, C4d deposition, and DSAs (r = 0.39-0.63, p < 0.001). Principal component analysis confirmed the association between three-gene set expression and AMR and highlighted the ambiguity of v lesions and ptc lesions between AMR and T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR). Elevated three-gene set expression corresponded with the development of immunopathological evidence of rejection and often preceded it. Many recipients demonstrated mixed AMR and TCMR, suggesting that this represents the natural pattern of rejection. These data provide NHP animal model validation of recent updates to the Banff classification including the assessment of molecular markers for diagnosing AMR. © 2017 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Summary of the Manufacture, Testing and Model Validation of a Full-Scale Radiator for Fission Surface Power Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, David L.; Calder, James; Siamidis, John

2011-01-01

A full-scale radiator for a lunar fission surface power application was manufactured by Material innovations, Inc., for the NASA Glenn Research Center. The radiator was designed to reject 6 kWt with an inlet water temperature of 400 K and a water mass flow rate of 0.5 kg/s. While not flight hardware, the radiator incorporated many potential design features and manufacturing techniques for future flight hardware. The radiator was tested at NASA Glenn Research Center for heat rejection performance. The results showed that the radiator design was capable of rejecting over 6 kWt when operating at the design conditions. The actual performance of the radiator as a function of operational manifolds, inlet water temperature and facility sink temperature was compared to the predictive model developed by NASA Glenn Research Center. The results showed excellent agreement with the model with the actual average face sheet temperature being within 1% of the predicted value. The results will be used in the design and production of NASA s next generation fission power heat rejection systems. The NASA Glenn Research Center s Technology Demonstration Unit will be the first project to take advantage of the newly developed manufacturing techniques and analytical models.

Integrating electrochemical oxidation into forward osmosis process for removal of trace antibiotics in wastewater.

PubMed

Liu, Pengxiao; Zhang, Hanmin; Feng, Yujie; Shen, Chao; Yang, Fenglin

2015-10-15

During the rejection of trace pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater by forward osmosis (FO), disposal of the FO concentrate was still an unsolved issue. In this study, by integrating the advantages of forward osmosis and electrochemical oxidation, a forward osmosis process with the function of electrochemical oxidation (FOwEO) was established for the first time to achieve the aim of rejection of trace antibiotics from wastewater and treatment of the concentrate at the same time. Results demonstrated that FOwEO (current density J=1 mA cm(-2)) exhibited excellent rejections of antibiotics (>98%) regardless of different operation conditions, and above all, antibiotics in the concentrate were well degraded (>99%) at the end of experiment (after 3h). A synergetic effect between forward osmosis and electrochemical oxidation was observed in FOwEO, which lies in that antibiotic rejections by FO were enhanced due to the degradation of antibiotics in the concentrate, while the electrochemical oxidation capacity was improved in the FOwEO channel, of which good mass transfer and the assist of indirect oxidation owing to the reverse NaCl from draw solution were supposed to be the mechanism. This study demonstrated that the FOwEO has the capability to thoroughly remove trace antibiotics from wastewater. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transplanting Sensitized Kidney Transplant Patients With Equivalent Outcomes Utilizing Stringent HLA Crossmatching.

PubMed

Rohan, Vinayak S; Taber, David J; Moussa, Omar; Pilch, Nicole A; Denmark, Signe; Meadows, Holly B; McGillicuddy, John W; Chavin, Kenneth D; Baliga, Prabhakar K; Bratton, Charles F

2017-02-01

Elevated panel reactive antibody levels have been traditionally associated with increased acute rejection rate and decreased long-term graft survival after kidney transplant. In this study, our objective was to determine patient and allograft outcomes in sensitized kidney transplant recipients with advanced HLA antibody detection and stringent protein sequence epitope analyses. This was a subanalysis of a prospective, risk-stratified randomized controlled trial that compared interleukin 2 receptor antagonist to rabbit antithymocyte globulin induction in 200 kidney transplant recipients, examining outcomes based on panel reactive antibody levels of < 20% (low) versus ≥ 20% (high, sensitized). The study was conducted between February 2009 and July 2011. All patients underwent solid-phase single antigen bead assays to detect HLA antibodies and stringent HLA epitope analyses with protein sequence alignment for virtual crossmatching. Delayed graft function, acute rejection rates, and graft loss were the main outcomes measured. Both the low (134 patients) and high (66 patients) panel reactive antibody level cohorts had equivalent induction and maintenance immunosuppression. Patients in the high-level group were more likely to be female (P < .001), African American (P < .001), and received a kidney from a deceased donor (P = .004). Acute rejection rates were similar between the low (rate of 8%) and high (rate of 9%) panel reactive antibody groups (P = .783). Delayed graft function, borderline rejection, graft loss, and death were not different between groups. Multivariate analyses demonstrated delayed graft function to be the strongest predictor of acute rejection (odds ratio, 5.7; P = .005); panel reactive antibody level, as a continuous variable, had no significant correlation with acute rejection (C statistic, 0.48; P = .771). Appropriate biologic matching with single antigen bead assays and stringent epitope analyses provided excellent outcomes in sensitized patients regardless of the induction therapy choice.

Remote Detection of the Hydronium Ion

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-03-01

and all three arrangements have been observed. Apparently, the overall attainment of minimum energy in the crystal lattice is influential in...commercially available Jarre11-Ash 1-meter double monochromator. This unit has excellent stray light rejection and high linear dispersion . The detector is...and that these measurements are directly related to quantification of acid content in the atmosphere. Efforts in the area of Raman Spectroscopy

Measurement of the Velocity of the Neutrino with MINOS

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

in the cosmic microwave background , but these are not direct measurements of the neutrino velocity. In September 2011, the OPERA experiment reported...neutrino interactions in the MINOS detectors is used to reject background from muons from cosmic rays. Each detector has a Truetime ‡ XL-AK single...accurate result. I. BACKGROUND The earliest measurements of the speed of the neutrino were made in the 1970s, with the Fermilab Main Ring narrow

Resilience in community: a social ecological development model for young adult sexual minority women.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Lindsey; Darnell, Doyanne A; Rhew, Isaac C; Lee, Christine M; Kaysen, Debra

2015-03-01

Family support and rejection are associated with health outcomes among sexual minority women (SMW). We examined a social ecological development model among young adult SMW, testing whether identity risk factors or outness to family interacted with family rejection to predict community connectedness and collective self-esteem. Lesbian and bisexual women (N = 843; 57% bisexual) between the ages of 18-25 (M = 21.4; SD = 2.1) completed baseline and 12-month online surveys. The sample identified as White (54.2%), multiple racial backgrounds (16.6%), African American (9.6%) and Asian/Asian American (3.1%); 10.2% endorsed a Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Rejection ranged from 18 to 41% across family relationships. Longitudinal regression indicated that when outness to family increased, SMW in highly rejecting families demonstrated resilience by finding connections and esteem in sexual minority communities to a greater extent than did non-rejected peers. But, when stigma concerns, concealment motivation, and other identity risk factors increased over the year, high family rejection did not impact community connectedness and SMW reported lower collective self-esteem. Racial minority SMW reported lower community connectedness, but not lower collective self-esteem. Families likely buffer or exacerbate societal risks for ill health. Findings highlight the protective role of LGBTQ communities and normative resilience among SMW and their families.

Resilience in Community: A Social Ecological Development Model for Young Adult Sexual Minority Women

PubMed Central

Zimmerman, Lindsey; Darnell, Doyanne A.; Rhew, Isaac C.; Lee, Christine M.; Kaysen, Debra

2015-01-01

Family support and rejection are associated with health outcomes among sexual minority women (SMW). We examined a social ecological development model among young adult SMW, testing whether identity risk factors or outness to family interacted with family rejection to predict community connectedness and collective self-esteem. Lesbian and bisexual women (N = 843; 57% bisexual) between the ages of 18–25 (M = 21.4; SD = 2.1) completed baseline and 12-month online surveys. The sample identified as White (54.2%), multiple racial backgrounds (16.6%), African American (9.6%) and Asian/Asian American (3.1%); 10.2% endorsed a Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Rejection ranged from 18–41% across family relationships. Longitudinal regression indicated that when outness to family increased, SMW in highly rejecting families demonstrated resilience by finding connections and esteem in sexual minority communities to a greater extent than did non-rejected peers. But, when stigma concerns, concealment motivation, and other identity risk factors increased over the year, high family rejection did not impact community connectedness and SMW reported lower collective self-esteem. Racial minority SMW reported lower community connectedness, but not lower collective self-esteem. Families likely buffer or exacerbate societal risks for ill health. Findings highlight the protective role of LGBTQ communities and normative resilience among SMW and their families. PMID:25572956

The trigger card system for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, William; Anderson, John; Howe, Mark; Meijer, Sam; Wilkerson, John; Majorana Collaboration

2014-09-01

The aim of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate the feasibility of providing low enough background levels to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0 νββ) in an array of germanium detectors enriched to 87% in 76Ge. Currently, it is unknown if this decay process occurs; however, observation of such a decay process would show that lepton number is violated, confirm that neutrinos are Majorana particles, and yield information on the absolute mass scale of the neutrino. With current experimental results indicating a half-life greater than 2 x 1025 years for this decay, the minimization of background events is of critical importance. Utilizing time correlation, coincidence testing is able to reject multi-detector events that may otherwise be mistaken for 0 νββ when viewed independently. Here, we present both the hardware and software of the trigger card system, which provides a common clock to all digitizers and the muon veto system, thereby enabling the rejection of background events through coincidence testing. Current experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the distributed clock to be within two clock pulses (20 ns) across all system components. A test system is used to validate the data acquisition system. The aim of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate the feasibility of providing low enough background levels to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0 νββ) in an array of germanium detectors enriched to 87% in 76Ge. Currently, it is unknown if this decay process occurs; however, observation of such a decay process would show that lepton number is violated, confirm that neutrinos are Majorana particles, and yield information on the absolute mass scale of the neutrino. With current experimental results indicating a half-life greater than 2 x 1025 years for this decay, the minimization of background events is of critical importance. Utilizing time correlation, coincidence testing is able to reject multi-detector events that may otherwise be mistaken for 0 νββ when viewed independently. Here, we present both the hardware and software of the trigger card system, which provides a common clock to all digitizers and the muon veto system, thereby enabling the rejection of background events through coincidence testing. Current experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the distributed clock to be within two clock pulses (20 ns) across all system components. A test system is used to validate the data acquisition system. We acknowledge support from the Office of Nuclear Physics in the DOE Office of Science, the Particle Astrophysics and REU Programs of the NSF, and the Sanford Underground Research Laboratory.

The Role of Conspiracist Ideation and Worldviews in Predicting Rejection of Science

PubMed Central

Lewandowsky, Stephan; Gignac, Gilles E.; Oberauer, Klaus

2013-01-01

Background Among American Conservatives, but not Liberals, trust in science has been declining since the 1970's. Climate science has become particularly polarized, with Conservatives being more likely than Liberals to reject the notion that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the globe. Conversely, opposition to genetically-modified (GM) foods and vaccinations is often ascribed to the political Left although reliable data are lacking. There are also growing indications that rejection of science is suffused by conspiracist ideation, that is the general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories including the specific beliefs that inconvenient scientific findings constitute a “hoax.” Methodology/Principal findings We conducted a propensity weighted internet-panel survey of the U.S. population and show that conservatism and free-market worldview strongly predict rejection of climate science, in contrast to their weaker and opposing effects on acceptance of vaccinations. The two worldview variables do not predict opposition to GM. Conspiracist ideation, by contrast, predicts rejection of all three scientific propositions, albeit to greatly varying extents. Greater endorsement of a diverse set of conspiracy theories predicts opposition to GM foods, vaccinations, and climate science. Conclusions Free-market worldviews are an important predictor of the rejection of scientific findings that have potential regulatory implications, such as climate science, but not necessarily of other scientific issues. Conspiracist ideation, by contrast, is associated with the rejection of all scientific propositions tested. We highlight the manifold cognitive reasons why conspiracist ideation would stand in opposition to the scientific method. The involvement of conspiracist ideation in the rejection of science has implications for science communicators. PMID:24098391

Outcomes of Simultaneous Liver/Kidney (SLK) Transplants are Equivalent to Kidney Transplant Alone (KTA): A Preliminary Report

PubMed Central

Hanish, Steven I.; Samaniego, Milagros; Mezrich, Joshua D.; Foley, David P.; Leverson, Glen E.; Lorentzen, David F.; Sollinger, Hans W.; Pirsch, John D.; D’Alessandro, Anthony M.; Fernandez, Luis A.

2011-01-01

Background With adoption of Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD), the number of simultaneous liver-kidney transplants (SLK) has greatly increased. A recent registry study questioned the equity of allocating kidney transplants (KTx) simultaneously with liver transplantation due to poor outcomes (1). Methods To investigate outcome of KTx in SLK, all SLK (n=36) performed at our center from 1/2000–12/2007 were reviewed and KTx outcomes compared to those of kidney transplant alone (KTA) performed during that period (n=1,283). We also reviewed whether pre-transplant panel reactive antibody (PRA) and donor specific antibody (DSA) affected KTx outcome in SLK. Results One- and three-year KTx and patient survival were not different between KTA and SLK regardless of sensitization level. There were 348 (27%) KTx failures in KTA vs. 6 (17%) in SLK (NS). Overall freedom from acute cellular rejection (ACR) and antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in SLK was 93% and 96% at 3 years, compared to 72% and 78% in KTA (p=0.0105 and p=0.0744, respectively). Sensitized KTx recipients had more ACR and AMR (32% and 38%) at three years compared to non-sensitized recipients (28% and 20%) (p=0.23 and 0.0001, respectively). No differences in ACR and AMR were observed when SLK was divided and level of sensitization compared (p=0.17 and 0.65, respectively). Conclusion SLK is a life-saving procedure with excellent patient and graft survival. AMR incidence in the KTx appears reduced in SLK compared to KTA regardless of level of preoperative PRA. A high level of DSA should not preclude simultaneous transplantation when clinically indicated. PMID:20626084

Efficient differential Fourier-transform spectrometer for precision Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schillaci, Alessandro; D'Alessandro, Giuseppe; de Bernardis, Paolo; Masi, Silvia; Paiva Novaes, Camila; Gervasi, Massimo; Zannoni, Mario

2014-05-01

Context. Precision measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies require excellent rejection of common-mode signals and wide frequency coverage. Aims: We describe an imaging, efficient, differential Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS), optimized for measurements of faint brightness gradients at millimeter wavelengths. Methods: Our instrument is based on a Martin-Puplett interferometer (MPI) configuration. We combined two MPIs working synchronously to use the whole input power. In our implementation the observed sky field is divided into two halves along the meridian, and each half-field corresponds to one of the two input ports of the MPI. In this way, each detector in the FTS focal planes measures the difference in brightness between two sky pixels, symmetrically located with respect to the meridian. Exploiting the high common-mode rejection of the MPI, we can measure low sky brightness gradients over a high isotropic background. Results: The instrument works in the range ~1-20 cm-1 (30-600 GHz), has a maximum spectral resolution 1 / (2 OPD) = 0.063 cm-1 (1.9 GHz), and an unvignetted throughput of 2.3 cm2sr. It occupies a volume of 0.7 × 0.7 × 0.33 m3 and has a weight of 70 kg. This design can be implemented as a cryogenic unit to be used in space, as well as a room-temperature unit working at the focus of suborbital and ground-based mm-wave telescopes. The first in-flight test of the instrument is with the OLIMPO experiment on a stratospheric balloon; a larger implementation is being prepared for the Sardinia radio telescope.

8 CFR 335.2 - Examination of applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Investigation that the fingerprint data submitted for the criminal background check has been rejected. (c... required for a full and true disclosure of the facts. (d) Witnesses. Witnesses, if called, shall be...

8 CFR 335.2 - Examination of applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Investigation that the fingerprint data submitted for the criminal background check has been rejected. (c... required for a full and true disclosure of the facts. (d) Witnesses. Witnesses, if called, shall be...

8 CFR 335.2 - Examination of applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Investigation that the fingerprint data submitted for the criminal background check has been rejected. (c... required for a full and true disclosure of the facts. (d) Witnesses. Witnesses, if called, shall be...

GEANT4-based full simulation of the PADME experiment at the DAΦNE BTF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonardi, E.; Kozhuharov, V.; Raggi, M.; Valente, P.

2017-10-01

A possible solution to the dark matter problem postulates that dark particles can interact with Standard Model particles only through a new force mediated by a “portal”. If the new force has a U(1) gauge structure, the “portal” is a massive photon-like vector particle, called dark photon or A‧. The PADME experiment at the DAΦNE Beam-Test Facility (BTF) in Frascati is designed to detect dark photons produced in positron on fixed target annihilations decaying to dark matter (e+e-→γA‧) by measuring the final state missing mass. The experiment will be composed of a thin active diamond target where a 550 MeV positron beam will impinge to produce e+e- annihilation events. The surviving beam will be deflected with a magnet while the photons produced in the annihilation will be measured by a calorimeter composed of BGO crystals. To reject the background from Bremsstrahlung gamma production, a set of segmented plastic scintillator vetoes will be used to detect positrons exiting the target with an energy lower than that of the beam, while a fast small angle calorimeter will be used to reject the e+e-→γγ(γ) background. To optimize the experimental layout in terms of signal acceptance and background rejection, the full layout of the experiment was modelled with the GEANT4 simulation package. In this paper we will describe the details of the simulation and report on the results obtained with the software.

Bio-inspired Ni2+-polyphenol hydrophilic network to achieve unconventional high-flux nanofiltration membranes for environmental remediation.

PubMed

You, Fangjie; Xu, Yanchao; Yang, Xiaobin; Zhang, Yanqiu; Shao, Lu

2017-06-01

A novel Ni 2+ -polyphenol network was designed as an excellent bio-coating by a one-step strategy to obtain nanofiltration membranes, possessing unconventional high water flux up to 56.1 L m -2 h -1 bar -1 with rose bengal (RB) rejection above 95%. This study provides a facile approach to prepare highly-efficient nanofiltration membranes for wastewater remediation.

Interferometric ring lasers and optical devices

DOEpatents

Hohimer, J.P.; Craft, D.C.

1995-03-14

Two ring diode lasers are optically coupled together to produce tunable, stable output through a Y-junction output coupler which may also be a laser diode or can be an active waveguide. These devices demonstrate a sharp peak in light output with an excellent side-mode-rejection ratio. The rings can also be made of passive or active waveguide material. With additional rings the device is a tunable optical multiplexer/demultiplexer. 11 figs.

Interferometric ring lasers and optical devices

DOEpatents

Hohimer, John P.; Craft, David C.

1995-01-01

Two ring diode lasers are optically coupled together to produce tunable, stable output through a Y-junction output coupler which may also be a laser diode or can be an active waveguide. These devices demonstrate a sharp peak in light output with an excellent side-mode-rejection ratio. The rings can also be made of passive or active waveguide material. With additional rings the device is a tunable optical multiplexer/demultiplexer.

Improving the limits of detection of low background alpha emission measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNally, Brendan D.; Coleman, Stuart; Harris, Jack T.; Warburton, William K.

2018-01-01

Alpha particle emission - even at extremely low levels - is a significant issue in the search for rare events (e.g., double beta decay, dark matter detection). Traditional measurement techniques require long counting times to measure low sample rates in the presence of much larger instrumental backgrounds. To address this, a commercially available instrument developed by XIA uses pulse shape analysis to discriminate alpha emissions produced by the sample from those produced by other surfaces of the instrument itself. Experience with this system has uncovered two residual sources of background: cosmogenics and radon emanation from internal components. An R&D program is underway to enhance the system and extend the pulse shape analysis technique further, so that these residual sources can be identified and rejected as well. In this paper, we review the theory of operation and pulse shape analysis techniques used in XIA's alpha counter, and briefly explore data suggesting the origin of the residual background terms. We will then present our approach to enhance the system's ability to identify and reject these terms. Finally, we will describe a prototype system that incorporates our concepts and demonstrates their feasibility.

Sandwich morphology and superior dye-removal performances for nanofiltration membranes self-assemblied via graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Hui; Shi, Jie; Liu, Liyan; Shan, Mingjing; Xu, Zhiwei; Li, Nan; Li, Jing; Lv, Hanming; Qian, Xiaoming; Zhao, Lihuan

2018-01-01

To tune interlayer spacing, regulate water channel and improve stability of composite membrane, graphene oxide (GO) and oxidized carbon nanotubes (OCNTs) were assembled alternately to form sandwich morphology on a polyacrylonitrile substrate by layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. Polyelectrolyte played a part in cross-linking between GO and OCNTs. The effects about concentration ratio of GO and OCNTs on nanofiltration performance were investigated in detail. The composite membrane was used for dye rejection. When composite membrane with concentration ratio of GO and OCNTs was 10:1, water flux and rejection rate for methyl blue reached 21.71 L/(m2 h) and 99.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, this composite membrane had higher flux compared with reported literatures in which rejection also reached up to 99%. When concentration ratio of composite membranes about GO and OCNTs were 10:1 and 15:1, dye rejection for methyl blue remained 99.3% and 99.6% respectively after operating time of 50 h. Irreversible fouling ratio of composite membrane in a concentration ratio of 10:1 was only 4.4%, indicating that composite membrane had excellent antifouling performance for Bovine Serum Albumin. It was speculated that proper distribution of OCNTs in the sandwich morphology formed proper support points and water channels which benefited for a more stable performance.

Host responses to interspecific brood parasitism: a by-product of adaptations to conspecific parasitism?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Why have birds evolved the ability to reject eggs? Typically, foreign egg discrimination is interpreted as evidence that interspecific brood parasitism (IP) has selected for the host’s ability to recognize and eliminate foreign eggs. Fewer studies explore the alternative hypothesis that rejection of interspecific eggs is a by-product of host defenses, evolved against conspecific parasitism (CP). We performed a large scale study with replication across taxa (two congeneric Turdus thrushes), space (populations), time (breeding seasons), and treatments (three types of experimental eggs), using a consistent design of egg rejection experiments (n = 1057 nests; including controls), in areas with potential IP either present (Europe; native populations) or absent (New Zealand; introduced populations). These comparisons benefited from the known length of allopatry (one and a half centuries), with no gene flow between native and introduced populations, which is rarely available in host-parasite systems. Results Hosts rejected CP at unusually high rates for passerines (up to 60%). CP rejection rates were higher in populations with higher conspecific breeding densities and no risks of IP, supporting the CP hypothesis. IP rejection rates did not covary geographically with IP risk, contradicting the IP hypothesis. High egg rejection rates were maintained in the relatively long-term isolation from IP despite non-trivial rejection costs and errors. Conclusions These egg rejection patterns, combined with recent findings that these thrushes are currently unsuitable hosts of the obligate parasitic common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), are in agreement with the hypothesis that the rejection of IP is a by-product of fine-tuned egg discrimination evolved due to CP. Our study highlights the importance of considering both IP and CP simultaneously as potential drivers in the evolution of egg discrimination, and illustrates how populations introduced to novel ecological contexts can provide critical insights into brood parasite-host coevolution. PMID:24834103

Delay discounting, risk-taking, and rejection sensitivity among individuals with Internet and Video Gaming Disorders.

PubMed

Weinstein, Aviv; Abu, Hodaya Ben; Timor, Ayelet; Mama, Yaniv

2016-12-01

Background and aims There is a previous evidence for impulsivity in individuals with Internet and Video Gaming Disorders. The aim of this study was to examine whether Internet and video game addictions are associated with experiential delay discounting, risk-taking, and sensitivity to social rejection using computerized tasks and questionnaires. Methods Twenty participants (mean age 24, SD = 1.55) with high score on the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) were compared with 20 participants (mean age 24.8, SD = 1.34) with low score on the POGQ. They performed on computerized Balloon Analog Risk Task and Experiential Delay discounting Task (EDT), and filled in the sensitivity to social rejection questionnaire. Results Participants with high POGQ scores had lower measures of delay discounting, higher measures of risk-taking, and higher measures of sensitivity to social rejection compared with participants with low POGQ scores. Discussion The results of this study support the previous evidence of risk-taking and provide new evidence for difficulties in delay discounting and sensitivity to social rejection among those who score high on Internet and video games. Conclusions The results suggest that Internet- and video game-addicted individuals seek immediate gratification and cannot wait for later reward. Furthermore, these individuals spend time in the virtual world, where they feel safe, and avoid social interactions presumably due to fears of social rejection.

INCIDENCE AND EARLY OUTCOMES ASSOCIATED WITH PRE-TRANSPLANT ANTI-VIMENTIN ANTIBODIES IN THE CARDIAC TRANSPLANTATION POPULATION

PubMed Central

Young, Raymond K.; Dale, Bethany; Russell, Stuart D.; Zachary, Andrea A.; Tedford, Ryan J.

2015-01-01

Background In cardiac transplant recipients, the development of antibodies to the endothelial intermediate filament protein vimentin (anti-vimentin antibodies, AVA) has been associated with rejection and poor outcomes. However, the incidence of these antibodies prior to transplantation and their association with early rejection has not been investigated. Methods Pre-transplant serum was analyzed from 50 patients who underwent de novo cardiac transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2004-2012. Demographic, one year rejection, and survival data were obtained from the transplant database. Results The incidence of pre-transplant AVA was 34%. AVA positive patients were younger (p=0.03) and there was an increased incidence in females (p=0.08). Demographic data were similar among both groups. AVA positivity did not predict rejection in the 1st year post-transplant. There was no difference in rejection-free graft survival (53 vs. 52%, p=0.85) at 1 year. Similarly there was no difference in graft survival at 1 year (82 vs. 88%, p=0.56) or graft survival at a median follow up of 23 and 26 months, respectively (76 vs. 85%, p=0.41). Conclusions AVA is common in the cardiac pre-transplant population with a higher incidence in the young. The presence of detectable AVA did not correlate with early post-transplant rejection or graft survival. PMID:25982351

Immunological and inflammatory mapping of vascularized composite allograft rejection processes in a rat model

PubMed Central

Friedman, Or; Carmel, Narin; Sela, Meirav; Abu Jabal, Ameen; Inbal, Amir; Ben Hamou, Moshe; Krelin, Yakov; Gur, Eyal

2017-01-01

Background Hand and face vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) is an evolving and challenging field with great opportunities. During VCA, massive surgical damage is inflicted on both donor and recipient tissues, which may contribute to the high VCA rejection rates. To segregate between the damage-induced and rejection phase of post-VCA responses, we compared responses occurring up to 5 days following syngeneic versus allogeneic vascularized groin flap transplantations, culminating in transplant acceptance or rejection, respectively. Methods The immune response elicited upon transplantation of a syngeneic versus allogeneic vascularized groin flap was compared at Post-operative days 2 or 5 by histology, immunohistochemistry and by broad-scope gene and protein analyses using quantitative real-time PCR and Multiplex respectively. Results Immune cell infiltration began at the donor-recipient interface and paralleled expression of a large group of wound healing-associated genes in both allografts and syngrafts. By day 5 post-transplantation, cell infiltration spread over the entire allograft but remained confined to the wound site in the syngraft. This shift correlated with upregulation of IL-18, INFg, CXCL9, 10 and 11, CCL2, CCL5, CX3CL1 and IL-10 in the allograft only, suggesting their role in the induction of the anti-alloantigen adaptive immune response. Conclusions High resemblance between the cues governing VCA and solid organ rejection was observed. Despite this high resemblance we describe also, for the first time, a damage induced inflammatory component in VCA rejection as immune cell infiltration into the graft initiated at the surgical damage site spreading to the entire allograft only at late stage rejection. We speculate that the highly inflammatory setting created by the unique surgical damage during VCA may enhance acute allograft rejection. PMID:28746417

Natural killer cells play a critical role in mediating inflammation and graft failure during antibody-mediated rejection of kidney allografts.

PubMed

Kohei, Naoki; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Tanabe, Kazunari; Masumori, Naoya; Dvorina, Nina; Valujskikh, Anna; Baldwin, William M; Fairchild, Robert L

2016-06-01

While the incidence of antibody-mediated kidney graft rejection has increased, the key cellular and molecular participants underlying this graft injury remain unclear. Rejection of kidney allografts in mice lacking the chemokine receptor CCR5 is dependent on production of donor-specific antibody. Here we determine if cells expressing cytotoxic function contributed to antibody-mediated kidney allograft rejection in these recipients. Wild-type C57BL/6, B6.CCR5(-/-), and B6.CD8(-/-)/CCR5(-/-) mice were transplanted with complete MHC-mismatched A/J kidney grafts, and intragraft inflammatory components were followed to rejection. B6.CCR5(-/-) and B6.CD8(-/-)/CCR5(-/-) recipients rejected kidney allografts by day 35, whereas 65% of allografts in wild-type recipients survived past day 80 post-transplant. Rejected allografts in wild-type C57BL/6, B6.CCR5(-/-), and B6.CD8(-/-)/CCR5(-/-) recipients expressed high levels of VCAM-1 and MMP7 mRNA that was associated with high serum titers of donor-specific antibody. High levels of perforin and granzyme B mRNA expression peaked on day 6 post-transplant in allografts in all recipients, but were absent in isografts. Depletion of natural killer cells in B6.CD8(-/-)/CCR5(-/-) recipients reduced this expression to background levels and promoted the long-term survival of 40% of the kidney allografts. Thus, natural killer cells have a role in increased inflammation during antibody-mediated kidney allograft injury and in rejection of the grafts. Copyright © 2016 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Natural killer cells play a critical role in mediating inflammation and graft failure during antibody-mediated rejection of kidney allografts

PubMed Central

Kohei, Naoki; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Tanabe, Kazunari; Masumori, Naoya; Dvorina, Nina; Valujskikh, Anna; Baldwin, William M.; Fairchild, Robert L.

2016-01-01

While the incidence of antibody-mediated kidney graft rejection has increased, the key cellular and molecular participants underlying this graft injury remain unclear. Rejection of kidney allografts in mice lacking the chemokine receptor CCR5 is dependent on production of donor-specific antibody. Here we determine if cells expressing cytotoxic function contributed to antibody-mediated kidney allograft rejection in these recipients. Wild type C57BL/6, B6.CCR5−/− and B6.CD8−/−/CCR5−/− mice were transplanted with complete MHC mismatched A/J kidney grafts and intra-graft inflammatory components were followed to rejection. B6.CCR5−/− and B6.CD8−/−/CCR5−/− recipients rejected kidney allografts by day 35 whereas 65% of allografts in wild type recipients survived past day 80 post-transplant. Rejected allografts in wild-type C57BL/6, B6.CCR5−/− and B6.CD8−/−/CCR5−/− recipients expressed high levels of VCAM-1 and MMP7 mRNA that was associated with high serum titers of donor-specific antibody. High levels of perforin and granzyme B mRNA expression peaked on day 6 post-transplant in allografts in all recipients, but were absent in isografts. Depletion of natural killer cells in B6.CD8−/−/CCR5−/− recipients reduced this expression to background levels and promoted the long-term survival of 40% of the kidney allografts. Thus, natural killer cells have a role in increased inflammation during antibody-mediated kidney allograft injury and in rejection of the grafts. PMID:27165816

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

PubMed Central

Parboosing, Raveen; Siyaca, Ntombizandile; Moodley, Pravikrishnen

2016-01-01

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

Trigger and Readout System for the Ashra-1 Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aita, Y.; Aoki, T.; Asaoka, Y.; Morimoto, Y.; Motz, H. M.; Sasaki, M.; Abiko, C.; Kanokohata, C.; Ogawa, S.; Shibuya, H.; Takada, T.; Kimura, T.; Learned, J. G.; Matsuno, S.; Kuze, S.; Binder, P. M.; Goldman, J.; Sugiyama, N.; Watanabe, Y.

Highly sophisticated trigger and readout system has been developed for All-sky Survey High Resolution Air-shower (Ashra) detector. Ashra-1 detector has 42 degree diameter field of view. Detection of Cherenkov and fluorescence light from large background in the large field of view requires finely segmented and high speed trigger and readout system. The system is composed of optical fiber image transmission system, 64 × 64 channel trigger sensor and FPGA based trigger logic processor. The system typically processes the image within 10 to 30 ns and opens the shutter on the fine CMOS sensor. 64 × 64 coarse split image is transferred via 64 × 64 precisely aligned optical fiber bundle to a photon sensor. Current signals from the photon sensor are discriminated by custom made trigger amplifiers. FPGA based processor processes 64 × 64 hit pattern and correspondent partial area of the fine image is acquired. Commissioning earth skimming tau neutrino observational search was carried out with this trigger system. In addition to the geometrical advantage of the Ashra observational site, the excellent tau shower axis measurement based on the fine imaging and the night sky background rejection based on the fine and fast imaging allow zero background tau shower search. Adoption of the optical fiber bundle and trigger LSI realized 4k channel trigger system cheaply. Detectability of tau shower is also confirmed by simultaneously observed Cherenkov air shower. Reduction of the trigger threshold appears to enhance the effective area especially in PeV tau neutrino energy region. New two dimensional trigger LSI was introduced and the trigger threshold was lowered. New calibration system of the trigger system was recently developed and introduced to the Ashra detector

First proof of topological signature in the high pressure xenon gas TPC with electroluminescence amplification for the NEXT experiment

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

Ferrario, P.

2016-01-19

The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of xenon in a high-pressure 136Xe gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. One of the main advantages of this technology is the possibility to reconstruct the topology of events with energies close to Q ββ. This paper presents the first demonstration that the topology provides extra handles to reject background events using data obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype. Single electrons resulting from the interactions of 22Na 1275 keV gammas and electron-positron pairs produced by conversions of gammas from the 228Th decay chain were usedmore » to represent the background and the signal in a double beta decay. Furthermore, these data were used to develop algorithms for the reconstruction of tracks and the identification of the energy deposited at the end-points, providing an extra background rejection factor of 24.3 ± 1.4 (stat.)%, while maintaining an efficiency of 66.7 ± 1% for signal events.« less

Homebuilt single-molecule scanning confocal fluorescence microscope studies of single DNA/protein interactions.

PubMed

Zheng, Haocheng; Goldner, Lori S; Leuba, Sanford H

2007-03-01

Many technical improvements in fluorescence microscopy over the years have focused on decreasing background and increasing the signal to noise ratio (SNR). The scanning confocal fluorescence microscope (SCFM) represented a major improvement in these efforts. The SCFM acquires signal from a thin layer of a thick sample, rejecting light whose origin is not in the focal plane thereby dramatically decreasing the background signal. A second major innovation was the advent of high quantum-yield, low noise, single-photon counting detectors. The superior background rejection of SCFM combined with low-noise, high-yield detectors makes it possible to detect the fluorescence from single-dye molecules. By labeling a DNA molecule or a DNA/protein complex with a donor/acceptor dye pair, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) can be used to track conformational changes in the molecule/complex itself, on a single molecule/complex basis. In this methods paper, we describe the core concepts of SCFM in the context of a study that uses FRET to reveal conformational fluctuations in individual Holliday junction DNA molecules and nucleosomal particles. We also discuss data processing methods for SCFM.

Study of the γ/p discrimination at ∼100 TeV energy range with LHAASO experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Zhen; Wang, Zhen; Liu, Ye; Guo, Yiqing; Ma, Xinhua; Hu, Hongbo

2018-05-01

The observation of high energy γ-rays is essential to unveil the long-standing enigma of the origin and acceleration of Galactic Cosmic Rays (CRs). Given its powerful capability of distinguishing between protons and γ-rays owing to its very large area of underground muon detectors, the LHAASO observatory will be the most sensitive ground-based detectors for γ-rays at 100 TeV with a CRs background rejection rate better than 10-5. To evaluate the very small rejection rate with sufficient precision at energies above 100 TeV, one needs a large number of Monte Carlo events which is time consuming and challenging. As only the μ-poor events are interesting in the calculation of the rejection rate and take up a tiny fraction of the all CRs events, we modify the popular air shower simulation package, CORSIKA, by outputting only the μ-poor events for the following full detector simulation. As a result, our method is fully consistent with the evaluation made with the official CORSIKA at lower energy. Particularly, our improvement significantly escalate the calculation efficiency above 100 TeV, where it can be at least 50 times faster than using all events in simulation. By virtue of this new method, the γ/p discrimination of the LHAASO experiment at energies above 100 TeV is obtained for the first time, which indicates that LHAASO can reject CR backgrounds at a level of 10-5 and 10-9 at 100 TeV and 1 PeV respectively.

76 FR 49802 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-11

... reject the selection of the fund's independent public accountant. Rule 32a-4 (17 CFR 270.32a-4) exempts... information unless it displays a currently valid control number. The public may view the background...

Ionization imaging—A new method to search for 0- ν ββ decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinowski, W.; Goldschmidt, A.; Nygren, D.; Bernstein, A.; Heffner, M.; Millaud, J.

2007-10-01

We present a new method to search for 0- ν ββ decay in 136Xe, the Ionization Imaging Chamber. This concept is based on 3-D track reconstruction by detection of ionization, without avalanche gain, in a novel time projection chamber (TPC) geometry. The rejection efficiency of external charged particle backgrounds is optimized by the realization of a maximal, fully active, closed, and ex post facto variable fiducial surface. Event localization within the fiducial volume and detailed event reconstruction mitigate external neutral particle backgrounds; larger detectors offer higher rejection efficiencies. Energy resolution at the Q-value of 2.5 MeV is expected to be better than 1% FWHM, reducing the potential impact of allowed 2- ν ββ decays. Scaling from ˜25 kg prototype to 1000+ kg target mass is graceful. A new possible methodology for the identification of the daughter barium nucleus is also described.

Convective instabilities in a ternary alloy mushy layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Daniel; Guba, Peter

2014-11-01

We investigate a mathematical model of convection, thermal and solutal diffusion in a primary mushy layer during the solidification of a ternary alloy. In particular, we explore the influence of phase-change effects, such as solute rejection, latent heat and background solidification, in a linear stability analysis of a non-convecting base state solution. We identify how different rates of diffusion (e.g. double diffusion) as well as how different rates of solute rejection (double solute rejection) play a role in this system. Novel modes of instability that can be present under statically stable conditions are identified. Parcel arguments are proposed to explain the physical mechanisms that give rise to the instabilities. This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, DMS-1107848 (D.M.A.) and by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency, VEGA 1/0711/12 (P.G.).

Reverse osmosis desalination of chitosan cross-linked graphene oxide/titania hybrid lamellar membranes.

PubMed

Deng, Hui; Sun, Penzhan; Zhang, Yingjiu; Zhu, Hongwei

2016-07-08

With excellent mass transport properties, graphene oxide (GO)-based lamellar membranes are believed to have great potential in water desalination. In order to quantify whether GO-based membranes are indeed suitable for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, three sub-micrometer thick GO-based lamellar membranes: GO-only, reduced GO (RGO)/titania (TO) nanosheets and RGO/TO/chitosan (CTS) are prepared, and their RO desalination performances are evaluated in a home-made RO test apparatus. The photoreduction of GO by TO improves the salt rejection, which increases slowly with the membrane thickness. The RGO/TO/CTS hybrid membranes exhibit higher rejection rates of only about 30% (greater than threefold improvement compared with a GO-only membrane) which is still inferior compared to other commercial RO membranes. The low rejection rates mainly arise from the pressure-induced weakening of the ion-GO interlayer interactions. Despite the advantages of simple, low-cost preparation, high permeability and selectivity of GO-based lamellar membranes, as the current desalination performances are not high enough to afford practical application, there still remains a great challenge to realize high performance separation membranes for water desalination applications.

Investigation of polyvinylchloride and cellulose acetate blend membranes for desalination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Gendi, Ayman; Abdallah, Heba; Amin, Ashraf; Amin, Shereen Kamel

2017-10-01

The pollution of water resources, severe climate changes, rapid population growth, increasing agricultural demands, and rapid industrialization insist the development of innovative technologies for generating potable water. Polyvinylchloride/cellulose acetate (PVC/CA) membranes were prepared using phase inversion technique for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO). The membrane performance was investigated using Red Sea water (El-Ein El-Sokhna-Egypt). The membrane performance indicated that the prepared membranes were endowed to work under high pressure; increasing in feeding operating pressure led to increase permeate flux and rejection. Increasing feed operating pressure from zero to 40 bar led to increase in the salt rejection percent. Salt rejection percent reached to 99.99% at low feed concentration 5120 ppm and 99.95% for Red Sea water (38,528 ppm). The prepared membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry, and mechanical properties. SEM, FTIR and mechanical results were used to distinguish the best membrane for desalination. According to characterization results, one prepared membrane was selected to run performance test in desalination testing unit. The membrane (M3) showed excellent performance and stability under different operating conditions and during the durability test for 36 days.

Rejection of randomly coinciding events in ZnMoO scintillating bolometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyak, D. M.; Danevich, F. A.; Giuliani, A.; Mancuso, M.; Nones, C.; Olivieri, E.; Tenconi, M.; Tretyak, V. I.

2014-06-01

Random coincidence of events (particularly from two neutrino double beta decay) could be one of the main sources of background in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay with cryogenic bolometers due to their poor time resolution. Pulse-shape discrimination by using front edge analysis, mean-time and methods were applied to discriminate randomly coinciding events in ZnMoO cryogenic scintillating bolometers. These events can be effectively rejected at the level of 99 % by the analysis of the heat signals with rise-time of about 14 ms and signal-to-noise ratio of 900, and at the level of 92 % by the analysis of the light signals with rise-time of about 3 ms and signal-to-noise ratio of 30, under the requirement to detect 95 % of single events. These rejection efficiencies are compatible with extremely low background levels in the region of interest of neutrinoless double beta decay of Mo for enriched ZnMoO detectors, of the order of counts/(y keV kg). Pulse-shape parameters have been chosen on the basis of the performance of a real massive ZnMoO scintillating bolometer. Importance of the signal-to-noise ratio, correct finding of the signal start and choice of an appropriate sampling frequency are discussed.

Western University (No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and No. 14 Canadian General Hospital): a study of medical volunteerism in the First World War.

PubMed

Istl, Alexandra C; McAlister, Vivian C

2016-12-01

The Canadian government depended on chaotic civilian volunteerism to staff a huge medical commitment during the First World War. Offers from Canadian universities to raise, staff and equip hospitals for deployment, initially rejected, were incrementally accepted as casualties mounted. When its offer was accepted in 1916, Western University Hospital quickly adopted military decorum and equipped itself using Canadian Red Cross Commission guidelines. Staff of the No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and the No. 14 Canadian General Hospital retained excellent morale throughout the war despite heavy medical demand, poor conditions, aerial bombardment and external medical politics. The overwhelming majority of volunteers were Canadian-born and educated. The story of the hospital's commanding officer, Edwin Seaborn, is examined to understand the background upon which the urge to volunteer in the First World War was based. Although many Western volunteers came from British stock, they promoted Canadian independence. A classical education and a broad range of interests outside of medicine, including biology, history and native Canadian culture, were features that Seaborn shared with other leaders in Canadian medicine, such as William Osler, who also volunteered quickly in the First World War.

Ortho-positronium observation in the Double Chooz experiment

DOE PAGES

Abe, Y.; dos Anjos, J. C.; Barriere, J. C.; ...

2014-10-01

The Double Chooz experiment measures the neutrino mixing angle θ13 by detecting reactor ν¯e via inverse beta decay. The positron-neutron space and time coincidence allows for a sizable background rejection, nonetheless liquid scintillator detectors would

The Majorana Experiment:. a Straightforward Neutrino Mass Experiment Using the Double-Beta Decay of 76GE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miley, H. S.

2004-04-01

The Majorana Experiment proposes to measure the effective mass of the electron neutrino to as low as 0.02 eV using well-tested technology. A half-life of about 4E27 y, corresponding to a mass range of [0.02 - 0.07] eV can be reached by operating 500 kg of germanium enriched to 86% in 76Ge deep underground. Radiological backgrounds of cosmogenic or primordial origin will be greatly reduced by ultra-low-background screening of detector, structural, and shielding materials, by chemical processing of materials, and by electronic rejection of multi-site events in the detector. Electronic background reduction is achieved with pulse-shape analysis, detector segmentation, and detector-to-detector coincidence rejection. Sensitivity calculations assuming worst-case germanium cosmogenic activation predict rapid growth in mass sensitivity (T1/2 at 90%CL) after the beginning of detector production: [0.08-0.28] eV at ~1 year, [0.04-0.14] eV at ~2.5 years, [0.03-0.10] eV at ~5 years, and [0.02 - 0.07] eV at ~10 years. The impact of primordial backgrounds in structural and electronic components is being studied at the 1 μBq/kg level, and appears to be controllable to below levels needed to attain these results.

Soft gamma-ray detector for the ASTRO-H Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Shin; Tajima, Hiroyasu; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Blandford, Roger; Enoto, Teruaki; Kataoka, Jun; Kawaharada, Madoka; Kokubun, Motohide; Laurent, Philippe; Lebrun, François; Limousin, Olivier; Madejski, Greg; Makishima, Kazuo; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Nakamori, Takeshi; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Mori, Kunishiro; Odaka, Hirokazu; Ohno, Masanori; Ohta, Masayuki; Sato, Goro; Sato, Rie; Takeda, Shin'ichiro; Takahashi, Hiromitsu; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Tanaka, Takaaki; Tashiro, Makoto; Terada, Yukikatsu; Uchiyama, Hideki; Uchiyama, Yasunobu; Yamada, Shinya; Yatsu, Yoichi; Yonetoku, Daisuke; Yuasa, Takayuki

2012-09-01

ASTRO-H is the next generation JAXA X-ray satellite, intended to carry instruments with broad energy coverage and exquisite energy resolution. The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) is one of ASTRO-H instruments and will feature wide energy band (60-600 keV) at a background level 10 times better than the current instruments on orbit. The SGD is complimentary to ASTRO-H’s Hard X-ray Imager covering the energy range of 5-80 keV. The SGD achieves low background by combining a Compton camera scheme with a narrow field-of-view active shield where Compton kinematics is utilized to reject backgrounds. The Compton camera in the SGD is realized as a hybrid semiconductor detector system which consists of silicon and CdTe (cadmium telluride) sensors. Good energy resolution is afforded by semiconductor sensors, and it results in good background rejection capability due to better constraints on Compton kinematics. Utilization of Compton kinematics also makes the SGD sensitive to the gamma-ray polarization, opening up a new window to study properties of gamma-ray emission processes. In this paper, we will present the detailed design of the SGD and the results of the final prototype developments and evaluations. Moreover, we will also present expected performance based on the measurements with prototypes.

Scalable Graphene-Based Membranes for Ionic Sieving with Ultrahigh Charge Selectivity.

PubMed

Hong, Seunghyun; Constans, Charlotte; Surmani Martins, Marcos Vinicius; Seow, Yong Chin; Guevara Carrió, Juan Alfredo; Garaj, Slaven

2017-02-08

Nanostructured graphene-oxide (GO) laminate membranes, exhibiting ultrahigh water flux, are excellent candidates for next generation nanofiltration and desalination membranes, provided the ionic rejection could be further increased without compromising the water flux. Using microscopic drift-diffusion experiments, we demonstrated the ultrahigh charge selectivity for GO membranes, with more than order of magnitude difference in the permeabilities of cationic and anionic species of equivalent hydration radii. Measuring diffusion of a wide range of ions of different size and charge, we were able to clearly disentangle different physical mechanisms contributing to the ionic sieving in GO membranes: electrostatic repulsion between ions and charged chemical groups; and the compression of the ionic hydration shell within the membrane's nanochannels, following the activated behavior. The charge-selectivity allows us to rationally design membranes with increased ionic rejection and opens up the field of ion exchange and electrodialysis to the GO membranes.

Fiber optic probe enabled by surface-enhanced Raman scattering for early diagnosis of potential acute rejection of kidney transplant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chi, Jingmao; Chen, Hui; Tolias, Peter; Du, Henry

2014-06-01

We have explored the use of a fiber-optic probe with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing modality for early, noninvasive and, rapid diagnosis of potential renal acute rejection (AR) and other renal graft dysfunction of kidney transplant patients. Multimode silica optical fiber immobilized with colloidal Ag nanoparticles at the distal end was used for SERS measurements of as-collected urine samples at 632.8 nm excitation wavelength. All patients with abnormal renal graft function (3 AR episodes and 2 graft failure episodes) who were clinically diagnosed independently show common unique SERS spectral features in the urines collected just one day after transplant. SERS-based fiber-optic probe has excellent potential to be a bedside tool for early diagnosis of kidney transplant patients for timely medical intervention of patients at high risk of transplant dysfunction.

A new-generation asymmetric multi-bore hollow fiber membrane for sustainable water production via vacuum membrane distillation.

PubMed

Wang, Peng; Chung, Tai-Shung

2013-06-18

Due to the growing demand for potable water, the capacities for wastewater reclamation and saline water desalination have been increasing. More concerns are raised on the poor efficiency of removing certain contaminants by the current water purification technologies. Recent studies demonstrated superior separation performance of the vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) technology for the rejection of trace contaminants such as boron, dye, endocrine-disruptive chemical, and chloro-compound. However, the absence of suitable membranes with excellent wetting resistance and high permeation flux has severely hindered the VMD application as an effective water production process. This work presents a new generation multibore hollow fiber (MBF) membrane with excellent mechanical durability developed for VMD. Its micromorphology was uniquely designed with a tight surface and a fully porous matrix to maximize both high wetting resistance and permeation flux. Credit to the multibore configuration, a 65% improvement was obtained on the antiwetting property. Using a synthetic seawater feed, the new membrane with optimized fabrication condition exhibits a high flux and the salt rejection is consistently greater than 99.99%. In addition, a comparison of 7-bore and 6-bore MBF membranes was performed to investigate the optimum geometry design. The newly designed MBF membrane not only demonstrates its suitability for VMD but also makes VMD come true as an efficient process for water production.

Lack of Association between Interleukin-10 Gene Polymorphisms and Graft Rejection Risk in Kidney Transplantation Recipients: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Xiong, Jiachuan; Wang, Yiqin; Zhang, Ying; Nie, Ling; Wang, Daihong; Huang, Yunjian; Feng, Bing; Zhang, Jingbo; Zhao, Jinghong

2015-01-01

Background Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an important immunomodulatory cytokine. Several studies focused the association between IL-10 promoter gene polymorphisms and graft rejection risk in kidney transplantation recipients. However, the results of these studies remain inconclusive. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to further assess the associations. Methods The PubMed, Embase, and Ovid Medline databases were searched. Two independent authors extracted data, and the effects were estimated from an odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses identified sources of heterogeneity. Results A total of 16 studies including 595 rejection patients and 1239 stable graft patients were included in order to study the IL-10 -1082 (rs1800896 G/A), -819 (rs1800871 C/T), -592 (rs1800872 C/A) and IL-10 (-1082,-819,-592) polymorphisms. The -1082 G/A polymorphism was not associated with an increased graft rejection risk (OR = 1.03; 95%CI, 0.85–1.25, P = 0.74 for GA+AA vs. GG model). Moreover, all of the -819 C/T (OR = 1.06, 95%CI, 0.79–1.42, P = 0.70 for TA+TT vs. CC model), -592 C/A (OR = 1.10, 95% CI, 0.85–1.42, P = 0.47 for AC+AA vs. CC model) and IL-10 (-1082,-819,-592) polymorphisms (OR = 1.00, 95%CI, 0.79–1.27, P = 0.98 for I+L vs. H model) did not increase the graft rejection risk. In addition, we also performed subgroup analysis by ethnic group (mainly in Europeans or Asians) and rejection type (acute or chronic). There was also lack of evidence of a significant association between the IL-10 gene polymorphism and graft rejection risk. The present meta-analysis indicated that the IL-10 gene polymorphism was not associated with graft rejection risk in kidney transplantation recipients. Conclusion This meta-analysis found evidence that the IL-10 polymorphism does not increase the risk of graft rejection in kidney transplantation recipients. Further chronic rejection and other ethnic population studies are needed to confirm our results. PMID:26035439

The Spectrum of Renal Allograft Failure

PubMed Central

Chand, Sourabh; Atkinson, David; Collins, Clare; Briggs, David; Ball, Simon; Sharif, Adnan; Skordilis, Kassiani; Vydianath, Bindu; Neil, Desley; Borrows, Richard

2016-01-01

Background Causes of “true” late kidney allograft failure remain unclear as study selection bias and limited follow-up risk incomplete representation of the spectrum. Methods We evaluated all unselected graft failures from 2008–2014 (n = 171; 0–36 years post-transplantation) by contemporary classification of indication biopsies “proximate” to failure, DSA assessment, clinical and biochemical data. Results The spectrum of graft failure changed markedly depending on the timing of allograft failure. Failures within the first year were most commonly attributed to technical failure, acute rejection (with T-cell mediated rejection [TCMR] dominating antibody-mediated rejection [ABMR]). Failures beyond a year were increasingly dominated by ABMR and ‘interstitial fibrosis with tubular atrophy’ without rejection, infection or recurrent disease (“IFTA”). Cases of IFTA associated with inflammation in non-scarred areas (compared with no inflammation or inflammation solely within scarred regions) were more commonly associated with episodes of prior rejection, late rejection and nonadherence, pointing to an alloimmune aetiology. Nonadherence and late rejection were common in ABMR and TCMR, particularly Acute Active ABMR. Acute Active ABMR and nonadherence were associated with younger age, faster functional decline, and less hyalinosis on biopsy. Chronic and Chronic Active ABMR were more commonly associated with Class II DSA. C1q-binding DSA, detected in 33% of ABMR episodes, were associated with shorter time to graft failure. Most non-biopsied patients were DSA-negative (16/21; 76.1%). Finally, twelve losses to recurrent disease were seen (16%). Conclusion This data from an unselected population identifies IFTA alongside ABMR as a very important cause of true late graft failure, with nonadherence-associated TCMR as a phenomenon in some patients. It highlights clinical and immunological characteristics of ABMR subgroups, and should inform clinical practice and individualised patient care. PMID:27649571

Kidneys From α1,3-Galactosyltransferase Knockout/Human Heme Oxygenase-1/Human A20 Transgenic Pigs Are Protected From Rejection During Ex Vivo Perfusion With Human Blood

PubMed Central

Ahrens, Hellen E.; Petersen, Björn; Ramackers, Wolf; Petkov, Stoyan; Herrmann, Doris; Hauschild-Quintern, Janet; Lucas-Hahn, Andrea; Hassel, Petra; Ziegler, Maren; Baars, Wiebke; Bergmann, Sabine; Schwinzer, Reinhard; Winkler, Michael; Niemann, Heiner

2015-01-01

Background Multiple modifications of the porcine genome are required to prevent rejection after pig-to-primate xenotransplantation. Here, we produced pigs with a knockout of the α1,3-galactosyltransferase gene (GGTA1-KO) combined with transgenic expression of the human anti-apoptotic/anti-inflammatory molecules heme oxygenase-1 and A20, and investigated their xenoprotective properties. Methods The GGTA1-KO/human heme oxygenase-1 (hHO-1)/human A20 (hA20) transgenic pigs were produced in a stepwise approach using zinc finger nuclease vectors targeting the GGTA1 gene and a Sleeping Beauty vector coding for hA20. Two piglets were analyzed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry, and sequencing. The biological function of the genetic modifications was tested in a 51Chromium release assay and by ex vivo kidney perfusions with human blood. Results Disruption of the GGTA1 gene by deletion of few basepairs was demonstrated in GGTA1-KO/hHO-1/hA20 transgenic pigs. The hHO-1 and hA20 mRNA expression was confirmed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Ex vivo perfusion of 2 transgenic kidneys was feasible for the maximum experimental time of 240 minutes without symptoms of rejection. Conclusions Results indicate that GGTA1-KO/hHO-1/hA20 transgenic pigs are a promising model to alleviate rejection and ischemia-reperfusion damage in porcine xenografts and could serve as a background for further genetic modifications toward the production of a donor pig that is clinically relevant for xenotransplantation. PMID:27500225

Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-29

23, 2013. 6 Background information on Saudi cabinet members is available at http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/ Biographies - of-Ministers.aspx. Saudi...territories it occupied in 1967, (2) agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem , and provide for the (3) “[a...compromise on Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem .” Elhanan Miller, “Arab ministers back Abbas in rejecting ‘Jewish’ Israel,” Times of Israel, January

Antiproton identification below threshold with the AMS-02 RICH detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zi-Yuan; Delgado Mendez, Carlos Jose; Giovacchini, Francesca; Haino, Sadakazu; Hoffman, Julia

2017-05-01

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02), which is installed on the International Space Station (ISS), has been collecting data successfully since May 2011. The main goals of AMS-02 are the search for cosmic anti-matter, dark matter and the precise measurement of the relative abundance of elements and isotopes in galactic cosmic rays. In order to identify particle properties, AMS-02 includes several specialized sub-detectors. Among these, the AMS-02 Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (RICH) is designed to provide a very precise measurement of the velocity and electric charge of particles. We describe a method to reject the dominant electron background in antiproton identification with the use of the AMS-02 RICH detector as a veto for rigidities below 3 GV. A ray tracing integration method is used to maximize the statistics of p¯ with the lowest possible e- background, providing 4 times rejection power gain for e- background with respect to only 3% of p¯ signal efficiency loss. By using the collected cosmic-ray data, e- contamination can be well suppressed within 3% with β ≈ 1, while keeping 76% efficiency for p¯ below the threshold. Supported by China Scholarship Council (CSC) under Grant No.201306380027.

Effects of multidisciplinary teams and an integrated follow-up electronic system on clinical pharmacist interventions in a cancer hospital.

PubMed

Aziz, Muhammad Tahir; Rehman, Tofeeq Ur; Qureshi, Sadia; Andleeb, Sidrah

2017-12-01

Background The aim of drug therapy is to attain distinct therapeutic effects that not only improve patient's quality of life but also reduce the inherent risks associated with the therapeutic use of drugs. Pharmacists play a key role in reducing these risks by developing appropriate interventions. Whether to accept or reject the intervention made by the pharmacist is a relevant consultant's decision. Objective To evaluate the impact of electronic prompts and follow-up of rejected pharmacy interventions by clinical pharmacists in an in-patient setting. Setting Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital & Research Center, Lahore, Pakistan. Method The study was conducted in two phases. Data for 3 months were collected for each phase of the study. Systematic and quantifiable consensus validity was developed for rejected interventions in phase 1, based on patient outcome analyses. Severity rating was assigned to assess the significance of interventions. Electronic prompts for follow-on interventions in phase 2 were then developed and implemented, including daily review via a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach. Main outcome measure Validity of rejected interventions, acceptance of follow-on interventions before and after re-engineering the pharmacy processes, rejection rate and severity rating of follow-on interventions. Result Of a total of 2649 and 3064 interventions that were implemented during phase 1 and phase 2, 238 (9%) and 307 (10%) were rejected, respectively. Additionally, 133 (56%) were inappropriate rejections during phase 1. The estimated reliability between pharmacists regarding rejected interventions was 0.74 (95% CI of 0.69, 0.79, p 0.000). Prospective data were analysed after implementing electronic alerts and an MDT approach. The acceptance rate of follow-on interventions in phase 2 was 60% (184). Conclusion Electronic prompts for follow-on interventions together with an MDT approach enhance the optimization of pharmacotherapy, increase drug rationality and improve patient care.

Performance of the EDELWEISS-III experiment for direct dark matter searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armengaud, E.; Arnaud, Q.; Augier, C.; Benoît, A.; Bergé, L.; Bergmann, T.; Billard, J.; de Boissière, T.; Bres, G.; Broniatowski, A.; Brudanin, V.; Camus, P.; Cazes, A.; Chapellier, M.; Charlieux, F.; De Jésus, M.; Dumoulin, L.; Eitel, K.; Filosofov, D.; Foerster, N.; Fourches, N.; Garde, G.; Gascon, J.; Giuliani, A.; Grollier, M.; Gros, M.; Hehn, L.; Hervé, S.; Heuermann, G.; Humbert, V.; Jin, Y.; Juillard, A.; Kéfélian, C.; Kleifges, M.; Kozlov, V.; Kraus, H.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Le-Sueur, H.; Lin, J.; Maisonobe, R.; Mancuso, M.; Marnieros, S.; Menshikov, A.; Navick, X.-F.; Nones, C.; Olivieri, E.; Pari, P.; Paul, B.; Poda, D.; Queguiner, E.; Robinson, M.; Rodenas, H.; Rozov, S.; Sanglard, V.; Schmidt, B.; Scorza, S.; Siebenborn, B.; Tcherniakhovski, D.; Vagneron, L.; Weber, M.; Yakushev, E.; Zhang, X.; Zolotarova, A.

2017-08-01

We present the results of measurements demonstrating the efficiency of the EDELWEISS-III array of cryogenic germanium detectors for direct dark matter searches. The experimental setup and the FID (Fully Inter-Digitized) detector array is described, as well as the efficiency of the double measurement of heat and ionization signals in background rejection. For the whole set of 24 FID detectors used for coincidence studies, the baseline resolutions for the fiducial ionization energy are mainly below 0.7 keVee (FHWM) whereas the baseline resolutions for heat energies are mainly below 1.5 keVee (FWHM). The response to nuclear recoils as well as the very good discrimination capability of the FID design has been measured with an AmBe source. The surface β- and α-decay rejection power of Rsurf < 4 × 10-5 per α at 90% C.L. has been determined with a 210Pb source, the rejection of bulk γ-ray events has been demonstrated using γ-calibrations with 133Ba sources leading to a value of Rγ -mis-fid < 2.5 × 10-6 at 90% C.L.. The current levels of natural radioactivity measured in the detector array are shown as the rate of single γ background. The fiducial volume fraction of the FID detectors has been measured to a weighted average value of (74.6 ± 0.4)% using the cosmogenic activation of the 65Zn and 68,71Ge isotopes. The stability and uniformity of the detector response is also discussed. The achieved resolutions, thresholds and background levels of the upgraded EDELWEISS-III detectors in their setup are thus well suited to the direct search of WIMP dark matter over a large mass range.

A New Quality Control Method base on IRMCD for Wind Profiler Observation towards Future Assimilation Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Min; Zhang, Yu

2017-04-01

A wind profiler network with a total of 65 profiling radars was operated by the MOC/CMA in China until July 2015. In this study, a quality control procedure is constructed to incorporate the profiler data from the wind-profiling network into the local data assimilation and forecasting system (BJRUC). The procedure applies a blacklisting check that removes stations with gross errors and an outlier check that rejects data with large deviations from the background. Instead of the bi-weighting method, which has been commonly implemented in outlier elimination for one-dimensional scalar observations, an outlier elimination method is developed based on the iterated reweighted minimum covariance determinant (IRMCD) for multi-variate observations such as wind profiler data. A quality control experiment is separately performed for subsets containing profiler data tagged in parallel with/without rain flags at every 00UTC/12UTC from 20 June to 30 Sep 2015. From the results, we find that with the quality control, the frequency distributions of the differences between the observations and model background become more Gaussian-like and meet the requirements of a Gaussian distribution for data assimilation. Further intensive assessment for each quality control step reveals that the stations rejected by blacklisting contain poor data quality, and the IRMCD rejects outliers in a robust and physically reasonable manner.

Preservation of a T-Invariant Reductionist Scaffold in "effective" Intrinsically Irreversible Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ne'Eman, Yuval

2003-08-01

The recently developed Irreversible Quantum Mechanics formalism describes physical reality both at the statistical and the particle levels and voices have been heard suggesting that it be used in fundamental physics. Two examples are sketched in which similar steps were taken and proved to be terrible errors: Aristotle's rejection of the vacuum because "nature does not tolerate it", replacing it by a law of force linear in velocity and Chew's rejection of Quantum Field Theory because "it is not unitary off-mass-shell". In Particle Physics, I suggest using the new representation as an "effective" picture without abandoning the canonical background.

Sequential Targeting of CD52 and TNF Allows Early Minimization Therapy in Kidney Transplantation: From a Biomarker to Targeting in a Proof-Of-Concept Trial

PubMed Central

Viklicky, Ondrej; Hruba, Petra; Tomiuk, Stefan; Schmitz, Sabrina; Gerstmayer, Bernhard; Sawitzki, Birgit; Miqueu, Patrick; Mrazova, Petra; Tycova, Irena; Svobodova, Eva; Honsova, Eva; Janssen, Uwe

2017-01-01

Background There is high medical need for safe long-term immunosuppression monotherapy in kidney transplantation. Selective targeting of post-transplant alloantigen-(re)activated effector-T cells by anti-TNF antibodies after global T cell depletion may allow safe drug minimization, however, it is unsolved what might be the best maintenance monotherapy. Methods In this open, prospective observational single-centre trial, 20 primary deceased donor kidney transplant recipients received 2x20 mg Alemtuzumab (d0/d1) followed by 5 mg/kg Infliximab (d2). For 14 days all patients received only tacrolimus, then they were allocated to either receive tacrolimus (TAC, n = 13) or sirolimus (SIR, n = 7) monotherapy, respectively. Protocol biopsies and extensive immune monitoring were performed and patients were followed-up for 60 months. Results TAC-monotherapy resulted in excellent graft survival (5yr 92%, 95%CI: 56.6–98.9) and function, normal histology, and no proteinuria. Immune monitoring revealed low intragraft inflammation (urinary IP-10) and hints for the development of operational tolerance signature in the TAC- but not SIR-group. Remarkably, the TAC-monotherapy was successful in all five presensitized (ELISPOT+) patients. However, recruitment into SIR-arm was stopped (after n = 7) because of high incidence of proteinuria and acute/chronic rejection in biopsies. No opportunistic infections occurred during follow-up. Conclusions In conclusion, our novel fast-track TAC-monotherapy protocol is likely to be safe and preliminary results indicated an excellent 5-year outcome, however, a full–scale study will be needed to confirm our findings. Trial Registration EudraCT Number: 2006-003110-18 PMID:28085915

Reduction of Acute Rejection by Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells during Rat Small Bowel Transplantation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Wen; Wu, Ben-Juan; Fu, Nan-Nan; Zheng, Wei-Ping; Don, Chong; Shen, Zhong-Yang

2014-01-01

Background Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) have shown immunosuppressive activity in transplantation. This study was designed to determine whether BMMSCs could improve outcomes of small bowel transplantation in rats. Methods Heterotopic small bowel transplantation was performed from Brown Norway to Lewis rats, followed by infusion of BMMSCs through the superficial dorsal veins of the penis. Controls included rats infused with normal saline (allogeneic control), isogeneically transplanted rats (BN-BN) and nontransplanted animals. The animals were sacrificed after 1, 5, 7 or 10 days. Small bowel histology and apoptosis, cytokine concentrations in serum and intestinal grafts, and numbers of T regulatory (Treg) cells were assessed at each time point. Results Acute cellular rejection occurred soon after transplantation and became aggravated over time in the allogeneic control rats, with increase in apoptosis, inflammatory response, and T helper (Th)1/Th2 and Th17/Treg-related cytokines. BMMSCs significantly attenuated acute cellular rejection, reduced apoptosis and suppressed the concentrations of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, IL-17, IL-23, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ while upregulating IL-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β expression and increasing Treg levels. Conclusion BMMSCs improve the outcomes of allogeneic small bowel transplantation by attenuating the inflammatory response and acute cellular rejection. Treatment with BMMSCs may overcome acute cellular rejection in small bowel transplantation. PMID:25500836

Light-sheet microscopy by confocal line scanning of dual-Bessel beams

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

Zhang, Pengfei; Phipps, Mary Elizabeth; Goodwin, Peter Marvin

Here, we have developed a light-sheet microscope that uses confocal scanning of dual-Bessel beams for illumination. A digital micromirror device (DMD) is placed in the intermediate image plane of the objective used to collect fluorescence and is programmed with two lines of pixels in the “on” state such that the DMD functions as a spatial filter to reject the out-of-focus background generated by the side-lobes of the Bessel beams. The optical sectioning and out-of-focus background rejection capabilities of this microscope were demonstrated by imaging of fluorescently stained actin in human A431 cells. The dual-Bessel beam system enables twice as manymore » photons to be detected per imaging scan, which is useful for low light applications (e.g., single-molecule localization) or imaging at high speed with a superior signal to noise. While demonstrated for two Bessel beams, this approach is scalable to a larger number of beams.« less

Light-sheet microscopy by confocal line scanning of dual-Bessel beams

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Pengfei; Phipps, Mary Elizabeth; Goodwin, Peter Marvin; ...

2016-10-25

Here, we have developed a light-sheet microscope that uses confocal scanning of dual-Bessel beams for illumination. A digital micromirror device (DMD) is placed in the intermediate image plane of the objective used to collect fluorescence and is programmed with two lines of pixels in the “on” state such that the DMD functions as a spatial filter to reject the out-of-focus background generated by the side-lobes of the Bessel beams. The optical sectioning and out-of-focus background rejection capabilities of this microscope were demonstrated by imaging of fluorescently stained actin in human A431 cells. The dual-Bessel beam system enables twice as manymore » photons to be detected per imaging scan, which is useful for low light applications (e.g., single-molecule localization) or imaging at high speed with a superior signal to noise. While demonstrated for two Bessel beams, this approach is scalable to a larger number of beams.« less

Rejection of randomly coinciding 2ν2β events in ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyak, D. M.; Danevich, F. A.; Giuliani, A.; Mancuso, M.; Nones, C.; Olivieri, E.; Tenconi, M.; Tretyak, V. I.

2014-01-01

Random coincidence of 2ν2β decay events could be one of the main sources of background for 0ν2β decay in cryogenic bolometers due to their poor time resolution. Pulse-shape discrimination by using front edge analysis, the mean-time and χ2 methods was applied to discriminate randomly coinciding 2ν2β events in ZnMoO4 cryogenic scintillating bolometers. The background can be effectively rejected on the level of 99% by the mean-time analysis of heat signals with the rise time about 14 ms and the signal-to-noise ratio 900, and on the level of 98% for the light signals with 3 ms rise time and signal-to-noise ratio of 30 (under a requirement to detect 95% of single events). Importance of the signal-to-noise ratio, correct finding of the signal start and choice of an appropriate sampling frequency are discussed.

Robust Likelihoods for Inflationary Gravitational Waves from Maps of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Switzer, Eric Ryan; Watts, Duncan J.

2016-01-01

The B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background provides a unique window into tensor perturbations from inflationary gravitational waves. Survey effects complicate the estimation and description of the power spectrum on the largest angular scales. The pixel-space likelihood yields parameter distributions without the power spectrum as an intermediate step, but it does not have the large suite of tests available to power spectral methods. Searches for primordial B-modes must rigorously reject and rule out contamination. Many forms of contamination vary or are uncorrelated across epochs, frequencies, surveys, or other data treatment subsets. The cross power and the power spectrum of the difference of subset maps provide approaches to reject and isolate excess variance. We develop an analogous joint pixel-space likelihood. Contamination not modeled in the likelihood produces parameter-dependent bias and complicates the interpretation of the difference map. We describe a null test that consistently weights the difference map. Excess variance should either be explicitly modeled in the covariance or be removed through reprocessing the data.

HLA-matched sibling stem cell transplantation in children with β-thalassemia with anti-thymocyte globulin as part of the preparative regimen: the Greek experience.

PubMed

Goussetis, E; Peristeri, I; Kitra, V; Vessalas, G; Paisiou, A; Theodosaki, M; Petrakou, E; Dimopoulou, M N; Graphakos, S

2012-08-01

BU combined with CY, the preferred preparatory regimen for thalassemic patients, is associated with a substantial incidence of graft rejection especially in patients with advanced disease stage. This study retrospectively analyzes the outcome of 75 consecutive pediatric patients with β-thalassemia who underwent HLA-matched sibling transplantation after anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG)-containing myeloablative conditioning regimens. With a median follow-up of 9 years (range 1-15 years), the overall survival (OS) and thalassemia free survival (TFS) rates were 96% and 92%, respectively. Both the estimated TRM and the cumulative incidence of rejection/failure were 4%. The cumulative incidences of acute GVHD grade II-III and grade III were 20% and 5.3%, respectively. No patient developed acute GVHD grade IV. Only two patients developed extensive chronic GVHD. The estimated OS and TFS for patients with Class 1 and 2 disease according to Pesaro criteria were 96.3% and 94.4%, whereas for patients with Class 3 disease they were 94.1% and 88.2%, respectively. In our series, the use of myeloablative conditioning regimens, which include ATG for the transplantation of thalassemic children from matched sibling donors, resulted in excellent outcomes with very low incidences of TRM and rejection.

Improved separation and antifouling properties of thin-film composite nanofiltration membrane by the incorporation of cGO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hongbin; Shi, Wenying; Du, Qiyun; Zhou, Rong; Zhang, Haixia; Qin, Xiaohong

2017-06-01

Poly(piperazine amide) composite nanofiltration (NF) membranes were modified through the incorporation of carboxylated graphene oxide (cGO) in the polyamide layer during the interfacial polymerization (IP) process on the polysulfone (PSF)/nonwoven fabric (NWF) ultrafiltration (UF) substrate membrane surface. The composition and morphology of the prepared NF membrane surface were determined by means of ATR-FTIR, SEM-EDX and AFM. The effects of cGO contents on membrane hydrophilicity, separation performance and antifouling properties were investigated through Water Contact Angle (WCA) analysis, the permeance and three-cycle fouling measurements. The growth model of cGO-incorporated polyamide thin-film was proposed. Compared to the original NF membranes, the surface hydrophilicity, water permeability, salt rejection and antifouling properties of the cGO-incorporated NF membrane had all improved. When cGO content was 100 ppm, the MgSO4 rejection of composite NF membrane reached a maximum value of 99.2% meanwhile membrane obtained an obvious enhanced water flux (81.6 L m-2 h-1, at 0.7 MPa) which was nearly three times compared to the virginal NF membrane. The cGO-incorporated NF membrane showed an excellent selectivity of MgSO4 and NaCl with the rejection ratio of MgSO4/NaCl of approximately 8.0.

CUORE-0 results and prospects for the CUORE experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremonesi, O.; Artusa, D. R.; Avignone, F. T.; Azzolini, O.; Balata, M.; Banks, T. I.; Bari, G.; Beeman, J.; Bellini, F.; Bersani, A.; Biassoni, M.; Brofferio, C.; Bucci, C.; Camacho, A.; Caminata, A.; Canonica, L.; Cao, X.; Capelli, S.; Cappelli, L.; Carbone, L.; Cardani, L.; Casali, N.; Cassina, L.; Chiesa, D.; Chott, N.; Clemenza, M.; Copello, S.; Cosmelli, C.; Creswick, R. J.; Cushman, J. S.; Dafinei, I.; Dally, A.; Datskov, V.; Dell'Oro, S.; Deninno, M. M.; Di Domizio, S.; di Vacri, M. L.; Drobizhev, A.; Ejzak, L.; Fang, D. Q.; Farach, H. A.; Faverzani, M.; Fernandes, G.; Ferri, E.; Ferroni, F.; Fiorini, E.; Franceschi, M. A.; Freedman, S. J.; Fujikawa, B. K.; Giachero, A.; Gironi, L.; Giuliani, A.; Gorla, P.; Gotti, C.; Gutierrez, T. D.; Haller, E. E.; Han, K.; Heeger, K. M.; Hennings-Yeomans, R.; Hickerson, K. P.; Huang, H. Z.; Kadel, R.; Keppel, G.; Kolomensky, Yu. G.; Li, Y. L.; Ligi, C.; Lim, K. E.; Liu, X.; Ma, Y. G.; Maiano, C.; Maino, M.; Martinez, M.; Maruyama, R. H.; Mei, Y.; Moggi, N.; Morganti, S.; Napolitano, T.; Nastasi, M.; Nisi, S.; Nones, C.; Norman, E. B.; Nucciotti, A.; O'Donnell, T.; Orio, F.; Orlandi, D.; Ouellet, J. L.; Pagliarone, C. E.; Pallavicini, M.; Palmieri, V.; Pattavina, L.; Pavan, M.; Pedretti, M.; Pessina, G.; Pettinacci, V.; Piperno, G.; Pira, C.; Pirro, S.; Pozzi, S.; Previtali, E.; Rosenfeld, C.; Rusconi, C.; Sala, E.; Sangiorgio, S.; Scielzo, N. D.; Sisti, M.; Smith, A. R.; Taffarello, L.; Tenconi, M.; Terranova, F.; Tomei, C.; Trentalange, S.; Ventura, G.; Vignati, M.; Wang, B. S.; Wang, H. W.; Wielgus, L.; Wilson, J.; Winslow, L. A.; Wise, T.; Woodcraft, A.; Zanotti, L.; Zarra, C.; Zhang, G. Q.; Zhu, B. X.; Zucchelli, S.

2015-07-01

With 741 kg of TeO2 crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, the CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment aims at searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with unprecedented sensitivity. Expected to start data taking in 2015, CUORE is currently in an advanced construction phase at LNGS. CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is 1.6 × 1026 y at 1σ (9.5 × 1025 y at the 90 % confidence level), in five years of live time, corresponding to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40-100 meV (50-130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary bolometric detectors could improve CUORE sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors towards a full analysis of the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. CUORE-0 was built to test and demonstrate the performance of the upcoming CUORE experiment. It consists of a single CUORE tower (52 TeO2 bolometers of 750 g each, arranged in a 13 floor structure) constructed strictly following CUORE recipes both for materials and assembly procedures. An experiment its own, CUORE-0 is expected to reach a sensitivity to the ββ(0ν) half-life of 130Te around 3×1024 y in one year of live time. We present an update of the data, corresponding to an exposure of 18.1 kg y. An analysis of the background indicates that the CUORE performance goal is satisfied while the sensitivity goal is within reach.

The first demonstration of the concept of "narrow-FOV Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ichinohe, Yuto; Uchida, Yuusuke; Watanabe, Shin; Edahiro, Ikumi; Hayashi, Katsuhiro; Kawano, Takafumi; Ohno, Masanori; Ohta, Masayuki; Takeda, Shin`ichiro; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Katsuragawa, Miho; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Odaka, Hirokazu; Tajima, Hiroyasu; Takahashi, Hiromitsu; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Yuasa, Takayuki

2016-01-01

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD), to be deployed on board the ASTRO-H satellite, has been developed to provide the highest sensitivity observations of celestial sources in the energy band of 60-600 keV by employing a detector concept which uses a Compton camera whose field-of-view is restricted by a BGO shield to a few degree (narrow-FOV Compton camera). In this concept, the background from outside the FOV can be heavily suppressed by constraining the incident direction of the gamma ray reconstructed by the Compton camera to be consistent with the narrow FOV. We, for the first time, demonstrate the validity of the concept using background data taken during the thermal vacuum test and the low-temperature environment test of the flight model of SGD on ground. We show that the measured background level is suppressed to less than 10% by combining the event rejection using the anti-coincidence trigger of the active BGO shield and by using Compton event reconstruction techniques. More than 75% of the signals from the field-of-view are retained against the background rejection, which clearly demonstrates the improvement of signal-to-noise ratio. The estimated effective area of 22.8 cm2 meets the mission requirement even though not all of the operational parameters of the instrument have been fully optimized yet.

Basiliximab versus daclizumab combined with triple immunosuppression in deceased donor renal graft recipients.

PubMed

Grego, K; Arnol, M; Bren, A F; Kmetec, A; Tomaziĉ, J; Kandus, A

2007-12-01

In this prospective, randomized, open-label, single-center study, we compared the efficacy and safety of two anti-interleukin-2 receptor monoclonal antibodies among adult recipients of at least 1 HLA-mismatched deceased donor renal grafts. Eligible patients were randomized to induction with either basiliximab or daclizumab. Both groups received cyclosporine microemulsion (CsA Neoral), mycophenolate mofetil, and methylprednisolone. An intent-to-treat analysis of 1-year data assessed the incidence of acute rejection episodes, the renal graft function, the safety, and the patient and graft survivals. Among 127 patients, six (10.0%) and seven (11.5%) patients experienced biopsy-confirmed acute rejection at 12 months, in the basiliximab and the daclizumab groups, respectively. Two renal grafts were lost in the basiliximab and six in the daclizumab cohort, one of them due to rejection. One basiliximab and two daclizumab patients died. Hospital treatment was required for 25 and 33 infections in basiliximab and daclizumab groups, respectively. One basal cell carcinoma of skin was detected. One hypersensitivity reaction was observed with daclizumab. At 12 months, serum creatinine was 101+/-28 micromol/L with basiliximab and 109+/-41 micromol/L with daclizumab. Patient survival was 98.4% with basiliximab and 96.7% with daclizumab, and graft survival was 96.8% versus 90.8%, respectively. No significant differences were observed between the groups. Basiliximab or daclizumab combined with triple therapy was an efficient and safe immunosuppression strategy, demonstrated with low incidence of acute rejection episodes, an acceptable adverse event profile, excellent graft function, and high survival rates in adult recipients within the first year after deceased donor renal transplantation.

A Comparison of Coolant Options for Brayton Power Conversion Heat Rejection Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mason, Lee S.; Siamidis, John

2006-01-01

This paper describes potential heat rejection design concepts for Brayton power conversion systems. Brayton conversion systems are currently under study by NASA for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) and surface power applications. The Brayton Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) must dissipate waste heat generated by the power conversion system due to inefficiencies in the thermal-to-electric conversion process. Sodium potassium (NaK) and H2O are two coolant working fluids that have been investigated in the design of a pumped loop and heat pipe space HRS. In general NaK systems are high temperature (300 to 1000 K) low pressure systems, and H2O systems are low temperature (300 to 600 K) high pressure systems. NaK is an alkali metal with health and safety hazards that require special handling procedures. On the other hand, H2O is a common fluid, with no health hazards and no special handling procedures. This paper compares NaK and H20 for the HRS pumped loop coolant working fluid. A detailed Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) analytical model, HRS_Opt, was developed to evaluate the various HRS design parameters. It is capable of analyzing NaK or H2O coolant, parallel or series flow configurations, and numerous combinations of other key parameters (heat pipe spacing, diameter and radial flux, radiator facesheet thickness, fluid duct system pressure drop, system rejected power, etc.) of the HRS. This paper compares NaK against water for the HRS coolant working fluid with respect to the relative mass, performance, design and implementation issues between the two fluids.

A Comparison of Coolant Options for Brayton Power Conversion Heat Rejection Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siamidis, John; Mason, Lee S.

2006-01-01

This paper describes potential heat rejection design concepts for Brayton power conversion systems. Brayton conversion systems are currently under study by NASA for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) and surface power applications. The Brayton Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) must dissipate waste heat generated by the power conversion system due to inefficiencies in the thermal-to-electric conversion process. Sodium potassium (NaK) and H2O are two coolant working fluids that have been investigated in the design of a pumped loop and heat pipe space HRS. In general NaK systems are high temperature (300 to 1000 K) low pressure systems, and H2O systems are low temperature (300 to 600 K) high pressure systems. NaK is an alkali metal with health and safety hazards that require special handling procedures. On the other hand, H2O is a common fluid, with no health hazards and no special handling procedures. This paper compares NaK and H2O for the HRS pumped loop coolant working fluid. A detailed Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) analytical model, HRS_Opt, was developed to evaluate the various HRS design parameters. It is capable of analyzing NaK or H2O coolant, parallel or series flow configurations, and numerous combinations of other key parameters (heat pipe spacing, diameter and radial flux, radiator facesheet thickness, fluid duct system pressure drop, system rejected power, etc.) of the HRS. This paper compares NaK against water for the HRS coolant working fluid with respect to the relative mass, performance, design and implementation issues between the two fluids.

A Comparison of Coolant Options for Brayton Power Conversion Heat Rejection Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siamidis, John; Mason, Lee

2006-01-01

This paper describes potential heat rejection design concepts for Brayton power conversion systems. Brayton conversion systems are currently under study by NASA for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) and surface power applications. The Brayton Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) must dissipate waste heat generated by the power conversion system due to inefficiencies in the thermal-to-electric conversion process. Sodium potassium (NaK) and H2O are two coolant working fluids that have been investigated in the design of a pumped loop and heat pipe space HRS. In general NaK systems are high temperature (300 to 1000 K) low pressure systems, and H2O systems are low temperature (300 to 600 K) high pressure systems. NaK is an alkali metal with health and safety hazards that require special handling procedures. On the other hand, H2O is a common fluid, with no health hazards and no special handling procedures. This paper compares NaK and H2O for the HRS pumped loop coolant working fluid. A detailed excel analytical model, HRS_Opt, was developed to evaluate the various HRS design parameters. It is capable of analyzing NaK or H2O coolant, parallel or series flow configurations, and numerous combinations of other key parameters (heat pipe spacing, diameter and radial flux, radiator facesheet thickness, fluid duct system pressure drop, system rejected power, etc.) of the HRS. This paper compares NaK against water for the HRS coolant working fluid with respect to the relative mass, performance, design and implementation issues between the two fluids.

Reassurance Seeking and Depression in Adults with Mild Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, S. L.; Lickel, A. Hayes; MacLean, W. E., Jr.

2008-01-01

Background: Adults with intellectual disability (ID) experience a high prevalence of depression. Yet, little research has investigated interpersonal processes related to depression in this population. In the general population, depressed persons behave in ways that elicit negative and rejecting reactions from others. In particular, excessive…

Navy-Marine Corps Amphibious and Maritime Prepositioning Ship Programs: Background and Oversight Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-12

up Northrop Grumman Ship Systems ( NGSS ). Table 2. FY2008-FY2013 Amphibious and MPF(F) Ship Procurement Plan (Ships fully funded in FY2006 shown for... Plan . . 13 Navy-Marine Corps Amphibious and Maritime Prepositioning Ship Programs: Background and Oversight Issues for Congress Introduction The...is whether to approve, modify, or reject the Navy’s plans for procuring amphibious and MPF(F) ships. Decisions that Congress makes on this CRS-2 1 The

Fabrication of a Silicon Backshort Assembly for Waveguide-Coupled Superconducting Detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crowe, Erik J.; Bennett, Charles L.; Chuss, David T.; Denis, Kevin L.; Eimer, Joseph; Lourie, Nathan; Marriage, Tobias; Moseley, Samuel H.; Rostem, Karwan; Stevenson, Thomas R.;

Free-Standing Zone Plate Optimized for He II 30.4 nm Solar Irradiance Measurements Having High Accuracy and Stability in Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seely, J. F.; McMullin, D. R.; Vest, R.; Sakdinawat, A.; Chang, C.; Jones, A. R.; Bremer, J.

2015-12-01

A zone plate was designed to record the He II 30.4 nm solar irradiance, was fabricated using electron beam lithography, and was absolutely calibrated using the NIST SURF synchrotron. The zone plate has an open support grid identical to those used to successfully launch transmission gratings in previous solar radiometers and is otherwise free-standing with no support membrane that would absorb EUV radiation. The measured efficiency of 3.0 ± 0.1% at 30.4 nm is consistent with detailed modeling of the efficiency and accounting for the geometrical transmittance of the support grid. The binary nature of the zone plate, consisting of opaque gold bars and open spaces with no support membrane, results in excellent long-term stability in space against contamination, radiation damage, and other effects that could alter the efficiency and instrument throughput. The zone plate's focusing property enables the rejection of out-of-band radiation by small apertures and high signal to background values that are superior to previous radiometers. The 4 mm outer diameter of the zone plate and the 25 mm focal length for 30.4 nm radiation enable a compact instrument that is attractive for small CubeSats and other space flight missions where resources are extremely limited.

Evaluative Indices Assigned to Contraceptive Methods by University Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDermott, Robert J.; Malo, Teri L.; Dodd, Virginia J.; Daley, Ellen M.; Mayer, Alyssa B.

2011-01-01

Background: Preordinate attitudes and beliefs about contraception may influence acceptance or rejection of a particular method. Purpose: We examined the attitudes about contraception methods held by undergraduate students (N=792) at two large southeastern universities in the United States. Methods: Twelve methods were rated on 40 semantic…

Suicidal Behavior in Adolescent and Young Adult Gay Men.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Stephen G.; And Others

1989-01-01

Explored relationship of homosexuality to suicidal behavior by questionnaire responses from 52 men in gay and lesbian college organizations and 56 men in homosexual rap groups. Family background of alcoholism and physical abuse, social supports perceived as rejecting homosexuality, and no religious affiliation were associated with history of…

A Discussion of Art Therapy as a Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gantt, Linda M.

1998-01-01

Examines four factors that may cause art therapists to reject the scientific method. Gives an overview of historical developments in science to provide a background for a discussion of each factor. Includes material from anthropology, psychoanalysis, and alternative health care. Offers suggestions for training art therapists in scientific…

Rejecting the Baby Doe rules and defending a "negative" analysis of the Best Interests Standard.

PubMed

Kopelman, Loretta M

2005-08-01

Two incompatible policies exist for guiding medical decisions for extremely premature, sick, or terminally ill infants, the Best Interests Standard and the newer, 20-year old "Baby Doe" Rules. The background, including why there were two sets of Baby Doe Rules, and their differences with the Best Interests Standard, are illustrated. Two defenses of the Baby Doe Rules are considered and rejected. The first, held by Reagan, Koop, and others, is a "right-to-life" defense. The second, held by some leaders of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is that the Baby Doe Rules are benign and misunderstood. The Baby Doe Rules should be rejected since they can thwart compassionate and individualized decision-making, undercut duties to minimize unnecessary suffering, and single out one group for treatment adults would not want for themselves. In these ways, they are inferior to the older Best Interests Standard. A "negative" analysis of the Best Interests Standard is articulated and defended for decision-making for all incompetent individuals.

A Two-Dimensional Lamellar Membrane: MXene Nanosheet Stacks.

PubMed

Ding, Li; Wei, Yanying; Wang, Yanjie; Chen, Hongbin; Caro, Jürgen; Wang, Haihui

2017-02-06

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are promising candidates for advanced water purification membranes. A new kind of lamellar membrane is based on a stack of 2D MXene nanosheets. Starting from compact Ti 3 AlC 2 , delaminated nanosheets of the composition Ti 3 C 2 T x with the functional groups T (O, OH, and/or F) can be produced by etching and ultrasonication and stapled on a porous support by vacuum filtration. The MXene membrane supported on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) substrate shows excellent water permeance (more than 1000 L m -2  h -1  bar -1 ) and favorable rejection rate (over 90 %) for molecules with sizes larger than 2.5 nm. The water permeance through the MXene membrane is much higher than that of the most membranes with similar rejections. Long-time operation also reveals the outstanding stability of the MXene membrane for water purification. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Novel reverse osmosis membranes composed of modified PVA/Gum Arabic conjugates: Biofouling mitigation and chlorine resistance enhancement.

PubMed

Falath, Wail; Sabir, Aneela; Jacob, Karl I

2017-01-02

A novel crosslinked Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) reverse osmosis (RO) thin film membrane conjugated with Gum Arabic (GA) with superb performance and features was synthesized for water desalination. RO membrane desalination parameters, such as hydrophilicity, surface roughness, water permeability, salt rejection, Chlorine resistance and biofouling resistance were evaluated using a dead end RO filtration unit. The incorporation of Pluronic F127 and the conjugation of Gum Arabic improved the overall RO performance of the membranes. This study has shown that the membrane PVA-GA-5 that contains 0.9wt% Gum Arabic provided excellent permeation, salt rejection, Chlorine and biofouling resistance and mechanical strength. The most remarkable result to arise from this research is that the overall RO performance enhancement has been achieved while utilizing PVA/Gum Arabic as a separation layer without the use of a substrate, which eliminates negative effects associated with the use of a substrate like internal concentration polarization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous rectus sheath haematoma in a deceased donor renal transplant recipient: a rare complication.

PubMed

Sreenivas, Jayaram; Karthikeyan, Vilvapathy Senguttuvan; SampathKumar, Nathee; Umesha, Lingaraju

2016-02-04

Rectus sheath haematoma (RSH) is rarely thought of as a cause of abdominal pain in renal transplant recipients. A 36-year-old woman, a post-deceased donor renal allograft transplant recipient for chronic interstitial nephritis, on triple drug immunosuppression (tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and prednisolone) with basiliximab induction, developed acute vascular rejection and acute tubular injury with suspected antibody-mediated rejection. While on plasmapheresis and haemodialysis for delayed graft function, she developed acute left lower abdominal pain on the 16th postoperative day with tender swelling in the left paraumbilical region. CT of the abdomen showed a large haematoma in the left rectus sheath with no extension. The patient underwent haematoma evacuation through a left paramedian incision and had an uneventful recovery. Serum creatinine stabilised at 0.8 mg/dL and she is on regular follow-up with excellent graft function at 6 months. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion, and prompt treatment prevents morbidity and can expedite patient recovery. 2016 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Spontaneous rectus sheath haematoma in a deceased donor renal transplant recipient: a rare complication

PubMed Central

Sreenivas, Jayaram; Karthikeyan, Vilvapathy Senguttuvan; SampathKumar, Nathee; Umesha, Lingaraju

2016-01-01

Rectus sheath haematoma (RSH) is rarely thought of as a cause of abdominal pain in renal transplant recipients. A 36-year-old woman, a post-deceased donor renal allograft transplant recipient for chronic interstitial nephritis, on triple drug immunosuppression (tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and prednisolone) with basiliximab induction, developed acute vascular rejection and acute tubular injury with suspected antibody-mediated rejection. While on plasmapheresis and haemodialysis for delayed graft function, she developed acute left lower abdominal pain on the 16th postoperative day with tender swelling in the left paraumbilical region. CT of the abdomen showed a large haematoma in the left rectus sheath with no extension. The patient underwent haematoma evacuation through a left paramedian incision and had an uneventful recovery. Serum creatinine stabilised at 0.8 mg/dL and she is on regular follow-up with excellent graft function at 6 months. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion, and prompt treatment prevents morbidity and can expedite patient recovery. PMID:26847807

Kerr-gated picosecond Raman spectroscopy and Raman photon migration of equine bone tissue with 400-nm excitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, Michael D.; Goodship, Allen E.; Draper, Edward R. C.; Matousek, Pavel; Towrie, Michael; Parker, Anthony W.

2004-07-01

We show that Raman spectroscopy with visible lasers, even in the deep blue is possible with time-gated Raman spectroscopy. A 4 picosec time gate allows efficient fluorescence rejection, up to 1000X, and provides almost background-free Raman spectra with low incident laser power. The technology enables spectroscopy with better than 10X higher scattering efficiency than is possible with the NIR (785 nm and 830 nm) lasers that are conventionally used. Raman photon migration is shown to allow depth penetration. We show for the first time that Kerr-gated Raman spectra of bone tissue with blue laser excitation enables both fluorescence rejection and depth penetration.

Clinical and pathological features of kidney transplant patients with concurrent polyomavirus nephropathy and rejection-associated endarteritis

PubMed Central

McGregor, Stephanie M; Chon, W James; Kim, Lisa; Chang, Anthony; Meehan, Shane M

2015-01-01

AIM: To describe the clinicopathologic features of concurrent polyomavirus nephropathy (PVN) and endarteritis due to rejection in renal allografts. METHODS: We searched our electronic records database for cases with transplant kidney biopsies demonstrating features of both PVN and acute rejection (AR). PVN was defined by the presence of typical viral cytopathic effect on routine sections and positive polyomavirus SV40 large-T antigen immunohistochemistry. AR was identified by endarteritis (v1 by Banff criteria). All cases were subjected to chart review in order to determine clinical presentation, treatment course and outcomes. Outcomes were recorded with a length of follow-up of at least one year or time to nephrectomy. RESULTS: Of 94 renal allograft recipients who developed PVN over an 11-year period at our institution, we identified 7 (7.4%) with viral cytopathic changes, SV40 large T antigen staining, and endarteritis in the same biopsy specimen, indicative of concurrent PVN and AR. Four arose after reduction of immunosuppression (IS) (for treatment of PVN in 3 and tuberculosis in 1), and 3 patients had no decrease of IS before developing simultaneous concurrent disease. Treatment consisted of reduced oral IS and leflunomide for PVN, and anti-rejection therapy. Three of 4 patients who developed endarteritis in the setting of reduced IS lost their grafts to rejection. All 3 patients with simultaneous PVN and endarteritis cleared viremia and were stable at 1 year of follow up. Patients with endarteritis and PVN arising in a background of reduced IS had more severe rejection and poorer outcome. CONCLUSION: Concurrent PVN and endarteritis may be more frequent than is currently appreciated and may occur with or without prior reduction of IS. PMID:26722657

Naïve hosts of avian brood parasites accept foreign eggs, whereas older hosts fine-tune foreign egg discrimination during laying

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Many potential hosts of social parasites recognize and reject foreign intruders, and reduce or altogether escape the negative impacts of parasitism. The ontogenetic basis of whether and how avian hosts recognize their own and the brood parasitic eggs remains unclear. By repeatedly parasitizing the same hosts with a consistent parasitic egg type, and contrasting the responses of naïve and older breeders, we studied ontogenetic plasticity in the rejection of foreign eggs by the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), a host species of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Results In response to experimental parasitism before the onset of laying, first time breeding hosts showed almost no egg ejection, compared to higher rates of ejection in older breeders. Young birds continued to accept foreign eggs when they were subjected to repeated parasitism, whereas older birds showed even higher ejection rates later in the same laying cycle. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the hypotheses that (i) naïve hosts need to see and learn the appearance of their own eggs to discriminate and reject foreign eggs, whereas (ii) experienced breeders possess a recognition template of their own eggs and reject parasitic eggs even without having to see their own eggs. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that other external cues and internal processes, accumulated simply with increasing age, may also modify age-specific patterns in egg rejection (e.g. more sightings of the cuckoo by older breeders). Future research should specifically track the potential role of learning in responses of individual hosts between first and subsequent breeding attempts by testing whether imprinting on a parasitized clutch reduces the rates of rejecting foreign eggs in subsequent parasitized clutches. PMID:25024736

Lower kidney allograft survival in African-Americans compared to Hispanic-Americans with lupus.

PubMed

Gonzalez-Suarez, M L; Contreras, G

2017-10-01

Background and objective African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans with lupus are the two most common minority groups who receive kidney transplants in the USA. It is unknown if African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans with lupus have similar outcomes after kidney transplantation. In this study, we assessed whether African-Americans compared to Hispanic-Americans have worse kidney allograft survival after risk factors of rejection and other prognostic factors were matched between both groups. Methods Out of 1816 African-Americans and 901 Hispanic-Americans with lupus, who received kidney transplants between 1987 and 2006 and had complete records in the UNOS program, 478 pairs were matched in 16 baseline predictors and follow-up time employing a predicted probability of group membership. The primary outcome was kidney allograft survival. Main secondary outcomes were rejection, allograft failure attributed to rejection, and mortality. Results Matched pairs were predominantly women (81%) with the mean age of 36 years. 96% were on dialysis before transplantation. 89% of recipients received kidneys from deceased donors and 15.5% from expanded criteria donors. 12% of recipients had zero HLA mismatch. African-Americans compared to Hispanic-Americans had lower cumulative allograft survival during 12-year follow-up ( p < 0.001). African-Americans compared to Hispanic-Americans had higher rates of rejection (10.4 vs 6.73 events/100 patients-years; p = 0.0002) and allograft failure attributed to rejection (6.31 vs 3.99; p = 0.0023). However, African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans had similar mortality rates (2.71 vs 2.31; p = 0.4269). Conclusions African-Americans compared to Hispanic-Americans with lupus had lower kidney allograft survival when recognized risk factors of rejection were matched between groups.

Use of [18F]FDG PET to Monitor The Development of Cardiac Allograft Rejection

PubMed Central

Daly, Kevin P.; Dearling, Jason L. J.; Seto, Tatsuichiro; Dunning, Patricia; Fahey, Frederic; Packard, Alan B.; Briscoe, David M.

2014-01-01

Background Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has the potential to be a specific, sensitive and quantitative diagnostic test for transplant rejection. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated 18F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) and 13N-labeled ammonia ([13N]NH3) small animal PET imaging in a well-established murine cardiac rejection model. Methods Heterotopic transplants were performed using minor MHC mismatched B6.C-H2bm12 donor hearts in C57BL/6(H-2b) recipients. C57BL/6 donor hearts into C57BL/6 recipients served as isograft controls. [18F]FDG PET imaging was performed weekly between post-transplant days 7 and 42 and the percent injected dose was computed for each graft. [13N]NH3 imaging was performed to evaluate myocardial perfusion. Results There was a significant increase in [18F]FDG uptake in allografts from day 14 to day 21 (1.6% to 5.2%; P<0.001) and uptake in allografts was significantly increased on post-transplant days 21 (5.2% vs. 0.9%; P=0.005) and 28 (4.8% vs. 0.9%; P=0.006) compared to isograft controls. Furthermore, [18F]FDG uptake correlated with an increase in rejection within allografts between days 14 and 28 post-transplant. Finally, the uptake of [13N]NH3 was significantly lower relative to the native heart in allografts with chronic vasculopathy compared to isograft controls on day 28 (P=0.01). Conclusions PET imaging with [18F]FDG can be used following transplantation to monitor the evolution of rejection. In addition, decreased uptake of [13N]NH3 in rejecting allografts may be reflective of decreased myocardial blood flow. These data suggest that combined [18F]FDG and [13N]NH3 PET imaging could be used as a non-invasive, quantitative technique for serial monitoring of allograft rejection and has potential application in human transplant recipients. PMID:25675207

Camouflage effects of various colour-marking morphs against different microhabitat backgrounds in a polymorphic pygmy grasshopper Tetrix japonica.

PubMed

Tsurui, Kaori; Honma, Atsushi; Nishida, Takayoshi

2010-07-06

Colour-marking polymorphism is widely distributed among cryptic species. To account for the adaptive significance of such polymorphisms, several hypotheses have been proposed to date. Although these hypotheses argue over the degree of camouflage effects of marking morphs (and the interactions between morphs and their microhabitat backgrounds), as far as we know, most empirical evidence has been provided under unnatural conditions (i.e., using artificial prey). Tetrix japonica, a pygmy grasshopper, is highly polymorphic in colour-markings and occurs in both sand and grass microhabitats. Even within a microhabitat, T. japonica is highly polymorphic. Using humans as dummy predators and printed photographs in which various morphs of grasshoppers were placed against different backgrounds, we addressed three questions to test the neutral, background heterogeneity, and differential crypsis hypotheses in four marking-type morphs: 1) do the morphs differ in the degree of crypsis in each microhabitat, 2) are different morphs most cryptic in specific backgrounds of the microhabitats, and 3) does the morph frequency reflect the degree of crypsis? The degree of camouflage differed among the four morphs; therefore, the neutral hypothesis was rejected. Furthermore, the order of camouflage advantage among morphs differed depending on the two types of backgrounds (sand and grass), although the grass background consistently provided greater camouflage effects. Thus, based on our results, we could not reject the background heterogeneity hypothesis. Under field conditions, the more cryptic morphs comprised a minority of the population. Overall, our results demonstrate that the different morphs were not equivalent in the degree of crypsis, but the degree of camouflage of the morphs was not consistent with the morph frequency. These findings suggest that trade-offs exist between the camouflage benefit of body colouration and other fitness components, providing a better understanding of the adaptive significance of colour-markings and presumably supporting the differential crypsis hypothesis.

NuLat: 3D Event Reconstruction of a ROL Detector for Neutrino Detection and Background Rejection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokley, Zachary; NuLat Collaboration

2015-04-01

NuLat is a proposed very-short baseline reactor antineutrino experiment that employs a unique detector design, a Ragahavan Optical Lattice (ROL), developed for the LENS solar neutrino experiment. The 3D lattice provides high spatial and temporal resolution and allows for energy deposition in each voxel to be determined independently of other voxels, as well as the time sequence associated with each voxel energy deposition. This unique feature arises from two independent means to spatially locate energy deposits: via timing and via optical channeling. NuLat, the first application of a ROL detector targeting physics results, will measure the reactor antineutrino flux at very short baselines via inverse beta decay (IBD). The ROL design of NuLat makes possible the reconstruction of positron energy with little contamination due to the annihilation gammas which smear the positron energy resolution in a traditional detector. IBD events are cleanly tagged via temporal and spatial coincidence of neutron capture in the vertex voxel or nearest neighbors. This talk will present work on IBD event reconstruction in NuLat and its likely impact on sterile neutrino detection via operation in higher background locations enabled by its superior rejection of backgrounds. This research has been funded in part by the National Science Foundation on Award Numbers 1001394 and 1001078.

Mate choice and body pattern variations in the Crown Butterfly fish Chaetodon paucifasciatus (Chaetodontidae)

PubMed Central

Levy, Keren; Lerner, Amit; Shashar, Nadav

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Mate choice is an important ecological behavior in fish, and is often based on visual cues of body patterns. The Crown Butterfly fish Chaetodon paucifasciatus (Chaetodontidae) is a monogamist, territorial species; it swims in close proximity to its partner throughout most of its life. This species is characterized by a pattern of 6–8 vertical black stripes on a white background, on both sides of its body. Our aim was to define spatial features (variations) in body patterns by evaluating the level of dissimilarity between both sides of each individual fish, and the level of dissimilarity between patterns of different individuals. In addition, we tested whether the fish are attracted to or reject specific features of the body patterns. Features were defined and counted using photographs of body patterns. Attraction to or rejection of specific features were tested behaviorally using a dual-choice experiment of video animations of individuals swimming over a coral-reef background. We found that the patterns of each fish and sides of the body were no less dissimilar, compared intraspecificly to other fish, and that each side pattern was unique and distinguishable. Variations in the patterns occurred mostly in the last three posterior stripes. Individuals were mainly attracted to conspecifics with multiple crossing patterns (two or more consecutive crossings), and rejected patterns with holes. Our results suggest that in this species the unique body pattern of each fish is used for conspecific identification of mates and intruders. PMID:25432516

Evaluation of Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge Longitudinal Pupil Analysis Report. Research Report RR814

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Marian; Rutt, Simon

2006-01-01

Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge (initially known as Excellence Challenge) was specifically established by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in 2001, with the aim of increasing the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who had the qualifications and aspirations necessary to enter higher education. The analysis conducted…

The high-resolution Doppler imager on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hays, Paul B.; Abreu, Vincent J.; Dobbs, Michael E.; Gell, David A.; Grassl, Heinz J.; Skinner, Wilbert R.

1993-01-01

The high-resolution Doppler imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is a triple-etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer designed to measure winds in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. Winds are determined by measuring the Doppler shifts of rotational lines of the O2 atmospheric band, which are observed in emission in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and in absorption in the stratosphere. The interferometer has high resolution (0.05/cm), good offhand rejection, aud excellent stability. This paper provides details of the design and capabilities of the HRDI instrument.

Seasonal modulation of the 7Be solar neutrino rate in Borexino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Altenmüller, K.; Appel, S.; Atroshchenko, V.; Basilico, D.; Bellini, G.; Benziger, J.; Bick, D.; Bonfini, G.; Borodikhina, L.; Bravo, D.; Caccianiga, B.; Calaprice, F.; Caminata, A.; Caprioli, S.; Carlini, M.; Cavalcante, P.; Chepurnov, A.; Choi, K.; D'Angelo, D.; Davini, S.; Derbin, A.; Ding, X. F.; Di Noto, L.; Drachnev, I.; Fomenko, K.; Franco, D.; Froborg, F.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Ghiano, C.; Giammarchi, M.; Goeger-Neff, M.; Goretti, A.; Gromov, M.; Hagner, C.; Houdy, T.; Hungerford, E.; Ianni, Aldo; Ianni, Andrea; Jany, A.; Jeschke, D.; Kobychev, V.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Kryn, D.; Laubenstein, M.; Lehnert, B.; Litvinovich, E.; Lombardi, F.; Lombardi, P.; Ludhova, L.; Lukyanchenko, G.; Machulin, I.; Manecki, S.; Manuzio, G.; Marcocci, S.; Martyn, J.; Meroni, E.; Meyer, M.; Miramonti, L.; Misiaszek, M.; Montuschi, M.; Muratova, V.; Neumair, B.; Oberauer, L.; Opitz, B.; Ortica, F.; Pallavicini, M.; Papp, L.; Pocar, A.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Re, A.; Romani, A.; Roncin, R.; Rossi, N.; Schönert, S.; Semenov, D.; Shakina, P.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Stokes, L. F. F.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Testera, G.; Thurn, J.; Toropova, M.; Unzhakov, E.; Vishneva, A.; Vogelaar, R. B.; von Feilitzsch, F.; Wang, H.; Weinz, S.; Wojcik, M.; Wurm, M.; Yokley, Z.; Zaimidoroga, O.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.; Borexino Collaboration

2017-06-01

We present the evidence for the seasonal modulation of the 7Be neutrino interaction rate with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The period, amplitude, and phase of the observed time evolution of the signal are consistent with its solar origin, and the absence of an annual modulation is rejected at 99.99% C.L. The data are analyzed using three methods: the analytical fit to event rate, the Lomb-Scargle and the Empirical Mode Decomposition techniques, which all yield results in excellent agreement.

Development of phonon-mediated cryogenic particle detectors with electron and nuclear recoil discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nam, Sae Woo

1999-10-01

Observations have shown that galaxies, including our own, are surrounded by halos of ``dark matter''. One possibility is that this may be an undiscovered form of matter, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). This thesis describes the development of silicon based cryogenic particle detectors designed to directly detect interactions with these WIMPs. These detectors are part of a new class of detectors which are able to reject background events by simultaneously measuring energy deposited into phonons versus electron hole pairs. By using the phonon sensors with the ionization sensors to compare the partitioning of energy between phonons and ionizations we can discriminate between electron recoil events (background radiation) and nuclear recoil events (dark matter events). These detectors with built-in background rejection are a major advance in background rejection over previous searches. Much of this thesis will describe work in scaling the detectors from / g prototype devices to a fully functional prototype 100g dark matter detector. In particular, many sensors were fabricated and tested to understand the behavior of our phonon sensors, Quasipartice trapping assisted Electrothermal feedback Transition edge sensors (QETs). The QET sensors utilize aluminum quasiparticle traps attached to tungsten superconducting transition edge sensors patterned on a silicon substrate. The tungsten lines are voltage biased and self-regulate in the transition region. Phonons from particle interactions within the silicon propogate to the surface where they are absorbed by the aluminum generating quasiparticles in the aluminum. The quasiparticles diffuse into the tungsten and couple energy into the tungsten electron system. Consequently, the tungsten increases in resistance and causes a current pulse which is measured with a high bandwidth SQUID system. With this advanced sensor technology, we were able to demonstrate detectors with xy position sensitivity with electron and nuclear recoil discrimination. Furthermore, early results from running the 100g detector in the Stanford Underground Facility (SUF) indicate that competitive dark matter results are achievable with the current detector design. Much of the design and testing of the experimental apparatus and instrumentation is described as well.

BAT2 and BAT3 polymorphisms as novel genetic risk factors for rejection after HLA-related SCT.

PubMed

Piras, Ignazio Stefano; Angius, Andrea; Andreani, Marco; Testi, Manuela; Lucarelli, Guido; Floris, Matteo; Marktel, Sarah; Ciceri, Fabio; La Nasa, Giorgio; Fleischhauer, Katharina; Roncarolo, Maria Grazia; Bulfone, Alessandro; Gregori, Silvia; Bacchetta, Rosa

2014-11-01

The genetic background of donor and recipient is an important factor determining the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (allo-HSCT). We applied whole-genome analysis to investigate genetic variants-other than HLA class I and II-associated with negative outcome after HLA-identical sibling allo-HSCT in a cohort of 110 β-Thalassemic patients. We identified two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BAT2 (A/G) and BAT3 (T/C) genes, SNP rs11538264 and SNP rs10484558, both located in the HLA class III region, in strong linkage disequilibrium between each other (R(2)=0.92). When considered as single SNP, none of them reached a significant association with graft rejection (nominal P<0.00001 for BAT2 SNP rs11538264, and P<0.0001 for BAT3 SNP rs10484558), whereas the BAT2/BAT3 A/C haplotype was present at significantly higher frequency in patients who rejected as compared to those with functional graft (30.0% vs 2.6%, nominal P=1.15 × 10(-8); and adjusted P=0.0071). The BAT2/BAT3 polymorphisms and specifically the A/C haplotype may represent a novel immunogenetic factor associated with graft rejection in patients undergoing allo-HSCT.

BAT2 and BAT3 polymorphisms as novel genetic risk factors for rejection after HLA-related stem cell transplantation

PubMed Central

Piras, Ignazio Stefano; Angius, Andrea; Andreani, Marco; Testi, Manuela; Lucarelli, Guido; Floris, Matteo; Marktel, Sarah; Ciceri, Fabio; La Nasa, Giorgio; Fleischhauer, Katharina; Roncarolo, Maria Grazia; Bulfone, Alessandro

2014-01-01

The genetic background of donor and recipient is an important factor determining the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We applied a whole genome analysis to investigate genetic variants - other than HLA class I and II - associated with negative outcome after HLA-identical sibling allo-HSCT in a cohort of 110 β-Thalassemic patients. We identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms in BAT2 (A/G) and BAT3 (T/C) genes, SNP rs11538264 and SNP rs10484558, both located in the HLA class III region, in strong Linkage Disequilibrium between each other (R2=0.92). When considered as single SNP, none of them reached a significant association with graft rejection (nominal P < 0.00001 for BAT2 SNP rs11538264, and P < 0.0001 for BAT3 SNP rs10484558). Whereas, the BAT2/BAT3 A/C haplotype was present at significantly higher frequency in patients who rejected as compared to those with functional graft (30.0% vs. 2.6%, nominal P = 1.15×10−8; and adjusted P = 0.0071). The BAT2/BAT3 polymorphisms and specifically the A/C haplotype may represent novel immunogenetic factor associated with graft rejection in patients undergoing allo-HSCT. PMID:25111513

Role of humoral immune reactions as target for antirejection therapy in recipients of a spousal-donor kidney graft.

PubMed

Böhmig, G A; Regele, H; Säemann, M D; Exner, M; Druml, W; Kovarik, J; Hörl, W H; Zlabinger, G J; Watschinger, B

2000-04-01

Excellent graft outcome has been reported for spousal-donor kidney transplantation. In husband-to-wife transplantation, however, a tendency toward inferior graft survival has been described for recipients who were previously pregnant. In our series of spousal-kidney transplantations (nine transplantations; three female recipients), actual graft survival is 100% (median observation time, 339 days). Five patients experienced early allograft rejection. In four transplant recipients, rejection was easily reversible by conventional antirejection therapy. In a multiparous recipient, however, mild interstitial allograft rejection associated with early graft dysfunction was resistant to anticellular treatment (antilymphocyte antibody, tacrolimus rescue therapy). The particular finding of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in peritubular capillaries and the finding of diffuse capillary deposits of the complement split product, C4d, in a posttransplantation biopsy specimen suggested a role of antibody-mediated graft injury. Retrospective flow cytometry cross-matching showed the presence of preformed immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to HLA class I antigens that were not detectable by pretransplantation lymphocytotoxic cross-match testing or screening for panel reactive antibodies. After transplantation, however, complement-fixing antibodies, also presumably triggered by reexposure to spousal-donor HLA antigens, could be detected in the patient's serum. These findings suggested antibody-mediated allograft rejection and led to the initiation of immunoadsorption therapy (14 sessions) with staphylococcal protein A. Selective removal of recipient IgG resulted in complete reversal of graft dysfunction. Our findings suggest that in husband-to-wife transplantation, donor-specific antibodies, presumably triggered by previous pregnancies, might occasionally induce sustained allograft dysfunction. Thus, in this particular setting, a detailed immunologic and histopathologic work-up regarding antibody-mediated allograft dysfunction is warranted because immunoadsorption may be a highly effective treatment modality.

Attenuation measuring ultrasound shearwave elastography and in vivo application in post-transplant liver patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nenadic, Ivan Z.; Qiang, Bo; Urban, Matthew W.; Zhao, Heng; Sanchez, William; Greenleaf, James F.; Chen, Shigao

2017-01-01

Ultrasound and magnetic resonance elastography techniques are used to assess mechanical properties of soft tissues. Tissue stiffness is related to various pathologies such as fibrosis, loss of compliance, and cancer. One way to perform elastography is measuring shear wave velocity of propagating waves in tissue induced by intrinsic motion or an external source of vibration, and relating the shear wave velocity to tissue elasticity. All tissues are inherently viscoelastic and ignoring viscosity biases the velocity-based estimates of elasticity and ignores a potentially important parameter of tissue health. We present attenuation measuring ultrasound shearwave elastography (AMUSE), a technique that independently measures both shear wave velocity and attenuation in tissue and therefore allows characterization of viscoelasticity without using a rheological model. The theoretical basis for AMUSE is first derived and validated in finite element simulations. AMUSE is validated against the traditional methods for assessing shear wave velocity (phase gradient) and attenuation (amplitude decay) in tissue mimicking phantoms and excised tissue. The results agreed within one standard deviation. AMUSE was used to measure shear wave velocity and attenuation in 15 transplanted livers in patients with potential acute rejection, and the results were compared with the biopsy findings in a preliminary study. The comparison showed excellent agreement and suggests that AMUSE can be used to separate transplanted livers with acute rejection from livers with no rejection.

Molecular Classifiers for Acute Kidney Transplant Rejection in Peripheral Blood by Whole Genome Gene Expression Profiling

PubMed Central

Kurian, S. M.; Williams, A. N.; Gelbart, T.; Campbell, D.; Mondala, T. S.; Head, S. R.; Horvath, S.; Gaber, L.; Thompson, R.; Whisenant, T.; Lin, W.; Langfelder, P.; Robison, E. H.; Schaffer, R. L.; Fisher, J. S.; Friedewald, J.; Flechner, S. M.; Chan, L. K.; Wiseman, A. C.; Shidban, H.; Mendez, R.; Heilman, R.; Abecassis, M. M.; Marsh, C. L.; Salomon, D. R.

2015-01-01

There are no minimally invasive diagnostic metrics for acute kidney transplant rejection (AR), especially in the setting of the common confounding diagnosis, acute dysfunction with no rejection (ADNR). Thus, though kidney transplant biopsies remain the gold standard, they are invasive, have substantial risks, sampling error issues and significant costs and are not suitable for serial monitoring. Global gene expression profiles of 148 peripheral blood samples from transplant patients with excellent function and normal histology (TX; n = 46), AR (n = 63) and ADNR (n = 39), from two independent cohorts were analyzed with DNA microarrays. We applied a new normalization tool, frozen robust multi-array analysis, particularly suitable for clinical diagnostics, multiple prediction tools to discover, refine and validate robust molecular classifiers and we tested a novel one-by-one analysis strategy to model the real clinical application of this test. Multiple three-way classifier tools identified 200 highest value probesets with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve for the validation cohort ranging from 82% to 100%, 76% to 95%, 76% to 95%, 79% to 100%, 84% to 100% and 0.817 to 0.968, respectively. We conclude that peripheral blood gene expression profiling can be used as a minimally invasive tool to accurately reveal TX, AR and ADNR in the setting of acute kidney transplant dysfunction. PMID:24725967

Truth-Conditionally Inert Aspects of Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, David A.

2009-01-01

Against a background of disagreement about what sorts of things linguistic contents are, many philosophers of language share the assumption that they're cut only as finely as the conditions under which they are true. This includes many theorists who would reject the program known as "truth-conditional semantics". I argue that this point of…

[Treatment of burn wounds with dibunol liniment].

PubMed

Shalonov, P M; Dadabaev, T D; Khalilov, Kh N

1989-01-01

In 40 burned patients with the area of damage from 10 to 40% of the body surface in local treatment with dibunol against the background of active infusion-transfusion therapy, the accelerated rejection of the necrotic crust was noted, which permitted to reduce the period of preparation for autodermoplasty. The antiinflammatory effect of dibunol was established.

Longitudinal Pathways Linking Child Maltreatment, Emotion Regulation, Peer Relations, and Psychopathology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jungmeen; Cicchetti, Dante

2010-01-01

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate longitudinal relations among child maltreatment, emotion regulation, peer acceptance and rejection, and psychopathology. Methods: Data were collected on 215 maltreated and 206 nonmaltreated children (ages 6-12 years) from low-income families. Children were evaluated by camp counselors on emotion…

Perceptions of Parenting, Emotional Self-Efficacy, and Anxiety in Youth: Test of a Mediational Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niditch, Laura A.; Varela, R. Enrique

2012-01-01

Background: Though associations between parenting styles marked by control (e.g., prevention of autonomous experiences) or rejection (e.g., criticism, arbitrary blame, and withholding of warmth) and youth anxiety have been established in the literature, few studies have examined cognitive mediators purported to explain these associations.…

The Role of Peer Rejection in the Link between Reactive Aggression and Academic Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fite, Paula J.; Hendrickson, Michelle; Rubens, Sonia L.; Gabrielli, Joy; Evans, Spencer

2013-01-01

Background: There is substantial evidence to suggest that aggressive behavior is associated with poor academic performance in school-aged children. However, less is known about how different subtypes of aggression are related to academic performance and what variables may account for this association. Objective: The current study examined unique…

Food Fussiness and Food Neophobia Share a Common Etiology in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Andrea D.; Herle, Moritz; Fildes, Alison; Cooke, Lucy; Steinsbekk, Silje; Llewellyn, Clare H.

2017-01-01

Background: "Food fussiness" (FF) is the tendency to be highly selective about which foods one is willing to eat, and emerges in early childhood; "food neophobia" (FN) is a closely related characteristic but specifically refers to rejection of unfamiliar food. These behaviors are associated, but the extent to which their…

Social Functioning and Adjustment in Canadian-Born Children with Chinese and European Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Xinyin; Tse, Hennis Chi-Hang

2008-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine social functioning and adjustment in peer context in Chinese Canadian and European Canadian children. A sample of elementary school children participated in the study. Data on social functioning, peer acceptance and rejection, and victimization were collected from peer assessments and sociometric…

Alternative explanations of the cosmic microwave background: A historical and an epistemological perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ćirković, Milan M.; Perović, Slobodan

2018-05-01

We historically trace various non-conventional explanations for the origin of the cosmic microwave background and discuss their merit, while analyzing the dynamics of their rejection, as well as the relevant physical and methodological reasons for it. It turns out that there have been many such unorthodox interpretations; not only those developed in the context of theories rejecting the relativistic ("Big Bang") paradigm entirely (e.g., by Alfvén, Hoyle and Narlikar) but also those coming from the camp of original thinkers firmly entrenched in the relativistic milieu (e.g., by Rees, Ellis, Rowan-Robinson, Layzer and Hively). In fact, the orthodox interpretation has only incrementally won out against the alternatives over the course of the three decades of its multi-stage development. While on the whole, none of the alternatives to the hot Big Bang scenario is persuasive today, we discuss the epistemic ramifications of establishing orthodoxy and eliminating alternatives in science, an issue recently discussed by philosophers and historians of science for other areas of physics. Finally, we single out some plausible and possibly fruitful ideas offered by the alternatives.

Comparison of fluorescence rejection methods of baseline correction and shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Zhijian; Zou, Wenlong; Wu, Jianhong

2017-10-01

Raman spectroscopy has been extensively used in biochemical tests, explosive detection, food additive and environmental pollutants. However, fluorescence disturbance brings a big trouble to the applications of portable Raman spectrometer. Currently, baseline correction and shifted-excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) methods are the most prevailing fluorescence suppressing methods. In this paper, we compared the performances of baseline correction and SERDS methods, experimentally and simulatively. Through the comparison, it demonstrates that the baseline correction can get acceptable fluorescence-removed Raman spectrum if the original Raman signal has good signal-to-noise ratio, but it cannot recover the small Raman signals out of large noise background. By using SERDS method, the Raman signals, even very weak compared to fluorescence intensity and noise level, can be clearly extracted, and the fluorescence background can be completely rejected. The Raman spectrum recovered by SERDS has good signal to noise ratio. It's proved that baseline correction is more suitable for large bench-top Raman system with better quality or signal-to-noise ratio, while the SERDS method is more suitable for noisy devices, especially the portable Raman spectrometers.

Answering the Global Challenge--Experiences from European Excellence Initiatives. Go8 Backgrounder 24

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grabert, Martin

2011-01-01

There is now a great deal of experience across different countries as they act in their own ways to improve the productivity and excellence of their higher education institutions. Each nation wants to create an international reputation for excellence that will attract students, academic staff and business. This involves change at the national…

CUORE-0 results and prospects for the CUORE experiment

DOE PAGES

Cremonesi, O.; Artusa, D. R.; Avignone III, F. T.; ...

2015-07-15

With 741 kg of TeO 2 crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, the CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment aims at searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with unprecedented sensitivity. Expected to start data taking in 2015, CUORE is currently in an advanced construction phase at LNGS. CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is 1.6 × 10 26 y at 1σ (9.5 × 10 25 y at the 90 % confidence level), in five years of live time, corresponding to an upper limit on themore » effective Majorana mass in the range 40–100 meV (50–130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary bolometric detectors could improve CUORE sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors towards a full analysis of the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. CUORE-0 was built to test and demonstrate the performance of the upcoming CUORE experiment. It consists of a single CUORE tower (52 TeO 2 bolometers of 750 g each, arranged in a 13 floor structure) constructed strictly following CUORE recipes both for materials and assembly procedures. An experiment its own, CUORE-0 is expected to reach a sensitivity to the ββ(0ν) half-life of 130Te around 3×10 24 y in one year of live time. We present an update of the data, corresponding to an exposure of 18.1 kg y. An analysis of the background indicates that the CUORE performance goal is satisfied while the sensitivity goal is within reach.« less

Final results of Borexino Phase-I on low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellini, G.; Benziger, J.; Bick, D.; Bonfini, G.; Bravo, D.; Buizza Avanzini, M.; Caccianiga, B.; Cadonati, L.; Calaprice, F.; Cavalcante, P.; Chavarria, A.; Chepurnov, A.; D'Angelo, D.; Davini, S.; Derbin, A.; Empl, A.; Etenko, A.; Fomenko, K.; Franco, D.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Gazzana, S.; Ghiano, C.; Giammarchi, M.; Göger-Neff, M.; Goretti, A.; Grandi, L.; Gromov, M.; Hagner, C.; Hungerford, E.; Ianni, Aldo; Ianni, Andrea; Kobychev, V.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Kryn, D.; Laubenstein, M.; Lewke, T.; Litvinovich, E.; Loer, B.; Lombardi, F.; Lombardi, P.; Ludhova, L.; Lukyanchenko, G.; Machulin, I.; Manecki, S.; Maneschg, W.; Manuzio, G.; Meindl, Q.; Meroni, E.; Miramonti, L.; Misiaszek, M.; Montuschi, M.; Mosteiro, P.; Muratova, V.; Oberauer, L.; Obolensky, M.; Ortica, F.; Otis, K.; Pallavicini, M.; Papp, L.; Pena-Garay, C.; Perasso, L.; Perasso, S.; Pocar, A.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Re, A.; Romani, A.; Rossi, N.; Saldanha, R.; Salvo, C.; Schönert, S.; Simgen, H.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Sukhotin, S.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Testera, G.; Vignaud, D.; Vogelaar, R. B.; von Feilitzsch, F.; Winter, J.; Wojcik, M.; Wright, A.; Wurm, M.; Xu, J.; Zaimidoroga, O.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zuzel, G.; Borexino Collaboration

2014-06-01

Borexino has been running since May 2007 at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy with the primary goal of detecting solar neutrinos. The detector, a large, unsegmented liquid scintillator calorimeter characterized by unprecedented low levels of intrinsic radioactivity, is optimized for the study of the lower energy part of the spectrum. During Phase-I (2007-2010), Borexino first detected and then precisely measured the flux of the Be7 solar neutrinos, ruled out any significant day-night asymmetry of their interaction rate, made the first direct observation of the pep neutrinos, and set the tightest upper limit on the flux of solar neutrinos produced in the CNO cycle (carbon, nitrogen, oxigen) where carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen serve as catalysts in the fusion process. In this paper we discuss the signal signature and provide a comprehensive description of the backgrounds, quantify their event rates, describe the methods for their identification, selection, or subtraction, and describe data analysis. Key features are an extensive in situ calibration program using radioactive sources, the detailed modeling of the detector response, the ability to define an innermost fiducial volume with extremely low background via software cuts, and the excellent pulse-shape discrimination capability of the scintillator that allows particle identification. We report a measurement of the annual modulation of the Be7 neutrino interaction rate. The period, the amplitude, and the phase of the observed modulation are consistent with the solar origin of these events, and the absence of their annual modulation is rejected with higher than 99% C.L. The physics implications of Phase-I results in the context of the neutrino oscillation physics and solar models are presented.

Imaging Polarimeter for a Sub-MeV Gamma-Ray All-sky Survey Using an Electron-tracking Compton Camera

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

Komura, S.; Takada, A.; Mizumura, Y.

2017-04-10

X-ray and gamma-ray polarimetry is a promising tool to study the geometry and the magnetic configuration of various celestial objects, such as binary black holes or gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, statistically significant polarizations have been detected in few of the brightest objects. Even though future polarimeters using X-ray telescopes are expected to observe weak persistent sources, there are no effective approaches to survey transient and serendipitous sources with a wide field of view (FoV). Here we present an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) as a highly sensitive gamma-ray imaging polarimeter. The ETCC provides powerful background rejection and a high modulation factormore » over an FoV of up to 2 π sr thanks to its excellent imaging based on a well-defined point-spread function. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time the stability of the modulation factor under realistic conditions of off-axis incidence and huge backgrounds using the SPring-8 polarized X-ray beam. The measured modulation factor of the ETCC was 0.65 ± 0.01 at 150 keV for an off-axis incidence with an oblique angle of 30° and was not degraded compared to the 0.58 ± 0.02 at 130 keV for on-axis incidence. These measured results are consistent with the simulation results. Consequently, we found that the satellite-ETCC proposed in Tanimori et al. would provide all-sky surveys of weak persistent sources of 13 mCrab with 10% polarization for a 10{sup 7} s exposure and over 20 GRBs down to a 6 × 10{sup −6} erg cm{sup −2} fluence and 10% polarization during a one-year observation.« less

Imaging Polarimeter for a Sub-MeV Gamma-Ray All-sky Survey Using an Electron-tracking Compton Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komura, S.; Takada, A.; Mizumura, Y.; Miyamoto, S.; Takemura, T.; Kishimoto, T.; Kubo, H.; Kurosawa, S.; Matsuoka, Y.; Miuchi, K.; Mizumoto, T.; Nakamasu, Y.; Nakamura, K.; Oda, M.; Parker, J. D.; Sawano, T.; Sonoda, S.; Tanimori, T.; Tomono, D.; Yoshikawa, K.

2017-04-01

X-ray and gamma-ray polarimetry is a promising tool to study the geometry and the magnetic configuration of various celestial objects, such as binary black holes or gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, statistically significant polarizations have been detected in few of the brightest objects. Even though future polarimeters using X-ray telescopes are expected to observe weak persistent sources, there are no effective approaches to survey transient and serendipitous sources with a wide field of view (FoV). Here we present an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) as a highly sensitive gamma-ray imaging polarimeter. The ETCC provides powerful background rejection and a high modulation factor over an FoV of up to 2π sr thanks to its excellent imaging based on a well-defined point-spread function. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time the stability of the modulation factor under realistic conditions of off-axis incidence and huge backgrounds using the SPring-8 polarized X-ray beam. The measured modulation factor of the ETCC was 0.65 ± 0.01 at 150 keV for an off-axis incidence with an oblique angle of 30° and was not degraded compared to the 0.58 ± 0.02 at 130 keV for on-axis incidence. These measured results are consistent with the simulation results. Consequently, we found that the satellite-ETCC proposed in Tanimori et al. would provide all-sky surveys of weak persistent sources of 13 mCrab with 10% polarization for a 107 s exposure and over 20 GRBs down to a 6 × 10-6 erg cm-2 fluence and 10% polarization during a one-year observation.

Phase-Noise and Amplitude-Noise Measurement of Low-Power Signals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubiola, Enrico; Salik, Ertan; Yu, Nan; Maleki, Lute

2004-01-01

Measuring the phase fluctuation between a pair of low-power microwave signals, the signals must be amplified before detection. In such cases the phase noise of the amplifier pair is the main cause of 1/f background noise of the instrument. this article proposes a scheme that makes amplification possible while rejecting the close in 1/f (flicker) noise of the two amplifiers. Noise rejection, which relies upon the understanding of the amplifier noise mechanism does not require averaging. Therefore, our scheme can also be the detector of a closed loop noise reduction system. the first prototype, compared to a traditional saturated mixer system under the same condition, show a 24 dB noise reduction of the 1/f region.

A directional microphone array for acoustic studies of wind tunnel models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soderman, P. T.; Noble, S. C.

1974-01-01

An end-fire microphone array that utilizes a digital time delay system has been designed and evaluated for measuring noise in wind tunnels. The directional response of both a four- and eight-element linear array of microphones has enabled substantial rejection of background noise and reverberations in the NASA Ames 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel. In addition, it is estimated that four- and eight-element arrays reject 6 and 9 dB, respectively, of microphone wind noise, as compared with a conventional omnidirectional microphone with nose cone. Array response to two types of jet engine models in the wind tunnel is presented. Comparisons of array response to loudspeakers in the wind tunnel and in free field are made.

Current state of pediatric cardiac transplantation

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Pediatric heart transplantation is standard of care for children with end-stage heart failure. The diverse age range, diagnoses, and practice variations continue to challenge the development of evidence-based practices and new technologies. Outcomes in the most recent era are excellent, especially with the more widespread use of ventricular assist devices (VADs). Waitlist mortality remains high and knowledge of risk factors for death while waiting and following transplantation contributes to decision-making around transplant candidacy and timing of listing. The biggest gap impacting both waitlist and overall survival remains mechanical support options for infants and patients with single ventricle physiology. Though acute rejection has decreased progressively, both diagnosis and management of antibody-mediated rejection has become increasingly challenging and complex, as has the ability to understand the implication of anti-HLA antibodies detected both pre- and post-transplantation—including when and how to intervene. Trends in immunosuppression protocols include more use of induction therapy and steroid avoidance or withdrawal protocols. Common long-term morbidities include renal insufficiency, which can be mitigated with surveillance and renal-sparing strategies, and infections. Functional outcomes are excellent, but significant psychosocial challenges exist in relation to neurodevelopment, non-adherence, and transition from child-centered to adult-centered care. Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains a barrier to long-term survival, though it is more apparent that objective evidence of an impact on the allograft is important with regards to impact on outcomes. Retransplantation is rare in pediatric heart transplant recipients. Pediatric heart transplantation continues to evolve in order to address the challenges of the diverse group of patients that reach end-stage heart failure during childhood. PMID:29492382

The Pittsburgh Randomized Trial of Tacrolimus Compared to Cyclosporine for Hepatic Transplantation

PubMed Central

Fung, John J.; Eliasziw, Michael; Todo, Satoru; Jain, Ashok; Demetris, Anthony J.; McMichael, John P.; Starzl, Thomas E.; Meier, Paul; Donner, Allan

2009-01-01

Background Tacrolimus (formerly FK 506) was first used clinically in 1989 to successfully replace cyclosporine in hepatic transplant recipients who were experiencing intractable rejection or as the baseline drug from the time of operation. After extensive pilot experience, an institutional review board-mandated clinical trial comparing cyclosporine with tacrolimus was performed. Study Design From February 16, 1990 to December 26, 1991, 154 patients were recruited. The competing drugs were combined with equal induction doses of prednisone in both arms of the study for the first 81 patients and with subsequently higher doses of prednisone in the remaining 35 patients who received cyclosporine and were entered into the trial. Drug crossover was permitted for lack of efficacy or adverse events. End points were rejection confirmed by biopsy and treatment failure leading to retransplantation or death. Results Seventy-nine patients were randomized to the tacrolimus arm and 75 to the cyclosporine arm during 1990 and 1991. All patients were available for follow-up throughout the trial, which terminated on May 30, 1995. The mean duration of follow-up was four years. Patients randomized to the tacrolimus arm were less likely to experience acute rejection than were those receiving cyclosporine, with 36.2 percent of the patients receiving tacrolimus and 16.8 percent of the patients receiving cyclosporine showing freedom from rejection at one year (p=0.003, likelihood ratio test). Survival of patients over the course of the study was virtually the same in the two groups. Conclusions Tacrolimus was more effective than cyclosporine in preventing acute rejection. PMID:8696542

Assessment of Immune Isolation of Allogeneic Mouse Pancreatic Progenitor Cells by a Macroencapsulation Device

PubMed Central

Faleo, Gaetano; Lee, Karim; Nguyen, Vinh; Tang, Qizhi

2016-01-01

Background Embryonic-stem-cell (ESC)-derived islets hold the promise of providing a renewable source of tissue for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. Encapsulation may allow ESC-derived islets to be transplanted without immunosuppression, thus enabling wider application of this therapy. Methods In this study, we investigated the immunogenicity of mouse pancreatic progenitor cells and efficacy of a new macroencapsulation device in protecting these cells against alloimmune and autoimmune responses in mouse models. Results Mouse pancreatic progenitor cells activated the indirect but not the direct pathway of alloimmune response and were promptly rejected in immune competent hosts. The new macroencapsulation device abolished T cell activation induced by allogeneic splenocytes and protected allogeneic MIN6 β cells and pancreatic progenitors from rejection even in pre-sensitized recipients. In addition, the device was effective in protecting MIN6 cells in spontaneously diabetic non-obese diabetic recipients against both alloimmune and recurring autoimmune responses. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that macroencapsulation can effectively prevent immune sensing and rejection of allogeneic pancreatic progenitor cells in fully sensitized and autoimmune hosts. PMID:26982952

Use of Electrodeposition for Sample Preparation and Rejection Rate Prediction for Assay of Electroformed Ultra High Purity Copper for 232Th and 238U Prior to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP/MS)

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

Hoppe, Eric W.; Aalseth, Craig E.; Brodzinski, Ronald L.

The search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge has driven the need for ultra-low background Ge detectors shielded by electroformed copper of ultra-high radiopurity (<0.1µBq/kg). Although electrodeposition processes are almost sophisticated enough to produce copper of this purity, to date there are no methods sensitive enough to assay it. Inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) can detect thorium and uranium at femtogram levels, but in the past, this assay has been hindered by high copper concentrations in the sample. Electrodeposition of copper samples removes copper from the solution while selectively concentrating thorium and uranium contaminants to be assayed by ICP/MS.more » Spiking 232Th and 238U into the plating bath simulates low purity copper and allows for the calculation of the electrochemical rejection rate of thorium and uranium in the electroplating system. This rejection value will help to model plating bath chemistry.« less

Victimisation and Suicide Ideation in the TRAILS Study: Specific Vulnerabilities of Victims

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herba, Catherine M.; Ferdinand, Robert F.; Stijnen, Theo; Veenstra, Rene; Oldehinkel, Albertine J.; Ormel, Johan; Verhulst, Frank C.

2008-01-01

Background: Scientific studies have provided some support for a link between being a victim of bullying and suicide ideation. We examine whether (1) parental psychopathology and (2) feelings of rejection (at home and at school) exacerbate vulnerability to suicide ideation in victims of bullying (pure victims and bully-victims). Method: Data were…

How to Take over a Journal without Trying: "Annals of Science", 1974

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grattan-Guinness, I.

2010-01-01

The author became an editor of the senior British journal "Annals of Science" in 1974, under rather strange circumstances and with no prior warning. In this article, the author describes the circumstances and their background. As the history of science developed and broadened in the 1960s the journal seemed never to reject anything; the…

Immediate and Short-Term Outcomes of the "COPEing with Toddler Behaviour" Parent Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niccols, Alison

2009-01-01

Background: Controlling, uninvolved, and rejecting parenting in early childhood are strong predictors of later disruptive behavior disorders. However, there have been no evaluations of non-targeted groups for parents of very young children, despite their potential advantages. Methods: We randomly assigned 79 mothers of 12- to 36-month-olds to an…

The Influence of Teaching Methods on Learners' Perception of E-Safety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Šimandl, Václav; Dobiáš, Václav; Šerý, Michal

2017-01-01

Aim/Purpose: The traditional method of teaching e-safety by lecturing is not very effective. Despite learners often being equipped with the right knowledge, they reject the need to act accordingly. There is a need to improve the way digital e-safety is taught. Background: The study compares four different teaching styles, examining how each…

High sensitive vectorial B-probe for low frequency plasma waves.

PubMed

Ullrich, Stefan; Grulke, Olaf; Klinger, Thomas; Rahbarnia, Kian

2013-11-01

A miniaturized multidimensional magnetic probe is developed for application in a low-temperature plasma environment. A very high sensitivity for low-frequency magnetic field fluctuations with constant phase run, a very good signal-to-noise ratio combined with an efficient electrostatic pickup rejection, renders the probe superior compared with any commercial solution. A two-step calibration allows for absolute measurement of amplitude and direction of magnetic field fluctuations. The excellent probe performance is demonstrated by measurements of the parallel current pattern of coherent electrostatic drift wave modes in the VINETA (versatile instrument for studies on nonlinearity, electromagnetism, turbulence, and applications) experiment.

Dark matter search results from the PICO-2L C$$_3$$F$$_8$$ bubble chamber

DOE PAGES

Amole, C.

2015-06-11

New data are reported from the operation of a 2 liter C 3F 8 bubble chamber in the SNOLAB underground laboratory, with a total exposure of 211.5 kg days at four different energy thresholds below 10 keV. These data show that C 3F 8 provides excellent electron-recoil and alpha rejection capabilities at very low thresholds. The chamber exhibits an electron-recoil sensitivity of < 3.5 × 10 –10 and an alpha rejection factor of > 98.2%. These data also include the first observation of a dependence of acoustic signal on alpha energy. Twelve single nuclear recoil event candidates were observed duringmore » the run. The candidate events exhibit timing characteristics that are not consistent with the hypothesis of a uniform time distribution, and no evidence for a dark matter signal is claimed. Lastly, these data provide the most sensitive direct detection constraints on WIMP-proton spin-dependent scattering to date, with significant sensitivity at low WIMP masses for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering.« less

The role of egg-nest contrast in the rejection of brood parasitic eggs.

PubMed

Aidala, Zachary; Croston, Rebecca; Schwartz, Jessica; Tong, Lainga; Hauber, Mark E

2015-04-15

Hosts of avian brood parasites can avoid the reproductive costs of raising genetically unrelated offspring by rejecting parasitic eggs. The perceptual cues and controls mediating parasitic egg discrimination and ejection are well studied: hosts are thought to use differences in egg color, brightness, maculation, size and shape to discriminate between their own and foreign eggs. Most theories of brood parasitism implicitly assume that the primary criteria to which hosts attend when discriminating eggs are differences between the eggs themselves. However, this assumption is confounded by the degree to which chromatic and achromatic characteristics of the nest lining co-vary with egg coloration, so that egg-nest contrast per se might be the recognition cue driving parasitic egg detection. Here, we systematically tested whether and how egg-nest contrast itself contributes to foreign egg discrimination. In an artificial parasitism experiment, we independently manipulated egg color and nest lining color of the egg-ejector American robin (Turdus migratorius), a host of the obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). We hypothesized that the degree of contrast between foreign eggs and the nest background would affect host egg rejection behavior. We predicted that experimentally decreasing egg-nest chromatic and achromatic contrast (i.e. rendering parasitic eggs more cryptic against the nest lining) would decrease rejection rates, while increasing egg-nest contrast would increase rejection rates. In contrast to our predictions, egg-nest contrast was not a significant predictor of egg ejection patterns. Instead, egg color significantly predicted responses to parasitism. We conclude that egg-egg differences are the primary drivers of egg rejection in this system. Future studies should test for the effects of egg-nest contrast per se in predicting parasitic egg recognition in other host-parasite systems, including those hosts building enclosed nests and those parasites laying cryptic eggs, as an alternative to hypothesized effects of egg-egg contrast. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Alphas and surface backgrounds in liquid argon dark matter detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanford, Christopher J.

Current observations from astrophysics indicate the presence of dark matter, an invisible form of matter that makes up a large part of the mass of the universe. One of the leading theories for dark matter is that it is made up of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). One of the ways we try to discover WIMPs is by directly detecting their interaction with regular matter. This can be done using a scintillator such as liquid argon, which gives off light when a particle interacts with it. Liquid argon (LAr) is a favorable means of detecting WIMPs because it has an inherent property that enables a technique called pulse-shape discrimination (PSD). PSD can distinguish a WIMP signal from the constant background of electromagnetic signals from other sources, like gamma rays. However, there are other background signals that PSD is not as capable of rejecting, such as those caused by alpha decays on the interior surfaces of the detector. Radioactive elements that undergo alpha decay are introduced to detector surfaces during construction by radon gas that is naturally present in the air, as well as other means. When these surface isotopes undergo alpha decay, they can produce WIMP-like signals in the detector. We present here two LAr experiments. The first (RaDOSE) discovered a property of an organic compound that led to a technique for rejecting surface alpha decays in LAr detectors with high efficiency. The second (DarkSide-50) is a dark matter experiment operated at LNGS in Italy and is the work of an international collaboration. A detailed look is given into alpha decays and surface backgrounds present in the detector, and projections are made of alpha-related backgrounds for 500 live days of data. The technique developed with RaDOSE is applied to DarkSide-50 to determine its effectiveness in practice. It is projected to suppress the surface background in DarkSide-50 by more than a factor of 1000.

Development of CANDLES low background HPGe detector and half-life measurement of 180Tam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, W. M.; Kishimoto, T.; Umehara, S.; Matsuoka, K.; Suzuki, K.; Yoshida, S.; Nakajima, K.; Iida, T.; Fushimi, K.; Nomachi, M.; Ogawa, I.; Tamagawa, Y.; Hazama, R.; Takemoto, Y.; Nakatani, N.; Takihira, Y.; Tozawa, M.; Kakubata, H.; Trang, V. T. T.; Ohata, T.; Tetsuno, K.; Maeda, T.; Khai, B. T.; Li, X. L.; Batpurev, T.

2018-01-01

A low background HPGe detector system was developed at CANDLES Experimental Hall for multipurpose use. Various low background techniques were employed, including hermatic shield design, radon gas suppression, and background reduction analysis. A new pulse shape discrimination (PSD) method was specially created for coaxial Ge detector. Using this PSD method, microphonics noise and background event at low energy region less than 200 keV can be rejected effectively. Monte Carlo simulation by GEANT4 was performed to acquire the detection efficiency and study the interaction of gamma-rays with detector system. For rare decay measurement, the detector was utilized to detect the nature's most stable isomer tantalum-180m (180Tam) decay. Two phases of tantalum physics run were completed with total livetime of 358.2 days, which Phase II has upgraded shield configuration. The world most stringent half-life limit of 180Tam has been successfully achieved.

Intermediate-Term Outcomes of Dual Adult versus Single-Kidney Transplantation: Evolution of a Surgical Technique.

PubMed

Islam, Ana K; Knight, Richard J; Mayer, Wesley A; Hollander, Adam B; Patel, Samir; Teeter, Larry D; Graviss, Edward A; Saharia, Ashish; Podder, Hemangshu; Asham, Emad H; Gaber, A Osama

2016-01-01

Background. Acceptance of dual kidney transplantation (DKT) has proven difficult, due to surgical complexity and concerns regarding long-term outcomes. We herein present a standard technique for ipsilateral DKT and compare outcomes to single-kidney transplant (SKT) recipients. Methods. A retrospective single-center comparison of DKT and SKT performed between February 2007 and July 2013. Results. Of 516 deceased donor kidney transplants, 29 were DKT and 487 were SKT. Mean follow-up was 43 ± 67 months. DKT recipients were older and more likely than SKT recipients to receive an extended criteria graft (p < 0.001). For DKT versus SKT, the rates of delayed graft function (10.3 versus 9.2%) and acute rejection (20.7 versus 22.4%) were equivalent (p = ns). A higher than expected urologic complication rate in the DKT cohort (14 versus 2%, p < 0.01) was reduced through modification of the ureteral anastomosis. Graft survival was equivalent between DKT and SKT groups (p = ns) with actuarial 3-year DKT patient and graft survivals of 100% and 93%. At 3 years, the groups had similar renal function (p = ns). Conclusions. By utilizing extended criteria donor organs as DKT, the donor pool was enlarged while providing excellent patient and graft survival. The DKT urologic complication rate was reduced by modification of the ureteral anastomosis.

Intermediate-Term Outcomes of Dual Adult versus Single-Kidney Transplantation: Evolution of a Surgical Technique

PubMed Central

Islam, Ana K.; Mayer, Wesley A.; Hollander, Adam B.; Patel, Samir; Teeter, Larry D.; Graviss, Edward A.; Saharia, Ashish; Podder, Hemangshu; Asham, Emad H.; Gaber, A. Osama

2016-01-01

Background. Acceptance of dual kidney transplantation (DKT) has proven difficult, due to surgical complexity and concerns regarding long-term outcomes. We herein present a standard technique for ipsilateral DKT and compare outcomes to single-kidney transplant (SKT) recipients. Methods. A retrospective single-center comparison of DKT and SKT performed between February 2007 and July 2013. Results. Of 516 deceased donor kidney transplants, 29 were DKT and 487 were SKT. Mean follow-up was 43 ± 67 months. DKT recipients were older and more likely than SKT recipients to receive an extended criteria graft (p < 0.001). For DKT versus SKT, the rates of delayed graft function (10.3 versus 9.2%) and acute rejection (20.7 versus 22.4%) were equivalent (p = ns). A higher than expected urologic complication rate in the DKT cohort (14 versus 2%, p < 0.01) was reduced through modification of the ureteral anastomosis. Graft survival was equivalent between DKT and SKT groups (p = ns) with actuarial 3-year DKT patient and graft survivals of 100% and 93%. At 3 years, the groups had similar renal function (p = ns). Conclusions. By utilizing extended criteria donor organs as DKT, the donor pool was enlarged while providing excellent patient and graft survival. The DKT urologic complication rate was reduced by modification of the ureteral anastomosis. PMID:27478630

C4d Deposition and Cellular Infiltrates as Markers of Acute Rejection in Rat Models of Orthotopic Lung Transplantation

PubMed Central

Murata, Kazunori; Iwata, Takekazu; Nakashima, Shinji; Fox-Talbot, Karen; Qian, Zhiping; Wilkes, David S.; Baldwin, William M.

2008-01-01

Background C4d is a useful marker of antibody-mediated rejection in cardiac and renal transplants, but clinical studies examining correlations between circulating alloantibodies, C4d deposition, and rejection in lung transplants have yielded conflicting results. Methods We studied circulating alloantibody levels and C4d deposition in two rat models of lung transplantation: Brown Norway (BN) to Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and PVG.R8 to PVG.1U lung allografts. The availability of C6 deficient (C6−) and C6 sufficient (C6+) PVG 1U rats allowed evaluation of the effects of the terminal complement components on graft injury and C4d deposition. Results The lung allografts had histologic features resembling human posttransplant capillaritis, characterized by neutrophilic infiltration of alveoli, edema, and hemorrhage. Immunoperoxidase stains on cross sections of allografts showed intense, diffuse, C4d deposition in a continuous linear pattern on the vascular endothelium. C4d deposits were found in both BN to WKY and PVG R8 to 1U allografts, whereas no staining was detectable in WKY to WKY isografts or native lungs. Complement deposition was associated with vascular disruption in C6−, but not in C6+ recipients. The presence of circulating donor-specific alloantibodies was verified by flow cytometry. Cell-specific staining revealed perivascular accumulation of macrophages and T lymphocytes whereas neutrophils were sequestered in the intravascular and alveolar capillary compartments. Conclusions The deposition of C4d on vascular endothelium as well as the coincident presence of alloantibodies is consistent with previous findings in antibody-mediated rejection of renal and cardiac transplants. Furthermore, the histological features of our allografts support the concept that posttransplant capillaritis is a form of humoral rejection. PMID:18622289

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Deficiency in T Cells Accelerates Chronic Rejection by Influencing the Differentiation of CD4+ T Cells and Alternatively Activated Macrophages

PubMed Central

Ye, Ping; Cheng, Chao; Wu, Jie; Wang, Sihua; Sun, Yuan; Liu, Zheng; Xie, Aini; Xia, Jiahong

2014-01-01

Background In a previous study, activation of the peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) inhibited chronic cardiac rejection. However, because of the complexity of chronic rejection and the fact that PPARγ is widely expressed in immune cells, the mechanism of the PPARγ - induced protective effect was unclear. Materials and Methods A chronic rejection model was established using B6.C-H-2bm12KhEg (H-2bm12) mice as donors, and MHC II-mismatched T-cell-specific PPARγ knockout mice or wild type (WT) littermates as recipients. The allograft lesion was assessed by histology and immunohistochemistry. T cells infiltrates in the allograft were isolated, and cytokines and subpopulations were detected using cytokine arrays and flow cytometry. Transcription levels in the allograft were measured by RT-PCR. In vitro, the T cell subset differentiation was investigated after culture in various polarizing conditions. PPARγ-deficient regularory T cells (Treg) were cocultured with monocytes to test their ability to induce alternatively activated macrophages (AAM). Results T cell-specific PPARγ knockout recipients displayed reduced cardiac allograft survival and an increased degree of pathology compared with WT littermates. T cell-specific PPARγ knockout resulted in more CD4+ T cells infiltrating into the allograft and altered the Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg ratios. The polarization of AAM was also reduced by PPARγ deficiency in T cells through the action of Th2 and Treg. PPARγ-deficient T cells eliminated the pioglitazone-induced polarization of AAM and reduced allograft survival. Conclusions PPARγ-deficient T cells influenced the T cell subset and AAM polarization in chronic allograft rejection. The mechanism of PPARγ activation in transplantation tolerance could yield a novel treatment without side effects. PMID:25383620

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

Wollaber, Allan Benton

This is a powerpoint presentation which serves as lecture material for the Parallel Computing summer school. It goes over the fundamentals of the Monte Carlo calculation method. The material is presented according to the following outline: Introduction (background, a simple example: estimating π), Why does this even work? (The Law of Large Numbers, The Central Limit Theorem), How to sample (inverse transform sampling, rejection), and An example from particle transport.

The Peer Relationships of Girls with ASD at School: Comparison to Boys and Girls with and without ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dean, Michelle; Kasari, Connie; Shih, Wendy; Frankel, Fred; Whitney, Rondalyn; Landa, Rebecca; Lord, Catherine; Orlich, Felice; King, Bryan; Harwood, Robin

2014-01-01

Background: This study examines the social relationships of elementary school children with high-functioning autism, focusing on how gender relates to social preferences and acceptance, social connections, reciprocal friendships, and rejection. Method: Peer nomination data were analyzed for girls with and without ASD (n = 50) and boys with and…

Childhood Peer Rejection and Aggression as Predictors of Adolescent Girls' Externalizing and Health Risk Behaviors: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinstein, Mitchell J.; La Greca, Annette M.

2004-01-01

This 6-year longitudinal study examined girls' peer-nominated social preference and aggression in childhood as predictors of self- and parent-reported externalizing symptoms, substance use (i.e.. cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use), and sexual risk behavior in adolescence. Participants were 148 girls from diverse ethnic backgrounds, who were…

A position-sensitive X-ray detector for the HEAO-A satellite.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Held, D.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1973-01-01

A position-sensitive, low-energy proportional counter system is described which will be used on the High-Energy Astronomical Observatory, Mission A, spacecraft. The associated system incorporates the capability to employ pulse-shape discrimination for background rejection and interpolation circuitry to locate the centroid of an X-ray event with an accuracy of approximately one eighth the cathode-wire spacing.

Districts' Efforts for Data Use and Computer Data Systems: The Role of Sensemaking in System Use and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Vincent; Wayman, Jeffrey C.

2014-01-01

Background: Increasingly, teachers and other educators are expected to leverage data in making educational decisions. Effective data use is difficult, if not impossible, without computer data systems. Nonetheless, these systems may be underused or even rejected by teachers. One potential explanation for such troubles may relate to how teachers…

Electron efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector using 2012 LHC proton–proton collision data

DOE PAGES

Aaboud, M.; Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; ...

2017-03-27

This paper describes the algorithms for the reconstruction and identification of electrons in the central region of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These algorithms were used for all ATLAS results with electrons in the final state that are based on the 2012 pp collision data produced by the LHC at s = 8 TeV. The efficiency of these algorithms, together with the charge misidentification rate, is measured in data and evaluated in simulated samples using electrons from Z→ ee, Z→ eeγ and J/ ψ→ ee decays. For these efficiency measurements, the full recorded data set, corresponding tomore » an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb - 1 , is used. Based on a new reconstruction algorithm used in 2012, the electron reconstruction efficiency is 97% for electrons with E T = 15 GeV and 99% at E T = 50 GeV. Combining this with the efficiency of additional selection criteria to reject electrons from background processes or misidentified hadrons, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify electrons at the ATLAS experiment varies from 65 to 95%, depending on the transverse momentum of the electron and background rejection.« less

Electron efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector using 2012 LHC proton-proton collision data.

PubMed

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Suzuki, S; Svatos, M; Swiatlowski, M; Swift, S P; Sykora, I; Sykora, T; Ta, D; Tackmann, K; Taenzer, J; Taffard, A; Tafirout, R; Taiblum, N; Takai, H; Takashima, R; Takeshita, T; Takubo, Y; Talby, M; Talyshev, A A; Tanaka, J; Tanaka, M; Tanaka, R; Tanaka, S; Tanioka, R; Tannenwald, B B; Tapia Araya, S; Tapprogge, S; Tarem, S; Tartarelli, G F; Tas, P; Tasevsky, M; Tashiro, T; Tassi, E; Tavares Delgado, A; Tayalati, Y; Taylor, A C; Taylor, G N; Taylor, P T E; Taylor, W; Teischinger, F A; Teixeira-Dias, P; Temming, K K; Temple, D; Ten Kate, H; Teng, P K; Teoh, J J; Tepel, F; Terada, S; Terashi, K; Terron, J; Terzo, S; Testa, M; Teuscher, R J; Theveneaux-Pelzer, T; Thomas, J P; Thomas-Wilsker, J; Thompson, P D; Thompson, A S; Thomsen, L A; Thomson, E; Tibbetts, M J; Ticse Torres, R E; Tikhomirov, V O; Tikhonov, Yu A; Timoshenko, S; Tiouchichine, E; Tipton, P; Tisserant, S; Todome, K; Todorov, T; Todorova-Nova, S; Tojo, J; Tokár, S; Tokushuku, K; Tolley, E; Tomlinson, L; Tomoto, M; Tompkins, L; Toms, K; Tong, B; Tornambe, P; Torrence, E; Torres, H; Torró Pastor, E; Toth, J; Touchard, F; Tovey, D R; Trefzger, T; Tricoli, A; Trigger, I M; Trincaz-Duvoid, S; Tripiana, M F; Trischuk, W; Trocmé, B; Trofymov, A; Troncon, C; Trottier-McDonald, M; Trovatelli, M; Truong, L; Trzebinski, M; Trzupek, A; Tseng, J C-L; Tsiareshka, P V; Tsipolitis, G; Tsirintanis, N; Tsiskaridze, S; Tsiskaridze, V; Tskhadadze, E G; Tsui, K M; Tsukerman, I I; Tsulaia, V; Tsuno, S; Tsybychev, D; Tu, Y; Tudorache, A; Tudorache, V; Tulbure, T T; Tuna, A N; Tupputi, S A; Turchikhin, S; Turgeman, D; Turk Cakir, I; Turra, R; Tuts, P M; Ucchielli, G; Ueda, I; Ughetto, M; Ukegawa, F; Unal, G; Undrus, A; Unel, G; Ungaro, F C; Unno, Y; Unverdorben, C; Urban, J; Urquijo, P; Urrejola, P; Usai, G; Usui, J; Vacavant, L; Vacek, V; Vachon, B; Valderanis, C; Valdes Santurio, E; Valencic, N; Valentinetti, S; Valero, A; Valery, L; Valkar, S; Valls Ferrer, J A; Van Den Wollenberg, W; Van Der Deijl, P C; van der Graaf, H; van Eldik, N; van Gemmeren, P; Van Nieuwkoop, J; van Vulpen, I; van Woerden, M C; Vanadia, M; Vandelli, W; Vanguri, R; Vaniachine, A; Vankov, P; Vardanyan, G; Vari, R; Varnes, E W; Varol, T; Varouchas, D; Vartapetian, A; Varvell, K E; Vasquez, J G; Vasquez, G A; Vazeille, F; Vazquez Schroeder, T; Veatch, J; Veeraraghavan, V; Veloce, L M; Veloso, F; Veneziano, S; Ventura, A; Venturi, M; Venturi, N; Venturini, A; Vercesi, V; Verducci, M; Verkerke, W; Vermeulen, J C; Vest, A; Vetterli, M C; Viazlo, O; Vichou, I; Vickey, T; Vickey Boeriu, O E; Viehhauser, G H A; Viel, S; Vigani, L; Villa, M; Villaplana Perez, M; Vilucchi, E; Vincter, M G; Vinogradov, V B; Vittori, C; Vivarelli, I; Vlachos, S; Vlasak, M; Vogel, M; Vokac, P; Volpi, G; Volpi, M; von der Schmitt, H; von Toerne, E; Vorobel, V; Vorobev, K; Vos, M; Voss, R; Vossebeld, J H; Vranjes, N; Vranjes Milosavljevic, M; Vrba, V; Vreeswijk, M; Vuillermet, R; Vukotic, I; Wagner, P; Wagner, W; Wahlberg, H; Wahrmund, S; Wakabayashi, J; Walder, J; Walker, R; 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Wynne, B M; Xella, S; Xi, Z; Xu, D; Xu, L; Yabsley, B; Yacoob, S; Yamaguchi, D; Yamaguchi, Y; Yamamoto, A; Yamamoto, S; Yamanaka, T; Yamauchi, K; Yamazaki, Y; Yan, Z; Yang, H; Yang, H; Yang, Y; Yang, Z; Yao, W-M; Yap, Y C; Yasu, Y; Yatsenko, E; Yau Wong, K H; Ye, J; Ye, S; Yeletskikh, I; Yildirim, E; Yorita, K; Yoshida, R; Yoshihara, K; Young, C; Young, C J S; Youssef, S; Yu, D R; Yu, J; Yu, J M; Yu, J; Yuan, L; Yuen, S P Y; Yusuff, I; Zabinski, B; Zacharis, G; Zaidan, R; Zaitsev, A M; Zakharchuk, N; Zalieckas, J; Zaman, A; Zambito, S; Zanello, L; Zanzi, D; Zeitnitz, C; Zeman, M; Zemla, A; Zeng, J C; Zeng, Q; Zenin, O; Ženiš, T; Zerwas, D; Zhang, D; Zhang, F; Zhang, G; Zhang, H; Zhang, J; Zhang, L; Zhang, L; Zhang, M; Zhang, R; Zhang, R; Zhang, X; Zhang, Y; Zhang, Z; Zhao, X; Zhao, Y; Zhao, Z; Zhemchugov, A; Zhong, J; Zhou, B; Zhou, C; Zhou, L; Zhou, L; Zhou, M; Zhou, M; Zhou, N; Zhu, C G; Zhu, H; Zhu, J; Zhu, Y; Zhuang, X; Zhukov, K; Zibell, A; Zieminska, D; Zimine, N I; Zimmermann, C; Zimmermann, S; Zinonos, Z; Zinser, M; Ziolkowski, M; Živković, L; Zobernig, G; Zoccoli, A; Zur Nedden, M; Zwalinski, L

2017-01-01

This paper describes the algorithms for the reconstruction and identification of electrons in the central region of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These algorithms were used for all ATLAS results with electrons in the final state that are based on the 2012 pp collision data produced by the LHC at [Formula: see text] = 8 [Formula: see text]. The efficiency of these algorithms, together with the charge misidentification rate, is measured in data and evaluated in simulated samples using electrons from [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] decays. For these efficiency measurements, the full recorded data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb[Formula: see text], is used. Based on a new reconstruction algorithm used in 2012, the electron reconstruction efficiency is 97% for electrons with [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and 99% at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. Combining this with the efficiency of additional selection criteria to reject electrons from background processes or misidentified hadrons, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify electrons at the ATLAS experiment varies from 65 to 95%, depending on the transverse momentum of the electron and background rejection.

Background Acoustics Levels in the 9x15 Wind Tunnel and Linear Array Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephens, David

2011-01-01

The background noise level in the 9x15 foot wind tunnel at NASA Glenn has been documented, and the results compare favorably with historical measurements. A study of recessed microphone mounting techniques was also conducted, and a recessed cavity with a micronic wire mesh screen reduces hydrodynamic noise by around 10 dB. A three-microphone signal processing technique can provide additional benefit, rejecting up to 15 dB of noise contamination at some frequencies. The screen and cavity system offers considerable benefit to test efficiency, although there are additional calibration requirements.

Real-World Safety and Efficacy of Ombitasvir/Paritaprevir/Ritonavir/+Dasabuvir±Ribavirin (OBV/PTV/r/+DSV±RBV) Therapy in Recurrent Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Genotype 1 Infection Post-Liver Transplant: AMBER-CEE Study.

PubMed

Tronina, Olga; Durlik, Magdalena; Wawrzynowicz-Syczewska, Marta; Buivydiene, Arida; Katzarov, Krum; Kupcinskas, Limas; Tolmane, Ieva; Karpińska, Ewa; Pisula, Arkadiusz; Karwowska, Kornelia Magdalena; Bolewska, Beata; Jabłkowski, Maciej; Rostkowska, Karolina; Jakutiene, Jolita; Simonova, Marieta; Flisiak, Robert

2017-04-07

BACKGROUND The introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has considerably improved therapeutic outcomes for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. The AMBER-CEE study aimed to assess real-world efficacy and safety of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir/+ dasabuvir ±ribavirin (OBV/PTV/r/ +DSV±RBV) in the treatment of post-transplant recurrence of HCV infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS Liver transplant recipients with recurrent HCV genotype 1 infection, scheduled for OBV/PTV/r/+DSV±RBV according to therapeutic guidelines, were eligible. The primary efficacy endpoint was sustained virologic response (SVR) 12 weeks after the end of treatment (FU12). Clinical and laboratory adverse events (AEs) were recorded from baseline to FU12. RESULTS A total of 35 patients were included: 91.4% genotype 1b-infected, 94.3% treatment-experienced, and 77.1% at fibrosis stage ≥F2. SVR12 was achieved by all patients (35/35, 100%) including one patient with genotype 1a, one patient with detectable HCV RNA at the end of treatment, two patients with a history of first-generation DAA therapy, and two patients who prematurely discontinued the regimen. AEs were experienced by 22 patients (62.9%) and were mostly mild. No death, graft loss, or acute graft rejections were reported during the therapy. On-treatment hepatic decompensation occurred in three patients (8.6%). Anemia was observed in 29 patients (83.9%), with 21 (60%) requiring RBV dose reduction or discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS OBV/PTV/r/+DSV±RBV has excellent efficacy in post-transplant recurrence of HCV genotype 1-infection treated under real-world conditions. Excellent virologic outcomes were observed irrespective of prior treatment history or the degree of fibrosis, and AEs were mostly mild and transient.

Background Model for the Majorana Demonstrator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuesta, C.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; Avignone, F. T.; Barabash, A. S.; Bertrand, F. E.; Boswell, M.; Brudanin, V.; Busch, M.; Byram, D.; Caldwell, A. S.; Chan, Y.-D.; Christofferson, C. D.; Combs, D. C.; Detwiler, J. A.; Doe, P. J.; Efremenko, Yu.; Egorov, V.; Ejiri, H.; Elliott, S. R.; Fast, J. E.; Finnerty, P.; Fraenkle, F. M.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Giovanetti, G. K.; Goett, J.; Green, M. P.; Gruszko, J.; Guiseppe, V. E.; Gusev, K.; Hallin, A. L.; Hazama, R.; Hegai, A.; Henning, R.; Hoppe, E. W.; Howard, S.; Howe, M. A.; Keeter, K. J.; Kidd, M. F.; Kochetov, O.; Konovalov, S. I.; Kouzes, R. T.; LaFerriere, B. D.; Leon, J.; Leviner, L. E.; Loach, J. C.; MacMullin, J.; MacMullin, S.; Martin, R. D.; Meijer, S.; Mertens, S.; Nomachi, M.; Orrell, J. L.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Overman, N. R.; Phillips, D. G.; Poon, A. W. P.; Pushkin, K.; Radford, D. C.; Rager, J.; Rielage, K.; Robertson, R. G. H.; Romero-Romero, E.; Ronquest, M. C.; Schubert, A. G.; Shanks, B.; Shima, T.; Shirchenko, M.; Snavely, K. J.; Snyder, N.; Suriano, A. M.; Thompson, J.; Timkin, V.; Tornow, W.; Trimble, J. E.; Varner, R. L.; Vasilyev, S.; Vetter, K.; Vorren, K.; White, B. R.; Wilkerson, J. F.; Wiseman, C.; Xu, W.; Yakushev, E.; Young, A. R.; Yu, C.-H.; Yumatov, V.

The Majorana Collaboration is constructing a system containing 40 kg of HPGe detectors to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of a future tonne-scale experiment capable of probing the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region. To realize this, a major goal of the Majorana Demonstrator is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 cnt/(ROI-t-y) in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. This goal is pursued through a combination of a significant reduction of radioactive impurities in construction materials with analytical methods for background rejection, for example using powerful pulse shape analysis techniques profiting from the p-type point contact HPGe detectors technology. The effectiveness of these methods is assessed using simulations of the different background components whose purity levels are constrained from radioassay measurements.

SABRE: A New NaI(T1) Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shields, Emily; Xu, Jingke; Calaprice, Frank

SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) is a new NaI(Tl) experiment designed to test the DAMA/LIBRA claim for a positive WIMP-dark matter annual modulation signal. SABRE will consist of highly pure NaI(Tl) crystals in an active liquid scintillator veto that will be placed deep underground. The scintillator vessel will provide a veto against external backgrounds and those arising from detector components, especially the 3 keV signature from the decay of 40K in the crystal. Through the use of crystal purification techniques and the veto, we aim for a 40K background significantly lower than that of the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. We present our work developing low-background NaI(Tl) crystals using a highly pure NaI powder and the development of the veto.

External Quality Monitoring of the Cervical Cytopathological Exams in the Rio de Janeiro City.

PubMed

Rocha, Vânia Stiepanowez de Oliveira; Malfacini, Solange da Silva; Gomes, Alex Moreira; Rocha, Cláudia Ramos Marques da

2018-06-20

 To discuss the implementation and contributions of the External Quality Monitoring in the city of Rio de Janeiro and to analyze the performance of the main providers of cervical cytopathology in this city from September 2013 to March 2017, here referred to as "Alpha laboratory" and "Beta laboratory."  Observational, cross-sectional, retrospective study using information from the Cervical Cancer Control Information System (SISCOLO, in the Portuguese acronym), municipal coordination module, External Quality Monitoring report. The proportions of false positives, false negatives, unsatisfactory samples and rejected samples were estimated. The agreement among the observers was analyzed through the Kappa index and the reduction of disagreements in the period for each laboratory studied, comparing the results of each cycle.  A total of 19,158 examinations were selected, of which 19,130 (99.85%) were monitored, 16.649 (87, 03%) were reviewed by the External Quality Monitoring Unit, 2,481 (12,97%) were rejected and 441 (2,65%) were considered unsatisfactory. The "Beta laboratory" presented excellent concordance in all cycles; the "Alpha laboratory" had good concordance in the first two cycles (K = 0.76 and 0.79), becoming excellent in the following four cycles. The average Kappa index was 0.85, with median of 0.86. The percentage of diagnostic disagreement was 6.63% of the reviewed exams, of which 5.38% required a change of conduct CONCLUSION:  External Quality Monitoring is an exercise in diagnostic improvement, and its implementation was fundamental to ensure the reliability of the cytopathological exams in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A Shallow Underground Laboratory for Low-Background Radiation Measurements and Materials Development

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

Aalseth, Craig E.; Bonicalzi, Ricco; Cantaloub, Michael G.

Abstract: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently commissioned a new shallow underground laboratory, located at a depth of approximately 30 meters water-equivalent. This new addition to the small class of radiation measurement laboratories located at modest underground depths worldwide houses the latest generation of custom-made, high-efficiency, low-background gamma-ray spectrometers and gas proportional counters. This manuscript describes the unique capabilities present in the shallow underground laboratory; these include large-scale ultra-pure materials production and a suite of radiation detection systems. Reported data characterize the degree of background reduction achieved through a combination of underground location, graded shielding, and rejection of cosmic-ray events. Wemore » conclude by presenting measurement targets and future opportunities.« less

Pulse shape discrimination for Gerda Phase I data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Andreotti, E.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Barnabé Heider, M.; Barros, N.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Becerici-Schmidt, N.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Budjáš, D.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; Cossavella, F.; Demidova, E. V.; Domula, A.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Ferella, A.; Freund, K.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gotti, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Guthikonda, K. K.; Hampel, W.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Heusser, G.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Ioannucci, L.; Janicskó Csáthy, J.; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Klimenko, A.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Liu, X.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Machado, A. A.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Misiaszek, M.; Nemchenok, I.; Nisi, S.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pessina, G.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Rumyantseva, N.; Sada, C.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Schönert, S.; Shevchik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Strecker, H.; Tarka, M.; Ur, C. A.; Vasenko, A. A.; Volynets, O.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Walter, M.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zavarise, P.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2013-10-01

The Gerda experiment located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN searches for neutrinoless double beta (0 νββ) decay of 76Ge using germanium diodes as source and detector. In Phase I of the experiment eight semi-coaxial and five BEGe type detectors have been deployed. The latter type is used in this field of research for the first time. All detectors are made from material with enriched 76Ge fraction. The experimental sensitivity can be improved by analyzing the pulse shape of the detector signals with the aim to reject background events. This paper documents the algorithms developed before the data of Phase I were unblinded. The double escape peak (DEP) and Compton edge events of 2.615 MeV γ rays from 208Tl decays as well as two-neutrino double beta (2 νββ) decays of 76Ge are used as proxies for 0 νββ decay. For BEGe detectors the chosen selection is based on a single pulse shape parameter. It accepts 0.92±0.02 of signal-like events while about 80 % of the background events at Q ββ =2039 keV are rejected. For semi-coaxial detectors three analyses are developed. The one based on an artificial neural network is used for the search of 0 νββ decay. It retains 90 % of DEP events and rejects about half of the events around Q ββ . The 2 νββ events have an efficiency of 0.85±0.02 and the one for 0 νββ decays is estimated to be . A second analysis uses a likelihood approach trained on Compton edge events. The third approach uses two pulse shape parameters. The latter two methods confirm the classification of the neural network since about 90 % of the data events rejected by the neural network are also removed by both of them. In general, the selection efficiency extracted from DEP events agrees well with those determined from Compton edge events or from 2 νββ decays.

Pulse shape discrimination for Gerda Phase I data

DOE PAGES

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Andreotti, E.; ...

2013-10-09

The GERDA experiment located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN searches for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge using germanium diodes as source and detector. In Phase I of the experiment eight semi-coaxial and five BEGe type detectors have been deployed. The latter type is used in this field of research for the first time. All detectors are made from material with enriched 76Ge fraction. The experimental sensitivity can be improved by analyzing the pulse shape of the detector signals with the aim to reject background events. This paper documents the algorithms developed before the datamore » of Phase I were unblinded. The double escape peak (DEP) and Compton edge events of 2.615 MeV γ rays from 208Tl decays as well as two-neutrino double beta (2νββ) decays of 76Ge are used as proxies for 0νββ decay. For BEGe detectors the chosen selection is based on a single pulse shape parameter. It accepts 0.92 ± 0.02 of signal-like events while about 80 % of the background events at Qββ = 2039 keV are rejected. For semi-coaxial detectors three analyses are developed. The one based on an artificial neural network is used for the search of 0νββ decay. It retains 90 % of DEP events and rejects about half of the events around Qββ . The 2νββ events have an efficiency of 0.85±0.02 and the one for 0νββ decays is estimated to be 0.90 +0.05 -0.09 . A second analysis uses a likelihood approach trained on Compton edge events. The third approach uses two pulse shape parameters. The latter two methods confirm the classification of the neural network since about 90 % of the data events rejected by the neural network are also removed by both of them. In general, the selection efficiency extracted from DEP events agrees well with those determined from Compton edge events or from 2νββ decays.« less

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

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Andreotti, E.

The GERDA experiment located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN searches for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge using germanium diodes as source and detector. In Phase I of the experiment eight semi-coaxial and five BEGe type detectors have been deployed. The latter type is used in this field of research for the first time. All detectors are made from material with enriched 76Ge fraction. The experimental sensitivity can be improved by analyzing the pulse shape of the detector signals with the aim to reject background events. This paper documents the algorithms developed before the datamore » of Phase I were unblinded. The double escape peak (DEP) and Compton edge events of 2.615 MeV γ rays from 208Tl decays as well as two-neutrino double beta (2νββ) decays of 76Ge are used as proxies for 0νββ decay. For BEGe detectors the chosen selection is based on a single pulse shape parameter. It accepts 0.92 ± 0.02 of signal-like events while about 80 % of the background events at Qββ = 2039 keV are rejected. For semi-coaxial detectors three analyses are developed. The one based on an artificial neural network is used for the search of 0νββ decay. It retains 90 % of DEP events and rejects about half of the events around Qββ . The 2νββ events have an efficiency of 0.85±0.02 and the one for 0νββ decays is estimated to be 0.90 +0.05 -0.09 . A second analysis uses a likelihood approach trained on Compton edge events. The third approach uses two pulse shape parameters. The latter two methods confirm the classification of the neural network since about 90 % of the data events rejected by the neural network are also removed by both of them. In general, the selection efficiency extracted from DEP events agrees well with those determined from Compton edge events or from 2νββ decays.« less

FPGA-Based X-Ray Detection and Measurement for an X-Ray Polarimeter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gregory, Kyle; Hill, Joanne; Black, Kevin; Baumgartner, Wayne

2013-01-01

This technology enables detection and measurement of x-rays in an x-ray polarimeter using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The technology was developed for the Gravitational and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) mission. It performs precision energy and timing measurements, as well as rejection of non-x-ray events. It enables the GEMS polarimeter to detect precisely when an event has taken place so that additional measurements can be made. The technology also enables this function to be performed in an FPGA using limited resources so that mass and power can be minimized while reliability for a space application is maximized and precise real-time operation is achieved. This design requires a low-noise, charge-sensitive preamplifier; a highspeed analog to digital converter (ADC); and an x-ray detector with a cathode terminal. It functions by computing a sum of differences for time-samples whose difference exceeds a programmable threshold. A state machine advances through states as a programmable number of consecutive samples exceeds or fails to exceed this threshold. The pulse height is recorded as the accumulated sum. The track length is also measured based on the time from the start to the end of accumulation. For track lengths longer than a certain length, the algorithm estimates the barycenter of charge deposit by comparing the accumulator value at the midpoint to the final accumulator value. The design also employs a number of techniques for rejecting background events. This innovation enables the function to be performed in space where it can operate autonomously with a rapid response time. This implementation combines advantages of computing system-based approaches with those of pure analog approaches. The result is an implementation that is highly reliable, performs in real-time, rejects background events, and consumes minimal power.

Intermediate-Term Outcomes With Expanded Criteria Deceased Donors in Kidney Transplantation

PubMed Central

Stratta, Robert J.; Rohr, Michael S.; Sundberg, Aimee K.; Farney, Alan C.; Hartmann, Erica L.; Moore, Phillip S.; Rogers, Jeffrey; Iskandar, Samy S.; Gautreaux, Michael D.; Kiger, David F.; Doares, William; Anderson, Teresa K.; Hairston, Gloria; Adams, Patricia L.

2006-01-01

Objective: To compare intermediate-term outcomes in adult recipients of expanded criteria (ECD) versus concurrent standard criteria (SCD) deceased donor kidney transplants at a single center using a standardized approach. Summary Background Data: Expanded criteria donors (ECDs) are a source of kidneys that increase the donor organ pool, but the value of transplanting these kidneys has been questioned because of concerns regarding diminished survival and predicted poorer intermediate-term outcomes. Methods: Over a 47-month period, we performed 244 deceased donor kidney transplants into adult recipients, including 143 from SCDs and 101 from ECDs. Management algorithms were implemented to preserve nephron function, and recipient selection for an ECD kidney transplant was based on low immunologic risk. All patients received depleting antibody induction in combination with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil. A total of 188 patients (77%) had at least a 1-year follow-up. Results: ECDs were older, had a higher BMI, had an increased incidence of cerebrovascular brain death and preexisting donor hypertension, and had a lower estimated creatinine clearance (CrCl, all P < 0.01) compared with SCDs. Cold ischemic times were similar between groups, but more ECD kidneys were preserved with pulsatile perfusion (P < 0.01). ECD kidney recipients were older, less sensitized, had a lower BMI, had fewer 0-antigen mismatches, and had a shorter waiting time (all P < 0.01) compared with SCD kidney recipients. Actual patient (93%) and kidney graft (83%) survival rates were similar between groups with a mean follow-up of 24 months. The rates of delayed graft function (DGF), acute rejection, readmissions, operative complications, major infections, and resource utilization were comparable between groups. Renal function followed longitudinally was consistently better in SCD patients (P < 0.05). Black recipients had higher rates of DGF, acute rejection, and graft loss (P < 0.05), but the effects were less pronounced in the ECD group. Conclusions: By appropriate donor and recipient profiling and the use of management algorithms to project and protect renal function, excellent intermediate-term outcomes can be achieved with ECD kidney transplants that are comparable to SCD kidney transplants. PMID:16632993

The necessity of recognizing all events in X-ray detection.

PubMed

Papp, T; Maxwell, J A; Papp, A T

2010-01-01

In our work in studying properties of inner shell ionization, we are troubled that the experimental data used to determine the basic parameters of X-ray physics have a large and unexplainable scatter. As we looked into the problems we found that many of them contradict simple logic, elemental arithmetic, even parity and angular momentum conservation laws. We have identified that the main source of the problems, other than the human factor, is rooted in the signal processing electronics. To overcome these problems we have developed a fully digital signal processor, which not only has excellent resolution and line shape, but also allows proper accounting of all events. This is achieved by processing all events and separating them into two or more spectra (maximum 16), where the first spectrum is the accepted or good spectrum and the second spectrum is the spectrum of all rejected events. The availability of all the events allows one to see the other part of the spectrum. To our surprise the total information explains many of the shortcomings and contradictions of the X-ray database. The data processing methodology cannot be established on the partial and fractional information offered by other approaches. Comparing Monte Carlo detector modeling results with the partial spectra is ambiguous. It suggests that the metrology of calibration by radioactive sources as well as other X-ray measurements could be improved by the availability of the proper accounting of all events. It is not enough to know that an event was rejected and increment the input counter, it is necessary to know, what was rejected and why it happened, whether it was a noise or a disturbed event, a retarded event or a true event, or any pile up combination of these events. Such information is supplied by our processor reporting the events rejected by each discriminator in separate spectra. Several industrial applications of this quality assurance capable signal processor are presented. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

IceVeto: Extended PeV neutrino astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere with IceCube

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

Auffenberg, Jan; Collaboration: IceCube Collaboration

IceCube, the world's largest high-energy neutrino observatory, built at the South Pole, recently reported evidence of an astrophysical neutrino flux extending to PeV energies in the Southern Hemisphere. This observation raises the question of how the sensitivity in this energy range could be further increased. In the down-going sector, in IceCube's case the Southern Hemisphere, backgrounds from atmospheric muons and neutrinos pose a challenge to the identification of an astrophysical neutrino flux. The IceCube analysis, that led to the evidence for astrophysical neutrinos, is based on an in-ice veto strategy for background rejection. One possibility available to IceCube is themore » concept of an extended surface detector, IceVeto, which could allow the rejection of a large fraction of atmospheric backgrounds, primarily for muons from cosmic ray (CR) air showers as well as from neutrinos in the same air showers. Building on the experience of IceTop/IceCube, possibly the most cost-effective and sensitive way to build IceVeto is as an extension of the IceTop detector, with simple photomultiplier based detector modules for CR air shower detection. Initial simulations and estimates indicate that such a veto detector will significantly increase the sensitivity to an astrophysical flux of ν{sub μ} induced muon tracks in the Southern Hemisphere compared to current analyses. Here we present the motivation and capabilities based on initial simulations. Conceptual ideas for a simplified surface array will be discussed briefly.« less

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

Cardani, L.; Bellini, F.; Casali, N.

The development of background-free detectors is essential for experiments searching for rare events. Bolometers, that are among the most competitive devices for the study of neutrino-less double beta decay (0νDBD) and Dark Matter interactions, suffer from the absence of techniques that allow to identify the nature of the interacting particles. This limit can be overcome by coupling the bolometer to an independent device for the measurement of the light emitted by interactions, as the combined read-out of the bolometric and light signals allows to identify and reject particles different from those of interest. CUORE, the most advanced bolometric experiment formore » 0νDBD searches, could disentangle the electrons produced by 0νDBD from the dangerous background due to α particles, by measuring the (tiny) Cherenkov light emitted by electrons and not by α’s. LUCIFER, a project based on ZnSe scintillating bolometers for the study of {sup 82}Se 0νDBD, would be competitive also in the search of Dark Matter interactions if equipped with light detectors that allow to distinguish and reject the background due to electrons and γ’s. These advances require cryogenic detectors characterized by noise lower than 20 eV, large active area, wide temperature range of operation, high radio-purity and ease in fabricating hundreds of channels. The CALDER collaboration aims to develop such detectors by exploiting the superb energy resolution and natural multiplexed read-out provided by Kinetic Inductance Detectors.« less

Rejection of randomly coinciding events in Li_2^{100}MoO_4 scintillating bolometers using light detectors based on the Neganov-Luke effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyak, D. M.; Danevich, F. A.; Dumoulin, L.; Giuliani, A.; Mancuso, M.; Marcillac, P. de; Marnieros, S.; Nones, C.; Olivieri, E.; Poda, D. V.; Tretyak, V. I.

2017-01-01

Random coincidences of nuclear events can be one of the main background sources in low-temperature calorimetric experiments looking for neutrinoless double-beta decay, especially in those searches based on scintillating bolometers embedding the promising double-beta candidate ^{100} Mo, because of the relatively short half-life of the two-neutrino double-beta decay of this nucleus. We show in this work that randomly coinciding events of the two-neutrino double-beta decay of ^{100} Mo in enriched Li_2^{100} MoO_4 detectors can be effectively discriminated by pulse-shape analysis in the light channel if the scintillating bolometer is provided with a Neganov-Luke light detector, which can improve the signal-to-noise ratio by a large factor, assumed here at the level of {˜ }750 on the basis of preliminary experimental results obtained with these devices. The achieved pile-up rejection efficiency results in a very low contribution, of the order of {˜ }6× 10^{-5} counts/(keV\\cdot kg\\cdot y), to the background counting rate in the region of interest for a large volume ({˜ }90 cm^3) Li_2^{100} MoO_4 detector. This background level is very encouraging in view of a possible use of the Li_2^{100} MoO_4 solution for a bolometric tonne-scale next-generation experiment as that proposed in the CUPID project.

Multi-channel lock-in amplifier assisted femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy with efficient rejection of superfluorescence background.

PubMed

Mao, Pengcheng; Wang, Zhuan; Dang, Wei; Weng, Yuxiang

2015-12-01

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300-1/100 when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10(-5)M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process.

Multi-channel lock-in amplifier assisted femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy with efficient rejection of superfluorescence background

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

Mao, Pengcheng; Wang, Zhuan; Dang, Wei

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300–1/100more » when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10{sup −5}M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process.« less

Use of Powered Prosthesis for Children with Upper Limb Deficiency at Hyogo Rehabilitation Center

PubMed Central

Shibata, Yaeko; Mizobe, Futoshi

2015-01-01

Background There has been no research investigating the use of powered prosthetic for children in Japan. Objective To gain better insight into the state of powered prosthesis usage and identify a ratio of rejection among children. Methods Subjects were 37 unilateral below elbow amputees between the ages of 0 and 16 at the time of their first experienced fitting with a powered prosthesis at our Center. The information was collected from medical records and through face-to-face interviews, and we examined rejection rate and the factors affecting the use of powered prosthesis. Results The rate of discontinuation was 21.6% as 8 of the 37 children stopped using powered prosthesis. All of them were fitted their prosthesis after 2 years of age, and they rejected prosthesis between 5 to 19 years. We found that the level of amputation had no influence on the use of a powered prosthesis. Conclusions Children fitted before 2 years of age tend to accept their powered prosthesis than those fitted after 2 years. Multidisciprinary team approach, adequate rehabilitation, detailed follow-up and involvement of parents are quite important for introducing powered prosthesis for children. PMID:26125974

An Excel-Aided Method for Teaching Calculus-Based Business Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, Jiajuan; Martin, Linda

2008-01-01

Calculus-based business mathematics is a required quantitative course for undergraduate business students in most AACSB accredited schools or colleges of business. Many business students, however, have relatively weak mathematical background or even display math-phobia when presented with calculus problems. Because of the popularity of Excel, its…

Curriculum for Excellence Science: Vision or Confusion?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Stephen; Bryce, Tom

2013-01-01

Policy studies in science education do not have a particularly high profile. For science teachers, policy lurks in the background, somewhat disconnected from their normal classroom practice; for many, it is simply taken-for-granted. This paper analyses policy documents which have emerged from Curriculum for Excellence ("CfE") that impact…

A Cultural Approach to Establishing Equity and Closing the Educational Achievement Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portes, Pedro R.

2008-01-01

Addressing the underdevelopment awaiting most children belonging to historically disparaged groups in the uneven playing field of public education remains--the top problem in advancing equity and excellence in education. Clearly, excellence in the educational system requires equity in opportunities to learn regardless of children's background or…

Secondary Students' Responses to Perceptions of the Relationship between Science and Religion: Stances Identified from an Interview Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taber, Keith S.; Billingsley, Berry; Riga, Fran; Newdick, Helen

2011-01-01

It has been argued that learning science may be complicated, and even compromised, when students hold worldviews that may seem at odds with what is presented in science lessons. In particular, in some parts of the world, there has been considerable concern that students from particular religious backgrounds may reject some science teaching if…

Delighted when Approved by Others, to Pieces when Rejected: Children's Social Anxiety Magnifies the Linkage between Self- and Other-Evaluations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reijntjes, Albert; Thomaes, Sander; Boelen, Paul; van der Schoot, Menno; de Castro, Bram Orobio; Telch, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Background: Socially anxious children tend to attach great importance to others' evaluations of them. However, the extent to which they base their momentary feelings of self-worth (i.e., state self-esteem) on social (dis)approval is unclear. It is also unclear whether this exceedingly approval-based self-esteem is a common correlate of social…

Spectral filters for laser communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaik, K.

1991-01-01

Optical communication systems must perform reliabily under strong background light interference. Since the transmitting lasers operate within a narrow spectral band, high signal to noise ratios can be achieved when narrowband spectral optical filters can be used to reject out of band light. Here, a set of general requirements for such filters are developed, and an overview is given of suitable spectral filter technologies for optical communication systems.

X-ray agricultural product inspection: segmentation and classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casasent, David P.; Talukder, Ashit; Lee, Ha-Woon

1997-09-01

Processing of real-time x-ray images of randomly oriented and touching pistachio nuts for product inspection is considered. We describe the image processing used to isolate individual nuts (segmentation). This involves a new watershed transform algorithm. Segmentation results on approximately 3000 x-ray (film) and real time x-ray (linescan) nut images were excellent (greater than 99.9% correct). Initial classification results on film images are presented that indicate that the percentage of infested nuts can be reduced to 1.6% of the crop with only 2% of the good nuts rejected; this performance is much better than present manual methods and other automated classifiers have achieved.

A New Biologic Prosthesis for Vascular Substitute in Mongrel Dogs

PubMed Central

Marquez-Zacarias, Luis A.; Rey, Alejandro R.; Heine, M. Christina; Manrique, Jose J.

1985-01-01

New glutaraldehyde-treated vascular prosthesis tubes of bovine pericardium were placed in the abdominal aortas of 29 mongrel dogs and observed for 30 to 540 days. Clinical evaluation was performed during follow-up, and histologic and arteriographic studies were done at the end of the study. Patency was shown by arteriography in 27 of 29 tubes (93.1%). Neoendothelialization was found in all grafts, and there was a mixed effect, characterized by both rejection and foreign body reaction in the prostheses from 180 days onward. Both the handling and consistency of the grafts were excellent for implantation. Graft procoagulation and animal anticoagulation were not necessary. Images PMID:15227017

HLA-DQ Mismatches and Rejection in Kidney Transplant Recipients

PubMed Central

Chapman, Jeremy R.; Coates, Patrick T.; Lewis, Joshua R.; Russ, Graeme R.; Watson, Narelle; Holdsworth, Rhonda; Wong, Germaine

2016-01-01

Background and objectives The current allocation algorithm for deceased donor kidney transplantation takes into consideration HLA mismatches at the ABDR loci but not HLA mismatches at other loci, including HLA-DQ. However, the independent effects of incompatibilities for the closely linked HLA-DQ antigens in the context of HLA-DR antigen matched and mismatched allografts are uncertain. We aimed to determine the effect of HLA-DQ mismatches on renal allograft outcomes. Design, setting, participants, & measurements Using data from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, we examined the association between HLA-DQ mismatches and acute rejections in primary live and deceased donor kidney transplant recipients between 2004 and 2012 using adjusted Cox regression models. Results Of the 788 recipients followed for a median of 2.8 years (resulting in 2891 person-years), 321 (40.7%) and 467 (59.3%) received zero and one or two HLA-DQ mismatched kidneys, respectively. Compared with recipients who have received zero HLA-DQ mismatched kidneys, those who have received one or two HLA-DQ mismatched kidneys experienced greater numbers of any rejection (50 of 321 versus 117 of 467; P<0.01), late rejections (occurring >6 months post-transplant; 8 of 321 versus 27 of 467; P=0.03), and antibody-mediated rejections (AMRs; 12 of 321 versus 38 of 467; P=0.01). Compared with recipients of zero HLA-DQ mismatched kidneys, the adjusted hazard ratios for any and late rejections in recipients who had received one or two HLA-DQ mismatched kidneys were 1.54 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.08 to 2.19) and 2.85 (95% CI, 1.05 to 7.75), respectively. HLA-DR was an effect modifier between HLA-DQ mismatches and AMR (P value for interaction =0.02), such that the association between HLA-DQ mismatches and AMR was statistically significant in those who have received one or two HLA-DR mismatched kidneys, with adjusted hazard ratio of 2.50 (95% CI, 1.05 to 5.94). Conclusions HLA-DQ mismatches are associated with acute rejection, independent of HLA-ABDR mismatches and initial immunosuppression. Clinicians should be aware of the potential importance of HLA-DQ matching in the assessment of immunologic risk in kidney transplant recipients. PMID:27034399

Background model for the Majorana Demonstrator

DOE PAGES

Cuesta, C.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; ...

2015-01-01

The Majorana Collaboration is constructing a system containing 40 kg of HPGe detectors to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of a future tonne-scale experiment capable of probing the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region. To realize this, a major goal of the Majorana Demonstrator is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 cnt/(ROI-t-y) in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. This goal is pursued through a combination of a significant reduction of radioactive impurities in construction materials with analytical methods for background rejection, for example usingmore » powerful pulse shape analysis techniques profiting from the p-type point contact HPGe detectors technology. The effectiveness of these methods is assessed using simulations of the different background components whose purity levels are constrained from radioassay measurements.« less

Multistep fluorescence gated proportional counters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsey, Brian D.; Weisskopf, Martin C.

1990-01-01

A proportional counter is introduced in which the levels of energy and spatial resolutions and background rejection permit the application of the device to X-ray astronomy. A multistep approach is employed in which photons cause a signal that triggers the system and measures the energy of the incident photon. The multistep approach permits good energy resolution from parallel geometry and from the imaging stage due to coupling of the imaging and amplification stages. The design also employs fluorescence gating to reduce background, a method that is compatible with the multistep technique. Use of the proportional counter is reported for NASA's supernova campaign, and the pair background is below 0.0001 counts/sq cm sec keV at the xenon k-edge. Potential improvements and applications are listed including the CASES, POF, and EXOSS mission programs.

Academic Work and Educational Excellence. Raising Student Productivity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomlinson, Tommy M., Ed.; Walberg, Herbert J., Ed.

The papers presented in this book were selected from some 40 papers commissioned by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The papers provided the commission with background information for its deliberations prior to the preparation of its report entitled "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform." The following papers…

Excellence beyond Athletics: Best Practices for Enhancing Black Male Student Athletes' Educational Experiences and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Joseph N.

2016-01-01

Postsecondary institutions in the United States, including member institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are charged with the responsibility of cultivating positive learning environments where all students have an opportunity to excel regardless of their demographic backgrounds (e.g., race, socioeconomic status,…

A computational pipeline for the development of multi-marker bio-signature panels and ensemble classifiers

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Biomarker panels derived separately from genomic and proteomic data and with a variety of computational methods have demonstrated promising classification performance in various diseases. An open question is how to create effective proteo-genomic panels. The framework of ensemble classifiers has been applied successfully in various analytical domains to combine classifiers so that the performance of the ensemble exceeds the performance of individual classifiers. Using blood-based diagnosis of acute renal allograft rejection as a case study, we address the following question in this paper: Can acute rejection classification performance be improved by combining individual genomic and proteomic classifiers in an ensemble? Results The first part of the paper presents a computational biomarker development pipeline for genomic and proteomic data. The pipeline begins with data acquisition (e.g., from bio-samples to microarray data), quality control, statistical analysis and mining of the data, and finally various forms of validation. The pipeline ensures that the various classifiers to be combined later in an ensemble are diverse and adequate for clinical use. Five mRNA genomic and five proteomic classifiers were developed independently using single time-point blood samples from 11 acute-rejection and 22 non-rejection renal transplant patients. The second part of the paper examines five ensembles ranging in size from two to 10 individual classifiers. Performance of ensembles is characterized by area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity, as derived from the probability of acute rejection for individual classifiers in the ensemble in combination with one of two aggregation methods: (1) Average Probability or (2) Vote Threshold. One ensemble demonstrated superior performance and was able to improve sensitivity and AUC beyond the best values observed for any of the individual classifiers in the ensemble, while staying within the range of observed specificity. The Vote Threshold aggregation method achieved improved sensitivity for all 5 ensembles, but typically at the cost of decreased specificity. Conclusion Proteo-genomic biomarker ensemble classifiers show promise in the diagnosis of acute renal allograft rejection and can improve classification performance beyond that of individual genomic or proteomic classifiers alone. Validation of our results in an international multicenter study is currently underway. PMID:23216969

Background observations on the SMM high energy monitor at energies greater than 10 MeV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forrest, D. J.

1989-01-01

The background rate in any gamma ray detector on a spacecraft in near-earth orbit is strongly influenced by the primary cosmic ray flux at the spacecraft's position. Although the direct counting of the primary cosmic rays can be rejected by anticoincident shields, secondary production cannot be. Secondary production of gamma rays and neutrons in the instrument, the spacecraft, and the earth's atmospheric are recorded as background. A 30 day data base of 65.5 second records has been used to show that some of the background rates observed on the Gamma Ray Spectrometer can be ordered to a precision on the order of 1 percent This ordering is done with only two parameters, namely the cosmic ray vertical cutoff rigidity and the instrument's pointing angle with respect to the earth's center. This result sets limits on any instrumental instability and also on any temporal or spatial changes in the background radiation field.

Telescope-optical system performance analysis for the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, A. E.; Forney, P. B.; Morrow, H. E.; Anapol, M.

1983-01-01

A first-order performance analysis of the CLAES telescope-optical system is presented. The experiment involves the passive measurement of earth-limb radiance over a 10-60 km tangent altitude range, and is based on a solid Fabry-Perot spectrometer which provides spectral resolution of 0.25/cm for atmospheric emission spectroscopy over the 3.5-12 micron IR range. The optical system is required to provide a high degree of off-axis rejection and stray-light control, primarily to suppress intense emission from the earth surface. The astigmatism and other geometric aberrations are corrected by a secondary mirror which produces an excellent image of the primary one, allowing for location of a diffraction control or Lyot stop. The off-axis scattering performance of the telescope is examined in terms of the mirror scatter coefficient and point source rejection ratio. A mirror bidirectional reflectance distribution function of 0.0001 at 1 deg with a 1/theta-squared roll-off between 1 and 0.2 deg is realizable based on recent measurements. This results in an off-axis radiance term that is generally small in comparison with the system-limiting NER.

Indigenous somatic coliphage removal from a real municipal wastewater by a submerged membrane bioreactor.

PubMed

Wu, Jinling; Li, Haitao; Huang, Xia

2010-03-01

The membrane bioreactor (MBR) features many advantages, such as its excellent effluent quality and compactness. Moreover, the MBR is well known for its disinfectant capacity. This paper investigates virus removal performance for municipal wastewater using a submerged MBR and the operational conditions affecting the virus removal using indigenous somatic coliphages (SC) as an indicator for viruses. The results revealed that the municipal wastewater acquired by the Qinghe Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant, Beijing, contained an SC concentration of (2.81+/-1.51)x10(4)PFU ml(-1), which varies seasonally due to spontaneous decay. In the MBR system, the biomass process dominates SC removal. Membrane rejection is an essential supplement of biomass process for SC removal. In this paper, the relative contributions of biomass process and membrane rejection during the start-up and steady operational periods are discussed in detail. The major factors affecting SC removal are biodegradation, membrane pore size, and gel layer formation on the membrane. During long-term experiments, it was demonstrated that high inoculated sludge concentration, long hydraulic retention time, moderate fouling layer, and non-frequent chemical cleaning are favorable for high SC removal in MBR systems. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural Mentoring: A Pathway to Making Excellence Inclusive

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crutcher, Betty Neal

2014-01-01

Cross-cultural mentoring involves an ongoing, intentional, and mutually enriching relationship with someone of a different race, gender, ethnicity, religion, cultural background, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or nationality. Generally more experienced, the cross-cultural mentor guides the intellectual and personal development of…

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Simulation Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fegan, Stephen; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, S.; Funk, S.; Konopelko, A.; Maier, G.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Simulation Studies Working Group; AGIS Collaboration

2008-03-01

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a concept for the next generation instrument in ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It has the goal of achieving significant improvement in sensitivity over current experiments. We present the results of simulation studies of various possible designs for AGIS. The primary characteristics of the array performance, collecting area, angular resolution, background rejection, and sensitivity are discussed.

Effects of Dental 3D Multimedia System on the Performance of Junior Dental Students in Preclinical Practice: A Report from China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Jian; Yu, Hao; Shao, Jun; Li, Zhiyong; Wang, Jiawei; Wang, Yining

2009-01-01

Background: Computer-assisted tools are rarely adopted for dental education in China. In China, 3D digital technology, such as Virtual Reality Systems, are often rejected in the dental field due to prohibitive pricing. There is also a reluctance to move away from traditional patterns of dental education. Objective: The current study is one of a…

Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-20

influence of the Islamic State and Iran. 44 However, in conjunction with the government’s expanded efforts to dissuade Saudi citizens from supporting...Saudi Arabia, ruled by the Al Saud family since its founding in 1932, wields significant global influence through its administration of the birthplace...Administration has endorsed Saudi citizens ’ rights to free assembly and free expression. Saudi leaders reject foreign interference in the country’s internal

X-ray metal film filters at cryogenic temperatures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keski-Kuha, Ritva A. M.

1989-01-01

Thin aluminum foil filters have been evaluated at cryogenic temperatures. The results of the test program, including cold cycling and vibration testing, indicate that these filters are fully successful at cryogenic temperatures and can provide the high X-ray transmittance and high background rejection required for the blocking filters which are being developed for the X-Ray Spectrometer, one of the focal plane instruments on the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility.

Scanning thin-sheet laser imaging microscopy (sTSLIM) with structured illumination and HiLo background rejection.

PubMed Central

Schröter, Tobias J.; Johnson, Shane B.; John, Kerstin; Santi, Peter A.

2011-01-01

We report replacement of one side of a static illumination, dual sided, thin-sheet laser imaging microscope (TSLIM) with an intensity modulated laser scanner in order to implement structured illumination (SI) and HiLo image demodulation techniques for background rejection. The new system is equipped with one static and one scanned light-sheet and is called a scanning thin-sheet laser imaging microscope (sTSLIM). It is an optimized version of a light-sheet fluorescent microscope that is designed to image large specimens (<15 mm in diameter). In this paper we describe the hardware and software modifications to TSLIM that allow for static and uniform light-sheet illumination with SI and HiLo image demodulation. The static light-sheet has a thickness of 3.2 µm; whereas, the scanned side has a light-sheet thickness of 4.2 µm. The scanned side images specimens with subcellular resolution (<1 µm lateral and <4 µm axial resolution) with a size up to 15 mm. SI and HiLo produce superior contrast compared to both the uniform static and scanned light-sheets. HiLo contrast was greater than SI and is faster and more robust than SI because as it produces images in two-thirds of the time and exhibits fewer intensity streaking artifacts. PMID:22254177

Design of the PIXIE Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shirron, Peter J.; Kimball, Mark Oliver; Fixsen, Dale J.; Kogut, Alan J.; Li, Xiaoyi; DiPirro, Michael

2012-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is a proposed mission to densely map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. It will operate in a scanning mode from a sun-synchronous orbit, using low temperature detectors (at 0.1 K) and located inside a teslescope that is cooled to approximately 2.73 K - to match the background temperature. A mechanical cryocooler operating at 4.5 K establishes a low base temperature from which two adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) assemblies will cool the telescope and detectors. To achieve continuous scanning capability, the ADRs must operate continuously. Complicating the design are two factors: 1) the need to systematically vary the temperature of various telescope components in order to separate the small polarization signal variations from those that may arise from temperature drifts and changing gradients within the telescope, and 2) the orbital and monthly variations in lunar irradiance into the telescope barrels. These factors require the telescope ADR to reject quasi-continuous heat loads of 2-3 millwatts, while maintaining a peak heat reject rate of less than 12 milliwatts. The detector heat load at 0.1 K is comparatively small at 1-2 microwatts. This paper will describe the 3-stage and 2-stage continuous ADRs that will be used to meet the cooling power and temperature stability requirements of the PIXIE detectors and telescope.

The innate immune system in host mice targets cells with allogenic mitochondrial DNA

PubMed Central

Ishikawa, Kaori; Nakada, Kazuto; Morimoto, Mami; Imanishi, Hirotake; Yoshizaki, Mariko; Sasawatari, Shigemi; Niikura, Mamoru; Takenaga, Keizo; Yonekawa, Hiromichi

2010-01-01

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been proposed to be involved in respiratory function, and mtDNA mutations have been associated with aging, tumors, and various disorders, but the effects of mtDNA imported into transplants from different individuals or aged subjects have been unclear. We examined this issue by generating trans-mitochondrial tumor cells and embryonic stem cells that shared the syngenic C57BL/6 (B6) strain–derived nuclear DNA background but possessed mtDNA derived from allogenic mouse strains. We demonstrate that transplants with mtDNA from the NZB/B1NJ strain were rejected from the host B6 mice, not by the acquired immune system but by the innate immune system. This rejection was caused partly by NK cells and involved a MyD88-dependent pathway. These results introduce novel roles of mtDNA and innate immunity in tumor immunology and transplantation medicine. PMID:20937705

Attachment anxiety is associated with a fear of becoming fat, which is mediated by binge eating

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background Previous work demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of attachment anxiety are prone to increased binge eating (Alexander & Siegel, 2013). Given that our society rejects obese individuals and individuals with higher levels of attachment anxiety tend to be highly sensitive to rejection (Downey & Feldman, 1996), it follows that those with increased attachment anxiety may be especially fearful of becoming fat. Methods Undergraduate psychology students (n = 148) completed surveys measuring attachment, binge eating, and fear of becoming fat. Results The data demonstrate that attachment anxiety is positively associated with a fear of becoming fat (β = .30, p < .001) and binge eating mediates this relationship. In other words, binge eating underlies the fear of becoming fat. Discussion These findings contribute to a more refined understanding of binge eating which may create pathways for professionals to develop targeted interventions. PMID:28286709

Analysis of Convair 990 rejected-takeoff accident with emphasis on decision making, training and procedures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Batthauer, Byron E.

1987-01-01

This paper analyzes a NASA Convair 990 (CV-990) accident with emphasis on rejected-takeoff (RTO) decision making, training, procedures, and accident statistics. The NASA Aircraft Accident Investigation Board was somewhat perplexed that an aircraft could be destroyed as a result of blown tires during the takeoff roll. To provide a better understanding of tire failure RTO's, The Board obtained accident reports, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) studies, and other pertinent information related to the elements of this accident. This material enhanced the analysis process and convinced the Accident Board that high-speed RTO's in transport aircraft should be given more emphasis during pilot training. Pilots should be made aware of various RTO situations and statistics with emphasis on failed-tire RTO's. This background information could enhance the split-second decision-making process that is required prior to initiating an RTO.

Can the cosmic x ray and gamma ray background be due to reflection of a steep power law spectrum and Compton scattering by relativistic electrons?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zycki, Piotr T.; Zdziarski, Andrzej A.; Svensson, Roland

1991-01-01

We reconsider the recent model for the origin in the cosmic X-ray and gamma-ray background by Rogers and Field. The background in the model is due to an unresolved population of AGNs. An individual AGN spectrum contains three components: a power law with the energy index of alpha = 1.1, an enhanced reflection component, and a component from Compton scattering by relativistic electrons with a low energy cutoff at some minimum Lorentz factor, gamma(sub min) much greater than 1. The MeV bump seen in the gamma-ray background is then explained by inverse Compton emission by the electrons. We show that the model does not reproduce the shape of the observed X-ray and gamma-ray background below 10 MeV and that it overproduces the background at larger energies. Furthermore, we find the assumptions made for the Compton component to be physically inconsistent. Relaxing the inconsistent assumptions leads to model spectra even more different from that of the observed cosmic background. Thus, we can reject the hypothesis that the high-energy cosmic background is due to the described model.

Surface plasmon-assisted microscope.

PubMed

Borejdo, Julian; Gryczynski, Zygmunt; Fudala, Rafal; Joshi, Chaitanya R; Borgmann, Kathleen; Ghorpade, Anuja; Gryczynski, Ignacy

2018-06-01

Total internal reflection microscopy (TIRF) has been a powerful tool in biological research. The most valuable feature of the method has been the ability to image 100- to 200-nm-thick layer of cell features adjacent to a coverslip, such as membrane lipids, membrane receptors, and structures proximal-to-basal membranes. Here, we demonstrate an alternative method of imaging thin-layer proximal-to-basal membranes by placing a sample on a high refractive index coverslip covered by a thin layer of gold. The sample is illuminated using the Kretschmann method (i.e., from the top to an aqueous medium). Fluorophores that are close to the metal surface induce surface plasmons in the metal film. Fluorescence from fluorophores near the metal surface couple with surface plasmons allowing them to penetrate the metal surface and emerge at a surface plasmon coupled emission angle. The thickness of the detection layer is further reduced in comparison with TIRF by metal quenching of fluorophores at a close proximity (below 10 nm) to a surface. Fluorescence is collected by a high NA objective and imaged by EMCCD or converted to a signal by avalanche photodiode fed by a single-mode optical fiber inserted in the conjugate image plane of the objective. The system avoids complications of through-the-objective TIRF associated with shared excitation and emission light path, has thin collection thickness, produces excellent background rejection, and is an effective method to study molecular motion. (2018) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

The GlueX Start Counter and Beam Asymmetry$$\\Sigma$$ in Single $$\\pi^{0}$$ Photoproduction

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

Pooser, Eric

The GlueX experiment aims to study meson photoproduction while utilizing the coherent bremsstrahlung technique to produce a 9 GeV linearly polarized photon beam incident on a liquid H 2 target. A Start Counter detector was fabricated to properly identify the accelerator electron beam buckets and to provide accurate timing information. The Start Counter detector was designed to operate at photon intensities of up to 10 8 γ/s in the coherent peak and provides a timing resolution ~300 ps so as to provide successful identification of the electron beam buckets to within 99% accuracy. Furthermore, the Start Counter detector provides excellent solid angle coverage, ~ 90% of 4π hermeticity, and a high degree of segmentation for background rejection. It consists of a cylindrical array of 30 scintillators with pointed ends that bend towards the beam at the downstream end. Magnetic field insensitive silicon photomultiplier detectors were selected as the readout system. An initial measurement of the beam asymmetry Sigma in the exclusive reaction γmore » $$\\vec{p}$$→ π 0p, where π 0 → γ has been carried out utilizing the GlueX spectrometer during the Spring 2015 commissioning run. The tagged photon energies ranged from 2.5≤ Eγ ≤ 3.0 GeV in the coherent peak. These measurements were then compared to the world data set and show remarkable agreement with only two hours of physics production running.« less

Large Time Projection Chambers for Rare Event Detection

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

Heffner, M

The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) concept [add ref to TPC section] has been applied to many projects outside of particle physics and the accelerator based experiments where it was initially developed. TPCs in non-accelerator particle physics experiments are principally focused on rare event detection (e.g. neutrino and darkmater experiments) and the physics of these experiments can place dramatically different constraints on the TPC design (only extensions to the traditional TPCs are discussed here). The drift gas, or liquid, is usually the target or matter under observation and due to very low signal rates a TPC with the largest active massmore » is desired. The large mass complicates particle tracking of short and sometimes very low energy particles. Other special design issues include, efficient light collection, background rejection, internal triggering and optimal energy resolution. Backgrounds from gamma-rays and neutrons are significant design issues in the construction of these TPCs. They are generally placed deep underground to shield from cosmogenic particles and surrounded with shielding to reduce radiation from the local surroundings. The construction materials have to be carefully screened for radiopurity as they are in close contact with the active mass and can be a signification source of background events. The TPC excels in reducing this internal background because the mass inside the fieldcage forms one monolithic volume from which fiducial cuts can be made ex post facto to isolate quiet drift mass, and can be circulated and purified to a very high level. Self shielding in these large mass systems can be significant and the effect improves with density. The liquid phase TPC can obtain a high density at low pressure which results in very good self-shielding and compact installation with a lightweight containment. The down sides are the need for cryogenics, slower charge drift, tracks shorter than the typical electron diffusion, lower energy resolution (e.g. xenon) and limited charge readout options. Slower charge drift requires long electron lifetimes placing strict limits on the oxygen and other impurities with high electron affinity. A significant variation of the liquid phase TPC, that improves the charge readout, is the dual-phase TPC where a gas phase layer is formed above the liquid into which the drifting electrons are extracted and amplified, typically with electroluminescence. The successful transfer of electrons through the phase boundary requires careful control of its position and setting up an appropriate electric field. A high pressure gas phase TPC has no cryogenics and density is easily optimized for the signal, but a large heavy pressure vessel is required. Although shelf shielding is reduced, it can in some cases approach that of the liquid phase; in xenon at 50atm the density is about half that of water or about 1/6 of liquid xenon. A significant feature of high pressure xenon gas is the energy resolution. Below a density of about 0.5g/cc the intrinsic resolution is only a few times that of high purity germanium. A neutrino-less double beta decay (0{nu}2{beta}) TPC operated below this density limit could enjoy excellent energy resolution and maintain particle tracking for background rejection. An observable interaction with the TPC results in a charged particle that travels in the drift matter exciting and ionizing the atoms until the initial energy is converted into ionization, scintillation, or heat with relatively large fluctuations around a mean distribution. Rare event TPCs can be designed to detect scintillation light as well as charge to exploit the anti-correlation to improve energy resolution and/or signal to noise. An electric drift field separates the electrons and positive ions from the ionization although the separation is not complete and some electrons are captured, exciting atoms and releasing more light than the primary excitation alone. The average partition between the scintillation and ionization can be manipulated to increase the ionization (at a loss of scintillation) by a number of methods such as, increasing the strength of the electric field up to a saturation of the ionization yield, increasing the temperature to enhance the diffusion of the ionized electrons, and adding dopants such as triethylamine that can be photoionized by the scintillation photons releasing more ionization. Scintillation light is typically collected with photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and avalanche photo diodes (APDs) although any fast (compared to the ionization drift speed) light collector capable of detecting the typically UV photons, maintaining high radiopurity and perhaps withstanding pressure would work. CCDs are slow and therefore only record 2 dimensions integrating over the time direction, some of which can be recovered with a few PMTs.« less

Perturbations in the Urinary Exosome in Transplant Rejection

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

Sigdel, Tara K.; NG, Yolanda; Lee, Sangho

Background: Urine exosomes, vesicles exocytosed into urine by all renal epithelial cell types, occur under normal physiologic and disease states. Exosome contents may mirror disease-specific proteome perturbations in kidney injury. Analysis methodologies for the exosomal fraction of the urinary proteome were developed and for comparing the urinary exosomal fraction versus unfractionated proteome for biomarker discovery. Methods: Urine exosomes were isolated by centrifugal filtration from mid-stream, second morning void, urine samples collected from kidney transplant recipients with and without biopsy matched acute rejection. The proteomes of unfractionated whole urine (Uw) and urine exosomes (Uexo) underwent mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics analysis. Themore » proteome data were analyzed for significant differential protein abundances in acute rejection (AR). Results: Identifications of 1018 and 349 proteins, Uw and Uexo fractions, respectively, demonstrated a 279 protein overlap between the two urinary compartments with 25%(70) of overlapping proteins unique to Uexoand represented membrane bound proteins (p=9.31e-7). Of 349 urine exosomal proteins identified in transplant patients 220 were not previously identified in the normal urine exosomal fraction. Uexo proteins (11), functioning in the inflammatory / stress response, were more abundant in patients with biopsy-confirmed acute rejection, 3 of which were exclusive to Uexo. Uexo AR-specific biomarkers (8) were also detected in Uw, but since they were observed at significantly lower abundances in Uw, they were not significant for AR in Uw. Conclusions: A rapid urinary exosome isolation method and quantitative measurement of enriched Uexo proteins was applied. Urine proteins specific to the exosomal fraction were detected either in unfractionated urine (at low abundances) or by Uexo fraction analysis. Perturbed proteins in the exosomal compartment of urine collected from kidney transplant patients were specific to inflammatory responses, and were not observed in the Uexo fraction from normal healthy subjects. Uexo specific protein alterations in renal disease provide potential mechanistic insights and offer a unique panel of sensitive biomarkers for monitoring for acute transplant rejection.« less

Violence as a Barrier for HIV Prevention among Female Sex Workers in Argentina

PubMed Central

Pando, María A.; Coloccini, Romina S.; Reynaga, Elena; Rodriguez Fermepin, Marcelo; Gallo Vaulet, Lucia; Kochel, Tadeusz J.; Montano, Silvia M.; Avila, María M.

2013-01-01

Background Violence against female sex workers (FSWs) has been increasingly reported as an important determinant of HIV infection risk. This study explores the frequency of different violent experiences (sexual abuse, rejection, beating and imprisonment) among FSWs in Argentina and its association with condom use and HIV and T. pallidum prevalence. Methods A convenience sample of 1255 FSWs was included in a cross-sectional study conducted between October 2006 and November 2009. Results Sexual abuse was reported by 24.1% (219/907) of women. A total of 34.7% (42/1234) reported rejection experiences, 21.9% (267/1215) reported having been beaten and 45.4% (561/1236) stated having been arrested because of their sex work activity. There was a higher frequency of inconsistent condom use with clients among FSWs who had experienced sexual abuse, rejection, and police detention. A higher frequency of HIV and T. pallidum infection was detected among FSWs who reported having been arrested by the police. Conclusion The study shows for the first time the frequency of different violent situations among FSWs in Argentina. The association between violence against sex workers, condom use and STI prevalence demonstrated here calls for measures to reduce stigma and violence against FSWs. Such violent experiences may increase vulnerability to STI through coerced unprotected sex. PMID:23342092

Radiofrequency for the Treatment of Lumbar Radicular Pain: Impact on Surgical Indications.

PubMed

Trinidad, José Manuel; Carnota, Ana Isabel; Failde, Inmaculada; Torres, Luis Miguel

2015-01-01

Study Design. Quasiexperimental study. Objective. To investigate whether radiofrequency treatment can preclude the need for spinal surgery in both the short term and long term. Background. Radiofrequency is commonly used to treat lumbosacral radicular pain. Only few studies have evaluated its effects on surgical indications. Methods. We conducted a quasiexperimental study of 43 patients who had been scheduled for spinal surgery. Radiofrequency was indicated for 25 patients. The primary endpoint was the decision of the patient to reject spinal surgery 1 month and 1 year after treatment (pulsed radiofrequency of dorsal root ganglion, 76%; conventional radiofrequency of the medial branch, 12%; combined technique, 12%). The primary endpoint was the decision of the patient to reject spinal surgery 1 month and 1 year after treatment. In addition, we also evaluated adverse effects, ODI, NRS. Results. We observed after treatment with radiofrequency 80% of patients rejected spinal surgery in the short term and 76% in the long term. We conclude that radiofrequency is a useful treatment strategy that can achieve very similar outcomes to spinal surgery. Patients also reported a very high level of satisfaction (84% satisfied/very satisfied). We also found that optimization of the electrical parameters of the radiofrequency improved the outcome of this technique.

Plugged percutaneous biopsy of the liver in living-donor liver transplantation recipients suspected to have graft rejection.

PubMed

Kim, Sung Jung; Won, Je Hwan; Kim, Young Bae; Wang, Hee-Jung; Kim, Bong-Wan; Kim, Haeryoung; Kim, Jinoo

2017-07-01

Background Percutaneous biopsy is a widely-accepted technique for acquiring histologic samples of the liver. When there is concern for bleeding, plugged percutaneous biopsy (PPB) may be performed, which involves embolization of the biopsy tract. Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of PPB of the liver in patients suspected to have graft rejection after living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Material and Methods During January 2007 and December 2013, 51 patients who underwent PPB of the liver under the suspicion of post-LDLT graft rejection were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 73 biopsies were performed. Biopsy was performed with a 17-gauge core needle and 18-gauge cutting needle. The needle tract was embolized using gelatin sponge (n = 44) or N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA) (n = 29). The specimens were reviewed to determine their adequacy for histologic diagnosis. We reviewed all medical records after PPB. Results Specimens were successfully acquired in all procedures (100%). They were adequate for diagnosis in 70 cases (95.9%) and inadequate in three (1.3%). Average of 9.8 complete portal tracts was counted per specimen. One minor complication (1.4%) occurred where the patient had transient fever after the procedure. Conclusion PPB is easy and safe to perform in LDLT recipients and provides high diagnostic yield.

SARAS 2 Constraints on Global 21 cm Signals from the Epoch of Reionization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Saurabh; Subrahmanyan, Ravi; Udaya Shankar, N.; Sathyanarayana Rao, Mayuri; Fialkov, Anastasia; Cohen, Aviad; Barkana, Rennan; Girish, B. S.; Raghunathan, A.; Somashekar, R.; Srivani, K. S.

2018-05-01

Spectral distortions in the cosmic microwave background over the 40–200 MHz band are imprinted by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium prior to the end of reionization. This signal, produced in the redshift range z = 6–34 at the rest-frame wavelength of 21 cm, has not been detected yet; and a poor understanding of high-redshift astrophysics results in a large uncertainty in the expected spectrum. The SARAS 2 radiometer was purposely designed to detect the sky-averaged 21 cm signal. The instrument, deployed at the Timbaktu Collective (Southern India) in 2017 April–June, collected 63 hr of science data, which were examined for the presence of the cosmological 21 cm signal. In our previous work, the first-light data from the SARAS 2 radiometer were analyzed with Bayesian likelihood-ratio tests using 264 plausible astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we reexamine the data using an improved analysis based on the frequentist approach and forward-modeling. We show that SARAS 2 data reject 20 models, out of which 15 are rejected at a significance >5σ. All the rejected models share the scenario of inefficient heating of the primordial gas by the first population of X-ray sources, along with rapid reionization. Joint Astronomy Program, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.

Design and Fabrication of a Composite Morphing Radiator Panel Using High Conductivity Fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wescott, Matthew T.; McQuien, J. Scott; Bertagne, Christopher L.; Whitcomb, John D.; Hart, Darren J.; Erickson, Lisa R.

2017-01-01

Upcoming crewed space missions will involve large internal and external heat loads and require advanced thermal control systems to maintain a desired internal environment temperature. Radiators with at least 12:1 turndown ratios (the ratio between the maximum and minimum heat rejection rates) will be needed. However, current technologies are only able to achieve turndown ratios of approximately 3:1. A morphing radiator capable of altering shape could significantly increase turndown capabilities. Shape memory alloys offer qualities that may be well suited for this endeavor; their temperature-dependent phase changes could offer radiators the ability to passively control heat rejection. In 2015, a morphing radiator prototype was constructed and tested in a thermal vacuum environment, where it successfully demonstrated the morphing behavior and variable heat rejection. Newer composite prototypes have since been designed and manufactured using two distinct types of SMA materials. These models underwent temperature cycling tests in a thermal vacuum chamber and a series of fatigue tests to characterize the lifespan of these designs. The focus of this paper is to present the design approach and testing of the morphing composite facesheet. The discussion includes: an overall description of the project background, definition of performance requirements, composite materials selection, use of analytic and numerical design tools, facesheet fabrication, and finally fatigue testing with accompanying results.

Acute Rejection in Renal Transplant Patients of a Hospital in Bogota, Colombia

PubMed Central

García, P.; Huerfano, M; Rodríguez, M; Caicedo, A; Berrío, F; Gonzalez, C

2016-01-01

Background: Renal transplantation is the best treatment for end stage renal disease. Acute graft rejection is one of the main complications and may influence graft survival. Objective: To determine the incidence and features of acute cellular rejection (ACR) episodes confirmed by biopsy. Methods: We studied a cohort of 175 patients who underwent renal transplantation between 2004 and 2012 to determine the cumulative incidence of ACR confirmed by biopsy and to identify the associated risk factors using multivariate analysis. Results: The one-year patient survival was 96.6%; the graft survival was 93.7%. The incidence of ACR within one year was 14.3%, of which 46% were observed within 6 months following transplantation. The most frequently observed ACR type was 1B according to the Banff classification system (42%). A relationship between ACR and receipt of a kidney from expanded criteria donors was observed, both in univariate and adjusted multiple log-binomial regression analyses, but only 6.3% of patients received extended criteria donor kidneys. No other relationships between variables were found. Conclusion: ACR frequency in this study was similar to that of other cohorts reported previously. We need a bigger sample of renal transplants from expanded criteria donors, PRA and DSA test to support the results. PMID:27721962

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR for 0νββ: Current Status and Future Plans

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

Green, M. P.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, Estanislao

2015-03-24

The Majorana Demonstrator will search for neutrinoless-double-beta decay in 76Ge, while establishing the feasibility of a future tonne-scale germanium-based neutrinoless-double-beta decay experiment, and performing searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The experiment, currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, will consist of a pair of modular high-purity germanium detector arrays housed inside of a compact copper, lead, and polyethylene shield. Through a combination of strict materials qualifications and assay, low-background design, and powerful background rejection techniques, the Demonstrator aims to achieve a background rate in the neutrinoless-double-beta decay region of interest (ROI) ofmore » no more than 3cnts/(ROI-t-y). The current status of the Demonstrator is discussed, as are plans for its completion.« less

Improving on aquaporins

DOE PAGES

Siwy, Zuzanna; Fornasiero, Francesco

2017-08-25

Biological nanopores can selectively and rapidly transport ions and molecules through membranes. For example, many biological ion channels conduct only one type of ion across the cell membrane, and they do so in response to external stimuli. Aquaporins transport water at astonishingly high rates and are efficient desalination units, in that they have excellent rejection of all ions, including protons. In conclusion, on page 792 of this issue, Tunuguntla et al. present an artificial nanopore system that sustains water fluxes exceeding those of aquaporins, exhibits ionic selectivities comparable to those of biological ion channels, and consists of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)more » that are 10 nm long and merely 0.8 nm in diameter embedded in a lipid bilayer.« less

Generation of mechanical oscillation applicable to vibratory rate gyroscopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lemkin, Mark A. (Inventor); Juneau, Thor N. (Inventor); Clark, William A. (Inventor); Roessig, Allen W. (Inventor)

2001-01-01

To achieve a drive-axis oscillation with improved frequency and amplitude stability, additional feedback loops are used to adjust force-feedback loop parameters. An amplitude-control loop measures oscillation amplitude, compares this value to the desired level, and adjusts damping of the mechanical sense-element to grow or shrink oscillation amplitude as appropriate. A frequency-tuning loop measures the oscillation frequency, compares this value with a highly stable reference, and adjusts the gain in the force-feedback loop to keep the drive-axis oscillation frequency at the reference value. The combined topology simultaneously controls both amplitude and frequency. Advantages of the combined topology include improved stability, fast oscillation start-up, low power consumption, and excellent shock rejection.

Free-piston Stirling Engine system considerations for various space power applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dochat, George R.; Dhar, Manmohan

1991-01-01

Free-Piston Stirling Engines (FPSE) have the potential to provide high reliability, long life, and efficient operation. Therefore, they are excellent candidates for the dynamic power conversion module of a space-based, power-generating system. FPSE can be coupled with many potential heat sources (radioisotope, solar, or nuclear reactor), various heat input systems (pumped loop, heat pipe), heat rejection (pumped loop or heat pipe), and various power management and distribution systems (ac, dc, high or low voltage, and fixed or variable load). This paper reviews potential space missions that can be met using free-piston Stirling engines and discusses options of various system integration approaches. This paper briefly outlines the program and recent progress.

The mercedes-benz approach to γ-ray astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akerlof, Carl W.

1988-02-01

The sensitivity requirements for ground-based γ-ray astronomy are reviewed in the light of the most reliable estimates of stellar fluxes above 100 GeV. Current data strongly favor the construction of detectors with the lowest energy thresholds. Since improvements in angular resolution are limited by shower fluctuations, better methods of rejecting hadronic showers must be found to reliably observe the known astrophysical sources. Several possible methods for reducing this hadronic background are discussed.

Polarization-difference imaging: a biologically inspired technique for observation through scattering media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowe, M. P.; Pugh, E. N., Jr.; Tyo, J. S.; Engheta, N.

1995-03-01

Many animals have visual systems that exploit the polarization of light, and some of these systems are thought to compute difference signals in parallel from arrays of photoreceptors optimally tuned to orthogonal polarizations. We hypothesize that such polarization-difference systems can improve the visibility of objects in scattering media by serving as common-mode rejection amplifiers that reduce the effects of background scattering and amplify the signal from targets whose polarization-difference magnitude is distinct from the background. We present experimental results obtained with a target in a highly scattering medium, demonstrating that a manmade polarization-difference system can render readily visible surface features invisible to conventional imaging.

Preparation and characterization of novel zwitterionic poly(arylene ether sulfone) ultrafiltration membrane with good thermostability and excellent antifouling properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rong, Guolong; Zhou, Di; Han, Xiaocui; Pang, Jinhui

2018-01-01

Zwitterionic poly(arylene ether sulfone) (PAES-NS) was synthesized via copolymerization by using a bisphenol monomer with a pyridine group. The chemical structures of the copolymers were confirmed by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; the copolymers showed good thermal stability. A series of polyphenysulfone (PPSU)/PAES-NS blend ultrafiltration (UF) membranes was prepared via conventional immersion precipitation phase inversion methods The morphologies of the modified membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface hydrophilicity of the UF membranes was studied by water contact angle measurement, indicating that the zwitterionic group increased the membrane hydrophilicity. UF of solvated model pollutants using the membranes showed a significant reduction of the irreversible adsorption of the foulants, illustrating the excellent anti-fouling properties of the membrane. The water flux of the PAES-NS membrane was significantly enhanced, being almost three times higher than that of the pristine PPSU membrane, with retention of a high rejection level. After three UF cycles, the water flux recovery of the PAES-NS membrane was as high as 96%.

Can High-Performing Academies Overcome Family Background and Improve Social Mobility?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, Bernard; Hoskins, Kate

2017-01-01

This article investigates whether schools that match Coalition Government criteria for excellence can enable hardworking students, regardless of background, to achieve good examination results and improved chances of social mobility. Students at two case-study academies were interviewed about family influences on their development and choice of…

Insect Detection of Small Targets Moving in Visual Clutter

PubMed Central

Barnett, Paul D; O'Carroll, David C

2006-01-01

Detection of targets that move within visual clutter is a common task for animals searching for prey or conspecifics, a task made even more difficult when a moving pursuer needs to analyze targets against the motion of background texture (clutter). Despite the limited optical acuity of the compound eye of insects, this challenging task seems to have been solved by their tiny visual system. Here we describe neurons found in the male hoverfly,Eristalis tenax, that respond selectively to small moving targets. Although many of these target neurons are inhibited by the motion of a background pattern, others respond to target motion within the receptive field under a surprisingly large range of background motion stimuli. Some neurons respond whether or not there is a speed differential between target and background. Analysis of responses to very small targets (smaller than the size of the visual field of single photoreceptors) or those targets with reduced contrast shows that these neurons have extraordinarily high contrast sensitivity. Our data suggest that rejection of background motion may result from extreme selectivity for small targets contrasting against local patches of the background, combined with this high sensitivity, such that background patterns rarely contain features that satisfactorily drive the neuron. PMID:16448249

Metrics and Methodologies for Measuring Teaching Quality in Higher Education: Developing the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunn, Andrew

2018-01-01

The creation of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) represents a significant development concerning the teaching mission of the university in the UK. This paper considers the background to, and the development of, the TEF. It explains the context from which the TEF emerged and unpacks a series of rationales which illustrate the need for, and…

Polyomavirus Reactivation and Immune Responses to Kidney-Specific Self-Antigens in Transplantation.

PubMed

Seifert, Michael E; Gunasekaran, Muthukumar; Horwedel, Timothy A; Daloul, Reem; Storch, Gregory A; Mohanakumar, Thalachallour; Brennan, Daniel C

2017-04-01

Humoral immune responses against donor antigens are important determinants of long-term transplant outcomes. Reactivation of the polyomavirus BK has been associated with de novo antibodies against mismatched donor HLA antigens in kidney transplantation. The effect of polyomavirus reactivation (BK viremia or JC viruria) on antibodies to kidney-specific self-antigens is unknown. We previously reported excellent 5-year outcomes after minimization of immunosuppression for BK viremia and after no intervention for JC viruria. Here, we report the 10-year results of this trial ( n =193) along with a nested case-control study ( n =40) to explore associations between polyomavirus reactivation and immune responses to the self-antigens fibronectin (FN) and collagen type-IV (Col-IV). Consistent with 5-year findings, subjects taking tacrolimus, compared with those taking cyclosporin, had less acute rejection (11% versus 22%, P =0.05) and graft loss (9% versus 22%, P =0.01) along with better transplant function (eGFR 65±19 versus 50±24 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 , P <0.001) at 10 years. Subjects undergoing immunosuppression reduction for BK viremia had 10-year outcomes similar to those without viremia. In the case-control study, antibodies to FN/Col-IV were more prevalent during year 1 in subjects with polyomavirus reactivation than in those without reactivation (48% versus 11%, P= 0.04). Subjects with antibodies to FN/Col-IV had more acute rejection than did those without these antibodies (38% versus 8%, P =0.02). These data demonstrate the long-term safety and effectiveness of minimizing immunosuppression to treat BK viremia. Furthermore, these results indicate that polyomavirus reactivation associates with immune responses to kidney-specific self-antigens that may increase the risk for acute rejection through unclear mechanisms. Copyright © 2017 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Relationship between acceptance of background noise and hearing aid use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabelek, Anna K.; Burchfield, Samuel B.; Webster, Joanna D.

2003-04-01

Background noise produces complaints among hearing-aid users, however speech-perception-in-noise does not predict hearing-aid use. It is possible that hearing-aid users are complaining about the presence of background noise and not about speech perception. To test this possibility, acceptance of background noise is being investigated as a predictor of hearing-aid use. Acceptance of background noise is determined by having subjects select their most comfortable listening level (MCL) for a story. Next, speech-babble is added and the subjects select the maximum background noise level (BNL) which is acceptable while listening to and following the story. The difference between the MCL and the BNL is the acceptable noise level (ANL), all in dB. ANLs are being compared with hearing-aid use, subjective impressions of benefit (APHAB), speech perception in background noise (SPIN) scores, and audiometric data. Individuals who accept higher levels of background noise are more successful users than individuals who accept less background noise. Mean ANLs are 7.3 dB for full-time users (N=21), 12.6 dB for part-time users (N=44), and 13.8 dB for rejecters (N=17). ANLs are not related to APHAB, SPIN, or audiometric data. Results for about 120 subjects will be reported. [Work supported by NIDCD (NIH) RO1 DC 05018.

Evidence of electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abe, K.; Abgrall, N.; Aihara, H.; Akiri, T.; Albert, J. B.; Andreopoulos, C.; Aoki, S.; Ariga, A.; Ariga, T.; Assylbekov, S.; Autiero, D.; Barbi, M.; Barker, G. J.; Barr, G.; Bass, M.; Batkiewicz, M.; Bay, F.; Bentham, S. W.; Berardi, V.; Berger, B. E.; Berkman, S.; Bertram, I.; Beznosko, D.; Bhadra, S.; Blaszczyk, F. d. M.; Blondel, A.; Bojechko, C.; Boyd, S.; Brailsford, D.; Bravar, A.; Bronner, C.; Brook-Roberge, D. G.; Buchanan, N.; Calland, R. G.; Caravaca Rodríguez, J.; Cartwright, S. L.; Castillo, R.; Catanesi, M. G.; Cervera, A.; Cherdack, D.; Christodoulou, G.; Clifton, A.; Coleman, J.; Coleman, S. J.; Collazuol, G.; Connolly, K.; Cremonesi, L.; Curioni, A.; Dabrowska, A.; Danko, I.; Das, R.; Davis, S.; Day, M.; de André, J. P. A. M.; de Perio, P.; De Rosa, G.; Dealtry, T.; Dennis, S.; Densham, C.; Di Lodovico, F.; Di Luise, S.; Dobson, J.; Drapier, O.; Duboyski, T.; Dufour, F.; Dumarchez, J.; Dytman, S.; Dziewiecki, M.; Dziomba, M.; Emery, S.; Ereditato, A.; Escudero, L.; Finch, A. J.; Frank, E.; Friend, M.; Fujii, Y.; Fukuda, Y.; Furmanski, A.; Galymov, V.; Gaudin, A.; Giffin, S.; Giganti, C.; Gilje, K.; Golan, T.; Gomez-Cadenas, J. J.; Gonin, M.; Grant, N.; Gudin, D.; Hadley, D. R.; Haesler, A.; Haigh, M. D.; Hamilton, P.; Hansen, D.; Hara, T.; Hartz, M.; Hasegawa, T.; Hastings, N. C.; Hayato, Y.; Hearty, C.; Helmer, R. L.; Hierholzer, M.; Hignight, J.; Hillairet, A.; Himmel, A.; Hiraki, T.; Hirota, S.; Holeczek, J.; Horikawa, S.; Huang, K.; Ichikawa, A. K.; Ieki, K.; Ieva, M.; Ikeda, M.; Imber, J.; Insler, J.; Irvine, T. J.; Ishida, T.; Ishii, T.; Ives, S. J.; Iyogi, K.; Izmaylov, A.; Jacob, A.; Jamieson, B.; Johnson, R. A.; Jo, J. H.; Jonsson, P.; Joo, K. K.; Jung, C. K.; Kaboth, A.; Kaji, H.; Kajita, T.; Kakuno, H.; Kameda, J.; Kanazawa, Y.; Karlen, D.; Karpikov, I.; Kearns, E.; Khabibullin, M.; Khanam, F.; Khotjantsev, A.; Kielczewska, D.; Kikawa, T.; Kilinski, A.; Kim, J. Y.; Kim, J.; Kim, S. B.; Kirby, B.; Kisiel, J.; Kitching, P.; Kobayashi, T.; Kogan, G.; Kolaceke, A.; Konaka, A.; Kormos, L. L.; Korzenev, A.; Koseki, K.; Koshio, Y.; Kowalik, K.; Kreslo, I.; Kropp, W.; Kubo, H.; Kudenko, Y.; Kumaratunga, S.; Kurjata, R.; Kutter, T.; Lagoda, J.; Laihem, K.; Laing, A.; Laveder, M.; Lawe, M.; Lazos, M.; Lee, K. P.; Licciardi, C.; Lim, I. T.; Lindner, T.; Lister, C.; Litchfield, R. P.; Longhin, A.; Lopez, G. D.; Ludovici, L.; Macaire, M.; Magaletti, L.; Mahn, K.; Malek, M.; Manly, S.; Marchionni, A.; Marino, A. D.; Marteau, J.; Martin, J. F.; Maruyama, T.; Marzec, J.; Masliah, P.; Mathie, E. L.; Matveev, V.; Mavrokoridis, K.; Mazzucato, E.; McCauley, N.; McFarland, K. S.; McGrew, C.; McLachlan, T.; Messina, M.; Metelko, C.; Mezzetto, M.; Mijakowski, P.; Miller, C. A.; Minamino, A.; Mineev, O.; Mine, S.; Missert, A.; Miura, M.; Monfregola, L.; Moriyama, S.; Mueller, Th. A.; Murakami, A.; Murdoch, M.; Murphy, S.; Myslik, J.; Nagasaki, T.; Nakadaira, T.; Nakahata, M.; Nakai, T.; Nakajima, K.; Nakamura, K.; Nakayama, S.; Nakaya, T.; Nakayoshi, K.; Naples, D.; Nicholls, T. C.; Nielsen, C.; Nirkko, M.; Nishikawa, K.; Nishimura, Y.; O'Keeffe, H. M.; Obayashi, Y.; Ohta, R.; Okumura, K.; Okusawa, T.; Oryszczak, W.; Oser, S. M.; Otani, M.; Owen, R. A.; Oyama, Y.; Pac, M. Y.; Palladino, V.; Paolone, V.; Payne, D.; Pearce, G. F.; Perevozchikov, O.; Perkin, J. D.; Petrov, Y.; Pinzon Guerra, E. S.; Plonski, P.; Poplawska, E.; Popov, B.; Posiadala, M.; Poutissou, J.-M.; Poutissou, R.; Przewlocki, P.; Quilain, B.; Radicioni, E.; Ratoff, P. N.; Ravonel, M.; Rayner, M. A. M.; Reeves, M.; Reinherz-Aronis, E.; Retiere, F.; Robert, A.; Rodrigues, P. A.; Rondio, E.; Roth, S.; Rubbia, A.; Ruterbories, D.; Sacco, R.; Sakashita, K.; Sánchez, F.; Scantamburlo, E.; Scholberg, K.; Schwehr, J.; Scott, M.; Scully, D. I.; Seiya, Y.; Sekiguchi, T.; Sekiya, H.; Sgalaberna, D.; Shibata, M.; Shiozawa, M.; Short, S.; Shustrov, Y.; Sinclair, P.; Smith, B.; Smith, R. J.; Smy, M.; Sobczyk, J. T.; Sobel, H.; Sorel, M.; Southwell, L.; Stamoulis, P.; Steinmann, J.; Still, B.; Suzuki, A.; Suzuki, K.; Suzuki, S. Y.; Suzuki, Y.; Szeglowski, T.; Szeptycka, M.; Tacik, R.; Tada, M.; Takahashi, S.; Takeda, A.; Takeuchi, Y.; Tanaka, H. A.; Tanaka, M. M.; Tanaka, M.; Taylor, I. J.; Terhorst, D.; Terri, R.; Thompson, L. F.; Thorley, A.; Tobayama, S.; Toki, W.; Tomura, T.; Totsuka, Y.; Touramanis, C.; Tsukamoto, T.; Tzanov, M.; Uchida, Y.; Ueno, K.; Vacheret, A.; Vagins, M.; Vasseur, G.; Wachala, T.; Waldron, A. V.; Walter, C. W.; Wark, D.; Wascko, M. O.; Weber, A.; Wendell, R.; Wilkes, R. J.; Wilking, M. J.; Wilkinson, C.; Williamson, Z.; Wilson, J. R.; Wilson, R. J.; Wongjirad, T.; Yamada, Y.; Yamamoto, K.; Yanagisawa, C.; Yen, S.; Yershov, N.; Yokoyama, M.; Yuan, T.; Zalewska, A.; Zambelli, L.; Zaremba, K.; Ziembicki, M.; Zimmerman, E. D.; Zito, M.; Żmuda, J.

2013-08-01

The T2K Collaboration reports evidence for electron neutrino appearance at the atmospheric mass splitting, |Δm322|≈2.4×10-3eV2. An excess of electron neutrino interactions over background is observed from a muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV at the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector 295 km from the beam’s origin. Signal and background predictions are constrained by data from near detectors located 280 m from the neutrino production target. We observe 11 electron neutrino candidate events at the SK detector when a background of 3.3±0.4(syst) events is expected. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a p value of 0.0009 (3.1σ), and a fit assuming νμ→νe oscillations with sin⁡22θ23=1, δCP=0 and |Δm322|=2.4×10-3eV2 yields sin⁡22θ13=0.088-0.039+0.049(stat+syst).

Did You Reject Me for Someone Else? Rejections That Are Comparative Feel Worse.

PubMed

Deri, Sebastian; Zitek, Emily M

2017-12-01

Rejections differ. For those who are rejected, one important difference is whether they are rejected for someone else (comparative rejection) or no one at all (noncomparative rejection). We examined the effect of this distinction on emotional reactions to a rejection in four studies ( N = 608), one of which was fully preregistered. Our results show that comparative rejections feel worse than noncomparative rejections and that this may be because such rejections lead to an increased sense of exclusion and decreased belonging. Furthermore, we found evidence that, by default, people react to a rejection as though it were comparative-that is, in the absence of any information about whether they have been rejected for someone or no one, they react as negatively as if they were rejected for someone. Our discussion focuses on the implications of these findings, including why people often seek out information in the wake of a rejection.

Ex Vivo Expanded Human Regulatory T Cells Can Prolong Survival of a Human Islet Allograft in a Humanized Mouse Model

PubMed Central

Wu, Douglas C.; Hester, Joanna; Nadig, Satish N.; Zhang, Wei; Trzonkowski, Piotr; Gray, Derek; Hughes, Stephen; Johnson, Paul; Wood, Kathryn J.

2013-01-01

Background Human regulatory T cells (Treg) offer an attractive adjunctive therapy to reduce current reliance on lifelong, nonspecific immunosuppression after transplantation. Here, we evaluated the ability of ex vivo expanded human Treg to prevent the rejection of islets of Langerhans in a humanized mouse model and examined the mechanisms involved. Methods We engrafted human pancreatic islets of Langerhans into the renal subcapsular space of immunodeficient BALB/c.rag2−/−.cγ−/− mice, previously rendered diabetic via injection of the β-cell toxin streptozocin. After the establishment of stable euglycemia, mice were reconstituted with allogeneic human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and the resultant alloreactive response studied. Ex vivo expanded CD25highCD4+ human Treg, which expressed FoxP3, CTLA-4, and CD62L and remained CD127low, were then cotransferred together with human PBMC and islet allografts and monitored for evidence of rejection. Results Human islets transplanted into diabetic immunodeficient mice reversed diabetes but were rejected rapidly after the mice were reconstituted with allogeneic human PBMC. Cotransfer of purified, ex vivo expanded human Treg prolonged islet allograft survival resulting in the accumulation of Treg in the peripheral lymphoid tissue and suppression of proliferation and interferon-γ production by T cells. In vitro, Treg suppressed activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription and inhibited the effector differentiation of responder T cells. Conclusions Ex vivo expanded Treg retain regulatory activity in vivo, can protect a human islet allograft from rejection by suppressing signal transducers and activators of transcription activation and inhibiting T-cell differentiation, and have clinical potential as an adjunctive cellular therapy. PMID:23917725

Emotion recognition specialization and context-dependent risk of anxiety and depression in adolescents

PubMed Central

Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Hartman, Catharina A; Van Oort, Floor V A; Nederhof, Esther

2015-01-01

Background Some adolescents function poorly in apparently benign environments, while others thrive despite hassles and difficulties. The aim of this study was to examine if adolescents with specialized skills in the recognition of either positive or negative emotions have a context-dependent risk of developing an anxiety or depressive disorder during adolescence, depending on exposure to positive or harsh parenting. Methods Data came from a large prospective Dutch population study (N = 1539). At age 11, perceived parental rejection and emotional warmth were measured by questionnaire, and emotion recognition skills by means of a reaction-time task. Lifetime diagnoses of anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed at about age 19, using a standardized diagnostic interview. Results Adolescents who were specialized in the recognition of positive emotions had a relatively high probability to develop an anxiety disorder when exposed to parental rejection (Bspecialization*rejection = 0.23, P < 0.01) and a relatively low probability in response to parental emotional warmth (Bspecialization*warmth = −0.24, P = 0.01), while the opposite pattern was found for specialists in negative emotions. The effect of parental emotional warmth on depression onset was likewise modified by emotion recognition specialization (B = −0.13, P = 0.03), but the effect of parental rejection was not (B = 0.02, P = 0.72). In general, the relative advantage of specialists in negative emotions was restricted to fairly uncommon negative conditions. Conclusions Our results suggest that there is no unequivocal relation between parenting behaviors and the probability to develop an anxiety or depressive disorder in adolescence, and that emotion recognition specialization may be a promising way to distinguish between various types of context-dependent reaction patterns. PMID:25642389

Pre-Test and Post-Test Applications to Shape the Education of Phlebotomists in A Quality Management Program: An Experience in a Training Hospital

PubMed Central

Keşapli, Mustafa; Aydin, Özgür; Esen, Hatice; Yeğin, Ayşenur; Güngör, Faruk; Yilmaz, Necat

2016-01-01

Summary Background After the introduction of modern laboratory instruments and information systems, preanalytic phase is the new field of battle. Errors in preanalytical phase account for approximately half of total errors in clinical laboratory. The objective of this study was to share an experience of an education program that was believed to be successful in decreasing the number of rejected samples received from the Emergency Department (ED). Methods An education program about laboratory procedures, quality requirements in the laboratory, patient and health-care worker safety was planned by the quality team to be performed on 36 people who were responsible for sample collection in the ED. A questionary which included 11 questions about the preanalytic phase was applied to all the attendees before and after training. The number of rejected samples per million was discovered with right proportion account over the number of accepted and rejected samples to laboratory after and before the training period. Results Most of the attendees were nurses (n: 22/55%), with over 12 years of experience in general and 2–4 years experience in the ED. Knowledge level of the attendees was calculated before training as 58.9% and after training as 91.8%. While the total rate of sample rejection before training was 2.35% (sigma value 3.37–3.50), the rate after training was 1.56% (sigma value 3.62–3.75). Conclusions Increasing the knowledge of staff has a direct positive impact on the preanalytic phase. The application of a pre-test was observed to be a feasible tool to shape group specific education programs. PMID:28356887

Determinants of Public Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Adults and Physician-Assisted Death in Neonates in Austria: A National Survey

PubMed Central

Stolz, Erwin; Burkert, Nathalie; Großschädl, Franziska; Rásky, Éva; Stronegger, Willibald J.; Freidl, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Background Euthanasia remains a controversial topic in both public discourses and legislation. Although some determinants of acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted death have been identified in previous studies, there is still a shortage of information whether different forms of euthanasia are supported by the same or different sub-populations and whether authoritarian personality dispositions are linked to attitudes towards euthanasia. Methods A large, representative face-to-face survey was conducted in Austria in 2014 (n = 1,971). Respondents faced three scenarios of euthanasia and one of physician assisted death differing regarding the level of specificity, voluntariness and subject, requiring either approval or rejection: (1) abstract description of euthanasia, (2) abstract description of physician-assisted suicide, (3) the case of euthanasia of a terminally-ill 79-year old cancer patient, and (4) the case of non-voluntary, physician assisted death of a severely disabled or ill neonate. A number of potential determinants for rejection ordered in three categories (socio-demographic, personal experience, orientations) including authoritarianism were tested via multiple logistic regression analyses. Results Rejection was highest in the case of the neonate (69%) and lowest for the case of the older cancer patient (35%). A consistent negative impact of religiosity on the acceptance across all scenarios and differential effects for socio-economic status, area of residence, religious confession, liberalism, and authoritarianism were found. Individuals with a stronger authoritarian personality disposition were more likely to reject physician-assisted suicide for adults but at the same time also more likely to approve of physician-assisted death of a disabled neonate. Conclusion Euthanasia in adults was supported by a partially different sub-population than assisted death of disabled neonates. PMID:25906265

CTLA4-Ig Prevents Alloantibody Production and BMT Rejection in Response to Platelet Transfusions in Mice

PubMed Central

Gilson, Christopher R; Patel, Seema R; Zimring, James C

2014-01-01

Background Platelet transfusions can induce humoral and cellular alloimmunity. Anti-HLA antibodies can render patients refractory to subsequent transfusion, and both alloantibodies and cellular alloimmunity can contribute to subsequent bone marrow transplant rejection. Currently, there are no approved therapeutic interventions to prevent alloimmunization to platelet transfusions other than leukoreduction. Targeted blockade of T cell costimulation has shown great promise in inhibiting alloimmunity in the setting of transplantation, but has not been explored in the context of platelet transfusion. Study Design and Methods We tested the hypothesis that the costimulatory blockade reagent CTLA4-Ig would prevent alloreactivity against major and minor alloantigens on transfused platelets. BALB/c (H-2d) mice and C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice were used as platelet donors and transfusion recipients, respectively. Alloantibodies were measured by indirect immunofluorescence using BALB/c platelets and splenocytes as targets. Bone marrow transplants were carried out under reduced intensity conditioning using BALB/b (H-2b) donors and C57BL/6 (H-2b) recipients to model HLA identical transplants. Experimental groups were given CTLA4-Ig (before or after platelet transfusion) with control groups receiving isotype matched antibody. Results CTLA4-Ig abrogated both humoral alloimmunization (anti-H-2d antibodies) and transfusion induced bone marrow transplant rejection. Whereas a single dose of CTLA4-Ig at time of transfusion prevented alloimmunization to subsequent platelet transfusions, administration of CTLA4-Ig after initial platelet transfusion was ineffective. Delaying treatment until after platelet transfusion failed to prevent bone marrow transplant rejection. Conclusions These findings demonstrate a novel strategy using an FDA approved drug that has the potential to prevent the clinical sequela of alloimmunization to platelet transfusions. PMID:22321003

100 Multivisceral Transplants at a Single Center

PubMed Central

Tzakis, Andreas G.; Kato, Tomoaki; Levi, David M.; DeFaria, Werviston; Selvaggi, Gennaro; Weppler, Debbie; Nishida, Seigo; Moon, Jang; Madariaga, Juan R.; David, Andre I.; Gaynor, Jeffrey J.; Thompson, John; Hernandez, Erick; Martinez, Enrique; Cantwell, G Patricia; Augenstein, Jeffrey S.; Gyamfi, Anthony; Pretto, Ernesto A.; Dowdy, Lorraine; Tryphonopoulos, Panagiotis; Ruiz, Phillip

2005-01-01

Objective: The objective of this study was to summarize the evolution of multivisceral transplantation over a decade of experience and evaluate its current status. Summary Background Data: Multivisceral transplantation can be valuable for the treatment of patients with massive abdominal catastrophes. Its major limitations have been technical and rejection of the intestinal graft. Methods: This study consisted of an outcome analysis of 98 consecutive patients who received multivisceral transplantation at our institution. This represents the largest single center experience to date. Results: The most common diseases in our population before transplant were intestinal gastroschisis and intestinal dysmotility syndromes in children, and mesenteric thrombosis and trauma in adults. Kaplan Meier estimated patient and graft survivals for all cases were 65% and 63% at 1 year, 49% and 47% at 3 years, and 49% and 47% at 5 years. Factors that adversely influenced patient survival included transplant before 1998 (P = 0.01), being hospitalized at the time of transplant (P = 0.05), and being a child who received Campath-1H induction (P = 0.03). Among 37 patients who had none of these 3 factors (15 adults and 22 children), estimated 1- and 3-year survivals were 89% and 71%, respectively. Patients transplanted since 2001 had significantly less moderate and severe rejections (31.6% vs 67.6%, P = 0.0005) with almost half of these patients never developing rejection. Conclusions: Multivisceral transplantation is now an effective treatment of patients with complex abdominal pathology. The incidences of serious acute rejection and patient survival have improved in the most recent experience. Our results show that the multivisceral graft seems to facilitate engraftment of transplanted organs and raises the possibility that there is a degree of immunologic protection afforded by this procedure. PMID:16192808

Kidneys From α1,3-Galactosyltransferase Knockout/Human Heme Oxygenase-1/Human A20 Transgenic Pigs Are Protected From Rejection During Ex Vivo Perfusion With Human Blood.

PubMed

Ahrens, Hellen E; Petersen, Björn; Ramackers, Wolf; Petkov, Stoyan; Herrmann, Doris; Hauschild-Quintern, Janet; Lucas-Hahn, Andrea; Hassel, Petra; Ziegler, Maren; Baars, Wiebke; Bergmann, Sabine; Schwinzer, Reinhard; Winkler, Michael; Niemann, Heiner

2015-07-01

Multiple modifications of the porcine genome are required to prevent rejection after pig-to-primate xenotransplantation. Here, we produced pigs with a knockout of the α1,3-galactosyltransferase gene (GGTA1-KO) combined with transgenic expression of the human anti-apoptotic/anti-inflammatory molecules heme oxygenase-1 and A20, and investigated their xenoprotective properties. The GGTA1-KO/human heme oxygenase-1 (hHO-1)/human A20 (hA20) transgenic pigs were produced in a stepwise approach using zinc finger nuclease vectors targeting the GGTA1 gene and a Sleeping Beauty vector coding for hA20. Two piglets were analyzed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry, and sequencing. The biological function of the genetic modifications was tested in a (51)Chromium release assay and by ex vivo kidney perfusions with human blood. Disruption of the GGTA1 gene by deletion of few basepairs was demonstrated in GGTA1-KO/hHO-1/hA20 transgenic pigs. The hHO-1 and hA20 mRNA expression was confirmed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Ex vivo perfusion of 2 transgenic kidneys was feasible for the maximum experimental time of 240 minutes without symptoms of rejection. Results indicate that GGTA1-KO/hHO-1/hA20 transgenic pigs are a promising model to alleviate rejection and ischemia-reperfusion damage in porcine xenografts and could serve as a background for further genetic modifications toward the production of a donor pig that is clinically relevant for xenotransplantation.

Factors associated with the rejection of active euthanasia: a survey among the general public in Austria

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In recent decades, the general public has become increasingly receptive toward a legislation that allows active voluntary euthanasia (AVE). The purpose of this study was to survey the current attitude towards AVE within the Austrian population and to identify explanatory factors in the areas of socio-demographics, personal experiences with care, and ideological orientation. A further objective was to examine differences depending on the type of problem formulation (abstract vs. situational) for the purpose of measuring attitude. Methods A representative cross-sectional study was conducted across the Austrian population. Data were acquired from 1,000 individuals aged 16 years and over based on telephone interviews (CATI). For the purpose of measuring attitude toward AVE, two different problem formulations (abstract vs. situational) were juxtaposed. Results The abstract question about active voluntary euthanasia was answered negatively by 28.8%, while 71.2% opted in favour of AVE or were undecided. Regression analyses showed rejection of AVE was positively correlated with number of adults and children in the household, experience with care of seriously ill persons, a conservative worldview, and level of education. Mean or high family income was associated with lower levels of rejection. No independent correlations were found for variables such as sex, age, political orientation, self-rated health, and experiences with care of terminally ill patients. Correlation for the situational problem formulation was weaker and included fewer predictors than for the abstract question. Conclusions Our results suggest that factors relating to an individual’s interpersonal living situation and his/her cognitive convictions might be important determinants of the attitude toward AVE. If and to the extent that personal care experience plays a role, it is rather associated with rejection than with acceptance of AVE. PMID:23826902

Mad Cow Disease and U.S. Beef Trade

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-06

1 For additional details and background see CRS Report RS22345, BSE (“Mad Cow Disease:): A Brief Overview, and CRS Report RL32199, Bovine Spongiform ...foreign markets that banned U.S. beef when a cow in Washington state tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) in...rejection of three shipments of U.S. beef because of the presence of bone fragments. CRS-4 8 See also CRS Report RL32932, Bovine Spongiform

Scanning thin-sheet laser imaging microscopy (sTSLIM) with structured illumination and HiLo background rejection.

PubMed

Schröter, Tobias J; Johnson, Shane B; John, Kerstin; Santi, Peter A

2012-01-01

We report replacement of one side of a static illumination, dual sided, thin-sheet laser imaging microscope (TSLIM) with an intensity modulated laser scanner in order to implement structured illumination (SI) and HiLo image demodulation techniques for background rejection. The new system is equipped with one static and one scanned light-sheet and is called a scanning thin-sheet laser imaging microscope (sTSLIM). It is an optimized version of a light-sheet fluorescent microscope that is designed to image large specimens (<15 mm in diameter). In this paper we describe the hardware and software modifications to TSLIM that allow for static and uniform light-sheet illumination with SI and HiLo image demodulation. The static light-sheet has a thickness of 3.2 µm; whereas, the scanned side has a light-sheet thickness of 4.2 µm. The scanned side images specimens with subcellular resolution (<1 µm lateral and <4 µm axial resolution) with a size up to 15 mm. SI and HiLo produce superior contrast compared to both the uniform static and scanned light-sheets. HiLo contrast was greater than SI and is faster and more robust than SI because as it produces images in two-thirds of the time and exhibits fewer intensity streaking artifacts. 2011 Optical Society of America

Teaching Excellence through Professional Learning and Policy Reform: Lessons from around the World. International Summit on the Teaching Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schleicher, Andreas

2016-01-01

If the quality of an education system can never exceed the quality of its teachers, then countries need to do all they can to build a high-quality teaching force. "Teaching Excellence through Professional Learning and Policy Reform: Lessons from around the World," the background report to the sixth International Summit on the Teaching…

Characterization and Evolution of the Swift X-ray Telescope Instrumental Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Joanne; Pagani, C.; Morris, D. C.; Racusin, J.; Grupe, D.; Vetere, L.; Stroh, M.; Falcone, A.; Kennea, J.; Burrows, D. N.;

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR for 0νββ: Current Status and Future Plans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, M. P.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; Avignone, F. T.; Barabash, A. S.; Bertrand, F. E.; Boswell, M.; Brudanin, V.; Busch, M.; Byram, D.; Caldwell, A. S.; Chan, Y.-D.; Christofferson, C. D.; Combs, D. C.; Cuesta, C.; Detwiler, J. A.; Doe, P. J.; Efremenko, Yu.; Egorov, V.; Ejiri, H.; Elliott, S. R.; Fast, J. E.; Finnerty, P.; Fraenkle, F. M.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Giovanetti, G. K.; Goett, J.; Gruszko, J.; Guiseppe, V. E.; Gusev, K.; Hallin, A. L.; Hazama, R.; Hegai, A.; Henning, R.; Hoppe, E. W.; Howard, S.; Howe, M. A.; Keeter, K. J.; Kidd, M. F.; Kochetov, O.; Konovalov, S. I.; Kouzes, R. T.; LaFerriere, B. D.; Leon, J.; Leviner, L. E.; Loach, J. C.; MacMullin, J.; MacMullin, S.; Martin, R. D.; Meijer, S.; Mertens, S.; Nomachi, M.; Orrell, J. L.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Overman, N. R.; Phillips, D. G.; Poon, A. W. P.; Pushkin, K.; Radford, D. C.; Rager, J.; Rielage, K.; Robertson, R. G. H.; Romero-Romero, E.; Ronquest, M. C.; Schubert, A. G.; Shanks, B.; Shima, T.; Shirchenko, M.; Snavely, K. J.; Snyder, N.; Suriano, A. M.; Thompson, J.; Timkin, V.; Tornow, W.; Trimble, J. E.; Varner, R. L.; Vasilyev, S.; Vetter, K.; Vorren, K.; White, B. R.; Wilkerson, J. F.; Wiseman, C.; Xu, W.; Yakushev, E.; Young, A. R.; Yu, C.-H.; Yumatov, V.

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR will search for neutrinoless-double-beta decay (0νββ) in 76Ge, while establishing the feasibility of a future tonne-scale germanium-based 0νββ experiment, and performing searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The experiment, currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, will consist of a pair of modular high-purity germanium detector arrays housed inside of a compact copper, lead, and polyethylene shield. Through a combination of strict materials qualifications and assay, low-background design, and powerful background rejection techniques, the Demonstrator aims to achieve a background rate in the 0νββ region of interest (ROI) of no more than 3 counts in the 0νββ-decay ROI per tonne of target isotope per year (cnts/(ROI-t-y)). The current status of the Demonstrator is discussed, as are plans for its completion.

Limits on Spin-independent Couplings of Light Dark Matter WIMPs with a p-type Point-contact Germanium Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, S. T.; Wong, H. T.

New limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon coupling using 39.5 kg-days of data taken with a p-type point-contact germanium detector with fiducial mass of 840 g at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory (KSNL) is presented. Charactering and understanding the anomalous surface behaviour is of particular significance to this study. The slow rise-time of surface events is identified via software pulse shape analysis techniques. In addition, the signal-retaining and background-rejecting efficiencies are implied to clarify the actual bulk and surface events in the mixed regime at sub-keV range. Both efficiencies are evaluated with calibration sources and a novel n-type point-contact germanium detector. Efficiencies-corrected background spectra from the low-background facility at KSNL are derived. Part of the parameter space in cross-section versus WIMP-mass is probed and excluded.

Extending the Search for Neutrino Point Sources with IceCube above the Horizon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.; Abu-Zayyad, T.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Andeen, K.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Baker, M.; Barwick, S. W.; Bay, R.; Alba, J. L. Bazo; Beattie, K.; Beatty, J. J.; Bechet, S.; Becker, J. K.; Becker, K.-H.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Berdermann, J.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bertrand, D.; Besson, D. Z.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Botner, O.; Bradley, L.; Braun, J.; Breder, D.; Carson, M.; Castermans, T.; Chirkin, D.; Christy, B.; Clem, J.; Cohen, S.; Cowen, D. F.; D'Agostino, M. V.; Danninger, M.; Day, C. T.; de Clercq, C.; Demirörs, L.; Depaepe, O.; Descamps, F.; Desiati, P.; de Vries-Uiterweerd, G.; Deyoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Dreyer, J.; Dumm, J. P.; Duvoort, M. R.; Edwards, W. R.; Ehrlich, R.; Eisch, J.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engdegård, O.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fadiran, O.; Fazely, A. R.; Feusels, T.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Foerster, M. M.; Fox, B. D.; Franckowiak, A.; Franke, R.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Ganugapati, R.; Gerhardt, L.; Gladstone, L.; Goldschmidt, A.; Goodman, J. A.; Gozzini, R.; Grant, D.; Griesel, T.; Groß, A.; Grullon, S.; Gunasingha, R. M.; Gurtner, M.; Ha, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Han, K.; Hanson, K.; Hasegawa, Y.; Helbing, K.; Herquet, P.; Hickford, S.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Hubert, D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hülß, J.-P.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; Hussain, S.; Imlay, R. L.; Inaba, M.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobsen, J.; Japaridze, G. S.; Johansson, H.; Joseph, J. M.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kemming, N.; Kenny, P.; Kiryluk, J.; Kislat, F.; Klein, S. R.; Knops, S.; Kohnen, G.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Kowarik, T.; Krasberg, M.; Krings, T.; Kroll, G.; Kuehn, K.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lafebre, S.; Laihem, K.; Landsman, H.; Lauer, R.; Lehmann, R.; Lennarz, D.; Lundberg, J.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Majumdar, P.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; McParland, C. P.; Meagher, K.; Merck, M.; Mészáros, P.; Meures, T.; Middell, E.; Milke, N.; Miyamoto, H.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Movit, S. M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nam, J. W.; Nießen, P.; Nygren, D. R.; Odrowski, S.; Olivas, A.; Olivo, M.; Ono, M.; Panknin, S.; Patton, S.; Paul, L.; de Los Heros, C. Pérez; Petrovic, J.; Piegsa, A.; Pieloth, D.; Pohl, A. C.; Porrata, R.; Potthoff, N.; Price, P. B.; Prikockis, M.; Przybylski, G. T.; Rawlins, K.; Redl, P.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Ribordy, M.; Rizzo, A.; Rodrigues, J. P.; Roth, P.; Rothmaier, F.; Rott, C.; Roucelle, C.; Rutledge, D.; Ruzybayev, B.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sander, H.-G.; Sarkar, S.; Schatto, K.; Schlenstedt, S.; Schmidt, T.; Schneider, D.; Schukraft, A.; Schulz, O.; Schunck, M.; Seckel, D.; Semburg, B.; Seo, S. H.; Sestayo, Y.; Seunarine, S.; Silvestri, A.; Slipak, A.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stephens, G.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stoufer, M. C.; Stoyanov, S.; Strahler, E. A.; Straszheim, T.; Sullivan, G. W.; Swillens, Q.; Taboada, I.; Tamburro, A.; Tarasova, O.; Tepe, A.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terranova, C.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tooker, J.; Tosi, D.; Turčan, D.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vandenbroucke, J.; van Overloop, A.; van Santen, J.; Voigt, B.; Walck, C.; Waldenmaier, T.; Wallraff, M.; Walter, M.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wiedemann, A.; Wikström, G.; Williams, D. R.; Wischnewski, R.; Wissing, H.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, C.; Xu, X. W.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.

2009-11-01

Point source searches with the IceCube neutrino telescope have been restricted to one hemisphere, due to the exclusive selection of upward going events as a way of rejecting the atmospheric muon background. We show that the region above the horizon can be included by suppressing the background through energy-sensitive cuts. This improves the sensitivity above PeV energies, previously not accessible for declinations of more than a few degrees below the horizon due to the absorption of neutrinos in Earth. We present results based on data collected with 22 strings of IceCube, extending its field of view and energy reach for point source searches. No significant excess above the atmospheric background is observed in a sky scan and in tests of source candidates. Upper limits are reported, which for the first time cover point sources in the southern sky up to EeV energies.

The Majorana Demonstrator for 0νββ: Current Status and Future Plans

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

Green, Matthew P.; Avignone, F. T.; Bertrand, Jr, Fred E

2015-01-01

The Majorana Demonstrator will search for neutrinoless-double-beta decay (0νββ) in 76Ge, while establishing the feasibility of a future tonne-scale germanium-based 0νββ experiment, and performing searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The experiment, currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, will consist of a pair of modular high-purity germanium detector arrays housed inside of a compact copper, lead, and polyethylene shield. Through a combination of strict materials qualifications and assay, low-background design, and powerful background rejection techniques, the Demonstrator aims to achieve a background rate in the 0νββ region of interest (ROI) of nomore » more than 3cnts/(ROI-t-y). The current status of the Demonstrator is discussed, as are plans for its completion.« less

Predicting the Quasar Photometric Reshift with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Filter System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laubacher, Emily M.; York, Donald G.

1999-10-01

Photometric data were obtained for a set of known quasars (QSOs) in five bands with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) filter system for the purpose of testing the ability of the SDSS system to accurately predict the photometric redshift of QSOs. The initial plot of the SDSS photometric redshift versus the measured redshift shows a good relationship, but a lot of scatter. A literature search was conducted on a selected sampling of 49 QSOs, 26 with redshift z <= 0.5 and 23 with 0.5 < z < 2.6, to confirm their accurate identifications as QSOs with their advertised redshifts. This search revealed 10 rejected QSOs which were not QSOs but rather Seyfert galaxies or Narrow Line Objects. Additionally, 11 QSOs were either Broad Absorption Line Systems or had spectra that were in some way incomplete, and therefore, their QSO identification could not be confirmed. The revised plot, with the rejected and unconfirmed QSOs removed, gives an excellent straight line with very little scatter. Although these results are preliminary and for only a small sampling of QSOs, they show that further study of the relationship is warranted and that eventually the SDSS method may be used to accurately predict the photometric redshift of QSOs.

Rejection of pharmaceuticals in nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane drinking water treatment.

PubMed

Radjenović, J; Petrović, M; Ventura, F; Barceló, D

2008-08-01

This paper investigates the removal of a broad range of pharmaceuticals during nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) applied in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) using groundwater. Pharmaceutical residues detected in groundwater used as feed water in all five sampling campaigns were analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs such as ketoprofen, diclofenac, acetaminophen and propyphenazone, beta-blockers sotalol and metoprolol, an antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, a lipid regulator gemfibrozil and a diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. The highest concentrations in groundwater were recorded for hydrochlorothiazide (58.6-2548ngL(-1)), ketoprofen (85%). Deteriorations in retentions on NF and RO membranes were observed for acetaminophen (44.8-73 %), gemfibrozil (50-70 %) and mefenamic acid (30-50%). Furthermore, since several pharmaceutical residues were detected in the brine stream of NF and RO processes at concentrations of several hundreds nanogram per litre, its disposal to a near-by river can represent a possible risk implication of this type of treatment.

All-optical and broadband microwave fundamental/sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters.

PubMed

Gao, Yongsheng; Wen, Aijun; Jiang, Wei; Fan, Yangyu; He, You

2018-03-19

Microwave I/Q down-converters are frequently used in image-reject super heterodyne receivers, zero intermediate frequency (zero-IF) receivers, and phase/frequency discriminators. However, due to the electronic bottleneck, conventional microwave I/Q mixers face a serious bandwidth limitation, I/Q imbalance, and even-order distortion. In this paper, photonic microwave fundamental and sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters are presented using a polarization division multiplexing dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (PDM-DPMZM). Thanks to all-optical manipulation, the proposed system features an ultra-wide operating band (7-40 GHz in the fundamental I/Q down-converter, and 10-40 GHz in the sub-harmonic I/Q down-converter) and an excellent I/Q balance (maximum 0.7 dB power imbalance and 1 degree phase imbalance). The conversion gain, noise figure (NF), even-order distortion, and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) are also improved by LO power optimization and balanced detection. Using the proposed system, a high image rejection ratio is demonstrated for a super heterodyne receiver, and good EVMs over a wide RF power range is demonstrated for a zero-IF receiver. The proposed broadband photonic microwave fundamental and sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters may find potential applications in multi-band satellite, ultra-wideband radar and frequency-agile electronic warfare systems.

Operation of an InGrid based X-ray detector at the CAST experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krieger, Christoph; Desch, Klaus; Kaminski, Jochen; Lupberger, Michael

2018-02-01

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) is searching for axions and other particles which could be candidates for DarkMatter and even Dark Energy. These particles could be produced in the Sun and detected by a conversion into soft X-ray photons inside a strong magnetic field. In order to increase the sensitivity for physics beyond the Standard Model, detectors with a threshold below 1 keV as well as efficient background rejection methods are required to compensate for low energies and weak couplings resulting in very low detection rates. Those criteria are fulfilled by a detector utilizing the combination of a pixelized readout chip with an integrated Micromegas stage. These InGrid (Integrated Grid) devices can be build by photolithographic postprocessing techniques, resulting in a close to perfect match of grid and pixels facilitating the detection of single electrons on the chip surface. The high spatial resolution allows for energy determination by simple electron counting as well as for an event-shape based analysis as background rejection method. Tests at an X-ray generator revealed the energy threshold of an InGrid based X-ray detector to be well below the carbon Kα line at 277 eV. After the successful demonstration of the detectors key features, the detector was mounted at one of CAST's four detector stations behind an X-ray telescope in 2014. After several months of successful operation without any detector related interruptions, the InGrid based X-ray detector continues data taking at CAST in 2015. During operation at the experiment, background rates in the order of 10-5 keV-1 cm-2 s-1 have been achieved by application of a likelihood based method discriminating the non-photon background originating mostly from cosmic rays. For continued operation in 2016, an upgraded InGrid based detector is to be installed among other improvements including decoupling and sampling of the signal induced on the grid as well as a veto scintillator to further lower the observed background rates and improving sensitivity.

Development of instrumentation for differential spectroscopic measurements at millimeter wavelengths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Alessandro, G.; de Bernardis, P.; Masi, S.; Schillaci, A.

2016-07-01

The study of the spectral-spatial anisotropy of the high-latitude mm-wave sky is a powerful tool of cosmology. It can be used to provide deep insight in the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect, the Cosmic Infrared Background, the anisotropy of the CMB, using the spectral dimension to provide substantially increased information with respect to what is achievable by means of standard multiband photometry. Here we focus on spectral measurements of the SZ effect. Large mm-wave telescopes are now routinely mapping photometrically the SZ effect in a number of clusters, estimating the comptonisation parameter and using them as cosmological probes. Low-resolution spectroscopic measurements of the SZ effect would be very effective in removing the degeneracy between parameters inevitable in photometric measurements. We describe a real-world implementation of this measurement strategy, based on an imaging, efficient, differential Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). The instrument is based on a Martin-Puplett interferometer (MPI) configuration. We combined two MPIs working synchronously to use the entire input power. In our implementation the observed sky field is divided into two halves along the meridian. Each half-field corresponds to one of the two input ports of the MPI. Each detector in the FTS focal planes measures the difference in brightness between two sky pixels, symmetrically located with respect to the meridian. Exploiting the high common mode rejection of the MPI, tiny sky brightness gradients embedded in an overwhelming isotropic background might be measured. We investigate experimentally the common-mode rejection achievable in the MPI at mm wavelengths, and discuss the use of such an instrument to measure the spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and the SZ effect.

Implementation of spatial overlap modulation nonlinear optical microscopy using an electro-optic deflector

PubMed Central

Isobe, Keisuke; Kawano, Hiroyuki; Kumagai, Akiko; Miyawaki, Atsushi; Midorikawa, Katsumi

2013-01-01

A spatial overlap modulation (SPOM) technique is a nonlinear optical microscopy technique which enhances the three-dimensional spatial resolution and rejects the out-of-focus background limiting the imaging depth inside a highly scattering sample. Here, we report on the implementation of SPOM in which beam pointing modulation is achieved by an electro-optic deflector. The modulation and demodulation frequencies are enhanced to 200 kHz and 400 kHz, respectively, resulting in a 200-fold enhancement compared with the previously reported system. The resolution enhancement and suppression of the out-of-focus background are demonstrated by sum-frequency-generation imaging of pounded granulated sugar and deep imaging of fluorescent beads in a tissue-like phantom, respectively. PMID:24156055

Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.; Abu-Zayyad, T.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Andeen, K.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Baker, M.; Barwick, S. W.; Bay, R.; Bazo Alba, J. L.; Beattie, K.; Beatty, J. J.; Bechet, S.; Becker, J. K.; Becker, K.-H.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Benzvi, S.; Berdermann, J.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bertrand, D.; Besson, D. Z.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Blumenthal, J.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Braun, J.; Buitink, S.; Carson, M.; Chirkin, D.; Christy, B.; Clem, J.; Clevermann, F.; Cohen, S.; Colnard, C.; Cowen, D. F.; D'Agostino, M. V.; Danninger, M.; Davis, J. C.; de Clercq, C.; Demirörs, L.; Depaepe, O.; Descamps, F.; Desiati, P.; de Vries-Uiterweerd, G.; Deyoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Dierckxsens, M.; Dreyer, J.; Dumm, J. P.; Duvoort, M. R.; Ehrlich, R.; Eisch, J.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engdegård, O.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fadiran, O.; Fazely, A. R.; Fedynitch, A.; Feusels, T.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Foerster, M. M.; Fox, B. D.; Franckowiak, A.; Franke, R.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Geisler, M.; Gerhardt, L.; Gladstone, L.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Goodman, J. A.; Grant, D.; Griesel, T.; Groß, A.; Grullon, S.; Gurtner, M.; Ha, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Han, K.; Hanson, K.; Helbing, K.; Herquet, P.; Hickford, S.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Hubert, D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hülß, J.-P.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; Hussain, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobsen, J.; Japaridze, G. S.; Johansson, H.; Joseph, J. M.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kemming, N.; Kenny, P.; Kiryluk, J.; Kislat, F.; Klein, S. R.; Köhne, J.-H.; Kohnen, G.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Kowarik, T.; Krasberg, M.; Krings, T.; Kroll, G.; Kuehn, K.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lafebre, S.; Laihem, K.; Landsman, H.; Larson, M. J.; Lauer, R.; Lehmann, R.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Majumdar, P.; Marotta, A.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; Matusik, M.; Meagher, K.; Merck, M.; Mészáros, P.; Meures, T.; Middell, E.; Milke, N.; Miller, J.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Movit, S. M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nam, J. W.; Naumann, U.; Nießen, P.; Nygren, D. R.; Odrowski, S.; Olivas, A.; Olivo, M.; O'Murchadha, A.; Ono, M.; Panknin, S.; Paul, L.; Pérez de Los Heros, C.; Petrovic, J.; Piegsa, A.; Pieloth, D.; Porrata, R.; Posselt, J.; Price, P. B.; Prikockis, M.; Przybylski, G. T.; Rawlins, K.; Redl, P.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Ribordy, M.; Rizzo, A.; Rodrigues, J. P.; Roth, P.; Rothmaier, F.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Rutledge, D.; Ruzybayev, B.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sander, H.-G.; Santander, M.; Sarkar, S.; Schatto, K.; Schlenstedt, S.; Schmidt, T.; Schukraft, A.; Schultes, A.; Schulz, O.; Schunck, M.; Seckel, D.; Semburg, B.; Seo, S. H.; Sestayo, Y.; Seunarine, S.; Silvestri, A.; Singh, K.; Slipak, A.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stephens, G.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stoyanov, S.; Strahler, E. A.; Straszheim, T.; Sullivan, G. W.; Swillens, Q.; Taavola, H.; Taboada, I.; Tamburro, A.; Tarasova, O.; Tepe, A.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Turčan, D.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vandenbroucke, J.; van Overloop, A.; van Santen, J.; Voge, M.; Voigt, B.; Walck, C.; Waldenmaier, T.; Wallraff, M.; Walter, M.; Weaver, Ch.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wikström, G.; Williams, D. R.; Wischnewski, R.; Wissing, H.; Wolf, M.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, C.; Xu, X. W.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Zarzhitsky, P.

2011-01-01

A measurement of the atmospheric muon neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV was performed using a data sample of about 18 000 up-going atmospheric muon neutrino events in IceCube. Boosted decision trees were used for event selection to reject misreconstructed atmospheric muons and obtain a sample of up-going muon neutrino events. Background contamination in the final event sample is less than 1%. This is the first measurement of atmospheric neutrinos up to 400 TeV, and is fundamental to understanding the impact of this neutrino background on astrophysical neutrino observations with IceCube. The measured spectrum is consistent with predictions for the atmospheric νμ+ν¯μ flux.

Improving LHC searches for dark photons using lepton-jet substructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barello, G.; Chang, Spencer; Newby, Christopher A.; Ostdiek, Bryan

2017-03-01

Collider signals of dark photons are an exciting probe for new gauge forces and are characterized by events with boosted lepton jets. Existing techniques are efficient in searching for muonic lepton jets but due to substantial backgrounds have difficulty constraining lepton jets containing only electrons. This is unfortunate since upcoming intensity frontier experiments are sensitive to dark photon masses which only allow electron decays. Analyzing a recently proposed model of kinetic mixing, with new scalar particles decaying into dark photons, we find that existing techniques for electron jets can be substantially improved. We show that using lepton-jet-substructure variables, in association with a boosted decision tree, improves background rejection, significantly increasing the LHC's reach for dark photons in this region of parameter space.

First search for extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades with IceCube

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

IceCube Collaboration; Kiryluk, Joanna

2009-05-22

We report on the first search for extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades in IceCube.The analyzed data were collected in the year 2007 when 22 detector strings were installed and operated. We will discuss the analysis methods used to reconstruct cascades and to suppress backgrounds. Simulated neutrino signal events with a E-2 energy spectrum, which pass the background rejection criteria, are reconstructed with a resolution Delta(log E) ~;; 0.27 in the energy range from ~;; 20 TeV to a few PeV. We present the range of the diffuse flux of extra-terrestrial neutrinos in the cascade channel in IceCube within which we expect tomore » be able to put a limit.« less

Anxious and angry rejection sensitivity, social withdrawal, and retribution in high and low ambiguous situations.

PubMed

Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J; Nesdale, Drew

2013-02-01

Rejection sensitivity (RS) is a tendency to expect, perceive, and overreact to rejection. Our objective was to examine whether anxious and angry RS have specific associations with negative social reactions, and whether responses are intensified in situations of high rejection ambiguity. In two studies, youth (N = 464 and N = 371) reported their RS and anticipated responses to social scenarios. In Study 1, all scenarios portrayed overt rejection events. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to conditions portraying overt or ambiguous rejection. Greater rejection expectation was associated with more negative reactions to rejection. Moreover, as expected, anxiety about rejection was uniquely associated with withdrawal, and anger about rejection was uniquely associated with retribution (i.e., reactive aggression). In the second study, RS persons responded more negatively than others to both overt and high ambiguous rejections, but retribution was intensified among participants high in rejection expectation when rejection was ambiguous, and withdrawal was intensified among participants high in anxious RS in overt rejection situations. Consistent with the revised RS model, there are different patterns of emotions, cognitions, and behaviors in response to high and low ambiguous rejection events, which are heightened in youth sensitive to rejection. © 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Identification and rejection of pile-up jets at high pseudorapidity with the ATLAS detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aaboud, M.; Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; Abdinov, O.; Abeloos, B.; Abidi, S. H.; AbouZeid, O. S.; Abraham, N. L.; Abramowicz, H.; Abreu, H.; Abreu, R.; Abulaiti, Y.; Acharya, B. S.; Adachi, S.; Adamczyk, L.; Adelman, J.; Adersberger, M.; Adye, T.; Affolder, A. A.; Agatonovic-Jovin, T.; Agheorghiesei, C.; Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.; Ahlen, S. P.; Ahmadov, F.; Aielli, G.; Akatsuka, S.; Akerstedt, H.; Åkesson, T. P. A.; Akilli, E.; Akimov, A. V.; Alberghi, G. L.; Albert, J.; Albicocco, P.; Verzini, M. J. Alconada; Aleksa, M.; Aleksandrov, I. N.; Alexa, C.; Alexander, G.; Alexopoulos, T.; Alhroob, M.; Ali, B.; Aliev, M.; Alimonti, G.; Alison, J.; Alkire, S. P.; Allbrooke, B. M. M.; Allen, B. W.; Allport, P. P.; Aloisio, A.; Alonso, A.; Alonso, F.; Alpigiani, C.; Alshehri, A. A.; Alstaty, M.; Gonzalez, B. Alvarez; Piqueras, D. Álvarez; Alviggi, M. G.; Amadio, B. T.; Coutinho, Y. Amaral; Amelung, C.; Amidei, D.; Santos, S. P. Amor Dos; Amorim, A.; Amoroso, S.; Amundsen, G.; Anastopoulos, C.; Ancu, L. S.; Andari, N.; Andeen, T.; Anders, C. F.; Anders, J. K.; Anderson, K. J.; Andreazza, A.; Andrei, V.; Angelidakis, S.; Angelozzi, I.; Angerami, A.; Anisenkov, A. V.; Anjos, N.; Annovi, A.; Antel, C.; Antonelli, M.; Antonov, A.; Antrim, D. J.; Anulli, F.; Aoki, M.; Bella, L. Aperio; Arabidze, G.; Arai, Y.; Araque, J. P.; Ferraz, V. Araujo; Arce, A. T. H.; Ardell, R. E.; Arduh, F. A.; Arguin, J.-F.; Argyropoulos, S.; Arik, M.; Armbruster, A. J.; Armitage, L. J.; Arnaez, O.; Arnold, H.; Arratia, M.; Arslan, O.; Artamonov, A.; Artoni, G.; Artz, S.; Asai, S.; Asbah, N.; Ashkenazi, A.; Asquith, L.; Assamagan, K.; Astalos, R.; Atkinson, M.; Atlay, N. B.; Augsten, K.; Avolio, G.; Axen, B.; Ayoub, M. K.; Azuelos, G.; Baas, A. E.; Baca, M. J.; Bachacou, H.; Bachas, K.; Backes, M.; Backhaus, M.; Bagnaia, P.; Bahrasemani, H.; Baines, J. T.; Bajic, M.; Baker, O. K.; Baldin, E. M.; Balek, P.; Balli, F.; Balunas, W. K.; Banas, E.; Banerjee, Sw.; Bannoura, A. A. E.; Barak, L.; Barberio, E. L.; Barberis, D.; Barbero, M.; Barillari, T.; Barisits, M.-S.; Barklow, T.; Barlow, N.; Barnes, S. L.; Barnett, B. M.; Barnett, R. M.; Barnovska-Blenessy, Z.; Baroncelli, A.; Barone, G.; Barr, A. J.; Navarro, L. Barranco; Barreiro, F.; da Costa, J. Barreiro Guimarães; Bartoldus, R.; Barton, A. E.; Bartos, P.; Basalaev, A.; Bassalat, A.; Bates, R. L.; Batista, S. J.; Batley, J. R.; Battaglia, M.; Bauce, M.; Bauer, F.; Bawa, H. S.; Beacham, J. B.; Beattie, M. D.; Beau, T.; Beauchemin, P. H.; Bechtle, P.; Beck, H. P.; Becker, K.; Becker, M.; Beckingham, M.; Becot, C.; Beddall, A. J.; Beddall, A.; Bednyakov, V. A.; Bedognetti, M.; Bee, C. P.; Beermann, T. A.; Begalli, M.; Begel, M.; Behr, J. K.; Bell, A. S.; Bella, G.; Bellagamba, L.; Bellerive, A.; Bellomo, M.; Belotskiy, K.; Beltramello, O.; Belyaev, N. L.; Benary, O.; Benchekroun, D.; Bender, M.; Bendtz, K.; Benekos, N.; Benhammou, Y.; Noccioli, E. Benhar; Benitez, J.; Benjamin, D. P.; Benoit, M.; Bensinger, J. R.; Bentvelsen, S.; Beresford, L.; Beretta, M.; Berge, D.; Kuutmann, E. Bergeaas; Berger, N.; Beringer, J.; Berlendis, S.; Bernard, N. R.; Bernardi, G.; Bernius, C.; Bernlochner, F. U.; Berry, T.; Berta, P.; Bertella, C.; Bertoli, G.; Bertolucci, F.; Bertram, I. A.; Bertsche, C.; Bertsche, D.; Besjes, G. J.; Bylund, O. Bessidskaia; Bessner, M.; Besson, N.; Betancourt, C.; Bethani, A.; Bethke, S.; Bevan, A. J.; Beyer, J.; Bianchi, R. M.; Biebel, O.; Biedermann, D.; Bielski, R.; Biesuz, N. V.; Biglietti, M.; De Mendizabal, J. Bilbao; Billoud, T. R. V.; Bilokon, H.; Bindi, M.; Bingul, A.; Bini, C.; Biondi, S.; Bisanz, T.; Bittrich, C.; Bjergaard, D. M.; Black, C. W.; Black, J. E.; Black, K. M.; Blair, R. E.; Blazek, T.; Bloch, I.; Blocker, C.; Blue, A.; Blum, W.; Blumenschein, U.; Blunier, S.; Bobbink, G. J.; Bobrovnikov, V. S.; Bocchetta, S. S.; Bocci, A.; Bock, C.; Boehler, M.; Boerner, D.; Bogavac, D.; Bogdanchikov, A. G.; Bohm, C.; Boisvert, V.; Bokan, P.; Bold, T.; Boldyrev, A. S.; Bolz, A. E.; Bomben, M.; Bona, M.; Boonekamp, M.; Borisov, A.; Borissov, G.; Bortfeldt, J.; Bortoletto, D.; Bortolotto, V.; Boscherini, D.; Bosman, M.; Sola, J. D. Bossio; Boudreau, J.; Bouffard, J.; Bouhova-Thacker, E. V.; Boumediene, D.; Bourdarios, C.; Boutle, S. K.; Boveia, A.; Boyd, J.; Boyko, I. R.; Bracinik, J.; Brandt, A.; Brandt, G.; Brandt, O.; Bratzler, U.; Brau, B.; Brau, J. E.; Madden, W. D. Breaden; Brendlinger, K.; Brennan, A. J.; Brenner, L.; Brenner, R.; Bressler, S.; Briglin, D. L.; Bristow, T. M.; Britton, D.; Britzger, D.; Brochu, F. M.; Brock, I.; Brock, R.; Brooijmans, G.; Brooks, T.; Brooks, W. K.; Brosamer, J.; Brost, E.; Broughton, J. H.; de Renstrom, P. A. Bruckman; Bruncko, D.; Bruni, A.; Bruni, G.; Bruni, L. S.; Brunt, BH; Bruschi, M.; Bruscino, N.; Bryant, P.; Bryngemark, L.; Buanes, T.; Buat, Q.; Buchholz, P.; Buckley, A. G.; Budagov, I. A.; Buehrer, F.; Bugge, M. K.; Bulekov, O.; Bullock, D.; Burch, T. J.; Burckhart, H.; Burdin, S.; Burgard, C. D.; Burger, A. M.; Burghgrave, B.; Burka, K.; Burke, S.; Burmeister, I.; Burr, J. T. P.; Busato, E.; Büscher, D.; Büscher, V.; Bussey, P.; Butler, J. M.; Buttar, C. M.; Butterworth, J. M.; Butti, P.; Buttinger, W.; Buzatu, A.; Buzykaev, A. R.; Urbán, S. Cabrera; Caforio, D.; Cairo, V. M.; Cakir, O.; Calace, N.; Calafiura, P.; Calandri, A.; Calderini, G.; Calfayan, P.; Callea, G.; Caloba, L. P.; Lopez, S. Calvente; Calvet, D.; Calvet, S.; Calvet, T. P.; Toro, R. Camacho; Camarda, S.; Camarri, P.; Cameron, D.; Armadans, R. Caminal; Camincher, C.; Campana, S.; Campanelli, M.; Camplani, A.; Campoverde, A.; Canale, V.; Bret, M. Cano; Cantero, J.; Cao, T.; Garrido, M. D. M. Capeans; Caprini, I.; Caprini, M.; Capua, M.; Carbone, R. M.; Cardarelli, R.; Cardillo, F.; Carli, I.; Carli, T.; Carlino, G.; Carlson, B. T.; Carminati, L.; Carney, R. M. D.; Caron, S.; Carquin, E.; Carrá, S.; Carrillo-Montoya, G. D.; Carvalho, J.; Casadei, D.; Casado, M. P.; Casolino, M.; Casper, D. W.; Castelijn, R.; Gimenez, V. Castillo; Castro, N. F.; Catinaccio, A.; Catmore, J. R.; Cattai, A.; Caudron, J.; Cavaliere, V.; Cavallaro, E.; Cavalli, D.; Cavalli-Sforza, M.; Cavasinni, V.; Celebi, E.; Ceradini, F.; Alberich, L. Cerda; Cerqueira, A. S.; Cerri, A.; Cerrito, L.; Cerutti, F.; Cervelli, A.; Cetin, S. A.; Chafaq, A.; Chakraborty, D.; Chan, S. K.; Chan, W. S.; Chan, Y. L.; Chang, P.; Chapman, J. D.; Charlton, D. G.; Chau, C. C.; Barajas, C. A. Chavez; Che, S.; Cheatham, S.; Chegwidden, A.; Chekanov, S.; Chekulaev, S. V.; Chelkov, G. A.; Chelstowska, M. A.; Chen, C.; Chen, H.; Chen, S.; Chen, S.; Chen, X.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, H. C.; Cheng, H. J.; Cheplakov, A.; Cheremushkina, E.; Moursli, R. Cherkaoui El; Chernyatin, V.; Cheu, E.; Chevalier, L.; Chiarella, V.; Chiarelli, G.; Chiodini, G.; Chisholm, A. S.; Chitan, A.; Chiu, Y. H.; Chizhov, M. V.; Choi, K.; Chomont, A. R.; Chouridou, S.; Christodoulou, V.; Chromek-Burckhart, D.; Chu, M. C.; Chudoba, J.; Chuinard, A. J.; Chwastowski, J. J.; Chytka, L.; Ciftci, A. K.; Cinca, D.; Cindro, V.; Cioara, I. A.; Ciocca, C.; Ciocio, A.; Cirotto, F.; Citron, Z. H.; Citterio, M.; Ciubancan, M.; Clark, A.; Clark, B. L.; Clark, M. R.; Clark, P. J.; Clarke, R. N.; Clement, C.; Coadou, Y.; Cobal, M.; Coccaro, A.; Cochran, J.; Colasurdo, L.; Cole, B.; Colijn, A. P.; Collot, J.; Colombo, T.; Muiño, P. Conde; Coniavitis, E.; Connell, S. H.; Connelly, I. A.; Constantinescu, S.; Conti, G.; Conventi, F.; Cooke, M.; Cooper-Sarkar, A. M.; Cormier, F.; Cormier, K. J. R.; Corradi, M.; Corriveau, F.; Cortes-Gonzalez, A.; Cortiana, G.; Costa, G.; Costa, M. J.; Costanzo, D.; Cottin, G.; Cowan, G.; Cox, B. E.; Cranmer, K.; Crawley, S. J.; Creager, R. A.; Cree, G.; Crépé-Renaudin, S.; Crescioli, F.; Cribbs, W. A.; Cristinziani, M.; Croft, V.; Crosetti, G.; Cueto, A.; Donszelmann, T. Cuhadar; Cukierman, A. R.; Cummings, J.; Curatolo, M.; Cúth, J.; Czirr, H.; Czodrowski, P.; D'amen, G.; D'Auria, S.; D'eramo, L.; D'Onofrio, M.; De Sousa, M. J. Da Cunha Sargedas; Via, C. Da; Dabrowski, W.; Dado, T.; Dai, T.; Dale, O.; Dallaire, F.; Dallapiccola, C.; Dam, M.; Dandoy, J. R.; Daneri, M. F.; Dang, N. P.; Daniells, A. C.; Dann, N. S.; Danninger, M.; Hoffmann, M. Dano; Dao, V.; Darbo, G.; Darmora, S.; Dassoulas, J.; Dattagupta, A.; Daubney, T.; Davey, W.; David, C.; Davidek, T.; Davies, M.; Davis, D. R.; Davison, P.; Dawe, E.; Dawson, I.; De, K.; de Asmundis, R.; De Benedetti, A.; De Castro, S.; De Cecco, S.; De Groot, N.; de Jong, P.; De la Torre, H.; De Lorenzi, F.; De Maria, A.; De Pedis, D.; De Salvo, A.; De Sanctis, U.; De Santo, A.; Corga, K. De Vasconcelos; De Regie, J. B. De Vivie; Dearnaley, W. J.; Debbe, R.; Debenedetti, C.; Dedovich, D. V.; Dehghanian, N.; Deigaard, I.; Del Gaudio, M.; Del Peso, J.; Del Prete, T.; Delgove, D.; Deliot, F.; Delitzsch, C. M.; Dell'Acqua, A.; Dell'Asta, L.; Dell'Orso, M.; Della Pietra, M.; della Volpe, D.; Delmastro, M.; Delporte, C.; Delsart, P. A.; DeMarco, D. A.; Demers, S.; Demichev, M.; Demilly, A.; Denisov, S. P.; Denysiuk, D.; Derendarz, D.; Derkaoui, J. E.; Derue, F.; Dervan, P.; Desch, K.; Deterre, C.; Dette, K.; Devesa, M. R.; Deviveiros, P. O.; Dewhurst, A.; Dhaliwal, S.; Di Bello, F. A.; Di Ciaccio, A.; Di Ciaccio, L.; Di Clemente, W. K.; Di Donato, C.; Di Girolamo, A.; Di Girolamo, B.; Di Micco, B.; Di Nardo, R.; Di Petrillo, K. F.; Di Simone, A.; Di Sipio, R.; Di Valentino, D.; Diaconu, C.; Diamond, M.; Dias, F. A.; Diaz, M. A.; Diehl, E. B.; Dietrich, J.; Cornell, S. Díez; Dimitrievska, A.; Dingfelder, J.; Dita, P.; Dita, S.; Dittus, F.; Djama, F.; Djobava, T.; Djuvsland, J. I.; do Vale, M. A. B.; Dobos, D.; Dobre, M.; Doglioni, C.; Dolejsi, J.; Dolezal, Z.; Donadelli, M.; Donati, S.; Dondero, P.; Donini, J.; Dopke, J.; Doria, A.; Dova, M. T.; Doyle, A. T.; Drechsler, E.; Dris, M.; Du, Y.; Duarte-Campderros, J.; Dubreuil, A.; Duchovni, E.; Duckeck, G.; Ducourthial, A.; Ducu, O. A.; Duda, D.; Dudarev, A.; Dudder, A. Chr.; Duffield, E. M.; Duflot, L.; Dührssen, M.; Dumancic, M.; Dumitriu, A. E.; Duncan, A. K.; Dunford, M.; Yildiz, H. Duran; Düren, M.; Durglishvili, A.; Duschinger, D.; Dutta, B.; Dyndal, M.; Eckardt, C.; Ecker, K. M.; Edgar, R. C.; Eifert, T.; Eigen, G.; Einsweiler, K.; Ekelof, T.; Kacimi, M. El; Kosseifi, R. El; Ellajosyula, V.; Ellert, M.; Elles, S.; Ellinghaus, F.; Elliot, A. A.; Ellis, N.; Elmsheuser, J.; Elsing, M.; Emeliyanov, D.; Enari, Y.; Endner, O. C.; Ennis, J. S.; Erdmann, J.; Ereditato, A.; Ernis, G.; Ernst, M.; Errede, S.; Escalier, M.; Escobar, C.; Esposito, B.; Pastor, O. Estrada; Etienvre, A. I.; Etzion, E.; Evans, H.; Ezhilov, A.; Ezzi, M.; Fabbri, F.; Fabbri, L.; Facini, G.; Fakhrutdinov, R. M.; Falciano, S.; Falla, R. J.; Faltova, J.; Fang, Y.; Fanti, M.; Farbin, A.; Farilla, A.; Farina, C.; Farina, E. M.; Farooque, T.; Farrell, S.; Farrington, S. M.; Farthouat, P.; Fassi, F.; Fassnacht, P.; Fassouliotis, D.; Giannelli, M. Faucci; Favareto, A.; Fawcett, W. J.; Fayard, L.; Fedin, O. L.; Fedorko, W.; Feigl, S.; Feligioni, L.; Feng, C.; Feng, E. J.; Feng, H.; Fenton, M. J.; Fenyuk, A. B.; Feremenga, L.; Martinez, P. Fernandez; Perez, S. Fernandez; Ferrando, J.; Ferrari, A.; Ferrari, P.; Ferrari, R.; de Lima, D. E. Ferreira; Ferrer, A.; Ferrere, D.; Ferretti, C.; Fiedler, F.; Filipčič, A.; Filipuzzi, M.; Filthaut, F.; Fincke-Keeler, M.; Finelli, K. D.; Fiolhais, M. C. N.; Fiorini, L.; Fischer, A.; Fischer, C.; Fischer, J.; Fisher, W. C.; Flaschel, N.; Fleck, I.; Fleischmann, P.; Fletcher, R. R. M.; Flick, T.; Flierl, B. M.; Castillo, L. R. Flores; Flowerdew, M. J.; Forcolin, G. T.; Formica, A.; Förster, F. A.; Forti, A.; Foster, A. G.; Fournier, D.; Fox, H.; Fracchia, S.; Francavilla, P.; Franchini, M.; Franchino, S.; Francis, D.; Franconi, L.; Franklin, M.; Frate, M.; Fraternali, M.; Freeborn, D.; Fressard-Batraneanu, S. M.; Freund, B.; Froidevaux, D.; Frost, J. A.; Fukunaga, C.; Fusayasu, T.; Fuster, J.; Gabaldon, C.; Gabizon, O.; Gabrielli, A.; Gabrielli, A.; Gach, G. P.; Gadatsch, S.; Gadomski, S.; Gagliardi, G.; Gagnon, L. G.; Galea, C.; Galhardo, B.; Gallas, E. J.; Gallop, B. J.; Gallus, P.; Galster, G.; Gan, K. K.; Ganguly, S.; Gao, Y.; Gao, Y. S.; Walls, F. M. Garay; García, C.; Navarro, J. E. García; Garcia-Sciveres, M.; Gardner, R. W.; Garelli, N.; Garonne, V.; Bravo, A. Gascon; Gasnikova, K.; Gatti, C.; Gaudiello, A.; Gaudio, G.; Gavrilenko, I. L.; Gay, C.; Gaycken, G.; Gazis, E. N.; Gee, C. N. P.; Geisen, J.; Geisen, M.; Geisler, M. P.; Gellerstedt, K.; Gemme, C.; Genest, M. H.; Geng, C.; Gentile, S.; Gentsos, C.; George, S.; Gerbaudo, D.; Gershon, A.; Geßner, G.; Ghasemi, S.; Ghneimat, M.; Giacobbe, B.; Giagu, S.; Giannetti, P.; Gibson, S. M.; Gignac, M.; Gilchriese, M.; Gillberg, D.; Gilles, G.; Gingrich, D. M.; Giokaris, N.; Giordani, M. P.; Giorgi, F. M.; Giraud, P. F.; Giromini, P.; Giugni, D.; Giuli, F.; Giuliani, C.; Giulini, M.; Gjelsten, B. K.; Gkaitatzis, S.; Gkialas, I.; Gkougkousis, E. L.; Gkountoumis, P.; Gladilin, L. K.; Glasman, C.; Glatzer, J.; Glaysher, P. C. F.; Glazov, A.; Goblirsch-Kolb, M.; Godlewski, J.; Goldfarb, S.; Golling, T.; Golubkov, D.; Gomes, A.; Gonçalo, R.; Gama, R. Goncalves; Costa, J. Goncalves Pinto Firmino Da; Gonella, G.; Gonella, L.; Gongadze, A.; de la Hoz, S. González; Gonzalez-Sevilla, S.; Goossens, L.; Gorbounov, P. A.; Gordon, H. A.; Gorelov, I.; Gorini, B.; Gorini, E.; Gorišek, A.; Goshaw, A. T.; Gössling, C.; Gostkin, M. I.; Gottardo, C. A.; Goudet, C. R.; Goujdami, D.; Goussiou, A. G.; Govender, N.; Gozani, E.; Graber, L.; Grabowska-Bold, I.; Gradin, P. O. J.; Gramling, J.; Gramstad, E.; Grancagnolo, S.; Gratchev, V.; Gravila, P. M.; Gray, C.; Gray, H. M.; Greenwood, Z. D.; Grefe, C.; Gregersen, K.; Gregor, I. M.; Grenier, P.; Grevtsov, K.; Griffiths, J.; Grillo, A. A.; Grimm, K.; Grinstein, S.; Gris, Ph.; Grivaz, J.-F.; Groh, S.; Gross, E.; Grosse-Knetter, J.; Grossi, G. C.; Grout, Z. J.; Grummer, A.; Guan, L.; Guan, W.; Guenther, J.; Guescini, F.; Guest, D.; Gueta, O.; Gui, B.; Guido, E.; Guillemin, T.; Guindon, S.; Gul, U.; Gumpert, C.; Guo, J.; Guo, W.; Guo, Y.; Gupta, R.; Gupta, S.; Gustavino, G.; Gutierrez, P.; Ortiz, N. G. Gutierrez; Gutschow, C.; Guyot, C.; Guzik, M. P.; Gwenlan, C.; Gwilliam, C. B.; Haas, A.; Haber, C.; Hadavand, H. K.; Haddad, N.; Hadef, A.; Hageböck, S.; Hagihara, M.; Hakobyan, H.; Haleem, M.; Haley, J.; Halladjian, G.; Hallewell, G. D.; Hamacher, K.; Hamal, P.; Hamano, K.; Hamilton, A.; Hamity, G. N.; Hamnett, P. G.; Han, L.; Han, S.; Hanagaki, K.; Hanawa, K.; Hance, M.; Haney, B.; Hanke, P.; Hansen, J. B.; Hansen, J. D.; Hansen, M. C.; Hansen, P. H.; Hara, K.; Hard, A. S.; Harenberg, T.; Hariri, F.; Harkusha, S.; Harrington, R. D.; Harrison, P. F.; Hartmann, N. M.; Hasegawa, M.; Hasegawa, Y.; Hasib, A.; Hassani, S.; Haug, S.; Hauser, R.; Hauswald, L.; Havener, L. B.; Havranek, M.; Hawkes, C. M.; Hawkings, R. J.; Hayakawa, D.; Hayden, D.; Hays, C. P.; Hays, J. M.; Hayward, H. S.; Haywood, S. J.; Head, S. J.; Heck, T.; Hedberg, V.; Heelan, L.; Heidegger, K. K.; Heim, S.; Heim, T.; Heinemann, B.; Heinrich, J. J.; Heinrich, L.; Heinz, C.; Hejbal, J.; Helary, L.; Held, A.; Hellman, S.; Helsens, C.; Henderson, R. C. W.; Heng, Y.; Henkelmann, S.; Correia, A. M. Henriques; Henrot-Versille, S.; Herbert, G. H.; Herde, H.; Herget, V.; Jiménez, Y. Hernández; Herr, H.; Herten, G.; Hertenberger, R.; Hervas, L.; Herwig, T. C.; Hesketh, G. G.; Hessey, N. P.; Hetherly, J. W.; Higashino, S.; Higón-Rodriguez, E.; Hill, E.; Hill, J. C.; Hiller, K. H.; Hillier, S. J.; Hils, M.; Hinchliffe, I.; Hirose, M.; Hirschbuehl, D.; Hiti, B.; Hladik, O.; Hoad, X.; Hobbs, J.; Hod, N.; Hodgkinson, M. C.; Hodgson, P.; Hoecker, A.; Hoeferkamp, M. R.; Hoenig, F.; Hohn, D.; Holmes, T. R.; Homann, M.; Honda, S.; Honda, T.; Hong, T. M.; Hooberman, B. H.; Hopkins, W. H.; Horii, Y.; Horton, A. J.; Hostachy, J.-Y.; Hou, S.; Hoummada, A.; Howarth, J.; Hoya, J.; Hrabovsky, M.; Hrdinka, J.; Hristova, I.; Hrivnac, J.; Hryn'ova, T.; Hrynevich, A.; Hsu, P. J.; Hsu, S.-C.; Hu, Q.; Hu, S.; Huang, Y.; Hubacek, Z.; Hubaut, F.; Huegging, F.; Huffman, T. B.; Hughes, E. W.; Hughes, G.; Huhtinen, M.; Huo, P.; Huseynov, N.; Huston, J.; Huth, J.; Iacobucci, G.; Iakovidis, G.; Ibragimov, I.; Iconomidou-Fayard, L.; Idrissi, Z.; Iengo, P.; Igonkina, O.; Iizawa, T.; Ikegami, Y.; Ikeno, M.; Ilchenko, Y.; Iliadis, D.; Ilic, N.; Introzzi, G.; Ioannou, P.; Iodice, M.; Iordanidou, K.; Ippolito, V.; Isacson, M. F.; Ishijima, N.; Ishino, M.; Ishitsuka, M.; Issever, C.; Istin, S.; Ito, F.; Ponce, J. M. Iturbe; Iuppa, R.; Iwasaki, H.; Izen, J. M.; Izzo, V.; Jabbar, S.; Jackson, P.; Jacobs, R. M.; Jain, V.; Jakobi, K. B.; Jakobs, K.; Jakobsen, S.; Jakoubek, T.; Jamin, D. O.; Jana, D. K.; Jansky, R.; Janssen, J.; Janus, M.; Janus, P. A.; Jarlskog, G.; Javadov, N.; Javůrek, T.; Javurkova, M.; Jeanneau, F.; Jeanty, L.; Jejelava, J.; Jelinskas, A.; Jenni, P.; Jeske, C.; Jézéquel, S.; Ji, H.; Jia, J.; Jiang, H.; Jiang, Y.; Jiang, Z.; Jiggins, S.; Pena, J. Jimenez; Jin, S.; Jinaru, A.; Jinnouchi, O.; Jivan, H.; Johansson, P.; Johns, K. A.; Johnson, C. A.; Johnson, W. J.; Jon-And, K.; Jones, R. W. L.; Jones, S. D.; Jones, S.; Jones, T. J.; Jongmanns, J.; Jorge, P. M.; Jovicevic, J.; Ju, X.; Rozas, A. Juste; Köhler, M. K.; Kaczmarska, A.; Kado, M.; Kagan, H.; Kagan, M.; Kahn, S. J.; Kaji, T.; Kajomovitz, E.; Kalderon, C. W.; Kaluza, A.; Kama, S.; Kamenshchikov, A.; Kanaya, N.; Kanjir, L.; Kantserov, V. A.; Kanzaki, J.; Kaplan, B.; Kaplan, L. S.; Kar, D.; Karakostas, K.; Karastathis, N.; Kareem, M. J.; Karentzos, E.; Karpov, S. N.; Karpova, Z. M.; Karthik, K.; Kartvelishvili, V.; Karyukhin, A. N.; Kasahara, K.; Kashif, L.; Kass, R. D.; Kastanas, A.; Kataoka, Y.; Kato, C.; Katre, A.; Katzy, J.; Kawade, K.; Kawagoe, K.; Kawamoto, T.; Kawamura, G.; Kay, E. F.; Kazanin, V. F.; Keeler, R.; Kehoe, R.; Keller, J. S.; Kempster, J. J.; Kendrick, J.; Keoshkerian, H.; Kepka, O.; Kerševan, B. P.; Kersten, S.; Keyes, R. A.; Khader, M.; Khalil-zada, F.; Khanov, A.; Kharlamov, A. G.; Kharlamova, T.; Khodinov, A.; Khoo, T. 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P.; Schovancova, J.; Schramm, S.; Schuh, N.; Schulte, A.; Schultens, M. J.; Schultz-Coulon, H.-C.; Schulz, H.; Schumacher, M.; Schumm, B. A.; Schune, Ph.; Schwartzman, A.; Schwarz, T. A.; Schweiger, H.; Schwemling, Ph.; Schwienhorst, R.; Schwindling, J.; Sciandra, A.; Sciolla, G.; Scuri, F.; Scutti, F.; Searcy, J.; Seema, P.; Seidel, S. C.; Seiden, A.; Seixas, J. M.; Sekhniaidze, G.; Sekhon, K.; Sekula, S. J.; Semprini-Cesari, N.; Senkin, S.; Serfon, C.; Serin, L.; Serkin, L.; Sessa, M.; Seuster, R.; Severini, H.; Sfiligoj, T.; Sforza, F.; Sfyrla, A.; Shabalina, E.; Shaikh, N. W.; Shan, L. Y.; Shang, R.; Shank, J. T.; Shapiro, M.; Shatalov, P. B.; Shaw, K.; Shaw, S. M.; Shcherbakova, A.; Shehu, C. Y.; Shen, Y.; Sherafati, N.; Sherwood, P.; Shi, L.; Shimizu, S.; Shimmin, C. O.; Shimojima, M.; Shipsey, I. P. J.; Shirabe, S.; Shiyakova, M.; Shlomi, J.; Shmeleva, A.; Saadi, D. Shoaleh; Shochet, M. J.; Shojaii, S.; Shope, D. R.; Shrestha, S.; Shulga, E.; Shupe, M. A.; Sicho, P.; Sickles, A. M.; Sidebo, P. E.; Haddad, E. Sideras; Sidiropoulou, O.; Sidoti, A.; Siegert, F.; Sijacki, Dj.; Silva, J.; Silverstein, S. B.; Simak, V.; Simic, Lj.; Simion, S.; Simioni, E.; Simmons, B.; Simon, M.; Sinervo, P.; Sinev, N. B.; Sioli, M.; Siragusa, G.; Siral, I.; Sivoklokov, S. Yu.; Sjölin, J.; Skinner, M. B.; Skubic, P.; Slater, M.; Slavicek, T.; Slawinska, M.; Sliwa, K.; Slovak, R.; Smakhtin, V.; Smart, B. H.; Smiesko, J.; Smirnov, N.; Smirnov, S. Yu.; Smirnov, Y.; Smirnova, L. N.; Smirnova, O.; Smith, J. W.; Smith, M. N. K.; Smith, R. W.; Smizanska, M.; Smolek, K.; Snesarev, A. A.; Snyder, I. M.; Snyder, S.; Sobie, R.; Socher, F.; Soffer, A.; Soh, D. A.; Sokhrannyi, G.; Sanchez, C. A. Solans; Solar, M.; Soldatov, E. Yu.; Soldevila, U.; Solodkov, A. A.; Soloshenko, A.; Solovyanov, O. V.; Solovyev, V.; Sommer, P.; Son, H.; Sopczak, A.; Sosa, D.; Sotiropoulou, C. L.; Soualah, R.; Soukharev, A. M.; South, D.; Sowden, B. C.; Spagnolo, S.; Spalla, M.; Spangenberg, M.; Spanò, F.; Sperlich, D.; Spettel, F.; Spieker, T. M.; Spighi, R.; Spigo, G.; Spiller, L. A.; Spousta, M.; Denis, R. D. St.; Stabile, A.; Stamen, R.; Stamm, S.; Stanecka, E.; Stanek, R. W.; Stanescu, C.; Stanitzki, M. M.; Stapf, B. S.; Stapnes, S.; Starchenko, E. A.; Stark, G. H.; Stark, J.; Stark, S. H.; Staroba, P.; Starovoitov, P.; Stärz, S.; Staszewski, R.; Steinberg, P.; Stelzer, B.; Stelzer, H. J.; Stelzer-Chilton, O.; Stenzel, H.; Stewart, G. A.; Stockton, M. C.; Stoebe, M.; Stoicea, G.; Stolte, P.; Stonjek, S.; Stradling, A. R.; Straessner, A.; Stramaglia, M. E.; Strandberg, J.; Strandberg, S.; Strauss, M.; Strizenec, P.; Ströhmer, R.; Strom, D. M.; Stroynowski, R.; Strubig, A.; Stucci, S. A.; Stugu, B.; Styles, N. A.; Su, D.; Su, J.; Suchek, S.; Sugaya, Y.; Suk, M.; Sulin, V. V.; Sultan, DMS; Sultansoy, S.; Sumida, T.; Sun, S.; Sun, X.; Suruliz, K.; Suster, C. J. E.; Sutton, M. R.; Suzuki, S.; Svatos, M.; Swiatlowski, M.; Swift, S. P.; Sykora, I.; Sykora, T.; Ta, D.; Tackmann, K.; Taenzer, J.; Taffard, A.; Tafirout, R.; Taiblum, N.; Takai, H.; Takashima, R.; Takasugi, E. H.; Takeshita, T.; Takubo, Y.; Talby, M.; Talyshev, A. A.; Tanaka, J.; Tanaka, M.; Tanaka, R.; Tanaka, S.; Tanioka, R.; Tannenwald, B. B.; Araya, S. Tapia; Tapprogge, S.; Tarem, S.; Tartarelli, G. F.; Tas, P.; Tasevsky, M.; Tashiro, T.; Tassi, E.; Delgado, A. Tavares; Tayalati, Y.; Taylor, A. C.; Taylor, G. N.; Taylor, P. T. E.; Taylor, W.; Teixeira-Dias, P.; Temple, D.; Kate, H. Ten; Teng, P. K.; Teoh, J. J.; Tepel, F.; Terada, S.; Terashi, K.; Terron, J.; Terzo, S.; Testa, M.; Teuscher, R. J.; Theveneaux-Pelzer, T.; Thomas, J. P.; Thomas-Wilsker, J.; Thompson, P. D.; Thompson, A. S.; Thomsen, L. A.; Thomson, E.; Tibbetts, M. J.; Torres, R. E. Ticse; Tikhomirov, V. O.; Tikhonov, Yu. A.; Timoshenko, S.; Tipton, P.; Tisserant, S.; Todome, K.; Todorova-Nova, S.; Tojo, J.; Tokár, S.; Tokushuku, K.; Tolley, E.; Tomlinson, L.; Tomoto, M.; Tompkins, L.; Toms, K.; Tong, B.; Tornambe, P.; Torrence, E.; Torres, H.; Pastor, E. Torró; Toth, J.; Touchard, F.; Tovey, D. R.; Treado, C. J.; Trefzger, T.; Tresoldi, F.; Tricoli, A.; Trigger, I. M.; Trincaz-Duvoid, S.; Tripiana, M. F.; Trischuk, W.; Trocmé, B.; Trofymov, A.; Troncon, C.; Trottier-McDonald, M.; Trovatelli, M.; Truong, L.; Trzebinski, M.; Trzupek, A.; Tsang, K. W.; Tseng, J. C.-L.; Tsiareshka, P. V.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tsirintanis, N.; Tsiskaridze, S.; Tsiskaridze, V.; Tskhadadze, E. G.; Tsui, K. M.; Tsukerman, I. I.; Tsulaia, V.; Tsuno, S.; Tsybychev, D.; Tu, Y.; Tudorache, A.; Tudorache, V.; Tulbure, T. T.; Tuna, A. N.; Tupputi, S. A.; Turchikhin, S.; Turgeman, D.; Cakir, I. Turk; Turra, R.; Tuts, P. M.; Ucchielli, G.; Ueda, I.; Ughetto, M.; Ukegawa, F.; Unal, G.; Undrus, A.; Unel, G.; Ungaro, F. C.; Unno, Y.; Unverdorben, C.; Urban, J.; Urquijo, P.; Urrejola, P.; Usai, G.; Usui, J.; Vacavant, L.; Vacek, V.; Vachon, B.; Vaidya, A.; Valderanis, C.; Santurio, E. Valdes; Valentinetti, S.; Valero, A.; Valéry, L.; Valkar, S.; Vallier, A.; Ferrer, J. A. Valls; Van Den Wollenberg, W.; van der Graaf, H.; van Gemmeren, P.; Van Nieuwkoop, J.; van Vulpen, I.; van Woerden, M. C.; Vanadia, M.; Vandelli, W.; Vaniachine, A.; Vankov, P.; Vardanyan, G.; Vari, R.; Varnes, E. W.; Varni, C.; Varol, T.; Varouchas, D.; Vartapetian, A.; Varvell, K. E.; Vasquez, J. G.; Vasquez, G. A.; Vazeille, F.; Schroeder, T. Vazquez; Veatch, J.; Veeraraghavan, V.; Veloce, L. M.; Veloso, F.; Veneziano, S.; Ventura, A.; Venturi, M.; Venturi, N.; Venturini, A.; Vercesi, V.; Verducci, M.; Verkerke, W.; Vermeulen, A. T.; Vermeulen, J. C.; Vetterli, M. C.; Maira, N. Viaux; Viazlo, O.; Vichou, I.; Vickey, T.; Boeriu, O. E. Vickey; Viehhauser, G. H. A.; Viel, S.; Vigani, L.; Villa, M.; Perez, M. Villaplana; Vilucchi, E.; Vincter, M. G.; Vinogradov, V. B.; Vishwakarma, A.; Vittori, C.; Vivarelli, I.; Vlachos, S.; Vlasak, M.; Vogel, M.; Vokac, P.; Volpi, G.; von der Schmitt, H.; von Toerne, E.; Vorobel, V.; Vorobev, K.; Vos, M.; Voss, R.; Vossebeld, J. H.; Vranjes, N.; Milosavljevic, M. Vranjes; Vrba, V.; Vreeswijk, M.; Vuillermet, R.; Vukotic, I.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, W.; Wagner-Kuhr, J.; Wahlberg, H.; Wahrmund, S.; Wakabayashi, J.; Walder, J.; Walker, R.; Walkowiak, W.; Wallangen, V.; Wang, C.; Wang, C.; Wang, F.; Wang, H.; Wang, H.; Wang, J.; Wang, J.; Wang, Q.; Wang, R.; Wang, S. M.; Wang, T.; Wang, W.; Wang, W.; Wang, Z.; Wanotayaroj, C.; Warburton, A.; Ward, C. P.; Wardrope, D. R.; Washbrook, A.; Watkins, P. M.; Watson, A. T.; Watson, M. F.; Watts, G.; Watts, S.; Waugh, B. M.; Webb, A. F.; Webb, S.; Weber, M. S.; Weber, S. W.; Weber, S. A.; Webster, J. S.; Weidberg, A. R.; Weinert, B.; Weingarten, J.; Weirich, M.; Weiser, C.; Weits, H.; Wells, P. S.; Wenaus, T.; Wengler, T.; Wenig, S.; Wermes, N.; Werner, M. D.; Werner, P.; Wessels, M.; Whalen, K.; Whallon, N. L.; Wharton, A. M.; White, A. S.; White, A.; White, M. J.; White, R.; Whiteson, D.; Whitmore, B. W.; Wickens, F. J.; Wiedenmann, W.; Wielers, M.; Wiglesworth, C.; Wiik-Fuchs, L. A. M.; Wildauer, A.; Wilk, F.; Wilkens, H. G.; Williams, H. H.; Williams, S.; Willis, C.; Willocq, S.; Wilson, J. A.; Wingerter-Seez, I.; Winkels, E.; Winklmeier, F.; Winston, O. J.; Winter, B. T.; Wittgen, M.; Wobisch, M.; Wolf, T. M. H.; Wolff, R.; Wolter, M. W.; Wolters, H.; Wong, V. W. S.; Worm, S. D.; Wosiek, B. K.; Wotschack, J.; Wozniak, K. W.; Wu, M.; Wu, S. L.; Wu, X.; Wu, Y.; Wyatt, T. R.; Wynne, B. M.; Xella, S.; Xi, Z.; Xia, L.; Xu, D.; Xu, L.; Xu, T.; Yabsley, B.; Yacoob, S.; Yamaguchi, D.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Yamamoto, A.; Yamamoto, S.; Yamanaka, T.; Yamatani, M.; Yamauchi, K.; Yamazaki, Y.; Yan, Z.; Yang, H.; Yang, H.; Yang, Y.; Yang, Z.; Yao, W.-M.; Yap, Y. C.; Yasu, Y.; Yatsenko, E.; Wong, K. H. Yau; Ye, J.; Ye, S.; Yeletskikh, I.; Yigitbasi, E.; Yildirim, E.; Yorita, K.; Yoshihara, K.; Young, C.; Young, C. J. S.; Yu, J.; Yu, J.; Yuen, S. P. Y.; Yusuff, I.; Zabinski, B.; Zacharis, G.; Zaidan, R.; Zaitsev, A. M.; Zakharchuk, N.; Zalieckas, J.; Zaman, A.; Zambito, S.; Zanzi, D.; Zeitnitz, C.; Zemaityte, G.; Zemla, A.; Zeng, J. C.; Zeng, Q.; Zenin, O.; Ženiš, T.; Zerwas, D.; Zhang, D.; Zhang, F.; Zhang, G.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, M.; Zhang, P.; Zhang, R.; Zhang, R.; Zhang, X.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, X.; Zhao, Y.; Zhao, Z.; Zhemchugov, A.; Zhou, B.; Zhou, C.; Zhou, L.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, N.; Zhu, C. G.; Zhu, H.; Zhu, J.; Zhu, Y.; Zhuang, X.; Zhukov, K.; Zibell, A.; Zieminska, D.; Zimine, N. I.; Zimmermann, C.; Zimmermann, S.; Zinonos, Z.; Zinser, M.; Ziolkowski, M.; Živković, L.; Zobernig, G.; Zoccoli, A.; Zou, R.; Nedden, M. zur; Zwalinski, L.

2017-09-01

The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton-proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range |η |>2.5. This paper presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 {TeV} collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range 2.5<|η |<4.5 is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. A case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton-proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.

Upper extremity transplantation: current concepts and challenges in an emerging field.

PubMed

Elliott, River M; Tintle, Scott M; Levin, L Scott

2014-03-01

Loss of an isolated upper limb is an emotionally and physically devastating event that results in significant impairment. Patients who lose both upper extremities experience profound disability that affects nearly every aspect of their lives. While prosthetics and surgery can eventually provide the single limb amputee with a suitable assisting hand, limited utility, minimal haptic feedback, weight, and discomfort are persistent problems with these techniques that contribute to high rates of prosthetic rejection. Moreover, despite ongoing advances in prosthetic technology, bilateral amputees continue to experience high levels of dependency, disability, and distress. Hand and upper extremity transplantation holds several advantages over prosthetic rehabilitation. The missing limb is replaced with one of similar skin color and size. Sensibility, voluntary motor control, and proprioception are restored to a greater degree, and afford better dexterity and function than prosthetics. The main shortcomings of transplantation include the hazards of immunosuppression, the complications of rejection and its treatment, and high cost. Hand and upper limb transplantation represents the most commonly performed surgery in the growing field of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA). As upper limb transplantation and VCA have become more widespread, several important challenges and controversies have emerged. These include: refining indications for transplantation, optimizing immunosuppression, establishing reliable criteria for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating rejection, and standardizing outcome measures. This article will summarize the historical background of hand transplantation and review the current literature and concepts surrounding it.

Identification and rejection of pile-up jets at high pseudorapidity with the ATLAS detector

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

Aaboud, M.; Aad, G.; Abbott, B.

The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton–proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range | η| > 2.5. This article presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 fb -1 of proton–proton collisions at amore » centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range 2.5 < | η| < 4.5 is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. Here, a case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton–proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.« less

Identification and rejection of pile-up jets at high pseudorapidity with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aaboud, M.; Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; ...

2017-09-02

The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton–proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range | η| > 2.5. This article presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 fb -1 of proton–proton collisions at amore » centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range 2.5 < | η| < 4.5 is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. Here, a case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton–proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.« less

Condemning violence without rejecting sexism? Exploring how young men understand intimate partner violence in Ecuador

PubMed Central

Goicolea, Isabel; Öhman, Ann; Salazar Torres, Mariano; Morrás, Ione; Edin, Kerstin

2012-01-01

Background This study aims to explore young men’s understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ecuador, examining similarities and differences between how ordinary and activist young men conceptualize IPV against women. Methods We conducted individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 35 young men – five FGDs and five interviews with ordinary young men, and 11 interviews with activists – and analysed the data generated using qualitative content analysis. Results Among the ordinary young men the theme ‘too much gender equality leads to IPV’ emerged, while among the activists the theme ‘gender inequality is the root of IPV’. Although both groups in our study rejected IPV, their positions differed, and we claim that this is relevant. While activists considered IPV as rooted in gender inequality, ordinary young men understood it as a response to the conflicts generated by increasing gender equality and women’s attempts to gain autonomy. PMID:22723767

You don't have to believe everything you read: background knowledge permits fast and efficient validation of information.

PubMed

Richter, Tobias; Schroeder, Sascha; Wöhrmann, Britta

2009-03-01

In social cognition, knowledge-based validation of information is usually regarded as relying on strategic and resource-demanding processes. Research on language comprehension, in contrast, suggests that validation processes are involved in the construction of a referential representation of the communicated information. This view implies that individuals can use their knowledge to validate incoming information in a routine and efficient manner. Consistent with this idea, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that individuals are able to reject false assertions efficiently when they have validity-relevant beliefs. Validation processes were carried out routinely even when individuals were put under additional cognitive load during comprehension. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the rejection of false information occurs automatically and interferes with affirmative responses in a nonsemantic task (epistemic Stroop effect). Experiment 4 also revealed complementary interference effects of true information with negative responses in a nonsemantic task. These results suggest the existence of fast and efficient validation processes that protect mental representations from being contaminated by false and inaccurate information.

Africa's middle class women bring entrepreneurial opportunities in breast care medical tourism to South Africa.

PubMed

Ahwireng-Obeng, Frederick; van Loggerenberg, Charl

2011-01-01

Africa's distribution of specialized private health services is severely disproportionate. Mismatch between South Africa's excess supply and a huge demand potential in an under-serviced continent represents an entrepreneurial opportunity to attract patients to South Africa for treatment and recuperative holidays. However, effective demand for intra-African medical tourism could be constrained by sub-Saharan poverty. Results from interviewing 320 patients and five staff at the Johannesburg Breast care Centre of Excellence, however, reject this proposition, Africa's middle class women being the target market estimated to grow annually by one million while breast cancer incidence increases with middle-class lifestyles. Uncovering this potential involves an extensive marketing strategy. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Experimental and Demonstration Manpower Project for Recruitment, Training, Placement and Followup of Rejected Armed Forces Volunteers in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., March 1, 1965 to June 30, 1966. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Committee for Children and Youth, Washington, DC.

This report contains an analysis of the efforts in 1965 and 1966 of the National Committee for Children and Youth (NCCY) to help the youth in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. who failed to meet the educational requirements for military enlistment. A description of the program includes: (1) background of the NCCY, (2) intake and followup process, (3)…

Object classification for obstacle avoidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regensburger, Uwe; Graefe, Volker

1991-03-01

Object recognition is necessary for any mobile robot operating autonomously in the real world. This paper discusses an object classifier based on a 2-D object model. Obstacle candidates are tracked and analyzed false alarms generated by the object detector are recognized and rejected. The methods have been implemented on a multi-processor system and tested in real-world experiments. They work reliably under favorable conditions but sometimes problems occur e. g. when objects contain many features (edges) or move in front of structured background.

The MSFC large-area imaging multistep proportional counter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsey, B. D.; Weisskopf, M. C.; Joy, M. K.

1989-01-01

A large-area multistep imaging proportional counter that is being currently developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center is described. The device, known as a multistep fluorescence gated detector, consists of a multiwire proportional counter (MWPC) with a preamplification region. The MWCP features superior spatial resolution with a very high degree of background rejection. It is ideally suited for use in X-ray astronomy in 20-100 keV energy range. The paper includes the MWPC schematic and a list of instrument specifications.

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

Agnes, P.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Alexander, T.

Geant4-based Monte Carlo package named G4DS has been developed to simulate the response of DarkSide-50, an experiment operating since 2013 at LNGS, designed to detect WIMP interactions in liquid argon. In the process of WIMP searches, DarkSide-50 has achieved two fundamental milestones: the rejection of electron recoil background with a power of ~10^7, using the pulse shape discrimination technique, and the measurement of the residual 39Ar contamination in underground argon, ~3 orders of magnitude lower with respect to atmospheric argon.

Discovery of ν_{{τ}}^{} appearance and recent results from OPERA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukuda, T.; Opera Collaboration

2017-07-01

The OPERA experiment was designed to observe {ν_{μ}}→{ν_{τ}} oscillations through {ν_{τ}} appearance at a baseline of 730km in the CNGS beam. Newly developed emulsion analysis technology allows to measure {ν_e} , {ν_{μ}} and {ν_{τ}} interactions with the largest emulsion detector ever made. OPERA has detected five {ν_{τ}} candidates, allowing to reject the background-only hypothesis at 5.1 {σ} . The parameters for standard and non-standard oscillations are measured and constrained.

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS)-Simulation Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maier, G.; Buckley, J.; Bugaev, V.; Fegan, S.; Funk, S.; Konopelko, A.; Vassiliev, V. V.

2008-12-01

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a US-led concept for a next-generation instrument in ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. The most important design requirement for AGIS is a sensitivity of about 10 times greater than current observatories like Veritas, H.E.S.S or MAGIC. We present results of simulation studies of various possible designs for AGIS. The primary characteristics of the array performance, collecting area, angular resolution, background rejection, and sensitivity are discussed.

Commissioning of the J-PET Detector for Studies of Decays of Positronium Atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czerwiński, E.; Dulski, K.; Białas, P.; Curceanu, C.; Gajos, A.; Głowacz, B.; Gorgol, M.; Hiesmayr, B. C.; Jasińska, B.; Kisielewska, D.; Korcyl, G.; Kowalski, P.; Kozik, T.; Krawczyk, N.; Krzemień, W.; Kubicz, E.; Mohammed, M.; Niedźwiecki, Sz.; Pałka, M.; Pawlik-Niedźwiecka, M.; Raczyński, L.; Rudy, Z.; Sharma, N. G.; Sharma, S.; Shopa, R. Y.; Silarski, M.; Skurzok, M.; Wieczorek, A.; Wiślicki, W.; Zgardzińska, B.; Zieliński, M.; Moskal, P.

The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is a detector for medical imaging of the whole human body as well as for physics studies involving detection of electron-positron annihilation into photons. J-PET has high angular and time resolution and allows for measurement of spin of the positronium and the momenta and polarization vectors of annihilation quanta. In this article, we present the potential of the J-PET system for background rejection in the decays of positronium atoms.

Lung Transplantation for Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

PubMed Central

Singer, Jonathan P.; Koth, Laura; Mooney, Joshua; Golden, Jeff; Hays, Steven; Greenland, John; Wolters, Paul; Ghio, Emily; Jones, Kirk D.; Leard, Lorriana; Kukreja, Jasleen; Blanc, Paul D.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an inhaled antigen-mediated interstitial lung disease (ILD). Advanced disease may necessitate the need for lung transplantation. There are no published studies addressing lung transplant outcomes in HP. We characterized HP outcomes compared with referents undergoing lung transplantation for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHODS: To identify HP cases, we reviewed records for all ILD lung transplantation cases at our institution from 2000 to 2013. We compared clinical characteristics, survival, and acute and chronic rejection for lung transplant recipients with HP to referents with IPF. We also reviewed diagnoses of HP discovered only by explant pathology and looked for evidence of recurrent HP after transplant. Survival was compared using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazard modeling. RESULTS: We analyzed 31 subjects with HP and 91 with IPF among 183 cases undergoing lung transplantation for ILD. Survival at 1, 3, and 5 years after lung transplant in HP compared with IPF was 96%, 89%, and 89% vs 86%, 67%, and 49%, respectively. Subjects with HP manifested a reduced adjusted risk for death compared with subjects with IPF (hazard ratio, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.08-0.74; P = .013). Of the 31 cases, the diagnosis of HP was unexpectedly made at explant in five (16%). Two subjects developed recurrent HP in their allografts. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, subjects with HP have excellent medium-term survival after lung transplantation and, relative to IPF, a reduced risk for death. HP may be initially discovered only by review of the explant pathology. Notably, HP may recur in the allograft. PMID:25412059

Immunomodulatory Effects of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Swine Hemi-Facial Allotransplantation Model

PubMed Central

Goto, Shigeru; Huang, Yu-Ting; Wang, Chun-Ting; Tsai, Chia-Chun; Chen, Chao-Long

2012-01-01

Background In this study, we investigated whether the infusion of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), combined with transient immunosuppressant treatment, could suppress allograft rejection and modulate T-cell regulation in a swine orthotopic hemi-facial composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) model. Methodology/Principal Findings Outbred miniature swine underwent hemi-facial allotransplantation (day 0). Group-I (n = 5) consisted of untreated control animals. Group-II (n = 3) animals received MSCs alone (given on days −1, +1, +3, +7, +14, and +21). Group-III (n = 3) animals received CsA (days 0 to +28). Group-IV (n = 5) animals received CsA (days 0 to +28) and MSCs (days −1, +1, +3, +7, +14, and +21). The transplanted face tissue was observed daily for signs of rejection. Biopsies of donor tissues and recipient blood sample were obtained at specified predetermined times (per 2 weeks post-transplant) or at the time of clinically evident rejection. Our results indicated that the MSC-CsA group had significantly prolonged allograft survival compared to the other groups (P<0.001). Histological examination of the MSC-CsA group displayed the lowest degree of rejection in alloskin and lymphoid gland tissues. TNF-α expression in circulating blood revealed significant suppression in the MSC and MSC-CsA treatment groups, as compared to that in controls. IHC staining showed CD45 and IL-6 expression were significantly decreased in MSC-CsA treatment groups compared to controls. The number of CD4+/CD25+ regulatory T-cells and IL-10 expressions in the circulating blood significantly increased in the MSC-CsA group compared to the other groups. IHC staining of alloskin tissue biopsies revealed a significant increase in the numbers of foxp3+T-cells and TGF-β1 positive cells in the MSC-CsA group compared to the other groups. Conclusions These results demonstrate that MSCs significantly prolong hemifacial CTA survival. Our data indicate the MSCs did not only suppress inflammation and acute rejection of CTA, but also modulate T-cell regulation and related cytokines expression. PMID:22558153

Incidence of Posttransplantation Diabetes Mellitus in De Novo Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving Prolonged-Release Tacrolimus-Based Immunosuppression With 2 Different Corticosteroid Minimization Strategies: ADVANCE, A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Mourad, Georges; Glyda, Maciej; Albano, Laetitia; Viklický, Ondrej; Merville, Pierre; Tydén, Gunnar; Mourad, Michel; Lõhmus, Aleksander; Witzke, Oliver; Christiaans, Maarten H. L.; Brown, Malcolm W.; Undre, Nasrullah; Kazeem, Gbenga; Kuypers, Dirk R. J.

2017-01-01

Background ADVANCE (NCT01304836) was a phase 4, multicenter, prospectively randomized, open-label, 24-week study comparing the incidence of posttransplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM) with 2 prolonged-release tacrolimus corticosteroid minimization regimens. Methods All patients received prolonged-release tacrolimus, basiliximab, mycophenolate mofetil and 1 bolus of intraoperative corticosteroids (0-1000 mg) as per center policy. Patients in arm 1 received tapered corticosteroids, stopped after day 10, whereas patients in arm 2 received no steroids after the intraoperative bolus. The primary efficacy variable was the diagnosis of PTDM as per American Diabetes Association criteria (2010) at any point up to 24 weeks postkidney transplantation. Secondary efficacy variables included incidence of composite efficacy failure (graft loss, biopsy-proven acute rejection or severe graft dysfunction: estimated glomerular filtration rate (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease-4) <30 mL/min per 1.73 m2), acute rejection and graft and patient survival. Results The full-analysis set included 1081 patients (arm 1: n = 528, arm 2: n = 553). Baseline characteristics and mean tacrolimus trough levels were comparable between arms. Week 24 Kaplan–Meier estimates of PTDM were similar for arm 1 versus arm 2 (17.4% vs 16.6%; P = 0.579). Incidence of composite efficacy failure, graft and patient survival, and mean estimated glomerular filtration rate were also comparable between arms. Biopsy-proven acute rejection and acute rejection were significantly higher in arm 2 versus arm 1 (13.6% vs 8.7%, P = 0.006 and 25.9% vs 18.2%, P = 0.001, respectively). Tolerability profiles were comparable between arms. Conclusions A prolonged-release tacrolimus, basiliximab, and mycophenolate mofetil immunosuppressive regimen is efficacious, with a low incidence of PTDM and a manageable tolerability profile over 24 weeks of treatment. A lower incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection was seen in patients receiving corticosteroids tapered over 10 days plus an intraoperative corticosteroid bolus versus those receiving an intraoperative bolus only. PMID:27547871

Missed opportunities for impact in patient and carer involvement: a mixed methods case study of research priority setting.

PubMed

Snow, R; Crocker, J C; Crowe, S

2015-01-01

Healthcare workers want to listen more to patients and their carers in all sorts of areas of healthcare. This can include choosing topics for medical research. We looked at how patients and carers have helped to choose topics for research about type I diabetes. We aimed to find out if, and why, researchers often rejected their choices. We looked at a project which brought together patients, carers and healthcare workers to choose topics for research about type 1 diabetes. The group first asked patients, carers and healthcare workers to suggest ideas for research questions. But the group had to follow rules about what counted as a good research question. Some people's ideas did not count as good research questions, and they were rejected at the start. We looked at who were most likely to have their ideas rejected at the start. We found that patients and carers were most likely to have a suggestion rejected. Then we looked at the rejected questions in detail. They were mostly about curing diabetes, preventing diabetes and understanding how diabetes works. There were also some questions about access to medicines and the quality of care. Researchers should ask patients and carers for help deciding what counts as a good research question from the start of projects like these. We should also think about what might be getting in the way of patients and carers making more of a difference in research. Background Patients and carers are increasingly involved in deciding on topics for medical research. However, so far, it has been difficult to gain an accurate picture of the impact of such involvement because of poor reporting and evaluation in published studies to date. This study aimed to explore how a partnership of patients, carers, healthcare professionals and organisations identified questions for future research and why patients and carers had a limited impact on this process. Methods In the first stage of the partnership process, relevant service users and providers (including patients, carers, healthcare professionals and voluntary organisations) were invited to submit suggested research questions about the treatment of type 1 diabetes, via a national online and paper survey. The partnership followed formal protocols that defined a researchable question. This meant that many respondents' suggested research questions were rejected at the start of the process. We analysed survey submissions to find out which groups of respondents were most likely to have their suggestions rejected and what these suggestions were about. Results Five hundred eighty-three respondents submitted 1143 suggested research questions, of which 249 (21.8 %) were rejected at the first stage. Respondents with lived experience of this long-term condition (patients and carers) were more likely than those without lived experience to submit a research question that would be rejected (35.6 vs. 16.5 %; p  < 0.0005). Among the rejected questions submitted by patients and carers, there were several key themes: questions about cure, cause and prevention, understanding the disease, healthcare policy and economics. Conclusions In this case study, early decisions about what constituted a researchable question restricted patients' and carers' contributions to priority setting. When discussions about a project's remit take place before service users are involved, researchers risk distorting the potential impact of involvement. Impact assessments should consider not only the differences patients and carers make to research but also the differences they could have made in the absence of systemic barriers. We recommend that initiatives aimed at involving patients and carers in identifying research questions involve them as early as possible, including in decisions about how and why suggested research questions are selected or rejected.

Position-Sensitive CZT Detectors for High Energy X-Ray Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matteson, J.; Coburn, W.; Heindl, W.; Peterson, L.; Pelling, M.; Rothschild, R.; Skelton, R.; Hink, P.; Slavis, K.

1998-05-01

We report recent progress on CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride) detectors by the UCSD/WU collaboration. CZT, a room- temperature semiconductor, is a very promising detector material for high energy X-ray astronomy. It can operate from <10 keV to >200 keV, and give sub-keV energy resolution and sub-mm spatial resolution. We have developed an advanced CZT detector that uses two innovations to improve spectral response, give it 3-D localization of energy loss events, and reduce background at high altitudes and in space. The detector measures 12 x 12 x 2 mm(3) and was manufactured by eV Products. Each face has a strip readouts with 500 micron pitch electrodes. The 2 faces' strips are orthogonal, which provides x-y localization into 500 micron pixels. One innovation is "steering electrodes", which are located between the anode strips. They improve the anode charge collection and energy resolution, and tailing due to hole trapping is nearly totally eliminated. The energy resolution at 60 keV is 4 keV and the peak to valley ratio is 50. The other innovation is 3-D localization of energy losses. This is done by comparing the signals from the anode strips, cathode strips, and steering electrodes. There is a strong depth of interaction signature, which can be used to accept events which interact close to the cathode strips (where X-rays of interest are incident) and reject deeper interactions (which are likely to be background). The detector was tested in a balloon flight at 108,000 feet in October 1997. Background was reduced by passive shielding, consisting of lead graded with tin and copper. The lead thickness was changed by command during the flight, and was 7, 2, and 0 mm thick. With the 2 mm thickness the 20 - 40 keV background for the central 30 pixels was 8x10(-4) c/cm(2) -s-keV when the depth of interaction signature was used to reject background, and 7 times greater when this information was not used. The lower background is 12 times less than other workers have obtained with planar CZT detectors with the same thickness and shielding. Thus our advanced CZT detector techniques represent an important improvement in the capabilities of CZT detectors for high energy X-ray astronomy. A second balloon flight is planned for April 1998 with anticoincidence shielding and even lower background is expected. Preliminary results from this flight will be presented.

ALMA Band 5 receiver cartridge. Design, performance, and commissioning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belitsky, V.; Bylund, M.; Desmaris, V.; Ermakov, A.; Ferm, S.-E.; Fredrixon, M.; Krause, S.; Lapkin, I.; Meledin, D.; Pavolotsky, A.; Rashid, H.; Shafiee, S.; Strandberg, M.; Sundin, E.; Aghdam, P. Yadranjee; Hesper, R.; Barkhof, J.; Bekema, M. E.; Adema, J.; Haan, R. de; Koops, A.; Boland, W.; Yagoubov, P.; Marconi, G.; Siringo, G.; Humphreys, E.; Tan, G. H.; Laing, R.; Testi, L.; Mroczkowski, T.; Wild, W.; Saini, K. S.; Bryerton, E.

2018-04-01

We describe the design, performance, and commissioning results for the new ALMA Band 5 receiver channel, 163-211 GHz, which is in the final stage of full deployment and expected to be available for observations in 2018. This manuscript provides the description of the new ALMA Band 5 receiver cartridge and serves as a reference for observers using the ALMA Band 5 receiver for observations. At the time of writing this paper, the ALMA Band 5 Production Consortium consisting of NOVA Instrumentation group, based in Groningen, NL, and GARD in Sweden have produced and delivered to ALMA Observatory over 60 receiver cartridges. All 60 cartridges fulfil the new more stringent specifications for Band 5 and demonstrate excellent noise temperatures, typically below 45 K single sideband (SSB) at 4 K detector physical temperature and below 35 K SSB at 3.5 K (typical for operation at the ALMA Frontend), providing the average sideband rejection better than 15 dB, and the integrated cross-polarization level better than -25 dB. The 70 warm cartridge assemblies, hosting Band 5 local oscillator and DC bias electronics, have been produced and delivered to ALMA by NRAO. The commissioning results confirm the excellent performance of the receivers.

Vicarious Group-Based Rejection: Creating a Potentially Dangerous Mix of Humiliation, Powerlessness, and Anger

PubMed Central

Veldhuis, Tinka M.; Gordijn, Ernestine H.; Veenstra, René; Lindenberg, Siegwart

2014-01-01

Rejection can convey that one is seen as inferior and not worth bothering with. Is it possible for people to feel vicariously rejected in this sense and have reactions that are similar to those following personal rejection, such as feeling humiliated, powerless, and angry? A study on personal rejection was followed by two main studies on vicarious group-based rejection. It was found that merely observing rejection of ingroup members can trigger feelings of humiliation that are equally intense as those experienced in response to personal rejection. Moreover, given that the rejection is explicit, vicariously experienced feelings of humiliation can be accompanied by powerlessness and anger. Potentially, this combination of emotions could be an important source of offensive action against rejecters. PMID:24759901

Long lifetime near-infrared-emitting quantum dots for time-gated in vivo imaging of rare circulating cells (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fragola, Alexandra; Bouccara, Sophie; Pezet, Sophie; Lequeux, Nicolas; Loriette, Vincent; Pons, Thomas

2017-02-01

The in vivo detection of rare circulating cells using non invasive fluorescence imaging would provide a key tool to study migration of eg. tumoral or immunological cells. Fluorescence detection is however currently limited by a lack of contrast between the small emission of isolated, fast circulating cells and the strong autofluorescence background of the surrounding tissues. We present the development of near infrared emitting quantum dots (NIR-QDs) with long fluorescence lifetime for sensitive time-gated in vivo imaging of circulating cells. These QDs are composed of low toxicity ZnCuInSe/ZnS materials and made biocompatible using a novel multidentate imidazole zwitterionic block copolymer, ensuring their long term intracellular stability. Cells of interest can thus be labeled ex vivo with QDs, injected intravenously and imaged in the near infrared range. Excitation using a pulsed laser coupled to time-gated detection enables the efficient rejection of short lifetime (≈ ns) autofluorescence background and detection of long lifetime (≈ 150 ns) fluorescence from QD-labeled cells. We demonstrate efficient in vivo imaging of single fast-flowing cells, which opens opportunities for future biological studies. [1] M. Tasso et al, "Sulfobetaine-Vinylimidazole block copolymers: a robust quantum dot surface chemistry expanding bioimaging's horizons", ACS Nano, 9(11), 2015 [2] S. Bouccara et al, "Time-gated cell imaging using long lifetime near-infrared-emitting quantum dots for autofluorescence rejection", J Biomed Optc, 19(5), 2014

Daytime adaptive optics for deep space optical communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Keith; Troy, M.; Srinivasan, M.; Platt, B.; Vilnrotter, V.; Wright, M.; Garkanian, V.; Hemmati, H.

2003-01-01

The deep space optical communications subsystem offers a higher bandwidth communications link in smaller size, lower mass, and lower power consumption subsystem than does RF. To demonstrate the benefit of this technology to deep space communications NASA plans to launch an optical telecommunications package on the 2009 Mars Telecommunications orbiter spacecraft. Current performance goals are 30-Mbps from opposition, and 1-Mbps near conjunction (-3 degrees Sun-Earth-Probe angle). Yet, near conjunction the background noise from the day sky will degrade the performance of the optical link. Spectral and spatial filtering and higher modulation formats can mitigate the effects of background sky. Narrowband spectral filters can result in loss of link margin, and higher modulation formats require higher transmitted peak powers. In contrast, spatial filtering at the receiver has the potential of being lossless while providing the required sky background rejection. Adaptive optics techniques can correct wave front aberrations caused by atmospheric turbulence and enable near-diffraction-limited performance of the receiving telescope. Such performance facilitates spatial filtering, and allows the receiver field-of-view and hence the noise from the sky background to be reduced.

Background Model for the Majorana Demonstrator

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

Cuesta, C.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, Estanislao

2015-06-01

The Majorana Collaboration is constructing a prototype system containing 40 kg of HPGe detectors to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of a future tonne-scale experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta (0v BB) decay in 76Ge. In view of the requirement that the next generation of tonne-scale Ge-based 0vBB-decay experiment be capable of probing the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region, a major goal of theMajorana Demonstrator is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 cnt/(ROI-t-y) in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. This goal is pursuedmore » through a combination of a significant reduction of radioactive impurities in construction materials with analytical methods for background rejection, for example using powerful pulse shape analysis techniques profiting from the p-type point contact HPGe detectors technology. The effectiveness of these methods is assessed using Geant4 simulations of the different background components whose purity levels are constrained from radioassay measurements.« less

Paying To Belong: When Does Rejection Trigger Ingratiation?

PubMed Central

Romero-Canyas, Rainer; Downey, Geraldine; Reddy, Kavita S.; Rodriguez, Sylvia; Cavanaugh, Timothy J.; Pelayo, Rosemary

2010-01-01

Societies and social scientists have long held the belief that exclusion induces ingratiation and conformity, an idea in contradiction with robust empirical evidence linking rejection with hostility and aggression. The classic literatures on ingratiation and conformity help resolve this contradiction by identifying circumstances under which rejection may trigger efforts to ingratiate. Jointly, findings from these literatures suggest that when people are given an opportunity to impress their rejecters, ingratiation is likely after rejection experiences that are harsh and that occur in important situations that threaten the individual’s self-definition. Four studies tested the hypothesis that people high in rejection sensitivity, and therefore dispositionally concerned about rejection, will utilize opportunities to ingratiate after harsh rejection in situations that are self-defining. In three studies of situations that are particularly self-defining for men, rejection predicted ingratiation among men (but not women) who were high in rejection sensitivity. In a fourth study, harsh rejection in a situation particularly self-defining for women predicted ingratiation among highly rejection-sensitive women (but not men). These findings help identify the specific circumstances under which people are willing to act in socially desirable ways toward those who have rejected them harshly. PMID:20649367

Detecting special nuclear material using a neutron time projection chamber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carosi, G.; Bernstein, A.; Bowden, N.; Burke, J.; Carter, D.; Foxe, M.; Heffner, M.; Jovanovic, I.; Mintz, J.; O'Malley, P.

2010-02-01

Time projection chambers are 3-dimensional charged particle cameras based on drifting ionization tracks at a known velocity onto an electronic readout plane. These instruments are capable of detecting fast neutrons which are unique signatures of special nuclear material with low natural background rates. Here we describe a neutron Time Projection Chamber (nTPC) developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) which has demonstrated directional sensitivity to fission neutrons along with high rejection of background gamma-ray and electron events. Using a combination hydrogen/methane drift gas at several atmospheres we've demonstrated the ability to point to a Cf-252 source simulating 6kg of weapons grade plutonium at 10's of meters with one hour integration time. Plans for future field deployable devices will also be outlined. )

Status and Prospects of the EDELWEISS-III Direct WIMP Search Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maisonobe, R.

2018-04-01

The EDELWEISS collaboration is performing a direct search for WIMP dark matter using an array of up to twenty-four 820-890 g cryogenic germanium detectors equipped with a full charge and thermal signal readout. The experiment is located in the ultra-low-radioactivity background environment of the Modane underground laboratory, in the French-Italian Fréjus tunnel. We present the analysis of data obtained in extended data taking periods. WIMP limits, background rejection factors and measurements of cosmogenic activation are used to assess the performance of the third generation of EDELWEISS detectors in view of the search for WIMPs in the mass range from 1 to 20 GeV/c2 . The developments in progress to pursue this goal in the coming years are also presented.

Results from the OPERA experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crescenzo, A. Di

2017-12-01

The OPERA neutrino experiment was designed to perform a unique vτ appearance measurement in the vμ CNGS beam to confirm the oscillation mechanism in the atmospheric sector vμ → vτ. The detection of vτ leptons produced in vτ CC interactions and of their decays is accomplished exploiting the high spatial resolution of nuclear emulsions. Five vτ candidate events have been detected in the full data sample from 2008-2012 CNGS runs, with an expected background of 0.25 events. The background only hypothesis is rejected with a significance larger than 5 σ. The analysis of the tau neutrino sample in the framework of the 3+1 neutrino model is also presented. Furthermore OPERA good capabilities in detecting electron neutrino interactions allow setting limits on the vμ → ve oscillation channel.

Separation of gamma-ray and neutron events with CsI(Tl) pulse shape analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashida, Y.; Nagata, H.; Koshio, Y.; Nakaya, T.; Wendell, R.

2018-04-01

Fast neutrons are a large background to measurements of gamma-rays emitted from excited nuclei, such that detectors that can efficiently distinguish between the two are essential. In this paper we describe the separation of gamma-rays from neutrons with the pulse shape information of the CsI(Tl) scintillator, using a fast neutron beam and several gamma-ray sources. We find that a figure of merit optimized for this separation takes on large and stable values (nearly 4) between 5 and 10 MeV of electron equivalent deposited energy, the region of most interest to the study of nuclear de-excitation gamma-rays. Accordingly, this work demonstrates the ability of CsI(Tl) scintillators to reject neutron backgrounds to gamma-ray measurements at these energies.

Evidence for high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos at the IceCube detector.

PubMed

Aartsen, M G; Abbasi, R; Abdou, Y; Ackermann, M; Adams, J; Aguilar, J A; Ahlers, M; Altmann, D; Auffenberg, J; Bai, X; Baker, M; Barwick, S W; Baum, V; Bay, R; Beatty, J J; Bechet, S; Becker Tjus, J; Becker, K-H; Benabderrahmane, M L; BenZvi, S; Berghaus, P; Berley, D; Bernardini, E; Bernhard, A; Bertrand, D; Besson, D Z; Binder, G; Bindig, D; Bissok, M; Blaufuss, E; Blumenthal, J; Boersma, D J; Bohaichuk, S; Bohm, C; Bose, D; Böser, S; Botner, O; Brayeur, L; Bretz, H-P; Brown, A M; Bruijn, R; Brunner, J; Carson, M; Casey, J; Casier, M; Chirkin, D; Christov, A; Christy, B; Clark, K; Clevermann, F; Coenders, S; Cohen, S; Cowen, D F; Cruz Silva, A H; Danninger, M; Daughhetee, J; Davis, J C; Day, M; De Clercq, C; De Ridder, S; Desiati, P; de Vries, K D; de With, M; DeYoung, T; Díaz-Vélez, J C; Dunkman, M; Eagan, R; Eberhardt, B; Eichmann, B; Eisch, J; Ellsworth, R W; Euler, S; Evenson, P A; Fadiran, O; Fazely, A R; Fedynitch, A; Feintzeig, J; Feusels, T; Filimonov, K; Finley, C; Fischer-Wasels, T; Flis, S; Franckowiak, A; Frantzen, K; Fuchs, T; Gaisser, T K; Gallagher, J; Gerhardt, L; Gladstone, L; Glüsenkamp, T; Goldschmidt, A; Golup, G; Gonzalez, J G; Goodman, J A; Góra, D; Grandmont, D T; Grant, D; Groß, A; Ha, C; Haj Ismail, A; Hallen, P; Hallgren, A; Halzen, F; Hanson, K; Heereman, D; Heinen, D; Helbing, K; Hellauer, R; Hickford, S; Hill, G C; Hoffman, K D; Hoffmann, R; Homeier, A; Hoshina, K; Huelsnitz, W; Hulth, P O; Hultqvist, K; Hussain, S; Ishihara, A; Jacobi, E; Jacobsen, J; Jagielski, K; Japaridze, G S; Jero, K; Jlelati, O; Kaminsky, B; Kappes, A; Karg, T; Karle, A; Kelley, J L; Kiryluk, J; Kläs, J; Klein, S R; Köhne, J-H; Kohnen, G; Kolanoski, H; Köpke, L; Kopper, C; Kopper, S; Koskinen, D J; Kowalski, M; Krasberg, M; Krings, K; Kroll, G; Kunnen, J; Kurahashi, N; Kuwabara, T; Labare, M; Landsman, H; Larson, M J; Lesiak-Bzdak, M; Leuermann, M; Leute, J; Lünemann, J; Madsen, J; Maggi, G; Maruyama, R; Mase, K; Matis, H S; McNally, F; Meagher, K; Merck, M; Meures, T; Miarecki, S; Middell, E; Milke, N; Miller, J; Mohrmann, L; Montaruli, T; Morse, R; Nahnhauer, R; Naumann, U; Niederhausen, H; Nowicki, S C; Nygren, D R; Obertacke, A; Odrowski, S; Olivas, A; O'Murchadha, A; Paul, L; Pepper, J A; Pérez de los Heros, C; Pfendner, C; Pieloth, D; Pinat, E; Posselt, J; Price, P B; Przybylski, G T; Rädel, L; Rameez, M; Rawlins, K; Redl, P; Reimann, R; Resconi, E; Rhode, W; Ribordy, M; Richman, M; Riedel, B; Rodrigues, J P; Rott, C; Ruhe, T; Ruzybayev, B; Ryckbosch, D; Saba, S M; Salameh, T; Sander, H-G; Santander, M; Sarkar, S; Schatto, K; Scheriau, F; Schmidt, T; Schmitz, M; Schoenen, S; Schöneberg, S; Schönwald, A; Schukraft, A; Schulte, L; Schulz, O; Seckel, D; Sestayo, Y; Seunarine, S; Shanidze, R; Sheremata, C; Smith, M W E; Soldin, D; Spiczak, G M; Spiering, C; Stamatikos, M; Stanev, T; Stasik, A; Stezelberger, T; Stokstad, R G; Stößl, A; Strahler, E A; Ström, R; Sullivan, G W; Taavola, H; Taboada, I; Tamburro, A; Tepe, A; Ter-Antonyan, S; Tešić, G; Tilav, S; Toale, P A; Toscano, S; Unger, E; Usner, M; van Eijndhoven, N; Van Overloop, A; van Santen, J; Vehring, M; Voge, M; Vraeghe, M; Walck, C; Waldenmaier, T; Wallraff, M; Weaver, Ch; Wellons, M; Wendt, C; Westerhoff, S; Whitehorn, N; Wiebe, K; Wiebusch, C H; Williams, D R; Wissing, H; Wolf, M; Wood, T R; Woschnagg, K; Xu, D L; Xu, X W; Yanez, J P; Yodh, G; Yoshida, S; Zarzhitsky, P; Ziemann, J; Zierke, S; Zoll, M

2013-11-22

We report on results of an all-sky search for high-energy neutrino events interacting within the IceCube neutrino detector conducted between May 2010 and May 2012. The search follows up on the previous detection of two PeV neutrino events, with improved sensitivity and extended energy coverage down to about 30 TeV. Twenty-six additional events were observed, substantially more than expected from atmospheric backgrounds. Combined, both searches reject a purely atmospheric origin for the 28 events at the 4σ level. These 28 events, which include the highest energy neutrinos ever observed, have flavors, directions, and energies inconsistent with those expected from the atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds. These properties are, however, consistent with generic predictions for an additional component of extraterrestrial origin.

The stylar 120 kDa glycoprotein is required for S-specific pollen rejection in Nicotiana.

PubMed

Hancock, C Nathan; Kent, Lia; McClure, Bruce A

2005-09-01

S-RNase participates in at least three mechanisms of pollen rejection. It functions in S-specific pollen rejection (self-incompatibility) and in at least two distinct interspecific mechanisms of pollen rejection in Nicotiana. S-specific pollen rejection and rejection of pollen from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia also require additional stylar proteins. Transmitting-tract-specific (TTS) protein, 120 kDa glycoprotein (120K) and pistil extensin-like protein III (PELP III) are stylar glycoproteins that bind S-RNase in vitro and are also known to interact with pollen. Here we tested whether these glycoproteins have a direct role in pollen rejection. 120K shows the most polymorphism in size between Nicotiana species. Larger 120K-like proteins are often correlated with S-specific pollen rejection. Sequencing results suggest that the polymorphism primarily reflects differences in glycosylation, although indels also occur in the predicted polypeptides. Using RNA interference (RNAi), we suppressed expression of 120K to determine if it is required for S-specific pollen rejection. Transgenic SC N. plumbaginifolia x SI Nicotiana alata (S105S105 or SC10SC10) hybrids with no detectable 120K were unable to perform S-specific pollen rejection. Thus, 120K has a direct role in S-specific pollen rejection. However, suppression of 120K had no effect on rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen. In contrast, suppression of HT-B, a factor previously implicated in S-specific pollen rejection, disrupts rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen. Thus, S-specific pollen rejection and rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen are mechanistically distinct, because they require different non-S-RNase factors.

Quantitative PCR for HTLV-1 provirus in adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma using paraffin tumor sections.

PubMed

Kato, Junki; Masaki, Ayako; Fujii, Keiichiro; Takino, Hisashi; Murase, Takayuki; Yonekura, Kentaro; Utsunomiya, Atae; Ishida, Takashi; Iida, Shinsuke; Inagaki, Hiroshi

2016-11-01

Detection of HTLV-1 provirus using paraffin tumor sections may assist the diagnosis of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). For the detection, non-quantitative PCR assay has been reported, but its usefulness and limitations remain unclear. To our knowledge, quantitative PCR assay using paraffin tumor sections has not been reported. Using paraffin sections from ATLLs and non-ATLL T-cell lymphomas, we first performed non-quantitative PCR for HTLV-1 provirus. Next, we determined tumor ratios and carried out quantitative PCR to obtain provirus copy numbers. The results were analyzed with a simple regression model and a novel criterion, cut-off using 95 % rejection limits. Our quantitative PCR assay showed an excellent association between tumor ratios and the copy numbers (r = 0.89, P < 0.0001). The 95 % rejection limits provided a statistical basis for the range for the determination of HTLV-1 involvement. Its application suggested that results of non-quantitative PCR assay should be interpreted very carefully and that our quantitative PCR assay is useful to estimate the status of HTLV-1 involvement in the tumor cases. In conclusion, our quantitative PCR assay using paraffin tumor sections may be useful for the screening of ATLL cases, especially in HTLV-1 non-endemic areas where easy access to serological testing for HTLV-1 infection is limited. © 2016 Japanese Society of Pathology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

A spreadsheet template compatible with Microsoft Excel and iWork Numbers that returns the simultaneous confidence intervals for all pairwise differences between multiple sample means.

PubMed

Brown, Angus M

2010-04-01

The objective of the method described in this paper is to develop a spreadsheet template for the purpose of comparing multiple sample means. An initial analysis of variance (ANOVA) test on the data returns F--the test statistic. If F is larger than the critical F value drawn from the F distribution at the appropriate degrees of freedom, convention dictates rejection of the null hypothesis and allows subsequent multiple comparison testing to determine where the inequalities between the sample means lie. A variety of multiple comparison methods are described that return the 95% confidence intervals for differences between means using an inclusive pairwise comparison of the sample means. 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A 15-pole high temperature superconductor filter for radar applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xiao; Xi, Weibin; Wu, Songtao

2018-06-01

This paper presents a compact and high first harmonic frequency resonator. The characteristics of this resonator are theoretically analyzed. A highly selective 15-pole Chebyshev high temperature superconducting ultra-high frequency narrowband filter for radar applications was fabricated by using this resonator. The filter has a center frequency of 495 MHz and a fractional bandwidth of 1%. The first harmonic frequency is more than 3.3 times the fundamental frequency. The measured filter shows excellent selectivity, better than 85 dB/1 MHz skirt slopes, and more than 85 dB of rejection at 497.5 MHz from the band edge. The filter was fabricated on a 2 inch YBCO thin film with a 0.5 mm thick MgO substrate. The experimental results are consistent with the simulations.

A carbon nanotube-infused polysulfone membrane with polyvinyl alcohol layer for treating oil-containing waste water

PubMed Central

Maphutha, Selby; Moothi, Kapil; Meyyappan, M.; Iyuke, Sunny E.

2013-01-01

A carbon nanotube (CNT) integrated polymer composite membrane with a polyvinyl alcohol barrier layer has been prepared to separate oil from water for treatment of oil-containing waste water. The CNTs were synthesised using chemical vapour deposition, and a phase inversion method was employed for the blending of the CNTs in the polymer composite solution for casting of the membrane. Relative to the baseline polymer, an increase of 119% in the tensile strength, 77% in the Young's modulus and 258% in the toughness is seen for a concentration of 7.5% CNTs in the polymer composite. The permeate through the membrane shows oil concentrations below the acceptable 10 mg/L limit with an excellent throughput and oil rejection of over 95%. PMID:23518875

Proteomic Identification of Non-Gal Antibody Targets After Pig-to-Primate Cardiac Xenotransplantation

PubMed Central

Byrne, Guerard W.; Stalboerger, Paul G.; Davila, Eduardo; Heppelmann, Carrie J.; Gazi, Mozammel H.; McGregor, Hugh C. J.; LaBreche, Peter T.; Davies, William R.; Rao, Vinay P.; Oi, Keiji; Tazelaar, Henry D.; Logan, John S.; McGregor, Christopher G. A.

2008-01-01

Background Experience with non-antigenic galactose α1,3 galactose (αGal) polymers and development of αGal deficient pigs has reduced or eliminated the significance of this antigen in xenograft rejection. Despite these advances, delayed xenograft rejection (DXR) continues to occur most likely due to antibody responses to non-Gal endothelial cell (EC) antigens. Methods To gauge the diversity of the non-Gal antibody response we used antibody derived from CD46 transgenic heterotopic cardiac xenografts performed without T-cell immunosuppression, Group A (n = 4) and Gal knockout (GT-KO) heart transplants under tacrolimus and sirolimus immunosuppression, Group B (n = 8). Non-Gal antibody was measured by flow cytometry and by Western blots using GT-KO EC membrane antigens. A nanoLC/MS/MS analysis of proteins recovered from 2D gels was used to identify target antigens. Results Group A recipients exhibited a mixed cellular and humoral rejection. Group B recipients mainly exhibited classical DXR. Western blot analysis showed a non-Gal antibody response induced by GT+ and GT-KO hearts to an overlapping set of pig aortic EC membrane antigens. Proteomic analysis identified 14 potential target antigens but failed to define several immunodominant targets. Conclusions These experiments indicate that the non-Gal antibody response is directed to a number of stress response and inflammation related pig EC antigens and a few undefined targets. Further analysis of these antibody specificities using alternative methods is required to more fully define the repertoire of non-Gal antibody responses. PMID:18957049

BK Virus Load Associated with Serum Levels of sCD30 in Renal Transplant Recipients

PubMed Central

Malik, Salma N.; Al-Saffer, Jinan M.; Jawad, Rana S.

2016-01-01

Background. Rejection is the main drawback facing the renal transplant operations. Complicated and overlapping factors, mainly related to the immune system, are responsible for this rejection. Elevated serum levels of sCD30 were frequently recorded as an indicator for renal allograft rejection, while BV virus is considered as one of the most serious consequences for immunosuppressive treatment of renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Aims. This study aimed to determine the association of BK virus load with serum levels of sCD30 in RTRs suffering from nephropathy. Patients and Methods. A total of 50 RTRs with nephropathy and 30 age-matched apparently healthy individuals were recruited for this study. Serum samples were obtained from each participant. Real-time PCR was used to quantify BK virus load in RTRs serum, while ELISA technique was employed to estimate serum levels of sCD30. Results. Twenty-two percent of RTRs had detectable BKV with mean viral load of 1.094E + 06 ± 2.291E + 06. RTRs showed higher mean serum level of sCD30 (20.669 ± 18.713 U/mL) than that of controls (5.517 ± 5.304 U/mL) with significant difference. BK virus load had significant positive correlation with the serum levels of sCD30 in RTRs group. Conclusion. These results suggest that serum levels of sCD30 could be used as an indicator of BK viremia, and accordingly the immunosuppressive regime should be adjusted. PMID:27051424

Acute Cellular Rejection in ABO-Incompatible Renal Transplant Recipients Receiving Rituximab Is Associated with Delayed-Onset Neutropenia.

PubMed

Uchida, Junji; Iwai, Tomoaki; Nishide, Shunji; Kabei, Kazuya; Kuwabara, Nobuyuki; Yamasaki, Takeshi; Naganuma, Toshihide; Kumada, Norihiko; Takemoto, Yoshiaki; Nakatani, Tatsuya

2017-07-25

BACKGROUND Rituximab induces long-lasting B cell depletion in the peripheral blood and increases the levels of proinflammatory cytokines associated with regulatory B cell depletion. Previous reports showed that B cell-related cytokine release after administration of rituximab may induce acute cellular rejection (ACR) and delayed-onset neutropenia. The present study was conducted to investigate the correlation between acute rejection and delayed-onset neutropenia in ABO-incompatible renal transplant recipients who underwent administration of rituximab for 1 year after transplantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS From June 2006 to July 2015, 47 patients with chronic renal failure received ABO-incompatible renal transplant with rituximab induction at Osaka City University Hospital. All 47 patients underwent plasmapheresis due to removal of anti-A/B antibodies and administration of rituximab, and their transplants were carried out successfully. We investigated the correlation between ACR and delayed-onset neutropenia in ABO-incompatible renal transplant recipients who underwent administration of rituximab for 1 year after transplantation. RESULTS Fourteen patients (29.8%) experienced ACR (group A), and 33 recipients did not develop ACR (group B). The frequency of delayed-onset neutropenia was higher in group A than in group B (p=0.0503). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the frequency of ACR correlated significantly with the prevalence of delayed-onset neutropenia. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicated that ACR in ABO-incompatible renal transplant recipients receiving rituximab was associated with delayed-onset neutropenia.

The Neural Basis of Recollection Rejection: Increases in Hippocampal-Prefrontal Connectivity in the Absence of a Shared Recall-to-Reject and Target Recollection Network.

PubMed

Bowman, Caitlin R; Dennis, Nancy A

2016-08-01

Recollection rejection or "recall-to-reject" is a mechanism that has been posited to help maintain accurate memory by preventing the occurrence of false memories. Recollection rejection occurs when the presentation of a new item during recognition triggers recall of an associated target, a mismatch in features between the new and old items is registered, and the lure is correctly rejected. Critically, this characterization of recollection rejection involves a recall signal that is conceptually similar to recollection as elicited by a target. However, previous neuroimaging studies have not evaluated the extent to which recollection rejection and target recollection rely on a common neural signal but have instead focused on recollection rejection as a postretrieval monitoring process. This study utilized a false memory paradigm in conjunction with an adapted remember-know-new response paradigm that separated "new" responses based on recollection rejection from those that were based on a lack of familiarity with the item. This procedure allowed for parallel recollection rejection and target recollection contrasts to be computed. Results revealed that, contrary to predictions from theoretical and behavioral literature, there was virtually no evidence of a common retrieval mechanism supporting recollection rejection and target recollection. Instead of the typical target recollection network, recollection rejection recruited a network of lateral prefrontal and bilateral parietal regions that is consistent with the retrieval monitoring network identified in previous neuroimaging studies of recollection rejection. However, a functional connectivity analysis revealed a component of the frontoparietal rejection network that showed increased coupling with the right hippocampus during recollection rejection responses. As such, we demonstrate a possible link between PFC monitoring network and basic retrieval mechanisms within the hippocampus that was not revealed with univariate analyses alone.

The Mediating Roles of Rejection Sensitivity and Proximal Stress in the Association Between Discrimination and Internalizing Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Women.

PubMed

Dyar, Christina; Feinstein, Brian A; Eaton, Nicholas R; London, Bonita

2018-01-01

The negative impact of discrimination on mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations has been well documented. However, the possible mediating roles of sexual orientation rejection sensitivity and rejection-based proximal stress in the association between discrimination and internalizing symptoms remain unclear. Rejection-based proximal stress is a subset of proximal stressors that are theorized to arise from concerns about and expectations of sexual orientation-based rejection and discrimination. Drawing on minority stress theory, we tested potential mediating effects using indirect effects structural equation modeling in a sample of 300 sexual minority women. Results indicated that the indirect effect of discrimination on internalizing symptoms (a latent variable indicated by depression and anxiety symptoms) through sexual orientation rejection sensitivity and rejection-based proximal stress (a latent variable indicated by preoccupation with stigma, concealment motivation, and difficulty developing a positive sexual identity) was significant. Additionally, the indirect effects of discrimination on rejection-based proximal stress through sexual orientation rejection sensitivity and of sexual orientation rejection sensitivity on internalizing symptoms through rejection-based proximal stress were also significant. These findings indicate that sexual orientation rejection sensitivity plays an important role in contributing to rejection-based proximal stress and internalizing symptoms among sexual minority women.

Neural mechanisms of the rejection-aggression link.

PubMed

Chester, David S; Lynam, Donald R; Milich, Richard; DeWall, C Nathan

2018-05-01

Social rejection is a painful event that often increases aggression. However, the neural mechanisms of this rejection-aggression link remain unclear. A potential clue may be that rejected people often recruit the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex's (VLPFC) self-regulatory processes to manage the pain of rejection. Using functional MRI, we replicated previous links between rejection and activity in the brain's mentalizing network, social pain network and VLPFC. VLPFC recruitment during rejection was associated with greater activity in the brain's reward network (i.e. the ventral striatum) when individuals were given an opportunity to retaliate. This retaliation-related striatal response was associated with greater levels of retaliatory aggression. Dispositionally aggressive individuals exhibited less functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the right VLPFC during aggression. This connectivity exerted a suppressing effect on dispositionally aggressive individuals' greater aggressive responses to rejection. These results help explain how the pain of rejection and reward of revenge motivate rejected people to behave aggressively.

Changes in Self-Definition Impede Recovery From Rejection.

PubMed

Howe, Lauren C; Dweck, Carol S

2016-01-01

Previous research highlights how adept people are at emotional recovery after rejection, but less research has examined factors that can prevent full recovery. In five studies, we investigate how changing one's self-definition in response to rejection causes more lasting damage. We demonstrate that people who endorse an entity theory of personality (i.e., personality cannot be changed) report alterations in their self-definitions when reflecting on past rejections (Studies 1, 2, and 3) or imagining novel rejection experiences (Studies 4 and 5). Further, these changes in self-definition hinder post-rejection recovery, causing individuals to feel haunted by their past, that is, to fear the recurrence of rejection and to experience lingering negative affect from the rejection. Thus, beliefs that prompt people to tie experiences of rejection to self-definition cause rejection's impact to linger. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Fair Share or Freeride: Burden Sharing in Post-Cold War NATO

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-23

military facilities in Europe. 56 Carl Elk, NATO Common Funds Burdensharing: Background and Current Issues (Washington DC: Congressional Research...Defense Minister Franz Joseph Jung replied, “our contribution is excellent.”114 Germany was clearly proud of its contribution to NATO operations, but...Monsanto, Portugal: NATO Joint Analysis Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC), 2011. Elk, Carl . NATO Common Funds Burdensharing: Background and Current

Developing nurses' intercultural/intraprofessional communication skills using the EXCELLence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership Social Interaction Maps.

PubMed

Henderson, Saras; Barker, Michelle

2017-09-27

To examine how the use of Social Interaction Maps, a tool in the EXCELLence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership Program, can enhance the development of nurses' intercultural/intraprofessional communication skills. Nurses face communication challenges when interacting with others from similar background as well as those from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. We used the EXCELLence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership Program's Social Interaction Maps tool to foster intercultural/intraprofessional communication skills in nurses. Social Interaction Maps describe verbal and nonverbal communication behaviours that model ways of communicating in a culturally appropriate manner. The maps include four stages of an interaction, namely Approach, Bridging, Communicating and Departing using the acronym ABCD. Qualitative approach was used with a purposeful sample of nurses enrolled in a postgraduate course. Fifteen participants were recruited. The Social Interaction Map tool was taught to participants in a workshop where they engaged in sociocultural communication activities using scenarios. Participants were asked to apply Social Interaction Maps in their workplaces. Six weeks later, participants completed a semistructured open-ended questionnaire and participated in a discussion forum on their experience of using Social Interaction Maps. Data were content-analysed. Four themes identified in the use of the Social Interaction Maps were (i) enhancing self-awareness of communication skills; (ii) promoting skills in being nonconfrontational during difficult interactions; (iii) highlighting the importance of A (Approach) and B (Bridging) in interaction with others; and (iv) awareness of how others interpret what is said C (Communicating) and discussing to resolve issues before closure D (Departing). Application of the EXCELLence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership Social Interaction Mapping tool was shown to be useful in developing intercultural/intraprofessional communication skills in nurses. Professional development programmes that incorporate EXCELLence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership Social Interaction Maps can enhance nurses' intercultural/intraprofessional communication competencies when engaging with others from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and improve the way nurses communicate with each other. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Background rejection of n+ surface events in GERDA Phase II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehnert, Björn

2016-05-01

The GERDA experiment searches for neutrinoless double beta (0vββ) decay in 76Ge using an array of high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors immersed in liquid argon (LAr). Phase II of the experiment uses 30 new broad energy germanium (BEGe) detectors with superior pulse shape discrimination capabilities compared to the previously used semi-coaxial detector design. By far the largest background component for BEGe detectors in GERDA are n+-surface events from 42K β decays which are intrinsic in LAr. The β particles with up to 3.5 MeV can traverse the 0.5 to 0.9 mm thick electrode and deposit energy within the region of interest for the 0vββ decay. However, those events have particular pulse shape features allowing for a strong discrimination. The understanding and simulation of this background, showing a reduction by up to a factor 145 with pulse shape discrimination alone, is presented in this work.

A novel, cost-effective, multi-point Thomson scattering system on the Pegasus Toroidal Experiment (invited)

DOE PAGES

Schlossberg, David J.; Bodner, Grant M.; Bongard, Michael W.; ...

2016-09-16

Here, a novel, cost-effective, multi-point Thomson scattering system has been designed, implemented, and operated on the Pegasus Toroidal Experiment. Leveraging advances in Nd:YAG lasers, high-efficiency volume phase holographic transmission gratings, and increased quantum-efficiency Generation 3 image-intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) cameras, the system provides Thomson spectra at eight spatial locations for a single grating/camera pair. The on-board digitization of the ICCD camera enables easy modular expansion, evidenced by recent extension from 4 to 12 plasma/background spatial location pairs. Stray light is rejected using time-of-flight methods suited to gated ICCDs, and background light is blocked during detector readout by a fastmore » shutter. This –10 3 reduction in background light enables further expansion to up to 24 spatial locations. The implementation now provides single-shot T e(R) for n e > 5 × 10 18 m –3.« less

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR for 0νββ: Current status and future plans

DOE PAGES

Green, M. P.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; ...

2015-01-01

The Majorana Demonstrator will search for neutrinoless-double-beta decay (0νββ) in 76Ge, while establishing the feasibility of a future tonne-scale germanium-based 0νββ experiment, and performing searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The experiment, currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, will consist of a pair of modular high-purity germanium detector arrays housed inside of a compact copper, lead, and polyethylene shield. Through a combination of strict materials qualifications and assay, low-background design, and powerful background rejection techniques, the Demonstrator aims to achieve a background rate in the 0νββ region of interest (ROI) of nomore » more than 3 counts in the 0νββ-decay ROI per tonne of target isotope per year (cnts/(ROI-t-y)). The current status of the Demonstrator is discussed, as are plans for its completion.« less

Simulation results of Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) for background reduction in INTEGRAL Spectrometer (SPI) germanium detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slassi-Sennou, S. A.; Boggs, S. E.; Feffer, P. T.; Lin, R. P.

1997-01-01

Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) for background reduction will be used in the INTErnational Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) imaging spectrometer (SPI) to improve the sensitivity from 200 keV to 2 MeV. The observation of significant astrophysical gamma ray lines in this energy range is expected, where the dominant component of the background is the beta(sup -) decay in the Ge detectors due to the activation of Ge nuclei by cosmic rays. The sensitivity of the SPI will be improved by rejecting beta(sup -) decay events while retaining photon events. The PSD technique will distinguish between single and multiple site events. Simulation results of PSD for INTEGRAL-type Ge detectors using a numerical model for pulse shape generation are presented. The model was shown to agree with the experimental results for a narrow inner bore closed end cylindrical detector. Using PSD, a sensitivity improvement factor of the order of 2.4 at 0.8 MeV is expected.

Molecular Weight Cut-Off and Structural Analysis of Vacuum-Assisted Titania Membranes for Water Processing

PubMed Central

Abd Jalil, Siti Nurehan; Wang, David K.; Yacou, Christelle; Motuzas, Julius; Smart, Simon; Diniz da Costa, João C.

2016-01-01

This work investigates the structural formation and analyses of titania membranes (TM) prepared using different vacuum exposure times for molecular weight (MW) cut-off performance and oil/water separation. Titania membranes were synthesized via a sol-gel method and coated on macroporous alumina tubes followed by exposure to a vacuum between 30 and 1200 s and then calcined at 400 °C. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption analyses showed that the crystallite size and particle size of titania increased as a function of vacuum time. All the TM membranes were mesoporous with an average pore diameter of ~3.6 nm with an anatase crystal morphology. Water, glucose, sucrose, and polyvinylpyrrolidone with 40 and 360 kDa (PVP-40 kDa and PVP-360 kDa) were used as feed solutions for MW cut-off and hexadecane solution for oil filtration investigation. The TM membranes were not able to separate glucose and sucrose, thus indicating the membrane pore sizes are larger than the kinetic diameter of sucrose of 0.9 nm, irrespective of vacuum exposure time. They also showed only moderate rejection (20%) of the smaller PVP-40 kDa, however, all the membranes were able to obtain an excellent rejection of near 100% for the larger PVP-360 kDa molecule. Furthermore, the TM membranes were tested for the separation of oil emulsions with a high concentration of oil (3000 ppm), reaching high oil rejections of more than 90% of oil. In general, the water fluxes increased with the vacuum exposure time indicating a pore structural tailoring effect. It is therefore proposed that a mechanism of pore size tailoring was formed by an interconnected network of Ti–O–Ti nanoparticles with inter-particle voids, which increased as TiO2 nanoparticle size increased as a function of vacuum exposure time, and thus reduced the water transport resistance through the TM membranes. PMID:28774057

The ranking probability approach and its usage in design and analysis of large-scale studies.

PubMed

Kuo, Chia-Ling; Zaykin, Dmitri

2013-01-01

In experiments with many statistical tests there is need to balance type I and type II error rates while taking multiplicity into account. In the traditional approach, the nominal [Formula: see text]-level such as 0.05 is adjusted by the number of tests, [Formula: see text], i.e., as 0.05/[Formula: see text]. Assuming that some proportion of tests represent "true signals", that is, originate from a scenario where the null hypothesis is false, power depends on the number of true signals and the respective distribution of effect sizes. One way to define power is for it to be the probability of making at least one correct rejection at the assumed [Formula: see text]-level. We advocate an alternative way of establishing how "well-powered" a study is. In our approach, useful for studies with multiple tests, the ranking probability [Formula: see text] is controlled, defined as the probability of making at least [Formula: see text] correct rejections while rejecting hypotheses with [Formula: see text] smallest P-values. The two approaches are statistically related. Probability that the smallest P-value is a true signal (i.e., [Formula: see text]) is equal to the power at the level [Formula: see text], to an very good excellent approximation. Ranking probabilities are also related to the false discovery rate and to the Bayesian posterior probability of the null hypothesis. We study properties of our approach when the effect size distribution is replaced for convenience by a single "typical" value taken to be the mean of the underlying distribution. We conclude that its performance is often satisfactory under this simplification; however, substantial imprecision is to be expected when [Formula: see text] is very large and [Formula: see text] is small. Precision is largely restored when three values with the respective abundances are used instead of a single typical effect size value.

SNP_tools: A compact tool package for analysis and conversion of genotype data for MS-Excel

PubMed Central

Chen, Bowang; Wilkening, Stefan; Drechsel, Marion; Hemminki, Kari

2009-01-01

Background Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping is a major activity in biomedical research. Scientists prefer to have a facile access to the results which may require conversions between data formats. First hand SNP data is often entered in or saved in the MS-Excel format, but this software lacks genetic and epidemiological related functions. A general tool to do basic genetic and epidemiological analysis and data conversion for MS-Excel is needed. Findings The SNP_tools package is prepared as an add-in for MS-Excel. The code is written in Visual Basic for Application, embedded in the Microsoft Office package. This add-in is an easy to use tool for users with basic computer knowledge (and requirements for basic statistical analysis). Conclusion Our implementation for Microsoft Excel 2000-2007 in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7 beta can handle files in different formats and converts them into other formats. It is a free software. PMID:19852806

Characterization of the Endothelial Cell Cytoskeleton following HLA Class I Ligation

PubMed Central

Ziegler, Mary E.; Souda, Puneet; Jin, Yi-Ping; Whitelegge, Julian P.; Reed, Elaine F.

2012-01-01

Background Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are a target of antibody-mediated allograft rejection. In vitro, when the HLA class I molecules on the surface of ECs are ligated by anti-HLA class I antibodies, cell proliferation and survival pathways are activated and this is thought to contribute to the development of antibody-mediated rejection. Crosslinking of HLA class I molecules by anti-HLA antibodies also triggers reorganization of the cytoskeleton, which induces the formation of F-actin stress fibers. HLA class I induced stress fiber formation is not well understood. Methodology and Principal Findings The present study examines the protein composition of the cytoskeleton fraction of ECs treated with HLA class I antibodies and compares it to other agonists known to induce alterations of the cytoskeleton in endothelial cells. Analysis by tandem mass spectrometry revealed unique cytoskeleton proteomes for each treatment group. Using annotation tools a candidate list was created that revealed 12 proteins, which were unique to the HLA class I stimulated group. Eleven of the candidate proteins were phosphoproteins and exploration of their predicted kinases provided clues as to how these proteins may contribute to the understanding of HLA class I induced antibody-mediated rejection. Three of the candidates, eukaryotic initiation factor 4A1 (eIF4A1), Tropomyosin alpha 4-chain (TPM4) and DDX3X, were further characterized by Western blot and found to be associated with the cytoskeleton. Confocal microscopy analysis showed that class I ligation stimulated increased eIF4A1 co-localization with F-actin and paxillin. Conclusions/Significance Colocalization of eIF4A1 with F-actin and paxillin following HLA class I ligation suggests that this candidate protein could be a target for understanding the mechanism(s) of class I mediated antibody-mediated rejection. This proteomic approach for analyzing the cytoskeleton of ECs can be applied to other agonists and various cells types as a method for uncovering novel regulators of cytoskeleton changes. PMID:22247778

Validating Early Post–Transplant Outcomes Reported for Recipients of Deceased Donor Kidney Transplants

PubMed Central

Potluri, Vishnu S.; Hall, Isaac E.; Ficek, Joseph; Doshi, Mona D.; Butrymowicz, Isabel; Weng, Francis L.; Schröppel, Bernd; Thiessen-Philbrook, Heather; Reese, Peter P.

2016-01-01

Background and objectives Data reported to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) are used in kidney transplant research, policy development, and assessment of center quality, but the accuracy of early post–transplant outcome measures is unknown. Design, setting, participants, & measurements The Deceased Donor Study (DDS) is a prospective cohort study at five transplant centers. Research coordinators manually abstracted data from electronic records for 557 adults who underwent deceased donor kidney transplantation between April of 2010 and November of 2013. We compared the post-transplant outcomes of delayed graft function (DGF; defined as dialysis in the first post–transplant week), acute rejection, and post–transplant serum creatinine reported to the OPTN with data collected for the DDS. Results Median kidney donor risk index was 1.22 (interquartile range [IQR], 0.97–1.53). Median recipient age was 55 (IQR, 46–63) years old, 63% were men, and 47% were black; 93% had received dialysis before transplant. Using DDS data as the gold standard, we found that pretransplant dialysis was not reported to the OPTN in only 11 (2%) instances. DGF in OPTN data had a sensitivity of 89% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 84% to 93%) and specificity of 98% (95% CI, 96% to 99%). Surprisingly, the OPTN data accurately identified acute allograft rejection in only 20 of 47 instances (n=488; sensitivity of 43%; 95% CI, 17% to 73%). Across participating centers, sensitivity of acute rejection varied widely from 23% to 100%, whereas specificity was uniformly high (92%–100%). Six-month serum creatinine values in DDS and OPTN data had high concordance (n=490; Lin concordance correlation =0.90; 95% CI, 0.88 to 0.92). Conclusions OPTN outcomes for recipients of deceased donor kidney transplants have high validity for DGF and 6-month allograft function but lack sensitivity in detecting rejection. Future studies using OPTN data may consider focusing on allograft function at 6 months as a useful outcome. PMID:26668026

High Intrapatient Variability of Tacrolimus Levels and Outpatient Clinic Nonattendance Are Associated With Inferior Outcomes in Renal Transplant Patients

PubMed Central

Goodall, Dawn L.; Willicombe, Michelle; McLean, Adam G.; Taube, David

2017-01-01

Background Nonadherence to immunosuppressants is associated with rejection and allograft loss. Intrapatient variability (IPV) of immunosuppression levels is a marker of nonadherence. This study describes the impact of IPV of tacrolimus levels in patients receiving a tacrolimus monotherapy immunosuppression protocol. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the outpatient tacrolimus levels of kidney-only transplant patients taken between 6 and 12 months posttransplant. IPV was determined using the coefficient of variance. Results Six hundred twenty-eight patients with a mean number of 8.98 ± 3.81 tacrolimus levels and a mean follow-up of 4.72 ± 2.19 years were included. Multivariate analysis showed death was associated with increasing age (1.04 [1.01-1.07], P = 0.0055), diabetes at time of transplant (2.79 [1.44-5.41], P = 0.0024), and rejection (2.34 [1.06-5.19], P = 0.036). Variables associated with graft loss included the highest variability group (2.51 [1.01-6.27], P = 0.048), mean tacrolimus level less than 5 ng/mL (4.32 [1.94-9.63], P = 0.0003), a high clinic nonattendance rate (1.10 [1.01-1.20], P = 0.03), and rejection (9.83 [4.62-20.94], P < 0.0001). Independent risk factors for rejection were de novo donor-specific antibody (3.15 [1.84-5.39], P < 0.0001), mean tacrolimus level less than 5 ng/mL (2.57 [1.27-5.19], P = 0.00860, and a high clinic nonattendance rate (1.11 [1.05-1.18], P = 0.0005). Conclusions This study shows that high tacrolimus IPV and clinic nonattendance are associated with inferior allograft survival. Interventions to minimize the causes of high variability, particularly nonadherence are essential to improve long-term allograft outcomes. PMID:28795143

The Validity of Peer Review in a General Medicine Journal

PubMed Central

Jackson, Jeffrey L.; Srinivasan, Malathi; Rea, Joanna; Fletcher, Kathlyn E.; Kravitz, Richard L.

2011-01-01

All the opinions in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed to reflect, in any way, those of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Background Our study purpose was to assess the predictive validity of reviewer quality ratings and editorial decisions in a general medicine journal. Methods Submissions to the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM) between July 2004 and June 2005 were included. We abstracted JGIM peer review quality ratings, verified the publication status of all articles and calculated an impact factor for published articles (Rw) by dividing the 3-year citation rate by the average for this group of papers; an Rw>1 indicates a greater than average impact. Results Of 507 submissions, 128 (25%) were published in JGIM, 331 rejected (128 with review) and 48 were either not resubmitted after revision was requested or were withdrawn by the author. Of 331 rejections, 243 were published elsewhere. Articles published in JGIM had a higher citation rate than those published elsewhere (Rw: 1.6 vs. 1.1, p = 0.002). Reviewer quality ratings of article quality had good internal consistency and reviewer recommendations markedly influenced publication decisions. There was no quality rating cutpoint that accurately distinguished high from low impact articles. There was a stepwise increase in Rw for articles rejected without review, rejected after review or accepted by JGIM (Rw 0.60 vs. 0.87 vs. 1.56, p<0.0005). However, there was low agreement between reviewers for quality ratings and publication recommendations. The editorial publication decision accurately discriminated high and low impact articles in 68% of submissions. We found evidence of better accuracy with a greater number of reviewers. Conclusions The peer review process largely succeeds in selecting high impact articles and dispatching lower impact ones, but the process is far from perfect. While the inter-rater reliability between individual reviewers is low, the accuracy of sorting is improved with a greater number of reviewers. PMID:21799867

Opportunities for Neutrino Physics at the Spallation Neutron Source: A White Paper

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

Bolozdynya, A.; Cavanna, F.; Efremenko, Y.

2012-11-01

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, provides an intense flux of neutrinos in the few tens-of-MeV range, with a sharply-pulsed timing structure that is beneficial for background rejection. In this document, the product of a workshop at the SNS in May 2012, we describe this free, high-quality stopped-pion neutrino source and outline various physics that could be done using it. We describe without prioritization some specific experimental configurations that could address these physics topics.

3D high- and super-resolution imaging using single-objective SPIM.

PubMed

Galland, Remi; Grenci, Gianluca; Aravind, Ajay; Viasnoff, Virgile; Studer, Vincent; Sibarita, Jean-Baptiste

2015-07-01

Single-objective selective-plane illumination microscopy (soSPIM) is achieved with micromirrored cavities combined with a laser beam-steering unit installed on a standard inverted microscope. The illumination and detection are done through the same objective. soSPIM can be used with standard sample preparations and features high background rejection and efficient photon collection, allowing for 3D single-molecule-based super-resolution imaging of whole cells or cell aggregates. Using larger mirrors enabled us to broaden the capabilities of our system to image Drosophila embryos.

Hunting the Dark Matter with DEAP/CLEAN

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

Giuliani, F.

2010-02-10

The potential of the DEAP/CLEAN program for direct Dark Matter detection to test various dark matter models is illustrated. The scintillation pulse of a noble liquid like Argon or Neon has two well distinguished time constants allowing a very reliable correlation between pulse shape and type of event. This pulse shape discrimination already provides the power of rejecting a background10{sup 8}-10{sup 9} times larger than the signal. MiniCLEAN, a 500 kg LAr detector, is currently under construction, and a 3.6 ton detector, DEAP-3600, under development.

The nationalization of the Swedish pharmacies.

PubMed

Lilja, J

1987-01-01

The first Swedish parliamentary bill suggesting government-owned pharmacies was introduced in 1907 and was rejected. A number of official proposals were put forward until 1970 when the government decided to nationalize the Swedish pharmacies. The process leading to nationalization was influenced by background and by more specific 'release' factors operating in the 1960s. The opposition in parliament to nationalization was only minor. The new organization formed, Apoteksbolaget AB, was given a drug selling monopoly and was organized as a limited company regulated by an agreement between the government and Apoteksbolaget.

Immigration and Health: Law, Policy, and Ethics.

PubMed

Parmet, Wendy E; Sainsbury-Wong, Lorianne; Prabhu, Maya

2017-03-01

Immigration poses numerous challenges for health professionals and public health lawyers. This article reviews these challenges. We begin by offering some background on immigration and health and then explain some of the reasons why immigrants are less likely than natives to have health insurance. Next we turn to a discussion of some of the particular challenges relating to the health care of refugees. We conclude by analyzing and rejecting some of the arguments that are made for discriminating against immigrants with respect to the provision of public health benefits and services.

Spectral performance of DEPFET and gateable DEPFET macropixel devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bähr, A.; Aschauer, S.; Bergbauer, B.; Hermenau, K.; Lauf, T.; Lechner, P.; Lutz, G.; Majewski, P.; Meidinger, N.; Miessner, D.; Porro, M.; Richter, R.; Schaller, G.; Schopper, F.; Stefanescu, A.; Strüder, L.; Treis, J.

2014-03-01

Future x-ray observatories, such as the proposed ATHENA+ mission, will investigate bright and rapidly evolving radiation sources. To reach the scientific goals, high speed, spatial resolving sensors with excellent spectroscopic performance are mandatory. Well suited for this task are matrices of Depleted P-channel Field Effect Transistors (DEPFETs). DEPFETs provide intrinsic signal amplification, 100 percent fill factor, charge storage capability and a low read noise. Previous studies of DEPFET matrices of 256 × 256 pixels demonstrated an excellent energy resolution of 126 eV FWHM at 5.9 keV (compared to the theoretical Fano limit 120 eV). Usually these matrices are read out on demand, using e.g. the ASTEROID ASIC. Because the DEPFET is always sensitive, charge collected during the readout, causes so called misfits, which increase the background. For low frame rates this can be neglected. However, for fast timings, as suggested for ATHENA+, this effect reduces the spectral performance. We will present measurements on DEPFET macropixel structures, read out using a semi-Gaussian shaper, which demonstrate the excellent spectroscopic performance of these devices. Furthermore we will investigate the effect of misfits on the spectral background of DEPFET devices read out on demand. These measurements show the necessity to suppress misfits when the devices are operated for fast timing modes. As will be shown this can be done using so called gateable DEPFETs. The general advantage of gateable DEPFETs at fast timings, in terms of peak-to-background ratio will be demonstrated.

The role of FDG-PET in detecting rejection after liver transplantation.

PubMed

Watson, Ashley M; Bhutiani, Neal; Philips, Prejesh; Davis, Eric G; Eng, Mary; Cannon, Robert M; Jones, Christopher M

2018-05-15

The activation and increased metabolic activity of T cells in acute cellular rejection could allow fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography to be utilized for detection of acute cellular rejection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography in detecting acute cellular rejection in the clinical setting. Fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography studies were performed on 88 orthotopic liver transplant patients at 7 and 17 days postoperatively (first positron emission tomography and second positron emission tomography, respectively). Additional studies were performed if patients had suspicion of rejection and at resolution of rejection (third positron emission tomography and fourth positron emission tomography, respectively). A circular region of interest was placed over the liver for semiquantitative evaluation of fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography images by means of standard uptake values. Eighteen of 88 patients in our study (20.5%) had histologically proven acute cellular rejection during a 16 ± 11 day follow-up. There was no significant difference between the standard uptake values of first positron emission tomography among non-rejecters versus rejecters (2.05 ±0.46 non-rejecters versus 1.82 ± 0.40 rejecters, P = .127). Within the rejection cohort, the standard uptake values from the third positron emission tomography (rejection) were higher compared to the first positron emission tomography (baseline) (2.41 ± 0.48 third positron emission tomography versus 1.82 ± 0.41 first positron emission tomography, P < .001). Increased signal on fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography over baseline is associated with acute cellular rejection in liver transplant recipients. Additional prospective validation studies are essential to define the role of fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan as an early marker for acute cellular rejection. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rejection Sensitivity, Jealousy, and the Relationship to Interpersonal Aggression.

PubMed

Murphy, Anna M; Russell, Gemma

2018-07-01

The development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships lead individuals to risk rejection in the pursuit of acceptance. Some individuals are predisposed to experience a hypersensitivity to rejection that is hypothesized to be related to jealous and aggressive reactions within interpersonal relationships. The current study used convenience sampling to recruit 247 young adults to evaluate the relationship between rejection sensitivity, jealousy, and aggression. A mediation model was used to test three hypotheses: Higher scores of rejection sensitivity would be positively correlated to higher scores of aggression (Hypothesis 1); higher scores of rejection sensitivity would be positively correlated to higher scores of jealousy (Hypothesis 2); jealousy would mediate the relationship between rejection sensitivity and aggression (Hypothesis 3). Study results suggest a tendency for individuals with high rejection sensitivity to experience higher levels of jealousy, and subsequently have a greater propensity for aggression, than individuals with low rejection sensitivity. Future research that substantiates a link between hypersensitivity to rejection, jealousy, and aggression may provide an avenue for prevention, education, or intervention in reducing aggression within interpersonal relationships.

Regulatory immune cells and functions in autoimmunity and transplantation immunology.

PubMed

Papp, Gabor; Boros, Peter; Nakken, Britt; Szodoray, Peter; Zeher, Margit

2017-05-01

In physiological circumstances, various tolerogenic mechanisms support the protection of self-structures during immune responses. However, quantitative and/or qualitative changes in regulatory immune cells and mediators can evoke auto-reactive immune responses, and upon susceptible genetic background, along with the presence of other concomitant etiological factors, autoimmune disease may develop. In transplant immunology, tolerogenic mechanisms are also critical, since the balance between of alloantigen-reactive effector cells and the regulatory immune cells will ultimately determine whether a graft is accepted or rejected. Better understanding of the immunological tolerance and the potential modulations of immune regulatory processes are crucial for developing effective therapies in autoimmune diseases as well as in organ transplantation. In this review, we focus on the novel insights regarding the impaired immune regulation and other relevant factors contributing to the development of auto-reactive and graft-reactive immune responses in autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, respectively. We also address some promising approaches for modification of immune-regulatory processes and tolerogenic mechanisms in autoimmunity and solid organ transplantation, which may be beneficial in future therapeutic strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Topo-trigger: a new concept of stereo trigger system for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Coto, R.; Mazin, D.; Paoletti, R.; Blanch Bigas, O.; Cortina, J.

2016-04-01

Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) such as the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes endeavor to reach the lowest possible energy threshold. In doing so the trigger system is a key element. Reducing the trigger threshold is hampered by the rapid increase of accidental triggers generated by ambient light (the so-called Night Sky Background NSB). In this paper we present a topological trigger, dubbed Topo-trigger, which rejects events on the basis of their relative orientation in the telescope cameras. We have simulated and tested the trigger selection algorithm in the MAGIC telescopes. The algorithm was tested using MonteCarlo simulations and shows a rejection of 85% of the accidental stereo triggers while preserving 99% of the gamma rays. A full implementation of this trigger system would achieve an increase in collection area between 10 and 20% at the energy threshold. The analysis energy threshold of the instrument is expected to decrease by ~ 8%. The selection algorithm was tested on real MAGIC data taken with the current trigger configuration and no γ-like events were found to be lost.

Muon Energy Reconstruction in ANTARES and Its Application to the Diffuse Neutrino Flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romeyer, A.; Bruijn, R.; Zornoza, J.-d.-D.; ANTARES Collaboration

2003-07-01

The Europ ean collab oration ANTARES aims to operate a large neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea, 2400 m deep, 40 km from Toulon (France). Muon neutrinos are detected through the muon produced in charged current interactions in the medium surrounding the detector. The Cherenkov light emitted by the muon is registered by a 3D photomultiplier array. Muon energy can be inferred using 3 different methods based on the knowledge of the features of muon energy losses. They result in an energy resolution of a factor ˜ 2 above 1 TeV. The ANTARES sensitivity to diffuse neutrino flux models is obtained from an energy cut, rejecting most of the atmospheric neutrino background which has a softer spectrum. Fake upgoing events from downgoing atmospheric muons are rejected using dedicated variables. After 1 year of data taking, the ANTARES sensitivity is E 2 dΦν /dEν º 8 · 10-8 GeV cm-2 s-1 sr -1 for a 10 string detector and an E -2 diffuse flux spectrum.

When Saying Sorry May Not Help: The Impact of Apologies on Social Rejections

PubMed Central

Freedman, Gili; Burgoon, Erin M.; Ferrell, Jason D.; Pennebaker, James W.; Beer, Jennifer S.

2017-01-01

If you have to socially reject someone, will it help to apologize? Social rejection is a painful emotional experience for targets, yet research has been silent on recommendations for rejectors. Across three sets of studies, apologies increased hurt feelings and the need to express forgiveness but did not increase feelings of forgiveness. The investigation of hurt feelings arising from a social rejection is challenging because previous research has shown that participants are reluctant to admit they felt hurt by the rejection. The present research addressed the self-report issue in two ways. First, participants rated how much social rejections would hurt someone’s feelings as a function of whether an apology was included across various social rejection scenarios (Studies 1a–e). Second, aggressive behavior was measured in response to face-to-face social rejections that were manipulated to include or exclude apologies (Studies 2a–c). More specifically, Studies 1a–e (N = 1096) found that although individuals sometimes use apologies in social rejections, social rejections with apologies are associated with higher levels of explicit hurt feelings. Studies 2a–c (N = 355) manipulated the presence of an apology in face-to-face social rejections and found that social rejections with apologies cause more aggressive behavior. As in previous research, participants are reluctant to admit to feeling hurt. Finally, Study 3 (N = 426) found that in response to social rejections with apologies, individuals feel more compelled to express forgiveness despite not actually feeling more forgiveness. Implications for the role of language in social rejections are discussed. PMID:28848484

Chemistry and haematology sample rejection and clinical impact in a tertiary laboratory in Cape Town.

PubMed

Jacobsz, Lourens A; Zemlin, Annalise E; Roos, Mark J; Erasmus, Rajiv T

2011-10-14

Recent publications report that up to 70% of total laboratory errors occur in the pre-analytical phase. Identification of specific problems highlights pre-analytic processes susceptible to errors. The rejection of unsuitable samples can lead to delayed turnaround time and affect patient care. A retrospective audit was conducted investigating the rejection rate of routine blood specimens received at chemistry and haematology laboratories over a 2-week period. The reasons for rejection and potential clinical impact of these rejections were investigated. Thirty patient files were randomly selected and examined to assess the impact of these rejections on clinical care. A total of 32,910 specimens were received during the study period, of which 481 were rejected, giving a rejection rate of 1.46%. The main reasons for rejection were inappropriate clotting (30%) and inadequate sample volume (22%). Only 51.7% of rejected samples were repeated and the average time for a repeat sample to reach the laboratory was about 5 days (121 h). Of the repeated samples, 5.1% had results within critical values. Examination of patient folders showed that in 40% of cases the rejection of samples had an impact on patient care. The evaluation of pre-analytical processes in the laboratory, with regard to sample rejection, allowed one to identify problem areas where improvement is necessary. Rejected samples due to factors out of the laboratory's control had a definite impact on patient care and can thus affect customer satisfaction. Clinicians should be aware of these factors to prevent such rejections.

Digital radiography reject analysis: data collection methodology, results, and recommendations from an in-depth investigation at two hospitals.

PubMed

Foos, David H; Sehnert, W James; Reiner, Bruce; Siegel, Eliot L; Segal, Arthur; Waldman, David L

2009-03-01

Reject analysis was performed on 288,000 computed radiography (CR) image records collected from a university hospital (UH) and a large community hospital (CH). Each record contains image information, such as body part and view position, exposure level, technologist identifier, and--if the image was rejected--the reason for rejection. Extensive database filtering was required to ensure the integrity of the reject-rate calculations. The reject rate for CR across all departments and across all exam types was 4.4% at UH and 4.9% at CH. The most frequently occurring exam types with reject rates of 8% or greater were found to be common to both institutions (skull/facial bones, shoulder, hip, spines, in-department chest, pelvis). Positioning errors and anatomy cutoff were the most frequently occurring reasons for rejection, accounting for 45% of rejects at CH and 56% at UH. Improper exposure was the next most frequently occurring reject reason (14% of rejects at CH and 13% at UH), followed by patient motion (11% of rejects at CH and 7% at UH). Chest exams were the most frequently performed exam at both institutions (26% at UH and 45% at CH) with half captured in-department and half captured using portable x-ray equipment. A ninefold greater reject rate was found for in-department (9%) versus portable chest exams (1%). Problems identified with the integrity of the data used for reject analysis can be mitigated in the future by objectifying quality assurance (QA) procedures and by standardizing the nomenclature and definitions for QA deficiencies.

Behavioral Response Generation and Selection of Rejected-Reactive Aggressive, Rejected-Nonaggressive, and Average Status Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, C. Nannette; Gross, Alan M.

2002-01-01

Examines response decision processes of rejected-reactive aggressive, rejected-nonaggressive and average children in terms of the presence or absence of behavioral response alternatives. Congruent with previous research, rejected-reactive aggressive children made significantly more hostile attributions and generated a higher number of aggressive…

Graft rejection episodes after Descemet stripping with endothelial keratoplasty: part two: the statistical analysis of probability and risk factors.

PubMed

Price, M O; Jordan, C S; Moore, G; Price, F W

2009-03-01

To investigate risk factors and probability of initial immunological graft rejection episodes after Descemet stripping with endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK). Outcomes of 598 DSEK cases from a single tertiary referral centre were reviewed. Risk factors and probability of rejection were assessed by multivariate Cox proportional hazards modelling. Rejection episodes occurred in 54 eyes of 48 patients. Estimated probability of a rejection episode was 7.6% by 1 year and 12% by 2 years after grafting. Relative risk of rejection was five times higher for African-American patients compared with Caucasians (p = 0.0002). Eyes with pre-existing glaucoma (9%) or steroid-responsive ocular hypertension (27%) had twice the relative risk of rejection (p = 0.045) compared with eyes that did not have those problems. Patient age, sex and corneal diagnosis did not significantly influence rejection risk. Risk of rejection was not increased when fellow eyes were grafted within 1 year of the first eye (p = 0.62). Pre-existing glaucoma or steroid-responsive ocular hypertension and race were the two factors that independently influenced relative risk of rejection after DSEK. Rejection risk was not increased if the fellow eye was grafted within the prior year with DSEK.

Identification of Upward-going Muons for Dark Matter Searches at the NOvA Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Liting

2014-03-01

We search for energetic neutrinos that could originate from dark matter particles annihilating in the core of the Sun using the newly built NOvA Far Detector at Fermilab. Only upward-going muons produced via charged-current interactions are selected as signal in order to eliminate backgrounds from cosmic ray muons, which dominate the downward-going flux. We investigate several algorithms so as to develop an effective way of reconstructing the directionality of cosmic tracks at the trigger level. These studies are a crucial part of understanding how NOvA may compete with other experiments that are performing similar searches. In order to be competitive NOvA must be capable of rejecting backgrounds from downward-going cosmic rays with very high efficiency while accepting most upward-going muons. Acknowledgements: The Jefferson Trust, Fermilab, UVA Department of Physics.

Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering studies with Transition Edge Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Yizhi; Lee, Sangjun; de La Pena, Gilberto; Sun, Xiaolan; Rodolakis, Fanny; McChesney, Jessica; Fowler, Joe; Joe, Young Il; Doriese, William; Morgan, Kelsey; Swetz, Daniel; Ullom, Joel; Abbamonte, Peter

Resonant Soft X-ray has been one of the key techniques to study charge orders in high Tc cuperates. To solve the issue of unwanted enhancement of inelastic florescence background at resonance, we have developed an energy-resolving superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor microcalorimeters. These superconducting sensors obtain exquisite energy resolution by exploiting the superconducting-to-normal transition to photon energy and by operating at cryogenic temperatures ( 70 mK) where thermal noise is minimal. This TES has demonstrated 1.0 eV resolution below 1 keV. We present first results using this detector to study the (002) Bragg peak and specular elastic scattering from a single crystal of stripe-ordered La 2 - x Bax CuO4 (x=0.125). Use of this detector for studying excitations and rejecting background fluorescence will be discussed.

Escape Excel: A tool for preventing gene symbol and accession conversion errors

PubMed Central

Stewart, Paul A.; Kuenzi, Brent M.; Eschrich, James A.

2017-01-01

Background Microsoft Excel automatically converts certain gene symbols, database accessions, and other alphanumeric text into dates, scientific notation, and other numerical representations. These conversions lead to subsequent, irreversible, corruption of the imported text. A recent survey of popular genomic literature estimates that one-fifth of all papers with supplementary gene lists suffer from this issue. Results Here, we present an open-source tool, Escape Excel, which prevents these erroneous conversions by generating an escaped text file that can be safely imported into Excel. Escape Excel is implemented in a variety of formats (http://www.github.com/pstew/escape_excel), including a command line based Perl script, a Windows-only Excel Add-In, an OS X drag-and-drop application, a simple web-server, and as a Galaxy web environment interface. Test server implementations are accessible as a Galaxy interface (http://apostl.moffitt.org) and simple non-Galaxy web server (http://apostl.moffitt.org:8000/). Conclusions Escape Excel detects and escapes a wide variety of problematic text strings so that they are not erroneously converted into other representations upon importation into Excel. Examples of problematic strings include date-like strings, time-like strings, leading zeroes in front of numbers, and long numeric and alphanumeric identifiers that should not be automatically converted into scientific notation. It is hoped that greater awareness of these potential data corruption issues, together with diligent escaping of text files prior to importation into Excel, will help to reduce the amount of Excel-corrupted data in scientific analyses and publications. PMID:28953918

Solar Rejection Filter for Large Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemmati, Hamid; Lesh, James

2009-01-01

To reject solar radiation photons at the front aperture for large telescopes, a mosaic of large transmission mode filters is placed in front of the telescope or at the aperture of the dome. Filtering options for effective rejection of sunlight include a smaller filter down-path near the focus of the telescope, and a large-diameter filter located in the front of the main aperture. Two types of large filters are viable: reflectance mode and transmittance mode. In the case of reflectance mode, a dielectric coating on a suitable substrate (e.g. a low-thermal-expansion glass) is arranged to reflect only a single, narrow wavelength and to efficiently transmit all other wavelengths. These coatings are commonly referred to as notch filter. In this case, the large mirror located in front of the telescope aperture reflects the received (signal and background) light into the telescope. In the case of transmittance mode, a dielectric coating on a suitable substrate (glass, sapphire, clear plastic, membrane, and the like) is arranged to transmit only a single wavelength and to reject all other wavelengths (visible and near IR) of light. The substrate of the large filter will determine its mass. At first glance, a large optical filter with a diameter of up to 10 m, located in front of the main aperture, would require a significant thickness to avoid sagging. However, a segmented filter supported by a structurally rugged grid can support smaller filters. The obscuration introduced by the grid is minimal because the total area can be made insignificant. This configuration can be detrimental to a diffraction- limited telescope due to diffraction effects at the edges of each sub-panel. However, no discernable degradation would result for a 20 diffraction-limit telescope (a photon bucket). Even the small amount of sagging in each subpanel should have minimal effect in the performance of a non-diffraction limited telescope because the part has no appreciable optical power. If the front aperture filter is integrated with the telescope dome, it will reject heat from the dome and will significantly reduce dome temperature regulation requirements and costs. Also, the filter will protect the telescope optics from dust and other contaminants in the atmosphere. It will be simpler to clean or replace this filter than the telescope primary mirror. It may be necessary to paint the support grid with a highly reflective material to avoid overheating.

Multi-center Performance Evaluations of Tacrolimus and Cyclosporine Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassays in the Asia-Pacific Region

PubMed Central

Qin, Xuzhen; Rui, Jianzhong; Xia, Yong; Mu, Hong; Song, Sang Hoon; Raja Aziddin, Raja Elina; Miles, Gabrielle; Sun, Yuli

2018-01-01

Background The immunosuppressant drugs (ISDs), tacrolimus and cyclosporine, are vital for solid organ transplant patients to prevent rejection. However, toxicity is a concern, and absorption is highly variable across patients; therefore, ISD levels need to be precisely monitored. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, tacrolimus and cyclosporine concentrations are typically measured using immunoassays. The objective of this study was to assess the analytical performance of Roche Elecsystacrolimus and cyclosporinee electrochemiluminescence immunoassays (ECLIAs). Methods This evaluation was performed in seven centers across China, South Korea, and Malaysia. Imprecision (repeatability and reproducibility), assay accuracy, and lot-to-lot reagent variability were tested. The Elecsys ECLIAs were compared with commercially available immunoassays (Architect, Dimension, and Viva-E systems) using whole blood samples from patients with various transplant types (kidney, liver, heart, and bone marrow). Results Coefficients of variation for repeatability and reproducibility were ≤5.4% and ≤12.4%, respectively, for the tacrolimus ECLIA, and ≤5.1% and ≤7.3%, respectively, for the cyclosporine ECLIA. Method comparisons of the tacrolimus ECLIA with Architect, Dimension, and Viva-E systems yielded slope values of 1.01, 1.14, and 0.897, respectively. The cyclosporine ECLIA showed even closer agreements with the Architect, Dimension, and Viva-E systems (slope values of 1.04, 1.04, and 1.09, respectively). No major differences were observed among the different transplant types. Conclusions The tacrolimus and cyclosporine ECLIAs demonstrated excellent precision and close agreement with other immunoassays tested. These results show that both assays are suitable for ISD monitoring in an APAC population across a range of different transplant types. PMID:29214751

A kilo-pixel imaging system for future space based far-infrared observatories using microwave kinetic inductance detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baselmans, J. J. A.; Bueno, J.; Yates, S. J. C.; Yurduseven, O.; Llombart, N.; Karatsu, K.; Baryshev, A. M.; Ferrari, L.; Endo, A.; Thoen, D. J.; de Visser, P. J.; Janssen, R. M. J.; Murugesan, V.; Driessen, E. F. C.; Coiffard, G.; Martin-Pintado, J.; Hargrave, P.; Griffin, M.

2017-05-01

Aims: Future astrophysics and cosmic microwave background space missions operating in the far-infrared to millimetre part of the spectrum will require very large arrays of ultra-sensitive detectors in combination with high multiplexing factors and efficient low-noise and low-power readout systems. We have developed a demonstrator system suitable for such applications. Methods: The system combines a 961 pixel imaging array based upon Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) with a readout system capable of reading out all pixels simultaneously with only one readout cable pair and a single cryogenic amplifier. We evaluate, in a representative environment, the system performance in terms of sensitivity, dynamic range, optical efficiency, cosmic ray rejection, pixel-pixel crosstalk and overall yield at an observation centre frequency of 850 GHz and 20% fractional bandwidth. Results: The overall system has an excellent sensitivity, with an average detector sensitivity < NEPdet> =3×10-19 WHz measured using a thermal calibration source. At a loading power per pixel of 50 fW we demonstrate white, photon noise limited detector noise down to 300 mHz. The dynamic range would allow the detection of 1 Jy bright sources within the field of view without tuning the readout of the detectors. The expected dead time due to cosmic ray interactions, when operated in an L2 or a similar far-Earth orbit, is found to be <4%. Additionally, the achieved pixel yield is 83% and the crosstalk between the pixels is <-30 dB. Conclusions: This demonstrates that MKID technology can provide multiplexing ratios on the order of a 1000 with state-of-the-art single pixel performance, and that the technology is now mature enough to be considered for future space based observatories and experiments.

BICEP2/Keck Array VIII: Measurement of Gravitational Lensing from Large-scale B-mode Polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

BICEP2 Collaboration; Keck Array Collaboration; Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Aikin, R. W.; Alexander, K. D.; Barkats, D.; Benton, S. J.; Bischoff, C. A.; Bock, J. J.; Bowens-Rubin, R.; Brevik, J. A.; Buder, I.; Bullock, E.; Buza, V.; Connors, J.; Crill, B. P.; Duband, L.; Dvorkin, C.; Filippini, J. P.; Fliescher, S.; Grayson, J.; Halpern, M.; Harrison, S.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hilton, G. C.; Hui, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Kang, J.; Karkare, K. S.; Karpel, E.; Kaufman, J. P.; Keating, B. G.; Kefeli, S.; Kernasovskiy, S. A.; Kovac, J. M.; Kuo, C. L.; Leitch, E. M.; Lueker, M.; Megerian, K. G.; Namikawa, T.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nguyen, H. T.; O'Brient, R.; Ogburn, R. W., IV; Orlando, A.; Pryke, C.; Richter, S.; Schwarz, R.; Sheehy, C. D.; Staniszewski, Z. K.; Steinbach, B.; Sudiwala, R. V.; Teply, G. P.; Thompson, K. L.; Tolan, J. E.; Tucker, C.; Turner, A. D.; Vieregg, A. G.; Weber, A. C.; Wiebe, D. V.; Willmert, J.; Wong, C. L.; Wu, W. L. K.; Yoon, K. W.

2016-12-01

We present measurements of polarization lensing using the 150 GHz maps, which include all data taken by the BICEP2 and Keck Array Cosmic Microwave Background polarization experiments up to and including the 2014 observing season (BK14). Despite their modest angular resolution (˜ 0.5°), the excellent sensitivity (˜3μK-arcmin) of these maps makes it possible to directly reconstruct the lensing potential using only information at larger angular scales ({ℓ}≤700). From the auto-spectrum of the reconstructed potential, we measure an amplitude of the spectrum to be ALφ φ=1.15+/- 0.36 (Planck ΛCDM prediction corresponds to ALφ φ =1) and reject the no-lensing hypothesis at 5.8σ , which is the highest significance achieved to date using an EB lensing estimator. Taking the cross-spectrum of the reconstructed potential with the Planck 2015 lensing map yields ALφ φ =1.13+/- 0.20. These direct measurements of ALφ φ are consistent with the ΛCDM cosmology and with that derived from the previously reported BK14 B-mode auto-spectrum (AL{BB}=1.20+/- 0.17). We perform a series of null tests and consistency checks to show that these results are robust against systematics and are insensitive to analysis choices. These results unambiguously demonstrate that the B modes previously reported by BICEP/Keck at intermediate angular scales (150≲ ℓ ≲ 350) are dominated by gravitational lensing. The good agreement between the lensing amplitudes obtained from the lensing reconstruction and B-mode spectrum starts to place constraints on any alternative cosmological sources of B modes at these angular scales.

Caliste 64: detection unit of a spectro imager array for a hard x-ray space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meuris, A.; Limousin, O.; Lugiez, F.; Gevin, O.; Pinsard, F.; Blondel, C.; Le Mer, I.; Delagnes, E.; Vassal, M. C.; Soufflet, F.; Bocage, R.

2008-07-01

In the frame of the hard X-ray Simbol-X observatory, a joint CNES-ASI space mission to be flown in 2014, a prototype of miniature Cd(Zn)Te camera equipped with 64 pixels has been designed. The device, called Caliste 64, is a spectro-imager with high resolution event time-tagging capability. Caliste 64 integrates a Cd(Zn)Te semiconductor detector with segmented electrode and its front-end electronics made of 64 independent analog readout channels. This 1 × 1 × 2 cm3 camera, able to detect photons in the range from 2 keV up to 250 keV, is an elementary detection unit juxtaposable on its four sides. Consequently, large detector array can be made assembling a mosaic of Caliste 64 units. Electronics readout module is achieved by stacking four IDeF-X V1.1 ASICs, perpendicular to the detection plane. We achieved good noise performances, with a mean Equivalent Noise Charge of ~65 electrons rms over the 64 channels. Time resolution is better than 70 ns rms for energy deposits greater than 50 keV, taking into account electronic noise and technological dispersal, which enables to reject background by anticoincidence with very low probability of error. For the first prototypes, we chose CdTe detectors equipped with Al-Ti-Au Schottky barrier contacts because of their very low dark current and excellent spectroscopic performances. So far, three Caliste 64 cameras have been realized and tested. When the crystal is cooled down to -10°C, the sum spectrum built with the 64 pixels of a Caliste 64 sample results in a spectral resolution of 664 eV FWHM at 13.94 keV and 841 eV FWHM at 59.54 keV.

A long baseline RICH with a 27-kiloton water target and radiator for detection of neutrino oscillations

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

Ypsilantis, T.; Seguinot, J.; Zichichi, A.

1997-01-01

A 27 kt water volume is investigated as a target for a long baseline neutrino beam from CERN to Gran Sasso. Charged secondaries from the neutrino interactions produce Cherenkov photons in water which are imaged as rings by a spherical mirror. The photon detector elements are 14 400 photomultipliers (PM`s) of 127 mm diameter or 3600 HPD`s of 250 mm diameter with single photon sensitivity. A coincidence signal of about 300 pixel elements in time with the SPS beam starts readout in bins of 1 ns over a period of 128 ns. Momentum, direction, and velocity of hadrons and muconsmore » are determined from the width, center, and radius of the rings, respectively. Momentum is measured if multiple scattering dominates the ring width, as is the case for most of the particles of interest. Momentum, direction, and velocity of hadrons and muons are determined from the width, center, and radius of the rings, respectively. Momentum is measured if multiple scattering dominates the ring width, as is the case for most of the particles of interest. Momentum resolutions of 1-10%, mass resolutions of 5-50 MeV, and direction resolutions of < 1 mrad are achievable. Thresholds in water for muons, pions, kaons, and protons are 0.12, 0.16, 0.55, and 1.05 GeV/c, respectively. Electrons and gammas can be measured with energy resolution {sigma}{sub E}/E{approx}8.5%/{radical}E(GeV) and with direction resolution {approx} 1 mrad. The detector can be sited either inside a Gran Sasso tunnel or above ground because it is directional and the SPS beam is pulsed; thus the rejection of cosmic ray background is excellent.« less

Women recovering from social rejection: The effect of the person and the situation on a hormonal mechanism of affiliation.

PubMed

Duffy, Korrina A; Harris, Lasana T; Chartrand, Tanya L; Stanton, Steven J

2017-02-01

Rejection can motivate either affiliation or withdrawal. In order to study how personality and situational variables influence whether women will be motivated to affiliate versus withdraw, we manipulate social feedback (rejection vs. acceptance) and opportunity for face-to-face interaction (blocked vs. face-to-face) and measure the individual difference variables rejection sensitivity and social anxiety. We test how these variables affect endogenous progesterone and cortisol concentrations, which are presumed to signal motivational responses to rejection. We find that three-way interactions involving social feedback, opportunity for face-to-face interactions, and either social anxiety or rejection sensitivity significantly predict progesterone change, but not cortisol change. Both interactions are driven by sharp progesterone decreases for women high in social anxiety/rejection sensitivity who have been rejected and who have no opportunity to reaffiliate in a face-to-face interaction. This progesterone change may be a physiological marker of motivation for social avoidance following rejection for women who cannot reaffiliate and who are particularly socially anxious or sensitive to rejection. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

When Rejection by One Fosters Aggression Against Many: Multiple-Victim Aggression as a Consequence of Social Rejection and Perceived Groupness

PubMed Central

Gaertner, Lowell; Iuzzini, Jonathan; O’Mara, Erin M.

2008-01-01

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that social rejection and perceived groupness function together to produce multiple-victim incidents of aggression. When a rejecter’s group membership is salient during an act of rejection, the rejectee ostensibly associates the rejecter’s group with rejection and retaliates against the group. Both experiments manipulated whether an aggregate of three persons appeared as separate individuals or members of an entity-like group and whether one of those persons rejected the participant. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants who experienced both rejection and perceived groupness behaved more aggressively against the aggregate (Experiment 1) and evidenced less favorable affective associations toward the aggregate (Experiment 2) than did participants who did not experience both rejection and perceived groupness. PMID:19079568

Rejection of Bromide and Bromate Ions by a Ceramic Membrane.

PubMed

Moslemi, Mohammadreza; Davies, Simon H; Masten, Susan J

2012-12-01

Effects of pH and the addition of calcium chloride (CaCl(2)) on bromate (BrO(3) (-)) and bromide (Br(-)) rejection by a ceramic membrane were investigated. Rejection of both ions increased with pH. At pH 8, the rejection of BrO(3) (-) and Br(-) was 68% and 63%, respectively. Donnan exclusion appears to play an important role in determining rejection of BrO(3) (-) and Br(-). In the presence of CaCl(2), rejection of BrO(3) (-) and Br(-) ions was greatly reduced, confirming the importance of electrostatic interactions in determining rejection of BrO(3) (-) and Br(-). The effect of Ca(2+) is so pronounced that in most natural waters, rejection of both BrO(3) (-) and Br(-) by the membrane would be extremely small.

Observing the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization with Variable-delay Polarization Modulators for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrington, Kathleen; CLASS Collaboration

2018-01-01

The search for inflationary primordial gravitational waves and the optical depth to reionization, both through their imprint on the large angular scale correlations in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), has created the need for high sensitivity measurements of polarization across large fractions of the sky at millimeter wavelengths. These measurements are subjected to instrumental and atmospheric 1/f noise, which has motivated the development of polarization modulators to facilitate the rejection of these large systematic effects.Variable-delay polarization modulators (VPMs) are used in the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) telescopes as the first element in the optical chain to rapidly modulate the incoming polarization. VPMs consist of a linearly polarizing wire grid in front of a moveable flat mirror; varying the distance between the grid and the mirror produces a changing phase shift between polarization states parallel and perpendicular to the grid which modulates Stokes U (linear polarization at 45°) and Stokes V (circular polarization). The reflective and scalable nature of the VPM enables its placement as the first optical element in a reflecting telescope. This simultaneously allows a lock-in style polarization measurement and the separation of sky polarization from any instrumental polarization farther along in the optical chain.The Q-Band CLASS VPM was the first VPM to begin observing the CMB full time in 2016. I will be presenting its design and characterization as well as demonstrating how modulating polarization significantly rejects atmospheric and instrumental long time scale noise.

Impact of long-pass interferential filters on dark current and background light rejection in Silicon Photomultipliers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzillo, M.; Sciuto, A.; Libertino, S.; Lombardo, S.; Fallica, G.

2018-02-01

There is an increasing interest in using Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) in emerging applications where the detectors have to operate in ambient environment with high sensitivity and fast timing response in combination with narrow bandwidth light emitting sources like LEDs or VCSELs. The need to use large area detectors for optimizing the light collection efficiency, due to the low optical fluxes to be usually detected, imposes the optimization of the SiPM performance in specific wavelength ranges (usually visible or near infrared), to fully exploit the single photon sensitivity of these detectors and not to reduce at the same time their dynamic range. The use of proper optical long-pass filters on the detector's package can represent a suitable way to reach both these targets, through the reduction of environmental light absorption. Here we present the preliminary results obtained from the characterization of n+-p SiPMs with commercial long-pass filters with increasing cut-on wavelength in the range 500 nm-900 nm glued on the top side of the detector's package. The performance of the detectors has been evaluated in terms of dark current variation induced by the use of the filters and background light rejection under the illumination of white fluorescent lamps. The relevant reduction observed in the dark current (up to 90% at 13 V overvoltage) and the consistent reduction of stray light absorption (up to 90% at 3 V overvoltage with a 900 nm cut-on wavelength long-pass filter) are the main characterization results obtained and shown in this paper.

Tunable rejection filters with ultra-wideband using zeroth shear mode plate wave resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadota, Michio; Sannomiya, Toshio; Tanaka, Shuji

2017-07-01

This paper reports wide band rejection filters and tunable rejection filters using ultra-wideband zeroth shear mode (SH0) plate wave resonators. The frequency range covers the digital TV band in Japan that runs from 470 to 710 MHz. This range has been chosen to meet the TV white space cognitive radio requirements of rejection filters. Wide rejection bands were obtained using several resonators with different frequencies. Tunable rejection filters were demonstrated using Si diodes connected to the band rejection filters. Wide tunable ranges as high as 31% were measured by applying a DC voltage to the Si diodes.

Peer acceptance and rejection through the eyes of youth: pupillary, eyetracking and ecological data from the Chatroom Interact task

PubMed Central

Stroud, Laura R.; Siegle, Greg J.; Dahl, Ronald E.; Lee, Kyung Hwa; Nelson, Eric E.

2012-01-01

We developed an ecologically valid virtual peer interaction paradigm—the Chatroom Interact Task in which 60 pre-adolescents and adolescents (ages 9–17 years) were led to believe that they were interacting with other youth in a simulated internet chatroom. Youth received rejection and acceptance feedback from virtual peers. Findings revealed increased pupil dilation, an index of increased activity in cognitive and affective processing regions of the brain, to rejection compared to acceptance trials, which was greater for older youth. Data from a cell-phone Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol completed following the task indicated that increased pupillary reactivity to rejection trials was associated with lower feelings of social connectedness with peers in daily life. Eyetracking analyses revealed attentional biases toward acceptance feedback and away from rejection feedback. Biases toward acceptance feedback were stronger for older youth. Avoidance of rejection feedback was strongest among youth with increased pupillary reactivity to rejection, even in the seconds leading up to and following rejection feedback. These findings suggest that adolescents are sensitive to rejection feedback and seek to anticipate and avoid attending to rejection stimuli. Furthermore, the salience of social rejection and acceptance feedback appears to increase during adolescence. PMID:21775386

What Protects Rejected Adolescents from Also Being Bullied by Their Peers? The Moderating Role of Peer-Valued Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knack, Jennifer M.; Tsar, Vasilinka; Vaillancourt, Tracy; Hymel, Shelley; McDougall, Patricia

2012-01-01

Adolescents rejected by peers are often targets of bullying. However, peer rejection is not a sure path to victimization. We examined whether characteristics valued by peers (i.e., attractiveness, wealth, academic, and athletic ability) moderated the relationship between peer rejection and victimization. We predicted rejected adolescents high on…

Separation of organic cations using novel background electrolytes by capillary electrophoresis

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

Steiner, S.; Fritz, J.

2008-02-12

A background electrolyte for capillary electrophoresis containing tris(-hydroxymethyl) aminomethane (THAM) and ethanesulfonic acid (ESA) gives excellent efficiency for separation of drug cations with actual theoretical plate numbers as high as 300,000. However, the analyte cations often elute too quickly and consequently offer only a narrow window for separation. The best way to correct this is to induce a reverse electroosmotic flow (EOF) that will spread out the peaks by slowing their migration rates, but this has always been difficult to accomplish in a controlled manner. A new method for producing a variable EOF is described in which a low variablemore » concentration of tributylammonium- or triethylammonium ESA is added to the BGE. The additive equilibrates with the capillary wall to give it a positive charge and thereby produce a controlled opposing EOF. Excellent separations of complex drug mixtures were obtained by this method.« less

Prevalence and characteristics of foal rejection in Arabian mares.

PubMed

Juarbe-Díaz, S V; Houpt, K A; Kusunose, R

1998-09-01

Separate surveys of Thoroughbred, Paint, and Arabian mare owners revealed a higher than expected rate of foal rejection in Arabian mares. A behavioural history form was submitted by owners of foal rejecting and nonrejecting Arabian mares, and maternal behaviour and management practices compared. Four generation pedigrees of rejecting and nonrejecting Arabian mares were also examined. Foal rejecting mares were more likely to avoid, threaten, squeal at, chase, bite, and kick their foals post partum than nonrejecting mares. Nonrejecting mares were more likely to lick, nicker and defend their foals post partum than rejecting mares. No statistically significant relationship was found between foal rejection and the type of breeding method (natural vs. artificial insemination), the presence of people at birth, the presence of nearby horses at birth, or assistance of the first nursing bout. The presence at least once of 1 of 2 related sires was statistically higher in the pedigrees of rejecting vs. nonrejecting mares. Inherited and learned or environmental factors are likely to affect the expression of foal rejection behaviour.

Individual differences in the rejection-aggression link in the hot sauce paradigm: The case of Rejection Sensitivity

PubMed Central

Ayduk, Özlem; Gyurak, Anett; Luerssen, Anna

2008-01-01

Prior research shows that social rejection elicits aggression. In this study, we investigated whether this is moderated by individual differences in Rejection Sensitivity (RS) – a processing disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive and overreact to rejection. Participants (N = 129) took part in a purported web-based social interaction in which they were either rejected or not by a potential partner. Subsequently, they were given the opportunity to allocate hot sauce to the perpetrator, knowing that he/she disliked spicy food. Amount of hot sauce was used as a behavioral index of aggression. Participants in the rejection condition allocated more hot sauce to the perpetrator than those in the control condition. However, RS moderated this effect such that rejection elicited aggression in high but not in low RS people. These results held after controlling for trait neuroticism. Implications of these findings for understanding how and why rejection elicits aggression are discussed. PMID:20228947

Background simulations for the wide field imager aboard the ATHENA X-ray Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauf, Steffen; Kuster, Markus; Hoffmann, Dieter H. H.; Lang, Philipp-Michael; Neff, Stephan; Pia, Maria Grazia; Strüder, Lothar

2012-09-01

The ATHENA X-ray observatory was a European Space Agency project for a L-class mission. ATHENA was to be based upon a simplified IXO design with the number of instruments and the focal length of the Wolter optics being reduced. One of the two instruments, the Wide Field Imager (WFI) was to be a DePFET based focal plane pixel detector, allowing for high time and spatial resolution spectroscopy in the energy-range between 0.1 and 15 keV. In order to fulfill the mission goals a high sensitivity is essential, especially to study faint and extended sources. Thus a detailed understanding of the detector background induced by cosmic ray particles is crucial. During the mission design generally extensive Monte-Carlo simulations are used to estimate the detector background in order to optimize shielding components and software rejection algorithms. The Geant4 toolkit1,2 is frequently the tool of choice for this purpose. Alongside validation of the simulation environment with XMM-Newton EPIC-pn and Space Shuttle STS-53 data we present estimates for the ATHENA WFI cosmic ray induced background including long-term activation, which demonstrate that DEPFET-technology based detectors are able to achieve the required sensitivity.

Bronson Methodist Hospital: journey to excellence in quality and safety.

PubMed

Knapp, Cheryl

2006-10-01

Bronson Healthcare Group, a 343-bed not-for-profit health care system serving all of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, has as its flagship Bronson Methodist Hospital, the recipient of the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige criteria were used to formalize Bronson's approach to performance excellence. The strategic plan is condensed and communicated via a "Plan for Excellence" focused on three strategies: clinical excellence, customer and service excellence, and corporate effectiveness. Initiatives include clinical scene investigation (a system for reporting and investigating sentinel and atypical events), a strategy for educating staff in the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendations (SBAR) communication technique, and mandatory influenza immunization for health care staff (safety), patient health literacy needs and a health information center (patient centeredness); methods to reduce bloodstream and ventilator-acquired pneumonia infections (effectiveness); a physician portal for access to forms, test results, and patient information (efficiency); restaurant-style pagers for patients and families while waiting (timeliness); and community outreach (equity). Bronson's journey to excellence continues with more accountability for hand-off communication and teamwork, enhancing a non-punitive environment for patient safety reporting, and further incorporating patient and family involvement.

A novel gravity-driven nanofibrous membrane for point-of-use water disinfection: polydopamine-induced in situ silver incorporation.

PubMed

Wang, Jianqiang; Wu, Yichao; Yang, Zhe; Guo, Hao; Cao, Bin; Tang, Chuyang Y

2017-05-24

We report a facile method for preparing silver-loaded membranes for point-of-use disinfection and disaster relief applications. A bio-inspired material, polydopamine, was coated onto a highly porous nanofibrous polyacrylonitrile substrate. We then take advantage of the redox properties of polydopamine to form silver nanoparticles in situ. These nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on the surface of nanofibers with no apparent agglomeration at a silver loading up to 4.36 wt.% (cPAN-Ag1.5). The silver-incorporated membrane cPAN-Ag1.5 achieved a high pure water flux of 130 Lm -2 h -1 at 10-cm water head, demonstrating the feasibility of energy-efficient gravity-driven filtration and eliminating the need for electrical power. The strong anti-bacterial activity and high physical rejection of the membrane led to an excellent disinfection power, with no viable bacterial cells detected in its permeate water. The membrane exhibited >7 log reduction for E. coli and >6 log reduction for B. subtilis. The strategy reported here provides an efficient and green route to synthesize point-of-use membranes. Combining their excellent permeability and disinfection effectiveness, these membranes offer an ideal solution to water supply in disaster-affected areas.

High flux filtration medium based on nanofibrous substrate with hydrophilic nanocomposite coating.

PubMed

Wang, Xuefen; Chen, Xuming; Yoon, Kyunghwan; Fang, Dufei; Hsiao, Benjamin S; Chu, Benjamin

2005-10-01

A novel high flux filtration medium, consisting of a three-tier composite structure, i.e., a nonporous hydrophilic nanocomposite coating top layer, an electrospun nanofibrous substrate midlayer, and a conventional nonwoven microfibrous support, was demonstrated for oil/water emulsion separations for the first time. The nanofibrous substrate was prepared by electrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) followed by chemical cross-linking with glutaraldehyde (GA) in acetone. The resulting cross-linked PVA substrates showed excellent water resistance and good mechanical properties. The top coating was based on a nanocomposite layer containing hydrophilic polyether-b-polyamide copolymer or a cross-linked PVA hydrogel incorporated with surface-oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examinations indicated that the nanocomposite layer was nonporous within the instrumental resolution and MWNTs were well dispersed in the polymer matrix. Oil/ water emulsion tests showed that this unique type of filtration media exhibited a high flux rate (up to 330 L/m2-h at the feed pressure of 100 psi) and an excellent total organic solute rejection rate (99.8%) without appreciable fouling. The increase in the concentration of surface-oxidized MWNT in the coating layer generally improves the flux rate, which can be attributed to the generation of more effective hydrophilic nanochannels for water passage in the composite membranes.

Physical cryptographic verification of nuclear warheads

PubMed Central

Kemp, R. Scott; Danagoulian, Areg; Macdonald, Ruaridh R.; Vavrek, Jayson R.

2016-01-01

How does one prove a claim about a highly sensitive object such as a nuclear weapon without revealing information about the object? This paradox has challenged nuclear arms control for more than five decades. We present a mechanism in the form of an interactive proof system that can validate the structure and composition of an object, such as a nuclear warhead, to arbitrary precision without revealing either its structure or composition. We introduce a tomographic method that simultaneously resolves both the geometric and isotopic makeup of an object. We also introduce a method of protecting information using a provably secure cryptographic hash that does not rely on electronics or software. These techniques, when combined with a suitable protocol, constitute an interactive proof system that could reject hoax items and clear authentic warheads with excellent sensitivity in reasonably short measurement times. PMID:27432959

Thin film system with integrated load and temperature sensors for the technical application in deep drawing process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biehl, Saskia; Paetsch, Nancy; Meyer-Kornblum, Eike

2017-05-01

In these days industry 4.0 resounded throughout the land and means the fourth industrial revolution. The industry has to tackle the task of a flexible and customer-oriented production. Therefor the need of sensor systems for the measurement of temperature and load, the two most important categories in production, is rising. For getting the real specification during the production process the integration of sensor elements in high load regions of machinery is very important. Thus wear resistant thin film sensor systems directly applied onto the surface of plant components are in development. These multilayer systems combine excellent wear resistance with sensory behaviour. The sensor data will lead to a deeper process understanding, to optimization of simulation tools, to reduction of rejects and to an improvement of flexibility in production.

Radial velocity confirmation of Kepler-91 b. Additional evidence of its planetary nature using the Calar Alto/CAFE instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lillo-Box, J.; Barrado, D.; Henning, Th.; Mancini, L.; Ciceri, S.; Figueira, P.; Santos, N. C.; Aceituno, J.; Sánchez, S. F.

2014-08-01

The object transiting the star Kepler-91 was recently assessed as being of planetary nature. The confirmation was achieved by analysing the light-curve modulations observed in the Kepler data. However, quasi-simultaneous studies claimed a self-luminous nature for this object, thus rejecting it as a planet. In this work, we apply anindependent approach to confirm the planetary mass of Kepler-91b by using multi-epoch high-resolution spectroscopy obtained with the Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph (CAFE). We obtain the physical and orbital parameters with the radial velocity technique. In particular, we derive a value of 1.09 ± 0.20 MJup for the mass of Kepler-91b, in excellent agreement with our previous estimate that was based on the orbital brightness modulation.

Accuracy of indocyanine green pulse spectrophotometry clearance test for liver function prediction in transplanted patients

PubMed Central

Hsieh, Chung-Bao; Chen, Chung-Jueng; Chen, Teng-Wei; Yu, Jyh-Cherng; Shen, Kuo-Liang; Chang, Tzu-Ming; Liu, Yao-Chi

2004-01-01

AIM: To investigate whether the non-invasive real-time Indocynine green (ICG) clearance is a sensitive index of liver viability in patients before, during, and after liver transplantation. METHODS: Thirteen patients were studied, two before, three during, and eight following liver transplantation, with two patients suffering acute rejection. The conventional invasive ICG clearance test and ICG pulse spectrophotometry non-invasive real-time ICG clearance test were performed simultaneously. Using linear regression analysis we tested the correlation between these two methods. The transplantation condition of these patients and serum total bilirubin (T. Bil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and platelet count were also evaluated. RESULTS: The correlation between these two methods was excellent (r2 = 0.977). CONCLUSION: ICG pulse spectrophotometry clearance is a quick, non-invasive, and reliable liver function test in transplantation patients. PMID:15285026

Physical cryptographic verification of nuclear warheads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kemp, R. Scott; Danagoulian, Areg; Macdonald, Ruaridh R.; Vavrek, Jayson R.

2016-08-01

How does one prove a claim about a highly sensitive object such as a nuclear weapon without revealing information about the object? This paradox has challenged nuclear arms control for more than five decades. We present a mechanism in the form of an interactive proof system that can validate the structure and composition of an object, such as a nuclear warhead, to arbitrary precision without revealing either its structure or composition. We introduce a tomographic method that simultaneously resolves both the geometric and isotopic makeup of an object. We also introduce a method of protecting information using a provably secure cryptographic hash that does not rely on electronics or software. These techniques, when combined with a suitable protocol, constitute an interactive proof system that could reject hoax items and clear authentic warheads with excellent sensitivity in reasonably short measurement times.

Physical cryptographic verification of nuclear warheads.

PubMed

Kemp, R Scott; Danagoulian, Areg; Macdonald, Ruaridh R; Vavrek, Jayson R

2016-08-02

How does one prove a claim about a highly sensitive object such as a nuclear weapon without revealing information about the object? This paradox has challenged nuclear arms control for more than five decades. We present a mechanism in the form of an interactive proof system that can validate the structure and composition of an object, such as a nuclear warhead, to arbitrary precision without revealing either its structure or composition. We introduce a tomographic method that simultaneously resolves both the geometric and isotopic makeup of an object. We also introduce a method of protecting information using a provably secure cryptographic hash that does not rely on electronics or software. These techniques, when combined with a suitable protocol, constitute an interactive proof system that could reject hoax items and clear authentic warheads with excellent sensitivity in reasonably short measurement times.

Understanding maladaptive responses to rejection: Aggression with an audience.

PubMed

DeBono, Amber; Layton, Rebekah L; Freeman, Nicholas; Muraven, Mark

2017-01-01

Logically, responding aggressively to rejection is maladaptive because one is unlikely to seek a relationship with an aggressor. We predict that when concealed, the illogical aggressive response to rejection is more likely, whereas when the rejected individuals' aggressive responses are perceived as public, the aggressive acts may be reduced. Participants were rejected by others (Experiment 1) or were either accepted or rejected during an online ball-tossing game (Experiment 2) and were then given an opportunity to aggress publicly or privately. Across experiments, when the opportunity to aggress was made public, rejected participants exhibited less aggressive behavior. When concerned about the perception of their public aggressive responses by others, rejected individuals' aggressive responses diminished compared with those whose actions were private. Crucially, this extended to aggression visible only to neutral others, suggesting that effects cannot solely be due to fear of retribution.

Rejection of Bromide and Bromate Ions by a Ceramic Membrane

PubMed Central

Moslemi, Mohammadreza; Davies, Simon H.; Masten, Susan J.

2012-01-01

Abstract Effects of pH and the addition of calcium chloride (CaCl2) on bromate (BrO3−) and bromide (Br−) rejection by a ceramic membrane were investigated. Rejection of both ions increased with pH. At pH 8, the rejection of BrO3− and Br− was 68% and 63%, respectively. Donnan exclusion appears to play an important role in determining rejection of BrO3− and Br−. In the presence of CaCl2, rejection of BrO3− and Br− ions was greatly reduced, confirming the importance of electrostatic interactions in determining rejection of BrO3− and Br−. The effect of Ca2+ is so pronounced that in most natural waters, rejection of both BrO3− and Br− by the membrane would be extremely small. PMID:23236251

Loss of CD28 on Peripheral T Cells Decreases the Risk for Early Acute Rejection after Kidney Transplantation

PubMed Central

Dedeoglu, Burç; Meijers, Ruud W. J.; Klepper, Mariska; Hesselink, Dennis A.; Baan, Carla C.; Litjens, Nicolle H. R.; Betjes, Michiel G. H.

2016-01-01

Background End-stage renal disease patients have a dysfunctional, prematurely aged peripheral T-cell system. Here we hypothesized that the degree of premature T-cell ageing before kidney transplantation predicts the risk for early acute allograft rejection (EAR). Methods 222 living donor kidney transplant recipients were prospectively analyzed. EAR was defined as biopsy proven acute allograft rejection within 3 months after kidney transplantation. The differentiation status of circulating T cells, the relative telomere length and the number of CD31+ naive T cells were determined as T-cell ageing parameters. Results Of the 222 patients analyzed, 30 (14%) developed an EAR. The donor age and the historical panel reactive antibody score were significantly higher (p = 0.024 and p = 0.039 respectively) and the number of related donor kidney transplantation was significantly lower (p = 0.018) in the EAR group. EAR-patients showed lower CD4+CD28null T-cell numbers (p<0.01) and the same trend was observed for CD8+CD28null T-cell numbers (p = 0.08). No differences regarding the other ageing parameters were found. A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that higher CD4+CD28null T-cell numbers was associated with a lower risk for EAR (HR: 0.65, p = 0.028). In vitro, a significant lower percentage of alloreactive T cells was observed within CD28null T cells (p<0.001). Conclusion Immunological ageing-related expansion of highly differentiated CD28null T cells is associated with a lower risk for EAR. PMID:26950734

LVAD Implant as a Bridge to Heart Transplantation is Associated with Allosensitization as Measured by Single Antigen Bead Assay

PubMed Central

Shankar, Nisha; Daly, Richard; Geske, Jennifer; Kushwaha, Sudhir K; Timmons, Michael; Joyce, Lyle; Stulak, John; Gandhi, Manish; Kremers, Walter; Park, Soon; Pereira, Naveen L

2013-01-01

Background Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) as a bridge (BTT) to heart transplantation (HTX) may be limited by the formation of anti-HLA antibodies. Whether sensitization occurs with continuous axial flow LVAD implant as assessed by Single Antigen Bead (SAB) assay is unknown. Methods Cytotoxic panel reactive antibody (PRA) and SAB assays were analyzed in HTX recipients undergoing LVAD implant as a BTT. Sensitization was defined as peak anti-HLA antibody values of >2000 mean fluorescent intensity as these values have been found to correlate with flow cytometric crossmatch results. Results LVADs were implanted as BTT in 30 patients. There were 7% (2/30) of patients prior to and no patients after LVAD implant with PRA >10%. However, 20% (6/30) of patients prior to and 53% (16/30) after LVAD were sensitized as measured by SAB (p=0.024). At HTX, 47% (14/30) of patients remained sensitized. A positive virtual crossmatch was observed in 28% (4/14) of the sensitized patients at HTX. There was no difference between the sensitized and non-sensitized groups (p>0.4 for all) in usage of blood products (64 11 vs. 63 39 units), time to HTX (286 63 vs. 257 48 days) and 1 year after HTX, there were no differences in rejection (total rejection score 0.30 vs. 0.37) and survival (93% vs. 88%). Conclusion Allosensitization after LVAD is common despite cytotoxic PRA being negative. One year after HTX, this sensitization does not translate into increased acute cellular or antibody mediated rejection or reduced survival. PMID:23743727

Prediction of heart transplant rejection with a breath test for markers of oxidative stress.

PubMed

Phillips, Michael; Boehmer, John P; Cataneo, Renee N; Cheema, Taseer; Eisen, Howard J; Fallon, John T; Fisher, Peter E; Gass, Alan; Greenberg, Joel; Kobashigawa, Jon; Mancini, Donna; Rayburn, Barry; Zucker, Mark J

2004-12-15

The Heart Allograft Rejection: Detection with Breath Alkanes in Low Levels study evaluated a breath test for oxidative stress in heart transplant recipients, and we report here a mathematical model predicting the probability of grade 3 rejection. The breath test divided the heart transplant recipients into 3 groups: positive for grade 3 rejection, negative for grade 3 rejection, and intermediate. The test was 100% sensitive for grade 3 heart transplant rejection when the p value was >/=0.98, and 100% specific when the p value was

Different recognition cues reveal the decision rules used for egg rejection by hosts of a variably mimetic avian brood parasite.

PubMed

de la Colina, M Alicia; Pompilio, Lorena; Hauber, Mark E; Reboreda, Juan C; Mahler, Bettina

2012-09-01

Brood parasitism imposes several fitness costs on the host species. To reduce these costs, hosts of avian brood parasites have evolved various defenses, of which egg rejection is the most prevalent. In the face of variable host-parasite mimicry and the costs of egg discrimination itself, many hosts reject only some foreign eggs. Here, we experimentally varied the recognition cues to study the underlying cognitive mechanisms used by the Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) to reject the white immaculate eggs laid by the parasitic Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). Immaculate eggs are the only parasite eggs rejected by this host, as it accepts all polymorphic, spotted eggs laid by cowbirds. Using a within-breeding pair experimental design, we tested for the salience of spotting, UV reflectance, and brightness in eliciting rejection. We found that the presence of spotting significantly decreased the probability of rejection while increments in brightness significantly increased rejection frequencies. The cognitive rules underlying mockingbird rejection behavior can be explained by a decision-making model which predicts changes in the levels of rejection in direct relation to the number of relevant attributes shared between host and parasite eggs.

Prefrontal Recruitment During Social Rejection Predicts Greater Subsequent Self-Regulatory Imbalance and Impairment: Neural and Longitudinal Evidence

PubMed Central

Chester, David S.; DeWall, C. Nathan

2014-01-01

Social rejection impairs self-regulation, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. The right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) facilitates self-regulation and plays a robust role in regulating the distress of social rejection. However, recruiting this region’s inhibitory function during social rejection may come at a self-regulatory cost. As supported by prominent theories of self-regulation, we hypothesized that greater rVLPFC recruitment during rejection would predict a subsequent self-regulatory imbalance that favored reflexive impulses (i.e., cravings), which would then impair self-regulation. Supporting our hypotheses, rVLPFC activation during social rejection was associated with greater subsequent nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation and lesser functional connectivity between the NAcc and rVLPFC to appetitive cues. Over seven days, the effect of daily felt rejection on daily self-regulatory impairment was exacerbated among participants who showed a stronger rVLPFC response to social rejection. This interactive effect was mirrored in the effect of daily felt rejection on heightened daily alcohol cravings. Our findings suggest that social rejection likely impairs self-regulation by recruiting the rVLPFC, which then tips the regulatory balance towards reward-based impulses. PMID:25094019

Prefrontal recruitment during social rejection predicts greater subsequent self-regulatory imbalance and impairment: neural and longitudinal evidence.

PubMed

Chester, David S; DeWall, C Nathan

2014-11-01

Social rejection impairs self-regulation, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. The right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) facilitates self-regulation and plays a robust role in regulating the distress of social rejection. However, recruiting this region's inhibitory function during social rejection may come at a self-regulatory cost. As supported by prominent theories of self-regulation, we hypothesized that greater rVLPFC recruitment during rejection would predict a subsequent self-regulatory imbalance that favored reflexive impulses (i.e., cravings), which would then impair self-regulation. Supporting our hypotheses, rVLPFC activation during social rejection was associated with greater subsequent nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation and lesser functional connectivity between the NAcc and rVLPFC to appetitive cues. Over seven days, the effect of daily felt rejection on daily self-regulatory impairment was exacerbated among participants who showed a stronger rVLPFC response to social rejection. This interactive effect was mirrored in the effect of daily felt rejection on heightened daily alcohol cravings. Our findings suggest that social rejection likely impairs self-regulation by recruiting the rVLPFC, which then tips the regulatory balance towards reward-based impulses. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Urine protein profiling identified alpha-1-microglobulin and haptoglobin as biomarkers for early diagnosis of acute allograft rejection following kidney transplantation.

PubMed

Stubendorff, Beatrice; Finke, Stephanie; Walter, Martina; Kniemeyer, Olaf; von Eggeling, Ferdinand; Gruschwitz, Torsten; Steiner, Thomas; Ott, Undine; Wolf, Gunter; Wunderlich, Heiko; Junker, Kerstin

2014-12-01

Early diagnosis of acute rejection and effective immunosuppressive therapy lead to improvement in graft survival following kidney transplantation. In this study, we aimed to establish a urinary protein profile suitable to distinguish between patients with rejection and stable graft function and to predict acute rejection based on postoperatively collected urine samples. A further objective was to identify candidate proteins for the use as biomarkers in clinical practice. Urine samples of 116 kidney recipients were included. Rejection was proven by biopsy (n = 58), and stable transplant function was monitored for at least 2 years (n = 58). Postoperative urine samples were collected between 3rd and 10th day following transplantation. Urinary protein profiles were obtained by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Protein identification and validation were performed using multiplex fluorescence 2DE, peptide mass fingerprinting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A protein profile including four mass peaks differentiated acute rejection from stable transplants at the time point of rejection and at the postoperative state with 73 % sensitivity and 88 % specificity. Alpha-1-microglobulin (A1MG) and Haptoglobin (Hp) were identified as putative rejection biomarkers. Protein levels were significantly higher in postoperative urine from patients with rejection (A1MG 29.13 vs. 22.06 μg/ml, p = 0.001; Hp 628.34 vs. 248.57 ng/ml, p = 0.003). The combination of both proteins enabled the diagnosis of early rejection with 85 % sensitivity and 80 % specificity. Protein profiling using mass spectrometry is suitable for noninvasive detection of rejection-specific changes following kidney transplantation. A specific protein profile enables the prediction of early acute allograft rejection in the immediate postoperative period. A1MG and Hp appear to be reliable rejection biomarkers.

RNaseI from Escherichia coli cannot substitute for S-RNase in rejection of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia pollen.

PubMed

Beecher, B; Murfett, J; McClure, B A

1998-03-01

Unilateral incompatibility often occurs between self-incompatible (SI) species and their self-compatible (SC) relatives. For example, SI Nicotiana alata rejects pollen from SC N. plumbaginifolia, but the reciprocal pollination is compatible. This interspecific pollen rejection system closely resembles intraspecific S-allele-specific pollen rejection. However, the two systems differ in degree of specificity. In SI, rejection is S-allele-specific, meaning that only a single S-RNase causes rejection of pollen with a specific S genotype. Rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen is less specific, occurring in response to almost any S-RNase. Here, we have tested whether a non-S-RNase can cause rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen. The Escherichia coli rna gene encoding RNAseI was engineered for expression in transgenic (N. plumbaginifolia x SC N. alata) hybrids. Expression levels and pollination behavior of hybrids expressing E. coli RNaseI were compared to controls expressing SA2-RNase from N. alata. Immunoblot analysis and RNase activity assays showed that RNaseI and SA2-RNase were expressed at comparable levels. However, expression of SA2-RNase caused rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen, whereas expression of RNaseI did not. Thus, in this system, RNase activity alone is not sufficient for rejection of N. plumbaginifolia pollen. The results suggest that S-RNases may be specially adapted to function in pollen rejection.

Interactions Between Rejection Sensitivity and Supportive Relationships in the Prediction of Adolescents’ Internalizing Difficulties

PubMed Central

Bowker, Julie C.; Rubin, Kenneth H.; Laursen, Brett; Duchene, Melissa S.

2013-01-01

Rejection sensitivity, the tendency to anxiously or angrily expect rejection, is associated with internalizing difficulties during childhood and adolescence. The primary goal of the present study was to examine whether supportive parent–child relationships and friendships moderate associations that link angry and anxious rejection sensitivity to depression and social anxiety during middle adolescence in an ethnically diverse sample of 277 youth (M age = 14.30 years; 46.93% male). Analyses revealed that angry rejection sensitivity was related to depressive symptoms, but only for adolescents reporting low support from parents and friends. Friend support moderated the association between (1) angry rejection sensitivity and social anxiety, and (2) anxious rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms. For adolescents reporting low support from friends, support from parents was positively related to social anxiety. Findings highlight the importance of considering relationships in studies of rejection sensitivity and adjustment during adolescence. PMID:20213482

Graphing techniques for materials laboratory using Excel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kundu, Nikhil K.

1994-01-01

Engineering technology curricula stress hands on training and laboratory practices in most of the technical courses. Laboratory reports should include analytical as well as graphical evaluation of experimental data. Experience shows that many students neither have the mathematical background nor the expertise for graphing. This paper briefly describes the procedure and data obtained from a number of experiments such as spring rate, stress concentration, endurance limit, and column buckling for a variety of materials. Then with a brief introduction to Microsoft Excel the author explains the techniques used for linear regression and logarithmic graphing.

Improved detection and false alarm rejection for chemical vapors using passive hyperspectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinelli, William J.; Miyashiro, Rex; Gittins, Christopher M.; Konno, Daisei; Chang, Shing; Farr, Matt; Perkins, Brad

2013-05-01

Two AIRIS sensors were tested at Dugway Proving Grounds against chemical agent vapor simulants. The primary objectives of the test were to: 1) assess performance of algorithm improvements designed to reduce false alarm rates with a special emphasis on solar effects, and 3) evaluate performance in target detection at 5 km. The tests included 66 total releases comprising alternating 120 kg glacial acetic acid (GAA) and 60 kg triethyl phosphate (TEP) events. The AIRIS sensors had common algorithms, detection thresholds, and sensor parameters. The sensors used the target set defined for the Joint Service Lightweight Chemical Agent Detector (JSLSCAD) with TEP substituted for GA and GAA substituted for VX. They were exercised at two sites located at either 3 km or 5 km from the release point. Data from the tests will be presented showing that: 1) excellent detection capability was obtained at both ranges with significantly shorter alarm times at 5 km, 2) inter-sensor comparison revealed very comparable performance, 3) false alarm rates < 1 incident per 10 hours running time over 143 hours of sensor operations were achieved, 4) algorithm improvements eliminated both solar and cloud false alarms. The algorithms enabling the improved false alarm rejection will be discussed. The sensor technology has recently been extended to address the problem of detection of liquid and solid chemical agents and toxic industrial chemical on surfaces. The phenomenology and applicability of passive infrared hyperspectral imaging to this problem will be discussed and demonstrated.

Fractionation and Concentration of High-Salinity Textile Wastewater using an Ultra-Permeable Sulfonated Thin-film Composite.

PubMed

Li, Meng; Yao, Yujian; Zhang, Wen; Zheng, Junfeng; Zhang, Xuan; Wang, Lianjun

2017-08-15

A sulfonated thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membrane was fabricated using 2,2'-benzidinedisulfonic acid (BDSA) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on a polyether sulfone substrate by conventional interfacial polymerization. Due to a nascent barrier layer with a loose architecture, the obtained TFC-BDSA-0.2 membrane showed an ultrahigh pure water permeability of 48.1 ± 2.1 L -1 m -2 h -1 bar -1 , and a considerably low NaCl retention ability of <1.8% over a concentration range of 10-100 g L -1 . The membrane, which possesses a negatively charged surface, displayed an excellent rejection of over 99% toward Congo red (CR) and allowed the fast fractionation of high-salinity textile wastewater. The prepared membrane required only 3-fold water addition to accomplish the separation of multiple components, whereas the commercial NF270 (Dow) membrane required 4-fold water addition and almost double the length of time. Furthermore, the TFC-BDSA-0.2 membrane was subsequently tested for the dye concentration process. It maintained a high flux of 8.2 L -1 m -2 h -1 bar -1 and a negligible dye loss, even when the concentration factor reached ∼10. Finally, by using a 20% alcohol solution as a back-washing medium, a flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 95.6% was achieved with TFC-BDSA-0.2, and the CR rejection ability remained the same. These results prove the outstanding antifouling and solvent-resistant properties of the membrane.

Relationship Among Viremia/Viral Infection, Alloimmunity, and Nutritional Parameters in the First Year After Pediatric Kidney Transplantation.

PubMed

Ettenger, R; Chin, H; Kesler, K; Bridges, N; Grimm, P; Reed, E F; Sarwal, M; Sibley, R; Tsai, E; Warshaw, B; Kirk, A D

2017-06-01

The Immune Development in Pediatric Transplantation (IMPACT) study was conducted to evaluate relationships among alloimmunity, protective immunity, immune development, physical parameters, and clinical outcome in children undergoing kidney transplantation. We prospectively evaluated biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR), de novo donor-specific antibody (dnDSA) formation, viremia, viral infection, T cell immunophenotyping, and body mass index (BMI)/weight Z scores in the first year posttransplantation in 106 pediatric kidney transplant recipients. Outcomes were excellent with no deaths and 98% graft survival. Rejection and dnDSAs occurred in 24% and 22%, respectively. Pretransplant cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) serologies and subsequent viremia were unrelated to BPAR or dnDSA. Viremia occurred in 73% of children (EBV, 34%; CMV, 23%; BMK viremia, 23%; and JC virus, 21%). Memory lymphocyte phenotype at baseline was not predictive of alloimmune complications. Patients who developed viral infection had lower weight (-2.1) (p = 0.028) and BMI (-1.2) (p = 0.048) Z scores at transplantation. The weight difference persisted to 12 months compared with patients without infection (p = 0.038). These data indicate that there is a high prevalence of viral disease after pediatric kidney transplantation, and underweight status at transplantation appears to be a risk factor for subsequent viral infection. The occurrence of viremia/viral infection is not associated with alloimmune events. © 2016 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Desensitization with plasmapheresis and anti-Cd20 for ABO incompatible kidney transplantation from living donor: experience of a single center in Italy.

PubMed

Silvestre, C; Furian, L; Marson, P; Tison, T; Valente, M; Marchini, F; Rossi, B; Bonfante, L; Valerio, F; Cozzi, E; Rigotti, P

2014-09-01

Blood group incompatibility in kidney transplants from a living donor can be successfully overcome by using various desensitization protocols: intravenous immunoglobulin, plasmapheresis (PP), immunoadsorption, and double filtration PP. From July 2010 to October 2013, we performed 10 ABO incompatible kidney transplantation (KT) procedures from a living donor. The desensitization protocol was based on rituximab and PP+cytomegalovirus immune globulin. All patients received induction with basiliximab, except 1 case treated with Thymoglobuline® (ATG) for the simultaneous presence of donor-specific antibody. Tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil were initiated at the time of desensitization and continued after the transplant. After a mean follow-up of 11.6±10.4 months, all patients are alive with a functioning graft. The mean serum creatinine concentration at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year was 1.48±0.29, 1.47±0.18, 1.47±0.27, and 1.5±0.27 mg/dl. Three episodes of acute cellular rejection occurred in 2 patients. There was only 1 case of BK virus infection, treated with reduction of immunosuppressive therapy. The protocol biopsy specimens at 1, 3, and 6 months were C4d positive in the absence of acute rejection. Desensitization with rituximab, PP, and anti-cytomegalovirus immune globulin allowed us to perform transplants from living donors to ABO incompatible recipients with excellent results and reduced costs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mutated BRAF Emerges as a Major Effector of Recurrence in a Murine Melanoma Model After Treatment With Immunomodulatory Agents.

PubMed

Zaidi, Shane; Blanchard, Miran; Shim, Kevin; Ilett, Elizabeth; Rajani, Karishma; Parrish, Christopher; Boisgerault, Nicolas; Kottke, Tim; Thompson, Jill; Celis, Esteban; Pulido, Jose; Selby, Peter; Pandha, Hardev; Melcher, Alan; Harrington, Kevin; Vile, Richard

2015-05-01

We used a VSV-cDNA library to treat recurrent melanoma, identifying immunogenic antigens, allowing us to target recurrences with immunotherapy or chemotherapy. Primary B16 melanoma tumors were induced to regress by frontline therapy. Mice with recurrent tumors were treated with VSV-cDNA immunotherapy. A Th17 recall response was used to screen the VSV-cDNA library for individual viruses encoding rejection antigens, subsequently targeted using immunotherapy or chemotherapy. Recurrent tumors were effectively treated with a VSV-cDNA library using cDNA from recurrent B16 tumors. Recurrence-associated rejection antigens identified included Topoisomerase-IIα, YB-1, cdc7 kinase, and BRAF. Fourteen out of 16 recurrent tumors carried BRAF mutations (595-605 region) following frontline therapy, even though the parental B16 tumors were BRAF wild type. The emergence of mutated BRAF-containing recurrences served as an excellent target for BRAF-specific immune-(VSV-BRAF), or chemo-(PLX-4720) therapies. Successful PLX-4720 therapy of recurrent tumors was associated with the development of a broad spectrum of T-cell responses. VSV-cDNA technology can be used to identify recurrence specific antigens. Emergence of mutated BRAF may be a major effector of melanoma recurrence which could serve as a target for chemo or immune therapy. This study suggests a rationale for offering patients with initially wild-type BRAF melanomas an additional biopsy to screen for mutant BRAF upon recurrence.

Mutated BRAF Emerges as a Major Effector of Recurrence in a Murine Melanoma Model After Treatment With Immunomodulatory Agents

PubMed Central

Zaidi, Shane; Blanchard, Miran; Shim, Kevin; Ilett, Elizabeth; Rajani, Karishma; Parrish, Christopher; Boisgerault, Nicolas; Kottke, Tim; Thompson, Jill; Celis, Esteban; Pulido, Jose; Selby, Peter; Pandha, Hardev; Melcher, Alan; Harrington, Kevin; Vile, Richard

2015-01-01

We used a VSV-cDNA library to treat recurrent melanoma, identifying immunogenic antigens, allowing us to target recurrences with immunotherapy or chemotherapy. Primary B16 melanoma tumors were induced to regress by frontline therapy. Mice with recurrent tumors were treated with VSV-cDNA immunotherapy. A Th17 recall response was used to screen the VSV-cDNA library for individual viruses encoding rejection antigens, subsequently targeted using immunotherapy or chemotherapy. Recurrent tumors were effectively treated with a VSV-cDNA library using cDNA from recurrent B16 tumors. Recurrence-associated rejection antigens identified included Topoisomerase-IIα, YB-1, cdc7 kinase, and BRAF. Fourteen out of 16 recurrent tumors carried BRAF mutations (595–605 region) following frontline therapy, even though the parental B16 tumors were BRAF wild type. The emergence of mutated BRAF-containing recurrences served as an excellent target for BRAF-specific immune-(VSV-BRAF), or chemo-(PLX-4720) therapies. Successful PLX-4720 therapy of recurrent tumors was associated with the development of a broad spectrum of T-cell responses. VSV-cDNA technology can be used to identify recurrence specific antigens. Emergence of mutated BRAF may be a major effector of melanoma recurrence which could serve as a target for chemo or immune therapy. This study suggests a rationale for offering patients with initially wild-type BRAF melanomas an additional biopsy to screen for mutant BRAF upon recurrence. PMID:25544599

Increased levels of circulating nitrates and impaired endothelium-mediated vasodilation suggest multiple roles of nitric oxide during acute rejection of pulmonary allografts.

PubMed

Wiklund, L; Lewis, D H; Sjöquist, P O; Nilsson, F; Tazelaar, H; Miller, V M; McGregor, C G

1997-05-01

Experiments were designed to determine whether changes in pulmonary artery function could be reduced by treatment with a lipid peroxidation inhibitor (H 290/51) during acute rejection of pulmonary allografts. Single lung transplantation was performed in three groups of dogs: group 1 was maintained on immunosuppression for 8 days after operation (immunosuppressed, n = 5); in group 2, immunosuppression was discontinued on postoperative day 5, so that rejection occurred on postoperative day 8 (rejecting, n = 6); in group 3, immunosuppression was discontinued after 5 days, and the lipid peroxidation inhibitor H 290/51 (25 mg/kg) was given perorally for 3 days (rejecting + H 290/51, n = 6). Plasma nitric oxide (NO(x)) was measured by use of chemoluminescence. On postoperative day 8 rejection was observed in groups 2 and 3. Contractions to angiotensin I and endothelium-dependent relaxations to adenosine diphosphate were reduced in pulmonary arteries from rejecting lungs. Responses of rings from dogs treated with H 290/51 were similar to those from rejecting lungs. Rejection did not alter relaxations to exogenous nitric oxide. However, plasma levels of NO(x) increased significantly during rejection independently of treatment with H 290/51. Results of this study confirm that endothelium-dependent relaxation of pulmonary arteries is reduced during acute rejection of lung allografts. The result extends these observations to suggest that treatment with a lipid peroxidation inhibitor neither protects the pulmonary artery function nor affects levels of circulating NO(x). Therefore mechanisms other than lipid peroxidation participate in vascular changes associated with allograft rejection.

Medicare Part D Claims Rejections for Nursing Home Residents, 2006 to 2010

PubMed Central

Stevenson, David G.; Keohane, Laura M.; Mitchell, Susan L.; Zarowitz, Barbara J.; Huskamp, Haiden A.

2013-01-01

Objectives Much has been written about trends in Medicare Part D formulary design and consumers’ choice of plans, but little is known about the magnitude of claims rejections or their clinical and administrative implications. Our objective was to study the overall rate at which Part D claims are rejected, whether these rates differ across plans, drugs, and medication classes, and how these rejection rates and reasons have evolved over time. Study Design and Methods We performed descriptive analyses of data on paid and rejected Part D claims submitted by 1 large national long-term care pharmacy from 2006 to 2010. In each of the 5 study years, data included approximately 450,000 Medicare beneficiaries living in long-term care settings with approximately 4 million Part D drug claims. Claims rejection rates and reasons for rejection are tabulated for each study year at the plan, drug, and class levels. Results Nearly 1 in 6 drug claims was rejected during the first 5 years of the Medicare Part D program, and this rate has increased over time. Rejection rates and reasons for rejection varied substantially across drug products and Part D plans. Moreover, the reasons for denials evolved over our study period. Coverage has become less of a factor in claims rejections than it was initially and other formulary tools such as drug utilization review, quantity-related coverage limits, and prior authorization are increasingly used to deny claims. Conclusions Examining claims rejection rates can provide important supplemental information to assess plans’ generosity of coverage and to identify potential areas of concern. PMID:23145808

Does perceived parental rejection make adolescents sad and mad? The association of perceived parental rejection with adolescent depression and aggression.

PubMed

Hale, William W; Van Der Valk, Inge; Engels, Rutger; Meeus, Wim

2005-06-01

To research the association of perceived parental rejection to adolescent depression and aggression. This study focused on 1329 Dutch junior high and high school students (47.9% males and 52.1% females; age range 10-19 years) that completed depression, aggression and perceived parental rejection questionnaires. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling that assumed a relationship between perceived parental rejection and adolescent aggression, as mediated by adolescent depression. Perceived parental rejection, mediated through adolescent depression, explains aggressive behaviors of adolescents, as tested by a mediation model. Additionally, the fit of this mediation model is somewhat enhanced when direct paths from perceived parental rejection to aggression are included. Further analysis demonstrates that these effects are also somewhat dependent on the gender and the age of the adolescents, as would be expected in light of previous studies of these cohorts. The study of perceived parental rejection should receive the same attention in the research of the development of both adolescent depression and aggression, as has been the case for adolescent peer rejection.

Rejection sensitivity prospectively predicts increased rumination.

PubMed

Pearson, Katherine A; Watkins, Edward R; Mullan, Eugene G

2011-10-01

Converging research findings indicate that rumination is correlated with a specific maladaptive interpersonal style encapsulating submissive (overly-accommodating, non-assertive and self-sacrificing) behaviours, and an attachment orientation characterised by rejection sensitivity. This study examined the prospective longitudinal relationship between rumination, the submissive interpersonal style, and rejection sensitivity by comparing two alternative hypotheses: (a) the submissive interpersonal style and rejection sensitivity prospectively predict increased rumination; (b) rumination prospectively predicts the submissive interpersonal style and rejection sensitivity. Currently depressed (n = 22), previously depressed (n = 42) and never depressed (n = 28) individuals completed self-report measures assessing depressive rumination and key psychosocial measures of interpersonal style and behaviours, at baseline and again six months later. Baseline rejection sensitivity prospectively predicted increased rumination six months later, after statistically controlling for baseline rumination, gender and depression. Baseline rumination did not predict the submissive interpersonal style or rejection sensitivity. The results provide a first step towards delineating a potential casual relationship between rejection sensitivity and rumination, and suggest the potential value of clinical assessment and intervention for both rejection sensitivity and rumination in individuals who present with either difficulty. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laser fluorescence bronchoscope for localization of occult lung tumors

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

Profio, A.E.; Doiron, D.R.; King, E.G.

1979-11-01

A system for imaging occult bronchogenic carcinoma by the fluorescence of previously-injected, tumor-specific compound hematoporphyrin-derivative has been assembled and successfully used to locate a tumor l mm thick. The violet excitation source is a krypton ion laser coupled to fused quartz fiber light conductor. An electrostatic image intensifier attached to a standard flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope provides a bright image even at relatively low irradiance. A red secondary filter rejects most reflected background and autofluorescence. Sensitivity and contrast capability of the system should permit detection of a tumor less than 0.1 mm thick.

Optically sectioned fluorescence endomicroscopy with hybrid-illumination imaging through a flexible fiber bundle.

PubMed

Santos, Silvia; Chu, Kengyeh K; Lim, Daryl; Bozinovic, Nenad; Ford, Tim N; Hourtoule, Claire; Bartoo, Aaron C; Singh, Satish K; Mertz, Jerome

2009-01-01

We present an endomicroscope apparatus that exhibits out-of-focus background rejection based on wide-field illumination through a flexible imaging fiber bundle. Our technique, called HiLo microscopy, involves acquiring two images, one with grid-pattern illumination and another with standard uniform illumination. An evaluation of the image contrast with grid-pattern illumination provides an optically sectioned image with low resolution. This is complemented with high-resolution information from the uniform illumination image, leading to a full-resolution image that is optically sectioned. HiLo endomicroscope movies are presented of fluorescently labeled rat colonic mucosa.

Optically sectioned fluorescence endomicroscopy with hybrid-illumination imaging through a flexible fiber bundle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Silvia; Chu, Kengyeh K.; Lim, Daryl; Bozinovic, Nenad; Ford, Tim N.; Hourtoule, Claire; Bartoo, Aaron C.; Singh, Satish K.; Mertz, Jerome

2009-05-01

We present an endomicroscope apparatus that exhibits out-of-focus background rejection based on wide-field illumination through a flexible imaging fiber bundle. Our technique, called HiLo microscopy, involves acquiring two images, one with grid-pattern illumination and another with standard uniform illumination. An evaluation of the image contrast with grid-pattern illumination provides an optically sectioned image with low resolution. This is complemented with high-resolution information from the uniform illumination image, leading to a full-resolution image that is optically sectioned. HiLo endomicroscope movies are presented of fluorescently labeled rat colonic mucosa.

Adaptive electric potential sensors for smart signal acquisition and processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prance, R. J.; Beardsmore-Rust, S.; Prance, H.; Harland, C. J.; Stiffell, P. B.

2007-07-01

Current applications of the Electric Potential Sensor operate in a strongly (capacitively) coupled limit, with the sensor physically close to or touching the source. This mode of operation screens the sensor effectively from the majority of external noise. To date however the full capability of these sensors operating in a remote mode has not been realised outside of a screened environment (Faraday cage). This paper describes the results of preliminary work in tailoring the response of the sensors to particular signals and so reject background noise, thereby enhancing both the dynamic range and signal to noise ratio significantly.

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

Ashenfelter, J.; Jaffe, D.; Diwan, M. V.

A meter-long, 23-liter EJ-309 liquid scintillator detector has been constructed to study the light collection and pulse-shape discrimination performance of elongated scintillator cells for the PROSPECT reactor antineutrino experiment. The magnitude and uniformity of light collection and neutron-gamma discrimination power in the energy range of antineutrino inverse beta decay products have been studied using gamma and spontaneous fission calibration sources deployed along the cell axis. We also study neutron-gamma discrimination and light collection abilities for differing PMT and reflector configurations. As a result, key design features for optimizing MeV-scale response and background rejection capabilities are identified.

Method for registration of solar cosmic rays by detecting neutrons

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

Andreev, A. V.; Mordovskoy, M. V., E-mail: mvmordovsk@mail.ru; Skorkin, V. M.

2016-12-15

We consider a method of detecting the ionizing component of solar cosmic rays (SCRs) with energy from tens of MeV to tens of GeV by measuring the energy loss of SCR protons and light nuclei in scintillators and the multiplicity of the local neutron generation in a converter. Scintillation detectors based on stilbene, lithium glass, and solid-state photomultiplier tubes are capable of detecting fast neutrons with a temporal resolution of 10 ns and rejecting the gamma-ray background in the measuring system. The method will allow investigating the nucleon components of primary SCRs in circumterrestrial space.

Selected Factors Related to Selective Service Rejection and Rejection Rate in Delaware (1967): A Study of the Characteristics of Young Men Failing to Meet Mental Qualifications for Military Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Jay R.

This study sought information about selective service rejection in Delaware, specifically rejectee characteristics, reasons for rejection, and the high rejection rate in Delaware. The basic design was a modified case study method in which a sample of individual records were examined. Differences between this sample and national samples were tested…

C4d-the witness of humoral rejection.

PubMed

de Gouveia, R H; Vitorino, E; Ramos, S; Rebocho, M J; Queirós E Melo, J; Martins, A P; Moura, M L C

2009-04-01

Acute antibody-mediated (humoral) rejection is a major cause of morbidity, graft loss, and mortality among heart transplant patients. Herein we have presented our experience using C4d to characterize humoral rejection. All nonformalin-fixed cardiac graft biopsies (protocol or emergency) received between May 2007 and May 2008 were examined by immunofluorescence for C4d. One hundred twelve endomyocardial biopsies from 25 transplanted patients included 20 males and 5 females of ages ranging from 3 to 71 years. The number of biopsies per subject varied from 1 to 11; the timespan between transplantation and the diagnostic biopsies ranged from days to 8 years. Thirteen biopsies showed acute humoral rejection (intramyocardial capillaries positive for C4d); 31, acute cellular rejection (grades 1R, 2R); 7, both humoral and cellular rejection; and 1, acute humoral rejection and allograft vasculopathy. Some of the positive biopsies belonged to the same person, and some to transplanted individuals with signs and symptoms suggestive of rejection, while others did not. The persistence of humoral rejection, despite the disappearance of a cellular component, correlated with slower clinicoechocardiographic improvement. C4d positivity is a morphologic sign of humoral rejection. It may hasten the appearance and/or worsening of allograft vasculopathy independent of patient age or posttransplantation time.

Questionnaire investigation to clarify the occurrence rate and characteristics of maternal rejection behavior in Japanese black cattle (Bos taurus).

PubMed

Kohari, Daisuke; Takakura, Azusa

2017-12-01

We conducted a questionnaire investigation among breeding farmers to clarify the actual conditions of maternal rejection in Japanese Black cattle. We asked keeping experience of maternal rejective cows and compared occurrence patterns, rejective behavior manners, birth assistance methods, colostrum feeding method for calves, parity and rearing conditions of the cows. We found that 24% of the farms had kept rejective cows and 6% of the cows in these farms indicated maternal rejections. The most common occurrence pattern was 'Occurred from the first birth (65.6%)' and behavior manner was performing no maternal grooming with aggressive behavior (75%). Almost all the farmers assisted in each parturition (P < 0.05). There was not a significant difference among the colostrum feeding methods, but a significant difference in the rearing conditions of the cows, except for the cows with no data (P < 0.005). The parity of the rejective cows did not significantly differ in association with rejective behavior manners, birth assistance methods, colostrum feeding methods or rearing conditions. These results suggest that the occurrence rate of maternal rejection in Japanese Black cattle was approximately 6% and many of the rejective cows continuously performed no maternal grooming with aggressive behavior. © 2017 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Rejected by peers-attracted to antisocial media content: rejection-based anger impairs moral judgment among adolescents.

PubMed

Plaisier, Xanthe S; Konijn, Elly A

2013-06-01

Adolescence is an important developmental stage during which both peers and the media have a strong influence. Both peer rejection and the use of morally adverse media are associated with negative developmental outcomes. This study examines processes by which peer rejection might drive adolescents to select antisocial media content by tying together developmental research on peer rejection and research on media effects. Assumed underlying mechanisms are rejection-based anger and frustration and the adolescent's moral judgment. A between-participants experimental design manipulated peer rejection versus acceptance in adolescents (Mage = 13.88 years; N = 74) and young adults (Mage = 21.37 years; N = 75), applying the Cyberball paradigm. Measures included the State Anger Inventory (STAXI) to assess feelings of rejection and the newly devised Media, Morals, and Youth Questionnaire (MMaYQue) to assess media preferences and moral judgment of media content. Using bootstrapping analyses, a double mediation was established: Higher levels of state anger in peer-rejected adolescents induced more tolerable moral judgments of antisocial media content, subsequently instigating a preference for antisocial media content. In contrast, the young adult sample showed no relations between peer rejection and antisocial media preference. Results are discussed within a downward spiral framework of combined peer and media influences. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Phase II Upgrade of the GERDA Experiment for the Search of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majorovits, B.

Observation of neutrinoless double beta decay could answer the question regarding the Majorana or Dirac nature of neutrinos. The GERDA experiment utilizes HPGe detectors enriched with the isotope 76Ge to search for this process. Recently the GERDA collaboration has unblinded data of Phase I of the experiment. In order to further improve the sensitivity of the experiment, additionally to the coaxial detectors used, 30 BEGe detectors made from germanium enriched in 76Ge will be deployed in GERDA Phase II. BEGe detectors have superior PSD capability, thus the background can be further reduced. The liquid argon surrounding the detector array will be instrumented in order to reject background by detecting scintillation light induced in the liquid argon by radiation. After a short introduction the hardware preparations for GERDA Phase II as well as the processing and characterization of the 30 BEGe detectors are discussed.

Track vertex reconstruction with neural networks at the first level trigger of Belle II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuhaus, Sara; Skambraks, Sebastian; Kiesling, Christian

2017-08-01

The track trigger is one of the main components of the Belle II first level trigger, taking input from the Central Drift Chamber (CDC). It consists of several stages, first combining hits to track segments, followed by a 2D track finding in the transverse plane and finally a 3D track reconstruction. The results of the track trigger are the track multiplicity, the momentum vector of each track and the longitudinal displacement of the origin or production vertex of each track ("z-vertex"). The latter allows to reject background tracks from outside of the interaction region and thus to suppress a large fraction of the machine background. This contribution focuses on the track finding stage using Hough transforms and on the z-vertex reconstruction with neural networks. We describe the algorithms and show performance studies on simulated events.

CALDER: Cryogenic light detectors for background-free searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Domizio, S.; Bellini, F.; Cardani, L.; Casali, N.; Castellano, M. G.; Colantoni, I.; Cosmelli, C.; Cruciani, A.; D'Addabbo, A.; Martinez, M.; Minutolo, L.; Tomei, C.; Vignati, M.

2018-01-01

CALDER is a R&D project for the development of cryogenic light detectors with an active surface of 5x5cm2 and an energy resolution of 20 eV RMS for visible and UV photons. These devices can enhance the sensitivity of next generation large mass bolometric detectors for rare event searches, providing an active background rejection method based on particle discrimination. A CALDER detector is composed by a large area Si absorber substrate with superconducting kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) deposited on it. The substrate converts the incoming light into athermal phonons, that are then sensed by the KIDs. KID technology combine fabrication simplicity with natural attitude to frequency-domain multiplexing, making it an ideal candidate for a large scale bolometric experiments. We will give an overview of the CALDER project and show the performances obtained with prototype detectors both in terms of energy resolution and efficiency.

The soft gamma-ray detector (SGD) onboard ASTRO-H

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Shin; Tajima, Hiroyasu; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Blandford, Roger; Enoto, Teruaki; Goldwurm, Andrea; Hagino, Kouichi; Hayashi, Katsuhiro; Ichinohe, Yuto; Kataoka, Jun; Katsuta, Junichiro; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kokubun, Motohide; Laurent, Philippe; Lebrun, François; Limousin, Olivier; Madejski, Grzegorz M.; Makishima, Kazuo; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Mori, Kunishiro; Nakamori, Takeshi; Nakano, Toshio; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Noda, Hirofumu; Odaka, Hirokazu; Ohno, Masanori; Ohta, Masayuki; Saito, Shinya; Sato, Goro; Sato, Rie; Takeda, Shin'ichiro; Takahashi, Hiromitsu; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Tanaka, Takaaki; Tanaka, Yasuyuki; Terada, Yukikatsu; Uchiyama, Hideki; Uchiyama, Yasunobu; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Yatsu, Yoichi; Yonetoku, Daisuke; Yuasa, Takayuki

2016-07-01

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) is one of science instruments onboard ASTRO-H (Hitomi) and features a wide energy band of 60{600 keV with low backgrounds. SGD is an instrument with a novel concept of "Narrow field-of-view" Compton camera where Compton kinematics is utilized to reject backgrounds which are inconsistent with the field-of-view defined by the active shield. After several years of developments, the flight hardware was fabricated and subjected to subsystem tests and satellite system tests. After a successful ASTRO-H (Hitomi) launch on February 17, 2016 and a critical phase operation of satellite and SGD in-orbit commissioning, the SGD operation was moved to the nominal observation mode on March 24, 2016. The Compton cameras and BGO-APD shields of SGD worked properly as designed. On March 25, 2016, the Crab nebula observation was performed, and, the observation data was successfully obtained.

Performance Calculations for the ITER Core Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer (CIXS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, K. W.; Delgado-Aparicio, L.; Pablant, N.; Johnson, D.; Feder, R.; Klabacha, J.; Stratton, B.; Bitter, M.; Beiersdorfer, P.; Barnsley, R.; Bertschinger, G.; O'Mullane, M.; Lee, S. G.

2013-10-01

The US is providing a 1D imaging x-ray crystal spectrometer system as a primary diagnostic for measuring profiles of ion temperature (Ti) and toroidal flow velocity (v) in the ITER plasma core (r/a = 0-0.85). The diagnostic must provide high spectral resolution (E/ ΔE > 5,000), spatial resolution of 10 cm, and time resolution of 10-100 ms, and must operate and survive in an environment having high neutron and gamma-ray fluxes. This work presents spectral simulations and tomographic inversions for obtaining local Ti and v, comparisons of the expected count rate profiles to the requirements, the degradation of performance due to the nuclear radiation background, and measurements of the rejection of nuclear background by detector pulse-height discrimination. This work was performed under the auspices of the DOE by PPPL under contract DE-AC02-09CH11466 and by LLNL under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Chemicalome and metabolome profiling of polymethoxylated flavonoids in Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium based on an integrated strategy combining background subtraction and modified mass defect filter in a Microsoft Excel Platform.

PubMed

Zeng, Su-Ling; Duan, Li; Chen, Bai-Zhong; Li, Ping; Liu, E-Hu

2017-07-28

Detection of metabolites in complex biological matrixes is a great challenge because of the background noise and endogenous components. Herein, we proposed an integrated strategy that combined background subtraction program and modified mass defect filter (MMDF) data mining in a Microsoft Excel platform for chemicalome and metabolome profiling of the polymethoxylated flavonoids (PMFs) in Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (CRP). The exogenously-sourced ions were firstly filtered out by the developed Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) program incorporated in the Microsoft Office. The novel MMDF strategy was proposed for detecting both target and untarget constituents and metabolites based on narrow, well-defined mass defect ranges. The approach was validated to be powerful, and potentially useful for the metabolite identification of both single compound and homologous compound mixture. We successfully identified 30 and 31 metabolites from rat biosamples after oral administration of nobiletin and tangeretin, respectively. A total of 56 PMFs compounds were chemically characterized and 125 metabolites were captured. This work demonstrated the feasibility of the integrated approach for reliable characterization of the constituents and metabolites in herbal medicines. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spallation backgrounds in Super-Kamiokande are made in muon-induced showers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shirley Weishi; Beacom, John F.

2015-05-01

Crucial questions about solar and supernova neutrinos remain unanswered. Super-Kamiokande has the exposure needed for progress, but detector backgrounds are a limiting factor. A leading component is the beta decays of isotopes produced by cosmic-ray muons and their secondaries, which initiate nuclear spallation reactions. Cuts of events after and surrounding muon tracks reduce this spallation decay background by ≃ 90 % (at a cost of ≃ 20 % deadtime), but its rate at 6-18 MeV is still dominant. A better way to cut this background was suggested in a Super-Kamiokande paper by Bays et al. [Phys. Rev. D 85, 052007 (2012)] on a search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background. They found that spallation decays above 16 MeV were preceded near the same location by a peak in the apparent Cherenkov light profile from the muon; a more aggressive cut was applied to a limited section of the muon track, leading to decreased background without increased deadtime. We put their empirical discovery on a firm theoretical foundation. We show that almost all spallation decay isotopes are produced by muon-induced showers and that these showers are rare enough and energetic enough to be identifiable. This is the first such demonstration for any detector. We detail how the physics of showers explains the peak in the muon Cherenkov light profile and other Super-K observations. Our results provide a physical basis for practical improvements in background rejection that will benefit multiple studies. For solar neutrinos, in particular, it should be possible to dramatically reduce backgrounds at energies as low as 6 MeV.

Expecting Rejection: Understanding the Minority Stress Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Individuals

PubMed Central

Rood, Brian A.; Reisner, Sari L.; Surace, Francisco I.; Puckett, Jae A.; Maroney, Meredith R.; Pantalone, David W.

2016-01-01

Abstract Purpose: Transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals often are the target of enacted or external (i.e., distal) experiences of stigma, discrimination, and violence, which are linked to adverse health, particularly psychological distress. There is limited research, however, examining felt or internal (i.e., proximal) stressors faced by TGNC individuals. This study sought to examine one type of internal stressor, expecting rejection, and aimed to (1) identify how and to what extent rejection expectations operate day-to-day for TGNC individuals and (2) explore how TGNC individuals respond to expectations of rejection. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants from 2014 to 2015 who identified as TGNC (mean age=30.4; 60% people of color); data were analyzed using a consensual qualitative research method. Results: Four thematic categories emerged about expecting rejection: (1) where to expect rejection; (2) thoughts and feelings associated with expectations of rejection; (3) coping strategies used to manage the expectation of rejection; and (4) the intersection of race and ethnicity with rejection expectations. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that expecting rejection is a frequent and salient internal stressor for TGNC individuals. We discuss the psychological and cumulative potential health impact of minority stress, and the applicability of Meyer's Minority Stress Model. Therapeutic interventions are needed to address the specific cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses TGNC individuals experience as a result of the stress associated with expecting rejection, including fear, anxiety, and situational avoidance. PMID:29159306

Course of illness after the onset of chronic rejection in lung transplant recipients.

PubMed

Song, Mi-Kyung; De Vito Dabbs, Annette; Studer, Sean M; Zangle, Sarah E

2008-05-01

Despite the overall negative impact of chronic rejection on quality of life and survival after lung transplant, the specific clinical indicators of deterioration have not been identified. To describe the course of illness after the onset of chronic rejection, including demographic and transplant variables, morbidity, mortality, health resource utilization, and end-of-life care, and to identify clinical indicators of deterioration in health and limited survival after the onset of chronic rejection. The medical records of 311 recipients of lung transplants between 1998 and 2004 were reviewed retrospectively to identify 60 recipients who experienced chronic rejection. Median survival after chronic rejection was 31.34 months. Time to rejection (mean, 26.05 months; SD, 16.85) was significantly correlated with overall survival without need of a retransplant (r = 0.64; P < .001). The earlier the onset of chronic rejection or the need for oxygen at home, the shorter was the period of survival after chronic rejection and the more frequent were hospital and intensive care unit admissions and prolonged stays. Of the 26 recipients who died, 65% died at the transplant center, and all but 1 died in the intensive care unit; 3 died after multiple attempts of cardiopulmonary resuscitation; life support was ultimately withdrawn in 69%. Lung transplant recipients who experience chronic graft rejection have high rates of morbidity, mortality, and health resource utilization; however, the course of illness after chronic rejection is highly variable.

Specimen rejection in laboratory medicine: Necessary for patient safety?

PubMed

Dikmen, Zeliha Gunnur; Pinar, Asli; Akbiyik, Filiz

2015-01-01

The emergency laboratory in Hacettepe University Hospitals receives specimens from emergency departments (EDs), inpatient services and intensive care units (ICUs). The samples are accepted according to the rejection criteria of the laboratory. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sample rejection ratios according to the types of pre-preanalytical errors and collection areas. The samples sent to the emergency laboratory were recorded during 12 months between January to December, 2013 in which 453,171 samples were received and 27,067 specimens were rejected. Rejection ratios was 2.5% for biochemistry tests, 3.2% for complete blood count (CBC), 9.8% for blood gases, 9.2% for urine analysis, 13.3% for coagulation tests, 12.8% for therapeutic drug monitoring, 3.5% for cardiac markers and 12% for hormone tests. The most frequent rejection reasons were fibrin clots (28%) and inadequate volume (9%) for biochemical tests. Clotted samples (35%) and inadequate volume (13%) were the major causes for coagulation tests, blood gas analyses and CBC. The ratio of rejected specimens was higher in the EDs (40%) compared to ICUs (30%) and inpatient services (28%). The highest rejection ratio was observed in neurology ICU (14%) among the ICUs and internal medicine inpatient service (10%) within inpatient clinics. We detected an overall specimen rejection rate of 6% in emergency laboratory. By documentation of rejected samples and periodic training of healthcare personnel, we expect to decrease sample rejection ratios below 2%, improve total quality management of the emergency laboratory and promote patient safety.

Search for neutrinoless double beta decay with GERDA phase II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Borowicz, D.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; D'Andrea, V.; Demidova, E. V.; Di Marco, N.; Domula, A.; Doroshkevich, E.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gooch, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Hakenmüller, J.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Csáthy, J. Janicskó; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kazalov, V.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Kish, A.; Klimenko, A.; Kneißl, R.; Knies, J.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Marissens, G.; Miloradovic, M.; Mingazheva, R.; Misiaszek, M.; Moseev, P.; Nemchenok, I.; Panas, K.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pullia, A.; Ransom, C.; Reissfelder, M.; Riboldi, S.; Rumyantseva, N.; Sada, C.; Salamida, F.; Schmitt, C.; Schneider, B.; Schönert, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schütz, A.-K.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Seitz, H.; Selivanenko, O.; Shevchik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Vanhoefer, L.; Vasenko, A. A.; Veresnikova, A.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wiesinger, C.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2017-10-01

The GERmanium Detector Array (gerda) experiment, located at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy, is one of the leading experiments for the search of 0νββ decay. In Phase II of the experiment 35.6 kg of enriched germanium detectors are operated. The application of active background rejection methods, such as a liquid argon scintillation light read-out and pulse shape discrimination of germanium detector signals, allowed to reduce the background index to the intended level of 10-3 cts/(keV.kg.yr). In the first five month of data taking 10.8 kg yr of exposure were accumulated. No signal has been found and together with data from Phase I a new limit for the neutrinoless double beta decay half-life of 76Ge of 5.3 . 1025 yr at 90% C.L. was established in June 2016. Phase II data taking is ongoing and will allow the exploration of half-lifes in the 1026 yr regime. The current status of data taking and an update on the background index are presented.

Three dimensional HiLo-based structured illumination for a digital scanned laser sheet microscopy (DSLM) in thick tissue imaging

PubMed Central

Bhattacharya, Dipanjan; Singh, Vijay Raj; Zhi, Chen; So, Peter T. C.; Matsudaira, Paul; Barbastathis, George

2012-01-01

Laser sheet based microscopy has become widely accepted as an effective active illumination method for real time three-dimensional (3D) imaging of biological tissue samples. The light sheet geometry, where the camera is oriented perpendicular to the sheet itself, provides an effective method of eliminating some of the scattered light and minimizing the sample exposure to radiation. However, residual background noise still remains, limiting the contrast and visibility of potentially interesting features in the samples. In this article, we investigate additional structuring of the illumination for improved background rejection, and propose a new technique, “3D HiLo” where we combine two HiLo images processed from orthogonal directions to improve the condition of the 3D reconstruction. We present a comparative study of conventional structured illumination based demodulation methods, namely 3Phase and HiLo with a newly implemented 3D HiLo approach and demonstrate that the latter yields superior signal-to-background ratio in both lateral and axial dimensions, while simultaneously suppressing image processing artifacts. PMID:23262684

Three dimensional HiLo-based structured illumination for a digital scanned laser sheet microscopy (DSLM) in thick tissue imaging.

PubMed

Bhattacharya, Dipanjan; Singh, Vijay Raj; Zhi, Chen; So, Peter T C; Matsudaira, Paul; Barbastathis, George

2012-12-03

Laser sheet based microscopy has become widely accepted as an effective active illumination method for real time three-dimensional (3D) imaging of biological tissue samples. The light sheet geometry, where the camera is oriented perpendicular to the sheet itself, provides an effective method of eliminating some of the scattered light and minimizing the sample exposure to radiation. However, residual background noise still remains, limiting the contrast and visibility of potentially interesting features in the samples. In this article, we investigate additional structuring of the illumination for improved background rejection, and propose a new technique, "3D HiLo" where we combine two HiLo images processed from orthogonal directions to improve the condition of the 3D reconstruction. We present a comparative study of conventional structured illumination based demodulation methods, namely 3Phase and HiLo with a newly implemented 3D HiLo approach and demonstrate that the latter yields superior signal-to-background ratio in both lateral and axial dimensions, while simultaneously suppressing image processing artifacts.

Observing the Next Galactic Supernova with the NOvA Detectors

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

Vasel, Justin A.; Sheshukov, Andrey; Habig, Alec

The next galactic core-collapse supernova will deliver a wealth of neutrinos which for the first time we are well-situated to measure. These explosions produce neutrinos with energies between 10 and 100 MeV over a period of tens of seconds. Galactic supernovae are relatively rare events, occurring with a frequency of just a few per century. It is therefore essential that all neutrino detectors capable of detecting these neutrinos are ready to trigger on this signal when it occurs. This poster describes a data-driven trigger which is designed to detect the neutrino signal from a galactic core-collapse supernova with the NOvAmore » detectors. The trigger analyzes 5ms blocks of detector activity and applies background rejection algorithms to detect the signal time structure over the background. This background reduction is an essential part of the process, as the NOvA detectors are designed to detect neutrinos from Fermilab's NuMI beam which have an average energy of 2GeV--well above the average energy of supernova neutrinos.« less

Support of selected X-ray studies to be performed using data from the Uhuru (SAS-A) satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garmire, G. P.

1976-01-01

A new measurement of the diffuse X-ray emission sets more stringent upper limits on the fluctuations of the background and on the number counts of X-ray sources with absolute value of b 20 deg than previous measurements. A random sample of background data from the Uhuru satellite gives a relative fluctuation in excess of statistics of 2.0% between 2.4 and 6.9 keV. The hypothesis that the relative fluctuation exceeds 2.9% can be rejected at the 90% confidence level. No discernable energy dependence is evident in the fluctuations in the pulse height data, when separated into three energy channels of nearly equal width from 1.8 to 10.0 keV. The probability distribution of fluctuations was convolved with the photon noise and cosmic ray background deviation (obtained from the earth-viewing data) to yield the differential source count distribution for high latitude sources. Results imply that a maximum of 160 sources could be between 1.7 and 5.1 x 10 to the -11 power ergs/sq cm/sec (1-3 Uhuru counts).

48 CFR 19.505 - Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Rejecting Small Business... REGULATION SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS Set-Asides for Small Business 19.505 Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations. (a) If the contracting officer rejects a recommendation...

48 CFR 19.505 - Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Rejecting Small Business... REGULATION SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS Set-Asides for Small Business 19.505 Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations. (a) If the contracting officer rejects a recommendation...

48 CFR 19.505 - Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Rejecting Small Business... REGULATION SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS Set-Asides for Small Business 19.505 Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations. (a) If the contracting officer rejects a recommendation...

They Schools: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy under Siege

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Royal, Camika; Gibson, Simone

2017-01-01

Background/Context: Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP ) represents educators who work toward academic excellence, cultural competence, and sociopolitical awareness (Ladson-Billings, 2014). Although some profess to embrace CRP , many educators neglect sociopolitical consciousness (T. Howard, 2003; Simmons et al., 2013; Young, 2010).…

Borderline Personality Features, Anger, and Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Manipulation of Rejection.

PubMed

Armenti, Nicholas A; Babcock, Julia C

2018-04-01

Individuals with borderline personality features may be susceptible to react to situational stressors with negative and interpersonally maladaptive emotionality (e.g., anger) and aggression. The current study attempted to test two moderated mediation models to investigate dispositional risk factors associated with borderline personality features and intimate partner violence (IPV). Results from an experimental rejection induction paradigm were examined using moderated regression to observe contextual reactions to imagined romantic rejection from a current romantic partner among individuals with borderline personality features. An ethnically diverse sample of 218 undergraduates at a large public university in the southwestern United States was recruited. Participants responded to demographic questions and self-report measures, and engaged in an experimental rejection induction paradigm. Borderline personality features was positively associated with rejection sensitivity, physical assault, and psychological aggression. Contrary to initial hypotheses, rejection sensitivity did not serve as a mediator of the relations between borderline personality features and physical assault and psychological aggression. However, trait anger mediated the relation between borderline personality features and psychological aggression. As such, trait anger may be an important explanatory variable in the relation between borderline personality features and psychological aggression specifically. Results of the rejection induction paradigm indicated that, for individuals who were asked to imagine an ambiguous rejection, the relation between borderline personality features and state anger post-rejection was strengthened. For individuals who imagined a critical rejection, there was no significant relation between borderline personality features and state anger post-rejection. Findings suggest that trait anger may be an important dispositional factor in the link between borderline personality features and IPV. In addition, contextual factors, such as ambiguous rejection by an intimate partner, may be especially relevant in activating anger or aggression in individuals with borderline personality features.

Rejection of unfair offers can be driven by negative emotions, evidence from modified ultimatum games with anonymity.

PubMed

Ma, Ning; Li, Nan; He, Xiao-Song; Sun, De-Lin; Zhang, Xiaochu; Zhang, Da-Ren

2012-01-01

The rejection of unfair offers can be affected by both negative emotions (e.g. anger and moral disgust) and deliberate cognitive processing of behavioral consequences (e.g. concerns of maintaining social fairness and protecting personal reputation). However, whether negative emotions are sufficient to motivate this behavior is still controversial. With modified ultimatum games, a recent study (Yamagishi T, et al. (2009) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:11520-11523) found that people reject unfair offers even when this behavior increases inequity, and even when they could not communicate to the proposers. Yamagishi suggested that rejection of unfair offers could occur without people's concerning of maintaining social fairness, and could be driven by negative emotions. However, as anonymity was not sufficiently guaranteed in Yamagishi's study, the rejection rates in their experiments may have been influenced by people's concerns of protecting personal reputation (reputational concerns) in addition to negative emotions; thus, it was unclear whether the rejection was driven by negative emotions, or by reputational concerns, or both. In the present study, with specific methods to ensure anonymity, the effect of reputational concerns was successfully ruled out. We found that in a private situation in which rejection could not be driven by reputational concerns, the rejection rates of unfair offers were significantly larger than zero, and in public situations in which rejection rates could be influenced by both negative emotions and reputational concerns, rejection rates were significantly higher than that in the private situation. These results, together with Yamagishi's findings, provided more complete evidence suggesting (a) that the rejection of unfair offers can be driven by negative emotions and (b) that deliberate cognitive processing of the consequences of the behavior can increase the rejection rate, which may benefit social cooperation.

Mistaken Identifiers: Gene name errors can be introduced inadvertently when using Excel in bioinformatics

PubMed Central

Zeeberg, Barry R; Riss, Joseph; Kane, David W; Bussey, Kimberly J; Uchio, Edward; Linehan, W Marston; Barrett, J Carl; Weinstein, John N

2004-01-01

Background When processing microarray data sets, we recently noticed that some gene names were being changed inadvertently to non-gene names. Results A little detective work traced the problem to default date format conversions and floating-point format conversions in the very useful Excel program package. The date conversions affect at least 30 gene names; the floating-point conversions affect at least 2,000 if Riken identifiers are included. These conversions are irreversible; the original gene names cannot be recovered. Conclusions Users of Excel for analyses involving gene names should be aware of this problem, which can cause genes, including medically important ones, to be lost from view and which has contaminated even carefully curated public databases. We provide work-arounds and scripts for circumventing the problem. PMID:15214961

Compensatory deficits following rejection: the role of social anxiety in disrupting affiliative behavior.

PubMed

Mallott, Michael A; Maner, Jon K; DeWall, Nathan; Schmidt, Norman B

2009-01-01

Managing perceived or actual social rejection is an important facet of meeting basic needs for affiliation. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by significant distress and debilitation relating to affiliation and recent work suggests higher levels of social anxiety symptoms may adversely affect responses to social rejection. This study examined emotional and behavioral responding to a social rejection stressor to explore whether social anxiety moderates the effects of social rejection on prosocial compensatory behaviors. Individuals (N=37) evaluated on social anxiety symptoms were assigned to either a social rejection condition or control condition. Consistent with expectation, rejection promoted renewed interest in connecting with sources of positive social interaction among participants low in social anxiety. Participants with higher levels of social anxiety, however, failed to react to rejection in a positive or prosocial manner and exhibited some evidence of negative social responses. Such differential compensatory responding could have important implications for the genesis, maintenance, and treatment of SAD.

Rejection sensitivity moderates the impact of rejection on self-concept clarity.

PubMed

Ayduk, Ozlem; Gyurak, Anett; Luerssen, Anna

2009-11-01

Self-concept clarity (SCC) refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable. Research shows that SCC can be undermined by failures in valued goal domains. Because preventing rejection is an important self-relevant goal for people high in rejection sensitivity (RS), it is hypothesized here that failures to attain this goal would cause them to experience diminished SCC. Study 1, an experimental study, showed that high-RS people's SCC was undermined following rejection but not following an aversive experience unrelated to rejection. Study 2, a daily diary study of couples in relationships, used occurrence of partner conflicts to operationalize rejection. Replicating the findings in Study 1, having a conflict on any given diary day predicted a greater reduction in the SCC of high- compared to low-RS people on the following day. The implications for understanding the conditions under which rejection negatively affects the self-concept are discussed.

An audit of rejected repeated x-ray films as a quality assurance element in a radiology department.

PubMed

Eze, K C; Omodia, N; Okegbunam, B; Adewonyi, T; Nzotta, C C

2008-12-01

To find out the causes, number, percentage and sizes of rejected radiographic films with a view of adopting measures that will reduce the rate and number of rejected films. Radiology Department of a University Teaching Hospital. Over a two-year period (1st April 2002 to 31st March 2004), the total number of x-ray films utilized for radiographic examinations, rejected films and sizes of rejected films were collected retrospectively from the medical record of radiology department. All the rejected films were viewed by a radiologist and three radiographers for the causes of the rejects which was arrived at by consensus. The data was analysed. A total of 15,095 films were used in the study period and 1,338 films (8.86%) were rejected or wasted. The rate of rejected films varied from 7.69% to 13.82% with average of 8.86%. The greatest cause of film rejects was radiographers' faults 547 (40.88%), followed by equipments faults 255 (19.06%), and patients' faults 250 (18.90%). The highest reject rate (13.82%) was for films used for examination of the spine (15 x 30) cm size. This is followed by 9.92% for skull (18 x 24) cm films and 8.83% for small sized films (24 x 30) cm used for paediatric patients. Of a total of 1,338 rejected films, 1276 (95.37%) additional exposure were done to obtain the basic desired diagnostic information involving 1151 patients; 885 (76.89%) of these patients needed at least one additional hospital visit to take the repeat exposure. Rejected films are not billable; patients receive additional radiation and may even come to hospital in another day for the repeat. Radiographer's work is increased as well as that of the support staff. The waiting room may be congested and waiting time increased. The cost of processing chemical and films are increased, thus if work is quantified in monetary terms, the cost of repeats is high. Rejected-repeated film analysis is cheap, simple, practicable, easy to interpret and an effective indictor of quality assurance of radiology departments.

T1 Mapping by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Multidimensional Speckle-Tracking Strain by Echocardiography for the Detection of Acute Cellular Rejection in Cardiac Allograft Recipients.

PubMed

Sade, Leyla Elif; Hazirolan, Tuncay; Kozan, Hatice; Ozdemir, Handan; Hayran, Mutlu; Eroglu, Serpil; Pirat, Bahar; Sezgin, Atilla; Muderrisoglu, Haldun

2018-04-14

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that echocardiographic strain imaging, by tracking subtle alterations in myocardial function, and cardiac magnetic resonance T1 mapping, by quantifying tissue properties, are useful and complement each other to detect acute cellular rejection in heart transplant recipients. Noninvasive alternatives to endomyocardial biopsy are highly desirable to monitor acute cellular rejection. Surveillance endomyocardial biopsies, catheterizations, and echocardiograms performed serially according to institutional protocol since transplantation were retrospectively reviewed. Sixteen-segment global longitudinal strain (GLS) and circumferential strain were measured before, during, and after the first rejection and at 2 time points for patients without rejection using Velocity Vector Imaging for the first part of the study. The second part, with cardiac magnetic resonance added to the protocol, served to validate previously derived strain cutoffs, examine the progression of strain over time, and to determine the accuracy of strain and T1 measurements to define acute cellular rejection. All tests were performed within 48 h. Median time to first rejection (16 grade 1 rejection, 15 grade ≥2 rejection) was 3 months (interquartile range: 3 to 36 months) in 49 patients. GLS and global circumferential strain worsened significantly during grade 1 rejection and ≥2 rejection and were independent predictors of any rejection. In the second part of the study, T1 time ≥1,090 ms, extracellular volume ≥32%, GLS >-14%, and global circumferential strain ≥-24% had 100% sensitivity and 100% negative predictive value to define grade ≥2 rejection with 70%, 63%, 55%, and 35% positive predictive values, respectively. The combination of GLS >-16% and T1 time ≥1,060 ms defined grade 1 rejection with 91% sensitivity and 92% negative predictive value. After successful treatment, T1 times decreased significantly. T1 mapping and echocardiographic GLS can serve to guide endomyocardial biopsy selectively. Copyright © 2018 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stomaching rejection: Self-compassion and self-esteem moderate the impact of daily social rejection on restrictive eating behaviours among college women.

PubMed

Beekman, Janine B; Stock, Michelle L; Howe, George W

2017-11-01

The present study examined whether having high self-esteem or a self-compassionate perspective help mitigate the impact of daily social rejection on negative affect and restrictive eating behaviours. Following a baseline survey assessing self-esteem and self-compassion, 121 college women completed online daily diaries for one week. Negative affect and restrictive eating behaviours. On days when women reported more rejection, they also reported higher restrictive eating behaviours and greater negative affect. Effects were moderated by self-esteem and self-compassion, such that the lower participants were in self-esteem or self-compassion, the stronger the positive relation between rejection and negative affect and restrictive eating. However, only the common humanity/isolation dimension of self-compassion significantly moderated daily effects of rejection when controlling for self-esteem. Mediated moderation results reveal different mechanisms by which self-esteem and self-compassion buffer against rejections' effects on affect and restrictive eating. Self-compassion and self-esteem influence the complex impact that social rejection has on affect and restrictive eating. More than other dimensions of self-compassion or self-esteem, remembering one's common humanity can result in a healthier response to social rejection.

Trajectories of Italian Children's Peer Rejection: Associations with Aggression, Prosocial Behavior, Physical Attractiveness, and Adolescent Adjustment.

PubMed

Di Giunta, Laura; Pastorelli, Concetta; Thartori, Eriona; Bombi, Anna Silvia; Baumgartner, Emma; Fabes, Richard A; Martin, Carol Lynn; Enders, Craig K

2017-12-08

In the present study, the predictors and outcomes associated with the trajectories of peer rejection were examined in a longitudinal sample of Italian children (338 boys, 269 girls) ages 10 to 14 years. Follow-up assessments included 60% of the original sample at age 16-17. Low, medium, and high rejection trajectory groups were identified using growth mixture models. Consistent with previous studies, we found that (a) being less prosocial and more physically aggressive at age 10 was characteristic of those children with the high rejection trajectory; (b) being less attractive was related to higher peer rejection from age 10 to 14; and (c) boys with a high rejection trajectory showed high levels of delinquency and anxiety-depression and low levels of academic aspiration at age 16-17, whereas girls with a high rejection trajectory showed low levels of academic aspiration and social competence at age 16-17. Our findings indicate the detrimental consequences of peer rejection on children's development and adjustment and shed light on the mechanisms that contribute to maintaining or worsening (e.g., being attractive, prosocial, and aggressive) a child's negative status (e.g., being rejected) within his or her peer group over time.

Balancing rejection and infection with respect to age, race, and gender: clues acquired from 17 years of cardiac transplantation data.

PubMed

George, James F; Pamboukian, Salpy V; Tallaj, José A; Naftel, David C; Myers, Susan L; Foushee, Margaret T; Brown, Robert N; Pajaro, Octavio E; McGiffin, David C; Kirklin, James K

2010-09-01

Donor and recipient risk factors for rejection and infection have been well characterized. The contribution of demographic factors, especially age at the time of transplantation to morbidity and mortality due to rejection and infection, is much less well understood. Using parametric hazard analysis and multivariate risk-factor equations for infection and rejection events, we quantitatively determined the relationship of fundamental demographic variables (age, race and gender) to infection and rejection. These analyses were conducted with respect to date of transplant and age at the time of transplantation. The patient group consisted of all primary heart transplants performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham during the years 1990 to 2007 (n = 526). Risk factors for rejection within 12 months post-transplantation were date of transplant (p < 0.0001) and age at the time of transplantation (young adults 10 to 30 years of age, p < 0.0001). Risk factors for infection were date of transplant (p < 0.0001) and age at the time of transplantation (young children and older adults, p < 0.0001). There were three immunosuppressive eras in 1990 to 2007. Notably, although the proportion of patients experiencing rejection and infection events decreased during each successive immunosuppressive era, the relative relationship of infection to rejection, as well as age at the time of transplantation, remained similar into the most recent era. The maximal frequency of rejection events and rejection death occurred among patients transplanted at ages 10 to 30 years. Conversely, the frequency of infection events was minimal within the same group. In the oldest and youngest patients receiving transplants, infection was the predominant cause of death and rates of rejection events decreased. These data show that evolving immunosuppressive strategies have successfully reduced rejection and infection frequencies, and those patients transplanted at 30 to 60 years of age have the lowest frequency of rejection/infection events. However, individuals transplanted at younger or older ages, especially non-white recipients in the 10- to 30-year age group, experience significantly more infection or rejection. Therefore, programs should increase the level of surveillance in these patients and consider modification of immunosuppressive regimens in order to lower the frequency of infection and rejection events. Copyright 2010 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 58.136 - Rejected milk.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Rejected milk. 58.136 Section 58.136 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards... Milk § 58.136 Rejected milk. A plant shall reject specific milk from a producer if the milk fails to...

7 CFR 58.136 - Rejected milk.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rejected milk. 58.136 Section 58.136 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards... Milk § 58.136 Rejected milk. A plant shall reject specific milk from a producer if the milk fails to...

Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory and the Phylogenetic Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rohner, Ronald P.

Guided by specific theoretical and methodological points of view--the phylogenetic perspective and the universalistic approach respectively--this paper reports on a worldwide study of the antecedents and effects of parental acceptance and rejection. Parental acceptance-rejection theory postulates that rejected children throughout our species share…

Neural responses to witnessing peer rejection after being socially excluded: fMRI as a window into adolescents’ emotional processing

PubMed Central

Masten, Carrie L.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.; Pfeifer, Jennifer H.; Dapretto, Mirella

2013-01-01

During adolescence, concerns about peer rejection and acceptance become increasingly common. Adolescents regularly experience peer rejection firsthand and witness these behaviors among their peers. In the current study, neuroimaging techniques were employed to conduct a preliminary investigation of the affective and cognitive processes involved in witnessing peer acceptance and rejection—specifically when these witnessed events occur in the immediate aftermath of a firsthand experience with rejection. During an fMRI scan, twenty-three adolescents underwent a simulated experience of firsthand peer rejection. Then, immediately following this experience they watched as another adolescent was ostensibly first accepted and then rejected. Findings indicated that in the immediate aftermath of being rejected by peers, adolescents displayed neural activity consistent with distress when they saw another peer being accepted, and neural activity consistent with emotion regulation and mentalizing (e.g., perspective-taking) processes when they saw another peer being rejected. Furthermore, individuals displaying a heightened sensitivity to firsthand rejection were more likely to show neural activity consistent with distress when observing a peer being accepted. Findings are discussed in terms of how witnessing others being accepted or rejected relates to adolescents’ interpretations of both firsthand and observed experiences with peers. Additionally, the potential impact that witnessed events might have on the broader perpetuation of bullying at this age is also considered. PMID:24033579

Issues in solid-organ transplantation in children: translational research from bench to bedside

PubMed Central

Lipshultz, Steven E.; Chandar, Jayanthi J.; Rusconi, Paolo G.; Fornoni, Alessia; Abitbol, Carolyn L.; Burke III, George W.; Zilleruelo, Gaston E.; Pham, Si M.; Perez, Elena E.; Karnik, Ruchika; Hunter, Juanita A.; Dauphin, Danielle D.; Wilkinson, James D.

2014-01-01

In this review, we identify important challenges facing physicians responsible for renal and cardiac transplantation in children based on a review of the contemporary medical literature. Regarding pediatric renal transplantation, we discuss the challenge of antibody-mediated rejection, focusing on both acute and chronic antibody-mediated rejection. We review new diagnostic approaches to antibody-mediated rejection, such as panel-reactive antibodies, donor-specific cross-matching, antibody assays, risk assessment and diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection, the pathology of antibody-mediated rejection, the issue of ABO incompatibility in renal transplantation, new therapies for antibody-mediated rejection, inhibiting of residual antibodies, the suppression or depletion of B-cells, genetic approaches to treating acute antibody-mediated rejection, and identifying future translational research directions in kidney transplantation in children. Regarding pediatric cardiac transplantation, we discuss the mechanisms of cardiac transplant rejection, including the role of endomyocardial biopsy in detecting graft rejection and the role of biomarkers in detecting cardiac graft rejection, including biomarkers of inflammation, cardiomyocyte injury, or stress. We review cardiac allograft vasculopathy. We also address the role of genetic analyses, including genome-wide association studies, gene expression profiling using entities such as AlloMap®, and adenosine triphosphate release as a measure of immune function using the Cylex® ImmuKnow™ cell function assay. Finally, we identify future translational research directions in heart transplantation in children. PMID:24860861

Capillary Thrombosis in the Skin: A Pathologic Hallmark of Severe/Chronic Rejection of Human Vascularized Composite Tissue Allografts?

PubMed

Kanitakis, Jean; Petruzzo, Palmina; Gazarian, Aram; Karayannopoulou, Georgia; Buron, Fannie; Dubois, Valérie; Thaunat, Olivier; Badet, Lionel; Morelon, Emmanuel

2016-04-01

Vascularized composite tissue allografts (VCA) can undergo rejection, manifesting pathologically with skin changes that form the basis of the Banff 2007 classification of VCA rejection. We have followed 10 human VCA recipients (7 with hand allografts, 3 with face allografts) for pathological signs of rejection. All of them developed episodes of acute rejection. Two patients with hand allografts presented in some of their skin biopsies an as yet unreported pathological finding in human VCA, consisting of capillary thromboses (CT) in the upper dermis. Capillary thrombosis was associated with other typical changes of grade II to III VCA rejection, namely, perivascular T cell infiltrates, but not with vascular C4d deposits (in formalin-fixed tissue). Clinically, the lesions presented as red or violaceous (lichenoid) cutaneous maculopapules. The first patient had several episodes of acute rejection during the 7-year follow-up. The second patient developed donor-specific antibodies; some months after CT were first observed, he developed chronic rejection leading to partial amputation of the allograft. Pathological examination of the skin showed graft vasculopathy and occasional C4d deposits in cutaneous capillaries. Capillary thrombosis seems to be a novel pathologic finding associated with human VCA rejection. Although its mechanism (immunologic vs nonimmunologic) remains unclear, this finding could carry an unfavorable prognostic significance, prompting close monitoring of the patients for severe/chronic rejection.

Rituximab Therapy for Rejection in Pediatric Heart Transplant.

PubMed

Erdogan, Ilkay; Varan, Birgul; Sezgin, Atilla; Pirat, Arash; Zeyneloglu, Pinar

2018-04-01

Humoral rejection is the B-cell-mediated production of immunoglobulin G antibody against the transplanted heart. Antibody-mediated rejection may be resistant to standard immunosuppressive therapy and is associated with high mortality and graft loss. Rituximab can be used to treat antibody-mediated rejection in heart transplant recipients. This retrospective study describes our experience with rituximab treatment in children with heart transplants. We present 7 pediatric patients with antibody-mediated rejection who were treated with plasma exchange and rituximab therapy. Rituximab was given at a dose of 375 mg/m2 by slow infusion in the intensive care unit after 5 days of plasmapheresis, in addition to a conventional regimen consisting of steroids, mycophenolate mofetil, and tacrolimus. The peripheral blood count and sodium, potassium, serum urea nitrogen, creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase levels were measured in all patients before and after treatment. Seven patients were treated with plasma exchange and rituximab. We repeated this therapy in 5 patients because of refractoriness or recurrent rejection. After diagnoses of antibody-mediated rejection, 4 patients died within 6 months (mortality rate of 57.1%). We did not observe any adverse effects or complications related to rituximab. Rituximab can be used in humoral rejection after pediatric heart transplant. However, the success of the treatment is controversial, and further study is needed to find an effective treatment for antibody-mediated rejection and steroid-resistant cellular rejection in children.

Egg rejection behavior in a population exposed to parasitism: Village Weavers on Hispaniola

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cruz, A.; Prather, J.W.; Wiley, J.W.; Weaver, P.F.

2008-01-01

In contrast to African Village Weavers (Ploceus cucullatus) that are parasitized by Diederik Cuckoos (Chrysococcyx caprius), introduced weavers on Hispaniola existed without parasitism for at least 2 centuries until the arrival of the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) in the 1970s. Cruz and Wiley (1989) found that Hispaniolan weavers had a lower rejection rate of foreign eggs than African populations. Subsequently, Robert and Sorci (1999) and Lahti (2005, 2006) found that acceptance of dissimilar eggs is not characteristic of the species throughout its Hispaniolan range. In 1999-2002, we studied egg rejection in Hispaniolan weavers on a broad regional scale. Rejection increased as experimental eggs became increasingly different from the host eggs. Rejection rates for mimetic eggs, different color eggs, different-spotting eggs, and cowbird eggs was 23.2%, 33.3%, 61.5%, and 85.3%, respectively, with higher rejection of cowbird eggs in areas where cowbirds were observed. Although rejection is likely to have a genetic component, the differences could be due to phenotypic plasticity. Plasticity in egg rejection may be expected, given the potential cost of rejection and the spatiotemporal distribution of cowbirds. Thus, egg rejection has not necessarily decreased in Hispaniolan weavers, but it may act in a plastic manner, increasing where cowbirds are present. ?? The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved.

Understanding Rejection between First-and-Second-Grade Elementary Students through Reasons Expressed by Rejecters.

PubMed

García Bacete, Francisco J; Carrero Planes, Virginia E; Marande Perrin, Ghislaine; Musitu Ochoa, Gonzalo

2017-01-01

Objective: The aim of this research was to obtain the views of young children regarding their reasons for rejecting a peer. Method: To achieve this goal, we conducted a qualitative study in the context of theory building research using an analysis methodology based on Grounded Theory. The collected information was extracted through semi-structured individual interviews from a sample of 853 children aged 6 from 13 urban public schools in Spain. Results: The children provided 3,009 rejection nominations and 2,934 reasons for disliking the rejected peers. Seven reason categories emerged from the analysis. Four categories refer to behaviors of the rejected children that have a cost for individual peers or peer group such as: direct aggression, disturbance of wellbeing, problematic social and school behaviors and dominance behaviors. A further two categories refer to the identities arising from the preferences and choices of rejected and rejecter children and their peers: personal identity expressed through preferences and disliking, and social identity expressed through outgroup prejudices. The "no-behavior or no-choice" reasons were covered by one category, unfamiliarity. In addition, three context categories were found indicating the participants (interpersonal-group), the impact (low-high), and the subjectivity (subjective-objective) of the reason. Conclusion: This study provides researchers and practitioners with a comprehensive taxonomy of reasons for rejection that contributes to enrich the theoretical knowledge and improve interventions for preventing and reducing peer rejection.

Examining Ethnic Differences in Parental Rejection of LGB Youth Sexual Identity

PubMed Central

Richter, Brian E. J.; Lindahl, Kristin M.; Malik, Neena M.

2016-01-01

Upward of 70% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth experience some degree of parental rejection of their sexual identity, which is problematic in light of research documenting links between parental rejection and psychological difficulties in LGB youth. Additionally, emerging research suggests that ethnic minority LGB youth may be at greater risk to experience parental rejection than ethnic majority LGB youth. However, this research is inconclusive and has significant gaps. The current study is one of the first to include a multiethnic sample of LGB youth and their parents to investigate how ethnicity may be related to parental rejection. Specifically, the current study examined ethnic differences in parental rejection as well as in intrapersonal variables (i.e., homonegativity and traditional gender role beliefs), which are thought to be related both to ethnicity and parental rejection. Additionally, indirect effects of ethnicity on parental rejection through homonegativity and traditional gender role beliefs were examined. Participants included 90 parents (ages 32-63) and their 90 LGB children (ages 15-24). Fifty-nine percent of the sample was ethnic minority. Significant ethnic differences were found in parental rejection and homonegativity, but not in traditional gender role beliefs. Homonegativity was found to fully mediate the relation between ethnicity and parental rejection. These results provide important information on why ethnic minority parents, in general, may have a more difficult time accepting their LGB children than ethnic majority parents. PMID:27571323

Recipient-Matching of Passenger Leukocytes Prolongs Survival of Donor Lung Allografts in Miniature Swine

PubMed Central

Madariaga, Maria Lucia L.; Michel, Sebastian G.; La Muraglia, Glenn M.; Sihag, Smita; Leonard, David A.; Farkash, Evan A.; Colvin, Robert B.; Cetrulo, Curtis L.; Huang, Christene A.; Sachs, David H.; Madsen, Joren C.; Allan, James S.

2014-01-01

Background Allograft rejection continues to be a vexing problem in clinical lung transplantation, and the role played by passenger leukocytes in the rejection or acceptance of an organ is unclear. Here we tested whether recipient-matching of donor graft passenger leukocytes would impact graft survival in a preclinical model of orthotopic left lung transplantation. Methods In the experimental group (Group 1), donor lungs were obtained from chimeric swine, in which the passenger leukocytes (but not the parenchyma) were MHC-matched to the recipients (n=3). In the control group (Group 2), both the donor parenchyma and the passenger leukocytes were MHC-mismatched to the recipients (n = 3). Results Lungs harvested from swine previously rendered chimeric by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using recipient-type cells showed a high degree of passenger leukocyte chimerism by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. The chimeric lungs containing passenger leukocytes matched to the lung recipient (Group 1) survived on average 107 days (range 80–156). Control lung allografts (Group 2) survived on average 45 days (range 29–64; p<0.05). Conclusion Our data indicate that recipient-matching of passenger leukocytes significantly prolongs lung allograft survival. PMID:25757217

The effect of AM noise on correlation phase-noise measurements.

PubMed

Rubiola, Enrico; Boudot, Rodolphe

2007-05-01

We analyze the phase-noise measurement methods in which correlation and averaging is used to reject the background noise of the instrument. All the known methods make use of a mixer, used either as a saturated-phase detector or as a linear-synchronous detector. Unifortunately, AM noise is taken in through the power-to-dc-offset conversion mechanism that results from the mixer asymmetry. The measurement of some mixers indicates that the unwanted amplitude-to-voltage gain is of the order of 5-50 mV, which is 12-35 dB lower than the phase-to-voltage gain of the mixer. In addition, the trick of setting the mixer at a sweet point--off the quadrature condition--where the sensitivity to AM nulls, works only with microwave mixers. The HF-VHF mixers do not have this sweet point. Moreover, we prove that if the AM noise comes from the oscillator under test, it cannot be rejected by correlation. At least not with the schemes currently used. An example shows that at some critical frequencies the unwanted effect of AM noise is of the same order-if not greater--than the phase noise. Thus, experimental mistakes are around the corner.

An innovative bolometric Cherenkov-light detector for a double beta decay search

DOE PAGES

Novati, V.; Artusa, D. R.; Avignone, F. T.; ...

2017-10-31

Here, we present here an innovative cryogenic light detector capable to measure a few tens of eV signal thanks to the amplification assisted by the Neganov-Luke effect. The thermal signal boost in the presence of an electric field allows us to improve the signal-to-noise ratio reaching a baseline noise of around 20 eV. This device - coupled to an enriched 130TeO 2 bolometer (435 g) - registered 160 eV Cherenkov light signal induced by 2615 keV 208 Tl with a signal to noise ratio about 6:1. Since α particles emitted in decays of natural radionuclides do not produce the Cherenkovmore » radiation, we were then able to achieve an efficient α/γ separation in the region of interest for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130 Te (Q-value is 2527 keV). Specifically, a rejection factor of 99.9% for α particles was obtained with a 98.3% acceptance of β/γ events. The achieved α rejection efficiency is required to reduce the dominant α background in the follow-up of the CUORE experiment (CUPID), a ton-scale bolometric search with particle identification.« less