Highly efficient one-pot/one-step synthesis of multiblock copolymers from three-component polymerization of carbon dioxide, epoxide and lactone.

PubMed

Li, Yang; Hong, Jiali; Wei, Renjian; Zhang, Yingying; Tong, Zaizai; Zhang, Xinghong; Du, Binyang; Xu, Junting; Fan, Zhiqiang

2015-02-01

It is a long-standing challenge to combine mixed monomers into multiblock copolymer (MBC) in a one-pot/one-step polymerization manner. We report the first example of MBC with biodegradable polycarbonate and polyester blocks that were synthesized from highly efficient one-pot/one-step polymerization of cyclohexene oxide (CHO), CO 2 and ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) in the presence of zinc-cobalt double metal cyanide complex and stannous octoate. In this protocol, two cross-chain exchange reactions (CCER) occurred at dual catalysts respectively and connected two independent chain propagation procedures ( i.e. , polycarbonate formation and polyester formation) simultaneously in a block-by-block manner, affording MBC without tapering structure. The multiblock structure of MBC was determined by the rate ratio of CCER to the two chain propagations and could be simply tuned by various kinetic factors. This protocol is also of significance due to partial utilization of renewable CO 2 and improved mechanical properties of the resultant MBC.

Processing technology for high efficiency silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spitzer, M. B.; Keavney, C. J.

1985-01-01

Recent advances in silicon solar cell processing have led to attainment of conversion efficiency approaching 20%. The basic cell design is investigated and features of greatest importance to achievement of 20% efficiency are indicated. Experiments to separately optimize high efficiency design features in test structures are discussed. The integration of these features in a high efficiency cell is examined. Ion implantation has been used to achieve optimal concentrations of emitter dopant and junction depth. The optimization reflects the trade-off between high sheet conductivity, necessary for high fill factor, and heavy doping effects, which must be minimized for high open circuit voltage. A second important aspect of the design experiments is the development of a passivation process to minimize front surface recombination velocity. The manner in which a thin SiO2 layer may be used for this purpose is indicated without increasing reflection losses, if the antireflection coating is properly designed. Details are presented of processing intended to reduce recombination at the contact/Si interface. Data on cell performance (including CZ and ribbon) and analysis of loss mechanisms are also presented.

41 CFR 109-1.5302 - Policies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... efficient manner. High risk personal property will be managed throughout its life cycle so as to protect... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Policies. 109-1.5302 Section 109-1.5302 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System...

Report: EPA Needs Policies and Procedures to Manage Public Pesticide Petitions in a Transparent and Efficient Manner

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report #16-P-0019, October 27, 2015. OPP’s lack of policies and procedures to manage public pesticide petitions in a transparent and efficient manner can result in unreasonable delay lawsuits costing the agency time and resources.

Apparatus and process for the separation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles using microbubble column flotation together with a process and apparatus for generation of microbubbles

DOEpatents

Yoon, R.H.; Adel, G.T.; Luttrell, G.H.

1992-12-01

A method and apparatus are disclosed for the microbubble flotation separation of very fine and coarse particles, especially coal and minerals, so as to produce high purity and high recovery efficiency. This is accomplished through the use of a flotation column, microbubbles, recycling of the flotation pulp, and countercurrent wash water to gently wash the froth. Also disclosed are unique processes and apparatus for generating microbubbles for flotation in a highly efficient and inexpensive manner using either a porous tube or in-line static generators. 14 figs.

Apparatus and process for the separation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles using microbubble column flotation together with a process and apparatus for generation of microbubbles

DOEpatents

Yoon, R.H.; Adel, G.T.; Luttrell, G.H.

1998-09-29

A method and apparatus are disclosed for the microbubble flotation separation of very fine and coarse particles, especially coal and minerals, so as to produce high purity and high recovery efficiency. This is accomplished through the use of a flotation column, microbubbles, recycling of the flotation pulp, and countercurrent wash water to gently wash the froth. Also disclosed are unique processes and apparatus for generating microbubbles for flotation in a highly efficient and inexpensive manner using either a porous tube or in-line static generators. 14 figs.

20180312 - Evaluating the applicability of read-across tools and high throughput screening data for food relevant chemicals (SOT)

EPA Science Inventory

Alternative toxicity assessment methods to characterize the hazards of chemical substances have been proposed to reduce animal testing and screen thousands of chemicals in an efficient manner. Resources to accomplish these goals include utilizing large in vitro chemical screening...

Transcriptome analysis of Pseudomonas syringae identifies new genes, ncRNAs, and antisense activity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To fully understand how bacteria respond to their environment, it is essential to assess genome-wide transcriptional activity. New high throughput sequencing technologies make it possible to query the transcriptome of an organism in an efficient unbiased manner. We applied a strand-specific method t...

Intermolecular rhodium-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] carbocyclization reactions of 1,6-enynes with symmetrical and unsymmetrical alkynes†

PubMed Central

Andrew Evans, P.; Sawyer, James R.; Lai, Kwong Wah; Huffman, John C.

2006-01-01

The crossed intermolecular rhodium-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] carbocyclization of carbon and heteroatom tethered 1,6-enynes can be accomplished with symmetrical and unsymmetrical alkynes, to afford the corresponding bicyclohexadienes in an efficient and highly selective manner. PMID:16075089

Efficient production of a gene mutant cell line through integrating TALENs and high-throughput cell cloning.

PubMed

Sun, Changhong; Fan, Yu; Li, Juan; Wang, Gancheng; Zhang, Hanshuo; Xi, Jianzhong Jeff

2015-02-01

Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) are becoming powerful DNA-targeting tools in a variety of mammalian cells and model organisms. However, generating a stable cell line with specific gene mutations in a simple and rapid manner remains a challenging task. Here, we report a new method to efficiently produce monoclonal cells using integrated TALE nuclease technology and a series of high-throughput cell cloning approaches. Following this method, we obtained three mTOR mutant 293T cell lines within 2 months, which included one homozygous mutant line. © 2014 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Cryopreservation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in Defined Medium

PubMed Central

Liu, Weiwei; Chen, Guokai

2014-01-01

This protocol describes a cryopreservation procedure using an enzyme-free dissociation method to harvest cells and preserve cells in albumin-free chemically defined E8 medium for human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). The dissociation by EDTA/PBS produces small cell aggregates that allow high survival efficiency in passaging and cryopreservation. The preservation in E8 medium eliminates serum or other animal products, and is suitable for the increasing demand for high quality hPSCs in translational research. In combination with the special feature of EDTA/PBS dissociation, this protocol allows efficient cryopreservation in more time-saving manner. PMID:25366897

Efficient dynamic coherence transfer relying on offset locking using optical phase-locked loop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Weilin; Dong, Yi; Bretenaker, Fabien; Shi, Hongxiao; Zhou, Qian; Xia, Zongyang; Qin, Jie; Zhang, Lin; Lin, Xi; Hu, Weisheng

2018-01-01

We design and experimentally demonstrate a highly efficient coherence transfer based on composite optical phaselocked loop comprising multiple feedback servo loops. The heterodyne offset-locking is achieved by conducting an acousto-optic frequency shifter in combination with the current tuning and the temperature controlling of the semiconductor laser. The adaptation of the composite optical phase-locked loop enables the tight coherence transfer from a frequency comb to a semiconductor laser in a fully dynamic manner.

DESIGN OF AN ENGINE GENERATOR FOR THE RURAL POOR: A SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS APPROACH

EPA Science Inventory

The system consists of a fuel source (a biodiesel system), a combustion/boiler system, and a steam engine/generator. The biodiesel system proved to be simplistic in its design and low cost; it successfully made high-quality biodiesel in an efficient manner. The main issues to ...

ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL EFFECTS ON NEURONAL DIFFERENTIATION USING THE ARRAYSCAN HIGH CONTENT SCREENING SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

The development of alternative methods for toxicity testing is driven by the need for scientifically valid data that can be obtained in a rapid and cost-efficient manner. In vitro systems provide a model in which chemical effects on cellular events can be examined using technique...

Improvement in adenoviral gene transfer efficiency after preincubation at +37 degrees C in vitro and in vivo.

PubMed

Kossila, Maija; Jauhiainen, Suvi; Laukkanen, Mikko O; Lehtolainen, Pauliina; Jääskeläinen, Maiju; Turunen, Päivi; Loimas, Sami; Wahlfors, Jarmo; Ylä-Herttuala, Seppo

2002-01-01

Adenovirus is a widely used vector in gene transfer experiments because it produces high transduction efficiency in vitro and in vivo by means of the coxsackie-adenovirus receptor (CAR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alpha-2 domain. Adenoviral gene transfer efficiency has been reported to correlate with cellular CAR expression. We report here a simple method to increase adenoviral gene transfer efficiency in cells that do not express high levels of CAR: preincubation of adenovirus for 30-40 minutes at +37 degrees C significantly increased the transduction efficiency in vitro in CHO and BALB/3T3 cells, in which CAR is expressed at very low levels. Increased transduction efficiency of preincubated adenovirus was also detected in vivo in rat brain tissue. In addition, we found that adenoviruses were rapidly inactivated in human serum in a complement-independent manner, whereas fetal bovine serum (FBS) had hardly any effects on the viral infectivity. We conclude that preincubation of adenoviral vectors at +37 degrees C may substantially increase gene transfer efficiency in applications in which target cells do not express high levels of CAR.

Airfoil Design and Optimization by the One-Shot Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuruvila, G.; Taasan, Shlomo; Salas, M. D.

1995-01-01

An efficient numerical approach for the design of optimal aerodynamic shapes is presented in this paper. The objective of any optimization problem is to find the optimum of a cost function subject to a certain state equation (governing equation of the flow field) and certain side constraints. As in classical optimal control methods, the present approach introduces a costate variable (Lagrange multiplier) to evaluate the gradient of the cost function. High efficiency in reaching the optimum solution is achieved by using a multigrid technique and updating the shape in a hierarchical manner such that smooth (low-frequency) changes are done separately from high-frequency changes. Thus, the design variables are changed on a grid where their changes produce nonsmooth (high-frequency) perturbations that can be damped efficiently by the multigrid. The cost of solving the optimization problem is approximately two to three times the cost of the equivalent analysis problem.

High Selectivity Toward C2H4 Production over Cu Particles Supported by Butterfly-Wing-Derived Carbon Frameworks.

PubMed

Huo, Yajiao; Peng, Xianyun; Liu, Xijun; Li, Huaiyu; Luo, Jun

2018-04-18

Converting carbon dioxide to useful C2 chemicals in a selective and efficient manner remains a major challenge in renewable and sustainable energy research. Herein, we adopt butterfly wings to assist the preparation of an electrocatalyst containing monodispersed Cu particles supported by nitrogen-doped carbon frameworks for an efficient reduction of CO 2 . Benefiting from structure advantages and the synergistic effect between nitrogen dopants and stepped surface-rich Cu particles, the resulting catalyst exhibited a high faradic efficiency of 63.7 ± 1.4% for ethylene production (corresponding to an ethylene/methane products' ratio of 57.9 ± 5.4) and an excellent durability (∼100% retention after 24 h). This work presents some guidelines for the rational design and accurate modulation of metal heterocatalysts for high selectivity toward ethylene from CO 2 electroreduction.

Airfoil optimization by the one-shot method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuruvila, G.; Taasan, Shlomo; Salas, M. D.

1994-01-01

An efficient numerical approach for the design of optimal aerodynamic shapes is presented in this paper. The objective of any optimization problem is to find the optimum of a cost function subject to a certain state equation (Governing equation of the flow field) and certain side constraints. As in classical optimal control methods, the present approach introduces a costate variable (Language multiplier) to evaluate the gradient of the cost function. High efficiency in reaching the optimum solution is achieved by using a multigrid technique and updating the shape in a hierarchical manner such that smooth (low-frequency) changes are done separately from high-frequency changes. Thus, the design variables are changed on a grid where their changes produce nonsmooth (high-frequency) perturbations that can be damped efficiently by the multigrid. The cost of solving the optimization problem is approximately two to three times the cost of the equivalent analysis problem.

Rare Earth Doped High Temperature Ceramic Selective Emitters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chubb, Donald L.; Pal, AnnaMarie; Patton, Martin O.; Jenkins, Phillip P.

1999-01-01

As a result of their electron structure, rare earth ions in crystals at high temperature emit radiation in several narrow bands rather than in a continuous blackbody manner. This study develops a spectral emittance model for films of rare earth containing materials. Although there are several possible rare earth doped high temperature materials, this study was confined to rare earth aluminum garnets. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical spectral emittances was found for erbium, thulium and erbium-holmium aluminum garnets. Spectral emittances of these films are sensitive to temperature differences across the film. Emitter efficiency is also a sensitive function of temperature. For thulium aluminum garnet the efficiency is 0.38 at 1700 K but only 0.19 at 1262 K.

Silver-Catalyzed Cyclopropanation of Alkenes Using N-Nosylhydrazones as Diazo Surrogates.

PubMed

Liu, Zhaohong; Zhang, Xinyu; Zanoni, Giuseppe; Bi, Xihe

2017-12-15

An efficient silver-catalyzed [2 + 1] cyclopropanation of sterically hindered internal alkenes with diazo compounds in which room-temperature-decomposable N-nosylhydrazones are used as diazo surrogates is reported. The unexpected unique catalytic activity of silver was ascribed to its dual role as a Lewis acid activating alkene substrates and as a transition metal forming silver carbenoids. A wide range of internal alkenes, including challenging diarylethenes, were suitable for this protocol, thereby affording a variety of cyclopropanes with high efficiency in a stereoselective manner under mild conditions.

Triggering soft bombs at the LHC

DOE PAGES

Knapen, Simon; Griso, Simone Pagan; Papucci, Michele; ...

2017-08-18

Very high multiplicity, spherically-symmetric distributions of soft particles, with p T ~ few×100 MeV, may be a signature of strongly-coupled hidden valleys that exhibit long, efficient showering windows. With traditional triggers, such ‘soft bomb’ events closely resemble pile-up and are therefore only recorded with minimum bias triggers at a very low efficiency. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept for a high-level triggering strategy that efficiently separates soft bombs from pile-up by searching for a ‘belt of fire’: a high density band of hits on the innermost layer of the tracker. Seeding our proposed high-level trigger with existing jet, missing transverse energy ormore » lepton hardware-level triggers, we show that net trigger efficiencies of order 10% are possible for bombs of mass several × 100 GeV. We also consider the special case that soft bombs are the result of an exotic decay of the 125 GeV Higgs. The fiducial rate for ‘Higgs bombs’ triggered in this manner is marginally higher than the rate achievable by triggering directly on a hard muon from associated Higgs production.« less

Triggering soft bombs at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knapen, Simon; Griso, Simone Pagan; Papucci, Michele; Robinson, Dean J.

2017-08-01

Very high multiplicity, spherically-symmetric distributions of soft particles, with p T ˜ few×100 MeV, may be a signature of strongly-coupled hidden valleys that exhibit long, efficient showering windows. With traditional triggers, such `soft bomb' events closely resemble pile-up and are therefore only recorded with minimum bias triggers at a very low efficiency. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept for a high-level triggering strategy that efficiently separates soft bombs from pile-up by searching for a `belt of fire': a high density band of hits on the innermost layer of the tracker. Seeding our proposed high-level trigger with existing jet, missing transverse energy or lepton hardware-level triggers, we show that net trigger efficiencies of order 10% are possible for bombs of mass several × 100 GeV. We also consider the special case that soft bombs are the result of an exotic decay of the 125 GeV Higgs. The fiducial rate for `Higgs bombs' triggered in this manner is marginally higher than the rate achievable by triggering directly on a hard muon from associated Higgs production.

Triggering soft bombs at the LHC

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

Knapen, Simon; Griso, Simone Pagan; Papucci, Michele

Very high multiplicity, spherically-symmetric distributions of soft particles, with p T ~ few×100 MeV, may be a signature of strongly-coupled hidden valleys that exhibit long, efficient showering windows. With traditional triggers, such ‘soft bomb’ events closely resemble pile-up and are therefore only recorded with minimum bias triggers at a very low efficiency. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept for a high-level triggering strategy that efficiently separates soft bombs from pile-up by searching for a ‘belt of fire’: a high density band of hits on the innermost layer of the tracker. Seeding our proposed high-level trigger with existing jet, missing transverse energy ormore » lepton hardware-level triggers, we show that net trigger efficiencies of order 10% are possible for bombs of mass several × 100 GeV. We also consider the special case that soft bombs are the result of an exotic decay of the 125 GeV Higgs. The fiducial rate for ‘Higgs bombs’ triggered in this manner is marginally higher than the rate achievable by triggering directly on a hard muon from associated Higgs production.« less

Nanobiotechnology promotes noninvasive high-intensity focused ultrasound cancer surgery.

PubMed

Chen, Yu; Chen, Hangrong; Shi, Jianlin

2015-01-07

The successful cancer eradication in a noninvasive manner is the ultimate objective in the fight against cancer. As a "bloodless scalpel," high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is regarded as one of the most promising and representative noninvasive therapeutic modalities for cancer surgery. However, large-scale clinical applications of HIFU are still in their infancy because of critical efficiency and safety issues which remain to be solved. Fortunately, recently developed nanobiotechnology provides an alternative efficient approach to improve such important issues in HIFU, especially for cancer therapy. This Research News presents the very recent exciting progresses on the elaborate design and fabrication of organic, inorganic, and organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles for enhancing the HIFU ablation efficiency against tumor tissues. It is highly expected that this Research News can arouse more extensive research enthusiasm on the development of functional nanomaterials for highly efficient HIFU-based synergistic therapy, which will give a promising noninvasive therapeutic modality for the successful cancer therapy with minimal damage to surrounding normal tissues, due to the noninvasive and site-specific therapeutic features of HIFU. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High efficiency laser spectrum conditioner

DOEpatents

Greiner, Norman R.

1980-01-01

A high efficiency laser spectrum conditioner for generating a collinear parallel output beam containing a predetermined set of frequencies from a multifrequency laser. A diffraction grating and spherical mirror are used in combination, to disperse the various frequencies of the input laser beam and direct these frequencies along various parallel lines spatially separated from one another to an apertured mask. Selection of the desired frequencies is accomplished by placement of apertures at locations on the mask where the desired frequencies intersect the mask. A recollimated parallel output beam with the desired set of frequencies is subsequently generated utilizing a mirror and grating matched and geometrically aligned in the same manner as the input grating and mirror.

An aqueous rechargeable formate-based hydrogen battery driven by heterogeneous Pd catalysis.

PubMed

Bi, Qing-Yuan; Lin, Jian-Dong; Liu, Yong-Mei; Du, Xian-Long; Wang, Jian-Qiang; He, He-Yong; Cao, Yong

2014-12-01

The formate-based rechargeable hydrogen battery (RHB) promises high reversible capacity to meet the need for safe, reliable, and sustainable H2 storage used in fuel cell applications. Described herein is an additive-free RHB which is based on repetitive cycles operated between aqueous formate dehydrogenation (discharging) and bicarbonate hydrogenation (charging). Key to this truly efficient and durable H2 handling system is the use of highly strained Pd nanoparticles anchored on graphite oxide nanosheets as a robust and efficient solid catalyst, which can facilitate both the discharging and charging processes in a reversible and highly facile manner. Up to six repeated discharging/charging cycles can be performed without noticeable degradation in the storage capacity. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Rapid and efficient method to extract metagenomic DNA from estuarine sediments.

PubMed

Shamim, Kashif; Sharma, Jaya; Dubey, Santosh Kumar

2017-07-01

Metagenomic DNA from sediments of selective estuaries of Goa, India was extracted using a simple, fast, efficient and environment friendly method. The recovery of pure metagenomic DNA from our method was significantly high as compared to other well-known methods since the concentration of recovered metagenomic DNA ranged from 1185.1 to 4579.7 µg/g of sediment. The purity of metagenomic DNA was also considerably high as the ratio of absorbance at 260 and 280 nm ranged from 1.88 to 1.94. Therefore, the recovered metagenomic DNA was directly used to perform various molecular biology experiments viz. restriction digestion, PCR amplification, cloning and metagenomic library construction. This clearly proved that our protocol for metagenomic DNA extraction using silica gel efficiently removed the contaminants and prevented shearing of the metagenomic DNA. Thus, this modified method can be used to recover pure metagenomic DNA from various estuarine sediments in a rapid, efficient and eco-friendly manner.

Using learning automata to determine proper subset size in high-dimensional spaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seyyedi, Seyyed Hossein; Minaei-Bidgoli, Behrouz

2017-03-01

In this paper, we offer a new method called FSLA (Finding the best candidate Subset using Learning Automata), which combines the filter and wrapper approaches for feature selection in high-dimensional spaces. Considering the difficulties of dimension reduction in high-dimensional spaces, FSLA's multi-objective functionality is to determine, in an efficient manner, a feature subset that leads to an appropriate tradeoff between the learning algorithm's accuracy and efficiency. First, using an existing weighting function, the feature list is sorted and selected subsets of the list of different sizes are considered. Then, a learning automaton verifies the performance of each subset when it is used as the input space of the learning algorithm and estimates its fitness upon the algorithm's accuracy and the subset size, which determines the algorithm's efficiency. Finally, FSLA introduces the fittest subset as the best choice. We tested FSLA in the framework of text classification. The results confirm its promising performance of attaining the identified goal.

High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Energy Conversion using Surface Acoustic Waves in Piezoelectric Semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakovenko, Victor

2010-03-01

We propose a radically new design for photovoltaic energy conversion using surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in piezoelectric semiconductors. The periodically modulated electric field from SAW spatially separates photogenerated electrons and holes to the maxima and minima of SAW, thus preventing their recombination. The segregated electrons and holes are transported by the moving SAW to the collecting electrodes of two types, which produce dc electric output. Recent experiments [1] using SAWs in GaAs have demonstrated the photon to current conversion efficiency of 85%. These experiments were designed for photon counting, but we propose to adapt these techniques for highly efficient photovoltaic energy conversion. The advantages are that the electron-hole segregation takes place in the whole volume where SAW is present, and the electrons and holes are transported in the organized, collective manner at high speed, as opposed to random diffusion in conventional devices.[4pt] [1] S. J. Jiao, P. D. Batista, K. Biermann, R. Hey, and P. V. Santos, J. Appl. Phys. 106, 053708 (2009).

Microcolumnar and polycrystalline growth of LaBr3:Ce scintillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagarkar, V. V.; Miller, S.; Sia, R.; Gaysinskiy, V.

2011-05-01

While a wide variety of new scintillators are now available, cerium-doped lanthanide halide scintillators have shown a strong potential toward fulfilling the needs of highly demanding applications such as radioisotope identification at room temperature, homeland security, quantitative molecular imaging for medical diagnostics, and disease staging and research. Despite their extraordinary advantages in terms of light yield and response uniformity over a wide energy range, issues related to reliable, large volume manufacturing of these high-light-yield materials in a rapid and economic manner has not been resolved or purposefully addressed. Here we report on synthesizing LaBr3:Ce scintillator using a thermal evaporation technique, which offers the potential to synthesize large quantities of small-to-large volume, high-quality material in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner. To date we have successfully applied this method to form both microcolumnar films and thick polycrystalline slabs of LaBr3:Ce, and have characterized their light yield, response linearity, decay time and afterglow.

The Molecular Design of Active Sites in Nanoporous Materials for Sustainable Catalysis.

PubMed

Chapman, Stephanie; Potter, Matthew E; Raja, Robert

2017-12-02

At the forefront of global development, the chemical industry is being confronted by a growing demand for products and services, but also the need to provide these in a manner that is sustainable in the long-term. In facing this challenge, the industry is being revolutionised by advances in catalysis that allow chemical transformations to be performed in a more efficient and economical manner. To this end, molecular design, facilitated by detailed theoretical and empirical studies, has played a pivotal role in creating highly-active and selective heterogeneous catalysts. In this review, the industrially-relevant Beckmann rearrangement is presented as an exemplar of how judicious characterisation and ab initio experiments can be used to understand and optimise nanoporous materials for sustainable catalysis.

Helicity multiplexed broadband metasurface holograms.

PubMed

Wen, Dandan; Yue, Fuyong; Li, Guixin; Zheng, Guoxing; Chan, Kinlong; Chen, Shumei; Chen, Ming; Li, King Fai; Wong, Polis Wing Han; Cheah, Kok Wai; Pun, Edwin Yue Bun; Zhang, Shuang; Chen, Xianzhong

2015-09-10

Metasurfaces are engineered interfaces that contain a thin layer of plasmonic or dielectric nanostructures capable of manipulating light in a desirable manner. Advances in metasurfaces have led to various practical applications ranging from lensing to holography. Metasurface holograms that can be switched by the polarization state of incident light have been demonstrated for achieving polarization multiplexed functionalities. However, practical application of these devices has been limited by their capability for achieving high efficiency and high image quality. Here we experimentally demonstrate a helicity multiplexed metasurface hologram with high efficiency and good image fidelity over a broad range of frequencies. The metasurface hologram features the combination of two sets of hologram patterns operating with opposite incident helicities. Two symmetrically distributed off-axis images are interchangeable by controlling the helicity of the input light. The demonstrated helicity multiplexed metasurface hologram with its high performance opens avenues for future applications with functionality switchable optical devices.

Helicity multiplexed broadband metasurface holograms

PubMed Central

Wen, Dandan; Yue, Fuyong; Li, Guixin; Zheng, Guoxing; Chan, Kinlong; Chen, Shumei; Chen, Ming; Li, King Fai; Wong, Polis Wing Han; Cheah, Kok Wai; Yue Bun Pun, Edwin; Zhang, Shuang; Chen, Xianzhong

2015-01-01

Metasurfaces are engineered interfaces that contain a thin layer of plasmonic or dielectric nanostructures capable of manipulating light in a desirable manner. Advances in metasurfaces have led to various practical applications ranging from lensing to holography. Metasurface holograms that can be switched by the polarization state of incident light have been demonstrated for achieving polarization multiplexed functionalities. However, practical application of these devices has been limited by their capability for achieving high efficiency and high image quality. Here we experimentally demonstrate a helicity multiplexed metasurface hologram with high efficiency and good image fidelity over a broad range of frequencies. The metasurface hologram features the combination of two sets of hologram patterns operating with opposite incident helicities. Two symmetrically distributed off-axis images are interchangeable by controlling the helicity of the input light. The demonstrated helicity multiplexed metasurface hologram with its high performance opens avenues for future applications with functionality switchable optical devices. PMID:26354497

DNS of Flow in a Low-Pressure Turbine Cascade Using a Discontinuous-Galerkin Spectral-Element Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garai, Anirban; Diosady, Laslo Tibor; Murman, Scott; Madavan, Nateri

2015-01-01

A new computational capability under development for accurate and efficient high-fidelity direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large eddy simulation (LES) of turbomachinery is described. This capability is based on an entropy-stable Discontinuous-Galerkin spectral-element approach that extends to arbitrarily high orders of spatial and temporal accuracy and is implemented in a computationally efficient manner on a modern high performance computer architecture. A validation study using this method to perform DNS of flow in a low-pressure turbine airfoil cascade are presented. Preliminary results indicate that the method captures the main features of the flow. Discrepancies between the predicted results and the experiments are likely due to the effects of freestream turbulence not being included in the simulation and will be addressed in the final paper.

High-efficient and high-content cytotoxic recording via dynamic and continuous cell-based impedance biosensor technology.

PubMed

Hu, Ning; Fang, Jiaru; Zou, Ling; Wan, Hao; Pan, Yuxiang; Su, Kaiqi; Zhang, Xi; Wang, Ping

2016-10-01

Cell-based bioassays were effective method to assess the compound toxicity by cell viability, and the traditional label-based methods missed much information of cell growth due to endpoint detection, while the higher throughputs were demanded to obtain dynamic information. Cell-based biosensor methods can dynamically and continuously monitor with cell viability, however, the dynamic information was often ignored or seldom utilized in the toxin and drug assessment. Here, we reported a high-efficient and high-content cytotoxic recording method via dynamic and continuous cell-based impedance biosensor technology. The dynamic cell viability, inhibition ratio and growth rate were derived from the dynamic response curves from the cell-based impedance biosensor. The results showed that the biosensors has the dose-dependent manners to diarrhetic shellfish toxin, okadiac acid based on the analysis of the dynamic cell viability and cell growth status. Moreover, the throughputs of dynamic cytotoxicity were compared between cell-based biosensor methods and label-based endpoint methods. This cell-based impedance biosensor can provide a flexible, cost and label-efficient platform of cell viability assessment in the shellfish toxin screening fields.

An Object-Oriented Collection of Minimum Degree Algorithms: Design, Implementation, and Experiences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kumfert, Gary; Pothen, Alex

1999-01-01

The multiple minimum degree (MMD) algorithm and its variants have enjoyed 20+ years of research and progress in generating fill-reducing orderings for sparse, symmetric positive definite matrices. Although conceptually simple, efficient implementations of these algorithms are deceptively complex and highly specialized. In this case study, we present an object-oriented library that implements several recent minimum degree-like algorithms. We discuss how object-oriented design forces us to decompose these algorithms in a different manner than earlier codes and demonstrate how this impacts the flexibility and efficiency of our C++ implementation. We compare the performance of our code against other implementations in C or Fortran.

Efficient Genome Editing in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Engineered Nucleases In Vitro.

PubMed

Termglinchan, Vittavat; Seeger, Timon; Chen, Caressa; Wu, Joseph C; Karakikes, Ioannis

2017-01-01

Precision genome engineering is rapidly advancing the application of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology for in vitro disease modeling of cardiovascular diseases. Targeted genome editing using engineered nucleases is a powerful tool that allows for reverse genetics, genome engineering, and targeted transgene integration experiments to be performed in a precise and predictable manner. However, nuclease-mediated homologous recombination is an inefficient process. Herein, we describe the development of an optimized method combining site-specific nucleases and the piggyBac transposon system for "seamless" genome editing in pluripotent stem cells with high efficiency and fidelity in vitro.

Highly Efficient Spin-Current Operation in a Cu Nano-Ring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Benedict A.; Vick, Andrew J.; Samiepour, Marjan; Hirohata, Atsufumi

2016-11-01

An all-metal lateral spin-valve structure has been fabricated with a medial Copper nano-ring to split the diffusive spin-current path. We have demonstrated significant modulation of the non-local signal by the application of a magnetic field gradient across the nano-ring, which is up to 30% more efficient than the conventional Hanle configuration at room temperature. This was achieved by passing a dc current through a current-carrying bar to provide a locally induced Ampère field. We have shown that in this manner a lateral spin-valve gains an additional functionality in the form of three-terminal gate operation for future spintronic logic.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Baking Industry: An ENERGY STAR ® Guide for Plant and Energy Managers

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

Masanet, Eric; Therkelsen, Peter; Worrell, Ernst

The U.S. baking industry—defined in this Energy Guide as facilities engaged in the manufacture of commercial bakery products such as breads, rolls, frozen cakes, pies, pastries, and cookies and crackers—consumes over $800 million worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component,more » process, facility, and organizational levels. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in food processing facilities and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. A summary of basic, proven measures for improving plant-level water efficiency is also provided. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. baking industry reduce energy and water consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures—as well as on their applicability to different production practices—is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.« less

Investigating the structure preserving encryption of high efficiency video coding (HEVC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahid, Zafar; Puech, William

2013-02-01

This paper presents a novel method for the real-time protection of new emerging High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. Structure preserving selective encryption is being performed in CABAC entropy coding module of HEVC, which is significantly different from CABAC entropy coding of H.264/AVC. In CABAC of HEVC, exponential Golomb coding is replaced by truncated Rice (TR) up to a specific value for binarization of transform coefficients. Selective encryption is performed using AES cipher in cipher feedback mode on a plaintext of binstrings in a context aware manner. The encrypted bitstream has exactly the same bit-rate and is format complaint. Experimental evaluation and security analysis of the proposed algorithm is performed on several benchmark video sequences containing different combinations of motion, texture and objects.

Nucleophilic addition of Grignard reagents to 3-acylindoles: stereoselective synthesis of highly substituted indoline scaffolds.

PubMed

Wang, Lu; Shao, Yushang; Liu, Yuanhong

2012-08-03

3-Acylindoles undergo nucleophilic-type reactions with Grignard reagents to efficiently afford either cis- or trans-substituted indolines, depending on the different quenching procedures. The enolate intermediate could be trapped by aryl acyl chlorides to provide indolines bearing a quaternary carbon center with high stereoselectivity. In contrast, the use of benzyl bromide as an electrophile results in the fragmentation of the indole ring. The indoline products could be easily transformed into indoles through oxidation with DDQ in a one-pot manner.

48 CFR 1816.405-275 - Award fee evaluation scoring.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...; exemplary performance in a timely, efficient, and economical manner; very minor (if any) deficiencies with no adverse effect on overall performance. (2) Very good (90-81): Very effective performance, fully... economical manner for the most part; only minor deficiencies. (3) Good (80-71): Effective performance; fully...

Sequential addition reactions of two molecules of Grignard reagents to thioformamides.

PubMed

Murai, Toshiaki; Ui, Kazuki; Narengerile

2009-08-07

Sequential addition reactions of two molecules of Grignard reagents to thioformamides were found to yield tertiary amines in an efficient manner. The addition of two different Grignard reagents can be accomplished by using one equivalent of arylmagnesium reagent in the first step. In the second step, a variety of reagents such as alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, and alkynyl reagents were used to afford the corresponding amines in good to high yields.

From Physics Model to Results: An Optimizing Framework for Cross-Architecture Code Generation

DOE PAGES

Blazewicz, Marek; Hinder, Ian; Koppelman, David M.; ...

2013-01-01

Starting from a high-level problem description in terms of partial differential equations using abstract tensor notation, the Chemora framework discretizes, optimizes, and generates complete high performance codes for a wide range of compute architectures. Chemora extends the capabilities of Cactus, facilitating the usage of large-scale CPU/GPU systems in an efficient manner for complex applications, without low-level code tuning. Chemora achieves parallelism through MPI and multi-threading, combining OpenMP and CUDA. Optimizations include high-level code transformations, efficient loop traversal strategies, dynamically selected data and instruction cache usage strategies, and JIT compilation of GPU code tailored to the problem characteristics. The discretization ismore » based on higher-order finite differences on multi-block domains. Chemora's capabilities are demonstrated by simulations of black hole collisions. This problem provides an acid test of the framework, as the Einstein equations contain hundreds of variables and thousands of terms.« less

Total synthesis of mycobacterial arabinogalactan containing 92 monosaccharide units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yong; Xiong, De-Cai; Chen, Si-Cong; Wang, Yong-Shi; Ye, Xin-Shan

2017-03-01

Carbohydrates are diverse bio-macromolecules with highly complex structures that are involved in numerous biological processes. Well-defined carbohydrates obtained by chemical synthesis are essential to the understanding of their functions. However, synthesis of carbohydrates is greatly hampered by its insufficient efficiency. So far, assembly of long carbohydrate chains remains one of the most challenging tasks for synthetic chemists. Here we describe a highly efficient assembly of a 92-mer polysaccharide by the preactivation-based one-pot glycosylation protocol. Several linear and branched oligosaccharide/polysaccharide fragments ranging from 5-mer to 31-mer in length have been rapidly constructed in one-pot manner, which enables the first total synthesis of a biologically important mycobacterial arabinogalactan through a highly convergent [31+31+30] coupling reaction. Our results show that the preactivation-based one-pot glycosylation protocol may provide access to the construction of long and complicated carbohydrate chains.

Multicolor fluorescent biosensor for multiplexed detection of DNA.

PubMed

Hu, Rong; Liu, Tao; Zhang, Xiao-Bing; Huan, Shuang-Yan; Wu, Cuichen; Fu, Ting; Tan, Weihong

2014-05-20

Development of efficient methods for highly sensitive and rapid screening of specific oligonucleotide sequences is essential to the early diagnosis of serious diseases. In this work, an aggregated cationic perylene diimide (PDI) derivative was found to efficiently quench the fluorescence emission of a variety of anionic oligonucleotide-labeled fluorophores that emit at wavelengths from the visible to NIR region. This broad-spectrum quencher was then adopted to develop a multicolor biosensor via a label-free approach for multiplexed fluorescent detection of DNA. The aggregated perylene derivative exhibits a very high quenching efficiency on all ssDNA-labeled dyes associated with biosensor detection, having efficiency values of 98.3 ± 0.9%, 97 ± 1.1%, and 98.2 ± 0.6% for FAM, TAMRA, and Cy5, respectively. An exonuclease-assisted autocatalytic target recycling amplification was also integrated into the sensing system. High quenching efficiency combined with autocatalytic target recycling amplification afforded the biosensor with high sensitivity toward target DNA, resulting in a detection limit of 20 pM, which is about 50-fold lower than that of traditional unamplified homogeneous fluorescent assay methods. The quencher did not interfere with the catalytic activity of nuclease, and the biosensor could be manipulated in either preaddition or postaddition manner with similar sensitivity. Moreover, the proposed sensing system allows for simultaneous and multicolor analysis of several oligonucleotides in homogeneous solution, demonstrating its potential application in the rapid screening of multiple biotargets.

Efficient LIDAR Point Cloud Data Managing and Processing in a Hadoop-Based Distributed Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C.; Hu, F.; Sha, D.; Han, X.

2017-10-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is one of the most promising technologies in surveying and mapping city management, forestry, object recognition, computer vision engineer and others. However, it is challenging to efficiently storage, query and analyze the high-resolution 3D LiDAR data due to its volume and complexity. In order to improve the productivity of Lidar data processing, this study proposes a Hadoop-based framework to efficiently manage and process LiDAR data in a distributed and parallel manner, which takes advantage of Hadoop's storage and computing ability. At the same time, the Point Cloud Library (PCL), an open-source project for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing, is integrated with HDFS and MapReduce to conduct the Lidar data analysis algorithms provided by PCL in a parallel fashion. The experiment results show that the proposed framework can efficiently manage and process big LiDAR data.

Responsive Proteins in Wheat Cultivars with Contrasting Nitrogen Efficiencies under the Combined Stress of High Temperature and Low Nitrogen

PubMed Central

Abd_Allah, Elsayed Fathi; Nauman, Mohd; Asif, Ambreen; Hashem, Abeer; Alqarawi, Abdulaziz A.

2017-01-01

Productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is markedly affected by high temperature and nitrogen deficiency. Identifying the functional proteins produced in response to these multiple stresses acting in a coordinated manner can help in developing tolerance in the crop. In this study, two wheat cultivars with contrasting nitrogen efficiencies (N-efficient VL616 and N-inefficient UP2382) were grown in control conditions, and under a combined stress of high temperature (32 °C) and low nitrogen (4 mM), and their leaf proteins were analysed in order to identify the responsive proteins. Two-dimensional electrophoresis unravelled sixty-one proteins, which varied in their expression in wheat, and were homologous to known functional proteins involved in biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism, photosynthesis, protein folding, transcription, signalling, oxidative stress, water stress, lipid metabolism, heat stress tolerance, nitrogen metabolism, and protein synthesis. When exposed to high temperature in combination with low nitrogen, wheat plants altered their protein expression as an adaptive means to maintain growth. This response varied with cultivars. Nitrogen-efficient cultivars showed a higher potential of redox homeostasis, protein stability, osmoprotection, and regulation of nitrogen levels. The identified stress-responsive proteins can pave the way for enhancing the multiple-stress tolerance in wheat and developing a better understanding of its mechanism. PMID:29186028

Enhancement and optimization of plasmid expression in femtosecond optical transfection.

PubMed

Praveen, Bavishna B; Stevenson, David J; Antkowiak, Maciej; Dholakia, Kishan; Gunn-Moore, Frank J

2011-04-01

Cell transfection using femtosecond lasers is gaining importance for its proven ability to achieve selective transfection in a sterile and relatively non-invasive manner. However, the net efficiency of this technique is limited due to a number of factors that ultimately makes it difficult to be used as a viable and widely used technique. We report here a method to achieve significant enhancement in the efficiency of femtosecond optical transfection. The transfection procedure is modified by incorporating a suitable synthetic peptide containing nuclear localization and DNA binding sequences, assisting DNA import into the nucleus. We achieved a 3-fold enhancement in the transfection efficiency for adherent Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO-K1) cells with this modified protocol. Further, in the presence of this biochemical reagent, we were able to reduce the required plasmid concentration by ~70% without compromising the transfection efficiency. Also, we report for the first time the successful photo-transfection of recently trypsinised cells with significantly high transfection efficiency when transfected with modified plasmid. This paves the way for the development of high throughput microfluidic optical transfection devices. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Modulation-doped growth of mosaic graphene with single-crystalline p–n junctions for efficient photocurrent generation

PubMed Central

Yan, Kai; Wu, Di; Peng, Hailin; Jin, Li; Fu, Qiang; Bao, Xinhe; Liu, Zhongfan

2012-01-01

Device applications of graphene such as ultrafast transistors and photodetectors benefit from the combination of both high-quality p- and n-doped components prepared in a large-scale manner with spatial control and seamless connection. Here we develop a well-controlled chemical vapour deposition process for direct growth of mosaic graphene. Mosaic graphene is produced in large-area monolayers with spatially modulated, stable and uniform doping, and shows considerably high room temperature carrier mobility of ~5,000 cm2 V−1 s−1 in intrinsic portion and ~2,500 cm2 V−1 s−1 in nitrogen-doped portion. The unchanged crystalline registry during modulation doping indicates the single-crystalline nature of p–n junctions. Efficient hot carrier-assisted photocurrent was generated by laser excitation at the junction under ambient conditions. This study provides a facile avenue for large-scale synthesis of single-crystalline graphene p–n junctions, allowing for batch fabrication and integration of high-efficiency optoelectronic and electronic devices within the atomically thin film. PMID:23232410

An energy-efficient MAC protocol using dynamic queue management for delay-tolerant mobile sensor networks.

PubMed

Li, Jie; Li, Qiyue; Qu, Yugui; Zhao, Baohua

2011-01-01

Conventional MAC protocols for wireless sensor network perform poorly when faced with a delay-tolerant mobile network environment. Characterized by a highly dynamic and sparse topology, poor network connectivity as well as data delay-tolerance, delay-tolerant mobile sensor networks exacerbate the severe power constraints and memory limitations of nodes. This paper proposes an energy-efficient MAC protocol using dynamic queue management (EQ-MAC) for power saving and data queue management. Via data transfers initiated by the target sink and the use of a dynamic queue management strategy based on priority, EQ-MAC effectively avoids untargeted transfers, increases the chance of successful data transmission, and makes useful data reach the target terminal in a timely manner. Experimental results show that EQ-MAC has high energy efficiency in comparison with a conventional MAC protocol. It also achieves a 46% decrease in packet drop probability, 79% increase in system throughput, and 25% decrease in mean packet delay.

An Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol Using Dynamic Queue Management for Delay-Tolerant Mobile Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Li, Jie; Li, Qiyue; Qu, Yugui; Zhao, Baohua

2011-01-01

Conventional MAC protocols for wireless sensor network perform poorly when faced with a delay-tolerant mobile network environment. Characterized by a highly dynamic and sparse topology, poor network connectivity as well as data delay-tolerance, delay-tolerant mobile sensor networks exacerbate the severe power constraints and memory limitations of nodes. This paper proposes an energy-efficient MAC protocol using dynamic queue management (EQ-MAC) for power saving and data queue management. Via data transfers initiated by the target sink and the use of a dynamic queue management strategy based on priority, EQ-MAC effectively avoids untargeted transfers, increases the chance of successful data transmission, and makes useful data reach the target terminal in a timely manner. Experimental results show that EQ-MAC has high energy efficiency in comparison with a conventional MAC protocol. It also achieves a 46% decrease in packet drop probability, 79% increase in system throughput, and 25% decrease in mean packet delay. PMID:22319385

Epidemics in Complex Networks: The Diversity of Hubs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitsak, Maksim; Gallos, Lazaros K.; Havlin, Shlomo; Stanley, H. Eugene; Makse, Hernan A.

2009-03-01

Many complex systems are believed to be vulnerable to spread of viruses and information owing to their high level of interconnectivity. Even viruses of low contagiousness easily proliferate the Internet. Rumors, fads, and innovation ideas are prone to efficient spreading in various social systems. Another commonly accepted standpoint is the importance of the most connected elements (hubs) in the spreading processes. We address following questions. Do all hubs conduct epidemics in the same manner? How does the epidemics spread depend on the structure of the network? What is the most efficient way to spread information over the system? We analyze several large-scale systems in the framework of of the susceptible/infective/removed (SIR) disease spread model which can also be mapped to the problem of rumor or fad spreading. We show that hubs are often ineffective in the transmission of virus or information owing to the highly heterogeneous topology of most networks. We also propose a new tool to evaluate the efficiency of nodes in spreading virus or information.

Surface charge tunability as a powerful strategy to control electrostatic interaction for high efficiency silencing, using tailored oligopeptide-modified poly(beta-amino ester)s (PBAEs).

PubMed

Dosta, Pere; Segovia, Nathaly; Cascante, Anna; Ramos, Victor; Borrós, Salvador

2015-07-01

Here we present an extended family of pBAEs that incorporate terminal oligopeptide moieties synthesized from both positive and negative amino acids. Polymer formulations of mixtures of negative and positive oligopeptide-modified pBAEs are capable of condensing siRNA into discrete nanoparticles. We have demonstrated that efficient delivery of nucleic acids in a cell-type dependent manner can be achieved by careful control of the pBAE formulation. In addition, our approach of adding differently charged oligopeptides to the termini of poly(β-amino ester)s is of great interest for the design of tailored complexes having specific features, such as tuneable zeta potential. We anticipate that this surface charge tunability may be a powerful strategy to control unwanted electrostatic interactions, while preserving high silencing efficiency and reduced toxicity. Copyright © 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Communication: A reduced scaling J-engine based reformulation of SOS-MP2 using graphics processing units.

PubMed

Maurer, S A; Kussmann, J; Ochsenfeld, C

2014-08-07

We present a low-prefactor, cubically scaling scaled-opposite-spin second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (SOS-MP2) method which is highly suitable for massively parallel architectures like graphics processing units (GPU). The scaling is reduced from O(N⁵) to O(N³) by a reformulation of the MP2-expression in the atomic orbital basis via Laplace transformation and the resolution-of-the-identity (RI) approximation of the integrals in combination with efficient sparse algebra for the 3-center integral transformation. In contrast to previous works that employ GPUs for post Hartree-Fock calculations, we do not simply employ GPU-based linear algebra libraries to accelerate the conventional algorithm. Instead, our reformulation allows to replace the rate-determining contraction step with a modified J-engine algorithm, that has been proven to be highly efficient on GPUs. Thus, our SOS-MP2 scheme enables us to treat large molecular systems in an accurate and efficient manner on a single GPU-server.

Acoustic technology for high-performance disruption and extraction of plant proteins.

PubMed

Toorchi, Mahmoud; Nouri, Mohammad-Zaman; Tsumura, Makoto; Komatsu, Setsuko

2008-07-01

Acoustic technology shows the capability of protein pellet homogenization from different tissue samples of soybean and rice in a manner comparable to the ordinary mortar/pestle method and far better than the vortex/ultrasonic method with respect to the resolution of the protein pattern through two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE). With acoustic technology, noncontact tissue disruption and protein pellet homogenization can be carried out in a computer-controlled manner, which ultimately increases the efficiency of the process for a large number of samples. A lysis buffer termed the T-buffer containing TBP, thiourea, and CHAPS yields an excellent result for the 2D-PAGE separation of soybean plasma membrane proteins followed by the 2D-PAGE separation of crude protein of soybean and rice tissues. For this technology, the T-buffer is preferred because protein quantification is possible by eliminating the interfering compound 2-mercaptoethanol and because of the high reproducibility of 2D-PAGE separation.

Parallel high-performance grid computing: capabilities and opportunities of a novel demanding service and business class allowing highest resource efficiency.

PubMed

Kepper, Nick; Ettig, Ramona; Dickmann, Frank; Stehr, Rene; Grosveld, Frank G; Wedemann, Gero; Knoch, Tobias A

2010-01-01

Especially in the life-science and the health-care sectors the huge IT requirements are imminent due to the large and complex systems to be analysed and simulated. Grid infrastructures play here a rapidly increasing role for research, diagnostics, and treatment, since they provide the necessary large-scale resources efficiently. Whereas grids were first used for huge number crunching of trivially parallelizable problems, increasingly parallel high-performance computing is required. Here, we show for the prime example of molecular dynamic simulations how the presence of large grid clusters including very fast network interconnects within grid infrastructures allows now parallel high-performance grid computing efficiently and thus combines the benefits of dedicated super-computing centres and grid infrastructures. The demands for this service class are the highest since the user group has very heterogeneous requirements: i) two to many thousands of CPUs, ii) different memory architectures, iii) huge storage capabilities, and iv) fast communication via network interconnects, are all needed in different combinations and must be considered in a highly dedicated manner to reach highest performance efficiency. Beyond, advanced and dedicated i) interaction with users, ii) the management of jobs, iii) accounting, and iv) billing, not only combines classic with parallel high-performance grid usage, but more importantly is also able to increase the efficiency of IT resource providers. Consequently, the mere "yes-we-can" becomes a huge opportunity like e.g. the life-science and health-care sectors as well as grid infrastructures by reaching higher level of resource efficiency.

Translational research and the evolving landscape for biomedical innovation.

PubMed

Kaitin, Kenneth I

2012-10-01

This article addresses current challenges facing pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical developers, including the expiration of patents on many high-revenue-generating products, increasing competition in the marketplace, low public support, high regulatory hurdles, and the increasing time, cost, and risk of new product development. To meet these challenges, drug developers are looking to new models of innovation to improve efficiency, lower risk, and increase output. These new models include codevelopment agreements with small companies, multicompany consortia, and strategic partnerships with academic research centers. In the United States and the European Union, the government is supporting these efforts by creating incentives for academic centers to foster translational research and become more "commercially minded". The goal for all stakeholders is to reduce the barriers to product development and bring new medicines to market in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Measurement of the traction force of biological cells by digital holography

PubMed Central

Yu, Xiao; Cross, Michael; Liu, Changgeng; Clark, David C.; Haynie, Donald T.; Kim, Myung K.

2011-01-01

The traction force produced by biological cells has been visualized as distortions in flexible substrata. We have utilized quantitative phase microscopy by digital holography (DH-QPM) to study the wrinkling of a silicone rubber film by motile fibroblasts. Surface deformation and the cellular traction force have been measured from phase profiles in a direct and straightforward manner. DH-QPM is shown to provide highly efficient and versatile means for quantitatively analyzing cellular motility. PMID:22254175

Synthesis of 1-[bis(trifluoromethyl)phosphine]-1'-oxazolinylferrocene ligands and their application in regio- and enantioselective Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of monosubstituted allyl substrates.

PubMed

Lai, Zeng-Wei; Yang, Rong-Fei; Ye, Ke-Yin; Sun, Hongbin; You, Shu-Li

2014-01-01

A class of novel, easily accessible and air-stable 1-[bis(trifluoromethyl)phosphine]-1'-oxazolinylferrocene ligands has been synthesized from ferrocene. It became apparent that these ligands can be used in the regio- and enantioselective Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of monosubstituted allyl substrates in a highly efficient manner. Excellent regio- and enantioselectivity could be obtained for a wide range of substrates.

Advanced laser modeling with BLAZE multiphysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palla, Andrew D.; Carroll, David L.; Gray, Michael I.; Suzuki, Lui

2017-01-01

The BLAZE Multiphysics™ software simulation suite was specifically developed to model highly complex multiphysical systems in a computationally efficient and highly scalable manner. These capabilities are of particular use when applied to the complexities associated with high energy laser systems that combine subsonic/transonic/supersonic fluid dynamics, chemically reacting flows, laser electronics, heat transfer, optical physics, and in some cases plasma discharges. In this paper we present detailed cw and pulsed gas laser calculations using the BLAZE model with comparisons to data. Simulations of DPAL, XPAL, ElectricOIL (EOIL), and the optically pumped rare gas laser were found to be in good agreement with experimental data.

Population Studies of Intact Vitamin D Binding Protein by Affinity Capture ESI-TOF-MS

PubMed Central

Borges, Chad R.; Jarvis, Jason W.; Oran, Paul E.; Rogers, Stephen P.; Nelson, Randall W.

2008-01-01

Blood plasma proteins with molecular weights greater than approximately 30 kDa are refractory to comprehensive, high-throughput qualitative characterization of microheterogeneity across human populations. Analytical techniques for obtaining high mass resolution for targeted, intact protein characterization and, separately, high sample throughput exist, but efficient means of coupling these assay characteristics remain rather limited. This article discusses the impetus for analyzing intact proteins in a targeted manner across populations and describes the methodology required to couple mass spectrometric immunoassay with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for the purpose of qualitatively characterizing a prototypical large plasma protein, vitamin D binding protein, across populations. PMID:19137103

Multiplexed Energy Coupler for Rotating Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhao, Xiaoliang

2011-01-01

A multiplexing antenna assembly can efficiently couple AC signal/energy into, or out of, rotating equipment. The unit only passes AC energy while blocking DC energy. Concentric tubes that are sliced into multiple pieces are assembled together so that, when a piece from an outer tube aligns well with an inner tube piece, efficient energy coupling is achieved through a capacitive scheme. With N outer pieces and M inner pieces, an effective N x M combination can be achieved in a multiplexed manner. The energy coupler is non-contact, which is useful if isolation from rotating and stationary parts is required. Additionally, the innovation can operate in high temperatures. Applications include rotating structure sensing, non-contact energy transmission, etc.

A multi-functional nanoplatform for tumor synergistic phototherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Huijuan; Jiao, Xiaojing; Chen, Qianqian; Ji, Yandan; Zhang, Xiaoge; Zhu, Xing; Zhang, Zhenzhong

2016-02-01

Phototherapy, which mainly includes photothermal treatment (PTT) and photodynamic treatment (PDT), is a photo-initiated, noninvasive and effective approach for cancer treatment. The high accumulation of photosensitizers (PSs) in a targeted tumor is still a major challenge for efficient light conversion, to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and local hyperthermia. In this study, a simple and efficient hyaluronic acid (HA)-modified nanoplatform (HA-TiO2@MWCNTs) with high tumor-targeting ability, excellent phototherapy efficiency, low light-associated side effects and good water solubility was developed. It could be an effective carrier to load hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME), owing to the tubular conjugate structure. Apart from this, the as-prepared TiO2@MWCNTs nanocomposites could also be used as PSs for tumor PTT and PDT. Those results in vitro and in vivo showed that the anti-tumor effect of this system-mediated PTT/PDT were significantly better than those of single treatment manner. In addition, this drug delivery system could realize high ratio of drug loading, sustained drug release, prolonged circulation in vivo and active targeted accumulation in tumor. These results suggest that HA-TiO2@MWCNTs/HMME has high potential for tumor synergistic phototherapy as a smart theranostic nanoplatform.

Robust, Efficient Depth Reconstruction With Hierarchical Confidence-Based Matching.

PubMed

Sun, Li; Chen, Ke; Song, Mingli; Tao, Dacheng; Chen, Gang; Chen, Chun

2017-07-01

In recent years, taking photos and capturing videos with mobile devices have become increasingly popular. Emerging applications based on the depth reconstruction technique have been developed, such as Google lens blur. However, depth reconstruction is difficult due to occlusions, non-diffuse surfaces, repetitive patterns, and textureless surfaces, and it has become more difficult due to the unstable image quality and uncontrolled scene condition in the mobile setting. In this paper, we present a novel hierarchical framework with multi-view confidence-based matching for robust, efficient depth reconstruction in uncontrolled scenes. Particularly, the proposed framework combines local cost aggregation with global cost optimization in a complementary manner that increases efficiency and accuracy. A depth map is efficiently obtained in a coarse-to-fine manner by using an image pyramid. Moreover, confidence maps are computed to robustly fuse multi-view matching cues, and to constrain the stereo matching on a finer scale. The proposed framework has been evaluated with challenging indoor and outdoor scenes, and has achieved robust and efficient depth reconstruction.

Decisional style, mood and work communication: email diaries.

PubMed

Shirren, S; Phillips, J G

2011-10-01

To understand the use of technology to support interpersonal interaction, a theory of decisional style was applied to email use within the workplace. Previous research has used self-report and rating scales to address employee email behaviours, but this falls short of management's capability to monitor the actual behaviour. Thirty-nine employed individuals completed a five-day communication diary recording their actual behaviour upon receiving personal and work-related emails as well as the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. It was found that vigilant individuals were more likely to use email in an efficient manner by deleting personal email and being less likely to open email later. Procrastinators, buckpassers and people experiencing high levels of negative affect were all more likely to delay dealing with email, which could be viewed as dealing with email in a less efficient manner. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This work offers insights as to how people receive and process emails and is thus relevant to the development and implementation of collaborative technologies. Whilst other studies use individual's self-reports, this study uses a more accurate communication diary. Decisional style can predict the monitoring and response to electronic communication.

Broadband excitation and indirect detection of nitrogen-14 in rotating solids using Delays Alternating with Nutation (DANTE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vitzthum, Veronika; Caporini, Marc A.; Ulzega, Simone; Bodenhausen, Geoffrey

2011-09-01

A train of short rotor-synchronized pulses in the manner of Delays Alternating with Nutations for Tailored Excitation (DANTE) applied to nitrogen-14 nuclei ( I = 1) in samples spinning at the magic angle at high frequencies (typically νrot = 62.5 kHz so that τrot = 16 μs) allows one to achieve uniform excitation of a great number of spinning sidebands that arise from large first-order quadrupole interactions, as occur for aromatic nitrogen-14 nuclei in histidine. With routine rf amplitudes ω1( 14N)/(2 π) = 60 kHz and very short pulses of a typical duration 0.5 < τp < 2 μs, efficient excitation can be achieved with 13 rotor-synchronized pulses in 13 τrot = 208 μs. Alternatively, with 'overtone' DANTE sequences using 2, 4, or 8 pulses per rotor period one can achieve efficient broadband excitation in fewer rotor periods, typically 2-4 τrot. These principles can be combined with the indirect detection of 14N nuclei via spy nuclei with S = ½ such as 1H or 13C in the manner of Dipolar Heteronuclear Multiple-Quantum Correlation (D-HMQC).

An aggregated perylene-based broad-spectrum, efficient and label-free quencher for multiplexed fluorescent bioassays.

PubMed

Liu, Tao; Hu, Rong; Lv, Yi-Fan; Wu, Yuan; Liang, Hao; Huan, Shuang-Yan; Zhang, Xiao-Bing; Tan, Weihong; Yu, Ru-Qin

2014-08-15

Fluorescent sensing systems based on the quenching of fluorophores have found wide applications in bioassays. An efficient quencher will endow the sensing system a high sensitivity. The frequently used quenchers are based on organic molecules or nanomaterials, which usually need tedious synthesizing and modifying steps, and exhibit different quenching efficiencies to different fluorophores. In this work, we for the first time report that aggregated perylene derivative can serve as a broad-spectrum and label-free quencher that is able to efficiently quench a variety of fluorophores, such as green, red and far red dyes labeled on DNA. By choosing nucleases as model biomolecules, such a broad-spectrum quencher was then employed to construct a multiplexed bioassay platform through a label-free manner. Due to the high quenching efficiency of the aggregated perylene, the proposed platform could detect nuclease with high sensitivity, with a detection limit of 0.03U/mL for EcoRV, and 0.05U/mL for EcoRI. The perylene quencher does not affect the activity of nuclease, which makes it possible to design post-addition type bioassay platform. Moreover, the proposed platform allows simultaneous and multicolor analysis of nucleases in homogeneous solution, demonstrating its value of potential application in rapid screening of multiple bio-targets. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Investigation into III-V Compounds to Reach 20% Efficiency with Minimum Cell Thickness in Ultrathin-Film Solar Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haque, K. A. S. M. Ehteshamul; Galib, Md. Mehedi Hassan

2013-10-01

III-V single-junction solar cells have already achieved very high efficiency levels. However, their use in terrestrial applications is limited by the high fabrication cost. High-efficiency, ultrathin-film solar cells can effectively solve this problem, as their material requirement is minimum. This work presents a comparison among several III-V compounds that have high optical absorption capability as well as optimum bandgap (around 1.4 eV) for use as solar cell absorbers. The aim is to observe and compare the ability of these materials to reach a target efficiency level of 20% with minimum possible cell thickness. The solar cell considered has an n-type ZnSe window layer, an n-type Al0.1Ga0.9As emitter layer, and a p-type Ga0.5In0.5P back surface field (BSF) layer. Ge is used as the substrate. In the initial design, a p-type InP base was sandwiched between the emitter and the BSF layer, and the design parameters for the device were optimized by analyzing the simulation outcomes with ADEPT/F, a one-dimensional (1D) simulation tool. Then, the minimum cell thickness that achieves 20% efficiency was determined by observing the efficiency variation with cell thickness. Afterwards, the base material was changed to a few other selected III-V compounds, and for each case, the minimum cell thickness was determined in a similar manner. Finally, these cell thickness values were compared and analyzed to identify more effective base layer materials for III-V single-junction solar cells.

Web-PE: Internet-Delivered Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

order to meet the growing demand for effective and efficient treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) in a timely manner. Web-treatments...posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) in a timely manner. Effective EBTs for PTSD are available, but barriers to accessing care can deter military...Exposure, combat, psychological treatment, military, psychotherapy, trauma, posttraumatic stress , posttraumatic stress disorder 16. SECURITY

Interactive wall turbulence control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkinson, Stephen P.

1990-01-01

After presenting boundary layer turbulence physics in a manner that emphasizes the possible modification of structural surfaces in a way that locally alters the production of turbulent flows, an account is given of the hardware that could plausibly be employed to implement such a turbulence-control scheme. The essential system components are flow sensors, electronic processors, and actuators; at present, actuator technology presents the greatest problems and limitations. High frequency/efficiency actuators are required to handle three-dimensional turbulent motions whose frequency and intensity increases in approximate proportion to freestream speed.

Concise Access to 2-Aroylbenzothiazoles by Redox Condensation Reaction between o-Halonitrobenzenes, Acetophenones, and Elemental Sulfur.

PubMed

Nguyen, Thanh Binh; Pasturaud, Karine; Ermolenko, Ludmila; Al-Mourabit, Ali

2015-05-15

A wide range of 2-aroylbenzothiazoles 3 including some pharmacologically relevant derivatives can be obtained in high yields by simply heating o-halonitrobenzenes 1, acetophenones 2, elemental sulfur, and N-methylmorpholine. This three-component nitro methyl coupling was found to occur in an excellent atom-, step-, and redox-efficient manner in which elemental sulfur played the role of nucleophile building block and redox moderating agent to fulfill electronic requirements of the global reaction.

Enantioselective Syntheses of (−)-Alloyohimbane and (−)-Yohimbane by an Efficient Enzymatic Desymmetrization Process

PubMed Central

Ghosh, Arun K.; Sarkar, Anindya

2016-01-01

Enantioselective syntheses of (−)-alloyohimbane and (−)-yohimbane was accomplished in a convergent manner. The key step involved a modified mild protocol for the enantioselective enzymatic desymmetrization of meso-diacetate. The protocol provided convenient access to an optically active monoacetate in multi-gram scale in high enantiomeric purity. This monoacetate was converted to (−)-alloyohimbane. Reductive amination of the derived aldehyde causes the isomerization leading to the trans-product and allows the synthesis of (−)-yohimbane. PMID:28757804

Synthesis of 1-[bis(trifluoromethyl)phosphine]-1’-oxazolinylferrocene ligands and their application in regio- and enantioselective Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of monosubstituted allyl substrates

PubMed Central

Lai, Zeng-Wei; Yang, Rong-Fei; Ye, Ke-Yin

2014-01-01

Summary A class of novel, easily accessible and air-stable 1-[bis(trifluoromethyl)phosphine]-1’-oxazolinylferrocene ligands has been synthesized from ferrocene. It became apparent that these ligands can be used in the regio- and enantioselective Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of monosubstituted allyl substrates in a highly efficient manner. Excellent regio- and enantioselectivity could be obtained for a wide range of substrates. PMID:24991277

Two-axis angular effector

DOEpatents

Vaughn, Mark R.; Robinett, III, Rush D.; Phelan, John R.; Van Zuiden, Don M.

1997-01-21

A new class of coplanar two-axis angular effectors. These effectors combine a two-axis rotational joint analogous to a Cardan joint with linear actuators in a manner to produce a wider range of rotational motion about both axes defined by the joint. This new class of effectors also allows design of robotic manipulators having very high strength and efficiency. These effectors are particularly suited for remote operation in unknown surroundings, because of their extraordinary versatility. An immediate application is to the problems which arise in nuclear waste remediation.

Direct β-Alkylation of Aldehydes via Photoredox Organocatalysis

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Direct β-alkylation of saturated aldehydes has been accomplished by synergistically combining photoredox catalysis and organocatalysis. Photon-induced enamine oxidation provides an activated β-enaminyl radical intermediate, which readily combines with a wide range of Michael acceptors to produce β-alkyl aldehydes in a highly efficient manner. Furthermore, this redox-neutral, atom-economical C–H functionalization protocol can be achieved both inter- and intramolecularly. Mechanistic studies by various spectroscopic methods suggest that a reductive quenching pathway is operable. PMID:24754456

Road weather forecast quality analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-03-01

It is just as important to keep the highways functioning in a safe and efficient manner as it is to construct them in : the first place. Our economy is built around an efficient transportation system. Winter weather plays an important role : in highw...

Quantifying Oldowan Stone Tool Production at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

PubMed Central

Reti, Jay S.

2016-01-01

Recent research suggests that variation exists among and between Oldowan stone tool assemblages. Oldowan variation might represent differential constraints on raw materials used to produce these stone implements. Alternatively, variation among Oldowan assemblages could represent different methods that Oldowan producing hominins utilized to produce these lithic implements. Identifying differential patterns of stone tool production within the Oldowan has implications for assessing how stone tool technology evolved, how traditions of lithic production might have been culturally transmitted, and for defining the timing and scope of these evolutionary events. At present there is no null model to predict what morphological variation in the Oldowan should look like. Without such a model, quantifying whether Oldowan assemblages vary due to raw material constraints or whether they vary due to differences in production technique is not possible. This research establishes a null model for Oldowan lithic artifact morphological variation. To establish these expectations this research 1) models the expected range of variation through large scale reduction experiments, 2) develops an algorithm to categorize archaeological flakes based on how they are produced, and 3) statistically assesses the methods of production behavior used by Oldowan producing hominins at the site of DK from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania via the experimental model. Results indicate that a subset of quartzite flakes deviate from the null expectations in a manner that demonstrates efficiency in flake manufacture, while some basalt flakes deviate from null expectations in a manner that demonstrates inefficiency in flake manufacture. The simultaneous presence of efficiency in stone tool production for one raw material (quartzite) and inefficiency in stone tool production for another raw material (basalt) suggests that Oldowan producing hominins at DK were able to mediate the economic costs associated with stone tool procurement by utilizing high-cost materials more efficiently than is expected and low-cost materials in an inefficient manner. PMID:26808429

High-throughput real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR.

PubMed

Bookout, Angie L; Cummins, Carolyn L; Mangelsdorf, David J; Pesola, Jean M; Kramer, Martha F

2006-02-01

Extensive detail on the application of the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) for the analysis of gene expression is provided in this unit. The protocols are designed for high-throughput, 384-well-format instruments, such as the Applied Biosystems 7900HT, but may be modified to suit any real-time PCR instrument. QPCR primer and probe design and validation are discussed, and three relative quantitation methods are described: the standard curve method, the efficiency-corrected DeltaCt method, and the comparative cycle time, or DeltaDeltaCt method. In addition, a method is provided for absolute quantification of RNA in unknown samples. RNA standards are subjected to RT-PCR in the same manner as the experimental samples, thus accounting for the reaction efficiencies of both procedures. This protocol describes the production and quantitation of synthetic RNA molecules for real-time and non-real-time RT-PCR applications.

Glutathione is a highly efficient thermostabilizer of poliovirus Sabin strains.

PubMed

Abdelnabi, Rana; Delang, Leen; Neyts, Johan

2017-03-07

Glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant thiol peptide in animal cells and has a critical role in antioxidation. GSH was reported to be essential for stabilization of some enteroviruses, including poliovirus (PV), during viral morphogenesis. Here, we explored the potential use of GSH as a thermostabilizer of oral poliomyelitis vaccine (OPV) formulations. GSH significantly protected the three types of PV from heat-inactivation in a concentration-dependent manner. At a GSH concentration of 20mM, nearly complete protection was observed against heating temperatures up to 53°C for 2min.GSH also markedly protected PV1 from heat-inactivation and this up to 6 h at temperatures of 44°C and 46°C and 3 h at 48°C. The fact that GSH is naturally present at high concentration in the human body makes it an efficient candidate stabilizer for OPV formulations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heavy metal removal by caustic-treated yeast immobilized in alginate

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

Lu, Y.; Wilkins, E.

1995-12-31

Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast biomass was treated with hot alkali to increase its biosorption capacity for heavy metals and then was immobilized in alginate gel. Biosorption capacities for Cu{sup 2+}, Cd{sup 2+}, and Zn{sup 2+} on alginate gel, native yeast, native yeast immobilized in alginate gel, and caustic-treated yeast immobilized in alginate gel were all compared. Immobilized yeasts could be reactivated and reused in a manner similar to the ion exchange resins. Immobilized caustic-treated yeast has high heavy metal biosorption capacity and high metal removal efficiency in a rather wide acidic pH region. The biosorption isotherm of immobilized caustic-treated yeast wasmore » studied, and empirical equations were obtained. The initial pH of polluted water affected the metal removal efficiency significantly, and the equilibrium biosorption capacity seemed to be temperature independent at lower initial metal concentrations.« less

Does Swimming at a Moderate Altitude Favor a Lower Oxidative Stress in an Intensity-Dependent Manner? Role of Nonenzymatic Antioxidants.

PubMed

Casuso, Rafael A; Aragón-Vela, Jerónimo; López-Contreras, Gracia; Gomes, Silvana N; Casals, Cristina; Barranco-Ruiz, Yaira; Mercadé, Jordi J; Huertas, Jesus R

2017-03-01

Casuso, Rafael A., Jerónimo Aragón-Vela, Gracia López-Contreras, Silvana N. Gomes, Cristina Casals, Yaira Barranco-Ruiz, Jordi J. Mercadé, and Jesus R. Huertas. Does swimming at a moderate altitude favor a lower oxidative stress in an intensity-dependent manner? Role of nonenzymatic antioxidants. High-Alt Med Biol. 18:46-55, 2017.-we aimed to describe oxidative damage and enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant responses to swimming at different intensities in hypoxia. We recruited 12 highly experienced swimmers who have been involved in competitive swimming for at least 9 years. They performed a total of six swimming sessions carried out at low (LOW), moderate (MOD), or high (HIGH) intensity at low altitude (630 m) and at 2320 m above sea level. Blood samples were collected before the session (Pre), after the cool down (Post), and after 15 minutes of recovery (Rec). Blood lactate (BL) and heart rate were recorded throughout the main part of the session. Average velocities did not change between hypoxia and normoxia. We found a higher BL in response to MOD intensity in hypoxia. Plasmatic hydroperoxide level decreased at all intensities when swimming in hypoxia. This effect coincided with a lower glutation peroxidase activity and a marked mobilization of the circulating levels of α-tocopherol and coenzyme Q10 in an intensity-dependent manner. Our results suggest that, regardless of the intensity, no oxidative damage is found in response to hypoxic swimming in well-trained swimmers. Indeed, swimmers show a highly efficient antioxidant system by stimulating the mobilization of nonenzymatic antioxidants.

High-Power, High-Efficiency Ka-Band Space Traveling-Wave Tube

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krawczyk, Richard; Wilson, Jeffrey; Simons, Rainee; Williams, Wallace; Bhasin, Kul; Robbins, Neal; Dibb, Daniel; Menninger, William; Zhai, Xiaoling; Benton, Robert;

Temperature and heat flux measurements: Challenges for high temperature aerospace application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neumann, Richard D.

1992-01-01

The measurement of high temperatures and the influence of heat transfer data is not strictly a problem of either the high temperatures involved or the level of the heating rates to be measured at those high temperatures. It is a problem of duration during which measurements are made and the nature of the materials in which the measurements are made. Thermal measurement techniques for each application must respect and work with the unique features of that application. Six challenges in the development of measurement technology are discussed: (1) to capture the character and localized peak values within highly nonuniform heating regions; (2) to manage large volumes of thermal instrumentation in order to efficiently derive critical information; (3) to accommodate thermal sensors into practical flight structures; (4) to broaden the capabilities of thermal survey techniques to replace discrete gages in flight and on the ground; (5) to provide supporting instrumentation conduits which connect the measurement points to the thermally controlled data acquisition system; and (6) to develop a class of 'vehicle tending' thermal sensors to assure the integrity of flight vehicles in an efficient manner.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Dairy Processing Industry: An ENERGY STAR? Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

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

Brush, Adrian; Masanet, Eric; Worrell, Ernst

The U.S. dairy processing industry—defined in this Energy Guide as facilities engaged in the conversion of raw milk to consumable dairy products—consumes around $1.5 billion worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. dairy processing industry to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented atmore » the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. dairy processing industry is provided along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Next, a wide variety of energy efficiency measures applicable to dairy processing plants are described. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in dairy processing facilities and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. Given the importance of water in dairy processing, a summary of basic, proven measures for improving water efficiency are also provided. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. dairy processing industry reduce energy and water consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures—as well as on their applicability to different production practices—is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.« less

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Fruit and Vegetable Processing Industry. An ENERGY STAR Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

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

Masanet, Eric; Masanet, Eric; Worrell, Ernst

2008-01-01

The U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry--defined in this Energy Guide as facilities engaged in the canning, freezing, and drying or dehydrating of fruits and vegetables--consumes over $800 million worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year. Energy efficiency improvement isan important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implementedmore » at the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry is provided along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Next, a wide variety of energy efficiency measures applicable to fruit and vegetable processing plants are described. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in fruit and vegetable processing facilities and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. Given the importance of water in fruit and vegetable processing, a summary of basic, proven measures for improving plant-level water efficiency are also provided. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry reduce energy and water consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures--as well as on their applicability to different production practices--is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.« less

A High-Order Finite Spectral Volume Method for Conservation Laws on Unstructured Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Z. J.; Liu, Yen; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A time accurate, high-order, conservative, yet efficient method named Finite Spectral Volume (FSV) is developed for conservation laws on unstructured grids. The concept of a 'spectral volume' is introduced to achieve high-order accuracy in an efficient manner similar to spectral element and multi-domain spectral methods. In addition, each spectral volume is further sub-divided into control volumes (CVs), and cell-averaged data from these control volumes is used to reconstruct a high-order approximation in the spectral volume. Riemann solvers are used to compute the fluxes at spectral volume boundaries. Then cell-averaged state variables in the control volumes are updated independently. Furthermore, TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) and TVB (Total Variation Bounded) limiters are introduced in the FSV method to remove/reduce spurious oscillations near discontinuities. A very desirable feature of the FSV method is that the reconstruction is carried out only once, and analytically, and is the same for all cells of the same type, and that the reconstruction stencil is always non-singular, in contrast to the memory and CPU-intensive reconstruction in a high-order finite volume (FV) method. Discussions are made concerning why the FSV method is significantly more efficient than high-order finite volume and the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods. Fundamental properties of the FSV method are studied and high-order accuracy is demonstrated for several model problems with and without discontinuities.

Exploring high dimensional free energy landscapes: Temperature accelerated sliced sampling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awasthi, Shalini; Nair, Nisanth N.

2017-03-01

Biased sampling of collective variables is widely used to accelerate rare events in molecular simulations and to explore free energy surfaces. However, computational efficiency of these methods decreases with increasing number of collective variables, which severely limits the predictive power of the enhanced sampling approaches. Here we propose a method called Temperature Accelerated Sliced Sampling (TASS) that combines temperature accelerated molecular dynamics with umbrella sampling and metadynamics to sample the collective variable space in an efficient manner. The presented method can sample a large number of collective variables and is advantageous for controlled exploration of broad and unbound free energy basins. TASS is also shown to achieve quick free energy convergence and is practically usable with ab initio molecular dynamics techniques.

Evidence of an inverted hexagonal phase in self-assembled phospholipid-DNA-metal complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francescangeli, O.; Pisani, M.; Stanic, V.; Bruni, P.; Weiss, T. M.

2004-08-01

We report the first observation of an inverted hexagonal phase of phospholipid-DNA-metal complexes. These ternary complexes are formed in a self-assembled manner when water solutions of neutral lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), DNA and divalent metal cations (Me2+; Me=Fe, Co, Mg, Mn) are mixed, which represents a striking example of supramolecular chemistry. The structure, derived from synchrotron X-ray diffraction, consists of cylindrical DNA strands coated by neutral lipid monolayers and arranged on a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice (HIIc). Besides the fundamental aspects, DOPE-DNA-Me2+ complexes may be of great interest as efficient nonviral delivery systems in gene therapy applications because of the low inherent cytotoxicity and the potential high transfection efficiency.

A RNA nanotechnology platform for a simultaneous two-in-one siRNA delivery and its application in synergistic RNAi therapy

PubMed Central

Jang, Mihue; Han, Hee Dong; Ahn, Hyung Jun

2016-01-01

Incorporating multiple copies of two RNAi molecules into a single nanostructure in a precisely controlled manner can provide an efficient delivery tool to regulate multiple gene pathways in the relation of mutual dependence. Here, we show a RNA nanotechnology platform for a two-in-one RNAi delivery system to contain polymeric two RNAi molecules within the same RNA nanoparticles, without the aid of polyelectrolyte condensation reagents. As our RNA nanoparticles lead to the simultaneous silencing of two targeted mRNAs, of which biological functions are highly interdependent, combination therapy for multi-drug resistance cancer cells, which was studied as a specific application of our two-in-one RNAi delivery system, demonstrates the efficient synergistic effects for cancer therapy. Therefore, this RNA nanoparticles approach has an efficient tool for a simultaneous co-delivery of RNAi molecules in the RNAi-based biomedical applications, and our current studies present an efficient strategy to overcome multi-drug resistance caused by malfunction of genes in chemotherapy. PMID:27562435

Highly diastereoselective reductive coupling of 2-bromo-2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropanamide with aldehydes promoted by triphenylphosphine-titanium(IV) isopropoxide. An efficient route to the synthesis of erythro-alpha-fluoro-alpha-(trifluoromethyl)-beta-hydroxy amides.

PubMed

Sato, Kei; Sekiguchi, Takashi; Ishihara, Takashi; Konno, Tsutomu; Yamanaka, Hiroki

2004-07-23

The reductive coupling reaction of N-methoxy-N-methyl-2-bromo-2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropanamide (Weinreb amide) with various aldehydes under the influence of the combined reagent, 1.2 equiv each of triphenylphosphine and titanium(IV) isopropoxide, took place smoothly at ambient temperature to give the corresponding alpha-fluoro-alpha-(trifluoromethyl)-beta-hydroxy amides in a highly erythro-selective manner. The high erythro selectivity was also obtained even by employing a combination of triphenylphosphine (1.2 equiv) and a catalytic amount of titanium(IV) isopropoxide.

High-efficiency wavefunction updates for large scale Quantum Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kent, Paul; McDaniel, Tyler; Li, Ying Wai; D'Azevedo, Ed

Within ab intio Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunctions. The evaluation of each Monte Carlo move requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix, which is traditionally iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. For calculations with thousands of electrons, this operation dominates the execution profile. We propose a novel rank- k delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation for multiple successive Monte Carlo moves, with application of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, k. Accepted events grouped in this manner are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency. This procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or the sampling efficiency. For large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude speedups can be obtained on both multi-core CPU and on GPUs, making this algorithm highly advantageous for current petascale and future exascale computations.

Anchoring of Cu(II) onto surface of porous metal-organic framework through post-synthesis modification for the synthesis of benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kardanpour, Reihaneh; Tangestaninejad, Shahram; Mirkhani, Valiollah; Moghadam, Majid; Mohammadpoor-Baltork, Iraj; Zadehahmadi, Farnaz

2016-03-01

Efficient synthesis of various benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles under mild conditions catalyzed by Cu(II) anchored onto UiO-66-NH2 metal organic framework is reported. In this manner, first, the aminated UiO-66 was modified with thiophene-2-carbaldehyde and then the prepared Schiff base was reacted with CuCl2. The prepared catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, UV-vis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The UiO-66-NH2-TC-Cu was applied as a highly efficient catalyst for synthesis of benzimidazole and benzothiazole derivatives by the reaction of aldehydes with 1,2-diaminobenzene or 2-aminothiophenol. The Cu(II)-containing MOF was reused several times without any appreciable loss of its efficiency.

Photodynamic therapy of tumors with pyropheophorbide-a-loaded polyethylene glycol-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles.

PubMed

Liu, Hui; Zhao, Mei; Wang, Jin; Pang, Mingpei; Wu, Zhenzhou; Zhao, Liqing; Yin, Zhinan; Hong, Zhangyong

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has many advantages in treating cancers, but the lack of ideal photosensitizers continues to be a major limitation restricting the clinical utility of PDT. This study aimed to overcome this obstacle by generating pyropheophorbide- a -loaded polyethylene glycol-poly(lactic- co -glycolic acid) nanoparticles (NPs) for efficient tumor-targeted PDT. The fabricated NPs were efficiently internalized in the mitochondrion by cancer cells, and they efficiently killed cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner when activated with light. Systemically delivered NPs were highly enriched in tumor sites, and completely ablated the tumors in a xenograft KB tumor mouse model when illuminated with 680 nm light (156 mW/cm 2 , 10 minutes). The results suggested that this tumor-specific NP-delivery system for pyropheophorbide- a has the potential to be used in tumor-targeted PDT.

Photodynamic therapy of tumors with pyropheophorbide-a-loaded polyethylene glycol–poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles

PubMed Central

Liu, Hui; Zhao, Mei; Wang, Jin; Pang, Mingpei; Wu, Zhenzhou; Zhao, Liqing; Yin, Zhinan; Hong, Zhangyong

2016-01-01

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has many advantages in treating cancers, but the lack of ideal photosensitizers continues to be a major limitation restricting the clinical utility of PDT. This study aimed to overcome this obstacle by generating pyropheophorbide-a-loaded polyethylene glycol–poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (NPs) for efficient tumor-targeted PDT. The fabricated NPs were efficiently internalized in the mitochondrion by cancer cells, and they efficiently killed cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner when activated with light. Systemically delivered NPs were highly enriched in tumor sites, and completely ablated the tumors in a xenograft KB tumor mouse model when illuminated with 680 nm light (156 mW/cm2, 10 minutes). The results suggested that this tumor-specific NP-delivery system for pyropheophorbide-a has the potential to be used in tumor-targeted PDT. PMID:27729788

Towards Versatile and Sustainable Hydrogen Production through Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: Electrolyte Engineering

PubMed Central

Shinagawa, Tatsuya

2017-01-01

Abstract Recent advances in power generation from renewable resources necessitate conversion of electricity to chemicals and fuels in an efficient manner. Electrocatalytic water splitting is one of the most powerful and widespread technologies. The development of highly efficient, inexpensive, flexible, and versatile water electrolysis devices is desired. This review discusses the significance and impact of the electrolyte on electrocatalytic performance. Depending on the circumstances under which the water splitting reaction is conducted, the required solution conditions, such as the identity and molarity of ions, may significantly differ. Quantitative understanding of such electrolyte properties on electrolysis performance is effective to facilitate the development of efficient electrocatalytic systems. The electrolyte can directly participate in reaction schemes (kinetics), affect electrode stability, and/or indirectly impact the performance by influencing the concentration overpotential (mass transport). This review aims to guide fine‐tuning of the electrolyte properties, or electrolyte engineering, for (photo)electrochemical water splitting reactions. PMID:27984671

Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Xin; Wegner, Berthold; Lee, Kyung Min; Fusella, Michael A.; Zhang, Fengyu; Moudgil, Karttikay; Rand, Barry P.; Barlow, Stephen; Marder, Seth R.; Koch, Norbert; Kahn, Antoine

2017-12-01

Chemical doping of organic semiconductors using molecular dopants plays a key role in the fabrication of efficient organic electronic devices. Although a variety of stable molecular p-dopants have been developed and successfully deployed in devices in the past decade, air-stable molecular n-dopants suitable for materials with low electron affinity are still elusive. Here we demonstrate that photo-activation of a cleavable air-stable dimeric dopant can result in kinetically stable and efficient n-doping of host semiconductors, whose reduction potentials are beyond the thermodynamic reach of the dimer’s effective reducing strength. Electron-transport layers doped in this manner are used to fabricate high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes. Our strategy thus enables a new paradigm for using air-stable molecular dopants to improve conductivity in, and provide ohmic contacts to, organic semiconductors with very low electron affinity.

AEGIS: A Lightweight Firewall for Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossain, Mohammad Sajjad; Raghunathan, Vijay

Firewalls are an essential component in today's networked computing systems (desktops, laptops, and servers) and provide effective protection against a variety of over-the-network security attacks. With the development of technologies such as IPv6 and 6LoWPAN that pave the way for Internet-connected embedded systems and sensor networks, these devices will soon be subject to (and need to be defended against) similar security threats. As a first step, this paper presents Aegis, a lightweight, rule-based firewall for networked embedded systems such as wireless sensor networks. Aegis is based on a semantically rich, yet simple, rule definition language. In addition, Aegis is highly efficient during operation, runs in a transparent manner from running applications, and is easy to maintain. Experimental results obtained using real sensor nodes and cycle-accurate simulations demonstrate that Aegis successfully performs gatekeeping of a sensor node's communication traffic in a flexible manner with minimal overheads.

Efficiency of energy recovery from municipal solid waste and the resultant effect on the greenhouse gas balance.

PubMed

Gohlke, Oliver

2009-11-01

Global warming is a focus of political interest and life-cycle assessment of waste management systems reveals that energy recovery from municipal solid waste is a key issue. This paper demonstrates how the greenhouse gas effects of waste treatment processes can be described in a simplified manner by considering energy efficiency indicators. For evaluation to be consistent, it is necessary to use reasonable system boundaries and to take the generation of electricity and the use of heat into account. The new European R1 efficiency criterion will lead to the development and implementation of optimized processes/systems with increased energy efficiency which, in turn, will exert an influence on the greenhouse gas effects of waste management in Europe. Promising technologies are: the increase of steam parameters, reduction of in-plant energy consumption, and the combined use of heat and power. Plants in Brescia and Amsterdam are current examples of good performance with highly efficient electricity generation. Other examples of particularly high heat recovery rates are the energy-from-waste (EfW) plants in Malmö and Gothenburg. To achieve the full potential of greenhouse gas reduction in waste management, it is necessary to avoid landfilling combustible wastes, for example, by means of landfill taxes and by putting incentives in place for increasing the efficiency of EfW systems.

Laser-Induced Focused Ultrasound for Cavitation Treatment: Toward High-Precision Invisible Sonic Scalpel.

PubMed

Lee, Taehwa; Luo, Wei; Li, Qiaochu; Demirci, Hakan; Guo, L Jay

2017-10-01

Beyond the implementation of the photoacoustic effect to photoacoustic imaging and laser ultrasonics, this study demonstrates a novel application of the photoacoustic effect for high-precision cavitation treatment of tissue using laser-induced focused ultrasound. The focused ultrasound is generated by pulsed optical excitation of an efficient photoacoustic film coated on a concave surface, and its amplitude is high enough to produce controllable microcavitation within the focal region (lateral focus <100 µm). Such microcavitation is used to cut or ablate soft tissue in a highly precise manner. This work demonstrates precise cutting of tissue-mimicking gels as well as accurate ablation of gels and animal eye tissues. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Superenhancers: novel opportunities for nanowire optoelectronics.

PubMed

Khudiyev, Tural; Bayindir, Mehmet

2014-12-16

Nanowires play a crucial role in the development of new generation optoelectronic devices ranging from photovoltaics to photodetectors, as these designs capitalize on the low material usage, utilize leaky-mode optical resonances and possess high conversion efficiencies associated with nanowire geometry. However, their current schemes lack sufficient absorption capacity demanded for their practical applicability, and more efficient materials cannot find widespread usage in these designs due to their rarity and cost. Here we suggest a novel and versatile nanoconcentrator scheme utilizing unique optical features of non-resonant Mie (NRM) scattering regime associated with low-index structures. The scattering regime is highly compatible with resonant Mie absorption effect taking place in nanowire absorbers. This technique in its optimized forms can provide up to 1500% total absorption enhancement, 400-fold material save and is suitable for large-area applications with significant area preservation compared to thin-film of same materials. Proposed superenhancer concept with its exceptional features such as broadband absorption enhancement, polarization immunity and material-independent manner paves the way for development of efficient nanowire photosensors or solar thermophotovoltaic devices and presents novel design opportunities for self-powered nanosystems.

Performance and emission characteristics of swirl-can combustors to near-stoichiometric fuel-air ratio

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diehl, L. A.; Trout, A. M.

1976-01-01

Emissions and performance characteristics were determined for two full annular swirl-can combustors operated to near stoichiometric fuel-air ratio. Test condition variations were as follows: combustor inlet-air temperatures, 589, 756, 839, and 894 K; reference velocities, 24 to 37 meters per second; inlet pressure, 62 newtons per square centimeter; and fuel-air ratios, 0.015 to 0.065. The combustor average exit temperature and combustor efficiency were calculated from the combustor exhaust gas composition. For fuel-air ratios greater than 0.04, the combustion efficiency decreased with increasing fuel-air ratios in a near-linear manner. Increasing the combustor inlet air temperature tended to offset this decrease. Maximum oxides of nitrogen emission indices occurred at intermediate fuel-air ratios and were dependent on combustor design. Carbon monoxide levels were extremely high and were the primary cause of poor combustion efficiency at the higher fuel-air ratios. Unburned hydrocarbons were low for all test conditions. For high fuel-air ratios SAE smoke numbers greater than 25 were produced, except at the highest inlet-air temperatures.

Communication: A reduced scaling J-engine based reformulation of SOS-MP2 using graphics processing units

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

Maurer, S. A.; Kussmann, J.; Ochsenfeld, C., E-mail: Christian.Ochsenfeld@cup.uni-muenchen.de

2014-08-07

We present a low-prefactor, cubically scaling scaled-opposite-spin second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (SOS-MP2) method which is highly suitable for massively parallel architectures like graphics processing units (GPU). The scaling is reduced from O(N{sup 5}) to O(N{sup 3}) by a reformulation of the MP2-expression in the atomic orbital basis via Laplace transformation and the resolution-of-the-identity (RI) approximation of the integrals in combination with efficient sparse algebra for the 3-center integral transformation. In contrast to previous works that employ GPUs for post Hartree-Fock calculations, we do not simply employ GPU-based linear algebra libraries to accelerate the conventional algorithm. Instead, our reformulation allows tomore » replace the rate-determining contraction step with a modified J-engine algorithm, that has been proven to be highly efficient on GPUs. Thus, our SOS-MP2 scheme enables us to treat large molecular systems in an accurate and efficient manner on a single GPU-server.« less

Electrostatically assembled dendrimer complex with a high-affinity protein binder for targeted gene delivery.

PubMed

Kim, Jong-Won; Lee, Joong-Jae; Choi, Joon Sig; Kim, Hak-Sung

2018-06-10

Although a variety of non-viral gene delivery systems have been developed, they still suffer from low efficiency and specificity. Herein, we present the assembly of a dendrimer complex comprising a DNA cargo and a targeting moiety as a new format for targeted gene delivery. A PAMAM dendrimer modified with histidine and arginine (HR-dendrimer) was used to enhance the endosomal escape and transfection efficiency. An EGFR-specific repebody, composed of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules, was employed as a targeting moiety. A polyanionic peptide was genetically fused to the repebody, followed by incubation with an HR-dendrimer and a DNA cargo to assemble the dendrimer complex through an electrostatic interaction. The resulting dendrimer complex was shown to deliver a DNA cargo with high efficiency in a receptor-specific manner. An analysis using a confocal microscope confirmed the internalization of the dendrimer complex and subsequent dissociation of a DNA cargo from the complex. The present approach can be broadly used in a targeted gene delivery in many areas. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microfluidic co-flow of Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids for high-resolution separation of microparticles.

PubMed

Tian, Fei; Zhang, Wei; Cai, Lili; Li, Shanshan; Hu, Guoqing; Cong, Yulong; Liu, Chao; Li, Tiejun; Sun, Jiashu

2017-09-12

The microfluidic passive control of microparticles largely relies on the hydrodynamic effects of the carrier media such as Newtonian fluids and viscoelastic fluids. Yet the viscoelastic/Newtonian interfacial effect has been scarcely investigated, especially for high-resolution particle separation. Here we report a microfluidic co-flow of Newtonian (water or PBS) and viscoelastic fluids (PEO) for the size-dependent separation of microparticles. The co-flow condition generates a stable viscoelastic/Newtonian interface, giving rise to the wall-directed elastic lift forces that compete with the center-directed lift forces, and efficiently hinders the migration of microparticles from the Newtonian to the viscoelastic fluid in a size-dependent manner. An almost complete separation of a binary mixture of 1 μm and 2 μm polystyrene particles is achieved by the co-flow of water and a very dilute PEO solution (100 ppm), whereas the sole use of water or PEO could not lead to an efficient separation. This co-flow microfluidic system is also applied for the separation of Staphylococcus aureus (1 μm) from platelets (2-3 μm) with >90% efficiencies and purities.

Qubit absorption refrigerator at strong coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mu, Anqi; Agarwalla, Bijay Kumar; Schaller, Gernot; Segal, Dvira

2017-12-01

We demonstrate that a quantum absorption refrigerator (QAR) can be realized from the smallest quantum system, a qubit, by coupling it in a non-additive (strong) manner to three heat baths. This function is un-attainable for the qubit model under the weak system-bath coupling limit, when the dissipation is additive. In an optimal design, the reservoirs are engineered and characterized by a single frequency component. We then obtain closed expressions for the cooling window and refrigeration efficiency, as well as bounds for the maximal cooling efficiency and the efficiency at maximal power. Our results agree with macroscopic designs and with three-level models for QARs, which are based on the weak system-bath coupling assumption. Beyond the optimal limit, we show with analytical calculations and numerical simulations that the cooling efficiency varies in a non-universal manner with model parameters. Our work demonstrates that strongly-coupled quantum machines can exhibit function that is un-attainable under the weak system-bath coupling assumption.

Sequential Monte Carlo Instant Radiosity.

PubMed

Hedman, Peter; Karras, Tero; Lehtinen, Jaakko

2017-05-01

Instant Radiosity and its derivatives are interactive methods for efficiently estimating global (indirect) illumination. They represent the last indirect bounce of illumination before the camera as the composite radiance field emitted by a set of virtual point light sources (VPLs). In complex scenes, current algorithms suffer from a difficult combination of two issues: it remains a challenge to distribute VPLs in a manner that simultaneously gives a high-quality indirect illumination solution for each frame, and to do so in a temporally coherent manner. We address both issues by building, and maintaining over time, an adaptive and temporally coherent distribution of VPLs in locations where they bring indirect light to the image. We introduce a novel heuristic sampling method that strives to only move as few of the VPLs between frames as possible. The result is, to the best of our knowledge, the first interactive global illumination algorithm that works in complex, highly-occluded scenes, suffers little from temporal flickering, supports moving cameras and light sources, and is output-sensitive in the sense that it places VPLs in locations that matter most to the final result.

In-Situ Phase Transition Control in the Supercooled State for Robust Active Glass Fiber.

PubMed

Lv, Shichao; Cao, Maoqing; Li, Chaoyu; Li, Jiang; Qiu, Jianrong; Zhou, Shifeng

2017-06-21

The construction of a dopant-activated photonic composite is of great technological importance for various applications, including smart lighting, optical amplification, laser, and optical detection. The bonding arrangement around the introduced dopants largely determines the properties, yet it remains a daunting challenge to manipulate the local state of the matrix (i.e., phase) inside the transparent composite in a controllable manner. Here we demonstrate that the relaxation of the supercooled state enables in-situ phase transition control in glass. Benefiting from the unique local atom arrangement manner, the strategy offers the possibility for simultaneously tuning the chemical environment of the incorporated dopant and engineering the dopant-host interaction. This allows us to effectively activate the dopant with high efficiency (calculated as ∼100%) and profoundly enhance the dopant-host energy-exchange interaction. Our results highlight that the in-situ phase transition control in glass may provide new opportunities for fabrication of unusual photonic materials with intense broadband emission at ∼1100 nm and development of the robust optical detection unit with high compactness and broadband photon-harvesting capability (from X-ray to ultraviolet light).

The effects of working memory training on functional brain network efficiency.

PubMed

Langer, Nicolas; von Bastian, Claudia C; Wirz, Helen; Oberauer, Klaus; Jäncke, Lutz

2013-10-01

The human brain is a highly interconnected network. Recent studies have shown that the functional and anatomical features of this network are organized in an efficient small-world manner that confers high efficiency of information processing at relatively low connection cost. However, it has been unclear how the architecture of functional brain networks is related to performance in working memory (WM) tasks and if these networks can be modified by WM training. Therefore, we conducted a double-blind training study enrolling 66 young adults. Half of the subjects practiced three WM tasks and were compared to an active control group practicing three tasks with low WM demand. High-density resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded before and after training to analyze graph-theoretical functional network characteristics at an intracortical level. WM performance was uniquely correlated with power in the theta frequency, and theta power was increased by WM training. Moreover, the better a person's WM performance, the more their network exhibited small-world topology. WM training shifted network characteristics in the direction of high performers, showing increased small-worldness within a distributed fronto-parietal network. Taken together, this is the first longitudinal study that provides evidence for the plasticity of the functional brain network underlying WM. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Modular Vaccine Development Platform Based on Sortase-Mediated Site-Specific Tagging of Antigens onto Virus-Like Particles

PubMed Central

Tang, Shubing; Xuan, Baoqin; Ye, Xiaohua; Huang, Zhong; Qian, Zhikang

2016-01-01

Virus-like particles (VLPs) can be used as powerful nanoscale weapons to fight against virus infection. In addition to direct use as vaccines, VLPs have been extensively exploited as platforms on which to display foreign antigens for prophylactic vaccination and immunotherapeutic treatment. Unfortunately, fabrication of new chimeric VLP vaccines in a versatile, site-specific and highly efficient manner is beyond the capability of traditional VLP vaccine design approaches, genetic insertion and chemical conjugation. In this study, we described a greatly improved VLP display strategy by chemoenzymatic site-specific tailoring antigens on VLPs surface with high efficiency. Through the transpeptidation mediated by sortase A, one protein and two epitopes containing N-terminal oligoglycine were conjugated to the LPET motif on the surface of hepatitis B virus core protein (HBc) VLPs with high density. All of the new chimeric VLPs induced strong specific IgG responses. Furthermore, the chimeric VLPs with sortase A tagged enterovirus 71 (EV71) SP70 epitope could elicit effective antibodies against EV71 lethal challenging as well as the genetic insertion chimeric VLPs. The sortase A mediated chemoenzymatic site-specific tailoring of the HBc VLP approach shows great potential in new VLP vaccine design for its simplicity, site specificity, high efficiency, and versatility. PMID:27170066

Near-Infrared Plasmonic-Enhanced Solar Energy Harvest for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Reactions.

PubMed

Cui, Jiabin; Li, Yongjia; Liu, Lei; Chen, Lin; Xu, Jun; Ma, Jingwen; Fang, Gang; Zhu, Enbo; Wu, Hao; Zhao, Lixia; Wang, Leyu; Huang, Yu

2015-10-14

We report a highly efficient photocatalyst comprised of Cu7S4@Pd heteronanostructures with plasmonic absorption in the near-infrared (NIR)-range. Our results indicated that the strong NIR plasmonic absorption of Cu7S4@Pd facilitated hot carrier transfer from Cu7S4 to Pd, which subsequently promoted the catalytic reactions on Pd metallic surface. We confirmed such enhancement mechanism could effectively boost the sunlight utilization in a wide range of photocatalytic reactions, including the Suzuki coupling reaction, hydrogenation of nitrobenzene, and oxidation of benzyl alcohol. Even under irradiation at 1500 nm with low power density (0.45 W/cm(2)), these heteronanostructures demonstrated excellent catalytic activities. Under solar illumination with power density as low as 40 mW/cm(2), nearly 80-100% of conversion was achieved within 2 h for all three types of organic reactions. Furthermore, recycling experiments showed the Cu7S4@Pd were stable and could retain their structures and high activity after five cycles. The reported synthetic protocol can be easily extended to other Cu7S4@M (M = Pt, Ag, Au) catalysts, offering a new solution to design and fabricate highly effective photocatalysts with broad material choices for efficient conversion of solar energy to chemical energy in an environmentally friendly manner.

High-throughput analysis of yeast replicative aging using a microfluidic system

PubMed Central

Jo, Myeong Chan; Liu, Wei; Gu, Liang; Dang, Weiwei; Qin, Lidong

2015-01-01

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been an important model for studying the molecular mechanisms of aging in eukaryotic cells. However, the laborious and low-throughput methods of current yeast replicative lifespan assays limit their usefulness as a broad genetic screening platform for research on aging. We address this limitation by developing an efficient, high-throughput microfluidic single-cell analysis chip in combination with high-resolution time-lapse microscopy. This innovative design enables, to our knowledge for the first time, the determination of the yeast replicative lifespan in a high-throughput manner. Morphological and phenotypical changes during aging can also be monitored automatically with a much higher throughput than previous microfluidic designs. We demonstrate highly efficient trapping and retention of mother cells, determination of the replicative lifespan, and tracking of yeast cells throughout their entire lifespan. Using the high-resolution and large-scale data generated from the high-throughput yeast aging analysis (HYAA) chips, we investigated particular longevity-related changes in cell morphology and characteristics, including critical cell size, terminal morphology, and protein subcellular localization. In addition, because of the significantly improved retention rate of yeast mother cell, the HYAA-Chip was capable of demonstrating replicative lifespan extension by calorie restriction. PMID:26170317

Efficient mRNA-Based Genetic Engineering of Human NK Cells with High-Affinity CD16 and CCR7 Augments Rituximab-Induced ADCC against Lymphoma and Targets NK Cell Migration toward the Lymph Node-Associated Chemokine CCL19.

PubMed

Carlsten, Mattias; Levy, Emily; Karambelkar, Amrita; Li, Linhong; Reger, Robert; Berg, Maria; Peshwa, Madhusudan V; Childs, Richard W

2016-01-01

For more than a decade, investigators have pursued methods to genetically engineer natural killer (NK) cells for use in clinical therapy against cancer. Despite considerable advances in viral transduction of hematopoietic stem cells and T cells, transduction efficiencies for NK cells have remained disappointingly low. Here, we show that NK cells can be genetically reprogramed efficiently using a cGMP-compliant mRNA electroporation method that induces rapid and reproducible transgene expression in nearly all transfected cells, without negatively influencing their viability, phenotype, and cytotoxic function. To study its potential therapeutic application, we used this approach to improve key aspects involved in efficient lymphoma targeting by adoptively infused ex vivo-expanded NK cells. Electroporation of NK cells with mRNA coding for the chemokine receptor CCR7 significantly promoted migration toward the lymph node-associated chemokine CCL19. Further, introduction of mRNA coding for the high-affinity antibody-binding receptor CD16 (CD16-158V) substantially augmented NK cell cytotoxicity against rituximab-coated lymphoma cells. Based on these data, we conclude that this approach can be utilized to genetically modify multiple modalities of NK cells in a highly efficient manner with the potential to improve multiple facets of their in vivo tumor targeting, thus, opening a new arena for the development of more efficacious adoptive NK cell-based cancer immunotherapies.

Three-Dimensional Modeling of Aircraft High-Lift Components with Vehicle Sketch Pad

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, Erik D.

2016-01-01

Vehicle Sketch Pad (OpenVSP) is a parametric geometry modeler that has been used extensively for conceptual design studies of aircraft, including studies using higher-order analysis. OpenVSP can model flap and slat surfaces using simple shearing of the airfoil coordinates, which is an appropriate level of complexity for lower-order aerodynamic analysis methods. For three-dimensional analysis, however, there is not a built-in method for defining the high-lift components in OpenVSP in a realistic manner, or for controlling their complex motions in a parametric manner that is intuitive to the designer. This paper seeks instead to utilize OpenVSP's existing capabilities, and establish a set of best practices for modeling high-lift components at a level of complexity suitable for higher-order analysis methods. Techniques are described for modeling the flap and slat components as separate three-dimensional surfaces, and for controlling their motion using simple parameters defined in the local hinge-axis frame of reference. To demonstrate the methodology, an OpenVSP model for the Energy-Efficient Transport (EET) AR12 wind-tunnel model has been created, taking advantage of OpenVSP's Advanced Parameter Linking capability to translate the motions of the high-lift components from the hinge-axis coordinate system to a set of transformations in OpenVSP's frame of reference.

Method and apparatus using an active ionic liquid for algae biofuel harvest and extraction

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

Salvo, Roberto Di; Reich, Alton; Dykes, Jr., H. Waite H.

The invention relates to use of an active ionic liquid to dissolve algae cell walls. The ionic liquid is used to, in an energy efficient manner, dissolve and/or lyse an algae cell walls, which releases algae constituents used in the creation of energy, fuel, and/or cosmetic components. The ionic liquids include ionic salts having multiple charge centers, low, very low, and ultra low melting point ionic liquids, and combinations of ionic liquids. An algae treatment system is described, which processes wet algae in a lysing reactor, separates out algae constituent products, and optionally recovers the ionic liquid in an energymore » efficient manner.« less

A new way towards high-efficiency thermally activated delayed fluorescence devices via external heavy-atom effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wenzhi; Jin, Jiangjiang; Huang, Zhi; Zhuang, Shaoqing; Wang, Lei

2016-07-01

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) mechanism is a significant method that enables the harvesting of both triplet and singlet excitons for emission. However, up to now most efforts have been devoted to dealing with the relation between singlet-triplet splitting (ΔEST) and fluorescence efficiency, while the significance of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is usually ignored. In this contribution, a new method is developed to realize high-efficiency TADF-based devices through simple device-structure optimizations. By inserting an ultrathin external heavy-atom (EHA) perturber layer in a desired manner, it provides useful means of accelerating the T1 → S1 reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) in TADF molecules without affecting the corresponding S1 → T1 process heavily. Furthermore, this strategy also promotes the utilization of host triplets through Förster mechanism during host → guest energy transfer (ET) processes, which helps to get rid of the solely dependence upon Dexter mechanism. Based on this strategy, we have successfully raised the external quantum efficiency (EQE) in 4CzPN-based devices by nearly 38% in comparison to control devices. These findings provide keen insights into the role of EHA played in TADF-based devices, offering valuable guidelines for utilizing certain TADF dyes which possess high radiative transition rate but relatively inefficient RISC.

Restriction digest screening facilitates efficient detection of site-directed mutations introduced by CRISPR in C. albicans UME6.

PubMed

Evans, Ben A; Smith, Olivia L; Pickerill, Ethan S; York, Mary K; Buenconsejo, Kristen J P; Chambers, Antonio E; Bernstein, Douglas A

2018-01-01

Introduction of point mutations to a gene of interest is a powerful tool when determining protein function. CRISPR-mediated genome editing allows for more efficient transfer of a desired mutation into a wide range of model organisms. Traditionally, PCR amplification and DNA sequencing is used to determine if isolates contain the intended mutation. However, mutation efficiency is highly variable, potentially making sequencing costly and time consuming. To more efficiently screen for correct transformants, we have identified restriction enzymes sites that encode for two identical amino acids or one or two stop codons. We used CRISPR to introduce these restriction sites directly upstream of the Candida albicans UME6 Zn 2+ -binding domain, a known regulator of C. albicans filamentation. While repair templates coding for different restriction sites were not equally successful at introducing mutations, restriction digest screening enabled us to rapidly identify isolates with the intended mutation in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, mutated isolates have clear defects in filamentation and virulence compared to wild type C. albicans . Our data suggest restriction digestion screening efficiently identifies point mutations introduced by CRISPR and streamlines the process of identifying residues important for a phenotype of interest.

A "caliper" type of controlled-source, frequency-domain, electromagnetic sounding method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, W.; Lin, J.; Zhou, F.; Liu, C.; Chen, J.; Xue, K.; Liu, L.; Wu, Y.

2011-12-01

We developed a special measurement manner for controlled-source, frequency-domain, electromagnetic sounding method that can improve resolution and efficiency, called as "caliper". This manner is base on our array electromagnetic system DPS-I, which consists of 53 channels and can cover 2500 m survey line at one arrangement. There are several steps to apply this method. First, a rough measurement is carried out, using large dynamic range but sparse frequencies. The ratio of adjacent frequency is set to be 2 or 4. The frequency points cover the entire frequency band that is required according to the geological environment, and are almost equidistantly distributed at logarithmic axis. Receivers array are arranged in one or more survey lines to measure the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic field components simultaneously. After all frequency points for rough measurement are measured, data in each sub-receiver are transmitted to the controller and the apparent resistivity and phase are calculated in field quickly. Then the pseudo section diagrams of apparent resistivity and phase are drew. By the pseudo section we can roughly lock the abnormal zone and determine the frequency band required for detail investigation of abnormal zone. Next, the measurement using high density of frequencies in this frequency band is carried out, which we called "detailed measurement". The ratio of adjacent frequency in this time is m which lies between 1 and 2. The exact value of m will depend on how detailed that the user expected. After "detailed measurement" is finished, the pseudo section diagrams of apparent resistivity and phase are drew in the same way with the first step. We can see more detailed information about the abnormal zone and decide whether further measurement is necessary. If it is necessary, we can repeat the second step using smaller m until the resolution meet the requirements to distinguish the target. By simulation, we know that high density of frequencies really help us to improve resolution. But we also need to say that the improvement is limited and it will do no help to add frequencies if the frequency is already dense enough. This method not only improves efficiency, but also improves the ability to distinguish the abnormal body. This measurement mode consisting of rough measurement and detailed measurement is similar to the caliper measurement of length, so called "caliper" type. It is accurate and fast. It not only can be applied to frequency-domain sounding, such as controlled source audio -frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT), but also can be extended to the spectral induced polarization method. By using this measurement manner, high resolution and high-efficiency can be expected.

77 FR 31616 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-29

...: Generic Clearance for the Collection Customer Satisfaction Surveys; Use: This collection of information is necessary to enable the Agency to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner... customers and stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying...

Comparison of transmission efficiency of different isolates of Potato virus Y among three aphid vectors

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Potato virus Y (PVY) strains are transmitted by different aphid species in a non-persistent, non-circulative manner. Green peach aphid (GPA, Myzus persicae Sulzer; Aphididae, Macrosiphini) is the most efficient vector in laboratory studies, but potato aphid (PA, Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas; Aphidi...

A Critical Analysis of Accountability in Higher Education: Its Relevance to Evaluation of Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kai, Jiang

2009-01-01

Accountability, which is closely related to evaluation of efficiency, effectiveness, and performance, requires proving that higher education has achieved planned results and performance in an effective manner. Highlighting efficiency and effectiveness and emphasizing results and outcomes are the basic characteristics of accountability in higher…

Function-Based Algorithms for Biological Sequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohanty, Pragyan Sheela P.

2015-01-01

Two problems at two different abstraction levels of computational biology are studied. At the molecular level, efficient pattern matching algorithms in DNA sequences are presented. For gene order data, an efficient data structure is presented capable of storing all gene re-orderings in a systematic manner. A common characteristic of presented…

43 CFR 418.28 - Conditions of delivery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... particulars including the known or estimated location and amounts; (3) The amount will not be included as a valid headgate delivery for purposes of computing the Project efficiency and resultant incentive credit... treated directly as a debit to Lahontan storage in the same manner as an efficiency debit. (b) District...

The Automated Array Assembly Task of the Low-cost Silicon Solar Array Project, Phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coleman, M. G.; Grenon, L.; Pastirik, E. M.; Pryor, R. A.; Sparks, T. G.

1978-01-01

An advanced process sequence for manufacturing high efficiency solar cells and modules in a cost-effective manner is discussed. Emphasis is on process simplicity and minimizing consumed materials. The process sequence incorporates texture etching, plasma processes for damage removal and patterning, ion implantation, low pressure silicon nitride deposition, and plated metal. A reliable module design is presented. Specific process step developments are given. A detailed cost analysis was performed to indicate future areas of fruitful cost reduction effort. Recommendations for advanced investigations are included.

Highly regioselective synthesis of N-3 organophosphorous derivatives of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones and their calcium channel binding studies.

PubMed

Singh, Kamaljit; Singh, Kawaljit; Trappanese, Danielle M; Moreland, Robert S

2012-08-01

A series of novel N-3 substituted 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones derivatives bearing diaminophosphinyl, phosphonate and phosphorous containing heterocycles were obtained from 3,4-dihydropyrimidinones (DHPMs) in a regioselective manner through an efficient reaction protocol, tolerant to substitutional variation at the key diversity positions around the DHPM core. None of the representative compounds screened for calcium channel blocking activity was found to have significant activity compared to nifedipine. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Inversion of very large matrices encountered in large scale problems of photogrammetry and photographic astrometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, D. C.

1971-01-01

The simultaneous adjustment of very large nets of overlapping plates covering the celestial sphere becomes computationally feasible by virtue of a twofold process that generates a system of normal equations having a bordered-banded coefficient matrix, and solves such a system in a highly efficient manner. Numerical results suggest that when a well constructed spherical net is subjected to a rigorous, simultaneous adjustment, the exercise of independently established control points is neither required for determinancy nor for production of accurate results.

Asymmetric intermolecular Pauson-Khand reactions of unstrained olefins: the (o-dimethylamino)phenylsulfinyl group as an efficient chiral auxiliary.

PubMed

Rodríguez Rivero, Marta; De La Rosa, Juan Carlos; Carretero, Juan Carlos

2003-12-10

The first asymmetric version of intermolecular Pauson-Khand reactions of unstrained alkenes is described. Generally simple acyclic alkenes exhibit low reactivity and regioselectivity in intermolecular Pauson-Khand reactions; however, o-(dimethylamino)phenyl vinyl sulfoxide reacts under very mild conditions with a wide variety of terminal alkynes in a completely regioselective and highly stereoselective manner. The utility of the resulting 5-sulfinyl-2-cyclopentenones in asymmetric synthesis is illustrated by a very short enantioselective synthesis of the antibiotic (-)-pentenomycin I.

Diaminophosphine oxide ligand enabled asymmetric nickel-catalyzed hydrocarbamoylations of alkenes.

PubMed

Donets, Pavel A; Cramer, Nicolai

2013-08-14

Chiral trivalent phosphorus species are the dominant class of ligands and the key controlling element in asymmetric homogeneous transition-metal catalysis. Here, novel chiral diaminophosphine oxide ligands are described. The arising catalyst system with nickel(0) and trimethylaluminum efficiently activates formamide C-H bonds under mild conditions providing pyrrolidones via intramolecular hydrocarbamoylation in a highly enantioselective manner with as little as 0.25% mol catalyst loading. Mechanistically, the secondary phosphine oxides behave as bridging ligands for the nickel center and the Lewis acidic organoaluminum center to give a heterobimetallic catalyst with superior reactivity.

Pipelining Architecture of Indexing Using Agglomerative Clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goyal, Deepika; Goyal, Deepti; Gupta, Parul

2010-11-01

The World Wide Web is an interlinked collection of billions of documents. Ironically the huge size of this collection has become an obstacle for information retrieval. To access the information from Internet, search engine is used. Search engine retrieve the pages from indexer. This paper introduce a novel pipelining technique for structuring the core index-building system that substantially reduces the index construction time and also clustering algorithm that aims at partitioning the set of documents into ordered clusters so that the documents within the same cluster are similar and are being assigned the closer document identifiers. After assigning to the clusters it creates the hierarchy of index so that searching is efficient. It will make the super cluster then mega cluster by itself. The pipeline architecture will create the index in such a way that it will be efficient in space and time saving manner. It will direct the search from higher level to lower level of index or higher level of clusters to lower level of cluster so that the user gets the possible match result in time saving manner. As one cluster is making by taking only two clusters so it search is limited to two clusters for lower level of index and so on. So it is efficient in time saving manner.

Identification of Novel Transplantable GPCR Recycling Motif for Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Nooh, Mohammed M.; Mancarella, Salvatore; Bahouth, Suleiman W.

2016-01-01

β1-adrenergic receptor (β1-AR) agonists and antagonists are widely used in the treatment of major cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and hypertension. The β1-AR like other G protein-couple receptors (GPCR) is endocytosed in response to intense agonist activation. Recycling of the agonist-internalized β1-AR is dependent on its carboxy-terminal type-1 PSD-95/DLG/ZO1 (PDZ) and on phospho-serine312 in the third intracellular loop of the β1-AR. Progressive elongation of the β1-AR at its C-tail inactivated the PDZ-biding domain and inhibited the recycling of the β1-AR. However, fusing a twenty amino acid peptide derived from the multiple cloning region of the mammalian expression vector pCDNA3 to the C-tail of the β1-AR (β1-AR[+20]) produced a chimeric β1-AR that recycled rapidly and efficiently. The β1-AR[+20] recycled in a type-1 PDZ and phospho-Ser312-independent manner, indicating that this peptide provided a general GPCR recycling signal. Fusing the enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) down-stream of β1-AR[+20] generated a β1-AR-EYFP chimera that was expressed on the membrane and recycled efficiently after agonist-induced internalization. This construct trafficked in a PDZ-SNX27/retromer-independent manner. We also fused EYFP to the N-terminus of the β1-AR to created EYFP-WT β1-AR. This construct recycled in PDZ and SNX27/retromer dependent manner. These β1-AR-EYFP constructs would be useful for high throughput screening (HTS) programs to identify new entities that would interfere with the recycling of agonist internalized GPCR that traffic in PDZ-dependent vs. PDZ-independent roadmaps. PMID:27645110

Rare Earth Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) Selective Emitters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chubb, Donald L.; Pal, AnnaMarie T.; Patton, Martin O.; Jenkins, Phillip P.

1999-01-01

As a result of their electron structure, rare earth ions in crystals at high temperature emit radiation in several narrow bands rather than in a continuous blackbody manner. This study presents a spectral emittance model for films and cylinders of rare earth doped yttrium aluminum garnets. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical film spectral emittances was found for erbium and holmium aluminum garnets. Spectral emittances of films are sensitive to temperature differences across the film. For operating conditions of interest, the film emitter experiences a linear temperature variation whereas the cylinder emitter has a more advantageous uniform temperature. Emitter efficiency is also a sensitive function of temperature. For holminum aluminum garnet film the efficiency is 0.35 at 1446K but only 0.27 at 1270 K.

KO(t)Bu-Mediated Coupling of Indoles and [60]Fullerene: Transition-Metal-Free and General Synthesis of 1,2-(3-Indole)(hydro)[60]fullerenes.

PubMed

Li, Fei; Haj Elhussin, Imad Elddin; Li, Shengli; Zhou, Hongping; Wu, Jieying; Tian, Yupeng

2015-11-06

Direct coupling of indoles with C60 has been achieved for the first time. Transition-metal-free KO(t)Bu-mediated reaction of indoles to [60]fullerene has been developed as a practical and efficient method for the synthesis of various 1,2-(3-indole)(hydro)[60]fullerenes that are otherwise difficult to direct synthesize in an efficient and selective manner. This methodology tolerates sensitive functionalities such as chloro, ester, and nitro on indole and builds molecular complexity rapidly, with most reactions reaching completion in <1 h. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed to explain the high regioselectivity at the 3-position of the indoles and the formation of 1,2-(3-indole)(hydro)[60]fullerenes.

siGnum: graphical user interface for EMG signal analysis.

PubMed

Kaur, Manvinder; Mathur, Shilpi; Bhatia, Dinesh; Verma, Suresh

2015-01-01

Electromyography (EMG) signals that represent the electrical activity of muscles can be used for various clinical and biomedical applications. These are complicated and highly varying signals that are dependent on anatomical location and physiological properties of the muscles. EMG signals acquired from the muscles require advanced methods for detection, decomposition and processing. This paper proposes a novel Graphical User Interface (GUI) siGnum developed in MATLAB that will apply efficient and effective techniques on processing of the raw EMG signals and decompose it in a simpler manner. It could be used independent of MATLAB software by employing a deploy tool. This would enable researcher's to gain good understanding of EMG signal and its analysis procedures that can be utilized for more powerful, flexible and efficient applications in near future.

A simple colorimetric chemosensor bearing a carboxylic acid group with high selectivity for CN-

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Gyeong Jin; Choi, Ye Won; Lee, Dongkuk; Kim, Cheal

2014-11-01

A new simple ‘naked eye' chemosensor 1 (sodium (E)-2-((2-(3-hydroxy-2-naphthoyl)hydrazono)methyl)benzoate) has been synthesized for detection of CN- in a mixture of DMF/H2O (9:1). The sensor 1 comprises of a naphthoic hydrazide as efficient hydrogen bonding donor group and a benzoic acid as the moiety with the water solubility. The receptor 1 showed high selectivity toward cyanide ions in a 1:1 stoichiometric manner, which induces a fast color change from colorless to yellow for CN- over other anions. Therefore, receptor 1 could be useful for cyanide detection in aqueous environment, displaying a high distinguishable selectivity from hydrogen bonded anions and being clearly visible to the naked eye.

Transition Documentation on a Three-Element High-Lift Configuration at High Reynolds Numbers--Database. [conducted in the Langley Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bertelrud, Arild; Johnson, Sherylene; Anders, J. B. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A 2-D (two dimensional) high-lift system experiment was conducted in August of 1996 in the Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA. The purpose of the experiment was to obtain transition measurements on a three element high-lift system for CFD (computational fluid dynamics) code validation studies. A transition database has been created using the data from this experiment. The present report details how the hot-film data and the related pressure data are organized in the database. Data processing codes to access the data in an efficient and reliable manner are described and limited examples are given on how to access the database and store acquired information.

General and highly α-regioselective zinc-mediated prenylation of aldehydes and ketones.

PubMed

Zhao, Li-Ming; Jin, Hai-Shan; Wan, Li-Jing; Zhang, Li-Ming

2011-03-18

A simple, efficient, and general α-prenylation approach for the synthesis of a variety of α-prenylated alcohols has been successfully developed. A wide range of α-prenylated alcohol derivatives could be obtained in good yields by highly α-regioselective zinc-mediated prenylation of various aldehydes and ketones with prenyl bromide at 120 °C in HMPA. By simply altering the reaciton solvent and temperature, the method allows the achievement of a highly notable opposite regiocontrol, providing the expected regiochemical product. The method provides a convenient route for the direct α-prenylation of carbonyl compounds in a highly α-regioselective manner using a cheap and convenient mediator. Two possible pathways are proposed to account for the formation of these synthetically difficult-to-obtain molecules.

CRISPR-FOCUS: A web server for designing focused CRISPR screening experiments.

PubMed

Cao, Qingyi; Ma, Jian; Chen, Chen-Hao; Xu, Han; Chen, Zhi; Li, Wei; Liu, X Shirley

2017-01-01

The recently developed CRISPR screen technology, based on the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, enables genome-wide interrogation of gene functions in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Although many computational algorithms and web servers have been developed to design single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) with high specificity and efficiency, algorithms specifically designed for conducting CRISPR screens are still lacking. Here we present CRISPR-FOCUS, a web-based platform to search and prioritize sgRNAs for CRISPR screen experiments. With official gene symbols or RefSeq IDs as the only mandatory input, CRISPR-FOCUS filters and prioritizes sgRNAs based on multiple criteria, including efficiency, specificity, sequence conservation, isoform structure, as well as genomic variations including Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and cancer somatic mutations. CRISPR-FOCUS also provides pre-defined positive and negative control sgRNAs, as well as other necessary sequences in the construct (e.g., U6 promoters to drive sgRNA transcription and RNA scaffolds of the CRISPR/Cas9). These features allow users to synthesize oligonucleotides directly based on the output of CRISPR-FOCUS. Overall, CRISPR-FOCUS provides a rational and high-throughput approach for sgRNA library design that enables users to efficiently conduct a focused screen experiment targeting up to thousands of genes. (CRISPR-FOCUS is freely available at http://cistrome.org/crispr-focus/).

Parabens abatement from surface waters by electrochemical advanced oxidation with boron doped diamond anodes.

PubMed

Domínguez, Joaquín R; Muñoz-Peña, Maria J; González, Teresa; Palo, Patricia; Cuerda-Correa, Eduardo M

2016-10-01

The removal efficiency of four commonly-used parabens by electrochemical advanced oxidation with boron-doped diamond anodes in two different aqueous matrices, namely ultrapure water and surface water from the Guadiana River, has been analyzed. Response surface methodology and a factorial, composite, central, orthogonal, and rotatable (FCCOR) statistical design of experiments have been used to optimize the process. The experimental results clearly show that the initial concentration of pollutants is the factor that influences the removal efficiency in a more remarkable manner in both aqueous matrices. As a rule, as the initial concentration of parabens increases, the removal efficiency decreases. The current density also affects the removal efficiency in a statistically significant manner in both aqueous matrices. In the water river aqueous matrix, a noticeable synergistic effect on the removal efficiency has been observed, probably due to the presence of chloride ions that increase the conductivity of the solution and contribute to the generation of strong secondary oxidant species such as chlorine or HClO/ClO - . The use of a statistical design of experiments made it possible to determine the optimal conditions necessary to achieve total removal of the four parabens in ultrapure and river water aqueous matrices.

Bimodal imprint chips for peptide screening: integration of high-throughput sequencing by MS and affinity analyses by surface plasmon resonance imaging.

PubMed

Wang, Weizhi; Li, Menglin; Wei, Zewen; Wang, Zihua; Bu, Xiangli; Lai, Wenjia; Yang, Shu; Gong, He; Zheng, Hui; Wang, Yuqiao; Liu, Ying; Li, Qin; Fang, Qiaojun; Hu, Zhiyuan

2014-04-15

Peptide probes and drugs have widespread applications in disease diagnostics and therapy. The demand for peptides ligands with high affinity and high specificity toward various targets has surged in the biomedical field in recent years. The traditional peptide screening procedure involves selection, sequencing, and characterization steps, and each step is manual and tedious. Herein, we developed a bimodal imprint microarray system to embrace the whole peptide screening process. Silver-sputtered silicon chip fabricated with microwell array can trap and pattern the candidate peptide beads in a one-well-one-bead manner. Peptides on beads were photocleaved in situ. A portion of the peptide in each well was transferred to a gold-coated chip to print the peptide array for high-throughput affinity analyses by surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi), and the peptide left in the silver-sputtered chip was ready for in situ single bead sequencing by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Using the bimodal imprint chip system, affinity peptides toward AHA were efficiently screened out from the 7 × 10(4) peptide library. The method provides a solution for high efficiency peptide screening.

Highly efficient and selective pressure-assisted photon-induced polymerization of styrene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, Jiwen; Song, Yang

2016-06-01

The polymerization process of condensed styrene to produce polystyrene as an industrially important polymeric material was investigated using a novel approach by combining external compression with ultraviolet radiation. The reaction evolution was monitored as a function of time and the reaction products were characterized by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. By optimizing the loading pressures, we observed highly efficient and selective production of polystyrene of different tacticities. Specifically, at relatively low loading pressures, infrared spectra suggest that styrene monomers transform to amorphous atactic polystyrene (APS) with minor crystalline isotactic polystyrene. In contrast, APS was found to be the sole product when polymerization occurs at relatively higher loading pressures. The time-dependent reaction profiles allow the examination of the polymerization kinetics by analyzing the rate constant and activation volume as a function of pressure. As a result, an optimized pressure condition, which allows a barrierless reaction to proceed, was identified and attributed to the very desirable reaction yield and kinetics. Finally, the photoinitiated reaction mechanism and the growth geometry of the polymer chains were investigated from the energy diagram of styrene and by the topology analysis of the crystal styrene. This study shows strong promise to produce functional polymeric materials in a highly efficient and controlled manner.

Direct catalytic asymmetric aldol-Tishchenko reaction.

PubMed

Gnanadesikan, Vijay; Horiuchi, Yoshihiro; Ohshima, Takashi; Shibasaki, Masakatsu

2004-06-30

A direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction of propionate equivalent was achieved via the aldol-Tishchenko reaction. Coupling an irreversible Tishchenko reaction to a reversible aldol reaction overcame the retro-aldol reaction problem and thereby afforded the products in high enantio and diastereoselectivity using 10 mol % of the asymmetric catalyst. A variety of ketones and aldehydes, including propyl and butyl ketones, were coupled efficiently, yielding the corresponding aldol-Tishchenko products in up to 96% yield and 95% ee. Diastereoselectivity was generally below the detection limit of 1H NMR (>98:2). Preliminary studies performed to clarify the mechanism revealed that the aldol products were racemic with no diastereoselectivity. On the other hand, the Tishchenko products were obtained in a highly enantiocontrolled manner.

Large pollen loads of a South African asclepiad do not interfere with the foraging behaviour or efficiency of pollinating honey bees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coombs, G.; Dold, A. P.; Brassine, E. I.; Peter, C. I.

2012-07-01

The pollen of asclepiads (Asclepiadoideae, Apocynaceae) and most orchids (Orchidaceae) are packaged as large aggregations known as pollinaria that are removed as entire units by pollinators. In some instances, individual pollinators may accumulate large loads of these pollinaria. We found that the primary pollinator of Cynanchum ellipticum (Apocynaceae—Asclepiadoideae), the honey bee Apis mellifera, accumulate very large agglomerations of pollinaria on their mouthparts when foraging on this species. We tested whether large pollinarium loads negatively affected the foraging behaviour and foraging efficiency of honey bees by slowing foraging speeds or causing honey bees to visit fewer flowers, and found no evidence to suggest that large pollinarium loads altered foraging behaviour. C. ellipticum displayed consistently high levels of pollination success and pollen transfer efficiency (PTE). This may be a consequence of efficiently loading large numbers of pollinaria onto pollinators even when primary points of attachment on pollinators are already occupied and doing so in a manner that does not impact the foraging behaviour of pollinating insects.

Rapid protein concentration, efficient fluorescence labeling and purification on a micro/nanofluidics chip.

PubMed

Wang, Chen; Ouyang, Jun; Ye, De-Kai; Xu, Jing-Juan; Chen, Hong-Yuan; Xia, Xing-Hua

2012-08-07

Fluorescence analysis has proved to be a powerful detection technique for achieving single molecule analysis. However, it usually requires the labeling of targets with bright fluorescent tags since most chemicals and biomolecules lack fluorescence. Conventional fluorescence labeling methods require a considerable quantity of biomolecule samples, long reaction times and extensive chromatographic purification procedures. Herein, a micro/nanofluidics device integrating a nanochannel in a microfluidics chip has been designed and fabricated, which achieves rapid protein concentration, fluorescence labeling, and efficient purification of product in a miniaturized and continuous manner. As a demonstration, labeling of the proteins bovine serum albumin (BSA) and IgG with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) is presented. Compared to conventional methods, the present micro/nanofluidics device performs about 10(4)-10(6) times faster BSA labeling with 1.6 times higher yields due to the efficient nanoconfinement effect, improved mass, and heat transfer in the chip device. The results demonstrate that the present micro/nanofluidics device promises rapid and facile fluorescence labeling of small amount of reagents such as proteins, nucleic acids and other biomolecules with high efficiency.

Optimal design of implants for magnetically mediated hyperthermia: A wireless power transfer approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lang, Hans-Dieter; Sarris, Costas D.

2017-09-01

In magnetically mediated hyperthermia (MMH), an externally applied alternating magnetic field interacts with a mediator (such as a magnetic nanoparticle or an implant) inside the body to heat up the tissue in its proximity. Producing heat via induced currents in this manner is strikingly similar to wireless power transfer (WPT) for implants, where power is transferred from a transmitter outside of the body to an implanted receiver, in most cases via magnetic fields as well. Leveraging this analogy, a systematic method to design MMH implants for optimal heating efficiency is introduced, akin to the design of WPT systems for optimal power transfer efficiency. This paper provides analytical formulas for the achievable heating efficiency bounds as well as the optimal operating frequency and the implant material. Multiphysics simulations validate the approach and further demonstrate that optimization with respect to maximum heating efficiency is accompanied by minimizing heat delivery to healthy tissue. This is a property that is highly desirable when considering MMH as a key component or complementary method of cancer treatment and other applications.

Performance of Hg1-xCdxTe infrared focal plane array at elevated temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Anand; Pal, Ravinder

2017-04-01

The simulated optical and electrical performance of the infrared HgCdTe focal plane array (FPA) for elevated operation temperature is reported. The depleted absorber layer is explored for equilibrium mode of operation up to 160 K. A resonant cavity is created to improve photon-matter interaction and hence, reduces the required absorption volume. The volume of the active region of HgCdTe detector is reduced by 70% in this manner. Dark current density is decreased without compromising the quantum efficiency. The effect of the reduced band filling effect leading to higher absorption coefficient and more efficient utilization of incident flux is employed. High quantum efficiency is achieved in a thin compositionally graded n+/ν/π/p HgCdTe photo-diode. This architecture helps to minimize the requirement of charge handling capacity in the CMOS read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) as the operation temperature is increased. Quantum efficiency ˜30% or above is shown to be sufficient for Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) less than 20 mK with the reported design.

A universal self-charging system driven by random biomechanical energy for sustainable operation of mobile electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Simiao; Wang, Xiaofeng; Yi, Fang; Zhou, Yu Sheng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2015-12-01

Human biomechanical energy is characterized by fluctuating amplitudes and variable low frequency, and an effective utilization of such energy cannot be achieved by classical energy-harvesting technologies. Here we report a high-efficient self-charging power system for sustainable operation of mobile electronics exploiting exclusively human biomechanical energy, which consists of a high-output triboelectric nanogenerator, a power management circuit to convert the random a.c. energy to d.c. electricity at 60% efficiency, and an energy storage device. With palm tapping as the only energy source, this power unit provides a continuous d.c. electricity of 1.044 mW (7.34 W m-3) in a regulated and managed manner. This self-charging unit can be universally applied as a standard `infinite-lifetime' power source for continuously driving numerous conventional electronics, such as thermometers, electrocardiograph system, pedometers, wearable watches, scientific calculators and wireless radio-frequency communication system, which indicates the immediate and broad applications in personal sensor systems and internet of things.

A universal self-charging system driven by random biomechanical energy for sustainable operation of mobile electronics.

PubMed

Niu, Simiao; Wang, Xiaofeng; Yi, Fang; Zhou, Yu Sheng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2015-12-11

Human biomechanical energy is characterized by fluctuating amplitudes and variable low frequency, and an effective utilization of such energy cannot be achieved by classical energy-harvesting technologies. Here we report a high-efficient self-charging power system for sustainable operation of mobile electronics exploiting exclusively human biomechanical energy, which consists of a high-output triboelectric nanogenerator, a power management circuit to convert the random a.c. energy to d.c. electricity at 60% efficiency, and an energy storage device. With palm tapping as the only energy source, this power unit provides a continuous d.c. electricity of 1.044 mW (7.34 W m(-3)) in a regulated and managed manner. This self-charging unit can be universally applied as a standard 'infinite-lifetime' power source for continuously driving numerous conventional electronics, such as thermometers, electrocardiograph system, pedometers, wearable watches, scientific calculators and wireless radio-frequency communication system, which indicates the immediate and broad applications in personal sensor systems and internet of things.

Automated solid-phase subcloning based on beads brought into proximity by magnetic force.

PubMed

Hudson, Elton P; Nikoshkov, Andrej; Uhlen, Mathias; Rockberg, Johan

2012-01-01

In the fields of proteomics, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology there is a need for high-throughput and reliable cloning methods to facilitate construction of expression vectors and genetic pathways. Here, we describe a new approach for solid-phase cloning in which both the vector and the gene are immobilized to separate paramagnetic beads and brought into proximity by magnetic force. Ligation events were directly evaluated using fluorescent-based microscopy and flow cytometry. The highest ligation efficiencies were obtained when gene- and vector-coated beads were brought into close contact by application of a magnet during the ligation step. An automated procedure was developed using a laboratory workstation to transfer genes into various expression vectors and more than 95% correct clones were obtained in a number of various applications. The method presented here is suitable for efficient subcloning in an automated manner to rapidly generate a large number of gene constructs in various vectors intended for high throughput applications.

Automated Solid-Phase Subcloning Based on Beads Brought into Proximity by Magnetic Force

PubMed Central

Hudson, Elton P.; Nikoshkov, Andrej; Uhlen, Mathias; Rockberg, Johan

2012-01-01

In the fields of proteomics, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology there is a need for high-throughput and reliable cloning methods to facilitate construction of expression vectors and genetic pathways. Here, we describe a new approach for solid-phase cloning in which both the vector and the gene are immobilized to separate paramagnetic beads and brought into proximity by magnetic force. Ligation events were directly evaluated using fluorescent-based microscopy and flow cytometry. The highest ligation efficiencies were obtained when gene- and vector-coated beads were brought into close contact by application of a magnet during the ligation step. An automated procedure was developed using a laboratory workstation to transfer genes into various expression vectors and more than 95% correct clones were obtained in a number of various applications. The method presented here is suitable for efficient subcloning in an automated manner to rapidly generate a large number of gene constructs in various vectors intended for high throughput applications. PMID:22624028

Ultrasound-propelled nanoporous gold wire for efficient drug loading and release.

PubMed

Garcia-Gradilla, Victor; Sattayasamitsathit, Sirilak; Soto, Fernando; Kuralay, Filiz; Yardımcı, Ceren; Wiitala, Devan; Galarnyk, Michael; Wang, Joseph

2014-10-29

Ultrasound (US)-powered nanowire motors based on nanoporous gold segment are developed for increasing the drug loading capacity. The new highly porous nanomotors are characterized with a tunable pore size, high surface area, and high capacity for the drug payload. These nanowire motors are prepared by template membrane deposition of a silver-gold alloy segment followed by dealloying the silver component. The drug doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded within the nanopores via electrostatic interactions with an anionic polymeric coating. The nanoporous gold structure also facilitates the near-infrared (NIR) light controlled release of the drug through photothermal effects. Ultrasound-driven transport of the loaded drug toward cancer cells followed by NIR-light triggered release is illustrated. The incorporation of the nanoporous gold segment leads to a nearly 20-fold increase in the active surface area compared to common gold nanowire motors. It is envisioned that such US-powered nanomotors could provide a new approach to rapidly and efficiently deliver large therapeutic payloads in a target-specific manner. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Shifted Transversal Design smart-pooling for high coverage interactome mapping

PubMed Central

Xin, Xiaofeng; Rual, Jean-François; Hirozane-Kishikawa, Tomoko; Hill, David E.; Vidal, Marc; Boone, Charles; Thierry-Mieg, Nicolas

2009-01-01

“Smart-pooling,” in which test reagents are multiplexed in a highly redundant manner, is a promising strategy for achieving high efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity in systems-level projects. However, previous applications relied on low redundancy designs that do not leverage the full potential of smart-pooling, and more powerful theoretical constructions, such as the Shifted Transversal Design (STD), lack experimental validation. Here we evaluate STD smart-pooling in yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) interactome mapping. We employed two STD designs and two established methods to perform ORFeome-wide Y2H screens with 12 baits. We found that STD pooling achieves similar levels of sensitivity and specificity as one-on-one array-based Y2H, while the costs and workloads are divided by three. The screening-sequencing approach is the most cost- and labor-efficient, yet STD identifies about twofold more interactions. Screening-sequencing remains an appropriate method for quickly producing low-coverage interactomes, while STD pooling appears as the method of choice for obtaining maps with higher coverage. PMID:19447967

Off-plane x-ray reflection grating fabrication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, Thomas J.; DeRoo, Casey T.; Marlowe, Hannah; McEntaffer, Randall L.; Miles, Drew M.; Tutt, James H.; Schultz, Ted B.

2015-09-01

Off-plane X-ray diffraction gratings with precision groove profiles at the submicron scale will be used in next generation X-ray spectrometers. Such gratings will be used on a current NASA suborbital rocket mission, the Off-plane Grating Rocket Experiment (OGRE), and have application for future grating missions. The fabrication of these gratings does not come without challenges. High performance off-plane gratings must be fabricated with precise radial grating patterns, optically at surfaces, and specific facet angles. Such gratings can be made using a series of common micro-fabrication techniques. The resulting process is highly customizable, making it useful for a variety of different mission architectures. In this paper, we detail the fabrication method used to produce high performance off-plane gratings and report the results of a preliminary qualification test of a grating fabricated in this manner. The grating was tested in the off-plane `Littrow' configuration, for which the grating is most efficient for a given diffraction order, and found to achieve 42% relative efficiency in the blaze order with respect to all diffracted light.

Quiet echo planar imaging for functional and diffusion MRI

PubMed Central

Price, Anthony N.; Cordero‐Grande, Lucilio; Malik, Shaihan; Ferrazzi, Giulio; Gaspar, Andreia; Hughes, Emer J.; Christiaens, Daan; McCabe, Laura; Schneider, Torben; Rutherford, Mary A.; Hajnal, Joseph V.

2017-01-01

Purpose To develop a purpose‐built quiet echo planar imaging capability for fetal functional and diffusion scans, for which acoustic considerations often compromise efficiency and resolution as well as angular/temporal coverage. Methods The gradient waveforms in multiband‐accelerated single‐shot echo planar imaging sequences have been redesigned to minimize spectral content. This includes a sinusoidal read‐out with a single fundamental frequency, a constant phase encoding gradient, overlapping smoothed CAIPIRINHA blips, and a novel strategy to merge the crushers in diffusion MRI. These changes are then tuned in conjunction with the gradient system frequency response function. Results Maintained image quality, SNR, and quantitative diffusion values while reducing acoustic noise up to 12 dB (A) is illustrated in two adult experiments. Fetal experiments in 10 subjects covering a range of parameters depict the adaptability and increased efficiency of quiet echo planar imaging. Conclusion Purpose‐built for highly efficient multiband fetal echo planar imaging studies, the presented framework reduces acoustic noise for all echo planar imaging‐based sequences. Full optimization by tuning to the gradient frequency response functions allows for a maximally time‐efficient scan within safe limits. This allows ambitious in‐utero studies such as functional brain imaging with high spatial/temporal resolution and diffusion scans with high angular/spatial resolution to be run in a highly efficient manner at acceptable sound levels. Magn Reson Med 79:1447–1459, 2018. © 2017 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. PMID:28653363

The effect of normative social forces on managed care organizations: implications for strategic management.

PubMed

Kirby, E G; Sebastian, J G

1998-01-01

Drawing on institutional theory, this study examines how adherence to a number of "institutional" and "technical" environmental forces can influence the business success of managed care organizations (MCOs). The standards studied include: (1) institutional forces: socially accepted procedures for delivering care (access to quality care, availability of information, and delivery of care in a personal manner); and (2) technical forces: industry standards for cost control and efficient use of financial and medical resources. The most significant finding is that successful MCOs must conform to both institutional and technical forces to be successful. MCOs that conform to either one or the other type of standard were no more successful than those that conformed to neither. These findings have several important implications for MCO strategy. First, to be successful, MCO executives must understand the external environment in which they operate. They must anticipate and respond to shifts in that environment. Second, this understanding of the external environment must place equal emphasis on societal demands (e.g., for accessible care and information) and on technical demands (e.g., for cost-efficient care). These findings may well reflect that once managed care penetration reaches relatively high levels, marketshare can no longer be gained through cost-efficiency alone; rather, enrollee satisfaction based on societal demands becomes a key factor in maintaining and gaining marketshare. Institutional theory provides' some strategies for accomplishing these goals. Cost-containment strategies include implementing policies for cutting costs in areas that do not affect the quality of care, such as using generic drugs and reducing administrative excesses and redundancies. At the same time, MCOs must implement strategies aimed at improving conformity to prevailing societal perceptions of appropriate care, including providing patients more freedom to choose their physicians and encouraging and rewarding care providers for being friendly and personable. An MCO should work to inform the public of the organization's efforts to provide high-quality, low-cost medical care in a friendly, convenient manner.

Endogenous Catalytic Generation of O2 Bubbles for In Situ Ultrasound-Guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation.

PubMed

Liu, Tianzhi; Zhang, Nan; Wang, Zhigang; Wu, Meiying; Chen, Yu; Ma, Ming; Chen, Hangrong; Shi, Jianlin

2017-09-26

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) surgery generally suffers from poor precision and low efficiency in clinical application, especially for cancer therapy. Herein, a multiscale hybrid catalytic nanoreactor (catalase@MONs, abbreviated as C@M) has been developed as a tumor-sensitive contrast and synergistic agent (C&SA) for ultrasound-guided HIFU cancer surgery, by integrating dendritic-structured mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (MONs) and catalase immobilized in the large open pore channels of MONs. Such a hybrid nanoreactor exhibited sensitive catalytic activity toward H 2 O 2 , facilitating the continuous O 2 gas generation in a relatively mild manner even if incubated with 10 μM H 2 O 2 , which finally led to enhanced ablation in the tissue-mimicking PAA gel model after HIFU exposure mainly resulting from intensified cavitation effect. The C@M nanoparticles could be accumulated within the H 2 O 2 -enriched tumor region through enhanced permeability and retention effect, enabling durable contrast enhancement of ultrasound imaging, and highly efficient tumor ablation under relatively low power of HIFU exposure in vivo. Very different from the traditional perfluorocarbon-based C&SA, such an on-demand catalytic nanoreactor could realize the accurate positioning of tumor without HIFU prestimulation and efficient HIFU ablation with a much safer power output, which is highly desired in clinical HIFU application.

Microfluidic Devices for Drug Delivery Systems and Drug Screening

PubMed Central

Kompella, Uday B.; Damiati, Safa A.

2018-01-01

Microfluidic devices present unique advantages for the development of efficient drug carrier particles, cell-free protein synthesis systems, and rapid techniques for direct drug screening. Compared to bulk methods, by efficiently controlling the geometries of the fabricated chip and the flow rates of multiphase fluids, microfluidic technology enables the generation of highly stable, uniform, monodispersed particles with higher encapsulation efficiency. Since the existing preclinical models are inefficient drug screens for predicting clinical outcomes, microfluidic platforms might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative. Compared to 2D cell culture systems and in vivo animal models, microfluidic 3D platforms mimic the in vivo cell systems in a simple, inexpensive manner, which allows high throughput and multiplexed drug screening at the cell, organ, and whole-body levels. In this review, the generation of appropriate drug or gene carriers including different particle types using different configurations of microfluidic devices is highlighted. Additionally, this paper discusses the emergence of fabricated microfluidic cell-free protein synthesis systems for potential use at point of care as well as cell-, organ-, and human-on-a-chip models as smart, sensitive, and reproducible platforms, allowing the investigation of the effects of drugs under conditions imitating the biological system. PMID:29462948

Towards Versatile and Sustainable Hydrogen Production through Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: Electrolyte Engineering.

PubMed

Shinagawa, Tatsuya; Takanabe, Kazuhiro

2017-04-10

Recent advances in power generation from renewable resources necessitate conversion of electricity to chemicals and fuels in an efficient manner. Electrocatalytic water splitting is one of the most powerful and widespread technologies. The development of highly efficient, inexpensive, flexible, and versatile water electrolysis devices is desired. This review discusses the significance and impact of the electrolyte on electrocatalytic performance. Depending on the circumstances under which the water splitting reaction is conducted, the required solution conditions, such as the identity and molarity of ions, may significantly differ. Quantitative understanding of such electrolyte properties on electrolysis performance is effective to facilitate the development of efficient electrocatalytic systems. The electrolyte can directly participate in reaction schemes (kinetics), affect electrode stability, and/or indirectly impact the performance by influencing the concentration overpotential (mass transport). This review aims to guide fine-tuning of the electrolyte properties, or electrolyte engineering, for (photo)electrochemical water splitting reactions. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Efficient Global Aerodynamic Modeling from Flight Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morelli, Eugene A.

2012-01-01

A method for identifying global aerodynamic models from flight data in an efficient manner is explained and demonstrated. A novel experiment design technique was used to obtain dynamic flight data over a range of flight conditions with a single flight maneuver. Multivariate polynomials and polynomial splines were used with orthogonalization techniques and statistical modeling metrics to synthesize global nonlinear aerodynamic models directly and completely from flight data alone. Simulation data and flight data from a subscale twin-engine jet transport aircraft were used to demonstrate the techniques. Results showed that global multivariate nonlinear aerodynamic dependencies could be accurately identified using flight data from a single maneuver. Flight-derived global aerodynamic model structures, model parameter estimates, and associated uncertainties were provided for all six nondimensional force and moment coefficients for the test aircraft. These models were combined with a propulsion model identified from engine ground test data to produce a high-fidelity nonlinear flight simulation very efficiently. Prediction testing using a multi-axis maneuver showed that the identified global model accurately predicted aircraft responses.

Correlation between genome reduction and bacterial growth.

PubMed

Kurokawa, Masaomi; Seno, Shigeto; Matsuda, Hideo; Ying, Bei-Wen

2016-12-01

Genome reduction by removing dispensable genomic sequences in bacteria is commonly used in both fundamental and applied studies to determine the minimal genetic requirements for a living system or to develop highly efficient bioreactors. Nevertheless, whether and how the accumulative loss of dispensable genomic sequences disturbs bacterial growth remains unclear. To investigate the relationship between genome reduction and growth, a series of Escherichia coli strains carrying genomes reduced in a stepwise manner were used. Intensive growth analyses revealed that the accumulation of multiple genomic deletions caused decreases in the exponential growth rate and the saturated cell density in a deletion-length-dependent manner as well as gradual changes in the patterns of growth dynamics, regardless of the growth media. Accordingly, a perspective growth model linking genome evolution to genome engineering was proposed. This study provides the first demonstration of a quantitative connection between genomic sequence and bacterial growth, indicating that growth rate is potentially associated with dispensable genomic sequences. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Kazusa DNA Research Institute.

Intracellular Protein Delivery System Using a Target-Specific Repebody and Translocation Domain of Bacterial Exotoxin.

PubMed

Kim, Hee-Yeon; Kang, Jung Ae; Ryou, Jeong-Hyun; Lee, Gyeong Hee; Choi, Dae Seong; Lee, Dong Eun; Kim, Hak-Sung

2017-11-17

With the high efficacy of protein-based therapeutics and plenty of intracellular drug targets, cytosolic protein delivery in a cell-specific manner has attracted considerable attention in the field of precision medicine. Herein, we present an intracellular protein delivery system based on a target-specific repebody and the translocation domain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. The delivery platform was constructed by genetically fusing an EGFR-specific repebody as a targeting moiety to the translocation domain, while a protein cargo was fused to the C-terminal end of the delivery platform. The delivery platform was revealed to efficiently translocate a protein cargo to the cytosol in a target-specific manner. We demonstrate the utility and potential of the delivery platform by showing a remarkable tumor regression with negligible toxicity in a xenograft mice model when gelonin was used as the cytotoxic protein cargo. The present platform can find wide applications to the cell-selective cytosolic delivery of diverse proteins in many areas.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize 2008 Final Report DOE Award # DE-FG36-07GO17110

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

None

2008-08-09

The MIT Clean Energy Prize was established to accelerate the pace of innovation in the energy space, specifically with regard to clean energy and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Through a prize structure designed to incent new ideas to be brought forward coupled with a supporting infrastructure to educate, mentor, network and provide a platform for visibility, it was believed we could achieve this goal in a very efficient and effective manner. The grand prize of $200K was meant to be the highly visible and attractive carrot to achieve this and through a public-private partnership of sponsors whomore » held a long term view (i.e., they were not Venture Capitalists or law firms looking for short term business through advantaged deal flow). It was also designed to achieve this in a highly inclusive manner. Towards this end, while MIT was the platform on which the competition was run, and this brought some instant cache and differentiation, the competition was open to all teams which had at least one US citizen. Both professional teams and student teams were eligible.« less

A Wireless Fully Passive Neural Recording Device for Unobtrusive Neuropotential Monitoring.

PubMed

Kiourti, Asimina; Lee, Cedric W L; Chae, Junseok; Volakis, John L

2016-01-01

We propose a novel wireless fully passive neural recording device for unobtrusive neuropotential monitoring. Previous work demonstrated the feasibility of monitoring emulated brain signals in a wireless fully passive manner. In this paper, we propose a novel realistic recorder that is significantly smaller and much more sensitive. The proposed recorder utilizes a highly efficient microwave backscattering method and operates without any formal power supply or regulating elements. Also, no intracranial wires or cables are required. In-vitro testing is performed inside a four-layer head phantom (skin, bone, gray matter, and white matter). Compared to our former implementation, the neural recorder proposed in this study has the following improved features: 1) 59% smaller footprint, 2) up to 20-dB improvement in neuropotential detection sensitivity, and 3) encapsulation in biocompatible polymer. For the first time, temporal emulated neuropotentials as low as 63 μVpp can be detected in a wireless fully passive manner. Remarkably, the high-sensitivity achieved in this study implies reading of most neural signals generated by the human brain. The proposed recorder brings forward transformational possibilities in wireless fully passive neural detection for a very wide range of applications (e.g., epilepsy, Alzheimer's, mental disorders, etc.).

Report: Superfund Interagency Agreements

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report #2001-P-00011, June 22, 2001. EPA generally had effective controls in place to ensure its Superfund IAGs achieve expected environmental results in a timely, cost-effective, and efficient manner.

Design, construction and evaluation of a 12.045 GHz, 2.0 kW-cw permanent-magnet focused klystron amplifier

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nishida, J. M.

1975-01-01

An analytical and experimental program to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a lightweight, high-efficiency, 1-2 kW cw, permanent magnet focused klystron operating at 12.0 GHz was described. The design is based on use of a samarium-cobalt permanent magnet for focusing of the electron beam and choice of the most optimum parameters for maximum efficiency. A filter-loaded output circuit is used for the required bandwidth. The design incorporates a collector which is demountable from the tube to facilitate multistage depressed collector experiments, permitting replacement with a NASA-designed axisymmetric, electrostatic collector for linear beam microwave tubes. A further requirement is that the focusing field between the last interaction gap and the collector decay in a prescribed manner referred to as adiabatic expansion.

A potentiometric titration method for the crystallization of drug-like organic molecules.

PubMed

Du-Cuny, Lei; Huwyler, Jörg; Fischer, Holger; Kansy, Manfred

2007-09-05

It is generally accepted, that crystalline solids representing a low energy polymorph should be selected for development of oral dosage forms. As a consequence, efficient and robust procedures are needed at an early stage during drug discovery to prepare crystals from drug-like organic molecules. In contrast to the use of supersaturated solutions, we present a potentiometric crystallization procedure where saturated solutions are prepared in a controlled manner by pH-titration. Crystallization is carried out under defined conditions using the sample concentration and experimental pK(a) values as input parameters. Crystals of high quality were obtained for 11 drugs selected to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the new method. Technical improvements are suggested to overcome practical limitations and to enhance the possibility of obtaining crystals from molecules in their uncharged form.

CRISPR/Cas9 mediates efficient conditional mutagenesis in Drosophila.

PubMed

Xue, Zhaoyu; Wu, Menghua; Wen, Kejia; Ren, Menda; Long, Li; Zhang, Xuedi; Gao, Guanjun

2014-09-05

Existing transgenic RNA interference (RNAi) methods greatly facilitate functional genome studies via controlled silencing of targeted mRNA in Drosophila. Although the RNAi approach is extremely powerful, concerns still linger about its low efficiency. Here, we developed a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated conditional mutagenesis system by combining tissue-specific expression of Cas9 driven by the Gal4/upstream activating site system with various ubiquitously expressed guide RNA transgenes to effectively inactivate gene expression in a temporally and spatially controlled manner. Furthermore, by including multiple guide RNAs in a transgenic vector to target a single gene, we achieved a high degree of gene mutagenesis in specific tissues. The CRISPR/Cas9-mediated conditional mutagenesis system provides a simple and effective tool for gene function analysis, and complements the existing RNAi approach. Copyright © 2014 Xue et al.

A High Throughput Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus Vector for Virus Induced Gene Silencing in Monocots and Dicots

PubMed Central

Yan, Lijie; Jackson, Andrew O.; Liu, Zhiyong; Han, Chenggui; Yu, Jialin; Li, Dawei

2011-01-01

Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) is a single-stranded RNA virus with three genome components designated alpha, beta, and gamma. BSMV vectors have previously been shown to be efficient virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) vehicles in barley and wheat and have provided important information about host genes functioning during pathogenesis as well as various aspects of genes functioning in development. To permit more effective use of BSMV VIGS for functional genomics experiments, we have developed an Agrobacterium delivery system for BSMV and have coupled this with a ligation independent cloning (LIC) strategy to mediate efficient cloning of host genes. Infiltrated Nicotiana benthamiana leaves provided excellent sources of virus for secondary BSMV infections and VIGS in cereals. The Agro/LIC BSMV VIGS vectors were able to function in high efficiency down regulation of phytoene desaturase (PDS), magnesium chelatase subunit H (ChlH), and plastid transketolase (TK) gene silencing in N. benthamiana and in the monocots, wheat, barley, and the model grass, Brachypodium distachyon. Suppression of an Arabidopsis orthologue cloned from wheat (TaPMR5) also interfered with wheat powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) infections in a manner similar to that of the A. thaliana PMR5 loss-of-function allele. These results imply that the PMR5 gene has maintained similar functions across monocot and dicot families. Our BSMV VIGS system provides substantial advantages in expense, cloning efficiency, ease of manipulation and ability to apply VIGS for high throughput genomics studies. PMID:22031834

Highly efficient enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction of 1,2-amino-alcohols using SPINOL based phosphoric acid hosts† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental data regarding the synthesis the hosts as well as procedures and raw data and for ELLE experiments. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc02783d Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Pinxterhuis, Erik B.; Gualtierotti, Jean-Baptiste; Heeres, Hero J.

2017-01-01

Access to enantiopure compounds on large scale in an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient manner remains one of the greatest challenges in chemistry. Resolution of racemates using enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction has great potential to meet that challenge. However, a relatively feeble understanding of the chemical principles and physical properties behind this technique has hampered the development of hosts possessing sufficient resolving power for their application to large scale processes. Herein we present, employing the previously untested SPINOL based phosphoric acids host family, an in depths study of the parameters affecting the efficiency of the resolution of amino-alcohols in the optic of further understanding the core principles behind ELLE. We have systematically investigated the dependencies of the enantioselection by parameters such as the choice of solvent, the temperature, as well as the pH and bring to light many previously unsuspected and highly intriguing interactions. Furthermore, utilizing these new insights to our advantage, we developed novel, highly efficient, extraction and resolving protocols which provide remarkable levels of enantioselectivity. It was shown that the extraction is catalytic in host by demonstrating transport in a U-tube and finally it was demonstrated how the solvent dependency could be exploited in an unprecedented triphasic resolution system. PMID:28989671

Saving Energy in Historic Buildings: Balancing Efficiency and Value

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cluver, John H.; Randall, Brad

2012-01-01

By now the slogan of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that "the greenest building is the one already built" is widely known. In an era of increased environmental awareness and rising fuel prices, however, the question is how can historic building stock be made more energy efficient in a manner respectful of its historic…

Laboratory hydraulic calibration of the Helley-Smith bedload sediment sampler

USGS Publications Warehouse

Druffel, Leroy; Emmett, W.W.; Schneider, V.R.; Skinner, J.V.

1976-01-01

Filling the sample bag to 40 percent capacity with a sediment larger in diameter than the mesh size of the bag had no effect on the hydraulic efficiency. Particles close to the 0.2 mm mesh size of the sample bag plugged the openings and caused the efficiency to decrease in an undetermined manner.

Efficient Method for the Determination of the Activation Energy of the Iodide-Catalyzed Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweeney, William; Lee, James; Abid, Nauman; DeMeo, Stephen

2014-01-01

An experiment is described that determines the activation energy (E[subscript a]) of the iodide-catalyzed decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide in a much more efficient manner than previously reported in the literature. Hydrogen peroxide, spontaneously or with a catalyst, decomposes to oxygen and water. Because the decomposition reaction is…

Innovative use of global navigation satellite systems for flight inspection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Eui-Ho

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) mandates flight inspection in every country to provide safety during flight operations. Among many criteria of flight inspection, airborne inspection of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) is very important because the ILS is the primary landing guidance system worldwide. During flight inspection of the ILS, accuracy in ILS landing guidance is checked by using a Flight Inspection System (FIS). Therefore, a flight inspection system must have high accuracy in its positioning capability to detect any deviation so that accurate guidance of the ILS can be maintained. Currently, there are two Automated Flight Inspection Systems (AFIS). One is called Inertial-based AFIS, and the other one is called Differential GPS-based (DGPS-based) AFIS. The Inertial-based AFIS enables efficient flight inspection procedures, but its drawback is high cost because it requires a navigation-grade Inertial Navigation System (INS). On the other hand, the DGPS-based AFIS has relatively low cost, but flight inspection procedures require landing and setting up a reference receiver. Most countries use either one of the systems based on their own preferences. There are around 1200 ILS in the U.S., and each ILS must be inspected every 6 to 9 months. Therefore, it is important to manage the airborne inspection of the ILS in a very efficient manner. For this reason, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mainly uses the Inertial-based AFIS, which has better efficiency than the DGPS-based AFIS in spite of its high cost. Obviously, the FAA spends tremendous resources on flight inspection. This thesis investigates the value of GPS and the FAA's augmentation to GPS for civil aviation called the Wide Area Augmentation System (or WAAS) for flight inspection. Because standard GPS or WAAS position outputs cannot meet the required accuracy for flight inspection, in this thesis, various algorithms are developed to improve the positioning ability of Flight Inspection Systems (FIS) by using GPS and WAAS in novel manners. The algorithms include Adaptive Carrier Smoothing (ACS), optimizing WAAS accuracy and stability, and reference point-based precise relative positioning for real-time and near-real-time applications. The developed systems are WAAS-aided FIS, WAAS-based FIS, and stand-alone GPS-based FIS. These systems offer both high efficiency and low cost, and they have different advantages over one another in terms of accuracy, integrity, and worldwide availability. The performance of each system is tested with experimental flight test data and shown to have accuracy that is sufficient for flight inspection and superior to the current Inertial-based AFIS.

Integrated structure vacuum tube

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dimeff, J.; Kerwin, W. J. (Inventor)

1976-01-01

High efficiency, multi-dimensional thin film vacuum tubes suitable for use in high temperature, high radiation environments are described. The tubes are fabricated by placing thin film electrode members in selected arrays on facing interior wall surfaces of an alumina substrate envelope. Cathode members are formed using thin films of triple carbonate. The photoresist used in photolithography aids in activation of the cathodes by carbonizing and reacting with the reduced carbonates when heated in vacuum during forming. The finely powdered triple carbonate is mixed with the photoresist used to delineate the cathode locations in the conventional solid state photolithographic manner. Anode and grid members are formed using thin films of refractory metal. Electron flow in the tubes is between grid elements from cathode to anode as in a conventional three-dimensional tube.

Restriction digest screening facilitates efficient detection of site-directed mutations introduced by CRISPR in C. albicans UME6

PubMed Central

Evans, Ben A.; Smith, Olivia L.; Pickerill, Ethan S.; York, Mary K.; Buenconsejo, Kristen J.P.; Chambers, Antonio E.

2018-01-01

Introduction of point mutations to a gene of interest is a powerful tool when determining protein function. CRISPR-mediated genome editing allows for more efficient transfer of a desired mutation into a wide range of model organisms. Traditionally, PCR amplification and DNA sequencing is used to determine if isolates contain the intended mutation. However, mutation efficiency is highly variable, potentially making sequencing costly and time consuming. To more efficiently screen for correct transformants, we have identified restriction enzymes sites that encode for two identical amino acids or one or two stop codons. We used CRISPR to introduce these restriction sites directly upstream of the Candida albicans UME6 Zn2+-binding domain, a known regulator of C. albicans filamentation. While repair templates coding for different restriction sites were not equally successful at introducing mutations, restriction digest screening enabled us to rapidly identify isolates with the intended mutation in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, mutated isolates have clear defects in filamentation and virulence compared to wild type C. albicans. Our data suggest restriction digestion screening efficiently identifies point mutations introduced by CRISPR and streamlines the process of identifying residues important for a phenotype of interest. PMID:29892505

Nanoscale Formulations and Diagnostics With Their Recent Trends: A Major Focus of Future Nanotechnology.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Biswajit; Dutta, Lopamudra; Mondal, Laboni; Dey, Niladri Shekhar; Chakraborty, Samrat; Maji, Ruma; Shaw, Tapan Kumar

2015-01-01

Nanomedicine is an emerging and rapidly growing field, possibly exploring for high expectation to healthcare. Nanoformulations have been designed to overcome challenges due to the development and fabrication of nanostructures. Unique size-dependent properties of nanoformulations make them superior and indispensable in many areas of human activity. Nano drug delivery systems are formulated and engineered to carry and deliver a number of substances in a targeted and controlled way. The vision of nanocarriers can be designed that will serve a dual purpose, allowing both treatment and diagnosis to be contained in an 'all-in-one' package. Nanoscale drugdelivery systems efficiently regulate the release, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, solubility, immunocompatibility, cellular uptake and biodistribution of chemical entities (drug). Their cellular uptake takes place by various mechanisms such as micropinocytosis, phagocytosis and receptor mediated endocytosis. These phenomena cause longer retention in blood circulation resulting in the release of the encapsulated materials in a sustained manner thus minimize the plasma fluctuations and toxic side effects. In this manner, the therapeutic index of conventional pharmaceuticals is efficiently increased. They can be used to deliver both micro and macro biomolecules such as peptides, proteins, plasmid DNA and synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides. In this present review, several recent developing and modifying nano-products for the detection, analysis, and treatment of diseases with their US and world patents along with various diagnostic kits have been discussed.

Volumetric pattern analysis of fuselage-mounted airborne antennas. Ph.D. Thesis; [prediction analysis techniques for antenna radiation patterns of microwave antennas on commercial aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, C. L.

1976-01-01

A volumetric pattern analysis of fuselage-mounted airborne antennas at high frequencies was investigated. The primary goal of the investigation was to develop a numerical solution for predicting radiation patterns of airborne antennas in an accurate and efficient manner. An analytical study of airborne antenna pattern problems is presented in which the antenna is mounted on the fuselage near the top or bottom. Since this is a study of general-type commercial aircraft, the aircraft was modeled in its most basic form. The fuselage was assumed to be an infinitely long perfectly conducting elliptic cylinder in its cross-section and a composite elliptic cylinder in its elevation profile. The wing, cockpit, stabilizers (horizontal and vertical) and landing gear are modeled by "N" sided bent or flat plates which can be arbitrarily attached to the fuselage. The volumetric solution developed utilizes two elliptic cylinders, namely, the roll plane and elevation plane models to approximate the principal surface profile (longitudinal and transverse) at the antenna location. With the belt concept and the aid of appropriate coordinate system transformations the solution can be used to predict the volumetric patterns of airborne antennas in an accurate and efficient manner. Applications of this solution to various airborne antenna problems show good agreement with scale model measurements. Extensive data are presented for a microwave landing antenna system.

High power continuous operation of a widely tunable quantum cascade laser with an integrated amplifier

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

Slivken, S.; Sengupta, S.; Razeghi, M., E-mail: razeghi@eecs.northwestern.edu

2015-12-21

Wide electrical tuning and high continuous output power is demonstrated from a single mode quantum cascade laser emitting at a wavelength near 4.8 μm. This is achieved in a space efficient manner by integrating an asymmetric sampled grating distributed feedback tunable laser with an optical amplifier. An initial demonstration of high peak power operation in pulsed mode is demonstrated first, with >5 W output over a 270 nm (113 cm{sup −1}) spectral range. Refinement of the geometry leads to continuous operation with a single mode spectral coverage of 300 nm (120 cm{sup −1}) and a maximum continuous power of 1.25 W. The output beam is shown tomore » be nearly diffraction-limited, even at high amplifier current.« less

Rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric tandem cyclization for efficient and rapid access to underexplored heterocyclic tertiary allylic alcohols containing a tetrasubstituted olefin.

PubMed

Li, Yi; Xu, Ming-Hua

2014-05-16

The first Rh-catalyzed asymmetric tandem cyclization of nitrogen- or oxygen-bridged 5-alkynones with arylboronic acids was achieved. The simple catalytic system involving a rhodium(I) complex with readily available chiral BINAP ligand promotes the reaction to proceed in a highly stereocontrolled manner. This protocol provides a very reliable and practical access to a variety of chiral heterocyclic tertiary allylic alcohols possessing a tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenter and an all-carbon tetrasubstituted olefin functionality in good yields with great enantioselectivities up to 99% ee.

Theoretical study of the design and performance of a high-gain, high-extraction-efficiency FEL oscillator

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

Goldstein, J.; Nguyen, D.C.; Sheffield, R.L.

1996-10-01

We present the results of theoretical and simulation studies of the design and performance of a new F type of FEL oscillator. This device, known by the acronym RAFEL for Regenerative Amplifier Free-Electron Laser, will be constructed in the space presently occupied by the AFEL (Advanced FEL) at Los Alamos, and will be driven by an upgraded (to higher average power) version of the present AFEL linac. In order to achieve a long-time-averaged optical output power of {approximately} 1 kW using an electron beam with an average power of {approximately} 20 kW, a rather high extraction efficiency {eta} {approximately} 5%more » is required. We have designed a 2-m-long undulator to attain this goal: the first meter is untapered and provides high gain while the second meter is linearly-tapered in magnetic field amplitude to provide high extraction efficiency in the standard K-M-R manner. Two-plane focusing and linear polarization of the undulator are assumed. Electron-beam properties from PARMEIA simulations of the AFEL accelerator were used in the design. A large saturated gain, {approximately} 500, requires a very small optical feedback to keep the device operating at steady-state. However, the large gain leads to distorted optical modes which require two- and three-dimensional simulations to adequately treat diffraction effects. This FEL will be driven by 17 MeV electrons and will operate in the 16 {mu}m spectral region.« less

A high resolution on-chip delay sensor with low supply-voltage sensitivity for high-performance electronic systems.

PubMed

Sheng, Duo; Lai, Hsiu-Fan; Chan, Sheng-Min; Hong, Min-Rong

2015-02-13

An all-digital on-chip delay sensor (OCDS) circuit with high delay-measurement resolution and low supply-voltage sensitivity for efficient detection and diagnosis in high-performance electronic system applications is presented. Based on the proposed delay measurement scheme, the quantization resolution of the proposed OCDS can be reduced to several picoseconds. Additionally, the proposed cascade-stage delay measurement circuit can enhance immunity to supply-voltage variations of the delay measurement resolution without extra self-biasing or calibration circuits. Simulation results show that the delay measurement resolution can be improved to 1.2 ps; the average delay resolution variation is 0.55% with supply-voltage variations of ±10%. Moreover, the proposed delay sensor can be implemented in an all-digital manner, making it very suitable for high-performance electronic system applications as well as system-level integration.

Intelligent Controls for Net-Zero Energy Buildings

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

Li, Haorong; Cho, Yong; Peng, Dongming

2011-10-30

The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate enabling technologies that can empower homeowners to convert their homes into net-zero energy buildings in a cost-effective manner. The project objectives and expected outcomes are as follows: • To develop rapid and scalable building information collection and modeling technologies that can obtain and process “as-built” building information in an automated or semiautomated manner. • To identify low-cost measurements and develop low-cost virtual sensors that can monitor building operations in a plug-n-play and low-cost manner. • To integrate and demonstrate low-cost building information modeling (BIM) technologies. • To develop decision supportmore » tools which can empower building owners to perform energy auditing and retrofit analysis. • To develop and demonstrate low-cost automated diagnostics and optimal control technologies which can improve building energy efficiency in a continual manner.« less

Rational assembly of a biointerfaced core@shell nanocomplex towards selective and highly efficient synergistic photothermal/photodynamic therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Chenchen; Fei, Jinbo; Wang, Anhe; Yang, Yang; Li, Junbai

2015-11-01

To optimize synergistic cancer therapy, we rationally assemble an inorganic-organic nanocomplex using a folate-modified lipid bilayer spread on photosensitizer-entrapped mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) coated gold nanorods (AuNRs). In this hybrid bioconjugate, the large specific surface area and pore size of AuNR@MSN guarantee a high loading capacity of small photosensitive molecules. The modification with selective mixed liposomes on the surface of AuNR@MSN enables faster cellular internalization and enhancement of endocytosis. Under one-time NIR two-photon illumination, AuNR-mediated hyperthermia can kill cancer cells directly. Meanwhile, the loaded photosensitizer, hypocrellin B, generates two kinds of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce cell apoptosis. Remarkably, hyperthermia can improve the yield of ROS. After intravenous injection of this bioconjugate into female BALB/c nude mice followed by laser irradiation (808 nm, 1.3 W cm-2, 6 min), the tumor growth is suppressed completely. The tumors are not recurrent within the observation time (19 days), and the normal or main organs are not obviously pathological. Thus, such a simplified and selective cancer treatment, combining photothermal and photodynamic therapy in a synergistic manner, provides outstanding efficiency in vivo. This nanocomplex with well-defined core@shell nanostructures integrated with a two-photon technique holds great promise to improve cancer phototherapy with a high efficiency in the clinic.To optimize synergistic cancer therapy, we rationally assemble an inorganic-organic nanocomplex using a folate-modified lipid bilayer spread on photosensitizer-entrapped mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) coated gold nanorods (AuNRs). In this hybrid bioconjugate, the large specific surface area and pore size of AuNR@MSN guarantee a high loading capacity of small photosensitive molecules. The modification with selective mixed liposomes on the surface of AuNR@MSN enables faster cellular internalization and enhancement of endocytosis. Under one-time NIR two-photon illumination, AuNR-mediated hyperthermia can kill cancer cells directly. Meanwhile, the loaded photosensitizer, hypocrellin B, generates two kinds of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce cell apoptosis. Remarkably, hyperthermia can improve the yield of ROS. After intravenous injection of this bioconjugate into female BALB/c nude mice followed by laser irradiation (808 nm, 1.3 W cm-2, 6 min), the tumor growth is suppressed completely. The tumors are not recurrent within the observation time (19 days), and the normal or main organs are not obviously pathological. Thus, such a simplified and selective cancer treatment, combining photothermal and photodynamic therapy in a synergistic manner, provides outstanding efficiency in vivo. This nanocomplex with well-defined core@shell nanostructures integrated with a two-photon technique holds great promise to improve cancer phototherapy with a high efficiency in the clinic. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: The relevant TEM, DLS, UV spectra, photographs and chemical structures. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06501a

Transportation planning and ITS : putting the pieces together

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) include the application of computer, electronics, and communications technologies and management strategies -- in an integrated manner -- providing traveler information to increase the safety and efficiency of...

20 CFR 416.1040 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... acceptable. Also, the standards are designed to improve overall State agency performance in the disability... efficient manner. We measure the performance of a State agency in two areas—processing time and quality of...

20 CFR 404.1640 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... acceptable. Also, the standards are designed to improve overall State agency performance in the disability... efficient manner. We measure the performance of a State agency in two areas—processing time and quality of...

50 CFR 29.32 - Mineral rights reserved and excepted.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... practicable, conduct all exploration, development, and production operations in such a manner as to prevent... to the minimum space compatible with the conduct of efficient mineral operations. Persons conducting...

50 CFR 29.32 - Mineral rights reserved and excepted.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... practicable, conduct all exploration, development, and production operations in such a manner as to prevent... to the minimum space compatible with the conduct of efficient mineral operations. Persons conducting...

50 CFR 29.32 - Mineral rights reserved and excepted.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... practicable, conduct all exploration, development, and production operations in such a manner as to prevent... to the minimum space compatible with the conduct of efficient mineral operations. Persons conducting...

50 CFR 29.32 - Mineral rights reserved and excepted.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... practicable, conduct all exploration, development, and production operations in such a manner as to prevent... to the minimum space compatible with the conduct of efficient mineral operations. Persons conducting...

50 CFR 29.32 - Mineral rights reserved and excepted.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... practicable, conduct all exploration, development, and production operations in such a manner as to prevent... to the minimum space compatible with the conduct of efficient mineral operations. Persons conducting...

45 CFR 1310.17 - Driver and bus monitor training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... safe and efficient manner; (2) safely run a fixed route, including loading and unloading children... first aid in case of injury; (4) handle emergency situations, including vehicle evacuation procedures...

On the Modeling of Shells in Multibody Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauchau, Olivier A.; Choi, Jou-Young; Bottasso, Carlo L.

2000-01-01

Energy preserving/decaying schemes are presented for the simulation of the nonlinear multibody systems involving shell components. The proposed schemes are designed to meet four specific requirements: unconditional nonlinear stability of the scheme, a rigorous treatment of both geometric and material nonlinearities, exact satisfaction of the constraints, and the presence of high frequency numerical dissipation. The kinematic nonlinearities associated with arbitrarily large displacements and rotations of shells are treated in a rigorous manner, and the material nonlinearities can be handled when the, constitutive laws stem from the existence of a strain energy density function. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed approach is illustrated with specific numerical examples that also demonstrate the need for integration schemes possessing high frequency numerical dissipation.

A Gossip-Based Optimistic Replication for Efficient Delay-Sensitive Streaming Using an Interactive Middleware Support System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mavromoustakis, Constandinos X.; Karatza, Helen D.

2010-06-01

While sharing resources the efficiency is substantially degraded as a result of the scarceness of availability of the requested resources in a multiclient support manner. These resources are often aggravated by many factors like the temporal constraints for availability or node flooding by the requested replicated file chunks. Thus replicated file chunks should be efficiently disseminated in order to enable resource availability on-demand by the mobile users. This work considers a cross layered middleware support system for efficient delay-sensitive streaming by using each device's connectivity and social interactions in a cross layered manner. The collaborative streaming is achieved through the epidemically replicated file chunk policy which uses a transition-based approach of a chained model of an infectious disease with susceptible, infected, recovered and death states. The Gossip-based stateful model enforces the mobile nodes whether to host a file chunk or not or, when no longer a chunk is needed, to purge it. The proposed model is thoroughly evaluated through experimental simulation taking measures for the effective throughput Eff as a function of the packet loss parameter in contrast with the effectiveness of the replication Gossip-based policy.

Ant-like task allocation and recruitment in cooperative robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krieger, Michael J. B.; Billeter, Jean-Bernard; Keller, Laurent

2000-08-01

One of the greatest challenges in robotics is to create machines that are able to interact with unpredictable environments in real time. A possible solution may be to use swarms of robots behaving in a self-organized manner, similar to workers in an ant colony. Efficient mechanisms of division of labour, in particular series-parallel operation and transfer of information among group members, are key components of the tremendous ecological success of ants. Here we show that the general principles regulating division of labour in ant colonies indeed allow the design of flexible, robust and effective robotic systems. Groups of robots using ant-inspired algorithms of decentralized control techniques foraged more efficiently and maintained higher levels of group energy than single robots. But the benefits of group living decreased in larger groups, most probably because of interference during foraging. Intriguingly, a similar relationship between group size and efficiency has been documented in social insects. Moreover, when food items were clustered, groups where robots could recruit other robots in an ant-like manner were more efficient than groups without information transfer, suggesting that group dynamics of swarms of robots may follow rules similar to those governing social insects.

Modulation aware cluster size optimisation in wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriram Naik, M.; Kumar, Vinay

2017-07-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) play a great role because of their numerous advantages to the mankind. The main challenge with WSNs is the energy efficiency. In this paper, we have focused on the energy minimisation with the help of cluster size optimisation along with consideration of modulation effect when the nodes are not able to communicate using baseband communication technique. Cluster size optimisations is important technique to improve the performance of WSNs. It provides improvement in energy efficiency, network scalability, network lifetime and latency. We have proposed analytical expression for cluster size optimisation using traditional sensing model of nodes for square sensing field with consideration of modulation effects. Energy minimisation can be achieved by changing the modulation schemes such as BPSK, 16-QAM, QPSK, 64-QAM, etc., so we are considering the effect of different modulation techniques in the cluster formation. The nodes in the sensing fields are random and uniformly deployed. It is also observed that placement of base station at centre of scenario enables very less number of modulation schemes to work in energy efficient manner but when base station placed at the corner of the sensing field, it enable large number of modulation schemes to work in energy efficient manner.

Evaluation of day care versus inpatient cataract surgery performed at a Jiangsu public Tertiary A hospital.

PubMed

Zhuang, Min; Cao, Juan; Cui, Minglan; Yuan, Songtao; Liu, Qinghuai; Fan, Wen

2018-06-05

High cataract incidence and low cataract surgical rate are serious public health problems in China, despite the fact that efficient day care cataract surgery has been implemented in some public Tertiary A hospitals in China. In this study, we compared not only clinical outcomes, hospitalization time and total costs but also payment manners between day care and inpatient procedures for cataract surgery in a Jiangsu public Tertiary A hospital to put forward several instructional suggestions for the improvement of government medical policies. In total, 4151 day care cases and 2509 inpatient cases underwent the same cataract surgery in the day care ward and ordinary ward respectively, and were defined as two groups. General information, complications, postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), hospitalization time, total costs and especially payment method were analyzed to compare day care versus inpatient. The general data display no significant differences (P > 0.05), and no significant difference between complications and postoperative BCVA were observed between the two groups (P > 0.05). The period of stay in hospital was significantly different (P < 0.001). The total costs were lower for day care than for inpatients (P < 0.001). To avoid sampling error, we analyzed the data of payment manner for each patient among this period. Day care patients tended to pay for the procedure using the Urban Employees Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) method, while inpatients tended to use the Out-of-Pocket Medical Treatment (OMT) payment method (P < 0.001). Day surgery of cataract is more cost-effective and efficient than inpatient surgery with equivalent clinical outcomes. As an efficient therapeutic regimen, day care surgery should be further promoted and supported by the government policies.

The use of modified and non-natural nucleotides provide unique insights into pro-mutagenic replication catalyzed by polymerase eta

PubMed Central

Choi, Jung-Suk; Dasari, Anvesh; Hu, Peter; Benkovic, Stephen J.; Berdis, Anthony J.

2016-01-01

This report evaluates the pro-mutagenic behavior of 8-oxo-guanine (8-oxo-G) by quantifying the ability of high-fidelity and specialized DNA polymerases to incorporate natural and modified nucleotides opposite this lesion. Although high-fidelity DNA polymerases such as pol δ and the bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase replicating 8-oxo-G in an error-prone manner, they display remarkably low efficiencies for TLS compared to normal DNA synthesis. In contrast, pol η shows a combination of high efficiency and low fidelity when replicating 8-oxo-G. These combined properties are consistent with a pro-mutagenic role for pol η when replicating this DNA lesion. Studies using modified nucleotide analogs show that pol η relies heavily on hydrogen-bonding interactions during translesion DNA synthesis. However, nucleobase modifications such as alkylation to the N2 position of guanine significantly increase error-prone synthesis catalyzed by pol η when replicating 8-oxo-G. Molecular modeling studies demonstrate the existence of a hydrophobic pocket in pol η that participates in the increased utilization of certain hydrophobic nucleotides. A model is proposed for enhanced pro-mutagenic replication catalyzed by pol η that couples efficient incorporation of damaged nucleotides opposite oxidized DNA lesions created by reactive oxygen species. The biological implications of this model toward increasing mutagenic events in lung cancer are discussed. PMID:26717984

Efficient and reusable polyamide-56 nanofiber/nets membrane with bimodal structures for air filtration.

PubMed

Liu, Bowen; Zhang, Shichao; Wang, Xueli; Yu, Jianyong; Ding, Bin

2015-11-01

Nanofibrous media that both possess high airborne particle interception efficiency and robust air permeability would have broad technological implications for areas ranging from individual protection and industrial security to environmental governance; however, creating such filtration media has proved extremely challenging. Here we report a strategy to construct the bio-based polyamide-56 nanofiber/nets (PA-56 NFN) membranes with bimodal structures for effective air filtration via one-step electrospinning/netting. The PA-56 membranes are composed of completely covered two-dimensional (2D) ultrathin (∼20 nm) nanonets which are optimized by facilely regulating the solution concentration, and the bonded scaffold fibers constructed cavity structures which are synchronously created by using the CH3COOH inspiration. With integrated properties of small aperture, high porosity, and bonded scaffold, the resulting PA-56 NFN membranes exhibit high filtration efficiency of 99.995%, low pressure drop of 111 Pa, combined with large dust holding capacity of 49 g/m(2) and dust-cleaning regeneration ability, for filtrating ultrafine airborne particles in the most safe manner involving sieving principle and surface filtration. The successful synthesis of PA-56 NFN medium would not only make it a promising candidate for air filtration, but also provide new insights into the design and development of nanonet-based bimodal structures for various applications. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Skeleton-Controlled pDNA Delivery of Renewable Steroid-Based Cationic Lipids, the Endocytosis Pathway Analysis and Intracellular Localization

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhao; Luo, Ting; Cao, Amin; Sun, Jingjing

2018-01-01

Using renewable and biocompatible natural-based resources to construct functional biomaterials has attracted great attention in recent years. In this work, we successfully prepared a series of steroid-based cationic lipids by integrating various steroid skeletons/hydrophobes with (l-)-arginine headgroups via facile and efficient synthetic approach. The plasmid DNA (pDNA) binding affinity of the steroid-based cationic lipids, average particle sizes, surface potentials, morphologies and stability of the steroid-based cationic lipids/pDNA lipoplexes were disclosed to depend largely on the steroid skeletons. Cellular evaluation results revealed that cytotoxicity and gene transfection efficiency of the steroid-based cationic lipids in H1299 and HeLa cells strongly relied on the steroid hydrophobes. Interestingly, the steroid lipids/pDNA lipoplexes inclined to enter H1299 cells mainly through caveolae and lipid-raft mediated endocytosis pathways, and an intracellular trafficking route of “lipid-raft-mediated endocytosis→lysosome→cell nucleic localization” was accordingly proposed. The study provided possible approach for developing high-performance steroid-based lipid gene carriers, in which the cytotoxicity, gene transfection capability, endocytosis pathways, and intracellular trafficking/localization manners could be tuned/controlled by introducing proper steroid skeletons/hydrophobes. Noteworthy, among the lipids, Cho-Arg showed remarkably high gene transfection efficacy, even under high serum concentration (50% fetal bovine serum), making it an efficient gene transfection agent for practical application. PMID:29373505

About OBF

Cancer.gov

The Office of Budget and Finance (OBF) advises the NCI Office of the Director and senior NCI staff on the effective management of financial and other resources to ensure that NCI operates in an efficient and fiscally responsible manner.

Semiannual Report: Oct 1, 2009 - Mar 31, 2010

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Semiannual Report #EPA-350-R-10-004, May, 2010. EPA continues to face challenges in using its funds and accomplishing its mission in an efficient and effective manner, particularly concerning Recovery Act projects.

Creating a foundation for a synergistic approach to program management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knoll, Karyn T.

1992-01-01

In order to accelerate the movement of humans into space within reasonable budgetary constraints, NASA must develop an organizational structure that will allow the agency to efficiently use all the resources it has available for the development of any program the nation decides to undertake. This work considers the entire set of tasks involved in the successful development of any program. Areas that hold the greatest promise of accelerating programmatic development and/or increasing the efficiency of the use of available resources by being dealt with in a centralized manner rather than being handled by each program individually are identified. Using this information, an agency organizational structure is developed that will allow NASA to promote interprogram synergisms. In order for NASA to efficiently manage its programs in a manner that will allow programs to benefit from one another and thereby accelerate the movement of humans into space, several steps must be taken. First, NASA must develop an organizational structure that will allow potential interprogram synergisms to be identified and promoted. Key features of the organizational structure are recommended in this paper. Second, NASA must begin to develop the requirements for a program in a manner that will promote overall space program goals rather than achieving only the goals that apply to the program for which the requirements are being developed. Finally, NASA must consider organizing the agency around the functions required to support NASA's goals and objectives rather than around geographic locations.

GROMACS 4.5: a high-throughput and highly parallel open source molecular simulation toolkit

PubMed Central

Pronk, Sander; Páll, Szilárd; Schulz, Roland; Larsson, Per; Bjelkmar, Pär; Apostolov, Rossen; Shirts, Michael R.; Smith, Jeremy C.; Kasson, Peter M.; van der Spoel, David; Hess, Berk; Lindahl, Erik

2013-01-01

Motivation: Molecular simulation has historically been a low-throughput technique, but faster computers and increasing amounts of genomic and structural data are changing this by enabling large-scale automated simulation of, for instance, many conformers or mutants of biomolecules with or without a range of ligands. At the same time, advances in performance and scaling now make it possible to model complex biomolecular interaction and function in a manner directly testable by experiment. These applications share a need for fast and efficient software that can be deployed on massive scale in clusters, web servers, distributed computing or cloud resources. Results: Here, we present a range of new simulation algorithms and features developed during the past 4 years, leading up to the GROMACS 4.5 software package. The software now automatically handles wide classes of biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, and comes with all commonly used force fields for these molecules built-in. GROMACS supports several implicit solvent models, as well as new free-energy algorithms, and the software now uses multithreading for efficient parallelization even on low-end systems, including windows-based workstations. Together with hand-tuned assembly kernels and state-of-the-art parallelization, this provides extremely high performance and cost efficiency for high-throughput as well as massively parallel simulations. Availability: GROMACS is an open source and free software available from http://www.gromacs.org. Contact: erik.lindahl@scilifelab.se Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:23407358

One ring to bring them all--the role of Ku in mammalian non-homologous end joining.

PubMed

Grundy, Gabrielle J; Moulding, Hayley A; Caldecott, Keith W; Rulten, Stuart L

2014-05-01

The repair of DNA double strand breaks is essential for cell survival and several conserved pathways have evolved to ensure their rapid and efficient repair. The non-homologous end joining pathway is initiated when Ku binds to the DNA break site. Ku is an abundant nuclear heterodimer of Ku70 and Ku80 with a toroidal structure that allows the protein to slide over the broken DNA end and bind with high affinity. Once locked into placed, Ku acts as a tool-belt to recruit multiple interacting proteins, forming one or more non-homologous end joining complexes that act in a regulated manner to ensure efficient repair of DNA ends. Here we review the structure and functions of Ku and the proteins with which it interacts during non-homologous end joining. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of shock-induced combustion using an implicit TVD scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yungster, Shayne

1992-01-01

The supersonic combustion flowfields associated with various hypersonic propulsion systems, such as the ram accelerator, the oblique detonation wave engine, and the scramjet, are being investigated using a new computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The code solves the fully coupled Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and species continuity equations in an efficient manner. It employs an iterative method and a second order differencing scheme to improve computational efficiency. The code is currently being applied to study shock wave/boundary layer interactions in premixed combustible gases, and to investigate the ram accelerator concept. Results obtained for a ram accelerator configuration indicate a new combustion mechanism in which a shock wave induces combustion in the boundary layer, which then propagates outward and downstream. The combustion process creates a high pressure region over the back of the projectile resulting in a net positive thrust forward.

Multigrid approaches to non-linear diffusion problems on unstructured meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.; Bushnell, Dennis M. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The efficiency of three multigrid methods for solving highly non-linear diffusion problems on two-dimensional unstructured meshes is examined. The three multigrid methods differ mainly in the manner in which the nonlinearities of the governing equations are handled. These comprise a non-linear full approximation storage (FAS) multigrid method which is used to solve the non-linear equations directly, a linear multigrid method which is used to solve the linear system arising from a Newton linearization of the non-linear system, and a hybrid scheme which is based on a non-linear FAS multigrid scheme, but employs a linear solver on each level as a smoother. Results indicate that all methods are equally effective at converging the non-linear residual in a given number of grid sweeps, but that the linear solver is more efficient in cpu time due to the lower cost of linear versus non-linear grid sweeps.

Comparison of transmission of Papaya leaf curl China virus among four cryptic species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex

PubMed Central

Guo, Tao; Guo, Qi; Cui, Xi-Yun; Liu, Yin-Quan; Hu, Jian; Liu, Shu-Sheng

2015-01-01

Begomoviruses are transmitted by cryptic species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex, often in a species-specific manner. Papaya leaf curl China virus (PaLCuCNV) has been recorded to infect several crops including papaya, tomato and tobacco in China. To help assess the risks of spread of this virus, we compared the acquisition, retention and transmission of PaLCuCNV among four species of whiteflies, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1), Mediterranean (MED), Asia 1 and Asia II 7. All four species of whiteflies are able to acquire, retain and transmit the virus, but with different levels of efficiency. Transmission tests using tomato as the host plant showed that MEAM1 transmitted PaLCuCNV with substantially higher efficiency than did MED, Asia 1 and Asia II 7. Furthermore, accumulation of PaLCuCNV in the whiteflies was positively associated with its efficiency of transmitting the virus. Altogether, these findings indicate that MEAM1 is the most efficient vector for PaLCuCNV in the four species of whiteflies, and suggest that risks of PaLCuCNV pandemics are high in regions where MEAM1 occurs. PMID:26486606

MinT: Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things

PubMed Central

Jeon, Soobin; Jung, Inbum

2017-01-01

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) middleware called Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things (MinT). MinT supports a fully distributed IoT environment in which IoT devices directly connect to peripheral devices easily construct a local or global network, and share their data in an energy efficient manner. MinT provides a sensor abstract layer, a system layer and an interaction layer. These enable integrated sensing device operations, efficient resource management, and active interconnection between peripheral IoT devices. In addition, MinT provides a high-level API to develop IoT devices easily for IoT device developers. We aim to enhance the energy efficiency and performance of IoT devices through the performance improvements offered by MinT resource management and request processing. The experimental results show that the average request rate increased by 25% compared to Californium, which is a middleware for efficient interaction in IoT environments with powerful performance, an average response time decrease of 90% when resource management was used, and power consumption decreased by up to 68%. Finally, the proposed platform can reduce the latency and power consumption of IoT devices. PMID:28632182

MinT: Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things.

PubMed

Jeon, Soobin; Jung, Inbum

2017-06-20

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) middleware called Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things (MinT). MinT supports a fully distributed IoT environment in which IoT devices directly connect to peripheral devices easily construct a local or global network, and share their data in an energy efficient manner. MinT provides a sensor abstract layer, a system layer and an interaction layer. These enable integrated sensing device operations, efficient resource management, and active interconnection between peripheral IoT devices. In addition, MinT provides a high-level API to develop IoT devices easily for IoT device developers. We aim to enhance the energy efficiency and performance of IoT devices through the performance improvements offered by MinT resource management and request processing. The experimental results show that the average request rate increased by 25% compared to Californium, which is a middleware for efficient interaction in IoT environments with powerful performance, an average response time decrease of 90% when resource management was used, and power consumption decreased by up to 68%. Finally, the proposed platform can reduce the latency and power consumption of IoT devices.

Comparison of transmission of Papaya leaf curl China virus among four cryptic species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex.

PubMed

Guo, Tao; Guo, Qi; Cui, Xi-Yun; Liu, Yin-Quan; Hu, Jian; Liu, Shu-Sheng

2015-10-21

Begomoviruses are transmitted by cryptic species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex, often in a species-specific manner. Papaya leaf curl China virus (PaLCuCNV) has been recorded to infect several crops including papaya, tomato and tobacco in China. To help assess the risks of spread of this virus, we compared the acquisition, retention and transmission of PaLCuCNV among four species of whiteflies, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1), Mediterranean (MED), Asia 1 and Asia II 7. All four species of whiteflies are able to acquire, retain and transmit the virus, but with different levels of efficiency. Transmission tests using tomato as the host plant showed that MEAM1 transmitted PaLCuCNV with substantially higher efficiency than did MED, Asia 1 and Asia II 7. Furthermore, accumulation of PaLCuCNV in the whiteflies was positively associated with its efficiency of transmitting the virus. Altogether, these findings indicate that MEAM1 is the most efficient vector for PaLCuCNV in the four species of whiteflies, and suggest that risks of PaLCuCNV pandemics are high in regions where MEAM1 occurs.

Cellular graphene aerogel combines ultralow weight and high mechanical strength: A highly efficient reactor for catalytic hydrogenation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Bingxing; Zhang, Jianling; Sang, Xinxin; Liu, Chengcheng; Luo, Tian; Peng, Li; Han, Buxing; Tan, Xiuniang; Ma, Xue; Wang, Dong; Zhao, Ning

2016-01-01

The construction of three-dimensional graphene aerogels (GAs) is of great importance owing to their outstanding properties for various applications. Up to now, the combination of ultralow weight and super mechanical strength for GA remains a great challenge. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of cellular GAs by a facile, easily controlled and versatile route, i.e. the chemical reduction of graphene oxide assemblies at oil-water interface under a mild condition (70 °C). The GA is ultralight (with density <3 mg cm−3) yet mechanically resilient because the walls of the cell closely pack in a highly ordered manner to maximize mechanical strength. The GA has been utilized as an appealing reactor for catalytic hydrogenation, which exhibited great advantages such as large oil absorption capability, exceptional catalytic activity, ease of product separation and high stability. PMID:27174450

Cellular graphene aerogel combines ultralow weight and high mechanical strength: A highly efficient reactor for catalytic hydrogenation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Bingxing; Zhang, Jianling; Sang, Xinxin; Liu, Chengcheng; Luo, Tian; Peng, Li; Han, Buxing; Tan, Xiuniang; Ma, Xue; Wang, Dong; Zhao, Ning

2016-05-01

The construction of three-dimensional graphene aerogels (GAs) is of great importance owing to their outstanding properties for various applications. Up to now, the combination of ultralow weight and super mechanical strength for GA remains a great challenge. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of cellular GAs by a facile, easily controlled and versatile route, i.e. the chemical reduction of graphene oxide assemblies at oil-water interface under a mild condition (70 °C). The GA is ultralight (with density <3 mg cm-3) yet mechanically resilient because the walls of the cell closely pack in a highly ordered manner to maximize mechanical strength. The GA has been utilized as an appealing reactor for catalytic hydrogenation, which exhibited great advantages such as large oil absorption capability, exceptional catalytic activity, ease of product separation and high stability.

Bit-Table Based Biclustering and Frequent Closed Itemset Mining in High-Dimensional Binary Data

PubMed Central

Király, András; Abonyi, János

2014-01-01

During the last decade various algorithms have been developed and proposed for discovering overlapping clusters in high-dimensional data. The two most prominent application fields in this research, proposed independently, are frequent itemset mining (developed for market basket data) and biclustering (applied to gene expression data analysis). The common limitation of both methodologies is the limited applicability for very large binary data sets. In this paper we propose a novel and efficient method to find both frequent closed itemsets and biclusters in high-dimensional binary data. The method is based on simple but very powerful matrix and vector multiplication approaches that ensure that all patterns can be discovered in a fast manner. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in the commonly used MATLAB environment and freely available for researchers. PMID:24616651

Folic acid-decorated polyamidoamine dendrimer mediates selective uptake and high expression of genes in head and neck cancer cells.

PubMed

Xu, Leyuan; Kittrell, Shannon; Yeudall, W Andrew; Yang, Hu

2016-11-01

Folic acid (FA)-decorated polyamidoamine dendrimer G4 (G4-FA) was synthesized and studied for targeted delivery of genes to head and neck cancer cells expressing high levels of folate receptors (FRs). Cellular uptake, targeting specificity, cytocompatibility and transfection efficiency were evaluated. G4-FA competes with free FA for the same binding site. G4-FA facilitates the cellular uptake of DNA plasmids in a FR-dependent manner and selectively delivers plasmids to FR-high cells, leading to enhanced gene expression. G4-FA is a suitable vector to deliver genes selectively to head and neck cancer cells. The fundamental understandings of G4-FA as a vector and its encouraging transfection results for head and neck cancer cells provided support for its further testing in vivo.

Application of Hydrodynamic Cavitation for Food and Bioprocessing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gogate, Parag R.

Hydrodynamic cavitation can be simply generated by the alterations in the flow field in high speed/high pressure devices and also by passage of the liquid through a constriction such as orifice plate, venturi, or throttling valve. Hydrodynamic cavitation results in the formation of local hot spots, release of highly reactive free radicals, and enhanced mass transfer rates due to turbulence generated as a result of liquid circulation currents. These conditions can be suitably applied for intensification of different bioprocessing applications in an energy-efficient manner as compared to conventionally used ultrasound-based reactors. The current chapter aims at highlighting different aspects related to hydrodynamic cavitation, including the theoretical aspects for optimization of operating parameters, reactor designs, and overview of applications relevant to food and bioprocessing. Some case studies highlighting the comparison of hydrodynamic cavitation and acoustic cavitation reactors will also be discussed.

MR-ARFI-based method for the quantitative measurement of tissue elasticity: application for monitoring HIFU therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vappou, Jonathan; Bour, Pierre; Marquet, Fabrice; Ozenne, Valery; Quesson, Bruno

2018-05-01

Monitoring thermal therapies through medical imaging is essential in order to ensure that they are safe, efficient and reliable. In this paper, we propose a new approach, halfway between MR acoustic radiation force imaging (MR-ARFI) and MR elastography (MRE), allowing for the quantitative measurement of the elastic modulus of tissue in a highly localized manner. It relies on the simulation of the MR-ARFI profile, which depends on tissue biomechanical properties, and on the identification of tissue elasticity through the fitting of experimental displacement images measured using rapid MR-ARFI. This method was specifically developed to monitor MR-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) therapy. Elasticity changes were followed during HIFU ablations (N  =  6) performed ex vivo in porcine muscle samples, and were compared to temperature changes measured by MR-thermometry. Shear modulus was found to increase consistently and steadily a few seconds after the heating started, and such changes were found to be irreversible. The shear modulus was found to increase from 1.49  ±  0.48 kPa (before ablation) to 3.69  ±  0.93 kPa (after ablation and cooling). Thanks to its ability to perform quantitative elasticity measurements in a highly localized manner around the focal spot, this method proved to be particularly attractive for monitoring HIFU ablations.

Energy Efficiency Building Code for Commercial Buildings in Sri Lanka

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

Busch, John; Greenberg, Steve; Rubinstein, Francis

2000-09-30

1.1.1 To encourage energy efficient design or retrofit of commercial buildings so that they may be constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner that reduces the use of energy without constraining the building function, the comfort, health, or the productivity of the occupants and with appropriate regard for economic considerations. 1.1.2 To provide criterion and minimum standards for energy efficiency in the design or retrofit of commercial buildings and provide methods for determining compliance with them. 1.1.3 To encourage energy efficient designs that exceed these criterion and minimum standards.

Delivering Cost-Efficient Public Services in Health Care, Education and Housing in Chile. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 606

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moccero, D.

2008-01-01

The Chilean authorities plan to raise budgetary allocations over the medium term for a variety of social programmes, including education, health care and housing. This incremental spending will need to be carried out in a cost-efficient manner to make sure that it yields commensurate improvements in social outcomes. Chile's health indicators show…

FIB/SEM technology and high-throughput 3D reconstruction of dendritic spines and synapses in GFP-labeled adult-generated neurons.

PubMed

Bosch, Carles; Martínez, Albert; Masachs, Nuria; Teixeira, Cátia M; Fernaud, Isabel; Ulloa, Fausto; Pérez-Martínez, Esther; Lois, Carlos; Comella, Joan X; DeFelipe, Javier; Merchán-Pérez, Angel; Soriano, Eduardo

2015-01-01

The fine analysis of synaptic contacts is usually performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and its combination with neuronal labeling techniques. However, the complex 3D architecture of neuronal samples calls for their reconstruction from serial sections. Here we show that focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) allows efficient, complete, and automatic 3D reconstruction of identified dendrites, including their spines and synapses, from GFP/DAB-labeled neurons, with a resolution comparable to that of TEM. We applied this technology to analyze the synaptogenesis of labeled adult-generated granule cells (GCs) in mice. 3D reconstruction of dendritic spines in GCs aged 3-4 and 8-9 weeks revealed two different stages of dendritic spine development and unexpected features of synapse formation, including vacant and branched dendritic spines and presynaptic terminals establishing synapses with up to 10 dendritic spines. Given the reliability, efficiency, and high resolution of FIB/SEM technology and the wide use of DAB in conventional EM, we consider FIB/SEM fundamental for the detailed characterization of identified synaptic contacts in neurons in a high-throughput manner.

FIB/SEM technology and high-throughput 3D reconstruction of dendritic spines and synapses in GFP-labeled adult-generated neurons

PubMed Central

Bosch, Carles; Martínez, Albert; Masachs, Nuria; Teixeira, Cátia M.; Fernaud, Isabel; Ulloa, Fausto; Pérez-Martínez, Esther; Lois, Carlos; Comella, Joan X.; DeFelipe, Javier; Merchán-Pérez, Angel; Soriano, Eduardo

2015-01-01

The fine analysis of synaptic contacts is usually performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and its combination with neuronal labeling techniques. However, the complex 3D architecture of neuronal samples calls for their reconstruction from serial sections. Here we show that focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) allows efficient, complete, and automatic 3D reconstruction of identified dendrites, including their spines and synapses, from GFP/DAB-labeled neurons, with a resolution comparable to that of TEM. We applied this technology to analyze the synaptogenesis of labeled adult-generated granule cells (GCs) in mice. 3D reconstruction of dendritic spines in GCs aged 3–4 and 8–9 weeks revealed two different stages of dendritic spine development and unexpected features of synapse formation, including vacant and branched dendritic spines and presynaptic terminals establishing synapses with up to 10 dendritic spines. Given the reliability, efficiency, and high resolution of FIB/SEM technology and the wide use of DAB in conventional EM, we consider FIB/SEM fundamental for the detailed characterization of identified synaptic contacts in neurons in a high-throughput manner. PMID:26052271

A highly efficient microfluidic nano biochip based on nanostructured nickel oxide.

PubMed

Ali, Md Azahar; Solanki, Pratima R; Patel, Manoj K; Dhayani, Hemant; Agrawal, Ved Varun; John, Renu; Malhotra, Bansi D

2013-04-07

We present results of the studies relating to fabrication of a microfluidic biosensor chip based on nickel oxide nanorods (NRs-NiO) that is capable of directly measuring the concentration of total cholesterol in human blood through electrochemical detection. Using this chip we demonstrate, with high reliability and in a time efficient manner, the detection of cholesterol present in buffer solutions at clinically relevant concentrations. The microfluidic channel has been fabricated onto a nickel oxide nanorod-based electrode co-immobilized with cholesterol esterase (ChEt) and cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) that serves as the working electrode. Bare indium tin oxide served as the counter electrode. A Ag/AgCl wire introduced to the outlet of the microchannel acts as a reference electrode. The fabricated NiO nanorod-based electrode has been characterized using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, HR-TEM, FT-IR, UV-visible spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. The presented NRs-NiO based microfluidic sensor exhibits linearity in the range of 1.5-10.3 mM, a high sensitivity of 0.12 mA mM(-1) cm(-2) and a low value of 0.16 mM of the Michaelis-Menten constant (Km).

Harnessing Wind Power in Moving Reference Frames with Application to Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goushcha, Oleg; Felicissimo, Robert; Danesh-Yazdi, Amir; Andreopoulos, Yiannis

2017-11-01

The extraction of wind power from unique configurations embedded in moving vehicles by using micro-turbine devices has been investigated. In such moving environments, the specific power of the air motion is much greater and less intermittent than in stationary wind turbines anchored to the ground in open atmospheric conditions. In a translational frame of reference, the rate of work done by the drag force acting on the wind harnessing device due the relative motion of air should be taken into account in the overall performance evaluation through an energy balance. A device with a venting tube has been tested that connects a high-pressure stagnating flow region in the front of the vehicle with a low-pressure region at its rear. Our analysis identified two key areas to focus on for potentially significant rewards: (1) Vehicles with high energy conversion efficiency which require a high mass flow rate through the venting duct, and (2) low efficiency vehicles with wakes, which will be globally affected by the introduction of the venting duct device in a manner that reduces their drag so that there is a net gain in power generation.

Genetic engineering of stem cells for enhanced therapy.

PubMed

Nowakowski, Adam; Andrzejewska, Anna; Janowski, Miroslaw; Walczak, Piotr; Lukomska, Barbara

2013-01-01

Stem cell therapy is a promising strategy for overcoming the limitations of current treatment methods. The modification of stem cell properties may be necessary to fully exploit their potential. Genetic engineering, with an abundance of methodology to induce gene expression in a precise and well-controllable manner, is particularly attractive for this purpose. There are virus-based and non-viral methods of genetic manipulation. Genome-integrating viral vectors are usually characterized by highly efficient and long-term transgene expression, at a cost of safety. Non-integrating viruses are also highly efficient in transduction, and, while safer, offer only a limited duration of transgene expression. There is a great diversity of transfectable forms of nucleic acids; however, for efficient shuttling across cell membranes, additional manipulation is required. Both physical and chemical methods have been employed for this purpose. Stem cell engineering for clinical applications is still in its infancy and requires further research. There are two main strategies for inducing transgene expression in therapeutic cells: transient and permanent expression. In many cases, including stem cell trafficking and using cell therapy for the treatment of rapid-onset disease with a short healing process, transient transgene expression may be a sufficient and optimal approach. For that purpose, mRNA-based methods seem ideally suited, as they are characterized by a rapid, highly efficient transfection, with outstanding safety. Permanent transgene expression is primarily based on the application of viral vectors, and, due to safety concerns, these methods are more challenging. There is active, ongoing research toward the development of non-viral methods that would induce permanent expression, such as transposons and mammalian artificial chromosomes.

Efficient spectroscopic imaging by an optimized encoding of pre-targeted resonances

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhiyong; Shemesh, Noam; Frydman, Lucio

2016-01-01

A “relaxation-enhanced” (RE) selective-excitation approach to acquire in vivo localized spectra with flat baselines and very good signal-to-noise ratios –particularly at high fields– has been recently proposed. As RE MRS targets a subset of a priori known resonances, new possibilities arise to acquire spectroscopic imaging data in a faster, more efficient manner. Hereby we present one such opportunity based on what we denominate Relaxation-Enhanced Chemical-shift-Encoded Spectroscopically-Separated (RECESS) imaging. RECESS delivers spectral/spatial correlations of various metabolites, by collecting a gradient echo train whose timing is defined by the chemical shifts of the various selectively excited resonances to be disentangled. Different sites thus impart distinct, coherent phase modulations on the images; condition number considerations allow one to disentangle these contributions of the various sites by a simple matrix inversion. The efficiency of the ensuing spectral/spatial correlation method is high enough to enable the examination of additional spatial axes via their phase encoding in CPMG-like spin-echo trains. The ensuing single-shot 1D spectral / 2D spatial RECESS method thus accelerates the acquisition of quality MRSI data by factors that, depending on the sensitivity, range between 2 and 50. This is illustrated with a number of phantom, of ex vivo and of in vivo acquisitions. PMID:26910285

A fast and automatic fusion algorithm for unregistered multi-exposure image sequence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yan; Yu, Feihong

2014-09-01

Human visual system (HVS) can visualize all the brightness levels of the scene through visual adaptation. However, the dynamic range of most commercial digital cameras and display devices are smaller than the dynamic range of human eye. This implies low dynamic range (LDR) images captured by normal digital camera may lose image details. We propose an efficient approach to high dynamic (HDR) image fusion that copes with image displacement and image blur degradation in a computationally efficient manner, which is suitable for implementation on mobile devices. The various image registration algorithms proposed in the previous literatures are unable to meet the efficiency and performance requirements in the application of mobile devices. In this paper, we selected Oriented Brief (ORB) detector to extract local image structures. The descriptor selected in multi-exposure image fusion algorithm has to be fast and robust to illumination variations and geometric deformations. ORB descriptor is the best candidate in our algorithm. Further, we perform an improved RANdom Sample Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm to reject incorrect matches. For the fusion of images, a new approach based on Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) is used. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm generates high quality images at low computational cost. Comparisons with a number of other feature matching methods show that our method gets better performance.

WEDDS: The WITS Encrypted Data Delivery System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norris, J.; Backes, P.

1999-01-01

WEDDS, the WITS Encrypted Data Delivery System, is a framework for supporting distributed mission operations by automatically transferring sensitive mission data in a secure and efficient manner to and from remote mission participants over the internet.

41 CFR 102-74.185 - What heating and cooling policy must Federal agencies follow in Federal facilities?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... overall energy efficient and economical manner; (b) Maintain temperatures to maximize customer satisfaction by conforming to local commercial equivalent temperature levels and operating practices; (c) Set...

Creating a provider network: fact, fantasy, and future.

PubMed

Meeks, J S

1997-09-01

Integrated delivery systems should consider multiple options through which to affiliate, with primary care physicians and advanced practice nurses. Caution should be employed to assure that system alignment occurs in an efficient, effective manner.

Multidisciplinary approaches to solar hydrogen

PubMed Central

Bren, Kara L.

2015-01-01

This review summarizes three different approaches to engineering systems for the solar-driven evolution of hydrogen fuel from water: molecular, nanomaterials and biomolecular. Molecular systems have the advantage of being highly amenable to modification and detailed study and have provided great insight into photophysics, electron transfer and catalytic mechanism. However, they tend to display poor stability. Systems based on nanomaterials are more robust but also are more difficult to synthesize in a controlled manner and to modify and study in detail. Biomolecular systems share many properties with molecular systems and have the advantage of displaying inherently high efficiencies for light absorption, electron–hole separation and catalysis. However, biological systems must be engineered to couple modules that capture and convert solar photons to modules that produce hydrogen fuel. Furthermore, biological systems are prone to degradation when employed in vitro. Advances that use combinations of these three tactics also are described. Multidisciplinary approaches to this problem allow scientists to take advantage of the best features of biological, molecular and nanomaterials systems provided that the components can be coupled for efficient function. PMID:26052425

A universal self-charging system driven by random biomechanical energy for sustainable operation of mobile electronics

PubMed Central

Niu, Simiao; Wang, Xiaofeng; Yi, Fang; Zhou, Yu Sheng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2015-01-01

Human biomechanical energy is characterized by fluctuating amplitudes and variable low frequency, and an effective utilization of such energy cannot be achieved by classical energy-harvesting technologies. Here we report a high-efficient self-charging power system for sustainable operation of mobile electronics exploiting exclusively human biomechanical energy, which consists of a high-output triboelectric nanogenerator, a power management circuit to convert the random a.c. energy to d.c. electricity at 60% efficiency, and an energy storage device. With palm tapping as the only energy source, this power unit provides a continuous d.c. electricity of 1.044 mW (7.34 W m−3) in a regulated and managed manner. This self-charging unit can be universally applied as a standard ‘infinite-lifetime' power source for continuously driving numerous conventional electronics, such as thermometers, electrocardiograph system, pedometers, wearable watches, scientific calculators and wireless radio-frequency communication system, which indicates the immediate and broad applications in personal sensor systems and internet of things. PMID:26656252

Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: evidence from accuracy and eye movements.

PubMed

Mall, Jonathan T; Morey, Candice C; Wolff, Michael J; Lehnert, Franziska

2014-10-01

Selective attention and working memory capacity (WMC) are related constructs, but debate about the manner in which they are related remains active. One elegant explanation of variance in WMC is that the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information is the crucial determining factor, rather than differences in capacity per se. We examined this hypothesis by relating WMC (as measured by complex span tasks) to accuracy and eye movements during visual change detection tasks with different degrees of attentional filtering and allocation requirements. Our results did not indicate strong filtering differences between high- and low-WMC groups, and where differences were observed, they were counter to those predicted by the strongest attentional filtering hypothesis. Bayes factors indicated evidence favoring positive or null relationships between WMC and correct responses to unemphasized information, as well as between WMC and the time spent looking at unemphasized information. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences in storage capacity, not only filtering efficiency, underlie individual differences in working memory.

Generalized Centroid Estimators in Bioinformatics

PubMed Central

Hamada, Michiaki; Kiryu, Hisanori; Iwasaki, Wataru; Asai, Kiyoshi

2011-01-01

In a number of estimation problems in bioinformatics, accuracy measures of the target problem are usually given, and it is important to design estimators that are suitable to those accuracy measures. However, there is often a discrepancy between an employed estimator and a given accuracy measure of the problem. In this study, we introduce a general class of efficient estimators for estimation problems on high-dimensional binary spaces, which represent many fundamental problems in bioinformatics. Theoretical analysis reveals that the proposed estimators generally fit with commonly-used accuracy measures (e.g. sensitivity, PPV, MCC and F-score) as well as it can be computed efficiently in many cases, and cover a wide range of problems in bioinformatics from the viewpoint of the principle of maximum expected accuracy (MEA). It is also shown that some important algorithms in bioinformatics can be interpreted in a unified manner. Not only the concept presented in this paper gives a useful framework to design MEA-based estimators but also it is highly extendable and sheds new light on many problems in bioinformatics. PMID:21365017

The improvement of GaN-based LED grown on concave nano-pattern sapphire substrate with SiO2 blocking layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jyun-Hao; Huang, Shyh-Jer; Su, Yan-Kuin; Huang, Kai-Wen

2015-11-01

In contrast to convex nano-pattern sapphire substrates (NPSS), which are frequently used to fabricate high-quality nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), concave NPSS have been paid relatively less attention. In this study, a concave NPSS was fabricated, and its nitride epitaxial growth process was evaluated in a step by step manner. A SiO2 layer was used to avoid nucleation over the sidewall and bottom of the nano-patterns to reduce dislocation reformation. Traditional LED structures were grown on the NPSS layer to determine its influence on device performance. X-ray diffraction, etched pit density, inverse leakage current, and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) results showed that dislocations and non-radiative recombination centers are reduced by the NPSS constructed with a SiO2 blocking layer. An IQE twice that on a planar substrate was also achieved; such a high IQE significantly enhanced the external quantum efficiency of the resultant device. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the SiO2 blocking layer proposed in this work can enhance the performance of LEDs.

Dynamic Resource Allocation for IEEE802.16e

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nascimento, Alberto; Rodriguez, Jonathan

Mobile communications has witnessed an exponential increase in the amount of users, services and applications. New high bandwidth consuming applications are targeted for B3G networks raising more stringent requirements for Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) architectures and packet schedulers that must be spectrum efficient and deliver QoS for heterogeneous applications and services. In this paper we propose a new cross layer-based architecture framework embedded in a newly designed DRA architecture for the Mobile WiMAX standard. System level simulation results show that the proposed architecture can be considered a viable candidate solution for supporting mixed services in a cost-effective manner in contrast to existing approaches.

The plane problem of the flapping wing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birnbaum, Walter

1954-01-01

In connection with an earlier report on the lifting vortex sheet which forms the basis of the following investigations this will show how the methods developed there are also suitable for dealing with the air forces for a wing with a circulation variable with time. The theory of a propulsive wing flapping up and down periodically in the manner of a bird's wing is developed. This study shows how the lift and its moment result as a function of the flapping motion, what thrust is attainable, and how high is the degree of efficiency of this flapping propulsion unit if the air friction is disregarded.

A convenient synthesis of 1,1-disubstituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines via Pictet-Spengler reaction using titanium(IV) isopropoxide and acetic-formic anhydride.

PubMed

Horiguchi, Yoshie; Kodama, Hirokazu; Nakamura, Masayoshi; Yoshimura, Tsuyoshi; Hanezi, Kaori; Hamada, Hiroko; Saitoh, Toshiaki; Sano, Takehiro

2002-02-01

A synthesis of 1,1-disubstituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines (6) was achieved in a highly efficient manner via Pictet-Spengler reaction of arylethylamines (1) and acyclic and cyclic ketones (2) using titanium (IV) isopropoxide and acetic-formic anhydride. The cyclization of the in situ formed acyliminium ion (4) to N-formyl 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (5) was greatly facilitated by using trifluoroacetic acid as an additional reagent. The Pictet-Spengler reaction was carried out by one pot procedure, providing a convenient and effective method for preparing various 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines.

New perspectives and lessons learned in the identification of impurities in drug development.

PubMed

Sasaki, Ryan R; McGibbon, Graham; Lee, Mike S; Murray, Clare L; Pharr, Bruce

2014-11-01

Within the pharmaceutical industry, the rapid identification, elucidation and characterization of synthetic or process impurities or degradants form an intense and a comprehensive undertaking. Advances in laboratory hardware and software are changing the way in which scientists work together to help resolve impurities in a quick and efficient manner. Although the industry trend toward externalization and outsourcing of development tasks provides a cost-effective method, the demand for improved productivity in laboratory workflows in drug development continues to be a high priority. This brings a need for new approaches for communication, collaboration and data management. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste Management Using Request-Based Virtual Organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katriou, Stamatia Ann; Fragidis, Garyfallos; Ignatiadis, Ioannis; Tolias, Evangelos; Koumpis, Adamantios

Waste management is on top of the political agenda globally as a high priority environmental issue, with billions spent on it each year. This paper proposes an approach for the disposal, transportation, recycling and reuse of waste. This approach incorporates the notion of Request Based Virtual Organizations (RBVOs) using a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and an ontology that serves the definition of waste management requirements. The populated ontology is utilized by a Multi-Agent System which performs negotiations and forms RBVOs. The proposed approach could be used by governments and companies searching for a means to perform such activities in an effective and efficient manner.

Kinetics of Mixed Microbial Assemblages Enhance Removal of Highly Dilute Organic Substrates

PubMed Central

Lewis, David L.; Hodson, Robert E.; Hwang, Huey-Min

1988-01-01

Our experiments with selected organic substrates reveal that the rate-limiting process governing microbial degradation rates changes with substrate concentration, S, in such a manner that substrate removal is enhanced at lower values of S. This enhancement is the result of the dominance of very efficient systems for substrate removal at low substrate concentrations. The variability of dominant kinetic parameters over a range of S causes the kinetics of complex assemblages to be profoundly dissimilar to those of systems possessing a single set of kinetic parameters; these findings necessitate taking a new approach to predicting substrate removal rates over wide ranges of S. PMID:16347715

Double-tailored nonimaging reflector optics for maximum-performance solar concentration.

PubMed

Goldstein, Alex; Gordon, Jeffrey M

2010-09-01

A nonimaging strategy that tailors two mirror contours for concentration near the étendue limit is explored, prompted by solar applications where a sizable gap between the optic and absorber is required. Subtle limitations of this simultaneous multiple surface method approach are derived, rooted in the manner in which phase space boundaries can be tailored according to the edge-ray principle. The fundamental categories of double-tailored reflective optics are identified, only a minority of which can pragmatically offer maximum concentration at high collection efficiency. Illustrative examples confirm that acceptance half-angles as large as 30 mrad can be realized at a flux concentration of approximately 1000.

Effectiveness of recycling light in ultra-bright short-arc discharge lamps.

PubMed

Malul, Asher; Nakar, Doron; Feuermann, Daniel; Gordon, Jeffrey M

2007-10-17

Recycling light back into a plasma lamp's radiant zone can enhance its radiance. Measurements are reported for the effectiveness, spectral properties and modified plasma radiance maps that result from light recycling with a specular hemispherical mirror in commercial 150 W ultrabright Xenon short-arc discharge lamps, motivated by projection, biomedical and high-temperature furnace applications. For certain spectral windows and plasma arc regions, radiance can be heightened by up to 70%. However, the overall light recycling efficiency is reduced to about half this value due to lamp geometry. The manner in which light-plasma interactions affect light recycling efficacy is also elucidated.

Initial Skill Acquisition of Handrim Wheelchair Propulsion: A New Perspective.

PubMed

Vegter, Riemer J K; de Groot, Sonja; Lamoth, Claudine J; Veeger, Dirkjan Hej; van der Woude, Lucas H V

2014-01-01

To gain insight into cyclic motor learning processes, hand rim wheelchair propulsion is a suitable cyclic task, to be learned during early rehabilitation and novel to almost every individual. To propel in an energy efficient manner, wheelchair users must learn to control bimanually applied forces onto the rims, preserving both speed and direction of locomotion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate mechanical efficiency and propulsion technique during the initial stage of motor learning. Therefore, 70 naive able-bodied men received 12-min uninstructed wheelchair practice, consisting of three 4-min blocks separated by 2 min rest. Practice was performed on a motor-driven treadmill at a fixed belt speed and constant power output relative to body mass. Energy consumption and the kinetics of propulsion technique were continuously measured. Participants significantly increased their mechanical efficiency and changed their propulsion technique from a high frequency mode with a lot of negative work to a longer-slower movement pattern with less power losses. Furthermore a multi-level model showed propulsion technique to relate to mechanical efficiency. Finally improvers and non-improvers were identified. The non-improving group was already more efficient and had a better propulsion technique in the first block of practice (i.e., the fourth minute). These findings link propulsion technique to mechanical efficiency, support the importance of a correct propulsion technique for wheelchair users and show motor learning differences.

Characterization of adenoviral transduction profile in prostate cancer cells and normal prostate tissue.

PubMed

Ai, Jianzhong; Tai, Phillip W L; Lu, Yi; Li, Jia; Ma, Hong; Su, Qin; Wei, Qiang; Li, Hong; Gao, Guangping

2017-09-01

Prostate diseases are common in males worldwide with high morbidity. Gene therapy is an attractive therapeutic strategy for prostate diseases, however, it is currently underdeveloped. As well known, adeno virus (Ad) is the most widely used gene therapy vector. The aims of this study are to explore transduction efficiency of Ad in prostate cancer cells and normal prostate tissue, thus further providing guidance for future prostate pathophysiological studies and therapeutic development of prostate diseases. We produced Ad expressing enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP), and characterized the transduction efficiency of Ad in both human and mouse prostate cancer cell lines in vitro, as well as prostate tumor xenograft, and wild-type mouse prostate tissue in vivo. Ad transduction efficiency was determined by EGFP fluorescence using microscopy and flow cytometry. Cell type-specific transduction was examined by immunofluorescence staining of cell markers. Our data showed that Ad efficiently transduced human and mouse prostate cancer cells in vitro in a dose dependent manner. Following intratumoral and intraprostate injection, Ad could efficiently transduce prostate tumor xenograft and the major prostatic cell types in vivo, respectively. Our findings suggest that Ad can efficiently transduce prostate tumor cells in vitro as well as xenograft and normal prostate tissue in vivo, and further indicate that Ad could be a potentially powerful toolbox for future gene therapy of prostate diseases. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

D-MSR: a distributed network management scheme for real-time monitoring and process control applications in wireless industrial automation.

PubMed

Zand, Pouria; Dilo, Arta; Havinga, Paul

2013-06-27

Current wireless technologies for industrial applications, such as WirelessHART and ISA100.11a, use a centralized management approach where a central network manager handles the requirements of the static network. However, such a centralized approach has several drawbacks. For example, it cannot cope with dynamicity/disturbance in large-scale networks in a real-time manner and it incurs a high communication overhead and latency for exchanging management traffic. In this paper, we therefore propose a distributed network management scheme, D-MSR. It enables the network devices to join the network, schedule their communications, establish end-to-end connections by reserving the communication resources for addressing real-time requirements, and cope with network dynamicity (e.g., node/edge failures) in a distributed manner. According to our knowledge, this is the first distributed management scheme based on IEEE 802.15.4e standard, which guides the nodes in different phases from joining until publishing their sensor data in the network. We demonstrate via simulation that D-MSR can address real-time and reliable communication as well as the high throughput requirements of industrial automation wireless networks, while also achieving higher efficiency in network management than WirelessHART, in terms of delay and overhead.

D-MSR: A Distributed Network Management Scheme for Real-Time Monitoring and Process Control Applications in Wireless Industrial Automation

PubMed Central

Zand, Pouria; Dilo, Arta; Havinga, Paul

2013-01-01

Current wireless technologies for industrial applications, such as WirelessHART and ISA100.11a, use a centralized management approach where a central network manager handles the requirements of the static network. However, such a centralized approach has several drawbacks. For example, it cannot cope with dynamicity/disturbance in large-scale networks in a real-time manner and it incurs a high communication overhead and latency for exchanging management traffic. In this paper, we therefore propose a distributed network management scheme, D-MSR. It enables the network devices to join the network, schedule their communications, establish end-to-end connections by reserving the communication resources for addressing real-time requirements, and cope with network dynamicity (e.g., node/edge failures) in a distributed manner. According to our knowledge, this is the first distributed management scheme based on IEEE 802.15.4e standard, which guides the nodes in different phases from joining until publishing their sensor data in the network. We demonstrate via simulation that D-MSR can address real-time and reliable communication as well as the high throughput requirements of industrial automation wireless networks, while also achieving higher efficiency in network management than WirelessHART, in terms of delay and overhead. PMID:23807687

Machine learning properties of binary wurtzite superlattices

DOE PAGES

Pilania, G.; Liu, X. -Y.

2018-01-12

The burgeoning paradigm of high-throughput computations and materials informatics brings new opportunities in terms of targeted materials design and discovery. The discovery process can be significantly accelerated and streamlined if one can learn effectively from available knowledge and past data to predict materials properties efficiently. Indeed, a very active area in materials science research is to develop machine learning based methods that can deliver automated and cross-validated predictive models using either already available materials data or new data generated in a targeted manner. In the present paper, we show that fast and accurate predictions of a wide range of propertiesmore » of binary wurtzite superlattices, formed by a diverse set of chemistries, can be made by employing state-of-the-art statistical learning methods trained on quantum mechanical computations in combination with a judiciously chosen numerical representation to encode materials’ similarity. These surrogate learning models then allow for efficient screening of vast chemical spaces by providing instant predictions of the targeted properties. Moreover, the models can be systematically improved in an adaptive manner, incorporate properties computed at different levels of fidelities and are naturally amenable to inverse materials design strategies. Finally, while the learning approach to make predictions for a wide range of properties (including structural, elastic and electronic properties) is demonstrated here for a specific example set containing more than 1200 binary wurtzite superlattices, the adopted framework is equally applicable to other classes of materials as well.« less

Machine learning properties of binary wurtzite superlattices

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

Pilania, G.; Liu, X. -Y.

The burgeoning paradigm of high-throughput computations and materials informatics brings new opportunities in terms of targeted materials design and discovery. The discovery process can be significantly accelerated and streamlined if one can learn effectively from available knowledge and past data to predict materials properties efficiently. Indeed, a very active area in materials science research is to develop machine learning based methods that can deliver automated and cross-validated predictive models using either already available materials data or new data generated in a targeted manner. In the present paper, we show that fast and accurate predictions of a wide range of propertiesmore » of binary wurtzite superlattices, formed by a diverse set of chemistries, can be made by employing state-of-the-art statistical learning methods trained on quantum mechanical computations in combination with a judiciously chosen numerical representation to encode materials’ similarity. These surrogate learning models then allow for efficient screening of vast chemical spaces by providing instant predictions of the targeted properties. Moreover, the models can be systematically improved in an adaptive manner, incorporate properties computed at different levels of fidelities and are naturally amenable to inverse materials design strategies. Finally, while the learning approach to make predictions for a wide range of properties (including structural, elastic and electronic properties) is demonstrated here for a specific example set containing more than 1200 binary wurtzite superlattices, the adopted framework is equally applicable to other classes of materials as well.« less

FRET ratiometric probes reveal the chiral-sensitive cysteine-dependent H2S production and regulation in living cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Lv; Yi, Long; Song, Fanbo; Wei, Chao; Wang, Bai-Fan; Xi, Zhen

2014-04-01

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced gaseous signalling molecule with multiple biological functions. In order to visualize and quantify the endogenous in situ production of H2S in living cells, here we developed two new sulphide ratiometric probes (SR400 and SR550) based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) strategy for live capture of H2S. The FRET-based probes show excellent selectivity toward H2S in a high thiol background under physiological buffer. The probe can be used to in situ visualize cysteine-dependent H2S production in a chiral-sensitive manner in living cells. The ratiometric imaging studies indicated that D-Cys induces more H2S production than that of L-Cys in mitochondria of human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK293). The cysteine mimics propargylglycine (PPG) has also been found to inhibit the cysteine-dependent endogenous H2S production in a chiral-sensitive manner in living cells. D-PPG inhibited D-Cys-dependent H2S production more efficiently than L-PPG, while, L-PPG inhibited L-Cys-dependent H2S production more efficiently than D-PPG. Our bioimaging studies support Kimura's discovery of H2S production from D-cysteine in mammalian cells and further highlight the potential of D-cysteine and its derivatives as an alternative strategy for classical H2S-releasing drugs.

Efficient conceptual design for LED-based pixel light vehicle headlamps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Held, Marcel Philipp; Lachmayer, Roland

2017-12-01

High-resolution vehicle headlamps represent a future-oriented technology that can be used to increase traffic safety and driving comfort. As a further development to the current Matrix Beam headlamps, LED-based pixel light systems enable ideal lighting functions (e.g. projection of navigation information onto the road) to be activated in any given driving scenario. Moreover, compared to other light-modulating elements such as DMDs and LCDs, instantaneous LED on-off toggling provides a decisive advantage in efficiency. To generate highly individualized light distributions for automotive applications, a number of approaches using an LED array may be pursued. One approach is to vary the LED density in the array so as to output the desired light distribution. Another notable approach makes use of an equidistant arrangement of the individual LEDs together with distortion optics to formulate the desired light distribution. The optical system adjusts the light distribution in a manner that improves resolution and increases luminous intensity of the desired area. An efficient setup for pixel generation calls for one lens per LED. Taking into consideration the limited space requirements of the system, this implies that the luminous flux, efficiency and resolution image parameters are primarily controlled by the lens dimensions. In this paper a concept for an equidistant LED array arrangement utilizing distortion optics is presented. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the influence of lens geometry on the system efficiency whereas the second part investigates the correlation between resolution and luminous flux based on the lens dimensions.

Hierarchical layered and semantic-based image segmentation using ergodicity map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadegar, Jacob; Liu, Xiaoqing

2010-04-01

Image segmentation plays a foundational role in image understanding and computer vision. Although great strides have been made and progress achieved on automatic/semi-automatic image segmentation algorithms, designing a generic, robust, and efficient image segmentation algorithm is still challenging. Human vision is still far superior compared to computer vision, especially in interpreting semantic meanings/objects in images. We present a hierarchical/layered semantic image segmentation algorithm that can automatically and efficiently segment images into hierarchical layered/multi-scaled semantic regions/objects with contextual topological relationships. The proposed algorithm bridges the gap between high-level semantics and low-level visual features/cues (such as color, intensity, edge, etc.) through utilizing a layered/hierarchical ergodicity map, where ergodicity is computed based on a space filling fractal concept and used as a region dissimilarity measurement. The algorithm applies a highly scalable, efficient, and adaptive Peano- Cesaro triangulation/tiling technique to decompose the given image into a set of similar/homogenous regions based on low-level visual cues in a top-down manner. The layered/hierarchical ergodicity map is built through a bottom-up region dissimilarity analysis. The recursive fractal sweep associated with the Peano-Cesaro triangulation provides efficient local multi-resolution refinement to any level of detail. The generated binary decomposition tree also provides efficient neighbor retrieval mechanisms for contextual topological object/region relationship generation. Experiments have been conducted within the maritime image environment where the segmented layered semantic objects include the basic level objects (i.e. sky/land/water) and deeper level objects in the sky/land/water surfaces. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed algorithm has the capability to robustly and efficiently segment images into layered semantic objects/regions with contextual topological relationships.

Enhancing Privacy in Participatory Sensing Applications with Multidimensional Data

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

Forrest, Stephanie; He, Wenbo; Groat, Michael

2013-01-01

Participatory sensing applications rely on individuals to share personal data to produce aggregated models and knowledge. In this setting, privacy concerns can discourage widespread adoption of new applications. We present a privacy-preserving participatory sensing scheme based on negative surveys for both continuous and multivariate categorical data. Without relying on encryption, our algorithms enhance the privacy of sensed data in an energy and computation efficient manner. Simulations and implementation on Android smart phones illustrate how multidimensional data can be aggregated in a useful and privacy-enhancing manner.

DNS of Low-Pressure Turbine Cascade Flows with Elevated Inflow Turbulence Using a Discontinuous-Galerkin Spectral-Element Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garai, Anirban; Diosady, Laslo T.; Murman, Scott M.; Madavan, Nateri K.

2016-01-01

Recent progress towards developing a new computational capability for accurate and efficient high-fidelity direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) of turbomachinery is described. This capability is based on an entropy- stable Discontinuous-Galerkin spectral-element approach that extends to arbitrarily high orders of spatial and temporal accuracy, and is implemented in a computationally efficient manner on a modern high performance computer architecture. An inflow turbulence generation procedure based on a linear forcing approach has been incorporated in this framework and DNS conducted to study the effect of inflow turbulence on the suction- side separation bubble in low-pressure turbine (LPT) cascades. The T106 series of airfoil cascades in both lightly (T106A) and highly loaded (T106C) configurations at exit isentropic Reynolds numbers of 60,000 and 80,000, respectively, are considered. The numerical simulations are performed using 8th-order accurate spatial and 4th-order accurate temporal discretization. The changes in separation bubble topology due to elevated inflow turbulence is captured by the present method and the physical mechanisms leading to the changes are explained. The present results are in good agreement with prior numerical simulations but some expected discrepancies with the experimental data for the T106C case are noted and discussed.

Photosynthetic and Biochemical Changes in Response to Short Interval High ``g'' Exposure in Wheat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dixit, Jyotsana; Vidyasagar, Pandit; Jagtap, Sagar; Kamble, Shailendra

We have investigated the effect of short interval post imbibition high “g” exposure on wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum var.Lok-1) by evaluating the photosynthetic performance, chlorophyll “a” fluorescence biochemical indices and antioxidant response. Imbibed wheat seeds were exposed to high “g” ranging from 500 g to 2500 g for 10 min, allowed to germinate and grown for 5 days under normal gravity i.e. 1 g. Chlorophyll “a” fluorescence transient was examined in wheat seedling raised from hyper gravity treated seeds. Fv/Fm, PI, Fv/Fo decreased in high “g” treated seeds compared to control. Photosynthetic performance indices such as Transpiration rate, Stomatal conductance, Net photosynthetic rate, Intracellular CO2 concentration, Intrinsic water use efficiency also declined in wheat seedlings raised from High “g” treated seeds suggesting that high g reduces efficiency of photosynthesis in wheat seedlings. Results of Biochemical analysis showed reduced alpha- amylase activity in wheat seeds subjected to high “g” ranging from 500 g to 2500 g in a magnitude dependent manner. Decline in enzyme activity was positively correlated with higher starch content and lower reducing sugars in high “g” exposed wheat seeds. This possibly explains the reduced percent germination and growth in response to high “g”. Antioxidant enzyme activity (CAT and POX) significantly increased as a result of hypergravity exposure In conclusion, short interval high “g” exposure results in reduced growth and photosynthetic activity in wheat seedlings.

An Open-Source Storage Solution for Cryo-Electron Microscopy Samples.

PubMed

Ultee, Eveline; Schenkel, Fred; Yang, Wen; Brenzinger, Susanne; Depelteau, Jamie S; Briegel, Ariane

2018-02-01

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) enables the study of biological structures in situ in great detail and to solve protein structures at Ångstrom level resolution. Due to recent advances in instrumentation and data processing, the field of cryo-EM is a rapidly growing. Access to facilities and national centers that house the state-of-the-art microscopes is limited due to the ever-rising demand, resulting in long wait times between sample preparation and data acquisition. To improve sample storage, we have developed a cryo-storage system with an efficient, high storage capacity that enables sample storage in a highly organized manner. This system is simple to use, cost-effective and easily adaptable for any type of grid storage box and dewar and any size cryo-EM laboratory.

Functional Cellular Mimics for the Spatiotemporal Control of Multiple Enzymatic Cascade Reactions.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaoling; Formanek, Petr; Voit, Brigitte; Appelhans, Dietmar

2017-12-18

Next-generation therapeutic approaches are expected to rely on the engineering of biomimetic cellular systems that can mimic specific cellular functions. Herein, we demonstrate a highly effective route for constructing structural and functional eukaryotic cell mimics by loading pH-sensitive polymersomes as membrane-associated and free-floating organelle mimics inside the multifunctional cell membrane. Metabolism mimicry has been validated by performing successive enzymatic cascade reactions spatially separated at specific sites of cell mimics in the presence and absence of extracellular organelle mimics. These enzymatic reactions take place in a highly controllable, reproducible, efficient, and successive manner. Our biomimetic approach to material design for establishing functional principles brings considerable enrichment to the fields of biomedicine, biocatalysis, biotechnology, and systems biology. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Synthesis of novel ganglioside GM4 analogues containing N-deacetylated and lactamized sialic acid: probes for searching new ligand structures for human L-selectin.

PubMed

Otsubo, N; Ishida, H; Kiso, M

2001-01-15

Novel ganglioside GM4 analogues, which contain N-deacetylated or lactamized sialic acid instead of usual N-acetylneuraminic acid, were synthesized in a highly efficient manner. (Methyl 4,7,8,9-tetra-O-acetyl-3,5-dideoxy-5-trifluoroacetamido-D-glycero-alpha-D-galacto-2-nonulopyranosylonate)-(2-->3)-4,6-di-O-acetyl-2-O-benzoyl-D-galactopyranosyl trichloroacetimidate was coupled with 2-(tetradecyl)hexadecanol to give the desired beta-glycoside in high yield. Successive O- and N-deacylation, and saponification of the methyl ester group afforded the N-deacetylated sialyl derivative that was converted by treatment with 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride in Me2SO into the lactamized sialic acid-containing ganglioside GM4 analogue.

A wireless remote high-power laser device for optogenetic experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Gong, Q.; Li, Y. Y.; Li, A. Z.; Zhang, Y. G.; Cao, C. F.; Xu, H. X.; Cui, J.; Gao, J. J.

2015-04-01

Optogenetics affords the ability to stimulate genetically targeted neurons in a relatively innocuous manner. Reliable and targetable tools have enabled versatile new classes of investigation in the study of neural systems. However, current hardware systems are generally limited to acute measurements or require external tethering of the system to the light source. Here we provide a low-cost, high-power, remotely controlled blue laser diode (LD) stimulator for the application of optogenetics in neuroscience, focusing on wearable and intelligent devices, which can be carried by monkeys, rats and any other animals under study. Compared with the conventional light emitting diode (LED) device, this LD stimulator has higher efficiency, output power, and stability. Our system is fully wirelessly controlled and suitable for experiments with a large number of animals.

Online graphic symbol recognition using neural network and ARG matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bing; Li, Changhua; Xie, Weixing

2001-09-01

This paper proposes a novel method for on-line recognition of line-based graphic symbol. The input strokes are usually warped into a cursive form due to the sundry drawing style, and classifying them is very difficult. To deal with this, an ART-2 neural network is used to classify the input strokes. It has the advantages of high recognition rate, less recognition time and forming classes in a self-organized manner. The symbol recognition is achieved by an Attribute Relational Graph (ARG) matching algorithm. The ARG is very efficient for representing complex objects, but computation cost is very high. To over come this, we suggest a fast graph matching algorithm using symbol structure information. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective for recognition of symbols with hierarchical structure.

Experimental evidence for short-pulse laser heating of solid-density target to high bulk temperatures.

PubMed

Soloviev, A; Burdonov, K; Chen, S N; Eremeev, A; Korzhimanov, A; Pokrovskiy, G V; Pikuz, T A; Revet, G; Sladkov, A; Ginzburg, V; Khazanov, E; Kuzmin, A; Osmanov, R; Shaikin, I; Shaykin, A; Yakovlev, I; Pikuz, S; Starodubtsev, M; Fuchs, J

2017-09-22

Heating efficiently solid-density, or even compressed, matter has been a long-sought goal in order to allow investigation of the properties of such state of matter of interest for various domains, e.g. astrophysics. High-power lasers, pinches, and more recently Free-Electron-Lasers (FELs) have been used in this respect. Here we show that by using the high-power, high-contrast "PEARL" laser (Institute of Applied Physics-Russian Academy of Science, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) delivering 7.5 J in a 60 fs laser pulse, such coupling can be efficiently obtained, resulting in heating of a slab of solid-density Al of 0.8 µm thickness at a temperature of 300 eV, and with minimal density gradients. The characterization of the target heating is achieved combining X-ray spectrometry and measurement of the protons accelerated from the Al slab. The measured heating conditions are consistent with a three-temperatures model that simulates resistive and collisional heating of the bulk induced by the hot electrons. Such effective laser energy deposition is achieved owing to the intrinsic high contrast of the laser which results from the Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplification technology it is based on, allowing to attain high target temperatures in a very compact manner, e.g. in comparison with large-scale FEL facilities.

Coordinated Freeway and Arterial Operations Handbook

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-05-01

Managing and operating freeways and adjacent arterials in a proactive and comprehensive manner, from a system user's perspective, is a major step toward operating all modes of the transportation system at maximum efficiency. The focus of this guide i...

Structural design and stress analysis program for advanced composite filament-wound axisymmetric pressure vessels (COMTANK)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knoell, A. C.

1972-01-01

Computer program has been specifically developed to handle, in an efficient and cost effective manner, planar wound pressure vessels fabricated of either boron-epoxy or graphite-epoxy advanced composite materials.

Investigations of complaints and quality of health care.

PubMed

Henderson, R F; North, N; Patterson, G

2005-02-01

Malpractice law is frequently justified by the claim that it improves health care services but this belief remains untested. Using a multiple case study in 16 remote rural areas in New Zealand, this study examined the effects of formal quasi-judicial investigations on the quality of health care services. The study found that the fragile local health systems were damaged by the quasi-judicial investigations of the medical disciplinary body and became less efficient and less user-friendly. A few doctors left rural practice and were difficult to replace. The remaining health workers responded to the investigations in a negative manner, losing confidence, enthusiasm and motivation for work; they performed in a less efficient manner, working more slowly, setting up barriers to access, ordering more tests and referring more to secondary care. Complainants also appeared to have been disadvantaged as a consequence of having complained.

Translation efficiency is determined by both codon bias and folding energy

PubMed Central

Tuller, Tamir; Waldman, Yedael Y.; Kupiec, Martin; Ruppin, Eytan

2010-01-01

Synonymous mutations do not alter the protein produced yet can have a significant effect on protein levels. The mechanisms by which this effect is achieved are controversial; although some previous studies have suggested that codon bias is the most important determinant of translation efficiency, a recent study suggested that mRNA folding at the beginning of genes is the dominant factor via its effect on translation initiation. Using the Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptomes, we conducted a genome-scale study aiming at dissecting the determinants of translation efficiency. There is a significant association between codon bias and translation efficiency across all endogenous genes in E. coli and S. cerevisiae but no association between folding energy and translation efficiency, demonstrating the role of codon bias as an important determinant of translation efficiency. However, folding energy does modulate the strength of association between codon bias and translation efficiency, which is maximized at very weak mRNA folding (i.e., high folding energy) levels. We find a strong correlation between the genomic profiles of ribosomal density and genomic profiles of folding energy across mRNA, suggesting that lower folding energies slow down the ribosomes and decrease translation efficiency. Accordingly, we find that selection forces act near uniformly to decrease the folding energy at the beginning of genes. In summary, these findings testify that in endogenous genes, folding energy affects translation efficiency in a global manner that is not related to the expression levels of individual genes, and thus cannot be detected by correlation with their expression levels. PMID:20133581

Public Works Operations at U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan, Korea

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-04

services to its customers in the most effective and efficient manner. We examined DPW contract actions of $5.9 million, purchases from the Prime...delivery orders to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency, which resulted in questionable costs of up to $924,000, including $79,851 in...internally consistent, contract actions are well documented, and inspections are complete and comprehensive; use the most cost- effective method for

Safe and efficient use of the Internet.

PubMed

Downes, P K

2007-07-14

A minority of people abuse the freedom of the Internet to the detriment of the vast majority. Many people feel that the Internet requires more regulation to reduce the burden of hackers, viruses, hoaxes, adverts and spam that continue to proliferate unabated. Until this ever happens, it is down to the individual person or business to protect themselves against malicious attacks and to use the Internet in a safe and efficient manner.

Physiological and Anatomical Visual Analytics (PAVA) Background

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The need to efficiently analyze human chemical disposition data from in vivo studies or in silico PBPK modeling efforts, and to see complex disposition data in a logical manner, has created a unique opportunity for visual analytics applid to PAD.

The research and development of damage tolerant carbon fiber composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miranda, John Armando

This record of study takes a first hand look at corporate research and development efforts to improve the damage tolerance of two unique composite materials used in high performance aerospace applications. The professional internship with The Dow Chemical Company---Dow/United Technologies joint venture describes the intern's involvement in developing patentable process technologies for interleave toughening of high temperature resins and their composites. The subsequent internship with Hexcel Corporation describes the intern's involvement in developing the damage tolerance of novel and existing honeycomb sandwich structure technologies. Through the Doctor of Engineering professional internship experience this student exercised fundamental academic understanding and methods toward accomplishing the corporate objectives of the internship sponsors in a resource efficient and cost-effective manner. Also, the student gained tremendous autonomy through exceptional training in working in focused team environments with highly trained engineers and scientists in achieving important corporate objectives.

A transcriptome multi-tissue analysis identifies biological pathways and genes associated with variations in feed efficiency of growing pigs.

PubMed

Gondret, Florence; Vincent, Annie; Houée-Bigot, Magalie; Siegel, Anne; Lagarrigue, Sandrine; Causeur, David; Gilbert, Hélène; Louveau, Isabelle

2017-03-21

Animal's efficiency in converting feed into lean gain is a critical issue for the profitability of meat industries. This study aimed to describe shared and specific molecular responses in different tissues of pigs divergently selected over eight generations for residual feed intake (RFI). Pigs from the low RFI line had an improved gain-to-feed ratio during the test period and displayed higher leanness but similar adiposity when compared with pigs from the high RFI line at 132 days of age. Transcriptomics data were generated from longissimus muscle, liver and two adipose tissues using a porcine microarray and analyzed for the line effect (n = 24 pigs per line). The most apparent effect of the line was seen in muscle, whereas subcutaneous adipose tissue was the less affected tissue. Molecular data were analyzed by bioinformatics and subjected to multidimensional statistics to identify common biological processes across tissues and key genes participating to differences in the genetics of feed efficiency. Immune response, response to oxidative stress and protein metabolism were the main biological pathways shared by the four tissues that distinguished pigs from the low or high RFI lines. Many immune genes were under-expressed in the four tissues of the most efficient pigs. The main genes contributing to difference between pigs from the low vs high RFI lines were CD40, CTSC and NTN1. Different genes associated with energy use were modulated in a tissue-specific manner between the two lines. The gene expression program related to glycogen utilization was specifically up-regulated in muscle of pigs from the low RFI line (more efficient). Genes involved in fatty acid oxidation were down-regulated in muscle but were promoted in adipose tissues of the same pigs when compared with pigs from the high RFI line (less efficient). This underlined opposite line-associated strategies for energy use in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Genes related to cholesterol synthesis and efflux in liver and perirenal fat were also differentially regulated in pigs from the low vs high RFI lines. Non-productive functions such as immunity, defense against pathogens and oxidative stress contribute likely to inter-individual variations in feed efficiency.

The use of modified and non-natural nucleotides provide unique insights into pro-mutagenic replication catalyzed by polymerase eta.

PubMed

Choi, Jung-Suk; Dasari, Anvesh; Hu, Peter; Benkovic, Stephen J; Berdis, Anthony J

2016-02-18

This report evaluates the pro-mutagenic behavior of 8-oxo-guanine (8-oxo-G) by quantifying the ability of high-fidelity and specialized DNA polymerases to incorporate natural and modified nucleotides opposite this lesion. Although high-fidelity DNA polymerases such as pol δ and the bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase replicating 8-oxo-G in an error-prone manner, they display remarkably low efficiencies for TLS compared to normal DNA synthesis. In contrast, pol η shows a combination of high efficiency and low fidelity when replicating 8-oxo-G. These combined properties are consistent with a pro-mutagenic role for pol η when replicating this DNA lesion. Studies using modified nucleotide analogs show that pol η relies heavily on hydrogen-bonding interactions during translesion DNA synthesis. However, nucleobase modifications such as alkylation to the N2 position of guanine significantly increase error-prone synthesis catalyzed by pol η when replicating 8-oxo-G. Molecular modeling studies demonstrate the existence of a hydrophobic pocket in pol η that participates in the increased utilization of certain hydrophobic nucleotides. A model is proposed for enhanced pro-mutagenic replication catalyzed by pol η that couples efficient incorporation of damaged nucleotides opposite oxidized DNA lesions created by reactive oxygen species. The biological implications of this model toward increasing mutagenic events in lung cancer are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Nanostructured Block Polymer Membranes as High Capacity Adsorbers for the Capture of Metal Ions from Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudouris, Bryan; Weidman, Jacob; Mulvenna, Ryan; Phillip, William

The efficient removal of metal ions from aqueous streams is of significant import in applications ranging from industrial waste treatment to the purification of drinking water. An emerging paradigm associated with this separation is one that utilizes membrane adsorbers as a means by which to bind metal salt contaminants. Here, we demonstrate that the casting of an A-B-C triblock polymer using the self-assembly and non-solvent induced phase separation (SNIPS) methodology results in a nanoporous membrane geometry. The nature of the triblock polymer affords an extremely high density of binding sites within the membrane. As such, we demonstrate that the membranes with binding capacities equal to that of state-of-the-art packed bed columns. Moreover, because the affinity of the C moiety can be tuned, highly selective binding events can occur based solely on the chemistry of the block polymer and the metal ions in solution (i.e., in a manner that is independent of the size of the metal ions). Due to these combined facts, these membranes efficiently remove heavy metal (e.g., lead- and cadmium-based) salts from contaminated water streams with greater than 95% efficiency. Finally, we show that the membranes can be regenerated through a simple treatment in order to provide long-lasting adsorber systems as well. Thus, it is anticipated that these nanostructured triblock polymer membranes are a platform by which to obtain next-generation water purification processes.

A universal aptameric biosensor: Multiplexed detection of small analytes via aggregated perylene-based broad-spectrum quencher.

PubMed

Hu, Rong; Zhang, Xi; Xu, Qiang; Lu, Dan-Qing; Yang, Yun-Hui; Xu, Quan-Qing; Ruan, Qiong; Mo, Liu-Ting; Zhang, Xiao-Bing

2017-06-15

A universal aptameric system based on the taking advantage of double-stranded DNA/perylene diimide (dsDNA/PDI) as the signal probe was developed for multiplexed detection of small molecules. Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides which are selected in vitro by a process known as systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment. In this work, we synthesized a new kind of PDI and reported this aggregated PDI could quench the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)-labeled fluorophores with a high quenching efficiency. The quenching efficiencies on the fluorescence of FAM, TAMRA and Cy5 could reach to 98.3%±0.9%, 97.2%±0.6% and 98.1%±1.1%, respectively. This broad-spectrum quencher was then adopted to construct a multicolor biosensor via a label-free approach. A structure-switching-triggered enzymatic recycling amplification was employed for signal amplification. High quenching efficiency combined with autocatalytic target recycling amplification afforded the biosensor with high sensitivity towards small analytes. For other targets, changing the corresponding aptamer can achieve the goal. The quencher did not interfere with the catalytic activity of nuclease. The biosensor could be manipulated with similar sensitivity no matter in pre-addition or post-addition manner. Moreover, simultaneous and multiplexed analysis of several small molecules in homogeneous solution was achieved, demonstrating its potential application in the rapid screening of multiple biotargets. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

pKAMA-ITACHI Vectors for Highly Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Knockout in Arabidopsis thaliana

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated 9) system is widely used as a tool for genome engineering in various organisms. A complex consisting of Cas9 and single guide RNA (sgRNA) induces a DNA double-strand break in a sequence-specific manner, resulting in knockout. Some binary vectors for CRISPR/Cas9 in plants have been reported, but there is a problem with low efficiency. Here, we present a newly developed, highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9 vector for Arabidopsis thaliana, pKAMA-ITACHI Red (pKIR), harboring the RIBOSOMAL PROTEIN S5 A (RPS5A) promoter to drive Cas9. The RPS5A promoter maintains high constitutive expression at all developmental stages starting from the egg cell and including meristematic cells. Even in the T1 generation, pKIR induced null phenotypes in some genes: PHYTOENE DESATURASE 3 (PDS3), AGAMOUS (AG) and DUO POLLEN 1 (DUO1). Mutations induced by pKIR were carried in the germ cell line of the T1 generation. Surprisingly, in some lines, 100% of the T2 plants had the adh1 (ALCOHOL DEHYDROGENASE 1) null phenotype, indicating that pKIR strongly induced heritable mutations. Cas9-free T2 mutant plants were obtained by removing T2 seeds expressing a fluorescent marker in pKIR. Our results suggest that the pKIR system is a powerful molecular tool for genome engineering in Arabidopsis. PMID:27856772

Assessment and comparison of three high-aluminum fly ash utilization scenarios in Inner Mongolia, China using an eco-efficiency indicator.

PubMed

Yang, Shuo; Lin, Ling; Li, Shao Peng; Li, Qiang; Wang, Xiu Teng; Sun, Liang

2017-05-01

Utilization of fly ash is of great importance in China in the context of resource and environmental crises. Different fly ash utilization processes are proposed, and some have been practically applied. However, none of these fly ash utilization pathways has been evaluated comprehensively by integrating both environmental and economic perspectives. In this study, three high-aluminum fly ash utilization methods in Mongolia were assessed and compared based on the concept of eco-efficiency. The environmental assessment was conducted in accordance with life-cycle assessment principles, and a monetization-weighting approach was applied to obtain social willingness-to-pay as a reflection of environmental impact. The environmental assessment results revealed that the reuse of fly ash had significant advantage for saving primary resource, while solid waste, depletion of water, and global warming were the three highest environmental impacts from the life cycle perspective. The economic performance assessment showed positive net profits for fly ash utilization, but high value-added products were not necessarily indicative of better economic performance due to the relatively high operation cost. Comparison of the eco-efficiency indicators (EEIs) implied that the process of scenario 1#, which produced mullite ceramic and active calcium silicate, was the most recommended out of the three scenarios on the present scale. This judgment was consistent with the evaluation of the resource utilization rate. The present study showed that the EEI could be used to compare different fly ash utilization processes in a comprehensive and objective manner, thus providing definitive and insightful suggestions for decision-making and technical improvement.

An efficient multilevel optimization method for engineering design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderplaats, G. N.; Yang, Y. J.; Kim, D. S.

1988-01-01

An efficient multilevel deisgn optimization technique is presented. The proposed method is based on the concept of providing linearized information between the system level and subsystem level optimization tasks. The advantages of the method are that it does not require optimum sensitivities, nonlinear equality constraints are not needed, and the method is relatively easy to use. The disadvantage is that the coupling between subsystems is not dealt with in a precise mathematical manner.

Adaptive gain, equalization, and wavelength stabilization techniques for silicon photonic microring resonator-based optical receivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palermo, Samuel; Chiang, Patrick; Yu, Kunzhi; Bai, Rui; Li, Cheng; Chen, Chin-Hui; Fiorentino, Marco; Beausoleil, Ray; Li, Hao; Shafik, Ayman; Titriku, Alex

2016-03-01

Interconnect architectures based on high-Q silicon photonic microring resonator devices offer a promising solution to address the dramatic increase in datacenter I/O bandwidth demands due to their ability to realize wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) in a compact and energy efficient manner. However, challenges exist in realizing efficient receivers for these systems due to varying per-channel link budgets, sensitivity requirements, and ring resonance wavelength shifts. This paper reports on adaptive optical receiver design techniques which address these issues and have been demonstrated in two hybrid-integrated prototypes based on microring drop filters and waveguide photodetectors implemented in a 130nm SOI process and high-speed optical front-ends designed in 65nm CMOS. A 10Gb/s powerscalable architecture employs supply voltage scaling of a three inverter-stage transimpedance amplifier (TIA) that is adapted with an eye-monitor control loop to yield the necessary sensitivity for a given channel. As reduction of TIA input-referred noise is more critical at higher data rates, a 25Gb/s design utilizes a large input-stage feedback resistor TIA cascaded with a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) that compensates for the increased input pole. When tested with a waveguide Ge PD with 0.45A/W responsivity, this topology achieves 25Gb/s operation with -8.2dBm sensitivity at a BER=10-12. In order to address microring drop filters sensitivity to fabrication tolerances and thermal variations, efficient wavelength-stabilization control loops are necessary. A peak-power-based monitoring loop which locks the drop filter to the input wavelength, while achieving compatibility with the high-speed TIA offset-correction feedback loop is implemented with a 0.7nm tuning range at 43μW/GHz efficiency.

The Exposure Data Landscape for Manufactured Chemicals

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing chemical screening and prioritization programs to evaluate environmental chemicals for potential risk to human health in a rapid and efficient manner. As part of these efforts, it is important to catalog available information...

ADVANCED MIXED OXIDATION AND INCLUSION TECHNOLOGY - PHASE I

EPA Science Inventory

Coal tar contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) currently are difficult to treat in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The generally poor performance of conventional PAH treatment schemes, such as soil flushing or bioremediation, has led to research ...

32 CFR 644.454 - Negotiating restoration settlements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Negotiating restoration settlements. Negotiated settlements in lieu of performance of actual restoration work by the Government are ordinarily favored because they most satisfactorily achieve the objectives of fulfilling the Government's obligations under the lease in the most efficient and economical manner...

Connecticut DOT statewide bus system study : executive summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-07-01

The Connecticut Statewide Bus System Study has been undertaken to ensure that bus transit in Connecticut serves continuing needs in the most efficient manner possible. The Study has taken a comprehensive look at the state's twenty urban and rural tra...

Comparative evaluation of rRNA depletion procedures for the improved analysis of bacterial biofilm and mixed pathogen culture transcriptomes

PubMed Central

Petrova, Olga E.; Garcia-Alcalde, Fernando; Zampaloni, Claudia; Sauer, Karin

2017-01-01

Global transcriptomic analysis via RNA-seq is often hampered by the high abundance of ribosomal (r)RNA in bacterial cells. To remove rRNA and enrich coding sequences, subtractive hybridization procedures have become the approach of choice prior to RNA-seq, with their efficiency varying in a manner dependent on sample type and composition. Yet, despite an increasing number of RNA-seq studies, comparative evaluation of bacterial rRNA depletion methods has remained limited. Moreover, no such study has utilized RNA derived from bacterial biofilms, which have potentially higher rRNA:mRNA ratios and higher rRNA carryover during RNA-seq analysis. Presently, we evaluated the efficiency of three subtractive hybridization-based kits in depleting rRNA from samples derived from biofilm, as well as planktonic cells of the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our results indicated different rRNA removal efficiency for the three procedures, with the Ribo-Zero kit yielding the highest degree of rRNA depletion, which translated into enhanced enrichment of non-rRNA transcripts and increased depth of RNA-seq coverage. The results indicated that, in addition to improving RNA-seq sensitivity, efficient rRNA removal enhanced detection of low abundance transcripts via qPCR. Finally, we demonstrate that the Ribo-Zero kit also exhibited the highest efficiency when P. aeruginosa/Staphylococcus aureus co-culture RNA samples were tested. PMID:28117413

Sparse Contextual Activation for Efficient Visual Re-Ranking.

PubMed

Bai, Song; Bai, Xiang

2016-03-01

In this paper, we propose an extremely efficient algorithm for visual re-ranking. By considering the original pairwise distance in the contextual space, we develop a feature vector called sparse contextual activation (SCA) that encodes the local distribution of an image. Hence, re-ranking task can be simply accomplished by vector comparison under the generalized Jaccard metric, which has its theoretical meaning in the fuzzy set theory. In order to improve the time efficiency of re-ranking procedure, inverted index is successfully introduced to speed up the computation of generalized Jaccard metric. As a result, the average time cost of re-ranking for a certain query can be controlled within 1 ms. Furthermore, inspired by query expansion, we also develop an additional method called local consistency enhancement on the proposed SCA to improve the retrieval performance in an unsupervised manner. On the other hand, the retrieval performance using a single feature may not be satisfactory enough, which inspires us to fuse multiple complementary features for accurate retrieval. Based on SCA, a robust feature fusion algorithm is exploited that also preserves the characteristic of high time efficiency. We assess our proposed method in various visual re-ranking tasks. Experimental results on Princeton shape benchmark (3D object), WM-SRHEC07 (3D competition), YAEL data set B (face), MPEG-7 data set (shape), and Ukbench data set (image) manifest the effectiveness and efficiency of SCA.

Structure Dependence of Lysosomal Transit of Chitosan-Based Polyplexes for Gene Delivery.

PubMed

Thibault, Marc; Lavertu, Marc; Astolfi, Mélina; Buschmann, Michael D

2016-10-01

Chitosan-based polyplexes are known to traffic through lysosomes for a relatively long time, independent of the degree of deacetylation (DDA) and the number average molecular weight (Mn) of the polymer, even though both of these parameters have profound effects on polyplex stability and transfection efficiency. A better understanding of the lysosomal barrier is paramount to the rational design of vectors capable of overcoming obstacles to transgene expression. The aim of the present study was to investigate if lysosomal transit affects chitosan-based polyplex transfection efficiency in a structure-dependent (DDA, Mn) manner. Toward this end, we analyzed the effects of intracellular trafficking modifying agents on transfection efficiency and intracellular vesicular trafficking of polyplexes with different structural properties and stabilities or nucleic acid binding affinity. The use of agents that modify endosome/lysosome acidification and transit processes by distinct mechanisms and their effect on cell viability, polyplex uptake, vesicular trafficking, and transfection efficiency revealed novel and strong chitosan structure-dependent consequences of lysosomal transit. Inhibiting lysosomal transit using chloroquine significantly increased the efficiency of unstable polyplexes, while having minimal effects for polyplexes with intermediate or high stability. In parallel, specifically inhibiting the acidification of vesicles abrogated transfection for all formulations, suggesting that vesicular acidification is essential to promote transfection, most probably by facilitating lysosomal escape. These results provide novel insights into the structure-performance relationship of chitosan-based gene delivery systems.

Analysis of Acquisition and Titer of Maize Mosaic Rhabdovirus in Its Vector, Peregrinus maidis (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

PubMed Central

Barandoc-Alviar, Karen; Ramirez, Girly M.; Rotenberg, Dorith; Whitfield, Anna E.

2016-01-01

The corn planthopper, Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), transmits Maize mosaic rhabdovirus (MMV), an important pathogen of maize and sorghum, in a persistent propagative manner. To better understand the vectorial capacity of P. maidis, we determined the efficiency of MMV acquisition by nymphal and adult stages, and characterized MMV titer through development. Acquisition efficiency, i.e., proportion of insects that acquired the virus, was determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus titer of individual insects was estimated by quantitative RT-PCR. Acquisition efficiency of MMV differed significantly between nymphs and adults. MMV titer increased significantly over time and throughout insect development from nymphal to adult stage, indication of virus replication in the vector during development. There was a positive association between the vector developmental stage and virus titer. Also, the average titer in male insects was threefold higher than female titers, and this difference persisted up to 30 d post adult eclosion. Overall, our findings indicate that nymphs are more efficient than adults at acquiring MMV and virus accumulated in the vector over the course of nymphal development. Furthermore, sustained infection over the lifespan of P. maidis indicates a potentially high capacity of this vector to transmit MMV. PMID:28076276

[Research on mercury methylation by Geobacter sulfurreducens and its influencing factors].

PubMed

Zou, Yan; Si, You-Bin; Yan, Xue; Chen, Yan

2012-09-01

Mercury methylation by Geobacter sulfurreducens and the effects of environmental factors were studied under laboratory conditions. The results showed that G. sulfurreducens could grow well in the presence of low concentrations of mercuric chloride, but its growth was inhibited to a certain extent, mainly expressed in the prolonged lag phase. G. sulfurreducens could transform inorganic mercury into methylmercury, and this process was affected by many environmental factors. The efficiency of mercury methylation reached 38% under anaerobic conditions with 1 mg x L(-1) HgCl2 and 0.9% salinity at 35 degrees C, pH 6.0. Increasing the initial HgCl2 concentration or salinity in an appropriate manner improved mercury methylation, but the concentration of methylmercury reduced when the concentrations of HgCl2 and salinity were too high. The efficiency of mercury methylation increased with the increasing temperature in range of 4-35 degrees C. Weakly acidic environment was more beneficial to mercury methylation than acidic, neutral or alkaline conditions. In addition, the efficiency of mercury methylation was also affected by humic acid and cysteine. Humic acid inhibited mercury methyaltion, whereas cysteine could improve the efficiency of mercury methylation. This study provided a direct evidence for mercury methylation mediated by iron-reducing bacteria in the natural aquatic ecosystem.

Consequences of copper treatment on pigeon pea photosynthesis, osmolytes and antioxidants defense.

PubMed

Sharma, Poonam; Sirhindi, Geetika; Singh, Anil Kumar; Kaur, Harpreet; Mushtaq, Ruqia

2017-10-01

An attempt was made to explore the effect of copper sulphate treatment on growth, photosynthesis, osmolytes and antioxidants in 15 days old seedlings of C. cajan (Pigeonpea). C. cajan seedlings were grown in 0, 1, 5 and 10 mM concentrations of copper sulphate in petriplates lined with Whatman filter paper for 15 days. Root length and shoot length was decreased in a dose dependent manner with highest decrease of 82.80 and 45.92% in 10 mM Cu stress. Photosynthetic efficiency (qP, qN and Y) was decreased in a dose dependent manner whereas NPQ was increased in 1 and 5 mM and decreased in 10 mM Cu. Photosynthetic pigments viz total chlorophyll and carotenoids were increased in low concentrations and decreased in high concentrations of Cu. Osmolytes such as proline, glycine betaine and sugars were found to be increased in a dose dependent manner. Similarly antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase and catalase increased to 129.17 and 169.7%, respectively under Cu stress. Vitamin C and vitamin E was also increased in different concentrations of Cu to a significant level. It can be concluded from the present study that C. cajan can tolerate Cu stress up to 5 mM by adjusting the proportion of proline, glycine betaine, sugars and vitamins along with increasing the activity of some of the antioxidant enzymes.

GAPIT: genome association and prediction integrated tool.

PubMed

Lipka, Alexander E; Tian, Feng; Wang, Qishan; Peiffer, Jason; Li, Meng; Bradbury, Peter J; Gore, Michael A; Buckler, Edward S; Zhang, Zhiwu

2012-09-15

Software programs that conduct genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction and selection need to use methodologies that maximize statistical power, provide high prediction accuracy and run in a computationally efficient manner. We developed an R package called Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool (GAPIT) that implements advanced statistical methods including the compressed mixed linear model (CMLM) and CMLM-based genomic prediction and selection. The GAPIT package can handle large datasets in excess of 10 000 individuals and 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms with minimal computational time, while providing user-friendly access and concise tables and graphs to interpret results. http://www.maizegenetics.net/GAPIT. zhiwu.zhang@cornell.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Big Data Bioinformatics

PubMed Central

GREENE, CASEY S.; TAN, JIE; UNG, MATTHEW; MOORE, JASON H.; CHENG, CHAO

2017-01-01

Recent technological advances allow for high throughput profiling of biological systems in a cost-efficient manner. The low cost of data generation is leading us to the “big data” era. The availability of big data provides unprecedented opportunities but also raises new challenges for data mining and analysis. In this review, we introduce key concepts in the analysis of big data, including both “machine learning” algorithms as well as “unsupervised” and “supervised” examples of each. We note packages for the R programming language that are available to perform machine learning analyses. In addition to programming based solutions, we review webservers that allow users with limited or no programming background to perform these analyses on large data compendia. PMID:27908398

Big Data Bioinformatics

PubMed Central

GREENE, CASEY S.; TAN, JIE; UNG, MATTHEW; MOORE, JASON H.; CHENG, CHAO

2017-01-01

Recent technological advances allow for high throughput profiling of biological systems in a cost-efficient manner. The low cost of data generation is leading us to the “big data” era. The availability of big data provides unprecedented opportunities but also raises new challenges for data mining and analysis. In this review, we introduce key concepts in the analysis of big data, including both “machine learning” algorithms as well as “unsupervised” and “supervised” examples of each. We note packages for the R programming language that are available to perform machine learning analyses. In addition to programming based solutions, we review webservers that allow users with limited or no programming background to perform these analyses on large data compendia. PMID:24799088

Rhodium(i)-catalyzed asymmetric [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of 2-alkylenecyclobutanols with cyclic enones through C–C bond cleavage: efficient access to trans-bicyclic compounds† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 1575240. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c7sc04784c

PubMed Central

Zheng, Xinxin; Guo, Rui

2018-01-01

We report a rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric formal intermolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of 2-alkylenecyclobutanols with α,β-unsaturated cyclic ketones leading to synthetically useful trans-bicyclic molecules. Three consecutive stereogenic centers are formed in a highly enantio- and diastereoselective manner. Stepwise C–C bond cleavage and annulation are likely involved in the reaction pathway. Here, iPr-Duphos is the viable chiral ligand that promotes excellent enantio-control. PMID:29675233

Big data bioinformatics.

PubMed

Greene, Casey S; Tan, Jie; Ung, Matthew; Moore, Jason H; Cheng, Chao

2014-12-01

Recent technological advances allow for high throughput profiling of biological systems in a cost-efficient manner. The low cost of data generation is leading us to the "big data" era. The availability of big data provides unprecedented opportunities but also raises new challenges for data mining and analysis. In this review, we introduce key concepts in the analysis of big data, including both "machine learning" algorithms as well as "unsupervised" and "supervised" examples of each. We note packages for the R programming language that are available to perform machine learning analyses. In addition to programming based solutions, we review webservers that allow users with limited or no programming background to perform these analyses on large data compendia. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Applicability of the polynomial chaos expansion method for personalization of a cardiovascular pulse wave propagation model.

PubMed

Huberts, W; Donders, W P; Delhaas, T; van de Vosse, F N

2014-12-01

Patient-specific modeling requires model personalization, which can be achieved in an efficient manner by parameter fixing and parameter prioritization. An efficient variance-based method is using generalized polynomial chaos expansion (gPCE), but it has not been applied in the context of model personalization, nor has it ever been compared with standard variance-based methods for models with many parameters. In this work, we apply the gPCE method to a previously reported pulse wave propagation model and compare the conclusions for model personalization with that of a reference analysis performed with Saltelli's efficient Monte Carlo method. We furthermore differentiate two approaches for obtaining the expansion coefficients: one based on spectral projection (gPCE-P) and one based on least squares regression (gPCE-R). It was found that in general the gPCE yields similar conclusions as the reference analysis but at much lower cost, as long as the polynomial metamodel does not contain unnecessary high order terms. Furthermore, the gPCE-R approach generally yielded better results than gPCE-P. The weak performance of the gPCE-P can be attributed to the assessment of the expansion coefficients using the Smolyak algorithm, which might be hampered by the high number of model parameters and/or by possible non-smoothness in the output space. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

Li, Yang; Tu, Xingchen; Wang, Hao

The electronic efficiency and binding energy of contacts formed between graphene electrodes and poly-aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) anchoring groups have been investigated by the non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism combined with density functional theory. Our calculations show that PAH molecules always bind in the interior and at the edge of graphene in the AB stacking manner, and that the binding energy increases following the increase of the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms constituting the PAH molecule. When we move to analyzing the electronic transport properties of molecular junctions with a six-carbon alkyne chain as the central molecule, the electronic efficiency ofmore » the graphene-PAH contacts is found to depend on the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the corresponding PAH anchoring group, rather than its size. To be specific, the smaller is the HOMO-LUMO gap of the PAH anchoring group, the higher is the electronic efficiency of the graphene-PAH contact. Although the HOMO-LUMO gap of a PAH molecule depends on its specific configuration, PAH molecules with similar atomic structures show a decreasing trend for their HOMO-LUMO gap as the number of fused benzene rings increases. Therefore, graphene-conjugated molecule-graphene junctions with high-binding and high-conducting graphene-PAH contacts can be realized by choosing appropriate PAH anchor groups with a large area and a small HOMO-LUMO gap.« less

Resonantly diode-pumped continuous-wave and Q-switched Er:YAG laser at 1645 nm.

PubMed

Chang, N W H; Simakov, N; Hosken, D J; Munch, J; Ottaway, D J; Veitch, P J

2010-06-21

We describe an efficient Er:YAG laser that is resonantly pumped using continuous-wave (CW) laser diodes at 1470 nm. For CW lasing, it emits 6.1 W at 1645 nm with a slope efficiency of 36%, the highest efficiency reported for an Er:YAG laser that is pumped in this manner. In Q-switched operation, the laser produces diffraction-limited pulses with an average power of 2.5 W at 2 kHz PRF. To our knowledge this is the first Q-switched Er:YAG laser resonantly pumped by CW laser diodes.

Summer performance results obtained from simultaneously testing ten solar collectors outdoors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, D. R.

1977-01-01

Ten solar collectors were simultaneously tested outdoors. Efficiency data were correlated using a method that separates solar variables (flux, incident angle) from the desired performance parameters (heat loss, absorbtance, transmittance) which are unique to a given collector design. Tests were conducted on both clear and moderately cloudy days. Correlating data in the above manner, a 2-glass, black paint collector exhibited a decrease in efficiency of 5 percentage points relative to the baseline data for an exposure time of 2 years, 4 months. Condensation on the collector glazing was thought to be a contributing factor in this efficiency change.

The expression and activation of protease-activated receptor-2 correlate with skin color.

PubMed

Babiarz-Magee, Laura; Chen, Nannan; Seiberg, Miri; Lin, Connie B

2004-06-01

Skin color results from the production and distribution of melanin in the epidermis. The protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2), expressed on keratinocytes but not on melanocytes, is involved in melanosome uptake via phagocytosis, and modulation of PAR-2 activation affects skin color. The pattern of melanosome distribution within the epidermis is skin color-dependent. In vitro, this distribution pattern is regulated by the ethnic origin of the keratinocytes, not the melanocytes. Therefore, we hypothesized that PAR-2 may play a role in the modulation of pigmentation in a skin type-dependent manner. We examined the expression of PAR-2 and its activator, trypsin, in human skins with different pigmentary levels. Here we show that PAR-2 and trypsin are expressed in higher levels, and are differentially localized in highly pigmented, relative to lightly pigmented skins. Moreover, highly pigmented skins exhibit an increase in PAR-2-specific protease cleavage ability. Microsphere phagocytosis was more efficient in keratinocytes from highly pigmented skins, and PAR-2 induced phagocytosis resulted in more efficient microsphere ingestion and more compacted microsphere organization in dark skin-derived keratinocytes. These results demonstrate that PAR-2 expression and activity correlate with skin color, suggesting the involvement of PAR-2 in ethnic skin color phenotypes.

Affibody Modified and Radiolabeled Gold-Iron Oxide Hetero-nanostructures for Tumor PET, Optical and MR Imaging

PubMed Central

Yang, Meng; Cheng, Kai; Qi, Shibo; Liu, Hongguang; Jiang, Yuxin; Jiang, Han; Li, Jinbo; Chen, Kai; Zhang, Huimao; Cheng, Zhen

2013-01-01

A highly monodispersed hetero-nanostructure with two different functional nanomaterials (gold (Au) and iron oxide (Fe3O4, IO)) within one structure was successfully developed as Affibody based trimodality nanoprobe (positron emission tomography, PET; optical imaging; and magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) for imaging of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) positive tumors. Unlike other regular nanostructures with a single component, the Au-IO hetero-nanostructures (Au-IONPs) with unique chemical and physical properties have capability to combine several imaging modalities together to provide complementary information. The IO component within hetero-nanostructures serve as a T2 reporter for MRI; and gold component serve as both optical and PET reporters. Moreover, such hetero-nanoprobes could provide a robust nano-platform for surface-specific modification with both targeting molecules (anti-EGFR Affibody protein) and PET imaging reporters (radiometal 64Cu chelators) in highly efficient and reliable manner. In vitro and in vivo study showed that the resultant nanoprobe provided high specificity, sensitivity, and excellent tumor contrast for both PET and MRI imaging in the human EGFR-expressing cells and tumors. Our study data also highlighted the EGFR targeting efficiency of hetero-nanoparticles and the feasibility for their further theranostic applications. PMID:23343632

Going Digital

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Violino, Bob

2007-01-01

Looking to save money--and, in many cases, improve stakeholder communication--several community colleges now are producing a variety of formerly paper products electronically. Administrators say the practice is improving efficiencies, providing for the delivery of critical information in a timely manner, and creating more options for students and…

UTILITY EXPERIENCE WITH INNOVATIVE WATER MAIN REHAB TECHNIQUES

EPA Science Inventory

All utilities are motivated to renew their aging infrastructure in the most efficient manner with respect to cost and minimal disruption to the community. American Water was given an opportunity to participate in an EPA funded project to demonstrate innovative water (and wastewa...

Integrated transportation and land use models : systems approaches and applications for modeling transport alternatives.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-20

Ever since World War II, decision makers concerned with transportation and the transportation infrastructure have strived to transport and deliver goods and services to consumers in the most efficient manner possible for economic well-being. Only rec...

Implementation of Systematic Review Tools in IRIS

EPA Science Inventory

Currently, the number of chemicals present in the environment exceeds the ability of public health scientists to efficiently screen the available data in order to produce well-informed human health risk assessments in a timely manner. For this reason, the US EPA’s Integrate...

Analysis of Driver Behavior and Operations at Intersection Short Lanes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-01

With the ever-increasing demand to add roadway capacity in a safe and efficient manner, the application of auxiliary through lanes (ATLs) at intersections has increased in recent years. ATL intersections exist when there is an added through lane intr...

Assessment of design parameters and construction requirements for full depth reclamation projects with cement.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-02-01

The ability to efficiently rehabilitate and maintain the State of Vermonts Highway infrastructure in a : cost-effective manner is a daunting task. Historically, pavement overlay treatments were specified : because it was a rapid low cost solution ...

Means of increasing efficiency of CPC solar energy collector

DOEpatents

Chao, B.T.; Rabl, A.

1975-06-27

A device is provided for improving the thermal efficiency of a cylindrical radiant energy collector. A channel is placed next to and in close proximity to the nonreflective side of an energy reflective wall of a cylindrical collector. A coolant is piped through the channel and removes a portion of the nonreflective energy incident on the wall which is absorbed by the wall. The energy transferred to the coolant may be utilized in a useful manner.

Means of increasing efficiency of CPC solar energy collector

DOEpatents

Chao, Bei Tse; Rabl, Ari

1977-02-15

A device is provided for improving the thermal efficiency of a cylindrical radiant energy collector. A channel is placed next to and in close proximity to the nonreflective side of an energy reflective wall of a cylindrical collector. A coolant is piped through the channel and removes a portion of the nonreflective energy incident on the wall which is absorbed by the wall. The energy transferred to the coolant may be utilized in a useful manner.

Transferring mixtures of chemicals from sediment to a bioassay using silicone-based passive sampling and dosing.

PubMed

Mustajärvi, Lukas; Eriksson-Wiklund, Ann-Kristin; Gorokhova, Elena; Jahnke, Annika; Sobek, Anna

2017-11-15

Environmental mixtures of chemicals consist of a countless number of compounds with unknown identity and quantity. Yet, chemical regulation is mainly built around the assessment of single chemicals. Existing frameworks for assessing the toxicity of mixtures require that both the chemical composition and quantity are known. Quantitative analyses of the chemical composition of environmental mixtures are however extremely challenging and resource-demanding. Bioassays may therefore serve as a useful approach for investigating the combined toxicity of environmental mixtures of chemicals in a cost-efficient and holistic manner. In this study, an unknown environmental mixture of bioavailable semi-hydrophobic to hydrophobic chemicals was sampled from a contaminated sediment in a coastal Baltic Sea area using silicone polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as an equilibrium passive sampler. The chemical mixture was transferred to a PDMS-based passive dosing system, and its applicability was demonstrated using green algae Tetraselmis suecica in a cell viability assay. The proportion of dead cells increased significantly with increasing exposure level and in a dose-response manner. At an ambient concentration, the proportion of dead cells in the population was nearly doubled compared to the control; however, the difference was non-significant due to high inter-replicate variability and a low number of replicates. The validation of the test system regarding equilibrium sampling, loading efficiency into the passive dosing polymer, stability of the mixture composition, and low algal mortality in control treatments demonstrates that combining equilibrium passive sampling and passive dosing is a promising tool for investigating the toxicity of bioavailable semi-hydrophobic and hydrophobic chemicals in complex environmental mixtures.

Military Applicability of Interval Training for Health and Performance.

PubMed

Gibala, Martin J; Gagnon, Patrick J; Nindl, Bradley C

2015-11-01

Militaries from around the globe have predominantly used endurance training as their primary mode of aerobic physical conditioning, with historical emphasis placed on the long distance run. In contrast to this traditional exercise approach to training, interval training is characterized by brief, intermittent bouts of intense exercise, separated by periods of lower intensity exercise or rest for recovery. Although hardly a novel concept, research over the past decade has shed new light on the potency of interval training to elicit physiological adaptations in a time-efficient manner. This work has largely focused on the benefits of low-volume interval training, which involves a relatively small total amount of exercise, as compared with the traditional high-volume approach to training historically favored by militaries. Studies that have directly compared interval and moderate-intensity continuous training have shown similar improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and the capacity for aerobic energy metabolism, despite large differences in total exercise and training time commitment. Interval training can also be applied in a calisthenics manner to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and strength, and this approach could easily be incorporated into a military conditioning environment. Although interval training can elicit physiological changes in men and women, the potential for sex-specific adaptations in the adaptive response to interval training warrants further investigation. Additional work is needed to clarify adaptations occurring over the longer term; however, interval training deserves consideration from a military applicability standpoint as a time-efficient training strategy to enhance soldier health and performance. There is value for military leaders in identifying strategies that reduce the time required for exercise, but nonetheless provide an effective training stimulus.

Effect of radiation processing on antinutrients, in-vitro protein digestibility and protein efficiency ratio bioassay of legume seeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Niely, Hania F. G.

2007-06-01

The effects of irradiation (dose levels of 5, 7.5 and 10 kGy) on nutritive characteristics of peas ( Pisum satinum L), cowpeas ( Vigna unguiculata L.Walp), lentils ( Lens culinaris Med), kidneybeans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L), and chickpeas ( Cicer arietinum L) were examined. Analyses included proximate composition, levels of anti-nutrients (phytic acid, tannins), available lysine (AL), in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) in the growing rat. The results showed that moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, and ash were unchanged by the irradiation. Radiation processing significantly ( p<0.05) reduced the levels of phytic acid (PA), tannins (TN), and AL. IVPD and PER were significantly enhanced in a dose-dependent manner, relative to unirradiated control samples, for all legumes. The data sets for each legume exhibited high correlation coefficients between radiation dose and PA, TN, AL, IVPD, and PER. These results demonstrate the benefits of irradiation on the nutritional properties of these legumes.

Boundary-Layer Receptivity and Integrated Transition Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Chau-Lyan; Choudhari, Meelan

2005-01-01

The adjoint parabold stability equations (PSE) formulation is used to calculate the boundary layer receptivity to localized surface roughness and suction for compressible boundary layers. Receptivity efficiency functions predicted by the adjoint PSE approach agree well with results based on other nonparallel methods including linearized Navier-Stokes equations for both Tollmien-Schlichting waves and crossflow instability in swept wing boundary layers. The receptivity efficiency function can be regarded as the Green's function to the disturbance amplitude evolution in a nonparallel (growing) boundary layer. Given the Fourier transformed geometry factor distribution along the chordwise direction, the linear disturbance amplitude evolution for a finite size, distributed nonuniformity can be computed by evaluating the integral effects of both disturbance generation and linear amplification. The synergistic approach via the linear adjoint PSE for receptivity and nonlinear PSE for disturbance evolution downstream of the leading edge forms the basis for an integrated transition prediction tool. Eventually, such physics-based, high fidelity prediction methods could simulate the transition process from the disturbance generation through the nonlinear breakdown in a holistic manner.

A Formal Messaging Notation for Alaskan Aviation Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Joseph L.

2015-01-01

Data exchange is an increasingly important aspect of the National Airspace System. While many data communication channels have become more capable of sending and receiving data at higher throughput rates, there is still a need to use communication channels efficiently with limited throughput. The limitation can be based on technological issues, financial considerations, or both. This paper provides a complete description of several important aviation weather data in Abstract Syntax Notation format. By doing so, data providers can take advantage of Abstract Syntax Notation's ability to encode data in a highly compressed format. When data such as pilot weather reports, surface weather observations, and various weather predictions are compressed in such a manner, it allows for the efficient use of throughput-limited communication channels. This paper provides details on the Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) implementation for Alaskan aviation data, and demonstrates its use on real-world aviation weather data samples as Alaska has sparse terrestrial data infrastructure and data are often sent via relatively costly satellite channels.

Time-Varying, Multi-Scale Adaptive System Reliability Analysis of Lifeline Infrastructure Networks

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

Gearhart, Jared Lee; Kurtz, Nolan Scot

2014-09-01

The majority of current societal and economic needs world-wide are met by the existing networked, civil infrastructure. Because the cost of managing such infrastructure is high and increases with time, risk-informed decision making is essential for those with management responsibilities for these systems. To address such concerns, a methodology that accounts for new information, deterioration, component models, component importance, group importance, network reliability, hierarchical structure organization, and efficiency concerns has been developed. This methodology analyzes the use of new information through the lens of adaptive Importance Sampling for structural reliability problems. Deterioration, multi-scale bridge models, and time-variant component importance aremore » investigated for a specific network. Furthermore, both bridge and pipeline networks are studied for group and component importance, as well as for hierarchical structures in the context of specific networks. Efficiency is the primary driver throughout this study. With this risk-informed approach, those responsible for management can address deteriorating infrastructure networks in an organized manner.« less

Lipoprotein-biomimetic nanostructure enables efficient targeting delivery of siRNA to Ras-activated glioblastoma cells via macropinocytosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jia-Lin; Jiang, Gan; Song, Qing-Xiang; Gu, Xiao; Hu, Meng; Wang, Xiao-Lin; Song, Hua-Hua; Chen, Le-Pei; Lin, Ying-Ying; Jiang, Di; Chen, Jun; Feng, Jun-Feng; Qiu, Yong-Ming; Jiang, Ji-Yao; Jiang, Xin-Guo; Chen, Hong-Zhuan; Gao, Xiao-Ling

2017-05-01

Hyperactivated Ras regulates many oncogenic pathways in several malignant human cancers including glioblastoma and it is an attractive target for cancer therapies. Ras activation in cancer cells drives protein internalization via macropinocytosis as a key nutrient-gaining process. By utilizing this unique endocytosis pathway, here we create a biologically inspired nanostructure that can induce cancer cells to `drink drugs' for targeting activating transcription factor-5 (ATF5), an overexpressed anti-apoptotic transcription factor in glioblastoma. Apolipoprotein E3-reconstituted high-density lipoprotein is used to encapsulate the siRNA-loaded calcium phosphate core and facilitate it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, thus targeting the glioblastoma cells in a macropinocytosis-dependent manner. The nanostructure carrying ATF5 siRNA exerts remarkable RNA-interfering efficiency, increases glioblastoma cell apoptosis and inhibits tumour cell growth both in vitro and in xenograft tumour models. This strategy of targeting the macropinocytosis caused by Ras activation provides a nanoparticle-based approach for precision therapy in glioblastoma and other Ras-activated cancers.

Extending the Multi-level Method for the Simulation of Stochastic Biological Systems.

PubMed

Lester, Christopher; Baker, Ruth E; Giles, Michael B; Yates, Christian A

2016-08-01

The multi-level method for discrete-state systems, first introduced by Anderson and Higham (SIAM Multiscale Model Simul 10(1):146-179, 2012), is a highly efficient simulation technique that can be used to elucidate statistical characteristics of biochemical reaction networks. A single point estimator is produced in a cost-effective manner by combining a number of estimators of differing accuracy in a telescoping sum, and, as such, the method has the potential to revolutionise the field of stochastic simulation. In this paper, we present several refinements of the multi-level method which render it easier to understand and implement, and also more efficient. Given the substantial and complex nature of the multi-level method, the first part of this work reviews existing literature, with the aim of providing a practical guide to the use of the multi-level method. The second part provides the means for a deft implementation of the technique and concludes with a discussion of a number of open problems.

Simple and Efficient Generation of Aryl Radicals from Aryl Triflates: Synthesis of Aryl Boronates and Aryl Iodides at Room Temperature.

PubMed

Liu, Wenbo; Yang, Xiaobo; Gao, Yang; Li, Chao-Jun

2017-06-28

Despite the wide use of aryl radicals in organic synthesis, current methods to prepare them from aryl halides, carboxylic acids, boronic acids, and diazonium salts suffer from limitations. Aryl triflates, easily obtained from phenols, are promising aryl radical progenitors but remain elusive in this regard. Inspired by the single electron transfer process for aryl halides to access aryl radicals, we developed a simple and efficient protocol to convert aryl triflates to aryl radicals. Our success lies in exploiting sodium iodide as the soft electron donor assisted by light. This strategy enables the scalable synthesis of two types of important organic molecules, i.e., aryl boronates and aryl iodides, in good to high yields, with broad functional group compatibility in a transition-metal-free manner at room temperature. This protocol is anticipated to find potential applications in other aryl-radical-involved reactions by using aryl triflates as aryl radical precursors.

Thermo-economic analysis of a trigeneration HCPVT power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selviaridis, Angelos; Burg, Brian R.; Wallerand, Anna Sophia; Maréchal, François; Michel, Bruno

2015-09-01

The increasing need for electricity and heat in a growing global economy must be combined with CO2 emissions reduction, in order to limit the human influence on the environment. This calls for energy-efficient and cost-competitive renewable energy systems that are able to satisfy both pressing needs. A High-Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system is a cogeneration concept that shows promising potential in delivering electricity and heat in an efficient and cost-competitive manner. This study investigates the transient behavior of the HCPVT system and presents a thermo-economic analysis of a MW-scale trigeneration (electricity, heating and cooling) power plant. Transient simulations show a fast dynamic response of the system which results in short heat-up intervals, maximizing heat recuperation throughout the day. Despite suboptimal coupling between demand and supply, partial heat utilization throughout the year and low COP of commercially available devices for the conversion of heat into cooling, the thermo-economic analysis shows promising economic behavior, with a levelized cost of electricity close to current retail prices.

The combined use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies for the 3D illustration of the progress of works in infrastructure construction projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vacanas, Yiannis; Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Agapiou, Athos; Hadjimitsis, Diofantos

2016-08-01

Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology is already part of the construction industry and is considered by professionals as a very useful tool for all phases of a construction project. BIM technology, with the particularly useful 3D illustrations which it provides, can be used to illustrate and monitor the progress of works effectively through the entire lifetime of the project. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have undergone significant advances in equipment capabilities and now have the capacity to acquire high resolution imagery from different angles in a cost effective and efficient manner. By using photogrammetry, characteristics such as distances, areas, volumes, elevations, object sizes, and object shape can be determined within overlapping areas. This paper explores the combined use of BIM and UAV technologies in order to achieve efficient and accurate as-built data collection and 3D illustrations of the works progress during an infrastructure construction project.

User Selection Criteria of Airspace Designs in Flexible Airspace Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Hwasoo E.; Lee, Paul U.; Jung, Jaewoo; Lai, Chok Fung

2011-01-01

A method for identifying global aerodynamic models from flight data in an efficient manner is explained and demonstrated. A novel experiment design technique was used to obtain dynamic flight data over a range of flight conditions with a single flight maneuver. Multivariate polynomials and polynomial splines were used with orthogonalization techniques and statistical modeling metrics to synthesize global nonlinear aerodynamic models directly and completely from flight data alone. Simulation data and flight data from a subscale twin-engine jet transport aircraft were used to demonstrate the techniques. Results showed that global multivariate nonlinear aerodynamic dependencies could be accurately identified using flight data from a single maneuver. Flight-derived global aerodynamic model structures, model parameter estimates, and associated uncertainties were provided for all six nondimensional force and moment coefficients for the test aircraft. These models were combined with a propulsion model identified from engine ground test data to produce a high-fidelity nonlinear flight simulation very efficiently. Prediction testing using a multi-axis maneuver showed that the identified global model accurately predicted aircraft responses.

Semi-contact-writing of polymer molds for prototyping PDMS chips with low surface roughness, sharp edges and locally varying channel heights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gutzweiler, Ludwig; Stumpf, Fabian; Tanguy, Laurent; Roth, Guenter; Koltay, Peter; Zengerle, Roland; Riegger, Lutz

2016-04-01

Microfluidic systems fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) enable a broad variety of applications and are widespread in the field of Lab-on-a-Chip. Here we demonstrate semi-contact-writing, a novel method for fabrication of polymer based molds for casting microfluidic PDMS chips in a highly flexible, time and cost-efficient manner. The method is related to direct-writing of an aqueous polymer solution on a planar glass substrate and substitutes conventional, time- and cost-consuming UV-lithography. This technique facilitates on-demand prototyping in a low-cost manner and is therefore ideally suited for rapid chip layout iterations. No cleanroom facilities and less expertise are required. Fabrication time from scratch to ready-to-use PDMS-chip is less than 5 h. This polymer writing method enables structure widths down to 140 μm and controllable structure heights ranging from 5.5 μm for writing single layers up to 98 μm by stacking. As a unique property, freely selectable height variations across a substrate can be achieved by application of local stacking. Furthermore, the molds exhibit low surface roughness (R a   =  24 nm, R RMS  =  28 nm) and high fidelity edge sharpness. We validated the method by fabrication of molds to cast PDMS chips for droplet based flow-through PCR with single-cell sensitivity.

Energy-efficient neural information processing in individual neurons and neuronal networks.

PubMed

Yu, Lianchun; Yu, Yuguo

2017-11-01

Brains are composed of networks of an enormous number of neurons interconnected with synapses. Neural information is carried by the electrical signals within neurons and the chemical signals among neurons. Generating these electrical and chemical signals is metabolically expensive. The fundamental issue raised here is whether brains have evolved efficient ways of developing an energy-efficient neural code from the molecular level to the circuit level. Here, we summarize the factors and biophysical mechanisms that could contribute to the energy-efficient neural code for processing input signals. The factors range from ion channel kinetics, body temperature, axonal propagation of action potentials, low-probability release of synaptic neurotransmitters, optimal input and noise, the size of neurons and neuronal clusters, excitation/inhibition balance, coding strategy, cortical wiring, and the organization of functional connectivity. Both experimental and computational evidence suggests that neural systems may use these factors to maximize the efficiency of energy consumption in processing neural signals. Studies indicate that efficient energy utilization may be universal in neuronal systems as an evolutionary consequence of the pressure of limited energy. As a result, neuronal connections may be wired in a highly economical manner to lower energy costs and space. Individual neurons within a network may encode independent stimulus components to allow a minimal number of neurons to represent whole stimulus characteristics efficiently. This basic principle may fundamentally change our view of how billions of neurons organize themselves into complex circuits to operate and generate the most powerful intelligent cognition in nature. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Improving agricultural commodity supply-chain to promote economic activities in rural area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padjung, R.

2018-05-01

Long supply chain of agricultural commodities has become concern to governments particularly in large countries such as Indonesia as it causes high price disparity between farm-gate and retailer. Policies to overcome such problem are usually by shortening the chain, by which farmers sell the products directly to retailers. Using an action research in AEDEF (Aceh Economic Development Financing Facilities) Program, conducted in the province of Nangro Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Indonesia, the paper shows that shortening the commodity supply chain is not the best solution to such problem, as it causes loss of jobs in the villages. High price disparity between farm-gate and retailer is not necessary brought about by long supply-chain but by the efficiency of the chain instead. Efficiency of the chain can be improved by creating enabling business environment such that every actors and players work in a fair manner. This can be achieved by transparency in price and quality grade. With development achieved in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), having a good and reliable flow of such information is not difficult. In addition to information flow, the availability and quality of infrastructure to support flow of goods from farm-gate to end-user is of reasonably important.

Knowledge Based Cloud FE Simulation of Sheet Metal Forming Processes.

PubMed

Zhou, Du; Yuan, Xi; Gao, Haoxiang; Wang, Ailing; Liu, Jun; El Fakir, Omer; Politis, Denis J; Wang, Liliang; Lin, Jianguo

2016-12-13

The use of Finite Element (FE) simulation software to adequately predict the outcome of sheet metal forming processes is crucial to enhancing the efficiency and lowering the development time of such processes, whilst reducing costs involved in trial-and-error prototyping. Recent focus on the substitution of steel components with aluminum alloy alternatives in the automotive and aerospace sectors has increased the need to simulate the forming behavior of such alloys for ever more complex component geometries. However these alloys, and in particular their high strength variants, exhibit limited formability at room temperature, and high temperature manufacturing technologies have been developed to form them. Consequently, advanced constitutive models are required to reflect the associated temperature and strain rate effects. Simulating such behavior is computationally very expensive using conventional FE simulation techniques. This paper presents a novel Knowledge Based Cloud FE (KBC-FE) simulation technique that combines advanced material and friction models with conventional FE simulations in an efficient manner thus enhancing the capability of commercial simulation software packages. The application of these methods is demonstrated through two example case studies, namely: the prediction of a material's forming limit under hot stamping conditions, and the tool life prediction under multi-cycle loading conditions.

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

Guan, Jiwen; Song, Yang, E-mail: yang.song@uwo.ca; Department of Chemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7

The polymerization process of condensed styrene to produce polystyrene as an industrially important polymeric material was investigated using a novel approach by combining external compression with ultraviolet radiation. The reaction evolution was monitored as a function of time and the reaction products were characterized by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. By optimizing the loading pressures, we observed highly efficient and selective production of polystyrene of different tacticities. Specifically, at relatively low loading pressures, infrared spectra suggest that styrene monomers transform to amorphous atactic polystyrene (APS) with minor crystalline isotactic polystyrene. In contrast, APS was found to be the solemore » product when polymerization occurs at relatively higher loading pressures. The time-dependent reaction profiles allow the examination of the polymerization kinetics by analyzing the rate constant and activation volume as a function of pressure. As a result, an optimized pressure condition, which allows a barrierless reaction to proceed, was identified and attributed to the very desirable reaction yield and kinetics. Finally, the photoinitiated reaction mechanism and the growth geometry of the polymer chains were investigated from the energy diagram of styrene and by the topology analysis of the crystal styrene. This study shows strong promise to produce functional polymeric materials in a highly efficient and controlled manner.« less

Knowledge Based Cloud FE Simulation of Sheet Metal Forming Processes

PubMed Central

Zhou, Du; Yuan, Xi; Gao, Haoxiang; Wang, Ailing; Liu, Jun; El Fakir, Omer; Politis, Denis J.; Wang, Liliang; Lin, Jianguo

2016-01-01

The use of Finite Element (FE) simulation software to adequately predict the outcome of sheet metal forming processes is crucial to enhancing the efficiency and lowering the development time of such processes, whilst reducing costs involved in trial-and-error prototyping. Recent focus on the substitution of steel components with aluminum alloy alternatives in the automotive and aerospace sectors has increased the need to simulate the forming behavior of such alloys for ever more complex component geometries. However these alloys, and in particular their high strength variants, exhibit limited formability at room temperature, and high temperature manufacturing technologies have been developed to form them. Consequently, advanced constitutive models are required to reflect the associated temperature and strain rate effects. Simulating such behavior is computationally very expensive using conventional FE simulation techniques. This paper presents a novel Knowledge Based Cloud FE (KBC-FE) simulation technique that combines advanced material and friction models with conventional FE simulations in an efficient manner thus enhancing the capability of commercial simulation software packages. The application of these methods is demonstrated through two example case studies, namely: the prediction of a material's forming limit under hot stamping conditions, and the tool life prediction under multi-cycle loading conditions. PMID:28060298

Propulsion Strategy Analysis of High-Speed Swordfish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hsing-Juin; Jong, Yow-Jeng; Chang, Li-Min; Wu, Wen-Lin

Fish have appeared since Precambrian more than 500 million years ago. Yet, there are still much untamed areas for fish propulsion research. The swordfish has evolved a light thin/high crescent tail fin for pushing a large amount of water backward with a small velocity difference. Together with a streamlined forward-enlarged thin/high body and forward-biased dorsal fin enclosing sizable muscles as the power source, the swordfish can thus achieve unimaginably high propulsion efficiency and an awesome maximum speed of 130 km/h as the speed champion at sea. This paper presents the innovative concepts of “kidnapped airfoils” and “circulating horsepower” using a vivid neat-digit model to illustrate the swordfish’s superior swimming strategy. The body and tail work like two nimble deformable airfoils tightly linked to use their lift forces in a mutually beneficial manner. Moreover, they use sensitive rostrum/lateral-line sensors to detect upcoming/ambient water pressure and attain the best attack angle to capture the body lift power aided by the forward-biased dorsal fin to compensate for most of the water resistance power. This strategy can thus enhance the propulsion efficiency greatly to easily exceed an astonishing 500%. Meanwhile, this amazing synergy of force/beauty also solves the perplexity of dolphin’s Gray paradox lasting for more than 70 years and gives revelations for panoramic fascinating future studies.

Simulated learning environment experience in nursing students for paediatric practice.

PubMed

Mendoza-Maldonado, Yessy; Barría-Pailaquilén, René Mauricio

The training of health professionals requires the acquisition of clinical skills in a safe and efficient manner, which is facilitated by a simulated learning environment (SLE). It is also an efficient alternative when there are limitations for clinical practice in certain areas. This paper shows the work undertaken in a Chilean university in implementing paediatric practice using SLE. Over eight days, the care experience of a hospitalized infant was studied applying the nursing process. The participation of a paediatrician, resident physician, nursing technician, and simulated user was included in addition to the use of a simulation mannequin and equipment. Simulation of care was integral and covered interaction with the child and family and was developed in groups of six students by a teacher. The different phases of the simulation methodology were developed from a pedagogical point of view. The possibility of implementing paediatric clinical practice in an efficient and safe way was confirmed. The experience in SLE was highly valued by the students, allowing them to develop different skills and abilities required for paediatric nursing through simulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Recent advances in heterocycle generation using the efficient Ugi multiple-component condensation reaction.

PubMed

Tempest, Paul A

2005-11-01

The current trend of rising research spending and falling numbers of novel chemical entities continues to drive efforts aimed at increasing efficiency in the drug discovery process. Strategic issues, such as assigning resources to poorly validated targets have been implicated in the declining productivity of recent years. Tactical approaches employed to improve this situation include attempts to speed the discovery process toward decision points in a timely manner. Accelerating the optimization of high-throughput screening hits is a goal in streamlining the discovery process, and the use of multiple-component condensation (MCC) reactions have proved useful toward this end. MCC reactions are powerful and efficient tools for the generation of diverse compound sets. Collections of compounds can be synthesized with all of the required diversity elements included in a single synthetic step. One of the most widely investigated MCC reactions is the Ugi four-component condensation. This review highlights disclosures of the Ugi reaction published over the past two years (2003 to 2005) in three areas: (i) Ugi reaction in conjunction with post-condensation cyclization; (ii) bifunctional condensations leading to heterocyclic cores; and (iii) general findings relating to linear products or interesting improvements in the basic Ugi reaction.

Tape reading fixture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1969-01-01

Commercially available roller type desk pad provides an efficient and orderly manner of handling rolled paper tapes for proofreading. The fixture, which is modified to accept Flex-O-Writer or similar tapes and roll them in either direction, reduces the chance of damaging or soiling the tapes through repeated handling.

Analysis of Algorithms: Coping with Hard Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolata, Gina Bari

1974-01-01

Although today's computers can perform as many as one million operations per second, there are many problems that are still too large to be solved in a straightforward manner. Recent work indicates that many approximate solutions are useful and more efficient than exact solutions. (Author/RH)

Creative Classroom Assignment Through Database Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shah, Vivek; Bryant, Milton

1987-01-01

The Faculty Scheduling System (FSS), a database management system designed to give administrators the ability to schedule faculty in a fast and efficient manner is described. The FSS, developed using dBASE III, requires an IBM compatible microcomputer with a minimum of 256K memory. (MLW)

Progress of reduction of graphene oxide by ascorbic acid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Silva, K. Kanishka H.; Huang, Hsin-Hui; Yoshimura, Masamichi

2018-07-01

Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) are in greater demand in many research fields. As a result, the synthesis of these materials on a large scale in a costeffective manner is more concerned for numerous applications. In the present work, GO was synthesized by oxidizing natural graphite and reduced by ascorbic acid (AA), which is a green reductant. The reduced products obtained at different time periods were in detail characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that the oxidation of graphite has given highly oxidized GO with a 9.30 Å interlayer space and about 33% of oxygen atomic percentage. Until 50 min of the reduction, both GO and RGO coexist. The reduction rate is fast within the first 30 min. In addition, the suitability of natural graphite over synthetic graphite for the synthesis of GO is shown. The findings of this work pave the way to select GO and RGO for applications of interest in a cheap, green and efficient manner.

Chemoselective Aliphatic C–H Bond Oxidation Enabled by Polarity Reversal

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Methods for selective oxidation of aliphatic C–H bonds are called on to revolutionize organic synthesis by providing novel and more efficient paths. Realization of this goal requires the discovery of mechanisms that can alter in a predictable manner the innate reactivity of these bonds. Ideally, these mechanisms need to make oxidation of aliphatic C–H bonds, which are recognized as relatively inert, compatible with the presence of electron rich functional groups that are highly susceptible to oxidation. Furthermore, predictable modification of the relative reactivity of different C–H bonds within a molecule would enable rapid diversification of the resulting oxidation products. Herein we show that by engaging in hydrogen bonding, fluorinated alcohols exert a polarity reversal on electron rich functional groups, directing iron and manganese catalyzed oxidation toward a priori stronger and unactivated C–H bonds. As a result, selective hydroxylation of methylenic sites in hydrocarbons and remote aliphatic C–H oxidation of otherwise sensitive alcohol, ether, amide, and amine substrates is achieved employing aqueous hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. Oxidations occur in a predictable manner, with outstanding levels of product chemoselectivity, preserving the first-formed hydroxylation product, thus representing an extremely valuable tool for synthetic planning and development. PMID:29296677

Chemoselective Aliphatic C-H Bond Oxidation Enabled by Polarity Reversal.

PubMed

Dantignana, Valeria; Milan, Michela; Cussó, Olaf; Company, Anna; Bietti, Massimo; Costas, Miquel

2017-12-27

Methods for selective oxidation of aliphatic C-H bonds are called on to revolutionize organic synthesis by providing novel and more efficient paths. Realization of this goal requires the discovery of mechanisms that can alter in a predictable manner the innate reactivity of these bonds. Ideally, these mechanisms need to make oxidation of aliphatic C-H bonds, which are recognized as relatively inert, compatible with the presence of electron rich functional groups that are highly susceptible to oxidation. Furthermore, predictable modification of the relative reactivity of different C-H bonds within a molecule would enable rapid diversification of the resulting oxidation products. Herein we show that by engaging in hydrogen bonding, fluorinated alcohols exert a polarity reversal on electron rich functional groups, directing iron and manganese catalyzed oxidation toward a priori stronger and unactivated C-H bonds. As a result, selective hydroxylation of methylenic sites in hydrocarbons and remote aliphatic C-H oxidation of otherwise sensitive alcohol, ether, amide, and amine substrates is achieved employing aqueous hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. Oxidations occur in a predictable manner, with outstanding levels of product chemoselectivity, preserving the first-formed hydroxylation product, thus representing an extremely valuable tool for synthetic planning and development.

Achromatic phase-matching second harmonic generation for a tunable laser

DOEpatents

Jacobson, A.G.; Bisson, S.; Trebino, R.

1998-01-20

An optical system uses a nonlinear optical medium to alter the frequency of a relatively narrow band light source tunable over a plurality of different frequencies using an optical system for passively directing light to the nonlinear medium at a correct phase matching angle. In this manner, the light from the tunable light source can be efficiently frequency-doubled or frequency-tripled without the need of moving parts. An all prism design provides a system of optimal efficiency. 6 figs.

Achromatic phase-matching second harmonic generation for a tunable laser

DOEpatents

Jacobson, Alexander Gerson; Bisson, Scott; Trebino, Rick

1998-01-01

An optical system uses a nonlinear optical medium to alter the frequency of a relatively narrow band light source tunable over a plurality of different frequencies using an optical system for passively directing light to the nonlinear medium at a correct phase matching angle. In this manner, the light from the tunable light source can be efficiently frequency-doubled or frequency-tripled without the need of moving parts. An all prism design provides a system of optimal efficiency.

Copper(II)-catalyzed oxidative [3+2] cycloaddition reactions of secondary amines with α-diazo compounds: a facile and efficient synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles.

PubMed

Li, Yi-Jin; Li, Xue; Zhang, Shao-Xiao; Zhao, Yu-Long; Liu, Qun

2015-07-25

A novel copper-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition reaction of secondary amines with α-diazo compounds has been developed via a cross-dehydrogenative coupling process. The reaction involves a sequential aerobic oxidation/[3+2] cycloaddition/oxidative aromatization procedure and provides an efficient method for the construction of 1,2,3-triazoles in a single step in an atom-economic manner from readily available starting materials under very mild conditions.

The third helix of the murine Hoxc8 homeodomain facilitates protein transduction in mammalian cells

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

Kong, Kyoung-Ah; Gadi, Jogeswar; Park, Hyoung Woo

2008-12-05

Previously, we have demonstrated that purified Hoxc8 homeoprotein has the ability to penetrate the cellular membrane and can be transduced efficiently into COS-7 cells. Moreover, the Hoxc8 protein is able to form a complex with DNA molecules in vitro and helps the DNA be delivered intracellularly, serving as a gene delivery vehicle. Here, we further analyzed the membrane transduction activity of Hoxc8 protein and provide the evidence that the 16 amino acid (a.a.191-206, 2.23 kDa) third helix of murine Hoxc8 protein is an efficient protein transduction domain (PTD). When the 16 amino acid peptide was fused at the carboxyl terminalmore » of enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP), the fusion proteins were transduced efficiently into the primary pig fetal fibroblast cells. The transduction efficiency increased in a concentration-dependent manner up to 1 {mu}M, and appeared to plateau above a concentration of 1 {mu}M. When tandem multimers of PTD, EGFP-PTD(2), EGFP-PTD(3), EGFP-PTD(4), and EGFP-PTD(5), were analyzed at 500 nM of concentration, the penetrating efficiency increased in a dose-dependent manner. As the number of PTDs increased, the EGFP signal also increased, although the signal maintained plateau after EGFP-PTD(3). These results indicate that the 16 amino acid third helix is the key element responsible for the membrane transduction activity of Hoxc8 proteins, and further suggest that the small peptide could serve as a therapeutic delivery vehicle for large cargo proteins.« less

pKAMA-ITACHI Vectors for Highly Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Knockout in Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Tsutsui, Hiroki; Higashiyama, Tetsuya

2017-01-01

The CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated 9) system is widely used as a tool for genome engineering in various organisms. A complex consisting of Cas9 and single guide RNA (sgRNA) induces a DNA double-strand break in a sequence-specific manner, resulting in knockout. Some binary vectors for CRISPR/Cas9 in plants have been reported, but there is a problem with low efficiency. Here, we present a newly developed, highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9 vector for Arabidopsis thaliana, pKAMA-ITACHI Red (pKIR), harboring the RIBOSOMAL PROTEIN S5 A (RPS5A) promoter to drive Cas9. The RPS5A promoter maintains high constitutive expression at all developmental stages starting from the egg cell and including meristematic cells. Even in the T1 generation, pKIR induced null phenotypes in some genes: PHYTOENE DESATURASE 3 (PDS3), AGAMOUS (AG) and DUO POLLEN 1 (DUO1). Mutations induced by pKIR were carried in the germ cell line of the T1 generation. Surprisingly, in some lines, 100% of the T2 plants had the adh1 (ALCOHOL DEHYDROGENASE 1) null phenotype, indicating that pKIR strongly induced heritable mutations. Cas9-free T2 mutant plants were obtained by removing T2 seeds expressing a fluorescent marker in pKIR. Our results suggest that the pKIR system is a powerful molecular tool for genome engineering in Arabidopsis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists.

Efficient photonic reformatting of celestial light for diffraction-limited spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacLachlan, D. G.; Harris, R. J.; Gris-Sánchez, I.; Morris, T. J.; Choudhury, D.; Gendron, E.; Basden, A. G.; Spaleniak, I.; Arriola, A.; Birks, T. A.; Allington-Smith, J. R.; Thomson, R. R.

2017-02-01

The spectral resolution of a dispersive astronomical spectrograph is limited by the trade-off between throughput and the width of the entrance slit. Photonic guided wave transitions have been proposed as a route to bypass this trade-off, by enabling the efficient reformatting of incoherent seeing-limited light collected by the telescope into a linear array of single modes: a pseudo-slit which is highly multimode in one axis but diffraction-limited in the dispersion axis of the spectrograph. It is anticipated that the size of a single-object spectrograph fed with light in this manner would be essentially independent of the telescope aperture size. A further anticipated benefit is that such spectrographs would be free of `modal noise', a phenomenon that occurs in high-resolution multimode fibre-fed spectrographs due to the coherent nature of the telescope point spread function (PSF). We seek to address these aspects by integrating a multicore fibre photonic lantern with an ultrafast laser inscribed three-dimensional waveguide interconnect to spatially reformat the modes within the PSF into a diffraction-limited pseudo-slit. Using the CANARY adaptive optics (AO) demonstrator on the William Herschel Telescope, and 1530 ± 80 nm stellar light, the device exhibits a transmission of 47-53 per cent depending upon the mode of AO correction applied. We also show the advantage of using AO to couple light into such a device by sampling only the core of the CANARY PSF. This result underscores the possibility that a fully optimized guided-wave device can be used with AO to provide efficient spectroscopy at high spectral resolution.

A POD reduced order model for resolving angular direction in neutron/photon transport problems

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

Buchan, A.G., E-mail: andrew.buchan@imperial.ac.uk; Calloo, A.A.; Goffin, M.G.

2015-09-01

This article presents the first Reduced Order Model (ROM) that efficiently resolves the angular dimension of the time independent, mono-energetic Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE). It is based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and uses the method of snapshots to form optimal basis functions for resolving the direction of particle travel in neutron/photon transport problems. A unique element of this work is that the snapshots are formed from the vector of angular coefficients relating to a high resolution expansion of the BTE's angular dimension. In addition, the individual snapshots are not recorded through time, as in standard POD, but instead theymore » are recorded through space. In essence this work swaps the roles of the dimensions space and time in standard POD methods, with angle and space respectively. It is shown here how the POD model can be formed from the POD basis functions in a highly efficient manner. The model is then applied to two radiation problems; one involving the transport of radiation through a shield and the other through an infinite array of pins. Both problems are selected for their complex angular flux solutions in order to provide an appropriate demonstration of the model's capabilities. It is shown that the POD model can resolve these fluxes efficiently and accurately. In comparison to high resolution models this POD model can reduce the size of a problem by up to two orders of magnitude without compromising accuracy. Solving times are also reduced by similar factors.« less

NEW METHODS TO SCREEN FOR DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY.

EPA Science Inventory

The development of alternative methods for toxicity testing is driven by the need for scientifically valid data (i.e. predictive of a toxic effect) that can be obtained in a rapid and cost-efficient manner. These predictions will enable decisions to be made as to whether further ...

UAS remote sensing for precision agriculture: An independent assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) are recognized as potentially important remote-sensing platforms for precision agriculture. However, research is required to determine which sensors and data processing methods are required to use sUAS in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Oregon State U...

Take charge of your e-mail!

PubMed

Mehta, Neil B; Atreja, Ashish; Jain, Anil

2008-08-01

Although e-mail is supposed to help save time and increase efficiency, for many it has become a burden. You can fight e-mail overload by taking steps to decrease the amount of unwanted e-mail you receive and by managing your in-box in an organized manner.

Establishment of a building audit procedure and analysis for the Kansas Department of Transportation phase 2A : buildings.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-11-01

Over the past few years, state governments and entities have become concerned with the energy : consumption and efficiency of their facilities. An effective manner to identify potential to reduce energy and : water consumption and increase building e...

Neural Bases of Automaticity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Servant, Mathieu; Cassey, Peter; Woodman, Geoffrey F.; Logan, Gordon D.

2018-01-01

Automaticity allows us to perform tasks in a fast, efficient, and effortless manner after sufficient practice. Theories of automaticity propose that across practice processing transitions from being controlled by working memory to being controlled by long-term memory retrieval. Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies have sought to test this…

78 FR 5780 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection, Comment Request: Generic Clearance...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-28

... could change significantly based on the collection method ultimately used in the research. Estimated..., Comment Request: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery... qualitative consumer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner to facilitate service delivery...

Analytical Cost Metrics : Days of Future Past

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

Prajapati, Nirmal; Rajopadhye, Sanjay; Djidjev, Hristo Nikolov

As we move towards the exascale era, the new architectures must be capable of running the massive computational problems efficiently. Scientists and researchers are continuously investing in tuning the performance of extreme-scale computational problems. These problems arise in almost all areas of computing, ranging from big data analytics, artificial intelligence, search, machine learning, virtual/augmented reality, computer vision, image/signal processing to computational science and bioinformatics. With Moore’s law driving the evolution of hardware platforms towards exascale, the dominant performance metric (time efficiency) has now expanded to also incorporate power/energy efficiency. Therefore the major challenge that we face in computing systems researchmore » is: “how to solve massive-scale computational problems in the most time/power/energy efficient manner?”« less

Npom-Protected NONOate Enables Light-Triggered NO/cGMP Signalling in Primary Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells.

PubMed

Stroppel, Anna S; Paolillo, Michael; Ziegler, Thomas; Feil, Robert; Stafforst, Thorsten

2018-06-18

Diazeniumdiolates (NONOates) are a class of nitric-oxide-releasing substances widely used in studies of NO/cGMP signalling. Because spatiotemporal control is highly desirable for such purposes, we have synthesised a new Npom-caged pyrrolidine NONOate. A kinetic analysis together with a Griess assay showed the photodependent release of NO with high quantum yield (UV light). In primary vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), our compound was reliably able to induce fast increases in cGMP, as measured with a genetically encoded FRET-based cGMP sensor and further validated by the phosphorylation of the downstream target vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP). Thanks to their facile synthesis, good decaging kinetics and capability to activate cGMP signalling in a fast and efficient manner, Npom-protected NONOates allow for improved spatiotemporal control of NO/cGMP signalling. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Navier-Stokes Simulation of UH-60A Rotor/Wake Interaction Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chaderjian, Neal M.

2017-01-01

Time-dependent Navier-Stokes simulations have been carried out for a flexible UH-60A rotor in forward flight, where the rotor wake interacts with the rotor blades. These flow conditions involved blade vortex interaction and dynamic stall, two common conditions that occur as modern helicopter designs strive to achieve greater flight speeds and payload capacity. These numerical simulations utilized high-order spatial accuracy and delayed detached eddy simulation. Emphasis was placed on understanding how improved rotor wake resolution affects the prediction of the normal force, pitching moment, and chord force of the rotor. Adaptive mesh refinement was used to highly resolve the turbulent rotor wake in a computationally efficient manner. Moreover, blade vortex interaction was found to trigger dynamic stall. Time-dependent flow visualization was utilized to provide an improved understanding of the numerical and physical mechanisms involved with three-dimensional dynamic stall.

Anchoring of Cu(II) onto surface of porous metal-organic framework through post-synthesis modification for the synthesis of benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles

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

Kardanpour, Reihaneh; Tangestaninejad, Shahram, E-mail: stanges@sci.ui.ac.ir; Mirkhani, Valiollah, E-mail: mirkhani@sci.ui.ac.ir

2016-03-15

Efficient synthesis of various benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles under mild conditions catalyzed by Cu(II) anchored onto UiO-66–NH{sub 2} metal organic framework is reported. In this manner, first, the aminated UiO-66 was modified with thiophene-2-carbaldehyde and then the prepared Schiff base was reacted with CuCl{sub 2}. The prepared catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, UV–vis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N{sub 2} adsorption, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The UiO-66–NH{sub 2}–TC–Cu was applied as a highly efficient catalyst for synthesis of benzimidazole and benzothiazole derivatives by the reaction of aldehydes with 1,2-diaminobenzenemore » or 2-aminothiophenol. The Cu(II)-containing MOF was reused several times without any appreciable loss of its efficiency. - Graphical abstract: Efficient synthesis of benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles catalyzed by Cu(II) anchored onto UiO-66–NH{sub 2} metal organic framework is reported. - Highlights: • A copper Schiff base was immobilized on UiO-66 via postsynthetic modification. • The modified MOFs were fully characterized by a variety of methods. • The catalyst was used for the preparation of benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles. • In comparison of other catalysts, our catalyst was more efficient and forceful.« less

Efficient decision-making by volume-conserving physical object

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Song-Ju; Aono, Masashi; Nameda, Etsushi

2015-08-01

Decision-making is one of the most important intellectual abilities of not only humans but also other biological organisms, helping their survival. This ability, however, may not be limited to biological systems and may be exhibited by physical systems. Here we demonstrate that any physical object, as long as its volume is conserved when coupled with suitable operations, provides a sophisticated decision-making capability. We consider the multi-armed bandit problem (MBP), the problem of finding, as accurately and quickly as possible, the most profitable option from a set of options that gives stochastic rewards. Efficient MBP solvers are useful for many practical applications, because MBP abstracts a variety of decision-making problems in real-world situations in which an efficient trial-and-error is required. These decisions are made as dictated by a physical object, which is moved in a manner similar to the fluctuations of a rigid body in a tug-of-war (TOW) game. This method, called ‘TOW dynamics’, exhibits higher efficiency than conventional reinforcement learning algorithms. We show analytical calculations that validate statistical reasons for TOW dynamics to produce the high performance despite its simplicity. These results imply that various physical systems in which some conservation law holds can be used to implement an efficient ‘decision-making object’. The proposed scheme will provide a new perspective to open up a physics-based analog computing paradigm and to understanding the biological information-processing principles that exploit their underlying physics.

Retaining the Value of PV at High Penetration Workshop

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

Kurtz, Sarah; Bolen, Michael

PV prices have dropped and are now attractive without incentives for peaking applications in some locations. Modeling suggests and, empirically, some regions demonstrate that as PV penetration increases its value decreases, predominantly due to a decrease in energy and capacity value. It is not apparent what technologies and price may be needed for PV to supply tens of percent of electricity in the most economically efficient manner. A 1-day workshop was co-sponsored by EPRI and NREL with support from ASU. A dozen presentations and discussions introduced how the interplay of various technologies impact the value of PV, identified technical challengesmore » and gaps impeding implementation, and discussed future R&D needs and opportunities.« less

Algae for biofuel: will the evolution of weeds limit the enterprise?

PubMed Central

Bull, J. J.; Collins, Sinéad

2012-01-01

Algae hold promise as a source of biofuel. Yet the manner in which algae are most efficiently propagated and harvested is different from that used in traditional agriculture. In theory, algae can be grown in continuous culture and harvested frequently to maintain high yields with a short turnaround time. However, the maintenance of the population in a state of continuous growth will likely impose selection for fast growth, possibly opposing the maintenance of lipid stores desiriable for fuel. Any harvesting that removes a subset of the population and leaves the survivors to establish the next generation may quickly select traits that escape harvesting. An understanding of these problems should help identify methods for retarding the evolution and enhancing biofuel production. PMID:22946819

Mass production and size control of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles through controlled microvortices

PubMed Central

Kim, YongTae; Chung, Bomy Lee; Ma, Mingming; Mulder, Willem J. M.; Fayad, Zahi A.; Farokhzad, Omid C.; Langer, Robert

2012-01-01

Lipid-polymer hybrid (LPH) nanoparticles can deliver a wide range of therapeutic compounds in a controlled manner. LPH nanoparticle syntheses using microfluidics improve the mixing process, but are restricted by a low throughput. In this study we present a pattern-tunable microvortex platform that allows mass production and size control of LPH nanoparticles with superior reproducibility and homogeneity. We demonstrate that by varying flow rates (i.e. Reynolds number (30∼150)) we can control the nanoparticle size (30∼170nm) with high productivity (∼3g/hour) and low polydispersity (∼0.1). Our approach may contribute to efficient development and optimization of a wide range of multicomponent nanoparticles for medical imaging and drug delivery. PMID:22716029

A survey of the kinetic parameters of class C beta-lactamases. Penicillins.

PubMed Central

Galleni, M; Frère, J M

1988-01-01

The interaction between six class C beta-lactamases and various penicillins has been studied. All the enzymes behaved in a very uniform manner. Benzylpenicillin exhibited relatively low kcat. values (14-75 s-1) but low values of Km resulted in high catalytic efficiencies [kcat./Km = 10 X 10(6)-75 X 10(6) M-1.s-1]. The kcat. values for ampicillin were 10-100-fold lower. Carbenicillin, oxacillin cloxacillin and methicillin were very poor substrates, exhibiting kcat. values between 1 x 10(-3) and 0.1 s-1. The Km values were correspondingly small. It could safely be hypothesized that, with all the tested substrates, deacylation was rate-limiting, resulting in acyl-enzyme accumulation. PMID:3264154

Energy Recovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The United States and other countries face the problem of waste disposal in an economical, environmentally safe manner. A widely applied solution adopted by Americans is "waste to energy," incinerating the refuse and using the steam produced by trash burning to drive an electricity producing generator. NASA's computer program PRESTO II, (Performance of Regenerative Superheated Steam Turbine Cycles), provides power engineering companies, including Blount Energy Resources Corporation of Alabama, with the ability to model such features as process steam extraction, induction and feedwater heating by external sources, peaking and high back pressure. Expansion line efficiency, exhaust loss, leakage, mechanical losses and generator losses are used to calculate the cycle heat rate. The generator output program is sufficiently precise that it can be used to verify performance quoted in turbine generator supplier's proposals.

Online Sensor Drift Compensation for E-Nose Systems Using Domain Adaptation and Extreme Learning Machine.

PubMed

Ma, Zhiyuan; Luo, Guangchun; Qin, Ke; Wang, Nan; Niu, Weina

2018-03-01

Sensor drift is a common issue in E-Nose systems and various drift compensation methods have received fruitful results in recent years. Although the accuracy for recognizing diverse gases under drift conditions has been largely enhanced, few of these methods considered online processing scenarios. In this paper, we focus on building online drift compensation model by transforming two domain adaptation based methods into their online learning versions, which allow the recognition models to adapt to the changes of sensor responses in a time-efficient manner without losing the high accuracy. Experimental results using three different settings confirm that the proposed methods save large processing time when compared with their offline versions, and outperform other drift compensation methods in recognition accuracy.

Integer-ambiguity resolution in astronomy and geodesy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lannes, A.; Prieur, J.-L.

2014-02-01

Recent theoretical developments in astronomical aperture synthesis have revealed the existence of integer-ambiguity problems. Those problems, which appear in the self-calibration procedures of radio imaging, have been shown to be similar to the nearest-lattice point (NLP) problems encountered in high-precision geodetic positioning and in global navigation satellite systems. In this paper we analyse the theoretical aspects of the matter and propose new methods for solving those NLP~problems. The related optimization aspects concern both the preconditioning stage, and the discrete-search stage in which the integer ambiguities are finally fixed. Our algorithms, which are described in an explicit manner, can easily be implemented. They lead to substantial gains in the processing time of both stages. Their efficiency was shown via intensive numerical tests.

Change, exchange, and rearrange: protein engineering for the biotechnological production of fuels, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals.

PubMed

Fisher, Michael A; Tullman-Ercek, Danielle

2013-12-01

Enzymes are indispensable in the effort to produce chemicals from fuels to pharmaceuticals in an ecologically friendly manner. They have the potential to catalyze reactions with high specificity and efficiency without the use of hazardous chemicals. Nature provides an extensive collection of enzymes, but often these must be altered to perform desired functions under required conditions. Advances in protein engineering permit the design and/or directed evolution of enzymes specifically tailored for such industrial applications. Recent years have seen the development of improved enzymes to assist in both the conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals, and the creation of key intermediates in pharmaceutical production. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

System and method for generating current by selective electron heating

DOEpatents

Fisch, Nathaniel J.; Boozer, Allen H.

1984-01-01

A system for the generation of toroidal current in a plasma which is prepared in a toroidal magnetic field. The system utilizes the injection of high-frequency waves into the plasma by means of waveguides. The wave frequency and polarization are chosen such that when the waveguides are tilted in a predetermined fashion, the wave energy is absorbed preferentially by electrons traveling in one toroidal direction. The absorption of energy in this manner produces a toroidal electric current even when the injected waves themselves do not have substantial toroidal momentum. This current can be continuously maintained at modest cost in power and may be used to confine the plasma. The system can operate efficiently on fusion grade tokamak plasmas.

Fracture control procedures for aircraft structural integrity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, H. A.

1972-01-01

The application of applied fracture mechanics in the design, analysis, and qualification of aircraft structural systems are reviewed. Recent service experiences are cited. Current trends in high-strength materials application are reviewed with particular emphasis on the manner in which fracture toughness and structural efficiency may affect the material selection process. General fracture control procedures are reviewed in depth with specific reference to the impact of inspectability, structural arrangement, and material on proposed analysis requirements for safe crack growth. The relative impact on allowable design stress is indicated by example. Design criteria, material, and analysis requirements for implementation of fracture control procedures are reviewed together with limitations in current available data techniques. A summary of items which require further study and attention is presented.

The golgin GMAP-210 is required for efficient membrane trafficking in the early secretory pathway

PubMed Central

Roboti, Peristera; Sato, Keisuke; Lowe, Martin

2015-01-01

Golgins are coiled-coil proteins that participate in membrane-tethering events at the Golgi complex. Golgin-mediated tethering is thought to be important for vesicular trafficking and Golgi organization. However, the degree to which individual golgins contribute to these processes is poorly defined, and it has been proposed that golgins act in a largely redundant manner. Previous studies on the golgin GMAP-210 (also known as TRIP11), which is mutated in the rare skeletal disorder achondrogenesis type 1A, have yielded conflicting results regarding its involvement in trafficking. Here, we re-investigated the trafficking role of GMAP-210, and found that it is indeed required for efficient trafficking in the secretory pathway. GMAP-210 acts at both the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and Golgi complex during anterograde trafficking, and is also required for retrograde trafficking to the ER. Using co-depletion experiments, we also found that GMAP-210 acts in a partially redundant manner with the golgin GM130 to ensure efficient anterograde cargo delivery to the cis-Golgi. In summary, our results indicate a role for GMAP-210 in several trafficking steps at the ER–Golgi interface, some of which are partially redundant with another golgin, namely GM130 (also known as GOLGA2). PMID:25717001

A study of Ground Source Heat Pump based on a heat infiltrates coupling model established with FEFLOW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Hu, C.; Chen, G.; Zhang, Q.

2017-12-01

Geothermal heat is a viable source of energy and its environmental impact in terms of CO2 emissions is significantly lower than conventional fossil fuels. it is vital that engineers acquire a proper understanding about the Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP). In this study, the model of the borehole exchanger under conduction manners and heat infiltrates coupling manners was established with FEFLOW. The energy efficiency, heat transfer endurance and heat transfer in the unit depth were introduced to quantify the energy efficient and the endurance period. The performance of a the Borehole Exchanger (BHE) in soil with and without groundwater seepage was analyzed of heat transfer process between the soil and the working fluid. Basing on the model, the varied regularity of energy efficiency performance an heat transfer endurance with the conditions including the different configuration of the BHE, the soil properties, thermal load characteristic were discussed. Focus on the heat transfer process in multi-layer soil which one layer exist groundwater flow. And an investigation about thermal dispersivity was also analyzed its influence on heat transfer performance. The final result proves that the model of heat infiltrates coupling model established in this context is reasonable, which can be applied to engineering design.

Genome editing with CompoZr custom zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs).

PubMed

Hansen, Keith; Coussens, Matthew J; Sago, Jack; Subramanian, Shilpi; Gjoka, Monika; Briner, Dave

2012-06-14

Genome editing is a powerful technique that can be used to elucidate gene function and the genetic basis of disease. Traditional gene editing methods such as chemical-based mutagenesis or random integration of DNA sequences confer indiscriminate genetic changes in an overall inefficient manner and require incorporation of undesirable synthetic sequences or use of aberrant culture conditions, potentially confusing biological study. By contrast, transient ZFN expression in a cell can facilitate precise, heritable gene editing in a highly efficient manner without the need for administration of chemicals or integration of synthetic transgenes. Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are enzymes which bind and cut distinct sequences of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). A functional CompoZr ZFN unit consists of two individual monomeric proteins that bind a DNA "half-site" of approximately 15-18 nucleotides (see Figure 1). When two ZFN monomers "home" to their adjacent target sites the DNA-cleavage domains dimerize and create a double-strand break (DSB) in the DNA. Introduction of ZFN-mediated DSBs in the genome lays a foundation for highly efficient genome editing. Imperfect repair of DSBs in a cell via the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) DNA repair pathway can result in small insertions and deletions (indels). Creation of indels within the gene coding sequence of a cell can result in frameshift and subsequent functional knockout of a gene locus at high efficiency. While this protocol describes the use of ZFNs to create a gene knockout, integration of transgenes may also be conducted via homology-directed repair at the ZFN cut site. The CompoZr Custom ZFN Service represents a systematic, comprehensive, and well-characterized approach to targeted gene editing for the scientific community with ZFN technology. Sigma scientists work closely with investigators to 1) perform due diligence analysis including analysis of relevant gene structure, biology, and model system pursuant to the project goals, 2) apply this knowledge to develop a sound targeting strategy, 3) then design, build, and functionally validate ZFNs for activity in a relevant cell line. The investigator receives positive control genomic DNA and primers, and ready-to-use ZFN reagents supplied in both plasmid DNA and in-vitro transcribed mRNA format. These reagents may then be delivered for transient expression in the investigator's cell line or cell type of choice. Samples are then tested for gene editing at the locus of interest by standard molecular biology techniques including PCR amplification, enzymatic digest, and electrophoresis. After positive signal for gene editing is detected in the initial population, cells are single-cell cloned and genotyped for identification of mutant clones/alleles.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE RESEARCH LABORATORY (NERL) INTEGRATED INFORMATOIN AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN TRAINING

EPA Science Inventory

The success of the NERL quality system relies on participation by all managers and staff. This training was developed for the purpose of communicating the basic features of the quality system in a convenient and efficient manner. The total time to complete a review of all five ...

A singularity free analytical solution of artificial satellite motion with drag

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mueller, A.

1978-01-01

An analytical satellite theory based on the regular, canonical Poincare-Similar (PS phi) elements is described along with an accurate density model which can be implemented into the drag theory. A computationally efficient manner in which to expand the equations of motion into a fourier series is discussed.

Interactive Televised Instruction: Factors To Consider.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Charles W.

For the first 2 years of operation, the Instructional Television Services (ITS) at Mohave Community College, in Arizona, operated in a very traditional manner, utilizing two cameras and an operator at each site. To increase the efficiency of the television services, surveillance cameras were installed at sites and were operated from the district…

Detection of nitrogen deficiency in potatoes using small unmanned aircraft systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) are recognized as potentially important remote-sensing platforms for precision agriculture. However, research is required to determine which sensors and data processing methods are required to use sUAS in an efficient and cost-effective manner. We set up a ni...

Establishment of a building audit procedure and analysis for the Kansas Department of Transportation phase 2A : buildings, [technical summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-11-01

Over the past few years, state governments and entities have become concerned with the energy consumption : and efficiency of their facilities. An effective manner to identify potential to reduce energy and water : consumption and increase building e...

Evaluating Eco-Innovation of OECD Countries with Data Envelopment Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mavi, Reza Kiani; Standing, Craig

2016-01-01

Government regulations require businesses to improve their processes and products/services in a green and sustainable manner. For being environmentally friendly, businesses should invest more on eco-innovation practices. Firms eco-innovate to promote eco-efficiency and sustainability. This paper evaluates the eco-innovation performance of…

41 CFR 109-45.5102 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., ABANDONMENT, OR DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY 45.51-Disposal of Excess and Surplus Personal Property in Foreign Areas § 109-45.5102 General. Disposal of Government-owned personal property in the custody of DOE organizations or its contractors in foreign areas shall be made in an efficient and economical manner, and in...

41 CFR 109-45.5102 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., ABANDONMENT, OR DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY 45.51-Disposal of Excess and Surplus Personal Property in Foreign Areas § 109-45.5102 General. Disposal of Government-owned personal property in the custody of DOE organizations or its contractors in foreign areas shall be made in an efficient and economical manner, and in...

41 CFR 109-45.5102 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., ABANDONMENT, OR DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY 45.51-Disposal of Excess and Surplus Personal Property in Foreign Areas § 109-45.5102 General. Disposal of Government-owned personal property in the custody of DOE organizations or its contractors in foreign areas shall be made in an efficient and economical manner, and in...

41 CFR 109-45.5102 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., ABANDONMENT, OR DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY 45.51-Disposal of Excess and Surplus Personal Property in Foreign Areas § 109-45.5102 General. Disposal of Government-owned personal property in the custody of DOE organizations or its contractors in foreign areas shall be made in an efficient and economical manner, and in...

41 CFR 109-45.5102 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., ABANDONMENT, OR DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY 45.51-Disposal of Excess and Surplus Personal Property in Foreign Areas § 109-45.5102 General. Disposal of Government-owned personal property in the custody of DOE organizations or its contractors in foreign areas shall be made in an efficient and economical manner, and in...

Managing Instructor Training to Achieve Excellence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norton, Robert E.

A group of concerned companies in the nuclear electric power industry formed the Electric Utility Instructor Training Consortium to train instructors in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. The companies collaborated with the Ohio State University to (1) conduct job and task analyses; (2) develop performance-based instructor modules; (3)…

Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer (CPST) Technology Demonstration Mission (TDM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chojnacki, Kent

2013-01-01

Objectives: 1) Store cryogenic propellants in a manner that maximizes their availability for use regardless of mission duration. 2) Efficiently transfer conditioned cryogenic propellant to an engine or tank situated in a microgravity environment. 3) Accurately monitor and gauge cryogenic propellants situated in a microgravity environment.

Controlling the Thermal Environment of the Co-ordinated Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harmon, Darell Boyd

The classroom environment is a working surround in which children, through participating in organized experiences, can grow and develop in an optimum manner. Classroom design requires organization of principles of environmental control in order to assure efficient and successful performance. This control cannot be left to chance. In considering…

Analysis of Acquisition and Titer of Maize Mosaic Rhabdovirus in Its Vector, Peregrinus maidis (Hemiptera: Delphacidae).

PubMed

Barandoc-Alviar, Karen; Ramirez, Girly M; Rotenberg, Dorith; Whitfield, Anna E

2016-01-01

The corn planthopper, Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), transmits Maize mosaic rhabdovirus (MMV), an important pathogen of maize and sorghum, in a persistent propagative manner. To better understand the vectorial capacity of P. maidis, we determined the efficiency of MMV acquisition by nymphal and adult stages, and characterized MMV titer through development. Acquisition efficiency, i.e., proportion of insects that acquired the virus, was determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus titer of individual insects was estimated by quantitative RT-PCR. Acquisition efficiency of MMV differed significantly between nymphs and adults. MMV titer increased significantly over time and throughout insect development from nymphal to adult stage, indication of virus replication in the vector during development. There was a positive association between the vector developmental stage and virus titer. Also, the average titer in male insects was threefold higher than female titers, and this difference persisted up to 30 d post adult eclosion. Overall, our findings indicate that nymphs are more efficient than adults at acquiring MMV and virus accumulated in the vector over the course of nymphal development. Furthermore, sustained infection over the lifespan of P. maidis indicates a potentially high capacity of this vector to transmit MMV. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of America.

Spatial-spectral flexible optical networking: enabling switching solutions for a simplified and efficient SDM network platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomkos, I.; Zakynthinos, P.; Klonidis, D.; Marom, D.; Sygletos, S.; Ellis, A.; Salvadori, E.; Siracusa, D.; Angelou, M.; Papastergiou, G.; Psaila, N.; Ferran, J. F.; Ben-Ezra, S.; Jimenez, F.; Fernández-Palacios, J. P.

2013-12-01

The traffic carried by core optical networks grows at a steady but remarkable pace of 30-40% year-over-year. Optical transmissions and networking advancements continue to satisfy the traffic requirements by delivering the content over the network infrastructure in a cost and energy efficient manner. Such core optical networks serve the information traffic demands in a dynamic way, in response to requirements for shifting of traffics demands, both temporally (day/night) and spatially (business district/residential). However as we are approaching fundamental spectral efficiency limits of singlemode fibers, the scientific community is pursuing recently the development of an innovative, all-optical network architecture introducing the spatial degree of freedom when designing/operating future transport networks. Spacedivision- multiplexing through the use of bundled single mode fibers, and/or multi-core fibers and/or few-mode fibers can offer up to 100-fold capacity increase in future optical networks. The EU INSPACE project is working on the development of a complete spatial-spectral flexible optical networking solution, offering the network ultra-high capacity, flexibility and energy efficiency required to meet the challenges of delivering exponentially growing traffic demands in the internet over the next twenty years. In this paper we will present the motivation and main research activities of the INSPACE consortium towards the realization of the overall project solution.

Temporal Informative Analysis in Smart-ICU Monitoring: M-HealthCare Perspective.

PubMed

Bhatia, Munish; Sood, Sandeep K

2016-08-01

The rapid introduction of Internet of Things (IoT) Technology has boosted the service deliverance aspects of health sector in terms of m-health, and remote patient monitoring. IoT Technology is not only capable of sensing the acute details of sensitive events from wider perspectives, but it also provides a means to deliver services in time sensitive and efficient manner. Henceforth, IoT Technology has been efficiently adopted in different fields of the healthcare domain. In this paper, a framework for IoT based patient monitoring in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is presented to enhance the deliverance of curative services. Though ICUs remained a center of attraction for high quality care among researchers, still number of studies have depicted the vulnerability to a patient's life during ICU stay. The work presented in this study addresses such concerns in terms of efficient monitoring of various events (and anomalies) with temporal associations, followed by time sensitive alert generation procedure. In order to validate the system, it was deployed in 3 ICU room facilities for 30 days in which nearly 81 patients were monitored during their ICU stay. The results obtained after implementation depicts that IoT equipped ICUs are more efficient in monitoring sensitive events as compared to manual monitoring and traditional Tele-ICU monitoring. Moreover, the adopted methodology for alert generation with information presentation further enhances the utility of the system.

Electronic spectra from TDDFT and machine learning in chemical space

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

Ramakrishnan, Raghunathan; Hartmann, Mia; Tapavicza, Enrico

Due to its favorable computational efficiency, time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT) enables the prediction of electronic spectra in a high-throughput manner across chemical space. Its predictions, however, can be quite inaccurate. We resolve this issue with machine learning models trained on deviations of reference second-order approximate coupled-cluster (CC2) singles and doubles spectra from TDDFT counterparts, or even from DFT gap. We applied this approach to low-lying singlet-singlet vertical electronic spectra of over 20 000 synthetically feasible small organic molecules with up to eight CONF atoms. The prediction errors decay monotonously as a function of training set size. For amore » training set of 10 000 molecules, CC2 excitation energies can be reproduced to within +/- 0.1 eV for the remaining molecules. Analysis of our spectral database via chromophore counting suggests that even higher accuracies can be achieved. Based on the evidence collected, we discuss open challenges associated with data-driven modeling of high-lying spectra and transition intensities.« less

Rocketdyne LOX bearing tester program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keba, J. E.; Beatty, R. F.

1988-01-01

The cause, or causes, for the Space Shuttle Main Engine ball wear were unknown, however, several mechanisms were suspected. Two testers were designed and built for operation in liquid oxygen to empirically gain insight into the problems and iterate solutions in a timely and cost efficient manner independent of engine testing. Schedules and test plans were developed that defined a test matrix consisting of parametric variations of loading, cooling or vapor margin, cage lubrication, material, and geometry studies. Initial test results indicated that the low pressure pump thrust bearing surface distress is a function of high axial load. Initial high pressure turbopump bearing tests produced the wear phenomenon observed in the turbopump and identified an inadequate vapor margin problem and a coolant flowrate sensitivity issue. These tests provided calibration data of analytical model predictions to give high confidence in the positive impact of future turbopump design modification for flight. Various modifications will be evaluated in these testers, since similar turbopump conditions can be produced and the benefit of the modification will be quantified in measured wear life comparisons.

Remarkable antiagglomeration effect of a yeast biosurfactant, diacylmannosylerythritol, on ice-water slurry for cold thermal storage.

PubMed

Kitamoto, D; Yanagishita, H; Endo, A; Nakaiwa, M; Nakane, T; Akiya, T

2001-01-01

Antiagglomeration effects of different surfactants on ice slurry formation were examined to improve the efficiency of an ice-water slurry system to be used for cold thermal storage. Among the chemical surfactants tested, a nonionic surfactant, poly(oxyethylene) sorbitan dioleate, was found to show a greater antiagglomeration effect on the slurry than anionic, cationic, or amphoteric surfactants. More interestingly, diacylmannosylerythritol, a glycolipid biosurfactant produced by a yeast strain of Candida antarctica, exhibited a remarkable effect on the slurry, attaining a high ice packing factor (35%) for 8 h at a biosurfactant concentration of 10 mg/L. These nonionic glycolipid surfactants are likely to effectively adsorb on the ice surface in a highly regulated manner to suppress the agglomeration or growth of the ice particles. This is the first report on the utilization of biosurfactant for thermal energy storage, which may significantly expand the commercial applications of the highly environmentally friendly slurry system.

The diverse CB1 and CB2 receptor pharmacology of three plant cannabinoids: Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin

PubMed Central

Pertwee, R G

2007-01-01

Cannabis sativa is the source of a unique set of compounds known collectively as plant cannabinoids or phytocannabinoids. This review focuses on the manner with which three of these compounds, (−)-trans-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), (−)-cannabidiol (CBD) and (−)-trans-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin (Δ9-THCV), interact with cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. Δ9-THC, the main psychotropic constituent of cannabis, is a CB1 and CB2 receptor partial agonist and in line with classical pharmacology, the responses it elicits appear to be strongly influenced both by the expression level and signalling efficiency of cannabinoid receptors and by ongoing endogenous cannabinoid release. CBD displays unexpectedly high potency as an antagonist of CB1/CB2 receptor agonists in CB1- and CB2-expressing cells or tissues, the manner with which it interacts with CB2 receptors providing a possible explanation for its ability to inhibit evoked immune cell migration. Δ9-THCV behaves as a potent CB2 receptor partial agonist in vitro. In contrast, it antagonizes cannabinoid receptor agonists in CB1-expressing tissues. This it does with relatively high potency and in a manner that is both tissue and ligand dependent. Δ9-THCV also interacts with CB1 receptors when administered in vivo, behaving either as a CB1 antagonist or, at higher doses, as a CB1 receptor agonist. Brief mention is also made in this review, first of the production by Δ9-THC of pharmacodynamic tolerance, second of current knowledge about the extent to which Δ9-THC, CBD and Δ9-THCV interact with pharmacological targets other than CB1 or CB2 receptors, and third of actual and potential therapeutic applications for each of these cannabinoids. PMID:17828291

Challenge Online Time Series Clustering For Demand Response A Theory to Break the ‘Curse of Dimensionality'

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

Pal, Ranjan; Chelmis, Charalampos; Aman, Saima

The advent of smart meters and advanced communication infrastructures catalyzes numerous smart grid applications such as dynamic demand response, and paves the way to solve challenging research problems in sustainable energy consumption. The space of solution possibilities are restricted primarily by the huge amount of generated data requiring considerable computational resources and efficient algorithms. To overcome this Big Data challenge, data clustering techniques have been proposed. Current approaches however do not scale in the face of the “increasing dimensionality” problem where a cluster point is represented by the entire customer consumption time series. To overcome this aspect we first rethinkmore » the way cluster points are created and designed, and then design an efficient online clustering technique for demand response (DR) in order to analyze high volume, high dimensional energy consumption time series data at scale, and on the fly. Our online algorithm is randomized in nature, and provides optimal performance guarantees in a computationally efficient manner. Unlike prior work we (i) study the consumption properties of the whole population simultaneously rather than developing individual models for each customer separately, claiming it to be a ‘killer’ approach that breaks the “curse of dimensionality” in online time series clustering, and (ii) provide tight performance guarantees in theory to validate our approach. Our insights are driven by the field of sociology, where collective behavior often emerges as the result of individual patterns and lifestyles.« less

Systemic Synthesis Questions [SSynQs] as Tools to Help Students to Build Their Cognitive Structures in a Systemic Manner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hrin, Tamara N.; Fahmy, Ameen F. M.; Segedinac, Mirjana D.; Milenković, Dušica D.

2016-08-01

Many studies dedicated to the teaching and learning of organic chemistry courses have emphasized that high school students have shown significant difficulties in mastering the concepts of this discipline. Therefore, the aim of our study was to help students to overcome these difficulties by applying systemic synthesis questions, [SSynQs], as the instructional method in our intervention. This work shows that students from the group exposed to the new teaching method achieved higher scores on final testing than students from the control group, who were taught by the traditional method, when students' achievements in conventional, linear questions [LQs] and in [SSynQs] were studied. These results were followed by observation of lower levels of mental effort by students from the intervention group, and higher levels of mental effort in the control group, invested during solving both types of questions. This correlation between achievement and mental effort resulted in high instructional efficiency for the applied method in the intervention group, [SSynQs], and low instructional efficiency for the traditional teaching and learning method applied in the control group. A systemic triangular relation between achievement, mental effort, and instructional efficiency, established by each group and gender, emphasized that the application of [SSynQs] was more suited to female students than for male students because of [SSynQs] characteristics as teaching and learning tools and because of learning style and ability differences between genders.

Reconciling fisheries catch and ocean productivity

PubMed Central

Stock, Charles A.; Asch, Rebecca G.; Cheung, William W. L.; Dunne, John P.; Friedland, Kevin D.; Lam, Vicky W. Y.; Sarmiento, Jorge L.; Watson, Reg A.

2017-01-01

Photosynthesis fuels marine food webs, yet differences in fish catch across globally distributed marine ecosystems far exceed differences in net primary production (NPP). We consider the hypothesis that ecosystem-level variations in pelagic and benthic energy flows from phytoplankton to fish, trophic transfer efficiencies, and fishing effort can quantitatively reconcile this contrast in an energetically consistent manner. To test this hypothesis, we enlist global fish catch data that include previously neglected contributions from small-scale fisheries, a synthesis of global fishing effort, and plankton food web energy flux estimates from a prototype high-resolution global earth system model (ESM). After removing a small number of lightly fished ecosystems, stark interregional differences in fish catch per unit area can be explained (r = 0.79) with an energy-based model that (i) considers dynamic interregional differences in benthic and pelagic energy pathways connecting phytoplankton and fish, (ii) depresses trophic transfer efficiencies in the tropics and, less critically, (iii) associates elevated trophic transfer efficiencies with benthic-predominant systems. Model catch estimates are generally within a factor of 2 of values spanning two orders of magnitude. Climate change projections show that the same macroecological patterns explaining dramatic regional catch differences in the contemporary ocean amplify catch trends, producing changes that may exceed 50% in some regions by the end of the 21st century under high-emissions scenarios. Models failing to resolve these trophodynamic patterns may significantly underestimate regional fisheries catch trends and hinder adaptation to climate change. PMID:28115722

In Vivo Targeted, Responsive, and Synergistic Cancer Nanotheranostics by Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Synergistic High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation and Chemotherapy.

PubMed

Tang, Hailin; Guo, Yuan; Peng, Li; Fang, Hui; Wang, Zhigang; Zheng, Yuanyi; Ran, Haitao; Chen, Yu

2018-05-09

As one of the most representative noninvasive therapeutic modalities, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has shown great promise for cancer therapy, but its low therapeutic efficacy and biosafety significantly hinder further extensive clinical translation and application. In this work, we report on the construction of a multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform to synergistically enhance the HIFU-therapeutic efficacy based on nanomedicine. A targeted and temperature-responsive theranostic nanoplatform (PFH/DOX@PLGA/Fe 3 O 4 -FA) has been designed and fabricated for efficient ultrasound/magnetic resonance dual-modality imaging-guided HIFU/chemo synergistic therapy. Especially, the folate was conjugated onto the surface of the nanoplatform for achieving active targeting to hepatoma cells by receptor-ligand interaction, which facilitates accumulation of the nanoplatforms into the tumor site. The integrated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles could generate the contrast enhancement in T 2 -weighted magnetic resonance imaging. By virtue of the thermal effect as generated by HIFU, liquid-gas phase transition of perfluorohexane (PFH) in nanocomposites was induced to generate PFH microbubbles, which achieved the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and significantly improved the HIFU ablation efficacy. The loaded anticancer drugs could be released from the nanocomposites in a controllable manner (both pH and HIFU responsiveness). These multifunctional nanocomposites have been demonstrated to efficiently suppress the tumor growth based on the enhanced and synergistic chemotherapy and HIFU ablation, providing an efficient theranostic nanoplatform for cancer treatment.

Reconciling fisheries catch and ocean productivity.

PubMed

Stock, Charles A; John, Jasmin G; Rykaczewski, Ryan R; Asch, Rebecca G; Cheung, William W L; Dunne, John P; Friedland, Kevin D; Lam, Vicky W Y; Sarmiento, Jorge L; Watson, Reg A

2017-02-21

Photosynthesis fuels marine food webs, yet differences in fish catch across globally distributed marine ecosystems far exceed differences in net primary production (NPP). We consider the hypothesis that ecosystem-level variations in pelagic and benthic energy flows from phytoplankton to fish, trophic transfer efficiencies, and fishing effort can quantitatively reconcile this contrast in an energetically consistent manner. To test this hypothesis, we enlist global fish catch data that include previously neglected contributions from small-scale fisheries, a synthesis of global fishing effort, and plankton food web energy flux estimates from a prototype high-resolution global earth system model (ESM). After removing a small number of lightly fished ecosystems, stark interregional differences in fish catch per unit area can be explained ( r = 0.79) with an energy-based model that ( i ) considers dynamic interregional differences in benthic and pelagic energy pathways connecting phytoplankton and fish, ( ii ) depresses trophic transfer efficiencies in the tropics and, less critically, ( iii ) associates elevated trophic transfer efficiencies with benthic-predominant systems. Model catch estimates are generally within a factor of 2 of values spanning two orders of magnitude. Climate change projections show that the same macroecological patterns explaining dramatic regional catch differences in the contemporary ocean amplify catch trends, producing changes that may exceed 50% in some regions by the end of the 21st century under high-emissions scenarios. Models failing to resolve these trophodynamic patterns may significantly underestimate regional fisheries catch trends and hinder adaptation to climate change.

An efficient and reproducible protocol for the production of salt tolerant transgenic wheat plants expressing the Arabidopsis AtNHX1 gene.

PubMed

Moghaieb, Reda E A; Sharaf, Ahmed N; Soliman, Mohamed H; El-Arabi, Nagwa I; Momtaz, Osama A

2014-01-01

We present an efficient method for the production of transgenic salt tolerant hexaploid wheat plants expressing the Arabidopsis AtNHX1 gene. Wheat mature zygotic embryos were isolated from two hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars (namely: Gemmeiza 9 and Gemmeiza 10) and were transformed with the A. tumefaciens LBA4404 harboring the pBI-121 vector containing the AtNHX1 gene. Transgenic wheat lines that express the gus intron was obtained and used as control. The results confirmed that npt-II gene could be transmitted and expressed in the T2 following 3:1 Mendelian segregation while the control plant couldn't. The data indicate that, the AtNHX1 gene was integrated in a stable manner into the wheat genome and the corresponding transcripts were expressed. The transformation efficiency was 5.7 and 7.5% for cultivars Gemmeiza 10 and Gemmeiza 9, respectively. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of AtNHX1 gene in wheat salt tolerance. The transgenic wheat lines could maintain high growth rate under salt stress condition (350 mM NaCl) while the control plant couldn't. The results confirmed that Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene AtNHX1 increased salt tolerance by increasing Na(+) accumulation and keeping K+/Na(+) balance. Thus, transgenic plants showed high tolerance to salt stress and can be considered as a new genetic resource in breeding programs.

Quantum Dot-Based Hybrid Nanostructures and Energy Transfer on the Nanoscale for Single- and Multi-Photon Imaging and Cancer Diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabiev, Igor

2017-01-01

An ideal single-photon (1P) or multiphoton fluorescent nanoprobe should combine a nanocrystal with the largest possible 1P or two-photon (2P) absorption cross section and the smallest possible highly specific recognition molecules conjugated with the nanoparticle in an oriented manner. However, the conditions used for conjugation of typical recognition molecules (conventional antibodies, Abs) with nanoparticles often provoke their unfolding and/or yield nanoprobes with irregular orientation of Abs on the nanoparticle surface. Conjugation of smaller Ab fragments, such as single-domain antibodies (sdAbs), with quantum dots (QDs) in an oriented manner can be considered as an attractive approach to engineering of ultrasmall diagnostic nanoprobes. QDs conjugated to 13-kDa sdAbs derived from camelid IgG or streptavidin have been used as efficient 1P or 2P excitation probes for imaging of cancer markers. The 2P absorption cross sections (TPACSs) for some conjugates are higher than 49,000 GM (Goeppert-Mayer units), which is close to the theoretical value calculated for CdSe QDs and considerably exceeds that of organic dyes. A further step in advanced QD-based cancer diagnostics has been made through implementation of efficient FRET-based imaging with 2P excitation, which has been demonstrated for double immunostaining complexes formed on the surface of cancer cells from sdAb-QD conjugates (donor) and a combination of monoclonal Abs and secondary antibodies labeled with the AlexaFluor dye (acceptor). The proposed approach permits obtaining an exceptional contrast of 2P imaging of cancer biomarkers without any contribution of cell and tissue autofluorescence in the recorded images.

Fabrication of novel GMO/Eudragit E100 nanostructures for enhancing oral bioavailability of carvedilol.

PubMed

Patil, Sharvil S; Roy, Krishtey; Choudhary, Bhavana; Mahadik, Kakasaheb R

2016-08-01

In the present work, novel nanostructures comprising of glyceryl monooleate (GMO) and Eudragit E100 were prepared using high intensity ultrasonic homogenization. 3(2) Factorial design approach was used for optimization of nanostructures. Results of regression analysis revealed that the amount of GMO and Eudragit E100 had a drastic effect on particle size and percent entrapment efficiency. Optimized carvedilol-loaded nanostructures (Car-NS) were characterized by FTIR, TEM, DSC, in vitro drug release study. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as Cmax, Tmax, Ke, Ka, Vd and AUC were estimated for Car-NS upon its oral administration in Sprague-Dawley rats. Particle size of Car-NS was found to be 183 ± 2.43 nm with an entrapment efficiency of 81.4 ± 0.512%. FTIR studies revealed loading and chemical compatibility of carvedilol with the components of nanostructures. DSC thermograms did not show endothermic peak for melting of carvedilol which could be attributed to solubilization of carvedilol in molten GMO during DSC run. The prepared Car-NS released carvedilol in sustained manner over a period of 10 h as suggested by in vitro drug release study. The pharmacokinetic study of Car-NS showed significant improvement in Cmax (two fold, p < 0.001) and AUC (four folds, p < 0.001) of carvedilol when compared to carvedilol suspension. Car-NS were found to be stable for a period of 3 months. Thus, a stable, floating, multiparticulate GMO/Eudragit E100 nanostructures having ability to release the drug in sustained manner with enhanced oral bioavailability can prove to be a promising carrier system for poorly water soluble drugs.

Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation.

PubMed

Xiao, Ting; Xu, Haihua; Grancini, Giulia; Mai, Jiangquan; Petrozza, Annamaria; Jeng, U-Ser; Wang, Yan; Xin, Xin; Lu, Yong; Choon, Ng Siu; Xiao, Hu; Ong, Beng S; Lu, Xinhui; Zhao, Ni

2014-06-09

The interpenetrating morphology formed by the electron donor and acceptor materials is critical for the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work we carried out a systematic investigation on a high PV efficiency (>6%) BHJ system consisting of a newly developed 5,6-difluorobenzo[c] thiadiazole-based copolymer, PFBT-T20TT, and a fullerene derivative. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements reveal the lower-ordered nature of the BHJ system as well as an intermixing morphology with intercalation of fullerene molecules between the PFBT-T20TT lamella. Steady-state and transient photo-induced absorption spectroscopy reveal ultrafast charge transfer (CT) at the PFBT-T20TT/fullerene interface, indicating that the CT process is no longer limited by exciton diffusion. Furthermore, we extracted the hole mobility based on the space limited current (SCLC) model and found that more efficient hole transport is achieved in the PFBT-T20TT:fullerene BHJ as compared to pure PFBT-T20TT, showing a different trend as compared to the previously reported highly crystalline polymer:fullerene blend with a similar intercalation manner. Our study correlates the fullerene intercalated polymer lamella morphology with device performance and provides a coherent model to interpret the high photovoltaic performance of some of the recently developed weakly-ordered BHJ systems based on conjugated polymers with branched side-chain.

Efficient linear criterion for witnessing Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen nonlocality under many-setting local measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yu-Lin; Zhen, Yi-Zheng; Chen, Zeng-Bing; Liu, Nai-Le; Chen, Kai; Pan, Jian-Wei

2017-01-01

The striking and distinctive nonlocal features of quantum mechanics were discovered by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) beyond classical physics. At the core of the EPR argument, it was "steering" that Schrödinger proposed in 1935. Besides its fundamental significance, quantum steering opens up a novel application for quantum communication. Recent work has precisely characterized its properties; however, witnessing the EPR nonlocality remains a big challenge under arbitrary local measurements. Here we present an alternative linear criterion and complement existing results to efficiently testify steering for high-dimensional system in practice. By developing a novel and analytical method to tackle the maximization problem in deriving the bound of a steering criterion, we show how observed correlations can reveal powerfully the EPR nonlocality in an easily accessed manner. Although the criteria is not necessary and sufficient, it can recover some of the known results under a few settings of local measurements and is applicable even if the size of the system or the number of measurement settings are high. Remarkably, a deep connection is explicitly established between the steering and amount of entanglement. The results promise viable paths for secure communication with an untrusted source, providing optional loophole-free tests of the EPR nonlocality for high-dimensional states, as well as motivating solutions for other related problems in quantum information theory.

A local approach for focussed Bayesian fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sander, Jennifer; Heizmann, Michael; Goussev, Igor; Beyerer, Jürgen

2009-04-01

Local Bayesian fusion approaches aim to reduce high storage and computational costs of Bayesian fusion which is separated from fixed modeling assumptions. Using the small world formalism, we argue why this proceeding is conform with Bayesian theory. Then, we concentrate on the realization of local Bayesian fusion by focussing the fusion process solely on local regions that are task relevant with a high probability. The resulting local models correspond then to restricted versions of the original one. In a previous publication, we used bounds for the probability of misleading evidence to show the validity of the pre-evaluation of task specific knowledge and prior information which we perform to build local models. In this paper, we prove the validity of this proceeding using information theoretic arguments. For additional efficiency, local Bayesian fusion can be realized in a distributed manner. Here, several local Bayesian fusion tasks are evaluated and unified after the actual fusion process. For the practical realization of distributed local Bayesian fusion, software agents are predestinated. There is a natural analogy between the resulting agent based architecture and criminal investigations in real life. We show how this analogy can be used to improve the efficiency of distributed local Bayesian fusion additionally. Using a landscape model, we present an experimental study of distributed local Bayesian fusion in the field of reconnaissance, which highlights its high potential.

Static micromixer-coaxial electrospray synthesis of theranostic lipoplexes.

PubMed

Wu, Yun; Li, Lei; Mao, Yicheng; Lee, Ly James

2012-03-27

Theranostic lipoplexes are an integrated nanotherapeutic system with diagnostic imaging capability and therapeutic functions. They hold great promise to improve current cancer treatments; however, producing uniform theranostic lipoplexes with multiple components in a reproducible manner is a highly challenging task. Conventional methods, such as bulk mixing, are not able to achieve this goal because of their macroscale and random nature. Here we report a novel technique, called the static micromixer-coaxial electrospray (MCE), to synthesize theranostic lipoplexes in a single step with high reproducibility. In this work, quantum dots (QD605) and Cy5-labeled antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (Cy5-G3139) were chosen as the model imaging reagent and therapeutic drug, respectively. Compared with bulk mixing, QD605/Cy5-G3139-loaded lipoplexes produced by MCE were highly uniform with polydispersity of 0.024 ± 0.006 and mean diameter by volume of 194 ± 15 nm. MCE also showed higher encapsulation efficiency of QD605 and Cy5-G3139. QD605 and Cy5 also formed the Förster resonance energy transfer pair, and thus the cellular uptake and intracellular fate of theranostic lipoplexes could be visualized by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. The lipoplexes were efficiently delivered to A549 cells (non-small cell lung cancer cell line) and down-regulated the Bcl-2 gene expression by 48 ± 6%. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Proof-of-Concept Demonstrations of a Flight Adjustment Logging and Communication Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Underwood, Matthew C.; Merlino, Daniel K.; Carboneau, Lindsey M.; Wilson, C. Logan; Wilder, Andrew J.

2016-01-01

The National Airspace System is a highly complex system of systems within which a number of participants with widely varying business and operating models exist. From the airspace user's perspective, a means by which to operate flights in a more flexible and efficient manner is highly desired to meet their business objectives. From the air navigation service provider's viewpoint, there is a need for increasing the capacity of the airspace, while maintaining or increasing the levels of efficiency and safety that currently exist in order to meet the charter under which they operate. Enhancing the communication between airspace operators and users is essential in order to meet these demands. In the spring of 2015, a prototype system that implemented an airborne tool to optimize en-route flight paths for fuel and time savings was designed and tested. The system utilized in-flight Internet as a high-bandwidth data link to facilitate collaborative decision making between the flight deck and an airline dispatcher. The system was tested and demonstrated in a laboratory environment, as well as in-situ. Initial results from these tests indicate that this system is not only feasible, but could also serve as a growth path and testbed for future air traffic management concepts that rely on shared situational awareness through data exchange and electronic negotiation between multiple entities operating within the National Airspace System.

A Controlled Design of Ripple-Like Polyamide-6 Nanofiber/Nets Membrane for High-Efficiency Air Filter.

PubMed

Zhang, Shichao; Liu, Hui; Zuo, Fenglei; Yin, Xia; Yu, Jianyong; Ding, Bin

2017-03-01

The filtration capacity of fibrous media for airborne particles is restricted by their thick diameter, low porosity, and limited frontal area. The ability to solve this problem would have broad technological implications for various air filtration applications; despite many past efforts, it remains a great challenge to achieve. Herein, a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate the ripple-like polyamide-6 nanofiber/nets (PA-6 NF/N) air filter via combining electrospinning/netting technique with receiving substrate design is demonstrated. This proposed approach allows the scaffold filaments to orderly embed into 2D PA-6 nanonets layer with Steiner-tree structures and nanoscale diameter of ≈20 nm, resulting in the ripple-like membrane with extremely small pore size, highly porous structure, and hugely extended frontal surface, by facilely adjusting its pleat span and pleat pitch. These unique structural advantages enable the ripple-like PA-6 NF/N filter to filtrate the ultrafine particles with high removal efficiency of 99.996%, low air resistance of 95 Pa, and robust quality factor of >0.11 Pa -1 ; using its superlight weight of 0.9 g m -2 and physical sieving manner. This approach has the potentialities to give rise to a novel generation of filter media displaying enhanced filtration capacity for various applications thanks to their nanoscale features and designed macrostructures. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

An Energy-Efficient Algorithm for Wearable Electrocardiogram Signal Processing in Ubiquitous Healthcare Applications

PubMed Central

Sodhro, Ali Hassan; Sodhro, Gul Hassan; Lohano, Sonia; Pirbhulal, Sandeep

2018-01-01

Rapid progress and emerging trends in miniaturized medical devices have enabled the un-obtrusive monitoring of physiological signals and daily activities of everyone’s life in a prominent and pervasive manner. Due to the power-constrained nature of conventional wearable sensor devices during ubiquitous sensing (US), energy-efficiency has become one of the highly demanding and debatable issues in healthcare. This paper develops a single chip-based wearable wireless electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system by adopting analog front end (AFE) chip model ADS1292R from Texas Instruments. The developed chip collects real-time ECG data with two adopted channels for continuous monitoring of human heart activity. Then, these two channels and the AFE are built into a right leg drive right leg drive (RLD) driver circuit with lead-off detection and medical graded test signal. Human ECG data was collected at 60 beats per minute (BPM) to 120 BPM with 60 Hz noise and considered throughout the experimental set-up. Moreover, notch filter (cutoff frequency 60 Hz), high-pass filter (cutoff frequency 0.67 Hz), and low-pass filter (cutoff frequency 100 Hz) with cut-off frequencies of 60 Hz, 0.67 Hz, and 100 Hz, respectively, were designed with bilinear transformation for rectifying the power-line noise and artifacts while extracting real-time ECG signals. Finally, a transmission power control-based energy-efficient (ETPC) algorithm is proposed, implemented on the hardware and then compared with the several conventional TPC methods. Experimental results reveal that our developed chip collects real-time ECG data efficiently, and the proposed ETPC algorithm achieves higher energy savings of 35.5% with a slightly larger packet loss ratio (PLR) as compared to conventional TPC (e.g., constant TPC, Gao’s, and Xiao’s methods). PMID:29558433

Operating room efficiency improvement after implementation of a postoperative team assessment.

PubMed

Porta, Christopher R; Foster, Andrew; Causey, Marlin W; Cordier, Patricia; Ozbirn, Roger; Bolt, Stephen; Allison, Dennis; Rush, Robert

2013-03-01

Operating room time is highly resource intensive, and delays can be a source of lost revenue and surgeon frustration. Methods to decrease these delays are important not only for patient care, but to maximize operating room resource utilization. The purpose of this study was to determine the root cause of operating room delays in a standardized manner to help improve overall operating room efficiency. We performed a single-center prospective observational study analyzing operating room utilization and efficiency after implementing an executive-driven standardized postoperative team debriefing system from January 2010 to December 2010. A total of 11,342 procedures were performed over the 1-y study period (elective 86%, urgent 11%, and emergent 3%), with 1.3 million min of operating room time, 865,864 min of surgeon operative time (62.5%), and 162,958 min of anesthesia time (11.8%). Overall, the average operating room delay was 18 min and varied greatly based on the surgical specialty. The longest delays were due to need for radiology (40 min); other significant delays were due to supply issues (22.7 min), surgeon issues (18 min), nursing issues (14 min), and room turnover (14 min). Over the 1-y period, there was a decrease in mean delay duration, averaging a decrease in delay of 0.147 min/mo with an overall 9% decrease in the mean delay times. With regard to overall operating room utilization, there was a 39% decrease in overall un-utilized available OR time that was due to delays, improving efficiency by 2334 min (212 min/mo). During this study interval no sentinel events occurred in the operating room. A standardized postoperative debrief tracking system is highly beneficial in identifying and reducing overall operative delays and improving operating room utilization. Published by Elsevier Inc.

An Energy-Efficient Algorithm for Wearable Electrocardiogram Signal Processing in Ubiquitous Healthcare Applications.

PubMed

Sodhro, Ali Hassan; Sangaiah, Arun Kumar; Sodhro, Gul Hassan; Lohano, Sonia; Pirbhulal, Sandeep

2018-03-20

Rapid progress and emerging trends in miniaturized medical devices have enabled the un-obtrusive monitoring of physiological signals and daily activities of everyone's life in a prominent and pervasive manner. Due to the power-constrained nature of conventional wearable sensor devices during ubiquitous sensing (US), energy-efficiency has become one of the highly demanding and debatable issues in healthcare. This paper develops a single chip-based wearable wireless electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system by adopting analog front end (AFE) chip model ADS1292R from Texas Instruments. The developed chip collects real-time ECG data with two adopted channels for continuous monitoring of human heart activity. Then, these two channels and the AFE are built into a right leg drive right leg drive (RLD) driver circuit with lead-off detection and medical graded test signal. Human ECG data was collected at 60 beats per minute (BPM) to 120 BPM with 60 Hz noise and considered throughout the experimental set-up. Moreover, notch filter (cutoff frequency 60 Hz), high-pass filter (cutoff frequency 0.67 Hz), and low-pass filter (cutoff frequency 100 Hz) with cut-off frequencies of 60 Hz, 0.67 Hz, and 100 Hz, respectively, were designed with bilinear transformation for rectifying the power-line noise and artifacts while extracting real-time ECG signals. Finally, a transmission power control-based energy-efficient (ETPC) algorithm is proposed, implemented on the hardware and then compared with the several conventional TPC methods. Experimental results reveal that our developed chip collects real-time ECG data efficiently, and the proposed ETPC algorithm achieves higher energy savings of 35.5% with a slightly larger packet loss ratio (PLR) as compared to conventional TPC (e.g., constant TPC, Gao's, and Xiao's methods).

Ex vivo electroporation of retinal cells: a novel, high efficiency method for functional studies in primary retinal cultures

PubMed Central

Vergara, Maria Natalia; Gutierrez, Christian; O’Brien, David R.; Canto-Soler, Maria Valeria

2013-01-01

Primary retinal cultures constitute valuable tools not only for basic research on retinal cell development and physiology, but also for the identification of factors or drugs that promote cell survival and differentiation. In order to take full advantage of the benefits of this system it is imperative to develop efficient and reliable techniques for the manipulation of gene expression. However, achieving appropriate transfection efficiencies in these cultures has remained challenging. The purpose of this work was to develop and optimize a technique that would allow the transfection of chick retinal cells with high efficiency and reproducibility for multiple applications. We developed an ex vivo electroporation method applied to dissociated retinal cell cultures that offers a significant improvement over other currently available transfection techniques, increasing efficiency by five-fold. In this method, eyes were enucleated, devoid of RPE, and electroporated with GFP-encoding plasmids using custom-made electrodes. Electroporated retinas were then dissociated into single cells and plated in low density conditions, to be analyzed after 4 days of incubation. Parameters such as voltage and number of electric pulses, as well as plasmid concentration and developmental stage of the animal were optimized for efficiency. The characteristics of the cultures were assessed by morphology and immunocytochemistry, and cell viability was determined by ethidium homodimer staining. Cell imaging and counting was performed using an automated high-throughput system. This procedure resulted in transfection efficiencies in the order of 22–25 % of cultured cells, encompassing both photoreceptors and non-photoreceptor neurons, and without affecting normal cell survival and differentiation. Finally, the feasibility of the technique for cell-autonomous studies of gene function in a biologically relevant context was tested by carrying out gain and loss-of-function experiments for the transcription factor PAX6. Electroporation of a plasmid construct expressing PAX6 resulted in a marked upregulation in the expression levels of this protein that could be measured in the whole culture as well as cell-intrinsically. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in the percentage of cells differentiating as photoreceptors among the transfected population. Conversely, electroporation of an RNAi construct targeting PAX6 resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of this protein, with a concomitant increase in the proportion of photoreceptors. Taken together these results provide strong proof-of-principle of the suitability of this technique for genetic studies in retinal cultures. The combination of the high transfection efficiency obtained by this method with automated high-throughput cell analysis supplies the scientific community with a powerful system for performing functional studies in a cell-autonomous manner. PMID:23370269

Ex vivo electroporation of retinal cells: a novel, high efficiency method for functional studies in primary retinal cultures.

PubMed

Vergara, M Natalia; Gutierrez, Christian; O'Brien, David R; Canto-Soler, M Valeria

2013-04-01

Primary retinal cultures constitute valuable tools not only for basic research on retinal cell development and physiology, but also for the identification of factors or drugs that promote cell survival and differentiation. In order to take full advantage of the benefits of this system it is imperative to develop efficient and reliable techniques for the manipulation of gene expression. However, achieving appropriate transfection efficiencies in these cultures has remained challenging. The purpose of this work was to develop and optimize a technique that would allow the transfection of chick retinal cells with high efficiency and reproducibility for multiple applications. We developed an ex vivo electroporation method applied to dissociated retinal cell cultures that offers a significant improvement over other currently available transfection techniques, increasing efficiency by five-fold. In this method, eyes were enucleated, devoid of RPE, and electroporated with GFP-encoding plasmids using custom-made electrodes. Electroporated retinas were then dissociated into single cells and plated in low density conditions, to be analyzed after 4 days of incubation. Parameters such as voltage and number of electric pulses, as well as plasmid concentration and developmental stage of the animal were optimized for efficiency. The characteristics of the cultures were assessed by morphology and immunocytochemistry, and cell viability was determined by ethidium homodimer staining. Cell imaging and counting was performed using an automated high-throughput system. This procedure resulted in transfection efficiencies in the order of 22-25% of cultured cells, encompassing both photoreceptors and non-photoreceptor neurons, and without affecting normal cell survival and differentiation. Finally, the feasibility of the technique for cell-autonomous studies of gene function in a biologically relevant context was tested by carrying out gain and loss-of-function experiments for the transcription factor PAX6. Electroporation of a plasmid construct expressing PAX6 resulted in a marked upregulation in the expression levels of this protein that could be measured in the whole culture as well as cell-intrinsically. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in the percentage of cells differentiating as photoreceptors among the transfected population. Conversely, electroporation of an RNAi construct targeting PAX6 resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of this protein, with a concomitant increase in the proportion of photoreceptors. Taken together these results provide strong proof-of-principle of the suitability of this technique for genetic studies in retinal cultures. The combination of the high transfection efficiency obtained by this method with automated high-throughput cell analysis supplies the scientific community with a powerful system for performing functional studies in a cell-autonomous manner. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Erythrocyte Enrichment in Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Cultures Based on Magnetic Susceptibility of the Hemoglobin

PubMed Central

Jin, Xiaoxia; Abbot, Stewart; Zhang, Xiaokui; Kang, Lin; Voskinarian-Berse, Vanessa; Zhao, Rui; Kameneva, Marina V.; Moore, Lee R.; Chalmers, Jeffrey J.; Zborowski, Maciej

2012-01-01

Using novel media formulations, it has been demonstrated that human placenta and umbilical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells can be expanded and differentiated into erythroid cells with high efficiency. However, obtaining mature and functional erythrocytes from the immature cell cultures with high purity and in an efficient manner remains a significant challenge. A distinguishing feature of a reticulocyte and maturing erythrocyte is the increasing concentration of hemoglobin and decreasing cell volume that results in increased cell magnetophoretic mobility (MM) when exposed to high magnetic fields and gradients, under anoxic conditions. Taking advantage of these initial observations, we studied a noninvasive (label-free) magnetic separation and analysis process to enrich and identify cultured functional erythrocytes. In addition to the magnetic cell separation and cell motion analysis in the magnetic field, the cell cultures were characterized for cell sedimentation rate, cell volume distributions using differential interference microscopy, immunophenotyping (glycophorin A), hemoglobin concentration and shear-induced deformability (elongation index, EI, by ektacytometry) to test for mature erythrocyte attributes. A commercial, packed column high-gradient magnetic separator (HGMS) was used for magnetic separation. The magnetically enriched fraction comprised 80% of the maturing cells (predominantly reticulocytes) that showed near 70% overlap of EI with the reference cord blood-derived RBC and over 50% overlap with the adult donor RBCs. The results demonstrate feasibility of label-free magnetic enrichment of erythrocyte fraction of CD34+ progenitor-derived cultures based on the presence of paramagnetic hemoglobin in the maturing erythrocytes. PMID:22952572

Evolutionary selective pressure on three mitochondrial SNPs is consistent with their influence on metabolic efficiency in Pima Indians.

PubMed

Chamala, Srikar; Beckstead, Wesley A; Rowe, Mark J; McClellan, David A

2007-01-01

We investigated whether the effect of evolutionary selection on three recent Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the mitochondrial sub-haplogroups of Pima Indians is consistent with their effects on metabolic efficiency. The mitochondrial SNPs impact metabolic rate and respiratory quotient, and may be adaptations to caloric restriction in a desert habitat. Using TreeSAAP software, we examined evolutionary selection in 107 mammalian species at these SNPs, characterising the biochemical shifts produced by the amino acid substitutions. Our results suggest that two SNPs were affected by selection during mammalian evolution in a manner consistent with their effects on metabolic efficiency in Pima Indians.

Green Acquisitions And Lifecycle Management Of Industrial Products In The Circular Economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popa, Vasile N.; Popa, Luminita I.

2016-11-01

The article addresses the issue of green acquisitions which occur within an industrial company focused on reducing inputs while maintaining output (substitution and efficiency). These processes characterize a circular economy oriented on resource efficiency (costs saved by reducing purchasing inputs). In our article, we focus on the industrial procurement practice which can help businesses save money and materials. Besides the possibility to negotiate prices, buyers can influence suppliers to offer products and services in an efficient manner in terms of green resources. The life cycle of industrial products is used to demonstrate the environmental advantages and disadvantages of various options for acquisitions and initiatives to totally reuse them.

Improved out-coupling efficiency of organic light emitting diodes fabricated on a TiO2 planarization layer with embedded Si oxide nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sung, Young Hoon; Jung, Pil-Hoon; Han, Kyung-Hoon; Kim, Yang Doo; Kim, Jang-Joo; Lee, Heon

2017-10-01

In order to increase the out-coupling efficiency of organic light emitting diodes, conical Si oxide nanostructures were formed on a glass substrate using nanoimprint lithography with hydrogen silsesquioxane. Then, the substrate was planarized with TiO2 nanoparticles. Since TiO2 nanoparticles have a higher refractive index than Si oxide, the surface of substrate is physically flat, but optically undulated in a manner that enables optical scattering and suppression of total internal reflection. Subsequently, OLEDs formed on a substrate with nanostructured Si oxide and a TiO2 planarization layer exhibit a 25% increase in out-coupling efficiency by suppressing total internal reflection.

A Model Lesson: Finland Shows Us What Equal Opportunity Looks Like

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahlberg, Pasi

2012-01-01

International indicators show that Finland has one of the most educated citizenries in the world, provides educational opportunities in an egalitarian manner, and makes efficient use of resources. But at the beginning of the 1990s, education in Finland was nothing special in international terms. The performance of Finnish students on international…

Curriculum Management: "Driving the School Management Team Frantic"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lumadi, M. W.

2012-01-01

This study explores factors which have a negative impact, on the role of the School Management Team (SMT) that serves as the fulcrum of the curriculum management process. The SMT is compelled to execute its responsibilities in an efficient and effective manner thus keeping a delicate balance between the often-conflicting pressures from parents,…

Business plan basics for the nurse.

PubMed

Crawford, Pam

2013-01-01

In conclusion, no nurse should shy away from understanding the finances of the health care world. We must all embrace the need to understand the costs of care. As we gain this basic understanding, we can excel in demonstrating ideas to improve health care in the most efficient manner, a winning combination in today's financially focused world!

12 CFR 404.9 - Schedule of fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... attempt to conduct searches in the most efficient manner to minimize costs for both Ex-Im Bank and the... as follows: (1) Commercial use requesters. Ex-Im Bank shall charge the full costs for search, review... shall charge only for the cost of duplication in excess of 100 pages. No fee will be charged for search...

12 CFR 404.9 - Schedule of fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... attempt to conduct searches in the most efficient manner to minimize costs for both Ex-Im Bank and the... as follows: (1) Commercial use requesters. Ex-Im Bank shall charge the full costs for search, review... shall charge only for the cost of duplication in excess of 100 pages. No fee will be charged for search...

12 CFR 404.9 - Schedule of fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... attempt to conduct searches in the most efficient manner to minimize costs for both Ex-Im Bank and the... as follows: (1) Commercial use requesters. Ex-Im Bank shall charge the full costs for search, review... shall charge only for the cost of duplication in excess of 100 pages. No fee will be charged for search...

12 CFR 404.9 - Schedule of fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... attempt to conduct searches in the most efficient manner to minimize costs for both Ex-Im Bank and the... as follows: (1) Commercial use requesters. Ex-Im Bank shall charge the full costs for search, review... shall charge only for the cost of duplication in excess of 100 pages. No fee will be charged for search...

10 CFR 905.18 - What are the criteria for Western's approval of submittals?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... requirements of this subpart. (d) Water-based plans and reports. In evaluating a plan or report, Western will consider water planning, efficiency improvements, and conservation in the same manner it considers energy... irrigation load as part of their overall load may include water conservation activities in their plans or...

10 CFR 905.18 - What are the criteria for Western's approval of submittals?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... requirements of this subpart. (d) Water-based plans and reports. In evaluating a plan or report, Western will consider water planning, efficiency improvements, and conservation in the same manner it considers energy... irrigation load as part of their overall load may include water conservation activities in their plans or...

10 CFR 905.18 - What are the criteria for Western's approval of submittals?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... requirements of this subpart. (d) Water-based plans and reports. In evaluating a plan or report, Western will consider water planning, efficiency improvements, and conservation in the same manner it considers energy... irrigation load as part of their overall load may include water conservation activities in their plans or...

10 CFR 905.18 - What are the criteria for Western's approval of submittals?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... requirements of this subpart. (d) Water-based plans and reports. In evaluating a plan or report, Western will consider water planning, efficiency improvements, and conservation in the same manner it considers energy... irrigation load as part of their overall load may include water conservation activities in their plans or...

10 CFR 905.18 - What are the criteria for Western's approval of submittals?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... requirements of this subpart. (d) Water-based plans and reports. In evaluating a plan or report, Western will consider water planning, efficiency improvements, and conservation in the same manner it considers energy... irrigation load as part of their overall load may include water conservation activities in their plans or...

Well-Designed Wholesale Electricity Markets Support System Flexibility |

Science.gov Websites

electricity markets drive efficient solutions to meet reliability needs in a least-cost manner, and they can service (which is typically provided by conventional generators as a part of interconnection through cost variable generation and load (net load) economically and reducing use of regulating reserves-cost

42 CFR 421.205 - Termination by the Secretary.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... for termination. The Secretary may terminate a contract with a carrier at any time if he or she... performed its function in a manner inconsistent with the effective and efficient administration of the... intent to terminate the contract, the carrier may request a hearing within 20 days after the date on the...

A Semantic Rule-Based Framework for Efficient Retrieval of Educational Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahmoudi, Maryam Tayefeh; Taghiyareh, Fattaneh; Badie, Kambiz

2013-01-01

Retrieving resources in an appropriate manner has a promising role in increasing the performance of educational support systems. A variety of works have been done to organize materials for educational purposes using tagging techniques. Despite the effectiveness of these techniques within certain domains, organizing resources in a way being…

41 CFR 102-74.185 - What heating and cooling policy must Federal agencies follow in Federal facilities?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... overall energy efficient and economical manner; (b) Maintain temperatures to maximize customer satisfaction by conforming to local commercial equivalent temperature levels and operating practices; (c) Set...-conditioning during non-working hours, except as necessary to return space temperatures to a suitable level for...

41 CFR 102-73.10 - What is the basic real estate acquisition policy?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ESTATE ACQUISITION General Provisions § 102-73.10 What is the basic real estate acquisition policy? When... real estate and related services in an efficient and cost effective manner. ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false What is the basic real...

41 CFR 102-73.10 - What is the basic real estate acquisition policy?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... ESTATE ACQUISITION General Provisions § 102-73.10 What is the basic real estate acquisition policy? When... real estate and related services in an efficient and cost effective manner. ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false What is the basic real...

41 CFR 102-73.10 - What is the basic real estate acquisition policy?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... ESTATE ACQUISITION General Provisions § 102-73.10 What is the basic real estate acquisition policy? When... real estate and related services in an efficient and cost effective manner. ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false What is the basic real...

41 CFR 102-73.10 - What is the basic real estate acquisition policy?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... ESTATE ACQUISITION General Provisions § 102-73.10 What is the basic real estate acquisition policy? When... real estate and related services in an efficient and cost effective manner. ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What is the basic real...

41 CFR 102-73.10 - What is the basic real estate acquisition policy?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... ESTATE ACQUISITION General Provisions § 102-73.10 What is the basic real estate acquisition policy? When... real estate and related services in an efficient and cost effective manner. ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false What is the basic real...

46 CFR Sec. 3 - Terminal operating contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... specifically described in Schedule A hereto attached and made a part hereof by reference, and at such other... performed under this agreement in an economical and efficient manner and in accordance with the best... attached and made a part hereof by reference) and such other schedules or writing as may be made by the...

Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer (CPST) Technology Demonstration For Long Duration In-Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, Michael L.; Motil, Susan M.; Kortes, Trudy F.; Taylor, William J.; McRight, Patrick S.

2012-01-01

(1) Store cryogenic propellants in a manner that maximizes their availability for use regardless of mission duration; (2) Efficiently transfer conditioned cryogenic propellant to an engine or tank situated in a microgravity environment; and (3) Accurately monitor and gauge cryogenic propellants situated in a microgravity environment

Short-time ultrasonication treatment in enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass

Treesearch

Zengqian Shi; Zhiyong Cai; Siqun Wang; Qixin Zhong; Joseph J. Bozell

2013-01-01

To improve the conversion of enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass in an energy-efficient manner, two shorttime ultrasonication strategies were applied on six types of biomass with different structures and components. The strategies include pre-sonication before the hydrolysis and intermittent sonication during the ongoing hydrolysis. The microstructures of each type of...

A cost comparison of five midstory removal methods

Treesearch

Brian G. Bailey; Michael R. Saunders; Zachary E. Lowe

2011-01-01

Within mature hardwood forests, midstory removal treatments have been shown to provide the adequate light and growing space needed for early establishment of intermediate-shade-tolerant species. As the method gains popularity, it is worthwhile to determine what manner of removal is most cost-efficient. Th is study compared five midstory removal treatments across 10...

Diagramming Word Problems: A Strategic Approach for Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Garderen, Delinda; Scheuermann, Amy M.

2015-01-01

While often recommended as a strategy to use in order to solve word problems, drawing a diagram is a complex process that requires a good depth of understanding. Many middle school students with learning disabilities (LD) often struggle to use diagrams in an effective and efficient manner. This article presents information for teaching middle…

40 CFR 63.545 - What are my standards for fugitive dust sources?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

.... (4) Battery storage area. (5) Equipment maintenance. (6) Material storage areas. (7) Material... achieve 99.97 percent capture efficiency for 0.3 micron particles in a manner that does not generate... 40 CFR 302.4). (4) Battery storage areas. You must inspect any batteries that are not stored in a...

40 CFR 63.545 - What are my standards for fugitive dust sources?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

.... (4) Battery storage area. (5) Equipment maintenance. (6) Material storage areas. (7) Material... achieve 99.97 percent capture efficiency for 0.3 micron particles in a manner that does not generate... 40 CFR 302.4). (4) Battery storage areas. You must inspect any batteries that are not stored in a...

40 CFR 63.545 - What are my standards for fugitive dust sources?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

.... (4) Battery storage area. (5) Equipment maintenance. (6) Material storage areas. (7) Material... achieve 99.97 percent capture efficiency for 0.3 micron particles in a manner that does not generate... 40 CFR 302.4). (4) Battery storage areas. You must inspect any batteries that are not stored in a...

7 CFR 51.56 - Buildings and structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... be an efficient waste disposal and plumbing system maintained in good repair; (d) Each room in which... a clean and orderly character and shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary manner; and, (e) Every practical precaution shall be taken to exclude dogs, cats, rodents and other vermin from the rooms in which...

7 CFR 51.56 - Buildings and structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... be an efficient waste disposal and plumbing system maintained in good repair; (d) Each room in which... a clean and orderly character and shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary manner; and, (e) Every practical precaution shall be taken to exclude dogs, cats, rodents and other vermin from the rooms in which...

Texas Senate Bill 162: Reforming Developmental Education at the Community College Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGruder, Nancy C.

2016-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to determine if three community colleges were serving developmental education students in an effective and cost-efficient manner, make observations about the developmental education demographics, and conclude if Senate Bill 162 (SB 162) increased the percentage of college ready students who participated in…

Combining Economic and Conjoint Analysis to Determine Optimal Academic Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Mona Whitley; Sobol, Marion G.

2004-01-01

In today's era of global competition, organizations must manage their functions and activities in a manner such that they are responsive to customers' needs and can provide excellence in service to the customer while also being efficient and cost conscious. These issues are extremely common in corporate organizations, but such concerns are equally…

Absorption of Radionuclides from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident by a Novel Algal Strain

PubMed Central

Shimura, Hiroki; Itoh, Katsuhiko; Sugiyama, Atsushi; Ichijo, Sayaka; Ichijo, Masashi; Furuya, Fumihiko; Nakamura, Yuji; Kitahara, Ken; Kobayashi, Kazuhiko; Yukawa, Yasuhiro; Kobayashi, Tetsuro

2012-01-01

Large quantities of radionuclides have leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the surrounding environment. Effective prevention of health hazards resulting from radiation exposure will require the development of efficient and economical methods for decontaminating radioactive wastewater and aquatic ecosystems. Here we describe the accumulation of water-soluble radionuclides released by nuclear reactors by a novel strain of alga. The newly discovered green microalgae, Parachlorella sp. binos (Binos) has a thick alginate-containing extracellular matrix and abundant chloroplasts. When this strain was cultured with radioiodine, a light-dependent uptake of radioiodine was observed. In dark conditions, radioiodine uptake was induced by addition of hydrogen superoxide. High-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) showed a localization of accumulated iodine in the cytosol. This alga also exhibited highly efficient incorporation of the radioactive isotopes strontium and cesium in a light-independent manner. SIMS analysis showed that strontium was distributed in the extracellular matrix of Binos. Finally we also showed the ability of this strain to accumulate radioactive nuclides from water and soil samples collected from a heavily contaminated area in Fukushima. Our results demonstrate that Binos could be applied to the decontamination of iodine, strontium and cesium radioisotopes, which are most commonly encountered after nuclear reactor accidents. PMID:22984475

Laser inscription of pseudorandom structures for microphotonic diffuser applications.

PubMed

Alqurashi, Tawfiq; Alhosani, Abdulla; Dauleh, Mahmoud; Yetisen, Ali K; Butt, Haider

2018-04-19

Optical diffusers provide a solution for a variety of applications requiring a Gaussian intensity distribution including imaging systems, biomedical optics, and aerospace. Advances in laser ablation processes have allowed the rapid production of efficient optical diffusers. Here, we demonstrate a novel technique to fabricate high-quality glass optical diffusers with cost-efficiency using a continuous CO2 laser. Surface relief pseudorandom microstructures were patterned on both sides of the glass substrates. A numerical simulation of the temperature distribution showed that the CO2 laser drills a 137 μm hole in the glass for every 2 ms of processing time. FFT simulation was utilized to design predictable optical diffusers. The pseudorandom microstructures were characterized by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and angle-resolved spectroscopy to assess their chemical properties, optical scattering, transmittance, and polarization response. Increasing laser exposure and the number of diffusing surfaces enhanced the diffusion and homogenized the incident light. The recorded speckle pattern showed high contrast with sharp bright spot free diffusion in the far field view range (250 mm). A model of glass surface peeling was also developed to prevent its occurrence during the fabrication process. The demonstrated method provides an economical approach in fabricating optical glass diffusers in a controlled and predictable manner. The produced optical diffusers have application in fibre optics, LED systems, and spotlights.

The Development and Application of Simulative Insulation Resistance Tester

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Yan; Chai, Ziqi; Wang, Bo; Ma, Hao

2018-02-01

The insulation state determines the performance and insulation life of electrical equipment, so it has to be judged in a timely and accurate manner. Insulation resistance test, as the simplest and most basic test of high voltage electric tests, can measure the insulation resistance and absorption ratio which are effective criterion of part or whole damp or dirty, breakdown, severe overheating aging and other insulation defects. It means that the electrical test personnel need to be familiar with the principle of insulation resistance test, and able to operate the insulation resistance tester correctly. At present, like the insulation resistance test, most of electrical tests are trained by physical devices with the real high voltage. Although this allows the students to truly experience the test process and notes on security, it also has certain limitations in terms of safety and test efficiency, especially for a large number of new staves needing induction training every year. This paper presents a new kind of electrical test training system based on the simulative device of dielectric loss measurement and simulative electrical testing devices. It can not only overcome the defects of current training methods, but also provide other advantages in economical efficiency and scalability. That makes it possible for the system to be allied in widespread.

Quantum Hamiltonian daemons: Unitary analogs of combustion engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thesing, Eike P.; Gilz, Lukas; Anglin, James R.

2017-07-01

Hamiltonian daemons have recently been defined classically as small, closed Hamiltonian systems which can exhibit secular energy transfer from high-frequency to low-frequency degrees of freedom (steady downconversion), analogous to the steady transfer of energy in a combustion engine from the high terahertz frequencies of molecular excitations to the low kilohertz frequencies of piston motion [L. Gilz, E. P. Thesing, and J. R. Anglin, Phys. Rev. E 94, 042127 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevE.94.042127]. Classical daemons achieve downconversion within a small, closed system by exploiting nonlinear resonances; the adiabatic theorem permits their operation but imposes nontrivial limitations on their efficiency. Here we investigate a simple example of a quantum mechanical daemon. In the correspondence regime it obeys similar efficiency limits to its classical counterparts, but in the strongly quantum mechanical regime the daemon operates in an entirely different manner. It maintains an engine-like behavior in a distinctly quantum mechanical form: a weight is lifted at a steady average speed through a long sequence of quantum jumps in momentum, at each of which a quantum of fuel is consumed. The quantum daemon can cease downconversion at any time through nonadiabatic Landau-Zener transitions, and continuing operation of the quantum daemon is associated with steadily growing entanglement between fast and slow degrees of freedom.

Thylakoid-Deposited Micro-Pillar Electrodes for Enhanced Direct Extraction of Photosynthetic Electrons

PubMed Central

Ryu, DongHyun; Kim, Yong Jae; Kim, Seon Il; Hong, Hyeonaug; Ahn, Hyun S.

2018-01-01

Photosynthesis converts solar energy to electricity in a highly efficient manner. Since only water is needed as fuel for energy conversion, this highly efficient energy conversion process has been rigorously investigated. In particular, photosynthetic apparatus, such as photosystem II (PSII), photosystem I (PSI), or thylakoids, have been isolated from various plants to construct bio-hybrid anodes. Although PSII or PSI decorated anodes have shown potentials, there still remain challenges, such as poor stability of PSII-based systems or need for electron donors other than water molecules of PSI-based systems. Thylakoid membranes are relatively stable after isolation and they contain all the necessary photosynthetic apparatus including the PSII and PSI. To increase electrical connections between thylakoids and anodes, nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires, nanoparticles, or graphene have been employed. However, since they rely on the secondary electrical connections between thylakoids and anodes; it is desired to achieve larger direct contacts between them. Here, we aimed to develop micro-pillar (MP) array anodes to maximize direct contact with thylakoids. The thylakoid morphology was analyzed and the MP array was designed to maximize direct contact with thylakoids. The performance of MP anodes and a photosynthetic fuel cell based on MP electrodes was demonstrated and analyzed. PMID:29587387

Expanding the utility of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine as a vibrational reporter of protein environments.

PubMed

Bazewicz, Christopher G; Lipkin, Jacob S; Smith, Emily E; Liskov, Melanie T; Brewer, Scott H

2012-09-06

The ability to genetically incorporate amino acids modified with spectroscopic reporters site-specifically into proteins with high efficiency and fidelity has greatly enhanced the ability to probe local protein structure and dynamics. Here, we have synthesized the unnatural amino acid (UAA), 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNPhe), containing the nitrile vibrational reporter and three isotopomers ((15)N, (13)C, (13)C(15)N) of this UAA to enhance the ability of pCNPhe to study local protein environments. Each pCNPhe isotopic variant was genetically incorporated in an efficient, site-specific manner into superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) in response to an amber codon with high fidelity utilizing an engineered, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. The isotopomers of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine permitted the nitrile symmetric stretch vibration of these UAAs to be unambiguously assigned utilizing the magnitude and direction of the isotopic shift of this vibration. The sensitivity of the nitrile symmetric stretching frequency of each isotopic variant to the local environment was measured by individually incorporating the probes into two distinct local environments of sfGFP. The UAAs were also utilized in concert to probe multiple local environments in sfGFP simultaneously to increase the utility of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine.

Image Quality Assessment for Fake Biometric Detection: Application to Iris, Fingerprint, and Face Recognition.

PubMed

Galbally, Javier; Marcel, Sébastien; Fierrez, Julian

2014-02-01

To ensure the actual presence of a real legitimate trait in contrast to a fake self-manufactured synthetic or reconstructed sample is a significant problem in biometric authentication, which requires the development of new and efficient protection measures. In this paper, we present a novel software-based fake detection method that can be used in multiple biometric systems to detect different types of fraudulent access attempts. The objective of the proposed system is to enhance the security of biometric recognition frameworks, by adding liveness assessment in a fast, user-friendly, and non-intrusive manner, through the use of image quality assessment. The proposed approach presents a very low degree of complexity, which makes it suitable for real-time applications, using 25 general image quality features extracted from one image (i.e., the same acquired for authentication purposes) to distinguish between legitimate and impostor samples. The experimental results, obtained on publicly available data sets of fingerprint, iris, and 2D face, show that the proposed method is highly competitive compared with other state-of-the-art approaches and that the analysis of the general image quality of real biometric samples reveals highly valuable information that may be very efficiently used to discriminate them from fake traits.

Exploring oral nanoemulsions for bioavailability enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs.

PubMed

Kotta, Sabna; Khan, Abdul Wadood; Pramod, Kannissery; Ansari, Shahid H; Sharma, Rakesh Kumar; Ali, Javed

2012-05-01

More than 40% of new chemical entities discovered are poorly water soluble and suffer from low oral bioavailability. In recent years, nanoemulsions are receiving increasing attention as a tool of delivering these low-bioavailable moieties in an efficient manner. This review gives a brief description about how oral nanoemulsions act as a tool to improve the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. The recurrent confusion found in the literature regarding the theory behind the formation of nanoemulsions is clarified, along with the difference between nanoemulsion and lyotropic 'microemulsion' phase. This paper gives a clear-cut idea about all possible methods for the preparation of nanoemulsions and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are described. A description of the stability problems of nanoemulsions and their prevention methods is also provided, in addition to a comprehensive update on the patents and research works done in the arena of oral nanoemulsions. Low-energy emulsification techniques can also produce stable nanoemulsions. It is guaranteed that oral nanoemulsions can act as a potential tool for the delivery of poorly water-soluble therapeutic moieties in a very efficient manner.

ECG-cryptography and authentication in body area networks.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhaoyang; Wang, Honggang; Vasilakos, Athanasios V; Fang, Hua

2012-11-01

Wireless body area networks (BANs) have drawn much attention from research community and industry in recent years. Multimedia healthcare services provided by BANs can be available to anyone, anywhere, and anytime seamlessly. A critical issue in BANs is how to preserve the integrity and privacy of a person's medical data over wireless environments in a resource efficient manner. This paper presents a novel key agreement scheme that allows neighboring nodes in BANs to share a common key generated by electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. The improved Jules Sudan (IJS) algorithm is proposed to set up the key agreement for the message authentication. The proposed ECG-IJS key agreement can secure data communications over BANs in a plug-n-play manner without any key distribution overheads. Both the simulation and experimental results are presented, which demonstrate that the proposed ECG-IJS scheme can achieve better security performance in terms of serval performance metrics such as false acceptance rate (FAR) and false rejection rate (FRR) than other existing approaches. In addition, the power consumption analysis also shows that the proposed ECG-IJS scheme can achieve energy efficiency for BANs.

High-Energy Two-Stage Pulsed Plasma Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markusic, Tom

2003-01-01

A high-energy (28 kJ per pulse) two-stage pulsed plasma thruster (MSFC PPT-1) has been constructed and tested. The motivation of this project is to develop a high power (approximately 500 kW), high specific impulse (approximately 10000 s), highly efficient (greater than 50%) thruster for use as primary propulsion in a high power nuclear electric propulsion system. PPT-1 was designed to overcome four negative characteristics which have detracted from the utility of pulsed plasma thrusters: poor electrical efficiency, poor propellant utilization efficiency, electrode erosion, and reliability issues associated with the use of high speed gas valves and high current switches. Traditional PPTs have been plagued with poor efficiency because they have not been operated in a plasma regime that fully exploits the potential benefits of pulsed plasma acceleration by electromagnetic forces. PPTs have generally been used to accelerate low-density plasmas with long current pulses. Operation of thrusters in this plasma regime allows for the development of certain undesirable particle-kinetic effects, such as Hall effect-induced current sheet canting. PPT-1 was designed to propel a highly collisional, dense plasma that has more fluid-like properties and, hence, is more effectively pushed by a magnetic field. The high-density plasma loading into the second stage of the accelerator is achieved through the use of a dense plasma injector (first stage). The injector produces a thermal plasma, derived from a molten lithium propellant feed system, which is subsequently accelerated by the second stage using mega-amp level currents, which eject the plasma at a speed on the order of 100 kilometers per second. Traditional PPTs also suffer from dynamic efficiency losses associated with snowplow loading of distributed neutral propellant. The twostage scheme used in PPT-I allows the propellant to be loaded in a manner which more closely approximates the optimal slug loading. Lithium propellant was chosen to test whether or not the reduced electrode erosion found in the Lithium Lorentz Force Accelerator (LiLFA) could also be realized in a pulsed plasma thruster. The use of the molten lithium dense plasma injector also eliminates the need for a gas valve and electrical switch; the injector design fulfills both roles, and uses no moving parts to provide, in principle, a highly reliable propellant feed and electrical switching system. Experimental results reported in this paper include: second-stage current traces, high-speed photographic and holographic imaging of the thruster exit plume, and internal mapping of the discharge chamber magnetic field from B-dot probe data. The magnetic field data is used to create a two-dimensional description of the evolution of the current sheet inside the thruster.

Fluorescent nanocolloids for differential labeling of the endocytic pathway and drug delivery applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delehanty, James B.; Spillmann, Christopher M.; Naciri, Jawad; Algar, W. Russ; Ratna, Banahalli R.; Medintz, Igor L.

2013-02-01

The demonstration of fine control over nanomaterials within biological systems, particularly in live cells, is integral for the successful implementation of nanoparticles (NPs) in biomedical applications. Here, we show the ability to differentially label the endocytic pathway of mammalian cells in a spatiotemporal manner utilizing fluorescent nanocolloids (NCs) doped with a perylene-based dye. EDC-based conjugation of green- and red-emitting NCs to the iron transport protein transferrin resulted in stable bioconjugates that were efficiently endocytosed by HEK 293T/17 cells. The staggered delivery of the bioconjugates allowed for the time-resolved, differential labeling of distinct vesicular compartments along the endocytic pathway in a nontoxic manner. We further demonstrated the ability of the NCs to be impregnated with the anticancer therapeutic, doxorubicin. Delivery of the drug-doped nanoconjugates resulted in the intracellular release and nuclear accumulation of doxorubicin in a time- and dose-dependent manner. We discuss our results in the context of the utility of such materials for NP-mediated drug delivery applications.

Nanocomposite Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Environmental Remediation

PubMed Central

Homaeigohar, Shahin; Elbahri, Mady

2014-01-01

Rapid worldwide industrialization and population growth is going to lead to an extensive environmental pollution. Therefore, so many people are currently suffering from the water shortage induced by the respective pollution, as well as poor air quality and a huge fund is wasted in the world each year due to the relevant problems. Environmental remediation necessitates implementation of novel materials and technologies, which are cost and energy efficient. Nanomaterials, with their unique chemical and physical properties, are an optimum solution. Accordingly, there is a strong motivation in seeking nano-based approaches for alleviation of environmental problems in an energy efficient, thereby, inexpensive manner. Thanks to a high porosity and surface area presenting an extraordinary permeability (thereby an energy efficiency) and selectivity, respectively, nanofibrous membranes are a desirable candidate. Their functionality and applicability is even promoted when adopting a nanocomposite strategy. In this case, specific nanofillers, such as metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, precious metals, and smart biological agents, are incorporated either during electrospinning or in the post-processing. Moreover, to meet operational requirements, e.g., to enhance mechanical stability, decrease of pressure drop, etc., nanofibrous membranes are backed by a microfibrous non-woven forming a hybrid membrane. The novel generation of nanocomposite/hybrid nanofibrous membranes can perform extraordinarily well in environmental remediation and control. This reality justifies authoring of this review paper. PMID:28788497

Nanocomposite Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Environmental Remediation.

PubMed

Homaeigohar, Shahin; Elbahri, Mady

2014-02-10

Rapid worldwide industrialization and population growth is going to lead to an extensive environmental pollution. Therefore, so many people are currently suffering from the water shortage induced by the respective pollution, as well as poor air quality and a huge fund is wasted in the world each year due to the relevant problems. Environmental remediation necessitates implementation of novel materials and technologies, which are cost and energy efficient. Nanomaterials, with their unique chemical and physical properties, are an optimum solution. Accordingly, there is a strong motivation in seeking nano-based approaches for alleviation of environmental problems in an energy efficient, thereby, inexpensive manner. Thanks to a high porosity and surface area presenting an extraordinary permeability (thereby an energy efficiency) and selectivity, respectively, nanofibrous membranes are a desirable candidate. Their functionality and applicability is even promoted when adopting a nanocomposite strategy. In this case, specific nanofillers, such as metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, precious metals, and smart biological agents, are incorporated either during electrospinning or in the post-processing. Moreover, to meet operational requirements, e.g., to enhance mechanical stability, decrease of pressure drop, etc. , nanofibrous membranes are backed by a microfibrous non-woven forming a hybrid membrane. The novel generation of nanocomposite/hybrid nanofibrous membranes can perform extraordinarily well in environmental remediation and control. This reality justifies authoring of this review paper.

A new pooling strategy for high-throughput screening: the Shifted Transversal Design

PubMed Central

Thierry-Mieg, Nicolas

2006-01-01

Background In binary high-throughput screening projects where the goal is the identification of low-frequency events, beyond the obvious issue of efficiency, false positives and false negatives are a major concern. Pooling constitutes a natural solution: it reduces the number of tests, while providing critical duplication of the individual experiments, thereby correcting for experimental noise. The main difficulty consists in designing the pools in a manner that is both efficient and robust: few pools should be necessary to correct the errors and identify the positives, yet the experiment should not be too vulnerable to biological shakiness. For example, some information should still be obtained even if there are slightly more positives or errors than expected. This is known as the group testing problem, or pooling problem. Results In this paper, we present a new non-adaptive combinatorial pooling design: the "shifted transversal design" (STD). It relies on arithmetics, and rests on two intuitive ideas: minimizing the co-occurrence of objects, and constructing pools of constant-sized intersections. We prove that it allows unambiguous decoding of noisy experimental observations. This design is highly flexible, and can be tailored to function robustly in a wide range of experimental settings (i.e., numbers of objects, fractions of positives, and expected error-rates). Furthermore, we show that our design compares favorably, in terms of efficiency, to the previously described non-adaptive combinatorial pooling designs. Conclusion This method is currently being validated by field-testing in the context of yeast-two-hybrid interactome mapping, in collaboration with Marc Vidal's lab at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Many similar projects could benefit from using the Shifted Transversal Design. PMID:16423300

Precise Spatiotemporal Control of Optogenetic Activation Using an Acousto-Optic Device

PubMed Central

Guo, Yanmeng; Song, Peipei; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zeng, Shaoqun; Wang, Zuoren

2011-01-01

Light activation and inactivation of neurons by optogenetic techniques has emerged as an important tool for studying neural circuit function. To achieve a high resolution, new methods are being developed to selectively manipulate the activity of individual neurons. Here, we report that the combination of an acousto-optic device (AOD) and single-photon laser was used to achieve rapid and precise spatiotemporal control of light stimulation at multiple points in a neural circuit with millisecond time resolution. The performance of this system in activating ChIEF expressed on HEK 293 cells as well as cultured neurons was first evaluated, and the laser stimulation patterns were optimized. Next, the spatiotemporally selective manipulation of multiple neurons was achieved in a precise manner. Finally, we demonstrated the versatility of this high-resolution method in dissecting neural circuits both in the mouse cortical slice and the Drosophila brain in vivo. Taken together, our results show that the combination of AOD-assisted laser stimulation and optogenetic tools provides a flexible solution for manipulating neuronal activity at high efficiency and with high temporal precision. PMID:22174813

Cascading and Parallelising Curvilinear Inertial Focusing Systems for High Volume, Wide Size Distribution, Separation and Concentration of Particles

PubMed Central

Miller, B.; Jimenez, M.; Bridle, H.

2016-01-01

Inertial focusing is a microfluidic based separation and concentration technology that has expanded rapidly in the last few years. Throughput is high compared to other microfluidic approaches although sample volumes have typically remained in the millilitre range. Here we present a strategy for achieving rapid high volume processing with stacked and cascaded inertial focusing systems, allowing for separation and concentration of particles with a large size range, demonstrated here from 30 μm–300 μm. The system is based on curved channels, in a novel toroidal configuration and a stack of 20 devices has been shown to operate at 1 L/min. Recirculation allows for efficient removal of large particles whereas a cascading strategy enables sequential removal of particles down to a final stage where the target particle size can be concentrated. The demonstration of curved stacked channels operating in a cascaded manner allows for high throughput applications, potentially replacing filtration in applications such as environmental monitoring, industrial cleaning processes, biomedical and bioprocessing and many more. PMID:27808244

Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica as a platform for synthesis of drop-in transportation fuels and oleochemicals

PubMed Central

Xu, Peng; Qiao, Kangjian; Ahn, Woo Suk; Stephanopoulos, Gregory

2016-01-01

Harnessing lipogenic pathways and rewiring acyl-CoA and acyl-ACP (acyl carrier protein) metabolism in Yarrowia lipolytica hold great potential for cost-efficient production of diesel, gasoline-like fuels, and oleochemicals. Here we assessed various pathway engineering strategies in Y. lipolytica toward developing a yeast biorefinery platform for sustainable production of fuel-like molecules and oleochemicals. Specifically, acyl-CoA/acyl-ACP processing enzymes were targeted to the cytoplasm, peroxisome, or endoplasmic reticulum to generate fatty acid ethyl esters and fatty alkanes with tailored chain length. Activation of endogenous free fatty acids and the subsequent reduction of fatty acyl-CoAs enabled the efficient synthesis of fatty alcohols. Engineering a hybrid fatty acid synthase shifted the free fatty acids to a medium chain-length scale. Manipulation of alternative cytosolic acetyl-CoA pathways partially decoupled lipogenesis from nitrogen starvation and unleashed the lipogenic potential of Y. lipolytica. Taken together, the strategies reported here represent promising steps to develop a yeast biorefinery platform that potentially upgrades low-value carbons to high-value fuels and oleochemicals in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. PMID:27621436

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

Baker, Kyri; Toomey, Bridget

Evolving power systems with increasing levels of stochasticity call for a need to solve optimal power flow problems with large quantities of random variables. Weather forecasts, electricity prices, and shifting load patterns introduce higher levels of uncertainty and can yield optimization problems that are difficult to solve in an efficient manner. Solution methods for single chance constraints in optimal power flow problems have been considered in the literature, ensuring single constraints are satisfied with a prescribed probability; however, joint chance constraints, ensuring multiple constraints are simultaneously satisfied, have predominantly been solved via scenario-based approaches or by utilizing Boole's inequality asmore » an upper bound. In this paper, joint chance constraints are used to solve an AC optimal power flow problem while preventing overvoltages in distribution grids under high penetrations of photovoltaic systems. A tighter version of Boole's inequality is derived and used to provide a new upper bound on the joint chance constraint, and simulation results are shown demonstrating the benefit of the proposed upper bound. The new framework allows for a less conservative and more computationally efficient solution to considering joint chance constraints, specifically regarding preventing overvoltages.« less

An Affordable Microsurgical Training System for a Beginning Neurosurgeon: How to Realize the Self-Training Laboratory.

PubMed

Chung, Sang-Bong; Ryu, Jiwook; Chung, Yeongu; Lee, Sung Ho; Choi, Seok Keun

2017-09-01

To provide detailed information about how to realize a self-training laboratory with cost-effective microsurgical instruments, especially pertinent for the novice trainee. Our training model is designed to allow the practice of the microsurgery skills in an efficient and cost-effective manner. A used stereoscopic microscope is prepared for microsurgical training. A sufficient working distance for microsurgical practice is obtained by attaching an auxiliary objective lens. The minimum instrument list includes 2 jeweler's forceps, iris scissors, and alligator clips. The iris scissors and alligator clip provide good alternatives to micro-scissors and microvascular clamp. The short time needed to set up the microscope and suture the gauze with micro-forceps makes the training model suitable for daily practice. It takes about 15 minutes to suture 10 neighboring fibers of the gauze with 10-0 nylon; thus, training can be completed more quickly. We have developed an inexpensive and efficient micro-anastomosis training system using a stereoscopic microscope and minimal micro-instruments. Especially useful for novice trainees, this system provides high accessibility for microsurgical training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

jmzIdentML API: A Java interface to the mzIdentML standard for peptide and protein identification data.

PubMed

Reisinger, Florian; Krishna, Ritesh; Ghali, Fawaz; Ríos, Daniel; Hermjakob, Henning; Vizcaíno, Juan Antonio; Jones, Andrew R

2012-03-01

We present a Java application programming interface (API), jmzIdentML, for the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) mzIdentML standard for peptide and protein identification data. The API combines the power of Java Architecture of XML Binding (JAXB) and an XPath-based random-access indexer to allow a fast and efficient mapping of extensible markup language (XML) elements to Java objects. The internal references in the mzIdentML files are resolved in an on-demand manner, where the whole file is accessed as a random-access swap file, and only the relevant piece of XMLis selected for mapping to its corresponding Java object. The APIis highly efficient in its memory usage and can handle files of arbitrary sizes. The APIfollows the official release of the mzIdentML (version 1.1) specifications and is available in the public domain under a permissive licence at http://www.code.google.com/p/jmzidentml/. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Drug "Pent-Up" in Hollow Magnetic Prussian Blue Nanoparticles for NIR-Induced Chemo-Photothermal Tumor Therapy with Trimodal Imaging.

PubMed

Li, Jinghua; Zhang, Fengshou; Hu, Zhigang; Song, Weidong; Li, Guangda; Liang, Gaofeng; Zhou, Jun; Li, Ke; Cao, Yang; Luo, Zhong; Cai, Kaiyong

2017-07-01

The study reports a biocompatible smart drug delivery system based on a doxorubicin (DOX) blending phase-change material of 1-pentadecanol loaded hollow magnetic Prussian blue nanoparticles, resulting in HMNP-PB@Pent@DOX. The system possesses concentration-dependent high thermogenesis (>50 °C) when applying a near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation only for 5 min. Furthermore, the system realizes near "zero release" of drug and is efficiently triggered by NIR for drug delivery in an "on" and "off" manner, thus inducing cell apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the system clearly indicates tumor site with trimodal imaging of magnetic resonance imaging, photoacoustic tomography imaging, and infrared thermal imaging. Furthermore, the system achieves efficient chemo-photothermal combined tumor therapy in vivo with 808 nm laser irradiation for 5 min at 1.2 W cm -2 , revealing the good tumor inhibition effect comparing with those of chemotherapy or photothermal therapy alone. The system is also confirmed to be biocompatible in regard to the mortality rate. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Laboratory-scale column study for remediation of TCE-contaminated aquifers using three-section controlled-release potassium permanganate barriers.

PubMed

Yuan, Baoling; Li, Fei; Chen, Yanmei; Fu, Ming-Lai

2013-05-01

A laboratory-scale study with a sand column was designed to simulate trichloroethylene (TCE) pollution in the aquifer environment with three-section controlled-release potassium permanganate (CRP) barriers. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of CRP barriers in remediation of TCE in aquifers in a long-term and controlled manner. CRP particles with a 1:3 molar ratio of KMnO4 to stearic acid showed the best controlled-release properties in pure water, and the theoretical release time was 138.5 days. The results of TCE removal in the test column indicated that complete removal efficiency of TCE in a sand column by three-section CRP barriers could be reached within 15 days. The molar ratio of KMnO4 to TCE in the three-section CRP barriers was 16:1, which was much lower than 82:1 as required when KMnO4 solution is used directly to achieve complete destruction of TCE. This result revealed that the efficiency of CRP for remediation of TCE was highly improved after encapsulation.

Conditions Database for the Belle II Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, L.; Elsethagen, T.; Schram, M.; Stephan, E.

2017-10-01

The Belle II experiment at KEK is preparing for first collisions in 2017. Processing the large amounts of data that will be produced will require conditions data to be readily available to systems worldwide in a fast and efficient manner that is straightforward for both the user and maintainer. The Belle II conditions database was designed with a straightforward goal: make it as easily maintainable as possible. To this end, HEP-specific software tools were avoided as much as possible and industry standard tools used instead. HTTP REST services were selected as the application interface, which provide a high-level interface to users through the use of standard libraries such as curl. The application interface itself is written in Java and runs in an embedded Payara-Micro Java EE application server. Scalability at the application interface is provided by use of Hazelcast, an open source In-Memory Data Grid (IMDG) providing distributed in-memory computing and supporting the creation and clustering of new application interface instances as demand increases. The IMDG provides fast and efficient access to conditions data via in-memory caching.

TERMA Framework for Biomedical Signal Analysis: An Economic-Inspired Approach.

PubMed

Elgendi, Mohamed

2016-11-02

Biomedical signals contain features that represent physiological events, and each of these events has peaks. The analysis of biomedical signals for monitoring or diagnosing diseases requires the detection of these peaks, making event detection a crucial step in biomedical signal processing. Many researchers have difficulty detecting these peaks to investigate, interpret and analyze their corresponding events. To date, there is no generic framework that captures these events in a robust, efficient and consistent manner. A new method referred to for the first time as two event-related moving averages ("TERMA") involves event-related moving averages and detects events in biomedical signals. The TERMA framework is flexible and universal and consists of six independent LEGO building bricks to achieve high accuracy detection of biomedical events. Results recommend that the window sizes for the two moving averages ( W 1 and W 2 ) have to follow the inequality ( 8 × W 1 ) ≥ W 2 ≥ ( 2 × W 1 ) . Moreover, TERMA is a simple yet efficient event detector that is suitable for wearable devices, point-of-care devices, fitness trackers and smart watches, compared to more complex machine learning solutions.

Practical experimental certification of computational quantum gates using a twirling procedure.

PubMed

Moussa, Osama; da Silva, Marcus P; Ryan, Colm A; Laflamme, Raymond

2012-08-17

Because of the technical difficulty of building large quantum computers, it is important to be able to estimate how faithful a given implementation is to an ideal quantum computer. The common approach of completely characterizing the computation process via quantum process tomography requires an exponential amount of resources, and thus is not practical even for relatively small devices. We solve this problem by demonstrating that twirling experiments previously used to characterize the average fidelity of quantum memories efficiently can be easily adapted to estimate the average fidelity of the experimental implementation of important quantum computation processes, such as unitaries in the Clifford group, in a practical and efficient manner with applicability in current quantum devices. Using this procedure, we demonstrate state-of-the-art coherent control of an ensemble of magnetic moments of nuclear spins in a single crystal solid by implementing the encoding operation for a 3-qubit code with only a 1% degradation in average fidelity discounting preparation and measurement errors. We also highlight one of the advances that was instrumental in achieving such high fidelity control.

Advanced radiator concepts utilizing honeycomb panel heat pipes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleischman, G. L.; Peck, S. J.; Tanzer, H. J.

1987-01-01

The feasibility of fabricating and processing moderate temperature range vapor chamber type heat pipes in a low mass honeycomb panel configuration for highly efficient radiator fins for potential use on the space station was investigated. A variety of honeycomb panel facesheet and core-ribbon wick concepts were evaluated within constraints dictated by existing manufacturing technology and equipment. Concepts evaluated include type of material, material and panel thickness, wick type and manufacturability, liquid and vapor communication among honeycomb cells, and liquid flow return from condenser to evaporator facesheet areas. A thin-wall all-welded stainless steel design with methanol as the working fluid was the initial prototype unit. It was found that an aluminum panel could not be fabricated in the same manner as a stainless steel panel due to diffusion bonding and resistance welding considerations. Therefore, a formed and welded design was developed. The prototype consists of ten panels welded together into a large panel 122 by 24 by 0.15 in., with a heat rejection capability of 1000 watts and a fin efficiency of essentially 1.0.

All-dielectric ultrathin conformal metasurfaces: lensing and cloaking applications at 532 nm wavelength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Jierong; Jafar-Zanjani, Samad; Mosallaei, Hossein

2016-12-01

Metasurfaces are ideal candidates for conformal wave manipulation on curved objects due to their low profiles and rich functionalities. Here we design and analyze conformal metasurfaces for practical optical applications at 532 nm visible band for the first time. The inclusions are silicon disk nanoantennas embedded in a flexible supporting layer of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). They behave as local phase controllers in subwavelength dimensions for successful modification of electromagnetic responses point by point, with merits of high efficiency, at visible regime, ultrathin films, good tolerance to the incidence angle and the grid stretching due to the curvy substrate. An efficient modeling technique based on field equivalence principle is systematically proposed for characterizing metasurfaces with huge arrays of nanoantennas oriented in a conformal manner. Utilizing the robust nanoantenna inclusions and benefiting from the powerful analyzing tool, we successfully demonstrate the superior performances of the conformal metasurfaces in two specific areas, with one for lensing and compensation of spherical aberration, and the other carpet cloak, both at 532 nm visible spectrum.

Epitaxial solar-cell fabrication, phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daiello, R. V.; Robinson, P. H.; Kressel, H.

1977-01-01

Dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2) was used as the silicon source material in all of the epitaxial growths. Both n/p/p(+) and p/n/n(+) structures were studied. Correlations were made between the measured profiles and the solar cell parameters, especially cell open-circuit voltage. It was found that in order to obtain consistently high open-circuit voltage, the epitaxial techniques used to grow the surface layer must be altered to obtain very abrupt doping profiles in the vicinity of the junction. With these techniques, it was possible to grow reproducibly both p/n/n(+) and n/p/p(+) solar cell structures having open-circuit voltages in the 610- to 630-mV range, with fill-factors in excess of 0.80 and AM-1 efficiencies of about 13%. Combinations and comparisons of epitaxial and diffused surface layers were also made. Using such surface layers, we found that the blue response of epitaxial cells could be improved, resulting in AM-1 short-circuit current densities of about 30 mA/cm sq. The best cells fabricated in this manner had AM-1 efficiency of 14.1%.

Characterization, Modeling, and Failure Analysis of Composite Structure Materials under Static and Dynamic Loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werner, Brian Thomas

Composite structures have long been used in many industries where it is advantageous to reduce weight while maintaining high stiffness and strength. Composites can now be found in an ever broadening range of applications: sporting equipment, automobiles, marine and aerospace structures, and energy production. These structures are typically sandwich panels composed of fiber reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) facesheets which provide the stiffness and the strength and a low density polymeric foam core that adds bending rigidity with little additional weight. The expanding use of composite structures exposes them to high energy, high velocity dynamic loadings which produce multi-axial dynamic states of stress. This circumstance can present quite a challenge to designers, as composite structures are highly anisotropic and display properties that are sensitive to loading rates. Computer codes are continually in development to assist designers in the creation of safe, efficient structures. While the design of an optimal composite structure is more complex, engineers can take advantage of the effect of enhanced energy dissipation displayed by a composite when loaded at high strain rates. In order to build and verify effective computer codes, the underlying assumptions must be verified by laboratory experiments. Many of these codes look to use a micromechanical approach to determine the response of the structure. For this, the material properties of the constituent materials must be verified, three-dimensional constitutive laws must be developed, and failure of these materials must be investigated under static and dynamic loading conditions. In this study, simple models are sought not only to ease their implementation into such codes, but to allow for efficient characterization of new materials that may be developed. Characterization of composite materials and sandwich structures is a costly, time intensive process. A constituent based design approach evaluates potential combinations of materials in a much faster and more efficient manner.

Culture-free, highly sensitive, quantitative detection of bacteria from minimally processed samples using fluorescence imaging by smartphone.

PubMed

Shrivastava, Sajal; Lee, Won-Il; Lee, Nae-Eung

2018-06-30

A critical unmet need in the diagnosis of bacterial infections, which remain a major cause of human morbidity and mortality, is the detection of scarce bacterial pathogens in a variety of samples in a rapid and quantitative manner. Herein, we demonstrate smartphone-based detection of Staphylococcus aureus in a culture-free, rapid, quantitative manner from minimally processed liquid samples using aptamer-functionalized fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles. The tagged S. aureus cells were magnetically captured in a detection cassette, and then fluorescence was imaged using a smartphone camera with a light-emitting diode as the excitation source. Our results showed quantitative detection capability with a minimum detectable concentration as low as 10 cfu/ml by counting individual bacteria cells, efficiently capturing S. aureus cells directly from a peanut milk sample within 10 min. When the selectivity of detection was investigated using samples spiked with other pathogenic bacteria, no significant non-specific detection occurred. Furthermore, strains of S. aureus from various origins showed comparable results, ensuring that the approach can be widely adopted. Therefore, the quantitative fluorescence imaging platform on a smartphone could allow on-site detection of bacteria, providing great potential assistance during major infectious disease outbreaks in remote and resource-limited settings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding value in health data ecosystems: A review of current evidence and ways forward.

PubMed

Sonja, Marjanovic; Ioana, Ghiga; Miaoqing, Yang; Anna, Knack

2018-01-01

The potential of health data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health research and development, healthcare delivery, and health systems more widely is substantial. There are many initiatives across the EU that are experimenting with ways to capture value and address the nexus of technical, legal, ethics-related, governance and data protection-related, and cultural challenges to delivering potential benefits for society and the economy. The field of health data research and policy is highly dynamic and there is a need for further reflection, thematic learning and evaluation to better understand how to create and connect receptive places, to inform future interventions and to identify transferable lessons. Our research emphasises that realising the benefits of health data at scale will require: a simultaneous focus on the technological and structural conditions that are required; collaboration and coordination to transform working cultures and build health and care workforce and citizen capacity to engage with data; and efforts to ensure that policy, industry, and research communities respond to public concerns, needs, and expectations in a timely and sustained manner. The global community of individuals and organisations with a stake in health data will also need to consider how progress can benefit different populations across the world in an equitable manner.

Understanding value in health data ecosystems

PubMed Central

Sonja, Marjanovic; Ioana, Ghiga; Miaoqing, Yang; Anna, Knack

2018-01-01

Abstract The potential of health data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health research and development, healthcare delivery, and health systems more widely is substantial. There are many initiatives across the EU that are experimenting with ways to capture value and address the nexus of technical, legal, ethics-related, governance and data protection-related, and cultural challenges to delivering potential benefits for society and the economy. The field of health data research and policy is highly dynamic and there is a need for further reflection, thematic learning and evaluation to better understand how to create and connect receptive places, to inform future interventions and to identify transferable lessons. Our research emphasises that realising the benefits of health data at scale will require: a simultaneous focus on the technological and structural conditions that are required; collaboration and coordination to transform working cultures and build health and care workforce and citizen capacity to engage with data; and efforts to ensure that policy, industry, and research communities respond to public concerns, needs, and expectations in a timely and sustained manner. The global community of individuals and organisations with a stake in health data will also need to consider how progress can benefit different populations across the world in an equitable manner. PMID:29416943

The importance of microfluidics for the preparation of nanoparticles as advanced drug delivery systems.

PubMed

Martins, João Pedro; Torrieri, Giulia; Santos, Hélder A

2018-05-01

Nanoparticles are anticipated to overcome persistent challenges in efficient drug delivery, but the limitations associated with conventional methods of preparation are resulting in slow translation from research to clinical applications. Due to their enormous potential, microfluidic technologies have emerged as an advanced approach for the development of drug delivery systems with well-defined physicochemical characteristics and in a reproducible manner. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of microfluidic devices and materials used for their manufacturing, together with the flow patterns and regimes commonly used for nanoparticle preparation. Additionally, the different geometries used in droplet microfluidics are reviewed, with particular attention to the co-flow geometry used for the production of nanoparticles. Finally, this review summarizes the main and most recent nanoparticulate systems prepared using microfluidics, including drug nanosuspensions, polymeric, lipid, structured, and theranostic nanoparticles. Expert opinion: The production of nanoparticles at industrial scale is still a challenge, but the microfluidic technologies bring exciting opportunities to develop drug delivery systems that can be engineered in an easy, cost-effective and reproducible manner. As a highly interdisciplinary research field, more efforts and general acceptance are needed to allow for the translation of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems from academic research to the clinical practice.

Simultaneous pharmacokinetics evaluation of human cytochrome P450 probes, caffeine, warfarin, omeprazole, metoprolol and midazolam, in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).

PubMed

Uehara, Shotaro; Inoue, Takashi; Utoh, Masahiro; Toda, Akiko; Shimizu, Makiko; Uno, Yasuhiro; Sasaki, Erika; Yamazaki, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

1. Pharmacokinetics of human cytochrome P450 probes (caffeine, racemic warfarin, omeprazole, metoprolol and midazolam) composite, after single intravenous and oral administrations at doses of 0.20 and 1.0 mg kg(-1), respectively, to four male common marmosets were investigated. 2. The plasma concentrations of caffeine and warfarin decreased slowly in a monophasic manner but those of omeprazole, metoprolol and midazolam decreased extensively after intravenous and oral administrations, in a manner that approximated those as reported for pharmacokinetics in humans. 3. Bioavailabilities were ∼100% for caffeine and warfarin, but <25% for omeprazole and metoprolol. Bioavailability of midazolam was 4% in marmosets, presumably because of contribution of marmoset P450 3A4 expressed in small intestine and liver, with a high catalytic efficiency for midazolam 1'-hydroxylation as evident in the recombinant system. 4. These results suggest that common marmosets, despite their rapid clearance of some human P450 probe substrates, could be an experimental model for humans and that marmoset P450s have functional characteristics that differ from those of human and/or cynomolgus monkey P450s in some aspects, indicating their importance in modeling in P450-dependent drug metabolism studies in marmosets and of further studies.

A RecET-assisted CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Hu, Qitiao; Zhang, Yu; Shi, Ruilin; Chai, Xin; Liu, Zhe; Shang, Xiuling; Zhang, Yun; Wen, Tingyi

2018-04-23

Extensive modification of genome is an efficient manner to regulate the metabolic network for producing target metabolites or non-native products using Corynebacterium glutamicum as a cell factory. Genome editing approaches by means of homologous recombination and counter-selection markers are laborious and time consuming due to multiple round manipulations and low editing efficiencies. The current two-plasmid-based CRISPR-Cas9 editing methods generate false positives due to the potential instability of Cas9 on the plasmid, and require a high transformation efficiency for co-occurrence of two plasmids transformation. Here, we developed a RecET-assisted CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing method using a chromosome-borne Cas9-RecET and a single plasmid harboring sgRNA and repair templates. The inducible expression of chromosomal RecET promoted the frequencies of homologous recombination, and increased the efficiency for gene deletion. Due to the high transformation efficiency of a single plasmid, this method enabled 10- and 20-kb region deletion, 2.5-, 5.7- and 7.5-kb expression cassette insertion and precise site-specific mutation, suggesting a versatility of this method. Deletion of argR and farR regulators as well as site-directed mutation of argB and pgi genes generated the mutant capable of accumulating L-arginine, indicating the stability of chromosome-borne Cas9 for iterative genome editing. Using this method, the model-predicted target genes were modified to redirect metabolic flux towards 1,2-propanediol biosynthetic pathway. The final engineered strain produced 6.75 ± 0.46 g/L of 1,2-propanediol that is the highest titer reported in C. glutamicum. Furthermore, this method is available for Corynebacterium pekinense 1.563, suggesting its universal applicability in other Corynebacterium species. The RecET-assisted CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing method will facilitate engineering of metabolic networks for the synthesis of interested bio-based products from renewable biomass using Corynebacterium species as cell factories.

Increasing efficiency of human mesenchymal stromal cell culture by optimization of microcarrier concentration and design of medium feed.

PubMed

Chen, Allen Kuan-Liang; Chew, Yi Kong; Tan, Hong Yu; Reuveny, Shaul; Weng Oh, Steve Kah

2015-02-01

Large amounts of human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are needed for clinical cellular therapy. In a previous publication, we described a microcarrier-based process for expansion of MSCs. The present study optimized this process by selecting suitable basal media, microcarrier concentration and feeding regime to achieve higher cell yields and more efficient medium utilization. MSCs were expanded in stirred cultures on Cytodex 3 microcarriers with media containing 10% fetal bovine serum. Process optimization was carried out in spinner flasks. A 2-L bioreactor with an automated feeding system was used to validate the optimized parameters explored in spinner flask cultures. Minimum essential medium-α-based medium supported faster MSC growth on microcarriers than did Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (doubling time, 31.6 ± 1.4 vs 42 ± 1.7 h) and shortened the process time. At microcarrier concentration of 8 mg/mL, a high cell concentration of 1.08 × 10(6) cells/mL with confluent cell concentration of 4.7 × 10(4)cells/cm(2) was achieved. Instead of 50% medium exchange every 2 days, we have designed a full medium feed that is based on glucose consumption rate. The optimal medium feed that consisted of 1.5 g/L glucose supported MSC growth to full confluency while achieving the low medium usage efficiency of 3.29 mL/10(6)cells. Finally, a controlled bioreactor with the optimized parameters achieved maximal confluent cell concentration with 16-fold expansion and a further improved medium usage efficiency of 1.68 mL/10(6)cells. We have optimized the microcarrier-based platform for expansion of MSCs that generated high cell yields in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. This study highlighted the critical parameters in the optimization of MSC production process. Copyright © 2015 International Society for Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parallelization of the Flow Field Dependent Variation Scheme for Solving the Triple Shock/Boundary Layer Interaction Problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schunk, Richard Gregory; Chung, T. J.

2001-01-01

A parallelized version of the Flowfield Dependent Variation (FDV) Method is developed to analyze a problem of current research interest, the flowfield resulting from a triple shock/boundary layer interaction. Such flowfields are often encountered in the inlets of high speed air-breathing vehicles including the NASA Hyper-X research vehicle. In order to resolve the complex shock structure and to provide adequate resolution for boundary layer computations of the convective heat transfer from surfaces inside the inlet, models containing over 500,000 nodes are needed. Efficient parallelization of the computation is essential to achieving results in a timely manner. Results from a parallelization scheme, based upon multi-threading, as implemented on multiple processor supercomputers and workstations is presented.

Online Sensor Drift Compensation for E-Nose Systems Using Domain Adaptation and Extreme Learning Machine

PubMed Central

Luo, Guangchun; Qin, Ke; Wang, Nan; Niu, Weina

2018-01-01

Sensor drift is a common issue in E-Nose systems and various drift compensation methods have received fruitful results in recent years. Although the accuracy for recognizing diverse gases under drift conditions has been largely enhanced, few of these methods considered online processing scenarios. In this paper, we focus on building online drift compensation model by transforming two domain adaptation based methods into their online learning versions, which allow the recognition models to adapt to the changes of sensor responses in a time-efficient manner without losing the high accuracy. Experimental results using three different settings confirm that the proposed methods save large processing time when compared with their offline versions, and outperform other drift compensation methods in recognition accuracy. PMID:29494543

From the Cover: Microfabricated needles for transdermal delivery of macromolecules and nanoparticles: Fabrication methods and transport studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McAllister, Devin V.; Wang, Ping M.; Davis, Shawn P.; Park, Jung-Hwan; Canatella, Paul J.; Allen, Mark G.; Prausnitz, Mark R.

2003-11-01

Arrays of micrometer-scale needles could be used to deliver drugs, proteins, and particles across skin in a minimally invasive manner. We therefore developed microfabrication techniques for silicon, metal, and biodegradable polymer microneedle arrays having solid and hollow bores with tapered and beveled tips and feature sizes from 1 to 1,000 μm. When solid microneedles were used, skin permeability was increased in vitro by orders of magnitude for macromolecules and particles up to 50 nm in radius. Intracellular delivery of molecules into viable cells was also achieved with high efficiency. Hollow microneedles permitted flow of microliter quantities into skin in vivo, including microinjection of insulin to reduce blood glucose levels in diabetic rats. transdermal drug delivery | skin | microelectromechanical systems | solid microneedle | hollow needle injection

Transcriptome-Based Differentiation of Closely-Related Miscanthus Lines

DOE PAGES

Chouvarine, Philippe; Cooksey, Amanda M.; McCarthy, Fiona M.; ...

2012-01-10

Distinguishing between individuals is critical to those conducting animal/plant breeding, food safety/quality research, diagnostic and clinical testing, and evolutionary biology studies. Classical genetic identification studies are based on marker polymorphisms, but polymorphism-based techniques are time and labor intensive and often cannot distinguish between closely related individuals. Illumina sequencing technologies provide the detailed sequence data required for rapid and efficient differentiation of related species, lines/cultivars, and individuals in a cost-effective manner. Here we describe the use of Illumina high-throughput exome sequencing, coupled with SNP mapping, as a rapid means of distinguishing between related cultivars of the lignocellulosic bioenergy crop giant miscanthusmore » (Miscanthus6giganteus). We provide the first exome sequence database for Miscanthus species complete with Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotations."« less

Computers in medicine. Virtual rehabilitation: dream or reality?

PubMed

Berra, Kathy

2006-08-01

Coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death for men and women in the United States and internationally. Identification of persons at risk for cardiovascular disease and reduction of cardiovascular risk factors are key factors in managing this tremendous societal burden. The internet holds great promise in helping to identify and manage persons at high risk of a cardiac or vascular event. The Internet has the capability to assess risk and provide support for cardiovascular risk reduction for large numbers of persons in a cost effective and time efficient manner. The purpose of this report is to describe important advances in the use of the Internet in identifying persons at risk for a cardiovascular event and in the Internet's ability to provide interventions designed to reduce this risk.