EFFECTS OF PCBS SORBED TO ALGAL PASTE AND SEDIMENTS ON THE STRESS PROTEIN RESPONSE (HSP70 FAMILY) IN THE EASTERN OYSTER, CRASSOSTREA VIRGINICA. (R825349)

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract

This study examined the stress protein response (HSP70 family) of reproductively inactive oysters fed 0.7 g algal paste containing 0, 0.35 and 3.5 g polychlorinate...

[Record of the role given to members of the psychological professions in the French Multidisciplinary Prenatal Diagnosis Centers (CPDPN)].

PubMed

Abdel-Hamid, N; Frin, G; Flandrin, A; Boulot, P

2015-01-01

Create a record of the role given to members of the psychological professions in CPDPN Centers (multidisciplinary prenatal diagnosis). After more than 10 years in operation, describe the work methods of the different centers and their members, evaluate the possible diversity of practices and clarify the scope of interventions used by psychologists with patients and members of the CPDPN. A descriptive survey consisting of 71 questions sent to psychologists, paediatricians and psychiatrists involved with the 48 CPDPN Centers in France. The main parameters studied are the means used by the CPDPN and their organization in the field of psychology, pre-medical counseling for the termination of pregnancy (IMG), conditions of hospitalization and post-IMG counseling. The survey revealed a high-level of homogeneous practices in the French CPDPN Centers between members of the medical and psychological professions, through joint consultations, ethical committees or specific case meetings for complex fetal pathologies. This study has established a working relationship between members of the psychological professions working in the French CPDPN Centers and has led to the creation of a listing/directory, which facilitates the exchange of information. Video-conferencing is currently being considered in order to share respective practices. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

The fcc - bcc structural transition: I. A band theoretical study for Li, K, Rb, Ca, Sr, and the transition metals Ti and V

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sliwko, V. L.; Mohn, P.; Schwarz, K.; Blaha, P.

1996-02-01

Employing a high-precision band structure method (FP LAPW - full potential linearized augmented plane wave) we calculate the total energy variation along the tetragonal distortion path connecting the body centred cubic (bcc) and the face centred cubic (fcc) structures. The total energy along this Bain transformation is calculated, varying c/a and volume, providing a first-principles energy surface which has two minima as a function of c/a. These are shallow and occur for the sp metals at the two cubic structures, while Ti (V) has a minimum at fcc (bcc) but a saddle point (i.e. a minimum in volume and a maximum with respect to c/a) at the other cubic structure. These features can be analysed in terms of an interplay between the Madelung contribution and the band energies. Our total energy results allow us to calculate the elastic constants 0953-8984/8/7/006/img1 and 0953-8984/8/7/006/img2 and to study the influence of pressure on the phase stability. These energy surfaces will be used in part II of this paper to investigate finite-temperature effects by mapping them to a Landau - Ginzburg expansion.

Long-range prediction of the low-frequency mode in the low-level Indian monsoon circulation with a simple statistical method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Tsing-Chang; Yen, Ming-Cheng; Wu, Kuang-Der; Ng, Thomas

1992-08-01

The time evolution of the Indian monsoon is closely related to locations of the northward migrating monsoon troughs and ridges which can be well depicted with the 30 60day filtered 850-mb streamfunction. Thus, long-range forecasts of the large-scale low-level monsoon can be obtained from those of the filtered 850-mb streamfunction. These long-range forecasts were made in this study in terms of the Auto Regressive (AR) Moving-Average process. The historical series of the AR model were constructed with the 30 60day filtered 850-mb streamfunction [˜ψ (850mb)] time series of 4months. However, the phase of the last low-frequency cycle in the ˜ψ (850mb) time series can be skewed by the bandpass filtering. To reduce this phase skewness, a simple scheme is introduced. With this phase modification of the filtered 850-mb streamfunction, we performed the pilot forecast experiments of three summers with the AR forecast process. The forecast errors in the positions of the northward propagating monsoon troughs and ridges at Day 20 are generally within the range of 12days behind the observed, except in some extreme cases.

Mercury (Hg) mineral evolution: Supercontinent assembly, ocean geochemistry and the terrestrial biosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazen, R. M.; Downs, R. T.; Golden, J.; Grew, E. S.; Azzolini, D.; Sverjensky, D. A.

2011-12-01

Temporal and geographic distribution of 90 known Hg minerals exemplify principals of mineral evolution. Since the appearance of cinnabar at ~3 Ga, Hg minerals have been present continuously at or near Earth's surface (Fig.1). Mercury mineral evolution is characterized by episodic deposition and diversification associated with the supercontinent cycle. Increases in reported Hg mineral localities and new Hg species occur during intervals of presumed supercontinent assembly and associated orogenies of Kenorland, Nuna and Pangea (Fig.2), while few Hg deposits are reported from intervals of supercontinent stability and breakup. Pangean supercontinent stability and breakup (~250-65 Ma) shows declines in mercury mineralization; however, rocks of the last 65 Ma are characterized by numerous ephemeral near-surface Hg deposits. Hg was effectively sequestered during the sulfidic "intermediate ocean" (~1.85-0.85 Ga); consequently, few Hg deposits formed during the aggregation of Rodinia. Mercury mineralization is enhanced by interactions with organic matter, so a recent pulse of Hg minerals may reflect the rise of a terrestrial biosphere at ~400 Ma.

Genomes OnLine Database (GOLD) v.6: data updates and feature enhancements

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Supratim; Stamatis, Dimitri; Bertsch, Jon; Ovchinnikova, Galina; Verezemska, Olena; Isbandi, Michelle; Thomas, Alex D.; Ali, Rida; Sharma, Kaushal; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Reddy, T. B. K.

2017-01-01

The Genomes Online Database (GOLD) (https://gold.jgi.doe.gov) is a manually curated data management system that catalogs sequencing projects with associated metadata from around the world. In the current version of GOLD (v.6), all projects are organized based on a four level classification system in the form of a Study, Organism (for isolates) or Biosample (for environmental samples), Sequencing Project and Analysis Project. Currently, GOLD provides information for 26 117 Studies, 239 100 Organisms, 15 887 Biosamples, 97 212 Sequencing Projects and 78 579 Analysis Projects. These are integrated with over 312 metadata fields from which 58 are controlled vocabularies with 2067 terms. The web interface facilitates submission of a diverse range of Sequencing Projects (such as isolate genome, single-cell genome, metagenome, metatranscriptome) and complex Analysis Projects (such as genome from metagenome, or combined assembly from multiple Sequencing Projects). GOLD provides a seamless interface with the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system and supports and promotes the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) Minimum Information standards. This paper describes the data updates and additional features added during the last two years. PMID:27794040

Metabolic analysis of the cutaneous fungi Malassezia globosa and M. restricta for insights on scalp condition and dandruff.

PubMed

James, A Gordon; Abraham, Karen H; Cox, Diana S; Moore, Alison E; Pople, Jennifer E

2013-04-01

Dandruff is a global consumer problem, characterized by flaking and scaling of the scalp, accompanied by itch and irritancy. However, the aetiology of the condition remains poorly understood, although there is a strong consensus that the cutaneous fungi Malassezia globosa and M. restricta are a major contributory factor. Although there is a paucity of understanding on how these commensal microorganisms adopt a pathogenic phenotype, a rich source of potential insights now exists in the shape of the recently published whole-genome sequence of M. globosa, a functional annotation and metabolic reconstruction of which is freely accessible via the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) online community resource (http://www.hmpdacc-resources.org/cgi-bin/imgm_hmp/main.cgi). In these studies, we have taken a combined in-silico and in-vitro approach to investigate aspects of lipid and amino acid metabolism by M. globosa and M. restricta that have the potential to impact on scalp condition and dandruff. The IMG platform was employed to analyse the metabolism of triacylglycerols and fatty acids, as well as the aromatic amino acid tryptophan, by M. globosa, to investigate pro-inflammatory pathways linked in the literature to dandruff and pityriasis versicolour, respectively. Results were equivocal, leaving question marks over the ability of M. globosa to fully degrade unsaturated fatty acids and metabolize tryptophan to indole-3-pyruvic acid. In-vitro assay systems were then developed to study the biotransformation of these metabolites by both M. globosa and M. restricta, as well as their effect on human keratinocytes, and the results here indicated that neither unsaturated fatty acids nor indole derivatives are likely to be major aetiological factors in dandruff. © 2012 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

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

Springmeyer, R R; Brugger, E; Cook, R

The Data group provides data analysis and visualization support to its customers. This consists primarily of the development and support of VisIt, a data analysis and visualization tool. Support ranges from answering questions about the tool, providing classes on how to use the tool, and performing data analysis and visualization for customers. The Information Management and Graphics Group supports and develops tools that enhance our ability to access, display, and understand large, complex data sets. Activities include applying visualization software for large scale data exploration; running video production labs on two networks; supporting graphics libraries and tools for end users;more » maintaining PowerWalls and assorted other displays; and developing software for searching and managing scientific data. Researchers in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) work on various projects including the development of visualization techniques for large scale data exploration that are funded by the ASC program, among others. The researchers also have LDRD projects and collaborations with other lab researchers, academia, and industry. The IMG group is located in the Terascale Simulation Facility, home to Dawn, Atlas, BGL, and others, which includes both classified and unclassified visualization theaters, a visualization computer floor and deployment workshop, and video production labs. We continued to provide the traditional graphics group consulting and video production support. We maintained five PowerWalls and many other displays. We deployed a 576-node Opteron/IB cluster with 72 TB of memory providing a visualization production server on our classified network. We continue to support a 128-node Opteron/IB cluster providing a visualization production server for our unclassified systems and an older 256-node Opteron/IB cluster for the classified systems, as well as several smaller clusters to drive the PowerWalls. The visualization production systems includes NFS servers to provide dedicated storage for data analysis and visualization. The ASC projects have delivered new versions of visualization and scientific data management tools to end users and continue to refine them. VisIt had 4 releases during the past year, ending with VisIt 2.0. We released version 2.4 of Hopper, a Java application for managing and transferring files. This release included a graphical disk usage view which works on all types of connections and an aggregated copy feature for quickly transferring massive datasets quickly and efficiently to HPSS. We continue to use and develop Blockbuster and Telepath. Both the VisIt and IMG teams were engaged in a variety of movie production efforts during the past year in addition to the development tasks.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: BEST-II catalog of variables. I. Southern fields (Fruth+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fruth, T.; Cabrera, J.; Chini, R.; Csizmadia, Sz.; Dreyer, C.; Eigmuller, P.; Erikson, A.; Kabath, P.; Kirste, S.; Lemke, R.; Murphy, M.; Pasternacki, T.; Rauer, H.; Titz-Weider, R.

2014-07-01

BEST II (Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II) is located at the Observatorio Cerro Armazones, Chile. Since 2007, it has been operated continuously by the Institute of Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in robotic mode from Berlin. The system consists of a 25cm Baker-Ritchey-Chretien telescope. The photometric data presented here were obtained with a 4k*4k Finger Lakes Instrumentation CCD (IMG-16801E1) in white light, i.e., without any photometric filter. The CCD is most sensitive at λ~650nm, and the photometric system is roughly comparable to the Johnson R-band. Three target fields, named F17, F18, and F19, were monitored intensively with BEST II in 2009 Apr 20-2009 Jul 22, 2009 Aug 19-2009 Oct 27, and 2010 Mar 24-2010 Sep 21 respectively. (2 data files).

Application of the E - Turbulence Closure Model to the Neutral and Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duynkerke, P. G.

1988-03-01

In the E - turbulence model an eddy-exchange coefficient is evaluated from the turbulent kinetic energy E and viscous dissipation . In this study we will apply the E - model to the stable and neutral atmospheric boundary layer. A discussion is given on the equation for , which terms should be included and how we have evaluated the constants. Constant cooling rate results for the stable atmospheric boundary layer are compared with a second-order closure study. For the neutral atmospheric boundary layer a comparison is made with observations, large-eddy simulations and a second-order closure study. It is shown that a small stability effect can change the neutral atmospheric boundary layer quite drastically, and therefore, it will be difficult to observe a neutral boundary layer in the atmosphere.

The pair correlation function of krypton in the critical region: theory and experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barocchi, F.; Chieux, P.; Fontana, R.; Magli, R.; Meroni, A.; Parola, A.; Reatto, L.; Tau, M.

1997-10-01

We present the results of high-precision measurements of the structure factor S(k) of krypton in the near-critical region of the liquid - vapour phase transition for values of k ranging from 1.5 up to 0953-8984/9/42/003/img15. The experimental results are compared with a theoretical calculation based on the hierarchical reference theory (HRT) with an accurate potential which includes two- and three-body contributions. The theory is based on a new implementation of HRT in which we avoid the use of hard spheres as a reference system. With this soft-core formulation we find a generally good agreement with experiments both at large k, where S(k) probes the short-range correlations, as well as at small k, where critical fluctuations become dominant. Also, for the density derivative of the pair correlation function there is an overall good agreement between theory and experiment.

Framework for Processing Videos in the Presence of Spatially Varying Motion Blur

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-18

international journals. Expected impact The related problems of image restoration, registration, dehazing, and superresolution , all in the presence of blurring...real-time, it can be very valuable for applications involving aerial surveillance. Our work on superresolution will be especially valuable while...unified approach to superresolution and multichannel blind decon- volution,” Trans. Img. Proc., vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 2322–2332, Sept. 2007. 5, 5.2.1

International Medical Graduates. Immigration Law and Policy and the U.S. Physician Workforce. Council on Graduate Medical Education Resource Paper. A COGME Panel Discussion (Washington, DC, March 12, 1996).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Health Resources and Services Administration (DHHS/PHS), Rockville, MD. Bureau of Health Professions.

This report includes presentations and discussions by the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME) addressing issues related to the current supply of physicians in the United States and the role of international medical graduates (IMGs). The presentations focused on the following areas: the exchange visitor program and the use of waivers, the…

INTERACTION OF ESTRADIOL AND 2,3,7,8-TETRACHLORODIBENZO-P-DIOXIN (TCDD) IN AN OVULATION MODEL: EVIDENCE FOR SYSTEMIC POTENTIATION AND LOCAL OVARIAN EFFECTS. (R826132)

EPA Science Inventory

Immature rats were treated with estradiol cypionate, (ECP, 0, 0.1, 1, or 2 mg/kg s.c.) followed 24 h later by TCDD (0 or 10 g/kg orally). Follicular development was induced with eC...

Balkanization and the Positive Sovereignty Deficit in Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-15

that they control the most of the Ivory Coast’s agricultural land which produces domestic food crops including rice, maize , millet, sorghum...Forum, No. 255, May 2010, http://www.ndu.edu/inss/docUploaded/SF255_LeSage. pdf (accessed October 27, 2010). 2 Charles Ukeje, Ph.D., “Rethinking...Africa’s Security in the Age of Uncertain Globalization: NEPAD and Human Security in the 21st Century,” http://www.codesria.org/IMG/ pdf /ukeje.pdf

Synthesis of covalently linked dimeric derivatives of chlorophyll a, pyrochlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and bacteriochlorophyll a

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

Wasielewski, M.R.; Svec, W.A.

1980-05-09

Bis(chlorophyllide) ethylene glycol diesters were prepared for each of the title compounds. Pheophytins a and b isolated from alfalfa and bacteriochlorophyll a isolated from R. sphaeroides were treated with 80% aqueous trifluoroacetic acid to yield the corresponding pheophorbides. Pyropheophorbide was prepared by a literature procedure. Carbonic anhydride and benzotriazole-1-methanesulfonate activation methods were used in the esterification of the pheophorbides with ethylene glycol at ambient temperature. Each method yielded 75%+ of the pheophorbide ethylene glycol monoester. These monoesters were treated with equimolar amounts of the corresponding pheophorbide by using benzotriazol-1-methanesulfonate/4-(dimethylamino)pyridine in CH/sub 2/Cl/sub 2/ or dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/4-(dimethylamino)pyridine in CH/sub 2/Cl/sub 2/ atmore » ambient temperature. Yields of bis(phenophorbide) ethylene glycol diesters averaged about 50% for the former method and 70% for the latter method. Insertion of the magnesium atoms into the a series macrocycles was accomplished with iodomagnesium 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenolate, IMgBHT, in CH/sub 2/Cl/sub 2/, while the metalation of the b and bacterial series macrocycles was carried out with a mixture of IMgBHT and lithium 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide in thiophen, all at ambient temperature. Both mono- and dimetalated derivatives were isolated and characterized in each case.« less

The occipital face area is causally involved in the formation of identity-specific face representations.

PubMed

Ambrus, Géza Gergely; Dotzer, Maria; Schweinberger, Stefan R; Kovács, Gyula

2017-12-01

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and neuroimaging studies suggest a role of the right occipital face area (rOFA) in early facial feature processing. However, the degree to which rOFA is necessary for the encoding of facial identity has been less clear. Here we used a state-dependent TMS paradigm, where stimulation preferentially facilitates attributes encoded by less active neural populations, to investigate the role of the rOFA in face perception and specifically in image-independent identity processing. Participants performed a familiarity decision task for famous and unknown target faces, preceded by brief (200 ms) or longer (3500 ms) exposures to primes which were either an image of a different identity (DiffID), another image of the same identity (SameID), the same image (SameIMG), or a Fourier-randomized noise pattern (NOISE) while either the rOFA or the vertex as control was stimulated by single-pulse TMS. Strikingly, TMS to the rOFA eliminated the advantage of SameID over DiffID condition, thereby disrupting identity-specific priming, while leaving image-specific priming (better performance for SameIMG vs. SameID) unaffected. Our results suggest that the role of rOFA is not limited to low-level feature processing, and emphasize its role in image-independent facial identity processing and the formation of identity-specific memory traces.

On the response of the horizontal mean vertical density distribution in a fjord to low-frequency density fluctuations in the coastal water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stigebrandt, Anders

1990-10-01

Baroclinic water exchange through a fjord mouth, driven by a slowly varying density field outside the mouth, is modelled by a simple quasi-steady frictionless model. It is assumed that a certain fraction of the horizontal pressure difference between the coastal water and the fjord is used to accelerate the fluid into the mouth. The continuous vertical density distribution in the fjord, which changes in response to the water exchange, is modelled using a time-dependent, one-dimensional advective-diffusive 'filling-box' type of model. The model has been tested against an almost one-year-long time series of salinity and temperature from the Ørsta fjord (horizontal surface area about 15km2) on the Norwegian west coast. It is found that for this particular fjord, the mean externally forced baroclinic water exchange is one order of magnitude greater than the mean water exchange driven by the estuarine circulation (600 and 60m3 s1 respectively). Such a vigorous water exchange between a fjord and the external area implies that the time-averaged concentrations of many biological and chemical species above the sill level in the fjord are approximately equal to those in the coastal water outside the fjords.

Results of the 2017 National Resident Matching Program® and the American Osteopathic Association Intern/Resident Registration Program.

PubMed

Kozakowski, Stanley M; Travis, Alexandra; Marcinek, Julie P; Bentley, Ashley; Fetter, Gerald T

2017-10-01

The purpose of medicine as a profession is to meet the health needs of people and communities. Despite empirical evidence worldwide that an appropriate foundation of primary care in a health care system leads to improved health outcomes, improved experience of health care, a reduction in health disparities, and lower overall cost of care, publicly available data from National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Intern/Resident Registration Program show that PGY-1 family medicine and primary care positions offered in the NRMP Match continue to grow, but are losing ground in comparison to the growth of non-primary care specialties. In ACGME-accredited family medicine programs, DO students have been displacing non-US citizen IMGs while the proportion of US seniors has remained stable over the past decade. The impact of the displacement of non-US citizen IMGs by DO students in ACGME programs is unknown and deserves future research. Continuing trends in the growth of non-primary care specialties should raise great concern that the current primary shortage will be exacerbated, not serving the needs of the population. A major overhaul of the graduate medical education (GME) system is required to align the medical education system with the transformation of the health care system needed to improve quality, population health, and cost control.

Comparative fecal metagenomics unveils unique functional capacity of the swine gut

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Uncovering the taxonomic composition and functional capacity within the swine gut microbial consortia is of great importance to animal physiology and health as well as to food and water safety due to the presence of human pathogens in pig feces. Nonetheless, limited information on the functional diversity of the swine gut microbiome is available. Results Analysis of 637, 722 pyrosequencing reads (130 megabases) generated from Yorkshire pig fecal DNA extracts was performed to help better understand the microbial diversity and largely unknown functional capacity of the swine gut microbiome. Swine fecal metagenomic sequences were annotated using both MG-RAST and JGI IMG/M-ER pipelines. Taxonomic analysis of metagenomic reads indicated that swine fecal microbiomes were dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla. At a finer phylogenetic resolution, Prevotella spp. dominated the swine fecal metagenome, while some genes associated with Treponema and Anareovibrio species were found to be exclusively within the pig fecal metagenomic sequences analyzed. Functional analysis revealed that carbohydrate metabolism was the most abundant SEED subsystem, representing 13% of the swine metagenome. Genes associated with stress, virulence, cell wall and cell capsule were also abundant. Virulence factors associated with antibiotic resistance genes with highest sequence homology to genes in Bacteroidetes, Clostridia, and Methanosarcina were numerous within the gene families unique to the swine fecal metagenomes. Other abundant proteins unique to the distal swine gut shared high sequence homology to putative carbohydrate membrane transporters. Conclusions The results from this metagenomic survey demonstrated the presence of genes associated with resistance to antibiotics and carbohydrate metabolism suggesting that the swine gut microbiome may be shaped by husbandry practices. PMID:21575148

Journal of Chemical Education on CD-ROM, 1999

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-12-01

The Journal of Chemical Education on CD-ROM contains the text and graphics for all the articles, features, and reviews published in the Journal of Chemical Education. This 1999 issue of the JCE CD series includes all twelve issues of 1999, as well as all twelve issues from 1998 and from 1997, and the September-December issues from 1996. Journal of Chemical Education on CD-ROM is formatted so that all articles on the CD retain as much as possible of their original appearance. Each article file begins with an abstract/keyword page followed by the article pages. All pages of the Journal that contain editorial content, including the front covers, table of contents, letters, and reviews, are included. Also included are abstracts (when available), keywords for all articles, and supplementary materials. The Journal of Chemical Education on CD-ROM has proven to be a useful tool for chemical educators. Like the Computerized Index to the Journal of Chemical Education (1) it will help you to locate articles on a particular topic or written by a particular author. In addition, having the complete article on the CD-ROM provides added convenience. It is no longer necessary to go to the library, locate the Journal issue, and read it while sitting in an uncomfortable chair. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can scan an article on your computer monitor, print it if it proves interesting, and read it in any setting you choose. Searching and Linking JCE CD is fully searchable for any word, partial word, or phrase. Successful searches produce a listing of articles that contain the requested text. Individual articles can be quickly accessed from this list. The Table of Contents of each issue is linked to individual articles listed. There are also links from the articles to any supplementary materials. References in the Chemical Education Today section (found in the front of each issue) to articles elsewhere in the issue are also linked to the article, as are WWW addresses and email addresses. If you have Internet access and a WWW browser and email utility, you can go directly to the Web site or prepare to send a message with a single mouse click. Full-text searching of the entire CD enables you to find the articles you want. Price and Ordering An order form is inserted in this issue that provides prices and other ordering information. If this insert is not available or if you need additional information, contact: JCE Software, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1396; phone: 608/262-5153 or 800/991-5534; fax: 608/265-8094; email: jcesoft@chem.wisc.edu. Information about all our publications (including abstracts, descriptions, updates) is available from our World Wide Web site at: http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/. Hardware and Software Requirements Hardware and software requirements for JCE CD 1999 are listed in the table below: Literature Cited 1. Schatz, P. F. Computerized Index, Journal of Chemical Education; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1993, SP 5-M. Schatz, P. F.; Jacobsen, J. J. Computerized Index, Journal of Chemical Education; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1993, SP 5-W.

Functional genomics to discover antibiotic resistance genes: The paradigm of resistance to colistin mediated by ethanolamine phosphotransferase in Shewanella algae MARS 14.

PubMed

Telke, Amar A; Rolain, Jean-Marc

2015-12-01

Shewanella algae MARS 14 is a colistin-resistant clinical isolate retrieved from bronchoalveolar lavage of a hospitalised patient. A functional genomics strategy was employed to discover the molecular support for colistin resistance in S. algae MARS 14. A pZE21 MCS-1 plasmid-based genomic expression library was constructed in Escherichia coli TOP10. The estimated library size was 1.30×10(8) bp. Functional screening of colistin-resistant clones was carried out on Luria-Bertani agar containing 8 mg/L colistin. Five colistin-resistant clones were obtained after complete screening of the genomic expression library. Analysis of DNA sequencing results found a unique gene in all selected clones. Amino acid sequence analysis of this unique gene using the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) and KEGG databases revealed that this gene encodes ethanolamine phosphotransferase (EptA, or so-called PmrC). Reverse transcription PCR analysis indicated that resistance to colistin in S. algae MARS 14 was associated with overexpression of EptA (27-fold increase), which plays a crucial role in the arrangement of outer membrane lipopolysaccharide. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

KSC-IMG_6548re

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-03-04

Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. - A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket sits poised on its launch pad with the NASA/NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P (GOES P) at Space Launch Complex-37. GOES P will provide NOAA and NASA scientists with data to support weather, solar and space operations, and will enable future science improvements in weather prediction and remote sensing. Additionally, GOES-P will provide data on global climate changes and capability for search and rescue. Photo credit: Carleton Bailie, The Boeing Company

CTIO Image of Carina Nebula

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA image release April 22, 2010 Object Names: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372 Image Type: Astronomical Credit: NASA/N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF To read learn more about this image go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hubble20th-img.... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

Observation of Accumulated Metal Cation Distribution in Fish by Novel Stigmatic Imaging Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Jun; Ikeda, Shinichiro; Toyoda, Michisato

2014-02-01

The accumulation of radioactive substances in biological organisms is a matter of great concern since the incident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. We have developed a novel technique for observing the distribution of accumulated metal cations in fish that employs a new imaging mass spectrometer, MULTUM-IMG2. Distributions of 133Cs and 88Sr in a sliced section of medaka (Oryzias latipes) are obtained with spatial resolution of µm-scale.

Spatial characteristics of the tropical cloud systems: comparison between model simulation and satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guang J.; Zurovac-Jevtic, Dance; Boer, Erwin R.

1999-10-01

A Lagrangian cloud classification algorithm is applied to the cloud fields in the tropical Pacific simulated by a high-resolution regional atmospheric model. The purpose of this work is to assess the model's ability to reproduce the observed spatial characteristics of the tropical cloud systems. The cloud systems are broadly grouped into three categories: deep clouds, mid-level clouds and low clouds. The deep clouds are further divided into mesoscale convective systems and nonmesoscale convective systems. It is shown that the model is able to simulate the total cloud cover for each category reasonably well. However, when the cloud cover is broken down into contributions from cloud systems of different sizes, it is shown that the simulated cloud size distribution is biased toward large cloud systems, with contribution from relatively small cloud systems significantly under-represented in the model for both deep and mid-level clouds. The number distribution and area contribution to the cloud cover from mesoscale convective systems are very well simulated compared to the satellite observations, so are low clouds as well. The dependence of the cloud physical properties on cloud scale is examined. It is found that cloud liquid water path, rainfall, and ocean surface sensible and latent heat fluxes have a clear dependence on cloud types and scale. This is of particular interest to studies of the cloud effects on surface energy budget and hydrological cycle. The diurnal variation of the cloud population and area is also examined. The model exhibits a varying degree of success in simulating the diurnal variation of the cloud number and area. The observed early morning maximum cloud cover in deep convective cloud systems is qualitatively simulated. However, the afternoon secondary maximum is missing in the model simulation. The diurnal variation of the tropospheric temperature is well reproduced by the model while simulation of the diurnal variation of the moisture field is poor. The implication of this comparison between model simulation and observations on cloud parameterization is discussed.

The origin and evolution of low-level potential vorticity anomalies during a case of Tasman Sea cyclogenesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Revell, Michael J.; Ridley, Roger N.

1995-10-01

The rapid development (15 hPa deepening in 12hours) of an intense, shallow and small-scale ( 300km) cyclone off the east coast of Australia was studied, in the context of potential vorticity (PV) thinking. High-resolution spatial and temporal fields generated by a mesoscale weather prediction model, embedded within ECMWF data were used. This case was well simulated, as verified by the few available observations at neighbouring stations, and by satellite imagery. The PV distribution within this cyclone was computed from the model fields and the origin of its component parts established using backward trajectories. These indicated that at low levels the primary mechanism of PV production was the vertical gradient of latent heat release in a frontal cloud band. Above the level of maximum heating this process reversed sign with corresponding destruction of PV. As the heating became shallow enough and intense enough a low level vortex formed with a vertical scale of 2 3km and a wave-CISK like normal mode structure. The length scale and growth rate of this mode agreed well with the observed cyclone, unlike the classical explanation for this type of development (the pure baroclinic instability mechanism of Charney and Eady) which, even including moisture, still predicts length scales of over a 1000km and doubling times of at least a day.

Atmosphere Issues in Detection of Explosives and Organic Residues

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

sensitivity “false posi Fi ores are then c diagonal of th o itself. How null. Distanc fact that differ 8. Resultant mat valuating the perator Chara ly...consid 3. EXPE used in order ver Operator Ch l_figure.asp?img e A represen .0. This mean re of merit (th extreme case, ositive or a fa lutions, and si... detector gate width is 50 μsec and is delayed 40 ns after the laser, while the nanosecond spectra has a gate width of 10 μsec and is delayed 50 ns after

M-X Environmental Technical Report. Environmental Characteristics of Alternative Designated Deployment Areas, Wilderness and Significant Natural Areas.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-22

National Forest in northeastern Nevada, and Lone Peak in the Uinta and Wasatch National Forest of central Utah. Each of these areas is more than 60 miles...natural landmarks was obtained from a compre- hensive study of the Great Basin (Bostick et al., 1975) and updated with information from DNL and Nevada...Montains~ 0 ALM :Battle Mtns) 35rks 42.000 .4% 53 I-- Iee -A~IMI Ditrc 10- - - 57 Se"lpeSes - - --- se Midle Img ie. Sle on. - --- 122 Gas . Fairvie

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

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.

The electroweak production and subsequent decay of single top quarks is determined by the properties of the Wtb vertex. This vertex can be described by the complex parameters of an effective Lagrangian. An analysis of angular distributions of the decay products of single top quarks produced in the t -channel constrains these parameters simultaneously. The analysis described in this paper uses 4.6 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at √s=7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Two parameters are measured simultaneously in this analysis. The fraction f 1 of decays containing transversely polarised W bosons is measuredmore » to be 0.37 ± 0.07 (stat.⊕syst.). The phase δ - between amplitudes for transversely and longitudinally polarised W bosons recoiling against left-handed b-quarks is measured to be -0.014π ± 0.036π (stat.⊕syst.). The correlation in the measurement of these parameters is 0.15. These values result in two-dimensional limits at the 95% confidence level on the ratio of the complex coupling parameters g R and V L, yielding Re[g R /V L] ϵ [-0.36, 0.10] and Im[g R /V L] ϵ [-0.17, 0.23] with a correlation of 0.11. We find the results are in good agreement with the predictions of the Standard Model.« less

Torsional stress impedance and magneto-impedance in (Co0.95Fe0.05)72.5 Si12.5B15 amorphous wire with helical induced anisotropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanco, J. M.; Zhukov, A. P.; González, J.

1999-12-01

The magneto-impedance effect icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/ZH = [Z(H)-Z(Hmax)]/Z(Hmax) has been measured in (Fe0.95Co0.05)72.5B15Si12.5 wire under torsion stress, icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/> (torsion angle per unit length) with axial magnetic field (H) as parameter. Without stress (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)H(H) dependence has a non-monotonous shape with first an increase of total impedance Z and then a decrease, i.e. shows a maximum at certain axial magnetic field Hm. It was found that the torsion stress dependence of electrical impedance (torsion impedance), (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/> = [Z(icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/>)-Z(icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/>max)]/Z(icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/>max), has asymmetric character with a clear maximum at torsion angle, icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/> around 7icons/Journals/Common/pi" ALT="pi" ALIGN="TOP"/> rad m-1 in as-cast wire, while (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/> reaches a maximum around 170%. Thermal treatments under torsion stress (without and with a previous annealing stage) develop a helical anisotropy on the amorphous wire, which drastically modifies the (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/> response. Such treatments were carried out by using current annealing which resulted in a drastic increase of the maximum (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/> up to 225%, and a change of torsion dependence of icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z with a tendency to a finally symmetric dependence of (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/>(icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/>). The maximum (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/> ratio, (icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/> Z/Z)icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/> m, was obtained under torsion stress of icons/Journals/Common/xi" ALT="xi" ALIGN="TOP"/> = 20icons/Journals/Common/pi" ALT="pi" ALIGN="TOP"/> rad m-1 (in a torsion annealed sample) and = 11 rad m-1 (with pre-annealing and torsion annealing). Observed dependences were explained taking into account the frozen-in magneto-elastic anisotropy owing to the internal stress distribution during the fabrication process, the helical anisotropies induced by the torsion strain and that developed by thermal treatment under torsion stress (torsion annealing). The differences in the shape and intensity of the maximum ( Z/Z) m between the torsion annealed and pre-annealed and torsion annealed samples should be ascribed to the visco-elastic character of the helical anisotropy induced by torsion stress.

Preparation and Identification of Benzoic Acids and Benzamides: An Organic "Unknown" Lab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taber, Douglass F.; Nelson, Jade D.; Northrop, John P.

1999-06-01

The reaction of an unknown substituted benzene derivative (illustrated by toluene) with oxalyl chloride and aluminum chloride gives the acid chloride. Hydrolysis of the acid chloride gives the acid, and reaction of the acid with concentrated aqueous ammonia gives the benzamide.

On the gravitational field of static and stationary axial symmetric bodies with multi-polar structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Letelier, Patricio S.

1999-04-01

We give a physical interpretation to the multi-polar Erez-Rozen-Quevedo solution of the Einstein equations in terms of bars. We find that each multi-pole corresponds to the Newtonian potential of a bar with linear density proportional to a Legendre polynomial. We use this fact to find an integral representation of the 0264-9381/16/4/010/img1 function. These integral representations are used in the context of the inverse scattering method to find solutions associated with one or more rotating bodies each with their own multi-polar structure.

Field strengths and dissipated powers in microwave-excited high-pressure sulphur discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Dongen, Menno; Körber, Achim; van der Heijden, Harm; Jonkers, Jeroen; Scholl, Robert; van der Mullen, Joost

1998-11-01

A method which makes it is possible to measure the electric field strength in microwave discharges is presented. A condition for this method is that the plasma has such a low conductivity that the associated skin depth is larger than the discharge radius. It is found that the field strength in high-pressure sulphur lamps is around 400 V 0022-3727/31/21/015/img10. Furthermore, this method allows the determination of the power absorbed in the resonator's wall and in the plasma and the estimation of the effective electric conductivity in the discharge.

Applied Chaos: From Oxymoron to Reality.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ditto, William

1996-11-01

The rapidly emerging field of chaotic dynamics has presented the applied scientist with intriguing new tools to understand and manipulate systems that behave chaotically. An overview will be presented which will answer the questions: What is Chaos? and What can you do with Chaos? Examples of recent applications of chaos theory to the physical and biological sciences will be presented covering applications that range from encryption in communications to control of chaotically beating human hearts. Part A of program listing

Recent trends in psychiatry residency workforce with special reference to international medical graduates.

PubMed

Rao, Nyapati R

2003-01-01

This study examines trends in the supply, distribution, and demographics of psychiatry residents during the 1990s. It evaluates the extent to which the predicted downsizing of psychiatry residency training programs actually occurred and how it affected training programs of different sizes and locations. Data for this study were obtained from the American Medical Association's (AMA) Annual Survey of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Programs, the AMA GME directory, and the APA Graduate Medical Census. The study compares the roles played by international medical graduates (IMGs) in contrast to U.S. medical graduates (USMGs) in these trends. There was a significant decline in the number of residents during the years studied. The median training program size also decreased. International medical graduates found broad acceptance in training programs of all locations and sizes, including medical school based programs. Implications of the findings are discussed regarding the impact of current graduate medical education (GME) and immigration policies on future workforce patterns. The field will have to decide whether it can afford anymore residency downsizing in light of emerging evidence of a shortage of psychiatrists.

Predictors of Final Specialty Choice by Internal Medicine Residents

PubMed Central

Diehl, Andrew K; Kumar, Vineeta; Gateley, Ann; Appleby, Jane L; O'Keefe, Mary E

2006-01-01

BACKGROUND Sociodemographic factors and personality attributes predict career decisions in medical students. Determinants of internal medicine residents' specialty choices have received little attention. OBJECTIVE To identify factors that predict the clinical practice of residents following their training. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred and four categorical residents from 2 university-based residency programs. MEASUREMENTS Sociodemographic and personality inventories performed during residency, and actual careers 4 to 9 years later. RESULTS International medical school graduates (IMGs) were less likely to practice general medicine than U.S. graduates (33.3% vs 70.6%, P<.001). Residents with higher loan indebtedness more often became generalists (P = .001). A corresponding trend favoring general internal medicine was observed among those who perceived General Internists to have lower potential incomes (69.0% vs 53.3%, P = .08). There was a trend for generalists to have lower scores on scales measuring authoritarianism, negative orientation to psychological problems, and Machiavellianism (0.05

Writing Electron Dot Structures: Abstract of Issue 9905M

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnell, Kenneth R.

1999-10-01

Writing Electron Dot Structures is a computer program for Mac OS that provides drill with feedback for students learning to write electron dot structures. While designed for students in the first year of college general chemistry it may also be used by high school chemistry students. A systematic method similar to that found in many general chemistry texts is employed:

1. determine the number of valence shell electrons,
2. select the central atom,
3. construct a skeleton,
4. add electrons to complete octets,
5. examine the structure for resonance forms.

MacMS: A Mass Spectrometer Simulator: Abstract of Issue 9906M

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bigger, Stephen W.; Craig, Robert A.

1999-10-01

MacMS is a program for Mac-OS compatible computers that simulates a magnetic sector mass spectrometer (1-4) designed to operate in the mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio range of 1-200 amu. MacMS has two operational modules. The first module (see Figure 1) is called the "Path" module and enables the user to quantitatively examine the trajectory of an ion of given m/z ratio in the electric and magnetic fields of the simulated "instrument". By systematically measuring a series of trajectories of different ions under different electric and magnetic field conditions, the user can determine how the resolution of the "instrument" is affected by these experimentally variable parameters. The user can thus choose suitable instrumental conditions for scanning a given m/z ratio range with good separation between the peaks. The second module (see Figure 2) is called as the "Spectrometer" module and enables the user to record, under any chosen instrumental conditions, the mass spectrum of (i) the instrumental background, (ii) neon, (iii) methane, or (iv) the parent ion of carbon tetrachloride. Both voltage scanning and magnetic scanning are possible (5). A hard copy of any mass spectrum that has been recorded can also be obtained. MacMS can read ASCII data files containing mass spectral information of compounds other than those that are "built-in" to the simulator. The appropriate format for creating such data files is described in the program documentation. There are a number of instructional exercises that can be conducted using the mass spectral information contained within the simulator. These are included in the program documentation. For example, the intensities of the 20Ne+, 21Ne+, and 22Ne+ species can be determined from hard copies of mass spectra of neon that are obtained under different instrumental sensitivities. The relative abundances of the three isotopes of neon can thus be calculated and compared with the literature values (6). The simulator also includes adjustable, fixed-value range and gain settings, which can be used to enhance the resolution and sensitivity of the instrument respectively.

1. Kiser, R. N. Introduction to Mass Spectrometry and its Applications; Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1965; pp 1-3; pp 32-65.
2. Johnstone, R. A. W.; Rose, M. E. Mass Spectrometry for Chemists and Biochemists, 2nd ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996.
3. Hill, H. C.; Loudon, A. G. Introduction to Mass Spectrometry; 2nd ed.; Heyden: London, 1972; p 5.
4. Farmer, J. B. In Mass Spectrometry, McDowell, C. A., Ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 1963; pp 10-11.
5. Message, G. M. Practical Aspects of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Wiley: New York, 1984; Chapter 3.
6. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 55th ed.; CRC: Cleveland, 1974.

Defining the formative discharge for alternate bars in alluvial rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redolfi, M.; Carlin, M.; Tubino, M.; Adami, L.; Zolezzi, G.

2017-12-01

We investigate the properties of alternate bars in long straight reaches of channelized streams subject to an unsteady, irregular flow regime. To this aim we propose a novel integration of a statistical approach with the analytical perturbation model of Tubino (1991) which predicts the evolution of bar properties (namely amplitude and wavelength) as consequence of a flood. The outcomes of our integrated modelling approach are probability distribution of the bar properties, which depend essentially on two ingredients: (i) the statistical properties of the flow regime (duration, frequency and magnitude of the flood events, and (ii) the reach-averaged hydro-geomorphic characteristics of the channel (bed material, channel gradient and width). This allows to define a "bar-forming" discharge value as the flow value which would reproduce the most likely bar properties in a river reach under unsteady flow. Alternate bars are often migrating downstream and growing or declining during flood events. The timescale of bar growth and migration is often comparable with the duration of the floods: consequently, bar properties such as height and wavelength do not respond instantaneously to discharge variations (i.e. quasi-equilibrium response) but may depend on previous flood events. Theoretical results are compared with observations in three Alpine, channelized gravel bed rivers with encouraging outcomes.

Search for anomalous couplings in the W tb vertex from the measurement of double differential angular decay rates of single top quarks produced in the t-channel with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; ...

2016-04-05

The electroweak production and subsequent decay of single top quarks is determined by the properties of the Wtb vertex. This vertex can be described by the complex parameters of an effective Lagrangian. An analysis of angular distributions of the decay products of single top quarks produced in the t -channel constrains these parameters simultaneously. The analysis described in this paper uses 4.6 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at √s=7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Two parameters are measured simultaneously in this analysis. The fraction f 1 of decays containing transversely polarised W bosons is measuredmore » to be 0.37 ± 0.07 (stat.⊕syst.). The phase δ - between amplitudes for transversely and longitudinally polarised W bosons recoiling against left-handed b-quarks is measured to be -0.014π ± 0.036π (stat.⊕syst.). The correlation in the measurement of these parameters is 0.15. These values result in two-dimensional limits at the 95% confidence level on the ratio of the complex coupling parameters g R and V L, yielding Re[g R /V L] ϵ [-0.36, 0.10] and Im[g R /V L] ϵ [-0.17, 0.23] with a correlation of 0.11. We find the results are in good agreement with the predictions of the Standard Model.« less

Toward An Unstructured Mesh Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezaei Mahdiraji, Alireza; Baumann, Peter Peter

2014-05-01

Unstructured meshes are used in several application domains such as earth sciences (e.g., seismology), medicine, oceanography, cli- mate modeling, GIS as approximate representations of physical objects. Meshes subdivide a domain into smaller geometric elements (called cells) which are glued together by incidence relationships. The subdivision of a domain allows computational manipulation of complicated physical structures. For instance, seismologists model earthquakes using elastic wave propagation solvers on hexahedral meshes. The hexahedral con- tains several hundred millions of grid points and millions of hexahedral cells. Each vertex node in the hexahedrals stores a multitude of data fields. To run simulation on such meshes, one needs to iterate over all the cells, iterate over incident cells to a given cell, retrieve coordinates of cells, assign data values to cells, etc. Although meshes are used in many application domains, to the best of our knowledge there is no database vendor that support unstructured mesh features. Currently, the main tool for querying and manipulating unstructured meshes are mesh libraries, e.g., CGAL and GRAL. Mesh li- braries are dedicated libraries which includes mesh algorithms and can be run on mesh representations. The libraries do not scale with dataset size, do not have declarative query language, and need deep C++ knowledge for query implementations. Furthermore, due to high coupling between the implementations and input file structure, the implementations are less reusable and costly to maintain. A dedicated mesh database offers the following advantages: 1) declarative querying, 2) ease of maintenance, 3) hiding mesh storage structure from applications, and 4) transparent query optimization. To design a mesh database, the first challenge is to define a suitable generic data model for unstructured meshes. We proposed ImG-Complexes data model as a generic topological mesh data model which extends incidence graph model to multi-incidence relationships. We instrument ImG model with sets of optional and application-specific constraints which can be used to check validity of meshes for a specific class of object such as manifold, pseudo-manifold, and simplicial manifold. We conducted experiments to measure the performance of the graph database solution in processing mesh queries and compare it with GrAL mesh library and PostgreSQL database on synthetic and real mesh datasets. The experiments show that each system perform well on specific types of mesh queries, e.g., graph databases perform well on global path-intensive queries. In the future, we investigate database operations for the ImG model and design a mesh query language.

Bell - Kochen - Specker theorem for any finite dimension ?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cabello, Adán; García-Alcaine, Guillermo

1996-03-01

The Bell - Kochen - Specker theorem against non-contextual hidden variables can be proved by constructing a finite set of `totally non-colourable' directions, as Kochen and Specker did in a Hilbert space of dimension n = 3. We generalize Kochen and Specker's set to Hilbert spaces of any finite dimension 0305-4470/29/5/016/img2, in a three-step process that shows the relationship between different kinds of proofs (`continuum', `probabilistic', `state-specific' and `state-independent') of the Bell - Kochen - Specker theorem. At the same time, this construction of a totally non-colourable set of directions in any dimension explicitly solves the question raised by Zimba and Penrose about the existence of such a set for n = 5.

Water Quality Management Studies, Lake Seminole, February-December 1979. Phase II.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

Carbon, Dissolved Organtc X X X X X X X Carbon. Total Organic I I X I X X" X Carbon Dioxide I X X X X X X I trogen. Total Amonia I X I X X X I Nitrogen...were less than 1 mg S04/1. During Phase I and Phase II there were no distinctive trends in measured carbon dioxide levels. However, there was a tendency...6. so 0 To CARSON DIOXIDE (MG C02.01. 0 1.3 Re 1. Re 0. 2* 0 NITROGEN. TOTAL AMMONIA IMG N/’LI 0.02 < 0.02 < 0.02 CO (002 ’ NITROG01. NITPATE.NITT2lYE

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Two-centre exchange integrals for complex exponent Slater orbitals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuang, Jiyun; Lin, C. D.

1996-12-01

The one-dimensional integral representation for the Fourier transform of a two-centre product of B functions (finite linear combinations of Slater orbitals) with real parameters is generalized to include B functions with complex parameters. This one-dimensional integral representation allows for an efficient method of calculating two-centre exchange integrals with plane-wave electronic translational factors (ETF) over Slater orbitals of real/complex exponents. This method is a significant improvement on the previous two-dimensional quadrature method of the integrals. A new basis set of the form 0953-4075/29/24/005/img1 is proposed to improve the description of pseudo-continuum states in the close-coupling treatment of ion - atom collisions.

Nitrogen form and mycorrhizal inoculation amount and timing affect flavonol biosynthesis in onion (Allium cepa L.).

PubMed

Mollavali, Mohanna; Perner, Henrike; Rohn, Sascha; Riehle, Peer; Hanschen, Franziska S; Schwarz, Dietmar

2018-01-01

Mycorrhizal symbiosis is known to be the most prevalent form of fungal symbiosis with plants. Although some studies focus on the importance of mycorrhizal symbiosis for enhanced flavonoids in the host plants, a comprehensive understanding of the relationship still is lacking. Therefore, we studied the effects of mycorrhizal inoculation of onions (Allium cepa L.) regarding flavonol concentration and the genes involved in flavonol biosynthesis when different forms of nitrogen were supplied. We hypothesized that mycorrhizal inoculation can act as a biotic stress and might lead to an increase in flavonols and expression of related genes. The three main quercetin compounds [quercetin-3,4'-di-O-β-D-glucoside (QDG), quercetin-4'-O-β-D-glucoside (QMG), and isorhamnetin-4'-O-β-D-glucoside (IMG)] of onion bulbs were identified and analyzed after inoculating with increasing amounts of mycorrhizal inocula at two time points and supplying either predominantly NO 3 - or NH 4 + nitrogen. We also quantified plant dry mass, nutrient element uptake, chalcone synthase (CHS), flavonol synthase (FLS), and phenyl alanine lyase (PAL) gene expression as key enzymes for flavonol biosynthesis. Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (highest amount) and colonization at late development stages (bulb growth) increased QDG and QMG concentrations if plants were additionally supplied with predominantly NH 4 + . No differences were observed in the IMG content. RNA accumulation of CHS, FLS, and PAL was affected by the stage of the mycorrhizal symbiosis and the nitrogen form. Accumulation of flavonols was not correlated, however, with either the percentage of myorrhization or the abundance of transcripts of flavonoid biosynthesis genes. We found that in plants at late developmental stages, RNA accumulation as a reflection of a current physiological situation does not necessarily correspond with the content of metabolites that accumulate over a long period. Our findings suggest that nitrogen form can be an important factor determining mycorrhizal development and that both nitrogen form and mycorrhizas interact to influence flavonol biosynthesis.

A potential application to the study of microscopic energy deposition in a solid by means of heavy charged-particle induced photochromic alterations in a tissue-equivalent matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emfietzoglou, D.; Moscovitch, M.

1999-01-01

A theoretical study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of using the radiation-induced colour decay of photochromic molecules embedded in a polymer matrix as a probe for studying the microscopic energy deposition of heavy charged particles (HCPs) in a tissue-equivalent solid. The theoretical treatment makes use of the radial dose distribution function as derived from gas-phase physics, together with the effects of the increase in temperature and of matrix degradation on the colour-decay kinetics of the photochromic molecules, according to empirical models derived for the solid state. Bearing in mind the non-stochastic nature of the model, the use of gas-phase physics at the level of radiation interaction, and the fact that some empirical quantities used have been established macroscopically, all factors which signify that extra caution is required in the interpretation of the results, it is shown that when the optimum information retrieval time (after track formation) is considered the technique may be able to resolve differences in the energy deposition pattern by different HCPs in the nanometre range (1-10 nm; material's mass density ) from the track axis. Most importantly, though, the present study aims to erect a theoretical framework for the possible application of the technique and to highlight those aspects which are likely to be critical to its practical usage, such as particle type and energy range, and spatial scale and magnitude of the expected effect together with its dependence on time, the physical characteristics of the matrix, and the kinetic behaviour of the type of photochromic molecule studied. Furthermore, it establishes a rationale for interpreting the experimentally observed (if available) colour changes in the HCP track in terms of the microscopic distribution of energy deposition in it.

Gravitational instantons from minimal surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aliev, A. N.; Hortaçsu, M.; Kalayci, J.; Nutku, Y.

1999-02-01

Physical properties of gravitational instantons which are derivable from minimal surfaces in three-dimensional Euclidean space are examined using the Newman-Penrose formalism for Euclidean signature. The gravitational instanton that corresponds to the helicoid minimal surface is investigated in detail. This is a metric of Bianchi type 0264-9381/16/2/024/img9, or E(2), which admits a hidden symmetry due to the existence of a quadratic Killing tensor. It leads to a complete separation of variables in the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for geodesics, as well as in Laplace's equation for a massless scalar field. The scalar Green function can be obtained in closed form, which enables us to calculate the vacuum fluctuations of a massless scalar field in the background of this instanton.

Genome annotation in a community college cell biology lab.

PubMed

Beagley, C Timothy

2013-01-01

The Biology Department at Salt Lake Community College has used the IMG-ACT toolbox to introduce a genome mapping and annotation exercise into the laboratory portion of its Cell Biology course. This project provides students with an authentic inquiry-based learning experience while introducing them to computational biology and contemporary learning skills. Additionally, the project strengthens student understanding of the scientific method and contributes to student learning gains in curricular objectives centered around basic molecular biology, specifically, the Central Dogma. Importantly, inclusion of this project in the laboratory course provides students with a positive learning environment and allows for the use of cooperative learning strategies to increase overall student success. Copyright © 2012 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

STS-56 ESC Earth observation of New York City at night

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows New York City at night as recorded on the 64th orbit of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. The image was recorded with an image intensifier on the Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES). HERCULES is a device that makes it simple for shuttle crewmembers to take pictures of Earth as they merely point a modified 35mm camera and shoot any interesting feature, whose latitude and longitude are automatically determined in real-time. Center coordinates on this image are 40.665 degrees north latitude and 74.048 degrees west longitude. (1/60 second exposure). Digital file name is ESC04034.IMG.

STS-56 ESC Earth observation of New Zealand (South Island)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows New Zealand (South Island) as recorded on the 45th orbit of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. Westport is easily delineated in the image, which was recorded by the Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES). HERCULES is a device that makes it simple for shuttle crewmembers to take pictures of Earth as they merely point a modified 35mm camera and shoot any interesting feature, whose latitude and longitude are automatically determined in real-time. Center coordinates are 41.836 degrees south latitude and 171.641 degrees east longitude. (300mm lens, no filter). Digital file name is ESC07007.IMG.

A computational fluid dynamics simulation of high- and low-current arcs in self-blast circuit breakers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Claessens, M.; Möller, K.; Thiel, H. G.

1997-07-01

Computational fluid dynamics calculations for high- and low-current arcs in an interrupter of the self-blast type have been performed. The mixing process of the hot PTFE cloud with the cold 0022-3727/30/13/011/img6 in the pressure chamber is strongly inhomogeneous. The existence of two different species has been taken into account by interpolation of the material functions according to their mass fraction in each grid cell. Depending on the arcing time, fault current and interrupter geometry, blow temperatures of up to 2000 K have been found. The simulation results for a decaying arc immediately before current zero yield a significantly reduced arc cooling at the stagnation point for high blow temperatures.

How do natural, uncultivated microbes interact with organic matter? Insights from single cell genomics and metagenomics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lloyd, K. G.; Bird, J.; Schreiber, L.; Petersen, D.; Kjeldsen, K.; Schramm, A.; Stepanauskas, R.; Jørgensen, B. B.

2013-12-01

Since most of the microbes in marine sediments remain uncultured, little is known about the mechanisms by which these natural communities degrade organic matter (OM). Likewise, little is known about the make-up of labile OM in marine sediments beyond general functional classes such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, measured as monomers. However, microbes have complex interactions with specific polymers within these functional classes, which can be indicated by a microbe's enzymatic toolkit. We found that four single cell genomes of archaea have very different peptidase compositions than four single cells of bacteria, suggesting that archaea and bacteria may play different roles in OM degradation. We also found that predicted extracellular cysteine peptidases, which require chemically reducing conditions, were common in IMG database metagenomes from marine sediments, and absent in those from seawater. This suggests that the pathways, and not just the rates, of OM degradation may differ between seawater and sediments. By comparing enzyme classes in different organisms, or in different types of marine environments, we present an emerging view of the microbial potential for specific carbon remineralization pathways in marine sediments. In addition, the methods we present hold promise for characterizing OM degradation in any environment where genomic information is available.

Spatial distribution of cloud droplets in a turbulent cloud-chamber flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaczewski, A.; Malinowski, S. P.

2005-07-01

We present the results of a laboratory study of the spatial distribution of cloud droplets in a turbulent environment. An artificial, weakly turbulent cloud, consisting of droplets of diameter around 14 m, is observed in a laboratory chamber. Droplets on a vertical cross-section through the cloud interior are imaged using laser sheet photography. Images are digitized and numerically processed in order to retrieve droplet positions in a vertical plane. The spatial distribution of droplets in the range of scales, l, from 4 to 80 mm is characterized by: the clustering index CI(l), the volume averaged pair correlation function eta;(l) and a local density defined on a basis of correlation analysis. The results indicate that, even in weak turbulence in the chamber that is less intense and less intermittent than turbulence observed in clouds, droplets are not spread according to the Poisson distribution. The importance of this deviation from the Poisson distribution is unclear when looking at CI(l) and (l). The local density indicates that in small scales each droplet has, on average, more neighbours than expected from the average droplet concentration and gives a qualitative and intuitive measure of clustering.

The trapping and distribution of charge in polarized polymethylmethacrylate under electron-beam irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Z. G.; Gong, H.; Ong, C. K.

1997-06-01

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) mirror-image method (MIM) is employed to investigate the charging behaviour of polarized polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) under electron-beam irradiation. An ellipsoid is used to model the trapped charge distribution and a fitting method is employed to calculate the total amount of the trapped charge and its distribution parameters. The experimental results reveal that the charging ability decreases with increasing applied electric field, which polarizes the PMMA sample, whereas the trapped charge distribution is elongated along the direction of the applied electric field and increases with increasing applied electric field. The charges are believed to be trapped in some localization states, of activation energy and radius estimated to be about 19.6 meV and 0022-3727/30/11/004/img6, respectively.

Image intensification; Proceedings of the Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, Jan. 17, 18, 1989

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Csorba, Illes P.

Various papers on image intensification are presented. Individual topics discussed include: status of high-speed optical detector technologies, super second generation imge intensifier, gated image intensifiers and applications, resistive-anode position-sensing photomultiplier tube operational modeling, undersea imaging and target detection with gated image intensifier tubes, image intensifier modules for use with commercially available solid state cameras, specifying the components of an intensified solid state television camera, superconducting IR focal plane arrays, one-inch TV camera tube with very high resolution capacity, CCD-Digicon detector system performance parameters, high-resolution X-ray imaging device, high-output technology microchannel plate, preconditioning of microchannel plate stacks, recent advances in small-pore microchannel plate technology, performance of long-life curved channel microchannel plates, low-noise microchannel plates, development of a quartz envelope heater.

Reciprocal interactions between fluvial processes and riparian plants at multiple scales: ecogeomorphic feedbacks drive coevolution of floodplain morphology and vegetation communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stella, J. C.; Kui, L.; Diehl, R. M.; Bywater-Reyes, S.; Wilcox, A. C.; Shafroth, P. B.; Lightbody, A.

2017-12-01

Fluvial forces interact with woody riparian plants in complex ways to influence the coevolution of river morphology and floodplain plant communities. Here, we report on an integrated suite of multi-disciplinary studies that contrast the responses of plants with different morphologies, tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) and cottonwood (Populus fremontii) in terms of (1) differences in vulnerability to scour and burial during floods; (2) interactions and feedbacks between plants and river morphodynamics; and (3) long-term coevolution of river floodplains and riparian communities following flow regulation from dams. The focus of these studies is sand-bed rivers in arid-land regions where invasion by tamarisk has strongly influenced riverine plant communities and geomorphic processes. We complemented a suite of field-scale flume experiments using live seedlings to quantify the initial stages of plant-river interactions with an analysis of long-term vegetation and geomorphic changes along the dammed Bill Williams River (AZ, USA) using time-series air photographs. Vegetation-fluvial interactions varied with plant characteristics, river hydraulics and sediment conditions, across the wide range of scales we investigated. In the flume studies, tamarisk's denser crowns and stiffer stems induced greater sedimentation compared to cottonwood. This resulted in tamarisk's greater mortality from burial as small seedlings under sediment equilibrium conditions but higher relative survival in larger floods under sediment deficit scenarios, in which more cottonwoods were lost to root scour. Sediment deficit conditions, as occurs downstream of dams, induced both greater scour and greater plant loss. With larger size and at higher densities, plants' vulnerability diminished due to greater root anchoring and canopy effects on hydraulics. At the corridor scale, we observed a pattern of plant encroachment during five decades of flow regulation, in which channel narrowing and simplification was more associated with tamarisk-dominated reaches compared with native woodlands. Together, these multi-scale plant-river dynamics help explain the persistence of tamarisk along regulated rivers where catastrophic floods have been reduced and also highlight limitations of using flow releases for invasive species management.

Validation of an "Intelligent Mouthguard" Single Event Head Impact Dosimeter.

PubMed

Bartsch, Adam; Samorezov, Sergey; Benzel, Edward; Miele, Vincent; Brett, Daniel

2014-11-01

Dating to Colonel John Paul Stapp MD in 1975, scientists have desired to measure live human head impacts with accuracy and precision. But no instrument exists to accurately and precisely quantify single head impact events. Our goal is to develop a practical single event head impact dosimeter known as "Intelligent Mouthguard" and quantify its performance on the benchtop, in vitro and in vivo. In the Intelligent Mouthguard hardware, limited gyroscope bandwidth requires an algorithm-based correction as a function of impact duration. After we apply gyroscope correction algorithm, Intelligent Mouthguard results at time of CG linear acceleration peak correlate to the Reference Hybrid III within our tested range of pulse durations and impact acceleration profiles in American football and Boxing in vitro tests: American football, IMG=1.00REF-1.1g, R2=0.99; maximum time of peak XYZ component imprecision 3.6g and 370 rad/s2; maximum time of peak azimuth and elevation imprecision 4.8° and 2.9°; maximum average XYZ component temporal imprecision 3.3g and 390 rad/s2. Boxing, IMG=1.00REF-0.9 g, R2=0.99, R2=0.98; maximum time of peak XYZ component imprecision 3.9 g and 390 rad/s2, maximum time of peak azimuth and elevation imprecision 2.9° and 2.1°; average XYZ component temporal imprecision 4.0 g and 440 rad/s2. In vivo Intelligent Mouthguard true positive head impacts from American football players and amateur boxers have temporal characteristics (first harmonic frequency from 35 Hz to 79 Hz) within our tested benchtop (first harmonic frequency<180 Hz) and in vitro (first harmonic frequency<100 Hz) ranges. Our conclusions apply only to situations where the rigid body assumption is valid, sensor-skull coupling is maintained and the ranges of tested parameters and harmonics fall within the boundaries of harmonics validated in vitro. For these situations, Intelligent Mouthguard qualifies as a single event dosimeter in American football and Boxing.

Contrasted patterns of selection on MHC-linked microsatellites in natural populations of the Malagasy plague reservoir.

PubMed

Tollenaere, Charlotte; Ivanova, Svilena; Duplantier, Jean-Marc; Loiseau, Anne; Rahalison, Lila; Rahelinirina, Soanandrasana; Brouat, Carine

2012-01-01

Plague (Yersinia pestis infection) is a highly virulent rodent disease that persists in many natural ecosystems. The black rat (Rattus rattus) is the main host involved in the plague focus of the central highlands of Madagascar. Black rat populations from this area are highly resistant to plague, whereas those from areas in which the disease is absent (low altitude zones of Madagascar) are susceptible. Various lines of evidence suggest a role for the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) in plague resistance. We therefore used the MHC region as a candidate for detecting signatures of plague-mediated selection in Malagasy black rats, by comparing population genetic structures for five MHC-linked microsatellites and neutral markers in two sampling designs. We first compared four pairs of populations, each pair including one population from the plague focus and one from the disease-free zone. Plague-mediated selection was expected to result in greater genetic differentiation between the two zones than expected under neutrality and this was observed for one MHC-class I-linked locus (D20Img2). For this marker as well as for four other MHC-linked loci, a geographic pattern of genetic structure was found at local scale within the plague focus. This pattern would be expected if plague selection pressures were spatially variable. Finally, another MHC-class I-linked locus (D20Rat21) showed evidences of balancing selection, but it seems more likely that this selection would be related to unknown pathogens more widely distributed in Madagascar than plague.

Testing Planetary Rovers: Technologies, Perspectives, and Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, Hans; Lau, Sonie (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

Rovers are a vital component of NASA's strategy for manned and unmanned exploration of space. For the past five years, the Intelligent Mechanisms Group at the NASA Ames Research Center has conducted a vigorous program of field testing of rovers from both technology and science team productivity perspective. In this talk, I will give an overview of the the last two years of the test program, focusing on tests conducted in the Painted Desert of Arizona, the Atacama desert in Chile, and on IMG participation in the Mars Pathfinder mission. An overview of autonomy, manipulation, and user interface technologies developed in response to these missions will be presented, and lesson's learned in these missions and their impact on future flight missions will be presented. I will close with some perspectives on how the testing program has affected current rover systems.

Advances toward LSD1 inhibitors for cancer therapy.

PubMed

Fu, Xiaoli; Zhang, Peng; Yu, Bin

2017-07-01

LSD1 has become an important biologically validated epigenetic target for cancer therapy since its identification in 2004. LSD1 mediates many cellular signaling pathways and is involved in the initiation and development of cancers. Aberrant overexpression of LSD1 has been observed in different types of cancers, and inactivation by small molecules suppresses cancer cell differentiation, proliferation, invasion and migration. To date, a large number of LSD1 inhibitors have been reported, RG6016, GSK-2879552, INCB059872, IMG-7289 and CC-90011 are currently undergoing clinical assessment for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, small-cell lung cancer, etc. In this review, we briefly highlight recent advances of LSD1 inhibitors mainly covering the literatures from 2015 to 2017 and tentatively propose our perspectives on the design of new LSD1 inhibitors for cancer therapy.

Dynamics in genome evolution of Vibrio cholerae.

PubMed

Banerjee, Rachana; Das, Bhabatosh; Balakrish Nair, G; Basak, Surajit

2014-04-01

Vibrio cholerae, the etiological agent of the acute secretary diarrheal disease cholera, is still a major public health concern in developing countries. In former centuries cholera was a permanent threat even to the highly developed populations of Europe, North America, and the northern part of Asia. Extensive studies on the cholera bug over more than a century have made significant advances in our understanding of the disease and ways of treating patients. V. cholerae has more than 200 serogroups, but only few serogroups have caused disease on a worldwide scale. Until the present, the evolutionary relationship of these pandemic causing serogroups was not clear. In the last decades, we have witnessed a shift involving genetically and phenotypically varied pandemic clones of V. cholerae in Asia and Africa. The exponential knowledge on the genome of several representatives V. cholerae strains has been used to identify and analyze the key determinants for rapid evolution of cholera pathogen. Recent comparative genomic studies have identified the presence of various integrative mobile genetic elements (IMGEs) in V. cholerae genome, which can be used as a marker of differentiation of all seventh pandemic clones with very similar core genome. This review attempts to bring together some of the important researches in recent times that have contributed towards understanding the genetics, epidemiology and evolution of toxigenic V. cholerae strains. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating grant-funded research into the undergraduate biology curriculum using IMG-ACT.

PubMed

Ditty, Jayna L; Williams, Kayla M; Keller, Megan M; Chen, Grischa Y; Liu, Xianxian; Parales, Rebecca E

2013-01-01

It has become clear in current scientific pedagogy that the emersion of students in the scientific process in terms of designing, implementing, and analyzing experiments is imperative for their education; as such, it has been our goal to model this active learning process in the classroom and laboratory in the context of a genuine scientific question. Toward this objective, the National Science Foundation funded a collaborative research grant between a primarily undergraduate institution and a research-intensive institution to study the chemotactic responses of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida F1. As part of the project, a new Bioinformatics course was developed in which undergraduates annotate relevant regions of the P. putida F1 genome using Integrated Microbial Genomes Annotation Collaboration Toolkit, a bioinformatics interface specifically developed for undergraduate programs by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. Based on annotations of putative chemotaxis genes in P. putida F1 and comparative genomics studies, undergraduate students from both institutions developed functional genomics research projects that evolved from the annotations. The purpose of this study is to describe the nature of the NSF grant, the development of the Bioinformatics lecture and wet laboratory course, and how undergraduate student involvement in the project that was initiated in the classroom has served as a springboard for independent undergraduate research projects. Copyright © 2012 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Utilization of quercetin and quercetin glycosides from onion (Allium cepa L.) solid waste as an antioxidant, urease and xanthine oxidase inhibitors.

PubMed

Nile, Shivraj Hariram; Nile, Arti Shivraj; Keum, Young Soo; Sharma, Kavita

2017-11-15

This study aimed to determine the flavonol glycosides from onion solid waste (OSW) using HPLC analysis, with antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities. We found considerable amount of quercetin-4'-O-monoglucoside (QMG: 254.85), quercetin-3,4'-O-diglucoside (QDG: 162.34), quercetin (Q: 60.44), and isorhamnetin-3-glucoside (IMG: 23.92) (mg/100g) dry weight (DW) of OSW. For OSW, the methanol and ethanol showed the strongest antioxidant activities, followed by ethyl acetate, chloroform, and n-hexane extracts. Among the flavonols, Q and QDG possessed higher antioxidant activities. OSW and flavonol glycosides displayed significant enzyme inhibitory activity, with IC 50 values ranging from 12.5±0.11 to 32.5±0.28 for OSW, 8.2±0.07 to 16.8±0.02 for flavonol glycosides, and 4.2±0.05μg/mL for thiourea (positive control) towards urease; while 15.2±0.8 to 35.8±0.2 (μg/mL) for OSW, 10.5±0.06 to 20.8±0.05 (μg/mL) for flavonol glycosides, and 6.5±0.05μg/mL for allopurinol (positive control) towards xanthine oxidase, respectively. The OSW and flavonol glycosides may thus be considered as potential antioxidant and antigout agents. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semi-automated Anatomical Labeling and Inter-subject Warping of High-Density Intracranial Recording Electrodes in Electrocorticography.

PubMed

Hamilton, Liberty S; Chang, David L; Lee, Morgan B; Chang, Edward F

2017-01-01

In this article, we introduce img_pipe, our open source python package for preprocessing of imaging data for use in intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) and intracranial stereo-EEG analyses. The process of electrode localization, labeling, and warping for use in ECoG currently varies widely across laboratories, and it is usually performed with custom, lab-specific code. This python package aims to provide a standardized interface for these procedures, as well as code to plot and display results on 3D cortical surface meshes. It gives the user an easy interface to create anatomically labeled electrodes that can also be warped to an atlas brain, starting with only a preoperative T1 MRI scan and a postoperative CT scan. We describe the full capabilities of our imaging pipeline and present a step-by-step protocol for users.

Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 3: Abstract of Special Issue 23 on CD-ROM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobsen, Jerrold J.; Moore, John W.

1999-09-01

Literature Cited

1. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 1 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1998, SP 18.

2. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 2 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1998, SP 21.

3. Moore, J. W.; Jacobsen, J. J.; Hunsberger, L. R.; Gammon, S. D.; Jetzer, K. H.; Zimmerman, J. ChemDemos Videodisc; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1994, SP 8.

4. Moore, J. W.; Jacobsen, J. J.; Jetzer, K. H.; Gilbert, G.; Mattes, F.; Phillips, D.; Lisensky, G.; Zweerink, G. ChemDemos II; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1996, SP 14.

5. Jacobsen, J. J.; Jetzer, K. H.; Patani, N.; Zimmerman, J. Titration Techniques Videodisc; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1995, SP9.

Self-similar crack-generation effects in the fracture process in brittle materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilarov, V. L.

1998-07-01

Using acoustic-emission data banks we have computed time and space correlation functions for the purpose of investigation of crack-propagation self-similarity during the fracture process in brittle materials. It is shown that the whole fracture process may be represented as a two-stage process. In the first stage, the crack propagation is uniform and uncorrelated in space, having a time spectral density of the white-noise type and a correlation fractal dimension approximately equal to that of 3D Euclidean space. In the second stage, this fractal dimension decreases significantly, reaching the value of 2.2-2.4, characteristic for the fracture surfaces, while the time spectral density exhibits a significant low-frequency increase becoming of 0965-0393/6/4/002/img1-noise type. The resulting fractal shows no multifractal behaviour, appearing to be a single fractal.

Scaffolding knowledge building in a Web-based communication and cultural competence program for international medical graduates.

PubMed

Lax, Leila R; Russell, M Lynn; Nelles, Laura J; Smith, Cathy M

2009-10-01

Professional behaviors, tacitly understood by Canadian-trained physicians, are difficult to teach and often create practice barriers for IMGs. The purpose of this design research study was to develop a Web-based program simulating Canadian medical literacy and culture, and to evaluate strategies of scaffolding individual knowledge building. Study 1 (N = 20) examined usability and pedagogic design. Studies 2 (N = 39) and 3 (N = 33) examined case participation patterns. Model design was validated in Study 1. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated high levels of participation, on unprompted third tries, on knowledge tests. Recursive patterns were strongest on Reflective Exercises. Five strategies scaffolded knowledge building: (1) video simulations, (2) contextualized resources, (3) concurrent feedback, (4) Reflective Exercises, and (5) commentaries prompting "reflection on reflection." Scaffolded design supports complex knowledge building. These findings are concurrent with educational research on the importance of recursion and revision of knowledge for improvable and relational understanding.

Changing recruitment outcomes: the 'why' and the 'how'.

PubMed

MacLean, Lisa; Pato, Michèle T

2011-01-01

Residency programs compete for applicants and commit extensive resources to the recruitment process. After failing to fill in the match for 5 years (1999-2004), this program decided to make changes in its recruitment process. The authors describe one program's experience in improving recruitment outcomes. The new training director surveyed other program directors, reviewed medical student feedback, and evaluated previous recruitment processes, developing and implementing a new plan. Tracked outcome measures included USMLE scores, COMLEX scores, match results, and American graduate ratios. After implementation of the new process in 2004-2005, the program has filled all six positions every year. Average median COMLEX 1 and 2 scores increased from 35.0 to 77.5 (p<0.012). The American graduate-to-International medical graduate ratio (AMG/IMG ratio) for the program changed from 7/16 in 1999 to 19/5 for Years 2006-2009. Changes in the recruitment process can favorably alter match outcomes.

Planar harmonic polynomials of type B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunkl, Charles F.

1999-11-01

The hyperoctahedral group acting on icons/Journals/Common/BbbR" ALT="BbbR" ALIGN="TOP"/>N is the Weyl group of type B and is associated with a two-parameter family of differential-difference operators {Ti:1icons/Journals/Common/leq" ALT="leq" ALIGN="TOP"/> iicons/Journals/Common/leq" ALT="leq" ALIGN="TOP"/> N}. These operators are analogous to partial derivative operators. This paper finds all the polynomials h on icons/Journals/Common/BbbR" ALT="BbbR" ALIGN="TOP"/>N which are harmonic, icons/Journals/Common/Delta" ALT="Delta" ALIGN="TOP"/>Bh = 0 and annihilated by Ti for i>2, where the Laplacian 0305-4470/32/46/308/img1" ALT="(sum). They are given explicitly in terms of a novel basis of polynomials, defined by generating functions. The harmonic polynomials can be used to find wavefunctions for the quantum many-body spin Calogero model.

Invariant and partially-invariant solutions of the equations describing a non-stationary and isentropic flow for an ideal and compressible fluid in (3 + 1) dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grundland, A. M.; Lalague, L.

1996-04-01

This paper presents a new method of constructing, certain classes of solutions of a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) describing the non-stationary and isentropic flow for an ideal compressible fluid. A generalization of the symmetry reduction method to the case of partially-invariant solutions (PISs) has been formulated. We present a new algorithm for constructing PISs and discuss in detail the necessary conditions for the existence of non-reducible PISs. All these solutions have the defect structure 0305-4470/29/8/019/img1 and are computed from four-dimensional symmetric subalgebras. These theoretical considerations are illustrated by several examples. Finally, some new classes of invariant solutions obtained by the symmetry reduction method are included. These solutions represent central, conical, rational, spherical, cylindrical and non-scattering double waves.

Semi-automated Anatomical Labeling and Inter-subject Warping of High-Density Intracranial Recording Electrodes in Electrocorticography

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Liberty S.; Chang, David L.; Lee, Morgan B.; Chang, Edward F.

2017-01-01

In this article, we introduce img_pipe, our open source python package for preprocessing of imaging data for use in intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) and intracranial stereo-EEG analyses. The process of electrode localization, labeling, and warping for use in ECoG currently varies widely across laboratories, and it is usually performed with custom, lab-specific code. This python package aims to provide a standardized interface for these procedures, as well as code to plot and display results on 3D cortical surface meshes. It gives the user an easy interface to create anatomically labeled electrodes that can also be warped to an atlas brain, starting with only a preoperative T1 MRI scan and a postoperative CT scan. We describe the full capabilities of our imaging pipeline and present a step-by-step protocol for users. PMID:29163118

Countrywide digital elevation models for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania—SRTM and ASTER (phase V, deliverable 65): Chapter F in Second projet de renforcement institutionnel du secteur minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lee, Gregory K.

2015-01-01

A digital elevation model (DEM) of the entire country of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was produced using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data as required for deliverable 65 of the contract. In addition, because of significant recent advancements of availability, seamlessness, and validity of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) global elevation data, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) extended its efforts to include a higher resolution countrywide ASTER DEM as value added to the required Deliverable 63, which was limited to five areas within the country. Both SRTM and ASTER countrywide DEMs have been provided in ERDAS Imagine (.img) format that is also directly compatible with ESRI ArcMap, ArcGIS Explorer, and other GIS applications.

A GC Instrument Simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armitage, D. Bruce

1999-02-01

This simulator was developed to help students beginning the study of gas chromatographic instruments to understand their operation. It is not meant to teach chromatographic theory. The instrument simulator is divided into 5 sections. One is for sample preparation. Another is used to manage carrier gases and choose a detector and column. The third sets the conditions for either isothermal or programmed temperature operation. A fourth section models manual injections, and the fifth is the autosampler. The operator has a choice among 6 columns of differing diameters and packing polarities and a choice of either isothermal or simple one-stage temperature programming. The simulator can be operated in either single-sample mode or as a 10-sample autosampler. The integrator has two modes of operation, a "dumb" mode in which only the retention time, area of the peak, and percentage area are listed and a "smart" mode that also lists the components' identities. The identities are obtained from a list of names and retention times created by the operator. Without this list only the percentages and areas are listed. The percentages are based on the areas obtained from the chromatogram and not on the actual percentages assigned during sample preparation. The data files for the compounds used in the simulator are ASCII files and can be edited easily to add more compounds than the 11 included with the simulator. A maximum of 10 components can be used in any one sample. Sample mixtures can be made on a percent-by-volume basis, but not by mass of sample per volume of solvent. A maximum of 30 compounds can be present in any one file, but the number of files is limited only by the operating system. (I suggest that not more than 20 compounds be used in any one file, as scrolling through large numbers of compounds is annoying to say the least.) File construction and layout are discussed in detail in the User's Manual. Chromatograms are generated by calculating a retention time based on the difference between the boiling point of the component and the temperature of the column. The polarity difference between the column packing and the component is also used to modify the retention time. The retention time decreases as the difference between the boiling point of the component and the temperature of the column increases, and retention time increases as the polarity of the component approaches the polarity of the column. If the temperature of the column is too low, a warning message is given and the chromatogram does not show that component. There is no "carry-over" to the next chromatogram, as might be the case for an actual instrument. Carrier-gas flow rate is fixed and is not part of the retention-time calculation. Because of this latter condition and the method used to determine retention time, this simulator is not useful for gas chromatography method development and is not intended for such use. The purpose of the simulator is to give a beginning student experience in what happens as column temperature is varied, why one might need temperature programming, why an autosampler might be useful, and the pitfalls of "smart" integrators. When students make mistakes in instrument setup with the simulator the consequences are not damaging to the simulator but might cause serious problems with a real instrument. Hardware and Software Requirements Hardware and software requirements for A GC Instrument Simulator are shown in Table 1.

Bacterial Investigation of Ammonium-rich Sediment in the Pearl River Delta, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, K.; Chunbo, H.; Jiao, J. J.; Jidong, G.

2011-12-01

High ammonium loading of groundwater is a major concern because of the potential toxicity to ecosystem and human health. As one of the most complex large-scale delta systems in China, Pearl River Delta (PRD) was reported to have the highest ammonium concentration for natural groundwater ever reported globally. In this research, borehole SD14 was drilled through the aquitard into the basal aquifer in the PRD. 16S rRNA gene library construction and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis were conducted to reveal bacterial community variation of different geology strata. A total of 161 clones from three 16S rRNA libraries were sequenced and clustered into 55 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTU) at 3% cutoff. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that the predominant bacterial phylum was Proteobacteria (50.9%), followed by Chloroflexi (16.8%), Acidobacteria (4.38%) and Firmicutes (3.73%). In the sediment samples from SD14 at the depths of 6.9m, 22.5m and 37.4m, Proteobacteria made up 60.3%, 42.0% and 35.3% of the communities respectively, showing a declining ratio with the depth. Most of the bacteria in all the samples were previously discovered in marine environments, indicating that SD14 used to be in a marine sedimentary environment. Bacteria associated with iron oxidation and nitrogen fixing were found in the sample at 6.9 m, while in the other two samples there existed bacteria which were associated with methane cycling, sulfate reducing and denitrifying. The DGGE results showed that microbial community structures varied significantly with the increase of depth, and that Delftia acidovorans, a species of Proteobacteria which was able to reduce nitrate to nitrite, was the predominant species in samples at 22.5 and 37.4 m, suggesting ammonium as a control factor shaping the bacterial community. The results of this research provided important information of the bacteria in the PRD sediments. High bacterial diversity was observed in samples, and similar bacteria presenting in comparable habits were found. Mutual effects between bacteria and environment widely exist through PRD aquifer-aquitard system, and abnormal high ammonium was probably released during organic nitrogen dissimilation coupled with sulfate reduction.
Chemical Parameters of SD14

Topographic lidar survey of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, February 6, 2012

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guy, Kristy K.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Bonisteel-Cormier, Jamie M.

2014-01-01

This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected February 6, 2012, for Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. Point cloud data in lidar data exchange format (LAS) and bare earth digital elevation models (DEMs) in ERDAS Imagine raster format (IMG) are available as downloadable files. The point cloud data—data points described in three dimensions—were processed to extract bare earth data; therefore, the point cloud data are organized into the following classes: 1– and 17–unclassified, 2–ground, 9–water, and 10–breakline proximity. Digital Aerial Solutions, LLC, (DAS) was contracted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to collect and process these data. The lidar data were acquired at a horizontal spacing (or nominal pulse spacing) of 0.5 meters (m) or less. The USGS conducted two ground surveys in small areas on the Chandeleur Islands on February 5, 2012. DAS calculated a root mean square error (RMSEz) of 0.034 m by comparing the USGS ground survey point data to triangulated irregular network (TIN) models built from the lidar elevation data. This lidar survey was conducted to document the topography and topographic change of the Chandeleur Islands. The survey supports detailed studies of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands that resolve annual and episodic changes in beaches, berms and dunes associated with processes driven by storms, sea-level rise, and even human restoration activities. These lidar data are available to Federal, State and local governments, emergency-response officials, resource managers, and the general public.

Especially for High School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howell, J. Emory

1999-12-01

Chemistry and the Environment This issue contains more than 20 articles relating to the environment. Several articles of potential interest are indicated in the Table of Contents with the SSC mark (). Others are not so indicated because they depict use of expensive instrumentation or costly procedures, but if you have an interest in environmental chemistry you may wish to examine all the environmentally related articles. While many of the articles, both marked and unmarked, are targeted to college-level environmental chemistry curricula or to introductory courses for non-major, the methods described in several could be readily adapted to high school chemistry courses. One article likely to be of interest to teachers is found in News from Online, pp 1608-1609. The author explains how to use the U.S. Environment Protection Agency's EnviroMapper Web site to view and query environmental information. She mentioned finding a hazardous waste handler located near her home, so I decided to check the area near my home. I quickly located a natural gas salt dome storage facility marked on the map and, with a few more mouse clicks, I found information that included status of compliance with regulations, amounts of each compound released to the air in tons per year, and how to contact the corporation owning the site. Email and Web site addresses were included for the convenience of anyone wishing to contact the corporation. Students could learn a great deal about where they live that is relevant to chemistry by using the EPA site. Additional Web sites dealing with environmental issues and chemistry are cited in the sidebar at the bottom of p 1609. Among the articles that could be adapted to an advanced high school chemistry class or possibly even to an introductory class is one titled Bridge of Mandolin County (pp 1671-1672). It describes a case-study strategy similar to the scenarios used in ChemStudy. Students analyze information from various sources, including laboratory experiments if desired, discuss their findings, and make a recommendation regarding which of two road deicers should be used on the bridge. The article Pesticides in Drinking Water: Project-Based Learning within the Introductory Chemistry Curriculum (pp 1673-1667) describes class involvement in field data collection and analysis. Since more sophisticated instrumentation than is possessed by many schools is required, 6th grade science and high school chemistry classes work with a college class to obtain and analyze data. Everyone involved in this approach wins. The 6th graders, high school students, and college students all gain experience in sampling, preparing samples for analysis, determining pollutant levels, and drawing conclusions, each at an appropriate level of understanding. Plus, the high school students are exposed to instrumentation that otherwise would not be accessible, such as gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Although the project described was started by the college faculty members who wrote the article, such an approach to many interesting environmental chemistry problems could be initiated by a high school teacher by seeking out a nearby college or university with whom to partner. An article that probably would not have received the SSC mark had I not noticed that two of the coauthors are high school students, is titled Remediation of Water Contaminated with an Azo Dye (pp 1680-1683). In addition to being interesting, the article is a good reminder that research opportunities for high school students exist. Still another article that received the SSC mark because of a high school connection is Chemical Analysis of Soils (pp 1693-1694). The authors mention that with modification their techniques could be used in high school chemistry. They cite a reference to an article published several years ago, titled Soil Analysis for High School Chemistry Students (J. Chem. Educ. 1980, 57, 897-899). It was published in a feature titled the 50-Minute Experiment. Block scheduling has brought an end to the 50-minute period in many classrooms, but the experiment is valid and potentially useful in providing experience with real-world samples. Write Now! With the coming of December days are shorter and nights are longer, and for many readers in the United States and Canada winter weather has set in. If you have been thinking about writing an article for JCE perhaps now is a good time to be doing it. I would like to call your attention to four feature columns designed especially for high school teachers: Chemical Principles Revisited Cary Kilner, Editor Exeter High School, 7 Salmon Street, Newmarket, NH 03857 Phone: 603/659-6825; Fax: 603/772-8287; email: CaryPQ@aol.com Interdisciplinary Connections Mark Alber, Editor Darlington School, 1014 Cave Spring Road, Rome, GA 30161 Phone: 706/236-0442; Fax: 706/236-0443; email: malber@darlington.rome.ga.us Second Year and Advanced Placement Chemistry John Fischer, Editor Ashwaubenon High School, 2391 Ridge Road, Green Bay, WI 54304 Phone: 414/492-2955 ext 2020; email: fischer@netnet.net View from My Classroom David Byrum, Editor Flowing Wells High School, 3301 E. Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716 Phone: 520/795-2928; email: DavidB1032@aol.com The titles are descriptive of the content sought for each feature, whose mission statement can be found at the JCE Web site, jchemed.chem.wisc.edu. Click on "Features" in the left-hand frame on your screen. All these editors will be happy to discuss your ideas for an article. Secondary School Feature Articles JCE Classroom Activity #22: Colors to Dye for: Preparation of Natural Dyes, p 1688A Applications of Biocatalysis to Industrial Processes, by John T. Sime, p 1658

Sanguibacter gelidistatuariae sp. nov., a novel psychrotolerant anaerobe from an ice sculpture in Antarctica, and emendation of descriptions of the family Sanguibacteraceae, the genus Sanguibacter and species S. antarcticus, S. inulinus, S. kedieii, S. marinus, S. soli and S. suarezii.

PubMed

Pikuta, Elena V; Lyu, Zhe; Williams, Melissa D; Patel, Nisha B; Liu, Yuchen; Hoover, Richard B; Busse, Hans-Jürgen; Lawson, Paul A; Whitman, William B

2017-05-01

A novel psychrotolerant bacterium, strain ISLP-3T, was isolated from a sample of naturally formed ice sculpture on the shore of Lake Podprudnoye in Antarctica. Cells were motile, stained Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, straight or slightly curved rods with the shape of a baseball bat. The new isolate was facultatively anaerobic and catalase-positive. Growth occurred at 3-35 °C with an optimum at 22-24 °C, 0-2 % (w/v) NaCl with an optimum at 0.3 % and pH 6.2-9.5 with an optimum at pH 7.5. Strain ISLP-3T grew on several carbon sources, with the best growth on cellobiose. The isolate possessed ureolytic activity but growth was inhibited by urea. The strain was sensitive to: ampicillin, gentamycin, kanamycin rifampicin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. Major fatty acids were: anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0, C14 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The genomic G+C content was 69.5 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene showed 99 % sequence similarity to that of Sanguibacter suarezii ST-26T, but their recA genes shared ≤91 % sequence similarity, suggesting that this new isolate represents a novel species within the genus Sanguibacter. This conclusion was supported by average nucleotide identity, which was ≤91 % to the most closely related strain. The name Sanguibacter gelidistatuariae sp. nov. is proposed for the novel species with the type strain ISLP-3T=ATCC TSD-17T=DSM 100501T=JCM 30887T). The complete genome draft sequence of ISLP-3T was deposited under IMG OID 2657245272. Emendments to the descriptions of related taxa have been made based on experimental data from our comparative analysis.

Cartographic analyses of geographic information available on Google Earth Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliveira, J. C.; Ramos, J. R.; Epiphanio, J. C.

2011-12-01

The propose was to evaluate planimetric accuracy of satellite images available on database of Google Earth. These images are referents to the vicinities of the Federal Univertisity of Viçosa, Minas Gerais - Brazil. The methodology developed evaluated the geographical information of three groups of images which were in accordance to the level of detail presented in the screen images (zoom). These groups of images were labeled to Zoom 1000 (a single image for the entire study area), Zoom 100 (formed by a mosaic of 73 images) and Zoom 100 with geometric correction (this mosaic is like before, however, it was applied a geometric correction through control points). In each group of image was measured the Cartographic Accuracy based on statistical analyses and brazilian's law parameters about planimetric mapping. For this evaluation were identified 22 points in each group of image, where the coordinates of each point were compared to the coordinates of the field obtained by GPS (Global Positioning System). The Table 1 show results related to accuracy (based on a threshold equal to 0.5 mm * mapping scale) and tendency (abscissa and ordinate) between the coordinates of the image and the coordinates of field. Table 1 The geometric correction applied to the Group Zoom 100 reduced the trends identified earlier, and the statistical tests pointed a usefulness of the data for a mapping at a scale of 1/5000 with error minor than 0.5 mm * scale. The analyses proved the quality of cartographic data provided by Google, as well as the possibility of reduce the divergences of positioning present on the data. It can be concluded that it is possible to obtain geographic information database available on Google Earth, however, the level of detail (zoom) used at the time of viewing and capturing information on the screen influences the quality cartographic of the mapping. Although cartographic and thematic potential present in the database, it is important to note that both the software as data distributed by Google Earth has policies for use and distribution.
Table 1 - PLANIMETRIC ANALYSIS

Comparison of ASTER- and AVIRIS-Derived Mineraland Vegetation Maps of the White Horse Replacement Alunite Deposit and Surrounding Area, Marysvale Volcanic Field, Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rockwell, Barnaby W.

2009-01-01

This report presents and compares mineral and vegetation maps of parts of the Marysvale volcanic field in west-central Utah that were published in a recent paper describing the White Horse replacement alunite deposit. Detailed, field-verified maps of the deposit were produced from Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data acquired from a low-altitude Twin Otter turboprop airborne platform. Reconnaissance-level maps of surrounding areas including the central and northern Tushar Mountains, Pahvant Range, and portions of the Sevier Plateau to the east were produced from visible, near-infrared, and shortwave-infrared data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor carried aboard the Terra satellite platform. These maps are also compared to a previously published mineral map of the same area generated from AVIRIS data acquired from the high-altitude NASA ER-2 jet platform. All of the maps were generated by similar analysis methods, enabling the direct comparison of the spatial scale and mineral composition of surface geologic features that can be identified using the three types of remote sensing data. The high spatial (2-17 meter) and spectral (224 bands) resolution AVIRIS data can be used to generate detailed mineral and vegetation maps suitable for geologic and geoenvironmental studies of individual deposits, mines, and smelters. The lower spatial (15-30 meter) and spectral (9 bands) resolution ASTER data are better suited to less detailed mineralogical studies of lithology and alteration across entire hydrothermal systems and mining districts, including regional mineral resource and geoenvironmental assessments. The results presented here demonstrate that minerals and mineral mixtures can be directly identified using AVIRIS and ASTER data to elucidate spatial patterns of mineralogic zonation; AVIRIS data can enable the generation of maps with significantly greater detail and accuracy. The vegetation mapping results suggest that ASTER data may provide an efficient alternative to spectroscopic data for studies of burn severity after wildland fires. A new, semiautomated methodology for the analysis of ASTER data is presented that is currently being applied to ASTER data coverage of large areas for regional assessments of mineral-resource potential and mineral-environmental effects. All maps are presented in a variety of digital formats, including jpeg, pdf, and ERDAS Imagine (.img). The Imagine format files are georeferenced and suitable for viewing with other geospatial data in Imagine, ArcGIS, and ENVI. The mineral and vegetation maps are attributed so that the material identified for a pixel can be determined easily in ArcMap by using the Identify tool and in Imagine by using the Inquire Cursor tool.

Dynamic tensile stress-strain characteristics of carbon/epoxy laminated composites in through-thickness direction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakai, Kenji; Yokoyama, Takashi

2015-09-01

The effect of strain rate up to approximately ɛ˙ = 102/s on the tensile stress-strain properties of unidirectional and cross-ply carbon/epoxy laminated composites in the through-thickness direction is investigated. Waisted cylindrical specimens machined out of the laminated composites in the through-thickness direction are used in both static and dynamic tests. The dynamic tensile stress-strain curves up to fracture are determined using the split Hopkinson bar (SHB). The low and intermediate strain-rate tensile stress-strain relations up to fracture are measured on an Instron 5500R testing machine. It is demonstrated that the ultimate tensile strength and absorbed energy up to fracture increase significantly, while the fracture strain decreases slightly with increasing strain rate. Macro- and micro-scopic examinations reveal a marked difference in the fracture surfaces between the static and dynamic tension specimens.

Toll-like receptors participate in Naegleria fowleri recognition.

PubMed

Martínez-Castillo, Moisés; Santos-Argumedo, Leopoldo; Galván-Moroyoqui, José Manuel; Serrano-Luna, Jesús; Shibayama, Mineko

2018-01-01

Naegleria fowleri is a protozoan that invades the central nervous system and causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. It has been reported that N. fowleri induces an important inflammatory response during the infection. In the present study, we evaluated the roles of Toll-like receptors in the recognition of N. fowleri trophozoites by human mucoepithelial cells, analyzing the expression and production of innate immune response mediators. After amoebic interactions with NCI-H292 cells, the expression and production levels of IL-8, TNF-α, IL-1β, and human beta defensin-2 were evaluated by RT-PCR, ELISA, immunofluorescence, and dot blot assays, respectively. To determine whether the canonical signaling pathways were engaged, we used different inhibitors, namely, IMG-2005 for MyD88 and BAY 11-7085 for the nuclear factor NFkB. Our results showed that the expression and production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines and beta defensin-2 were induced by N. fowleri mainly through the canonical TLR4 pathway in a time-dependent manner.

Organization and Management of the International Space Station (ISS) Multilateral Medical Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duncan, J. M.; Bogomolov, V. V.; Castrucci, F.; Koike, Y.; Comtois, J. M.; Sargsyan, A. E.

2007-01-01

The goal of this work is to review the principles, design, and function of the ISS multilateral medical authority and the medical support system of the ISS Program. Multilateral boards and panels provide operational framework, direct, and supervise the ISS joint medical operational activities. The Integrated Medical Group (IMG) provides front-line medical support of the crews. Results of ongoing activities are reviewed weekly by physician managers. A broader status review is conducted monthly to project the state of crew health and medical support for the following month. All boards, panels, and groups function effectively and without interruptions. Consensus prevails as the primary nature of decisions made by all ISS medical groups, including the ISS medical certification board. The sustained efforts of all partners have resulted in favorable medical outcomes of the initial fourteen long-duration expeditions. The medical support system appears to be mature and ready for further expansion of the roles of all Partners, and for the anticipated increase in the size of ISS crews.

Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000

USGS Publications Warehouse

Soulard, Christopher E.; Acevedo, William; Auch, Roger F.; Sohl, Terry L.; Drummond, Mark A.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Sorenson, Daniel G.; Kambly, Steven; Wilson, Tamara S.; Taylor, Janis L.; Sayler, Kristi L.; Stier, Michael P.; Barnes, Christopher A.; Methven, Steven C.; Loveland, Thomas R.; Headley, Rachel; Brooks, Mark S.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Cover Trends Project is releasing a 1973–2000 time-series land-use/land-cover dataset for the conterminous United States. The dataset contains 5 dates of land-use/land-cover data for 2,688 sample blocks randomly selected within 84 ecological regions. The nominal dates of the land-use/land-cover maps are 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000. The land-use/land-cover maps were classified manually from Landsat Multispectral Scanner, Thematic Mapper, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus imagery using a modified Anderson Level I classification scheme. The resulting land-use/land-cover data has a 60-meter resolution and the projection is set to Albers Equal-Area Conic, North American Datum of 1983. The files are labeled using a standard file naming convention that contains the number of the ecoregion, sample block, and Landsat year. The downloadable files are organized by ecoregion, and are available in the ERDAS IMAGINETM (.img) raster file format.

A program for handling map projections of small-scale geospatial raster data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Finn, Michael P.; Steinwand, Daniel R.; Trent, Jason R.; Buehler, Robert A.; Mattli, David M.; Yamamoto, Kristina H.

2012-01-01

Scientists routinely accomplish small-scale geospatial modeling using raster datasets of global extent. Such use often requires the projection of global raster datasets onto a map or the reprojection from a given map projection associated with a dataset. The distortion characteristics of these projection transformations can have significant effects on modeling results. Distortions associated with the reprojection of global data are generally greater than distortions associated with reprojections of larger-scale, localized areas. The accuracy of areas in projected raster datasets of global extent is dependent on spatial resolution. To address these problems of projection and the associated resampling that accompanies it, methods for framing the transformation space, direct point-to-point transformations rather than gridded transformation spaces, a solution to the wrap-around problem, and an approach to alternative resampling methods are presented. The implementations of these methods are provided in an open-source software package called MapImage (or mapIMG, for short), which is designed to function on a variety of computer architectures.

Shifting tides in the emigration patterns of Canadian physicians to the United States: a cross-sectional secondary data analysis.

PubMed

Freeman, Thomas R; Petterson, Stephen; Finnegan, Sean; Bazemore, Andrew

2016-12-01

The relative ease of movement of physicians across the Canada/US border has led to what is sometimes referred to as a 'brain drain' and previous analysis estimated that the equivalent of two graduating classes from Canadian medical schools were leaving to practice in the US each year. Both countries fill gaps in physician supply with international medical graduates (IMGs) so the movement of Canadian trained physicians to the US has international ramifications. Medical school enrolments have been increased on both sides of the border, yet there continues to be concerns about adequacy of physician human resources. This analysis was undertaken to re-examine the issue of Canadian physician migration to the US. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2015 American Medical Association (AMA) Masterfile to identify and locate any graduates of Canadian schools of medicine (CMGs) working in the United States in direct patient care. We reviewed annual reports of the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS); the Canadian Post-MD Education Registry (CAPER); and the Canadian Collaborative Centre for Physician Resources (C3PR). Beginning in the early 1990s the number of CMGs locating in the U.S. reached an all-time high and then abruptly dropped off in 1995. CMGs are going to the US for post-graduate training in smaller numbers and, are less likely to remain than at any time since the 1970's. This four decade retrospective found considerable variation in the migration pattern of CMGs to the US. CMGs' decision to emigrate to the U.S. may be influenced by both 'push' and 'pull' factors. The relative strength of these factors changed and by 2004, more CMGs were returning from abroad than were leaving and the current outflow is negligible. This study supports the need for medical human resource planning to assume a long-term view taking into account national and international trends to avoid the rapid changes that were observed. These results are of importance to medical resource planning.

The Skull of Epidolops ameghinoi from the Early Eocene Itaboraí Fauna, Southeastern Brazil, and the Affinities of the Extinct Marsupialiform Order Polydolopimorphia.

PubMed

Beck, Robin M D

2017-01-01

The skull of the polydolopimorphian marsupialiform Epidolops ameghinoi is described in detail for the first time, based on a single well-preserved cranium and associated left and right dentaries plus additional craniodental fragments, all from the early Eocene (53-50 million year old) Itaboraí fauna in southeastern Brazil. Notable craniodental features of E. ameghinoi include absence of a masseteric process, very small maxillopalatine fenestrae, a prominent pterygoid fossa enclosed laterally by a prominent ectopterygoid crest, an absent or tiny transverse canal foramen, a simple, planar glenoid fossa, and a postglenoid foramen that is immediately posterior to the postglenoid process. Most strikingly, the floor of the hypotympanic sinus was apparently unossified, a feature found in several stem marsupials but absent in all known crown marsupials. "Type II" marsupialiform petrosals previously described from Itaboraí plausibly belong to E. ameghinoi ; in published phylogenetic analyses, these petrosals fell outside (crown-clade) Marsupialia. "IMG VII" tarsals previously referred to E. ameghinoi do not share obvious synapomorphies with any crown marsupial clade, nor do they resemble those of the only other putative polydolopimorphians represented by tarsal remains, namely the argyrolagids. Most studies have placed Polydolopimorphia within Marsupialia, related to either Paucituberculata, or to Microbiotheria and Diprotodontia. However, diprotodonty almost certainly evolved independently in polydolopimorphians, paucituberculatans and diprotodontians, and Epidolops does not share obvious synapomorphies with any marsupial order. Epidolops is dentally specialized, but several morphological features appear to be more plesiomorphic than any crown marsupial. It seems likely Epidolops that falls outside Marsupialia, as do morphologically similar forms such as Bonapartherium and polydolopids. Argyrolagids differ markedly in their known morphology from Epidolops but share some potential apomorphies with paucituberculatans. It is proposed that Polydolopimorphia as currently recognised is polyphyletic, and that argyrolagids (and possibly other taxa currently included in Argyrolagoidea, such as groeberiids and patagoniids) are members of Paucituberculata. This hypothesis is supported by Bayesian non-clock phylogenetic analyses of a total evidence matrix comprising DNA sequence data from five nuclear protein-coding genes, indels, retroposon insertions, and morphological characters: Epidolops falls outside Marsupialia, whereas argyrolagids form a clade with the paucituberculatans Caenolestes and Palaeothentes , regardless of whether the Type II petrosals and IMG VII tarsals are used to score characters for Epidolops or not. There is no clear evidence for the presence of crown marsupials at Itaboraí, and it is possible that the origin and early evolution of Marsupialia was restricted to the "Austral Kingdom" (southern South America, Antarctica, and Australia).

Resequencing and annotation of the Nostoc punctiforme ATTC 29133 genome: facilitating biofuel and high-value chemical production

DOE PAGES

Moraes, Luis E.; Blow, Matthew J.; Hawley, Erik R.; ...

2017-02-16

Cyanobacteria have the potential to produce bulk and fine chemicals and members belonging to Nostoc sp. have received particular attention due to their relatively fast growth rate and the relative ease with which they can be harvested. Nostoc punctiforme is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, filamentous cyanobacterium that has been studied intensively to enhance our understanding of microbial carbon and nitrogen fixation. The genome of the type strain N. punctiforme ATCC 29133 was sequenced in 2001 and the scientific community has used these genome data extensively since then. Advances in bioinformatics tools for sequence annotation and the importance of this organismmore » prompted us to resequence and reanalyze its genome and to make both, the initial and improved annotation, available to the scientific community. The new draft genome has a total size of 9.1 Mbp and consists of 65 contiguous pieces of DNA with a GC content of 41.38% and 7664 protein-coding genes. Furthermore, the resequenced genome is slightly (5152 bp) larger and contains 987 more genes with functional prediction when compared to the previously published version. We deposited the annotation of both genomes in the Department of Energy’s IMG database to facilitate easy genome exploration by the scientific community without the need of in-depth bioinformatics skills. We expect that an facilitated access and ability to search the N. punctiforme ATCC 29133 for genes of interest will significantly facilitate metabolic engineering and genome prospecting efforts and ultimately the synthesis of biofuels and natural products from this keystone organism and closely related cyanobacteria.« less

Resequencing and annotation of the Nostoc punctiforme ATTC 29133 genome: facilitating biofuel and high-value chemical production

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

Moraes, Luis E.; Blow, Matthew J.; Hawley, Erik R.

Cyanobacteria have the potential to produce bulk and fine chemicals and members belonging to Nostoc sp. have received particular attention due to their relatively fast growth rate and the relative ease with which they can be harvested. Nostoc punctiforme is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, filamentous cyanobacterium that has been studied intensively to enhance our understanding of microbial carbon and nitrogen fixation. The genome of the type strain N. punctiforme ATCC 29133 was sequenced in 2001 and the scientific community has used these genome data extensively since then. Advances in bioinformatics tools for sequence annotation and the importance of this organismmore » prompted us to resequence and reanalyze its genome and to make both, the initial and improved annotation, available to the scientific community. The new draft genome has a total size of 9.1 Mbp and consists of 65 contiguous pieces of DNA with a GC content of 41.38% and 7664 protein-coding genes. Furthermore, the resequenced genome is slightly (5152 bp) larger and contains 987 more genes with functional prediction when compared to the previously published version. We deposited the annotation of both genomes in the Department of Energy’s IMG database to facilitate easy genome exploration by the scientific community without the need of in-depth bioinformatics skills. We expect that an facilitated access and ability to search the N. punctiforme ATCC 29133 for genes of interest will significantly facilitate metabolic engineering and genome prospecting efforts and ultimately the synthesis of biofuels and natural products from this keystone organism and closely related cyanobacteria.« less

Topographic lidar survey of Dauphin Island, Alabama and Chandeleur, Stake, Grand Gosier and Breton Islands, Louisiana, July 12-14, 2013

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guy, Kristy K.; Plant, Nathaniel G.

2014-01-01

This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected on July 12 and 14, 2013, for Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Chandeleur, Stake, Grand Gosier and Breton Islands, Louisiana. Classified point cloud data—data points described in three dimensions—in lidar data exchange format (LAS) and bare earth digital elevation models (DEMs) in ERDAS Imagine raster format (IMG) are available as downloadable files. Photo Science, Inc., was contracted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to collect and process these data. The lidar data were acquired at a horizontal spacing (or nominal pulse spacing) of 1 meter (m) or less. The USGS surveyed points within the project area from July 14–23, 2013, for use in ground control and accuracy assessment. Photo Science, Inc., calculated a vertical root mean square error (RMSEz) of 0.012 m by comparing 10 surveyed points to an interpolated elevation surface of unclassified lidar data. The USGS also checked the data using 80 surveyed points and unclassified lidar point elevation data and found an RMSEz of 0.073 m. The project specified an RMSEz of 0.0925 m or less. The lidar survey was acquired to document the short- and long-term changes of several different barrier island systems. Specifically, this survey supports detailed studies of Chandeleur and Dauphin Islands that resolve annual changes in beaches, berms and dunes associated with processes driven by storms, sea-level rise, and even human restoration activities. These lidar data are available to Federal, State and local governments, emergency-response officials, resource managers, and the general public.

Equivalence between three scattering formulations for ultrasonic wave propagation in particulate mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Challis, R. E.; Tebbutt, J. S.; Holmes, A. K.

1998-12-01

The aim of this paper is to present a unified approach to the calculation of the complex wavenumber for a randomly distributed ensemble of homogeneous isotropic spheres suspended in a homogeneous isotropic continuum. Three classical formulations of the diffraction problem for a compression wave incident on a single particle are reviewed; the first is for liquid particles in a liquid continuum (Epstein and Carhart), the second for solid or liquid particles in a liquid continuum (Allegra and Hawley), and the third for solid particles in a solid continuum (Ying and Truell). Equivalences between these formulations are demonstrated and it is shown that the Allegra and Hawley formulation can be adapted to provide a basis for calculation in all three regimes. The complex wavenumber that results from an ensemble of such scatterers is treated using the formulations of Foldy (simple forward scattering), Waterman and Truell, and Lloyd and Berry (multiple scattering). The analysis is extended to provide an approximation for the case of a distribution of particle sizes in the mixture. A number of experimental measurements using a broadband spectrometric technique (reported elsewhere) to obtain the attenuation coefficient and phase velocity as functions of frequency are presented for various mixtures of differing contrasts in physical properties between phases in order to provide a comparison with theory. The materials used were aqueous suspensions of polystyrene spheres, silica spheres, iron spheres, 0022-3727/31/24/012/img1 pigment (AHR), droplets of 1-bromohexadecane, and a suspension of talc particles in a cured epoxy resin.

Mineral and Vegetation Maps of the Bodie Hills, Sweetwater Mountains, and Wassuk Range, California/Nevada, Generated from ASTER Satellite Data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rockwell, Barnaby W.

2010-01-01

Multispectral remote sensing data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) were analyzed to identify and map minerals, vegetation groups, and volatiles (water and snow) in support of geologic studies of the Bodie Hills, Sweetwater Mountains, and Wassuk Range, California/Nevada. Digital mineral and vegetation mapping results are presented in both portable document format (PDF) and ERDAS Imagine format (.img). The ERDAS-format files are suitable for integration with other geospatial data in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) such as ArcGIS. The ERDAS files showing occurrence of 1) iron-bearing minerals, vegetation, and water, and 2) clay, sulfate, mica, carbonate, Mg-OH, and hydrous quartz minerals have been attributed according to identified material, so that the material detected in a pixel can be queried with the interactive attribute identification tools of GIS and image processing software packages (for example, the Identify Tool of ArcMap and the Inquire Cursor Tool of ERDAS Imagine). All raster data have been orthorectified to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection using a projective transform with ground-control points selected from orthorectified Landsat Thematic Mapper data and a digital elevation model from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Elevation Dataset (1/3 arc second, 10 m resolution). Metadata compliant with Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards for all ERDAS-format files have been included, and contain important information regarding geographic coordinate systems, attributes, and cross-references. Documentation regarding spectral analysis methodologies employed to make the maps is included in these cross-references.

IMG_4999

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

The BARREL team inflates their second balloon just before its launch on Aug. 13, 2015, from Kiruna, Sweden. The day before this launch, the BARREL team successfully recovered the payload from the first balloon launch on Aug. 10. Payload recovery is especially important for this second launch, which carries an instrument and recorded data from a University of Houston team of student scientists. The NASA-funded BARREL – which stands for Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses – measures electrons in the atmosphere near the poles. Such electrons rain down into the atmosphere from two giant radiation belts surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen belts. For its third campaign, BARREL is launching six balloons from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. BARREL is led by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Credit: NASA/Dartmouth/Alexa Halford NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Mapping the microvascular and the associated absolute values of oxy-hemoglobin concentration through turbid media via local off-set diffuse optical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chen; Klämpfl, Florian; Stelzle, Florian; Schmidt, Michael

2014-11-01

An imging resolution of micron-scale has not yet been discovered by diffuse optical imaging (DOI), while a superficial response was eliminated. In this work, we report on a new approach of DOI with a local off-set alignment to subvert the common boundary conditions of the modified Beer-Lambert Law (MBLL). It can resolve a superficial target in micron scale under a turbid media. To validate both major breakthroughs, this system was used to recover a subsurface microvascular mimicking structure under an skin equivalent phantom. This microvascular was included with oxy-hemoglobin solution in variant concentrations to distiguish the absolute values of CtRHb and CtHbO2 . Experimental results confirmed the feasibility of recovering the target vascular of 50 µm in diameter, and graded the values of the concentrations of oxy-hemoglobin from 10 g/L to 50 g/L absolutely. Ultimately, this approach could evolve into a non-invasive imaging system to map the microvascular pattern and the associated oximetry under a human skin in-vivo.

The PEREGRINETM program: using physics and computer simulation to improve radiation therapy for cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartmann Siantar, Christine L.; Moses, Edward I.

1998-11-01

When using radiation to treat cancer, doctors rely on physics and computer technology to predict where the radiation dose will be deposited in the patient. The accuracy of computerized treatment planning plays a critical role in the ultimate success or failure of the radiation treatment. Inaccurate dose calculations can result in either insufficient radiation for cure, or excessive radiation to nearby healthy tissue, which can reduce the patient's quality of life. This paper describes how advanced physics, computer, and engineering techniques originally developed for nuclear weapons and high-energy physics research are being used to predict radiation dose in cancer patients. Results for radiation therapy planning, achieved in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) 0143-0807/19/6/005/img2 program show that these tools can give doctors new insights into their patients' treatments by providing substantially more accurate dose distributions than have been available in the past. It is believed that greater accuracy in radiation therapy treatment planning will save lives by improving doctors' ability to target radiation to the tumour and reduce suffering by reducing the incidence of radiation-induced complications.

Real-Time 3D Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Butler Hine, former director of the Intelligent Mechanism Group (IMG) at Ames Research Center, and five others partnered to start Fourth Planet, Inc., a visualization company that specializes in the intuitive visual representation of dynamic, real-time data over the Internet and Intranet. Over a five-year period, the then NASA researchers performed ten robotic field missions in harsh climes to mimic the end- to-end operations of automated vehicles trekking across another world under control from Earth. The core software technology for these missions was the Virtual Environment Vehicle Interface (VEVI). Fourth Planet has released VEVI4, the fourth generation of the VEVI software, and NetVision. VEVI4 is a cutting-edge computer graphics simulation and remote control applications tool. The NetVision package allows large companies to view and analyze in virtual 3D space such things as the health or performance of their computer network or locate a trouble spot on an electric power grid. Other products are forthcoming. Fourth Planet is currently part of the NASA/Ames Technology Commercialization Center, a business incubator for start-up companies.

Viscoelastic properties of soft gels: comparison of magnetic resonance elastography and dynamic shear testing in the shear wave regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okamoto, R. J.; Clayton, E. H.; Bayly, P. V.

2011-10-01

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is used to quantify the viscoelastic shear modulus, G*, of human and animal tissues. Previously, values of G* determined by MRE have been compared to values from mechanical tests performed at lower frequencies. In this study, a novel dynamic shear test (DST) was used to measure G* of a tissue-mimicking material at higher frequencies for direct comparison to MRE. A closed-form solution, including inertial effects, was used to extract G* values from DST data obtained between 20 and 200 Hz. MRE was performed using cylindrical 'phantoms' of the same material in an overlapping frequency range of 100-400 Hz. Axial vibrations of a central rod caused radially propagating shear waves in the phantom. Displacement fields were fit to a viscoelastic form of Navier's equation using a total least-squares approach to obtain local estimates of G*. DST estimates of the storage G' (Re[G*]) and loss modulus G'' (Im[G*]) for the tissue-mimicking material increased with frequency from 0.86 to 0.97 kPa (20-200 Hz, n = 16), while MRE estimates of G' increased from 1.06 to 1.15 kPa (100-400 Hz, n = 6). The loss factor (Im[G*]/Re[G*]) also increased with frequency for both test methods: 0.06-0.14 (20-200 Hz, DST) and 0.11-0.23 (100-400 Hz, MRE). Close agreement between MRE and DST results at overlapping frequencies indicates that G* can be locally estimated with MRE over a wide frequency range. Low signal-to-noise ratio, long shear wavelengths and boundary effects were found to increase residual fitting error, reinforcing the use of an error metric to assess confidence in local parameter estimates obtained by MRE.

A Metagenomic Assembly-Based Approach to Decoding Taxa in the Dead Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thrash, C.; Baker, B.; Seitz, K.; Gillies, L.; Temperton, B.; Rabalais, N. N.; Mason, O. U.

2016-02-01

Coastal regions of eutrophication-driven oxygen depletion are widespread and increasing in number. Also known as dead zones, these regions take their name from the deleterious effects of hypoxia (dissolved oxygen less than 2 mg/L) on shrimp, demersal fish, and other animal life. Dead zones result from nutrient enrichment of primary production, concomitant consumption by chemoorganotrophic aerobic microorganisms, and strong stratification that prevents ventilation of bottom water. One of the largest dead zones in the world occurs seasonally in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM), where hypoxia can reach up to 22,000 square kilometers. To explore the underlying genomic variation and metabolic potential of microorganisms in hypoxia, we performed metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing on six samples from the 2013 nGOM dead zone from both hypoxic and oxic bottom waters. Over 217 Mb of sequence was assembled into contigs of at least 3 kb with IDBA-UD, with 72 greater than 100 kb, and the largest 495 kb in length. Annotation by IMG recovered over 224 thousand genes in these contigs. Binning with tetra-ESOM and quality filtering based on relative coverage of sample-specific reads led to the recovery of 83 partial to near complete (31 over 70%) high-quality genomes. These metagenomes represent key microbial taxa previously determined to be numerically abundant from 16S rRNA data, such as Thaumarcheaota, Marine Group II Euryarchaeota, SAR406, Synechococcus spp., Actinobacteria, and Planctomycetes. Ongoing work includes the recruitment of metatranscriptomic data to binned contigs for evaluation of relative gene expression, metabolic reconstruction, and comparative genomics with related organisms elsewhere in the global oceans. These data will provide us with detailed information regarding the metabolic potential and activity of many of the key players in the nGOM dead zone.

Viscoelastic properties of soft gels: comparison of magnetic resonance elastography and dynamic shear testing in the shear wave regime.

PubMed

Okamoto, R J; Clayton, E H; Bayly, P V

2011-10-07

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is used to quantify the viscoelastic shear modulus, G*, of human and animal tissues. Previously, values of G* determined by MRE have been compared to values from mechanical tests performed at lower frequencies. In this study, a novel dynamic shear test (DST) was used to measure G* of a tissue-mimicking material at higher frequencies for direct comparison to MRE. A closed-form solution, including inertial effects, was used to extract G* values from DST data obtained between 20 and 200 Hz. MRE was performed using cylindrical 'phantoms' of the same material in an overlapping frequency range of 100-400 Hz. Axial vibrations of a central rod caused radially propagating shear waves in the phantom. Displacement fields were fit to a viscoelastic form of Navier's equation using a total least-squares approach to obtain local estimates of G*. DST estimates of the storage G' (Re[G*]) and loss modulus G″ (Im[G*]) for the tissue-mimicking material increased with frequency from 0.86 to 0.97 kPa (20-200 Hz, n = 16), while MRE estimates of G' increased from 1.06 to 1.15 kPa (100-400 Hz, n = 6). The loss factor (Im[G*]/Re[G*]) also increased with frequency for both test methods: 0.06-0.14 (20-200 Hz, DST) and 0.11-0.23 (100-400 Hz, MRE). Close agreement between MRE and DST results at overlapping frequencies indicates that G* can be locally estimated with MRE over a wide frequency range. Low signal-to-noise ratio, long shear wavelengths and boundary effects were found to increase residual fitting error, reinforcing the use of an error metric to assess confidence in local parameter estimates obtained by MRE.

Quantifying and Validating Rapid Floodplain Geomorphic Evolution, a Monitoring and Modelling Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, R.; Entwistle, N. S.

2017-12-01

Gravel bed rivers and their associated wider systems present an ideal subject for development and improvement of rapid monitoring tools, with features dynamic enough to evolve within relatively short-term timescales. For detecting and quantifying topographical evolution, UAV based remote sensing has manifested as a reliable, low cost, and accurate means of topographic data collection. Here we present some validated methodologies for detection of geomorphic change at resolutions down to 0.05 m, building on the work of Wheaton et al. (2009) and Milan et al. (2007), to generate mesh based and pointcloud comparison data to produce a reliable picture of topographic evolution. Results are presented for the River Glen, Northumberland, UK. Recent channel avulsion and floodplain interaction, resulting in damage to flood defence structures make this site a particularly suitable case for application of geomorphic change detection methods, with the UAV platform at its centre. We compare multi-temporal, high-resolution point clouds derived from SfM processing, cross referenced with aerial LiDAR data, over a 1.5 km reach of the watercourse. Changes detected included bank erosion, bar and splay deposition, vegetation stripping and incipient channel avulsion. Utilisation of the topographic data for numerical modelling, carried out using CAESAR-Lisflood predicted the avulsion of the main channel, resulting in erosion of and potentially complete circumvention of original channel and flood levees. A subsequent UAV survey highlighted topographic change and reconfiguration of the local sedimentary conveyor as we predicted with preliminary modelling. The combined monitoring and modelling approach has allowed probable future geomorphic configurations to be predicted permitting more informed implementation of channel and floodplain management strategies.

BCTC for Windows: Abstract of Issue 9903W

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whisnant, David M.; McCormick, James A.

1999-05-01

BCTC for Windows was originally published by JCE Software in 1992 (1) in Series B for PC-compatible (MS-DOS) computers. JCE Software is now re-releasing BCTC for Windows as issue 9903W to make it more accessible to Windows users-especially those running Windows 95 and Windows 98-while we continue to phase out Series B (DOS) issues. Aside from a new Windows-compatible installation program, BCTC is unchanged. BCTC is an environmental simulation modeled after the dioxin controversy (2). In the simulation, students are involved in the investigation of a suspected carcinogen called BCTC, which has been found in a river below a chemical plant and above the water supply of a nearby city. The students have the options of taking water samples, analyzing the water (for BCTC, oxygen, metals, and pesticides), determining LD50s in an animal lab, visiting a library, making economic analyses, and conferring with colleagues, all using the computer. In the Classroom BCTC gives students experience with science in the context of a larger social and political problem. It can serve as the basis for a scientific report, class discussion, or a role-playing exercise (3). Because it requires no previous laboratory experience, this simulation can be used by students in middle and high school science classes, or in college courses for non-science majors. It also has been used in introductory chemistry courses for science majors. One of the intentions of BCTC is to involve students in an exercise (2) that closely approximates what scientists do. The realistic pictures, many of them captured with a video camera, create an atmosphere that furthers this goal. BCTC also reflects the comments of teachers who have used the program (4) and accounts of dioxin research (5). Screen from BCTC showing location of the entry of the effluent in the river, the city, and the city water supply.

Tidal modulation on the Changjiang River plume in summer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WU, H.

2011-12-01

Tide effects on the structure of the near-field Changjiang River Plume and on the extension of the far-field plume have often been neglected in analysis and numerical simulations, which is the focus of this study. Numerical experiments highlighted the crucial role of the tidal forcing in modulating the Changjiang River plume. Without the tidal forcing, the plume results in an unrealistic upstream extension along the Jiangsu Coast. With the tidal forcing, the vertical mixing increases, resulting in a strong horizontal salinity gradient at the northern side of the Changjiang River mouth along the Jiangsu Coast, which acts as a dynamic barrier and restricts the northward migration of the plume. Furthermore, the tidal forcing produces a bi-directional plume structure in the near field and the plume separation is located at the head of the submarine canyon. A significant bulge occurs around the head of submarine canyon and rotates anticyclonically, which carries large portion of the diluted water towards the northeast and merges into the far-field plume. A portion of the diluted water moves towards the southeast, which is mainly caused by tidal ratification. This bi-directional plume structure is more evident under certain wind condition. During the neap tide with the reduced tidal energy, the near-field plume extends farther offshore and the bulge becomes less evident. These dynamic behaviors are maintained and fundamentally important in the region around the river mouth even under the summer monsoon and the shelf currents, although in the far field the wind forcing and shelf currents eventually dominate the plume extension.
H. Wu

Benzene and Naphthalene Degrading Bacterial Communities in an Oil Sands Tailings Pond

PubMed Central

Rochman, Fauziah F.; Sheremet, Andriy; Tamas, Ivica; Saidi-Mehrabad, Alireza; Kim, Joong-Jae; Dong, Xiaoli; Sensen, Christoph W.; Gieg, Lisa M.; Dunfield, Peter F.

2017-01-01

Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), produced by surface-mining of oil sands in Canada, is alkaline and contains high concentrations of salts, metals, naphthenic acids, and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs). Residual hydrocarbon biodegradation occurs naturally, but little is known about the hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities present in OSPW. In this study, aerobic oxidation of benzene and naphthalene in the surface layer of an oil sands tailings pond were measured. The potential oxidation rates were 4.3 μmol L−1 OSPW d−1 for benzene and 21.4 μmol L−1 OSPW d−1 for naphthalene. To identify benzene and naphthalene-degrading microbial communities, metagenomics was combined with stable isotope probing (SIP), high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, and isolation of microbial strains. SIP using 13C-benzene and 13C-naphthalene detected strains of the genera Methyloversatilis and Zavarzinia as the main benzene degraders, while strains belonging to the family Chromatiaceae and the genus Thauera were the main naphthalene degraders. Metagenomic analysis revealed a diversity of genes encoding oxygenases active against aromatic compounds. Although these genes apparently belonged to many phylogenetically diverse taxa, only a few of these taxa were predominant in the SIP experiments. This suggested that many members of the community are adapted to consuming other aromatic compounds, or are active only under specific conditions. 16S rRNA gene sequence datasets have been submitted to the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under accession number SRP109130. The Gold Study and Project submission ID number in Joint Genome Institute IMG/M for the metagenome is Gs0047444 and Gp0055765. PMID:29033909

The Morphodynamic Signature of Rivers in the Ucamara Depression: A Habitat for Formative Rivers and the Scavenger Meandering Channels they Feed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abad, J. D.; Escobar, C.; Shan, J.

2017-12-01

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, located in Loreto, Peru, is a region of incomparable biodiversity resulting from the consistent annual climate patterns (little seasonal variability), and more importantly, the dynamics of the freshwater rivers that surround and traverse it. The Ucamara Depression, where the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is located, presently has a myriad of active and abandoned fluvial landforms. The exploration of the geologic and tectonic history that fabricated this exceptional fluvial system is the foundation for researching and understanding further phenomena of the region. The interpretation of the history of the geologic events that occurred to form this region and the inspection of the river belts, or areas of active river migration, of these fluvial landforms, facilitate the understanding of 1) how the Ucayali and Maranon rivers interact with one another and with the streams and bodies of water in the Ucamara Depression, 2) the role of wetlands, hydrodynamics, and sediment transport mechanisms in the movement of rivers and the extent of mixing before the rivers reach their confluence, and 3) how the water chemistry, flooding, and sediment transport processes of rivers create an environment capable of fostering an unimaginable array of life and how changes in these processes affect the flora and fauna that inhabit the region. This study will discuss field measurements (hydrodynamic and bed morphodynamic) and remote sensing analysis of scavenger meandering channels (Pacaya and Samiria) and discuss confluence dynamics of the two tributaries that form the Amazon River. Morphometric parameters show that these meandering rivers do not achieve typical planform-based conditions.

Fast Simulation of Membrane Filtration by Combining Particle Retention Mechanisms and Network Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krupp, Armin; Griffiths, Ian; Please, Colin

2016-11-01

Porous membranes are used for their particle retention capabilities in a wide range of industrial filtration processes. The underlying mechanisms for particle retention are complex and often change during the filtration process, making it hard to predict the change in permeability of the membrane during the process. Recently, stochastic network models have been shown to predict the change in permeability based on retention mechanisms, but remain computationally intensive. We show that the averaged behaviour of such a stochastic network model can efficiently be computed using a simple partial differential equation. Moreover, we also show that the geometric structure of the underlying membrane and particle-size distribution can be represented in our model, making it suitable for modelling particle retention in interconnected membranes as well. We conclude by demonstrating the particular application to microfluidic filtration, where the model can be used to efficiently compute a probability density for flux measurements based on the geometry of the pores and particles. A. U. K. is grateful for funding from Pall Corporation and the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. I.M.G. gratefully acknowledges support from the Royal Society through a University Research Fellowship.

Vibrational states and optical transitions in hydrogen bonds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johannsen, P. G.

1998-03-01

Proton energies in hydrogen bonds are mostly calculated using a double Morse potential (the DMP model). This form, however, does not reproduce the experimentally observed correlation between the proton stretching frequency and the bond length in an extended bond-length region sufficiently well. An alternative potential is proposed in the present paper. The quantum states of this non-symmetric double-well potential are calculated numerically using the Numerov (Fox-Goodwin) algorithm. It is shown that the optical spectra of hydrogen bonds in various substances can be well approximated on the basis of the transition frequencies and intensities predicted by the present model. For weakly interacting OH impurities in 0953-8984/10/10/008/img1, the overtone spectrum and line intensities are well reproduced, whereas the line broadenings and the decrease of the fundamental stretching frequencies in intermediate and strong hydrogen bonds are traced back to the influence of the reduced height of the central barrier. The model is also extrapolated to the range of symmetric hydrogen bonds, and the calculated transition frequencies are discussed with respect to most recent infra-red experiments on ice under strong compression. A possible artificial infra-red signal from strained diamond anvils is thereby noted.

Generating constrained randomized sequences: item frequency matters.

PubMed

French, Robert M; Perruchet, Pierre

2009-11-01

All experimental psychologists understand the importance of randomizing lists of items. However, randomization is generally constrained, and these constraints-in particular, not allowing immediately repeated items-which are designed to eliminate particular biases, frequently engender others. We describe a simple Monte Carlo randomization technique that solves a number of these problems. However, in many experimental settings, we are concerned not only with the number and distribution of items but also with the number and distribution of transitions between items. The algorithm mentioned above provides no control over this. We therefore introduce a simple technique that uses transition tables for generating correctly randomized sequences. We present an analytic method of producing item-pair frequency tables and item-pair transitional probability tables when immediate repetitions are not allowed. We illustrate these difficulties and how to overcome them, with reference to a classic article on word segmentation in infants. Finally, we provide free access to an Excel file that allows users to generate transition tables with up to 10 different item types, as well as to generate appropriately distributed randomized sequences of any length without immediately repeated elements. This file is freely available from http://leadserv.u-bourgogne.fr/IMG/xls/TransitionMatrix.xls.

The influence of screening of the polyion electrostatic potential on the counterion dynamics in polyelectrolyte solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schipper, F. J. M.; Hollander, J. G.; Leyte, J. C.

1998-10-01

The self-diffusion coefficient of tetra-methylammonium counterion in solutions of polymethacrylic acid in 0953-8984/10/41/004/img1 has been measured over a broad polyion concentration range at a constant degree of neutralization and at different ratios of added monovalent or bivalent salt to polyions. A maximum counterion self-diffusion coefficient was observed as a function of polyion concentration. The value of the self-diffusion coefficient at the maximum did not depend on the valency of the added salt. The maximum was found at lower polymer concentrations and with a higher value, when the ratio of added salt to polyions was increased, as predicted by the Poisson-Boltzmann-Smoluchowski equation in the cylindrical cell model for polyelectrolytes. At higher polyion concentrations a maximum counterion self-diffusion coefficient against the ratio of added salt and polyions was observed, which has not been reported before. Upon increasing this ratio the electrostatic potential of the polyelectrolyte gets screened, leading to an increase of the counterion self-diffusion coefficient. Concentration effects of the added salt on the other hand ultimately lead to a decrease of the counterion self-diffusion coefficient, which explains the occurrence of a maximum.

The Primary Care Physician Workforce: Ethical and Policy Implications

PubMed Central

Starfield, Barbara; Fryer, George E.

2007-01-01

PURPOSE We undertook a study to examine the characteristics of countries exporting physicians to the United States according to their relative contribution to the primary care supply in the United States. METHODS We used data from the World Health Organization and from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile to gather sociodemographic, health system, and health characteristics of countries and the number of international medical graduates (IMGs) for the countries, according to the specialty of their practice in the United States. RESULTS Countries whose medical school graduates added a relatively greater percentage of the primary care physicians than the overall percentage of primary care physicians in the United States (31%) were poor countries with relatively extreme physician shortages, high infant mortality rates, lower life expectancies, and lower immunization rates than countries contributing relatively more specialists to the US physician workforce. CONCLUSION The United States disproportionately uses graduates of foreign medical schools from the poorest and most deprived countries to maintain its primary care physician supply. The ethical aspects of depending on foreign medical graduates is an important issue, especially when it deprives disadvantaged countries of their graduates to buttress a declining US primary care physician supply. PMID:18025485

Inhibitory effects of spice essential oils on the growth of Bacillus species.

PubMed

Ozcan, Mehmet Musa; Sağdiç, Osman; Ozkan, Gülcan

2006-01-01

A series of essential oils of 11 Turkish plant spices [black thyme, cumin, fennel (sweet), laurel, marjoram, mint, oregano, pickling herb, sage, savory, and thyme], used in foods mainly for their flavor, aromas, and preservation, in herbal tea, in alternative medicines, and in natural therapies, were screened for antibacterial effects at 1:50, 1:100, 1:250, and 1:500 dilutions by the paper disc diffusion method against six Bacillus species (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ATCC 3842, Bacillus brevis FMC 3, Bacillus cereus FMC 19, Bacillus megaterium DSM 32, Bacillus subtilis IMG 22, and B. subtilis var. niger ATCC 10). All of the tested essential oils (except for cumin) showed antibacterial activity against one or more of the Bacillus species used in this study. Generally, the essential oils at 1:50 and 1:100 levels were more effective. Only one essential oil (laurel) was not found effective against the tested bacteria. The bacterium most sensitive to all of the spice essential oils was B. amyloliquefaciens ATCC 3842. Based on the results of this study, it is likely that essential oils of some spices may be used as antimicrobial agents to prevent the spoilage of food products.

A profile of solo/two-physician practices.

PubMed

Lee, Doohee; Fiack, Kelly James; Knapp, Kenneth Michael

2014-01-01

Understanding practice behaviors of solo/dual physician ownership and associated factors at the national level is important information for policymakers and clinicians in response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, but poorly understood in the literature. We analyzed nationally representative data (n = 4,720). The study results reveal nearly 33% of the sample reported solo/two-physician practices. Male/minority/older physicians, psychiatrists, favor small practices. Greater market competition was perceived and less charity care was given among solo/two-physician practitioners. The South region was favored by small physician practitioners. Physicians in solo or two-person practices provided fewer services to chronic patients and were dissatisfied with their overall career in medicine. Small practices were favored by international medical graduates (IMGs) and primary care physicians (PCPs). Overall our data suggest that the role of solo/dual physician practices is fading away in the delivery of medicine. Our findings shed light on varied characteristics and practice behaviors of solo/two-physician practitioners, but more research may be needed to reevaluate the potential role of small physician practitioners and find a way to foster a private physician practice model in the context of the newly passed ACA of 2010.

Chromium dinicocysteinate supplementation can lower blood glucose, CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1, creatinine, apparently mediated by elevated blood vitamin C and adiponectin and inhibition of NFkappaB, Akt, and Glut-2 in livers of zucker diabetic fatty rats.

PubMed

Jain, Sushil K; Croad, Jennifer L; Velusamy, Thirunavukkarasu; Rains, Justin L; Bull, Rebeca

2010-09-01

Chromium and cysteine supplementation can improve glucose metabolism in animal studies. This study examined the hypothesis that a cysteinate complex of chromium is significantly beneficial than either of them in lowering blood glucose and vascular inflammation markers in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Starting at the age of 6 wk, ZDF rats were supplemented orally (daily gavages for 8 more weeks) with saline-placebo (D) or chromium (400 microg Cr/Kg body weight) as chromium dinicocysteinate (CDNC), chromium dinicotinate (CDN) or chromium picolinate (CP) or equimolar L-cysteine (LC, img/Kg body weight), and fed Purina 5008 diet for 8 wk. ZDF rats of 6 wk age before any supplementations and onset of diabetes were considered as baseline. D rats showed elevated levels of fasting blood glucose, HbA(1), CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1 and oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation) and lower adiponectin and vitamin C, when compared with baseline rats. In comparison to D group, CDNC group had significantly lower blood glucose, HbA(1), CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1 and lipid peroxidation and increased vitamin C and adiponectin levels. CDN, CP or LC showed significantly less or no effect on these biomarkers. Only CDNC lowered blood creatinine levels in comparison to D. While CDN and CP had no effect, activation of NFkappaB, Akt and glucose transporter-2 levels were decreased, insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) activation increased in livers of CDNC-rats. CDNC effect on glycemia, NFkappaB, Akt and IRS-1 in liver was significantly greater compared with LC. Blood chromium levels did not differ between Cr-groups. Exogenous vitamin C supplementation significantly inhibited MCP-1 secretion in U937 monocytes cultured in high-glucose-medium. CDNC is a potent hypoglycemic compound with anti-inflammatory activity apparently mediated by elevated blood vitamin C and adiponectin and inhibition of NFkappaB, Akt, and Glut-2 and increased IRS-1 activation in livers of type 2 diabetic rats.

Chromium dinicocysteinate supplementation can lower blood glucose, CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1, creatinine, apparently mediated by elevated blood vitamin C and adiponectin and inhibition of NFkB, Akt, and Glut-2 in livers of Zucker diabetic fatty rats

PubMed Central

Jain, Sushil K.; Croad, Jennifer L.; Velusamy, Thirunavukkarasu; Rains, Justin L.; Bull, Rebeca

2011-01-01

Aim Chromium and cysteine supplementation can improve glucose metabolism in animal studies. This study examined the hypothesis that a cysteinate complex of chromium is significantly beneficial than either of them in lowering blood glucose and vascular inflammation markers in ZDF rats. Methods Starting at the age of 6 wks, ZDF rats were supplemented orally (daily gavages for 8 more wks) with saline-placebo (D) or chromium (400µg Cr/KgBW) as chromium-dinicocysteinate (CDNC), chromium-dinicotinate (CDN), or chromium-picolinate (CP) or equimolar L-cysteine (LC, img/Kg BW), and fed Purina 5008 diet for 8 wks. ZDF rats of 6 wks age before any supplementations and onset of diabetes were considered as baseline (BL). Results D rats showed elevated levels of fasting blood glucose, HbA1, CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1 and oxidative stress (LP) and lower adiponectin and vitamin C, when compared to BL rats. In comparison to D group, CDNC group had significantly lower blood glucose, HbA1, CRP, MCP-1, ICAM-1 and LP and increased vitamin C and adiponectin levels. CDN, CP or LC showed significantly less or no effect on these biomarkers. Only CDNC lowered blood creatinine levels in comparison to D. While CDN and CP had no effect, activation of NFkB, Akt and GLUT-2 levels were decreased, IRS-1 activation increased in livers of CDNC-rats. CDNC effect on glycemia, NFkB, Akt and IRS-1 in liver was significantly greater compared with LC. Blood chromium levels did not differ between Cr-groups. Exogenous vitamin C supplementation significantly inhibited MCP-1 secretion in U937 monocytes cultured in high-glucose-medium. Conclusions CDNC is a potent hypoglycemic compound with anti-inflammatory activity apparently mediated by elevated blood vitamin C and adiponectin and inhibition of NFkB, Akt, and Glut-2 and increased IRS-1 activation in livers of type 2 diabetic rats. PMID:20306473

Seismic anisotropy in the uppermost mantle beneath oceanic regions from data of broadband OBSs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeo, A.; Nishida, K.; Isse, T.; Kawakatsu, H.; Shiobara, H.; Sugioka, H.; Ito, A.; Kanazawa, T.; Suetsugu, D.

2011-12-01

For improving vertical resolution of seismic-anisotropy structure at depths of 10-100 km beneath oceanic regions, we measured phase velocities of surface waves in a broadband frequency range by two methods: the ambient noise interferometry in frequency higher than 0.035 Hz, and array analysis of event waveforms in lower frequency. We use seismograms recorded by broadband ocean bottom seismometers (BBOBSs) in two regions: (i) the Shikoku Basin in the Philippine Sea by Stagnant Slab Project, and (ii) east of Tahiti Island by a project called the tomographic investigation by seafloor array experiment for Society hotspot (TIARES). The frequency ranges of phase-velocity measurements in each region are summarized in Table. For the case of Shikoku Basin, we invert phase velocities for radially anisotropic structure. The resultant structure shows decrease of shear-wave velocity by 6-8 % at depths of 50-70 km, and intensification of radial anisotropy (VSH>VSV) from 1-2 % at 10-20 km depth to 4-6 % at 40-70 km depth. These results indicate increasing amount of preferred-oriented olivine crystal, and/or horizontal layering of partial melt near the boundary between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere. The azimuthal anisotropy of phase velocity in the Shikoku Basin is also investigated by array analysis of event waveforms for the fundamental mode of Rayleigh wave at 0.03 Hz. The fastest direction is NW, and consistent with direction of present plate motion. The velocity difference between fastest and slowest directions is 1-2 %. These results mainly reflect shear-wave velocity at depth of 30-60 km, and imply that lattice preferred orientation is, at least, partly (though may not be fully) responsible for the anisotropy in the depth range. We will obtain radially anisotropic structure and azimuthal anisotropy in Tahiti region, and will present difference between two regions.
Frequency range of phase-velocity measurements for two regions of analyses.

From GeoSTEP to MidiSTEP: a small satellite experiment to test the equivalence principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonneville, R.

1996-11-01

Testing the equivalence principle (EP) has been recognized by the scientific community as a short term prime objective for fundamental physics in space. In 1994 a phase 0/A study of the GeoSTEP mission was initiated by CNES in order to design a space experiment to test the EP at the accuracy of 0264-9381/13/11A/020/img1, with the concern to be compatible with the small versatile platform `PROTEUS' under study. The GeoSTEP payload includes a set of four differential accelerometers placed at cryogenic temperature on board a drag-free, three-axis stabilized satellite in low-Earth orbit. Each accelerometer contains a pair of test masses A - A, A - B, A - C, B - C (inner mass - outer mass) made of three different materials A, B, C with decreasing densities. The accelerometer concept is the fully electrostatic levitation and read-out device proposed by ONERA (`SAGE'). The drag-free and attitude control system (DFACS) is monitored by the common mode data of the accelerometers along their three axes, while the expected violation signal is detected by the differential mode data along the longitudinal sensitive axis. The cryostat is a single chamber supercritical helium dewar designed by CEA. Helium boiling off from the dewar feeds a set of proportional gas thrusters performing the DFCAS. Error analysis and data processing preparation is managed by OCA/CERGA. The satellite will be on a 6 am - 6 pm near polar, near circular, Sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of 600 to 900 km, depending upon the atmosphere density at the launch date. The mission will last at least 4 months and could be launched in 2002. A descoped, room-temperature version of the project using electric thrusters (FEEPs) and called MidiSTEP has also been considered.

Starry-Eyed Hubble Celebrates 20 Years of Awe and Discovery

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA image release April 22, 2010 This brand new Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula. The scene is reminiscent of Hubble's classic "Pillars of Creation" photo from 1995, but is even more striking in appearance. The image captures the top of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks like arrows sailing through the air. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) To read learn more about this image go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hubble20th-img.... NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Historical Orthoimagery of the Lake Tahoe Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Soulard, Christopher E.; Raumann, Christian G.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Geographic Science Center has developed a series of historical digital orthoimagery (HDO) datasets covering part or all of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Three datasets are available: (A) 1940 HDOs for the southern Lake Tahoe Basin, (B) 1969 HDOs for the entire Lake Tahoe Basin, and (C) 1987 HDOs for the southern Lake Tahoe Basin. The HDOs (for 1940, 1969, and 1987) were compiled photogrammically from aerial photography with varying scales, camera characteristics, image quality, and capture dates. The resulting datasets have a 1-meter horizontal resolution. Precision-corrected Ikonos multispectral satellite imagery was used as a substitute for HDOs/DOQs for the 2002 imagery date, but these data are not available for download in this series due to licensing restrictions. The projection of the HDO data is set to UTM Zone 10, NAD 1983. The data for each of the three available dates are clipped into files that spatially approximate the 3.75-minute USGS quarter quadrangles (roughly 3,000 to 4,000 hectares), and have roughly 100 pixels (or 100 meters) of overlap to facilitate combining the files into larger regions without data gaps. The files are named after 3.75-minute USGS quarter quadrangles that cover the same general spatial extent. These files are available in the ERDAS Imagine (.img) format.

How field monitoring of green infrastructure stormwater practices has led to changes in North Carolina's Stormwater BMP design manual

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, W. F.; Winston, R. J.

2011-12-01

Green Infrastructure stormwater management is comprised of many biologically-based stormwater treatment practices. Two of which, bioretention and level spreader- vegetative filter strips, have been extensively studied at over 10 different field locations across North Carolina by NC State University. The result of this research has been dramatic changes to the state of North Carolina's stormwater BMP Design Manual, which now allows a greater amount of flexibility for the design of each practice than most other design manuals. The purpose of this presentation is to present a summary of research conducted in North Carolina and associate that research with specific changes made in the state's design guidance for both bioretention (Table 1) and level spreader- vegetated filter strip systems (Table 2). Among the changes are type of vegetation, ratio of hydraulic loading, underdrainage configuration, and fill media selection. References (in print) associated with the tables are listed below: Hathaway, J.M. and W.F. Hunt. 2008. Field Evaluation of Level Spreaders in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 134(4):538-542. Hunt, W.F., A.R. Jarrett, J.T. Smith, L.J. Sharkey. 2006. Evaluating Bioretention Hydrology and Nutrient Removal at Three Field Sites in North Carolina. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 132 (6): 600-608. Hunt, W.F., J.M. Hathaway, R.J. Winston, and S.J. Jadlocki. 2010. Runoff Volume Reduction by a Level Spreader - Vegetated Filter Strip System in Suburban Charlotte, NC. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 15(6): 399-503. Jones, M.P. and W.F. Hunt. 2009. Bioretention Impact on Runoff Temperature in Trout Sensitive Waters. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 135(8): 577-585. Li, H., L.J. Sharkey, W.F. Hunt, A.P. Davis. 2009. Mitigation of Impervious Surface Hydrology using Bioretention in North Carolina and Maryland. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 14(4): 407-415. Line, D.E. and W.F. Hunt. 2009. Performance of a Bioretention Area and a Level Spreader-Grass Filter Strip at Two Highway Sites in North Carolina. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 135(2): 217-224. Passeport, E., W.F. Hunt, D.E. Line, R.A. Smith, and R.A. Brown. 2009. Field Study of the Ability of Two Grassed Bioretention Cells to Reduce Stormwater Runoff Pollution. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 135(4): 505-510. Winston, R.J., W.F. Hunt, D.L. Osmond, W.G. Lord, and M.D. Woodward. 2011. Field Evaluation of Four Level Spreader - Vegetative Filter Strips to Improve Urban Stormwater Quality. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 137(3): 170-182.
Table 1 - Research-Based Design Changes for Bioretention in North Carolina Table 2 - Level Spreader - Vegetated Filter Strip Design Evolution in North Carolina

Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach-Abstract of Issue 9904M

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Albert W. M.; So, C. T.; Chan, C. L.; Wu, Y. K.

1999-05-01

Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach is a program for Macintosh computers in which the frontier molecular orbital approaches to electrocyclic and cycloaddition reactions are animated. The bonding or antibonding interactions of the frontier molecular orbital(s) determine whether the reactions are thermally or photochemically allowed or forbidden. Pericyclic reactions that involve a redistribution of bonding and nonbonding electrons in a cyclic, concerted manner are an important class of organic reactions. Since the publications of the Woodward-Hoffmann rules on the conservation of orbital symmetry (1) and the frontier molecular orbital theory (FMO) by Fukui first described in the late 1960s (2), the underlying principles of these processes at the molecular level have become fully understood. Many modern organic chemistry textbooks include pericyclic reactions as a major topic. They are usually covered in detail in a typical introductory organic chemistry course. In the Classroom Between the two fundamental approaches to pericyclic reactions, the FMO approach has gained some popularity at the undergraduate teaching level. It is simpler and can be based on a pictorial approach. A detailed understanding of molecular orbital theories and symmetry is not required. Screen from Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach When learning the mechanisms of organic reactions, our students have often expressed a wish that they could see how the electrons "jump" and the orbitals "move" in the microscopic world. Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach has partially fulfilled the students' request. With its color 3-D graphics and animation, Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach can greatly enhance the teaching and learning of the FMO approach to pericyclic reactions. The stereochemical outcomes of these highly stereospecific reactions can be seen clearly as the reaction process is animated on the computer screen. Based on the previous protocols (3) on the Apple II computer, we designed Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach using Macromedia Director (4) to teach the two most important pericyclic reactions: electrocyclic addition and cycloaddition. Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach can be used in intermediate or advanced organic chemistry courses. Literature Cited 1. Woodward, R. B.; Hoffmann, R. The Conservation of Orbital Symmetry; Academic: New York, 1971. 2. Fukui, K. Tetrahedron Lett. 1965, 2009, 2427. 3. Lee, A. W. M. Educ. Chem. 1988, 122. 4. Macromedia Director, version 4.0.3; Macromedia, Inc.: San Francisco, 1994. Keywords Lecture Aid; Computer Room; Organic; Pericyclic Reactions; Molecular Orbitals Hardware and Software Requirements for Pericyclic Reactions: FMO Approach

Hubble's Wide View of 'Mystic Mountain' in Infrared

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-04-23

NASA image release April 22, 2010 This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared-light image of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby stars in the tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. The image marks the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into an orbit around Earth. The image reveals a plethora of stars behind the gaseous veil of the nebula's wall of hydrogen, laced with dust. The foreground pillar becomes semi-transparent because infrared light from background stars penetrates through much of the dust. A few stars inside the pillar also become visible. The false colors are assigned to three different infrared wavelength ranges. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar in February and March 2010. Object Names: HH 901, HH 902 Image Type: Astronomical Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) To read learn more about this image go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hubble20th-img.... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

Exceptional Financial Support for Introduction of Inactivated Polio Vaccine in Middle-Income Countries.

PubMed

Blankenhorn, Anne-Line; Cernuschi, Tania; Zaffran, Michel J

2017-07-01

In May 2012, the World Health Assembly declared the completion of poliovirus eradication a programmatic emergency for global public health and called for a comprehensive polio endgame strategy. The Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 was developed in response to this call and demands that all countries using Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) only introduce at least 1 dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) into routine immunization schedules by the end of 2015. In November 2013, the Board of Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) approved the provision of support for IPV introduction in the 72 Gavi-eligible countries. Following analytical work and stakeholder consultations, the IPV Immunization Systems Management Group (IMG) presented a proposal to provide exceptional financial support for IPV introduction to additional OPV-only using countries not eligible for Gavi support and that would otherwise not be able to mobilize the necessary financial resources within the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan timelines. In June 2014, the Polio Oversight Board (POB) agreed to make available a maximum envelope of US $45 million toward supporting countries not eligible for Gavi funding. This article describes the design of the funding mechanism that was developed, its implementation and the lessons learned through this process. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Flash x-ray radiography of argon jets in ambient air

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geiswiller, J.; Robert, E.; Huré, L.; Cachoncinlle, C.; Viladrosa, R.; Pouvesle, J. M.

1998-09-01

This paper describes the development and application of a soft x-ray flash radiography technique. A very compact soft x-ray flash source has been specially designed for these studies. The table-top x-ray source developed in this work emits strong doses, up to one roentgen at the output window, of x-ray photons, with most of them in the characteristic lines of the anode material (photon energy in the energy range 5-10 keV), in pulse of 20 ns FWHM with an x-ray emission zone smaller than 0957-0233/9/9/024/img1. All these characteristics make this source attractive for the x-ray radiography of high-speed phenomena, down to ten nanoseconds duration and/or for the media presenting weak absorption for the harder x-ray photons emitted by more conventional flash x-ray systems. Argon streams in ambient air were chosen as a typical case to enlighten the potentialities of this method. Single-shot radiographs of such an argon jet through rectangular nozzles were obtained. No attempt of quantitative measurement of local density in the argon stream has yet been performed, only the qualitative structure of the jet has been investigated. Nevertheless, these preliminary results enable us to state that the diagnostics of gaseous or plasma media, even at rather low pressures, can proceed using soft x-ray flash radiography.

User's guide for mapIMG 3--Map image re-projection software package

USGS Publications Warehouse

Finn, Michael P.; Mattli, David M.

2012-01-01

Version 0.0 (1995), Dan Steinwand, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)/Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDC)--Version 0.0 was a command line version for UNIX that required four arguments: the input metadata, the output metadata, the input data file, and the output destination path. Version 1.0 (2003), Stephen Posch and Michael P. Finn, USGS/Mid-Continent Mapping Center (MCMC--Version 1.0 added a GUI interface that was built using the Qt library for cross platform development. Version 1.01 (2004), Jason Trent and Michael P. Finn, USGS/MCMC--Version 1.01 suggested bounds for the parameters of each projection. Support was added for larger input files, storage of the last used input and output folders, and for TIFF/ GeoTIFF input images. Version 2.0 (2005), Robert Buehler, Jason Trent, and Michael P. Finn, USGS/National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC)--Version 2.0 added Resampling Methods (Mean, Mode, Min, Max, and Sum), updated the GUI design, and added the viewer/pre-viewer. The metadata style was changed to XML and was switched to a new naming convention. Version 3.0 (2009), David Mattli and Michael P. Finn, USGS/Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)--Version 3.0 brings optimized resampling methods, an updated GUI, support for less than global datasets, UTM support and the whole codebase was ported to Qt4.

Accuracy of Non-Destructive Testing of PBRs to Estimate Fragilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brune, J. N.; Brune, R.; Biasi, G. P.; Anooshehpoor, R.; Purvance, M.

2011-12-01

Prior studies of Precariously Balanced Rocks (PBRs) have involved various methods of documenting rock shapes and fragilities. These have included non-destructive testing (NDT) methods such as photomodeling, and potentially destructive testing (PDT) such as forced tilt tests. PDT methods usually have the potential of damaging or disturbing the rock or its pedestal so that the PBR usefulness for future generations is compromised. To date we have force-tilt tested approximately 28 PBRs, and of these we believe 7 have been compromised. We suggest here that given other inherent uncertainties in the current methodologies, NDT methods are now sufficiently advanced as to be adequate for the current state of the art use for comparison with Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) and seismic hazard maps (SHMs). Here we compare tilt-test static toppling estimates to three non-destructive methods: (1) 3-D photographic modeling (2) profile analysis assuming the rock is 2-D, and (3) expert judgments from photographs. 3-D modeling uses the commercial Photomodeler program and photographs in the field taken from numerous directions around the rock. The output polyhedral shape is analyzed in Matlab determine the center of mass and in Autocad to estimate the static overturning angle alpha. For the 2-D method we chose the photograph in profile looking perpendicular to the estimated direction of toppling. The rock is outlined as a 2-D object in Matlab. Rock dimensions, rocking points, and a vertical reference are supplied by the photo analyst to estimate the center of gravity and static force overturning angles. For the expert opinion method we used additional photographs taken from different directions to improve the estimates of the center of mass and the rocking points. We used 7 rocks for comparisons. The error in estimating tan alpha from 3-D modeling is about 0.05. For 2-D estimates an average error is about 0.1 (?). For expert opinion estimates the error is about 0.06. For individual rocks the uncertainties may be reduced with more extensive study. The one case (*) where tilt-testing differs materially from 3-D is because an irregular base on the rock allowed the rock to begin to tilt at a lower angle onto a second rocking point with higher alpha. 2-D methods perform well enough to use as a screening method for the larger archive, and reserve the more accurate photographic analyses for the rocks deemed most important. The table below gives a list of the tan alpha data:
Tilt vs. NDT Tan(alpha) values

New Global Bathymetry and Topography Model Grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, W. H.; Sandwell, D. T.; Marks, K. M.

2008-12-01

A new version of the "Smith and Sandwell" global marine topography model is available in two formats. A one-arc-minute Mercator projected grid covering latitudes to +/- 80.738 degrees is available in the "img" file format. Also available is a 30-arc-second version in latitude and longitude coordinates from pole to pole, supplied as tiles covering the same areas as the SRTM30 land topography data set. The new effort follows the Smith and Sandwell recipe, using publicly available and quality controlled single- and multi-beam echo soundings where possible and filling the gaps in the oceans with estimates derived from marine gravity anomalies observed by satellite altimetry. The altimeter data have been reprocessed to reduce the noise level and improve the spatial resolution [see Sandwell and Smith, this meeting]. The echo soundings database has grown enormously with new infusions of data from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO), the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (NGA), hydrographic offices around the world volunteering through the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), and many other agencies and academic sources worldwide. These new data contributions have filled many holes: 50% of ocean grid points are within 8 km of a sounding point, 75% are within 24 km, and 90% are within 57 km. However, in the remote ocean basins some gaps still remain: 5% of the ocean grid points are more than 85 km from the nearest sounding control, and 1% are more than 173 km away. Both versions of the grid include a companion grid of source file numbers, so that control points may be mapped and traced to sources. We have compared the new model to multi-beam data not used in the compilation and find that 50% of differences are less than 25 m, 95% of differences are less than 130 m, but a few large differences remain in areas of poor sounding control and large-amplitude gravity anomalies. Land values in the solution are taken from SRTM30v2, GTOPO30 and ICESAT data. GEBCO has agreed to adopt this model and begin updating it in 2009. Ongoing tasks include building an uncertainty model and including information from the latest IBCAO map of the Arctic Ocean.

Classification of very high resolution satellite remote sensing data in a pilot phase of the forest cover classification of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Forêts d'Afrique Central Evaluées par Télédetection (FACET) product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singa Monga Lowengo, C.

2012-12-01

The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) based in Kinshasa, serves as the focal point of the GOFC-GOLD network for Central Africa. OSFAC's long term objective is building regional capacity to use remotely sensed data to map forest cover and forest cover change across Central Africa. OSFAC archives and disseminates satellite data, offers training in geospatial data applications in coordination with the University of Kinshasa, and provides technical support to CARPE partners. Forêts d'Afrique Centrale Évaluées par Télédétection (FACET) is an OSFAC initiative that implements the UMD/SDSU methodology at the national level and quantitatively evaluates the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest cover in Central Africa. The multi-temporal series of FACET data is a useful contribution to many projects, such as biodiversity monitoring, climate modeling, conservation, natural resource management, land use planning, agriculture and REDD+. I am working as Remote Sensing and GIS Officer in various projects of OSFAC. My activities include forest cover and lands dynamics monitoring in Congo Basin. I am familiar with the use of digital mapping software, GIS and RS (Arc GIS, ENVI and PCI Geomatica etc.), classification and spatial Analysis of satellite images, 3D modeling, etc. I started as an intern at OSFAC, Assistant Trainer (Professional Training) and Consultant than permanent employee since October 2009. To assist in the OSFAC activities regarding the monitoring of forest cover and the CARPE program in the context of natural resources management, I participated in the development of the FACET Atlas (Republic of Congo). I received data from Matt Hansen (map.img), WRI and Brazzaville (shapefiles). With all these data I draw maps of the ROC Atlas and statistics of forest cover and forest loss. We organize field work on land to collect data to validate the FACET product. Therefore, to assess forest cover in the region of Kwamouth and Kahuzi-Maiko Biega landscape with very high resolution data and field work for validating FACET product (Remotelly Sensing Product).;

Adjusted Levenberg-Marquardt method application to methene retrieval from IASI/METOP spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khamatnurova, Marina; Gribanov, Konstantin

2016-04-01

Levenberg-Marquardt method [1] with iteratively adjusted parameter and simultaneous evaluation of averaging kernels together with technique of parameters selection are developed and applied to the retrieval of methane vertical profiles in the atmosphere from IASI/METOP spectra. Retrieved methane vertical profiles are then used for calculation of total atmospheric column amount. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data provided by ESRL (NOAA, Boulder,USA) [2] are taken as initial guess for retrieval algorithm. Surface temperature, temperature and humidity vertical profiles are retrieved before methane vertical profile retrieval for each selected spectrum. Modified software package FIRE-ARMS [3] were used for numerical experiments. To adjust parameters and validate the method we used ECMWF MACC reanalysis data [4]. Methane columnar values retrieved from cloudless IASI spectra demonstrate good agreement with MACC columnar values. Comparison is performed for IASI spectra measured in May of 2012 over Western Siberia. Application of the method for current IASI/METOP measurements are discussed. 1.Ma C., Jiang L. Some Research on Levenberg-Marquardt Method for the Nonlinear Equations // Applied Mathematics and Computation. 2007. V.184. P. 1032-1040 2.http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psdhttp://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd 3.Gribanov K.G., Zakharov V.I., Tashkun S.A., Tyuterev Vl.G.. A New Software Tool for Radiative Transfer Calculations and its application to IMG/ADEOS data // JQSRT.2001.V.68.№ 4. P. 435-451. 4.http://www.ecmwf.int/http://www.ecmwf.int

The need for a comprehensive medication safety module in medical education.

PubMed

Chandy, Sujith John

2016-10-01

A rising number of medicines and minimal emphasis on rational prescribing in the medical curriculum may compromise medication safety. There is no focused module in the curriculum dealing with factors affecting safety such as quality, medicines management, rational use, and approach to adverse effects. Creating awareness of these issues would hopefully plant a seed of safe prescribing and encourage pharmacovigilance. A study was therefore done to determine the need for such a module. A quasi-experimental pre-post module study. Medical students ( n = 88) completing pharmacology term were recruited after informed consent. A questionnaire containing 20 questions on various themes was administered and scored. Subsequently a module was developed and relevant safety themes taught to the students. After one month, the questionnaire was re-administered. The pre module score was 9.52/20. Knowledge about the various themes, adverse effects, medication management, quality issues and rational use were similar though poor knowledge was evident in specific areas such as clinical trials, look alike-sound alike medicines (LASA) and medicine storage. The post module score was 12.24/20. The improvement of score was statistically significant suggesting the effectiveness of the module. The relatively poor knowledge and improvement with a specific educational module emphasizes the need of such a module within the medical curriculum to encourage safe use of medicines by Indian Medical Graduates (IMG). It is hoped that the policy makers in medical education will introduce such a module within the medical curriculum.

Source apportionment studies on particulate matter in Beijing/China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suppan, P.; Shen, R.; Shao, L.; Schrader, S.; Schäfer, K.; Norra, S.; Vogel, B.; Cen, K.; Wang, Y.

2013-05-01

More than 15 million people in the greater area of Beijing are still suffering from severe air pollution levels caused by sources within the city itself but also from external impacts like severe dust storms and long range advection from the southern and central part of China. Within this context particulate matter (PM) is the major air pollutant in the greater area of Beijing (Garland et al., 2009). PM did not serve only as lead substance for air quality levels and therefore for adverse health impact effects but also for a strong influence on the climate system by changing e.g. the radiative balance. Investigations on emission reductions during the Olympic Summer Games in 2008 have caused a strong reduction on coarser particles (PM10) but not on smaller particles (PM2.5). In order to discriminate the composition of the particulate matter levels, the different behavior of coarser and smaller particles investigations on source attribution, particle characteristics and external impacts on the PM levels of the city of Beijing by measurements and modeling are performed: a) Examples of long term measurements of PM2.5 filter sampling in 2010/2011 with the objectives of detailed chemical (source attribution, carbon fraction, organic speciation and inorganic composition) and isotopic analyses as well as toxicological assessment in cooperation with several institutions (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (IfGG/IMG), Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), University Rostock (UR), Chinese University of Mining and Technology Beijing, CUMTB) will be discussed. b) The impact of dust storm events on the overall pollution level of particulate matter in the greater area of Beijing is being assessed by the online coupled comprehensive model system COSMO-ART. First results of the dust storm modeling in northern China (2011, April 30th) demonstrates very well the general behavior of the meteorological parameters temperature and humidity as well as a good agreement between modeled and measured dust storm concentration variability at Beijing in the course of time. The results show the importance of intertwine investigations of measurements and modeling, the analysis of local air pollution levels as well as the impact and analysis of advective processes in the greater region of Beijing. Comprehensive investigations on particulate matter are a prerequisite for the knowledge of the source strengths and source attribution to the overall air pollution level. Only this knowledge can help to formulate and to introduce specific reduction measures to reduce coarser as well as finer particulates.

Automated system for generation of soil moisture products for agricultural drought assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raja Shekhar, S. S.; Chandrasekar, K.; Sesha Sai, M. V. R.; Diwakar, P. G.; Dadhwal, V. K.

2014-11-01

Drought is a frequently occurring disaster affecting lives of millions of people across the world every year. Several parameters, indices and models are being used globally to forecast / early warning of drought and monitoring drought for its prevalence, persistence and severity. Since drought is a complex phenomenon, large number of parameter/index need to be evaluated to sufficiently address the problem. It is a challenge to generate input parameters from different sources like space based data, ground data and collateral data in short intervals of time, where there may be limitation in terms of processing power, availability of domain expertise, specialized models & tools. In this study, effort has been made to automate the derivation of one of the important parameter in the drought studies viz Soil Moisture. Soil water balance bucket model is in vogue to arrive at soil moisture products, which is widely popular for its sensitivity to soil conditions and rainfall parameters. This model has been encoded into "Fish-Bone" architecture using COM technologies and Open Source libraries for best possible automation to fulfill the needs for a standard procedure of preparing input parameters and processing routines. The main aim of the system is to provide operational environment for generation of soil moisture products by facilitating users to concentrate on further enhancements and implementation of these parameters in related areas of research, without re-discovering the established models. Emphasis of the architecture is mainly based on available open source libraries for GIS and Raster IO operations for different file formats to ensure that the products can be widely distributed without the burden of any commercial dependencies. Further the system is automated to the extent of user free operations if required with inbuilt chain processing for every day generation of products at specified intervals. Operational software has inbuilt capabilities to automatically download requisite input parameters like rainfall, Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) from respective servers. It can import file formats like .grd, .hdf, .img, generic binary etc, perform geometric correction and re-project the files to native projection system. The software takes into account the weather, crop and soil parameters to run the designed soil water balance model. The software also has additional features like time compositing of outputs to generate weekly, fortnightly profiles for further analysis. Other tools to generate "Area Favorable for Crop Sowing" using the daily soil moisture with highly customizable parameters interface has been provided. A whole India analysis would now take a mere 20 seconds for generation of soil moisture products which would normally take one hour per day using commercial software.

Characterization of the white ovals on the Jupiter's southern hemisphere using the first data by Juno/JIRAM instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sindoni, Giuseppe; Grassi, Davide; Adriani, Alberto; Mura, Alessandro; Moriconi, Maria Luisa; Dinelli, Bianca Maria; Filacchione, Gianrico; Tosi, Federico; Piccioni, Giuseppe; Altieri, Francesca; Bolton, Scott J.; Connerney, Jack E. P.; Atreya, Sushil K.; Bagenal, Fran; Hansen, Candy; Ingersoll, Andy; Janssen, Michael; Levin, Steven M.; Lunine, Jonathan; Orton, Glenn S.

2017-04-01

The JIRAM, Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper, is an imager/spectrometer aboard the NASA/Juno spacecraft. The JIRAM instrument is composed by an IR imager (IMG) and a spectrometer (SPE) [1]. The spectrometer, based on grating diffraction of a pixel size slit, covers the spectral interval 2.0-5.0 μm and has a FOV of 3.52° (across track) sampled by 256 pixels with a square IFOV of 250x250 μrad [1]. JIRAM measurements of the first Juno orbit around Jupiter highlighted the presence of the white ovals belt in the southern hemisphere, between 30°S and 45°S. The spectrometer covers also the spectral range sensitive to the reflected sunlight and since during the first Juno orbit JIRAM was pointing around the terminator, we were able to observe the upper clouds. In particular, the spectral range between 2 and 3 μm is sensitive to the variations of gaseous ammonia, altitude and opacity of NH3 ice cloud [2] and N2H4 haze [4]. For this purpose, an atmospheric radiative transfer (RT) model is required. The implementation of a RT code, which includes multiple scattering, in an inversion algorithm based on the Bayesian approach [5], can provide strong constraints about both the clouds and hazes optical properties and the atmospheric gaseous composition. Here we report the first results obtained by the analysis of the JIRAM observations acquired during the first Juno perijove after orbit insertion (PJ1). Spectral observations with a spatial resolution never achieved before (around 250 km on the 1 bar level) allow, for the first time, the accurate characterization of clouds and hazes structure inside and outside the ovals. We focused on the latitudinal ovals belt (30-45°S) in the longitudinal region covering the three ovals having higher contrast both at 2 and 5 μm. Moreover, the ammonia gaseous content retrieved in the 2-3 μm spectral range by the procedure above mentioned can be compared with the results obtained on the same spectra in the thermal range (around 5 μm wavelength) using the approach described in [3]. This work was supported by the Italian Space Agency through ASI-INAF contract I/010/10/0 and 2014-050-R.0. JIL acknowledges support from NASA through the Juno Project. GSO acknowledges support from NASA through funds that were distributed to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. References [1] A. Adriani et al., 2014. doi: 10.1007/s11214-014-0094-y [2] S.K. Atreya et al., 1997. doi: 10.1007/978-94-015-8790-7_21 [3] D. Grassi et al., 2010, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.05.003 [4] F. Moreno, 1996. doi: 10.1006/icar.1996.0237 [5] G. Sindoni et al., 2015. bibl code: 2015AGUFM.P13B2131S

[Application of digital photography in color matching of porcelain restoration in special color teeth].

PubMed

Ruan, Dan-Ping; Wu, Chun-Yun; Zhang, Ding-Hua

2010-02-01

To evaluate the clinical application of digital photography in special color teeth, and to explore the role and the problems s of digital photos to improve cosmetic effect. Digital photography combined visual color-matching was applied in 50 cases with special color teeth in ceramic restorations selected randomly. Then the satisfactory degree of the patients and dentists was evaluated and the value of L*a*b* between prosthesis and its neighbors was collected by self-developed software Dental ImgShop. Chroma (C(ab) )and hue (h(ab) degrees ) were calculated according to the value of a and b. The data was analyzed with paired t test using SAS6.12 software package, so as chromatic aberration (deltaE). The satisfactory degree of the patients was 98%, and the satisfaction degree of the dentists was 94%. The range of L, a ,b C(ab), h(ab) degrees of special color teeth was 54.50-92.29, -0.97-8.12,-0.73-20.85,0.85-21.34,29.73-89.20, respectively. There was no significant difference between the prosthesis and their neighbors statistically (P>0.05). The mean value of chromatic aberration (deltaE) was 0.948(0.136-3.45), and only 3 cases were unacceptable (deltaE>/=2). Digital photography could record and transmit the color information of special color teeth more exactly, and could improve the patients satisfaction and the cosmetic effect in color measuring. Supported by Research Fund of Natural Science for Young Scholars of Minhang Central Hospital.

Expression of Norwalk virus capsid protein in transgenic tobacco and potato and its oral immunogenicity in mice.

PubMed Central

Mason, H S; Ball, J M; Shi, J J; Jiang, X; Estes, M K; Arntzen, C J

1996-01-01

Alternatives to cell culture systems for production of recombinant proteins could make very safe vaccines at a lower cost. We have used genetically engineered plants for expression of candidate vaccine antigens with the goal of using the edible plant organs for economical delivery of oral vaccines. Transgenic tobacco and potato plants were created that express the capsid protein of Norwalk virus, a calicivirus that causes epidemic acute gastroenteritis in humans. The capsid protein could be extracted from tobacco leaves in the form of 38-nm Norwalk virus-like particles. Recombinant Norwalk virus-like particle (rNV) was previously recovered when the same gene was expressed in recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells. The capsid protein expressed in tobacco leaves and potato tubers cosedimented in sucrose gradients with insect cell-derived rNV and appeared identical to insect cell-derived rNV on immunoblots of SDS/polyacrylamide gels. The plant-expressed rNV was orally immunogenic in mice. Extracts of tobacco leaf expressing rNV were given to CD1 mice by gavage, and the treated mice developed both serum IgG and secretory IgA specific for rNV. Furthermore, when potato tubers expressing rNV were fed directly to mice, they developed serum IgG specific for rNV. These results indicate the potential usefulness of plants for production and delivery of edible vaccines. This is an appropriate technology for developing countries where vaccines are urgently needed. Images IMG Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 PMID:8643575

RNA-Dependent Cysteine Biosynthesis in Bacteria and Archaea

DOE PAGES

Mukai, Takahito; Crnković, Ana; Umehara, Takuya; ...

2017-05-09

ABSTRACT The diversity of the genetic code systems used by microbes on earth is yet to be elucidated. It is known that certain methanogenic archaea employ an alternative system for cysteine (Cys) biosynthesis and encoding; tRNA Cysis first acylated with phosphoserine (Sep) byO-phosphoseryl-tRNA synthetase (SepRS) and then converted to Cys-tRNA Cysby Sep-tRNA:Cys-tRNA synthase (SepCysS). In this study, we searched all genomic and metagenomic protein sequence data in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system and at the NCBI to reveal new clades of SepRS and SepCysS proteins belonging to diverse archaea in the four major groups (DPANN,Euryarchaeota, TACK, and Asgard) andmore » two groups of bacteria (“CandidatusParcubacteria” andChloroflexi). Bacterial SepRS and SepCysS charged bacterial tRNA Cysspecies with cysteinein vitro. Homologs of SepCysE, a scaffold protein facilitating SepRS-SepCysS complex assembly in Euryarchaeota class I methanogens, are found in a few groups of TACK and Asgard archaea, whereas the C-terminally truncated homologs exist fused or genetically coupled with diverse SepCysS species. Investigation of the selenocysteine (Sec)- and pyrrolysine (Pyl)-utilizing traits in SepRS-utilizing archaea and bacteria revealed that the archaea carrying full-length SepCysE employ Sec and that SepRS is often found in Pyl-utilizing archaea andChloroflexibacteria. We further discuss possible contributions of the SepRS-SepCysS system for sulfur assimilation, methanogenesis, and other metabolic processes requiring large amounts of iron-sulfur enzymes or Pyl-containing enzymes.« less

A View of Water Quality Characteristics Pertinent to Phosphorus Movement in a Third Level Tributary to Lake Champlain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witt, M.

2017-12-01

Lake Champlain is a large natural freshwater lake located in the northeastern United States. The lake provides fresh drinking water for over a quarter of a million people and affords for the livelihoods and recreational opportunities of many well beyond its borders. The health of Lake Champlain is important to the people of Vermont and beyond. During the summer months it is plagued by algal blooms. These unsightly and harmful growths affect other aquatic organisms and are the result of excess phosphate flowing into the lake. Missisquoi Bay in the far northern part of the lake is an area of concern. (Algal bloom Missisquoi Bay. Photo by Robert Galbraith) Measuring in-stream characteristics pertinent to phosphorus movement from the headwaters to the outflow of a third level tributary concurrently will provide important information regarding the movement of phosphorus into tributaries then on into Lake Champlain. Phosphorus, Total Suspended Solids, Temperature and Flow Rate were measured at the mouth, mid-point and headwaters of Black Creek. Black Creek is the last major contributor to the Missisquoi River before it flows into Missisquoi Bay, a bay in Lake Champlain. These measurements were made concurrently at low, normal and high water levels. Significant differences were found between temperature, total suspended solids and phosphate from the headwaters of Black Creek through to its outflow into the Missisquoi River. These characteristics pertinent to phosphorus movement indicated various rates of increase from headwaters to outflow.

Equilibrium unfolding of A. niger RNase: pH dependence of chemical and thermal denaturation.

PubMed

Kumar, Gundampati Ravi; Sharma, Anurag; Kumari, Moni; Jagannadham, Medicherla V; Debnath, Mira

2011-08-01

Equilibrium unfolding of A. niger RNase with chemical denaturants, for example GuHCl and urea, and thermal unfolding have been studied as a function of pH using fluorescence, far-UV, near-UV, and absorbance spectroscopy. Because of their ability to affect electrostatic interactions, pH and chemical denaturants have a marked effect on the stability, structure, and function of many globular proteins. ANS binding studies have been conducted to enable understanding of the folding mechanism of the protein in the presence of the denaturants. Spectroscopic studies by absorbance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism and use of K2D software revealed that the enzyme has α + β type secondary structure with approximately 29% α-helix, 24% β-sheet, and 47% random coil. Under neutral conditions the enzyme is stable in urea whereas GuHCl-induced equilibrium unfolding was cooperative. A. niger RNase has little ANS binding even under neutral conditions. Multiple intermediates were populated during the pH-induced unfolding of A. niger RNase. Urea and temperature-induced unfolding of A. niger RNase into the molten globule-like state is non-cooperative, in contrast to the cooperativity seen with the native protein, suggesting the presence of two parts/domains, in the molecular structure of A. niger RNase, with different stability that unfolds in steps. Interestingly, the GuHCl-induced unfolding of the A state (molten globule state) of A. niger RNase is unique, because a low concentration of denaturant not only induces structural change but also facilitates transition from one molten globule like state (A(MG1)) into another (I(MG2)).

Towards Stochastic Optimization-Based Electric Vehicle Penetration in a Novel Archipelago Microgrid.

PubMed

Yang, Qingyu; An, Dou; Yu, Wei; Tan, Zhengan; Yang, Xinyu

2016-06-17

Due to the advantage of avoiding upstream disturbance and voltage fluctuation from a power transmission system, Islanded Micro-Grids (IMG) have attracted much attention. In this paper, we first propose a novel self-sufficient Cyber-Physical System (CPS) supported by Internet of Things (IoT) techniques, namely "archipelago micro-grid (MG)", which integrates the power grid and sensor networks to make the grid operation effective and is comprised of multiple MGs while disconnected with the utility grid. The Electric Vehicles (EVs) are used to replace a portion of Conventional Vehicles (CVs) to reduce CO 2 emission and operation cost. Nonetheless, the intermittent nature and uncertainty of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) remain a challenging issue in managing energy resources in the system. To address these issues, we formalize the optimal EV penetration problem as a two-stage Stochastic Optimal Penetration (SOP) model, which aims to minimize the emission and operation cost in the system. Uncertainties coming from RESs (e.g., wind, solar, and load demand) are considered in the stochastic model and random parameters to represent those uncertainties are captured by the Monte Carlo-based method. To enable the reasonable deployment of EVs in each MGs, we develop two scheduling schemes, namely Unlimited Coordinated Scheme (UCS) and Limited Coordinated Scheme (LCS), respectively. An extensive simulation study based on a modified 9 bus system with three MGs has been carried out to show the effectiveness of our proposed schemes. The evaluation data indicates that our proposed strategy can reduce both the environmental pollution created by CO 2 emissions and operation costs in UCS and LCS.

Towards Stochastic Optimization-Based Electric Vehicle Penetration in a Novel Archipelago Microgrid

PubMed Central

Yang, Qingyu; An, Dou; Yu, Wei; Tan, Zhengan; Yang, Xinyu

2016-01-01

Due to the advantage of avoiding upstream disturbance and voltage fluctuation from a power transmission system, Islanded Micro-Grids (IMG) have attracted much attention. In this paper, we first propose a novel self-sufficient Cyber-Physical System (CPS) supported by Internet of Things (IoT) techniques, namely “archipelago micro-grid (MG)”, which integrates the power grid and sensor networks to make the grid operation effective and is comprised of multiple MGs while disconnected with the utility grid. The Electric Vehicles (EVs) are used to replace a portion of Conventional Vehicles (CVs) to reduce CO2 emission and operation cost. Nonetheless, the intermittent nature and uncertainty of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) remain a challenging issue in managing energy resources in the system. To address these issues, we formalize the optimal EV penetration problem as a two-stage Stochastic Optimal Penetration (SOP) model, which aims to minimize the emission and operation cost in the system. Uncertainties coming from RESs (e.g., wind, solar, and load demand) are considered in the stochastic model and random parameters to represent those uncertainties are captured by the Monte Carlo-based method. To enable the reasonable deployment of EVs in each MGs, we develop two scheduling schemes, namely Unlimited Coordinated Scheme (UCS) and Limited Coordinated Scheme (LCS), respectively. An extensive simulation study based on a modified 9 bus system with three MGs has been carried out to show the effectiveness of our proposed schemes. The evaluation data indicates that our proposed strategy can reduce both the environmental pollution created by CO2 emissions and operation costs in UCS and LCS. PMID:27322281

Cleveland Clinic intelligent mouthguard: a new technology to accurately measure head impact in athletes and soldiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartsch, Adam; Samorezov, Sergey

2013-05-01

Nearly 2 million Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) occur in the U.S. each year, with societal costs approaching $60 billion. Including mild TBI and concussion, TBI's are prevalent in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in domestic athletes. Long-term risks of single and cumulative head impact dosage may present in the form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, suicide, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Quantifying head impact dosage and understanding associated risk factors for the development of long-term sequelae is critical toward developing guidelines for TBI exposure and post-exposure management. The current knowledge gap between head impact exposure and clinical outcomes limits the understanding of underlying TBI mechanisms, including effective treatment protocols and prevention methods for soldiers and athletes. In order to begin addressing this knowledge gap, Cleveland Clinic is developing the "Intelligent Mouthguard" head impact dosimeter. Current testing indicates the Intelligent Mouthguard can quantify linear acceleration with 3% error and angular acceleration with 17% error during impacts ranging from 10g to 174g and 850rad/s2 to 10000rad/s2, respectively. Correlation was high (R2 > 0.99, R2 = 0.98, respectively). Near-term development will be geared towards quantifying head impact dosages in vitro, longitudinally in athletes and to test new sensors for possible improved accuracy and reduced bias. Long-term, the IMG may be useful to soldiers to be paired with neurocognitive clinical data quantifying resultant TBI functional deficits.

RNA-Dependent Cysteine Biosynthesis in Bacteria and Archaea

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

Mukai, Takahito; Crnković, Ana; Umehara, Takuya

ABSTRACT The diversity of the genetic code systems used by microbes on earth is yet to be elucidated. It is known that certain methanogenic archaea employ an alternative system for cysteine (Cys) biosynthesis and encoding; tRNA Cysis first acylated with phosphoserine (Sep) byO-phosphoseryl-tRNA synthetase (SepRS) and then converted to Cys-tRNA Cysby Sep-tRNA:Cys-tRNA synthase (SepCysS). In this study, we searched all genomic and metagenomic protein sequence data in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system and at the NCBI to reveal new clades of SepRS and SepCysS proteins belonging to diverse archaea in the four major groups (DPANN,Euryarchaeota, TACK, and Asgard) andmore » two groups of bacteria (“CandidatusParcubacteria” andChloroflexi). Bacterial SepRS and SepCysS charged bacterial tRNA Cysspecies with cysteinein vitro. Homologs of SepCysE, a scaffold protein facilitating SepRS-SepCysS complex assembly in Euryarchaeota class I methanogens, are found in a few groups of TACK and Asgard archaea, whereas the C-terminally truncated homologs exist fused or genetically coupled with diverse SepCysS species. Investigation of the selenocysteine (Sec)- and pyrrolysine (Pyl)-utilizing traits in SepRS-utilizing archaea and bacteria revealed that the archaea carrying full-length SepCysE employ Sec and that SepRS is often found in Pyl-utilizing archaea andChloroflexibacteria. We further discuss possible contributions of the SepRS-SepCysS system for sulfur assimilation, methanogenesis, and other metabolic processes requiring large amounts of iron-sulfur enzymes or Pyl-containing enzymes.« less

Induced strain actuation of composite beams and rotor blades with embedded piezoceramic elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Peter C.; Chopra, Inderjit

1996-02-01

The objective of this research is to develop a dynamically-scaled (Froude scale) helicopter rotor blade with embedded piezoceramic elements as sensors and actuators to control blade vibrations. A 6 ft diameter 2-bladed bearingless rotor model was built where each blade is embedded with banks of piezoelectric actuators at 0964-1726/5/1/005/img1 degree angles with respect to the beam axis on the top and bottom surfaces. A twist distribution along the blade span is achieved through in-phase excitation of the top and bottom actuators at equal potentials, while a bending distribution is achieved through out-of-phase excitation. In order to fix design variables and to optimize blade performance, a uniform strain beam theory is formulated to analytically predict the static bending and torsional response of composite rectangular beams with embedded piezoelectric actuators. Parameters such as bond thicknesses, actuator skew angle and actuator spacing are investigated by experiments and then validated by theory. The static bending and torsional response of the rotor blades is experimentally measured and correlated with theory. Dynamic torsional and bending responses are experimentally determined for frequencies from 2 - 120 Hz to assess the viability of a vibration reduction system based on piezo-actuation of blade twist. To assess the performance of the piezo-actuators in rotation, hover tests were conducted where accelerometers embedded in the blades were used to resolve the tip twist amplitudes. Although the magnitudes of blade twist attained in this experiment were small, it is expected that future models can be built with improved performance.

Now That I Have It, What Can I Do with It?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Jon L.

1999-11-01

All JCE subscribers now have access to all areas of JCE Online. As a reader of the print Journal you may be wondering what benefits JCE Online offers you and how you can reap those benefits. Point your WWW browser at jchemed.chem.wisc.edu, login, and follow along. Keep in mind that the three benefits outlined below are those that directly benefit you as a Journal reader. JCE Online contains many other resources that will benefit you as a chemistry teacher. Find an Article, Any Article The JCE Online feature that I perceive to be most beneficial to Journal readers is the ease and speed of finding articles. Finding a particular Journal article or several related articles is quickly and conveniently accomplished by using JCE Index online. Clicking the JCE Index item in the left-hand navigation bar leads to the JCE Index search page. A vanity search for articles that I authored or co-authored (type "holmes j" into the search text field and press Enter) produces a list of the ten most recent articles. A click on one of the articles and another click on the Full Text (.pdf) button (in the page menu bar near the top of the page below the global menu bar) and I am looking at one of my articles just as it appeared in the Journal. Four clicks, nine keystrokes, and 25 seconds (your time may vary)... not bad! Searching the Journal has never been easier than using the online JCE Index. If you remember which issue of the Journal contains the article you are looking for, then that article is never more than six mouse clicks away from the JCE Online Home Page. Of course, this only applies if we have the article online; full text articles begin with the September 1996 issue. The first click is on the Past Issues item in the left-hand navigation bar. If the article is not in the current volume of the Journal (your memory is much better than mine if you remember farther back) then the next click (click two) is on the pop-up list of Journal volumes from which you select the year the article appeared. After the correct volume is selected, use your next click to select the issue by clicking (click three) on one of the issue cover thumbnails. This brings you to the issue Table of Contents where you will probably have to scroll down to find the article (click four). Click the title of the article (click five) to go to the abstract of the article. Click six on the Full Text (.pdf) button in the page menu bar finishes the job. On my computer the six clicks from the JCE Online home page to the full text of an article by Jones et al., "Preparing Preservice Chemistry Teachers for Constructivist Classrooms through Use of Authentic Activities", in the July 1997 issue took 35 seconds including the time required to start up Acrobat Reader; a lot quicker than a trip to the chemistry library and easier even than a trip to the bookshelf across the room! A pop-up list is used to select a volume of the Journal from the Past Issues page. As I mentioned above, only issues since September 1996 have full-text articles available online. Abstracts of articles online go back to July 1995. JCE Index does contain citations to all articles published in the Journal back to Volume 1, Number 1more than 25,700 citations to date. When an online search produces an article that is not available online, you will have to retrieve it the old-fashioned way with a trip to the library or bookshelf. But at least you will know exactly where to look. Supplement Your Print Version You may have noticed a W near the title of some articles, especially laboratory experiments, in the Journal Table of Contents and within the Journal. This W denotes articles that contain online supplementary materials. Such materials are provided by the authors of those articles and may include handouts, assignments, worksheets, procedures, digital video, color illustrations, softwarematerials that you will find beneficial in implementing the idea or laboratory experiment. At JCE Online such articles contain a Supplement button in the page menu bar. For articles with supplementary materials, the Supplement button takes JCE subscribers to the supplement download page. Clicking the Supplement button produces the supplement download page. We attempt to provide supplementary materials as PDF files that are readily downloaded, viewed, and printed using Acrobat Reader. We also take the files in the format provided by the author, which you may find easier to edit for your purposes, and combine them into a single compressed file. This file is available in two forms, one for Windows users and one for Macintosh users. Click the Supplements item in the left-hand navigation bar to find out more about downloading and viewing supplemental materials and for a link to a list of all such materials available at JCE Online. Send Us Your Comments and Suggestions At the bottom of every page at JCE Online is a link to our email address. Do not hesitate to use it to tell us what you think about the Journal and JCE Online. We read all such messages and try to reply to every one. I hope you agree that JCE Online has something to offer you and look forward to hearing from you.

Micro-topographic controls on hillslope erosion and deposition: a multi-scale case study using random forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, X.; Li, Y.; Washington-Allen, R. A.; Li, Y.

2017-12-01

Topography imposes a significant impact on water induced soil erosion and deposition. Although existing models incorporate topographic factors in the prediction of erosion, the topography of the hillslope is often considered as a whole and summarized as a single value, without accounting for the micro-variations within the hillslope created through factors including local roughness and channelization. Within-hillslope scale erosion and deposition and their micro-topographic controls are not well understood due to a lack of means to monitor and quantify the geomorphic change with high resolution and accuracy. Advances in remote sensing technology enabled mapping and quantification of erosion and deposition at such scale. On a hillslope in Loudoun Tennessee USA, we used laser scanning to produce temporal DEMs, based on which the erosion and deposition were calculated, and topographic factors including slope, aspect, roughness index, convergence index, terrain wetness index, channel depth, contributing area, and slope length-gradient were derived. To examine how these micro-topographic factors affect erosion and deposition, random forest regression models were used for erosion and deposition at two scales: analytical windows and rill basins (RBs). Two variables representing the impact of precipitation and freeze/thaw are also incorporated. Our models show that the influences of topographic variables on erosion and deposition differ regarding different analytical scales. The two variables denoting the relative location within a slope (elevation) and the RBs (contributing area) are the most important. Threshold effects show that the locations at low elevations are more subjective to more erosion and also more deposition, suggesting larger contributing areas lead to more dynamics regarding sediment exchange. The relative location along rill cross-sections (channel depth) is also important, especially for deposition. Thresholds show that along the cross-sections, erosion tends to occur on the sidewalls, while deposition mainly takes place on rill floors. The models showed better performance for erosion (R2 = 0.49 and 0.61 for window- and RB-based models) compared to deposition (R2 = 0.43 and 0.54 for window- and RB-based models) and were able to predict the spatial patterns of sediment movement.

Torsional Angle Driver (TorAD) System for HyperChem/Excel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starkey, Ronald

1999-02-01

The torsional angle driver system for HyperChem/Excel is a package of several Excel spreadsheets and macro programs to be used with HyperChem to obtain and plot information, such as total energy, for the conformations that result from a 360° rotation about a torsional angle system in a molecule. The TorAD system also includes several HyperChem scripts to facilitate its use. TorAD was developed for use in the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. The results obtained with TorAD could be obtained manually with HyperChem, but it would take considerable time and would not be instructive to the students. Use of the TorAD system allows students to spend their time on the more important aspect of conformation analysisinterpretation of results. The Excel spreadsheet/macro programs in TorAD include:

· Tor_xl_a and tor_xl obtain and plot the total energy at 5° torsional-angle intervals. The calculation method, the torsional-angle restraint, and the structure to be used at each angle can be set by the user. The advanced version, tor_xl_a, which requires HyperChem 4.5 or later, also allows torsional-angle structures to be saved for later recall as individual structures or, using a HyperChem script, in a movie format. It also provides a rapid scan of the 360° rotation where only single-point calculations, rather than geometry optimizations, are performed. The tor_xl system will perform routine tasks in a manner suitable for most instructional settings. · Tor_Comp performs molecular mechanics optimizations at 5° intervals and obtains and plots four energy parameters (total, torsional, nonbonded, and bond [bend plus stretch] energy) as a function of torsional angle. The calculation method and the restraint can be specified. · TorDipol produces a plot of the total energy and the calculated dipole moment at 5° steps of the torsional angle. The default calculation is the semi-empirical AM1 method, but other methods can be used. The calculation method and the restraint can be specified. · Tor2_180 and Tor2_360 rotate two torsional angles to provide a 3D plot of the resulting total energy surface. Tor2_180 performs a 0 to 180° rotation, in 10° steps, on each of the two torsional angle systems (tor1 and tor2) selected. Tor2_360 will do a -180° to +180° (360° total) rotation of the two torsional angles in 20° steps.

Are mangroves as tough as a seawall? Flow-vegetation interaction in a living shoreline restoration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kibler, K. M.; Kitsikoudis, V.; Spiering, D. W.

2017-12-01

This study aims to assess the impact of an established living shoreline restoration on near-shore hydraulics, shoreline slope, and sediment texture and organic matter content. We collected data from three 100 m shoreline sites within an estuarine lagoon in Canaveral National Seashore: one restored; one that had been stabilized by a seawall; and one in a reference condition stabilized by mature mangrove vegetation. The living shoreline site was restored five years prior with a breakwater of oyster shell bags, emergent marsh grasses (Spartina alterniflora), and mangroves (Rhizophora mangle and Avicennia germinans). We sampled water depth and incoming velocity profiles of the full water column at 2 Hz using a 2 MHz Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP, Nortek), stationed down-looking, approximately 10 m offshore. A 2 - 3 cm velocity profile above the bed was sampled on the shoreline at 100 Hz, using a Nortek Vectrino profiler. In restored and reference sites, the onshore probe was placed within vegetation. We surveyed vegetation upstream of the probe for species and diameter at water level. Windspeed and direction were collected 2 m above the water surface. Shorelines were surveyed in transects using GPS survey equipment. Five sediment cores were collected to 20 cm depth from both onshore and offshore of each site. Individual cores were processed for loss on ignition before being pooled by site for analysis of grain size distribution. While incoming velocity profiles were similar between sites, hydraulic conditions onshore within the vegetated sites deviated from the seawall site, which was devoid of vegetation. Offshore to onshore gradients in shear stress, mean velocity, and turbulent kinetic energy differed widely between sites, despite similar wind and tidal conditions. Sediment grain sizes were finer and contained more organic matter in the restored and reference sites than in the seawall site. Profiles of the restored and seawall sites were similar, though the reference site had a more complex bathymetry. Variable hydraulic patterns observed at restored and reference sites may attribute to differences in dominant vegetation-water interactions. Interactions at the reference site were characterized by flow between mangrove prop roots while the restored site consisted mainly of Spartina leaves.

Determining The Provenance Of Sedimentary Materials On Mars Through Analog Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craddock, R. A.

2017-12-01

The amount and types of sedimentary material available for transport can control the types of features that result from aeolian or fluvial processes. For example, if sediment availability increases dune forms transition from barchans to linear dunes. The availability of sediment and the erodibilty of the landscape can influence drainage divides, catchment areas, and stream type. There is abundant evidence of both aeolian and fluvial sediments on Mars with grain sizes ranging from silt/clay to pebbles and cobbles. However, what is unique about Mars is that the dominant rock type on the surface is basalt, and basalt does not typically weather into coarser particles sizes larger than silt/clay. So where does all the sand come from on Mars? Chemical weathering would produce clays. While mechanical weathering is possible, there are really only two end member processes: impact cratering and physical abrasion. Impact cratering can produce a wide range of particle sizes from house sized boulders to fine dust, but how much sand can be expected to be produced from impact craters? Physical abrasion is likely to be inefficient on Mars, resulting in the fast breakdown of sand-sized particles while producing more silt/clay sized particles. Other processes for generating sand on Mars include hyaloclastic, phreatomagmatic, and pyroclastic. These processes typically require the presence of water. This presentation will explore the possible diagnostic characteristics of sediments generated from these different processes. It will also show how basaltic sediments change as they are transported by water, wind, and ice. The image shows the physical characteristics of basaltic sediment transported by different geologic processes.

Automatic lung segmentation using control feedback system: morphology and texture paradigm.

PubMed

Noor, Norliza M; Than, Joel C M; Rijal, Omar M; Kassim, Rosminah M; Yunus, Ashari; Zeki, Amir A; Anzidei, Michele; Saba, Luca; Suri, Jasjit S

2015-03-01

Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) encompasses a wide array of diseases that share some common radiologic characteristics. When diagnosing such diseases, radiologists can be affected by heavy workload and fatigue thus decreasing diagnostic accuracy. Automatic segmentation is the first step in implementing a Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) that will help radiologists to improve diagnostic accuracy thereby reducing manual interpretation. Automatic segmentation proposed uses an initial thresholding and morphology based segmentation coupled with feedback that detects large deviations with a corrective segmentation. This feedback is analogous to a control system which allows detection of abnormal or severe lung disease and provides a feedback to an online segmentation improving the overall performance of the system. This feedback system encompasses a texture paradigm. In this study we studied 48 males and 48 female patients consisting of 15 normal and 81 abnormal patients. A senior radiologist chose the five levels needed for ILD diagnosis. The results of segmentation were displayed by showing the comparison of the automated and ground truth boundaries (courtesy of ImgTracer™ 1.0, AtheroPoint™ LLC, Roseville, CA, USA). The left lung's performance of segmentation was 96.52% for Jaccard Index and 98.21% for Dice Similarity, 0.61 mm for Polyline Distance Metric (PDM), -1.15% for Relative Area Error and 4.09% Area Overlap Error. The right lung's performance of segmentation was 97.24% for Jaccard Index, 98.58% for Dice Similarity, 0.61 mm for PDM, -0.03% for Relative Area Error and 3.53% for Area Overlap Error. The segmentation overall has an overall similarity of 98.4%. The segmentation proposed is an accurate and fully automated system.

Retro-inverso forms of gastrin5-12 are as biologically active as glycine-extended gastrin in vitro but not in vivo.

PubMed

Marshall, Kathryn M; Laval, Marie; Sims, Ioulia; Shulkes, Arthur; Baldwin, Graham S

2015-12-01

Non-amidated gastrin peptides such as glycine-extended gastrin (Ggly) are biologically active in vitro and in vivo and have been implicated in the development of gastric and colonic cancers. Previous studies have shown that the truncated form of Ggly, the octapeptide LE5AY, was still biologically active in vitro, and that activity was dependent on ferric ion binding but independent of binding to the cholecystokinin 2 (CCK2) receptor. The present work was aimed at creating more stable gastrin-derived 'super agonists' using retro-inverso technology. The truncated LE5AY peptide was synthesized using end protecting groups in three forms with l-amino acids (GL), d-amino acids (GD) or retro-inverso (reverse order with d-amino acids; GRI). All of these peptides bound ferric ions with a 2:1 (Fe: peptide) ratio. As predicted, Ggly, GL and GRI were biologically active in vitro and increased cell proliferation in mouse gastric epithelial (IMGE-5) and human colorectal cancer (DLD-1) cell lines, and increased cell migration in DLD-1 cells. These activities were likely via the same mechanism as Ggly since no CCK1 or CCK2 binding was identified, and GD remained inactive in all assays. Surprisingly, unlike Ggly, GL and GRI were not active in vivo. While Ggly stimulated colonic crypt height and proliferation rates in gastrin knockout mice, GL and GRI did not. The apparent lack of activity may be due to rapid clearance of these smaller peptides. Nevertheless further work designing and testing retro-inverso gastrins is warranted, as it may lead to the generation of super agonists that could potentially be used to treat patients with gastrointestinal disorders with reduced mucosal function. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ten years after the flood: a case of extended geomorphic convalescence in an upland stream

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milan, D. J.; Schwendel, A.; Heritage, G. L.; Entwistle, N. S.; Skinner, C. J.

2017-12-01

Long-term data monitoring the response of fluvial systems to geomorphically effective events is often lacking. In July 2007 a severe event affected the Thinhope Burn, a small (12 km2) tributary to the South Tyne, in Cumbria, UK. The 24-hr rainfall for a 5-km2 radar grid cell located in the headwaters of Thinhope Burn was 236 mm, with maximum hourly rainfall of 30 mm h-1. The event generated peak discharges in the order of 60 m3s-1 and shear stresses of 533 Nm-2, capable of mobilsing metre-size boulders. The Thinhope Burn catchment showed `responsive' behaviour to the event resulting in a substantial net delivery of 3077 m3 of gravel to a 500 m reach, and fully activated the valley floor and slopes, including evidence of peat slides in the headwaters. Since 2007 we have monitored the reach using a combination of dGPS and terrestrial LiDAR data to derive DEMs, and difference these to estimate spatial volumetric patterns of erosion and deposition. Ten years on, there appears to be limited evidence of recovery of the valley floor system, possibly due to the effects of several wet winters (e.g. 2013 and 2015). Sediments remain unconsolidated and free of vegetation, and are easily mobilised during floods. Climate change scenarios for the UK suggest wetter winters, that could prevent recovery of upland rivers where the sediment system has already been fully activated by a large flood, resulting in increased sediment supply to areas downstream and a commensurate increase in flood risk.

Runoff thresholds and land-to-marine ecosystem connectivity in a dry tropical setting: St. John, US Virgin Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramos-Scharron, C. E.; LaFevor, M. C.; Roy, J.

2017-12-01

Developing a conceptually sound yet practical understanding of runoff and sediment delivery from human occupied lands to tropical ocean waters still represents a pivotal need of coral reef management worldwide. In the dry tropical and ephemeral streamflow setting that typifies the small watersheds ( 1s km2) draining the US Virgin Islands, changes in hydrologic and sediment delivery dynamics provoked by unsurfaced road networks represent a major threat to coral reefs and other sensitive marine ecosystems. Through a combined empirical and modeling approach, this study evaluates how road building and associated stormflow restoration strategies affect rainfall thresholds for runoff generation at varying spatial scales and their impact on land-to-sea connectivity. Rainfall thresholds and runoff coefficients for precipitation excess on unpaved roads are 2-3 mm and 22-30% (respectively) or a full order of magnitude different from those for undisturbed hillslopes and watersheds. Here we discuss the use of a `volume-to-breakthrough' inspired index to predict the potential of road runoff to reach downslope portions of the watershed and the coastline as runon. The index integrates the effects of storm-by-storm runoff accumulation for every road drainage point with its flow distance to specific locations along the stream network. While large runoff volumes and short flow distances imply a relatively high connectivity potential, small volumes and long distances are associated to low delivery potential. The index has proven able to discern observed runoff responses under a variety of road-stream network scenarios and rainfall conditions. These results enhance our understanding of ephemeral stream hydrology and are serving to improve coral reef management strategies throughout the Northeastern Caribbean.

IMG_4293

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-14

The BARREL team prepares to release the second scientific balloon in its Sweden campaign on Aug. 13, 2015. In addition to the instruments used in previous BARREL campaigns, this second balloon launched from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna is carrying one of two instruments designed by a team from the University of Houston. With funding from the Undergraduate Student Instrument Program, or USIP, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility, the team of 12 students, under the direction of Edgar Bering at the University of Houston, developed a magnetometer -- which measures magnetic fields -- and an instrument to measure electrons, which flew on this launch. To collect their data, the University of Houston team needs to recover their instrument after the balloon comes down. After this launch, the balloon began to drift toward the mountains, which would have impeded recovery. So the team terminated the flight at 1:18 pm EDT to bring the payload slowly and safely to the ground. The NASA-funded BARREL – which stands for Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses – measures electrons in the atmosphere near the poles. Such electrons rain down into the atmosphere from two giant radiation belts surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen belts. For its third campaign, BARREL is launching six balloons from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. BARREL is led by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Credit: NASA/University of Houston/Edgar Bering NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Segregation-mobility feedback for bidisperse shallow granular flows: Towards understanding segregation in geophysical flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thornton, A.; Denissen, I.; Weinhart, T.; Van der Vaart, K.

2017-12-01

The flow behaviour of shallow granular chute flows for uniform particles is well-described by the hstop-rheology [1]. Geophysical flows, however, are often composed of highly non-uniform particles that differ in particle (size, shape, composition) or contact (friction, dissipation, cohesion) properties. The flow behaviour of such mixtures can be strongly influenced by particle segregation effects. Here, we study the influence of particle size-segregation on the flow behaviour of bidisperse flows using experiments and the discrete particle method. We use periodic DPM to derive hstop-rheology for the bi-dispersed granular shallow layer equations, and study their dependence on the segregation profile. In the periodic box simulations, size-segregation results in an upward coarsening of the size distribution with the largest grains collecting at the top of the flow. In geophysical flows, the fact the flow velocity is greatest at the top couples with the vertical segregation to preferentially transported large particles to the front. The large grains may be overrun, resegregated towards the surface and recirculated before being shouldered aside into lateral levees. Theoretically it has been suggested this process should lead to a breaking size-segregation (BSS) wave located between a large-particle-rich front and a small-particle-rich tail [2,3]. In the BSS wave large particles that have been overrun rise up again to the free-surface while small particles sink to the bed. We present evidence for the existences of the BSS wave. This is achieved through the study of three-dimensional bidisperse granular flows in a moving-bed channel. Our analysis demonstrates a relation between the concentration of small particles in the flow and the amount of basal slip, in which the structure of the BSS wave plays a key role. This leads to a feedback between the mean bulk flow velocity and the process of size-segregation. Ultimately, these findings shed new light on the recirculation of large and small grains near avalanche fronts and the effects of this behaviour on the mobility of the bulk flow. [1] Y. Forterre, O. Pouliquen, J. Fluid Mech. 486, 21-50 (2003) [2] A. R. Thornton, J. M. N. T. Gray J. Fluid Mech. 296 261-284 (2008) [3] P. Gajjar, K. van der Vaart, A. R. Thornton, C. G. Johnson, C. Ancey, J. M. N. T. Gray J. Fluid Mech 794, 460-505 (2016)

Processing, Cataloguing and Distribution of Uas Images in Near Real Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Runkel, I.

2013-08-01

Why are UAS such a hype? UAS make the data capture flexible, fast and easy. For many applications this is more important than a perfect photogrammetric aerial image block. To ensure, that the advantage of a fast data capturing will be valid up to the end of the processing chain, all intermediate steps like data processing and data dissemination to the customer need to be flexible and fast as well. GEOSYSTEMS has established the whole processing workflow as server/client solution. This is the focus of the presentation. Depending on the image acquisition system the image data can be down linked during the flight to the data processing computer or it is stored on a mobile device and hooked up to the data processing computer after the flight campaign. The image project manager reads the data from the device and georeferences the images according to the position data. The meta data is converted into an ISO conform format and subsequently all georeferenced images are catalogued in the raster data management System ERDAS APOLLO. APOLLO provides the data, respectively the images as an OGC-conform services to the customer. Within seconds the UAV-images are ready to use for GIS application, image processing or direct interpretation via web applications - where ever you want. The whole processing chain is built in a generic manner. It can be adapted to a magnitude of applications. The UAV imageries can be processed and catalogued as single ortho imges or as image mosaic. Furthermore, image data of various cameras can be fusioned. By using WPS (web processing services) image enhancement, image analysis workflows like change detection layers can be calculated and provided to the image analysts. The processing of the WPS runs direct on the raster data management server. The image analyst has no data and no software on his local computer. This workflow is proven to be fast, stable and accurate. It is designed to support time critical applications for security demands - the images can be checked and interpreted in near real-time. For sensible areas it gives you the possibility to inform remote decision makers or interpretation experts in order to provide them situations awareness, wherever they are. For monitoring and inspection tasks it speeds up the process of data capture and data interpretation. The fully automated workflow of data pre-processing, data georeferencing, data cataloguing and data dissemination in near real time was developed based on the Intergraph products ERDAS IMAGINE, ERDAS APOLLO and GEOSYSTEMS METAmorph!IT. It is offered as adaptable solution by GEOSYSTEMS GmbH.

Source apportionment and air quality impact assessment studies in Beijing/China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suppan, P.; Schrader, S.; Shen, R.; Ling, H.; Schäfer, K.; Norra, S.; Vogel, B.; Wang, Y.

2012-04-01

More than 15 million people in the greater area of Beijing are still suffering from severe air pollution levels caused by sources within the city itself but also from external impacts like severe dust storms and long range advection from the southern and central part of China. Within this context particulate matter (PM) is the major air pollutant in the greater area of Beijing (Garland et al., 2009). PM did not serve only as lead substance for air quality levels and therefore for adverse health impact effects but also for a strong influence on the climate system by changing e.g. the radiative balance. Investigations on emission reductions during the Olympic Summer Games in 2008 have caused a strong reduction on coarser particles (PM10) but not on smaller particles (PM2.5). In order to discriminate the composition of the particulate matter levels, the different behavior of coarser and smaller particles investigations on source attribution, particle characteristics and external impacts on the PM levels of the city of Beijing by measurements and modeling are performed: Examples of long term measurements of PM2.5 filter sampling in 2005 with the objectives of detailed chemical (source attribution, carbon fraction, organic speciation and inorganic composition) and isotopic analyses as well as toxicological assessment in cooperation with several institutions (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (IfGG/IMG), Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), University Rostock (UR), Chinese University of Mining and Technology Beijing, CUMTB) will be discussed. Further experimental studies include the operation of remote sensing systems to determine continuously the MLH (by a ceilometer) and gaseous air pollutants near the ground (by DOAS systems) as well as at the 320 m measurement tower (adhesive plates at different heights for passive particle collection) in cooperation with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The influence of the MLH on the air pollution concentration could be demonstrated and will be discussed. The impact of dust storm events on the overall pollution level of particulate matter in the greater area of Beijing is being assessed by the online coupled comprehensive model system COSMO-ART. First results of the dust storm modeling in northern China (2006, April 3rd until 12th) demonstrates very well the general behavior of the meteorological parameters temperature and humidity as well as a good agreement between modeled and measured dust storm concentration variability at Beijing in the course of time. The results show the importance of intertwine investigations of measurements and modeling, the analysis of local air pollution levels as well as the impact and analysis of advective process in the greater region of Beijing. Comprehensive investigations on particulate matter are a prerequisite for the knowledge of the source strengths and source attribution to the overall air pollution level. Only this knowledge can help to formulate and to introduce specific reduction measures to reduce coarser as well as finer particulates.

Congenital Complete Absence of Pericardium Masquerading as Pulmonary Embolism

PubMed Central

Tariq, Saad; Mahmood, Sultan; Madeira, Samuel; Tarasov, Ethan

2013-01-01

Congenital absence of the pericardium is a rare cardiac condition, which can be either isolated or associated with other cardiac and extracardiac anomalies. There are six different types, depending on the severity of the involvement. Most of the patients with this defect are asymptomatic, especially the ones with complete absence of the pericardium. However, some patients are symptomatic, reporting symptoms that include chest pain, palpitations, dyspnea, and syncope. Diagnosis is established by the characteristic features on chest X-ray, echocardiogram, chest computed tomography (CT), and/or cardiac magnetic resonance imging (MRI). We present here a case of a 23 year-old-male, who presented to our hospital with complaints of pleuritic chest pain and exertional dyspnea, of a two-week duration. He was physically active and his past history was otherwise insignificant. His chest CT with contrast was interpreted as showing evidence of multiple emboli, predominantly in the left lung, and he was started on a heparin and warfarin therapy. A repeat chest CT with contrast three weeks later showed no significant change from the previous CT scan. Both scans showed that the heart was abnormally rotated to the left side of the chest. An echocardiogram raised the suspicion of congenital absence of the pericardium, with a posteriorly displaced heart. In retrospect, motion artifact on the left lung, attributed to cardiac pulsations and the lack of pericardium, resulted in a CT chest appearance, mimicking findings of pulmonary embolism. The misdiagnosis of pulmonary embolism was attributed to the artifact caused by excessive cardiac motion artifact on the chest CT scan. In non-gated CT angiograms, excessive motion causes an artifact that blurs the pulmonary vessels, reminiscent of a ′seagull′ or a ′boomerang′. Physicians need to be aware of this phenomenon, as well as the characteristic radiological features of this congenital anomaly, to enable them to make a correct diagnosis. PMID:23580923

A post-Kyoto partner: Considering the Montreal Protocol as a tool to manage nitrous oxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mauzerall, D. L.; Kanter, D.; Ravishankara, A. R.; Daniel, J. S.; Portmann, R. W.; Grabiel, P.; Moomaw, W.; Galloway, J. N.

2012-12-01

While nitrous oxide (N2O) was recently identified as the largest remaining anthropogenic threat to the stratospheric ozone layer, it is currently regulated under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol due to its simultaneous ability to warm the climate. The threat N2O poses to the stratospheric ozone layer, coupled with the uncertain future of the international climate regime, motivates our exploration of issues that could be relevant to the Parties to the 1987 Montreal Protocol if they decide to take measures to manage N2O in the future. There are clear legal avenues for the Montreal Protocol and its parent treaty, the 1985 Vienna Convention, to regulate N2O, as well as several ways to share authority with the existing and future international climate treaties. N2O mitigation strategies exist to address its most significant anthropogenic sources, including agriculture, where behavioral practices and new technologies could contribute significantly to mitigation efforts. Existing policies managing N2O and other forms of reactive nitrogen could be harnessed and built upon by the Montreal Protocol's existing bodies to implement N2O controls. Given the tight coupling of the nitrogen cycle, such controls would likely simultaneously reduce emissions of reactive nitrogen and hence have co-benefits for ecosystems and public health. Nevertheless, there are at least three major regulatory challenges that are unique and central to N2O control: food security, equity, and the nitrogen cascade. The possible inclusion of N2O in the Montreal Protocol need not be viewed as a sign of the Kyoto Protocol's failure to adequately deal with climate change, given the complexity of the issue. Rather, it could represent an additional tool in the field of sustainable development diplomacy.lt;img border=0 src="images/B43K-06_B.jpg">

Realization of entry-to-practice milestones by Canadians who studied medicine abroad and other international medical graduates: a retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Mathews, Maria; Kandar, Rima; Slade, Steve; Yi, Yanqing; Beardall, Sue; Bourgeault, Ivy

2017-06-19

International medical graduates must realize a series of milestones to obtain full licensure. We examined the realization of milestones by Canadian and non-Canadian graduates of Western or Caribbean medical schools, and Canadian and non-Canadian graduates from other medical schools. Using the National IMG Database (data available for 2005-2011), we created 2 cohorts: 1) international medical graduates who had passed the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I between 2005 and 2010 and 2) those who had first entered a family medicine postgraduate program between 2005 and 2009, or had first entered a specialty postgraduate program in 2005 or 2006. We examined 3 entry-to-practice milestones; obtaining a postgraduate position, passing the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part II and obtaining a specialty designation. Of the 6925 eligible graduates in cohort 1, 2144 (31.0%) had obtained a postgraduate position. Of the 1214 eligible graduates in cohort 2, 1126 (92.8%) had passed the Qualifying Examination Part II, and 889 (73.2%) had obtained a specialty designation. In multivariate analyses, Canadian graduates of Western or Caribbean medical schools (odds ratio [OR] 4.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.82-5.71) and Canadian graduates of other medical schools (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.31-1.70) were more likely to obtain a postgraduate position than non-Canadian graduates of other (not Western or Caribbean) medical schools. There was no difference among the groups in passing the Qualifying Examination Part II or obtaining a specialty designation. Canadians who studied abroad were more likely than other international medical graduates to obtain a postgraduate position; there were no differences among the groups in realizing milestones once in a postgraduate program. These findings support policies that do not distinguish postgraduate applicants by citizenship or permanent residency status before medical school. Copyright 2017, Joule Inc. or its licensors.

PREFACE: XXV International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, Uwe; Moshammer, Robert; Mokler, Paul; Ullrich, Joachim

2007-07-01

The XXVth ICPEAC in Freiburg marked a notable anniversary in collision physics: half a century ago the first conference in the series of International Conferences on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC) was held in New York (1958). Since then, the development of electronic and atomic collision physics has seen tremendous progress. Starting during a time, when this field was regarded as somehow out-of-date, certainly not being in the main stream compared to particle and high-energy physics, it has expanded in a rather exceptional and unforeseen way. Over the years the original scope on electronic, atomic and heavy-ion collision physics was extended substantially to include upcoming expanding fields like synchrotron-radiation and strong-field laser-based atomic and molecular physics giving rise to a change of name to 'Photonic', Electronic and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC) being used for the first time for the ICPEAC in Santa Fee in 2001. Nowadays, the ICPEAC has opened its agenda even more widely to other fields of atomic and molecular physics, such as interactions with clusters, bio-molecules and surfaces, to cold collisions, coherent control, femto- and attosecond physics and, with the Freiburg conference, to the application of free-electron lasers in the vacuum ultraviolet and soft x-ray regime, a field of potentially huge future impact in essentially all areas of science. In this larger context the XXVth ICPEAC in Freiburg with more than 800 participants set new standards. Representatives from all fields of Atomic, Molecular and Photon-based science came together and had very fruitful, inter-disciplinary discussions. This new forum of collision-based AMP physics will serve as a showcase example of future conferences, bridging not only the gap between different fields of collision physics but also, equally important, between different continents and cultures. The next ICPEAC is going to take place in Kalamazoo in North America, the one after that in Belfast back in Europe, and the subsequent one, 2013 in Lanzhou, will be the first one ever held in China. A great perspective for this ever-growing field of science! Uwe Becker (Fritz-Haber-Institut, Berlin) Robert Moshammer (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg) Paul Mokler (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt) Joachim Ullrich (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg) Editors Relaxed atmosphere for discussions during coffee breaks at ICPEAC XXV in Freiburg. The PDF file contains details of previous conferences, sponsors, exhibitors and committees.

Applying aerial digital photography as a spectral remote sensing technique for macrophytic cover assessment in small rural streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anker, Y.; Hershkovitz, Y.; Gasith, A.; Ben-Dor, E.

2011-12-01

Although remote sensing of fluvial ecosystems is well developed, the tradeoff between spectral and spatial resolutions prevents its application in small streams (<3m width). In the current study, a remote sensing approach for monitoring and research of small ecosystem was developed. The method is based on differentiation between two indicative vegetation species out of the ecosystem flora. Since when studied, the channel was covered mostly by a filamentous green alga (Cladophora glomerata) and watercress (Nasturtium officinale), these species were chosen as indicative; nonetheless, common reed (Phragmites australis) was also classified in order to exclude it from the stream ROI. The procedure included: A. For both section and habitat scales classifications, acquisition of aerial digital RGB datasets. B. For section scale classification, hyperspectral (HSR) dataset acquisition. C. For calibration, HSR reflectance measurements of specific ground targets, in close proximity to each dataset acquisition swath. D. For habitat scale classification, manual, in-stream flora grid transects classification. The digital RGB datasets were converted to reflectance units by spectral calibration against colored reference plates. These red, green, blue, white, and black EVA foam reference plates were measured by an ASD field spectrometer and each was given a spectral value. Each spectral value was later applied to the spectral calibration and radiometric correction of spectral RGB (SRGB) cube. Spectral calibration of the HSR dataset was done using the empirical line method, based on reference values of progressive grey scale targets. Differentiation between the vegetation species was done by supervised classification both for the HSR and for the SRGB datasets. This procedure was done using the Spectral Angle Mapper function with the spectral pattern of each vegetation species as a spectral end member. Comparison between the two remote sensing techniques and between the SRGB classification and the in-situ transects indicates that: A. Stream vegetation classification resolution is about 4 cm by the SRGB method compared to about 1 m by HSR. Moreover, this resolution is also higher than of the manual grid transect classification. B. The SRGB method is by far the most cost-efficient. The combination of spectral information (rather than the cognitive color) and high spatial resolution of aerial photography provides noise filtration and better sub-water detection capabilities than the HSR technique. C. Only the SRGB method applies for habitat and section scales; hence, its application together with in-situ grid transects for validation, may be optimal for use in similar scenarios.
The HSR dataset was first degraded to 17 bands with the same spectral range as the RGB dataset and also to a dataset with 3 equivalent bands

A Research Design for NASA-Funded Professional Development Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, R. E.; Lambert, J.; Getty, S. R.

2011-12-01

This proposal outlines a research plan designed to measure gains in student learning resulting from their teachers participating in professional development. Project Description Misconceptions about global climate change (GCC) are prevalent in the general public (Kellstedt, Zahran, & Vedlitz, 2008; Washington & Cook, 2011). One solution is to provide high school students with a better grounding in the basic science and data that underlie GCC. The overarching goal of a NASA-funded project, Promoting Educational Leadership in Climate Change Literacy (PEL), is to increase GCC literacy in high school students. Research Design The research design is interpretative (Erickson, 2006), framed within a multi-method design, synthesizing both quantitative and qualitative data sources (Morse, 2003). Overall, the data will provide rich information about the PEL's impact on curriculum development, teacher pedagogical knowledge, and student learning. The expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation (E-V-C) (Fan, 2011; Wigfield & Eccles, 1994) provides a theoretical foundation for the research. Expectancy is the degree to which a teacher or student has reason to expect that they will be successful in school. Value indicates whether they think that performance at school will be worthwhile to them. Cost is the perceived sacrifices that must be undertaken, or factors that can inhibit, a successful performance at school. For students, data from an embedded E-V-C investigation will help articulate how E-V-C factors relate to student interest in science, continuing to study science, or embarking on STEM related careers. For teachers, the E-V-C measures will give insight into a key mediating variable on student achievement in science. The evaluation will seek to address research questions at the student and teacher levels. Table 1 presents a sample of research questions and data sources. This is a sample of a much larger set of questions that will be addressed in the project. Data Analysis Data will be analyzed using a strategy developed by Huberman and Miles (2002). This methodology provides a framework for researchers to perform three research functions: 1) reduce the data to a subset of information (categories) without losing essential data, 2) display (matrices, maps, summaries) this information in a manner that facilitates group discussion and notation of consensus upon emerging patterns, and 3) draw and verify conclusions. The multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative data allow for triangulation of findings, which helps establish a measure of validity and reliability to final findings and recommendations for future research and changes to the project.
Table 1. Research Questions, Data Sources.

Comparing Results from Constant Comparative and Computer Software Methods: A Reflection about Qualitative Data Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Putten, Jim Vander; Nolen, Amanda L.

2010-01-01

This study compared qualitative research results obtained by manual constant comparative analysis with results obtained by computer software analysis of the same data. An investigated about issues of trustworthiness and accuracy ensued. Results indicated that the inductive constant comparative data analysis generated 51 codes and two coding levels…

rCAD: A Novel Database Schema for the Comparative Analysis of RNA.

PubMed

Ozer, Stuart; Doshi, Kishore J; Xu, Weijia; Gutell, Robin R

2011-12-31

Beyond its direct involvement in protein synthesis with mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA, RNA is now being appreciated for its significance in the overall metabolism and regulation of the cell. Comparative analysis has been very effective in the identification and characterization of RNA molecules, including the accurate prediction of their secondary structure. We are developing an integrative scalable data management and analysis system, the RNA Comparative Analysis Database (rCAD), implemented with SQL Server to support RNA comparative analysis. The platformagnostic database schema of rCAD captures the essential relationships between the different dimensions of information for RNA comparative analysis datasets. The rCAD implementation enables a variety of comparative analysis manipulations with multiple integrated data dimensions for advanced RNA comparative analysis workflows. In this paper, we describe details of the rCAD schema design and illustrate its usefulness with two usage scenarios.

rCAD: A Novel Database Schema for the Comparative Analysis of RNA

PubMed Central

Ozer, Stuart; Doshi, Kishore J.; Xu, Weijia; Gutell, Robin R.

2013-01-01

Beyond its direct involvement in protein synthesis with mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA, RNA is now being appreciated for its significance in the overall metabolism and regulation of the cell. Comparative analysis has been very effective in the identification and characterization of RNA molecules, including the accurate prediction of their secondary structure. We are developing an integrative scalable data management and analysis system, the RNA Comparative Analysis Database (rCAD), implemented with SQL Server to support RNA comparative analysis. The platformagnostic database schema of rCAD captures the essential relationships between the different dimensions of information for RNA comparative analysis datasets. The rCAD implementation enables a variety of comparative analysis manipulations with multiple integrated data dimensions for advanced RNA comparative analysis workflows. In this paper, we describe details of the rCAD schema design and illustrate its usefulness with two usage scenarios. PMID:24772454

Preface: LEHTSC2007

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyanagi, Hiroyuki

2008-03-01

LEHTSC2007 was held at AIST in Tsukuba, Japan, from 31 October to 3 November, and was attended by 110 scientists from twelve countries. In late October, the autumn leaves of the beautiful ginkgo trees change colour from verdant green to bright yellow, as always. For its part, the conference set out to search for the `Genome information', addressing the greatest unsolved mystery in current condensed matter physics, that is, the pairing mechanism of high temperature superconductivity (HTSC). Although there has been much effort and tremendous accumulated knowledge since the discovery of HTSC by Bednorz and Müller in 1986, we have failed to reach an unified view on the microscopic mechanism of HTSC. The fact that no mechanism has yet been accepted as an universal model may indicate that we may still be lacking `some important ingredients'. The search for the `missing ingredients' is now being accelerated as experimental techniques have improved to become state-of-the-art and overwhelmingly detailed information is readily attainable. Our attitude of cooperative communication is even more needed. Unfortunately, researchers with different ideas often tend to `phase-separate', and cross participation in scientific meetings is low. A complex phenomena like HTSC, often show different `shapes and colours' which can easily lead to misunderstanding if we narrow our view. This issue is expressed in the subtitle, `Spin, phonon, or the third way?' meaning that the `missing ingredients' (electron-lattice interaction) which has long been neglected must be properly taken into account to reach an understanding of the true mechanism. As Chairman of the Organizing Committee, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to all invited speakers, oral and poster contributors as their works confirmed that we are indeed taking the third way. In total there were 53 invited and contributed oral talks and 25 poster presentations. All lectures were followed by active comments and discussions. Starting from well-organized reviews of HTSC, the conference developed into detailed lectures. The atmosphere of the conference was open and casual so that everyone, including young scientists who will take on future responsibility, could have the opportunity to participate in constructive discussions. An interactive-mode voluntarymeeting was held before closing the last session which focused on important issues left for future discussions. The conference made us confident that our voyage will certainly continue in the future. In this conference, we took the open access policy. We recorded all talks in the conference as a multimedia, which will be open at the conference web site. The electronic proceeding (Journal of Physics: Conference Series) is an open access journal. By linking multimedia talks and electronic proceeding, scientific contents of LEHTSC2007 are accessible to all researchers around the world. We are optimistic that following conferences will be equally successful and contribute to shortening the time for the discovery of HTSC mechanism. Lastly, I would like to introduce some words from a philosopher that explains the process of finding the truth in the HTSC research. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident. —Arthur Schopenhauer Acknowledgements We would like to express our greatest thanks to Kazunobu Tanaka in providing financial support for this conference. The efforts of the local organizing committee are appreciated which persisted for almost a year. Particular thanks are due to Misako Tsutsui for her outstanding work in website design and technical editing of the proceedings. AIST is thanked for the use of the conference rooms and related facilities. We appreciate backup support by The Physical Society of Japan and The Japan Society of Applied Physics. For multimedia recording, we wish to thank Media Site KK for their support and cooperation. We also appreciate exhibitors of Cryoportal 2007 for promoting the conference and financial support. The efforts of Atsuyuki Fukano, Zhyu Sun and Changjing Zhang for arranging the conference site and audio-visual equipment are appreciated. Also thanks are due to Masayo Fujita for maintaining the secretariat and Masako Oyanagi for coordinating social events. Lastly we wish to express our sincere thanks to the editorial team of IOP Publishing. Hiroyuki Oyanagi Chairman of LEHTSC2007

Comparative study of standard space and real space analysis of quantitative MR brain data.

PubMed

Aribisala, Benjamin S; He, Jiabao; Blamire, Andrew M

2011-06-01

To compare the robustness of region of interest (ROI) analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain data in real space with analysis in standard space and to test the hypothesis that standard space image analysis introduces more partial volume effect errors compared to analysis of the same dataset in real space. Twenty healthy adults with no history or evidence of neurological diseases were recruited; high-resolution T(1)-weighted, quantitative T(1), and B(0) field-map measurements were collected. Algorithms were implemented to perform analysis in real and standard space and used to apply a simple standard ROI template to quantitative T(1) datasets. Regional relaxation values and histograms for both gray and white matter tissues classes were then extracted and compared. Regional mean T(1) values for both gray and white matter were significantly lower using real space compared to standard space analysis. Additionally, regional T(1) histograms were more compact in real space, with smaller right-sided tails indicating lower partial volume errors compared to standard space analysis. Standard space analysis of quantitative MRI brain data introduces more partial volume effect errors biasing the analysis of quantitative data compared to analysis of the same dataset in real space. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Computation-Facilitated Assignment of Function in the Enolase Superfamily: A Regiochemically Distinct Galactarate Dehydratase from Oceanobacillus iheyensis†

PubMed Central

Rakus, John F.; Kalyanaraman, Chakrapani; Fedorov, Alexander A.; Fedorov, Elena V.; Mills-Groninger, Fiona P.; Toro, Rafael; Bonanno, Jeffrey; Bain, Kevin; Sauder, J. Michael; Burley, Stephen K.; Almo, Steven C.; Jacobson, Matthew P.; Gerlt, John A.

2009-01-01

The structure of an uncharacterized member of the enolase superfamily from Oceanobacillus iheyensis (GI: 23100298; IMG locus tag Ob2843; PDB Code 2OQY) was determined by the New York SGX Research Center for Structural Genomics (NYSGXRC). The structure contained two Mg2+ ions located 10.4 Å from one another, with one located in the canonical position in the (β/α)7β-barrel domain (although the ligand at the end of the fifth β-strand is His, unprecedented in structurally characterized members of the superfamily); the second is located in a novel site within the capping domain. In silico docking of a library of mono- and diacid sugars to the active site predicted a diacid sugar as a likely substrate. Activity screening of a physical library of acid sugars identified galactarate as the substrate (kcat = 6.8 s−1, KM = 620 μM; kcat/KM = 1.1 × 104 M−1 s−1), allowing functional assignment of Ob2843 as galactarate dehydratase (GalrD-II) The structure of a complex of the catalytically impaired Y90F mutant with Mg2+ and galactarate allowed identification of a Tyr 164-Arg 162 dyad as the base that initiates the reaction by abstraction of the α-proton and Tyr 90 as the acid that facilitates departure of the β-OH leaving group. The enzyme product is 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-threo-4,5-dihydroxyadipate, the enantiomer of the product obtained in the GalrD reaction catalyzed by a previously characterized bifunctional L-talarate/galactarate dehydratase (TalrD/GalrD). On the basis of the different active site structures and different regiochemistries, we recognize that these functions represent an example of apparent, not actual, convergent evolution of function. The structure of GalrD-II and its active site architecture allow identification of the seventh functionally and structurally characterized subgroup in the enolase superfamily. This study provides an additional example that an integrated sequence/structure-based strategy employing computational approaches is a viable approach for directing functional assignment of unknown enzymes discovered in genome projects. PMID:19883118

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agricultural Wetlands in Borneo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdul, H.; Fatah, L.; Nursyamsi, D.; Kazuyuki, I.

2011-12-01

At the forum G20 meeting in 2009, Indonesian President delivered Indonesia's commitment to reduce national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26% in 2020 by unilateral action and by 41% with support of other countries. To achieve the target, Indonesian government has put forestry, agriculture (including peatlands), energy, industry and transportation as main responsible sectors. Development of crop with low GHG emissions, increasing C sequestration and the use of organic fertilizers are among the activities to be carried out in 2010-2020 period to minimize GHG emissions from agricultural sectors. Three experiments have been carried out to elucidate the reflectivity of crop selection, soil ameliorants and organic fertilizers on GHG emissions from agricultural wetlands in Borneo. Firstly, gas samples were collected in weekly basis from oil palm, paddy, and vegetables fields and analyzed for methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations by a gas chromatography. Secondly, coal fly ash, dolomite and ZnSO4 were incorporated into a pot containing peat and/or alluvial soils taken from wetlands in South Kalimantan. The air samples were taken and analyzed for CH4 by a gas chromatography. Finally, microbial consortium are isolated from soil, sediment and cow dung. The microbes were then propagated and used in a rice straw composting processes. The CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from composting vessel were measured at one, two and four weeks of composting processes. The results showed that shifting the use of peatlands for oil palm to vegetable field reduced the GHG emissions by about 74% and that to paddy field reduce the GHG emissions by about 82%. The CH4 emissions from paddy field can be further reduced by applying dolomite. However, the use of coal fly ash and ZnSO4 increased CH4 emissions from peat soil cultivated to rice. The use of microbe isolated from saline soil could reduce GHG emissions during the composting of rice straw. The social aspect of GHG reduction in Borneo will also be discussed.

Controls on wind abrasion patterns through a fractured bedrock landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perkins, J. P.; Finnegan, N. J.

2017-12-01

Wind abrasion is an important geomorphic process for understanding arid landscape evolution on Earth and interpreting the post-fluvial history of Mars. Both the presence and orientation of wind-abraded landforms provide potentially important constraints on paleo-climatic conditions; however, such interpretations can be complicated by lithologic and structural heterogeneity. To explore the influence of pre-existing structure on wind abrasion, we exploit a natural experiment along the 10.2 Ma Lower Rio San Pedro ignimbrite in northern Chile. Here, a 3.2 Ma andesite flow erupted from Cerro de las Cuevas and deposited atop the ignimbrite, supplying wind-transportable sediment and initiating a phase of downwind abrasion. Additionally, the lava flow provides a continually varying degree of upwind topographic shielding along the ignimbrite that is reflected in a range of surface morphologies. Where fully shielded the ignimbrite surface is partially blanketed by sediment. However, as relief decreases the surface morphology shifts from large polygonal structures that emerge due to the concentration of wind abrasion along pre-existing fracture sets, to polygons that are bisected by wind-parallel grooves that cross-cut fracture sets, to linear sets of yardangs. We reconstruct the ignimbrite surface using a high-resolution digital elevation model, and calculate erosion rates ranging from 0.002 to 0.45 mm/kyr that vary strongly with degree of topographic shielding (R2 = 0.97). We use measured abrasion rates together with nearby weather station data to estimate the nondimensional Rouse number and Inertial Parameter for a range of particle sizes. From these calculations, we hypothesize that the change from fracture-controlled to flow-controlled morphology reflects increases in the grain size and inertia of particles in the suspension cloud. Where the ignimbrite experiences persistent high winds, large particles may travel in suspension and are largely insensitive to topographic steering. Conversely, smaller particles, which comprise the bulk of wind-transported material in lower velocity settings, can be fully deflected along fracture paths. Wind-abraded landforms therefore likely reflect a competition between the material skeleton of the landscape and the strength of the flow that shapes it.

Promoting the University Social Responsibility in the Capacity Development Program for Landslide Risk Reduction in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karnawati, D.; Wilopo, W.; Verrier, M.; Fathani, T. F.; Andayani, B.

2011-12-01

One of the most challenges efforts for landslides disaster risk reduction in Indonesia is to provide an effective program for capacity development of the community living in the vulnerable area. Limited access for appropriate information and knowledge about the geology and landslide phenomena as well as the social-security constrains are the major challenges in capacity development program in the landslide prone area. Accordingly, an action for conducting community-based research and education program with respect to landslide mitigation and disaster risk reduction at the village level was established by implementing the University Social Responsibility Program. Such program has been conducted regularly in every academic semester as a part of the formal academic program at Universitas Gadjah Mada , Indonesia. Twenty students with multi-discipline backgrounds and supported by their lectures/advisers have to be deployed at the village for two months to carry out such mission. This action is also conducted under the coordination with the local/ national Government together with the local community, and may also with the private sectors. A series of research actions such as landslide investigation and hazard-risk mapping, social mapping and development of landslide early warning system were carried out in parallel with public education and evacuation drill for community empowerment and landslide risk reduction. A Community Task Force for Disaster Risk Reduction was also established during the community empowerment program, in order to guarantee the affectivity and sustainability of the disaster risk reduction program at the village level. It is crucial that this program is not only beneficial for empowering the village community to tackle the landslide problems, but also important to support the education for sustainable development program at the disaster prone area. Indeed, this capacity development program may also be considered as one best practice for transforming the knowledge into action and the action into knowledge enhancement, with respect to landslide disaster risk reduction.
Scope of problems and the actions conducted by Universitas Gadjah Mada as The University Social Responsibility Program for Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia

COMPARE : a method for analyzing investment alternatives in industrial wood and bark energy systems

Treesearch

Peter J. Ince

1983-01-01

COMPARE is a FORTRAN computer program resulting from a study to develop methods for comparative economic analysis of alternatives in industrial wood and bark energy systems. COMPARE provides complete guidelines for economic analysis of wood and bark energy systems. As such, COMPARE can be useful to those who have only basic familiarity with investment analysis of wood...

An Analysis Technique/Automated Tool for Comparing and Tracking Analysis Modes of Different Finite Element Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Towner, Robert L.; Band, Jonathan L.

2012-01-01

An analysis technique was developed to compare and track mode shapes for different Finite Element Models. The technique may be applied to a variety of structural dynamics analyses, including model reduction validation (comparing unreduced and reduced models), mode tracking for various parametric analyses (e.g., launch vehicle model dispersion analysis to identify sensitivities to modal gain for Guidance, Navigation, and Control), comparing models of different mesh fidelity (e.g., a coarse model for a preliminary analysis compared to a higher-fidelity model for a detailed analysis) and mode tracking for a structure with properties that change over time (e.g., a launch vehicle from liftoff through end-of-burn, with propellant being expended during the flight). Mode shapes for different models are compared and tracked using several numerical indicators, including traditional Cross-Orthogonality and Modal Assurance Criteria approaches, as well as numerical indicators obtained by comparing modal strain energy and kinetic energy distributions. This analysis technique has been used to reliably identify correlated mode shapes for complex Finite Element Models that would otherwise be difficult to compare using traditional techniques. This improved approach also utilizes an adaptive mode tracking algorithm that allows for automated tracking when working with complex models and/or comparing a large group of models.

Quantitative structure-activity relationship of organosulphur compounds as soybean 15-lipoxygenase inhibitors using CoMFA and CoMSIA.

PubMed

Caballero, Julio; Fernández, Michael; Coll, Deysma

2010-12-01

Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship studies were carried out on a series of 28 organosulphur compounds as 15-lipoxygenase inhibitors using comparative molecular field analysis and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis. Quantitative information on structure-activity relationships is provided for further rational development and direction of selective synthesis. All models were carried out over a training set including 22 compounds. The best comparative molecular field analysis model only included steric field and had a good Q² = 0.789. Comparative molecular similarity indices analysis overcame the comparative molecular field analysis results: the best comparative molecular similarity indices analysis model also only included steric field and had a Q² = 0.894. In addition, this model predicted adequately the compounds contained in the test set. Furthermore, plots of steric comparative molecular similarity indices analysis field allowed conclusions to be drawn for the choice of suitable inhibitors. In this sense, our model should prove useful in future 15-lipoxygenase inhibitor design studies. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Comparative Analysis of Enrollment and Financial Strength of Private Institutions. AIR 1989 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glover, Robert H.; Mills, Michael R.

A research design, decision support system, and results of a comparative analysis of enrollment and financial strength (of private institutions granting masters and doctoral degrees) are presented. Cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, multiple regression, and an interactive decision support system are used to compare the enrollment and…

Securing Healthcare’s Quantified-Self Data: A Comparative Analysis Versus Personal Financial Account Aggregators Based on Porter’s Five Forces Framework for Competitive Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

HEALTHCARE’S QUANTIFIED-SELF DATA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS VERSUS PERSONAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNT AGGREGATORS BASED ON PORTER’S FIVE FORCES FRAMEWORK FOR...TITLE AND SUBTITLE SECURING HEALTHCARE’S QUANTIFIED-SELF DATA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS VERSUS PERSONAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNT AGGREGATORS BASED ON...Distribution is unlimited. SECURING HEALTHCARE’S QUANTIFIED-SELF DATA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS VERSUS PERSONAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNT AGGREGATORS BASED ON

A Comparative Study of Data Envelopment Analysis and Other Approaches to Efficiency Evaluation and Estimation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-01

ADA27 91 A COMPARATIVE STJDO DATAENVEOPMENT ANALYSISAND / HER APPROACHES TO A .i)TEXAS UN VAT AUSIN CENTER FOCAS RE CCYR 5 NO BERRETIC STADIES A... COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS AND OTHER APPROACHES TO EFFICIENCY EVALUATION AND ESTIMATIONt by A. Charnes W.W. Cooper H.D. Sherman...School of Business, 1981, entitled "Measurement of Hospital Efficiency: A Comparative Analysis of Data Envelopment Analysis and Other Approaches for

FINDING A METHOD FOR THE MADNESS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC DESIGN METHODOLOGIES

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

FINDING A METHOD FOR THE MADNESS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC DESIGN METHODOLOGIES BY AMANDA DONNELLY A THESIS...work develops a comparative model for strategic design methodologies, focusing on the primary elements of vision, time, process, communication and...collaboration, and risk assessment. My analysis dissects and compares three potential design methodologies including, net assessment, scenarios and

Why Compare? A Response to Stephen Lawton.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Liz; Pearce, Diane

1993-01-01

Aims to stimulate interest in comparative education policy analysis by critiquing a paper by Stephen Lawton. Such comparative analysis is important in understanding neoliberal education reforms, but more work is needed to provide adequate categories for analysis. Lawton's categories, reformulated here as efficiency, managing and provider capture,…

75 FR 54117 - Building Energy Standards Program: Preliminary Determination Regarding Energy Efficiency...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-03

... Response to Comments on Previous Analysis C. Summary of the Comparative Analysis 1. Quantitative Analysis 2... preliminary quantitative analysis are specific building designs, in most cases with specific spaces defined... preliminary determination. C. Summary of the Comparative Analysis DOE carried out both a broad quantitative...

Tri-Squared Mean Cross Comparative Analysis: An Advanced Post Hoc Qualitative and Quantitative Metric for a More In-Depth Examination of the Initial Research Outcomes of the Tri-Square Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osler, James Edward

2013-01-01

This monograph provides an epistemological rational for the design of an advanced novel analysis metric. The metric is designed to analyze the outcomes of the Tri-Squared Test. This methodology is referred to as: "Tri-Squared Mean Cross Comparative Analysis" (given the acronym TSMCCA). Tri-Squared Mean Cross Comparative Analysis involves…

Detection of myocardial ischemia by automated, motion-corrected, color-encoded perfusion maps compared with visual analysis of adenosine stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T: a pilot study.

PubMed

Doesch, Christina; Papavassiliu, Theano; Michaely, Henrik J; Attenberger, Ulrike I; Glielmi, Christopher; Süselbeck, Tim; Fink, Christian; Borggrefe, Martin; Schoenberg, Stefan O

2013-09-01

The purpose of this study was to compare automated, motion-corrected, color-encoded (AMC) perfusion maps with qualitative visual analysis of adenosine stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging for detection of flow-limiting stenoses. Myocardial perfusion measurements applying the standard adenosine stress imaging protocol and a saturation-recovery temporal generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (t-GRAPPA) turbo fast low angle shot (Turbo FLASH) magnetic resonance imaging sequence were performed in 25 patients using a 3.0-T MAGNETOM Skyra (Siemens Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany). Perfusion studies were analyzed using AMC perfusion maps and qualitative visual analysis. Angiographically detected coronary artery (CA) stenoses greater than 75% or 50% or more with a myocardial perfusion reserve index less than 1.5 were considered as hemodynamically relevant. Diagnostic performance and time requirement for both methods were compared. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability were also assessed. A total of 29 CA stenoses were included in the analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy for detection of ischemia on a per-patient basis were comparable using the AMC perfusion maps compared to visual analysis. On a per-CA territory basis, the attribution of an ischemia to the respective vessel was facilitated using the AMC perfusion maps. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability were better for the AMC perfusion maps (concordance correlation coefficient, 0.94 and 0.93, respectively) compared to visual analysis (concordance correlation coefficient, 0.73 and 0.79, respectively). In addition, in comparison to visual analysis, the AMC perfusion maps were able to significantly reduce analysis time from 7.7 (3.1) to 3.2 (1.9) minutes (P < 0.0001). The AMC perfusion maps yielded a diagnostic performance on a per-patient and on a per-CA territory basis comparable with the visual analysis. Furthermore, this approach demonstrated higher interobserver and intraobserver reliability as well as a better time efficiency when compared to visual analysis.