DNA sequence templates adjacent nucleosome and ORC sites at gene amplification origins in Drosophila

PubMed Central

Liu, Jun; Zimmer, Kurt; Rusch, Douglas B.; Paranjape, Neha; Podicheti, Ram; Tang, Haixu; Calvi, Brian R.

2015-01-01

Eukaryotic origins of DNA replication are bound by the origin recognition complex (ORC), which scaffolds assembly of a pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) that is then activated to initiate replication. Both pre-RC assembly and activation are strongly influenced by developmental changes to the epigenome, but molecular mechanisms remain incompletely defined. We have been examining the activation of origins responsible for developmental gene amplification in Drosophila. At a specific time in oogenesis, somatic follicle cells transition from genomic replication to a locus-specific replication from six amplicon origins. Previous evidence indicated that these amplicon origins are activated by nucleosome acetylation, but how this affects origin chromatin is unknown. Here, we examine nucleosome position in follicle cells using micrococcal nuclease digestion with Ilumina sequencing. The results indicate that ORC binding sites and other essential origin sequences are nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs). Nucleosome position at the amplicons was highly similar among developmental stages during which ORC is or is not bound, indicating that being an NDR is not sufficient to specify ORC binding. Importantly, the data suggest that nucleosomes and ORC have opposite preferences for DNA sequence and structure. We propose that nucleosome hyperacetylation promotes pre-RC assembly onto adjacent DNA sequences that are disfavored by nucleosomes but favored by ORC. PMID:26227968

Further insight into the phenotype associated with a mutation in the ORC6 gene, causing Meier-Gorlin syndrome 3.

PubMed

Shalev, Stavit Allon; Khayat, Morad; Etty, Daniel-Spiegl; Elpeleg, Orly

2015-03-01

Mutations in genes encoding the origin recognition complex subunits cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome. The disease manifests a triad of short stature, small ears, and small and/or absent patellae with variable expressivity. We report on the identification of a homozygous deleterious mutation in the ORC6 gene in previously described fetuses at the severe end of the Meier-Gorlin spectrum. The phenotype included severe intrauterine growth retardation, dislocation of knees, gracile bones, clubfeet, and small mandible and chest. To date, the clinical presentation of ORC6-associated Meier-Gorlin syndrome has been mild compared to other the phenotype associated with other loci. The present report expands the clinical phenotype associated with ORC6 mutations to include severely abnormal embryological development suggesting a possible genotype-phenotype correlation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Meier-Gorlin syndrome mutations disrupt an Orc1 CDK inhibitory domain and cause centrosome reduplication.

PubMed

Hossain, Manzar; Stillman, Bruce

2012-08-15

Like DNA replication, centrosomes are licensed to duplicate once per cell division cycle to ensure genetic stability. In addition to regulating DNA replication, the Orc1 subunit of the human origin recognition complex controls centriole and centrosome copy number. Here we report that Orc1 harbors a PACT centrosome-targeting domain and a separate domain that differentially inhibits the protein kinase activities of Cyclin E-CDK2 and Cyclin A-CDK2. A cyclin-binding motif (Cy motif) is required for Orc1 to bind Cyclin A and inhibit Cyclin A-CDK2 kinase activity but has no effect on Cyclin E-CDK2 kinase activity. In contrast, Orc1 inhibition of Cyclin E-CDK2 kinase activity occurs by a different mechanism that is affected by Orc1 mutations identified in Meier-Gorlin syndrome patients. The cyclin/CDK2 kinase inhibitory domain of Orc1, when tethered to the PACT domain, localizes to centrosomes and blocks centrosome reduplication. Meier-Gorlin syndrome mutations that disrupt Cyclin E-CDK2 kinase inhibition also allow centrosome reduplication. Thus, Orc1 contains distinct domains that control centrosome copy number and DNA replication. We suggest that the Orc1 mutations present in some Meier-Gorlin syndrome patients contribute to the pronounced microcephaly and dwarfism observed in these individuals by altering centrosome duplication in addition to DNA replication defects.

Tolerance of Sir1p/Origin Recognition Complex-Dependent Silencing for Enhanced Origin Firing at HMRa

PubMed Central

McConnell, Kristopher H.; Müller, Philipp; Fox, Catherine A.

2006-01-01

The HMR-E silencer is a DNA element that directs the formation of silent chromatin at the HMRa locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sir1p is one of four Sir proteins required for silent chromatin formation at HMRa. Sir1p functions by binding the origin recognition complex (ORC), which binds to HMR-E, and recruiting the other Sir proteins (Sir2p to -4p). ORCs also bind to hundreds of nonsilencer positions distributed throughout the genome, marking them as replication origins, the sites for replication initiation. HMR-E also acts as a replication origin, but compared to many origins in the genome, it fires extremely inefficiently and late during S phase. One postulate to explain this observation is that ORC's role in origin firing is incompatible with its role in binding Sir1p and/or the formation of silent chromatin. Here we examined a mutant HMR-E silencer and fusions between robust replication origins and HMR-E for HMRa silencing, origin firing, and replication timing. Origin firing within HMRa and from the HMR-E silencer itself could be significantly enhanced, and the timing of HMRa replication during an otherwise normal S phase advanced, without a substantial reduction in SIR1-dependent silencing. However, although the robust origin/silencer fusions silenced HMRa quite well, they were measurably less effective than a comparable silencer containing HMR-E's native ORC binding site. PMID:16479013

A Link between ORC-Origin Binding Mechanisms and Origin Activation Time Revealed in Budding Yeast

PubMed Central

Hoggard, Timothy; Shor, Erika; Müller, Carolin A.; Nieduszynski, Conrad A.; Fox, Catherine A.

2013-01-01

Eukaryotic DNA replication origins are selected in G1-phase when the origin recognition complex (ORC) binds chromosomal positions and triggers molecular events culminating in the initiation of DNA replication (a.k.a. origin firing) during S-phase. Each chromosome uses multiple origins for its duplication, and each origin fires at a characteristic time during S-phase, creating a cell-type specific genome replication pattern relevant to differentiation and genome stability. It is unclear whether ORC-origin interactions are relevant to origin activation time. We applied a novel genome-wide strategy to classify origins in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on the types of molecular interactions used for ORC-origin binding. Specifically, origins were classified as DNA-dependent when the strength of ORC-origin binding in vivo could be explained by the affinity of ORC for origin DNA in vitro, and, conversely, as ‘chromatin-dependent’ when the ORC-DNA interaction in vitro was insufficient to explain the strength of ORC-origin binding in vivo. These two origin classes differed in terms of nucleosome architecture and dependence on origin-flanking sequences in plasmid replication assays, consistent with local features of chromatin promoting ORC binding at ‘chromatin-dependent’ origins. Finally, the ‘chromatin-dependent’ class was enriched for origins that fire early in S-phase, while the DNA-dependent class was enriched for later firing origins. Conversely, the latest firing origins showed a positive association with the ORC-origin DNA paradigm for normal levels of ORC binding, whereas the earliest firing origins did not. These data reveal a novel association between ORC-origin binding mechanisms and the regulation of origin activation time. PMID:24068963

Human replication protein Cdc6 is selectively cleaved by caspase 3 during apoptosis

PubMed Central

Pelizon, Cristina; d’Adda di Fagagna, Fabrizio; Farrace, Lorena; Laskey, Ronald A.

2002-01-01

In eukaryotes, the initiation of DNA replication involves the ordered assembly on chromatin of pre-replicative complexes (pre-RCs), including the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6, Cdt1 and the minichromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs). In light of its indispensable role in the formation of pre-RCs, Cdc6 binding to chromatin represents a key step in the regulation of DNA replication and cell proliferation. Here, we study the human Cdc6 (HuCdc6) protein during programmed cell death (apoptosis). We find that HuCdc6, but not HuOrc2 (a member of the ORC) or HuMcm5 (one of the MCMs), is specifically cleaved in several human cell lines induced to undergo apoptosis by a variety of stimuli. Expression of caspase-uncleavable mutant HuCdc6 attenuates apoptosis, delaying cell death. Therefore, an important function for cleavage of HuCdc6 is to prevent a wounded cell from replicating and to facilitate death. PMID:12151338

Origin Licensing Requires ATP Binding and Hydrolysis by the MCM Replicative Helicase

PubMed Central

Coster, Gideon; Frigola, Jordi; Beuron, Fabienne; Morris, Edward P.; Diffley, John F.X.

2014-01-01

Summary Loading of the six related Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM) proteins as head-to-head double hexamers during DNA replication origin licensing is crucial for ensuring once-per-cell-cycle DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Assembly of these prereplicative complexes (pre-RCs) requires the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC), Cdc6, and Cdt1. ORC, Cdc6, and MCM are members of the AAA+ family of ATPases, and pre-RC assembly requires ATP hydrolysis. Here we show that ORC and Cdc6 mutants defective in ATP hydrolysis are competent for origin licensing. However, ATP hydrolysis by Cdc6 is required to release nonproductive licensing intermediates. We show that ATP binding stabilizes the wild-type MCM hexamer. Moreover, by analyzing MCM containing mutant subunits, we show that ATP binding and hydrolysis by MCM are required for Cdt1 release and double hexamer formation. This work alters our view of how ATP is used by licensing factors to assemble pre-RCs. PMID:25087873

Mechanisms and pathways of growth failure in primordial dwarfism.

PubMed

Klingseisen, Anna; Jackson, Andrew P

2011-10-01

The greatest difference between species is size; however, the developmental mechanisms determining organism growth remain poorly understood. Primordial dwarfism is a group of human single-gene disorders with extreme global growth failure (which includes Seckel syndrome, microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism I [MOPD] types I and II, and Meier-Gorlin syndrome). Ten genes have now been identified for microcephalic primordial dwarfism, encoding proteins involved in fundamental cellular processes including genome replication (ORC1 [origin recognition complex 1], ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6), DNA damage response (ATR [ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related]), mRNA splicing (U4atac), and centrosome function (CEP152, PCNT, and CPAP). Here, we review the cellular and developmental mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these conditions and address whether further study of these genes could provide novel insight into the physiological regulation of organism growth.

Context based computational analysis and characterization of ARS consensus sequences (ACS) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome.

PubMed

Singh, Vinod Kumar; Krishnamachari, Annangarachari

2016-09-01

Genome-wide experimental studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveal that autonomous replicating sequence (ARS) requires an essential consensus sequence (ACS) for replication activity. Computational studies identified thousands of ACS like patterns in the genome. However, only a few hundreds of these sites act as replicating sites and the rest are considered as dormant or evolving sites. In a bid to understand the sequence makeup of replication sites, a content and context-based analysis was performed on a set of replicating ACS sequences that binds to origin-recognition complex (ORC) denoted as ORC-ACS and non-replicating ACS sequences (nrACS), that are not bound by ORC. In this study, DNA properties such as base composition, correlation, sequence dependent thermodynamic and DNA structural profiles, and their positions have been considered for characterizing ORC-ACS and nrACS. Analysis reveals that ORC-ACS depict marked differences in nucleotide composition and context features in its vicinity compared to nrACS. Interestingly, an A-rich motif was also discovered in ORC-ACS sequences within its nucleosome-free region. Profound changes in the conformational features, such as DNA helical twist, inclination angle and stacking energy between ORC-ACS and nrACS were observed. Distribution of ACS motifs in the non-coding segments points to the locations of ORC-ACS which are found far away from the adjacent gene start position compared to nrACS thereby enabling an accessible environment for ORC-proteins. Our attempt is novel in considering the contextual view of ACS and its flanking region along with nucleosome positioning in the S. cerevisiae genome and may be useful for any computational prediction scheme.

Mechanisms and pathways of growth failure in primordial dwarfism

PubMed Central

Klingseisen, Anna; Jackson, Andrew P.

2011-01-01

The greatest difference between species is size; however, the developmental mechanisms determining organism growth remain poorly understood. Primordial dwarfism is a group of human single-gene disorders with extreme global growth failure (which includes Seckel syndrome, microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism I [MOPD] types I and II, and Meier-Gorlin syndrome). Ten genes have now been identified for microcephalic primordial dwarfism, encoding proteins involved in fundamental cellular processes including genome replication (ORC1 [origin recognition complex 1], ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6), DNA damage response (ATR [ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related]), mRNA splicing (U4atac), and centrosome function (CEP152, PCNT, and CPAP). Here, we review the cellular and developmental mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these conditions and address whether further study of these genes could provide novel insight into the physiological regulation of organism growth. PMID:21979914

Genome-wide chromatin footprinting reveals changes in replication origin architecture induced by pre-RC assembly

PubMed Central

MacAlpine, Heather K.; Lubelsky, Yoav; Hartemink, Alexander J.

2015-01-01

Start sites of DNA replication are marked by the origin recognition complex (ORC), which coordinates Mcm2–7 helicase loading to form the prereplicative complex (pre-RC). Although pre-RC assembly is well characterized in vitro, the process is poorly understood within the local chromatin environment surrounding replication origins. To reveal how the chromatin architecture modulates origin selection and activation, we “footprinted” nucleosomes, transcription factors, and replication proteins at multiple points during the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle. Our nucleotide-resolution protein occupancy profiles resolved a precise ORC-dependent footprint at 269 origins in G2. A separate class of inefficient origins exhibited protein occupancy only in G1, suggesting that stable ORC chromatin association in G2 is a determinant of origin efficiency. G1 nucleosome remodeling concomitant with pre-RC assembly expanded the origin nucleosome-free region and enhanced activation efficiency. Finally, the local chromatin environment restricts the loading of the Mcm2–7 double hexamer either upstream of or downstream from the ARS consensus sequence (ACS). PMID:25593310

MCM interference during licensing of DNA replication in Xenopus egg extracts-Possible Role of a C-terminal region of MCM3.

PubMed

Mimura, Satoru; Kubota, Yumiko; Takisawa, Haruhiko

2018-01-01

The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex, consisting of six subunits, Mcm2-7, is loaded onto replication origins through loading factors (origin recognition complex [ORC], Cdc6, and Cdt1) and forms an MCM double hexamer that licenses the initiation of DNA replication. Previous studies with Xenopus egg extracts showed that loading factors, especially Cdc6, dissociate from chromatin on MCM loading, but the molecular mechanism and physiological significance remain largely unknown. Using a cell-free system for MCM loading onto plasmid DNA in Xenopus egg extracts, we found that MCM loaded onto DNA prevents DNA binding of the loading factors ORC, Cdc6, and Cdt1. We further report that a peptide of the C-terminal region of MCM3 (MCM3-C), previously implicated in the initial association with ORC/Cdc6 in budding yeast, prevents ORC/Cdc6/Cdt1 binding to DNA in the absence of MCM loading. ATP-γ-S suppresses inhibitory activities of both the MCM loaded onto DNA and the MCM3-C peptide. Other soluble factors in the extract, but neither MCM nor Cdt1, are required for the activity. Conservation of the amino acid sequences of MCM3-C and its activity in vertebrates implies a novel negative autoregulatory mechanism that interferes with MCM loading in the vicinity of licensed origins to ensure proper origin licensing.

Expression and subcellular localization of ORC1 in Leishmania major

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

Kumar, Diwakar; Mukherji, Agnideep; Saha, Swati

2008-10-10

The mechanism of DNA replication is highly conserved in eukaryotes, with the process being preceded by the ordered assembly of pre-replication complexes (pre-RCs). Pre-RC formation is triggered by the association of the origin replication complex (ORC) with chromatin. Leishmania major appears to have only one ORC ortholog, ORC1. ORC1 in other eukaryotes is the largest of the ORC subunits and is believed to play a significant role in modulating replication initiation. Here we report for the first time, the cloning of ORC1 from L. major, and the analysis of its expression in L. major promastigotes. In human cells ORC1 levelsmore » have been found to be upregulated in G1 and subsequently degraded, thus playing a role in controlling replication initiation. We examine the subcellular localization of L. major ORC1 in relation to the different stages of the cell cycle. Our results show that, unlike what is widely believed to be the case with ORC1 in human cells, ORC1 in L. major is nuclear at all stages of the cell cycle.« less

Identification of a novel trafficking pathway exporting a replication protein, Orc2 to nucleus via classical secretory pathway in Plasmodium falciparum.

PubMed

Sharma, Rahul; Sharma, Bhumika; Gupta, Ashish; Dhar, Suman Kumar

2018-05-01

Malaria parasites use an extensive secretory pathway to traffic a number of proteins within itself and beyond. In higher eukaryotes, Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) membrane bound transcription factors such as SREBP are reported to get processed en route and migrate to nucleus under the influence of specific cues. However, a protein constitutively trafficked to the nucleus via classical secretory pathway has not been reported. Herein, we report the presence of a novel trafficking pathway in an apicomplexan, Plasmodium falciparum where a homologue of an Origin Recognition Complex 2 (Orc2) goes to the nucleus following its association with the ER. Our work highlights the unconventional role of ER in protein trafficking and reports for the first time an ORC homologue getting trafficked through such a pathway to the nucleus where it may be involved in DNA replication and other ancillary functions. Such trafficking pathways may have a profound impact on the cell biology of a malaria parasite and have significant implications in strategizing new antimalarials. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

H3K9me3 demethylase Kdm4d facilitates the formation of pre-initiative complex and regulates DNA replication

PubMed Central

Wu, Rentian; Wang, Zhiquan; Zhang, Honglian; Gan, Haiyun; Zhang, Zhiguo

2017-01-01

DNA replication is tightly regulated to occur once and only once per cell cycle. How chromatin, the physiological substrate of DNA replication machinery, regulates DNA replication remains largely unknown. Here we show that histone H3 lysine 9 demethylase Kdm4d regulates DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Depletion of Kdm4d results in defects in DNA replication, which can be rescued by the expression of H3K9M, a histone H3 mutant transgene that reverses the effect of Kdm4d on H3K9 methylation. Kdm4d interacts with replication proteins, and its recruitment to DNA replication origins depends on the two pre-replicative complex components (origin recognition complex [ORC] and minichromosome maintenance [MCM] complex). Depletion of Kdm4d impairs the recruitment of Cdc45, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and polymerase δ, but not ORC and MCM proteins. These results demonstrate a novel mechanism by which Kdm4d regulates DNA replication by reducing the H3K9me3 level to facilitate formation of pre-initiative complex. PMID:27679476

Interaction of the Retinoblastoma Protein with Orc1 and Its Recruitment to Human Origins of DNA Replication

PubMed Central

Mendoza-Maldonado, Ramiro; Paolinelli, Roberta; Galbiati, Laura; Giadrossi, Sara; Giacca, Mauro

2010-01-01

Background The retinoblastoma protein (Rb) is a crucial regulator of cell cycle progression by binding with E2F transcription factor and repressing the expression of a variety of genes required for the G1-S phase transition. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we show that Rb and E2F1 directly participate in the control of initiation of DNA replication in human HeLa, U2OS and T98G cells by specifically binding to origins of DNA replication in a cell cycle regulated manner. We show that, both in vitro and inside the cells, the largest subunit of the origin recognition complex (Orc1) specifically binds hypo-phosphorylated Rb and that this interaction is competitive with the binding of Rb to E2F1. The displacement of Rb-bound Orc1 by E2F1 at origins of DNA replication marks the progression of the G1 phase of the cell cycle toward the G1-S border. Conclusions/Significance The participation of Rb and E2F1 in the formation of the multiprotein complex that binds origins of DNA replication in mammalian cells appears to represent an effective mechanism to couple the expression of genes required for cell cycle progression to the activation of DNA replication. PMID:21085491

H3K9me3 demethylase Kdm4d facilitates the formation of pre-initiative complex and regulates DNA replication.

PubMed

Wu, Rentian; Wang, Zhiquan; Zhang, Honglian; Gan, Haiyun; Zhang, Zhiguo

2017-01-09

DNA replication is tightly regulated to occur once and only once per cell cycle. How chromatin, the physiological substrate of DNA replication machinery, regulates DNA replication remains largely unknown. Here we show that histone H3 lysine 9 demethylase Kdm4d regulates DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Depletion of Kdm4d results in defects in DNA replication, which can be rescued by the expression of H3K9M, a histone H3 mutant transgene that reverses the effect of Kdm4d on H3K9 methylation. Kdm4d interacts with replication proteins, and its recruitment to DNA replication origins depends on the two pre-replicative complex components (origin recognition complex [ORC] and minichromosome maintenance [MCM] complex). Depletion of Kdm4d impairs the recruitment of Cdc45, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and polymerase δ, but not ORC and MCM proteins. These results demonstrate a novel mechanism by which Kdm4d regulates DNA replication by reducing the H3K9me3 level to facilitate formation of pre-initiative complex. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Prereplicative complexes assembled in vitro support origin-dependent and independent DNA replication

PubMed Central

On, Kin Fan; Beuron, Fabienne; Frith, David; Snijders, Ambrosius P; Morris, Edward P; Diffley, John F X

2014-01-01

Eukaryotic DNA replication initiates from multiple replication origins. To ensure each origin fires just once per cell cycle, initiation is divided into two biochemically discrete steps: the Mcm2-7 helicase is first loaded into prereplicative complexes (pre-RCs) as an inactive double hexamer by the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdt1 and Cdc6; the helicase is then activated by a set of “firing factors.” Here, we show that plasmids containing pre-RCs assembled with purified proteins support complete and semi-conservative replication in extracts from budding yeast cells overexpressing firing factors. Replication requires cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) and Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK). DDK phosphorylation of Mcm2-7 does not by itself promote separation of the double hexamer, but is required for the recruitment of firing factors and replisome components in the extract. Plasmid replication does not require a functional replication origin; however, in the presence of competitor DNA and limiting ORC concentrations, replication becomes origin-dependent in this system. These experiments indicate that Mcm2-7 double hexamers can be precursors of replication and provide insight into the nature of eukaryotic DNA replication origins. PMID:24566989

How MCM loading and spreading specify eukaryotic DNA replication initiation sites.

PubMed

Hyrien, Olivier

2016-01-01

DNA replication origins strikingly differ between eukaryotic species and cell types. Origins are localized and can be highly efficient in budding yeast, are randomly located in early fly and frog embryos, which do not transcribe their genomes, and are clustered in broad (10-100 kb) non-transcribed zones, frequently abutting transcribed genes, in mammalian cells. Nonetheless, in all cases, origins are established during the G1-phase of the cell cycle by the loading of double hexamers of the Mcm 2-7 proteins (MCM DHs), the core of the replicative helicase. MCM DH activation in S-phase leads to origin unwinding, polymerase recruitment, and initiation of bidirectional DNA synthesis. Although MCM DHs are initially loaded at sites defined by the binding of the origin recognition complex (ORC), they ultimately bind chromatin in much greater numbers than ORC and only a fraction are activated in any one S-phase. Data suggest that the multiplicity and functional redundancy of MCM DHs provide robustness to the replication process and affect replication time and that MCM DHs can slide along the DNA and spread over large distances around the ORC. Recent studies further show that MCM DHs are displaced along the DNA by collision with transcription complexes but remain functional for initiation after displacement. Therefore, eukaryotic DNA replication relies on intrinsically mobile and flexible origins, a strategy fundamentally different from bacteria but conserved from yeast to human. These properties of MCM DHs likely contribute to the establishment of broad, intergenic replication initiation zones in higher eukaryotes.

How MCM loading and spreading specify eukaryotic DNA replication initiation sites

PubMed Central

Hyrien, Olivier

2016-01-01

DNA replication origins strikingly differ between eukaryotic species and cell types. Origins are localized and can be highly efficient in budding yeast, are randomly located in early fly and frog embryos, which do not transcribe their genomes, and are clustered in broad (10-100 kb) non-transcribed zones, frequently abutting transcribed genes, in mammalian cells. Nonetheless, in all cases, origins are established during the G1-phase of the cell cycle by the loading of double hexamers of the Mcm 2-7 proteins (MCM DHs), the core of the replicative helicase. MCM DH activation in S-phase leads to origin unwinding, polymerase recruitment, and initiation of bidirectional DNA synthesis. Although MCM DHs are initially loaded at sites defined by the binding of the origin recognition complex (ORC), they ultimately bind chromatin in much greater numbers than ORC and only a fraction are activated in any one S-phase. Data suggest that the multiplicity and functional redundancy of MCM DHs provide robustness to the replication process and affect replication time and that MCM DHs can slide along the DNA and spread over large distances around the ORC. Recent studies further show that MCM DHs are displaced along the DNA by collision with transcription complexes but remain functional for initiation after displacement. Therefore, eukaryotic DNA replication relies on intrinsically mobile and flexible origins, a strategy fundamentally different from bacteria but conserved from yeast to human. These properties of MCM DHs likely contribute to the establishment of broad, intergenic replication initiation zones in higher eukaryotes. PMID:27635237

Origin Replication Complex Binding, Nucleosome Depletion Patterns, and a Primary Sequence Motif Can Predict Origins of Replication in a Genome with Epigenetic Centromeres

PubMed Central

Tsai, Hung-Ji; Baller, Joshua A.; Liachko, Ivan; Koren, Amnon; Burrack, Laura S.; Hickman, Meleah A.; Thevandavakkam, Mathuravani A.; Rusche, Laura N.

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Origins of DNA replication are key genetic elements, yet their identification remains elusive in most organisms. In previous work, we found that centromeres contain origins of replication (ORIs) that are determined epigenetically in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. In this study, we used origin recognition complex (ORC) binding and nucleosome occupancy patterns in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis to train a machine learning algorithm to predict the position of active arm (noncentromeric) origins in the C. albicans genome. The model identified bona fide active origins as determined by the presence of replication intermediates on nondenaturing two-dimensional (2D) gels. Importantly, these origins function at their native chromosomal loci and also as autonomously replicating sequences (ARSs) on a linear plasmid. A “mini-ARS screen” identified at least one and often two ARS regions of ≥100 bp within each bona fide origin. Furthermore, a 15-bp AC-rich consensus motif was associated with the predicted origins and conferred autonomous replicating activity to the mini-ARSs. Thus, while centromeres and the origins associated with them are epigenetic, arm origins are dependent upon critical DNA features, such as a binding site for ORC and a propensity for nucleosome exclusion. PMID:25182328

Meier–Gorlin syndrome genotype–phenotype studies: 35 individuals with pre-replication complex gene mutations and 10 without molecular diagnosis

PubMed Central

de Munnik, Sonja A; Bicknell, Louise S; Aftimos, Salim; Al-Aama, Jumana Y; van Bever, Yolande; Bober, Michael B; Clayton-Smith, Jill; Edrees, Alaa Y; Feingold, Murray; Fryer, Alan; van Hagen, Johanna M; Hennekam, Raoul C; Jansweijer, Maaike C E; Johnson, Diana; Kant, Sarina G; Opitz, John M; Ramadevi, A Radha; Reardon, Willie; Ross, Alison; Sarda, Pierre; Schrander-Stumpel, Constance T R M; Schoots, Jeroen; Temple, I Karen; Terhal, Paulien A; Toutain, Annick; Wise, Carol A; Wright, Michael; Skidmore, David L; Samuels, Mark E; Hoefsloot, Lies H; Knoers, Nine V A M; Brunner, Han G; Jackson, Andrew P; Bongers, Ernie M H F

2012-01-01

Meier–Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by microtia, patellar aplasia/hypoplasia, and short stature. Recently, mutations in five genes from the pre-replication complex (ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6), crucial in cell-cycle progression and growth, were identified in individuals with MGS. Here, we report on genotype–phenotype studies in 45 individuals with MGS (27 females, 18 males; age 3 months–47 years). Thirty-five individuals had biallelic mutations in one of the five causative pre-replication genes. No homozygous or compound heterozygous null mutations were detected. In 10 individuals, no definitive molecular diagnosis was made. The triad of microtia, absent/hypoplastic patellae, and short stature was observed in 82% of individuals with MGS. Additional frequent clinical features were mammary hypoplasia (100%) and abnormal genitalia (42% predominantly cryptorchidism and hypoplastic labia minora/majora). One individual with ORC1 mutations only had short stature, emphasizing the highly variable clinical spectrum of MGS. Individuals with ORC1 mutations had significantly shorter stature and smaller head circumferences than individuals from other gene categories. Furthermore, compared with homozygous missense mutations, compound heterozygous mutations appeared to have a more severe effect on phenotype, causing more severe growth retardation in ORC4 and more frequently pulmonary emphysema in CDT1. A lethal phenotype was seen in four individuals with compound heterozygous ORC1 and CDT1 mutations. No other clear genotype–phenotype association was observed. Growth hormone and estrogen treatment may be of some benefit, respectively, to growth retardation and breast hypoplasia, though further studies in this patient group are needed. PMID:22333897

Analysis of model replication origins in Drosophila reveals new aspects of the chromatin landscape and its relationship to origin activity and the prereplicative complex

PubMed Central

Liu, Jun; McConnell, Kristopher; Dixon, Michael; Calvi, Brian R.

2012-01-01

Epigenetic regulation exerts a major influence on origins of DNA replication during development. The mechanisms for this regulation, however, are poorly defined. We showed previously that acetylation of nucleosomes regulates the origins that mediate developmental gene amplification during Drosophila oogenesis. Here we show that developmental activation of these origins is associated with acetylation of multiple histone lysines. Although these modifications are not unique to origin loci, we find that the level of acetylation is higher at the active origins and quantitatively correlated with the number of times these origins initiate replication. All of these acetylation marks were developmentally dynamic, rapidly increasing with origin activation and rapidly declining when the origins shut off and neighboring promoters turn on. Fine-scale analysis of the origins revealed that both hyperacetylation of nucleosomes and binding of the origin recognition complex (ORC) occur in a broad domain and that acetylation is highest on nucleosomes adjacent to one side of the major site of replication initiation. It was surprising to find that acetylation of some lysines depends on binding of ORC to the origin, suggesting that multiple histone acetyltransferases may be recruited during origin licensing. Our results reveal new insights into the origin epigenetic landscape and lead us to propose a chromatin switch model to explain the coordination of origin and promoter activity during development. PMID:22049023

Dynamic Production Networks.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-04-01

UNCLASSIFIED ORC-81-7 ta. MICROCOP ES LUON’TE MICROCOPY RE.SOLUTION’ TEST CHART -U -ORC 81-7 APRIL 1981 DYNAFIC PRODUCTIn METhORKSARI by RONALD W. SHEPHARD...final outputs may be required for the facilities (activities) of a large production network. Also a compounding of the complexity of an optimization

Mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication initiation in eukaryotes

PubMed Central

Parker, Matthew W.; Botchan, Michael R.; Berger, James M.

2017-01-01

Cellular DNA replication is initiated through the action of multiprotein complexes that recognize replication start sites in the chromosome (termed origins) and facilitate duplex DNA melting within these regions. In a given cell cycle, initiation occurs only once per origin and each round of replication is tightly coupled to cell division. To avoid aberrant origin firing and re-replication, eukaryotes tightly regulate two events in the initiation process: loading of the replicative helicase, MCM2-7, onto chromatin by the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC), and subsequent activation of the helicase by incorporation into a complex known as the CMG. Recent work has begun to reveal the details of an orchestrated and sequential exchange of initiation factors on DNA that give rise to a replication-competent complex, the replisome. Here we review the molecular mechanisms that underpin eukaryotic DNA replication initiation – from selecting replication start sites to replicative helicase loading and activation – and describe how these events are often distinctly regulated across different eukaryotic model organisms. PMID:28094588

Mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication initiation in eukaryotes.

PubMed

Parker, Matthew W; Botchan, Michael R; Berger, James M

2017-04-01

Cellular DNA replication is initiated through the action of multiprotein complexes that recognize replication start sites in the chromosome (termed origins) and facilitate duplex DNA melting within these regions. In a typical cell cycle, initiation occurs only once per origin and each round of replication is tightly coupled to cell division. To avoid aberrant origin firing and re-replication, eukaryotes tightly regulate two events in the initiation process: loading of the replicative helicase, MCM2-7, onto chromatin by the origin recognition complex (ORC), and subsequent activation of the helicase by its incorporation into a complex known as the CMG. Recent work has begun to reveal the details of an orchestrated and sequential exchange of initiation factors on DNA that give rise to a replication-competent complex, the replisome. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms that underpin eukaryotic DNA replication initiation - from selecting replication start sites to replicative helicase loading and activation - and describe how these events are often distinctly regulated across different eukaryotic model organisms.

A Novel Rrm3 Function in Restricting DNA Replication via an Orc5-Binding Domain Is Genetically Separable from Rrm3 Function as an ATPase/Helicase in Facilitating Fork Progression.

PubMed

Syed, Salahuddin; Desler, Claus; Rasmussen, Lene J; Schmidt, Kristina H

2016-12-01

In response to replication stress cells activate the intra-S checkpoint, induce DNA repair pathways, increase nucleotide levels, and inhibit origin firing. Here, we report that Rrm3 associates with a subset of replication origins and controls DNA synthesis during replication stress. The N-terminal domain required for control of DNA synthesis maps to residues 186-212 that are also critical for binding Orc5 of the origin recognition complex. Deletion of this domain is lethal to cells lacking the replication checkpoint mediator Mrc1 and leads to mutations upon exposure to the replication stressor hydroxyurea. This novel Rrm3 function is independent of its established role as an ATPase/helicase in facilitating replication fork progression through polymerase blocking obstacles. Using quantitative mass spectrometry and genetic analyses, we find that the homologous recombination factor Rdh54 and Rad5-dependent error-free DNA damage bypass act as independent mechanisms on DNA lesions that arise when Rrm3 catalytic activity is disrupted whereas these mechanisms are dispensable for DNA damage tolerance when the replication function is disrupted, indicating that the DNA lesions generated by the loss of each Rrm3 function are distinct. Although both lesion types activate the DNA-damage checkpoint, we find that the resultant increase in nucleotide levels is not sufficient for continued DNA synthesis under replication stress. Together, our findings suggest a role of Rrm3, via its Orc5-binding domain, in restricting DNA synthesis that is genetically and physically separable from its established catalytic role in facilitating fork progression through replication blocks.

A Novel Rrm3 Function in Restricting DNA Replication via an Orc5-Binding Domain Is Genetically Separable from Rrm3 Function as an ATPase/Helicase in Facilitating Fork Progression

PubMed Central

Syed, Salahuddin; Desler, Claus; Rasmussen, Lene J.; Schmidt, Kristina H.

2016-01-01

In response to replication stress cells activate the intra-S checkpoint, induce DNA repair pathways, increase nucleotide levels, and inhibit origin firing. Here, we report that Rrm3 associates with a subset of replication origins and controls DNA synthesis during replication stress. The N-terminal domain required for control of DNA synthesis maps to residues 186–212 that are also critical for binding Orc5 of the origin recognition complex. Deletion of this domain is lethal to cells lacking the replication checkpoint mediator Mrc1 and leads to mutations upon exposure to the replication stressor hydroxyurea. This novel Rrm3 function is independent of its established role as an ATPase/helicase in facilitating replication fork progression through polymerase blocking obstacles. Using quantitative mass spectrometry and genetic analyses, we find that the homologous recombination factor Rdh54 and Rad5-dependent error-free DNA damage bypass act as independent mechanisms on DNA lesions that arise when Rrm3 catalytic activity is disrupted whereas these mechanisms are dispensable for DNA damage tolerance when the replication function is disrupted, indicating that the DNA lesions generated by the loss of each Rrm3 function are distinct. Although both lesion types activate the DNA-damage checkpoint, we find that the resultant increase in nucleotide levels is not sufficient for continued DNA synthesis under replication stress. Together, our findings suggest a role of Rrm3, via its Orc5-binding domain, in restricting DNA synthesis that is genetically and physically separable from its established catalytic role in facilitating fork progression through replication blocks. PMID:27923055

Call Admission Control on Single Node Networks under Output Rate-Controlled Generalized Processor Sharing (ORC-GPS) Scheduler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanada, Masaki; Nakazato, Hidenori; Watanabe, Hitoshi

Multimedia applications such as music or video streaming, video teleconferencing and IP telephony are flourishing in packet-switched networks. Applications that generate such real-time data can have very diverse quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. In order to guarantee diverse QoS requirements, the combined use of a packet scheduling algorithm based on Generalized Processor Sharing (GPS) and leaky bucket traffic regulator is the most successful QoS mechanism. GPS can provide a minimum guaranteed service rate for each session and tight delay bounds for leaky bucket constrained sessions. However, the delay bounds for leaky bucket constrained sessions under GPS are unnecessarily large because each session is served according to its associated constant weight until the session buffer is empty. In order to solve this problem, a scheduling policy called Output Rate-Controlled Generalized Processor Sharing (ORC-GPS) was proposed in [17]. ORC-GPS is a rate-based scheduling like GPS, and controls the service rate in order to lower the delay bounds for leaky bucket constrained sessions. In this paper, we propose a call admission control (CAC) algorithm for ORC-GPS, for leaky-bucket constrained sessions with deterministic delay requirements. This CAC algorithm for ORC-GPS determines the optimal values of parameters of ORC-GPS from the deterministic delay requirements of the sessions. In numerical experiments, we compare the CAC algorithm for ORC-GPS with one for GPS in terms of schedulable region and computational complexity.

MCM5: a new actor in the link between DNA replication and Meier-Gorlin syndrome.

PubMed

Vetro, Annalisa; Savasta, Salvatore; Russo Raucci, Annalisa; Cerqua, Cristina; Sartori, Geppo; Limongelli, Ivan; Forlino, Antonella; Maruelli, Silvia; Perucca, Paola; Vergani, Debora; Mazzini, Giuliano; Mattevi, Andrea; Stivala, Lucia Anna; Salviati, Leonardo; Zuffardi, Orsetta

2017-05-01

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGORS) is a rare disorder characterized by primordial dwarfism, microtia, and patellar aplasia/hypoplasia. Recessive mutations in ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, CDC6, and CDC45, encoding members of the pre-replication (pre-RC) and pre-initiation (pre-IC) complexes, and heterozygous mutations in GMNN, a regulator of cell-cycle progression and DNA replication, have already been associated with this condition. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) in a patient with a clinical diagnosis of MGORS and identified biallelic variants in MCM5. This gene encodes a subunit of the replicative helicase complex, which represents a component of the pre-RC. Both variants, a missense substitution within a conserved domain critical for the helicase activity, and a single base deletion causing a frameshift and a premature stop codon, were predicted to be detrimental for the MCM5 function. Although variants of MCM5 have never been reported in specific human diseases, defect of this gene in zebrafish causes a phenotype of growth restriction overlapping the one associated with orc1 depletion. Complementation experiments in yeast showed that the plasmid carrying the missense variant was unable to rescue the lethal phenotype caused by mcm5 deletion. Moreover cell-cycle progression was delayed in patient's cells, as already shown for mutations in the ORC1 gene. Altogether our findings support the role of MCM5 as a novel gene involved in MGORS, further emphasizing that this condition is caused by impaired DNA replication.

Meier-Gorlin syndrome: growth and secondary sexual development of a microcephalic primordial dwarfism disorder.

PubMed

de Munnik, Sonja A; Otten, Barto J; Schoots, Jeroen; Bicknell, Louise S; Aftimos, Salim; Al-Aama, Jumana Y; van Bever, Yolande; Bober, Michael B; Borm, George F; Clayton-Smith, Jill; Deal, Cheri L; Edrees, Alaa Y; Feingold, Murray; Fryer, Alan; van Hagen, Johanna M; Hennekam, Raoul C; Jansweijer, Maaike C E; Johnson, Diana; Kant, Sarina G; Opitz, John M; Ramadevi, A Radha; Reardon, Willie; Ross, Alison; Sarda, Pierre; Schrander-Stumpel, Constance T R M; Sluiter, A Erik; Temple, I Karen; Terhal, Paulien A; Toutain, Annick; Wise, Carol A; Wright, Michael; Skidmore, David L; Samuels, Mark E; Hoefsloot, Lies H; Knoers, Nine V A M; Brunner, Han G; Jackson, Andrew P; Bongers, Ernie M H F

2012-11-01

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by primordial dwarfism, microtia, and patellar aplasia/hypoplasia. Recently, mutations in the ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6 genes, encoding components of the pre-replication complex, have been identified. This complex is essential for DNA replication and therefore mutations are expected to impair cell proliferation and consequently could globally reduce growth. However, detailed growth characteristics of MGS patients have not been reported, and so this is addressed here through study of 45 MGS patients, the largest cohort worldwide. Here, we report that growth velocity (length) is impaired in MGS during pregnancy and first year of life, but, thereafter, height increases in paralleled normal reference centiles, resulting in a mean adult height of -4.5 standard deviations (SD). Height is dependent on ethnic background and underlying molecular cause, with ORC1 and ORC4 mutations causing more severe short stature and microcephaly. Growth hormone therapy (n = 9) was generally ineffective, though in two patients with significantly reduced IGF1 levels, growth was substantially improved by GH treatment, with 2SD and 3.8 SD improvement in height. Growth parameters for monitoring growth in future MGS patients are provided and as well we highlight that growth is disproportionately affected in certain structures, with growth related minor genital abnormalities (42%) and mammary hypoplasia (100%) frequently present, in addition to established effects on ears and patellar growth. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Midblastula Transition Defines the Onset of Y RNA-Dependent DNA Replication in Xenopus laevis ▿

PubMed Central

Collart, Clara; Christov, Christo P.; Smith, James C.; Krude, Torsten

2011-01-01

Noncoding Y RNAs are essential for the initiation of chromosomal DNA replication in mammalian cell extracts, but their role in this process during early vertebrate development is unknown. Here, we use antisense morpholino nucleotides (MOs) to investigate Y RNA function in Xenopus laevis and zebrafish embryos. We show that embryos in which Y RNA function is inhibited by MOs develop normally until the midblastula transition (MBT) but then fail to replicate their DNA and die before gastrulation. Consistent with this observation, Y RNA function is not required for DNA replication in Xenopus egg extracts but is required for replication in a post-MBT cell line. Y RNAs do not bind chromatin in karyomeres before MBT, but they associate with interphase nuclei after MBT in an origin recognition complex (ORC)-dependent manner. Y RNA-specific MOs inhibit the association of Y RNAs with ORC, Cdt1, and HMGA1a proteins, suggesting that these molecular associations are essential for Y RNA function in DNA replication. The MBT is thus a transition point between Y RNA-independent and Y RNA-dependent control of vertebrate DNA replication. Our data suggest that in vertebrates Y RNAs function as a developmentally regulated layer of control over the evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic DNA replication machinery. PMID:21791613

Open-ringed structure of the Cdt1-Mcm2-7 complex as a precursor of the MCM double hexamer.

PubMed

Zhai, Yuanliang; Cheng, Erchao; Wu, Hao; Li, Ningning; Yung, Philip Yuk Kwong; Gao, Ning; Tye, Bik-Kwoon

2017-03-01

The minichromosome maintenance complex (MCM) hexameric complex (Mcm2-7) forms the core of the eukaryotic replicative helicase. During G1 phase, two Cdt1-Mcm2-7 heptamers are loaded onto each replication origin by the origin-recognition complex (ORC) and Cdc6 to form an inactive MCM double hexamer (DH), but the detailed loading mechanism remains unclear. Here we examine the structures of the yeast MCM hexamer and Cdt1-MCM heptamer from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Both complexes form left-handed coil structures with a 10-15-Å gap between Mcm5 and Mcm2, and a central channel that is occluded by the C-terminal domain winged-helix motif of Mcm5. Cdt1 wraps around the N-terminal regions of Mcm2, Mcm6 and Mcm4 to stabilize the whole complex. The intrinsic coiled structures of the precursors provide insights into the DH formation, and suggest a spring-action model for the MCM during the initial origin melting and the subsequent DNA unwinding.

Regulated Eukaryotic DNA Replication Origin Firing with Purified Proteins

PubMed Central

Yeeles, Joseph T.P.; Deegan, Tom D.; Janska, Agnieszka; Early, Anne; Diffley, John F. X.

2016-01-01

Eukaryotic cells initiate DNA replication from multiple origins, which must be tightly regulated to promote precise genome duplication in every cell cycle. To accomplish this, initiation is partitioned into two temporally discrete steps: a double hexameric MCM complex is first loaded at replication origins during G1 phase, and then converted to the active CMG (Cdc45, MCM, GINS) helicase during S phase. Here we describe the reconstitution of budding yeast DNA replication initiation with 16 purified replication factors, made from 42 polypeptides. Origin-dependent initiation recapitulates regulation seen in vivo. Cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) inhibits MCM loading by phosphorylating the origin recognition complex (ORC) and promotes CMG formation by phosphorylating Sld2 and Sld3. Dbf4 dependent kinase (DDK) promotes replication by phosphorylating MCM, and can act either before or after CDK. These experiments define the minimum complement of proteins, protein kinase substrates and co-factors required for regulated eukaryotic DNA replication. PMID:25739503

Regulated eukaryotic DNA replication origin firing with purified proteins.

PubMed

Yeeles, Joseph T P; Deegan, Tom D; Janska, Agnieszka; Early, Anne; Diffley, John F X

2015-03-26

Eukaryotic cells initiate DNA replication from multiple origins, which must be tightly regulated to promote precise genome duplication in every cell cycle. To accomplish this, initiation is partitioned into two temporally discrete steps: a double hexameric minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex is first loaded at replication origins during G1 phase, and then converted to the active CMG (Cdc45-MCM-GINS) helicase during S phase. Here we describe the reconstitution of budding yeast DNA replication initiation with 16 purified replication factors, made from 42 polypeptides. Origin-dependent initiation recapitulates regulation seen in vivo. Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibits MCM loading by phosphorylating the origin recognition complex (ORC) and promotes CMG formation by phosphorylating Sld2 and Sld3. Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) promotes replication by phosphorylating MCM, and can act either before or after CDK. These experiments define the minimum complement of proteins, protein kinase substrates and co-factors required for regulated eukaryotic DNA replication.

Stability, chromatin association and functional activity of mammalian pre-replication complex proteins during the cell cycle

PubMed Central

Okuno, Yukiko; McNairn, Adrian J.; den Elzen, Nicole; Pines, Jonathon; Gilbert, David M.

2001-01-01

We have examined the behavior of pre-replication complex (pre-RC) proteins in relation to key cell cycle transitions in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. ORC1, ORC4 and Cdc6 were stable (T1/2 >2 h) and associated with a chromatin-containing fraction throughout the cell cycle. Green fluorescent protein-tagged ORC1 associated with chromatin throughout mitosis in living cells and co-localized with ORC4 in metaphase spreads. Association of Mcm proteins with chromatin took place during telophase, ∼30 min after the destruction of geminin and cyclins A and B, and was coincident with the licensing of chromatin to replicate in geminin-supplemented Xenopus egg extracts. Neither Mcm recruitment nor licensing required protein synthesis throughout mitosis. Moreover, licensing could be uncoupled from origin specification in geminin-supplemented extracts; site-specific initiation within the dihydrofolate reductase locus required nuclei from cells that had passed through the origin decision point (ODP). These results demonstrate that mammalian pre-RC assembly takes place during telophase, mediated by post-translational modifications of pre-existing proteins, and is not sufficient to select specific origin sites. A subsequent, as yet undefined, step selects which pre-RCs will function as replication origins. PMID:11483529

An ensemble model of competitive multi-factor binding of the genome

PubMed Central

Wasson, Todd; Hartemink, Alexander J.

2009-01-01

Hundreds of different factors adorn the eukaryotic genome, binding to it in large number. These DNA binding factors (DBFs) include nucleosomes, transcription factors (TFs), and other proteins and protein complexes, such as the origin recognition complex (ORC). DBFs compete with one another for binding along the genome, yet many current models of genome binding do not consider different types of DBFs together simultaneously. Additionally, binding is a stochastic process that results in a continuum of binding probabilities at any position along the genome, but many current models tend to consider positions as being either binding sites or not. Here, we present a model that allows a multitude of DBFs, each at different concentrations, to compete with one another for binding sites along the genome. The result is an “occupancy profile,” a probabilistic description of the DNA occupancy of each factor at each position. We implement our model efficiently as the software package COMPETE. We demonstrate genome-wide and at specific loci how modeling nucleosome binding alters TF binding, and vice versa, and illustrate how factor concentration influences binding occupancy. Binding cooperativity between nearby TFs arises implicitly via mutual competition with nucleosomes. Our method applies not only to TFs, but also recapitulates known occupancy profiles of a well-studied replication origin with and without ORC binding. Importantly, the sequence preferences our model takes as input are derived from in vitro experiments. This ensures that the calculated occupancy profiles are the result of the forces of competition represented explicitly in our model and the inherent sequence affinities of the constituent DBFs. PMID:19720867

Development of a Direct Evaporator for the Organic Rankine Cycle

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

Donna Post Guillen; Helge Klockow; Matthew Lehar

2011-02-01

This paper describes research and development currently underway to place the evaporator of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system directly in the path of a hot exhaust stream produced by a gas turbine engine. The main goal of this research effort is to improve cycle efficiency and cost by eliminating the usual secondary heat transfer loop. The project’s technical objective is to eliminate the pumps, heat exchangers and all other added cost and complexity of the secondary loop by developing an evaporator that resides in the waste heat stream, yet virtually eliminates the risk of a working fluid leakage intomore » the gaseous exhaust stream. The research team comprised of Idaho National Laboratory and General Electric Company engineers leverages previous research in advanced ORC technology to develop a new direct evaporator design that will reduce the ORC system cost by up to 15%, enabling the rapid adoption of ORCs for waste heat recovery.« less

Defective replication initiation results in locus specific chromosome breakage and a ribosomal RNA deficiency in yeast

PubMed Central

Sanchez, Joseph C.; Kwan, Elizabeth X.; Raghuraman, M. K.; Brewer, Bonita J.

2017-01-01

A form of dwarfism known as Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is caused by recessive mutations in one of six different genes (ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDC6, CDT1, and MCM5). These genes encode components of the pre-replication complex, which assembles at origins of replication prior to S phase. Also, variants in two additional replication initiation genes have joined the list of causative mutations for MGS (Geminin and CDC45). The identity of the causative MGS genetic variants strongly suggests that some aspect of replication is amiss in MGS patients; however, little evidence has been obtained regarding what aspect of chromosome replication is faulty. Since the site of one of the missense mutations in the human ORC4 alleles is conserved between humans and yeast, we sought to determine in what way this single amino acid change affects the process of chromosome replication, by introducing the comparable mutation into yeast (orc4Y232C). We find that yeast cells with the orc4Y232C allele have a prolonged S-phase, due to compromised replication initiation at the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) locus located on chromosome XII. The inability to initiate replication at the rDNA locus results in chromosome breakage and a severely reduced rDNA copy number in the survivors, presumably helping to ensure complete replication of chromosome XII. Although reducing rDNA copy number may help ensure complete chromosome replication, orc4Y232C cells struggle to meet the high demand for ribosomal RNA synthesis. This finding provides additional evidence linking two essential cellular pathways—DNA replication and ribosome biogenesis. PMID:29036220

Defective replication initiation results in locus specific chromosome breakage and a ribosomal RNA deficiency in yeast.

PubMed

Sanchez, Joseph C; Kwan, Elizabeth X; Pohl, Thomas J; Amemiya, Haley M; Raghuraman, M K; Brewer, Bonita J

2017-10-01

A form of dwarfism known as Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is caused by recessive mutations in one of six different genes (ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDC6, CDT1, and MCM5). These genes encode components of the pre-replication complex, which assembles at origins of replication prior to S phase. Also, variants in two additional replication initiation genes have joined the list of causative mutations for MGS (Geminin and CDC45). The identity of the causative MGS genetic variants strongly suggests that some aspect of replication is amiss in MGS patients; however, little evidence has been obtained regarding what aspect of chromosome replication is faulty. Since the site of one of the missense mutations in the human ORC4 alleles is conserved between humans and yeast, we sought to determine in what way this single amino acid change affects the process of chromosome replication, by introducing the comparable mutation into yeast (orc4Y232C). We find that yeast cells with the orc4Y232C allele have a prolonged S-phase, due to compromised replication initiation at the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) locus located on chromosome XII. The inability to initiate replication at the rDNA locus results in chromosome breakage and a severely reduced rDNA copy number in the survivors, presumably helping to ensure complete replication of chromosome XII. Although reducing rDNA copy number may help ensure complete chromosome replication, orc4Y232C cells struggle to meet the high demand for ribosomal RNA synthesis. This finding provides additional evidence linking two essential cellular pathways-DNA replication and ribosome biogenesis.

Analysis of mammalian proteins involved in chromatin modification reveals new metaphase centromeric proteins and distinct chromosomal distribution patterns.

PubMed

Craig, Jeffrey M; Earle, Elizabeth; Canham, Paul; Wong, Lee H; Anderson, Melissa; Choo, K H Andy

2003-12-01

We have examined the metaphase chromosomal localization of 15 proteins that have previously been described as involved in mammalian chromatin modification and/or transcriptional modulation. Immunofluorescence data indicate that all the proteins localize to human and mouse centromeres, a neocentromere, and the active centromere of a dicentric chromosome, with six of these proteins (Sin3A, PCAF, MYST, MBD2, ORC2, P300/CBP) being demonstrated at mammalian centromeres for the first time. Most of these proteins fall into two distinct chromosomal distribution patterns: (a) kinetochore-associated proteins (Sin3A, PCAF, MYST and BAF180), which colocalize with metaphase kinetochores, but not any of the pericentric and other major heterochromatic regions; and (b) heterochromatin-associated proteins (MeCP2, MBD1, MBD2, ATRX, HP1alpha, HDAC1, HDAC2, DNMT1 and DNMT3b), which colocalize with centromeric/pericentric heterochromatin and all other major heterochromatic sites. A heterogeneous third group (c) consists of the origin recognition complex subunit ORC2 and the histone acetyltransferase P300/CBP, which associate generally with kinetochores in humans and centromeric/pericentric heterochromatin in mouse, with some minor differences in localization. These observations indicate an extensive sharing of protein components involved in chromatin modification at gene loci, centromeres and various chromosomal heterochromatic landmarks. The definition of distinct patterns of chromosomal distribution for these proteins provides a useful basis for the further investigation of the broad-ranging roles of these proteins.

Simple method to verify OPC data based on exposure condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, James; Ahn, Young-Bae; Oh, Sey-Young; Nam, Byung-Ho; Yim, Dong Gyu

2006-03-01

In a world where Sub100nm lithography tool is an everyday household item for device makers, shrinkage of the device is at a rate that no one ever have imagined. With the shrinkage of device at such a high rate, demand placed on Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) is like never before. To meet this demand with respect to shrinkage rate of the device, more aggressive OPC tactic is involved. Aggressive OPC tactics is a must for sub 100nm lithography tech but this tactic eventually results in greater room for OPC error and complexity of the OPC data. Until now, Optical Rule Check (ORC) or Design Rule Check (DRC) was used to verify this complex OPC error. But each of these methods has its pros and cons. ORC verification of OPC data is rather accurate "process" wise but inspection of full chip device requires a lot of money (Computer , software,..) and patience (run time). DRC however has no such disadvantage, but accuracy of the verification is a total downfall "process" wise. In this study, we were able to create a new method for OPC data verification that combines the best of both ORC and DRC verification method. We created a method that inspects the biasing of the OPC data with respect to the illumination condition of the process that's involved. This new method for verification was applied to 80nm tech ISOLATION and GATE layer of the 512M DRAM device and showed accuracy equivalent to ORC inspection with run time that of DRC verification.

Epigenetically-inherited centromere and neocentromere DNA replicates earliest in S-phase.

PubMed

Koren, Amnon; Tsai, Hung-Ji; Tirosh, Itay; Burrack, Laura S; Barkai, Naama; Berman, Judith

2010-08-19

Eukaryotic centromeres are maintained at specific chromosomal sites over many generations. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, centromeres are genetic elements defined by a DNA sequence that is both necessary and sufficient for function; whereas, in most other eukaryotes, centromeres are maintained by poorly characterized epigenetic mechanisms in which DNA has a less definitive role. Here we use the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans as a model organism to study the DNA replication properties of centromeric DNA. By determining the genome-wide replication timing program of the C. albicans genome, we discovered that each centromere is associated with a replication origin that is the first to fire on its respective chromosome. Importantly, epigenetic formation of new ectopic centromeres (neocentromeres) was accompanied by shifts in replication timing, such that a neocentromere became the first to replicate and became associated with origin recognition complex (ORC) components. Furthermore, changing the level of the centromere-specific histone H3 isoform led to a concomitant change in levels of ORC association with centromere regions, further supporting the idea that centromere proteins determine origin activity. Finally, analysis of centromere-associated DNA revealed a replication-dependent sequence pattern characteristic of constitutively active replication origins. This strand-biased pattern is conserved, together with centromere position, among related strains and species, in a manner independent of primary DNA sequence. Thus, inheritance of centromere position is correlated with a constitutively active origin of replication that fires at a distinct early time. We suggest a model in which the distinct timing of DNA replication serves as an epigenetic mechanism for the inheritance of centromere position.

A bench-scale assessment for phosphorus release control of sediment by an oxygen-releasing compound (ORC).

PubMed

Yang, Jie; Lin, Feng K; Yang, Lei; Hua, Dan Y

2015-01-01

The effects of oxygen-releasing compound (ORC) on the control of phosphorus (P) release as well as the spatial and temporal distribution of P fractions in sediment were studied through a bench-scale test. An ORC with an extended oxygen-releasing capacity was prepared. The results of the oxygen-releasing test showed that the ORC provided a prolonged period of oxygen release with a highly effective oxygen content of 60.6% when compared with powdery CaO2. In the bench-scale test, an ORC dose of 180 g·m(-2) provided a higher inhibition efficiency for P release within 50 days. With the application of the ORC, the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and redox potential (ORP) of the overlying water were notably improved, and the dissolved total phosphorus (DTP) was maintained below 0.689 mg·L(-1) compared to 2.906 mg·L(-1) without the ORC treatment. According to the P fractions distribution, the summation of all detectable P fractions in each sediment layer exhibited an enhanced accumulation tendency with the application of ORC. Higher phosphorus retention efficiencies were observed in the second and third layers of sediment from days 10 to 20 with the ORC. Phosphorus was trapped mainly in the form of iron bound P (Fe-P) and organically bound P (O-P) in sediment with the ORC, whereas the effects of the ORC on exchangeable P (EX-P), apatite-associated P (A-P) and detrital P (De-P) in the sediment sample were not significant. The microbial activities of the sediment samples demonstrated that both the dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) in the upper sediment layer increased with the ORC treatment, which indicated that the mineralization of P was accelerated and the microbial biomass was increased. As the accumulation of P suppressed the release of P, the sediment exhibited an increased P retention efficiency with the application of the ORC.

Meier-Gorlin syndrome.

PubMed

de Munnik, Sonja A; Hoefsloot, Elisabeth H; Roukema, Jolt; Schoots, Jeroen; Knoers, Nine V A M; Brunner, Han G; Jackson, Andrew P; Bongers, Ernie M H F

2015-09-17

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a rare autosomal recessive primordial dwarfism disorder, characterized by microtia, patellar applasia/hypoplasia, and a proportionate short stature. Associated clinical features encompass feeding problems, congenital pulmonary emphysema, mammary hypoplasia in females and urogenital anomalies, such as cryptorchidism and hypoplastic labia minora and majora. Typical facial characteristics during childhood comprise a small mouth with full lips and micro-retrognathia. During ageing, a narrow, convex nose becomes more prominent. The diagnosis MGS should be considered in patients with at least two of the three features of the clinical triad of microtia, patellar anomalies, and pre- and postnatal growth retardation. In patients with short stature and/or microtia, the patellae should be assessed with care by ultrasonography before age 6 or radiography thereafter. Mutations in one of five genes (ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6) of the pre-replication complex, involved in DNA-replication, are detected in approximately 67-78% of patients with MGS. Patients with ORC1 and ORC4 mutations appear to have the most severe short stature and microcephaly. Management should be directed towards in-depth investigation, treatment and prevention of associated problems, such as growth retardation, feeding problems, hearing loss, luxating patellae, knee pain, gonarthrosis, and possible pulmonary complications due to congenital pulmonary emphysema with or without broncho- or laryngomalacia. Growth hormone treatment is ineffective in most patients with MGS, but may be effective in patients in whom growth continues to decrease after the first year of life (usually growth velocity normalizes after the first year) and with low levels of IGF1. At present, few data is available about reproduction of females with MGS, but the risk of premature labor might be increased. Here, we propose experience-based guidelines for the regular care and treatment of MGS patients.

A systematic review of instruments to assess organizational readiness for knowledge translation in health care.

PubMed

Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Attieh, Randa; Ghandour, El Kebir; Légaré, France; Ouimet, Mathieu; Estabrooks, Carole A; Grimshaw, Jeremy

2014-01-01

The translation of research into practices has been incomplete. Organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a potential facilitator of effective knowledge translation (KT). However we know little about the best way to assess ORC. Therefore, we sought to systematically review ORC measurement instruments. We searched for published studies in bibliographic databases (Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Web of Science, etc.) up to November 1st, 2012. We included publications that developed ORC measures and/or empirically assessed ORC using an instrument at the organizational level in the health care context. We excluded articles if they did not refer specifically to ORC, did not concern the health care domain or were limited to individual-level change readiness. We focused on identifying the psychometric properties of instruments that were developed to assess readiness in an organization prior to implementing KT interventions in health care. We used the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing to assess the psychometric properties of identified ORC measurement instruments. We found 26 eligible instruments described in 39 publications. According to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, 18 (69%) of a total of 26 measurement instruments presented both validity and reliability criteria. The Texas Christian University -ORC (TCU-ORC) scale reported the highest instrument validity with a score of 4 out of 4. Only one instrument, namely the Modified Texas Christian University - Director version (TCU-ORC-D), reported a reliability score of 2 out of 3. No information was provided regarding the reliability and validity of five (19%) instruments. Our findings indicate that there are few valid and reliable ORC measurement instruments that could be applied to KT in the health care sector. The TCU-ORC instrument presents the best evidence in terms of validity testing. Future studies using this instrument could provide more knowledge on its relevance to diverse clinical contexts.

A Systematic Review of Instruments to Assess Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Translation in Health Care

PubMed Central

Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Attieh, Randa; Ghandour, El Kebir; Légaré, France; Ouimet, Mathieu; Estabrooks, Carole A.; Grimshaw, Jeremy

2014-01-01

Background The translation of research into practices has been incomplete. Organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a potential facilitator of effective knowledge translation (KT). However we know little about the best way to assess ORC. Therefore, we sought to systematically review ORC measurement instruments. Methods We searched for published studies in bibliographic databases (Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Web of Science, etc.) up to November 1st, 2012. We included publications that developed ORC measures and/or empirically assessed ORC using an instrument at the organizational level in the health care context. We excluded articles if they did not refer specifically to ORC, did not concern the health care domain or were limited to individual-level change readiness. We focused on identifying the psychometric properties of instruments that were developed to assess readiness in an organization prior to implementing KT interventions in health care. We used the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing to assess the psychometric properties of identified ORC measurement instruments. Findings We found 26 eligible instruments described in 39 publications. According to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, 18 (69%) of a total of 26 measurement instruments presented both validity and reliability criteria. The Texas Christian University –ORC (TCU-ORC) scale reported the highest instrument validity with a score of 4 out of 4. Only one instrument, namely the Modified Texas Christian University – Director version (TCU-ORC-D), reported a reliability score of 2 out of 3. No information was provided regarding the reliability and validity of five (19%) instruments. Conclusion Our findings indicate that there are few valid and reliable ORC measurement instruments that could be applied to KT in the health care sector. The TCU-ORC instrument presents the best evidence in terms of validity testing. Future studies using this instrument could provide more knowledge on its relevance to diverse clinical contexts. PMID:25474622

Route Optimization for Offloading Congested Meter Fixes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xue, Min; Zelinski, Shannon

2016-01-01

The Optimized Route Capability (ORC) concept proposed by the FAA facilitates traffic managers to identify and resolve arrival flight delays caused by bottlenecks formed at arrival meter fixes when there exists imbalance between arrival fixes and runways. ORC makes use of the prediction capability of existing automation tools, monitors the traffic delays based on these predictions, and searches the best reroutes upstream of the meter fixes based on the predictions and estimated arrival schedules when delays are over a predefined threshold. Initial implementation and evaluation of the ORC concept considered only reroutes available at the time arrival congestion was first predicted. This work extends previous work by introducing an additional dimension in reroute options such that ORC can find the best time to reroute and overcome the 'firstcome- first-reroute' phenomenon. To deal with the enlarged reroute solution space, a genetic algorithm was developed to solve this problem. Experiments were conducted using the same traffic scenario used in previous work, when an arrival rush was created for one of the four arrival meter fixes at George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport. Results showed the new approach further improved delay savings. The suggested route changes from the new approach were on average 30 minutes later than those using other approaches, and fewer numbers of reroutes were required. Fewer numbers of reroutes reduce operational complexity and later reroutes help decision makers deal with uncertain situations.

Mutations in CDC45, Encoding an Essential Component of the Pre-initiation Complex, Cause Meier-Gorlin Syndrome and Craniosynostosis.

PubMed

Fenwick, Aimee L; Kliszczak, Maciej; Cooper, Fay; Murray, Jennie; Sanchez-Pulido, Luis; Twigg, Stephen R F; Goriely, Anne; McGowan, Simon J; Miller, Kerry A; Taylor, Indira B; Logan, Clare; Bozdogan, Sevcan; Danda, Sumita; Dixon, Joanne; Elsayed, Solaf M; Elsobky, Ezzat; Gardham, Alice; Hoffer, Mariette J V; Koopmans, Marije; McDonald-McGinn, Donna M; Santen, Gijs W E; Savarirayan, Ravi; de Silva, Deepthi; Vanakker, Olivier; Wall, Steven A; Wilson, Louise C; Yuregir, Ozge Ozalp; Zackai, Elaine H; Ponting, Chris P; Jackson, Andrew P; Wilkie, Andrew O M; Niedzwiedz, Wojciech; Bicknell, Louise S

2016-07-07

DNA replication precisely duplicates the genome to ensure stable inheritance of genetic information. Impaired licensing of origins of replication during the G1 phase of the cell cycle has been implicated in Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS), a disorder defined by the triad of short stature, microtia, and a/hypoplastic patellae. Biallelic partial loss-of-function mutations in multiple components of the pre-replication complex (preRC; ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, or CDC6) as well as de novo stabilizing mutations in the licensing inhibitor, GMNN, cause MGS. Here we report the identification of mutations in CDC45 in 15 affected individuals from 12 families with MGS and/or craniosynostosis. CDC45 encodes a component of both the pre-initiation (preIC) and CMG helicase complexes, required for initiation of DNA replication origin firing and ongoing DNA synthesis during S-phase itself, respectively, and hence is functionally distinct from previously identified MGS-associated genes. The phenotypes of affected individuals range from syndromic coronal craniosynostosis to severe growth restriction, fulfilling diagnostic criteria for Meier-Gorlin syndrome. All mutations identified were biallelic and included synonymous mutations altering splicing of physiological CDC45 transcripts, as well as amino acid substitutions expected to result in partial loss of function. Functionally, mutations reduce levels of full-length transcripts and protein in subject cells, consistent with partial loss of CDC45 function and a predicted limited rate of DNA replication and cell proliferation. Our findings therefore implicate the preIC as an additional protein complex involved in the etiology of MGS and connect the core cellular machinery of genome replication with growth, chondrogenesis, and cranial suture homeostasis. Copyright © 2016 American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ambiguity in the processing of Mandarin Chinese relative clauses: One factor cannot explain it all

PubMed Central

Mansbridge, Michael P.; Tamaoka, Katsuo; Xiong, Kexin; Verdonschot, Rinus G.

2017-01-01

This study addresses the question of whether native Mandarin Chinese speakers process and comprehend subject-extracted relative clauses (SRC) more readily than object-extracted relative clauses (ORC) in Mandarin Chinese. Presently, this has been a hotly debated issue, with various studies producing contrasting results. Using two eye-tracking experiments with ambiguous and unambiguous RCs, this study shows that both ORCs and SRCs have different processing requirements depending on the locus and time course during reading. The results reveal that ORC reading was possibly facilitated by linear/temporal integration and canonicity. On the other hand, similarity-based interference made ORCs more difficult, and expectation-based processing was more prominent for unambiguous ORCs. Overall, RC processing in Mandarin should not be broken down to a single ORC (dis)advantage, but understood as multiple interdependent factors influencing whether ORCs are either more difficult or easier to parse depending on the task and context at hand. PMID:28594939

Organic Rankine Cycle for Residual Heat to Power Conversion in Natural Gas Compressor Station. Part I: Modelling and Optimisation Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaczykowski, Maciej

2016-06-01

Basic organic Rankine cycle (ORC), and two variants of regenerative ORC have been considered for the recovery of exhaust heat from natural gas compressor station. The modelling framework for ORC systems has been presented and the optimisation of the systems was carried out with turbine power output as the variable to be maximized. The determination of ORC system design parameters was accomplished by means of the genetic algorithm. The study was aimed at estimating the thermodynamic potential of different ORC configurations with several working fluids employed. The first part of this paper describes the ORC equipment models which are employed to build a NLP formulation to tackle design problems representative for waste energy recovery on gas turbines driving natural gas pipeline compressors.

Replication landscape of the human genome

PubMed Central

Petryk, Nataliya; Kahli, Malik; d'Aubenton-Carafa, Yves; Jaszczyszyn, Yan; Shen, Yimin; Silvain, Maud; Thermes, Claude; Chen, Chun-Long; Hyrien, Olivier

2016-01-01

Despite intense investigation, human replication origins and termini remain elusive. Existing data have shown strong discrepancies. Here we sequenced highly purified Okazaki fragments from two cell types and, for the first time, quantitated replication fork directionality and delineated initiation and termination zones genome-wide. Replication initiates stochastically, primarily within non-transcribed, broad (up to 150 kb) zones that often abut transcribed genes, and terminates dispersively between them. Replication fork progression is significantly co-oriented with the transcription. Initiation and termination zones are frequently contiguous, sometimes separated by regions of unidirectional replication. Initiation zones are enriched in open chromatin and enhancer marks, even when not flanked by genes, and often border ‘topologically associating domains' (TADs). Initiation zones are enriched in origin recognition complex (ORC)-binding sites and better align to origins previously mapped using bubble-trap than λ-exonuclease. This novel panorama of replication reveals how chromatin and transcription modulate the initiation process to create cell-type-specific replication programs. PMID:26751768

Synthesized prevention and control of one decade for mother-to-child transmission of syphilis and determinants associated with congenital syphilis and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Shenzhen, South China.

PubMed

Qin, J-B; Feng, T-J; Yang, T-B; Hong, F-C; Lan, L-N; Zhang, C-L; Liu, X-L; Yang, Y-Z; Xiao, S-Y; Tan, H-Z

2014-12-01

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effectiveness of an intervention program on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of syphilis and investigate determinants of congenital syphilis (CS) and adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). The Shenzhen local government initiated an intervention program of MTCT of syphilis in 2001. Based on this program, maternal and paternal factors associated with CS and APOs among syphilitic women were investigated from 2007 to 2012 by a prospective cohort study. From 2002 to 2012, 2,441,237 pregnant women were screened and screening coverage reached 97.2 % in 2012. In the background of continuing growth of CS in China, CS in Shenzhen significantly decreased from 109.3 cases in 2002 to 9.9 cases in 2012 per 100,000 live births. Maternal education (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]CS = 0.65; aORAPOs = 0.79) and history of syphilis (aORCS = 0.28; aORAPOs = 0.61), as well as paternal age (aORCS = 0.62; aORAPOs = 0.86) and education (aORCS = 0.66; aORAPOs = 0.86) were negatively associated with CS and APOs, but maternal unmarried status (aORCS = 1.95; aORAPOs = 2.61), inadequate antenatal care (ANC) (aORCS = 3.61; aORAPOs = 1.79), more sexual partners (aORCS = 1.51; aORAPOs = 1.39), every week of delay in treatment (aORCS = 2.82; aORAPOs = 1.27), higher baseline titers of nontreponemal antibodies (aORCS = 5.65; aORAPOs = 1.47), early syphilis (aORCS = 23.24; aORAPOs = 26.95), and non-penicillin treatment (aORCS = 3.00; aORAPOs = 2.16), as well as paternal history of cocaine use (aORCS = 2.70; aORAPOs = 2.44) and positive (aORCS = 4.14; aORAPOs = 1.50) or unknown (aORCS = 2.37; aORAPOs = 2.06) status of syphilis increased the risk of CS and APOs. Condom use (aOR = 0.70) decreased MTCT of syphilis. A ten-year program consisting of screening and treatment, early ANC, health education, partners tracking, detection, and treatment, follow-up visits, and information management is an effective means to block MTCT of syphilis. Maternal and paternal factors constituted two separate profiles associated with MTCT of syphilis.

Synthesis and structural characterization of group 4 metal carboxylates for nanowire production.

PubMed

Boyle, Timothy J; Yonemoto, Daniel T; Doan, Thu Q; Alam, Todd M

2014-12-01

The synthesis and characterization of a series of group 4 carboxylate derivatives ([M(ORc)4] where M = Ti, Zr, Hf) was undertaken for potential utility as precursors to ceramic nanowires. The attempted syntheses of the [M(ORc)4] precursors were undertaken from the reaction of [M(OBu(t))4] with a select set of carboxylic acids (H-ORc where ORc = OPc (O2CCH(CH3)2), OBc (O2CC(CH3)3), ONc (O2CCH2C(CH3)3)). The products were identified by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies as [Ti(η(2)-OBc)3(OBu(t))] (1), [Zr2(μ3-O)(μ-OPc)4(μ,η(2)-OPc)(η(2)-OPc)]2 (2), [H]2[Zr(η(2)-OBc)2(OBc)2(OBc)2] (3), [Zr(μ-ONc)2(η(2)-ONc)2]2 (4), or [Hf(μ-ORc)2(η(2)-ORc)2]2 [ORc = OPc (5), OBc (6, shown), ONc (7)]. The majority of compounds (4-7) were isolated as dinuclear species with a dodecahedral-like (CN-8) bonding mode around the metals due to chelation and bridging of the ORc ligand. The two monomers (1 and 3) were found to adopt a capped trigonal prismatic and CN-8 geometry, respectively, due to chelating ORc and terminal ORc or OBu(t) ligands. The metals of the oxo-species 2 were isolated in octahedral and CN-8 arrangements. These compounds were then processed by electrospinning methods (applied voltage 10 kV, flow rate 30-60 μL/min, electric field 0.5 kV/cm), and wire-like morphologies were isolated using compounds 4, 6 (shown), and 7.

Dynamic interaction of Y RNAs with chromatin and initiation proteins during human DNA replication

PubMed Central

Zhang, Alice Tianbu; Langley, Alexander R.; Christov, Christo P.; Kheir, Eyemen; Shafee, Thomas; Gardiner, Timothy J.; Krude, Torsten

2011-01-01

Non-coding Y RNAs are required for the initiation of chromosomal DNA replication in mammalian cells. It is unknown how they perform this function or if they associate with a nuclear structure during DNA replication. Here, we investigate the association of Y RNAs with chromatin and their interaction with replication proteins during DNA replication in a human cell-free system. Our results show that fluorescently labelled Y RNAs associate with unreplicated euchromatin in late G1 phase cell nuclei before the initiation of DNA replication. Following initiation, Y RNAs are displaced locally from nascent and replicated DNA present in replication foci. In intact human cells, a substantial fraction of endogenous Y RNAs are associated with G1 phase nuclei, but not with G2 phase nuclei. Y RNAs interact and colocalise with the origin recognition complex (ORC), the pre-replication complex (pre-RC) protein Cdt1, and other proteins implicated in the initiation of DNA replication. These data support a molecular ‘catch and release’ mechanism for Y RNA function during the initiation of chromosomal DNA replication, which is consistent with Y RNAs acting as replication licensing factors. PMID:21610089

Open chromatin structures regulate the efficiencies of pre-RC formation and replication initiation in Epstein-Barr virus

PubMed Central

Papior, Peer; Arteaga-Salas, José M.; Günther, Thomas; Grundhoff, Adam

2012-01-01

Whether or not metazoan replication initiates at random or specific but flexible sites is an unsolved question. The lack of sequence specificity in origin recognition complex (ORC) DNA binding complicates genome-scale chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-based studies. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists as chromatinized minichromosomes that are replicated by the host replication machinery. We used EBV to investigate the link between zones of pre-replication complex (pre-RC) assembly, replication initiation, and micrococcal nuclease (MNase) sensitivity at different cell cycle stages in a genome-wide fashion. The dyad symmetry element (DS) of EBV’s latent origin, a well-established and very efficient pre-RC assembly region, served as an internal control. We identified 64 pre-RC zones that correlate spatially with 57 short nascent strand (SNS) zones. MNase experiments revealed that pre-RC and SNS zones were linked to regions of increased MNase sensitivity, which is a marker of origin strength. Interestingly, although spatially correlated, pre-RC and SNS zones were characterized by different features. We propose that pre-RCs are formed at flexible but distinct sites, from which only a few are activated per single genome and cell cycle. PMID:22891264

Magnetic resonance imaging appearance of oxidized regenerated cellulose in breast cancer surgery.

PubMed

Giuliani, Michela; Rella, Rossella; Fubelli, Rita; Patrolecco, Federica; Di Giovanni, Silvia Eleonora; Buccheri, Chiara; Padovano, Federico; Belli, Paolo; Romani, Maurizio; Rinaldi, Pierluigi; Bufi, Enida; Franceschini, Gianluca; Bonomo, Lorenzo

2016-09-01

To describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery followed by oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) implantation in surgical cavity. We retrospectively reviewed 51 MRI examinations performed between January 2009 and January 2014 in 51 patients who underwent BCS with ORC implantation. In 29/51 (57 %) cases, MRIs showed abnormal findings with three main MRI patterns: (1) complex masses: hyperintense collections on T2-weighted (w) images with internal round hypointense nodules without contrast enhancement (55 %); (2) completely hyperintense collections (17 %); and (3) completely hypointense lesions (28 %). All lesions showed rim enhancement on T1w images obtained in the late phase of the dynamic study with a type 1 curve. Diffusion-weighted imaging was negative in all MRIs and, in particular, 22/29 (76 %) lesions were hyperintense but showing ADC values >1.4 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s, while the remaining 7/29 (24 %) lesions were hypointense. In four cases, linear non-mass-like enhancement was detected at the periphery of surgical cavity; these patients were addressed to a short-term follow-up, and the subsequent examinations showed the resolution of these findings. When applied to surgical residual cavity, ORC can lead alterations in surgical scar. This could induce radiologists to misinterpret ultrasonographic and mammographic findings, addressing patients to MRI or biopsy; so knowledge of MRI specific features of ORC, it is essential to avoid misdiagnosis of recurrence.

Comparative analysis of outcomes and costs following open radical cystectomy versus robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy: results from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

PubMed

Yu, Hua-yin; Hevelone, Nathanael D; Lipsitz, Stuart R; Kowalczyk, Keith J; Nguyen, Paul L; Choueiri, Toni K; Kibel, Adam S; Hu, Jim C

2012-06-01

Although robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RARC) was first reported in 2003 and has gained popularity, comparisons with open radical cystectomy (ORC) are limited to reports from high-volume referral centers. To compare population-based perioperative outcomes and costs of ORC and RARC. A retrospective observational cohort study using the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample to characterize 2009 RARC compared with ORC use and outcomes. Propensity score methods were used to compare inpatient morbidity and mortality, lengths of stay, and costs. We identified 1444 ORCs and 224 RARCs. Women were less likely to undergo RARC than ORC (9.8% compared with 15.5%, p = 0.048), and 95.7% of RARCs and 73.9% of ORCs were performed at teaching hospitals (p<0.001). In adjusted analyses, subjects undergoing RARC compared with ORC experienced fewer inpatient complications (49.1% and 63.8%, p = 0.035) and fewer deaths (0% and 2.5%, p<0.001). RARC compared with ORC was associated with lower parenteral nutrition use (6.4% and 13.3%, p = 0.046); however, there was no difference in length of stay. RARC compared with ORC was $3797 more costly (p = 0.023). Limitations include retrospective design, absence of tumor characteristics, and lack of outcomes beyond hospital discharge. RARC is associated with lower parenteral nutrition use and fewer inpatient complications and deaths. However, lengths of stay are similar, and the robotic approach is significantly more costly. Copyright © 2012 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prevalence and healthcare costs of obesity-related comorbidities: evidence from an electronic medical records system in the United States.

PubMed

Li, Qian; Blume, Steven W; Huang, Joanna C; Hammer, Mette; Ganz, Michael L

2015-01-01

This study estimated the economic burden of obesity-related comorbidities (ORCs) in the US, at both the person and population levels. The Geisinger Health System provided electronic medical records and claims between January 2004 and May 2013 for a sample of 153,561 adults (50% males and 97% white). Adults with < 2 years of data, who were underweight (body mass index (BMI) < 18.5 kg/m(2)), or had diseases causing major weight change (e.g., malignancy) during the study period (i.e., continuous enrollment in health plans) were excluded. A total of 21 chronic conditions, with established association with obesity in the literature, were identified by diagnosis codes and/or lab test results. The total healthcare costs were measured in each year. The association between annual costs and ORCs was assessed by a regression, which jointly considered all the ORCs. The per-person incremental costs of a single comorbidity, without any of the other ORCs, were calculated. The population-level economic burden was the product of each ORC's incremental costs and the annual prevalence of the ORC among 100,000 individuals. The prevalence of ORCs was stratified by obesity status to estimate the economic burden among 100,000 individuals with obesity and among those without. This study identified 56,895 adults (mean age = 47 years; mean BMI = 29.6 kg/m(2)). The annual prevalence of ORCs ranged from 0.5% for pulmonary embolism (PE) to 41.8% for dyslipidemia. The per-person annual incremental costs of a single ORC ranged from $120 for angina to $1665 for PE. Hypertensive diseases (HTND), dyslipidemia, and osteoarthritis were the three most expensive ORCs at the population level; each responsible for ≥$18 million annually among 100,000 individuals. HTND and osteoarthritis were much more costly among individuals with obesity than those without obesity. Data were from a small geographic region. ORCs are associated with substantial economic burden, especially for those requiring continuous treatments.

Comparative 4-E analysis of a bottoming pure NH3 and NH3-H2O mixture based power cycle for condenser waste heat recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khankari, Goutam; Karmakar, Sujit

2017-06-01

This paper proposes a comparative performance analysis based on 4-E (Energy, Exergy, Environment, and Economic) of a bottoming pure Ammonia (NH3) based Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and Ammonia-water (NH3-H2O) based Kalina Cycle System 11(KCS 11) for additional power generation through condenser waste heat recovery integrated with a conventional 500MWe Subcritical coal-fired thermal power plant. A typical high-ash Indian coal is used for the analysis. The flow-sheet computer programme `Cycle Tempo' is used to simulate both the cycles for thermodynamic performance analysis at different plant operating conditions. Thermodynamic analysis is done by varying different NH3 mass fraction in KCS11 and at different turbine inlet pressure in both ORC and KCS11. Results show that the optimum operating pressure of ORC and KCS11 with NH3 mass fraction of 0.90 are about 15 bar and 11.70 bar, respectively and more than 14 bar of operating pressure, the plant performance of ORC integrated power plant is higher than the KCS11 integrated power plant and the result is observed reverse below this pressure. The energy and exergy efficiencies of ORC cycle are higher than the KCS11 by about 0.903 % point and 16.605 % points, respectively under similar saturation vapour temperature at turbine inlet for both the cycles. Similarly, plant energy and exergy efficiencies of ORC based combined cycle power plant are increased by 0.460 % point and 0.420 % point, respectively over KCS11 based combined cycle power plant. Moreover, the reduction of CO2 emission in ORC based combined cycle is about 3.23 t/hr which is about 1.5 times higher than the KCS11 based combined cycle power plant. Exergy destruction of the evaporator in ORC decreases with increase in operating pressure due to decrease in temperature difference of heat exchanging fluids. Exergy destruction rate in the evaporator of ORC is higher than KCS11 when the operating pressure of ORC reduces below 14 bar. This happens due to variable boiling temperature of NH3-H2O binary mixture in KCS11 and resulting in less irreversibility during the process of heat transfer. Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCoE) generation and the cost of implementation of ORC integrated power plant is about Rs.1.767/- per kWh and Rs. 2.187/- per kg of fuel saved, respectively whereas, the LCoE for KCS11 based combined power plant is slightly less than the ORC based combined cycle power plant and estimated as about Rs.1.734 /- per kWh. The cost of implementation of KCS11 based combined cycle power plant is about Rs. 0.332/- per kg of fuel saved. Though the energy and exergy efficiencies of ORC is better than KCS11 but considering the huge investment for developing the combined cycle power plant based on ORC in comparison with KCS11 below the operating pressure of 14 bar, KCS11 is superior than NH3 based ORC.

Variation in hospital resource use and cost among surgical procedures using topical absorbable hemostats

PubMed Central

Martyn, Derek; Meckley, Lisa M; Miyasato, Gavin; Lim, Sangtaeck; Riebman, Jerome B; Kocharian, Richard; Scaife, Jillian G; Rao, Yajing; Corral, Mitra

2015-01-01

Background Adjunctive hemostats are used to assist with the control of intraoperative bleeding. The most common types are flowables, gelatins, thrombins, and oxidized regenerated celluloses (ORCs). In the US, Surgicel® products are the only US Food and Drug Administration-approved ORCs. Objective To compare the outcomes of health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs associated with using ORCs compared to other adjunctive hemostats (OAHs are defined as flowables, gelatins, and topical thrombins) for surgical procedures in the US inpatient setting. Patients and methods A retrospective, US-based cohort study was conducted using hospital inpatient discharges from the 2011–2012 calendar years in the Premier Healthcare Database. Patients with either an ORC or an OAH who underwent a cardiovascular procedure (valve surgery and/or coronary artery bypass graft surgery), carotid endarterectomy, cholecystectomy, or hysterectomy were included. Propensity score matching was used to create comparable groups of ORC and OAH patients. Clinical, economic, and HRU outcomes were compared. Results The propensity score matching created balanced patient cohorts for cardiovascular procedure (22,718 patients), carotid endarterectomy (10,890 patients), cholecystectomy (6,090 patients), and hysterectomy (9,348 patients). In all procedures, hemostatic agent costs were 28%–56% lower for ORCs, and mean hemostat units per discharge were 16%–41% lower for ORCs compared to OAHs. Length of stay and total procedure costs for patients treated with ORCs were lower for carotid endarterectomy patients (0.3 days and US$700) and for cholecystectomy patients (1 day and US$3,350) (all P<0.001). Conclusion Costs and HRU for patients treated with ORCs were lower than or similar to patients treated with OAHs. Proper selection of the appropriate hemostatic agents has the potential to influence clinical outcomes and treatment costs. PMID:26604807

Heat recovery system series arrangements

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

Kauffman, Justin P.; Welch, Andrew M.; Dawson, Gregory R.

The present disclosure is directed to heat recovery systems that employ two or more organic Rankine cycle (ORC) units disposed in series. According to certain embodiments, each ORC unit includes an evaporator that heats an organic working fluid, a turbine generator set that expands the working fluid to generate electricity, a condenser that cools the working fluid, and a pump that returns the working fluid to the evaporator. The heating fluid is directed through each evaporator to heat the working fluid circulating within each ORC unit, and the cooling fluid is directed through each condenser to cool the working fluidmore » circulating within each ORC unit. The heating fluid and the cooling fluid flow through the ORC units in series in the same or opposite directions.« less

Target scattering characteristics for OAM-based radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Kang; Gao, Yue; Li, Xiang; Cheng, Yongqiang

2018-02-01

The target scattering characteristics are crucial for radar systems. However, there is very little study conducted for the recently developed orbital angular momentum (OAM) based radar system. To illustrate the role of OAM-based radar cross section (ORCS), conventional radar equation is modified by taking characteristics of the OAM waves into account. Subsequently, the ORCS is defined in analogy to classical radar cross section (RCS). The unique features of the incident OAM-carrying field are analyzed. The scattered field is derived, and the analytical expressions of ORCSs for metal plate and cylinder targets are obtained. Furthermore, the ORCS and RCS are compared to illustrate the influences of OAM mode number, target size and signal frequency on the ORCS. Analytical studies demonstrate that the mirror-reflection phenomenon disappears and peak values of ORCS are in the non-specular direction. Finally, the ORCS features are summarized to show its advantages in radar target detection. This work can provide theoretical guidance to the design of OAM-based radar as well as the target detection and identification applications.

Organizational factors associated with readiness to implement and translate a primary care based telemedicine behavioral program to improve blood pressure control: the HTN-IMPROVE study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Hypertension is prevalent and often sub-optimally controlled; however, interventions to improve blood pressure control have had limited success. Objectives Through implementation of an evidence-based nurse-delivered self-management phone intervention to facilitate hypertension management within large complex health systems, we sought to answer the following questions: What is the level of organizational readiness to implement the intervention? What are the specific facilitators, barriers, and contextual factors that may affect organizational readiness to change? Study design Each intervention site from three separate Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), which represent 21 geographic regions across the US, agreed to enroll 500 participants over a year with at least 0.5 full time equivalent employees of nursing time. Our mixed methods approach used a priori semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders (n = 27) including nurses, physicians, administrators, and information technology (IT) professionals between 2010 and 2011. Researchers iteratively identified facilitators and barriers of organizational readiness to change (ORC) and implementation. Additionally, an ORC survey was conducted with the stakeholders who were (n = 102) preparing for program implementation. Results Key ORC facilitators included stakeholder buy-in and improving hypertension. Positive organizational characteristics likely to impact ORC included: other similar programs that support buy-in, adequate staff, and alignment with the existing site environment; improved patient outcomes; is positive for the professional nurse role, and is evidence-based; understanding of the intervention; IT infrastructure and support, and utilization of existing equipment and space. The primary ORC barrier was unclear long-term commitment of nursing. Negative organizational characteristics likely to impact ORC included: added workload, competition with existing programs, implementation length, and limited available nurse staff time; buy-in is temporary until evidence shows improved outcomes; contacting patients and the logistics of integration into existing workflow is a challenge; and inadequate staffing is problematic. Findings were complementary across quantitative and qualitative analyses. Conclusions The model of organizational change identified key facilitators and barriers of organizational readiness to change and successful implementation. This study allows us to understand the needs and challenges of intervention implementation. Furthermore, examination of organizational facilitators and barriers to implementation of evidence-based interventions may inform dissemination in other chronic diseases. PMID:24010683

Organizational factors associated with readiness to implement and translate a primary care based telemedicine behavioral program to improve blood pressure control: the HTN-IMPROVE study.

PubMed

Shaw, Ryan J; Kaufman, Miriam A; Bosworth, Hayden B; Weiner, Bryan J; Zullig, Leah L; Lee, Shoou-Yih Daniel; Kravetz, Jeffrey D; Rakley, Susan M; Roumie, Christianne L; Bowen, Michael E; Del Monte, Pamela S; Oddone, Eugene Z; Jackson, George L

2013-09-08

Hypertension is prevalent and often sub-optimally controlled; however, interventions to improve blood pressure control have had limited success. Through implementation of an evidence-based nurse-delivered self-management phone intervention to facilitate hypertension management within large complex health systems, we sought to answer the following questions: What is the level of organizational readiness to implement the intervention? What are the specific facilitators, barriers, and contextual factors that may affect organizational readiness to change? Each intervention site from three separate Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), which represent 21 geographic regions across the US, agreed to enroll 500 participants over a year with at least 0.5 full time equivalent employees of nursing time. Our mixed methods approach used a priori semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders (n = 27) including nurses, physicians, administrators, and information technology (IT) professionals between 2010 and 2011. Researchers iteratively identified facilitators and barriers of organizational readiness to change (ORC) and implementation. Additionally, an ORC survey was conducted with the stakeholders who were (n = 102) preparing for program implementation. Key ORC facilitators included stakeholder buy-in and improving hypertension. Positive organizational characteristics likely to impact ORC included: other similar programs that support buy-in, adequate staff, and alignment with the existing site environment; improved patient outcomes; is positive for the professional nurse role, and is evidence-based; understanding of the intervention; IT infrastructure and support, and utilization of existing equipment and space.The primary ORC barrier was unclear long-term commitment of nursing. Negative organizational characteristics likely to impact ORC included: added workload, competition with existing programs, implementation length, and limited available nurse staff time; buy-in is temporary until evidence shows improved outcomes; contacting patients and the logistics of integration into existing workflow is a challenge; and inadequate staffing is problematic. Findings were complementary across quantitative and qualitative analyses. The model of organizational change identified key facilitators and barriers of organizational readiness to change and successful implementation. This study allows us to understand the needs and challenges of intervention implementation. Furthermore, examination of organizational facilitators and barriers to implementation of evidence-based interventions may inform dissemination in other chronic diseases.

Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose/Collagen Dressings: Review of Evidence and Recommendations.

PubMed

Wu, Stephanie; Applewhite, Andrew J; Niezgoda, Jeffrey; Snyder, Robert; Shah, Jayesh; Cullen, Breda; Schultz, Gregory; Harrison, Janis; Hill, Rosemary; Howell, Melania; Speyrer, Marcus; Utra, Howard; de Leon, Jean; Lee, Wayne; Treadwell, Terry

2017-11-01

Healthcare systems are being challenged to manage increasing numbers of nonhealing wounds. Wound dressings are one of the first lines of defense in wound management, and numerous options exist. The oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC)/collagen dressing may offer healthcare providers a robust and cost-effective tool for use in a variety of wounds. A multidisciplinary panel meeting was convened to discuss the use of ORC/collagen dressings in wound care and provide practice recommendations. A literature search was conducted to provide a brief review of the peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 and March 2016 to inform the meeting. A 2-day panel meeting convened in February 2017. Healthcare providers with experience using ORC/collagen dressings. This multidisciplinary panel of 15 experts in wound healing included podiatrists, wound care specialists (doctors, certified wound care nurses, and research scientists), and an orthopedist. The literature search identified 58 articles, a majority of which were low levels of evidence (69.3% were level 3 or lower). Panel members identified wound types, such as abrasions, burns, stalled wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, and pressure injuries, where ORC/collagen dressing use could be beneficial. Panel members then provided recommendations and technical pearls for the use of ORC/collagen dressings in practice. Barriers to ORC/collagen dressing use were discussed, and potential resolutions were offered. An ORC/collagen dressing can be a critical tool for clinicians to help manage a variety of wounds. Clinical and economic studies comparing standard-of-care dressings and plain collagen dressings to ORC/collagen dressings are needed.

Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose/Collagen Dressings: Review of Evidence and Recommendations

PubMed Central

Wu, Stephanie; Applewhite, Andrew J.; Niezgoda, Jeffrey; Snyder, Robert; Shah, Jayesh; Cullen, Breda; Schultz, Gregory; Harrison, Janis; Hill, Rosemary; Howell, Melania; Speyrer, Marcus; Utra, Howard; de Leon, Jean; Lee, Wayne; Treadwell, Terry

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: Healthcare systems are being challenged to manage increasing numbers of nonhealing wounds. Wound dressings are one of the first lines of defense in wound management, and numerous options exist. The oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC)/collagen dressing may offer healthcare providers a robust and cost-effective tool for use in a variety of wounds. DESIGN: A multidisciplinary panel meeting was convened to discuss the use of ORC/collagen dressings in wound care and provide practice recommendations. A literature search was conducted to provide a brief review of the peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 and March 2016 to inform the meeting. SETTING: A 2-day panel meeting convened in February 2017. PARTICIPANTS: Healthcare providers with experience using ORC/collagen dressings. This multidisciplinary panel of 15 experts in wound healing included podiatrists, wound care specialists (doctors, certified wound care nurses, and research scientists), and an orthopedist. RESULTS: The literature search identified 58 articles, a majority of which were low levels of evidence (69.3% were level 3 or lower). Panel members identified wound types, such as abrasions, burns, stalled wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, and pressure injuries, where ORC/collagen dressing use could be beneficial. Panel members then provided recommendations and technical pearls for the use of ORC/collagen dressings in practice. Barriers to ORC/collagen dressing use were discussed, and potential resolutions were offered. CONCLUSIONS: An ORC/collagen dressing can be a critical tool for clinicians to help manage a variety of wounds. Clinical and economic studies comparing standard-of-care dressings and plain collagen dressings to ORC/collagen dressings are needed. PMID:29049055

Analysis and optimization of three main organic Rankine cycle configurations using a set of working fluids with different thermodynamic behaviors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdi, Basma; Mabrouk, Mohamed Tahar; Kairouani, Lakdar; Kheiri, Abdelhamid

2017-06-01

Different configurations of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems are potential thermodynamic concepts for power generation from low grade heat. The aim of this work is to investigate and optimize the performances of the three main ORC systems configurations: basic ORC, ORC with internal heat exchange (IHE) and regenerative ORC. The evaluation for those configurations was performed using seven working fluids with typical different thermodynamic behaviours (R245fa, R601a, R600a, R227ea, R134a, R1234ze and R1234yf). The optimization has been performed using a genetic algorithm under a comprehensive set of operative parameters such as the fluid evaporating temperature, the fraction of flow rate or the pressure at the steam extracting point in the turbine. Results show that there is no general best ORC configuration for all those fluids. However, there is a suitable configuration for each fluid. Contribution to the topical issue "Materials for Energy harvesting, conversion and storage II (ICOME 2016)", edited by Jean-Michel Nunzi, Rachid Bennacer and Mohammed El Ganaoui

MMSET is dynamically regulated during cell-cycle progression and promotes normal DNA replication.

PubMed

Evans, Debra L; Zhang, Haoxing; Ham, Hyoungjun; Pei, Huadong; Lee, SeungBaek; Kim, JungJin; Billadeau, Daniel D; Lou, Zhenkun

2016-01-01

The timely and precise duplication of cellular DNA is essential for maintaining genome integrity and is thus tightly-regulated. During mitosis and G1, the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) binds to future replication origins, coordinating with multiple factors to load the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex onto future replication origins as part of the pre-replication complex (pre-RC). The pre-RC machinery, in turn, remains inactive until the subsequent S phase when it is required for replication fork formation, thereby initiating DNA replication. Multiple myeloma SET domain-containing protein (MMSET, a.k.a. WHSC1, NSD2) is a histone methyltransferase that is frequently overexpressed in aggressive cancers and is essential for normal human development. Several studies have suggested a role for MMSET in cell-cycle regulation; however, whether MMSET is itself regulated during cell-cycle progression has not been examined. In this study, we report that MMSET is degraded during S phase in a cullin-ring ligase 4-Cdt2 (CRL4(Cdt2)) and proteasome-dependent manner. Notably, we also report defects in DNA replication and a decreased association of pre-RC factors with chromatin in MMSET-depleted cells. Taken together, our results suggest a dynamic regulation of MMSET levels throughout the cell cycle, and further characterize the role of MMSET in DNA replication and cell-cycle progression.

Applications guide for waste heat recovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moynihan, P. I.

1983-01-01

The state-of-the-art of commercially available organic Rankine cycle (ORC) hardware from a literature search and industry survey is assessed. Engineering criteria for applying ORC technology are established, and a set of nomograms to enable the rapid sizing of the equipment is presented. A comparison of an ORC system with conventional heat recovery techniques can be made with a nomogram developed for a recuperative heat exchanger. A graphical technique for evaluating the economic aspects of an ORC system and conventional heat recovery method is discussed: also included is a description of anticipated future trends in organic Rankine cycle R&D.

Diminished origin licensing capacity specifically sensitises tumour cells to replication stress

PubMed Central

Zimmerman, Kristin M.; Jones, Rebecca M.; Petermann, Eva; Jeggo, Penelope A.

2013-01-01

Previous studies have shown that dormant licensed replication origins can be exploited to enhance recovery from replication stress. Since tumour cells express high levels of origin licensing proteins, we examined whether depletion of such factors might specifically sensitise tumour versus non-tumour cells. Consistent with previous findings, we observed that three tumour-derived cell lines overexpress ORC1, a licensing component, compared to four non-tumour cell lines and that a greater level of ORC1 was required to maintain viability in the tumour cells. We determined siRNA-mediated knockdown conditions for each line that maximally reduced ORC1 but did not impact upon viability, which we considered would optimally deplete dormant origins. ORC1 depletion hypersensitised the tumour-derived cells to hydroxyurea (HU) and H202 but did not affect the sensitivity of the non-tumour lines. Similar results were observed following depletion of ORC6 or CDC6. Further, co-depletion of p53 and ORC1 modestly impaired viability of 1BR3hTERT non-tumour fibroblasts and more dramatically caused hypersensitivity to HU. Finally, overexpression of the c-Myc oncogene combined with ORC1 depletion in non-tumour BJhTERT cells diminished viability. Collectively, these findings suggest that tumour cells may have a reliance on origin licensing capacity, suggesting that licensing factors could represent a target for drug-based cancer therapy. PMID:23364533

Seal Technology Development for Advanced Component for Airbreathing Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Philip H.

2008-01-01

Key aspects of the design of sealing systems for On Rotor Combustion/Wave Rotor (ORC/WR) systems were addressed. ORC/WR systems generally fit within a broad class of pressure gain Constant Volume Combustors (CVCs) or Pulse Detonation Combustors (PDCs) which are currently being considered for use in many classes of turbine engines for dramatic efficiency improvement. Technology readiness level of this ORC/WR approaches are presently at 2.0. The results of detailed modeling of an ORC/WR system as applied to a regional jet engine application were shown to capture a high degree of pressure gain capabilities. The results of engine cycle analysis indicated the level of specific fuel consumption (SFC) benefits to be 17 percent. The potential losses in pressure gain due to leakage were found to be closely coupled to the wave processes at the rotor endpoints of the ORC/WR system. Extensive investigation into the sealing approaches is reported. Sensitivity studies show that SFC gains of 10 percent remain available even when pressure gain levels are highly penalized. This indicates ORC/WR systems to have a high degree of tolerance to rotor leakage effects but also emphasizes their importance. An engine demonstration of an ORC/WR system is seen as key to progressing the TRL of this technology. An industrial engine was judged to be a highly advantageous platform for demonstration of a first generation ORC/WR system. Prior to such a demonstration, the existing NASA pressure exchanger wave rotor rig was identified as an opportunity to apply both expanded analytical modeling capabilities developed within this program and to identify and fix identified leakage issues existing within this rig. Extensive leakage analysis of the rig was performed and a detailed design of additional sealing strategies for this rig was generated.

Application of Biomass from Palm Oil Mill for Organic Rankine Cycle to Generate Power in North Sumatera Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, T. B.; Pane, Z.; Amin, M. N.

2017-03-01

Due to increasing oil and gas demand with the depletion of fossil resources in the current situation make efficient energy systems and alternative energy conversion processes are urgently needed. With the great potential of resources in Indonesia, make biomass has been considered as one of major potential fuel and renewable resource for the near future. In this paper, the potential of palm oil mill waste as a bioenergy source has been investigated. An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) small scale power plant has been preliminary designed to generate electricity. The working fluid candidates for the ORC plant based on the heat source temperature domains have been investigated. The ORC system with a regenerator has higher thermal efficiency than the basic ORC system. The study demonstrates the technical feasibility of ORC solutions in terms of resources optimizations and reducing of greenhouse gas emissions.

Affordable Rankine Cycle Waste Heat Recovery for Heavy Duty Trucks

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

Subramanian, Swami Nathan

Nearly 30% of fuel energy is not utilized and wasted in the engine exhaust. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based waste heat recovery (WHR) systems offer a promising approach on waste energy recovery and improving the efficiency of Heavy-Duty diesel engines. Major barriers in the ORC WHR system are the system cost and controversial waste heat recovery working fluids. More than 40% of the system cost is from the additional heat exchangers (recuperator, condenser and tail pipe boiler). The secondary working fluid loop designed in ORC system is either flammable or environmentally sensitive. The Eaton team investigated a novel approach tomore » reduce the cost of implementing ORC based WHR systems to Heavy-Duty (HD) Diesel engines while utilizing safest working fluids. Affordable Rankine Cycle (ARC) concept aimed to define the next generation of waste energy recuperation with a cost optimized WHR system. ARC project used engine coolant as the working fluid. This approach reduced the need for a secondary working fluid circuit and subsequent complexity. A portion of the liquid phase engine coolant has been pressurized through a set of working fluid pumps and used to recover waste heat from the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and exhaust tail pipe exhaust energy. While absorbing heat, the mixture is partially vaporized but remains a wet binary mixture. The pressurized mixed-phase engine coolant mixture is then expanded through a fixed-volume ratio expander that is compatible with two-phase conditions. Heat rejection is accomplished through the engine radiator, avoiding the need for a separate condenser. The ARC system has been investigated for PACCAR’s MX-13 HD diesel engine.« less

Design and process integration of organic Rankine cycle utilizing biomass for power generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ependi, S.; Nur, T. B.

2018-02-01

Indonesia has high potential biomass energy sources from palm oil mill industry activities. The growing interest on Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) application to produce electricity by utilizing biomass energy sources are increasingly due to its successfully used for generating electricity from rejected waste heat to the environment in industrial processes. In this study, the potential of the palm oil empty fruit bunch, and wood chip have been used as fuel for biomass to generate electricity based ORC with combustion processes. The heat from combustion burner was transfer by thermal oil heater to evaporate ORC working fluid in the evaporator unit. The Syltherm-XLT thermal oil was used as the heat carrier from combustion burner, while R245fa was used as the working fluid for ORC unit. Appropriate designs integration from biomass combustion unit to ORC unit have been analyzed and proposed to generate expander shaft-work. Moreover, the effect of recuperator on the total system efficiency has also been investigated. It was observed that the fuel consumption was increased when the ORC unit equipped recuperator operated until certain pressure and decreased when operated at high pressure.

Solar thermal organic rankine cycle for micro-generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alkahli, N. A.; Abdullah, H.; Darus, A. N.; Jalaludin, A. F.

2012-06-01

The conceptual design of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) driven by solar thermal energy is developed for the decentralized production of electricity of up to 50 kW. Conventional Rankine Cycle uses water as the working fluid whereas ORC uses organic compound as the working fluid and it is particularly suitable for low temperature applications. The ORC and the solar collector will be sized according to the solar flux distribution in the Republic of Yemen for the required power output of 50 kW. This will be a micro power generation system that consists of two cycles, the solar thermal cycle that harness solar energy and the power cycle, which is the ORC that generates electricity. As for the solar thermal cycle, heat transfer fluid (HTF) circulates the cycle while absorbing thermal energy from the sun through a parabolic trough collector and then storing it in a thermal storage to increase system efficiency and maintains system operation during low radiation. The heat is then transferred to the organic fluid in the ORC via a heat exchanger. The organic fluids to be used and analyzed in the ORC are hydrocarbons R600a and R290.

Processing Preference Toward Object-Extracted Relative Clauses in Mandarin Chinese by L1 and L2 Speakers: An Eye-Tracking Study

PubMed Central

Sung, Yao-Ting; Tu, Jung-Yueh; Cha, Jih-Ho; Wu, Ming-Da

2016-01-01

The current study employed an eye-movement technique with an attempt to explore the reading patterns for the two types of Chinese relative clauses, subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs), by native speakers (L1), and Japanese learners (L2) of Chinese. The data were analyzed in terms of gaze duration, regression path duration, and regression rate on the two critical regions, head noun, and embedded verb. The results indicated that both the L1 and L2 participants spent less time on the head nouns in ORCs than in SRCs. Also, the L2 participants spent less time on the embedded verbs in ORCs than in SRCs and their regression rate for embedded verbs was generally lower in ORCs than in SRC. The findings showed that the participants experienced less processing difficulty in ORCs than SRCs. These results suggest an ORC preference in L1 and L2 speakers of Chinese, which provides evidence in support of linear distance hypothesis and implies that the syntactic nature of Chinese is at play in the RC processing. PMID:26834677

Methods of increasing net work output of organic Rankine cycles for low-grade waste heat recovery with a detailed analysis using a zeotropic working fluid mixture and scroll expander

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woodland, Brandon Jay

An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a thermodynamic cycle that is well-suited for waste heat recovery. It is generally employed for waste heat with temperatures in the range of 80 °C -- 300 °C. When the application is strictly to convert waste heat into work, thermal efficiency is not recommended as a key performance metric. In such an application, maximization of the net power output should be the objective rather than maximization of the thermal efficiency. Two alternative cycle configurations that can increase the net power produced from a heat source with a given temperature and flow rate are proposed and analyzed. These cycle configurations are 1) an ORC with two-phase flash expansion and 2) an ORC with a zeotropic working fluid mixture (ZRC). A design-stage ORC model is presented for consistent comparison of multiple ORC configurations. The finite capacity of the heat source and heat sink fluids is a key consideration in this model. Of all working fluids studied for the baseline ORC, R134a and R245fa yield the highest net power output from a given heat source. Results of the design-stage model indicate that the ORC with two-phase flash expansion offers the most improvement over the baseline ORC. However, the level of improvement that could be achieved in practice is highly uncertain due to the requirement of highly efficient two-phase expansion. The ZRC shows improvement over the baseline as long as the condenser fan power requirement is not negligible. At the highest estimated condenser fan power, the ZRC shows the most improvement, while the ORC with flash expansion is no longer beneficial. The ZRC was selected for detailed study because it does not require two-phase expansion. An experimental test rig was used to evaluate baseline ORC performance with R134a and with R245fa. The ZRC was tested on the same rig with a mixture of 62.5% R134a and 37.5% R245fa. The tested expander is a minimally-modified, of-the-shelf automotive scroll compressor. The high performance to cost ratio of this machine lends significant credence to the economic viability of small-scale, low-temperature ORCs. The experimental campaign covered two heat source temperatures, the full range of pump and expander speeds, a full range of heat source and heat sink fluid flow rates, and various charge levels for the three working fluids. This resulted in 366 steady-state measurements. The steady state measurements are used to develop a detailed ORC model. The model is based on multi-fluid performance maps for the pump and expander and a robust moving-boundary heat exchanger model. It is validated against the measured data and predicts the net power output of the tested ORC with a mean absolute percent error of 7.16%. Comparisons made with the detailed model confirm the predictions of the design-stage model. Using a conservative estimate of the condenser fan power, 19.1% improvement of the ZRC over the baseline ORC is indicated for a source temperature of 80 °C. For a 100 °C source temperature, 13.8% improvement is indicated. A key feature of the detailed ORC model is that it calculates the charge inventory of the working fluid in each heat exchanger and line set. Total system charge can also be specified as a model input. The model can represent the total charge well for R134a at low measured charge levels. As the measured charge level increases, the model becomes less accurate. Reasons for the deviation of the model at higher charge are investigated. It is expected that a charge tuning scheme could be employed to improve the accuracy of model-predicted charge.

Performance analysis of exhaust heat recovery using organic Rankine cycle in a passenger car with a compression ignition engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghilvacs, M.; Prisecaru, T.; Pop, H.; Apostol, V.; Prisecaru, M.; Pop, E.; Popescu, Gh; Ciobanu, C.; Mohanad, A.; Alexandru, A.

2016-08-01

Compression ignition engines transform approximately 40% of the fuel energy into power available at the crankshaft, while the rest part of the fuel energy is lost as coolant, exhaust gases and other waste heat. An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) can be used to recover this waste heat. In this paper, the characteristics of a system combining a compression ignition engine with an ORC which recover the waste heat from the exhaust gases are analyzed. The performance map of the diesel engine is measured on an engine test bench and the heat quantities wasted by the exhaust gases are calculated over the engine's entire operating region. Based on this data, the working parameters of ORC are defined, and the performance of a combined engine-ORC system is evaluated across this entire region. The results show that the net power of ORC is 6.304kW at rated power point and a maximum of 10% reduction in brake specific fuel consumption can be achieved.

Comparative Evaluation of Biological Performance, Biosecurity, and Availability of Cellulose-Based Absorbable Hemostats.

PubMed

Wu, Yadong; Wang, Fang; Huang, Yudong

2018-05-01

Hemorrhage remains a leading cause of death after trauma, and developing a hemostat with excellent performance and good biosecurity is an extremely active area of research and commercial product development. Although oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) has been developed to address these problems, it is not always efficient and its biosecurity is not perfect. We aimed to refine ORC via a simple and mild neutralization method. The prepared neutralized oxidized regenerated cellulose (NORC) showed a superior gel property due to its chemical structure. The biological performance of both ORC and NORC was systematically evaluated; the results showed that ORC would induce erythema and edema in the irritation test, whereas NORC did not cause any adverse inflammation, indicating NORC had desirable biocompatibility. We further demonstrated that NORC confirmed to the toxicity requirements of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards; however, ORC showed an unacceptable cytotoxicity. The rabbit hepatic defect model stated that NORC exhibited better ability of hemostasis, which was attributed to its significant gel performance in physiological environment.

De Novo GMNN Mutations Cause Autosomal-Dominant Primordial Dwarfism Associated with Meier-Gorlin Syndrome.

PubMed

Burrage, Lindsay C; Charng, Wu-Lin; Eldomery, Mohammad K; Willer, Jason R; Davis, Erica E; Lugtenberg, Dorien; Zhu, Wenmiao; Leduc, Magalie S; Akdemir, Zeynep C; Azamian, Mahshid; Zapata, Gladys; Hernandez, Patricia P; Schoots, Jeroen; de Munnik, Sonja A; Roepman, Ronald; Pearring, Jillian N; Jhangiani, Shalini; Katsanis, Nicholas; Vissers, Lisenka E L M; Brunner, Han G; Beaudet, Arthur L; Rosenfeld, Jill A; Muzny, Donna M; Gibbs, Richard A; Eng, Christine M; Xia, Fan; Lalani, Seema R; Lupski, James R; Bongers, Ernie M H F; Yang, Yaping

2015-12-03

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a genetically heterogeneous primordial dwarfism syndrome known to be caused by biallelic loss-of-function mutations in one of five genes encoding pre-replication complex proteins: ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6. Mutations in these genes cause disruption of the origin of DNA replication initiation. To date, only an autosomal-recessive inheritance pattern has been described in individuals with this disorder, with a molecular etiology established in about three-fourths of cases. Here, we report three subjects with MGS and de novo heterozygous mutations in the 5' end of GMNN, encoding the DNA replication inhibitor geminin. We identified two truncating mutations in exon 2 (the 1(st) coding exon), c.16A>T (p.Lys6(∗)) and c.35_38delTCAA (p.Ile12Lysfs(∗)4), and one missense mutation, c.50A>G (p.Lys17Arg), affecting the second-to-last nucleotide of exon 2 and possibly RNA splicing. Geminin is present during the S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle and is degraded during the metaphase-anaphase transition by the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which recognizes the destruction box sequence near the 5' end of the geminin protein. All three GMNN mutations identified alter sites 5' to residue Met28 of the protein, which is located within the destruction box. We present data supporting a gain-of-function mechanism, in which the GMNN mutations result in proteins lacking the destruction box and hence increased protein stability and prolonged inhibition of replication leading to autosomal-dominant MGS. Copyright © 2015 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

De Novo GMNN Mutations Cause Autosomal-Dominant Primordial Dwarfism Associated with Meier-Gorlin Syndrome

PubMed Central

Burrage, Lindsay C.; Charng, Wu-Lin; Eldomery, Mohammad K.; Willer, Jason R.; Davis, Erica E.; Lugtenberg, Dorien; Zhu, Wenmiao; Leduc, Magalie S.; Akdemir, Zeynep C.; Azamian, Mahshid; Zapata, Gladys; Hernandez, Patricia P.; Schoots, Jeroen; de Munnik, Sonja A.; Roepman, Ronald; Pearring, Jillian N.; Jhangiani, Shalini; Katsanis, Nicholas; Vissers, Lisenka E.L.M.; Brunner, Han G.; Beaudet, Arthur L.; Rosenfeld, Jill A.; Muzny, Donna M.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Eng, Christine M.; Xia, Fan; Lalani, Seema R.; Lupski, James R.; Bongers, Ernie M.H.F.; Yang, Yaping

2015-01-01

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a genetically heterogeneous primordial dwarfism syndrome known to be caused by biallelic loss-of-function mutations in one of five genes encoding pre-replication complex proteins: ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6. Mutations in these genes cause disruption of the origin of DNA replication initiation. To date, only an autosomal-recessive inheritance pattern has been described in individuals with this disorder, with a molecular etiology established in about three-fourths of cases. Here, we report three subjects with MGS and de novo heterozygous mutations in the 5′ end of GMNN, encoding the DNA replication inhibitor geminin. We identified two truncating mutations in exon 2 (the 1st coding exon), c.16A>T (p.Lys6∗) and c.35_38delTCAA (p.Ile12Lysfs∗4), and one missense mutation, c.50A>G (p.Lys17Arg), affecting the second-to-last nucleotide of exon 2 and possibly RNA splicing. Geminin is present during the S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle and is degraded during the metaphase-anaphase transition by the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which recognizes the destruction box sequence near the 5′ end of the geminin protein. All three GMNN mutations identified alter sites 5′ to residue Met28 of the protein, which is located within the destruction box. We present data supporting a gain-of-function mechanism, in which the GMNN mutations result in proteins lacking the destruction box and hence increased protein stability and prolonged inhibition of replication leading to autosomal-dominant MGS. PMID:26637980

30 CFR 935.25 - Approval of Ohio abandoned mine land reclamation plan amendments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... publication Citation/description January 6, 1983 May 24, 1983 ORC 1513.37(D)(2), (4), (5), (J). August 20.... October 2, 1989 April 20, 1990 ORC 1513.02(J), .08(A), .18(B), (C), (F), (H), .24, .37(J). February 19, 1992 September 24, 1992 AML emergency program; ORC 1513.37(C)(1), (L)(1), (2); OAC 1501:13-6-03(C)(1)(b...

Design and testing of high temperature micro-ORC test stand using Siloxane as working fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turunen-Saaresti, Teemu; Uusitalo, Antti; Honkatukia, Juha

2017-03-01

Organic Rankine Cycle is a mature technology for many applications e.g. biomass power plants, waste heat recovery and geothermal power for larger power capacity. Recently more attention is paid on an ORC utilizing high temperature heat with relatively low power. One of the attractive applications of such ORCs would be utilization of waste heat of exhaust gas of combustion engines in stationary and mobile applications. In this paper, a design procedure of the ORC process is described and discussed. The analysis of the major components of the process, namely the evaporator, recuperator, and turbogenerator is done. Also preliminary experimental results of an ORC process utilizing high temperature exhaust gas heat and using siloxane MDM as a working fluid are presented and discussed. The turbine type utilized in the turbogenerator is a radial inflow turbine and the turbogenerator consists of the turbine, the electric motor and the feed pump. Based on the results, it was identified that the studied system is capable to generate electricity from the waste heat of exhaust gases and it is shown that high molecular weight and high critical temperature fluids as the working fluids can be utilized in high-temperature small-scale ORC applications. 5.1 kW of electric power was generated by the turbogenerator.

Exergy optimization for a novel combination of organic Rankine cycles, Stirling cycle and direct expander turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moghimi, Mahdi; Khosravian, Mohammadreza

2018-01-01

In this paper, a novel combination of organic Rankine cycles (ORCs), Stirling cycle and direct expander turbines is modeled and optimized using the genetic algorithm. The Exergy efficiency is considered as an objective function in the genetic algorithm. High efficiency is the main advantage of Stirling cycle, however, it needs nearly isothermal compressor and turbine. Therefore, an argon ORC and a R14 ORC are placed before and after the Striling cycle along with two expander turbines at the end of the line. Each component and cycle of the proposed plant in this article is verified by the previous works available in the literature and good agreement is achieved. The obtained results reveal that 27.98%, 20.86% and 12.90% of the total cold exergy are used by argon ORC, Stirling cycle and R14 ORC, respectively. Therefore, utilization of the Stirling cycle is a good idea for the LNG line cold exergy. The maximum exergy destruction occurs in the heat exchanger after the argon ORC (85.786 kJ/s per one kg/s LNG) due to the wasted cold exergy, which can be used for air conditioning systems in the plant. Finally, it would be shown that the maximum efficiency of the proposed plant is 54.25% and the maximum output power is 355.72 kW.

Exergy optimization for a novel combination of organic Rankine cycles, Stirling cycle and direct expander turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moghimi, Mahdi; Khosravian, Mohammadreza

2018-06-01

In this paper, a novel combination of organic Rankine cycles (ORCs), Stirling cycle and direct expander turbines is modeled and optimized using the genetic algorithm. The Exergy efficiency is considered as an objective function in the genetic algorithm. High efficiency is the main advantage of Stirling cycle, however, it needs nearly isothermal compressor and turbine. Therefore, an argon ORC and a R14 ORC are placed before and after the Striling cycle along with two expander turbines at the end of the line. Each component and cycle of the proposed plant in this article is verified by the previous works available in the literature and good agreement is achieved. The obtained results reveal that 27.98%, 20.86% and 12.90% of the total cold exergy are used by argon ORC, Stirling cycle and R14 ORC, respectively. Therefore, utilization of the Stirling cycle is a good idea for the LNG line cold exergy. The maximum exergy destruction occurs in the heat exchanger after the argon ORC (85.786 kJ/s per one kg/s LNG) due to the wasted cold exergy, which can be used for air conditioning systems in the plant. Finally, it would be shown that the maximum efficiency of the proposed plant is 54.25% and the maximum output power is 355.72 kW.

Recent trends in the development of heat exchangers for geothermal systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franco, A.; Vaccaro, M.

2017-11-01

The potential use of geothermal resources has been a remarkable driver for market players and companies operating in the field of geothermal energy conversion. For this reason, medium to low temperature geothermal resources have been the object of recent rise in consideration, with strong reference to the perspectives of development of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. The main components of geothermal plants based on ORC cycle are surely the heat exchangers. A lot of different heat exchangers are required for the operation of ORC plants. Among those it is surely of major importance the Recovery Heat Exchanger (RHE, typically an evaporator), in which the operating fluid is evaporated. Also the Recuperator, in regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle, is of major interest in technology. Another important application of the heat exchangers is connected to the condensation, according to the possibility of liquid or air cooling media availability. The paper analyzes the importance of heat exchangers sizing and the connection with the operation of ORC power plants putting in evidence the real element of innovation: the consideration of the heat exchangers as central element for the optimum design of ORC systems.

Experimental investigation of the ORC system in a cogenerative domestic power plant with a scroll expanders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaczmarczyk, Tomasz Z.; Ihnatowicz, Eugeniusz; Żywica, Grzegorz; Kiciński, Jan

2015-11-01

The paper presents the results of experimental investigations of the ORC system with two scroll expanders which have been used as a source of electricity. Theworking fluidwas HFE7100 - a newly engineered fluid with a unique heat transfer and favourable environmental properties. In the ORC system three heat exchangers were used (evaporator, regenerator, condenser) and before expanders the droplet separator was installed. As a source of heat an innovative biomass boiler was used. Studies have been carried out for the expanders worked in series and in parallel. The paper presents the thermal and fluidflow properties of the ORC installation for the selected flow rates and different temperatures of the working medium. The characteristics of output electrical power, operating speed and vibrations for scroll expanders were also presented.

Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) test used in the implementation of assessment instruments and treatment methods in a Swedish National study.

PubMed

Billsten, Johan; Fridell, Mats; Holmberg, Robert; Ivarsson, Andréas

2018-01-01

Organizational climate and related factors are associated with outcome and are as such of vital interest for healthcare organizations. Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) is the questionnaire used in the present study to assess the influence of organizational factors on implementation success. The respondents were employed in one of 203 Swedish municipalities within social work and psychiatric substance/abuse treatment services. They took part in a nationwide implementation project organized by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. The aims were: (a) to identify classes (clusters) of employees with different ORC profiles on the basis of data collected in 2011 and (b) to investigate ORC profiles which predicted the use of assessment instruments, therapy methods and collaborative activities in 2011 and 2013. The evaluation study applied a naturalistic design with registration of outcome at consecutive assessments. The participants were contacted via official e-mail addresses in their respective healthcare units and were encouraged by their officials to participate on a voluntary basis. Descriptive statistics were obtained using SPSS version 23. A latent profile analysis (LPA) using Mplus 7.3 was performed with a robust maximum likelihood estimator (MLR) to identify subgroups (clusters) based on the 18 ORC indexes. A total of 2402 employees responded to the survey, of whom 1794 (74.7%) completed the ORC scores. Descriptive analysis indicated that the respondents were a homogenous group of employees, where women (72.0%) formed the majority. Cronbach's alpha for the 18 ORC indexes ranged from α=0.67 to α=0.78. A principal component analysis yielded a four-factor solution explaining 62% of the variance in total ORC scores. The factors were: motivational readiness (α=0.64), institutional resources (α=0.52), staff attributes (α=0.76), and organizational climate (α=0.74). An LPA analysis of the four factors with their three distinct profiles provided the best data fit: Profile 3 (n=614), Profile 2 (n=934), and Profile 1 (n=246). Respondents with the most favorable ORC scores (Profile 3) used significantly more instruments and more treatment methods and had a better collaborating network in 2011 as well as in 2013 compared to members in Profile 1, the least successful profile. In a large sample of social work and healthcare professionals, ORC scores reflecting higher institutional resources, staff attributes and organizational climate and lower motivational readiness for change were associated with a successful implementation of good practice guidelines for the care and treatment of substance users in Sweden. Low motivational readiness as a construct may indicate satisfaction with the present situation. As ORC proved to be an indicator of successful dissemination of evidence-based guidelines into routine and specialist healthcare, it can be used to tailor interventions to individual employees or services and to improve the dissemination of and compliance with guidelines for the treatment of substance users. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of Archaeal MCM Helicase Recruitment to DNA Replication Origins

PubMed Central

Samson, Rachel Y.; Abeyrathne, Priyanka D.; Bell, Stephen D.

2015-01-01

Summary Cellular DNA replication origins direct the recruitment of replicative helicases via the action of initiator proteins belonging to the AAA+ superfamily of ATPases. Archaea have a simplified subset of the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery proteins and possess initiators that appear ancestral to both eukaryotic Orc1 and Cdc6. We have reconstituted origin-dependent recruitment of the homohexameric archaeal MCM in vitro with purified recombinant proteins. Using this system, we reveal that archaeal Orc1-1 fulfills both Orc1 and Cdc6 functions by binding to a replication origin and directly recruiting MCM helicase. We identify the interaction interface between these proteins and reveal how ATP binding by Orc1-1 modulates recruitment of MCM. Additionally, we provide evidence that an open-ring form of the archaeal MCM homohexamer is loaded at origins. PMID:26725007

Cost analysis of open radical cystectomy versus robot-assisted radical cystectomy.

PubMed

Bansal, Sukhchain S; Dogra, Tara; Smith, Peter W; Amran, Maisarah; Auluck, Ishna; Bhambra, Maninder; Sura, Manraj S; Rowe, Edward; Koupparis, Anthony

2018-03-01

To perform a cost analysis comparing the cost of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with open RC (ORC) in a UK tertiary referral centre and to identify the key cost drivers. Data on hospital length of stay (LOS), operative time (OT), transfusion rate, and volume and complication rate were obtained from a prospectively updated institutional database for patients undergoing RARC or ORC. A cost decision tree model was created. Sensitivity analysis was performed to find key drivers of overall cost and to find breakeven points with ORC. Monte Carlo analysis was performed to quantify the variability in the dataset. One RARC procedure costs £12 449.87, or £12 106.12 if the robot was donated via charitable funds. In comparison, one ORC procedure costs £10 474.54. RARC is 18.9% more expensive than ORC. The key cost drivers were OT, LOS, and the number of cases performed per annum. High ongoing equipment costs remain a large barrier to the cost of RARC falling. However, minimal improvements in patient quality of life would be required to offset this difference. © 2017 The Authors BJU International © 2017 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cost analysis of open radical cystectomy versus robot-assisted radical cystectomy.

PubMed

Mmeje, Chinedu O; Martin, Aaron D; Nunez-Nateras, Rafael; Parker, Alexander S; Thiel, David D; Castle, Erik P

2013-02-01

Bladder cancer is the fourth and ninth most common malignancy in males and females, respectively, in the U.S. and one of the most costly cancers to manage. With the current economic condition, physicians will need to become more aware of cost-effective therapies for the treatment of various malignancies. Robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) is the latest minimally invasive surgical option for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Current reports have shown less blood loss, a shorter hospital stay, and a lower morbidity with RARC, as compared with the traditional open radical cystectomy (ORC), although long-term oncologic results of RARC are still maturing. There are few studies that have assessed the cost outcomes of RARC as compared with ORC. Currently, ORC appears to offer a direct cost advantage due to the high purchase and maintenance cost of the robotic platform, although when the indirect costs of complications and extended hospital stay with ORC are considered, RARC may be less expensive than the traditional open procedure. In order to accurately evaluate the cost effectiveness of RARC versus ORC, prospective randomized trials between the two surgical techniques with long-term oncologic efficacy are needed.

Thermal energy storage for organic Rankine cycle solar dynamic space power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heidenreich, G. R.; Parekh, M. B.

An organic Rankine cycle-solar dynamic power system (ORC-SDPS) comprises a concentrator, a radiator, a power conversion unit, and a receiver with a thermal energy storage (TES) subsystem which charges and discharges energy to meet power demands during orbital insolation and eclipse periods. Attention is presently given to the criteria used in designing and evaluating an ORC-SDPS TES, as well as the automated test facility employed. It is found that a substantial data base exists for the design of an ORC-SDPS TES subsystem.

ORC1/CDC6 and MCM7 distinct associate with chromatin through Trypanosoma cruzi life cycle.

PubMed

Calderano, Simone; Godoy, Patricia; Soares, Daiane; Sant'Anna, Osvaldo Augusto; Schenkman, Sergio; Elias, M Carolina

2014-02-01

Trypanosoma cruzi alternates between replicative and non-replicative stages. We analyzed the expression of components of the pre-replication machinery TcORC1/CDC6 and TcMCM7 and their interaction with DNA in all T. cruzi stages. TcORC1/CDC6 remains in the nuclear space during all stages of the life cycle and interacts with DNA in the replicative stages; however, it does not bind to DNA in the non-replicative forms. Moreover, TcMCM7 is not present in the non-replicative stages. These data suggest that the lacking of DNA replication during the T. cruzi life cycle may be a consequence of the blocking of TcORC1/CDC6-DNA interaction and of the down regulation of the TcMCM7 expression. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cost-analysis comparison of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RC) vs open RC.

PubMed

Lee, Richard; Chughtai, Bilal; Herman, Michael; Shariat, Shahrokh F; Scherr, Douglas S

2011-09-01

• To systematically review and compare the economic burden of open radical cystectomy (ORC) vs robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RALRC) with pelvic lymph node dissection and urinary diversion. • A Medline search was conducted to identify English language articles regarding RC with urinary diversion. The resulting articles were then further restricted by the terms 'laparoscopic', 'robotic', or 'robotic-assisted'.In all, three articles were identified. • Data from each of these articles were then collected on cost performance in addition to relevant clinical variables, such as length of stay (LOS), operative duration, and complication rates. • When possible, data were subdivided by ileal conduit (IC), continent cutaneous diversion (CCD), and orthotopic neobladder (ON) subgroups. • Direct costs resulting from ORC or RALRC with accompanying hospitalization were identified. The indirect costs of complications were considered. • Despite an increased materials cost, RALRC was less expensive than ORC when the cost of complications was considered. • RALRC was less expensive than ORC for IC and CCD, but the cost advantage deteriorated for ON. • The largest cost drivers cited in the published data were LOS, operative durations, and daily hospitalizations costs. • RALRC demonstrated shorter LOS compared with ORC, although this effect was insufficient to offset the increased cost of robotic surgery. • Complications materially affected cost performance. • Despite an increased materials cost, RALRC can be more cost efficient than ORC as a treatment for bladder cancer when the impact of complications are considered. • This effect is most pronounced for patients undergoing IC. © 2011 THE AUTHORS. BJU INTERNATIONAL © 2011 BJU INTERNATIONAL.

Cdt1 stabilizes an open MCM ring for helicase loading.

PubMed

Frigola, Jordi; He, Jun; Kinkelin, Kerstin; Pye, Valerie E; Renault, Ludovic; Douglas, Max E; Remus, Dirk; Cherepanov, Peter; Costa, Alessandro; Diffley, John F X

2017-06-23

ORC, Cdc6 and Cdt1 act together to load hexameric MCM, the motor of the eukaryotic replicative helicase, into double hexamers at replication origins. Here we show that Cdt1 interacts with MCM subunits Mcm2, 4 and 6, which both destabilizes the Mcm2-5 interface and inhibits MCM ATPase activity. Using X-ray crystallography, we show that Cdt1 contains two winged-helix domains in the C-terminal half of the protein and a catalytically inactive dioxygenase-related N-terminal domain, which is important for MCM loading, but not for subsequent replication. We used these structures together with single-particle electron microscopy to generate three-dimensional models of MCM complexes. These show that Cdt1 stabilizes MCM in a left-handed spiral open at the Mcm2-5 gate. We propose that Cdt1 acts as a brace, holding MCM open for DNA entry and bound to ATP until ORC-Cdc6 triggers ATP hydrolysis by MCM, promoting both Cdt1 ejection and MCM ring closure.

Waste heat recovery options in a large gas-turbine combined power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Upathumchard, Ularee

This study focuses on power plant heat loss and how to utilize the waste heat in energy recovery systems in order to increase the overall power plant efficiency. The case study of this research is a 700-MW natural gas combined cycle power plant, located in a suburban area of Thailand. An analysis of the heat loss of the combustion process, power generation process, lubrication system, and cooling system has been conducted to evaluate waste heat recovery options. The design of the waste heat recovery options depends to the amount of heat loss from each system and its temperature. Feasible waste heat sources are combustion turbine (CT) room ventilation air and lubrication oil return from the power plant. The following options are being considered in this research: absorption chillers for cooling with working fluids Ammonia-Water and Water-Lithium Bromide (in comparison) and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with working fluids R134a and R245fa. The absorption cycles are modeled in three different stages; single-effect, double-effect and half-effect. ORC models used are simple ORC as a baseline, ORC with internal regenerator, ORC two-phase flash expansion ORC and ORC with multiple heat sources. Thermodynamic models are generated and each system is simulated using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to define the most suitable waste heat recovery options for the power plant. The result will be synthesized and evaluated with respect to exergy utilization efficiency referred as the Second Law effectiveness and net output capacity. Results of the models give recommendation to install a baseline ORC of R134a and a double-effect water-lithium bromide absorption chiller, driven by ventilation air from combustion turbine compartment. The two technologies yield reasonable economic payback periods of 4.6 years and 0.7 years, respectively. The fact that this selected power plant is in its early stage of operation allows both models to economically and effectively perform waste heat recovery during the power plant's life span. Furthermore, the recommendation from this research will be submitted to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) for implementation. This study will also be used as an example for other power plants in Thailand to consider waste energy utilization to improve plant efficiency and sustain fuel resources in the future.

Global Value Chain and Manufacturing Analysis on Geothermal Power Plant Turbines

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

Akar, Sertac; Augustine, Chad; Kurup, Parthiv

In this study, we have undertaken a robust analysis of the global supply chain and manufacturing costs for components of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Turboexpander and steam turbines used in geothermal power plants. We collected a range of market data influencing manufacturing from various data sources and determined the main international manufacturers in the industry. The data includes the manufacturing cost model to identify requirements for equipment, facilities, raw materials, and labor. We analyzed three different cases; 1) 1 MW geothermal ORC Turboexpander 2) 5 MW ORC Turboexpander 3) 20 MW geothermal Steam Turbine

Exergy analysis and optimisation of waste heat recovery systems for cement plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammadi, Amin; Ashjari, Muhammad Ali; Sadreddini, Amirhassan

2018-02-01

In the last decades, heat recovery systems have received much attention due to the increase in fuel cost and the increase in environmental issues. In this study, different heat recovery systems for a cement plant are compared in terms of electricity generation and exergy analysis. The heat sources are available in high temperature (HT) and low temperature (LT). For the HT section a dual pressure Rankine cycle, a simple dual pressure Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and a regenerative dual pressure ORC are compared. Also, for the LT section, a simple ORC is compared with transcritical carbon dioxide cycle. To find the best system, an optimisation algorithm is applied to all proposed cycles. The results show that for the HT section, regenerative ORC has the highest exergy efficiency and has the capability of producing nearly 7 MW electricity for a cement factory with the capacity of 3400 ton per day. The main reason for this is introducing the regenerative heat exchanger to the cycle. For the LT section, ORC showed a better performance than the CO2 cycle. It is worth mentioning that the generated power in this section is far lower than that of the HT section and is equal to nearly 300 kW.

Health-related quality of life from a prospective randomised clinical trial of robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy.

PubMed

Messer, Jamie C; Punnen, Sanoj; Fitzgerald, John; Svatek, Robert; Parekh, Dipen J

2014-12-01

To compare health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcomes for robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RARC) with those of traditional open radical cystectomy (ORC) in a prospective randomised fashion. This was a prospective randomised clinical trial evaluating the HRQoL for ORC vs RARC in consecutive patients from July 2009 to June 2011. We administered the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Vanderbilt Cystectomy Index questionnaire, validated to assess HRQoL, preoperatively and then at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months postoperatively. Scores for each domain and total scores were compared in terms of deviation from preoperative values for both the RARC and the ORC cohorts. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association between the type of radical cystectomy and HRQoL. At the time of the study, 47 patients had met the inclusion criteria, with 40 patients being randomised for analysis. The cohorts consisted of 20 patients undergoing ORC and 20 undergoing RARC, who were balanced with respect to baseline demographic and clinical features. Univariate analysis showed a return to baseline scores at 3 months postoperatively in all measured domains with no statistically significant difference among the various domains between the RARC and the ORC cohorts. Multivariate analysis showed no difference in HRQoL between the two approaches in any of the various domains, with the exception of a slightly higher physical well-being score in the RARC group at 6 months. There were no significant differences in the HRQoL outcomes between ORC and RARC, with a return of quality of life scores to baseline scores 3 months after radical cystectomy in both cohorts. © 2014 The Authors. BJU International © 2014 BJU International.

[A boy with Meier-Gorlin syndrome carrying a novel ORC6 mutation and uniparental disomy of chromosome 16].

PubMed

Li, Juan; Ding, Yu; Chang, Guoying; Cheng, Qing; Li, Xin; Wang, Jian; Wang, Xiumin; Shen, Yiping

2017-02-10

To identify the genetic cause for a 11-year-old Chinese boy with Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS). Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) was used to detect potential variations, while whole exome sequencing (WES) was used to identify sequence variants. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm the suspected variants. The boy has featured short stature, microtia, small patella, slender body build, craniofacial anomalies, and small testes with normal gonadotropin. A complete uniparental disomy of chromosome 16 was revealed by CMA. WES has identified a novel homozygous mutation c.67A>G (p.Lys23Glu) in ORC6 gene mapped to chromosome 16. As predicted by Alamut functional software, the mutation may affect the function of structural domain of the ORC6 protein. The patient is probably the first diagnosed MGS case in China, who carried a novel homozygous mutation of the ORC6 gene and uniparental disomy of chromosome 16. The effect of this novel mutation on the growth and development needs to be further investigated.

An analytical study on the performance of the organic Rankine cycle for turbofan engine exhaust heat recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saadon, S.; Abu Talib, A. R.

2016-10-01

Due to energy shortage and global warming, issues of energy saving have become more important. To increase the energy efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption, waste heat recovery is a significant method for energy saving. The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) has great potential to recover the waste heat from the core jet exhaust of a turbofan engine and use it to produce power. Preliminary study of the design concept and thermodynamic performance of this ORC system would assist researchers to predict the benefits of using the ORC system to extract the exhaust heat engine. In addition, a mathematical model of the heat transfer of this ORC system is studied and developed. The results show that with the increment of exhaust heat temperature, the mass flow rate of the working fluid, net power output and the system thermal efficiency will also increase. Consequently, total consumption of jet fuel could be significantly saved as well.

A systematic review of the relationship between staff perceptions of organizational readiness to change and the process of innovation adoption in substance misuse treatment programs.

PubMed

Kelly, Peter; Hegarty, Josephine; Barry, Joe; Dyer, Kyle R; Horgan, Aine

2017-09-01

Translating innovation, such as contemporary research evidence, into policy and practice is a challenge, not just in substance misuse treatment programs, but across all spheres of healthcare. Organizational readiness to change (ORC) has been described as a fundamental concept, and an important determinant of the process of innovation adoption. The aim of this review was to describe the relationship between staff perceptions of ORC and the process of innovation adoption: exposure, adoption, implementation and integration into practice, in substance misuse treatment programs. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and fourteen papers were identified as being eligible for inclusion. This review was designed to include all constructs of ORC, but only one tool was used in all of the included papers. Despite this, the heterogeneity of studies in this review made a direct comparison of ORC related variables challenging. None of the included papers clearly related to one stage of the process of innovation adoption, and all of the included papers related to the early stages of the process. Only one paper attempted to measure the sustained integration of an innovation into practice. Overall, the papers were assessed as being low in terms of evidential hierarchy and the quality of the papers was assessed as being on average fair. ORC measurements provide us with a measure of organizational functioning which can be important in terms of predicting how successfully new innovations are adopted. Motivation for change was high in programs where staff identified more program deficits and these staff could also identify more specific needs, but were less likely to have exposure to new innovations. Better program resources and specific staff attributes, increase the likely hood of successful innovation adoption. A good organizational climate is potentially the strongest predictor for the adoption of new practices. It may be beneficial to measure ORC in conjunction with other variables such as program size, location, staff workloads and financial resources. More evidence is required on how to address ORC deficits once they are identified in practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Non-condensing Thermal Compression Power Generation System

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

McGrail, B. P.; Jenks, J. J.; Abrams, W. P.

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems have attracted interest for more than three decades due to advantages in operation at lower working temperature, low maintenance requirements, and relative simplicity (fewer components). In theory, these advantages should make ORC technology more economically attractive for the small and medium power scales (10 kW to 10 MW). Unfortunately, the theoretical promise of ORC systems for power generation has been realized at only a relatively small fraction of the potential market. Although there are a number of reasons for the low utilization of ORC technology, the root cause is directly tied to the relatively lowmore » heat-to-power conversion efficiency (2 to 7% typically) and high cost of specially designed expander–generator equipment that is up to 60% of total system cost. The resulting high cost of the power produced just does not make economic sense except in very specialized situations where on-site power is needed but unavailable (at any cost) or where local generation costs are well above regional averages. The overarching objective of the work presented here is to break this paradigm by developing and demonstrating a new harmonic adsorption recuperative power cycle (HARP) system that offers 40% more efficient power generation as compared with a standard ORC system and estimated electric power production costs at very competitive rates below $0.10/kWh.« less

A Non-condensing Thermal Compression Power Generation System

DOE PAGES

McGrail, B. P.; Jenks, J. J.; Abrams, W. P.; ...

2017-09-12

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems have attracted interest for more than three decades due to advantages in operation at lower working temperature, low maintenance requirements, and relative simplicity (fewer components). In theory, these advantages should make ORC technology more economically attractive for the small and medium power scales (10 kW to 10 MW). Unfortunately, the theoretical promise of ORC systems for power generation has been realized at only a relatively small fraction of the potential market. Although there are a number of reasons for the low utilization of ORC technology, the root cause is directly tied to the relatively lowmore » heat-to-power conversion efficiency (2 to 7% typically) and high cost of specially designed expander–generator equipment that is up to 60% of total system cost. The resulting high cost of the power produced just does not make economic sense except in very specialized situations where on-site power is needed but unavailable (at any cost) or where local generation costs are well above regional averages. The overarching objective of the work presented here is to break this paradigm by developing and demonstrating a new harmonic adsorption recuperative power cycle (HARP) system that offers 40% more efficient power generation as compared with a standard ORC system and estimated electric power production costs at very competitive rates below $0.10/kWh.« less

Experimental investigation of domestic micro-CHP based on the gas boiler fitted with ORC module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wajs, Jan; Mikielewicz, Dariusz; Bajor, Michał; Kneba, Zbigniew

2016-09-01

The results of investigations conducted on the prototype of vapour driven micro-CHP unit integrated with a gas boiler are presented. The system enables cogeneration of heat and electric energy to cover the energy demand of a household. The idea of such system is to produce electricity for own demand or for selling it to the electric grid - in such situation the system user will became the prosumer. A typical commercial gas boiler, additionally equipped with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) module based on environmentally acceptable working fluid can be regarded as future generation unit. In the paper the prototype of innovative domestic cogenerative ORC system, consisting of a conventional gas boiler and a small size axial vapour microturbines (in-house designed for ORC and the commercially available for Rankine cycle (RC)), evaporator and condenser were scrutinised. In the course of study the fluid working temperatures, rates of heat, electricity generation and efficiency of the whole system were obtained. The tested system could produce electricity in the amount of 1 kWe. Some preliminary tests were started with water as working fluid and the results for that case are also presented. The investigations showed that domestic gas boiler was able to provide the saturated/superheated ethanol vapour (in the ORC system) and steam (in the RC system) as working fluids.

Current Status of an Organic Rankine Cycle Engine Development Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barber, R. E.

1984-01-01

The steps taken to achieve improved bearing life in the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine being developed for use on solar parabolic dishes are presented. A summary of test results is given. Dynamic tests on the machine shaft and rotors of the ORC engine are also discussed.

Final Report: Modifications and Optimization of the Organic Rankine Cycle to Improve the Recovery of Waste Heat

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

Guillen, Donna Post; Zia, Jalal

2013-09-01

This research and development (R&D) project exemplifies a shared public private commitment to advance the development of energy efficient industrial technologies that will reduce the U.S. dependence upon foreign oil, provide energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this project was to develop and demonstrate a Direct Evaporator for the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for the conversion of waste heat from gas turbine exhaust to electricity. In conventional ORCs, the heat from the exhaust stream is transferred indirectly to a hydrocarbon based working fluid by means of an intermediate thermal oil loop. The Direct Evaporator accomplishes preheating,more » evaporation and superheating of the working fluid by a heat exchanger placed within the exhaust gas stream. Direct Evaporation is simpler and up to 15% less expensive than conventional ORCs, since the secondary oil loop and associated equipment can be eliminated. However, in the past, Direct Evaporation has been avoided due to technical challenges imposed by decomposition and flammability of the working fluid. The purpose of this project was to retire key risks and overcome the technical barriers to implementing an ORC with Direct Evaporation. R&D was conducted through a partnership between the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and General Electric (GE) Global Research Center (GRC). The project consisted of four research tasks: (1) Detailed Design & Modeling of the ORC Direct Evaporator, (2) Design and Construction of Partial Prototype Direct Evaporator Test Facility, (3) Working Fluid Decomposition Chemical Analyses, and (4) Prototype Evaluation. Issues pertinent to the selection of an ORC working fluid, along with thermodynamic and design considerations of the direct evaporator, were identified. The FMEA (Failure modes and effects analysis) and HAZOP (Hazards and operability analysis) safety studies performed to mitigate risks are described, followed by a discussion of the flammability analysis of the direct evaporator. A testbed was constructed and the prototype demonstrated at the GE GRC Niskayuna facility.« less

Application analysis of solar total energy systems to the residential sector. Volume III, conceptual design. Final report

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

Not Available

1979-07-01

The objective of the work described in this volume was to conceptualize suitable designs for solar total energy systems for the following residential market segments: single-family detached homes, single-family attached units (townhouses), low-rise apartments, and high-rise apartments. Conceptual designs for the total energy systems are based on parabolic trough collectors in conjunction with a 100 kWe organic Rankine cycle heat engine or a flat-plate, water-cooled photovoltaic array. The ORC-based systems are designed to operate as either independent (stand alone) systems that burn fossil fuel for backup electricity or as systems that purchase electricity from a utility grid for electrical backup.more » The ORC designs are classified as (1) a high temperature system designed to operate at 600/sup 0/F and (2) a low temperature system designed to operate at 300/sup 0/F. The 600/sup 0/F ORC system that purchases grid electricity as backup utilizes the thermal tracking principle and the 300/sup 0/F ORC system tracks the combined thermal and electrical loads. Reject heat from the condenser supplies thermal energy for heating and cooling. All of the ORC systems utilize fossil fuel boilers to supply backup thermal energy to both the primary (electrical generating) cycle and the secondary (thermal) cycle. Space heating is supplied by a central hot water (hydronic) system and a central absorption chiller supplies the space cooling loads. A central hot water system supplies domestic hot water. The photovoltaic system uses a central electrical vapor compression air conditioning system for space cooling, with space heating and domestic hot water provided by reject heat from the water-cooled array. All of the systems incorporate low temperature thermal storage (based on water as the storage medium) and lead--acid battery storage for electricity; in addition, the 600/sup 0/F ORC system uses a therminol-rock high temperature storage for the primary cycle. (WHK)« less

Design and test of a 10kW ORC supersonic turbine generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seume, J. R.; Peters, M.; Kunte, H.

2017-03-01

Manufactures are searching for possibilities to increase the efficiency of combustion engines by using the remaining energy of the exhaust gas. One possibility to recover some of this thermal energy is an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). For such an ORC running with ethanol, the aerothermodynamic design and test of a supersonic axial, single stage impulse turbine generator unit is described. The blade design as well as the regulation by variable partial admission is shown. Additionally the mechanical design of the directly coupled turbine generator unit including the aerodynamic sealing and the test facility is presented. Finally the results of CFD-based computations are compared to the experimental measurements. The comparison shows a remarkably good agreement between the numerical computations and the test data.

Zebrafish cdc6 hypomorphic mutation causes Meier-Gorlin syndrome-like phenotype.

PubMed

Yao, Likun; Chen, Jing; Wu, Xiaotong; Jia, Shunji; Meng, Anming

2017-11-01

Cell Division Cycle 6 (Cdc6) is a component of pre-replicative complex (preRC) forming on DNA replication origins in eukaryotes. Recessive mutations in ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1 or CDC6 of the preRC in human cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) that is characterized by impaired post-natal growth, short stature and microcephaly. However, vertebrate models of MGS have not been reported. Through N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis and Cas9 knockout, we generate several cdc6 mutant lines in zebrafish. Loss-of-function mutations of cdc6, as manifested by cdc6tsu4305 and cdc6tsu7cd mutants, lead to embryonic lethality due to cell cycle arrest at the S phase and extensive apoptosis. Embryos homozygous for a cdc6 hypomorphic mutation, cdc6tsu21cd, develop normally during embryogenesis. Later on, compared with their wild-type (WT) siblings, cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish show growth retardation, and their body weight and length in adulthood are greatly reduced, which resemble human MGS. Surprisingly, cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish become males with a short life and fail to mate with WT females, suggesting defective reproduction. Overexpression of Cdc6 mutant forms, which mimic human CDC6(T323R) mutation found in a MGS patient, in zebrafish cdc6tsu4305 mutant embryos partially represses cell death phenotype, suggesting that the human CDC6(T323R) mutation is a hypomorph. cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish will be useful to detect more tissue defects and develop medical treatment strategies for MGS patients. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Waste Heat-to-Power Using Scroll Expander for Organic Rankine Bottoming Cycle

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

Dieckmann, John; Smutzer, Chad; Sinha, Jayanti

The objective of this program was to develop a novel, scalable scroll expander for conversion of waste heat to power; this was accomplished and demonstrated in both a bench-scale system as well as a full-scale system. The expander is a key component in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) waste heat recovery systems which are used to convert medium-grade waste heat to electric power in a wide range of industries. These types of waste heat recovery systems allow for the capture of energy that would otherwise just be exhausted to the atmosphere. A scroll expander has the benefit over other technologies ofmore » having high efficiency over a broad range of operating conditions. The speed range of the TIAX expander (1,200 to 3,600 RPM) enables the shaft power output to directly drive an electric generator and produce 60 Hz electric power without incurring the equipment costs or losses of electronic power conversion. This greatly simplifies integration with the plant electric infrastructure. The TIAX scroll expander will reduce the size, cost, and complexity of a small-scale waste heat recovery system, while increasing the system efficiency compared to the prevailing ORC technologies at similar scale. During this project, TIAX demonstrated the scroll expander in a bench-scale test setup to have isentropic efficiency of 70-75% and operated it successfully for ~200 hours with minimal wear. This same expander was then installed in a complete ORC system driven by a medium grade waste heat source to generate 5-7 kW of electrical power. Due to funding constraints, TIAX was unable to complete this phase of testing, although the initial results were promising and demonstrated the potential of the technology.« less

Zebrafish cdc6 hypomorphic mutation causes Meier-Gorlin syndrome-like phenotype

PubMed Central

Yao, Likun; Chen, Jing; Wu, Xiaotong; Jia, Shunji; Meng, Anming

2017-01-01

Abstract Cell Division Cycle 6 (Cdc6) is a component of pre-replicative complex (preRC) forming on DNA replication origins in eukaryotes. Recessive mutations in ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1 or CDC6 of the preRC in human cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) that is characterized by impaired post-natal growth, short stature and microcephaly. However, vertebrate models of MGS have not been reported. Through N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis and Cas9 knockout, we generate several cdc6 mutant lines in zebrafish. Loss-of-function mutations of cdc6, as manifested by cdc6tsu4305 and cdc6tsu7cd mutants, lead to embryonic lethality due to cell cycle arrest at the S phase and extensive apoptosis. Embryos homozygous for a cdc6 hypomorphic mutation, cdc6tsu21cd, develop normally during embryogenesis. Later on, compared with their wild-type (WT) siblings, cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish show growth retardation, and their body weight and length in adulthood are greatly reduced, which resemble human MGS. Surprisingly, cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish become males with a short life and fail to mate with WT females, suggesting defective reproduction. Overexpression of Cdc6 mutant forms, which mimic human CDC6(T323R) mutation found in a MGS patient, in zebrafish cdc6tsu4305 mutant embryos partially represses cell death phenotype, suggesting that the human CDC6(T323R) mutation is a hypomorph. cdc6tsu21cd mutant fish will be useful to detect more tissue defects and develop medical treatment strategies for MGS patients. PMID:28985365

Prospective and randomised evaluation of the protease-modulating effect of oxidised regenerated cellulose/collagen matrix treatment in pressure sore ulcers.

PubMed

Kloeters, Oliver; Unglaub, Frank; de Laat, Erik; van Abeelen, Marjolijn; Ulrich, Dietmar

2016-12-01

In chronic wounds, excess levels and activity of proteases such as elastase and plasmin have been detected. Oxidised regenerated cellulose/collagen matrix (ORC/collagen matrix) has been reported to ameliorate the wound microenvironment by binding and inactivating excess proteases in wound exudates. In this study, the levels and activity of elastase and plasmin in wound exudates of pressure sore ulcers were measured to determine the beneficial effect of ORC/collagen matrix treatment compared with control treatment with a foam dressing. A total of 33 patients with pressure sores were enrolled in the study and were followed up for 12 weeks after treatment. Ten control patients were treated with a foam hydropolymer dressing (TIELLE ® , Systagenix), and the remaining 23 patients were treated with ORC/collagen matrix plus the foam dressing (TIELLE ® , Systagenix) on top. Wound assessments were carried out over 12 weeks on a weekly basis, with dressing changes twice a week. Ulcers were photographed and wound exudates were collected on admission and at days 5, 14 and then every 14 days to provide a visual record of any changes in appearance of the ulcer and healing rate and for biochemical analysis of the wound. The levels and activity of elastase and plasmin were measured in wound exudates. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc test with P-values <0·05 considered to be significant. Compared with controls, ORC/collagen matrix-treated pressure sore wounds showed a significant faster healing rate, which positively correlated with a decreased activity of elastase and plasmin in wound exudates. No signs of infection or intolerance to the ORC/collagen matrix were observed. © 2015 Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exergy analysis of biomass organic Rankine cycle for power generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, T. B.; Sunoto

2018-02-01

The study examines proposed small biomass-fed Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plant through exergy analysis. The system consists of combustion burner unit to utilize biomass as fuel, and organic Rankine cycle unit to produce power from the expander. The heat from combustion burner was transfered by thermal oil heater to evaporate ORC working fluid in the evaporator part. The effects of adding recuperator into exergy destruction were investigated. Furthermore, the results of the variations of system configurations with different operating parameters, such as the evaporating pressures, ambient temperatures, and expander pressures were analyzed. It was found that the largest exergy destruction occurs during processes are at combustion part, followed by evaporator, condenser, expander, and pump. The ORC system equipped with a recuperator unit exhibited good operational characteristics under wide range conditions compared to the one without recuperator.

Predicting and priming thematic roles: Flexible use of verbal and nonverbal cues during relative clause comprehension.

PubMed

Kowalski, Alix; Huang, Yi Ting

2017-09-01

Relative-clause sentences (RCs) have been a key test case for psycholinguistic models of comprehension. While object-relative clauses (e.g., ORCs: "The bear that the horse . . .") are distinguished from subject-relative clauses (SRCs) after the second noun phrase (NP2; e.g., SRCs: "The bear that pushed . . ."), role assignments are often delayed until the embedded verb (e.g., ". . . pushed ate the sandwich"). This contrasts with overwhelming evidence of incremental role assignment in other garden-path sentences. The current study investigates how contextual factors modulate reliance on verbal and nonverbal cues. Using a visual-world paradigm, participants saw preceding discourse contexts that highlighted relevant roles within events (e.g., pusher, pushee). Nevertheless, role assignment for ORCs remained delayed until the embedded verb (Experiment 1). However, role assignment for ORCs occurred before the embedded verb when additional linguistic input was provided by an adverb (Experiment 2). Finally, when the likelihood of encountering RCs increased within the experimental context, role immediate assignment for ORCs was observed after NP2 (Experiment 3). Together, these findings suggest that real-time role assignment often prefers verbal cues, but can also flexibly adapt to the statistical properties of the local context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Immunospecificity of albumin detected in 1.6 million-year-old fossils from Venta Micena in Orce, Granada, Spain.

PubMed

Borja, C; García-Pacheco, M; Olivares, E G; Scheuenstuhl, G; Lowenstein, J M

1997-08-01

The Orce skull fragment from southern Spain, dated at 1.6 Myr, has been a subject of heated controversy since it was first discovered in 1982. If it is hominid, as its discoverers contend, it is by far the oldest fossil hominid yet found in western Europe and implies that human populations settled this region much earlier than was previously realized. Numerous stone artifacts found at the Orce sites provide evidence that hominids were indeed present there in the Lower Pleistocene. Some paleontologists maintain that the 8 cm diameter occipital fragment is from a horse, not a hominid. Two independent investigations of the residual proteins in the skull were undertaken, one at the University of Granada in Spain, the other at the University of California, San Francisco. Two immunological methods of comparable sensitivity were employed for detection and species attribution of protein extracted from fossil bone: the Granada team used an enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the UCSF team used a radioimmunoassay (RIA). Both teams obtained reactions characteristic of human albumin in the Orce skull and horse albumin in some of the horse fossils. These results support the lithic evidence that hominids were living in Andalusia 1.6 million years ago.

Integrated biomass pyrolysis with organic Rankine cycle for power generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, T. B.; Syahputra, A. W.

2018-02-01

The growing interest on Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) application to produce electricity by utilizing biomass energy sources are increasingly due to its successfully used to generate power from waste heat available in industrial processes. Biomass pyrolysis is one of the thermochemical technologies for converting biomass into energy and chemical products consisting of liquid bio-oil, solid biochar, and pyrolytic gas. In the application, biomass pyrolysis can be divided into three main categories; slow, fast and flash pyrolysis mainly aiming at maximizing the products of bio-oil or biochar. The temperature of synthesis gas generated during processes can be used for Organic Rankine Cycle to generate power. The heat from synthesis gas during pyrolysis processes was transfer by thermal oil heater to evaporate ORC working fluid in the evaporator unit. In this study, the potential of the palm oil empty fruit bunch, palm oil shell, and tree bark have been used as fuel from biomass to generate electricity by integrated with ORC. The Syltherm-XLT thermal oil was used as the heat carrier from combustion burner, while R245fa was used as the working fluid for ORC system. Through Aspen Plus, this study analyses the influences on performance of main thermodynamic parameters, showing the possibilities of reaching an optimum performance for different working conditions that are characteristics of different design parameters.

Systematic review and cumulative analysis of oncologic and functional outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy.

PubMed

Yuh, Bertram; Wilson, Timothy; Bochner, Bernie; Chan, Kevin; Palou, Joan; Stenzl, Arnulf; Montorsi, Francesco; Thalmann, George; Guru, Khurshid; Catto, James W F; Wiklund, Peter N; Novara, Giacomo

2015-03-01

Although open radical cystectomy (ORC) is still the standard approach, laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) and robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) are increasingly performed. To report on a systematic literature review and cumulative analysis of pathologic, oncologic, and functional outcomes of RARC in comparison with ORC and LRC. Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched using a free-text protocol including the terms robot-assisted radical cystectomy or da Vinci radical cystectomy or robot* radical cystectomy. RARC case series and studies comparing RARC with either ORC or LRC were collected. A cumulative analysis was conducted. The searches retrieved 105 papers, 87 of which reported on pathologic, oncologic, or functional outcomes. Most series were retrospective and had small case numbers, short follow-up, and potential patient selection bias. The lymph node yield during lymph node dissection was 19 (range: 3-55), with half of the series following an extended template (yield range: 11-55). The lymph node-positive rate was 22%. The performance of lymphadenectomy was correlated with surgeon and institutional volume. Cumulative analyses showed no significant difference in lymph node yield between RARC and ORC. Positive surgical margin (PSM) rates were 5.6% (1-1.5% in pT2 disease and 0-25% in pT3 and higher disease). PSM rates did not appear to decrease with sequential case numbers. Cumulative analyses showed no significant difference in rates of surgical margins between RARC and ORC or RARC and LRC. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy use ranged from 0% to 31%, with adjuvant chemotherapy used in 4-29% of patients. Only six series reported a mean follow-up of >36 mo. Three-year disease-free survival (DFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) rates were 67-76%, 68-83%, and 61-80%, respectively. The 5-yr DFS, CSS, and OS rates were 53-74%, 66-80%, and 39-66%, respectively. Similar to ORC, disease of higher pathologic stage or evidence of lymph node involvement was associated with worse survival. Very limited data were available with respect to functional outcomes. The 12-mo continence rates with continent diversion were 83-100% in men for daytime continence and 66-76% for nighttime continence. In one series, potency was recovered in 63% of patients who were evaluable at 12 mo. Oncologic and functional data from RARC remain immature, and longer-term prospective studies are needed. Cumulative analyses demonstrated that lymph node yields and PSM rates were similar between RARC and ORC. Conclusive long-term survival outcomes for RARC were limited, although oncologic outcomes up to 5 yr were similar to those reported for ORC. Although open radical cystectomy (RC) is still regarded as the standard treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, laparoscopic and robot-assisted RCs are becoming more popular. Templates of lymph node dissection, lymph node yields, and positive surgical margin rates are acceptable with robot-assisted RC. Although definitive comparisons with open RC with respect to oncologic or functional outcomes are lacking, early results appear comparable. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journey of oocyte from metaphase-I to metaphase-II stage in mammals.

PubMed

Sharma, Alka; Tiwari, Meenakshi; Gupta, Anumegha; Pandey, Ashutosh N; Yadav, Pramod K; Chaube, Shail K

2018-08-01

In mammals, journey from metaphase-I (M-I) to metaphase-II (M-II) is important since oocyte extrude first polar body (PB-I) and gets converted into haploid gamete. The molecular and cellular changes associated with meiotic cell cycle progression from M-I to M-II stage and extrusion of PB-I remain ill understood. Several factors drive oocyte meiosis from M-I to M-II stage. The mitogen-activated protein kinase3/1 (MAPK3/1), signal molecules and Rho family GTPases act through various pathways to drive cell cycle progression from M-I to M-II stage. The down regulation of MOS/MEK/MAPK3/1 pathway results in the activation of anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). The active APC/C destabilizes maturation promoting factor (MPF) and induces meiotic resumption. Several signal molecules such as, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK2), SENP3, mitotic kinesin-like protein 2 (MKlp2), regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS2), Epsin2, polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) are directly or indirectly involved in chromosomal segregation. Rho family GTPase is another enzyme that along with cell division cycle (Cdc42) to form actomyosin contractile ring required for chromosomal segregation. In the presence of origin recognition complex (ORC4), eccentrically localized haploid set of chromosomes trigger cortex differentiation and determine the division site for polar body formation. The actomyosin contractile activity at the site of division plane helps to form cytokinetic furrow that results in the formation and extrusion of PB-I. Indeed, oocyte journey from M-I to M-II stage is coordinated by several factors and pathways that enable oocyte to extrude PB-I. Quality of oocyte directly impact fertilization rate, early embryonic development, and reproductive outcome in mammals. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Protocol for development and validation of a context-appropriate tool for assessing organisational readiness for change in primary health clinics in South Africa

PubMed Central

Sorsdahl, Katherine; Lombard, Carl; Petersen-Williams, Petal; Myers, Bronwyn

2018-01-01

Introduction A large treatment gap for common mental disorders (such as depression) exists in South Africa. Comorbidity with other chronic diseases, including HIV and diseases of lifestyle, is an increasing public health concern globally. Currently, primary health facilities as points of care for those with chronic disease provide limited services for common mental disorders. Assessing organisational readiness for change (ORC) towards adopting health innovations (such as mental health services) using contextually appropriate measures is needed to facilitate implementation of these services. This study aims to investigate the validity of the Texas Christian University Organisational Readiness for Change (TCU-ORC) scale in the South African context. Subsequently, we will develop a shortened version of this scale. This study is nested within Project MIND, a multiyear randomised controlled trial that is testing two different approaches for integrating counselling for common mental disorders into chronic disease care. Although the modified, contextually appropriate ORC measure resulting from the proposed study will be developed in the context of integrating mental health into primary healthcare services, the potential for the tool to be generalised to further understanding barriers to any change being implemented in primary care settings is high. Methods and analysis We will establish internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) and construct validity of the long-form TCU-ORC questionnaire. Survey data will be collected from 288 clinical, management and operational staff from 24 primary health facilities where the Project MIND trial is implemented. A modified Delphi approach will assess the content validity of the TCU-ORC items and identify areas for potential adaptation and item reduction. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by the South African Medical Research Council (Protocol ID EC004-2-2015, amendment of 20 August 2017). Results will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals relevant to implementation and health systems strengthening. PMID:29632084

Conversion of Low Quality Waste Heat to Electric Power with Small-Scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Engine/Generator Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

Allan Robichaux, DPW PWD GTMO and the management and staff of the GTMO on site contractor , Centerra. Page Intentionally Left Blank ii Table of...operations and maintenance contractor to ensure that data transfers are completed as required. Figure 4 shows the location of the ORC installation on MUSE...this issue with telephone support from CRM’s controls contractor (Winn-Marion, W-M); however, the problem remained unresolved as of Sept. 1 when

EEG asymmetry at 10 months of age: are temperament trait predictors different for boys and girls?

PubMed

Gartstein, Maria A; Bell, Martha Ann; Calkins, Susan D

2014-09-01

Frontal EEG asymmetry patterns represent markers of individual differences in emotion reactivity and regulation, with right hemisphere activation linked with withdrawal behaviors/emotions (e.g., fear), and activation of the left hemisphere associated with approach (e.g., joy, anger). In the present study, gender was examined as a potential moderator of links between infant temperament at 5 months, and frontal EEG asymmetry patterns recorded during an Arm Restraint procedure at 10 months of age. Positive Affectivity/Surgency (PAS), Negative Emotionality (NE), and Orienting/Regulatory Capacity (ORC) were considered as predictors, with PAS emerging as significant for males; higher levels translating into greater right-frontal activation later in infancy. For females, ORC accounted for a significant portion of the frontal asymmetry scores, with higher ORC being associated with greater right-frontal activation. The moderating influence of gender noted in this study is discussed in the context of implications for discrepancies in rates/symptoms of psychopathology later in childhood. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genome-wide Analysis Reveals Extensive Functional Interaction between DNA Replication Initiation and Transcription in the Genome of Trypanosoma brucei

PubMed Central

Tiengwe, Calvin; Marcello, Lucio; Farr, Helen; Dickens, Nicholas; Kelly, Steven; Swiderski, Michal; Vaughan, Diane; Gull, Keith; Barry, J. David; Bell, Stephen D.; McCulloch, Richard

2012-01-01

Summary Identification of replication initiation sites, termed origins, is a crucial step in understanding genome transmission in any organism. Transcription of the Trypanosoma brucei genome is highly unusual, with each chromosome comprising a few discrete transcription units. To understand how DNA replication occurs in the context of such organization, we have performed genome-wide mapping of the binding sites of the replication initiator ORC1/CDC6 and have identified replication origins, revealing that both localize to the boundaries of the transcription units. A remarkably small number of active origins is seen, whose spacing is greater than in any other eukaryote. We show that replication and transcription in T. brucei have a profound functional overlap, as reducing ORC1/CDC6 levels leads to genome-wide increases in mRNA levels arising from the boundaries of the transcription units. In addition, ORC1/CDC6 loss causes derepression of silent Variant Surface Glycoprotein genes, which are critical for host immune evasion. PMID:22840408

The Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch (ORCED) Model Version 9

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

Hadley, Stanton W.; Baek, Young Sun

The Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch (ORCED) model dispatches power plants in a region to meet the electricity demands for any single given year up to 2030. It uses publicly available sources of data describing electric power units such as the National Energy Modeling System and hourly demands from utility submittals to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that are projected to a future year. The model simulates a single region of the country for a given year, matching generation to demands and predefined net exports from the region, assuming no transmission constraints within the region. ORCED can calculate a numbermore » of key financial and operating parameters for generating units and regional market outputs including average and marginal prices, air emissions, and generation adequacy. By running the model with and without changes such as generation plants, fuel prices, emission costs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, distributed generation, or demand response, the marginal impact of these changes can be found.« less

Organic Rankine cycle - review and research directions in engine applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panesar, Angad

2017-11-01

Waste heat to power conversion using Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) is expected to play an important role in CO2 reductions from diesel engines. Firstly, a review of automotive ORCs is presented focusing on the pure working fluids, thermal architectures and expanders. The discussion includes, but is not limited to: R245fa, ethanol and water as fluids; series, parallel and cascade as architectures; dry saturated, superheated and supercritical as expansion conditions; and scroll, radial turbine and piston as expansion machines. Secondly, research direction in versatile expander and holistic architecture (NOx + CO2) are proposed. Benefits of using the proposed unconventional approaches are quantified using Ricardo Wave and Aspen HYSYS for diesel engine and ORC modelling. Results indicate that, the implementation of versatile piston expander tolerant to two-phase and using cyclopentane can potentially increase the highway drive cycle power by 8%. Furthermore, holistic architecture offering complete utilisation of charge air and exhaust recirculation heat increased the performance noticeably to 5% of engine power at the design point condition.

Study of toluene stability for an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) space-based power system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Havens, Vance; Ragaller, Dana

1988-01-01

The design, fabrication, assembly, and endurance operation of a dynamic test loop, built to evaluate the thermal stability of a proposed Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) working fluid, is discussed. The test fluid, toluene, was circulated through a heater, simulated turbine, regenerator, condenser and pump to duplicate an actual ORC system. The maximum nominal fluid temperature, 750 F, was at the turbine simulator inlet. Samples of noncondensible gases and liquid toluene were taken periodically during the test. The samples were analyzed to identify the degradation products formed and the quantity of these products. From these data it was possible to determine the degradation rate of the working fluid and the generation rate of noncondensible gases. A further goal of this work was to relate the degradation observed in the dynamic operating loop to degradation obtained in isothermal capsule tests. This relationship was the basis for estimating the power loop degradation in the Space Station Organic Rankine Cycle system.

The simulation of organic rankine cycle power plant with n-pentane working fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurhilal, Otong; Mulyana, Cukup; Suhendi, Nendi; Sapdiana, Didi

2016-02-01

In the steam power plant in Indonesia the dry steam from separator directly used to drive the turbin. Meanwhile, brine from the separator with low grade temperature reinjected to the earth. The brine with low grade temperature can be converted indirectly to electrical power by organic Rankine cycle (ORC) methods. In ORC power plant the steam are released from vaporization of organic working fluid by brine. The steam released are used to drive an turbine which in connected to generator to convert the mechanical energy into electric energy. The objective of this research is the simulation ORC power plant with n-pentane as organic working fluid. The result of the simulation for brine temperature around 165°C and the pressure 8.001 bar optained the net electric power around 1173 kW with the cycle thermal efficiency 14.61% and the flow rate of n-pentane around 15.51 kg/s. This result enable to applied in any geothermal source in Indonesia.

Identification and characterization of ARS-like sequences as putative origin(s) of replication in human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

PubMed

Agarwal, Meetu; Bhowmick, Krishanu; Shah, Kushal; Krishnamachari, Annangarachari; Dhar, Suman Kumar

2017-08-01

DNA replication is a fundamental process in genome maintenance, and initiates from several genomic sites (origins) in eukaryotes. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, conserved sequences known as autonomously replicating sequences (ARSs) provide a landing pad for the origin recognition complex (ORC), leading to replication initiation. Although origins from higher eukaryotes share some common sequence features, the definitive genomic organization of these sites remains elusive. The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum undergoes multiple rounds of DNA replication; therefore, control of initiation events is crucial to ensure proper replication. However, the sites of DNA replication initiation and the mechanism by which replication is initiated are poorly understood. Here, we have identified and characterized putative origins in P. falciparum by bioinformatics analyses and experimental approaches. An autocorrelation measure method was initially used to search for regions with marked fluctuation (dips) in the chromosome, which we hypothesized might contain potential origins. Indeed, S. cerevisiae ARS consensus sequences were found in dip regions. Several of these P. falciparum sequences were validated with chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR, nascent strand abundance and a plasmid stability assay. Subsequently, the same sequences were used in yeast to confirm their potential as origins in vivo. Our results identify the presence of functional ARSs in P. falciparum and provide meaningful insights into replication origins in these deadly parasites. These data could be useful in designing transgenic vectors with improved stability for transfection in P. falciparum. © 2017 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Use of rectus sheath catheters for pain relief in patients undergoing major pelvic urological surgery.

PubMed

Dutton, Thomas J; McGrath, John S; Daugherty, Mark O

2014-02-01

To report on the safety and efficacy of rectus sheath blocks, 'topped-up' using bilateral rectus sheath catheters (RSCs), in patients undergoing major open urological surgery. The RSCs were inserted under ultrasound guidance into 200 patients between April 2008 and August 2011, of whom 106 patients underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) and 94 underwent open radical cystectomy (ORC). A retrospective case-note review was undertaken. Outcomes included technical success and complication rates of the insertion and use of RSC, visual analogue pain scores, additional analgesia requirements and length of hospital stay (LOS). All RSCs were successfully placed without complication and used for a mean of 3.6 days for ORC and 2.1 days for RRP. Early removal occurred in 6.49% of patients. Low overall pain scores were reported in both groups. Patients were more likely to require a patient-controlled analgesia system in the ORC group but the overall need for additional analgesia was low in both groups, reducing significantly after the initial 24 h. In combination with an enhanced recovery programme, LOS reduced from 17.0 to 10.8 days in the ORC group and from 6.2 to 2.8 days in the RRP group. The use of RSCs appears to offer an effective and safe method of peri-operative analgesia in patients undergoing major open urological pelvic surgery. © 2013 The Authors. BJU International © 2013 BJU International.

Thermodynamic and design considerations of organic Rankine cycles in combined application with a solar thermal gas turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braun, R.; Kusterer, K.; Sugimoto, T.; Tanimura, K.; Bohn, D.

2013-12-01

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies are considered to provide a significant contribution for the electric power production in the future. Different kinds of technologies are presently in operation or under development, e.g. parabolic troughs, central receivers, solar dish systems and Fresnel reflectors. This paper takes the focus on central receiver technologies, where the solar radiation is concentrated by a field of heliostats in a receiver on the top of a tall tower. To get this CSP technology ready for the future, the system costs have to reduce significantly. The main cost driver in such kind of CSP technologies are the huge amount of heliostats. To reduce the amount of heliostats, and so the investment costs, the efficiency of the energy conversion cycle becomes an important issue. An increase in the cycle efficiency results in a decrease of the solar heliostat field and thus, in a significant cost reduction. The paper presents the results of a thermodynamic model of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for combined cycle application together with a solar thermal gas turbine. The gas turbine cycle is modeled with an additional intercooler and recuperator and is based on a typical industrial gas turbine in the 2 MW class. The gas turbine has a two stage radial compressor and a three stage axial turbine. The compressed air is preheated within a solar receiver to 950°C before entering the combustor. A hybrid operation of the gas turbine is considered. In order to achieve a further increase of the overall efficiency, the combined operation of the gas turbine and an Organic Rankine Cycle is considered. Therefore an ORC has been set up, which is thermally connected to the gas turbine cycle at two positions. The ORC can be coupled to the solar-thermal gas turbine cycle at the intercooler and after the recuperator. Thus, waste heat from different cycle positions can be transferred to the ORC for additional production of electricity. Within this investigation different working fluids and ORC conditions have been analyzed in order to evaluate the best configuration. The investigations have been performed by application of improved thermodynamic and process analysis tools, which consider the real gas behavior of the analyzed fluids. The results show that by combined operation of the solar thermal gas turbine and the ORC, the combined cycle efficiency is approximately 4%-points higher than in the solar-thermal gas turbine cycle.

Eye-Tracking and Corpus-Based Analyses of Syntax-Semantics Interactions in Complement Coercion

PubMed Central

Lowder, Matthew W.; Gordon, Peter C.

2016-01-01

Previous work has shown that the difficulty associated with processing complex semantic expressions is reduced when the critical constituents appear in separate clauses as opposed to when they appear together in the same clause. We investigated this effect further, focusing in particular on complement coercion, in which an event-selecting verb (e.g., began) combines with a complement that represents an entity (e.g., began the memo). Experiment 1 compared reading times for coercion versus control expressions when the critical verb and complement appeared together in a subject-extracted relative clause (SRC) (e.g., The secretary that began/wrote the memo) compared to when they appeared together in a simple sentence. Readers spent more time processing coercion expressions than control expressions, replicating the typical coercion cost. In addition, readers spent less time processing the verb and complement in SRCs than in simple sentences; however, the magnitude of the coercion cost did not depend on sentence structure. In contrast, Experiment 2 showed that the coercion cost was reduced when the complement appeared as the head of an object-extracted relative clause (ORC) (e.g., The memo that the secretary began/wrote) compared to when the constituents appeared together in an SRC. Consistent with the eye-tracking results of Experiment 2, a corpus analysis showed that expressions requiring complement coercion are more frequent when the constituents are separated by the clause boundary of an ORC compared to when they are embedded together within an SRC. The results provide important information about the types of structural configurations that contribute to reduced difficulty with complex semantic expressions, as well as how these processing patterns are reflected in naturally occurring language. PMID:28529960

Recent Advances in Insect Olfaction, Specifically Regarding the Morphology and Sensory Physiology of Antennal Sensilla of the Female Sphinx Moth Manduca sexta

PubMed Central

SHIELDS, VONNIE D.C.; HILDEBRAND, JOHN G.

2008-01-01

The antennal flagellum of female Manduca sexta bears eight sensillum types: two trichoid, two basiconic, one auriculate, two coeloconic, and one styliform complex sensilla. The first type of trichoid sensillum averages 34 μm in length and is innervated by two sensory cells. The second type averages 26 μm in length and is innervated by either one or three sensory cells. The first type of basiconic sensillum averages 22 μm in length, while the second type averages 15 μm in length. Both types are innervated by three bipolar sensory cells. The auriculate sensillum averages 4 μm in length and is innervated by two bipolar sensory cells. The coeloconic type-A and type-B both average 2 μm in length. The former type is innervated by five bipolar sensory cells, while the latter type, by three bipolar sensory cells. The styliform complex sensillum occurs singly on each annulus and averages 38-40 μm in length. It is formed by several contiguous sensilla. Each unit is innervated by three bipolar sensory cells. A total of 2,216 sensilla were found on a single annulus (annulus 21) of the flagellum. Electrophysiological responses from type-A trichoid sensilla to a large panel of volatile odorants revealed three different subsets of olfactory receptor cells (ORCs). Two subsets responded strongly to only a narrow range of odorants, while the third responded strongly to a broad range of odorants. Anterograde labeling of ORCs from type-A trichoid sensilla revealed that their axons projected mainly to two large female glomeruli of the antennal lobe. PMID:11754510

Protocol for development and validation of a context-appropriate tool for assessing organisational readiness for change in primary health clinics in South Africa.

PubMed

Brooke-Sumner, Carrie; Sorsdahl, Katherine; Lombard, Carl; Petersen-Williams, Petal; Myers, Bronwyn

2018-04-09

A large treatment gap for common mental disorders (such as depression) exists in South Africa. Comorbidity with other chronic diseases, including HIV and diseases of lifestyle, is an increasing public health concern globally. Currently, primary health facilities as points of care for those with chronic disease provide limited services for common mental disorders. Assessing organisational readiness for change (ORC) towards adopting health innovations (such as mental health services) using contextually appropriate measures is needed to facilitate implementation of these services. This study aims to investigate the validity of the Texas Christian University Organisational Readiness for Change (TCU-ORC) scale in the South African context. Subsequently, we will develop a shortened version of this scale. This study is nested within Project MIND, a multiyear randomised controlled trial that is testing two different approaches for integrating counselling for common mental disorders into chronic disease care. Although the modified, contextually appropriate ORC measure resulting from the proposed study will be developed in the context of integrating mental health into primary healthcare services, the potential for the tool to be generalised to further understanding barriers to any change being implemented in primary care settings is high. We will establish internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficients), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) and construct validity of the long-form TCU-ORC questionnaire. Survey data will be collected from 288 clinical, management and operational staff from 24 primary health facilities where the Project MIND trial is implemented. A modified Delphi approach will assess the content validity of the TCU-ORC items and identify areas for potential adaptation and item reduction. Ethical approval has been granted by the South African Medical Research Council (Protocol ID EC004-2-2015, amendment of 20 August 2017). Results will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals relevant to implementation and health systems strengthening. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Quantification of the optical surface reflection and surface roughness of articular cartilage using optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saarakkala, Simo; Wang, Shu-Zhe; Huang, Yan-Ping; Zheng, Yong-Ping

2009-11-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising new technique for characterizing the structural changes of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis (OA). The calculation of quantitative parameters from the OCT signal is an important step to develop OCT as an effective diagnostic technique. In this study, two novel parameters for the quantification of optical surface reflection and surface roughness from OCT measurements are introduced: optical surface reflection coefficient (ORC), describing the amount of a ratio of the optical reflection from cartilage surface with respect to that from a reference material, and OCT roughness index (ORI) indicating the smoothness of the cartilage surface. The sensitivity of ORC and ORI to detect changes in bovine articular cartilage samples after enzymatic degradations of collagen and proteoglycans using collagenase and trypsin enzymes, respectively, was tested in vitro. A significant decrease (p < 0.001) in ORC as well as a significant increase (p < 0.001) in ORI was observed after collagenase digestion. After trypsin digestion, no significant changes in ORC or ORI were observed. To conclude, the new parameters introduced were demonstrated to be feasible and sensitive to detect typical OA-like degenerative changes in the collagen network. From the clinical point of view, the quantification of OCT measurements is of great interest since OCT probes have been already miniaturized and applied in patient studies during arthroscopy or open knee surgery in vivo. Further studies are still necessary to demonstrate the clinical capability of the introduced parameters for naturally occurring early OA changes in the cartilage.

The effect of dense gas dynamics on loss in ORC transonic turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durá Galiana, FJ; Wheeler, APS; Ong, J.; Ventura, CA de M.

2017-03-01

This paper describes a number of recent investigations into the effect of dense gas dynamics on ORC transonic turbine performance. We describe a combination of experimental, analytical and computational studies which are used to determine how, in-particular, trailing-edge loss changes with choice of working fluid. A Ludwieg tube transient wind-tunnel is used to simulate a supersonic base flow which mimics an ORC turbine vane trailing-edge flow. Experimental measurements of wake profiles and trailing-edge base pressure with different working fluids are used to validate high-order CFD simulations. In order to capture the correct mixing in the base region, Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) are performed and verified against the experimental data by comparing the LES with different spatial and temporal resolutions. RANS and Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) are also compared with experimental data. The effect of different modelling methods and working fluid on mixed-out loss is then determined. Current results point at LES predicting the closest agreement with experimental results, and dense gas effects are consistently predicted to increase loss.

A novel endobronchial approach to massive hemoptysis complicating silicone Y-stent placement for tracheobronchomalacia: A case report.

PubMed

Ryu, Changwan; Boffa, Daniel; Bramley, Kyle; Pisani, Margaret; Puchalski, Jonathan

2018-02-01

Airway stabilization for severe, symptomatic tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) may be accomplished by silicone Y-stent placement. Common complications of the Y-stent include mucus plugging and granulation tissue formation. We describe a rare case of massive hemoptysis originating from a silicone Y-stent placed for TBM. An emergent bronchoscopy showed an actively bleeding, pulsatile vessel at the distal end of the left bronchial limb of the Y-stent. It was felt that the bleeding was caused by, or at least impacted by, the distal left bronchial limb of the Y-stent eroding into the airway wall. We hypothesized that placement of oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) would provide initial hemostasis, and the subsequent placement of a biocompatible surgical sealant would lead to definitive resolution. ORC provided sufficient hemostasis and the subsequent synthetic polymer reinforced the tissue for complete cessation of the bleed. The combined use of ORC and a biocompatible surgical sealant provided long-term management for life-threatening hemoptysis, and potentially morbid procedures such as embolization or surgery were avoided by advanced endobronchial therapy.

A novel endobronchial approach to massive hemoptysis complicating silicone Y-stent placement for tracheobronchomalacia

PubMed Central

Ryu, Changwan; Boffa, Daniel; Bramley, Kyle; Pisani, Margaret; Puchalski, Jonathan

2018-01-01

Abstract Rationale: Airway stabilization for severe, symptomatic tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) may be accomplished by silicone Y-stent placement. Common complications of the Y-stent include mucus plugging and granulation tissue formation. Patient concerns: We describe a rare case of massive hemoptysis originating from a silicone Y-stent placed for TBM. Diagnoses: An emergent bronchoscopy showed an actively bleeding, pulsatile vessel at the distal end of the left bronchial limb of the Y-stent. It was felt that the bleeding was caused by, or at least impacted by, the distal left bronchial limb of the Y-stent eroding into the airway wall. Interventions: We hypothesized that placement of oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) would provide initial hemostasis, and the subsequent placement of a biocompatible surgical sealant would lead to definitive resolution. Outcomes: ORC provided sufficient hemostasis and the subsequent synthetic polymer reinforced the tissue for complete cessation of the bleed. Lessons: The combined use of ORC and a biocompatible surgical sealant provided long-term management for life-threatening hemoptysis, and potentially morbid procedures such as embolization or surgery were avoided by advanced endobronchial therapy. PMID:29465600

Redefining the school nurse role: an organizational perspective.

PubMed

Chabot, Guylaine; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Godin, Gaston

2012-01-01

This paper aims to identify organizational readiness for change towards adoption of a redefined role of the school nurse as a strategic option in the context of a health promoting school approach. This new role is consistent with planned change directed at life habits and life conditions. A questionnaire based on a modified version of the organizational readiness for change (ORC) framework was e-mailed to 122 top and middle managers (response rate of 74 percent) in 42 local health organizations in the Province of Quebec, Canada, during the fall of 2009. In total, 90 percent of participants perceived the proposed role as a solution to fulfil their school health program needs, especially to plan and integrate health promotion projects. The lack of resources and nursing support emerged as factors hampering the capacity of school nurses to play such a role. Additional implications of the ORC framework are needed in order to better address organizational readiness for complex changes in specific health-related settings. Access to information technology and the development of computer skills would help enhance this encompassing role in health promotion. Findings have the potential to better inform health authorities regarding the new role of the school nurse as a strategic option in health promotion. This study also provides an application of the theoretical framework showing the need for additional empirical tests.

Measuring organizational readiness for knowledge translation in chronic care.

PubMed

Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Labarthe, Jenni; Légaré, France; Ouimet, Mathieu; Estabrooks, Carole A; Roch, Geneviève; Ghandour, El Kebir; Grimshaw, Jeremy

2011-07-13

Knowledge translation (KT) is an imperative in order to implement research-based and contextualized practices that can answer the numerous challenges of complex health problems. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a conceptual framework to guide the implementation process in chronic care. Yet, organizations aiming to improve chronic care require an adequate level of organizational readiness (OR) for KT. Available instruments on organizational readiness for change (ORC) have shown limited validity, and are not tailored or adapted to specific phases of the knowledge-to-action (KTA) process. We aim to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive, and valid instrument to measure OR for KT in healthcare. The OR for KT instrument will be based on core concepts retrieved from existing literature and validated by a Delphi study. We will specifically test the instrument in chronic care that is of an increasing importance for the health system. Phase one: We will conduct a systematic review of the theories and instruments assessing ORC in healthcare. The retained theoretical information will be synthesized in a conceptual map. A bibliography and database of ORC instruments will be prepared after appraisal of their psychometric properties according to the standards for educational and psychological testing. An online Delphi study will be carried out among decision makers and knowledge users across Canada to assess the importance of these concepts and measures at different steps in the KTA process in chronic care.Phase two: A final OR for KT instrument will be developed and validated both in French and in English and tested in chronic disease management to measure OR for KT regarding the adoption of comprehensive, patient-centered, and system-based CCMs. This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge on explanatory models and instruments assessing OR for KT. Moreover, this project aims to create more consensus on the theoretical underpinnings and the instrumentation of OR for KT in chronic care. The final product--a comprehensive and valid OR for KT instrument--will provide the chronic care settings with an instrument to assess their readiness to implement evidence-based chronic care.

Measuring organizational readiness for knowledge translation in chronic care

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Knowledge translation (KT) is an imperative in order to implement research-based and contextualized practices that can answer the numerous challenges of complex health problems. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a conceptual framework to guide the implementation process in chronic care. Yet, organizations aiming to improve chronic care require an adequate level of organizational readiness (OR) for KT. Available instruments on organizational readiness for change (ORC) have shown limited validity, and are not tailored or adapted to specific phases of the knowledge-to-action (KTA) process. We aim to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive, and valid instrument to measure OR for KT in healthcare. The OR for KT instrument will be based on core concepts retrieved from existing literature and validated by a Delphi study. We will specifically test the instrument in chronic care that is of an increasing importance for the health system. Methods Phase one: We will conduct a systematic review of the theories and instruments assessing ORC in healthcare. The retained theoretical information will be synthesized in a conceptual map. A bibliography and database of ORC instruments will be prepared after appraisal of their psychometric properties according to the standards for educational and psychological testing. An online Delphi study will be carried out among decision makers and knowledge users across Canada to assess the importance of these concepts and measures at different steps in the KTA process in chronic care. Phase two: A final OR for KT instrument will be developed and validated both in French and in English and tested in chronic disease management to measure OR for KT regarding the adoption of comprehensive, patient-centered, and system-based CCMs. Discussion This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge on explanatory models and instruments assessing OR for KT. Moreover, this project aims to create more consensus on the theoretical underpinnings and the instrumentation of OR for KT in chronic care. The final product--a comprehensive and valid OR for KT instrument--will provide the chronic care settings with an instrument to assess their readiness to implement evidence-based chronic care. PMID:21752264

Long-term Sediment Accumulation in Mid-channel Bars of the Upper Reach of the Lower Mississippi River.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, B.; Xu, Y. J.

2016-02-01

A recent study reported that about 44% of the total Mississippi River suspended load reaching the Old River Control Structure (ORCS) was trapped upstream of the Gulf of Mexico by overbank storage and channel bed aggradation. Considering an average annual sediment load of 120 million metric tons passing ORCS to the Mississippi River main channel, the trapped sediment load would be equivalent to annually rebuilding 44-km2 coastal land of 1 meter in depth, assuming a sedimentation bulk density of 1.2 tons m-3. No study has yet demonstrated such a high sediment accumulation rate within the confined river channel or on a floodplain area that surrounds the only unleeved stretch ( 30-km long) of the Lower Mississippi River downstream of ORCS. In this study, we utilized satellite images taken from 1983 to 2013 and analyzed changes in surface area of nine major mid-channel and point bars over a 130-km river reach from ORCS to Baton Rouge. Using river stage records and the estimated surface areas, we developed a stage - surface area rating curve for each of the bars and estimated changes in bar volume over time. We found that more than half of the bars have grown, while the others have shrunken in the past three decades. As a whole, there was a substantial net gain of surface area and volume accretion. Sediment trapping was most prevalent during the spring floods, especially during the period from 2007 to 2011 when two large floods occurred. This paper presents the channel morphological change and sediment accumulation rates under different flow conditions, and discusses their implications for the current understanding and practices of the Mississippi River sediment diversion.

In situ lifetimes and kinetics of a reductive whey barrier and an oxidative ORC barrier in the subsurface.

PubMed

Barcelona, M J; Xie, G

2001-08-15

Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) are being used to engineer favorable field conditions for in-situ remediation efforts. Two redox adjustment barriers were installed to facilitate a 10-month research effort on the fate and transport of MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) at a site called the Michigan Integrated Remediation Technology Laboratory (MIRTL). Thirty kilograms of whey were injected as a slurry into an unconfined aquifer to establish an upgradient reductive zone to reduce O2 concentration in the vicinity of a contaminant injection source. To minimize the impact of contaminant release, 363 kg of oxygen release compound (ORC) were placed in the aquifer as a downgradient oxidative barrier. Dissolved oxygen and other chemical species were monitored in the field to evaluate the effectiveness of this technology. A transient one-dimensional advective-dispersive-reaction (ADR) model was proposed to simulate the dissolved oxygen transport. The equations were solved with commonly encountered PRB initial and constant/variable boundary conditions. No similar previous solution was found in the literature. The in-situ lifetimes, based on variable source loading, were estimated to be 1,661 and 514 days for the whey barrier and ORC barrier, respectively. Estimates based on either maximum O2 consumption/production or measured O2 curves were found to under- or overestimate the lifetime of the barriers. The pseudo-first-order rate constant of whey depletion was estimated to be 0.303/d with a dissolution rate of 0.04/d. The oxygen release rate constant in the ORC barrier was estimated to be 0.03/d. This paper provides a means to design and predict the performance of reactive redox barriers, especially when only limited field data are available.

Specialty Training’s Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC): validation of a questionnaire

PubMed Central

Jippes, Mariëlle; Leppink, Jimmie; Scherpbier, Albert JJA; den Rooyen, Corry; van Luijk, Scheltus J; Scheele, Fedde

2018-01-01

Background The field of postgraduate medical education (PGME) is continuously evolving as a result of social demands and advancing educational insights. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for successful implementation of change initiatives. However, in PGME, assessing change readiness is rarely considered while it could be of great value for managing educational change such as curriculum change. Therefore, in a previous Delphi study the authors developed an instrument for assessing ORC in PGME: Specialty Training’s Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC). In this study, the psychometric properties of this questionnaire were further explored. Methods In 2015, STORC was distributed among clinical teaching teams in the Netherlands. The authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the internal factor structure of STORC. The reliability of the measurements was estimated by calculating Cronbach’s alpha for all sub-scales. Additionally, a behavioral support-for-change measure was distributed as well to assess correlations with change-related behavior. Results In total, the STORC questionnaire was completed by 856 clinical teaching team members from 39 specialties. Factor analysis led to the removal of 1 item but supported the expected factor structure with very good fit for the other 43 items. Supportive behavior was positively correlated to a higher level of ORC. Discussion In this study, additional steps to collect validity evidence for the STORC questionnaire were taken successfully. The final subscales of STORC represent the core components of ORC in the literature. By breaking down this concept into multiple measurable aspects, STORC could help to enable educational leaders to diagnose possible hurdles in implementation processes and to perform specifically targeted interventions when needed. PMID:29430202

The role of oxidized regenerate cellulose to prevent cosmetic defects in oncoplastic breast surgery.

PubMed

Franceschini, G; Visconti, G; Terribile, D; Fabbri, C; Magno, S; Di Leone, A; Salgarello, M; Masetti, R

2012-07-01

Breast conserving surgery (BCS) combined with postoperative radiotherapy has become the gold standard of locoregional treatment for the majority of patients with early-stage breast cancer, offering equivalent survival and improved body image and lifestyle scores as compared to mastectomy. In an attempt to optimize the oncologic safety and cosmetic results of BCS, oncoplastic procedures (OPP) have been introduced in recent years combining the best principles of surgical oncology with those of plastic surgery. However, even with the use of OPP, cosmetic outcomes may result unsatisfying when a large volume of parenchyma has to be removed, particularly in small-medium size breasts. The aim of this article is to report our preliminary results with the use of oxidized regenerate cellulose (ORC) (Tabotamp fibrillar, Johnson & Johnson; Ethicon, USA) as an agent to prevent cosmetic defects in patients undergoing OPP for breast cancer and to analyze the technical refinements that can enhance its efficacy in optimizing cosmetic defects. Different OPP are selected based on the location and size of the tumor as well as volume and shape of the breast. After excision of the tumor, glandular flaps are created by dissection of the residual parenchyma from the pectoralis and serratus muscles and from the skin. After careful haemostasis, five layers of ORC are positioned on the pectoralis major in the residual cavity and covered by advancement of the glandular flaps. Two additional layers of ORC are positioned above the flaps and covered by cutaneous-subcutaenous flaps. The use of ORC after OPP has shown promising preliminary results, indicating a good tolerability and positive effects on cosmesis. This simple and reliable surgical technique may allow not only to reduce the rate of post-operative bleeding and infection at the surgical site but also to improve cosmetic results.

Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC): validation of a questionnaire.

PubMed

Bank, Lindsay; Jippes, Mariëlle; Leppink, Jimmie; Scherpbier, Albert Jja; den Rooyen, Corry; van Luijk, Scheltus J; Scheele, Fedde

2018-01-01

The field of postgraduate medical education (PGME) is continuously evolving as a result of social demands and advancing educational insights. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for successful implementation of change initiatives. However, in PGME, assessing change readiness is rarely considered while it could be of great value for managing educational change such as curriculum change. Therefore, in a previous Delphi study the authors developed an instrument for assessing ORC in PGME: Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC). In this study, the psychometric properties of this questionnaire were further explored. In 2015, STORC was distributed among clinical teaching teams in the Netherlands. The authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the internal factor structure of STORC. The reliability of the measurements was estimated by calculating Cronbach's alpha for all sub-scales. Additionally, a behavioral support-for-change measure was distributed as well to assess correlations with change-related behavior. In total, the STORC questionnaire was completed by 856 clinical teaching team members from 39 specialties. Factor analysis led to the removal of 1 item but supported the expected factor structure with very good fit for the other 43 items. Supportive behavior was positively correlated to a higher level of ORC. In this study, additional steps to collect validity evidence for the STORC questionnaire were taken successfully. The final subscales of STORC represent the core components of ORC in the literature. By breaking down this concept into multiple measurable aspects, STORC could help to enable educational leaders to diagnose possible hurdles in implementation processes and to perform specifically targeted interventions when needed.

A Dbf4p BRCA1 C-Terminal-Like Domain Required for the Response to Replication Fork Arrest in Budding Yeast

PubMed Central

Gabrielse, Carrie; Miller, Charles T.; McConnell, Kristopher H.; DeWard, Aaron; Fox, Catherine A.; Weinreich, Michael

2006-01-01

Dbf4p is an essential regulatory subunit of the Cdc7p kinase required for the initiation of DNA replication. Cdc7p and Dbf4p orthologs have also been shown to function in the response to DNA damage. A previous Dbf4p multiple sequence alignment identified a conserved ∼40-residue N-terminal region with similarity to the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) motif called “motif N.” BRCT motifs encode ∼100-amino-acid domains involved in the DNA damage response. We have identified an expanded and conserved ∼100-residue N-terminal region of Dbf4p that includes motif N but is capable of encoding a single BRCT-like domain. Dbf4p orthologs diverge from the BRCT motif at the C terminus but may encode a similar secondary structure in this region. We have therefore called this the BRCT and DBF4 similarity (BRDF) motif. The principal role of this Dbf4p motif was in the response to replication fork (RF) arrest; however, it was not required for cell cycle progression, activation of Cdc7p kinase activity, or interaction with the origin recognition complex (ORC) postulated to recruit Cdc7p–Dbf4p to origins. Rad53p likely directly phosphorylated Dbf4p in response to RF arrest and Dbf4p was required for Rad53p abundance. Rad53p and Dbf4p therefore cooperated to coordinate a robust cellular response to RF arrest. PMID:16547092

A quantitative risk-assessment system (QR-AS) evaluating operation safety of Organic Rankine Cycle using flammable mixture working fluid.

PubMed

Tian, Hua; Wang, Xueying; Shu, Gequn; Wu, Mingqiang; Yan, Nanhua; Ma, Xiaonan

2017-09-15

Mixture of hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide shows excellent cycle performance in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) used for engine waste heat recovery, but the unavoidable leakage in practical application is a threat for safety due to its flammability. In this work, a quantitative risk assessment system (QR-AS) is established aiming at providing a general method of risk assessment for flammable working fluid leakage. The QR-AS covers three main aspects: analysis of concentration distribution based on CFD simulations, explosive risk assessment based on the TNT equivalent method and risk mitigation based on evaluation results. A typical case of propane/carbon dioxide mixture leaking from ORC is investigated to illustrate the application of QR-AS. According to the assessment results, proper ventilation speed, safe mixture ratio and location of gas-detecting devices have been proposed to guarantee the security in case of leakage. The results revealed that this presented QR-AS was reliable for the practical application and the evaluation results could provide valuable guidance for the design of mitigation measures to improve the safe performance of ORC system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel mutation in the SLC25A15 gene in a Turkish patient with HHH syndrome: Functional analysis of the mutant protein

PubMed Central

Ersoy Tunalı, Nagehan; Marobbio, Carlo M.T.; Tiryakioğlu, N. Ozan; Punzi, Giuseppe; Saygılı, Seha K.; Önal, Hasan; Palmieri, Ferdinando

2014-01-01

The hyperornithinemia–hyperammonemia–homocitrullinuria syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by the functional deficiency of the mitochondrial ornithine transporter 1 (ORC1). ORC1 is encoded by the SLC25A15 gene and catalyzes the transport of cytosolic ornithine into mitochondria in exchange for citrulline. Although the age of onset and the severity of the symptoms vary widely, the disease usually manifests in early infancy. The typical clinical features include protein intolerance, lethargy, episodic confusion, cerebellar ataxia, seizures and mental retardation. In this study, we identified a novel p.Ala15Val (c.44C > T) mutation by genomic DNA sequencing in a Turkish child presenting severe tantrum, confusion, gait disturbances and loss of speech abilities in addition to hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia and homocitrullinuria. One hundred Turkish control chromosomes did not possess this variant. The functional effect of the novel mutation was assessed by both complementation of the yeast ORT1 null mutant and transport assays. Our study demonstrates that the A15V mutation dramatically interferes with the transport properties of ORC1 since it was shown to inhibit ornithine transport nearly completely. PMID:24721342

Performance analysis of low temperature heat source of organic Rankine cycle for geothermal application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pintoro, A.; Ambarita, H.; Nur, T. B.; Napitupulu, F. H.

2018-02-01

Indonesia has a high potential energy resources from geothermal activities. Base on the report of Asian Development Bank and World Bank, the estimated of Indonesian hydrothermal geothermal resource considered to be the largest among the world. If it’s can be utilized to produce the electric power, it’s can contribute to increasing the electrification rates in Indonesia. In this study, an experimental studied of electric power generation, utilizing the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system to convert the low level heat of hydrothermal as an energy source. The temperature of hydrothermal was modelled as hot water from water boiler which has a temperature range from 60 °C - 100 °C to heat up the organic working fluid of ORC system. The system can generated 1,337.7 watts of electricity when operated using R134A with hot water inlet temperature of 100 °C. Changing system working fluid to R245fa, the net power obtained increase to 1,908.9 watts with the same heat source condition. This study showed that the ORC system can be implemented to utilize low temperature heat source of hydrothermal in Indonesia.

Milestone Report #2: Direct Evaporator Leak and Flammability Analysis Modifications and Optimization of the Organic Rankine Cycle to Improve the Recovery of Waste Heat

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

Guillen, Donna Post

2013-09-01

The direct evaporator is a simplified heat exchange system for an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that generates electricity from a gas turbine exhaust stream. Typically, the heat of the exhaust stream is transferred indirectly to the ORC by means of an intermediate thermal oil loop. In this project, the goal is to design a direct evaporator where the working fluid is evaporated in the exhaust gas heat exchanger. By eliminating one of the heat exchangers and the intermediate oil loop, the overall ORC system cost can be reduced by approximately 15%. However, placing a heat exchanger operating with a flammablemore » hydrocarbon working fluid directly in the hot exhaust gas stream presents potential safety risks. The purpose of the analyses presented in this report is to assess the flammability of the selected working fluid in the hot exhaust gas stream stemming from a potential leak in the evaporator. Ignition delay time for cyclopentane at temperatures and pressure corresponding to direct evaporator operation was obtained for several equivalence ratios. Results of a computational fluid dynamic analysis of a pinhole leak scenario are given.« less

Thermal analysis of a Phase Change Material for a Solar Organic Rankine Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iasiello, M.; Braimakis, K.; Andreozzi, A.; Karellas, S.

2017-11-01

Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a promising technology for low temperature power generation, for example for the utilization of medium temperature solar energy. Since heat generated from solar source is variable throughout the day, the implementation of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems to guarantee the continuous operation of solar ORCs is a critical task, and Phase Change Materials (PCM) rely on latent heat to store large amounts of energy. In the present study, a thermal analysis of a PCM for a solar ORC is carried out. Three different types of PCMs are analyzed. The energy equation for the PCM is modeled by using the heat capacity method, and it is solved by employing a 1Dexplicit finite difference scheme. The solar source is modeled with a time-variable temperature boundary condition, with experimental data taken from the literature for two different solar collectors. Results are presented in terms of temperature profiles and stored energy. It has been shown that the stored energy depends on the heat source temperature, on the employed PCM and on the boundary conditions. It has been demonstrated that the use of a metal foam can drastically enhance the stored energy due to the higher overall thermal conductivity.

Design and optimization of organic rankine cycle for low temperature geothermal power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barse, Kirtipal A.

Rising oil prices and environmental concerns have increased attention to renewable energy. Geothermal energy is a very attractive source of renewable energy. Although low temperature resources (90°C to 150°C) are the most common and most abundant source of geothermal energy, they were not considered economical and technologically feasible for commercial power generation. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology makes it feasible to use low temperature resources to generate power by using low boiling temperature organic liquids. The first hypothesis for this research is that using ORC is technologically and economically feasible to generate electricity from low temperature geothermal resources. The second hypothesis for this research is redesigning the ORC system for the given resource condition will improve efficiency along with improving economics. ORC model was developed using process simulator and validated with the data obtained from Chena Hot Springs, Alaska. A correlation was observed between the critical temperature of the working fluid and the efficiency for the cycle. Exergy analysis of the cycle revealed that the highest exergy destruction occurs in evaporator followed by condenser, turbine and working fluid pump for the base case scenarios. Performance of ORC was studied using twelve working fluids in base, Internal Heat Exchanger and turbine bleeding constrained and non-constrained configurations. R601a, R245ca, R600 showed highest first and second law efficiency in the non-constrained IHX configuration. The highest net power was observed for R245ca, R601a and R601 working fluids in the non-constrained base configuration. Combined heat exchanger area and size parameter of the turbine showed an increasing trend as the critical temperature of the working fluid decreased. The lowest levelized cost of electricity was observed for R245ca followed by R601a, R236ea in non-constrained base configuration. The next best candidates in terms of LCOE were R601a, R245ca and R600 in non-constrained IHX configuration. LCOE is dependent on net power and higher net power favors to lower the cost of electricity. Overall R245ca, R601, R601a, R600 and R236ea show better performance among the fluids studied. Non constrained configurations display better performance compared to the constrained configurations. Base non-constrained offered the highest net power and lowest LCOE.

Robust multi-model control of an autonomous wind power system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cutululis, Nicolas Antonio; Ceanga, Emil; Hansen, Anca Daniela; Sørensen, Poul

2006-09-01

This article presents a robust multi-model control structure for a wind power system that uses a variable speed wind turbine (VSWT) driving a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) connected to a local grid. The control problem consists in maximizing the energy captured from the wind for varying wind speeds. The VSWT-PMSG linearized model analysis reveals the resonant nature of its dynamic at points on the optimal regimes characteristic (ORC). The natural frequency of the system and the damping factor are strongly dependent on the operating point on the ORC. Under these circumstances a robust multi-model control structure is designed. The simulation results prove the viability of the proposed control structure. Copyright

Development of an Organic Rankine-Cycle power module for a small community solar thermal power experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiceniuk, T.

1985-01-01

An organic Rankine-cycle (ORC) power module was developed for use in a multimodule solar power plant to be built and operated in a small community. Many successful components and subsystems, including the reciever, power conversion subsystem, energy transport subsystem, and control subsystem, were tested. Tests were performed on a complete power module using a test bed concentrator in place of the proposed concentrator. All major single-module program functional objectives were met and the multimodule operation presented no apparent problems. The hermetically sealed, self-contained, ORC power conversion unit subsequently successfully completed a 300-hour endurance run with no evidence of wear or operating problems.

Electronic and optical properties of GaAs/AlGaAs Fibonacci ordered multiple quantum well systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amini, M.; Soleimani, M.; Ehsani, M. H.

2017-12-01

We numerically investigated the optical rectification coefficients (ORCs), transmission coefficient, energy levels and corresponding eigen-functions of GaAs/AlGaAs Fibonacci ordered multiple quantum well systems (FO-MQWs) in the presence of an external electric field. In our calculations, two different methods, including transfer matrix and finite-difference have been used. It has been illustrated that with three types of the FO-MQWs, presented here, localization of the wave-function in any position of the structure is possible. Therefore, managing the electron distribution within the system is easier now. Finally, using the presented structures we could tune the position and amplitude of the ORCs.

Numerical modelling of multi-vane expander operating conditions in ORC system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rak, Józef; Błasiak, Przemysław; Kolasiński, Piotr

2017-11-01

Multi-vane expanders are positive displacement volumetric machines which are nowadays considered for application in micro-power domestic ORC systems as promising alternative to micro turbines and other volumetric expanders. The multi-vane expander features very simple design, low gas flow capacity, low expansion ratios, an advantageous ratio of the power output to the external dimensions and are insensitive to the negative influence of the gas-liquid mixture expansion. Moreover, the multi-vane expander can be easily hermetically sealed, which is one of the key issues in the ORC system design. A literature review indicates that issues concerning the application of multi-vane expanders in such systems, especially related to operating of multi-vane expander with different low-boiling working fluids, are innovative, not fully scientifically described and have the potential for practical implementation. In this paper the results of numerical investigations on multi-vane expander operating conditions are presented. The analyses were performed on three-dimensional numerical model of the expander in ANSYS CFX software. The numerical model of the expander was validated using the data obtained from the experiment carried out on a lab test-stand. Then a series of computational analysis were performed using expanders' numerical model in order to determine its operating conditions under various flow conditions of different working fluids.

Commentary on "Robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy: Comparison of complications and perioperative oncological outcomes in 200 patients." Kader AK, Richards KA, Krane LS, Pettus JA, Smith JJ, Hemal AK, Division of Urology, UC San Diego Health System, San Diego, CA.: BJU Int 2013; 112(4):E290-4. doi:10.1111/bju.12167. [Epub 2013 Jul 1].

PubMed

See, William A

2014-11-01

To compare perioperative morbidity and oncological outcomes of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RARC) to open RC (ORC) at a single institution. A retrospective analysis was performed on a consecutive series of patients undergoing RC (100 RARC and 100 ORC) at Wake Forest University with curative intent from 2006 until 2010. Complication data using the Clavien system were collected for 90 days postoperatively. Complications and other perioperative outcomes were compared between patient groups. Patients in both groups had comparable preoperative characteristics. The overall and major complication (Clavien ≥ 3) rates were lower for RARC patients at 35 vs 57% (P = 0.001) and 10 vs 22% (P = 0.019), respectively. There were no significant differences between groups for pathological outcomes, including stage, number of nodes harvested or positive margin rates. Our data suggest that patients undergoing RARC have perioperative oncological outcomes comparable with ORC, with fewer overall or major complications. Definitive claims about comparative outcomes with RARC require results from larger, randomised controlled trials. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global expression studies in baker's yeast reveal target genes for the improvement of industrially-relevant traits: the cases of CAF16 and ORC2.

PubMed

Pérez-Torrado, Roberto; Panadero, Joaquín; Hernández-López, María José; Prieto, José Antonio; Randez-Gil, Francisca

2010-07-13

Recent years have seen a huge growth in the market of industrial yeasts with the need for strains affording better performance or to be used in new applications. Stress tolerance of commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts is, without doubt, a trait that needs improving. Such trait is, however, complex, and therefore only in-depth knowledge of their biochemical, physiological and genetic principles can help us to define improvement strategies and to identify the key factors for strain selection. We have determined the transcriptional response of commercial baker's yeast cells to both high-sucrose and lean dough by using DNA macroarrays and liquid dough (LD) model system. Cells from compressed yeast blocks display a reciprocal transcription program to that commonly reported for laboratory strains exposed to osmotic stress. This discrepancy likely reflects differences in strain background and/or experimental design. Quite remarkably, we also found that the transcriptional response of starved baker's yeast cells was qualitatively similar in the presence or absence of sucrose in the LD. Nevertheless, there was a set of differentially regulated genes, which might be relevant for cells to adapt to high osmolarity. Consistent with this, overexpression of CAF16 or ORC2, two transcriptional factor-encoding genes included in this group, had positive effects on leavening activity of baker's yeast. Moreover, these effects were more pronounced during freezing and frozen storage of high-sucrose LD. Engineering of differentially regulated genes opens the possibility to improve the physiological behavior of baker's yeast cells under stress conditions like those encountered in downstream applications.

Mammographic and Ultrasonographic Findings of Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose in Breast Cancer Surgery: A 5-Year Experience.

PubMed

Giuliani, Michela; Fubelli, Rita; Patrolecco, Federica; Rella, Rossella; Borelli, Cristina; Buccheri, Chiara; Di Giovanni, Silvia Eleonora; Belli, Paolo; Romani, Maurizio; Rinaldi, Pierluigi; Bufi, Enida; Franceschini, Gianluca; Bonomo, Lorenzo

2015-10-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the ultrasonographic (US) and mammographic (MX) findings in patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery followed by oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) implantation in the surgical cavity and their size variations in follow-up. We retrospectively reviewed 417 MX and 743 US images performed between January 2009 and January 2014 for 262 women who underwent breast-conserving surgery. All patients underwent US, only 203 women underwent MX examination. In 170 of 262 patients, US examinations showed abnormal findings. Three main US patterns were identified: (1) complex masses: well-encapsulated ipoisoechoic lesions with circumscribed margins with internal hyperechoic nodules (56%); (2) hypoanechoic lesions without internal hyperechoic nodules (24%); and (3) completely anechoic collections (20%). Moreover, Doppler ultrasound examination was performed on all of the patients. In 95 of 203 patients, MX examinations showed abnormalities. Four main MX patterns were identified: (1) round or oval opacity with circumscribed margins (58%); (2) round or oval opacity with indistinct or ill-defined margins (17%); (3) irregular opacity with indistinct or spiculated margins (9%); and (4) architectural distortion or focal asymmetry (15%). Most of the lesions showed a decrease in size at US and MX follow-up examination and the decrease was statistically significant (P < .01). When applied to the surgical residual cavity, ORC aids to control local hemorrhage and reduce the risk of postoperative infections, but can lead to alterations in surgical scar. Thus, knowledge of the radiological findings might allow avoidance of misdiagnosis of tumor recurrence or unnecessary diagnostic examinations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The 'over-researched community': An ethics analysis of stakeholder views at two South African HIV prevention research sites.

PubMed

Koen, Jennifer; Wassenaar, Douglas; Mamotte, Nicole

2017-12-01

Health research in resource-limited, multi-cultural contexts raises complex ethical concerns. The term 'over-researched community' (ORC) has been raised as an ethical concern and potential barrier to community participation in research. However, the term lacks conceptual clarity and is absent from established ethics guidelines and academic literature. In light of the concern being raised in relation to research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), a critical and empirical exploration of the meaning of ORC was undertaken. Guided by Emanuel et al.'s (2004) eight principles for ethically sound research in LMICs, this study examines the relevance and meaning of the terms 'over-research' and 'over-researched community' through an analysis of key stakeholder perspectives at two South African research sites. Data were collected between August 2007 and October 2008. 'Over-research' was found to represent a conglomeration of ethical concerns often used as a proxy for standard research ethics concepts. 'Over-research' seemed fundamentally linked to disparate positions and perspectives between different stakeholders in the research interaction, arising from challenges in inter-stakeholder relationships. 'Over-research' might be interpreted to mean exploitation. However, exploitation itself could mean different things. Using the term may lead to obscured understanding of real or perceived ethical concerns, making it difficult to identify and address the underlying concerns. It is recommended that the term be carefully and critically interrogated for clarity when used in research ethics discourse. Because it represents other legitimate concerns, it should not be dismissed without careful exploration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Open radical cystectomy in England: the current standard of care - an analysis of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) cystectomy audit and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data.

PubMed

Jefferies, Edward R; Cresswell, Joanne; McGrath, John S; Miller, Catherine; Hounsome, Luke; Fowler, Sarah; Rowe, Edward W

2018-06-01

To establish the current standard for open radical cystectomy (ORC) in England, as data entry by surgeons performing RC to the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) database was mandated in 2013 and combining this with Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data has allowed comprehensive outcome analysis for the first time. All patients were included in this analysis if they were uploaded to the BAUS data registry and reported to have been performed in the 2 years between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2015 in England (from mandate onwards) and had been documented as being performed in an open fashion (not laparoscopic, robot assisted or the technique field left blank). The HES data were accessed via the HES website. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures version 4 (OPCS-4) Code M34 was searched during the same 2-year time frame (not including M34.4 for simple cystectomy or with additional minimal access codes Y75.1-9 documenting a laparoscopic or robotic approach was used) to assess data capture. A total of 2 537 ORCs were recorded in the BAUS registry and 3 043 in the HES data. This indicates a capture rate of 83.4% of all cases. The median operative time was 5 h, harvesting a median of 11-20 lymph nodes, with a median blood loss of 500-1 000 mL, and a transfusion rate of 21.8%. The median length of stay was 11 days, with a 30-day mortality rate of 1.58%. This is the largest, contemporary cohort of ORCs in England, encompassing >80% of all performed operations. We now know the current standard for ORC in England. This provides the basis for individual surgeons and units to compare their outcomes and a standard with which future techniques and modifications can be compared. © 2018 The Authors BJU International © 2018 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Optimization of the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, L.; Zhuge, W. L.; Peng, J.; Liu, S. J.; Zhang, Y. J.

2013-12-01

In general, the method proposed by Whitfield and Baines is adopted for the turbine preliminary design. In this design procedure for the turbine blade trailing edge geometry, two assumptions (ideal gas and zero discharge swirl) and two experience values (WR and γ) are used to get the three blade trailing edge geometric parameters: relative exit flow angle β6, the exit tip radius R6t and hub radius R6h for the purpose of maximizing the rotor total-to-static isentropic efficiency. The method above is established based on the experience and results of testing using air as working fluid, so it does not provide a mathematical optimal solution to instruct the optimization of geometry parameters and consider the real gas effects of the organic, working fluid which must be taken into consideration for the ORC turbine design procedure. In this paper, a new preliminary design and optimization method is established for the purpose of reducing the exit kinetic energy loss to improve the turbine efficiency ηts, and the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine with working fluid R123 are optimized based on this method. The mathematical optimal solution to minimize the exit kinetic energy is deduced, which can be used to design and optimize the exit shroud/hub radius and exit blade angle. And then, the influence of blade trailing edge geometric parameters on turbine efficiency ηts are analysed and the optimal working ranges of these parameters for the equations are recommended in consideration of working fluid R123. This method is used to modify an existing ORC turbine exit kinetic energy loss from 11.7% to 7%, which indicates the effectiveness of the method. However, the internal passage loss increases from 7.9% to 9.4%, so the only way to consider the influence of geometric parameters on internal passage loss is to give the empirical ranges of these parameters, such as the recommended ranges that the value of γ is at 0.3 to 0.4, and the value of τ is at 0.5 to 0.6.

Organizational readiness for knowledge translation in chronic care: a review of theoretical components

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background With the persistent gaps between research and practice in healthcare systems, knowledge translation (KT) has gained significance and importance. Also, in most industrialized countries, there is an increasing emphasis on managing chronic health conditions with the best available evidence. Yet, organizations aiming to improve chronic care (CC) require an adequate level of organizational readiness (OR) for KT. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to review and synthesize the existing evidence on conceptual models/frameworks of Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) in healthcare as the basis for the development of a comprehensive framework of OR for KT in the context of CC. Data sources We conducted a systematic review of the literature on OR for KT in CC using Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Web of Sciences (SCI and SSCI), and others. Search terms included readiness; commitment and change; preparedness; willing to change; organization and administration; and health and social services. Study selection: The search was limited to studies that had been published between the starting date of each bibliographic database (e.g., 1964 for PubMed) and November 1, 2012. Only papers that refer to a theory, a theoretical component from any framework or model on OR that were applicable to the healthcare domain were considered. We analyzed data using conceptual mapping. Data extraction: Pairs of authors independently screened the published literature by reviewing their titles and abstracts. Then, the two same reviewers appraised the full text of each study independently. Results Overall, we found and synthesized 10 theories, theoretical models and conceptual frameworks relevant to ORC in healthcare described in 38 publications. We identified five core concepts, namely organizational dynamics, change process, innovation readiness, institutional readiness, and personal readiness. We extracted 17 dimensions and 59 sub-dimensions related to these 5 concepts. Conclusion Our findings provide a useful overview for researchers interested in ORC and aims to create a consensus on the core theoretical components of ORC in general and of OR for KT in CC in particular. However, more work is needed to define and validate the core elements of a framework that could help to assess OR for KT in CC. PMID:24283365

Cdt1p, through its interaction with Mcm6p, is required for the formation, nuclear accumulation and chromatin loading of the MCM complex.

PubMed

Wu, Rentian; Wang, Jiafeng; Liang, Chun

2012-01-01

Regulation of DNA replication initiation is essential for the faithful inheritance of genetic information. Replication initiation is a multi-step process involving many factors including ORC, Cdt1p, Mcm2-7p and other proteins that bind to replication origins to form a pre-replicative complex (pre-RC). As a prerequisite for pre-RC assembly, Cdt1p and the Mcm2-7p heterohexameric complex accumulate in the nucleus in G1 phase in an interdependent manner in budding yeast. However, the nature of this interdependence is not clear, nor is it known whether Cdt1p is required for the assembly of the MCM complex. In this study, we provide the first evidence that Cdt1p, through its interaction with Mcm6p with the C-terminal regions of the two proteins, is crucial for the formation of the MCM complex in both the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. We demonstrate that disruption of the interaction between Cdt1p and Mcm6p prevents the formation of the MCM complex, excludes Mcm2-7p from the nucleus, and inhibits pre-RC assembly and DNA replication. Our findings suggest a function for Cdt1p in promoting the assembly of the MCM complex and maintaining its integrity by interacting with Mcm6p.

The Role of Morphology in Word Recognition of Hebrew as a Templatic Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oganyan, Marina

2017-01-01

Research on recognition of complex words has primarily focused on affixational complexity in concatenative languages. This dissertation investigates both templatic and affixational complexity in Hebrew, a templatic language, with particular focus on the role of the root and template morphemes in recognition. It also explores the role of morphology…

Surviving Blind Decomposition: A Distributional Analysis of the Time-Course of Complex Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidtke, Daniel; Matsuki, Kazunaga; Kuperman, Victor

2017-01-01

The current study addresses a discrepancy in the psycholinguistic literature about the chronology of information processing during the visual recognition of morphologically complex words. "Form-then-meaning" accounts of complex word recognition claim that morphemes are processed as units of form prior to any influence of their meanings,…

A Monoclonal Antibody Toolkit for C. elegans

PubMed Central

Hadwiger, Gayla; Dour, Scott; Arur, Swathi; Fox, Paul; Nonet, Michael L.

2010-01-01

Background Antibodies are critical tools in many avenues of biological research. Though antibodies can be produced in the research laboratory setting, most research labs working with vertebrates avail themselves of the wide array of commercially available reagents. By contrast, few such reagents are available for work with model organisms. Methodology/Principal Findings We report the production of monoclonal antibodies directed against a wide range of proteins that label specific subcellular and cellular components, and macromolecular complexes. Antibodies were made to synaptobrevin (SNB-1), a component of synaptic vesicles; to Rim (UNC-10), a protein localized to synaptic active zones; to transforming acidic coiled-coil protein (TAC-1), a component of centrosomes; to CENP-C (HCP-4), which in worms labels the entire length of their holocentric chromosomes; to ORC2 (ORC-2), a subunit of the DNA origin replication complex; to the nucleolar phosphoprotein NOPP140 (DAO-5); to the nuclear envelope protein lamin (LMN-1); to EHD1 (RME-1) a marker for recycling endosomes; to caveolin (CAV-1), a marker for caveolae; to the cytochrome P450 (CYP-33E1), a resident of the endoplasmic reticulum; to β-1,3-glucuronyltransferase (SQV-8) that labels the Golgi; to a chaperonin (HSP-60) targeted to mitochondria; to LAMP (LMP-1), a resident protein of lysosomes; to the alpha subunit of the 20S subcomplex (PAS-7) of the 26S proteasome; to dynamin (DYN-1) and to the α-subunit of the adaptor complex 2 (APA-2) as markers for sites of clathrin-mediated endocytosis; to the MAGUK, protein disks large (DLG-1) and cadherin (HMR-1), both of which label adherens junctions; to a cytoskeletal linker of the ezrin-radixin-moesin family (ERM-1), which localized to apical membranes; to an ERBIN family protein (LET-413) which localizes to the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells and to an adhesion molecule (SAX-7) which localizes to the plasma membrane at cell-cell contacts. In addition to working in whole mount immunocytochemistry, most of these antibodies work on western blots and thus should be of use for biochemical fractionation studies. Conclusions/Significance We have produced a set of monoclonal antibodies to subcellular components of the nematode C. elegans for the research community. These reagents are being made available through the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB). PMID:20405020

About EPA's Offices of Regional Counsel

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Information about the U.S. EPA Offices of Regional Counsel (ORCs), which are located within each EPA Regional office and provide day-to-day support to each Region and Headquarters for all general legal matters.

Evaluation of different operating strategies to integrate storage in a linear Fresnel ORC power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoschke, Theda; Seubert, Bernhard; Fluri, Thomas

2017-06-01

An existing linear Fresnel power plant with ORC process located in Ben Guerir, Morocco, is retrofitted with a thermal energy storage system and additional collector loops. Two different plant configurations are investigated in this paper. In the first configuration two separate solar fields are built and only the minor one can charge the storage. In the second configuration, there is only one large solar field which offers more flexibility. Two different control strategies are assessed by comparing simulation results. It shows that the simulations of the systems with two solar fields results in higher energy yields throughout the year, but the power production of the system with one solar field is much more flexible and demand oriented. Also it offers great potential for improvement when it comes to weather forecasting.

A total pleural covering of absorbable cellulose mesh prevents pneumothorax recurrence in patients with Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome.

PubMed

Mizobuchi, Teruaki; Kurihara, Masatoshi; Ebana, Hiroki; Yamanaka, Sumitaka; Kataoka, Hideyuki; Okamoto, Shouichi; Kobayashi, Etsuko; Kumasaka, Toshio; Seyama, Kuniaki

2018-05-15

Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS) is a recently recognized inherited multiple cystic lung disease causing recurrent pneumothoraces. Similarly to the lesions in patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), the pulmonary cysts are innumerable and widely dispersed and cannot all be removed. We recently described a total pleural covering (TPC) that covers the entire visceral pleura with oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) mesh. TPC successfully prevented the recurrence of pneumothorax in LAM patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an ORC pleural covering on pneumothorax recurrence in BHDS patients. This retrospective study enrolled a total of 81 pneumothorax patients with the diagnosis of BHDS who underwent 90 covering surgeries from January 2010 to August 2017 at Tamagawa Hospital. During the first half of the study period, a lower pleural covering (LPC) which covered the affected area with ORC mesh was mainly used to treat 38 pneumothoraces. During the second half of the study period, TPC was primarily performed for 52 pneumothoraces. All the thoracoscopic surgeries were successfully performed without serious complications (≥ Clavien-Dindo grade III). The median follow-up periods after LPC/TPC were 66/34 months, respectively. Pneumothorax recurrence rates after LPC at 2.5/5/7.5 years postoperatively were 5.4/12/42%, respectively; none of the patients who had underwent TPC developed postoperative pneumothorax recurrence (P = 0.032). TPC might be an effective option for surgical treatment of intractable pneumothorax in patients with BHDS.

Implementation of the Exeter enhanced recovery programme for patients undergoing radical cystectomy.

PubMed

Dutton, Thomas J; Daugherty, Mark O; Mason, Robert G; McGrath, John S

2014-05-01

To describe our experience with the implementation and refinement of an enhanced recovery programme (ERP) for radical cystectomy (RC) and urinary diversion. To assess the impact on length of stay (LOS), complication and readmission rates. In all, 165 consecutive patients undergoing open RC (ORC) and urinary diversion between January 2008 and April 2013 were entered into an ERP. A retrospective case note review was undertaken. Outcomes recorded included LOS, time to mobilisation, complication rates within the first 30 days (Clavien-Dindo classification) and readmissions. All patients were successfully entered into the ERP. As enhanced recovery principles became embedded in the unit, LOS reduced from a mean of 14 days over the initial year of the ERP to a mean of 9.2 days. The complication rate was 6.6% for Clavien ≥3, and 43.5% for Clavien ≤2. The 30-day mortality rate was 1.2%. The 30-day readmission rate was 13.9%. In the most contemporary subset of 52 patients: the median time after ORC to sit out of bed, mobilise and open bowels was day 1, 2 and 6, respectively. The ERP described for patients undergoing ORC appears to be safe. Benefits include early feeding, mobilisation and hospital discharge. The ERP will continue to develop with the incorporation of advancing evidence and technology, in particular the introduction of robot-assisted RC. © 2013 The Authors. BJU International © 2013 BJU International.

Development of an integrated heat pipe-thermal storage system for a solar receiver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keddy, E. S.; Sena, J. T.; Merrigan, M. A.; Heidenreich, G.; Johnson, S.

1987-01-01

The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Solar Dynamic Power System (SDPS) is one of the candidates for Space Station prime power application. In the low Earth orbit of the Space Station approximately 34 minutes of the 94-minute orbital period is spent in eclipse with no solar energy input to the power system. For this period the SDPS will use thermal energy storage (TES) material to provide a constant power output. An integrated heat-pipe thermal storage receiver system is being developed as part of the ORC-SDPS solar receiver. This system incorporates potassium heat pipe elements to absorb and transfer the solar energy within the receiver cavity. The heat pipes contain the TES canisters within the potassium vapor space with the toluene heater tube used as the condenser region of the heat pipe. During the insolation period of the Earth orbit, solar energy is delivered to the heat pipe in the ORC-SDPS receiver cavity. The heat pipe transforms the non-uniform solar flux incident in the heat pipe surface within the receiver cavity to an essentially uniform flux at the potassium vapor condensation interface in the heat pipe. During solar insolation, part of the thermal energy is delivered to the heater tube and the balance is stored in the TES units. During the eclipse period of the orbit, the balance stored in the TES units is transferred by the potassium vapor to the toluene heater tube.

Parametric and working fluid analysis of a combined organic Rankine-vapor compression refrigeration system activated by low-grade thermal energy.

PubMed

Saleh, B

2016-09-01

The potential use of many common hydrofluorocarbons and hydrocarbons as well as new hydrofluoroolefins, i.e. R1234yf and R1234ze(E) working fluids for a combined organic Rankine cycle and vapor compression refrigeration (ORC-VCR) system activated by low-grade thermal energy is evaluated. The basic ORC operates between 80 and 40 °C typical for low-grade thermal energy power plants while the basic VCR cycle operates between 5 and 40 °C. The system performance is characterized by the overall system coefficient of performance (COPS) and the total mass flow rate of the working fluid for each kW cooling capacity ([Formula: see text]). The effects of different working parameters such as the evaporator, condenser, and boiler temperatures on the system performance are examined. The results illustrate that the maximum COPS values are attained using the highest boiling candidates with overhanging T-s diagram, i.e. R245fa and R600, while R600 has the lowest [Formula: see text] under the considered operating conditions. Among the proposed candidates, R600 is the best candidate for the ORC-VCR system from the perspectives of environmental issues and system performance. Nevertheless, its flammability should attract enough attention. The maximum COPS using R600 is found to reach up to 0.718 at a condenser temperature of 30 °C and the basic values for the remaining parameters.

High-potential Working Fluids for Next Generation Binary Cycle Geothermal Power Plants

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

Zia, Jalal; Sevincer, Edip; Chen, Huijuan

2013-06-29

A thermo-economic model has been built and validated for prediction of project economics of Enhanced Geothermal Projects. The thermo-economic model calculates and iteratively optimizes the LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) for a prospective EGS (Enhanced Geothermal) site. It takes into account the local subsurface temperature gradient, the cost of drilling and reservoir creation, stimulation and power plant configuration. It calculates and optimizes the power plant configuration vs. well depth. Thus outputs from the model include optimal well depth and power plant configuration for the lowest LCOE. The main focus of this final report was to experimentally validate the thermodynamic propertiesmore » that formed the basis of the thermo-economic model built in Phase 2, and thus build confidence that the predictions of the model could be used reliably for process downselection and preliminary design at a given set of geothermal (and/or waste heat) boundary conditions. The fluid and cycle downselected was based on a new proprietary fluid from a vendor in a supercritical ORC cycle at a resource condition of 200°C inlet temperature. The team devised and executed a series of experiments to prove the suitability of the new fluid in realistic ORC cycle conditions. Furthermore, the team performed a preliminary design study for a MW-scale turbo expander that would be used for a supercritical ORC cycle with this new fluid. The following summarizes the main findings in the investigative campaign that was undertaken: 1. Chemical compatibility of the new fluid with common seal/gasket/Oring materials was found to be problematic. Neoprene, Viton, and silicone materials were found to be incompatible, suffering chemical decomposition, swelling and/or compression set issues. Of the materials tested, only TEFLON was found to be compatible under actual ORC temperature and pressure conditions. 2. Thermal stability of the new fluid at 200°C and 40 bar was found to be acceptable after 399 hours of exposure?only 3% of the initial charge degraded into by products. The main degradation products being an isomer and a dimer. 3. In a comparative experiment between R245fa and the new fluid under subcritical conditions, it was found that the new fluid operated at 1 bar lower than R245fa for the same power output, which was also predicted in the Aspen HSYSY model. As a drop-in replacement fluid for R245fa, this new fluid was found to be at least as good as R245fa in terms of performance and stability. Further optimization of the subcritical cycle may lead to a significant improvement in performance for the new fluid. 4. For supercritical conditions, the experiment found a good match between the measured and model predicted state point property data and duties from the energy balance. The largest percent differences occurred with densities and evaporator duty (see Figure 78). It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the state point model was experimentally validated with a realistic ORC system. 5. The team also undertook a preliminary turbo-expander design study for a supercritical ORC cycle with the new working fluid. Variants of radial and axial turbo expander geometries went through preliminary design and rough costing. It was found that at 15MWe or higher power rating, a multi-stage axial turbine is most suitable providing the best performance and cost. However, at lower power ratings in the 5MWe range, the expander technology to be chosen depends on the application of the power block. For EGS power blocks, it is most optimal to use multi-stage axial machines. In conclusion, the predictions of the LCOE model that showed a supercritical cycle based on the new fluid to be most advantageous for geothermal power production at a resource temperature of ~ 200C have been experimentally validated. It was found that the cycle based on the new fluid is lower in LCOE and higher in net power output (for the same boundary conditions). The project, therefore has found a new optimal configuration for low temperature geothermal power production in the form of a supercritical ORC cycle based on a new vendor fluid.« less

Global expression studies in baker's yeast reveal target genes for the improvement of industrially-relevant traits: the cases of CAF16 and ORC2

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Recent years have seen a huge growth in the market of industrial yeasts with the need for strains affording better performance or to be used in new applications. Stress tolerance of commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts is, without doubt, a trait that needs improving. Such trait is, however, complex, and therefore only in-depth knowledge of their biochemical, physiological and genetic principles can help us to define improvement strategies and to identify the key factors for strain selection. Results We have determined the transcriptional response of commercial baker's yeast cells to both high-sucrose and lean dough by using DNA macroarrays and liquid dough (LD) model system. Cells from compressed yeast blocks display a reciprocal transcription program to that commonly reported for laboratory strains exposed to osmotic stress. This discrepancy likely reflects differences in strain background and/or experimental design. Quite remarkably, we also found that the transcriptional response of starved baker's yeast cells was qualitatively similar in the presence or absence of sucrose in the LD. Nevertheless, there was a set of differentially regulated genes, which might be relevant for cells to adapt to high osmolarity. Consistent with this, overexpression of CAF16 or ORC2, two transcriptional factor-encoding genes included in this group, had positive effects on leavening activity of baker's yeast. Moreover, these effects were more pronounced during freezing and frozen storage of high-sucrose LD. Conclusions Engineering of differentially regulated genes opens the possibility to improve the physiological behavior of baker's yeast cells under stress conditions like those encountered in downstream applications. PMID:20626860

[Study on molecular recognition technology in active constituents extracted and isolated from Aconitum pendulum].

PubMed

Ma, Xue-Qin; Li, Guo-Shan; Fu, Xue-Yan; Ma, Jing-Zu

2011-03-01

To investigate CD molecular recognition technology applied in active constituents extracted and isolated from traditional Chinese medicine--Aconitum pendulum. The inclusion constant and form probability of the inclusion complex of Aconitum pendulum with p-CD was calculated by UV spectra method. The active constituents of Aconitum pendulum were extracted and isolated by molecular recognition technology. The inclusion complex was identified by UV. The chemical constituents of Aconitum pendulum and inclusion complex was determined by HPLC. The analgesic effects of inclusion complex was investigated by experiment of intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid in rats. The inclusion complex was identified and confirmed by UV spectra method, the chemical components of inclusion complex were simple, and the content of active constituents increased significantly, the analgesic effects of inclusion complex was well. The molecular recognition technology can be used for extracting and isolating active constituents of Aconitum pendulum, and the effects are obvious.

Facial emotion recognition in paranoid schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Sachse, Michael; Schlitt, Sabine; Hainz, Daniela; Ciaramidaro, Angela; Walter, Henrik; Poustka, Fritz; Bölte, Sven; Freitag, Christine M

2014-11-01

Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) share deficits in emotion processing. In order to identify convergent and divergent mechanisms, we investigated facial emotion recognition in SZ, high-functioning ASD (HFASD), and typically developed controls (TD). Different degrees of task difficulty and emotion complexity (face, eyes; basic emotions, complex emotions) were used. Two Benton tests were implemented in order to elicit potentially confounding visuo-perceptual functioning and facial processing. Nineteen participants with paranoid SZ, 22 with HFASD and 20 TD were included, aged between 14 and 33 years. Individuals with SZ were comparable to TD in all obtained emotion recognition measures, but showed reduced basic visuo-perceptual abilities. The HFASD group was impaired in the recognition of basic and complex emotions compared to both, SZ and TD. When facial identity recognition was adjusted for, group differences remained for the recognition of complex emotions only. Our results suggest that there is a SZ subgroup with predominantly paranoid symptoms that does not show problems in face processing and emotion recognition, but visuo-perceptual impairments. They also confirm the notion of a general facial and emotion recognition deficit in HFASD. No shared emotion recognition deficit was found for paranoid SZ and HFASD, emphasizing the differential cognitive underpinnings of both disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural and Functional Basis for an EBNA1 Hexameric Ring in Epstein-Barr Virus Episome Maintenance.

PubMed

Deakyne, Julianna S; Malecka, Kimberly A; Messick, Troy E; Lieberman, Paul M

2017-10-01

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) establishes a stable latent infection that can persist for the life of the host. EBNA1 is required for the replication, maintenance, and segregation of the latent episome, but the structural features of EBNA1 that confer each of these functions are not completely understood. Here, we have solved the X-ray crystal structure of an EBNA1 DNA-binding domain (DBD) and discovered a novel hexameric ring oligomeric form. The oligomeric interface pivoted around residue T585 as a joint that links and stabilizes higher-order EBNA1 complexes. Substitution mutations around the interface destabilized higher-order complex formation and altered the cooperative DNA-binding properties of EBNA1. Mutations had both positive and negative effects on EBNA1-dependent DNA replication and episome maintenance with OriP. We found that one naturally occurring polymorphism in the oligomer interface (T585P) had greater cooperative DNA binding in vitro , minor defects in DNA replication, and pronounced defects in episome maintenance. The T585P mutant was compromised for binding to OriP in vivo as well as for assembling the origin recognition complex subunit 2 (ORC2) and trimethylated histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3) at OriP. The T585P mutant was also compromised for forming stable subnuclear foci in living cells. These findings reveal a novel oligomeric structure of EBNA1 with an interface subject to naturally occurring polymorphisms that modulate EBNA1 functional properties. We propose that EBNA1 dimers can assemble into higher-order oligomeric structures important for diverse functions of EBNA1. IMPORTANCE Epstein-Barr virus is a human gammaherpesvirus that is causally associated with various cancers. Carcinogenic properties are linked to the ability of the virus to persist in the latent form for the lifetime of the host. EBNA1 is a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that is consistently expressed in EBV tumors and is the only viral protein required to maintain the viral episome during latency. The structural and biochemical mechanisms by which EBNA1 allows the long-term persistence of the EBV genome are currently unclear. Here, we have solved the crystal structure of an EBNA1 hexameric ring and characterized key residues in the interface required for higher-order complex formation and long-term plasmid maintenance. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - IRESEN 1 MWe CSP-ORC pilot project |

Science.gov Websites

Start Year: 2016 Do you have more information, corrections, or comments? Background Technology: Linear : 1,700 MWh/yr Contact(s): Webmaster Solar Break Ground: 2015 Start Production: September 2016 Cost

Are they ready? Organizational readiness for change among clinical teaching teams

PubMed Central

Bank, Lindsay; Jippes, Mariëlle; Leppink, Jimmie; Scherpbier, Albert JJA; den Rooyen, Corry; van Luijk, Scheltus J; Scheele, Fedde

2017-01-01

Introduction Curriculum change and innovation are inevitable parts of progress in postgraduate medical education (PGME). Although implementing change is known to be challenging, change management principles are rarely looked at for support. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for the successful implementation of change initiatives. Therefore, this study explores whether assessing ORC in clinical teaching teams could help to understand how curriculum change takes place in PGME. Methods Clinical teaching teams in hospitals in the Netherlands were requested to complete the Specialty Training’s Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change, a questionnaire to measure ORC in clinical teaching teams. In addition, change-related behavior was measured by using the “behavioral support-for-change” measure. A two-way analysis of variance was performed for all response variables of interest. Results In total, 836 clinical teaching team members were included in this study: 288 (34.4%) trainees, 307 (36.7%) clinical staff members, and 241 (28.8%) program directors. Overall, items regarding whether the program director has the authority to lead scored higher compared with the other items. At the other end, the subscales “management support and leadership,” “project resources,” and “implementation plan” had the lowest scores in all groups. Discussion The study brought to light that program directors are clearly in the lead when it comes to the implementation of educational innovation. Clinical teaching teams tend to work together as a team, sharing responsibilities in the implementation process. However, the results also reinforce the need for change management support in change processes in PGME. PMID:29276424

Targeting GLI by GANT61 involves mechanisms dependent on inhibition of both transcription and DNA licensing.

PubMed

Zhang, Ruowen; Wu, Jiahui; Ferrandon, Sylvain; Glowacki, Katie J; Houghton, Janet A

2016-12-06

The GLI genes are transcription factors and in cancers are oncogenes, aberrantly and constitutively activated. GANT61, a specific GLI inhibitor, has induced extensive cytotoxicity in human models of colon cancer. The FOXM1 promoter was determined to be a transcriptional target of GLI1. In HT29 cells, inhibition of GLI1 binding at the GLI consensus sequence by GANT61 led to inhibited binding of Pol II, the pause-release factors DSIF, NELF and p-TEFb. The formation of R-loops (RNA:DNA hybrids, ssDNA), were reduced by GANT61 at the FOXM1 promoter. Pretreatment of HT29 cells with α-amanitin reduced GANT61-induced γH2AX foci. Co-localization of GLI1 and BrdU foci, inhibited by GANT61, indicated GLI1 and DNA replication to be linked. By co-immunoprecipitation and confocal microscopy, GLI1 co-localized with the DNA licensing factors ORC4, CDT1, and MCM2. Significant co-localization of GLI1 and ORC4 was inhibited by GANT61, and enrichment of ORC4 occurred at the GLI binding site in the FOXM1 promoter. CDT1 was found to be a transcription target of GLI1. Overexpression of CDT1 in HT29 and SW480 cells reduced GANT61-induced cell death, gH2AX foci, and cleavage of caspase-3. Data demonstrate involvement of transcription and of DNA replication licensing factors by non-transcriptional and transcriptional mechanisms in the GLI-dependent mechanism of action of GANT61.

Are they ready? Organizational readiness for change among clinical teaching teams.

PubMed

Bank, Lindsay; Jippes, Mariëlle; Leppink, Jimmie; Scherpbier, Albert Jja; den Rooyen, Corry; van Luijk, Scheltus J; Scheele, Fedde

2017-01-01

Curriculum change and innovation are inevitable parts of progress in postgraduate medical education (PGME). Although implementing change is known to be challenging, change management principles are rarely looked at for support. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for the successful implementation of change initiatives. Therefore, this study explores whether assessing ORC in clinical teaching teams could help to understand how curriculum change takes place in PGME. Clinical teaching teams in hospitals in the Netherlands were requested to complete the Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change, a questionnaire to measure ORC in clinical teaching teams. In addition, change-related behavior was measured by using the "behavioral support-for-change" measure. A two-way analysis of variance was performed for all response variables of interest. In total, 836 clinical teaching team members were included in this study: 288 (34.4%) trainees, 307 (36.7%) clinical staff members, and 241 (28.8%) program directors. Overall, items regarding whether the program director has the authority to lead scored higher compared with the other items. At the other end, the subscales "management support and leadership," "project resources," and "implementation plan" had the lowest scores in all groups. The study brought to light that program directors are clearly in the lead when it comes to the implementation of educational innovation. Clinical teaching teams tend to work together as a team, sharing responsibilities in the implementation process. However, the results also reinforce the need for change management support in change processes in PGME.

Structure, recognition and adaptive binding in RNA aptamer complexes.

PubMed

Patel, D J; Suri, A K; Jiang, F; Jiang, L; Fan, P; Kumar, R A; Nonin, S

1997-10-10

Novel features of RNA structure, recognition and discrimination have been recently elucidated through the solution structural characterization of RNA aptamers that bind cofactors, aminoglycoside antibiotics, amino acids and peptides with high affinity and specificity. This review presents the solution structures of RNA aptamer complexes with adenosine monophosphate, flavin mononucleotide, arginine/citrulline and tobramycin together with an example of hydrogen exchange measurements of the base-pair kinetics for the AMP-RNA aptamer complex. A comparative analysis of the structures of these RNA aptamer complexes yields the principles, patterns and diversity associated with RNA architecture, molecular recognition and adaptive binding associated with complex formation.

Recognition of complex human behaviours using 3D imaging for intelligent surveillance applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Bo; Lepley, Jason J.; Peall, Robert; Butler, Michael; Hagras, Hani

2016-10-01

We introduce a system that exploits 3-D imaging technology as an enabler for the robust recognition of the human form. We combine this with pose and feature recognition capabilities from which we can recognise high-level human behaviours. We propose a hierarchical methodology for the recognition of complex human behaviours, based on the identification of a set of atomic behaviours, individual and sequential poses (e.g. standing, sitting, walking, drinking and eating) that provides a framework from which we adopt time-based machine learning techniques to recognise complex behaviour patterns.

What would happen if the Mississippi River changed its course to the Atchafalaya?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Y. J.

2017-12-01

The Mississippi River Delta faces an uncertain future as sea level keeps rising while the land continues to subside. In its latest Master Plan draft of 2017, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has outlined a $50 billion investment for 120 projects designed to build and maintain coastal Louisiana. These projects are all developed under the assumption that the Mississippi River (MR) would remain on its current course, which is artificially maintained through a control structure built in 1963 (also known as the Old River Control Structure, or ORCS) after it was realized that the river attempted to change its course back to its old river channel - the Atchafalaya River (AR). Since the ORCS is in operation of controlling only about 25% of the MR flow into the AR, little attention has been paid to the importance of possible riverbed changes downstream the avulsion node on the MR course switch. As one of the largest alluvial river in the world, the MR avulsed every 1,000-1,500 years in the past. Alluvial rivers avulse when two conditions are met: a sufficient in-channel aggradation and a major flood. In our ongoing study on sediment transport and channel morphology of the lower Mississippi River, we found that the first 30-mile reach downstream the ORCS has been experiencing rapid bed aggradation and channel narrowing in the past three decades. A mega flood could be a triggering point to overpower the man-made ORCS and allow the river abandon its current channel - the MR main stem. This is not a desirable path; however, nature has its own mechanism of choosing river flows, which do not bow to our expectation. The Missisippi River's flow is projected to increase in the future as global temperature continues to rise and hydrologic cycle intensifies. Additionally, rapid urbanization in the river basin will create conditions that foster the emergence of mega floods. It would be impractical to spend considerable resources for a river delta without assessing the future avulsion risk of the river upstream. My presentation will discuss the possibility of a Mississippi River avulsion, its consequences, as well as what assessment data we need to develop rational strategies.

Molecular Recognition: Detection of Colorless Compounds Based on Color Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khalafi, Lida; Kashani, Samira; Karimi, Javad

2016-01-01

A laboratory experiment is described in which students measure the amount of cetirizine in allergy-treatment tablets based on molecular recognition. The basis of recognition is competition of cetirizine with phenolphthalein to form an inclusion complex with ß-cyclodextrin. Phenolphthalein is pinkish under basic condition, whereas it's complex form…

Structural basis of DNA folding and recognition in an AMP-DNA aptamer complex: distinct architectures but common recognition motifs for DNA and RNA aptamers complexed to AMP.

PubMed

Lin, C H; Patel, D J

1997-11-01

Structural studies by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of RNA and DNA aptamer complexes identified through in vitro selection and amplification have provided a wealth of information on RNA and DNA tertiary structure and molecular recognition in solution. The RNA and DNA aptamers that target ATP (and AMP) with micromolar affinity exhibit distinct binding site sequences and secondary structures. We report below on the tertiary structure of the AMP-DNA aptamer complex in solution and compare it with the previously reported tertiary structure of the AMP-RNA aptamer complex in solution. The solution structure of the AMP-DNA aptamer complex shows, surprisingly, that two AMP molecules are intercalated at adjacent sites within a rectangular widened minor groove. Complex formation involves adaptive binding where the asymmetric internal bubble of the free DNA aptamer zippers up through formation of a continuous six-base mismatch segment which includes a pair of adjacent three-base platforms. The AMP molecules pair through their Watson-Crick edges with the minor groove edges of guanine residues. These recognition G.A mismatches are flanked by sheared G.A and reversed Hoogsteen G.G mismatch pairs. The AMP-DNA aptamer and AMP-RNA aptamer complexes have distinct tertiary structures and binding stoichiometries. Nevertheless, both complexes have similar structural features and recognition alignments in their binding pockets. Specifically, AMP targets both DNA and RNA aptamers by intercalating between purine bases and through identical G.A mismatch formation. The recognition G.A mismatch stacks with a reversed Hoogsteen G.G mismatch in one direction and with an adenine base in the other direction in both complexes. It is striking that DNA and RNA aptamers selected independently from libraries of 10(14) molecules in each case utilize identical mismatch alignments for molecular recognition with micromolar affinity within binding-site pockets containing common structural elements.

Specificity and multiplicity in the recognition of individuals: implications for the evolution of social behaviour.

PubMed

Wiley, R H

2013-02-01

Recognition of conspecifics occurs when individuals classify sets of conspecifics based on sensory input from them and associate these sets with different responses. Classification of conspecifics can vary in specificity (the number of individuals included in a set) and multiplicity (the number of sets differentiated). In other words, the information transmitted varies in complexity. Although recognition of conspecifics has been reported in a wide variety of organisms, few reports have addressed the specificity or multiplicity of this capability. This review discusses examples of these patterns, the mechanisms that can produce them, and the evolution of these mechanisms. Individual recognition is one end of a spectrum of specificity, and binary classification of conspecifics is one end of a spectrum of multiplicity. In some cases, recognition requires no more than simple forms of learning, such as habituation, yet results in individually specific recognition. In other cases, recognition of individuals involves complex associations of multiple cues with multiple previous experiences in particular contexts. Complex mechanisms for recognition are expected to evolve only when simpler mechanisms do not provide sufficient specificity and multiplicity to obtain the available advantages. In particular, the evolution of cooperation and deception is always promoted by specificity and multiplicity in recognition. Nevertheless, there is only one demonstration that recognition of specific individuals contributes to cooperation in animals other than primates. Human capacities for individual recognition probably have a central role in the evolution of complex forms of human cooperation and deception. Although relatively little studied, this capability probably rivals cognitive abilities for language. © 2012 The Author. Biological Reviews © 2012 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Analysis and Recognition of Curve Type as The Basis of Object Recognition in Image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nugraha, Nurma; Madenda, Sarifuddin; Indarti, Dina; Dewi Agushinta, R.; Ernastuti

2016-06-01

An object in an image when analyzed further will show the characteristics that distinguish one object with another object in an image. Characteristics that are used in object recognition in an image can be a color, shape, pattern, texture and spatial information that can be used to represent objects in the digital image. The method has recently been developed for image feature extraction on objects that share characteristics curve analysis (simple curve) and use the search feature of chain code object. This study will develop an algorithm analysis and the recognition of the type of curve as the basis for object recognition in images, with proposing addition of complex curve characteristics with maximum four branches that will be used for the process of object recognition in images. Definition of complex curve is the curve that has a point of intersection. By using some of the image of the edge detection, the algorithm was able to do the analysis and recognition of complex curve shape well.

Robust autoassociative memory with coupled networks of Kuramoto-type oscillators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heger, Daniel; Krischer, Katharina

2016-08-01

Uncertain recognition success, unfavorable scaling of connection complexity, or dependence on complex external input impair the usefulness of current oscillatory neural networks for pattern recognition or restrict technical realizations to small networks. We propose a network architecture of coupled oscillators for pattern recognition which shows none of the mentioned flaws. Furthermore we illustrate the recognition process with simulation results and analyze the dynamics analytically: Possible output patterns are isolated attractors of the system. Additionally, simple criteria for recognition success are derived from a lower bound on the basins of attraction.

Mathematical morphology-based shape feature analysis for Chinese character recognition systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pai, Tun-Wen; Shyu, Keh-Hwa; Chen, Ling-Fan; Tai, Gwo-Chin

1995-04-01

This paper proposes an efficient technique of shape feature extraction based on the application of mathematical morphology theory. A new shape complexity index for preclassification of machine printed Chinese Character Recognition (CCR) is also proposed. For characters represented in different fonts/sizes or in a low resolution environment, a more stable local feature such as shape structure is preferred for character recognition. Morphological valley extraction filters are applied to extract the protrusive strokes from four sides of an input Chinese character. The number of extracted local strokes reflects the shape complexity of each side. These shape features of characters are encoded as corresponding shape complexity indices. Based on the shape complexity index, data base is able to be classified into 16 groups prior to recognition procedures. The performance of associating with shape feature analysis reclaims several characters from misrecognized character sets and results in an average of 3.3% improvement of recognition rate from an existing recognition system. In addition to enhance the recognition performance, the extracted stroke information can be further analyzed and classified its own stroke type. Therefore, the combination of extracted strokes from each side provides a means for data base clustering based on radical or subword components. It is one of the best solutions for recognizing high complexity characters such as Chinese characters which are divided into more than 200 different categories and consist more than 13,000 characters.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Aalborg CSP-Brønderslev CSP with ORC

Science.gov Websites

trough Turbine Capacity: Gross: 16.6 MW Status: Operational Start Year: 2016 Do you have more information Contact(s): Webmaster Solar Key References: Web site Break Ground: April 2016 Start Production: December

Surviving blind decomposition: A distributional analysis of the time-course of complex word recognition.

PubMed

Schmidtke, Daniel; Matsuki, Kazunaga; Kuperman, Victor

2017-11-01

The current study addresses a discrepancy in the psycholinguistic literature about the chronology of information processing during the visual recognition of morphologically complex words. Form-then-meaning accounts of complex word recognition claim that morphemes are processed as units of form prior to any influence of their meanings, whereas form-and-meaning models posit that recognition of complex word forms involves the simultaneous access of morphological and semantic information. The study reported here addresses this theoretical discrepancy by applying a nonparametric distributional technique of survival analysis (Reingold & Sheridan, 2014) to 2 behavioral measures of complex word processing. Across 7 experiments reported here, this technique is employed to estimate the point in time at which orthographic, morphological, and semantic variables exert their earliest discernible influence on lexical decision RTs and eye movement fixation durations. Contrary to form-then-meaning predictions, Experiments 1-4 reveal that surface frequency is the earliest lexical variable to exert a demonstrable influence on lexical decision RTs for English and Dutch derived words (e.g., badness ; bad + ness ), English pseudoderived words (e.g., wander ; wand + er ) and morphologically simple control words (e.g., ballad ; ball + ad ). Furthermore, for derived word processing across lexical decision and eye-tracking paradigms (Experiments 1-2; 5-7), semantic effects emerge early in the time-course of word recognition, and their effects either precede or emerge simultaneously with morphological effects. These results are not consistent with the premises of the form-then-meaning view of complex word recognition, but are convergent with a form-and-meaning account of complex word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Recognition Of Complex Three Dimensional Objects Using Three Dimensional Moment Invariants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadjadi, Firooz A.

1985-01-01

A technique for the recognition of complex three dimensional objects is presented. The complex 3-D objects are represented in terms of their 3-D moment invariants, algebraic expressions that remain invariant independent of the 3-D objects' orientations and locations in the field of view. The technique of 3-D moment invariants has been used successfully for simple 3-D object recognition in the past. In this work we have extended this method for the representation of more complex objects. Two complex objects are represented digitally; their 3-D moment invariants have been calculated, and then the invariancy of these 3-D invariant moment expressions is verified by changing the orientation and the location of the objects in the field of view. The results of this study have significant impact on 3-D robotic vision, 3-D target recognition, scene analysis and artificial intelligence.

Molecular recognition on a cavitand-functionalized silicon surface.

PubMed

Biavardi, Elisa; Favazza, Maria; Motta, Alessandro; Fragalà, Ignazio L; Massera, Chiara; Prodi, Luca; Montalti, Marco; Melegari, Monica; Condorelli, Guglielmo G; Dalcanale, Enrico

2009-06-03

A Si(100) surface featuring molecular recognition properties was obtained by covalent functionalization with a tetraphosphonate cavitand (Tiiii), able to complex positively charged species. Tiiii cavitand was grafted onto the Si by photochemical hydrosilylation together with 1-octene as a spatial spectator. The recognition properties of the Si-Tiiii surface were demonstrated through two independent analytical techniques, namely XPS and fluorescence spectroscopy, during the course of reversible complexation-guest exchange-decomplexation cycles with specifically designed ammonium and pyridinium salts. Control experiments employing a Si(100) surface functionalized with a structurally similar, but complexation inactive, tetrathiophosphonate cavitand (TSiiii) demonstrated no recognition events. This provides evidence for the complexation properties of the Si-Tiiii surface, ruling out the possibility of nonspecific interactions between the substrate and the guests. The residual Si-O(-) terminations on the surface replace the guests' original counterions, thus stabilizing the complex ion pairs. These results represent a further step toward the control of self-assembly of complex supramolecular architectures on surfaces.

Fast cat-eye effect target recognition based on saliency extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Li; Ren, Jianlin; Wang, Xingbin

2015-09-01

Background complexity is a main reason that results in false detection in cat-eye target recognition. Human vision has selective attention property which can help search the salient target from complex unknown scenes quickly and precisely. In the paper, we propose a novel cat-eye effect target recognition method named Multi-channel Saliency Processing before Fusion (MSPF). This method combines traditional cat-eye target recognition with the selective characters of visual attention. Furthermore, parallel processing enables it to achieve fast recognition. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs better in accuracy, robustness and speed compared to other methods.

Modelling geothermal conditions in part of the Szczecin Trough - the Chociwel area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miecznik, Maciej; Sowiżdżał, Anna; Tomaszewska, Barbara; Pająk, Leszek

2015-09-01

The Chociwel region is part of the Szczecin Trough and constitutes the northeastern segment of the extended Szczecin-Gorzów Synclinorium. Lower Jurassic reservoirs of high permeability of up to 1145 mD can discharge geothermal waters with a rate exceeding 250 m3/h and temperatures reach over 90°C in the lowermost part of the reservoirs. These conditions provide an opportunity to generate electricity from heat accumulated in geothermal waters using binary ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) systems. A numerical model of the natural state and exploitation conditions was created for the Chociwel area with the use of TOUGH2 geothermal simulator (i.e., integral finite-difference method). An analysis of geological and hydrogeothermal data indicates that the best conditions are found to the southeast of the town of Chociwel, where the bottom part of the reservoir reaches 3 km below ground. This would require drilling two new wells, namely one production and one injection. Simulated production with a flow rate of 275 m3/h, a temperature of 89°C at the wellhead, 30°C injection temperature and wells being 1.2 km separated from each other leads to a small temperature drop and moderate requirements for pumping power over a 50 years' time span. The ORC binary system can produce at maximum 592.5 kW gross power with the R227ea found as the most suitable working fluid. Geothermal brine leaving the ORC system with a temperature c. 53°C can be used for other purposes, namely mushroom growing, balneology, swimming pools, soil warming, de-icing, fish farming and for heat pumps.

Comparison of perioperative outcomes between open and robotic radical cystectomy: a population based analysis.

PubMed

Nazzani, Sebastiano; Mazzone, Elio; Preisser, Felix; Bandini, Marco; Tian, Zhe; Marchioni, Michele; Ratti, Dario; Motta, Gloria; Zorn, Kevin Christopher; Briganti, Alberto; Shariat, Shahrokh F; Montanari, Emanuele; Carmignani, Luca; Karakiewicz, Pierre I

2018-05-30

Radical cystectomy represents the standard of care for muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Due to its novelty the use of robotic radical cystectomy (RARC) is still under debate. We examined intraoperative and postoperative morbidity and mortality as well as impact on length of stay (LOS) and total hospital charges (THCGs) of RARC compared to open radical cystectomy (ORC). Within National Inpatient Sample (NIS) (2008-2013), we identified patients with non-metastatic bladder cancer treated with either ORC or RARC. We relied on inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to reduce the effect of inherent differences between ORC vs. RARC. Multivariable logistic regression (MLR) and multivariable Poisson regression models (MPR) were used. Of all 10 027 patients, 12.6% underwent RARC. Between 2008 and 2013, RARC rates increased from 0.8 to 20.4% [Estimated annual percentage change (EAPC): +26.5%, CI: +11.1 to +48.3; p=0.035] and RARC THCGs decreased from 45 981 to 31 749 United States Dollars (EAPC: -6.8%, CI: -9.6 to -3.9; p=0.01). In MLR models RARC resulted in lower rates of overall complications (OR: 0.6; p <0.001) and transfusions (OR: 0.44; p <0.001). In MPR models, RARC was associated with shorter LOS [relative risk(RR)0.91 ; p <0.001]. Finally, higher THCGs (OR: 1.09; p <0.001) were recorded for RARC. Data are retrospective and no tumor characteristics were available. RARC is related to lower rates of overall complications and transfusions rates. In consequence, RARC is a safe and feasible technique in select muscle invasive bladder cancer patients. Moreover, RARC is associated with shorter LOS albeit higher THCGs.  .

Analysis of heat recovery of diesel engine using intermediate working fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Lei; Zhang, Jiang; Tan, Gangfeng; Liu, Huaming

2017-07-01

The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is an effective way to recovery the engine exhaust heat. The thermal stability of the evaporation system is significant for the stable operation of the ORC system. In this paper, the performance of the designed evaporation system which combines with the intermediate fluid for recovering the exhaust waste heat from a diesel engine is evaluated. The thermal characteristics of the target diesel engine exhaust gas are evaluated based on the experimental data firstly. Then, the mathematical model of the evaporation system is built based on the geometrical parameters and the specific working conditions of ORC. Finally, the heat transfer characteristics of the evaporation system are estimated corresponding to three typical operating conditions of the diesel engine. The result shows that the exhaust temperature at the evaporator outlet increases slightly with the engine speed and load. In the evaporator, the heat transfer coefficient of the Rankine working fluid is slightly larger than the intermediate fluid. However, the heat transfer coefficient of the intermediate fluid in the heat exchanger is larger than the exhaust side. The heat transfer areas of the evaporator in both the two-phase zone and the preheated zone change slightly along with the engine working condition while the heat transfer areas of the overheated zone has changed obviously. The maximum heat transfer rate occurs in the preheating zone while the minimum value occurs in the overheating zone. In addition, the Rankine working fluid temperature at the evaporator outlet is not sensitively affected by the torque and speed of the engine and the organic fluid flow is relatively stable. It is concluded that the intermediate fluid could effectively reduce the physical changes of Rankine working fluid in the evaporator outlet due to changes in engine operating conditions.

The 'Reading the Mind in Films' Task [child version]: complex emotion and mental state recognition in children with and without autism spectrum conditions.

PubMed

Golan, Ofer; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Golan, Yael

2008-09-01

Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties recognizing others' emotions. Research has mostly focused on basic emotion recognition, devoid of context. This study reports the results of a new task, assessing recognition of complex emotions and mental states in social contexts. An ASC group (n = 23) was compared to a general population control group (n = 24). Children with ASC performed lower than controls on the task. Using task scores, more than 87% of the participants were allocated to their group. This new test quantifies complex emotion and mental state recognition in life-like situations. Our findings reveal that children with ASC have residual difficulties in this aspect of empathy. The use of language-based compensatory strategies for emotion recognition is discussed.

Stress reaction process-based hierarchical recognition algorithm for continuous intrusion events in optical fiber prewarning system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Hongquan; Yuan, Shijiao; Wang, Yanping; Yang, Dan

2018-04-01

To improve the recognition performance of optical fiber prewarning system (OFPS), this study proposed a hierarchical recognition algorithm (HRA). Compared with traditional methods, which employ only a complex algorithm that includes multiple extracted features and complex classifiers to increase the recognition rate with a considerable decrease in recognition speed, HRA takes advantage of the continuity of intrusion events, thereby creating a staged recognition flow inspired by stress reaction. HRA is expected to achieve high-level recognition accuracy with less time consumption. First, this work analyzed the continuity of intrusion events and then presented the algorithm based on the mechanism of stress reaction. Finally, it verified the time consumption through theoretical analysis and experiments, and the recognition accuracy was obtained through experiments. Experiment results show that the processing speed of HRA is 3.3 times faster than that of a traditional complicated algorithm and has a similar recognition rate of 98%. The study is of great significance to fast intrusion event recognition in OFPS.

Organizational Readiness for Change and Opinions toward Treatment Innovations

PubMed Central

Fuller, Bret E.; Rieckmann, Traci; Nunes, Edward V.; Miller, Michael; Arfken, Cynthia; Edmundson, Eldon; McCarty, Dennis

2007-01-01

Program administrators and staff in treatment programs participating in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) completed surveys to characterize participating programs and practitioners. A two-level random effects regression model assessed the influence of Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) and organizational attributes on opinions toward the use of four evidence-based practices (manualized treatments, medication, integrated mental health services, and motivational incentives) and practices with less empirical support (confrontation and noncompliance discharge). The ORC Scales suggested greater support for evidence-based practices in programs where staff perceived more program need for improvement, better Internet access, higher levels of peer influence, more opportunities for professional growth, a stronger sense of organizational mission and more organizational stress. Support for confrontation and noncompliance discharge, in contrast, was strong when staff saw less opportunity for professional growth, weaker peer influence, less Internet access, and perceived less organizational stress. The analysis provides evidence of the ORC’s utility in assessing agency strengths and needs during the implementation of evidence-based practices. PMID:17434708

Immobilization of proteins onto microbeads using a DNA binding tag for enzymatic assays.

PubMed

Kojima, Takaaki; Mizoguchi, Takuro; Ota, Eri; Hata, Jumpei; Homma, Keisuke; Zhu, Bo; Hitomi, Kiyotaka; Nakano, Hideo

2016-02-01

A novel DNA-binding protein tag, scCro-tag, which is a single-chain derivative of the bacteriophage lambda Cro repressor, has been developed to immobilize proteins of interest (POI) on a solid support through binding OR consensus DNA (ORC) that is tightly bound by the scCro protein. The scCro-tag successfully bound a transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) substrate and manganese peroxidase (MnP) to microbeads via scaffolding DNA. The resulting protein-coated microbeads can be utilized for functional analysis of the enzymatic activity using flow cytometry. The quantity of bead-bound proteins can be enhanced by increasing the number of ORCs. In addition, proteins with the scCro-tag that were synthesized using a cell-free protein synthesis system were also immobilized onto the beads, thus indicating that this bead-based system would be applicable to high-throughput analysis of various enzymatic activities. Copyright © 2015 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal performance of a prototype plate heat exchanger with minichannels under boiling conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wajs, J.; Mikielewicz, D.; Fornalik-Wajs, E.

2016-09-01

To solve the problem and to meet the requirements of customers in the field of high heat fluxes transfer in compact units, a new design of plate heat exchanger with minichannels (minichannels PHE) was proposed. The aim was to construct a compact heat exchanger of high effectiveness for the purpose of household cogeneration ORC system. In this paper the experimental analysis of an assembled prototype of such compact heat exchanger was described. The attention was paid to its thermal performance and the heat transfer coefficients under the boiling conditions. Water and ethanol were chosen as working fluids. The maximal value of transferred heat flux was about 84 kW/m2, while of the overall heat transfer coefficient was about 4000 W/(m2K). Estimated values of heat transfer coefficient on the ethanol (boiling) side reached the level of 7500 W/(m2K). The results are promising in the light of future applications, for example in cogeneration ORC systems, however further systematic investigations are necessary.

Urdu Nasta'liq text recognition using implicit segmentation based on multi-dimensional long short term memory neural networks.

PubMed

Naz, Saeeda; Umar, Arif Iqbal; Ahmed, Riaz; Razzak, Muhammad Imran; Rashid, Sheikh Faisal; Shafait, Faisal

2016-01-01

The recognition of Arabic script and its derivatives such as Urdu, Persian, Pashto etc. is a difficult task due to complexity of this script. Particularly, Urdu text recognition is more difficult due to its Nasta'liq writing style. Nasta'liq writing style inherits complex calligraphic nature, which presents major issues to recognition of Urdu text owing to diagonality in writing, high cursiveness, context sensitivity and overlapping of characters. Therefore, the work done for recognition of Arabic script cannot be directly applied to Urdu recognition. We present Multi-dimensional Long Short Term Memory (MDLSTM) Recurrent Neural Networks with an output layer designed for sequence labeling for recognition of printed Urdu text-lines written in the Nasta'liq writing style. Experiments show that MDLSTM attained a recognition accuracy of 98% for the unconstrained Urdu Nasta'liq printed text, which significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art techniques.

The "Reading the Mind in Films" Task [Child Version]: Complex Emotion and Mental State Recognition in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golan, Ofer; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Golan, Yael

2008-01-01

Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties recognizing others' emotions. Research has mostly focused on "basic" emotion recognition, devoid of context. This study reports the results of a new task, assessing recognition of "complex" emotions and mental states in social contexts. An ASC group (n = 23) was compared to a general…

Thermal energy storage for low grade heat in the organic Rankine cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soda, Michael John

Limits of efficiencies cause immense amounts of thermal energy in the form of waste heat to be vented to the atmosphere. Up to 60% of unrecovered waste heat is classified as low or ultra-low quality, making recovery difficult or inefficient. The organic Rankine cycle can be used to generate mechanical power and electricity from these low temperatures where other thermal cycles are impractical. A variety of organic working fluids are available to optimize the ORC for any target temperature range. San Diego State University has one such experimental ORC using R245fa, and has been experimenting with multiple expanders. One limitation of recovering waste heat is the sporadic or cyclical nature common to its production. This inconsistency makes sizing heat recovery ORC systems difficult for a variety of reasons including off-design-point efficiency loss, increased attrition from varying loads, unreliable outputs, and overall system costs. Thermal energy storage systems can address all of these issues by smoothing the thermal input to a constant and reliable level and providing back-up capacity for times when the thermal input is deactivated. Multiple types of thermal energy storage have been explored including sensible, latent, and thermochemical. Latent heat storage involves storing thermal energy in the reversible phase change of a phase change material, or PCM, and can have several advantages over other modalities including energy storage density, cost, simplicity, reliability, relatively constant temperature output, and temperature customizability. The largest obstacles to using latent heat storage include heat transfer rates, thermal cycling stability, and potentially corrosive PCMs. Targeting 86°C, the operating temperature of SDSU's experimental ORC, multiple potential materials were explored and tested as potential PCMs including Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate (MgCl2˙6H2O), Magnesium Nitrate Hexahydrate (Mg(NO3)2˙6H 2O), montan wax, and carnauba wax. The addition of graphite to augment heat transfer rates was also tested. Melting and solidification temperatures largely matched predictions. The magnesium salts were found to be less stable under thermal cycling than the waxes. Graphite was only soluble in the waxes. Mixtures of magnesium salts and waxes yielded a layered composite with the less dense waxes creating a sealing layer over the salt layer that significantly increased the stability of the magnesium salts. Research into optimum heat exchangers and storage vessels for these applications indicates that horizontally oriented aluminum pipes with vertically oriented aluminum fins would be the best method of storing and retrieving energy. Fin spacing can be predicted by an equation based on target temperatures and PCM characteristics.

Preliminary analysis of compound systems based on high temperature fuel cell, gas turbine and Organic Rankine Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, D.; Muñoz de Escalona, J. M.; Monje, B.; Chacartegui, R.; Sánchez, T.

This article presents a novel proposal for complex hybrid systems comprising high temperature fuel cells and thermal engines. In this case, the system is composed by a molten carbonate fuel cell with cascaded hot air turbine and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), a layout that is based on subsequent waste heat recovery for additional power production. The work will credit that it is possible to achieve 60% efficiency even if the fuel cell operates at atmospheric pressure. The first part of the analysis focuses on selecting the working fluid of the Organic Rankine Cycle. After a thermodynamic optimisation, toluene turns out to be the most efficient fluid in terms of cycle performance. However, it is also detected that the performance of the heat recovery vapour generator is equally important, what makes R245fa be the most interesting fluid due to its balanced thermal and HRVG efficiencies that yield the highest global bottoming cycle efficiency. When this fluid is employed in the compound system, conservative operating conditions permit achieving 60% global system efficiency, therefore accomplishing the initial objective set up in the work. A simultaneous optimisation of gas turbine (pressure ratio) and ORC (live vapour pressure) is then presented, to check if the previous results are improved or if the fluid of choice must be replaced. Eventually, even if system performance improves for some fluids, it is concluded that (i) R245fa is the most efficient fluid and (ii) the operating conditions considered in the previous analysis are still valid. The work concludes with an assessment about safety-related aspects of using hydrocarbons in the system. Flammability is studied, showing that R245fa is the most interesting fluid also in this regard due to its inert behaviour, as opposed to the other fluids under consideration all of which are highly flammable.

The Complex Action Recognition via the Correlated Topic Model

PubMed Central

Tu, Hong-bin; Xia, Li-min; Wang, Zheng-wu

2014-01-01

Human complex action recognition is an important research area of the action recognition. Among various obstacles to human complex action recognition, one of the most challenging is to deal with self-occlusion, where one body part occludes another one. This paper presents a new method of human complex action recognition, which is based on optical flow and correlated topic model (CTM). Firstly, the Markov random field was used to represent the occlusion relationship between human body parts in terms of an occlusion state variable. Secondly, the structure from motion (SFM) is used for reconstructing the missing data of point trajectories. Then, we can extract the key frame based on motion feature from optical flow and the ratios of the width and height are extracted by the human silhouette. Finally, we use the topic model of correlated topic model (CTM) to classify action. Experiments were performed on the KTH, Weizmann, and UIUC action dataset to test and evaluate the proposed method. The compared experiment results showed that the proposed method was more effective than compared methods. PMID:24574920

Basic and complex emotion recognition in children with autism: cross-cultural findings.

PubMed

Fridenson-Hayo, Shimrit; Berggren, Steve; Lassalle, Amandine; Tal, Shahar; Pigat, Delia; Bölte, Sven; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Golan, Ofer

2016-01-01

Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have emotion recognition deficits when tested in different expression modalities (face, voice, body). However, these findings usually focus on basic emotions, using one or two expression modalities. In addition, cultural similarities and differences in emotion recognition patterns in children with ASC have not been explored before. The current study examined the similarities and differences in the recognition of basic and complex emotions by children with ASC and typically developing (TD) controls across three cultures: Israel, Britain, and Sweden. Fifty-five children with high-functioning ASC, aged 5-9, were compared to 58 TD children. On each site, groups were matched on age, sex, and IQ. Children were tested using four tasks, examining recognition of basic and complex emotions from voice recordings, videos of facial and bodily expressions, and emotional video scenarios including all modalities in context. Compared to their TD peers, children with ASC showed emotion recognition deficits in both basic and complex emotions on all three modalities and their integration in context. Complex emotions were harder to recognize, compared to basic emotions for the entire sample. Cross-cultural agreement was found for all major findings, with minor deviations on the face and body tasks. Our findings highlight the multimodal nature of ER deficits in ASC, which exist for basic as well as complex emotions and are relatively stable cross-culturally. Cross-cultural research has the potential to reveal both autism-specific universal deficits and the role that specific cultures play in the way empathy operates in different countries.

46 CFR 169.723 - Safety belts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Safety belts. 169.723 Section 169.723 Shipping COAST... Control, Miscellaneous Systems, and Equipment § 169.723 Safety belts. Each vessel must carry a harness type safety belt conforming to Offshore Racing Council (ORC) standards for each person on watch or...

46 CFR 169.723 - Safety belts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Safety belts. 169.723 Section 169.723 Shipping COAST... Control, Miscellaneous Systems, and Equipment § 169.723 Safety belts. Each vessel must carry a harness type safety belt conforming to Offshore Racing Council (ORC) standards for each person on watch or...

Processing Relative Clauses in Supportive Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedorenko, Evelina; Piantadosi, Steve; Gibson, Edward

2012-01-01

Results from two self-paced reading experiments in English are reported in which subject- and object-extracted relative clauses (SRCs and ORCs, respectively) were presented in contexts that support both types of relative clauses (RCs). Object-extracted versions were read more slowly than subject-extracted versions across both experiments. These…

Concentrating Solar Power Projects in Morocco | Concentrating Solar Power |

Science.gov Websites

;alphabetical by project name. You can browse a project profile by clicking on the project name. Airlight Energy Ait-Baha Pilot Plant eCare Solar Thermal Project IRESEN 1 MWe CSP-ORC pilot project ISCC Ain Beni

Molecular Recognition in the Oxidation of Catechols by Dicobalt-BISDIEN Dioxygen Complexes

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-30

Recognition in the Oxidation of Catechols by Dicobalt-RISDIEN Dioxygen Complexes Lizete F S Cezar and Bruno Szpoganicz Departamento de Quimica ...bridged bi- nuclear Co(II)-BISDIEN dioxygen complexes; Co20 2 LCat2 + is the bivalent form, and Co20 2 (OH)LCat + and Co 20 2 (OH)2 Cat° are hydroxo

[Comparative studies of face recognition].

PubMed

Kawai, Nobuyuki

2012-07-01

Every human being is proficient in face recognition. However, the reason for and the manner in which humans have attained such an ability remain unknown. These questions can be best answered-through comparative studies of face recognition in non-human animals. Studies in both primates and non-primates show that not only primates, but also non-primates possess the ability to extract information from their conspecifics and from human experimenters. Neural specialization for face recognition is shared with mammals in distant taxa, suggesting that face recognition evolved earlier than the emergence of mammals. A recent study indicated that a social insect, the golden paper wasp, can distinguish their conspecific faces, whereas a closely related species, which has a less complex social lifestyle with just one queen ruling a nest of underlings, did not show strong face recognition for their conspecifics. Social complexity and the need to differentiate between one another likely led humans to evolve their face recognition abilities.

MCM Paradox: Abundance of Eukaryotic Replicative Helicases and Genomic Integrity.

PubMed

Das, Mitali; Singh, Sunita; Pradhan, Satyajit; Narayan, Gopeshwar

2014-01-01

As a crucial component of DNA replication licensing system, minichromosome maintenance (MCM) 2-7 complex acts as the eukaryotic DNA replicative helicase. The six related MCM proteins form a heterohexamer and bind with ORC, CDC6, and Cdt1 to form the prereplication complex. Although the MCMs are well known as replicative helicases, their overabundance and distribution patterns on chromatin present a paradox called the "MCM paradox." Several approaches had been taken to solve the MCM paradox and describe the purpose of excess MCMs distributed beyond the replication origins. Alternative functions of these MCMs rather than a helicase had also been proposed. This review focuses on several models and concepts generated to solve the MCM paradox coinciding with their helicase function and provides insight into the concept that excess MCMs are meant for licensing dormant origins as a backup during replication stress. Finally, we extend our view towards the effect of alteration of MCM level. Though an excess MCM constituent is needed for normal cells to withstand stress, there must be a delineation of the threshold level in normal and malignant cells. This review also outlooks the future prospects to better understand the MCM biology.

MCM Paradox: Abundance of Eukaryotic Replicative Helicases and Genomic Integrity

PubMed Central

Das, Mitali; Singh, Sunita; Pradhan, Satyajit

2014-01-01

As a crucial component of DNA replication licensing system, minichromosome maintenance (MCM) 2–7 complex acts as the eukaryotic DNA replicative helicase. The six related MCM proteins form a heterohexamer and bind with ORC, CDC6, and Cdt1 to form the prereplication complex. Although the MCMs are well known as replicative helicases, their overabundance and distribution patterns on chromatin present a paradox called the “MCM paradox.” Several approaches had been taken to solve the MCM paradox and describe the purpose of excess MCMs distributed beyond the replication origins. Alternative functions of these MCMs rather than a helicase had also been proposed. This review focuses on several models and concepts generated to solve the MCM paradox coinciding with their helicase function and provides insight into the concept that excess MCMs are meant for licensing dormant origins as a backup during replication stress. Finally, we extend our view towards the effect of alteration of MCM level. Though an excess MCM constituent is needed for normal cells to withstand stress, there must be a delineation of the threshold level in normal and malignant cells. This review also outlooks the future prospects to better understand the MCM biology. PMID:25386362

Feedforward object-vision models only tolerate small image variations compared to human

PubMed Central

Ghodrati, Masoud; Farzmahdi, Amirhossein; Rajaei, Karim; Ebrahimpour, Reza; Khaligh-Razavi, Seyed-Mahdi

2014-01-01

Invariant object recognition is a remarkable ability of primates' visual system that its underlying mechanism has constantly been under intense investigations. Computational modeling is a valuable tool toward understanding the processes involved in invariant object recognition. Although recent computational models have shown outstanding performances on challenging image databases, they fail to perform well in image categorization under more complex image variations. Studies have shown that making sparse representation of objects by extracting more informative visual features through a feedforward sweep can lead to higher recognition performances. Here, however, we show that when the complexity of image variations is high, even this approach results in poor performance compared to humans. To assess the performance of models and humans in invariant object recognition tasks, we built a parametrically controlled image database consisting of several object categories varied in different dimensions and levels, rendered from 3D planes. Comparing the performance of several object recognition models with human observers shows that only in low-level image variations the models perform similar to humans in categorization tasks. Furthermore, the results of our behavioral experiments demonstrate that, even under difficult experimental conditions (i.e., briefly presented masked stimuli with complex image variations), human observers performed outstandingly well, suggesting that the models are still far from resembling humans in invariant object recognition. Taken together, we suggest that learning sparse informative visual features, although desirable, is not a complete solution for future progresses in object-vision modeling. We show that this approach is not of significant help in solving the computational crux of object recognition (i.e., invariant object recognition) when the identity-preserving image variations become more complex. PMID:25100986

Distributed Recognition of Natural Songs by European Starlings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knudsen, Daniel; Thompson, Jason V.; Gentner, Timothy Q.

2010-01-01

Individual vocal recognition behaviors in songbirds provide an excellent framework for the investigation of comparative psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that support the perception and cognition of complex acoustic communication signals. To this end, the complex songs of European starlings have been studied extensively. Yet, several…

Fast neuromimetic object recognition using FPGA outperforms GPU implementations.

PubMed

Orchard, Garrick; Martin, Jacob G; Vogelstein, R Jacob; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph

2013-08-01

Recognition of objects in still images has traditionally been regarded as a difficult computational problem. Although modern automated methods for visual object recognition have achieved steadily increasing recognition accuracy, even the most advanced computational vision approaches are unable to obtain performance equal to that of humans. This has led to the creation of many biologically inspired models of visual object recognition, among them the hierarchical model and X (HMAX) model. HMAX is traditionally known to achieve high accuracy in visual object recognition tasks at the expense of significant computational complexity. Increasing complexity, in turn, increases computation time, reducing the number of images that can be processed per unit time. In this paper we describe how the computationally intensive and biologically inspired HMAX model for visual object recognition can be modified for implementation on a commercial field-programmable aate Array, specifically the Xilinx Virtex 6 ML605 evaluation board with XC6VLX240T FPGA. We show that with minor modifications to the traditional HMAX model we can perform recognition on images of size 128 × 128 pixels at a rate of 190 images per second with a less than 1% loss in recognition accuracy in both binary and multiclass visual object recognition tasks.

Paternal kin recognition in the high frequency / ultrasonic range in a solitary foraging mammal

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Kin selection is a driving force in the evolution of mammalian social complexity. Recognition of paternal kin using vocalizations occurs in taxa with cohesive, complex social groups. This is the first investigation of paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in a small-brained, solitary foraging mammal, the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), a frequent model for ancestral primates. We analyzed the high frequency/ultrasonic male advertisement (courtship) call and alarm call. Results Multi-parametric analyses of the calls’ acoustic parameters and discriminant function analyses showed that advertisement calls, but not alarm calls, contain patrilineal signatures. Playback experiments controlling for familiarity showed that females paid more attention to advertisement calls from unrelated males than from their fathers. Reactions to alarm calls from unrelated males and fathers did not differ. Conclusions 1) Findings provide the first evidence of paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in a small-brained, solitarily foraging mammal. 2) High predation, small body size, and dispersed social systems may select for acoustic paternal kin recognition in the high frequency/ultrasonic ranges, thus limiting risks of inbreeding and eavesdropping by predators or conspecific competitors. 3) Paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in mammals is not dependent upon a large brain and high social complexity, but may already have been an integral part of the dispersed social networks from which more complex, kin-based sociality emerged. PMID:23198727

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A NOVEL ARCHITECTURE FOR AN INTEGRATED SOLAR THERMAL-BIOGAS CO-GENERATION SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

The immediate goal is a system based on the integration of the suite of modules developed solar thermal, biogas, ORC, absorption-chiller) that can be assembled together to create systems tailored to the unique demands of individual communities and climates, optimized for effic...

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Airlight Energy Ait-Baha Pilot Plant |

Science.gov Websites

heat at high temperature to the existing 12MW ORC Generator. Status Date: February 16, 2015 Project Mirror Manufacturer (Model): Airlight Energy (Pneumatic mirror) # of Heat Collector Elements (HCEs): 108 HCE Manufacturer: Airlight Energy Heat-Transfer Fluid Type: Air at ambient pressure Solar-Field Inlet

Organizational Readiness for Change in Correctional and Community Substance Abuse Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Wayne E. K.; Greener, Jack M.; Rowan-Szal, Grace A.; Flynn, Patrick M.

2012-01-01

Significant needs exist for increased and better substance abuse treatment services in our nation's prisons. The TCU Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) survey has been widely used in community-based treatment programs and evidence is accumulating for relationships between readiness for change and implementation of new clinical practices.…

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Linear Fresnel Reflector Projects |

Science.gov Websites

Kimberlina solar thermal power plant, a linear Fresnel reflector system located near Bakersfield, California Solar Thermal Project eLLO Solar Thermal Project (Llo) IRESEN 1 MWe CSP-ORC pilot project Kimberlina Solar Thermal Power Plant (Kimberlina) Liddell Power Station Puerto Errado 1 Thermosolar Power Plant

Robotic-assisted versus open radical cystectomy in bladder cancer: A meta-analysis of four randomized controlled trails.

PubMed

Tang, Jin-Qiu; Zhao, Zhihong; Liang, Yiwen; Liao, Guixiang

2018-02-01

Robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) is increasing annually for treatment of bladder cancer. The objective of this meta-analysis was to compare the safety and efficacy of RARC and open radical cystectomy (ORC) for bladder cancer. Our meta-analysis searches were conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases to identify randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the two techniques. Four RCT studies were identified, including 239 cases. Our studies indicated that RARC was associated with longer operative time (WMD: 69.69, 95% CI:17.25 to122.12; P= 0.009), lower estimated blood loss (WMD: -299.83, 95% CI:-414.66to -184.99; P<0.00001). The two groups had no significant difference in overall perioperative complications, length of hospital stay, lymph node yield and positive surgical margins. RARC is mini-invasive alternative to ORC for bladder cancer. The advantage of RARC was reduced estimated blood loss. More studies are needed to compare the two techniques. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Benefits of production extension and shifting with thermal storage for a 1MW CSP-ORC plant in Morocco

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennouna, El Ghali; Mimet, Abdelaziz; Frej, Hicham

2016-05-01

The importance of thermal storage for commercial CSP (concentrated Solar Power) plants has now become obvious, this regardless of the solar technology used and the power cycle. The availability of a storage system to a plant operator brings a lot of possibilities for production management, cash flow optimization and grid stabilizing. In particular, and depending on plant location and local grid strategy, thermal storage can contribute, when wisely used, to control production and adapt it to the demand and / or power unbalances and varying prices. Storage systems design, sizing and configuration are proper to each power plant, hence systems that are now widely installed within large commercial solar plants are not necessarily suited for small scale decentralized production, and will not have the same effects. In this paper the benefits of thermal storage are studied for a 1MWe CSP plant with an ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle), this plant has many specific features which call for a detail analysis about the appropriate storage design and optimum operating strategies for decentralized solutions.

Dual-objective optimization of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems using genetic algorithm: a comparison between basic and recuperative cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayat, Nasir; Ameen, Muhammad Tahir; Tariq, Muhammad Kashif; Shah, Syed Nadeem Abbas; Naveed, Ahmad

2017-08-01

Exploitation of low potential waste thermal energy for useful net power output can be done by manipulating organic Rankine cycle systems. In the current article dual-objectives (η_{th} and SIC) optimization of ORC systems [basic organic Rankine cycle (BORC) and recuperative organic Rankine cycle (RORC)] has been done using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (II). Seven organic compounds (R-123, R-1234ze, R-152a, R-21, R-236ea, R-245ca and R-601) have been employed in basic cycle and four dry compounds (R-123, R-236ea, R-245ca and R-601) have been employed in recuperative cycle to investigate the behaviour of two systems and compare their performance. Sensitivity analyses show that recuperation boosts the thermodynamic behaviour of systems but it also raises specific investment cost significantly. R-21, R-245ca and R-601 show attractive performance in BORC whereas R-601 and R-236ea in RORC. RORC, due to higher total investment cost and operation & maintenance costs, has longer payback periods as compared to BORC.

Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC): development of a questionnaire in a Delphi study.

PubMed

Bank, Lindsay; Jippes, Mariëlle; van Luijk, Scheltus; den Rooyen, Corry; Scherpbier, Albert; Scheele, Fedde

2015-08-05

In postgraduate medical education (PGME), programs have been restructured according to competency-based frameworks. The scale and implications of these adjustments justify a comprehensive implementation plan. Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) is seen as a critical precursor for a successful implementation of change initiatives. Though, ORC in health care settings is mostly assessed in small scale settings and in relation to new policies and practices rather than educational change. Therefore our aim with this work was to develop an instrument to asses Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC). A Delphi procedure was conducted to examine the applicability of a preliminary questionnaire in PGME, which was based on existing instruments designed for business and health care organizations. The 41 panellists (19 trainees and 22 supervisors from 6 specialties) from four different countries who were confronted with an apparent curriculum change, or would be in the near future, were asked to rate the relevance of a 89-item web-based questionnaire with regard to changes in specialty training on a 5-point Likert scale. Furthermore, they were invited to make qualitative comments on the items. In two rounds the 89-item preliminary questionnaire was reduced to 44 items. Items were either removed, kept, adapted or added based on individual item scores and qualitative comments. In the absence of a gold standard, this Delphi procedure was considered complete when the overall questionnaire rating exceeded 4.0 (scale 0-5). The overall item score reached 4.1 in the second round, meeting our criteria for completion of this Delphi procedure. This Delphi study describes the initial validating step in the development of an instrument to asses Specialty Training's Organisational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC). Since ORC is measured on various subscales and presented as such, its strength lies in analysing these subscales. The latter makes it possible for educational leaders to identify and anticipate on hurdles in the implementation process and subsequently optimize efforts for successful curriculum change.

Molecular recognition in protein modification with rhodium metallopeptides

PubMed Central

Ball, Zachary T.

2015-01-01

Chemical manipulation of natural, unengineered proteins is a daunting challenge which tests the limits of reaction design. By combining transition-metal or other catalysts with molecular recognition ideas, it is possible to achieve site-selective protein reactivity without the need for engineered recognition sequences or reactive sites. Some recent examples in this area have used ruthenium photocatalysis, pyridine organocatalysis, and rhodium(II) metallocarbene catalysis, indicating that the fundamental ideas provide opportunities for using diverse reactivity on complex protein substrates and in complex cell-like environments. PMID:25588960

PEM-PCA: a parallel expectation-maximization PCA face recognition architecture.

PubMed

Rujirakul, Kanokmon; So-In, Chakchai; Arnonkijpanich, Banchar

2014-01-01

Principal component analysis or PCA has been traditionally used as one of the feature extraction techniques in face recognition systems yielding high accuracy when requiring a small number of features. However, the covariance matrix and eigenvalue decomposition stages cause high computational complexity, especially for a large database. Thus, this research presents an alternative approach utilizing an Expectation-Maximization algorithm to reduce the determinant matrix manipulation resulting in the reduction of the stages' complexity. To improve the computational time, a novel parallel architecture was employed to utilize the benefits of parallelization of matrix computation during feature extraction and classification stages including parallel preprocessing, and their combinations, so-called a Parallel Expectation-Maximization PCA architecture. Comparing to a traditional PCA and its derivatives, the results indicate lower complexity with an insignificant difference in recognition precision leading to high speed face recognition systems, that is, the speed-up over nine and three times over PCA and Parallel PCA.

An empirical assessment of implementation, adaptation, and tailoring: the evaluation of CDC's National Diffusion of VOICES/VOCES.

PubMed

Harshbarger, Camilla; Simmons, Gretchen; Coelho, Helen; Sloop, Kira; Collins, Charles

2006-08-01

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) program, trained over 260 agencies on VOICES/VOCES between August 2003 and April 2005. ORC Macro conducted interviews with agency staff 3 months after receiving VOICES/VOCES training. This article discusses the diffusion of VOICES/VOCES; agencies' adoption, adaptation, and implementation of this intervention; and needs for ongoing proactive technical assistance (TA) for agencies to successfully integrate behavioral interventions into their programs. The vastmajority of agencies implemented VOICES/VOCES with fidelity to the core elements, and agencies successfully adapted the intervention to make it more appealing to target populations. TA is needed for interventions to be successfully adapted and implemented with fidelity to the core elements, and to ensure program sustainability. More effective interventions of short duration and minimum complexity to easily match with existing resources and conditions of agency capacity among HIV prevention providers in the community are needed.

Cdt1 stabilizes an open MCM ring for helicase loading

PubMed Central

Frigola, Jordi; He, Jun; Kinkelin, Kerstin; Pye, Valerie E.; Renault, Ludovic; Douglas, Max E.; Remus, Dirk; Cherepanov, Peter; Costa, Alessandro; Diffley, John F. X.

2017-01-01

ORC, Cdc6 and Cdt1 act together to load hexameric MCM, the motor of the eukaryotic replicative helicase, into double hexamers at replication origins. Here we show that Cdt1 interacts with MCM subunits Mcm2, 4 and 6, which both destabilizes the Mcm2–5 interface and inhibits MCM ATPase activity. Using X-ray crystallography, we show that Cdt1 contains two winged-helix domains in the C-terminal half of the protein and a catalytically inactive dioxygenase-related N-terminal domain, which is important for MCM loading, but not for subsequent replication. We used these structures together with single-particle electron microscopy to generate three-dimensional models of MCM complexes. These show that Cdt1 stabilizes MCM in a left-handed spiral open at the Mcm2–5 gate. We propose that Cdt1 acts as a brace, holding MCM open for DNA entry and bound to ATP until ORC–Cdc6 triggers ATP hydrolysis by MCM, promoting both Cdt1 ejection and MCM ring closure. PMID:28643783

Fine-grained recognition of plants from images.

PubMed

Šulc, Milan; Matas, Jiří

2017-01-01

Fine-grained recognition of plants from images is a challenging computer vision task, due to the diverse appearance and complex structure of plants, high intra-class variability and small inter-class differences. We review the state-of-the-art and discuss plant recognition tasks, from identification of plants from specific plant organs to general plant recognition "in the wild". We propose texture analysis and deep learning methods for different plant recognition tasks. The methods are evaluated and compared them to the state-of-the-art. Texture analysis is only applied to images with unambiguous segmentation (bark and leaf recognition), whereas CNNs are only applied when sufficiently large datasets are available. The results provide an insight in the complexity of different plant recognition tasks. The proposed methods outperform the state-of-the-art in leaf and bark classification and achieve very competitive results in plant recognition "in the wild". The results suggest that recognition of segmented leaves is practically a solved problem, when high volumes of training data are available. The generality and higher capacity of state-of-the-art CNNs makes them suitable for plant recognition "in the wild" where the views on plant organs or plants vary significantly and the difficulty is increased by occlusions and background clutter.

Predicting and Priming Thematic Roles: Flexible Use of Verbal and Nonverbal Cues during Relative Clause Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kowalski, Alix; Huang, Yi Ting

2017-01-01

Relative-clause sentences (RCs) have been a key test case for psycholinguistic models of comprehension. While object-relative clauses (e.g., ORCs: "The bear that 'the horse' . . .") are distinguished from subject-relative clauses (SRCs) after the second noun phrase (NP2; e.g., SRCs: "The bear that 'pushed' . . ."), role…

19 CFR 148.19 - False or fraudulent statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... officer is or may be induced to pass an article free of duty or at less than the proper amount of duty, or...(c) shall be demanded from the passenger. The amount demanded in lieu of seizure shall be determined..., the estimated duties shall be demanded of the passenger as soon as possible after the discovery of the...

19 CFR 148.19 - False or fraudulent statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... officer is or may be induced to pass an article free of duty or at less than the proper amount of duty, or...(c) shall be demanded from the passenger. The amount demanded in lieu of seizure shall be determined..., the estimated duties shall be demanded of the passenger as soon as possible after the discovery of the...

Foveational Complexity in Single Word Identification: Contralateral Visual Pathways Are Advantaged over Ipsilateral Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obregon, Mateo; Shillcock, Richard

2012-01-01

Recognition of a single word is an elemental task in innumerable cognitive psychology experiments, but involves unexpected complexity. We test a controversial claim that the human fovea is vertically divided, with each half projecting to either the contralateral or ipsilateral hemisphere, thereby influencing foveal word recognition. We report a…

A Recombinant Antibody with the Antigen-Specific, Major Histocompatibility Complex-Restricted Specificity of T Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, Peter S.; Stryhn, Anette; Hansen, Bjarke E.; Fugger, Lars; Engberg, Jan; Buus, Soren

1996-03-01

Specific recognition of peptide/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule complexes by the T-cell receptor is a key reaction in the specific immune response. Antibodies against peptide/MHC complexes would therefore be valuable tools in studying MHC function and T-cell recognition and might lead to novel approaches in immunotherapy. However, it has proven difficult to generate antibodies with the specificity of T cells by conventional hybridoma techniques. Here we report that the phage display technology is a feasible alternative to generate antibodies recognizing specific, predetermined peptide/MHC complexes.

Remember-Know and Source Memory Instructions Can Qualitatively Change Old-New Recognition Accuracy: The Modality-Match Effect in Recognition Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulligan, Neil W.; Besken, Miri; Peterson, Daniel

2010-01-01

Remember-Know (RK) and source memory tasks were designed to elucidate processes underlying memory retrieval. As part of more complex judgments, both tests produce a measure of old-new recognition, which is typically treated as equivalent to that derived from a standard recognition task. The present study demonstrates, however, that recognition…

Short temporal asynchrony disrupts visual object recognition

PubMed Central

Singer, Jedediah M.; Kreiman, Gabriel

2014-01-01

Humans can recognize objects and scenes in a small fraction of a second. The cascade of signals underlying rapid recognition might be disrupted by temporally jittering different parts of complex objects. Here we investigated the time course over which shape information can be integrated to allow for recognition of complex objects. We presented fragments of object images in an asynchronous fashion and behaviorally evaluated categorization performance. We observed that visual recognition was significantly disrupted by asynchronies of approximately 30 ms, suggesting that spatiotemporal integration begins to break down with even small deviations from simultaneity. However, moderate temporal asynchrony did not completely obliterate recognition; in fact, integration of visual shape information persisted even with an asynchrony of 100 ms. We describe the data with a concise model based on the dynamic reduction of uncertainty about what image was presented. These results emphasize the importance of timing in visual processing and provide strong constraints for the development of dynamical models of visual shape recognition. PMID:24819738

Infrared vehicle recognition using unsupervised feature learning based on K-feature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jin; Tan, Yihua; Xia, Haijiao; Tian, Jinwen

2018-02-01

Subject to the complex battlefield environment, it is difficult to establish a complete knowledge base in practical application of vehicle recognition algorithms. The infrared vehicle recognition is always difficult and challenging, which plays an important role in remote sensing. In this paper we propose a new unsupervised feature learning method based on K-feature to recognize vehicle in infrared images. First, we use the target detection algorithm which is based on the saliency to detect the initial image. Then, the unsupervised feature learning based on K-feature, which is generated by Kmeans clustering algorithm that extracted features by learning a visual dictionary from a large number of samples without label, is calculated to suppress the false alarm and improve the accuracy. Finally, the vehicle target recognition image is finished by some post-processing. Large numbers of experiments demonstrate that the proposed method has satisfy recognition effectiveness and robustness for vehicle recognition in infrared images under complex backgrounds, and it also improve the reliability of it.

The Effects of Semantic Transparency and Base Frequency on the Recognition of English Complex Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Joe; Taft, Marcus

2015-01-01

A visual lexical decision task was used to examine the interaction between base frequency (i.e., the cumulative frequencies of morphologically related forms) and semantic transparency for a list of derived words. Linear mixed effects models revealed that high base frequency facilitates the recognition of the complex word (i.e., a "base…

The Role of Derivative Suffix Productivity in the Visual Word Recognition of Complex Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lázaro, Miguel; Sainz, Javier; Illera, Víctor

2015-01-01

In this article we present two lexical decision experiments that examine the role of base frequency and of derivative suffix productivity in visual recognition of Spanish words. In the first experiment we find that complex words with productive derivative suffixes result in lower response times than those with unproductive derivative suffixes.…

Learning to recognize letters in the periphery: Effects of repeated exposure, letter frequency, and letter complexity

PubMed Central

Husk, Jesse S.; Yu, Deyue

2017-01-01

Patients with central vision loss must rely on their peripheral vision for reading. Unfortunately, limitations of peripheral vision, such as crowding, pose significant challenges to letter recognition. As a result, there is a need for developing effective training methods for improving crowded letter recognition in the periphery. Several studies have shown that extensive practice with letter stimuli is beneficial to peripheral letter recognition. Here, we explore stimulus-related factors that might influence the effectiveness of peripheral letter recognition training. Specifically, we examined letter exposure (number of letter occurrences), frequency of letter use in English print, and letter complexity and evaluated their contributions to the amount of improvement observed in crowded letter recognition following training. We analyzed data collected across a range of training protocols. Using linear regression, we identified the best-fitting model and observed that all three stimulus-related factors contributed to improvement in peripheral letter recognition with letter exposure being the most important factor. As an important explanatory variable, pretest accuracy was included in the model as well to avoid estimate biases and was shown to have influence on the relationship between training improvement and letter exposure. When developing training protocols for peripheral letter recognition, it may be beneficial to not only consider the overall length of training, but also to tailor the number of stimulus occurrences for each letter according to its initial performance level, frequency, and complexity. PMID:28265651

Hybrid Radar Emitter Recognition Based on Rough k-Means Classifier and Relevance Vector Machine

PubMed Central

Yang, Zhutian; Wu, Zhilu; Yin, Zhendong; Quan, Taifan; Sun, Hongjian

2013-01-01

Due to the increasing complexity of electromagnetic signals, there exists a significant challenge for recognizing radar emitter signals. In this paper, a hybrid recognition approach is presented that classifies radar emitter signals by exploiting the different separability of samples. The proposed approach comprises two steps, namely the primary signal recognition and the advanced signal recognition. In the former step, a novel rough k-means classifier, which comprises three regions, i.e., certain area, rough area and uncertain area, is proposed to cluster the samples of radar emitter signals. In the latter step, the samples within the rough boundary are used to train the relevance vector machine (RVM). Then RVM is used to recognize the samples in the uncertain area; therefore, the classification accuracy is improved. Simulation results show that, for recognizing radar emitter signals, the proposed hybrid recognition approach is more accurate, and presents lower computational complexity than traditional approaches. PMID:23344380

Waste heat recovery with ultra high-speed turbomachinery

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

Vakkilainen, E.; Larjola, J.; Lindgren, O.

1984-08-01

A new ORC heat recovery system which converts waste heat to electricity has been developed in Lappeenranta University of Technology with support from Department of Energy in Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. Use of ultra high-speed turbomachinery (10 000 rpm - 200 000 rpm) promises lower unit costs, higher efficiencies and fast amortization rate, 2,4 - 3,0 years.

Annoying Danish Relatives: Comprehension and Production of Relative Clauses by Danish Children with and without SLI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen De Lopez, Kristine; Olsen, Lone Sundahl; Chondrogianni, Vasiliki

2014-01-01

This study examines the comprehension and production of subject and object relative clauses (SRCs, ORCs) by children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers. The purpose is to investigate whether relative clauses are problematic for Danish children with SLI and to compare errors with those produced by TD…

Army Operations in China. January 1944 - August 1945

DTIC Science & Technology

1956-08-31

in early or mid-A- agust . 172 Places to be Occupied: Vital coastal zones near Yungchia and Fuchou. Part of tha force will reinforce Esiamen.2...una.er e coErna.no. O.i. -u .. 1e l\\aVa.i. .Lanct:Lng ·orce comt .’la.noer. - 6. The description of these operations was obtained from tele- grams in the

The Pistol that Injured the Cowboy: Difficulty with Inanimate Subject-Verb Integration Is Reduced by Structural Separation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowder, Matthew W.; Gordon, Peter C.

2012-01-01

Previous work has suggested that the difficulty normally associated with processing an object-extracted relative clause (ORC) compared to a subject-extracted relative clause (SRC) is increased when the head noun phrase (NP1) is animate and the embedded noun phrase (NP2) is inanimate, compared to the reverse animacy configuration. Two eye-tracking…

Small scale monitoring of a bioremediation barrier using miniature electrical resistivity tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sentenac, Philippe; Hogson, Tom; Keenan, Helen; Kulessa, Bernd

2015-04-01

The aim of this study was to assess, in the laboratory, the efficiency of a barrier of oxygen release compound (ORC) to block and divert a diesel plume migration in a scaled aquifer model using miniature electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as the monitoring system. Two plumes of contaminant (diesel) were injected in a soil model made of local sand and clay. The diesel plumes migration was imaged and monitored using a miniature resistivity array system that has proved to be accurate in soil resistivity variations in small-scaled models of soil. ERT results reflected the lateral spreading and diversion of the diesel plumes in the unsaturated zone. One of the contaminant plumes was partially blocked by the ORC barrier and a diversion and reorganisation of the diesel in the soil matrix was observed. The technique of time-lapse ERT imaging showed that a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminant like diesel can be monitored through a bioremediation barrier and the technique is well suited to monitor the efficiency of the barrier. Therefore, miniature ERT as a small-scale modelling tool could complement conventional techniques, which require more expensive and intrusive site investigation prior to remediation.

Low-order models of a single-screw expander for organic Rankine cycle applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziviani, D.; Desideri, A.; Lemort, V.; De Paepe, M.; van den Broek, M.

2015-08-01

Screw-type volumetric expanders have been demonstrated to be a suitable technology for organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems because of higher overall effectiveness and good part-load behaviour over other positive displacement machines. An 11 kWe single-screw expander (SSE) adapted from an air compressor has been tested in an ORC test-rig operating with R245fa as working fluid. A total of 60 steady-steady points have been obtained at four different rotational speeds of the expander in the range between 2000 rpm and 3300 rpm. The maximum electrical power output and overall isentropic effectiveness measured were 7.3 kW and 51.9%, respectively. In this paper, a comparison between two low-order models is proposed in terms of accuracy of the predictions, the robustness of the model and the computational time. The first model is the Pacejka equation-based model and the second is a semi-empirical model derived from a well-known scroll expander model and modified to include the geometric aspects of a single screw expander. The models have been calibrated with the available steady-state measurement points by identifying the proper parameters.

Utilization of Indonesia's Hot Spring Sources for Electricity using Kalina Cycle and Organic Rankine Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prabumukti, Grano; Purwanto; Widodo, Wahyu

2018-02-01

Indonesia posses 40% of the world's geothermal energy sources. The existence of hydrothermal sources is usually characterized by their surface manifestations such as hot springs, geysers and fumarole. Hot spring has a potential to be used as a heat source to generate electricity especially in a rural and isolated area. Hot springs can be converted into electricity by binary thermodynamic cycles such as Kalina cycle and ORC. The aim of this study is to obtain the best performances of cycle configuration and the potential power capacity. Simulation is conducted using UNISIM software with working fluid and its operating condition as the decision variables. The simulation result shows that R1234yf and propene with simple ORC as desired working fluid and cycle configuration. It reaches a maximum thermal efficiency up to 9.6% with a specific turbine inlet pressure. Higher temperature heat source will result a higher thermal efficiency‥ Cycle thermal efficiency varies from 4.7% to 9.6% depends on source of hot spring temperature. Power capacity that can be generated using Indonesia's hot spring is ranged from 2 kWe to 61.2 kWe. The highest capacity located in Kawah Sirung and the least located in Kaendi.

Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase A (MsrA) and Its Function in Ubiquitin-Like Protein Modification in Archaea

DOE PAGES

Fu, Xian; Adams, Zachary; Liu, Rui; ...

2017-09-05

Methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) is an antioxidant enzyme found in all domains of life that catalyzes the reduction of methionine-S-sulfoxide (MSO) to methionine in proteins and free amino acids. We demonstrate that archaeal MsrA has a ubiquitin-like (Ubl) protein modification activity that is distinct from its stereospecific reduction of MSO residues. MsrA catalyzes this Ubl modification activity, with the Ubl-activating E1 UbaA, in the presence of the mild oxidant dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and in the absence of reductant. In contrast, the MSO reductase activity of MsrA is inhibited by DMSO and requires reductant. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysismore » reveals that MsrA-dependent Ubl conjugates are associated with DNA replication, protein remodeling, and oxidative stress and include the Ubl-modified MsrA, Orc3 (Orc1/Cdc6), and Cdc48d (Cdc48/p97 AAA+ ATPase). Overall, we found archaeal MsrA to have opposing MSO reductase and Ubl modifying activities that are associated with oxidative stress responses and controlled by exposure to mild oxidant.« less

Computational tool for simulation of power and refrigeration cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Córdoba Tuta, E.; Reyes Orozco, M.

2016-07-01

Small improvement in thermal efficiency of power cycles brings huge cost savings in the production of electricity, for that reason have a tool for simulation of power cycles allows modeling the optimal changes for a best performance. There is also a big boom in research Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), which aims to get electricity at low power through cogeneration, in which the working fluid is usually a refrigerant. A tool to design the elements of an ORC cycle and the selection of the working fluid would be helpful, because sources of heat from cogeneration are very different and in each case would be a custom design. In this work the development of a multiplatform software for the simulation of power cycles and refrigeration, which was implemented in the C ++ language and includes a graphical interface which was developed using multiplatform environment Qt and runs on operating systems Windows and Linux. The tool allows the design of custom power cycles, selection the type of fluid (thermodynamic properties are calculated through CoolProp library), calculate the plant efficiency, identify the fractions of flow in each branch and finally generates a report very educational in pdf format via the LaTeX tool.

Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase A (MsrA) and Its Function in Ubiquitin-Like Protein Modification in Archaea

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

Fu, Xian; Adams, Zachary; Liu, Rui

Methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) is an antioxidant enzyme found in all domains of life that catalyzes the reduction of methionine-S-sulfoxide (MSO) to methionine in proteins and free amino acids. We demonstrate that archaeal MsrA has a ubiquitin-like (Ubl) protein modification activity that is distinct from its stereospecific reduction of MSO residues. MsrA catalyzes this Ubl modification activity, with the Ubl-activating E1 UbaA, in the presence of the mild oxidant dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and in the absence of reductant. In contrast, the MSO reductase activity of MsrA is inhibited by DMSO and requires reductant. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysismore » reveals that MsrA-dependent Ubl conjugates are associated with DNA replication, protein remodeling, and oxidative stress and include the Ubl-modified MsrA, Orc3 (Orc1/Cdc6), and Cdc48d (Cdc48/p97 AAA+ ATPase). Overall, we found archaeal MsrA to have opposing MSO reductase and Ubl modifying activities that are associated with oxidative stress responses and controlled by exposure to mild oxidant.« less

Recognition of thymine in DNA bulges by a Zn(II) macrocyclic complex.

PubMed

del Mundo, Imee Marie A; Fountain, Matthew A; Morrow, Janet R

2011-08-14

A Zn(II) macrocyclic complex with appended quinoline is a bifunctional recognition agent that uses both the Zn(II) center and the pendent aromatic group to bind to thymine in bulges with good selectivity over DNA containing G, C or A bulges. Spectroscopic studies show that the stem containing the bulge stays largely intact in a DNA hairpin with the Zn(II) complex bound to the thymine bulge. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

Toleration and Recognition: What Should We Teach?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Peter Nigel

2010-01-01

Generally we think it good to tolerate and to accord recognition. Yet both are complex phenomena and our teaching must acknowledge and cope with that complexity. We tolerate only what we object to, so our message to students cannot be simply, "promote the good and prevent the bad". Much advocacy of toleration is not what it pretends to be. Nor is…

Capping the calix: How toluene completes cesium(i) coordination with calix[4]pyrrole

DOE PAGES

Ellis, Ross J.; Reinhart, Benjamin; Williams, Neil J.; ...

2017-05-04

The role of solvent in molecular recognition systems is under-researched and often ignored, especially when the solvent is considered “non-interacting”. This study concerns the role of toluene solvent in cesium(I) recognition by calix[4]pyrrole. We show that π-donor interactions bind toluene molecules onto the open face of the cation-receptor complex, thus “capping the calix.” As a result, by characterizing this unusual aromatically-saturated complex, we show how “non-interacting” aromatic solvents can directly coordinate receptor-bound cations and thus influence recognition.

Capping the calix: How toluene completes cesium(i) coordination with calix[4]pyrrole

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

Ellis, Ross J.; Reinhart, Benjamin; Williams, Neil J.

The role of solvent in molecular recognition systems is under-researched and often ignored, especially when the solvent is considered “non-interacting”. This study concerns the role of toluene solvent in cesium(I) recognition by calix[4]pyrrole. We show that π-donor interactions bind toluene molecules onto the open face of the cation-receptor complex, thus “capping the calix.” As a result, by characterizing this unusual aromatically-saturated complex, we show how “non-interacting” aromatic solvents can directly coordinate receptor-bound cations and thus influence recognition.

The Cambridge Mindreading (CAM) Face-Voice Battery: Testing complex emotion recognition in adults with and without Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Golan, Ofer; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Hill, Jacqueline

2006-02-01

Adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS) can recognise simple emotions and pass basic theory of mind tasks, but have difficulties recognising more complex emotions and mental states. This study describes a new battery of tasks, testing recognition of 20 complex emotions and mental states from faces and voices. The battery was given to males and females with AS and matched controls. Results showed the AS group performed worse than controls overall, on emotion recognition from faces and voices and on 12/20 specific emotions. Females recognised faces better than males regardless of diagnosis, and males with AS had more difficulties recognising emotions from faces than from voices. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to social functioning in AS.

UV Damage-Induced Phosphorylation of HBO1 Triggers CRL4DDB2-Mediated Degradation To Regulate Cell Proliferation

PubMed Central

Matsunuma, Ryoichi; Ohhata, Tatsuya; Kitagawa, Kyoko; Sakai, Satoshi; Uchida, Chiharu; Shiotani, Bunsyo; Matsumoto, Masaki; Nakayama, Keiichi I.; Ogura, Hiroyuki; Shiiya, Norihiko; Kitagawa, Masatoshi

2015-01-01

Histone acetyltransferase binding to ORC-1 (HBO1) is a critically important histone acetyltransferase for forming the prereplicative complex (pre-RC) at the replication origin. Pre-RC formation is completed by loading of the MCM2-7 heterohexameric complex, which functions as a helicase in DNA replication. HBO1 recruited to the replication origin by CDT1 acetylates histone H4 to relax the chromatin conformation and facilitates loading of the MCM complex onto replication origins. However, the acetylation status and mechanism of regulation of histone H3 at replication origins remain elusive. HBO1 positively regulates cell proliferation under normal cell growth conditions. Whether HBO1 regulates proliferation in response to DNA damage is poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that HBO1 was degraded after DNA damage to suppress cell proliferation. Ser50 and Ser53 of HBO1 were phosphorylated in an ATM/ATR DNA damage sensor-dependent manner after UV treatment. ATM/ATR-dependently phosphorylated HBO1 preferentially interacted with DDB2 and was ubiquitylated by CRL4DDB2. Replacement of endogenous HBO1 in Ser50/53Ala mutants maintained acetylation of histone H3K14 and impaired cell cycle regulation in response to UV irradiation. Our findings demonstrate that HBO1 is one of the targets in the DNA damage checkpoint. These results show that ubiquitin-dependent control of the HBO1 protein contributes to cell survival during UV irradiation. PMID:26572825

Recognition without Awareness: Encoding and Retrieval Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craik, Fergus I. M.; Rose, Nathan S.; Gopie, Nigel

2015-01-01

The article reports 4 experiments that explore the notion of recognition without awareness using words as the material. Previous work by Voss and associates has shown that complex visual patterns were correctly selected as targets in a 2-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) recognition test although participants reported that they were guessing. The…

Does aging impair first impression accuracy? Differentiating emotion recognition from complex social inferences.

PubMed

Krendl, Anne C; Rule, Nicholas O; Ambady, Nalini

2014-09-01

Young adults can be surprisingly accurate at making inferences about people from their faces. Although these first impressions have important consequences for both the perceiver and the target, it remains an open question whether first impression accuracy is preserved with age. Specifically, could age differences in impressions toward others stem from age-related deficits in accurately detecting complex social cues? Research on aging and impression formation suggests that young and older adults show relative consensus in their first impressions, but it is unknown whether they differ in accuracy. It has been widely shown that aging disrupts emotion recognition accuracy, and that these impairments may predict deficits in other social judgments, such as detecting deceit. However, it is unclear whether general impression formation accuracy (e.g., emotion recognition accuracy, detecting complex social cues) relies on similar or distinct mechanisms. It is important to examine this question to evaluate how, if at all, aging might affect overall accuracy. Here, we examined whether aging impaired first impression accuracy in predicting real-world outcomes and categorizing social group membership. Specifically, we studied whether emotion recognition accuracy and age-related cognitive decline (which has been implicated in exacerbating deficits in emotion recognition) predict first impression accuracy. Our results revealed that emotion recognition accuracy did not predict first impression accuracy, nor did age-related cognitive decline impair it. These findings suggest that domains of social perception outside of emotion recognition may rely on mechanisms that are relatively unimpaired by aging. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Individual differences in components of impulsivity and effortful control moderate the relation between borderline personality disorder traits and emotion recognition in a sample of university students.

PubMed

Preti, Emanuele; Richetin, Juliette; Suttora, Chiara; Pisani, Alberto

2016-04-30

Dysfunctions in social cognition characterize personality disorders. However, mixed results emerged from literature on emotion processing. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) traits are either associated with enhanced emotion recognition, impairments, or equal functioning compared to controls. These apparent contradictions might result from the complexity of emotion recognition tasks used and from individual differences in impulsivity and effortful control. We conducted a study in a sample of undergraduate students (n=80), assessing BPD traits, using an emotion recognition task that requires the processing of only visual information or both visual and acoustic information. We also measured individual differences in impulsivity and effortful control. Results demonstrated the moderating role of some components of impulsivity and effortful control on the capability of BPD traits in predicting anger and happiness recognition. We organized the discussion around the interaction between different components of regulatory functioning and task complexity for a better understanding of emotion recognition in BPD samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Call recognition and individual identification of fish vocalizations based on automatic speech recognition: An example with the Lusitanian toadfish.

PubMed

Vieira, Manuel; Fonseca, Paulo J; Amorim, M Clara P; Teixeira, Carlos J C

2015-12-01

The study of acoustic communication in animals often requires not only the recognition of species specific acoustic signals but also the identification of individual subjects, all in a complex acoustic background. Moreover, when very long recordings are to be analyzed, automatic recognition and identification processes are invaluable tools to extract the relevant biological information. A pattern recognition methodology based on hidden Markov models is presented inspired by successful results obtained in the most widely known and complex acoustical communication signal: human speech. This methodology was applied here for the first time to the detection and recognition of fish acoustic signals, specifically in a stream of round-the-clock recordings of Lusitanian toadfish (Halobatrachus didactylus) in their natural estuarine habitat. The results show that this methodology is able not only to detect the mating sounds (boatwhistles) but also to identify individual male toadfish, reaching an identification rate of ca. 95%. Moreover this method also proved to be a powerful tool to assess signal durations in large data sets. However, the system failed in recognizing other sound types.

Songbirds use spectral shape, not pitch, for sound pattern recognition

PubMed Central

Bregman, Micah R.; Patel, Aniruddh D.; Gentner, Timothy Q.

2016-01-01

Humans easily recognize “transposed” musical melodies shifted up or down in log frequency. Surprisingly, songbirds seem to lack this capacity, although they can learn to recognize human melodies and use complex acoustic sequences for communication. Decades of research have led to the widespread belief that songbirds, unlike humans, are strongly biased to use absolute pitch (AP) in melody recognition. This work relies almost exclusively on acoustically simple stimuli that may belie sensitivities to more complex spectral features. Here, we investigate melody recognition in a species of songbird, the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), using tone sequences that vary in both pitch and timbre. We find that small manipulations altering either pitch or timbre independently can drive melody recognition to chance, suggesting that both percepts are poor descriptors of the perceptual cues used by birds for this task. Instead we show that melody recognition can generalize even in the absence of pitch, as long as the spectral shapes of the constituent tones are preserved. These results challenge conventional views regarding the use of pitch cues in nonhuman auditory sequence recognition. PMID:26811447

On the recognition of complex structures: Computer software using artificial intelligence applied to pattern recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yakimovsky, Y.

1974-01-01

An approach to simultaneous interpretation of objects in complex structures so as to maximize a combined utility function is presented. Results of the application of a computer software system to assign meaning to regions in a segmented image based on the principles described in this paper and on a special interactive sequential classification learning system, which is referenced, are demonstrated.

The mate recognition protein gene mediates reproductive isolation and speciation in the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex.

PubMed

Gribble, Kristin E; Mark Welch, David B

2012-08-01

Chemically mediated prezygotic barriers to reproduction likely play an important role in speciation. In facultatively sexual monogonont rotifers from the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex, mate recognition of females by males is mediated by the Mate Recognition Protein (MRP), a globular glycoprotein on the surface of females, encoded by the mmr-b gene family. In this study, we sequenced mmr-b copies from 27 isolates representing 11 phylotypes of the B. plicatilis species complex, examined the mode of evolution and selection of mmr-b, and determined the relationship between mmr-b genetic distance and mate recognition among isolates. Isolates of the B. plicatilis species complex have 1-4 copies of mmr-b, each composed of 2-9 nearly identical tandem repeats. The repeats within a gene copy are generally more similar than are gene copies among phylotypes, suggesting concerted evolution. Compared to housekeeping genes from the same isolates, mmr-b has accumulated only half as many synonymous differences but twice as many non-synonymous differences. Most of the amino acid differences between repeats appear to occur on the outer face of the protein, and these often result in changes in predicted patterns of phosphorylation. However, we found no evidence of positive selection driving these differences. Isolates with the most divergent copies were unable to mate with other isolates and rarely self-crossed. Overall the degree of mate recognition was significantly correlated with the genetic distance of mmr-b. Discrimination of compatible mates in the B. plicatilis species complex is determined by proteins encoded by closely related copies of a single gene, mmr-b. While concerted evolution of the tandem repeats in mmr-b may function to maintain identity, it can also lead to the rapid spread of a mutation through all copies in the genome and thus to reproductive isolation. The mmr-b gene is evolving rapidly, and novel alleles may be maintained and increase in frequency via asexual reproduction. Our analyses indicate that mate recognition, controlled by MMR-B, may drive reproductive isolation and allow saltational sympatric speciation within the B. plicatilis cryptic species complex, and that this process may be largely neutral.

The Restless Context: Military Institutional Awareness of Social Change

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-04-03

dependence upon theistic explanations for meaning and purpose in life and upsurge in restless irrationality and immersion in cults (to what bases of...the evolution of appropriate missions, weapons systems, mobility and logistics systems, and tactical concepts appropriate for various future combat...and Multinational Corporations Nonconsonant Detente and NATO Deterrence and Detente The Impact of Crises on the Evolution of Strategy and 1’orces in

Improving the Performance of AI Algorithms.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

favorably -6 influenced by s uch progranmning practices as the intellige +nt selt,(-rion .%V ’%. ot’ data formats; to) minimize th~e n,,-ed for...GROUP SUB-GROUP Artifcial Intelgence (Al) Algorithms, Improving Software .’ u- 12 05 Performance, Program Behavior, Predicting Performance, % 12 07...tions in communications, threat assessment, res(orce availability, and so forth. This need for intelligent and adaptable behavior indicates that the

The Influence of Predisposing, Enabling and Need Factors on Condom Use in Ivory Coast

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngamini Ngui, Andre

2010-01-01

The main objective of this study was to identify key determinants of condom use in Ivory Coast. Data stem from Ivory Coast Demographic Health Survey (DHS) conducted by ORC Macro in 2005 among a representative sample of 9,686 persons aged 15 - 49. Following the behavioral model, we use logistic regression to assess the effect of predisposing,…

Global Value Chain and Manufacturing Analysis on Geothermal Power Plant Turbines: Preprint

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

Akar, Sertac; Augustine, Chad R; Kurup, Parthiv

The global geothermal electricity market has significantly grown over the last decade and is expected to reach a total installed capacity of 18.4 GWe in 2021 (GEA, 2016). Currently, geothermal project developers customize the size of the power plant to fit the resource being developed. In particular, the turbine is designed and sized to optimize efficiency and resource utilization for electricity production; most often, other power plant components are then chosen to complement the turbine design. These custom turbine designs demand one-off manufacturing processes, which result in higher manufacturing setup costs, longer lead-times, and higher capital costs overall in comparisonmore » to larger-volume line manufacturing processes. In contrast, turbines produced in standard increments, manufactured in larger volumes, could result in lower costs per turbine. This study focuses on analysis of the global supply chain and manufacturing costs for Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turboexpanders and steam turbines used in geothermal power plants. In this study, we developed a manufacturing cost model to identify requirements for equipment, facilities, raw materials, and labor. We analyzed three different cases 1) 1 MWe geothermal ORC turboexpander 2) 5 MWe ORC turboexpander and 3) 20 MWe geothermal steam turbine, and calculated the cost of manufacturing the major components, such as the impellers/blades, shaft/rotor, nozzles, inlet guide lanes, disks, and casings. Then we used discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis to calculate the minimum sustainable price (MSP). MSP is the minimum price that a company must sell its product for in order to pay back the capital and operating expenses during the plant lifetime (CEMAC, 2017). The results showed that MSP could highly vary between 893 dollar/kW and 30 dollar/kW based on turbine size, standardization and volume of manufacturing. The analysis also showed that the economy of scale applies both to the size of the turbine and the number manufactured in a single run. Sensitivity analysis indicated these savings come largely from reduced labor costs for design and engineering and manufacturing setup.« less

Global Value Chain and Manufacturing Analysis on Geothermal Power Plant Turbines

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

Akar, Sertac; Augustine, Chad R; Kurup, Parthiv

The global geothermal electricity market has significantly grown over the last decade and is expected to reach a total installed capacity of 18.4 GWe in 2021 (GEA, 2016). Currently, geothermal project developers customize the size of the power plant to fit the resource being developed. In particular, the turbine is designed and sized to optimize efficiency and resource utilization for electricity production; most often, other power plant components are then chosen to complement the turbine design. These custom turbine designs demand one-off manufacturing processes, which result in higher manufacturing setup costs, longer lead-times, and higher capital costs overall in comparisonmore » to larger-volume line manufacturing processes. In contrast, turbines produced in standard increments, manufactured in larger volumes, could result in lower costs per turbine. This study focuses on analysis of the global supply chain and manufacturing costs for Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turboexpanders and steam turbines used in geothermal power plants. In this study, we developed a manufacturing cost model to identify requirements for equipment, facilities, raw materials, and labor. We analyzed three different cases 1) 1 MWe geothermal ORC turboexpander 2) 5 MWe ORC turboexpander and 3) 20 MWe geothermal steam turbine, and calculated the cost of manufacturing the major components, such as the impellers/blades, shaft/rotor, nozzles, inlet guide lanes, disks, and casings. Then we used discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis to calculate the minimum sustainable price (MSP). MSP is the minimum price that a company must sell its product for in order to pay back the capital and operating expenses during the plant lifetime (CEMAC, 2017). The results showed that MSP could highly vary between 893 dollar/kW and 30 dollar/kW based on turbine size, standardization and volume of manufacturing. The analysis also showed that the economy of scale applies both to the size of the turbine and the number manufactured in a single run. Sensitivity analysis indicated these savings come largely from reduced labor costs for design and engineering and manufacturing setup.« less

Complex Event Recognition Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fitzgerald, William A.; Firby, R. James

2009-01-01

Complex Event Recognition Architecture (CERA) is the name of a computational architecture, and software that implements the architecture, for recognizing complex event patterns that may be spread across multiple streams of input data. One of the main components of CERA is an intuitive event pattern language that simplifies what would otherwise be the complex, difficult tasks of creating logical descriptions of combinations of temporal events and defining rules for combining information from different sources over time. In this language, recognition patterns are defined in simple, declarative statements that combine point events from given input streams with those from other streams, using conjunction, disjunction, and negation. Patterns can be built on one another recursively to describe very rich, temporally extended combinations of events. Thereafter, a run-time matching algorithm in CERA efficiently matches these patterns against input data and signals when patterns are recognized. CERA can be used to monitor complex systems and to signal operators or initiate corrective actions when anomalous conditions are recognized. CERA can be run as a stand-alone monitoring system, or it can be integrated into a larger system to automatically trigger responses to changing environments or problematic situations.

Pattern recognition tool based on complex network-based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casanova, Dalcimar; Backes, André Ricardo; Martinez Bruno, Odemir

2013-02-01

This work proposed a generalization of the method proposed by the authors: 'A complex network-based approach for boundary shape analysis'. Instead of modelling a contour into a graph and use complex networks rules to characterize it, here, we generalize the technique. This way, the work proposes a mathematical tool for characterization signals, curves and set of points. To evaluate the pattern description power of the proposal, an experiment of plat identification based on leaf veins image are conducted. Leaf vein is a taxon characteristic used to plant identification proposes, and one of its characteristics is that these structures are complex, and difficult to be represented as a signal or curves and this way to be analyzed in a classical pattern recognition approach. Here, we model the veins as a set of points and model as graphs. As features, we use the degree and joint degree measurements in a dynamic evolution. The results demonstrates that the technique has a good power of discrimination and can be used for plant identification, as well as other complex pattern recognition tasks.

Morphology-Variable Aggregates Prepared from Cholesterol-Containing Amphiphilic Glycopolymers: Their Protein Recognition/Adsorption and Drug Delivery Applications

PubMed Central

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

2018-01-01

In this study, a series of diblock glycopolymers, poly(6-O-methacryloyl-d-galactopyranose)-b-poly(6-cholesteryloxyhexyl methacrylate) (PMAgala-b-PMAChols), with cholesterol/galactose grafts were prepared through a sequential reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and deprotection process. The glycopolymers could self-assemble into aggregates with various morphologies depending on cholesterol/galactose-containing block weight ratios, as determined by transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) and dynamic laser light scattering (DLS). In addition, the lectin (Ricinus communis agglutinin II, RCA120) recognition and bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption of the PMAgala-b-PMAChol aggregates were evaluated. The SK-Hep-1 tumor cell inhibition properties of the PMAgala-b-PMAChol/doxorubicin (DOX) complex aggregates were further examined in vitro. Results indicate that the PMAgala-b-PMAChol aggregates with various morphologies showed different interaction/recognition features with RCA120 and BSA. Spherical aggregates (d ≈ 92 nm) possessed the highest RCA120 recognition ability and lowest BSA protein adsorption. In addition, the DOX-loaded spherical complex aggregates exhibited a better tumor cell inhibition property than those of nanofibrous complex aggregates. The morphology-variable aggregates derived from the amphiphilic glycopolymers may serve as multifunctional biomaterials with biomolecular recognition and drug delivery features. PMID:29495614

EEG based topography analysis in string recognition task

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Xiaofei; Huang, Xiaolin; Shen, Yuxiaotong; Qin, Zike; Ge, Yun; Chen, Ying; Ning, Xinbao

2017-03-01

Vision perception and recognition is a complex process, during which different parts of brain are involved depending on the specific modality of the vision target, e.g. face, character, or word. In this study, brain activities in string recognition task compared with idle control state are analyzed through topographies based on multiple measurements, i.e. sample entropy, symbolic sample entropy and normalized rhythm power, extracted from simultaneously collected scalp EEG. Our analyses show that, for most subjects, both symbolic sample entropy and normalized gamma power in string recognition task are significantly higher than those in idle state, especially at locations of P4, O2, T6 and C4. It implies that these regions are highly involved in string recognition task. Since symbolic sample entropy measures complexity, from the perspective of new information generation, and normalized rhythm power reveals the power distributions in frequency domain, complementary information about the underlying dynamics can be provided through the two types of indices.

A model of EcoRII restriction endonuclease action: the active complex is most likely formed by one protein subunit and one DNA recognition site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karpova, E. A.; Kubareva, E. A.; Shabarova, Z. A.

1999-01-01

To elucidate the mechanism of interaction of restriction endonuclease EcoRII with DNA, we studied by native gel electrophoresis the binding of this endonuclease to a set of synthetic DNA-duplexes containing the modified or canonical recognition sequence 5'-d(CCA/TGG)-3'. All binding substrate or substrate analogues tested could be divided into two major groups: (i) duplexes that, at the interaction with endonuclease EcoRII, form two types of stable complexes on native gel in the absence of Mg2+ cofactor; (ii) duplexes that form only one type of complex, observed both in the presence and absence of Mg2+. Unlike the latter, duplexes under the first group can be hydrolyzed by endonuclease. Data obtained suggest that the active complex is most likely formed by one protein subunit and one DNA recognition sequence. A model of EcoRII endonuclease action is presented.

Impaired Word and Face Recognition in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes.

PubMed

Jones, Nicola; Riby, Leigh M; Smith, Michael A

2016-07-01

Older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) exhibit accelerated decline in some domains of cognition including verbal episodic memory. Few studies have investigated the influence of DM2 status in older adults on recognition memory for more complex stimuli such as faces. In the present study we sought to compare recognition memory performance for words, objects and faces under conditions of relatively low and high cognitive load. Healthy older adults with good glucoregulatory control (n = 13) and older adults with DM2 (n = 24) were administered recognition memory tasks in which stimuli (faces, objects and words) were presented under conditions of either i) low (stimulus presented without a background pattern) or ii) high (stimulus presented against a background pattern) cognitive load. In a subsequent recognition phase, the DM2 group recognized fewer faces than healthy controls. Further, the DM2 group exhibited word recognition deficits in the low cognitive load condition. The recognition memory impairment observed in patients with DM2 has clear implications for day-to-day functioning. Although these deficits were not amplified under conditions of increased cognitive load, the present study emphasizes that recognition memory impairment for both words and more complex stimuli such as face are a feature of DM2 in older adults. Copyright © 2016 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acoustic interference and recognition space within a complex assemblage of dendrobatid frogs

PubMed Central

Amézquita, Adolfo; Flechas, Sandra Victoria; Lima, Albertina Pimentel; Gasser, Herbert; Hödl, Walter

2011-01-01

In species-rich assemblages of acoustically communicating animals, heterospecific sounds may constrain not only the evolution of signal traits but also the much less-studied signal-processing mechanisms that define the recognition space of a signal. To test the hypothesis that the recognition space is optimally designed, i.e., that it is narrower toward the species that represent the higher potential for acoustic interference, we studied an acoustic assemblage of 10 diurnally active frog species. We characterized their calls, estimated pairwise correlations in calling activity, and, to model the recognition spaces of five species, conducted playback experiments with 577 synthetic signals on 531 males. Acoustic co-occurrence was not related to multivariate distance in call parameters, suggesting a minor role for spectral or temporal segregation among species uttering similar calls. In most cases, the recognition space overlapped but was greater than the signal space, indicating that signal-processing traits do not act as strictly matched filters against sounds other than homospecific calls. Indeed, the range of the recognition space was strongly predicted by the acoustic distance to neighboring species in the signal space. Thus, our data provide compelling evidence of a role of heterospecific calls in evolutionarily shaping the frogs' recognition space within a complex acoustic assemblage without obvious concomitant effects on the signal. PMID:21969562

Simulation of Critical Materials Resource Strategies. Volume 1. Appendix D - Data Base through Scenario 11.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-13

TASK Titan Systems, Inc. AREA & WORK UNIT NUMBEPS P.O. Box 12139 La Jolla, California 92037 5261D 11. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12. REPORT...ICB:M 0. 00 STRATEGIC E:0MPE 1. FC5 SLBM 0. 00 * S.EA AED) I. ?: CARRIER BATTLE cORC’UF IC). 00 SURFACE COMBAT ANTS 4. 5 1 AIR SUFER I ORITY (LANDi EASED

Development of a solar receiver for an organic rankine cycle engine

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

Haskins, H.J.; Taylor, R.M.; Osborn, D.B.

A solar receiver is described for use with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine as part of the Small Community Solar Thermal Power Experiment (SCSE). The selected receiver concept is a direct-heated, once-through, monotube boiler normally operating at supercritical pressure. Fabrication methods for the receiver core have been developed and validated with flat braze samples, cylindrical segment samples, and a complete full-scale core assembly.

Chalcogenide Glass for Active and Passive Mid-IR Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

Reactive gas conversion • Chemical vapour deposition What is a Chalcogenide? – From Greek sulphur-loving for elements that frequently bond to sulphur...Predominately As or Se based (toxic!) ORC Research Focussed On – Gallium Lanthanum Sulphides (non-toxic) – Germanium Sulphides (non-toxic) – Capability to...770 2 hours Primary Screening 2 - 3 days Time Scale: one week Pioneering Technology: High Throughput Physical Vapour Deposition Material Discovery

Vancomycin-Resistance Enterococci Infections in the Department of the Defense: Annual Report 2013

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-08-01

str.r.:lioos, S€’ £l "r:’hi fl!’:: lil<i~lin ,:l ddc ~o.r-c.;s, !]:l:ho:>r rr:, aY. nflinttlirir~ :he !::f;, ·nod c ol ’ HO: Io ~:·rnhlir’U ;;· ;d ro...16. Morris JG, et al. Enterococci resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents, including vancomycin: establishment of endemicity in a university

Total Force Demand and Resourcing the Workforce

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-25

recapitalization and investment  Actual and perceived readiness that shapes global outcomes  T “R th W kf ” fi t d t ko esource e or orce you rs...silver bullet” H l f l “R R l d A i ” ill i H C i l e p u esource - e ate ct ons w span ent re uman ap ta Architecture  Critical to

All States Guide to Consumer Laws.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-09-01

3-21 d. Title Companies .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. ... .3-21 e. Escrow Accounts .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. ... ... 3-21 f. Enf orce men t...from the obligor, the creditor or assignee notifies the obligor of the error and makes appropriate adjust men ts. (3) Good Faith Reliance. There will be...slate law. Impled worrantbers may give you e@~ miors rights. w SYSTEMS COVERED: DIURAflON: 30 )e*kois m ~C~ C SERVK* CONTRI A men ~ct contract be

US Home Defense Forces Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-03-01

States, for their State Guards..... .......... ............... ... 64 Figure 11- State Guards Authorized, Mustered, and on Active Duty . 65 Figure 12 ...McCarter, Chief, Militia Bureau, 9 February 1918. 12 tK ,!1 ;, ;ure -I mOtME DEFENSE iORCE. )Fi ECEMBER 19170 State AutitOriZem by state iegislature...34 ’, . . . . .. . . . . . . .... .. .. .... . . .. . . .. .. .. .. . . .. . . ... . .. Im •" " - - _ m _ mi a. Pennsyl vania 3 regiments Infantry, 12 lettered companies each, machine gun detachment, sanitary

Organic Rankine Cycle for Residual Heat to Power Conversion in Natural Gas Compressor Station. Part II: Plant Simulation and Optimisation Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaczykowski, Maciej

2016-06-01

After having described the models for the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) equipment in the first part of this paper, this second part provides an example that demonstrates the performance of different ORC systems in the energy recovery application in a gas compressor station. The application shows certain specific characteristics, i.e. relatively large scale of the system, high exhaust gas temperature, low ambient temperature operation, and incorporation of an air-cooled condenser, as an effect of the localization in a compressor station plant. Screening of 17 organic fluids, mostly alkanes, was carried out and resulted in a selection of best performing fluids for each cycle configuration, among which benzene, acetone and heptane showed highest energy recovery potential in supercritical cycles, while benzene, toluene and cyclohexane in subcritical cycles. Calculation results indicate that a maximum of 10.4 MW of shaft power can be obtained from the exhaust gases of a 25 MW compressor driver by the use of benzene as a working fluid in the supercritical cycle with heat recuperation. In relation to the particular transmission system analysed in the study, it appears that the regenerative subcritical cycle with toluene as a working fluid presents the best thermodynamic characteristics, however, require some attention insofar as operational conditions are concerned.

Evaluation of Working Fluids for Organic Rankine Cycle Based on Exergy Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiawan, D.; Subrata, I. D. M.; Purwanto, Y. A.; Tambunan, A. H.

2018-05-01

One of the crucial aspects to determine the performance of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is the selection of appropriate working fluids. This paper describes the simulative performance of several organic fluid and water as working fluid of an ORC based on exergy analysis with a heat source from waste heat recovery. The simulation was conducted by using Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The effect of several parameters and thermodynamic properties of working fluid was analyzed, and part of them was used as variables for the simulation in order to determine their sensitivity to the exergy efficiency changes. The results of this study showed that water is not appropriate to be used as working fluid at temperature lower than 130 °C, because the expansion process falls in saturated area. It was also found that Benzene had the highest exergy efficiency, i.e. about 10.49%, among the dry type working fluid. The increasing turbine inlet temperature did not lead to the increase of exergy efficiency when using organic working fluids with critical temperature near heat source temperature. Meanwhile, exergy efficiency decreasing linearly with the increasing condenser inlet temperature. In addition, it was found that working fluid with high latent heat of vaporization and specific heat exert in high exergy efficiency.

Analysis of the vibrations of the low power ORC turbines operating under conditions of strongly developed hydrodynamic instability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiciński, Jan

2018-01-01

The paper presents the results of the analysis of the dynamic performance of the rotor being a component of the ORC turbine set with the net electrical output of 100 kW and the nominal speed of 9000 rpm. The research was conducted using tools capable of performing the necessary simulation of the system operating under highly unstable conditions, i.e., in a strongly nonlinear regime. In this regard, the author of the paper followed the subsequent phases of whirl/whip formation manifested in the fluid film. Constructional solutions within the scope of the bearing were examined with non-conventional lubricating mediums (low boiling mediums). On the basis of those scientific studies, the decision to build a working prototype of the machine was taken. Such a prototype has already been manufactured, having regard to the outcome of the conducted analyses. The research presented herein produced interesting results showing that, under the conditions of hydrodynamic instability, the phenomena taking place inside the lubricating gap of the slide bearing are not recurrent for each individual rotor revolution, notwithstanding the fact that the external excitation forces acting on the system are fully repeatable. The research tools were presented that allow a detailed qualitative and quantitative description of such phenomena.

Comparing object recognition from binary and bipolar edge images for visual prostheses.

PubMed

Jung, Jae-Hyun; Pu, Tian; Peli, Eli

2016-11-01

Visual prostheses require an effective representation method due to the limited display condition which has only 2 or 3 levels of grayscale in low resolution. Edges derived from abrupt luminance changes in images carry essential information for object recognition. Typical binary (black and white) edge images have been used to represent features to convey essential information. However, in scenes with a complex cluttered background, the recognition rate of the binary edge images by human observers is limited and additional information is required. The polarity of edges and cusps (black or white features on a gray background) carries important additional information; the polarity may provide shape from shading information missing in the binary edge image. This depth information may be restored by using bipolar edges. We compared object recognition rates from 16 binary edge images and bipolar edge images by 26 subjects to determine the possible impact of bipolar filtering in visual prostheses with 3 or more levels of grayscale. Recognition rates were higher with bipolar edge images and the improvement was significant in scenes with complex backgrounds. The results also suggest that erroneous shape from shading interpretation of bipolar edges resulting from pigment rather than boundaries of shape may confound the recognition.

Direct electronic probing of biological complexes formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macchia, Eleonora; Magliulo, Maria; Manoli, Kyriaki; Giordano, Francesco; Palazzo, Gerardo; Torsi, Luisa

2014-10-01

Functional bio-interlayer organic field - effect transistors (FBI-OFET), embedding streptavidin, avidin and neutravidin as bio-recognition element, have been studied to probe the electronic properties of protein complexes. The threshold voltage control has been achieved modifying the SiO2 gate diaelectric surface by means of the deposition of an interlayer of bio-recognition elements. A threshold voltage shift with respect to the unmodified dielectric surface toward more negative potential values has been found for the three different proteins, in agreement with their isoelectric points. The relative responses in terms of source - drain current, mobility and threshold voltage upon exposure to biotin of the FBI-OFET devices have been compared for the three bio-recognition elements.

Identification and location of catenary insulator in complex background based on machine vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Xiaotong; Pan, Yingli; Liu, Li; Cheng, Xiao

2018-04-01

It is an important premise to locate insulator precisely for fault detection. Current location algorithms for insulator under catenary checking images are not accurate, a target recognition and localization method based on binocular vision combined with SURF features is proposed. First of all, because of the location of the insulator in complex environment, using SURF features to achieve the coarse positioning of target recognition; then Using binocular vision principle to calculate the 3D coordinates of the object which has been coarsely located, realization of target object recognition and fine location; Finally, Finally, the key is to preserve the 3D coordinate of the object's center of mass, transfer to the inspection robot to control the detection position of the robot. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has better recognition efficiency and accuracy, can successfully identify the target and has a define application value.

Conformational changes in the P site and mRNA entry channel evoked by AUG recognition in yeast translation preinitiation complexes

PubMed Central

Zhang, Fan; Saini, Adesh K.; Shin, Byung-Sik; Nanda, Jagpreet; Hinnebusch, Alan G.

2015-01-01

The translation preinitiation complex (PIC) is thought to assume an open conformation when scanning the mRNA leader, with AUG recognition evoking a closed conformation and more stable P site interaction of Met-tRNAi; however, physical evidence is lacking that AUG recognition constrains interaction of mRNA with the 40S binding cleft. We compared patterns of hydroxyl radical cleavage of rRNA by Fe(II)-BABE tethered to unique sites in eIF1A in yeast PICs reconstituted with mRNA harboring an AUG or near-cognate (AUC) start codon. rRNA residues in the P site display reduced cleavage in AUG versus AUC PICs; and enhanced cleavage in the AUC complexes was diminished by mutations of scanning enhancer elements of eIF1A that increase near-cognate recognition in vivo. This suggests that accessibility of these rRNA residues is reduced by accommodation of Met-tRNAi in the P site (PIN state) and by their interactions with the anticodon stem of Met-tRNAi. Our cleavage data also provide evidence that AUG recognition evokes dissociation of eIF1 from its 40S binding site, ejection of the eIF1A-CTT from the P-site and rearrangement to a closed conformation of the entry channel with reduced mobility of mRNA. PMID:25670678

The mate recognition protein gene mediates reproductive isolation and speciation in the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Chemically mediated prezygotic barriers to reproduction likely play an important role in speciation. In facultatively sexual monogonont rotifers from the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex, mate recognition of females by males is mediated by the Mate Recognition Protein (MRP), a globular glycoprotein on the surface of females, encoded by the mmr-b gene family. In this study, we sequenced mmr-b copies from 27 isolates representing 11 phylotypes of the B. plicatilis species complex, examined the mode of evolution and selection of mmr-b, and determined the relationship between mmr-b genetic distance and mate recognition among isolates. Results Isolates of the B. plicatilis species complex have 1–4 copies of mmr-b, each composed of 2–9 nearly identical tandem repeats. The repeats within a gene copy are generally more similar than are gene copies among phylotypes, suggesting concerted evolution. Compared to housekeeping genes from the same isolates, mmr-b has accumulated only half as many synonymous differences but twice as many non-synonymous differences. Most of the amino acid differences between repeats appear to occur on the outer face of the protein, and these often result in changes in predicted patterns of phosphorylation. However, we found no evidence of positive selection driving these differences. Isolates with the most divergent copies were unable to mate with other isolates and rarely self-crossed. Overall the degree of mate recognition was significantly correlated with the genetic distance of mmr-b. Conclusions Discrimination of compatible mates in the B. plicatilis species complex is determined by proteins encoded by closely related copies of a single gene, mmr-b. While concerted evolution of the tandem repeats in mmr-b may function to maintain identity, it can also lead to the rapid spread of a mutation through all copies in the genome and thus to reproductive isolation. The mmr-b gene is evolving rapidly, and novel alleles may be maintained and increase in frequency via asexual reproduction. Our analyses indicate that mate recognition, controlled by MMR-B, may drive reproductive isolation and allow saltational sympatric speciation within the B. plicatilis cryptic species complex, and that this process may be largely neutral. PMID:22852831

Vehicle Color Recognition with Vehicle-Color Saliency Detection and Dual-Orientational Dimensionality Reduction of CNN Deep Features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiang; Li, Jiafeng; Zhuo, Li; Zhang, Hui; Li, Xiaoguang

2017-12-01

Color is one of the most stable attributes of vehicles and often used as a valuable cue in some important applications. Various complex environmental factors, such as illumination, weather, noise and etc., result in the visual characteristics of the vehicle color being obvious diversity. Vehicle color recognition in complex environments has been a challenging task. The state-of-the-arts methods roughly take the whole image for color recognition, but many parts of the images such as car windows; wheels and background contain no color information, which will have negative impact on the recognition accuracy. In this paper, a novel vehicle color recognition method using local vehicle-color saliency detection and dual-orientational dimensionality reduction of convolutional neural network (CNN) deep features has been proposed. The novelty of the proposed method includes two parts: (1) a local vehicle-color saliency detection method has been proposed to determine the vehicle color region of the vehicle image and exclude the influence of non-color regions on the recognition accuracy; (2) dual-orientational dimensionality reduction strategy has been designed to greatly reduce the dimensionality of deep features that are learnt from CNN, which will greatly mitigate the storage and computational burden of the subsequent processing, while improving the recognition accuracy. Furthermore, linear support vector machine is adopted as the classifier to train the dimensionality reduced features to obtain the recognition model. The experimental results on public dataset demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve superior recognition performance over the state-of-the-arts methods.

Structure of homeodomain-leucine zipper/DNA complexes studied using hydroxyl radical cleavage of DNA and methylation interference.

PubMed

Tron, Adriana E; Comelli, Raúl N; Gonzalez, Daniel H

2005-12-27

Homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) proteins, unlike most homeodomain proteins, bind a pseudopalindromic DNA sequence as dimers. We have investigated the structure of the DNA complexes formed by two HD-Zip proteins with different nucleotide preferences at the central position of the binding site using footprinting and interference methods. The results indicate that the respective complexes are not symmetric, with the strand bearing a central purine (top strand) showing higher protection around the central region and the bottom strand protected toward the 3' end. Binding to a sequence with a nonpreferred central base pair produces a decrease in protection in either the top or the bottom strand, depending upon the protein. Modeling studies derived from the complex formed by the monomeric Antennapedia homeodomain with DNA indicate that in the HD-Zip/DNA complex the recognition helix of one of the monomers is displaced within the major groove respective to the other one. This monomer seems to lose contacts with a part of the recognition sequence upon binding to the nonpreferred site. The results show that the structure of the complex formed by HD-Zip proteins with DNA is dependent upon both protein intrinsic characteristics and the nucleotides present at the central position of the recognition sequence.

Classifier dependent feature preprocessing methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Benjamin M., II; Peterson, Gilbert L.

2008-04-01

In mobile applications, computational complexity is an issue that limits sophisticated algorithms from being implemented on these devices. This paper provides an initial solution to applying pattern recognition systems on mobile devices by combining existing preprocessing algorithms for recognition. In pattern recognition systems, it is essential to properly apply feature preprocessing tools prior to training classification models in an attempt to reduce computational complexity and improve the overall classification accuracy. The feature preprocessing tools extended for the mobile environment are feature ranking, feature extraction, data preparation and outlier removal. Most desktop systems today are capable of processing a majority of the available classification algorithms without concern of processing while the same is not true on mobile platforms. As an application of pattern recognition for mobile devices, the recognition system targets the problem of steganalysis, determining if an image contains hidden information. The measure of performance shows that feature preprocessing increases the overall steganalysis classification accuracy by an average of 22%. The methods in this paper are tested on a workstation and a Nokia 6620 (Symbian operating system) camera phone with similar results.

Mapping monomeric threading to protein-protein structure prediction.

PubMed

Guerler, Aysam; Govindarajoo, Brandon; Zhang, Yang

2013-03-25

The key step of template-based protein-protein structure prediction is the recognition of complexes from experimental structure libraries that have similar quaternary fold. Maintaining two monomer and dimer structure libraries is however laborious, and inappropriate library construction can degrade template recognition coverage. We propose a novel strategy SPRING to identify complexes by mapping monomeric threading alignments to protein-protein interactions based on the original oligomer entries in the PDB, which does not rely on library construction and increases the efficiency and quality of complex template recognitions. SPRING is tested on 1838 nonhomologous protein complexes which can recognize correct quaternary template structures with a TM score >0.5 in 1115 cases after excluding homologous proteins. The average TM score of the first model is 60% and 17% higher than that by HHsearch and COTH, respectively, while the number of targets with an interface RMSD <2.5 Å by SPRING is 134% and 167% higher than these competing methods. SPRING is controlled with ZDOCK on 77 docking benchmark proteins. Although the relative performance of SPRING and ZDOCK depends on the level of homology filters, a combination of the two methods can result in a significantly higher model quality than ZDOCK at all homology thresholds. These data demonstrate a new efficient approach to quaternary structure recognition that is ready to use for genome-scale modeling of protein-protein interactions due to the high speed and accuracy.

Molecular docking of superantigens with class II major histocompatibility complex proteins.

PubMed

Olson, M A; Cuff, L

1997-01-01

The molecular recognition of two superantigens with class II major histocompatibility complex molecules was simulated by using protein-protein docking. Superantigens studied were staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) in their crystallographic assemblies with HLA-DR1. Rigid-body docking was performed sampling configurational space of the interfacial surfaces by employing a strategy of partitioning the contact regions on HLA-DR1 into separate molecular recognition units. Scoring of docked conformations was based on an electrostatic continuum model evaluated with the finite-difference Poisson-Boltzmann method. Estimates of nonpolar contributions were derived from the buried molecular surface areas. We found for both superantigens that docking the HLA-DR1 surface complementary with the SEB and TSST-1 contact regions containing a homologous hydrophobic surface loop provided sufficient recognition for the reconstitution of native-like conformers exhibiting the highest-scoring free energies. For the SEB complex, the calculations were successful in reproducing the total association free energy. A comparison of the free-energy determinants of the conserved hydrophobic contact residue indicates functional similarity between the two proteins for this interface. Though both superantigens share a common global association mode, differences in binding topology distinguish the conformational specificities underlying recognition.

Electrostatically Accelerated Encounter and Folding for Facile Recognition of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

PubMed Central

Ganguly, Debabani; Zhang, Weihong; Chen, Jianhan

2013-01-01

Achieving facile specific recognition is essential for intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that are involved in cellular signaling and regulation. Consideration of the physical time scales of protein folding and diffusion-limited protein-protein encounter has suggested that the frequent requirement of protein folding for specific IDP recognition could lead to kinetic bottlenecks. How IDPs overcome such potential kinetic bottlenecks to viably function in signaling and regulation in general is poorly understood. Our recent computational and experimental study of cell-cycle regulator p27 (Ganguly et al., J. Mol. Biol. (2012)) demonstrated that long-range electrostatic forces exerted on enriched charges of IDPs could accelerate protein-protein encounter via “electrostatic steering” and at the same time promote “folding-competent” encounter topologies to enhance the efficiency of IDP folding upon encounter. Here, we further investigated the coupled binding and folding mechanisms and the roles of electrostatic forces in the formation of three IDP complexes with more complex folded topologies. The surface electrostatic potentials of these complexes lack prominent features like those observed for the p27/Cdk2/cyclin A complex to directly suggest the ability of electrostatic forces to facilitate folding upon encounter. Nonetheless, similar electrostatically accelerated encounter and folding mechanisms were consistently predicted for all three complexes using topology-based coarse-grained simulations. Together with our previous analysis of charge distributions in known IDP complexes, our results support a prevalent role of electrostatic interactions in promoting efficient coupled binding and folding for facile specific recognition. These results also suggest that there is likely a co-evolution of IDP folded topology, charge characteristics, and coupled binding and folding mechanisms, driven at least partially by the need to achieve fast association kinetics for cellular signaling and regulation. PMID:24278008

An uracil-linked hydroxyflavone probe for the recognition of ATP

PubMed Central

Bojtár, Márton; Janzsó-Berend, Péter Zoltán; Mester, Dávid; Hessz, Dóra; Kállay, Mihály; Kubinyi, Miklós

2018-01-01

Background: Nucleotides are essential molecules in living systems due to their paramount importance in various physiological processes. In the past years, numerous attempts were made to selectively recognize and detect these analytes, especially ATP using small-molecule fluorescent chemosensors. Despite the various solutions, the selective detection of ATP is still challenging due to the structural similarity of various nucleotides. In this paper, we report the conjugation of a uracil nucleobase to the known 4’-dimethylamino-hydroxyflavone fluorophore. Results: The complexation of this scaffold with ATP is already known. The complex is held together by stacking and electrostatic interactions. To achieve multi-point recognition, we designed the uracil-appended version of this probe to include complementary base-pairing interactions. The theoretical calculations revealed the availability of multiple complex structures. The synthesis was performed using click chemistry and the nucleotide recognition properties of the probe were evaluated using fluorescence spectroscopy. Conclusions: The first, uracil-containing fluorescent ATP probe based on a hydroxyflavone fluorophore was synthesized and evaluated. A selective complexation with ATP was observed and a ratiometric response in the excitation spectrum. PMID:29719572

Speech recognition against harmonic and inharmonic complexes: Spectral dips and periodicity

PubMed Central

Deroche, Mickael L. D.; Culling, John F.; Chatterjee, Monita; Limb, Charles J.

2014-01-01

Speech recognition in a complex masker usually benefits from masker harmonicity, but there are several factors at work. The present study focused on two of them, glimpsing spectrally in between masker partials and periodicity within individual frequency channels. Using both a theoretical and an experimental approach, it is demonstrated that when inharmonic complexes are generated by jittering partials from their harmonic positions, there are better opportunities for spectral glimpsing in inharmonic than in harmonic maskers, and this difference is enhanced as fundamental frequency (F0) increases. As a result, measurements of masking level difference between the two maskers can be reduced, particularly at higher F0s. Using inharmonic maskers that offer similar glimpsing opportunity to harmonic maskers, it was found that the masking level difference between the two maskers varied little with F0, was influenced by periodicity of the first four partials, and could occur in low-, mid-, or high-frequency regions. Overall, the present results suggested that both spectral glimpsing and periodicity contribute to speech recognition under masking by harmonic complexes, and these effects seem independent from one another. PMID:24815268

Structural Basis for Telomerase RNA Recognition and RNP Assembly by the Holoenzyme La Family Protein p65

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

Singh, Mahavir; Wang, Zhonghua; Koo, Bon-Kyung

2012-07-01

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex essential for maintenance of telomere DNA at linear chromosome ends. The catalytic core of Tetrahymena telomerase comprises a ternary complex of telomerase RNA (TER), telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), and the essential La family protein p65. NMR and crystal structures of p65 C-terminal domain and its complex with stem IV of TER reveal that RNA recognition is achieved by a combination of single- and double-stranded RNA binding, which induces a 105{sup o} bend in TER. The domain is a cryptic, atypical RNA recognition motif with a disordered C-terminal extension that forms an {alpha} helix in themore » complex necessary for hierarchical assembly of TERT with p65-TER. This work provides the first structural insight into biogenesis and assembly of TER with a telomerase-specific protein. Additionally, our studies define a structurally homologous domain (xRRM) in genuine La and LARP7 proteins and suggest a general mode of RNA binding for biogenesis of their diverse RNA targets.« less

Seamless Tracing of Human Behavior Using Complementary Wearable and House-Embedded Sensors

PubMed Central

Augustyniak, Piotr; Smoleń, Magdalena; Mikrut, Zbigniew; Kańtoch, Eliasz

2014-01-01

This paper presents a multimodal system for seamless surveillance of elderly people in their living environment. The system uses simultaneously a wearable sensor network for each individual and premise-embedded sensors specific for each environment. The paper demonstrates the benefits of using complementary information from two types of mobility sensors: visual flow-based image analysis and an accelerometer-based wearable network. The paper provides results for indoor recognition of several elementary poses and outdoor recognition of complex movements. Instead of complete system description, particular attention was drawn to a polar histogram-based method of visual pose recognition, complementary use and synchronization of the data from wearable and premise-embedded networks and an automatic danger detection algorithm driven by two premise- and subject-related databases. The novelty of our approach also consists in feeding the databases with real-life recordings from the subject, and in using the dynamic time-warping algorithm for measurements of distance between actions represented as elementary poses in behavioral records. The main results of testing our method include: 95.5% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the video system, 96.7% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the accelerometer-based system, 98.9% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the combined accelerometer and video-based system, and 80% accuracy of complex outdoor activity recognition by the accelerometer-based wearable system. PMID:24787640

Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, CA

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-27

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFMC) AFRL /RZS 1 Ara Road Edwards AFB CA 93524-7013 AFRL -RZ-ED-VG-2011-269 9...SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) Air Force Research Laboratory (AFMC) AFRL /RZS 11. SPONSOR...Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239.18 Air Force Research Laboratory Ed d Ai F B CA Col Mike Platt war s r orce

Evaluation of Used Crankcase Oils Using Computerized Infrared Spectrometry. Appendices.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-06-01

JUN 84 J0AP-TSC-84-81-APP F/G 20/6 ’ NL BBBBBBB •Tva-.j’.-n^r. r.T T.~C^ 01^ lite MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF...7>- a—-»tc-o ru" »Tier be vrf ->or-co. O SNOOCOOx IVOO 5COO!oOo 5COO 30 irm-i- ivmoc orc>0 •circec OP<IVNI ^l^Of«•. oc

An Experimental Technique for the Study of Velocity Profiles in a Laminar Jet Using a Pulsed Nitrogen Laser.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

v*.. *. . o ., , . .. : . .- . .-. . .. . .... .. . _ _ . L ; . . ’ C -a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL ! Monterey, California ,0 - .4 THESIS AN...192 E September 1984 S Thesis Advisor: W. G. Culbreth Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. 85 03 11 115...orC 0 An Experimental Technique for the Study Master’s Thesis ; Using a Pulsed Ni trogen Laser 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHOR(*)r

Recognition mechanism of p63 by the E3 ligase Itch

PubMed Central

Bellomaria, Alessia; Barbato, Gaetano; Melino, Gerry; Paci, Maurizio; Melino, Sonia

2012-01-01

The HECT-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch mediates the degradation of several proteins, including p63 and p73, involved in cell specification and fate. Itch contains four WW domains, which are essential for recognition on the target substrate, which contains a short proline-rich sequence. Several signaling complexes containing these domains have been associated with human diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s diseases. To gain further insight into the structural determinants of the Itch-WW2 domain, we investigated its interaction with p63. We assigned, by 3D heteronuclear NMR experiments, the backbone and side chains of the uniformly ¹³C-¹⁵N-labeled Itch-WW2. In vitro interaction of Itch-WW2 domain with p63 was studied using its interactive p63 peptide, pep63. Pep63 is an 18-mer peptide corresponding to the region from 534–551 residue of p63, encompassing the PPxY motif that interacts with the Itch-WW domains, and we identified the residues involved in this molecular recognition. Moreover, here, a strategy of stabilization of the conformation of the PPxY peptide has been adopted, increasing the WW-ligand binding. We demonstrated that cyclization of pep63 leads to an increase of both the biological stability of the peptide and of the WW-ligand complex. Stable metal-binding complexes of the pep63 have been also obtained, and localized oxidative damage on Itch-WW2 domain has been induced, demonstrating the possibility of use of metal-pep63 complexes as models for the design of metal drugs to inhibit the Itch-WW-p63 recognition in vivo. Thus, our data suggest a novel strategy to study and inhibit the recognition mechanism of Itch E3-ligase. PMID:22935697

Pattern recognition neural-net by spatial mapping of biology visual field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Xin; Mori, Masahiko

2000-05-01

The method of spatial mapping in biology vision field is applied to artificial neural networks for pattern recognition. By the coordinate transform that is called the complex-logarithm mapping and Fourier transform, the input images are transformed into scale- rotation- and shift- invariant patterns, and then fed into a multilayer neural network for learning and recognition. The results of computer simulation and an optical experimental system are described.

Methods and means of diagnostics of oncological diseases on the basis of pattern recognition: intelligent morphological systems - problems and solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikitaev, V. G.

2017-01-01

The development of methods of pattern recognition in modern intelligent systems of clinical cancer diagnosis are discussed. The histological (morphological) diagnosis - primary diagnosis for medical setting with cancer are investigated. There are proposed: interactive methods of recognition and structure of intellectual morphological complexes based on expert training-diagnostic and telemedicine systems. The proposed approach successfully implemented in clinical practice.

Comparing object recognition from binary and bipolar edge images for visual prostheses

PubMed Central

Jung, Jae-Hyun; Pu, Tian; Peli, Eli

2017-01-01

Visual prostheses require an effective representation method due to the limited display condition which has only 2 or 3 levels of grayscale in low resolution. Edges derived from abrupt luminance changes in images carry essential information for object recognition. Typical binary (black and white) edge images have been used to represent features to convey essential information. However, in scenes with a complex cluttered background, the recognition rate of the binary edge images by human observers is limited and additional information is required. The polarity of edges and cusps (black or white features on a gray background) carries important additional information; the polarity may provide shape from shading information missing in the binary edge image. This depth information may be restored by using bipolar edges. We compared object recognition rates from 16 binary edge images and bipolar edge images by 26 subjects to determine the possible impact of bipolar filtering in visual prostheses with 3 or more levels of grayscale. Recognition rates were higher with bipolar edge images and the improvement was significant in scenes with complex backgrounds. The results also suggest that erroneous shape from shading interpretation of bipolar edges resulting from pigment rather than boundaries of shape may confound the recognition. PMID:28458481

Modeling Interval Temporal Dependencies for Complex Activities Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-11

ORGANIZATION NAMES AND ADDRESSES U.S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 15. SUBJECT TERMS Human activity modeling...computer vision applications: human activity recognition and facial activity recognition. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the

Structural analysis of DNA binding by C.Csp231I, a member of a novel class of R-M controller proteins regulating gene expression

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

Shevtsov, M. B.; Streeter, S. D.; Thresh, S.-J.

2015-02-01

The structure of the new class of controller proteins (exemplified by C.Csp231I) in complex with its 21 bp DNA-recognition sequence is presented, and the molecular basis of sequence recognition in this class of proteins is discussed. An unusual extended spacer between the dimer binding sites suggests a novel interaction between the two C-protein dimers. In a wide variety of bacterial restriction–modification systems, a regulatory ‘controller’ protein (or C-protein) is required for effective transcription of its own gene and for transcription of the endonuclease gene found on the same operon. We have recently turned our attention to a new class ofmore » controller proteins (exemplified by C.Csp231I) that have quite novel features, including a much larger DNA-binding site with an 18 bp (∼60 Å) spacer between the two palindromic DNA-binding sequences and a very different recognition sequence from the canonical GACT/AGTC. Using X-ray crystallography, the structure of the protein in complex with its 21 bp DNA-recognition sequence was solved to 1.8 Å resolution, and the molecular basis of sequence recognition in this class of proteins was elucidated. An unusual aspect of the promoter sequence is the extended spacer between the dimer binding sites, suggesting a novel interaction between the two C-protein dimers when bound to both recognition sites correctly spaced on the DNA. A U-bend model is proposed for this tetrameric complex, based on the results of gel-mobility assays, hydrodynamic analysis and the observation of key contacts at the interface between dimers in the crystal.« less

Invariant recognition drives neural representations of action sequences

PubMed Central

Poggio, Tomaso

2017-01-01

Recognizing the actions of others from visual stimuli is a crucial aspect of human perception that allows individuals to respond to social cues. Humans are able to discriminate between similar actions despite transformations, like changes in viewpoint or actor, that substantially alter the visual appearance of a scene. This ability to generalize across complex transformations is a hallmark of human visual intelligence. Advances in understanding action recognition at the neural level have not always translated into precise accounts of the computational principles underlying what representations of action sequences are constructed by human visual cortex. Here we test the hypothesis that invariant action discrimination might fill this gap. Recently, the study of artificial systems for static object perception has produced models, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), that achieve human level performance in complex discriminative tasks. Within this class, architectures that better support invariant object recognition also produce image representations that better match those implied by human and primate neural data. However, whether these models produce representations of action sequences that support recognition across complex transformations and closely follow neural representations of actions remains unknown. Here we show that spatiotemporal CNNs accurately categorize video stimuli into action classes, and that deliberate model modifications that improve performance on an invariant action recognition task lead to data representations that better match human neural recordings. Our results support our hypothesis that performance on invariant discrimination dictates the neural representations of actions computed in the brain. These results broaden the scope of the invariant recognition framework for understanding visual intelligence from perception of inanimate objects and faces in static images to the study of human perception of action sequences. PMID:29253864

Optical Pattern Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Francis T. S.; Jutamulia, Suganda

2008-10-01

Contributors; Preface; 1. Pattern recognition with optics Francis T. S. Yu and Don A. Gregory; 2. Hybrid neural networks for nonlinear pattern recognition Taiwei Lu; 3. Wavelets, optics, and pattern recognition Yao Li and Yunglong Sheng; 4. Applications of the fractional Fourier transform to optical pattern recognition David Mendlovic, Zeev Zalesky and Haldum M. Oxaktas; 5. Optical implementation of mathematical morphology Tien-Hsin Chao; 6. Nonlinear optical correlators with improved discrimination capability for object location and recognition Leonid P. Yaroslavsky; 7. Distortion-invariant quadratic filters Gregory Gheen; 8. Composite filter synthesis as applied to pattern recognition Shizhou Yin and Guowen Lu; 9. Iterative procedures in electro-optical pattern recognition Joseph Shamir; 10. Optoelectronic hybrid system for three-dimensional object pattern recognition Guoguang Mu, Mingzhe Lu and Ying Sun; 11. Applications of photrefractive devices in optical pattern recognition Ziangyang Yang; 12. Optical pattern recognition with microlasers Eung-Gi Paek; 13. Optical properties and applications of bacteriorhodopsin Q. Wang Song and Yu-He Zhang; 14. Liquid-crystal spatial light modulators Aris Tanone and Suganda Jutamulia; 15. Representations of fully complex functions on real-time spatial light modulators Robert W. Cohn and Laurence G. Hassbrook; Index.

Enhancement of MSH2-MSH3-mediated mismatch recognition by the yeast MLH1-PMS1 complex.

PubMed

Habraken, Y; Sung, P; Prakash, L; Prakash, S

1997-10-01

DNA mismatch repair has a key role in maintaining genomic stability. Defects in mismatch repair cause elevated spontaneous mutation rates and increased instability of simple repetitive sequences, while mutations in human mismatch repair genes result in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancers. Mismatch recognition represents the first critical step of mismatch repair. Genetic and biochemical studies in yeast and humans have indicated a requirement for MSH2-MSH3 and MSH2-MSH6 heterodimers in mismatch recognition. These complexes have, to some extent, overlapping mismatch binding specificities. MLH1 and PMS1 are the other essential components of mismatch repair, but how they function in this process is not known. We have purified the yeast MLH1-PMS1 heterodimer to near homogeneity, and examined its effect on MSH2-MSH3 binding to DNA mismatches. By itself, the MLH1-PMS1 complex shows no affinity for mismatched DNA, but it greatly enhances the mismatch binding ability of MSH2-MSH3.

The location and recognition of anti-counterfeiting code image with complex background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Jing; Liu, Quan; Lou, Ping; Han, Ping

2017-07-01

The order of cigarette market is a key issue in the tobacco business system. The anti-counterfeiting code, as a kind of effective anti-counterfeiting technology, can identify counterfeit goods, and effectively maintain the normal order of market and consumers' rights and interests. There are complex backgrounds, light interference and other problems in the anti-counterfeiting code images obtained by the tobacco recognizer. To solve these problems, the paper proposes a locating method based on Susan operator, combined with sliding window and line scanning,. In order to reduce the interference of background and noise, we extract the red component of the image and convert the color image into gray image. For the confusing characters, recognition results correction based on the template matching method has been adopted to improve the recognition rate. In this method, the anti-counterfeiting code can be located and recognized correctly in the image with complex background. The experiment results show the effectiveness and feasibility of the approach.

Prosodic Phonological Representations Early in Visual Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Jane; Martin, Andrea E.

2008-01-01

Two experiments examined the nature of the phonological representations used during visual word recognition. We tested whether a minimality constraint (R. Frost, 1998) limits the complexity of early representations to a simple string of phonemes. Alternatively, readers might activate elaborated representations that include prosodic syllable…

Elucidating Mechanisms of Molecular Recognition Between Human Argonaute and miRNA Using Computational Approaches.

PubMed

Jiang, Hanlun; Zhu, Lizhe; Héliou, Amélie; Gao, Xin; Bernauer, Julie; Huang, Xuhui

2017-01-01

MicroRNA (miRNA) and Argonaute (AGO) protein together form the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) that plays an essential role in the regulation of gene expression. Elucidating the underlying mechanism of AGO-miRNA recognition is thus of great importance not only for the in-depth understanding of miRNA function but also for inspiring new drugs targeting miRNAs. In this chapter we introduce a combined computational approach of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, Markov state models (MSMs), and protein-RNA docking to investigate AGO-miRNA recognition. Constructed from MD simulations, MSMs can elucidate the conformational dynamics of AGO at biologically relevant timescales. Protein-RNA docking can then efficiently identify the AGO conformations that are geometrically accessible to miRNA. Using our recent work on human AGO2 as an example, we explain the rationale and the workflow of our method in details. This combined approach holds great promise to complement experiments in unraveling the mechanisms of molecular recognition between large, flexible, and complex biomolecules.

Improved dense trajectories for action recognition based on random projection and Fisher vectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ai, Shihui; Lu, Tongwei; Xiong, Yudian

2018-03-01

As an important application of intelligent monitoring system, the action recognition in video has become a very important research area of computer vision. In order to improve the accuracy rate of the action recognition in video with improved dense trajectories, one advanced vector method is introduced. Improved dense trajectories combine Fisher Vector with Random Projection. The method realizes the reduction of the characteristic trajectory though projecting the high-dimensional trajectory descriptor into the low-dimensional subspace based on defining and analyzing Gaussian mixture model by Random Projection. And a GMM-FV hybrid model is introduced to encode the trajectory feature vector and reduce dimension. The computational complexity is reduced by Random Projection which can drop Fisher coding vector. Finally, a Linear SVM is used to classifier to predict labels. We tested the algorithm in UCF101 dataset and KTH dataset. Compared with existed some others algorithm, the result showed that the method not only reduce the computational complexity but also improved the accuracy of action recognition.

Air Force Research Laboratory

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-08

Air Force Research Laboratory 8 June 2009 Mr. Leo Marple Ai F R h L b t r orce esearc a ora ory Leo.Marple@wpafb.af.mil DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Air Force Research Laboratory 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER...5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Air Force Research Laboratory ,Wright

Development of Individual Equipment Requirements for the Afghan National Army Needs Improvement

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-25

Secur n Security F Communic t of the Isla ency Managemen ining Missio ion Comman nal Clothin operation I TACOM L Frequency eb site of th rts or...of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and...conta or fax (571 Deputy Ins by fax (571 of Inspecto General for F25-04 ity Forces orces Fund ations-Electr mic Republ t Command n-Afghanis d

Description of the MHS Health Level 7 Anatomic Pathology for Public Health Surveillance

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

t ’ "’ frX ’I!’Vi""">inq ir str.r.:lioos, S€’ £l "r:’hi fl!’:: li l<i ~lin,:l ddc ~o.r-c.;s, !] :l:ho:>r rr:, aY. nflinttlirir~ :he !::f;, ·nod c ol...including average age, gender distribution, physical fitness, and health status. Further, this population has universal access to medical care, which

4950TH Test Group (N) Final Report. Operation PLUMBBOB

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE COMPLETING FORM 1. nlCiniNT’t CAT »LOC MUMBtR 1. TVPC Or RCPONT * PCRIOO COVCRCD ft. PCRrOMUINC ORC. RtPORT...r^ny letterr end gave rapid answers end decisions on individual questions and problen ercas as thej’ arose. The daily shuttle was giro utilised...encr^cmcy power tod con- Irnucd operations. CaT ^nications: All conminications normal except as noted under rrncrks. I.r-^arks: Reference Item

ORBS, ORCS, OACS, a Software Suite for Data Reduction and Analysis of the Hyperspectral Imagers SITELLE and SpIOMM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, T.; Drissen, L.; Joncas, G.

2015-09-01

SITELLE (installed in 2015 at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope) and SpIOMM (a prototype attached to the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic) are the first Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometers (IFTS) capable of obtaining a hyperspectral data cube which samples a 12 arc minutes field of view into four millions of visible spectra. The result of each observation is made up of two interferometric data cubes which need to be merged, corrected, transformed and calibrated in order to get a spectral cube of the observed region ready to be analysed. ORBS is a fully automatic data reduction software that has been entirely designed for this purpose. The data size (up to 68 Gb for larger science cases) and the computational needs have been challenging and the highly parallelized object-oriented architecture of ORBS reflects the solutions adopted which made possible to process 68 Gb of raw data in less than 11 hours using 8 cores and 22.6 Gb of RAM. It is based on a core framework (ORB) that has been designed to support the whole software suite for data analysis (ORCS and OACS), data simulation (ORUS) and data acquisition (IRIS). They all aim to provide a strong basis for the creation and development of specialized analysis modules that could benefit the scientific community working with SITELLE and SpIOMM.

Limestone percussion tools from the late Early Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain).

PubMed

Barsky, Deborah; Vergès, Josep-María; Sala, Robert; Menéndez, Leticia; Toro-Moyano, Isidro

2015-11-19

In recent years, there is growing interest in the study of percussion scars and breakage patterns on hammerstones, cores and tools from Oldowan African and Eurasian lithic assemblages. Oldowan stone toolkits generally contain abundant small-sized flakes and their corresponding cores, and are characterized by their structural dichotomy of heavy- and light-duty tools. This paper explores the significance of the lesser known heavy-duty tool component, providing data from the late Lower Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain), dated 1.4-1.2 Myr. Using quantitative and qualitative data from the large-sized limestone industries from these two major sites, we present a new methodology highlighting their morpho-technological features. In the light of the results, we discuss the shortfalls of extant classificatory methods for interpreting the role of percussive technology in early toolkits. This work is rooted in an experimental program designed to reproduce the wide range of percussion marks observed on the limestone artefacts from these two sites. A visual and descriptive reference is provided as an interpretative aid for future comparative research. Further experiments using a variety of materials and gestures are still needed before the elusive traces yield the secrets of the kinds of percussive activities carried out by hominins at these, and other, Oldowan sites. © 2015 The Author(s).

Limestone percussion tools from the late Early Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain)

PubMed Central

Barsky, Deborah; Vergès, Josep-María; Sala, Robert; Menéndez, Leticia; Toro-Moyano, Isidro

2015-01-01

In recent years, there is growing interest in the study of percussion scars and breakage patterns on hammerstones, cores and tools from Oldowan African and Eurasian lithic assemblages. Oldowan stone toolkits generally contain abundant small-sized flakes and their corresponding cores, and are characterized by their structural dichotomy of heavy- and light-duty tools. This paper explores the significance of the lesser known heavy-duty tool component, providing data from the late Lower Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain), dated 1.4–1.2 Myr. Using quantitative and qualitative data from the large-sized limestone industries from these two major sites, we present a new methodology highlighting their morpho-technological features. In the light of the results, we discuss the shortfalls of extant classificatory methods for interpreting the role of percussive technology in early toolkits. This work is rooted in an experimental program designed to reproduce the wide range of percussion marks observed on the limestone artefacts from these two sites. A visual and descriptive reference is provided as an interpretative aid for future comparative research. Further experiments using a variety of materials and gestures are still needed before the elusive traces yield the secrets of the kinds of percussive activities carried out by hominins at these, and other, Oldowan sites. PMID:26483530

Development of an Organic Rankine Cycle system for exhaust energy recovery in internal combustion engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cipollone, Roberto; Bianchi, Giuseppe; Gualtieri, Angelo; Di Battista, Davide; Mauriello, Marco; Fatigati, Fabio

2015-11-01

Road transportation is currently one of the most influencing sectors for global energy consumptions and CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, more than one third of the fuel energy supplied to internal combustion engines is still rejected to the environment as thermal waste at the exhaust. Therefore, a greater fuel economy might be achieved recovering the energy from exhaust gases and converting it into useful power on board. In the current research activity, an ORC-based energy recovery system was developed and coupled with a diesel engine. The innovative feature of the recovery power unit relies upon the usage of sliding vane rotary machines as pump and expander. After a preliminary exhaust gas mapping, which allowed to assess the magnitude of the thermal power to be recovered, a thermodynamic analysis was carried out to design the ORC system and the sliding vane machines using R236fa as working fluid. An experimental campaign was eventually performed at different operating regimes according to the ESC procedure and investigated the recovery potential of the power unit at design and off-design conditions. Mechanical power recovered ranged from 0.7 kW up to 1.9 kW, with an overall cycle efficiency from 3.8% up to 4.8% respectively. These results candidate sliding vane machines as efficient and reliable devices for waste heat recovery applications.

Phage display of functional αβ single-chain T-cell receptor molecules specific for CD1b:Ac₂SGL complexes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected cells.

PubMed

Camacho, Frank; Huggett, Jim; Kim, Louise; Infante, Juan F; Lepore, Marco; Perez, Viviana; Sarmiento, María E; Rook, Graham; Acosta, Armando

2013-01-01

The development of molecules specific for M. tuberculosis-infected cells has important implications, as these tools may facilitate understanding of the mechanisms regulating host pathogen interactions in vivo. In addition, development of new tools capable to targeting M. tuberculosis-infected cells may have potential applications to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis (TB). Due to the lack of CD1b polymorphism, M. tuberculosis lipid-CD1b complexes could be considered as universal tuberculosis infection markers. The aim of the present study was to display on the PIII surface protein of m13 phage, a human αβ single-chain T-cell receptor molecule specific for CD1b:2-stearoyl-3-hydroxyphthioceranoyl-2´-sulfate-α-α´-D-trehalose (Ac₂SGL) which is a complex presented by human cells infected with M. tuberculosis. The results showed the pIII fusion particle was successfully displayed on the phage surface. The study of the recognition of the recombinant phage in ELISA and immunohistochemistry showed the recognition of CD1b:Ac₂SGL complexes and cells in human lung tissue from a tuberculosis patient respectively, suggesting the specific recognition of the lipid-CD1b complex.

Phase effects in masking by harmonic complexes: speech recognition.

PubMed

Deroche, Mickael L D; Culling, John F; Chatterjee, Monita

2013-12-01

Harmonic complexes that generate highly modulated temporal envelopes on the basilar membrane (BM) mask a tone less effectively than complexes that generate relatively flat temporal envelopes, because the non-linear active gain of the BM selectively amplifies a low-level tone in the dips of a modulated masker envelope. The present study examines a similar effect in speech recognition. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for a voice masked by harmonic complexes with partials in sine phase (SP) or in random phase (RP). The masker's fundamental frequency (F0) was 50, 100 or 200 Hz. SRTs were considerably lower for SP than for RP maskers at 50-Hz F0, but the two converged at 100-Hz F0, while at 200-Hz F0, SRTs were a little higher for SP than RP maskers. The results were similar whether the target voice was male or female and whether the masker's spectral profile was flat or speech-shaped. Although listening in the masker dips has been shown to play a large role for artificial stimuli such as Schroeder-phase complexes at high levels, it contributes weakly to speech recognition in the presence of harmonic maskers with different crest factors at more moderate sound levels (65 dB SPL). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of an Autonomous Face Recognition Machine.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-12-08

This approach, like Baron’s, would be a very time consuming task. The problem of locating a face in Bromley’s work was the least complex of the three...top level design and the development and design decisions that were made in developing the Autonomous Face Recognition Machine (AFRM). The chapter is...images within a digital image. The second sectio examines the algorithm used in performing face recognition. The decision to divide the development

A model of attention-guided visual perception and recognition.

PubMed

Rybak, I A; Gusakova, V I; Golovan, A V; Podladchikova, L N; Shevtsova, N A

1998-08-01

A model of visual perception and recognition is described. The model contains: (i) a low-level subsystem which performs both a fovea-like transformation and detection of primary features (edges), and (ii) a high-level subsystem which includes separated 'what' (sensory memory) and 'where' (motor memory) structures. Image recognition occurs during the execution of a 'behavioral recognition program' formed during the primary viewing of the image. The recognition program contains both programmed attention window movements (stored in the motor memory) and predicted image fragments (stored in the sensory memory) for each consecutive fixation. The model shows the ability to recognize complex images (e.g. faces) invariantly with respect to shift, rotation and scale.

Online graphic symbol recognition using neural network and ARG matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bing; Li, Changhua; Xie, Weixing

2001-09-01

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

Design and test of a hybrid foot force sensing and GPS system for richer user mobility activity recognition.

PubMed

Zhang, Zelun; Poslad, Stefan

2013-11-01

Wearable and accompanied sensors and devices are increasingly being used for user activity recognition. However, typical GPS-based and accelerometer-based (ACC) methods face three main challenges: a low recognition accuracy; a coarse recognition capability, i.e., they cannot recognise both human posture (during travelling) and transportation mode simultaneously, and a relatively high computational complexity. Here, a new GPS and Foot-Force (GPS + FF) sensor method is proposed to overcome these challenges that leverages a set of wearable FF sensors in combination with GPS, e.g., in a mobile phone. User mobility activities that can be recognised include both daily user postures and common transportation modes: sitting, standing, walking, cycling, bus passenger, car passenger (including private cars and taxis) and car driver. The novelty of this work is that our approach provides a more comprehensive recognition capability in terms of reliably recognising both human posture and transportation mode simultaneously during travel. In addition, by comparing the new GPS + FF method with both an ACC method (62% accuracy) and a GPS + ACC based method (70% accuracy) as baseline methods, it obtains a higher accuracy (95%) with less computational complexity, when tested on a dataset obtained from ten individuals.

Anomalous subjective experience and psychosis risk in young depressed patients.

PubMed

Szily, Erika; Kéri, Szabolcs

2009-01-01

Help-seeking young people often display depressive symptoms. In some patients, these symptoms may co-exist with clinically high-risk mental states for psychosis. The aim of this study was to determine differences in subjective experience and social perception in young depressed patients with and without psychosis risk. Participants were 68 young persons with major depressive disorder. Twenty-six patients also met the criteria of attenuated or brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms according to the Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental States (CAARMS) criteria. Subjective experiences were assessed with the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms (BSABS). Recognition of complex social emotions and mental states was assessed using the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test. Perplexity, self-disorder, and diminished affectivity significantly predicted psychosis risk. Depressed patients without psychosis risk displayed impaired recognition performance for negative social emotions, whereas patients with psychosis risk were also impaired in the recognition of cognitive expressions. In the high-risk group, self-disorder was associated with impaired recognition of facial expressions. These results suggest that anomalous subjective experience and impaired recognition of complex emotions may differentiate between young depressed patients with and without psychosis risk. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Dignity in health-care: a critical exploration using feminism and theories of recognition.

PubMed

Aranda, Kay; Jones, Andrea

2010-09-01

Growing concerns over undignified health-care has meant the concept of dignity is currently much discussed in the British National Health Service. This has led to a number of policies attempting to reinstate dignity as a core ethical value governing nursing practice and health-care provision. Yet these initiatives continue to draw upon a concept of dignity which remains reliant upon a depoliticised, ahistorical and decontexualised subject. In this paper, we argue the need to revise the dignity debate through the lens of feminism and theories of recognition. Postmodern feminist theories provide major challenges to what remain dominant liberal approaches as they pay attention to the contingent, reflexive, and affective aspects of care work. Theories of recognition provide a further critical resource for understanding how moral obligations and responsibilities towards others and our public and private responses to difference arise. This re-situates dignity as a highly contested and politicised concept involving complex moral deliberations and diverse political claims of recognition. The dignity debate is thus moved beyond simplistic rational injunctions to care, or to care more, and towards critical discussions of complex politicised, moral practices infused with power that involve the recognition of difference in health-care.

Learning representation hierarchies by sharing visual features: a computational investigation of Persian character recognition with unsupervised deep learning.

PubMed

Sadeghi, Zahra; Testolin, Alberto

2017-08-01

In humans, efficient recognition of written symbols is thought to rely on a hierarchical processing system, where simple features are progressively combined into more abstract, high-level representations. Here, we present a computational model of Persian character recognition based on deep belief networks, where increasingly more complex visual features emerge in a completely unsupervised manner by fitting a hierarchical generative model to the sensory data. Crucially, high-level internal representations emerging from unsupervised deep learning can be easily read out by a linear classifier, achieving state-of-the-art recognition accuracy. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that handwritten digits and letters share many common visual features: A generative model that captures the statistical structure of the letters distribution should therefore also support the recognition of written digits. To this aim, deep networks trained on Persian letters were used to build high-level representations of Persian digits, which were indeed read out with high accuracy. Our simulations show that complex visual features, such as those mediating the identification of Persian symbols, can emerge from unsupervised learning in multilayered neural networks and can support knowledge transfer across related domains.

Dopamine D1 receptor activation leads to object recognition memory in a coral reef fish.

PubMed

Hamilton, Trevor J; Tresguerres, Martin; Kline, David I

2017-07-01

Object recognition memory is the ability to identify previously seen objects and is an adaptive mechanism that increases survival for many species throughout the animal kingdom. Previously believed to be possessed by only the highest order mammals, it is now becoming clear that fish are also capable of this type of memory formation. Similar to the mammalian hippocampus, the dorsolateral pallium regulates distinct memory processes and is modulated by neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Caribbean bicolour damselfish ( Stegastes partitus ) live in complex environments dominated by coral reef structures and thus likely possess many types of complex memory abilities including object recognition. This study used a novel object recognition test in which fish were first presented two identical objects, then after a retention interval of 10 min with no objects, the fish were presented with a novel object and one of the objects they had previously encountered in the first trial. We demonstrate that the dopamine D 1 -receptor agonist (SKF 38393) induces the formation of object recognition memories in these fish. Thus, our results suggest that dopamine-receptor mediated enhancement of spatial memory formation in fish represents an evolutionarily conserved mechanism in vertebrates. © 2017 The Author(s).

Colorimetric and luminescent bifunctional iridium(III) complexes for the sensitive recognition of cyanide ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiudan; Wang, Huili; Li, Jing; Hu, Wenqin; Li, Mei-Jin

2017-02-01

Two new cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes [(ppy)2Irppz]Cl (1) and [(ppy)2Irbppz]Cl (2) (where ppy = 2-phenylpyridine, ppz = 4,7-phenanthrolino-5,6:5,6-pyrazine, bppz = 2.3-di-2-pyridylpyrazine), were designed and synthesized. The structure of [(ppy)2Irppz]Cl was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Their photophysical properties were also studied. This kind of complexes could coordinate with Cu2 +, the photoluminescence (PL) of the complex was quenched, and the color changed from orange-red to green. The forming M-Cu (M: complexes 1 and 2) ensemble could be further utilized as a colorimetric and emission ;turn-on; bifunctional detection for CN-, especially for complex 1-Cu2 + showed a high sensitivity toward CN- with a limit of diction is 97 nM. Importantly, this kind of iridium(III) complexes shows a unique recognition of cyanide ions over other anions which makes it an eligible sensing probe for cyanide ions.

Lithium Ion Recognition with Nanofluidic Diodes through Host-Guest Complexation in Confined Geometries.

PubMed

Ali, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ishtiaq; Ramirez, Patricio; Nasir, Saima; Mafe, Salvador; Niemeyer, Christof M; Ensinger, Wolfgang

2018-05-15

The lithium ion recognition is receiving significant attention because of its application in pharmaceuticals, lubricants and, especially, in energy technology. We present a nanofluidic device for specific lithium ion recognition via host-guest complexation in a confined environment. A lithium-selective receptor molecule, the aminoethyl-benzo-12-crown-4 (BC12C4-NH 2 ), is designed and functionalized on single conical nanopores in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membranes. The native carboxylic acid groups on the pore walls are covalently linked with the crown ether moieties and the process is monitored from the changes in the current-voltage ( I- V) curves. The B12-crown-4 moieties are known to specifically bind with lithium ions and when the modified pore is exposed to different alkali metal chloride solutions separately, significant changes in the ion current and rectification are only observed for lithium chloride. This fact suggests the generation of positively charged B12C4-Li + complexes on the pore surface. Furthermore, the nanofluidic diode is able to recognize the lithium ion even in the presence of high concentrations of potassium ions in the external electrolyte solution. Thus, this nanodevice suggests a strategy to miniaturize nanofluidic porous systems for efficient recognition, extraction, and separation of lithium from raw materials.

Modelling of DNA-protein recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rein, R.; Garduno, R.; Colombano, S.; Nir, S.; Haydock, K.; Macelroy, R. D.

1980-01-01

Computer model-building procedures using stereochemical principles together with theoretical energy calculations appear to be, at this stage, the most promising route toward the elucidation of DNA-protein binding schemes and recognition principles. A review of models and bonding principles is conducted and approaches to modeling are considered, taking into account possible di-hydrogen-bonding schemes between a peptide and a base (or a base pair) of a double-stranded nucleic acid in the major groove, aspects of computer graphic modeling, and a search for isogeometric helices. The energetics of recognition complexes is discussed and several models for peptide DNA recognition are presented.

Programming Recognition Arrays through Double Chalcogen-Bonding Interactions.

PubMed

Biot, Nicolas; Bonifazi, Davide

2018-04-11

In this work, we have programmed and synthesized a recognition motif constructed around a chalcogenazolo-pyridine scaffold (CGP) that, through the formation of frontal double chalcogen-bonding interactions, associates into dimeric EX-type complexes. The reliability of the double chalcogen-bonding interaction has been shown at the solid-state by X-ray analysis, depicting the strongest recognition persistence for a Te-congener. The high recognition fidelity, chemical and thermal stability and easy derivatization at the 2-position makes CGP a convenient motif for constructing supramolecular architectures through programmed chalcogen-bonding interactions. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Multifunctional Bimetallic Molecular Device for Ultrasensitive Detection, Naked-Eye Recognition, and Elimination of Cyanide Ions.

PubMed

Chow, Cheuk-Fai; Ho, Pui-Yu; Wong, Wing-Leung; Gong, Cheng-Bin

2015-09-07

A new bimetallic Fe(II) -Cu(II) complex was synthesized, characterized, and applied as a selective and sensitive sensor for cyanide detection in water. This complex is the first multifunctional device that can simultaneously detect cyanide ions in real water samples, amplify the colorimetric signal upon detection for naked-eye recognition at the parts-per-million (ppb) level, and convert the toxic cyanide ion into the much safer cyanate ion in situ. The mechanism of the bimetallic complex for high-selectivity recognition and signaling toward cyanide ions was investigated through a series of binding kinetics of the complex with different analytes, including CN(-) , SO4 (2-) , HCO3 (-) , HPO4 (2-) , N3 (-) , CH3 COO(-) , NCS(-) , NO3 (-) , and Cl(-) ions. In addition, the use of the indicator/catalyst displacement assay (ICDA) is demonstrated in the present system in which one metal center acts as a receptor and inhibitor and is bridged to another metal center that is responsible for signal transduction and catalysis, thus showing a versatile approach to the design of new multifunctional devices. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Exploring the molecular basis of RNA recognition by the dimeric RNA-binding protein via molecular simulation methods.

PubMed

Chang, Shan; Zhang, Da-Wei; Xu, Lei; Wan, Hua; Hou, Ting-Jun; Kong, Ren

2016-11-01

RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) is critical for axon guidance, smooth muscle plasticity, and regulation of cancer cell proliferation and migration. Recently, different states of the RNA-recognition motif (RRM) of RBPMS, one in its free form and another in complex with CAC-containing RNA, were determined by X-ray crystallography. In this article, the free RRM domain, its wild type complex and 2 mutant complex systems are studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Through comparison of free RRM domain and complex systems, it's found that the RNA binding facilitates stabilizing the RNA-binding interface of RRM domain, especially the C-terminal loop. Although both R38Q and T103A/K104A mutations reduce the binding affinity of RRM domain and RNA, the underlining mechanisms are different. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) methods were used to explore the dynamical and recognition mechanisms of RRM domain and RNA. R38Q mutation is positioned on the homodimerization interface and mainly induces the large fluctuations of RRM domains. This mutation does not directly act on the RNA-binding interface, but some interfacial hydrogen bonds are weakened. In contrast, T103A/K104A mutations are located on the RNA-binding interface of RRM domain. These mutations obviously break most of high occupancy hydrogen bonds in the RNA-binding interface. Meanwhile, the key interfacial residues lose their favorable energy contributions upon RNA binding. The ranking of calculated binding energies in 3 complex systems is well consistent with that of experimental binding affinities. These results will be helpful in understanding the RNA recognition mechanisms of RRM domain.

Exploring the molecular basis of RNA recognition by the dimeric RNA-binding protein via molecular simulation methods

PubMed Central

Chang, Shan; Zhang, Da-Wei; Xu, Lei; Wan, Hua; Hou, Ting-Jun; Kong, Ren

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) is critical for axon guidance, smooth muscle plasticity, and regulation of cancer cell proliferation and migration. Recently, different states of the RNA-recognition motif (RRM) of RBPMS, one in its free form and another in complex with CAC-containing RNA, were determined by X-ray crystallography. In this article, the free RRM domain, its wild type complex and 2 mutant complex systems are studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Through comparison of free RRM domain and complex systems, it's found that the RNA binding facilitates stabilizing the RNA-binding interface of RRM domain, especially the C-terminal loop. Although both R38Q and T103A/K104A mutations reduce the binding affinity of RRM domain and RNA, the underlining mechanisms are different. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) methods were used to explore the dynamical and recognition mechanisms of RRM domain and RNA. R38Q mutation is positioned on the homodimerization interface and mainly induces the large fluctuations of RRM domains. This mutation does not directly act on the RNA-binding interface, but some interfacial hydrogen bonds are weakened. In contrast, T103A/K104A mutations are located on the RNA-binding interface of RRM domain. These mutations obviously break most of high occupancy hydrogen bonds in the RNA-binding interface. Meanwhile, the key interfacial residues lose their favorable energy contributions upon RNA binding. The ranking of calculated binding energies in 3 complex systems is well consistent with that of experimental binding affinities. These results will be helpful in understanding the RNA recognition mechanisms of RRM domain. PMID:27592836

Computational modeling of carbohydrate recognition in protein complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishida, Toyokazu

2017-11-01

To understand the mechanistic principle of carbohydrate recognition in proteins, we propose a systematic computational modeling strategy to identify complex carbohydrate chain onto the reduced 2D free energy surface (2D-FES), determined by MD sampling combined with QM/MM energy corrections. In this article, we first report a detailed atomistic simulation study of the norovirus capsid proteins with carbohydrate antigens based on ab initio QM/MM combined with MD-FEP simulations. The present result clearly shows that the binding geometries of complex carbohydrate antigen are determined not by one single, rigid carbohydrate structure, but rather by the sum of averaged conformations mapped onto the minimum free energy region of QM/MM 2D-FES.

Structural elements and organization of the ancestral translational machinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rein, R.; Srinivasan, S.; Mcdonald, J.; Raghunathan, G.; Shibata, M.

1987-01-01

The molecular mechanisms of the primitive translational apparatus are discussed in the framework of present-day protein biosynthesis. The structural necessities of an early adaptor and the multipoint recognition properties of such an adaptor are investigated on the basis of structure/function relationships found in a contemporary system and a molecular model of the contemporary transpeptidation complex. A model of the tRNA(Tyr)-tyrosyl tRNA synthetase complex including the positioning of the disordered region is proposed; the model is used to illustrate the required recognition properties of the ancestor aminoacyl synthetase.

Recognition of Double Stranded RNA by Guanidine-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids (GPNA)

PubMed Central

Gupta, Pankaj; Muse, Oluwatoyosi; Rozners, Eriks

2011-01-01

Double helical RNA has become an attractive target for molecular recognition because many non-coding RNAs play important roles in control of gene expression. Recently, we discovered that short peptide nucleic acids (PNA) bind strongly and sequence selectively to a homopurine tract of double helical RNA via triple helix formation. Herein we tested if the molecular recognition of RNA can be enhanced by α-guanidine modification of PNA. Our study was motivated by the discovery of Ly and co-workers that the guanidine modification greatly enhances the cellular delivery of PNA. Isothermal titration calorimetry showed that the guanidine-modified PNA (GPNA) had reduced affinity and sequence selectivity for triple helical recognition of RNA. The data suggested that in contrast to unmodified PNA, which formed a 1:1 PNA-RNA triple helix, GPNA preferred a 2:1 GPNA-RNA triplex-invasion complex. Nevertheless, promising results were obtained for recognition of biologically relevant double helical RNA. Consistent with enhanced strand invasion ability, GPNA derived from D-arginine recognized the transactivation response element (TAR) of HIV-1 with high affinity and sequence selectivity, presumably via Watson-Crick duplex formation. On the other hand, strong and sequence selective triple helices were formed by unmodified and nucelobase-modified PNAs and the purine rich strand of bacterial A-site. These results suggest that appropriate chemical modifications of PNA may enhance molecular recognition of complex non-coding RNAs. PMID:22146072

On the Design of Smart Homes: A Framework for Activity Recognition in Home Environment.

PubMed

Cicirelli, Franco; Fortino, Giancarlo; Giordano, Andrea; Guerrieri, Antonio; Spezzano, Giandomenico; Vinci, Andrea

2016-09-01

A smart home is a home environment enriched with sensing, actuation, communication and computation capabilities which permits to adapt it to inhabitants preferences and requirements. Establishing a proper strategy of actuation on the home environment can require complex computational tasks on the sensed data. This is the case of activity recognition, which consists in retrieving high-level knowledge about what occurs in the home environment and about the behaviour of the inhabitants. The inherent complexity of this application domain asks for tools able to properly support the design and implementation phases. This paper proposes a framework for the design and implementation of smart home applications focused on activity recognition in home environments. The framework mainly relies on the Cloud-assisted Agent-based Smart home Environment (CASE) architecture offering basic abstraction entities which easily allow to design and implement Smart Home applications. CASE is a three layered architecture which exploits the distributed multi-agent paradigm and the cloud technology for offering analytics services. Details about how to implement activity recognition onto the CASE architecture are supplied focusing on the low-level technological issues as well as the algorithms and the methodologies useful for the activity recognition. The effectiveness of the framework is shown through a case study consisting of a daily activity recognition of a person in a home environment.

The coevolution of recognition and social behavior.

PubMed

Smead, Rory; Forber, Patrick

2016-05-26

Recognition of behavioral types can facilitate the evolution of cooperation by enabling altruistic behavior to be directed at other cooperators and withheld from defectors. While much is known about the tendency for recognition to promote cooperation, relatively little is known about whether such a capacity can coevolve with the social behavior it supports. Here we use evolutionary game theory and multi-population dynamics to model the coevolution of social behavior and recognition. We show that conditional harming behavior enables the evolution and stability of social recognition, whereas conditional helping leads to a deterioration of recognition ability. Expanding the model to include a complex game where both helping and harming interactions are possible, we find that conditional harming behavior can stabilize recognition, and thereby lead to the evolution of conditional helping. Our model identifies a novel hypothesis for the evolution of cooperation: conditional harm may have coevolved with recognition first, thereby helping to establish the mechanisms necessary for the evolution of cooperation.

The coevolution of recognition and social behavior

PubMed Central

Smead, Rory; Forber, Patrick

2016-01-01

Recognition of behavioral types can facilitate the evolution of cooperation by enabling altruistic behavior to be directed at other cooperators and withheld from defectors. While much is known about the tendency for recognition to promote cooperation, relatively little is known about whether such a capacity can coevolve with the social behavior it supports. Here we use evolutionary game theory and multi-population dynamics to model the coevolution of social behavior and recognition. We show that conditional harming behavior enables the evolution and stability of social recognition, whereas conditional helping leads to a deterioration of recognition ability. Expanding the model to include a complex game where both helping and harming interactions are possible, we find that conditional harming behavior can stabilize recognition, and thereby lead to the evolution of conditional helping. Our model identifies a novel hypothesis for the evolution of cooperation: conditional harm may have coevolved with recognition first, thereby helping to establish the mechanisms necessary for the evolution of cooperation. PMID:27225673

On the Importance of Polar Interactions for Complexes Containing Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

PubMed Central

Wong, Eric T. C.; Na, Dokyun; Gsponer, Jörg

2013-01-01

There is a growing recognition for the importance of proteins with large intrinsically disordered (ID) segments in cell signaling and regulation. ID segments in these proteins often harbor regions that mediate molecular recognition. Coupled folding and binding of the recognition regions has been proposed to confer high specificity to interactions involving ID segments. However, researchers recently questioned the origin of the interaction specificity of ID proteins because of the overrepresentation of hydrophobic residues in their interaction interfaces. Here, we focused on the role of polar and charged residues in interactions mediated by ID segments. Making use of the extended nature of most ID segments when in complex with globular proteins, we first identified large numbers of complexes between globular proteins and ID segments by using radius-of-gyration-based selection criteria. Consistent with previous studies, we found the interfaces of these complexes to be enriched in hydrophobic residues, and that these residues contribute significantly to the stability of the interaction interface. However, our analyses also show that polar interactions play a larger role in these complexes than in structured protein complexes. Computational alanine scanning and salt-bridge analysis indicate that interfaces in ID complexes are highly complementary with respect to electrostatics, more so than interfaces of globular proteins. Follow-up calculations of the electrostatic contributions to the free energy of binding uncovered significantly stronger Coulombic interactions in complexes harbouring ID segments than in structured protein complexes. However, they are counter-balanced by even higher polar-desolvation penalties. We propose that polar interactions are a key contributing factor to the observed high specificity of ID segment-mediated interactions. PMID:23990768

Inconsistent emotion recognition deficits across stimulus modalities in Huntington׳s disease.

PubMed

Rees, Elin M; Farmer, Ruth; Cole, James H; Henley, Susie M D; Sprengelmeyer, Reiner; Frost, Chris; Scahill, Rachael I; Hobbs, Nicola Z; Tabrizi, Sarah J

2014-11-01

Recognition of negative emotions is impaired in Huntington׳s Disease (HD). It is unclear whether these emotion-specific problems are driven by dissociable cognitive deficits, emotion complexity, test cue difficulty, or visuoperceptual impairments. This study set out to further characterise emotion recognition in HD by comparing patterns of deficits across stimulus modalities; notably including for the first time in HD, the more ecologically and clinically relevant modality of film clips portraying dynamic facial expressions. Fifteen early HD and 17 control participants were tested on emotion recognition from static facial photographs, non-verbal vocal expressions and one second dynamic film clips, all depicting different emotions. Statistically significant evidence of impairment of anger, disgust and fear recognition was seen in HD participants compared with healthy controls across multiple stimulus modalities. The extent of the impairment, as measured by the difference in the number of errors made between HD participants and controls, differed according to the combination of emotion and modality (p=0.013, interaction test). The largest between-group difference was seen in the recognition of anger from film clips. Consistent with previous reports, anger, disgust and fear were the most poorly recognised emotions by the HD group. This impairment did not appear to be due to task demands or expression complexity as the pattern of between-group differences did not correspond to the pattern of errors made by either group; implicating emotion-specific cognitive processing pathology. There was however evidence that the extent of emotion recognition deficits significantly differed between stimulus modalities. The implications in terms of designing future tests of emotion recognition and care giving are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chiral discrimination in cyclodextrin complexes of amino acid derivatives: beta-cyclodextrin/N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine and N-acetyl-D-phenylalanine complexes.

PubMed

Alexander, Jennifer M; Clark, Joanna L; Brett, Tom J; Stezowski, John J

2002-04-16

In a systematic study of molecular recognition of amino acid derivatives in solid-state beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) complexes, we have determined crystal structures for complexes of beta-cyclodextrin/N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine at 298 and 20 K and for N-acetyl-D-phenylalanine at 298 K. The crystal structures for the N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine complex present disordered inclusion complexes for which the distribution of guest molecules at room temperature is not resolvable; however, they can be located with considerable confidence at low temperature. In contrast, the complex with N-acetyl-D-phenylalanine is well ordered at room temperature. The latter complex presents an example of a complex in this series in which a water molecule is included deeply in the hydrophobic torus of the extended dimer host. In an effort to understand the mechanisms of molecular recognition giving rise to the dramatic differences in crystallographic order in these crystal structures, we have examined the intermolecular interactions in detail and have examined insertion of the enantiomer of the D-complex into the chiral beta-CD complex crystal lattice.

Dissociation between facial and bodily expressions in emotion recognition: A case study.

PubMed

Leiva, Samanta; Margulis, Laura; Micciulli, Andrea; Ferreres, Aldo

2017-12-21

Existing single-case studies have reported deficit in recognizing basic emotions through facial expression and unaffected performance with body expressions, but not the opposite pattern. The aim of this paper is to present a case study with impaired emotion recognition through body expressions and intact performance with facial expressions. In this single-case study we assessed a 30-year-old patient with autism spectrum disorder, without intellectual disability, and a healthy control group (n = 30) with four tasks of basic and complex emotion recognition through face and body movements, and two non-emotional control tasks. To analyze the dissociation between facial and body expressions, we used Crawford and Garthwaite's operational criteria, and we compared the patient and the control group performance with a modified one-tailed t-test designed specifically for single-case studies. There were no statistically significant differences between the patient's and the control group's performances on the non-emotional body movement task or the facial perception task. For both kinds of emotions (basic and complex) when the patient's performance was compared to the control group's, statistically significant differences were only observed for the recognition of body expressions. There were no significant differences between the patient's and the control group's correct answers for emotional facial stimuli. Our results showed a profile of impaired emotion recognition through body expressions and intact performance with facial expressions. This is the first case study that describes the existence of this kind of dissociation pattern between facial and body expressions of basic and complex emotions.

Human activity recognition based on feature selection in smart home using back-propagation algorithm.

PubMed

Fang, Hongqing; He, Lei; Si, Hao; Liu, Peng; Xie, Xiaolei

2014-09-01

In this paper, Back-propagation(BP) algorithm has been used to train the feed forward neural network for human activity recognition in smart home environments, and inter-class distance method for feature selection of observed motion sensor events is discussed and tested. And then, the human activity recognition performances of neural network using BP algorithm have been evaluated and compared with other probabilistic algorithms: Naïve Bayes(NB) classifier and Hidden Markov Model(HMM). The results show that different feature datasets yield different activity recognition accuracy. The selection of unsuitable feature datasets increases the computational complexity and degrades the activity recognition accuracy. Furthermore, neural network using BP algorithm has relatively better human activity recognition performances than NB classifier and HMM. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bibliography of Military and Non-Military Personnel Turnover Literature.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-01

AD-A122 895 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MILITARY AND NON -MILIARY PERSONNEL / TURNOVER LITERATURE(U) AI F ORC E HUMAN RE SOURCE S LAB1 UN S O BROOKS AFB TX G A...MILITARY AND NON -MILrTARY Interim PERSONNEL TURNOVER LITERATURE I July 190- 31 January 1982 6 PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHOR(s) . CONThACT OR...automated se e osf the lumt, the report is a cosmjuhmmlve b lfe of 259 military and 251 non -military studies of tur. The military turnover literature is

Lumped Model Generation and Evaluation: Sensitivity and Lie Algebraic Techniques with Applications to Combustion

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-10-01

literature for their predictive capabilities. STATUS OF RESEARCH During the past year research on several interrelated activities was pursued in the...identifiability in nonlinear systems. In addition to its analiticity we assume that system (1) is locally reduced at z 0 (p) for all p E l , i.e., it...rearranging the lbs of (19) and continuing for Ci-2,* ’..0 yields From (20) and (24) * Since the O.R.C. is satisfied at 0, by analiticity of (1) there

Surface Warfare: A Total Force. Volume 19. Number 4, July/August 1994

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-08-01

USS Puget Sound (AD 38) (AOE 1) Support USS Grasp (ARS 51) Combat Logistics (med/small) USS Mauna Lea (AE 22) COMINEWARCOM: Repair USS Acadia (AD 42...structure is Operational Reserve Carrier ( ORC ). When USS John being shaped to expand this role. In the recently P. Eznnedy (CV 67) joins the NRF in...A typical Aegis engagement sequence begins as a engineer and test the fought in the waters of Port RoyalAegis Combat System. Sound and on the adjacent

Community Noise Exposure Resulting from Aircraft Operations: Technical Review

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-11-01

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE I. REPORT NÜSTER AMRL-TR-73-106 2. OOVT ACCESSION NO 4. TITLE («a* SuHttl,) COMMUNITY NOISE EXPOSURE RESULTING FROM...INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE COMPLETING FORM 1. REClPlfcNT’i CATALOG NUMBER rr.t/j i S. TVP|tOF REPORT * PERIOO COVERED final report • PERFORMING ORC... REPORT NUMBER 2581 I. CONTRACT OR OR ANT NUMBERf«) F-33615-73-C-4160 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK AREA * WORK UNIT NUMBERS 62202F

Metropolitan Washington Area Water Supply Study. Appendix I. Outlying Service Areas.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

wells listed in Table 1-21. All are deep well turbine pump systems which draw their water supply from the Magothy Aquifer (200-300 feet). The water...When the sixth well is placed on line, the Department will have the ability to produce a maximum of 4.0 mpply from the Magothy Aquifer (200-300 feet...1-42 MAL. FICUR! 1-12 ORC91IZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF MAJOR PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS CHARLES COUMITY Surface GroundwaterWae ataWater Magothy Ratanso

Test results of an organic Rankine-cycle power module for a small community solar thermal power experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, T. B.

1985-01-01

The organic Rankine-cycle (ORC) power conversion assembly was tested. Qualification testing of the electrical transport subsystem was also completed. Test objectives were to verify compatibility of all system elements with emphasis on control of the power conversion assembly, to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the components, and to validate operating procedures. After 34 hours of power generation under a wide range of conditions, the net module efficiency exceeded 18% after accounting for all parasitic losses.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement. MX Deployment Area Selection and Land Withdrawal/Acquisition DEIS. Volume IV. Part I. Environmental Consequences to the Study Regions and Operating Base Vicinities.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

consequences such that the ecosystem will not recover at all, (7) are the consequences such that the impact may be large but the recovery process...Bswe $Vicinitoe MLWI Impact Analysis Process DEPLOYMENT AREA SELECTION AND LAND WITHDRAWAL/ ACQUISITION DISI, DEPARTMENT OF THE AmR F1ORC ’oritinax...Subtitle) S. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVEREDDraft Environmental Impact Statement-MX Deployment Area Selection-Environmental Draft-December 80 Consequences

A Survey of Network Reliability.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-07-01

STATEMENT A. Atoyed for public releosel Oo . Distibution Unlimited JULY 1983 ORC 83-5 This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific ...cONTso.oSoo oaoCC NaME ara AOoM It. REPORT DATE United States Air Force July 1983 Air Force Office of Scientific Research IL NUNeen or s Boiling Air Force Base...One node in K is designated the root and the reliability problem is to calculate the probability that the root can comunicate with the remaining K C V

Military Review, v71 n3

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

BOOK REVIEWS points out that all soldiers look for inspiration. acters; the French and Austrian orders of battle; Good leaders provide it by personal...families. Great Before I read this book , I was largely unaware credit is rightfully given to the National Military that a clandestine organization such as...best from other tournals stem a aM ep 64 Letters Roef 0111 104M fW EV1EW. 67 Book Reviews contemporary reading for the orc’ressiora wm those of M ature

Origins of DNA Replication and Amplification in the Breast Cancer Genome

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

three peaks from the uncorrected data set remain in the corrected set. As shown in Figure 6, the peak on the left disappears as it was caused by Lexo...distribution (p. 14) Shuffled Inter‐peak distance distribution (p. 15) Peak length distribution (p. 16) Number of features per chromosome (p. 17) Correlation...with G4 ( Chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 19 and genome‐wide)(pp. 18-24 Proximity distribution of peaks near Delino ORC sites (p. 25) GC content of

A General Explanation-Based Learning Mechanism and Its Application to Narrative Understanding.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-12-01

sitive emotional relationship with the victim and conse- cquentlv valued her freedom more than personal possessions. This generalization is important...Generalizing Algorithin 2tc.as - men r.red rh rev;ous foo-.r.ote. *.he Bac&?-,-a~a,.e ucjr.presented i.:ony b dCei rol prCp 711 pro-agatc C r~~sac-oss orcs the...explanation. As men - tioned earlier. PROLOC-EBG elegantly integrates generalization with the theorem proving process. and MRS-EBG elegan ti

Eisenhower Report on Torch

DTIC Science & Technology

1944-01-01

Frcnchmcn from their apathy; if loyalties and emotions wcrc still confused, there was ronson to hope that rosistanco to us would bs no i:?orc than a...60,000 men ta keep the tribes quiet, and the danger that any tribal disturbance mi vent against our very insecure lines of communication. Noreovcr...weps,. clouds. Two thirds of the circre&t; t7.t SOUK YiL @? becuase of the mud. Conse~~.ue6tly, we were u+C$~+, infl.oi;r of’ men and of supnlies

Design Study-Thermoprocessed Food Containers Injection Molded Half-Size Steam Tray for Storage and Serving of Processed Foods

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-10-01

Miler for polypropylene. Glass Fiber Reinforced Resin: As a result of discussions with LNP Corp. and Owens - Corning Fiberglas, it was learned that... Owens - Corning had available what they believed to be an FDA approvable, glass fiber/sizing system. Data from Owens - Corning appear in Table 4. These data...increase from the 130*-1400 F values normal for unrein*orced PBT. Neither LNP Corp. nor Owens - Corning had any information on results to be obtained by

Heavy Duty Roots Expander Heat Energy Recovery (HD-REHER)

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

Subramanian, Swami

2015-10-01

Eaton Corporation proposed a comprehensive project to develop and demonstrate advanced component technology that will reduce the cost of implementing Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) systems to Heavy-Duty Diesel engines, making adaptation of this fuel efficiency improving technology more commercially attractive to end-users in the next 5 to 10 year time period. Accelerated adaptation and implementation of new fuel efficiency technology into service is critical for reduction of fuel used in the commercial vehicle segment.

Indigenous Police Forces in Counterinsurgency

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-27

A ppr oved for Public R elease; Distr ibution is Unlimited Indigenous P olice F orces in C ounterins urgenc y A Monograph by Major Timothy...Std. Z39.18 iv S C HOOL OF ADV ANC E D MIL IT AR Y S T UDIE S MONOG R AP H AP P R OV AL Major Timothy R. Mungie Title of Monograph...research. T he Organization of Indigenous P olic e in C ounterins urgenc y Operations To explore what makes for indigenous police

Enemy at the gates: traffic at the plant cell pathogen interface.

PubMed

Hoefle, Caroline; Hückelhoven, Ralph

2008-12-01

The plant apoplast constitutes a space for early recognition of potentially harmful non-self. Basal pathogen recognition operates via dynamic sensing of conserved microbial patterns by pattern recognition receptors or of elicitor-active molecules released from plant cell walls during infection. Recognition elicits defence reactions depending on cellular export via SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complex-mediated vesicle fusion or plasma membrane transporter activity. Lipid rafts appear also involved in focusing immunity-associated proteins to the site of pathogen contact. Simultaneously, pathogen effectors target recognition, apoplastic host proteins and transport for cell wall-associated defence. This microreview highlights most recent reports on the arms race for plant disease and immunity at the cell surface.

The program complex for vocal recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konev, Anton; Kostyuchenko, Evgeny; Yakimuk, Alexey

2017-01-01

This article discusses the possibility of applying the algorithm of determining the pitch frequency for the note recognition problems. Preliminary study of programs-analogues were carried out for programs with function “recognition of the music”. The software package based on the algorithm for pitch frequency calculation was implemented and tested. It was shown that the algorithm allows recognizing the notes in the vocal performance of the user. A single musical instrument, a set of musical instruments, and a human voice humming a tune can be the sound source. The input file is initially presented in the .wav format or is recorded in this format from a microphone. Processing is performed by sequentially determining the pitch frequency and conversion of its values to the note. According to test results, modification of algorithms used in the complex was planned.

The Design of Molecular Hosts, Guests, and Their Complexes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cram, Donald J.

1988-01-01

Describes the origins, definitions, tools, and principles of host-guest chemistry. Gives examples of chiral recognition in complexation, of partial transacylase mimics, of caviplexes, and of a synthetic molecular cell. (Author/RT)

Molecular recognition of curcumin (Indian Ayurvedic medicine) by the supramolecular probe, p-t-butyl calix(8)arene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meenakshi, C.; Jayabal, P.; Ramakrishnan, V.

2014-06-01

The thermodynamic property of the host-guest complexes formed between the curcumin, component of Indian Ayurvedic medicine turmeric, a drug molecule, with the supra molecule, p-t-butyl calix(8)arene was studied. p-t-Butyl calix(8)arene has been used as a host molecule and curcumin as a guest molecule. Optical absorption spectral studies were carried out to investigate the molecular recognition properties of p-t-butyl calix(8)arene with curcumin. The stochiometry of the host-guest complexes formed and the binding constant were determined. An interesting 1:1 and 4:1 stochiometric host-guest complexes were formed. Job's continuous method of variation and Benesi-Hildebrand expression were used for the determination of binding constant and the stochiometry of the host-guest complex formed.

Exploring Biomolecular Recognition by Modeling and Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wade, Rebecca

2007-12-01

Biomolecular recognition is complex. The balance between the different molecular properties that contribute to molecular recognition, such as shape, electrostatics, dynamics and entropy, varies from case to case. This, along with the extent of experimental characterization, influences the choice of appropriate computational approaches to study biomolecular interactions. I will present computational studies in which we aim to make concerted use of bioinformatics, biochemical network modeling and molecular simulation techniques to study protein-protein and protein-small molecule interactions and to facilitate computer-aided drug design.

Recognition mechanism of p63 by the E3 ligase Itch: novel strategy in the study and inhibition of this interaction.

PubMed

Bellomaria, Alessia; Barbato, Gaetano; Melino, Gerry; Paci, Maurizio; Melino, Sonia

2012-10-01

The HECT-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch mediates the degradation of several proteins, including p63 and p73, involved in cell specification and fate. Itch contains four WW domains, which are essential for recognition on the target substrate, which contains a short proline-rich sequence. Several signaling complexes containing these domains have been associated with human diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer's or Huntington's diseases. To gain further insight into the structural determinants of the Itch-WW2 domain, we investigated its interaction with p63. We assigned, by 3D heteronuclear NMR experiments, the backbone and side chains of the uniformly (13)C-(15)N-labeled Itch-WW2. In vitro interaction of Itch-WW2 domain with p63 was studied using its interactive p63 peptide, pep63. Pep63 is an 18-mer peptide corresponding to the region from 534-551 residue of p63, encompassing the PPxY motif that interacts with the Itch-WW domains, and we identified the residues involved in this molecular recognition. Moreover, here, a strategy of stabilization of the conformation of the PPxY peptide has been adopted, increasing the WW-ligand binding. We demonstrated that cyclization of pep63 leads to an increase of both the biological stability of the peptide and of the WW-ligand complex. Stable metal-binding complexes of the pep63 have been also obtained, and localized oxidative damage on Itch-WW2 domain has been induced, demonstrating the possibility of use of metal-pep63 complexes as models for the design of metal drugs to inhibit the Itch-WW-p63 recognition in vivo. Thus, our data suggest a novel strategy to study and inhibit the recognition mechanism of Itch E3-ligase.

Structural characterization of human galectin-4 C-terminal domain: elucidating the molecular basis for recognition of glycosphingolipids, sulfated saccharides and blood group antigens.

PubMed

Bum-Erdene, Khuchtumur; Leffler, Hakon; Nilsson, Ulf J; Blanchard, Helen

2015-09-01

Human galectin-4 is a lectin that is expressed mainly in the gastrointestinal tract and exhibits metastasis-promoting roles in some cancers. Its tandem-repeat nature exhibits two distinct carbohydrate recognition domains allowing crosslinking by simultaneous binding to sulfated and non-sulfated (but not sialylated) glycosphingolipids and glycoproteins, facilitating stabilization of lipid rafts. Critically, galectin-4 exerts favourable or unfavourable effects depending upon the cancer. Here we report the first X-ray crystallographic structural information on human galectin-4, specifically the C-terminal carbohydrate recognition domain of human (galectin-4C) in complex with lactose, lactose-3'-sulfate, 2'-fucosyllactose, lacto-N-tetraose and lacto-N-neotetraose. These structures enable elucidation of galectin-4C binding fine-specificity towards sulfated and non-sulfated lacto- and neolacto-series sphingolipids as well as to human blood group antigens. Analysis of the lactose-3'-sulfate complex structure shows that galectin-4C does not recognize the sulfate group using any specific amino acid, but binds the ligand nonetheless. Complex structures with lacto-N-tetraose and lacto-N-neotetraose displayed differences in binding interactions exhibited by the non-reducing-end galactose. That of lacto-N-tetraose points outward from the protein surface whereas that of lacto-N-neotetraose interacts directly with the protein. Recognition patterns of human galectin-4C towards lacto- and neolacto-series glycosphingolipids are similar to those of human galectin-3; however, detailed scrutiny revealed differences stemming from the extended binding site that offer distinction in ligand profiles of these two galectins. Structural characterization of the complex with 2'-fucosyllactose, a carbohydrate with similarity to the H antigen, and molecular dynamics studies highlight structural features that allow specific recognition of A and B antigens, whilst a lack of interaction with the 2'-fucose of blood group antigens was revealed. 4YLZ, 4YM0, 4YM1, 4YM2, 4YM3. © 2015 FEBS.

Mechanism Underlying IκB Kinase Activation Mediated by the Linear Ubiquitin Chain Assembly Complex

PubMed Central

Fujita, Hiroaki; Akita, Mariko; Kato, Ryuichi; Sasaki, Yoshiteru; Wakatsuki, Soichi

2014-01-01

The linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex (LUBAC) ligase, consisting of HOIL-1L, HOIP, and SHARPIN, specifically generates linear polyubiquitin chains. LUBAC-mediated linear polyubiquitination has been implicated in NF-κB activation. NEMO, a component of the IκB kinase (IKK) complex, is a substrate of LUBAC, but the precise molecular mechanism underlying linear chain-mediated NF-κB activation has not been fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that linearly polyubiquitinated NEMO activates IKK more potently than unanchored linear chains. In mutational analyses based on the crystal structure of the complex between the HOIP NZF1 and NEMO CC2-LZ domains, which are involved in the HOIP-NEMO interaction, NEMO mutations that impaired linear ubiquitin recognition activity and prevented recognition by LUBAC synergistically suppressed signal-induced NF-κB activation. HOIP NZF1 bound to NEMO and ubiquitin simultaneously, and HOIP NZF1 mutants defective in interaction with either NEMO or ubiquitin could not restore signal-induced NF-κB activation. Furthermore, linear chain-mediated activation of IKK2 involved homotypic interaction of the IKK2 kinase domain. Collectively, these results demonstrate that linear polyubiquitination of NEMO plays crucial roles in IKK activation and that this modification involves the HOIP NZF1 domain and recognition of NEMO-conjugated linear ubiquitin chains by NEMO on another IKK complex. PMID:24469399

OPTICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING: Synthesis of an object recognition system based on the profile of the envelope of a laser pulse in pulsed lidars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buryi, E. V.

1998-05-01

The main problems in the synthesis of an object recognition system, based on the principles of operation of neuron networks, are considered. Advantages are demonstrated of a hierarchical structure of the recognition algorithm. The use of reading of the amplitude spectrum of signals as information tags is justified and a method is developed for determination of the dimensionality of the tag space. Methods are suggested for ensuring the stability of object recognition in the optical range. It is concluded that it should be possible to recognise perspectives of complex objects.

Research on Attribute Reduction in Hoisting Motor State Recognition of Quayside Container Crane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, F.; Tang, G.; Hu, X.

2017-07-01

In view of too many attributes in hoisting motor state recognition of quayside container crane. Attribute reduction method based on discernibility matrix is introduced to attribute reduction of lifting motor state information table. A method of attribute reduction based on the combination of rough set and genetic algorithm is proposed to deal with the hoisting motor state decision table. Under the condition that the information system's decision-making ability is unchanged, the redundant attribute is deleted. Which reduces the complexity and computation of the recognition process of the hoisting motor. It is possible to realize the fast state recognition.

A complex solution to a sexual dilemma.

PubMed

Kuwabara, Patricia E

2007-07-01

The C. elegans male sex-determining protein, FEM-1, has been identified as a substrate recognition subunit of a Cullin-2 ubiquitin ligase complex. This complex controls the level of TRA-1A, a Ci/Gli homolog and master regulator of sex determination, by ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis.

Tailoring the Variational Implicit Solvent Method for New Challenges: Biomolecular Recognition and Assembly

PubMed Central

Ricci, Clarisse Gravina; Li, Bo; Cheng, Li-Tien; Dzubiella, Joachim; McCammon, J. Andrew

2018-01-01

Predicting solvation free energies and describing the complex water behavior that plays an important role in essentially all biological processes is a major challenge from the computational standpoint. While an atomistic, explicit description of the solvent can turn out to be too expensive in large biomolecular systems, most implicit solvent methods fail to capture “dewetting” effects and heterogeneous hydration by relying on a pre-established (i.e., guessed) solvation interface. Here we focus on the Variational Implicit Solvent Method, an implicit solvent method that adds water “plasticity” back to the picture by formulating the solvation free energy as a functional of all possible solvation interfaces. We survey VISM's applications to the problem of molecular recognition and report some of the most recent efforts to tailor VISM for more challenging scenarios, with the ultimate goal of including thermal fluctuations into the framework. The advances reported herein pave the way to make VISM a uniquely successful approach to characterize complex solvation properties in the recognition and binding of large-scale biomolecular complexes. PMID:29484300

Multipoint molecular recognition within a calix[6]arene funnel complex

PubMed Central

Coquière, David; de la Lande, Aurélien; Martí, Sergio; Parisel, Olivier; Prangé, Thierry; Reinaud, Olivia

2009-01-01

A multipoint recognition system based on a calix[6]arene is described. The calixarene core is decorated on alternating aromatic subunits by 3 imidazole arms at the small rim and 3 aniline groups at the large rim. This substitution pattern projects the aniline nitrogens toward each other when Zn(II) binds at the Tris-imidazole site or when a proton binds at an aniline. The XRD structure of the monoprotonated complex having an acetonitrile molecule bound to Zn(II) in the cavity revealed a constrained geometry at the metal center reminiscent of an entatic state. Computer modeling suggests that the aniline groups behave as a tritopic monobasic site in which only 1 aniline unit is protonated and interacts with the other 2 through strong hydrogen bonding. The metal complex selectively binds a monoprotonated diamine vs. a monoamine through multipoint recognition: coordination to the metal ion at the small rim, hydrogen bonding to the calix-oxygen core, CH/π interaction within the cavity's aromatic walls, and H-bonding to the anilines at the large rim. PMID:19237564

Defense Against Pathogens: Structural Insights into the Mechanism of Chitin Induced Activation of Innate Immunity.

PubMed

Squeglia, Flavia; Berisio, Rita; Shibuya, Naoto; Kaku, Hanae

2017-11-24

Pattern recognition receptors on the plant cell surface mediate the recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns, in a process which activates downstream immune signaling. These receptors are plasma membrane-localized kinases which need to be autophosphorylated to activate downstream responses. Perception of attacks from fungi occurs through recognition of chitin, a polymer of an N-acetylglucosamine which is a characteristic component of the cell walls of fungi. This process is regulated in Arabidopsis by chitin elicitor receptor kinase CERK1. A more complex process characterizes rice, in which regulation of chitin perception is operated by a complex composed of OsCERK1, a homolog of CERK1, and the chitin elicitor binding protein OsCEBiP. Recent literature has provided a mechanistic description of the complex regulation of activation of innate immunity in rice and an advance in the structural description of molecular players involved in this process. This review describes the current status of the understanding of molecular events involved in innate immunity activation in rice. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Molecular recognition of halogen-tagged aromatic VOCs at the air-silicon interface.

PubMed

Condorelli, Guglielmo G; Motta, Alessandro; Favazza, Maria; Gurrieri, Ettore; Betti, Paolo; Dalcanale, Enrico

2010-01-14

Selective and reversible complexation of halogen-tagged aromatic VOCs by a quinoxaline cavitand-decorated Si surface is demonstrated. The specific host-guest interactions of the Si-bonded receptors are proved to be responsible of the surface recognition properties, while extracavity non specific adsorptions are totally suppressed compared to the bulk material.

Brief Report: Face-Specific Recognition Deficits in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradshaw, Jessica; Shic, Frederick; Chawarska, Katarzyna

2011-01-01

This study used eyetracking to investigate the ability of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to recognize social (faces) and nonsocial (simple objects and complex block patterns) stimuli using the visual paired comparison (VPC) paradigm. Typically developing (TD) children showed evidence for recognition of faces and simple…

Evidence for Early Morphological Decomposition in Visual Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solomyak, Olla; Marantz, Alec

2010-01-01

We employ a single-trial correlational MEG analysis technique to investigate early processing in the visual recognition of morphologically complex words. Three classes of affixed words were presented in a lexical decision task: free stems (e.g., taxable), bound roots (e.g., tolerable), and unique root words (e.g., vulnerable, the root of which…

Dance recognition system using lower body movement.

PubMed

Simpson, Travis T; Wiesner, Susan L; Bennett, Bradford C

2014-02-01

The current means of locating specific movements in film necessitate hours of viewing, making the task of conducting research into movement characteristics and patterns tedious and difficult. This is particularly problematic for the research and analysis of complex movement systems such as sports and dance. While some systems have been developed to manually annotate film, to date no automated way of identifying complex, full body movement exists. With pattern recognition technology and knowledge of joint locations, automatically describing filmed movement using computer software is possible. This study used various forms of lower body kinematic analysis to identify codified dance movements. We created an algorithm that compares an unknown move with a specified start and stop against known dance moves. Our recognition method consists of classification and template correlation using a database of model moves. This system was optimized to include nearly 90 dance and Tai Chi Chuan movements, producing accurate name identification in over 97% of trials. In addition, the program had the capability to provide a kinematic description of either matched or unmatched moves obtained from classification recognition.

Complex auditory behaviour emerges from simple reactive steering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hedwig, Berthold; Poulet, James F. A.

2004-08-01

The recognition and localization of sound signals is fundamental to acoustic communication. Complex neural mechanisms are thought to underlie the processing of species-specific sound patterns even in animals with simple auditory pathways. In female crickets, which orient towards the male's calling song, current models propose pattern recognition mechanisms based on the temporal structure of the song. Furthermore, it is thought that localization is achieved by comparing the output of the left and right recognition networks, which then directs the female to the pattern that most closely resembles the species-specific song. Here we show, using a highly sensitive method for measuring the movements of female crickets, that when walking and flying each sound pulse of the communication signal releases a rapid steering response. Thus auditory orientation emerges from reactive motor responses to individual sound pulses. Although the reactive motor responses are not based on the song structure, a pattern recognition process may modulate the gain of the responses on a longer timescale. These findings are relevant to concepts of insect auditory behaviour and to the development of biologically inspired robots performing cricket-like auditory orientation.

Decoding the time-course of object recognition in the human brain: From visual features to categorical decisions.

PubMed

Contini, Erika W; Wardle, Susan G; Carlson, Thomas A

2017-10-01

Visual object recognition is a complex, dynamic process. Multivariate pattern analysis methods, such as decoding, have begun to reveal how the brain processes complex visual information. Recently, temporal decoding methods for EEG and MEG have offered the potential to evaluate the temporal dynamics of object recognition. Here we review the contribution of M/EEG time-series decoding methods to understanding visual object recognition in the human brain. Consistent with the current understanding of the visual processing hierarchy, low-level visual features dominate decodable object representations early in the time-course, with more abstract representations related to object category emerging later. A key finding is that the time-course of object processing is highly dynamic and rapidly evolving, with limited temporal generalisation of decodable information. Several studies have examined the emergence of object category structure, and we consider to what degree category decoding can be explained by sensitivity to low-level visual features. Finally, we evaluate recent work attempting to link human behaviour to the neural time-course of object processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purified monomeric ligand.MD-2 complexes reveal molecular and structural requirements for activation and antagonism of TLR4 by Gram-negative bacterial endotoxins.

PubMed

Gioannini, Theresa L; Teghanemt, Athmane; Zhang, DeSheng; Esparza, Gregory; Yu, Liping; Weiss, Jerrold

2014-08-01

A major focus of work in our laboratory concerns the molecular mechanisms and structural bases of Gram-negative bacterial endotoxin recognition by host (e.g., human) endotoxin-recognition proteins that mediate and/or regulate activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. Here, we review studies of wild-type and variant monomeric endotoxin.MD-2 complexes first produced and characterized in our laboratories. These purified complexes have provided unique experimental reagents, revealing both quantitative and qualitative determinants of TLR4 activation and antagonism. This review is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Theresa L. Gioannini (1949-2014) who played a central role in many of the studies and discoveries that are reviewed.

Electrochemiluminescence aptasensor for adenosine triphosphate detection using host-guest recognition between metallocyclodextrin complex and aptamer.

PubMed

Chen, Hong; Chen, Qiong; Zhao, Yingying; Zhang, Fan; Yang, Fan; Tang, Jie; He, Pingang

2014-04-01

A sensitive and label-free electrochemiluminescence (ECL) aptasensor for the detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was successfully designed using host-guest recognition between a metallocyclodextrin complex, i.e., tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II)-β-cyclodextrin [tris(bpyRu)-β-CD], and an ATP-binding aptamer. In the protocol, the NH2-terminated aptamer was immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by a coupling interaction. After host-guest recognition between tris(bpyRu)-β-CD and aptamer, the tris(bpyRu)-β-CD/aptamer/GCE produced a strong ECL signal as a result of the photoactive properties of tris(bpyRu)-β-CD. However, in the presence of ATP, the ATP/aptamer complex was formed preferentially, which restricted host-guest recognition, and therefore less tris(bpyRu)-β-CD was attached to the GCE surface, resulting in an obvious decrease in the ECL intensity. Under optimal determination conditions, an excellent logarithmic linear relationship between the ECL decrease and ATP concentration was obtained in the range 10.0-0.05 nM, with a detection limit of 0.01 nM at the S/N ratio of 3. The proposed ECL-based ATP aptasensor exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity, without time-consuming signal-labeling procedures, and is considered to be a promising model for detection of aptamer-specific targets. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Chirality as a tool in nucleic acid recognition: principles and relevance in biotechnology and in medicinal chemistry.

PubMed

Corradini, Roberto; Sforza, Stefano; Tedeschi, Tullia; Marchelli, Rosangela

2007-05-05

The understanding of the interaction of chiral species with DNA or RNA is very important for the development of new tools in biology and of new drugs. Several cases in which chirality is a crucial point in determining the DNA binding mode are reviewed and discussed, with the aim of illustrating how chirality can be considered as a tool for improving the understanding of mechanisms and the effectiveness of nucleic acid recognition. The review is divided into two parts: the former describes examples of chiral species interacting with DNA: intercalators, metal complexes, and groove binders; the latter part is dedicated to chirality in DNA analogs, with discussion of phosphate stereochemistry and chirality of ribose substitutes, in particular of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) for which a number of works have been published recently dealing with the effect of chirality in DNA recognition. The discussion is intended to show how enantiomeric recognition originates at the molecular level, by exploiting the enormous progresses recently achieved in the field of structural characterization of complexes formed by nucleic acid with their ligands by crystallographic and spectroscopic methods. Examples of application of the DNA binding molecules described and the role of chirality in DNA recognition relevant for biotechnology or medicinal chemistry are reported. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Common constraints limit Korean and English character recognition in peripheral vision.

PubMed

He, Yingchen; Kwon, MiYoung; Legge, Gordon E

2018-01-01

The visual span refers to the number of adjacent characters that can be recognized in a single glance. It is viewed as a sensory bottleneck in reading for both normal and clinical populations. In peripheral vision, the visual span for English characters can be enlarged after training with a letter-recognition task. Here, we examined the transfer of training from Korean to English characters for a group of bilingual Korean native speakers. In the pre- and posttests, we measured visual spans for Korean characters and English letters. Training (1.5 hours × 4 days) consisted of repetitive visual-span measurements for Korean trigrams (strings of three characters). Our training enlarged the visual spans for Korean single characters and trigrams, and the benefit transferred to untrained English symbols. The improvement was largely due to a reduction of within-character and between-character crowding in Korean recognition, as well as between-letter crowding in English recognition. We also found a negative correlation between the size of the visual span and the average pattern complexity of the symbol set. Together, our results showed that the visual span is limited by common sensory (crowding) and physical (pattern complexity) factors regardless of the language script, providing evidence that the visual span reflects a universal bottleneck for text recognition.

Common constraints limit Korean and English character recognition in peripheral vision

PubMed Central

He, Yingchen; Kwon, MiYoung; Legge, Gordon E.

2018-01-01

The visual span refers to the number of adjacent characters that can be recognized in a single glance. It is viewed as a sensory bottleneck in reading for both normal and clinical populations. In peripheral vision, the visual span for English characters can be enlarged after training with a letter-recognition task. Here, we examined the transfer of training from Korean to English characters for a group of bilingual Korean native speakers. In the pre- and posttests, we measured visual spans for Korean characters and English letters. Training (1.5 hours × 4 days) consisted of repetitive visual-span measurements for Korean trigrams (strings of three characters). Our training enlarged the visual spans for Korean single characters and trigrams, and the benefit transferred to untrained English symbols. The improvement was largely due to a reduction of within-character and between-character crowding in Korean recognition, as well as between-letter crowding in English recognition. We also found a negative correlation between the size of the visual span and the average pattern complexity of the symbol set. Together, our results showed that the visual span is limited by common sensory (crowding) and physical (pattern complexity) factors regardless of the language script, providing evidence that the visual span reflects a universal bottleneck for text recognition. PMID:29327041

Design and Test of a Hybrid Foot Force Sensing and GPS System for Richer User Mobility Activity Recognition

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zelun; Poslad, Stefan

2013-01-01

Wearable and accompanied sensors and devices are increasingly being used for user activity recognition. However, typical GPS-based and accelerometer-based (ACC) methods face three main challenges: a low recognition accuracy; a coarse recognition capability, i.e., they cannot recognise both human posture (during travelling) and transportation mode simultaneously, and a relatively high computational complexity. Here, a new GPS and Foot-Force (GPS + FF) sensor method is proposed to overcome these challenges that leverages a set of wearable FF sensors in combination with GPS, e.g., in a mobile phone. User mobility activities that can be recognised include both daily user postures and common transportation modes: sitting, standing, walking, cycling, bus passenger, car passenger (including private cars and taxis) and car driver. The novelty of this work is that our approach provides a more comprehensive recognition capability in terms of reliably recognising both human posture and transportation mode simultaneously during travel. In addition, by comparing the new GPS + FF method with both an ACC method (62% accuracy) and a GPS + ACC based method (70% accuracy) as baseline methods, it obtains a higher accuracy (95%) with less computational complexity, when tested on a dataset obtained from ten individuals. PMID:24189333

Traffic Signs in Complex Visual Environments

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-11-01

The effects of sign luminance on detection and recognition of traffic control devices is mediated through contrast with the immediate surround. Additionally, complex visual scenes are known to degrade visual performance with targets well above visual...

Cryo-EM Structures Reveal Mechanism and Inhibition of DNA Targeting by a CRISPR-Cas Surveillance Complex.

PubMed

Guo, Tai Wei; Bartesaghi, Alberto; Yang, Hui; Falconieri, Veronica; Rao, Prashant; Merk, Alan; Eng, Edward T; Raczkowski, Ashleigh M; Fox, Tara; Earl, Lesley A; Patel, Dinshaw J; Subramaniam, Sriram

2017-10-05

Prokaryotic cells possess CRISPR-mediated adaptive immune systems that protect them from foreign genetic elements, such as invading viruses. A central element of this immune system is an RNA-guided surveillance complex capable of targeting non-self DNA or RNA for degradation in a sequence- and site-specific manner analogous to RNA interference. Although the complexes display considerable diversity in their composition and architecture, many basic mechanisms underlying target recognition and cleavage are highly conserved. Using cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), we show that the binding of target double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) to a type I-F CRISPR system yersinia (Csy) surveillance complex leads to large quaternary and tertiary structural changes in the complex that are likely necessary in the pathway leading to target dsDNA degradation by a trans-acting helicase-nuclease. Comparison of the structure of the surveillance complex before and after dsDNA binding, or in complex with three virally encoded anti-CRISPR suppressors that inhibit dsDNA binding, reveals mechanistic details underlying target recognition and inhibition. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Antigenic peptides containing large PEG loops designed to extend out of the HLA-A2 binding site form stable complexes with class I major histocompatibility complex molecules.

PubMed Central

Bouvier, M; Wiley, D C

1996-01-01

Recognition of peptides bound to class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules by specific receptors on T cells regulates the development and activity of the cellular immune system. We have designed and synthesized de novo cyclic peptides that incorporate PEG in the ring structure for binding to class I MHC molecules. The large PEG loops are positioned to extend out of the peptide binding site, thus creating steric effects aimed at preventing the recognition of class I MHC complexes by T-cell receptors. Peptides were synthesized and cyclized on polymer support using high molecular weight symmetrical PEG dicarboxylic acids to link the side chains of lysine residues substituted at positions 4 and 8 in the sequence of the HLA-A2-restricted human T-lymphotrophic virus type I Tax peptide. Cyclic peptides promoted the in vitro folding and assembly of HLA-A2 complexes. Thermal denaturation studies using circular dichroism spectroscopy showed that these complexes are as stable as complexes formed with antigenic peptides. Images Fig. 2 Fig. 4 PMID:8643447

First instalment in resolution of the Banksia spinulosa complex (Proteaceae): B. neoanglica, a new species supported by phenetic analysis, ecology and geography

PubMed Central

Stimpson, Margaret L.; Weston, Peter H.; Telford, Ian R.H.; Bruhl, Jeremy J.

2012-01-01

Abstract Taxa in the Banksia spinulosa Sm. complex (Proteaceae) have populations with sympatric, parapatric and allopatric distributions and unclear or disputed boundaries. Our hypothesis is that under biological, phenetic and diagnosable species concepts that each of the currently named taxa within the Banksia spinulosa complex is a separate species. Based on specimens collected as part of this study, and data recorded from specimens in six Australian herbaria, complemented by phenetic analysis (semi–strong multidimensional scaling and UPGMA clustering) and a detailed morphological study, we investigated both morphological variation and geographic distribution in the Banksia spinulosa complex. All specimens used for this study are held at the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium or the National Herbarium of New South Wales. In total 23 morphological characters (11 quantitative, five binary, and seven multistate characters) were analysed phenetically for 89 specimens. Ordination and cluster analysis resulted in individuals grouping strongly allowing recognition of distinct groups consistent with their recognition as separate species. Additional morphological analysis was completed on all specimens using leaf, floral, fruit and stem morphology, providing clear cut diagnosable groups and strong support for the recognition of Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii and Banksia spinulosa var. neoanglica as species. PMID:23170073

Facial recognition deficits as a potential endophenotype in bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Vierck, Esther; Porter, Richard J; Joyce, Peter R

2015-11-30

Bipolar disorder (BD) is considered a highly heritable and genetically complex disorder. Several cognitive functions, such as executive functions and verbal memory have been suggested as promising candidates for endophenotypes. Although there is evidence for deficits in facial emotion recognition in individuals with BD, studies investigating these functions as endophenotypes are rare. The current study investigates emotion recognition as a potential endophenotype in BD by comparing 36 BD participants, 24 of their 1st degree relatives and 40 healthy control participants in a computerised facial emotion recognition task. Group differences were evaluated using repeated measurement analysis of co-variance with age as a covariate. Results revealed slowed emotion recognition for both BD and their relatives. Furthermore, BD participants were less accurate than healthy controls in their recognition of emotion expressions. We found no evidence of emotion specific differences between groups. Our results provide evidence for facial recognition as a potential endophenotype in BD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Face Recognition in Humans and Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Toole, Alice; Tistarelli, Massimo

The study of human face recognition by psychologists and neuroscientists has run parallel to the development of automatic face recognition technologies by computer scientists and engineers. In both cases, there are analogous steps of data acquisition, image processing, and the formation of representations that can support the complex and diverse tasks we accomplish with faces. These processes can be understood and compared in the context of their neural and computational implementations. In this chapter, we present the essential elements of face recognition by humans and machines, taking a perspective that spans psychological, neural, and computational approaches. From the human side, we overview the methods and techniques used in the neurobiology of face recognition, the underlying neural architecture of the system, the role of visual attention, and the nature of the representations that emerges. From the computational side, we discuss face recognition technologies and the strategies they use to overcome challenges to robust operation over viewing parameters. Finally, we conclude the chapter with a look at some recent studies that compare human and machine performances at face recognition.

Mobilising Knowledge in Complex Health Systems: A Call to Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Bev J.; Best, Allan; Davies, Huw; Hunter, David; Kelly, Michael P.; Marshall, Martin; Rycroft-Malone, Joanne

2017-01-01

Worldwide, policymakers, health system managers, practitioners and researchers struggle to use evidence to improve policy and practice. There is growing recognition that this challenge relates to the complex systems in which we work. The corresponding increase in complexity-related discourse remains primarily at a theoretical level. This paper…

The 14 bp Del/Ins HLA-G polymorphism is related with high blood pressure in acute coronary syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PubMed

García-González, Ilian Janet; Valle, Yeminia; Rivas, Fernando; Figuera-Villanueva, Luis Eduardo; Muñoz-Valle, José Francisco; Flores-Salinas, Hector Enrique; Gutiérrez-Amavizca, Bianca Ethel; Dávalos-Rodríguez, Nory Omayra; Padilla-Gutiérrez, Jorge Ramón

2014-01-01

Immunologic and inflammatory processes are involved in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is a negative regulator of the immune response. This study evaluates the 14 bp Del/Ins HLA-G polymorphism in ACS and DM2. Three hundred and seventy individuals from Western Mexico were recruited and categorized into three groups: ACS (86), DM2 without coronary complications (70), and healthy subjects (214). Genotyping of the 14 bp Del/Ins HLA-G polymorphism was performed by PCR and Native-PAGE. The most common risk factors were hypertension and overweight in ACS and DM2, respectively. The genetic distribution of the 14 bp Del/Ins HLA-G polymorphism showed no significant differences between groups (P ≥ 0.23). Nonetheless, the Ins/Ins genotype was associated with high blood pressure (HBP) in the DM2 group (OR(c) = 1.65, P = 0.02). The genetic recessive model showed similar findings (OR(c) = 3.03, P = 0.04). No association was found in ACS, with a P of 0.05; nevertheless, the prevalence of Ins/Ins carriers was quite similar to that found in the DM2-HBP group. The 14 bp Del/Ins HLA-G polymorphism was not a susceptibility factor for ACS or DM2; however, the Ins/Ins genotype might have contributed to the development of HBP in the studied groups.

Hemostatic efficacy of EVARREST™, Fibrin Sealant Patch vs. TachoSil® in a heparinized swine spleen incision model.

PubMed

Matonick, John P; Hammond, Jeffrey

2014-12-01

First-generation single-component hemostats such as oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC), fibrin, collagen, and gelatin have evolved into second and third generations of combination hemostats. This study compares two FDA approved products, EVARREST™, Fibrin Sealant Patch, a hemostat comprised of a matrix of nonwoven polyglactin 910 embedded in ORC coated with human fibrinogen and thrombin to TachoSil® medicated sponge, an equine collagen pad coated with human fibrinogen and thrombin. Swine were anticoagulated with heparin to 3X their baseline activated clotting time and a 15 mm long × 3 mm deep incision was made to create a consistent moderate bleeding pattern. Test material was then applied to the wound site and compressed manually for 3 min with just enough pressure to prevent continued bleeding. Hemostatic effectiveness was evaluated at 3 min and 10 min. At 3 min, the hemostasis success rate was 86% in the EVARREST™ group and 0% in the TachoSil® group, p < .0001. The overall success rate at 10 min was 100% with EVARREST™ and 4% with TachoSil®, p < .0001. Adhesive failure, in which the test material did not stick to the tissue, occurred in 96% of TachoSil® sites. In contrast, 100% of the EVARREST™ applications adhered to the test site. EVARREST™, Fibrin Sealant Patch demonstrated greater wound adhesion and more effective hemostasis than TachoSil®. Adhesive failure was the primary failure mode for TachoSil® in this model.

An Effective 3D Shape Descriptor for Object Recognition with RGB-D Sensors

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhong; Zhao, Changchen; Wu, Xingming; Chen, Weihai

2017-01-01

RGB-D sensors have been widely used in various areas of computer vision and graphics. A good descriptor will effectively improve the performance of operation. This article further analyzes the recognition performance of shape features extracted from multi-modality source data using RGB-D sensors. A hybrid shape descriptor is proposed as a representation of objects for recognition. We first extracted five 2D shape features from contour-based images and five 3D shape features over point cloud data to capture the global and local shape characteristics of an object. The recognition performance was tested for category recognition and instance recognition. Experimental results show that the proposed shape descriptor outperforms several common global-to-global shape descriptors and is comparable to some partial-to-global shape descriptors that achieved the best accuracies in category and instance recognition. Contribution of partial features and computational complexity were also analyzed. The results indicate that the proposed shape features are strong cues for object recognition and can be combined with other features to boost accuracy. PMID:28245553

Recognition deficits in mice carrying mutations of genes encoding BLOC-1 subunits pallidin or dysbindin.

PubMed

Spiegel, S; Chiu, A; James, A S; Jentsch, J D; Karlsgodt, K H

2015-11-01

Numerous studies have implicated DTNBP1, the gene encoding dystrobrevin-binding protein or dysbindin, as a candidate risk gene for schizophrenia, though this relationship remains somewhat controversial. Variation in dysbindin, and its location on chromosome 6p, has been associated with cognitive processes, including those relying on a complex system of glutamatergic and dopaminergic interactions. Dysbindin is one of the seven protein subunits that comprise the biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles complex 1 (BLOC-1). Dysbindin protein levels are lower in mice with null mutations in pallidin, another gene in the BLOC-1, and pallidin levels are lower in mice with null mutations in the dysbindin gene, suggesting that multiple subunit proteins must be present to form a functional oligomeric complex. Furthermore, pallidin and dysbindin have similar distribution patterns in a mouse and human brain. Here, we investigated whether the apparent correspondence of pallid and dysbindin at the level of gene expression is also found at the level of behavior. Hypothesizing a mutation leading to underexpression of either of these proteins should show similar phenotypic effects, we studied recognition memory in both strains using the novel object recognition task (NORT) and social novelty recognition task (SNRT). We found that mice with a null mutation in either gene are impaired on SNRT and NORT when compared with wild-type controls. These results support the conclusion that deficits consistent with recognition memory impairment, a cognitive function that is impaired in schizophrenia, result from either pallidin or dysbindin mutations, possibly through degradation of BLOC-1 expression and/or function. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Presentation of lipid antigens to T cells.

PubMed

Mori, Lucia; De Libero, Gennaro

2008-04-15

T cells specific for lipid antigens participate in regulation of the immune response during infections, tumor immunosurveillance, allergy and autoimmune diseases. T cells recognize lipid antigens as complexes formed with CD1 antigen-presenting molecules, thus resembling recognition of MHC-peptide complexes. The biophysical properties of lipids impose unique mechanisms for their delivery, internalization into antigen-presenting cells, membrane trafficking, processing, and loading of CD1 molecules. Each of these steps is controlled at molecular and celular levels and determines lipid immunogenicity. Lipid antigens may derive from microbes and from the cellular metabolism, thus allowing the immune system to survey a large repertoire of immunogenic molecules. Recognition of lipid antigens facilitates the detection of infectious agents and the initiation of responses involved in immunoregulation and autoimmunity. This review focuses on the presentation mechanisms and specific recognition of self and bacterial lipid antigens and discusses the important open issues.

Complex scenes and situations visualization in hierarchical learning algorithm with dynamic 3D NeoAxis engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, James; Ternovskiy, Igor V.

2013-06-01

We applied a two stage unsupervised hierarchical learning system to model complex dynamic surveillance and cyber space monitoring systems using a non-commercial version of the NeoAxis visualization software. The hierarchical scene learning and recognition approach is based on hierarchical expectation maximization, and was linked to a 3D graphics engine for validation of learning and classification results and understanding the human - autonomous system relationship. Scene recognition is performed by taking synthetically generated data and feeding it to a dynamic logic algorithm. The algorithm performs hierarchical recognition of the scene by first examining the features of the objects to determine which objects are present, and then determines the scene based on the objects present. This paper presents a framework within which low level data linked to higher-level visualization can provide support to a human operator and be evaluated in a detailed and systematic way.

Selective Nitrate Recognition by a Halogen‐Bonding Four‐Station [3]Rotaxane Molecular Shuttle

PubMed Central

Barendt, Timothy A.; Docker, Andrew; Marques, Igor; Félix, Vítor

2016-01-01

Abstract The synthesis of the first halogen bonding [3]rotaxane host system containing a bis‐iodo triazolium‐bis‐naphthalene diimide four station axle component is reported. Proton NMR anion binding titration experiments revealed the halogen bonding rotaxane is selective for nitrate over the more basic acetate, hydrogen carbonate and dihydrogen phosphate oxoanions and chloride, and exhibits enhanced recognition of anions relative to a hydrogen bonding analogue. This elaborate interlocked anion receptor functions via a novel dynamic pincer mechanism where upon nitrate anion binding, both macrocycles shuttle from the naphthalene diimide stations at the periphery of the axle to the central halogen bonding iodo‐triazolium station anion recognition sites to form a unique 1:1 stoichiometric nitrate anion–rotaxane sandwich complex. Molecular dynamics simulations carried out on the nitrate and chloride halogen bonding [3]rotaxane complexes corroborate the 1H NMR anion binding results. PMID:27436297

Callous-unemotional traits are associated with deficits in recognizing complex emotions in preadolescent children.

PubMed

Sharp, Carla; Vanwoerden, Salome; Van Baardewijk, Y; Tackett, J L; Stegge, H

2015-06-01

The aims of the current study were to show that the affective component of psychopathy (callous-unemotional traits) is related to deficits in recognizing emotions over and above other psychopathy dimensions and to show that this relationship is driven by a specific deficit in recognizing complex emotions more so than basic emotions. The authors administered the Child Eyes Test to assess emotion recognition in a community sample of preadolescent children between the ages of 10 and 12 (N = 417; 53.6% boys). The task required children to identify a broad array of emotions from photographic stimuli depicting the eye region of the face. Stimuli were then divided into complex or basic emotions. Results demonstrated a unique association between callous-unemotional traits and complex emotions, with weaker associations with basic emotion recognition, over and above other dimensions of psychopathy.

Ribosome binding induces repositioning of the signal recognition particle receptor on the translocon

PubMed Central

Kuhn, Patrick; Draycheva, Albena; Vogt, Andreas; Petriman, Narcis-Adrian; Sturm, Lukas; Drepper, Friedel; Warscheid, Bettina; Wintermeyer, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Cotranslational protein targeting delivers proteins to the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane or to the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum membrane. The signal recognition particle (SRP) binds to signal sequences emerging from the ribosomal tunnel and targets the ribosome-nascent-chain complex (RNC) to the SRP receptor, termed FtsY in bacteria. FtsY interacts with the fifth cytosolic loop of SecY in the SecYEG translocon, but the functional role of the interaction is unclear. By using photo-cross-linking and fluorescence resonance energy transfer measurements, we show that FtsY–SecY complex formation is guanosine triphosphate independent but requires a phospholipid environment. Binding of an SRP–RNC complex exposing a hydrophobic transmembrane segment induces a rearrangement of the SecY–FtsY complex, which allows the subsequent contact between SecY and ribosomal protein uL23. These results suggest that direct RNC transfer to the translocon is guided by the interaction between SRP and translocon-bound FtsY in a quaternary targeting complex. PMID:26459600

Complement activation by ligand-driven juxtaposition of discrete pattern recognition complexes

PubMed Central

Degn, Søren E.; Kjaer, Troels R.; Kidmose, Rune T.; Jensen, Lisbeth; Hansen, Annette G.; Tekin, Mustafa; Jensenius, Jens C.; Andersen, Gregers R.; Thiel, Steffen

2014-01-01

Defining mechanisms governing translation of molecular binding events into immune activation is central to understanding immune function. In the lectin pathway of complement, the pattern recognition molecules (PRMs) mannan-binding lectin (MBL) and ficolins complexed with the MBL-associated serine proteases (MASP)-1 and MASP-2 cleave C4 and C2 to generate C3 convertase. MASP-1 was recently found to be the exclusive activator of MASP-2 under physiological conditions, yet the predominant oligomeric forms of MBL carry only a single MASP homodimer. This prompted us to investigate whether activation of MASP-2 by MASP-1 occurs through PRM-driven juxtaposition on ligand surfaces. We demonstrate that intercomplex activation occurs between discrete PRM/MASP complexes. PRM ligand binding does not directly escort the transition of MASP from zymogen to active enzyme in the PRM/MASP complex; rather, clustering of PRM/MASP complexes directly causes activation. Our results support a clustering-based mechanism of activation, fundamentally different from the conformational model suggested for the classical pathway of complement. PMID:25197071

Social learning modulates the lateralization of emotional valence.

PubMed

Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G; Lavidor, Michal; Aharon-Peretz, Judith

2008-08-01

Although neuropsychological studies of lateralization of emotion have emphasized valence (positive vs. negative) or type (basic vs. complex) dimensions, the interaction between the two dimensions has yet to be elucidated. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that recognition of basic emotions is processed preferentially by the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas recognition of complex social emotions is processed preferentially by the left PFC. Experiment 1 assessed the ability of healthy controls and patients with right and left PFC lesions to recognize basic and complex emotions. Experiment 2 modeled the patient's data of Experiment 1 on healthy participants under lateralized displays of the emotional stimuli. Both experiments support the Type as well as the Valence Hypotheses. However, our findings indicate that the Valence Hypothesis holds for basic but less so for complex emotions. It is suggested that, since social learning overrules the basic preference of valence in the hemispheres, the processing of complex emotions in the hemispheres is less affected by valence.

Separating Mnemonic Process from Participant and Item Effects in the Assessment of ROC Asymmetries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pratte, Michael S.; Rouder, Jeffrey N.; Morey, Richard D.

2010-01-01

One of the most influential findings in the study of recognition memory is that receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are asymmetric about the negative diagonal. This result has led to the rejection of the equal-variance signal detection model of recognition memory and has provided motivation for more complex models, such as the…

Development of a Curriculum for Long-Term Care Nurses to Improve Recognition of Depression in Dementia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Christine L.; Molinari, Victor; Bond, Jennifer; Smith, Michael; Hyer, Kathryn; Malphurs, Julie

2006-01-01

There is increasing recognition of the severe consequences of depression in long-term care residents with dementia. Most health care providers are unprepared to recognize and to manage the complexity of depression in dementia. Targeted educational initiatives in nursing homes are needed to address this growing problem. This paper describes the…

Pattern Recognition Receptors in Innate Immunity, Host Defense, and Immunopathology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suresh, Rahul; Mosser, David M.

2013-01-01

Infection by pathogenic microbes initiates a set of complex interactions between the pathogen and the host mediated by pattern recognition receptors. Innate immune responses play direct roles in host defense during the early stages of infection, and they also exert a profound influence on the generation of the adaptive immune responses that ensue.…

Structures, Understandings and Discourses: Possibilities for Re-Envisioning the Early Childhood Worker

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, Peter

2006-01-01

As early childhood services move up the policy agenda, so too does the early childhood workforce. Its members are recognised as the main resource for such services, and there is an increasing recognition that the work is complex and requires enhanced education. But despite this recognition, the situation in many countries--where the early…

Neuroethology: self-recognition helps octopuses avoid entanglement.

PubMed

Crook, Robyn J; Walters, Edgar T

2014-06-02

How an octopus performs complex movements of its eight sucker-studded arms without entanglement has been a mystery. A new study has found that self-recognition of the octopus's skin by its suckers inhibits reflexive grasping of its own arms, simplifying the mechanisms needed to generate intricate arm behavior. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning and Recognition of a Non-conscious Sequence of Events in Human Primary Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Clive R; Andrews, Samantha K; Antoniades, Chrystalina A; Kennard, Christopher; Soto, David

2016-03-21

Human primary visual cortex (V1) has long been associated with learning simple low-level visual discriminations [1] and is classically considered outside of neural systems that support high-level cognitive behavior in contexts that differ from the original conditions of learning, such as recognition memory [2, 3]. Here, we used a novel fMRI-based dichoptic masking protocol-designed to induce activity in V1, without modulation from visual awareness-to test whether human V1 is implicated in human observers rapidly learning and then later (15-20 min) recognizing a non-conscious and complex (second-order) visuospatial sequence. Learning was associated with a change in V1 activity, as part of a temporo-occipital and basal ganglia network, which is at variance with the cortico-cerebellar network identified in prior studies of "implicit" sequence learning that involved motor responses and visible stimuli (e.g., [4]). Recognition memory was associated with V1 activity, as part of a temporo-occipital network involving the hippocampus, under conditions that were not imputable to mechanisms associated with conscious retrieval. Notably, the V1 responses during learning and recognition separately predicted non-conscious recognition memory, and functional coupling between V1 and the hippocampus was enhanced for old retrieval cues. The results provide a basis for novel hypotheses about the signals that can drive recognition memory, because these data (1) identify human V1 with a memory network that can code complex associative serial visuospatial information and support later non-conscious recognition memory-guided behavior (cf. [5]) and (2) align with mouse models of experience-dependent V1 plasticity in learning and memory [6]. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structure of Escherichia coli Arginyl-tRNA Synthetase in Complex with tRNAArg: Pivotal Role of the D-loop.

PubMed

Stephen, Preyesh; Ye, Sheng; Zhou, Ming; Song, Jian; Zhang, Rongguang; Wang, En-Duo; Giegé, Richard; Lin, Sheng-Xiang

2018-05-25

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are essential components in protein biosynthesis. Arginyl-tRNA synthetase (ArgRS) belongs to the small group of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases requiring cognate tRNA for amino acid activation. The crystal structure of Escherichia coli (Eco) ArgRS has been solved in complex with tRNA Arg at 3.0-Å resolution. With this first bacterial tRNA complex, we are attempting to bridge the gap existing in structure-function understanding in prokaryotic tRNA Arg recognition. The structure shows a tight binding of tRNA on the synthetase through the identity determinant A20 from the D-loop, a tRNA recognition snapshot never elucidated structurally. This interaction of A20 involves 5 amino acids from the synthetase. Additional contacts via U20a and U16 from the D-loop reinforce the interaction. The importance of D-loop recognition in EcoArgRS functioning is supported by a mutagenesis analysis of critical amino acids that anchor tRNA Arg on the synthetase; in particular, mutations at amino acids interacting with A20 affect binding affinity to the tRNA and specificity of arginylation. Altogether the structural and functional data indicate that the unprecedented ArgRS crystal structure represents a snapshot during functioning and suggest that the recognition of the D-loop by ArgRS is an important trigger that anchors tRNA Arg on the synthetase. In this process, A20 plays a major role, together with prominent conformational changes in several ArgRS domains that may eventually lead to the mature ArgRS:tRNA complex and the arginine activation. Functional implications that could be idiosyncratic to the arginine identity of bacterial ArgRSs are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crystal structure of LGR4-Rspo1 complex: insights into the divergent mechanisms of ligand recognition by leucine-rich repeat G-protein-coupled receptors (LGRs).

PubMed

Xu, Jin-Gen; Huang, Chunfeng; Yang, Zhengfeng; Jin, Mengmeng; Fu, Panhan; Zhang, Ni; Luo, Jian; Li, Dali; Liu, Mingyao; Zhou, Yan; Zhu, Yongqun

2015-01-23

Leucine-rich repeat G-protein-coupled receptors (LGRs) are a unique class of G-protein-coupled receptors characterized by a large extracellular domain to recognize ligands and regulate many important developmental processes. Among the three groups of LGRs, group B members (LGR4-6) recognize R-spondin family proteins (Rspo1-4) to stimulate Wnt signaling. In this study, we successfully utilized the "hybrid leucine-rich repeat technique," which fused LGR4 with the hagfish VLR protein, to obtain two recombinant human LGR4 proteins, LGR415 and LGR49. We determined the crystal structures of ligand-free LGR415 and the LGR49-Rspo1 complex. LGR4 exhibits a twisted horseshoe-like structure. Rspo1 adopts a flat and β-fold architecture and is bound in the concave surface of LGR4 in the complex through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. All the Rspo1-binding residues are conserved in LGR4-6, suggesting that LGR4-6 bind R-spondins through an identical surface. Structural analysis of our LGR4-Rspo1 complex with the previously determined LGR4 and LGR5 structures revealed that the concave surface of LGR4 is the sole binding site for R-spondins, suggesting a one-site binding model of LGR4-6 in ligand recognition. The molecular mechanism of LGR4-6 is distinct from the two-step mechanism of group A receptors LGR1-3 and the multiple-interface binding model of group C receptors LGR7-8, suggesting LGRs utilize the divergent mechanisms for ligand recognition. Our structures, together with previous reports, provide a comprehensive understanding of the ligand recognition by LGRs. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Approach to recognition of flexible form for credit card expiration date recognition as example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheshkus, Alexander; Nikolaev, Dmitry P.; Ingacheva, Anastasia; Skoryukina, Natalya

2015-12-01

In this paper we consider a task of finding information fields within document with flexible form for credit card expiration date field as example. We discuss main difficulties and suggest possible solutions. In our case this task is to be solved on mobile devices therefore computational complexity has to be as low as possible. In this paper we provide results of the analysis of suggested algorithm. Error distribution of the recognition system shows that suggested algorithm solves the task with required accuracy.

Network analysis reveals the recognition mechanism for complex formation of mannose-binding lectins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Yiren; Zhao, Yunjie; Zeng, Chen

The specific carbohydrate binding of lectin makes the protein a powerful molecular tool for various applications including cancer cell detection due to its glycoprotein profile on the cell surface. Most biologically active lectins are dimeric. To understand the structure-function relation of lectin complex, it is essential to elucidate the short- and long-range driving forces behind the dimer formation. Here we report our molecular dynamics simulations and associated dynamical network analysis on a particular lectin, i.e., the mannose-binding lectin from garlic. Our results, further supported by sequence coevolution analysis, shed light on how different parts of the complex communicate with each other. We propose a general framework for deciphering the recognition mechanism underlying protein-protein interactions that may have potential applications in signaling pathways.

Implementation theory of distortion-invariant pattern recognition for optical and digital signal processing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lhamon, Michael Earl

A pattern recognition system which uses complex correlation filter banks requires proportionally more computational effort than single-real valued filters. This introduces increased computation burden but also introduces a higher level of parallelism, that common computing platforms fail to identify. As a result, we consider algorithm mapping to both optical and digital processors. For digital implementation, we develop computationally efficient pattern recognition algorithms, referred to as, vector inner product operators that require less computational effort than traditional fast Fourier methods. These algorithms do not need correlation and they map readily onto parallel digital architectures, which imply new architectures for optical processors. These filters exploit circulant-symmetric matrix structures of the training set data representing a variety of distortions. By using the same mathematical basis as with the vector inner product operations, we are able to extend the capabilities of more traditional correlation filtering to what we refer to as "Super Images". These "Super Images" are used to morphologically transform a complicated input scene into a predetermined dot pattern. The orientation of the dot pattern is related to the rotational distortion of the object of interest. The optical implementation of "Super Images" yields feature reduction necessary for using other techniques, such as artificial neural networks. We propose a parallel digital signal processor architecture based on specific pattern recognition algorithms but general enough to be applicable to other similar problems. Such an architecture is classified as a data flow architecture. Instead of mapping an algorithm to an architecture, we propose mapping the DSP architecture to a class of pattern recognition algorithms. Today's optical processing systems have difficulties implementing full complex filter structures. Typically, optical systems (like the 4f correlators) are limited to phase-only implementation with lower detection performance than full complex electronic systems. Our study includes pseudo-random pixel encoding techniques for approximating full complex filtering. Optical filter bank implementation is possible and they have the advantage of time averaging the entire filter bank at real time rates. Time-averaged optical filtering is computational comparable to billions of digital operations-per-second. For this reason, we believe future trends in high speed pattern recognition will involve hybrid architectures of both optical and DSP elements.

An evaluation of the effects of high visual taskload on the separate behaviors involved in complex monitoring performance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-01-01

Operational monitoring situations, in contrast to typical laboratory vigilance tasks, generally involve more than just stimulus detection and recognition. They frequently involve complex multidimensional discriminations, interpretations of significan...

Large-Scale, Lineage-Specific Expansion of a Bric-a-Brac/Tramtrack/Broad Complex Ubiquitin-Ligase Gene Family in Rice[W

PubMed Central

Gingerich, Derek J.; Hanada, Kousuke; Shiu, Shin-Han; Vierstra, Richard D.

2007-01-01

Selective ubiquitination of proteins is directed by diverse families of ubiquitin-protein ligases (or E3s) in plants. One important type uses Cullin-3 as a scaffold to assemble multisubunit E3 complexes containing one of a multitude of bric-a-brac/tramtrack/broad complex (BTB) proteins that function as substrate recognition factors. We previously described the 80-member BTB gene superfamily in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we describe the complete BTB superfamily in rice (Oryza sativa spp japonica cv Nipponbare) that contains 149 BTB domain–encoding genes and 43 putative pseudogenes. Amino acid sequence comparisons of the rice and Arabidopsis superfamilies revealed a near equal repertoire of putative substrate recognition module types. However, phylogenetic comparisons detected numerous gene duplication and/or loss events since the rice and Arabidopsis BTB lineages split, suggesting possible functional specialization within individual BTB families. In particular, a major expansion and diversification of a subset of BTB proteins containing Meprin and TRAF homology (MATH) substrate recognition sites was evident in rice and other monocots that likely occurred following the monocot/dicot split. The MATH domain of a subset appears to have evolved significantly faster than those in a smaller core subset that predates flowering plants, suggesting that the substrate recognition module in many monocot MATH-BTB E3s are diversifying to ubiquitinate a set of substrates that are themselves rapidly changing. Intriguing possibilities include pathogen proteins attempting to avoid inactivation by the monocot host. PMID:17720868

Propagation Model (0.1 to 20 GHz) Extensions for 1977 Computer Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-05-01

antenna versus path dis- tance or central angle for time availabilities S, 50. and 95 percent. I’Oucr. dCnsz-it% 17-19 ATOA Similar to above. but with...separation for a fixeddeie aii-orc le- distance, and time avilabilities of 5, So, and 95 1 percent. 4 2 L W~M ~Y 7IMSUB𔃻’T TO DDA S.. Table 1. Plotting...altitude versus distance plane for a fixed station separation and time availabilities of 5, 50, and 95 percent. Signal ratio contours 38-9 IXIRATA Cntours

Report of the Defense Science Board Summer Study Task Force on Defense Manufacturing Enterprise Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

mapped against the desired results. "What To Do" Recomendations PrawnProe Based on reviw of 28 prior sh"(Sa Pki gffs f’orce reconmendafins a’: Q𔃺 Oak...sponsored by the UndAr Secretary of Defense (Acquisition). Mr. Edwin L. Big•ers and Mr. Gordon K . England will serve as Co-Chairmen. ARPA will provide the...sectors, and identify key pilot programs where acquisition and management reforms can be applied. C-8 "What To Do" Rcu-manedadow 1.%% k ~r Tedduce

Conversion of Low Quality Waste Heat to Electric Power with Small-Scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Engine/Generator Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1...urrendy valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) , 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From...NUMBER (Include area code) 919-282-1050 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8198) Pntscnbed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 Cost & Performance Report 58XX i COST

Medical Appointment Desk Telephone Triage.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-09-01

You mayhave CONJUNCTIVITIS, p.317. You mayhave See also Visual aids Is the eye YES DRY EYE, p.316. to diagnosis, 55, p.246. watering ? I =-You mayhave...a foreign NO body in the eye. See WATERING EYE, p.316. For first aid, see p.801. FDoes the pain Do you have two or more of seemto come -YES - the...tot hcs6 ,rc cMd Protouioal D.Yghpa4 Aixr orce lnzwiule ot Technadoq (Ur Wright-Patteton An On 4w 0. DIST RI BUTION/ AVAILABILIT Y OF ABSTRACT 21

Evaluation of Military Field-Water Quality. Volume 7. Performance Evaluation of the 600-GPH Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU): reverse Osmosis (RO) Components

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-02-01

Data-for ASsessingHealthRISKS In Potential Theaters ~ of Operation forU,5. Mil-itary._orces. Jf-jr cLAss t:cAToN 9; r-.$ ’AGg UNCLASSIFIED Volume 7...Bypass, Potable-Water Disinfection,_ and Water-Quality Analysis Techniques; and Vol. 9, Data for Assessing Health Risks in Potential Theaters of Operation ...cleaning the RO elements, with objectives of improving solute rejection and reducing operating pressure. The most common method is to flush citric acid

United States Air Force Statistical Digest, Fiscal Year 1978. Thirty-Third Edition

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-05-31

8 - KC-I0A • . . . . . . . . . 2. OTHER AIRCRAFT • . . . . . . (-) (-) (2) (- ) (-) UV -18B • . . . . . . . . . 2 - - 11 Listing includes only those...l0 UV -18 TOTAL OBS/UTILITY TOTAL REGULAR AlR fORCE NON- OPERATING OPERATING TOTAL ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE 9 2 11 16 1 19 97 7 10~ 33 ~ 37 24 1 25 10 10 37...Ii 1 Misconduct • . . . . . . 286 225 36 25 296 233 39 24 Postal Violations. . . . . 135 56 33 46 144 68 30 46 Counterfeiting • . . . 71 9 20 42 71 8

Experimental investigation of a supersonic micro turbine running with hexamethyldisiloxane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiß Andreas, P.; Josef, Hauer; Tobias, Popp; Markus, Preißinger

2017-09-01

Experimentally determined efficiency characteristics of a supersonic micro turbine are discussed in the present paper. The micro turbine is a representative of a "micro-turbine-generator-construction-kit" for ORC small scale waste heat recovery. The isentropic total-to-static efficiency of the 12 kW turbine reaches an excellent design point performance of 73.4 %. Furthermore, its off-design operating behavior is very advantageous for small waste heat recovery plants: the turbine efficiency keeps a high level over a wide range of pressure ratio and rotational speed.

Intelligent form removal with character stroke preservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garris, Michael D.

1996-03-01

A new technique for intelligent form removal has been developed along with a new method for evaluating its impact on optical character recognition (OCR). All the dominant lines in the image are automatically detected using the Hough line transform and intelligently erased while simultaneously preserving overlapping character strokes by computing line width statistics and keying off of certain visual cues. This new method of form removal operates on loosely defined zones with no image deskewing. Any field in which the writer is provided a horizontal line to enter a response can be processed by this method. Several examples of processed fields are provided, including a comparison of results between the new method and a commercially available forms removal package. Even if this new form removal method did not improve character recognition accuracy, it is still a significant improvement to the technology because the requirement of a priori knowledge of the form's geometric details has been greatly reduced. This relaxes the recognition system's dependence on rigid form design, printing, and reproduction by automatically detecting and removing some of the physical structures (lines) on the form. Using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) public domain form-based handprint recognition system, the technique was tested on a large number of fields containing randomly ordered handprinted lowercase alphabets, as these letters (especially those with descenders) frequently touch and extend through the line along which they are written. Preserving character strokes improves overall lowercase recognition performance by 3%, which is a net improvement, but a single performance number like this doesn't communicate how the recognition process was really influenced. There is expected to be trade- offs with the introduction of any new technique into a complex recognition system. To understand both the improvements and the trade-offs, a new analysis was designed to compare the statistical distributions of individual confusion pairs between two systems. As OCR technology continues to improve, sophisticated analyses like this are necessary to reduce the errors remaining in complex recognition problems.

Peptide Modulation of Class I Major Histocompatibility Complex Protein Molecular Flexibility and the Implications for Immune Recognition*

PubMed Central

Hawse, William F.; Gloor, Brian E.; Ayres, Cory M.; Kho, Kevin; Nuter, Elizabeth; Baker, Brian M.

2013-01-01

T cells use the αβ T cell receptor (TCR) to recognize antigenic peptides presented by class I major histocompatibility complex proteins (pMHCs) on the surfaces of antigen-presenting cells. Flexibility in both TCRs and peptides plays an important role in antigen recognition and discrimination. Less clear is the role of flexibility in the MHC protein; although recent observations have indicated that mobility in the MHC can impact TCR recognition in a peptide-dependent fashion, the extent of this behavior is unknown. Here, using hydrogen/deuterium exchange, fluorescence anisotropy, and structural analyses, we show that the flexibility of the peptide binding groove of the class I MHC protein HLA-A*0201 varies significantly with different peptides. The variations extend throughout the binding groove, impacting regions contacted by TCRs as well as other activating and inhibitory receptors of the immune system. Our results are consistent with statistical mechanical models of protein structure and dynamics, in which the binding of different peptides alters the populations and exchange kinetics of substates in the MHC conformational ensemble. Altered MHC flexibility will influence receptor engagement, impacting conformational adaptations, entropic penalties associated with receptor recognition, and the populations of binding-competent states. Our results highlight a previously unrecognized aspect of the “altered self” mechanism of immune recognition and have implications for specificity, cross-reactivity, and antigenicity in cellular immunity. PMID:23836912

How much does language proficiency by non-native listeners influence speech audiometric tests in noise?

PubMed

Warzybok, Anna; Brand, Thomas; Wagener, Kirsten C; Kollmeier, Birger

2015-01-01

The current study investigates the extent to which the linguistic complexity of three commonly employed speech recognition tests and second language proficiency influence speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) in noise in non-native listeners. SRTs were measured for non-natives and natives using three German speech recognition tests: the digit triplet test (DTT), the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA), and the Göttingen sentence test (GÖSA). Sixty-four non-native and eight native listeners participated. Non-natives can show native-like SRTs in noise only for the linguistically easy speech material (DTT). Furthermore, the limitation of phonemic-acoustical cues in digit triplets affects speech recognition to the same extent in non-natives and natives. For more complex and less familiar speech materials, non-natives, ranging from basic to advanced proficiency in German, require on average 3-dB better signal-to-noise ratio for the OLSA and 6-dB for the GÖSA to obtain 50% speech recognition compared to native listeners. In clinical audiology, SRT measurements with a closed-set speech test (i.e. DTT for screening or OLSA test for clinical purposes) should be used with non-native listeners rather than open-set speech tests (such as the GÖSA or HINT), especially if a closed-set version in the patient's own native language is available.

Probing binding hot spots at protein-RNA recognition sites.

PubMed

Barik, Amita; Nithin, Chandran; Karampudi, Naga Bhushana Rao; Mukherjee, Sunandan; Bahadur, Ranjit Prasad

2016-01-29

We use evolutionary conservation derived from structure alignment of polypeptide sequences along with structural and physicochemical attributes of protein-RNA interfaces to probe the binding hot spots at protein-RNA recognition sites. We find that the degree of conservation varies across the RNA binding proteins; some evolve rapidly compared to others. Additionally, irrespective of the structural class of the complexes, residues at the RNA binding sites are evolutionary better conserved than those at the solvent exposed surfaces. For recognitions involving duplex RNA, residues interacting with the major groove are better conserved than those interacting with the minor groove. We identify multi-interface residues participating simultaneously in protein-protein and protein-RNA interfaces in complexes where more than one polypeptide is involved in RNA recognition, and show that they are better conserved compared to any other RNA binding residues. We find that the residues at water preservation site are better conserved than those at hydrated or at dehydrated sites. Finally, we develop a Random Forests model using structural and physicochemical attributes for predicting binding hot spots. The model accurately predicts 80% of the instances of experimental ΔΔG values in a particular class, and provides a stepping-stone towards the engineering of protein-RNA recognition sites with desired affinity. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

A Unitary Anesthetic Binding Site at High Resolution

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

Vedula, L. Sangeetha; Brannigan, Grace; Economou, Nicoleta J.

2009-10-21

Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show thatmore » apoferritin also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

A Unitary Anesthetic Binding Site at High Resolution

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

L Vedula; G Brannigan; N Economou

2011-12-31

Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show thatmore » apoferritin also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

A Unitary Anesthetic-Binding Site at High Resolution

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

Vedula, L.; Brannigan, G; Economou, N

2009-01-01

Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABAA receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show that apoferritinmore » also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

Characterizing the spatio-temporal dynamics of the neural events occurring prior to and up to overt recognition of famous faces.

PubMed

Jemel, Boutheina; Schuller, Anne-Marie; Goffaux, Valérie

2010-10-01

Although it is generally acknowledged that familiar face recognition is fast, mandatory, and proceeds outside conscious control, it is still unclear whether processes leading to familiar face recognition occur in a linear (i.e., gradual) or a nonlinear (i.e., all-or-none) manner. To test these two alternative accounts, we recorded scalp ERPs while participants indicated whether they recognize as familiar the faces of famous and unfamiliar persons gradually revealed in a descending sequence of frames, from the noisier to the least noisy. This presentation procedure allowed us to characterize the changes in scalp ERP responses occurring prior to and up to overt recognition. Our main finding is that gradual and all-or-none processes are possibly involved during overt recognition of familiar faces. Although the N170 and the N250 face-sensitive responses displayed an abrupt activity change at the moment of overt recognition of famous faces, later ERPs encompassing the N400 and late positive component exhibited an incremental increase in amplitude as the point of recognition approached. In addition, famous faces that were not overtly recognized at one trial before recognition elicited larger ERP potentials than unfamiliar faces, probably reflecting a covert recognition process. Overall, these findings present evidence that recognition of familiar faces implicates spatio-temporally complex neural processes exhibiting differential pattern activity changes as a function of recognition state.

Crystal Structures of HLA-A*0201 Complexed with Melan-A/MART-1[subscript 26(27L)-35] Peptidomimetics Reveal Conformational Heterogeneity and Highlight Degeneracy of T Cell Recognition

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

Douat-Casassus, Celine; Borbulevych, Oleg; Tarbe, Marion

2010-10-07

There is growing interest in using tumor associated antigens presented by class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I) proteins as cancer vaccines. As native peptides are poorly stable in biological fluids, researchers have sought to engineer synthetic peptidomimetics with greater biostability. Here, we demonstrate that antigenic peptidomimetics of the Melan-A/MART-1{sub 26(27L)-35} melanoma antigen adopt strikingly different conformations when bound to MHC-I, highlighting the degeneracy of T cell recognition and revealing the challenges associated with mimicking native peptide conformation.

Modulation of electronic structures of bases through DNA recognition of protein.

PubMed

Hagiwara, Yohsuke; Kino, Hiori; Tateno, Masaru

2010-04-21

The effects of environmental structures on the electronic states of functional regions in a fully solvated DNA·protein complex were investigated using combined ab initio quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. A complex of a transcriptional factor, PU.1, and the target DNA was used for the calculations. The effects of solvent on the energies of molecular orbitals (MOs) of some DNA bases strongly correlate with the magnitude of masking of the DNA bases from the solvent by the protein. In the complex, PU.1 causes a variation in the magnitude among DNA bases by means of directly recognizing the DNA bases through hydrogen bonds and inducing structural changes of the DNA structure from the canonical one. Thus, the strong correlation found in this study is the first evidence showing the close quantitative relationship between recognition modes of DNA bases and the energy levels of the corresponding MOs. Thus, it has been revealed that the electronic state of each base is highly regulated and organized by the DNA recognition of the protein. Other biological macromolecular systems can be expected to also possess similar modulation mechanisms, suggesting that this finding provides a novel basis for the understanding for the regulation functions of biological macromolecular systems.

An RLP23-SOBIR1-BAK1 complex mediates NLP-triggered immunity.

PubMed

Albert, Isabell; Böhm, Hannah; Albert, Markus; Feiler, Christina E; Imkampe, Julia; Wallmeroth, Niklas; Brancato, Caterina; Raaymakers, Tom M; Oome, Stan; Zhang, Heqiao; Krol, Elzbieta; Grefen, Christopher; Gust, Andrea A; Chai, Jijie; Hedrich, Rainer; Van den Ackerveken, Guido; Nürnberger, Thorsten

2015-10-05

Plants and animals employ innate immune systems to cope with microbial infection. Pattern-triggered immunity relies on the recognition of microbe-derived patterns by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Necrosis and ethylene-inducing peptide 1-like proteins (NLPs) constitute plant immunogenic patterns that are unique, as these proteins are produced by multiple prokaryotic (bacterial) and eukaryotic (fungal, oomycete) species. Here we show that the leucine-rich repeat receptor protein (LRR-RP) RLP23 binds in vivo to a conserved 20-amino-acid fragment found in most NLPs (nlp20), thereby mediating immune activation in Arabidopsis thaliana. RLP23 forms a constitutive, ligand-independent complex with the LRR receptor kinase (LRR-RK) SOBIR1 (Suppressor of Brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1)-associated kinase (BAK1)-interacting receptor kinase 1), and recruits a second LRR-RK, BAK1, into a tripartite complex upon ligand binding. Stable, ectopic expression of RLP23 in potato (Solanum tuberosum) confers nlp20 pattern recognition and enhanced immunity to destructive oomycete and fungal plant pathogens, such as Phytophthora infestans and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. PRRs that recognize widespread microbial patterns might be particularly suited for engineering immunity in crop plants.

Institute for Brain and Neural Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-06

to deal with computational complexity when analyzing large amounts of information in visual scenes. It seems natural that in addition to exploring...algorithms using methods from statistical pattern recognition and machine learning. Over the last fifteen years, significant advances had been made in...recognition, robustness to noise and ability to cope with significant variations in lighting conditions. Identifying an occluded target adds another layer of

Human action recognition based on point context tensor shape descriptor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jianjun; Mao, Xia; Chen, Lijiang; Wang, Lan

2017-07-01

Motion trajectory recognition is one of the most important means to determine the identity of a moving object. A compact and discriminative feature representation method can improve the trajectory recognition accuracy. This paper presents an efficient framework for action recognition using a three-dimensional skeleton kinematic joint model. First, we put forward a rotation-scale-translation-invariant shape descriptor based on point context (PC) and the normal vector of hypersurface to jointly characterize local motion and shape information. Meanwhile, an algorithm for extracting the key trajectory based on the confidence coefficient is proposed to reduce the randomness and computational complexity. Second, to decrease the eigenvalue decomposition time complexity, a tensor shape descriptor (TSD) based on PC that can globally capture the spatial layout and temporal order to preserve the spatial information of each frame is proposed. Then, a multilinear projection process is achieved by tensor dynamic time warping to map the TSD to a low-dimensional tensor subspace of the same size. Experimental results show that the proposed shape descriptor is effective and feasible, and the proposed approach obtains considerable performance improvement over the state-of-the-art approaches with respect to accuracy on a public action dataset.

Impaired recognition of faces and objects in dyslexia: Evidence for ventral stream dysfunction?

PubMed

Sigurdardottir, Heida Maria; Ívarsson, Eysteinn; Kristinsdóttir, Kristjana; Kristjánsson, Árni

2015-09-01

The objective of this study was to establish whether or not dyslexics are impaired at the recognition of faces and other complex nonword visual objects. This would be expected based on a meta-analysis revealing that children and adult dyslexics show functional abnormalities within the left fusiform gyrus, a brain region high up in the ventral visual stream, which is thought to support the recognition of words, faces, and other objects. 20 adult dyslexics (M = 29 years) and 20 matched typical readers (M = 29 years) participated in the study. One dyslexic-typical reader pair was excluded based on Adult Reading History Questionnaire scores and IS-FORM reading scores. Performance was measured on 3 high-level visual processing tasks: the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test, and the Vanderbilt Expertise Test. People with dyslexia are impaired in their recognition of faces and other visually complex objects. Their holistic processing of faces appears to be intact, suggesting that dyslexics may instead be specifically impaired at part-based processing of visual objects. The difficulty that people with dyslexia experience with reading might be the most salient manifestation of a more general high-level visual deficit. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence for conformational capture mechanism for damage recognition by NER protein XPC/Rad4.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakraborty, Sagnik; Steinbach, Peter J.; Paul, Debamita; Min, Jung-Hyun; Ansari, Anjum

Altered flexibility of damaged DNA sites is considered to play an important role in damage recognition by DNA repair proteins. Characterizing lesion-induced DNA dynamics has remained a challenge. We have combined ps-resolved fluorescence lifetime measurements with cytosine analog FRET pair uniquely sensitive to local unwinding/twisting to analyze DNA conformational distributions. This innovative approach maps out with unprecedented sensitivity the alternative conformations accessible to a series of DNA constructs containing 3-base-pair mismatch, suitable model lesions for the DNA repair protein xeroderma pigmentosum C (XPC) complex. XPC initiates eukaryotic nucleotide excision repair by recognizing various DNA lesions primarily through DNA deformability. Structural studies show that Rad4 (yeast ortholog of XPC) unwinds DNA at the lesion site and flips out two nucleotide pairs. Our results elucidate a broad range of conformations accessible to mismatched DNA even in the absence of the protein. Notably, the most severely distorted conformations share remarkable resemblance to the deformed conformation seen in the crystal structure of the Rad4-bound ``recognition'' complex supporting for the first time a possible ``conformational capture'' mechanism for damage recognition by XPC/Rad4. NSF Univ of Illinois-Chicago.

A two-step recognition of signal sequences determines the translocation efficiency of proteins.

PubMed Central

Belin, D; Bost, S; Vassalli, J D; Strub, K

1996-01-01

The cytosolic and secreted, N-glycosylated, forms of plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (PAI-2) are generated by facultative translocation. To study the molecular events that result in the bi-topological distribution of proteins, we determined in vitro the capacities of several signal sequences to bind the signal recognition particle (SRP) during targeting, and to promote vectorial transport of murine PAI-2 (mPAI-2). Interestingly, the six signal sequences we compared (mPAI-2 and three mutated derivatives thereof, ovalbumin and preprolactin) were found to have the differential activities in the two events. For example, the mPAI-2 signal sequence first binds SRP with moderate efficiency and secondly promotes the vectorial transport of only a fraction of the SRP-bound nascent chains. Our results provide evidence that the translocation efficiency of proteins can be controlled by the recognition of their signal sequences at two steps: during SRP-mediated targeting and during formation of a committed translocation complex. This second recognition may occur at several time points during the insertion/translocation step. In conclusion, signal sequences have a more complex structure than previously anticipated, allowing for multiple and independent interactions with the translocation machinery. Images PMID:8599930

A two-step recognition of signal sequences determines the translocation efficiency of proteins.

PubMed

Belin, D; Bost, S; Vassalli, J D; Strub, K

1996-02-01

The cytosolic and secreted, N-glycosylated, forms of plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (PAI-2) are generated by facultative translocation. To study the molecular events that result in the bi-topological distribution of proteins, we determined in vitro the capacities of several signal sequences to bind the signal recognition particle (SRP) during targeting, and to promote vectorial transport of murine PAI-2 (mPAI-2). Interestingly, the six signal sequences we compared (mPAI-2 and three mutated derivatives thereof, ovalbumin and preprolactin) were found to have the differential activities in the two events. For example, the mPAI-2 signal sequence first binds SRP with moderate efficiency and secondly promotes the vectorial transport of only a fraction of the SRP-bound nascent chains. Our results provide evidence that the translocation efficiency of proteins can be controlled by the recognition of their signal sequences at two steps: during SRP-mediated targeting and during formation of a committed translocation complex. This second recognition may occur at several time points during the insertion/translocation step. In conclusion, signal sequences have a more complex structure than previously anticipated, allowing for multiple and independent interactions with the translocation machinery.

An Energy-Efficient and Scalable Deep Learning/Inference Processor With Tetra-Parallel MIMD Architecture for Big Data Applications.

PubMed

Park, Seong-Wook; Park, Junyoung; Bong, Kyeongryeol; Shin, Dongjoo; Lee, Jinmook; Choi, Sungpill; Yoo, Hoi-Jun

2015-12-01

Deep Learning algorithm is widely used for various pattern recognition applications such as text recognition, object recognition and action recognition because of its best-in-class recognition accuracy compared to hand-crafted algorithm and shallow learning based algorithms. Long learning time caused by its complex structure, however, limits its usage only in high-cost servers or many-core GPU platforms so far. On the other hand, the demand on customized pattern recognition within personal devices will grow gradually as more deep learning applications will be developed. This paper presents a SoC implementation to enable deep learning applications to run with low cost platforms such as mobile or portable devices. Different from conventional works which have adopted massively-parallel architecture, this work adopts task-flexible architecture and exploits multiple parallelism to cover complex functions of convolutional deep belief network which is one of popular deep learning/inference algorithms. In this paper, we implement the most energy-efficient deep learning and inference processor for wearable system. The implemented 2.5 mm × 4.0 mm deep learning/inference processor is fabricated using 65 nm 8-metal CMOS technology for a battery-powered platform with real-time deep inference and deep learning operation. It consumes 185 mW average power, and 213.1 mW peak power at 200 MHz operating frequency and 1.2 V supply voltage. It achieves 411.3 GOPS peak performance and 1.93 TOPS/W energy efficiency, which is 2.07× higher than the state-of-the-art.

Cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions.

PubMed

Gilfillan, Geoffrey; Vitale, Jessica; McNutt, John Weldon; McComb, Karen

2016-08-01

Individual recognition is considered to have been fundamental in the evolution of complex social systems and is thought to be a widespread ability throughout the animal kingdom. Although robust evidence for individual recognition remains limited, recent experimental paradigms that examine cross-modal processing have demonstrated individual recognition in a range of captive non-human animals. It is now highly relevant to test whether cross-modal individual recognition exists within wild populations and thus examine how it is employed during natural social interactions. We address this question by testing audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions (Panthera leo) using an expectancy-violation paradigm. When presented with a scenario where the playback of a loud-call (roaring) broadcast from behind a visual block is incongruent with the conspecific previously seen there, subjects responded more strongly than during the congruent scenario where the call and individual matched. These findings suggest that lions are capable of audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition and provide a useful method for studying this ability in wild populations. © 2016 The Author(s).

Pattern Recognition Using Artificial Neural Network: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Tai-Hoon

Among the various frameworks in which pattern recognition has been traditionally formulated, the statistical approach has been most intensively studied and used in practice. More recently, artificial neural network techniques theory have been receiving increasing attention. The design of a recognition system requires careful attention to the following issues: definition of pattern classes, sensing environment, pattern representation, feature extraction and selection, cluster analysis, classifier design and learning, selection of training and test samples, and performance evaluation. In spite of almost 50 years of research and development in this field, the general problem of recognizing complex patterns with arbitrary orientation, location, and scale remains unsolved. New and emerging applications, such as data mining, web searching, retrieval of multimedia data, face recognition, and cursive handwriting recognition, require robust and efficient pattern recognition techniques. The objective of this review paper is to summarize and compare some of the well-known methods used in various stages of a pattern recognition system using ANN and identify research topics and applications which are at the forefront of this exciting and challenging field.

Why the long face? The importance of vertical image structure for biological "barcodes" underlying face recognition.

PubMed

Spence, Morgan L; Storrs, Katherine R; Arnold, Derek H

2014-07-29

Humans are experts at face recognition. The mechanisms underlying this complex capacity are not fully understood. Recently, it has been proposed that face recognition is supported by a coarse-scale analysis of visual information contained in horizontal bands of contrast distributed along the vertical image axis-a biological facial "barcode" (Dakin & Watt, 2009). A critical prediction of the facial barcode hypothesis is that the distribution of image contrast along the vertical axis will be more important for face recognition than image distributions along the horizontal axis. Using a novel paradigm involving dynamic image distortions, a series of experiments are presented examining famous face recognition impairments from selectively disrupting image distributions along the vertical or horizontal image axes. Results show that disrupting the image distribution along the vertical image axis is more disruptive for recognition than matched distortions along the horizontal axis. Consistent with the facial barcode hypothesis, these results suggest that human face recognition relies disproportionately on appropriately scaled distributions of image contrast along the vertical image axis. © 2014 ARVO.

Effects of visual and verbal interference tasks on olfactory memory: the role of task complexity.

PubMed

Annett, J M; Leslie, J C

1996-08-01

Recent studies have demonstrated that visual and verbal suppression tasks interfere with olfactory memory in a manner which is partially consistent with a dual coding interpretation. However, it has been suggested that total task complexity rather than modality specificity of the suppression tasks might account for the observed pattern of results. This study addressed the issue of whether or not the level of difficulty and complexity of suppression tasks could explain the apparent modality effects noted in earlier experiments. A total of 608 participants were each allocated to one of 19 experimental conditions involving interference tasks which varied suppression type (visual or verbal), nature of complexity (single, double or mixed) and level of difficulty (easy, optimal or difficult) and presented with 13 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either within 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Both recognition and recall performance showed an overall effect for suppression nature, suppression level and time of testing with no effect for suppression type. The results lend only limited support to Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory, but have a number of characteristics which suggest that an adequate account of olfactory memory may be broadly similar to current theories of face and object recognition. All of these phenomena might be dealt with by an appropriately modified version of dual coding theory.

A human transcription factor in search mode.

PubMed

Hauser, Kevin; Essuman, Bernard; He, Yiqing; Coutsias, Evangelos; Garcia-Diaz, Miguel; Simmerling, Carlos

2016-01-08

Transcription factors (TF) can change shape to bind and recognize DNA, shifting the energy landscape from a weak binding, rapid search mode to a higher affinity recognition mode. However, the mechanism(s) driving this conformational change remains unresolved and in most cases high-resolution structures of the non-specific complexes are unavailable. Here, we investigate the conformational switch of the human mitochondrial transcription termination factor MTERF1, which has a modular, superhelical topology complementary to DNA. Our goal was to characterize the details of the non-specific search mode to complement the crystal structure of the specific binding complex, providing a basis for understanding the recognition mechanism. In the specific complex, MTERF1 binds a significantly distorted and unwound DNA structure, exhibiting a protein conformation incompatible with binding to B-form DNA. In contrast, our simulations of apo MTERF1 revealed significant flexibility, sampling structures with superhelical pitch and radius complementary to the major groove of B-DNA. Docking these structures to B-DNA followed by unrestrained MD simulations led to a stable complex in which MTERF1 was observed to undergo spontaneous diffusion on the DNA. Overall, the data support an MTERF1-DNA binding and recognition mechanism driven by intrinsic dynamics of the MTERF1 superhelical topology. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Speech recognition for embedded automatic positioner for laparoscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiaodong; Yin, Qingyun; Wang, Yi; Yu, Daoyin

2014-07-01

In this paper a novel speech recognition methodology based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is proposed for embedded Automatic Positioner for Laparoscope (APL), which includes a fixed point ARM processor as the core. The APL system is designed to assist the doctor in laparoscopic surgery, by implementing the specific doctor's vocal control to the laparoscope. Real-time respond to the voice commands asks for more efficient speech recognition algorithm for the APL. In order to reduce computation cost without significant loss in recognition accuracy, both arithmetic and algorithmic optimizations are applied in the method presented. First, depending on arithmetic optimizations most, a fixed point frontend for speech feature analysis is built according to the ARM processor's character. Then the fast likelihood computation algorithm is used to reduce computational complexity of the HMM-based recognition algorithm. The experimental results show that, the method shortens the recognition time within 0.5s, while the accuracy higher than 99%, demonstrating its ability to achieve real-time vocal control to the APL.

Utterance independent bimodal emotion recognition in spontaneous communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Jianhua; Pan, Shifeng; Yang, Minghao; Li, Ya; Mu, Kaihui; Che, Jianfeng

2011-12-01

Emotion expressions sometimes are mixed with the utterance expression in spontaneous face-to-face communication, which makes difficulties for emotion recognition. This article introduces the methods of reducing the utterance influences in visual parameters for the audio-visual-based emotion recognition. The audio and visual channels are first combined under a Multistream Hidden Markov Model (MHMM). Then, the utterance reduction is finished by finding the residual between the real visual parameters and the outputs of the utterance related visual parameters. This article introduces the Fused Hidden Markov Model Inversion method which is trained in the neutral expressed audio-visual corpus to solve the problem. To reduce the computing complexity the inversion model is further simplified to a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) mapping. Compared with traditional bimodal emotion recognition methods (e.g., SVM, CART, Boosting), the utterance reduction method can give better results of emotion recognition. The experiments also show the effectiveness of our emotion recognition system when it was used in a live environment.

Detection of Significant Pneumococcal Meningitis Biomarkers by Ego Network.

PubMed

Wang, Qian; Lou, Zhifeng; Zhai, Liansuo; Zhao, Haibin

2017-06-01

To identify significant biomarkers for detection of pneumococcal meningitis based on ego network. Based on the gene expression data of pneumococcal meningitis and global protein-protein interactions (PPIs) data recruited from open access databases, the authors constructed a differential co-expression network (DCN) to identify pneumococcal meningitis biomarkers in a network view. Here EgoNet algorithm was employed to screen the significant ego networks that could accurately distinguish pneumococcal meningitis from healthy controls, by sequentially seeking ego genes, searching candidate ego networks, refinement of candidate ego networks and significance analysis to identify ego networks. Finally, the functional inference of the ego networks was performed to identify significant pathways for pneumococcal meningitis. By differential co-expression analysis, the authors constructed the DCN that covered 1809 genes and 3689 interactions. From the DCN, a total of 90 ego genes were identified. Starting from these ego genes, three significant ego networks (Module 19, Module 70 and Module 71) that could predict clinical outcomes for pneumococcal meningitis were identified by EgoNet algorithm, and the corresponding ego genes were GMNN, MAD2L1 and TPX2, respectively. Pathway analysis showed that these three ego networks were related to CDT1 association with the CDC6:ORC:origin complex, inactivation of APC/C via direct inhibition of the APC/C complex pathway, and DNA strand elongation, respectively. The authors successfully screened three significant ego modules which could accurately predict the clinical outcomes for pneumococcal meningitis and might play important roles in host response to pathogen infection in pneumococcal meningitis.

License Plate Recognition System for Indian Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanap, P. R.; Narote, S. P.

2010-11-01

We consider the task of recognition of Indian vehicle number plates (also called license plates or registration plates in other countries). A system for Indian number plate recognition must cope with wide variations in the appearance of the plates. Each state uses its own range of designs with font variations between the designs. Also, vehicle owners may place the plates inside glass covered frames or use plates made of nonstandard materials. These issues compound the complexity of automatic number plate recognition, making existing approaches inadequate. We have developed a system that incorporates a novel combination of image processing and artificial neural network technologies to successfully locate and read Indian vehicle number plates in digital images. Commercial application of the system is envisaged.

Measuring Search Efficiency in Complex Visual Search Tasks: Global and Local Clutter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Melissa R.; Lohrenz, Maura C.; Trafton, J. Gregory

2010-01-01

Set size and crowding affect search efficiency by limiting attention for recognition and attention against competition; however, these factors can be difficult to quantify in complex search tasks. The current experiments use a quantitative measure of the amount and variability of visual information (i.e., clutter) in highly complex stimuli (i.e.,…

Healthy soils healthy people: Unraveling the complexity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The linkage between soil and human health is undoubtedly a complex and multidisciplinary issue. The recognition that soil can influence human health is not a novelty; it has been recognized scientifically for decades. However, the advancement in understanding soil health/quality has renewed interest...

Continued under-recognition of acute respiratory distress syndrome after the Berlin definition: what is the solution?

PubMed

Laffey, John G; Pham, Tài; Bellani, Giacomo

2017-02-01

Timely recognition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) may allow for more prompt management and less exacerbation of lung injury. However, the absence of a diagnostic test for ARDS means that the diagnosis of ARDS requires clinician recognition in what is usually a complicated and evolving illness. We review data concerning the extent of recognition of ARDS in the era of the Berlin definition of ARDS. ARDS continues to be under-recognized - even in the era of the more recent 'Berlin' definition, and significant delay in its recognition is common. Factors contributing to under-recognition may include the complexity of ARDS biology, low specificity of the consensus (diagnostic) criteria, and concerns about reliable interpretation of the chest radiograph. Understandably, 'external' factors are also at play: ICU occupancy and higher patient to clinician ratio impair recognition of ARDS. Timely recognition of ARDS appears important, as it is associated with the use of higher PEEP, prone positioning and neuromuscular blockade which can lower mortality. Computer-aided decision tools seem diagnostically useful, and together with the integration of reliable biomarkers, may further enhance and speed recognition of this syndrome. Significant numbers of patients with ARDS are still unrecognized by clinicians in the era of the Berlin definition of ARDS, with potentially important consequences for patient management and outcome.

Handwritten recognition of Tamil vowels using deep learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ram Prashanth, N.; Siddarth, B.; Ganesh, Anirudh; Naveen Kumar, Vaegae

2017-11-01

We come across a large volume of handwritten texts in our daily lives and handwritten character recognition has long been an important area of research in pattern recognition. The complexity of the task varies among different languages and it so happens largely due to the similarity between characters, distinct shapes and number of characters which are all language-specific properties. There have been numerous works on character recognition of English alphabets and with laudable success, but regional languages have not been dealt with very frequently and with similar accuracies. In this paper, we explored the performance of Deep Belief Networks in the classification of Handwritten Tamil vowels, and conclusively compared the results obtained. The proposed method has shown satisfactory recognition accuracy in light of difficulties faced with regional languages such as similarity between characters and minute nuances that differentiate them. We can further extend this to all the Tamil characters.

Crowd motion segmentation and behavior recognition fusing streak flow and collectiveness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Mingliang; Jiang, Jun; Shen, Jin; Zou, Guofeng; Fu, Guixia

2018-04-01

Crowd motion segmentation and crowd behavior recognition are two hot issues in computer vision. A number of methods have been proposed to tackle these two problems. Among the methods, flow dynamics is utilized to model the crowd motion, with little consideration of collective property. Moreover, the traditional crowd behavior recognition methods treat the local feature and dynamic feature separately and overlook the interconnection of topological and dynamical heterogeneity in complex crowd processes. A crowd motion segmentation method and a crowd behavior recognition method are proposed based on streak flow and crowd collectiveness. The streak flow is adopted to reveal the dynamical property of crowd motion, and the collectiveness is incorporated to reveal the structure property. Experimental results show that the proposed methods improve the crowd motion segmentation accuracy and the crowd recognition rates compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

The neural correlates of visual self-recognition.

PubMed

Devue, Christel; Brédart, Serge

2011-03-01

This paper presents a review of studies that were aimed at determining which brain regions are recruited during visual self-recognition, with a particular focus on self-face recognition. A complex bilateral network, involving frontal, parietal and occipital areas, appears to be associated with self-face recognition, with a particularly high implication of the right hemisphere. Results indicate that it remains difficult to determine which specific cognitive operation is reflected by each recruited brain area, in part due to the variability of used control stimuli and experimental tasks. A synthesis of the interpretations provided by previous studies is presented. The relevance of using self-recognition as an indicator of self-awareness is discussed. We argue that a major aim of future research in the field should be to identify more clearly the cognitive operations induced by the perception of the self-face, and search for dissociations between neural correlates and cognitive components. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The fast iris image clarity evaluation based on Tenengrad and ROI selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Shuqin; Han, Min; Cheng, Xu

2018-04-01

In iris recognition system, the clarity of iris image is an important factor that influences recognition effect. In the process of recognition, the blurred image may possibly be rejected by the automatic iris recognition system, which will lead to the failure of identification. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate the iris image definition before recognition. Considered the existing evaluation methods on iris image definition, we proposed a fast algorithm to evaluate the definition of iris image in this paper. In our algorithm, firstly ROI (Region of Interest) is extracted based on the reference point which is determined by using the feature of the light spots within the pupil, then Tenengrad operator is used to evaluate the iris image's definition. Experiment results show that, the iris image definition algorithm proposed in this paper could accurately distinguish the iris images of different clarity, and the algorithm has the merit of low computational complexity and more effectiveness.

Stages of processing in associative recognition: evidence from behavior, EEG, and classification.

PubMed

Borst, Jelmer P; Schneider, Darryl W; Walsh, Matthew M; Anderson, John R

2013-12-01

In this study, we investigated the stages of information processing in associative recognition. We recorded EEG data while participants performed an associative recognition task that involved manipulations of word length, associative fan, and probe type, which were hypothesized to affect the perceptual encoding, retrieval, and decision stages of the recognition task, respectively. Analyses of the behavioral and EEG data, supplemented with classification of the EEG data using machine-learning techniques, provided evidence that generally supported the sequence of stages assumed by a computational model developed in the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational cognitive architecture. However, the results suggested a more complex relationship between memory retrieval and decision-making than assumed by the model. Implications of the results for modeling associative recognition are discussed. The study illustrates how a classifier approach, in combination with focused manipulations, can be used to investigate the timing of processing stages.

Subauditory Speech Recognition based on EMG/EPG Signals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jorgensen, Charles; Lee, Diana Dee; Agabon, Shane; Lau, Sonie (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

Sub-vocal electromyogram/electro palatogram (EMG/EPG) signal classification is demonstrated as a method for silent speech recognition. Recorded electrode signals from the larynx and sublingual areas below the jaw are noise filtered and transformed into features using complex dual quad tree wavelet transforms. Feature sets for six sub-vocally pronounced words are trained using a trust region scaled conjugate gradient neural network. Real time signals for previously unseen patterns are classified into categories suitable for primitive control of graphic objects. Feature construction, recognition accuracy and an approach for extension of the technique to a variety of real world application areas are presented.

Robotics control using isolated word recognition of voice input

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weiner, J. M.

1977-01-01

A speech input/output system is presented that can be used to communicate with a task oriented system. Human speech commands and synthesized voice output extend conventional information exchange capabilities between man and machine by utilizing audio input and output channels. The speech input facility is comprised of a hardware feature extractor and a microprocessor implemented isolated word or phrase recognition system. The recognizer offers a medium sized (100 commands), syntactically constrained vocabulary, and exhibits close to real time performance. The major portion of the recognition processing required is accomplished through software, minimizing the complexity of the hardware feature extractor.

Functional recognition imaging using artificial neural networks: applications to rapid cellular identification via broadband electromechanical response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikiforov, M. P.; Reukov, V. V.; Thompson, G. L.; Vertegel, A. A.; Guo, S.; Kalinin, S. V.; Jesse, S.

2009-10-01

Functional recognition imaging in scanning probe microscopy (SPM) using artificial neural network identification is demonstrated. This approach utilizes statistical analysis of complex SPM responses at a single spatial location to identify the target behavior, which is reminiscent of associative thinking in the human brain, obviating the need for analytical models. We demonstrate, as an example of recognition imaging, rapid identification of cellular organisms using the difference in electromechanical activity over a broad frequency range. Single-pixel identification of model Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria is achieved, demonstrating the viability of the method.

Replication of alpha-satellite DNA arrays in endogenous human centromeric regions and in human artificial chromosome

PubMed Central

Erliandri, Indri; Fu, Haiqing; Nakano, Megumi; Kim, Jung-Hyun; Miga, Karen H.; Liskovykh, Mikhail; Earnshaw, William C.; Masumoto, Hiroshi; Kouprina, Natalay; Aladjem, Mirit I.; Larionov, Vladimir

2014-01-01

In human chromosomes, centromeric regions comprise megabase-size arrays of 171 bp alpha-satellite DNA monomers. The large distances spanned by these arrays preclude their replication from external sites and imply that the repetitive monomers contain replication origins. However, replication within these arrays has not previously been profiled and the role of alpha-satellite DNA in initiation of DNA replication has not yet been demonstrated. Here, replication of alpha-satellite DNA in endogenous human centromeric regions and in de novo formed Human Artificial Chromosome (HAC) was analyzed. We showed that alpha-satellite monomers could function as origins of DNA replication and that replication of alphoid arrays organized into centrochromatin occurred earlier than those organized into heterochromatin. The distribution of inter-origin distances within centromeric alphoid arrays was comparable to the distribution of inter-origin distances on randomly selected non-centromeric chromosomal regions. Depletion of CENP-B, a kinetochore protein that binds directly to a 17 bp CENP-B box motif common to alpha-satellite DNA, resulted in enrichment of alpha-satellite sequences for proteins of the ORC complex, suggesting that CENP-B may have a role in regulating the replication of centromeric regions. Mapping of replication initiation sites in the HAC revealed that replication preferentially initiated in transcriptionally active regions. PMID:25228468

Exploring the energy landscape of antibody-antigen complexes: protein dynamics, flexibility, and molecular recognition.

PubMed

Thielges, Megan C; Zimmermann, Jörg; Yu, Wayne; Oda, Masayuki; Romesberg, Floyd E

2008-07-08

The production of antibodies that selectively bind virtually any foreign compound is the hallmark of the immune system. While much is understood about how sequence diversity contributes to this remarkable feat of molecular recognition, little is known about how sequence diversity impacts antibody dynamics, which is also expected to contribute to molecular recognition. Toward this goal, we examined a panel of antibodies elicited to the chromophoric antigen fluorescein. On the basis of isothermal titration calorimetry, we selected six antibodies that bind fluorescein with diverse binding entropies, suggestive of varying contributions of dynamics to molecular recognition. Sequencing revealed that two pairs of antibodies employ homologous heavy chains that were derived from common germline genes, while the other two heavy chains and all six of the light chains were derived from different germline genes and are not homologous. Interestingly, more than half of all the somatic mutations acquired during affinity maturation among the six antibodies are located in positions unlikely to contact fluorescein directly. To quantify and compare the dynamics of the antibody-fluorescein complexes, three-pulse photon echo peak shift and transient grating spectroscopy were employed. All of the antibodies exhibited motions on three distinct time scales, ultrafast motions on the <100 fs time scale, diffusive motions on the picosecond time scale, and motions that occur on time scales longer than nanoseconds and thus appear static. However, the exact frequency of the picosecond time scale motion and the relative contribution of the different motions vary significantly among the antibody-chromophore complexes, revealing a high level of dynamic diversity. Using a hierarchical model, we relate the data to features of the antibodies' energy landscapes as well as their flexibility in terms of elasticity and plasticity. In all, the data provide a consistent picture of antibody flexibility, which interestingly appears to be correlated with binding entropy as well as with germline gene use and the mutations introduced during affinity maturation. The data also provide a gauge of the dynamic diversity of the antibody repertoire and suggest that this diversity might contribute to molecular recognition by facilitating the recognition of the broadest range of foreign molecules.

A modular framework for biomedical concept recognition

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Concept recognition is an essential task in biomedical information extraction, presenting several complex and unsolved challenges. The development of such solutions is typically performed in an ad-hoc manner or using general information extraction frameworks, which are not optimized for the biomedical domain and normally require the integration of complex external libraries and/or the development of custom tools. Results This article presents Neji, an open source framework optimized for biomedical concept recognition built around four key characteristics: modularity, scalability, speed, and usability. It integrates modules for biomedical natural language processing, such as sentence splitting, tokenization, lemmatization, part-of-speech tagging, chunking and dependency parsing. Concept recognition is provided through dictionary matching and machine learning with normalization methods. Neji also integrates an innovative concept tree implementation, supporting overlapped concept names and respective disambiguation techniques. The most popular input and output formats, namely Pubmed XML, IeXML, CoNLL and A1, are also supported. On top of the built-in functionalities, developers and researchers can implement new processing modules or pipelines, or use the provided command-line interface tool to build their own solutions, applying the most appropriate techniques to identify heterogeneous biomedical concepts. Neji was evaluated against three gold standard corpora with heterogeneous biomedical concepts (CRAFT, AnEM and NCBI disease corpus), achieving high performance results on named entity recognition (F1-measure for overlap matching: species 95%, cell 92%, cellular components 83%, gene and proteins 76%, chemicals 65%, biological processes and molecular functions 63%, disorders 85%, and anatomical entities 82%) and on entity normalization (F1-measure for overlap name matching and correct identifier included in the returned list of identifiers: species 88%, cell 71%, cellular components 72%, gene and proteins 64%, chemicals 53%, and biological processes and molecular functions 40%). Neji provides fast and multi-threaded data processing, annotating up to 1200 sentences/second when using dictionary-based concept identification. Conclusions Considering the provided features and underlying characteristics, we believe that Neji is an important contribution to the biomedical community, streamlining the development of complex concept recognition solutions. Neji is freely available at http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/neji. PMID:24063607