A hybrid model for river water temperature as a function of air temperature and discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toffolon, Marco; Piccolroaz, Sebastiano

2015-11-01

Water temperature controls many biochemical and ecological processes in rivers, and theoretically depends on multiple factors. Here we formulate a model to predict daily averaged river water temperature as a function of air temperature and discharge, with the latter variable being more relevant in some specific cases (e.g., snowmelt-fed rivers, rivers impacted by hydropower production). The model uses a hybrid formulation characterized by a physically based structure associated with a stochastic calibration of the parameters. The interpretation of the parameter values allows for better understanding of river thermal dynamics and the identification of the most relevant factors affecting it. The satisfactory agreement of different versions of the model with measurements in three different rivers (root mean square error smaller than 1oC, at a daily timescale) suggests that the proposed model can represent a useful tool to synthetically describe medium- and long-term behavior, and capture the changes induced by varying external conditions.

A study on the role of powertrain system dynamics on vehicle driveability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castellazzi, Luca; Tonoli, Andrea; Amati, Nicola; Galliera, Enrico

2017-07-01

Vehicle driveability describes the complex interactions between the driver and the vehicle, mainly related to longitudinal vibrations. Today, a relevant part of the driveability process optimisation is realised by means of track tests, which require a considerable effort due to the number of parameters (such as stiffness and damping components) affecting this behaviour. The drawback of this approach is that it is carried on at a stage when a design iteration becomes very expensive in terms of time and cost. The objective of this work is to propose a light and accurate tool to represent the relevant quantities involved in the driveability analysis, and to understand which are the main vehicle parameters that influence the torsional vibrations transmitted to the driver. Particular attention is devoted to the role of the tyre, the engine mount, the dual mass flywheel and their possible interactions. The presented nonlinear dynamic model has been validated in time and frequency domain and, through linearisation of its nonlinear components, allows to exploit modal and energy analysis. Objective indexes regarding the driving comfort are additionally considered in order to evaluate possible driveability improvements related to the sensitivity of powertrain parameters.

Non-Standard Interactions in propagation at the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

DOE PAGES

Coloma, Pilar

2016-03-03

Here, we study the sensitivity of current and future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments to the effects of dimension six operators affecting neutrino propagation through Earth, commonly referred to as Non-Standard Interactions (NSI). All relevant parameters entering the oscillation probabilities (standard and non-standard) are considered at once, in order to take into account possible cancellations and degeneracies between them. We find that the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will significantly improve over current constraints for most NSI parameters. Most notably, it will be able to rule out the so-called LMA-dark solution, still compatible with current oscillation data, and will be sensitive to off-diagonal NSI parameters at the level of ε ~more » $$ \\mathcal{O} $$ (0.05 – 0.5). We also identify two degeneracies among standard and non-standard parameters, which could be partially resolved by combining T2HK and DUNE data.« less

Developmental immunotoxicity of chemicals in rodents and its possible regulatory impact.

PubMed

Hessel, Ellen V S; Tonk, Elisa C M; Bos, Peter M J; van Loveren, Henk; Piersma, Aldert H

2015-01-01

Around 25% of the children in developed countries are affected with immune-based diseases. Juvenile onset diseases such as allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases have shown increasing prevalences in the last decades. The role of chemical exposures in these phenomena is unclear. It is thought that the developmental immune system is more susceptible to toxicants than the mature situation. Developmental immunotoxicity (DIT) testing is nowadays not or minimally included in regulatory toxicology requirements. We reviewed whether developmental immune parameters in rodents would provide relatively sensitive endpoints of toxicity, whose inclusion in regulatory toxicity testing might improve hazard identification and risk assessment of chemicals. For each of the nine reviewed toxicants, the developing immune system was found to be at least as sensitive or more sensitive than the general (developmental) toxicity parameters. Functional immune (antigen-challenged) parameters appear more affected than structural (non-challenged) immune parameters. Especially, antibody responses to immune challenges with keyhole limpet hemocyanine or sheep red blood cells and delayed-type hypersensitivity responses appear to provide sensitive parameters of developmental immune toxicity. Comparison with current tolerable daily intakes (TDI) and their underlying overall no observed adverse effect levels showed that for some of the compounds reviewed, the TDI may need reconsideration based on developmental immune parameters. From these data, it can be concluded that the developing immune system is very sensitive to the disruption of toxicants independent of study design. Consideration of including functional DIT parameters in current hazard identification guidelines and wider application of relevant study protocols is warranted.

Reduction and Uncertainty Analysis of Chemical Mechanisms Based on Local and Global Sensitivities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esposito, Gaetano

Numerical simulations of critical reacting flow phenomena in hypersonic propulsion devices require accurate representation of finite-rate chemical kinetics. The chemical kinetic models available for hydrocarbon fuel combustion are rather large, involving hundreds of species and thousands of reactions. As a consequence, they cannot be used in multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamic calculations in the foreseeable future due to the prohibitive computational cost. In addition to the computational difficulties, it is also known that some fundamental chemical kinetic parameters of detailed models have significant level of uncertainty due to limited experimental data available and to poor understanding of interactions among kinetic parameters. In the present investigation, local and global sensitivity analysis techniques are employed to develop a systematic approach of reducing and analyzing detailed chemical kinetic models. Unlike previous studies in which skeletal model reduction was based on the separate analysis of simple cases, in this work a novel strategy based on Principal Component Analysis of local sensitivity values is presented. This new approach is capable of simultaneously taking into account all the relevant canonical combustion configurations over different composition, temperature and pressure conditions. Moreover, the procedure developed in this work represents the first documented inclusion of non-premixed extinction phenomena, which is of great relevance in hypersonic combustors, in an automated reduction algorithm. The application of the skeletal reduction to a detailed kinetic model consisting of 111 species in 784 reactions is demonstrated. The resulting reduced skeletal model of 37--38 species showed that the global ignition/propagation/extinction phenomena of ethylene-air mixtures can be predicted within an accuracy of 2% of the full detailed model. The problems of both understanding non-linear interactions between kinetic parameters and identifying sources of uncertainty affecting relevant reaction pathways are usually addressed by resorting to Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) techniques. In particular, the most sensitive reactions controlling combustion phenomena are first identified using the Morris Method and then analyzed under the Random Sampling -- High Dimensional Model Representation (RS-HDMR) framework. The HDMR decomposition shows that 10% of the variance seen in the extinction strain rate of non-premixed flames is due to second-order effects between parameters, whereas the maximum concentration of acetylene, a key soot precursor, is affected by mostly only first-order contributions. Moreover, the analysis of the global sensitivity indices demonstrates that improving the accuracy of the reaction rates including the vinyl radical, C2H3, can drastically reduce the uncertainty of predicting targeted flame properties. Finally, the back-propagation of the experimental uncertainty of the extinction strain rate to the parameter space is also performed. This exercise, achieved by recycling the numerical solutions of the RS-HDMR, shows that some regions of the parameter space have a high probability of reproducing the experimental value of the extinction strain rate between its own uncertainty bounds. Therefore this study demonstrates that the uncertainty analysis of bulk flame properties can effectively provide information on relevant chemical reactions.

Development of a dual-energy computed tomography quality control program: Characterization of scanner response and definition of relevant parameters for a fast-kVp switching dual-energy computed tomography system.

PubMed

Nute, Jessica L; Jacobsen, Megan C; Stefan, Wolfgang; Wei, Wei; Cody, Dianna D

2018-04-01

A prototype QC phantom system and analysis process were developed to characterize the spectral capabilities of a fast kV-switching dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) scanner. This work addresses the current lack of quantitative oversight for this technology, with the goal of identifying relevant scan parameters and test metrics instrumental to the development of a dual-energy quality control (DEQC). A prototype elliptical phantom (effective diameter: 35 cm) was designed with multiple material inserts for DECT imaging. Inserts included tissue equivalent and material rods (including iodine and calcium at varying concentrations). The phantom was scanned on a fast kV-switching DECT system using 16 dual-energy acquisitions (CTDIvol range: 10.3-62 mGy) with varying pitch, rotation time, and tube current. The circular head phantom (22 cm diameter) was scanned using a similar protocol (12 acquisitions; CTDIvol range: 36.7-132.6 mGy). All acquisitions were reconstructed at 50, 70, 110, and 140 keV and using a water-iodine material basis pair. The images were evaluated for iodine quantification accuracy, stability of monoenergetic reconstruction CT number, noise, and positional constancy. Variance component analysis was used to identify technique parameters that drove deviations in test metrics. Variances were compared to thresholds derived from manufacturer tolerances to determine technique parameters that had a nominally significant effect on test metrics. Iodine quantification error was largely unaffected by any of the technique parameters investigated. Monoenergetic HU stability was found to be affected by mAs, with a threshold under which spectral separation was unsuccessful, diminishing the utility of DECT imaging. Noise was found to be affected by CTDIvol in the DEQC body phantom, and CTDIvol and mA in the DEQC head phantom. Positional constancy was found to be affected by mAs in the DEQC body phantom and mA in the DEQC head phantom. A streamlined scan protocol was developed to further investigate the effects of CTDIvol and rotation time while limiting data collection to the DEQC body phantom. Further data collection will be pursued to determine baseline values and statistically based failure thresholds for the validation of long-term DECT scanner performance. © 2018 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Analysis of electric vehicle extended range misalignment based on rigid-flexible dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiaowei; Lv, Mingliang; Chen, Zibo; Ji, Wei; Gao, Ruiceng

2017-04-01

The safety of the extended range electric vehicle is seriously affected by the misalignment fault. Therefore, this paper analyzed the electric vehicle extended range misalignment based on rigid-flexible dynamics. Through comprehensively applied the hybrid modeling of rigid-flexible and the method of fault diagnosis of machinery and equipment comprehensively, it established a extender hybrid rigid flexible mechanical model by means of the software ADAMS and ANSYS. By setting the relevant parameters to simulate the misalignment of shafting, the failure phenomenon, the spectrum analysis and the evolution rules were analyzed. It concluded that 0.5th and 1 harmonics are considered as the characteristic parameters of misalignment diagnostics for electric vehicle extended range.

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

Ruhman, Jonathan; Kozii, Vladyslav; Fu, Liang

In this work, we study how an inversion-breaking quantum critical point affects the ground state of a one-dimensional electronic liquid with repulsive interaction and spin-orbit coupling. We find that regardless of the interaction strength, the critical fluctuations always lead to a gap in the electronic spin sector. The origin of the gap is a two-particle backscattering process, which becomes relevant due to renormalization of the Luttinger parameter near the critical point. The resulting spin-gapped state is topological and can be considered as a one-dimensional version of a spin-triplet superconductor. Interestingly, in the case of a ferromagnetic critical point, the Luttingermore » parameter is renormalized in the opposite manner, such that the system remains nonsuperconducting.« less

Evaluation of the field-effect carrier mobility in single-grain (and polycrystalline) organic semconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwok, H. L.

2005-08-01

Mobility in single-grain and polycrystalline organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) is of interest because it affects the performance of these devices. While reasonable values of the hole mobility has been measured in pentacene OFETs, relatively speaking, our understanding of the detailed transport mechanisms is somewhat weak and there is a lack of precise knowledge on the effects of the materials parameters such as the site spacing, the localization length, the rms width of the density of states (DOS), the escape frequency, etc. This work attempts to analyze the materials parameters of pentacene OFETs extracted from data reported in the literature. In this work, we developed a model for the mobility parameter from first principle and extracted the relevant materials parameters. According to our analyses, the transport mechanisms in the OFETs are fairly complex and the electrical properties are dominated by the properties of the trap states. As observed, the single-grain OFETs having smaller values of the rms widths of the DOS (in comparison with the polycrystalline OFETs) also had higher hole mobilities. Our results showed that increasing the gate bias could have a similar but smaller effect. Potentially, increasing the escape frequency is a more effective way to raise the hole mobility and this parameter appears to be affected by changes in the molecular structure and in the degree of "disorder".

Updating national standards for drinking-water: a Philippine experience.

PubMed

Lomboy, M; Riego de Dios, J; Magtibay, B; Quizon, R; Molina, V; Fadrilan-Camacho, V; See, J; Enoveso, A; Barbosa, L; Agravante, A

2017-04-01

The latest version of the Philippine National Standards for Drinking-Water (PNSDW) was issued in 2007 by the Department of Health (DOH). Due to several issues and concerns, the DOH decided to make an update which is relevant and necessary to meet the needs of the stakeholders. As an output, the water quality parameters are now categorized into mandatory, primary, and secondary. The ten mandatory parameters are core parameters which all water service providers nationwide are obligated to test. These include thermotolerant coliforms or Escherichia coli, arsenic, cadmium, lead, nitrate, color, turbidity, pH, total dissolved solids, and disinfectant residual. The 55 primary parameters are site-specific and can be adopted as enforceable parameters when developing new water sources or when the existing source is at high risk of contamination. The 11 secondary parameters include operational parameters and those that affect the esthetic quality of drinking-water. In addition, the updated PNSDW include new sections: (1) reporting and interpretation of results and corrective actions; (2) emergency drinking-water parameters; (3) proposed Sustainable Development Goal parameters; and (4) standards for other drinking-water sources. The lessons learned and insights gained from the updating of standards are likewise incorporated in this paper.

Properties of pellets manufactured by wet extrusion/spheronization process using kappa-carrageenan: effect of process parameters.

PubMed

Thommes, Markus; Kleinebudde, Peter

2007-11-09

The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the pelletization process parameters of kappa-carrageenan-containing formulations. The study dealt with the effect of 4 process parameters--screw speed, number of die holes, friction plate speed, and spheronizer temperature--on the pellet properties of shape, size, size distribution, tensile strength, and drug release. These parameters were varied systematically in a 2(4) full factorial design. In addition, 4 drugs--phenacetin, chloramphenicol, dimenhydrinate, and lidocaine hydrochloride--were investigated under constant process conditions. The most spherical pellets were achieved in a high yield by using a large number of die holes and a high spheronizer speed. There was no relevant influence of the investigated process parameters on the size distribution, mechanical stability, and drug release. The poorly soluble drugs, phenacetin and chloramphenicol, resulted in pellets with adequate shape, size, and tensile strength and a fast drug release. The salts of dimenhydrinate and lidocaine affected pellet shape, mechanical stability, and the drug release properties using an aqueous solution of pH 3 as a granulation liquid. In the case of dimenhydrinate, this was attributed to the ionic interactions with kappa-carrageenan, resulting in a stable matrix during dissolution that did not disintegrate. The effect of lidocaine is comparable to the effect of sodium ions, which suppress the gelling of carrageenan, resulting in pellets with fast disintegration and drug release characteristics. The pellet properties are affected by the process parameters and the active pharmaceutical ingredient used.

Differences between Outdoor and Indoor Sound Levels for Open, Tilted, and Closed Windows

PubMed Central

Locher, Barbara; Piquerez, André; Habermacher, Manuel; Ragettli, Martina; Cajochen, Christian; Vienneau, Danielle; Foraster, Maria; Müller, Uwe; Wunderli, Jean Marc

2018-01-01

Noise exposure prediction models for health effect studies normally estimate free field exposure levels outside. However, to assess the noise exposure inside dwellings, an estimate of indoor sound levels is necessary. To date, little field data is available about the difference between indoor and outdoor noise levels and factors affecting the damping of outside noise. This is a major cause of uncertainty in indoor noise exposure prediction and may lead to exposure misclassification in health assessments. This study aims to determine sound level differences between the indoors and the outdoors for different window positions and how this sound damping is related to building characteristics. For this purpose, measurements were carried out at home in a sample of 102 Swiss residents exposed to road traffic noise. Sound pressure level recordings were performed outdoors and indoors, in the living room and in the bedroom. Three scenarios—of open, tilted, and closed windows—were recorded for three minutes each. For each situation, data on additional parameters such as the orientation towards the source, floor, and room, as well as sound insulation characteristics were collected. On that basis, linear regression models were established. The median outdoor–indoor sound level differences were of 10 dB(A) for open, 16 dB(A) for tilted, and 28 dB(A) for closed windows. For open and tilted windows, the most relevant parameters affecting the outdoor–indoor differences were the position of the window, the type and volume of the room, and the age of the building. For closed windows, the relevant parameters were the sound level outside, the material of the window frame, the existence of window gaskets, and the number of windows. PMID:29346318

Differences between Outdoor and Indoor Sound Levels for Open, Tilted, and Closed Windows.

PubMed

Locher, Barbara; Piquerez, André; Habermacher, Manuel; Ragettli, Martina; Röösli, Martin; Brink, Mark; Cajochen, Christian; Vienneau, Danielle; Foraster, Maria; Müller, Uwe; Wunderli, Jean Marc

2018-01-18

Noise exposure prediction models for health effect studies normally estimate free field exposure levels outside. However, to assess the noise exposure inside dwellings, an estimate of indoor sound levels is necessary. To date, little field data is available about the difference between indoor and outdoor noise levels and factors affecting the damping of outside noise. This is a major cause of uncertainty in indoor noise exposure prediction and may lead to exposure misclassification in health assessments. This study aims to determine sound level differences between the indoors and the outdoors for different window positions and how this sound damping is related to building characteristics. For this purpose, measurements were carried out at home in a sample of 102 Swiss residents exposed to road traffic noise. Sound pressure level recordings were performed outdoors and indoors, in the living room and in the bedroom. Three scenarios-of open, tilted, and closed windows-were recorded for three minutes each. For each situation, data on additional parameters such as the orientation towards the source, floor, and room, as well as sound insulation characteristics were collected. On that basis, linear regression models were established. The median outdoor-indoor sound level differences were of 10 dB(A) for open, 16 dB(A) for tilted, and 28 dB(A) for closed windows. For open and tilted windows, the most relevant parameters affecting the outdoor-indoor differences were the position of the window, the type and volume of the room, and the age of the building. For closed windows, the relevant parameters were the sound level outside, the material of the window frame, the existence of window gaskets, and the number of windows.

Satellite accretion on to massive galaxies with central black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Ma, Chung-Pei

2007-02-01

Minor mergers of galaxies are expected to be common in a hierarchical cosmology such as Λ cold dark matter. Though less disruptive than major mergers, minor mergers are more frequent and thus have the potential to affect galactic structure significantly. In this paper, we dissect the case-by-case outcome from a set of numerical simulations of a single satellite elliptical galaxy accreting on to a massive elliptical galaxy. We take care to explore cosmologically relevant orbital parameters and to set up realistic initial galaxy models that include all three relevant dynamical components: dark matter haloes, stellar bulges, and central massive black holes (BHs). The effects of several different parameters are considered, including orbital energy and angular momentum, satellite density and inner density profile, satellite-to-host mass ratio, and presence of a BH at the centre of the host. BHs play a crucial role in protecting the shallow stellar cores of the hosts, as satellites merging on to a host with a central BH are more strongly disrupted than those merging on to hosts without BHs. Orbital parameters play an important role in determining the degree of disruption: satellites on less-bound or more-eccentric orbits are more easily destroyed than those on more-bound or more-circular orbits as a result of an increased number of pericentric passages and greater cumulative effects of gravitational shocking and tidal stripping. In addition, satellites with densities typical of faint elliptical galaxies are disrupted relatively easily, while denser satellites can survive much better in the tidal field of the host. Over the range of parameters explored, we find that the accretion of a single satellite elliptical galaxy can result in a broad variety of changes, in both signs, in the surface brightness profile and colour of the central part of an elliptical galaxy. Our results show that detailed properties of the stellar components of merging satellites can strongly affect the properties of the remnants.

Meteorite-asteroid spectral comparison - The effects of comminution, melting, and recrystallization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Beth E.; Fanale, Fraser P.; Salisbury, John W.

1992-01-01

The present laboratory simulation of possible spectral-alteration effects on the optical surface of ordinary chondrite parent bodies duplicated regolith processes through comminution of the samples to finer rain sizes. After reflectance spectra characterization, the comminuted samples were melted, crystallized, recomminuted, and again characterized. While individual spectral characteristics could be significantly changed by these processes, no combination of the alteration procedures appeared capable of affecting all relevant parameters in a way that improved the match between chondritic meteorites and S-class asteroids.

Grading of parameters for urban tree inventories by city officials, arborists, and academics using the delphi method.

PubMed

Östberg, Johan; Delshammar, Tim; Wiström, Björn; Nielsen, Anders Busse

2013-03-01

Tree inventories are expensive to conduct and update, so every inventory carried out must be maximized. However, increasing the number of constituent parameters increases the cost of performing and updating the inventory, illustrating the need for careful parameter selection. This article reports the results of a systematic expert rating of tree inventories aiming to quantify the relative importance of each parameter. Using the Delphi method, panels comprising city officials, arborists, and academics rated a total of 148 parameters. The total mean score, the top ranking parameters, which can serve as a guide for decision-making at practical level and for standardization of tree inventories, were: Scientific name of the tree species and genera, Vitality, Coordinates, Hazard class, and Identification number. The study also examined whether the different responsibilities and usage of urban tree databases among organizations and people engaged in urban tree inventories affected their prioritization. The results revealed noticeable dissimilarities in the ranking of parameters between the panels, underlining the need for collaboration between the research community and those commissioning, administrating, and conducting inventories. Only by applying such a transdisciplinary approach to parameter selection can urban tree inventories be strengthened and made more relevant.

Grading of Parameters for Urban Tree Inventories by City Officials, Arborists, and Academics Using the Delphi Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Östberg, Johan; Delshammar, Tim; Wiström, Björn; Nielsen, Anders Busse

2013-03-01

Tree inventories are expensive to conduct and update, so every inventory carried out must be maximized. However, increasing the number of constituent parameters increases the cost of performing and updating the inventory, illustrating the need for careful parameter selection. This article reports the results of a systematic expert rating of tree inventories aiming to quantify the relative importance of each parameter. Using the Delphi method, panels comprising city officials, arborists, and academics rated a total of 148 parameters. The total mean score, the top ranking parameters, which can serve as a guide for decision-making at practical level and for standardization of tree inventories, were: Scientific name of the tree species and genera, Vitality, Coordinates, Hazard class, and Identification number. The study also examined whether the different responsibilities and usage of urban tree databases among organizations and people engaged in urban tree inventories affected their prioritization. The results revealed noticeable dissimilarities in the ranking of parameters between the panels, underlining the need for collaboration between the research community and those commissioning, administrating, and conducting inventories. Only by applying such a transdisciplinary approach to parameter selection can urban tree inventories be strengthened and made more relevant.

Laser tailored nanoparticle arrays to detect molecules at dilute concentration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanchi, Chiara; Lucotti, Andrea; Tommasini, Matteo; Trusso, Sebastiano; de Grazia, Ugo; Ciusani, Emilio; Ossi, Paolo M.

2017-02-01

By nanosecond pulsed laser ablation in an ambient gas gold nanoparticles (NPs) were produced that self-assemble on a substrate resulting in increasingly elaborated architectures of growing thickness, from isolated NP arrays up to percolated films. NPs nucleate and grow in the plasma plume propagating through the gas. Process parameters including laser wavelength, laser energy density, target to substrate distance, nature and pressure of the gas affect plasma expansion, thus asymptotic NP size and kinetic energy. NP size, energy and mobility at landing determine film growth and morphology that affect the physico-chemical properties of the film. Keeping fixed the other process parameters, we discuss the sensitive dependence of film surface nanostructure on Ar pressure and on laser pulse number. The initial plume velocity and average ablated mass per pulse allow predicting the asymptotic NP size. The control of growth parameters favors fine-tuning of NP aggregation, relevant to plasmonics to get optimized substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Their behavior is discussed for testing conditions of interest for clinical application. Both in aqueous and in biological solutions we obtained good sensitivity and reproducibility of the SERS signals for the anti-Parkinson drug apomorphine, and for the anti-epilepsy drug carbamazepine.

The Effects of School Holidays on Transmission of Varicella Zoster Virus, England and Wales, 1967–2008

PubMed Central

Jackson, Charlotte; Mangtani, Punam; Fine, Paul; Vynnycky, Emilia

2014-01-01

Background Changes in children’s contact patterns between termtime and school holidays affect the transmission of several respiratory-spread infections. Transmission of varicella zoster virus (VZV), the causative agent of chickenpox, has also been linked to the school calendar in several settings, but temporal changes in the proportion of young children attending childcare centres may have influenced this relationship. Methods We used two modelling methods (a simple difference equations model and a Time series Susceptible Infectious Recovered (TSIR) model) to estimate fortnightly values of a contact parameter (the per capita rate of effective contact between two specific individuals), using GP consultation data for chickenpox in England and Wales from 1967–2008. Results The estimated contact parameters were 22–31% lower during the summer holiday than during termtime. The relationship between the contact parameter and the school calendar did not change markedly over the years analysed. Conclusions In England and Wales, reductions in contact between children during the school summer holiday lead to a reduction in the transmission of VZV. These estimates are relevant for predicting how closing schools and nurseries may affect an outbreak of an emerging respiratory-spread pathogen. PMID:24932994

Static posturography and intravenous alcohol.

PubMed

Uimonen, S; Laitakari, K; Bloigu, R; Reinilä, M; Sorri, M

1994-01-01

Twelve health subjects were assessed using static posturography before and after intravenous alcohol infusion in a double-blind experiment. The dose was 0.5 g ethanol per kg body weight in 15 minutes, which raised the blood alcohol concentration to a level of approximately 1 mg/mL. Among other parameters, the average body sway velocity (BSV) and area of body sway (BSA) were measured. BSV was the most sensitive parameter for detecting increased body sway after alcohol infusion, and a significant effect of alcohol on its values was seen at 0.46 to 1.0 mg/mL alcohol concentrations. The second best indicator was the BSA. There was a positive correlation between the BSV and the BSA. The other parameters were not affected. The Romberg quotient remained constant during the alcohol test. The test battery used was relevant to distinguish the effect of alcohol on balance. In this study, acute blood alcohol concentrations of around 0.5 to 1.0 mg/mL affected BSV more significantly than BSA. The authors do not, however, recommend the test for forensic purposes in examining drivers with alcohol in their blood, as there is too much interindividual dispersion in the results.

An environmentally relevant endocrine-disrupting antiandrogen, vinclozolin, affects calling behavior of male Xenopus laevis.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Frauke; Kloas, Werner

2010-09-01

Vinclozolin (VIN) is an antiandrogenic model substance as well as a common fungicide that can affect the endocrine system of vertebrates. The objective of this study was to investigate how VIN affects mate calling behavior of South African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) and whether it is effective at environmentally relevant concentrations. Male X. laevis were injected with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to stimulate their androgen-controlled mate calling behavior and were treated with VIN at concentrations of 10(-6), 10(-8) and 10(-10)M. VIN at 10(-6)M reduced calling activity. Furthermore, the vocalization composition of VIN-treated X. laevis was altered. The call types advertisement calls and chirping are uttered by reproductively active males, whereas the call types growling, ticking, and rasping indicate a sexually unaroused state of a male. VIN at any of the tested concentrations led to a decrease in utterance of calls, which indicate a sexually aroused state of the males, and an increase in relative proportions of calls, indicating a sexually unaroused state of the males. Additionally, the mean duration of clicks and the number of accentuated clicks during the advertisement calls decreased at all concentrations of VIN. No significant differences were observed in any other temporal or spectral calling parameters between the treatments. This study illustrates that exposure to the antiandrogen VIN might result in a reduced reproductive success by altering mate calling behavior of X. laevis. Moreover, it suggests that the behavioral parameters examined in this study can be used as sensitive biomarkers for detecting antiandrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds in amphibians. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Theoretical and experimental study on the effects of particle size and temperature on the reaction kinetics of cubic nano-Cu2O

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Huanfeng; Huang, Zaiyin; Xiao, Ming; Liang, Min; Chen, Liying; Tan, XueCai

2017-09-01

The activities, selectivities, and stabilities of nanoparticles in heterogeneous reactions are size-dependent. In order to investigate the influencing laws of particle size and temperature on kinetic parameters in heterogeneous reactions, cubic nano-Cu2O particles of four different sizes in the range of 40-120 nm have been controllably synthesized. In situ microcalorimetry has been used to attain thermodynamic data on the reaction of Cu2O with aqueous HNO3 and, combined with thermodynamic principles and kinetic transition-state theory, the relevant reaction kinetic parameters have been evaluated. The size dependences of the kinetic parameters are discussed in terms of the established kinetic model and the experimental results. It was found that the reaction rate constants increased with decreasing particle size. Accordingly, the apparent activation energy, pre-exponential factor, activation enthalpy, activation entropy, and activation Gibbs energy decreased with decreasing particle size. The reaction rate constants and activation Gibbs energies increased with increasing temperature. Moreover, the logarithms of the apparent activation energies, pre-exponential factors, and rate constants were found to be linearly related to the reciprocal of particle size, consistent with the kinetic models. The influence of particle size on these reaction kinetic parameters may be explained as follows: the apparent activation energy is affected by the partial molar enthalpy, the pre-exponential factor is affected by the partial molar entropy, and the reaction rate constant is affected by the partial molar Gibbs energy. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Long-term metabolic effects of aripiprazole, ziprasidone and quetiapine: a pragmatic clinical trial in drug-naïve patients with a first-episode of non-affective psychosis.

PubMed

Vázquez-Bourgon, Javier; Pérez-Iglesias, Rocío; Ortiz-García de la Foz, Víctor; Suárez Pinilla, Paula; Díaz Martínez, Álvaro; Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto

2018-01-01

The use of second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) has been associated with metabolic changes. However, there are differences in the metabolic profile between SGAs. We have previously observed that ziprasidone had a more benign early metabolic profile compared to aripiprazole and quetiapine. However, a long-term follow-up is preferred to detect clinically relevant impairment in metabolic parameters. We aimed to compare the effect of aripiprazole, ziprasidone, and quetiapine on metabolic measures in first-episode non-affective psychosis patients after 1 year of treatment. One hundred and sixty-five drug-naïve patients, suffering from a first episode of non-affective psychosis, were randomly assigned to receive quetiapine, ziprasidone, or aripiprazole. Weight and glycemic/lipid parameters were recorded at baseline and after 1 year of treatment. After 1 year of antipsychotic treatment, we found significant increments in weight, BMI, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and the triglyceride/HDL index in the sample as a whole. These changes produced a significant rise in the percentage of patients with obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia. However, when comparing the differential effect of each antipsychotic medication, we found no significant differences in any of the metabolic parameters between antipsychotics groups after 1 year of treatment. We concluded that the antipsychotics studied present similar metabolic profiles. However, the primary exposure to SGAs during the first year of psychosis was associated with significant increases in weight and metabolic parameters, leading to increments in obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia.

In-depth quantitative analysis of the microstructures produced by Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT)

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

Samih, Y., E-mail: youssef.samih@univ-lorraine.fr; Université de Lorraine, Laboratory of Excellence on Design of Alloy Metals for low-mAss Structures; Beausir, B.

2013-09-15

Electron BackScattered Diffraction (EBSD) maps are used to characterize quantitatively the graded microstructure formed by Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) and applied here to the 316L stainless steel. In particular, the analysis of GNDs – coupled with relevant and reliable criteria – was used to depict the thickness of each zone identified in the SMAT-affected layers: (i) the “ultrafine grain” (UFG) zone present at the extreme top surface, (ii), the “transition zone” where grains were fragmented under the heavy plastic deformation and, finally, (iii) the “deformed zone” where initial grains are simply deformed. The interest of this procedure is illustratedmore » through the comparative analysis of the effect of some SMAT processing parameters (amplitude of vibration and treatment duration). The UFG and transition zones are more significantly modified than the overall affected thickness under our tested conditions. - Highlights: • EBSD maps are used to characterize quantitatively the microstructure of SMAT treated samples. • Calculation of the GND density to quantify strain gradients • A new method to depict the different zone thicknesses in the SMAT affected layer • Effects of SMAT processing parameters on the surface microstructure evolution.« less

Higgs-portal assisted Higgs inflation with a sizeable tensor-to-scalar ratio

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

Kim, Jinsu; Ko, Pyungwon; Park, Wan-Il, E-mail: kimjinsu@kias.re.kr, E-mail: pko@kias.re.kr, E-mail: Wanil.Park@uv.es

We show that the Higgs portal interactions involving extra dark Higgs field can save generically the original Higgs inflation of the standard model (SM) from the problem of a deep non-SM vacuum in the SM Higgs potential. Specifically, we show that such interactions disconnect the top quark pole mass from inflationary observables and allow multi-dimensional parameter space to save the Higgs inflation, thanks to the additional parameters (the dark Higgs boson mass m {sub φ}, the mixing angle α between the SM Higgs H and dark Higgs Φ, and the mixed quartic coupling) affecting RG-running of the Higgs quartic coupling.more » The effect of Higgs portal interactions may lead to a larger tensor-to-scalar ratio, 0.08 ∼< r ∼< 0.1, by adjusting relevant parameters in wide ranges of α and m {sub φ}, some region of which can be probed at future colliders. Performing a numerical analysis we find an allowed region of parameters, matching the latest Planck data.« less

Statistics of optimal information flow in ensembles of regulatory motifs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crisanti, Andrea; De Martino, Andrea; Fiorentino, Jonathan

2018-02-01

Genetic regulatory circuits universally cope with different sources of noise that limit their ability to coordinate input and output signals. In many cases, optimal regulatory performance can be thought to correspond to configurations of variables and parameters that maximize the mutual information between inputs and outputs. Since the mid-2000s, such optima have been well characterized in several biologically relevant cases. Here we use methods of statistical field theory to calculate the statistics of the maximal mutual information (the "capacity") achievable by tuning the input variable only in an ensemble of regulatory motifs, such that a single controller regulates N targets. Assuming (i) sufficiently large N , (ii) quenched random kinetic parameters, and (iii) small noise affecting the input-output channels, we can accurately reproduce numerical simulations both for the mean capacity and for the whole distribution. Our results provide insight into the inherent variability in effectiveness occurring in regulatory systems with heterogeneous kinetic parameters.

Thermal effects of laser marking on microstructure and corrosion properties of stainless steel.

PubMed

Švantner, M; Kučera, M; Smazalová, E; Houdková, Š; Čerstvý, R

2016-12-01

Laser marking is an advanced technique used for modification of surface optical properties. This paper presents research on the influence of laser marking on the corrosion properties of stainless steel. Processes during the laser beam-surface interaction cause structure and color changes and can also be responsible for reduction of corrosion resistance of the surface. Corrosion tests, roughness, microscopic, energy dispersive x-ray, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, and ferrite content analyses were carried out. It was found that increasing heat input is the most crucial parameter regarding the degradation of corrosion resistance of stainless steel. Other relevant parameters include the pulse length and pulse frequency. The authors found a correlation between laser processing parameters, grazing incidence x-ray measurement, ferrite content, and corrosion resistance of the affected surface. Possibilities and limitations of laser marking of stainless steel in the context of the reduction of its corrosion resistance are discussed.

Surgeon Reported Outcome Measure for Spine Trauma: An International Expert Survey Identifying Parameters Relevant for the Outcome of Subaxial Cervical Spine Injuries.

PubMed

Sadiqi, Said; Verlaan, Jorrit-Jan; Lehr, A Mechteld; Dvorak, Marcel F; Kandziora, Frank; Rajasekaran, S; Schnake, Klaus J; Vaccaro, Alexander R; Oner, F Cumhur

2016-12-15

International web-based survey. To identify clinical and radiological parameters that spine surgeons consider most relevant when evaluating clinical and functional outcomes of subaxial cervical spine trauma patients. Although an outcome instrument that reflects the patients' perspective is imperative, there is also a need for a surgeon reported outcome measure to reflect the clinicians' perspective adequately. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among a selected number of spine surgeons from all five AOSpine International world regions. They were asked to indicate the relevance of a compilation of 21 parameters, both for the short term (3 mo-2 yr) and long term (≥2 yr), on a five-point scale. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Of the 279 AOSpine International and International Spinal Cord Society members who received the survey, 108 (38.7%) participated in the study. Ten parameters were identified as relevant both for short term and long term by at least 70% of the participants. Neurological status, implant failure within 3 months, and patient satisfaction were most relevant. Bony fusion was the only parameter for the long term, whereas five parameters were identified for the short term. The remaining six parameters were not deemed relevant. Minor differences were observed when analyzing the responses according to each world region, or spine surgeons' degree of experience. The perspective of an international sample of highly experienced spine surgeons was explored on the most relevant parameters to evaluate and predict outcomes of subaxial cervical spine trauma patients. These results form the basis for the development of a disease-specific surgeon reported outcome measure, which will be a helpful tool in research and clinical practice. 4.

Application of all relevant feature selection for failure analysis of parameter-induced simulation crashes in climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paja, W.; Wrzesień, M.; Niemiec, R.; Rudnicki, W. R.

2015-07-01

The climate models are extremely complex pieces of software. They reflect best knowledge on physical components of the climate, nevertheless, they contain several parameters, which are too weakly constrained by observations, and can potentially lead to a crash of simulation. Recently a study by Lucas et al. (2013) has shown that machine learning methods can be used for predicting which combinations of parameters can lead to crash of simulation, and hence which processes described by these parameters need refined analyses. In the current study we reanalyse the dataset used in this research using different methodology. We confirm the main conclusion of the original study concerning suitability of machine learning for prediction of crashes. We show, that only three of the eight parameters indicated in the original study as relevant for prediction of the crash are indeed strongly relevant, three other are relevant but redundant, and two are not relevant at all. We also show that the variance due to split of data between training and validation sets has large influence both on accuracy of predictions and relative importance of variables, hence only cross-validated approach can deliver robust prediction of performance and relevance of variables.

Studies on Thorium Adsorption Characteristics upon Activated Titanium Hydroxide Prepared from Rosetta Ilmenite Concentrate

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

Gado, M, E-mail: parq28@yahoo.com; Zaki, S

2016-01-01

The titanium hydroxide prepared from Rosetta ilmenite concentrate has been applied for Th (IV) adsorption from its acid aqueous solutions. The prepared hydroxide is first characterized by both Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum and thermogravimetric analysis. The relevant factors affecting the adsorption process have been studied. The obtained equilibrium data fits well with the Langmuir isotherm rather than Freundlich isotherm, while the adsorption kinetic data follow the pseudo-second order model. The different thermodynamic parameters have also been calculated and indicate that the adsorption process is spontaneous.

Male fertility: psychiatric considerations.

PubMed

Hall, Elise; Burt, Vivien K

2012-02-01

To examine: 1) current knowledge on normal biologic variation of seminal parameters; 2) how stress and psychological factors affect sperm quality in fertile and infertile males; and 3) how mental illness and psychopharmacologic agents can affect male fertility. English-language Medline, Embase, and Psycinfo were searched for relevant publications (from 1970 to January 2011) for systematic review. None. None. None. Possible effects of stress, mood, and psychotropic medications on male factor fertility. Male-factor infertility is influenced by myriad factors (obesity, tobacco, etc.). Stress alone may reduce testosterone levels and spermatogenesis. Infertility assessment and treatment can lead to distress and negatively affect sperm samples. Available research has failed to control for potentially confounding variables. Although some trends have been identified, larger-scale studies that adequately control all confounding variables are needed before conclusions can be made about the relationship between stress, psychotropic agents, and male infertility. Copyright © 2012 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Selected, annotated bibliography of studies relevant to the isolation of nuclear wastes. [705 references

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

Hyder, L.K.; Fore, C.S.; Vaughan, N.D.

This annotated bibliography of 705 references represents the first in a series to be published by the Ecological Sciences Information Center containing scientific, technical, economic, and regulatory information relevant to nuclear waste isolation. Most references discuss deep geologic disposal, with fewer studies of deep seabed disposal; space disposal is also included. The publication covers both domestic and foreign literature for the period 1954 to 1980. Major chapters selected are Chemical and Physical Aspects; Container Design and Performance; Disposal Site; Envirnmental Transport; General Studies and Reviews; Geology, Hydrology and Site Resources; Regulatory and Economic Aspects; Repository Design and Engineering; Transportation Technology;more » Waste Production; and Waste Treatment. Specialized data fields have been incorporated to improve the ease and accuracy of locating pertinent references. Specific radionuclides for which data are presented are listed in the Measured Radionuclides field, and specific parameters which affect the migration of these radionuclides are presented in the Measured Parameters field. The references within each chapter are arranged alphabetically by leading author, corporate affiliation, or title of the document. When the author is not given, the corporate affiliation appears first. If these two levels of authorship are not given, the title of the document is used as the identifying level. Indexes are provided for author(s), keywords, subject category, title, geographic location, measured parameters, measured radionuclides, and publication description.« less

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

Wang, Yunliang; International Centre for Advanced Studies in Physical Sciences and Institute for Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum; Lü, Xiaoxia

A theoretical and numerical study of the modulational instability of large amplitude quantum magnetosonic waves (QMWs) in a relativistically degenerate plasma is presented. A modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is derived by using the reductive perturbation method. The modulational instability regions of the QMWs and the corresponding growth rates are significantly affected by the relativistic degeneracy parameter, the Pauli spin magnetization effects, and the equilibrium magnetic field. The dynamics and nonlinear saturation of the modulational instability of QMWs are investigated numerically. It is found that the increase of the relativistic degeneracy parameter can increase the growth rate of the instability, andmore » the system is saturated nonlinearly by the formation of envelope solitary waves. The current investigation may have relevance to astrophysical magnetized compact objects, such as white dwarfs and pulsar magnetospheres.« less

Odd-Parity Superconductivity near an Inversion Breaking Quantum Critical Point in One Dimension

DOE PAGES

Ruhman, Jonathan; Kozii, Vladyslav; Fu, Liang

2017-05-31

In this work, we study how an inversion-breaking quantum critical point affects the ground state of a one-dimensional electronic liquid with repulsive interaction and spin-orbit coupling. We find that regardless of the interaction strength, the critical fluctuations always lead to a gap in the electronic spin sector. The origin of the gap is a two-particle backscattering process, which becomes relevant due to renormalization of the Luttinger parameter near the critical point. The resulting spin-gapped state is topological and can be considered as a one-dimensional version of a spin-triplet superconductor. Interestingly, in the case of a ferromagnetic critical point, the Luttingermore » parameter is renormalized in the opposite manner, such that the system remains nonsuperconducting.« less

Semianalytic calculation of cosmic microwave background anisotropies from wiggly and superconducting cosmic strings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rybak, I. Yu.; Avgoustidis, A.; Martins, C. J. A. P.

2017-11-01

We study how the presence of world-sheet currents affects the evolution of cosmic string networks, and their impact on predictions for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies generated by these networks. We provide a general description of string networks with currents and explicitly investigate in detail two physically motivated examples: wiggly and superconducting cosmic string networks. By using a modified version of the CMBact code, we show quantitatively how the relevant network parameters in both of these cases influence the predicted CMB signal. Our analysis suggests that previous studies have overestimated the amplitude of the anisotropies for wiggly strings. For superconducting strings the amplitude of the anisotropies depends on parameters which presently are not well known—but which can be measured in future high-resolution numerical simulations.

A Genetic Algorithm Based Support Vector Machine Model for Blood-Brain Barrier Penetration Prediction

PubMed Central

Zhang, Daqing; Xiao, Jianfeng; Zhou, Nannan; Luo, Xiaomin; Jiang, Hualiang; Chen, Kaixian

2015-01-01

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a highly complex physical barrier determining what substances are allowed to enter the brain. Support vector machine (SVM) is a kernel-based machine learning method that is widely used in QSAR study. For a successful SVM model, the kernel parameters for SVM and feature subset selection are the most important factors affecting prediction accuracy. In most studies, they are treated as two independent problems, but it has been proven that they could affect each other. We designed and implemented genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize kernel parameters and feature subset selection for SVM regression and applied it to the BBB penetration prediction. The results show that our GA/SVM model is more accurate than other currently available log BB models. Therefore, to optimize both SVM parameters and feature subset simultaneously with genetic algorithm is a better approach than other methods that treat the two problems separately. Analysis of our log BB model suggests that carboxylic acid group, polar surface area (PSA)/hydrogen-bonding ability, lipophilicity, and molecular charge play important role in BBB penetration. Among those properties relevant to BBB penetration, lipophilicity could enhance the BBB penetration while all the others are negatively correlated with BBB penetration. PMID:26504797

Factors affecting the stability of viral vaccines.

PubMed

Peetermans, J

1996-01-01

The stability of viral vaccines is determined by the rate of loss of "integrity" of the viral antigen during storage. For live vaccines, such as measles, mumps, rubella, canine distemper, stability is equivalent to the preservation of the infectious titres. For inactivated and subunit vaccines, the preservation of the antigenic structure and the correct steric presentation of the relevant epitopes are the parameters which determine their stability. In general, the following factors may have a negative effect on stability: temperature, pH outside the physiological limits, organic solvents, repeated freezing and thawing, some antiseptics and inactivating agents, and light. However their negative effect is in most cases specific for the individual viruses. Approaches to stabilisation of most vaccines are based on the elimination or neutralisation of the negative factors. Practical examples for the most relevant existing vaccines are described.

The System Dynamics Model for Development of Organic Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozman, Črtomir; Škraba, Andrej; Kljajić, Miroljub; Pažek, Karmen; Bavec, Martina; Bavec, Franci

2008-10-01

Organic agriculture is the highest environmentally valuable agricultural system, and has strategic importance at national level that goes beyond the interests of agricultural sector. In this paper we address development of organic farming simulation model based on a system dynamics methodology (SD). The system incorporates relevant variables, which affect the development of the organic farming. The group decision support system (GDSS) was used in order to identify most relevant variables for construction of causal loop diagram and further model development. The model seeks answers to strategic questions related to the level of organically utilized area, levels of production and crop selection in a long term dynamic context and will be used for simulation of different policy scenarios for organic farming and their impact on economic and environmental parameters of organic production at an aggregate level.

Quantifying Key Climate Parameter Uncertainties Using an Earth System Model with a Dynamic 3D Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, R.; Sriver, R. L.; Goes, M. P.; Urban, N.; Matthews, D.; Haran, M.; Keller, K.

2011-12-01

Climate projections hinge critically on uncertain climate model parameters such as climate sensitivity, vertical ocean diffusivity and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol forcings. Climate sensitivity is defined as the equilibrium global mean temperature response to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Vertical ocean diffusivity parameterizes sub-grid scale ocean vertical mixing processes. These parameters are typically estimated using Intermediate Complexity Earth System Models (EMICs) that lack a full 3D representation of the oceans, thereby neglecting the effects of mixing on ocean dynamics and meridional overturning. We improve on these studies by employing an EMIC with a dynamic 3D ocean model to estimate these parameters. We carry out historical climate simulations with the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM) varying parameters that affect climate sensitivity, vertical ocean mixing, and effects of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols. We use a Bayesian approach whereby the likelihood of each parameter combination depends on how well the model simulates surface air temperature and upper ocean heat content. We use a Gaussian process emulator to interpolate the model output to an arbitrary parameter setting. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to estimate the posterior probability distribution function (pdf) of these parameters. We explore the sensitivity of the results to prior assumptions about the parameters. In addition, we estimate the relative skill of different observations to constrain the parameters. We quantify the uncertainty in parameter estimates stemming from climate variability, model and observational errors. We explore the sensitivity of key decision-relevant climate projections to these parameters. We find that climate sensitivity and vertical ocean diffusivity estimates are consistent with previously published results. The climate sensitivity pdf is strongly affected by the prior assumptions, and by the scaling parameter for the aerosols. The estimation method is computationally fast and can be used with more complex models where climate sensitivity is diagnosed rather than prescribed. The parameter estimates can be used to create probabilistic climate projections using the UVic ESCM model in future studies.

Application of all-relevant feature selection for the failure analysis of parameter-induced simulation crashes in climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paja, Wiesław; Wrzesien, Mariusz; Niemiec, Rafał; Rudnicki, Witold R.

2016-03-01

Climate models are extremely complex pieces of software. They reflect the best knowledge on the physical components of the climate; nevertheless, they contain several parameters, which are too weakly constrained by observations, and can potentially lead to a simulation crashing. Recently a study by Lucas et al. (2013) has shown that machine learning methods can be used for predicting which combinations of parameters can lead to the simulation crashing and hence which processes described by these parameters need refined analyses. In the current study we reanalyse the data set used in this research using different methodology. We confirm the main conclusion of the original study concerning the suitability of machine learning for the prediction of crashes. We show that only three of the eight parameters indicated in the original study as relevant for prediction of the crash are indeed strongly relevant, three others are relevant but redundant and two are not relevant at all. We also show that the variance due to the split of data between training and validation sets has a large influence both on the accuracy of predictions and on the relative importance of variables; hence only a cross-validated approach can deliver a robust prediction of performance and relevance of variables.

Reallocation in modal aerosol models: impacts on predicting aerosol radiative effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korhola, T.; Kokkola, H.; Korhonen, H.; Partanen, A.-I.; Laaksonen, A.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Romakkaniemi, S.

2013-08-01

In atmospheric modelling applications the aerosol particle size distribution is commonly represented by modal approach, in which particles in different size ranges are described with log-normal modes within predetermined size ranges. Such method includes numerical reallocation of particles from a mode to another for example during particle growth, leading to potentially artificial changes in the aerosol size distribution. In this study we analysed how this reallocation affects climatologically relevant parameters: cloud droplet number concentration, aerosol-cloud interaction coefficient and light extinction coefficient. We compared these parameters between a modal model with and without reallocation routines, and a high resolution sectional model that was considered as a reference model. We analysed the relative differences of the parameters in different experiments that were designed to cover a wide range of dynamic aerosol processes occurring in the atmosphere. According to our results, limiting the allowed size ranges of the modes and the following numerical remapping of the distribution by reallocation, leads on average to underestimation of cloud droplet number concentration (up to 100%) and overestimation of light extinction (up to 20%). The analysis of aerosol first indirect effect is more complicated as the ACI parameter can be either over- or underestimated by the reallocating model, depending on the conditions. However, for example in the case of atmospheric new particle formation events followed by rapid particle growth, the reallocation can cause around average 10% overestimation of the ACI parameter. Thus it is shown that the reallocation affects the ability of a model to estimate aerosol climate effects accurately, and this should be taken into account when using and developing aerosol models.

Contact lens deposits, adverse responses, and clinical ocular surface parameters.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhenjun; Naduvilath, Thomas; Flanagan, Judith L; Carnt, Nicole A; Wei, Xiaojia; Diec, Jennie; Evans, Vicki; Willcox, Mark D P

2010-09-01

To correlate clinical responses during contact lens wear with the amount of protein or cholesterol extracted from lenses after wear. Clinical parameters, including adverse response rates and corneal staining, and symptomatology rating during lens wear were collected from a series of clinical tests comprising four different silicone hydrogel lenses with four different multipurpose solutions. To test for correlates, the amount of total protein or cholesterol extracted from lenses after daily wear were compared statistically to clinical parameters. The amount of protein (p = 0.008) or cholesterol (p = 0.01) extracted from lenses was higher for those subjects who showed solution-induced corneal staining. Amount of protein extracted was correlated (p < 0.01) with conjunctival staining (R = -0.23), lens front surface wetting (r = 0.14), and lens fit tightness (R = -0.20). These clinical parameters accounted for 48% of lens protein deposition. The amount of cholesterol extracted from lenses was much more weakly associated with clinical variables. Amount of protein or cholesterol extracted from lenses was not associated with the production of any corneal infiltrative or mechanical adverse event during wear and was only very weakly correlated with insertion comfort of lenses. These results suggest that there may be no physiologically relevant consequence of cholesterol depositing on silicone hydrogel lenses. The amount of protein that deposits onto silicone hydrogel lenses during wear may have more affect on lens performance on-eye. However, the correlations were generally small and may still not indicate any causative relevant physiological response. Further work is required to determine whether there is any direct causative effect to support these correlative findings.

Affective Disruption from Social Rhythm and Behavioral Approach System (BAS) Sensitivities: A Test of the Integration of the Social Zeitgeber and BAS Theories of Bipolar Disorder.

PubMed

Boland, Elaine M; Stange, Jonathan P; Labelle, Denise R; Shapero, Benjamin G; Weiss, Rachel B; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

2016-05-01

The Behavioral Approach System (BAS)/Reward Hypersensitivity Theory and the Social Zeitgeber Theory are two biopsychosocial theories of bipolar spectrum disorders (BSD) that may work together to explain affective dysregulation. The present study examined whether BAS sensitivity is associated with affective symptoms via a) increased social rhythm disruption in response to BAS-relevant life events, or b) greater exposure to BAS events leading to social rhythm disruption and subsequent symptoms. Results indicated that high BAS individuals were more likely to experience social rhythm disruption following BAS-relevant events. Social rhythm disruption mediated the association between BAS-relevant events and symptoms (hypothesis a). High BAS individuals experienced significantly more BAS-relevant events, which predicted greater social rhythm disruption, which predicted greater levels of affective symptoms (hypothesis b). Individuals at risk for BSD may be sensitive to BAS-relevant stimuli, experience more BAS-relevant events, and experience affective dysregulation due to the interplay of the BAS and circadian rhythms.

Regularized quantile regression for SNP marker estimation of pig growth curves.

PubMed

Barroso, L M A; Nascimento, M; Nascimento, A C C; Silva, F F; Serão, N V L; Cruz, C D; Resende, M D V; Silva, F L; Azevedo, C F; Lopes, P S; Guimarães, S E F

2017-01-01

Genomic growth curves are generally defined only in terms of population mean; an alternative approach that has not yet been exploited in genomic analyses of growth curves is the Quantile Regression (QR). This methodology allows for the estimation of marker effects at different levels of the variable of interest. We aimed to propose and evaluate a regularized quantile regression for SNP marker effect estimation of pig growth curves, as well as to identify the chromosome regions of the most relevant markers and to estimate the genetic individual weight trajectory over time (genomic growth curve) under different quantiles (levels). The regularized quantile regression (RQR) enabled the discovery, at different levels of interest (quantiles), of the most relevant markers allowing for the identification of QTL regions. We found the same relevant markers simultaneously affecting different growth curve parameters (mature weight and maturity rate): two (ALGA0096701 and ALGA0029483) for RQR(0.2), one (ALGA0096701) for RQR(0.5), and one (ALGA0003761) for RQR(0.8). Three average genomic growth curves were obtained and the behavior was explained by the curve in quantile 0.2, which differed from the others. RQR allowed for the construction of genomic growth curves, which is the key to identifying and selecting the most desirable animals for breeding purposes. Furthermore, the proposed model enabled us to find, at different levels of interest (quantiles), the most relevant markers for each trait (growth curve parameter estimates) and their respective chromosomal positions (identification of new QTL regions for growth curves in pigs). These markers can be exploited under the context of marker assisted selection while aiming to change the shape of pig growth curves.

Tuning of Kalman filter parameters via genetic algorithm for state-of-charge estimation in battery management system.

PubMed

Ting, T O; Man, Ka Lok; Lim, Eng Gee; Leach, Mark

2014-01-01

In this work, a state-space battery model is derived mathematically to estimate the state-of-charge (SoC) of a battery system. Subsequently, Kalman filter (KF) is applied to predict the dynamical behavior of the battery model. Results show an accurate prediction as the accumulated error, in terms of root-mean-square (RMS), is a very small value. From this work, it is found that different sets of Q and R values (KF's parameters) can be applied for better performance and hence lower RMS error. This is the motivation for the application of a metaheuristic algorithm. Hence, the result is further improved by applying a genetic algorithm (GA) to tune Q and R parameters of the KF. In an online application, a GA can be applied to obtain the optimal parameters of the KF before its application to a real plant (system). This simply means that the instantaneous response of the KF is not affected by the time consuming GA as this approach is applied only once to obtain the optimal parameters. The relevant workable MATLAB source codes are given in the appendix to ease future work and analysis in this area.

The impact of higher-order ionospheric effects on estimated tropospheric parameters in Precise Point Positioning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zus, F.; Deng, Z.; Wickert, J.

2017-08-01

The impact of higher-order ionospheric effects on the estimated station coordinates and clocks in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is well documented in literature. Simulation studies reveal that higher-order ionospheric effects have a significant impact on the estimated tropospheric parameters as well. In particular, the tropospheric north-gradient component is most affected for low-latitude and midlatitude stations around noon. In a practical example we select a few hundred stations randomly distributed over the globe, in March 2012 (medium solar activity), and apply/do not apply ionospheric corrections in PPP. We compare the two sets of tropospheric parameters (ionospheric corrections applied/not applied) and find an overall good agreement with the prediction from the simulation study. The comparison of the tropospheric parameters with the tropospheric parameters derived from the ERA-Interim global atmospheric reanalysis shows that ionospheric corrections must be consistently applied in PPP and the orbit and clock generation. The inconsistent application results in an artificial station displacement which is accompanied by an artificial "tilting" of the troposphere. This finding is relevant in particular for those who consider advanced GNSS tropospheric products for meteorological studies.

Tuning of Kalman Filter Parameters via Genetic Algorithm for State-of-Charge Estimation in Battery Management System

PubMed Central

Ting, T. O.; Lim, Eng Gee

2014-01-01

In this work, a state-space battery model is derived mathematically to estimate the state-of-charge (SoC) of a battery system. Subsequently, Kalman filter (KF) is applied to predict the dynamical behavior of the battery model. Results show an accurate prediction as the accumulated error, in terms of root-mean-square (RMS), is a very small value. From this work, it is found that different sets of Q and R values (KF's parameters) can be applied for better performance and hence lower RMS error. This is the motivation for the application of a metaheuristic algorithm. Hence, the result is further improved by applying a genetic algorithm (GA) to tune Q and R parameters of the KF. In an online application, a GA can be applied to obtain the optimal parameters of the KF before its application to a real plant (system). This simply means that the instantaneous response of the KF is not affected by the time consuming GA as this approach is applied only once to obtain the optimal parameters. The relevant workable MATLAB source codes are given in the appendix to ease future work and analysis in this area. PMID:25162041

New best estimates for radionuclide solid-liquid distribution coefficients in soils. Part 2: naturally occurring radionuclides.

PubMed

Vandenhove, H; Gil-García, C; Rigol, A; Vidal, M

2009-09-01

Predicting the transfer of radionuclides in the environment for normal release, accidental, disposal or remediation scenarios in order to assess exposure requires the availability of an important number of generic parameter values. One of the key parameters in environmental assessment is the solid liquid distribution coefficient, K(d), which is used to predict radionuclide-soil interaction and subsequent radionuclide transport in the soil column. This article presents a review of K(d) values for uranium, radium, lead, polonium and thorium based on an extensive literature survey, including recent publications. The K(d) estimates were presented per soil groups defined by their texture and organic matter content (Sand, Loam, Clay and Organic), although the texture class seemed not to significantly affect K(d). Where relevant, other K(d) classification systems are proposed and correlations with soil parameters are highlighted. The K(d) values obtained in this compilation are compared with earlier review data.

Natural abundance (25)Mg solid-state NMR of mg oxyanion systems: a combined experimental and computational study.

PubMed

Cahill, Lindsay S; Hanna, John V; Wong, Alan; Freitas, Jair C C; Yates, Jonathan R; Harris, Robin K; Smith, Mark E

2009-09-28

Solid-state (25)Mg magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) data are reported from a range of organic and inorganic magnesium-oxyanion compounds at natural abundance. To constrain the determination of the NMR interaction parameters (delta(iso), chi(Q), eta(Q)) data have been collected at three external magnetic fields (11.7, 14.1 and 18.8 T). Corresponding NMR parameters have also been calculated by using density functional theory (DFT) methods using the GIPAW approach, with good correlations being established between experimental and calculated values of both chi(Q) and delta(iso). These correlations demonstrate that the (25)Mg NMR parameters are very sensitive to the structure, with small changes in the local Mg(2+) environment and the overall hydration state profoundly affecting the observed spectra. The observations suggest that (25)Mg NMR spectroscopy is a potentially potent probe for addressing some key problems in inorganic materials and of metal centres in biologically relevant molecules.

Surface microtopography modulates sealing zone development in osteoclasts cultured on bone

PubMed Central

Addadi, Lia; Geiger, Benjamin

2017-01-01

Bone homeostasis is continuously regulated by the coordinated action of bone-resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts. Imbalance between these two cell populations leads to pathological bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteopetrosis. Osteoclast functionality relies on the formation of sealing zone (SZ) rings that define the resorption lacuna. It is commonly assumed that the structure and dynamic properties of the SZ depend on the physical and chemical properties of the substrate. Considering the unique complex structure of native bone, elucidation of the relevant parameters affecting SZ formation and stability is challenging. In this study, we examined in detail the dynamic response of the SZ to the microtopography of devitalized bone surfaces, taken from the same area in cattle femur. We show that there is a significant enrichment in large and stable SZs (diameter larger than 14 µm; lifespan of hours) in cells cultured on rough bone surfaces, compared with small and fast turning over SZ rings (diameter below 7 µm; lifespan approx. 7 min) formed on smooth bone surfaces. Based on these results, we propose that the surface roughness of the physiologically relevant substrate of osteoclasts, namely bone, affects primarily the local stability of growing SZs. PMID:28202594

Studying Spacecraft Charging via Numerical Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delzanno, G. L.; Moulton, D.; Meierbachtol, C.; Svyatskiy, D.; Vernon, L.

2015-12-01

The electrical charging of spacecraft due to bombarding charged particles can affect their performance and operation. We study this charging using CPIC; a particle-in-cell code specifically designed for studying plasma-material interactions [1]. CPIC is based on multi-block curvilinear meshes, resulting in near-optimal computational performance while maintaining geometric accuracy. Relevant plasma parameters are imported from the SHIELDS framework (currently under development at LANL), which simulates geomagnetic storms and substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere. Simulated spacecraft charging results of representative Van Allen Probe geometries using these plasma parameters will be presented, along with an overview of the code. [1] G.L. Delzanno, E. Camporeale, J.D. Moulton, J.E. Borovsky, E.A. MacDonald, and M.F. Thomsen, "CPIC: A Curvilinear Particle-In-Cell Code for Plasma-Material Interaction Studies," IEEE Trans. Plas. Sci., 41 (12), 3577 (2013).

High temperature stability of anatase in titania-alumina semiconductors with enhanced photodegradation of 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

PubMed

López-Granada, G; Barceinas-Sánchez, J D O; López, R; Gómez, R

2013-12-15

The incorporation of aluminum acetylacetonate as alumina source during the gelation of titanium alkoxide reduces the nucleation sites for the formation of large rutile crystals on temperatures ranging from 400 to 800°C. As a result, the aggregation of anatase crystals is prevented at high temperature. A relationship among the specific surface area, pore size, energy band gap, crystalline structure and crystallite size as the most relevant parameters are evaluated and discussed. According to the results for the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, the specific surface area, pore size, Eg band gap are not determinant in the photocatalytic properties. It was found that the anatase crystallite size is the mores important parameter affecting the degradation efficiency. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Liquid-phase microextraction combined with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: A review.

PubMed

de la Calle, Inmaculada; Pena-Pereira, Francisco; Lavilla, Isela; Bendicho, Carlos

2016-09-14

An overview of the combination of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) techniques with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) is reported herein. The high sensitivity of GFAAS is significantly enhanced by its association with a variety of miniaturized solvent extraction approaches. LPME-GFAAS thus represents a powerful combination for determination of metals, metalloids and organometallic compounds at (ultra)trace level. Different LPME modes used with GFAAS are briefly described, and the experimental parameters that show an impact in those microextraction processes are discussed. Special attention is paid to those parameters affecting GFAAS analysis. Main issues found when coupling LPME and GFAAS, as well as those strategies reported in the literature to solve them, are summarized. Relevant applications published on the topic so far are included. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Need for Cost Optimization of Space Life Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry W.; Anderson, Grant

2017-01-01

As the nation plans manned missions that go far beyond Earth orbit to Mars, there is an urgent need for a robust, disciplined systems engineering methodology that can identify an optimized Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) architecture for long duration deep space missions. But unlike the previously used Equivalent System Mass (ESM), the method must be inclusive of all driving parameters and emphasize the economic analysis of life support system design. The key parameter for this analysis is Life Cycle Cost (LCC). LCC takes into account the cost for development and qualification of the system, launch costs, operational costs, maintenance costs and all other relevant and associated costs. Additionally, an effective methodology must consider system technical performance, safety, reliability, maintainability, crew time, and other factors that could affect the overall merit of the life support system.

Parametric studies on droplet generation reproducibility for applications with biological relevant fluids

PubMed Central

Eichler, Marko; Römer, Robert; Grodrian, Andreas; Lemke, Karen; Nagel, Krees; Klages, Claus‐Peter; Gastrock, Gunter

2017-01-01

Abstract Although the great potential of droplet based microfluidic technologies for routine applications in industry and academia has been successfully demonstrated over the past years, its inherent potential is not fully exploited till now. Especially regarding to the droplet generation reproducibility and stability, two pivotally important parameters for successful applications, there is still a need for improvement. This is even more considerable when droplets are created to investigate tissue fragments or cell cultures (e.g. suspended cells or 3D cell cultures) over days or even weeks. In this study we present microfluidic chips composed of a plasma coated polymer, which allow surfactants‐free, highly reproducible and stable droplet generation from fluids like cell culture media. We demonstrate how different microfluidic designs and different flow rates (and flow rate ratios) affect the reproducibility of the droplet generation process and display the applicability for a wide variety of bio(techno)logically relevant media. PMID:29399017

Dynamic optical imaging of vascular and metabolic reactivity in rheumatoid joints.

PubMed

Lasker, Joseph M; Fong, Christopher J; Ginat, Daniel T; Dwyer, Edward; Hielscher, Andreas H

2007-01-01

Dynamic optical imaging is increasingly applied to clinically relevant areas such as brain and cancer imaging. In this approach, some external stimulus is applied and changes in relevant physiological parameters (e.g., oxy- or deoxyhemoglobin concentrations) are determined. The advantage of this approach is that the prestimulus state can be used as a reference or baseline against which the changes can be calibrated. Here we present the first application of this method to the problem of characterizing joint diseases, especially effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the proximal interphalangeal finger joints. Using a dual-wavelength tomographic imaging system together with previously implemented model-based iterative image reconstruction schemes, we have performed initial dynamic imaging case studies on a limited number of healthy volunteers and patients diagnosed with RA. Focusing on three cases studies, we illustrated our major finds. These studies support our hypothesis that differences in the vascular reactivity exist between affected and unaffected joints.

Possibilities of the treatment of certain diseases in stomatology with the help of noninvasive laser therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Navratil, Leos; Navratilova, Blanka

2000-06-01

Non-invasive laser therapy is currently frequently used in stomatological practice thanks to its analgesic, anti- inflammatory and biostimulating effects. Suitable indications and methodic procedures of treatment should be established to provide the relevant efficacy of the method. The work characteristics the efficacy of the treatment in selected indications with checking suitable physical parameters of laser radiation. The study was carried out on total of 382 patients divided into three groups depending on the method of the treatment. The treatment result were evaluated based on the above-mentioned effects expressed with the help of relevant coefficients. The result demonstrated the contribution of therapeutic laser to the treatment of herpetic affections, aphthae, erosions, decubiti on the mucous membrane, conditions after difficult extractions, papilitits, wounds after teeth resection, linqua geographica, scar and treatment aimed at reducing the dentin sensitivity.

Joint estimation of phase and phase diffusion for quantum metrology.

PubMed

Vidrighin, Mihai D; Donati, Gaia; Genoni, Marco G; Jin, Xian-Min; Kolthammer, W Steven; Kim, M S; Datta, Animesh; Barbieri, Marco; Walmsley, Ian A

2014-04-14

Phase estimation, at the heart of many quantum metrology and communication schemes, can be strongly affected by noise, whose amplitude may not be known, or might be subject to drift. Here we investigate the joint estimation of a phase shift and the amplitude of phase diffusion at the quantum limit. For several relevant instances, this multiparameter estimation problem can be effectively reshaped as a two-dimensional Hilbert space model, encompassing the description of an interferometer phase probed with relevant quantum states--split single-photons, coherent states or N00N states. For these cases, we obtain a trade-off bound on the statistical variances for the joint estimation of phase and phase diffusion, as well as optimum measurement schemes. We use this bound to quantify the effectiveness of an actual experimental set-up for joint parameter estimation for polarimetry. We conclude by discussing the form of the trade-off relations for more general states and measurements.

Medicinal Chemical Properties of Successful Central Nervous System Drugs

PubMed Central

Pajouhesh, Hassan; Lenz, George R.

2005-01-01

Summary: Fundamental physiochemical features of CNS drugs are related to their ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier affinity and exhibit CNS activity. Factors relevant to the success of CNS drugs are reviewed. CNS drugs show values of molecular weight, lipophilicity, and hydrogen bond donor and acceptor that in general have a smaller range than general therapeutics. Pharmacokinetic properties can be manipulated by the medicinal chemist to a significant extent. The solubility, permeability, metabolic stability, protein binding, and human ether-ago-go-related gene inhibition of CNS compounds need to be optimized simultaneously with potency, selectivity, and other biological parameters. The balance between optimizing the physiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties to make the best compromises in properties is critical for designing new drugs likely to penetrate the blood brain barrier and affect relevant biological systems. This review is intended as a guide to designing CNS therapeutic agents with better drug-like properties. PMID:16489364

Do chimpanzees use weight to select hammer tools?

PubMed

Schrauf, Cornelia; Call, Josep; Fuwa, Koki; Hirata, Satoshi

2012-01-01

The extent to which tool-using animals take into account relevant task parameters is poorly understood. Nut cracking is one of the most complex forms of tool use, the choice of an adequate hammer being a critical aspect in success. Several properties make a hammer suitable for nut cracking, with weight being a key factor in determining the impact of a strike; in general, the greater the weight the fewer strikes required. This study experimentally investigated whether chimpanzees are able to encode the relevance of weight as a property of hammers to crack open nuts. By presenting chimpanzees with three hammers that differed solely in weight, we assessed their ability to relate the weight of the different tools with their effectiveness and thus select the most effective one(s). Our results show that chimpanzees use weight alone in selecting tools to crack open nuts and that experience clearly affects the subjects' attentiveness to the tool properties that are relevant for the task at hand. Chimpanzees can encode the requirements that a nut-cracking tool should meet (in terms of weight) to be effective.

Low-level radioactive waste technology: a selected, annotated bibliography

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

Fore, C.S.; Vaughan, N.D.; Hyder, L.K.

1980-10-01

This annotated bibliography of 447 references contains scientific, technical, economic, and regulatory information relevant to low-level radioactive waste technology. The bibliography focuses on environmental transport, disposal site, and waste treatment studies. The publication covers both domestic and foreign literature for the period 1952 to 1979. Major chapters selected are Chemical and Physical Aspects; Container Design and Performance; Disposal Site; Environmental Transport; General Studies and Reviews; Geology, Hydrology and Site Resources; Regulatory and Economic Aspects; Transportation Technology; Waste Production; and Waste Treatment. Specialized data fields have been incorporated into the data file to improve the ease and accuracy of locating pertinentmore » references. Specific radionuclides for which data are presented are listed in the Measured Radionuclides field, and specific parameters which affect the migration of these radionuclides are presented in the Measured Parameters field. In addition, each document referenced in this bibliography has been assigned a relevance number to facilitate sorting the documents according to their pertinence to low-level radioactive waste technology. The documents are rated 1, 2, 3, or 4, with 1 indicating direct applicability to low-level radioactive waste technology and 4 indicating that a considerable amount of interpretation is required for the information presented to be applied. The references within each chapter are arranged alphabetically by leading author, corporate affiliation, or title of the document. Indexes are provide for (1) author(s), (2) keywords, (3) subject category, (4) title, (5) geographic location, (6) measured parameters, (7) measured radionuclides, and (8) publication description.« less

Perceived barriers to medical-error reporting: an exploratory investigation.

PubMed

Uribe, Claudia L; Schweikhart, Sharon B; Pathak, Dev S; Dow, Merrell; Marsh, Gail B

2002-01-01

Medical-error reporting is an essential component for patient safety enhancement. Unfortunately, medical errors are largely underreported across healthcare institutions. This problem can be attributed to different factors and barriers present at organizational and individual levels that ultimately prevent individuals from generating the report. This study explored the factors that affect medical-error reporting among physicians and nurses at a large academic medical center located in the midwest United States. A nominal group session was conducted to identify the most relevant factors that act as barriers for error reporting. These factors were then used to design a questionnaire that explored the likelihood of the factors to act as barriers and their likelihood to be modified. Using these two parameters, the results were analyzed and combined into a Factor Relevance Matrix. The matrix identifies the factors for which immediate actions should be undertaken to improve medical-error reporting (immediate action factors). It also identifies factors that require long-term strategies (long-term strategy factors) as well as factors that the organization should be aware of but that are of lower priority (awareness factors). The strategies outlined in this study may assist healthcare organizations in improving medical-error reporting, as part of the efforts toward patient-safety enhancement. Although factors affecting medical-error reporting may vary between different organizations, the process used in identifying the factors and the Factor Relevance Matrix developed in this study are easily adaptable to any organizational setting.

Affective Disruption from Social Rhythm and Behavioral Approach System (BAS) Sensitivities: A Test of the Integration of the Social Zeitgeber and BAS Theories of Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

Boland, Elaine M.; Stange, Jonathan P.; Labelle, Denise R.; Shapero, Benjamin G.; Weiss, Rachel B.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Alloy, Lauren B.

2015-01-01

The Behavioral Approach System (BAS)/Reward Hypersensitivity Theory and the Social Zeitgeber Theory are two biopsychosocial theories of bipolar spectrum disorders (BSD) that may work together to explain affective dysregulation. The present study examined whether BAS sensitivity is associated with affective symptoms via a) increased social rhythm disruption in response to BAS-relevant life events, or b) greater exposure to BAS events leading to social rhythm disruption and subsequent symptoms. Results indicated that high BAS individuals were more likely to experience social rhythm disruption following BAS-relevant events. Social rhythm disruption mediated the association between BAS-relevant events and symptoms (hypothesis a). High BAS individuals experienced significantly more BAS-relevant events, which predicted greater social rhythm disruption, which predicted greater levels of affective symptoms (hypothesis b). Individuals at risk for BSD may be sensitive to BAS-relevant stimuli, experience more BAS-relevant events, and experience affective dysregulation due to the interplay of the BAS and circadian rhythms. PMID:27429864

All half-lives are wrong, but some half-lives are useful.

PubMed

Wright, J G; Boddy, A V

2001-01-01

The half-life of a drug, which expresses a change in concentration in units of time, is perhaps the most easily understood pharmacokinetic parameter and provides a succinct description of many concentration-time profiles. The calculation of a half-life implies a linear, first-order, time-invariant process. No drug perfectly obeys such assumptions, although in practise this is often a valid approximation and provides invaluable quantitative information. Nevertheless, the physiological processes underlying half-life should not be forgotten. The concept of clearance facilitates the interpretation of factors affecting drug elimination, such as enzyme inhibition or renal impairment. Relating clearance to the observed concentration-time profile is not as naturally intuitive as is the case with half-life. As such, these 2 approaches to parameterising a linear pharmacokinetic model should be viewed as complementary rather than alternatives. The interpretation of pharmacokinetic parameters when there are multiple disposition phases is more challenging. Indeed, in any pharmacokinetic model, the half-lives are only one component of the parameters required to specify the concentration-time profile. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic parameters are of little use without a dose history. Other factors influencing the relevance of each disposition phase to clinical end-points must also be considered. In summarising the pharmacokinetics of a drug, statistical aspects of the estimation of a half-life are often overlooked. Half-lives are rarely reported with confidence intervals or measures of variability in the population, and some approaches to this problem are suggested. Half-life is an important summary statistic in pharmacokinetics, but care must be taken to employ it appropriately in the context of dose history and clinically relevant pharmacodynamic end-points.

Linking lipid architecture to bilayer structure and mechanics using self-consistent field modelling.

PubMed

Pera, H; Kleijn, J M; Leermakers, F A M

2014-02-14

To understand how lipid architecture determines the lipid bilayer structure and its mechanics, we implement a molecularly detailed model that uses the self-consistent field theory. This numerical model accurately predicts parameters such as Helfrichs mean and Gaussian bending modulus kc and k̄ and the preferred monolayer curvature J(0)(m), and also delivers structural membrane properties like the core thickness, and head group position and orientation. We studied how these mechanical parameters vary with system variations, such as lipid tail length, membrane composition, and those parameters that control the lipid tail and head group solvent quality. For the membrane composition, negatively charged phosphatidylglycerol (PG) or zwitterionic, phosphatidylcholine (PC), and -ethanolamine (PE) lipids were used. In line with experimental findings, we find that the values of kc and the area compression modulus kA are always positive. They respond similarly to parameters that affect the core thickness, but differently to parameters that affect the head group properties. We found that the trends for k̄ and J(0)(m) can be rationalised by the concept of Israelachivili's surfactant packing parameter, and that both k̄ and J(0)(m) change sign with relevant parameter changes. Although typically k̄ < 0, membranes can form stable cubic phases when the Gaussian bending modulus becomes positive, which occurs with membranes composed of PC lipids with long tails. Similarly, negative monolayer curvatures appear when a small head group such as PE is combined with long lipid tails, which hints towards the stability of inverse hexagonal phases at the cost of the bilayer topology. To prevent the destabilisation of bilayers, PG lipids can be mixed into these PC or PE lipid membranes. Progressive loading of bilayers with PG lipids lead to highly charged membranes, resulting in J(0)(m) > 0, especially at low ionic strengths. We anticipate that these changes lead to unstable membranes as these become vulnerable to pore formation or disintegration into lipid disks.

The abiotic environment of the interstitial of a small Swiss river in the foothills of the Alps and its influence on gravel spawning brown trout (Salmo trutta L.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schindler, Yael; Michel, Christian; Holm, Patricia; Alewell, Christine

2010-05-01

The hyporheic zone can be characterized by multiple abiotic parameters (e.g. bulk density, texture, temperature, oxygen, ammonium, nitrate) which are all influenced directly or indirectly by the exchange processes between surface water and groundwater. These processes can vary both in time and space and are mainly driven by river discharge, ground water level and flow patterns. The input of fine sediment particles can change water-riverbed interactions through river bed clogging potentially affecting the embryonal development and survival of gravel spawning fish, such as brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). With our investigations we aim to understand these complex interactions spatially and temporally on a relevant small scale, i.e. within individual artificial brown trout redds. We designed an experimental field setup to directly investigate i) the influence of the abiotic river and redd environment on brown trout embryo development and ii) the hydrological dynamics affecting the abiotic environment in artificial brown trout. Additionally, our setup allows investigating the temporal dynamics of i) fine-sediment infiltration into the artificial redds and ii) embryo survival to two distinct developmental stages (i.e. eyed stage and hatch) The experiment was conducted in three sites of a typical Swiss river (Enziwigger, Canton of Luzern) with a strongly modified morphology. Individual sites represented a high, medium and low fine-sediment load. In each site, six artificial redds (18 in total) were built and data were collected during the entire incubation phase. Redds were located in places where natural spawning of brown trout is present. We adapted multiple established methods to the smaller scale of our river to study the dynamics of the most relevant abiotic parameters potentially affecting embryo development: Oxygen content and temperature was monitored continuously in different depths, fine sediment (bedload, suspended sediment load and its input in the river bed) was measured weekly and water samples for DOC and nitrogen components analysis were collected regularly. In addition, all redds were equipped with mini piezometers to measure the hydraulic gradient through the redds. Finally, water stage and turbidity were monitored continuously. Results of the first spawning season will be presented. Dynamic of abiotic parameters and their influence on spawning of brown trout will be discussed.

Social priming of hemispatial neglect affects spatial coding: Evidence from the Simon task.

PubMed

Arend, Isabel; Aisenberg, Daniela; Henik, Avishai

2016-10-01

In the Simon effect (SE), choice reactions are fast if the location of the stimulus and the response correspond when stimulus location is task-irrelevant; therefore, the SE reflects the automatic processing of space. Priming of social concepts was found to affect automatic processing in the Stroop effect. We investigated whether spatial coding measured by the SE can be affected by the observer's mental state. We used two social priming manipulations of impairments: one involving spatial processing - hemispatial neglect (HN) and another involving color perception - achromatopsia (ACHM). In two experiments the SE was reduced in the "neglected" visual field (VF) under the HN, but not under the ACHM manipulation. Our results show that spatial coding is sensitive to spatial representations that are not derived from task-relevant parameters, but from the observer's cognitive state. These findings dispute stimulus-response interference models grounded on the idea of the automaticity of spatial processing. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Parameter estimation of qubit states with unknown phase parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Jun

2015-02-01

We discuss a problem of parameter estimation for quantum two-level system, qubit system, in presence of unknown phase parameter. We analyze trade-off relations for mean square errors (MSEs) when estimating relevant parameters with separable measurements based on known precision bounds; the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD) Cramér-Rao (CR) bound and Hayashi-Gill-Massar (HGM) bound. We investigate the optimal measurement which attains the HGM bound and discuss its properties. We show that the HGM bound for relevant parameters can be attained asymptotically by using some fraction of given n quantum states to estimate the phase parameter. We also discuss the Holevo bound which can be attained asymptotically by a collective measurement.

Analysis of airborne particulate matter pollution in Timisoara city urban area and correlations between measurements and meteorological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lungu, Mihai; Lungu, Antoanetta; Stefu, Nicoleta; Neculae, Adrian; Strambeanu, Nicolae

2017-01-01

Air pollution is known to have many adverse effects, among which those on human health are considered the most important. Healthy people of all ages can be adversely affected by high levels of air pollutants. Nanoparticles can be considered among the most harmful of all pollutants as they can penetrate straight into the lungs and blood stream. Their role in the aging process has also recently been revealed. In Romania, practically in all important urban areas (Bucureşti, Iaşi, Timişoara, Braşov, Baia Mare, etc.) the daily limit values for airborne particulate matter are exceeded, so more efforts in controlling air quality are required, along with more research and policies with positive impact on reducing the pollutants concentration in air. The approaches that have been developed to assess the air quality and health impacts of pollution sources are based on analytical methods such as source apportionment, factor analyses, and the measurement of source-relevant indicator compounds. The goal of the present study is to offer preliminary but relevant information on the particulate matter distribution in the city of Timisoara, Romania. Measurements of inhalable coarse and fine particles in two areas of the city, the most affected by industrial particulate emissions, were performed in days with various meteorological conditions. Meteorological parameters for the specific measurement days were recorded (wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature, pressure, etc.) and the influence of these parameters on the particulate matter dispersion was studied. The results show that the meteorological conditions cause differences between airborne particulate matter distributions in different days in the same zones. Measurements were made in northern and southern areas of the city of Timisoara because previous results have shown high levels of airborne particulate matter in these areas.

Prestimulus influences on auditory perception from sensory representations and decision processes.

PubMed

Kayser, Stephanie J; McNair, Steven W; Kayser, Christoph

2016-04-26

The qualities of perception depend not only on the sensory inputs but also on the brain state before stimulus presentation. Although the collective evidence from neuroimaging studies for a relation between prestimulus state and perception is strong, the interpretation in the context of sensory computations or decision processes has remained difficult. In the auditory system, for example, previous studies have reported a wide range of effects in terms of the perceptually relevant frequency bands and state parameters (phase/power). To dissociate influences of state on earlier sensory representations and higher-level decision processes, we collected behavioral and EEG data in human participants performing two auditory discrimination tasks relying on distinct acoustic features. Using single-trial decoding, we quantified the relation between prestimulus activity, relevant sensory evidence, and choice in different task-relevant EEG components. Within auditory networks, we found that phase had no direct influence on choice, whereas power in task-specific frequency bands affected the encoding of sensory evidence. Within later-activated frontoparietal regions, theta and alpha phase had a direct influence on choice, without involving sensory evidence. These results delineate two consistent mechanisms by which prestimulus activity shapes perception. However, the timescales of the relevant neural activity depend on the specific brain regions engaged by the respective task.

Prestimulus influences on auditory perception from sensory representations and decision processes

PubMed Central

McNair, Steven W.

2016-01-01

The qualities of perception depend not only on the sensory inputs but also on the brain state before stimulus presentation. Although the collective evidence from neuroimaging studies for a relation between prestimulus state and perception is strong, the interpretation in the context of sensory computations or decision processes has remained difficult. In the auditory system, for example, previous studies have reported a wide range of effects in terms of the perceptually relevant frequency bands and state parameters (phase/power). To dissociate influences of state on earlier sensory representations and higher-level decision processes, we collected behavioral and EEG data in human participants performing two auditory discrimination tasks relying on distinct acoustic features. Using single-trial decoding, we quantified the relation between prestimulus activity, relevant sensory evidence, and choice in different task-relevant EEG components. Within auditory networks, we found that phase had no direct influence on choice, whereas power in task-specific frequency bands affected the encoding of sensory evidence. Within later-activated frontoparietal regions, theta and alpha phase had a direct influence on choice, without involving sensory evidence. These results delineate two consistent mechanisms by which prestimulus activity shapes perception. However, the timescales of the relevant neural activity depend on the specific brain regions engaged by the respective task. PMID:27071110

Accuracy of a Digital Impression System Based on Active Triangulation Technology With Blue Light for Implants: Effect of Clinically Relevant Parameters.

PubMed

Giménez, Beatriz; Özcan, Mutlu; Martínez-Rus, Francisco; Pradíes, Guillermo

2015-10-01

To evaluate the accuracy of a digital impression system considering clinical parameters. A master model with 6 implants (27, 25, 22, 12, 15, and 17) was fitted with polyether ether ketone scan bodies. Implant no. 25 was placed with 30° mesial angulation and no. 15 with 30° distal angulation in relation to the vertical plane (y axis). Implant no. 22 was placed at 2 mm and no. 12 placed 4 mm below the gingiva. Experienced (n = 2) and inexperienced (n = 2) operators performed the scanning (CEREC system). Measurements involved 5 distances (27-25, 27-22, 27-12, 27-15, 27-17). Measurements with coordinated measuring machine of the master model acted as the true values. The experience of the operator affected the accuracy. Operator 3 (inexperienced) performed better than the rest. Angulation and implant depth did not affect the accuracy results. The position of the camera affected the accuracy of the system. The first scanned quadrant had significantly smaller error, -17 ± 26.3 μm, than the second quadrant, -116 ± 103 μm. Digital impressions with CEREC Bluecam system can be a feasible alternative for challenging cases where angulation and depth of the implants are present. The accuracy of the CEREC system for the first scanned quadrant is high, and it decreases when completing a full arch.

The effects of aquatic trunk exercise on gait and muscle activity in stroke patients: a randomized controlled pilot study.

PubMed

Park, Byoung-Sun; Noh, Ji-Woong; Kim, Mee-Young; Lee, Lim-Kyu; Yang, Seung-Min; Lee, Won-Deok; Shin, Yong-Sub; Kim, Ju-Hyun; Lee, Jeong-Uk; Kwak, Taek-Yong; Lee, Tae-Hyun; Kim, Ju-Young; Park, Jaehong; Kim, Junghwan

2015-11-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between muscle activity and gait function following aquatic trunk exercise in hemiplegic stroke patients. [Subjects and Methods] This study's participants included thirteen hemiplegic patients (ten males and three females). The aquatic therapy consisted of administering concentrative aquatic therapy for four weeks in a therapeutic pool. Gait parameters were measured using a gait analysis system adjusted to each subject's comfortable walking speed. Electromyographic signals were measured for the rectus abdominis, external abdominal oblique, transversus abdominis/internal-abdominal oblique, and erector spine of each patients. [Results] The pre- and post-training performances of the transversus abdominis/internal-abdominal oblique were compared statistically. There was no statistical difference between the patients' pre- and post-training values of maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the rectus abdominis, but the external abdominal oblique values tended to improve. Furthermore, gait factors improved significantly in terms of walking speeds, walking cycles, affected-side stance phases, affected-stride lengths, and stance-phase symmetry indices, respectively. [Conclusion] These results suggest that the trunk exercise during aquatic therapy may in part contribute to clinically relevant improvements in muscle activities and gait parameters.

The effects of aquatic trunk exercise on gait and muscle activity in stroke patients: a randomized controlled pilot study

PubMed Central

Park, Byoung-Sun; Noh, Ji-Woong; Kim, Mee-Young; Lee, Lim-Kyu; Yang, Seung-Min; Lee, Won-Deok; Shin, Yong-Sub; Kim, Ju-Hyun; Lee, Jeong-Uk; Kwak, Taek-Yong; Lee, Tae-Hyun; Kim, Ju-Young; Park, Jaehong; Kim, Junghwan

2015-01-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between muscle activity and gait function following aquatic trunk exercise in hemiplegic stroke patients. [Subjects and Methods] This study’s participants included thirteen hemiplegic patients (ten males and three females). The aquatic therapy consisted of administering concentrative aquatic therapy for four weeks in a therapeutic pool. Gait parameters were measured using a gait analysis system adjusted to each subject’s comfortable walking speed. Electromyographic signals were measured for the rectus abdominis, external abdominal oblique, transversus abdominis/internal-abdominal oblique, and erector spine of each patients. [Results] The pre- and post-training performances of the transversus abdominis/internal-abdominal oblique were compared statistically. There was no statistical difference between the patients’ pre- and post-training values of maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the rectus abdominis, but the external abdominal oblique values tended to improve. Furthermore, gait factors improved significantly in terms of walking speeds, walking cycles, affected-side stance phases, affected-stride lengths, and stance-phase symmetry indices, respectively. [Conclusion] These results suggest that the trunk exercise during aquatic therapy may in part contribute to clinically relevant improvements in muscle activities and gait parameters. PMID:26696736

Phosphatidylcholine Membrane Fusion Is pH-Dependent.

PubMed

Akimov, Sergey A; Polynkin, Michael A; Jiménez-Munguía, Irene; Pavlov, Konstantin V; Batishchev, Oleg V

2018-05-03

Membrane fusion mediates multiple vital processes in cell life. Specialized proteins mediate the fusion process, and a substantial part of their energy is used for topological rearrangement of the membrane lipid matrix. Therefore, the elastic parameters of lipid bilayers are of crucial importance for fusion processes and for determination of the energy barriers that have to be crossed for the process to take place. In the case of fusion of enveloped viruses (e.g., influenza) with endosomal membrane, the interacting membranes are in an acidic environment, which can affect the membrane's mechanical properties. This factor is often neglected in the analysis of virus-induced membrane fusion. In the present work, we demonstrate that even for membranes composed of zwitterionic lipids, changes of the environmental pH in the physiologically relevant range of 4.0 to 7.5 can affect the rate of the membrane fusion notably. Using a continual model, we demonstrated that the key factor defining the height of the energy barrier is the spontaneous curvature of the lipid monolayer. Changes of this parameter are likely to be caused by rearrangements of the polar part of lipid molecules in response to changes of the pH of the aqueous solution bathing the membrane.

A theoretical framework to model DSC-MRI data acquired in the presence of contrast agent extravasation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quarles, C. C.; Gochberg, D. F.; Gore, J. C.; Yankeelov, T. E.

2009-10-01

Dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI methods rely on compartmentalization of the contrast agent such that a susceptibility gradient can be induced between the contrast-containing compartment and adjacent spaces, such as between intravascular and extravascular spaces. When there is a disruption of the blood-brain barrier, as is frequently the case with brain tumors, a contrast agent leaks out of the vasculature, resulting in additional T1, T2 and T*2 relaxation effects in the extravascular space, thereby affecting the signal intensity time course and reducing the reliability of the computed hemodynamic parameters. In this study, a theoretical model describing these dynamic intra- and extravascular T1, T2 and T*2 relaxation interactions is proposed. The applicability of using the proposed model to investigate the influence of relevant MRI pulse sequences (e.g. echo time, flip angle), and physical (e.g. susceptibility calibration factors, pre-contrast relaxation rates) and physiological parameters (e.g. permeability, blood flow, compartmental volume fractions) on DSC-MRI signal time curves is demonstrated. Such a model could yield important insights into the biophysical basis of contrast-agent-extravasastion-induced effects on measured DSC-MRI signals and provide a means to investigate pulse sequence optimization and appropriate data analysis methods for the extraction of physiologically relevant imaging metrics.

Detecting kinematic boundary surfaces in phase space: particle mass measurements in SUSY-like events

DOE PAGES

Debnath, Dipsikha; Gainer, James S.; Kilic, Can; ...

2017-06-19

We critically examine the classic endpoint method for particle mass determination, focusing on difficult corners of parameter space, where some of the measurements are not independent, while others are adversely affected by the experimental resolution. In such scenarios, mass differences can be measured relatively well, but the overall mass scale remains poorly constrained. Using the example of the standard SUSY decay chain q ~→χ ~ 0 2→ℓ ~→χ ~ 0 1 , we demonstrate that sensitivity to the remaining mass scale parameter can be recovered by measuring the two-dimensional kinematical boundary in the relevant three-dimensional phase space of invariant massesmore » squared. We develop an algorithm for detecting this boundary, which uses the geometric properties of the Voronoi tessellation of the data, and in particular, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the volumes of the neighbors for each Voronoi cell in the tessellation. We propose a new observable, Σ¯ , which is the average RSD per unit area, calculated over the hypothesized boundary. We show that the location of the Σ¯ maximum correlates very well with the true values of the new particle masses. Our approach represents the natural extension of the one-dimensional kinematic endpoint method to the relevant three dimensions of invariant mass phase space.« less

Detecting kinematic boundary surfaces in phase space: particle mass measurements in SUSY-like events

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

Debnath, Dipsikha; Gainer, James S.; Kilic, Can

We critically examine the classic endpoint method for particle mass determination, focusing on difficult corners of parameter space, where some of the measurements are not independent, while others are adversely affected by the experimental resolution. In such scenarios, mass differences can be measured relatively well, but the overall mass scale remains poorly constrained. Using the example of the standard SUSY decay chain q ~→χ ~ 0 2→ℓ ~→χ ~ 0 1 , we demonstrate that sensitivity to the remaining mass scale parameter can be recovered by measuring the two-dimensional kinematical boundary in the relevant three-dimensional phase space of invariant massesmore » squared. We develop an algorithm for detecting this boundary, which uses the geometric properties of the Voronoi tessellation of the data, and in particular, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the volumes of the neighbors for each Voronoi cell in the tessellation. We propose a new observable, Σ¯ , which is the average RSD per unit area, calculated over the hypothesized boundary. We show that the location of the Σ¯ maximum correlates very well with the true values of the new particle masses. Our approach represents the natural extension of the one-dimensional kinematic endpoint method to the relevant three dimensions of invariant mass phase space.« less

Detecting kinematic boundary surfaces in phase space: particle mass measurements in SUSY-like events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debnath, Dipsikha; Gainer, James S.; Kilic, Can; Kim, Doojin; Matchev, Konstantin T.; Yang, Yuan-Pao

2017-06-01

We critically examine the classic endpoint method for particle mass determination, focusing on difficult corners of parameter space, where some of the measurements are not independent, while others are adversely affected by the experimental resolution. In such scenarios, mass differences can be measured relatively well, but the overall mass scale remains poorly constrained. Using the example of the standard SUSY decay chain \\tilde{q}\\to {\\tilde{χ}}_2^0\\to \\tilde{ℓ}\\to {\\tilde{χ}}_1^0 , we demonstrate that sensitivity to the remaining mass scale parameter can be recovered by measuring the two-dimensional kinematical boundary in the relevant three-dimensional phase space of invariant masses squared. We develop an algorithm for detecting this boundary, which uses the geometric properties of the Voronoi tessellation of the data, and in particular, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the volumes of the neighbors for each Voronoi cell in the tessellation. We propose a new observable, \\overline{Σ} , which is the average RSD per unit area, calculated over the hypothesized boundary. We show that the location of the \\overline{Σ} maximum correlates very well with the true values of the new particle masses. Our approach represents the natural extension of the one-dimensional kinematic endpoint method to the relevant three dimensions of invariant mass phase space.

Task relevance of emotional information affects anxiety-linked attention bias in visual search.

PubMed

Dodd, Helen F; Vogt, Julia; Turkileri, Nilgun; Notebaert, Lies

2017-01-01

Task relevance affects emotional attention in healthy individuals. Here, we investigate whether the association between anxiety and attention bias is affected by the task relevance of emotion during an attention task. Participants completed two visual search tasks. In the emotion-irrelevant task, participants were asked to indicate whether a discrepant face in a crowd of neutral, middle-aged faces was old or young. Irrelevant to the task, target faces displayed angry, happy, or neutral expressions. In the emotion-relevant task, participants were asked to indicate whether a discrepant face in a crowd of middle-aged neutral faces was happy or angry (target faces also varied in age). Trait anxiety was not associated with attention in the emotion-relevant task. However, in the emotion-irrelevant task, trait anxiety was associated with a bias for angry over happy faces. These findings demonstrate that the task relevance of emotional information affects conclusions about the presence of an anxiety-linked attention bias. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Landscape structure affects distribution of potential disease vectors (Diptera: Culicidae).

PubMed

Zittra, Carina; Vitecek, Simon; Obwaller, Adelheid G; Rossiter, Heidemarie; Eigner, Barbara; Zechmeister, Thomas; Waringer, Johann; Fuehrer, Hans-Peter

2017-04-26

Vector-pathogen dynamics are controlled by fluctuations of potential vector communities, such as the Culicidae. Assessment of mosquito community diversity and, in particular, identification of environmental parameters shaping these communities is therefore of key importance for the design of adequate surveillance approaches. In this study, we assess effects of climatic parameters and habitat structure on mosquito communities in eastern Austria to deliver these highly relevant baseline data. Female mosquitoes were sampled twice a month from April to October 2014 and 2015 at 35 permanent and 23 non-permanent trapping sites using carbon dioxide-baited traps. Differences in spatial and seasonal abundance patterns of Culicidae taxa were identified using likelihood ratio tests; possible effects of environmental parameters on seasonal and spatial mosquito distribution were analysed using multivariate statistical methods. We assessed community responses to environmental parameters based on 14-day-average values that affect ontogenesis. Altogether 29,734 female mosquitoes were collected, and 21 of 42 native as well as two of four non-native mosquito species were reconfirmed in eastern Austria. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in mosquito abundance between sampling years and provinces. Incidence and abundance patterns were found to be linked to 14-day mean sunshine duration, humidity, water-level maxima and the amount of precipitation. However, land cover classes were found to be the most important factor, effectively assigning both indigenous and non-native mosquito species to various communities, which responded differentially to environmental variables. These findings thus underline the significance of non-climatic variables for future mosquito prediction models and the necessity to consider these in mosquito surveillance programmes.

Growth-rate dependent global effects on gene expression in bacteria

PubMed Central

Klumpp, Stefan; Zhang, Zhongge; Hwa, Terence

2010-01-01

Summary Bacterial gene expression depends not only on specific regulations but also directly on bacterial growth, because important global parameters such as the abundance of RNA polymerases and ribosomes are all growth-rate dependent. Understanding these global effects is necessary for a quantitative understanding of gene regulation and for the robust design of synthetic genetic circuits. The observed growth-rate dependence of constitutive gene expression can be explained by a simple model using the measured growth-rate dependence of the relevant cellular parameters. More complex growth dependences for genetic circuits involving activators, repressors and feedback control were analyzed, and salient features were verified experimentally using synthetic circuits. The results suggest a novel feedback mechanism mediated by general growth-dependent effects and not requiring explicit gene regulation, if the expressed protein affects cell growth. This mechanism can lead to growth bistability and promote the acquisition of important physiological functions such as antibiotic resistance and tolerance (persistence). PMID:20064380

Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Ni-Mn-Cr-Sn Heusler alloys under the effects of hydrostatic pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Sudip; Us Saleheen, Ahmad; Quetz, Abdiel; Chen, Jing-Han; Aryal, Anil; Dubenko, Igor; Stadler, Shane; Ali, Naushad

2018-05-01

The magnetic, thermal, and magnetocaloric properties of Ni45Mn43CrSn11 Heusler alloy have been investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and magnetization with hydrostatic pressure measurements. A shift in the martensitic transition temperature (TM) to higher temperatures was observed with the application of pressure. The application of pressure stabilizes the martensitic state and demonstrated that pressure can be a parameter used to control and tune the martensitic transition temperature (the temperature where the largest magnetocaloric effect is observed). The magnetic entropy change significantly decreases from 33 J/kg K to 16 J/kg K under the application of a hydrostatic pressure of 0.95 GPa. The critical field of the direct metamagnetic transition increases, whereas the initial susceptibility (dM/dH) in the low magnetic field region drastically decreases with increasing pressure. The relevant parameters that affect the magnetocaloric properties are discussed.

Estimating the Relevance of World Disturbances to Explain Savings, Interference and Long-Term Motor Adaptation Effects

PubMed Central

Berniker, Max; Kording, Konrad P.

2011-01-01

Recent studies suggest that motor adaptation is the result of multiple, perhaps linear processes each with distinct time scales. While these models are consistent with some motor phenomena, they can neither explain the relatively fast re-adaptation after a long washout period, nor savings on a subsequent day. Here we examined if these effects can be explained if we assume that the CNS stores and retrieves movement parameters based on their possible relevance. We formalize this idea with a model that infers not only the sources of potential motor errors, but also their relevance to the current motor circumstances. In our model adaptation is the process of re-estimating parameters that represent the body and the world. The likelihood of a world parameter being relevant is then based on the mismatch between an observed movement and that predicted when not compensating for the estimated world disturbance. As such, adapting to large motor errors in a laboratory setting should alert subjects that disturbances are being imposed on them, even after motor performance has returned to baseline. Estimates of this external disturbance should be relevant both now and in future laboratory settings. Estimated properties of our bodies on the other hand should always be relevant. Our model demonstrates savings, interference, spontaneous rebound and differences between adaptation to sudden and gradual disturbances. We suggest that many issues concerning savings and interference can be understood when adaptation is conditioned on the relevance of parameters. PMID:21998574

Normalized sensitivities and parameter identifiability of in situ diffusion experiments on Callovo Oxfordian clay at Bure site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samper, J.; Dewonck, S.; Zheng, L.; Yang, Q.; Naves, A.

Diffusion of inert and reactive tracers (DIR) is an experimental program performed by ANDRA at Bure underground research laboratory in Meuse/Haute Marne (France) to characterize diffusion and retention of radionuclides in Callovo-Oxfordian (C-Ox) argillite. In situ diffusion experiments were performed in vertical boreholes to determine diffusion and retention parameters of selected radionuclides. C-Ox clay exhibits a mild diffusion anisotropy due to stratification. Interpretation of in situ diffusion experiments is complicated by several non-ideal effects caused by the presence of a sintered filter, a gap between the filter and borehole wall and an excavation disturbed zone (EdZ). The relevance of such non-ideal effects and their impact on estimated clay parameters have been evaluated with numerical sensitivity analyses and synthetic experiments having similar parameters and geometric characteristics as real DIR experiments. Normalized dimensionless sensitivities of tracer concentrations at the test interval have been computed numerically. Tracer concentrations are found to be sensitive to all key parameters. Sensitivities are tracer dependent and vary with time. These sensitivities are useful to identify which are the parameters that can be estimated with less uncertainty and find the times at which tracer concentrations begin to be sensitive to each parameter. Synthetic experiments generated with prescribed known parameters have been interpreted automatically with INVERSE-CORE 2D and used to evaluate the relevance of non-ideal effects and ascertain parameter identifiability in the presence of random measurement errors. Identifiability analysis of synthetic experiments reveals that data noise makes difficult the estimation of clay parameters. Parameters of clay and EdZ cannot be estimated simultaneously from noisy data. Models without an EdZ fail to reproduce synthetic data. Proper interpretation of in situ diffusion experiments requires accounting for filter, gap and EdZ. Estimates of the effective diffusion coefficient and the porosity of clay are highly correlated, indicating that these parameters cannot be estimated simultaneously. Accurate estimation of De and porosities of clay and EdZ is only possible when the standard deviation of random noise is less than 0.01. Small errors in the volume of the circulation system do not affect clay parameter estimates. Normalized sensitivities as well as the identifiability analysis of synthetic experiments provide additional insight on inverse estimation of in situ diffusion experiments and will be of great benefit for the interpretation of real DIR in situ diffusion experiments.

Kinect V2 Performance Assessment in Daily-Life Gestures: Cohort Study on Healthy Subjects for a Reference Database for Automated Instrumental Evaluations on Neurological Patients

PubMed Central

Malosio, Matteo; Molinari Tosatti, Lorenzo

2017-01-01

Background The increase of sanitary costs related to poststroke rehabilitation requires new sustainable and cost-effective strategies for promoting autonomous and dehospitalized motor training. In the Riprendo@Home and Future Home for Future Communities research projects, the promising approach of introducing low-cost technologies that promote home rehabilitation is exploited. In order to provide reliable evaluation of patients, a reference database of healthy people's performances is required and should consider variability related to healthy people performances. Methods 78 healthy subjects performed several repetitions of daily-life gestures, the reaching movement (RM) and hand-to-mouth (HtMM) movement with both the dominant and nondominant upper limbs. Movements were recorded with a Kinect V2. A synthetic biomechanical protocol based on kinematical, dynamical, and motor control parameters was used to assess motor performance of the healthy people. The investigation was conducted by clustering participants depending on their limb dominancy (right/left), gender (male/female), and age (young/middle/senior) as sources of variability. Results Results showed that limb dominancy has minor relevance in affecting RM and HtMM; gender has relevance in affecting the HtMM; age has major effect in affecting RM and HtMM. Conclusions An investigation of healthy subjects' upper limb performances during daily-life gestures was performed with the Kinect V2 sensor. Findings will be the basis for a database of normative data for neurological patients' motor evaluation. PMID:29358893

Phenological patterns of Spodoptera Guenée, 1852 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is more affected by ENSO than seasonal factors and host plant availability in a Brazilian Savanna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piovesan, Mônica; Specht, Alexandre; Carneiro, Eduardo; Paula-Moraes, Silvana Vieira; Casagrande, Mirna Martins

2018-03-01

The identification of factors responsible for the population dynamics is fundamental for pest management, since losses can reach 18% of annual production. Besides regular seasonal environmental factors and crop managements, additional supra-annual meteorological phenomena can also affect population dynamics, although its relevance has been rarely investigated. Among crop pests, Spodoptera stands out due to its worldwide distribution, high degree of polyphagy, thus causing damages in several crops in the world. Aiming to distinguish the relevance of different factors shaping population dynamics of Spodoptera in an ecosystem constituted of dry and rainy seasons, the current study used circular statistics to identify phenological patterns and test if its population fluctuation is driven by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effect, seasonal meteorological parameters, and/or host plant availability. Samplings were done in an intercropping system, in the Brazilian Savanna, during the new moon cycles between July/2013 and June/2016. Species were recorded all year round, but demonstrated differently non-uniform distribution, being concentrated in different seasons of the year. Population fluctuations were mostly affected by the ENSO intensity, despite the contrasting seasonal meteorological variation or host plant availability in a 400-m radius. Studies involving the observation of supra-annual phenomena, although rare, reach similar conclusions in relation to Neotropical insect fauna. Therefore, it is paramount to have long-term sampling studies to obtain a more precise response of the pest populations towards the agroecosystem conditions.

Familiality of neural preparation and response control in childhood attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Albrecht, B; Brandeis, D; Uebel, H; Valko, L; Heinrich, H; Drechsler, R; Heise, A; Müller, U C; Steinhausen, H-C; Rothenberger, A; Banaschewski, T

2013-09-01

Patients with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit difficulties in multiple attentional functions. Although high heritability rates suggest a strong genetic impact, aetiological pathways from genes and environmental factors to the ADHD phenotype are not well understood. Tracking the time course of deviant task processing using event-related electrophysiological brain activity should characterize the impact of familiality on the sequence of cognitive functions from preparation to response control in ADHD. Method Preparation and response control were assessed using behavioural and electrophysiological parameters of two versions of a cued continuous performance test with varying attentional load in boys with ADHD combined type (n = 97), their non-affected siblings (n = 27) and control children without a family history of ADHD (n = 43). Children with ADHD and non-affected siblings showed more variable performance and made more omission errors than controls. The preparatory Cue-P3 and contingent negative variation (CNV) following cues were reduced in both ADHD children and their non-affected siblings compared with controls. The NoGo-P3 was diminished in ADHD compared with controls whilst non-affected siblings were located intermediate but did not differ from both other groups. No clear familiality effects were found for the Go-P3. Better task performance was further associated with higher CNV and P3 amplitudes. Impairments in performance and electrophysiological parameters reflecting preparatory processes and to some extend also for inhibitory response control, especially under high attentional load, appeared to be familially driven in ADHD and may thus constitute functionally relevant endophenotypes for the disorder.

Terahertz Spectroscopy for Proximal Soil Sensing: An Approach to Particle Size Analysis

PubMed Central

Dworak, Volker; Mahns, Benjamin; Selbeck, Jörn; Weltzien, Cornelia

2017-01-01

Spatially resolved soil parameters are some of the most important pieces of information for precision agriculture. These parameters, especially the particle size distribution (texture), are costly to measure by conventional laboratory methods, and thus, in situ assessment has become the focus of a new discipline called proximal soil sensing. Terahertz (THz) radiation is a promising method for nondestructive in situ measurements. The THz frequency range from 258 gigahertz (GHz) to 350 GHz provides a good compromise between soil penetration and the interaction of the electromagnetic waves with soil compounds. In particular, soil physical parameters influence THz measurements. This paper presents investigations of the spectral transmission signals from samples of different particle size fractions relevant for soil characterization. The sample thickness ranged from 5 to 17 mm. The transmission of THz waves was affected by the main mineral particle fractions, sand, silt and clay. The resulting signal changes systematically according to particle sizes larger than half the wavelength. It can be concluded that THz spectroscopic measurements provide information about soil texture and penetrate samples with thicknesses in the cm range. PMID:29048392

Modulate chopper technique used in pyroelectric uncooled focal plane array thermal imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yuqing; Jin, Weiqi; Liu, Guangrong; Gao, Zhiyun; Wang, Xia; Wang, Lingxue

2002-09-01

Pyroelectric uncooled focal plane array (FPA) thermal imager has the advantages of low cost, small size, high responsibility and can work under room temperature, so it has great progress in recent years. As a matched technique, the modulate chopper has become one of the key techniques in uncooled FPA thermal imaging system. Now the Archimedes spiral cord chopper technique is mostly used. When it works, the chopper pushing scans the detector's pixel array, thus makes the pixels being exposed continuously. This paper simulates the shape of this kind of chopper, analyses the exposure time of the detector's every pixel, and also analyses the whole detector pixels' exposure sequence. From the analysis we can get the results: the parameter of Archimedes spiral cord, the detector's thermal time constant, the detector's geometrical dimension, the relative position of the detector to the chopper's spiral cord are the system's important parameters, they will affect the chopper's exposure efficiency and uniformity. We should design the chopper's relevant parameter according to the practical request to achieve the chopper's appropriate structure.

A reduced-order, single-bubble cavitation model with applications to therapeutic ultrasound

PubMed Central

Kreider, Wayne; Crum, Lawrence A.; Bailey, Michael R.; Sapozhnikov, Oleg A.

2011-01-01

Cavitation often occurs in therapeutic applications of medical ultrasound such as shock-wave lithotripsy (SWL) and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Because cavitation bubbles can affect an intended treatment, it is important to understand the dynamics of bubbles in this context. The relevant context includes very high acoustic pressures and frequencies as well as elevated temperatures. Relative to much of the prior research on cavitation and bubble dynamics, such conditions are unique. To address the relevant physics, a reduced-order model of a single, spherical bubble is proposed that incorporates phase change at the liquid-gas interface as well as heat and mass transport in both phases. Based on the energy lost during the inertial collapse and rebound of a millimeter-sized bubble, experimental observations were used to tune and test model predictions. In addition, benchmarks from the published literature were used to assess various aspects of model performance. Benchmark comparisons demonstrate that the model captures the basic physics of phase change and diffusive transport, while it is quantitatively sensitive to specific model assumptions and implementation details. Given its performance and numerical stability, the model can be used to explore bubble behaviors across a broad parameter space relevant to therapeutic ultrasound. PMID:22088026

A reduced-order, single-bubble cavitation model with applications to therapeutic ultrasound.

PubMed

Kreider, Wayne; Crum, Lawrence A; Bailey, Michael R; Sapozhnikov, Oleg A

2011-11-01

Cavitation often occurs in therapeutic applications of medical ultrasound such as shock-wave lithotripsy (SWL) and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Because cavitation bubbles can affect an intended treatment, it is important to understand the dynamics of bubbles in this context. The relevant context includes very high acoustic pressures and frequencies as well as elevated temperatures. Relative to much of the prior research on cavitation and bubble dynamics, such conditions are unique. To address the relevant physics, a reduced-order model of a single, spherical bubble is proposed that incorporates phase change at the liquid-gas interface as well as heat and mass transport in both phases. Based on the energy lost during the inertial collapse and rebound of a millimeter-sized bubble, experimental observations were used to tune and test model predictions. In addition, benchmarks from the published literature were used to assess various aspects of model performance. Benchmark comparisons demonstrate that the model captures the basic physics of phase change and diffusive transport, while it is quantitatively sensitive to specific model assumptions and implementation details. Given its performance and numerical stability, the model can be used to explore bubble behaviors across a broad parameter space relevant to therapeutic ultrasound.

[Patient first - The impact of characteristics of target populations on decisions about therapy effectiveness of complex interventions: Psychological variables to assess effectiveness in interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy].

PubMed

Kaiser, Ulrike; Sabatowski, Rainer; Balck, Friedrich

2017-08-01

The assessment of treatment effectiveness in public health settings is ensured by indicators that reflect the changes caused by specific interventions. These indicators are also applied in benchmarking systems. The selection of constructs should be guided by their relevance for affected patients (patient reported outcomes). The interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy (IMPT) is a complex intervention based on a biopsychosocial understanding of chronic pain. For quality assurance purposes, psychological parameters (depression, general anxiety, health-related quality of life) are included in standardized therapy assessment in pain medicine (KEDOQ), which can also be used for comparative analyses in a benchmarking system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relevance of depressive symptoms, general anxiety and mental quality of life in patients undergoing IMPT under real life conditions. In this retrospective, one-armed and exploratory observational study we used secondary data of a routine documentation of IMST in routine care, applying several variables of the German Pain Questionnaire and the facility's comprehensive basic documentation. 352 participants with IMPT (from 2006 to 2010) were included, and the follow-up was performed over two years with six assessments. Because of statistically heterogeneous characteristics a complex analysis consisting of factor and cluster analyses was applied to build subgroups. These subgroups were explored to identify differences in depressive symptoms (HADS-D), general anxiety (HADS-A), and mental quality of life (SF 36 PSK) at the time of therapy admission and their development estimated by means of effect sizes. Analyses were performed using SPSS 21.0®. Six subgroups were derived and mainly proved to be clinically and psychologically normal, with the exception of one subgroup that consistently showed psychological impairment for all three parameters. The follow-up of the total study population revealed medium or large effects; changes in the subgroups were consistently caused by two subgroups, while the other four showed little or no change. In summary, only a small proportion of the target population (20 %) demonstrated clinically relevant scores in the psychological parameters applied. When selecting indicators for quality assurance, the heterogeneity of the target populations as well as conceptual and methodological aspects should be considered. The characteristics of the parameters intended, along with clinical and personal relevance of indicators for patients, should be investigated by specific procedures such as patient surveys and statistical analyses. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Control-Relevant Modeling, Analysis, and Design for Scramjet-Powered Hypersonic Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriguez, Armando A.; Dickeson, Jeffrey J.; Sridharan, Srikanth; Benavides, Jose; Soloway, Don; Kelkar, Atul; Vogel, Jerald M.

2009-01-01

Within this paper, control-relevant vehicle design concepts are examined using a widely used 3 DOF (plus flexibility) nonlinear model for the longitudinal dynamics of a generic carrot-shaped scramjet powered hypersonic vehicle. Trade studies associated with vehicle/engine parameters are examined. The impact of parameters on control-relevant static properties (e.g. level-flight trimmable region, trim controls, AOA, thrust margin) and dynamic properties (e.g. instability and right half plane zero associated with flight path angle) are examined. Specific parameters considered include: inlet height, diffuser area ratio, lower forebody compression ramp inclination angle, engine location, center of gravity, and mass. Vehicle optimizations is also examined. Both static and dynamic considerations are addressed. The gap-metric optimized vehicle is obtained to illustrate how this control-centric concept can be used to "reduce" scheduling requirements for the final control system. A classic inner-outer loop control architecture and methodology is used to shed light on how specific vehicle/engine design parameter selections impact control system design. In short, the work represents an important first step toward revealing fundamental tradeoffs and systematically treating control-relevant vehicle design.

External factors affecting data acquisition during corneal topography examination.

PubMed

González-Méijome, José Manuel; Queirós, Antonio; Jorge, Jorge; Fernandes, Paulo; Cerviño, Alejandro; de Almeida, José Borges

2007-03-01

To analyze the factors affecting data acquisition during corneal topography examination with the Medmont E-300 videokeratoscope and to provide strategies to minimize their effects. Sixty eyes from thirty young adults were examined. A second observer registered incidences with the potential to affect data acquisition. Those factors were correlated with the difficulty of measurements as judged subjectively by the practitioner who performed the examination. Measurements of axial curvature were analyzed to evaluate the variability expressed as intrasession and intersession coefficient of variation and the standard error of the mean (SEM). The level of difficulty rated by the practitioner was in general low, with 70% of the eyes being easy or very easy to measure. For the remaining 30% of the eyes, corneal topography measurements were considered to be difficult (27%) or very difficult (3%). Of the external parameters investigated, only fixation instability (P<0.001, chi2) and the need for head repositioning (P=0.024, chi2) were associated significantly with a higher level of difficulty, as rated subjectively by the practitioner. Further analysis showed that some external factors, including those previously mentioned and others related to tear instability, affect the variability of measurements at certain corneal locations, particularly in the vertical meridian when related to tear instability and in the horizontal meridian when related to the need for head repositioning on the chin rest owing to physiognomy interferences with the keratoscope cone. Intersession SEM improved when three readings from each session were considered. The level of subjective difficulty found during videokeratoscopy examination is correlated strongly with fixation instability and the need for head reorientation in the chin rest, whereas tear-related events seem to be less relevant in the practitioner perception of test ease or difficulty. Those factors have relevance in measurement variability.

Sources of uncertanity as a basis to fill the information gap in a response to flood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kekez, Toni; Knezic, Snjezana

2016-04-01

Taking into account uncertainties in flood risk management remains a challenge due to difficulties in choosing adequate structural and/or non-structural risk management options. Despite stated measures wrong decisions are often being made when flood occurs. Parameter and structural uncertainties which include model and observation errors as well as lack of knowledge about system characteristics are the main considerations. Real time flood risk assessment methods are predominantly based on measured water level values and vulnerability as well as other relevant characteristics of flood affected area. The goal of this research is to identify sources of uncertainties and to minimize information gap between the point where the water level is measured and the affected area, taking into consideration main uncertainties that can affect risk value at the observed point or section of the river. Sources of uncertainties are identified and determined using system analysis approach and relevant uncertainties are included in the risk assessment model. With such methodological approach it is possible to increase response time with more effective risk assessment which includes uncertainty propagation model. Response phase could be better planned with adequate early warning systems resulting in more time and less costs to help affected areas and save human lives. Reliable and precise information is necessary to raise emergency operability level in order to enhance safety of citizens and reducing possible damage. The results of the EPISECC (EU funded FP7) project are used to validate potential benefits of this research in order to improve flood risk management and response methods. EPISECC aims at developing a concept of a common European Information Space for disaster response which, among other disasters, considers the floods.

Effects of Sequential Fluoxetine and Gender on Pre-quit Depressive Symptoms, Affect, Craving, and Quit Day Abstinence in Smokers with Elevated Depressive Symptoms: A Growth Curve Modeling Approach

PubMed Central

Minami, Haruka; Kahler, Christopher W.; Bloom, Erika Litvin; Prince, Mark A.; Abrantes, Ana M.; Strong, David R.; Niaura, Raymond; Miller, Ivan W.; Palm Reed, Kathleen M.; Price, Lawrence H.; Brown, Richard A.

2015-01-01

While the important roles of post-quit affect and withdrawal symptoms in the process of smoking cessation have been well established, little is known about the relations between pre-quit affective trajectories and cessation outcome on the target quit date (TQD). This study examined whether a 16-week course of fluoxetine initiated 8 weeks pre-quit (“sequential” fluoxetine) improved TQD abstinence relative to placebo through its effects on pre-quit depressive symptoms, affect (withdrawal-relevant negative affect, general negative affect, and positive affect), and craving to smoke among 206 smokers with elevated depressed symptoms. The moderating effects of gender were also examined. A total of 83 smokers (40%) failed to achieve abstinence on TQD, with no difference between treatment conditions or gender. Overall structural equation models showed that fluoxetine had significant indirect effects on TQD abstinence through changes in pre-quit withdrawal-relevant negative affect and craving, but not depressive symptoms. However, multigroup analyses revealed gender differences. Sequential fluoxetine reduced pre-quit depressive symptoms, withdrawal-relevant negative affect, and craving only among women. Reduction in pre-quit depressive symptoms and craving among women, and withdrawal-relevant negative affect among men was associated with TQD abstinence. Moreover, exploratory analysis showed negative trend-level indirect effects of fluoxetine on TQD abstinence via increased side effects, regardless of gender. This study demonstrated the importance of considering gender when examining treatment efficacy. Identifying ways to further reduce pre-quit depressive symptoms and craving for women and withdrawal-relevant negative affect for men while alleviating side effects may help smokers with elevated depressed symptoms achieve the first smoking cessation milestone. PMID:25089930

Particle Dark Matter constraints: the effect of Galactic uncertainties

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

Benito, Maria; Bernal, Nicolás; Iocco, Fabio

2017-02-01

Collider, space, and Earth based experiments are now able to probe several extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics which provide viable dark matter candidates. Direct and indirect dark matter searches rely on inputs of astrophysical nature, such as the local dark matter density or the shape of the dark matter density profile in the target in object. The determination of these quantities is highly affected by astrophysical uncertainties. The latter, especially those for our own Galaxy, are ill-known, and often not fully accounted for when analyzing the phenomenology of particle physics models. In this paper we present amore » systematic, quantitative estimate of how astrophysical uncertainties on Galactic quantities (such as the local galactocentric distance, circular velocity, or the morphology of the stellar disk and bulge) propagate to the determination of the phenomenology of particle physics models, thus eventually affecting the determination of new physics parameters. We present results in the context of two specific extensions of the Standard Model (the Singlet Scalar and the Inert Doublet) that we adopt as case studies for their simplicity in illustrating the magnitude and impact of such uncertainties on the parameter space of the particle physics model itself. Our findings point toward very relevant effects of current Galactic uncertainties on the determination of particle physics parameters, and urge a systematic estimate of such uncertainties in more complex scenarios, in order to achieve constraints on the determination of new physics that realistically include all known uncertainties.« less

Integration of Satellite, Global Reanalysis Data and Macroscale Hydrological Model for Drought Assessment in Sub-Tropical Region of India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, V.; Srivastava, P. K.

2018-04-01

Change in soil moisture regime is highly relevant for agricultural drought, which can be best analyzed in terms of Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI). A macroscale hydrological model Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) was used to simulate the hydro-climatological fluxes including evapotranspiration, runoff, and soil moisture storage to reconstruct the severity and duration of agricultural drought over semi-arid region of India. The simulations in VIC were performed at 0.25° spatial resolution by using a set of meteorological forcing data, soil parameters and Land Use Land Cover (LULC) and vegetation parameters. For calibration and validation, soil parameters obtained from National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSSLUP) and ESA's Climate Change Initiative soil moisture (CCI-SM) data respectively. The analysis of results demonstrates that most of the study regions (> 80 %) especially for central northern part are affected by drought condition. The year 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2009 was highly affected by agricultural drought. Due to high average and maximum temperature, we observed higher soil evaporation that reduces the surface soil moisture significantly as well as the high topographic variations; coarse soil texture and moderate to high wind speed enhanced the drying upper soil moisture layer that incorporate higher negative SMDI over the study area. These findings can also facilitate the archetype in terms of daily time step data, lengths of the simulation period, various hydro-climatological outputs and use of reasonable hydrological model.

Tsunami propagation modelling - a sensitivity study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dao, M. H.; Tkalich, P.

2007-12-01

Indian Ocean (2004) Tsunami and following tragic consequences demonstrated lack of relevant experience and preparedness among involved coastal nations. After the event, scientific and forecasting circles of affected countries have started a capacity building to tackle similar problems in the future. Different approaches have been used for tsunami propagation, such as Boussinesq and Nonlinear Shallow Water Equations (NSWE). These approximations were obtained assuming different relevant importance of nonlinear, dispersion and spatial gradient variation phenomena and terms. The paper describes further development of original TUNAMI-N2 model to take into account additional phenomena: astronomic tide, sea bottom friction, dispersion, Coriolis force, and spherical curvature. The code is modified to be suitable for operational forecasting, and the resulting version (TUNAMI-N2-NUS) is verified using test cases, results of other models, and real case scenarios. Using the 2004 Tsunami event as one of the scenarios, the paper examines sensitivity of numerical solutions to variation of different phenomena and parameters, and the results are analyzed and ranked accordingly.

The relationship between poor sleep and inhibitory functions indicated by event-related potentials.

PubMed

Breimhorst, Markus; Falkenstein, Michael; Marks, Anke; Griefahn, Barbara

2008-06-01

The present study focused on the relationship between normal variations of sleep and inhibitory functions as reflected in event-related potentials. For this reason one night of 21 healthy participants was analysed. After waking up all participants completed a visual Go/Nogo task. On the basis of a sleep disturbance index (SDI) the participants were separated into 8 SDI-good and 13 SDI-poor sleepers using a cluster analysis. The results showed that Nogo-N2 amplitude was smaller and Nogo-P3 latency longer in SDI-poor sleepers. Moreover, Go-P3 amplitude was smaller in SDI-poor sleepers. Performance parameters were not influenced by poor sleep. We concluded that poor sleep specifically affects the intensity of pre-motor inhibitory processes (Nogo-N2 amplitude), the speed to inhibit a motor response (Nogo-P3 latency) and the intensity of task-relevant information processing (Go-P3 amplitude). In further studies, it should be explored under which conditions such subliminal deficits also become relevant for overt behaviour.

Multi-sensory integration in a small brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gepner, Ruben; Wolk, Jason; Gershow, Marc

Understanding how fluctuating multi-sensory stimuli are integrated and transformed in neural circuits has proved a difficult task. To address this question, we study the sensori-motor transformations happening in the brain of the Drosophila larva, a tractable model system with about 10,000 neurons. Using genetic tools that allow us to manipulate the activity of individual brain cells through their transparent body, we observe the stochastic decisions made by freely-behaving animals as their visual and olfactory environments fluctuate independently. We then use simple linear-nonlinear models to correlate outputs with relevant features in the inputs, and adaptive filtering processes to track changes in these relevant parameters used by the larva's brain to make decisions. We show how these techniques allow us to probe how statistics of stimuli from different sensory modalities combine to affect behavior, and can potentially guide our understanding of how neural circuits are anatomically and functionally integrated. Supported by NIH Grant 1DP2EB022359 and NSF Grant PHY-1455015.

Finding Relevant Parameters for the Thin-film Photovoltaic Cells Production Process with the Application of Data Mining Methods.

PubMed

Ulaczyk, Jan; Morawiec, Krzysztof; Zabierowski, Paweł; Drobiazg, Tomasz; Barreau, Nicolas

2017-09-01

A data mining approach is proposed as a useful tool for the control parameters analysis of the 3-stage CIGSe photovoltaic cell production process, in order to find variables that are the most relevant for cell electric parameters and efficiency. The analysed data set consists of stage duration times, heater power values as well as temperatures for the element sources and the substrate - there are 14 variables per sample in total. The most relevant variables of the process have been found based on the so-called random forest analysis with the application of the Boruta algorithm. 118 CIGSe samples, prepared at Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, were analysed. The results are close to experimental knowledge on the CIGSe cells production process. They bring new evidence to production parameters of new cells and further research. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Evaluation of environment and a feline facial pheromone analogue on physiologic and behavioral measures in cats.

PubMed

Conti, Laura Mc; Champion, Tatiana; Guberman, Úrsula C; Mathias, Carlos Ht; Fernandes, Stéfano L; Silva, Elisângela Gm; Lázaro, Monique A; Lopes, Aline Dcg; Fortunato, Viviane R

2017-02-01

Objectives This study assessed behavioral and physiologic stress parameters in cats placed in two environments: home and the veterinary hospital. With a widely used scale, several parameters were assessed, including respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), vagosympathetic responses using calculated intervals (heart rate variability [HRV]10, HRV20 and vasovagal tonus index [VVTI]) and 'stress attitude', such as struggling, vocalization and agitation during handling. In addition, we evaluated whether a feline facial pheromone analogue (FFPA) had an effect on any of these measures in either environment. Methods Using a placebo and a pheromone substance, we evaluated 30 adult and healthy cats at home and in veterinary hospitals. Statistical analyses were performed using the Shapiro-Wilk, Kruskal-Wallis, and Dunn or ANOVA and Tukey tests, as well as Spearman's correlation ( P <0.05). Results We found that exposure to FFPA did not reduce the effects of stress. Some parameters presented differences with regard to environment: the RR was 45 and 70 breaths/min and stress attitude score was 1.3 and 0.0 for cats evaluated at home and at the hospital, respectively. The HR and two vagosympathetic responses were also different between the two environments, with a HR of 160 and 187 beats/min, HRV10 of 14.24 and 14.00, and HRV20 of 14.89 and 14.65 in cats at home and the hospital, respectively. There was no variation in SBP and VVTI parameters between the environments. Conclusions and relevance Exposure to FFPA does not reduce the physiologic and behavioral changes measured in this study. Furthermore, environmental change, physical restraint and manipulation during the physical examination alter RR, HR, HRV and behavior but not SBP and VVTI. This study is relevant because physiologic and behavioral stress can affect the quality and interpretation of physical examination results. This study presents detailed data that show the effects of environment and manipulation on such parameters. Furthermore, this study shows a lack of effect of FFPA on any of these parameters.

Sleep mechanisms: Sleep deprivation and detection of changing levels of consciousness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dement, W. C.; Barchas, J. D.

1972-01-01

An attempt was made to obtain information relevant to assessing the need to sleep and make up for lost sleep. Physiological and behavioral parameters were used as measuring parameters. Sleep deprivation in a restricted environment, derivation of data relevant to determining sleepiness from EEG, and the development of the Sanford Sleepiness Scale were discussed.

Effect of Soil Roughness on Overland Flow Connectivity at Different Slope Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penuela Fernandez, A.; Javaux, M.; Bielders, C.

2013-12-01

Runoff generation, which involves the gradual depression filling and connection of overflowing depressions, is affected by surface roughness and slope. Therefore, quantifying and understanding the effects of surface roughness and slope on overland flow connectivity at the sub-grid scale can potentially improve current hydrological modeling and runoff prediction. However, little work has been conducted on quantifying these effects. This study examines the role of surface roughness on overland flow connectivity at the plot scale at different slopes. For this purpose, standard multi-Gaussian synthetic fields (6 × 6 m) with contrasting surface roughnesses, as defined by the parameters of the variogram (sill and range) of surface elevation, were used. In order to quantify the effects of soil roughness and slope on overland flow connectivity a functional connectivity indicator, so-called the Relative Surface Connection function (Antoine et al., 2009), was applied. This indicator, that represents the ratio of area connected to the outflow boundary (C) in function of the depression storage (DS), is able to capture runoff-relevant connectivity properties. Three parameters characterizing the connectivity function were used to quantify the effects of roughness and slope. These parameters are: C at DS = 0 (CDS=0), connectivity threshold (CT) and maximum depression storage (MDS). Results showed that variations on soil roughness and slope greatly affect the three parameters showing in some cases a clear relationship between structural connectivity and functional connectivity, such as between the ratio sill/range and MDS and between CDS=0 and range. This relationship, described by mathematical expressions, not only allows the quantification and comparison of the effects of soil roughness and slope in overland flow connectivity but also the prediction of these effects by the study of the variogram.

Affective picture processing and motivational relevance: arousal and valence effects on ERPs in an oddball task.

PubMed

Briggs, Kate E; Martin, Frances H

2009-06-01

There are two dominant theories of affective picture processing; one that attention is more deeply engaged by motivationally relevant stimuli (i.e., stimuli that activate both the appetitive and aversive systems), and two that attention is more deeply engaged by aversive stimuli described as the negativity bias. In order to identify the theory that can best account for affective picture processing, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 34 participants during a modified oddball paradigm in which levels of stimulus valence, arousal, and motivational relevance were systematically varied. Results were partially consistent with motivated attention models of emotional perception, as P3b amplitude was enhanced in response to highly arousing and motivationally relevant sexual and unpleasant stimuli compared to respective low arousing and less motivationally relevant stimuli. However P3b amplitudes were significantly larger in response to the highly arousing sexual stimuli compared to all other affective stimuli, which is not consistent with either dominant theory. The current study therefore highlights the need for a revised model of affective picture processing and provides a platform for further research investigating the independent effects of sexual arousal on cognitive processing.

Prevalence of microorganisms and immunoglobulins in children with tonsillar hypertrophy and adenoiditis.

PubMed

Miramontes, Henrique Prestes; Fagundes, Djalma José; Jurgielewicz, Julia Coelho Lima E; Miramontes Neto, Haroldo Prestes; Oliveira, Renan Gianotto de; Oliveira, Gustavo Gianotto de; Souza, Maria Rosa Machado de

2014-07-01

 Benign idiopathic tonsillar hypertrophy (HBI) may affect a child's quality of life and sleep. Several studies have sought to relate the clinical features of HBI with the infectious and/or immunologic changes that occur.  To increase the knowledge of the etiology of HBI.  From 2012 to 2013 we conducted a retrospective observational study of 101 children with HBI who underwent tonsillectomies at Ambulatory ENT General Hospital of the East Zone of São Paulo City, a region with a poor socioeconomic population. Preoperative serologic results were available to confirm mononucleosis, cytomegalovirus, anti-streptolysin O (ASLO) and immunoglobulins. The mean patient age was 5.8 years (55% male, 45% female). Using the Mann-Whitney U test, we identified significant gender differences in the parameters of immunoglobulins (Ig) M (IgM), IgA, and IgE. Forty-seven percent of the patients had increased ASLO levels, and 37% had increased IgE levels.  An evaluation of a patient's serologic parameters and laboratory results may be relevant to the etiology and prevention of HBI. Based on the results obtained from the study sample, the identification of etiologic agents and causative factors remain a public health challenge that affects the quality of life of children.

Geostatistical characterisation of geothermal parameters for a thermal aquifer storage site in Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodrigo-Ilarri, J.; Li, T.; Grathwohl, P.; Blum, P.; Bayer, P.

2009-04-01

The design of geothermal systems such as aquifer thermal energy storage systems (ATES) must account for a comprehensive characterisation of all relevant parameters considered for the numerical design model. Hydraulic and thermal conductivities are the most relevant parameters and its distribution determines not only the technical design but also the economic viability of such systems. Hence, the knowledge of the spatial distribution of these parameters is essential for a successful design and operation of such systems. This work shows the first results obtained when applying geostatistical techniques to the characterisation of the Esseling Site in Germany. In this site a long-term thermal tracer test (> 1 year) was performed. On this open system the spatial temperature distribution inside the aquifer was observed over time in order to obtain as much information as possible that yield to a detailed characterisation both of the hydraulic and thermal relevant parameters. This poster shows the preliminary results obtained for the Esseling Site. It has been observed that the common homogeneous approach is not sufficient to explain the observations obtained from the TRT and that parameter heterogeneity must be taken into account.

Effects of total pressure on non-grey gas radiation transfer in oxy-fuel combustion using the LBL, SNB, SNBCK, WSGG, and FSCK methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Huaqiang; Gu, Mingyan; Consalvi, Jean-Louis; Liu, Fengshan; Zhou, Huaichun

2016-03-01

The effects of total pressure on gas radiation heat transfer are investigated in 1D parallel plate geometry containing isothermal and homogeneous media and an inhomogeneous and non-isothermal CO2-H2O mixture under conditions relevant to oxy-fuel combustion using the line-by-line (LBL), statistical narrow-band (SNB), statistical narrow-band correlated-k (SNBCK), weighted-sum-of-grey-gases (WSGG), and full-spectrum correlated-k (FSCK) models. The LBL calculations were conducted using the HITEMP2010 and CDSD-1000 databases and the LBL results serve as the benchmark solution to evaluate the accuracy of the other models. Calculations of the SNB, SNBCK, and FSCK were conducted using both the 1997 EM2C SNB parameters and their recently updated 2012 parameters to investigate how the SNB model parameters affect the results under oxy-fuel combustion conditions at high pressures. The WSGG model considered is the recently developed one by Bordbar et al. [19] for oxy-fuel combustion based on LBL calculations using HITEMP2010. The total pressure considered ranges from 1 up to 30 atm. The total pressure significantly affects gas radiation transfer primarily through the increase in molecule number density and only slightly through spectral line broadening. Using the 1997 EM2C SNB model parameters the accuracy of SNB and SNBCK is very good and remains essentially independent of the total pressure. When using the 2012 EM2C SNB model parameters the SNB and SNBCK results are less accurate and their error increases with increasing the total pressure. The WSGG model has the lowest accuracy and the best computational efficiency among the models investigated. The errors of both WSGG and FSCK using the 2012 EM2C SNB model parameters increase when the total pressure is increased from 1 to 10 atm, but remain nearly independent of the total pressure beyond 10 atm. When using the 1997 EM2C SNB model parameters the accuracy of FSCK only slightly decreases with increasing the total pressure.

New Microwave-Based Missions Applications for Rainfed Crops Characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, N.; Lopez-Sanchez, J. M.; Arias-Pérez, B.; Valcarce-Diñeiro, R.; Martínez-Fernández, J.; Calvo-Heras, J. M.; Camps, A.; González-Zamora, A.; Vicente-Guijalba, F.

2016-06-01

A multi-temporal/multi-sensor field experiment was conducted within the Soil Moisture Measurement Stations Network of the University of Salamanca (REMEDHUS) in Spain, in order to retrieve useful information from satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and upcoming Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R) missions. The objective of the experiment was first to identify which radar observables are most sensitive to the development of crops, and then to define which crop parameters the most affect the radar signal. A wide set of radar variables (backscattering coefficients and polarimetric indicators) acquired by Radarsat-2 were analyzed and then exploited to determine variables characterizing the crops. Field measurements were fortnightly taken at seven cereals plots between February and July, 2015. This work also tried to optimize the crop characterization through Landsat-8 estimations, testing and validating parameters such as the leaf area index, the fraction of vegetation cover and the vegetation water content, among others. Some of these parameters showed significant and relevant correlation with the Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (R>0.60). Regarding the radar observables, the parameters the best characterized were biomass and height, which may be explored for inversion using SAR data as an input. Moreover, the differences in the correlations found for the different crops under study types suggested a way to a feasible classification of crops.

Roll compaction/dry granulation: comparison between roll mill and oscillating granulator in dry granulation.

PubMed

Sakwanichol, Jarunee; Puttipipatkhachorn, Satit; Ingenerf, Gernot; Kleinebudde, Peter

2012-01-01

Different experimental factorial designs were employed to evaluate granule properties obtained from oscillating granulator and roll mill. Four oscillating-granulator parameters were varied, i.e. rotor speed, oscillating angle, aperture of mesh screen and rotor type. Six roll-mill parameters that were throughput, speed ratio in both first and second stages, gap between roll pair in both stages and roll-surface texture were also investigated. Afterwards, the granule properties obtained from two milling types with similar median particle size were compared. All milling parameters in both milling types affected significantly the median particle size, size distribution and amount of fine particles (P < 0.05), except the rotor types of oscillating granulator on fines. Only three milling parameters influenced significantly the flowability (P < 0.05). These were the throughput and the gap size in the first stage of roll mill and the sieve size of oscillating granulator. In comparison between milling types, the differences of granule properties were not practically relevant. However, the roll mill had much higher capacity than the oscillating granulator about seven times, resulting in improving energy savings per unit of product. Consequently, the roll mill can be applied instead of oscillating granulator for roll compaction/dry granulation technique.

Amplitude modulation of quantum-ion-acoustic wavepackets in electron-positron-ion plasmas: Modulational instability, envelope modes, extreme wavesa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Ata-ur-; Kerr, Michael Mc; El-Taibany, Wael F.; Kourakis, Ioannis; Qamar, A.

2015-02-01

A semirelativistic fluid model is employed to describe the nonlinear amplitude modulation of low-frequency (ionic scale) electrostatic waves in an unmagnetized electron-positron-ion plasma. Electrons and positrons are assumed to be degenerated and inertialess, whereas ions are warm and classical. A multiscale perturbation method is used to derive a nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the envelope amplitude, based on which the occurrence of modulational instability is investigated in detail. Various types of localized ion acoustic excitations are shown to exist, in the form of either bright type envelope solitons (envelope pulses) or dark-type envelope solitons (voids, holes). The plasma configurational parameters (namely, the relativistic degeneracy parameter, the positron concentration, and the ionic temperature) are shown to affect the conditions for modulational instability significantly, in fact modifying the associated threshold as well as the instability growth rate. In particular, the relativistic degeneracy parameter leads to an enhancement of the modulational instability mechanism. Furthermore, the effect of different relevant plasma parameters on the characteristics (amplitude, width) of these envelope solitary structures is also presented in detail. Finally, the occurrence of extreme amplitude excitation (rogue waves) is also discussed briefly. Our results aim at elucidating the formation and dynamics of nonlinear electrostatic excitations in superdense astrophysical regimes.

Integral projection models for finite populations in a stochastic environment.

PubMed

Vindenes, Yngvild; Engen, Steinar; Saether, Bernt-Erik

2011-05-01

Continuous types of population structure occur when continuous variables such as body size or habitat quality affect the vital parameters of individuals. These structures can give rise to complex population dynamics and interact with environmental conditions. Here we present a model for continuously structured populations with finite size, including both demographic and environmental stochasticity in the dynamics. Using recent methods developed for discrete age-structured models we derive the demographic and environmental variance of the population growth as functions of a continuous state variable. These two parameters, together with the expected population growth rate, are used to define a one-dimensional diffusion approximation of the population dynamics. Thus, a substantial reduction in complexity is achieved as the dynamics of the complex structured model can be described by only three population parameters. We provide methods for numerical calculation of the model parameters and demonstrate the accuracy of the diffusion approximation by computer simulation of specific examples. The general modeling framework makes it possible to analyze and predict future dynamics and extinction risk of populations with various types of structure, and to explore consequences of changes in demography caused by, e.g., climate change or different management decisions. Our results are especially relevant for small populations that are often of conservation concern.

MULTI-OBJECTIVE ONLINE OPTIMIZATION OF BEAM LIFETIME AT APS

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

Sun, Yipeng

In this paper, online optimization of beam lifetime at the APS (Advanced Photon Source) storage ring is presented. A general genetic algorithm (GA) is developed and employed for some online optimizations in the APS storage ring. Sextupole magnets in 40 sectors of the APS storage ring are employed as variables for the online nonlinear beam dynamics optimization. The algorithm employs several optimization objectives and is designed to run with topup mode or beam current decay mode. Up to 50\\% improvement of beam lifetime is demonstrated, without affecting the transverse beam sizes and other relevant parameters. In some cases, the top-upmore » injection efficiency is also improved.« less

Two dimensional electrostatic shock waves in relativistic electron positron ion plasmas

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

Masood, W.; Rizvi, H.

2010-05-15

Ion-acoustic shock waves (IASWs) are studied in an unmagnetized plasma consisting of electrons, positrons and hot ions. In this regard, Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-Burgers (KPB) equation is derived using the small amplitude perturbation expansion method. The dependence of the IASWs on various plasma parameters is numerically investigated. It is observed that ratio of ion to electron temperature, kinematic viscosity, positron concentration, and the relativistic ion streaming velocity affect the structure of the IASW. Limiting case of the KPB equation is also discussed. Stability of KPB equation is also presented. The present investigation may have relevance in the study of electrostatic shock waves inmore » relativistic electron-positron-ion plasmas.« less

Optimization of interaction conditions for efficient short laser pulse amplification by stimulated Brillouin scattering in the strongly coupled regime

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

Chiaramello, M.; Riconda, C.; Amiranoff, F.

Plasma amplification of low energy, a short (∼100–500 fs) laser pulse by an energetic long (∼10 ps) pulse via strong coupling Stimulated Brillouin Backscattering is investigated with an extensive analysis of one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Parameters relevant to nowadays experimental conditions are investigated. The obtained seed pulse spectra are analyzed as a function of the interaction conditions such as plasma profile, pulses delay, and seed or pulse duration. The factors affecting the amount of energy transferred are determined, and the competition between Brillouin-based amplification and parasitic Raman backscattering is analyzed, leading to the optimization of the interaction conditions.

Theoretical aspects of femtosecond double-pump single-molecule spectroscopy. I. Weak-field regime.

PubMed

Palacino-González, Elisa; Gelin, Maxim F; Domcke, Wolfgang

2017-12-13

We present a theoretical description of double-pump femtosecond single-molecule signals with fluorescence detection. We simulate these signals in the weak-field regime for a model mimicking a chromophore with a Franck-Condon-active vibrational mode. We establish several signatures of these signals which are characteristic for the weak-field regime. The signatures include the quenching of vibrational beatings by electronic dephasing and a pronounced tilt of the phase-time profiles in the two-dimensional (2D) maps. We study how environment-induced slow modulations of the electronic dephasing and relevant chromophore parameters (electronic energy, orientation, vibrational frequency and relative shift of the potential energy surfaces) affect the signals.

Evidence for Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effects in solar neutrino flavor transitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogli, G. L.; Lisi, E.; Marrone, A.; Palazzo, A.

2004-03-01

We point out that the recent data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, together with other relevant measurements from solar and reactor neutrino experiments, convincingly show that the flavor transitions of solar neutrinos are affected by Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effects. More precisely, one can safely reject the null hypothesis of no MSW interaction energy in matter, despite the fact that the interaction amplitude (formally treated as a free parameter) is still weakly constrained by the current phenomenology. Such a constraint can be improved, however, by future data from the KamLAND experiment. In the standard MSW case, we also perform an updated analysis of two-family active oscillations of solar and reactor neutrinos.

Need for Cognitive Closure Modulates How Perceptual Decisions Are Affected by Task Difficulty and Outcome Relevance.

PubMed

Viola, Vanda; Tosoni, Annalisa; Brizi, Ambra; Salvato, Ilaria; Kruglanski, Arie W; Galati, Gaspare; Mannetti, Lucia

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which Need for Cognitive Closure (NCC), an individual-level epistemic motivation, can explain inter-individual variability in the cognitive effort invested on a perceptual decision making task (the random motion task). High levels of NCC are manifested in a preference for clarity, order and structure and a desire for firm and stable knowledge. The study evaluated how NCC moderates the impact of two variables known to increase the amount of cognitive effort invested on a task, namely task ambiguity (i.e., the difficulty of the perceptual discrimination) and outcome relevance (i.e., the monetary gain associated with a correct discrimination). Based on previous work and current design, we assumed that reaction times (RTs) on our motion discrimination task represent a valid index of effort investment. Task ambiguity was associated with increased cognitive effort in participants with low or medium NCC but, interestingly, it did not affect the RTs of participants with high NCC. A different pattern of association was observed for outcome relevance; high outcome relevance increased cognitive effort in participants with moderate or high NCC, but did not affect the performance of low NCC participants. In summary, the performance of individuals with low NCC was affected by task difficulty but not by outcome relevance, whereas individuals with high NCC were influenced by outcome relevance but not by task difficulty; only participants with medium NCC were affected by both task difficulty and outcome relevance. These results suggest that perceptual decision making is influenced by the interaction between context and NCC.

EEG indices correlate with sustained attention performance in patients affected by diffuse axonal injury.

PubMed

Coelli, Stefania; Barbieri, Riccardo; Reni, Gianluigi; Zucca, Claudio; Bianchi, Anna Maria

2018-06-01

The aim of this study is to assess the ability of EEG-based indices in providing relevant information about cognitive engagement level during the execution of a clinical sustained attention (SA) test in healthy volunteers and DAI (diffused axonal injury)-affected patients. We computed three continuous power-based engagement indices (P β /P α , 1/P α , and P β / (P α + P θ )) from EEG recordings in a control group (n = 7) and seven DAI-affected patients executing a 10-min Conners' "not-X" continuous performance test (CPT). A correlation analysis was performed in order to investigate the existence of relations between the EEG metrics and behavioral parameters in both the populations. P β /P α and 1/P α indices were found to be correlated with reaction times in both groups while P β / (P α + P θ ) and P β /P α also correlated with the errors rate for DAI patients. In line with previous studies, time course fluctuations revealed a first strong decrease of attention after 2 min from the beginning of the test and a final fading at the end. Our results provide evidence that EEG-derived indices extraction and evaluation during SA tasks are helpful in the assessment of attention level in healthy subjects and DAI patients, offering motivations for including EEG monitoring in cognitive rehabilitation practice. Graphical abstract Three EEG-derived indices were computed from four electrodes montages in a population of seven healthy volunteers and a group of seven DAI-affected patients. Results show a significant correlation between the time course of the indices and behavioral parameters, thus demonstrating their usefulness in monitoring mental engagement level during a sustained attention task.

Drama advertisements: moderating effects of self-relevance on the relations among empathy, information processing, and attitudes.

PubMed

Chebat, Jean-Charles; Vercollier, Sarah Drissi; Gélinas-Chebat, Claire

2003-06-01

The effects of drama versus lecture format in public service advertisements are studied in a 2 (format) x 2 (malaria vs AIDS) factorial design. Two structural equation models are built (one for each level of self-relevance), showing two distinct patterns. In both low and high self-relevant situations, empathy plays a key role. Under low self-relevance conditions, drama enhances information processing through empathy. Under high self-relevant conditions, the advertisement format has neither significant cognitive or empathetic effects. The information processing generated by the highly relevant topic affects viewers' empathy, which in turn affects the attitude the advertisement and the behavioral intent. As predicted by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the advertisement format enhances the attitudes and information processing mostly under low self-relevant conditions. Under low self-relevant conditions, empathy enhances information processing while under high self-relevance, the converse relation holds.

Air Pollution and Quality of Sperm: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Fathi Najafi, Tahereh; Latifnejad Roudsari, Robab; Namvar, Farideh; Ghavami Ghanbarabadi, Vahid; Hadizadeh Talasaz, Zahra; Esmaeli, Mahin

2015-01-01

Context: Air pollution is common in all countries and affects reproductive functions in men and women. It particularly impacts sperm parameters in men. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the impact of air pollution on the quality of sperm. Evidence Acquisition: The scientific databases of Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Google scholar, Cochrane Library, and Elsevier were searched to identify relevant articles published between 1978 to 2013. In the first step, 76 articles were selected. These studies were ecological correlation, cohort, retrospective, cross-sectional, and case control ones that were found through electronic and hand search of references about air pollution and male infertility. The outcome measurement was the change in sperm parameters. A total of 11 articles were ultimately included in a meta-analysis to examine the impact of air pollution on sperm parameters. The authors applied meta-analysis sheets from Cochrane library, then data extraction, including mean and standard deviation of sperm parameters were calculated and finally their confidence interval (CI) were compared to CI of standard parameters. Results: The CI for pooled means were as follows: 2.68 ± 0.32 for ejaculation volume (mL), 62.1 ± 15.88 for sperm concentration (million per milliliter), 39.4 ± 5.52 for sperm motility (%), 23.91 ± 13.43 for sperm morphology (%) and 49.53 ± 11.08 for sperm count. Conclusions: The results of this meta-analysis showed that air pollution reduces sperm motility, but has no impact on the other sperm parameters of spermogram. PMID:26023349

Air pollution and quality of sperm: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Fathi Najafi, Tahereh; Latifnejad Roudsari, Robab; Namvar, Farideh; Ghavami Ghanbarabadi, Vahid; Hadizadeh Talasaz, Zahra; Esmaeli, Mahin

2015-04-01

Air pollution is common in all countries and affects reproductive functions in men and women. It particularly impacts sperm parameters in men. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the impact of air pollution on the quality of sperm. The scientific databases of Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Google scholar, Cochrane Library, and Elsevier were searched to identify relevant articles published between 1978 to 2013. In the first step, 76 articles were selected. These studies were ecological correlation, cohort, retrospective, cross-sectional, and case control ones that were found through electronic and hand search of references about air pollution and male infertility. The outcome measurement was the change in sperm parameters. A total of 11 articles were ultimately included in a meta-analysis to examine the impact of air pollution on sperm parameters. The authors applied meta-analysis sheets from Cochrane library, then data extraction, including mean and standard deviation of sperm parameters were calculated and finally their confidence interval (CI) were compared to CI of standard parameters. The CI for pooled means were as follows: 2.68 ± 0.32 for ejaculation volume (mL), 62.1 ± 15.88 for sperm concentration (million per milliliter), 39.4 ± 5.52 for sperm motility (%), 23.91 ± 13.43 for sperm morphology (%) and 49.53 ± 11.08 for sperm count. The results of this meta-analysis showed that air pollution reduces sperm motility, but has no impact on the other sperm parameters of spermogram.

Owner perceptions of their cat's quality of life when treated with a modified University of Wisconsin-Madison protocol for lymphoma.

PubMed

Thornton, Laura A; Cave, Nicholas; Bridges, Janis P; Stell, Anneliese J

2018-04-01

Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess owner perceptions of their cat's quality of life during treatment for lymphoma with a doxorubicin-containing multi-agent chemotherapy protocol, whether various health-related parameters correlated with quality of life scores, and to assess owner satisfaction with the protocol. Methods A postal questionnaire was sent to the owners of 33 treated cats. Owners retrospectively assessed their cat's quality of life using a Likert scale (1-10) before lymphoma was diagnosed, at diagnosis and during chemotherapy. Owners assigned scores to various health-related parameters previously reported to affect quality of life at the three time points, and correlations with quality of life scores were sought. Owners were asked to rate the importance of these health-related parameters. Satisfaction with the protocol was investigated. Results Twenty questionnaires were completed (61% response rate). The median quality of life score before diagnosis (10, range 5-10) was higher than at diagnosis (3, range 1-9) ( P <0.05). The median quality of life score during chemotherapy (7, range 3-9) was lower than before diagnosis ( P <0.05) and higher than at diagnosis, but this was not statistically significant. Quality of life scores did not correlate with individual health-related parameter scores consistently; however, quality of life scores did correlate with appetite scores during chemotherapy. Appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea were parameters perceived as important in affecting quality of life. Most owners (75%) were happy they had treated their cat. Conclusions and relevance The quality of life scores observed were comparable to a previous study using cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone, employing the same scoring system. Although quality of life scores during chemotherapy were not significantly improved at diagnosis, owner satisfaction with the protocol was high. The factors perceived by owners to determine quality of life in their pets may be different to those previously conjectured, but appetite during chemotherapy remains important.

A global sensitivity analysis approach for morphogenesis models.

PubMed

Boas, Sonja E M; Navarro Jimenez, Maria I; Merks, Roeland M H; Blom, Joke G

2015-11-21

Morphogenesis is a developmental process in which cells organize into shapes and patterns. Complex, non-linear and multi-factorial models with images as output are commonly used to study morphogenesis. It is difficult to understand the relation between the uncertainty in the input and the output of such 'black-box' models, giving rise to the need for sensitivity analysis tools. In this paper, we introduce a workflow for a global sensitivity analysis approach to study the impact of single parameters and the interactions between them on the output of morphogenesis models. To demonstrate the workflow, we used a published, well-studied model of vascular morphogenesis. The parameters of this cellular Potts model (CPM) represent cell properties and behaviors that drive the mechanisms of angiogenic sprouting. The global sensitivity analysis correctly identified the dominant parameters in the model, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the analysis provided information on the relative impact of single parameters and of interactions between them. This is very relevant because interactions of parameters impede the experimental verification of the predicted effect of single parameters. The parameter interactions, although of low impact, provided also new insights in the mechanisms of in silico sprouting. Finally, the analysis indicated that the model could be reduced by one parameter. We propose global sensitivity analysis as an alternative approach to study the mechanisms of morphogenesis. Comparison of the ranking of the impact of the model parameters to knowledge derived from experimental data and from manipulation experiments can help to falsify models and to find the operand mechanisms in morphogenesis. The workflow is applicable to all 'black-box' models, including high-throughput in vitro models in which output measures are affected by a set of experimental perturbations.

Large-scale investigation of the parameters in response to Eimeria maxima challenge in broilers.

PubMed

Hamzic, E; Bed'Hom, B; Juin, H; Hawken, R; Abrahamsen, M S; Elsen, J M; Servin, B; Pinard-van der Laan, M H; Demeure, O

2015-04-01

Coccidiosis, a parasitic disease of the intestinal tract caused by members of the genera Eimeria and Isospora, is one of the most common and costly diseases in chicken. The aims of this study were to assess the effect of the challenge and level of variability of measured parameters in chickens during the challenge with Eimeria maxima. Furthermore, this study aimed to investigate which parameters are the most relevant indicators of the health status. Finally, the study also aimed to estimate accuracy of prediction for traits that cannot be measured on large scale (such as intestinal lesion score and fecal oocyst count) using parameters that can easily be measured on all animals. The study was performed in 2 parts: a pilot challenge on 240 animals followed by a large-scale challenge on 2,024 animals. In both experiments, animals were challenged with 50,000 Eimeria maxima oocysts at 16 d of age. In the pilot challenge, all animals were measured for BW gain, plasma coloration, hematocrit, and rectal temperature and, in addition, a subset of 48 animals was measured for oocyst count and the intestinal lesion score. All animals from the second challenge were measured for BW gain, plasma coloration, and hematocrit whereas a subset of 184 animals was measured for intestinal lesion score, fecal oocyst count, blood parameters, and plasma protein content and composition. Most of the parameters measured were significantly affected by the challenge. Lesion scores for duodenum and jejunum (P < 0.001), oocyst count (P < 0.05), plasma coloration for the optical density values between 450 and 490 nm (P < 0.001), albumin (P < 0.001), α1-globulin (P < 0.01), α2-globulin (P < 0.001), α3-globulin (P < 0.01), and β2-globulin (P < 0.001) were the most strongly affected parameters and expressed the greatest levels of variation. Plasma protein profiles proved to be a new, reliable parameter for measuring response to Eimeria maxima. Prediction of intestinal lesion score and fecal oocyst count using the other parameters measured was not very precise (R2 < 0.7). The study was successfully performed in real raising conditions on a large scale. Finally, we observed a high variability in response to the challenge, suggesting that broilers' response to Eimeria maxima has a strong genetic determinism, which may be improved by genetic selection.

Linking 1D coastal ocean modelling to environmental management: an ensemble approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mussap, Giulia; Zavatarelli, Marco; Pinardi, Nadia

2017-12-01

The use of a one-dimensional interdisciplinary numerical model of the coastal ocean as a tool contributing to the formulation of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is explored. The focus is on the definition of an experimental design based on ensemble simulations, integrating variability linked to scenarios (characterised by changes in the system forcing) and to the concurrent variation of selected, and poorly constrained, model parameters. The modelling system used was previously specifically designed for the use in "data-rich" areas, so that horizontal dynamics can be resolved by a diagnostic approach and external inputs can be parameterised by nudging schemes properly calibrated. Ensembles determined by changes in the simulated environmental (physical and biogeochemical) dynamics, under joint forcing and parameterisation variations, highlight the uncertainties associated to the application of specific scenarios that are relevant to EBM, providing an assessment of the reliability of the predicted changes. The work has been carried out by implementing the coupled modelling system BFM-POM1D in an area of Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea), considered homogeneous from the point of view of hydrological properties, and forcing it by changing climatic (warming) and anthropogenic (reduction of the land-based nutrient input) pressure. Model parameters affected by considerable uncertainties (due to the lack of relevant observations) were varied jointly with the scenarios of change. The resulting large set of ensemble simulations provided a general estimation of the model uncertainties related to the joint variation of pressures and model parameters. The information of the model result variability aimed at conveying efficiently and comprehensibly the information on the uncertainties/reliability of the model results to non-technical EBM planners and stakeholders, in order to have the model-based information effectively contributing to EBM.

Social and environmental factors modulate leucocyte profiles in free-living Greylag geese (Anser anser)

PubMed Central

Ludwig, Sonja C.; Hemetsberger, Josef; Kotrschal, Kurt; Wascher, Claudia A.F.

2017-01-01

Background Blood parameters such as haematocrit or leucocyte counts are indicators of immune status and health, which can be affected, in a complex way, by exogenous as well as endogenous factors. Additionally, social context is known to be among the most potent stressors in group living individuals, therefore potentially influencing haematological parameters. However, with few exceptions, this potential causal relationship received only moderate scientific attention. Methods In a free-living and individually marked population of the highly social and long-lived Greylag goose, Anser anser, we relate variation in haematocrit (HCT), heterophils to lymphocytes ratio (H/L) and blood leucocyte counts to the following factors: intrinsic (sex, age, raising condition, i.e. goose- or hand-raised), social (pair-bond status, pair-bond duration and parental experience) and environmental (biologically relevant periods, ambient temperature) factors. Blood samples were collected repeatedly from a total of 105 focal birds during three biologically relevant seasons (winter flock, mating season, summer). Results We found significant relationships between haematological parameters and social as well as environmental factors. During the mating season, unpaired individuals had higher HCT compared to paired and family individuals and this pattern reversed in fall. Similarly, H/L ratio was positively related to pair-bond status in a seasonally dependent way, with highest values during mating and successful pairs had higher H/L ratio than unsuccessful ones. Also, absolute number of leucocytes tended to vary depending on raising condition in a seasonally dependent way. Discussion Haematology bears a great potential in ecological and behavioural studies on wild vertebrates. In sum, we found that HTC, H/L ratio and absolute number of leucocytes are modulated by social factors and conclude that they may be considered valid indicators of individual stress load. PMID:28070455

Evaluation and uncertainty analysis of regional-scale CLM4.5 net carbon flux estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Post, Hanna; Hendricks Franssen, Harrie-Jan; Han, Xujun; Baatz, Roland; Montzka, Carsten; Schmidt, Marius; Vereecken, Harry

2018-01-01

Modeling net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at the regional scale with land surface models (LSMs) is relevant for the estimation of regional carbon balances, but studies on it are very limited. Furthermore, it is essential to better understand and quantify the uncertainty of LSMs in order to improve them. An important key variable in this respect is the prognostic leaf area index (LAI), which is very sensitive to forcing data and strongly affects the modeled NEE. We applied the Community Land Model (CLM4.5-BGC) to the Rur catchment in western Germany and compared estimated and default ecological key parameters for modeling carbon fluxes and LAI. The parameter estimates were previously estimated with the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach DREAM(zs) for four of the most widespread plant functional types in the catchment. It was found that the catchment-scale annual NEE was strongly positive with default parameter values but negative (and closer to observations) with the estimated values. Thus, the estimation of CLM parameters with local NEE observations can be highly relevant when determining regional carbon balances. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of model uncertainty, CLM ensembles were set up with perturbed meteorological input and uncertain initial states in addition to uncertain parameters. C3 grass and C3 crops were particularly sensitive to the perturbed meteorological input, which resulted in a strong increase in the standard deviation of the annual NEE sum (σ ∑ NEE) for the different ensemble members from ˜ 2 to 3 g C m-2 yr-1 (with uncertain parameters) to ˜ 45 g C m-2 yr-1 (C3 grass) and ˜ 75 g C m-2 yr-1 (C3 crops) with perturbed forcings. This increase in uncertainty is related to the impact of the meteorological forcings on leaf onset and senescence, and enhanced/reduced drought stress related to perturbation of precipitation. The NEE uncertainty for the forest plant functional type (PFT) was considerably lower (σ ∑ NEE ˜ 4.0-13.5 g C m-2 yr-1 with perturbed parameters, meteorological forcings and initial states). We conclude that LAI and NEE uncertainty with CLM is clearly underestimated if uncertain meteorological forcings and initial states are not taken into account.

[Conception and Content Validation of a Questionnaire Relating to the Potential Need for Information of Visually Impaired Persons with Regard to Services and Contact Persons].

PubMed

Hahn, U; Hechler, T; Witt, U; Krummenauer, F

2015-12-01

A questionnaire was drafted to identify the needs of visually impaired persons and to optimize their access to non-medical support and services. Subjects had to rate a list of 15 everyday activities that are typically affected by visual impairment (for example, being able to orient themselves in the home environment), by indicating the degree to which they perceive each activity to be affected, using a four-stage scale. They had to evaluate these aspects by means of a relevance assessment. The needs profile derived from this is then correlated with individualized information for assistance and support. The questionnaire shall be made available for use by subjects through advisers in some ophthalmic practices and via the internet. The validity of the content of the proposed tool was evaluated on the basis of a survey of 59 experts in the fields of medical, optical and psychological care and of persons involved in training initiatives. The experts were asked to rate the activities by relevance and clarity of the wording and to propose methods to further develop and optimize the content. The validity of the content was quantified according to a process adopted in the literature, based on the parameters Interrater Agreement (IRA) and Content Validity Index (CVI). The results of all responses (n = 19) and the sub-group analysis suggest that the questionnaire adequately reflects the potential needs profile of visually impaired persons. Overall, there was at least 80% agreement among the 19 experts for 93% of the proposed parameterisation of the activities relating to the relevance and clarity of the wording. Individual proposals for optimization of the design of the questionnaire were adopted. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Life cycle assessment and residue leaching: The importance of parameter, scenario and leaching data selection

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

Allegrini, E., E-mail: elia@env.dtu.dk; Butera, S.; Kosson, D.S.

Highlights: • Relevance of metal leaching in waste management system LCAs was assessed. • Toxic impacts from leaching could not be disregarded. • Uncertainty of toxicity, due to background activities, determines LCA outcomes. • Parameters such as pH and L/S affect LCA results. • Data modelling consistency and coverage within an LCA are crucial. - Abstract: Residues from industrial processes and waste management systems (WMSs) have been increasingly reutilised, leading to landfilling rate reductions and the optimisation of mineral resource utilisation in society. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic methodology allowing for the analysis of systems and products andmore » can be applied to waste management systems to identify environmental benefits and critical aspects thereof. From an LCA perspective, residue utilisation provides benefits such as avoiding the production and depletion of primary materials, but it can lead to environmental burdens, due to the potential leaching of toxic substances. In waste LCA studies where residue utilisation is included, leaching has generally been neglected. In this study, municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI BA) was used as a case study into three LCA scenarios having different system boundaries. The importance of data quality and parameter selection in the overall LCA results was evaluated, and an innovative method to assess metal transport into the environment was applied, in order to determine emissions to the soil and water compartments for use in an LCA. It was found that toxic impacts as a result of leaching were dominant in systems including only MSWI BA utilisation, while leaching appeared negligible in larger scenarios including the entire waste system. However, leaching could not be disregarded a priori, due to large uncertainties characterising other activities in the scenario (e.g. electricity production). Based on the analysis of relevant parameters relative to leaching, and on general results of the study, recommendations are provided regarding the use of leaching data in LCA studies.« less

Can Condensing Organic Aerosols Lead to Less Cloud Particles?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, C. Y.; Tsigaridis, K.; Bauer, S.

2017-12-01

We examined the impact of condensing organic aerosols on activated cloud number concentration in a new aerosol microphysics box model, MATRIX-VBS. The model includes the volatility-basis set (VBS) framework in an aerosol microphysical scheme MATRIX (Multiconfiguration Aerosol TRacker of mIXing state) that resolves aerosol mass and number concentrations and aerosol mixing state. Preliminary results show that by including the condensation of organic aerosols, the new model (MATRIX-VBS) has less activated particles compared to the original model (MATRIX), which treats organic aerosols as non-volatile. Parameters such as aerosol chemical composition, mass and number concentrations, and particle sizes which affect activated cloud number concentration are thoroughly evaluated via a suite of Monte-Carlo simulations. The Monte-Carlo simulations also provide information on which climate-relevant parameters play a critical role in the aerosol evolution in the atmosphere. This study also helps simplifying the newly developed box model which will soon be implemented in the global model GISS ModelE as a module.

II. Species sensitivity distributions based on biomarkers and whole organism responses for integrated impact and risk assessment criteria.

PubMed

Sanni, Steinar; Lyng, Emily; Pampanin, Daniela M; Smit, Mathijs G D

2017-06-01

The aim of this paper is to bridge gaps between biomarker and whole organism responses related to oil based offshore discharges. These biomarker bridges will facilitate acceptance criteria for biomarker data linked to environmental risk assessment and translate biomarker results to higher order effects. Biomarker based species sensitivity distributions (SSD biomarkers ) have been constructed for relevant groups of biomarkers based on laboratory data from oil exposures. SSD curves express the fraction of species responding to different types of biomarkers. They have been connected to SSDs for whole organism responses (WORs) constructed in order to relate the SSD biomarkers to animal fitness parameters that are commonly used in environmental risk assessment. The resulting SSD curves show that biomarkers and WORs can be linked through their potentially affected fraction of species (PAF) distributions, enhancing the capability to monitor field parameters with better correlation to impact and risk assessment criteria and providing improved chemical/biological integration. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A COMPREHENSIVE INSIGHT ON OCULAR PHARMACOKINETICS

PubMed Central

Agrahari, Vibhuti; Mandal, Abhirup; Agrahari, Vivek; Trinh, Hoang My; Joseph, Mary; Ray, Animikh; Hadji, Hicheme; Mitra, Ranjana; Pal, Dhananjay; Mitra, Ashim K.

2017-01-01

Eye is a distinctive organ with protective anatomy and physiology. Several pharmacokinetics compartment model of ocular drug delivery has been developed for describing the absorption, distribution and elimination of ocular drugs in the eye. Determining pharmacokinetics parameters in ocular tissues is a major challenge because of the complex anatomy and dynamic physiological barrier of the eye. In this review, pharmacokinetics of these compartments exploring different drugs, delivery systems and routes of administration are discussed including factors affecting intraocular bioavailability. Factors such as pre-corneal fluid drainage, drug binding to tear proteins, systemic drug absorption, corneal factors, melanin binding, drug metabolism renders ocular delivery challenging and elaborated in this manuscript. Several compartment models are discussed those are developed in ocular drug delivery to study the pharmacokinetics parameters. There are several transporters present in both anterior and posterior segments of the eye which play a significant role in ocular pharmacokinetics and summarized briefly. Moreover, several ocular pharmacokinetics animal models and relevant studies are reviewed and discussed in addition to the pharmacokinetics of various ocular formulations. PMID:27798766

Comparison of the calorimetric and kinematic methods of neutrino energy reconstruction in disappearance experiments

DOE PAGES

Ankowski, Artur M.; Benhar, Omar; Coloma, Pilar; ...

2015-10-22

To be able to achieve their physics goals, future neutrino-oscillation experiments will need to reconstruct the neutrino energy with very high accuracy. In this work, we analyze how the energy reconstruction may be affected by realistic detection capabilities, such as energy resolutions, efficiencies, and thresholds. This allows us to estimate how well the detector performance needs to be determined a priori in order to avoid a sizable bias in the measurement of the relevant oscillation parameters. We compare the kinematic and calorimetric methods of energy reconstruction in the context of two ν μ → ν μ disappearance experiments operating inmore » different energy regimes. For the calorimetric reconstruction method, we find that the detector performance has to be estimated with an O(10%) accuracy to avoid a significant bias in the extracted oscillation parameters. Thus, in the case of kinematic energy reconstruction, we observe that the results exhibit less sensitivity to an overestimation of the detector capabilities.« less

Neutrino Oscillations Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogli, Gianluigi

2005-06-01

We review the status of the neutrino oscillations physics, with a particular emphasis on the present knowledge of the neutrino mass-mixing parameters. We consider first the νμ → ντ flavor transitions of atmospheric neutrinos. It is found that standard oscillations provide the best description of the SK+K2K data, and that the associated mass-mixing parameters are determined at ±1σ (and NDF = 1) as: Δm2 = (2.6 ± 0.4) × 10-3 eV2 and sin 2 2θ = 1.00{ - 0.05}{ + 0.00} . Such indications, presently dominated by SK, could be strengthened by further K2K data. Then we point out that the recent data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, together with other relevant measurements from solar and reactor neutrino experiments, in particular the KamLAND data, convincingly show that the flavor transitions of solar neutrinos are affected by Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effects. Finally, we perform an updated analysis of two-family active oscillations of solar and reactor neutrinos in the standard MSW case.

Stability of haematological parameters and its relevance on the athlete's biological passport model.

PubMed

Lombardi, Giovanni; Lanteri, Patrizia; Colombini, Alessandra; Lippi, Giuseppe; Banfi, Giuseppe

2011-12-01

The stability of haematological parameters is crucial to guarantee accurate and reliable data for implementing and interpreting the athlete's biological passport (ABP). In this model, the values of haemoglobin, reticulocytes and out-of-doping period (OFF)-score (Hb-60√Ret) are used to monitor the possible variations of those parameters, and also to compare the thresholds developed by the statistical model for the single athlete on the basis of its personal values and the variance of parameters in the modal group. Nevertheless, a critical review of the current scientific literature dealing with the stability of the haematological parameters included in the ABP programme, and which are used for evaluating the probability of anomalies in the athlete's profile, is currently lacking. In addition, we collected information from published studies, in order to supply a useful, practical and updated review to sports physicians and haematologists. There are some parameters that are highly stable, such as haemoglobin and erythrocytes (red blood cells [RBCs]), whereas others, (e.g. reticulocytes, mean RBC volume and haematocrit) appear less stable. Regardless of the methodology, the stability of haematological parameters is improved by sample refrigeration. The stability of all parameters is highly affected from high storage temperatures, whereas the stability of RBCs and haematocrit is affected by initial freezing followed by refrigeration. Transport and rotation of tubes do not substantially influence any haematological parameter except for reticulocytes. In all the studies we reviewed that used Sysmex instrumentation, which is recommended for ABP measurements, stability was shown for 72 hours at 4 ° C for haemoglobin, RBCs and mean curpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC); up to 48 hours for reticulocytes; and up to 24 hours for haematocrit. In one study, Sysmex instrumentation shows stability extended up to 72 hours at 4 ° C for all the parameters. There are significant differences among methods and instruments: Siemens Advia shows lower stability than Sysmex as regards to reticulocytes. However, the limit of 36 hours from blood collection to analysis as recommended by ABP scientists is reasonable to guarantee analytical quality, when samples are transported at 4 ° C and are accompanied by a certified steadiness of this temperature. There are some parameters that are highly stable, such as haemoglobin and RBCs; whereas others, such as reticulocytes, mean cell volume and haematocrit are more unstable. The stability of haematological parameters might be improved independently from the analytical methodology, by refrigeration of the specimens.

Analysis of the performance of women with fibromyalgia in the six-minute walk test and its relation with health and quality of life.

PubMed

Latorre-Román, P; Santos-Campos, M; Heredia-Jimenez, J; Delgado-Fernández, M; Soto-Hermoso, V

2014-08-01

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic syndrome characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain that causes a significant reduction in functional capacity, affecting thus health and quality of life (QOL). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of FM patients in the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and its relation with health and QOL. Thirty-six FM patients (all women), differentiated by degree of severity of disease, and 14 healthy women were evaluated. Distance walked in the 6MWT, cardiorespiratory responses, heart rate responses, kinematic parameters of gait, the results of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), and the results of the Short-Form Healthy Survey (SF-36) were analyzed. Women with FM covered a shorter distance in the 6MWT, had a lower cardiorespiratory response, and had lower spatio-temporal parameters of gait than healthy women. No correlation was found in FM patients between the total FIQ score and the distance walked in the 6MWT. The analysis of performance parameters in the 6MWT may be an element of clinical relevance in FM patients.

Gait and energy consumption in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: A literature review.

PubMed

Daryabor, Aliyeh; Arazpour, Mokhtar; Sharifi, Guive; Bani, Monireh Ahmadi; Aboutorabi, Atefeh; Golchin, Navid

2017-04-01

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a progressive growth disease that affects spinal anatomy, mobility, and left-right trunk symmetry. The disease can modify human gait. We aimed to review articles describing the measurement of gait parameters and energy consumption in AIS during walking without any intervention. Literature review. The search strategy was based on the Population Intervention Comparison Outcome method and included all relevant articles published from 1996 to 2015. Articles were searched in MEDLINE via PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and ISI Web of Knowledge databases. We selected 33 studies investigating the effect of scoliosis deformity on gait parameters and energy expenditure during walking. Most of the studies concluded no significant differences in walking speed, cadence and step width in scoliosis patients and normal participants. However, patients showed decreased hip and pelvic motion, excessive energy cost of walking, stepping pattern asymmetry and ground reaction force asymmetry. We lack consistent evidence of the effect of scoliosis on temporal spatial and kinematic parameters in AIS patients as compared with normal people. However, further research is needed to assess the effect of scoliosis on gait and energy consumption. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Bilateral Sensory Abnormalities in Patients with Unilateral Neuropathic Pain; A Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) Study

PubMed Central

Konopka, Karl-Heinz; Harbers, Marten; Houghton, Andrea; Kortekaas, Rudie; van Vliet, Andre; Timmerman, Wia; den Boer, Johan A.; Struys, Michel M.R.F.; van Wijhe, Marten

2012-01-01

In patients who experience unilateral chronic pain, abnormal sensory perception at the non-painful side has been reported. Contralateral sensory changes in these patients have been given little attention, possibly because they are regarded as clinically irrelevant. Still, bilateral sensory changes in these patients could become clinically relevant if they challenge the correct identification of their sensory dysfunction in terms of hyperalgesia and allodynia. Therefore, we have used the standardized quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS) to investigate somatosensory function at the painful side and the corresponding non-painful side in unilateral neuropathic pain patients using gender- and age-matched healthy volunteers as a reference cohort. Sensory abnormalities were observed across all QST parameters at the painful side, but also, to a lesser extent, at the contralateral, non-painful side. Similar relative distributions regarding sensory loss/gain for non-nociceptive and nociceptive stimuli were found for both sides. Once a sensory abnormality for a QST parameter at the affected side was observed, the prevalence of an abnormality for the same parameter at the non-affected side was as high as 57% (for Pressure Pain Threshold). Our results show that bilateral sensory dysfunction in patients with unilateral neuropathic pain is more rule than exception. Therefore, this phenomenon should be taken into account for appropriate diagnostic evaluation in clinical practice. This is particularly true for mechanical stimuli where the 95% Confidence Interval for the prevalence of sensory abnormalities at the non-painful side ranges between 33% and 50%. PMID:22629414

12 CFR 747.311 - Relevant considerations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

....311 Banks and Banking NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS AFFECTING CREDIT UNIONS..., whether the bond is likely to be revoked, or whether coverage under the bond will be affected adversely as... specific case, appear relevant to the decision to continue in effect, rescind, terminate, or modify a...

Uncertainties in modelling CH4 emissions from northern wetlands in glacial climates: the role of vegetation parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berrittella, C.; van Huissteden, J.

2011-10-01

Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) interstadials are marked by a sharp increase in the atmospheric methane (CH4) concentration, as recorded in ice cores. Wetlands are assumed to be the major source of this CH4, although several other hypotheses have been advanced. Modelling of CH4 emissions is crucial to quantify CH4 sources for past climates. Vegetation effects are generally highly generalized in modelling past and present-day CH4 fluxes, but should not be neglected. Plants strongly affect the soil-atmosphere exchange of CH4 and the net primary production of the vegetation supplies organic matter as substrate for methanogens. For modelling past CH4 fluxes from northern wetlands, assumptions on vegetation are highly relevant since paleobotanical data indicate large differences in Last Glacial (LG) wetland vegetation composition as compared to modern wetland vegetation. Besides more cold-adapted vegetation, Sphagnum mosses appear to be much less dominant during large parts of the LG than at present, which particularly affects CH4 oxidation and transport. To evaluate the effect of vegetation parameters, we used the PEATLAND-VU wetland CO2/CH4 model to simulate emissions from wetlands in continental Europe during LG and modern climates. We tested the effect of parameters influencing oxidation during plant transport (fox), vegetation net primary production (NPP, parameter symbol Pmax), plant transport rate (Vtransp), maximum rooting depth (Zroot) and root exudation rate (fex). Our model results show that modelled CH4 fluxes are sensitive to fox and Zroot in particular. The effects of Pmax, Vtransp and fex are of lesser relevance. Interactions with water table modelling are significant for Vtransp. We conducted experiments with different wetland vegetation types for Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) stadial and interstadial climates and the present-day climate, by coupling PEATLAND-VU to high resolution climate model simulations for Europe. Experiments assuming dominance of one vegetation type (Sphagnum vs. Carex vs. Shrubs) show that Carex-dominated vegetation can increase CH4 emissions by 50% to 78% over Sphagnum-dominated vegetation depending on the modelled climate, while for shrubs this increase ranges from 42% to 72%. Consequently, during the LG northern wetlands may have had CH4 emissions similar to their present-day counterparts, despite a colder climate. Changes in dominant wetland vegetation, therefore, may drive changes in wetland CH4 fluxes, in the past as well as in the future.

TU-F-9A-01: Balancing Image Quality and Dose in Radiography

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

Peck, D; Pasciak, A

2014-06-15

Emphasis is often placed on minimizing radiation dose in diagnostic imaging without a complete consideration of the effect on image quality, especially those that affect diagnostic accuracy. This session will include a patient image-based review of diagnostic quantities important to radiologists in conventional radiography, including the effects of body habitus, age, positioning, and the clinical indication of the exam. The relationships between image quality, radiation dose, and radiation risk will be discussed, specifically addressing how these factors are affected by image protocols and acquisition parameters and techniques. This session will also discuss some of the actual and perceived radiation riskmore » associated with diagnostic imaging. Regardless if the probability for radiation-induced cancer is small, the fear associated with radiation persists. Also when a risk has a benefit to an individual or to society, the risk may be justified with respect to the benefit. But how do you convey the risks and the benefits to people? This requires knowledge of how people perceive risk and how to communicate the risk and the benefit to different populations. In this presentation the sources of errors in estimating risk from radiation and some methods used to convey risks are reviewed. Learning Objectives: Understand the image quality metrics that are clinically relevant to radiologists. Understand how acquisition parameters and techniques affect image quality and radiation dose in conventional radiology. Understand the uncertainties in estimates of radiation risk from imaging exams. Learn some methods for effectively communicating radiation risk to the public.« less

Relationship between gait initiation and disability in individuals affected by multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Galli, Manuela; Coghe, Giancarlo; Sanna, Paola; Cocco, Eleonora; Marrosu, Maria Giovanna; Pau, Massimiliano

2015-11-01

This study analyzes how multiple sclerosis (MS) does affect one of the most common voluntary activities in life: the gait initiation (GI). The main aim of the work is to characterize the execution of this task by measuring and comparing relevant parameters based on center of pressure (COP) patterns and to study the relationship between these and the level of expanded disability status scale (EDSS). To this aim, 95 MS subjects with an average EDSS score of 2.4 and 35 healthy subjects were tested using a force platform during the transition from standing posture to gait. COP time-series were acquired and processed to extract a number of parameters related to the trajectory followed by the COP. The statistical analysis revealed that only a few measurements were statistically different between the two groups and only these were subsequently correlated with EDSS score. The correlation analysis underlined that a progressive alteration of the task execution can be directly related with the increase of EDSS score. These finding suggest that most of the impairment found in people with MS comes from the first part of the COP pattern, the anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). The central nervous system performs APAs before every voluntary movement to minimize balance perturbation due to the movement itself. Gait Initiation's APAs consist in some ankle muscles contractions that induce a backward COP shift to the swing limb. The analysis here performed highlighted that MS affected patients have a reduced posterior COP shift that reveals that the anticipatory mechanism is impaired. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Failure modes for pipelines in landslide areas

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

Bruschi, R.; Spinazze, M.; Tomassini, D.

1995-12-31

In recent years a number of incidences of pipelines affected by slow soil movements have been reported in the relevant literature. Further related issues such as soil-pipe interaction have been studied both theoretically and through experimental surveys, along with the environmental conditions which are responsible for hazard to the pipeline integrity. A suitable design criteria under these circumstances has been discussed by several authors, in particular in relation to a limit state approach and hence a strain based criteria. The scope of this paper is to describe the failure mechanisms which may affect the pipeline in the presence of slowmore » soil movements impacting on the pipeline, both in the longitudinal and transverse direction. Particular attention is paid to environmental, geometric and structural parameters which steer the process towards one or other failure mechanism. Criteria for deciding upon remedial measures required to guarantee the structural integrity of the pipeline, both in the short and in the long term, are discussed.« less

Retinal vascular imaging technology to monitor disease severity and complications in type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review.

PubMed

Kee, Ae Ra; Wong, Tien Yin; Li, Ling-Jun

2017-02-01

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a major disease affecting a large number of young patients. In the recent years, retinal vascular imaging has provided an objective assessment of vascular health in patients with T1DM. Our study aimed to review the current literature on retinal vascular parameters in young patients with T1DM in order to understand the following: (i) How retinal vessels are affected in T1DM (ii) How such vascular changes can be predictive of future diabetic microvascular complications METHODS: We performed a systematic review and extracted relevant data from 17 articles. We found significant correlations between retinal vessel changes and diabetes-related risk factors (eg, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity), diabetes-related features (eg, diabetes duration and glycemic control), and diabetes-related microvascular complications (eg, diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy). Our findings suggest that retinal microvasculature is associated with both disease severity and complications in young patients with T1DM. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prevalence of growth hormone deficiency in adult polytransfused β-thalassemia patients and correlation with transfusional and chelation parameters.

PubMed

Poggi, M; Pascucci, C; Monti, S; Pugliese, P; Lauri, C; Amodeo, G; Girelli, G; Toscano, V

2010-09-01

Dysfunction of GH-IGF-I axis has been described in many patients affected by β-thalassemia major (TM), especially in children and in adolescents. Recent studies have demonstrated the necessity to evaluate adult patients affected by TM to establish the presence of this alteration which could be relevant in the pathogenesis of cardiac and bone disease, frequently present in this hematological condition. The pathogenesis of this alteration, correlated in the past with iron overload, is not yet completely understood. The aim of this paper is to evaluate GH-IGF-I axis in a group of adult polytransfused β-thalassemic patients (TM) and to correlate the results with transfusional and chelation parameters. We performed an arginine plus GHRH stimulation test in 28 adult TM patients. Ferritin, IGF-I, liver enzymes, and liver iron concentration, assessed by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) susceptometer were also determined. Moreover, in each patient we evaluated the bone status by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry study. We found the presence of GH deficit in 9 patients (32.1%). There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the value of ferritin, liver enzymes, and liver iron concentration, assessed by SQUID. The group affected by GH deficit showed a worse bone profile. This study confirms the necessity to screen the status of GH/IGF-I axis in this group of patients, even in adult age. The presence of GH deficiency does not seem to be correlated with the efficacy parameters of transfusional and chelation therapy. Other mechanisms, additional to iron overload, could therefore play a role in the pathogenesis of this clinical condition. The presence of GH deficit seems to be very important on clinical aspects, like bone disease, that are crucial for quality of life in these patients.

Evolutionary relevance facilitates visual information processing.

PubMed

Jackson, Russell E; Calvillo, Dusti P

2013-11-03

Visual search of the environment is a fundamental human behavior that perceptual load affects powerfully. Previously investigated means for overcoming the inhibitions of high perceptual load, however, generalize poorly to real-world human behavior. We hypothesized that humans would process evolutionarily relevant stimuli more efficiently than evolutionarily novel stimuli, and evolutionary relevance would mitigate the repercussions of high perceptual load during visual search. Animacy is a significant component to evolutionary relevance of visual stimuli because perceiving animate entities is time-sensitive in ways that pose significant evolutionary consequences. Participants completing a visual search task located evolutionarily relevant and animate objects fastest and with the least impact of high perceptual load. Evolutionarily novel and inanimate objects were located slowest and with the highest impact of perceptual load. Evolutionary relevance may importantly affect everyday visual information processing.

Neuromusculoskeletal Model Calibration Significantly Affects Predicted Knee Contact Forces for Walking

PubMed Central

Serrancolí, Gil; Kinney, Allison L.; Fregly, Benjamin J.; Font-Llagunes, Josep M.

2016-01-01

Though walking impairments are prevalent in society, clinical treatments are often ineffective at restoring lost function. For this reason, researchers have begun to explore the use of patient-specific computational walking models to develop more effective treatments. However, the accuracy with which models can predict internal body forces in muscles and across joints depends on how well relevant model parameter values can be calibrated for the patient. This study investigated how knowledge of internal knee contact forces affects calibration of neuromusculoskeletal model parameter values and subsequent prediction of internal knee contact and leg muscle forces during walking. Model calibration was performed using a novel two-level optimization procedure applied to six normal walking trials from the Fourth Grand Challenge Competition to Predict In Vivo Knee Loads. The outer-level optimization adjusted time-invariant model parameter values to minimize passive muscle forces, reserve actuator moments, and model parameter value changes with (Approach A) and without (Approach B) tracking of experimental knee contact forces. Using the current guess for model parameter values but no knee contact force information, the inner-level optimization predicted time-varying muscle activations that were close to experimental muscle synergy patterns and consistent with the experimental inverse dynamic loads (both approaches). For all the six gait trials, Approach A predicted knee contact forces with high accuracy for both compartments (average correlation coefficient r = 0.99 and root mean square error (RMSE) = 52.6 N medial; average r = 0.95 and RMSE = 56.6 N lateral). In contrast, Approach B overpredicted contact force magnitude for both compartments (average RMSE = 323 N medial and 348 N lateral) and poorly matched contact force shape for the lateral compartment (average r = 0.90 medial and −0.10 lateral). Approach B had statistically higher lateral muscle forces and lateral optimal muscle fiber lengths but lower medial, central, and lateral normalized muscle fiber lengths compared to Approach A. These findings suggest that poorly calibrated model parameter values may be a major factor limiting the ability of neuromusculoskeletal models to predict knee contact and leg muscle forces accurately for walking. PMID:27210105

The screening of everyday life chemicals in validated assays targeting the pituitary-gonadal axis.

PubMed

Tinwell, H; Colombel, S; Blanck, O; Bars, R

2013-07-01

Ten structurally diverse chemicals (vitamins C, B9, B6, B3, sucrose, caffeine, gingerol, xanthan gum, paracetamol, ibuprofen) deemed intrinsic to modern life but not considered as endocrine active, were tested in vitro using the human estrogen receptor transcriptional activation (hERTa) and the H295R steroidogenesis assays. All were inactive in the hERTa assay but paracetamol, gingerol, caffeine and vitamin C affected steroidogenesis in vitro from 250, 25, 500 and 750 μM respectively. One molecule, caffeine, was further tested in rat pubertal assays at the tumorigenic dose-level and at dose-levels relevant for human consumption. In females pubertal parameters (vaginal opening, estrus cycle), ovarian weight and Fsh and prolactin transcript levels were affected. In males, plasma progesterone levels and prostate and seminal vesicle weights were affected. Although the current regulatory focus is synthetic chemicals that can cause adverse effects on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis, our data infer that the range of natural chemicals with the potential to affect this axis may be extensive and is probably overlooked. Thus, to avoid regulation of an overwhelming number of chemicals, a weight of evidence approach, combining hazard identification and characterization with exposure considerations, is needed to identify those chemicals of real regulatory concern. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Principles of parametric estimation in modeling language competition

PubMed Central

Zhang, Menghan; Gong, Tao

2013-01-01

It is generally difficult to define reasonable parameters and interpret their values in mathematical models of social phenomena. Rather than directly fitting abstract parameters against empirical data, we should define some concrete parameters to denote the sociocultural factors relevant for particular phenomena, and compute the values of these parameters based upon the corresponding empirical data. Taking the example of modeling studies of language competition, we propose a language diffusion principle and two language inheritance principles to compute two critical parameters, namely the impacts and inheritance rates of competing languages, in our language competition model derived from the Lotka–Volterra competition model in evolutionary biology. These principles assign explicit sociolinguistic meanings to those parameters and calculate their values from the relevant data of population censuses and language surveys. Using four examples of language competition, we illustrate that our language competition model with thus-estimated parameter values can reliably replicate and predict the dynamics of language competition, and it is especially useful in cases lacking direct competition data. PMID:23716678

Principles of parametric estimation in modeling language competition.

PubMed

Zhang, Menghan; Gong, Tao

2013-06-11

It is generally difficult to define reasonable parameters and interpret their values in mathematical models of social phenomena. Rather than directly fitting abstract parameters against empirical data, we should define some concrete parameters to denote the sociocultural factors relevant for particular phenomena, and compute the values of these parameters based upon the corresponding empirical data. Taking the example of modeling studies of language competition, we propose a language diffusion principle and two language inheritance principles to compute two critical parameters, namely the impacts and inheritance rates of competing languages, in our language competition model derived from the Lotka-Volterra competition model in evolutionary biology. These principles assign explicit sociolinguistic meanings to those parameters and calculate their values from the relevant data of population censuses and language surveys. Using four examples of language competition, we illustrate that our language competition model with thus-estimated parameter values can reliably replicate and predict the dynamics of language competition, and it is especially useful in cases lacking direct competition data.

Decompression scenarios in a new underground transportation system.

PubMed

Vernez, D

2000-10-01

The risks of a public exposure to a sudden decompression, until now, have been related to civil aviation and, at a lesser extent, to diving activities. However, engineers are currently planning the use of low pressure environments for underground transportation. This method has been proposed for the future Swissmetro, a high-speed underground train designed for inter-urban linking in Switzerland. The use of a low pressure environment in an underground public transportation system must be considered carefully regarding the decompression risks. Indeed, due to the enclosed environment, both decompression kinetics and safety measures may differ from aviation decompression cases. A theoretical study of decompression risks has been conducted at an early stage of the Swissmetro project. A three-compartment theoretical model, based on the physics of fluids, has been implemented with flow processing software (Ithink 5.0). Simulations have been conducted in order to analyze "decompression scenarios" for a wide range of parameters, relevant in the context of the Swissmetro main study. Simulation results cover a wide range from slow to explosive decompression, depending on the simulation parameters. Not surprisingly, the leaking orifice area has a tremendous impact on barotraumatic effects, while the tunnel pressure may significantly affect both hypoxic and barotraumatic effects. Calculations have also shown that reducing the free space around the vehicle may mitigate significantly an accidental decompression. Numeric simulations are relevant to assess decompression risks in the future Swissmetro system. The decompression model has proven to be useful in assisting both design choices and safety management.

The physiological equivalent temperature - a universal index for the biometeorological assessment of the thermal environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höppe, P.

With considerably increased coverage of weather information in the news media in recent years in many countries, there is also more demand for data that are applicable and useful for everyday life. Both the perception of the thermal component of weather as well as the appropriate clothing for thermal comfort result from the integral effects of all meteorological parameters relevant for heat exchange between the body and its environment. Regulatory physiological processes can affect the relative importance of meteorological parameters, e.g. wind velocity becomes more important when the body is sweating. In order to take into account all these factors, it is necessary to use a heat-balance model of the human body. The physiological equivalent temperature (PET) is based on the Munich Energy-balance Model for Individuals (MEMI), which models the thermal conditions of the human body in a physiologically relevant way. PET is defined as the air temperature at which, in a typical indoor setting (without wind and solar radiation), the heat budget of the human body is balanced with the same core and skin temperature as under the complex outdoor conditions to be assessed. This way PET enables a layperson to compare the integral effects of complex thermal conditions outside with his or her own experience indoors. On hot summer days, for example, with direct solar irradiation the PET value may be more than 20 K higher than the air temperature, on a windy day in winter up to 15 K lower.

Surgical inpatient satisfaction: what are the real drivers?

PubMed

Danforth, Rachel M; Pitt, Henry A; Flanagan, Mindy E; Brewster, Benjamin D; Brand, Elizabeth W; Frankel, Richard M

2014-08-01

Inpatient satisfaction is a key element of hospital pay-for-performance programs. Communication and pain management are known to influence results, but additional factors may affect satisfaction scores. We tested the hypothesis that patient factors and outcome parameters not considered previously are clinically important drivers of inpatient satisfaction. Medical records were reviewed for 1,340 surgical patients who returned nationally standardized inpatient satisfaction questionnaires. These patients were managed by 41 surgeons in seven specialties at two academic medical centers. Thirty-two parameters based on the patient, surgeon, outcomes, and survey were measured. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed. Inpatients rated their overall experience favorably 75.7% of the time. Less-satisfied patients were more likely to be female, younger, less ill, taking outpatient narcotics, and admitted via the emergency department (all P < .02). Less-satisfied patients also were more likely to have unresected cancer (P < .001) or a postoperative complication (P < .001). The most relevant independent predictors of dissatisfaction in multivariable analyses were younger age, admission via the emergency department, preoperative narcotic use, lesser severity of illness, unresected cancer, and postoperative morbidity (all P < .01). Several patient factors, expectations of patients with cancer, and postoperative complications are important and clinically relevant drivers of surgical inpatient satisfaction. Programs to manage expectations of cancer patient expectations and decrease postoperative morbidity should improve surgical inpatient satisfaction. Further efforts to risk-adjust patient satisfaction scores should be undertaken. Copyright © 2014 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nonlinear flow model of multiple fractured horizontal wells with stimulated reservoir volume including the quadratic gradient term

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Junjie; Guo, Ping

2017-11-01

The real fluid flow in porous media is consistent with the mass conservation which can be described by the nonlinear governing equation including the quadratic gradient term (QGT). However, most of the flow models have been established by ignoring the QGT and little work has been conducted to incorporate the QGT into the flow model of the multiple fractured horizontal (MFH) well with stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). This paper first establishes a semi-analytical model of an MFH well with SRV including the QGT. Introducing the transformed pressure and flow-rate function, the nonlinear model of a point source in a composite system including the QGT is linearized. Then the Laplace transform, principle of superposition, numerical discrete method, Gaussian elimination method and Stehfest numerical inversion are employed to establish and solve the seepage model of the MFH well with SRV. Type curves are plotted and the effects of relevant parameters are analyzed. It is found that the nonlinear effect caused by the QGT can increase the flow capacity of fluid flow and influence the transient pressure positively. The relevant parameters not only have an effect on the type curve but also affect the error in the pressure calculated by the conventional linear model. The proposed model, which is consistent with the mass conservation, reflects the nonlinear process of the real fluid flow, and thus it can be used to obtain more accurate transient pressure of an MFH well with SRV.

Estrogens Can Disrupt Amphibian Mating Behavior

PubMed Central

Hoffmann, Frauke; Kloas, Werner

2012-01-01

The main component of classical contraceptives, 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), has high estrogenic activity even at environmentally relevant concentrations. Although estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds are assumed to contribute to the worldwide decline of amphibian populations by adverse effects on sexual differentiation, evidence for EE2 affecting amphibian mating behaviour is lacking. In this study, we demonstrate that EE2 exposure at five different concentrations (0.296 ng/L, 2.96 ng/L, 29.64 ng/L, 2.96 µg/L and 296.4 µg/L) can disrupt the mating behavior of adult male Xenopus laevis. EE2 exposure at all concentrations lowered male sexual arousal, indicated by decreased proportions of advertisement calls and increased proportions of the call type rasping, which characterizes a sexually unaroused state of a male. Additionally, EE2 at all tested concentrations affected temporal and spectral parameters of the advertisement calls, respectively. The classical and highly sensitive biomarker vitellogenin, on the other hand, was only induced at concentrations equal or higher than 2.96 µg/L. If kept under control conditions after a 96 h EE2 exposure (2.96 µg/L), alterations of male advertisement calls vanish gradually within 6 weeks and result in a lower sexual attractiveness of EE2 exposed males toward females as demonstrated by female choice experiments. These findings indicate that exposure to environmentally relevant EE2 concentrations can directly disrupt male mate calling behavior of X. laevis and can indirectly affect the mating behavior of females. The results suggest the possibility that EE2 exposure could reduce the reproductive success of EE2 exposed animals and these effects might contribute to the global problem of amphibian decline. PMID:22355410

Bayesian Covariate Selection in Mixed-Effects Models For Longitudinal Shape Analysis

PubMed Central

Muralidharan, Prasanna; Fishbaugh, James; Kim, Eun Young; Johnson, Hans J.; Paulsen, Jane S.; Gerig, Guido; Fletcher, P. Thomas

2016-01-01

The goal of longitudinal shape analysis is to understand how anatomical shape changes over time, in response to biological processes, including growth, aging, or disease. In many imaging studies, it is also critical to understand how these shape changes are affected by other factors, such as sex, disease diagnosis, IQ, etc. Current approaches to longitudinal shape analysis have focused on modeling age-related shape changes, but have not included the ability to handle covariates. In this paper, we present a novel Bayesian mixed-effects shape model that incorporates simultaneous relationships between longitudinal shape data and multiple predictors or covariates to the model. Moreover, we place an Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD) prior on the parameters, that lets us automatically select which covariates are most relevant to the model based on observed data. We evaluate our proposed model and inference procedure on a longitudinal study of Huntington's disease from PREDICT-HD. We first show the utility of the ARD prior for model selection in a univariate modeling of striatal volume, and next we apply the full high-dimensional longitudinal shape model to putamen shapes. PMID:28090246

Utilizing multisource remotely sensed data to dynamically monitor drought in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Sanchao; Li, Wenbo

2011-12-01

Drought is one of major nature disaster in the world and China. China has a vast territory and very different spatio-temporal distribution weather condition. Therefore, drought disasters occur frequently throughout China, which may affect large areas and cause great economic loss every year. In this paper, geostationary meteorological remote sensing data, FY-2C/D/E VISSR and three quantitative remotely sensed models including Cloud Parameters Method (CPM), Vegetation Supply Water Index (VSWI), and Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) have been used to dynamically monitor severe drought in southwest China from 2009 to 2010. The results have effectively revealed the occurrence, development and disappearance of this drought event. The monitoring results can be used for the relevant disaster management departments' decision-making works.

The effect of dephasing on the thermoelectric efficiency of molecular junctions.

PubMed

Zimbovskaya, Natalya A

2014-07-09

In this work we report the results of theoretical analysis of the effect of the thermal environment on the thermoelectric efficiency of molecular junctions. The environment is represented by two thermal phonon baths associated with the electrodes, which are kept at different temperatures. The analysis is carried out using the Buttiker model within the scattering matrix formalism to compute electron transmission through the system. This approach is further developed so that the dephasing parameters are expressed in terms of relevant energies, including the thermal energy, strengths of coupling between the molecular bridge and the electrodes and characteristic energies of electron-phonon interactions. It is shown that the latter significantly affect thermoelectric efficiency by destroying the coherency of electron transport through the considered system.

Rheumatic fever: update on the Jones criteria according to the American Heart Association review - 2015.

PubMed

Pereira, Breno Álvares de Faria; Belo, Alinne Rodrigues; Silva, Nilzio Antônio da

Rheumatic fever is still currently a prevalent disease, especially in developing countries. Triggered by a Group A β-hemolytic Streptococcus infection, the disease may affect genetically predisposed patients. Rheumatic carditis is the most important of its clinical manifestations, which can generate incapacitating sequelae of great impact for the individual and for society. Currently, its diagnosis is made based on the Jones criteria, established in 1992 by the American Heart Association. In 2015, the AHA carried out a significant review of these criteria, with new diagnostic parameters and recommendations. In the present study, the authors perform a critical analysis of this new review, emphasizing the most relevant points for clinical practice. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda.

Comparative evaluation of topographical data of dental implant surfaces applying optical interferometry and scanning electron microscopy.

PubMed

Kournetas, N; Spintzyk, S; Schweizer, E; Sawada, T; Said, F; Schmid, P; Geis-Gerstorfer, J; Eliades, G; Rupp, F

2017-08-01

Comparability of topographical data of implant surfaces in literature is low and their clinical relevance often equivocal. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of scanning electron microscopy and optical interferometry to assess statistically similar 3-dimensional roughness parameter results and to evaluate these data based on predefined criteria regarded relevant for a favorable biological response. Four different commercial dental screw-type implants (NanoTite Certain Prevail, TiUnite Brånemark Mk III, XiVE S Plus and SLA Standard Plus) were analyzed by stereo scanning electron microscopy and white light interferometry. Surface height, spatial and hybrid roughness parameters (Sa, Sz, Ssk, Sku, Sal, Str, Sdr) were assessed from raw and filtered data (Gaussian 50μm and 5μm cut-off-filters), respectively. Data were statistically compared by one-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer post-hoc test. For a clinically relevant interpretation, a categorizing evaluation approach was used based on predefined threshold criteria for each roughness parameter. The two methods exhibited predominantly statistical differences. Dependent on roughness parameters and filter settings, both methods showed variations in rankings of the implant surfaces and differed in their ability to discriminate the different topographies. Overall, the analyses revealed scale-dependent roughness data. Compared to the pure statistical approach, the categorizing evaluation resulted in much more similarities between the two methods. This study suggests to reconsider current approaches for the topographical evaluation of implant surfaces and to further seek after proper experimental settings. Furthermore, the specific role of different roughness parameters for the bioresponse has to be studied in detail in order to better define clinically relevant, scale-dependent and parameter-specific thresholds and ranges. Copyright © 2017 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transient effects of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) exposure on some metabolic and free radical processes in goldfish white muscle.

PubMed

Kubrak, Olga I; Atamaniuk, Tetiana M; Husak, Viktor V; Lushchak, Volodymyr I

2013-09-01

This study aims to assess effects of 96 h goldfish exposure to 1, 10 and 100 mg/L of the herbicide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), on metabolic indices and free radical process markers in white muscle of a commercial fish, the goldfish Carassius auratus L. Most oxidative stress markers and antioxidant enzymes were not affected at 2,4-D fish treatment. 2,4-D fish exposure induced the elevated levels of total (by 46% and 40%) and reduced (by 77% and 73%) glutathione in muscles of goldfish of 10 mg/L 2,4-D and recovery (after 100 mg/L of 2,4-D exposure) groups, respectively. However, in muscles of 100 mg/L 2,4-D exposed goldfish these parameters were depleted (by 47% and 64%). None of investigated parameters of protein and carbohydrate metabolisms changed in white muscles of 2,4-D exposed fish, with exception of lactate dehydrogenase activity, which was slightly (by 11-15%) elevated in muscles of goldfish exposed to 10-100 mg/L of 2,4-D, but also recovered. Thus, the short term exposure of goldfish to the selected concentrations of 2,4-D does not substantially affect their white muscle, suggesting the absence of any effect under the environmentally relevant concentrations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prediction of porosity of food materials during drying: Current challenges and directions.

PubMed

Joardder, Mohammad U H; Kumar, C; Karim, M A

2017-07-18

Pore formation in food samples is a common physical phenomenon observed during dehydration processes. The pore evolution during drying significantly affects the physical properties and quality of dried foods. Therefore, it should be taken into consideration when predicting transport processes in the drying sample. Characteristics of pore formation depend on the drying process parameters, product properties and processing time. Understanding the physics of pore formation and evolution during drying will assist in accurately predicting the drying kinetics and quality of food materials. Researchers have been trying to develop mathematical models to describe the pore formation and evolution during drying. In this study, existing porosity models are critically analysed and limitations are identified. Better insight into the factors affecting porosity is provided, and suggestions are proposed to overcome the limitations. These include considerations of process parameters such as glass transition temperature, sample temperature, and variable material properties in the porosity models. Several researchers have proposed models for porosity prediction of food materials during drying. However, these models are either very simplistic or empirical in nature and failed to consider relevant significant factors that influence porosity. In-depth understanding of characteristics of the pore is required for developing a generic model of porosity. A micro-level analysis of pore formation is presented for better understanding, which will help in developing an accurate and generic porosity model.

A Parametric Approach to Shape Field-Relevant Blast Wave Profiles in Compressed-Gas-Driven Shock Tube

PubMed Central

Sundaramurthy, Aravind; Chandra, Namas

2014-01-01

Detonation of a high-explosive produces shock-blast wave, shrapnel, and gaseous products. While direct exposure to blast is a concern near the epicenter, shock-blast can affect subjects, even at farther distances. When a pure shock-blast wave encounters the subject, in the absence of shrapnels, fall, or gaseous products the loading is termed as primary blast loading and is the subject of this paper. The wave profile is characterized by blast overpressure, positive time duration, and impulse and called herein as shock-blast wave parameters (SWPs). These parameters in turn are uniquely determined by the strength of high explosive and the distance of the human subjects from the epicenter. The shape and magnitude of the profile determine the severity of injury to the subjects. As shown in some of our recent works (1–3), the profile not only determines the survival of the subjects (e.g., animals) but also the acute and chronic biomechanical injuries along with the following bio-chemical sequelae. It is extremely important to carefully design and operate the shock tube to produce field-relevant SWPs. Furthermore, it is vital to identify and eliminate the artifacts that are inadvertently introduced in the shock-blast profile that may affect the results. In this work, we examine the relationship between shock tube adjustable parameters (SAPs) and SWPs that can be used to control the blast profile; the results can be easily applied to many of the laboratory shock tubes. Further, replication of shock profile (magnitude and shape) can be related to field explosions and can be a standard in comparing results across different laboratories. Forty experiments are carried out by judiciously varying SAPs such as membrane thickness, breech length (66.68–1209.68 mm), measurement location, and type of driver gas (nitrogen, helium). The effects SAPs have on the resulting shock-blast profiles are shown. Also, the shock-blast profiles of a TNT explosion from ConWep software is compared with the profiles obtained from the shock tube. To conclude, our experimental results demonstrate that a compressed-gas shock tube when designed and operated carefully can replicate the blast time profiles of field explosions accurately. Such a faithful replication is an essential first step when studying the effects of blast induced neurotrauma using animal models. PMID:25520701

On the influence of the culture conditions in bacterial antifouling bioassays and biofilm properties: Shewanella algae, a case study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background A variety of conditions (culture media, inocula, incubation temperatures) are employed in antifouling tests with marine bacteria. Shewanella algae was selected as model organism to evaluate the effect of these parameters on: bacterial growth, biofilm formation, the activity of model antifoulants, and the development and nanomechanical properties of the biofilms. The main objectives were: 1) To highlight and quantify the effect of these conditions on relevant parameters for antifouling studies: biofilm morphology, thickness, roughness, surface coverage, elasticity and adhesion forces. 2) To establish and characterise in detail a biofilm model with a relevant marine strain. Results Both the medium and the temperature significantly influenced the total cell densities and biofilm biomasses in 24-hour cultures. Likewise, the IC50 of three antifouling standards (TBTO, tralopyril and zinc pyrithione) was significantly affected by the medium and the initial cell density. Four media (Marine Broth, MB; 2% NaCl Mueller-Hinton Broth, MH2; Luria Marine Broth, LMB; and Supplemented Artificial Seawater, SASW) were selected to explore their effect on the morphological and nanomechanical properties of 24-h biofilms. Two biofilm growth patterns were observed: a clear trend to vertical development, with varying thickness and surface coverage in MB, LMB and SASW, and a horizontal, relatively thin film in MH2. The Atomic Force Microscopy analysis showed the lowest Young modulii for MB (0.16 ± 0.10 MPa), followed by SASW (0.19 ± 0.09 MPa), LMB (0.22 ± 0.13 MPa) and MH2 (0.34 ± 0.16 MPa). Adhesion forces followed an inverted trend, being higher in MB (1.33 ± 0.38 nN) and lower in MH2 (0.73 ± 0.29 nN). Conclusions All the parameters significantly affected the ability of S. algae to grow and form biofilms, as well as the activity of antifouling molecules. A detailed study has been carried out in order to establish a biofilm model for further assays. The morphology and nanomechanics of S. algae biofilms were markedly influenced by the nutritional environments in which they were developed. As strategies for biofilm formation inhibition and biofilm detachment are of particular interest in antifouling research, the present findings also highlight the need for a careful selection of the assay conditions. PMID:24755232

A hybrid PSO-SVM-based method for predicting the friction coefficient between aircraft tire and coating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhan, Liwei; Li, Chengwei

2017-02-01

A hybrid PSO-SVM-based model is proposed to predict the friction coefficient between aircraft tire and coating. The presented hybrid model combines a support vector machine (SVM) with particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. SVM has been adopted to solve regression problems successfully. Its regression accuracy is greatly related to optimizing parameters such as the regularization constant C , the parameter gamma γ corresponding to RBF kernel and the epsilon parameter \\varepsilon in the SVM training procedure. However, the friction coefficient which is predicted based on SVM has yet to be explored between aircraft tire and coating. The experiment reveals that drop height and tire rotational speed are the factors affecting friction coefficient. Bearing in mind, the friction coefficient can been predicted using the hybrid PSO-SVM-based model by the measured friction coefficient between aircraft tire and coating. To compare regression accuracy, a grid search (GS) method and a genetic algorithm (GA) are used to optimize the relevant parameters (C , γ and \\varepsilon ), respectively. The regression accuracy could be reflected by the coefficient of determination ({{R}2} ). The result shows that the hybrid PSO-RBF-SVM-based model has better accuracy compared with the GS-RBF-SVM- and GA-RBF-SVM-based models. The agreement of this model (PSO-RBF-SVM) with experiment data confirms its good performance.

Stress-based animal models of depression: Do we actually know what we are doing?

PubMed

Yin, Xin; Guven, Nuri; Dietis, Nikolas

2016-12-01

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability and a significant health-concern worldwide. Much of our current understanding on the pathogenesis of depression and the pharmacology of antidepressant drugs is based on pre-clinical models. Three of the most popular stress-based rodent models are the forced swimming test, the chronic mild stress paradigm and the learned helplessness model. Despite their recognizable advantages and limitations, they are associated with an immense variability due to the high number of design parameters that define them. Only few studies have reported how minor modifications of these parameters affect the model phenotype. Thus, the existing variability in how these models are used has been a strong barrier for drug development as well as benchmark and evaluation of these pre-clinical models of depression. It also has been the source of confusing variability in the experimental outcomes between research groups using the same models. In this review, we summarize the known variability in the experimental protocols, identify the main and relevant parameters for each model and describe the variable values using characteristic examples. Our view of depression and our efforts to discover novel and effective antidepressants is largely based on our detailed knowledge of these testing paradigms, and requires a sound understanding around the importance of individual parameters to optimize and improve these pre-clinical models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Balance Theory Revisited: Relationship Issue Relevance Affects Imbalance-Induced Tension in Workplace Relationships.

PubMed

Reid, Chelsea A; Davis, Jody L; Pollack, Jeffrey M; Coughlan, Richard S

2017-08-18

The present work applies and extends balance theory by examining the role of relevance of issue to the relationship in balance theory processes within the context of workplace relationships. In Experiment 1, a sample of working adults (N = 81) reported greater job tension when self-supervisor dissimilarity involved a relationship-relevant (vs. non-relationship) ethical dilemma. In Experiment 2, a sample of working students (N = 185) who perceived greater self-supervisor dissimilarity about workplace (vs. family) ethics reported greater job tension, and in turn, less job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceiving dissimilarity with a work supervisor in attitudes about relationship-relevant issues may negatively affect outcomes at work. Importantly, these experiments demonstrated that not all dissimilarity is likely to yield negative outcomes; only relationship-relevant (vs. non-relevant) dissimilarity was a catalyst for imbalance-induced tension.

Development of response inhibition in the context of relevant versus irrelevant emotions.

PubMed

Schel, Margot A; Crone, Eveline A

2013-01-01

The present study examined the influence of relevant and irrelevant emotions on response inhibition from childhood to early adulthood. Ninety-four participants between 6 and 25 years of age performed two go/nogo tasks with emotional faces (neutral, happy, and fearful) as stimuli. In one go/nogo task emotion formed a relevant dimension of the task and in the other go/nogo task emotion was irrelevant and participants had to respond to the color of the faces instead. A special feature of the latter task, in which emotion was irrelevant, was the inclusion of free choice trials, in which participants could freely decide between acting and inhibiting. Results showed a linear increase in response inhibition performance with increasing age both in relevant and irrelevant affective contexts. Relevant emotions had a pronounced influence on performance across age, whereas irrelevant emotions did not. Overall, participants made more false alarms on trials with fearful faces than happy faces, and happy faces were associated with better performance on go trials (higher percentage correct and faster RTs) than fearful faces. The latter effect was stronger for young children in terms of accuracy. Finally, during the free choice trials participants did not base their decisions on affective context, confirming that irrelevant emotions do not have a strong impact on inhibition. Together, these findings suggest that across development relevant affective context has a larger influence on response inhibition than irrelevant affective context. When emotions are relevant, a context of positive emotions is associated with better performance compared to a context with negative emotions, especially in young children.

Role of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of response to antibiotic therapy in patients affected by infectious spondylodiscitis.

PubMed

Niccoli Asabella, Artor; Iuele, Francesca; Simone, Francesco; Fanelli, Margherita; Lavelli, Valentina; Ferrari, Cristina; Di Palo, Alessandra; Notaristefano, Antonio; Merenda, Nunzio Clemente; Rubini, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

Spondylodiscitis is characterized by infection involving the intervertebral disc and adjacent vertebrae. It can occur anywhere in the vertebral column but more commonly involves lumbar spine. Our aim was to evaluate the usefulness of (18)F-FDG PET/CT to detect the early response to antibiotic therapy in patients affected by infectious spondylodiscitis and to compare the role of (18)F-FDG PET/CT and MRI in post-treatment evaluation. 15 patients (12M, 3F), with mean age 65±13 years old, with typical clinical symptoms of Infectious Spondylodiscitis (pain, fever and increase of inflammatory indexes) and confirmed by blood culture or vertebral biopsy underwent within three day-interval a (18)F-FDG PET/CT and Magnetic Resonance (MR) at "baseline" and after antibiotic therapy. Semiquantitative parameters at (18)F-FDG PET/CT "baseline" SUVmax1, MTV1 and TLG1 and after therapy SUVmax2, MTV2 and TLG2 of involved vertebrae were calculated. Follow-up period of at least three months was available for all patients. T-student test for paired groups was performed to compare baseline and after therapy (18)F-FDG PET/CT semiquantitative parameters. According to (18)F-FDG PET/CT parameters all patients showed a response to antibiotic therapy. All patients were positive at "baseline" MRI of the spine, while at follow-up, 7/15 patients showed MR signs of infection and were considered "positive" and 8/15 showed resolution of infectious condition and, therefore they were considered "negative". A statistical significant difference between (18)F-FDG PET/CT "baseline" and after antibiotic therapy was found for all semiquantitative parameters: SUVmax (t=5.8, P=0.01); MTV (t=5.17, P=0.001); TLG (t=5,26, P=0,001). The comparison between the "baseline" and "after treatment" (18)F-FDG semiquantitative parameters showed a significant reduction of all parameters. This reduction was relevant also in patients with positive post-treatment MRI. This can be probably related to the tissue remodeling in the very immediate phase post-treatment, resulted positive at MRI and negative at (18)F-FDG PET/CT. Clinical follow-up of at least three months confirmed these results. (18)F-FDG PET/CT is useful to detect the early response to antibiotic therapy in patients affected by infectious spondylodiscitis. (18)F-FDG PET/CT semiquantitative parameters provide critical diagnostic information of the infectious process. (18)F-FDG PET/CT should be considered as first-line exam in the early post-treatment evaluation of spondylodiscitis while MR should be preferred for delayed assessment.

[Clinical relevance of periodic limb movements during sleep in obstructive sleep apnea patients].

PubMed

Iriarte, J; Alegre, M; Irimia, P; Urriza, J; Artieda, J

The periodic limb movements disorder (PLMD) is frequently associated with the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), but the prevalence and clinical relevance of this association have not been studied in detail. The objectives were to make a prospective study on the prevalence of PLMD in patients with OSAS, and correlate this association with clinical and respiratory parameters. Forty-two patients diagnosed with OSAS, without clinical suspicion of PLMD, underwent a polysomnographic study. Clinical symptoms and signs were evaluated with an structured questionnaire, and respiratory parameters were obtained from the nocturnal study. Periodic limb movements were found in 10 patients (24%). There were no differences in clinical parameters between both groups (with and without periodical limb movements). However, respiratory parameters were significantly worse in patients without PLMD. PLMD is very frequent in patients with OSAS, and can contribute to worsen clinical signs and symptoms in these patients independently from respiratory parameters.

Discovering Hidden Controlling Parameters using Data Analytics and Dimensional Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Rosario, Zachary; Lee, Minyong; Iaccarino, Gianluca

2017-11-01

Dimensional Analysis is a powerful tool, one which takes a priori information and produces important simplifications. However, if this a priori information - the list of relevant parameters - is missing a relevant quantity, then the conclusions from Dimensional Analysis will be incorrect. In this work, we present novel conclusions in Dimensional Analysis, which provide a means to detect this failure mode of missing or hidden parameters. These results are based on a restated form of the Buckingham Pi theorem that reveals a ridge function structure underlying all dimensionless physical laws. We leverage this structure by constructing a hypothesis test based on sufficient dimension reduction, allowing for an experimental data-driven detection of hidden parameters. Both theory and examples will be presented, using classical turbulent pipe flow as the working example. Keywords: experimental techniques, dimensional analysis, lurking variables, hidden parameters, buckingham pi, data analysis. First author supported by the NSF GRFP under Grant Number DGE-114747.

Analyzing the impact of modeling choices and assumptions in compartmental epidemiological models

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

Nutaro, James J.; Pullum, Laura L.; Ramanathan, Arvind

In this study, computational models have become increasingly used as part of modeling, predicting, and understanding how infectious diseases spread within large populations. These models can be broadly classified into differential equation-based models (EBM) and agent-based models (ABM). Both types of models are central in aiding public health officials design intervention strategies in case of large epidemic outbreaks. We examine these models in the context of illuminating their hidden assumptions and the impact these may have on the model outcomes. Very few ABM/EBMs are evaluated for their suitability to address a particular public health concern, and drawing relevant conclusions aboutmore » their suitability requires reliable and relevant information regarding the different modeling strategies and associated assumptions. Hence, there is a need to determine how the different modeling strategies, choices of various parameters, and the resolution of information for EBMs and ABMs affect outcomes, including predictions of disease spread. In this study, we present a quantitative analysis of how the selection of model types (i.e., EBM vs. ABM), the underlying assumptions that are enforced by model types to model the disease propagation process, and the choice of time advance (continuous vs. discrete) affect the overall outcomes of modeling disease spread. Our study reveals that the magnitude and velocity of the simulated epidemic depends critically on the selection of modeling principles, various assumptions of disease process, and the choice of time advance.« less

Analyzing the impact of modeling choices and assumptions in compartmental epidemiological models

DOE PAGES

Nutaro, James J.; Pullum, Laura L.; Ramanathan, Arvind; ...

2016-05-01

In this study, computational models have become increasingly used as part of modeling, predicting, and understanding how infectious diseases spread within large populations. These models can be broadly classified into differential equation-based models (EBM) and agent-based models (ABM). Both types of models are central in aiding public health officials design intervention strategies in case of large epidemic outbreaks. We examine these models in the context of illuminating their hidden assumptions and the impact these may have on the model outcomes. Very few ABM/EBMs are evaluated for their suitability to address a particular public health concern, and drawing relevant conclusions aboutmore » their suitability requires reliable and relevant information regarding the different modeling strategies and associated assumptions. Hence, there is a need to determine how the different modeling strategies, choices of various parameters, and the resolution of information for EBMs and ABMs affect outcomes, including predictions of disease spread. In this study, we present a quantitative analysis of how the selection of model types (i.e., EBM vs. ABM), the underlying assumptions that are enforced by model types to model the disease propagation process, and the choice of time advance (continuous vs. discrete) affect the overall outcomes of modeling disease spread. Our study reveals that the magnitude and velocity of the simulated epidemic depends critically on the selection of modeling principles, various assumptions of disease process, and the choice of time advance.« less

Stabilometric parameters are affected by anthropometry and foot placement.

PubMed

Chiari, Lorenzo; Rocchi, Laura; Cappello, Angelo

2002-01-01

To recognize and quantify the influence of biomechanical factors, namely anthropometry and foot placement, on the more common measures of stabilometric performance, including new-generation stochastic parameters. Fifty normal-bodied young adults were selected in order to cover a sufficiently wide range of anthropometric properties. They were allowed to choose their preferred side-by-side foot position and their quiet stance was recorded with eyes open and closed by a force platform. biomechanical factors are known to influence postural stability but their impact on stabilometric parameters has not been extensively explored yet. Principal component analysis was used for feature selection among several biomechanical factors. A collection of 55 stabilometric parameters from the literature was estimated from the center-of-pressure time series. Linear relations between stabilometric parameters and selected biomechanical factors were investigated by robust regression techniques. The feature selection process returned height, weight, maximum foot width, base-of-support area, and foot opening angle as the relevant biomechanical variables. Only eleven out of the 55 stabilometric parameters were completely immune from a linear dependence on these variables. The remaining parameters showed a moderate to high dependence that was strengthened upon eye closure. For these parameters, a normalization procedure was proposed, to remove what can well be considered, in clinical investigations, a spurious source of between-subject variability. Care should be taken when quantifying postural sway through stabilometric parameters. It is suggested as a good practice to include some anthropometric measurements in the experimental protocol, and to standardize or trace foot position. Although the role of anthropometry and foot placement has been investigated in specific studies, there are no studies in the literature that systematically explore the relationship between such BF and stabilometric parameters. This knowledge may contribute to better defining the experimental protocol and improving the functional evaluation of postural sway for clinical purposes, e.g. by removing through normalization the spurious effects of body properties and foot position on postural performance.

Galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing in f(R) gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baojiu; Shirasaki, Masato

2018-03-01

We present an analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing (GGL) in chameleon f(R) gravity - a leading candidate of non-standard gravity models. For the analysis, we have created mock galaxy catalogues based on dark matter haloes from two sets of numerical simulations, using a halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription which allows a redshift dependence of galaxy number density. To make a fairer comparison between the f(R) and Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) models, their HOD parameters are tuned so that the galaxy two-point correlation functions in real space (and therefore the projected two-point correlation functions) match. While the f(R) model predicts an enhancement of the convergence power spectrum by up to ˜ 30 per cent compared to the standard ΛCDM model with the same parameters, the maximum enhancement of GGL is only half as large and less than 5 per cent on separations above ˜1-2 h-1 Mpc, because the latter is a cross-correlation of shear (or matter, which is more strongly affected by modified gravity) and galaxy (which is weakly affected given the good match between galaxy autocorrelations in the two models) fields. We also study the possibility of reconstructing the matter power spectrum by combination of GGL and galaxy clustering in f(R) gravity. We find that the galaxy-matter cross-correlation coefficient remains at unity down to ˜2-3 h-1 Mpc at relevant redshifts even in f(R) gravity, indicating joint analysis of GGL and galaxy clustering can be a powerful probe of matter density fluctuations in chameleon gravity. The scale dependence of the model differences in their predictions of GGL can potentially allows us to break the degeneracy between f(R) gravity and other cosmological parameters such as Ωm and σ8.

Low lysine diet in glutaric aciduria type I--effect on anthropometric and biochemical follow-up parameters.

PubMed

Boy, Nikolas; Haege, Gisela; Heringer, Jana; Assmann, Birgit; Mühlhausen, Chris; Ensenauer, Regina; Maier, Esther M; Lücke, Thomas; Hoffmann, Georg F; Müller, Edith; Burgard, Peter; Kölker, Stefan

2013-05-01

Metabolic treatment in glutaric aciduria type I (GA-I) including a low lysine diet with lysine-free, tryptophan-reduced amino acid supplements (AAS), carnitine supplementation and early start of emergency treatment during putatively threatening episodes of intermittent febrile illness dramatically improves the outcome and thus has been recommended by an international guideline group (Kölker et al, J Inherit Metab Dis 30:5-22, 2007). However, possible affection of linear growth, weight gain and biochemical follow-up monitoring has not been studied systematically. Thirty-three patients (n = 29 asymptomatic, n = 4 dystonic) with GA-I who have been identified by newborn screening in Germany from 1999 to 2009 were followed prospectively during the first six years of life. Dietary treatment protocols, anthropometrical and biochemical parameters were longitudinally evaluated. Mean daily intake as percentage of guideline recommendations was excellent for lysine (asymptomatic patients: 101 %; dystonic patients: 103 %), lysine-free, tryptophan-reduced AAS (108 %; 104 %), energy (106 %; 110 %), and carnitine (92 %; 102 %). Low lysine diet did not affect weight gain (mean SDS 0.05) but mildly impaired linear growth in asymptomatic patients (mean SDS -0.38), while dystonic patients showed significantly reduced weight gain (mean SDS -1.32) and a tendency towards linear growth retardation (mean SDS -1.03). Patients treated in accordance with recent recommendations did not show relevant abnormalities of routine biochemical follow-up parameters. Low lysine diet promotes sufficient intake of essential nutrients and anthropometric development in asymptomatic children up to age 6 year, whereas individualized nutritional concepts are required for dystonic patients. Revised recommendations for biochemical monitoring might be required for asymptomatic patients.

The Scope of Our Affective Influences: When and How Naturally Occurring Positive, Negative, and Neutral Affects Alter Judgment.

PubMed

Gasper, Karen; Danube, Cinnamon L

2016-03-01

To determine how naturally arising affect alters judgment, we examined whether (a) affective states exert a specific, rather than a general, influence on valenced-specific judgments; (b) neutral affect is associated with increased neutral judgments, independent of positive, negative, and ambivalent affects, and whether neutral judgments are associated with behavioral disengagement; and (c) the informational value of naturally arising states may be difficult to alter via salience and relevance manipulations. The results support several conclusions: (a) Affective states exerted a judgment-specific effect-positive affect was most strongly associated with positive judgments, negative affect with negative judgments, and neutral affect with neutral judgments. (b) Neutral affect influenced judgments, taking into account positive, negative, and ambivalent affects; and neutral judgments predicted behavioral disengagement. (c) With the exception of negative affect, naturally arising affective states typically influenced judgments regardless of their salience and relevance. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Modeling and measuring the visual detection of ecologically relevant motion by an Anolis lizard.

PubMed

Pallus, Adam C; Fleishman, Leo J; Castonguay, Philip M

2010-01-01

Motion in the visual periphery of lizards, and other animals, often causes a shift of visual attention toward the moving object. This behavioral response must be more responsive to relevant motion (predators, prey, conspecifics) than to irrelevant motion (windblown vegetation). Early stages of visual motion detection rely on simple local circuits known as elementary motion detectors (EMDs). We presented a computer model consisting of a grid of correlation-type EMDs, with videos of natural motion patterns, including prey, predators and windblown vegetation. We systematically varied the model parameters and quantified the relative response to the different classes of motion. We carried out behavioral experiments with the lizard Anolis sagrei and determined that their visual response could be modeled with a grid of correlation-type EMDs with a spacing parameter of 0.3 degrees visual angle, and a time constant of 0.1 s. The model with these parameters gave substantially stronger responses to relevant motion patterns than to windblown vegetation under equivalent conditions. However, the model is sensitive to local contrast and viewer-object distance. Therefore, additional neural processing is probably required for the visual system to reliably distinguish relevant from irrelevant motion under a full range of natural conditions.

Oral health-related quality of life in patients with removable dentures.

PubMed

Pistorius, Jutta; Horn, Jan G; Pistorius, Alexander; Kraft, Joachim

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine factors that affected oral health-related quality of life (Oral Health Related Quality of Life = OHRQoL) in patients with removable dentures (RD). Quality of life was evaluated by using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). We analysed data of 250 patients aged 63 ± 11.6 years. After excluding patients lacking relevant analysis data, 243 patients remained in the study, including 129 males and 114 females. Relevant parameters for good OHRQoL were: patient satisfaction with their RD (r = -0.317), higher age (r = 0.222), greater number of remaining teeth (r = 0.357), higher income (r = 0.175), higher frequency of dental visits (r = -0.212), tobacco abstinence (r = -0.181), and residence in a rural area (r = -0.420). Also, marital status had an impact on OHRQoL. Widowed and married patients showed the highest values and unmarried patients the lowest. Frequently mentioned problem areas considered within the survey were: the patient's fear of further tooth loss, concerns about functional aspects such as the decrease in chewing efficiency and dissatisfaction with the aesthetics of the dental prostheses. The results showed that the OHRQoL is apparently not only influenced by dental factors, but also by psychosocial and economic factors, the relevance of which would have to be shown in further studies.

Cognitive Processing about Classroom-Relevant Contexts: Teachers' Attention to and Utilization of Girls' Body Size, Ethnicity, Attractiveness, and Facial Affect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Shirley S.; Treat, Teresa A.; Brownell, Kelly D.

2008-01-01

This study examines 2 aspects of cognitive processing in person perception--attention and decision making--in classroom-relevant contexts. Teachers completed 2 implicit, performance-based tasks that characterized attention to and utilization of 4 student characteristics of interest: ethnicity, facial affect, body size, and attractiveness. Stimuli…

Radon entry into basements: Approach, experimental structures, and instrumentation of the small structures research project

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

Fisk, W.J.; Modera, M.P.; Sextro, R.G.

1992-02-01

We describe the experimental approach, structures, and instrumentation of a research project on radon generation and transport in soil and entry into basements. The overall approach is to construct small precisely-fabricated basements in areas of different geology and climate, to control the pressures and ventilation rates in the structures, and to monitor radon concentrations and other relevant parameters over a period of one year or more. Two nearly air-tight structures have been constructed at the first site. The floor of each structure contains adjustable-width slots that serve as the only significant pathway for advective entry of radon. A layer ofmore » gravel underlays the floor of one structure; otherwise they are identical. The structures are instrumented for continuous or periodic monitoring of soil, structural, and meteorological parameters that affect radon entry. The pressure difference that drives advective radon entry can be maintained constant or varied over time. Soil gas and radon entry rates and associated parameters, such as soil gas pressures and radon concentrations, have been monitored for a range of steady-state and time-varying pressure differences between the interior of the structure and the soil. Examples of the experimentally-measured pressure and permeability fields in the soil around a structure are presented and discussed.« less

A systemic approach to explore the flexibility of energy stores at the cellular scale: Examples from muscle cells.

PubMed

Taghipoor, Masoomeh; van Milgen, Jaap; Gondret, Florence

2016-09-07

Variations in energy storage and expenditure are key elements for animals adaptation to rapidly changing environments. Because of the multiplicity of metabolic pathways, metabolic crossroads and interactions between anabolic and catabolic processes within and between different cells, the flexibility of energy stores in animal cells is difficult to describe by simple verbal, textual or graphic terms. We propose a mathematical model to study the influence of internal and external challenges on the dynamic behavior of energy stores and its consequence on cell energy status. The role of the flexibility of energy stores on the energy equilibrium at the cellular level is illustrated through three case studies: variation in eating frequency (i.e., glucose input), level of physical activity (i.e., ATP requirement), and changes in cell characteristics (i.e., maximum capacity of glycogen storage). Sensitivity analysis has been performed to highlight the most relevant parameters of the model; model simulations have then been performed to illustrate how variation in these key parameters affects cellular energy balance. According to this analysis, glycogen maximum accumulation capacity and homeostatic energy demand are among the most important parameters regulating muscle cell metabolism to ensure its energy equilibrium. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical parameters in the production of ceramic pot filters for household water treatment in developing countries.

PubMed

Soppe, A I A; Heijman, S G J; Gensburger, I; Shantz, A; van Halem, D; Kroesbergen, J; Wubbels, G H; Smeets, P W M H

2015-06-01

The need to improve the access to safe water is generally recognized for the benefit of public health in developing countries. This study's objective was to identify critical parameters which are essential for improving the performance of ceramic pot filters (CPFs) as a point-of-use water treatment system. Defining critical production parameters was also relevant to confirm that CPFs with high-flow rates may have the same disinfection capacity as pots with normal flow rates. A pilot unit was built in Cambodia to produce CPFs under controlled and constant conditions. Pots were manufactured from a mixture of clay, laterite and rice husk in a small-scale, gas-fired, temperature-controlled kiln and tested for flow rate, removal efficiency of bacteria and material strength. Flow rate can be increased by increasing pore sizes and by increasing porosity. Pore sizes were increased by using larger rice husk particles and porosity was increased with larger proportions of rice husk in the clay mixture. The main conclusions: larger pore size decreases the removal efficiency of bacteria; higher porosity does not affect the removal efficiency of bacteria, but does influence the strength of pots; flow rates of CPFs can be raised to 10-20 L/hour without a significant decrease in bacterial removal efficiency.

Sensitivity of boundary layer variables to PBL schemes over the central Tibetan Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, L.; Liu, H.; Wang, L.; Du, Q.; Liu, Y.

2017-12-01

Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) parameterization schemes play critical role in numerical weather prediction and research. They describe physical processes associated with the momentum, heat and humidity exchange between land surface and atmosphere. In this study, two non-local (YSU and ACM2) and two local (MYJ and BouLac) planetary boundary layer parameterization schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model have been tested over the central Tibetan Plateau regarding of their capability to model boundary layer parameters relevant for surface energy exchange. The model performance has been evaluated against measurements from the Third Tibetan Plateau atmospheric scientific experiment (TIPEX-III). Simulated meteorological parameters and turbulence fluxes have been compared with observations through standard statistical measures. Model results show acceptable behavior, but no particular scheme produces best performance for all locations and parameters. All PBL schemes underestimate near surface air temperatures over the Tibetan Plateau. By investigating the surface energy budget components, the results suggest that downward longwave radiation and sensible heat flux are the main factors causing the lower near surface temperature. Because the downward longwave radiation and sensible heat flux are respectively affected by atmosphere moisture and land-atmosphere coupling, improvements in water vapor distribution and land-atmosphere energy exchange is meaningful for better presentation of PBL physical processes over the central Tibetan Plateau.

The Design of PSB-VVER Experiments Relevant to Accident Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nevo, Alessandro Del; D'Auria, Francesco; Mazzini, Marino; Bykov, Michael; Elkin, Ilya V.; Suslov, Alexander

Experimental programs carried-out in integral test facilities are relevant for validating the best estimate thermal-hydraulic codes(1), which are used for accident analyses, design of accident management procedures, licensing of nuclear power plants, etc. The validation process, in fact, is based on well designed experiments. It consists in the comparison of the measured and calculated parameters and the determination whether a computer code has an adequate capability in predicting the major phenomena expected to occur in the course of transient and/or accidents. University of Pisa was responsible of the numerical design of the 12 experiments executed in PSB-VVER facility (2), operated at Electrogorsk Research and Engineering Center (Russia), in the framework of the TACIS 2.03/97 Contract 3.03.03 Part A, EC financed (3). The paper describes the methodology adopted at University of Pisa, starting form the scenarios foreseen in the final test matrix until the execution of the experiments. This process considers three key topics: a) the scaling issue and the simulation, with unavoidable distortions, of the expected performance of the reference nuclear power plants; b) the code assessment process involving the identification of phenomena challenging the code models; c) the features of the concerned integral test facility (scaling limitations, control logics, data acquisition system, instrumentation, etc.). The activities performed in this respect are discussed, and emphasis is also given to the relevance of the thermal losses to the environment. This issue affects particularly the small scaled facilities and has relevance on the scaling approach related to the power and volume of the facility.

General Pharmacokinetic Model for Topically Administered Ocular Drug Dosage Forms.

PubMed

Deng, Feng; Ranta, Veli-Pekka; Kidron, Heidi; Urtti, Arto

2016-11-01

In ocular drug development, an early estimate of drug behavior before any in vivo experiments is important. The pharmacokinetics (PK) and bioavailability depend not only on active compound and excipients but also on physicochemical properties of the ocular drug formulation. We propose to utilize PK modelling to predict how drug and formulational properties affect drug bioavailability and pharmacokinetics. A physiologically relevant PK model based on the rabbit eye was built to simulate the effect of formulation and physicochemical properties on PK of pilocarpine solutions and fluorometholone suspensions. The model consists of four compartments: solid and dissolved drug in tear fluid, drug in corneal epithelium and aqueous humor. Parameter values and in vivo PK data in rabbits were taken from published literature. The model predicted the pilocarpine and fluorometholone concentrations in the corneal epithelium and aqueous humor with a reasonable accuracy for many different formulations. The model includes a graphical user interface that enables the user to modify parameters easily and thus simulate various formulations. The model is suitable for the development of ophthalmic formulations and the planning of bioequivalence studies.

Seasonal functional relevance of sperm characteristics in equine spermatozoa.

PubMed

Gamboa, S; Rodrigues, A S; Henriques, L; Batista, C; Ramalho-Santos, J

2010-04-15

A group of stallions with different reproductive indexes were used to study seasonal variations in sperm quality (Equus caballus). Semen samples were collected from late September to July and analyzed according to four seasonal periods: late September-December, January-March, late March-May, and June-July. Parameters monitored included sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm morphology, sperm viability, acrosomal status, plasma membrane stability, and sperm mitochondrial membrane potential. Overall, seminal parameters monitored are affected mostly by time period, followed by animal and lastly by fertility, stressing the importance of individual variations in out-bred animal models. The analysis of multiple ejaculates from the same animals showed clear seasonal-based differences (P<0.05) with poor semen quality in winter and a noticeable improvement in sperm quality with increasing photoperiod. Better semen quality was observed between late March and May. Interactions between month period, animal, and fertility were evident (P<0.05) for sperm concentration, head and tail sperm anomalies, and acrosomal integrity. Thus, it may be advisable to adjust the use of stallion semen according to seasonal variations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differential carrier lifetime and transport effects in electrically injected III-nitride light-emitting diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashidi, A.; Nami, M.; Monavarian, M.; Aragon, A.; DaVico, K.; Ayoub, F.; Mishkat-Ul-Masabih, S.; Rishinaramangalam, A.; Feezell, D.

2017-07-01

This work describes a small-signal microwave method for determining the differential carrier lifetime and transport effects in electrically injected InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs). By considering the carrier diffusion, capture, thermionic escape, and recombination, the rate equations are used to derive an equivalent small-signal electrical circuit for the LEDs, from which expressions for the input impedance and modulation response are obtained. The expressions are simultaneously fit to the experimental data for the input impedance and modulation response for nonpolar InGaN/GaN micro-LEDs on free-standing GaN substrates. The fittings are used to extract the transport related circuit parameters and differential carrier lifetimes. The dependence of the parameters on the device diameter and current density is reported. We also derive approximations for the modulation response under low and high injection levels and show that the transport of carriers affects the modulation response of the device, especially at low injection levels. The methods presented are relevant to the design of high-speed LEDs for visible-light communication.

Acanthamoeba: An Overview of the Challenges to the Development of a Consensus Methodology of Disinfection Efficacy Testing for Contact Lens Care Products.

PubMed

Brocious, Jeffrey; Tarver, Michelle E; Hampton, Denise; Eydelman, Malvina

2018-04-24

With the increasing incidence of more pathogens that can cause microbial keratitis (MK), it is necessary to periodically reassess disinfection multipurpose solutions testing requirements to ensure that relevant organisms to challenge them are being used. Current testing protocols have included common pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens, Candida albicans, and Fusarium solani but have omitted less common pathogens such as Acanthamoeba. Specifically, Acanthamoeba sp. has recently been identified as a prevalent cause of MK in certain countries. Developing an appropriate protocol for this unique organism presents a challenge, given its two distinct life stages, methods to grow the organism, encystment techniques, and many other parameters that can affect testing outcomes. Therefore, the appropriate combination of these parameters is crucial to developing a protocol that ensures consistent, accurate results. The FDA has recognized the importance of establishing a standardized testing protocol for this pathogen and embarked on research efforts to provide a recommended testing protocol for testing contact lens care products.

Neutrino Oscillations:. a Phenomenological Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogli, G. L.; Lisi, E.; Marrone, A.; Palazzo, A.; Rotunno, A. M.; Montanino, D.

We review the status of the neutrino oscillations physics, with a particular emphasis on the present knowledge of the neutrino mass-mixing parameters. We consider first the νμ → ντ flavor transitions of atmospheric neutrinos. It is found that standard oscillations provide the best description of the SK+K2K data, and that the associated mass-mixing parameters are determined at ±1σ (and NDF = 1) as: Δm2 = (2.6 ± 0.4) × 10-3 eV2 and sin 2 2θ = 1.00{ - 0.05}{ + 0.00} . Such indications, presently dominated by SK, could be strengthened by further K2K data. Then we point out that the recent data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, together with other relevant measurements from solar and reactor neutrino experiments, in particular the KamLAND data, convincingly show that the flavor transitions of solar neutrinos are affected by Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effects. Finally, we perform an updated analysis of two-family active oscillations of solar and reactor neutrinos in the standard MSW case.

A conceptual disease model for adult Pompe disease.

PubMed

Kanters, Tim A; Redekop, W Ken; Rutten-Van Mölken, Maureen P M H; Kruijshaar, Michelle E; Güngör, Deniz; van der Ploeg, Ans T; Hakkaart, Leona

2015-09-15

Studies in orphan diseases are, by nature, confronted with small patient populations, meaning that randomized controlled trials will have limited statistical power. In order to estimate the effectiveness of treatments in orphan diseases and extrapolate effects into the future, alternative models might be needed. The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual disease model for Pompe disease in adults (an orphan disease). This conceptual model describes the associations between the most important levels of health concepts for Pompe disease in adults, from biological parameters via physiological parameters, symptoms and functional indicators to health perceptions and final health outcomes as measured in terms of health-related quality of life. The structure of the Wilson-Cleary health outcomes model was used as a blueprint, and filled with clinically relevant aspects for Pompe disease based on literature and expert opinion. Multiple observations per patient from a Dutch cohort study in untreated patients were used to quantify the relationships between the different levels of health concepts in the model by means of regression analyses. Enzyme activity, muscle strength, respiratory function, fatigue, level of handicap, general health perceptions, mental and physical component scales and utility described the different levels of health concepts in the Wilson-Cleary model for Pompe disease. Regression analyses showed that functional status was affected by fatigue, muscle strength and respiratory function. Health perceptions were affected by handicap. In turn, self-reported quality of life was affected by health perceptions. We conceptualized a disease model that incorporated the mechanisms believed to be responsible for impaired quality of life in Pompe disease. The model provides a comprehensive overview of various aspects of Pompe disease in adults, which can be useful for both clinicians and policymakers to support their multi-faceted decision making.

Event-scale power law recession analysis: quantifying methodological uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dralle, David N.; Karst, Nathaniel J.; Charalampous, Kyriakos; Veenstra, Andrew; Thompson, Sally E.

2017-01-01

The study of single streamflow recession events is receiving increasing attention following the presentation of novel theoretical explanations for the emergence of power law forms of the recession relationship, and drivers of its variability. Individually characterizing streamflow recessions often involves describing the similarities and differences between model parameters fitted to each recession time series. Significant methodological sensitivity has been identified in the fitting and parameterization of models that describe populations of many recessions, but the dependence of estimated model parameters on methodological choices has not been evaluated for event-by-event forms of analysis. Here, we use daily streamflow data from 16 catchments in northern California and southern Oregon to investigate how combinations of commonly used streamflow recession definitions and fitting techniques impact parameter estimates of a widely used power law recession model. Results are relevant to watersheds that are relatively steep, forested, and rain-dominated. The highly seasonal mediterranean climate of northern California and southern Oregon ensures study catchments explore a wide range of recession behaviors and wetness states, ideal for a sensitivity analysis. In such catchments, we show the following: (i) methodological decisions, including ones that have received little attention in the literature, can impact parameter value estimates and model goodness of fit; (ii) the central tendencies of event-scale recession parameter probability distributions are largely robust to methodological choices, in the sense that differing methods rank catchments similarly according to the medians of these distributions; (iii) recession parameter distributions are method-dependent, but roughly catchment-independent, such that changing the choices made about a particular method affects a given parameter in similar ways across most catchments; and (iv) the observed correlative relationship between the power-law recession scale parameter and catchment antecedent wetness varies depending on recession definition and fitting choices. Considering study results, we recommend a combination of four key methodological decisions to maximize the quality of fitted recession curves, and to minimize bias in the related populations of fitted recession parameters.

Quantitative interpretations of Visible-NIR reflectance spectra of blood.

PubMed

Serebrennikova, Yulia M; Smith, Jennifer M; Huffman, Debra E; Leparc, German F; García-Rubio, Luis H

2008-10-27

This paper illustrates the implementation of a new theoretical model for rapid quantitative analysis of the Vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectra of blood cultures. This new model is based on the photon diffusion theory and Mie scattering theory that have been formulated to account for multiple scattering populations and absorptive components. This study stresses the significance of the thorough solution of the scattering and absorption problem in order to accurately resolve for optically relevant parameters of blood culture components. With advantages of being calibration-free and computationally fast, the new model has two basic requirements. First, wavelength-dependent refractive indices of the basic chemical constituents of blood culture components are needed. Second, multi-wavelength measurements or at least the measurements of characteristic wavelengths equal to the degrees of freedom, i.e. number of optically relevant parameters, of blood culture system are required. The blood culture analysis model was tested with a large number of diffuse reflectance spectra of blood culture samples characterized by an extensive range of the relevant parameters.

Band excitation method applicable to scanning probe microscopy

DOEpatents

Jesse, Stephen [Knoxville, TN; Kalinin, Sergei V [Knoxville, TN

2010-08-17

Methods and apparatus are described for scanning probe microscopy. A method includes generating a band excitation (BE) signal having finite and predefined amplitude and phase spectrum in at least a first predefined frequency band; exciting a probe using the band excitation signal; obtaining data by measuring a response of the probe in at least a second predefined frequency band; and extracting at least one relevant dynamic parameter of the response of the probe in a predefined range including analyzing the obtained data. The BE signal can be synthesized prior to imaging (static band excitation), or adjusted at each pixel or spectroscopy step to accommodate changes in sample properties (adaptive band excitation). An apparatus includes a band excitation signal generator; a probe coupled to the band excitation signal generator; a detector coupled to the probe; and a relevant dynamic parameter extractor component coupled to the detector, the relevant dynamic parameter extractor including a processor that performs a mathematical transform selected from the group consisting of an integral transform and a discrete transform.

Band excitation method applicable to scanning probe microscopy

DOEpatents

Jesse, Stephen; Kalinin, Sergei V

2013-05-28

Methods and apparatus are described for scanning probe microscopy. A method includes generating a band excitation (BE) signal having finite and predefined amplitude and phase spectrum in at least a first predefined frequency band; exciting a probe using the band excitation signal; obtaining data by measuring a response of the probe in at least a second predefined frequency band; and extracting at least one relevant dynamic parameter of the response of the probe in a predefined range including analyzing the obtained data. The BE signal can be synthesized prior to imaging (static band excitation), or adjusted at each pixel or spectroscopy step to accommodate changes in sample properties (adaptive band excitation). An apparatus includes a band excitation signal generator; a probe coupled to the band excitation signal generator; a detector coupled to the probe; and a relevant dynamic parameter extractor component coupled to the detector, the relevant dynamic parameter extractor including a processor that performs a mathematical transform selected from the group consisting of an integral transform and a discrete transform.

Suppression of friction by mechanical vibrations.

PubMed

Capozza, Rosario; Vanossi, Andrea; Vezzani, Alessandro; Zapperi, Stefano

2009-08-21

Mechanical vibrations are known to affect frictional sliding and the associated stick-slip patterns causing sometimes a drastic reduction of the friction force. This issue is relevant for applications in nanotribology and to understand earthquake triggering by small dynamic perturbations. We study the dynamics of repulsive particles confined between a horizontally driven top plate and a vertically oscillating bottom plate. Our numerical results show a suppression of the high dissipative stick-slip regime in a well-defined range of frequencies that depends on the vibrating amplitude, the normal applied load, the system inertia and the damping constant. We propose a theoretical explanation of the numerical results and derive a phase diagram indicating the region of parameter space where friction is suppressed. Our results allow to define better strategies for the mechanical control of friction.

Renal function, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and other adverse reactions associated with gadolinium-based contrast media.

PubMed

Canga, Ana; Kislikova, Maria; Martínez-Gálvez, María; Arias, Mercedes; Fraga-Rivas, Patricia; Poyatos, Cecilio; de Francisco, Angel L M

2014-01-01

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis is a fibrosing disorder that affects patients with impaired renal function and is associated with the administration of gadolinium-based contrast media used in MRI. Despite being in a group of drugs that were considered safe, report about this potentially serious adverse reaction was a turning point in the administration guidelines of these contrast media. There has been an attempt to establish safety parameters to identify patients with risk factors of renal failure. The close pharmacovigilance and strict observation of current regulations, with special attention being paid to the value of glomerular filtration, have reduced the published cases involving the use of gadolinium-based contrast media. In a meeting between radiologists and nephrologists we reviewed the most relevant aspects currently and recommendations for its prevention.

High-throughput syntheses of iron phosphite open frameworks in ionic liquids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhixiu; Mu, Ying; Wang, Yilin; Bing, Qiming; Su, Tan; Liu, Jingyao

2017-02-01

Three open-framework iron phosphites: Feп5(NH4)2(HPO3)6 (1), Feп2Fe♯(NH4)(HPO3)4 (2) and Fe♯2(HPO3)3 (3) have been synthesized under ionothermal conditions. How the different synthesis parameters, such as the gel concentrations, synthetic times, reaction temperatures and solvents affect the products have been monitored by using high-throughput approaches. Within each type of experiment, relevant products have been investigated. The optimal reaction conditions are obtained from a series of experiments by high-throughput approaches. All the structures are determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and further characterized by PXRD, TGA and FTIR analyses. Magnetic study reveals that those three compounds show interesting magnetic behavior at low temperature.

The Limitations of Model-Based Experimental Design and Parameter Estimation in Sloppy Systems.

PubMed

White, Andrew; Tolman, Malachi; Thames, Howard D; Withers, Hubert Rodney; Mason, Kathy A; Transtrum, Mark K

2016-12-01

We explore the relationship among experimental design, parameter estimation, and systematic error in sloppy models. We show that the approximate nature of mathematical models poses challenges for experimental design in sloppy models. In many models of complex biological processes it is unknown what are the relevant physical mechanisms that must be included to explain system behaviors. As a consequence, models are often overly complex, with many practically unidentifiable parameters. Furthermore, which mechanisms are relevant/irrelevant vary among experiments. By selecting complementary experiments, experimental design may inadvertently make details that were ommitted from the model become relevant. When this occurs, the model will have a large systematic error and fail to give a good fit to the data. We use a simple hyper-model of model error to quantify a model's discrepancy and apply it to two models of complex biological processes (EGFR signaling and DNA repair) with optimally selected experiments. We find that although parameters may be accurately estimated, the discrepancy in the model renders it less predictive than it was in the sloppy regime where systematic error is small. We introduce the concept of a sloppy system-a sequence of models of increasing complexity that become sloppy in the limit of microscopic accuracy. We explore the limits of accurate parameter estimation in sloppy systems and argue that identifying underlying mechanisms controlling system behavior is better approached by considering a hierarchy of models of varying detail rather than focusing on parameter estimation in a single model.

The Limitations of Model-Based Experimental Design and Parameter Estimation in Sloppy Systems

PubMed Central

Tolman, Malachi; Thames, Howard D.; Mason, Kathy A.

2016-01-01

We explore the relationship among experimental design, parameter estimation, and systematic error in sloppy models. We show that the approximate nature of mathematical models poses challenges for experimental design in sloppy models. In many models of complex biological processes it is unknown what are the relevant physical mechanisms that must be included to explain system behaviors. As a consequence, models are often overly complex, with many practically unidentifiable parameters. Furthermore, which mechanisms are relevant/irrelevant vary among experiments. By selecting complementary experiments, experimental design may inadvertently make details that were ommitted from the model become relevant. When this occurs, the model will have a large systematic error and fail to give a good fit to the data. We use a simple hyper-model of model error to quantify a model’s discrepancy and apply it to two models of complex biological processes (EGFR signaling and DNA repair) with optimally selected experiments. We find that although parameters may be accurately estimated, the discrepancy in the model renders it less predictive than it was in the sloppy regime where systematic error is small. We introduce the concept of a sloppy system–a sequence of models of increasing complexity that become sloppy in the limit of microscopic accuracy. We explore the limits of accurate parameter estimation in sloppy systems and argue that identifying underlying mechanisms controlling system behavior is better approached by considering a hierarchy of models of varying detail rather than focusing on parameter estimation in a single model. PMID:27923060

Composite laminate failure parameter optimization through four-point flexure experimentation and analysis

DOE PAGES

Nelson, Stacy; English, Shawn; Briggs, Timothy

2016-05-06

Fiber-reinforced composite materials offer light-weight solutions to many structural challenges. In the development of high-performance composite structures, a thorough understanding is required of the composite materials themselves as well as methods for the analysis and failure prediction of the relevant composite structures. However, the mechanical properties required for the complete constitutive definition of a composite material can be difficult to determine through experimentation. Therefore, efficient methods are necessary that can be used to determine which properties are relevant to the analysis of a specific structure and to establish a structure's response to a material parameter that can only be definedmore » through estimation. The objectives of this paper deal with demonstrating the potential value of sensitivity and uncertainty quantification techniques during the failure analysis of loaded composite structures; and the proposed methods are applied to the simulation of the four-point flexural characterization of a carbon fiber composite material. Utilizing a recently implemented, phenomenological orthotropic material model that is capable of predicting progressive composite damage and failure, a sensitivity analysis is completed to establish which material parameters are truly relevant to a simulation's outcome. Then, a parameter study is completed to determine the effect of the relevant material properties' expected variations on the simulated four-point flexural behavior as well as to determine the value of an unknown material property. This process demonstrates the ability to formulate accurate predictions in the absence of a rigorous material characterization effort. Finally, the presented results indicate that a sensitivity analysis and parameter study can be used to streamline the material definition process as the described flexural characterization was used for model validation.« less

Numerical simulation of aerobic exercise as a countermeasure in human spaceflight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Poch, Antoni

The objective of this work is to analyse the efficacy of long-term regular exercise on relevant cardiovascular parameters when the human body is also exposed to microgravity. Computer simulations are an important tool which may be used to predict and analyse these possible effects, and compare them with in-flight experiments. We based our study on a electrical-like computer model (NELME: Numerical Evaluation of Long-term Microgravity Effects) which was developed in our laboratory and validated with the available data, focusing on the cardiovascu-lar parameters affected by changes in gravity exposure. NELME is based on an electrical-like control system model of the physiological changes, that are known to take place when grav-ity changes are applied. The computer implementation has a modular architecture. Hence, different output parameters, potential effects, organs and countermeasures can be easily imple-mented and evaluated. We added to the previous cardiovascular system module a perturbation module to evaluate the effect of regular exercise on the output parameters previously studied. Therefore, we simulated a well-known countermeasure with different protocols of exercising, as a pattern of input electric-like perturbations on the basic module. Different scenarios have been numerically simulated for both men and women, in different patterns of microgravity, reduced gravity and time exposure. Also EVAs were simulated as perturbations to the system. Results show slight differences in gender, with more risk reduction for women than for men after following an aerobic exercise pattern during a simulated mission. Also, risk reduction of a cardiovascular malfunction is evaluated, with a ceiling effect found in all scenarios. A turning point in vascular resistance for a long-term exposure of microgravity below 0.4g has been found of particular interest. In conclusion, we show that computer simulations are a valuable tool to analyse different effects of long-term microgravity exposure on the human body. Potential countermeasures such as physical exercise can also be evaluated as an induced perturbation into the system. Relevant results are compatible with existing data, and are of valuable interest as an assessment of the efficacy of aerobic exercise as a countermeasure in future missions to Mars.

The predicted influence of climate change on lesser prairie-chicken reproductive parameters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grisham, Blake A.; Boal, Clint W.; Haukos, David A.; Davis, D.; Boydston, Kathy K.; Dixon, Charles; Heck, Willard R.

2013-01-01

The Southern High Plains is anticipated to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change. These changes may influence the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in positive or negative ways. We assessed the potential changes in clutch size, incubation start date, and nest survival for lesser prairie-chickens for the years 2050 and 2080 based on modeled predictions of climate change and reproductive data for lesser prairie-chickens from 2001-2011 on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. We developed 9 a priori models to assess the relationship between reproductive parameters and biologically relevant weather conditions. We selected weather variable(s) with the most model support and then obtained future predicted values from climatewizard.org. We conducted 1,000 simulations using each reproductive parameter's linear equation obtained from regression calculations, and the future predicted value for each weather variable to predict future reproductive parameter values for lesser prairie-chickens. There was a high degree of model uncertainty for each reproductive value. Winter temperature had the greatest effect size for all three parameters, suggesting a negative relationship between above-average winter temperature and reproductive output. The above-average winter temperatures are correlated to La Nina events, which negatively affect lesser prairie-chickens through resulting drought conditions. By 2050 and 2080, nest survival was predicted to be below levels considered viable for population persistence; however, our assessment did not consider annual survival of adults, chick survival, or the positive benefit of habitat management and conservation, which may ultimately offset the potentially negative effect of drought on nest survival.

The predicted influence of climate change on lesser prairie-chicken reproductive parameters.

PubMed

Grisham, Blake A; Boal, Clint W; Haukos, David A; Davis, Dawn M; Boydston, Kathy K; Dixon, Charles; Heck, Willard R

2013-01-01

The Southern High Plains is anticipated to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change. These changes may influence the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in positive or negative ways. We assessed the potential changes in clutch size, incubation start date, and nest survival for lesser prairie-chickens for the years 2050 and 2080 based on modeled predictions of climate change and reproductive data for lesser prairie-chickens from 2001-2011 on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. We developed 9 a priori models to assess the relationship between reproductive parameters and biologically relevant weather conditions. We selected weather variable(s) with the most model support and then obtained future predicted values from climatewizard.org. We conducted 1,000 simulations using each reproductive parameter's linear equation obtained from regression calculations, and the future predicted value for each weather variable to predict future reproductive parameter values for lesser prairie-chickens. There was a high degree of model uncertainty for each reproductive value. Winter temperature had the greatest effect size for all three parameters, suggesting a negative relationship between above-average winter temperature and reproductive output. The above-average winter temperatures are correlated to La Niña events, which negatively affect lesser prairie-chickens through resulting drought conditions. By 2050 and 2080, nest survival was predicted to be below levels considered viable for population persistence; however, our assessment did not consider annual survival of adults, chick survival, or the positive benefit of habitat management and conservation, which may ultimately offset the potentially negative effect of drought on nest survival.

Probabilistic calibration of the SPITFIRE fire spread model using Earth observation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomez-Dans, Jose; Wooster, Martin; Lewis, Philip; Spessa, Allan

2010-05-01

There is a great interest in understanding how fire affects vegetation distribution and dynamics in the context of global vegetation modelling. A way to include these effects is through the development of embedded fire spread models. However, fire is a complex phenomenon, thus difficult to model. Statistical models based on fire return intervals, or fire danger indices need large amounts of data for calibration, and are often prisoner to the epoch they were calibrated to. Mechanistic models, such as SPITFIRE, try to model the complete fire phenomenon based on simple physical rules, making these models mostly independent of calibration data. However, the processes expressed in models such as SPITFIRE require many parameters. These parametrisations are often reliant on site-specific experiments, or in some other cases, paremeters might not be measured directly. Additionally, in many cases, changes in temporal and/or spatial resolution result in parameters becoming effective. To address the difficulties with parametrisation and the often-used fitting methodologies, we propose using a probabilistic framework to calibrate some areas of the SPITFIRE fire spread model. We calibrate the model against Earth Observation (EO) data, a global and ever-expanding source of relevant data. We develop a methodology that tries to incorporate the limitations of the EO data, reasonable prior values for parameters and that results in distributions of parameters, which can be used to infer uncertainty due to parameter estimates. Additionally, the covariance structure of parameters and observations is also derived, whcih can help inform data gathering efforts and model development, respectively. For this work, we focus on Southern African savannas, an important ecosystem for fire studies, and one with a good amount of EO data relevnt to fire studies. As calibration datasets, we use burned area data, estimated number of fires and vegetation moisture dynamics.

The high affinity of small-molecule antioxidants for hemoglobin.

PubMed

Puscas, Cristina; Radu, Luana; Carrascoza, Francisco; Mot, Augustin C; Amariei, Diana; Lungu, Oana; Scurtu, Florina; Podea, Paula; Septelean, Raluca; Matei, Alina; Mic, Mihaela; Attia, Amr A; Silaghi-Dumitrescu, Radu

2018-06-18

Hemoglobin has previously been shown to display ascorbate peroxidase and urate peroxidase activity, with measurable Michaelis-Menten parameters that reveal a particularly low Km for ascorbate as well as for urate - lower than the respective in vivo concentrations of these antioxidants in blood. Also, direct detection of a hemoglobin-ascorbate interaction was possible by monitoring the 1H-NMR spectrum of ascorbate in the presence of hemoglobin. The relative difference in structures between ascorbate and urate may raise the question as to exactly what the defining structural features would be, for a substrate that binds to hemoglobin with high affinity. Reported here are Michaelis-Menten parameters for hemoglobin acting as peroxidase against a number of other substrates of varying structures - gallate, caffeate, rutin, 3-hydroxyflavone, 3,6-dihydroxyflavone, quercetin, epicatechin, luteolin - all with high affinities (some higher than those of physiologically-relevant redox partners of Hb - ascorbate and urate). Moreover, this high affinity appears general to animal hemoglobins. 1 H-NMR and 13 C-NMR spectra reveal a general pattern wherein small hydrophilic antioxidants appear to all have their signals affected, presumably due to binding to hemoglobin. Fluorescence and calorimetry measurements confirm these conclusions. Docking calculations confirm the existence of binding sites on hemoglobin and on myoglobin for ascorbate as well as for other antioxidants. Support is found for involvement of Tyr42 in binding of three out of the four substrates investigated in the case of hemoglobin (including ascorbate and urate, as blood-contained relevant substrates), but also for Tyr145 (with urate and caffeate) and Tyr35 (with gallate). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Self-Referential Expectation on Emotional Face Processing

PubMed Central

McKendrick, Mel; Butler, Stephen H.; Grealy, Madeleine A.

2016-01-01

The role of self-relevance has been somewhat neglected in static face processing paradigms but may be important in understanding how emotional faces impact on attention, cognition and affect. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of self-relevant primes on processing emotional composite faces. Sentence primes created an expectation of the emotion of the face before sad, happy, neutral or composite face photos were viewed. Eye movements were recorded and subsequent responses measured the cognitive and affective impact of the emotion expressed. Results indicated that primes did not guide attention, but impacted on judgments of valence intensity and self-esteem ratings. Negative self-relevant primes led to the most negative self-esteem ratings, although the effect of the prime was qualified by salient facial features. Self-relevant expectations about the emotion of a face and subsequent attention to a face that is congruent with these expectations strengthened the affective impact of viewing the face. PMID:27175487

The Effect of Self-Referential Expectation on Emotional Face Processing.

PubMed

McKendrick, Mel; Butler, Stephen H; Grealy, Madeleine A

2016-01-01

The role of self-relevance has been somewhat neglected in static face processing paradigms but may be important in understanding how emotional faces impact on attention, cognition and affect. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of self-relevant primes on processing emotional composite faces. Sentence primes created an expectation of the emotion of the face before sad, happy, neutral or composite face photos were viewed. Eye movements were recorded and subsequent responses measured the cognitive and affective impact of the emotion expressed. Results indicated that primes did not guide attention, but impacted on judgments of valence intensity and self-esteem ratings. Negative self-relevant primes led to the most negative self-esteem ratings, although the effect of the prime was qualified by salient facial features. Self-relevant expectations about the emotion of a face and subsequent attention to a face that is congruent with these expectations strengthened the affective impact of viewing the face.

Contact lens physical properties and lipid deposition in a novel characterized artificial tear solution

PubMed Central

Heynen, Miriam; Kay, Lise M.M.; Dominici, Claudia Yvette; Khan, Warda; Ng, Wendy W.S.; Jones, Lyndon

2011-01-01

Purpose To characterize various properties of a physiologically-relevant artificial tear solution (ATS) containing a range of tear film components within a complex salt solution, and to measure contact lens parameters and lipid deposition of a variety of contact lens materials after incubation in this ATS. Methods A complex ATS was developed that contains a range of salts, proteins, lipids, mucin, and other tear film constituents in tear-film relevant concentrations. This ATS was tested to confirm that its pH, osmolality, surface tension, and homogeneity are similar to human tears and remain so throughout the material incubation process, for up to 4 weeks. To confirm that silicone hydrogel and conventional hydrogel contact lens materials do not alter in physical characteristics beyond what is allowed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 18369–2. The diameter, center thickness, and calculated base curve were measured for five different lens materials directly out of the blister pack, after a rinse in saline and then following a two week incubation in the modified ATS. To test the ATS and the effect of its composition on lipid deposition, two lens materials were incubated in the ATS and a modified version for several time points. Both ATS solutions contained trace amounts of carbon-14 cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine, such that deposition of these specific lipids could be quantified using standard methods. Results This ATS is a complex mixture that remains stable at physiologically relevant pH (7.3–7.6), osmolality (304–306 mmol/kg), surface tension (40–46 dynes/cm) and homogeneity over an incubation period of three weeks or more. The physical parameters of the lenses tested showed no changes beyond that allowed by the ISO guidelines. Incubations with the ATS found that balafilcon A lenses deposit significantly more cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine than omafilcon A lenses (p<0.05) and that removing lactoferrin and immunoglobulin G from the ATS can significantly decrease the mass of lipid deposited. Conclusions This paper describes a novel complex artificial tear solution specially designed for in-vial incubation of contact lens materials. This solution was stable and did not adversely affect the physical parameters of the soft contact lenses incubated within it and showed that lipid deposition was responsive to changes in ATS composition. PMID:22219635

[How significant are customer surveys in the rehabilitation of patients with mental illness?].

PubMed

Queri, S; Spörrle, M

2008-12-01

In Germany, customer surveys in the field of rehabilitation meanwhile are of high political relevance - particularly since the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German Pension Insurance) has defined customer judgements as a significant outcome parameter. Both the theoretical conceptualization and the empirical data available suggest that customer satisfaction is a construct widely dependent on subjective factors, which has only little reference to the reality of treatment. In the Herzogsägmühle Rehabilitation Centre a detailed customer survey (rehabilitants with mental illness) was carried out for the first time in 2007 in the framework of internal quality management. Data analysis was to yield new knowledge concerning the validity of subjective patient-related outcome parameters as well as relative to the content dimensioning regarding satisfaction and quality judgments in this specific sample. A Centre-specific questionnaire was constructed taking into account existing empirical data and theoretical considerations concerning the relevant content dimensions of customer satisfaction. Forty-six mostly male rehabilitants with an average age of 25 were interviewed. The majority of the interviewees had been diagnosed as having a schizophrenic or an affective disorder. The data obtained was submitted to a predominantly explorative data analysis, also testing various hypotheses. The results show that the rehabilitants' judgements are differentiated and that the expected positive bias was restricted to a few areas. Also it could be shown that treatment satisfaction and quality evaluations present different content dimensions. While satisfaction depends on the evaluation of treatment efficacy, the quality judgement is dependent on evaluation of the professional skills of the staff involved. CONCLUSION/CONSEQUENCES: In particular the quality judgments of the rehabilitants are important in both internal and external (by the cost carriers) quality management assurance. Both theoretical considerations and empirical findings on the subject of patient satisfaction suggest that surveys should be embedded in a comprehensive evaluation concept in the framework of effectiveness research. It is therefore projected to validate the patient judgements given at the Rehabilitation Centre on objective, treatment-related outcome parameters.

Probabilistic versus deterministic hazard assessment in liquefaction susceptible zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daminelli, Rosastella; Gerosa, Daniele; Marcellini, Alberto; Tento, Alberto

2015-04-01

Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA), usually adopted in the framework of seismic codes redaction, is based on Poissonian description of the temporal occurrence, negative exponential distribution of magnitude and attenuation relationship with log-normal distribution of PGA or response spectrum. The main positive aspect of this approach stems into the fact that is presently a standard for the majority of countries, but there are weak points in particular regarding the physical description of the earthquake phenomenon. Factors like site effects, source characteristics like duration of the strong motion and directivity that could significantly influence the expected motion at the site are not taken into account by PSHA. Deterministic models can better evaluate the ground motion at a site from a physical point of view, but its prediction reliability depends on the degree of knowledge of the source, wave propagation and soil parameters. We compare these two approaches in selected sites affected by the May 2012 Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia earthquake, that caused widespread liquefaction phenomena unusually for magnitude less than 6. We focus on sites liquefiable because of their soil mechanical parameters and water table level. Our analysis shows that the choice between deterministic and probabilistic hazard analysis is strongly dependent on site conditions. The looser the soil and the higher the liquefaction potential, the more suitable is the deterministic approach. Source characteristics, in particular the duration of strong ground motion, have long since recognized as relevant to induce liquefaction; unfortunately a quantitative prediction of these parameters appears very unlikely, dramatically reducing the possibility of their adoption in hazard assessment. Last but not least, the economic factors are relevant in the choice of the approach. The case history of 2012 Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia earthquake, with an officially estimated cost of 6 billions Euros, shows that geological and geophysical investigations necessary to assess a reliable deterministic hazard evaluation are largely justified.

Systemic inflammatory mediators in post-traumatic complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS I) - longitudinal investigations and differences to control groups.

PubMed

Schinkel, Christian; Scherens, A; Köller, M; Roellecke, G; Muhr, G; Maier, C

2009-03-17

The Complex Regional Pain Syndrome I (CRPS I) is a disease that might affect an extremity after trauma or operation. The pathogenesis remains yet unclear. It has clinical signs of severe local inflammation as a result of an exaggerated inflammatory response but neurogenic dysregulation also contributes to it. Some studies investigated the role inflammatory mediators and cytokines; however, few longitudinal studies exist and control groups except healthy controls were not investigated yet. To get further insights into the role of systemic inflammatory mediators in CRPS I, we investigated a variety of pro-, anti-, or neuro-inflammatory mediators such as C-Reactive Protein (CRP), White Blood Cell Count (WBC), Interleukins 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 (p70), Interferon gamma, Tumor-Necrosis-Factor alpha (TNF-a) and its soluble Receptors I/II, soluble Selectins (E,L,P), Substance-P (SP), and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) at different time points in venous blood from patients with acute (AC) and chronic (CC) CRPS I, patients with forearm fractures (FR), with neuralgia (NE), and from healthy volunteers (C). No significant changes for serum parameters investigated in CRPS compared to control groups were found except for CC/C (CGRP p = 0.007), FR/C (CGRP p = 0.048) and AC/CC (IL-12 p = 0.02; TNFRI/II p = 0.01; SP p = 0.049). High interindividual variations were observed. No intra- or interindividual correlation of parameters with clinical course (e.g. chronification) or outcome was detectable. Although clinically appearing as inflammation in acute stages, local rather than systemic inflammatory responses seem to be relevant in CRPS. Variable results from different studies might be explained by unpredictable intermittent release of mediators from local inflammatory processes into the blood combined with high interindividual variabilities. A clinically relevant difference to various control groups was not notable in this pilot study. Determination of systemic inflammatory parameters is not yet helpful in diagnostic and follow-up of CRPS I.

Chronic intermittent exposure to ayahuasca during aging does not affect memory in mice.

PubMed

Correa-Netto, N F; Coelho, L S; Galfano, G S; Nishide, F; Tamura, F; Shimizu, M K; Santos, J G; Linardi, A

2017-06-05

The Quechua term ayahuasca refers to a beverage obtained from decoctions of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi with leaves of Psychotria viridis. The ritualistic use of ayahuasca is becoming a global phenomenon, with some individuals using this beverage throughout life, including in old age. Cognitive impairment is a common manifestation during aging. There are conflicting reports on the ability of some ayahuasca compounds to exert neuroprotective or neurotoxic effects that could improve or impair learning and memory. Animal models provide a relevant and accessible means of investigating the behavioral effects of ayahuasca without the environmental conditions associated with the ritualistic use of the beverage. In this study, we investigated the influence of chronic ayahuasca exposure throughout aging on the spatial reference and habituation memories of mice. Twenty-eight male c57bl/6 mice (6 months old) received ayahuasca or water (1.5 mL/kg, orally) twice a week for 12 months and were tested in the Morris water maze (MWM), open field and elevated plus maze (EPM) tasks before and after treatment. During aging, there was significant impairment in the evocation (but not acquisition) of spatial reference memory and in habituation to the open field. There was also a decrease in locomotor activity in the open field and EPM tests, whereas the anxiety parameters were unaltered. Ayahuasca treatment did not alter any of these parameters associated with aging. These findings indicate that chronic exposure to ayahuasca during aging did not affect memory in mice.

Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin and Clostridium difficile toxin A/B do not play a role in acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome in dogs.

PubMed

Busch, K; Suchodolski, J S; Kühner, K A; Minamoto, Y; Steiner, J M; Mueller, R S; Hartmann, K; Unterer, S

2015-03-07

Although an association between clostridial pathogens and canine idiopathic acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome (AHDS) has been described, the relevance of those bacteria and their toxins remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between severity of clinical signs and presence of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) and Clostridium difficile toxin A/B (CDT A/B) in faeces of dogs with AHDS. Faecal samples of 54 dogs with idiopathic AHDS were tested by qualitative CPE and CDT A/B ELISA, and PCR was performed to detect enterotoxin genes of C. perfringens (cpe) and toxin B genes of C. difficile (cdt b). Prevalence of cdt b and CDT A/B in dogs with AHDS was 10/54 and 2/54 versus 3/23 and 0/23 in control dogs. Prevalence of cpe was 35/54 in affected versus 9/23 in control dogs. Prevalence of CPE in dogs with AHDS (13/54) was higher compared with control dogs (0/23). No significant difference was detected between CPE-positive and -negative and between cpe-positive and -negative dogs in severity of clinical signs, duration of hospitalisation, mortality rate and selected laboratory parameters. This study suggests that CPE and CDT A/B do not play a role in idiopathic AHDS, are not associated with clinical parameters in affected dogs and cannot be used to predict disease outcome. British Veterinary Association.

The effects of inhalation anaesthetics on common clinical pathology parameters in laboratory rats.

PubMed

Deckardt, K; Weber, I; Kaspers, U; Hellwig, J; Tennekes, H; van Ravenzwaay, B

2007-09-01

Effects of common anaesthetics such as ether, methoxyflurane, isoflurane, carbon dioxide (at 100%, 80% or 60% admixed with O(2)) on toxicity and clinical pathology parameters in rats were investigated. Ether, methoxyflurane and 100% CO(2) induced toxicity in some animals. Erythrocyte, haemoglobin and haematocrit were reduced in females by 100% CO(2), methoxyflurane and isoflurane. Glucose was increased by 60% CO(2), 80% CO(2), ether, isoflurane and methoxyflurane in males. Chloride was reduced by isoflurane and all CO(2) concentrations in females. Serum proteins were reduced by isoflurane and methoxyflurane. Sodium, inorganic phosphate, calcium and magnesium were reduced by methoxyflurane and isoflurane, but increased by all CO(2) concentrations. Potassium was reduced by ether, methoxyflurane or isoflurane. Triiodothyronine and thyroxine were reduced by all anaesthetics. Prolactin was reduced by methoxyflurane, but raised by ether and isoflurane. Erythrocyte cholinesterase (E-ChE) activity is markedly reduced (20-40%) after anaesthesia with all CO(2) concentrations in both sexes. E-ChE was unaffected by ether, methoxyflurane, or isoflurane. Serum and brain cholinesterase activities were not affected. E-ChE inhibition correlated with decreased blood pH, suggesting that this was caused by acidosis. This is of practical relevance in the risk assessment of cholinesterase inhibitors. Clinical pathology data were affected by all anaesthetics. CO(2)/O(2) (80%/20%) and isoflurane are the most suitable anaesthetics. If E-ChE activity is to be determined, isoflurane is the anaesthetic of choice.

Chronic intermittent exposure to ayahuasca during aging does not affect memory in mice

PubMed Central

Correa-Netto, N.F.; Coelho, L.S.; Galfano, G.S.; Nishide, F.; Tamura, F.; Shimizu, M.K.; Santos, J.G.; Linardi, A.

2017-01-01

The Quechua term ayahuasca refers to a beverage obtained from decoctions of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi with leaves of Psychotria viridis. The ritualistic use of ayahuasca is becoming a global phenomenon, with some individuals using this beverage throughout life, including in old age. Cognitive impairment is a common manifestation during aging. There are conflicting reports on the ability of some ayahuasca compounds to exert neuroprotective or neurotoxic effects that could improve or impair learning and memory. Animal models provide a relevant and accessible means of investigating the behavioral effects of ayahuasca without the environmental conditions associated with the ritualistic use of the beverage. In this study, we investigated the influence of chronic ayahuasca exposure throughout aging on the spatial reference and habituation memories of mice. Twenty-eight male c57bl/6 mice (6 months old) received ayahuasca or water (1.5 mL/kg, orally) twice a week for 12 months and were tested in the Morris water maze (MWM), open field and elevated plus maze (EPM) tasks before and after treatment. During aging, there was significant impairment in the evocation (but not acquisition) of spatial reference memory and in habituation to the open field. There was also a decrease in locomotor activity in the open field and EPM tests, whereas the anxiety parameters were unaltered. Ayahuasca treatment did not alter any of these parameters associated with aging. These findings indicate that chronic exposure to ayahuasca during aging did not affect memory in mice. PMID:28591380

Factors affecting economies of scale in combined sewer systems.

PubMed

Maurer, Max; Wolfram, Martin; Anja, Herlyn

2010-01-01

A generic model is introduced that represents the combined sewer infrastructure of a settlement quantitatively. A catchment area module first calculates the length and size distribution of the required sewer pipes on the basis of rain patterns, housing densities and area size. These results are fed into the sewer-cost module in order to estimate the combined sewer costs of the entire catchment area. A detailed analysis of the relevant input parameters for Swiss settlements is used to identify the influence of size on costs. The simulation results confirm that an economy of scale exists for combined sewer systems. This is the result of two main opposing cost factors: (i) increased construction costs for larger sewer systems due to larger pipes and increased rain runoff in larger settlements, and (ii) lower costs due to higher population and building densities in larger towns. In Switzerland, the more or less organically grown settlement structures and limited land availability emphasise the second factor to show an apparent economy of scale. This modelling approach proved to be a powerful tool for understanding the underlying factors affecting the cost structure for water infrastructures.

Retrieving relevant time-course experiments: a study on Arabidopsis microarrays.

PubMed

Şener, Duygu Dede; Oğul, Hasan

2016-06-01

Understanding time-course regulation of genes in response to a stimulus is a major concern in current systems biology. The problem is usually approached by computational methods to model the gene behaviour or its networked interactions with the others by a set of latent parameters. The model parameters can be estimated through a meta-analysis of available data obtained from other relevant experiments. The key question here is how to find the relevant experiments which are potentially useful in analysing current data. In this study, the authors address this problem in the context of time-course gene expression experiments from an information retrieval perspective. To this end, they introduce a computational framework that takes a time-course experiment as a query and reports a list of relevant experiments retrieved from a given repository. These retrieved experiments can then be used to associate the environmental factors of query experiment with the findings previously reported. The model is tested using a set of time-course Arabidopsis microarrays. The experimental results show that relevant experiments can be successfully retrieved based on content similarity.

Characterisation of the physico-mechanical parameters of MSW.

PubMed

Stoltz, Guillaume; Gourc, Jean-Pierre; Oxarango, Laurent

2010-01-01

Following the basics of soil mechanics, the physico-mechanical behaviour of municipal solid waste (MSW) can be defined through constitutive relationships which are expressed with respect to three physical parameters: the dry density, the porosity and the gravimetric liquid content. In order to take into account the complexity of MSW (grain size distribution and heterogeneity larger than for conventional soils), a special oedometer was designed to carry out laboratory experiments. This apparatus allowed a coupled measurement of physical parameters for MSW settlement under stress. The studied material was a typical sample of fresh MSW from a French landfill. The relevant physical parameters were measured using a gas pycnometer. Moreover, the compressibility of MSW was studied with respect to the initial gravimetric liquid content. Proposed methods to assess the set of three physical parameters allow a relevant understanding of the physico-mechanical behaviour of MSW under compression, specifically, the evolution of the limit liquid content. The present method can be extended to any type of MSW. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Optimal Respiratory Gating and Image Noise on Evaluation of Intratumor Heterogeneity on 18F-FDG PET Imaging of Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Grootjans, Willem; Tixier, Florent; van der Vos, Charlotte S; Vriens, Dennis; Le Rest, Catherine C; Bussink, Johan; Oyen, Wim J G; de Geus-Oei, Lioe-Fee; Visvikis, Dimitris; Visser, Eric P

2016-11-01

Accurate measurement of intratumor heterogeneity using parameters of texture on PET images is essential for precise characterization of cancer lesions. In this study, we investigated the influence of respiratory motion and varying noise levels on quantification of textural parameters in patients with lung cancer. We used an optimal-respiratory-gating algorithm on the list-mode data of 60 lung cancer patients who underwent 18 F-FDG PET. The images were reconstructed using a duty cycle of 35% (percentage of the total acquired PET data). In addition, nongated images of varying statistical quality (using 35% and 100% of the PET data) were reconstructed to investigate the effects of image noise. Several global image-derived indices and textural parameters (entropy, high-intensity emphasis, zone percentage, and dissimilarity) that have been associated with patient outcome were calculated. The clinical impact of optimal respiratory gating and image noise on assessment of intratumor heterogeneity was evaluated using Cox regression models, with overall survival as the outcome measure. The threshold for statistical significance was adjusted for multiple comparisons using Bonferroni correction. In the lower lung lobes, respiratory motion significantly affected quantification of intratumor heterogeneity for all textural parameters (P < 0.007) except entropy (P > 0.007). The mean increase in entropy, dissimilarity, zone percentage, and high-intensity emphasis was 1.3% ± 1.5% (P = 0.02), 11.6% ± 11.8% (P = 0.006), 2.3% ± 2.2% (P = 0.002), and 16.8% ± 17.2% (P = 0.006), respectively. No significant differences were observed for lesions in the upper lung lobes (P > 0.007). Differences in the statistical quality of the PET images affected the textural parameters less than respiratory motion, with no significant difference observed. The median follow-up time was 35 mo (range, 7-39 mo). In multivariate analysis for overall survival, total lesion glycolysis and high-intensity emphasis were the two most relevant image-derived indices and were considered to be independent significant covariates for the model regardless of the image type considered. The tested textural parameters are robust in the presence of respiratory motion artifacts and varying levels of image noise. © 2016 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.

Relevance similarity: an alternative means to monitor information retrieval systems

PubMed Central

Dong, Peng; Loh, Marie; Mondry, Adrian

2005-01-01

Background Relevance assessment is a major problem in the evaluation of information retrieval systems. The work presented here introduces a new parameter, "Relevance Similarity", for the measurement of the variation of relevance assessment. In a situation where individual assessment can be compared with a gold standard, this parameter is used to study the effect of such variation on the performance of a medical information retrieval system. In such a setting, Relevance Similarity is the ratio of assessors who rank a given document same as the gold standard over the total number of assessors in the group. Methods The study was carried out on a collection of Critically Appraised Topics (CATs). Twelve volunteers were divided into two groups of people according to their domain knowledge. They assessed the relevance of retrieved topics obtained by querying a meta-search engine with ten keywords related to medical science. Their assessments were compared to the gold standard assessment, and Relevance Similarities were calculated as the ratio of positive concordance with the gold standard for each topic. Results The similarity comparison among groups showed that a higher degree of agreements exists among evaluators with more subject knowledge. The performance of the retrieval system was not significantly different as a result of the variations in relevance assessment in this particular query set. Conclusion In assessment situations where evaluators can be compared to a gold standard, Relevance Similarity provides an alternative evaluation technique to the commonly used kappa scores, which may give paradoxically low scores in highly biased situations such as document repositories containing large quantities of relevant data. PMID:16029513

Analyzing the texture changes in the quantitative phase maps of adipocytes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roitshtain, Darina; Sharabani-Yosef, Orna; Gefen, Amit; Shaked, Natan T.

2016-03-01

We present a new analysis tool for studying texture changes in the quantitative phase maps of live cells acquired by wide-field interferometry. The sensitivity of wide-field interferometry systems to small changes in refractive index enables visualizing cells and inner cell organelles without the using fluorescent dyes or other cell-invasive approaches, which may affect the measurement and require external labeling. Our label-free texture-analysis tool is based directly on the optical path delay profile of the sample and does not necessitate decoupling refractive index and thickness in the cell quantitative phase profile; thus, relevant parameters can be calculated using a single-frame acquisition. Our experimental system includes low-coherence wide-field interferometer, combined with simultaneous florescence microscopy system for validation. We used this system and analysis tool for studying lipid droplets formation in adipocytes. The latter demonstration is relevant for various cellular functions such as lipid metabolism, protein storage and degradation to viral replication. These processes are functionally linked to several physiological and pathological conditions, including obesity and metabolic diseases. Quantification of these biological phenomena based on the texture changes in the cell phase map has a potential as a new cellular diagnosis tool.

Frequency domain phosphorescence lifetime Imaging measurements and applications by ISS FastFLIM and multi pulse excitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coskun, Ulas C.; Lam, Sandra; Sun, Yuansheng; Liao, Shih-Chu Jeff; George, Steven C.; Barbieri, Beniamino

2017-02-01

Phosphorescence probes can have significantly long lifetimes, on the order of micro- to milli-seconds or longer. In addition, environmental changes can affect the lifetimes of these phosphorescence probes. Thus, Phosphorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (PLIM) is a very useful tool to localize the phosphorescence probes based on their lifetimes to study the variance in the lifetimes due to the micro environmental changes. Since the probes respond to the biologically relevant parameters like oxygen concentration, they can be used to study various biologically relevant processes like cellular metabolism, protein interaction etc. In this case, we study the effects of oxygen on Oxyphor G4 with PLIM. Since The Oxyphor G4 can be quenched by O2, it is a good example of such a probe and has a lifetime around 250us. Here we present the digital frequency domain PLIM technique and study the lifetime of the Oxyphor G4 as a function of the O2 concentration. The lifetime data are successfully presented in a phasor plot for various O2 concentrations and are consistent with the time domain data. Overall, we can analyze the oxygen consumption of varying cells using this technique.

Blood warming, pump heating and haemolysis in low-flow extracorporeal life support; an in vitro study using freshly donated human blood.

PubMed

Kusters, R W J; Simons, A P; Lancé, M D; Ganushchak, Y M; Bekers, O; Weerwind, P W

2017-01-01

Low-flow extracorporeal life support can be used for cardiopulmonary support of paediatric and neonatal patients and is also emerging as a therapy for patients suffering from exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, pump heating and haemolysis have proven to negatively affect the system and outcome. This in vitro study aimed at gaining insight into blood warming, pump heating and haemolysis related to the performance of a new low-flow centrifugal pump. Pump performance in the 400-1,500 ml/min flow range was modulated using small-sized dual-lumen catheters and freshly donated human blood. Measurements included plasma free haemoglobin, blood temperature, pump speed, pump pressure, blood flow and thermographic imaging. Blood warming (ΔT max =0.5°C) had no relationship with pump performance or haemolysis (R 2 max =0.05). Pump performance-related parameters revealed no relevant relationships with haemolysis (R 2 max =0.36). Thermography showed no relevant heat zones in the pump (T max =36°C). Concerning blood warming, pump heating and haemolysis, we deem the centrifugal pump applicable for low-flow extracorporeal circulation.

Comparison of pore space textural characteristics of natural stone exposed to real weathering environment and/or subjected to accelerated weathering tests: implications for durability assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prikryl, Richard; Weishauptová, Zuzana

2017-04-01

One of the key questions in the debate on durability of natural stone is related to the relevance of accelerated weathering tests for durability assessments, specifically whether similar material responses can be achieved? In the recent study, specimens of opuka stone (extremely fine-grained clayey-calcareous silicite) was subjected to accelerated weathering tests in a climatic chamber (sulphur dioxide atmosphere, freezing/thawing). After completion of certain number of cycles, pore space textural characteristics by means of mercury porosimetry were studied. These data were compared with porosimetric data obtained from a piece of stone, sampled from a carved stone altar located in the interior of the St. Vitus Cathedral (Prague, Czech Republic) which was affected by 150-years lasting indoor decay processes (cyclic themohygric stresses due to variable indoor atmospheric conditions). Interestingly, the pore space textural characteristics of these two sets of specimens are closely related and show some distinct features different from fresh, non-weathered material. Our observation therefore supports relevance of some accelerated weathering simulations; however, conditions of these simulations must be based on parameters of real environment.

Effects of aged sorption on pesticide leaching to groundwater simulated with PEARL.

PubMed

Boesten, Jos J T I

2017-01-15

Leaching to groundwater is an important element of the regulatory risk assessment of pesticides in western countries. Including aged sorption in this assessment is relevant because there is ample evidence of this process and because it leads to a decrease in simulated leaching. This work assesses the likely magnitude of this decrease for four groundwater scenarios used for regulatory purpose in the EU (from the UK, Portugal, Austria and Greece) and for ranges of aged-sorption parameters and substance properties using the PEARL model. Three aged-sorption parameters sets were derived from literature, representing approximately 5th, 50th and 95th percentile cases for the magnitude of the effect of aged sorption on leaching concentrations (called S, M and L, respectively). The selection of these percentile cases was based only on the f NE parameter (i.e. the ratio of the aged sorption and the equilibrium sorption coefficients) because leaching was much more affected by the uncertainty in this parameter than by the uncertainty in the desorption rate coefficient of these sites (k d ). For the UK scenario, the annual flux concentration of pesticide leaching at 1m depth decreased by typically a factor of 5, 30 and >1000 for the S, M and L parameter sets, respectively. This decrease by a factor of 30 for the M parameter set appeared to be approximately valid also for the other three scenarios. Decreasing the Freundlich exponent N from 0.9 into 0.7 for the M parameter set, increased this factor of 30 into a factor of typically 1000, considering all four scenarios. The aged-sorption sites were close to their equilibrium conditions during the leaching simulations for two of the four scenarios (for all substances considered and the M parameter set), but this was not the case for the other two scenarios. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis and Sizing for Transient Thermal Heating of Insulated Aerospace Vehicle Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blosser, Max L.

2012-01-01

An analytical solution was derived for the transient response of an insulated structure subjected to a simplified heat pulse. The solution is solely a function of two nondimensional parameters. Simpler functions of these two parameters were developed to approximate the maximum structural temperature over a wide range of parameter values. Techniques were developed to choose constant, effective thermal properties to represent the relevant temperature and pressure-dependent properties for the insulator and structure. A technique was also developed to map a time-varying surface temperature history to an equivalent square heat pulse. Equations were also developed for the minimum mass required to maintain the inner, unheated surface below a specified temperature. In the course of the derivation, two figures of merit were identified. Required insulation masses calculated using the approximate equation were shown to typically agree with finite element results within 10%-20% over the relevant range of parameters studied.

An Analytical Solution for Transient Thermal Response of an Insulated Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blosser, Max L.

2012-01-01

An analytical solution was derived for the transient response of an insulated aerospace vehicle structure subjected to a simplified heat pulse. This simplified problem approximates the thermal response of a thermal protection system of an atmospheric entry vehicle. The exact analytical solution is solely a function of two non-dimensional parameters. A simpler function of these two parameters was developed to approximate the maximum structural temperature over a wide range of parameter values. Techniques were developed to choose constant, effective properties to represent the relevant temperature and pressure-dependent properties for the insulator and structure. A technique was also developed to map a time-varying surface temperature history to an equivalent square heat pulse. Using these techniques, the maximum structural temperature rise was calculated using the analytical solutions and shown to typically agree with finite element simulations within 10 to 20 percent over the relevant range of parameters studied.

Quantitative microscopy of the lung: a problem-based approach. Part 2: stereological parameters and study designs in various diseases of the respiratory tract.

PubMed

Mühlfeld, Christian; Ochs, Matthias

2013-08-01

Design-based stereology provides efficient methods to obtain valuable quantitative information of the respiratory tract in various diseases. However, the choice of the most relevant parameters in a specific disease setting has to be deduced from the present pathobiological knowledge. Often it is difficult to express the pathological alterations by interpretable parameters in terms of volume, surface area, length, or number. In the second part of this companion review article, we analyze the present pathophysiological knowledge about acute lung injury, diffuse parenchymal lung diseases, emphysema, pulmonary hypertension, and asthma to come up with recommendations for the disease-specific application of stereological principles for obtaining relevant parameters. Worked examples with illustrative images are used to demonstrate the work flow, estimation procedure, and calculation and to facilitate the practical performance of equivalent analyses.

Deoxynivalenol Impairs Weight Gain and Affects Markers of Gut Health after Low-Dose, Short-Term Exposure of Growing Pigs

PubMed Central

Alizadeh, Arash; Braber, Saskia; Akbari, Peyman; Garssen, Johan; Fink-Gremmels, Johanna

2015-01-01

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the major mycotoxins produced by Fusarium fungi, and exposure to this mycotoxin requires an assessment of the potential adverse effects, even at low toxin levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a short-term, low-dose DON exposure on various gut health parameters in pigs. Piglets received a commercial feed or the same feed contaminated with DON (0.9 mg/kg feed) for 10 days, and two hours after a DON bolus (0.28 mg/kg BW), weight gain was determined and samples of different segments of the intestine were collected. Even the selected low dose of DON in the diet negatively affected weight gain and induced histomorphological alterations in the duodenum and jejunum. The mRNA expression of different tight junction (TJ) proteins, especially occludin, of inflammatory markers, like interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-10 and the oxidative stress marker heme-oxigenase1, were affected along the intestine by low levels of DON in the diet. Taken together, our results indicate that even after low-level exposure to DON, which has been generally considered as acceptable in animal feeds, clinically-relevant changes are measurable in markers of gut health and integrity. PMID:26067367

Characterization of Depression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Magnuson, Katherine M.; Constantino, John N.

2011-01-01

Depressive syndromes represent a disabling comorbidity for many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however the ascertainment of depression can be complicated by phenotypic overlap between the two conditions, by ways in which autistic symptomatology can mask cardinal features of depression, and by atypical manifestations of depression in children with ASD. These issues have contributed to wide variation in the estimation of prevalence rates of depression in individuals with ASD, and invoke the need for new approaches to the specific detection of depression and other neuropsychiatric comorbidities that aggregate in children affected by ASD. We review the scientific literature relevant to the occurrence of depression in ASD, and consider important parameters of risk, including psychosocial factors such as insight into affectation status, as well as biological factors such as the aggregation of depressive syndromes in certain families affected by autism, which has suggested possible overlap in genetic influences underlying the two conditions. Variability in the manifestations of depression across environmental contexts provides important clues to intervention, and underscores the potential importance of involving multiple informants in ascertaining depression in children and adolescents with ASD. A practical strategy for evaluating the presence of depression in youth with ASD is synthesized from the available data and discussed. PMID:21502871

Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS.

PubMed

Yu, Hwanjo; Kim, Taehoon; Oh, Jinoh; Ko, Ilhwan; Kim, Sungchul; Han, Wook-Shin

2010-04-16

Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user's feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time.

Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. Results RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. Conclusions RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user’s feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time. PMID:20406504

EDITORIAL: Interrelationship between plasma phenomena in the laboratory and in space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koepke, Mark

2008-07-01

The premise of investigating basic plasma phenomena relevant to space is that an alliance exists between both basic plasma physicists, using theory, computer modelling and laboratory experiments, and space science experimenters, using different instruments, either flown on different spacecraft in various orbits or stationed on the ground. The intent of this special issue on interrelated phenomena in laboratory and space plasmas is to promote the interpretation of scientific results in a broader context by sharing data, methods, knowledge, perspectives, and reasoning within this alliance. The desired outcomes are practical theories, predictive models, and credible interpretations based on the findings and expertise available. Laboratory-experiment papers that explicitly address a specific space mission or a specific manifestation of a space-plasma phenomenon, space-observation papers that explicitly address a specific laboratory experiment or a specific laboratory result, and theory or modelling papers that explicitly address a connection between both laboratory and space investigations were encouraged. Attention was given to the utility of the references for readers who seek further background, examples, and details. With the advent of instrumented spacecraft, the observation of waves (fluctuations), wind (flows), and weather (dynamics) in space plasmas was approached within the framework provided by theory with intuition provided by the laboratory experiments. Ideas on parallel electric field, magnetic topology, inhomogeneity, and anisotropy have been refined substantially by laboratory experiments. Satellite and rocket observations, theory and simulations, and laboratory experiments have contributed to the revelation of a complex set of processes affecting the accelerations of electrons and ions in the geospace plasma. The processes range from meso-scale of several thousands of kilometers to micro-scale of a few meters to kilometers. Papers included in this special issue serve to synthesise our current understanding of processes related to the coupling and feedback at disparate scales. Categories of topics included here are (1) ionospheric physics and (2) Alfvén-wave physics, both of which are related to the particle acceleration responsible for auroral displays, (3) whistler-mode triggering mechanism, which is relevant to radiation-belt dynamics, (4) plasmoid encountering a barrier, which has applications throughout the realm of space and astrophysical plasmas, and (5) laboratory investigations of the entire magnetosphere or the plasma surrounding the magnetosphere. The papers are ordered from processes that take place nearest the Earth to processes that take place at increasing distances from Earth. Many advances in understanding space plasma phenomena have been linked to insight derived from theoretical modeling and/or laboratory experiments. Observations from space-borne instruments are typically interpreted using theoretical models developed to predict the properties and dynamics of space and astrophysical plasmas. The usefulness of customized laboratory experiments for providing confirmation of theory by identifying, isolating, and studying physical phenomena efficiently, quickly, and economically has been demonstrated in the past. The benefits of laboratory experiments to investigating space-plasma physics are their reproducibility, controllability, diagnosability, reconfigurability, and affordability compared to a satellite mission or rocket campaign. Certainly, the plasma being investigated in a laboratory device is quite different from that being measured by a spaceborne instrument; nevertheless, laboratory experiments discover unexpected phenomena, benchmark theoretical models, develop physical insight, establish observational signatures, and pioneer diagnostic techniques. Explicit reference to such beneficial laboratory contributions is occasionally left out of the citations in the space-physics literature in favor of theory-paper counterparts and, thus, the scientific support that laboratory results can provide to the development of space-relevant theoretical models is often under-recognized. It is unrealistic to expect the dimensional parameters corresponding to space plasma to be matchable in the laboratory. However, a laboratory experiment is considered well designed if the subset of parameters relevant to a specific process shares the same phenomenological regime as the subset of analogous space parameters, even if less important parameters are mismatched. Regime boundaries are assigned by normalizing a dimensional parameter to an appropriate reference or scale value to make it dimensionless and noting the values at which transitions occur in the physical behavior or approximations. An example of matching regimes for cold-plasma waves is finding a 45° diagonal line on the log--log CMA diagram along which lie both a laboratory-observed wave and a space-observed wave. In such a circumstance, a space plasma and a lab plasma will support the same kind of modes if the dimensionless parameters are scaled properly (Bellan 2006 Fundamentals of Plasma Physics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p 227). The plasma source, configuration geometry, and boundary conditions associated with a specific laboratory experiment are characteristic elements that affect the plasma and plasma processes that are being investigated. Space plasma is not exempt from an analogous set of constraining factors that likewise influence the phenomena that occur. Typically, each morphologically distinct region of space has associated with it plasma that is unique by virtue of the various mechanisms responsible for the plasma's presence there, as if the plasma were produced by a unique source. Boundary effects that typically constrain the possible parameter values to lie within one or more restricted ranges are inescapable in laboratory plasma. The goal of a laboratory experiment is to examine the relevant physics within these ranges and extrapolate the results to space conditions that may or may not be subject to any restrictions on the values of the plasma parameters. The interrelationship between laboratory and space plasma experiments has been cultivated at a low level and the potential scientific benefit in this area has yet to be realized. The few but excellent examples of joint papers, joint experiments, and directly relevant cross-disciplinary citations are a direct result of the emphasis placed on this interrelationship two decades ago. Building on this special issue Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion plans to create a dedicated webpage to highlight papers directly relevant to this field published either in the recent past or in the future. It is hoped that this resource will appeal to the readership in the laboratory-experiment and space-plasma communities and improve the cross-fertilization between them.

Measuring, evaluating and improving hospital quality parameters/dimensions--an integrated healthcare quality approach.

PubMed

Zineldin, Mosad; Camgöz-Akdağ, Hatice; Vasicheva, Valiantsina

2011-01-01

This paper aims to examine the major factors affecting cumulative summation, to empirically examine the major factors affecting satisfaction and to address the question whether patients in Kazakhstan evaluate healthcare similarly or differently from patients in Egypt and Jordan. A questionnaire, adapted from previous research, was distributed to Kazakhstan inpatients. The questionnaire contained 39 attributes about five newly-developed quality dimensions (5Qs), which were identified to be the most relevant attributes for hospitals. The questionnaire was translated into Russian to increase the response rate and improve data quality. Almost 200 usable questionnaires were returned. Frequency distribution, factor analysis and reliability checks were used to analyze the data. The three biggest concerns for Kazakhstan patients are: infrastructure; atmosphere; and interaction. Hospital staffs concern for patients' needs, parking facilities for visitors, waiting time and food temperature were all common specific attributes, which were perceived as concerns. These were shortcomings in all three countries. Improving health service quality by applying total relationship management and the 5Qs model together with a customer-orientation strategy is recommended. Results can be used by hospital staff to reengineer and redesign creatively their quality management processes and help move towards more effective healthcare quality strategies. Patients in three countries have similar concerns and quality perceptions. The paper describes a new instrument and method. The study assures relevance, validity and reliability, while being explicitly change-oriented. The authors argue that patient satisfaction is a cumulative construct, summing satisfaction as five different qualities (5Qs): object; processes; infrastructure; interaction and atmosphere.

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

Nelson, Stacy; English, Shawn; Briggs, Timothy

Fiber-reinforced composite materials offer light-weight solutions to many structural challenges. In the development of high-performance composite structures, a thorough understanding is required of the composite materials themselves as well as methods for the analysis and failure prediction of the relevant composite structures. However, the mechanical properties required for the complete constitutive definition of a composite material can be difficult to determine through experimentation. Therefore, efficient methods are necessary that can be used to determine which properties are relevant to the analysis of a specific structure and to establish a structure's response to a material parameter that can only be definedmore » through estimation. The objectives of this paper deal with demonstrating the potential value of sensitivity and uncertainty quantification techniques during the failure analysis of loaded composite structures; and the proposed methods are applied to the simulation of the four-point flexural characterization of a carbon fiber composite material. Utilizing a recently implemented, phenomenological orthotropic material model that is capable of predicting progressive composite damage and failure, a sensitivity analysis is completed to establish which material parameters are truly relevant to a simulation's outcome. Then, a parameter study is completed to determine the effect of the relevant material properties' expected variations on the simulated four-point flexural behavior as well as to determine the value of an unknown material property. This process demonstrates the ability to formulate accurate predictions in the absence of a rigorous material characterization effort. Finally, the presented results indicate that a sensitivity analysis and parameter study can be used to streamline the material definition process as the described flexural characterization was used for model validation.« less

Langlands Parameters of Quivers in the Sato Grassmannian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luu, Martin T.; Penciak, Matej

2018-01-01

Motivated by quantum field theoretic partition functions that can be expressed as products of tau functions of the KP hierarchy we attach several types of local geometric Langlands parameters to quivers in the Sato Grassmannian. We study related questions of Virasoro constraints, of moduli spaces of relevant quivers, and of classical limits of the Langlands parameters.

The Use of Logistics n the Quality Parameters Control System of Material Flow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpova, Natalia P.; Toymentseva, Irina A.; Shvetsova, Elena V.; Chichkina, Vera D.; Chubarkova, Elena V.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the research problem is conditioned on the need to justify the use of the logistics methodologies in the quality parameters control process of material flows. The goal of the article is to develop theoretical principles and practical recommendations for logistical system control in material flows quality parameters. A leading…

Does emotion help or hinder reasoning? The moderating role of relevance.

PubMed

Blanchette, Isabelle; Gavigan, Sarah; Johnston, Kathryn

2014-06-01

Some prior research has shown that emotion impairs logicality in deductive reasoning tasks, while other research suggests improved performance with emotional contents. We suggest that relevance, whether the affective state is associated with the semantic contents of the reasoning task, may be crucial in explaining these apparently inconsistent findings. This hypothesis is based on a framework distinguishing between integral emotions, where affective responses are evoked by the semantic contents of the target task, and incidental emotions, where affective responses are not related to the task. In 4 experiments we examined the effect of emotion on conditional reasoning when affective responses were relevant and irrelevant. We used images presented simultaneously with the reasoning stimuli (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or videos presented prior to the reasoning stimuli (Experiment 4) that were either emotional or neutral and semantically related or not to the conditional statements. Results showed that emotion decreased the proportion of normatively correct responses only in the irrelevant condition. In the relevant condition, emotion did not produce reliable deleterious effects. We used reaction time and skin conductance measures to investigate the physiological and cognitive correlates of these effects. Results are discussed in terms of the distinction between incidental and integral emotions. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Modulation of gut microbiota during probiotic-mediated attenuation of metabolic syndrome in high fat diet-fed mice

PubMed Central

Wang, Jingjing; Tang, Huang; Zhang, Chenhong; Zhao, Yufeng; Derrien, Muriel; Rocher, Emilie; van-Hylckama Vlieg, Johan ET; Strissel, Katherine; Zhao, Liping; Obin, Martin; Shen, Jian

2015-01-01

Structural disruption of gut microbiota and associated inflammation are considered important etiological factors in high fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic syndrome (MS). Three candidate probiotic strains, Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4270 (LC), L. rhamnosus I-3690 (LR) and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis I-2494 (BA), were individually administered to HFD-fed mice (108 cells day−1) for 12 weeks. Each strain attenuated weight gain and macrophage infiltration into epididymal adipose tissue and markedly improved glucose–insulin homeostasis and hepatic steatosis. Weighted UniFrac principal coordinate analysis based on 454 pyrosequencing of fecal bacterial 16S rRNA genes showed that the probiotic strains shifted the overall structure of the HFD-disrupted gut microbiota toward that of lean mice fed a normal (chow) diet. Redundancy analysis revealed that abundances of 83 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were altered by probiotics. Forty-nine altered OTUs were significantly correlated with one or more host MS parameters and were designated ‘functionally relevant phylotypes'. Thirteen of the 15 functionally relevant OTUs that were negatively correlated with MS phenotypes were promoted, and 26 of the 34 functionally relevant OTUs that were positively correlated with MS were reduced by at least one of the probiotics, but each strain changed a distinct set of functionally relevant OTUs. LC and LR increased cecal acetate but did not affect circulating lipopolysaccharide-binding protein; in contrast, BA did not increase acetate but significantly decreased adipose and hepatic tumor necrosis factor-α gene expression. These results suggest that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium differentially attenuate obesity comorbidities in part through strain-specific impacts on MS-associated phylotypes of gut microbiota in mice. PMID:24936764

Mode of action in relevance of rodent liver tumors to human cancer risk.

PubMed

Holsapple, Michael P; Pitot, Henri C; Cohen, Samuel M; Cohen, Samuel H; Boobis, Alan R; Klaunig, James E; Pastoor, Timothy; Dellarco, Vicki L; Dragan, Yvonne P

2006-01-01

Hazard identification and risk assessment paradigms depend on the presumption of the similarity of rodents to humans, yet species specific responses, and the extrapolation of high-dose effects to low-dose exposures can affect the estimation of human risk from rodent data. As a consequence, a human relevance framework concept was developed by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Risk Science Institute (RSI) with the central tenet being the identification of a mode of action (MOA). To perform a MOA analysis, the key biochemical, cellular, and molecular events need to first be established, and the temporal and dose-dependent concordance of each of the key events in the MOA can then be determined. The key events can be used to bridge species and dose for a given MOA. The next step in the MOA analysis is the assessment of biological plausibility for determining the relevance of the specified MOA in an animal model for human cancer risk based on kinetic and dynamic parameters. Using the framework approach, a MOA in animals could not be defined for metal overload. The MOA for phenobarbital (PB)-like P450 inducers was determined to be unlikely in humans after kinetic and dynamic factors were considered. In contrast, after these factors were considered with reference to estrogen, the conclusion was drawn that estrogen-induced tumors were plausible in humans. Finally, it was concluded that the induction of rodent liver tumors by porphyrogenic compounds followed a cytotoxic MOA, and that liver tumors formed as a result of sustained cytotoxicity and regenerative proliferation are considered relevant for evaluating human cancer risk if appropriate metabolism occurs in the animal models and in humans.

Status of MAPA (Modular Accelerator Physics Analysis) and the Tech-X Object-Oriented Accelerator Library

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cary, J. R.; Shasharina, S.; Bruhwiler, D. L.

1998-04-01

The MAPA code is a fully interactive accelerator modeling and design tool consisting of a GUI and two object-oriented C++ libraries: a general library suitable for treatment of any dynamical system, and an accelerator library including many element types plus an accelerator class. The accelerator library inherits directly from the system library, which uses hash tables to store any relevant parameters or strings. The GUI can access these hash tables in a general way, allowing the user to invoke a window displaying all relevant parameters for a particular element type or for the accelerator class, with the option to change those parameters. The system library can advance an arbitrary number of dynamical variables through an arbitrary mapping. The accelerator class inherits this capability and overloads the relevant functions to advance the phase space variables of a charged particle through a string of elements. Among other things, the GUI makes phase space plots and finds fixed points of the map. We discuss the object hierarchy of the two libraries and use of the code.

The Effects of Aging on Clinical Vestibular Evaluations

PubMed Central

Maheu, Maxime; Houde, Marie-Soleil; Landry, Simon P.; Champoux, François

2015-01-01

Balance disorders are common issues for aging populations due to the effects of normal aging on peripheral vestibular structures. These changes affect the results of vestibular function evaluations and make the interpretation of these results more difficult. The objective of this article is to review the current state of knowledge of clinically relevant vestibular measures. We will first focus on otolith function assessment methods cervical-VEMP (cVEMP) and ocular-VEMP (oVEMP), then the caloric and video-head impulse test (vHIT) methods for semicircular canals assessment. cVEMP and oVEMP are useful methods, though research on the effects of age for some parameters are still inconclusive. vHIT results are largely independent of age as compared to caloric stimulation and should therefore be preferred for the evaluation of the semicircular canals function. PMID:26441824

Ensemble method: Community detection based on game theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xia; Xia, Zhengyou; Xu, Shengwu; Wang, J. D.

2014-08-01

Timely and cost-effective analytics over social network has emerged as a key ingredient for success in many businesses and government endeavors. Community detection is an active research area of relevance to analyze online social network. The problem of selecting a particular community detection algorithm is crucial if the aim is to unveil the community structure of a network. The choice of a given methodology could affect the outcome of the experiments because different algorithms have different advantages and depend on tuning specific parameters. In this paper, we propose a community division model based on the notion of game theory, which can combine advantages of previous algorithms effectively to get a better community classification result. By making experiments on some standard dataset, it verifies that our community detection model based on game theory is valid and better.

Coagulation of dust particles in a plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horanyi, M.; Goertz, C. K.

1990-01-01

The electrostatic charge of small dust grains in a plasma in which the temperature varies in time is discussed, pointing out that secondary electron emission might introduce charge separation. If the sign of the charge on small grains is opposite to that on big ones, enhanced coagulation can occur which will affect the size distribution of grains in a plasma. Two scenarios where this process might be relevant are considered: a hot plasma environment with temperature fluctuations and a cold plasma environment with transient heating events. The importance of the enhanced coagulation is uncertain, because the plasma parameters in grain-producing environments such as a molecular cloud or a protoplanetary disk are not known. It is possible, however, that this process is the most efficient mechanism for the growth of grains in the size range of 0.1-500 microns.

Water drop dynamics on a granular layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llorens, Coraline; Biance, Anne-Laure; Ybert, Christophe; Pirat, Christophe; Liquids; Interfaces Team

2015-11-01

Liquid drop impacts, either on a solid surface or a liquid bath, have been studied for a while and are still subject of intense research. Less is known concerning impacts on granular layers that are shown to exhibit an intermediate situation between solid and liquid. In this study, we focus on water drop impacts on granular matter made of micrometer-sized spherical glass beads. In particular, we investigate the overall dynamics arising from the interplay between liquid and grains throughout the impact. Depending on the relevant parameters (impact velocity, drop and grain sizes, as well as their wetting properties), various behaviors are evidenced. In particular, the behavior of the beads at the liquid-gas interface (ball-bearing vs imbibition) is shown to greatly affect the spreading dynamics of the drop, as well as satellite droplets formation, beads ejection, and the final crater morphology.

EARS2 mutations cause fatal neonatal lactic acidosis, recurrent hypoglycemia and agenesis of corpus callosum.

PubMed

Danhauser, Katharina; Haack, Tobias B; Alhaddad, Bader; Melcher, Marlen; Seibt, Annette; Strom, Tim M; Meitinger, Thomas; Klee, Dirk; Mayatepek, Ertan; Prokisch, Holger; Distelmaier, Felix

2016-06-01

Mitochondrial aminoacyl tRNA synthetases are essential for organelle protein synthesis. Genetic defects affecting the function of these enzymes may cause pediatric mitochondrial disease. Here, we report on a child with fatal neonatal lactic acidosis and recurrent hypoglycemia caused by mutations in EARS2, encoding mitochondrial glutamyl-tRNA synthetase 2. Brain ultrasound revealed agenesis of corpus callosum. Studies on patient-derived skin fibroblasts showed severely decreased EARS2 protein levels, elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and altered mitochondrial morphology. Our report further illustrates the clinical spectrum of the severe neonatal-onset form of EARS2 mutations. Moreover, in this case the live-cell parameters appeared to be more sensitive to mitochondrial dysfunction compared to standard diagnostics, which indicates the potential relevance of fibroblast studies in children with mitochondrial diseases.

Precision electroweak physics at LEP

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

Mannelli, M.

1994-12-01

Copious event statistics, a precise understanding of the LEP energy scale, and a favorable experimental situation at the Z{sup 0} resonance have allowed the LEP experiments to provide both dramatic confirmation of the Standard Model of strong and electroweak interactions and to place substantially improved constraints on the parameters of the model. The author concentrates on those measurements relevant to the electroweak sector. It will be seen that the precision of these measurements probes sensitively the structure of the Standard Model at the one-loop level, where the calculation of the observables measured at LEP is affected by the value chosenmore » for the top quark mass. One finds that the LEP measurements are consistent with the Standard Model, but only if the mass of the top quark is measured to be within a restricted range of about 20 GeV.« less

Cosmological lepton asymmetry, primordial nucleosynthesis and sterile neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abazajian, Kevork; Bell, Nicole F.; Fuller, George M.; Wong, Yvonne Y. Y.

2005-09-01

We study post weak decoupling coherent active-sterile and active-active matter-enhanced neutrino flavor transformation in the early Universe. We show that flavor conversion efficiency at Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonances is likely to be high (adiabatic evolution) for relevant neutrino parameters and energies. However, we point out that these resonances cannot sweep smoothly and continuously with the expansion of the Universe. We show how neutrino flavor conversion in this way can leave both the active and sterile neutrinos with nonthermal energy spectra, and how, in turn, these distorted energy spectra can affect the neutron-to-proton ratio, primordial nucleosynthesis, and cosmological mass/closure constraints on sterile neutrinos. We demonstrate that the existence of a light sterile neutrino which mixes with active neutrinos can change fundamentally the relationship between the cosmological lepton numbers and the primordial nucleosynthesis He4 yield.

Synchronisation, acquisition and tracking for telemetry and data reception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vandoninck, A.

1992-06-01

The important parameters of synchronization, acquisition, and tracking are addressed, and each function is highlighted separately. The following sequence is such as the functions occur in the system in time and for the type of data to be received, with distinction between telemetry and data reception, between direct carrier modulation or the use of a subcarrier, and between deep space and normal reception. For the telemetry reception the acquisition is described taking into account the difference in performances as geostationary or polar orbits, and the dependencies on the different Doppler offsets and rates are distinguished. The related functions and parameters are covered and the specifications of an average receiver are summarized. The synchronization of the valid data is described with a distinction for data directly modulated or via a subcarrier, the type of modulation and bitrate. The relevant functions and parameters of the average receiver/demodulator are summarized. The tracking of the signal in the course of the operational phase is described and relevant parameters of an actual system are presented. The reception of real data is handled and a sequence of acquisition, synchronization, and tracking is applied. Here higher bitrates and direct modulation schemes play an important role. The market equipment with the relevant parameters are discussed. The three functions in cases where deep reception is needed are covered. The high performance receiver/demodulator functions and how the acquisition, synchronization, and tracking is handled in such application, are explained.

Machine Learning Techniques for Global Sensitivity Analysis in Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safta, C.; Sargsyan, K.; Ricciuto, D. M.

2017-12-01

Climate models studies are not only challenged by the compute intensive nature of these models but also by the high-dimensionality of the input parameter space. In our previous work with the land model components (Sargsyan et al., 2014) we identified subsets of 10 to 20 parameters relevant for each QoI via Bayesian compressive sensing and variance-based decomposition. Nevertheless the algorithms were challenged by the nonlinear input-output dependencies for some of the relevant QoIs. In this work we will explore a combination of techniques to extract relevant parameters for each QoI and subsequently construct surrogate models with quantified uncertainty necessary to future developments, e.g. model calibration and prediction studies. In the first step, we will compare the skill of machine-learning models (e.g. neural networks, support vector machine) to identify the optimal number of classes in selected QoIs and construct robust multi-class classifiers that will partition the parameter space in regions with smooth input-output dependencies. These classifiers will be coupled with techniques aimed at building sparse and/or low-rank surrogate models tailored to each class. Specifically we will explore and compare sparse learning techniques with low-rank tensor decompositions. These models will be used to identify parameters that are important for each QoI. Surrogate accuracy requirements are higher for subsequent model calibration studies and we will ascertain the performance of this workflow for multi-site ALM simulation ensembles.

Oxidative Stress Implications in the Affective Disorders: Main Biomarkers, Animal Models Relevance, Genetic Perspectives, and Antioxidant Approaches

PubMed Central

Balmus, Ioana Miruna; Dobrin, Romeo; Timofte, Daniel

2016-01-01

The correlation between the affective disorders and the almost ubiquitous pathological oxidative stress can be described in a multifactorial way, as an important mechanism of central nervous system impairment. Whether the obvious changes which occur in oxidative balance of the affective disorders are a part of the constitutive mechanism or a collateral effect yet remains as an interesting question. However it is now clear that oxidative stress is a component of these disorders, being characterized by different aspects in a disease-dependent manner. Still, there are a lot of controversies regarding the relevance of the oxidative stress status in most of the affective disorders and despite the fact that most of the studies are showing that the affective disorders development can be correlated to increased oxidative levels, there are various studies stating that oxidative stress is not linked with the mood changing tendencies. Thus, in this minireview we decided to describe the way in which oxidative stress is involved in the affective disorders development, by focusing on the main oxidative stress markers that could be used mechanistically and therapeutically in these deficiencies, the genetic perspectives, some antioxidant approaches, and the relevance of some animal models studies in this context. PMID:27563374

Comparison of the in vitro effects of saline, hypertonic hydroxyethyl starch, hypertonic saline, and two forms of hydroxyethyl starch on whole blood coagulation and platelet function in dogs.

PubMed

Wurlod, Virginie A; Howard, Judith; Francey, Thierry; Schweighauser, Ariane; Adamik, Katja N

2015-01-01

To compare the in vitro effects of hypertonic solutions and colloids to saline on coagulation in dogs. In vitro experimental study. Veterinary teaching hospital. Twenty-one adult dogs. Blood samples were diluted with saline, 7.2% hypertonic saline solution with 6% hydroxyethylstarch with an average molecular weight of 200 kDa and a molar substitution of 0.4 (HH), 7.2% hypertonic saline (HTS), hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 or hydroxyethyl starch 600/0.75 at ratios of 1:22 and 1:9, and with saline and HES at a ratio of 1:3. Whole blood coagulation was analyzed using rotational thromboelastometry (extrinsic thromboelastometry-cloting time (ExTEM-CT), maximal clot firmness (MCF) and clot formation time (CFT) and fibrinogen function TEM-CT (FibTEM-CT) and MCF) and platelet function was analyzed using a platelet function analyzer (closure time, CTPFA ). All parameters measured were impaired by saline dilution. The CTPFA was prolonged by 7.2% hypertonic saline solution with 6% hydroxyethylstarch with an average molecular weight of 200 kDa and a molar substitution of 0.4 (HH) and HTS but not by HES solutions. At clinical dilutions equivalent to those generally administered for shock (saline 1:3, HES 1:9, and hypertonic solutions 1:22), CTPFA was more prolonged by HH and HTS than other solutions but more by saline than HES. No difference was found between the HES solutions or the hypertonic solutions. ExTEM-CFT and MCF were impaired by HH and HTS but only mildly by HES solutions. At clinically relevant dilutions, no difference was found in ExTEM-CFT between HTS and saline or in ExTEM-MCF between HH and saline. No consistent difference was found between the 2 HES solutions but HH impaired ExTEM-CFT and MCF more than HTS. At high dilutions, FibTEM-CT and -MCF and ExTEM-CT were impaired by HES. Hypertonic solutions affect platelet function and whole blood coagulation to a greater extent than saline and HES. At clinically relevant dilutions, only CTPFA was markedly more affected by hypertonic solutions than by saline. At high dilutions, HES significantly affects coagulation but to no greater extent than saline at clinically relevant dilutions. © Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society 2015.

Radiation dose exposure in patients affected by lymphoma undergoing repeat CT examinations: how to manage the radiation dose variability.

PubMed

Paolicchi, Fabio; Bastiani, Luca; Guido, Davide; Dore, Antonio; Aringhieri, Giacomo; Caramella, Davide

2018-03-01

To assess the variability of radiation dose exposure in patients affected by lymphoma undergoing repeat CT (computed tomography) examinations and to evaluate the influence of different scan parameters on the overall radiation dose. A series of 34 patients (12 men and 22 women with a median age of 34.4 years) with lymphoma, after the initial staging CT underwent repeat follow-up CT examinations. For each patient and each repeat examination, age, sex, use of AEC system (Automated Exposure Control, i.e. current modulation), scan length, kV value, number of acquired scans (i.e. number of phases), abdominal size diameter and dose length product (DLP) were recorded. The radiation dose of just one venous phase was singled out from the DLP of the entire examination. All scan data were retrieved by our PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) by means of a dose monitoring software. Among the variables we considered, no significant difference of radiation dose was observed among patients of different ages nor concerning tube voltage. On the contrary the dose delivered to the patients varied depending on sex, scan length and usage of AEC. No significant difference was observed depending on the behaviour of technologists, while radiologists' choices had indirectly an impact on the radiation dose due to the different number of scans requested by each of them. Our results demonstrate that patients affected by lymphoma who undergo repeat whole body CT scanning may receive unnecessary overexposure. We quantified and analyzed the most relevant variables in order to provide a useful tool to manage properly CT dose variability, estimating the amount of additional radiation dose for every single significant variable. Additional scans, incorrect scan length and incorrect usage of AEC system are the most relevant cause of patient radiation exposure.

Discussion of the influence of CO and CH4 in CO2 transport, injection, and storage for CCS technology.

PubMed

Blanco, Sofía T; Rivas, Clara; Bravo, Ramón; Fernández, Javier; Artal, Manuela; Velasco, Inmaculada

2014-09-16

This paper discusses the influence of the noncondensable impurities CO and CH4 on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology. We calculated and drew conclusions about the impact of both impurities in the CO2 on selected transport, injection, and storage parameters (pipeline pressure drop, storage capacity, etc.), whose analysis is necessary for the safe construction and operation of CO2 pipelines and for the secure long-term geological storage of anthropogenic CO2. To calculate these parameters, it is necessary to acquire data on the volumetric properties and the vapor-liquid equilibrium of the fluid being subjected to CCS. In addition to literature data, we used new experimental data, which are presented here and were obtained for five mixtures of CO2+CO with compositions characteristic of the typical emissions of the E.U. and the U.S.A. Temperatures and pressures are based on relevant CO2 pipeline and geological storage site values. From our experimental results, Peng-Robinson, PC-SAFT, and GERG Equations of State for were validated CO2+CO under the conditions of CCS. We conclude that the concentration of both impurities strongly affects the studied parameters, with CO being the most influential and problematic. The overall result of these negative effects is an increase in the difficulties, risks, and overall costs of CCS.

Continuous cardiac troponin I release in Fabry disease.

PubMed

Feustel, Andreas; Hahn, Andreas; Schneider, Christian; Sieweke, Nicole; Franzen, Wolfgang; Gündüz, Dursun; Rolfs, Arndt; Tanislav, Christian

2014-01-01

Fabry disease (FD) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder also affecting the heart. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of cardiac troponin I (cTNI) elevation, a sensitive parameter reflecting myocardial damage, in a smaller cohort of FD-patients, and to analyze whether persistent cTNI can be a suitable biomarker to assess cardiac dysfunction in FD. cTNI values were determined at least twice per year in 14 FD-patients (6 males and 8 females) regularly followed-up in our centre. The data were related to other parameters of heart function including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). Three patients (21%) without specific vascular risk factors other than FD had persistent cTNI-elevations (range 0.05-0.71 ng/ml, normal: <0.01). cMRI disclosed late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in all three individuals with cTNI values ≥0.01, while none of the 11 patients with cTNI <0.01 showed a pathological enhancement (p<0.01). Two subjects with increased cTNI-values underwent coronary angiography, excluding relevant stenoses. A myocardial biopsy performed in one during this procedure demonstrated substantial accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in cardiomyocytes. Continuous cTNI elevation seems to occur in a substantial proportion of patients with FD. The high accordance with LGE, reflecting cardiac dysfunction, suggests that cTNI-elevation can be a useful laboratory parameter for assessing myocardial damage in FD.

Photometric correction for an optical CCD-based system based on the sparsity of an eight-neighborhood gray gradient.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuzhong; Zhang, Yan

2016-07-01

In an optical measurement and analysis system based on a CCD, due to the existence of optical vignetting and natural vignetting, photometric distortion, in which the intensity falls off away from the image center, affects the subsequent processing and measuring precision severely. To deal with this problem, an easy and straightforward method used for photometric distortion correction is presented in this paper. This method introduces a simple polynomial fitting model of the photometric distortion function and employs a particle swarm optimization algorithm to get these model parameters by means of a minimizing eight-neighborhood gray gradient. Compared with conventional calibration methods, this method can obtain the profile information of photometric distortion from only a single common image captured by the optical CCD-based system, with no need for a uniform luminance area source used as a standard reference source and relevant optical and geometric parameters in advance. To illustrate the applicability of this method, numerical simulations and photometric distortions with different lens parameters are evaluated using this method in this paper. Moreover, the application example of temperature field correction for casting billets also demonstrates the effectiveness of this method. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to achieve the maximum absolute error for vignetting estimation of 0.0765 and the relative error for vignetting estimation from different background images of 3.86%.

Significance of Serum Total Oxidant/Antioxidant Status in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

PubMed Central

Yang, Yuwei; Dai, Chunmei; Lu, Anyang; Li, Jie; Liao, Yao; Xiang, Miao; Huang, Qingmei; Wang, Dong

2017-01-01

Oxidative stress is involved in a variety of diseases. Prospective studies investigating the relationship between oxidative stress biomarkers and the status and development of colorectal cancer (CRC) are scarce; previous studies have failed to establish a relationship between the serum total oxidant/antioxidant status and CRC. Therefore, we compared the total serum oxidant/antioxidant levels of CRC patients and healthy subjects, and analyzed their clinical significance in the CRC. Fasting blood samples from 132 CRC patients and 64 healthy subjects were collected. Oxidative stress parameters, including total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant status (TAS), were measured, and the oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. The TOS and OSI levels increased significantly (P<0.001) and the TAS level significantly decreased (P<0.001) in the CRC group compared to those in the healthy control group. Oxidative stress parameters differed significantly depending on the patient’s smoking and drinking status (P<0.05). The preoperative and postoperative levels of TOS, TAS, and OSI did not differ significantly between primary sites (colon/rectum) and clinical stages (P>0.05).However, the levels of TOS, TAS, and OSI were significantly different between patients with no metastasis and those with metastases to two organs (P<0.05) Finally, the parameters are affected by smoking and drinking, and subsequent research should be conducted excluding the relevant influencing factors. PMID:28103261

28 CFR 51.57 - Relevant factors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Determinations by the Attorney General § 51.57 Relevant... submitted changes affecting voting are the following: (a) The extent to which a reasonable and legitimate...

28 CFR 51.57 - Relevant factors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Determinations by the Attorney General § 51.57 Relevant... submitted changes affecting voting are the following: (a) The extent to which a reasonable and legitimate...

Embedded Promotions in Online Services: How Goal-Relevance Ambiguity Shapes Response and Affect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brasel, S. Adam

2010-01-01

Adding promotions to online services is increasingly commonplace, yet consumers may have difficulty determining whether service-embedded promotions are goal-relevant, due to the linear and transactional nature of online services. This contextual effect of goal-relevance ambiguity on promotions is explored across three studies. An exploratory study…

Overview ID/POV Process

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

Wendelberger, James G.

2016-08-16

This is a flowchart of the inventory difference/propagation of variance process, with steps such as determine all relevance transactions, group relevant transactions by affected MATLID, filter groups to S, F and identify required M's, etc.

13A. Integrative Cancer Care: The Life Over Cancer Model

PubMed Central

Block, Keith; Block, Penny; Shoham, Jacob

2013-01-01

Focus Areas: Integrative Algorithms of Care Integrative cancer treatment fully blends conventional cancer treatment with integrative therapies such as diet, supplements, exercise and biobehavioral approaches. The Life Over Cancer model comprises three spheres of intervention: improving lifestyle, improving biochemical environment (terrain), and improving tolerance of conventional treatment. These levels are applied within the context of a life-affirming approach to cancer patients and treatment. Clinical staff involved include MDs, psychosocial, physical therapy, and dietetic professionals, all located in a single private clinic, the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment. This session will describe the rationale and operation of the clinical model. An outpatient chemotherapy unit is incorporated in the clinic. Chronomodulated chemotherapy is used for selected chemotherapy drugs. Physical care includes massage, exercise and other therapies as directed by the center's physical therapy staff. Notably, cancer patients who are physically active have lower mortality and recurrence risks. Behavioral approaches are being shown increasingly to affect physiological parameters and expression of genes potentially related to cancer. Thus, biobehavioral approaches such as relaxed abdominal breathing and comfort space imagery are taught to patients by a staff including a clinical psychologist and other practitioners. Nutrition is also emerging as a relevant area of intervention in cancer, with recent guidelines from the American Cancer Society. A team of registered dietitians counsels patients individually and conducts cooking classes. Finally, the Life Over Cancer model includes analysis of multiple biological parameters relevant to cancer and general health, with standard laboratory tests. Inflammation, glycemic variables, immune functioning and other variables are regularly monitored. Dietary changes and where necessary supplements are suggested when laboratory results are abnormal. Interaction of supplements with cancer treatment drugs is monitored. The session will highlight the roles played by both conventional and integrative therapies in the treatment of cancer patients.

The Effects of Early Postnatal Diuretics Treatment on Kidney Development and Long-Term Kidney Function in Wistar Rats.

PubMed

Bueters, Ruud R G; Jeronimus-Klaasen, Annelies; Maicas, Nuria; Florquin, Sandrine; van den Heuvel, Lambertus P; Schreuder, Michiel F

2016-01-01

Diuretics are administered to neonates to control fluid balance. We studied whether clinical doses affected kidney development and function and whether extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) could be a modulator. Wistar rats were cross-fostered in normal food or food restricted litters at postnatal day (PND) 2 and treated daily with 0.9% NaCl, 5 mg/kg furosemide or 5 mg/kg hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) up to PND 8. Kidneys were evaluated on proliferation, apoptosis and a set of mRNA target genes at PND 8, glomerular- and glomerular generation count at PND 35, clinical pathology parameters at 3- and 9 months, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin at PND 8, 3 and 6 months, monthly blood pressure from 3 months onward and histopathology at study end. Treatment with furosemide or HCTZ did not have relevant effects on measured parameters. EUGR resulted in lower body weight from day 3 onwards (-29% at weaning; p < 0.001, -10% at necropsy; p < 0.001), less glomerular generations (4.4 ± 0.32 vs. 5.0 ± 0.423; p = 0.025, males only), decreased glomerular numbers (27,861 ± 3,468 vs. 30,527 ± 4,096; p = 0.026), higher creatinine clearance (0.84 ± 0.1 vs. 0.77 ± 0.09 ml/min/kg; p = 0.047) at 3 months and lower plasma creatinine (25.7 ± 1.8 vs. 27.5 ± 2.8 µmol/l; p = 0.043) at 9 months. Furosemide and HCTZ did not influence kidney development or function when administered in a clinically relevant dose to rat pups at a stage of ongoing nephrogenesis. EUGR led to impaired kidney development but did not modify furosemide or HCTZ findings. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

3D geometric modeling and simulation of laser propagation through turbulence with plenoptic functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chensheng; Nelson, William; Davis, Christopher C.

2014-10-01

Plenoptic functions are functions that preserve all the necessary light field information of optical events. Theoretical work has demonstrated that geometric based plenoptic functions can serve equally well in the traditional wave propagation equation known as the "scalar stochastic Helmholtz equation". However, in addressing problems of 3D turbulence simulation, the dominant methods using phase screen models have limitations both in explaining the choice of parameters (on the transverse plane) in real-world measurements, and finding proper correlations between neighboring phase screens (the Markov assumption breaks down). Though possible corrections to phase screen models are still promising, the equivalent geometric approach based on plenoptic functions begins to show some advantages. In fact, in these geometric approaches, a continuous wave problem is reduced to discrete trajectories of rays. This allows for convenience in parallel computing and guarantees conservation of energy. Besides the pairwise independence of simulated rays, the assigned refractive index grids can be directly tested by temperature measurements with tiny thermoprobes combined with other parameters such as humidity level and wind speed. Furthermore, without loss of generality one can break the causal chain in phase screen models by defining regional refractive centers to allow rays that are less affected to propagate through directly. As a result, our work shows that the 3D geometric approach serves as an efficient and accurate method in assessing relevant turbulence problems with inputs of several environmental measurements and reasonable guesses (such as Cn 2 levels). This approach will facilitate analysis and possible corrections in lateral wave propagation problems, such as image de-blurring, prediction of laser propagation over long ranges, and improvement of free space optic communication systems. In this paper, the plenoptic function model and relevant parallel algorithm computing will be presented, and its primary results and applications are demonstrated.

Modelling of nanoscale multi-gate transistors affected by atomistic interface roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagy, Daniel; Aldegunde, Manuel; Elmessary, Muhammad A.; García-Loureiro, Antonio J.; Seoane, Natalia; Kalna, Karol

2018-04-01

Interface roughness scattering (IRS) is one of the major scattering mechanisms limiting the performance of non-planar multi-gate transistors, like Fin field-effect transistors (FETs). Here, two physical models (Ando’s and multi-sub-band) of electron scattering with the interface roughness induced potential are investigated using an in-house built 3D finite element ensemble Monte Carlo simulation toolbox including parameter-free 2D Schrödinger equation quantum correction that handles all relevant scattering mechanisms within highly non-equilibrium carrier transport. Moreover, we predict the effect of IRS on performance of FinFETs with realistic channel cross-section shapes with respect to the IRS correlation length (Λ) and RMS height (Δ_RMS ). The simulations of the n-type SOI FinFETs with the multi-sub-band IRS model shows its very strong effect on electron transport in the device channel compared to the Ando’s model. We have also found that the FinFETs are strongly affected by the IRS in the ON-region. The limiting effect of the IRS significantly increases as the Fin width is reduced. The FinFETs with <1 1 0> channel orientation are affected more by the IRS than those with the <1 0 0> crystal orientation. Finally, Λ and Δ_RMS are shown to affect the device performance similarly. A change in values by 30% (Λ) or 20% (Δ_RMS ) results in an increase (decrease) of up to 13% in the drive current.

Modelling of nanoscale multi-gate transistors affected by atomistic interface roughness.

PubMed

Nagy, Daniel; Aldegunde, Manuel; Elmessary, Muhammad A; García-Loureiro, Antonio J; Seoane, Natalia; Kalna, Karol

2018-04-11

Interface roughness scattering (IRS) is one of the major scattering mechanisms limiting the performance of non-planar multi-gate transistors, like Fin field-effect transistors (FETs). Here, two physical models (Ando's and multi-sub-band) of electron scattering with the interface roughness induced potential are investigated using an in-house built 3D finite element ensemble Monte Carlo simulation toolbox including parameter-free 2D Schrödinger equation quantum correction that handles all relevant scattering mechanisms within highly non-equilibrium carrier transport. Moreover, we predict the effect of IRS on performance of FinFETs with realistic channel cross-section shapes with respect to the IRS correlation length (Λ) and RMS height ([Formula: see text]). The simulations of the n-type SOI FinFETs with the multi-sub-band IRS model shows its very strong effect on electron transport in the device channel compared to the Ando's model. We have also found that the FinFETs are strongly affected by the IRS in the ON-region. The limiting effect of the IRS significantly increases as the Fin width is reduced. The FinFETs with [Formula: see text] channel orientation are affected more by the IRS than those with the [Formula: see text] crystal orientation. Finally, Λ and [Formula: see text] are shown to affect the device performance similarly. A change in values by 30% (Λ) or [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) results in an increase (decrease) of up to [Formula: see text] in the drive current.

Body mass index is not associated with sperm-zona pellucida binding ability in subfertile males.

PubMed

Sermondade, Nathalie; Dupont, Charlotte; Faure, Céline; Boubaya, Marouane; Cédrin-Durnerin, Isabelle; Chavatte-Palmer, Pascale; Sifer, Christophe; Lévy, Rachel

2013-09-01

Lifestyle factors, such as weight and nutritional status may affect male fertility, including sperm fertilization ability. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) and sperm-zona pellucida binding ability assessed according to the zona binding (ZB) test, which has been described to be a relevant diagnostic tool for the prediction of in vitro fertilization (IVF) ability. Three hundred and six male patients from couples diagnosed with primary idiopathic or mild male factor infertility were included. Correlations between BMI and semen parameters according to ZB test indices were assessed, together with frequencies of positive and negative tests across the BMI categories. In this selected population, BMI was not related to conventional semen parameters or sperm quality assessed according to the ability of spermatozoa to bind to the zona pellucida. The previously described poor outcomes of IVF procedures in cases of male obesity could be due to other sperm defects, such as alterations of sperm capacitation or acrosome reaction. The link between male BMI and biological outcomes during IVF procedures, such as fertilization rates, should be further evaluated.

Modal Parameters Evaluation in a Full-Scale Aircraft Demonstrator under Different Environmental Conditions Using HS 3D-DIC.

PubMed

Molina-Viedma, Ángel Jesús; López-Alba, Elías; Felipe-Sesé, Luis; Díaz, Francisco A; Rodríguez-Ahlquist, Javier; Iglesias-Vallejo, Manuel

2018-02-02

In real aircraft structures the comfort and the occupational performance of crewmembers and passengers are affected by the presence of noise. In this sense, special attention is focused on mechanical and material design for isolation and vibration control. Experimental characterization and, in particular, experimental modal analysis, provides information for adequate cabin noise control. Traditional sensors employed in the aircraft industry for this purpose are invasive and provide a low spatial resolution. This paper presents a methodology for experimental modal characterization of a front fuselage full-scale demonstrator using high-speed 3D digital image correlation, which is non-invasive, ensuring that the structural response is unperturbed by the instrumentation mass. Specifically, full-field measurements on the passenger window area were conducted when the structure was excited using an electrodynamic shaker. The spectral analysis of the measured time-domain displacements made it possible to identify natural frequencies and full-field operational deflection shapes. Changes in the modal parameters due to cabin pressurization and the behavior of different local structural modifications were assessed using this methodology. The proposed full-field methodology allowed the characterization of relevant dynamic response patterns, complementing the capabilities provided by accelerometers.

Transoesophageal detection of heart graft rejection by electrical impedance: Using finite element method simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giovinazzo, G.; Ribas, N.; Cinca, J.; Rosell-Ferrer, J.

2010-04-01

Previous studies have shown that it is possible to evaluate heart graft rejection level using a bioimpedance technique by means of an intracavitary catheter. However, this technique does not present relevant advantages compared to the gold standard for the detection of a heart rejection, which is the biopsy of the endomyocardial tissue. We propose to use a less invasive technique that consists in the use of a transoesophageal catheter and two standard ECG electrodes on the thorax. The aim of this work is to evaluate different parameters affecting the impedance measurement, including: sensitivity to electrical conductivity and permittivity of different organs in the thorax, lung edema and pleural water. From these results, we deduce the best estimator for cardiac rejection detection, and we obtain the tools to identify possible cases of false positive of heart rejection due to other factors. To achieve these objectives we have created a thoracic model and we have simulated, with a FEM program, different situations at the frequencies of 13, 30, 100, 300 and 1000 kHz. Our simulation demonstrates that the phase, at 100 and 300 kHz, has the higher sensitivity to changes in the electrical parameters of the heart muscle.

Tea and coffee time with bacteria - Investigation of uptake of key coffee and tea phenolics by wild type E. coli.

PubMed

Hakeem Said, Inamullah; Gencer, Selin; Ullrich, Matthias S; Kuhnert, Nikolai

2018-06-01

Dietary phenolic compounds are often transformed by gut microbiota prior to absorption. This transformation may modulate their biological activities. Many fundamental questions still need to be addressed to understand how the gut microbiota-diet interactions affect human health. Herein, a UHPLC-QTOF mass spectrometry-based method for the quantification of uptake and determination of intracellular bacterial concentrations of dietary phenolics from coffee and tea was developed. Quantitative uptake data for selected single purified phenolics were determined. The specific uptake from mixtures containing up to four dietary relevant compounds was investigated to assess changes of uptake parameters in a mixture model system. Indeed, perturbation of bacteria by several compounds alters uptake parameter in particular t max . Finally, model bacteria were dosed with complex dietary mixtures such as diluted tea or coffee extracts. The uptake kinetics of the twenty most abundant phenolics was quantified and the findings are discussed. For the first time, quantitative data on in-vitro uptake of dietary phenolics from food matrices were obtained indicating a time-dependent differential uptake of nutritional compounds. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Inertial collapse of bubble pairs near a solid surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alahyari Beig, Shahaboddin; Johnsen, Eric

2017-11-01

Cavitation occurs in a variety of applications ranging from naval structures to biomedical ultrasound. One important consequence is structural damage to neighboring surfaces following repeated inertial collapse of vapor bubbles. Although the mechanical loading produced by the collapse of a single bubble has been widely investigated, less is known about the detailed dynamics of the collapse of multiple bubbles. In such a problem, the bubble-bubble interactions typically affect the dynamics, e.g., by increasing the non-sphericity of the bubbles and amplifying/hindering the collapse intensity depending on the flow parameters. Here, we quantify the effects of bubble-bubble interactions on the bubble dynamics, as well as the pressures/temperatures produced by the collapse of a pair of gas bubbles near a rigid surface. We perform high-resolution simulations of this problem by solving the three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations for gas/liquid flows. The results are used to investigate the non-spherical bubble dynamics and characterize the pressure and temperature fields based on the relevant parameters entering the problem: stand-off distance, geometrical configuration (angle, relative size, distance), collapse strength. This research was supported in part by ONR Grant N00014-12-1-0751 and NSF Grant CBET 1253157.

Characterization of Maize Grains with Different Pigmentation Investigated by Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rico Molina, R.; Hernández Aguilar, C.; Dominguez Pacheco, A.; Cruz-Orea, A.; López Bonilla, J. L.

2014-10-01

A knowledge of grains' optical parameters is of great relevance in the maize grain technology practice. Such parameters provide information about its absorption and reflectance, which in turn is related to its color. In the dough and tortilla industries, it is important to characterize this attribute of the corn kernel, as it is one of the attributes that directly affects the quality of the food product. Thus, it is important to have techniques that contribute to the characterization of this raw material. It is traditionally characterized by conventional methods, which usually destroy the grain and involve a laborious preparation of material plus they are expensive. The objective of this study was to determine the optical absorption coefficient for maize grains ( Zea mays L.) with different pigmentations by means of photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS). The genotype A had bluish coloration and genotype B had yellowish coloration. In addition, the photoacoustic signal obtained by two methods was analyzed mathematically: the standard deviation and the first derivative; both results were compared (Fig. 1). In combination with mathematical analysis, PAS may be considered as a potential diagnostic tool for the characterization of the grains. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Modal Parameters Evaluation in a Full-Scale Aircraft Demonstrator under Different Environmental Conditions Using HS 3D-DIC

PubMed Central

López-Alba, Elías; Felipe-Sesé, Luis; Díaz, Francisco A.; Rodríguez-Ahlquist, Javier; Iglesias-Vallejo, Manuel

2018-01-01

In real aircraft structures the comfort and the occupational performance of crewmembers and passengers are affected by the presence of noise. In this sense, special attention is focused on mechanical and material design for isolation and vibration control. Experimental characterization and, in particular, experimental modal analysis, provides information for adequate cabin noise control. Traditional sensors employed in the aircraft industry for this purpose are invasive and provide a low spatial resolution. This paper presents a methodology for experimental modal characterization of a front fuselage full-scale demonstrator using high-speed 3D digital image correlation, which is non-invasive, ensuring that the structural response is unperturbed by the instrumentation mass. Specifically, full-field measurements on the passenger window area were conducted when the structure was excited using an electrodynamic shaker. The spectral analysis of the measured time-domain displacements made it possible to identify natural frequencies and full-field operational deflection shapes. Changes in the modal parameters due to cabin pressurization and the behavior of different local structural modifications were assessed using this methodology. The proposed full-field methodology allowed the characterization of relevant dynamic response patterns, complementing the capabilities provided by accelerometers. PMID:29393897

Assessment of extreme value distributions for maximum temperature in the Mediterranean area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Alexander; Hertig, Elke; Jacobeit, Jucundus

2015-04-01

Extreme maximum temperatures highly affect the natural as well as the societal environment Heat stress has great effects on flora, fauna and humans and culminates in heat related morbidity and mortality. Agriculture and different industries are severely affected by extreme air temperatures. Even more under climate change conditions, it is necessary to detect potential hazards which arise from changes in the distributional parameters of extreme values, and this is especially relevant for the Mediterranean region which is characterized as a climate change hot spot. Therefore statistical approaches are developed to estimate these parameters with a focus on non-stationarities emerging in the relationship between regional climate variables and their large-scale predictors like sea level pressure, geopotential heights, atmospheric temperatures and relative humidity. Gridded maximum temperature data from the daily E-OBS dataset (Haylock et al., 2008) with a spatial resolution of 0.25° x 0.25° from January 1950 until December 2012 are the predictands for the present analyses. A s-mode principal component analysis (PCA) has been performed in order to reduce data dimension and to retain different regions of similar maximum temperature variability. The grid box with the highest PC-loading represents the corresponding principal component. A central part of the analyses is the model development for temperature extremes under the use of extreme value statistics. A combined model is derived consisting of a Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) model and a quantile regression (QR) model which determines the GPD location parameters. The QR model as well as the scale parameters of the GPD model are conditioned by various large-scale predictor variables. In order to account for potential non-stationarities in the predictors-temperature relationships, a special calibration and validation scheme is applied, respectively. Haylock, M. R., N. Hofstra, A. M. G. Klein Tank, E. J. Klok, P. D. Jones, and M. New (2008), A European daily high-resolution gridded data set of surface temperature and precipitation for 1950 - 2006, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D20119, doi:10.1029/2008JD010201.

Six months of daily treatment with vardenafil improves parameters of endothelial inflammation and of hypogonadism in male patients with type 2 diabetes and erectile dysfunction: a randomized, double-blind, prospective trial.

PubMed

Santi, Daniele; Granata, Antonio R M; Guidi, Alessandro; Pignatti, Elisa; Trenti, Tommaso; Roli, Laura; Bozic, Roberto; Zaza, Stefano; Pacchioni, Chiara; Romano, Stefania; Nofer, Jerzy Roch; Rochira, Vincenzo; Carani, Cesare; Simoni, Manuela

2016-04-01

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with endothelial dysfunction, characterized by a reduction of nitric oxide (NO)-mediated relaxation. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) improve NO levels. The aim of the study was to investigate whether long-term, chronic treatment with the PDE5i vardenafil improves systemic endothelial function in diabetic men. A prospective, investigator-initiated, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical trial was conducted. In total, 54 male patients affected by T2DM, diagnosed within the last 5 years, and erectile dysfunction were enrolled, regardless of testosterone levels. In all, 26 and 28 patients were assigned to verum and placebo groups respectively. The study consisted of an enrollment phase, a treatment phase (24 weeks) (vardenafil/placebo 10  mg twice in a day) and a follow-up phase (24 weeks). Parameters evaluated were as follows: International Index of Erectile Function 15 (IIEF-15), flow-mediated dilation (FMD), serum interleukin 6 (IL6), endothelin 1 (ET-1), gonadotropins and testosterone (measured by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry). IIEF-15 erectile function improved during the treatment (P<0.001). At the end of the treatment both FMD (P=0.040) and IL6 (P=0.019) significantly improved. FMD correlated with serum testosterone levels (R(2)=0.299; P<0.001). Testosterone increased significantly under vardenafil treatment and returned in the eugonadal range only in hypogonadal men (n=13), without changes in gonadotropins. Chronic vardenafil treatment did not result in relevant side effects. This is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the effects of chronic treatment of vardenafil on endothelial health-related parameters and sexual hormones in patients affected by a chronic disease. Chronically administered vardenafil is effective and improves endothelial parameters in T2DM patient. Moreover, chronic vardenafil therapy improves hypogonadism in diabetic, hypogonadal men. © 2016 European Society of Endocrinology.

Neural Systems of Positive Affect: Relevance to Understanding Child and Adolescent Depression?

PubMed Central

Forbes, Erika E.; Dahl, Ronald E.

2007-01-01

From an affective neuroscience perspective, the goal of achieving a deeper, more mechanistic understanding of the development of depression will require rigorous models that address the core underlying affective changes. Such an understanding will necessitate developing and testing hypotheses focusing on specific components of the complex neural systems involved in the regulation of emotion and motivation. In this paper, we illustrate these principles by describing one example of this type of approach: examining the role of disruptions in neural systems of positive affect relevant to Major Depressive Disorder in school-age children and adolescents. We begin by defining positive affect, proposing that positive affect can be distinguished from negative affect by its neurobehavioral features. We provide an overview of neural systems related to reward and positive affect, with a discussion of their potential involvement in depression. We describe a developmental psychopathology framework, addressing developmental issues that could play a role in the etiology and maintenance of early-onset depression. We review the literature on altered positive affect in depression, suggesting directions for future research. Finally, we discuss the treatment implications of this framework. PMID:16262994

Differential Hemodynamic Response in Affective Circuitry with Aging: An fMRI Study of Novelty, Valence, and Arousal

PubMed Central

Moriguchi, Yoshiya; Negreira, Alyson; Weierich, Mariann; Dautoff, Rebecca; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Wright, Christopher I.; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2011-01-01

Emerging evidence indicates that stimulus novelty is affectively potent and reliably engages the amygdala and other portions of the affective workspace in the brain. Using fMRI, we examined whether novel stimuli remain affectively salient across the lifespan, and therefore, whether novelty processing—a potentially survival-relevant function—is preserved with aging. Nineteen young and 22 older healthy adults were scanned during observing novel and familiar affective pictures while estimating their own subjectively experienced aroused levels. We investigated age-related difference of magnitude of activation, hemodynamic time course, and functional connectivity of BOLD responses in the amygdala. Although there were no age-related differences in the peak response of the amygdala to novelty, older individuals showed a narrower, sharper (i.e., “peakier”) hemodynamic time course in response to novel stimuli, as well as decreased connectivity between the left amygdala and the affective areas including orbito-frontal regions. These findings have relevance for understanding age-related differences in memory and affect regulation. PMID:20521849

Effect of Macrogeometry on the Surface Topography of Dental Implants.

PubMed

Naves, Marina Melo; Menezes, Helder Henrique Machado; Magalhães, Denildo; Ferreira, Jessica Afonso; Ribeiro, Sara Ferreira; de Mello, José Daniel Biasoli; Costa, Henara Lillian

2015-01-01

Because the microtopography of titanium implants influences the biomaterial-tissue interaction, surface microtexturing treatments are frequently used for dental implants. However, surface treatment alone may not determine the final microtopography of a dental implant, which can also be influenced by the implant macrogeometry. This work analyzed the effects on surface roughness parameters of the same treatment applied by the same manufacturer to implants with differing macro-designs. Three groups of titanium implants with different macro-designs were investigated using laser interferometry and scanning electron microscopy. Relevant surface roughness parameters were calculated for different regions of each implant. Two flat disks (treated and untreated) were also investigated for comparison. The tops of the threads and the nonthreaded regions of all implants had very similar roughness parameters, independent of the geometry of the implant, which were also very similar to those of flat disks treated with the same process. In contrast, the flanks and valleys of the threads presented larger irregularities (Sa) with higher slopes (Sdq) and larger developed surface areas (Sdr) on all implants, particularly for implants with threads with smaller heights. The flanks and valleys displayed stronger textures (Str), particularly on the implants with threads with larger internal angles. Parameters associated with the height of the irregularities (Sa), the slope of the asperities (Sdq), the presence of a surface texture (Str), and the developed surface area of the irregularities (Sdr) were significantly affected by the macrogeometry of the implants. Flat disks subjected to the same surface treatment as dental implants reproduced only the surface topography of the flat regions of the implants.

Binaural room simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lehnert, H.; Blauert, Jens; Pompetzki, W.

1991-01-01

In every-day listening the auditory event perceived by a listener is determined not only by the sound signal that a sound emits but also by a variety of environmental parameters. These parameters are the position, orientation and directional characteristics of the sound source, the listener's position and orientation, the geometrical and acoustical properties of surfaces which affect the sound field and the sound propagation properties of the surrounding fluid. A complete set of these parameters can be called an Acoustic Environment. If the auditory event perceived by a listener is manipulated in such a way that the listener is shifted acoustically into a different acoustic environment without moving himself physically, a Virtual Acoustic Environment has been created. Here, we deal with a special technique to set up nearly arbitrary Virtual Acoustic Environments, the Binaural Room Simulation. The purpose of the Binaural Room Simulation is to compute the binaural impulse response related to a virtual acoustic environment taking into account all parameters mentioned above. One possible way to describe a Virtual Acoustic Environment is the concept of the virtual sound sources. Each of the virtual sources emits a certain signal which is correlated but not necessarily identical with the signal emitted by the direct sound source. If source and receiver are non moving, the acoustic environment becomes a linear time-invariant system. Then, the Binaural Impulse Response from the source to a listener' s eardrums contains all relevant auditory information related to the Virtual Acoustic Environment. Listening into the simulated environment can easily be achieved by convolving the Binaural Impulse Response with dry signals and representing the results via headphones.

Method for acquiring, storing and analyzing crystal images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gester, Thomas E. (Inventor); Rosenblum, William M. (Inventor); Christopher, Gayle K. (Inventor); Hamrick, David T. (Inventor); Delucas, Lawrence J. (Inventor); Tillotson, Brian (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A system utilizing a digital computer for acquiring, storing and evaluating crystal images. The system includes a video camera (12) which produces a digital output signal representative of a crystal specimen positioned within its focal window (16). The digitized output from the camera (12) is then stored on data storage media (32) together with other parameters inputted by a technician and relevant to the crystal specimen. Preferably, the digitized images are stored on removable media (32) while the parameters for different crystal specimens are maintained in a database (40) with indices to the digitized optical images on the other data storage media (32). Computer software is then utilized to identify not only the presence and number of crystals and the edges of the crystal specimens from the optical image, but to also rate the crystal specimens by various parameters, such as edge straightness, polygon formation, aspect ratio, surface clarity, crystal cracks and other defects or lack thereof, and other parameters relevant to the quality of the crystals.

Multifaceted empathy of healthy volunteers after single doses of MDMA: A pooled sample of placebo-controlled studies

PubMed Central

Kuypers, Kim PC; Dolder, Patrick C; Ramaekers, Johannes G; Liechti, Matthias E

2017-01-01

Previous placebo-controlled experimental studies have shown that a single dose of MDMA can increase emotional empathy in the multifaceted empathy test (MET) without affecting cognitive empathy. Although sufficiently powered to detect main effects of MDMA, these studies were generally underpowered to also validly assess contributions of additional parameters, such as sex, drug use history, trait empathy and MDMA or oxytocin plasma concentrations. The present study examined the robustness of the MDMA effect on empathy and investigated the moderating role of these additional parameters. Participants (n = 118) from six placebo-controlled within-subject studies and two laboratories were included in the present pooled analysis. Empathy (MET), MDMA and oxytocin plasma concentrations were assessed after oral administration of MDMA (single dose, 75 or 125 mg). Trait empathy was assessed using the interpersonal reactivity index. We confirmed that MDMA increased emotional empathy at both doses without affecting cognitive empathy. This MDMA-related increase in empathy was most pronounced during presentation of positive emotions as compared with negative emotions. MDMA-induced empathy enhancement was positively related to MDMA blood concentrations measured before the test, but independent of sex, drug use history and trait empathy. Oxytocin concentrations increased after MDMA administration but were not associated with behavioral effects. The MDMA effects on emotional empathy were stable across laboratories and doses. Sex did not play a moderating role in this effect, and oxytocin levels, trait empathy and drug use history were also unrelated. Acute drug exposure was of significant relevance in the MDMA-induced emotional empathy elevation. PMID:28372480

Paracetamol pharmacokinetics and metabolism in young women.

PubMed

Allegaert, Karel; Peeters, Mariska Y; Beleyn, Bjorn; Smits, Anne; Kulo, Aida; van Calsteren, Kristel; Deprest, Jan; de Hoon, Jan; Knibbe, Catherijne A J

2015-11-13

There is relevant between individual variability in paracetamol clearance in young women. In this pooled study, we focused on the population pharmacokinetic profile of intravenous paracetamol metabolism and its covariates in young women. Population PK parameters using non-linear mixed effect modelling were estimated in a pooled dataset of plasma and urine PK studies in 69 young women [47 at delivery, 8/47 again 10-15 weeks after delivery (early postpartum), and 7/8 again 1 year after delivery (late postpartum), 22 healthy female volunteers with or without oral contraceptives]. Population PK parameters were estimated based on 815 plasma samples and 101 urine collections. Compared to healthy female volunteers (reference group) not on oral contraceptives, being at delivery was the most significant covariate for clearance to paracetamol glucuronide (Factor = 2.03), while women in early postpartum had decreased paracetamol glucuronidation clearance (Factor = 0.55). Women on contraceptives showed increased paracetamol glucuronidation clearance (Factor = 1.46). The oestradiol level did not further affect this model. Being at delivery did not prove significant for clearance to paracetamol sulphate, but was higher in pregnant women who delivered preterm (<37 weeks, Factor = 1.34) compared to term delivery and non-pregnant women. Finally, clearance of unchanged paracetamol was dependent on urine flow rate. Compared to healthy female volunteers not on oral contraceptives, urine paracetamol glucuronidation elimination in young women is affected by pregnancy (higher), early postpartum (lower) or exposure to oral contraceptives (higher), resulting in at least a two fold variability in paracetamol clearance in young women.

Multifaceted empathy of healthy volunteers after single doses of MDMA: A pooled sample of placebo-controlled studies.

PubMed

Kuypers, Kim Pc; Dolder, Patrick C; Ramaekers, Johannes G; Liechti, Matthias E

2017-05-01

Previous placebo-controlled experimental studies have shown that a single dose of MDMA can increase emotional empathy in the multifaceted empathy test (MET) without affecting cognitive empathy. Although sufficiently powered to detect main effects of MDMA, these studies were generally underpowered to also validly assess contributions of additional parameters, such as sex, drug use history, trait empathy and MDMA or oxytocin plasma concentrations. The present study examined the robustness of the MDMA effect on empathy and investigated the moderating role of these additional parameters. Participants ( n = 118) from six placebo-controlled within-subject studies and two laboratories were included in the present pooled analysis. Empathy (MET), MDMA and oxytocin plasma concentrations were assessed after oral administration of MDMA (single dose, 75 or 125 mg). Trait empathy was assessed using the interpersonal reactivity index. We confirmed that MDMA increased emotional empathy at both doses without affecting cognitive empathy. This MDMA-related increase in empathy was most pronounced during presentation of positive emotions as compared with negative emotions. MDMA-induced empathy enhancement was positively related to MDMA blood concentrations measured before the test, but independent of sex, drug use history and trait empathy. Oxytocin concentrations increased after MDMA administration but were not associated with behavioral effects. The MDMA effects on emotional empathy were stable across laboratories and doses. Sex did not play a moderating role in this effect, and oxytocin levels, trait empathy and drug use history were also unrelated. Acute drug exposure was of significant relevance in the MDMA-induced emotional empathy elevation.

Food web effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in an outdoor freshwater mesocosm experiment.

PubMed

Jovanović, Boris; Bezirci, Gizem; Çağan, Ali Serhan; Coppens, Jan; Levi, Eti E; Oluz, Zehra; Tuncel, Eylül; Duran, Hatice; Beklioğlu, Meryem

2016-09-01

Over the course of 78 days, nine outdoor mesocosms, each with 1350 L capacity, were situated on a pontoon platform in the middle of a lake and exposed to 0 μg L(-1) TiO2, 25 μg L(-1) TiO2 or 250 μg L(-1) TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of E171 TiO2 human food additive five times a week. Mesocosms were inoculated with sediment, phytoplankton, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and fish before exposure, ensuring a complete food web. Physicochemical parameters of the water, nutrient concentrations, and biomass of the taxa were monitored. Concentrations of 25 μg L(-1) TiO2 and 250 μg L(-1) TiO2 caused a reduction in available soluble reactive phosphorus in the mesocosms by 15 and 23%, respectively, but not in the amount of total phosphorus. The biomass of Rotifera was significantly reduced by 32 and 57% in the TiO2 25 μg L(-1) and TiO2 250 μg L(-1) treatments, respectively, when compared to the control; however, the biomass of the other monitored groups-Cladocera, Copepoda, phytoplankton, macrophytes, chironomids and fish-remained unaffected. In conclusion, environmentally relevant concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles may negatively affect certain parameters and taxa of the freshwater lentic aquatic ecosystem. However, these negative effects are not significant enough to affect the overall function of the ecosystem, as there were no cascade effects leading to a major change in its trophic state or primary production.

Population Pharmacokinetics of Intravenous Methotrexate in Patients with Hematological Malignancies: Utilization of Routine Clinical Monitoring Parameters.

PubMed

Nader, Ahmed; Zahran, Noran; Alshammaa, Aya; Altaweel, Heba; Kassem, Nancy; Wilby, Kyle John

2017-04-01

Clinical response to methotrexate in cancer is variable and depends on several factors including serum drug exposure. This study aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic model describing methotrexate disposition in cancer patients using retrospective chart review data available from routine clinical practice. A retrospective review of medical records was conducted for cancer patients in Qatar. Relevant data (methotrexate dosing/concentrations from multiple occasions, patient history, and laboratory values) were extracted and analyzed using NONMEM VII ® . A population pharmacokinetic model was developed and used to estimate inter-individual and inter-occasion variability terms on methotrexate pharmacokinetic parameters, as well as patient factors affecting methotrexate pharmacokinetics. Methotrexate disposition was described by a two-compartment model with clearance (CL) of 15.7 L/h and central volume of distribution (V c ) of 79.2 L. Patient weight and hematocrit levels were significant covariates on methotrexate V c and CL, respectively. Methotrexate CL changed by 50 % with changes in hematocrit levels from 23 to 50 %. Inter-occasion variability in methotrexate CL was estimated for patients administered the drug on multiple occasions (48 and 31 % for 2nd and 3rd visits, respectively). Therapeutic drug monitoring data collected during routine clinical practice can provide a useful tool for understanding factors affecting methotrexate pharmacokinetics. Patient weight and hematocrit levels may play a clinically important role in determining methotrexate serum exposure and dosing requirements. Future prospective studies are needed to validate results of the developed model and evaluate its usefulness to predict methotrexate exposure and optimize dosing regimens.

Discrete- vs. Continuous-Time Modeling of Unequally Spaced Experience Sampling Method Data.

PubMed

de Haan-Rietdijk, Silvia; Voelkle, Manuel C; Keijsers, Loes; Hamaker, Ellen L

2017-01-01

The Experience Sampling Method is a common approach in psychological research for collecting intensive longitudinal data with high ecological validity. One characteristic of ESM data is that it is often unequally spaced, because the measurement intervals within a day are deliberately varied, and measurement continues over several days. This poses a problem for discrete-time (DT) modeling approaches, which are based on the assumption that all measurements are equally spaced. Nevertheless, DT approaches such as (vector) autoregressive modeling are often used to analyze ESM data, for instance in the context of affective dynamics research. There are equivalent continuous-time (CT) models, but they are more difficult to implement. In this paper we take a pragmatic approach and evaluate the practical relevance of the violated model assumption in DT AR(1) and VAR(1) models, for the N = 1 case. We use simulated data under an ESM measurement design to investigate the bias in the parameters of interest under four different model implementations, ranging from the true CT model that accounts for all the exact measurement times, to the crudest possible DT model implementation, where even the nighttime is treated as a regular interval. An analysis of empirical affect data illustrates how the differences between DT and CT modeling can play out in practice. We find that the size and the direction of the bias in DT (V)AR models for unequally spaced ESM data depend quite strongly on the true parameter in addition to data characteristics. Our recommendation is to use CT modeling whenever possible, especially now that new software implementations have become available.

Discrete- vs. Continuous-Time Modeling of Unequally Spaced Experience Sampling Method Data

PubMed Central

de Haan-Rietdijk, Silvia; Voelkle, Manuel C.; Keijsers, Loes; Hamaker, Ellen L.

2017-01-01

The Experience Sampling Method is a common approach in psychological research for collecting intensive longitudinal data with high ecological validity. One characteristic of ESM data is that it is often unequally spaced, because the measurement intervals within a day are deliberately varied, and measurement continues over several days. This poses a problem for discrete-time (DT) modeling approaches, which are based on the assumption that all measurements are equally spaced. Nevertheless, DT approaches such as (vector) autoregressive modeling are often used to analyze ESM data, for instance in the context of affective dynamics research. There are equivalent continuous-time (CT) models, but they are more difficult to implement. In this paper we take a pragmatic approach and evaluate the practical relevance of the violated model assumption in DT AR(1) and VAR(1) models, for the N = 1 case. We use simulated data under an ESM measurement design to investigate the bias in the parameters of interest under four different model implementations, ranging from the true CT model that accounts for all the exact measurement times, to the crudest possible DT model implementation, where even the nighttime is treated as a regular interval. An analysis of empirical affect data illustrates how the differences between DT and CT modeling can play out in practice. We find that the size and the direction of the bias in DT (V)AR models for unequally spaced ESM data depend quite strongly on the true parameter in addition to data characteristics. Our recommendation is to use CT modeling whenever possible, especially now that new software implementations have become available. PMID:29104554

Mapping by admixture linkage disequilibrium in human populations: Limits and guidelines

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

Stephens, J.C.; Briscoe, D.; O`Brien, S.J.

1994-10-01

Certain human hereditary conditions, notably those with low penetrance and those which require an environmental event such as infectious disease exposure, are difficult to localize in pedigree analysis, because of uncertainty in the phenotype of an affected patient`s relatives. An approach to locating these genes in human cohort studies would be to use association analysis, which depends on linkage disequilibrium of flanking polymorphic DNA markers. In theory, a high degree of linkage disequilibrium between genes separated by 10-20 cM will be generated and persist in populations that have a history of recent (3-20 generations ago) admixture between genetically differentiated racialmore » groups, such as has occurred in African Americans and Hispanic populations. We have conducted analytic and computer simulations to quantify the effect of genetic, genomic, and population parameters that affect the amount and ascertainment of linkage disequilibrium in populations with a history of genetic admixture. Our goal is to thoroughly explore the ranges of all relevant parameters or factors (e.g., sample size and degree of genetic differentiation between populations) that may be involved in gene localization studies, in hopes of prescribing guidelines for an efficient mapping strategy. The results provide reasonable limits on sample size (200-300 patients), marker number (200-300 in 20-cM intervals), and allele differentiation (loci with allele frequency difference of {ge}.3 between admixed parent populations) to produce an efficient approach (>95% ascertainment) for locating genes not easily tracked in human pedigrees. 321 refs., 8 figs., 7 tabs.« less

Present-Day Vegetation Helps Quantifying Past Land Cover in Selected Regions of the Czech Republic

PubMed Central

Abraham, Vojtěch; Oušková, Veronika; Kuneš, Petr

2014-01-01

The REVEALS model is a tool for recalculating pollen data into vegetation abundances on a regional scale. We explored the general effect of selected parameters by performing simulations and ascertained the best model setting for the Czech Republic using the shallowest samples from 120 fossil sites and data on actual regional vegetation (60 km radius). Vegetation proportions of 17 taxa were obtained by combining the CORINE Land Cover map with forest inventories, agricultural statistics and habitat mapping data. Our simulation shows that changing the site radius for all taxa substantially affects REVEALS estimates of taxa with heavy or light pollen grains. Decreasing the site radius has a similar effect as increasing the wind speed parameter. However, adjusting the site radius to 1 m for local taxa only (even taxa with light pollen) yields lower, more correct estimates despite their high pollen signal. Increasing the background radius does not affect the estimates significantly. Our comparison of estimates with actual vegetation in seven regions shows that the most accurate relative pollen productivity estimates (PPEs) come from Central Europe and Southern Sweden. The initial simulation and pollen data yielded unrealistic estimates for Abies under the default setting of the wind speed parameter (3 m/s). We therefore propose the setting of 4 m/s, which corresponds to the spring average in most regions of the Czech Republic studied. Ad hoc adjustment of PPEs with this setting improves the match 3–4-fold. We consider these values (apart from four exceptions) to be appropriate, because they are within the ranges of standard errors, so they are related to original PPEs. Setting a 1 m radius for local taxa (Alnus, Salix, Poaceae) significantly improves the match between estimates and actual vegetation. However, further adjustments to PPEs exceed the ranges of original values, so their relevance is uncertain. PMID:24936973

Experimental investigation of moving surfaces for boundary layer and circulation control of airfoils and wings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vets, Robert

An experimental study was conducted to assess the application of a moving surface to affect boundary layers and circulation around airfoils for the purpose of altering and enhancing aerodynamic performance of finite wings at moderate Reynolds numbers. The moving surface was established by a wide, lightweight, nylon belt that enveloped a wing's symmetric airfoil profile articulated via a friction drive cylinder such that the direction of the upper surface was in the direction of the free stream. A water tunnel visualization study accompanied wind tunnel testing at the University of Washington, Kirsten Wind Tunnel of finite wings. An experimental study was conducted to assess the application of a moving surface to affect boundary layers and circulation around airfoils for the purpose of altering and enhancing aerodynamic performance of finite wings at moderate Reynolds numbers. The moving surface was established by a wide, lightweight, nylon belt that enveloped a wing's symmetric airfoil profile articulated via a friction drive cylinder such that the direction of the upper surface was in the direction of the free stream. A water tunnel visualization study accompanied wind tunnel testing at the University of Washington, Kirsten Wind Tunnel of finite wings. The defining non-dimensional parameter for the system is the ratio of the surface velocity to the free stream velocity, us/Uo. Results show a general increase in lift with increasing us/Uo. The endurance parameter served as an additional metric for the system's performance. Examining the results of the endurance parameter shows general increase in endurance and lift with the moving surface activated. Peak performance in terms of increased endurance along with increased lift occurs at or slightly above us/Uo = 1. Water tunnel visualization showed a marked difference in the downwash for velocity ratios greater than 1, supporting the measured data. Reynolds numbers for this investigation were 1.9E5 and 4.3E5, relevant to the class of fixed wing, Tier-1, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

Evaluation of artificial time series microarray data for dynamic gene regulatory network inference.

PubMed

Xenitidis, P; Seimenis, I; Kakolyris, S; Adamopoulos, A

2017-08-07

High-throughput technology like microarrays is widely used in the inference of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). We focused on time series data since we are interested in the dynamics of GRNs and the identification of dynamic networks. We evaluated the amount of information that exists in artificial time series microarray data and the ability of an inference process to produce accurate models based on them. We used dynamic artificial gene regulatory networks in order to create artificial microarray data. Key features that characterize microarray data such as the time separation of directly triggered genes, the percentage of directly triggered genes and the triggering function type were altered in order to reveal the limits that are imposed by the nature of microarray data on the inference process. We examined the effect of various factors on the inference performance such as the network size, the presence of noise in microarray data, and the network sparseness. We used a system theory approach and examined the relationship between the pole placement of the inferred system and the inference performance. We examined the relationship between the inference performance in the time domain and the true system parameter identification. Simulation results indicated that time separation and the percentage of directly triggered genes are crucial factors. Also, network sparseness, the triggering function type and noise in input data affect the inference performance. When two factors were simultaneously varied, it was found that variation of one parameter significantly affects the dynamic response of the other. Crucial factors were also examined using a real GRN and acquired results confirmed simulation findings with artificial data. Different initial conditions were also used as an alternative triggering approach. Relevant results confirmed that the number of datasets constitutes the most significant parameter with regard to the inference performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amygdala and auditory cortex exhibit distinct sensitivity to relevant acoustic features of auditory emotions.

PubMed

Pannese, Alessia; Grandjean, Didier; Frühholz, Sascha

2016-12-01

Discriminating between auditory signals of different affective value is critical to successful social interaction. It is commonly held that acoustic decoding of such signals occurs in the auditory system, whereas affective decoding occurs in the amygdala. However, given that the amygdala receives direct subcortical projections that bypass the auditory cortex, it is possible that some acoustic decoding occurs in the amygdala as well, when the acoustic features are relevant for affective discrimination. We tested this hypothesis by combining functional neuroimaging with the neurophysiological phenomena of repetition suppression (RS) and repetition enhancement (RE) in human listeners. Our results show that both amygdala and auditory cortex responded differentially to physical voice features, suggesting that the amygdala and auditory cortex decode the affective quality of the voice not only by processing the emotional content from previously processed acoustic features, but also by processing the acoustic features themselves, when these are relevant to the identification of the voice's affective value. Specifically, we found that the auditory cortex is sensitive to spectral high-frequency voice cues when discriminating vocal anger from vocal fear and joy, whereas the amygdala is sensitive to vocal pitch when discriminating between negative vocal emotions (i.e., anger and fear). Vocal pitch is an instantaneously recognized voice feature, which is potentially transferred to the amygdala by direct subcortical projections. These results together provide evidence that, besides the auditory cortex, the amygdala too processes acoustic information, when this is relevant to the discrimination of auditory emotions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ketoprofen spray-dried microspheres based on Eudragit RS and RL: study of the manufacturing parameters.

PubMed

Rassu, Giovanna; Gavini, Elisabetta; Spada, Gianpiera; Giunchedi, Paolo; Marceddu, Salvatore

2008-11-01

The preparation of ketoprofen spray-dried microspheres can be affected by the long drug recrystallization time. Polymer type and drug-polymer ratio as well as manufacturing parameters affect the preparation. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the possibility to obtain ketoprofen spray-dried microspheres using the Eudragit RS and RL; the influence of the spray-drying parameters on morphology, dimension, and physical stability of microspheres was studied. Ketoprofen microspheres based on Eudragit blend can be prepared by spray-drying and the nebulization parameters do not influence significantly particle properties; nevertheless, they can be affected by drying and storage methods. No effect of the container material is found.

Identification of Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion (ADME) Genes Relevant to Steatosis Using a Differential Gene Expression Approach

EPA Science Inventory

Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameters represent important connections between exposure to chemicals and the activation of molecular initiating events of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) in cellular, tissue, and organ level targets. ADME parameters u...

Using HEC-HMS: Application to Karkheh river basin

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This paper aims to facilitate the use of HEC-HMS model using a systematic event-based technique for manual calibration of soil moisture accounting and snowmelt degree-day parameters. Manual calibration, which helps ensure the HEC-HMS parameter values are physically-relevant, is often a time-consumin...

Crystal viscoplasticity model for the creep-fatigue interactions in single-crystal Ni-base superalloy CMSX-8

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

Estrada Rodas, Ernesto A.; Neu, Richard W.

A crystal viscoplasticity (CVP) model for the creep-fatigue interactions of nickel-base superalloy CMSX-8 is proposed. At the microstructure scale of relevance, the superalloys are a composite material comprised of a γ phase and a γ' strengthening phase with unique deformation mechanisms that are highly dependent on temperature. Considering the differences in the deformation of the individual material phases is paramount to predicting the deformation behavior of superalloys at a wide range of temperatures. In this work, we account for the relevant deformation mechanisms that take place in both material phases by utilizing two additive strain rates to model the deformationmore » on each material phase. The model is capable of representing the creep-fatigue interactions in single-crystal superalloys for realistic 3-dimensional components in an Abaqus User Material Subroutine (UMAT). Using a set of material parameters calibrated to superalloy CMSX-8, the model predicts creep-fatigue, fatigue and thermomechanical fatigue behavior of this single-crystal superalloy. In conclusion, a sensitivity study of the material parameters is done to explore the effect on the deformation due to changes in the material parameters relevant to the microstructure.« less

Crystal viscoplasticity model for the creep-fatigue interactions in single-crystal Ni-base superalloy CMSX-8

DOE PAGES

Estrada Rodas, Ernesto A.; Neu, Richard W.

2017-09-11

A crystal viscoplasticity (CVP) model for the creep-fatigue interactions of nickel-base superalloy CMSX-8 is proposed. At the microstructure scale of relevance, the superalloys are a composite material comprised of a γ phase and a γ' strengthening phase with unique deformation mechanisms that are highly dependent on temperature. Considering the differences in the deformation of the individual material phases is paramount to predicting the deformation behavior of superalloys at a wide range of temperatures. In this work, we account for the relevant deformation mechanisms that take place in both material phases by utilizing two additive strain rates to model the deformationmore » on each material phase. The model is capable of representing the creep-fatigue interactions in single-crystal superalloys for realistic 3-dimensional components in an Abaqus User Material Subroutine (UMAT). Using a set of material parameters calibrated to superalloy CMSX-8, the model predicts creep-fatigue, fatigue and thermomechanical fatigue behavior of this single-crystal superalloy. In conclusion, a sensitivity study of the material parameters is done to explore the effect on the deformation due to changes in the material parameters relevant to the microstructure.« less

Autonomic Reactivity to Arousing Stimuli with Social and Non-social Relevance in Alexithymia

PubMed Central

Martínez-Velázquez, Eduardo S.; Honoré, Jacques; de Zorzi, Lucas; Ramos-Loyo, Julieta; Sequeira, Henrique

2017-01-01

Emotional difficulties in alexithymia and their social consequences have been linked to alterations in autonomic nervous system. However, most of previous studies did not take into account the distinction between the affective and the cognitive dimensions of the alexithymia, leading to inconsistent results. Aim: In this study, we compared the effects of both dimensions of alexithymia on the autonomic arousal to emotional and social visual stimulations. Methods: Skin conductance responses (SCRs) to items of the International Affective Pictures System characterized by emotional (unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant), social (with humans) or non-social (without humans) content were recorded in non-alexithymic (NA), affective (AA) and cognitive alexithymic (CA) participants, selected on the basis of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. All participants responded to questionnaires of empathy, social phobia, depression, and anxiety before the experiment and evaluated the arousal of the pictures after it. Results: Cognitive alexithymic group showed lower amplitudes of SCRs to pictures with social than without social relevance whereas the opposite pattern was observed for the NA group. Arousal emotional effects of the pictures on SCRs did not differ among groups. In addition, CA participants showed lower scores than NA in the Personal Taking sub-scale of the empathy questionnaire, while AA showed lower scores than NA in the fantasy sub-scale. The CA group showed higher social phobia, depression and anxiety scores, than the other two groups. Conclusion: This work has two original outcomes: first, affective alexithymics expressed lower empathic affective scores than other groups; second, alexithymia modulated the impact of the social relevance of the stimuli on the autonomic reactivity, this impact vanishing in affective alexithymics and reversing in cognitive alexithymics. Thus, though the groups could not be distinguished on the basis of emotional effect on SCRs, they clearly differed when the empathic characteristics and the autonomic impact of social relevance were considered. Finally, the described autonomic signature to social relevant information could contribute to elucidate the difficulty of alexithymics to deal with emotions during social transactions. PMID:28348539

Autonomic Reactivity to Arousing Stimuli with Social and Non-social Relevance in Alexithymia.

PubMed

Martínez-Velázquez, Eduardo S; Honoré, Jacques; de Zorzi, Lucas; Ramos-Loyo, Julieta; Sequeira, Henrique

2017-01-01

Emotional difficulties in alexithymia and their social consequences have been linked to alterations in autonomic nervous system. However, most of previous studies did not take into account the distinction between the affective and the cognitive dimensions of the alexithymia, leading to inconsistent results. Aim: In this study, we compared the effects of both dimensions of alexithymia on the autonomic arousal to emotional and social visual stimulations. Methods: Skin conductance responses (SCRs) to items of the International Affective Pictures System characterized by emotional (unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant), social (with humans) or non-social (without humans) content were recorded in non-alexithymic (NA), affective (AA) and cognitive alexithymic (CA) participants, selected on the basis of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. All participants responded to questionnaires of empathy, social phobia, depression, and anxiety before the experiment and evaluated the arousal of the pictures after it. Results: Cognitive alexithymic group showed lower amplitudes of SCRs to pictures with social than without social relevance whereas the opposite pattern was observed for the NA group. Arousal emotional effects of the pictures on SCRs did not differ among groups. In addition, CA participants showed lower scores than NA in the Personal Taking sub-scale of the empathy questionnaire, while AA showed lower scores than NA in the fantasy sub-scale. The CA group showed higher social phobia, depression and anxiety scores, than the other two groups. Conclusion: This work has two original outcomes: first, affective alexithymics expressed lower empathic affective scores than other groups; second, alexithymia modulated the impact of the social relevance of the stimuli on the autonomic reactivity, this impact vanishing in affective alexithymics and reversing in cognitive alexithymics. Thus, though the groups could not be distinguished on the basis of emotional effect on SCRs, they clearly differed when the empathic characteristics and the autonomic impact of social relevance were considered. Finally, the described autonomic signature to social relevant information could contribute to elucidate the difficulty of alexithymics to deal with emotions during social transactions.

Androstadienone's influence on the perception of facial and vocal attractiveness is not sex specific.

PubMed

Ferdenzi, Camille; Delplanque, Sylvain; Atanassova, Reni; Sander, David

2016-04-01

The androgen steroid androstadienone, an odorous compound emitted from the human axillary region, has recurrently been considered as a candidate compound involved in human chemical communication and mate choice. Although perception of androstadienone has been shown to influence several affective (mood), attentional, physiological and neural parameters, studies investigating its impact on human attractiveness remain unpersuasive because of incomplete designs (e.g., only female participants) and contradictory results. The aim of this study was to investigate how androstadienone may influence others' attractiveness. Specifically, we used a complete design (male and female raters, male and female faces and voices) to determine whether androstadienone influences the perception of social stimuli in a sex-specific manner, which would favor pheromonal-like properties of the compound, or in a more general manner, which would suggest that the compound has broader influences on human psychological responses. After comparing the ratings of men and women who were exposed to androstadienone masked in clove oil with those of men and women who were exposed to clove oil alone, we found that androstadienone enhanced the perceived attractiveness of emotionally relevant stimuli (opposite-sex stimuli in men and in fertile women). Response times for categorizing the stimuli as attractive or not were also affected by androstadienone, with longer response times in men and in fertile women and shorter response times in non-fertile women, irrespective of the stimulus sex. The results favor the hypothesis of general effects over sex-specific effects of androstadienone, thus questioning the relevance of focusing on that particular compound in the study of human attractiveness through body odor and encouraging the search for other semiochemicals that might be significant for human mate choice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prognostic relevance of the expressions of CAV1 and TES genes on 7q31 in melanoma.

PubMed

Vizkeleti, Laura; Ecsedi, Szilvia; Rakosy, Zsuzsa; Begany, Agnes; Emri, Gabriella; Toth, Reka; Orosz, Adrienn; Szollosi, Attila Gabor; Mehes, Gabor; Adany, Roza; Balazs, Margit

2012-01-01

The 7q31 locus contains several genes affected in cancer progression. Although evidences exist regarding its impact on tumorigenesis, the role of genetic alterations and the expressions of locus-related genes are still controversial. Our study aimed to define the 7q31 copy number alterations in primary melanomas, primary-metastatic tumor pairs and cell lines. Data were correlated with clinical-pathological parameters. Genetic data show that 7q31 copy number distribution was heterogeneous in both primary and metastatic tumors. Extra copies were highly accompanied by chromosome 7 polisomy, and significantly increased in primary lesions with poor prognosis. Additionally, we determined the mRNA and protein levels of the locus-related CAV1 and TES genes. TES mRNA level was associated with metastatic location. CAV1 mRNA and protein levels were significantly higher in thicker tumors, however, lack of protein was also observed in a subpopulation of thin lesions. Expressions of CAV1 and TES were not associated with 7q31 alterations. In conclusion, 7q31 amplification can predict unfavorable outcome. Alterations of TES mRNA level may predict the location of metastasis. CAV1 possibly affect the cancer cell invasion.

The Choice of Euthanasia Method Affects Metabolic Serum Biomarkers

PubMed Central

Pierozan, Paula; Jernerén, Fredrik; Ransome, Yusuf; Karlsson, Oskar

2018-01-01

The impact of euthanasia methods on endocrine and metabolic parameters in rodent tissues and biological fluids is highly relevant for the accuracy and reliability of the data collected. However, few studies concerning this issue are found in the literature. We compared the effects of three euthanasia methods currently used in animal experimentation (i.e. decapitation, CO2 inhalation and pentobarbital injection) on the serum levels of corticosterone, insulin, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol and a range of free fatty acids in rats. The corticosterone and insulin levels were not significantly affected by the euthanasia protocol used. However, euthanasia by an overdose of pentobarbital (120 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection) increased the serum levels of glucose, and decreased cholesterol, stearic and arachidonic acids levels compared with euthanasia by CO2 inhalation and decapitation. CO2 inhalation appears to increase the serum levels of triglycerides, while euthanasia by decapitation induced no individual discrepant biomarker level. We conclude that choice of the euthanasia methods is critical for the reliability of serum biomarkers and indicate the importance of selecting adequate euthanasia methods for metabolic analysis in rodents. Decapitation without anaesthesia may be the most adequate method of euthanasia when taking both animal welfare and data quality in consideration. PMID:28244216

Influence of mass transfer on bubble plume hydrodynamics.

PubMed

Lima Neto, Iran E; Parente, Priscila A B

2016-03-01

This paper presents an integral model to evaluate the impact of gas transfer on the hydrodynamics of bubble plumes. The model is based on the Gaussian type self-similarity and functional relationships for the entrainment coefficient and factor of momentum amplification due to turbulence. The impact of mass transfer on bubble plume hydrodynamics is investigated considering different bubble sizes, gas flow rates and water depths. The results revealed a relevant impact when fine bubbles are considered, even for moderate water depths. Additionally, model simulations indicate that for weak bubble plumes (i.e., with relatively low flow rates and large depths and slip velocities), both dissolution and turbulence can affect plume hydrodynamics, which demonstrates the importance of taking the momentum amplification factor relationship into account. For deeper water conditions, simulations of bubble dissolution/decompression using the present model and classical models available in the literature resulted in a very good agreement for both aeration and oxygenation processes. Sensitivity analysis showed that the water depth, followed by the bubble size and the flow rate are the most important parameters that affect plume hydrodynamics. Lastly, dimensionless correlations are proposed to assess the impact of mass transfer on plume hydrodynamics, including both the aeration and oxygenation modes.

Evaluating ambivalence: social-cognitive and affective brain regions associated with ambivalent decision-making

PubMed Central

van Harreveld, Frenk; Rotteveel, Mark; Lelieveld, Gert-Jan; Crone, Eveline A.

2014-01-01

Ambivalence is a state of inconsistency that is often experienced as affectively aversive. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated the role of cognitive and social-affective processes in the experience of ambivalence and coping with its negative consequences. We examined participants’ brain activity during the dichotomous evaluation (pro vs contra) of pretested ambivalent (e.g. alcohol), positive (e.g. happiness) and negative (e.g. genocide) word stimuli. We manipulated evaluation relevance by varying the probability of evaluation consequences, under the hypothesis that ambivalence is experienced as more negative when outcomes are relevant. When making ambivalent evaluations, more activity was found in the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, the temporal parietal junction (TPJ) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, for both high and low evaluation relevance. After statistically conservative corrections, activity in the TPJ and PCC/precuneus was negatively correlated with experienced ambivalence after scanning, as measured by Priester and Petty’s felt ambivalence scale (1996). The findings show that cognitive and social-affective brain areas are involved in the experience of ambivalence. However, these networks are differently associated with subsequent reduction of ambivalence, thus highlighting the importance of understanding both cognitive and affective processes involved in ambivalent decision-making. PMID:23685774

Speech-on-speech masking in a front-back dimension and analysis of binaural parameters in rooms using MLS methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aaronson, Neil L.

This dissertation deals with questions important to the problem of human sound source localization in rooms, starting with perceptual studies and moving on to physical measurements made in rooms. In Chapter 1, a perceptual study is performed relevant to a specific phenomenon the effect of speech reflections occurring in the front-back dimension and the ability of humans to segregate that from unreflected speech. Distracters were presented from the same source as the target speech, a loudspeaker directly in front of the listener, and also from a loudspeaker directly behind the listener, delayed relative to the front loudspeaker. Steps were taken to minimize the contributions of binaural difference cues. For all delays within +/-32 ms, a release from informational masking of about 2 dB occurred. This suggested that human listeners are able to segregate speech sources based on spatial cues, even with minimal binaural cues. In moving on to physical measurements in rooms, a method was sought for simultaneous measurement of room characteristics such as impulse response (IR) and reverberation time (RT60), and binaural parameters such as interaural time difference (ITD), interaural level difference (ILD), and the interaural cross-correlation function and coherence. Chapter 2 involves investigations into the usefulness of maximum length sequences (MLS) for these purposes. Comparisons to random telegraph noise (RTN) show that MLS performs better in the measurement of stationary and room transfer functions, IR, and RT60 by an order of magnitude in RMS percent error, even after Wiener filtering and exponential time-domain filtering have improved the accuracy of RTN measurements. Measurements were taken in real rooms in an effort to understand how the reverberant characteristics of rooms affect binaural parameters important to sound source localization. Chapter 3 deals with interaural coherence, a parameter important for localization and perception of auditory source width. MLS were used to measure waveform and envelope coherences in two rooms for various source distances and 0° azimuth through a head-and-torso simulator (KEMAR). A relationship is sought that relates these two types of coherence, since envelope coherence, while an important quantity, is generally less accessible than waveform coherence. A power law relationship is shown to exist between the two that works well within and across bands, for any source distance, and is robust to reverberant conditions of the room. Measurements of ITD, ILD, and coherence in rooms give insight into the way rooms affect these parameters, and in turn, the ability of listeners to localize sounds in rooms. Such measurements, along with room properties, are made and analyzed using MLS methods in Chapter 4. It was found that the pinnae cause incoherence for sound sources incident between 30° and 90°. In human listeners, this does not seem to adversely affect performance in lateralization experiments. The cause of poor coherence in rooms was studied as part of Chapter 4 as well. It was found that rooms affect coherence by introducing variance into the ITD spectra within the bands in which it is measured. A mathematical model to predict the interaural coherence within a band given the standard deviation of the ITD spectrum and the center frequency of the band gives an exponential relationship. This is found to work well in predicting measured coherence given ITD spectrum variance. The pinnae seem to affect the ITD spectrum in a similar way at incident sound angles for which coherence is poor in an anechoic environment.

Delivery of Flavonoids and Saponins from Black Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Seed Coats Incorporated into Whole Wheat Bread

PubMed Central

Chávez-Santoscoy, Rocio A.; Lazo-Vélez, Marco A.; Serna-Sáldivar, Sergio O.; Gutiérrez-Uribe, Janet A.

2016-01-01

Cereal-based products can be used as vehicles for the delivery of relevant bioactive compounds since they are staple foods for most cultures throughout the world. The health promoting benefits of flavonoids and saponins contained in black bean seed coats have been previously described. In the present work, the effect of adding flavonoids and saponins from black bean seed coat to the typical yeast-leavened whole wheat bread formulation in terms of bread features, organoleptic properties and phytochemical profile was studied. The retention of bioactive compounds was determined and the inhibitory effects of in vitro enzyme digested samples on two colon cancer cell lines (Caco-2 and HT29) was evaluated. The addition of bioactive compounds did not significantly affect baking properties or texture parameters. Among organoleptic properties of enriched breads, only crumb color was affected by the addition of bioactive compounds. However, the use of whole wheat flour partially masked the effect on color. More than 90% of added flavonoids and saponins and 80% of anthocyanins were retained in bread after baking. However, saponins were reduced more than 50% after the in vitro enzyme digestion. The black bean seed coat phytochemicals recovered after in vitro enzyme digestion of enriched breads significantly reduced by 20% the viability of colon cancer cells without affecting standard fibroblast cells (p < 0.05). PMID:26901186

Delivery of Flavonoids and Saponins from Black Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Seed Coats Incorporated into Whole Wheat Bread.

PubMed

Chávez-Santoscoy, Rocio A; Lazo-Vélez, Marco A; Serna-Sáldivar, Sergio O; Gutiérrez-Uribe, Janet A

2016-02-17

Cereal-based products can be used as vehicles for the delivery of relevant bioactive compounds since they are staple foods for most cultures throughout the world. The health promoting benefits of flavonoids and saponins contained in black bean seed coats have been previously described. In the present work, the effect of adding flavonoids and saponins from black bean seed coat to the typical yeast-leavened whole wheat bread formulation in terms of bread features, organoleptic properties and phytochemical profile was studied. The retention of bioactive compounds was determined and the inhibitory effects of in vitro enzyme digested samples on two colon cancer cell lines (Caco-2 and HT29) was evaluated. The addition of bioactive compounds did not significantly affect baking properties or texture parameters. Among organoleptic properties of enriched breads, only crumb color was affected by the addition of bioactive compounds. However, the use of whole wheat flour partially masked the effect on color. More than 90% of added flavonoids and saponins and 80% of anthocyanins were retained in bread after baking. However, saponins were reduced more than 50% after the in vitro enzyme digestion. The black bean seed coat phytochemicals recovered after in vitro enzyme digestion of enriched breads significantly reduced by 20% the viability of colon cancer cells without affecting standard fibroblast cells (p < 0.05).

Nano/microvehicles for efficient delivery and (bio)sensing at the cellular level

PubMed Central

Esteban-Fernández de Ávila, B.; Yáñez-Sedeño, P.

2017-01-01

A perspective review of recent strategies involving the use of nano/microvehicles to address the key challenges associated with delivery and (bio)sensing at the cellular level is presented. The main types and characteristics of the different nano/microvehicles used for these cellular applications are discussed, including fabrication pathways, propulsion (catalytic, magnetic, acoustic or biological) and navigation strategies, and relevant parameters affecting their propulsion performance and sensing and delivery capabilities. Thereafter, selected applications are critically discussed. An emphasis is made on enhancing the extra- and intra-cellular biosensing capabilities, fast cell internalization, rapid inter- or intra-cellular movement, efficient payload delivery and targeted on-demand controlled release in order to greatly improve the monitoring and modulation of cellular processes. A critical discussion of selected breakthrough applications illustrates how these smart multifunctional nano/microdevices operate as nano/microcarriers and sensors at the intra- and extra-cellular levels. These advances allow both the real-time biosensing of relevant targets and processes even at a single cell level, and the delivery of different cargoes (drugs, functional proteins, oligonucleotides and cells) for therapeutics, gene silencing/transfection and assisted fertilization, while overcoming challenges faced by current affinity biosensors and delivery vehicles. Key challenges for the future and the envisioned opportunities and future perspectives of this remarkably exciting field are discussed. PMID:29147499

Experimental study of the response functions of direct-reading instruments measuring surface-area concentration of airborne nanostructured particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bau, Sébastien; Witschger, Olivier; Gensdarmes, François; Thomas, Dominique

2009-05-01

An increasing number of experimental and theoretical studies focus on airborne nanoparticles (NP) in relation with many aspects of risk assessment to move forward our understanding of the hazards, the actual exposures in the workplace, and the limits of engineering controls and personal protective equipment with regard to NP. As a consequence, generating airborne NP with controlled properties constitutes an important challenge. In parallel, toxicological studies have been carried out, and most of them support the concept that surface-area could be a relevant metric for characterizing exposure to airborne NP [1]. To provide NP surface-area concentration measurements, some direct-reading instruments have been designed, based on attachment rate of unipolar ions to NP by diffusion. However, very few information is available concerning the performances of these instruments and the parameters that could affect their responses. In this context, our work aims at characterizing the actual available instruments providing airborne NP surface-area concentration. The instruments (a- LQ1-DC, Matter Engineering; b-AeroTrak™ 9000, TSI; c- NSAM, TSI model 3550;) are thought to be relevant for further workplace exposure characterization and monitoring. To achieve our work, an experimental facility (named CAIMAN) was specially designed, built and characterized.

Biology, Bionomics and Molecular Biology of Anopheles sinensis Wiedemann 1828 (Diptera: Culicidae), Main Malaria Vector in China

PubMed Central

Feng, Xinyu; Zhang, Shaosen; Huang, Fang; Zhang, Li; Feng, Jun; Xia, Zhigui; Zhou, Hejun; Hu, Wei; Zhou, Shuisen

2017-01-01

China has set a goal to eliminate all malaria in the country by 2020, but it is unclear if current understanding of malaria vectors and transmission is sufficient to achieve this objective. Anopheles sinensis is the most widespread malaria vector specie in China, which is also responsible for vivax malaria outbreak in central China. We reviewed literature from 1954 to 2016 on An. sinensis with emphasis on biology, bionomics, and molecular biology. A total of 538 references were relevant and included. An. sienesis occurs in 29 Chinese provinces. Temperature can affect most life-history parameters. Most An. sinensis are zoophilic, but sometimes they are facultatively anthropophilic. Sporozoite analysis demonstrated An. sinensis efficacy on Plasmodium vivax transmission. An. sinensis was not stringently refractory to P. falciparum under experimental conditions, however, sporozoite was not found in salivary glands of field collected An. sinensis. The literature on An. sienesis biology and bionomics was abundant, but molecular studies, such as gene functions and mechanisms, were limited. Only 12 molecules (genes, proteins or enzymes) have been studied. In addition, there were considerable untapped omics resources for potential vector control tools. Existing information on An. sienesis could serve as a baseline for advanced research on biology, bionomics and genetics relevant to vector control strategies. PMID:28848504

Modeling In Vivo Interactions of Engineered Nanoparticles in the Pulmonary Alveolar Lining Fluid

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Dwaipayan; Porter, Alexandra; Ryan, Mary; Schwander, Stephan; Chung, Kian Fan; Tetley, Teresa; Zhang, Junfeng; Georgopoulos, Panos

2015-01-01

Increasing use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in consumer products may result in widespread human inhalation exposures. Due to their high surface area per unit mass, inhaled ENMs interact with multiple components of the pulmonary system, and these interactions affect their ultimate fate in the body. Modeling of ENM transport and clearance in vivo has traditionally treated tissues as well-mixed compartments, without consideration of nanoscale interaction and transformation mechanisms. ENM agglomeration, dissolution and transport, along with adsorption of biomolecules, such as surfactant lipids and proteins, cause irreversible changes to ENM morphology and surface properties. The model presented in this article quantifies ENM transformation and transport in the alveolar air to liquid interface and estimates eventual alveolar cell dosimetry. This formulation brings together established concepts from colloidal and surface science, physics, and biochemistry to provide a stochastic framework capable of capturing essential in vivo processes in the pulmonary alveolar lining layer. The model has been implemented for in vitro solutions with parameters estimated from relevant published in vitro measurements and has been extended here to in vivo systems simulating human inhalation exposures. Applications are presented for four different ENMs, and relevant kinetic rates are estimated, demonstrating an approach for improving human in vivo pulmonary dosimetry. PMID:26240755

Disposable bioluminescence-based biosensor for detection of bacterial count in food.

PubMed

Luo, Jinping; Liu, Xiaohong; Tian, Qing; Yue, Weiwei; Zeng, Jing; Chen, Guangquan; Cai, Xinxia

2009-11-01

A biosensor for rapid detection of bacterial count based on adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence has been developed. The biosensor is composed of a key sensitive element and a photomultiplier tube used as a detector element. The disposable sensitive element consists of a sampler, a cartridge where intracellular ATP is chemically extracted from bacteria, and a microtube where the extracted ATP reacts with the luciferin-luciferase reagent to produce bioluminescence. The bioluminescence signal is transformed into relevant electrical signal by the detector and further measured with a homemade luminometer. Parameters affecting the amount of the extracted ATP, including the types of ATP extractants, the concentrations of ATP extractant, and the relevant neutralizing reagent, were optimized. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the biosensor showed a linear response to standard bacteria in a concentration range from 10(3) to 10(8) colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter with a correlation coefficient of 0.925 (n=22) within 5min. Moreover, the bacterial count of real food samples obtained by the biosensor correlated well with those by the conventional plate count method. The proposed biosensor, with characteristics of low cost, easy operation, and fast response, provides potential application to rapid evaluation of bacterial contamination in the food industry, environment monitoring, and other fields.

Tissue factor-dependent coagulation activation by heme: A thromboelastometry study.

PubMed

de Souza, Gleice Regina; Hounkpe, Bidossessi Wilfried; Fiusa, Maiara Marx Luz; Colella, Marina Pereira; Annichino-Bizzacchi, Joyce M; Traina, Fabiola; Costa, Fernando Ferreira; De Paula, Erich Vinicius

2017-01-01

Heme has been characterized as potent trigger of inflammation. In hemostasis, although heme has been shown to both induce and inhibit different compartments of hemostasis, its net effect on the hemostatic balance, and the biological relevance of these effects remain to be determined. Herein we evaluated the effect of heme on hemostasis using a global assay able to generate clinically relevant data in several other complex hemostatic diseases. Citrated whole blood samples from healthy participants were stimulated by heme or vehicle and incubated for 4h at 37°C. Rotational thromboelastometry was immediately performed. The participation of tissue factor in coagulation activation was evaluated using inhibitory antibody. Heme was able of inducing ex vivo coagulation activation in whole blood, affecting predominantly parameters associated with the initial phases of clot formation. This activation effect was at least partially dependent on hematopoietic tissue factor, since the effects of heme were partially abrogated by the inhibition of human tissue factor. In conclusion, using a global hemostasis assay, our study confirmed that heme is able to activate coagulation in whole blood, in a tissue factor-dependent way. These findings could explain the disturbance in hemostatic balance observed in conditions associated with the release of heme such as sickle cell disease.

Progress in Fast Ignition Studies with Electrons and Protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacKinnon, A. J.; Akli, K. U.; Bartal, T.; Beg, F. N.; Chawla, S.; Chen, C. D.; Chen, H.; Chen, S.; Chowdhury, E.; Fedosejevs, R.; Freeman, R. R.; Hey, D.; Higginson, D.; Key, M. H.; King, J. A.; Link, A.; Ma, T.; MacPhee, A. G.; Offermann, D.; Ovchinnikov, V.; Pasley, J.; Patel, P. K.; Ping, Y.; Schumacher, D. W.; Stephens, R. B.; Tsui, Y. Y.; Wei, M. S.; Van Woerkom, L. D.

2009-09-01

Isochoric heating of inertially confined fusion plasmas by laser driven MeV electrons or protons is an area of great topical interest in the inertial confinement fusion community, particularly with respect to the fast ignition (FI) concept for initiating burn in a fusion capsule. In order to investigate critical aspects needed for a FI point design, experiments were performed to study 1) laser-to-electrons or protons conversion issues and 2) laser-cone interactions including prepulse effects. A large suite of diagnostics was utilized to study these important parameters. Using cone—wire surrogate targets it is found that pre-pulse levels on medium scale lasers such as Titan at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produce long scale length plasmas that strongly effect coupling of the laser to FI relevant electrons inside cones. The cone wall thickness also affects coupling to the wire. Conversion efficiency to protons has also been measured and modeled as a function of target thickness, material. Conclusions from the proton and electron source experiments will be presented. Recent advances in modeling electron transport and innovative target designs for reducing igniter energy and increasing gain curves will also be discussed. In conclusion, a program of study will be presented based on understanding the fundamental physics of the electron or proton source relevant to FI.

[Adolescent scoliosis : From deformity to treatment].

PubMed

Schulze, A; Schrading, S; Betsch, M; Quack, V; Tingart, M

2015-11-01

Scoliosis affects up to 6 % of the population. The resulting spine deformity, the increasing risk of back pain, cosmetic aspects, pulmonary disorders if the Cobb angle is > 80°, and the progress of the deformity to > 50° after the end of growth indicate non-operative or operative therapy. In daily clinical practice, the classifications of scoliosis allow the therapy to be adapted. Classifications consider deformity, topography of the scoliosis, and the age at diagnosis. This publication gives an overview of the relevant and most common classifications in the treatment of adolescent scoliosis. For evaluation, the deformity measurement on the coronary radiographic projection of the total spine (Cobb angle) is relevant to therapy. The classification of topography, form, and the sagittal profile of the deformity of the spine are useful for preoperative planning of the fusion level. Classifications that take into account the age at the time of the diagnosis of scoliosis differentiate among early onset scoliosis (younger than 10 years of age), adolescent scoliosis (up to the end of growth), and adult scoliosis. Early onset scoliosis is subdivided by age and etiology. Therapy is derived from the classification of clinical and radiological findings. Classifications that take into account clinical and radiological parameters are essential components of modern scoliosis therapy.

Controlled cell-seeding methodologies: a first step toward clinically relevant bone tissue engineering strategies.

PubMed

Impens, Saartje; Chen, Yantian; Mullens, Steven; Luyten, Frank; Schrooten, Jan

2010-12-01

The repair of large and complex bone defects could be helped by a cell-based bone tissue engineering strategy. A reliable and consistent cell-seeding methodology is a mandatory step in bringing bone tissue engineering into the clinic. However, optimization of the cell-seeding step is only relevant when it can be reliably evaluated. The cell seeding efficiency (CSE) plays a fundamental role herein. Results showed that cell lysis and the definition used to determine the CSE played a key role in quantifying the CSE. The definition of CSE should therefore be consistent and unambiguous. The study of the influence of five drop-seeding-related parameters within the studied test conditions showed that (i) the cell density and (ii) the seeding vessel did not significantly affect the CSE, whereas (iii) the volume of seeding medium-to-free scaffold volume ratio (MFR), (iv) the seeding time, and (v) the scaffold morphology did. Prolonging the incubation time increased the CSE up to a plateau value at 4 h. Increasing the MFR or permeability by changing the morphology of the scaffolds significantly reduced the CSE. These results confirm that cell seeding optimization is needed and that an evidence-based selection of the seeding conditions is favored.

Biology, Bionomics and Molecular Biology of Anopheles sinensis Wiedemann 1828 (Diptera: Culicidae), Main Malaria Vector in China.

PubMed

Feng, Xinyu; Zhang, Shaosen; Huang, Fang; Zhang, Li; Feng, Jun; Xia, Zhigui; Zhou, Hejun; Hu, Wei; Zhou, Shuisen

2017-01-01

China has set a goal to eliminate all malaria in the country by 2020, but it is unclear if current understanding of malaria vectors and transmission is sufficient to achieve this objective. Anopheles sinensis is the most widespread malaria vector specie in China, which is also responsible for vivax malaria outbreak in central China. We reviewed literature from 1954 to 2016 on An. sinensis with emphasis on biology, bionomics, and molecular biology. A total of 538 references were relevant and included. An. sienesis occurs in 29 Chinese provinces. Temperature can affect most life-history parameters. Most An. sinensis are zoophilic, but sometimes they are facultatively anthropophilic. Sporozoite analysis demonstrated An. sinensis efficacy on Plasmodium vivax transmission. An. sinensis was not stringently refractory to P. falciparum under experimental conditions, however, sporozoite was not found in salivary glands of field collected An. sinensis . The literature on An. sienesis biology and bionomics was abundant, but molecular studies, such as gene functions and mechanisms, were limited. Only 12 molecules (genes, proteins or enzymes) have been studied. In addition, there were considerable untapped omics resources for potential vector control tools. Existing information on An. sienesis could serve as a baseline for advanced research on biology, bionomics and genetics relevant to vector control strategies.

Monte Carlo modeling of light-tissue interactions in narrow band imaging.

PubMed

Le, Du V N; Wang, Quanzeng; Ramella-Roman, Jessica C; Pfefer, T Joshua

2013-01-01

Light-tissue interactions that influence vascular contrast enhancement in narrow band imaging (NBI) have not been the subject of extensive theoretical study. In order to elucidate relevant mechanisms in a systematic and quantitative manner we have developed and validated a Monte Carlo model of NBI and used it to study the effect of device and tissue parameters, specifically, imaging wavelength (415 versus 540 nm) and vessel diameter and depth. Simulations provided quantitative predictions of contrast-including up to 125% improvement in small, superficial vessel contrast for 415 over 540 nm. Our findings indicated that absorption rather than scattering-the mechanism often cited in prior studies-was the dominant factor behind spectral variations in vessel depth-selectivity. Narrow-band images of a tissue-simulating phantom showed good agreement in terms of trends and quantitative values. Numerical modeling represents a powerful tool for elucidating the factors that affect the performance of spectral imaging approaches such as NBI.

New method to evaluate the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction near threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrera, María S.; Moreno, Gustavo A.; Kreiner, Andrés J.

2015-04-01

In this work a complete description of the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction near threshold is given using center-of-mass and relative coordinates. It is shown that this standard approach, not used before in this context, leads to a simple mathematical representation which gives easy access to all relevant quantities in the reaction and allows a precise numerical implementation. It also allows in a simple way to include proton beam-energy spread affects. The method, implemented as a C++ code, was validated both with numerical and experimental data finding a good agreement. This tool is also used here to analyze scattered published measurements such as (p, n) cross sections, differential and total neutron yields for thick targets. Using these data we derive a consistent set of parameters to evaluate neutron production near threshold. Sensitivity of the results to data uncertainty and the possibility of incorporating new measurements are also discussed.

Accuracy of assessing the level of impulse sound from distant sources.

PubMed

Wszołek, Tadeusz; Kłaczyński, Maciej

2007-01-01

Impulse sound events are characterised by ultra high pressures and low frequencies. Lower frequency sounds are generally less attenuated over a given distance in the atmosphere than higher frequencies. Thus, impulse sounds can be heard over greater distances and will be more affected by the environment. To calculate a long-term average immission level it is necessary to apply weighting factors like the probability of the occurrence of each weather condition during the relevant time period. This means that when measuring impulse noise at a long distance it is necessary to follow environmental parameters in many points along the way sound travels and also to have a database of sound transfer functions in the long term. The paper analyses the uncertainty of immission measurement results of impulse sound from cladding and destroying explosive materials. The influence of environmental conditions on the way sound travels is the focus of this paper.

Metal–organic framework based mixed matrix membranes: a solution for highly efficient CO2 capture?† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4cs00437j Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Seoane, Beatriz; Coronas, Joaquin; Gascon, Ignacio; Benavides, Miren Etxeberria; Karvan, Oğuz; Caro, Jürgen; Kapteijn, Freek

2015-01-01

The field of metal–organic framework based mixed matrix membranes (M4s) is critically reviewed, with special emphasis on their application in CO2 capture during energy generation. After introducing the most relevant parameters affecting membrane performance, we define targets in terms of selectivity and productivity based on existing literature on process design for pre- and post-combustion CO2 capture. Subsequently, the state of the art in M4s is reviewed against these targets. Because final application of these membranes will only be possible if thin separation layers can be produced, the latest advances in the manufacture of M4 hollow fibers are discussed. Finally, the recent efforts in understanding the separation performance of these complex composite materials and future research directions are outlined. PMID:25692487

Multi-Scale Modeling of Liquid Phase Sintering Affected by Gravity: Preliminary Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olevsky, Eugene; German, Randall M.

2012-01-01

A multi-scale simulation concept taking into account impact of gravity on liquid phase sintering is described. The gravity influence can be included at both the micro- and macro-scales. At the micro-scale, the diffusion mass-transport is directionally modified in the framework of kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations to include the impact of gravity. The micro-scale simulations can provide the values of the constitutive parameters for macroscopic sintering simulations. At the macro-scale, we are attempting to embed a continuum model of sintering into a finite-element framework that includes the gravity forces and substrate friction. If successful, the finite elements analysis will enable predictions relevant to space-based processing, including size and shape and property predictions. Model experiments are underway to support the models via extraction of viscosity moduli versus composition, particle size, heating rate, temperature and time.

Crosstalk error correction through dynamical decoupling of single-qubit gates in capacitively coupled singlet-triplet semiconductor spin qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buterakos, Donovan; Throckmorton, Robert E.; Das Sarma, S.

2018-01-01

In addition to magnetic field and electric charge noise adversely affecting spin-qubit operations, performing single-qubit gates on one of multiple coupled singlet-triplet qubits presents a new challenge: crosstalk, which is inevitable (and must be minimized) in any multiqubit quantum computing architecture. We develop a set of dynamically corrected pulse sequences that are designed to cancel the effects of both types of noise (i.e., field and charge) as well as crosstalk to leading order, and provide parameters for these corrected sequences for all 24 of the single-qubit Clifford gates. We then provide an estimate of the error as a function of the noise and capacitive coupling to compare the fidelity of our corrected gates to their uncorrected versions. Dynamical error correction protocols presented in this work are important for the next generation of singlet-triplet qubit devices where coupling among many qubits will become relevant.

Chemometric analysis of minerals and trace elements in Sicilian wines from two different grape cultivars.

PubMed

Potortί, Angela Giorgia; Lo Turco, Vincenzo; Saitta, Marcello; Bua, Giuseppe Daniel; Tropea, Alessia; Dugo, Giacomo; Di Bella, Giuseppa

2017-05-01

Chemometric analysis are used for food authenticity evaluation, correlating botanical and geographical origins with food chemical composition. This research was carried out in order to prove that it is possible linked red wines to Nero d'Avola and Syrah cultivars of Vitis vinifera according to their mineral content, while the values of the physical and chemical parameters do not affect relevantly this discrimination. The levels of mineral elements were determined by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Samples from cv Nero d'Avola had the highest content of Zn, Cr, Ni, As and Cd, whereas the highest mineral concentration in cv Syrah samples was represented by K, Mg, Cu, and Sb. The research highlights that it is possible linked red wines to Nero d'Avola and Syrah cultivars of V. vinifera according to their mineral contents, adding knowledge to the determination studies of the wine botanical origin.

Thermodynamic signature of secondary nano-emulsion formation by isothermal titration calorimetry.

PubMed

Fotticchia, Iolanda; Fotticchia, Teresa; Mattia, Carlo Andrea; Netti, Paolo Antonio; Vecchione, Raffaele; Giancola, Concetta

2014-12-09

The stabilization of oil in water nano-emulsions by means of a polymer coating is extremely important; it prolongs the shelf life of the product and makes it suitable for a variety of applications ranging from nutraceutics to cosmetics and pharmaceutics. To date, an effective methodology to assess the best formulations in terms of thermodynamic stability has yet to be designed. Here, we perform a complete physicochemical characterization based on isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) compared to conventional dynamic light scattering (DLS) to identify polymer concentration domains that are thermodynamically stable and to define the degree of stability through thermodynamic functions depending upon any relevant parameter affecting the stability itself, such as type of polymer coating, droplet distance, etc. For instance, the method was proven by measuring the energetics in the case of two different biopolymers, chitosan and poly-L-lysine, and for different concentrations of the emulsion coated with poly-L-lysine.

Compound- and sex-specific effects on programming of energy and immune homeostasis in adult C57BL/6JxFVB mice after perinatal TCDD and PCB 153

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

Esterik, J.C.J. van, E-mail: joantine.van.esterik@rivm.nl; Department of Chemistry and Biology, Institute for Environmental Studies; Verharen, H.W., E-mail: henny.verharen@rivm.nl

Early life exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds has been linked to chronic diseases later in life, like obesity and related metabolic disorders. We exposed C57BL/6JxFVB hybrid mice to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and the constitutive androstane receptor/pregnane X receptor agonist polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB 153) in an experimental design relevant for human exposure. Exposure occurred during gestation and lactation via maternal feed to a wide dose range (TCDD: 10–10,000 pg/kg body weight/day; PCB 153: 0.09–1406 μg/kg body weight/d). Then exposure was ceased and offspring were followed up to 1 year of age. Metabolic parameters like body weight,more » fat pad weights, glucose tolerance, endocrine serum profile, and neurobehavioral and immunological parameters were determined. Body weight was transiently affected by both compounds throughout the follow-up. TCDD-exposed males showed decreased fat pad and spleen weights and an increase in IL-4 production of splenic immune cells. In contrast, females showed increased fat pad weights and production of IFNγ. PCB 153-exposed males showed an increase in glucose, whereas females showed an increase in glucagon, a decrease in pancreas weight, and an increase in thymus weight. In conclusion, early life exposure to TCDD appears to affect programming of energy and immune homeostasis in offspring, whereas the effects of perinatal PCB 153 were mainly on programming of glucose homeostasis. Both compounds act sex-specifically. Lowest derived BMDLs (lower bounds of the (two sided) 90%-confidence interval for the benchmark dose) for both compounds are not lower than current tolerable daily intakes. - Highlights: • Early life exposure to TCDD affects programming of energy and immune homeostasis. • Early life exposure to PCB 153 affects programming of energy homeostasis. • Both compounds act sex-specifically. • Lowest derived BMDLs for both TCDD and PCB 153 are not lower than current tolerable daily intakes.« less

The influence of self-relevant materials on working memory in dysphoric undergraduates.

PubMed

Dai, Qin; Rahman, Shaoon; Lau, Becky; Sook Kim, Hyang; Deldin, Patricia

2015-10-30

Difficulties in updating working memory (WM) may underlie problems with regulating emotions that contribute to depression. To examine the ability of updating affective materials in WM, 33 dysphoric and 34 non-dysphoric participants were asked to evaluate the self-descriptiveness of emotional adjectives and provide answers to self-relevant questions. Within 3-7 days, they completed a two-back task with a series of self-irrelevant or self-relevant emotional words (they had generated previously) and four conditions (match-set, break-set, perseveration-set, and no-set). After the WM task, an unexpected recall task was administered; controls recalled more positive self-relevant words and intrusions while dysphoric participants recalled more negative self-relevant words and intrusions. In break-set trials of the two-back task, dysphoric individuals showed slower response to self-relevant words regardless of valence. In the match-set and perseveration-set trials, dysphoric participants showed delayed response to self-related negative words. Moreover, longer reaction times for self-relevant negative words were correlated with higher rumination and worse depression. The results suggest that dysphoric undergraduates are interfered more by and have a better memory of self-relevant negative stimuli in WM, which is closely correlated with rumination. This study is among the first to confirm the potential mechanism that could underwrite the involvement of self-schema in effectively regulating negative affect. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial Alignment and Response Hand in Geometric and Motion Illusions

PubMed Central

Scocchia, Lisa; Paroli, Michela; Stucchi, Natale A.; Sedda, Anna

2017-01-01

Perception of visual illusions is susceptible to manipulation of their spatial properties. Further, illusions can sometimes affect visually guided actions, especially the movement planning phase. Remarkably, visual properties of objects related to actions, such as affordances, can prime more accurate perceptual judgements. In spite of the amount of knowledge available on affordances and on the influence of illusions on actions (or lack of thereof), virtually nothing is known about the reverse: the influence of action-related parameters on the perception of visual illusions. Here, we tested a hypothesis that the response mode (that can be linked to action-relevant features) can affect perception of the Poggendorff (geometric) and of the Vanishing Point (motion) illusion. We explored the role of hand dominance (right dominant versus left non-dominant hand) and its interaction with stimulus spatial alignment (i.e., congruency between visual stimulus and the hand used for responses). Seventeen right-handed participants performed our tasks with their right and left hands, and the stimuli were presented in regular and mirror-reversed views. It turned out that the regular version of the Poggendorff display generates a stronger illusion compared to the mirror version, and that participants are less accurate and show more variability when they use their left hand in responding to the Vanishing Point. In summary, our results show that there is a marginal effect of hand precision in motion related illusions, which is absent for geometrical illusions. In the latter, attentional anisometry seems to play a greater role in generating the illusory effect. Taken together, our findings suggest that changes in the response mode (here: manual action-related parameters) do not necessarily affect illusion perception. Therefore, although intuitively speaking there should be at least unidirectional effects of perception on action, and possible interactions between the two systems, this simple study still suggests their relative independence, except for the case when the less skilled (non-dominant) hand and arguably more deliberate responses are used. PMID:28769830

Enamel surface topography analysis for diet discrimination. A methodology to enhance and select discriminative parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francisco, Arthur; Blondel, Cécile; Brunetière, Noël; Ramdarshan, Anusha; Merceron, Gildas

2018-03-01

Tooth wear and, more specifically, dental microwear texture is a dietary proxy that has been used for years in vertebrate paleoecology and ecology. DMTA, dental microwear texture analysis, relies on a few parameters related to the surface complexity, anisotropy and heterogeneity of the enamel facets at the micrometric scale. Working with few but physically meaningful parameters helps in comparing published results and in defining levels for classification purposes. Other dental microwear approaches are based on ISO parameters and coupled with statistical tests to find the more relevant ones. The present study roughly utilizes most of the aforementioned parameters in their more or less modified form. But more than parameters, we here propose a new approach: instead of a single parameter characterizing the whole surface, we sample the surface and thus generate 9 derived parameters in order to broaden the parameter set. The identification of the most discriminative parameters is performed with an automated procedure which is an extended and refined version of the workflows encountered in some studies. The procedure in its initial form includes the most common tools, like the ANOVA and the correlation analysis, along with the required mathematical tests. The discrimination results show that a simplified form of the procedure is able to more efficiently identify the desired number of discriminative parameters. Also highlighted are some trends like the relevance of working with both height and spatial parameters, as well as the potential benefits of dimensionless surfaces. On a set of 45 surfaces issued from 45 specimens of three modern ruminants with differences in feeding preferences (grazing, leaf-browsing and fruit-eating), it is clearly shown that the level of wear discrimination is improved with the new methodology compared to the other ones.

FUB at TREC 2008 Relevance Feedback Track: Extending Rocchio with Distributional Term Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-01

starting point is the improved version [ Salton and Buckley 1990] of the original Rocchio’s formula [Rocchio 1971]: newQ = α ⋅ origQ + β R r r∈R ∑ − γR...earlier studies about the low effect of the main relevance feedback parameters on retrieval performance (e.g., Salton and Buckley 1990), while they seem...Relevance feedback in information retrieval. In The SMART retrieval system - experiments in automatic document processing, Salton , G., Ed., Prentice Hall

Parameter identification of process simulation models as a means for knowledge acquisition and technology transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batzias, Dimitris F.; Ifanti, Konstantina

2012-12-01

Process simulation models are usually empirical, therefore there is an inherent difficulty in serving as carriers for knowledge acquisition and technology transfer, since their parameters have no physical meaning to facilitate verification of the dependence on the production conditions; in such a case, a 'black box' regression model or a neural network might be used to simply connect input-output characteristics. In several cases, scientific/mechanismic models may be proved valid, in which case parameter identification is required to find out the independent/explanatory variables and parameters, which each parameter depends on. This is a difficult task, since the phenomenological level at which each parameter is defined is different. In this paper, we have developed a methodological framework under the form of an algorithmic procedure to solve this problem. The main parts of this procedure are: (i) stratification of relevant knowledge in discrete layers immediately adjacent to the layer that the initial model under investigation belongs to, (ii) design of the ontology corresponding to these layers, (iii) elimination of the less relevant parts of the ontology by thinning, (iv) retrieval of the stronger interrelations between the remaining nodes within the revised ontological network, and (v) parameter identification taking into account the most influential interrelations revealed in (iv). The functionality of this methodology is demonstrated by quoting two representative case examples on wastewater treatment.

Pelvis and lower limb anatomical landmark calibration precision and its propagation to bone geometry and joint angles.

PubMed

della Croce, U; Cappozzo, A; Kerrigan, D C

1999-03-01

Human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry is based on the reconstruction of the instantaneous laboratory position of selected bony anatomical landmarks (AL). For this purpose, knowledge of an AL's position in relevant bone-embedded frames is required. Because ALs are not points but relatively large and curved areas, their identification by palpation or other means is subject to both intra- and inter-examiner variability. In addition, the local position of ALs, as reconstructed using an ad hoc experimental procedure (AL calibration), is affected by photogrammetric errors. The intra- and inter-examiner precision with which local positions of pelvis and lower limb palpable bony ALs can be identified and reconstructed were experimentally assessed. Six examiners and two subjects participated in the study. Intra- and inter-examiner precision (RMS distance from the mean position) resulted in the range 6-21 mm and 13-25 mm, respectively. Propagation of the imprecision of ALs to the orientation of bone-embedded anatomical frames and to hip, knee and ankle joint angles was assessed. Results showed that this imprecision may cause distortion in joint angle against time functions to the extent that information relative to angular movements in the range of 10 degrees or lower may be concealed. Bone geometry parameters estimated using the same data showed that the relevant precision does not allow for reliable bone geometry description. These findings, together with those relative to skin movement artefacts reported elsewhere, assist the human movement analyst's consciousness of the possible limitations involved in 3D movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry and call for improvements of the relevant experimental protocols.

Estimation of biological parameters of marine organisms using linear and nonlinear acoustic scattering model-based inversion methods.

PubMed

Chu, Dezhang; Lawson, Gareth L; Wiebe, Peter H

2016-05-01

The linear inversion commonly used in fisheries and zooplankton acoustics assumes a constant inversion kernel and ignores the uncertainties associated with the shape and behavior of the scattering targets, as well as other relevant animal parameters. Here, errors of the linear inversion due to uncertainty associated with the inversion kernel are quantified. A scattering model-based nonlinear inversion method is presented that takes into account the nonlinearity of the inverse problem and is able to estimate simultaneously animal abundance and the parameters associated with the scattering model inherent to the kernel. It uses sophisticated scattering models to estimate first, the abundance, and second, the relevant shape and behavioral parameters of the target organisms. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the abundance, size, and behavior (tilt angle) parameters of marine animals (fish or zooplankton) can be accurately inferred from the inversion by using multi-frequency acoustic data. The influence of the singularity and uncertainty in the inversion kernel on the inversion results can be mitigated by examining the singular values for linear inverse problems and employing a non-linear inversion involving a scattering model-based kernel.

Clinico-pathological and biological prognostic variables in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.

PubMed

Gadducci, Angiolo; Tana, Roberta; Barsotti, Cecilia; Guerrieri, Maria Elena; Genazzani, Andrea Riccardo

2012-07-01

Several clinical-pathological parameters have been related to survival of patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, whereas few studies have investigated the ability of biological variables to predict the clinical outcome of these patients. The present paper reviews the literature data on the prognostic relevance of lymph node-related parameters, primary tumor-related parameters, FIGO stage, blood variables, and tissue biological variables. Regarding these latter, the paper takes into account the analysis of DNA content, cell cycle-regulatory proteins, apoptosis-related proteins, epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR], and proteins that are involved in tumor invasiveness, metastasis and angiogenesis. At present, the lymph node status and FIGO stage according to the new 2009 classification system are the main predictors for vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, whereas biological variables do not have yet a clinical relevance and their role is still investigational. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Women's Later Life Career Development: Looking through the Lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

August, Rachel A.

2011-01-01

This study explores the relevance of the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) to women's later life career development. Qualitative interview data were gathered from 14 women in both the "truly" late career and bridge employment periods using a longitudinal design. The relevance of authenticity, balance, and challenge--central parameters in the KCM--is…

Relevance and Rigor in International Business Teaching: Using the CSA-FSA Matrix

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collinson, Simon C.; Rugman, Alan M.

2011-01-01

We advance three propositions in this paper. First, teaching international business (IB) at any level needs to be theoretically driven, using mainstream frameworks to organize thinking. Second, these frameworks need to be made relevant to the experiences of the students; for example, by using them in case studies. Third, these parameters of rigor…

Thermodynamic limits set relevant constraints to the soil-plant-atmosphere system and to optimality in terrestrial vegetation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kleidon, Axel; Renner, Maik

2016-04-01

The soil-plant-atmosphere system is a complex system that is strongly shaped by interactions between the physical environment and vegetation. This complexity appears to demand equally as complex models to fully capture the dynamics of the coupled system. What we describe here is an alternative approach that is based on thermodynamics and which allows for comparatively simple formulations free of empirical parameters by assuming that the system is so complex that its emergent dynamics are only constrained by the thermodynamics of the system. This approach specifically makes use of the second law of thermodynamics, a fundamental physical law that is typically not being considered in Earth system science. Its relevance to land surface processes is that it fundamentally sets a direction as well as limits to energy conversions and associated rates of mass exchange, but it requires us to formulate land surface processes as thermodynamic processes that are driven by energy conversions. We describe an application of this approach to the surface energy balance partitioning at the diurnal scale. In this application the turbulent heat fluxes of sensible and latent heat are described as the result of a convective heat engine that is driven by solar radiative heating of the surface and that operates at its thermodynamic limit. The predicted fluxes from this approach compare very well to observations at several sites. This suggests that the turbulent exchange fluxes between the surface and the atmosphere operate at their thermodynamic limit, so that thermodynamics imposes a relevant constraint to the land surface-atmosphere system. Yet, thermodynamic limits do not entirely determine the soil-plant-atmosphere system because vegetation affects these limits, for instance by affecting the magnitude of surface heating by absorption of solar radiation in the canopy layer. These effects are likely to make the conditions at the land surface more favorable for photosynthetic activity, which then links this thermodynamic approach to optimality in vegetation. We also contrast this approach to common, semi-empirical approaches of surface-atmosphere exchange and discuss how thermodynamics may set a broader range of transport limitations and optimality in the soil-plant-atmosphere system.

Effects of social organization, trap arrangement and density, sampling scale, and population density on bias in population size estimation using some common mark-recapture estimators.

PubMed

Gupta, Manan; Joshi, Amitabh; Vidya, T N C

2017-01-01

Mark-recapture estimators are commonly used for population size estimation, and typically yield unbiased estimates for most solitary species with low to moderate home range sizes. However, these methods assume independence of captures among individuals, an assumption that is clearly violated in social species that show fission-fusion dynamics, such as the Asian elephant. In the specific case of Asian elephants, doubts have been raised about the accuracy of population size estimates. More importantly, the potential problem for the use of mark-recapture methods posed by social organization in general has not been systematically addressed. We developed an individual-based simulation framework to systematically examine the potential effects of type of social organization, as well as other factors such as trap density and arrangement, spatial scale of sampling, and population density, on bias in population sizes estimated by POPAN, Robust Design, and Robust Design with detection heterogeneity. In the present study, we ran simulations with biological, demographic and ecological parameters relevant to Asian elephant populations, but the simulation framework is easily extended to address questions relevant to other social species. We collected capture history data from the simulations, and used those data to test for bias in population size estimation. Social organization significantly affected bias in most analyses, but the effect sizes were variable, depending on other factors. Social organization tended to introduce large bias when trap arrangement was uniform and sampling effort was low. POPAN clearly outperformed the two Robust Design models we tested, yielding close to zero bias if traps were arranged at random in the study area, and when population density and trap density were not too low. Social organization did not have a major effect on bias for these parameter combinations at which POPAN gave more or less unbiased population size estimates. Therefore, the effect of social organization on bias in population estimation could be removed by using POPAN with specific parameter combinations, to obtain population size estimates in a social species.

Effects of social organization, trap arrangement and density, sampling scale, and population density on bias in population size estimation using some common mark-recapture estimators

PubMed Central

Joshi, Amitabh; Vidya, T. N. C.

2017-01-01

Mark-recapture estimators are commonly used for population size estimation, and typically yield unbiased estimates for most solitary species with low to moderate home range sizes. However, these methods assume independence of captures among individuals, an assumption that is clearly violated in social species that show fission-fusion dynamics, such as the Asian elephant. In the specific case of Asian elephants, doubts have been raised about the accuracy of population size estimates. More importantly, the potential problem for the use of mark-recapture methods posed by social organization in general has not been systematically addressed. We developed an individual-based simulation framework to systematically examine the potential effects of type of social organization, as well as other factors such as trap density and arrangement, spatial scale of sampling, and population density, on bias in population sizes estimated by POPAN, Robust Design, and Robust Design with detection heterogeneity. In the present study, we ran simulations with biological, demographic and ecological parameters relevant to Asian elephant populations, but the simulation framework is easily extended to address questions relevant to other social species. We collected capture history data from the simulations, and used those data to test for bias in population size estimation. Social organization significantly affected bias in most analyses, but the effect sizes were variable, depending on other factors. Social organization tended to introduce large bias when trap arrangement was uniform and sampling effort was low. POPAN clearly outperformed the two Robust Design models we tested, yielding close to zero bias if traps were arranged at random in the study area, and when population density and trap density were not too low. Social organization did not have a major effect on bias for these parameter combinations at which POPAN gave more or less unbiased population size estimates. Therefore, the effect of social organization on bias in population estimation could be removed by using POPAN with specific parameter combinations, to obtain population size estimates in a social species. PMID:28306735

Post-conflict slowing after incongruent stimuli: from general to conflict-specific.

PubMed

Rey-Mermet, Alodie; Meier, Beat

2017-05-01

Encountering a cognitive conflict not only slows current performance, but it can also affect subsequent performance, in particular when the conflict is induced with bivalent stimuli (i.e., stimuli with relevant features for two different tasks) or with incongruent trials (i.e., stimuli with relevant features for two response alternatives). The post-conflict slowing following bivalent stimuli, called "bivalency effect", affects all subsequent stimuli, irrespective of whether the subsequent stimuli share relevant features with the conflict stimuli. To date, it is unknown whether the conflict induced by incongruent stimuli results in a similar post-conflict slowing. To investigate this, we performed six experiments in which participants switched between two tasks. In one task, incongruent stimuli appeared occasionally; in the other task, stimuli shared no feature with the incongruent trials. The results showed an initial performance slowing that affected all tasks after incongruent trials. On further trials, however, the slowing only affected the task sharing features with the conflict stimuli. Therefore, the post-conflict slowing following incongruent stimuli is first general and then becomes conflict-specific across trials. These findings are discussed within current task switching and cognitive control accounts.

Vibration parameters affecting vibration-induced reflex muscle activity.

PubMed

Cidem, Muharrem; Karacan, Ilhan; Cakar, Halil Ibrahim; Cidem, Mehmet; Sebik, Oguz; Yilmaz, Gizem; Turker, Kemal Sitki; Karamehmetoglu, Safak Sahir

2017-03-01

To determine vibration parameters affecting the amplitude of the reflex activity of soleus muscle during low-amplitude whole-body vibration (WBV). This study was conducted on 19 participants. Vibration frequencies of 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 Hz were used. Surface electromyography, collision force between vibration platform and participant's heel measured using a force sensor, and acceleration measured using an accelerometer fixed to the vibration platform were simultaneously recorded. The collision force was the main independent predictor of electromyographic amplitude. The essential parameter of vibration affecting the amplitude of the reflex muscle activity is the collision force.

Effect of Surface Tension Anisotropy and Welding Parameters on Initial Instability Dynamics During Solidification: A Phase-Field Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Fengyi; Wei, Yanhong

2018-05-01

The effects of surface tension anisotropy and welding parameters on initial instability dynamics during gas tungsten arc welding of an Al-alloy are investigated by a quantitative phase-field model. The results show that the surface tension anisotropy and welding parameters affect the initial instability dynamics in different ways during welding. The surface tension anisotropy does not influence the solute diffusion process but does affect the stability of the solid/liquid interface during solidification. The welding parameters affect the initial instability dynamics by varying the growth rate and thermal gradient. The incubation time decreases, and the initial wavelength remains stable as the welding speed increases. When welding power increases, the incubation time increases and the initial wavelength slightly increases. Experiments were performed for the same set of welding parameters used in modeling, and the results of the experiments and simulations were in good agreement.

Quantitative interpretation of the magnetic susceptibility frequency dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ustra, Andrea; Mendonça, Carlos A.; Leite, Aruã; Jovane, Luigi; Trindade, Ricardo I. F.

2018-05-01

Low-field mass-specific magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements using multifrequency alternating fields are commonly used to evaluate concentration of ferrimagnetic particles in the transition of superparamagnetic (SP) to stable single domain (SSD). In classical palaeomagnetic analyses, this measurement serves as a preliminary assessment of rock samples providing rapid, non-destructive, economical and easy information of magnetic properties. The SP-SSD transition is relevant in environmental studies because it has been associated with several geological and biogeochemical processes affecting magnetic mineralogy. MS is a complex function of mineral-type and grain-size distribution, as well as measuring parameters such as external field magnitude and frequency. In this work, we propose a new technique to obtain quantitative information on grain-size variations of magnetic particles in the SP-SSD transition by inverting frequency-dependent susceptibility. We introduce a descriptive parameter named as `limiting frequency effect' that provides an accurate estimation of MS loss with frequency. Numerical simulations show the methodology capability in providing data fitting and model parameters in many practical situations. Real-data applications with magnetite nanoparticles and core samples from sediments of Poggio le Guaine section of Umbria-Marche Basin (Italy) provide additional information not clearly recognized when interpreting cruder MS data. Caution is needed when interpreting frequency dependence in terms of single relaxation processes, which are not universally applicable and depend upon the nature of magnetic mineral in the material. Nevertheless, the proposed technique is a promising tool for SP-SSD content analyses.

Metabolic syndrome and atypical antipsychotics: Possibility of prediction and control.

PubMed

Franch Pato, Clara M; Molina Rodríguez, Vicente; Franch Valverde, Juan I

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are associated with high morbidity and mortality, due to inherent health factors, genetic factors, and factors related to psychopharmacological treatment. Antipsychotics, like other drugs, have side-effects that can substantially affect the physical health of patients, with substantive differences in the side-effect profile and in the patients in which these side-effects occur. To understand and identify these risk groups could help to prevent the occurrence of the undesired effects. A prospective study, with 24 months follow-up, was conducted in order to analyse the physical health of severe mental patients under maintenance treatment with atypical antipsychotics, as well as to determine any predictive parameters at anthropometric and/or analytical level for good/bad outcome of metabolic syndrome in these patients. There were no significant changes in the physical and biochemical parameters individually analysed throughout the different visits. The baseline abdominal circumference (lambda Wilks P=.013) and baseline HDL-cholesterol levels (lambda Wilks P=.000) were the parameters that seem to be more relevant above the rest of the metabolic syndrome constituents diagnosis criteria as predictors in the long-term. In the search for predictive factors of metabolic syndrome, HDL-cholesterol and abdominal circumference at the time of inclusion were selected, as such that the worst the baseline results were, the higher probability of long-term improvement. Copyright © 2016 SEP y SEPB. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Polarization Phase Difference Related to Forest Fields Characterizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majidi, M.; Maghsoudi, Y.

2013-09-01

The information content of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data significantly included in the radiometric polarization channels, hence polarimetric SAR data should be analyzed in relation with target structure. The importance of the phase difference between two co-polarized scattered signals due to the possible association between the biophysical parameters and the measured Polarization Phase Difference (PPD) statistics of the backscattered signal recorded components has been recognized in geophysical remote sensing. This paper examines two Radarsat-2 images statistics of the phase difference to describe the feasibility of relationship with the physical properties of scattering targets and tries to understand relevance of PPD statistics with various types of forest fields. As well as variation of incidence angle due to affecting on PPD statistics is investigated. The experimental forest pieces that are used in this research are characterized white pine (Pinus strobus L.), red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench Voss), black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) B.S.P.), poplar (Populus L.), red oak (Quercus rubra L.) , aspen and ground vegetation. The experimental results show that despite of biophysical parameters have a wide diversity, PPD statistics are almost the same. Forest fields distributions as distributed targets have close to zero means regardless of the incidence angle. Also, The PPD distribution are function of both target and sensor parameters, but for more appropriate examination related to PPD statistics the observations should made in the leaf-off season or in bands with lower frequencies.

Simulating Silicon Photomultiplier Response to Scintillation Light

PubMed Central

Jha, Abhinav K.; van Dam, Herman T.; Kupinski, Matthew A.; Clarkson, Eric

2015-01-01

The response of a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) to optical signals is affected by many factors including photon-detection efficiency, recovery time, gain, optical crosstalk, afterpulsing, dark count, and detector dead time. Many of these parameters vary with overvoltage and temperature. When used to detect scintillation light, there is a complicated non-linear relationship between the incident light and the response of the SiPM. In this paper, we propose a combined discrete-time discrete-event Monte Carlo (MC) model to simulate SiPM response to scintillation light pulses. Our MC model accounts for all relevant aspects of the SiPM response, some of which were not accounted for in the previous models. We also derive and validate analytic expressions for the single-photoelectron response of the SiPM and the voltage drop across the quenching resistance in the SiPM microcell. These analytic expressions consider the effect of all the circuit elements in the SiPM and accurately simulate the time-variation in overvoltage across the microcells of the SiPM. Consequently, our MC model is able to incorporate the variation of the different SiPM parameters with varying overvoltage. The MC model is compared with measurements on SiPM-based scintillation detectors and with some cases for which the response is known a priori. The model is also used to study the variation in SiPM behavior with SiPM-circuit parameter variations and to predict the response of a SiPM-based detector to various scintillators. PMID:26236040

Continuous Cardiac Troponin I Release in Fabry Disease

PubMed Central

Schneider, Christian; Sieweke, Nicole; Franzen, Wolfgang; Gündüz, Dursun; Rolfs, Arndt

2014-01-01

Background Fabry disease (FD) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder also affecting the heart. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of cardiac troponin I (cTNI) elevation, a sensitive parameter reflecting myocardial damage, in a smaller cohort of FD-patients, and to analyze whether persistent cTNI can be a suitable biomarker to assess cardiac dysfunction in FD. Methods cTNI values were determined at least twice per year in 14 FD-patients (6 males and 8 females) regularly followed-up in our centre. The data were related to other parameters of heart function including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). Results Three patients (21%) without specific vascular risk factors other than FD had persistent cTNI-elevations (range 0.05–0.71 ng/ml, normal: <0.01). cMRI disclosed late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in all three individuals with cTNI values ≥0.01, while none of the 11 patients with cTNI <0.01 showed a pathological enhancement (p<0.01). Two subjects with increased cTNI-values underwent coronary angiography, excluding relevant stenoses. A myocardial biopsy performed in one during this procedure demonstrated substantial accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in cardiomyocytes. Conclusion Continuous cTNI elevation seems to occur in a substantial proportion of patients with FD. The high accordance with LGE, reflecting cardiac dysfunction, suggests that cTNI-elevation can be a useful laboratory parameter for assessing myocardial damage in FD. PMID:24626231

Correlation between mass transfer coefficient kLa and relevant operating parameters in cylindrical disposable shaken bioreactors on a bench-to-pilot scale

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Among disposable bioreactor systems, cylindrical orbitally shaken bioreactors show important advantages. They provide a well-defined hydrodynamic flow combined with excellent mixing and oxygen transfer for mammalian and plant cell cultivations. Since there is no known universal correlation between the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for oxygen kLa and relevant operating parameters in such bioreactor systems, the aim of this current study is to experimentally determine a universal kLa correlation. Results A Respiration Activity Monitoring System (RAMOS) was used to measure kLa values in cylindrical disposable shaken bioreactors and Buckingham’s π-Theorem was applied to define a dimensionless equation for kLa. In this way, a scale- and volume-independent kLa correlation was developed and validated in bioreactors with volumes from 2 L to 200 L. The final correlation was used to calculate cultivation parameters at different scales to allow a sufficient oxygen supply of tobacco BY-2 cell suspension cultures. Conclusion The resulting equation can be universally applied to calculate the mass transfer coefficient for any of seven relevant cultivation parameters such as the reactor diameter, the shaking frequency, the filling volume, the viscosity, the oxygen diffusion coefficient, the gravitational acceleration or the shaking diameter within an accuracy range of +/− 30%. To our knowledge, this is the first kLa correlation that has been defined and validated for the cited bioreactor system on a bench-to-pilot scale. PMID:24289110

Correlation between mass transfer coefficient kLa and relevant operating parameters in cylindrical disposable shaken bioreactors on a bench-to-pilot scale.

PubMed

Klöckner, Wolf; Gacem, Riad; Anderlei, Tibor; Raven, Nicole; Schillberg, Stefan; Lattermann, Clemens; Büchs, Jochen

2013-12-02

Among disposable bioreactor systems, cylindrical orbitally shaken bioreactors show important advantages. They provide a well-defined hydrodynamic flow combined with excellent mixing and oxygen transfer for mammalian and plant cell cultivations. Since there is no known universal correlation between the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for oxygen kLa and relevant operating parameters in such bioreactor systems, the aim of this current study is to experimentally determine a universal kLa correlation. A Respiration Activity Monitoring System (RAMOS) was used to measure kLa values in cylindrical disposable shaken bioreactors and Buckingham's π-Theorem was applied to define a dimensionless equation for kLa. In this way, a scale- and volume-independent kLa correlation was developed and validated in bioreactors with volumes from 2 L to 200 L. The final correlation was used to calculate cultivation parameters at different scales to allow a sufficient oxygen supply of tobacco BY-2 cell suspension cultures. The resulting equation can be universally applied to calculate the mass transfer coefficient for any of seven relevant cultivation parameters such as the reactor diameter, the shaking frequency, the filling volume, the viscosity, the oxygen diffusion coefficient, the gravitational acceleration or the shaking diameter within an accuracy range of +/- 30%. To our knowledge, this is the first kLa correlation that has been defined and validated for the cited bioreactor system on a bench-to-pilot scale.

Outcome quality of in-patient cardiac rehabilitation in elderly patients--identification of relevant parameters.

PubMed

Salzwedel, Annett; Nosper, Manfred; Röhrig, Bernd; Linck-Eleftheriadis, Sigrid; Strandt, Gert; Völler, Heinz

2014-02-01

Outcome quality management requires the consecutive registration of defined variables. The aim was to identify relevant parameters in order to objectively assess the in-patient rehabilitation outcome. From February 2009 to June 2010 1253 patients (70.9 ± 7.0 years, 78.1% men) at 12 rehabilitation clinics were enrolled. Items concerning sociodemographic data, the impairment group (surgery, conservative/interventional treatment), cardiovascular risk factors, structural and functional parameters and subjective health were tested in respect of their measurability, sensitivity to change and their propensity to be influenced by rehabilitation. The majority of patients (61.1%) were referred for rehabilitation after cardiac surgery, 38.9% after conservative or interventional treatment for an acute coronary syndrome. Functionally relevant comorbidities were seen in 49.2% (diabetes mellitus, stroke, peripheral artery disease, chronic obstructive lung disease). In three key areas 13 parameters were identified as being sensitive to change and subject to modification by rehabilitation: cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides), exercise capacity (resting heart rate, maximal exercise capacity, maximal walking distance, heart failure, angina pectoris) and subjective health (IRES-24 (indicators of rehabilitation status): pain, somatic health, psychological well-being and depression as well as anxiety on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). The outcome of in-patient rehabilitation in elderly patients can be comprehensively assessed by the identification of appropriate key areas, that is, cardiovascular risk factors, exercise capacity and subjective health. This may well serve as a benchmark for internal and external quality management.

Analyzing parameters optimisation in minimising warpage on side arm using response surface methodology (RSM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rayhana, N.; Fathullah, M.; Shayfull, Z.; Nasir, S. M.; Hazwan, M. H. M.

2017-09-01

This paper presents a systematic methodology to analyse the warpage of the side arm part using Autodesk Moldflow Insight software. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was proposed to optimise the processing parameters that will result in optimal solutions by efficiently minimising the warpage of the side arm part. The variable parameters considered in this study was based on most significant parameters affecting warpage stated by previous researchers, that is melt temperature, mould temperature and packing pressure while adding packing time and cooling time as these is the commonly used parameters by researchers. The results show that warpage was improved by 10.15% and the most significant parameters affecting warpage are packing pressure.

An energy budget agent-based model of earthworm populations and its application to study the effects of pesticides

PubMed Central

Johnston, A.S.A.; Hodson, M.E.; Thorbek, P.; Alvarez, T.; Sibly, R.M.

2014-01-01

Earthworms are important organisms in soil communities and so are used as model organisms in environmental risk assessments of chemicals. However current risk assessments of soil invertebrates are based on short-term laboratory studies, of limited ecological relevance, supplemented if necessary by site-specific field trials, which sometimes are challenging to apply across the whole agricultural landscape. Here, we investigate whether population responses to environmental stressors and pesticide exposure can be accurately predicted by combining energy budget and agent-based models (ABMs), based on knowledge of how individuals respond to their local circumstances. A simple energy budget model was implemented within each earthworm Eisenia fetida in the ABM, based on a priori parameter estimates. From broadly accepted physiological principles, simple algorithms specify how energy acquisition and expenditure drive life cycle processes. Each individual allocates energy between maintenance, growth and/or reproduction under varying conditions of food density, soil temperature and soil moisture. When simulating published experiments, good model fits were obtained to experimental data on individual growth, reproduction and starvation. Using the energy budget model as a platform we developed methods to identify which of the physiological parameters in the energy budget model (rates of ingestion, maintenance, growth or reproduction) are primarily affected by pesticide applications, producing four hypotheses about how toxicity acts. We tested these hypotheses by comparing model outputs with published toxicity data on the effects of copper oxychloride and chlorpyrifos on E. fetida. Both growth and reproduction were directly affected in experiments in which sufficient food was provided, whilst maintenance was targeted under food limitation. Although we only incorporate toxic effects at the individual level we show how ABMs can readily extrapolate to larger scales by providing good model fits to field population data. The ability of the presented model to fit the available field and laboratory data for E. fetida demonstrates the promise of the agent-based approach in ecology, by showing how biological knowledge can be used to make ecological inferences. Further work is required to extend the approach to populations of more ecologically relevant species studied at the field scale. Such a model could help extrapolate from laboratory to field conditions and from one set of field conditions to another or from species to species. PMID:25844009

Hydrogen isotopes transport parameters in fusion reactor materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serra, E.; Benamati, G.; Ogorodnikova, O. V.

1998-06-01

This work presents a review of hydrogen isotopes-materials interactions in various materials of interest for fusion reactors. The relevant parameters cover mainly diffusivity, solubility, trap concentration and energy difference between trap and solution sites. The list of materials includes the martensitic steels (MANET, Batman and F82H-mod.), beryllium, aluminium, beryllium oxide, aluminium oxide, copper, tungsten and molybdenum. Some experimental work on the parameters that describe the surface effects is also mentioned.

Infrared line parameters at low temperatures relevant to planetary atmospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Varanasi, Prasad

1990-01-01

Employing the techniques that were described in several publications for measuring infrared lineshifts, linewidths and line intensities with a tunable diode laser, these parameters were measures for lines in the important infrared bands of several molecules of interest to the planetary astronomer at low temperatures that are relevant to planetary atmospheres using He, Ne, Ar, H2, N2, O2, and air as the perturbers. In addition to obtaining the many original data on the temperature dependence of the intensities and linewidths, it was also the first measurement of the same for the collision-induced lineshift of an infrared line and it showed that it was markedly different from that of the corresponding collision-broadened linewidth.

Mothers' amygdala response to positive or negative infant affect is modulated by personal relevance

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Understanding, prioritizing and responding to infant affective cues is a key component of motherhood, with long-term implications for infant socio-emotional development. This important task includes identifying unique characteristics of one's own infant, as they relate to differences in affect valen...

Phase I Contaminant Transport Parameters for the Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport Model of Corrective Action Unit 97: Yucca Flat/Climax Mine, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada, Revision 0

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

John McCord

2007-09-01

This report documents transport data and data analyses for Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU 97. The purpose of the data compilation and related analyses is to provide the primary reference to support parameterization of the Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU transport model. Specific task objectives were as follows: • Identify and compile currently available transport parameter data and supporting information that may be relevant to the Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU. • Assess the level of quality of the data and associated documentation. • Analyze the data to derive expected values and estimates of the associated uncertainty and variability. The scope of thismore » document includes the compilation and assessment of data and information relevant to transport parameters for the Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU subsurface within the context of unclassified source-term contamination. Data types of interest include mineralogy, aqueous chemistry, matrix and effective porosity, dispersivity, matrix diffusion, matrix and fracture sorption, and colloid-facilitated transport parameters.« less

36 CFR 219.12 - Monitoring.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) Measurable changes on the plan area related to climate change and other stressors that may be affecting the.... Monitoring information should enable the responsible official to determine if a change in plan components or... relevant assumptions, tracking relevant changes, and measuring management effectiveness and progress toward...

36 CFR 219.12 - Monitoring.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) Measurable changes on the plan area related to climate change and other stressors that may be affecting the.... Monitoring information should enable the responsible official to determine if a change in plan components or... relevant assumptions, tracking relevant changes, and measuring management effectiveness and progress toward...

36 CFR 219.12 - Monitoring.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) Measurable changes on the plan area related to climate change and other stressors that may be affecting the.... Monitoring information should enable the responsible official to determine if a change in plan components or... relevant assumptions, tracking relevant changes, and measuring management effectiveness and progress toward...

The Cancer Genome Atlas Clinical Explorer: a web and mobile interface for identifying clinical-genomic driver associations.

PubMed

Lee, HoJoon; Palm, Jennifer; Grimes, Susan M; Ji, Hanlee P

2015-10-27

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project has generated genomic data sets covering over 20 malignancies. These data provide valuable insights into the underlying genetic and genomic basis of cancer. However, exploring the relationship among TCGA genomic results and clinical phenotype remains a challenge, particularly for individuals lacking formal bioinformatics training. Overcoming this hurdle is an important step toward the wider clinical translation of cancer genomic/proteomic data and implementation of precision cancer medicine. Several websites such as the cBio portal or University of California Santa Cruz genome browser make TCGA data accessible but lack interactive features for querying clinically relevant phenotypic associations with cancer drivers. To enable exploration of the clinical-genomic driver associations from TCGA data, we developed the Cancer Genome Atlas Clinical Explorer. The Cancer Genome Atlas Clinical Explorer interface provides a straightforward platform to query TCGA data using one of the following methods: (1) searching for clinically relevant genes, micro RNAs, and proteins by name, cancer types, or clinical parameters; (2) searching for genomic/proteomic profile changes by clinical parameters in a cancer type; or (3) testing two-hit hypotheses. SQL queries run in the background and results are displayed on our portal in an easy-to-navigate interface according to user's input. To derive these associations, we relied on elastic-net estimates of optimal multiple linear regularized regression and clinical parameters in the space of multiple genomic/proteomic features provided by TCGA data. Moreover, we identified and ranked gene/micro RNA/protein predictors of each clinical parameter for each cancer. The robustness of the results was estimated by bootstrapping. Overall, we identify associations of potential clinical relevance among genes/micro RNAs/proteins using our statistical analysis from 25 cancer types and 18 clinical parameters that include clinical stage or smoking history. The Cancer Genome Atlas Clinical Explorer enables the cancer research community and others to explore clinically relevant associations inferred from TCGA data. With its accessible web and mobile interface, users can examine queries and test hypothesis regarding genomic/proteomic alterations across a broad spectrum of malignancies.

A review of the meteorological parameters which affect aerial application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, L. S.; Frost, W.

1979-01-01

The ambient wind field and temperature gradient were found to be the most important parameters. Investigation results indicated that the majority of meteorological parameters affecting dispersion were interdependent and the exact mechanism by which these factors influence the particle dispersion was largely unknown. The types and approximately ranges of instrumented capabilities for a systematic study of the significant meteorological parameters influencing aerial applications were defined. Current mathematical dispersion models were also briefly reviewed. Unfortunately, a rigorous dispersion model which could be applied to aerial application was not available.

Relative sensitivity of developmental and immune parameters in juvenile versus adult male rats after exposure to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate

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

Tonk, Elisa C.M., E-mail: ilse.tonk@rivm.nl; Laboratory for Health Protection Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment; Verhoef, Aart

The developing immune system displays a relatively high sensitivity as compared to both general toxicity parameters and to the adult immune system. In this study we have performed such comparisons using di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) as a model compound. DEHP is the most abundant phthalate in the environment and perinatal exposure to DEHP has been shown to disrupt male sexual differentiation. In addition, phthalate exposure has been associated with immune dysfunction as evidenced by effects on the expression of allergy. Male wistar rats were dosed with corn oil or DEHP by gavage from postnatal day (PND) 10–50 or PND 50–90 atmore » doses between 1 and 1000 mg/kg/day. Androgen-dependent organ weights showed effects at lower dose levels in juvenile versus adult animals. Immune parameters affected included TDAR parameters in both age groups, NK activity in juvenile animals and TNF-α production by adherent splenocytes in adult animals. Immune parameters were affected at lower dose levels compared to developmental parameters. Overall, more immune parameters were affected in juvenile animals compared to adult animals and effects were observed at lower dose levels. The results of this study show a relatively higher sensitivity of juvenile versus adult rats. Furthermore, they illustrate the relative sensitivity of the developing immune system in juvenile animals as compared to general toxicity and developmental parameters. This study therefore provides further argumentation for performing dedicated developmental immune toxicity testing as a default in regulatory toxicology. -- Highlights: ► In this study we evaluate the relative sensitivities for DEHP induced effects. ► Results of this study demonstrate the age-dependency of DEHP toxicity. ► Functional immune parameters were more sensitive than structural immune parameters. ► Immune parameters were affected at lower dose levels than developmental parameters. ► Findings demonstrate the susceptibility of the developing immune system for DEHP.« less

The Predicted Influence of Climate Change on Lesser Prairie-Chicken Reproductive Parameters

PubMed Central

Grisham, Blake A.; Boal, Clint W.; Haukos, David A.; Davis, Dawn M.; Boydston, Kathy K.; Dixon, Charles; Heck, Willard R.

2013-01-01

The Southern High Plains is anticipated to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change. These changes may influence the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in positive or negative ways. We assessed the potential changes in clutch size, incubation start date, and nest survival for lesser prairie-chickens for the years 2050 and 2080 based on modeled predictions of climate change and reproductive data for lesser prairie-chickens from 2001–2011 on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. We developed 9 a priori models to assess the relationship between reproductive parameters and biologically relevant weather conditions. We selected weather variable(s) with the most model support and then obtained future predicted values from climatewizard.org. We conducted 1,000 simulations using each reproductive parameter’s linear equation obtained from regression calculations, and the future predicted value for each weather variable to predict future reproductive parameter values for lesser prairie-chickens. There was a high degree of model uncertainty for each reproductive value. Winter temperature had the greatest effect size for all three parameters, suggesting a negative relationship between above-average winter temperature and reproductive output. The above-average winter temperatures are correlated to La Niña events, which negatively affect lesser prairie-chickens through resulting drought conditions. By 2050 and 2080, nest survival was predicted to be below levels considered viable for population persistence; however, our assessment did not consider annual survival of adults, chick survival, or the positive benefit of habitat management and conservation, which may ultimately offset the potentially negative effect of drought on nest survival. PMID:23874549

Toward the Characterization of Mixed-Phase Clouds Using Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andronache, C.

2015-12-01

Mixed-phase clouds consist of a mixture of ice particles and liquid droplets at temperatures below 0 deg C. They are present in all seasons in many regions of the world, account for about 30% of the global cloud coverage, and are linked to cloud electrification and aircraft icing. The mix of ice particles, liquid droplets, and water vapor is unstable, and such clouds are thought to have a short lifetime. A characteristic parameter is the phase composition of mixed-phase clouds. It affects the cloud life cycle and the rate of precipitation. This parameter is important for cloud parameters retrievals by radar, lidar, and satellite and is relevant for climate modeling. The phase transformation includes the remarkable Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen (WBF) process. The direction and the rate of the phase transformations depend on the local thermodynamic and microphysical properties. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) particles determine to a large extent cloud microstructure and the dynamic response of clouds to aerosols. The complexity of dynamics and microphysics involved in mixed-phase clouds requires a set of observational and modeling tools that continue to be refined. Among these techniques, the remote sensing methods provide an increasing number of parameters, covering large regions of the world. Thus, a series of studies were dedicated to stratiform mixed-phase clouds revealing longer lifetime than previously thought. Satellite data and aircraft in situ measurements in deep convective clouds suggest that highly supercooled water often occurs in vigorous continental convective storms. In this study, we use cases of convective clouds to discuss the feasibility of mixed-phase clouds characterization and potential advantages of remote sensing.

The effect of respiratory induced density variations on non-TOF PET quantitation in the lung.

PubMed

Holman, Beverley F; Cuplov, Vesna; Hutton, Brian F; Groves, Ashley M; Thielemans, Kris

2016-04-21

Accurate PET quantitation requires a matched attenuation map. Obtaining matched CT attenuation maps in the thorax is difficult due to the respiratory cycle which causes both motion and density changes. Unlike with motion, little attention has been given to the effects of density changes in the lung on PET quantitation. This work aims to explore the extent of the errors caused by pulmonary density attenuation map mismatch on dynamic and static parameter estimates. Dynamic XCAT phantoms were utilised using clinically relevant (18)F-FDG and (18)F-FMISO time activity curves for all organs within the thorax to estimate the expected parameter errors. The simulations were then validated with PET data from 5 patients suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis who underwent PET/Cine-CT. The PET data were reconstructed with three gates obtained from the Cine-CT and the average Cine-CT. The lung TACs clearly displayed differences between true and measured curves with error depending on global activity distribution at the time of measurement. The density errors from using a mismatched attenuation map were found to have a considerable impact on PET quantitative accuracy. Maximum errors due to density mismatch were found to be as high as 25% in the XCAT simulation. Differences in patient derived kinetic parameter estimates and static concentration between the extreme gates were found to be as high as 31% and 14%, respectively. Overall our results show that respiratory associated density errors in the attenuation map affect quantitation throughout the lung, not just regions near boundaries. The extent of this error is dependent on the activity distribution in the thorax and hence on the tracer and time of acquisition. Consequently there may be a significant impact on estimated kinetic parameters throughout the lung.

Quantitative sensory testing response patterns to capsaicin- and ultraviolet-B–induced local skin hypersensitization in healthy subjects: a machine-learned analysis

PubMed Central

Lötsch, Jörn; Geisslinger, Gerd; Heinemann, Sarah; Lerch, Florian; Oertel, Bruno G.; Ultsch, Alfred

2018-01-01

Abstract The comprehensive assessment of pain-related human phenotypes requires combinations of nociceptive measures that produce complex high-dimensional data, posing challenges to bioinformatic analysis. In this study, we assessed established experimental models of heat hyperalgesia of the skin, consisting of local ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiation or capsaicin application, in 82 healthy subjects using a variety of noxious stimuli. We extended the original heat stimulation by applying cold and mechanical stimuli and assessing the hypersensitization effects with a clinically established quantitative sensory testing (QST) battery (German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain). This study provided a 246 × 10-sized data matrix (82 subjects assessed at baseline, following UV-B application, and following capsaicin application) with respect to 10 QST parameters, which we analyzed using machine-learning techniques. We observed statistically significant effects of the hypersensitization treatments in 9 different QST parameters. Supervised machine-learned analysis implemented as random forests followed by ABC analysis pointed to heat pain thresholds as the most relevantly affected QST parameter. However, decision tree analysis indicated that UV-B additionally modulated sensitivity to cold. Unsupervised machine-learning techniques, implemented as emergent self-organizing maps, hinted at subgroups responding to topical application of capsaicin. The distinction among subgroups was based on sensitivity to pressure pain, which could be attributed to sex differences, with women being more sensitive than men. Thus, while UV-B and capsaicin share a major component of heat pain sensitization, they differ in their effects on QST parameter patterns in healthy subjects, suggesting a lack of redundancy between these models. PMID:28700537

Zebrafish as a possible bioindicator of organic pollutants with effects on reproduction in drinking waters.

PubMed

Martínez-Sales, M; García-Ximénez, F; Espinós, F J

2015-07-01

Organic contaminants can be detected at low concentrations in drinking water, raising concerns for human health, particularly in reproduction. In this respect, we attempted to use the zebrafish as a bioindicator to detect the possible presence of these substances in drinking water, aiming to define the most relevant parameters to detect these substances, which particularly affect the development and reproduction of zebrafish. To this end, batches of 30 embryos with the chorion intact were cultured in drinking waters from different sources, throughout their full life-cycle up to 5 months, in 20 L tanks. Six replicates were performed in all water groups, with a total of 24 aquariums. Two generations (F0 and F1) were studied and the following parameters were tested: in the F0 generation, survival and abnormality rates evaluated at 5 dpf (days post-fertilization) and at 5 mpf (months post-fertilization), the onset of spawning and the fertility rate from 3 mpf to 5 mpf, and the sex ratio and underdeveloped specimens at 5 mpf. Furthermore, in the F0 offspring (F1), survival and abnormality rates were evaluated at 5 dpf and the hatching rate at 72 hpf. These results revealed that the hatching rate is the most sensitive parameter to distinguish different levels of effects between waters during the early life stages, whereas the rate of underdeveloped specimens is more suitable at later life stages. Regarding adult reproduction, fertility rate was the most sensitive parameter. The possible reversibility or accumulative nature of such effects will be studied in future work. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The effect of respiratory induced density variations on non-TOF PET quantitation in the lung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holman, Beverley F.; Cuplov, Vesna; Hutton, Brian F.; Groves, Ashley M.; Thielemans, Kris

2016-04-01

Accurate PET quantitation requires a matched attenuation map. Obtaining matched CT attenuation maps in the thorax is difficult due to the respiratory cycle which causes both motion and density changes. Unlike with motion, little attention has been given to the effects of density changes in the lung on PET quantitation. This work aims to explore the extent of the errors caused by pulmonary density attenuation map mismatch on dynamic and static parameter estimates. Dynamic XCAT phantoms were utilised using clinically relevant 18F-FDG and 18F-FMISO time activity curves for all organs within the thorax to estimate the expected parameter errors. The simulations were then validated with PET data from 5 patients suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis who underwent PET/Cine-CT. The PET data were reconstructed with three gates obtained from the Cine-CT and the average Cine-CT. The lung TACs clearly displayed differences between true and measured curves with error depending on global activity distribution at the time of measurement. The density errors from using a mismatched attenuation map were found to have a considerable impact on PET quantitative accuracy. Maximum errors due to density mismatch were found to be as high as 25% in the XCAT simulation. Differences in patient derived kinetic parameter estimates and static concentration between the extreme gates were found to be as high as 31% and 14%, respectively. Overall our results show that respiratory associated density errors in the attenuation map affect quantitation throughout the lung, not just regions near boundaries. The extent of this error is dependent on the activity distribution in the thorax and hence on the tracer and time of acquisition. Consequently there may be a significant impact on estimated kinetic parameters throughout the lung.

Absence of ethnic differences in the pharmacokinetics of moxifloxacin, simvastatin, and meloxicam among three East Asian populations and Caucasians.

PubMed

Hasunuma, Tomoko; Tohkin, Masahiro; Kaniwa, Nahoko; Jang, In-Jin; Yimin, Cui; Kaneko, Masaru; Saito, Yoshiro; Takeuchi, Masahiro; Watanabe, Hiroshi; Yamazoe, Yasushi; Uyama, Yoshiaki; Kawai, Shinichi

2016-06-01

To examine whether strict control of clinical trial conditions could reduce apparent differences of pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters among ethnic groups. Open-label, single dose PK studies of moxifloxacin, simvastatin and meloxicam were conducted in healthy male subjects from three East Asian populations (Japanese, Chinese and Koreans) and one Caucasian population as a control. These three drugs were selected because differences in PK parameters have been reported, even though the backgrounds of these East Asian populations are similar. Moxifloxacin (400 mg) was administered orally to 20 subjects, and plasma and urine levels of moxifloxacin and its metabolite (M2) were measured. Simvastatin (20 mg) was given to 40 subjects, and plasma levels of simvastatin and simvastatin acid were measured. Meloxicam (7.5 mg) was given to 30 subjects and its plasma concentration was determined. Intrinsic factors (polymorphism of UGT1A1 for moxifloxacin, SLCO1B1 for simvastatin, and CYP2C9 for meloxicam) were also examined. AUCinf values for moxifloxacin, simvastatin and meloxicam showed no significant differences among the East Asian groups. Cmax values of moxifloxacin and simvastatin, but not meloxicam, showed significant differences. There were no significant differences of data for M2 or simvastatin acid. Genetic analysis identified significant differences in the frequencies of relevant polymorphisms, but these differences did not affect the PK parameters observed. Although there were some differences in PK parameters among the three East Asian groups, the present study performed under strictly controlled conditions did not reproduce the major ethnic differences observed in previous studies. © 2016 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The British Pharmacological Society.

Absence of ethnic differences in the pharmacokinetics of moxifloxacin, simvastatin, and meloxicam among three East Asian populations and Caucasians

PubMed Central

Hasunuma, Tomoko; Tohkin, Masahiro; Kaniwa, Nahoko; Jang, In‐Jin; Yimin, Cui; Kaneko, Masaru; Saito, Yoshiro; Takeuchi, Masahiro; Watanabe, Hiroshi; Yamazoe, Yasushi; Uyama, Yoshiaki

2016-01-01

Aim To examine whether strict control of clinical trial conditions could reduce apparent differences of pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters among ethnic groups. Methods Open‐label, single dose PK studies of moxifloxacin, simvastatin and meloxicam were conducted in healthy male subjects from three East Asian populations (Japanese, Chinese and Koreans) and one Caucasian population as a control. These three drugs were selected because differences in PK parameters have been reported, even though the backgrounds of these East Asian populations are similar. Moxifloxacin (400 mg) was administered orally to 20 subjects, and plasma and urine levels of moxifloxacin and its metabolite (M2) were measured. Simvastatin (20 mg) was given to 40 subjects, and plasma levels of simvastatin and simvastatin acid were measured. Meloxicam (7.5 mg) was given to 30 subjects and its plasma concentration was determined. Intrinsic factors (polymorphism of UGT1A1 for moxifloxacin, SLCO1B1 for simvastatin, and CYP2C9 for meloxicam) were also examined. Results AUCinf values for moxifloxacin, simvastatin and meloxicam showed no significant differences among the East Asian groups. Cmax values of moxifloxacin and simvastatin, but not meloxicam, showed significant differences. There were no significant differences of data for M2 or simvastatin acid. Genetic analysis identified significant differences in the frequencies of relevant polymorphisms, but these differences did not affect the PK parameters observed. Conclusions Although there were some differences in PK parameters among the three East Asian groups, the present study performed under strictly controlled conditions did not reproduce the major ethnic differences observed in previous studies. PMID:26774055

Evaluating ambivalence: social-cognitive and affective brain regions associated with ambivalent decision-making.

PubMed

Nohlen, Hannah U; van Harreveld, Frenk; Rotteveel, Mark; Lelieveld, Gert-Jan; Crone, Eveline A

2014-07-01

Ambivalence is a state of inconsistency that is often experienced as affectively aversive. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated the role of cognitive and social-affective processes in the experience of ambivalence and coping with its negative consequences. We examined participants' brain activity during the dichotomous evaluation (pro vs contra) of pretested ambivalent (e.g. alcohol), positive (e.g. happiness) and negative (e.g. genocide) word stimuli. We manipulated evaluation relevance by varying the probability of evaluation consequences, under the hypothesis that ambivalence is experienced as more negative when outcomes are relevant. When making ambivalent evaluations, more activity was found in the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, the temporal parietal junction (TPJ) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, for both high and low evaluation relevance. After statistically conservative corrections, activity in the TPJ and PCC/precuneus was negatively correlated with experienced ambivalence after scanning, as measured by Priester and Petty's felt ambivalence scale (1996). The findings show that cognitive and social-affective brain areas are involved in the experience of ambivalence. However, these networks are differently associated with subsequent reduction of ambivalence, thus highlighting the importance of understanding both cognitive and affective processes involved in ambivalent decision-making. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Soil aggregation, erodibility, and erosion rates in mountain soils (NW Alps, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanchi, S.; Falsone, G.; Bonifacio, E.

2015-04-01

Erosion is a relevant soil degradation factor in mountain agrosilvopastoral ecosystems that can be enhanced by the abandonment of agricultural land and pastures left to natural evolution. The on-site and off-site consequences of soil erosion at the catchment and landscape scale are particularly relevant and may affect settlements at the interface with mountain ecosystems. RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) estimates of soil erosion consider, among others, the soil erodibility factor (K), which depends on properties involved in structure and aggregation. A relationship between soil erodibility and aggregation should therefore be expected. However, erosion may limit the development of soil structure; hence aggregates should not only be related to erodibility but also partially mirror soil erosion rates. The aim of the research was to evaluate the agreement between aggregate stability and erosion-related variables and to discuss the possible reasons for discrepancies in the two kinds of land use considered (forest and pasture). Topsoil horizons were sampled in a mountain catchment under two vegetation covers (pasture vs. forest) and analyzed for total organic carbon, total extractable carbon, pH, and texture. Soil erodibility was computed, RUSLE erosion rate was estimated, and aggregate stability was determined by wet sieving. Aggregation and RUSLE-related parameters for the two vegetation covers were investigated through statistical tests such as ANOVA, correlation, and regression. Soil erodibility was in agreement with the aggregate stability parameters; i.e., the most erodible soils in terms of K values also displayed weaker aggregation. Despite this general observation, when estimating K from aggregate losses the ANOVA conducted on the regression residuals showed land-use-dependent trends (negative average residuals for forest soils, positive for pastures). Therefore, soil aggregation seemed to mirror the actual topsoil conditions better than soil erodibility. Several hypotheses for this behavior were discussed. A relevant effect of the physical protection of the organic matter by the aggregates that cannot be considered in K computation was finally hypothesized in the case of pastures, while in forests soil erodibility seemed to keep trace of past erosion and depletion of finer particles. A good relationship between RUSLE soil erosion rates and aggregate stability occurred in pastures, while no relationship was visible in forests. Therefore, soil aggregation seemed to capture aspects of actual vulnerability that are not visible through the erodibility estimate. Considering the relevance and extension of agrosilvopastoral ecosystems partly left to natural colonization, further studies on litter and humus protective action might improve the understanding of the relationship among erosion, erodibility, and structure.

Design requirements for ERD in diffusion-dominated media: how do injection interval, bioactive zones and reaction kinetics affect remediation performance?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambon, J.; Lemming, G.; Manoli, G.; Broholm, M. M.; Bjerg, P.; Binning, P. J.

2011-12-01

Enhanced Reductive Dechlorination (ERD) has been successfully used in high permeability media, such as sand aquifers, and is considered to be a promising technology for low permeability settings. Pilot and full-scale applications of ERD at several sites in Denmark have shown that the main challenge is to get contact between the injected bacteria and electron donor and the contaminants trapped in the low-permeability matrix. Sampling of intact cores from the low-permeability matrix has shown that the bioactive zones (where degradation occurs) are limited in the matrix, due to the slow diffusion transport processes, and this affects the timeframes for the remediation. Due to the limited ERD applications and the complex transport and reactive processes occurring in low-permeability media, design guidelines are currently not available for ERD in such settings, and remediation performance assessments are limited. The objective of this study is to combine existing knowledge from several sites with numerical modeling to assess the effect of the injection interval, development of bioactive zones and reaction kinetics on the remediation efficiency for ERD in diffusion-dominated media. A numerical model is developed to simulate ERD at a contaminated site, where the source area (mainly TCE) is located in a clayey till with fractures and interbedded sand lenses. Such contaminated sites are common in North America and Europe. Hydro-geological characterization provided information on geological heterogeneities and hydraulic parameters, which are relevant for clay till sites in general. The numerical model couples flow and transport in the fracture network and low-permeability matrix. Sequential degradation of TCE to ethene is modeled using Monod kinetics, and the kinetic parameters are obtained from laboratory experiments. The influence of the reaction kinetics on remediation efficiency is assessed by varying the biomass concentration of the specific degraders. The injected reactants (donor and bacteria) are assumed to spread in horizontal injection zones of various widths, depending on the development of bioactive zones. These injection zones are spaced at various intervals over depth, corresponding to the injection interval chosen. The results from the numerical model show that remediation timeframes can be reduced significantly by using closely spaced injection intervals and by ensuring the efficient spreading of the reactants into the clay till matrix. In contrast the reaction kinetics affect mass removal only up to a point where diffusive transport becomes limiting. Based on these results, guidelines on when ERD can be an effective remediation strategy in practice are provided. These take the form of dimensionless groupings (such as the Damkohler number), which combine site specific (physical and biogeochemical) and design parameters, and graphs showing how the main parameters affect remediation timeframes. Finally it is shown how model results can be used as input to other decision making tools such as life cycle assessment to guide remedial choices.

Assessment of Electronic Banking Service's Impact on the Economic Parameters of the Bank Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiselev, Sergey V.; Chernyavskaya, Yana S.; Bardasova, Eleonora V.; Galeeva, Gulnaz M.; Fazlieva, Elena P.; Krokhina, Julia A.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the study: The relevance of the research problem is conditioned by the intensification of innovative processes in modern economy and in the banking sector, in particular, as one of the most sensitive areas for innovation and innovative types of services and information and communication innovations today is one of the major…

[Changes and differences of heart rate variability of patients in a psychiatric rehabilitation clinic].

PubMed

Riffer, Friedrich; Streibl, Lore; Sprung, Manuel; Kaiser, Elmar; Riffer, Lena

2016-12-01

A reduced heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with various different pathological physical and psychological conditions and illnesses. The present study is focused on investigating HRV in respect to psychological disorders (depressive disorders anxiety disorders, Burn-out-Syndrome). The results from an investigation with patients from a psychiatric Rehabilitation clinic following a six week in-patient treatment are presented. The results show relevant changes in HRV in the course of the rehabilitative treatment for patients with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders or Burn-out-Syndrome. Simultaneously changes in HRV were linked with improvements in patient's psychological symptoms. Changes in HRV (i. e. an increase of relevant HRV-parameters) were accompanied by a reduction of psychological strain as well as psychological and physical health problems, which typically occur in Burnout-Syndrome. Furthermore, changes in relevant HRV-parameters were predictive of changes in psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, phobia, Burnout symptoms). The present study did show, that in respect to the investigation of the relationship between HRV and subjective data, primarily those HRV-parameters are important (in terms of significant results) which are based on parasympathetic activity. These results are interesting in the context of theories, which view vagal mediated HRV as positively connected with self-regulation, adaptability and positive interpersonal interaction of individuals.

Chromium released from leather - II: the importance of environmental parameters.

PubMed

Mathiason, Frederik; Lidén, Carola; Hedberg, Yolanda S

2015-05-01

Approximately 1-3% of the adult population in Europe are allergic to chromium (Cr). A new restriction in Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) based on the ISO 17075 standard has recently been adopted in the EU to limit Cr(VI) in consumer and occupational leather products to < 3 mg/kg. To investigate the influence of storage conditions [relative humidity, temperature, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and duration] on Cr release, and to assess several parameters relevant for occupational exposure (repeated exposure, wear, alkaline solutions, and sequential wet and dry exposures). A leather of relevance for work gloves was investigated for its release of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) under these different experimental conditions. Relative humidity (water content in leather) during storage prior to Cr extraction was the single most important parameter. Cr(VI) levels could vary from non-detectable to levels significantly exceeding the restriction limit, depending on the relative humidity. Leather contact with alkaline solution and UV irradiation during storage could increase the Cr(VI) levels in subsequent extractions. The amount of Cr(VI) in leather is not an intrinsic property, but is influenced by environmental conditions of relevance for occupations and skin exposure. © 2015 The Authors. Contact Dermatitis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Optimal Equilibria and Plasma Parameter Evolutions for the Ignitor Experiment*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Airoldi, A.; Cenacchi, G.; Coppi, B.

2011-10-01

In view of the operation of the Ignitor machine in both the H and the I-regime, optimal equilibrium configurations that can sustain plasma currents Ip up to 10 MA with a double X-point have been identified. In fact, the emergence of the I-regime in double X-point configurations has not been observed experimentally yet. The characteristics of the magnetic equilibrium configurations that can be produced play a crucial role in the performance of the machine. Therefore, particular care has been devoted to the study of plasma equilibria relevant to the main phases of the discharge evolution. A series of simulations to be utilized for the control of the relevant (sub-ignited) plasma parameters has been carried out using the JETTO transport code considering different values of the plasma current and, correspondingly, of the magnetic field. Special attention has been devoted to non-igniting experiments with Ip = 5 MA and BT = 8 T, where BT is the toroidal magnetic field, as they can be performed with much better duty cycles and longer duration than experiments aimed at reaching the most extreme plasma parameters and ignition in particular. The results of the relevant analyses with a discussion of the adopted transport coefficients is presented. * Sponsored in part by ENEA and the U.S. DOE.

Mixing with applications to inertial-confinement-fusion implosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rana, V.; Lim, H.; Melvin, J.; Glimm, J.; Cheng, B.; Sharp, D. H.

2017-01-01

Approximate one-dimensional (1D) as well as 2D and 3D simulations are playing an important supporting role in the design and analysis of future experiments at National Ignition Facility. This paper is mainly concerned with 1D simulations, used extensively in design and optimization. We couple a 1D buoyancy-drag mix model for the mixing zone edges with a 1D inertial confinement fusion simulation code. This analysis predicts that National Ignition Campaign (NIC) designs are located close to a performance cliff, so modeling errors, design features (fill tube and tent) and additional, unmodeled instabilities could lead to significant levels of mix. The performance cliff we identify is associated with multimode plastic ablator (CH) mix into the hot-spot deuterium and tritium (DT). The buoyancy-drag mix model is mode number independent and selects implicitly a range of maximum growth modes. Our main conclusion is that single effect instabilities are predicted not to lead to hot-spot mix, while combined mode mixing effects are predicted to affect hot-spot thermodynamics and possibly hot-spot mix. Combined with the stagnation Rayleigh-Taylor instability, we find the potential for mix effects in combination with the ice-to-gas DT boundary, numerical effects of Eulerian species CH concentration diffusion, and ablation-driven instabilities. With the help of a convenient package of plasma transport parameters developed here, we give an approximate determination of these quantities in the regime relevant to the NIC experiments, while ruling out a variety of mix possibilities. Plasma transport parameters affect the 1D buoyancy-drag mix model primarily through its phenomenological drag coefficient as well as the 1D hydro model to which the buoyancy-drag equation is coupled.

Effect of One Month Duration Ketogenic and non-Ketogenic High Fat Diets on Mouse Brain Bioenergetic Infrastructure

PubMed Central

Selfridge, J. Eva; Wilkins, Heather M.; Lezi, E; Carl, Steven M.; Koppel, Scott; Funk, Eric; Fields, Timothy; Lu, Jianghua; Tang, Ee Phie; Slawson, Chad; Wang, WenFang; Zhu, Hao; Swerdlow, Russell H.

2014-01-01

Diet composition may affect energy metabolism in a tissue-specific manner. Using C57Bl/6J mice, we tested the effect of ketosis-inducing and non-inducing high fat diets on genes relevant to brain bioenergetic infrastructures, and on proteins that constitute and regulate that infrastructure. At the end of a one-month study period the two high fat diets appeared to differentially affect peripheral insulin signaling, but brain insulin signaling was not obviously altered. Some bioenergetic infrastructure parameters were similarly impacted by both high fat diets, while other parameters were only impacted by the ketogenic diet. For both diets, mRNA levels for CREB, PGC1α, and NRF2 increased while NRF1, TFAM, and COX4I1 mRNA levels decreased. PGC1β mRNA increased and TNFα mRNA decreased only with the ketogenic diet. Brain mtDNA levels fell in both the ketogenic and non-ketogenic high fat diet groups, although TOMM20 and COX4I1 protein levels were maintained, and mRNA and protein levels of the mtDNA-encoded COX2 subunit were also preserved. Overall, the pattern of changes observed in mice fed ketogenic and non-ketogenic high fat diets over a one month time period suggests these interventions enhance some aspects of the brain’s aerobic infrastructure, and may enhance mtDNA transcription efficiency. Further studies to determine which diet effects are due to changes in brain ketone body levels, fatty acid levels, glucose levels, altered brain insulin signaling, or other factors such as adipose tissue-associated hormones are indicated. PMID:25104046

Impact of Clinical Parameters in the Intrahost Evolution of HIV-1 Subtype B in Pediatric Patients: A Machine Learning Approach

PubMed Central

Rojas Sánchez, Patricia; Cobos, Alberto; Navaro, Marisa; Ramos, José Tomas; Pagán, Israel

2017-01-01

Abstract Determining the factors modulating the genetic diversity of HIV-1 populations is essential to understand viral evolution. This study analyzes the relative importance of clinical factors in the intrahost HIV-1 subtype B (HIV-1B) evolution and in the fixation of drug resistance mutations (DRM) during longitudinal pediatric HIV-1 infection. We recovered 162 partial HIV-1B pol sequences (from 3 to 24 per patient) from 24 perinatally infected patients from the Madrid Cohort of HIV-1 infected children and adolescents in a time interval ranging from 2.2 to 20.3 years. We applied machine learning classification methods to analyze the relative importance of 28 clinical/epidemiological/virological factors in the HIV-1B evolution to predict HIV-1B genetic diversity (d), nonsynonymous and synonymous mutations (dN, dS) and DRM presence. Most of the 24 HIV-1B infected pediatric patients were Spanish (91.7%), diagnosed before 2000 (83.3%), and all were antiretroviral therapy experienced. They had from 0.3 to 18.8 years of HIV-1 exposure at sampling time. Most sequences presented DRM. The best-predictor variables for HIV-1B evolutionary parameters were the age of HIV-1 diagnosis for d, the age at first antiretroviral treatment for dN and the year of HIV-1 diagnosis for ds. The year of infection (birth year) and year of sampling seemed to be relevant for fixation of both DRM at large and, considering drug families, to protease inhibitors (PI). This study identifies, for the first time using machine learning, the factors affecting more HIV-1B pol evolution and those affecting DRM fixation in HIV-1B infected pediatric patients. PMID:29044435

A comparison of nanoparticullate CpG immunotherapy with and without allergens in spontaneously equine asthma‐affected horses, an animal model

PubMed Central

Klier, John; Geis, Sabine; Steuer, Jeanette; Geh, Katharina; Reese, Sven; Fuchs, Sebastian; Mueller, Ralf S.; Winter, Gerhard

2017-01-01

Abstract Introduction New therapeutic strategies to modulate the immune response of human and equine allergic asthma are still under extensive investigation. Immunomodulating agents stimulating T‐regulatory cells offer new treatment options beyond conventional symptomatic treatment or specific immunotherapy for human and equine allergic airway diseases, with the goal of a homoeostatic T‐helper cell balance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a nebulized gelatin nanoparticle‐CpG formulation (CpG‐GNP) with and without specific allergens for the treatment of spontaneous allergic equine asthma as a model for human asthma. Methods Twenty equine asthma‐affected horses were treated either with CpG‐GNP alone or CpG‐GNP with allergens. Two specific allergens were selected for each horse based on history and an in‐vitro test. Each horse received seven administrations of the respective nebulized composition and was examined before treatment, immediately after and 6 weeks after the treatment course. Results Clinical parameters such as breathing rate, indirect interpleural measurement, arterial blood gases, amount of tracheal mucus and percentage of neutrophils and cytokines in tracheal washes and serum samples were evaluated. Treatment with CpG‐GNP alone as well as in combinations with relevant allergens resulted in clinical improvement of nasal discharge, breathing rate, amount of secretion and viscosity, neutrophil percentage and partial oxygen pressure directly after and 6 weeks after treatment. There were no significant differences between the two treatments in clinical parameters or local cytokine profiles in the tracheal wash fluid (IL‐10, IFN‐g, and IL‐17). IL‐4 concentrations decreased significantly in both groups. Conclusion Nonspecific CpG‐GNP‐based immunotherapy shows potential as a treatment for equine and possibly also human allergic asthma. PMID:29094511

Hospital Workload for Weapon-Wounded Females Treated by the International Committee of the Red Cross: More Work Needed than for Males.

PubMed

Andersson, Peter; Muhrbeck, Måns; Veen, Harald; Osman, Zaher; von Schreeb, Johan

2018-01-01

Civilians constitute 33-51% of victims in armed conflicts. Several reports on civilian injuries exist, but few have focused on injuries afflicting females. We analyzed routinely collected data on weapon-related injuries from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital in northwestern Pakistan in order to define injury patterns and types of surgical treatment for females. A total of 3028 patient files (376 females) from consecutively admitted patients to the ICRC-hospital in Peshawar from February 2009 to May 2012 were included. Information regarding injury-mechanism, time since injury, vital parameters at admission, type of injury, treatment and basic outcome was extracted from the files and analyzed. Comparisons between gender and age-groups were done by cross-table analyses or nonparametric tests. Females were younger than males (20 vs. 25 years), arrived sooner after injury (24 vs. 48 h) (p < 0.001 for both) and were victims of bombs and missiles more frequently (64.4 vs. 54.6%) (p < 0.001). Vital parameters such as systolic blood pressure (110 vs. 113 mmHg) and pulse rate (100 vs. 86) were more affected at admission (p < 0.001 for both). Females were subjected to surgery (83.0 vs. 77.4%) (p < 0.05) and were given blood transfusions more often (18.8 vs. 13.6%) (p < 0.01). No differences in amputations or in-hospital mortality were found. Females treated at the ICRC-hospital in northwestern Pakistan are markedly affected by indiscriminate weapons such as bombs and missiles. Their average consumption of surgery is greater than for males, and this might be relevant in planning for staffing and facility needs in similar contexts.

Mixing with applications to inertial-confinement-fusion implosions.

PubMed

Rana, V; Lim, H; Melvin, J; Glimm, J; Cheng, B; Sharp, D H

2017-01-01

Approximate one-dimensional (1D) as well as 2D and 3D simulations are playing an important supporting role in the design and analysis of future experiments at National Ignition Facility. This paper is mainly concerned with 1D simulations, used extensively in design and optimization. We couple a 1D buoyancy-drag mix model for the mixing zone edges with a 1D inertial confinement fusion simulation code. This analysis predicts that National Ignition Campaign (NIC) designs are located close to a performance cliff, so modeling errors, design features (fill tube and tent) and additional, unmodeled instabilities could lead to significant levels of mix. The performance cliff we identify is associated with multimode plastic ablator (CH) mix into the hot-spot deuterium and tritium (DT). The buoyancy-drag mix model is mode number independent and selects implicitly a range of maximum growth modes. Our main conclusion is that single effect instabilities are predicted not to lead to hot-spot mix, while combined mode mixing effects are predicted to affect hot-spot thermodynamics and possibly hot-spot mix. Combined with the stagnation Rayleigh-Taylor instability, we find the potential for mix effects in combination with the ice-to-gas DT boundary, numerical effects of Eulerian species CH concentration diffusion, and ablation-driven instabilities. With the help of a convenient package of plasma transport parameters developed here, we give an approximate determination of these quantities in the regime relevant to the NIC experiments, while ruling out a variety of mix possibilities. Plasma transport parameters affect the 1D buoyancy-drag mix model primarily through its phenomenological drag coefficient as well as the 1D hydro model to which the buoyancy-drag equation is coupled.

Effect of chemical environment and rock composition on fracture mechanics properties of reservoir lithologies in context of CO2 sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Major, J. R.; Eichhubl, P.; Callahan, O. A.

2015-12-01

The coupled chemical and mechanical response of reservoir and seal rocks to injection of CO2 have major implications on the short and long term security of sequestered carbon. Many current numerical models evaluating behavior of reservoirs and seals during and after CO2 injection in the subsurface consider chemistry and mechanics separately and use only simple mechanical stability criteria while ignoring time-dependent failure parameters. CO2 injection irreversibly alters the subsurface chemical environment which can then affect geomechanical properties on a range of time scales by altering rock mineralogy and cements through dissolution, remobilization, and precipitation. It has also been documented that geomechanical parameters such as fracture toughness (KIC) and subcritical index (SCI) are sensitive to chemical environment. Double torsion fracture mechanics testing of reservoir lithologies under controlled environmental conditions relevant to CO2 sequestration show that chemical environment can measurably affect KIC and SCI. This coupled chemical-mechanical behavior is also influenced by rock composition, grains, amount and types of cement, and fabric. Fracture mechanics testing of the Aztec Sandstone, a largely silica-cemented, subarkose sandstone demonstrate it is less sensitive to chemical environment than Entrada Sandstone, a silty, clay-rich sandstone. The presence of de-ionized water lowers KIC by approximately 20% and SCI 30% in the Aztec Sandstone relative to tests performed in air, whereas the Entrada Sandstone shows reductions on the order of 70% and 90%, respectively. These results indicate that rock composition influences the chemical-mechanical response to deformation, and that the relative chemical reactivity of target reservoirs should be recognized in context of CO2 sequestration. In general, inert grains and cements such as quartz will be less sensitive to the changing subsurface environment than carbonates and clays.

Compound- and sex-specific effects on programming of energy and immune homeostasis in adult C57BL/6JxFVB mice after perinatal TCDD and PCB 153.

PubMed

van Esterik, J C J; Verharen, H W; Hodemaekers, H M; Gremmer, E R; Nagarajah, B; Kamstra, J H; Dollé, M E T; Legler, J; van der Ven, L T M

2015-12-01

Early life exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds has been linked to chronic diseases later in life, like obesity and related metabolic disorders. We exposed C57BL/6JxFVB hybrid mice to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and the constitutive androstane receptor/pregnane X receptor agonist polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB 153) in an experimental design relevant for human exposure. Exposure occurred during gestation and lactation via maternal feed to a wide dose range (TCDD: 10-10,000 pg/kg body weight/day; PCB 153: 0.09-1406 μg/kg body weight/d). Then exposure was ceased and offspring were followed up to 1 year of age. Metabolic parameters like body weight, fat pad weights, glucose tolerance, endocrine serum profile, and neurobehavioral and immunological parameters were determined. Body weight was transiently affected by both compounds throughout the follow-up. TCDD-exposed males showed decreased fat pad and spleen weights and an increase in IL-4 production of splenic immune cells. In contrast, females showed increased fat pad weights and production of IFNγ. PCB 153-exposed males showed an increase in glucose, whereas females showed an increase in glucagon, a decrease in pancreas weight, and an increase in thymus weight. In conclusion, early life exposure to TCDD appears to affect programming of energy and immune homeostasis in offspring, whereas the effects of perinatal PCB 153 were mainly on programming of glucose homeostasis. Both compounds act sex-specifically. Lowest derived BMDLs (lower bounds of the (two sided) 90%-confidence interval for the benchmark dose) for both compounds are not lower than current tolerable daily intakes.

Summary of Existing Legislation Affecting People with Disabilities. [Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of State Mental Retardation Program Directors, Alexandria, VA.

This publication provides a summary of relevant federal laws concerning the legal rights and benefits available to persons with disabilities. Relevant laws are divided into general subject areas, including education, employment, health, housing, income maintenance, nutrition, civil rights, social services, transportation, and vocational…

Student perception of relevance of biology content to everyday life: A study in higher education biology courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Himschoot, Agnes Rose

The purpose of this mixed method case study was to examine the effects of methods of instruction on students' perception of relevance in higher education non-biology majors' courses. Nearly ninety percent of all students in a liberal arts college are required to take a general biology course. It is proposed that for many of those students, this is the last science course they will take for life. General biology courses are suspected of discouraging student interest in biology with large enrollment, didactic instruction, covering a huge amount of content in one semester, and are charged with promoting student disengagement with biology by the end of the course. Previous research has been aimed at increasing student motivation and interest in biology as measured by surveys and test results. Various methods of instruction have been tested and show evidence of improved learning gains. This study focused on students' perception of relevance of biology content to everyday life and the methods of instruction that increase it. A quantitative survey was administered to assess perception of relevance pre and post instruction over three topics typically taught in a general biology course. A second quantitative survey of student experiences during instruction was administered to identify methods of instruction used in the course lecture and lab. While perception of relevance dropped in the study, qualitative focus groups provided insight into the surprising results by identifying topics that are more relevant than the ones chosen for the study, conveying the affects of the instructor's personal and instructional skills on student engagement, explanation of how active engagement during instruction promotes understanding of relevance, the roll of laboratory in promoting students' understanding of relevance as well as identifying external factors that affect student engagement. The study also investigated the extent to which gender affected changes in students' perception of relevance. The results of this study will inform instructors' pedagogical and logistical choices in the design and implementation of higher education biology courses for non-biology majors. Recommendations for future research will include refining the study to train instructors in methods of instruction that promote student engagement as well as to identify biology topics that are more relevant to students enrolled in non-major biology courses.

Another look at confidence intervals: Proposal for a more relevant and transparent approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biller, Steven D.; Oser, Scott M.

2015-02-01

The behaviors of various confidence/credible interval constructions are explored, particularly in the region of low event numbers where methods diverge most. We highlight a number of challenges, such as the treatment of nuisance parameters, and common misconceptions associated with such constructions. An informal survey of the literature suggests that confidence intervals are not always defined in relevant ways and are too often misinterpreted and/or misapplied. This can lead to seemingly paradoxical behaviors and flawed comparisons regarding the relevance of experimental results. We therefore conclude that there is a need for a more pragmatic strategy which recognizes that, while it is critical to objectively convey the information content of the data, there is also a strong desire to derive bounds on model parameter values and a natural instinct to interpret things this way. Accordingly, we attempt to put aside philosophical biases in favor of a practical view to propose a more transparent and self-consistent approach that better addresses these issues.

Using Inverse Problem Methods with Surveillance Data in Pneumococcal Vaccination

PubMed Central

Sutton, Karyn L.; Banks, H. T.; Castillo-Chavez, Carlos

2010-01-01

The design and evaluation of epidemiological control strategies is central to public health policy. While inverse problem methods are routinely used in many applications, this remains an area in which their use is relatively rare, although their potential impact is great. We describe methods particularly relevant to epidemiological modeling at the population level. These methods are then applied to the study of pneumococcal vaccination strategies as a relevant example which poses many challenges common to other infectious diseases. We demonstrate that relevant yet typically unknown parameters may be estimated, and show that a calibrated model may used to assess implemented vaccine policies through the estimation of parameters if vaccine history is recorded along with infection and colonization information. Finally, we show how one might determine an appropriate level of refinement or aggregation in the age-structured model given age-stratified observations. These results illustrate ways in which the collection and analysis of surveillance data can be improved using inverse problem methods. PMID:20209093

Towards physics responsible for large-scale Lyman-α forest bias parameters

DOE PAGES

Agnieszka M. Cieplak; Slosar, Anze

2016-03-08

Using a series of carefully constructed numerical experiments based on hydrodynamic cosmological SPH simulations, we attempt to build an intuition for the relevant physics behind the large scale density (b δ) and velocity gradient (b η) biases of the Lyman-α forest. Starting with the fluctuating Gunn-Peterson approximation applied to the smoothed total density field in real-space, and progressing through redshift-space with no thermal broadening, redshift-space with thermal broadening and hydrodynamically simulated baryon fields, we investigate how approximations found in the literature fare. We find that Seljak's 2012 analytical formulae for these bias parameters work surprisingly well in the limit ofmore » no thermal broadening and linear redshift-space distortions. We also show that his b η formula is exact in the limit of no thermal broadening. Since introduction of thermal broadening significantly affects its value, we speculate that a combination of large-scale measurements of b η and the small scale flux PDF might be a sensitive probe of the thermal state of the IGM. Lastly, we find that large-scale biases derived from the smoothed total matter field are within 10–20% to those based on hydrodynamical quantities, in line with other measurements in the literature.« less

The ring-shaped thermal field of Stefanos crater, Nisyros Island: a conceptual model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pantaleo, M.; Walter, T. R.

2013-11-01

Fumarole fields related to hydrothermal processes release the heat of the underground through permeable pathways. Thermal changes, therefore, are likely to depend also on the variation of these pathways. As these paths may affect or even control the temperature field at the surface, their understanding is relevant to applied and basic science alike. A common difficulty, however, in surface temperature field studies at active volcanoes is that the parameters controlling the ascending routes of fluids are poorly constrained in general. Here we analyze the crater of Stefanos, Nisyros (Greece), and highlight complexities in the spatial pattern of the fumarole field related to permeability conditions. There may be different explanations for the observed permeability changes, such as structural control, lithology, weathering, and heterogeneous sediment accumulation and erosion. We combine high resolution infrared mosaics and grain-size analysis of soils, aiming to elaborate parameters controlling the appearance of the fumarole field. We find a ring-shaped thermal field located within the explosion crater, which is dependent on contrasts of the soil granulometry and volcanotectonic history. We develop a conceptual model of how the ring-shaped thermal field has formed at the Stefanos crater and similarly at other volcanic edifices, highlighting the importance of local permeability contrast that may increase or decrease the thermal fluid flux.

FRUIT: An operational tool for multisphere neutron spectrometry in workplaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedogni, Roberto; Domingo, Carles; Esposito, Adolfo; Fernández, Francisco

2007-10-01

FRUIT (Frascati Unfolding Interactive Tool) is an unfolding code for Bonner sphere spectrometers (BSS) developed, under the Labview environment, at the INFN-Frascati National Laboratory. It models a generic neutron spectrum as the superposition of up to four components (thermal, epithermal, fast and high energy), fully defined by up to seven positive parameters. Different physical models are available to unfold the sphere counts, covering the majority of the neutron spectra encountered in workplaces. The iterative algorithm uses Monte Carlo methods to vary the parameters and derive the final spectrum as limit of a succession of spectra fulfilling the established convergence criteria. Uncertainties on the final results are evaluated taking into consideration the different sources of uncertainty affecting the input data. Relevant features of FRUIT are (1) a high level of interactivity, allowing the user to follow the convergence process, (2) the possibility to modify the convergence tolerances during the run, allowing a rapid achievement of meaningful solutions and (3) the reduced dependence of the results from the initial hypothesis. This provides a useful instrument for spectrometric measurements in workplaces, where detailed a priori information is usually unavailable. This paper describes the characteristics of the code and presents the results of performance tests over a significant variety of reference and workplace neutron spectra ranging from thermal up to hundreds MeV neutrons.

Degradation of ibuprofen by hydrodynamic cavitation: Reaction pathways and effect of operational parameters.

PubMed

Musmarra, Dino; Prisciandaro, Marina; Capocelli, Mauro; Karatza, Despina; Iovino, Pasquale; Canzano, Silvana; Lancia, Amedeo

2016-03-01

Ibuprofen (IBP) is an anti-inflammatory drug whose residues can be found worldwide in natural water bodies resulting in harmful effects to aquatic species even at low concentrations. This paper deals with the degradation of IBP in water by hydrodynamic cavitation in a convergent-divergent nozzle. Over 60% of ibuprofen was degraded in 60 min with an electrical energy per order (EEO) of 10.77 kWh m(-3) at an initial concentration of 200 μg L(-1) and a relative inlet pressure pin=0.35 MPa. Five intermediates generated from different hydroxylation reactions were identified; the potential mechanisms of degradation were sketched and discussed. The reaction pathways recognized are in line with the relevant literature, both experimental and theoretical. By varying the pressure upstream the constriction, different degradation rates were observed. This effect was discussed according to a numerical simulation of the hydroxyl radical production identifying a clear correspondence between the maximum kinetic constant kOH and the maximum calculated OH production. Furthermore, in the investigated experimental conditions, the pH parameter was found not to affect the extent of degradation; this peculiar feature agrees with a recently published kinetic insight and has been explained in the light of the intermediates of the different reaction pathways. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling the interaction between the intra-aortic balloon pump and the cardiovascular system: the effect of timing.

PubMed

Schampaert, Stéphanie; Rutten, Marcel C M; van T Veer, Marcel; van Nunen, Lokien X; Tonino, Pim A L; Pijls, Nico H J; van de Vosse, Frans N

2013-01-01

Because of the large number of interaction factors involved, the effects of the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) have not been investigated deeply. To enhance its clinical efficiency and to better define indications for use, advanced models are required to test the interaction between the IABP and the cardiovascular system. A patient with mild blood pressure depression and a lowered cardiac output is modeled in a lumped parameter computational model, developed with physiologically representative elements for relevant components of circulation and device. IABP support is applied, and the moments of balloon inflation and deflation are varied around their conventional timing modes. For validation purposes, timing is adapted within acceptable ranges in ten patients undergoing IABP therapy for typical clinical indications. In both model and patients, the IABP induces a diastolic blood pressure augmentation as well as a systolic reduction in afterload. The support capabilities of the IABP benefit the most when the balloon is deflated simultaneously with ventricular contraction, whereas inflation before onset of diastole unconditionally interferes with ejection. The physiologic response makes the model an excellent tool for testing the interaction between the IABP and the cardiovascular system, and how alterations of specific IABP parameters (i.e., timing) affect this coupling.

Detection of photosynthetic responses of cool-temperate forests following extreme climate events using Bayesian inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toda, M.; Knohl, A.; Herbst, M.; Keenan, T. F.; Yokozawa, M.

2016-12-01

The increase in extreme climate events associated with ongoing global warming may create severe damage to terrestrial ecosystems, changing plant structure and the eco-physiological functions that regulate ecosystem carbon exchange. However, most damage is usually due to moderate, rather than catastrophic, disturbances. The nature of plant functional responses to such disturbances, and the resulting effects on the terrestrial carbon cycle, remain poorly understood. To unravel the scientific question, tower-based eddy covariance data in the cool-temperate forests were used to constrain plant eco-physiological parameters in a persimoneous ecosystem model that may have affected carbon dynamics following extreme climate events using the statistic Bayesian inversion approach. In the present study, we raised two types of extreme events relevant for cool-temperate regions, i.e. a typhoon with mechanistic foliage destraction and a heat wave with severe drought. With appropriate evaluation of parameter and predictive uncertainties, the inversion analysis shows annual trajectory of activated photosynthetic responses following climate extremes compared the pre-disturbance state in each forest. We address that forests with moderate disturbance show substantial and rapid photosynthetic recovery, enhanced productivity, and, thus, ecosystem carbon exchange, although the effect of extreme climatic events varies depending on the stand successional phase and the type, intensity, timing and legacy of the disturbance.

Nociceptive flexion reflexes during analgesic neurostimulation in man.

PubMed

García-Larrea, L; Sindou, M; Mauguière, F

1989-11-01

Nociceptive flexion reflexes of the lower limbs (RIII responses) have been studied in 21 patients undergoing either epidural (DCS, n = 16) or transcutaneous (TENS, n = 5) analgesic neurostimulation (AN) for chronic intractable pain. Flexion reflex RIII was depressed or suppressed by AN in 11 patients (52.4%), while no modification was observed in 9 cases and a paradoxical increase during AN was evidenced in 1 case. In all but 2 patients, RIII changes were rapidly reversible after AN interruption. RIII depression was significantly associated with subjective pain relief, as assessed by conventional self-rating; moreover, in 2 patients it was possible to ameliorate the pain-suppressing effects of AN by selecting those stimulation parameters (intensity and frequency) that maximally depressed nociceptive reflex RIII. We recorded 2 cases of RIII attenuation after contralateral neurostimulation. AN appeared to affect nociceptive reflexes rather selectively, with no or very little effect on other cutaneous, non-nociceptive responses. Recording of RIII reflexes is relatively simple to implement as a routine paraclinical procedure. It facilitates the objective assessment of AN efficacy and may help to choose the most appropriate parameters of neurostimulation. In addition, RIII behavior in patients could be relevant to the understanding of some of the mechanisms involved in AN-induced pain relief.

Responses of squirrel monkeys to their experimentally modified mobbing calls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fichtel, Claudia; Hammerschmidt, Kurt

2003-05-01

Previous acoustic analyses suggested emotion-correlated changes in the acoustic structure of squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) vocalizations. Specifically, calls given in aversive contexts were characterized by an upward shift in frequencies, often accompanied by an increase in amplitude. In order to test whether changes in frequencies or amplitude are indeed relevant for conspecific listeners, playback experiments were conducted in which either frequencies or amplitude of mobbing calls were modified. Latency and first orienting response were measured in playback experiments with six adult squirrel monkeys. After broadcasting yaps with increased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a longer orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding control stimuli. Furthermore, after broadcasting yaps with decreased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a shorter orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding manipulated calls with higher frequencies or amplitude. These results suggest that changes in frequencies or amplitude were perceived by squirrel monkeys, indicating that the relationship between call structure and the underlying affective state of the caller agreed with the listener's assessment of the calls. However, a simultaneous increase in frequencies and amplitude did not lead to an enhanced response, compared to each single parameter. Thus, from the receiver's perspective, both call parameters may mutually replace each other.

Individual-based modelling of population growth and diffusion in discrete time.

PubMed

Tkachenko, Natalie; Weissmann, John D; Petersen, Wesley P; Lake, George; Zollikofer, Christoph P E; Callegari, Simone

2017-01-01

Individual-based models (IBMs) of human populations capture spatio-temporal dynamics using rules that govern the birth, behavior, and death of individuals. We explore a stochastic IBM of logistic growth-diffusion with constant time steps and independent, simultaneous actions of birth, death, and movement that approaches the Fisher-Kolmogorov model in the continuum limit. This model is well-suited to parallelization on high-performance computers. We explore its emergent properties with analytical approximations and numerical simulations in parameter ranges relevant to human population dynamics and ecology, and reproduce continuous-time results in the limit of small transition probabilities. Our model prediction indicates that the population density and dispersal speed are affected by fluctuations in the number of individuals. The discrete-time model displays novel properties owing to the binomial character of the fluctuations: in certain regimes of the growth model, a decrease in time step size drives the system away from the continuum limit. These effects are especially important at local population sizes of <50 individuals, which largely correspond to group sizes of hunter-gatherers. As an application scenario, we model the late Pleistocene dispersal of Homo sapiens into the Americas, and discuss the agreement of model-based estimates of first-arrival dates with archaeological dates in dependence of IBM model parameter settings.

Remission of type 2 diabetes mellitus after bariatric surgery - comparison between procedures.

PubMed

Fernández-Soto, María L; Martín-Leyva, Ana; González-Jiménez, Amalia; García-Rubio, Jesús; Cózar-Ibáñez, Antonio; Zamora-Camacho, Francisco J; Leyva-Martínez, María S; Jiménez-Ríos, Jose A; Escobar-Jiménez, Fernándo

2017-01-01

We aimed to assess the mid-term type 2 diabetes mellitus recovery patterns in morbidly obese patients by comparing some relevant physiological parameters of patients of bariatric surgery between two types of surgical procedures: mixed (roux-en-Y gastric bypass and biliopancreatic diversion) and restrictive (sleeve gastrectomy). This is a prospective and observational study of co-morbid, type 2 diabetes mellitus evolution in 49 morbidly obese patients: 37 underwent mixed surgery procedures and 12 a restrictive surgery procedure. We recorded weight, height, body mass index, and glycaemic, lipid, and nutritional blood parameters, prior to procedure, as well as six and twelve months post-operatively. In addition, we tested for differences in patient recovery and investigated predictive factors in diabetes remission. Both glycaemic and lipid profiles diminished significantly to healthy levels by 6 and 12 months post intervention. Type 2 diabetes mellitus showed remission in more than 80% of patients of both types of surgical procedures, with no difference between them. Baseline body mass index, glycated haemoglobin, and insulin intake, among others, were shown to be valuable predictors of diabetes remission one year after the intervention. The choice of the type of surgical procedure did not significantly affect the remission rate of type 2 diabetes mellitus in morbidly obese patients. (Endokrynol Pol 2017; 68 (1): 18-25).

Model selection and model averaging in phylogenetics: advantages of akaike information criterion and bayesian approaches over likelihood ratio tests.

PubMed

Posada, David; Buckley, Thomas R

2004-10-01

Model selection is a topic of special relevance in molecular phylogenetics that affects many, if not all, stages of phylogenetic inference. Here we discuss some fundamental concepts and techniques of model selection in the context of phylogenetics. We start by reviewing different aspects of the selection of substitution models in phylogenetics from a theoretical, philosophical and practical point of view, and summarize this comparison in table format. We argue that the most commonly implemented model selection approach, the hierarchical likelihood ratio test, is not the optimal strategy for model selection in phylogenetics, and that approaches like the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian methods offer important advantages. In particular, the latter two methods are able to simultaneously compare multiple nested or nonnested models, assess model selection uncertainty, and allow for the estimation of phylogenies and model parameters using all available models (model-averaged inference or multimodel inference). We also describe how the relative importance of the different parameters included in substitution models can be depicted. To illustrate some of these points, we have applied AIC-based model averaging to 37 mitochondrial DNA sequences from the subgenus Ohomopterus(genus Carabus) ground beetles described by Sota and Vogler (2001).

Quantifying the past and future impact of climate on outbreak patterns of bank voles (Myodes glareolus).

PubMed

Imholt, Christian; Reil, Daniela; Eccard, Jana A; Jacob, Daniela; Hempelmann, Nils; Jacob, Jens

2015-02-01

Central European outbreak populations of the bank vole (Myodes glareolus Schreber) are known to cause damage in forestry and to transmit the most common type of Hantavirus (Puumala virus, PUUV) to humans. A sound estimation of potential effects of future climate scenarios on population dynamics is a prerequisite for long-term management strategies. Historic abundance time series were used to identify the key weather conditions associated with bank vole abundance, and were extrapolated to future climate scenarios to derive potential long-term changes in bank vole abundance dynamics. Classification and regression tree analysis revealed the most relevant weather parameters associated with high and low bank vole abundances. Summer temperatures 2 years prior to trapping had the highest impact on abundance fluctuation. Extrapolation of the identified parameters to future climate conditions revealed an increase in years with high vole abundance. Key weather patterns associated with vole abundance reflect the importance of superabundant food supply through masting to the occurrence of bank vole outbreaks. Owing to changing climate, these outbreaks are predicted potentially to increase in frequency 3-4-fold by the end of this century. This may negatively affect damage patterns in forestry and the risk of human PUUV infection in the long term. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Stopping and Coulomb explosion of energetic carbon clusters in a plasma irradiated by an intense laser field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Guiqiu; Wang, Younian

2015-09-01

The interaction of a charged particle beam with a plasma is a very important subject of relevance for many fields of physics, such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF) driven by ion or electron beams, high energy density physics, and related astrophysical problems. Recently, a promising ICF scheme has been proposed, in which the plasma target is irradiated simultaneously by intense laser and ion beams. For molecular ion or cluster, slowing down process will company the Coulomb explosion phenomenon. In this paper, we present a study of the effects of intense radiation field (RF) on the interaction of energetic carbon clusters in a plasma. The emphasis is laid on the dynamic polarization and correlation effects of the constituent ions within the cluster in order to disclose the role of the vicinage effects on the Coulomb explosion and energy deposition of the clusters in plasma. On the other hand, affecting of a strong laser field on the cluster propagating in plasma is considered, the influence of a large range of laser parameters and plasma parameters on the Coulomb explosion and stopping power are discussed. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11375034), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (3132015144, 3132014337).

Towards physics responsible for large-scale Lyman-α forest bias parameters

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

Agnieszka M. Cieplak; Slosar, Anze

Using a series of carefully constructed numerical experiments based on hydrodynamic cosmological SPH simulations, we attempt to build an intuition for the relevant physics behind the large scale density (b δ) and velocity gradient (b η) biases of the Lyman-α forest. Starting with the fluctuating Gunn-Peterson approximation applied to the smoothed total density field in real-space, and progressing through redshift-space with no thermal broadening, redshift-space with thermal broadening and hydrodynamically simulated baryon fields, we investigate how approximations found in the literature fare. We find that Seljak's 2012 analytical formulae for these bias parameters work surprisingly well in the limit ofmore » no thermal broadening and linear redshift-space distortions. We also show that his b η formula is exact in the limit of no thermal broadening. Since introduction of thermal broadening significantly affects its value, we speculate that a combination of large-scale measurements of b η and the small scale flux PDF might be a sensitive probe of the thermal state of the IGM. Lastly, we find that large-scale biases derived from the smoothed total matter field are within 10–20% to those based on hydrodynamical quantities, in line with other measurements in the literature.« less

Study of parameters affecting the conversion in a plug flow reactor for reactions of the type 2A→B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beltran-Prieto, Juan Carlos; Long, Nguyen Huynh Bach Son

2018-04-01

Modeling of chemical reactors is an important tool to quantify reagent conversion, product yield and selectivity towards a specific compound and to describe the behavior of the system. Proposal of differential equations describing the mass and energy balance are among the most important steps required during the modeling process as they play a special role in the design and operation of the reactor. Parameters governing transfer of heat and mass have a strong relevance in the rate of the reaction. Understanding this information is important for the selection of reactor and operating regime. In this paper we studied the irreversible gas-phase reaction 2A→B. We model the conversion that can be achieved as function of the reactor volume and feeding temperature. Additionally, we discuss the effect of activation energy and the heat of reaction on the conversion achieved in the tubular reactor. Furthermore, we considered that dimerization occurs instantaneously in the catalytic surface to develop equations for the determination of rate of reaction per unit area of three different catalytic surface shapes. This data can be combined with information about the global rate of conversion in the reactor to improve regent conversion and yield of product.

Characterizing Mediterranean Land Surfaces as Component of the Regional Climate System by Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolle, H.-J.; Koslowsky, D.; Menenti, M.; Nerry, F.; Otterman, Joseph; Starr, D.

1998-01-01

Extensive areas in the Mediterranean region are subject to land degradation and desertification. The high variability of the coupling between the surface and the atmosphere affects the regional climate. Relevant surface characteristics, such as spectral reflectance, surface emissivity in the thermal-infrared region, and vegetation indices, serve as "primary" level indicators for the state of the surface. Their spatial, seasonal and interannual variability can be monitored from satellites. Using relationships between these primary data and combining them with prior information about the land surfaces (such as topography, dominant soil type, land use, collateral ground measurements and models), a second layer of information is built up which specifies the land surfaces as a component of the regional climate system. To this category of parameters which are directly involved in the exchange of energy, momentum and mass between the surface and the atmosphere, belong broadband albedo, thermodynamic surface temperature, vegetation types, vegetation cover density, soil top moisture, and soil heat flux. Information about these parameters finally leads to the computation of sensible and latent heat fluxes. The methodology was tested with pilot data sets. Full resolution, properly calibrated and normalized NOAA-AVHRR multi-annual primary data sets are presently compiled for the whole Mediterranean area, to study interannual variability and longer term trends.

Impact of Hydrogeological Uncertainty on Estimation of Environmental Risks Posed by Hydrocarbon Transportation Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciriello, V.; Lauriola, I.; Bonvicini, S.; Cozzani, V.; Di Federico, V.; Tartakovsky, Daniel M.

2017-11-01

Ubiquitous hydrogeological uncertainty undermines the veracity of quantitative predictions of soil and groundwater contamination due to accidental hydrocarbon spills from onshore pipelines. Such predictions, therefore, must be accompanied by quantification of predictive uncertainty, especially when they are used for environmental risk assessment. We quantify the impact of parametric uncertainty on quantitative forecasting of temporal evolution of two key risk indices, volumes of unsaturated and saturated soil contaminated by a surface spill of light nonaqueous-phase liquids. This is accomplished by treating the relevant uncertain parameters as random variables and deploying two alternative probabilistic models to estimate their effect on predictive uncertainty. A physics-based model is solved with a stochastic collocation method and is supplemented by a global sensitivity analysis. A second model represents the quantities of interest as polynomials of random inputs and has a virtually negligible computational cost, which enables one to explore any number of risk-related contamination scenarios. For a typical oil-spill scenario, our method can be used to identify key flow and transport parameters affecting the risk indices, to elucidate texture-dependent behavior of different soils, and to evaluate, with a degree of confidence specified by the decision-maker, the extent of contamination and the correspondent remediation costs.

Down or up? Explaining positive and negative emotions in parents of children with Down's syndrome: Goals, cognitive coping, and resources.

PubMed

Van Der Veek, Shelley M C; Kraaij, Vivian; Garnefski, Nadia

2009-09-01

Some studies find that parents of children with Down's syndrome may experience symptoms of depression, while other studies find that parents adapt well. This study aimed to clarify this variability in adaptive strength by investigating a stress-coping model to explain depressive symptoms and positive affect. Questionnaires were completed by 553 parents of children (aged 0-18) with Down's syndrome, containing measures of goal disturbance, cognitive coping, social support, partner bonding, and coping self-efficacy. Different models for positive affect and depressive symptoms were found. The coping strategies of self-blame and rumination were positively related to depressive symptoms, and positive reappraisal was positively related to positive affect. Partner bonding characteristics played relevant roles in both models, as did coping self-efficacy and goal disturbance. Social support seemed mainly relevant in explaining positive affect. Different psychological factors were related to depressive symptoms and positive affect in parents of children with Down's syndrome. Implications are discussed.

How to Select the most Relevant Roughness Parameters of a Surface: Methodology Research Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobrovskij, I. N.

2018-01-01

In this paper, the foundations for new methodology creation which provides solving problem of surfaces structure new standards parameters huge amount conflicted with necessary actual floors quantity of surfaces structure parameters which is related to measurement complexity decreasing are considered. At the moment, there is no single assessment of the importance of a parameters. The approval of presented methodology for aerospace cluster components surfaces allows to create necessary foundation, to develop scientific estimation of surfaces texture parameters, to obtain material for investigators of chosen technological procedure. The methods necessary for further work, the creation of a fundamental reserve and development as a scientific direction for assessing the significance of microgeometry parameters are selected.

Automatic classification of protein structures using physicochemical parameters.

PubMed

Mohan, Abhilash; Rao, M Divya; Sunderrajan, Shruthi; Pennathur, Gautam

2014-09-01

Protein classification is the first step to functional annotation; SCOP and Pfam databases are currently the most relevant protein classification schemes. However, the disproportion in the number of three dimensional (3D) protein structures generated versus their classification into relevant superfamilies/families emphasizes the need for automated classification schemes. Predicting function of novel proteins based on sequence information alone has proven to be a major challenge. The present study focuses on the use of physicochemical parameters in conjunction with machine learning algorithms (Naive Bayes, Decision Trees, Random Forest and Support Vector Machines) to classify proteins into their respective SCOP superfamily/Pfam family, using sequence derived information. Spectrophores™, a 1D descriptor of the 3D molecular field surrounding a structure was used as a benchmark to compare the performance of the physicochemical parameters. The machine learning algorithms were modified to select features based on information gain for each SCOP superfamily/Pfam family. The effect of combining physicochemical parameters and spectrophores on classification accuracy (CA) was studied. Machine learning algorithms trained with the physicochemical parameters consistently classified SCOP superfamilies and Pfam families with a classification accuracy above 90%, while spectrophores performed with a CA of around 85%. Feature selection improved classification accuracy for both physicochemical parameters and spectrophores based machine learning algorithms. Combining both attributes resulted in a marginal loss of performance. Physicochemical parameters were able to classify proteins from both schemes with classification accuracy ranging from 90-96%. These results suggest the usefulness of this method in classifying proteins from amino acid sequences.

Parameters of metabolic quantification in clinical practice. Is it now time to include them in reports?

PubMed

Mucientes, J; Calles, L; Rodríguez, B; Mitjavila, M

2018-01-18

Qualitative techniques have traditionally been the standard for the diagnostic assessment with 18 F-FDG PET studies. Since the introduction of the technique, quantitative parameters have been sought, more accurate and with better diagnostic precision, that may offer relevant information of the behavior, aggressiveness or prognosis of tumors. Nowadays, more and more studies with high quality evidence show the utility of other metabolic parameters different from the SUV maximum, which despite being widely used in clinical practice is controversial and many physicians still do not know its real meaning. The objective of this paper has been to review the key concepts of these metabolic parameters that could be relevant in normal practice in the future. It has been seen that there is more evidence in the complete evaluation of the metabolism of a lesion, through volumetric parameters that more adequately reflect the patient's tumor burden. Basically, these parameters calculate the volume of tumor that fulfills certain characteristics. A software available in the majority of the workstations has been used for this purpose and it has allowed to calculate these volumes using more or less complex criteria. The simplest threshold-based segmentation methods are available in most equipments, they are easy to calculate and they have been shown in many studies to have an important prognostic significance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

Knowledge modeling in image-guided neurosurgery: application in understanding intraoperative brain shift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen-Adad, Julien; Paul, Perrine; Morandi, Xavier; Jannin, Pierre

2006-03-01

During an image-guided neurosurgery procedure, the neuronavigation system is subject to inaccuracy because of anatomical deformations which induce a gap between the preoperative images and their anatomical reality. Thus, the objective of many research teams is to succeed in quantifying these deformations in order to update preoperative images. Anatomical intraoperative deformations correspond to a complex spatio-temporal phenomenon. Our objective is to identify the parameters implicated in these deformations and to use these parameters as constrains for systems dedicated to updating preoperative images. In order to identify these parameters of deformation we followed the iterative methodology used for cognitive system conception: identification, conceptualization, formalization, implementation and validation. A state of the art about cortical deformations has been established in order to identify relevant parameters probably involved in the deformations. As a first step, 30 parameters have been identified and described following an ontological approach. They were formalized into a Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagram. We implemented that model into a web-based application in order to fill a database. Two surgical cases have been studied at this moment. After having entered enough surgical cases for data mining purposes, we expect to identify the most relevant and influential parameters and to gain a better ability to understand the deformation phenomenon. This original approach is part of a global system aiming at quantifying and correcting anatomical deformations.

A parameter optimization tool for evaluating the physical consistency of the plot-scale water budget of the integrated eco-hydrological model GEOtop in complex terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertoldi, Giacomo; Cordano, Emanuele; Brenner, Johannes; Senoner, Samuel; Della Chiesa, Stefano; Niedrist, Georg

2017-04-01

In mountain regions, the plot- and catchment-scale water and energy budgets are controlled by a complex interplay of different abiotic (i.e. topography, geology, climate) and biotic (i.e. vegetation, land management) controlling factors. When integrated, physically-based eco-hydrological models are used in mountain areas, there are a large number of parameters, topographic and boundary conditions that need to be chosen. However, data on soil and land-cover properties are relatively scarce and do not reflect the strong variability at the local scale. For this reason, tools for uncertainty quantification and optimal parameters identification are essential not only to improve model performances, but also to identify most relevant parameters to be measured in the field and to evaluate the impact of different assumptions for topographic and boundary conditions (surface, lateral and subsurface water and energy fluxes), which are usually unknown. In this contribution, we present the results of a sensitivity analysis exercise for a set of 20 experimental stations located in the Italian Alps, representative of different conditions in terms of topography (elevation, slope, aspect), land use (pastures, meadows, and apple orchards), soil type and groundwater influence. Besides micrometeorological parameters, each station provides soil water content at different depths, and in three stations (one for each land cover) eddy covariance fluxes. The aims of this work are: (I) To present an approach for improving calibration of plot-scale soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET). (II) To identify the most sensitive parameters and relevant factors controlling temporal and spatial differences among sites. (III) Identify possible model structural deficiencies or uncertainties in boundary conditions. Simulations have been performed with the GEOtop 2.0 model, which is a physically-based, fully distributed integrated eco-hydrological model that has been specifically designed for mountain regions, since it considers the effect of topography on radiation and water fluxes and integrates a snow module. A new automatic sensitivity and optimization tool based on the Particle Swarm Optimization theory has been developed, available as R package on https://github.com/EURAC-Ecohydro/geotopOptim2. The model, once calibrated for soil and vegetation parameters, predicts the plot-scale temporal SMC dynamics of SMC and ET with a RMSE of about 0.05 m3/m3 and 40 W/m2, respectively. However, the model tends to underestimate ET during summer months over apple orchards. Results show how most sensitive parameters are both soil and canopy structural properties. However, ranking is affected by the choice of the target function and local topographic conditions. In particular, local slope/aspect influences results in stations located over hillslopes, but with marked seasonal differences. Results for locations in the valley floor are strongly controlled by the choice of the bottom water flux boundary condition. The poorer model performances in simulating ET over apple orchards could be explained by a model structural deficiency in representing the stomatal control on vapor pressure deficit for this particular type of vegetation. The results of this sensitivity could be extended to other physically distributed models, and also provide valuable insights for optimizing new experimental designs.

Meta-analytically informed network analysis of resting state FMRI reveals hyperconnectivity in an introspective socio-affective network in depression.

PubMed

Schilbach, Leonhard; Müller, Veronika I; Hoffstaedter, Felix; Clos, Mareike; Goya-Maldonado, Roberto; Gruber, Oliver; Eickhoff, Simon B

2014-01-01

Alterations of social cognition and dysfunctional interpersonal expectations are thought to play an important role in the etiology of depression and have, thus, become a key target of psychotherapeutic interventions. The underlying neurobiology, however, remains elusive. Based upon the idea of a close link between affective and introspective processes relevant for social interactions and alterations thereof in states of depression, we used a meta-analytically informed network analysis to investigate resting-state functional connectivity in an introspective socio-affective (ISA) network in individuals with and without depression. Results of our analysis demonstrate significant differences between the groups with depressed individuals showing hyperconnectivity of the ISA network. These findings demonstrate that neurofunctional alterations exist in individuals with depression in a neural network relevant for introspection and socio-affective processing, which may contribute to the interpersonal difficulties that are linked to depressive symptomatology.

Meta-Analytically Informed Network Analysis of Resting State fMRI Reveals Hyperconnectivity in an Introspective Socio-Affective Network in Depression

PubMed Central

Schilbach, Leonhard; Müller, Veronika I.; Hoffstaedter, Felix; Clos, Mareike; Goya-Maldonado, Roberto

2014-01-01

Alterations of social cognition and dysfunctional interpersonal expectations are thought to play an important role in the etiology of depression and have, thus, become a key target of psychotherapeutic interventions. The underlying neurobiology, however, remains elusive. Based upon the idea of a close link between affective and introspective processes relevant for social interactions and alterations thereof in states of depression, we used a meta-analytically informed network analysis to investigate resting-state functional connectivity in an introspective socio-affective (ISA) network in individuals with and without depression. Results of our analysis demonstrate significant differences between the groups with depressed individuals showing hyperconnectivity of the ISA network. These findings demonstrate that neurofunctional alterations exist in individuals with depression in a neural network relevant for introspection and socio-affective processing, which may contribute to the interpersonal difficulties that are linked to depressive symptomatology. PMID:24759619

Affective picture processing: An integrative review of ERP findings

PubMed Central

Olofsson, Jonas K.; Nordin, Steven; Sequeira, Henrique; Polich, John

2008-01-01

The review summarizes and integrates findings from 40 years of event-related potential (ERP) studies using pictures that differ in valence (unpleasant-to-pleasant) and arousal (low-to-high) and that are used to elicit emotional processing. Affective stimulus factors primarily modulate ERP component amplitude, with little change in peak latency observed. Arousal effects are consistently obtained, and generally occur at longer latencies. Valence effects are inconsistently reported at several latency ranges, including very early components. Some affective ERP modulations vary with recording methodology, stimulus factors, as well as task-relevance and emotional state. Affective ERPs have been linked theoretically to attention orientation for unpleasant pictures at earlier components (< 300 ms). Enhanced stimulus processing has been associated with memory encoding for arousing pictures of assumed intrinsic motivational relevance, with task-induced differences contributing to emotional reactivity at later components (> 300 ms). Theoretical issues, stimulus factors, task demands, and individual differences are discussed. PMID:18164800

Comparison of different morphological parameters with duration of obstruction created experimentally in unilateral upper ureters: an animal model.

PubMed

Panda, Shasanka Shekhar; Bajpai, Minu; Mallick, Saumyaranjan; Sharma, Mehar C

2014-01-01

The objective of the following study is to determine and to compare the different morphological parameters with duration of obstruction created experimentally in unilateral upper ureters of rats. Unilateral upper ureteric obstruction was created in 60 adult Wistar rats that were reversed after predetermined intervals. Rats were sacrificed and ipsilateral kidneys were subjected for analysis of morphological parameters such as renal height, cranio-caudal diameter, antero-posterior diameter, lateral diameter, volume of the pelvis and average cortical thickness: Renal height. Renal height and cranio-caudal diameter of renal pelvis after ipsilateral upper ureteric obstruction started rising as early as 7 days of creating obstruction and were affected earlier than antero-posterior and lateral diameter and also were reversed earlier than other parameters after reversal of obstruction. Renal cortical thickness and volume of the pelvis were affected after prolonged obstruction (> 3 weeks) and were the late parameters to be reversed after reversal of obstruction. Cranio-caudal diameter and renal height were the early morphological parameters to be affected and reversed after reversal of obstruction in experimentally created ipsilateral upper ureteric obstruction.

Simulation modeling for stratified breast cancer screening - a systematic review of cost and quality of life assumptions.

PubMed

Arnold, Matthias

2017-12-02

The economic evaluation of stratified breast cancer screening gains momentum, but produces also very diverse results. Systematic reviews so far focused on modeling techniques and epidemiologic assumptions. However, cost and utility parameters received only little attention. This systematic review assesses simulation models for stratified breast cancer screening based on their cost and utility parameters in each phase of breast cancer screening and care. A literature review was conducted to compare economic evaluations with simulation models of personalized breast cancer screening. Study quality was assessed using reporting guidelines. Cost and utility inputs were extracted, standardized and structured using a care delivery framework. Studies were then clustered according to their study aim and parameters were compared within the clusters. Eighteen studies were identified within three study clusters. Reporting quality was very diverse in all three clusters. Only two studies in cluster 1, four studies in cluster 2 and one study in cluster 3 scored high in the quality appraisal. In addition to the quality appraisal, this review assessed if the simulation models were consistent in integrating all relevant phases of care, if utility parameters were consistent and methodological sound and if cost were compatible and consistent in the actual parameters used for screening, diagnostic work up and treatment. Of 18 studies, only three studies did not show signs of potential bias. This systematic review shows that a closer look into the cost and utility parameter can help to identify potential bias. Future simulation models should focus on integrating all relevant phases of care, using methodologically sound utility parameters and avoiding inconsistent cost parameters.

Copy number variation in 19 Italian multiplex families with autism spectrum disorder: Importance of synaptic and neurite elongation genes.

PubMed

Lintas, Carla; Picinelli, Chiara; Piras, Ignazio Stefano; Sacco, Roberto; Brogna, Claudia; Persico, Antonio M

2017-03-17

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is endowed with impressive heritability estimates and high recurrence rates. Its genetic underpinnings are nonetheless very heterogeneous, with common, and rare contributing variants located in hundreds of different loci, each characterized by variable levels of penetrance. Multiplex families from single ethnic groups represent a useful means to reduce heterogeneity and enhance genetic load. We screened 19 Italian ASD multiplex families (3 triplets and 16 duplets, total N = 41 ASD subjects), using array-CGH (Agilent 180 K). Causal or ASD-relevant CNVs were detected in 36.6% (15/41) of ASD probands, corresponding to 36.8% (7/19) multiplex families with at least one affected sibling genetically positive. However, only in less than half (3/7) of positive families, affected siblings share the same causal or ASD-relevant CNV. Even in these three families, additional potentially relevant CNVs not shared by affected sib pairs were also detected. These results provide further evidence of genetic heterogeneity in ASD even within multiplex families belonging to a single ethnic group. Differences in CNV burden may likely contribute to the substantial clinical heterogeneity observed between affected siblings. In addition, Gene Ontology enrichment analysis indicates that most potentially causal or relevant ASD genes detected in our cohort belong to nervous system-specific categories, especially involved in neurite elongation and synaptic structure/function. These findings point toward the existence of genomic instability in these families, whose underlying genetic and epigenetic mechanisms deserve further scrutiny. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Generative Theory of Relevance

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

73 5.3.1.4 Parameter estimation with a dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 5.3.1.5 Document ranking...engine [3]. The stemmer combines morphological rules with a large dictionary of special cases and exceptions. After stemming, 418 stop-words from the...goes over all Arabic training strings. Bulgarian definitions are identical. 5.3.1.4 Parameter estimation with a dictionary Parallel and comparable

Preterm piglets are a clinically relevant model of pediatric GI disease

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The goal of our research is to establish how nutritional support, enteral versus parenteral, affects gut function and susceptibility to disease in early development. We and others have used the neonatal pig to establish unique models of clinically relevant problems in pediatric gastroenterology, esp...

Positive Affect Modulates Flexibility and Evaluative Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Wouwe, Nelleke C.; Band, Guido P. H.; Ridderinkhof, K. Richard

2011-01-01

The ability to interact with a constantly changing environment requires a balance between maintaining the currently relevant working memory content and being sensitive to potentially relevant new information that should be given priority access to working memory. Mesocortical dopamine projections to frontal brain areas modulate working memory…

Effects of the seasonal cycle on superrotation in planetary atmospheres

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

Mitchell, Jonathan L.; Vallis, Geoffrey K.; Potter, Samuel F.

2014-05-20

The dynamics of dry atmospheric general circulation model simulations forced by seasonally varying Newtonian relaxation are explored over a wide range of two control parameters and are compared with the large-scale circulation of Earth, Mars, and Titan in their relevant parameter regimes. Of the parameters that govern the behavior of the system, the thermal Rossby number (Ro) has previously been found to be important in governing the spontaneous transition from an Earth-like climatology of winds to a superrotating one with prograde equatorial winds, in the absence of a seasonal cycle. This case is somewhat unrealistic as it applies only ifmore » the planet has zero obliquity or if surface thermal inertia is very large. While Venus has nearly vanishing obliquity, Earth, Mars, and Titan (Saturn) all have obliquities of ∼25° and varying degrees of seasonality due to their differing thermal inertias and orbital periods. Motivated by this, we introduce a time-dependent Newtonian cooling to drive a seasonal cycle using idealized model forcing, and we define a second control parameter that mimics non-dimensional thermal inertia of planetary surfaces. We then perform and analyze simulations across the parameter range bracketed by Earth-like and Titan-like regimes, assess the impact on the spontaneous transition to superrotation, and compare Earth, Mars, and Titan to the model simulations in the relevant parameter regime. We find that a large seasonal cycle (small thermal inertia) prevents model atmospheres with large thermal Rossby numbers from developing superrotation by the influences of (1) cross-equatorial momentum advection by the Hadley circulation and (2) hemispherically asymmetric zonal-mean zonal winds that suppress instabilities leading to equatorial momentum convergence. We also demonstrate that baroclinic instabilities must be sufficiently weak to allow superrotation to develop. In the relevant parameter regimes, our seasonal model simulations compare favorably to large-scale, seasonal phenomena observed on Earth and Mars. In the Titan-like regime the seasonal cycle in our model acts to prevent superrotation from developing, and it is necessary to increase the value of a third parameter—the atmospheric Newtonian cooling time—to achieve a superrotating climatology.« less

Factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph parameters to glaucomatous progression in disc photographs.

PubMed

Saarela, Ville; Falck, Aura; Airaksinen, P Juhani; Tuulonen, Anja

2012-03-01

To evaluate the factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of the stereometric optic nerve head (ONH) parameters of the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT) to glaucomatous progression in stereoscopic ONH photographs. The factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of the vertical cup : disc ratio, the cup : disc area ratio, the cup volume, the rim area and a linear discriminant function to progression were analysed. These parameters were the best indicators of progression in a retrospective study of 476 eyes. The reference standard for progression was the masked evaluation of stereoscopic ONH photographs. The factors having the most significant effect on the sensitivity and specificity of the stereometric ONH parameters were the reference height difference and the mean topography standard deviation (TSD), indicating image quality. Also, the change in the TSD and age showed consistent, but variably significant, influence on all parameters tested. The sensitivity and specificity improved when there was little change in the reference height, the image quality was good and stable, and the patients were younger. The sensitivity and specificity of the vertical cup : disc ratio was improved by a large disc area and high baseline cup : disc area ratio. The rim area showed a better sensitivity and specificity for progression with a small disc area and low baseline cup : disc area ratio. The factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of the stereometric ONH parameters to glaucomatous progression in disc photographs are essentially the same as those affecting the measurement variability of the HRT. © 2010 The Authors. Acta Ophthalmologica © 2010 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation.

Detection of cylinder unbalance from Bayesian inference combining cylinder pressure and vibration block measurement in a Diesel engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Emmanuel; Antoni, Jerome; Grondin, Olivier

2009-12-01

In the automotive industry, the necessary reduction of pollutant emission for new Diesel engines requires the control of combustion events. This control is efficient provided combustion parameters such as combustion occurrence and combustion energy are relevant. Combustion parameters are traditionally measured from cylinder pressure sensors. However this kind of sensor is expensive and has a limited lifetime. Thus this paper proposes to use only one cylinder pressure on a multi-cylinder engine and to extract combustion parameters from the other cylinders with low cost knock sensors. Knock sensors measure the vibration circulating on the engine block, hence they do not all contain the information on the combustion processes, but they are also contaminated by other mechanical noises that disorder the signal. The question is how to combine the information coming from one cylinder pressure and knock sensors to obtain the most relevant combustion parameters in all engine cylinders. In this paper, the issue is addressed trough the Bayesian inference formalism. In that cylinder where a cylinder pressure sensor is mounted, combustion parameters will be measured directly. In the other cylinders, they will be measured indirectly from Bayesian inference. Experimental results obtained on a four cylinder Diesel engine demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm toward that purpose.

Topological superconductivity in an ultrathin, magnetically-doped topological insulator proximity coupled to a conventional superconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Youngseok; Philip, Timothy M.; Park, Moon Jip; Gilbert, Matthew J.; University of Illinois at Urbana; Champaign Team

As a promising candidate system to realize topological superconductivity (SC), 3D time-reversal invariant topological insulators (TI) proximity-coupled to s-wave superconductors have been intensively studied. Recent experiments on proximity-coupled TI have shown that superconductivity may be induced in ultrathin TI. One proposal to observe the topological SC in proximity-coupled ultrathin TI system is to add magnetic dopants to the TI. However, detailed study on the impact of the experimental parameters on possible topological phase is sparse. In this work, we investigate ultrathin, magnetically-doped, proximity-coupled TI in order to determine the experimentally relevant parameters needed to observe topological SC. We find that, due to the spin-momentum locked nature of the surface states in TI, the induced s-wave order parameter within the surface states persists even at large magnitudes of the Zeeman energy, allowing us to explore the system in parameter space. We elucidate the phase diagram as a function of: the hybridization gap, Zeeman energy, and chemical potential of the TI system. Our findings provide a useful guide in choosing relevant parameters to facilitate the observation of topological SC in thin film TI-superconductor hybrid systems. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant CAREER ECCS-1351871.

Do the affective properties of smoking-related cues influence attentional and approach biases in cigarette smokers?

PubMed

Bradley, B P; Field, M; Healy, H; Mogg, K

2008-09-01

Research indicates that drug-related cues elicit attention and approach biases in drug users. However, attentional biases are not unique to addiction (e.g., they are also found for emotional information). This study examined whether attentional and approach biases in cigarette smokers are mediated by the motivational salience of cues (relevance to drug-taking), rather than by their affective properties (subjective liking of the cues). Cues included pleasant and unpleasant smoking-related pictures. Attentional biases, approach tendencies and subjective evaluation of the cues were assessed on visual probe, stimulus-response compatibility and rating tasks, respectively. Compared with non-smokers, smokers showed a greater attentional bias for both pleasant and unpleasant smoking-related cues presented for 2000 ms, but not for 200 ms. Smokers showed a greater approach bias for unpleasant cues, although the groups did not differ significantly in approach bias for pleasant smoking-related cues. Smokers rated both pleasant and unpleasant smoking pictures more positively than did non-smokers. Results suggest that a bias to maintain attention on smoking-related cues in young adult smokers is primarily a function of drug-relevance, rather than affective properties, of the cues. In contrast, approach tendencies and pleasantness judgements were influenced by drug use, drug-relevance and the affective properties of the cues.

Enduring relevance: an introduction to the clinical contributions of K. R. Eissler.

PubMed

Garcia, Emanuel E

2009-10-01

The author offers a personal selection and discussion of papers that epitomize the enduring relevance of K. R. Eissler's contributions to psychoanalytic therapy. The innovations of technique embodied by these works (on parameters, schizophrenia, adolescence, cure, fees, and the treatment of the dying patient) reveal a therapeutic approach that is a natural extension of psychoanalytic science: patient-centered, maximally comprehensive, and appropriately flexible.

Measures of GCM Performance as Functions of Model Parameters Affecting Clouds and Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, C.; Mu, Q.; Sen, M.; Stoffa, P.

2002-05-01

This abstract is one of three related presentations at this meeting dealing with several issues surrounding optimal parameter and uncertainty estimation of model predictions of climate. Uncertainty in model predictions of climate depends in part on the uncertainty produced by model approximations or parameterizations of unresolved physics. Evaluating these uncertainties is computationally expensive because one needs to evaluate how arbitrary choices for any given combination of model parameters affects model performance. Because the computational effort grows exponentially with the number of parameters being investigated, it is important to choose parameters carefully. Evaluating whether a parameter is worth investigating depends on two considerations: 1) does reasonable choices of parameter values produce a large range in model response relative to observational uncertainty? and 2) does the model response depend non-linearly on various combinations of model parameters? We have decided to narrow our attention to selecting parameters that affect clouds and radiation, as it is likely that these parameters will dominate uncertainties in model predictions of future climate. We present preliminary results of ~20 to 30 AMIPII style climate model integrations using NCAR's CCM3.10 that show model performance as functions of individual parameters controlling 1) critical relative humidity for cloud formation (RHMIN), and 2) boundary layer critical Richardson number (RICR). We also explore various definitions of model performance that include some or all observational data sources (surface air temperature and pressure, meridional and zonal winds, clouds, long and short-wave cloud forcings, etc...) and evaluate in a few select cases whether the model's response depends non-linearly on the parameter values we have selected.

Improving land surface parameter retrieval by integrating plant traits priors in the MULTIPLY data assimilation platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbin, A. E.; Timmermans, J.; Hauser, L.; Bodegom, P. V.; Soudzilovskaia, N. A.

2017-12-01

There is a growing demand for accurate land surface parameterization from remote sensing (RS) observations. This demand has not been satisfied, because most estimation schemes apply 1) a single-sensor single-scale approach, and 2) require specific key-variables to be `guessed'. This is because of the relevant observational information required to accurately retrieve parameters of interest. Consequently, many schemes assume specific variables to be constant or not present; subsequently leading to more uncertainty. In this aspect, the MULTIscale SENTINEL land surface information retrieval Platform (MULTIPLY) was created. MULTIPLY couples a variety of RS sources with Radiative Transfer Models (RTM) over varying spectral ranges using data-assimilation to estimate geophysical parameters. In addition, MULTIPLY also uses prior information about the land surface to constrain the retrieval problem. This research aims to improve the retrieval of plant biophysical parameters through the use of priors of biophysical parameters/plant traits. Of particular interest are traits (physical, morphological or chemical trait) affecting individual performance and fitness of species. Plant traits that are able to be retrieved via RS and with RTMs include traits such as leaf-pigments, leaf water, LAI, phenols, C/N, etc. In-situ data for plant traits that are retrievable via RS techniques were collected for a meta-analysis from databases such as TRY, Ecosis, and individual collaborators. Of particular interest are the following traits: chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins, phenols, leaf water, and LAI. ANOVA statistics were generated for each traits according to species, plant functional groups (such as evergreens, grasses, etc.), and the trait itself. Afterwards, traits were also compared using covariance matrices. Using these as priors, MULTIPLY was is used to retrieve several plant traits in two validation sites in the Netherlands (Speulderbos) and in Finland (Sodankylä). Initial comparisons show significant improved results over non-a priori based retrievals.

Effective Affective Design for Distance Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zvacek, Susan M.

1991-01-01

Discusses the importance of affective considerations when designing instruction for distance education. Topics discussed include learner motivation based on Keller's ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction); communication patterns that facilitate interaction between students; and ethics involved with marketing programs,…

Do Specific Relevance Instructions Promote Transfer Appropriate Processing?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCrudden, Matthew T.

2011-01-01

This study examined whether specific relevance instructions affect transfer appropriate processing. Undergraduates (n = 52) were randomly assigned to one of three pre-reading question conditions that asked them what-questions, why-questions, or to read for understanding (i.e., control condition). There were no differences in reading time across…

Evaluating Three Allied Health Training Programs: Exploratory Research into Curriculum Relevance and Labor Market Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Appel, Gary L.; And Others

1977-01-01

Presents results of a research effort designed to develop a methodology for assisting dietetic technicians, physical therapist assistants, and medical record technicians curriculum relevance, and to better understand labor market conditions affecting the utilization and distribution of midlevel technicians. (Author/LAS)

The influence of dentin demineralization on morphological features of cavities using Er:YAG laser.

PubMed

Melo, Mary A S; Lima, Juliana P M; Passos, Vanara F; Rodrigues, Lidiany K A

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of erbium-doped: yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser parameters and different degrees of demineralization on morphological features, diameter, and depth of prepared cavities. Minimally invasive dentin caries removal has been recommended. Ablation of deep caries lesions using Er:YAG laser should preserve remaining demineralized dentin; however, the influence of the degree of mineralization of this substrate had not been entirely described. A randomized, factorial design was used to study the effects of two factors. Laser parameter was tested at two levels (250 mJ/4 Hz vs. 200 mJ/2 Hz) and degree of demineralization was tested at four levels (control, two-four-eight cycles). Twelve slabs of human dentin were divided into four groups according to the number of cycles induced by pH-cycling: G1, zero cycles; G2, two cycles, G3, four cycles, and G4, eight cycles. An Er:YAG laser was used at an output energy of 250 mJ/4 Hz and 200 mJ/2 Hz for all groups, for 10 sec at 12 mm distance focus/object. Circumference and depth of the cavities were measured on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images using image analysis software. The mean values were subjected to two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests. When using 250 mJ/4 Hz, the mean values of circumferential area increased significantly in relation to control (503.54 μm(2)) with increasing demineralization level (eight cycles) (555.45 μm(2)). Regardless of the demineralization level, there was also significant statistical difference in the studied measurements of the cavities when 250 mJ/4 Hz and 200 mJ/2 Hz were used. SEM also showed that laser cavity preparations left no smear layer, and the dentinal tubules were clear. The circumferential area and depth measurements were affected by laser parameter and demineralization level (eight cycles). Energy level output represents a relevant factor for increased circumferential area and depth measurements. High demineralized artificially caries-affected dentin may also imply higher ablation. Appropriated parameter of laser pulse frequency/power density for demineralized dentin should be used for effective less-invasive caries treatment.

Laser Ablatin of Dental Hard Tissue

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

Seka, W.; Rechmann, P.; Featherstone, J.D.B.

This paper discusses ablation of dental hard tissue using pulsed lasers. It focuses particularly on the relevant tissue and laser parameters and some of the basic ablation processes that are likely to occur. The importance of interstitial water and its phase transitions is discussed in some detail along with the ablation processes that may or may not directly involve water. The interplay between tissue parameters and laser parameters in the outcome of the removal of dental hard tissue is discussed in detail.

The role of structural parameters in DNA cyclization

DOE PAGES

Alexandrov, Ludmil B.; Bishop, Alan R.; Rasmussen, Kim O.; ...

2016-02-04

The intrinsic bendability of DNA plays an important role with relevance for myriad of essential cellular mechanisms. The flexibility of a DNA fragment can be experimentally and computationally examined by its propensity for cyclization, quantified by the Jacobson-Stockmayer J factor. In this paper, we use a well-established coarse-grained three-dimensional model of DNA and seven distinct sets of experimentally and computationally derived conformational parameters of the double helix to evaluate the role of structural parameters in calculating DNA cyclization.

Data Recovery from SCATHA Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fennell, J. F.; Boyd, G. M.; Redding, M. T.; McNab, M. C.

1997-01-01

This document gives a brief description of the SCATHA (P78-2) satellite and consolidates into one location information relevant to the generation of the SCATHA Summary Data parameters for the European Space Agency (ESA), under ESTEC Contract No. 11006/94/NL/CC, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under Grant No. NAGW-414 1. Included are descriptions of the instruments from which the Summary Data parameters are generated, their derivation, and archival. Any questions pertaining to the Summary Data parameters should be directed to Dr. Joseph Fennell.

Transient Oscilliations in Mechanical Systems of Automatic Control with Random Parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Royev, B.; Vinokur, A.; Kulikov, G.

2018-04-01

Transient oscillations in mechanical systems of automatic control with random parameters is a relevant but insufficiently studied issue. In this paper, a modified spectral method was applied to investigate the problem. The nature of dynamic processes and the phase portraits are analyzed depending on the amplitude and frequency of external influence. It is evident from the obtained results, that the dynamic phenomena occurring in the systems with random parameters under external influence are complex, and their study requires further investigation.

Reference clock parameters for digital communications systems applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kartaschoff, P.

1981-01-01

The basic parameters relevant to the design of network timing systems describe the random and systematic time departures of the system elements, i.e., master (or reference) clocks, transmission links, and other clocks controlled over the links. The quantitative relations between these parameters were established and illustrated by means of numerical examples based on available measured data. The examples were limited to a simple PLL control system but the analysis can eventually be applied to more sophisticated systems at the cost of increased computational effort.

Method for extracting relevant electrical parameters from graphene field-effect transistors using a physical model

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

Boscá, A., E-mail: alberto.bosca@upm.es; Dpto. de Ingeniería Electrónica, E.T.S.I. de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040; Pedrós, J.

2015-01-28

Due to its intrinsic high mobility, graphene has proved to be a suitable material for high-speed electronics, where graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) has shown excellent properties. In this work, we present a method for extracting relevant electrical parameters from GFET devices using a simple electrical characterization and a model fitting. With experimental data from the device output characteristics, the method allows to calculate parameters such as the mobility, the contact resistance, and the fixed charge. Differentiated electron and hole mobilities and direct connection with intrinsic material properties are some of the key aspects of this method. Moreover, the method outputmore » values can be correlated with several issues during key fabrication steps such as the graphene growth and transfer, the lithographic steps, or the metalization processes, providing a flexible tool for quality control in GFET fabrication, as well as a valuable feedback for improving the material-growth process.« less

Astrobiological complexity with probabilistic cellular automata.

PubMed

Vukotić, Branislav; Ćirković, Milan M

2012-08-01

The search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling the astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of large and ambiguous space of the input parameters. We perform a simple clustering analysis of typical astrobiological histories with "Copernican" choice of input parameters and discuss the relevant boundary conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding empirical astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of practical SETI searches.

Developmental and reproductive toxicity of PVP/PEI-coated silver nanoparticles to zebrafish.

PubMed

Orbea, Amaia; González-Soto, Nagore; Lacave, José María; Barrio, Irantzu; Cajaraville, Miren P

2017-09-01

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of toxicity of silver nanoparticles (NPs) and their toxicity to fish embryos after waterborne exposure have been widely investigated, but much less information is available regarding the effect of Ag NPs on physiological functions such as growth or reproduction. In this work, the effects of waterborne exposure of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) to PVP/PEI coated Ag NPs (~5nm) on reproduction (fecundity) were investigated. Moreover, the development of the embryos after parental exposure was compared with the development of embryos after direct waterborne exposure to the NPs. For this, two experiments were run: 1) embryos from unexposed parents were treated for 5days with Ag NPs (10μgAgL -1 -10mgAgL -1 ) and development was monitored, and 2) selected breeding zebrafish were exposed for 3weeks to 100ngAgL -1 (environmentally relevant concentration) or to 10μgAgL -1 of Ag NPs, fecundity was scored and development of resulting embryos was monitored up to 5days. Waterborne exposure of embryos to Ag NPs resulted in being highly toxic (LC50 at 120h=50μgAgL -1 ), causing 100% mortality during the first 24h of exposure at 0.1mgAgL -1 . Exposure of adults, even at the environmentally relevant silver concentration, caused a significant reduction of fecundity by the second week of treatment and resulting embryos showed a higher prevalence of malformations than control embryos. Exposed adult females presented higher prevalence of vacuolization in the liver. These results show that Ag NPs at an environmentally relevant concentration are able to affect population level parameters in zebrafish. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measurement of steady-state minority-carrier transport parameters in heavily doped n-type silicon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Del Alamo, Jesus A.; Swanson, Richard M.

1987-01-01

The relevant hole transport and recombination parameters in heavily doped n-type silicon under steady state are the hole diffusion length and the product of the hole diffusion coefficient times the hole equilibrium concentration. These parameters have measured in phosphorus-doped silicon grown by epitaxy throughout nearly two orders of magnitude of doping level. Both parameters are found to be strong functions of donor concentration. The equilibrium hole concentration can be deduced from the measurement. A rigid shrinkage of the forbidden gap appears as the dominant heavy doping mechanism in phosphorus-doped silicon.

Measurements of scene spectral radiance variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seeley, Juliette A.; Wack, Edward C.; Mooney, Daniel L.; Muldoon, Michael; Shey, Shen; Upham, Carolyn A.; Harvey, John M.; Czerwinski, Richard N.; Jordan, Michael P.; Vallières, Alexandre; Chamberland, Martin

2006-05-01

Detection performance of LWIR passive standoff chemical agent sensors is strongly influenced by various scene parameters, such as atmospheric conditions, temperature contrast, concentration-path length product (CL), agent absorption coefficient, and scene spectral variability. Although temperature contrast, CL, and agent absorption coefficient affect the detected signal in a predictable manner, fluctuations in background scene spectral radiance have less intuitive consequences. The spectral nature of the scene is not problematic in and of itself; instead it is spatial and temporal fluctuations in the scene spectral radiance that cannot be entirely corrected for with data processing. In addition, the consequence of such variability is a function of the spectral signature of the agent that is being detected and is thus different for each agent. To bracket the performance of background-limited (low sensor NEDN), passive standoff chemical sensors in the range of relevant conditions, assessment of real scene data is necessary1. Currently, such data is not widely available2. To begin to span the range of relevant scene conditions, we have acquired high fidelity scene spectral radiance measurements with a Telops FTIR imaging spectrometer 3. We have acquired data in a variety of indoor and outdoor locations at different times of day and year. Some locations include indoor office environments, airports, urban and suburban scenes, waterways, and forest. We report agent-dependent clutter measurements for three of these backgrounds.

Effects of soil properties on the transfer of cadmium from soil to wheat in the Yangtze River delta region, China--a typical industry-agriculture transition area.

PubMed

Wang, Cheng; Ji, Junfeng; Yang, Zhongfang; Chen, Lingxiao; Browne, Patrick; Yu, Ruilian

2012-08-01

In order to identify the effects of soil properties on the transfer of Cd from soil to wheat under actual field conditions, 126 pairs of topsoil and wheat samples were collected from the Yangtze River delta region, China. Relevant parameters (Cd, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, N, P, K, S, pH, total organic carbon, and speciation of soil Cd) in soil and wheat tissues were analyzed, and the results were treated by statistical methods. Soil samples (19.8%) and 14.3% of the wheat grain samples exceeded the relevant maximum permissible Cd concentrations in China for agricultural soil and wheat grain, respectively. The major speciations of Cd in soil were exchangeable, bound to carbonates and fulvic and humic acid fraction, and they were readily affected by soil pH, total Ca, Mg, S and P, DTPA-Fe, Ex-Ca, and Ex-Mg. Cadmium showed a strong correlation with Fe, S, and P present in the grain and the soil, whereas there was no significant correlation in the straw or root. Generally, soil pH, Ca, Mg, Mn, P, and slowly available K restricted Cd transfer from soil to wheat, whereas soil S, N, Zn, DTPA-Fe, and total organic carbon enhance Cd uptake by wheat.

Synthetic progestins medroxyprogesterone acetate and dydrogesterone and their binary mixtures adversely affect reproduction and lead to histological and transcriptional alterations in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

PubMed

Zhao, Yanbin; Castiglioni, Sara; Fent, Karl

2015-04-07

Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and dydrogesterone (DDG) are synthetic progestins widely used in human and veterinary medicine. Although aquatic organisms are exposed to them through wastewater and animal farm runoff, very little is known about their effects in the environment. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of the responses of zebrafish (Danio rerio) to MPA, DDG, and their binary mixtures at measured concentrations between 4.5 and 1663 ng/L. DDG and both mixtures impaired reproductive capacities (egg production) of breeding pairs and led to histological alterations of ovaries and testes and increased gonadosomatic index. Transcriptional analysis of up to 28 genes belonging to different pathways demonstrated alterations in steroid hormone receptors, steroidogenesis enzymes, and specifically, the circadian rhythm genes, in different organs of adult zebrafish and eleuthero-embryos. Alterations occurred even at environmentally relevant concentrations of 4.5-4.8 ng/L MPA, DDG and the mixture in eleuthero-embryos and at 43-89 ng/L in adult zebrafish. Additionally, the mixtures displayed additive effects in most but not all parameters in adults and eleuthero-embryos, suggesting concentration addition. Our data suggest that MPA and DDG and their mixtures induce multiple transcriptional responses at environmentally relevant concentrations and adverse effects on reproduction and gonad histology at higher levels.

Low-shear modeled microgravity: a global environmental regulatory signal affecting bacterial gene expression, physiology, and pathogenesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nickerson, Cheryl A.; Ott, C. Mark; Wilson, James W.; Ramamurthy, Rajee; LeBlanc, Carly L.; Honer zu Bentrup, Kerstin; Hammond, Timothy; Pierson, Duane L.

2003-01-01

Bacteria inhabit an impressive variety of ecological niches and must adapt constantly to changing environmental conditions. While numerous environmental signals have been examined for their effect on bacteria, the effects of mechanical forces such as shear stress and gravity have only been investigated to a limited extent. However, several important studies have demonstrated a key role for the environmental signals of low shear and/or microgravity in the regulation of bacterial gene expression, physiology, and pathogenesis [Chem. Rec. 1 (2001) 333; Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 54 (2000) 33; Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63 (1997) 4090; J. Ind. Microbiol. 18 (1997) 22; Curr. Microbiol. 34(4) (1997) 199; Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 56(3-4) (2001) 384; Infect Immun. 68(6) (2000) 3147; Cell 109(7) (2002) 913; Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68(11) (2002) 5408; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99(21) (2002) 13807]. The response of bacteria to these environmental signals, which are similar to those encountered during prokaryotic life cycles, may provide insight into bacterial adaptations to physiologically relevant conditions. This review focuses on the current and potential future research trends aimed at understanding the effect of the mechanical forces of low shear and microgravity analogues on different bacterial parameters. In addition, this review also discusses the use of microgravity technology to generate physiologically relevant human tissue models for research in bacterial pathogenesis.

Estimating patient-specific soft-tissue properties in a TKA knee.

PubMed

Ewing, Joseph A; Kaufman, Michelle K; Hutter, Erin E; Granger, Jeffrey F; Beal, Matthew D; Piazza, Stephen J; Siston, Robert A

2016-03-01

Surgical technique is one factor that has been identified as critical to success of total knee arthroplasty. Researchers have shown that computer simulations can aid in determining how decisions in the operating room generally affect post-operative outcomes. However, to use simulations to make clinically relevant predictions about knee forces and motions for a specific total knee patient, patient-specific models are needed. This study introduces a methodology for estimating knee soft-tissue properties of an individual total knee patient. A custom surgical navigation system and stability device were used to measure the force-displacement relationship of the knee. Soft-tissue properties were estimated using a parameter optimization that matched simulated tibiofemoral kinematics with experimental tibiofemoral kinematics. Simulations using optimized ligament properties had an average root mean square error of 3.5° across all tests while simulations using generic ligament properties taken from literature had an average root mean square error of 8.4°. Specimens showed large variability among ligament properties regardless of similarities in prosthetic component alignment and measured knee laxity. These results demonstrate the importance of soft-tissue properties in determining knee stability, and suggest that to make clinically relevant predictions of post-operative knee motions and forces using computer simulations, patient-specific soft-tissue properties are needed. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Absent without leave; a neuroenergetic theory of mind wandering

PubMed Central

Killeen, Peter R.

2013-01-01

Absent minded people are not under the control of task-relevant stimuli. According to the Neuroenergetics Theory of attention (NeT), this lack of control is often due to fatigue of the relevant processing units in the brain caused by insufficient resupply of the neuron's preferred fuel, lactate, from nearby astrocytes. A simple drift model of information processing accounts for response-time statistics in a paradigm often used to study inattention, the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). It is suggested that errors and slowing in this fast-paced, response-engaging task may have little to due with inattention. Slower-paced and less response-demanding tasks give greater license for inattention—aka absent-mindedness, mind-wandering. The basic NeT is therefore extended with an ancillary model of attentional drift and recapture. This Markov model, called NEMA, assumes probability λ of lapses of attention from 1 s to the next, and probability α of drifting back to the attentional state. These parameters measure the strength of attraction back to the task (α), or away to competing mental states or action patterns (λ); their proportion determines the probability of the individual being inattentive at any point in time over the long run. Their values are affected by the fatigue of the brain units they traffic between. The deployment of the model is demonstrated with a data set involving paced responding. PMID:23847559

Kinetic-Scale Electric and Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Solar Wind at 1 AU: THEMIS/ARTEMIS Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salem, C. S.; Hanson, E.; Bonnell, J. W.; Chaston, C. C.; Bale, S. D.; Mozer, F.

2017-12-01

We present here an analysis of kinetic-scale electromagnetic fluctuations in the solar wind using data from THEMIS and ARTEMIS spacecraft. We use high-time resolution electric and magnetic field measurements, as well as density fluctuations, up to 128 samples per second, as well as particle burst plasma data during carefully selected solar wind intervals. We focus our analysis on a few such intervals spanning different values of plasma beta and angles between the local magnetic field and the radial Sun-Earth direction. We discuss the careful analysis process of characterizing and removing the different instrumental effects and noise sources affecting the electric and magnetic field data at those scales, above 0.1 Hz or so, above the breakpoint marking the start of the so-called dissipation range of solar wind turbulence. We compute parameters such as the electric to magnetic field ratio, the magnetic compressibility, magnetic helicity, and other relevant quantities in order to diagnose the nature of the fluctuations at those scales between the ion and electron cyclotron frequencies, extracting information on the dominant modes composing the fluctuations. We also discuss the presence and role of coherent structures in the measured fluctuations. The nature of the fluctuations in the dissipation or dispersive scales of solar wind turbulence is still debated. This observational study is also highly relevant to the current Turbulent Dissipation Challenge.

Binding constant of cell adhesion receptors and substrate-immobilized ligands depends on the distribution of ligands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Long; Hu, Jinglei; Xu, Guangkui; Song, Fan

2018-01-01

Cell-cell adhesion and the adhesion of cells to tissues and extracellular matrix, which are pivotal for immune response, tissue development, and cell locomotion, depend sensitively on the binding constant of receptor and ligand molecules anchored on the apposing surfaces. An important question remains of whether the immobilization of ligands affects the affinity of binding with cell adhesion receptors. We have investigated the adhesion of multicomponent membranes to a flat substrate coated with immobile ligands using Monte Carlo simulations of a statistical mesoscopic model with biologically relevant parameters. We find that the binding of the adhesion receptors to ligands immobilized on the substrate is strongly affected by the ligand distribution. In the case of ligand clusters, the receptor-ligand binding constant can be significantly enhanced due to the less translational entropy loss of lipid-raft domains in the model cell membranes upon the formation of additional complexes. For ligands randomly or uniformly immobilized on the substrate, the binding constant is rather decreased since the receptors localized in lipid-raft domains have to pay an energetic penalty in order to bind ligands. Our findings help to understand why cell-substrate adhesion experiments for measuring the impact of lipid rafts on the receptor-ligand interactions led to contradictory results.

Personality Influences the Relationship Between Primary Emotions and Religious/Spiritual Well-Being.

PubMed

Hiebler-Ragger, Michaela; Fuchshuber, Jürgen; Dröscher, Heidrun; Vajda, Christian; Fink, Andreas; Unterrainer, Human F

2018-01-01

The study of human emotions and personality provides valuable insights into the parameters of mental health and well-being. Affective neuroscience proposes that several levels of emotions - ranging from primary ones such as LUST or FEAR up to higher emotions such as spirituality - interact on a neural level. The present study aimed to further explore this theory. Furthermore, we hypothesized that personality - formed by bottom-up primary emotions and cortical top-down regulation - might act as a link between primary emotions and religious/spiritual well-being. A total sample of 167 (78% female) student participants completed the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (primary emotions), the Big Five Personality Inventory and the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (higher emotions). Correlation analyses confirmed the link between primary and higher emotions as well as their relation to personality. Further regression analyses indicated that personality dimensions mediate the relationship between primary and higher emotions. A substantial interaction between primary emotions, personality dimensions, and religious/spiritual well-being could be confirmed. From a developmental perspective, cortical top-down regulation might influence religious/spiritual well-being by forming relevant personality dimensions. Hence, CARE as well as Agreeableness seem of special importance. Future studies might focus on implications for clinical groups.

Water mutagenic potential assessment on a semiarid aquatic ecosystem under influence of heavy metals and natural radioactivity using micronuclei test.

PubMed

Chaves, Luiz Cláudio Cardozo; Navoni, Julio Alejandro; de Morais Ferreira, Douglisnilson; Batistuzzo de Medeiros, Silvia; Ferreira da Costa, Thomas; Petta, Reinaldo Antônio; Souza do Amaral, Viviane

2016-04-01

The contamination of water bodies by heavy metals and ionizing radiation is a critical environmental issue, which can affect water quality and, thus, human health. This study aimed to evaluate the water quality of the Boqueirão de Parelhas Dam in the Brazilian semiarid region. A 1-year study (2013-2014) was performed through the assessment of physicochemical parameters, heavy metal content, and radioactivity along with the mutagenicity potential of water using micronuclei test in Orechromis niloticus (in vivo) and the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay in human lymphocytes (in vitro). A deterioration of water organoleptics characteristics by the presence of high levels of sulfate and total solids was observed. High concentrations of aluminum, nickel, silver, and lead along with the alpha particle content were higher than the limits suggested by the World Health Organization and Brazilian legislation for drinking water. An increase in the frequency of micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities was observed in both experimental models. The results obtained confirmed the mutagenic potential present in water samples. This study highlights that geogenic agents affect water quality becoming a human health concern to be taken into account due to the relevance that this water reservoir has in the region.

Initiation of forward gait with lateral occurrence of emotional stimuli: general findings and relevance for pedestrians crossing roads.

PubMed

Caffier, D; Gillet, C; Heurley, L P; Bourrelly, A; Barbier, F; Naveteur, J

2017-03-01

With reference to theoretical models regarding links between emotions and actions, the present study examined whether the lateral occurrence of an emotional stimulus influences spatial and temporal parameters of gait initiation in 18 younger and 18 older healthy adults. In order to simulate road-crossing hazard for pedestrians, slides of approaching cars were used and they were presented in counterbalanced order with threatening slides from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and control slides of safe walking areas. Each slide was presented on the left side of the participant once the first step was initiated. The results evidenced medio-lateral shifts to the left for the first step (right foot) and to the right for the second step (left foot). These shifts were both modulated by the slide contents in such a way that the resulting distance between the screen and the foot (right or left) was larger with the IAPS and traffic slides than with the control slides. The slides did not affect the base of support, step length, step velocity and time of double support. Advancing age influenced the subjective impact of the slides and gait characteristics, but did not modulate medio-lateral shifts. The data extend evidence of fast, emotional modulation of stepping, with theoretical and applied consequences.

The Choice of Euthanasia Method Affects Metabolic Serum Biomarkers.

PubMed

Pierozan, Paula; Jernerén, Fredrik; Ransome, Yusuf; Karlsson, Oskar

2017-08-01

The impact of euthanasia methods on endocrine and metabolic parameters in rodent tissues and biological fluids is highly relevant for the accuracy and reliability of the data collected. However, few studies concerning this issue are found in the literature. We compared the effects of three euthanasia methods currently used in animal experimentation (i.e. decapitation, CO 2 inhalation and pentobarbital injection) on the serum levels of corticosterone, insulin, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol and a range of free fatty acids in rats. The corticosterone and insulin levels were not significantly affected by the euthanasia protocol used. However, euthanasia by an overdose of pentobarbital (120 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection) increased the serum levels of glucose, and decreased cholesterol, stearic and arachidonic acids levels compared with euthanasia by CO 2 inhalation and decapitation. CO 2 inhalation appears to increase the serum levels of triglycerides, while euthanasia by decapitation induced no individual discrepant biomarker level. We conclude that choice of the euthanasia methods is critical for the reliability of serum biomarkers and indicate the importance of selecting adequate euthanasia methods for metabolic analysis in rodents. Decapitation without anaesthesia may be the most adequate method of euthanasia when taking both animal welfare and data quality in consideration. © 2017 Nordic Association for the Publication of BCPT (former Nordic Pharmacological Society).

The effect of a sheared flow on magnetic islands in plasmas with non-axisymetric geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cancino, M. Stefany; Martinell, Julio J.

2018-02-01

The stability of a magnetic island in a toroidal magnetic confinement device depends on various factors besides the usual tearing-mode stability parameter ?, determined by the local current profile.The presence of a sheared flow in the vicinity of the rational surface that supports the island is one of the factors that affects its stability since it can give rise to a polarization current around the island position. The contribution of the polarization current to the stability has been computed for a tokamak geometry. Here, we consider the case of magnetic islands with a shear flow in a stellarator which has a non-axisymmetric magnetic geometry. The main difference is a contribution to the polarization current from the toroidal electrostatic oscillation. A correction due to the global toroidal magnetic geometry is also present. It is found that the regime where the stability is affected corresponds to the large island width relative to the ion gyroradius. Thus, the contribution is relevant for low-temperature regimes. In that case, the polarization current is destabilizing for frequencies larger than the ion diamagnetic frequency. Our results imply that the sheared flow can produce a growth of the magnetic island in a cold plasma but it can become narrower as the temperature rises.

Personality Influences the Relationship Between Primary Emotions and Religious/Spiritual Well-Being

PubMed Central

Hiebler-Ragger, Michaela; Fuchshuber, Jürgen; Dröscher, Heidrun; Vajda, Christian; Fink, Andreas; Unterrainer, Human F.

2018-01-01

The study of human emotions and personality provides valuable insights into the parameters of mental health and well-being. Affective neuroscience proposes that several levels of emotions – ranging from primary ones such as LUST or FEAR up to higher emotions such as spirituality – interact on a neural level. The present study aimed to further explore this theory. Furthermore, we hypothesized that personality – formed by bottom-up primary emotions and cortical top-down regulation – might act as a link between primary emotions and religious/spiritual well-being. A total sample of 167 (78% female) student participants completed the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (primary emotions), the Big Five Personality Inventory and the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (higher emotions). Correlation analyses confirmed the link between primary and higher emotions as well as their relation to personality. Further regression analyses indicated that personality dimensions mediate the relationship between primary and higher emotions. A substantial interaction between primary emotions, personality dimensions, and religious/spiritual well-being could be confirmed. From a developmental perspective, cortical top-down regulation might influence religious/spiritual well-being by forming relevant personality dimensions. Hence, CARE as well as Agreeableness seem of special importance. Future studies might focus on implications for clinical groups. PMID:29615950

Comparison of the Skin Penetration of 3 Metabolically Stable Chemicals Using Fresh and Frozen Human Skin.

PubMed

Jacques-Jamin, Carine; Duplan, Hélène; Rothe, Helga; Vaillant, Ophelie; Eilstein, Joan; Grégoire, Sebastien; Cubberley, Richard; Lange, Daniela; Ellison, Corie; Klaric, Martina; Hewitt, Nicola; Schepky, Andreas

2017-01-01

The Cosmetics Europe ADME Task Force is developing in vitro and in silico tools for predicting skin and systemic concentrations after topical application of cosmetic ingredients. There are conflicting reports as to whether the freezing process affects the penetration of chemicals; therefore, we evaluated whether the storage of human skin used in our studies (8-12 weeks at -20°C) affected the penetration of model chemicals. Finite doses of trans-cinnamic acid (TCA), benzoic acid (BA), and 6-methylcoumarin (6MC) (non-volatile, non-protein reactive and metabolically stable in skin) were applied to fresh and thawed frozen skin from the same donors. The amounts of chemicals in different skin compartments were analysed after 24 h. Although there were some statistical differences in some parameters for 1 or 2 donors, the penetration of TCA, BA, and 6MC was essentially the same in fresh and frozen skin, i.e., there were no biologically relevant differences in penetration values. Statistical differences that were evident indicated that penetration was marginally lower in frozen than in fresh skin, indicating that the barrier function of the skin was not lost. The penetration of the 3 chemicals was essentially unaffected by freezing the skin at -20°C for up to 12 weeks. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Trends in analytical methodologies for the determination of alkylphenols and bisphenol A in water samples.

PubMed

Salgueiro-González, N; Muniategui-Lorenzo, S; López-Mahía, P; Prada-Rodríguez, D

2017-04-15

In the last decade, the impact of alkylphenols and bisphenol A in the aquatic environment has been widely evaluated because of their high use in industrial and household applications as well as their toxicological effects. These compounds are well-known endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) which can affect the hormonal system of humans and wildlife, even at low concentrations. Due to the fact that these pollutants enter into the environment through waters, and it is the most affected compartment, analytical methods which allow the determination of these compounds in aqueous samples at low levels are mandatory. In this review, an overview of the most significant advances in the analytical methodologies for the determination of alkylphenols and bisphenol A in waters is considered (from 2002 to the present). Sample handling and instrumental detection strategies are critically discussed, including analytical parameters related to quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC). Special attention is paid to miniaturized sample preparation methodologies and approaches proposed to reduce time- and reagents consumption according to Green Chemistry principles, which have increased in the last five years. Finally, relevant applications of these methods to the analysis of water samples are examined, being wastewater and surface water the most investigated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Detection and diagnosis of periodontal conditions amenable to prevention

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Gingivitis and chronic periodontitis are highly prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases. Gingivitis affects the majority of people, and advanced periodontitis is estimated to affect 5-15% of adults. The detection and diagnosis of these common diseases is a fundamentally important component of oral health care. All patients should undergo periodontal assessment as part of routine oral examination. Periodontal screening using methods such as the Basic Periodontal Examination/Community Periodontal Index or Periodontal Screening Record should be performed for all new patients, and also on a regular basis as part of ongoing oral health care. If periodontitis is identified, full periodontal assessment is required, involving recording of full mouth probing and bleeding data, together with assessment of other relevant parameters such as plaque levels, furcation involvement, recession and tooth mobility. Radiographic assessment of alveolar bone levels is driven by the clinical situation, and is required to assess bone destruction in patients with periodontitis. Risk assessment (such as assessing diabetes status and smoking) and risk management (such as promoting smoking cessation) should form a central component of periodontal therapy. This article provides guidance to the oral health care team regarding methods and frequencies of appropriate clinical and radiographic examinations to assess periodontal status, to enable appropriate detection and diagnosis of periodontal conditions. PMID:26390822

The heuristic value of redundancy models of aging.

PubMed

Boonekamp, Jelle J; Briga, Michael; Verhulst, Simon

2015-11-01

Molecular studies of aging aim to unravel the cause(s) of aging bottom-up, but linking these mechanisms to organismal level processes remains a challenge. We propose that complementary top-down data-directed modelling of organismal level empirical findings may contribute to developing these links. To this end, we explore the heuristic value of redundancy models of aging to develop a deeper insight into the mechanisms causing variation in senescence and lifespan. We start by showing (i) how different redundancy model parameters affect projected aging and mortality, and (ii) how variation in redundancy model parameters relates to variation in parameters of the Gompertz equation. Lifestyle changes or medical interventions during life can modify mortality rate, and we investigate (iii) how interventions that change specific redundancy parameters within the model affect subsequent mortality and actuarial senescence. Lastly, as an example of data-directed modelling and the insights that can be gained from this, (iv) we fit a redundancy model to mortality patterns observed by Mair et al. (2003; Science 301: 1731-1733) in Drosophila that were subjected to dietary restriction and temperature manipulations. Mair et al. found that dietary restriction instantaneously reduced mortality rate without affecting aging, while temperature manipulations had more transient effects on mortality rate and did affect aging. We show that after adjusting model parameters the redundancy model describes both effects well, and a comparison of the parameter values yields a deeper insight in the mechanisms causing these contrasting effects. We see replacement of the redundancy model parameters by more detailed sub-models of these parameters as a next step in linking demographic patterns to underlying molecular mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relevance of terrorism for Italian students not directly exposed to it: The affective impact of the 2015 Paris and the 2016 Brussels attacks.

PubMed

Raccanello, Daniela; Burro, Roberto; Brondino, Margherita; Pasini, Margherita

2018-04-01

Notwithstanding the dramatically increasing frequency of acts of terrorism in Europe and the extent of their media coverage, there is lack of knowledge on people's affective reactions and associated emotion regulation strategies. We explored the affective impact on two cohorts of Italian students (n = 193) possibly exposed vicariously through the mass media to the 2015 Paris or the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks, respectively. We accessed data from three online questionnaires: one on emotion regulation administered before each attack; one on daily affect administered just before and after each attack; and one on causes of weekly affect and life satisfaction administered at the end of the week in which each attack occurred. The attacks were perceived as relevant for influencing negative affect for 22% of the students. For them, suppression-less frequently used than reappraisal-was associated with an improvement of affect after each attack but negatively related to life satisfaction concerning the week in which the attacks occurred. Our data showed that the recent terrorist attacks occurring in Europe had an affective impact on people at some distance who were vicariously exposed and point to the protective role of emotion regulation as a key resource for individuals' well-being. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Multi objective optimization model for minimizing production cost and environmental impact in CNC turning process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widhiarso, Wahyu; Rosyidi, Cucuk Nur

2018-02-01

Minimizing production cost in a manufacturing company will increase the profit of the company. The cutting parameters will affect total processing time which then will affect the production cost of machining process. Besides affecting the production cost and processing time, the cutting parameters will also affect the environment. An optimization model is needed to determine the optimum cutting parameters. In this paper, we develop an optimization model to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact in CNC turning process. The model is used a multi objective optimization. Cutting speed and feed rate are served as the decision variables. Constraints considered are cutting speed, feed rate, cutting force, output power, and surface roughness. The environmental impact is converted from the environmental burden by using eco-indicator 99. Numerical example is given to show the implementation of the model and solved using OptQuest of Oracle Crystal Ball software. The results of optimization indicate that the model can be used to optimize the cutting parameters to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact.

Self-relevance and wishful thinking: facilitation and distortion in source monitoring.

PubMed

Barber, Sarah J; Gordon, Ruthanna; Franklin, Nancy

2009-06-01

When making source attributions, people tend to attribute desirable statements to reliable sources and undesirable statements to unreliable sources, a phenomenon known as the wishful thinking effect (Gordon, Franklin, & Beck, 2005). In the present study, we examined the influence of wishful thinking on source monitoring for self-relevant information. On one hand, wishful thinking is expected, because self-relevant desires are presumably strong. However, self-relevance is known to confer a memory advantage and may thus provide protection from desire-based biases. In Experiment 1, source memory for self-relevant information was contrasted against source memory for information relevant to others and for neutral information. Results indicated that self-relevant information was affected by wishful thinking and was remembered more accurately than was other information. Experiment 2 showed that the magnitude of the self-relevant wishful thinking effect did not increase with a delay.

Natural Environmental Service Support to NASA Vehicle, Technology, and Sensor Development Programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

The research performed under this contract involved definition of the natural environmental parameters affecting the design, development, and operation of space and launch vehicles. The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) provided the manpower and resources to accomplish the following tasks: defining environmental parameters critical for design, development, and operation of launch vehicles; defining environmental forecasts required to assure optimal utilization of launch vehicles; and defining orbital environments of operation and developing models on environmental parameters affecting launch vehicle operations.

Modelling spatiotemporal distribution patterns of earthworms in order to indicate hydrological soil processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palm, Juliane; Klaus, Julian; van Schaik, Loes; Zehe, Erwin; Schröder, Boris

2010-05-01

Soils provide central ecosystem functions in recycling nutrients, detoxifying harmful chemicals as well as regulating microclimate and local hydrological processes. The internal regulation of these functions and therefore the development of healthy and fertile soils mainly depend on the functional diversity of plants and animals. Soil organisms drive essential processes such as litter decomposition, nutrient cycling, water dynamics, and soil structure formation. Disturbances by different soil management practices (e.g., soil tillage, fertilization, pesticide application) affect the distribution and abundance of soil organisms and hence influence regulating processes. The strong relationship between environmental conditions and soil organisms gives us the opportunity to link spatiotemporal distribution patterns of indicator species with the potential provision of essential soil processes on different scales. Earthworms are key organisms for soil function and affect, among other things, water dynamics and solute transport in soils. Through their burrowing activity, earthworms increase the number of macropores by building semi-permanent burrow systems. In the unsaturated zone, earthworm burrows act as preferential flow pathways and affect water infiltration, surface-, subsurface- and matrix flow as well as the transport of water and solutes into deeper soil layers. Thereby different ecological earthworm types have different importance. Deep burrowing anecic earthworm species (e.g., Lumbricus terrestris) affect the vertical flow and thus increase the risk of potential contamination of ground water with agrochemicals. In contrast, horizontal burrowing endogeic (e.g., Aporrectodea caliginosa) and epigeic species (e.g., Lumbricus rubellus) increase water conductivity and the diffuse distribution of water and solutes in the upper soil layers. The question which processes are more relevant is pivotal for soil management and risk assessment. Thus, finding relevant environmental predictors which explain the distribution and dynamics of different ecological earthworm types can help us to understand where or when these processes are relevant in the landscape. Therefore, we develop species distribution models which are a useful tool to predict spatiotemporal distributions of earthworm occurrence and abundance under changing environmental conditions. On field scale, geostatistical distribution maps have shown that the spatial distribution of earthworms depends on soil parameters such as food supply, soil moisture, bulk density but with different patterns for earthworm stages (adult, juvenile) and ecological types (anecic, endogeic, epigeic). On landscape scales, earthworm distribution seems to be strongly controlled by management/disturbance-related factors. Our study shows different modelling approaches for predicting distribution patterns of earthworms in the Weiherbach area, an agricultural site in Kraichtal (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). We carried out field studies on arable fields differing in soil management practices (conventional, conservational), soil properties (organic matter content, texture, soil moisture), and topography (slope, elevation) in order to identify predictors for earthworm occurrence, abundance and biomass. Our earthworm distribution models consider all ecological groups as well as different life stages, accounting for the fact that the activity of juveniles is sometimes different from those of adults. Within our BIOPORE-project it is our final goal to couple our distribution models with population dynamic models and a preferential flow model to an integrated ecohydrological model to analyse feedbacks between earthworm engineering and transport characteristics affecting the functioning of (agro-) ecosystems.

Experimental application of simulation tools for evaluating UAV video change detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saur, Günter; Bartelsen, Jan

2015-10-01

Change detection is one of the most important tasks when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are used for video reconnaissance and surveillance. In this paper, we address changes on short time scale, i.e. the observations are taken within time distances of a few hours. Each observation is a short video sequence corresponding to the near-nadir overflight of the UAV above the interesting area and the relevant changes are e.g. recently added or removed objects. The change detection algorithm has to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant changes. Examples for non-relevant changes are versatile objects like trees and compression or transmission artifacts. To enable the usage of an automatic change detection within an interactive workflow of an UAV video exploitation system, an evaluation and assessment procedure has to be performed. Large video data sets which contain many relevant objects with varying scene background and altering influence parameters (e.g. image quality, sensor and flight parameters) including image metadata and ground truth data are necessary for a comprehensive evaluation. Since the acquisition of real video data is limited by cost and time constraints, from our point of view, the generation of synthetic data by simulation tools has to be considered. In this paper the processing chain of Saur et al. (2014) [1] and the interactive workflow for video change detection is described. We have selected the commercial simulation environment Virtual Battle Space 3 (VBS3) to generate synthetic data. For an experimental setup, an example scenario "road monitoring" has been defined and several video clips have been produced with varying flight and sensor parameters and varying objects in the scene. Image registration and change mask extraction, both components of the processing chain, are applied to corresponding frames of different video clips. For the selected examples, the images could be registered, the modelled changes could be extracted and the artifacts of the image rendering considered as noise (slight differences of heading angles, disparity of vegetation, 3D parallax) could be suppressed. We conclude that these image data could be considered to be realistic enough to serve as evaluation data for the selected processing components. Future work will extend the evaluation to other influence parameters and may include the human operator for mission planning and sensor control.

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

Gardner, C. J.

Values are given for RHIC circumference shifts due to snakes for various situations. Relevant parameters are tabulated for polarized protons (PP) in the booster and in AGS and RHIC for PP-on-Aluminum stores.

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

Gardner, C. J.

Values are given for RHIC circumference shifts due to snakes for various situations. Relevant parameters are tabulated for polarized protons (PP) in the booster and in AGS and RHIC for PP-on-Au stores.

Cogito ergo video: Task-relevant information is involuntarily boosted into awareness.

PubMed

Gayet, Surya; Brascamp, Jan W; Van der Stigchel, Stefan; Paffen, Chris L E

2015-01-01

Only part of the visual information that impinges on our retinae reaches visual awareness. In a series of three experiments, we investigated how the task relevance of incoming visual information affects its access to visual awareness. On each trial, participants were instructed to memorize one of two presented hues, drawn from different color categories (e.g., red and green), for later recall. During the retention interval, participants were presented with a differently colored grating in each eye such as to elicit binocular rivalry. A grating matched either the task-relevant (memorized) color category or the task-irrelevant (nonmemorized) color category. We found that the rivalrous stimulus that matched the task-relevant color category tended to dominate awareness over the rivalrous stimulus that matched the task-irrelevant color category. This effect of task relevance persisted when participants reported the orientation of the rivalrous stimuli, even though in this case color information was completely irrelevant for the task of reporting perceptual dominance during rivalry. When participants memorized the shape of a colored stimulus, however, its color category did not affect predominance of rivalrous stimuli during retention. Taken together, these results indicate that the selection of task-relevant information is under volitional control but that visual input that matches this information is boosted into awareness irrespective of whether this is useful for the observer.

Topsoil structure stability in a restored floodplain: Impacts of fluctuating water levels, soil parameters and ecosystem engineers.

PubMed

Schomburg, A; Schilling, O S; Guenat, C; Schirmer, M; Le Bayon, R C; Brunner, P

2018-10-15

Ecosystem services provided by floodplains are strongly controlled by the structural stability of soils. The development of a stable structure in floodplain soils is affected by a complex and poorly understood interplay of hydrological, physico-chemical and biological processes. This paper aims at analysing relations between fluctuating groundwater levels, soil physico-chemical and biological parameters on soil structure stability in a restored floodplain. Water level fluctuations in the soil are modelled using a numerical surface-water-groundwater flow model and correlated to soil physico-chemical parameters and abundances of plants and earthworms. Causal relations and multiple interactions between the investigated parameters are tested through structural equation modelling (SEM). Fluctuating water levels in the soil did not directly affect the topsoil structure stability, but indirectly through affecting plant roots and soil parameters that in turn determine topsoil structure stability. These relations remain significant for mean annual days of complete and partial (>25%) water saturation. Ecosystem functioning of a restored floodplain might already be affected by the fluctuation of groundwater levels alone, and not only through complete flooding by surface water during a flood period. Surprisingly, abundances of earthworms did not show any relation to other variables in the SEM. These findings emphasise that earthworms have efficiently adapted to periodic stress and harsh environmental conditions. Variability of the topsoil structure stability is thus stronger driven by the influence of fluctuating water levels on plants than by the abundance of earthworms. This knowledge about the functional network of soil engineering organisms, soil parameters and fluctuating water levels and how they affect soil structural stability is of fundamental importance to define management strategies of near-natural or restored floodplains in the future. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial activity of extracts from macroalgae Ulva lactuca against clinically important Staphylococci is impacted by lunar phase of macroalgae harvest.

PubMed

Deveau, A M; Miller-Hope, Z; Lloyd, E; Williams, B S; Bolduc, C; Meader, J M; Weiss, F; Burkholder, K M

2016-05-01

Staphylococcus aureus is a common human bacterial pathogen that causes skin and soft tissue infections. Methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus (MRSA) are increasingly drug-resistant, and thus there is great need for new therapeutics to treat Staph. aureus infections. Attention has focused on potential utility of natural products, such as extracts of marine macroalgae, as a source of novel antimicrobial compounds. The green macroalgae Ulva lactuca produces compounds inhibitory to human pathogens, although the effectiveness of U. lactuca extracts against clinically relevant strains of Staph. aureus is poorly understood. In addition, macroalgae produce secondary metabolites that may be influenced by exogenous factors including lunar phase, but whether lunar phase affects U. lactuca antimicrobial capacity is unknown. We sought to evaluate the antibacterial properties of U. lactuca extracts against medically important Staphylococci, and to determine the effect of lunar phase on antimicrobial activity. We report that U. lactuca methanolic extracts inhibit a range of Staphylococci, and that lunar phase of macrolagae harvest significantly impacts antimicrobial activity, suggesting that antimicrobial properties can be maximized by manipulating time of algal harvest. These findings provide useful parameters for future studies aimed at isolating and characterizing U. lactuca anti-Staphylococcal agents. The growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant human pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has intensified efforts towards discovery and development of novel therapeutics. Marine macroalgae like Ulva lactuca are increasingly recognized as potential sources of antimicrobials, but the efficacy of U. lactuca extracts against common, virulent strains of Staph. aureus is poorly understood. We demonstrate that U. lactuca methanolic extracts inhibit a variety of clinically relevant Staphylococcus strains, and that the antimicrobial activity can be maximized by optimizing time of algal harvest. These findings provide potentially useful parameters for future work of isolating and identifying novel antimicrobial agents from macroalgae. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Heat waves and urban heat islands in Europe: A review of relevant drivers.

PubMed

Ward, Kathrin; Lauf, Steffen; Kleinschmit, Birgit; Endlicher, Wilfried

2016-11-01

The climate change and the proceeding urbanization create future health challenges. Consequently, more people around the globe will be impaired by extreme weather events, such as heat waves. This study investigates the causes for the emergence of surface urban heat islands and its change during heat waves in 70 European cities. A newly created climate class indicator, a set of meaningful landscape metrics, and two population-related parameters were applied to describe the Surface Urban Heat Island Magnitude (SUHIM) - the mean temperature increase within the urban heat island compared to its surrounding, as well as the Heat Magnitude (HM) - the extra heat load added to the average summer SUHIM during heat waves. We evaluated the relevance of varying urban parameters within linear models. The exemplary European-wide heat wave in July 2006 was chosen and compared to the average summer conditions using MODIS land surface temperature with an improved spatial resolution of 250m. The results revealed that the initial size of the urban heat island had significant influence on SUHIM. For the explanation of HM the size of the heat island, the regional climate and the share of central urban green spaces showed to be critical. Interestingly, cities of cooler climates and cities with higher shares of urban green spaces were more affected by additional heat during heat waves. Accordingly, cooler northern European cities seem to be more vulnerable to heat waves, whereas southern European cities appear to be better adapted. Within the ascertained population and climate clusters more detailed explanations were found. Our findings improve the understanding of the urban heat island effect across European cities and its behavior under heat waves. Also, they provide some indications for urban planners on case-specific adaptation strategies to adverse urban heat caused by heat waves. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Microbe-Free Plant: Fact or Artifact?

PubMed Central

Partida-Martínez, Laila P.; Heil, Martin

2011-01-01

Plant–microbe interactions are ubiquitous. Plants are threatened by pathogens, but they are even more commonly engaged in neutral or mutualistic interactions with microbes: belowground microbial plant associates are mycorrhizal fungi, Rhizobia, and plant-growth promoting rhizosphere bacteria, aboveground plant parts are colonized by internally living bacteria and fungi (endophytes) and by microbes in the phyllosphere (epiphytes). We emphasize here that a completely microbe-free plant is an exotic exception rather than the biologically relevant rule. The complex interplay of such microbial communities with the host–plant affects multiple vital parameters such as plant nutrition, growth rate, resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors, and plant survival and distribution. The mechanisms involved reach from direct ones such as nutrient acquisition, the production of plant hormones, or direct antibiosis, to indirect ones that are mediated by effects on host resistance genes or via interactions at higher trophic levels. Plant-associated microbes are heterotrophic and cause costs to their host plant, whereas the benefits depend on the current environment. Thus, the outcome of the interaction for the plant host is highly context dependent. We argue that considering the microbe-free plant as the “normal” or control stage significantly impairs research into important phenomena such as (1) phenotypic and epigenetic plasticity, (2) the “normal” ecological outcome of a given interaction, and (3) the evolution of plants. For the future, we suggest cultivation-independent screening methods using direct PCR from plant tissue of more than one fungal and bacterial gene to collect data on the true microbial diversity in wild plants. The patterns found could be correlated to host species and environmental conditions, in order to formulate testable hypotheses on the biological roles of plant endophytes in nature. Experimental approaches should compare different host–endophyte combinations under various relevant environmental conditions and study at the genetic, epigenetic, transcriptional, and physiological level the parameters that cause the interaction to shift along the mutualism–parasitism continuum. PMID:22639622

Early PTSD Symptom Trajectories: Persistence, Recovery, and Response to Treatment: Results from the Jerusalem Trauma Outreach and Prevention Study (J-TOPS)

PubMed Central

Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R.; Ankri, Yael; Freedman, Sara; Israeli-Shalev, Yossi; Roitman, Pablo; Gilad, Moran; Shalev, Arieh Y.

2013-01-01

Context Uncovering heterogeneities in the progression of early PTSD symptoms can improve our understanding of the disorder's pathogenesis and prophylaxis. Objectives To describe discrete symptom trajectories and examine their relevance for preventive interventions. Design Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM) of data from a randomized controlled study of early treatment. LGMM identifies latent longitudinal trajectories by exploring discrete mixture distributions underlying observable data. Setting Hadassah Hospital unselectively receives trauma survivors from Jerusalem and vicinity. Participants Adult survivors of potentially traumatic events consecutively admitted to the hospital's emergency department (ED) were assessed ten days and one-, five-, nine- and fifteen months after ED admission. Participants with data at ten days and at least two additional assessments (n = 957) were included; 125 received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) between one and nine months. Approach We used LGMM to identify latent parameters of symptom progression and tested the effect of CBT on these parameters. CBT consisted of 12 weekly sessions of either cognitive therapy (n = 41) or prolonged exposure (PE, n = 49), starting 29.8±5.7 days after ED admission, or delayed PE (n = 35) starting at 151.8±42.4 days. CBT effectively reduced PTSD symptoms in the entire sample. Main Outcome Measure Latent trajectories of PTSD symptoms; effects of CBT on these trajectories. Results Three trajectories were identified: Rapid Remitting (rapid decrease in symptoms from 1- to 5-months; 56% of the sample), Slow Remitting (progressive decrease in symptoms over 15 months; 27%) and Non-Remitting (persistently elevated symptoms; 17%). CBT accelerated the recovery of the Slow Remitting class but did not affect the other classes. Conclusions The early course of PTSD symptoms is characterized by distinct and diverging response patterns that are centrally relevant to understanding the disorder and preventing its occurrence. Studies of the pathogenesis of PTSD may benefit from using clustered symptom trajectories as their dependent variables. PMID:23990895

EMPIRE: A code for nuclear astrophysics

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

Palumbo, A.

The nuclear reaction code EMPIRE is presented as a useful tool for nuclear astrophysics. EMPIRE combines a variety of the reaction models with a comprehensive library of input parameters providing a diversity of options for the user. With exclusion of the directsemidirect capture all reaction mechanisms relevant to the nuclear astrophysics energy range of interest are implemented in the code. Comparison to experimental data show consistent agreement for all relevant channels.

Nasal irrigation as an adjunctive treatment in allergic rhinitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Hermelingmeier, Kristina E; Weber, Rainer K; Hellmich, Martin; Heubach, Christine P; Mösges, Ralph

2012-01-01

Saline nasal irrigation (SNI) is often recommended as additional nonpharmacologic treatment, having proven its efficacy in acute and chronic rhinosinusitis and for therapy after sinonasal surgery. To date, however, no systematic review or meta-analysis exists showing the influence of SNI on allergic rhinitis (AR). This study aimed to establish the impact of SNI on symptoms of AR in different patient groups. We conducted a systematic search of Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ISI Web of Science databases for literature published from 1994 to 2010 on SNI in AR. Prospective, randomized, controlled trials that assessed the effects of SNI on four different outcome parameters were included. The evaluation focused on primary (symptom score) and secondary parameters (medicine consumption, mucociliary clearance, and quality of life). Three independent reviewers chose 10 originals that satisfied the inclusion criteria (>400 participants total) from 50 relevant trials. SNI performed regularly over a limited period of up to 7 weeks was observed to have a positive effect on all investigated outcome parameters in adults and children with AR. SNI produced a 27.66% improvement in nasal symptoms, a 62.1% reduction in medicine consumption, a 31.19% acceleration of mucociliary clearance time, and a 27.88% improvement in quality of life. SNI using isotonic solution can be recommended as complementary therapy in AR. It is well tolerated, inexpensive, easy to use, and there is no evidence showing that regular, daily SNI adversely affects the patient's health or causes unexpected side effects.