Coping with Indoor Air Pollution

MedlinePlus

... by contacting your local health department for assistance. Respiratory equipment When you breathe with the help of ... you have questions about any of your home respiratory equ ipment. Reviewed: May 26, 2005 Revised: © 2005 ...

Rolling Resistance of Light Truck Tires

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-01-01

The supplement contains carpet plots of 44 light truck tires giving rolling resistance versus load and reciprocal of inflation pressure. The plots represent measured data. To avoid the expense of taking measurements at all points on the plots, an equ...

An overview of passenger equipment full-scale impact tests

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-10-07

As part of the Federal Railroad Administrations Equipment Safety Research Program, a series of full-scale impact tests are being conducted on rail passenger vehicles. Four types of tests are intended to define the performance of current-design equ...

EVALUATION OF FLOORPAN TEARING AND CABLE SPLICES FOR CABLE BARRIER SYSTEMS

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-05-26

This research effort consisted of two objectives related to components of a prototype cable barrier system. The first objective was to mitigate the potential for vehicle floorpan tearing by modifying the cable guardrail posts. A bogie vehicle was equ...

Policies and Processes for Social Inclusion: Using EquiFrame and EquIPP for Policy Dialogue Comment on "Are Sexual and Reproductive Health Policies Designed for All? Vulnerable Groups in Policy Documents of Four European Countries and Their Involvement in Policy Development".

PubMed

MacLachlan, Malcolm; Mannan, Hasheem; Huss, Tessy; Munthali, Alister; Amin, Mutamad

2015-11-16

The application of EquiFrame in the analysis of sexual and reproductive health policies by Ivanova et al to a new thematic area, their selection of only some of the Core Concepts of human rights in health service provision and the addition of new vulnerable groups relevant to the purpose of their analysis, are all very welcome developments. We also applaud their application of EquiFrame to policies in countries where it has not previously been used, along with their use of interviews with policy-makers to produce a deeper understanding of policy processes. We argue that clear justification for the inclusion of additional, or replacement of some exiting vulnerable groups within EquiFrame should be accompanied by clear definitions of such groups, along with the evidence-base that justifies their classification as a vulnerable or marginalised group. To illustrate the versatility of EquiFrame, we summarise a range of ways in which it has been used across a number of regions; including a brief Case Study of its use to develop the National Health Policy of Malawi. While EquiFrame focuses on policy content, we preview a new policy analysis tool - Equity and Inclusion in Policy Processes (EquIPP) - which assesses the extent of equity and inclusion in broader policy processes. Together, EquiFrame and EquIPP can be used to help governments and civil society ensure that policies are addressing the much stronger emphasis on social inclusion, now apparent in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Crafting a Masterpiece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fumagalli, Mike

2016-01-01

Facing state assessments, new standards, and instructional shifts, teachers are often left with the DIY ("do it yourself") version of science teaching. Unfortunately, answering the question "What does quality science instruction look like in the classroom?" is not as easy as watching a few videos online. Fortunately, the EQuIP…

COMPARISON OF ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING HYDROCARBON EMISSIONS FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF FIBERGLASS-REINFORCED PLASTICS

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses several projects to measure hydrocarbon emissions associated with the manufacture of fiberglass-reinforced plastics. The main purpose of the projects was to evaluate pollution prevention techniques to reduce emissions by altering raw materials, application equ...

GROUNDWATER MASS TRANSPORT AND EQUILIBRIUM CHEMISTRY MODEL FOR MULTICOMPONENT SYSTEMS

EPA Science Inventory

A mass transport model, TRANQL, for a multicomponent solution system has been developed. The equilibrium interaction chemistry is posed independently of the mass transport equations which leads to a set of algebraic equations for the chemistry coupled to a set of differential equ...

Evaluation of 3-D Laser Scanning Equipment : 2018 Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-05-01

As a follow-up to ICT Project R27-030, Evaluation of 3-D Laser Scanning, this report provides findings of an evaluation of 3-D laser scanning equipment to determine the tangible costs versus benefits and the manpower savings realized by using the equ...

On a local solvability and stability of the inverse transmission eigenvalue problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bondarenko, Natalia; Buterin, Sergey

2017-11-01

We prove a local solvability and stability of the inverse transmission eigenvalue problem posed by McLaughlin and Polyakov (1994 J. Diff. Equ. 107 351-82). In particular, this result establishes the minimality of the data used therein. The proof is constructive.

Scoping review: national monitoring frameworks for social determinants of health and health equity

PubMed Central

Pedrana, Leo; Pamponet, Marina; Walker, Ruth; Costa, Federico; Rasella, Davide

2016-01-01

Background The strategic importance of monitoring social determinants of health (SDH) and health equity and inequity has been a central focus in global discussions around the 2011 Rio Political Declaration on SDH and the Millennium Development Goals. This study is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) equity-oriented analysis of linkages between health and other sectors (EQuAL) project, which aims to define a framework for monitoring SDH and health equity. Objectives This review provides a global summary and analysis of the domains and indicators that have been used in recent studies covering the SDH. These studies are considered here within the context of indicators proposed by the WHO EQuAL project. The objectives are as follows: to describe the range of international and national studies and the types of indicators most frequently used; report how they are used in causal explanation of the SDH; and identify key priorities and challenges reported in current research for national monitoring of the SDH. Design We conducted a scoping review of published SDH studies in the PubMed® database to obtain evidence of socio-economic indicators. We evaluated, selected, and extracted data from national scale studies published from 2004 to 2014. The research included papers published in English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Results The final sample consisted of 96 articles. SDH monitoring is well reported in the scientific literature independent of the economic level of the country and magnitude of deprivation in population groups. The research methods were mostly quantitative and many papers used multilevel and multivariable statistical analyses and indexes to measure health inequalities and SDH. In addition to the usual economic indicators, a high number of socio-economic indicators were used. The indicators covered a broad range of social dimensions, which were given consideration within and across different social groups. Many indicators included in the WHO EQuAL framework were not common in the studies in this review due to their intersectoral and interdisciplinary nature. Conclusions Our review illustrates that the attention to SDH monitoring has grown in terms of its importance and complexity within the scientific health literature. We identified a need to make indicators more wide-ranging in order to include a broader range of social conditions. The WHO EQuAL framework can provide intersectoral and interdisciplinary means of building a more comprehensive standardised approach to monitoring the SDH and improving equity in health. PMID:26853896

Molecular phylogeny and patterns of diversification in syngnathid fishes.

PubMed

Hamilton, Healy; Saarman, Norah; Short, Graham; Sellas, Anna B; Moore, Beth; Hoang, Tinya; Grace, Christopher L; Gomon, Martin; Crow, Karen; Brian Simison, W

2017-02-01

The family Syngnathidae is a large and diverse clade of morphologically unique bony fishes, with 57 genera and 300 described species of seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses, and seadragons. They primarily inhabit shallow coastal waters in temperate and tropical oceans, and are characterized by a fused jaw, male brooding, and extraordinary crypsis. Phylogenetic relationships within the Syngnathidae remain poorly resolved due to lack of generic taxon sampling, few diagnostic morphological characters, and limited molecular data. The phylogenetic placement of the threatened, commercially exploited seahorses remains a topic of intense interest, with conflicting topologies based on morphology and predominantly mitochondrial genetic data. In this study, we integrate eight nuclear and mitochondrial markers and 17 morphological characters to investigate the phylogenetic structure of the family Syngnathidae at the generic level. We include 91 syngnathid species representing 48 of the 57 recognized genera, all major ocean basins, and a broad array of temperate and tropical habitats including rocky and coral reefs, sand and silt, mangroves, seagrass beds, estuaries, and rivers. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of 5160bp from eight loci produced high congruence among alternate topologies, defining well-supported and sometimes novel clades. We present a hypothesis that confirms a deep phylogenetic split between lineages with trunk- or tail-brood pouch placement, and provides significant new insights into the morphological evolution and biogeography of this highly derived fish clade. Based on the fundamental division between lineages - the tail brooding "Urophori" and the trunk brooding "Gastrophori" - we propose a revision of Syngnathidae classification into only two subfamilies: the Nerophinae and the Syngnathinae. We find support for distinct principal clades within the trunk-brooders and tail-brooders, the latter of which include seahorses, seadragons, independent lineages of pipehorses, and clades that originated in southern Australia and the Western Atlantic. We suggest the seahorse genus Hippocampus is of Indo-Pacific origin and its sister clade is an unexpected grouping of several morphologically disparate Indo-Pacific genera, including the Pacific pygmy pipehorses. Taxonomic revision is required for multiple genera, particularly to reflect deep evolutionary splits in nominal lineages from the Atlantic versus the Indo-Pacific. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

OPERATIONS AND RESEARCH AT THE U.S. EPA INCINERATION RESEARCH FACILITY: ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY94

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Incineration Research Facility (IRF) in Jefferson, Arkansas, is an experimental facifity that houses a pilot-scale rotary kiln incineration system (RKS) and the associated waste handling, emission control, process control, and safety equ...

Nutritional and ecological evaluation of dairy farming systems based on concentrate feeding regimes in semi-arid environments of Jordan

PubMed Central

Alqaisi, Othman; Hemme, Torsten; Hagemann, Martin; Susenbeth, Andreas

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional and ecological aspects of feeding systems practiced under semi-arid environments in Jordan. Nine dairy farms representing the different dairy farming systems were selected for this study. Feed samples (n = 58), fecal samples (n = 108), and milk samples (n = 78) were collected from the farms and analysed for chemical composition. Feed samples were also analysed for metabolisable energy (ME) contents and in vitro organic matter digestibility according to Hohenheim-Feed-Test. Furthermore, fecal nitrogen concentration was determined to estimate in vivo organic matter digestibility. ME and nutrient intakes were calculated based on the farmer’s estimate of dry matter intake and the analysed composition of the feed ingredients. ME and nutrient intakes were compared to recommended standard values for adequate supply of ME, utilizable crude protein, rumen undegradable crude protein (RUCP), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca). Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculation model complemented with a partial life cycle assessment model was used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions of milk production at farm gate. The model predicts CH4, N2O and CO2 gases emitted either directly or indirectly. Average daily energy corrected milk yield (ECM) was 19 kg and ranged between 11 and 27 kg. The mean of ME intake of all farms was 184 MJ/d with a range between 115 and 225 MJ/d. Intake of RUCP was lower than the standard requirements in six farms ranging between 19 and 137 g/d, was higher (32 and 93 g/d) in two farms, and matched the requirements in one farm. P intake was higher than the requirements in all farms (mean oversupply = 19 g/d) and ranged between 3 and 30 g/d. Ca intake was significantly below the requirements in small scale farms. Milk nitrogen efficiency N-eff (milk N/intake N) varied between 19% and 28% and was mainly driven by the level of milk yield. Total CO2 equivalent (CO2 equ) emission ranged between 0.90 and 1.88 kg CO2/kg ECM milk, where the enteric and manure CH4 contributed to 52% of the total CO2 equ emissions, followed by the indirect emissions of N2O and the direct emissions of CO2 gases which comprises 17% and 15%, respectively, from total CO2 equ emissions. Emissions per kg of milk were significantly driven by the level of milk production (r2 = 0.93) and of eDMI (r2 = 0.88), while the total emissions were not influenced by diet composition. A difference of 16 kg ECM/d in milk yield, 9% in N-eff and of 0.9 kg CO2 equ/kg in ECM milk observed between low and high yielding animals. To improve the nutritional status of the animals, protein requirements have to be met. Furthermore, low price by-products with a low carbon credit should be included in the diets to replace the high proportion of imported concentrate feeds and consequently improve the economic situation of dairy farms and mitigate CO2 equ emissions. PMID:24596499

Accountability and Accreditation for Special Libraries: It Can Be Done!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glockner, Brigitte

2004-01-01

Health librarians are very familiar with the accreditation process in hospitals. In 2000 the first ALIA National Policy Congress recommended that accreditation of special libraries should be implemented. The proposed guidelines have been roughly based on the EQuIP Program of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. This program is…

Engineering Safety- and Security-Related Requirements for Software-Intensive Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-27

Requirements Negative (shall not) Requirements Hardware Requirements equ remen s System / Documentation Requirements eve oper Requirements Operational ...Validation Actual / Proposed Defensibility C li Operational Vulnerability Analysis VulnerabilityVulnerability Safety Vulnerability performs System ...including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson

Method for calibrating a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer

DOEpatents

Smith, Richard D.; Masselon, Christophe D.; Tolmachev, Aleksey

2003-08-19

A method for improving the calibration of a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer wherein the frequency spectrum of a sample has been measured and the frequency (f) and intensity (I) of at least three species having known mass to charge (m/z) ratios and one specie having an unknown (m/z) ratio have been identified. The method uses the known (m/z) ratios, frequencies, and intensities at least three species to calculate coefficients A, B, and C, wherein the mass to charge ratio of a least one of the three species (m/z).sub.i is equal to ##EQU1## wherein f.sub.i is the detected frequency of the specie, G(I.sub.i) is a predetermined function of the intensity of the species, and Q is a predetermined exponent. Using the calculated values for A, B, and C, the mass to charge ratio of the unknown specie (m/z).sub.ii is calculated as the sum of ##EQU2## wherein f.sub.ii is the measured frequency of the unknown specie, and (I.sub.ii) is the measured intensity of the unknown specie.

Spacecraft attitude and velocity control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paluszek, Michael A. (Inventor); Piper, Jr., George E. (Inventor)

1992-01-01

A spacecraft attitude and/or velocity control system includes a controller which responds to at least attitude errors to produce command signals representing a force vector F and a torque vector T, each having three orthogonal components, which represent the forces and torques which are to be generated by the thrusters. The thrusters may include magnetic torquer or reaction wheels. Six difference equations are generated, three having the form ##EQU1## where a.sub.j is the maximum torque which the j.sup.th thruster can produce, b.sub.j is the maximum force which the j.sup.th thruster can produce, and .alpha..sub.j is a variable representing the throttling factor of the j.sup.th thruster, which may range from zero to unity. The six equations are summed to produce a single scalar equation relating variables .alpha..sub.j to a performance index Z: ##EQU2## Those values of .alpha. which maximize the value of Z are determined by a method for solving linear equations, such as a linear programming method. The Simplex method may be used. The values of .alpha..sub.j are applied to control the corresponding thrusters.

Line Identifications and Preliminary Synthesis of High-resolution Infrared Spectra of CP and Herbig Ae Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowley, Charles R.; Castelli, F.; Hubrig, S.; Wolff, B.; Elkin, V.

2012-01-01

We report on surveys of infrared spectra of chemically peculiar and Herbig Ae stars based on CRIRES (Kaufl, et al. SPIE, 5492, 1218 2004). We discuss the magnetic CP stars Gamma Equ and HD 154708, and multiple-phase observations of the Herbig Ae star HD 101412. The Be star HR 4537 and HgMn HR 6620 were also examined. The primary emphasis of the present work is on line identifications primarily in four regions, 1065-1091, 1084-1109,1550-1587, and 2276-2313nm (with order gaps). Observations were reduced with recipes available from the ESO CRIRES data reduction pipeline. Wavelength calibration is determined from daytime ThAr arc lamp exposures. Generally speaking, this is not rich in atomic lines. The strongest features are the Paschen line P6 (1093.81nm), and He I (108.30nm). The latter shows phase variations indicative of a more complex magnetic field than that of a pure dipole. No individual molecular lines were found in these early stars, though CO emission from circumstellar material is likely present in HR 4537 and HD 101412. We used atomic line lists from Kurucz's site (kurucz.harvard.edu) and VALD (http://vald.astro.univie.ac.at/ cf. Kupka et al. 1999, A&AS, 138, 119), supplemented by Outred (J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 7, 1, 1978). The following spectra were identified in Gamma Equ: C I, Si I, Ca I, Mg I, II, Cr I, Fe I, Sr II, and Ce III (1584.75nm). The Ap star spectra show broad Zeeman patterns compatible with published models and field strengths. Synthetic calculations used SYNTHE and SYNTHMAG (Piskunov N. E., 1999, in Astrophys. Space Sci. Library Vol. 243, Solar polarization. Kluwer, p 515). The γ Equ model is from Heiter et al. (2002, A&A, 392, 619). and the line list from VALD.

Hydridable material for the negative electrode in a nickel-metal hydride storage battery

DOEpatents

Knosp, Bernard; Bouet, Jacques; Jordy, Christian; Mimoun, Michel; Gicquel, Daniel

1997-01-01

A monophase hydridable material for the negative electrode of a nickel-metal hydride storage battery with a "Lave's phase" structure of hexagonal C14 type (MgZn.sub.2) has the general formula: Zr.sub.1-x Ti.sub.x Ni.sub.a Mn.sub.b Al.sub.c Co.sub.d V.sub.e where ##EQU1##

Impact of Appointment-Based Medication Synchronization on Proportion of Days Covered for Chronic Medications.

PubMed

Dao, Nancy; Lee, Sun; Hata, Micah; Sarino, Lord

2018-05-22

Appointment-based medication synchronization (ABMS) programs have been associated with increased adherence and persistence to chronic medications. Adherence to statin therapy, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and non-insulin antidiabetic medications (NIDM) are used to determine a health plan's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star Rating under a pay-for-performance model. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of implementing an ABMS program on overall pharmacy adherence measures for statins, ACEI/ARBs, and NIDM, as presented through the Electronic Quality Improvement Platform for Plans and Pharmacies (EQuIPP©) platform. This retrospective, pre-post ABMS program study evaluated EQuIPP© generated adherence performance measures, represented as proportion of days covered (PDC), 6-months before and 6- and 12-months after the ABMS service for statin therapy, ACEIs/ARBs, and NIDM. All adherence measures showed statistically significant improvement in PDC percentage post ABMS implementation, except for NIDM percentage in 6-months post-ABMS service. This study shows that a comprehensive medication synchronization program can enhance adherence measures that are important to health plans to increase CMS Star Rating under a pay-for-performance model.

The Riemann Problem for the Multidimensional Isentropic System of Gas Dynamics is Ill-Posed if It Contains a Shock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markfelder, Simon; Klingenberg, Christian

2018-03-01

In this paper we consider the isentropic compressible Euler equations in two space dimensions together with particular initial data. This data consists of two constant states, where one state lies in the lower and the other state in the upper half plane. The aim is to investigate whether there exists a unique entropy solution or if the convex integration method produces infinitely many entropy solutions. For some initial states this question has been answered by Feireisl and Kreml (J Hyperbolic Differ Equ 12(3):489-499, 2015), and also Chen and Chen (J Hyperbolic Differ Equ 4(1):105-122, 2007), where there exists a unique entropy solution. For other initial states Chiodaroli and Kreml (Arch Ration Mech Anal 214(3):1019-1049, 2014) and Chiodaroli et al. (Commun Pure Appl Math 68(7):1157-1190, 2015), showed that there are infinitely many entropy solutions. For still other initial states the question on uniqueness remained open and this will be the content of this paper. This paper can be seen as a completion of the aforementioned papers by showing that the solution is non-unique in all cases (except if the solution is smooth).

Making the Transition to Three-Dimensional Teaching: An NGSS@NSTA Curator and Elementary Science Specialist Shares How to Evaluate Teaching Materials Using the EQuIP Rubric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Day, Betsy

2016-01-01

Curriculum and lesson planning require the consideration of many things. With a shift to the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"), integrating the dimensions of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts becomes a focus of that planning. The author, Betsy O'Day, an elementary…

The Evolution of DEOMI

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-15

technology opens the world to information in the computer database to all learners without the use of a human teacher other than the controller or manager ...THE EVOLUTION DE MI DEFENSE EQU AL OPPORTU NITY MANAG EMENT INST ITUTE IDENTITY TITLE: Dr. G · NAME: William Ga ry Mc u1re RACE: White NDER...The Evolution of DEOMI Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute Research Directorate Written by William Gary McGuire, PhD

Inverse Faraday Effect in Hemoglobin Detected by Raman Spectroscopy: An Example of Magnetic Resonance Raman Activity.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-06-03

d.E - m.H + and is a truncated form of Equ. (9) intepreted according to the diagrammatic perturbation theory approach of Wallace [51]; n is the...A.L., 1972, 3. Chem. Phys. 56, 4073. 87. Gouterman, M., 1973, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 206, 70. -27- NADC-85074-60 This Page Intentionally Left Blank -28 - FILM -ED 11-85 DTIC

Using Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi tessellation to predict the toxicities of binary mixtures containing hormetic compound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Rui; Liu, Shu-Shen; Zheng, Qiao-Feng; Li, Tong

2017-03-01

Concentration addition (CA) was proposed as a reasonable default approach for the ecological risk assessment of chemical mixtures. However, CA cannot predict the toxicity of mixture at some effect zones if not all components have definite effective concentrations at the given effect, such as some compounds induce hormesis. In this paper, we developed a new method for the toxicity prediction of various types of binary mixtures, an interpolation method based on the Delaunay triangulation (DT) and Voronoi tessellation (VT) as well as the training set of direct equipartition ray design (EquRay) mixtures, simply IDVequ. At first, the EquRay was employed to design the basic concentration compositions of five binary mixture rays. The toxic effects of single components and mixture rays at different times and various concentrations were determined by the time-dependent microplate toxicity analysis. Secondly, the concentration-toxicity data of the pure components and various mixture rays were acted as a training set. The DT triangles and VT polygons were constructed by various vertices of concentrations in the training set. The toxicities of unknown mixtures were predicted by the linear interpolation and natural neighbor interpolation of vertices. The IDVequ successfully predicted the toxicities of various types of binary mixtures.

Using Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi tessellation to predict the toxicities of binary mixtures containing hormetic compound

PubMed Central

Qu, Rui; Liu, Shu-Shen; Zheng, Qiao-Feng; Li, Tong

2017-01-01

Concentration addition (CA) was proposed as a reasonable default approach for the ecological risk assessment of chemical mixtures. However, CA cannot predict the toxicity of mixture at some effect zones if not all components have definite effective concentrations at the given effect, such as some compounds induce hormesis. In this paper, we developed a new method for the toxicity prediction of various types of binary mixtures, an interpolation method based on the Delaunay triangulation (DT) and Voronoi tessellation (VT) as well as the training set of direct equipartition ray design (EquRay) mixtures, simply IDVequ. At first, the EquRay was employed to design the basic concentration compositions of five binary mixture rays. The toxic effects of single components and mixture rays at different times and various concentrations were determined by the time-dependent microplate toxicity analysis. Secondly, the concentration-toxicity data of the pure components and various mixture rays were acted as a training set. The DT triangles and VT polygons were constructed by various vertices of concentrations in the training set. The toxicities of unknown mixtures were predicted by the linear interpolation and natural neighbor interpolation of vertices. The IDVequ successfully predicted the toxicities of various types of binary mixtures. PMID:28287626

Genetic evidence for polygynandry in the black-striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster: a microsatellite-based parentage analysis.

PubMed

Hübner, Kerstin; Gonzalez-Wanguemert, Mercedes; Diekmann, Onno E; Serrão, Ester A

2013-01-01

Sexual selection theory predicts that, in organisms with reversed sex roles, more polyandrous species exhibit higher levels of sexual dimorphism. In the family Syngnathidae (pipefish, seahorses, and seadragons), males provide all parental care by carrying developing embryos on their ventral surfaces, and females develop secondary sex characters. Syngnathids exhibit a variety of genetic mating patterns, making them an ideal group to test predictions of sexual selection theory. Here, we describe the mating system of the black-striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster, using 4 highly variable microsatellites to analyze parentage of 102 embryos. Results revealed that 1) both sexes mate multiple times over the course of a pregnancy (polygynandrous mating system), 2) eggs are spatially segregated by maternity within each brood pouch, and 3) larger females have higher mating success (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; P < 0.05). Together with similar studies of other syngnathid species, our results support the hypothesis that the mating system is related to the intensity of sexual dimorphism.

Computation of Viscous-Inviscid Interactions

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-02-01

porte stir 11Epaisseur de d~placement Pizr) at non sur la direction angu- laire de Il’couiement f9"(X,) . Doe le cas incompressible, par example, !a...into the boundary layer. The diffraction of the shock wave by the nonuniform flow in the boundary layer leads to significant normal pressrre gradients...deivative. This equ . wemr’s the propagation of small disturbances in the nonuniform flow in the boundary layer. Within this model, disturbances

Unitary Quantum Lattice Algorithms for Turbulence

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-23

BECs one finds singular quantized vortices with zero density at the cores. This is what is seen experimentally, in Fig. 1. In an early simulation ...constant density in a healing length) there should be some differences. In a simulation on 57603-grid, we found the total kinetic energy spectrum has a...from these simulations : (a) the incompressible energy spectrum Einc k( ) <<Ecomp k( ), Equ k( ) for k < 200 , (b) for nearly the complete

Furry pet allergens, fungal DNA and microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) in the commercial aircraft cabin environment.

PubMed

Fu, Xi; Lindgren, Torsten; Guo, Moran; Cai, Gui-Hong; Lundgren, Håkan; Norbäck, Dan

2013-06-01

There has been concern about the cabin environment in commercial aircraft. We measured cat, dog and horse allergens and fungal DNA in cabin dust and microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) in cabin air. Samples were collected from two European airline companies, one with cabins having textile seats (TSC) and the other with cabins having leather seats (LSC), 9 airplanes from each company. Dust was vacuumed from seats and floors in the flight deck and different parts of the cabin. Cat (Fel d1), dog (Can f1) and horse allergens (Equ cx) were analyzed by ELISA. Five sequences of fungal DNA were analyzed by quantitative PCR. MVOCs were sampled on charcoal tubes in 42 TSC flights, and 17 compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with selective ion monitoring (SIM). MVOC levels were compared with levels in homes from Nordic countries. The weight of dust was 1.8 times larger in TSC cabins as compared to LSC cabins (p < 0.001). In cabins with textile seats, the geometric mean (GM) concentrations of Fel d1, Can f1 and Equ cx were 5359 ng g(-1), 6067 ng g(-1), and 13 703 ng g(-1) (GM) respectively. Levels of Fel d1, Can f1 and Equ cx were 50 times, 27 times and 75 times higher respectively, in TSC cabins as compared to LSC cabins (p < 0.001). GM levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium DNA, Aspergillus versicolor DNA, Stachybotrys chartarum DNA and Streptomyces DNA were all higher in TSC as compared to LSC (p < 0.05). The sum of MVOCs in cabin air (excluding butanols) was 3192 ng m(-3) (GM), 3.7 times higher than in homes (p < 0.001) and 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol concentrations were 15-17 times higher as compared to homes (p < 0.001). Concentrations of isobutanol, 1-butanol, dimethyldisulfide, 2-hexanone, 2-heptanone, 3-octanone, isobutyl acetate and ethyl-2-methylbutyrate were lower in cabin air as compared to homes (p < 0.05). In conclusion, textile seats are much more contaminated by pet allergens and fungal DNA than leather seats. The use of seats with smooth surfaces should be encouraged. The MVOC levels differed between cabin air and homes.

Radio frequency (RF) microwave components and subsystems using loaded ridge waveguide

DOEpatents

Kang, Yoon W.

2013-08-20

A waveguide having a non-conductive material with a high permeability (.mu., .mu..sub.r for relative permeability) and/or a high permittivity (.di-elect cons., .di-elect cons..sub.r for relative permittivity) positioned within a housing. When compared to a hollow waveguide, the waveguide of this invention, reduces waveguide dimensions by .varies..mu. ##EQU00001## The waveguide of this invention further includes ridges which further reduce the size and increases the usable frequency bandwidth.

78 FR 41499 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Threatened Status for the Northern Mexican...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-10

...We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the northern Mexican gartersnake (Thamnophis eques megalops) and narrow-headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus) as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to these species. The effect of this regulation is to conserve northern Mexican and narrow-headed gartersnakes under the Act.

Intelligent system for automatic feature detection and selection or identification

DOEpatents

Sun, Chuen-Tsai; Jang, Jyh-Shing; Fu, Chi-Yung

1997-01-01

A neural network uses a fuzzy membership function, the parameters of which are adaptive during the training process, to parameterize the interconnection weights between an (n-1)'th layer and an n'th layer of the network. Each j'th node in each k'th layer of the network except the input layer produces its output value y.sub.k,j according to the function ##EQU1## where N.sub.k-1 is the number of nodes in layer k-1, i indexes the nodes of layer k-1 and all the w.sub.k,i,j are interconnection weights. The interconnection weights to all nodes j in the n'th layer are given by w.sub.n,i,j =w.sub.n,j (i, p.sub.n,j,1, . . . , p.sub.n,j,p.sbsb.n). The apparatus is trained by setting values for at least one of the parameters p.sub.n,j,1, . . . , p.sub.n,j,Pn. Preferably the number of parameters P.sub.n is less than the number of nodes N.sub.n-1 in layer n-1. w.sub.n,j (i,p.sub.n,j,1, . . . , p.sub.n,j,Pn) can be convex in i, and it can be bell-shaped. Sample functions for w.sub.n,j (i, p.sub.n,j,1, . . . , p.sub.n,j,Pn) include ##EQU2##

Comprehensive Approach Training Toolkit: Training Needs Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

design pertinent sit e training on . A tool such able 14 summ Global MedAi The research w global and fund War Program. The menu has standards...The cultur detail and designed requires. T type inter cultural pr Table 20 s Comp e Cul Onl s Inte equ aintain Sold ann ess Yes Mod onli exce s...Competency developmen Time comm Use by allie Website Comp e Intr es Bec situa at g grad test The Onl It is Acc s The Win 512 DVD

Scalar discrete nonlinear multipoint boundary value problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Jesus; Taylor, Padraic

2007-06-01

In this paper we provide sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions to scalar discrete nonlinear multipoint boundary value problems. By allowing more general boundary conditions and by imposing less restrictions on the nonlinearities, we obtain results that extend previous work in the area of discrete boundary value problems [Debra L. Etheridge, Jesus Rodriguez, Periodic solutions of nonlinear discrete-time systems, Appl. Anal. 62 (1996) 119-137; Debra L. Etheridge, Jesus Rodriguez, Scalar discrete nonlinear two-point boundary value problems, J. Difference Equ. Appl. 4 (1998) 127-144].

Applications of Known Quantitative Techniques for Developing Airborne ASW Crew Performance Criteria,

DTIC Science & Technology

1967-07-01

environmental foot tunnel enable’s accurate tests to be conducted under specifications, controlled conditions, MA Ch I N E ( ‘OMI ’l ’F t T ION SERVICES C...ph~- 51 olo gical nioni tur ing equ ip— cc i dt’ a r t e ’t~ cci C ~~ii ’ ri iue ’nt s can hi’ ~‘onc1ui-ted u ndc r V a t t e s t s nie ’ni ; I

New doubly-symmetric families of comet-like periodic orbits in the spatial restricted ( N + 1)-body problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llibre, Jaume; Roberto, Luci Any

2009-07-01

For any positive integer N ≥ 2 we prove the existence of a new family of periodic solutions for the spatial restricted ( N +1)-body problem. In these solutions the infinitesimal particle is very far from the primaries. They have large inclinations and some symmetries. In fact we extend results of Howison and Meyer (J. Diff. Equ. 163:174-197, 2000) from N = 2 to any positive integer N ≥ 2.

Advanced Operational Aviation Medicine Course, (4th), held at Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, Hampshire on 17-26 June 1975

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-05-01

possible. A life raft with an inflatable floor and a canopy provides good protection against -i chill. Frequent practice drills and experience of the...and equLpeant that will protect him from the coldl but military experience has shown that succems In such adverse onditions depends far nor* upon the...under such extreme conditions comes mainly from experience and training in that particular environmant and inKprovevents in mental and manual

What could be the role of molecular-based allergy diagnostics in detecting the risk of developing allergic sensitization to furry animals?

PubMed

Liccardi, Gennaro; Bilò, M B; Manzi, F; Piccolo, A; Di Maro, E; Salzillo, A

2015-09-01

Although this highly refined diagnostic approach has been used in several fields of allergy diagnosis, we noticed the scarcity of data on the role of CDR in detecting current sensitization to the allergens of common pets (cat / dog) and, especially, its potential usefulness in predicting the risk of sensitization to other furry animals. Reported data suggest that cross-reacting mechanisms might play an important role in a significant proportion of allergic sensitizations to furry animals (common pets and unusual / exotic mammals) especially in the absence of any possible direct / indirect contact. In this context an evaluation of specific IgE by using the micro-array technique ImmunoCAP ISAC (Thermofisher Scientific - Immuno-Diagnostics, Sweden) for lipocalins (Can f 1, Can f 2, Equ c 1, Fel d 4, Mus m 1) and albumins (Bos d 6, Can f 3, Equ c 3, Fel d 2) might be very useful to evaluate the possibility of cross-reactions between the allergens of different animals. In fact, allergic sensitization without animal exposure is a relevant risk for patients, because they are not aware about the possibility that even severe respiratory symptoms may develop after an occasional animal contact. This aspect should be taken into account by susceptible individuals before acquiring new pets, after removal of common pets or beginning a contact for working / leisure activity with a common as well as uncommon animal.

Energy decay of a viscoelastic wave equation with supercritical nonlinearities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yanqiu; Rammaha, Mohammad A.; Sakuntasathien, Sawanya

2018-06-01

This paper presents a study of the asymptotic behavior of the solutions for the history value problem of a viscoelastic wave equation which features a fading memory term as well as a supercritical source term and a frictional damping term: u_{tt}- k(0) Δ u - \\int \\limits _0^{&infty } k'(s) Δ u(t-s) ds +|u_t|^{m-1}u_t =|u|^{p-1}u, { in } Ω × (0,T), u(x,t)=u_0(x,t), \\quad { in } Ω × (-∞,0]), where Ω is a bounded domain in R^3 with a Dirichlét boundary condition and u_0 represents the history value. A suitable notion of a potential well is introduced for the system, and global existence of solutions is justified, provided that the history value u_0 is taken from a subset of the potential well. Also, uniform energy decay rate is obtained which depends on the relaxation kernel -k'(s) as well as the growth rate of the damping term. This manuscript complements our previous work (Guo et al. in J Differ Equ 257:3778-3812, 2014, J Differ Equ 262:1956-1979, 2017) where Hadamard well-posedness and the singularity formulation have been studied for the system. It is worth stressing the special features of the model, namely the source term here has a supercritical growth rate and the memory term accounts to the full past history that goes back to -∞.

Final Environmental Impact Statement. Disposal and Reuse of George Air Force Base, California. Volume 2. Public Comments and Responses, Appendices

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-03-01

otherwise managed. Regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Heavy metals . A metal (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmkum, and chromium) of...Pb). A heavy metal used in many Industries, which can accumulate in the body and cause a variety of negative effects. One of the six pollutants for...required for the EIS. 7.16 mom The EI5 should address roadbed Impacts caused In transporting heavy oversized miltary equIpme. (30-2) m The issue of

Study of Background Radiance in Upper Atmosphere.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-01-01

hN2),NE=1,% FANc ) jSET=N A C CC 84C J=19,SET NFC=LEC ( J) N 1M0 C(N E C IQ 000, 0 CC 60E N2=19!At 700 FCRMA(I14A.18HEtNC NC.,I?!’ 7PLA Ce 6 ?PTVrqC M,.X...CHTAB DATA TABLE FOR CHAR GEN ADD A I OFFSET=CODE*02 JNC ADOFF INX H ADOFF EQU I ADD L " A CONTAINS OFFSET JNC G SFG I OHL POINTS INTO CHTAB INR H GTSEG

Analysis with electron microscope of multielement samples using pure element standards

DOEpatents

King, Wayne E.

1987-01-01

A method and modified analytical electron microscope for determining the concentration of elements in a multielement sample by exposing samples with differing thicknesses for each element to a beam of electrons, simultaneously measuring the electron dosage and x-ray intensities for each sample of element to determine a "K.sub.AB " value to be used in the equation ##EQU1## where I is intensity and C is concentration for elements A and B, and exposing the multielement sample to determine the concentrations of the elements in the sample.

Covert Channel Analysis of Trusted Systems. A Guide to Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-11-01

equ-|tions that ca ! s :-0 cff the two-state graph. Each equation is based on the fact that the set of transmissions beginning in a given state consists...in the "ready" queue( s ) can be loaded in available CPUs during the same quantum only if they have the same security level. In this mode, called the...Luckenbaugh86] G. L. Luckenbaugh, V. D. Gligor, L. J. Dotterer, C. S . Chandersekaran, and N. Vasudevan, "Interpretation of the Bell -La Padula Model In Secure

Environmental Assessment Construction of Antenna Parts Storage Facility and Demolition of Hazardous Materials Storage Shed and Oil Change Pit, Jordan Lake Air Force Space Surveillance Station, Alabama

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-03

Paleozoic rocks of the Wedowee Group. The Wedowee Group includes the Cragford phyllite, Cutnose gneiss, and other high-grade metamorphic and igneous rocks ...rary and not significant. No long-term impacts will occur. Air Quality: There will be temporary increased emissions from the use of equipment and...worker vehicles during the construction and demolition activities. Each type of equ ipment will be used briefly and will generate a very small amount

Fast Equalization for Large Lithium Ion Batteries

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

Lithium - ion batteries use an electrolyte that is flammable if exposed to high temperatures. Slight differences between the series-connected cells in a LiIon battery pack can produce imbalances in the cell voltages, and this greatly reduces the charge capacity. These batteries cannot be trickle charged like a lead acid battery because this would slightly overcharge some cells and would cause these cells to ignite. There are different methods used to ensure that the cells of a battery pack are not overcharged. The targeted equalizer (EQU) described here can

Review of Matters Related to the Sexual Assault of Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, U.S. Marine Corps

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-18

her then supervisory agent directed the inclusion . Physical Assault Complaint. The NCIS Investigative Manual requires agents interview and take...lations and pr ocedu ra l de fi ciencies described 1n t he report . Clea rly corrective action is r equ ired in t his casa , as both a !"leans to...misconduct. Also , i mmedia t ely after identifying the proble~s ~ithin this inves t iga tion , NCIS init ia t ed ~ number of organizationa l measures des

METHOD FOR PREPARING URANIUM MONOCARBIDE-PLUTONIUM MONOCARBIDE SOLID SOLUTION

DOEpatents

Ogard, A.E.; Leary, J.A.; Maraman, W.J.

1963-03-19

A method is given for preparing solid solutions of uranium monocarbide- plutonium monocarbide. In this method, the powder form of uranium dioxide, plutonium dioxide, and graphite are mixed in a ratio determined by the equation: xUO/sub 2/ + yPuO/sub 2/ + (2+z)C yields UxPu/sub y/C/sub z/ +2CO, where x + y equ al 1.0 and z is greater than 0.9 but less than 1.0. The resulting mixture is compacted and heated in a vacuum at a temperature of 1850 deg C. (AEC)

Genetic evidence for monogamy in the dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae.

PubMed

Rose, Emily; Small, Clayton M; Saucedo, Hector A; Harper, Cristin; Jones, Adam G

2014-01-01

Syngnathid fishes (pipefishes, seahorses, and seadragons) exhibit a wide array of mating systems ranging from monogamy with long-term pair bonds to more promiscuous mating systems, such as polyandry and polygynandry. Some seahorses, including the dwarf seahorse Hippocampus zosterae, have been found to be socially monogamous. Although several seahorse species have also been shown to be genetically monogamous, parentage analysis has not yet been applied to the dwarf seahorse. We developed 8 novel microsatellites for the dwarf seahorse to conduct genetic parentage analysis to confirm that this species is indeed monogamous. Using 4 selected loci and a total of 16 pregnant male seahorses, with 8 collected in Florida and 8 sampled in Texas, we genotyped all of the offspring within each male's brood to determine the maternal contributions to each brood. We found a maximum of 4 alleles per locus segregating within each pregnant male's brood, a pattern consistent with each brood having exactly 1 mother and 1 father. These results support previous laboratory-based behavioral studies and indicate that the dwarf seahorse, H. zosterae, is genetically monogamous. © The American Genetic Association 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A Liouville Problem for the Stationary Fractional Navier-Stokes-Poisson System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Xiao, J.

2017-06-01

This paper deals with a Liouville problem for the stationary fractional Navier-Stokes-Poisson system whose special case k=0 covers the compressible and incompressible time-independent fractional Navier-Stokes systems in R^{N≥2} . An essential difficulty raises from the fractional Laplacian, which is a non-local operator and thus makes the local analysis unsuitable. To overcome the difficulty, we utilize a recently-introduced extension-method in Wang and Xiao (Commun Contemp Math 18(6):1650019, 2016) which develops Caffarelli-Silvestre's technique in Caffarelli and Silvestre (Commun Partial Diff Equ 32:1245-1260, 2007).

A modified two-layer iteration via a boundary point approach to generalized multivalued pseudomonotone mixed variational inequalities.

PubMed

Saddeek, Ali Mohamed

2017-01-01

Most mathematical models arising in stationary filtration processes as well as in the theory of soft shells can be described by single-valued or generalized multivalued pseudomonotone mixed variational inequalities with proper convex nondifferentiable functionals. Therefore, for finding the minimum norm solution of such inequalities, the current paper attempts to introduce a modified two-layer iteration via a boundary point approach and to prove its strong convergence. The results here improve and extend the corresponding recent results announced by Badriev, Zadvornov and Saddeek (Differ. Equ. 37:934-942, 2001).

Software Acquisition Management Practical Experience

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-23

t a comp ete m ss on so tware su te n ar Air Force Air Mobility Command declared Initial Operation ...or revised controls areR i t t i f d t l t t ll d d di i li d 43 necessary equ remen s managemen s un amen a o a con ro e an sc p ne...Warner Robins, GA 31088 FAA NAS Plan (TDWR) SOW S ft d l t t d i i t b d t do ware eve opmen managemen an eng neer ng o e con uc e in

Measurement of surface tension and viscosity by open capillary techniques

DOEpatents

Rye,Robert R. , Yost,Frederick G.

1998-01-01

An open-channel capillary is provided, having preferably a v-shaped groove in a flat wettable surface. The groove has timing marks and a source marker in which the specimen to be tested is deposited. The time of passage between the timing marks is recorded, and the ratio of surface tension .gamma. to viscosity .mu. is determined from the equation given below: ##EQU1## where h.sub.0 is the groove depth, .alpha. is the groove angle, .theta. is the liquid/solid contact angle, and t is the flow time. It has been shown by the

Locating the Source of Long-Distance Radio Distress Signals from the Southern Ocean

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-03-01

fomZwaic ad e(91) Ref t ~) areshown -39 - ERL-0449-SD 30 EQU IV ALE N T GEOGRAPHIC LATITUDE (DEG), S. j ~jj5"f RN HEMISPHERE, AT LONGITUDE OF ADELAIDE...45 - ERL-0449-SD AST = 48 ASB = 61 - 0.5(Kp - i) ANB = 73 - 1.0(Kp- ) ANT = 76 - 1.25(Kp - j ) where A represents invariant latitude, the subscripts T ...frequency (MF) maritime band (410-512 kHz) for long-distance commun- cation in telegraphy (Morse code) at a frequency which was returned t the earth by

A Liouville Problem for the Stationary Fractional Navier-Stokes-Poisson System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Xiao, J.

2018-06-01

This paper deals with a Liouville problem for the stationary fractional Navier-Stokes-Poisson system whose special case k=0 covers the compressible and incompressible time-independent fractional Navier-Stokes systems in R^{N≥2}. An essential difficulty raises from the fractional Laplacian, which is a non-local operator and thus makes the local analysis unsuitable. To overcome the difficulty, we utilize a recently-introduced extension-method in Wang and Xiao (Commun Contemp Math 18(6):1650019, 2016) which develops Caffarelli-Silvestre's technique in Caffarelli and Silvestre (Commun Partial Diff Equ 32:1245-1260, 2007).

Flux control and one-hundred and eighty degree core systems

DOEpatents

Hsu, John S

2012-11-27

A two-phase or four-phase electric machine includes a first stator part and a second stator part disposed about ninety electrical degrees apart. Stator pole parts are positioned near the first stator part and the second stator part. An injector injects a third-harmonic frequency current that is separate from and not produced by the fundamental current driving the first stator part and the second stator part. The electric angular speed of the third-harmonic rotating field comprises .theta. ##EQU00001## where p comprises the number of pole pairs, .theta. comprises a mechanical angle and t comprise time in seconds.

Biotechnological production of non-traditional beer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parise, Adadi; Kovaleva, Elena G.; Glukhareva, Tatiana V.; Shatunova, Svetlana A.

2017-09-01

In the present study we brewed sorghum (pito) and low-alcoholic beer (LAB) utilizing Sacharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum and Saccharomycodes ludwigii as starters, respectively, and characterized their quality parameters. Single infusion method of mashing was practiced. Physiochemical, sensory and antiradical properties of samples were determined. Pito was produced by pitching wort with S. cerevisae (single starter culture (SSC)) and S. cerevisae in combination with L. plantarum (mixed starter culture (MSC)). oBrix did not change over the next 24 hours for both cultures and began to decline, yet still it remain steady when the fermentation was over. After the end of fermentation, wort pitched with SSC showed lower oBrix (6.63±0.11), than the wort with MSC (6.73±0.20) and differ significantly (P < 0.05) with duration of the fermentation process. LAB also exhibited a decrease in oBrix from 12.2±0.12 to 8.04±0.01 at the end of the fermentation. Titratable acidity (TA) and pH remained constant after 24 hours of fermentation. TA began to increase from 0.73±0.02 to 1.04±0.02 and 0.73±0.02 to 1.07±0.02 for SSC and MSC, respectively. A decrease in pH from 4.33±0.20 to 3.86±0.15 and 4.33±0.20 to 4.2±0.1 was observed for SSC and MSC, respectively, during the rest of the fermentation period. A total of 22 volatile compounds including 11 esters, 3 alcohols and 8 acids, were identified in pito. Seven of these compounds were detected after the first fermentation (in green beer), whilst the rest (16 compounds) were distinguish after secondary fermentation. We also identified 8 volatiles in LAB, including 5 alcohols, 2 esters and 1 acid. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy of free radicals was used to determine the antiradical activity (AOA) of LAB in comparison with industrial alcoholic beverages (Baltica 7 from St Petersburg, Russia and Nectar beer from Bosnia-Herzegonia). LAB showed DPPH radical scavenging activity of 1.16 ×10-4 mol × equ (R2=0.86) though Nectar beer exhibited the higher AOA of 1.17 × 10-4 mol x equ (R2=0.69) whilst the least was Baltica beer 9.85×10-5 mol x equ (R2=0.96). Panellists generally accepted the pito brewed with SSC (4.28±0.95) as well as LAB (3.85±0.69). All the parameters of beer assessed for the sensory evaluation were satisfactory.

Reproductive biology of Hyphessobrycon eques (Characiformes: Characidae) in Southern Pantanal, Brazil.

PubMed

Santana, C A; Tondato, K K; Súarez, Y R

2018-03-12

Population and reproductive aspects allow the knowledge and understanding of population dynamics and the influence of environmental factors, in addition to ensure the success of a species continuity. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze population and reproductive traits of the species Hyphessobrycon eques in southern Pantanal, Brazil. Monthly samplings were conducted from February/2009 to January/2011, with 617 individuals analyzed, being 365 females and 262 males. A similar form of distribution in length and weight between the sexes was observed. There was no significant variation in sex ratio over time, with higher proportion of females during the entire sampled period. Both sexes presented a angular coefficient of Weight/Length (b) relationship greater than 3, with speed of increase in weight greater than in length. For females, a long reproductive period was observed, with greater reproductive intensity from January through June. No significant correlation was observed between the Gonadosomatic Index (GSI) and the average temperature, rainfall and river level, despite the fact that reproductive activity occurs in autumn/winter, when there are favorable conditions due to flooding. The size at first maturation (L50) was 20.2 mm, with confidence interval varying from 19.7 through 20.7 mm. The average fecundity was 191.9 oocytes/females and was significantly related to the standard length and total weight (g), demonstrating a relation with energy accumulation to invest in reproduction. The long reproductive period, intensified by partial spawning, higher proportion of females and low L50, show that the species has strategies necessary for survival and rapid population growth, common in small species characterized as r-strategists.

International Symposium on Mechanism of Cyanide Toxicity and Antagonism (1st), Proceedings Held on 15-19 August 1982.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-10-01

intraventricular contents, and toxicologically significant concentrations of cyanide could still be measured at 3 weeks STORAGE TIME DAYS) in blood samples ...thi- rhod~,iit m lt~ tilt, h v - lt i~ tni ii t iituMtil tmn 1 hu’I-huct~ irt, ig thtu t\\ttlottiimmtii.tt rtighl% equ~.il %i/emiid thc toinnt tig...loopr’ tnbth’id’ wt~hlu ~ Ih l vmhttiblliii thtu unity o~th t * ’ it thu- tjrt~ikt’ tit thc m lt t lt , l I lit it ttvt’ ’itc’ Io,,-~ it, tlt, thgUrt’ 11

Methods and systems for monitoring a solid-liquid interface

DOEpatents

Stoddard, Nathan G.; Clark, Roger F.; Kary, Tim

2010-07-20

Methods and systems are provided for monitoring a solid-liquid interface, including providing a vessel configured to contain an at least partially melted material; detecting radiation reflected from a surface of a liquid portion of the at least partially melted material that is parallel with the liquid surface; measuring a disturbance on the surface; calculating at least one frequency associated with the disturbance; and determining a thickness of the liquid portion based on the at least one frequency, wherein the thickness is calculated based on.times. ##EQU00001## where g is the gravitational constant, w is the horizontal width of the liquid, and f is the at least one frequency.

A Theory of L 1-Dissipative Solvers for Scalar Conservation Laws with Discontinuous Flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreianov, Boris; Karlsen, Kenneth Hvistendahl; Risebro, Nils Henrik

2011-07-01

We propose a general framework for the study of L 1 contractive semigroups of solutions to conservation laws with discontinuous flux: u_t + mathfrak{f}(x,u)_x=0, qquad mathfrak{f}(x,u)= left\\{begin{array}{ll} f^l(u),& x < 0,\\ f^r(u), & x > 0, right.quadquadquad (CL) where the fluxes f l , f r are mainly assumed to be continuous. Developing the ideas of a number of preceding works ( Baiti and Jenssen in J Differ Equ 140(1):161-185, 1997; Towers in SIAM J Numer Anal 38(2):681-698, 2000; Towers in SIAM J Numer Anal 39(4):1197-1218, 2001; Towers et al. in Skr K Nor Vidensk Selsk 3:1-49, 2003; Adimurthi et al. in J Math Kyoto University 43(1):27-70, 2003; Adimurthi et al. in J Hyperbolic Differ Equ 2(4):783-837, 2005; Audusse and Perthame in Proc Roy Soc Edinburgh A 135(2):253-265, 2005; Garavello et al. in Netw Heterog Media 2:159-179, 2007; Bürger et al. in SIAM J Numer Anal 47:1684-1712, 2009), we claim that the whole admissibility issue is reduced to the selection of a family of "elementary solutions", which are piecewise constant weak solutions of the form c(x)=c^l11_{left\\{{x < 0}right\\}}+c^r11_{left\\{{x > 0}right\\}}. We refer to such a family as a "germ". It is well known that (CL) admits many different L 1 contractive semigroups, some of which reflect different physical applications. We revisit a number of the existing admissibility (or entropy) conditions and identify the germs that underly these conditions. We devote specific attention to the "vanishing viscosity" germ, which is a way of expressing the "Γ-condition" of D iehl (J Hyperbolic Differ Equ 6(1):127-159, 2009). For any given germ, we formulate "germ-based" admissibility conditions in the form of a trace condition on the flux discontinuity line { x = 0} [in the spirit of V ol'pert (Math USSR Sbornik 2(2):225-267, 1967)] and in the form of a family of global entropy inequalities [following K ruzhkov (Math USSR Sbornik 10(2):217-243, 1970) and C arrillo (Arch Ration Mech Anal 147(4):269-361, 1999)]. We characterize those germs that lead to the L 1-contraction property for the associated admissible solutions. Our approach offers a streamlined and unifying perspective on many of the known entropy conditions, making it possible to recover earlier uniqueness results under weaker conditions than before, and to provide new results for other less studied problems. Several strategies for proving the existence of admissible solutions are discussed, and existence results are given for fluxes satisfying some additional conditions. These are based on convergence results either for the vanishing viscosity method (with standard viscosity or with specific viscosities "adapted" to the choice of a germ), or for specific germ-adapted finite volume schemes.

Conservation and management of seahorses and other Syngnathidae.

PubMed

Vincent, A C J; Foster, S J; Koldewey, H J

2011-06-01

This article analyses the pressures on seahorses and explores conservation responses. It focuses on seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) but also considers pipefishes and seadragons, especially where they can fill gaps in seahorse knowledge. The charisma of many syngnathids can make them good flagship species for threats and solutions in marine conservation. The article combines a synthesis of published literature with new data on the trade in seahorses for traditional medicine, aquarium display and curiosities. Most traded seahorses come from trawl by-catch, although seahorses are also targeted. The total extraction is large, tens of millions of animals annually, and unsustainable. A first review of the effect of habitat change on syngnathids raises many questions, while suggesting that some species may cope better than others. The combination of pressures means that many species of syngnathid are now included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species or national equivalents. In addition, seahorse exports from 175 countries are limited to sustainable levels under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. Possible conservation measures include marine protected areas, fisheries management, select aquaculture ventures, trade regulation, improved governance (particularly) and consumer engagement. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology © 2011 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

The Effects of Food Limitation on Life History Tradeoffs in Pregnant Male Gulf Pipefish

PubMed Central

Paczolt, Kimberly A.; Jones, Adam G.

2015-01-01

Syngnathid fishes (pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons) are characterized by a unique mode of paternal care in which embryos develop on or in the male’s body, often within a structure known as a brood pouch. Evidence suggests that this pouch plays a role in mediating postcopulatory sexual selection and that males have some control over the events occurring within the pouch during the pregnancy. These observations lead to the prediction that males should invest differently in broods depending on the availability of food. Here, we use the Gulf pipefish to test this prediction by monitoring growth rate and offspring survivorship during the pregnancies of males under low- or high-food conditions. Our results show that pregnant males grow less rapidly on average than non-pregnant males, and pregnant males under low-food conditions grow less than pregnant males under high-food conditions. Offspring survivorship, on the other hand, does not differ between food treatments, suggesting that male Gulf pipefish sacrifice investment in somatic growth, and thus indirectly sacrifice future reproduction, in favor of current reproduction. However, a positive relationship between number of failed eggs and male growth rate in our low-food treatments suggests that undeveloped eggs reduce the pregnancy’s overall cost to the male compared to broods containing only viable offspring. PMID:25970284

The effects of food limitation on life history tradeoffs in pregnant male gulf pipefish.

PubMed

Paczolt, Kimberly A; Jones, Adam G

2015-01-01

Syngnathid fishes (pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons) are characterized by a unique mode of paternal care in which embryos develop on or in the male's body, often within a structure known as a brood pouch. Evidence suggests that this pouch plays a role in mediating postcopulatory sexual selection and that males have some control over the events occurring within the pouch during the pregnancy. These observations lead to the prediction that males should invest differently in broods depending on the availability of food. Here, we use the Gulf pipefish to test this prediction by monitoring growth rate and offspring survivorship during the pregnancies of males under low- or high-food conditions. Our results show that pregnant males grow less rapidly on average than non-pregnant males, and pregnant males under low-food conditions grow less than pregnant males under high-food conditions. Offspring survivorship, on the other hand, does not differ between food treatments, suggesting that male Gulf pipefish sacrifice investment in somatic growth, and thus indirectly sacrifice future reproduction, in favor of current reproduction. However, a positive relationship between number of failed eggs and male growth rate in our low-food treatments suggests that undeveloped eggs reduce the pregnancy's overall cost to the male compared to broods containing only viable offspring.

Analysis on a diffusive SIS epidemic model with logistic source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bo; Li, Huicong; Tong, Yachun

2017-08-01

In this paper, we are concerned with an SIS epidemic reaction-diffusion model with logistic source in spatially heterogeneous environment. We first discuss some basic properties of the parabolic system, including the uniform upper bound of solutions and global stability of the endemic equilibrium when spatial environment is homogeneous. Our primary focus is to determine the asymptotic profile of endemic equilibria (when exist) if the diffusion (migration) rate of the susceptible or infected population is small or large. Combined with the results of Li et al. (J Differ Equ 262:885-913, 2017) where the case of linear source is studied, our analysis suggests that varying total population enhances persistence of infectious disease.

On Critical Spaces for the Navier-Stokes Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prüss, Jan; Wilke, Mathias

2017-10-01

The abstract theory of critical spaces developed in Prüss and Wilke (J Evol Equ, 2017. doi: 10.1007/s00028-017-0382-6), Prüss et al. (Critical spaces for quasilinear parabolic evolution equations and applications, 2017) is applied to the Navier-Stokes equations in bounded domains with Navier boundary conditions as well as no-slip conditions. Our approach unifies, simplifies and extends existing work in the L_p -L_q setting, considerably. As an essential step, it is shown that the strong and weak Stokes operators with Navier conditions admit an H^∞-calculus with H^∞-angle 0, and the real and complex interpolation spaces of these operators are identified.

Method of determining the x-ray limit of an ion gauge

DOEpatents

Edwards, Jr., David; Lanni, Christopher P.

1981-01-01

An ion gauge having a reduced "x-ray limit" and means for measuring that limit. The gauge comprises an ion gauge of the Bayard-Alpert type having a short collector and having means for varying the grid-collector voltage. The "x-ray limit" (i.e. the collector current resulting from x-rays striking the collector) may then be determined by the formula: ##EQU1## where: I.sub.x ="x-ray limit", I.sub.l and I.sub.h =the collector current at the lower and higher grid voltage respectively; and, .alpha.=the ratio of the collector current due to positive ions at the higher voltage to that at the lower voltage.

Solar cells incorporating light harvesting arrays

DOEpatents

Lindsey, Jonathan S.; Meyer, Gerald J.

2003-07-22

A solar cell incorporates a light harvesting array that comprises: (a) a first substrate comprising a first electrode; and (b) a layer of light harvesting rods electrically coupled to the first electrode, each of the light harvesting rods comprising a polymer of Formula I: ##EQU1## wherein m is at least 1, and may be from two, three or four to 20 or more; X.sup.1 is a charge separation group (and preferably a porphyrinic macrocycle, which may be one ligand of a double-decker sandwich compound) having an excited-state of energy equal to or lower than that of X.sup.2 ; and X.sup.2 through X.sup.m+1 are chromophores (and again are preferably porphyrinic macrocycles).

Next Generation Semiconductor Based Sequencing of the Donkey (Equus asinus) Genome Provided Comparative Sequence Data against the Horse Genome and a Few Millions of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

PubMed Central

Bertolini, Francesca; Scimone, Concetta; Geraci, Claudia; Schiavo, Giuseppina; Utzeri, Valerio Joe; Chiofalo, Vincenzo; Fontanesi, Luca

2015-01-01

Few studies investigated the donkey (Equus asinus) at the whole genome level so far. Here, we sequenced the genome of two male donkeys using a next generation semiconductor based sequencing platform (the Ion Proton sequencer) and compared obtained sequence information with the available donkey draft genome (and its Illumina reads from which it was originated) and with the EquCab2.0 assembly of the horse genome. Moreover, the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Analyzer was used to sequence reduced representation libraries (RRL) obtained from a DNA pool including donkeys of different breeds (Grigio Siciliano, Ragusano and Martina Franca). The number of next generation sequencing reads aligned with the EquCab2.0 horse genome was larger than those aligned with the draft donkey genome. This was due to the larger N50 for contigs and scaffolds of the horse genome. Nucleotide divergence between E. caballus and E. asinus was estimated to be ~ 0.52-0.57%. Regions with low nucleotide divergence were identified in several autosomal chromosomes and in the whole chromosome X. These regions might be evolutionally important in equids. Comparing Y-chromosome regions we identified variants that could be useful to track donkey paternal lineages. Moreover, about 4.8 million of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the donkey genome were identified and annotated combining sequencing data from Ion Proton (whole genome sequencing) and Ion Torrent (RRL) runs with Illumina reads. A higher density of SNPs was present in regions homologous to horse chromosome 12, in which several studies reported a high frequency of copy number variants. The SNPs we identified constitute a first resource useful to describe variability at the population genomic level in E. asinus and to establish monitoring systems for the conservation of donkey genetic resources. PMID:26151450

Next Generation Semiconductor Based Sequencing of the Donkey (Equus asinus) Genome Provided Comparative Sequence Data against the Horse Genome and a Few Millions of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

PubMed

Bertolini, Francesca; Scimone, Concetta; Geraci, Claudia; Schiavo, Giuseppina; Utzeri, Valerio Joe; Chiofalo, Vincenzo; Fontanesi, Luca

2015-01-01

Few studies investigated the donkey (Equus asinus) at the whole genome level so far. Here, we sequenced the genome of two male donkeys using a next generation semiconductor based sequencing platform (the Ion Proton sequencer) and compared obtained sequence information with the available donkey draft genome (and its Illumina reads from which it was originated) and with the EquCab2.0 assembly of the horse genome. Moreover, the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Analyzer was used to sequence reduced representation libraries (RRL) obtained from a DNA pool including donkeys of different breeds (Grigio Siciliano, Ragusano and Martina Franca). The number of next generation sequencing reads aligned with the EquCab2.0 horse genome was larger than those aligned with the draft donkey genome. This was due to the larger N50 for contigs and scaffolds of the horse genome. Nucleotide divergence between E. caballus and E. asinus was estimated to be ~ 0.52-0.57%. Regions with low nucleotide divergence were identified in several autosomal chromosomes and in the whole chromosome X. These regions might be evolutionally important in equids. Comparing Y-chromosome regions we identified variants that could be useful to track donkey paternal lineages. Moreover, about 4.8 million of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the donkey genome were identified and annotated combining sequencing data from Ion Proton (whole genome sequencing) and Ion Torrent (RRL) runs with Illumina reads. A higher density of SNPs was present in regions homologous to horse chromosome 12, in which several studies reported a high frequency of copy number variants. The SNPs we identified constitute a first resource useful to describe variability at the population genomic level in E. asinus and to establish monitoring systems for the conservation of donkey genetic resources.

Methane and nitrous oxide exchange over a managed hay meadow

PubMed Central

Hörtnagl, L.; Wohlfahrt, G.

2015-01-01

The methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) exchange of a temperate mountain grassland near Neustift, Austria, was measured during 2010–2012 over a time period of 22 months using the eddy covariance method. Exchange rates of both compounds at the site were low, with 97% of all half-hourly CH4 and N2O fluxes ranging between ±200 and ±50 ng m−2 s−1, respectively. The meadow acted as a sink for both compounds during certain time periods, but was a clear source of CH4 and N2O on an annual timescale. Therefore, both gases contributed to an increase of the global warming potential (GWP), effectively reducing the sink strength in terms of CO2 equivalents of the investigated grassland site. In 2011, our best guess estimate showed a net greenhouse gas (GHG) sink of −32 g CO2 equ. m−2 yr−1 for the meadow, whereby 55% of the CO2 sink strength of −71 g CO2m−2 yr−1 was offset by CH4 (N2O) emissions of 7 (32) g CO2 equ. m−2 yr−1. When all data were pooled, the ancillary parameters explained 27 (42)% of observed CH4 (N2O) flux variability, and up to 62 (76)% on shorter timescales in-between management dates. In the case of N2O fluxes, we found the highest emissions at intermediate soil water contents and at soil temperatures close to 0 or above 14 °C. In comparison to CO2, H2O and energy fluxes, the interpretation of CH4 and N2O exchange was challenging due to footprint heterogeneity regarding their sources and sinks, uncertainties regarding post-processing and quality control. Our results emphasize that CH4 and N2O fluxes over supposedly well-aerated and moderately fertilized soils cannot be neglected when evaluating the GHG impact of temperate managed grasslands. PMID:25821473

Decay of the 3D inviscid liquid-gas two-phase flow model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yinghui

2016-06-01

We establish the optimal {Lp-L2(1 ≤ p < 6/5)} time decay rates of the solution to the Cauchy problem for the 3D inviscid liquid-gas two-phase flow model and analyze the influences of the damping on the qualitative behaviors of solution. Compared with the viscous liquid-gas two-phase flow model (Zhang and Zhu in J Differ Equ 258:2315-2338, 2015), our results imply that the friction effect of the damping is stronger than the dissipation effect of the viscosities and enhances the decay rate of the velocity. Our proof is based on Hodge decomposition technique, the {Lp-L2} estimates for the linearized equations and an elaborate energy method.

Process for hydrogen isotope concentration between liquid water and hydrogen gas

DOEpatents

Stevens, William H.

1976-09-21

A process for hydrogen isotope exchange and concentration between liquid water and hydrogen gas, wherein liquid water and hydrogen gas are contacted, in an exchange section, with one another and with at least one catalyst body comprising at least one metal selected from Group VIII of the Periodic Table and preferably a support therefor, the catalyst body has a liquid-water-repellent, gas permeable polymer or organic resin coating, preferably a fluorinated olefin polymer or silicone coating, so that the isotope concentration takes place by two simultaneously occurring steps, namely, ##EQU1## WHILE THE HYDROGEN GAS FED TO THE EXCHANGE SECTION IS DERIVED IN A REACTOR VESSEL FROM LIQUID WATER THAT HAS PASSED THROUGH THE EXCHANGE SECTION.

Computational scalability of large size image dissemination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kooper, Rob; Bajcsy, Peter

2011-01-01

We have investigated the computational scalability of image pyramid building needed for dissemination of very large image data. The sources of large images include high resolution microscopes and telescopes, remote sensing and airborne imaging, and high resolution scanners. The term 'large' is understood from a user perspective which means either larger than a display size or larger than a memory/disk to hold the image data. The application drivers for our work are digitization projects such as the Lincoln Papers project (each image scan is about 100-150MB or about 5000x8000 pixels with the total number to be around 200,000) and the UIUC library scanning project for historical maps from 17th and 18th century (smaller number but larger images). The goal of our work is understand computational scalability of the web-based dissemination using image pyramids for these large image scans, as well as the preservation aspects of the data. We report our computational benchmarks for (a) building image pyramids to be disseminated using the Microsoft Seadragon library, (b) a computation execution approach using hyper-threading to generate image pyramids and to utilize the underlying hardware, and (c) an image pyramid preservation approach using various hard drive configurations of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives for input/output operations. The benchmarks are obtained with a map (334.61 MB, JPEG format, 17591x15014 pixels). The discussion combines the speed and preservation objectives.

Pathologic features of mycobacteriosis in naturally infected Syngnathidae and novel transcriptome assembly in association with disease.

PubMed

Fogelson, S B; Fast, M D; Leary, J; Camus, A C

2017-11-01

Syngnathidae (seahorses, seadragons and pipefish) suffer significant losses from non-tuberculous mycobacteria. However, they produce markedly different lesions in response to the disease compared to other teleost species, notably infrequent granuloma formation. This study evaluated 270 syngnathid fish, from which 92 were diagnosed with mycobacteriosis by histopathology, culture or both. Microscopic lesions variably consisted of random foci of coagulative necrosis in multiple organs, containing high numbers of free bacteria and large aggregates or sheets of macrophages with cytoplasm laden with acid-fast bacilli. Mycobacterial associated granulomas were identified in only six seahorses. Five fish had positive cultures with no observed microscopic changes. RNA-seq of the head kidney was performed to investigate the transcriptome of two infected and six non-infected lined seahorses Hippocampus erectus. Assembled and annotated putative transcripts serve to enrich the database for this species, as well as provide baseline data for understanding the pathogenesis of mycobacteriosis in seahorses. Putative components of the innate immune system (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF, NOS, Toll-like receptor 1, MHC Class I, NF-κβ, transforming growth factor beta, MyD88) were identified in the RNA-seq data set. However, a homolog for a key component in the TH1 adaptive immune response, interferon-gamma, was not identified and may underlie the unique pathologic presentation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The genome of the Gulf pipefish enables understanding of evolutionary innovations.

PubMed

Small, C M; Bassham, S; Catchen, J; Amores, A; Fuiten, A M; Brown, R S; Jones, A G; Cresko, W A

2016-12-20

Evolutionary origins of derived morphologies ultimately stem from changes in protein structure, gene regulation, and gene content. A well-assembled, annotated reference genome is a central resource for pursuing these molecular phenomena underlying phenotypic evolution. We explored the genome of the Gulf pipefish (Syngnathus scovelli), which belongs to family Syngnathidae (pipefishes, seahorses, and seadragons). These fishes have dramatically derived bodies and a remarkable novelty among vertebrates, the male brood pouch. We produce a reference genome, condensed into chromosomes, for the Gulf pipefish. Gene losses and other changes have occurred in pipefish hox and dlx clusters and in the tbx and pitx gene families, candidate mechanisms for the evolution of syngnathid traits, including an elongated axis and the loss of ribs, pelvic fins, and teeth. We measure gene expression changes in pregnant versus non-pregnant brood pouch tissue and characterize the genomic organization of duplicated metalloprotease genes (patristacins) recruited into the function of this novel structure. Phylogenetic inference using ultraconserved sequences provides an alternative hypothesis for the relationship between orders Syngnathiformes and Scombriformes. Comparisons of chromosome structure among percomorphs show that chromosome number in a pipefish ancestor became reduced via chromosomal fusions. The collected findings from this first syngnathid reference genome open a window into the genomic underpinnings of highly derived morphologies, demonstrating that de novo production of high quality and useful reference genomes is within reach of even small research groups.

Optical inverse-square displacement sensor

DOEpatents

Howe, Robert D.; Kychakoff, George

1989-01-01

This invention comprises an optical displacement sensor that uses the inverse-square attenuation of light reflected from a diffused surface to calculate the distance from the sensor to the reflecting surface. Light emerging from an optical fiber or the like is directed onto the surface whose distance is to be measured. The intensity I of reflected light is angle dependent, but within a sufficiently small solid angle it falls off as the inverse square of the distance from the surface. At least a pair of optical detectors are mounted to detect the reflected light within the small solid angle, their ends being at different distances R and R+.DELTA.R from the surface. The distance R can then be found in terms of the ratio of the intensity measurements and the separation length as ##EQU1##

Severe childhood asthma and allergy to furry animals: refined assessment using molecular-based allergy diagnostics.

PubMed

Konradsen, Jon R; Nordlund, Björn; Onell, Annica; Borres, Magnus P; Grönlund, Hans; Hedlin, Gunilla

2014-03-01

Allergy to cats and dogs and polysensitization towards these animals are associated with severe childhood asthma. Molecular-based allergy diagnostics offers new opportunities for improved characterization and has been suggested to be particularly useful in patients with polysensitization and/or severe asthma. The aim was to use extract- and molecular-based allergy diagnostics to compare patterns of IgE sensitization towards aeroallergens in children with problematic severe and controlled asthma. Children with a positive ImmunoCAP towards any furry animal (cat, dog or horse) were recruited from a Nationwide Swedish study on severe childhood asthma. Severe (n = 37, age 13 years) and controlled (n = 28, age 14 years) asthmatics underwent assessment of allergic sensitization by ImmunoCap (kUA /l) and immunosolid-phase allergen chip (ISAC). In addition, Asthma Control Test, spirometry and a methacholine challenge were performed. Children with severe asthma had lower asthma control (p < 0.001) and FEV1 (p = 0.001) and more bronchial hyper-responsiveness (p = 0.008) in spite of high doses of inhaled steroids (≥800 μg budesonide). Children with severe asthma displayed higher levels of IgE antibodies towards cat (17 vs. 3.9, p = 0.027), dog (3.8 vs. 1.2, p = 0.012) and horse (7.4 vs. 0.7, p = 0.014). Sensitization towards Can f 2 (22% vs. 0%, p = 0.009) and Equ c 1 (51% vs. 25%, p = 0.03) was more common in severe asthma. IgE levels towards Equ c 1 correlated with asthma control (r = -0.41, p = 0.04). Children with severe allergic asthma had higher sIgE levels to cat, dog and horse. Molecular-based allergy diagnostics revealed a more complex molecular spreading of allergen components in children with the most severe disease. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An Analysis of the Extent of Social Inclusion and Equity Consideration in Malawi’s National HIV and AIDS Policy Review Process

PubMed Central

Chinyama, Mathews Junior; MacLachlan, Malcolm; McVeigh, Joanne; Huss, Tessy; Gawamadzi, Sylvester

2018-01-01

Background: Equity and social inclusion for vulnerable groups in policy development processes and resulting documents remain a challenge globally. Most often, the marginalization of vulnerable groups is overlooked in both the planning and practice of health service delivery. Such marginalization may occur because authorities deem the targeting of those who already have better access to healthcare a cheaper and easier way to achieve short-term health gains. The Government of Malawi wishes to achieve an equitable and inclusive HIV and AIDS Policy. The aim of this study is to assess the extent to which the Malawi Policy review process addressed regional and international health priorities of equity and social inclusion for vulnerable groups in the policy content and policy revision process. Methods: This research design comprised two phases. First, the content of the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy was assessed using EquiFrame regarding its coverage of 21 Core Concepts of human rights and inclusion of 12 Vulnerable Groups. Second, the engagement of vulnerable groups in the policy process was assessed using the EquIPP matrix. For the latter, 10 interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of representatives of public sector, civil society organizations and development partners who participated in the policy revision process. Data was also collected from documented information of the policy processes. Results: Our analyses indicated that the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy had a relatively high coverage of Core Concepts of human rights and Vulnerable Groups; although with some notable omissions. The analyses also found that reasonable steps were taken to engage and promote participation of vulnerable groups in the planning, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes of the HIV and AIDS Policy, although again, with some notable exceptions. This is the first study to use both EquiFrame and EquIPP as complimentary tools to assess the content and process of policy. Conclusion: While the findings indicate inclusive processes, commitment to Core Concepts of human rights and inclusion of Vulnerable Groups in relation to the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy, the results also point to areas in which social inclusion and equity could be further strengthened. PMID:29626397

Present and future ecological niche modeling of garter snake species from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

PubMed Central

García-Vázquez, Uri; D’Addario, Maristella

2018-01-01

Land use and climate change are affecting the abundance and distribution of species. The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is a very diverse region due to geological history, geographic position, and climate. It is also one of the most disturbed regions in Mexico. Reptiles are particularly sensitive to environmental changes due to their low dispersal capacity and thermal ecology. In this study, we define the important environmental variables (considering climate, topography, and land use) and potential distribution (present and future) of the five Thamnophis species present in TMVB. To do so, we used the maximum entropy modeling software (MAXENT). First, we modeled to select the most important variables to explain the distribution of each species, then we modeled again using only the most important variables and projected these models to the future considering a middle-moderate climate change scenario (rcp45), and land use and vegetation variables for the year 2050 (generated according to land use changes that occurred between years 2002 and 2011). Arid vegetation had an important negative effect on habitat suitability for all species, and minimum temperature of the coldest month was important for four of the five species. Thamnophis cyrtopsis was the species with the lowest tolerance to minimum temperatures. The maximum temperature of the warmest month was important for T. scalaris and T. cyrtopsis. Low percentages of agriculture were positive for T. eques and T. melanogaster but, at higher values, agriculture had a negative effect on habitat suitability for both species. Elevation was the most important variable to explain T. eques and T. melanogaster potential distribution while distance to Abies forests was the most important variable for T. scalaris and T. scaliger. All species had a high proportion of their potential distribution in the TMVB. However, according to our models, all Thamnophis species will experience reductions in their potential distribution in this region. T. scalaris will suffer the biggest reduction because this species is limited by high temperatures and will not be able to shift its distribution upward, as it is already present in the highest elevations of the TMVB. PMID:29666767

Standardised classification of pre-release development in male-brooding pipefish, seahorses, and seadragons (Family Syngnathidae)

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Members of the family Syngnathidae share a unique reproductive mode termed male pregnancy. Males carry eggs in specialised brooding structures for several weeks and release free-swimming offspring. Here we describe a systematic investigation of pre-release development in syngnathid fishes, reviewing available data for 17 species distributed across the family. This work is complemented by in-depth examinations of the straight-nosed pipefish Nerophis ophidion, the black-striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster, and the potbellied seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis. Results We propose a standardised classification of early syngnathid development that extends from the activation of the egg to the release of newborn. The classification consists of four developmental periods – early embryogenesis, eye development, snout formation, and juvenile – which are further divided into 11 stages. Stages are characterised by morphological traits that are easily visible in live and preserved specimens using incident-light microscopy. Conclusions Our classification is derived from examinations of species representing the full range of brooding-structure complexity found in the Syngnathidae, including tail-brooding as well as trunk-brooding species, which represent independent evolutionary lineages. We chose conspicuous common traits as diagnostic features of stages to allow for rapid and consistent staging of embryos and larvae across the entire family. In view of the growing interest in the biology of the Syngnathidae, we believe that the classification proposed here will prove useful for a wide range of studies on the unique reproductive biology of these male-brooding fish. PMID:23273265

Standardised classification of pre-release development in male-brooding pipefish, seahorses, and seadragons (Family Syngnathidae).

PubMed

Sommer, Stefan; Whittington, Camilla M; Wilson, Anthony B

2012-12-29

Members of the family Syngnathidae share a unique reproductive mode termed male pregnancy. Males carry eggs in specialised brooding structures for several weeks and release free-swimming offspring. Here we describe a systematic investigation of pre-release development in syngnathid fishes, reviewing available data for 17 species distributed across the family. This work is complemented by in-depth examinations of the straight-nosed pipefish Nerophis ophidion, the black-striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster, and the potbellied seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis. We propose a standardised classification of early syngnathid development that extends from the activation of the egg to the release of newborn. The classification consists of four developmental periods - early embryogenesis, eye development, snout formation, and juvenile - which are further divided into 11 stages. Stages are characterised by morphological traits that are easily visible in live and preserved specimens using incident-light microscopy. Our classification is derived from examinations of species representing the full range of brooding-structure complexity found in the Syngnathidae, including tail-brooding as well as trunk-brooding species, which represent independent evolutionary lineages. We chose conspicuous common traits as diagnostic features of stages to allow for rapid and consistent staging of embryos and larvae across the entire family. In view of the growing interest in the biology of the Syngnathidae, we believe that the classification proposed here will prove useful for a wide range of studies on the unique reproductive biology of these male-brooding fish.

Remarks on the regularity criteria of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics system in terms of two velocity field components

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

Yamazaki, Kazuo

2014-03-15

We study the three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics system and obtain its regularity criteria in terms of only two velocity vector field components eliminating the condition on the third component completely. The proof consists of a new decomposition of the four nonlinear terms of the system and estimating a component of the magnetic vector field in terms of the same component of the velocity vector field. This result may be seen as a component reduction result of many previous works [C. He and Z. Xin, “On the regularity of weak solutions to the magnetohydrodynamic equations,” J. Differ. Equ. 213(2), 234–254 (2005); Y. Zhou,more » “Remarks on regularities for the 3D MHD equations,” Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 12(5), 881–886 (2005)].« less

Uniform in N global well-posedness of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations in R^{1+1}

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chong, Jacky Jia Wei

2018-04-01

We prove the global well-posedness of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (TDHFB) equations in R^{1+1} with two-body interaction potential of the form N^{-1}v_N(x) = N^{β -1} v(N^β x) where v≥0 is a sufficiently regular radial function, i.e., v \\in L^1(R)\\cap C^∞ (R) . In particular, using methods of dispersive PDEs similar to the ones used in Grillakis and Machedon (Commun Partial Differ Equ 42:24-67, 2017), we are able to show for any scaling parameter β >0 the TDHFB equations are globally well-posed in some Strichartz-type spaces independent of N, cf. (Bach et al. in The time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations for Bosons, 2016. arXiv:1602.05171).

Uniqueness of large positive solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Gómez, Julián; Maire, Luis

2017-08-01

We establish the uniqueness of the positive solution of the singular problem (1.1) through some standard comparison techniques involving the maximum principle. Our proofs do not invoke to the blow-up rates of the solutions, as in most of the specialized literature. We give two different types of results according to the geometrical properties of Ω and the regularity of partial Ω . Even in the autonomous case, our theorems are extremely sharp extensions of all existing results. Precisely, when a(x)≡ 1, it is shown that the monotonicity and superadditivity of f( u) with constant C≥ 0 entail the uniqueness; f is said to be superadditive with constant C≥ 0 if f(a+b) ≥ f(a) + f(b) - C \\quad for all a, b ≥ 0. This condition, introduced by Marcus and Véron (J Evol Equ 3:637-652, 2004), weakens all previous sufficient conditions for uniqueness, as it will become apparent in this paper.

Fuel cell membranes and crossover prevention

DOEpatents

Masel, Richard I [Champaign, IL; York, Cynthia A [Newington, CT; Waszczuk, Piotr [White Bear Lake, MN; Wieckowski, Andrzej [Champaign, IL

2009-08-04

A membrane electrode assembly for use with a direct organic fuel cell containing a formic acid fuel includes a solid polymer electrolyte having first and second surfaces, an anode on the first surface and a cathode on the second surface and electrically linked to the anode. The solid polymer electrolyte has a thickness t:.gtoreq..times..times..times..times. ##EQU00001## where C.sub.f is the formic acid fuel concentration over the anode, D.sub.f is the effective diffusivity of the fuel in the solid polymer electrolyte, K.sub.f is the equilibrium constant for partition coefficient for the fuel into the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, I is Faraday's constant n.sub.f is the number of electrons released when 1 molecule of the fuel is oxidized, and j.sub.f.sup.c is an empirically determined crossover rate of fuel above which the fuel cell does not operate.

Molecular identification of the fish fauna from the pantanal flood plain area in Brazil.

PubMed

Shimabukuro-Dias, Cristiane Kioko; Costa Silva, Guilherme José da; Ashikaga, Fernando Yuldi; Foresti, Fausto; Oliveira, Claudio

2017-07-01

The Pantanal is under the influence of the Paraguay River flood regime is considered to be one of the largest wetlands of the world, and has rich biodiversity, including fishes. Until now, the identification of fish species in this biome has only considered the morphological characteristics of individuals, and the present work aimed to identify the fish species of the Pantanal region through the DNA barcode methodology for investigating the biodiversity in this region. The genetic analysis of 638 samples via the GMYC approach identified 137 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to 127 species that have previously been described according to their morphological characteristics. Data suggest that 10 cases of morphospecies (Eigenmannia trileneata, E. virescens, Pimelodella gracilis, Brachyhypopomus pinnicaudatus, Brachyhypopomus sp., Ancistrus sp., Hyphessobrycon eques, Jupiaba acanthogaster, and Serrapinnus calliurus) represent complexes of cryptic species, and the number of species described in the Pantanal region has thus potentially been underestimated.

Antenna and transceiver for transmitting a secure signal

DOEpatents

Singleton, John; Schmidt, Andrea

2017-08-01

An accelerated superluminal polarization currents (ASPC) transceiver includes an ASPC transmitter including a plurality of ASPC radiator elements, the ASPC transmitter transmitting a radio signal that is focused in a target direction and scrambled in other directions; and a radio receiver, wherein the center of a pulse of the radio signal has a transit time t.sub.c from an end of the ASPC transmitter, at a first position -x.sub.0, to a second position x along the ASPC transmitter given by the following equation: t.sub.c=[R.sup.2+x.sub.0.sup.2+2Rx.sub.0 cos .psi..sub.0].sup.1/2-[R.sup.2+x.sup.2+2Rx cos .psi..sub.0].sup.1/2, where R is a target distance from the ASPC transmitter and .psi..sub.0 is a target angle and > ##EQU00001##

Thermal barrier coating having high phase stability

DOEpatents

Subramanian, Ramesh

2001-01-01

A device (10) comprising a substrate (22) having a deposited ceramic thermal barrier coating layer (20) characterized by a microstructure having gaps (28) where the thermal barrier coating (20) consists essentially of a pyrochlore crystal structure having a chemical formula consisting essentially of A.sup.n+.sub.2-x B.sup.m+.sub.2+x O.sub.7-y, where A is selected from the group of elements selected from La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and mixtures thereof; where B is selected from the group of elements selected from Zr, Hf, Ti and mixtures thereof; n and m are the valence of A and B respectively, and for -0.5.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.5, ##EQU1## and excluding the following combinations for x=0, y=0: A=La and B=Zr; A=La and B=Hf; A=Gd and B=Hf; and A=Yb and B=Ti.

Rectifiability of Line Defects in Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alper, Onur

2018-04-01

In [2], H ardt, L in and the author proved that the defect set of minimizers of the modified Ericksen energy for nematic liquid crystals consists locally of a finite union of isolated points and Hölder continuous curves with finitely many crossings. In this article, we show that each Hölder continuous curve in the defect set is of finite length. Hence, locally, the defect set is rectifiable. For the most part, the proof closely follows the work of D e L ellis et al. (Rectifiability and upper minkowski bounds for singularities of harmonic q-valued maps, arXiv:1612.01813, 2016) on harmonic Q-valued maps. The blow-up analysis in A lper et al. (Calc Var Partial Differ Equ 56(5):128, 2017) allows us to simplify the covering arguments in [11] and locally estimate the length of line defects in a geometric fashion.

Local Existence of MHD Contact Discontinuities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morando, Alessandro; Trakhinin, Yuri; Trebeschi, Paola

2018-05-01

We prove the local-in-time existence of solutions with a contact discontinuity of the equations of ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) for two dimensional planar flows provided that the Rayleigh-Taylor sign condition {[partial p/partial N] <0 } on the jump of the normal derivative of the pressure is satisfied at each point of the initial discontinuity. MHD contact discontinuities are characteristic discontinuities with no flow across the discontinuity for which the pressure, the magnetic field and the velocity are continuous whereas the density and the entropy may have a jump. This paper is a natural completion of our previous analysis (Morando et al. in J Differ Equ 258:2531-2571, 2015) where the well-posedness in Sobolev spaces of the linearized problem was proved under the Rayleigh-Taylor sign condition satisfied at each point of the unperturbed discontinuity. The proof of the resolution of the nonlinear problem given in the present paper follows from a suitable tame a priori estimate in Sobolev spaces for the linearized equations and a Nash-Moser iteration.

New Disulfide-Stabilized Fold Provides Sea Anemone Peptide to Exhibit Both Antimicrobial and TRPA1 Potentiating Properties.

PubMed

Logashina, Yulia A; Solstad, Runar Gjerp; Mineev, Konstantin S; Korolkova, Yuliya V; Mosharova, Irina V; Dyachenko, Igor A; Palikov, Victor A; Palikova, Yulia A; Murashev, Arkadii N; Arseniev, Alexander S; Kozlov, Sergey A; Stensvåg, Klara; Haug, Tor; Andreev, Yaroslav A

2017-04-29

A novel bioactive peptide named τ-AnmTx Ueq 12-1 (short name Ueq 12-1) was isolated and characterized from the sea anemone Urticina eques. Ueq 12-1 is unique among the variety of known sea anemone peptides in terms of its primary and spatial structure. It consists of 45 amino acids including 10 cysteine residues with an unusual distribution and represents a new group of sea anemone peptides. The 3D structure of Ueq 12-1, determined by NMR spectroscopy, represents a new disulfide-stabilized fold partly similar to the defensin-like fold. Ueq 12-1 showed the dual activity of both a moderate antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and a potentiating activity on the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1). Ueq 12-1 is a unique peptide potentiator of the TRPA1 receptor that produces analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in vivo . The antinociceptive properties allow us to consider Ueq 12-1 as a potential analgesic drug lead with antibacterial properties.

Thermal barrier coating having high phase stability

DOEpatents

Subramanian, Ramesh

2002-01-01

A device (10) comprising a substrate (22) having a deposited ceramic thermal barrier coating characterized by a microstructure having gaps (28) where the thermal barrier coating comprises a first thermal barrier layer (40), and a second thermal barrier layer (30) with a pyrochlore crystal structure having a chemical formula of A.sup.n+.sub.2-x B.sup.m+.sub.2+x O.sub.7-y, where A is selected from the group of elements consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and mixtures thereof, where B is selected from the group of elements consisting of Zr, Hf, Ti and mixtures thereof, where n and m are the valence of A and B respectively, and for -0.5.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.5, ##EQU1## and excluding the following combinations for x=0, y=0: A=La and B=Zr; A=La and B=Hf; A=Gd and B=Hf; and A=Yb and B=Ti.

Glass frit nebulizer for atomic spectrometry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Layman, L.R.

1982-01-01

The nebuilizatlon of sample solutions Is a critical step In most flame or plasma atomic spectrometrlc methods. A novel nebulzatlon technique, based on a porous glass frit, has been Investigated. Basic operating parameters and characteristics have been studied to determine how thte new nebulizer may be applied to atomic spectrometrlc methods. The results of preliminary comparisons with pneumatic nebulizers Indicate several notable differences. The frit nebulizer produces a smaller droplet size distribution and has a higher sample transport efficiency. The mean droplet size te approximately 0.1 ??m, and up to 94% of the sample te converted to usable aerosol. The most significant limitations In the performance of the frit nebulizer are the stow sample equMbratton time and the requirement for wash cycles between samples. Loss of solute by surface adsorption and contamination of samples by leaching from the glass were both found to be limitations only In unusual cases. This nebulizer shows great promise where sample volume te limited or where measurements require long nebullzatlon times.

An Analysis of the Extent of Social Inclusion and Equity Consideration in Malawi's National HIV and AIDS Policy Review Process.

PubMed

Chinyama, Mathews Junior; MacLachlan, Malcolm; McVeigh, Joanne; Huss, Tessy; Gawamadzi, Sylvester

2017-07-29

Equity and social inclusion for vulnerable groups in policy development processes and resulting documents remain a challenge globally. Most often, the marginalization of vulnerable groups is overlooked in both the planning and practice of health service delivery. Such marginalization may occur because authorities deem the targeting of those who already have better access to healthcare a cheaper and easier way to achieve short-term health gains. The Government of Malawi wishes to achieve an equitable and inclusive HIV and AIDS Policy. The aim of this study is to assess the extent to which the Malawi Policy review process addressed regional and international health priorities of equity and social inclusion for vulnerable groups in the policy content and policy revision process. This research design comprised two phases. First, the content of the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy was assessed using EquiFrame regarding its coverage of 21 Core Concepts of human rights and inclusion of 12 Vulnerable Groups. Second, the engagement of vulnerable groups in the policy process was assessed using the EquIPP matrix. For the latter, 10 interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of representatives of public sector, civil society organizations and development partners who participated in the policy revision process. Data was also collected from documented information of the policy processes. Our analyses indicated that the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy had a relatively high coverage of Core Concepts of human rights and Vulnerable Groups; although with some notable omissions. The analyses also found that reasonable steps were taken to engage and promote participation of vulnerable groups in the planning, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes of the HIV and AIDS Policy, although again, with some notable exceptions. This is the first study to use both EquiFrame and EquIPP as complimentary tools to assess the content and process of policy. While the findings indicate inclusive processes, commitment to Core Concepts of human rights and inclusion of Vulnerable Groups in relation to the Malawi HIV and AIDS Policy, the results also point to areas in which social inclusion and equity could be further strengthened. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Method of improving a digital image

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jobson, Daniel J. (Inventor); Woodell, Glenn A. (Inventor); Rahman, Zia-ur (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A method of improving a digital image is provided. The image is initially represented by digital data indexed to represent positions on a display. The digital data is indicative of an intensity value I.sub.i (x,y) for each position (x,y) in each i-th spectral band. The intensity value for each position in each i-th spectral band is adjusted to generate an adjusted intensity value for each position in each i-th spectral band in accordance with ##EQU1## where S is the number of unique spectral bands included in said digital data, W.sub.n is a weighting factor and * denotes the convolution operator. Each surround function F.sub.n (x,y) is uniquely scaled to improve an aspect of the digital image, e.g., dynamic range compression, color constancy, and lightness rendition. The adjusted intensity value for each position in each i-th spectral band is filtered with a common function and then presented to a display device. For color images, a novel color restoration step is added to give the image true-to-life color that closely matches human observation.

Optimization of Sample Preparation for the Identification and Quantification of Saxitoxin in Proficiency Test Mussel Sample using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

PubMed Central

Harju, Kirsi; Rapinoja, Marja-Leena; Avondet, Marc-André; Arnold, Werner; Schär, Martin; Burrell, Stephen; Luginbühl, Werner; Vanninen, Paula

2015-01-01

Saxitoxin (STX) and some selected paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) analogues in mussel samples were identified and quantified with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Sample extraction and purification methods of mussel sample were optimized for LC-MS/MS analysis. The developed method was applied to the analysis of the homogenized mussel samples in the proficiency test (PT) within the EQuATox project (Establishment of Quality Assurance for the Detection of Biological Toxins of Potential Bioterrorism Risk). Ten laboratories from eight countries participated in the STX PT. Identification of PSP toxins in naturally contaminated mussel samples was performed by comparison of product ion spectra and retention times with those of reference standards. The quantitative results were obtained with LC-MS/MS by spiking reference standards in toxic mussel extracts. The results were within the z-score of ±1 when compared to the results measured with the official AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) method 2005.06, pre-column oxidation high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). PMID:26610567

Global solutions to the electrodynamic two-body problem on a straight line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, G.; Deckert, D.-A.; Dürr, D.; Hinrichs, G.

2017-06-01

The classical electrodynamic two-body problem has been a long standing open problem in mathematics. For motion constrained to the straight line, the interaction is similar to that of the two-body problem of classical gravitation. The additional complication is the presence of unbounded state-dependent delays in the Coulomb forces due to the finiteness of the speed of light. This circumstance renders the notion of local solutions meaningless, and therefore, straightforward ODE techniques cannot be applied. Here, we study the time-symmetric case, i.e., the Fokker-Schwarzschild-Tetrode (FST) equations, comprising both advanced and retarded delays. We extend the technique developed in Deckert and Hinrichs (J Differ Equ 260:6900-6929, 2016), where existence of FST solutions was proven on the half line, to ensure global existence—a result that had been obtained by Bauer (Ein Existenzsatz für die Wheeler-Feynman-Elektrodynamik, Herbert Utz Verlag, München, 1997). Due to the novel technique, the presented proof is shorter and more transparent but also relies on the idea to employ asymptotic data to characterize solutions.

Pulsating Stars in the ASAS-3 Database. I. beta Cephei Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pigulski, A.

2005-06-01

We present results of an analysis of the ASAS-3 data for short-period variables from the recently published catalog of over 38000 stars. Using the data available in the literature we verify the results of the automatic classification related to \\beta Cep pulsators. In particular, we find that 14 stars in the catalog can be classified unambiguously as new beta Cep stars. By means of periodogram analysis we derive the frequencies and amplitudes of the excited modes. The main modes in the new beta Cep stars have large semi-amplitudes, between 35 and 80 mmag. Up to four modes were found in some stars. Two (maybe three) new beta Cep stars are members of southern young open clusters: ASAS 164409-4719.1 belongs to NGC 6200, ASAS 164630-4701.2 is a member of Hogg 22, and ASAS 164939-4431.7 could be a member of NGC 6216. We also analyze the photometry of four known beta Cep stars in the ASAS-3 catalog, namely IL Vel, NSV 24078, V1449 Aql and SY Equ. Finally, we discuss the distribution of beta Cep stars in the Galaxy.

Method and apparatus for measuring surface density of explosive and inert dust in stratified layers

DOEpatents

Sapko, Michael J.; Perlee, Henry E.

1988-01-01

A method for determining the surface density of coal dust on top of rock dust or rock dust on top of coal dust is disclosed which comprises directing a light source at either a coal or rock dust layer overlaying a substratum of the other, detecting the amount of light reflected from the deposit, generating a signal from the reflected light which is converted into a normalized output (V), and calculating the surface density from the normalized output. The surface density S.sub.c of coal dust on top of rock dust is calculated according to the equation: S.sub.c =1/-a.sub.c ln(V) wherein a.sub.c is a constant for the coal dust particles, and the surface density S.sub.r of rock dust on top of coal dust is determined by the equation: ##EQU1## wherein a.sub.r is a constant based on the properties of the rock dust particles. An apparatus is also disclosed for carrying out the method of the present invention.

One milliarcsecond precision studies in the regions of Delta Equulei and Chi(sup 1) Orionis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatewood, George

1994-01-01

Trigonometric parallaxes for stars in the regions of the binary stars Delta Equulei (HR 8123) and Chi(sup l) Orionis (HR 2047) are derived from data collected with the Multichannel Astrometric Photometer (MAP) and the Thaw Refractor of the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory. The weighted mean parallax of all trigonometric studies of delta Equ is now +5.42 +/- 0.93 mas, corresponding to absolute magnitudes of 3.87 +/- 0.04 and 3.95 +/- 0.04 mag, respectively, for the primary and secondary. Using the Popper and Dworetsky orbit we find a photocentric semimajor axis of 2.9 +/- 0.8 mas and individual masses of 1.21 +/- 0.090 and 1.19 +/- 0.088 solar masses, respectively, for the primary and secondary components. The weighted mean trigonometric parallax of all studies of the binary star Chi(sup l) Ori is +111.0 +/- 0.92 mas, implying an absolute visual magnitude for the dominant GO V primary of 4.63 +/- 0.018 mag. The photocentric semimajor axis, derived from a fraction of the orbit, is 96.9 +/- 5.4 mas.

DNA Barcoding in Pencilfishes (Lebiasinidae: Nannostomus) Reveals Cryptic Diversity across the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Benzaquem, Denise Corrêa; Oliveira, Claudio; da Silva Batista, Jaqueline; Zuanon, Jansen; Porto, Jorge Ivan Rebelo

2015-01-01

Nannostomus is comprised of 20 species. Popularly known as pencilfishes the vast majority of these species lives in the flooded forests of the Amazon basin and are popular in the ornamental trade. Among the lebiasinids, it is the only genus to have undergone more than one taxonomic revision. Even so, it still possesses poorly defined species. Here, we report the results of an application of DNA barcoding to the identification of pencilfishes and highlight the deeply divergent clades within four nominal species. We surveyed the sequence variation in the mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene among 110 individuals representing 14 nominal species that were collected from several rivers along the Amazon basin. The mean Kimura-2-parameter distances within species and genus were 2% and 19,0%, respectively. The deep lineage divergences detected in N. digrammus, N. trifasciatus, N. unifasciatus and N. eques suggest the existence of hidden diversity in Nannostomus species. For N. digrammus and N. trifasciatus, in particular, the estimated divergences in some lineages were so high that doubt about their conspecific status is raised. PMID:25658694

Toxicity of ferric chloride sludge to aquatic organisms.

PubMed

Sotero-Santos, Rosana B; Rocha, Odete; Povinelli, Jurandyr

2007-06-01

Iron-rich sludge from a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) was investigated regarding its toxicity to aquatic organisms and physical and chemical composition. In addition, the water quality of the receiving stream near the DWTP was evaluated. Experiments were carried out in August 1998, February 1999 and May 1999. Acute toxicity tests were carried out on a cladoceran (Daphnia similis), a midge (Chironomus xanthus) and a fish (Hyphessobrycon eques). Chronic tests were conducted only on D. similis. Acute sludge toxicity was not detected using any of the aquatic organisms, but chronic effects were observed upon the fecundity of D. similis. Although there were relatively few sample dates, the results suggested that the DWTP sludge had a negative effect on the receiving body as here was increased suspended matter, turbidity, conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and hardness in the water downstream of the DWTP effluent discharge. The ferric chloride sludge also exhibited high heavy metal concentrations revealing a further potential for pollution and harmful chronic effects on the aquatic biota when the sludge is disposed of without previous treatment.

Multi-tunable microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonators

DOEpatents

Stalford, Harold L [Norman, OK; Butler, Michael A [Andover, MA; Schubert, W Kent [Albuquerque, NM

2006-08-22

A method for tuning a vibratory device including a cantilevered resonator comprising the steps of increasing a voltage V.sub.0 supplied to the vibratory device to thereby increase the bandwidth of the vibratory device; and keeping the resonant frequency of the vibratory device at substantially that natural frequency of the cantilevered resonator, wherein the vibratory device comprises: a capacitor including a movable plate and a fixed plate spaced from each other, the movable plate being part of the cantilevered resonator; a voltage source connected to the capacitor for providing voltage V.sub.0 across the capacitor to produce an attractive force between movable plate and fixed plate; a circuit connecting the voltage source to the capacitor; and a load resistor in said circuit having a resistance R.sub.L satisfying the following equation: .mu..omega..times..times..lamda. ##EQU00001## where: .mu. is at least 10; .omega..sub.0 is the beam constant for the cantilevered resonator; c.sub.0 is the capacitance for the capacitor; and .lamda. is the voltage dependent coupling parameter for voltage V.sub.0.

Data dependence for the amplitude equation of surface waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secchi, Paolo

2016-04-01

We consider the amplitude equation for nonlinear surface wave solutions of hyperbolic conservation laws. This is an asymptotic nonlocal, Hamiltonian evolution equation with quadratic nonlinearity. For example, this equation describes the propagation of nonlinear Rayleigh waves (Hamilton et al. in J Acoust Soc Am 97:891-897, 1995), surface waves on current-vortex sheets in incompressible MHD (Alì and Hunter in Q Appl Math 61(3):451-474, 2003; Alì et al. in Stud Appl Math 108(3):305-321, 2002) and on the incompressible plasma-vacuum interface (Secchi in Q Appl Math 73(4):711-737, 2015). The local-in-time existence of smooth solutions to the Cauchy problem for the amplitude equation in noncanonical variables was shown in Hunter (J Hyperbolic Differ Equ 3(2):247-267, 2006), Secchi (Q Appl Math 73(4):711-737, 2015). In the present paper we prove the continuous dependence in strong norm of solutions on the initial data. This completes the proof of the well-posedness of the problem in the classical sense of Hadamard.

Latent interaction effects in the theory of planned behaviour applied to quitting smoking.

PubMed

Hukkelberg, Silje Sommer; Hagtvet, Knut A; Kovac, Velibor Bobo

2014-02-01

This study applies three latent interaction models in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1988, Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press; Ajzen, 1991, Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process., 50, 179) to quitting smoking: (1) attitude × perceived behavioural control on intention; (2) subjective norms (SN) × attitude on intention; and (3) perceived behavioural control × intention on quitting behaviour. The data derive from a longitudinal Internet survey of 939 smokers aged 15-74 over a period of 4 months. Latent interaction effects were estimated using the double-mean-centred unconstrained approach (Lin et al., 2010, Struct. Equ. Modeling, 17, 374) in LISREL. Attitude × SN and attitude × perceived behavioural control both showed a significant interaction effect on intention. No significant interaction effect was found for perceived behavioural control × intention on quitting. The latent interaction approach is a useful method for investigating specific conditions between TPB components in the context of quitting behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Results of a Saxitoxin Proficiency Test Including Characterization of Reference Material and Stability Studies

PubMed Central

Harju, Kirsi; Rapinoja, Marja-Leena; Avondet, Marc-André; Arnold, Werner; Schär, Martin; Luginbühl, Werner; Kremp, Anke; Suikkanen, Sanna; Kankaanpää, Harri; Burrell, Stephen; Söderström, Martin; Vanninen, Paula

2015-01-01

A saxitoxin (STX) proficiency test (PT) was organized as part of the Establishment of Quality Assurance for the Detection of Biological Toxins of Potential Bioterrorism Risk (EQuATox) project. The aim of this PT was to provide an evaluation of existing methods and the European laboratories’ capabilities for the analysis of STX and some of its analogues in real samples. Homogenized mussel material and algal cell materials containing paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins were produced as reference sample matrices. The reference material was characterized using various analytical methods. Acidified algal extract samples at two concentration levels were prepared from a bulk culture of PSP toxins producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii. The homogeneity and stability of the prepared PT samples were studied and found to be fit-for-purpose. Thereafter, eight STX PT samples were sent to ten participating laboratories from eight countries. The PT offered the participating laboratories the possibility to assess their performance regarding the qualitative and quantitative detection of PSP toxins. Various techniques such as official Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods, immunoassays, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry were used for sample analyses. PMID:26602927

Neutron range spectrometer

DOEpatents

Manglos, Stephen H.

1989-06-06

A neutron range spectrometer and method for determining the neutron energy spectrum of a neutron emitting source are disclosed. Neutrons from the source are collimnated along a collimation axis and a position sensitive neutron counter is disposed in the path of the collimated neutron beam. The counter determines positions along the collimation axis of interactions between the neutrons in the neutron beam and a neutron-absorbing material in the counter. From the interaction positions, a computer analyzes the data and determines the neutron energy spectrum of the neutron beam. The counter is preferably shielded and a suitable neutron-absorbing material is He-3. The computer solves the following equation in the analysis: ##EQU1## where: N(x).DELTA.x=the number of neutron interactions measured between a position x and x+.DELTA.x, A.sub.i (E.sub.i).DELTA.E.sub.i =the number of incident neutrons with energy between E.sub.i and E.sub.i +.DELTA.E.sub.i, and C=C(E.sub.i)=N .sigma.(E.sub.i) where N=the number density of absorbing atoms in the position sensitive counter means and .sigma. (E.sub.i)=the average cross section of the absorbing interaction between E.sub.i and E.sub.i +.DELTA.E.sub.i.

Vulnerability of Quebec drinking-water treatment plants to cyanotoxins in a climate change context.

PubMed

Carrière, Annie; Prévost, Michèle; Zamyadi, Arash; Chevalier, Pierre; Barbeau, Benoit

2010-09-01

Cyanobacteria are a growing concern in the province of Quebec due to recent highly publicised bloom episodes. The health risk associated with the consumption of drinking water coming from contaminated sources was unknown. A study was undertaken to evaluate treatment plants' capacity to treat cyanotoxins below the maximum recommended concentrations of 1.5 microg/L microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and the provisional concentration of 3.7 microg/L anatoxin-a, respectively. The results showed that close to 80% of the water treatment plants are presently able to treat the maximum historical concentration measured in Quebec (5.35 microg/L MC-LR equ.). An increase, due to climate change or other factors, would not represent a serious threat because chlorine, the most popular disinfectant, is effective in treating MC-LR under standard disinfection conditions. The highest concentration of anatoxin-a (2.3 microg/L) measured in natural water thus far in source water is below the current guideline for treated waters. However, higher concentrations of anatoxin-a would represent a significant challenge for the water industry as chlorine is not an efficient treatment option. The use of ozone, potassium permanganate or powder activated carbon would have to be considered.

Recommended Mass Spectrometry-Based Strategies to Identify Ricin-Containing Samples.

PubMed

Kalb, Suzanne R; Schieltz, David M; Becher, François; Astot, Crister; Fredriksson, Sten-Åke; Barr, John R

2015-11-25

Ricin is a protein toxin produced by the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) together with a related protein known as R. communis agglutinin (RCA120). Mass spectrometric (MS) assays have the capacity to unambiguously identify ricin and to detect ricin's activity in samples with complex matrices. These qualitative and quantitative assays enable detection and differentiation of ricin from the less toxic RCA120 through determination of the amino acid sequence of the protein in question, and active ricin can be monitored by MS as the release of adenine from the depurination of a nucleic acid substrate. In this work, we describe the application of MS-based methods to detect, differentiate and quantify ricin and RCA120 in nine blinded samples supplied as part of the EQuATox proficiency test. Overall, MS-based assays successfully identified all samples containing ricin or RCA120 with the exception of the sample spiked with the lowest concentration (0.414 ng/mL). In fact, mass spectrometry was the most successful method for differentiation of ricin and RCA120 based on amino acid determination. Mass spectrometric methods were also successful at ranking the functional activities of the samples, successfully yielding semi-quantitative results. These results indicate that MS-based assays are excellent techniques to detect, differentiate, and quantify ricin and RCA120 in complex matrices.

Method of and apparatus for measuring vapor density

DOEpatents

Nelson, Loren D.; Cerni, Todd A.

1989-01-01

Apparatus and method determine the concentration of an individual component, such as water vapor, of a multi-component mixture, such as a gaseous mixture for cooling a nuclear reactor. A hygrometer apparatus includes an infrared source for producing a broadband infrared energy beam that includes a strong water vapor absorption band and a weak water vapor absorption region. The beam is chopped to select infrared pulses. A temporally first pulse has a wavelength in the weakly absorbing region, a temporally second pulse has a wavelength in the strong band and a temporally third pulse has a wavlength in the weakly absorbing region. A fourth reference pulse representing background radiation is interposed in such chopped pulses. An indium arsenide infrared sensor is responsive to the pulses for generating an output signal in proportion to: ##EQU1## where N1 is proportional to the transmission through the sample of the first signal, N4 is related to the background radiation, and [K2 (N2-N4)+K3 (N3-N4)] is the time-weighted average of the transmission through the sample of the second and third pulses applicable at the time of the second pulse, with the reference pulse N4 being subtracted in each case to render the ratio independent of variations in the background radiation.

Sexual signals and mating patterns in Syngnathidae.

PubMed

Rosenqvist, G; Berglund, A

2011-06-01

Male pregnancy in the family Syngnathidae (pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons) predisposes males to limit female reproductive success; sexual selection may then operate more strongly on females and female sexual signals may evolve (sex-role reversal). A bewildering array of female signals has evolved in Syngnathids, e.g. skin folds, large body size, colouration, markings on the body and elaborate courtship. These female sexual signals do not seem quantitatively or qualitatively different from those that evolve in males in species with conventional sex roles where males provide females or offspring with direct benefits. In several syngnathid species, males also evolve ornaments, females are choosy in addition to being competitive and males compete as well as choosing partners. Thus, sex roles form a continuum, spanning from conventional to reversed within this group of fishes. Cases are presented here suggesting that stronger sexual selection on females may be most extreme in species showing classical polyandry (one male mates with several females, such as many species where males brood their eggs on the trunk), intermediate in polygynandrous species (males and females both mate with more than one partner, as in many species where males brood their eggs on the tail) and least extreme, even exhibiting conventional sex roles, in monogamous species (one male mates solely with one female, as in many seahorses and tropical pipefishes). At the same time caution is needed before unanimously establishing this pattern: first, the connection between mating patterns, strength of sexual selection, sex roles and ornament expression is far from simple and straightforward, and second, knowledge of the actual morphology, ecology and behaviour of most syngnathid species is scanty. Basically only a few Nerophis, Syngnathus and Hippocampus species have been studied in any detail. It is known, however, that this group of fishes exhibits a remarkable variation in sex roles and ornamentation, making them an ideal group for the study of mating patterns, sexual selection and sexually selected signals. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology © 2011 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Prehensile and non-prehensile tails among syngnathid fishes: what's the difference?

PubMed

Neutens, Céline; de Dobbelaer, Bart; Claes, Peter; Adriaens, Dominique

2017-02-01

All syngnathid fishes are characterized by a tail with a vertebral column that is surrounded by dermal Plates - four per vertebra. Seahorses and pipehorses have prehensile tails, a unique characteristic among teleosts that allows them to grasp and hold onto substrates. Pipefishes, in contrast, possess a more rigid tail. Previous research (Neutens et al., 2014) showed a wide range of variation within the skeletal morphology of different members in the syngnathid family. The goal of this study is to explore whether the diversity in the three-dimensional (3D) shape of different tail types reflects grasping performance, and to what degree grasping tails occupy a different and more constrained diversity. For this, a 3D morphometrical analysis based on surfaces was performed. Four different analyses were performed on the tail skeleton of nine species exhibiting different levels of tail grasping capacities (four pipehorse, three seahorse, one pipefish and one seadragon species) to examine the intra-individual variation across the anteroposterior and dorso-ventral axis. In the two interspecific analyses, all vertebrae and all dermal plates were mutually compared. Overall, intra-individual variation was larger in species with a prehensile tail. The analysis on the vertebrae showed differences in the length and orientation of the hemal spine as well as the inclination angle between the anterior and posterior surface of the vertebral body. This was observed at an intra-individual level across the anteroposterior axis in prehensile species and at an inter-individual level between prehensile and non-prehensile species. Across the anteroposterior axis in prehensile tails, the overall shape of the plates changes from rectangular at the anterior end to square at the posterior end. Across the dorso-ventral axis, the ventral dermal plates carry a significantly longer caudal spine than the dorsal ones in all prehensile-tailed species. It can therefore be concluded that prehensile tails exhibit a larger anteroposterior and dorso-ventral shape variation than non-prehensile ones. However, the hypothesis that there is a more constrained shape variation among prehensile species compared to non-prehensile ones had to be rejected. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Structural similarities of human and mammalian lipocalins, and their function in innate immunity and allergy.

PubMed

Jensen-Jarolim, E; Pacios, L F; Bianchini, R; Hofstetter, G; Roth-Walter, F

2016-03-01

Owners and their domestic animals via skin shedding and secretions, mutually exchange microbiomes, potential pathogens and innate immune molecules. Among the latter especially lipocalins are multifaceted: they may have an immunomodulatory function and, furthermore, they represent one of the most important animal allergen families. The amino acid identities, as well as their structures by superposition modeling were compared among human lipocalins, hLCN1 and hLCN2, and most important animal lipocalin allergens, such as Can f 1, Can f 2 and Can f 4 from dog, Fel d 4 from cats, Bos d 5 from cow's milk, Equ c 1 from horses, and Mus m 1 from mice, all of them representing major allergens. The β-barrel fold with a central molecular pocket is similar among human and animal lipocalins. Thereby, lipocalins are able to transport a variety of biological ligands in their highly conserved calyx-like cavity, among them siderophores with the strongest known capability to complex iron (Fe(3+) ). Levels of human lipocalins are elevated in nonallergic inflammation and cancer, associated with innate immunoregulatory functions that critically depend on ligand load. Accordingly, deficient loading of lipocalin allergens establishes their capacity to induce Th2 hypersensitivity. Our similarity analysis of human and mammalian lipocalins highlights their function in innate immunity and allergy. © 2015 The Authors. Allergy Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Qualitative and Quantitative Detection of Botulinum Neurotoxins from Complex Matrices: Results of the First International Proficiency Test

PubMed Central

Worbs, Sylvia; Fiebig, Uwe; Zeleny, Reinhard; Schimmel, Heinz; Rummel, Andreas; Luginbühl, Werner; Dorner, Brigitte G.

2015-01-01

In the framework of the EU project EQuATox, a first international proficiency test (PT) on the detection and quantification of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) was conducted. Sample materials included BoNT serotypes A, B and E spiked into buffer, milk, meat extract and serum. Different methods were applied by the participants combining different principles of detection, identification and quantification. Based on qualitative assays, 95% of all results reported were correct. Successful strategies for BoNT detection were based on a combination of complementary immunological, MS-based and functional methods or on suitable functional in vivo/in vitro approaches (mouse bioassay, hemidiaphragm assay and Endopep-MS assay). Quantification of BoNT/A, BoNT/B and BoNT/E was performed by 48% of participating laboratories. It turned out that precise quantification of BoNT was difficult, resulting in a substantial scatter of quantitative data. This was especially true for results obtained by the mouse bioassay which is currently considered as “gold standard” for BoNT detection. The results clearly demonstrate the urgent need for certified BoNT reference materials and the development of methods replacing animal testing. In this context, the BoNT PT provided the valuable information that both the Endopep-MS assay and the hemidiaphragm assay delivered quantitative results superior to the mouse bioassay. PMID:26703724

Recommended Mass Spectrometry-Based Strategies to Identify Ricin-Containing Samples

PubMed Central

Kalb, Suzanne R.; Schieltz, David M.; Becher, François; Astot, Crister; Fredriksson, Sten-Åke; Barr, John R.

2015-01-01

Ricin is a protein toxin produced by the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) together with a related protein known as R. communis agglutinin (RCA120). Mass spectrometric (MS) assays have the capacity to unambiguously identify ricin and to detect ricin’s activity in samples with complex matrices. These qualitative and quantitative assays enable detection and differentiation of ricin from the less toxic RCA120 through determination of the amino acid sequence of the protein in question, and active ricin can be monitored by MS as the release of adenine from the depurination of a nucleic acid substrate. In this work, we describe the application of MS-based methods to detect, differentiate and quantify ricin and RCA120 in nine blinded samples supplied as part of the EQuATox proficiency test. Overall, MS-based assays successfully identified all samples containing ricin or RCA120 with the exception of the sample spiked with the lowest concentration (0.414 ng/mL). In fact, mass spectrometry was the most successful method for differentiation of ricin and RCA120 based on amino acid determination. Mass spectrometric methods were also successful at ranking the functional activities of the samples, successfully yielding semi-quantitative results. These results indicate that MS-based assays are excellent techniques to detect, differentiate, and quantify ricin and RCA120 in complex matrices. PMID:26610568

Time-resolved diffusion tomographic 2D and 3D imaging in highly scattering turbid media

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alfano, Robert R. (Inventor); Cai, Wei (Inventor); Liu, Feng (Inventor); Lax, Melvin (Inventor); Das, Bidyut B. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A method for imaging objects in highly scattering turbid media. According to one embodiment of the invention, the method involves using a plurality of intersecting source/detectors sets and time-resolving equipment to generate a plurality of time-resolved intensity curves for the diffusive component of light emergent from the medium. For each of the curves, the intensities at a plurality of times are then inputted into the following inverse reconstruction algorithm to form an image of the medium: ##EQU1## wherein W is a matrix relating output at source and detector positions r.sub.s and r.sub.d, at time t, to position r, .LAMBDA. is a regularization matrix, chosen for convenience to be diagonal, but selected in a way related to the ratio of the noise, to fluctuations in the absorption (or diffusion) X.sub.j that we are trying to determine: .LAMBDA..sub.ij =.lambda..sub.j .delta..sub.ij with .lambda..sub.j =/<.DELTA.Xj.DELTA.Xj> Y is the data collected at the detectors, and X.sup.k is the kth iterate toward the desired absoption information. An algorithm, which combines a two dimensional (2D) matrix inversion with a one-dimensional (1D) Fourier transform inversion is used to obtain images of three dimensional hidden objects in turbid scattering media.

A revision of the ant genus Mystrium in the Malagasy region with description of six new species and remarks on Amblyopone and Stigmatomma (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Amblyoponinae)

PubMed Central

Yoshimura, Masashi; Fisher, Brian L.

2014-01-01

Abstract The genus Mystrium is revised for the Malagasy region. Six species, Mystrium barrybressleri sp. n., Mystrium labyrinth sp. n., Mystrium eques sp. n., Mystrium mirror sp. n., Mystrium shadow sp. n., and Mystrium janovitzi sp. n. are described as new. Two existing names, Mystrium fallax Forel and Mystrium stadelmanni Forel, are synonymized with Mystrium voeltzkowi Forel and Mystrium mysticum Roger, respectively. All recognized species, including species outside of the Malagasy region, are assigned to one of the three newly proposed species groups. The associations between existing names and males are reexamined, and males of eight of the ten Malagasy species are described or redescribed. The taxonomic history of Mystrium highlights the importance of using unique identifiers when designating type specimens and the use of deposited vouchers in phylogenetic and ecological studies. Keys to species for workers, queens, and males are provided. Furthermore, a neotype for Mystrium mysticum is designated, as well as lectotypes for Mystrium camillae Emery, Mystrium rogeri Forel, Mystrium fallax Forel, Mystrium oberthueri Forel, Mystrium stadelmanni Forel, and Mystrium voeltzkowi Forel. Stigmatomma gingivale (Brown) is reassigned to Amblyopone as comb. rev. and Amblyopone awa Xu & Chu, Amblyopone kangba Xu & Chu, Amblyopone meiliana Xu & Chu, and Amblyopone zomae Xu & Chu are transferred to the genus Stigmatomma as comb. n. PMID:24715784

Dynamic Assessment of Seismic Risk (DASR) by Multi-parametric Observations: Preliminary Results of PRIME experiment within the PRE-EARTHQUAKES EU-FP7 Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tramutoli, V.; Inan, S.; Jakowski, N.; Pulinets, S. A.; Romanov, A.; Filizzola, C.; Shagimuratov, I.; Pergola, N.; Ouzounov, D. P.; Papadopoulos, G. A.; Parrot, M.; Genzano, N.; Lisi, M.; Alparlsan, E.; Wilken, V.; Tsybukia, K.; Romanov, A.; Paciello, R.; Zakharenkova, I.; Romano, G.

2012-12-01

The integration of different observations together with the refinement of data analysis methods, is generally expected to improve our present knowledge of preparatory phases of earthquakes and of their possible precursors. This is also the main goal of PRE-EARTHQUAKES (Processing Russian and European EARTH observations for earthQUAKE precursors Studies) the FP7 Project which, to this aim, committed together, different international expertise and observational capabilities, in the last 2 years. In the learning phase of the project, different parameters (e.g. thermal anomalies, total electron content, radon concentration, etc.), measured from ground and satellite systems and analyzed by using different data analysis approaches, have been studied for selected geographic areas and specific seismic events in the past. Since July 2012 the PRIME (PRE-EARTHQUAKES Real-time Integration and Monitoring Experiment) started attempting to perform, on the base of independent observations collected and integrated in real-time through the PEG (PRE-EARTHQUAKES Geo-portal), a Dynamic Assessment of Seismic Risk (DASR) on selected geographic areas of Europe (Italy-Greece-Turkey) and Asia (Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Japan). In this paper, results so far achieved as well as the potential and opportunities they open for a worldwide Earthquake Observation System (EQuOS) - as a dedicated component of GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) - will be presented.

Propagation of solutions to the Fisher-KPP equation with slowly decaying initial data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, Christopher

2016-10-01

The Fisher-KPP equation is a model for population dynamics that has generated a huge amount of interest since its introduction in 1937. The speed with which a population spreads has been computed quite precisely when the initial data, u 0, decays exponentially. More recently, though, the case when the initial data decays more slowly has been studied. In Hamel F and Roques L (2010 J. Differ. Equ. 249 1726-45), the authors show that the level sets of height of m of u move super-linearly and may be bounded above and below by expressions of the form u0-1≤ft({{c}m}{{\\text{e}}-t}\\right) when u 0 decays algebraically of a small enough order. The constants c m for the upper and lower bounds that they obtain are not explicit and do not match. In this paper, we improve their precision for a broader class of initial data and for a broader class of equations. In particular, our approach yields the explicit highest order term in the location of the level sets, which in the most basic setting is given by u0-1≤ft(m{{\\text{e}}-t}/(1-m)\\right) as long as u 0 decays slower than {{\\text{e}}-\\sqrt{x}} . We generalize this to the previously unstudied setting when the nonlinearity is periodic in space. In addition, for large times, we characterize the profile of the solution in terms of a generalized logistic equation.

Analysis of stratification of Cr with depth in the atmospheres of normal and CP stars.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savanov, I. S.

We present the results of analysis of stratification of Cr with depth in the atmospheres of normal, Am, HgMn and Ap stars. On the base of high resolution CCD-spectrograms obtained with spectrograph of 2.6-meter Shajn reflector using synthetic spectrum technique analysis of eight Cr II lines (30 multiplet) located in the wings of Hb Hydrogen line. For all investigated Am stars as well as for HgMn components of 46 Dra we suspect the similar small increase of Cr abundance in the upper atmosphere. For the hot spotted Ap stars α2 CVn and 17 Com we do not find evidence for the inhomogeneity distribution of Chromium while for the group of cool Ap stars (β CrB, HR 7575, 10 Aql and γ Equ) the increase of Cr abundance with depth was found. Detailed modelling of Cr II line profiles was performed in order to obtain vertical distributions of this element in the atmospheres of several Ap and Am stars. Our results for cool Ap stars were compared with vertical Cr distribution calculated by J.Babel using the diffusion theory and magnetically confined wind for Ap star 53 Cam (e.g. Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.258, p.449-463, 1992). It was shown that our observational material cannot be interpreted using hypothesis of depth-dependent microturbulent velocity. While the investigation of β CrB we demonstrate that obtained results insignificantly depend upon the uncertainties of the parameters of models of atmospheres.

A micromechanical interpretation of the temperature dependence of Beremin model parameters for french RPV steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathieu, Jean-Philippe; Inal, Karim; Berveiller, Sophie; Diard, Olivier

2010-11-01

Local approach to brittle fracture for low-alloyed steels is discussed in this paper. A bibliographical introduction intends to highlight general trends and consensual points of the topic and evokes debatable aspects. French RPV steel 16MND5 (equ. ASTM A508 Cl.3), is then used as a model material to study the influence of temperature on brittle fracture. A micromechanical modelling of brittle fracture at the elementary volume scale already used in previous work is then recalled. It involves a multiscale modelling of microstructural plasticity which has been tuned on experimental inter-phase and inter-granular stresses heterogeneities measurements. Fracture probability of the elementary volume can then be computed using a randomly attributed defect size distribution based on realistic carbides repartition. This defect distribution is then deterministically correlated to stress heterogeneities simulated within the microstructure using a weakest-link hypothesis on the elementary volume, which results in a deterministic stress to fracture. Repeating the process allows to compute Weibull parameters on the elementary volume. This tool is then used to investigate the physical mechanisms that could explain the already experimentally observed temperature dependence of Beremin's parameter for 16MND5 steel. It is showed that, assuming that the hypothesis made in this work about cleavage micro-mechanisms are correct, effective equivalent surface energy (i.e. surface energy plus plastically dissipated energy when blunting the crack tip) for propagating a crack has to be temperature dependent to explain Beremin's parameters temperature evolution.

Generation and Characterization of Six Recombinant Botulinum Neurotoxins as Reference Material to Serve in an International Proficiency Test.

PubMed

Weisemann, Jasmin; Krez, Nadja; Fiebig, Uwe; Worbs, Sylvia; Skiba, Martin; Endermann, Tanja; Dorner, Martin B; Bergström, Tomas; Muñoz, Amalia; Zegers, Ingrid; Müller, Christian; Jenkinson, Stephen P; Avondet, Marc-Andre; Delbrassinne, Laurence; Denayer, Sarah; Zeleny, Reinhard; Schimmel, Heinz; Åstot, Crister; Dorner, Brigitte G; Rummel, Andreas

2015-11-26

The detection and identification of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) is complex due to the existence of seven serotypes, derived mosaic toxins and more than 40 subtypes. Expert laboratories currently use different technical approaches to detect, identify and quantify BoNT, but due to the lack of (certified) reference materials, analytical results can hardly be compared. In this study, the six BoNT/A1-F1 prototypes were successfully produced by recombinant techniques, facilitating handling, as well as improving purity, yield, reproducibility and biosafety. All six BoNTs were quantitatively nicked into active di-chain toxins linked by a disulfide bridge. The materials were thoroughly characterized with respect to purity, identity, protein concentration, catalytic and biological activities. For BoNT/A₁, B₁ and E₁, serotypes pathogenic to humans, the catalytic activity and the precise protein concentration were determined by Endopep-mass spectrometry and validated amino acid analysis, respectively. In addition, BoNT/A₁, B₁, E₁ and F₁ were successfully detected by immunological assays, unambiguously identified by mass spectrometric-based methods, and their specific activities were assigned by the mouse LD50 bioassay. The potencies of all six BoNT/A1-F1 were quantified by the ex vivo mouse phrenic nerve hemidiaphragm assay, allowing a direct comparison. In conclusion, highly pure recombinant BoNT reference materials were produced, thoroughly characterized and employed as spiking material in a worldwide BoNT proficiency test organized by the EQuATox consortium.

Botulinum Neurotoxins: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis Using the Mouse Phrenic Nerve Hemidiaphragm Assay (MPN).

PubMed

Bigalke, Hans; Rummel, Andreas

2015-11-25

The historical method for the detection of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is represented by the mouse bioassay (MBA) measuring the animal survival rate. Since the endpoint of the MBA is the death of the mice due to paralysis of the respiratory muscle, an ex vivo animal replacement method, called mouse phrenic nerve (MPN) assay, employs the isolated N. phrenicus-hemidiaphragm tissue. Here, BoNT causes a dose-dependent characteristic decrease of the contraction amplitude of the indirectly stimulated muscle. Within the EQuATox BoNT proficiency 13 test samples were analysed using the MPN assay by serial dilution to a bath concentration resulting in a paralysis time within the range of calibration curves generated with BoNT/A, B and E standards, respectively. For serotype identification the diluted samples were pre-incubated with polyclonal anti-BoNT/A, B or E antitoxin or a combination of each. All 13 samples were qualitatively correctly identified thereby delivering superior results compared to single in vitro methods like LFA, ELISA and LC-MS/MS. Having characterized the BoNT serotype, the final bath concentrations were calculated using the calibration curves and then multiplied by the respective dilution factor to obtain the sample concentration. Depending on the source of the BoNT standards used, the quantitation of ten BoNT/A containing samples delivered a mean z-score of 7 and of three BoNT/B or BoNT/E containing samples z-scores <2, respectively.

Abundance analysis of roAp stars. IV. HD24712

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryabchikova, T. A.; Landstreet, J. D.; Gelbmann, M. J.; Bolgova, G. T.; Tsymbal, V. V.; Weiss, W. W.

1997-11-01

We present the first abundance analysis of the rapidly oscillating chemically peculiar star HD24712, and determine a T_eff,=7250K, log {g},=4.3, and xi_t ,=1kms(-1) . Microturbulence seems to be entirely simulated by a magnetic field with a polar field strength of 4.4kG and of dipolar structure, both of which are supported by our polarimetric observations. Rotation of HD24712 and a spotty surface distribution of the elements result in different mean abundances for different (magnetic) phases. Our results do not support the hypothesis of a monotonic correlation between the amplitude of abundance variations and the atomic number Z, and we present arguments in favour of one of the rotation periods (Prot=12\\fd 4610) discussed in the literature. Rare earth elements are the most overabundant elements relative to the sun, and they have the largest abundance amplitude during a rotation cycle; only Mg has a larger amplitude. For HD24712 we find a clear overabundance of Co while most of the other iron peak elements are underabundant. A comparison of the abundance pattern with the other three roAp stars analyzed so far by us concludes the paper. A systematic difference between surface gravities obtained from spectroscopy and from both asteroseismology and evolutionary tracks is found for the roAp stars HD 24712, alpha Cir, and gamma Equ. Based on observations obtained with the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Centre Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii, and on observations obtained at CARSO, Las Campanas, Chile

Detection of prosecretory mitogen lacritin in nonprimate tears primarily as a C-terminal-like fragment.

PubMed

Laurie, Diane E; Splan, Rebecca K; Green, Kari; Still, Katherine M; McKown, Robert L; Laurie, Gordon W

2012-09-12

Lacritin is a human tear glycoprotein that promotes basal tear protein secretion in cultured rat lacrimal acinar cells and proliferation of subconfluent human corneal epithelial cells. When topically added to rabbit eyes, lacritin promotes basal tearing. Despite these activities on several species, lacritin's presence in nonprimate tears or other tissues has not been explored. Here we probed for lacritin in normal horse tears. Sequences were collected from the Ensembl genomic alignment of human LACRT gene with high-quality draft horse genome (EquCab2.0) and analyzed. Normal horse tears were collected and assayed by Western blotting, ELISA, and mass spectrometry. Newly generated rabbit antibodies, respectively, against N- and C-terminal regions of human lacritin were employed. Identity was 75% and 45%, respectively, at nucleotide and protein levels. Structural features were conserved, including a C-terminal amphipathic α-helix. Anti-C-terminal antibodies strongly detected a ∼13 kDa band in horse tears that was validated by mass spectrometry. In human tears, the same antibody detected uncleaved lacritin (∼24 kDa) strongly and C-terminal fragments of ∼13 and ∼11 kDa weakly. Anti-N-terminal antibodies were slightly reactive with a ∼24 kDa horse antigen and showed no reaction with the anti-C-terminal-reactive ∼13 kDa species. Similar respective levels of horse C-terminal versus N-terminal immunoreactivity were apparent by ELISA. Lacritin is present in horse tears, largely as a C-terminal fragment homologous to the mitogenic and bactericidal region in human lacritin, suggesting potential benefit in corneal wound repair.

Boundedness for a 3D chemotaxis-Stokes system with porous medium diffusion and tensor-valued chemotactic sensitivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yilong; Li, Xie

2017-04-01

This paper deals with the following chemotaxis-Stokes system n_t+u\\cdot nabla n=Δ n^m-nabla \\cdot (nS(x,n,c)\\cdot nabla c), &{}quad xin Ω , t>0, c_t+u\\cdot nabla c=Δ c-nf(c),&{}quad xin Ω , t>0, u_t=Δ u+nabla P+nnabla φ ,&quad xin Ω , t>0,\\ nabla \\cdot u=0,&{}quad xin Ω , t>0. under no-flux boundary conditions in a bounded domain Ω subset R3 with smooth boundary, where m≥ 1, φ in W^{1,∞}(Ω ), f and S are given functions with values in [0, ∞) and R^{3× 3}, respectively. Here S satisfies |S(x,n,c)|7/6, which insures the global existence of bounded weak solution. Our result covers completely and improves the recent result by Wang and Cao (Discrete Contin Dyn Syst Ser B 20:3235-3254, 2015) which asserts, just in the case m=1, the global existence of solutions, but without boundedness, and that by Winkler (Calc Var Partial Differ Equ 54:3789-3828, 2015) which only involves the case of α =0 and requires the convexity of the domain.

Fish as indicators of disturbance in streams used for snorkeling activities in a tourist region.

PubMed

Teresa, Fabricio Barreto; Romero, Renato de Mei; Casatti, Lilian; Sabino, José

2011-05-01

A set of metrics that reflect various aspects of population and fish community structure in streams used for snorkeling was evaluated in the tourist region of Bodoquena Plateau, Brazil, with the purpose of biomonitoring the impacts of such activities. Observations were made while snorkeling in two sites (active = with tourism; inactive = without tourism) and along the gradient of daily tourist activity (before, during and after the passage of tourists) in two streams. Five metrics discriminated active from inactive sites: (i) the abundance of Crenicichla lepidota and (ii) the incidence of reproductive activity in Crenicichla lepidota which were greater in inactive sites, regardless the gradient of daily tourist activity; (iii) the feeding pattern of Prochilodus lineatus, which differed among sites and along the gradient of daily tourist activity; (iv) the abundance of Moenkhausia bonita, which was higher in the active sites and significantly increased along the gradient of daily tourist activity in one stream but decrease along the gradient in other stream; (v) the abundance of Hyphessobrycon eques, which was greater in inactive sites, regardless the gradient of daily tourist activity. With the exception of metric "iv", the metrics were mediated by the reduction in habitat structural complexity due to snorkeling disturbance. The definition of these metrics is relevant because the degradation of ecosystem structural elements is one of the main impacts of recreational activities on aquatic environments. The easy recognition of target species and high water transparency throughout the year ensures the feasibility of these metrics in monitoring programs and may be applied by technicians after quick guides and training.

Fish as Indicators of Disturbance in Streams Used for Snorkeling Activities in a Tourist Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teresa, Fabricio Barreto; Romero, Renato De Mei; Casatti, Lilian; Sabino, José

2011-05-01

A set of metrics that reflect various aspects of population and fish community structure in streams used for snorkeling was evaluated in the tourist region of Bodoquena Plateau, Brazil, with the purpose of biomonitoring the impacts of such activities. Observations were made while snorkeling in two sites (active = with tourism; inactive = without tourism) and along the gradient of daily tourist activity (before, during and after the passage of tourists) in two streams. Five metrics discriminated active from inactive sites: (i) the abundance of Crenicichla lepidota and (ii) the incidence of reproductive activity in Crenicichla lepidota which were greater in inactive sites, regardless the gradient of daily tourist activity; (iii) the feeding pattern of Prochilodus lineatus, which differed among sites and along the gradient of daily tourist activity; (iv) the abundance of Moenkhausia bonita, which was higher in the active sites and significantly increased along the gradient of daily tourist activity in one stream but decrease along the gradient in other stream; (v) the abundance of Hyphessobrycon eques, which was greater in inactive sites, regardless the gradient of daily tourist activity. With the exception of metric "iv", the metrics were mediated by the reduction in habitat structural complexity due to snorkeling disturbance. The definition of these metrics is relevant because the degradation of ecosystem structural elements is one of the main impacts of recreational activities on aquatic environments. The easy recognition of target species and high water transparency throughout the year ensures the feasibility of these metrics in monitoring programs and may be applied by technicians after quick guides and training.

Generation and Characterization of Six Recombinant Botulinum Neurotoxins as Reference Material to Serve in an International Proficiency Test

PubMed Central

Weisemann, Jasmin; Krez, Nadja; Fiebig, Uwe; Worbs, Sylvia; Skiba, Martin; Endermann, Tanja; Dorner, Martin B.; Bergström, Tomas; Muñoz, Amalia; Zegers, Ingrid; Müller, Christian; Jenkinson, Stephen P.; Avondet, Marc-Andre; Delbrassinne, Laurence; Denayer, Sarah; Zeleny, Reinhard; Schimmel, Heinz; Åstot, Crister; Dorner, Brigitte G.; Rummel, Andreas

2015-01-01

The detection and identification of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) is complex due to the existence of seven serotypes, derived mosaic toxins and more than 40 subtypes. Expert laboratories currently use different technical approaches to detect, identify and quantify BoNT, but due to the lack of (certified) reference materials, analytical results can hardly be compared. In this study, the six BoNT/A1–F1 prototypes were successfully produced by recombinant techniques, facilitating handling, as well as improving purity, yield, reproducibility and biosafety. All six BoNTs were quantitatively nicked into active di-chain toxins linked by a disulfide bridge. The materials were thoroughly characterized with respect to purity, identity, protein concentration, catalytic and biological activities. For BoNT/A1, B1 and E1, serotypes pathogenic to humans, the catalytic activity and the precise protein concentration were determined by Endopep-mass spectrometry and validated amino acid analysis, respectively. In addition, BoNT/A1, B1, E1 and F1 were successfully detected by immunological assays, unambiguously identified by mass spectrometric-based methods, and their specific activities were assigned by the mouse LD50 bioassay. The potencies of all six BoNT/A1–F1 were quantified by the ex vivo mouse phrenic nerve hemidiaphragm assay, allowing a direct comparison. In conclusion, highly pure recombinant BoNT reference materials were produced, thoroughly characterized and employed as spiking material in a worldwide BoNT proficiency test organized by the EQuATox consortium. PMID:26703728

The evaluation of a healthcare passport to improve quality of care and communication for people living with dementia (EQuIP): a protocol paper for a qualitative, longitudinal study.

PubMed

Leavey, Gerard; Abbott, Aine; Watson, Max; Todd, Stephen; Coates, Vivien; McIlfactrick, Sonja; McCormack, Brendan; Waterhouse-Bradley, Bethany; Curran, Emma

2016-08-09

There is an urgent need for the development of simple communication tools that convey the strengths, assets, and healthcare needs of people living with dementia. A Healthcare Passport may improve communication with range of health and social support services, enhancing quality and continuity of care, and to permit a consideration of the challenges and how these might be managed effectively and compassionately. This study aims to evaluate the acceptability and use of this type of intervention for people living with dementia and their carers. This is a qualitative longitudinal study informed by a critical realist review. The participants will be individuals identified as having mild-moderate dementia and informal carers. The in-depth interviews will occur at three points over the course of 18 months as they use the passport. This will be supplemented by analysis of the content of the passports and information from health and social care providers on the daily practicalities of using the passport in a range of healthcare settings. By using a critical realist review and a qualitative, longitudinal approach, the study allows for the assessment of a complex intervention in a manner which goes beyond evaluating the basic efficacy of the passport, but looking more deeply at how it worked, for whom, and in what context. It has the potential to develop new data on how interventions improve communication across a range of service providers, while encouraging health and social care professionals to respect and encourage the development of self-management and retention of personhood throughout the progression of life-limiting illnesses.

Detection of Prosecretory Mitogen Lacritin in Nonprimate Tears Primarily as a C-Terminal-Like Fragment

PubMed Central

Laurie, Diane E.; Splan, Rebecca K.; Green, Kari; Still, Katherine M.; McKown, Robert L.; Laurie, Gordon W.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Lacritin is a human tear glycoprotein that promotes basal tear protein secretion in cultured rat lacrimal acinar cells and proliferation of subconfluent human corneal epithelial cells. When topically added to rabbit eyes, lacritin promotes basal tearing. Despite these activities on several species, lacritin's presence in nonprimate tears or other tissues has not been explored. Here we probed for lacritin in normal horse tears. Methods. Sequences were collected from the Ensembl genomic alignment of human LACRT gene with high-quality draft horse genome (EquCab2.0) and analyzed. Normal horse tears were collected and assayed by Western blotting, ELISA, and mass spectrometry. Newly generated rabbit antibodies, respectively, against N- and C-terminal regions of human lacritin were employed. Results. Identity was 75% and 45%, respectively, at nucleotide and protein levels. Structural features were conserved, including a C-terminal amphipathic α-helix. Anti-C-terminal antibodies strongly detected a ∼13 kDa band in horse tears that was validated by mass spectrometry. In human tears, the same antibody detected uncleaved lacritin (∼24 kDa) strongly and C-terminal fragments of ∼13 and ∼11 kDa weakly. Anti-N-terminal antibodies were slightly reactive with a ∼24 kDa horse antigen and showed no reaction with the anti-C-terminal–reactive ∼13 kDa species. Similar respective levels of horse C-terminal versus N-terminal immunoreactivity were apparent by ELISA. Conclusions. Lacritin is present in horse tears, largely as a C-terminal fragment homologous to the mitogenic and bactericidal region in human lacritin, suggesting potential benefit in corneal wound repair. PMID:22871838

Long-term baited lander experiments at a cold-water coral community on Galway Mound (Belgica Mound Province, NE Atlantic)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lavaleye, Marc; Duineveld, Gerard; Bergman, Magda; van den Beld, Inge

2017-11-01

A long-term lander employing a baited camera system was developed to study temporal variation in the presence of scavenging fish and invertebrates at a cold-water coral community on Galway Mound (Belgica Mound Province, NE Atlantic). The camera system was tested during two successful long-term deployments for periods of 6 and 12 months respectively. The baited system, consisting of two separate video cameras with infrared lights and a bait dispenser with 24 bait positions, recorded more than 15,500 clips of 17 s, regularly spread over both periods. New bait, consisting of sardines in oil, was offered at regular time intervals, and attracted scavengers over the whole period of deployment, and especially the crab Chaceon affinis did still eat from it till the end of the deployments. However, the attractiveness for some scavengers, i.e. amphipods, diminished quite quickly. In addition to invertebrate scavengers, namely C. affinis, two other crab species, amphipods, a shrimp and a starfish, also 7 species of fish were recorded near the bait, of which Lepidion eques was by far the most common. Though there was no concrete evidence for seasonal patterns, the observations showed substantial temporal variation in the abundance of several species, especially the crabs C. affinis and Bathynectes maravigna and the fish Phycis blennoides. It is concluded that long-term deployments of such a baited camera system can produce novel data. For instance such a system could be employed for monitoring impacts of disturbances on the deep-sea floor (e.g. mining), as we infer that mobile scavengers will be among the first organisms to show a visible reaction to any chemically and physically (noise, vibrations) alteration of the environment similar to a mine canary.

Global well-posedness for passively transported nonlinear moisture dynamics with phase changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hittmeir, Sabine; Klein, Rupert; Li, Jinkai; Titi, Edriss S.

2017-10-01

We study a moisture model for warm clouds that has been used by Klein and Majda (2006 Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 20 525-551) as a basis for multiscale asymptotic expansions for deep convective phenomena. These moisture balance equations correspond to a bulk microphysics closure in the spirit of Kessler (1969 Meteorol. Monogr. 10 1-84) and Grabowski and Smolarkiewicz (1996 Mon. Weather Rev. 124 487-97), in which water is present in the gaseous state as water vapor and in the liquid phase as cloud water and rain water. It thereby contains closures for the phase changes condensation and evaporation, as well as the processes of autoconversion of cloud water into rainwater and the collection of cloud water by the falling rain droplets. Phase changes are associated with enormous amounts of latent heat and therefore provide a strong coupling to the thermodynamic equation. In this work we assume the velocity field to be given and prove rigorously the global existence and uniqueness of uniformly bounded solutions of the moisture model with viscosity, diffusion and heat conduction. To guarantee local well-posedness we first need to establish local existence results for linear parabolic equations, subject to the Robin boundary conditions on the cylindric type of domains under consideration. We then derive a priori estimates, for proving the maximum principle, using the Stampacchia method, as well as the iterative method by Alikakos (1979 J. Differ. Equ. 33 201-25) to obtain uniform boundedness. The evaporation term is of power law type, with an exponent in general less or equal to one and therefore making the proof of uniqueness more challenging. However, these difficulties can be circumvented by introducing new unknowns, which satisfy the required cancellation and monotonicity properties in the source terms.

Comparative Postembryonic Skeletal Ontogeny in Two Sister Lineages of Old World Tree Frogs (Rhacophoridae: Taruga, Polypedates)

PubMed Central

Senevirathne, Gayani; Kerney, Ryan

2017-01-01

Rhacophoridae, a family of morphologically cryptic frogs, with many genetically distinct evolutionary lineages, is understudied with respect to skeletal morphology, life history traits and skeletal ontogeny. Here we analyze two species each from two sister lineages, Taruga and Polypedates, and compare their postembryonic skeletal ontogeny, larval chondrocrania and adult osteology in the context of a well-resolved phylogeny. We further compare these ontogenetic traits with the direct-developing Pseudophilautus silus. For each species, we differentially stained a nearly complete developmental series of tadpoles from early postembryonic stages through metamorphosis to determine the intraspecific and interspecific differences of cranial and postcranial bones. Chondrocrania of the four species differ in 1) size; 2) presence/absence of anterolateral and posterior process; and 3) shape of the suprarostral cartilages. Interspecific variation of ossification sequences is limited during early stages, but conspicuous during later development. Early cranial ossification is typical of other anuran larvae, where the frontoparietal, exoccipital and parasphenoid ossify first. The ossification sequences of the cranial bones vary considerably within the four species. Both species of Taruga show a faster cranial ossification rate than Polypedates. Seven cranial bones form when larvae near metamorphic climax. Ossification of all 18 cranial bones is initiated by larval Gosner stage 46 in T. eques. However, some cranial bone formation is not initiated until after metamorphosis in the other three species. Postcranial sequence does not vary significantly. The comparison of adult osteology highlights two characters, which have not been previously recorded: presence/absence of the parieto-squamosal plates and bifurcated base of the omosternum. This study will provide a starting point for comparative analyses of rhacophorid skeletal ontogeny and facilitate the study of the evolution of ontogenetic repatterning associated with the life history variation in the family. PMID:28060923

New species and geographical records of dactylogyrids (Monogenea) of catfish (Siluriformes) from the Peruvian Amazonia.

PubMed

Mendoza-Palmero, Carlos A; Scholz, Tomáš; Mendoza-Franco, Edgar F; Kuchta, Roman

2012-06-01

Three new species of gill monogeneans (Dactylogyridae: Ancyrocephalinae) are described from siluriform catfish from Iquitos, Peru: Demidospermus mortenthaleri n. sp. from Brachyplatystoma juruense (Boulenger), Demidospermus brevicirrus n. sp. from Pimelodus sp., and Aphanoblastella aurorae n. sp. from Goeldiella eques (Müller & Troschel). Demidospermus mortenthaleri is characterized by a male copulatory organ (MCO) with a small loop at its middle portion; 2 types of hooks, of which pairs 5 and 6 are longer than the remaining hooks; a proximal subunit round and highly depressed thumb; and a sclerotized vagina with a round pad at the vaginal aperture. Demidospermus brevicirrus is distinguished from other congeners by the presence of a short, straight, and robust MCO and boot-shaped accessory piece with a hooked projection directed posteriorly. Aphanoblastella aurorae is the only species of the genus that possesses an arrow-shaped sclerotized vagina and a medial process on the dorsal bar. Another 6 dactylogyrids described previously are recorded for the first time from the Peruvian Amazonia: Cosmetocleithrum bulbocirrus Kritsky, Thatcher and Boeger, 1986 ; Vancleaveus fungulus Kritsky, Thatcher and Boeger, 1986 ; V. janauacaensis Kritsky, Thatcher and Boeger, 1986 ; V. platyrhynchi Kritsky, Thatcher and Boeger, 1986 ; Unilatus unilatus Mizelle and Kritsky, 1967 ; and U. brittani Mizelle, Kritsky and Crane, 1968 . Based on observations of specimens collected in the Peruvian Amazonia, new morphological data for these species are provided. Comparison of new specimens of U. unilatus and U. brittani with those of Unilatus brevispinus Suriano, 1985 and Unilatus longispinus Suriano, 1985 , both originally described from Brazil, has shown that they are conspecific. Therefore, the latter species were synonymized with U. unilatus and U. brittani , respectively. In addition, 56 undescribed monogeneans found in catfish from the Peruvian Amazonia, some of them probably belonging to new genera, are listed.

On the Rate of Relaxation for the Landau Kinetic Equation and Related Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobylev, Alexander; Gamba, Irene M.; Zhang, Chenglong

2017-08-01

We study the rate of relaxation to equilibrium for Landau kinetic equation and some related models by considering the relatively simple case of radial solutions of the linear Landau-type equations. The well-known difficulty is that the evolution operator has no spectral gap, i.e. its spectrum is not separated from zero. Hence we do not expect purely exponential relaxation for large values of time t>0. One of the main goals of our work is to numerically identify the large time asymptotics for the relaxation to equilibrium. We recall the work of Strain and Guo (Arch Rat Mech Anal 187:287-339 2008, Commun Partial Differ Equ 31:17-429 2006), who rigorously show that the expected law of relaxation is \\exp (-ct^{2/3}) with some c > 0. In this manuscript, we find an heuristic way, performed by asymptotic methods, that finds this "law of two thirds", and then study this question numerically. More specifically, the linear Landau equation is approximated by a set of ODEs based on expansions in generalized Laguerre polynomials. We analyze the corresponding quadratic form and the solution of these ODEs in detail. It is shown that the solution has two different asymptotic stages for large values of time t and maximal order of polynomials N: the first one focus on intermediate asymptotics which agrees with the "law of two thirds" for moderately large values of time t and then the second one on absolute, purely exponential asymptotics for very large t, as expected for linear ODEs. We believe that appearance of intermediate asymptotics in finite dimensional approximations must be a generic behavior for different classes of equations in functional spaces (some PDEs, Boltzmann equations for soft potentials, etc.) and that our methods can be applied to related problems.

Reliability of the cloned-enzyme donor immunoassay (CEDIA) for cocaine in human serum in the range between the detection limit and the cut-off.

PubMed

Schütz, Harald; Auch, Jürgen; Erdmann, Freidoon; Weiler, Günter; Verhoff, Marcel A

2006-01-01

Immunoassays are used worldwide for the rapid screening of drugs. Despite the fact that they are highly valuable tools for the testing of legal and illicit drugs, there is a non-negligable risk of false-positive and false-negative findings and many pitfalls must be taken into account when using these tests in an uncritical manner and without valid confirmation procedures. In order to check the correlation between cloned-enzyme donor immunoassay (CEDIA) readings and exact determined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) values for benzoylecgonine, a total of 472 serum samples was measured with an immunoassay (CEDIA) as well as GC/MS. As a result, it was shown that in the lower area of concentration, up to approx. 300 ng equ. benzoylecgonine/ml, there is a semiquantitative useful correlation. With higher concentrations, the values shift more and more apart and many runaways are visible. Generally the use of tests for materials other than those declared is excluded from the manufacturer's warranty and is at the user's own risk, but the authors found that many immunochemical tests with a certification only for the use in urine are well suited to the screening of serum samples, and even low readings could be confirmed by GC/MS. With blood or serum as sample, it could be regularly observed that generally very small readings could not only be confirmed with mass spectrometry but could in most cases also be quantified. This was the key factor in determining the rate of confirmation in 495 cases. In total, an incredibly high reliability for the CEDIA cocaine test (via benzoylecgonine) was shown up to the area of detection (detection limit), far below the cut-off. These results confirm the extraordinary sensitivity and specificity of this test also for blood or serum as sample material to be tested.

Detection rate and predictive factors of sessile serrated polyps in an organised colorectal cancer screening programme with immunochemical faecal occult blood test: the EQuIPE study (Evaluating Quality Indicators of the Performance of Endoscopy).

PubMed

Zorzi, Manuel; Senore, Carlo; Da Re, Filippo; Barca, Alessandra; Bonelli, Luigina Ada; Cannizzaro, Renato; de Pretis, Giovanni; Di Furia, Lucia; Di Giulio, Emilio; Mantellini, Paola; Naldoni, Carlo; Sassatelli, Romano; Rex, Douglas K; Zappa, Marco; Hassan, Cesare

2017-07-01

To assess detection rate and predictive factors of sessile serrated polyps (SSPs) in organised colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programmes based on the faecal immunochemical test (FIT). Data from a case series of colonoscopies of FIT-positive subjects were provided by 44 Italian CRC screening programmes. Data on screening history, endoscopic procedure and histology results, and additional information on the endoscopy centre and the endoscopists were collected, including the age-standardised and sex-standardised adenoma detection rate (ADR) of the individual endoscopists. The SSP detection rate (SSP-DR) was assessed for the study population. To identify SSP-predictive factors, multilevel analyses were performed according to patient/centre/endoscopist characteristics. We analysed 72 021 colonoscopies, of which 1295 presented with at least one SSP (SSP-DR 1.8%; 95% CI 1.7% to 1.9%). At the per-patient level, SSP-DR was associated with males (OR 1.35; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.54) and caecal intubation (OR 3.75; 95% CI 2.22 to 6.34), but not with the FIT round. The presence of at least one advanced adenoma was more frequent among subjects with SSPs than those without (OR 2.08; 95% CI 1.86 to 2.33). At the per-endoscopist level, SSP-DR was associated with ADR (third vs first ADR quartile: OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.03 to 2.35; fourth vs first quartile: OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.24 to 2.90). The low prevalence of SSPs and the lack of association with the FIT round argue against SSP as a suitable target for FIT-based organised programmes. Strict association of SSP-DR with the key colonoscopy quality indicators, namely caecal intubation rate and high ADR further marginalises the need for SSP-specific quality indicators in FIT-based programmes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Dilute Oxygen Combustion Phase IV Final Report

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

Riley, M.F.

2003-04-30

Novel furnace designs based on Dilute Oxygen Combustion (DOC) technology were developed under subcontract by Techint Technologies, Coraopolis, PA, to fully exploit the energy and environmental capabilities of DOC technology and to provide a competitive offering for new furnace construction opportunities. Capital cost, fuel, oxygen and utility costs, NOx emissions, oxide scaling performance, and maintenance requirements were compared for five DOC-based designs and three conventional air5-fired designs using a 10-year net present value calculation. A furnace direct completely with DOC burners offers low capital cost, low fuel rate, and minimal NOx emissions. However, these benefits do not offset the costmore » of oxygen and a full DOC-fired furnace is projected to cost $1.30 per ton more to operate than a conventional air-fired furnace. The incremental cost of the improved NOx performance is roughly $6/lb NOx, compared with an estimated $3/lb. NOx for equ8pping a conventional furnace with selective catalytic reduction (SCCR) technology. A furnace fired with DOC burners in the heating zone and ambient temperature (cold) air-fired burners in the soak zone offers low capital cost with less oxygen consumption. However, the improvement in fuel rate is not as great as the full DOC-fired design, and the DOC-cold soak design is also projected to cost $1.30 per ton more to operate than a conventional air-fired furnace. The NOx improvement with the DOC-cold soak design is also not as great as the full DOC fired design, and the incremental cost of the improved NOx performance is nearly $9/lb NOx. These results indicate that a DOC-based furnace design will not be generally competitive with conventional technology for new furnace construction under current market conditions. Fuel prices of $7/MMBtu or oxygen prices of $23/ton are needed to make the DOC furnace economics favorable. Niche applications may exist, particularly where access to capital is limited or floor space limitations are critical. DOC technology will continue to have a highly competitive role in retrofit applications requiring increases in furnace productivity.« less

Discovery of an extremely weak magnetic field in the white dwarf LTT 16093 = WD 2047+372

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landstreet, J. D.; Bagnulo, S.; Martin, A.; Valyavin, G.

2016-06-01

Context. Magnetic fields have been detected in several hundred white dwarfs, with strengths ranging from a few kG to several hundred MG. Only a few of the known fields have a mean magnetic field modulus below about 1 MG. Aims: We are searching for new examples of magnetic white dwarfs with very weak fields, and trying to model the few known examples. Our search is intended to be sensitive enough to detect fields at the few kG level. Methods: We have been surveying bright white dwarfs for very weak fields using spectropolarimeters at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), the European Southern Observatory, and the Russian Special Astrophysical Observatory. We discuss in some detail tests of the WHT spectropolarimeter ISIS using the known magnetic strong-field Ap star HD 215441 (Babcock's star) and the long-period Ap star HD 201601 (γ Equ). Results: We report the discovery of a field with a mean field modulus of about 57 kG in the white dwarf LTT 16093 = WD 2047+372. The field is clearly detected through the Zeeman splitting of Hα seen in two separate circularly polarised spectra from two different spectropolarimeters. Zeeman circular polarisation is also detected, but only barely above the 3σ level. Conclusions: The discovery of this field is significant because it is the third weakest field ever unambiguously discovered in a white dwarf, while still being large enough that we should be able to model the field structure in some detail with future observations. Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, and on observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii.

Stability of transition waves and positive entire solutions of Fisher-KPP equations with time and space dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Wenxian

2017-09-01

This paper is concerned with the stability of transition waves and strictly positive entire solutions of random and nonlocal dispersal evolution equations of Fisher-KPP type with general time and space dependence, including time and space periodic or almost periodic dependence as special cases. We first show the existence, uniqueness, and stability of strictly positive entire solutions of such equations. Next, we show the stability of uniformly continuous transition waves connecting the unique strictly positive entire solution and the trivial solution zero and satisfying certain decay property at the end close to the trivial solution zero (if it exists). The existence of transition waves has been studied in Liang and Zhao (2010 J. Funct. Anal. 259 857-903), Nadin (2009 J. Math. Pures Appl. 92 232-62), Nolen et al (2005 Dyn. PDE 2 1-24), Nolen and Xin (2005 Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 13 1217-34) and Weinberger (2002 J. Math. Biol. 45 511-48) for random dispersal Fisher-KPP equations with time and space periodic dependence, in Nadin and Rossi (2012 J. Math. Pures Appl. 98 633-53), Nadin and Rossi (2015 Anal. PDE 8 1351-77), Nadin and Rossi (2017 Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 223 1239-67), Shen (2010 Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 362 5125-68), Shen (2011 J. Dynam. Differ. Equ. 23 1-44), Shen (2011 J. Appl. Anal. Comput. 1 69-93), Tao et al (2014 Nonlinearity 27 2409-16) and Zlatoš (2012 J. Math. Pures Appl. 98 89-102) for random dispersal Fisher-KPP equations with quite general time and/or space dependence, and in Coville et al (2013 Ann. Inst. Henri Poincare 30 179-223), Rawal et al (2015 Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 35 1609-40) and Shen and Zhang (2012 Comm. Appl. Nonlinear Anal. 19 73-101) for nonlocal dispersal Fisher-KPP equations with time and/or space periodic dependence. The stability result established in this paper implies that the transition waves obtained in many of the above mentioned papers are asymptotically stable for well-fitted perturbation. Up to the author’s knowledge, it is the first time that the stability of transition waves of Fisher-KPP equations with general time and space dependence is studied.

REDD+ emissions estimation and reporting: dealing with uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelletier, Johanne; Martin, Davy; Potvin, Catherine

2013-09-01

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defined the technical and financial modalities of policy approaches and incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+). Substantial technical challenges hinder precise and accurate estimation of forest-related emissions and removals, as well as the setting and assessment of reference levels. These challenges could limit country participation in REDD+, especially if REDD+ emission reductions were to meet quality standards required to serve as compliance grade offsets for developed countries’ emissions. Using Panama as a case study, we tested the matrix approach proposed by Bucki et al (2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 024005) to perform sensitivity and uncertainty analysis distinguishing between ‘modelling sources’ of uncertainty, which refers to model-specific parameters and assumptions, and ‘recurring sources’ of uncertainty, which refers to random and systematic errors in emission factors and activity data. The sensitivity analysis estimated differences in the resulting fluxes ranging from 4.2% to 262.2% of the reference emission level. The classification of fallows and the carbon stock increment or carbon accumulation of intact forest lands were the two key parameters showing the largest sensitivity. The highest error propagated using Monte Carlo simulations was caused by modelling sources of uncertainty, which calls for special attention to ensure consistency in REDD+ reporting which is essential for securing environmental integrity. Due to the role of these modelling sources of uncertainty, the adoption of strict rules for estimation and reporting would favour comparability of emission reductions between countries. We believe that a reduction of the bias in emission factors will arise, among other things, from a globally concerted effort to improve allometric equations for tropical forests. Public access to datasets and methodology used to evaluate reference level and emission reductions would strengthen the credibility of the system by promoting accountability and transparency. To secure conservativeness and deal with uncertainty, we consider the need for further research using real data available to developing countries to test the applicability of conservative discounts including the trend uncertainty and other possible options that would allow real incentives and stimulate improvements over time. Finally, we argue that REDD+ result-based actions assessed on the basis of a dashboard of performance indicators, not only in ‘tonnes CO2 equ. per year’ might provide a more holistic approach, at least until better accuracy and certainty of forest carbon stocks emission and removal estimates to support a REDD+ policy can be reached.

Primary health care assessment from the users' perspectives: a systematic review.

PubMed

Paula, Weslla Karla Albuquerque Silva de; Samico, Isabella Chagas; Caminha, Maria de Fátima Costa; Filho, Malaquias Batista; Silva, Suzana Lins da

2016-04-01

Analyze the evaluation of the attributes of primary care made by users of basic units of Brazilian health by using PCATool instrument adapted to Brazil. A systematic literature review conducted in the PubMed database, IBECS, LILACS, SciELO and BDTD. 4,405 documents were found, selected 23 full texts. After Full reading and application of eligibility criteria, 14 articles were evaluated. The studies showed that primary care performs well in longitudinality attributes, completeness and coordination and worse performance on attributes access first contact, family counseling and community orientation, even in the basic units with the Family Health. The users of basic health units assessed as unsatisfactory attributes considered essential for a health care more equitable and competing for user autonomy and social control. It is inferred that there are still obstacles hindering user access to basic health services and care actions are still being developed without favoring user participation and the community context in which they live. Analisar a avaliação dos atributos da Atenção Básica feita por usuários de unidades básicas de saúde brasileiras, mediante utilização de adaptações do instrumento PCATool para o Brasil. Revisão sistemática da literatura realizada nas bases de dados Medline/PubMed, LILACS, IBECS, SciELO e BDTD. Foram encontrados 4.405 documentos, sendo selecionados 23 textos completos. Após leitura integral e aplicação dos critérios de elegibilidade, 14 artigos foram avaliados. Os estudos apontaram que a Atenção Básica tem bom desempenho nos atributos longitudinalidade, integralidade e coordenação e pior desempenho nos atributos acesso de primeiro contato, orientação familiar e a orientação comunitária, mesmo nas unidades básicas com Saúde da Família. Os usuários das unidades básicas de saúde avaliaram como insatisfatórios atributos considerados fundamentais para uma atenção à saúde mais equânime e concorrente para autonomia do usuário e controle social. Infere-se que ainda existem obstáculos que dificultam o acesso dos usuários aos serviços básicos de saúde e que ações do cuidado ainda estejam sendo desenvolvidas sem privilegiar a participação do usuário e o contexto comunitário onde vivem.

Impact of Environmental Factors on Differences in Quality of Medication Use: An Insight for the Medicare Star Rating System.

PubMed

Desai, Vibha; Nau, David; Conklin, Mark; Heaton, Pamela C

2016-07-01

The Medicare star ratings system incentivizes health plan sponsors based on their performance across a measurement system that contains quality measures related to medication use. As health plan sponsors seek to further engage their network providers, specifically network pharmacies, to improve performance on these measures, it is important to consider the effect of environmental factors on the performance of network pharmacies. To determine the effect of environmental factors on pharmacy quality as measured by (a) medication adherence for noninsulin diabetes medications, (b) medication adherence for renin angiotensin receptor antagonists (RASA), (c) medication adherence for cholesterol medications (statins), and (d) use of high-risk medications (HRM) in the elderly. The EQuIPP database, which contains performance information for pharmacies for a nationwide sample of Medicare beneficiaries, was used for this analysis. Environmental factors included regions or characteristics of a community or county. County-level data was obtained from the Area Health Resource Files, a resource product available from the Health Resources & Service Administration. A logistic regression model was developed with performance as the dependent variable and regions and environmental factors as independent variables. Performance and county characteristics, such as proportion of patients in an age group, race, income, or number of outpatient visits, were classified as high and low based on a median cutoff of nationwide performance scores. A total of 28,950 pharmacies were included in this analysis. For most measures, the proportion of low-performing pharmacies was significantly higher in the East South Central, Mid-Atlantic, Mountain, Pacific, and West South Central regions. Pharmacies in counties with high median income, high proportion of elderly population (aged > 84 years), high proportion of elderly patients who were white or Hispanic, high proportion of elderly males, and high proportion of elderly urban patients were less likely to have low performance, whereas those with high proportion of elderly African Americans and high density of independent pharmacies were more likely to have low performance (P < 0.05-0.0001). This study found that environmental characteristics of a region, including pharmacy and sociodemographic characteristics, explained regional variation in quality measures related to medication use for patient populations served by pharmacies. This evaluation serves to further inform the discussion regarding case-mix adjustment of quality measures and provides information that may be important to further refine intervention strategies for pharmacies and pharmacists who serve certain regional populations. Additionally, pharmacies in greatest need of support for quality improvement may be those who serve populations that are predominantly low income and elderly African American. Desai's postdoctoral fellowship was funded by Pharmacy Quality Solutions for conducting this study and writing the manuscript. Nau and Conklin are employed by Pharmacy Quality Solutions. An earlier version of this research was presented as a poster at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy; San Diego, CA; April 7-10, 2015. Study concept and design were contributed by Conklin, Nau, Desai, and Heaton. Desai and Conklin took the lead in data collection, assisted by Nau and Heaton. The manuscript was primarily written by Desai and Heaton, with assistance from Conklin and Nau. All authors contributed to data interpretation and manuscript revision.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Catalogue of Stellar Spectral Classifications (Skiff, 2008)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skiff, B. A.

2007-01-01

This file contains spectral classifications for stars collected from the literature, serving as a continuation of the compilations produced by the Jascheks, by Kennedy, and by Buscombe. The source of each spectral type is indicated by a standard 19-digit bibcode citation. These papers of course should be cited in publication, not this compilation. The stars are identified either by the name used in each publication or by a valid SIMBAD identifier. Some effort has been made to determine accurate (~1" or better) coordinates for equinox J2000 (and epoch 2000 if possible), and these serve as a secondary identifier. To the extent possible with current astrometric sources, the components of double stars and stars with composite spectra are shown as separate entries. Magnitudes are provided as an indication of brightness, but these data are not necessarily accurate, as they often derive from photographic photometry or rough estimates. The file includes only spectral types determined from spectra (viz. line and band strengths or ratios), omitting those determined from photometry (e.g. DDO, Vilnius) or inferred from broadband colors or spectral energy distributions. The classifications include MK types as well as types not strictly on the MK system (white dwarfs, Wolf-Rayet, etc), and in addition simple HD-style temperature types. Luminosity classes in the early Mount Wilson style (e.g. 'd' for dwarf, 'g' for giant) and other similar schemes have been converted to modern notation. Since a citation is provided for each entry, the source paper should be consulted for details about classification schemes, spectral dispersion, and instrumentation used. System-defining primary MK standard stars are included from the last lists by Morgan and Keenan, and are flagged by a + sign in column 79. The early-type standards comprise the 1973 "dagger standards" (1973ARA&A..11...29M) and stars from the Morgan, Abt, and Tapscott atlas (1978rmsa.book.....M). Standards from Table I of the Morgan & Abt 'MKA' paper (1972AJ.....77...35M) not appearing in the two later lists are added. Keenan made continual adjustments to the standards lists up to the time of his death. Thus the late-type standards comprise those marked as high-weight standards in the 1989 Perkins catalogue (1989ApJS...71..245K = III/150); the revised S-type standards in collaboration with Boeshaar (1980ApJS...43..379K); plus the carbon standards and class IIIb 'clump giants' in collaboration with Barnbaum (1996ApJS..105..419B and 1999ApJ...518..859K). In addition, I have made use of the final types by Keenan up to January 2000 shown at the Ohio State Web site (http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/MKCool), accessed in autumn 2003. Though the present file contains all the stars in these lists, only those marked as standards are flagged as such. Garrison's list of MK 'anchor points' might also be consulted in this regard (1994mpyp.conf....3G, and http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~garrison/mkstds.html). The catalogue includes for the first time results from many large-scale objective-prism spectral surveys done at Case, Stockholm, Crimea, Abastumani, and elsewhere. The stars in these surveys were usually identified only on charts or by other indirect means, and have been overlooked heretofore because of the difficulty in recovering the stars. More complete results from these separate publications, including notes and identifications, have been made available to the CDS, and are kept at the Lowell Observatory ftp area (ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats). Not all of these stars are present in SIMBAD. As a 'living catalogue', an attempt will be made to keep up with current literature, and to extend the indexing of citations back in time. The sky coverage of the catalogue as of 2008 Aug 8 is shown in equatorial and galactic coordinates on these figures prepared by Chris Watson (AAVSO): ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats/mktypes_equ.gif (113Kb) ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats/mktypes_gal.gif (107Kb) (2 data files).

Enhanced vector borne disease surveillance of California Culex mosquito populations reveals spatial and species-specific barriers of infection.

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

VanderNoot, Victoria A.; Curtis, Deanna Joy; Koh, Chung-Yan

Monitor i ng in f ectio n s in v ect o rs su c h as m osquit o es, s a nd fl i es, tsetse fl i es, a nd ticks to i denti f y hu m a n path o gens m a y s e r v e as a n ear l y w arn i ng det e ction system t o dir e ct loc a l g o v er n ment dise a se pr e v en t i v e m easu r e s . Onemore » major hurdle i n de t ection is the abi l i t y to scre e n l arge n u mbers of v e c t ors for h uman patho g ens w i thout t h e u s e of ge n o t y pe - s p ecific m o lecu l ar tec h nique s . N e x t genera t ion s equ e nc i ng (NG S ) pr o v i des a n unbi a sed p latfo r m capab l e of identi f y i ng k n o w n a n d unk n o w n p ath o ge n s circula t ing w i thin a v e ctor p opul a tion, but utili z ing t h is te c h nolo g y i s tim e - con s u ming a n d cos t l y for v ecto r -b o rne disease su r v e illan c e pr o gra m s. T o addr e s s this w e d e v e lop e d cos t -eff e ct i v e Ilumina(r) R NA- S eq l i bra r y p r epara t ion m e thodol o gies i n con j u n ction w i t h an automa t ed c ompu t at i onal a n a l y sis pipel i n e to ch a racter i ze t h e microbial popula t ions c ircula t i n g in Cu l e x m o squit o e s (Cul e x qui n quef a s c iatu s , C ul e x quinq u efasc i atus / pip i ens co m pl e x h y bri d s, and C u l e x ta r salis ) t hroug h out Californ i a. W e assembled 2 0 n o vel a n d w e l l -do c ume n ted a r b o v i ruses repres e nting mem b e rs of B u n y a v ir i da e , F l a v i virid a e, If a virida e , Meson i v i rida e , Nid o v iri d ae, O rtho m y x o virid a e, Pa r v o v iri d ae, Re o virid a e, R h a b d o v i rid a e, T y m o v iri d ae, a s w ell as s e v e r al u n assi g n e d v irus e s . In addit i o n, w e m app e d mRNA s pecies to d i vergent s peci e s of t r y panos o ma a nd pl a s modium eu k a r yotic parasit e s and cha r a c terized t he p r oka r yot i c microb i al c o mposit i on to i d enti f y bacteri a l tran s c r ipts der i v ed from wolba c hia, clo s tridi u m, m y c oplas m a, fusoba c terium and c am p y l o bacter bac t er i al spec i e s . W e utilized the s e mic r obial transcri p tomes pre s e nt in g e ogra p hical l y defined Cul e x po p ul a tions to defi n e spatial and m osqui t o specie s -spec i fic ba r r iers of i n fecti o n. T he v i r ome and microbi o me c o mpos i tion id e ntified in e ach mosqui t o p o ol pr o v i ded suf f icient resolut i on to dete r m i ne both the mosq u ito species and the g e o graphic regi o n in Californ i a w h e re t h e mosqui t o po o l orig i n ated. T his d a ta pr o v i des ins i ght in t o the compl e x i t y of microb i al spec i es cir c ulati n g in med i cal l y i mport a nt Culex mosqui t oes a nd t h eir potent i al im p act o n t he tran s missi o n of v ector-b o rne human / veter i na r y p a t hogens in C a liforn i a.« less

North-Polar Martian Cap as Habitat for Elementary Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallis, M. K.; Wickramasinghe, J. T.; Wickramasinghe, N. C.

2008-09-01

North-polar cap over millenia Atmospheric water in Mars tends currently as for the past millenia to distil onto the polar caps and be buried under dust deposits. Diffusive release from ground-ice (and its excavation in meteorite impacts [1]) replenishes atmospheric water, allowing the gradual build up of polar ice-dust deposits. When sunlit, this warmed and sublimating ice-dust mix has interest as a potential habitat for micro-organisms. Modelling shows precipitable vapour at 10-50μm/yr, varying sensitively with small changes in orbitable obliquity around the present 25° [2]. The modelling applies to a globe with regionally uniform albedo, unlike the steep topography and dark layering of the north polar cap whose upper 300m have accumulated over the last 500 kyr [3]. The cliffs and ravines of the north-polar cap are thought to form through south-facing slopes sublimating and gaining a dirt-encrusted surface, while horizontal surfaces brighten through frost deposits. The two-phase surface derives from the dust and frost feedback on surface albedo [4] and the resulting terrain develops over diurnal cycles of frosting and sublimation, and over annual seasonal cycles. The steep south-facing sides of observed ravines when unshadowed would see for a few hours the full intensity of sunlight at near normal incidence, without the atmospheric dimming at similar inclinations on Earth. As exposed ice sublimates at T > 200K (partial pressure exceeds typical martian 0.1 Pa), a crust of dirt develops to maintain quasi-stability. The dirt crust's main function is to buffer the ice against diurnal temperature fluctuations, but it also slows down vapour diffusion - analogous to south polar ice sublimation [5] and the growth of ground-ice [6]. We envisage 1-10 mm/yr as the net sublimation rate, compatible with the 100 kyr life and scales of the north polar ravines. Modelling of icy-dirt crusts in the polar cap Plane-parallel layers have been used to model the changing temperature through the dirt-encrusted ice cliff [7]. Thermal conduction through the dirt crust limits sublimation of underlying ice. This allows use of the thermal wave solution: where the thermal diffusivity α combining conductivity and specific heat is taken constant and τ0 = 1.88 yr is the martian year. As in [6] we adopt a sinusoidal temperature variation and take α = 0.0001 m²/hour. Like the martian ground ice case, the transition from dirt to ice is quite sharp. The surface temperature variation at the polar cap determined from local radiative balance is largely determined by albedo, while sublimation losses from a south-facing cliff are concentrated in the summer months. For fresh frost, the albedo is close to unity but values 0.6-0.8 allow for varying amounts of exposed dirt or dust, as explored in Figure 1. This shows the integrated ice loss over one martian year (687 Earth days) using the thermal wave solution and the Clausius-Clapeyron equation for ice sublimation: for T in degrees Kelvin. The solutions in Fig. 1 indicate a 10-15cm dirt crust develops quite quickly, within a few decades, becoming thick enough to choke back the sublimation rate to under 1mm/yr, compatible with the age of the cliffs. Less steep slopes develop rather thinner crusts. The seasonal thermal wave of Equ.1 applies for depths exceeding ~5cm (two diurnal skin depths). For A of 0.6, Fig. 1 shows a 10 cm thick crust builds up in ~30yr; this thick a crust may plausibly be maintained against weathering processes. If A<0.5, the mean temperature is too high for thermal inertia alone to choke the sublimation; the crust thickens to >10 cm within a few years and the self-sealing (deposition) and flow-retarding (adsorption/desorption) properties become significant in the thicker and hotter crust [5]. For A>0.7, a 5 cm crust cuts the sublimation rate to <0.1 mm/yr - we expect frost deposition to dominate, keeping the surface icy with high albedo for most of the diurnal cycle. The thermal lag due to latent heat needs including for realistic modeling of the dirt-ice crust. Thus our parameterized exploration reveals a regime where sublimation is 10-100 times higher than precipitable water deposition, implying vapour pressures relatively favourable for ice-living microbes. Schorghofer's [2] modelling for horizontal nearpolar surfaces has ~30 cm deep soil that has filled with pore ice over the last 500 kyr. Environments for ice-based life Ice-dwelling micro-organisms found in the antarctic may be viable on Mars [8,9]. Ices generally have mobile water on internal surfaces of crystals and contaminants, which is presumed to facilitate diffusive transport of nutrients, enzymes and waste products, and to be available for cell processes. Species of archaea are found living in low-T ice. Data on methane in the GISP2 ice core and N2O in the Vostok core have been used [10] to infer there is no cut-off at T as low as -40oC and to derive an exp (-A/T) fit to data indicative of metabolic rates. We conceive that the dirt crusts formed on sublimating ice provide a habitat for psychrotrophic microbes. They reactivate metabolically under the midday warming pulse and take advantage of vapour from the underlying ice. On Mars like on comets, cmscale crusts would protect microbes from the harsh surface UV conditions. The extreme cold of the nightside and polar winter presents little problem to microbial spores and resting states. However, the ecological niches are isolated. We envisage that meteorite impacts on Mars mobilise material from these niches and disperse their micro-life around the planet. Meteorite impact cratering rates come from lunar data scaled to Mars, with account for the air decelerating and fragmenting small impacters [11]. This limits the power law to Δ > 10 m and gives a functional fit Ψ = 1.5 x 10-12 Δ-3.1 / km2.yr from Δ = 10 m to 100 m. (3) The volume integral of the excavated mass equates to an average `gardening' rate ~1 cm / Myr, dominated by the smallest craters ~ 0.3m deep. The craters are sparse on a Myr timescale, though secondary craters from excavated material surely contribute to mobilising cm-deep crusts. The formation and fragmentation of crusts that contained micro-organisms would contribute a biological component to martian soils in the polar regions, that could potentially reach the location of the Phoenix probe (at 68°N). One might expect these to be distinguishable via the onboard microscopy. References [1] Wallis M.K. (1995) Adv. Space Res. 15(4), 113-6. [2] Schorghofer N. (2007) Nature 449, 192-195. [3] Milkovich S.M., Head J.W., Neukum G. and the HRSC Co-Investigator Team (2008) Planet. Space Sci. 56, 266-288. [4] Pelletier J.D. (2004) Geology 32, 365-367 & 384. [5] Skorov Yu.V., Markiewicz W.J., Basilevsky A.T. and Keller H.U. (2001) Planet. Space Sci. 49, 59-63. [6] Schorghofer N. and Aharonson O. (2005) J.Geophys. Res., 110, E05003, 1-16. [7] Wallis M.K., Wickramasinghe N.C. and Wickramasinghe J.T. (2005) 5th EANA Workshop on Astrobiology, p.37, Budapest; Wickramasinghe J.T. (2007) The Role of Comets in Panspermia, Ph D. Thesis, Cardiff University [8] McKay C.P. (2003) Third Mars Polar Sci. Conf. 8056. [9] Hoover R.B., et al. (2004) in SPIE 5163, 191-202 (www.astrobiology.cf.ac.uk/SPIE2004.pdf). [10] Tung H.C., Bramhall N.E. & Price P.B. (2005) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 102, 18292-18296. [11] Hartmann W.K. (2005) Icarus 174, 294-320.

EDITORIAL: Special issue on applied neurodynamics: from neural dynamics to neural engineering Special issue on applied neurodynamics: from neural dynamics to neural engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiel, Hillel J.; Thomas, Peter J.

2011-12-01

Tracing technologies back in time to their scientific and mathematical origins reveals surprising connections between the pure pursuit of knowledge and the opportunities afforded by that pursuit for new and unexpected applications. For example, Einstein's desire to eliminate the disparity between electricity and magnetism in Maxwell's equations impelled him to develop the special theory of relativity (Einstein 1922)Einstein 1922 p 41 'The advance in method arises from the fact that the electric and magnetic fields lose their separate existences through the relativity of motion. A field which appears to be purely an electric field, judged from one system, has also magnetic field components when judged from another inertial system.'. His conviction that there should be no privileged inertial frame of reference Einstein 1922 p 58 'The possibility of explaining the numerical equality of inertia and gravitation by the unity of their nature gives to the general theory of relativity, according to my conviction, such a superiority over the conceptions of classical mechanics, that all the difficulties encountered must be considered as small in comparison with this progress.' further impelled him to utilize the non-Euclidean geometry originally developed by Riemann and others as a purely hypothetical alternative to classical geometry as the foundation for the general theory of relativity. Nowadays, anyone who depends on a global positioning system—which now includes many people who own smart phones—uses a system that would not work effectively without incorporating corrections from both special and general relativity (Ashby 2003). As another example, G H Hardy famously proclaimed his conviction that his work on number theory, which he pursued for the sheer love of exploring the beauty of mathematical structures, was unlikely to find any practical applications (Hardy 1940)Hardy 1940 pp 135-6 'The general conclusion, surely, stands out plainly enough. If useful knowledge is, as we agreed provisionally to say, knowledge which is likely, now or in the comparatively near future, to contribute to the material comfort of mankind, so that mere intellectual satisfaction is irrelevant, then the great bulk of higher mathematics is useless. Modern geometry and algebra, the theory of numbers, the theory of aggregates and functions, relativity, quantum mechanics—no one of them stands the test much better than another, and there is no real mathematician whose life can be justified on this ground. If this be the test, then Abel, Riemann and Poincaré wasted their lives; their contribution to human comfort was negligible, and the world would have been as happy a place without them.'. Ironically, the famous Rivest, Shamir and Adleman (RSA) algorithm, which currently underpins much of modern cryptography, depends on fundamental ideas from number theory (Cormen et al 2001). Finally, the indeterminacy of the quantum states of light, atoms and molecules, a source of great theoretical interest in the first quarter of the last century, is now in the process of being harnessed for creating algorithms, and novel computers, that can solve problems that could not be addressed by current computing devices (Steane 1998, Ralph and Pryde 2010). Thus, perhaps we should not be surprised that a focus on whether a three-body system (such as the sun, earth and moon) would remain stable over time ultimately became the basis for a new geometrical way of thinking about nonlinear dynamical systems, and that this approach has begun to find practical applications in the understanding and control of nervous systems, including novel ideas for brain-computer interfaces. Classical dynamical systems theory began with the work of Newton on the motion of the planets. He was able to solve a two-body problem, the motion of the earth around the sun (Newton 1687, Chandrasekhar 1995). Finding explicit solutions for the slightly more complicated problem of three bodies (for example, the sun, earth and moon) proved to be far more difficult. In the late nineteenth century, Poincaré made significant progress on this problem, introducing a geometric method of reasoning about solutions to differential equations (Diacu and Holmes 1996). This work had a powerful impact on mathematicians and physicists, and also began to influence biology. In his 1925 book, based on his work starting in 1907, and that of others, Lotka used nonlinear differential equations and concepts from dynamical systems theory to analyze a wide variety of biological problems, including oscillations in the numbers of predators and prey (Lotka 1925). Although little was known in detail about the function of the nervous system, Lotka concluded his book with speculations about consciousness and the implications this might have for creating a mathematical formulation of biological systems. Much experimental work in the 1930s and 1940s focused on the biophysical mechanisms of excitability in neural tissue, and Rashevsky and others continued to apply tools and concepts from nonlinear dynamical systems theory as a means of providing a more general framework for understanding these results (Rashevsky 1960, Landahl and Podolsky 1949). The publication of Hodgkin and Huxley's classic quantitative model of the action potential in 1952 created a new impetus for these studies (Hodgkin and Huxley 1952). In 1955, FitzHugh published an important paper that summarized much of the earlier literature, and used concepts from phase plane analysis such as asymptotic stability, saddle points, separatrices and the role of noise to provide a deeper theoretical and conceptual understanding of threshold phenomena (Fitzhugh 1955, Izhikevich and FitzHugh 2006). The Fitzhugh-Nagumo equations constituted an important two-dimensional simplification of the four-dimensional Hodgkin and Huxley equations, and gave rise to an extensive literature of analysis. Many of the papers in this special issue build on tools directly descended from the analysis of the Hodgkin and Huxley equations in FitzHugh and Nagumo's early work. Mathematicians became increasingly interested in biological problems in general, and in the function of the nervous system in particular, during the latter part of the twentieth century. The natural tool for describing more complex neural systems whose patterns of activity unfold in time was nonlinear dynamical systems theory. Classic work from such investigators as Kolmogorov, Arnol'd, Moser, Malkin, Andronov, Hopf, Birkhoff, Hartman and others (reviewed in Izhikevich 2006) served as the basis for understanding the dynamics of neural models such as the coupling of oscillators for rhythmic behavior, leading to work such as that of Koppell and Ermentrout on the lamprey swimming system (Kopell and Ermentrout 1986, 1990), based on earlier models of Cohen et al (1982). Exploration of nonlinear interactions in neuronal populations, especially those that might be related to vision, led to the development of the Wilson-Cowan equations in the 1970s (Wilson and Cowan 1972, 1973). The advent of increasingly powerful personal computers also made it feasible to combine theoretical analyses with extensive numerical investigations of nonlinear dynamical systems. An important and influential example of such work was the detailed bifurcation analysis of Morris and Lecar's two-dimensional model of nonlinear dynamical behavior in the giant muscle fiber of the Pacific barnacle Balanus nubilis (Morris and Lecar 1981), done by Rinzel and Ermentrout in the late 1980s (Rinzel and Ermentrout 1989). The mathematical analysis of bursting behavior based on decomposition of a dynamical system into fast and slow subsystems, an application of Fenichel's geometric singular perturbation theory (Fenichel 1979, Jones 1995), continues to play an important role. Recent work on dynamical analyses of neurons and neural circuits is described in Izhikevich's recent book (Izhikevich 2006), which is based in part on his own work in this area. This is a very small glimpse of a much larger literature; these mathematical themes recur throughout this issue. Practitioners of neural engineering who want to explore the language and role of dynamics further can find accessible introductions to the key ideas in works such as Strogatz (1994) and Izhikevich (2006). In this special issue of Journal of Neural Engineering, we provide a sample of the vigor and excitement of the recent developments in the applications of nonlinear dynamical systems theory to the understanding and control of the nervous system. Four of the papers demonstrate the power of dynamical systems theory to analyze and understand neural systems, both in isolation and within a neuromechanical context (Coggan et al 2011, Nadim et al 2011, Spardy et al 2011a, 2011b). One paper focuses on the importance of noise and delay in dynamical systems for control (Milton 2011). Two papers focus on the dynamics of ion channels—in one paper, new approaches for estimating their parameters are described (Meng et al 2011), and in a second, the time courses of sodium ion channels are used to understand conduction block due to high-frequency stimulation (Ackermann et al 2011). Two papers focus on the use of optimal control theory to develop approaches for understanding (deWolf and Eliasmith 2011) and controlling (Nabi and Moehlis 2011) the nervous system. Finally, two papers begin to explore longer time scale neural dynamics through a combination of modeling and experiments, examining how animals learn to reduce the time required to forage for food at multiple sites (de Jong et al 2011), and how the dynamics of the respiratory system change with development (Fietkiewicz et al 2011). The first four papers of this special issue illustrate the use of dynamical systems theory to analyze and understand neural circuitry and neuromechanical systems. The first of these papers uses the phase response curve (PRC) of an oscillator, which is a conceptual tool rooted in the analysis of systems of nonlinear differential equations that quantifies the effect of internally generated or externally applied perturbations on the phase of an ongoing oscillation. Nadim et al (2011) elegantly apply PRCs and related techniques to shed light on mechanisms for stabilizing the period of a particular central pattern generator circuit, responsible for the pyloric rhythm in the stomatogastric ganglion of the crab. Although the digestive system of Cancer borealis may seem somewhat removed from the concerns of neural engineers, this system has provided the basis for both experimental and theoretical work on the role of neuromodulation on neural circuitry. Neuromodulators can functionally alter the dynamics of a neural circuit on a moment-to-moment basis, 'carving out' distinct functional circuits from a single anatomical circuit (Marder and Thirumalai 2002). Furthermore, a hallmark of central pattern generator (CPG) systems in humans and other animals is a balance of robustness to perturbation and adaptability to changing conditions. Here Nadim et al (2011) focus on robustness, both to intrinsic perturbations such as barrages of irregular synaptic activity (incorporated into a dynamical systems model of the circuit as a Poisson input train), as well as perturbing inputs from other rhythmic processes internal to the animal, such as a slow modulatory input from the animal's gastric mill. Experimentally identified inhibitory feedback from a particular part of the circuit to a pair of pacemaker cells appears extraneous at first, inasmuch as suppressing it seems to have no effect on the period of the pyloric rhythm. But while the mean period is unaffected by removing this synapse's effect, the variance of the period shows great sensitivity. Using an experimental approach that allows them to artificially remove the inhibition—dynamic clamp—and a model that is simplified but based in a principled fashion on the original system, the authors use the structure of the phase response curves with and without the synapse present to explain the mechanism underlying this variance-suppressing inhibitory synapse. Their results can be explained at a conceptual level using phase plane analysis to show that inhibitory synaptic input and the intrinsic properties of the neuron act to cancel out the changes in phase induced by perturbations. These results may have intriguing implications for the role of inhibition in stabilizing vertebrate nervous systems, as well as artificial neural networks. The second paper in this special issue uses dynamical analysis to shed light on the dysfunctional activation of peripheral neurons, for instance in paroxysmal attacks of pain or spasticity. Coggan et al (2011) provide insight into changes in axonal excitability through dynamical analysis of conductance-based models. These authors make elegant use of fast/slow analysis to explain the initiation and termination of ectopic spiking that may underlie paroxysmal neurological symptoms. They work both with a multi-compartment conductance-based model and a lower dimensional, single-compartment model based on the Morris-Lecar model mentioned above. They find that axonal susceptibility to after-discharge depends on dynamical properties such as bistability, in which a dynamical system has more than one stable attractor for a given set of parameters (in this case, a 'quiet' stable fixed point and an 'active' stable limit cycle). Moreover, they find that the system's behavior depends on geometrical features of the dynamics, such as the distance between stable and unstable (saddle) fixed points in the phase plane. Based on their models, they make observations that may have clinical relevance: an axon susceptible to paroxysmal discharges due to disease or mutation may be able to operate normally unless an appropriate 'trigger' is encountered, accounting for the intermittency in the phenomenon that is often observed. Moreover, absolute values of currents may not be as relevant as relative time scales of underlying currents for determining whether paroxysmal discharges will occur. As Coggan et al (2011) observe, 'clinically relevant changes in excitability can be replicated in surprisingly simple models, and can be explained on the basis of a relatively small number of complex nonlinear interactions'. In what could be a theme for this special issue, they further write 'With increases in computing power, there is less and less practical need to keep models simple. However, as models become more complicated, they become harder to analyze (in any formal mathematical manner at least) and ultimately harder to understand. Especially when one's goal is to explain the basis for some well-characterized phenomenon, building a model with the minimally sufficient components may be a good approach. Such models afford the best opportunity to apply tools from dynamical systems theory to formally characterize the nonlinear dynamical basis for the phenomenon'. The third and fourth papers in this special issue, by Spardy et al (2011a, 2011b), use dynamical systems theory to understand the underlying dynamics of vertebrate locomotion. Within the theoretical framework of dynamical systems, a central pattern generator circuit is typically thought of as a stable limit cycle, or isolated periodic orbit. From this point of view, it is natural to see the relationship between the central circuit and the peripheral musculo-skeletal system as feed-forward only. However, real neuromechanical systems often include feedback from the periphery to the central generator, and these interactions may have nontrivial consequences for rhythm generation (Chiel and Beer 1997, Chiel et al 2009). Incorporating peripheral feedback into a neuromechanical central pattern generator complicates the model, but also can provide a closer match to empirical behavior. As an example, Markin et al (2010) recently showed that fictive locomotion (in an isolated spinal cord preparation from the cat) occurred only over a narrow range of supra-spinal drives compared to those supporting normal locomotion in a preparation in which feedback from the limb to the spinal cord was kept intact. The mechanisms by which locomotory behavior can be maintained, both under normal conditions and under reduced supraspinal drive (representing the effects of spinal cord injury (SCI)) are important building blocks for rehabilitative therapy post-SCI. Spardy et al (2011a, 2011b) analyze afferent control in a neuromechanical model of limbed locomotion that addresses these experimental results directly. Using sophisticated mathematical techniques from dynamical systems analysis, such as dissection of the dynamics into fast and slow subsystems, they are able to stitch together the geometry underlying transitions between different combinations of flexor/extensor activation and stance/swing phases of limb movement. Their analysis explains how peripheral feedback extends the range of supraspinal drives for which stable oscillations occur. In fact, they identify qualitatively distinct mechanisms by which the CPG creates rhythmic behavior in the presence and absence of feedback; in one case, the timing is determined by release from inhibition, and in the other case, escape from inhibition. In a companion paper, this same group carries out a further analysis of the locomotory control system, allowing them to resolve the following issue. As running speed increases, the durations of different component phases of the motion (stance/swing) do not change symmetrically. Instead, increase in velocity of forward motion is accomplished by decreasing the stance phase duration while the swing phase duration remains roughly constant. How is it that a CPG built of symmetrically related elements (flexor/extensor related rhythm generation neurons and interneurons), and symmetric descending drive, is able to produce asymmetric cycles? By finding a reduced model that retains the essential dynamical elements of the larger computational model, they are able to explain why a CPG or drive asymmetry are not needed to generate asymmetric changes in the duration of the swing/stance phases as running speed increases, as observed experimentally. As part of the analysis, they raise and answer an important question: does the reduced model indeed possess limit cycle dynamics? They are able to prove mathematically (using averaging methods) that the move to a more analytically tractable model has not eliminated the main phenomenon of interest, and that a limit cycle does indeed exist in the simplified model. The fifth paper in this special issue, by Milton (2011), extends the classical dynamical systems approach by incorporating the 'reality' of imperfect actuators and sensors, unexpected events in the world, noise and delays. From an engineering viewpoint, delays can cause deleterious complications within control systems. For example, sufficiently long delays in a feedback control loop can be destabilizing. However, the existence of delays in a neural control system is often ignored because it complicates mathematical analysis of the system. The coexistence of delays and random perturbations (or noise) further complicates system analysis. Milton (2011) gives an elegant review of this topic with applications to human neural control problems, for example the stability and response time during postural sway in healthy adults, visuomotor stabilization of an inverted rigid rod (stick balancing), delay-induced transient oscillations and anticipatory synchronization. As Milton (2011) points out, in order to connect insights from analysis of noisy delayed control systems with human neuromotor control, it is essential to understand the nature of the cost functions that the nervous system uses to manage its resources. The sixth paper in this special issue, by Meng et al (2011), focuses on the problem of parameter estimation for models of nerve cells that have multiple ionic conductances. The richness of the dynamics of nerve cells, which are far more than on/off switches, comes from the many ion channels within their membranes, which allow them to be spontaneously active, to be bistable (e.g. silent or firing repetitively based on inputs), to fire in rhythmic bursts and to have their dynamical properties altered by exogenous neuromodulators. In many extracellular recordings, however, only information about the timing of spikes is available. What can be inferred from these data? Meng et al (2011) use the statistical theory of point processes and Monte Carlo methods to infer the parameters for a proposed dynamical model of a nerve cell. They show that it is possible to estimate two 'unknown' conductances (gNA and gK) for a standard Hodgkin-Huxley model from two sets of spike train data with two different simulated resting currents, and suggest ways in which this approach could be generalized to more complex spike train data. The seventh paper, by Ackermann et al (2011), also focuses on the dynamics of ion channels to shed new light on a controversy concerning the mechanism by which high-frequency stimulation can reversibly block conduction of action potentials in peripheral nerves. High-frequency block (HFB) techniques show promise for remediating the effects of chronic spasticity by preventing pathological peripheral activity from propagating to central sensation centers. Using the known dynamics of sodium and potassium channels, and a sensitivity analysis of a dynamical conduction model, the authors are able to narrow down the likely mechanism by which HFB acts to stop signals from propagating into the nervous system. The eighth paper, by Nabi and Moehlis (2011), uses approaches from control theory to explore the control or remediation of pathophysiological states. In many cases, pathological neurological conditions involve a dynamical component. For example, debilitating akinesia and involuntary tremor associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) are believed to involve atypical synchronized activity in populations of neurons in regions such as the subthalamic nucleus within the basal ganglia (Hauptmann and Tass 2010, Rosin et al 2007). Remediation of PD symptoms via deep brain stimulation (DBS) is limited in that it can only 'force' the system in a small number of independently tunable directions. How can one most effectively desynchronize a high-dimensional dynamical system using an input that is limited to a much smaller dimension? To make things worse, the details of the system for any given patient—number, connectivity and physiology of the neurons involved—are largely unknown. Nabi and Moehlis (2011) take a step toward addressing these issues by considering optimal desynchronizing control for a simple system that retains essential elements of the problem: given three coupled oscillators with a tendency to synchronize (that is, a globally attracting stable synchronized state), and a control signal that can only be applied to one of the oscillators, what is the optimal desynchronizing control signal under a quadratic control penalty? Put another way, with how light a touch is it possible to bring the oscillators away from their preferred synchronized state by a given amount? The answer depends in part on the form taken by the coupling between the cells. For instance, if the coupling between the stimulated cell and the others is identical, then from symmetry one can see that no desynchronizing control signal exists (at least, if the cells are identical). Encouragingly, for reasonable control stimuli, the authors find that control signals of modest size can effectively desynchronize the population for a large fraction of possible couplings. The ninth paper addresses one of the most ambitious areas within neural engineering: the application of control theoretic techniques to dynamics of circuits in the central nervous system. Control of high-dimensional systems (often accessed through low-dimensional interventions) and the complexity of interactions intrinsic to central neural circuits makes this problem especially challenging. The paper by De Wolf and Eliasmith (2011) proposes a general theoretical framework for modeling neural control, the neural optimal control hierarchy (NOCH), relying on concepts from optimal control theory. Using the Bellman equation, they define key control concepts for trajectories, argue for a motor hierarchy and suggest ways in which this could be mapped onto actual neural systems, and apply their framework to understand arm reaching, both in normal subjects and in those affected by Huntington's disease and cerebellar injury. They also argue that some of the highly nonlinear responses of motor cortical neurons during reaching behavior are a natural consequence of the control problem solved by the neural circuitry, as they have defined it. Although much experimental work remains to validate their approach, they discuss the likelihood that ideas from control theory could already be incorporated into novel brain-machine interfaces. Finally, the last two papers begin to empirically address two important aspects of slower time scale dynamics in the nervous system: learning and development. The paper by de Jong et al (2011) develops a new paradigm for understanding how animals respond to spatial problems by studying the paths that rats take among several different food sources. After repeated exposure, the paths that animals take shorten, suggesting that they are able to find more efficient ways of exploiting resources in their environment. The problem is challenging because the animals need to use local cues to determine the nature of the task itself, and then to determine how to improve their responses over time. If a food source is removed, animals are able to rapidly adjust their routes to continue to take the shortest path among the food sources. As the authors point out, this task is related to a classic problem in computational complexity theory, the traveling salesman problem, and may shed light on how biological systems rapidly obtain good (if not globally optimal) solutions to such problems, as well as creating a new paradigm for understanding the mapping of spatial problems within brain areas such as the hippocampus. The paper by Fietkiewicz et al (2011) uses both empirical and modeling studies to understand the developmental dynamics of the respiratory system. Phase relationships among motor neurons driving the respiratory system change early in development, and play an important role in generating stable breathing rhythms. Using cross-correlation techniques, the authors demonstrate the stage of development at which these changes occur, and then create a model that provides some insight into how this change may be instantiated neurally. These papers also suggest some important directions for future work. As Milton (2011) emphasizes, noise and delays are inherent in the nervous system, the body and the environment, and since all have co-evolved, subject to energetic constraints, many aspects of the control of the overall system will not be clear unless these stochastic processes are properly modeled and understood (Goldwyn et al 2011, Thomas 2011, White et al 2000). Similarly, the two papers by Spardy et al (2011a, 2011b) emphasize that nervous systems are embodied, and that neural dynamics is shaped by the neuromechanical properties of the periphery. The paper by DeWolf and Eliasmith (2011) poses an interesting challenge, suggesting that optimal control theory and hierarchical structures may provide insight into the nervous system. It remains to be seen whether this approach can capture the highly recurrent nature of biological nervous systems, and the complex spatial and temporal dynamics of its elements. The papers by de Jong et al (2011) and Fietkiewicz et al (2011) suggest that understanding more about learning and development will provide deep insights into the slow dynamics of the nervous system that allow it to adapt over the lifespan of an individual. They pose the challenge of relating local plastic changes to the global dynamics of the system. Many of the papers suggest fruitful and potentially novel ways to begin to develop new brain-computer interfaces based on an understanding of neural dynamics: extracting parameters for the underlying dynamics using the approaches suggested by Meng et al (2011); using an understanding of the dynamics of ion channels to develop new protocols for enhancing or blocking signaling in the nervous system, using the approaches suggested by Ackermann et al (2011); exploiting an understanding of the dynamics of neural populations to find the lowest-dimensional driving signals that could synchronize or desynchronize population activity, using the approach of Nabi and Moehlis (2011); recognizing the importance of appropriately timed inhibition to stabilize a neural circuit in response to perturbations, using the approach of Nadim et al (2011); and defining rational treatments for paroxysmal bursting in axons based on the dynamical analysis of Coggan et al (2011). 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