Effectiveness of Acupressure Treatment for Pain Management and Fatigue Relief in Gulf War Veterans

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-01

measures. II. KEYWORDS Acupressure, Reiki , Gulf War Illness, fatigue, chronic headache, musculoskeletal pain, electroencephalography, non-invasive...Consultant) Ernie Betz (Consultant – Reiki ) Wenning Zhao (Consultant) Yin Fang PhD (Consultant) Vlodek Siemionow PhD (Consultant) Due to...Zhao and Ms. Alice Langholt were recruited to provide the Acupressure and Reiki interventions. Dr. Juliet Hou was recruited as a medical monitor

Comment on "Quantum Teleportation of Eight-Qubit State via Six-Qubit Cluster State"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sisodia, Mitali; Pathak, Anirban

2018-04-01

Recently, Zhao et al. (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 57, 516-522 2018) have proposed a scheme for quantum teleportation of an eight-qubit quantum state using a six qubit cluster state. In this comment, it's shown that the quantum resource (multi-partite entangled state used as the quantum channel) used by Zhao et al., is excessively high and the task can be performed using any two Bell states as the task can be reduced to the teleportation of an arbitrary two qubit state. Further, a trivial conceptual mistake made by Zhao et al., in the description of the quantum channel has been pointed out. It's also mentioned that recently a trend of proposing teleportation schemes with excessively high quantum resources has been observed and the essence of this comment is applicable to all such proposals.

Institute for Advanced Pharmaceutical Sciences: Molecular Targets and Drug Screens to Combat Bioterrorism

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

evaluation of bis( benzimidazoles ), bis(benzoxazoles), and benzothiazoles. Bioorg. Med. Chem., 14, 6106-6119, (2006). (2) Chang, J., Zhao, K., Pan, S...evaluation of bis( benzimidazoles ), bis(benzoxazoles), and benzothiazoles. Bioorg. Med. Chem., 14, 6106-6119, (2006). (2) Chang, J., Zhao, K., Pan, S...benzoxazole, benzimidazole and bis- benzimidazole derivatives (Figure 1) and will test their efficacy against the Bacillus anthracis ∆ANR strain. N H N CO2H

Leveraging the MJO for Predicting Envelopes of Tropical Wave and Synoptic Activity at Multi-Week Lead Times

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-30

GEWEX GASS MJO Diabatic Heating Experiment, 2) Intraseasonal Variability Hindcast Experiment (ISVHE) C. Conduct more comprehensive analysis on the...since her Ph.D. study. Key partners include M. Zhao (GFDL) and J. Ridout (NRL). Both Zhao and Ridout are contributors to the MJO multi-model diabatic ...a paper and submitted to the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (Guo et al. 2013). We have also begun acquiring model data from the MJO Diabatic

Intelligence in Scientific Computing.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-31

simulation) a high-performance controller for a magnetic levitation system - the German Transrapid system. The new control system can stabilize maglev ...techniques. A paper by Feng Zhao and Richard Thornton about the maglev controller designed by his program was presented at the 31st IEEE conference on...Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, 1991. Also availible as MIT AITR 1385. Zhao, F. and Thornton, R. "Automatic Design of a Maglev Controller in

Automatic Design of a Maglev Controller in State Space

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

Design of a Maglev Controller in State Space Feng Zhao Richard Thornton Abstract We describe the automatic synthesis of a global nonlinear controller for...the global switching points of the controller is presented. The synthesized control system can stabilize the maglev vehicle with large initial displace...NUMBERS Automation Desing of a Maglev Controller in State Space N00014-89-J-3202 MIP-9001651 6. AUTHOR(S) Feng Zhao and Richard Thornton 7. PERFORMING

Variable Selection in Logistic Regression.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-06-01

23 %. AUTIOR(.) S. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBE Rf.i %Z. D. Bai, P. R. Krishnaiah and . C. Zhao F49620-85- C-0008 " PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND AOORESS...d I7 IOK-TK- d 7 -I0 7’ VARIABLE SELECTION IN LOGISTIC REGRESSION Z. D. Bai, P. R. Krishnaiah and L. C. Zhao Center for Multivariate Analysis...University of Pittsburgh Center for Multivariate Analysis University of Pittsburgh Y !I VARIABLE SELECTION IN LOGISTIC REGRESSION Z- 0. Bai, P. R. Krishnaiah

Regulation Of The Tumor Suppressor Activity Of p53 In Human Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-09-01

Cell. Biol. 11, (51). As with the studies reported here (Fig. 2 and Table I), the 34. Diller, L., Kassel, J., Nelson, C. E., Gryka , M . A., Litwak, G...this research: 1. Resnick-Silverman, L., S. St Clair, M . Maurer, K. Zhao, and J. J. Manfredi. 1998. Identification of a novel class of genomic DNA...Zhao, J. F. Pizzolato, M . Fonarev, J. C. Langer, and J. J. Manfredi. 1998. Constitutive expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 is

New Authentication Scheme for Wireless Body Area Networks Using the Bilinear Pairing.

PubMed

Wang, Chunzhi; Zhang, Yanmei

2015-11-01

Due to the development of information technologies and network technologies, healthcare systems have been employed in many countries. As an important part of healthcare systems, the wireless body area network (WBAN) could bring convenience to both patients and physicians because it could help physicians to monitor patients' physiological values remotely. It is essential to ensure secure communication in WBANs because patients' physiological values are very sensitive. Recently, Liu et al. proposed an efficient authentication scheme for WBANs. Unfortunately, Zhao pointed out that their scheme suffered from the stolen verifier-table attack. To improve security and efficiency, Zhao proposed an anonymous authentication scheme for WBANs. However, Zhao's scheme cannot provide real anonymity because the users' pseudo identities are constant value and the attack could tract the users. In this paper, we propose a new anonymous authentication scheme for WBANs. Security analysis shows that the proposed scheme could overcome weaknesses in previous scheme. We also use the BAN logic to demonstrate the security of the proposed scheme.

Ultrafast Optics: Vector Cavity Fiber Lasers - Physics and Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-14

with a quasi- vector cavity both numerically and experimentally. It is expected that through the study a deep and comprehensive understanding on the...799-801, Jun. 1997. 31. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like pulse in a gain-guided soliton fiber laser," Opt...solitons in a ring fiber laser," Optics Communications 281 (22), 5614 (2008). 110. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like

Ultrafast Optics: Vector Cavity Laser - Physics and Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-14

with a quasi- vector cavity both numerically and experimentally. It is expected that through the study a deep and comprehensive understanding on the...799-801, Jun. 1997. 31. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like pulse in a gain-guided soliton fiber laser," Opt...solitons in a ring fiber laser," Optics Communications 281 (22), 5614 (2008). 110. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like

Ultrafast Optics - Vector Cavity Lasers: Physics and Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-14

with a quasi- vector cavity both numerically and experimentally. It is expected that through the study a deep and comprehensive understanding on the...799-801, Jun. 1997. 31. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like pulse in a gain-guided soliton fiber laser," Opt...solitons in a ring fiber laser," Optics Communications 281 (22), 5614 (2008). 110. L. M. Zhao, D. Y. Tang, J. Wu, X. Q. Fu, and S. C. Wen , "Noise-like

Retraction RETRACTION of "Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene -308G>A polymorphism association with the risk of esophageal cancer in a Han Chinese population" by H. Zhao, H.W. Zhang, T. Zhang and X.M. Gu - Genet. Mol. Res. 15 (2): gmr.15025866 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4238/gmr.15025866.

PubMed

Zhao, H; Zhang, H W; Zhang, T; Gu, X M

2016-10-07

The retracted article is: Zhao H, Zhang HW, Zhang T and Gu XM (2016). Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene -308G>A polymorphism association with the risk of esophageal cancer in a Han Chinese population. Genet. Mol. Res. 15: gmr.15025866. Two major concerns were found in this article. Firstly, it was found to be substantially equal to the article "Tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene -308G > A polymorphism alters the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in a Han Chinese population" published in the Diagnostic Pathology Diagnostic Pathology (2014) 9: 199, by Feng et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2014 - DOI: 10.1186/s13000-014-0199-3. Secondly, the authors do not discuss limitations of their approaches in the discussion. The discussion is largely an elaboration of the literature in the introduction part. However, even in that context, the discussion does not appropriately review the literature and there are frequent references to conclusions that are not supported by the cited literature. The GMR editorial staff was alerted and after a thorough investigation, there is strong reason to believe that the peer review process was failure. Also, after review and contacting the authors, the editors of Genetics and Molecular Research decided to retract this article in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The authors and their institutions were advised of this serious breach of ethics.

A Provably Secure RFID Authentication Protocol Based on Elliptic Curve for Healthcare Environments.

PubMed

Farash, Mohammad Sabzinejad; Nawaz, Omer; Mahmood, Khalid; Chaudhry, Shehzad Ashraf; Khan, Muhammad Khurram

2016-07-01

To enhance the quality of healthcare in the management of chronic disease, telecare medical information systems have increasingly been used. Very recently, Zhang and Qi (J. Med. Syst. 38(5):47, 32), and Zhao (J. Med. Syst. 38(5):46, 33) separately proposed two authentication schemes for telecare medical information systems using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. They claimed that their protocols achieve all security requirements including forward secrecy. However, this paper demonstrates that both Zhang and Qi's scheme, and Zhao's scheme could not provide forward secrecy. To augment the security, we propose an efficient RFID authentication scheme using elliptic curves for healthcare environments. The proposed RFID scheme is secure under common random oracle model.

75 FR 23670 - Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Countervailing Duty Order

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-04

... Calvert or Jun Jack Zhao, AD/CVD Operations, Office 6, Import Administration, International Trade..., convenience, department, specialty retail, discount stores, and restaurants to their customers to package and...

Wetland biogeochemical processes and simulation modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Junhong; Huang, Laibin; Gao, Haifeng; Jia, Jia; Wang, Xin

2018-02-01

As the important landscape with rich biodiversity and high productivity, wetlands can provide numerous ecological services including playing an important role in regulating global biogeochemical cycles, filteringpollutants from terrestrial runoff and atmospheric deposition, protecting and improving water quality, providing living habitats for plants and animals, controlling floodwaters, and retaining surface water flow during dry periods (Reddy and DeLaune, 2008; Qin and Mitsch, 2009; Zhao et al., 2016). However, more than 50% of the world's wetlands had been altered, degraded or lost through a wide range of human activities in the past 150 years, and only a small percentage of the original wetlands remained around the world after over two centuries of intensive development and urbanization (O'connell, 2003; Zhao et al., 2016).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: NGC 2682 uvby-Hbeta photometry (Balaguer-Nunez+, 2007)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balaguer-Nunez, L.; Galadi-Enriquez, D.; Jordi, C.

2007-05-01

The catalogue of uvby-Hbeta and J2000 coordinates for 1843 stars in an area of 50'x50' around NGC 2682. We mark the selection of probable members of NGC 2682, combining the photometric study with an astrometric analysis. The cross-identification of stars in common with the astrometry (Zhao et al., 1993, Cat. ), BDA (htpp://obswww.unige.ch/WEBDA), Sanders (1977A&AS...27...89S), Hipparcos (ESA, 1997, Cat. ), Tycho-2 (Hog et al., 2000, Cat. ), and USNO-2 (Monet et al., 1998, Cat. ) catalogues. The proper motions from Zhao et al. (1993, Cat. ), their errors and membership probabilities of 1046 stars in the area of M~67, with parametric and non parametric membership probabilities. (3 data files).

Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blair, D. G.; Howell, E. J.; Ju, L.; Zhao, C.

2012-02-01

Part I. An Introduction to Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Detectors: 1. Gravitational waves D. G. Blair, L. Ju, C. Zhao and E. J. Howell; 2. Sources of gravitational waves D. G. Blair and E. J. Howell; 3. Gravitational wave detectors D. G. Blair, L. Ju, C. Zhao, H. Miao, E. J. Howell, and P. Barriga; 4. Gravitational wave data analysis B. S. Sathyaprakash and B. F. Schutz; 5. Network analysis L. Wen and B. F. Schutz; Part II. Current Laser Interferometer Detectors: Three Case Studies: 6. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory P. Fritschel; 7. The VIRGO detector S. Braccini; 8. GEO 600 H. Lück and H. Grote; Part III. Technology for Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors: 9. Lasers for high optical power interferometers B. Willke and M. Frede; 10. Thermal noise, suspensions and test masses L. Ju, G. Harry and B. Lee; 11. Vibration isolation: Part 1. Seismic isolation for advanced LIGO B. Lantz; Part 2. Passive isolation J-C. Dumas; 12. Interferometer sensing and control P. Barriga; 13. Stabilizing interferometers against high optical power effects C. Zhao, L. Ju, S. Gras and D. G. Blair; Part IV. Technology for Third Generation Gravitational Wave Detectors: 14. Cryogenic interferometers J. Degallaix; 15. Quantum theory of laser-interferometer GW detectors H. Miao and Y. Chen; 16. ET. A third generation observatory M. Punturo and H. Lück; Index.

Dubbing SAGA unveils new epigenetic crosstalk.

PubMed

Pijnappel, W W M Pim; Timmers, H Th Marc

2008-02-01

In a recent issue of Molecular Cell, two independent studies (Zhang et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2008) provide compelling evidence that targeted deubiquitylation of histones is intimately linked to transcription activation, epigenetic regulation, and cancer progression.

Structural State and Elastic Properties of Perovskites in the Earth's Mantle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, N. L.; Angel, R. J.; Zhao, J.

2005-12-01

Recent advances in laboratory-based single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques for measuring the intensities of diffraction from crystals held in situ at high pressures in the diamond-anvil cell have been used to determine the role of polyhedral compression in the response of 2:4 and 3:3 GdFeO3-type perovskites to high pressure [1]. These new data clearly demonstrate that, contrary to previous belief, the compression of the octahedral sites is significant and that the evolution of the perovskite structure with pressure is controlled by a new principle; that of equipartition of bond-valence strain across the structure [2]. This new paradigm, together with the minimal information available from high- pressure powder diffraction studies, may provide the possibility of predicting the structural state and elastic properties of perovskites of any composition at mantle pressures and temperatures. Cation partioning between silicate perovskites and other phases should then be predictable through the application of a Brice-style model [3]. The geochemical implications of this type of analysis will be presented as well as the possibility for extending these measurements to higher pressures. References [1] e.g. Zhao, Ross & Angel (2004) Phys Chem Miner. 31: 299; Ross, Zhao,. & Angel (2004). J. Solid State Chemistry 177:1276. [2] Zhao, Ross, & Angel (2004). Acta Cryst. B60:263 [3] e.g Walter et al. (2004) Geochim Cosmochim Acta 68:4267; Blundy & Wood (1994) Nature 372:452

ULTRASOUND-ASSISTED ORGANIC SYNTHESIS: ALCOHOL OXIDATION AND OLEFIN EPOXIDATION

EPA Science Inventory

Ultrasound-assisted Organic Synthesis: Alcohol Oxidation and Olefin Epoxidation

Unnikrishnan R Pillai, Endalkachew Sahle-Demessie , Vasudevan Namboodiri, Quiming Zhao, Juluis Enriquez
U.S. EPA , 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr. , Cincinnati, OH 45268
Phone: 513-569-773...

Exploring Our Galaxy's Thick Disk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-12-01

What is the structure of the Milky Ways disk, and how did it form? A new study uses giant stars to explore these questions.A View from the InsideSchematic showing an edge-on, not-to-scale view of what we think the Milky Ways structurelookslike. The thick disk is shown in yellow and the thin disk is shown in green. [Gaba p]Spiral galaxies like ours are often observed to have disks consisting of two components: a thin disk that lies close to the galactic midplane, and a thick disk that extends above and below this. Past studies have suggested that the Milky Ways disk hosts the same structure, but our position embedded in the Milky Way makes this difficult to confirm.If we can measure the properties of a broad sample of distant tracer stars and use this to better understand the construction of the Milky Ways disk, then we can start to ask additional questions like, how did the disk components form? Formation pictures for the thick disk generally fall into two categories:Stars in the thick disk formed within the Milky Way either in situ or by migrating to their current locations.Stars in the thick disk formed in satellite galaxies around the Milky Way and then accreted when the satellites were disrupted.Scientists Chengdong Li and Gang Zhao (NAO Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) have now used observations of giant stars which can be detected out to great distances due to their brightness to trace the properties of the Milky Ways thick disk and address the question of its origin.Best fits for the radial (top) and vertical (bottom) metallicity gradients of the thick-disk stars. [Adapted from Li Zhao 2017]Probing OriginsLi and Zhao used data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) in China to examine a sample of 35,000 giant stars. The authors sorted these stars into different disk components halo, thin disk, and thick disk based on their kinematic properties, and then explored how the orbital and

In-situ Strontium Isotopes Analysis on Single Conodont Apatite by LA-MC-ICP-MS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, L.; Zhang, L.; Chen, Z. Q.; Ma, D.; Qiu, H.; Lv, Z.; Hu, Z.; Wang, F.

2014-12-01

Strontium isotope played an important role in stratigraphic chronology and sedimentary geochemistry research (McArthur et al., 2001). Conodonts is a kind of extinct species of marine animals and widely distributed in marine sediments all over the world. Rich in radiogenic Sr contents and difficulty to be affected during diagenesis alteration makes conodonts a good choice in seawater Sr isotope composition studies (John et al., 2008). Conodont samples were collected from 24th to 39th layer across Permian-Triassic boundary at Meishan D section (GSSP), Zhejiang Province, South China (Yin et al., 2001). Conodonts was originated from fresh limestone and only conodont elements with CAI<2 were chosen for in-situ strontium isotope analysis using laser-ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS). Conodont samples are from totally 25 layers in seven conodont zones making it possible for a high resolution 87Sr/ 86Sr curve reconstruction during the Permian-Triassic transition. 87Sr/ 86Sr ratio kept a relatively high value (0.70752) in the middle part of the Clarkina yini zone and a lower value (0.70634) in the upperpart of Clarkina taylorae zone. Of which, 87Sr/ 86Sr ratio emerged a rapid decrease within the Clarkina taylorae zone. After a subsequent increase, 87Sr/ 86Sr ratio dropped to 0.70777 in the Isarcicella staeschei zone. These results helps providing reference data for the biological mass extinction events during the Permian-Triassic transition. Our study also makes is possible for high resolution 87Sr/ 86Sr ratio testing on the single conodont apatite and riched the in-situ studies on the conodont apatite, which of great significance for the future conodont Sr isotope research (Zhao et al., 2009; Zhao et al., 2013). Keywords: Conodonts, Strontium isotope, LA-MC-ICP-MS, Permian-Triassic transition, Meishan D section [1] John et al., 2008 3P[2] McArthur et al., 2001 J. of Geology [3] Yin et al., 2001 Episodes [4] Zhao et al

Electric Vehicle Sharing Planning and Operations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-02-01

Dongfang Zhao (ORCID ID 0000-0002-5424-9915); Xiaopeng (Shaw) Li (ORCID ID 0000-0002-5264-3775); Yu Zhang (ORCID ID 0000-0003-1202-626X) This project includes literature review and proposing a model for EV planning and operations. We first conducted ...

KINETICS OF BROMODICHLOROMETHANE METABOLISM BY CYTOCHROME P450 ISOENZYMES IN HUMAN LIVER MICROSOMES

EPA Science Inventory

Kinetics of Bromodichloromethane Metabolism by
Cytochrome P450 Isoenzymes in Human Liver Microsomes

Guangyu Zhao and John W. Allis

ABSTRACT
The kinetic constants for the metabolism of bromodichloromethane (BDCM) by three cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes have ...

Modern Foreign Languages: A Refereed International Journal of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, 2001.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ying, Du, Ed; Zidong, Huang, Ed.

2001-01-01

These three issues contain the following articles written in Chinese: "On Conflated Theme in Systemic Functional Grammar" (Huang Guo-Wen); "A Cognitive Approach to the Conceptual Semantic Structures of Causation" (Cheng Qi-Long); "Falsifying the Internal Argument Hypothesis" (Zhao Yan-Chun); "Existential…

Expert Maintenance Advisor Development for Navy Shipboard Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-01

Estoril (EDEN) Chair: Xavier Alaman, Instituto de Ingenieria del Conocimiento, SPAIN "A Model of Handling Uncertainty in Expert Systems," 01 Zhao...for Supervisory Process Control," Xavier Alaman, Instituto de Ingenieria del Conocimiento, SPAIN - (L) INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEMS IN POWER

A matrix-free implicit unstructured multigrid finite volume method for simulating structural dynamics and fluid structure interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, X.; Zhao, Y.; Huang, X. Y.; Xia, G. H.; Su, X. H.

2007-07-01

A new three-dimensional (3D) matrix-free implicit unstructured multigrid finite volume (FV) solver for structural dynamics is presented in this paper. The solver is first validated using classical 2D and 3D cantilever problems. It is shown that very accurate predictions of the fundamental natural frequencies of the problems can be obtained by the solver with fast convergence rates. This method has been integrated into our existing FV compressible solver [X. Lv, Y. Zhao, et al., An efficient parallel/unstructured-multigrid preconditioned implicit method for simulating 3d unsteady compressible flows with moving objects, Journal of Computational Physics 215(2) (2006) 661-690] based on the immersed membrane method (IMM) [X. Lv, Y. Zhao, et al., as mentioned above]. Results for the interaction between the fluid and an immersed fixed-free cantilever are also presented to demonstrate the potential of this integrated fluid-structure interaction approach.

75 FR 16428 - Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Final Affirmative...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-01

... Calvert or Jun Jack Zhao, AD/CVD Operations, Office 6, Import Administration, International Trade... Operations, Office 6, ``Verification of the Questionnaire Responses Submitted by Chin Sheng Company, Ltd... concerning banking in Vietnam. See Memorandum to Barbara E. Tillman, Director, AD/ CVD Operations, Office 6...

International Conference on Snow Hydrology: The Integration of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Systems Held in Brownsville, Vermont on 6-9 October 1998

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-08-01

5 Estimating Snowmelt Infiltration into Frozen Soils L . Zhao and D .M . G ray...andY Matsuura ......................................................... 17 Effect of Subalpine Canopy Removal on Snowpack, Soil Solution, and Nutrient...Tonnessen, and K. Heuer ..................................................................... 26 Snow Depth. Soil Frost, and Nutrient Loss in a Northern

Membrane Reflector Vertical Cavity Lasers at Near- and Midwave-Infrared

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-30

independent broadband reflectors based on cross-stacked gratings, Optics Express, (04 2011): 9050. doi: 10.1364/OE.19.009050 Tapas Kumar Saha, Mingyu Lu... Mingyu Lu, Huiqing Zhai, Deyin Zhao, Weidong Zhou. Design of a compact grating coupler with controllable linewidths via transverse resonance and

The Platform-Aware Compilation Environment (PACE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

The PACE Project provided full or partial support for the following graduate students: 1. Raj Barik (Rice) 2. Thomas Barr (Rice) 3...University, Houston, TX, Technical Report CS TR11-03, October 20, 2011. [7] Rajkishore Barik , Jisheng Zhao, and Vivek Sarkar, "Efficient Selection

78 FR 33349 - Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Indonesia: Negative Preliminary Countervailing Duty...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-04

... CONTACT: Gene Calvert, Jun Jack Zhao, or Emily Halle, AD/CVD Operations, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW... Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Import Administration's...

Lexical Link Analysis (LLA) Application: Improving Web Service to Defense Acquisition Visibility Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

and Knowledge Management (IC3K), Madeira , Portugal. Girvan, M., & Newman, M. E. J. (2002). Community structure in social and biological networks...Trident Warrior 08 exercise. In KDIR, Madeira , Portugal, INSTICC Press. Zhao, Y., Gallup, S.P., & MacKinnon, D.J. (2010). Towards real-time program

Reactive Astrocytes: Phenotypic and Functional Characteristics and Astrocytes as Neural Stem Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

of sulforaphane , an isothiocyanate, attenuated AQP4 loss in the injury core and further increased AQP4 levels in the penumbra region compared with...glutamate transporters in traumatic brain injury. Neurochem Int 48:394-403. Zhao J, Moore AN, Clifton GL, Dash PK. 2005. Sulforaphane enhances

Courageous Conversations: Inviting Valued Texts into the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Shanetia P.; Marinak, Barbara A.

2011-01-01

Zhao (2009) notes that when people are intrinsically motivated, they will become courageous. By inviting texts that students value into literature classrooms, educators can reconcile the sometimes seemingly disparate goals of engagement and accountability. Our work with preservice teachers revealed an intersection between motivation and new…

Estimation of watershed lag times and times of concentration for the Kansas City Area : technical summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

The new lag-time equation for the Kansas City area performs better than the 2001 KU-KDOT equation for urban lag time, which was developed from a study of 14 gaged watersheds in Johnson County (McEnroe & Zhao, 2001). The main advantage of the new lag-...

Teachers' Agency and the Enactment of Educational Reform in Vietnam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Hoa Thi Mai; Bui, Thuy

2016-01-01

Scholars concerned with language policies (LPs) argue that globalization has brought about various political, socio-economic, and linguistic shifts that increasingly impact on teacher agency (e.g., Zhao & Baldauf, 2012). Recently, the LP literature has increasingly acknowledged the agentive role of teachers as a critical factor in implementing…

Development of a solar radiation stress index for cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In Mid-South cotton fields, a marked increase in small boll abscission following a progression of cloudy days may be erroneously attributed to effects of arthropod pests. Zhao and Oosterhuis (2000) found that 4 days of shading impacted yield especially during the period of effective flowering and bo...

Motivation and Commitment: Pre-Service Teachers from Hong Kong and Mainland China at a Training Institute in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gu, Mingyue; Lai, Chun

2012-01-01

Research indicates that historical and social backgrounds influence individuals' motivation to teach and their commitment to teaching (Gordon, 2000; Su, Hawkins, Huang & Zhao, 2001). This article reports on a comparative study exploring the motivation to teach and the commitment to teaching among non-local prospective student teachers from…

Multi-Grid and Resolution Full-Wave Tomography and Moment Tensor Inversion (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-04

Denver: University of Colorado. Chen, P., L. Zhao, and T.H. Jordan (2007). Full 3D tomography for crustal structure of the Los Angeles Region, Bull...M.J.R. Wortel, and W. Spakman (2006). Subduction history of the Tethyan region derived from seismic tomography and tectonic reconstructions, J. Geophys

78 FR 65278 - Monosodium Glutamate From the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Indonesia...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-31

... Glutamate From the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Indonesia: Initiation of Antidumping Duty...: Jun Jack Zhao (the People's Republic of China (PRC)) or Gene Calvert (the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesia)) at (202) 482-1396 or (202) 482-3586, respectively, AD/CVD Operations, Office VII, Enforcement...

Novel Cell-Based Assays for Detecting Low Levels of Active Ricin Following Decontamination

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

fluorescent protein, are powerful tools, which have been used for detection assays for ricin protein ( DeWet , 1987). Zhao et al. (2005) have reported a...toxic Type 2 Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins. FEBS Lett. 2004, 563, pp 219–222. DeWet , J.R. et al. Firefly Luciferase Gene: Structure and

The Global Imperative for Teacher Education: Opportunities for Comparative and International Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydarova, Elena; Marquardt, Sheila K.

2016-01-01

In the context of globalization, teacher education has to respond to the global imperative by helping preservice teachers develop global consciousness and awareness (Apple, 2011; Zhao, 2010). This paper addresses this imperative by first identifying the spaces for global competencies in teacher education standards at the national, regional, state,…

Emitter Number Estimation by the General Information Theoretic Criterion from Pulse Trains

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-12-01

negative log likelihood function plus a penalty function. The general information criteria by Yin and Krishnaiah [11] are different from the regular...548-551, Victoria, BC, Canada, March 1999 DRDC Ottawa TR 2002-156 11 11. L. Zhao, P. P. Krishnaiah and Z. Bai, “On some nonparametric methods for

Investigation of the Role of the Mitogenic Neuropeptide Galanin in Mammary Gland Development and Carcinogenesis

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-08-01

mice completely inhibited lactation and resulted in the death of all pups within 24 hrs of birth (Table 1). S179D PRL treated mice displayed normal...42. Plaut, K., Ikeda, M. & Vonderhaar, B. K. (1993) Endocrinology 133, 1843-8. 43. Horseman , N. D., Zhao, W., Montecino-Rodriguez, E., Tanaka, M

Applications of Slow Light in Telecommunications

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-01

that the distortion of the transmitted waveform can be dramatically reduced by using frequency-flattened gain profiles [ Stenner et al.]. Time [ns...Express 13, 7872 (2005). >> K.Y. Song et al. Opt. Express 13, 83 (2005). >> M.D. Stenner et al. Opt. Express 13, 9995 (2005). >> X. Zhao et al. Opt

Quantum Efficiency as a Function of Temperature in Metal Photocathodes

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

Srinivasan-Rao, I. Ben-Zvi, A. Burrill, H. Hahn, D. Kayran, Y. Zhao, and M. Cole. “Photoemission studies on BNL /AES/JLAB all niobium, superconducting RF...Hershcovitch, D. Pate, A. Reuter et al., “Design, construction and status of all niobium superconducting photoinjector at BNL ,” Proc. IEEE of the

Improved MICROBASE Product with Uncertainties

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

Wang, Meng

The data set contains four primary microphysics, including liquid water content, ice water content, liquid effective radius, and ice effective radius. Bit QC and data quality QC are also calculated. Quantification of uncertainties (incorporating the work of Zhao et al. 2013) are included for all four microphysics.

Yap1 as a New Therapeutic Target in Neurofibromatosis Type 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Hedgehog and Notch has particularly contributed to the understanding and treatment of cancer1. A more recently discovered signalling cascade is the...Wnt, Notch, and Hedgehog pathways. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 8, 97–106 (2011). 2. Zhao, B., Lei, Q. Y. & Guan, K. L. The Hippo-YAP pathway: new

Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Integrate Technology: An Analysis of the Emphasis on Digital Competence in Teacher Education Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Instefjord, Elen; Munthe, Elaine

2016-01-01

This article focuses on integration of digital competence in curriculum documents for teacher education in Norway. A model inspired by the work of Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon and Byers, as well as Krumsvik and Mishra and Koehler, has been developed as an analytical framework. Teachers' digital competence is here understood as comprising three knowledge…

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (74th, Boston, Massachusetts, August 7-10, 1991). Part XI: China and the Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The China and the Media section of the proceedings contains the following seven papers: "Impact of U.S. Culture on Political Attitude of Students from People's Republic of China" (Xinshu Zhao and Yu Xie); "Facsimile in Revolution and Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'" (Kurt Kent and Xuejun Yu); "Newspaper Photography in…

Exploring Learner Perception and Use of Task-Based Interactional Feedback in FTF and CMC Modes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura; Baralt, Melissa

2014-01-01

Theoretical claims about the benefits of corrective feedback have been largely premised on learners' noticing of feedback (e.g., Gass & Mackey, 2006; Long, 1996; Schmidt, 1990, 1995; Swain, 1995), and findings have demonstrated that both the feedback target (Mackey, Gass, & McDonough, 2000) and the mode of provision (Lai & Zhao,…

Thermoelectric transport properties of nanostructured FeSb 2 and Ce-based heavy-fermions CeCu and CeAl 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokharel, Mani R.

the thermal conductivities of nanostructured FeSb2 samples 7. We find a notably large value for Kapitza length at low temperatures indicating the dominance of inter-grain thermal resistance over bulk thermal resistance in determining the thermal properties of FeSb 2. 1Huaizhou Zhao, Mani Pokharel, Gaohua Zhu, Shuo Chen, Kevin Lukas, Qing Jie,Cyril Opeil, Gang Chen, and Zhifeng Ren, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 163101 (2011). 2Mani Pokharel, Tulashi Dahal, Zhifeng Ren, and Cyril Opeil, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 609 (2014) 228-232. 3Mani Pokharel, Tulashi Dahal, Zhensong Ren, Peter Czajka, Stephen Wilson, Zhifeng Ren, and Cyril Opeil, Energy Conversion and Management, 87 (2014) 584-588. 4Mani Pokharel, Machhindra Koirala, Huaizhau Zhao, Zhifeng Ren, and Cyril Opeil, J. Low Temp. Phys., 176 (2014) 122-130. 5Mani Pokharel, Huaizhou Zhao, Shuo Chen, Kevin Lukas, Hui Wang, Cyril Opeil1, Gang Chen, and Zhifeng Ren, Nanotechnology 23 (2012) 505402. 6Mani Pokharel, Huaizhou Zhao, Kevin Lukas, Bogdan Mihaila, Zhifeng Ren, and Cyril Opeil, MRS Communications 3 (2013) 31-36. 7Mani Pokharel, Huaizhau Zhao, Zhifeng Ren, and Cyril Opeil, International Journal of Thermal Science, 71 (2013) 32-35.

ESTIMATING CHLOROFORM BIOTRANSFORMATION IN F-344 RAT LIVER USING IN VITRO TECHNIQUES AND PHARMACOKINETIC MODELING

EPA Science Inventory

ESTIMATING CHLOROFORM BIOTRANSFORMATION IN F-344 RAT LIVER USING IN VITRO TECHNIQUES AND PHARMACOKINETIC MODELING

Linskey, C.F.1, Harrison, R.A.2., Zhao, G.3., Barton, H.A., Lipscomb, J.C4., and Evans, M.V2., 1UNC, ESE, Chapel Hill, NC ; 2USEPA, ORD, NHEERL, RTP, NC; 3 UN...

World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Yong

2012-01-01

In the new global economy, the jobs that exist now might not exist by the time today's students enter the workplace. To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourceful, flexible, creative, and global. Researcher and Professor Yong Zhao unlocks the secrets to cultivating independent thinkers…

Individual Education Plans in the Republic of Ireland: An Emerging System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Richard; Shevlin, Michael; Winter, Eileen; O'Raw, Paul; Zhao, Yu

2012-01-01

The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act in Ireland advocated the development of individual education plans (IEPs). However, this section of the Act has never been fully implemented and there is no obligation upon schools to develop IEPs. Research conducted across the country by Richard Rose and Yu Zhao of the University of…

A Review of Technology Choice for Teaching Language Skills and Areas in the CALL Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockwell, Glenn

2007-01-01

The use of technology in language teaching and learning has been the focus of a number of recent research review studies, including developments in technology and CALL research (Zhao, 2003), CALL as an academic discipline (Debski, 2003), ICT effectiveness (Felix, 2005), and subject characteristics in CALL research (Hubbard, 2005), to name a few.…

Antimonide-Based Compound Semiconductors for Low-Power Electronics

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

A, Madan HS, Kirk AP, Zhao DA, Mourey DA, Hudait MK, et al. Fermi level unpinning of GaSb (100) using plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of...et al. Atomic layer deposition of Al2O3 on GaSb using in situ hydrogen plasma exposure. Appl Phys Lett. 2012;101: 231601. [18] Ali A, Madan H

Toward a Definition of Intrinsic Axes: The Effect of Orthogonality and Symmetry on the Preferred Direction of Spatial Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richard, Laurence; Waller, David

2013-01-01

Mou, Zhao, and McNamara (2007) proposed the "intrinsic model of human spatial memory," which posits that a viewer's memory of an array of objects will exhibit a preferred direction that is aligned with an intrinsic axis of the array. They defined intrinsic axes as salient axes created in part by the physical (geometric) properties of the…

Take my breath away: necrosis in kidney transplants kills the lungs!

PubMed

Vanden Berghe, Tom; Linkermann, Andreas

2015-04-01

Necrosis is not only a regulated process, it is an interconnected molecular network allowing different genetically encoded forms that are more or less immunogenic. Zhao et al. elegantly illustrate this concept, underscore the need for combination therapy to successfully interfere with regulated necrosis, and identify the role of regulated necrosis in the pathophysiology of remote lung injury.

Runtime Systems for Extreme Scale Platforms

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

Programming in Java, PPPJ ’11, (New York, NY, USA), pp. 51–61, ACM, 2011. [76] Y. Guo, R. Barik , R. Raman, and V. Sarkar, “Work-first and help-first...95] R. Barik , J. Zhao, D. Grove, I. Peshansky, Z. Budimlić, and V. Sarkar, “Commu- nication Optimizations for Distributed-Memory X10 Programs,” in

Proceedings of the Annual Seismic Research Symposium (16th) Held in Thornwood, New York on 7-9 September 1994

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-08-08

Source parameters of the Sierra Madre earthquake from regional and local body waves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 2015- 2018 . Zhao, L.-S., and D. V...contained within these two wave groups. Sbonr-peri P.S eneM raio vs. distnce 3-8 bz 0 0 Explanation 0 + , FArthquakes + 0 • ÷ Ex: Lop Nor 0 o Ex:Kazakh

EVIDENCE FOR BROMODICHLOROMETHANE METABOLISM BY CYTOCHROME P-450 1A2

EPA Science Inventory

EVIDENCE FOR BROMODICHLOROMETHANE METABOLISM BY CYTOCHROME P-450 1A2. T M Ross1, B P Anderson1, G Zhao2, R A Pegram1 and J W Allis1. 1U.S. EPA, ORD, NHEERL, Research Triangle Park, NC; 2University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
Sponsor: H Barton

Bromodichlorometh...

Justin Johnson | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Organic Framework," J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 7, 3660 (2016). Arias, D.; Ryerson, J.; Cook, J.; Damrauer , N.; Johnson, J., "Polymorphism Influences Singlet Fission Rates in Tetracene Thin Films," ; Chem. Sci. 7, 1185 (2016). Schrauben, J.N.; Zhao Y.; Mercado, C.; Ryerson, J.; Dron, P.; Michl, J.; Zhu

microRNAs: Novel Breast Cancer Susceptibility Factors in Caucasian and African American Women

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

Susceptibility Factors in Caucasian and African American Women PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Hua Zhao, Ph.D. CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: Roswell ...5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER Roswell Park...cancer incidence . It is most likely that residual genetic susceptibility is driven by variants at many loci, each conferring a moderately risk of the

Nano-Mechanical Properties of Heat Inactivated Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis Spores

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

Scanner Laser Mirror Cantilever Sample Probe Tip 16 cereus strain 569, and Bacillus globigii var. niger . Zolock determined that there wer...been used to measure the surface elasticities of a variety of microbial organisms including Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus ...66:307-311 (2005). Zhao, Liming, David Schaefer, and Mark R. Marten. “Assessment of Elasticity and Topography of Aspergillus nidulans Spores via

Modulation of Long-Term Potentiation and Epileptiform Activity in the Rat Dentate Gyrus by the Group II Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype mGluR3

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-05-25

subsequent transmitter release. The rat hippocampal slice is a preparation richly endowed with ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors ...M. Zhao and R. J. Wenthold (1996b). Ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors show unique postsynaptic, presynaptic, and glial localizations in...epileptiform activity in the rat cortex. Neuroreport 3(10): 916-8. Shen, W. and M. M. Slaughter (1998). Metabotropic and ionotropic glutamate receptors

Models for determining the geometrical properties of halo coronal mass ejections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, X.; Liu, Y.

2005-12-01

To this day, the prediction of space weather effects near the Earth suffer from a fundamental problem: the necessary condition for determining whether or not and when a part of the huge interplanetary counterpart (ICME) of frontside halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is able to hit the Earth and generate goemagnetic storms, i.e., the real angular width, the propagation direction and speed of the CMEs, cannot be measured directly because of the unfavorable geometry. To inverse these geometrical and kinematical properties we have recently developed a few geometrical models, such as the cone model, the ice cream cone model, and the spherical cone model. The inversing solution of the cone model for the 12 may 1997 halo CME has been used as an input to the ENLIL model (a 3D MHD solar wind code) and successfully predicted the ICME near the Earth (Zhao, Plukett & Liu, 2002; Odstrcil, Riley & Zhao, 2004). After briefly describing the geometrical models this presentation will discuss: 1. What kind of halo CMEs can be inversed? 2. How to select the geometrical models given a specific halo CME? 3. Whether or not the inversing solution is unique?

Integrated Analysis of Piezoelectric Resonators as Components of Electronic Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-07

Transient thickness-shear vibration of apiezoelectric plate of monoclinic crystals, International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics 38...52, 1461-1467 (2005)., (04 2012): 811. doi: N Liu, J S Yang, F Jin. Transient thickness-shear vibration of a piezoelectric plate of monoclinic...2012) 27–37, (02 2012): 27. doi: Zhi Wang, Minghao Zhao, Jiashi Yang. Amplitude evolution equation and transient effects in piezoelectric crystal

Notes on the Stenus cirrus group of Zhejiang, East China, with descriptions of two new species (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae).

PubMed

Liu, Sheng-Nan; Tang, Liang; Luo, Rong-Ting

2017-01-01

Two new Stenus species of the cirrus group collected from Zhejiang Province, East China, are described, S. wuyanlingus Liu, Tang & Luo, sp. n. , S. yuyimingi Liu, Tang & Luo, sp. n. and a new distributional locality for S. ovalis Tang, Li & Zhao, 2005 was discovered. The diagnostic characters of the new species are illustrated, and a key to species of the group from Zhejiang Province is provided.

Modulation of Long-Term Potentiation and Epileptiform Activity in the Rat Dentate Gyrus by the Group II Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype mGluR3

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-05-25

preparation richly endowed with ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors , including mGluR3 (Shigemoto et al., 1997). NAAG is concentrated in...Zhao and R. J. Wenthold (1996b). Ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors show unique postsynaptic, presynaptic, and glial localizations in...epileptiform activity in the rat cortex. Neuroreport 3(10): 916-8. Shen, W. and M. M. Slaughter (1998). Metabotropic and ionotropic glutamate receptors

JPRS Report, Science and Technology, China: Energy.

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-16

10 First Unit of Sichuan’s Longqiao Plant Now Operational [Wang Dingguo, Yang Qingwen; SICHUAN RIBAO, 8 Aug 90...Zhao Zhilin , et al.; SICHUAN RIBAO, 31 May 90] ..................................................... 23 Low Temperature Heat-Supply Reactor Opens New...and SICHUAN the first phase for the power plant. RIBAO reporter Yang Qingwen [2799 3237 2429]: "Fuling JPRS-CEN-91-001 12 THERMAL POWER 16 January

Further Results on Constructions of Generalized Bent Boolean Functions

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

China; 2Naval Postgraduate School, Applied Mathematics Department, Monterey, CA 93943, USA; 3Science and Technology on Communication Security...in 1976 as an interesting combinatorial object with the important property of having op- timal nonlinearity [1]. Since bent functions have many...77–94 10 Zhao Y, Li H L. On bent functions with some symmet- ric properties. Discret Appl Math, 2006, 154: 2537– 2543

JPRS Report, China, Red Flag, Number 3, 1 Febrary 1988

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-19

of the Agricultural Scale Operational Experiment in Shunyi County, Beijing [Zhao Shufeng, et al.J : 21 An Investigation on the Specialized Market ...people who are skilled in three professions (namely, economists, accoun- tants, and lawyers) in our foreign economic affairs. Many children of...original 60-plus mandatory production plans have been reduced to 6, and the proportions of raw materials the enterprises directly obtain from the market

ATF4, A Novel Mediator of the Anabolic Actions of PTH on Bone

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

Accumulating evidence estab- lishes that ubiquitin-proteasome pathways control osteoblast differentiation and bone forma - tion. For example, the proteasome...tide ligase, accelerated Runx2 ubiquitin-proteasomal degrada- tion and inhibited osteoblast differentiation and bone forma - FIGURE 5. TFIIA activates...36. Zhao, C., Irie , N., Takada, Y., Shimoda, K., Miyamoto, T., Nishiwaki, T., Suda, T., and Matsuo, K. (2006) Cell Metab. 4, 111–121 37. Geoffroy, V

International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (13th) Held in Torino, Europe on 4-9 September 1988. Abstracts

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-09

On Synthesis Of Dialkyl d-Trimethylsilyloxyalkylphosphonates Zhao Yong-Zhen and Li Zhong- Rua Dpartment o chemistry, Hua Zhong Normal University, Wuhan...Jose Vicente. Jose-AntelC hAd. Na-Yeij~xa Qhicote. Ju~an-Francisco Gutliez-Jugo. Carmen Ramirez do Arel lano. Departamento do Oulmica InordanIca...Peruzzini, Jos& Antonio Ramirez , Alberto Vacca, Francesco Vizza and Fabrizio Zanobini, Istituto per lo Studio della Stereochimica ed Energetica dei

Anabolic Steroid Reversal of Denervation Atrophy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

rabbit model treated with nandrolone decanoate12 and Zhao et al. found that nandrolone significantly reduced chronic denervation atrophy (but not acute...surprising results, the most important question is whether the concept of augmenting reinnervated muscle is flawed or whether nandrolone (at the dosage...administration of supraphysiological doses of anabolic or natural steroids to normal rats22, 23. Egginton administered nandrolone to sedentary female

Enterprise Policing for the September 12 Era

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

Angeles Police Department and has made recommendations for change that hold promise for other police departments throughout our country. In the LAPD ...improvements to my thesis. His teachings brought me out of my myopic view of the world and made me think about policing from a 30,000 foot level . My...organizational change in police departments , Jihong Zhao, a noted author and criminal justice professor at

The IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (10th) Held in Sydney, Australia on 14-17 December 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-17

Approach to Modeling Personalized Contexts of Mobile Users Tengfei Bao, Happia Cao, Enhong Chen, Jilei Tian, and Hui Xiong q Fast and Flexible...Kutsuna q Detecting Blackhole and Volcano Patterns in Directed Networks Zhongmou Li, Hui Xiong , Yanchi Liu, and Aoying Zhou q Exploiting Local Data...Density-Based Network Clustering via Structure-Connected Tree Division or Agglomeration Heli Sun, Jianbin Huang, Jiawei Han, Hongbo Deng, Peixiang Zhao

New Developments of Broadband Cavity Enhanced Spectroscopic Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, A.; Zhao, D.; Linnartz, H.; Ubachs, W.

2013-06-01

In recent years, cavity enhanced spectroscopic techniques, such as cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (CEAS), and broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (BBCEAS), have been widely employed as ultra-sensitive methods for the measurement of weak absorptions and in the real-time detection of trace species. In this contribution, we introduce two new cavity enhanced spectroscopic concepts: a) Optomechanical shutter modulated BBCEAS, a variant of BBCEAS capable of measuring optical absorption in pulsed systems with typically low duty cycles. In conventional BBCEAS applications, the latter substantially reduces the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), consequently also reducing the detection sensitivity. To overcome this, we incorporate a fast optomechanical shutter as a time gate, modulating the detection scheme of BBCEAS and increasing the effective duty cycle reaches a value close to unity. This extends the applications of BBCEAS into pulsed samples and also in time-resolved studies. b) Cavity enhanced self-absorption spectroscopy (CESAS), a new spectroscopic concept capable of studying light emitting matter (plasma, flames, combustion samples) simultaneously in absorption and emission. In CESAS, a sample (plasma, flame or combustion source) is located in an optically stable cavity consisting of two high reflectivity mirrors, and here it acts both as light source and absorbing medium. A high detection sensitivity of weak absorption is reached without the need of an external light source, such as a laser or broadband lamp. The performance is illustrated by the first CESAS result on a supersonically expanding hydrocarbon plasma. We expect CESAS to become a generally applicable analytical tool for real time and in situ diagnostics. A. Walsh, D. Zhao, W. Ubachs, H. Linnartz, J. Phys. Chem. A, {dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp310392n}, in press, 2013. A. Walsh, D. Zhao, H. Linnartz Rev. Sci. Instrum. {84}(2), 021608 2013. A. Walsh, D. Zhao

National Marrow Donor Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-17

Accepted for oral presentation. o Bojesen SE, Malkki M, Gooley T, Zhao LP, Selvakumar A, Spellman S, Petersdorf E, Hansen JA and Dupont B. Genetic allelic...Oudshoorn M, Petersdorf E, Setterholm M, Champlin R and de Lima M. The clinical significance of matching for alleles at the low expression HLA loci...Reaction DMSO Dimethylsulphoxide PSA Public Service Announcement DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid QC Quality control D/ R Donor/Recipient RCC Renal Cell

Plasmon-Induced Plasma Spectroscopy

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-10

Agut, M.; Nonell, S. Synthesis, Photophysical Character- ization, and Photoinduced Antibacterial Activity of Methylene Blue- Loaded Amino- and Mannose...of 4- Aminothiophenol. Sci Rep 2013, 3, 2997. 26. Huang, Y. F.; Zhang, M.; Zhao, L. B.; Feng, J. M.; Wu, D. Y.; Ren, B.; Tian, Z. Q., Activation of...interfacial structures at much lower temperature than expected according to the activation energy required for atomic diffusion. Although the reason for

Applications of Molecular and Materials Modeling

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

MSI, GdR 12090). In principle, the NSF GOALI program facilitates exchanges of people, although the paperwork and difficulty of moving people with...industrial, and national-laboratory collaborations. The NSF GOALI program was seen as a step in the right direction, limited mostly by the difficulty...cyclododecane); methyl aluminoxane models (Simeral GOALI project at LSU with Randall Hall and NIST ATP project) Drs. Gary Zhao and Larry S. Simeral http

Physics and Applications of Defects in Advanced Semiconductors. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings. Volume 325

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-01

MAGNETOOPTICAL STUDIES OF ACCEPTORS CONFINED IN GaAs/AMGaAs QUANTUM WELLS ............................................... 73 P.O. Holtz, Q.X. Zhao, B. Momar...PROBE-PROBE TRANSMISSION STUDIES OF LT-GROWN GaAs NEAR THE BAND EDGE ...................................... 389 H.B. Radousky, A.F. Bello, DJ. Erskine...SUBSTRATE ...................... 449 M. Shah, M.O. Manareh, R. Kaspi, M.Y. Yen, B.A. Philips, M. Skowronki, and J. Shi•rm A TEM STUDY OF DEFECT STRUCTURE IN

The Role of Skp2 in the Prostate Tumorigenesis Following Rb and p53 Loss

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

of Developmental and Molecular Biology Room 521 Ullmann 1300 Morris Park Avenue Bronx, NY 10461-1975 AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING...ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER rt t f l t l Molecular Biology Room 521 Ullmann 1300 Morris Park Avenue Bronx, NY 10461-1975...Congratulations! Mary Anne Clifford Tuesday , October 21, 2014 1:33 PM October 21, 2014 Hongling Zhao, M.D., Ph.D. Department of DMB Ullmann - 521 Dear

A Drug Discovery Partnership for Personalized Breast Cancer Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

structures of ER alpha and beta (with bound agonists or antagonists) and then virtually screen the USDA Phytochemical, Chinese Herbal Medicine , and the FDA...ER agonists and antagonists that are in the registered pharmaceuticals and herbal medicine databases. The 29 analogs obtained have been...Drew, T. Wang, J. Antoon, T. Nguyen, P. Dupart, Y. Wang, M. Zhao, Y.Y. Liu, M. Foroozesh, and B. Beckman, submitted to the Journal of Medicinal

NP_PAH_interaction dataset

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Concentrations of different polyaromatic hydrocarbons in water before and after interaction with nanomaterials. The results show the capacity of engineer nanomaterials for adsorbing different organic pollutants. This dataset is associated with the following publication:Sahle-Demessie, E., A. Zhao, C. Han, B. Hann, and H. Grecsek. Interaction of engineered nanomaterials with hydrophobic organic pollutants.. Journal of Nanotechnology. Hindawi Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, USA, 27(28): 284003, (2016).

Notes on the Stenus cirrus group of Zhejiang, East China, with descriptions of two new species (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

PubMed Central

Liu, Sheng-Nan; Tang, Liang; Luo, Rong-Ting

2017-01-01

Abstract Two new Stenus species of the cirrus group collected from Zhejiang Province, East China, are described, S. wuyanlingus Liu, Tang & Luo, sp. n., S. yuyimingi Liu, Tang & Luo, sp. n. and a new distributional locality for S. ovalis Tang, Li & Zhao, 2005 was discovered. The diagnostic characters of the new species are illustrated, and a key to species of the group from Zhejiang Province is provided. PMID:28769734

Autonomous Robot Control via Autonomy Levels (ARCAL)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-21

same simulated objects. VRF includes a detailed graphical user interface (GUI) front end that subscribes to objects over HLA and renders them, along...forces.html 8. Gao, H., LI, Z., and Zhao, X., "The User -defined and Func- tion-strengthened for CGF of VR -Forces [J]." Computer Simulation, vol. 6...info Scout vehicle commands Scout vehicle Sensor measurements Mission vehicle Mission goals Operator interface Scout belief update Logistics

Autonomous Robot Control via Autonomy Levels (ARCAL)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-25

simulated objects. VRF includes a detailed graphical user interface (GUI) front end that subscribes to objects over HLA and renders them, along...forces.html 8. Gao, H., LI, Z., and Zhao, X., "The User -defined and Func- tion-strengthened for CGF of VR -Forces [J]." Computer Simulation, vol. 6, 2007...info Scout vehicle commands Scout vehicle Sensor measurements Mission vehicle Mission goals Operator interface Scout belief update Logistics executive

Addressing Counterfeit Parts in the DoD Supply Chain

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

Social - Media Brainstorming With Lexical Link Analysis (LLA) to Strengthen the Defense Acquisition Process Ying Zhao, Don Brutzman, and Douglas J...serve as a “broker” to market specific research topics identified by our sponsors to NPS graduate students. This three-pronged approach provides for a... socials . Many of our researchers use these occasions to establish new teaming arrangements for future research work. Despite the fact that we will

ATF4, A Novel Mediator of the Anabolic Actions of PTH on Bone

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-01

lishes that ubiquitin-proteasome pathways control osteoblast differentiation and bone forma - tion. For example, the proteasome inhibitors epoxomicin...Runx2 ubiquitin-proteasomal degrada- tion and inhibited osteoblast differentiation and bone forma - FIGURE 5. TFIIA activates endogenous Ocn gene...2565 35. Duvall, J. F., Kashanchi, F., Cvekl, A., Radonovich, M. F., Piras, G., and Brady, J. N. (1995) J. Virol. 69, 5077–5086 36. Zhao, C., Irie , N

Materials and Mechanics of Metamaterial Enhanced MEMS for Terahertz Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-23

raveritt@physics.bu.edu Major Ph.D. students who have worked on this project: Hu Tao, Kebin Fan, Huseyin Seren Major postdoctoral researchers who have...please contact Prof. Xin Zhang at the address given above. DISTRIBUTION A: Distribution approved for public release. 2 Huseyin Seren will...Title: Optically Tunable Terahertz Metamaterials on Highly Flexible Substrates * With K. Fan, X. Zhao, J. Zhang, G.R. Keiser, H.R. Seren , G.D. Metcalfe

Use of a stochastic approach for description of water balance and runoff production dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gioia, A.; Manfreda, S.; Iacobellis, V.; Fiorentino, M.

2009-04-01

The present study exploits an analytical model (Manfreda, NHESS [2008]) for the description of the probability density function of soil water balance and runoff generation over a set of river basins belonging to Southern Italy. The model is based on a stochastic differential equation where the rainfall forcing is interpreted as an additive noise in the soil water balance; the watershed heterogeneity is described exploiting the conceptual lumped watershed Xinanjiang model (widely used in China) that uses a parabolic curve for the distribution of the soil water storage capacity (Zhao et al. [1980]). The model, characterized by parameters that depend on soil, vegetation and basin morphology, allowed to derive the probability density function of the relative saturation and the surface runoff of a basin accounting for the spatial heterogeneity in soil water storage. Its application on some river basins belonging to regions of Southern Italy, gives interesting insights for the investigation of the role played by the dynamical interaction between climate, soil, and vegetation in soil moisture and runoff production dynamics. Manfreda, S., Runoff Generation Dynamics within a Humid River Basin, Natural Hazard and Earth System Sciences, 8, 1349-1357, 2008. Zhao, R. -J., Zhang, Y. L., and Fang, L. R.: The Xinanjiang model, Hydrological Forecasting Proceedings Oxford Symposium, IAHS Pub. 129, 351-356, 1980.

Seventeen new species and additional records of Lathrobium (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from mainland China.

PubMed

Peng, Zhong; Li, Li-Zhen; Zhao, Mei-Jun

2014-03-20

Material of the paederine genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst, 1802 from the Chinese provinces Heilongjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, Henan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangdong was examined. Twenty-one species were identified, seventeen of which are described as new: L. liuae (Heilongjiang: Hongwei); L. ningxiaense sp. n. (Ningxia: Heshangpu); L. baiyunense sp. n. (Henan: Baiyun Shan); L. ayui sp. n. (Anhui: Yaoluoping); L. yaoluopingense sp. n. (Anhui: Yaoluoping); L. chenae sp. n. (Zhejiang: Qingliangfeng); L. fengae sp. n. (Zhejiang: Qingliangfeng); L. gutianense sp. n. (Zhejiang: Gutian Shan); L. nannani sp. n. (Zhejiang: Gutian Shan); L. sanqingense sp. n. (Jiangxi: Sanqing Shan); L. badagongense sp. n. (Hunan: Badagong Shan); L. xui sp. n. (Chongqing: Huanggangou); L. fanjingense sp. n. (Guizhou: Fanjing Shan); L. lui sp. n. (Guizhou: Kuankuoshui); L. zhaigei sp. n. (Guizhou: Kuankuoshui); L. zizhiense sp. n. (Yunnan: Zizhi) and L. guangdongense sp. n. (Guangdong: Nanling). The female sexual characters of L. lingae Peng, Li & Zhao and L. longwangshanense Peng, Li & Zhao are described and illustrated for the first time. The junior primary homonym Lathrobium pilosum Peng & Li, 2012 is replaced with Lathrobium zhui nom. n. Including the new taxa described here, 189 Lathrobium species are currently known from the mainland China. 

Distinct contributions of attention and working memory to visual statistical learning and ensemble processing.

PubMed

Hall, Michelle G; Mattingley, Jason B; Dux, Paul E

2015-08-01

The brain exploits redundancies in the environment to efficiently represent the complexity of the visual world. One example of this is ensemble processing, which provides a statistical summary of elements within a set (e.g., mean size). Another is statistical learning, which involves the encoding of stable spatial or temporal relationships between objects. It has been suggested that ensemble processing over arrays of oriented lines disrupts statistical learning of structure within the arrays (Zhao, Ngo, McKendrick, & Turk-Browne, 2011). Here we asked whether ensemble processing and statistical learning are mutually incompatible, or whether this disruption might occur because ensemble processing encourages participants to process the stimulus arrays in a way that impedes statistical learning. In Experiment 1, we replicated Zhao and colleagues' finding that ensemble processing disrupts statistical learning. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that statistical learning was unimpaired by ensemble processing when task demands necessitated (a) focal attention to individual items within the stimulus arrays and (b) the retention of individual items in working memory. Together, these results are consistent with an account suggesting that ensemble processing and statistical learning can operate over the same stimuli given appropriate stimulus processing demands during exposure to regularities. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Anti-Adrenergic and Hemodynamic Effects of Ranolazine in Conscious Dogs Zhao, Anti-Adrenergic Effect of Ranolazine

PubMed Central

Zhao, Gong; Walsh, Erin; Shryock, John; Messina, Eric; Wu, Yuzhi; Zeng, Dewan; Xu, Xiaobin; Ochoa, Manuel; Baker, Stephen; Hintze, Thomas; Belardinelli, Luiz

2012-01-01

Effects of ranolazine alone and in the presence of phenylephrine (PE) or isoproterenol (ISO) on hemodynamics, coronary blood flow (CBF) and heart rate (HR) in the absence and presence of hexamethonium (a ganglionic blocker) were studied in conscious dogs. Ranolazine (0.4, 1.2, 3.6 and 6 mg/kg, IV) alone caused transient (<1 min) and reversible hemodynamic changes. PE (0.3 to 10 μg/kg) caused a dose-dependent increase in BP and decrease in HR. ISO (0.01 to 0.3 μg/kg) caused a dose-dependent decrease in BP and increase in HR. Ranolazine at moderate (4-5 μM) and high (11-13 μM) concentrations did not affect the changes in MAP and HR caused by either PE or ISO, or partially attenuated these effects, respectively. However, in dogs treated with hexamethonium (20 mg/kg) to cause autonomic blockade, ranolazine (both 4-5 and 11-13 μM) significantly attenuated both the PE- and ISO-induced changes in MAP. The results suggest that a potential anti-adrenergic effect of ranolazine was masked by autonomic control mechanisms in conscious dogs, but could be observed when these mechanisms were inhibited (e.g., in the hexamethonium-treated dog). Ranolazine, at plasma concentrations below 10 μM and in conscious dogs with intact autonomic regulation, had minimal anti-adrenergic (α and β) effects. PMID:21633249

Civil-Military Change in China: Elites, Institutes, and Ideas After the 16th Party Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

Xiliang, Lang Longxi, Zhou Xupeng, Zhang Hong, Fang Junzhong, Fang Lufeng, Guo Weihu, Zhu Guangzheng, Zhao Heng, Quan Zhixue, Yu Hongtao , Hou Xiaoqin...Deng Hongtao , and Lei Ziyuan, "Vast Numbers of Officers and Men of All Armed Forces and Armed Police Corps Resolutely Support New CPC Central Committee...and Central Military Commission," Jiefangjun bao, November 17, 2002, p. 1. 14. Jiefangjun bao, November 20, 2002. 15. Qian Xiaohu, Xia Hongqing, Han

Development of Technologies for Early Detection and Stratification of Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

heterogeneous nature of these cells. Figure 17 shows a yellow emitting Pdot (semiconducting polymer dot), which is a new family of ultra-bright fluorescent...Yu, J., Zhang, X., Sun, W., Ye, F., Wu, I., Zhang, Y., Hayden, S., Zhang, Y., Wu, C., Chiu, D.T. "New yellow fluorescent semiconducting polymer dots...fluorescent fluorinated semiconducting polymer dots for cellular imaging and analysis" Chemical Communication, 2013, 49, 8256-8258. • Zhao, M., Wei, B

Organization of the 1991 Society of America Photonic Science Topical Meeting Held in Monterey, California on September 26 - 28, 1991. 1991 Technical Digest Series, Volume 16, Conference Edition

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-01

Yuxin Ni, Duoyuan Wang, Lingzhi Hu, Huizhu He, Jie Xie. 532 nm. (p. 122) Junyi Zhing, Academy of Sciences of China. Photon-gated persistent spectral hole...cal hole-burning, Duoyuan Wang, Lingzhi Hu, Huizhu He, Lizeng Zhao, Xin Mi, Yuxin Ni, Academy of Sciences, China. FES Marker mode structure in the...Dongxiang, Mi Xin, Nie Yuxin Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica Beijing 100080, China, Fax:(86-1)2562605 Wang Duoyuan, Hu Lingzhi , He Huizhu, Xie

Organization of the Optical Society of America Photonic Science Topical Meeting Series (1991). Volume 16. Conference Edition: Summaries of papers presented at the Persistent Spectral Hole-Burning: Science and Applications Topical Meeting Held in Monterey, California on 26-28 September 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-22

Duoyuan Wang, Lingzhi Hu, Huizhu He, Jie Xie, 532 nm. (p. 122) Junyl Zhang, Academy of Sciences of China. Photon-gated persistent spectral hole...hole-burning, Duoyuan VWang, Lingzhi Hu, Huizhu He, Lizeng Zhao, Xin Mi, Yuxin Ni, Academy of Sciences, China. FE5 Marker mode structure in the primary...Xiulang, Zhang Dongxiang, Mi Xin, Nie Yuxin Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica Beijing 100080, China, Fax:(86-1)2562605 Wang Duoyuan, Hu Lingzhi , He

Unconventional Signal Processing Using the Cone Kernel Time-Frequency Representation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-10-30

Wigner - Ville distribution ( WVD ), the Choi- Williams distribution , and the cone kernel distribution were compared with the spectrograms. Results were...ambiguity function. Figures A-18(c) and (d) are the Wigner - Ville Distribution ( WVD ) and CK-TFR Doppler maps. In this noiseless case all three exhibit...kernel is the basis for the well known Wigner - Ville distribution . In A-9(2), the cone kernel defined by Zhao, Atlas and Marks [21 is described

Chinese Economic Coercion Against Taiwan: A Tricky Weapon to Use

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

View document details For More Information Purchase this document Browse Books & Publications Make a charitable contribution Support RAND This PDF...is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2007 RAND Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any...Taiwan Statistical Year- book , 1995, pp. 192–193, cited in Zhao, 1999, pp. 24, 28. 84 Chinese Economic Coercion Against Taiwan: A Tricky Weapon to Use

Developments of Finite-Frequency Seismic Theory and Applications to Regional Tomographic Imaging

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-31

banana -doughnut” sensitivity kernels of teleseismic body waves to image the crust and mantle beneath eastern Eurasia. We have collected and processed...In this project, we use the “ banana -doughnut” sensitivity kernels of teleseismic body waves to image the crust and mantle beneath eastern Eurasia...replaced body-wave ray paths with “ banana -doughnut” sensitivity kernels calculated in 1D (Dahlen et al., 2000; Hung et al., 2000; Zhao et al., 2000

Chains of Metamaterials for Guiding and Antenna Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

Italy, April 11-15, 2011, (invited talk). C2. Y. Zhao, and A. Alù, “Broadband Circular Polarizer Formed by Stacked Plasmonic Metasurfaces ,” in...in the Homogenization of Metamaterials and Metasurfaces ,” in Proceedings of Metamaterials 2010, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 16-19, 2010, (invited...talk). C6. P. Y. Chen, and A. Alù, “Optical Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Formed by Nanoantennas Loaded by Nonlinear Materials,” in Proceedings of

First Draft of the act Programming Language

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-22

International Conference on, pages 1–15, 2013. [4] Yang Zhao, Jie Liu, and Edward A. Lee. A programming model for time - synchronized distributed real- time ...including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing...report is to document the first complete attempt at the design of a high-level programming language for timed systems called act. We define the lexical

Generalized Ultrametric Semilattices of Linear Signals

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-23

53–73, 1998. [8] John C. Eidson , Edward A. Lee, Slobodan Matic, Sanjit A. Seshia, and Jia Zou. Distributed real- time software for cyber-physical...Theoretical Computer Science, 16(1):5–24, 1981. 41 [37] Yang Zhao, Jie Liu, and Edward A. Lee. A programming model for time - synchronized distributed real...response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and

Mechanisms of Breast Carcinogenesis Involving Wild-Type p53

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-09-01

Gryka , M . A., Litwak, G., Gebhardt, M ., level of p53 that was expressed in the cells in both these studies Bressac, B., Ozturk, M ., Baker, S. J...research: Tang, H., Zhao, K., Pizzolato, J.F., Fonarev, M ., Langer, J.C., and Manfredi, J.J. (1998) Constitutive expression of the cyclin-dependent...Biol. Chem. 274: 33747-33755. Meeting abstracts resulting from this, research: Resnick-Silverman, L., St. Clair, S., Thornborrow, E., Maurer, M

Mechanisms of Breast Carcinogenesis Involving Wild-Type p53

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-09-01

Nelson, C. E., Gryka , M . A., Litwak, G., Gebhardt, M ., level of p53 that was expressed in the cells in both these studies Bressac, B., Ozturk, M ., Baker...14 Publication resulting from this research: 1. Resnick-Silverman, L., S. St Clair, M . Maurer, K...activation by the tumor suppressor protein p53. Genes Dev 12:2102-7. 2. Tang, H. Y., K. Zhao, J. F. Pizzolato, M . Fonarev, J. C. Langer, and J. J

Center for Advanced Sensors Year Two Funding (FY2006)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-26

Cheong, and F. Zhao (2005) "Semantics-Based Optimization Across Uncoordinated Tasks in Networked Embedded Systems," Proceedings of the 5th ACM Conference...analysis," Optical Engineering, vol. 46, 116401, 2007. R.L. Espinola, E.L. Jacobs, C.E. Halford, D.H. Tofsted and R. Vollmerhausen, "Modeling...the target acquisition performance of active imaging systems," Optics Express, vol. 15, March, 2007. C.E. Halford, A.L. Robinson, E.L. Jacobs and

A Highly Aromatic and Sulfonated Ionomer for High Elastic Modulus Ionic Polymer Membrane Micro-Actuators

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

fluorophenyl)sulfone (DPA-PS:BP) is investigated for ionic polymer actuators. The uniqueness of DPA-PS:BP is that it can have a high ionic liquid (IL... ionic liquid Q M Zhang, Gokhan Hatipoglu, Yang Liu, Ran Zhao, Mitra Yoonessi, Dean M Tigelaar, Srinivas Tadigadapa Virginia Polytechnic Institute...DPA-PS:BP) is investigated for ionic polymer actuators. The uniqueness of DPA-PS:BP is that it can have a high ionic liquid (IL) uptake and

Design of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics for Improved Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-02-28

e.g., grain boundary chemistry or change in impurity concentrations) or physical (e.g., residual stress) effects. 600 co 500 a. oi400 c CD i...SA037 Effects of oxygen content on the properties of supcr-high-teiiiperature resistant Si-AI- C fibers D.f. Zhao (National University of Defense...of Technology, China) 15:05 S A034 Oxyacetylene ablation behavior of carbon fibers reinforced carbon matrix and ultra-high temperature

Survival Signaling in Prostate Cancer: Role of Androgen Receptor and Integrins in Regulating Survival

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

basal cells with the monoamine oxidase A inhibitor clorgyline, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, all-trans retinoic acid and TGF-1 induced AR expression and...41, 85-97. Zhao, H., Nolley, R., Chen, Z., Reese, S. W. and Peehl, D. M. (2008). Inhibition of monoamine oxidase A promotes secretory differentiation...Confluent primary human prostate epithelial cell cultures were treated with KGF and androgen (DHT). After two weeks, a suprabasal cell layer formed in

Scalable Automated Model Search

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-20

ma- chines. Categories and Subject Descriptors Big Data [Distributed Computing]: Large scale optimization 1. INTRODUCTION Modern scientific and...from Continuum Analytics[1], and Apache Spark 0.8.1. Additionally, we made use of Hadoop 1.0.4 configured on local disks as our data store for the large...Borkar et al. Hyracks: A flexible and extensible foundation for data -intensive computing. In ICDE, 2011. [16] J. Canny and H. Zhao. Big data

Naval War College Review. Volume 68, Number 1, Winter 2015

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

Company vessel Zhanshan� Meanwhile, Electro- Mechanical Branch squad leader Sun Weimin helps fix the ship’s stalled engine, enabling it to rejoin the es...Naval Fleet Pays Four-Day Good- will Visit to Cameroon,” People’s Daily Online, 4 June 2014, english�peopledaily�com�cn/; Sun Zhao and Huang Jin , eds... mechanical or equipment failure un- derwater require particular attention to quality control and regular maintenance� By no means all countries are capable of

Imaging the Heart of Our Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-03-01

New radio images of the center of the Milky Way are providing an unprecedented view of the structure and processes occurring in the Galactic center.JVLA images of Sgr A at 5.5 GHz. The large-scale, bright ring structure is Sgr A East, a supernova remnant. The mini-spiral structure along the lower-right edge of the ring is Sgr A West, and Sgr A* is located near the center of the mini-spiral structure. Click for a closer look! [Zhao et al. 2016]Improved Radio ViewA recent study led by Jun-Hui Zhao (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) presents new images of the Galactic center using the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) at 5.5 GHz. The images center on the radio-bright zone at the core of our galaxy, with the field of view covering the central 13 of the Milky Way equivalent to a physical size of ~100 light-years.Due to recent hardware and software improvements in the VLA, these images are much deeper than any previously obtained of the Galactic center, reaching an unprecedented 100,000:1 dynamic range. Not only do these observations provide a detailed view of previously known structures within the Sagittarius A radio complex in the Milky Ways heart, but they also reveal new features that can help us understand the processes that formed this bright complex.Features in Sagittarius ASgr A consists of three main components nested within each other: the supernova remnant Sgr A East, the mini-spiral structure Sgr A West (located off-center within the Sgr A East structure), and the compact radio source Sgr A* (located near the center of the mini-spiral). Sgr A* is the supermassive black hole that resides at the very center of the Milky Way.The newest JVLA images reveal numerous filamentary sources that trace out two radio lobes, oriented nearly perpendicular to the Galactic plane and ~50 light-years in size. These are smaller radio counterparts to the enormous (on the scale of 30,000 light-years!) gamma-ray Fermi bubbles that have been observed to extend from the

Economic Impact of Above-Label Dosing with Etanercept, Adalimumab, or Ustekinumab in Patients with Psoriasis.

PubMed

Feldman, Steven R; Zhao, Yang; Zhou, Huanxue; Herrera, Vivian; Tian, Haijun; Li, Yunfeng

2017-05-01

above-label use were $19,458 for etanercept, $18,972 for adalimumab, and $21,045 for ustekinumab. Total additional annual costs were $5,623,362 for etanercept, $701,964 for adalimumab, and $1,304,790 for ustekinumab. Psoriasis patients treated with etanercept, adalimumab, or ustekinumab had extensive above-label use over the 12-month follow-up period, which subsequently led to higher costs. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation sponsored this study and the resultant publication. BioScience Communications provided medical writing and editorial support, which was also funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Feldman was engaged by Novartis Pharmaceuticals as a paid clinical expert and scientific advisor for this study. He has received research support and speaking and/or consulting fees from AbbVie, Advance Medical, Amgen, Anacor, Astellas, Baxter, Boehringer Ingelheim, Caremark, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Galderma, GSK/Stiefel, Informa, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Merck, Merz, Mylan, National Biological, National Psoriasis Foundation, Pfizer, Qurient, Suncare Research, UpToDate, and Valeant; is the founder and majority owner of www.DrScore.com ; and is founder and part owner of Causa Research. Zhao, Herrera, Tian, and Li are employees of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Zhou is a paid consultant for Novartis Pharmaceuticals and is an employee of KMK Consulting. Study concept and design were contributed by Feldman, Zhao, Herrera, and Li. Zhou and Li were responsible for data collection. Data were interpreted by Feldman and Zhao, with assistance from Zhou, Herrera, Tian, and Li. The manuscript was written primarily by Feldman and Zhao, with assistance from Zhou and Li. The manuscript was revised by Feldman and Zhao, assisted by Zhou, Herrera, Tian, and Li. Portions of this work were presented at the 34th Anniversary Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 1-4, 2015.

Development of Augmented Leukemia/Lymphoma-Specific T-Cell Immunotherapy for Deployment with Haploidentical, Hematompoietic Progenitor-Cell Transplant

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy ; Amy Phillips Charitable Foundation; The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Lymphoma Research Foundation; National Foundation...Y, Preffer FI, et al. Treatment of plasma cell dyscrasias by antibody-mediated immuno- therapy . Semin Oncol 1999;26:97–106. 15. Zhao S , Asgary Z...cell-transfer therapy for the treatment of patients with cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 2003;3:666–75. 25. Gillies SD, Lan Y, Williams S , et al. An anti-CD20

The Development and Study of Molecular Electronic Switches and their Field-Effect Transistor (FET) Device Properties

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-27

Grand Rapids, MI) meetings and conferences. References 1. L.N Lucas, J.J.D. de Jong, J.H. van Esch, R.M. Kellogg , B.L. Berringa. Eur. J. Org...R.M. Kellogg , H.L. Feringa, H.L. Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2003, 155-166. 6. B. Qin, R. Yao, X. Zhao, H. Tian. Org. Biomol. Chem., 1, 2003, 2187-2191...7. L.N. Lucas, J.H. van Euch, R.M. Kellogg , B. Feringa. Chem. Comm., 1998, 2313-2314.

Statistical Inference for Quality-Adjusted Survival Time

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-08-01

survival functions of QAL. If an influence function for a test statistic exists for complete data case, denoted as ’i, then a test statistic for...the survival function for the censoring variable. Zhao and Tsiatis (2001) proposed a test statistic where O is the influence function of the general...to 1 everywhere until a subject’s death. We have considered other forms of test statistics. One option is to use an influence function 0i that is

The Effect of Recombinant Human MG53 Protein on Tourniquet-induced Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Rat Muscle

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

blind to the treatment , and the prevalence of damaged fibers was quantitated from 10 10x images from each muscle . Approximately 800 fibers were counted...therapeutic cell membrane repair in treatment of muscular dystrophy . Sci Transl Med. 2012; 4(139):139ra185. 11. Weisleder N, Lin P, Zhao X, Orange M, Zhu H...The effect of recombinant human MG53 protein on tourniquet- induced ischemia reperfusion injury in rat muscle Benjamin T. Corona, Ph.D.1, Koyal Garg

Enhancement of Radiation Therapy in Prostate Cancer by DNA-PKcs Inhibitor

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

Dawen Zhao, Masaya Takahashi, Timothy Dobin, Leah Gandee, Timothy D. Solberg, Amyn A. Habib and Debabrata Saha; International Journal of Oncology, 42...5] Kong Z, Xie D, Boike T, Raghavan P, Burma S, Chen DJ, Habib AA, Chakraborty A, Hsieh JT, and Saha D (2010). Downregulation of human DAB2IP gene...study. Phys Med Biol 56: 1243-1258, 2011. 4. De Crevoisier R, Tucker SL , Dong L, et al: Increased risk of biochemical and local failure in patients

JPRS Report, China

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-10

Reform’ [Hong Kong CHENG MING No 138] 9 Remnants of Cultural Revolution Called ’Virus’ Impeding Reform [Hong Kong CHENG MING No 138] 12 ECONOMIC...July 1989 POLITICAL In industry , Zhao Ziyang has been pushing hard for ownership rights reform, also without success. Pilot projects in the...shareholding system are under way in some enterprises in just a handful of industries . It is being tested only as a means of raising capital and has failed

Deterministic Execution of Ptides Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-15

at a time no later than 30+1+5 = 36. Assume the maximum clock synchronization error is . Therefore, the AddSubtract adder must delay processing the...the synchronization of the platform real- time clock to its peers in other system platforms. The portions of PtidyOS code that implement access to the...interesting opportunities for future research. References [1] Y. Zhao, E. A. Lee, and J. Liu, “A programming model for time - synchronized distributed real

JPRS Report, China, Red Flag, Number 8, 16 April 1988

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-07-05

Report by Li Peng, acting premier of the State Council ; passages in boldface as published] [Text] Deputies! On behalf of the State Council , I will...Years During the period of the Sixth NPC, the State Council , under the leadership of Premier Zhao Ziyang, earnestly implemented the line of the CPC and...problem of employment for young people there. Poor areas have made much progress in eliminating poverty. In the past 5 years, we conducted the economic

Lifecycle Cost Assessment of Fuel Cell Technologies for Soldier Power System Applications. Paper and Presentation for the 43rd Power Sources Conference held 8-9 July 2008, Philadelphia, PA

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-09

PEMFC in Federal Markets,” 2007 Fuel Cell Seminar, San Antonio, TX, 17 October 2007. 7. Fok, K., “Metal Hydride Fuel Cells: Increases in Power...Lauderdale, FL, March 17-20, 2008. 10. Zhao J., et al, “Reclaim/recycle of Pt/C catalysts for PEMFC ,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 48...hydrogen PEMFC or SOFC systems – Baratto et al, Journal of Power Sources – Citigroup, Dist. Telecom Backup – Battelle, Fuel Cell Seminar 2007 • Fuel

2-Methoxyestradiol as a Chemotherapeutic for Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-01

PC.Acknowledgements We thank Alicia De Las Pozas and Adriana Gomez for excellent technical assistance, Ron Hamelik for help with flow cytometry, and Drs Bernard...linked inhibitor of apoptosis and AKT proteins and stimulates apoptosis in human LNCaP prostate cancer cells Adriana Gomez,3 Alicia de las Pozas,1 and...changes during the progression of human prostatic cancer. Clin. Cancer Res 1995;1:473-480. 40. Chan DC, Earle KA , Zhao TL, Helfrich B, Zeng C, Baron A

China Report, Political, Sociological and Military Affairs, PRC State Council Bulletin, No. 13, 20 May 1985

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-05-16

municipal people’s governments concerned. Please approve and issue this report for implementation by various areas andr departments if the report is found...State Council Pierre Mauroy , Premier Protocol At the signing of the agreement between the Government of the PRC and the Government of the Republic of...Government of the PRC: For the Government of the Republic of France: Zhao Ziyang Pierre Mauroy Premier of the State Council Premier /8309 CSO: 4005/171 37

Orbital-Dependent Density Functionals for Chemical Catalysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-16

E2 and SN2 Reactions: Effects of the Choice of Density Functional, Basis Set, and Self-Consistent Iterations," Y. Zhao and D. G. Truhlar, Journal...for  the  anti-­‐ E2,  syn-­‐E2,  and   SN2  pathways  of  the  reactions  of  F-­‐  and  Cl-­‐  with  CH3CH2F  and

Semiparametric Estimation of Treatment Effect in a Pretest–Posttest Study with Missing Data

PubMed Central

Davidian, Marie; Tsiatis, Anastasios A.; Leon, Selene

2008-01-01

The pretest–posttest study is commonplace in numerous applications. Typically, subjects are randomized to two treatments, and response is measured at baseline, prior to intervention with the randomized treatment (pretest), and at prespecified follow-up time (posttest). Interest focuses on the effect of treatments on the change between mean baseline and follow-up response. Missing posttest response for some subjects is routine, and disregarding missing cases can lead to invalid inference. Despite the popularity of this design, a consensus on an appropriate analysis when no data are missing, let alone for taking into account missing follow-up, does not exist. Under a semiparametric perspective on the pretest–posttest model, in which limited distributional assumptions on pretest or posttest response are made, we show how the theory of Robins, Rotnitzky and Zhao may be used to characterize a class of consistent treatment effect estimators and to identify the efficient estimator in the class. We then describe how the theoretical results translate into practice. The development not only shows how a unified framework for inference in this setting emerges from the Robins, Rotnitzky and Zhao theory, but also provides a review and demonstration of the key aspects of this theory in a familiar context. The results are also relevant to the problem of comparing two treatment means with adjustment for baseline covariates. PMID:19081743

Semiparametric Estimation of Treatment Effect in a Pretest-Posttest Study with Missing Data.

PubMed

Davidian, Marie; Tsiatis, Anastasios A; Leon, Selene

2005-08-01

The pretest-posttest study is commonplace in numerous applications. Typically, subjects are randomized to two treatments, and response is measured at baseline, prior to intervention with the randomized treatment (pretest), and at prespecified follow-up time (posttest). Interest focuses on the effect of treatments on the change between mean baseline and follow-up response. Missing posttest response for some subjects is routine, and disregarding missing cases can lead to invalid inference. Despite the popularity of this design, a consensus on an appropriate analysis when no data are missing, let alone for taking into account missing follow-up, does not exist. Under a semiparametric perspective on the pretest-posttest model, in which limited distributional assumptions on pretest or posttest response are made, we show how the theory of Robins, Rotnitzky and Zhao may be used to characterize a class of consistent treatment effect estimators and to identify the efficient estimator in the class. We then describe how the theoretical results translate into practice. The development not only shows how a unified framework for inference in this setting emerges from the Robins, Rotnitzky and Zhao theory, but also provides a review and demonstration of the key aspects of this theory in a familiar context. The results are also relevant to the problem of comparing two treatment means with adjustment for baseline covariates.

Improved adjoin-list for quality-guided phase unwrapping based on red-black trees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruz-Santos, William; López-García, Lourdes; Rueda-Paz, Juvenal; Redondo-Galvan, Arturo

2016-08-01

The quality-guide phase unwrapping is an important technique that is based on quality maps which guide the unwrapping process. The efficiency of this technique depends in the adjoin-list data structure implementation. There exists several proposals that improve the adjoin-list; Ming Zhao et. al. proposed an Indexed Interwoven Linked List (I2L2) that is based on dividing the quality values into intervals of equal size and inserting in a linked list those pixels with quality values within a certain interval. Ming Zhao and Qian Kemao proposed an improved I2L2 replacing each linked list in each interval by a heap data structure, which allows efficient procedures for insertion and deletion. In this paper, we propose an improved I2L2 which uses Red-Black trees (RBT) data structures for each interval. Our proposal has as main goal to avoid the unbalanced properties of the head and thus, reducing the time complexity of insertion. In order to maintain the same efficiency of the heap when deleting an element, we provide an efficient way to remove the pixel with the highest quality value in the RBT using a pointer to the rightmost element in the tree. We also provide a new partition strategy of the phase values that is based on a density criterion. Experimental results applied to phase shifting profilometry are shown for large images.

China at the Turn of the Century: A Handbook for Operational Planners

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-03

millions of people had taken to the streets in support of the hunger strikes and the students. Premier Li Peng, more of a hard liner than Zhao, had a...ended on May 19, but the gap between the demonstrators and the party leadership widened. Li Peng announced that martial law in Beijing was effective at...party hard liner, Premier Li Peng, along with the president of China, Yang Shangkun, now emerged as central figures, although there seemed to be no

First Public Report on the Military Academy Chinese People’s Liberation Army Military Pictures Collection (Selected Articles),

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-10-10

Cooperation, by Liu Jienyang, Zhao Rueishan, Ze Fu .......... 35 > A Visit to the Institute of Guided Missile Technology, by Zhang Juzheng, Li Weiliang...4,. *1 .4 9- -I. .p *. .4 I-.- a. S.... .4 11 l.a. 9-.4 *49.4*~*9*~. ° - S’: Key: (1) Analyst Li Xien studies techniques hard in the field in...leader Chairman Hua, Vice Chairmen Ye Jianying , Deng Xiao- ping, Wang Dongxing and other leaders of the party, state and militaryarrived at the

NP-PAH Interaction Dataset

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Dataset presents concentrations of organic pollutants, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds, in water samples. Water samples of known volume and concentration were allowed to equilibrate with known mass of nanoparticles. The mixture was then ultracentrifuged and sampled for analysis. This dataset is associated with the following publication:Sahle-Demessie, E., A. Zhao, C. Han, B. Hann, and H. Grecsek. Interaction of engineered nanomaterials with hydrophobic organic pollutants.. Journal of Nanotechnology. Hindawi Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, USA, 27(28): 284003, (2016).

Development and Application of Advanced Ophthalmic Imaging Technology to Enhance Military Ocular Health Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

V. X. D. Yang, M. L. Gordon, A. Mok, Y. Zhao, Z. Chen, R. Cobbold , B. Wilson, and I. Vitkin, " Improve.d pha<e. re;olve.d optical Doppler tomography... marked according to visualmea~urement (b), rutd the result of the moving circular window filtering. In this case, the location of the mininttun...botmdaries are marked on the OCT image; (g). The ODT image for the same OCT scan; (h). Magnified \\<iew of the region marked in (_ll,). where. the

Evaluating the Potential of Adipose Tissue-Derived MSCs as Anticancer Gene Delivery Vehicles to Bone-Metastasized Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

pellet was resuspended and incubated for 2 min in a 2 ml lysis solution (0.15 M Ammonium chloride, 10mM Potassium bicarbonate and 0.1 mM EDTA) and...converting enzyme inhibit human prostate tumor growth. Mol Ther. 2010 Jan;18(1):223-31. PMID: 19844197. 3: Matuskova M , Hlubinova K, Pastorakova A ...potential of mesenchymal stromal cells in a mouse breast cancer metastasis model. Cytotherapy. 2009;11(3):289-98. PMID:19308770. 5: Zhao M , Sachs PC, Wang

The Sea is Red The Sino-Soviet Rivalry and Its Naval Dimension.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-05-01

censor President Reagan’s remarks in China critical of the Soviet Union. [10]** Moreover, ties between Washington and...of the Truong Sa archipelago [Spratlys] in the Eastern Sea (82]. * The Philippines and Taiwan also hold islands in the Spratlys. Malaysia has occupied...greater threat to the Soviets in Asia. And as Zhao Ziyang points out, both China and the United States are Pacific nations and are responsible for the peace and stability of the region [117]. -36- 4A FILMED 6-85 DTIC o .1 - .

Accumulation of the Cyclobutane Thymine Dimer in Defined Sequences of Free and Nucleosomal DNA

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

cyclobutane dimer in a single-stranded vector , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 1988, 85, 8141–8145. 11 C. A. Smith, M. Wang, N. Jiang, L. Che, X. Zhao and...J.-S. Taylor, Mutation spectra of M13 vectors containing site-specific cis–syn, trans–syn-I, (6-4), and Dewar pyrimi- done photoproducts of thymidylyl...Bypass of a site-specific cis–syn thymine dimer in a SV40 vector during in vitro replication by HeLa and XPV cell-free extracts, Biochemistry, 1998

Sequence Stratigraphic Framework Analysis of Putaohua Oil Reservoir in Chaochang Area of Songliao Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yan; Liu, Dameng; Yao, Yanbin

2018-01-01

The regional structure of the Changchang area in the Songliao Basin is located on the Chaoyangou terrace and Changchunling anticline belt in the central depression of the northern part of the Songliao Basin, across the two secondary tectonic units of the Chaoyanggou terrace and Changchunling anticline. However, with the continuous development of oil and gas, the unused reserves of Fuyu oil reservoir decreased year by year, and the oil field faced a serious shortage of reserve reserves. At the same time, during the evaluation process, a better oil-bearing display was found during the drilling and test oil in the Putao depression to the Chaoyanggou terraces, the Yudong-Taipingchuan area, and in the process of drilling and testing oil in the Putaohua reservoir. Zhao41, Zhao18-1, Shu38 and other exploration wells to obtain oil oil, indicating that the area has a further evaluation of the potential. Based on the principle of stratification, the Putao area was divided into three parts by using the core, logging and logging. It is concluded that the middle and western strata of the study area are well developed, including three sequences, one cycle from bottom to top (three small layers), two cycles (one small layer), three cycles (two small layers) Rhythm is positive-anti-positive. From the Midwest to the southeastern part of the strata, the strata are overtaken, the lower strata are missing, and the top rhythms become rhythmic.

Generalized Fourier slice theorem for cone-beam image reconstruction.

PubMed

Zhao, Shuang-Ren; Jiang, Dazong; Yang, Kevin; Yang, Kang

2015-01-01

The cone-beam reconstruction theory has been proposed by Kirillov in 1961, Tuy in 1983, Feldkamp in 1984, Smith in 1985, Pierre Grangeat in 1990. The Fourier slice theorem is proposed by Bracewell 1956, which leads to the Fourier image reconstruction method for parallel-beam geometry. The Fourier slice theorem is extended to fan-beam geometry by Zhao in 1993 and 1995. By combining the above mentioned cone-beam image reconstruction theory and the above mentioned Fourier slice theory of fan-beam geometry, the Fourier slice theorem in cone-beam geometry is proposed by Zhao 1995 in short conference publication. This article offers the details of the derivation and implementation of this Fourier slice theorem for cone-beam geometry. Especially the problem of the reconstruction from Fourier domain has been overcome, which is that the value of in the origin of Fourier space is 0/0. The 0/0 type of limit is proper handled. As examples, the implementation results for the single circle and two perpendicular circle source orbits are shown. In the cone-beam reconstruction if a interpolation process is considered, the number of the calculations for the generalized Fourier slice theorem algorithm is O(N^4), which is close to the filtered back-projection method, here N is the image size of 1-dimension. However the interpolation process can be avoid, in that case the number of the calculations is O(N5).

Nonequilibrium ferroelectric-ferroelastic 10 nm nanodomains: wrinkles, period-doubling, and power-law relaxation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, James F.; Evans, Donald M.; Katiyar, Ram S.; McQuaid, Raymond G. P.; Gregg, J. Marty

2017-08-01

Since the 1935 work of Landau-Lifshitz and of Kittel in 1946 all ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and ferroelastic domains have been thought to be straight-sided with domain widths proportional to the square root of the sample thickness. We show in the present work that this is not true. We also discover period doubling domains predicted by Metaxas et al (2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 217208) and modeled by Wang and Zhao (2015 Sci. Rep. 5 8887). We examine non-equilibrium ferroic domain structures in perovskite oxides with respect to folding, wrinkling, and relaxation and suggest that structures are kinetically limited and in the viscous flow regime predicted by Metaxas et al in 2008 but never observed experimentally. Comparisons are made with liquid crystals and hydrodynamic instabilities, including chevrons, and fractional power-law relaxation. As Shin et al (2016 Soft Matter 12 3502) recently emphasized: ‘An understanding of how these folds initiate, propagate, and interact with each other is still lacking’. Inside each ferroelastic domain are ferroelectric 90° nano-domains with 10 nm widths and periodicity in agreement with the 10 nm theoretical minima predicted by Feigl et al (2014 Nat. Commun. 5 4677). Evidence is presented for domain-width period doubling, which is common in polymer films but unknown in ferroic domains. A discussion of the folding-to-period doubling phase transition model of Wang and Zhao is included.

Quantum Femtosecond Magnetism: Phase Transition in Step with Light in a Strongly Correlated Manganese Oxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jigang

2014-03-01

Research of non-equilibrium phase transitions of strongly correlated electrons is built around addressing an outstanding challenge: how to achieve ultrafast manipulation of competing magnetic/electronic phases and reveal thermodynamically hidden orders at highly non-thermal, femtosecond timescales? Recently we reveal a new paradigm called quantum femtosecond magnetism-photoinduced femtosecond magnetic phase transitions driven by quantum spin flip fluctuations correlated with laser-excited inter-atomic coherent bonding. We demonstrate an antiferromagnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic (FM) switching during about 100 fs laser pulses in a colossal magneto-resistive manganese oxide. Our results show a huge photoinduced femtosecond spin generation, measured by magnetic circular dichroism, with photo-excitation threshold behavior absent in the picosecond dynamics. This reveals an initial quantum coherent regime of magnetism, while the optical polarization/coherence still interacts with the spins to initiate local FM correlations that compete with the surrounding AFM matrix. Our results thus provide a framework that explores quantum non-equilibrium kinetics to drive phase transitions between exotic ground states in strongly correlated elecrons, and raise fundamental questions regarding some accepted rules, such as free energy and adiabatic potential surface. This work is in collaboration with Tianqi Li, Aaron Patz, Leonidas Mouchliadis, Jiaqiang Yan, Thomas A. Lograsso, Ilias E. Perakis. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (contract no. DMR-1055352). Material synthesis at the Ames Laboratory was supported by the US Department of Energy-Basic Energy Sciences (contract no. DE-AC02-7CH11358).

Archaeogeophysical Surveys on Mersin, Silifke, Uzuncaburç (Diokaisareia) Zeus Olbios Temple

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmet Yüksel, Fethi; Deniz, Hazel; Şahin, Hamdi

2017-04-01

The ancient city of Diocaesarea (Uzuncaburç), located 30 km north Silifke in Mersin, was a temple centre subjected to Olba in the Hellenistic period. It was declared as free city by Tiberius in the Early Imperial period and it flourished until the 5th century AD. During this period, a Thykhaion to the west of the city was built in the 1st century AD by Obrimos and his son Oppius from his wife Kyria, daughter of Leonidas. A theater was also erected in the co-reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus and the city gate in the west of Diocaesarea was repaired under Arcadius and Honorius (396-408 AD). It was financed by the dux ad comes of Isauria, Leontios. In July 2011, archaeogeophysical measurements were made on the columns of the town of Zeus Olbios and on the peripteral Street of the city by magnetic methods. The purpose of these investigations is to determine the presence of architectural remains under the ground at the points specified. G-858 Cesium Gradiometer (G-858 Cesium Gradiometer) was used for magnetic measurement. These measurements were made on 38 pitches of 20 m length in Zeus Olbios temple on 13 creeks of 160 m length on the city's columned street. obtained sub-sensor, top sensor and gradient magnetic maps are created. Linear, angular locations with high susceptibilty were identified on magnetic maps. Keywords: Magnetic, Diokaisareia (Uzuncahurç), Archaeogeophysics, Archaeology, Cesium Gradiometer

A Social Network Analysis of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

Centrality Deng Xiaoping 0.583 0.665 Ye Jianying 0.333 0.454 Li Xiannian 0.333 0.454 Chen Yun 0.313 0.475 Xu Xiangqian 0.292 0.412 Hu Yaobang... Li Keqiang, and the right that China has to great power status in the writings of Liu Yunshan. These moralistic themes are viewed as a reaction by...0.229 0.345 Nie Rongzhen 0.229 0.374 Wan Li 0.208 0.218 Deng Yingchao 0.208 0.374 Zhao Ziyang 0.208 0.345 Table 2. Ideological Model 1–Nodal

canvasDesigner: A versatile interactive high-resolution scientific multi-panel visualization toolkit.

PubMed

Zhang, Baohong; Zhao, Shanrong; Neuhaus, Isaac

2018-05-03

We present a bioinformatics and systems biology visualization toolkit harmonizing real time interactive exploring and analyzing of big data, full-fledged customizing of look-n-feel, and producing multi-panel publication-ready figures in PDF format simultaneously. Source code and detailed user guides are available at http://canvasxpress.org, https://baohongz.github.io/canvasDesigner, and https://baohongz.github.io/canvasDesigner/demo_video.html. isaac.neuhaus@bms.com, baohong.zhang@pfizer.com, shanrong.zhao@pfizer.com. Supplementary materials are available at https://goo.gl/1uQygs.

High Frequency Magneto Dielectric Effects In Self Assembled Ferrite Ferroelectric Core Shell Nanoparticles

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-10

2008). 2 Y. Yang, S. Priya, J. Li , and D. Viehland, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 92, 1552 (2009). 3 J. Ma, J. Hu, Z. Li , and C. W. Nan, Adv. Mater. 23, 1062...2013) 9 Yongke Yan, Yuan Zhou, and Shashank Priya, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 032911 (2014) 10 Gaojian Wu, Tianxiang Nan, Ru Zhang, Ning Zhang, Shandong Li ...Kim, L. T. Schelhas, S. Keller, J. L. Hockel, S. H. Tolbert, and G. P. Carman, Nano Lett. 13, 884 (2013). 13 S. Zhang, Y. G. Zhao, P. S. Li , J. J

Nanostructured Composite Materials for High Temperature Thermoelectric Energy Conversion

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-29

34 Phys. Rev. B 83, p. 085204, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.085204 IF: 3.772 [2] P. Maji, N. J. Takas , D. K. Misra, H...J. Salvador, N. J. Takas , G. Wang, M. R. Shabetai, A. Pant, P. Paudel, C. Uher, K. L. Stokes, and P. F. P. Poudeu, "Thermal and Electronic Charge...dx.doi.Org/10.1016/i.issc.2011.08.036 IF: 2.261 [4] N. Takas , P. Sahoo, D. Misra, H. Zhao, N. Henderson, K. L. Stokes, and P. Poudeu, "Effects of Ir

Doping Asymmetry Problem in ZnO: Current Status and Outlook. A Review of Experimental and Theoretical Efforts Focused on Achieving P-Type ZnO Suitable for Light-Emitting Optoelectronic Devices for the Blue/Ultraviolet Spectral Range

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-24

it seems at a first glance, because the isovalent co- doping of ZnO will result also in an increase of the band gap which usually gives rise to an...J.G. Lu, H.P. He, L.X. Chen, X.Q. Gu, J.Y. Huang, L.P. Zhu, and B.H. Zhao, “Na doping concentration tuned conductivity of ZnO films via pulsed laser...recently as a promising material for a variety of applications. To a large extent, the renewed interest in ZnO is fuelled by its wide direct band gap (3.3

Combining Symbolic Computation and Theorem Proving: Some Problems of Ramanujan

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-01

1994 CMU-CS--94- 103 ¶ DTIC MAY 0e o99 c -rnepe Combining symbolic computation and theorem proving: some problems of Ramanujan Edmund Clarke Xudong Zhao...Research and Development Center, Aeronautical Systems Division (AFSC), U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433-6543 under Contract F33615-90- C ...Availability Codes n n = f Avail and Ior7. k= f(k) = _L k~of(nk Dist Special 8. =I f (k + c ) =_k=,+ I f (k) A .[ 3. List of problems The list of challenge

Comments on, Xuan Li, Shanghong Zhao, Zihang Zhu, Bing Gong, Xingchun Chu, Yongjun Li, Jing Zhao and Yun Liu `an optical millimeter-wave generation scheme based on two parallel dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators and polarization multiplexing', Journal of Modern Optics, 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasan, Mehedi; Hall, Trevor

2016-11-01

In the title paper, Li et al. have presented a scheme for filter-less photonic millimetre-wave (mm-wave) generation based on two polarization multiplexed parallel dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators (DP-MZMs). For frequency octo-tupling, all the harmonics are suppressed except those of order 4l, where l is the integer. The carrier is then suppressed by the polarization multiplexing technique, which is the principal innovative step in their design. Frequency 12-tupling and 16-tupling is also described following a similar method. The two DP-MZM are similarly driven and provide identical outputs for the same RF modulation indices. Consequently, a demerit of their design is the requirement to apply two different RF signal modulation indexes in a particular range and set the polarizer to a precise angle which depends on the pair of modulation indices used in order to suppress the unwanted harmonics (e.g. the carrier) without simultaneously suppressing the wanted harmonics. The aim of this comment is to show that, an adjustment of the RF drive phases with a fixed polarizer angle with the design presented by Li, all harmonics can be suppressed except those of order4l, where l is an odd integer. Hence, a filter-less frequency octo-tupling can be generated whose performance is not limited by the careful adjustment of the RF drive signal, rather it can be operated for a wide range of modulation indexes (m 2.5 → 7.5). If the modulation index is adjusted to suppress 4th harmonics, then the design can be used to perform frequency 24-tupling. Since, the carrier is suppressed by design in the modified architecture, the strict requirement to adjust the RF drive (and polarizer angle) can be avoided without any significant change to the circuit complexity.

Evaluation of comprehensive environmental effect about coastal zone development activities in Liaoning Province and management advice.

PubMed

Wang, Wei-Wei; Cai, Yue-Yin; Sun, Yong-Guang; Ma, Hong-Wei

2015-07-01

Using spatial analysis function of Arcgis software, the present study investigated the building environment impact evaluation index system of coastal development in Liaoning Province. The factors of it included of current state of environmental quality, environmental impact of marine development and marine environmental disaster. Weighted factor analysis and comprehensive index method were utilized. At the end, comprehensive environment effect of coastal development in Liaoning Province were evaluated successfully. The result showed that the environmental effect of development activity were most serious, along the Zhao Jiatun coast in north of Zhimao bay and coast of Mianhua island in Dalian bay.

Effect of spatial averaging on multifractal properties of meteorological time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffmann, Holger; Baranowski, Piotr; Krzyszczak, Jaromir; Zubik, Monika

2016-04-01

Introduction The process-based models for large-scale simulations require input of agro-meteorological quantities that are often in the form of time series of coarse spatial resolution. Therefore, the knowledge about their scaling properties is fundamental for transferring locally measured fluctuations to larger scales and vice-versa. However, the scaling analysis of these quantities is complicated due to the presence of localized trends and non-stationarities. Here we assess how spatially aggregating meteorological data to coarser resolutions affects the data's temporal scaling properties. While it is known that spatial aggregation may affect spatial data properties (Hoffmann et al., 2015), it is unknown how it affects temporal data properties. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize the aggregation effect (AE) with regard to both temporal and spatial input data properties considering scaling properties (i.e. statistical self-similarity) of the chosen agro-meteorological time series through multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). Materials and Methods Time series coming from years 1982-2011 were spatially averaged from 1 to 10, 25, 50 and 100 km resolution to assess the impact of spatial aggregation. Daily minimum, mean and maximum air temperature (2 m), precipitation, global radiation, wind speed and relative humidity (Zhao et al., 2015) were used. To reveal the multifractal structure of the time series, we used the procedure described in Baranowski et al. (2015). The diversity of the studied multifractals was evaluated by the parameters of time series spectra. In order to analyse differences in multifractal properties to 1 km resolution grids, data of coarser resolutions was disaggregated to 1 km. Results and Conclusions Analysing the spatial averaging on multifractal properties we observed that spatial patterns of the multifractal spectrum (MS) of all meteorological variables differed from 1 km grids and MS-parameters were biased

Relocation of earthquakes at southwestern Indian Ocean Ridge and its tectonic significance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, W.; Zhao, M.; Haridhi, H.; Lee, C. S.; Qiu, X.; Zhang, J.

2015-12-01

The southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) is a typical ultra-slow spreading ridge (Dick et al., 2003) and further plate boundary where the earthquakes often occurred. Due to the lack of the seismic stations in SWIR, positioning of earthquakes and micro-earthquakes is not accurate. The Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) seismic experiment was carried out for the first time in the SWIR 49 ° 39 'E from Jan. to March, 2010 (Zhao et al., 2013). These deployed OBS also recorded the earthquakes' waveforms during the experiment. Two earthquakes occurred respectively in Feb. 7 and Feb. 9, 2010 with the same magnitude of 4.4 mb. These two earthquakes were relocated using the software HYPOSAT based on the spectrum analysis and band-pass (3-5 Hz) filtering and picking up the travel-times of Pn and Sn. Results of hypocentral determinations show that there location error is decreased significantly by joined OBS's recording data. This study do not only provide the experiences for the next step deploying long-term wide-band OBSs, but also deepen understanding of the structure of SWIR and clarify the nature of plate tectonic motivation. This research was granted by the Natural Science Foundation of China (41176053, 91028002, 91428204). Keywords: southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR), relocation of earthquakes, Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS), HYPOSAT References:[1] Dick, H. J. B., Lin J., Schouten H. 2003. An ultraslow-spreading class of ocean ridge. Nature, 426(6965): 405-412. [2] Zhao M. H., et al. 2013. Three-dimensional seismic structure of the Dragon Flag oceanic core complex at the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (49°39' E). Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 14(10): 4544-4563.

Magnetic-saturation zone model for two semipermeable cracks in magneto-electro-elastic medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jangid, Kamlesh

2018-03-01

Extension of the PS model (Gao et al. [1]) in piezoelectric materials and the SEMPS model (Fan and Zhao [2]) in MEE materials, is proposed for two semi-permeable cracks in a MEE medium. It is assumed that the magnetic yielding occurs at the continuation of the cracks due to the prescribed loads. We have model these crack continuations as the zones with cohesive saturation limit magnetic induction. Stroh's formalism and complex variable techniques are used to formulate the problem. Closed form analytical expressions are derived for various fracture parameters. A numerical case study is presented for BaTiO3 - CoFe2O4 ceramic cracked plate.

Approximate Separability of Green’s Function for High Frequency Helmholtz Equations

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

is highly separable (Theorem 2.8) for two disjoint domains X,Y based on a key gradient estimate by Caccioppoli inequality . The method and result can be...bounded by (17) 1 ≥< Ĝ(·,y1), Ĝ(·,y2) >X≥ K̃−2, K̃ = C(d, λ, µ) c(d, λ, µ) [ 1 + r ρ ]d−2 . Also Caccioppoli inequality gives a L2 norm bound of the...1− 2) nhk∑ m=1 λm ≥ (1− 2)cnhk . 24 BJÖRN ENGQUIST AND HONGKAI ZHAO Hence inequalities (60) is replaced by the following: (75) nhk∑ m=1 λ2m > N

Improving the Teleportation Scheme of Three-Qubit State with a Four-Qubit Quantum Channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Tao; Jiang, Min

2018-01-01

Recently, Zhao-Hui Wei et al. (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 55, 4687, 2016) proposed an improved quantum teleportation scheme for one three-qubit unknown state with a four-qubit quantum channel based on the original one proposed by Binayak S. Choudhury and Arpan Dhara (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 55, 3393, 2016). According to their schemes, the three-qubit entangled state could be teleported with one four-qubit cluster state and five-qubit joint measurements or four-qubit joint measurements. In this paper, we present an improved protocol only with single-qubit measurements and the same four-qubit quantum channel, lessening the difficulty and intensity of necessary operations.

Cation coordination reactions on nanocrystals: surface/interface, doping control and advanced photocatalysis applications (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiatao

2016-10-01

Abstract: Including the shape and size effect, the controllable doping, hetero-composite and surface/interface are the prerequisite of colloidal nanocrystals for exploring their optoelectronic properties, such as fluorescence, plasmon-exciton coupling, efficient electron/hole separation, and enhanced photocatalysis applications. By controlling soft acid-base coordination reactions between cation molecular complexes and colloidal nanocrystals, we showed that chemical thermodynamics could drive nanoscale monocrystalline growth of the semiconductor shell on metal nano-substrates and the substitutional heterovalent doping in semiconductor nanocrystals. We have demonstrated evolution of relative position of Au and II-VI semiconductor in Au-Semi from symmetric to asymmetric configuration, different phosphines initiated morphology engineering, oriented attachment of quantum dots into micrometer nanosheets with synergistic control of surface/interface and doing, which can further lead to fine tuning of plasmon-exciton coupling. Therefore, different hydrogen photocatalytic performance, Plasmon enhanced photocatalysis properties have been achieved further which lead to the fine tuning of plasmon-exciton coupling. Substitutional heterovalent doping here enables the tailoring of optical, electronic properties and photocatalysis applications of semiconductor nanocrystals because of electronic impurities (p-, n-type doping) control. References: (1) J. Gui, J. Zhang*, et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 3683. (2) Q. Zhao, J. Zhang*, etc., Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 1387. (3) J. Liu, Q. Zhao, S. G. Wang*, J. Zhang*, etc., Adv. Mater. 2015, 27-2753-2761. (4) H. Qian, J. Zhang*, etc., NPG Asia Mater. (2015) 7, e152. (5) M. Ji, M. Xu, etc., J. Zhang*, Adv. Mater. 2016, in proof. (6) S. Yu, J. T. Zhang, Y. Tang, M. Ouyang*, Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 6282-6288. (7) J. Zhang, Y. Tang, K. Lee and M. Ouyang*, Science 2010, 327, 1634. (8) J. Zhang, Y. Tang, K. Lee, M. Ouyang*, Nature 2010, 466

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Gas-phase detection of c-C3H3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, D.; Doney, K. D.; Linnartz, H.

2017-03-01

The experimental setup has been described in detail by Zhao et al. (2013CPL...565..132Z, 2014JMoSp.296....1Z). In brief, the c-C3H3+ cations are generated by discharging a propyne (C3H4):He ~ 1:200 gas mixture in a multi-layer slit discharge nozzle (Motylewski & Linnartz 1999RScI...70.1305M) in combination with a pulsed valve (General Valve, Series 9,2 mm orifice). The gas mixture is expanded with a backing pressure of ~7 bar through a 300umx3cm slit into a vacuum chamber. A pulsed negative high voltage (-600 V/300 mA) with a ~600 us duration is found to be optimum for c-C3H3+ production, is applied to the expanding gas mixture, and is set to coincide with the expanding gas pulse (~800 us). Continuous-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy (cw-CRDS) is used to record spectra in direct absorption. The axis of the optical cavity is aligned parallel to and ~2 mm downstream of the slit nozzle throat. A single-mode cw optical parametric oscillator (Aculight), operating at ~3.15 um with a bandwidth <5x10-5cm-1, is employed as tunable IR light source. A hardware-based (boxcar integrator) multi-trigger and timing scheme recently reported by Zhao et al. (2013CPL...565..132Z) is used to apply cw-CRDS to the pulsed plasma. In the present experiment, typical ring-down time values are ~8-10 us, corresponding to a detection sensitivity, i.e., noise equivalent absorption, of up to ~2x10-7 per centimeter for the 3 cm long plasma jet. (1 data file).

Environmental stress cracking performance of polyether and PDMS-based polyurethanes in an in vitro oxidation model.

PubMed

Gallagher, Genevieve; Padsalgikar, Ajay; Tkatchouk, Ekaterina; Jenney, Chris; Iacob, Ciprian; Runt, James

2017-08-01

Environmental stress cracking (ESC) was replicated in vitro on Optim™ (OPT) insulation, a polydimethylsiloxane-based polyurethane utilized clinically in cardiac leads, using a Zhao-type oxidation model. OPT performance was compared to that of two industry standard polyether urethanes: Pellethane ® 80A (P80A), and Pellethane ® 55D (P55D). Clinically relevant specimen configurations and strain states were utilized: low-voltage cardiac lead segments were held in a U-shape by placing them inside of vials. To study whether aging conditions impacted ESC formation, half of the samples were subjected to a pretreatment in human plasma for 7 days at 37°C; all samples were then aged in oxidative solutions containing 0.9% NaCl, 20% H 2 O 2 , and either 0 or 0.1M CoCl 2 , with or without glass wool for 72 days at 37°C. Visual and SEM inspection revealed significant surface cracking consistent with ESC on all P80A and P55D samples. Sixteen of twenty P80A and 10/20 P55D samples also exhibited breaches. Seven of 20 OPT samples exhibited shallow surface cracking consistent with ESC. ATR-FTIR confirmed surface changes consistent with oxidation for all materials. The number average molecular weight decreased an average of 31% for OPT, 86% for P80A, and 56% for P55D samples. OPT outperformed P80A and P55D in this Zhao-type in vitro ESC model. An aging solution of 0.9% NaCl, 20% H 2 O 2 , and 0.1M CoCl 2 , with glass wool provided the best combination of ESC replication and ease of use. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1544-1558, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Study of Tungsten effect on CFETR performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Shengyu; Xiang Gao Collaboration; Guoqiang Li Collaboration; Nan Shi Collaboration; Vincent Chan Collaboration; Xiang Jian Collaboration

2017-10-01

An integrated modeling workflow using OMFIT/TGYRO is constructed to evaluate W impurity effects on China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) performance. Self-consistent modeling of tungsten(W) core density profile, accounting for turbulence and neoclassical transport, is performed based on the CFETR steady-state scenario developed by D.Zhao (ZhaoDeng, APS, 2016). It's found that the fusion performance degraded in a limited level with increasing W concentration. The main challenge arises in sustainment of H-mode with significant W radiation. Assuming the power threshold of H-L back transition is approximately the same as that of L-H transition, using the scaling law of Takizuka (Takizuka etc, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, 2004), it is found that the fractional W concentration should not exceed 3e-5 to stay in H-mode for CFETR phase I. A future step is to connect this requirement to W wall erosion modeling. We are grateful to Dr. Emiliano Fable and Dr. Thomas Pütterich and Ms. Emily Belli for very helpful discussions and comments. We also would like to express our thanks to all the members of the CFETR Physics Group, and we appreciate the General Atomic Theory Group for permission to use the OMFIT framework and GA code suite, and for their valuable technical support. Numerical computations were performed on the ShenMa High Performance Computing Cluster in the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This work was mainly supported by the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2014GB110001, 2014GB110002, 2014GB110003) and supported in part by the National ITER Plans Program of China (Grant Nos. 2013GB106001, 2013GB111002, 2015GB110001).

On the potential asthenospheric linkage between Apenninic slab rollback and Alpine topographic uplift: insights from P wave tomography and seismic anisotropy analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malusa', Marco Giovanni; Salimbeni, Simone; Zhao, Liang; Guillot, Stéphane; Pondrelli, Silvia; Margheriti, Lucia; Paul, Anne; Solarino, Stefano; Aubert, Coralie; Dumont, Thierry; Schwartz, Stéphane; Wang, Qingchen; Xu, Xiaobing; Zheng, Tianyu; Zhu, Rixiang

2017-04-01

The role of surface and deep-seated processes in controlling the topography of complex plate-boundary areas is a highly debated issue. In the Western Alps, which include the highest summits in Europe, factors controlling topographic uplift still remain poorly understood. In the absence of active convergence, recent works have suggested a potential linkage between slab breakoff and fast uplift, but this hypothesis is ruled out by the down-dip continuity of the Alpine slab documented by recent tomographic images of the upper mantle beneath the Alpine region (Zhao et al. 2016). In order to shed light on this issue, we use a densely spaced array of temporary broadband seismic stations and previously published observations to analyze the seismic anisotropy pattern along the transition zone between the Alps and the Apennines, within the framework of the upper mantle structure unveiled by P wave tomography. Our results show a continuous trend of anisotropy fast axes near-parallel to the western alpine arc, possibly due to an asthenospheric counterflow triggered by the eastward retreat of the Apenninic slab. This trend is located in correspondence of a low velocity anomaly in the European upper mantle, and beneath the Western Alps region characterized by the highest uplift rates, which may suggest a potential impact of mantle dynamics on Alpine topography. We propose that the progressive rollback of the Apenninic slab induced a suction effect and an asthenospheric counterflow at the rear of the unbroken Alpine slab and around its southern tip, as well as an asthenospheric upwelling, mirrored by low P wave velocities, which may have favored the topographic uplift of the Alpine belt from the Mt Blanc to the Ligurian coast. Zhao L. et al., 2016. Continuity of the Alpine slab unraveled by high-resolution P wave tomography. J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/2016JB013310.

Imaging the slab structure in the Alpine region by high-resolution P-wave tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guillot, Stéphane; Zhao, Liang; Paul, Anne; Malusà, Marco G.; Xu, Xiaobing; Zheng, Tianyu; Solarino, stefano; Schwartz, Stéphane; Dumont, Thierry; Salimbeni, Simone; Aubert, Coralie; Pondrelli, Silvia; Wang, Qingchen; Zhu, Rixiang

2017-04-01

Based upon a finite-frequency inversion of traveltimes, we computed a new high-resolution tomography model using P-wave data from 527 broadband seismic stations, both from permanent networks and temporary experiments (Zhao et al., 2016). This model provides an improved image of the slab structure in the Alpine region, and fundamental pin-points for the analysis of Cenozoic magmatism, (U)HP metamorphism and Alpine topography. Our results document the lateral continuity of the European slab from the Western to the Central Alps, and the down-dip slab continuity beneath the Central Alps, ruling out the hypothesis of slab breakoff to explain Cenozoic Alpine magmatism. A low velocity anomaly is observed in the upper mantle beneath the core of the Western Alps, pointing to dynamic topography effects (Malusà et al., this meeting). A NE-dipping Adriatic slab, consistent with Dinaric subduction, is possibly observed beneath the Eastern Alps, whereas the laterally continuous Adriatic slab of the Northern Apennines shows major gaps at the boundary with the Southern Apennines, and becomes near vertical in the Alps-Apennines transition zone. Tear faults accommodating opposite-dipping subductions during Alpine convergence may represent reactivated lithospheric faults inherited from Tethyan extension. Our results suggest that the interpretations of previous tomography results that include successive slab breakoffs along the Alpine-Zagros-Himalaya orogenic belt might be proficiently reconsidered. Malusà M.G. et alii (2017) On the potential asthenospheric linkage between Apenninic slab rollback and Alpine topographic uplift: insights from P wave tomography and seismic anisotropy analysis. EGU 2017. Zhao L. et alii (2016), Continuity of the Alpine slab unraveled by high-resolution P wave tomography. J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/2016JB013310.

Revealing Grain Boundary Sliding from Textures of a Deformed Nanocrystalline Pd–Au Alloy

PubMed Central

Skrotzki, Werner; Zhao, Yajun; Pukenas, Aurimas; Birringer, Rainer

2018-01-01

Employing a recent modeling scheme for grain boundary sliding [Zhao et al. Adv. Eng. Mater. 2017, doi:10.1002/adem.201700212], crystallographic textures were simulated for nanocrystalline fcc metals deformed in shear compression. It is shown that, as grain boundary sliding increases, the texture strength decreases while the signature of the texture type remains the same. Grain boundary sliding affects the texture components differently with respect to intensity and angular position. A comparison of a simulation and an experiment on a Pd–10 atom % Au alloy with a 15 nm grain size reveals that, at room temperature, the predominant deformation mode is grain boundary sliding contributing to strain by about 60%. PMID:29370130

VizieR Online Data Catalog: White dwarf candidates using LAMOST DR3 (Gentile Fusillo+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gentile Fusillo, N. P.; Rebassa-Mansergas, A.; Gansicke, B. T.; Liu, X.-W.; Ren, J. J.; Koester, D.; Zhan, Y.; Hou, Y.; Wang, Y.; Yang, M.

2016-01-01

We cross-matched all 65768 objects from the Gentile Fusillo et al. (2015, Cat. J/MNRAS/448/2260) catalogue with the list of the 4.6 million LAMOST spectra and retrieved 6101 spectra corresponding to 5173 unique objects. Thirty-five hundred of these have also received SDSS spectroscopic follow-up and 64 further objects had already been identified on the base of their LAMOST spectra as white dwarfs or white dwarf binaries by Zhang et al. (2013, Cat. J/AJ/146/34), Zhao et al. (2013AJ....145..169Z), Ren et al. (2014, Cat. J/A+A/570/A107) and Rebassa-Mansergas et al. (2015MNRAS.450..743R). (1 data file).

Calibration of strong motion models for Central America region and its use in seismic hazard assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Climent, A.; Benito, M. B.; Piedra, R.; Lindholm, C.; Gaspar-Escribano, J.

2013-05-01

the results of the both analysis the conclusions can be drawn in the following paragraphs. Analyses of residuals show that in some cases the best adjustments of PGA and SA values do not always favor the same equation. Consequently, the following equations that present reasonable adjustments for both parameters are finally selected: Schmidt (2010) and Zhao et al (2006) for shallow crustal sources; Schmidt (2010), Zhao et al (2006), Youngs et al. (1997) and Lin & Lee (2008) for subduction interface and Schmidt (2010), Youngs et al (1997), Zhao et al (2006) and Garcia et al (2005) for inslab subduction sources. Finally, to improve the development of proper models of attenuation of the region, it is recommended to the governmental and private institutions, to support the implementation of permanent strong ground motion networks in all Central America countries, especially in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, including free field stations. In case of Costa Rica and El Salvador to strengthen the networks that already they operate.

Relationships between brightness of nighttime lights and population density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naizhuo, Z.

2012-12-01

Brightness of nighttime lights has been proven to be a good proxy for socioeconomic and demographic statistics. Moreover, the satellite nighttime lights data have been used to spatially disaggregate amounts of gross domestic product (GDP), fossil fuel carbon dioxide emission, and electric power consumption (Ghosh et al., 2010; Oda and Maksyutov, 2011; Zhao et al., 2012). Spatial disaggregations were performed in these previous studies based on assumed linear relationships between digital number (DN) value of pixels in the nighttime light images and socioeconomic data. However, reliability of the linear relationships was never tested due to lack of relative high-spatial-resolution (equal to or finer than 1 km × 1 km) statistical data. With the similar assumption that brightness linearly correlates to population, Bharti et al. (2011) used nighttime light data as a proxy for population density and then developed a model about seasonal fluctuations of measles in West Africa. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory used sub-national census population data and high spatial resolution remotely-sensed-images to produce LandScan population raster datasets. The LandScan population datasets have 1 km × 1 km spatial resolution which is consistent with the spatial resolution of the nighttime light images. Therefore, in this study I selected 2008 LandScan population data as baseline reference data and the contiguous United State as study area. Relationships between DN value of pixels in the 2008 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) stable light image and population density were established. Results showed that an exponential function can more accurately reflect the relationship between luminosity and population density than a linear function. Additionally, a certain number of saturated pixels with DN value of 63 exist in urban core areas. If directly using the exponential function to estimate the population density for the whole brightly

Contributions to urban heat island on the local neighborhood scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hertel, Daniel; Schlink, Uwe

2017-04-01

Already today around half of the global population is living in urban regions and recent studies expect a further increase until mid-21st century. Therefore, especially in the context of climate change, an increasing amount of urban inhabitants are affected by urban climate and air quality. One special characteristic of urban climate is the urban heat island (UHI) effect, where urbanized regions are warmer than the rural surroundings. With respect to climate change and the growing urbanization it is obvious that the UHI effect will tend to be intensified. To keep our cities worth living, it is necessary to think about adaptation and mitigation strategies which refer to both, climate protection as well as utilization of chances resulting from climate changes. One step to a more precisely adaptation, particularly on the neighborhood scale, is an improved understanding of the magnitude of bio geophysical processes (e.g.: radiation balance, convection efficiency, evapotranspiration, storage heat, anthropogenic heat etc.), which contribute to the urban warming. Considering that UHI can be expressed as temperature difference ΔT between urban and rural areas, we can interpret these processes as how they would change temperature, because of energy redistribution, from a rural area to an urbanized region. Up to now on the local scale there is a knowledge gap about these processes. The mentioned processes are parts of a surface energy balance (based on the work of Zhao et al., 2014). That means they refer to the surface UHI effect and not to the canopy layer UHI effect. Assuming that the urban region is a volume with the top at the height of the canopy layer, we can approximately identify the surface UHI effect as the canopy layer UHI effect since the information comes from both the surface and the atmosphere inside. This assumption is not valid for Zhao's approach because they analyzed whole cities and could neglect such processes within the volume. This contribution

Comittees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-10-01

Fritz Caspers (CERN, Switzerland), Michel Chanel (CERN, Switzerland), Håkan Danared (MSL, Sweden), Bernhard Franzke (GSI, Germany), Manfred Grieser (MPI für Kernphysik, Germany), Dieter Habs (LMU München, Germany), Jeffrey Hangst (University of Aarhus, Denmark), Takeshi Katayama (RIKEN/Univ. Tokyo, Japan), H.-Jürgen Kluge (GSI, Germany), Shyh-Yuan Lee (Indiana University, USA), Rudolf Maier (FZ Jülich, Germany), John Marriner (FNAL, USA), Igor Meshkov (JINR, Russia), Dieter Möhl (CERN, Switzerland), Vasily Parkhomchuk (BINP, Russia), Robert Pollock (Indiana University), Dieter Prasuhn (FZ Jülich, Germany), Dag Reistad (TSL, Sweden), John Schiffer (ANL, USA), Andrew Sessler (LBNL, USA), Alexander Skrinsky (BINP, Russia), Markus Steck (GSI, Germany), Jie Wei (BNL, USA), Andreas Wolf (MPI für Kernphysik, Germany), Hongwei Zhao (IMP, People's Rep. of China).

VitaPad: visualization tools for the analysis of pathway data.

PubMed

Holford, Matthew; Li, Naixin; Nadkarni, Prakash; Zhao, Hongyu

2005-04-15

Packages that support the creation of pathway diagrams are limited by their inability to be readily extended to new classes of pathway-related data. VitaPad is a cross-platform application that enables users to create and modify biological pathway diagrams and incorporate microarray data with them. It improves on existing software in the following areas: (i) It can create diagrams dynamically through graph layout algorithms. (ii) It is open-source and uses an open XML format to store data, allowing for easy extension or integration with other tools. (iii) It features a cutting-edge user interface with intuitive controls, high-resolution graphics and fully customizable appearance. http://bioinformatics.med.yale.edu matthew.holford@yale.edu; hongyu.zhao@yale.edu.

Balantidium grimi n. sp. (Ciliophora, Litostomatea), a new species inhabiting the rectum of the frog Quasipaa spinosa from Lishui, China.

PubMed

Zhao, Weishan; Li, Can; Zhang, Dong; Wang, Runqiu; Zheng, Yingzhen; Zou, Hong; Li, Wenxiang; Wu, Shangong; Wang, Guitang; Li, Ming

2018-01-01

Balantidium grimi n. sp. is described from the rectum of the frog Quasipaa spinosa (Amphibia, Dicroglossidae) from Lishui, Zhejiang Province, China. The new species is described by both light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and a molecular phylogenetic analysis is also presented. This species has unique morphological features in that the body shape is somewhat flattened and the vestibulum is "V"-shaped, occupying nearly 3/8 to 4/7 of the body length. Only one contractile vacuole, situated at the posterior body, was observed. The phylogenetic analysis based on SSU-rDNA indicates that B. grimi groups together with B. duodeni and B. entozoon. In addition, the genus Balantidium is clearly polyphyletic. © W. Zhao et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2018.

A Comparative Case Analysis of the Innovation in Five STEM Schools Based on Zhao's Framework for 21st Century World Class Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Patricia A.

2015-01-01

STEM Schools purport to prepare students to learn and work in the 21st Century by providing students with innovative learning experiences through the interdisciplinary integration of science, technology, engineering, and math (Tsupros, 2009). Advocates of STEM and innovative school models argue that the traditional school system does not and…

The relationship of Arctic precipitation rates to stratus cloud thickness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Z.; Garrett, T. J.

2013-12-01

Cloud properties are changing with a warming Arctic, yet it is unclear how precipitation rates will respond. For mid-latitude stratiform clouds, van Zanten et al. (2005) have shown that precipitation rates R decrease with droplet concentration N, but that they increase with the cube of cloud depth H. Furthermore, Kostinski (2008) used physical reasoning to show that the drizzle rate is related to the water content volume fraction (f) and the size dependent fall speed of particles u(r), i.e. R = f u(r). Kostinski's result suggests that R = f u(r) ~ H^ (1+2a), where a = 1 and 0.5 in the intermediate and turbulent regimes of fall speed, respectively. In general, mid-latitude stratocumuli tend to produce drizzles whose fall speed u(r) = k r^1 (a = 1) falls within the intermediate regime. Thus, the physically derived R ~ H^ (1+2 x 1) =H^3 relationship agrees well with the van Zanten et al. (2005) observations. To evaluate Kostinski's hypotheses with respect to Arctic stratus, cloud and precipitation retrieval techniques developed by Zhao and Garrett (2008) and Garrett and Zhao (2012) are used from the ARM NSA-AAO site near Barrow, Alaska. Specifically, cloud top height, cloud base height, and rain rate at cloud base and ground are used to develop dependence relationships. These data show that R ~ H^1.54 in the summer of Arctic, implying that a = 0.27. A low value of parameter a in the relationship u(r) = k r^a suggests wake turbulence behind falling precipitation particles. In the Arctic, stratocumuli often generate ice phase precipitation (or snow crystals). Snow crystals falling in air generate wake turbulence more than the drizzle that is characteristic of stratocumuli in mid-latitudes. A fall speed versus size dependence of u(r) = k r^0.27 suggests that a parameterization R ~ H^ (1+2 x 0.27) = H^1.54 is most suitable for Arctic cloud and climate models that do not explicitly resolve small and fast scale microphysical processes.

Prevalence of Mobile Phones and Factors Influencing Usage by Caregivers of Young Children in Daily Life and for Health Care in Rural China: A Mixed Methods Study

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei; Chen, Li; Du, Xiaozhen; Wu, Qiong; Zhang, Yanfeng; Rudan, Igor; Car, Josip

2015-01-01

Introduction To capitalise on mHealth, we need to understand the use of mobile phones both in daily life and for health care. Objective To assess the prevalence and factors that influence usage of mobile phones by caregivers of young children. Materials and Methods A mixed methods approach was used, whereby a survey (N=1854) and semi-structured interviews (N=17) were conducted concurrently. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained were compared and integrated. Participants were caregivers of young children in Zhao County, Hebei Province, China. Results Four main themes were found: (i) trends in mobile phone ownership; (ii) usage of mobile phone functions; (iii) factors influencing replying to text messages; and (iv) uses of mobile phones for health care. The majority of 1,854 survey participants (1,620; 87.4%) used mobile phones, but usage was much higher among mothers (1,433; 92.6%) and fathers (41; 100.0%) compared to grandparents (142; 54.6%). Parents were able to send text messages, grandparents often not. Factors influencing the decision to reply to text messages in daily life were checking the mobile phone, trusting the sender, emotion or feeling when receiving a text message, the importance of replying and ease of use of text messages. Of 1,620 survey participants who used a mobile phone, about one in four (432; 26.7%) had used it for health care in the past three months and most (1,110; 93.5%) of 1,187 who had not wished to use their phone to receive health information. Conclusion We found that usage of mobile phones is high, several factors influencing usage and an interest of caregivers to use phones for health care in Zhao County, rural China, which can be used to inform studies in settings with similar characteristics. Future work needs to assess factors influencing mobile phone usage in-depth to optimize experiences of users for specific mHealth-based interventions. PMID:25789477

Microbial and Chemical Enhancement of In-Situ Carbon Mineralization in Geological Formation

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

Matter, J.; Chandran, K.

2013-05-31

Predictions of global energy usage suggest a continued increase in carbon emissions and rising concentrations of CO{sub 2} in the atmosphere unless major changes are made to the way energy is produced and used. Various carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are currently being developed, but unfortunately little is known regarding the fundamental characteristics of CO{sub 2}-mineral reactions to allow a viable in-situ carbon mineralization that would provide the most permanent and safe storage of geologically-injected CO{sub 2}. The ultimate goal of this research project was to develop a microbial and chemical enhancement scheme for in-situ carbon mineralization in geologicmore » formations in order to achieve long-term stability of injected CO{sub 2}. Thermodynamic and kinetic studies of CO{sub 2}-mineral-brine systems were systematically performed to develop the in-situ mineral carbonation process that utilizes organic acids produced by a microbial reactor. The major participants in the project are three faculty members and their graduate and undergraduate students at the School of Engineering and Applied Science and at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University: Alissa Park in Earth and Environmental Engineering & Chemical Engineering (PI), Juerg Matter in Earth and Environmental Science (Co-PI), and Kartik Chandran in Earth and Environmental Engineering (Co-PI). Two graduate students, Huangjing Zhao and Edris Taher, were trained as a part of this project as well as a number of graduate students and undergraduate students who participated part-time. Edris Taher received his MS degree in 2012 and Huangjing Zhao will defend his PhD on Jan. 15th, 2014. The interdisciplinary training provided by this project was valuable to those students who are entering into the workforce in the United States. Furthermore, the findings from this study were and will be published in referred journals to disseminate the results. The list of the papers is

Global Urban Mapping and Modeling for Sustainable Urban Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Y.; Li, X.; Asrar, G.; Yu, S.; Smith, S.; Eom, J.; Imhoff, M. L.

2016-12-01

In the past several decades, the world has experienced fast urbanization, and this trend is expected to continue for decades to come. Urbanization, one of the major land cover and land use changes (LCLUC), is becoming increasingly important in global environmental changes, such as urban heat island (UHI) growth and vegetation phenology change. Better scientific insights and effective decision-making unarguably require reliable science-based information on spatiotemporal changes in urban extent and their environmental impacts. In this study, we developed a globally consistent 20-year urban map series to evaluate the time-reactive nature of global urbanization from the nighttime lights remote sensing data, and projected future urban expansion in the 21st century by employing an integrated modeling framework (Zhou et al. 2014, Zhou et al. 2015). We then evaluated the impacts of urbanization on building energy use and vegetation phenology that affect both ecosystem services and human health. We extended the modeling capability of building energy use in the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) with consideration of UHI effects by coupling the remote sensing based urbanization modeling and explored the impact of UHI on building energy use. We also investigated the impact of urbanization on vegetation phenology by using an improved phenology detection algorithm. The derived spatiotemporal information on historical and potential future urbanization and its implications in building energy use and vegetation phenology will be of great value in sustainable urban design and development for building energy use and human health (e.g., pollen allergy), especially when considered together with other factors such as climate variability and change. Zhou, Y., S. J. Smith, C. D. Elvidge, K. Zhao, A. Thomson & M. Imhoff (2014) A cluster-based method to map urban area from DMSP/OLS nightlights. Remote Sensing of Environment, 147, 173-185. Zhou, Y., S. J. Smith, K. Zhao, M. Imhoff, A

An Implementation of Hydrostatic Boundary Conditions for Variable Density Lattice Boltzmann Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardsley, K. J.; Thorne, D. T.; Lee, J. S.; Sukop, M. C.

2006-12-01

Lattice Boltzmann Methods (LBMs) have been under development for the last two decades and have become another capable numerical method for simulating fluid flow. Recent advances in lattice Boltzmann applications involve simulation of density-dependent fluid flow in closed (Dixit and Babu, 2006; D'Orazio et al., 2004) or periodic (Guo and Zhao, 2005) domains. However, standard pressure boundary conditions (BCs) are incompatible with concentration-dependent density flow simulations that use a body force for gravity. An implementation of hydrostatic BCs for use under these conditions is proposed here. The basis of this new implementation is an additional term in the pressure BC. It is derived to account for the incorporation of gravity as a body force and the effect of varying concentration in the fluid. The hydrostatic BC expands the potential of density-dependent LBM to simulate domains with boundaries other than the closed or periodic boundaries that have appeared in previous literature on LBM simulations. With this new implementation, LBM will be able to simulate complex concentration-dependent density flows, such as salt water intrusion in the classic Henry and Henry-Hilleke problems. This is demonstrated using various examples, beginning with a closed box system, and ending with a system containing two solid walls, one velocity boundary and one pressure boundary, as in the Henry problem. References Dixit, H. N., V. Babu, (2006), Simulation of high Rayleigh number natural convection in a square cavity using the lattice Boltzmann method, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 49, 727-739. D'Orazio, A., M. Corcione, G.P. Celata, (2004), Application to natural convection enclosed flows of a lattice Boltzmann BGK model coupled with a general purpose thermal boundary conditions, Int. J. Thermal Sci., 43, 575-586. Gou, Z., T.S. Zhao, (2005), Lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convection with temperature-dependant viscosity in a porous cavity, Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B

Photophysics of single-walled carbon nanotubes: similarity with π-conjugated polymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hongbo

2006-03-01

Coulomb electron-electron (e-e) interactions among the π-electrons have a strong effect on the energy spectra of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (S-SWCNTs), because of their quasi-one-dimensionality. The primary photoexcitations in S-SWCNTs as a consequence of e-e interactions are excitons, as opposed to free electrons and holes. There already exists a vast literature on excitons in π-conjugated polymers, the other class of carbon-based quasi-one-dimensional semiconductors. In order to seek guidance from this knowledge base, we have performed theoretical calculations of the excited state electronic structures, linear absorptions and excited state absorptions for ten different S-SWCNTs with a wide range in diameters, within the same correlated π-electron model that has previously been applied to π-conjugated polymers. We found remarkable similarities in the excitonic energy spectra and nonlinear optical properties of S-SWCNTs on the one hand, and π-conjugated polymers on the other. The ``essential states'' model of third-order optical nonlinearity, previously developed for π-conjugated polymers, applies also to S-SWCNTs (with minor modifications for chiral S-SWCNTs which lack center of inversion). Our theory is able to explain semiquantitatively the results of nonlinear spectroscopic measurements on both S-SWCNTs and π-conjugated polymers. For wide S-SWCNTs with diameters ranging from 0.8--1.0 nm, we calculate exciton binding energies of 0.3--0.4 eV, in strong agreement with the values predicted from the experiments. We also remark on the occurrence of dark excitons below the optical excitons in the S-SWCNTs, and the consequence thereof on the photoluminescence of these materials. H. Zhao, et al., cond-mat/0506097; J. W. Kennedy, et al., cond-mat/0505071. S. N. Dixit, D. Guo, and S. Mazumdar, Phys. Rev. B 43, R6781 (1991) H. Zhao and S. Mazumdar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 157402 (2004).

Eikonal-Based Inversion of GPR Data from the Vaucluse Karst Aquifer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yedlin, M. J.; van Vorst, D.; Guglielmi, Y.; Cappa, F.; Gaffet, S.

2009-12-01

In this paper, we present an easy-to-implement eikonal-based travel time inversion algorithm and apply it to borehole GPR measurement data obtained from a karst aquifer located in the Vaucluse in Provence. The boreholes are situated with a fault zone deep inside the aquifer, in the Laboratoire Souterrain à Bas Bruit (LSBB). The measurements were made using 250 MHz MALA RAMAC borehole GPR antennas. The inversion formulation is unique in its application of a fast-sweeping eikonal solver (Zhao [1]) to the minimization of an objective functional that is composed of a travel time misfit and a model-based regularization [2]. The solver is robust in the presence of large velocity contrasts, efficient, easy to implement, and does not require the use of a sorting algorithm. The computation of sensitivities, which are required for the inversion process, is achieved by tracing rays backward from receiver to source following the gradient of the travel time field [2]. A user wishing to implement this algorithm can opt to avoid the ray tracing step and simply perturb the model to obtain the required sensitivities. Despite the obvious computational inefficiency of such an approach, it is acceptable for 2D problems. The relationship between travel time and the velocity profile is non-linear, requiring an iterative approach to be used. At each iteration, a set of matrix equations is solved to determine the model update. As the inversion continues, the weighting of the regularization parameter is adjusted until an appropriate data misfit is obtained. The inversion results, shown in the attached image, are consistent with previously obtained geological structure. Future work will look at improving inversion resolution and incorporating other measurement methodologies, with the goal of providing useful data for groundwater analysis. References: [1] H. Zhao, “A fast sweeping method for Eikonal equations,” Mathematics of Computation, vol. 74, no. 250, pp. 603-627, 2004. [2] D

Comparison of emissions inventories of anthropogenic air pollutants and greenhouse gases in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saikawa, Eri; Kim, Hankyul; Zhong, Min; Avramov, Alexander; Zhao, Yu; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; Kurokawa, Jun-ichi; Klimont, Zbigniew; Wagner, Fabian; Naik, Vaishali; Horowitz, Larry W.; Zhang, Qiang

2017-05-01

Anthropogenic air pollutant emissions have been increasing rapidly in China, leading to worsening air quality. Modelers use emissions inventories to represent the temporal and spatial distribution of these emissions needed to estimate their impacts on regional and global air quality. However, large uncertainties exist in emissions estimates. Thus, assessing differences in these inventories is essential for the better understanding of air pollution over China. We compare five different emissions inventories estimating emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less (PM10) from China. The emissions inventories analyzed in this paper include the Regional Emission inventory in ASia v2.1 (REAS), the Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research v4.2 (EDGAR), the inventory by Yu Zhao (ZHAO), and the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS). We focus on the period between 2000 and 2008, during which Chinese economic activities more than doubled. In addition to national totals, we also analyzed emissions from four source sectors (industry, transport, power, and residential) and within seven regions in China (East, North, Northeast, Central, Southwest, Northwest, and South) and found that large disagreements exist among the five inventories at disaggregated levels. These disagreements lead to differences of 67 µg m-3, 15 ppbv, and 470 ppbv for monthly mean PM10, O3, and CO, respectively, in modeled regional concentrations in China. We also find that all the inventory emissions estimates create a volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited environment and MEIC emissions lead to much lower O3 mixing ratio in East and Central China compared to the simulations using REAS and EDGAR estimates, due to their low VOC emissions. Our results illustrate that a better

Metabolic syndrome marks early risk for cognitive decline with APOE4 gene variation: A case study.

PubMed

Brown, Dawson; Gibas, Kelly J

2018-04-20

A vast amount of research has been done on the APOE4 genetic marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but its connection to metabolic processes associated with peripheral insulin resistance and cerebral glucose metabolism is still relatively unknown. The APOE4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease, particularly in individuals who have inherited two copies of the gene (Zhao et al., 2017). In this case study, a 38 year old male with metabolic syndrome (MetS), the APOE4 gene, early stage memory problems and a family history of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) was placed on a ketogenic diet combined with high intensity interval training (HIIT) for 10 weeks. The primary intervention goal was reduce insulin defect, impaired cerebral and peripheral insulin signaling, associated with metabolic syndrome. Recent research demonstrates that insulin defect competes for space with APOE4 in brain cells, thus exacerbating amyloid pathology (Zhao et al., 2017). Primary biomarkers for metabolic syndrome were measured at baseline and after 10 weeks. The MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) was administered at baseline and after 10 weeks. The results were statistically significant. The HOMA-IR (homeostatic measure of insulin resistance) decreased by 59% from 4.3 to 1.8. The triglyceride/HDL ratio decreased by 77% from 14.7 to 3.4. Fasting triglycerides were reduced from 573 mg/dL to 167 mg/dL (71% reduction); VLDL decreased from 114.6 mg/dL to 33.4 mg/dL (71% decrease); and fasting insulin was reduced by 55% from 15.6 mU/L to 7.1 mU/L. The baseline MoCA score was 22/30; post treatment score was 30/30. If APOEE4 is the strongest genetic risk factor for developing late-onset Alzheimer's Disease, then implementing a ketogenic diet and high intensity exercise could essentially turn "off" the effects of this APOE4 gene earlier in life for prevention of future neurodegeneration. Copyright © 2018 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Prevalence of mobile phones and factors influencing usage by caregivers of young children in daily life and for health care in rural China: a mixed methods study.

PubMed

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Li, Ye; Wang, Wei; Chen, Li; Du, Xiaozhen; Wu, Qiong; Zhang, Yanfeng; Rudan, Igor; Car, Josip

2015-01-01

To capitalise on mHealth, we need to understand the use of mobile phones both in daily life and for health care. To assess the prevalence and factors that influence usage of mobile phones by caregivers of young children. A mixed methods approach was used, whereby a survey (N=1854) and semi-structured interviews (N=17) were conducted concurrently. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained were compared and integrated. Participants were caregivers of young children in Zhao County, Hebei Province, China. Four main themes were found: (i) trends in mobile phone ownership; (ii) usage of mobile phone functions; (iii) factors influencing replying to text messages; and (iv) uses of mobile phones for health care. The majority of 1,854 survey participants (1,620; 87.4%) used mobile phones, but usage was much higher among mothers (1,433; 92.6%) and fathers (41; 100.0%) compared to grandparents (142; 54.6%). Parents were able to send text messages, grandparents often not. Factors influencing the decision to reply to text messages in daily life were checking the mobile phone, trusting the sender, emotion or feeling when receiving a text message, the importance of replying and ease of use of text messages. Of 1,620 survey participants who used a mobile phone, about one in four (432; 26.7%) had used it for health care in the past three months and most (1,110; 93.5%) of 1,187 who had not wished to use their phone to receive health information. We found that usage of mobile phones is high, several factors influencing usage and an interest of caregivers to use phones for health care in Zhao County, rural China, which can be used to inform studies in settings with similar characteristics. Future work needs to assess factors influencing mobile phone usage in-depth to optimize experiences of users for specific mHealth-based interventions.

Nonlinear electromagnetic gyrokinetic particle simulations with the electron hybrid model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishimura, Y.; Lin, Z.; Chen, L.; Hahm, T.; Wang, W.; Lee, W.

2006-10-01

The electromagnetic model with fluid electrons is successfully implemented into the global gyrokinetic code GTC. In the ideal MHD limit, shear Alfven wave oscillation and continuum damping is demonstrated. Nonlinear electromagnetic simulation is further pursued in the presence of finite ηi. Turbulence transport in the AITG unstable β regime is studied. This work is supported by Department of Energy (DOE) Grant DE-FG02-03ER54724, Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC02-04ER54796 (UCI), DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-76CH03073 (PPPL), and in part by SciDAC Center for Gyrokinetic Particle Simulation of Turbulent Transport in Burning Plasmas. Z. Lin, et al., Science 281, 1835 (1998). F. Zonca and L. Chen, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 30, 2240 (1998); G. Zhao and L. Chen, Phys. Plasmas 9, 861 (2002).

Inverse transport problems in quantitative PAT for molecular imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Kui; Zhang, Rongting; Zhong, Yimin

2015-12-01

Fluorescence photoacoustic tomography (fPAT) is a molecular imaging modality that combines photoacoustic tomography with fluorescence imaging to obtain high-resolution imaging of fluorescence distributions inside heterogeneous media. The objective of this work is to study inverse problems in the quantitative step of fPAT where we intend to reconstruct physical coefficients in a coupled system of radiative transport equations using internal data recovered from ultrasound measurements. We derive uniqueness and stability results on the inverse problems and develop some efficient algorithms for image reconstructions. Numerical simulations based on synthetic data are presented to validate the theoretical analysis. The results we present here complement these in Ren K and Zhao H (2013 SIAM J. Imaging Sci. 6 2024-49) on the same problem but in the diffusive regime.

Improving the XAJ Model on the Basis of Mass-Energy Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Yuanhao; Corbari, Chiara; Zhang, Xingnan; Mancini, Marco

2014-11-01

Introduction: The Xin'anjiang(XAJ) model is a conceptual model developed by the group led by Prof. Ren-Jun Zhao, which takes the pan evaporation as one of its input and then computes the effective evapotranspiration (ET) of the catchment by mass balance. Such scheme can ensure a good performance of discharge simulation but has obvious defects, one of which is that the effective ET is spatially-constant over the computation unit, neglecting the spatial variation of variables that influence the effective ET and therefore the simulation of ET and SM by the XAJ model, comparing with discharge, is less reliable. In this study, The XAJ model was improved to employ both energy and mass balance to compute the ET following the energy-mass balance scheme of FEST-EWB. model.

Improving the XAJ Model on the Basis of Mass-Energy Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Yuanghao; Corbari, Chiara; Zhang, Xingnan; Mancini, Marco

2014-11-01

The Xin’anjiang(XAJ) model is a conceptual model developed by the group led by Prof. Ren-Jun Zhao, which takes the pan evaporation as one of its input and then computes the effective evapotranspiration (ET) of the catchment by mass balance. Such scheme can ensure a good performance of discharge simulation but has obvious defects, one of which is that the effective ET is spatially-constant over the computation unit, neglecting the spatial variation of variables that influence the effective ET and therefore the simulation of ET and SM by the XAJ model, comparing with discharge, is less reliable. In this study, The XAJ model was improved to employ both energy and mass balance to compute the ET following the energy-mass balance scheme of FEST-EWB. model.

First-principles studies of electronic, transport and bulk properties of pyrite FeS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banjara, Dipendra; Mbolle, Augustine; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, Lashounda; Bagayoko, Diola

We present results of ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of pyrite FeS2. We employed a local density approximation (LDA) potential and the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) formalism, following the Bagayoko, Zhao and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF). The BZW-EF method requires successive, self consistent calculations with increasing basis sets to reach the ground state of the system under study. We report the band structure, the band gap, total and partial densities of states, effective masses, and the bulk modulus. Work funded in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award No.DE-NA0002630), the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No, 1503226), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

[Professor GAO Yuchun's experience of acupuncture for headache].

PubMed

Cui, Linhua; Xing, Xiao; Xue, Weihua; Wang, Yanjun; Xu, Cejun; Xuc, Jun; Gao, Yuchun; Kang, Suobin

2015-12-01

As one of the important founders of GAO's acupuncture academic school in YanZhao area, Professor GAO Yuchun 's experience of acupuncture for headache is summarized in this paper. In the opinion of Professor GAO, the treatment of headache should focus on eliminating evil and relieving pain, and the syndrome differentiation should be based on meridian differentiation, especially on three yang meridians of foot as well as liver meridian and kidney meridian. In the acupoint prescription, attention should be placed on strengthening the spleen and stomach. The midnight-midday ebb flow acupuncture is advocated. The combination between acupuncture order and movement of qi is emphasized. In the manipulation, the role of pressing hand, the stimulation during reinforcing and reducing methods, and needle-retention time are important. The breathing reinforcing and reducing method of acupuncture are also advocated.

Persistent activity in a recurrent circuit underlies courtship memory in Drosophila.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaoliang; Lenek, Daniela; Dag, Ugur; Dickson, Barry J; Keleman, Krystyna

2018-01-11

Recurrent connections are thought to be a common feature of the neural circuits that encode memories, but how memories are laid down in such circuits is not fully understood. Here we present evidence that courtship memory in Drosophila relies on the recurrent circuit between mushroom body gamma (MBγ), M6 output, and aSP13 dopaminergic neurons. We demonstrate persistent neuronal activity of aSP13 neurons and show that it transiently potentiates synaptic transmission from MBγ>M6 neurons. M6 neurons in turn provide input to aSP13 neurons, prolonging potentiation of MB γ >M6 synapses over time periods that match short-term memory. These data support a model in which persistent aSP13 activity within a recurrent circuit lays the foundation for a short-term memory. © 2018, Zhao et al.

Circuit models applied to the design of a novel uncooled infrared focal plane array structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Shali; Chen, Dapeng; Li, Chaobo; Jiao, Binbin; Ou, Yi; Jing, Yupeng; Ye, Tianchun; Guo, Zheying; Zhang, Qingchuan; Wu, Xiaoping

2007-05-01

This paper describes a circuit model applied to the simulation of the thermal response frequency of a novel substrate-free single-layer bi-material cantilever microstructure used as the focal plane array (FPA) in an uncooled opto-mechanical infrared imaging system. In order to obtain a high detection of the IR object, gold (Au) is coated alternately on the silicon nitride (SiNx) cantilevers of the pixels (Shi S et al Sensors and Actuators A at press), whereas the thermal response frequency decreases (Zhao Y 2002 Dissertation University of California, Berkeley). A circuit model for such a cantilever microstructure is proposed to be applied to evaluate the thermal response performance. The pixel's thermal frequency (1/τth) is calculated to be 10 Hz under the optimized design parameters, which is compatible with the response of optical readout systems and human eyes.

[Preliminary textual research on Zhijintang Sanctum re-revised version of Jinling edition of Ben cao gang mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)].

PubMed

Zheng, Jinsheng

2014-03-01

The Zhijintang Sanctum version of the re-revised edition of Jinling edition of Ben cao gang mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)collected by Zhao Huiyuan of Baihe, Henan Province in 2008 was opted as one of the third batch of the National Directory of Rare Ancient Worksin 2010. On the second cover page (patent page), it is recorded as"Original Jiangxi version". However, it is investigated to find that most of its paper sheets were reprinted after the original Jinling version, only scores of paper sheets were supplemented block-printed, including the additional block-printed second preface and Li Jianyuan's submitted report of the Jiangxi version, the re-revised time of which should be after the Jiangxi edition, or 1603. The exact time can be determined only by checking it carefully against another Jinling re-revised version (the Sheyuantang Sanctum edition).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: LAMOST quasar survey: quasar properties from the DR1 (Ai+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ai, Y. L.; Wu, X.-B.; Yang, J.; Yang, Q.; Wang, F.; Guo, R.; Zuo, W.; Dong, X.; Zhang, Y.-X.; Yuan, H.-L.; Song, Y.-H.; Wang, J.; Dong, X.; Yang, M.; Wu, H.; Shen, S.-Y.; Shi, J.-R.; He, B.-L.; Lei, Y.-J.; Li, Y.-B.; Luo, A.-L.; Zhao, Y.-H.; Zhang, H.-T.

2018-03-01

LAMOST began a pilot survey in 2011 October and a regular survey in 2012 September. The regular survey, carried out over five to six years, has two major components: the LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (LEGUE) and the LAMOST Extragalactic Survey (LEGAS; Zhao et al. 2012RAA....12..723Z). LEGAS only uses a small part of the available observing time due to the limitations of the LAMOST site, especially the bright sky background and poor seeing. The first data release (DR1) contains spectra taken before 2013 June (Luo et al. 2015, Cat. V/146). In this paper we present the results of the quasar survey from LEGAS. LAMOST LEGAS spectroscopic observations are taken in a series of at least three 30 minute exposures. There are 70290 quasar candidates observed, with 82625 spectra in DR1. (2 data files).

Ionospheric Anomalies of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake with Multiple Observations during Magnetic Storm Phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yang

2017-04-01

Ionospheric anomalies linked with devastating earthquakes have been widely investigated by scientists. It was confirmed that GNSS TECs suffered from drastically increase or decrease in some diurnal periods prior to the earthquakes. Liu et al (2008) applied a TECs anomaly calculation method to analyze M>=5.9 earthquakes in Indonesia and found TECs decadence within 2-7 days prior to the earthquakes. Nevertheless, strong TECs enhancement was observed before M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake (Zhao et al 2008). Moreover, the ionospheric plasma critical frequency (foF2) has been found diminished before big earthquakes (Pulinets et al 1998; Liu et al 2006). But little has been done regarding ionospheric irregularities and its association with earthquake. Still it is difficult to understand real mechanism between ionospheric anomalies activities and its precursor for the huge earthquakes. The M9.0 Tohoku earthquake, happened on 11 March 2011, at 05:46 UT time, was recognized as one of the most dominant events in related research field (Liu et al 2011). A median geomagnetic disturbance also occurred accompanied with the earthquake, which makes the ionospheric anomalies activities more sophisticated to study. Seismic-ionospheric disturbance was observed due to the drastic activities of earth. To further address the phenomenon, this paper investigates different categories of ionospheric anomalies induced by seismology activity, with multiple data sources. Several GNSS ground data were chosen along epicenter from IGS stations, to discuss the spatial-temporal correlations of ionospheric TECs in regard to the distance of epicenter. We also apply GIM TEC maps due to its global coverage to find diurnal differences of ionospheric anomalies compared with geomagnetic quiet day in the same month. The results in accordance with Liu's conclusions that TECs depletion occurred at days quite near the earthquake day, however the variation of TECs has special regulation contrast to the normal quiet

Os and HSE of the hot upper mantle beneath southern Tibet: Indian mantle affinity?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Z.; Dale, C. W.; Pearson, D. G.; Niu, Y.; Zhu, D.; Mo, X.

2011-12-01

The subduction of the Indian plate (including cratonic continental crust and/or upper mantle) beneath southern Tibet is widely accepted from both geological and geophysical studies. Mantle-derived xenoliths from this region provide a means of directly investigating the mantle underlying the southern part of the plateau. Studies of xenoliths hosted in the Sailipu ultrapotassic volcanic rocks, erupted at ~17 Ma, have indicated that the subcontinental mantle of southern Tibetan Plateau is hot and strongly influenced by metasomatism (Zhao et al., 2008a, b; Liu et al., 2011). Here we report comprehensive EPMA and LA-ICP-MS major and trace element data for the Sailipu xenoliths and also whole rock Os isotope and HSE data in order to constrain the depletion history of the mantle and to identify the presence of any potential Indian cratonic mantle. The xenoliths, ranging in size from 0.5cm to 1.5cm in diameter, are mostly peridotites. The calculated temperatures are 1010-1230°C at the given pressures of ~1.6-2.0 GPa (n=47). These P-T conditions are similar to rift-related upper mantle regimes (e.g. Kenya), indicating the influence of regional extension beneath southern Tibet in the Miocene. A series of compositional discriminations for minerals (Cpx, Opx, Ol, and Phl), e.g. Fo<90, suggest that the xenoliths are non-cratonic spinel-peridotite (cratonic peridotite olivine Fo> ~91), with a clear metasomatic signature We obtained Os isotope data and abundances of highly siderophile elements (HSE, including Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, Pd and Re) on a set of six olivine-dominated peridotite samples from Sailipu volcanics, less than 1 cm in dimension. They allow us to further constrain the nature and state of the upper mantle beneath the southern Tibet. Sailipu samples display low total HSE abundances (Os+Ir+Ru+Pt+Pd+Re) ranging from 8.7 to 25 ppb, with nearly constant Os, Ir , and Ru, but rather varied Pt (2-13), Pd (0.4-5.2), and Re (0.01-0.5). Chondrite-normalised Pd/Ir ratios range from

Observations from Space: Marine Ecosystem and Environment Response to Typhoon/ Hurricanes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Danling; Yi, Sui

Isoguchi, 2005. Seasonal phytoplankton blooms associated with monsoonal influences and coastal environments in the sea areas either side of the Indochina Peninsula. JGR-Bio-geo. VOL. 111, G01010, doi:10.1029/2005JG000050, 2006. Tang, DanLing, H Kawamura, Hai Doan-Nhu, W Takahashi , 2004. Remote sensing oceanography of a harmful algal bloom (HAB) off the coast of southeastern Vietnam. J. of Geophysical Research (Ocean).Vol 109, doi:10.1029/2003JC002045; Tang, DanLing, H Kawamura, TV Dien. MA Lee, 2004. Offshore phytoplankton biomass increase and its oceanographic causes in the South China Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 268: 31-41; Tang, DanLing, H ZHAO, B. Satyanarayana, GM ZHENG, RP. SINGH, JH LV, 2009, Enhancement of Chlorophyll-a in the Northeastern Indian Ocean after the 2004 South Asian Tsunami, Int. J. Remote Sensing doi10.1080/01431160802603778 , Vol.30 (17):4553-4565; Zhao, H., DanLing Tang, and Y. Wang, 2008, Comparison of phyto-plankton blooms triggered by two typhoons with different intensities and translation speeds in the South China SeaMar Ecol Prog Ser, 365, 57-65; Zheng, GM. and DanLing Tang ,2007Off-shore and nearshore chlorophyll increases induced by typhoon winds and subsequent terrestrial rainwater runoff, Mar Ecol Prog Ser, 333, 61-72; H Zhao, DanLing TANG, DX Wang, 2009, Phytoplankton blooms near the Pearl River Estuary induced by Typhoon Nuri, Journal of Geophysical Research -Oceans. 114, C12027; YQ Chen, DanLing Tang, 2010, Cold eddies and eddy-shape phytoplankton blooms induced by tropical cyclone Linfa in the South China Sea. In preparation; XX Yang, DanLing Tang, 2010, Sea Surface Temperature Decreasing in the Northern South China Sea Induced by Typhoon. In preparation.

Comparison of text messaging data collection vs face-to-face interviews for public health surveys: a cluster randomized crossover study of care-seeking for childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in rural China.

PubMed

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Wang, Wei; Wu, Qiong; Li, Ye; Scherpbier, Robert W; Du, Xiaozhen; Chen, Li; Zhang, Yanfeng; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor

2018-06-01

To compare text messaging and face-to-face interviews to conduct a survey on childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. Caregivers of young children able to send text messages in Zhao County in rural China were included in this crossover study. Villages (clusters) were randomized into two groups using the ratio 1:1.6 to account for an expected higher drop-out in group 2. In group 1, participants first completed the face-to-face and then text messaging survey; this order was reversed in group 2. We determined data equivalence of 17 questions that were answered by participants who were the same person in both surveys. For the text messaging survey, we assessed the overall and item response rate. We included 1014 participants between 16 and 28 March 2013: 371 in 15 villages in group 1 and 643 in 27 villages in group 2. A total of 662 (65.3%) out of 1014 participants responded (first text message question) and a significantly higher proportion who did not respond were from rural areas ( P  = 0.005). Of 651 participants willing to participate, 356 (54.7%) completed the text messaging survey, which was marginally significantly different between the groups ( P  = 0.05). In total, 409 participants took part in both surveys: 183 in group 1 and 226 in group 2. There was a significantly higher proportion of caregivers from rural areas in Zhao County in the non-responder group compared to the responder group ( P  = 0.004). Kappas were substantial for six (0.61-0.80), moderate for two (0.58 and 0.60), and fair for three questions (0.31, 0.35 and 0.37). The proportion of agreement was >90% for five questions; 80.0%-90.0% for five questions; 70.0%, 65.0% and 45.5%. The remaining questions had too small numbers to calculate these values. This study shows that text messaging data collection produces data similar to data from face-to-face interviews in a middle-income setting, but the response rate was insufficient for use in public health surveys. Improving the response rate is

Mapping seismic azimuthal anisotropy of the Japan subduction zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, D.; Liu, X.

2016-12-01

We present 3-D images of azimuthal anisotropy tomography of the crust and upper mantle of the Japan subduction zone, which are determined using a large number of high-quality P- and S-wave arrival-time data of local earthquakes and teleseismic events recorded by the dense seismic networks on the Japan Islands. A tomographic method for P-wave velocity azimuthal anisotropy is modified and extended to invert S-wave travel times for 3-D S-wave velocity azimuthal anisotropy. A joint inversion of the P and S wave data is conducted to constrain the 3-D azimuthal anisotropy of the Japan subduction zone. Main findings of this work are summarized as follows. (1) The high-velocity subducting Pacific and Philippine Sea (PHS) slabs exhibit trench-parallel fast-velocity directions (FVDs), which may reflect frozen-in lattice-preferred orientation of aligned anisotropic minerals formed at the mid-ocean ridge as well as shape-preferred orientation such as normal faults produced at the outer-rise area near the trench axis. (2) Significant trench-normal FVDs are revealed in the mantle wedge, which reflects corner flow in the mantle wedge due to the active subduction and dehydration of the oceanic plates. (3) Obvious toroidal FVDs and low-velocity anomalies exist in and around a window (hole) in the aseismic PHS slab beneath Southwest Japan, which may reflect a toroidal mantle flow pattern resulting from hot and wet mantle upwelling caused by the joint effects of deep dehydration of the Pacific slab and the convective circulation process in the mantle wedge above the Pacific slab. (4) Significant low-velocity anomalies with trench-normal FVDs exist in the mantle below the Pacific slab beneath Northeast Japan, which may reflect a subducting oceanic asthenosphere affected by hot mantle upwelling from the deeper mantle. ReferencesLiu, X., D. Zhao (2016) Seismic velocity azimuthal anisotropy of the Japan subduction zone: Constraints from P and S wave traveltimes. J. Geophys. Res. 121, doi

Full Three-Dimensional Tomography Experiments in the Western Pacific Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, L.; Chen, L.; Jordan, T. H.

2001-12-01

Two decades of seismic tomography studies have yielded earth models with three-dimensional (3-D) velocity heterogeneities in the mantle on both global and regional scales. With the continuing improvements in inversion techniques, station coverage and computational facilities, seismic tomography has reached a stage at which higher resolution to the structure can only be achieved reliably by employing accurate descriptions between observables and structural parameters, especially in the upper mantle. With this in mind, we have conducted a tomography experiment for the mantle structure beneath the Western Pacific with a full 3-D approach: imaging the 3-D structure using true 3-D Fréchet kernels. In our experiment, we use nearly 20,000 delay times measured at eight discrete frequencies between 10mHz and 45mHz from three-component regional {S} waves, including its multiple reflections from the surface and the CMB. The 3-D Fréchet kernels for these delay times are computed by a normal-mode approach (Zhao, Jordan & Chapman 2000) in which coupling between each pair of modes is accounted for with the exception of cross coupling between spheroidal and toroidal modes. The algorithm is implemented with MPI on the 192-node (and expanding) dual-processor Linux-PC cluster at the University of Southern California. The 3-D radially anisotropic shear-speed model is obtained through a Gaussian-Bayesian inversion. A full description of features in our model will be given in a separate presentation (Chen, Zhao & Jordan, this meeting). Here we discuss in detail the issues related to the calculation of a large number of coupled-mode 3-D kernels for the frequency-dependent delay times and their inversion. We also examine the efficacy of this full 3-D approach in regional high-resolution tomography studies by comparing the results with those in our previous work in which the 3-D structure was obtained by inverting the same delay-time measurements but using computationally more efficient

A two-parameter family of double-power-law biorthonormal potential-density expansions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilley, Edward J.; Sanders, Jason L.; Evans, N. Wyn

2018-07-01

We present a two-parameter family of biorthonormal double-power-law potential-density expansions. Both the potential and density are given in a closed analytic form and may be rapidly computed via recurrence relations. We show that this family encompasses all the known analytic biorthonormal expansions: the Zhao expansions (themselves generalizations of ones found earlier by Hernquist & Ostriker and by Clutton-Brock) and the recently discovered Lilley et al. expansion. Our new two-parameter family includes expansions based around many familiar spherical density profiles as zeroth-order models, including the γ models and the Jaffe model. It also contains a basis expansion that reproduces the famous Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile at zeroth order. The new basis expansions have been found via a systematic methodology which has wide applications in finding other new expansions. In the process, we also uncovered a novel integral transform solution to Poisson's equation.

A two-parameter family of double-power-law biorthonormal potential-density expansions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilley, Edward J.; Sanders, Jason L.; Evans, N. Wyn

2018-05-01

We present a two-parameter family of biorthonormal double-power-law potential-density expansions. Both the potential and density are given in closed analytic form and may be rapidly computed via recurrence relations. We show that this family encompasses all the known analytic biorthonormal expansions: the Zhao expansions (themselves generalizations of ones found earlier by Hernquist & Ostriker and by Clutton-Brock) and the recently discovered Lilley et al. (2017a) expansion. Our new two-parameter family includes expansions based around many familiar spherical density profiles as zeroth-order models, including the γ models and the Jaffe model. It also contains a basis expansion that reproduces the famous Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile at zeroth order. The new basis expansions have been found via a systematic methodology which has wide applications in finding other new expansions. In the process, we also uncovered a novel integral transform solution to Poisson's equation.

On iterative algorithms for quantitative photoacoustic tomography in the radiative transport regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chao; Zhou, Tie

2017-11-01

In this paper, we present a numerical reconstruction method for quantitative photoacoustic tomography (QPAT), based on the radiative transfer equation (RTE), which models light propagation more accurately than diffusion approximation (DA). We investigate the reconstruction of absorption coefficient and scattering coefficient of biological tissues. An improved fixed-point iterative method to retrieve the absorption coefficient, given the scattering coefficient, is proposed for its cheap computational cost; the convergence of this method is also proved. The Barzilai-Borwein (BB) method is applied to retrieve two coefficients simultaneously. Since the reconstruction of optical coefficients involves the solutions of original and adjoint RTEs in the framework of optimization, an efficient solver with high accuracy is developed from Gao and Zhao (2009 Transp. Theory Stat. Phys. 38 149-92). Simulation experiments illustrate that the improved fixed-point iterative method and the BB method are competitive methods for QPAT in the relevant cases.

Open-orbit theory of photoionization microscopy on nonhydrogenic atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, F. L.; Zhao, L. B.

2017-04-01

Semiclassical open-orbit theory (OOT), previously developed to study photoionization of hydrogenic atoms in a uniform electric field [L. B. Zhao and J. B. Delos, Phys. Rev. A 81, 053417 (2010), 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.053417], has been generalized to describe the propagation of outgoing electron waves to macroscopic distances from a nonhydrogenic atomic source. The generalized OOT has been applied to calculate spatial distributions of electron probability densities and current densities, produced due to photoionization for lithium in a uniform electric field. The obtained results are compared with those from the fully quantum-mechanical coupled-channel theory (CCT). The excellent agreement between the CCT and OOT confirms the reliability of the generalized OOT. Comparison is also made with theoretical calculations from the wave-packet propagation technique and the recent photoionization microscopy experiment. The existing difference between theory and experiment is discussed.

A two-parameter family of double-power-law biorthonormal potential-density expansions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilley, Edward J.; Sanders, Jason L.; Evans, N. Wyn

2018-05-01

We present a two-parameter family of biorthonormal double-power-law potential-density expansions. Both the potential and density are given in closed analytic form and may be rapidly computed via recurrence relations. We show that this family encompasses all the known analytic biorthonormal expansions: the Zhao expansions (themselves generalizations of ones found earlier by Hernquist & Ostriker and by Clutton-Brock) and the recently discovered Lilley et al. (2018b) expansion. Our new two-parameter family includes expansions based around many familiar spherical density profiles as zeroth-order models, including the γ models and the Jaffe model. It also contains a basis expansion that reproduces the famous Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile at zeroth order. The new basis expansions have been found via a systematic methodology which has wide applications in finding other new expansions. In the process, we also uncovered a novel integral transform solution to Poisson's equation.

Constraints to solve parallelogram grid problems in 2D non separable linear canonical transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Liang; Healy, John J.; Muniraj, Inbarasan; Cui, Xiao-Guang; Malallah, Ra'ed; Ryle, James P.; Sheridan, John T.

2017-05-01

The 2D non-separable linear canonical transform (2D-NS-LCT) can model a range of various paraxial optical systems. Digital algorithms to evaluate the 2D-NS-LCTs are important in modeling the light field propagations and also of interest in many digital signal processing applications. In [Zhao 14] we have reported that a given 2D input image with rectangular shape/boundary, in general, results in a parallelogram output sampling grid (generally in an affine coordinates rather than in a Cartesian coordinates) thus limiting the further calculations, e.g. inverse transform. One possible solution is to use the interpolation techniques; however, it reduces the speed and accuracy of the numerical approximations. To alleviate this problem, in this paper, some constraints are derived under which the output samples are located in the Cartesian coordinates. Therefore, no interpolation operation is required and thus the calculation error can be significantly eliminated.

The Dangers of ‘Warming and Replenishing’ (wenbu 溫補) during the Ming to Qing Epistemic Transition

PubMed Central

de Vries, Leslie

2016-01-01

Through a case study of Zhao Xianke’s 趙獻可 One Principle through Medicine (Yiguan 醫貫) (1617?) and Xu Dachun’s 徐大椿 (1693–1771) denouncements of this text, my article zooms in on divergent discourses on the safety and efficacy of medicinal substances and compounds in late imperial China. Although Xu Dachun’s fierce attacks on the popular ‘warming and replenishing’ (wenbu 溫補) therapies can be situated in an epistemic shift from the cosmology of ‘Song learning’ (songxue 宋學) towards the philology of ‘Han learning’ (hanxue 漢學) and ‘evidential research’ (kaozheng 考證), I argue that more complex issues were at stake as well. Changed political, social, ethical, and economic realities shaped new and multifaceted perceptions of the nature of medicine, the medical profession, and the usage of medicinals in the aftermath of the Ming to Qing transition. PMID:27818620

Effect of osmolytes on the conformation and aggregation of some amyloid peptides: CD spectroscopic data.

PubMed

Inayathullah, Mohammed; Rajadas, Jayakumar

2016-06-01

Protein misfolding and aggregation are responsible for a large number of diseases called protein conformational diseases or disorders that include Alzheimer׳s disease, Huntington׳s diseases, Prion related encephalopathies and type-II diabetes (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35041139) (Kopito and Ron, 2000) [1]. A variety of studies have shown that some small organic molecules, known as osmolytes have the ability to stabilize native conformation of proteins and prevent misfolding and aggregation (http://www.la-press.com/article.php?article_id=447) (Zhao et al., 2008) [2]. It has been shown that certain short segment or fragment of respective proteins can also form amyloids, and the segments also promote the aggregation in the full-length protein (http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/0929867023369187) (Gazit, 2002) [3]. This article presents circular dichroism spectroscopic data on conformational analysis and effect of osmolytes on Aβ peptide fragments, different lengths of polyglutamine peptide and the amyloidogenic segment of islet amyloid polypeptide.

Encapsulation of mangiferin in ordered mesoporous silica type SBA-15: synthesis and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pontes Silva, Cássia Roberta; da Rocha Ferreira, Fabricia; Dresch Webler, Geovana; Osimar Sousa da Silva, Antônio; Caxico de Abreu, Fabiane; Fonseca, Eduardo J. S.

2017-06-01

SBA-15 ordered mesoporous silica were synthesized using the method reported by Zhao et al (1998 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120 6024-36). The goal of this work is to study the encapsulation of mangiferin (MGN) into porous SBA-15. SBA-MGN composites were obtained from a mixture of SBA-15 and MGN. The structures of these materials were analyzed using different characterization techniques: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), N2 adsorption-desorption measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), absorbance spectra and electrochemical assay. The isotherms of the adsorption/desorption for SBA-15 and SBA-MGN are type IV, showing that the ordered mesoporous structure of SBA-15 was maintained even after the incorporation of MGN. The decrease in the value of the specific surface area and the reduction in pore volume confirmed the incorporation of MGN at the surface and in the pores of SBA-15. The incorporation of MGN in SBA-15 aims to increase the solubility of mangiferin.

Quantum key distribution with an unknown and untrusted source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yi; Qi, Bing; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

2009-03-01

The security of a standard bi-directional ``plug & play'' quantum key distribution (QKD) system has been an open question for a long time. This is mainly because its source is equivalently controlled by an eavesdropper, which means the source is unknown and untrusted. Qualitative discussion on this subject has been made previously. In this paper, we present the first quantitative security analysis on a general class of QKD protocols whose sources are unknown and untrusted. The securities of standard BB84 protocol, weak+vacuum decoy state protocol, and one-decoy decoy state protocol, with unknown and untrusted sources are rigorously proved. We derive rigorous lower bounds to the secure key generation rates of the above three protocols. Our numerical simulation results show that QKD with an untrusted source gives a key generation rate that is close to that with a trusted source. Our work is published in [1]. [4pt] [1] Y. Zhao, B. Qi, and H.-K. Lo, Phys. Rev. A, 77:052327 (2008).

Water use efficiency and integrated water resource management for river basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Xiangzheng; Singh, R. B.; Liu, Junguo; Güneralp, Burak

Water use efficiency and management have attracted increasing attention as water has become scare to challenge the world's sustainable development. Water use efficiency is correlated to the land use and cover changes (LUCC), population distribution, industrial structure, economic development, climate changes, and environmental governance. These factors significantly alter water productivity for water balance through the changes in natural environment and socio-economic system (Wang et al., 2015b). Consequently, dynamics of water inefficiency lower the social welfare of water allocation (Wang et al., 2015b), and induce water management alternation interactively and financially (Wang et al., 2015a). This triggers on actual water price changes through both natural resource and socioeconomic system (Zhou et al., 2015). Therefore, it is very important to figure out a mechanism of water allocation in the course of LUCC (Jin et al., 2015) at a global perspective (Zhao et al., 2015), climate and economic changes of ecosystem service at various spatial and temporal scales (Li et al., 2015).

Resonance Raman spectra of organic molecules absorbed on inorganic semiconducting surfaces: Contribution from both localized intramolecular excitation and intermolecular charge transfer excitation

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

Ye, ChuanXiang; Zhao, Yi, E-mail: yizhao@xmu.edu.cn, E-mail: liangwz@xmu.edu.cn; Liang, WanZhen, E-mail: yizhao@xmu.edu.cn, E-mail: liangwz@xmu.edu.cn

2015-10-21

The time-dependent correlation function approach for the calculations of absorption and resonance Raman spectra (RRS) of organic molecules absorbed on semiconductor surfaces [Y. Zhao and W. Z. Liang, J. Chem. Phys. 135, 044108 (2011)] is extended to include the contribution of the intermolecular charge transfer (CT) excitation from the absorbers to the semiconducting nanoparticles. The results demonstrate that the bidirectionally interfacial CT significantly modifies the spectral line shapes. Although the intermolecular CT excitation makes the absorption spectra red shift slightly, it essentially changes the relative intensities of mode-specific RRS and causes the oscillation behavior of surface enhanced Raman spectra withmore » respect to interfacial electronic couplings. Furthermore, the constructive and destructive interferences of RRS from the localized molecular excitation and CT excitation are observed with respect to the electronic coupling and the bottom position of conductor band. The interferences are determined by both excitation pathways and bidirectionally interfacial CT.« less

[Publicizing the fundamental state policy and strengthening population research].

PubMed

Zheng, G

1983-11-29

In June 1983, a conference on population research was held at Fudan University. A total of more than 40 papers were presented to the conference, and participating scholars vigorously discussed the theme of "controlling population quantity and improving population quality," a policy guideline recommended by Primer Zhao Ziyang. All participants at the conference agreed that China's population growth has reached a climax and that population growth, especially the growth in rural areas, should be put under immediate control. Ideological education is needed to develop family work. In addition, appropriate economic measures in national finance, taxation, material incentives, and business and trade should be taken and linked with national family planning policy. In the area of population quality, more action should be taken to improve birth quality and infant care. Early education for young children should also be emphasized to develop their virtue, wisdom, and physical health in a comprehensive way. Studies of population science should be encouraged, and studies of methodology in population science should be strengthened.

Ab-initio calculations of electronic, transport, and structural properties of boron phosphide

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

Ejembi, J. I.; Nwigboji, I. H.; Franklin, L.

2014-09-14

We present results from ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory calculations of electronic and related properties of zinc blende boron phosphide (zb-BP). We employed a local density approximation potential and implemented the linear combination of atomic orbitals formalism. This technique follows the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams method, as enhanced by the work of Ekuma and Franklin. The results include electronic energy bands, densities of states, and effective masses. The calculated band gap of 2.02 eV, for the room temperature lattice constant of a=4.5383 Å, is in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 2.02±0.05 eV. Our result for the bulk modulus,more » 155.7 GPa, agrees with experiment (152–155 GPa). Our predictions for the equilibrium lattice constant and the corresponding band gap, for very low temperatures, are 4.5269 Å and 2.01 eV, respectively.« less

Zircon U-Pb Geochronology, Hf Isotopic Composition and Geological Implications of the Neoproterozoic Huashan Group in the Jingshan Area, Northern Yangtze Block, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Z.; Yang, K.

2015-12-01

In the northern Yangtze Block, a clear angular unconformity between the Mesoproterozoic sequences (e.g. Dagushi Group) and the overlying Neoproterozoic strata (e.g. Huashan Group) marks the the Jinning orogeny. A combined study of Lu-Hf isotopes and U-Pb ages for detrital zircons from Huashan Group can provide information on the crustal evolution of sedimentary provenances and the timing of the Jinning orogeny. Detrital zircons from Huashan Group have two major U-Pb age populations of about 2.0Ga, 2.65Ga, and three subordinate age groups of about 0.82Ga, 2.5Ga, 2.9Ga with minor >3.0Ga ages. The youngest five analyses yield a weighted average age of 816±9Ma, which is consistent with that of interlayered basalt (824±9Ma, Deng et al., 2013) and roughly defines the minimum depositional age of Huashan Group. Detrital zircons of Huashan Group mostly have two stage Hf isotope model ages (TDM2) between 3.0 to 3.3Ga, indicating that the northern Yangtze Block experienced significant continental crustal growth during the Paleo- to Meso-archean. Similar U-Pb ages of detrital zircons have been obtained from Precambrian sedimentary rocks in the northern Yangtze Block from previous studies (Liu et al., 2008; Guo et al., 2014 and references therein). Recently, ca. 2.65Ga A-type granites had been reported from the Kongling and Huji area, which likely record the thermally stable lithosphere (Chen et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2015). In combination with this study, it documents the widespread 2.6-2.7Ga magmatic rocks in the northern Yangtze Block. Zhao et al. (2013) demonstrated both the ca. 850Ma tonalite and trondhjemite of the Huangling igneous complex were formed in a continental arc setting. This suggests the Miaowan-Huashan oceanic basin proposed by Bader et al. (2013) has not been closed at ca. 850Ma. This evidence, together with the depositional age of the Huashan Group, indicates the Jinning orogeny took place at 850-820 Ma. [1] Bader et al., 2013 Tectonics [2] Deng et al

Comparison of text messaging data collection vs face-to-face interviews for public health surveys: a cluster randomized crossover study of care-seeking for childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in rural China

PubMed Central

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Wang, Wei; Wu, Qiong; Li, Ye; Scherpbier, Robert W; Du, Xiaozhen; Chen, Li; Zhang, Yanfeng; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor

2018-01-01

Background To compare text messaging and face-to-face interviews to conduct a survey on childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. Methods Caregivers of young children able to send text messages in Zhao County in rural China were included in this crossover study. Villages (clusters) were randomized into two groups using the ratio 1:1.6 to account for an expected higher drop-out in group 2. In group 1, participants first completed the face-to-face and then text messaging survey; this order was reversed in group 2. We determined data equivalence of 17 questions that were answered by participants who were the same person in both surveys. For the text messaging survey, we assessed the overall and item response rate. Results We included 1014 participants between 16 and 28 March 2013: 371 in 15 villages in group 1 and 643 in 27 villages in group 2. A total of 662 (65.3%) out of 1014 participants responded (first text message question) and a significantly higher proportion who did not respond were from rural areas (P = 0.005). Of 651 participants willing to participate, 356 (54.7%) completed the text messaging survey, which was marginally significantly different between the groups (P = 0.05). In total, 409 participants took part in both surveys: 183 in group 1 and 226 in group 2. There was a significantly higher proportion of caregivers from rural areas in Zhao County in the non-responder group compared to the responder group (P = 0.004). Kappas were substantial for six (0.61–0.80), moderate for two (0.58 and 0.60), and fair for three questions (0.31, 0.35 and 0.37). The proportion of agreement was >90% for five questions; 80.0%-90.0% for five questions; 70.0%, 65.0% and 45.5%. The remaining questions had too small numbers to calculate these values. Conclusions This study shows that text messaging data collection produces data similar to data from face-to-face interviews in a middle-income setting, but the response rate was insufficient for use in public health

The revitalisation of flexor tendon allografts with bone marrow stromal cells and mechanical stimulation: An ex vivo model revitalising flexor tendon allografts.

PubMed

Wu, J H; Thoreson, A R; Gingery, A; An, K N; Moran, S L; Amadio, P C; Zhao, C

2017-03-01

, mechanical stimulation of a cell-seeded tendon can promote cell proliferation and enhance expression of collagen types I and III in vitro . Cite this article: J. H. Wu, A. R. Thoreson, A. Gingery, K. N. An, S. L. Moran, P. C. Amadio, C. Zhao. The revitalisation of flexor tendon allografts with bone marrow stromal cells and mechanical stimulation: An ex vivo model revitalising flexor tendon allografts. Bone Joint Res 2017;6:179-185. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.63.BJR-2016-0207.R1. © 2017 Zhao et al.

Comparative Simulations of 2D and 3D Mixed Convection Flow in a Faulted Basin: an Example from the Yarmouk Gorge, Israel and Jordan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magri, F.; Inbar, N.; Raggad, M.; Möller, S.; Siebert, C.; Möller, P.; Kuehn, M.

2014-12-01

Lake Kinneret (Lake Tiberias or Sea of Galilee) is the most important freshwater reservoir in the Northern Jordan Valley. Simulations that couple fluid flow, heat and mass transport are built to understand the mechanisms responsible for the salinization of this important resource. Here the effects of permeability distribution on 2D and 3D convective patterns are compared. 2D simulations indicate that thermal brine in Haon and some springs in the Yamourk Gorge (YG) are the result of mixed convection, i.e. the interaction between the regional flow from the bordering heights and thermally-driven flow (Magri et al., 2014). Calibration of the calculated temperature profiles suggests that the faults in Haon and the YG provides paths for ascending hot waters, whereas the fault in the Golan recirculates water between 1 and 2 km depths. At higher depths, faults induce 2D layered convection in the surrounding units. The 2D assumption for a faulted basin can oversimplify the system, and the conclusions might not be fully correct. The 3D results also point to mixed convection as the main mechanism for the thermal anomalies. However, in 3D the convective structures are more complex allowing for longer flow paths and residence times. In the fault planes, hydrothermal convection develops in a finger regime enhancing inflow and outflow of heat in the system. Hot springs can form locally at the surface along the fault trace. By contrast, the layered cells extending from the faults into the surrounding sediments are preserved and are similar to those simulated in 2D. The results are consistent with the theory from Zhao et al. (2003), which predicts that 2D and 3D patterns have the same probability to develop given the permeability and temperature ranges encountered in geothermal fields. The 3D approach has to be preferred to the 2D in order to capture all patterns of convective flow, particularly in the case of planar high permeability regions such as faults. Magri, F., et al., 2014

EDITORIAL: Bioengineering nanotechnology: towards the clinic Bioengineering nanotechnology: towards the clinic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Weian; Karp, Jeffrey M.; Ferrari, Mauro; Serda, Rita

2011-12-01

special issue highlights some of the most recent advances in the exciting field of bioengineering nanotechnology. The themes covered in this issue include nanoparticle systems for tracking transplanted stem cells using a variety of imaging modalities, synthesis of smart nanomaterials for drug delivery and targeting specific intracellular organalles, elucidating how physical cues provided by nano- or micro-fabricated scaffolds impact cell phenotype, novel nanocomposite materials for biosensing, biomimetic assembly of nanostructures for studying molecular interactions, and high content analysis for assessing nanotoxicity. We believe next-generation nanomaterials that are currently under development will transform our understanding of biological mechanisms, and revolutionize clinical practice through ushering in new diagnostics and therapeutic paradigms. As nanotechnology becomes increasingly accessible to research laboratories, significant advances leading to paradigm shifts in basic biology and medicine will require connecting the right technology to the right problem and ensuring that the most pertinent criteria are correctly identified and addressed. References [1] Peer D et al Nat. Nanotechnol. 2 751-60 [2] Wang A Z, Langer R S and Farokhzad O C 2011 Annu. Rev. Med. doi: 10.1146/annurev-med-040210-162544 [3] Farokhzad O C and Langer R 2006 Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 58 1456-9 [4] Zhao W and Karp J M 2009 Nat. Mater. 8 453-4 [5] Ferreira L, Karp J M, Nobre L and Langer R 2008 Cell Stem Cell 3 136-46 [6] Zhao W and Karp J M 2009 ChemBioChem 10 2308-10 [7] Zhao W et al 2011 Nat. Nanotechnol. 6 524-31 [8] Stephan M T, Moon J J, Um S H, Bershteyn A and Irvine D J 2010 Nat. Med. 16 1035-41 [9] Sarkar D, Ankrum J A, Teo G S, Carman C V and Karp J M 2011 Biomaterials 32 3053-61

ANATOMY OF DEPLETED INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS

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

Kocher, M.; Lepri, S. T.; Landi, E.

We report a subset of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) containing distinct periods of anomalous heavy-ion charge state composition and peculiar ion thermal properties measured by ACE /SWICS from 1998 to 2011. We label them “depleted ICMEs,” identified by the presence of intervals where C{sup 6+}/C{sup 5+} and O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} depart from the direct correlation expected after their freeze-in heights. These anomalous intervals within the depleted ICMEs are referred to as “Depletion Regions.” We find that a depleted ICME would be indistinguishable from all other ICMEs in the absence of the Depletion Region, which has the defining property ofmore » significantly low abundances of fully charged species of helium, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. Similar anomalies in the slow solar wind were discussed by Zhao et al. We explore two possibilities for the source of the Depletion Region associated with magnetic reconnection in the tail of a CME, using CME simulations of the evolution of two Earth-bound CMEs described by Manchester et al.« less

On the boundary flow using pulsed nanosecond DBD plasma actuators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Zi-Jie; Cui, Y. D.; Li, Jiun-Ming; Zheng, Jian-Guo; Khoo, B. C.

2018-05-01

Our previous studies in quiescent air environment [Z. J. Zhao et al., AIAA J. 53(5) (2015) 1336; J. G. Zheng et al., Phys. Fluids 26(3) (2014) 036102] reveal experimentally and numerically that the shock wave generated by the nanosecond pulsed plasma is fundamentally a microblast wave. The shock-induced burst perturbations (overpressure and induced velocity) are found to be restricted to a very narrow region (about 1 mm) behind the shock front and last only for a few microseconds. These results indicate that the pulsed nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator has stronger local effects in time and spatial domain. In this paper, we further investigate the effects of pulsed plasma on the boundary layer flow over a flat plate. The present investigation reveals that the nanosecond pulsed plasma actuator generates intense perturbations and tends to promote the laminar boundary over a flat plate to turbulent flow. The heat effect after the pulsed plasma discharge was observed in the external flow, lasting a few milliseconds for a single pulse and reaching a quasi-stable state for multi-pulses.

The Present of Environmental Psychology Researches in China: Base on the Bibliometric Analysis and Knowledge Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Junhua; Wang, Qi; Zhu, Leiye; Qing, Wu; Jin, Meidong; Zhang, Rui; Wang, Haibin

2018-03-01

Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the interplay between individuals and their surroundings. Chinese researchers conducted extensive research on the field and produced a wealth of academic achievements, especially on the application of environmental psychology, such as the protection of minority towns and villages and the prevention and solution of air pollution. To reveal the current situation of the researches in China, 388 related papers from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were analyzed by bibliometric and Knowledge Mapping. The results show that: (1) these studies stared since 1982 and demonstrated a year-on-year growth trend since 2001, which reaches a historical peak in 2016. Peiwen Zhan, Hu Zhao and Xiaofeng Lu top the list with a total of eighteen articles and Heilongjiang University is the best performer among the contributing organizations. (2)“Environmental Psychology” is the most frequently cited keywords and “Environmental perception”, “Physical environment” and “living environment” have the longest span of the bursts. the top seven largest clusters, which were environment, surroundings, application, privacy, environmental perception environmental art and physical environment.

Ab-initio Electronic, Transport and Related Properties of Zinc Blende Boron Arsenide (zb-BAs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nwigboji, Ifeanyi H.; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Bagayoko, Diola

We present results from ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of zinc blende boron arsenide (zb-BAs). We utilized a local density approximation (LDA) potential and the linear combination of atomic orbital (LCAO) formalism. Our computational technique follows the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin. Our results include electronic energy bands, densities of states, and effective masses. We explain the agreement between these findings, including the indirect band gap, and available, corresponding, experimental ones. This work confirms the capability of DFT to describe accurately properties of materials, provided the computations adhere to the conditions of validity of DFT [AIP Advances, 4, 127104 (2014)]. Acknowledgments: This work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Louisiana Board of Regents, through LASiGMA [Award Nos. EPS- 1003897, NSF (2010-15)-RII-SUBR] and NSF HRD-1002541, the US Department of Energy - National, Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award No. DE- NA0002630), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

Wind noise spectra in small Reynolds number turbulent flows.

PubMed

Zhao, Sipei; Cheng, Eva; Qiu, Xiaojun; Burnett, Ian; Liu, Jacob Chia-Chun

2017-11-01

Wind noise spectra caused by wind from fans in indoor environments have been found to be different from those measured in outdoor atmospheric conditions. Although many models have been developed to predict outdoor wind noise spectra under the assumption of large Reynolds number [Zhao, Cheng, Qiu, Burnett, and Liu (2016). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 140, 4178-4182, and the references therein], they cannot be applied directly to the indoor situations because the Reynolds number of wind from fans in indoor environments is usually much smaller than that experienced in atmospheric turbulence. This paper proposes a pressure structure function model that combines the energy-containing and dissipation ranges so that the pressure spectrum for small Reynolds number turbulent flows can be calculated. The proposed pressure structure function model is validated with the experimental results in the literature, and then the obtained pressure spectrum is verified with the numerical simulation and experiment results. It is demonstrated that the pressure spectrum obtained from the proposed pressure structure function model can be utilized to estimate wind noise spectra caused by turbulent flows with small Reynolds numbers.

Evaluation of Tribocharged Electrostatic Beneficiation of Lunar Simulant in Lunar Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quinn, Jacqueline W.; Captain, Jim G.; Weis, Kyle; Santiago-Maldonado, Edgardo; Trigwell, Steve

2011-01-01

The lunar regolith has high concentrations of aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, sodium, and titanium oxides. Liberation of these metals would provide necessary materials for structural and building material fabrication, spare part, machine and tool production, and construction and site preparation in-situ on the moon or other extraterrestrial body (Rao et al 1979). Ilmenite (FeTi03) is a mineral of interest on the moon as a source of iron, titanium, and oxygen (Cameron 1992, Zhao and Shadman 1993) and therefore enrichment of this mineral in the feedstock before processing would be a considerable advantage in reducing energy requirements to process regolith. Not only for construction materials, but shipping oxygen and water from earth is weight prohibitive, and so investigations into the potential production of oxygen from the oxides of lunar regolith are a major research initiative by NASA (Sibille et al. 2009, Moscatello et al. 2009). In this paper, the results of electrostatic beneficiation of two sets of lunar simulants on two different reduced gravity flight series are presented.

Data and Summaries for Catalytic Destruction of a Surrogate Organic Hazardous Air Pollutant as a Potential Co-benefit for Coal-Fired Selective Catalytic Reduction Systems

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Table 1 summarizes and explanis the Operating Conditions of the SCR Reactor used in the Benzene-Destruction.Table 2 summarizes and explains the Experimental Design and Test Results.Table 3 summarizes and explains the Estimates for Individual Effects and Cross Effects Obtained from the Linear Regression Models for Destruction of C6H6 and Reduction of NO.Fig. 1 shows the Down-flow SCR reactor system in detail.Fig. 2 shows the graphical summary of the Effect of the inlet C6H6 concentration to the SCR reactor on the destruction of C6H6.Fig.3 shows the summary of Carbon mass balance for C6H6 destruction promoted by the V2O5-WO3/TiO2 catalyst.This dataset is associated with the following publication:Lee , C., Y. Zhao, S. Lu, and W.R. Stevens. Catalytic Destruction of a Surrogate Organic Hazardous Air Polutant as a Potential Co-benefit for Coal-fired Selective Catalyst Reduction Systems. AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, USA, 30(3): 2240-2247, (2016).

A small-molecule inhibitor of NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) protects liver from toxin-induced inflammation, oxidative stress, and injury.

PubMed

Ren, Xiaomeng; Li, Xinzhi; Jia, Linna; Chen, Deheng; Hou, Hai; Rui, Liangyou; Zhao, Yujun; Chen, Zheng

2017-02-01

Potent and selective chemical probes are valuable tools for discovery of novel treatments for human diseases. NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) is a key trigger in the development of liver injury and fibrosis. Whether inhibition of NIK activity by chemical probes ameliorates liver inflammation and injury is largely unknown. In this study, a small-molecule inhibitor of NIK, B022, was found to be a potent and selective chemical probe for liver inflammation and injury. B022 inhibited the NIK signaling pathway, including NIK-induced p100-to-p52 processing and inflammatory gene expression, both in vitro and in vivo Furthermore, in vivo administration of B022 protected against not only NIK but also CCl 4 -induced liver inflammation and injury. Our data suggest that inhibition of NIK is a novel strategy for treatment of liver inflammation, oxidative stress, and injury.-Ren, X., Li, X., Jia, L., Chen, D., Hou, H., Rui, L., Zhao, Y., Chen, Z. A small-molecule inhibitor of NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) protects liver from toxin-induced inflammation, oxidative stress, and injury. © FASEB.

The negative cell cycle regulator, Tob (transducer of ErbB-2), is involved in motor skill learning

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

Wang Xinming; Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031; Gao Xiang

Tob (transducer of ErbB-2) is a negative cell cycle regulator with anti-proliferative activity in peripheral tissues. Our previous study identified Tob as a protein involved in hippocampus-dependent memory consolidation (M.L. Jin, X.M. Wang, Y.Y. Tu, X.H. Zhang, X. Gao, N. Guo, Z.Q. Xie, G.P. Zhao, N.H. Jing, B.M. Li, Y.Yu, The negative cell cycle regulator, Tob (Transducer of ErbB-2), is a multifunctional protein involved in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory, Neuroscience 131 (2005) 647-659). Here, we provide evidence that Tob in the central nervous system is engaged in acquisition of motor skill. Tob has a relatively high expression in the cerebellum.more » Tob expression is up-regulated in the cerebellum after rats receive training on a rotarod-running task. Rats infused with Tob antisense oligonucleotides into the 4th ventricle exhibit a severe deficit in running on a rotating rod or walking across a horizontally elevated beam.« less

Characterization of CCX140-B, an orally bioavailable antagonist of the CCR2 chemokine receptor, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and associated complications.

PubMed

Sullivan, Timothy J; Dairaghi, Daniel J; Krasinski, Antoni; Miao, Zhenhua; Wang, Yu; Zhao, Bin N; Baumgart, Trageen; Berahovich, Rob; Ertl, Linda S; Pennell, Andrew; Seitz, Lisa; Miao, Shichang; Ungashe, Solomon; Wei, Zheng; Johnson, Dan; Boring, Landin; Tsou, Chia-Lin; Charo, Israel F; Bekker, Pirow; Schall, Thomas J; Jaen, Juan C

2012-06-05

The following manuscript was published as a Fast Forward article on February 29, 2012: Sullivan TJ, Dairaghi DJ, Krasinski A, Miao Z, Wang Y, Zhao BN, Baumgart T, Berahovich R, Ertl LS, Pennell A, Seitz L, Miao S, Ungashe S, Wei Z, Johnson D, Boring L, Tsou C-L, Charo IF, Bekker P, Schall TJ, and Jaen JC, Characterization of CCX140-B, an orally bioavailable antagonist of the CCR2 chemokine receptor, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and associated complications. J Pharmacol Exp Ther jpet.111.190918; doi:10.1124/jpet.111.190918 It was later found that the chemical identity of a compound cited in the article, CCX140-B, was not sufficiently disclosed. The authors are unable, at this time, to provide the chemical identity of CCX140-B in accordance with the editorial policies of The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. As a result, the authors have voluntarily withdrawn this manuscript from publication. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause JPET's readers.

Detecting features in the dark energy equation of state: a wavelet approach

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

Hojjati, Alireza; Pogosian, Levon; Zhao, Gong-Bo, E-mail: alireza_hojjati@sfu.ca, E-mail: levon@sfu.ca, E-mail: gong-bo.zhao@port.ac.uk

2010-04-01

We study the utility of wavelets for detecting the redshift evolution of the dark energy equation of state w(z) from the combination of supernovae (SNe), CMB and BAO data. We show that local features in w, such as bumps, can be detected efficiently using wavelets. To demonstrate, we first generate a mock supernovae data sample for a SNAP-like survey with a bump feature in w(z) hidden in, then successfully discover it by performing a blind wavelet analysis. We also apply our method to analyze the recently released ''Constitution'' SNe data, combined with WMAP and BAO from SDSS, and find weakmore » hints of dark energy dynamics. Namely, we find that models with w(z) < −1 for 0.2 < z < 0.5, and w(z) > −1 for 0.5 < z < 1, are mildly favored at 95% confidence level. This is in good agreement with several recent studies using other methods, such as redshift binning with principal component analysis (PCA) (e.g. Zhao and Zhang, arXiv: 0908.1568)« less

Bi2O2Se nanosheet: An excellent high-temperature n-type thermoelectric material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Jiabing; Sun, Qiang

2018-01-01

Motivated by the recent synthesis of an ultrathin film of layered Bi2O2Se [Wu et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 12, 530 (2017); Wu et al., Nano Lett. 17, 3021 (2017)], we have systematically studied the thermoelectric properties of a Bi2O2Se nanosheet using first principles density functional theory combined with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. The calculated results indicate that the Bi2O2Se nanosheet exhibits a figure of merit (ZT) of 3.35 for optimal n-type doping at 800 K, which is much larger than the ZT value of 2.6 at 923 K in SnSe known as the most efficient thermoelectric material [Zhao et al., Nature 508, 373 (2014)]. Equally important, the high ZT in the n-type doped Bi2O2Se nanosheet highlights the efficiency of the reduced dimension on improving thermoelectric performance as compared with strain engineering by which the ZT of n-type doped bulk Bi2O2Se cannot be effectively enhanced.

RELAP-7 Progress Report. FY-2015 Optimization Activities Summary

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

Berry, Ray Alden; Zou, Ling; Andrs, David

2015-09-01

This report summarily documents the optimization activities on RELAP-7 for FY-2015. It includes the migration from the analytical stiffened gas equation of state for both the vapor and liquid phases to accurate and efficient property evaluations for both equilibrium and metastable (nonequilibrium) states using the Spline-Based Table Look-up (SBTL) method with the IAPWS-95 properties for steam and water. It also includes the initiation of realistic closure models based, where appropriate, on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s TRACE code. It also describes an improved entropy viscosity numerical stabilization method for the nonequilibrium two-phase flow model of RELAP-7. For ease of presentationmore » to the reader, the nonequilibrium two-phase flow model used in RELAP-7 is briefly presented, though for detailed explanation the reader is referred to RELAP-7 Theory Manual [R.A. Berry, J.W. Peterson, H. Zhang, R.C. Martineau, H. Zhao, L. Zou, D. Andrs, “RELAP-7 Theory Manual,” Idaho National Laboratory INL/EXT-14-31366(rev. 1), February 2014].« less

30-year Dynamics of Terrestrial Vegetation Activity and the Relationship with Climatologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Jong, R.; Schaepman, M. E.; Furrer, R.; de Bruin, S.; Verburg, P. H.

2013-12-01

The climate governs the seasonal activity of terrestrial vegetation while humankind influences it. The relative role of these drivers in changing vegetation activity is crucial information for accurate modeling of vegetation and climate dynamics and for adaptation and mitigation strategies. Disentangling the two, however, is an ongoing scientific challenge, because of limited data availability, mainly regarding non-climatic drivers, and complex biosphere-atmosphere feedback mechanisms. Here, we contribute to this quest by modeling the spatial relationship between climatologies and changes in global vegetation activity (de Jong et al., 2013a). Vegetation activity is commonly quantified using remotely sensed vegetation indices (VI). Extensive reports on temporal trends over the past decades in time series of such indices can be found in literature, including the detection of shifts (de Jong et al., 2013b), which may be related to climate (e.g. Zhao & Running, 2010). However, little remains known about the exact processes underlying vegetation change at large spatial scales. Depending on eco-region, three climatologies potentially constrain plant growth (Churkina and Running, 1998). In the humid mid-latitudes, for example, temperature is the largest influencing factor; in (semi) arid regions it is the availability of water and in the tropics incident solar radiation. Based on this logic, we developed a mixed-effect model to relate changes in these climatologies to changes in vegetation activity and to quantify the spatial process underlying the other drivers, including human land use. Little over 50% of the spatial variation in vegetation change could be attributed to changes in climatologies; conspicuously, many of the global ';greening' trends and the ';browning' hotspots in Argentina and Australia. Browning hotspots in the non-climatic component were especially located in subequatorial Africa (e.g. parts of Zimbabwe and Tanzania), where human drivers may be

A Comparison of Two Methods for Initiating Air Mass Back Trajectories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putman, A.; Posmentier, E. S.; Faiia, A. M.; Sonder, L. J.; Feng, X.

2014-12-01

Lagrangian air mass tracking programs in back cast mode are a powerful tool for estimating the water vapor source of precipitation events. The altitudes above the precipitation site where particle's back trajectories begin influences the source estimation. We assume that precipitation comes from water vapor in condensing regions of the air column, so particles are placed in proportion to an estimated condensation profile. We compare two methods for estimating where condensation occurs and the resulting evaporation sites for 63 events at Barrow, AK. The first method (M1) uses measurements from a 35 GHz vertically resolved cloud radar (MMCR), and algorithms developed by Zhao and Garrett1 to calculate precipitation rate. The second method (M2) uses the Global Data Assimilation System reanalysis data in a lofting model. We assess how accurately M2, developed for global coverage, will perform in absence of direct cloud observations. Results from the two methods are statistically similar. The mean particle height estimated by M2 is, on average, 695 m (s.d. = 1800 m) higher than M1. The corresponding average vapor source estimated by M2 is 1.5⁰ (s.d. = 5.4⁰) south of M1. In addition, vapor sources for M2 relative to M1 have ocean surface temperatures averaging 1.1⁰C (s.d. = 3.5⁰C) warmer, and reported ocean surface relative humidities 0.31% (s.d. = 6.1%) drier. All biases except the latter are statistically significant (p = 0.02 for each). Results were skewed by events where M2 estimated very high altitudes of condensation. When M2 produced an average particle height less than 5000 m (89% of events), M2 estimated mean particle heights 76 m (s.d. = 741 m) higher than M1, corresponding to a vapor source 0.54⁰ (s.d. = 4.2⁰) south of M1. The ocean surface at the vapor source was an average of 0.35⁰C (s.d. = 2.35⁰C) warmer and ocean surface relative humidities were 0.02% (s.d. = 5.5%) wetter. None of the biases was statistically significant. If the vapor source

Two approaches for numerical modelling of waves generated by landslides : macroscopic and grain scales.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clous, Lucie; Abadie, Stéphane

2017-04-01

The present works aims to show two approaches for the numerical modelling of waves generated by landslides. The first approach is based on a macroscopic view of the landslide. Two cases are introduced : the pyroclastic flow and the generation by a granular flow. Regarding the pyroclastic flow, if we consider that the high interstitial pressure persists during the propagation as showed in some experiments (Roche et al.), the slide has a fluid-like behaviour and therefore can be modelled as a Newtonian fluid. Some experiments are in process to assess this hypothesis. In the case of granular flow, we deal with the experiment of glass beads falling on a slope into water (Viroulet) for two diameters of beads. First, the landslide is modelled as a Newtonian fluid. The aim is to determine the viscosity value for each case and be able to reproduce the first wave. To be closer to the granular media, the mu(I)-rheology is also introduced (GDR MiDi). This rheology has been proposed to model dense granular flow and parameters are defined by the media. The second approach is to model the grain itself in the granular media. It can be done by coupling a DEM code with a Navier-Stokes code for example (Shan and Zhao). However, here, the idea is to compute the slide and the fluids with only a Navier-Stokes (NS) code. To realise that, the solid are modelled using penalised fluid (Ducassou et al.). Yet, the interactions between solid have to be manage by an additional routine in the NS code. A first model has been developed for interaction between discs. Experimental results are expected for the validation of this routine like the fall of several cylinders on a slope into water. References : O. Roche, S. Montserrat, Y. Niño, and A. Tamburrino. Pore fluid pressure and internal kinematics of gravitational laboratory air-particle flows: Insights into the emplacement dynamics of pyroclastic flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 115(B9), September 2010. Sylvain Viroulet. Simulations de

First-principles studies of electronic, transport and bulk properties of pyrite FeS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banjara, Dipendra; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, LaShounda; Bagayoko, Diola

2018-02-01

We present results from first principle, local density approximation (LDA) calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of iron pyrite (FeS2). Our non-relativistic computations employed the Ceperley and Alder LDA potential and the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) formalism. The implementation of the LCAO formalism followed the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF). We discuss the electronic energy bands, total and partial densities of states, electron effective masses, and the bulk modulus. Our calculated indirect band gap of 0.959 eV (0.96), using an experimental lattice constant of 5.4166 Å, at room temperature, is in agreement with the measured indirect values, for bulk samples, ranging from 0.84 eV to 1.03 ± 0.05 eV. Our calculated bulk modulus of 147 GPa is practically in agreement with the experimental value of 145 GPa. The calculated, partial densities of states reproduced the splitting of the Fe d bands to constitute the dominant upper most valence and lower most conduction bands, separated by the generally accepted, indirect, experimental band gap of 0.95 eV.

Ab-initio Computation of the Electronic, transport, and Bulk Properties of Calcium Oxide.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mbolle, Augustine; Banjara, Dipendra; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, Lashounda; Bagayoko, Diola

We report results from ab-initio, self-consistent, local Density approximation (LDA) calculations of electronic and related properties of calcium oxide (CaO) in the rock salt structure. We employed the Ceperley and Alder LDA potential and the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) formalism. Our calculations are non-relativistic. We implemented the LCAO formalism following the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF). The BZW-EF method involves a methodical search for the optimal basis set that yields the absolute minima of the occupied energies, as required by density functional theory (DFT). Our calculated, indirect band gap of 6.91eV, from towards the L point, is in excellent agreement with experimental value of 6.93-7.7eV, at room temperature (RT). We have also calculated the total (DOS) and partial (pDOS) densities of states as well as the bulk modulus. Our calculated bulk modulus is in excellent agreement with experiment. Work funded in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award No.DE-NA0002630), the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No, 1503226), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

Feature Screening in Ultrahigh Dimensional Cox's Model.

PubMed

Yang, Guangren; Yu, Ye; Li, Runze; Buu, Anne

Survival data with ultrahigh dimensional covariates such as genetic markers have been collected in medical studies and other fields. In this work, we propose a feature screening procedure for the Cox model with ultrahigh dimensional covariates. The proposed procedure is distinguished from the existing sure independence screening (SIS) procedures (Fan, Feng and Wu, 2010, Zhao and Li, 2012) in that the proposed procedure is based on joint likelihood of potential active predictors, and therefore is not a marginal screening procedure. The proposed procedure can effectively identify active predictors that are jointly dependent but marginally independent of the response without performing an iterative procedure. We develop a computationally effective algorithm to carry out the proposed procedure and establish the ascent property of the proposed algorithm. We further prove that the proposed procedure possesses the sure screening property. That is, with the probability tending to one, the selected variable set includes the actual active predictors. We conduct Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed procedure and further compare the proposed procedure and existing SIS procedures. The proposed methodology is also demonstrated through an empirical analysis of a real data example.

The Non-Axisymmetric Milky Way

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spergel, David N.

1996-01-01

The Dwek et al. model represents the current state-of-the-art model for the stellar structure of our Galaxy. The improvements we have made to this model take a number of forms: (1) the construction of a more detailed dust model so that we can extend our modeling to the galactic plane; (2) simultaneous fits to the bulge and the disk; (3) the construction of the first self-consistent model for a galactic bar; and (4) the development and application of algorithms for constructing nonparametric bar models. The improved Galaxy model has enabled a number of exciting science projects. In Zhao et al., we show that the number and duration of microlensing events seen by the OGLE and MACHO collaborations towards the bulge were consistent with the predictions of our bar model. In Malhotra et al., we constructed an infrared Tully-Fisher (TF) relation for the local group. We found the tightest TF relation ever seen in any band and in any group of galaxies. The tightness of the correlation places strong constraints on galaxy formation models and provides a independent check of the Cepheid distance scale.

N-body simulations of gravitational redshifts and other relativistic distortions of galaxy clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hongyu; Alam, Shadab; Croft, Rupert A. C.; Ho, Shirley; Giusarma, Elena

2017-10-01

Large redshift surveys of galaxies and clusters are providing the first opportunities to search for distortions in the observed pattern of large-scale structure due to such effects as gravitational redshift. We focus on non-linear scales and apply a quasi-Newtonian approach using N-body simulations to predict the small asymmetries in the cross-correlation function of two galaxy different populations. Following recent work by Bonvin et al., Zhao and Peacock and Kaiser on galaxy clusters, we include effects which enter at the same order as gravitational redshift: the transverse Doppler effect, light-cone effects, relativistic beaming, luminosity distance perturbation and wide-angle effects. We find that all these effects cause asymmetries in the cross-correlation functions. Quantifying these asymmetries, we find that the total effect is dominated by the gravitational redshift and luminosity distance perturbation at small and large scales, respectively. By adding additional subresolution modelling of galaxy structure to the large-scale structure information, we find that the signal is significantly increased, indicating that structure on the smallest scales is important and should be included. We report on comparison of our simulation results with measurements from the SDSS/BOSS galaxy redshift survey in a companion paper.

An RBF-FD closest point method for solving PDEs on surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petras, A.; Ling, L.; Ruuth, S. J.

2018-10-01

Partial differential equations (PDEs) on surfaces appear in many applications throughout the natural and applied sciences. The classical closest point method (Ruuth and Merriman (2008) [17]) is an embedding method for solving PDEs on surfaces using standard finite difference schemes. In this paper, we formulate an explicit closest point method using finite difference schemes derived from radial basis functions (RBF-FD). Unlike the orthogonal gradients method (Piret (2012) [22]), our proposed method uses RBF centers on regular grid nodes. This formulation not only reduces the computational cost but also avoids the ill-conditioning from point clustering on the surface and is more natural to couple with a grid based manifold evolution algorithm (Leung and Zhao (2009) [26]). When compared to the standard finite difference discretization of the closest point method, the proposed method requires a smaller computational domain surrounding the surface, resulting in a decrease in the number of sampling points on the surface. In addition, higher-order schemes can easily be constructed by increasing the number of points in the RBF-FD stencil. Applications to a variety of examples are provided to illustrate the numerical convergence of the method.

Slow Collisions of Si3+ with Atomic Hydrogen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joseph, D. C.; Gu, J.-P.; Saha, B. C.; Liebermann, H. P.; Funke, P.; Buenker, R. J.

2010-03-01

Low energy electron capture from hydrogen atom by multi-charged ions continues to be of interest and applications include both magnetically confined fusion and astrophysical plasmas. The charge exchange process reported here, Si^3+ + H -> Si^2+ + H^+ is an important destruction mechanism of Si^3+ in photo-ionized gas. The soft X-ray emission from comets has been explained by charge transfer of solar wind ions, among them Si^3+, with neutrals in the cometary gas vapor. The state selective cross sections are evaluated using the full quantum [1] and semi-classical molecular orbital close coupling (MOCC) [2] methods. Adiabatic potentials and wave functions for a number of low-lying singlet and triplet states of and symmetry are calculated wing the MRD-CI package [3]. Details will be presented at the conference. [4pt] [1] L. B. Zhao, D. C. Joseph, B. C. Saha, H. P. Liebermann, P. Funke and R. J. Buenker, Phys. Rev A, 79, 034701 (1009).[0pt] [2] M. Kimura and N. F. Lane, At. Mol. Opt. Phys 26, 79 (1990).[0pt] [3] R. J. Buenker, ``Current Aspects of Quantum Chemistry 1981, Vol 21, edited by R. Carbo (Elsevier, Amsterdam) p 17.

PDEs on moving surfaces via the closest point method and a modified grid based particle method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petras, A.; Ruuth, S. J.

2016-05-01

Partial differential equations (PDEs) on surfaces arise in a wide range of applications. The closest point method (Ruuth and Merriman (2008) [20]) is a recent embedding method that has been used to solve a variety of PDEs on smooth surfaces using a closest point representation of the surface and standard Cartesian grid methods in the embedding space. The original closest point method (CPM) was designed for problems posed on static surfaces, however the solution of PDEs on moving surfaces is of considerable interest as well. Here we propose solving PDEs on moving surfaces using a combination of the CPM and a modification of the grid based particle method (Leung and Zhao (2009) [12]). The grid based particle method (GBPM) represents and tracks surfaces using meshless particles and an Eulerian reference grid. Our modification of the GBPM introduces a reconstruction step into the original method to ensure that all the grid points within a computational tube surrounding the surface are active. We present a number of examples to illustrate the numerical convergence properties of our combined method. Experiments for advection-diffusion equations that are strongly coupled to the velocity of the surface are also presented.

Transition from Arrhenius to non-Arrhenius temperature dependence of structural relaxation time in glass-forming liquids: continuous versus discontinuous scenario.

PubMed

Popova, V A; Surovtsev, N V

2014-09-01

The temperature dependences of α relaxation time τ(α)(T) of three glass-forming liquids (salol, o-terphenyl, and α-picoline) were investigated by a depolarized light scattering technique. A detailed description of τ(α)(T) near T(A), the temperature of the transition from the Arrhenius law at high temperatures to a non-Arrhenius behavior of τ(α)(T) at lower temperatures, was done. It was found that this transition is quite sharp. If the transition is described as switching from the Arrhenius law to the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law, it occurs within the temperature range of about 15 K or less. Most of the known expressions for τ(α)(T) cannot describe this sharp transition. Our analysis revealed that this transition can be described either as a discontinuous transition in the spirit of the frustration-limited domain theory [D. Kivelson, G. Tarjus, X. Zhao, and S. A. Kivelson, Phys. Rev. E 53, 751 (1996)], implying a phase transition, or by a phenomenological expression recently suggested [B. Schmidtke, N. Petzold, R. Kahlau, M. Hofmann, and E. A. Rössler, Phys. Rev. E 86, 041507 (2012)], where the activation energy includes the term depending exponentially on temperature.

[Textual research on Guang dong xin yu (New Sayings of Guangdong) quoted in Ben cao gang mu shi yi (Supplements to Compendium of Materia Medica].

PubMed

Zhang, Ruixian; Zhang, Wei; Li, Jian; Liang, Fei

2014-05-01

Altogether 15 terms for Guang dong xin yu (New Sayings of Guangdong) were used in Ben cao gang mu shi yi (Supplements to Compendium of Materia Medica), including Yue yu (Cantonese sayings), Chong yu (Sayings from Insect Drug), Jie yu (Sayings from Crustacean Drug), Xin yu (New Sayings), Yue hai xiang yu (Fragrant Sayings from Cantonese Region), Yue zhi mu yu (Sayings from Plants in Cantonese Annals), Guang dong suo yu (Trivial Sayings from Guangdong), Yue shan lu (Records of Cantonese Mountains), Yue lu (Cantonese Records), Jiao guang lu (Joint Guangdong Records), Yue cao zhi (Records of Cantonese Grasses), Guang guo lu (Records of Guangdong Fruits), Nan yue suo ji (Trivial Records of Southern Canton), Guang zhi (Guangdong Records), Yue zhi (Cantonese Records) etc. dealing with 57 sorts of drugs (with individual overlapping ones), the author of Xin yu was Qu Dajun, a surviving fogy of the Ming Dynasty actively involved in the activities to restore the old dynasty and resist the Qing Dynasty, and was persecuted in the literary inquisition in which his works were burnt so that Zhao Xuemin, when quoting his texts, had to go in a roundabout way.

Quantitative Assessment of CRAND Contribution to the Inner Belt Electron Intensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; Li, X.; Selesnick, R.; Schiller, Q. A.; Zhao, H.; Baker, D. N.; Temerin, M. A.

2017-12-01

Following the direct identification and measurements of Cosmic Ray Albedo Neutron Decay (CRAND) produced electrons near the inner edge of the inner belt by Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE)1, we extend the study by addressing more comprehensive questions: (1) what is the relative CRAND contribution to the inner belt compared with electrons injected from further out? (2) How does this relative contribution vary with geomagnetic activity and electron energy? (3) What is the solar cycle dependence of CRAND electrons? In order to answer the above questions, extended data of relativistic electrons in the inner belt are needed for a much longer time period and also finer energy resolution is required. Therefore, we will show results regarding the above questions based on data including other low Earth orbit measurements in addition to CSSWE, such as SAMPEX/PET, DEMETER/IDP, and PROBA-V/EPT. [1] Li, Xinlin, Richard Selesnick, Quintin Schiller, Kun Zhang, Hong Zhao, Daniel Baker, and Michael Temerin (2017), Direct detection of albedo neutron decay electrons at the inner edge of the radiation belt and determination of neutron density in near-Earth space, Nature, under review.

Thermoelectric properties of single-layered SnSe sheet.

PubMed

Wang, Fancy Qian; Zhang, Shunhong; Yu, Jiabing; Wang, Qian

2015-10-14

Motivated by the recent study of inspiring thermoelectric properties in bulk SnSe [Zhao et al., Nature, 2014, 508, 373] and the experimental synthesis of SnSe sheets [Chen et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 1213], we have carried out systematic calculations for a single-layered SnSe sheet focusing on its stability, electronic structure and thermoelectric properties by using density functional theory combined with Boltzmann transport theory. We have found that the sheet is dynamically and thermally stable with a band gap of 1.28 eV, and the figure of merit (ZT) reaches 3.27 (2.76) along the armchair (zigzag) direction with optimal n-type carrier concentration, which is enhanced nearly 7 times compared to its bulk counterpart at 700 K due to quantum confinement effect. Furthermore, we designed four types of thermoelectric couples by assembling single-layered SnSe sheets with different transport directions and doping types, and found that their efficiencies are all above 13%, which are higher than those of thermoelectric couples made of commercial bulk Bi2Te3 (7%-8%), suggesting the great potential of single-layered SnSe sheets for heat-electricity conversion.

Effects of chemical and hydrostatic pressures on structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of R2NiMn O6 (R =rare -earth ion ) double perovskites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hong Jian; Liu, Xiao Qiang; Chen, Xiang Ming; Bellaiche, L.

2014-11-01

The effects of chemical and hydrostatic pressures on structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of R2NiMn O6 double perovskites, with R being a rare-earth ion, have been systematically studied by using specific first-principles calculations. These latter reproduce well the correlation between several properties (e.g., lattice parameters, Ni-O-Mn bond angles, magnetic Curie temperature, and electronic band gap) and the rare-earth ionic radius (i.e., the chemical pressure). They also provide novel predictions awaiting experimental confirmation, such as (i) that many physical quantities respond in dramatically different manners to chemical versus hydrostatic pressure, unlike as commonly thought for perovskites containing rare-earth ions, and (ii) a dependence of antipolar displacements on chemical and hydrostatic pressures, which would further explain why the recently predicted electrical polarization of L a2NiMn O6/R2NiMn O6 superlattices [H. J. Zhao, W. Ren, Y. Yang, J. Íñiguez, X. M. Chen, and L. Bellaiche, Nat. Commun. 5, 4021 (2014), 10.1038/ncomms5021] can be created and controlled by playing with the rare-earth element.

Ab-Initio Description and Prediction of Properties of Carbon-Based and Other Non-Metallic Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bagayoko, D.; Zhao, G. L.; Hasan, S.

2001-01-01

We have resolved the long-standing problem consisting of 30%-50% theoretical underestimates of the band gaps of non-metallic materials. We describe the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method that rigorously circumvents the basis-set and variational effect presumed to be a cause of these underestimates. We present ab-initio, computational results that are in agreement with experiment for diamond (C), silicon (Si), silicon carbides (3C-SiC and 4H-SiC), and other semiconductors (GaN, BaTiO3, AlN, ZnSe, ZnO). We illustrate the predictive capability of the BZW method in the case of the newly discovered cubic phase of silicon nitride (c-Si3N4) and of selected carbon nanotabes [(10,0), and (8,4)]. Our conclusion underscores the inescapable need for the BZW method in ab-initio calculations that employ a basis set in a variational approach. Current nanoscale trends amplify this need. We estimate that the potential impact of applications of the BZW method in advancing our understanding of nonmetallic materials, in informing experiment, and particularly in guiding device design and fabrication is simply priceless.

Encore of the Bashful ballerina in solar cycle 23

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mursula, K.; Virtanen, I. I.

2009-04-01

The rotation averaged location of the heliospheric current sheet has been found to be shifted systematically southward for about three years in the late declining to minimum phase of the solar cycle. This behaviour, called by the concept of the Bashful ballerina, has earlier been shown to be valid at least during the active solar cycle of the last century since the late 1920s. Recently, Zhao et al have analysed the WSO observations and conclude that there is no southward coning in HCS or north-south difference in the heliospheric magnetic field during the late declining phase of solar cycle 23. In disagreement with these results, we find that there is a similar but smaller southward shift of the HCS and dominance of the northern field area as in all previous solar cycles. The present smaller asymmetry is in agreement with an earlier observation based on long-term geomagnetic activity that solar hemispheric asymmetry is larger during highly active solar cycles. Moreover, we connect the smallness of shift to the structure of the solar magnetic field with an exceptionally large tilt. We also discuss the cause of the differences between the two approaches reaching different conclusions.

Fractals for Geoengineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oleshko, Klaudia; de Jesús Correa López, María; Romero, Alejandro; Ramírez, Victor; Pérez, Olga

2016-04-01

The effectiveness of fractal toolbox to capture the scaling or fractal probability distribution, and simply fractal statistics of main hydrocarbon reservoir attributes, was highlighted by Mandelbrot (1995) and confirmed by several researchers (Zhao et al., 2015). Notwithstanding, after more than twenty years, it's still common the opinion that fractals are not useful for the petroleum engineers and especially for Geoengineering (Corbett, 2012). In spite of this negative background, we have successfully applied the fractal and multifractal techniques to our project entitled "Petroleum Reservoir as a Fractal Reactor" (2013 up to now). The distinguishable feature of Fractal Reservoir is the irregular shapes and rough pore/solid distributions (Siler, 2007), observed across a broad range of scales (from SEM to seismic). At the beginning, we have accomplished the detailed analysis of Nelson and Kibler (2003) Catalog of Porosity and Permeability, created for the core plugs of siliciclastic rocks (around ten thousand data were compared). We enriched this Catalog by more than two thousand data extracted from the last ten years publications on PoroPerm (Corbett, 2012) in carbonates deposits, as well as by our own data from one of the PEMEX, Mexico, oil fields. The strong power law scaling behavior was documented for the major part of these data from the geological deposits of contrasting genesis. Based on these results and taking into account the basic principles and models of the Physics of Fractals, introduced by Per Back and Kan Chen (1989), we have developed new software (Muukíl Kaab), useful to process the multiscale geological and geophysical information and to integrate the static geological and petrophysical reservoir models to dynamic ones. The new type of fractal numerical model with dynamical power law relations among the shapes and sizes of mesh' cells was designed and calibrated in the studied area. The statistically sound power law relations were established

Vertical velocity-CCN correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudson, J. G.; Noble, S. R.

2013-12-01

The realization that smaller cloud droplets evaporate more readily (Xue and Feingold 2006; Jiang et al. 2002) gives rise to an anti-indirect aerosol effect (IAE); less cloudiness with pollution. The greater latent heat exchange of the greater evaporation in more polluted clouds adds TKE and buoyancy gradients that can enhance vertical velocity (W), mixing and entrainment (Zhao and Austin 2005). Stronger W can increase horizontal motions, which can further enhance droplet evaporation, which further enhances latent heat exchange and vertical motions, thus, positive feedback. This could also include latent heat released during condensation (Lee and Feingold 2010), which is more rapid for the greater surface areas of the smaller more numerous droplets. These theories imply a positive relationship between within-cloud W variations; i.e., standard deviation of W (σw) and CCN concentration (NCCN) rather than W and NCCN. This implies greater turbulence in polluted clouds, which could possibly counteract the reduction of cloudiness of anti-IAE. During two stratus cloud projects, 50 cloud penetrations in 9 MASE flights and 34 cloud penetrations in 13 POST flights, within-cloud σw-NCCN showed correlation coefficients (R) of 0.50 and 0.39. Panel a shows similar within-cloud σw-NCCN R in all altitude bands for 17 RICO flights in small cumulus clouds. R for W-NCCN showed similar values but only at low altitudes. Out-of-cloud σw-NCCN showed similar high values except at the highest altitudes. Within-cloud σw showed higher R than within-cloud W with droplet concentrations (Nc), especially at higher altitudes. Panel b for 13 ICE-T cumulus cloud flights in the same location as RICO but during the opposite season, however, showed σw and W uncorrelated with NCCN at all altitudes; and W and σw correlated with Nc only at the highest altitudes. On the other hand, out-of-cloud σw was correlated with NCCN at all altitudes with R similar to the corresponding R of the other projects

Numerical Simulation of Magma Effects on Hydrothermal Venting at Ultra-Slow Spreading Southwest Indian Ridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zang, Hong; Niu, Xiongwei; Ruan, Aiguo; Li, Jiabiao; Meng, Lin

2017-04-01

Finite element method is used to numerically simulate oceanic crust thermal dynamics in order to understand the hydrothermal venting mechanism at ultra-slow spreading ridge, whether is the ancient magma chamber still living and supplying hot magma for vents or have surrounding hotspots been affecting on the ridge continually with melting and hot magma. Two models are simulated, one is a horizontal layered oceanic crust model and the other is a model derived from wide angle seismic experiment of OBS at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (50°E, Zhao et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015; Niu et al., 2015). For the former two cases are simulated: without magma from upper mantel or with continuous magma supply, and for the latter supposing magma supply occurs only once in short period. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Without melt magma supply at the oceanic crust bottom, a magma chamber can live only thousands ten thousand years. According to the simulated results in this case, the magma chamber revealed by seismic data at the mid-east shallow section of the Southwest Indian Ridge could only last 0.8Ma, the present hydrothermal venting is impossible to be the caused by the magma activity occurred during 8-11Ma (Sauter et al., 2009). (2) The magma chamber can live long time with continuous hot magma supply beneath the oceanic crust due to the melting effects of surrounding ridge hotspots, and would result hydrothermal venting with some tectonic structures condition such as detachment faults. We suggest that the present hydrothermal activities at the mid-east shallow section of the Southwest Indian Ridge are the results of melting effects or magma supply from surrounding hotspots. This research was granted by the National Basic Research program of China (grant 2012CB417301) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 41176046, 91228205). References Zhao, M., Qiu, X., Li, J., et al., 2013. Three-dimensional seismic structure of the Dragon

Comparing the impact of the 2003 and 2010 heatwaves on Net Primary Production in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastos, Ana; Gouveia, Célia M.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Running, Steve W.

2013-04-01

Climate variability is known to influence primary productivity on land ecosystems (Nemani et al., 2003). In particular, extreme climatic events such as major droughts and heatwaves are known to have severe impact on primary productivity and, therefore, to affect significantly the carbon dioxide uptake by land ecosystems at regional (Ciais et al., 2005) or even global scale (Zhao and Running, 2010). In the last decade, Europe was struck by two outstanding heatwaves, the 2003 event in Western Europe and the recent 2010 episode over Eastern Europe. Both were characterised by record breaking temperatures at the daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal scales, although the amplitude and spatial extent of the 2010 mega-heatwave surpassed the 2003 event (Barriopedro et al., 2011). This work aims to assess the influence of both mega-heatwaves on yearly Net Primary Production (NPP) and seasonal Net Photosynthesis (NP), which corresponds to the difference between Gross Primary Production and maintenance respiration. The work relies on yearly NPP and monthly NP data derived from satellite imagery obtained from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor at 1km spatial resolution. Data were selected for the period between 2000 and 2011 over a region extending from 34.6N to 73.5N and 12.1W to 46.8E, covering Eurasia. In 2010 very low primary production anomalies are observed over a very large area in Eastern Europe, at the monthly, seasonal and yearly scale. In western Russia, yearly NPP anomalies fall below 50% of average. These widespread negative anomalous values of NP fields over the western Russia region match the patterns of very high temperature values combined with below-average precipitation, at the seasonal (summer) scale. Moreover, the impact of the heatwave is not only evident at the regional level but also at the wider continental (European) scale and is significantly more extensive and intense than the corresponding heatwave of 2003 in Western Europe

The Gephyrocapsa Sea Surface Paleothermometer Put To The Test: Comparison With Alkenone and Foraminifera Proxies Off NW Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderiks, J.; Bollmann, J.

In Holocene deep-sea sediments, the relative abundance of different morphotypes within the coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa is closely correlated with sea sur- face temperature (Bollmann, 1997). Based on this relationship, a regional temperature transfer function was established using a set of 35 Holocene sediments from the NE Atlantic, covering a temperature range from 14C to 24C. Using this approach, ab- solute annual mean sea surface temperatures for a given location can be calculated from the relative abundance of two Gephyrocapsa morphotypes, Gephyrocapsa Cold and Gephyrocapsa Equatorial, with a standard deviation of +/-1.06C. A global regres- sion model (N=110) was applied as well, which calculates absolute mean sea surface temperatures from the relative abundance of three Gephyrocapsa morphotypes, with a standard deviation of +/-1.78C. Using both calibration models, we have estimated sea surface temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum in a dispersed set of eigh- teen well-dated gravity cores off NW Africa (16-35N; 20-8W). The regional model revealed that annual mean temperatures during the LGM were 4 to 6C colder than today in the Canary Islands region, with lowest temperatures (14-15.5C) off-shore Morocco and south of the volcanic islands, likely due to intensified upwelling related to stronger trade winds. These values are consistent with estimates from the CLIMAP Project (1981) and other paleotemperature reconstructions for the same region. In con- trast, offshore Cape Blanc, our temperature estimates for the LGM are significantly warmer (Ttoday -LGM <4C) than proposed by CLIMAP (Ttoday -LGM 6-10C). Nevertheless, our results support temperature reconstructions based on alkenones that also indicate rather small temperature changes (Ttoday -LGM <3C) in this area (e.g. Zhao et al., 2000). Glacial sea surface temperature estimates derived from the global calibration are on average 1C warmer than those derived from the regional model. However, the

A two-dimensional hybrid method for modeling seismic waves propagation in laterally-varying anisotropic media and its application to central Tibet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, L.; Wen, L.

2009-12-01

The shear wave splitting measurements provide important information on mantle flow, deformation and mineralogy. They are now routinely made using the method developed by Silver and Chan (1994). More and more dense regional observations also begin to reveal sharp spatial variations of seismic anisotropy which could not be explained by simplified horizontal homogeneous anisotropic structures. To better constrain the mantle anisotropy beneath those regions, we developed a two-dimensional hybrid method for simulating seismic wave propagation in laterally-varying anisotropic media [Zhao et al., 2008]. In this presentation, we apply the method to study anisotropic structures beneath central Tibet by waveform modeling the teleseismic SKS phases recorded in the International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalayas project (INDEPTH) III. Using data from two events that were selected such that the stations and sources can be approximated as a two-dimensional profile, we derived an optimal model for the anisotropic structures of the upper mantle beneath the study region: a 50-70 km thick anisotropic layer with a fast direction trending N95°E beneath the Qiangtang block, a 150 km thick and 60 km wide anisotropic segment with an axis trending N95°E beneath the northernmost Lhasa block, and a ~30 km wide transition zone in between within which the fast direction trends N45°E and the depth extent of anisotropy decreases northward sharply. Synthetic waveform modeling further suggests that an anisotropic model with a horizontal symmetry axis can explain the observations better than that with a dipping symmetry, and a low velocity zone possibly underlies or mixes with the anisotropic structures in the northern portion of the region. The optimal model yields synthetic seismograms that are in good agreement with the observations in both amplitudes and relative arrival times of SKS phases. Synthetic tests also indicate that different elastic constants, source parameters and depth

Comparing the impact of the 2003 and 2010 heatwaves on Net Ecosystem Production in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastos, A. F.; Gouveia, C. M.; Trigo, R. M.

2012-12-01

Climate variability is known to influence primary productivity on land ecosystems (Nemani et al., 2003). In particular, extreme climatic events such as major droughts and heatwaves are known to have severe impact on primary productivity and, therefore, to affect significantly the carbon dioxide uptake by land ecosystems at regional (Ciais et al., 2005) or even global scale (Zhao and Running, 2010). In the last decade, Europe was struck by two outstanding heatwaves, the 2003 event in Western Europe and the recent 2010 episode over Eastern Europe. Both were characterised by record breaking temperatures at the daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal scales, although the amplitude and spatial extent of the 2010 mega-heatwave surpassed the 2003 event (Barriopedro et al., 2011). This work aims to assess the influence of both mega-heatwaves on seasonal and yearly Net Ecosystem Production (NEP). The work relies on monthly NEP data derived from satellite imagery obtained from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor at 1km spatial resolution. Data were selected for the period between 2000 and 2011 over a region extending from 34.6 oN to 73.5 oN and 12.1 oW to 46.8 oE, covering Eurasia. In 2010 very low NEP anomalies are observed over a very large area in Eastern Europe, at the monthly, seasonal and yearly scale. In western Russia, yearly NEP anomalies fall below 50% of average cumulative NEP. These widespread negative anomalous values of NEP fields over the western Russia region match the patterns of very high temperature values combined with below-average precipitation, at the seasonal (summer) scale. Moreover, the impact of the heatwave is not only evident at the regional level but also at the wider continental (European) scale and is significantly more extensive and intense than the corresponding heatwave of 2003 in Western Europe (Ciais et al., 2005). References: Barriopedro, D., E. M. Fischer, J. Luterbacher, R. M. Trigo, and R. Garcia-Herrera (2011

Extracellular matrix protein 1, a direct targeting molecule of parathyroid hormone-related peptide, negatively regulates chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification via associating with progranulin growth factor.

PubMed

Kong, Li; Zhao, Yun-Peng; Tian, Qing-Yun; Feng, Jian-Quan; Kobayashi, Tatsuya; Merregaert, Joseph; Liu, Chuan-Ju

2016-08-01

Chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification are precisely controlled by cellular interactions with surrounding matrix proteins and growth factors that mediate cellular signaling pathways. Here, we report that extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) is a previously unrecognized regulator of chondrogenesis. ECM1 is induced in the course of chondrogenesis and its expression in chondrocytes strictly depends on parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) signaling pathway. Overexpression of ECM1 suppresses, whereas suppression of ECM1 enhances, chondrocyte differentiation and hypertrophy in vitro and ex vivo In addition, target transgene of ECM1 in chondrocytes or osteoblasts in mice leads to striking defects in cartilage development and endochondral bone formation. Of importance, ECM1 seems to be critical for PTHrP action in chondrogenesis, as blockage of ECM1 nearly abolishes PTHrP regulation of chondrocyte hypertrophy, and overexpression of ECM1 rescues disorganized growth plates of PTHrP-null mice. Furthermore, ECM1 and progranulin chondrogenic growth factor constitute an interaction network and act in concert in the regulation of chondrogenesis.-Kong, L., Zhao, Y.-P., Tian, Q.-Y., Feng, J.-Q., Kobayashi, T., Merregaert, J., Liu, C.-J. Extracellular matrix protein 1, a direct targeting molecule of parathyroid hormone-related peptide, negatively regulates chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification via associating with progranulin growth factor. © FASEB.

DFT Predictions of Electronic, Transport, and Bulk Properties of Cubic Antifluorite A2B Compounds (A = Li, Na, B = O,S,Se)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, Lashounda; Bagayoko, Diola

We present results from ab-initio,self-consistent calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of cubic antifluorite (anti-CaF2) compounds A2B (A = Li, Na, B = O, S, Se). Our computations employed the local density approximation (LDA) potential of Ceperley and Alder and the linear combination of atomic orbital (LCAO) formalism. The implementation of the LCAO formalism followed the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF). Consequently, our calculations search for and attained the ground states of the systems under study, as required by DFT; our results therefore possess the full, physical content of DFT. We discuss band structures, band gaps, and related properties of these materials, including calculated, total and partial densities of states (DOS and PDOS), effective masses of charge carriers, equilibrium lattice constants, and the bulk moduli of cubic antifluorite compounds A2B (A = Li, Na, B = O, S, Se). Our results are predictions in some cases, due to the lack of experimental data. Work funded in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award No.DE-NA0002630), the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No, 1503226), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

B80 and B101-103 clusters: Remarkable stability of the core-shell structures established by validated density functionalsa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Fengyu; Jin, Peng; Jiang, De-en; Wang, Lu; Zhang, Shengbai B.; Zhao, Jijun; Chen, Zhongfang

2012-02-01

Prompted by the very recent claim that the volleyball-shaped B80 fullerene [X. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 82, 153409 (2010), 10.1103/PhysRevB.82.153409] is lower in energy than the B80 buckyball [N. G. Szwacki, A. Sadrzadeh, and B. I. Yakobson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 166804 (2007), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.166804] and core-shell structure [J. Zhao, L. Wang, F. Li, and Z. Chen, J. Phys. Chem. A 114, 9969 (2010), 10.1021/jp1018873], and inspired by the most recent finding of another core-shell isomer as the lowest energy B80 isomer [S. De, A. Willand, M. Amsler, P. Pochet, L. Genovese, and S. Goedecher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 225502 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.225502], we carefully evaluated the performance of the density functional methods in the energetics of boron clusters and confirmed that the core-shell construction (stuffed fullerene) is thermodynamically the most favorable structural pattern for B80. Our global minimum search showed that both B101 and B103 also prefer a core-shell structure and that B103 can reach the complete core-shell configuration. We called for great attention to the theoretical community when using density functionals to investigate boron-related nanomaterials.

Electronic structure of the ingredient planes of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 + δ and Bi2Sr2CuO6 + δ superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Xucun

Understanding the mechanism of high transition temperature superconductivity in cuprates has been hindered by the apparent complexity of their multilayered crystal structure. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we report on layer-by-layer probing of the electronic structures of the ingredient planes (BiO, SrO, CuO2) of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 + δ (Bi-2212) and Bi2Sr2CuO6 + δ (Bi-2201) superconductors prepared by argon-ion bombardment and annealing (IBA) technique. We show that the well-known pseudogap (PG) feature observed by STM is inherently a property of the charge reservoir planes and thus irrelevant directly to Cooper pairing. The CuO2 planes are exclusively characterized by a small gap inside the PG. The small gap becomes invisible near Tc, which we identify as the superconducting gap. The results constitute severe constraints on any microscopic model for high Tc superconductivity in cuprates. Contributors: Yan-Feng Lv, Wen-Lin Wang, Hao Ding, Yang Wang, Yong Zhong, Ying Ding, Ruidan Zhong, John Schneeloch, Gen-Da Gu, Lili Wang, Ke He, Shuai-Hua Ji, Lin Zhao, Xing-Jiang Zhou Can-Li Song, and Qi-Kun Xue. NSF and MOST of China.

Darboux transformation and solitons for an integrable nonautonomous nonlinear integro-differential Schrödinger equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yong, Xuelin; Fan, Yajing; Huang, Yehui; Ma, Wen-Xiu; Tian, Jing

2017-10-01

By modifying the scheme for an isospectral problem, the non-isospectral Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur (AKNS) hierarchy is constructed via allowing the time varying spectrum. In this paper, we consider an integrable nonautonomous nonlinear integro-differential Schrödinger equation discussed before in “Multi-soliton management by the integrable nonautonomous nonlinear integro-differential Schrödinger equation” [Y. J. Zhang, D. Zhao and H. G. Luo, Ann. Phys. 350 (2014) 112]. We first analyze the integrability conditions and identify the model. Second, we modify the existing Darboux transformation (DT) for such a non-isospectral problem. Third, the nonautonomous soliton solutions are obtained via the resulting DT and basic properties of these solutions in the inhomogeneous media are discussed graphically to illustrate the influences of the variable coefficients. In the process, a technique by selecting appropriate spectral parameters instead of the variable inhomogeneities is employed to realize a different type of one-soliton management. Several novel optical solitons are constructed and their features are shown by some specific figures. In addition, four kinds of the special localized two-soliton solutions are obtained. The solitonic excitations localized both in space and time, which exhibit the feature of the so-called rogue waves but with a zero background, are discussed.

Improving Simulations of Fine Dust Surface Concentrations over the Western United States by Optimizing the Particle Size Distribution

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

Zhang, Li; Kok, Jasper F.; Henze, Daven

2013-06-28

To improve estimates of remote contributions of dust to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the western United States, new dust particle size distributions (PSDs) based upon scale-invariant fragmentation theory (Kok_PSD) with constraints from in situ measurements (IMP_PSD) are implemented in a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Compared to initial simulations, this leads to reductions in the mass of emitted dust particles with radii <1.8 mm by 40%-60%. Consequently, the root-mean-square error in simulated fine dust concentrations compared to springtime surface observations in the western United States is reduced by 67%-81%. The ratio of simulated fine to coarse PM mass is alsomore » improved, which is not achievable by reductions in total dust emissions. The IMP_PSD best represents the PSD of dust transported from remote sources and reduces modeled PM2.5 concentrations up to 5 mg/m3 over the western United States, which is important when considering sources contributing to nonattainment of air quality standards. Citation: Zhang, L., J. F. Kok, D. K. Henze, Q. Li, and C. Zhao (2013), Improving simulations of fine dust surface concentrations over the western United States by optimizing the particle size distribution, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 3270-3275, doi:10.1002/grl.50591.« less

Production of selenomethionine-labeled proteins in two-liter plastic bottles for structure determination.

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

Stols, L.; Sanville Millard, C.; Dementieva, I.

2004-03-01

A simplified approach developed recently for the production of heterologous proteins in Escherichia coli uses 2-liter polyethylene terephthalate beverage bottles as disposable culture vessels [Sanville Millard, C. et al. 2003. Protein Expr. Purif. 29, 311-320]. The method greatly reduces the time and effort needed to produce native proteins for structural or functional studies. We now demonstrate that the approach is also well suited for production of proteins in defined media with incorporation of selenomethionine to facilitate structure determination by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction. Induction of a random set of Bacillus stearothermophilus target genes under the new protocols generated soluble selenomethionyl proteinsmore » in good yield. Several selenomethionyl proteins were purified in good yields and three were subjected to amino acid analysis. Incorporation of selenomethionine was determined to be greater than 95% in one protein and greater than 98% in the other two. In the preceding paper [Zhao et al., this issue, pp. 87-93], the approach is further extended to production of [U-15N]- or [U-13C, U-15N]-labeled proteins. The approach thus appears suitable for high-throughput production of proteins for structure determination by X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.« less

Calculated electronic, transport, and related properties of zinc blende boron arsenide (zb-BAs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nwigboji, Ifeanyi H.; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, Lashounda; Bagayoko, Diola

2016-10-01

We present the results from ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of zinc blende boron arsenide. We utilized the local density approximation potential of Ceperley and Alder, as parameterized by Vosko and his group, the linear combination of Gaussian orbitals formalism, and the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF), in carrying out our completely self-consistent calculations. With this method, the results of our calculations have the full, physical content of density functional theory (DFT). Our results include electronic energy bands, densities of states, effective masses, and the bulk modulus. Our calculated, indirect band gap of 1.48 eV, from Γ to a conduction band minimum close to X, for the room temperature lattice constant of 4.777 Å, is in an excellent agreement with the experimental value of 1.46 ± 0.02 eV. We thoroughly explain the reasons for the excellent agreement between our findings and corresponding, experimental ones. This work provides a confirmation of the capability of DFT to describe accurately properties of materials, if the computations adhere strictly to the conditions of validity of DFT, as done by the BZW-EF method.

Regression analysis of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data

PubMed Central

Zhu, Liang; Tong, Xinwei; Sun, Jianguo; Chen, Manhua; Srivastava, Deo Kumar; Leisenring, Wendy; Robison, Leslie L.

2014-01-01

In event history studies concerning recurrent events, two types of data have been extensively discussed. One is recurrent-event data (Cook and Lawless, 2007. The Analysis of Recurrent Event Data. New York: Springer), and the other is panel-count data (Zhao and others, 2010. Nonparametric inference based on panel-count data. Test 20, 1–42). In the former case, all study subjects are monitored continuously; thus, complete information is available for the underlying recurrent-event processes of interest. In the latter case, study subjects are monitored periodically; thus, only incomplete information is available for the processes of interest. In reality, however, a third type of data could occur in which some study subjects are monitored continuously, but others are monitored periodically. When this occurs, we have mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data. This paper discusses regression analysis of such mixed data and presents two estimation procedures for the problem. One is a maximum likelihood estimation procedure, and the other is an estimating equation procedure. The asymptotic properties of both resulting estimators of regression parameters are established. Also, the methods are applied to a set of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data that arose from a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and motivated this investigation. PMID:24648408

Facility Overview and Double-Focusing Thermal Triple-Axis Spectrometer at the NCNR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynn, Jeffrey

2012-02-01

We will briefly overview the neutron scattering instrumentation at the NCNR, but will focus the talk on the capabilities of the new thermal triple-axis spectrometer is located at the BT-7 beam port [1]. This spectrometer takes full advantage of the large 165 mm diameter reactor beam to tailor the dual 20x20 cm^2 double-focusing monochromator system to provide monochromatic fluxes exceeding 10^8 n/cm^2/s onto the sample. The two monochromators installed are PG(002) and Cu(220), which provide incident energies for 5 meV to above 500 meV. The computer controlled analyzer system offers six standard modes of operation, including a diffraction detector, a position-sensitive detector (PSD) in diffraction mode, horizontal energy focusing analyzer with detector, a Q-E mode employing a flat analyzer and PSD, a constant-E mode with the analyzer crystal system and PSD, and a conventional mode with a selection of S"oller collimators and detector. Additional configurations for specific measurement needs are also available. The capabilities and performance will be discussed and examples of published data presented. [4pt] [1] J. W. Lynn, Y. Chen, S. Chang, Y. Zhao, S. Chi, W. Ratcliff, II, B. G. Ueland, and R. W. Erwin, J. Research NIST 117 (in press).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Proper motions in M 11 (Su+ 1998)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, C.-G.; Zhao, J.-L.; Tian, K.-P.

1997-07-01

Relative proper motions of 872 stars in the open cluster M 11 region are reduced using 10 plate pairs taken over time baselines of 16~70 years with the double astrograph telescope of Shanghai Observatory. The scale is 30"/mm. The plates were measured with the PDS machines in the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing and the Institute of Technology and Communication in Luoyang, China. The average proper motion accuracy is about 1.1mas/yr with 85% of the data better than 1mas/yr. Membership probabilities of 785 stars within 25' centred on M 11 are determined based on their proper motions. The method used is suggested by Su et al. (1995AcApS..15..217S) with some improvements of Zhao & He (1990A&A...237...54Z), in which the space distribution and magnitude dependencies for cluster stars are taken into account. The results are significantly good. The total integrated membership probabilities for all these stars is 547 and the number of stars with probabilities higher than 0.7 is 541. It can be found after the membership determination that there exists mass segregation in M 11. Some comparisons and discussion are also given. (1 data file).

Improving the Thermal, Radial and Temporal Accuracy of the Analytical Ultracentrifuge through External References

PubMed Central

Ghirlando, Rodolfo; Balbo, Andrea; Piszczek, Grzegorz; Brown, Patrick H.; Lewis, Marc S.; Brautigam, Chad A.; Schuck, Peter; Zhao, Huaying

2013-01-01

Sedimentation velocity (SV) is a method based on first-principles that provides a precise hydrodynamic characterization of macromolecules in solution. Due to recent improvements in data analysis, the accuracy of experimental SV data emerges as a limiting factor in its interpretation. Our goal was to unravel the sources of experimental error and develop improved calibration procedures. We implemented the use of a Thermochron iButton® temperature logger to directly measure the temperature of a spinning rotor, and detected deviations that can translate into an error of as much as 10% in the sedimentation coefficient. We further designed a precision mask with equidistant markers to correct for instrumental errors in the radial calibration, which were observed to span a range of 8.6%. The need for an independent time calibration emerged with use of the current data acquisition software (Zhao et al., doi 10.1016/j.ab.2013.02.011) and we now show that smaller but significant time errors of up to 2% also occur with earlier versions. After application of these calibration corrections, the sedimentation coefficients obtained from eleven instruments displayed a significantly reduced standard deviation of ∼ 0.7 %. This study demonstrates the need for external calibration procedures and regular control experiments with a sedimentation coefficient standard. PMID:23711724

Improving the thermal, radial, and temporal accuracy of the analytical ultracentrifuge through external references.

PubMed

Ghirlando, Rodolfo; Balbo, Andrea; Piszczek, Grzegorz; Brown, Patrick H; Lewis, Marc S; Brautigam, Chad A; Schuck, Peter; Zhao, Huaying

2013-09-01

Sedimentation velocity (SV) is a method based on first principles that provides a precise hydrodynamic characterization of macromolecules in solution. Due to recent improvements in data analysis, the accuracy of experimental SV data emerges as a limiting factor in its interpretation. Our goal was to unravel the sources of experimental error and develop improved calibration procedures. We implemented the use of a Thermochron iButton temperature logger to directly measure the temperature of a spinning rotor and detected deviations that can translate into an error of as much as 10% in the sedimentation coefficient. We further designed a precision mask with equidistant markers to correct for instrumental errors in the radial calibration that were observed to span a range of 8.6%. The need for an independent time calibration emerged with use of the current data acquisition software (Zhao et al., Anal. Biochem., 437 (2013) 104-108), and we now show that smaller but significant time errors of up to 2% also occur with earlier versions. After application of these calibration corrections, the sedimentation coefficients obtained from 11 instruments displayed a significantly reduced standard deviation of approximately 0.7%. This study demonstrates the need for external calibration procedures and regular control experiments with a sedimentation coefficient standard. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Relaxing the σ 8-tension through running vacuum in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez-Valent, Adrià; Solà, Joan

2017-11-01

It has recently been shown that the class of running vacuum models (RVMs) has the capacity to fit the overall cosmological observations better than the concordance ΛCDM model, therefore supporting the possibility of dynamical dark energy (DE). Apart from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, the most crucial datasets involved are: i) baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), and ii) direct large scale structure (LSS) formation data. Analyses mainly focusing on CMB and with insufficient BAO + LSS input generally fail to capture the dynamical DE signature, whereas the few existing studies accounting for the wealth of known CMB+BAO+LSS data (see in particular Solà, Gómez-Valent and de Cruz Pérez (2015), (2017); and Zhao et al. (2017)) do converge to the remarkable conclusion that dynamical DE might well be encoded in the current cosmological observations at 3-4σ c.l. A decisive factor is the persistent σ 8-tension between the ΛCDM and the data. Because the issue is obviously pressing, we devote this work to explain how and why running vacuum in the expanding universe successfully relaxes the existing σ 8-tension and describes the LSS formation data significantly better than the ΛCDM.

Modified Spectral Fatigue Methods for S-N Curves With MIL-HDBK-5J Coefficients

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Irvine, Tom; Larsen, Curtis

2016-01-01

The rainflow method is used for counting fatigue cycles from a stress response time history, where the fatigue cycles are stress-reversals. The rainflow method allows the application of Palmgren-Miner's rule in order to assess the fatigue life of a structure subject to complex loading. The fatigue damage may also be calculated from a stress response power spectral density (PSD) using the semi-empirical Dirlik, Single Moment, Zhao-Baker and other spectral methods. These methods effectively assume that the PSD has a corresponding time history which is stationary with a normal distribution. This paper shows how the probability density function for rainflow stress cycles can be extracted from each of the spectral methods. This extraction allows for the application of the MIL-HDBK-5J fatigue coefficients in the cumulative damage summation. A numerical example is given in this paper for the stress response of a beam undergoing random base excitation, where the excitation is applied separately by a time history and by its corresponding PSD. The fatigue calculation is performed in the time domain, as well as in the frequency domain via the modified spectral methods. The result comparison shows that the modified spectral methods give comparable results to the time domain rainflow counting method.

Theoretical study of electronic structure, phase transition, elastic, and thermodynamic properties of ReN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Hui-Ru; Zhu, Jun; Hao, Yan-Jun; Zhang, Lin; Yu, Bai-Ru; Chen, Long-Qing; Zou, Yang-Chun

2015-02-01

Phase transition of rhenium mononitride (ReN) in NaCl, CsCl, zincblende (ZB), NbO, wurtzite (WZ), NiAs, WC, PtS, Pmn21 and Cmc21 structures have been studied by using the projector augmented wave method. It is found that NbO-type structure is the most stable. This conclusion is consistent with the report of Wang et al., while contrary to the results of Zhao et al., Chen et al., Asvini et al., and Hlynsson et al. The phase transition from NbO-type to NiAs-type occurs at ca. 52.8 GPa, which is also in good agreement with that of Wang et al. The elastic constants of NbO- and NiAs-type ReN under high pressure are calculated and found to be increased with the increasing pressures. At the same time, the ductile-brittle behavior is evaluated by Pugh's criteria. Also, we have predicted the density of states and Vickers hardness for NbO and NiAs types of ReN. Finally, the Debye temperature ΘD, thermal expansion α and heat capacity CV for NbO-type structure at high pressures are also derived through the quasi-harmonic Debye model.

Ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) Studies of Electronic, Transport, and Bulk Properties of Sodium Oxide (Na2O)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polin, Daniel; Ziegler, Joshua; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Bagayoko, Diola

We present the findings of ab-initio calculations of electronic, transport, and structural properties of cubic sodium oxide (Na2O). These results were obtained using density functional theory (DFT), specifically a local density approximation (LDA) potential, and the linear combination of Gaussian orbitals (LCGO). Our implementation of LCGO followed the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams method as enhanced by the work of Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF). We describe the electronic band structure of Na2O with a direct band gap of 2.22 eV. Our results include predicted values for the electronic band structure and associated energy eigenvalues, the total and partial density of states (DOS and pDOS), the equilibrium lattice constant of Na2O, and the bulk modulus. We have also calculated the electron and holes effective masses in the Γ to L, Γ to X, and Γ to K directions. Acknowledgments: This work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Louisiana Board of Regents, through LASiGMA [Award Nos. EPS- 1003897, NSF (2010-15)-RII-SUBR] and NSF HRD-1002541, the US Department of Energy - National, Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award No. DE- NA0002630), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

Ab-initio Calculation of Optoelectronic and Structural Properties of Cubic Lithium Oxide (Li2O)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziegler, Joshua; Polin, Daniel; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Bagayoko, Diola

Using the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF), we performed ab-initio, density functional theory (DFT) calculations of optoelectronic, transport, and bulk properties of Li2S. In so doing, we avoid ``band gap'' and problems plaguing many DET calculations [AIP Advances 4, 127104 (2014)]. We employed a local density approximation (LDA) potential and the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO). With the BZW-EF method, our results possess the full, physical content of DFT and agree with available, corresponding experimental ones. In particular, we found a room temperature indirect band gap of 6.659 eV that compares favorably with experimental values ranging from 5 to 7.99 eV. We also calculated total and partial density of states (DOS and PDOS), effective masses of charge carriers, the equilibrium lattice constant, and the bulk modulus. Acknowledgments: This work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Louisiana Board of Regents, through LASiGMA [Award Nos. EPS- 1003897, NSF (2010-15)-RII-SUBR] and NSF HRD-1002541, the US Department of Energy - National, Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (Award Nos. DE-NA0001861 and DE- NA0002630), LaSPACE, and LONI-SUBR.

Benchmark model correction of monitoring system based on Dynamic Load Test of Bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Jing-xian; Fan, Jiang

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a field of research in the area, and it’s designed to achieve bridge safety and reliability assessment, which needs to be carried out on the basis of the accurate simulation of the finite element model. Bridge finite element model is simplified of the structural section form, support conditions, material properties and boundary condition, which is based on the design and construction drawings, and it gets the calculation models and the results.But according to the design and specification requirements established finite element model due to its cannot fully reflect the true state of the bridge, so need to modify the finite element model to obtain the more accurate finite element model. Based on Da-guan river crossing of Ma - Zhao highway in Yunnan province as the background to do the dynamic load test test, we find that the impact coefficient of the theoretical model of the bridge is very different from the coefficient of the actual test, and the change is different; according to the actual situation, the calculation model is adjusted to get the correct frequency of the bridge, the revised impact coefficient found that the modified finite element model is closer to the real state, and provides the basis for the correction of the finite model.

A coupled DEM-CFD method for impulse wave modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Tao; Utili, Stefano; Crosta, GiovanBattista

2015-04-01

Rockslides can be characterized by a rapid evolution, up to a possible transition into a rock avalanche, which can be associated with an almost instantaneous collapse and spreading. Different examples are available in the literature, but the Vajont rockslide is quite unique for its morphological and geological characteristics, as well as for the type of evolution and the availability of long term monitoring data. This study advocates the use of a DEM-CFD framework for the modelling of the generation of hydrodynamic waves due to the impact of a rapid moving rockslide or rock-debris avalanche. 3D DEM analyses in plane strain by a coupled DEM-CFD code were performed to simulate the rockslide from its onset to the impact with still water and the subsequent wave generation (Zhao et al., 2014). The physical response predicted is in broad agreement with the available observations. The numerical results are compared to those published in the literature and especially to Crosta et al. (2014). According to our results, the maximum computed run up amounts to ca. 120 m and 170 m for the eastern and western lobe cross sections, respectively. These values are reasonably similar to those recorded during the event (i.e. ca. 130 m and 190 m respectively). In these simulations, the slope mass is considered permeable, such that the toe region of the slope can move submerged in the reservoir and the impulse water wave can also flow back into the slope mass. However, the upscaling of the grains size in the DEM model leads to an unrealistically high hydraulic conductivity of the model, such that only a small amount of water is splashed onto the northern bank of the Vajont valley. The use of high fluid viscosity and coarse grain model has shown the possibility to model more realistically both the slope and wave motions. However, more detailed slope and fluid properties, and the need for computational efficiency should be considered in future research work. This aspect has also been

Analysis of stability to cheaters in models of antibiotic degrading microbial communities.

PubMed

Szilágyi, András; Boza, Gergely; Scheuring, István

2017-06-21

Antibiotic resistance carried out by antibiotic degradation has been suggested recently as a new mechanism to maintain coexistence of microbial species competing on a single limiting resource, even in well-mixed homogeneous environments. Species diversity and community stability, however, critically depend on resistance against social cheaters, mutants that do not invest in production, but still enjoy the benefits provided by others. Here we investigate how different mutant cheaters affect the stability of antibiotic producing and degrading microbial communities. We consider two cheater types, production and degradation cheaters. We generalize the mixed inhibition-zone and chemostat models introduced previously [Kelsic, E. D., Zhao, J., Vetsigian, K., Kishony, R., 2015. Counteraction of an tibiotic production and degradation stabilizes microbial communities. Nature521, 516-519.] to study the population dynamics of microbial communities in well-mixed environment, and analyze the invasion of different cheaters in these models. We show that production cheaters, mutants that cease producing antibiotics, always destroy coexistence whenever there is a cost of producing these antibiotics. Degradation cheaters, mutants that loose their function of producing extracellular antibiotic degrading molecules, induce community collapse only if the cost of producing the degradation factors is above a critical level. Our analytical studies, supported by numerical simulations, highlight the sensitivity of antibiotic producing and degrading communities to loss-of-function mutants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new species of the Southeast Asian genus Opisthotropis (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) from western Hunan, China

PubMed Central

Ren, Jin-Long; Wang, Kai; Jiang, Ke; Guo, Peng; Li, Jia-Tang

2017-01-01

A new species of natricine snake of the Southeast Asian genus Opisthotropis Günther, 1872 is described from western Hunan Province of China based on both mitochondrial DNA and morphological data. The new species is morphologically most similar and genetically most closely related to O. cheni Zhao, 1999 and O. latouchii (Boulenger, 1899), but possesses considerable genetic divergence (p-distance 5.1%-16.7%) and can be differentiated from all other congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) body size large (total length 514-586 mm) and strongly built; (2) dorsal scale rows 17 throughout, feebly keeled anteriorly and moderately keeled posteriorly; (3) ventral scales 147-152, subcaudal scales 54-62; (4) preocular absent, loreal elongated and touching orbit; (5) supralabials 8-9, fifth and sixth entering obit; (6) anterior temporals short, length 1.74-2.04 times longer than width; (7) maxillary teeth subequal, 28-30; (8) dorsal surface of head with distinct irregular yellow stripes and markings edged with ochre; (9) body with clear black and yellow longitudinal streaks, partly fused to several lighter patches or thicker stripes anteriorly; and (10) venter pale yellow, with asymmetric blackish speckles along outer margin. We present an updated diagnostic key to all members of the genus Opisthotropis, and recommendations on the ecological study for the group are provided. PMID:29181900

Environmental Applications of Nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, Arturo A.

2014-07-01

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are currently used in many applications including agriculture (Gruère, 2012; Khot et al. 2012; Lopez-Moreno et al. 2010; Peralta-Videa et al. 2011; Zhao et al. 2012), aerogels (Bigall et al. 2009), aerospace (Baur and Silverman, 2007), automotive (Coelho et al. 2012; Presting and König, 2003; Salonitis et al. 2010), catalysts (Zhou et al. 2011), coatings, paints and pigments (Dhoke et al. 2009; Gopalakrishnan et al. 2011; Khanna, 2008), composites (Borchardt, 2003; Khanna and Bakshi, 2009; Petrov and Georgiev, 2012; Sahoo et al. 2010), construction (Lee et al. 2010), cosmetics (Musee, 2011; Sabitha et al. 2012; Singh and Nanda, 2012), electronics and optics (Alda et al. 2005; Avasthi et al. 2007; Song et al. 2012; Subramanian and Takhee, 2012), energy (Serrano et al. 2009), environmental remediation (Dionysiou 2004; Khin et al. 2012), filtration and purification (Dhakras, 2011; Savage and Diallo, 2005), food products (Blasco and Picó, 2011; Weiss et al. 2006), medical (Boisseau and Loubaton, 2011; Farokhzad and Langer, 2006), packaging (Silvestre et al. 2011), paper and board (Kharisov and Kharissova, 2010), plastics, security (Marín and Merkoçi, 2012), sensors (Ding et al. 2010; Duncan et al. 2012; Su et al. 2012; Tan et al. 2012), and textiles (Qian and Hinestroza, 2004; Wong et al. 2006), and research is underway on many new applications...

Design study for a 16x zoom lens system for visible surveillance camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vella, Anthony; Li, Heng; Zhao, Yang; Trumper, Isaac; Gandara-Montano, Gustavo A.; Xu, Di; Nikolov, Daniel K.; Chen, Changchen; Brown, Nicolas S.; Guevara-Torres, Andres; Jung, Hae Won; Reimers, Jacob; Bentley, Julie

2015-09-01

*avella@ur.rochester.edu Design study for a 16x zoom lens system for visible surveillance camera Anthony Vella*, Heng Li, Yang Zhao, Isaac Trumper, Gustavo A. Gandara-Montano, Di Xu, Daniel K. Nikolov, Changchen Chen, Nicolas S. Brown, Andres Guevara-Torres, Hae Won Jung, Jacob Reimers, Julie Bentley The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Wilmot Building, 275 Hutchison Rd, Rochester, NY, USA 14627-0186 ABSTRACT High zoom ratio zoom lenses have extensive applications in broadcasting, cinema, and surveillance. Here, we present a design study on a 16x zoom lens with 4 groups (including two internal moving groups), designed for, but not limited to, a visible spectrum surveillance camera. Fifteen different solutions were discovered with nearly diffraction limited performance, using PNPX or PNNP design forms with the stop located in either the third or fourth group. Some interesting patterns and trends in the summarized results include the following: (a) in designs with such a large zoom ratio, the potential of locating the aperture stop in the front half of the system is limited, with ray height variations through zoom necessitating a very large lens diameter; (b) in many cases, the lens zoom motion has significant freedom to vary due to near zero total power in the middle two groups; and (c) we discuss the trade-offs between zoom configuration, stop location, packaging factors, and zoom group aberration sensitivity.

Regression analysis of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data.

PubMed

Zhu, Liang; Tong, Xinwei; Sun, Jianguo; Chen, Manhua; Srivastava, Deo Kumar; Leisenring, Wendy; Robison, Leslie L

2014-07-01

In event history studies concerning recurrent events, two types of data have been extensively discussed. One is recurrent-event data (Cook and Lawless, 2007. The Analysis of Recurrent Event Data. New York: Springer), and the other is panel-count data (Zhao and others, 2010. Nonparametric inference based on panel-count data. Test 20: , 1-42). In the former case, all study subjects are monitored continuously; thus, complete information is available for the underlying recurrent-event processes of interest. In the latter case, study subjects are monitored periodically; thus, only incomplete information is available for the processes of interest. In reality, however, a third type of data could occur in which some study subjects are monitored continuously, but others are monitored periodically. When this occurs, we have mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data. This paper discusses regression analysis of such mixed data and presents two estimation procedures for the problem. One is a maximum likelihood estimation procedure, and the other is an estimating equation procedure. The asymptotic properties of both resulting estimators of regression parameters are established. Also, the methods are applied to a set of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data that arose from a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and motivated this investigation. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Regression Analysis of Mixed Recurrent-Event and Panel-Count Data with Additive Rate Models

PubMed Central

Zhu, Liang; Zhao, Hui; Sun, Jianguo; Leisenring, Wendy; Robison, Leslie L.

2015-01-01

Summary Event-history studies of recurrent events are often conducted in fields such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, and social sciences (Cook and Lawless, 2007; Zhao et al., 2011). For such analysis, two types of data have been extensively investigated: recurrent-event data and panel-count data. However, in practice, one may face a third type of data, mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data or mixed event-history data. Such data occur if some study subjects are monitored or observed continuously and thus provide recurrent-event data, while the others are observed only at discrete times and hence give only panel-count data. A more general situation is that each subject is observed continuously over certain time periods but only at discrete times over other time periods. There exists little literature on the analysis of such mixed data except that published by Zhu et al. (2013). In this paper, we consider the regression analysis of mixed data using the additive rate model and develop some estimating equation-based approaches to estimate the regression parameters of interest. Both finite sample and asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established, and the numerical studies suggest that the proposed methodology works well for practical situations. The approach is applied to a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study that motivated this study. PMID:25345405

Large-region acoustic source mapping using a movable array and sparse covariance fitting.

PubMed

Zhao, Shengkui; Tuna, Cagdas; Nguyen, Thi Ngoc Tho; Jones, Douglas L

2017-01-01

Large-region acoustic source mapping is important for city-scale noise monitoring. Approaches using a single-position measurement scheme to scan large regions using small arrays cannot provide clean acoustic source maps, while deploying large arrays spanning the entire region of interest is prohibitively expensive. A multiple-position measurement scheme is applied to scan large regions at multiple spatial positions using a movable array of small size. Based on the multiple-position measurement scheme, a sparse-constrained multiple-position vectorized covariance matrix fitting approach is presented. In the proposed approach, the overall sample covariance matrix of the incoherent virtual array is first estimated using the multiple-position array data and then vectorized using the Khatri-Rao (KR) product. A linear model is then constructed for fitting the vectorized covariance matrix and a sparse-constrained reconstruction algorithm is proposed for recovering source powers from the model. The user parameter settings are discussed. The proposed approach is tested on a 30 m × 40 m region and a 60 m × 40 m region using simulated and measured data. Much cleaner acoustic source maps and lower sound pressure level errors are obtained compared to the beamforming approaches and the previous sparse approach [Zhao, Tuna, Nguyen, and Jones, Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) (2016)].

Cloning and characterization of a novel chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate 4-O-endosulfatase from a marine bacterium.

PubMed

Wang, Wenshuang; Han, Wenjun; Cai, Xingya; Zheng, Xiaoyu; Sugahara, Kazuyuki; Li, Fuchuan

2015-03-20

Sulfatases are potentially useful tools for structure-function studies of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). To date, various GAG exosulfatases have been identified in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. However, endosulfatases that act on GAGs have rarely been reported. Recently, a novel HA and CS lyase (HCLase) was identified for the first time from a marine bacterium (Han, W., Wang, W., Zhao, M., Sugahara, K., and Li, F. (2014) J. Biol. Chem. 289, 27886-27898). In this study, a putative sulfatase gene, closely linked to the hclase gene in the genome, was recombinantly expressed and characterized in detail. The recombinant protein showed a specific N-acetylgalactosamine-4-O-sulfatase activity that removes 4-O-sulfate from both disaccharides and polysaccharides of chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS), suggesting that this sulfatase represents a novel endosulfatase. The novel endosulfatase exhibited maximal reaction rate in a phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) at 30 °C and effectively removed 17-65% of 4-O-sulfates from various CS and DS and thus significantly inhibited the interactions of CS and DS with a positively supercharged fluorescent protein. Moreover, this endosulfatase significantly promoted the digestion of CS by HCLase, suggesting that it enhances the digestion of CS/DS by the bacterium. Therefore, this endosulfatase is a potential tool for use in CS/DS-related studies and applications. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

EOS ART: Six Artistic Projects Inspired by Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerlow, Isaac

2015-04-01

The six projects produced under the artists' residencies at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) were inspired by Earth science and by the human experience in naturally hazardous regions. These contemporary artworks were created within an interdisciplinary framework that fostered collaborations between artists and scientists. EOS ART was a pilot program that also facilitated the active engagement of regional artists with issues related to Earth science, sustainable societies, and innovative methods for science outreach. An interdisciplinary jury of art critics, curators and Earth scientists selected art projects proposed by regional artists, and funds were awarded to develop and realize the projects. The artworks-including installations, photographs, and video art-were showcased in the "Unearthed" public exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum from March to July of 2014. A 92-page catalog accompanied the show and public seminars about interdisciplinary connections complemented the event. This was a unique example of collaboration between scientific and artistic institutions in Southeast Asia. The paper provides an overview of the motivations, process and accomplished results. The art projects include "Coastline" by Zhang Xiao (China), "Lupang" by Clara Balaguer and Carlos Casas (Philippines and Spain), "Sound of the Earth" by Chen Sai Hua Kuan (Singapore), "Sudden Nature" by Isaac Kerlow (Mexico/USA), "The Possibility of Knowing" by Robert Zhao Renhui (Singapore), and "When Need Moves the Earth" by Sutthirat Supaparinya (Thailand).

Extracellular matrix protein 1, a direct targeting molecule of parathyroid hormone–related peptide, negatively regulates chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification via associating with progranulin growth factor

PubMed Central

Kong, Li; Zhao, Yun-Peng; Tian, Qing-Yun; Feng, Jian-Quan; Kobayashi, Tatsuya; Merregaert, Joseph; Liu, Chuan-Ju

2016-01-01

Chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification are precisely controlled by cellular interactions with surrounding matrix proteins and growth factors that mediate cellular signaling pathways. Here, we report that extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) is a previously unrecognized regulator of chondrogenesis. ECM1 is induced in the course of chondrogenesis and its expression in chondrocytes strictly depends on parathyroid hormone–related peptide (PTHrP) signaling pathway. Overexpression of ECM1 suppresses, whereas suppression of ECM1 enhances, chondrocyte differentiation and hypertrophy in vitro and ex vivo. In addition, target transgene of ECM1 in chondrocytes or osteoblasts in mice leads to striking defects in cartilage development and endochondral bone formation. Of importance, ECM1 seems to be critical for PTHrP action in chondrogenesis, as blockage of ECM1 nearly abolishes PTHrP regulation of chondrocyte hypertrophy, and overexpression of ECM1 rescues disorganized growth plates of PTHrP-null mice. Furthermore, ECM1 and progranulin chondrogenic growth factor constitute an interaction network and act in concert in the regulation of chondrogenesis.—Kong, L., Zhao, Y.-P., Tian, Q.-Y., Feng, J.-Q., Kobayashi, T., Merregaert, J., Liu, C.-J. Extracellular matrix protein 1, a direct targeting molecule of parathyroid hormone–related peptide, negatively regulates chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification via associating with progranulin growth factor. PMID:27075243

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated 2-sgRNA cleavage facilitates pseudorabies virus editing.

PubMed

Tang, Yan-Dong; Guo, Jin-Chao; Wang, Tong-Yun; Zhao, Kuan; Liu, Ji-Ting; Gao, Jia-Cong; Tian, Zhi-Jun; An, Tong-Qing; Cai, Xue-Hui

2018-03-06

Several groups have used CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9) for DNA virus editing. In most cases, one single-guide RNA (sgRNA) is used, which produces inconsistencies in gene editing. In this study, we used a swine herpesvirus, pseudorabies virus, as a model to systematically explore the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in DNA virus editing. In our current report, we demonstrated that cotransfection of 2 sgRNAs and a viral genome resulted in significantly better knockout efficiency than the transfection-infection-based approach. This method could result in 100% knockout of ≤3500 bp of viral nonessential large fragments. Furthermore, knockin efficiency was significantly improved by using 2 sgRNAs and was also correlated with the number of background viruses. We also demonstrated that the background viruses were all 2-sgRNA-mediated knockout mutants. Finally, this study demonstrated that the efficacy of gene knockin is determined by the replicative kinetics of background viruses. We propose that CRISPR/Cas9 coupled with 2 sgRNAs creates a powerful tool for DNA virus editing and offers great potential for future applications.-Tang, Y.-D., Guo, J.-C., Wang, T.-Y., Zhao, K., Liu, J.-T., Gao, J.-C., Tian, Z.-J., An, T.-Q., Cai, X.-H. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated 2-sgRNA cleavage facilitates pseudorabies virus editing.

Estimating Surface Soil Moisture in a Mixed-Landscape using SMAP and MODIS/VIIRS Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, J.; Di, L.; Xiao, J.

2017-12-01

Soil moisture, a critical parameter of earth ecosystem linking land surface and atmosphere, has been widely applied in many application (Di, 1991; Njoku et al. 2003; Western 2002; Zhao et al. 2014; McColl et al. 2017) from regional to continental or even global scale. The advent of satellite-based remote sensing, particular in the last two decades, has proven successful for mapping the surface soil moisture (SSM) from space (Petropoulos et al. 2015; Kim et al. 2015; Molero et al. 2016). The current soil moisture products, however, is not able to fully characterize the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture at mixed landscape types (Albergel et al. 2013; Zeng et al. 2015). In this research, we derived the SSM at 1-km spatial resolution by using sensor observation and high-level products from SMAP and MODIS/VIIRS as well as metrorological, landcover, and soil data. Specifically, we proposed a practicable method to produce the originally planned SMAP L3_SM_A with comparable quality by downscaling the SMAP L3_SM_P product through a proved method, the geographically weighted regression method at mixed landscape in southern New Hampshire. This estimated SSM was validated using the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Calculated electronic, transport, and related properties of zinc blende boron arsenide (zb-BAs)

DOE PAGES

Nwigboji, Ifeanyi H.; Malozovsky, Yuriy; Franklin, Lashounda; ...

2016-10-11

Here, we present the results from ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) calculations of electronic, transport, and bulk properties of zinc blende boron arsenide. We utilized the local density approximation potential of Ceperley and Alder, as parameterized by Vosko and his group, the linear combination of Gaussian orbitals formalism, and the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF), in carrying out our completely self-consistent calculations. With this method, the results of our calculations have the full, physical content of density functional theory (DFT). Our results include electronic energy bands, densities of states, effective masses,more » and the bulk modulus. Our calculated, indirect band gap of 1.48 eV, from C to a conduction band minimum close to X, for the room temperature lattice constant of 4.777 Å, is in an excellent agreement with the experimental value of 1.46 6 0.02 eV. We thor-oughly explain the reasons for the excellent agreement between our findings and corresponding, experimental ones. This work provides a confirmation of the capability of DFT to describe accu-rately properties of materials, provides a confirmation of the capability of DFT to describe accu-rately properties of materials, if the computations adhere strictly to the conditions of validity of DFT, as done by the BZW-EF method.« less

Indicators of grazing impact in Inner Mongolian steppe ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blank, B.; Breuer, L.; Butterbach-Bahl, K.; Frede, H.-G.

2009-04-01

atmosphere consists of micrometeorological parameters, dust flux and deposition as measure of erosive processes and trace gas fluxes. Available energy and soil temperature were always significantly different between two simultaneously measured grazing intensities. Available energy was higher at the ungrazed site in all years measured (mean difference of about 19 W m-2). Soil temperature was lower at the ungrazed site (Ketzer et al. 2008). Dust deposition is important for the C and N balance in semi-arid grasslands and was investigated during the dust storm period from March to May. The largest matter deposition of C (vs) and N (vs) was measured at the ungrazed site with 328.7 (mg Corg m-2 d-1) and 30.30 (mg Nt m-2 d-1) on average. Heavy grazing resulted in average organic carbon and nitrogen deposition of 106.67 (mg Corg m-2 d-1) and 9.8 (mg N m-2 d-1) in average (Hoffmann et al. 2008). Wind driven soil deposition and erosion were influenced heavily by grazing. The critical vegetation cover is about 20-30%, at which net soil losses occur. No significant differences in N trace gas fluxes were found between plots. Mean values of N2O fluxes (s) varied between 0.39 and 1.60 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1 (Holst et al. 2007). During all measuring periods, significantly lower mean soil CH4 uptake at moderate grazing (28 mg C m-2 h-1) as compared to ungrazed (56 μg C m-2 h-1) was found (Liu et al. 2007). The pedosphere indicator group includes soil chemical, soil physical and microbiological parameters. Organic carbon (s) and total N (s) concentrations decreased significantly with increasing grazing intensity. No effect of grazing on pH (w) or soil C/N ratio (w) was detected. Bulk density (m) significantly increased with increasing grazing intensity, from 0.94 g cm-3 at the ungrazed site to 1.28 g cm-3 at the heavily grazed site (Steffens et al. 2008). Also shear strength (m) increased with increasing grazing intensity (Zhao et al. 2007). Gross rates of N mineralization (vs) and nitrification

Studying organic aerosols during bonfire night in Manchester: ME-2 source apportionment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes Villegas, Ernesto; Allan, James

2016-04-01

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in short-term events that negatively affect air quality (Zhao et al. 2014) such as bonfires and fireworks. In general, during these episodes, high particulate matter concentrations drop within 24 hrs; however, it is the fine fraction that dominates the emissions, known to have a potentially negative impact on air quality, thus the impact of bonfires/fireworks on air quality must be considered. Aerosols and gases were measured using a variety of instruments at The University of Manchester, sampling atmospheric emissions on Bonfire night, 5 November, one week before and one week later, in 2013 and 2014. The Multilinear Engine (ME-2) factorization tool was used through the recently developed source finder interface (SoFi, Canonaco et al. 2013) to identify sources of organic aerosols (OA) sampled with an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS). ME-2 identified five sources: solid fuel OA (SFOA), hydrocarbon like OA (HOA), cooking OA (COA), semi-volatile (SVOOA) and low volatility (LVOOA) during both years. In 2014, air pollutant concentrations were particularly high, with the highest SFOA concentrations being 20 μgm-3 at 20:30 hrs. when fireworks from different parks in Manchester were launched. Black carbon (BC) concentrations started increasing before the fireworks, around 18:00 hrs; these concentrations are representative of bonfire emissions. However, traffic emissions may be contributing to BC here; further work will be done to differentiate traffic emissions from solid fuel emissions. By analysing daily aerosol concentrations according to DEFRA's Daily Air Quality Index, it is possible to observe that in 2014, PM2.5 concentrations were considered to be high (65 μgm-3) while in 2013, PM2.5 concentrations were considered low (12 μgm-3); in the case of BBOA, concentrations ranged from 2.9 μgm-3 in 2014 to 0.65 μgm-3 in 2013. The discrepancy between these studies is mainly a result of different meteorological

Geochemical Consequences of Lithospheric Delamination in the Eastern Mediterranean: Evidence From Young Turkish Basalts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furman, T.; Kurkcuoglu, B.; Plummer, C.

2007-12-01

Magmatism associated with continental collision is increasingly attributed to major disturbance of or within the lithosphere. Geochemical and isotopic data on post-collisional primitive mafic lavas from across the Anatolian plate enable us to assess the effects of lithospheric delamination (slab rollback and breakoff) as indicated by geophysical studies. The Anatolian province displays geodynamically complex manifestations of the closure of neo-Tethys and the collision between Africa and Europe that commenced circa 30 Ma. The current south- southwestward motion of Anatolia, a.k.a. "Turkish escape", is accommodated by slab rollback along the Hellenic trench and orogenic collapse along both the eastern and western margins of the microplate. Volcanism occurs primarily along the fault zones that border and cross-cut Anatolia, and major element characteristics of the lavas vary with both space and time. In Western Anatolia, early Miocene collisional calc- alkaline magmatism was followed by Quaternary alkaline volcanism (Alici et al. 1998, 2002; Aldanmaz et al. 2000, 2006) related to orogenic collapse, presumably resulting from slab rollback. Orogenic collapse in Eastern Anatolia is facilitated by slab breakoff as determined by geophysical studies (Zor et al. 2003; Angus et al. 2006; Lei & Zhao 2007). This transition was accompanied a change from mid-Miocene calc-alkaline to Quaternary alkaline volcanism (e.g., Yilmaz 1990; Pearce et al. 1990). Central Anatolia displays calc-alkaline and tholeiitic volcanism, including alkali olivine basalts; plate tectonic reconstructions (Lyberis et al. 1992) indicate that the African slab did not reach Central Anatolia. Sr-Nd isotope values from each volcanic province define linear arrays that converge upon a common unradiogenic value typical of global depleted mantle. We suggest that mafic volcanism throughout Anatolia is supported by a common asthenospheric component, modified by identifiable, location-specific additions. In areas

Predominant-period site classification for response spectra prediction equations in Italy

USGS Publications Warehouse

Di Alessandro, Carola; Bonilla, Luis Fabian; Boore, David M.; Rovelli, Antonio; Scotti, Oona

2012-01-01

We propose a site‐classification scheme based on the predominant period of the site, as determined from the average horizontal‐to‐vertical (H/V) spectral ratios of ground motion. Our scheme extends Zhao et al. (2006) classifications by adding two classes, the most important of which is defined by flat H/V ratios with amplitudes less than 2. The proposed classification is investigated by using 5%‐damped response spectra from Italian earthquake records. We select a dataset of 602 three‐component analog and digital recordings from 120 earthquakes recorded at 214 seismic stations within a hypocentral distance of 200 km. Selected events are in the moment‐magnitude range 4.0≤Mw≤6.8 and focal depths from a few kilometers to 46 km. We computed H/V ratios for these data and used them to classify each site into one of six classes. We then investigate the impact of this classification scheme on empirical ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) by comparing its performance with that of the conventional rock/soil classification. Although the adopted approach results in only a small reduction of the overall standard deviation, the use of H/V spectral ratios in site classification does capture the signature of sites with flat frequency‐response, as well as deep and shallow‐soil profiles, characterized by long‐ and short‐period resonance, respectively; in addition, the classification scheme is relatively quick and inexpensive, which is an advantage over schemes based on measurements of shear‐wave velocity.

PhosD: inferring kinase-substrate interactions based on protein domains.

PubMed

Qin, Gui-Min; Li, Rui-Yi; Zhao, Xing-Ming

2017-04-15

Identifying the kinase-substrate relationships is vital to understanding the phosphorylation events and various biological processes, especially signal transductions. Although large amount of phosphorylation sites have been detected, unfortunately, it is rarely known which kinases activate those sites. Despite distinct computational approaches have been proposed to predict the kinase-substrate interactions, the prediction accuracy still needs to be improved. In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic model named as PhosD to predict kinase-substrate relationships based on protein domains with the assumption that kinase-substrate interactions are accomplished with kinase-domain interactions. By further taking into account protein-protein interactions, our PhosD outperforms other popular approaches on several benchmark datasets with higher precision. In addition, some of our predicted kinase-substrate relationships are validated by signaling pathways, indicating the predictive power of our approach. Furthermore, we notice that given a kinase, the more substrates are known for the kinase the more accurate its predicted substrates will be, and the domains involved in kinase-substrate interactions are found to be more conserved across proteins phosphorylated by multiple kinases. These findings can help develop more efficient computational approaches in the future. The data and results are available at http://comp-sysbio.org/phosd. xm_zhao@tongji.edu.cn. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

A second order radiative transfer equation and its solution by meshless method with application to strongly inhomogeneous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, J. M.; Tan, J. Y.; Liu, L. H.

2013-01-01

A new second order form of radiative transfer equation (named MSORTE) is proposed, which overcomes the singularity problem of a previously proposed second order radiative transfer equation [J.E. Morel, B.T. Adams, T. Noh, J.M. McGhee, T.M. Evans, T.J. Urbatsch, Spatial discretizations for self-adjoint forms of the radiative transfer equations, J. Comput. Phys. 214 (1) (2006) 12-40 (where it was termed SAAI), J.M. Zhao, L.H. Liu, Second order radiative transfer equation and its properties of numerical solution using finite element method, Numer. Heat Transfer B 51 (2007) 391-409] in dealing with inhomogeneous media where some locations have very small/zero extinction coefficient. The MSORTE contains a naturally introduced diffusion (or second order) term which provides better numerical property than the classic first order radiative transfer equation (RTE). The stability and convergence characteristics of the MSORTE discretized by central difference scheme is analyzed theoretically, and the better numerical stability of the second order form radiative transfer equations than the RTE when discretized by the central difference type method is proved. A collocation meshless method is developed based on the MSORTE to solve radiative transfer in inhomogeneous media. Several critical test cases are taken to verify the performance of the presented method. The collocation meshless method based on the MSORTE is demonstrated to be capable of stably and accurately solve radiative transfer in strongly inhomogeneous media, media with void region and even with discontinuous extinction coefficient.

Filament Channel Formation, Eruption, and Jet Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeVore, C. Richard; Antiochos, Spiro K.; Karpen, Judith T.

2017-08-01

The mechanism behind filament-channel formation is a longstanding mystery, while that underlying the initiation of coronal mass ejections and jets has been studied intensively but is not yet firmly established. In previous work, we and collaborators have investigated separately the consequences of magnetic-helicity condensation (Antiochos 2013) for forming filament channels (Zhao et al. 2015; Knizhnik et al. 2015, 2017a,b) and of the embedded-bipole model (Antiochos 1996) for generating reconnection-driven jets (Pariat et al. 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016; Wyper et al. 2016, 2017). Now we have taken a first step toward synthesizing these two lines of investigation. Our recent study (Karpen et al. 2017) of coronal-hole jets with gravity and wind employed an ad hoc, large-scale shear flow at the surface to introduce magnetic free energy and form the filament channel. In this effort, we replace the shear flow with an ensemble of local rotation cells, to emulate the Sun’s ever-changing granules and supergranules. As in our previous studies, we find that reconnection between twisted flux tubes within the closed-field region concentrates magnetic shear and free energy near the polarity inversion line, forming the filament channel. Onset of reconnection between this field and the external, unsheared, open field releases stored energy to drive the impulsive jet. We discuss the results of our new simulations with implications for understanding solar activity and space weather.

Kernelized Elastic Net Regularization: Generalization Bounds, and Sparse Recovery.

PubMed

Feng, Yunlong; Lv, Shao-Gao; Hang, Hanyuan; Suykens, Johan A K

2016-03-01

Kernelized elastic net regularization (KENReg) is a kernelization of the well-known elastic net regularization (Zou & Hastie, 2005). The kernel in KENReg is not required to be a Mercer kernel since it learns from a kernelized dictionary in the coefficient space. Feng, Yang, Zhao, Lv, and Suykens (2014) showed that KENReg has some nice properties including stability, sparseness, and generalization. In this letter, we continue our study on KENReg by conducting a refined learning theory analysis. This letter makes the following three main contributions. First, we present refined error analysis on the generalization performance of KENReg. The main difficulty of analyzing the generalization error of KENReg lies in characterizing the population version of its empirical target function. We overcome this by introducing a weighted Banach space associated with the elastic net regularization. We are then able to conduct elaborated learning theory analysis and obtain fast convergence rates under proper complexity and regularity assumptions. Second, we study the sparse recovery problem in KENReg with fixed design and show that the kernelization may improve the sparse recovery ability compared to the classical elastic net regularization. Finally, we discuss the interplay among different properties of KENReg that include sparseness, stability, and generalization. We show that the stability of KENReg leads to generalization, and its sparseness confidence can be derived from generalization. Moreover, KENReg is stable and can be simultaneously sparse, which makes it attractive theoretically and practically.

Immune tolerance of vector beetle to its partner plant parasitic nematode modulated by its insect parasitic nematode.

PubMed

Zhou, Jiao; Zhao, Li-Lin; Yu, Hai-Ying; Wang, Yan-Hong; Zhang, Wei; Hu, Song-Nian; Zou, Zhen; Sun, Jiang-Hua

2018-04-02

Immune response of insect vectors to transmitted pathogens or insect hosts against parasites are well studied, whereas the mechanism of tripartite interactions remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the immune interactions of the vector beetle Monochamus alternatus ( Ma) to the devastating plant parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus ( Bx) and the insect parasitic nematode Howardula phyllotretae ( Hp). We report the unique immune mechanism by which the vector beetle tolerates many devastating Bx in its trachea, yet that immune tolerance is compromised by the parasitic nematode Hp. Contact with either nematode species triggers epithelial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in Ma. Only the entry of Bx, not Hp, infection, induces increased expression of antioxidative genes, through which the ROS levels are balanced in the trachea of beetles. Furthermore, we found that up-regulation of antioxidative genes was induced by the interaction of Toll receptors. In contrast, beetles infected by Hp retain high levels of oxidative stress and melanization in trachea, and as a result, decrease Bx loading. This study highlights the role of Toll receptors in mediating the activation of antioxidative genes in immune tolerance to plant parasitic nematodes, and suggests the use of insect parasites as a biologic control.-Zhou, J., Zhao, L.-L., Yu, H.-Y., Wang, Y.-H., Zhang, W., Hu, S.-N., Zou, Z., Sun, J.-H. Immune tolerance of vector beetle to its partner plant parasitic nematode modulated by its insect parasitic nematode.

Linear SFM: A hierarchical approach to solving structure-from-motion problems by decoupling the linear and nonlinear components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Liang; Huang, Shoudong; Dissanayake, Gamini

2018-07-01

This paper presents a novel hierarchical approach to solving structure-from-motion (SFM) problems. The algorithm begins with small local reconstructions based on nonlinear bundle adjustment (BA). These are then joined in a hierarchical manner using a strategy that requires solving a linear least squares optimization problem followed by a nonlinear transform. The algorithm can handle ordered monocular and stereo image sequences. Two stereo images or three monocular images are adequate for building each initial reconstruction. The bulk of the computation involves solving a linear least squares problem and, therefore, the proposed algorithm avoids three major issues associated with most of the nonlinear optimization algorithms currently used for SFM: the need for a reasonably accurate initial estimate, the need for iterations, and the possibility of being trapped in a local minimum. Also, by summarizing all the original observations into the small local reconstructions with associated information matrices, the proposed Linear SFM manages to preserve all the information contained in the observations. The paper also demonstrates that the proposed problem formulation results in a sparse structure that leads to an efficient numerical implementation. The experimental results using publicly available datasets show that the proposed algorithm yields solutions that are very close to those obtained using a global BA starting with an accurate initial estimate. The C/C++ source code of the proposed algorithm is publicly available at https://github.com/LiangZhaoPKUImperial/LinearSFM.

Co-located ionospheric and geomagnetic disturbances caused by great earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Yongqiang; Zhang, Donghe; Xiao, Zuo

2016-07-01

Despite primary energy disturbances from the Sun, oscillations of the Earth surface due to a large earthquake will couple with the atmosphere and therefore the ionosphere, to generate so-called coseismic ionospheric disturbances (CIDs). In the cases of 2008 Wenchuan and 2011 Tohoku earthquakes, infrasonic waves accompanying the propagation of seismic Rayleigh waves were observed in the ionosphere by a combination of techniques, total electron content, HF Doppler, and ground magnetometer. This is the very first report to present CIDs recorded by different techniques at co-located sites and profiled with regard to changes of both ionospheric plasma and current (geomagnetic field) simultaneously. Comparison between the oceanic (2011 Tohoku) and inland (2008 Wenchuan) earthquakes revealed that the main directional lobe of latter case is more distinct which is perpendicular to the direction of the fault rupture. We argue that the different fault slip (inland or submarine) may affect the way of couplings of lithosphere with atmosphere. Zhao, B., and Y. Hao (2015), Ionospheric and geomagnetic disturbances caused by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake: A revisit, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/2015JA021035. Hao, Y. Q., et al. (2013), Teleseismic magnetic effects (TMDs) of 2011 Tohoku earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/jgra.50326. Hao, Y. Q., et al. (2012), Multi-instrument observation on co-seismic ionospheric effects after great Tohoku earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2011JA017036.

A U-statistics based approach to sample size planning of two-arm trials with discrete outcome criterion aiming to establish either superiority or noninferiority.

PubMed

Wellek, Stefan

2017-02-28

In current practice, the most frequently applied approach to the handling of ties in the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon (MWW) test is based on the conditional distribution of the sum of mid-ranks, given the observed pattern of ties. Starting from this conditional version of the testing procedure, a sample size formula was derived and investigated by Zhao et al. (Stat Med 2008). In contrast, the approach we pursue here is a nonconditional one exploiting explicit representations for the variances of and the covariance between the two U-statistics estimators involved in the Mann-Whitney form of the test statistic. The accuracy of both ways of approximating the sample sizes required for attaining a prespecified level of power in the MWW test for superiority with arbitrarily tied data is comparatively evaluated by means of simulation. The key qualitative conclusions to be drawn from these numerical comparisons are as follows: With the sample sizes calculated by means of the respective formula, both versions of the test maintain the level and the prespecified power with about the same degree of accuracy. Despite the equivalence in terms of accuracy, the sample size estimates obtained by means of the new formula are in many cases markedly lower than that calculated for the conditional test. Perhaps, a still more important advantage of the nonconditional approach based on U-statistics is that it can be also adopted for noninferiority trials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Gene Expression and Chromatin Modifications Associated with Maize Centromeres.

PubMed

Zhao, Hainan; Zhu, Xiaobiao; Wang, Kai; Gent, Jonathan I; Zhang, Wenli; Dawe, R Kelly; Jiang, Jiming

2015-11-12

Centromeres are defined by the presence of CENH3, a variant of histone H3. Centromeres in most plant species contain exclusively highly repetitive DNA sequences, which has hindered research on structure and function of centromeric chromatin. Several maize centromeres have been nearly completely sequenced, providing a sequence-based platform for genomic and epigenomic research of plant centromeres. Here we report a high resolution map of CENH3 nucleosomes in the maize genome. Although CENH3 nucleosomes are spaced ∼190 bp on average, CENH3 nucleosomes that occupied CentC, a 156-bp centromeric satellite repeat, showed clear positioning aligning with CentC monomers. Maize centromeres contain alternating CENH3-enriched and CENH3-depleted subdomains, which account for 87% and 13% of the centromeres, respectively. A number of annotated genes were identified in the centromeres, including 11 active genes that were located exclusively in CENH3-depleted subdomains. The euchromatic histone modification marks, including H3K4me3, H3K36me3 and H3K9ac, detected in maize centromeres were associated mainly with the active genes. Interestingly, maize centromeres also have lower levels of the heterochromatin histone modification mark H3K27me2 relative to pericentromeric regions. We conclude that neither H3K27me2 nor the three euchromatic histone modifications are likely to serve as functionally important epigenetic marks of centromere identity in maize. Copyright © 2016 Zhao et al.

The Global Drivers of Photosynthesis and Light Use Efficiency Seasonality: A Granger Frequency Causality Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, J.; Lee, J. E.; Gentine, P.; Berry, J. A.; Konings, A. G.

2015-12-01

hotosynthesis and light use efficiency (LUE) are major factors in the evolution of the continental carbon cycle due to their contribution to gross primary production (GPP). However, while the drivers of photosynthesis and LUE on a plant or canopy scale can often be identified, significant uncertainties exist when modeling these on a global scale. This is due to sparse observations in regions such as the tropics and the lack of a direct global observation dataset. Although others have attempted to address this issue using correlations (Beer, 2010) or calculating GPP from vegetation indices (Running, 2004), in this study we take a new approach. We combine the statistical method of Granger frequency causality and partial Granger frequency causality with remote sensing data products (including sun-induced fluorescence used as a proxy for GPP) to determine the main environmental drivers of GPP across the globe. References:Beer, C., M. Reichstein, E. Tomelleri, P. Ciais, M. Jung, N. Carvalhais, C. Ro¨denbeck, M. Altaf Arain, D. Baldocchi, G. B. Bonan, A. Bondeau, A. Cescatti, G. Lasslop, A. Lindroth, M. Lomas, S. Luyssaert, H. Margolis, K. W. Oleson, O. Roupsard, E. Veenendaal, N. Viovy, C. Williams, I. Woodward, and D. Papale, 2010: Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate. doi: 10.1126/science.1184984. Running, S.W., Nemani, R. R., Heinsch, F. A., Zhao, M., Reeves, M., Hashimoto, H., 2004. A Continuous Satellite Derived Measure of Global Terrestrial Primary Production. BioScience 54(6), 547-560.

Regression analysis of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data with additive rate models.

PubMed

Zhu, Liang; Zhao, Hui; Sun, Jianguo; Leisenring, Wendy; Robison, Leslie L

2015-03-01

Event-history studies of recurrent events are often conducted in fields such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, and social sciences (Cook and Lawless, 2007, The Statistical Analysis of Recurrent Events. New York: Springer-Verlag; Zhao et al., 2011, Test 20, 1-42). For such analysis, two types of data have been extensively investigated: recurrent-event data and panel-count data. However, in practice, one may face a third type of data, mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data or mixed event-history data. Such data occur if some study subjects are monitored or observed continuously and thus provide recurrent-event data, while the others are observed only at discrete times and hence give only panel-count data. A more general situation is that each subject is observed continuously over certain time periods but only at discrete times over other time periods. There exists little literature on the analysis of such mixed data except that published by Zhu et al. (2013, Statistics in Medicine 32, 1954-1963). In this article, we consider the regression analysis of mixed data using the additive rate model and develop some estimating equation-based approaches to estimate the regression parameters of interest. Both finite sample and asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established, and the numerical studies suggest that the proposed methodology works well for practical situations. The approach is applied to a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study that motivated this study. © 2014, The International Biometric Society.

THE EOS ART Projects: Six Art Projects Inspired by Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerlow, I.

2015-12-01

The six projects produced under the artists' residencies at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) were inspired by Earth science and by the human experience in naturally hazardous regions. These contemporary artworks were created within an interdisciplinary framework that fostered collaborations between artists and scientists. The EOS ART 2010-2013 was a pilot program that also facilitated the active engagement of regional artists with issues related to Earth science, sustainable societies, and innovative methods for science outreach. An interdisciplinary jury of art critics, curators and Earth scientists selected art projects proposed by regional artists, and funds were awarded to develop and realize the projects.The artworks-including installations, photographs, and video art-were showcased in the "Unearthed" public exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum from March to July of 2014. A 92-page catalog accompanied the show and public seminars about interdisciplinary connections complemented the event. This was a unique example of collaboration between scientific and artistic institutions in Southeast Asia.The presentation provides an overview of the motivations, process and accomplished results. The art projects include "Coastline" by Zhang Xiao (China), "Lupang" by Clara Balaguer and Carlos Casas (Philippines and Spain), "Sound of the Earth" by Chen Sai Hua Kuan (Singapore), "Sudden Nature" by Isaac Kerlow (Mexico/USA), "The Possibility of Knowing" by Robert Zhao Renhui (Singapore), and "When Need Moves the Earth" by Sutthirat Supaparinya (Thailand). http://art-science-media.com/the-eos-art-projects/

Liver surgery: a long journey to improve results.

PubMed

Di Carlo, Isidoro; Toro, Adriana

2016-03-01

25th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists, Fuzhou, China, 4-6 September 2015 Fuzhou, China hosted the 25th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists (IASGO). This was the first Congress after the passing away of Nicolas J Lygidakis, the founder of the International Association, who was a surgeon and an energetic secretary general of the association for 25 years. All members of the association are grateful for his message of medicine beyond the frontiers and health for all. The president of the association remains Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, Emeritus Professor Of Surgery at The University of Tokyo (Japan), with Professor Dan Dunda from Harvard Medical School (MA, USA) and Professor Kyoichi Takaori from Kyoto University (Japan), as the secretaries general of the association. The President of the 2015 IASGO World Congress was Professor Yupei Zhao, Professor of Surgery at the University of Beijing and President of the Chinese Society of Surgery. The Congress was held under the auspices of IASGO president Masatoshi Makuuchi from Japan and both secretaries general. Fuzhou is a pleasant city that is well organized, but not as busy compared with other Chinese cities. All of the city's people were very kind and welcoming to the attendees at the meeting. The congress focuses on the major advancements in diagnosis and treatment of the gastroenterological diseases, here we report the most important progress in the field of hepatic surgery.

Study of hydrothermal channels based on near-bottom magnetic prospecting: Application to Longqi hydrothermal area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, W.; Tao, C.; Li, H.; Zhaocai, W.; Jinhui, Z.; Qinzhu, C.; Shili, L.

2014-12-01

Mid-ocean ridges, largely present far from the continental plates, are characterized by complex geological structures and numerous hydrothermal systems with complex controlling factors. Exploring seafloor sulfide resources for industrial and scientific applications is a challenge. With the advent of geophysical surveys for seabed investigation, near-bottom magnetic prospecting, which yields shallow geological structure, is an efficient method for investigating active and inactive hydrothermal fields and for researching the structure of hydrothermal systems (Tivey et al., 1993, 1996；German et al., 2008). We collected near-bottom magnetic data in the Longqi hydrothermal area, located in the southwest Indian ridge (49.6° E; Zhu et al., 2010; Tao et al., 2014), using the autonomous benthic explorer, an autonomous underwater vehicle, during the second leg of the Chinese cruise DY115-19 on board R/V DaYangYiHao. Based on the results of the intensity of the spatial differential vector method (Seaman et al., 1993), we outline the hydrothermal alternation zone. By building models, we subsequently infer a fault along the discovered hydrothermal vents; this fault line may be connected to a detachment fault (Zhao et al., 2013). In addition, we discuss the channels of the hydrothermal circulation system (Figure 1), and presume that heat was conducted to the sea subsurface by the detachment fault; the aqueous fluid that infiltrated the fault is heated and conveyed to the seafloor, promoting the circulation of the hydrothermal system.

Optimal preconditioning of lattice Boltzmann methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izquierdo, Salvador; Fueyo, Norberto

2009-09-01

A preconditioning technique to accelerate the simulation of steady-state problems using the single-relaxation-time (SRT) lattice Boltzmann (LB) method was first proposed by Guo et al. [Z. Guo, T. Zhao, Y. Shi, Preconditioned lattice-Boltzmann method for steady flows, Phys. Rev. E 70 (2004) 066706-1]. The key idea in this preconditioner is to modify the equilibrium distribution function in such a way that, by means of a Chapman-Enskog expansion, a time-derivative preconditioner of the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations is obtained. In the present contribution, the optimal values for the free parameter γ of this preconditioner are searched both numerically and theoretically; the later with the aid of linear-stability analysis and with the condition number of the system of NS equations. The influence of the collision operator, single- versus multiple-relaxation-times (MRT), is also studied. Three steady-state laminar test cases are used for validation, namely: the two-dimensional lid-driven cavity, a two-dimensional microchannel and the three-dimensional backward-facing step. Finally, guidelines are suggested for an a priori definition of optimal preconditioning parameters as a function of the Reynolds and Mach numbers. The new optimally preconditioned MRT method derived is shown to improve, simultaneously, the rate of convergence, the stability and the accuracy of the lattice Boltzmann simulations, when compared to the non-preconditioned methods and to the optimally preconditioned SRT one. Additionally, direct time-derivative preconditioning of the LB equation is also studied.

Time reversal through a solid-liquid interface and super-resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsogka, Chrysoula; Papanicolaou, George C.

2002-12-01

We present numerical computations that reproduce the time-reversal experiments of Draeger et al (Draeger C, Cassereau D and Fink M 1998 Appl. Phys. Lett. 72 1567-9), where ultrasound elastic waves are time-reversed back to their source with a time-reversal mirror in a fluid adjacent to the solid. We also show numerically that multipathing caused by random inhomogeneities improves the focusing of the back-propagated elastic waves beyond the diffraction limit seen previously in acoustic wave propagation (Dowling D R and Jackson D R 1990 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89 171-81, Dowling D R and Jackson D R 1992 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91 3257-77, Fink M 1999 Sci. Am. 91-7, Kuperman W A, Hodgkiss W S, Song H C, Akal T, Ferla C and Jackson D R 1997 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103 25-40, Derode A, Roux P and Fink M 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 4206-9), which is called super-resolution. A theoretical explanation of the robustness of super-resolution is given, along with several numerical computations that support this explanation (Blomgren P, Papanicolaou G and Zhao H 2002 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111 238-48). Time reversal with super-resolution can be used in non-destructive testing and, in a different way, in imaging with active arrays (Borcea L, Papanicolaou G, Tsogka C and Berryman J 2002 Inverse Problems 18 1247-79).

Characterization and Infrared Emission Spectroscopy of Ball Plasmoid Discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubowsky, Scott E.; McCall, Benjamin J.

2015-06-01

Plasmas at atmospheric pressure serve many purposes, from ionization sources for ambient mass spectrometry (AMS) to plasma-assisted wound healing. Of the many naturally occurring ambient plasmas, ball lightning is one of the least understood; there is currently no solid explanation in the literature for the formation and lifetime of natural ball lightning. With the first measurements of naturally occurring ball lightning being reported last year, we have worked to replicate the natural phenomenon in order to elucidate the physical and chemical processes by which the plasma is sustained at ambient conditions. We are able to generate ball-shaped plasmoids (self-sustaining plasmas) that are analogous to natural ball lightning using a high-voltage, high-current, pulsed DC system. Improvements to the discharge electronics used in our laboratory and characterization of the plasmoids that are generated from this system will be described. Infrared emission spectroscopy of these plasmoids reveals emission from water and hydroxyl radical -- fitting methods for these molecular species in the complex experimental spectra will be presented. Rotational temperatures for the stretching and bending modes of H2O along with that of OH will be presented, and the non-equilibrium nature of the plasmoid will be discussed in this context. Cen, J.; Yuan, P,; Xue, S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2014, 112, 035001. Dubowsky, S.E.; Friday, D.M.; Peters, K.C.; Zhao, Z.; Perry, R.H.; McCall, B.J. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 2015, 376, 39-45.

Comparing two books and establishing probably efficacious treatment for low sexual desire.

PubMed

Balzer, Alexandra M; Mintz, Laurie B

2015-04-01

Using a sample of 45 women, this study compared the effectiveness of a previously studied (Mintz, Balzer, Zhao, & Bush, 2012) bibliotherapy intervention (Mintz, 2009), a similar self-help book (Hall, 2004), and a wait-list control (WLC) group. To examine intervention effectiveness, between and within group standardized effect sizes (interpreted with Cohen's, 1988 benchmarks .20 = small, .50 = medium, .80+ = large) and their confidence limits are used. In comparison to the WLC group, both interventions yielded large between-group posttest effect sizes on a measure of sexual desire. Additionally, large between-group posttest effect sizes were found for sexual satisfaction and lubrication among those reading the Mintz book. When examining within-group pretest to posttest effect sizes, medium to large effects were found for desire, lubrication, and orgasm for both books and for satisfaction and arousal for those reading the Mintz book. When directly comparing the books, all between-group posttest effect sizes were likely obtained by chance. It is concluded that both books are equally effective in terms of the outcome of desire, but whether or not there is differential efficacy in terms of other domains of sexual functioning is equivocal. Tentative evidence is provided for the longer term effectiveness of both books in enhancing desire. Arguing for applying criteria for empirically supported treatments to self-help, results are purported to establish the Mintz book as probably efficacious and to comprise a first step in this designation for the Hall book. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

NBTI 5463 Is a Novel Bacterial Type II Topoisomerase Inhibitor with Activity against Gram-Negative Bacteria and In Vivo Efficacy

PubMed Central

Dougherty, Thomas J.; Nayar, Asha; Newman, Joseph V.; Hopkins, Sussie; Stone, Gregory G.; Johnstone, Michele; Shapiro, Adam B.; Cronin, Mark; Reck, Folkert

2014-01-01

The need for new antibiotics that address serious Gram-negative infections is well recognized. Our efforts with a series of novel bacterial type II topoisomerase inhibitors (NBTIs) led to the discovery of NBTI 5463, an agent with improved activity over other NBTIs against Gram-negative bacteria, in particular against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (F. Reck, D. E. Ehmann, T. J. Dougherty, J. V. Newman, S. Hopkins, G. Stone, N. Agrawal, P. Ciaccio, J. McNulty, H. Barthlow, J. O'Donnell, K. Goteti, J. Breen, J. Comita-Prevoir, M. Cornebise, M. Cronin, C. J. Eyermann, B. Geng, G. R. Carr, L. Pandarinathan, X. Tang, A. Cottone, L. Zhao, N. Bezdenejnih-Snyder, submitted for publication). In the present work, NBTI 5463 demonstrated promising activity against a broad range of Gram-negative pathogens. In contrast to fluoroquinolones, the compound did not form a double-strand DNA cleavable complex with Escherichia coli DNA gyrase and DNA, but it was a potent inhibitor of both DNA gyrase and E. coli topoisomerase IV catalytic activities. In studies with P. aeruginosa, NBTI 5463 was bactericidal. Resistant mutants arose at a low rate, and the mutations were found exclusively in the nfxB gene, a regulator of the MexCD-OprJ efflux system. Levofloxacin-selected resistance mutations in GyrA did not result in decreased susceptibility to NBTI 5463. Animal infection studies demonstrated that NBTI 5463 was efficacious in mouse models of lung, thigh, and ascending urinary tract infections. PMID:24566174

Formation of Bidisperse Particle Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Er, Jenn Wei; Zhao, Bing; Law, Adrian W. K.; Adams, E. Eric

2014-11-01

When a group of dense particles is released instantaneously into water, their motion has been conceptualized as a circulating particle thermal (Ruggerber 2000). However, Wen and Nacamuli (1996) observed the formation of particle clumps characterized by a narrow, fast moving core shedding particles into wakes. They observed the clump formation even for particles in the non-cohesive range as long as the source Rayleigh number was large (Ra > 1E3) or equivalently the source cloud number (Nc) was small (Nc < 3.2E2). This physical phenomenon has been investigated by Zhao et al. (2014) through physical experiments. They proposed the theoretical support for Nc dependence and categorized the formation processes into cloud formation, transitional regime and clump formation. Previous works focused mainly on the behavior of monodisperse particles. The present study further extends the experimental investigation to the formation process of bidisperse particles. Experiments are conducted in a glass tank with a water depth of 90 cm. Finite amounts of sediments with various weight proportions between coarser and finer particles are released from a cylindrical tube. The Nc being tested ranges from 6E-3 to 9.9E-2, which covers all the three formation regimes. The experimental results showed that the introduction of coarse particles promotes cloud formation and reduce the losses of finer particles into the wake. More quantitative descriptions of the effects of source conditions on the formation processes will be presented during the conference.

Divergence of stable isotopes in tap water across China

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

Zhao, Sihan; Hu, Hongchang; Tian, Fuqiang

Stable isotopes in water (e.g., δ2H and δ18O) are important indicators of hydrological and ecological patterns and processes. Tap water can reflect integrated features of regional hydrological processes and human activities. China is a large country with significant meteorological and geographical variations. This report presents the first national-scale survey of Stable Isotopes in Tap Water (SITW) across China. 780 tap water samples have been collected from 95 cities across China from December 2014 to December 2015. (1) Results yielded the Tap Water Line in China is δ2H = 7.72 δ18O + 6.57 (r2 = 0.95). (2) SITW spatial distribution presentsmore » typical "continental effect". (3) SITW seasonal variations indicate clearly regional patterns but no trends at the national level. (4) SITW can be correlated in some parts with geographic or meteorological factors. This work presents the first SITW map in China, which sets up a benchmark for further stable isotopes research across China. This is a critical step toward monitoring and investigating water resources in climate-sensitive regions, so the human-hydrological system. These findings could be used in the future to establish water management strategies at a national or regional scale. Title: Divergence of stable isotopes in tap water across China Authors: Zhao, SH; Hu, HC; Tian, FQ; Tie, Q; Wang, LX; Liu, YL; Shi, CX Source: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7 10.1038/srep43653 MAR 2 2017« less

RESPONSE OF THE GREEK EARLY WARNING SYSTEM REUTER-STOKES IONIZATION CHAMBERS TO TERRESTRIAL AND COSMIC RADIATION EVALUATED IN COMPARISON WITH SPECTROSCOPIC DATA AND TIME SERIES ANALYSIS.

PubMed

Leontaris, F; Clouvas, A; Xanthos, S; Maltezos, A; Potiriadis, C; Kiriakopoulos, E; Guilhot, J

2018-02-01

The Telemetric Early Warning System Network of the Greek Atomic Energy Commission consists mainly of a network of 24 Reuter-Stokes high-pressure ionization chambers (HPIC) for gamma dose rate measurements and covers all Greece. In the present work, the response of the Reuter-Stokes HPIC to terrestrial and cosmic radiation was evaluated in comparison with spectroscopic data obtained by in situ gamma spectrometry measurements with portable hyper pure Germanium detectors (HPGe), near the Reuter-Stokes detectors and time series analysis. For the HPIC detectors, a conversion factor for the measured absorbed dose rate in air (in nGy h-1) to the total ambient dose equivalent rate Ḣ*(10), due to terrestrial and cosmic component, was deduced by the field measurements. Time series analysis of the mean monthly dose rate (measured by the Reuter-Stokes detector in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, from 2001 to 2016) was performed with advanced statistical methods (Fast Fourier Analysis and Zhao Atlas Marks Transform). Fourier analysis reveals several periodicities (periodogram). The periodogram of the absorbed dose rate in air values was compared with the periodogram of the values measured for the same period (2001-16) and in the same location with a NaI (Tl) detector which in principle is not sensitive to cosmic radiation. The obtained results are presented and discussed. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An approximate classical unimolecular reaction rate theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Meishan; Rice, Stuart A.

1992-05-01

We describe a classical theory of unimolecular reaction rate which is derived from the analysis of Davis and Gray by use of simplifying approximations. These approximations concern the calculation of the locations of, and the fluxes of phase points across, the bottlenecks to fragmentation and to intramolecular energy transfer. The bottleneck to fragment separation is represented as a vibration-rotation state dependent separatrix, which approximation is similar to but extends and improves the approximations for the separatrix introduced by Gray, Rice, and Davis and by Zhao and Rice. The novel feature in our analysis is the representation of the bottlenecks to intramolecular energy transfer as dividing surfaces in phase space; the locations of these dividing surfaces are determined by the same conditions as locate the remnants of robust tori with frequency ratios related to the golden mean (in a two degree of freedom system these are the cantori). The flux of phase points across each dividing surface is calculated with an analytic representation instead of a stroboscopic mapping. The rate of unimolecular reaction is identified with the net rate at which phase points escape from the region of quasiperiodic bounded motion to the region of free fragment motion by consecutively crossing the dividing surfaces for intramolecular energy exchange and the separatrix. This new theory generates predictions of the rates of predissociation of the van der Waals molecules HeI2, NeI2 and ArI2 which are in very good agreement with available experimental data.

Combing Visible and Infrared Spectral Tests for Dust Identification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhou, Yaping; Levy, Robert; Kleidman, Richard; Remer, Lorraine; Mattoo, Shana

2016-01-01

The MODIS Dark Target aerosol algorithm over Ocean (DT-O) uses spectral reflectance in the visible, near-IR and SWIR wavelengths to determine aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom Exponent (AE). Even though DT-O does have "dust-like" models to choose from, dust is not identified a priori before inversion. The "dust-like" models are not true "dust models" as they are spherical and do not have enough absorption at short wavelengths, so retrieved AOD and AE for dusty regions tends to be biased. The inference of "dust" is based on postprocessing criteria for AOD and AE by users. Dust aerosol has known spectral signatures in the near-UV (Deep blue), visible, and thermal infrared (TIR) wavelength regions. Multiple dust detection algorithms have been developed over the years with varying detection capabilities. Here, we test a few of these dust detection algorithms, to determine whether they can be useful to help inform the choices made by the DT-O algorithm. We evaluate the following methods: The multichannel imager (MCI) algorithm uses spectral threshold tests in (0.47, 0.64, 0.86, 1.38, 2.26, 3.9, 11.0, 12.0 micrometer) channels and spatial uniformity test [Zhao et al., 2010]. The NOAA dust aerosol index (DAI) uses spectral contrast in the blue channels (412nm and 440nm) [Ciren and Kundragunta, 2014]. The MCI is already included as tests within the "Wisconsin" (MOD35) Cloud mask algorithm.

Possibility of viscoelastic stress transfer triggering of the 2007 Chuetsu-Oki earthquake by the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, I.; Ohtani, R.; Kuwahara, Y.; Abe, Y.

2009-12-01

The Chuetsu district, Central Japan, recently experienced two large earthquakes, at a space interval of only about 40 km and at a time interval of just 3 years—the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake (Mw 6.5) and the 2007 Chuetsu-Oki earthquake (Mw 6.6). There has been debate whether or not the 2007 Chuetsu-Oki earthquake was induced by the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake. The changes in the Coulomb failure function (DCFF) due to the 2004 earthquake showed negative values around the faults of the 2007 earthquake. However, it should be noted that the region where the two earthquakes occurred is characterized by thick sediments (6 km) and high geothermal gradients, which may not be appropriately modeled with a homogeneous half-infinite elastic medium that was assumed in the DCFF calculation. In this study, we examined the impacts of three-dimensional inhomogeneity and viscoelastic properties of the medium on the DCFF calculation so that we can seek for the possibility that the two earthquakes are related. We modeled the subsurface structure by three layers of an upper crust, a lower crust and an upper mantle. The geometry of the boundaries, the Conrad and the Moho, were given in two ways; one is to assume horizontal planes at the depths 15 and 30 km, and the other is to use curved surfaces inferred from a seismic analysis by Zhao et al. (1992). As for the material properties, the upper crust was assumed elastic while the deeper two layers were assumed viscoelastic. To investigate the sensitivity of the DCFF calculation to viscosity, some combinations of the viscosity coefficient were used; say, {1e18, 1. e18} Pas, {1e19, 1.e19} Pas, {1e18, 1.e19}, and so on for the lower crust and the mantle, respectively. The elastic constants, P- and S-wave velocities and densities, were assumed (1) to be uniform in the whole medium, (2) to have representative values within each layer, and (3) to have three-dimensionally variable values based on the seismic tomography by Matsubara et al. (2008). A

Development of bulk density, total C distribution and OC saturation in fine mineral fractions during paddy soil evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wissing, Livia; Kölbl, Angelika; Cao, Zhi-Hong; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2010-05-01

Paddy soils are described as important accumulator for OM (Zhang and He, 2004). In southeast China, paddy soils have the second highest OM stocks (Zhao et al, 1997) and thus a large proportion of the terrestrial carbon is conserved in wetland rice soils. The paddy soil management is believed to be favorable for accumulation of organic matter, as its content in paddy soils is statistically higher than that of non-paddy soils (Cai, 1996). However, the mechanism of OM storage and the development of OM distribution during paddy soil evolution is largely unknown. The aim of the project is to identify the role of organo-mineral complexes for the stabilization of organic carbon during management-induced paddy soil formation in a chronosequence ranging from 50 to 2000 years of paddy soil use. The soil samples were analysed for bulk density, total organic carbon (TOC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC) concentrations of bulk soils and the concentration of organic carbon as well as the organic carbon stocks of physical soil fractions. First results indicate distinctly different depth distributions between paddy and non-paddy (control) sites. The paddy soils are characterized by relatively low bulk densities in the puddled layer (between 0.9 and 1.3 g cm-3) and high values in the plough pan (1.4 to 1.6 g cm-3) and the non-paddy soils by relatively homogeneous values throughout the profiles (1.3 to 1.4 g cm-3). In contrast to the carbonate-rich non-paddy sites, we found a significant loss of carbonates during paddy soil formation, resulting in decalcification of the upper 20 cm after 100 yr of paddy soil use, and decalcification of the total soil profile in 700, 1000 and 2000 yr old paddy soils. The calculation of the organic carbon stocks of each horizon indicate that paddy sites always have higher values in topsoils compared to non-paddy sites, and show increasing values with increasing soil age. The capacity of fine mineral fractions to preserve OC was calculated according to

Soil and hydrology sciences need laboratory and field experiments in the classroom. An example from the SEDER (Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group) from the University of Valencia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerdà, Artemi; González Pelayo, Óscar; García Orenes, Fuensanta; Jordán, Antonio; Pereira, Paulo; Novara, Agata; Úbeda, Xavier

2015-04-01

The use of experimental stations and long-term measurements in the field and in the laboratory contributed to large datasets and key information to understand the soil system and the hydrological cycle (Neal et al., 2011; García Orenes et al., 2012; López-Garrido et al., 2012; Kröpf et al., 2013; Nadal-Romero, 2013; Taguas et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2013). However, teaching in high schools and colleagues require simple experiments to help the students to understand the soil and water resources and management. We show here the experiments and measurements we conduct within the teaching program of the Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group at the University of Valencia to help the students in the understanding of the soil and hydrologic processes. The expereriments and measurements developed are the following: (i) Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) to determine the soil water repellency; (ii) Leaves water retention capacity measured in the field; (iii) soil infiltration capacity measured with simple ring infiltrometers; (iv) measurement of the soil bulk density; and (v) measurement of the soil water content. Those experiments and measurements are applied to agriculture, rangeland and fire affected soils. Acknowledgements To the "Ministerio de Economía and Competitividad" of Spanish Government for finance the POSTFIRE project (CGL2013- 47862-C2-1-R). The research projects GL2008-02879/BTE, LEDDRA 243857 and PREVENTING AND REMEDIATING DEGRADATION OF SOILS IN EUROPE THROUGH LAND CARE (RECARE)FP7-ENV-2013- supported this research. References García-Orenes, F., Roldán, A., Mataix-Solera, J., Cerdà, A., Campoy, M., Arcenegui, V., Caravaca, F. 2012 Soil structural stability and erosion rates influenced by agricultural management practices in a semi-arid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem. Soil Use and Management 28(4): 571-579. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2012.00451.x Kröpfl, A. I., Cecchi, G. A., Villasuso, N. M., Distel, R. A. 2013. Degradation and recovery processes

Exploring uncertainties in probabilistic seismic hazard estimates for Quito

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beauval, Celine; Yepes, Hugo; Audin, Laurence; Alvarado, Alexandra; Nocquet, Jean-Mathieu

2016-04-01

In the present study, probabilistic seismic hazard estimates at 475 years return period for Quito, capital city of Ecuador, show that the crustal host zone is the only source zone that determines the city's hazard levels for such return period. Therefore, the emphasis is put on identifying the uncertainties characterizing the host zone, i.e. uncertainties in the recurrence of earthquakes expected in the zone and uncertainties on the ground motions that these earthquakes may produce. As the number of local strong-ground motions is still scant, ground-motion prediction equations are imported from other regions. Exploring recurrence models for the host zone based on different observations and assumptions, and including three GMPE candidates (Akkar and Bommer 2010, Zhao et al. 2006, Boore and Atkinson 2008), we obtain a significant variability on the estimated acceleration at 475 years (site coordinates: -78.51 in longitude and -0.2 in latitude, VS30 760 m/s): 1) Considering historical earthquake catalogs, and relying on frequency-magnitude distributions where rates for magnitudes 6-7 are extrapolated from statistics of magnitudes 4.5-6.0 mostly in the 20th century, the acceleration at the PGA varies between 0.28g and 0.55g with a mean value around 0.4g. The results show that both the uncertainties in the GMPE choice and in the seismicity model are responsible for this variability. 2) Considering slip rates inferred form geodetic measurements across the Quito fault system, and assuming that most of the deformation occurs seismically (conservative hypothesis), leads to a much greater range of accelerations, 0.43 to 0.73g for the PGA (with a mean of 0.55g). 3) Considering slip rates inferred from geodetic measurements, and assuming that 50% only of the deformation is released in earthquakes (partially locked fault, model based on 15 years of GPS data), leads to a range of accelerations 0.32g to 0.58g for the PGA, with a mean of 0.42g. These accelerations are in agreement

Galaxy halo expansions: a new biorthogonal family of potential-density pairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilley, Edward J.; Sanders, Jason L.; Evans, N. Wyn; Erkal, Denis

2018-05-01

Efficient expansions of the gravitational field of (dark) haloes have two main uses in the modelling of galaxies: first, they provide a compact representation of numerically constructed (or real) cosmological haloes, incorporating the effects of triaxiality, lopsidedness or other distortion. Secondly, they provide the basis functions for self-consistent field expansion algorithms used in the evolution of N-body systems. We present a new family of biorthogonal potential-density pairs constructed using the Hankel transform of the Laguerre polynomials. The lowest order density basis functions are double-power-law profiles cusped like ρ ˜ r-2+1/α at small radii with asymptotic density fall-off like ρ ˜ r-3-1/(2α). Here, α is a parameter satisfying α ≥ 1/2. The family therefore spans the range of inner density cusps found in numerical simulations, but has much shallower - and hence more realistic - outer slopes than the corresponding members of the only previously known family deduced by Zhao and exemplified by Hernquist & Ostriker. When α = 1, the lowest order density profile has an inner density cusp of ρ ˜ r-1 and an outer density slope of ρ ˜ r-3.5, similar to the famous Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) model. For this reason, we demonstrate that our new expansion provides a more accurate representation of flattened NFW haloes than the competing Hernquist-Ostriker expansion. We utilize our new expansion by analysing a suite of numerically constructed haloes and providing the distributions of the expansion coefficients.

Multi-Phenomenological Analysis of the 12 August 2015 Tianjin, China Chemical Explosion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasyanos, M.; Kim, K.; Park, J.; Stump, B. W.; Hayward, C.; Che, I. Y.; Zhao, L.; Myers, S. C.

2016-12-01

We perform a multi-phenomenological analysis of the massive near-surface chemical explosions that occurred in Tianjin, China on 12 August 2015. A recent assessment of these events was performed by Zhao et al. (2016) using local (< 100 km) seismic data. This study considers a regional assessment of the same sequence in the absence of having any local data. We provide additional insight by combining regional seismic analysis with the use of infrasound signals and an assessment of the event crater. Event locations using infrasound signals recorded at Korean and IMS arrays are estimated based on the Bayesian Infrasonic Source Location (BISL) method (Modrak et al., 2010), and improved with azimuthal corrections using a raytracing (Blom and Waxler, 2012) and the Ground-to-Space (G2S) atmospheric models (Drob et al., 2003). The location information provided from the infrasound signals is then merged with the regional seismic arrivals to produce a joint event location. The yields of the events are estimated from seismic and infrasonic observations. Seismic waveform envelope method (Pasyanos et al., 2012) including the free surface effect (Pasyanos and Ford, 2015) is applied to regional seismic signals. Waveform inversion method (Kim and Rodgers, 2016) is used for infrasound signals. A combination of the seismic and acoustic signals can provide insights on the energy partitioning and break the tradeoffs between the yield and the depth/height of explosions, resulting in a more robust estimation of event yield. The yield information from the different phenomenologies are combined through the use of likelihood functions.

Species diversity of ostracods (Crustacea: Ostracoda) from rice fields in Northeast Thailand, with the description of a new Tanycypris species.

PubMed

Savatenalinton, Sukonthip

2017-12-07

The species diversity of ostracods in rice fields from Northeast Thailand was studied. Fifty-two samples were collected from 43 rice fields during 2010-2016. This investigation revealed 23 genera and 52 species, including one new to science (Tanycypris eugenkempfi n. sp.) and 21 endemic species: endemic to the Oriental region (14 species), Southeast Asia (two species) and Thailand (five species). In addition, two species that were restricted to rice fields in this study were recognized: Bradleytriebella tuberculata (Hartmann, 1964) and Notodromas sinensis Neale & Zhao, 1991. The most diverse genus was Pseudostrandesia, followed by Strandesia with eight and five species, respectively. The most widely distributed species were Pseudocypretta maculata Klie, 1932 and Strandesia kraepelini (G.W. Müller, 1906) occurring in 48.8 % of the total of surveyed rice fields. The number of species in individual rice fields ranged from none to 18. Most of the samples contained three species, but one rice field showed very high species richness (18 species). Most of the species recorded in this study were also found in several types of water bodies and reported from several zoogeographical regions. The main distinguishing characters between Tanycypris eugenkempfi n. sp. and other Tanycypris species are the more tumid carapace in dorsal view, the distinctly arched dorsal margin of the carapace in lateral view, the presence of a subapical dorsal seta on the first segment of the first antenna, the smooth large bristles on the third endite of the maxillula, the absence of c-seta on the first thoracopod, and the long proximal claw (Gp) of the caudal ramus.

Analysis of dependent scattering mechanism in hard-sphere Yukawa random media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, B. X.; Zhao, C. Y.

2018-06-01

The structural correlations in the microscopic structures of random media can induce the dependent scattering mechanism and thus influence the optical scattering properties. Based on our recent theory on the dependent scattering mechanism in random media composed of discrete dipolar scatterers [B. X. Wang and C. Y. Zhao, Phys. Rev. A 97, 023836 (2018)], in this paper, we study the hard-sphere Yukawa random media, in order to further elucidate the role of structural correlations in the dependent scattering mechanism and hence optical scattering properties. Here, we consider charged colloidal suspensions, whose effective pair interaction between colloids is described by a screened Coulomb (Yukawa) potential. By means of adding salt ions, the pair interaction between the charged particles can be flexibly tailored and therefore the structural correlations are modified. It is shown that this strategy can affect the optical properties significantly. For colloidal TiO2 suspensions, the modification of electric and magnetic dipole excitations induced by the structural correlations can substantially influence the optical scattering properties, in addition to the far-field interference effect described by the structure factor. However, this modification is only slightly altered by different salt concentrations and is mainly because of the packing-density-dependent screening effect. On the other hand, for low refractive index colloidal polystyrene suspensions, the dependent scattering mechanism mainly involves the far-field interference effect, and the effective exciting field amplitude for the electric dipole almost remains unchanged under different structural correlations. The present study has profound implications for understanding the role of structural correlations in the dependent scattering mechanism.

Computing energy levels of CH4, CHD3, CH3D, and CH3F with a direct product basis and coordinates based on the methyl subsystem.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhiqiang; Chen, Jun; Zhang, Zhaojun; Zhang, Dong H; Wang, Xiao-Gang; Carrington, Tucker; Gatti, Fabien

2018-02-21

Quantum mechanical calculations of ro-vibrational energies of CH 4 , CHD 3 , CH 3 D, and CH 3 F were made with two different numerical approaches. Both use polyspherical coordinates. The computed energy levels agree, confirming the accuracy of the methods. In the first approach, for all the molecules, the coordinates are defined using three Radau vectors for the CH 3 subsystem and a Jacobi vector between the remaining atom and the centre of mass of CH 3 . Euler angles specifying the orientation of a frame attached to CH 3 with respect to a frame attached to the Jacobi vector are used as vibrational coordinates. A direct product potential-optimized discrete variable vibrational basis is used to build a Hamiltonian matrix. Ro-vibrational energies are computed using a re-started Arnoldi eigensolver. In the second approach, the coordinates are the spherical coordinates associated with four Radau vectors or three Radau vectors and a Jacobi vector, and the frame is an Eckart frame. Vibrational basis functions are products of contracted stretch and bend functions, and eigenvalues are computed with the Lanczos algorithm. For CH 4 , CHD 3 , and CH 3 D, we report the first J > 0 energy levels computed on the Wang-Carrington potential energy surface [X.-G. Wang and T. Carrington, J. Chem. Phys. 141(15), 154106 (2014)]. For CH 3 F, the potential energy surface of Zhao et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 204302 (2016)] was used. All the results are in good agreement with experimental data.

High-speed water impacts of flat plates in different ditching configuration through a Riemann-ALE SPH model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrone, S.; Colagrossi, A.; Chiron, L.; De Leffe, M.; Le Touzé, D.

2018-02-01

The violent water entry of flat plates is investigated using a Riemann-arbitrary Eulerian-Lagrangian (ALE) smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model. The test conditions are of interest for problems related to aircraft and helicopter emergency landing in water. Three main parameters are considered: the horizontal velocity, the approach angle (i.e., vertical to horizontal velocity ratio) and the pitch angle, α. Regarding the latter, small angles are considered in this study. As described in the theoretical work by Zhao and Faltinsen (1993), for small α a very thin, high-speed jet of water is formed, and the time-spatial gradients of the pressure field are extremely high. These test conditions are very challenging for numerical solvers. In the present study an enhanced SPH model is firstly tested on a purely vertical impact with deadrise angle α = 4°. An in-depth validation against analytical solutions and experimental results is carried out, highlighting the several critical aspects of the numerical modelling of this kind of flow, especially when pressure peaks are to be captured. A discussion on the main difficulties when comparing to model scale experiments is also provided. Then, the more realistic case of a plate with both horizontal and vertical velocity components is discussed and compared to ditching experiments recently carried out at CNR-INSEAN. In the latter case both 2-D and 3-D simulations are considered and the importance of 3-D effects on the pressure peak is discussed for α = 4° and α = 10°.

Magnetic and Crystal Structure of α-RuCl3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sears, Jennifer

The layered honeycomb material α-RuCl3 has been proposed as a candidate material to show significant bond-dependent Kitaev type interactions. This has prompted several recent studies of magnetism in this material that have found evidence for multiple magnetic transitions in the temperature range of 8-14 K. We will present elastic neutron scattering measurements collected using a co-aligned array of α-RuCl3 crystals, identifying zigzag magnetic order within the honeycomb planes with an ordering temperature of ~8 K. It has been reported that the ordering temperature depends on the c axis periodicity of the layered structure, with ordering temperatures of 8 and 14 K for three and two-layer periodicity respectively. While the in-plane magnetic order has been identified, it is clear that a complete understanding of magnetic ordering and interactions will depend on the three dimensional structure of the crystal. Evidence of a structural transition at ~150 K has been reported and questions remain about the structural details, in particular the stacking of the honeycomb layers. We will present x-ray diffraction measurements investigating the low and high temperature structures and stacking disorder in α-RuCl3. Finally, we will present inelastic neutron scattering measurements of magnetic excitations in this material. Work done in collaboration with K. W. Plumb (Johns Hopkins University), J. P. Clancy, Young-June Kim (University of Toronto), J. Britten (McMaster University), Yu-Sheng Chen (Argonne National Laboratory), Y. Qiu, Y. Zhao, D. Parshall, and J. W. Lynn (NCNR).

Requirements for functional models of the iron hydrogenase active site: D2/H2O exchange activity in ((mu-SMe)(mu-pdt)[Fe(CO)2(PMe3)]2+)[BF4-].

PubMed

Georgakaki, Irene P; Miller, Matthew L; Darensbourg, Marcetta Y

2003-04-21

Hydrogen uptake in hydrogenase enzymes can be assayed by H/D exchange reactivity in H(2)/D(2)O or H(2)/D(2)/H(2)O mixtures. Diiron(I) complexes that serve as structural models for the active site of iron hydrogenase are not active in such isotope scrambling but serve as precursors to Fe(II)Fe(II) complexes that are functional models of [Fe]H(2)ase. Using the same experimental protocol as used previously for ((mu-H)(mu-pdt)[Fe(CO)(2)(PMe(3))](2)(+)), 1-H(+) (Zhao et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 9710), we now report the results of studies of ((mu-SMe)(mu-pdt)[Fe(CO)(2)(PMe(3))](2)(+)), 1-SMe(+), toward H/D exchange. The 1-SMe(+) complex can take up H(2) and catalyze the H/D exchange reaction in D(2)/H(2)O mixtures under photolytic, CO-loss conditions. Unlike 1-H(+), it does not catalyze H(2)/D(2) scrambling under anhydrous conditions. The molecular structure of 1-SMe(+) involves an elongated Fe.Fe separation, 3.11 A, relative to 2.58 A in 1-H(+). It is proposed that the strong SMe(-) bridging ligand results in catalytic activity localized on a single Fe(II) center, a scenario that is also a prominent possibility for the enzyme active site. The single requirement is an open site on Fe(II) available for binding of D(2) (or H(2)), followed by deprotonation by the external base H(2)O (or D(2)O).

Hippo circuitry and the redox modulation of hippo components in cancer cell fate decisions.

PubMed

Ashraf, Asma; Pervaiz, Shazib

2015-12-01

Meticulous and precise control of organ size is undoubtedly one of the most pivotal processes in mammalian development and regeneration along with cell differentiation, morphogenesis and programmed cell death. These processes are strictly regulated by complex and highly coordinated mechanisms to maintain a steady growth state. There are a number of extrinsic and intrinsic factors that dictate the total number and/or size of cells by influencing growth, proliferation, differentiation and cell death. Multiple pathways, such as those involved in promoting organ size and others that restrict disproportionate tissue growth act simultaneously to maintain cellular and tissue homeostasis. Aberrations at any level in these organ size-regulating processes can lead to various pathological states with cancers being the most formidable one (Yin and Zhang, 2011). Extensive research in the realm of growth control has led to the identification of the Hippo-signaling pathway as a critical network in modulating tissue growth via its effect on multiple signaling pathways and through intricate crosstalk with proteins that regulate cell polarity, adhesion and cell-cell interactions (Zhao et al., 2011b). The Hippo pathway controls cell number and organ size by transducing signals from the plasma membrane to the nucleus to regulate the expression of genes involved in cell fate determination (Shi et al., 2015). In this review, we summarize the recent discoveries concerning Hippo pathway, its diversiform regulation in mammals as well as its implications in cancers, and highlight the possible role of oxidative stress in Hippo pathway regulation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sat-sat Radio Occultation Experiment between Yinghuo-1 and Phobos-Grunt at Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hua; Sun, Yue-Qiang; Wu, Ji

Sat-sat Radio Occultation Experiment between Yinghuo-1 and Phobos-Grunt at Mars Hua Zhao1, J. Wu1, Y. Q. Sun1, G. W. Zhu1, Q. F. Du1, X. Hu1, A. Zakharov2 1Center for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 2IKI, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Abstract: A micro-satellite, Yinghuo-1, would be launched with Phobos-Grunt in October, 2009 to investigate the space environment around Mars. A coordinated radio occultation experiment would be carried out between YH-1 and Phobos-Grunt. A radio wave transmitter is mounted on Phobos-Grunt to beam out radio wave at 400/800 MHz in 6W output to YH-1, and a radio receiver is installed on YH-1 to measure the phase shift and xxx during the occultation opportunities. The total electron content (TEC) can be obtained from the occultation experiment, and the Martian electron density profiles would be driven out. After inserting into Mars orbit, YH-1 would be separated from Phobos-Grunt with a relative speed of 2m/s, and the orbits of YH-1 and Phobos-Grunt are placed in the same plan near the Mars equator, and the ROE would have opportunities to measure the Mars ionospheric electron density profiles in the altitude range 50—300 km with solar zenith angle (SZA) smaller than 43o, and larger than 138o. The micro-strip antenna is used for the receiver on YH-1, and the sensitivity of the receiver is about -145dBm.

Drosophila CHIP protects against mitochondrial dysfunction by acting downstream of Pink1 in parallel with Parkin.

PubMed

Chen, Jia; Xue, Jin; Ruan, Jingsong; Zhao, Juan; Tang, Beisha; Duan, Ranhui

2017-12-01

Mitochondrial kinase PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) and E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin function in a common pathway to regulate mitochondrial homeostasis contributing to the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease. The carboxyl terminus of Hsc70-interacting protein (CHIP) acts as a heat shock protein 70/heat shock protein 90 cochaperone to mediate protein folding or as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to target proteins for degradation. In this study, overexpression of Drosophila CHIP suppressed a range of Pink1 mutant phenotypes in flies, including abnormal wing posture, thoracic indentation, locomotion defects, muscle degeneration, and loss of dopaminergic neurons. Mitochondrial defects of Pink1 mutant, such as excessive fusion, reduced ATP content, and crista disorganization, were rescued by CHIP but not its ligase-dead mutants. Similar phenotypes and mitochondrial impairment were ameliorated in Parkin mutant flies by wild-type CHIP. Inactivation of CHIP with null fly mutants resulted in mitochondrial defects, such as reduced thoracic ATP content at 3 d old, decreased thoracic mitochondrial DNA content, and defective mitochondrial morphology at 60 d old. CHIP mutants did not exacerbate the phenotypes of Pink1 mutant flies but markedly shortened the life span of Parkin mutant flies. These results indicate that CHIP is involved in mitochondrial integrity and may act downstream of Pink1 in parallel with Parkin.-Chen, J., Xue, J., Ruan, J., Zhao, J., Tang, B., Duan, R. Drosophila CHIP protects against mitochondrial dysfunction by acting downstream of Pink1 in parallel with Parkin. © FASEB.

Nearby kinematic wiggles from LEGUE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlin, J. L.; Newberg, H. J.; Deng, L.; Delaunay, J.; Gole, D.; Grabowski, K.; Liu, C.; Xu, Y.; Yang, F.; Zhang, H.

2014-01-01

In its first two observing seasons, the LEGUE (LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration; Deng et al., Zhao et al. 2012) survey has obtained ~1.7 million science-quality spectra. We apply corrections to the PPMXL proper motions (PMs; Roeser et al. 2010) as a function of position, as determined from the measured PMs of extragalactic objects discovered in LAMOST spectra (see Fig. 1, left and center panels). LAMOST radial velocities and corrected PMs are used to derive 3D space velocities for ~480,000 F-stars (assuming M V =4 to derive distances). The right panel of Fig. 1 shows the radial component of Galactic cylindrical velocities (V R ) for stars between 7.80° (3rd Galactic quadrant), but not for θ<0°. The velocities are also asymmetric across the Galactic plane for θ<0° (2nd quadrant), with most positions < V R >> 0 above the disk (radially outward), and < V R > < 0 below the disk. Similar structure to this apparent ``shearing'' motion has been seen in RAVE (e.g., Williams et al. 2013; Siebert et al. 2012), and SDSS (Widrow et al. 2012).

Computing energy levels of CH4, CHD3, CH3D, and CH3F with a direct product basis and coordinates based on the methyl subsystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Zhiqiang; Chen, Jun; Zhang, Zhaojun; Zhang, Dong H.; Wang, Xiao-Gang; Carrington, Tucker; Gatti, Fabien

2018-02-01

Quantum mechanical calculations of ro-vibrational energies of CH4, CHD3, CH3D, and CH3F were made with two different numerical approaches. Both use polyspherical coordinates. The computed energy levels agree, confirming the accuracy of the methods. In the first approach, for all the molecules, the coordinates are defined using three Radau vectors for the CH3 subsystem and a Jacobi vector between the remaining atom and the centre of mass of CH3. Euler angles specifying the orientation of a frame attached to CH3 with respect to a frame attached to the Jacobi vector are used as vibrational coordinates. A direct product potential-optimized discrete variable vibrational basis is used to build a Hamiltonian matrix. Ro-vibrational energies are computed using a re-started Arnoldi eigensolver. In the second approach, the coordinates are the spherical coordinates associated with four Radau vectors or three Radau vectors and a Jacobi vector, and the frame is an Eckart frame. Vibrational basis functions are products of contracted stretch and bend functions, and eigenvalues are computed with the Lanczos algorithm. For CH4, CHD3, and CH3D, we report the first J > 0 energy levels computed on the Wang-Carrington potential energy surface [X.-G. Wang and T. Carrington, J. Chem. Phys. 141(15), 154106 (2014)]. For CH3F, the potential energy surface of Zhao et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 204302 (2016)] was used. All the results are in good agreement with experimental data.

Snowball: resampling combined with distance-based regression to discover transcriptional consequences of a driver mutation

PubMed Central

Xu, Yaomin; Guo, Xingyi; Sun, Jiayang; Zhao, Zhongming

2015-01-01

Motivation: Large-scale cancer genomic studies, such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), have profiled multidimensional genomic data, including mutation and expression profiles on a variety of cancer cell types, to uncover the molecular mechanism of cancerogenesis. More than a hundred driver mutations have been characterized that confer the advantage of cell growth. However, how driver mutations regulate the transcriptome to affect cellular functions remains largely unexplored. Differential analysis of gene expression relative to a driver mutation on patient samples could provide us with new insights in understanding driver mutation dysregulation in tumor genome and developing personalized treatment strategies. Results: Here, we introduce the Snowball approach as a highly sensitive statistical analysis method to identify transcriptional signatures that are affected by a recurrent driver mutation. Snowball utilizes a resampling-based approach and combines a distance-based regression framework to assign a robust ranking index of genes based on their aggregated association with the presence of the mutation, and further selects the top significant genes for downstream data analyses or experiments. In our application of the Snowball approach to both synthesized and TCGA data, we demonstrated that it outperforms the standard methods and provides more accurate inferences to the functional effects and transcriptional dysregulation of driver mutations. Availability and implementation: R package and source code are available from CRAN at http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/DESnowball, and also available at http://bioinfo.mc.vanderbilt.edu/DESnowball/. Contact: zhongming.zhao@vanderbilt.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25192743

Modeling the effects of source and path heterogeneity on ground motions of great earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone Using 3D simulations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Delorey, Andrew; Frankel, Arthur; Liu, Pengcheng; Stephenson, William J.

2014-01-01

We ran finite‐difference earthquake simulations for great subduction zone earthquakes in Cascadia to model the effects of source and path heterogeneity for the purpose of improving strong‐motion predictions. We developed a rupture model for large subduction zone earthquakes based on a k−2 slip spectrum and scale‐dependent rise times by representing the slip distribution as the sum of normal modes of a vibrating membrane.Finite source and path effects were important in determining the distribution of strong motions through the locations of the hypocenter, subevents, and crustal structures like sedimentary basins. Some regions in Cascadia appear to be at greater risk than others during an event due to the geometry of the Cascadia fault zone relative to the coast and populated regions. The southern Oregon coast appears to have increased risk because it is closer to the locked zone of the Cascadia fault than other coastal areas and is also in the path of directivity amplification from any rupture propagating north to south in that part of the subduction zone, and the basins in the Puget Sound area are efficiently amplified by both north and south propagating ruptures off the coast of western Washington. We find that the median spectral accelerations at 5 s period from the simulations are similar to that of the Zhao et al. (2006) ground‐motion prediction equation, although our simulations predict higher amplitudes near the region of greatest slip and in the sedimentary basins, such as the Seattle basin.

Erratum: Correction of “Pridgeon, J. W., Zhao, L., Becnel, J. J., Strickman, D. A., Clark, G. G., and Linthicum, K. J. 2008. Topically applied AaeIAP1 double-stranded RNA kills female adults of Aedes aegypti."

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The coauthors of previously published work correct details from a 2008 publication. Specifically, it was incorrectly indicated in the methods section for data presented in Tables 2 and 3 that this experiment was the result of three replicates. These data were not the result of three replicate experi...

[History of world neurosurgery].

PubMed

Wang, X

2017-05-28

In 5000 BC, South American tribes digged the bones in the living head to seek ways to communicate with the gods, which was primitive trephination and may be the first neurosurgical behavior. In 2600 BC, Imhotep in ancient Egypt took the brain out of the head from the nose, for a better preserve of the mummy, which was a prototype of modern transsphenoidal surgery. And the development of anatomy in ancient Greek laid a solid foundation for neurosurgery. From 500 to 1500 AD, the rise of religion and the occurrence of war, prompted a large number of craniocerebral trauma, which contributed greatly to the early development of neurosurgery as a distinct specialty. In 1861, Brocca astutely localized the language function to the third left frontal convolution in a series of studies, which was considered to be of landmark importance in the understanding of cerebral localization. In 1878, William Macewen performed a successful surgery to remove an en plaque meningioma with intrathecal anesthesia, representing the first modern neurosurgical operation. However, the contributions of the Americans, starting with Harvey Cushing, exerted a definitive force. Portuguese Moritz performed the first cerebral angiogram on a living schizophrenia patient in 1926. And he established the Moniz-Lima prefrontal leucotomy for the treatment of schizophrenia, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1949. In 1968, the Swiss scholar Yassagir firstly carried out neurosurgical surgeries under the microscope. China's neurosurgery was founded by Zhao Yicheng in 1952 in Tianjin, and the gap in neurosurgery between China and the world gradually narrowed after 60 years of development.

Tobacco-expressed Brassica juncea chitinase BjCHI1 shows antifungal activity in vitro.

PubMed

Fung, King-Leung; Zhao, Kai-Jun; He, Zhu-Mei; Chye, Mee-Len

2002-09-01

We have previously isolated a Brassica juncea cDNA encoding BjCHI1, a novel chitinase with two chitin-binding domains, and have shown that its mRNA is induced by wounding and methyl jasmonate treatment (K.-J. Zhao and M.-L. Chye, Plant Mol. Biol. 40 (1999) 1009-1018). By the presence of two chitin-binding domains, BjCHI1 resembles the precursor of UDA (Urtica dioica agglutinin) but, unlike UDA, BjCHI1 retains its chitinase catalytic domain after post-translational processing. Here, we indicate the role of BjCHI1 in plant defense by demonstrating its mRNA induction upon Aspergillus niger infection or caterpillar Pieris rapae (L.) feeding. To further investigate the biological properties of BjCHI1, we transformed tobacco with a construct expressing the BjCHI1 cDNA from the CaMV 35S promoter. Subsequently, we purified BjCHI1 from the resultant transgenic Ro plants using a regenerated chitin column followed by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). Also, the significance of the second chitin-binding domain in BjCHI1 was investigated by raising transgenic tobacco plants expressing BjCHI2, a deletion derivative of BjCHI1 lacking one chitin-binding domain. Colorimetric chitinase assays at 25 degrees C, pH 5, showed no significant differences between the activities of BjCHI1 and BjCHI2, suggesting that chitinase activity, due to the catalytic domain, is not enhanced by the presence of a second chitin-binding domain. Both BjCHI1 and BjCHI2 show in vitro anti-fungal activity toward Trichoderma viride, causing reductions in hyphal diameter, hyphal branching and conidia size.

Marine Boundary Layer Cloud Property Retrievals from High-Resolution ASTER Observations: Case Studies and Comparison with Terra MODIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werner, Frank; Wind, Galina; Zhang, Zhibo; Platnick, Steven; Di Girolamo, Larry; Zhao, Guangyu; Amarasinghe, Nandana; Meyer, Kerry

2016-01-01

A research-level retrieval algorithm for cloud optical and microphysical properties is developed for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. It is based on the operational MODIS algorithm. This paper documents the technical details of this algorithm and evaluates the retrievals for selected marine boundary layer cloud scenes through comparisons with the operational MODIS Data Collection 6 (C6) cloud product. The newly developed, ASTERspecific cloud masking algorithm is evaluated through comparison with an independent algorithm reported in Zhao and Di Girolamo (2006). To validate and evaluate the cloud optical thickness (tau) and cloud effective radius (r(sub eff)) from ASTER, the high-spatial-resolution ASTER observations are first aggregated to the same 1000m resolution as MODIS. Subsequently, tau(sub aA) and r(sub eff, aA) retrieved from the aggregated ASTER radiances are compared with the collocated MODIS retrievals. For overcast pixels, the two data sets agree very well with Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients of R greater than 0.970. However, for partially cloudy pixels there are significant differences between r(sub eff, aA) and the MODIS results which can exceed 10 micrometers. Moreover, it is shown that the numerous delicate cloud structures in the example marine boundary layer scenes, resolved by the high-resolution ASTER retrievals, are smoothed by the MODIS observations. The overall good agreement between the research-level ASTER results and the operational MODIS C6 products proves the feasibility of MODIS-like retrievals from ASTER reflectance measurements and provides the basis for future studies concerning the scale dependency of satellite observations and three-dimensional radiative effects.

Loess and Loess-like Sediments on the Tibetan Plateau: New Results and Findings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehmkuhl, F.

2014-12-01

Aeolian, loess-like sediments distributed as mantles of silt covering the bedrock and debris are widespread depositions in the Qilain Shan and on the Tibetan Plateau (Lehmkuhl 1997). Up to now little is known about the timing and distribution of these late Quaternary sediments originated from far and local transported aeolian dust and sand. They represent valuable archives about environmental change during the late Quaternary. In addition, this fine material is important for growth of the vegetation cover and for water storage and nomadic life. Radiocarbon and luminescence dating provide information concerning their timing to the end of the last glacial cycle and especially to the Holocene, as some of them include loess-paleosol sequences. In addition, valuable information on paleoenvironmental conditions was acquired by grain-size distribution and geochemical analyses (e.g. Nottebaum et al. 2014, Lehmkuhl et. al. 2014). This contribution mainly focuses on the Qilian Shan, the northeastern and southern Tibetan Plateau. Lehmkuhl F. (1997). The spatial distribution of loess and loess-like sediments in the mountain areas of Central and High Asia, Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, N.F., Suppl.-Bd. 111, 97-116. Lehmkuhl F., Schulte P., Zhao H., Hülle D., Protze J., Stauch G. (2014). Timing and spatial distribution of loess and loess-like sediments in the mountain areas of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, Catena 117, 22-33. Nottebaum V., Lehmkuhl F., Stauch G., Hartmann K., Wünnemann B, Schimpf S, Lu H. (2014): Regional grain size variations in aeolian sediments along the transition between Tibetan highlands and northwestern Chinese deserts: The influence of geomorphological settings on aeolian transport pathways, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, in press. DOI: 10.1002/esp.3590

M1 muscarinic receptor facilitates cognitive function by interplay with AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit.

PubMed

Zhao, Lan-Xue; Ge, Yan-Hui; Xiong, Cai-Hong; Tang, Ling; Yan, Ying-Hui; Law, Ping-Yee; Qiu, Yu; Chen, Hong-Zhuan

2018-03-06

M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M1 mAChRs) are the most abundant muscarinic receptors in the hippocampus and have been shown to have procognitive effects. AMPA receptors (AMPARs), an important subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors, are key components in neurocognitive networks. However, the role of AMPARs in procognitive effects of M1 mAChRs and how M1 mAChRs affect the function of AMPARs remain poorly understood. Here, we found that basal expression of GluA1, a subunit of AMPARs, and its phosphorylation at Ser845 were maintained by M1 mAChR activity. Activation of M1 mAChRs promoted membrane insertion of GluA1, especially to postsynaptic densities. Impairment of hippocampus-dependent learning and memory by antagonism of M1 mAChRs paralleled the reduction of GluA1 expression, and improvement of learning and memory by activation of M1 mAChRs was accompanied by the synaptic insertion of GluA1 and its increased phosphorylation at Ser845. Furthermore, abrogation of phosphorylation of Ser845 residue of GluA1 ablated M1 mAChR-mediated improvement of learning and memory. Taken together, these results show a functional correlation of M1 mAChRs and GluA1 and the essential role of GluA1 in M1 mAChR-mediated cognitive improvement.-Zhao, L.-X., Ge, Y.-H., Xiong, C.-H., Tang, L., Yan, Y.-H., Law, P.-Y., Qiu, Y., Chen, H.-Z. M1 muscarinic receptor facilitates cognitive function by interplay with AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit.

In vitro selection of DNA elements highly responsive to the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I transcriptional activator, Tax.

PubMed

Paca-Uccaralertkun, S; Zhao, L J; Adya, N; Cross, J V; Cullen, B R; Boros, I M; Giam, C Z

1994-01-01

The human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) transactivator, Tax, the ubiquitous transcriptional factor cyclic AMP (cAMP) response element-binding protein (CREB protein), and the 21-bp repeats in the HTLV-I transcriptional enhancer form a ternary nucleoprotein complex (L. J. Zhao and C. Z. Giam, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:7070-7074, 1992). Using an antibody directed against the COOH-terminal region of Tax along with purified Tax and CREB proteins, we selected DNA elements bound specifically by the Tax-CREB complex in vitro. Two distinct but related groups of sequences containing the cAMP response element (CRE) flanked by long runs of G and C residues in the 5' and 3' regions, respectively, were preferentially recognized by Tax-CREB. In contrast, CREB alone binds only to CRE motifs (GNTGACG[T/C]) without neighboring G- or C-rich sequences. The Tax-CREB-selected sequences bear a striking resemblance to the 5' or 3' two-thirds of the HTLV-I 21-bp repeats and are highly inducible by Tax. Gel electrophoretic mobility shift assays, DNA transfection, and DNase I footprinting analyses indicated that the G- and C-rich sequences flanking the CRE motif are crucial for Tax-CREB-DNA ternary complex assembly and Tax transactivation but are not in direct contact with the Tax-CREB complex. These data show that Tax recruits CREB to form a multiprotein complex that specifically recognizes the viral 21-bp repeats. The expanded DNA binding specificity of Tax-CREB and the obligatory role the ternary Tax-CREB-DNA complex plays in transactivation reveal a novel mechanism for regulating the transcriptional activity of leucine zipper proteins like CREB.

The online measured black carbon aerosol and source orientations in the Nam Co region, Tibet.

PubMed

Zhang, Xin; Ming, Jing; Li, Zhongqin; Wang, Feiteng; Zhang, Guoshuai

2017-11-01

Equivalent black carbon (eBC) mass concentrations were measured by an aethalometer (AE-31) in the Nam Co, central Tibet from 2010 to 2014. Different from previous filter-sampling studies (Ming et al., J Environ Sci 22(11):1748-1756, 2010; Zhao et al., Environ Sci Pollut Res 20:5827-5838, 2013), the first high-resolution online eBC measurement conducted in central Tibet is reported here, allowing to discuss the diurnal variations as well as seasonal variabilities of eBC. Average daily eBC concentration was 74 ± 50 ng/m 3 , reflecting a global background level. Meteorological conditions influenced eBC concentrations largely at seasonal scale, which are higher in February-May but lower in June-January. The highest eBC concentrations (greater than 210 ng/m 3 ) were more associated with the W and WSW winds smaller than 6 m/s. The diurnal variations of eBC showed plateaus from 10:00 to 15:00 with seasonal variations, associated with local anthropogenic activities, such as indigenous Tibetan burning animal waste and tourism traffic. The PBLHs showed a co-variance with eBC concentrations, implicating close sources. The aerosol optical depths derived from the MODIS data over the Nam Co Observatory Station (NCOS)-included sub-area (30° N-40° N, 90° E-100° E) showed significant relationship with eBC concentrations. This suggests that nearby or short-distance sources other than long-distance transported pollutants could be important contributors to eBC concentrations at the NCOS, different from the conclusions suggested by previous studies.

Angiogenic factor imbalance precedes complement deposition in placentae of the BPH/5 model of preeclampsia.

PubMed

Sones, Jennifer L; Merriam, Audrey A; Seffens, Angelina; Brown-Grant, Dex-Ann; Butler, Scott D; Zhao, Anna M; Xu, Xinjing; Shawber, Carrie J; Grenier, Jennifer K; Douglas, Nataki C

2018-05-01

Preeclampsia (PE), a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, is a leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Although the etiology is unknown, PE is thought to be caused by defective implantation and decidualization in pregnancy. Pregnant blood pressure high (BPH)/5 mice spontaneously develop placentopathies and maternal features of human PE. We hypothesized that BPH/5 implantation sites have transcriptomic alterations. Next-generation RNA sequencing of implantation sites at peak decidualization, embryonic day (E)7.5, revealed complement gene up-regulation in BPH/5 vs. controls. In BPH/5, expression of complement factor 3 was increased around the decidual vasculature of E7.5 implantation sites and in the trophoblast giant cell layer of E10.5 placentae. Altered expression of VEGF pathway genes in E5.5 BPH/5 implantation sites preceded complement dysregulation, which correlated with abnormal vasculature and increased placental growth factor mRNA and VEGF 164 expression at E7.5. By E10.5, proangiogenic genes were down-regulated, whereas antiangiogenic sFlt-1 was up-regulated in BPH/5 placentae. We found that early local misexpression of VEGF genes and abnormal decidual vasculature preceded sFlt-1 overexpression and increased complement deposition in BPH/5 placentae. Our findings suggest that abnormal decidual angiogenesis precedes complement activation, which in turn contributes to the aberrant trophoblast invasion and poor placentation that underlie PE.-Sones, J. L., Merriam, A. A., Seffens, A., Brown-Grant, D.-A., Butler, S. D., Zhao, A. M., Xu, X., Shawber, C. J., Grenier, J. K., Douglas, N. C. Angiogenic factor imbalance precedes complement deposition in placentae of the BPH/5 model of preeclampsia.

Application of ischemic postconditioning's algorithms in tissues protection: response to methodological gaps in preclinical and clinical studies.

PubMed

Feyzizadeh, Saeid; Badalzadeh, Reza

2017-10-01

Ischaemic postconditioning (IPostC) was introduced for the first time by Zhao et al. as a feasible method for reduction of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. The cardioprotection by this protocol has been extensively evaluated in various species. Then, further research revealed that IPostC is a safe and convenient approach in limiting IR injury of non-myocardial tissues such as lung, liver, kidney, intestine, skeletal muscle, brain and spinal cord. IPostC has been conducted with different algorithms, resulting in diverse effects. The possible important factors leading to these differences are the difference in activation levels of signalling pathways and protective mediators by any algorithm, presence or absence of IPostC effectors in each tissue, or intrinsic characteristics of the tissues as well as the methodological biases. Also, the conflicting results have been shown with the application of the same algorithm of IPostC in certain tissues or animal species. The effectiveness of IPostC may depend upon various parameters including the species and the tissues characteristics. For example, different heart rates and metabolic rates of the species and unequal amounts of perfusion and blood flow of the tissues should be considered as the important determinants of IPostC effectiveness and should be thought about in designing IPostC algorithms for future studies. Due to these discrepancies, there is still no optimal single IPostC algorithm applicable to any tissue or any species. This issue is the main topic of the present article. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Density perturbations for running vacuum: a successful approach to structure formation and to the σ8-tension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez-Valent, Adrià; Peracaula, Joan Solà

2018-04-01

Recent studies suggest that dynamical dark energy (DDE) provides a better fit to the rising affluence of modern cosmological observations than the concordance model (ΛCDM) with a rigid cosmological constant, Λ. Such is the case with the running vacuum models (RVMs) and to some extent also with a simple XCDM parametrization. Apart from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, the most crucial datasets potentially carrying the DDE signature are: i) baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), and ii) direct large scale structure (LSS) formation data (i.e. the observations on f(z)σ8(z) at different redshifts). As it turns out, analyses mainly focusing on CMB and with insufficient BAO+LSS input, or those just making use of gravitational weak-lensing data for the description of structure formation, generally fail to capture the DDE signature, whereas the few existing studies using a rich set of CMB+BAO+LSS data (see in particular Solà, Gómez-Valent & de Cruz Pérez 2015, 2017; and Zhao et al. 2017) do converge to the remarkable conclusion that DDE might well be encoded in the current cosmological observations. Being the issue so pressing, here we explain both analytically and numerically the origin of the possible hints of DDE in the context of RVMs, which arise at a significance level of 3 - 4σ. By performing a detailed study on the matter and vacuum perturbations within the RVMs, and comparing with the XCDM, we show why the running vacuum fully relaxes the existing σ8-tension and accounts for the LSS formation data much better than the concordance model.

Marine boundary layer cloud property retrievals from high-resolution ASTER observations: case studies and comparison with Terra MODIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werner, Frank; Wind, Galina; Zhang, Zhibo; Platnick, Steven; Di Girolamo, Larry; Zhao, Guangyu; Amarasinghe, Nandana; Meyer, Kerry

2016-12-01

A research-level retrieval algorithm for cloud optical and microphysical properties is developed for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. It is based on the operational MODIS algorithm. This paper documents the technical details of this algorithm and evaluates the retrievals for selected marine boundary layer cloud scenes through comparisons with the operational MODIS Data Collection 6 (C6) cloud product. The newly developed, ASTER-specific cloud masking algorithm is evaluated through comparison with an independent algorithm reported in [Zhao and Di Girolamo(2006)]. To validate and evaluate the cloud optical thickness (τ) and cloud effective radius (reff) from ASTER, the high-spatial-resolution ASTER observations are first aggregated to the same 1000 m resolution as MODIS. Subsequently, τaA and reff, aA retrieved from the aggregated ASTER radiances are compared with the collocated MODIS retrievals. For overcast pixels, the two data sets agree very well with Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients of R > 0.970. However, for partially cloudy pixels there are significant differences between reff, aA and the MODIS results which can exceed 10 µm. Moreover, it is shown that the numerous delicate cloud structures in the example marine boundary layer scenes, resolved by the high-resolution ASTER retrievals, are smoothed by the MODIS observations. The overall good agreement between the research-level ASTER results and the operational MODIS C6 products proves the feasibility of MODIS-like retrievals from ASTER reflectance measurements and provides the basis for future studies concerning the scale dependency of satellite observations and three-dimensional radiative effects.

Regulation of Sleep by Insulin-like Peptide System in Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Cong, Xiaona; Wang, Haili; Liu, Zhenxing; He, Chunxia; An, Chunju; Zhao, Zhangwu

2015-01-01

Study Objectives: Most organisms have behavioral and physiological circadian rhythms, which are controlled by an endogenous clock. Although genetic analysis has revealed the intracellular mechanism of the circadian clock, the manner in which this clock communicates its temporal information to produce systemic regulation is still largely unknown. Design: Sleep behavior was measured using the Drosophila Activity Monitoring System (DAMS) monitor under a 12 h light:12 h dark cycle and constant darkness (DD), and 5 min without recorded activity were defined as a bout of sleep. Results: Here we show that Drosophila insulin-like peptides (DILPs) and their receptor (DInR) regulate sleep behavior. All mutants of the seven dilps and the mutant of their receptor exhibit decreases of total sleep except dilp4 mutants, whereas upregulation of DILP and DInR in the nervous system led to increased sleep. Histological analysis identified four previously unidentified neurons expressing DILP: D1, P1, L1, and L2, of which L1 and L2 belong to the LNd and LNv clock neurons that separately regulate different times of sleep. In addition, dilp2 levels significantly decrease when flies were fasted, which is consistent with a previous report that starvation inhibits sleep, further indicating that the dilp system is involved in sleep regulation. Conclusion: Taken together, the results indicate that the Drosophila insulin-like peptide system is a crucial regulator of sleep. Citation: Cong X, Wang H, Liu Z, He C, An C, Zhao Z. Regulation of sleep by insulin-like peptide system in Drosophila melanogaster. SLEEP 2015;38(7):1075–1083. PMID:25581915

Chaotic simulated annealing by a neural network with a variable delay: design and application.

PubMed

Chen, Shyan-Shiou

2011-10-01

In this paper, we have three goals: the first is to delineate the advantages of a variably delayed system, the second is to find a more intuitive Lyapunov function for a delayed neural network, and the third is to design a delayed neural network for a quadratic cost function. For delayed neural networks, most researchers construct a Lyapunov function based on the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. However, that approach is not intuitive. We provide a alternative candidate Lyapunov function for a delayed neural network. On the other hand, if we are first given a quadratic cost function, we can construct a delayed neural network by suitably dividing the second-order term into two parts: a self-feedback connection weight and a delayed connection weight. To demonstrate the advantage of a variably delayed neural network, we propose a transiently chaotic neural network with variable delay and show numerically that the model should possess a better searching ability than Chen-Aihara's model, Wang's model, and Zhao's model. We discuss both the chaotic and the convergent phases. During the chaotic phase, we simply present bifurcation diagrams for a single neuron with a constant delay and with a variable delay. We show that the variably delayed model possesses the stochastic property and chaotic wandering. During the convergent phase, we not only provide a novel Lyapunov function for neural networks with a delay (the Lyapunov function is independent of the LMI approach) but also establish a correlation between the Lyapunov function for a delayed neural network and an objective function for the traveling salesman problem. © 2011 IEEE

Joint Inversion of Earthquake Source Parameters with local and teleseismic body waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, W.; Ni, S.; Wang, Z.

2011-12-01

In the classical source parameter inversion algorithm of CAP (Cut and Paste method, by Zhao and Helmberger), waveform data at near distances (typically less than 500km) are partitioned into Pnl and surface waves to account for uncertainties in the crustal models and different amplitude weight of body and surface waves. The classical CAP algorithms have proven effective for resolving source parameters (focal mechanisms, depth and moment) for earthquakes well recorded on relatively dense seismic network. However for regions covered with sparse stations, it is challenging to achieve precise source parameters . In this case, a moderate earthquake of ~M6 is usually recorded on only one or two local stations with epicentral distances less than 500 km. Fortunately, an earthquake of ~M6 can be well recorded on global seismic networks. Since the ray paths for teleseismic and local body waves sample different portions of the focal sphere, combination of teleseismic and local body wave data helps constrain source parameters better. Here we present a new CAP mothod (CAPjoint), which emploits both teleseismic body waveforms (P and SH waves) and local waveforms (Pnl, Rayleigh and Love waves) to determine source parameters. For an earthquake in Nevada that is well recorded with dense local network (USArray stations), we compare the results from CAPjoint with those from the traditional CAP method involving only of local waveforms , and explore the efficiency with bootstraping statistics to prove the results derived by CAPjoint are stable and reliable. Even with one local station included in joint inversion, accuracy of source parameters such as moment and strike can be much better improved.

Crustal Stress and Strain Distribution in Sicily (Southern Italy) from Joint Analysis of Seismicity and Geodetic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Presti, D.; Neri, G.; Aloisi, M.; Cannavo, F.; Orecchio, B.; Palano, M.; Siligato, G.; Totaro, C.

2014-12-01

An updated database of earthquake focal mechanisms is compiled for the Sicilian region (southern Italy) and surrounding off-shore areas where the Nubia-Eurasia convergence coexists with the very-slow residual rollback of the Ionian subducting slab. High-quality solutions selected from literature and catalogs have been integrated with new solutions estimated in the present work using the Cut And Paste (CAP) waveform inversion method. In the CAP algorithm (Zhao and Helmberger, 1994; Zhu and Helmberger, 1996), each waveform is broken up into Pnl and surface wave segments, which are weighted differently during the inversion procedure. Integration of the new solutions with the ones selected from literature and official catalogs led us to collect a database consisting exclusively of waveform inversion data relative to earthquakes with minimum magnitude 2.6. The seismicity and focal mechanism distributions have been compared with crustal motion and strain data coming from GNSS analyses. For this purpose GNSS-based observations collected over the investigated area by episodic measurements (1994-2013) as well as continuous monitoring (since 2006) were processed by the GAMIT/GLOBK software packages (Herring et al., 2010) following the approach described in Palano et al. (2011). To adequately investigate the crustal deformation pattern, the estimated GNSS velocities were aligned to a fixed Eurasian reference frame. The good agreement found between seismic and geodetic information contributes to better define seismotectonic domains characterized by different kinematics. Moving from the available geophysical information and from an early application of FEM algorithms, we have also started to investigate stress/strain fields in the crust of the study area including depth dependence and relationships with rupture of the main seismogenic structures.

A Comprehensive COS Study of the Magnetic Dynamos, Rotations, UV Irradiances and Habitability of dM Stars with a Broad Span of Ages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guinan, Edward

2012-10-01

We propose HST/COS FUV spectrophotometry of a carefully selected sample of 9 dM1-5 stars with recently reliably determined ages ranging from 1-12 Gyr. This program complements our Chandra Cycle 13 program of the same targets to determine their coronal X-ray properties. Ages {of all but one star} have recently been firmly determined from memberships in wide binaries with white dwarf {WD} companions having reliable cooling time+main-sequence evolution ages {Zhao et al. 2012, Garces et al 2011}. Until these studies, reliable age determinations for dM stars >2 Gyr were nearly impossible. However, we can now carry out a comprehensive UV study of dM star atmospheres across nearly the full age-range of the current Universe. The primary goals are 1} to study the evolution of their dynamo-generated X-ray and UV {XUV} emissions with age/rotation and to better define the heating and energetics of their atmospheres {via Age-Rotation-Activity-XUV Irradiance relations} and 2} to study the effects of the XUV radiation on planets hosted by red dwarfs. The COS UV spectral region contains numerous important diagnostic emission lines for characterizing the energy transfer and atmospheric structure, while line ratios yield valuable information about the electron density. Further, these data {when combined with our coronal X-ray measures} are also important for gauging dM star XUV emissions - critical for assessing the photochemical & photoionization evolution of planetary atmospheres and ionospheres that in turn strongly affect the possible development of life on hosted extrasolar planets. We are requesting a total of 19 HST orbits to achieve the science goals of the program.

First principles study of iron-bearing MgO under ultrahigh pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umemoto, K.; Hsu, H.

2017-12-01

Understanding of minerals under ultrahigh pressure is essential to model interiors of super-Earths. Chemical compositions of the super-Earths are expected to be similar to those of the Earth. Computational studies on Mg-Si-O ternary systems under ultrahigh pressures, which are difficult to be achieved by diamond-anvil-cell experiments, have been intensively performed (e.g., [1] for MgO, [2,3] for SiO2, and [4,5] for MgSiO3). However, as far as we know, these studies have been restricted to pure Mg-Si-O systems. In the mantles of super-Earths, we expect that there should be impurities as in the Earth's mantle. Among candidates of impurities, iron is especially important to model interiors of super-Earths. Here, we investigate iron-bearing MgO under ultrahigh pressures by first principles. We clarify effects of iron on the phase transition of MgO and thermodynamic quantities by first principles. The role of the 3d electrons will be elucidated. [1] Z. Wu, R. M. Wentzcovitch, K. Umemoto, B. Li, K. Hirose, and J. C. Zheng, J. Geophys. Res. 113, B06204 (2008). [2] S. Q. Wu, K. Umemoto, M. Ji, C. Z. Wang, K. M. Ho, and R. M. Wentzcovitch, Phys. Rev. B 83, 184102 (2011). [3] T. Tsuchiya and J. Tsuchiya, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 108, 1252 (2011) [4] S. Q. Wu, M. Ji, C. Z. Wang, M. C. Nguye, X. Zhao, K. Umemoto, R. M. Wentzcovitch, and K. M. Ho, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26, 035402 (2014). [5] H. Niu, A. R. Oganov, X.-C. Chen, and D. Li, Sci. Rep. 5, 18347 (2015).

SU-E-T-558: An Exploratory RF Pulse Sequence Technique Used to Induce Differential Heating in Tissues Containing Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for a Possible Hyperthermic Adjuvant Effect to Radiotherapy

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

Yee, S; Ionascu, D; Wilson, G

2014-06-01

Purpose: In pre-clinical trials of cancer thermotherapy, hyperthermia can be induced by exposing localized super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) to external alternating magnetic fields generated by a solenoid electrical circuit (Zhao et al., Theranostics 2012). Alternatively, an RF pulse technique implemented in a regular MRI system is explored as a possible hyperthermia induction technique . Methods: A new thermal RF pulse sequence was developed using the Philips pulse programming tool for the 3T Ingenia MRI system to provide a sinusoidal magnetic field alternating at the frequency of 1.43 kHz (multiples of sine waves of 0.7 ms period) before each excitationmore » RF pulse for imaging. The duration of each thermal RF pulse routine was approximately 3 min, and the thermal pulse was applied multiple times to a phantom that contains different concentrations (high, medium and low) of SPION samples. After applying the thermal pulse each time, the temperature change was estimated by measuring the phase changes in the T1-weighted inversion-prepared multi-shot turbo field echo (TFE) sequence (TR=5.5 ms, TE=2.7 ms, inversion time=200 ms). Results: The phase values and relative differences among them changed as the number of applied thermal RF pulses increased. After the 5th application of the thermal RF pulse, the relative phase differences increased significantly, suggesting the thermal activation of the SPION. The increase of the phase difference was approximately linear with the SPION concentration. Conclusion: A sinusoidal RF pulse from the MRI system may be utilized to selectively thermally activate tissues containing super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.« less

The Circular Hydraulic Jump in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Avedisian, C. Thomas

1996-01-01

This report summarizes the key experimental results and observations that were obtained under NASA grant NAG 3-1627 from the Fluid Physics Program. The Principle Investigator was Thomas Avedisian. In addition a half-time post-doctoral associate, Ziqun Zhao, was funded for half year. The project monitor was David Chao of the NASA-Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The grant period was originally for one year at $34K and a no-cost extension was applied for and granted for an additional year. The research consisted of an experimental study of the circular hydraulic jump (CHJ) in microgravity using water as the working fluid. The evolution of the CHJ radius was measured during a sudden transition from normal to microgravity in a drop tower. The downstream height of the CHJ was controlled by submerging the target plate in a tank filled with water to the desired depth, and the measurements are compared with an existing theory for the location of the CHJ. Results show that the CHJ diameter is larger in microgravity than normal gravity. The adjustment of the CHJ diameter to a sudden change in gravity occurs over a period of about 200ms for the conditions of the present study, and remains constant thereafter for most of the flow conditions examined. For flow conditions that a CHJ was not first established at normal gravity but which later appeared during the transition tb microgravity, the CHJ diameter was not constant during the period of microgravity but continually changed. Good agreement between measured and predicted CHJ radii is found for normal gravity CHJ radii, but comparatively poorer agreement is observed for the CHJ radii measurements in microgravity.

Effects of Rotigotine on REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in Parkinson Disease

PubMed Central

Wang, Yan; Yang, Yuechang; Wu, Huijuan; Lan, Danmei; Chen, Ying; Zhao, Zhongxin

2016-01-01

Study Objectives: REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a common manifestation of Parkinson disease (PD). In this study, we assessed the effects of rotigotine transdermal patch on RBD features in patients with PD. Methods: In this prospective open-label study, eleven PD patients with untreated RBD were administered rotigotine patches for up to seven months to ameliorate their parkinsonism. The severities of their RBD symptoms before and after rotigotine therapy were evaluated through patient and bed partner interviews, a validated evaluation scale (REM sleep behavior disorder questionnaire-Hong Kong, RBDQ-HK), and blinded assessments based on video-polysomnographic (VPSG) measure. Results: Rotigotine improved parkinsonism and subjective sleep quality in PD patients with RBD. The RBDQ-HK total score, especially the Factor 2 score, was decreased, which demonstrated that the subjective severity of RBD symptoms was improved after rotigotine treatment, especially the frequency and severity of abnormal RBD-related motor behaviors. The VPSG analyses showed that the total sleep time (TST) and stage 1% were increased and that the PLMS index was decreased. However, no differences in the RBD-related sleep measures were observed. Conclusions: The improved RBD symptoms and VPSG measures of PD patients in this study (TST, stage 1%, and PLMS index) suggest that, in PD, rotigotine may partially improve RBD-related symptoms. Rotigotine should be considered to be an optional drug for the treatment of RBD symptoms in PD. Citation: Wang Y, Yang Y, Wu H, Lan D, Chen Y, Zhao Z. Effects of rotigotine on REM sleep behavior disorder in Parkinson disease. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(10):1403–1409. PMID:27568909

Comparison of MESSENGER Optical Images with Thermal and Radar Data for the Surface of MERCURY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blewett, D. T.; Coman, E. I.; Chabot, N. L.; Izenberg, N. R.; Harmon, J. K.; Neish, C.

2010-12-01

Images collected by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its three Mercury flybys cover nearly the entire surface of the planet that was not imaged by Mariner 10. The MESSENGER data now allow us to observe features at optical wavelengths that were previously known only through remote sensing in other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. For example, the Mariner 10 infrared (IR) radiometer made measurements along a track on the night side of Mercury during the spacecraft's first encounter in 1974. Analysis of the IR radiometer data identified several thermal anomalies that we have correlated to craters with extensive rays or ejecta deposits, including Xiao Zhao and Eminescu. The thermal properties are consistent with a greater exposure of bare rock (exposed in steep walls or as boulders and cobbles) in and around these craters compared with the lower-thermal-inertia, finer-grained regolith of the surrounding older surface. The portion of Mercury not viewed by Mariner 10 has also been imaged by Earth-based radar. The radar backscatter gives information on the wavelength-scale surface roughness. Arecibo S-band (12.6-cm wavelength) radar observations have produced images of Eminescu and also revealed two spectacular rayed craters (Debussy and Hokusai) that have since been imaged by MESSENGER. We are examining radial profiles for these craters, extracted from both the radar images and MESSENGER narrow-angle camera mosaics, that extend from the crater center outwards to a distance of several crater diameters. Comparison of optical and radar profiles for the craters, as well as similar profiles for lunar craters, can provide insight into ejecta deposition, the effect of surface gravity on the cratering process, and space weathering.

PREFACE International Symposium on Spintronic Devices and Commercialization 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, You-wei; Judy, Jack; Qian, Zhenghong; Wang, Jianping

2011-01-01

very successful indeed. We are also grateful to the Advisory Committee, the Conference Chairs, the Excutive Chairs, the Academic Committee, the Organization Committee and the Secretariat for their fruitful work. We would especially like to thank all the organizers listed below for their support in all aspects of the conference. We would like to express our thanks to all the authors for their time and genuine efforts, and to the reviewers for their fruitful comments during the preparation of this volume. ISSDC'2010 ORGANIZATION Advisory Committee Chialing Chien, USAJunhao Chu, ChinaBernard Dieny, FranceKoichiro Inomata, Japan Liangmo Mei, ChinaJohn Sivertsen, USAMingjing Tu, ChinaDingsheng Wang, China Zhanguo Wang, ChinaQikun Xue, ChinaWenshan Zhan, China Conference Chairs Jack Judy, USAYouwei Du, China Executive Chairs Zhenghong Qian, USAJianping Wang, USA Organization Committee ChairJiyan Luo, China Vice ChairsGuilin Duan, ChinaLingling Sun, ChinaBaogen Shen, China MembersTiecheng Lu, ChinaDa Ma, ChinaYe Tian, China Jinsong Xu, ChinaQiuling XuChangmao Yang, China Guanghua Yu, ChinaYi Yan, China Academic Committee ChairsZhenghong Qian, USAYongbing Xu, UK Vice ChairsSeongtae Bae, SingaporeYong Jiang, ChinaDexin Wang, USA Huaiwu Zhang, ChinaJianhua Zhao, China MembersJianwang Cai, ChinaXiangdong Chen, ChinaHaifeng Ding, China Chunhong Hou, USAGunther Baubock, USABin Hu, USA Jungchun Huang, TaiwanDexuan Huo, ChinaYoon H Jeong, Korea Chihuang Lai, TaiwanRunwei Li, ChinaWei Liu, China Jing Shi, USAYasushi Takemura, JapanMark Tondra, USA Shan X Wang, USADi Wu, ChinaDesheng Xue, China Minglang Yan, USAShishen Yan, ChinaXiaofei Yang, China Chun Yeol You, KoreaWei Zhao, ChinaShiming Zhou, China Jianguo Zhu, China Secretariat Secretary-generalChangmao Yang, China Vice Secretary-generalJunli Wang, ChinaJinsong Xu, ChinaYe Tian, China MembersRu Bai, ChinaHongliang Zhan, China ISSDC' 2010 Organizers Department of Science and Technology, CSIC, China SpinIC Inc., China Hangzhou

Nuclear Structure in China 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Hong-Bo; Meng, Jie; Zhao, En-Guang; Zhou, Shan-Gui

2011-08-01

Personal view on nuclear physics research / Jie Meng -- High-spin level structures in [symbol]Zr / X. P. Cao ... [et al.] -- Constraining the symmetry energy from the neutron skin thickness of tin isotopes / Lie-Wen Chen ... [et al.] -- Wobbling rotation in atomic nuclei / Y. S. Chen and Zao-Chun Gao -- The mixing of scalar mesons and the possible nonstrange dibaryons / L. R. Dai ... [et al.] -- Net baryon productions and gluon saturation in the SPS, RHIC and LHC energy regions / Sheng-Qin Feng -- Production of heavy isotopes with collisions between two actinide nuclides / Z. Q. Feng ... [et al.] -- The projected configuration interaction method / Zao-Chun Gao and Yong-Shou Chen -- Applications of Nilsson mean-field plus extended pairing model to rare-earth nuclei / Xin Guan ... [et al.] -- Complex scaling method and the resonant states / Jian-You Guo ... [et al.] -- Probing the equation of state by deep sub-barrier fusion reactions / Hong-Jun Hao and Jun-Long Tian -- Doublet structure study in A[symbol]105 mass region / C. Y. He ... [et al.] -- Rotational bands in transfermium nuclei / X. T. He -- Shape coexistence and shape evolution [symbol]Yb / H. Hua ... [et al.] -- Multistep shell model method in the complex energy plane / R. J. Liotta -- The evolution of protoneutron stars with kaon condensate / Ang Li -- High spin structures in the [symbol]Lu nucleus / Li Cong-Bo ... [et al.] -- Nuclear stopping and equation of state / QingFeng Li and Ying Yuan -- Covariant description of the low-lying states in neutron-deficient Kr isotopes / Z. X. Li ... [et al.] -- Isospin corrections for superallowed [symbol] transitions / HaoZhao Liang ... [et al.] -- The positive-parity band structures in [symbol]Ag / C. Liu ... [et al.] -- New band structures in odd-odd [symbol]I and [symbol]I / Liu GongYe ... [et al.] -- The sd-pair shell model and interacting boson model / Yan-An Luo ... [et al.] -- Cross-section distributions of fragments in the calcium isotopes projectile

A Potential Mechanism for ADC-Induced Neutropenia: Role of Neutrophils in Their Own Demise.

PubMed

Zhao, Hui; Gulesserian, Sara; Malinao, Maria Christina; Ganesan, Sathish Kumar; Song, James; Chang, Mi Sook; Williams, Melissa M; Zeng, Zhilan; Mattie, Michael; Mendelsohn, Brian A; Stover, David R; Doñate, Fernando

2017-09-01

Neutropenia is a common adverse event in cancer patients treated with antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and we aimed to elucidate the potential mechanism of this toxicity. To investigate whether ADCs affect neutrophil production from bone marrow, an in vitro assay was developed in which hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) were differentiated to neutrophils. Several antibodies against targets absent in HSCs and neutrophils were conjugated to MMAE via a cleavable valine-citrulline linker (vcMMAE-ADC) or MMAF via a noncleavable maleimidocaproyl linker (mcMMAF-ADC), and their cytotoxicity was tested in the neutrophil differentiation assay. Results showed that HSCs had similar sensitivity to vcMMAE-ADCs and mcMMAF-ADCs; however, vcMMAE-ADCs were more cytotoxic to differentiating neutrophils than the same antibody conjugated to mcMMAF. This inhibitory effect was not mediated by internalization of ADC either by macropinocytosis or FcγRs. Our results suggested that extracellular proteolysis of the cleavable valine-citrulline linker is responsible for the cytotoxicity to differentiating neutrophils. Mass spectrometry analyses indicated that free MMAE was released from vcMMAE-ADCs in the extracellular compartment when they were incubated with differentiating neutrophils or neutrophil conditioned medium, but not with HSC-conditioned medium. Using different protease inhibitors, our data suggested that serine, but not cysteine proteases, were responsible for the cleavage. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the purified serine protease, elastase, was capable of releasing free MMAE from a vcMMAE-ADC. Here we propose that ADCs containing protease cleavable linkers can contribute to neutropenia via extracellular cleavage mediated by serine proteases secreted by differentiating neutrophils in bone marrow. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(9); 1866-76. ©2017 AACR See related article by Zhao et al., p. 1877 . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Atmospheric Measurements by Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Hongming; Wu, Tao; Coeur-Tourneur, Cécile; Fertein, Eric; Gao, Xiaoming; Zhao, Weixiong; Zhang, Weijun; Chen, Weidong

2015-04-01

Since the last decade, atmospheric environmental monitoring has benefited from the development of novel spectroscopic measurement techniques owing to the significant breakthroughs in photonic technology from the UV to the infrared spectral domain [1]. In this presentation, we will overview our recent development and applications of cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy techniques for in situ optical monitoring of chemically reactive atmospheric species (such as HONO, NO3, NO2, N2O5) in intensive campaigns [2] and/or in smog chamber studies [3]. These field deployments demonstrated that modern photonic technologies (newly emergent light sources combined with high sensitivity spectroscopic techniques) can provide a useful tool to improve our understanding of tropospheric chemical processes which affect climate, air quality, and the spread of pollution. Experimental detail and preliminary results will be presented. Acknowledgements. The financial support from the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) under the NexCILAS (ANR-11-NS09-0002) and the CaPPA (ANR-10-LABX-005) contracts is acknowledged. References [1] X. Cui, C. Lengignon, T. Wu, W. Zhao, G. Wysocki, E. Fertein, C. Coeur, A. Cassez,L. Croisé, W. Chen, et al., "Photonic Sensing of the Atmosphere by absorption spectroscopy", J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad. Transfer 113 (2012) 1300-1316 [2] T. Wu, Q. Zha, W. Chen, Z. XU, T. Wang, X. He, "Development and deployment of a cavity enhanced UV-LED spectrometer for measurements of atmospheric HONO and NO2 in Hong Kong", Atmos. Environ. 95 (2014) 544-551 [3] T. Wu, C. Coeur-Tourneur, G. Dhont,A. Cassez, E. Fertein, X. He, W. Chen,"Application of IBBCEAS to kinetic study of NO3 radical formation from O3 + NO2 reaction in an atmospheric simulation chamber", J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad. Transfer 133 (2014)199-205

Dynamic Simulation of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku Earthquake with Geometric Complexity on a Rate- and State-dependent Subduction Plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, B.; Duan, B.

2015-12-01

The Mw 9.0 Tohoku megathrust earthquake on 11 March 2011 is a great surprise to the scientific community due to its unexpected occurrence on the subduction zone of Japan Trench where earthquakes of magnitude ~7 to 8 are expected based on historical records. Slip distribution and kinematic slip history inverted from seismic data, GPS and tsunami recordings reveal two major aspects of this big event: a strong asperity near the hypocenter and large slip near the trench. To investigate physical conditions of these two aspects, we perform dynamic rupture simulations on a shallow-dipping rate- and state-dependent subduction plane with topographic relief. Although existence of a subducted seamount just up-dip of the hypocenter is still an open question, high Vp anomalies [Zhao et al., 2011] and low Vp/Vs anomalies [Yamamoto et al., 2014] there strongly suggest some kind of topographic relief exists there. We explicitly incorporate a subducted seamount on the subduction surface into our models. Our preliminary results show that the subducted seamount play a significant role in dynamic rupture propagation due to the alteration of the stress state around it. We find that a subducted seamount can act as a strong barrier to many earthquakes, but its ultimate failure after some earthquake cycles results in giant earthquakes. Its failure gives rise to large stress drop, resulting in a strong asperity in slip distribution as revealed in kinematic inversions. Our preliminary results also suggest that the rate- and state- friction law plays an important role in rupture propagation of geometrically complex faults. Although rate-strengthening behavior near the trench impedes rupture propagation, an energetic rupture can break such a barrier and manage to reach the trench, resulting in significant uplift at seafloor and hence devastating tsunami to human society.

The variation of polyhedral compressibilities between structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, N. L.; Angel, R. J.; Zhao, J.; Vanpeteghem, C.

2006-05-01

In their influential book "Comparative Crystal Chemistry" Hazen and Finger [1] concluded that "a given type of polyhedron has nearly constant bulk modulus within estimated experimental error, independent of structure". Advances in the precision of experimental high-pressure diffraction measurements over the ensuing two decades allow us to re-examine this hypothesis. In particular, the discovery that the response of the perovskite structure to high pressures is controlled by the equipartition of bond-valence strain between the A and B cation sites within the structure [2] explicitly implies that the octahedral compressibility depends not only upon the octahedral cation, but also upon the compressibility of the cation-oxygen bonds of the extra-framework (nominally dodecahedral) site. Thus the octahedral compressibility of a B cation changes with the A cation. For example, the compressibility of the Ga-O bonds in LaGaO3 is 2.43(7) x 10-3 GPa-1, whereas it is 1.81 x 10-3 GPa-1 in NdGaO3. The compressibilities of Al-O bonds in perovskites range between 1.62(9) and 1.87(13) x 10-3 GPa-1. A more extreme example is provided by the difference in octahedral compressibilities between ABO3 perovskites and their protonated analogues AB(OH)6. In CaSnO3 the average compressibility of the Sn- O bonds within the octahedra is 1.61(11) x 10-3 GPa-1, whereas the Sn-O bonds in MnSn(OH)6 are incompressible within the uncertainties of the measurement. References [1] Hazen, Finger (1982) Comparative Crystal Chemistry. John Wiley and Sons [2] Zhao, Ross, & Angel (2004). Acta Cryst. B60:263 [3] Vanpeteghem et al. (2006) Geophys. Res. Letts. 33: L03306. [4] Ross et al. (1990) Amer. Mineral. 75:739

Serum amyloid A: an ozone-induced circulating factor with potentially important functions in the lung-brain axis.

PubMed

Erickson, Michelle A; Jude, Joseph; Zhao, Hengjiang; Rhea, Elizabeth M; Salameh, Therese S; Jester, William; Pu, Shelley; Harrowitz, Jenna; Nguyen, Ngan; Banks, William A; Panettieri, Reynold A; Jordan-Sciutto, Kelly L

2017-09-01

Accumulating evidence suggests that O 3 exposure may contribute to CNS dysfunction. Here, we posit that inflammatory and acute-phase proteins in the circulation increase after O 3 exposure and systemically convey signals of O 3 exposure to the CNS. To model acute O 3 exposure, female Balb/c mice were exposed to 3 ppm O 3 or forced air for 2 h and were studied after 6 or 24 h. Of 23 cytokines and chemokines, only KC/CXCL1 was increased in blood 6 h after O 3 exposure. The acute-phase protein serum amyloid A (A-SAA) was significantly increased by 24 h, whereas C-reactive protein was unchanged. A-SAA in blood correlated with total leukocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage from O 3 -exposed mice. A-SAA mRNA and protein were increased in the liver. We found that both isoforms of A-SAA completely crossed the intact blood-brain barrier, although the rate of SAA2.1 influx was approximately 5 times faster than that of SAA1.1. Finally, A-SAA protein, but not mRNA, was increased in the CNS 24 h post-O 3 exposure. Our findings suggest that A-SAA is functionally linked to pulmonary inflammation in our O 3 exposure model and that A-SAA could be an important systemic signal of O 3 exposure to the CNS.-Erickson, M. A., Jude, J., Zhao, H., Rhea, E. M., Salameh, T. S., Jester, W., Pu, S., Harrowitz, J., Nguyen, N., Banks, W. A., Panettieri, R. A., Jr., Jordan-Sciutto, K. L. Serum amyloid A: an ozone-induced circulating factor with potentially important functions in the lung-brain axis. © FASEB.

Abs-initio, Predictive Calculations for Optoelectronic and Advanced Materials Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagayoko, Diola

2010-10-01

Most density functional theory (DFT) calculations find band gaps that are 30-50 percent smaller than the experimental ones. Some explanations of this serious underestimation by theory include self-interaction and the derivative discontinuity of the exchange correlation energy. Several approaches have been developed in the search for a solution to this problem. Most of them entail some modification of DFT potentials. The Green function and screened Coulomb approximation (GWA) is a non-DFT formalism that has led to some improvements. Despite these efforts, the underestimation problem has mostly persisted in the literature. Using the Rayleigh theorem, we describe a basis set and variational effect inherently associated with calculations that employ a linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) in a variational approach of the Rayleigh-Ritz type. This description concomitantly shows a source of large underestimation errors in calculated band gaps, i.e., an often dramatic lowering of some unoccupied energies on account of the Rayleigh theorem as opposed to a physical interaction. We present the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method [Phys. Rev. B 60, 1563 (1999); PRB 74, 245214 (2006); and J. Appl. Phys. 103, 096101 (2008)] that systematically avoids this effect and leads (a) to DFT and LDA calculated band gaps of semiconductors in agreement with experiment and (b) theoretical predictions of band gaps that are confirmed by experiment. Unlike most calculations, BZW computations solve, self-consistently, a system of two coupled equations. DFT-BZW calculated effective masses and optical properties (dielectric functions) also agree with measurements. We illustrate ten years of success of the BZW method with its results for GaN, C, Si, 3C-SIC, 4H-SiC, ZnO, AlAs, Ge, ZnSe, w-InN, c-InN, InAs, CdS, AlN and nanostructures. We conclude with potential applications of the BZW method in optoelectronic and advanced materials research.

New seismogenic stress fields for southern Italy from a Bayesian approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Totaro, Cristina; Orecchio, Barbara; Presti, Debora; Scolaro, Silvia; Neri, Giancarlo

2017-04-01

A new database of high-quality waveform inversion focal mechanism has been compiled for southern Italy by integrating the highest quality solutions, available from literature and catalogues, and 146 newly-computed ones. All the selected focal mechanisms are (i) coming from the Italian CMT, Regional CMT and TDMT catalogues (Pondrelli et al., PEPI 2006, PEPI 2011; http://www.ingv.it), or (ii) computed by using the Cut And Paste (CAP) method (Zhao & Helmberger, BSSA 1994; Zhu & Helmberger, BSSA 1996). Specific tests have been carried out in order to evaluate the robustness of the obtained solutions (e.g., by varying both seismic network configuration and Earth structure parameters) and to estimate uncertainties on the focal mechanism parameters. Only the resulting highest-quality solutions have been enclosed in the database, that has then been used for computation of posterior density distributions of stress tensor components by a Bayesian method (Arnold & Townend, GJI 2007). This algorithm furnishes the posterior density function of the principal components of stress tensor (maximum σ1, intermediate σ2, and minimum σ3 compressive stress, respectively) and the stress-magnitude ratio (R). Before stress computation, we applied the k-means clustering algorithm to subdivide the focal mechanism catalog on the basis of earthquake locations. This approach allows identifying the sectors to be investigated without any "a priori" constraint from faulting type distribution. The large amount of data and the application of the Bayesian algorithm allowed us to provide a more accurate local-to-regional scale stress distribution that has shed new light on the kinematics and dynamics of this very complex area, where lithospheric unit configuration and geodynamic engines are still strongly debated. The new high-quality information here furnished will then represent very useful tools and constraints for future geophysical analyses and geodynamic modeling.

Prediction of utilizable true protein of mixed rations for sheep using an in vitro incubation technique.

PubMed

Li, Yuan-Xiao; Zhao, Guang-Yong

2007-04-01

The objective of the present experiment was to study the relationship between in vitro utilizable true protein (uTP) and in vivo-uTP of sheep rations by regression analysis. A further aim was to analyse if in vivo-uTP of mixed rations could be predicted by regression analysis between in vitro-uTP and in vivo-uTP, using N-retention of sheep as important evaluation criteria of protein value. Three adult male sheep (body weight [BW] 46 + 1.3 kg) fitted with rumen cannulas and simple T-type duodenal cannulas were fed with twelve typical rations with graded levels of crude protein and true protein in four experiments according a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Each experimental period included an adaptation (7 days), a N balance trial (4 days) and a collection of duodenal digesta (3 days). During collection of duodenal digesta, polyethylene glycol and chromium oxide were used as dual markers for the measurement of duodenal digesta flow and calculation of the in vivo-uTP of duodenal digesta. The in vitro-uTP of the rations was determined using the in vitro incubation technique of Zhao and Lebzien (2000). It was found that both in vitro-uTP intake and in vivo-uTP intake were significantly correlated with N-retention (p < 0.001) and that there was a significant linear relationship between the content of in vitro-uTP and in vivo-uTP in rations (p < 0.001). Therefore, it was concluded that the used in vitro incubation technique is suitable for the determination of in vitro-uTP of mixed rations for sheep, and that the amount of in vivo-uTP can be predicted by regression between in vitro-uTP and in vivo-uTP.

Effect of secondary flows on dispersion in finite-length channels at high Peclet numbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adrover, Alessandra

2013-09-01

We investigate the effects of secondary (transverse) flows on convection-dominated dispersion of pressure driven, open column laminar flow in a conduit with rectangular cross-section. We show that secondary flows significantly reduce dispersion (enhancing transverse diffusion) in Taylor-Aris regime [H. Zhao and H. H. Bau, "Effect of secondary flows on Taylor-Aris dispersion," Anal. Chem. 79, 7792-7798 (2007)], as well as in convection-controlled regime. In the convection-controlled dispersion regime (i.e., laminar dispersion in finite-length channel with axial flow at high Peclet numbers) the properties of the dispersion boundary layer and the values of the scaling exponents controlling the dependence of the moment hierarchy on the Peclet number m^{(n)}_out ˜ Pe_eff^{θ _n} are determined by the local near-wall behaviour of the axial velocity. The presence of transverse flows strongly modify the localization properties of the dispersion boundary layer and consequently the moment scaling exponents. Different secondary flows, electrokinetically induced and independent of the primary axial flow are considered. A complete scaling theory is presented for the nth order moment of the outlet chromatogram as a function of the axial Peclet number, the secondary flow's pattern and intensity. We show that some secondary flows (the corotating and the counter-rotating cavity flows) significantly reduce dispersion and m^{(n)}_out ˜ Pe_eff^{(n-1)/3}. No significant dispersion reduction is obtained with the cavity cross-flow m^{(n)}_out ˜ Pe_eff^{(n-1)/2}. The best result is obtained with the two full-motion counter-rotating cross-flows because m^{(n)}_out saturates towards a constant value. Theoretical results from scaling theory are strongly supported by numerical results obtained by Finite Element Method.

Modeling the phase behavior of H2S+n-alkane binary mixtures using the SAFT-VR+D approach.

PubMed

dos Ramos, M Carolina; Goff, Kimberly D; Zhao, Honggang; McCabe, Clare

2008-08-07

A statistical associating fluid theory for potential of variable range has been recently developed to model dipolar fluids (SAFT-VR+D) [Zhao and McCabe, J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 104504]. The SAFT-VR+D equation explicitly accounts for dipolar interactions and their effect on the thermodynamics and structure of a fluid by using the generalized mean spherical approximation (GMSA) to describe a reference fluid of dipolar square-well segments. In this work, we apply the SAFT-VR+D approach to real mixtures of dipolar fluids. In particular, we examine the high-pressure phase diagram of hydrogen sulfide+n-alkane binary mixtures. Hydrogen sulfide is modeled as an associating spherical molecule with four off-center sites to mimic hydrogen bonding and an embedded dipole moment (micro) to describe the polarity of H2S. The n-alkane molecules are modeled as spherical segments tangentially bonded together to form chains of length m, as in the original SAFT-VR approach. By using simple Lorentz-Berthelot combining rules, the theoretical predictions from the SAFT-VR+D equation are found to be in excellent overall agreement with experimental data. In particular, the theory is able to accurately describe the different types of phase behavior observed for these mixtures as the molecular weight of the alkane is varied: type III phase behavior, according to the scheme of classification by Scott and Konynenburg, for the H2S+methane system, type IIA (with the presence of azeotropy) for the H2S+ethane and+propane mixtures; and type I phase behavior for mixtures of H2S and longer n-alkanes up to n-decane. The theory is also able to predict in a qualitative manner the solubility of hydrogen sulfide in heavy n-alkanes.

Reversible Lysine Acetylation Regulates Activity of Human Glycine N-Acyltransferase-like 2 (hGLYATL2)

PubMed Central

Waluk, Dominik P.; Sucharski, Filip; Sipos, Laszlo; Silberring, Jerzy; Hunt, Mary C.

2012-01-01

Lysine acetylation is a major post-translational modification of proteins and regulates many physiological processes such as metabolism, cell migration, aging, and inflammation. Proteomic studies have identified numerous lysine-acetylated proteins in human and mouse models (Kim, S. C., Sprung, R., Chen, Y., Xu, Y., Ball, H., Pei, J., Cheng, T., Kho, Y., Xiao, H., Xiao, L., Grishin, N. V., White, M., Yang, X. J., and Zhao, Y. (2006) Mol. Cell 23, 607–618). One family of proteins identified in this study was the murine glycine N-acyltransferase (GLYAT) enzymes, which are acetylated on lysine 19. Lysine 19 is a conserved residue in human glycine N-acyltransferase-like 2 (hGLYATL2) and in several other species, showing that this residue may be important for enzyme function. Mutation of lysine 19 in recombinant hGLYATL2 to glutamine (K19Q) and arginine (K19R) resulted in a 50–80% lower production of N-oleoyl glycine and N-arachidonoylglycine, indicating that lysine 19 is important for enzyme function. LC/MS/MS confirmed that Lys-19 is not acetylated in wild-type hGLYATL2, indicating that Lys-19 requires to be deacetylated for full activity. The hGLYATL2 enzyme conjugates medium- and long-chain saturated and unsaturated acyl-CoA esters to glycine, resulting in the production of N-oleoyl glycine and also N-arachidonoyl glycine. N-Oleoyl glycine and N-arachidonoyl glycine are structurally and functionally related to endocannabinoids and have been identified as signaling molecules that regulate functions like the perception of pain and body temperature and also have anti-inflammatory properties. In conclusion, acetylation of lysine(s) in hGLYATL2 regulates the enzyme activity, thus linking post-translational modification of proteins with the production of biological signaling molecules, the N-acyl glycines. PMID:22408254

Mechanism and influencing factors on critical pulse width of oil-immersed polymer insulators under short pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Liang; Su, Jian Cang; Li, Rui; Zeng, Bo; Cheng, Jie; Zheng, Lei; Yu, Bin Xiong; Wu, Xiao Long; Zhang, Xi Bo; Pan, Ya Feng

2015-04-01

The critical pulse width (τc) is a pulse width at which the surface flashover threshold (Ef) is equal to the bulk breakdown threshold (EBD) for liquid-polymer composite insulation systems, which is discovered by Zhao et al. [Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society, Shenzhen, China, 2013), Vol. 2, pp. 854-857]. In this paper, the mechanism of τc is interpreted in perspective of the threshold and the time delay (td) of surface flashover and bulk breakdown, respectively. It is found that two changes appear as the pulse width decreases which are responsible for the existence of τc: (1) EBD is lower than Ef; (2) td of bulk breakdown is shorter than td of surface flashover. In addition, factors which have influences on τc are investigated, such as the dielectric type, the insulation length, the dielectric thickness, the dielectrics configuration, the pulse number, and the liquid purity. These influences of factors are generalized as three types if τc is expected to increase: (1) factors causing EBD to decrease, such as increasing the pulse number or employing a dielectric of lower EBD; (2) factors causing Ef to increase, such as complicating the insulator's configuration or increasing the liquid purity; (3) factors causing EBD and Ef to increase together, but Ef increases faster than EBD, such as decreasing the dielectric thickness or the insulation length. With the data in references, all the three cases are verified experimentally. In the end, a general method based on τc for solid insulation design is presented and the significance of τc on solid insulation design and on solid demolition are discussed.

Model-Based Analysis of the Role of Biological, Hydrological and Geochemical Factors Affecting Uranium Bioremediation

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

Zhao, Jiao; Scheibe, Timothy D.; Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan

2011-01-24

Uranium contamination is a serious concern at several sites motivating the development of novel treatment strategies such as the Geobacter-mediated reductive immobilization of uranium. However, this bioremediation strategy has not yet been optimized for the sustained uranium removal. While several reactive-transport models have been developed to represent Geobacter-mediated bioremediation of uranium, these models often lack the detailed quantitative description of the microbial process (e.g., biomass build-up in both groundwater and sediments, electron transport system, etc.) and the interaction between biogeochemical and hydrological process. In this study, a novel multi-scale model was developed by integrating our recent model on electron capacitancemore » of Geobacter (Zhao et al., 2010) with a comprehensive simulator of coupled fluid flow, hydrologic transport, heat transfer, and biogeochemical reactions. This mechanistic reactive-transport model accurately reproduces the experimental data for the bioremediation of uranium with acetate amendment. We subsequently performed global sensitivity analysis with the reactive-transport model in order to identify the main sources of prediction uncertainty caused by synergistic effects of biological, geochemical, and hydrological processes. The proposed approach successfully captured significant contributing factors across time and space, thereby improving the structure and parameterization of the comprehensive reactive-transport model. The global sensitivity analysis also provides a potentially useful tool to evaluate uranium bioremediation strategy. The simulations suggest that under difficult environments (e.g., highly contaminated with U(VI) at a high migration rate of solutes), the efficiency of uranium removal can be improved by adding Geobacter species to the contaminated site (bioaugmentation) in conjunction with the addition of electron donor (biostimulation). The simulations also highlight the interactive

MeT-DB V2.0: elucidating context-specific functions of N6-methyl-adenosine methyltranscriptome

PubMed Central

Liu, Hui; Wang, Huaizhi; Wei, Zhen; Zhang, Songyao; Hua, Gang; Zhang, Shao-Wu; Zhang, Lin; Gao, Shou-Jiang

2018-01-01

Abstract Methyltranscriptome is an exciting new area that studies the mechanisms and functions of methylation in transcripts. A knowledge base with the systematic collection and curation of context specific transcriptome-wide methylations is critical for elucidating their biological functions as well as for developing bioinformatics tools. Since its inception in 2014, the Met-DB (Liu, H., Flores, M.A., Meng, J., Zhang, L., Zhao, X., Rao, M.K., Chen, Y. and Huang, Y. (2015) MeT-DB: a database of transcriptome methylation in mammalian cells. Nucleic Acids Res., 43, D197–D203), has become an important resource for methyltranscriptome, especially in the N6-methyl-adenosine (m6A) research community. Here, we report Met-DB v2.0, the significantly improved second version of Met-DB, which is entirely redesigned to focus more on elucidating context-specific m6A functions. Met-DB v2.0 has a major increase in context-specific m6A peaks and single-base sites predicted from 185 samples for 7 species from 26 independent studies. Moreover, it is also integrated with a new database for targets of m6A readers, erasers and writers and expanded with more collections of functional data. The redesigned Met-DB v2.0 web interface and genome browser provide more friendly, powerful, and informative ways to query and visualize the data. More importantly, MeT-DB v2.0 offers for the first time a series of tools specifically designed for understanding m6A functions. Met-DB V2.0 will be a valuable resource for m6A methyltranscriptome research. The Met-DB V2.0 database is available at http://compgenomics.utsa.edu/MeTDB/ and http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/metdb2. PMID:29126312

A durability test rig and methodology for erosion-resistant blade coatings in turbomachinery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leithead, Sean Gregory

A durability test rig for erosion-resistant gas turbine engine compressor blade coatings was designed, completed and commissioned. Bare and coated 17-4PH steel V103-profile blades were rotated at up to 11500 rpm and impacted with Garnet sand for 5 hours at an average concentration of 2.51 gm3of air , at a blade leading edge Mach number of 0.50. The rig was determined to be an acceptable first stage axial compressor representation. Two types of 16 microm-thick coatings were tested: Titanium Nitride (TiN) and Chromium-Aluminum-Titanium Nitride (CrAlTiN), both applied using an Arc Physical Vapour Deposition technique at the National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada. A Leithead-Allan-Zhao (LAZ) score was created to compare the durability performance of uncoated and coated blades based on mass-loss and blade dimension changes. The bare blades' LAZ score was set as a benchmark of 1.00. The TiN-coated and CrAlTiN-coated blades obtained LAZ scores of 0.69 and 0.41, respectively. A lower score meant a more erosion-resistant coating. Major modes of blade wear included: trailing edge, leading edge and the rear suction surface. Trailing edge thickness was reduced, the leading edge became blunt, and the rear suction surface was scrubbed by overtip and recirculation zone vortices. It was found that the erosion effects of vortex flow were significant. Erosion damage due to reflected particles was not present due to the low blade solidity of 0.7. The rig is best suited for studying the performance of erosion-resistant coatings after they are proven effective in ASTM standardized testing. Keywords: erosion, compressor, coatings, turbomachinery, erosion rate, blade, experimental, gas turbine engine

Aseismic deep subduction of the Philippine Sea plate and slab window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Zhouchuan; Zhao, Dapeng; Hasegawa, Akira; Umino, Norihito; Park, Jung-Ho; Kang, Ik-Bum

2013-10-01

We have made great efforts to collect and combine a large number of high-quality data from local earthquakes and teleseismic events recorded by the dense seismic networks in both South Korea and West Japan. This is the first time that a large number of Korean and Japanese seismic data sets are analyzed jointly. As a result, a high-resolution 3-D P-wave velocity model down to 700-km depth is determined, which clearly shows that the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate has subducted aseismically down to ˜460 km depth under the Japan Sea, Tsushima Strait and East China Sea. The aseismic PHS slab is visible in two areas: one is under the Japan Sea off western Honshu, and the other is under East China Sea off western Kyushu. However, the aseismic PHS slab is not visible between the two areas, where a slab window has formed. The slab window is located beneath the center of the present study region where many teleseismic rays crisscross. Detailed synthetic tests were conducted, which indicate that both the aseismic PHS slab and the slab window are robust features. Using the teleseismic data recorded by the Japanese stations alone, the aseismic PHS slab and the slab window were also revealed (Zhao et al., 2012), though the ray paths in the Japanese data set crisscross less well offshore. The slab window may be caused by the subducted Kyushu-Palau Ridge and Kinan Seamount Chain where the PHS slab may be segmented. Hot mantle upwelling is revealed in the big mantle wedge above the Pacific slab under the present study region, which may have facilitated the formation of the PHS slab window. These novel findings may shed new light on the subduction history of the PHS plate and the dynamic evolution of the Japan subduction zone.

The Changing Nature of the Chemical Bond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angel, R. J.; Ross, N. L.; Zhao, J.

2006-12-01

It is commonly assumed that the relationship between bond strength and bond length for a particular pair of atoms is a simple and single-valued one for a given coordination environment; longer bonds are weaker. This is the basis of the concept of bond valence, for example. Indeed, in strongly-bonded oxide minerals, the range of bond lengths found for a given cation-anion polyhedron is so small that it was long thought that the polyhedral bulk moduli were essentially independent of structure type and thus the environment of the polyhedron. This view is incompatible with the discovery that the response of the perovskite structure to high pressures is controlled by the equipartition of bond-valence strain between the A and B cation sites within the structure [1]. The same appears to be true, within experimental uncertainties, for all framework structures with rigid-unit modes. In perovskites, this explicitly implies that the octahedral compressibility depends not only upon the octahedral cation, but also upon the compressibility of the cation-oxygen bonds of the extra-framework (nominally dodecahedral) site. Thus the octahedral compressibility of a B cation site must change as the A- site cation is changed, whether or not the B-O bond lengths change as a result of the substitution on the A site. The strength of bonds is thus dependent upon the crystal environment and not solely upon the bond length. The observation of a plateau effect in the variation of octahedral compressibilities in perovskite solid solutions suggests that the bond-valence matching principle is followed not just globally, but on a local scale as well. Such observations should allow the change with pressure of the excess thermodynamic properties of solid solutions to be directly related to the microscopic (atomic scale) evolution of the structure. [1] Zhao, Ross, & Angel (2004). Acta Cryst. B60:263

MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTIONS OF RECENT EARTHQUAKES IN THE CALABRIAN REGION (SOUTH ITALY)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orecchio, B.; D'Amico, S.; Gervasi, A.; Guerra, I.; Presti, D.; Zhu, L.; Herrmann, R. B.; Neri, G.

2009-12-01

The aim of this study is to provide moment tensor solutions for recent events occurred in the Calabrian region (South Italy), an area struck by several destructive earthquakes in the last centuries. The seismicity of the area under investigation is actually characterized by low to moderate magnitude earthquakes (up to 4.5) not properly represented in the Italian national catalogues of focal mechanisms like RCMT (Regional Centroid Moment Tensor, Pondrelli et al., PEPI, 2006) and TDMT (Time Domain Moment Tensors, Dreger and Helmerger, BSSA, 1993). Also, the solutions estimated from P-onset polarities are often poorly constrained due to network geometry in the study area. We computed the moment tensor solutions using the “Cut And Paste” method originally proposed by Zhao and Helmerger (BSSA, 1994) and later modified by Zhu and Helmerger (BSSA, 1996). Each waveform is broken into the Pnl and surface wave segments and the source depth and focal mechanisms are determined using a grid search technique. The technique allows time shifts between synthetics and observed data in order to reduce dependence of the solution on the assumed velocity model and earthquake locations. This method has shown to provide good-quality solutions for earthquakes of magnitude as small as 2.5. The data set of the present study consists of waveforms from more than 100 earthquakes that were recorded by the permanent seismic network run by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and about 40 stations of the NSF CAT/SCAN project. The results concur to check and better detail the regional geodynamic model assuming subduction of the Ionian lithosphere beneath the Tyrrhenian one and related response of the shallow structures in terms of normal and strike-slip faulting seismicity.

Sensitivity of surface characteristics on the simulation of wind-blown-dust source in North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, S. H.; Gong, S. L.; Gong, W.; Makar, P. A.; Moran, M. D.; Stroud, C. A.; Zhang, J.

Recently, a wind-blown-dust-emission module has been built based on a state-of-the-art wind erosion theory and evaluated in a regional air-quality model to simulate a North American dust storm episode in April 2001 (see Park, S.H., Gong, S.L., Zhao, T.L., Vet, R.J., Bouchet, V.S., Gong, W., Makar, P.A., Moran, M.D., Stroud, C., Zhang, J. 2007. Simulation of entrainment and transport of dust particles within North America in April 2001 ("Red Dust episode"). J. Geophys. Res. 112, D20209, doi:10.1029/2007JD008443). A satisfactorily detailed assessment of that module, however, was not possible because of a lack of information on some module inputs, especially soil moisture content. In this paper, the wind-blown-dust emission was evaluated for two additional dust storms using improved soil moisture inputs. The surface characteristics of the wind-blown-dust source areas in southwestern North America were also investigated, focusing on their implications for wind-blown-dust emissions. The improved soil moisture inputs enabled the sensitivity of other important surface characteristics, the soil grain size distribution and the land-cover, to dust emission to be investigated with more confidence. Simulations of the two 2003 dust storm episodes suggested that wind-blown-dust emissions from the desert areas in southwestern North America are dominated by emissions from dry playas covered with accumulated alluvial deposits whose particle size is much smaller than usual desert sands. As well, the source areas in the northwestern Texas region were indicated to be not desert but rather agricultural lands that were "activated" as a wind-blown-dust sources after harvest. This finding calls for revisions to the current wind-blown-dust-emission module, in which "desert" is designated to be the only land-cover category that can emit wind-blown dust.

Global Soil Moisture Estimation through a Coupled CLM4-RTM-DART Land Data Assimilation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, L.; Yang, Z. L.; Hoar, T. J.

2016-12-01

Very few frameworks exist that estimate global-scale soil moisture through microwave land data assimilation (DA). Toward this goal, we have developed such a framework by linking the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) and a microwave radiative transfer model (RTM) with the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART). The deterministic Ensemble Adjustment Kalman Filter (EAKF) within the DART is utilized to estimate global multi-layer soil moisture by assimilating brightness temperature observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). A 40-member of Community Atmosphere Model version 4 (CAM4) reanalysis is adopted to drive CLM4 simulations. Spatial-specific time-invariant microwave parameters are pre-calibrated to minimize uncertainties in RTM. Besides, various methods are designed in consideration of computational efficiency. A series of experiments are conducted to quantify the DA sensitivity to microwave parameters, choice of assimilated observations, and different CLM4 updating schemes. Evaluation results indicate that the newly established CLM4-RTM-DART framework improves the open-loop CLM4 simulated soil moisture. Pre-calibrated microwave parameters, rather than their default values, can ensure a more robust global-scale performance. In addition, updating near-surface soil moisture is capable of improving soil moisture in deeper layers, while simultaneously updating multi-layer soil moisture fails to obtain intended improvements. We will show in this presentation the architecture of the CLM4-RTM-DART system and the evaluations on AMSR-E DA. Preliminary results on multi-sensor DA that integrates various satellite observations including GRACE, MODIS, and AMSR-E will also be presented. ReferenceZhao, L., Z.-L. Yang, and T. J. Hoar, 2016. Global Soil Moisture Estimation by Assimilating AMSR-E Brightness Temperatures in a Coupled CLM4-RTM-DART System. Journal of Hydrometeorology, DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-15-0218.1.

Lattice-Boltzmann Modeling of Community Challenge MicrofluidicExperiments to Evaluate the Effects of Wettability on Two-Fluid Flowin Porous Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, C. T.; McClure, J. E.; Bruning, K.

2017-12-01

Variations in the wettability of a solid material are well known to affect the flow of two fluids in a porous media. However, thesemechanisms have not been modeled with high fidelity at the microscale and such mechanisms are typically not included in macroscalemodels. Recent experimental work by Zhao, MacMinn, and Juanes published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(2016) has investigated two-fluid displacement in microfluidic cells. Displacement patterns were investigated as a function of thecontact angle and the capillary number for both drainage and imbibition. These results yielded new mechanistic understanding ofprocesses such as pore filling and post bridging, which were imaged at high resolution. In a challenge to the pore-scale modeling community,the authors of this work released their experimental data and encouraged an international set of modeling research groups tosimulate the conditions that were experimentally observed. The intent is to compare the results that materialize to shed new light on thestate-of-science in pore-scale simulation of these challenging and interesting flow systems. In this work, we summarize the experimentalfindings and report on initial efforts to simulate these community challenge experiments using a high-resolution lattice-Boltzmann method(LBM). A three-dimensional, multiple-relaxation-time color model based on a 19-site lattice is advanced in this work to matchexperimental conditions in a novel manner. A computational approach is implemented for the LBM method on hybrid CPU-GPU nodes and shown toscale near optimally. A new algorithm is described to match experimental boundary conditions. A grid-resolution study is performedto determine the resolution needed to determine grid-independent numerical approximations. Finally, the LBM simulation results arecompared to the highly resolved microfluidic experiments, displacement mechanisms are investigated, and observations and analysis of thetopological state

Structure of YciA from Haemophilus influenzae (HI0827), a Hexameric Broad Specificity Acyl-Coenzyme A Thioesterase

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

Willis, Mark A.; Zhuang, Zhihao; Song, Feng

2008-04-02

The crystal structure of HI0827 from Haemophilus influenzae Rd KW20, initially annotated 'hypothetical protein' in sequence databases, exhibits an acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) thioesterase 'hot dog' fold with a trimer of dimers oligomeric association, a novel assembly for this enzyme family. In studies described in the preceding paper [Zhuang, Z., Song, F., Zhao, H., Li, L., Cao, J., Eisenstein, E., Herzberg, O., and Dunaway-Mariano, D. (2008) Biochemistry 47, 2789-2796], HI0827 is shown to be an acyl-CoA thioesterase that acts on a wide range of acyl-CoA compounds. Two substrate binding sites are located across the dimer interface. The binding sites are occupiedmore » by two CoA molecules, one with full occupancy and the second only partially occupied. The CoA molecules, acquired from HI0827-expressing Escherichia coli cells, remained tightly bound to the enzyme through the protein purification steps. The difference in CoA occupancies indicates a different substrate affinity for each of the binding sites, which in turn implies that the enzyme might be subject to allosteric regulation. Mutagenesis studies have shown that the replacement of the putative catalytic carboxylate Asp44 with an alanine residue abolishes activity. The impact of this mutation is seen in the crystal structure of D44A HI0827. Whereas the overall fold and assembly of the mutant protein are the same as those of the wild-type enzyme, the CoA ligands are absent. The dimer interface is perturbed, and the channel that accommodates the thioester acyl chain is more open and wider than that observed in the wild-type enzyme. A model of intact substrate bound to wild-type HI0827 provides a structural rationale for the broad substrate range.« less

Implementation and Comparison of Acoustic Travel-Time Measurement Procedures for the Solar Dynamics Observatory-Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Time-Distance Helioseismology Pipeline

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Couvidat, S.; Zhao, J.; Birch, A. C.; Kosovichev, A. G.; Duvall, Thomas L., Jr.; Parchevsky, K.; Scherrer, P. H.

2010-01-01

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite is designed to produce high-resolution Doppler-velocity maps of oscillations at the solar surface with high temporal cadence. To take advantage of these high-quality oscillation data, a time - distance helioseismology pipeline (Zhao et al., Solar Phys. submitted, 2010) has been implemented at the Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) at Stanford University. The aim of this pipeline is to generate maps of acoustic travel times from oscillations on the solar surface, and to infer subsurface 3D flow velocities and sound-speed perturbations. The wave travel times are measured from cross-covariances of the observed solar oscillation signals. For implementation into the pipeline we have investigated three different travel-time definitions developed in time - distance helioseismology: a Gabor-wavelet fitting (Kosovichev and Duvall, SCORE'96: Solar Convection and Oscillations and Their Relationship, ASSL, Dordrecht, 241, 1997), a minimization relative to a reference cross-covariance function (Gizon and Birch, Astrophys. J. 571, 966, 2002), and a linearized version of the minimization method (Gizon and Birch, Astrophys. J. 614, 472, 2004). Using Doppler-velocity data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument onboard SOHO, we tested and compared these definitions for the mean and difference traveltime perturbations measured from reciprocal signals. Although all three procedures return similar travel times in a quiet-Sun region, the method of Gizon and Birch (Astrophys. J. 614, 472, 2004) gives travel times that are significantly different from the others in a magnetic (active) region. Thus, for the pipeline implementation we chose the procedures of Kosovichev and Duvall (SCORE'96: Solar Convection and Oscillations and Their Relationship, ASSL, Dordrecht, 241, 1997) and Gizon and Birch (Astrophys. J. 571, 966, 2002). We investigated the relationships among

Web-Based Medical Appointment Systems: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Zhao, Peng; Yoo, Illhoi; Lavoie, Jaie; Lavoie, Beau James; Simoes, Eduardo

2017-04-26

Health care is changing with a new emphasis on patient-centeredness. Fundamental to this transformation is the increasing recognition of patients' role in health care delivery and design. Medical appointment scheduling, as the starting point of most non-urgent health care services, is undergoing major developments to support active involvement of patients. By using the Internet as a medium, patients are given more freedom in decision making about their preferences for the appointments and have improved access. The purpose of this study was to identify the benefits and barriers to implement Web-based medical scheduling discussed in the literature as well as the unmet needs under the current health care environment. In February 2017, MEDLINE was searched through PubMed to identify articles relating to the impacts of Web-based appointment scheduling. A total of 36 articles discussing 21 Web-based appointment systems were selected for this review. Most of the practices have positive changes in some metrics after adopting Web-based scheduling, such as reduced no-show rate, decreased staff labor, decreased waiting time, and improved satisfaction, and so on. Cost, flexibility, safety, and integrity are major reasons discouraging providers from switching to Web-based scheduling. Patients' reluctance to adopt Web-based appointment scheduling is mainly influenced by their past experiences using computers and the Internet as well as their communication preferences. Overall, the literature suggests a growing trend for the adoption of Web-based appointment systems. The findings of this review suggest that there are benefits to a variety of patient outcomes from Web-based scheduling interventions with the need for further studies. ©Peng Zhao, Illhoi Yoo, Jaie Lavoie, Beau James Lavoie, Eduardo Simoes. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 26.04.2017.

Fate of MgSiO3 Post-Perovskite at Terapascal Pressures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wentzcovitch, R. M.; Umemoto, K.; Wu, S.; Ho, K. M.; Ji, M.; Wang, C. Z.

2016-12-01

Understanding the fate of MgSiO3 post-perovskite (ppv) under TPa pressures should provide insights into the nature of the interiors of Super-Earths-type exoplanets. The prediction that ppv should dissociate into the elementary oxides MgO and SiO2 at TPa pressures [1] has been confirmed by all ab initio computational studies so far [2-4]. The most recent high pressure and high temperature (PT) studies agree that at 2.2 TPa the dissociation process should be completed [2,3]. These studies also agree that the final dissociation phase boundary has a negative Clapeyron slope [1-3], irrespective of the dissociation paths, suggesting a barrier to whole mantle convection possibly leading to chemical stratification in the deep mantle of these planets. The dissociation paths identified more recently [2-4] involve partial dissociation into MgO, SiO2, and Mg- and Si-rich intermediate compounds whose compositions are temperature dependent. Here we re-investigate the high PT phase diagram of the MgO-SiO2 system and identify novel phase fields and dissociation paths that push the final dissociation boundary to 3 TPa. 1) K. Umemoto, R. M. Wentzcovitch, & P. B. Allen, Dissociation of MgSiO3 in the cores of Gas Giants and Terrestrial Exoplanets, Science 311, 983 (2006). 2) K. Umemoto & R. M. Wentzcovitch, Two-stage dissociation of MgSiO3 post- perovskite, Earth & Planet. Sc. Lett. 311, 225 (2011). 3) H. Niu, A. R. Oganov, X.-C. Chen, & D. Li, Prediction of novel stable compounds in the Mg-Si-O system under exoplanet pressures, Sc. Rep. 5, 18347 (2015). 4) S. Q. Wu, M. Ji, C. Z. Wang, M. C. Nguye, X. Zhao, K. Umemoto, R. M. Wentzcovitch, & K. M. Ho, Adaptive genetic algorithm for crystal structure prediction, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26, 035402 (2014).

Structure and sources of solar wind in the growing phase of 24th solar cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slemzin, Vladimir; Goryaev, Farid; Shugay, Julia; Rodkin, Denis; Veselovsky, Igor

2015-04-01

We present analysis of the solar wind (SW) structure and its association with coronal sources during the minimum and rising phase of 24th solar cycle (2009-2011). The coronal sources prominent in this period - coronal holes, small areas of open magnetic fields near active regions and transient sources associated with small-scale solar activity have been investigated using EUV solar images and soft X-ray fluxes obtained by the CORONAS-Photon/TESIS/Sphinx, PROBA2/SWAP, Hinode/EIS and AIA/SDO instruments as well as the magnetograms obtained by HMI/SDO. It was found that at solar minimum (2009) velocity and magnetic field strength of high speed wind (HSW) and transient SW from small-scale flares did not differ significantly from those of the background slow speed wind (SSW). The major difference between parameters of different SW components was seen in the ion composition represented by the C6/C5, O7/O6, Fe/O ratios and the mean charge of Fe ions. With growing solar activity, the speed of HSW increased due to transformation of its sources - small-size low-latitude coronal holes into equatorial extensions of large polar holes. At that period, the ion composition of transient SW changed from low-temperature to high-temperature values, which was caused by variation of the source conditions and change of the recombination/ionization rates during passage of the plasma flow through the low corona. However, we conclude that criteria of separation of the SW components based on the ion ratios established earlier by Zhao&Fisk (2009) for higher solar activity are not applicable to the extremely weak beginning of 24th cycle. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement eHeroes (project n° 284461, www.eheroes.eu).

Experimental and Computational Investigations of the Threshold Photoelectron Spectrum of the HCCN Radical

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gans, B.; Falvo, Cyril; Coudert, L. H.; Garcia, Gustavo A.; Küger, J.; Loison, J.-C.

2017-06-01

The HCCN radical, already detected in the interstellar medium, is also important for nitrile chemistry in Titan's atmosphere. Quite recently the photoionization spectrum of the radical has been recorded using mass selected threshold photoelectron (TPE) spectroscopy and this provided us with the first spectroscopic information about the HCCN} cation. Modeling such a spectrum requires accounting for the non-rigidity of HCCN and for the Renner-Teller effect in HCCN+. In its ^3A'' electronic ground state, HCCN is a non-rigid molecule as the potential for the \\angle{HCC} bending angle is very shallow. Vibronic couplings with the same bending angle leads, in the ^2Π electronic ground state of HCCN+, to a strong Renner-Teller effect giving rise to a bent ^2A' and a quasi-linear ^2A'' state. In this paper the photoionization spectrum of the HCCN radical is simulated. The model developped treats the \\angle{HCC} bending angle as a large amplitude coordinate in both the radical and the cation and accounts for the overall rotation and the Renner-Teller couplings. Gaussian quadrature are used to calculate matrix elements of the three potential energy functions retrieved through ab initio calculations and rovibrational operators going to infinity for the linear configuration are treated rigorously. The HCCN TPE spectrum is computed with the above model calculating all rotational components and choosing the appropriate lineshape. This synthetic spectrum will be shown in the paper and compared with the experimental one.^b Guélin and Cernicharo, A&A 244 (1991) L21 Loison et al., Icarus 247 (2015) 218 Garcia, Krüger, Gans, Falvo, Coudert, and Loison, J. Chem. Phys. (2017) submitted Koput, J. Phys. Chem. A 106 (2002) 6183 Zhao, Zhang, and Sun, J. Phys. Chem. A 112 (2008) 12125

Dopamine D2-receptor activation elicits akinesia, rigidity, catalepsy, and tremor in mice expressing hypersensitive α4 nicotinic receptors via a cholinergic-dependent mechanism

PubMed Central

Zhao-Shea, Rubing; Cohen, Bruce N.; Just, Herwig; McClure-Begley, Tristan; Whiteaker, Paul; Grady, Sharon R.; Salminen, Outi; Gardner, Paul D.; Lester, Henry A.; Tapper, Andrew R.

2010-01-01

Recent studies suggest that high-affinity neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) containing α4 and β2 subunits (α4β2*) functionally interact with G-protein-coupled dopamine (DA) D2 receptors in basal ganglia. We hypothesized that if a functional interaction between these receptors exists, then mice expressing an M2 point mutation (Leu9′Ala) rendering α4 nAChRs hypersensitive to ACh may exhibit altered sensitivity to a D2-receptor agonist. When challenged with the D2R agonist, quinpirole (0.5–10 mg/kg), Leu9′Ala mice, but not wild-type (WT) littermates, developed severe, reversible motor impairment characterized by rigidity, catalepsy, akinesia, and tremor. While striatal DA tissue content, baseline release, and quinpirole-induced DA depletion did not differ between Leu9′Ala and WT mice, quinpirole dramatically increased activity of cholinergic striatal interneurons only in mutant animals, as measured by increased c-Fos expression in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive interneurons. Highlighting the importance of the cholinergic system in this mouse model, inhibiting the effects of ACh by blocking muscarinic receptors, or by selectively activating hypersensitive nAChRs with nicotine, rescued motor symptoms. This novel mouse model mimics the imbalance between striatal DA/ACh function associated with severe motor impairment in disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, and the data suggest that a D2R–α4*-nAChR functional interaction regulates cholinergic interneuron activity.—Zhao-Shea, R., Cohen, B. N., Just, H., McClure-Begley, T., Whiteaker, P., Grady, S. R., Salminen, O., Gardner, P. D., Lester, H. A., Tapper, A. R. Dopamine D2-receptor activation elicits akinesia, rigidity, catalepsy, and tremor in mice expressing hypersensitive α4 nicotinic receptors via a cholinergic-dependent mechanism. PMID:19720621

Nonlinear Decay of Alfvén Waves Driven by Interplaying Two- and Three-dimensional Nonlinear Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, J. S.; Voitenko, Y.; De Keyser, J.; Wu, D. J.

2018-04-01

We study the decay of Alfvén waves in the solar wind, accounting for the joint operation of two-dimensional (2D) scalar and three-dimensional (3D) vector nonlinear interactions between Alfvén and slow waves. These interactions have previously been studied separately in long- and short-wavelength limits where they lead to 2D scalar and 3D vector decays, correspondingly. The joined action of the scalar and vector interactions shifts the transition between 2D and 3D decays to significantly smaller wavenumbers than was predicted by Zhao et al. who compared separate scalar and vector decays. In application to the broadband Alfvén waves in the solar wind, this means that the vector nonlinear coupling dominates in the extended wavenumber range 5 × 10‑4 ≲ ρ i k 0⊥ ≲ 1, where the decay is essentially 3D and nonlocal, generating product Alfvén and slow waves around the ion gyroscale. Here ρ i is the ion gyroradius, and k 0⊥ is the pump Alfvén wavenumber. It appears that, except for the smallest wavenumbers at and below {ρ }i{k}0\\perp ∼ {10}-4 in Channel I, the nonlinear decay of magnetohydrodynamic Alfvén waves propagating from the Sun is nonlocal and cannot generate counter-propagating Alfvén waves with similar scales needed for the turbulent cascade. Evaluation of the nonlinear frequency shift shows that product Alfvén waves can still be approximately described as normal Alfvénic eigenmodes. On the contrary, nonlinearly driven slow waves deviate considerably from normal modes and are therefore difficult to identify on the basis of their phase velocities and/or polarization.

Human Cytochrome P450 21A2, the Major Steroid 21-Hydroxylase

PubMed Central

Pallan, Pradeep S.; Wang, Chunxue; Lei, Li; Yoshimoto, Francis K.; Auchus, Richard J.; Waterman, Michael R.; Guengerich, F. Peter; Egli, Martin

2015-01-01

Cytochrome P450 (P450) 21A2 is the major steroid 21-hydroxylase, and deficiency of this enzyme is involved in ∼95% of cases of human congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a disorder of adrenal steroidogenesis. A structure of the bovine enzyme that we published previously (Zhao, B., Lei, L., Kagawa, N., Sundaramoorthy, M., Banerjee, S., Nagy, L. D., Guengerich, F. P., and Waterman, M. R. (2012) Three-dimensional structure of steroid 21-hydroxylase (cytochrome P450 21A2) with two substrates reveals locations of disease-associated variants. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 10613–10622), containing two molecules of the substrate 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, has been used as a template for understanding genetic deficiencies. We have now obtained a crystal structure of human P450 21A2 in complex with progesterone, a substrate in adrenal 21-hydroxylation. Substrate binding and release were fast for human P450 21A2 with both substrates, and pre-steady-state kinetics showed a partial burst but only with progesterone as substrate and not 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. High intermolecular non-competitive kinetic deuterium isotope effects on both kcat and kcat/Km, from 5 to 11, were observed with both substrates, indicative of rate-limiting C–H bond cleavage and suggesting that the juxtaposition of the C21 carbon in the active site is critical for efficient oxidation. The estimated rate of binding of the substrate progesterone (kon 2.4 × 107 m−1 s−1) is only ∼2-fold greater than the catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km = 1.3 × 107 m−1 s−1) with this substrate, suggesting that the rate of substrate binding may also be partially rate-limiting. The structure of the human P450 21A2-substrate complex provides direct insight into mechanistic effects of genetic variants. PMID:25855791

REV-ERBs agonism suppresses osteoclastogenesis and prevents ovariectomy-induced bone loss partially via FABP4 upregulation.

PubMed

Song, Chao; Tan, Peng; Zhang, Zheng; Wu, Wei; Dong, Yonghui; Zhao, Liming; Liu, Huiyong; Guan, Hanfeng; Li, Feng

2018-01-22

REV-ERBs (REV-ERBα and REV-ERBβ) are transcription repressors and circadian regulators. Previous investigations have shown that REV-ERBs repress the expression of target genes, including MMP9 and CX3CR1, in macrophages. Because MMP9 and CX3CR1 reportedly participate in receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis, we inferred that REV-ERBs might play a role in osteoclastogenesis. In the present study, we found that the REV-ERBα level decreased significantly during RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation from primary bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs). REV-ERBα knockdown by small interfering RNA in BMMs resulted in the enhanced formation of osteoclasts, whereas REV-ERBβ knockdown showed no effect on osteoclast differentiation. Moreover, the REV-ERB agonist SR9009 inhibited osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption. Intraperitoneal SR9009 administration prevented ovariectomy-induced bone loss; this effect was accompanied by decreased serum RANKL and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen levels and increased osteoprotegerin levels. Further investigation revealed that NF-κB and MAPK activation and nuclear factor of activated T cells, cytoplasmic 1, and c-fos expression were suppressed by SR9009. The level of reactive oxygen species was also decreased by SR9009, with NADPH oxidase subunits also being down-regulated. In addition, an expression microarray showed that FABP4, an intracellular lipid-binding protein, was up-regulated by REV-ERB agonism. BMS309403, an inhibitor of FABP4, partially prevented the suppression of osteoclastogenesis by SR9009 through stabilizing phosphorylation of p65. To summarize, our results proved that the REV-ERB agonism inhibited osteoclastogenesis partially via FABP4 up-regulation.-Song, C., Tan, P., Zhang, Z., Wu, W., Dong, Y., Zhao, L., Liu, H., Guan, H., Li, F. REV-ERBs agonism suppresses osteoclastogenesis and prevents ovariectomy-induced bone loss partially via FABP4 upregulation.

Tracking Waves from Sunspots Gives New Solar Insight

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

While it often seems unvarying from our viewpoint on Earth, the sun is constantly changing. Material courses through not only the star itself, but throughout its expansive atmosphere. Understanding the dance of this charged gas is a key part of better understanding our sun – how it heats up its atmosphere, how it creates a steady flow of solar wind streaming outward in all directions, and how magnetic fields twist and turn to create regions that can explode in giant eruptions. Now, for the first time, researchers have tracked a particular kind of solar wave as it swept upward from the sun's surface through its atmosphere, adding to our understanding of how solar material travels throughout the sun. Scientists analyzed sunspot images from a trio of observatories -- including the Big Bear Solar Observatory, which captured this footage -- to make the first-ever observations of a solar wave traveling up into the sun’s atmosphere from a sunspot. Tracking solar waves like this provides a novel tool for scientists to study the atmosphere of the sun. The imagery of the journey also confirms existing ideas, helping to nail down the existence of a mechanism that moves energy – and therefore heat – into the sun’s mysteriously-hot upper atmosphere, called the corona. A study on these results was published Oct. 11, 2016, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Image credit: Zhao et al/NASA/SDO/IRIS/BBSO Read more: go.nasa.gov/2dRv80g NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

[Learn new version of Preferred Practice Pattern to further standardize the diagnosis and treatment of amblyopia].

PubMed

Zhao, Kanxing; Shi, Xuefeng

2014-07-01

The introduction of Preferred Practice Patterns (PPP) into China has given ophthalmologists in China more opportunities to acquaint themselves with international clinical guidelines for eye care, including its developing principles, methods and the application value. It had brought significant effects on the fast improvement of clinical eye care and standardization of diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases in China, and promoted the international academic exchanges. The 2nd Chinese version of PPPs translated by Prof. Jialiang Zhao was officially published in November, 2013. The new version of PPP for amblyopia adopted the newest standard for grading of evidence strength and recommendation assessment, and emphasizes the practicability based on evidence. New explanations of the definition of amblyopia are added according to the recent research progresses in amblyopia. The diagnostic criteria of best visual acuity for bilateral amblyopia at different ages is given with new specifications. Comprehensive and practical suggestions on the examination methods for amblyopia are provided from the qualitative assessment of visual acuity, the choice of eye chart, to the use of cycloplegic agents. In the aspect of the treatment of amblyopia, based on the findings of recent multi-central random controlled clinical trials, not only strong recommendations are provided, but also the insufficiency of evidence supporting for some choices of therapy is pointed out. The necessity of the follow-up evaluation after the cessation of the treatment of amblyopia is emphasized too. In the aspect of the prevention of amblyopia, the new amblyopia PPP points out the importance of the early-period screening of amblyopia, and that the healthcare insurance plans should cover timely screening, treatment, and monitoring for recurrence of amblyopia. This article deciphers the essential contents of the new version of Chinese PPP for amblyopia, and aims to promote the standardization of the diagnosis

Carbon dioxide solubility in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride at geological conditions: Experimental results at 323.15, 373.15, and 423.15 K and 150 bar and modeling up to 573.15 K and 2000 bar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Haining; Fedkin, Mark V.; Dilmore, Robert M.; Lvov, Serguei N.

2015-01-01

A new experimental system was designed to measure the solubility of CO2 at pressures and temperatures (150 bar, 323.15-423.15 K) relevant to geologic CO2 sequestration. At 150 bar, new CO2 solubility data in the aqueous phase were obtained at 323.15, 373.15, and 423.15 K from 0 to 6 mol kg-1 NaCl(aq) for the CO2-NaCl-H2O system. A γ - φ (activity coefficient - fugacity coefficient) type thermodynamic model is presented for the calculation of both the solubility of CO2 in the aqueous phase and the solubility of H2O in the CO2-rich phase for the CO2-NaCl-H2O system. Validation of the model calculations against literature data and other models (MZLL2013, AD2010, SP2010, DS2006, and OLI) show that the proposed model is capable of predicting the solubility of CO2 in the aqueous phase for the CO2-H2O and CO2-NaCl-H2O systems with a high degree of accuracy (AAD <3.9%) at temperatures from 273.15 to 573.15 K and pressures up to 2000 bar. A comparison of modeling results with experimental values revealed a pressure-bounded "transition zone" in which the CO2 solubility decreases to a minimum then increases as the temperature increases. CO2 solubility is not a monotonic function of temperature in the transition zone but outside of that transition zone, the CO2 solubility is decrease or increase monotonically in response to increased temperature. A link of web-based CO2 solubility computational tool can be provided by sending a message to Haining Zhao at hzz5047@gmail.com.

Understanding density functional theory (DFT) and completing it in practice

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

Bagayoko, Diola

2014-12-15

We review some salient points in the derivation of density functional theory (DFT) and of the local density approximation (LDA) of it. We then articulate an understanding of DFT and LDA that seems to be ignored in the literature. We note the well-established failures of many DFT and LDA calculations to reproduce the measured energy gaps of finite systems and band gaps of semiconductors and insulators. We then illustrate significant differences between the results from self consistent calculations using single trial basis sets and those from computations following the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma andmore » Franklin (BZW-EF). Unlike the former, the latter calculations verifiably attain the absolute minima of the occupied energies, as required by DFT. These minima are one of the reasons for the agreement between their results and corresponding, experimental ones for the band gap and a host of other properties. Further, we note predictions of DFT BZW-EF calculations that have been confirmed by experiment. Our subsequent description of the BZW-EF method ends with the application of the Rayleigh theorem in the selection, among the several calculations the method requires, of the one whose results have a full, physics content ascribed to DFT. This application of the Rayleigh theorem adds to or completes DFT, in practice, to preserve the physical content of unoccupied, low energy levels. Discussions, including implications of the method, and a short conclusion follow the description of the method. The successive augmentation of the basis set in the BZW-EF method, needed for the application of the Rayleigh theorem, is also necessary in the search for the absolute minima of the occupied energies, in practice.« less

Recycled oceanic crust in the source of 90-40 Ma basalts in North and Northeast China: Evidence, provenance and significance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yi-Gang

2014-10-01

crust and progressive thinning of the lithosphere, the more fertile basaltic crustal component is preferentially sampled during the early stage of volcanism, whereas the more depleted gabbroic lower crust and lithospheric mantle components are preferentially sampled during a late stage. This model is consistent with a protracted destruction process of the lithosphere beneath eastern China. The presence of significant recycled oceanic crust components in the 90-40 Ma basalts highlights the influence of Pacific subduction on the deep processes in the North China Craton, which can be traced back at least to the late Cretaceous. This, along with the conjugation of crustal deformation pattern in this region with the movement of the Pacific plate, makes the Pacific subduction as a potential trigger of the destruction of the North China Craton. Geophysical investigations and morphological analyses indicate that decratonization is largely confined to east of the NSGL, whereas to west of NSGL, in particular the Ordos basin, characteristics typical of a craton are observed (Menzies et al., 2007; Zhu et al., 2011). This spatial pattern of craton destruction, together with NE-NNE-oriented extensional basins, main structural alignments and metamorphic core complexes (Zheng et al., 1978; Ye et al., 1987; Ren et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2006; Zhu G et al., 2012), is consistent with the subduction direction of the Pacific plate. Two main episodes of late Mesozoic magmatism have been identified in the Jurassic and the early Cretaceous. These correspond to the subduction of the Pacific plate underneath the Eurasian content and to subsequent extensions, respectively (Wu et al., 2005, 2006). Global tomography studies indicate that the subducted Pacific oceanic slab has become stagnant within the mantle transition zone and extended subhorizontally westward beneath the East Asian continent (Fukao et al., 1992; Huang and Zhao, 2006; Chen and Ai, 2009; Van der Hilst and Li, 2010). The western

Prenatal nicotinic exposure prolongs superior laryngeal C-fiber-mediated apnea and bradycardia through enhancing neuronal TRPV1 expression and excitation.

PubMed

Gao, Xiuping; Zhao, Lei; Zhuang, Jianguo; Zang, Na; Xu, Fadi

2017-10-01

Maternal cigarette smoke, including prenatal nicotinic exposure (PNE), is responsible for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The fatal events of SIDS are characterized by severe bradycardia and life-threatening apneas. Although activation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) of superior laryngeal C fibers (SLCFs) could induce bradycardia and apnea and has been implicated in SIDS pathogenesis, how PNE affects the SLCF-mediated cardiorespiratory responses remains unexplored. Here, we tested the hypothesis that PNE would aggravate the SLCF-mediated apnea and bradycardia via up-regulating TRPV1 expression and excitation of laryngeal C neurons in the nodose/jugular (N/J) ganglia. To this end, we compared the following outcomes between control and PNE rat pups at postnatal days 11-14: 1 ) the cardiorespiratory responses to intralaryngeal application of capsaicin (10 µg/ml, 50 µl), a selective stimulant for TRPV1 receptors, in anesthetized preparation; 2 ) immunoreactivity and mRNA of TRPV1 receptors of laryngeal sensory C neurons in the N/J ganglia retrogradely traced by 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate; and 3 ) TRPV1 currents and electrophysiological characteristics of these neurons by using whole-cell patch-clamp technique in vitro Our results showed that PNE markedly prolonged the apneic response and exacerbated the bradycardic response to intralaryngeal perfusion of capsaicin, which was associated with up-regulation of TRPV1 expression in laryngeal C neurons. In addition, PNE increased the TRPV1 currents, depressed the slow delayed rectifier potassium currents, and increased the resting membrane potential of these neurons. Our results suggest that PNE is capable of aggravating the SLCF-mediated apnea and bradycardia through TRPV1 sensitization and neuronal excitation, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of SIDS.-Gao, X., Zhao, L., Zhuang, J., Zang, N., Xu, F. Prenatal nicotinic exposure prolongs superior

Inhibition of Megakaryocyte Differentiation by Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) is Mediated by Macropinocytosis: Implications for ADC-induced Thrombocytopenia.

PubMed

Zhao, Hui; Gulesserian, Sara; Ganesan, Sathish Kumar; Ou, Jimmy; Morrison, Karen; Zeng, Zhilan; Robles, Veronica; Snyder, Josh; Do, Lisa; Aviña, Hector; Karki, Sher; Stover, David R; Doñate, Fernando

2017-09-01

Thrombocytopenia is a common adverse event in cancer patients treated with antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), including AGS-16C3F, an ADC targeting ENPP3 (ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-3) and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1). This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of action of ADC-induced thrombocytopenia. ENPP3 expression in platelets and megakaryocytes (MK) was investigated and shown to be negative. The direct effect of AGS-16C3F on platelets was evaluated using platelet rich plasma following the expression of platelet activation markers. Effects of AGS-16C3F, T-DM1, and control ADCs on maturing megakaryocytes were evaluated in an in vitro system in which human hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) were differentiated into MKs. AGS-16C3F, like T-DM1, did not affect platelets directly, but inhibited MK differentiation by the activity of Cys-mcMMAF, its active metabolite. FcγRIIA did not appear to play an important role in ADC cytotoxicity to differentiating MKs. AGS-16C3F, cytotoxic to MKs, did not bind to FcγRIIA on MKs. Blocking the interaction of T-DM1 with FcγRIIA did not prevent the inhibition of MK differentiation and IgG1-mcMMAF was not as cytotoxic to MKs despite binding to FcγRIIA. Several lines of evidence suggest that internalization of AGS-16C3F into MKs is mediated by macropinocytosis. Macropinocytosis activity of differentiating HSCs correlated with cell sensitivity to AGS-16C3F. AGS-16C3F was colocalized with a macropinocytosis marker, dextran-Texas Red in differentiating MKs. Ethyl isopropyl amiloride (EIPA), a macropinocytosis inhibitor, blocked internalization of dextran-Texas Red and AGS-16C3F. These data support the notion that inhibition of MK differentiation via macropinocytosis-mediated internalization plays a role in ADC-induced thrombocytopenia. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(9); 1877-86. ©2017 AACR See related article by Zhao et al., p. 1866 . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Seismic Structure of Mantle Transition Zone beneath Northwest Pacific Subduction Zone and its Dynamic Implication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, J.; Guo, G.; WANG, X.; Chen, Q.

2017-12-01

The northwest Pacific subduction region is an ideal location to study the interaction between the subducting slab and upper mantle discontinuities. Various and complex geometry of the Pacific subducting slab can be well traced downward from the Kuril, Japan and Izu-Bonin trench using seismicity and tomography images (Fukao and Obayashi, 2013). Due to the sparse distribution of seismic stations in the sea, investigation of the deep mantle structure beneath the broad sea regions is very limited. In this study, we applied the well- developed multiple-ScS reverberations method (Wang et al., 2017) to analyze waveforms recorded by the Chinese Regional Seismic Network, the densely distributed temporary seismic array stations installed in east Asia. A map of the topography of the upper mantle discontinuities beneath the broad oceanic regions in northwest Pacific subduction zone is imaged. We also applied the receiver function analysis to waveforms recorded by stations in northeast China and obtain the detailed topography map beneath east Asia continental regions. We then combine the two kinds of topography of upper mantle discontinuities beneath oceanic and continental regions respectively, which are obtained from totally different methods. A careful image matching and spatial correlation is made in the overlapping study regions to calibrate results with different resolution. This is the first time to show systematically a complete view of the topography of the 410-km and 660-km discontinuities beneath the east Asia "Big mantle wedge" (Zhao and Ohtani, 2009) covering the broad oceanic and continental regions in the Northwestern Pacific Subduction zone. Topography pattern of the 660 and 410 is obtained and discussed. Especially we discovered a broad depression of the 410-km discontinuity covering more than 1000 km in lateral, which seems abnormal in the cold subducting tectonic environment. Based on plate tectonic reconstruction studies and HTHP mineral experiments, we

Stable indications of relic gravitational waves in Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data and forecasts for the Planck mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, W.; Baskaran, D.; Grishchuk, L. P.

2009-10-01

The relic gravitational waves are the cleanest probe of the violent times in the very early history of the Universe. They are expected to leave signatures in the observed cosmic microwave background anisotropies. We significantly improved our previous analysis [W. Zhao, D. Baskaran, and L. P. Grishchuk, Phys. Rev. DPRVDAQ1550-7998 79, 023002 (2009)10.1103/PhysRevD.79.023002] of the 5-year WMAP TT and TE data at lower multipoles ℓ. This more general analysis returned essentially the same maximum likelihood result (unfortunately, surrounded by large remaining uncertainties): The relic gravitational waves are present and they are responsible for approximately 20% of the temperature quadrupole. We identify and discuss the reasons by which the contribution of gravitational waves can be overlooked in a data analysis. One of the reasons is a misleading reliance on data from very high multipoles ℓ and another a too narrow understanding of the problem as the search for B modes of polarization, rather than the detection of relic gravitational waves with the help of all correlation functions. Our analysis of WMAP5 data has led to the identification of a whole family of models characterized by relatively high values of the likelihood function. Using the Fisher matrix formalism we formulated forecasts for Planck mission in the context of this family of models. We explore in detail various “optimistic,” “pessimistic,” and “dream case” scenarios. We show that in some circumstances the B-mode detection may be very inconclusive, at the level of signal-to-noise ratio S/N=1.75, whereas a smarter data analysis can reveal the same gravitational wave signal at S/N=6.48. The final result is encouraging. Even under unfavorable conditions in terms of instrumental noises and foregrounds, the relic gravitational waves, if they are characterized by the maximum likelihood parameters that we found from WMAP5 data, will be detected by Planck at the level S/N=3.65.

SERS substrates for in-situ biosensing (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venugopalan, Priyamvada; Quilis, Nestor; Jakub, Dostalek; Wolfgang, Knoll

2017-06-01

Abstract: Recent years have seen a rapid progress in the field of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) which is attributed to the thriving field of plasmonics [1]. SERS is a susceptible technique that can address basic scientific questions and technological problems. In both cases, it is highly dependent upon the plasmonic substrate, where excitation of the localized surface plasmon resonance enhances the vibrational scattering signal of the analyte molecules adsorbed on to the surface [2]. In this work, using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method we investigate the optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures with tuned plasmonic resonances as a function of dielectric environment and geometric parameters. An optimized geometry will be discussed based on the plasmonic resonant position and the SERS intensity. These SERS substrates will be employed for the detection of changes in conformation caused by interactions between an aptamer and analyte molecules. This will be done by using a microfluidic channel designed within the configuration of the lab-on-a-chip concept based on the intensity changes of the SERS signal. More efficient and reproducible results are obtained for such a quantitative measurement of analytes at low concentration levels. We will also demonstrate that the plasmonic substrates fabricated by top down approach such as e-beam lithography (EBL) and laser interference lithography (LIL) are highly reproducible, robust and can result in high electric field enhancement. Our results demonstrate the potential to use SERS substrates for highly sensitive detection schemes opening up the window for a wide range of applications including biomedical diagnostics, forensic investigation etc. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), project NANOBIOSENSOR (I 2647). References: [1] J. N. Anker, W. P. Hall, O. Lyandres, N. C. Shah, J. Zhao and R. P. V. Duyne., " Biosensing with plasmonic nanosensors," Nature

Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy of Hydrogen in the 784-852 NM Region and Corresponding Line Shape Implementation Into HITRAN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Yan; Wang, Jin; Cheng, Cunfeng; Liu, An-Wen; Hu, Shui-Ming; Wcislo, Piotr; Kochanov, Roman V.; Gordon, Iouli E.; Rothman, Laurence S.

2016-06-01

The hydrogen molecule as the most abundant neutral molecule in the universe is an important object of studies in different areas of science, especially astrophysics. The precision spectroscopy of the hydrogen molecule is particularly useful to verify the quantum electrodynamics theory (QED) in a molecular system. The electric quadrupole transitions of the second overtone of H_2 have been recorded with a high precision cavity ring-down spectrometer. A total of eight lines including the extremely weak S3(5) line in the 784-852 nm range have been observed. The line positions have been determined to an accuracy of 3 × 10-4 cm-1 and the line intensities were determined with a relative accuracy of about 1%. The deviations between the experimental and theoretical frequencies are less than 5 × 10-4 cm-1, which is much smaller than the claimed theoretical uncertainty of 0.0025cm-1. The data from this experiment along with other high-quality H_2 spectra have also been analyzed by the Hartmann-Tran profile as a test case for incorporating parametrization of this profile in the HITRAN database. It was incorporated in the new relational structure of the HITRAN database (www.hitran.org) and into the HITRAN Application Programming Interface (HAPI) for the case of H_2 spectra. Tan Y, Wang J, Cheng C-F, Zhao X-Q, Liu A-W, Hu S-M, J Mol Spectrosc 2014;300:60-4; Tran H, Ngo NH, Hartmann J-M, J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 2013;129:199-203; Wcislo P, Gordon IE, Tran H, Tan Y, Hu S-M, Campargue A, et al., Accepted J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf HighRus Special Issue, 2015 Rothman LS, Gordon IE, Babikov Y, Barbe A, Chris Benner D, Bernath PF, et al., J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 2013;130:4-50; Kochanov RV, Gordon IE, Rothman LS, Wcislo P, Hill C, Wilzewski JS, Submitted to J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf HighRus Special Issue, 2015.

New development of laser ion source for highly charged ion beam production at Institute of Modern Physics (invited).

PubMed

Zhao, H Y; Zhang, J J; Jin, Q Y; Liu, W; Wang, G C; Sun, L T; Zhang, X Z; Zhao, H W

2016-02-01

A laser ion source based on Nd:YAG laser has been being studied at the Institute of Modern Physics for the production of high intensity high charge state heavy ion beams in the past ten years, for possible applications both in a future accelerator complex and in heavy ion cancer therapy facilities. Based on the previous results for the production of multiple-charged ions from a wide range of heavy elements with a 3 J/8 ns Nd:YAG laser [Zhao et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 02B910 (2014)], higher laser energy and intensity in the focal spot are necessary for the production of highly charged ions from the elements heavier than aluminum. Therefore, the laser ion source was upgraded with a new Nd:YAG laser, the maximum energy of which is 8 J and the pulse duration can be adjusted from 8 to 18 ns. Since then, the charge state distributions of ions from various elements generated by the 8 J Nd:YAG laser were investigated for different experimental conditions, such as laser energy, pulse duration, power density in the focal spot, and incidence angle. It was shown that the incidence angle is one of the most important parameters for the production of highly charged ions. The capability of producing highly charged ions from the elements lighter than silver was demonstrated with the incidence angle of 10° and laser power density of 8 × 10(13) W cm(-2) in the focal spot, which makes a laser ion source complementary to the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source for the future accelerator complex especially in terms of the ion beam production from some refractory elements. Nevertheless, great efforts with regard to the extraction of intense ion beams, modification of the ion beam pulse duration, and reliability of the ion source still need to be made for practical applications.

Dynamic response of polyurea subjected to nanosecond rise-time stress waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youssef, George; Gupta, Vijay

2012-08-01

Shaped charges and explosively formed projectiles used in modern warfare can attain speeds as high as 30,000 ft/s. Impacts from these threats are expected to load the armor materials in the 10 to 100 ns timeframe. During this time, the material strains are quite limited but the strain rates are extremely high. To develop armors against such threats it is imperative to understand the dynamic constitutive behavior of materials in the tens of nanoseconds timeframe. Material behavior in this parameter space cannot be obtained by even the most sophisticated plate-impact and split-Hopkinson bar setups that exist within the high energy materials field today. This paper introduces an apparatus and a test method that are based on laser-generated stress waves to obtain such material behaviors. Although applicable to any material system, the test procedures are demonstrated on polyurea which shows unusual dynamic properties. Thin polyurea layers were deformed using laser-generated stress waves with 1-2 ns rise times and 16 ns total duration. The total strain in the samples was less than 3%. Because of the transient nature of the stress wave, the strain rate varied throughout the deformation history of the sample. A peak value of 1.1×105 s-1 was calculated. It was found that the stress-strain characteristics, determined from experimentally recorded incident and transmitted wave profiles, matched satisfactorily with those computed from a 2D wave mechanics simulation in which the polyurea was modeled as a linearly viscoelastic solid with constants derived from the quasi-static experiments. Thus, the test data conformed to the Time-Temperature Superposition (TTS) principle even at extremely high strain rates of our test. This then extends the previous observations of Zhao et al. (Mech. Time-Depend. Mater. 11:289-308, 2007) who showed the applicability of the TTS principle for polyurea in the linearly viscoelastic regime up to peak strain rates of 1200 s-1.

New development of laser ion source for highly charged ion beam production at Institute of Modern Physics (invited)

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

Zhao, H. Y., E-mail: zhaohy@impcas.ac.cn; Zhang, J. J.; Jin, Q. Y.

2016-02-15

A laser ion source based on Nd:YAG laser has been being studied at the Institute of Modern Physics for the production of high intensity high charge state heavy ion beams in the past ten years, for possible applications both in a future accelerator complex and in heavy ion cancer therapy facilities. Based on the previous results for the production of multiple-charged ions from a wide range of heavy elements with a 3 J/8 ns Nd:YAG laser [Zhao et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 02B910 (2014)], higher laser energy and intensity in the focal spot are necessary for the production ofmore » highly charged ions from the elements heavier than aluminum. Therefore, the laser ion source was upgraded with a new Nd:YAG laser, the maximum energy of which is 8 J and the pulse duration can be adjusted from 8 to 18 ns. Since then, the charge state distributions of ions from various elements generated by the 8 J Nd:YAG laser were investigated for different experimental conditions, such as laser energy, pulse duration, power density in the focal spot, and incidence angle. It was shown that the incidence angle is one of the most important parameters for the production of highly charged ions. The capability of producing highly charged ions from the elements lighter than silver was demonstrated with the incidence angle of 10° and laser power density of 8 × 10{sup 13} W cm{sup −2} in the focal spot, which makes a laser ion source complementary to the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source for the future accelerator complex especially in terms of the ion beam production from some refractory elements. Nevertheless, great efforts with regard to the extraction of intense ion beams, modification of the ion beam pulse duration, and reliability of the ion source still need to be made for practical applications.« less

The evolution of 1 AU equatorial solar wind and its association with the morphology of the heliospheric current sheet from solar cycles 23 to 24

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

Zhao, L.; Landi, E.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2014-09-20

The solar wind can be categorized into three types based on its 'freeze-in' temperature (T {sub freeze-in}) in the coronal source: low T {sub freeze-in} wind mostly from coronal holes, high T {sub freeze-in} wind mostly from regions outside of coronal holes, including streamers (helmet streamer and pseudostreamer), active regions, etc., and transient interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) usually possessing the hottest T {sub freeze-in}. The global distribution of these three types of wind has been investigated by examining the most effective T {sub freeze-in} indicator, the O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio, as measured by the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometermore » on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) during 1998-2008 by Zhao et al. In this study, we extend the previous investigation to 2011 June, covering the unusual solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 (2007-2010) and the beginning of solar cycle 24. We find that during the entire solar cycle, from the ascending phase of cycle 23 in 1998 to the ascending phase of cycle 24 in 2011, the average fractions of the low O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio (LOR) wind, the high O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio (HOR) wind, and ICMEs at 1 AU are 50.3%, 39.4%, and 10.3%, respectively; the contributions of the three types of wind evolve with time in very different ways. In addition, we compare the evolution of the HOR wind with two heliospheric current sheet (HCS) parameters, which indicate the latitudinal standard deviation (SD) and the slope (SL) of the HCS on the synoptic Carrington maps at 2.5 solar radii surface. We find that the fraction of HOR wind correlates with SD and SL very well (slightly better with SL than with SD), especially after 2005. This result verifies the link between the production of HOR wind and the morphology of the HCS, implying that at least one of the major sources of the HOR wind must be associated with the HCS.« less

Mechanism and influencing factors on critical pulse width of oil-immersed polymer insulators under short pulses

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

Zhao, Liang, E-mail: zhaoliang@ninit.ac.cn; Li, Rui; Zheng, Lei

2015-04-15

The critical pulse width (τ{sub c}) is a pulse width at which the surface flashover threshold (E{sub f}) is equal to the bulk breakdown threshold (E{sub BD}) for liquid-polymer composite insulation systems, which is discovered by Zhao et al. [Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society, Shenzhen, China, 2013), Vol. 2, pp. 854–857]. In this paper, the mechanism of τ{sub c} is interpreted in perspective of the threshold and the time delay (t{sub d}) of surface flashover and bulk breakdown, respectively. It is found that two changes appear as the pulse widthmore » decreases which are responsible for the existence of τ{sub c}: (1) E{sub BD} is lower than E{sub f}; (2) t{sub d} of bulk breakdown is shorter than t{sub d} of surface flashover. In addition, factors which have influences on τ{sub c} are investigated, such as the dielectric type, the insulation length, the dielectric thickness, the dielectrics configuration, the pulse number, and the liquid purity. These influences of factors are generalized as three types if τ{sub c} is expected to increase: (1) factors causing E{sub BD} to decrease, such as increasing the pulse number or employing a dielectric of lower E{sub BD}; (2) factors causing E{sub f} to increase, such as complicating the insulator's configuration or increasing the liquid purity; (3) factors causing E{sub BD} and E{sub f} to increase together, but E{sub f} increases faster than E{sub BD}, such as decreasing the dielectric thickness or the insulation length. With the data in references, all the three cases are verified experimentally. In the end, a general method based on τ{sub c} for solid insulation design is presented and the significance of τ{sub c} on solid insulation design and on solid demolition are discussed.« less

Analyzing and Predicting User Participations in Online Health Communities: A Social Support Perspective.

PubMed

Wang, Xi; Zhao, Kang; Street, Nick

2017-04-24

Online health communities (OHCs) have become a major source of social support for people with health problems. Members of OHCs interact online with similar peers to seek, receive, and provide different types of social support, such as informational support, emotional support, and companionship. As active participations in an OHC are beneficial to both the OHC and its users, it is important to understand factors related to users' participations and predict user churn for user retention efforts. This study aimed to analyze OHC users' Web-based interactions, reveal which types of social support activities are related to users' participation, and predict whether and when a user will churn from the OHC. We collected a large-scale dataset from a popular OHC for cancer survivors. We used text mining techniques to decide what kinds of social support each post contained. We illustrated how we built text classifiers for 5 different social support categories: seeking informational support (SIS), providing informational support (PIS), seeking emotional support (SES), providing emotional support (PES), and companionship (COM). We conducted survival analysis to identify types of social support related to users' continued participation. Using supervised machine learning methods, we developed a predictive model for user churn. Users' behaviors to PIS, SES, and COM had hazard ratios significantly lower than 1 (0.948, 0.972, and 0.919, respectively) and were indicative of continued participations in the OHC. The churn prediction model based on social support activities offers accurate predictions on whether and when a user will leave the OHC. Detecting different types of social support activities via text mining contributes to better understanding and prediction of users' participations in an OHC. The outcome of this study can help the management and design of a sustainable OHC via more proactive and effective user retention strategies. ©Xi Wang, Kang Zhao, Nick Street. Originally

Time-dependent evolution of functional vs. remodeling signaling in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and induced maturation with biomechanical stimulation.

PubMed

Jung, Gwanghyun; Fajardo, Giovanni; Ribeiro, Alexandre J S; Kooiker, Kristina Bezold; Coronado, Michael; Zhao, Mingming; Hu, Dong-Qing; Reddy, Sushma; Kodo, Kazuki; Sriram, Krishna; Insel, Paul A; Wu, Joseph C; Pruitt, Beth L; Bernstein, Daniel

2016-04-01

Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are a powerful platform for uncovering disease mechanisms and assessing drugs for efficacy/toxicity. However, the accuracy with which hiPSC-CMs recapitulate the contractile and remodeling signaling of adult cardiomyocytes is not fully known. We used β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) signaling as a prototype to determine the evolution of signaling component expression and function during hiPSC-CM maturation. In "early" hiPSC-CMs (less than or equal to d 30), β2-ARs are a primary source of cAMP/PKA signaling. With longer culture, β1-AR signaling increases: from 0% of cAMP generation at d 30 to 56.8 ± 6.6% by d 60. PKA signaling shows a similar increase: 15.7 ± 5.2% (d 30), 49.8 ± 0.5% (d 60), and 71.0 ± 6.1% (d 90). cAMP generation increases 9-fold from d 30 to 60, with enhanced coupling to remodeling pathways (e.g., Akt and Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II) and development of caveolin-mediated signaling compartmentalization. By contrast, cardiotoxicity induced by chronic β-AR stimulation, a major component of heart failure, develops much later: 5% cell death at d 30vs 55% at d 90. Moreover, β-AR maturation can be accelerated by biomechanical stimulation. The differential maturation of β-AR functionalvs remodeling signaling in hiPSC-CMs has important implications for their use in disease modeling and drug testing. We propose that assessment of signaling be added to the indices of phenotypic maturation of hiPSC-CMs.-Jung, G., Fajardo, G., Ribeiro, A. J. S., Kooiker, K. B., Coronado, M., Zhao, M., Hu, D.-Q., Reddy, S., Kodo, K., Sriram, K., Insel, P. A., Wu, J. C., Pruitt, B. L., Bernstein, D. Time-dependent evolution of functionalvs remodeling signaling in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and induced maturation with biomechanical stimulation. © FASEB.

Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime.

PubMed

Stockwell, Tim; Zhao, Jinhui; Sherk, Adam; Callaghan, Russell C; Macdonald, Scott; Gatley, Jodi

2017-07-01

Saskatchewan's introduction in April 2010 of minimum prices graded by alcohol strength led to an average minimum price increase of 9.1% per Canadian standard drink (=13.45 g ethanol). This increase was shown to be associated with reduced consumption and switching to lower alcohol content beverages. Police also informally reported marked reductions in night-time alcohol-related crime. This study aims to assess the impacts of changes to Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol-pricing regulations between 2008 and 2012 on selected crime events often related to alcohol use. Data were obtained from Canada's Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time series models were used to test immediate and lagged associations between minimum price increases and rates of night-time and police identified alcohol-related crimes. Controls were included for simultaneous crime rates in the neighbouring province of Alberta, economic variables, linear trend, seasonality and autoregressive and/or moving-average effects. The introduction of increased minimum-alcohol prices was associated with an abrupt decrease in night-time alcohol-related traffic offences for men (-8.0%, P < 0.001), but not women. No significant immediate changes were observed for non-alcohol-related driving offences, disorderly conduct or violence. Significant monthly lagged effects were observed for violent offences (-19.7% at month 4 to -18.2% at month 6), which broadly corresponded to lagged effects in on-premise alcohol sales. Increased minimum alcohol prices may contribute to reductions in alcohol-related traffic-related and violent crimes perpetrated by men. Observed lagged effects for violent incidents may be due to a delay in bars passing on increased prices to their customers, perhaps because of inventory stockpiling. [Stockwell T, Zhao J, Sherk A, Callaghan RC, Macdonald S, Gatley J. Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol

High Resolution Infrared Spectra of Plasma Jet-Cooled - and Triacetylene in the C-H Stretch Region by CW Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, D.; Guss, J.; Walsh, A.; Doney, K.; Linnartz, H.

2013-06-01

Polyacetylenes form an important series of unsaturated hydrocarbons that are of astrophysical interest. Small polyacetylenes have been detected from infrared observations in dense atmosphere of Titan and in a protoplanetary nebula CRL 618. We present here high-resolution mid-infrared spectra of diacetylene (HC_{4}H) and triacetylene (HC_{6}H) that are recorded in a supersonically expanded pulsed planar plasma using an ultra-sensitive detection technique. This method uses an all fiber-laser-based optical parametric oscillator (OPO), in combination with continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy (cw-CRDS) as a direct absorption detection tool. A hardware-based multi-trigger concept is developed to apply cw-CRDS to pulsed plasmas. Vibrationally hot but rotationally cold HC_{4}H and HC_{6}H are produced by discharging a C_{2}H_{2}/He/Ar gas mixture which is supersonically expanded into a vacuum chamber through a slit discharge nozzle. Experimental spectra are recorded at a resolution of ˜100 MHz in the 3305-3340 cm^{-1} region, which is characteristic of the C-H stretch vibrations of HC_{4}H and HC_{6}H. Jet-cooling in our experiment reduces the rotational temperature of both HC_{4}H and HC_{6}H to <20 K. In total, ˜2000 lines are measured. More than fourteen (vibrationally hot) bands for HC_{4}H and four bands for HC_{6}H are assigned based on Loomis-Wood diagrams, and nearly half of these bands are analyzed for the first time. For both molecules improved and new molecular constants of a series of vibrational levels are presented. The accurate molecular data reported here, particularly those for low-lying (bending) vibrational levels may be used to interpret the ro-vibrational transitions in the FIR and submillimeter/THz region. D. Zhao, J. Guss, A. Walsh, H. Linnartz Chem. Phys. Lett., {dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2013.02.025}, in press, 2013.

Control of electron spin decoherence in nuclear spin baths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ren-Bao

2011-03-01

. This work was supported by Hong Kong RGC/GRF CUHK402207, CUHK402209, and CUHK402410. The author acknowledges collaboration with Nan Zhao, Jian-Liang Hu, Sai Wah Ho, Jones T. K. Wan, and Jiangfeng Du.

Modifications of Morphometrical and Physiological Parameters of Pepper Plants Grown on Artificial Nutrient Medium for Experiments in Spaceflight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nechitailo, Galina S.

2016-07-01

MODIFICATIONS OF MORPHOMETRICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF PEPPER PLANTS GROWN ON ARTIFICIAL NUTRIENT MEDIUM FOR EXPERIMENTS IN SPACEFLIGHT Lui Min*, Zhao Hui*, Chen Yu*, Lu Jinying*, Li Huasheng*, Sun Qiao*, Nechitajlo G.S.**, Glushchenko N.N.*** *Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), **Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCP RAS) mail: spacemal@mail.ru ***V.L. Talrose Institute for Energy Problems of Chemical Physics of Russian Academy of Science (INEPCP RAS) mail: nnglu@ mail.ru In circumstances of space flights, long residence of the staff at space stations and space settlements an optimal engineering system of the life-support allowing to solve a number of technical and psychological problems for successful work and a life of cosmonauts, researchers, etc. is important and prime. In this respect it is necessary to consider growing plants on board of spacecraft as one of the units in a life-support system. It is feasible due to modern development of biotechnologies in growing plants allowing us to receive materials with new improved properties. Thus, a composition and ratio of components of nutrient medium can considerably influence on plants properties. We have developed the nutrient medium in which essential metals such as iron, zinc, copper were added in an electroneutral state in the form of nanoparticles instead of sulfates or other salts of the same metals. Such replacement is appropriate through unique nanoparticles properties: metal nanoparticles are less toxic than their corresponding ionic forms; nanoparticles produce a prolonged effect, serving as a depot for elements in an organism; nanoparticles introduced in biotic doses stimulate the metabolic processes of the organism; nanoparticles effect is multifunctional. Pepper strain LJ-king was used for growing on a nutrient medium with ferrous, zinc, copper nanoparticles in different concentrations. Pepper plants grown on

Analysis of the Source and Ground Motions from the 2017 M8.2 Tehuantepec and M7.1 Puebla Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melgar, D.; Sahakian, V. J.; Perez-Campos, X.; Quintanar, L.; Ramirez-Guzman, L.; Spica, Z.; Espindola, V. H.; Ruiz-Angulo, A.; Cabral-Cano, E.; Baltay, A.; Geng, J.

2017-12-01

The September 2017 Tehuantepec and Puebla earthquakes were intra-slab earthquakes that together caused significant damage in broad regions of Mexico, including the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, and Mexico City. Ground motions in Mexico City have approximately the same angle of incidence from both earthquakes and potentially sample similar paths close to the city. We examine site effects and source terms by analysis of residuals between Ground-Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) and observed ground motions for both of these events at stations from the Servicio Sismólogico Nacional, Instituto de Ingeniería, and the Instituto de Geofísica Red del Valle de Mexico networks. GMPEs are a basis for seismic design, but also provide median ground motion values to act as a basis for comparison of individual earthquakes and site responses. First, we invert for finite-fault slip inversions for Tehuantepec with high-rate GPS, static GPS, tide gauge and DART buoy data, and for Puebla with high-rate GPS and strong motion data. Using the distance from the stations with ground motion observations to the derived slip models, we use the GMPEs of Garcia et al. (2005), Zhao et al. (2006), and Abrahamson, Silva and Kamai (2014), to compute predicted values of peak ground acceleration and velocity (PGA and PGV) and response spectral accelerations (SA). Residuals between observed and predicted ground motion parameters are then computed for each recording, and are decomposed into event and site components using a mixed effects regression. We analyze these residuals as an adjustment away from median ground motions in the region to glean information about the earthquake source properties, as well as local site response in and outside of the Mexico City basin. The event and site terms are then compared with available values of stress drop for the two earthquakes, and Vs30 values for the sites, respectively. This analysis is useful in determining which GMPE is most

Testing the high turbulence level breakdown of low-frequency gyrokinetics against high-frequency cyclokinetic simulations

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

Deng, Zhao, E-mail: zhao.deng@foxmail.com; Waltz, R. E.

2015-05-15

This paper presents numerical simulations of the nonlinear cyclokinetic equations in the cyclotron harmonic representation [R. E. Waltz and Zhao Deng, Phys. Plasmas 20, 012507 (2013)]. Simulations are done with a local flux-tube geometry and with the parallel motion and variation suppressed using a newly developed rCYCLO code. Cyclokinetic simulations dynamically follow the high-frequency ion gyro-phase motion which is nonlinearly coupled into the low-frequency drift-waves possibly interrupting and suppressing gyro-averaging and increasing the transport over gyrokinetic levels. By comparing the more fundamental cyclokinetic simulations with the corresponding gyrokinetic simulations, the breakdown of gyrokinetics at high turbulence levels is quantitatively testedmore » over a range of relative ion cyclotron frequency 10 < Ω*{sup  }< 100 where Ω*{sup  }= 1/ρ*, and ρ* is the relative ion gyroradius. The gyrokinetic linear mode rates closely match the cyclokinetic low-frequency rates for Ω*{sup  }> 5. Gyrokinetic transport recovers cyclokinetic transport at high relative ion cyclotron frequency (Ω*{sup  }≥ 50) and low turbulence level as required. Cyclokinetic transport is found to be lower than gyrokinetic transport at high turbulence levels and low-Ω* values with stable ion cyclotron (IC) modes. The gyrokinetic approximation is found to break down when the density perturbations exceed 20%. For cyclokinetic simulations with sufficiently unstable IC modes and sufficiently low Ω*{sup  }∼ 10, the high-frequency component of cyclokinetic transport level can exceed the gyrokinetic transport level. However, the low-frequency component of the cyclokinetic transport and turbulence level does not exceed that of gyrokinetics. At higher and more physically relevant Ω*{sup  }≥ 50 values and physically realistic IC driving rates, the low-frequency component of the cyclokinetic transport and turbulence level is still smaller than that of

Rapid Generation of Superheated Steam Using a Water-containing Porous Material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mori, Shoji; Okuyama, Kunito

Heat treatment by superheated steam has been utilized in several industrial fields including sterilization, desiccation, and cooking. In particular, cooking by superheated steam is receiving increased attention because it has advantages of reducing the salt and fat contents in foods as well as suppressing the oxidation of vitamin C and fat. In this application, quick startup and cut-off responses are required. Most electrically energized steam generators require a relatively long time to generate superheated steam due to the large heat capacities of the water in container and of the heater. Zhao and Liao (2002) introduced a novel process for rapid vaporization of subcooled liquid, in which a low-thermal-conductivity porous wick containing water is heated by a downward-facing grooved heating block in contact with the upper surface of the wick structure. They showed that saturated steam is generated within approximately 30 seconds from room-temperature water at a heat flux 41.2 kW⁄m2. In order to quickly generate superheated steam of approximately 300°C, which is required for cooking, the heat capacity of the heater should be as small as possible and the imposed heat flux should be so high enough that the porous wick is able to dry out in the vicinity of the contact with the heater and that the resulting heater temperature becomes much higher than the saturation temperature. The present paper proposes a simple structured generator to quickly produce superheated steam. Only a fine wire heater is contacted spirally on the inside wall in a hollow porous material. The start-up, cut-off responses and the rate of energy conversion for input power are investigated experimentally. Superheated steam of 300°C is produced in approximately 19 seconds from room-temperature water for an input power of 300 W. The maximum rate of energy conversion in the steady state is approximately 0.9.

Vortex, ULF wave and Aurora Observation after Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Q.

2017-12-01

Here we will summarize our recent study and show some new results on the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere Response to Dynamic Pressure Change/disturbances in the Solar Wind and foreshock regions. We study the step function type solar wind dynamic pressure change (increase/decrease) interaction with the magnetosphere using THEMIS satellites at both dayside and nightside in different geocentric distances. Vortices generated by the dynamic pressure change passing along the magnetopause are found and compared with model predictions. ULF waves and vortices are excited in the dayside and nightside plasma sheet when dynamic pressure change hit the magnetotail. The related ionospheric responses, such as aurora and TCVs, are also investigated. We compare Global MHD simulations with the observations. We will also show some new results that dayside magnetospheric FLRs might be caused by foreshock structures.Shi, Q. Q. et al. (2013), THEMIS observations of ULF wave excitation in the nightside plasma sheet during sudden impulse events, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 118, doi:10.1029/2012JA017984. Shi, Q. Q. et al. (2014), Solar wind pressure pulse-driven magnetospheric vortices and their global consequences, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, doi:10.1002/2013JA019551. Tian, A.M. et al.(2016), Dayside magnetospheric and ionospheric responses to solar wind pressure increase: Multispacecraft and ground observations, J. Geophys. Res., 121, doi:10.1002/2016JA022459. Shen, X.C. et al.(2015), Magnetospheric ULF waves with increasing amplitude related to solar wind dynamic pressure changes: THEMIS observations, J. Geophys. Res., 120, doi:10.1002/2014JA020913Zhao, H. Y. et al. (2016), Magnetospheric vortices and their global effect after a solar wind dynamic pressure decrease, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 121, doi:10.1002/2015JA021646. Shen, X. C., et al. (2017), Dayside magnetospheric ULF wave frequency modulated by a solar wind dynamic pressure negative impulse, J. Geophys. Res

Applying time-frequency analysis to assess cerebral autoregulation during hypercapnia.

PubMed

Placek, Michał M; Wachel, Paweł; Iskander, D Robert; Smielewski, Peter; Uryga, Agnieszka; Mielczarek, Arkadiusz; Szczepański, Tomasz A; Kasprowicz, Magdalena

2017-01-01

Classic methods for assessing cerebral autoregulation involve a transfer function analysis performed using the Fourier transform to quantify relationship between fluctuations in arterial blood pressure (ABP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV). This approach usually assumes the signals and the system to be stationary. Such an presumption is restrictive and may lead to unreliable results. The aim of this study is to present an alternative method that accounts for intrinsic non-stationarity of cerebral autoregulation and the signals used for its assessment. Continuous recording of CBFV, ABP, ECG, and end-tidal CO2 were performed in 50 young volunteers during normocapnia and hypercapnia. Hypercapnia served as a surrogate of the cerebral autoregulation impairment. Fluctuations in ABP, CBFV, and phase shift between them were tested for stationarity using sphericity based test. The Zhao-Atlas-Marks distribution was utilized to estimate the time-frequency coherence (TFCoh) and phase shift (TFPS) between ABP and CBFV in three frequency ranges: 0.02-0.07 Hz (VLF), 0.07-0.20 Hz (LF), and 0.20-0.35 Hz (HF). TFPS was estimated in regions locally validated by statistically justified value of TFCoh. The comparison of TFPS with spectral phase shift determined using transfer function approach was performed. The hypothesis of stationarity for ABP and CBFV fluctuations and the phase shift was rejected. Reduced TFPS was associated with hypercapnia in the VLF and the LF but not in the HF. Spectral phase shift was also decreased during hypercapnia in the VLF and the LF but increased in the HF. Time-frequency method led to lower dispersion of phase estimates than the spectral method, mainly during normocapnia in the VLF and the LF. The time-frequency method performed no worse than the classic one and yet may offer benefits from lower dispersion of phase shift as well as a more in-depth insight into the dynamic nature of cerebral autoregulation.

Creating and Probing Graphene Electron Optics with Local Scanning Probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stroscio, Joseph

Ballistic propagation and the light-like dispersion of graphene charge carriers make graphene an attractive platform for optics-inspired graphene electronics where gate tunable potentials can control electron refraction and transmission. In analogy to optical wave propagation in lenses, mirrors and metamaterials, gate potentials can be used to create a negative index of refraction for Veselago lensing and Fabry-Pérot interferometers. In circular geometries, gate potentials can induce whispering gallery modes (WGM), similar to optical and acoustic whispering galleries albeit on a much smaller length scale. Klein scattering of Dirac carriers plays a central role in determining the coherent propagation of electron waves in these resonators. In this talk, I examine the probing of electron resonators in graphene confined by linear and circular gate potentials with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The tip in the STM tunnel junction serves both as a tunable local gate potential, and as a probe of the graphene states through tunneling spectroscopy. A combination of a back gate potential, Vg, and tip potential, Vb, creates and controls a circular pn junction that confines the WGM graphene states. The resonances are observed in two separate channels in the tunneling spectroscopy experiment: first, by directly tunneling into the state at the bias energy eVb, and, second, by tunneling from the resonance at the Fermi level as the state is gated by the tip potential. The second channel produces a fan-like set of WGM peaks, reminiscent of the fringes seen in planar geometries by transport measurements. The WGM resonances split in a small applied magnetic field, with a large energy splitting approaching the WGM spacing at 0.5 T. These results agree well with recent theory on Klein scattering in graphene electron resonators. This work is done in collaboration with Y. Zhao, J. Wyrick, F.D. Natterer, J. F. Rodriquez-Nieva, C. Lewandoswski, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, N. B

1D minimum p-velocity model of the Kamchatka subducting zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nizkous, I.; Sanina, I.; Gontovaya, L.

2003-04-01

Kamchatka peninsula is a very active seismic zone. The old Pacific plate subducts below the North American Plate and this causes high seismic and volcanic activity in this region. The extensive Kamchatka Regional Seismic Network (KRSN) has operated since 1962 and registers around 600 earthquakes per year. This provides a large number of high quality seismic data. In this work we are investigate P-velocity structure of the Kamchatka peninsula and subducting zone in Western Pacific. This region is well studied, but we would like to try a little bit different approach. We would like to present 1D minimum P-velocity model of the Kamchatka region created using VELEST program [3]. Data set based on 84 well-located earthquakes (IP, EP, IS and ES phases) recorded by KRSN in 1998 and in 1999. As the initial model Kuzin's model have been taken [1]. But in our calculations we split model into 17 layers instead of initial 5. Maximal investigated depth is 120 km. Using VELEST simultaneous mode we solve coupled hypocenter-velocity model problem for local earthquakes. In this case it is very important to utilize well locatable events for the sake of minimizing a priori added uncertainties. And this is major point of the approach. We apply this idea and the result is looks like the result obtained by A. Gorbatov et. al. [2] Using this 1D minimum model we redefine earthquakes hypocenter parameters and recalculate p-wave travel time residuals. This work is the first step in 3D modeling of the Kamchatka subducting zone. References: 1. I.P Kuzin. 'Focal zone and upper mantle structure of the East Kamchatka region', Moscow, Nauka, 1974. 2. A. Gorbatov, J. Domingues, G.Suarez, V.kostoglodov, D.Zhao, and E. Gordeev, 'Tomographic imaging of the P-wave velocity structure beneath the Kamchatka peninsula', Geophys. J. Int, 1999, 137, 269-279. 3. Kissling, E., W.L. Ellsworth, D. Eberhart-Phillips, and U. Kradolfer: Initial reference models in local earthquake tomography, J. Geophys. Res., 99

Activation of Nrf2 contributes to the protective effect of Exendin-4 against angiotensin II-induced vascular smooth muscle cell senescence.

PubMed

Zhou, Tengfei; Zhang, Mengqian; Zhao, Liang; Li, Aiqin; Qin, Xiaomei

2016-10-01

Oxidative stress and impaired antioxidant defense are believed to be contributors to the cardiovascular aging process. The transcription factor nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays a key role in orchestrating cellular antioxidant defenses and maintaining redox homeostasis. Our previous study showed that Exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide-1 analog, alleviates angiotensin II (ANG II)-induced vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) senescence by inhibiting Rac1 activation via cAMP/PKA (Zhao L, Li AQ, Zhou TF, Zhang MQ, Qin XM. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 307: C1130-C1141, 2014). The objective of this study is to investigate if Nrf2 mediates the antisenescent effect of Exendin-4 in ANG II-induced VSMCs. Here we report that Exendin-4 triggered Nrf2 nuclear translocation, a downstream target of cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB) and expressions of antioxidant genes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO-1) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, knock-down of Nrf2 attenuated the inhibitory effects of Exendin-4 on ANG II-induced superoxidant generation and VSMC senescence. PKA/CREB pathway participated in the upregulations of HO-1 and NQO-1 induced by Exendin-4. Notably, our study revealed that Exendin-4 dose-dependently increased the acetylation of Nrf2 and the recruitment of transcriptional coactivator CREB binding protein (CBP) to Nrf2. The Exendin-4-induced Nrf2 transactivation was diminished in the presence of CBP small interfering RNA. Microscope imaging of Nrf2, as well as immunoblotting for Nrf2, showed that the Exendin-4-evoked Nrf2 acetylation favored its nuclear retention. Importantly, CBP silencing attenuated the suppressing effects of Exendin-4 on ANG II-induced VSMC senescence and superoxidant production. In conclusion, these results provide a mechanistic insight into how Nrf2 signaling mediates the antisenescent and antioxidative effects induced by Exendin-4 in VSMCs. Copyright © 2016 the American

New insights on the collisional escape of light neutrals from Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gacesa, Marko; Zahnle, Kevin

2017-04-01

Photodissociative recombination (PDR) of atmospheric molecules on Mars is a major mechanism of production of hot (suprathermal) atoms with sufficient kinetic energy to either directly escape to space or to eject other atmospheric species. This collisional ejection mechanism is important for evaluating the escape rates of all light neutrals that are too heavy to escape via Jeans escape. In particular, it plays a role in estimating the total volume of escaped water constituents (i.e., O and H) from Mars, as well as influences evolution of the atmospheric [D]/[H] ratio1. We present revised estimates of total collisional escape rates of neutral light elements including H, He, and H2, based on recent (years 2015-2016) atmospheric density profiles obtained from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission. We also estimate the contribution to the collisional escape from Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) produced in charge-exchange of solar wind H+ and He+ ions with atmospheric gases2,3. Scattering of hot oxygen and atmospheric species of interest is modeled using fully-quantum reactive scattering formalism1,3. The escape rates are evaluated using a 1D model of the atmosphere supplemented with MAVEN measurements of the neutrals. Finally, new estimates of contributions of these non-thermal mechanisms to the estimated PDR escape rates from young Mars4 are presented. [1] M. Gacesa and V. Kharchenko, "Non-thermal escape of molecular hydrogen from Mars", Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L10203 (2012). [2] N. Lewkow and V. Kharchenko, "Precipitation of Energetic Neutral Atoms and Escape Fluxes induced from the Mars Atmosphere", Astroph. J., 790, 98 (2014). [3] M. Gacesa, N. Lewkow, and V. Kharchenko, "Non-thermal production and escape of OH from the upper atmosphere of Mars", Icarus 284, 90 (2017). [4] J. Zhao, F. Tian, Y. Ni, and X. Huang, "DR-induced escape of O and C from early Mars", Icarus 284, 305 (2017).

A Quantitative Evaluation of SCEC Community Velocity Model Version 3.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, P.; Zhao, L.; Jordan, T. H.

2003-12-01

We present a systematic methodology for evaluating and improving 3D seismic velocity models using broadband waveform data from regional earthquakes. The operator that maps a synthetic waveform into an observed waveform is expressed in the Rytov form D(ω ) = {exp}[{i} ω δ τ {p}(ω ) - ω δ τ {q}(ω )]. We measure the phase delay time δ τ p(ω ) and the amplitude reduction time δ τ q(ω ) as a function of frequency ω using Gee & Jordan's [1992] isolation-filter technique, and we correct the data for frequency-dependent interference and frequency-independent source statics. We have applied this procedure to a set of small events in Southern California. Synthetic seismograms were computed using three types of velocity models: the 1D Standard Southern California Crustal Model (SoCaL) [Dreger & Helmberger, 1993], the 3D SCEC Community Velocity Model, Version 3.0 (CVM3.0) [Magistrale et al., 2000], and a set of path-averaged 1D models (A1D) extracted from CVM3.0 by horizontally averaging wave slownesses along source-receiver paths. The 3D synthetics were computed using K. Olsen's finite difference code. More than 1000 measurements were made on both P and S waveforms at frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 1 Hz. Overall, the 3D model provided a substantially better fit to the waveform data than either laterally homogeneous or path-dependent 1D models. Relative to SoCaL, CVM3.0 provided a variance reduction of about 64% in δ τ p, and 41% in δ τ q. Relative to A1D, the variance reduction is about 46% and 20%, respectively. The same set of measurements can be employed to invert for both seismic source properties and seismic velocity structures. Fully numerical methods are being developed to compute the Fréchet kernels for these measurements [L. Zhao et. al., this meeting]. This methodology thus provides a unified framework for regional studies of seismic sources and Earth structure in Southern California and elsewhere.

OSL dating of fine-grained quartz from Holocene Yangtze delta sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugisaki, S.; Buylaert, J. P.; Murray, A. S.; Tada, R.; Zheng, H.; Ke, W.; Saito, K.; Irino, T.; Chao, L.; Shiyi, L.; Uchida, M.

2014-12-01

Flood events in the Yangtze River are associated with variation in East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) precipitation. Understanding the frequency and scale of the EASM precipitation during the Holocene is a key to understanding the mechanism and cyclicity of floods and droughts. Because about 70% of the annual discharge occurs during the flood season, the Yangtze delta sediments provide a good archive of EASM precipitation. In this study, we investigate the possibility of applying OSL dating to establishing high-resolution chronologies for the Yangtze delta sediment cores YD13-1H and G3. The objectives of this study are: (1) test whether fine grained quartz in present day suspended particle matter (SPM) is fully bleached or reset before deposition, (2) where possible, test quartz fine- and coarse-grain OSL dating against radiocarbon shell ages, (3) interpret the sediment transport processes through the differential bleaching of quartz and feldspar OSL signals. We show that the SPM collected from the surface water column of the Yangtze River during the flood season is well-bleached (offset ~60 years). Fine-grained pro-delta sediments are thus potentially a good dosimeter for OSL dating. OSL ages sediment cores indicate a pronounced change in sedimentation rate at ~6 ka and ~2ka. These events are consistent with what is known of the evolution of the Yangtze catchment and delta. The delta began to build at ~6 ka (Zhao et al., 1979), and human activities increased significantly in the catchment at ~2ka　(Chen et al., 1985). It is however surprising that the entire top 9 m of sediment only records these two events. The question of whether significant deposition was limited to 2 ka and 6 ka, or whether the record has been disturbed by erosion/reworking remains. These issues are discussed in terms of the reliability of the quartz OSL ages, the degree of bleaching by comparison with polymineral OSL signals, and the relationship of the OSL ages to the sedimentary record.

Using Symmetry Group Correlation Tables to Explain why Erham (and Other Programs) cannot BE Used to Analyze Torsional Splittings of Some Molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groner, Peter

2016-06-01

ERHAM has been used to analyze rotational spectra of many molecules with torsional splitting caused by one or two internal rotors. The gauche form of dimethyl ether-d1 whose equilibrium structure has C1 symmetry is an example of a molecule for which ERHAM could not model additional small splittings resolvable for many transitions, whereas the spectrum of the symmetric (anti, trans) form with a C{_s} equilibrium structure could be analyzed successfully with ERHAM. A more recent example where ERHAM failed is pinacolone CH_3-CO-C(CH_3)_3. In this case, the barriers to internal rotation of the methyl groups within the -C(CH_3)_3 unit are too high to produce observable internal rotation splittings, but the splittings due to the CH_3-CO methyl group could not be modeled correctly with ERHAM nor with any other available program (XIAM, BELGI-Cs, BELGI-C1, RAM36). In the paper, it was speculated that BELGI-Cs-2tops might be able to the job, but arguments against this possibility have also been put forward. The correlation between irreducible representations of groups and their subgroups according to Watson can be used not only to determine the total number of substates (components) to be expected but also to help decide which particular program has a chance for a successful analysis. As it turns out, the number of components of split lines depends on the molecular symmetry at equilibrium in relation to the highest possible symmetry for a given molecular symmetry group. Therefore, for pinacolone, the vibrational ground state is split into 10 torsional substates. P. Groner, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 278 (2012) 52-67. C. Richard et al. A&A 552 (2013), A117. Y. Zhao et al., J. Mol. Spectrosc. 318 (2015) 91-100, with references to all other programs mentioned in the abstract. J. K. G. Watson, Can. J. Physics 43 (1965) 1996-2007.

Methamphetamine exposure triggers apoptosis and autophagy in neuronal cells by activating the C/EBPβ-related signaling pathway.

PubMed

Xu, Xiang; Huang, Enping; Luo, Baoying; Cai, Dunpeng; Zhao, Xu; Luo, Qin; Jin, Yili; Chen, Ling; Wang, Qi; Liu, Chao; Lin, Zhoumeng; Xie, Wei-Bing; Wang, Huijun

2018-06-25

Methamphetamine (Meth) is a widely abused psychoactive drug that primarily damages the nervous system, notably causing dopaminergic neuronal apoptosis. CCAAT-enhancer binding protein (C/EBPβ) is a transcription factor and an important regulator of cell apoptosis and autophagy. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP5) is a proapoptotic factor that mediates Meth-induced neuronal apoptosis, and Trib3 (tribbles pseudokinase 3) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-inducible gene involved in autophagic cell death through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. To test the hypothesis that C/EBPβ is involved in Meth-induced IGFBP5-mediated neuronal apoptosis and Trib3-mediated neuronal autophagy, we measured the protein expression of C/EBPβ after Meth exposure and evaluated the effects of silencing C/EBPβ, IGFBP5, or Trib3 on Meth-induced apoptosis and autophagy in neuronal cells and in the rat striatum after intrastriatal Meth injection. We found that, at relatively high doses, Meth exposure increased C/EBPβ protein expression, which was accompanied by increased neuronal apoptosis and autophagy; triggered the IGFBP5-mediated, p53-up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA)-related mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway; and stimulated the Trib3-mediated ER stress signaling pathway through the Akt-mTOR signaling axis. We also found that autophagy is an early response to Meth-induced stress upstream of apoptosis and plays a detrimental role in Meth-induced neuronal cell death. These results suggest that Meth exposure induces C/EBPβ expression, which plays an essential role in the neuronal apoptosis and autophagy induced by relatively high doses of Meth; however, relatively low concentrations of Meth did not change the expression of C/EBPβ in vitro. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of C/EBPβ in low-dose Meth-induced neurotoxicity.-Xu, X., Huang, E., Luo, B., Cai, D., Zhao, X., Luo, Q., Jin, Y., Chen, L., Wang, Q

Reduced graphene oxide as photocatalyst for CO2 reduction reaction(Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yu-Chung

2016-10-01

Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to hydrocarbons such as methanol makes possible simultaneous solar energy harvesting and CO2 reduction. Our previous work is using graphene oxide (GO) as a promising photocatalyst for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to methanol[1].When using graphene oxide as photocatalyst, the photocatalytic efficiency is 4-flod higher than TiO2 powder. GO has a lot of defects on the surface and those defects make sp2 carbon structure become sp3 carbon structure. The carbon structure change cause the GO has large energy gap about 2.7 eV to 3.2 eV. In order to remove the defect and reduce the energy gap of GO, Zhao et al. try to annealing GO powder in the nitrogen atmosphere at 900oC, the GO structure can be reduced to near graphene structure[2]. Zhu et al. do some low temperature annealing, it can control the structure and energy bandgap of GO by control annealing temperature. If the annealing temperature increase the bandgap of GO will be reduce[3]. So, we can using this annealing process to reduce the bandgap of the GO. In the varying temperature thermal reduction process, as the temperature increases from 130oC to 170oC, the functional groups of the graphene oxide will be reduced and band gap of graphene oxide will be narrowed at same time. The characteristic of thermal reduced graphene oxide were analyzed by SEM, XRD and Raman measurements. The band position was determined by UV/Vis. The reduction of functional groups correlates to red shift in light absorption and eventual quenching in the PL signal of RGOs. Combining hydrophobicity, light harvesting and PL quench, we get the highest yield of RGO150 (0.31 μmole g-1 -cat hr-1) is 1.7-fold higher than that of GO (0.18μmole g-1 -cat hr-1). This work investigates a modified method for using a thermal reduction process to reduce the energy gap of graphene oxide.

Modulation of intra- and inter-sheet interactions in short peptide self-assembly by acetonitrile in aqueous solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Li; Zhao, Yurong; Zhou, Peng; Xu, Hai; Wang, Yanting

2016-12-01

Besides our previous experimental discovery (Zhao Y R, et al. 2015 Langmuir, 31, 12975) that acetonitrile (ACN) can tune the morphological features of nanostructures self-assembled by short peptides KIIIIK (KI4K) in aqueous solution, further experiments reported in this work demonstrate that ACN can also tune the mass of the self-assembled nanostructures. To understand the microscopic mechanism how ACN molecules interfere peptide self-assembly process, we conducted a series of molecular dynamics simulations on a monomer, a cross-β sheet structure, and a proto-fibril of KI4K in pure water, pure ACN, and ACN-water mixtures, respectively. The simulation results indicate that ACN enhances the intra-sheet interaction dominated by the hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions between peptide backbones, but weakens the inter-sheet interaction dominated by the interactions between hydrophobic side chains. Through analyzing the correlations between different groups of solvent and peptides and the solvent behaviors around the proto-fibril, we have found that both the polar and nonpolar groups of ACN play significant roles in causing the opposite effects on intermolecular interactions among peptides. The weaker correlation of the polar group of ACN than water molecule with the peptide backbone enhances H-bonding interactions between peptides in the proto-fibril. The stronger correlation of the nonpolar group of ACN than water molecule with the peptide side chain leads to the accumulation of ACN molecules around the proto-fibril with their hydrophilic groups exposed to water, which in turn allows more water molecules close to the proto-fibril surface and weakens the inter-sheet interactions. The two opposite effects caused by ACN form a microscopic mechanism clearly explaining our experimental observations. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB932804), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91227115, 11421063

Point-Counterpoint: Cervical Cancer Screening Should Be Done by Primary Human Papillomavirus Testing with Genotyping and Reflex Cytology for Women over the Age of 25 Years

PubMed Central

Zhao, Chengquan

2015-01-01

Screening for cervical cancer with cytology testing has been very effective in reducing cervical cancer in the United States. For decades, the approach was an annual Pap test. In 2000, the Hybrid Capture 2 human papillomavirus (HPV) test was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for screening women who have atypical squamous cells of underdetermined significance (ASCUS) detected by Pap test to determine the need for colposcopy. In 2003, the FDA approved expanding the use of the test to include screening performed in conjunction with a Pap test for women over the age of 30 years, referred to as “cotesting.” Cotesting allows women to extend the testing interval to 3 years if both tests have negative results. In April of 2014, the FDA approved the use of an HPV test (the cobas HPV test) for primary cervical cancer screening for women over the age of 25 years, without the need for a concomitant Pap test. The approval recommended either colposcopy or a Pap test for patients with specific high-risk HPV types detected by the HPV test. This was based on the results of the ATHENA trial, which included more than 40,000 women. Reaction to this decision has been mixed. Supporters point to the fact that the primary-screening algorithm found more disease (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 or worse [CIN3+]) and also found it earlier than did cytology or cotesting. Moreover, the positive predictive value and positive-likelihood ratio of the primary-screening algorithm were higher than those of cytology. Opponents of the decision prefer cotesting, as this approach detects more disease than the HPV test alone. In addition, the performance of this new algorithm has not been assessed in routine clinical use. Professional organizations will need to develop guidelines that incorporate this testing algorithm. In this Point-Counterpoint, Dr. Stoler explains why he favors the primary-screening algorithm, while Drs. Austin and Zhao explain why they prefer the

Hydrothermal activities around Dragon Horn Area (49.7°E) on ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, C.; Liang, J.; Zhang, H.; Li, H.; Egorov, I. V.; Liao, S.

2016-12-01

The Dragon Horn Area (49.7°E), is located at the west end of the EW trending Segment 28 of Southwest Indian Ridge between Indomed and Gallieni FZ. The segment is characterized by highly asymmetric topography. The northern flank is deeper and develops typical parallel linear fault escarpments. Meanwhile, the southern flank, where the Dragon Horn lies, is shallower and bears corrugations. The indicative corrugated surface which extends some 5×5 km was interpreted to be of Dragon Flag OCC origin (Zhao et al., 2013). Neo-volcanic ridge extends along the middle of the rifted valley and is bounded by two non-transform offsets to the east and west. Our investigations revealed 6 hydrothermal fields/anomalies in this area, including 2 confirmed sulfide fields, 1 carbonate field, and 3 inferred hydrothermal anomalies based on methane and turbidity data from 2016 AUV survey. Longqi-1(Dragon Flag) vent system lies to the northwest edge of Dragon Flag OCC. It is one of the largest hydrothermal venting systems along Mid-Ocean Ridges, with maximum temperature at vent site DFF6 of 'M zone' up to 379.3 °C (Tao et al, 2016). Massive sulfides (49.73 °E, 37.78 °S) were sampled 10 km east to Longqi-1, representing independent hydrothermal activities controlled by respective local structures. According to geological mapping and interpretation, both sulfide fields are located on the hanging wall of the Dragon Flag OCC detachment. Combined with the inferred hydrothermal anomaly to the east of the massive sulfide site, we suppose that they are controlled by different fault phases during the detachment of oceanic core complex. Moreover, consolidated carbonate sediments were widely observed and sampled on the corrugated surface and its west side, they are proposed to be precipitated during the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks, representing low-temperature hydrothermal process. These hydrothermal activities, distributed within 20km, may be controlled by the same Dragon Flag OCC

Evolution of supra-glacial lakes across the Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sundal, A. V.; Shepherd, A.; Nienow, P.; Hanna, E.; Palmer, S.; Huybrechts, P.

2009-04-01

We have used 268 cloud-free Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images spanning the 2003 and 2005-2007 melt seasons to study the seasonal evolution of supra-glacial lakes in three different regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Lake area estimates were obtained by developing an automated classification method for their identification based on 250 m resolution MODIS surface reflectance observations. Widespread supra-glacial lake formation and drainage is observed across the ice sheet, with a 2-3 weeks delay in the evolution of total supra-glacial lake area in the northern areas compared to the south-west. The onset of lake growth varies by up to one month inter-annually, and lakes form and drain at progressively higher altitudes during the melt season. A correlation was found between the annual peak in total lake area and modelled annual runoff across all study areas. Our results indicate that, in a future warmer climate (Meehl et al., 2007), Greenland supra-glacial lakes can be expected to form at higher altitudes and over a longer time period than is presently the case, expanding the area and time period over which connections between the ice sheet surface and base may be established (Das et al., 2008) with potential consequences for ice sheet discharge (Zwally et al., 2002). Das, S., Joughin, M., Behn, M., Howat, I., King, M., Lizarralde, D., & Bhatia, M. (2008). Fracture propagation to the base of the Greenland Ice Sheet during supra-glacial lake drainage. Science, 5877, 778-781. Meehl, G.A., Stocker, T.F., Collins W.D., Friedlingstein, P., Gaye, A.T., Gregory, J.M., Kitoh, A., Knutti, R., Murphy, J.M., Noda, A., Raper, S.C.B., Watterson, I.G., Weaver, A.J. & Zhao, Z.C. (2007). Global Climate Projections. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor

Site classification for National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) stations in China using an empirical H/V spectral ratio method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Kun; Ren, Yefei; Wen, Ruizhi

2017-10-01

Reliable site classification of the stations of the China National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) has not yet been assigned because of lacking borehole data. This study used an empirical horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio (hereafter, HVSR) site classification method to overcome this problem. First, according to their borehole data, stations selected from KiK-net in Japan were individually assigned a site class (CL-I, CL-II, or CL-III), which is defined in the Chinese seismic code. Then, the mean HVSR curve for each site class was computed using strong motion recordings captured during the period 1996-2012. These curves were compared with those proposed by Zhao et al. (2006a) for four types of site classes (SC-I, SC-II, SC-III, and SC-IV) defined in the Japanese seismic code (JRA, 1980). It was found that an approximate range of the predominant period Tg could be identified by the predominant peak of the HVSR curve for the CL-I and SC-I sites, CL-II and SC-II sites, and CL-III and SC-III + SC-IV sites. Second, an empirical site classification method was proposed based on comprehensive consideration of peak period, amplitude, and shape of the HVSR curve. The selected stations from KiK-net were classified using the proposed method. The results showed that the success rates of the proposed method in identifying CL-I, CL-II, and CL-III sites were 63%, 64%, and 58% respectively. Finally, the HVSRs of 178 NSMONS stations were computed based on recordings from 2007 to 2015 and the sites classified using the proposed method. The mean HVSR curves were re-calculated for three site classes and compared with those from KiK-net data. It was found that both the peak period and the amplitude were similar for the mean HVSR curves derived from NSMONS classification results and KiK-net borehole data, implying the effectiveness of the proposed method in identifying different site classes. The classification results have good agreement with site classes

TH-C-18A-01: Is Automatic Tube Current Modulation Still Necessary with Statistical Iterative Reconstruction?

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

Li, K; Zhao, W; Gomez-Cardona, D

Purpose: Automatic tube current modulation (TCM) has been widely used in modern multi-detector CT to reduce noise spatial nonuniformity and streaks to improve dose efficiency. With the advent of statistical iterative reconstruction (SIR), it is expected that the importance of TCM may diminish, since SIR incorporates statistical weighting factors to reduce the negative influence of photon-starved rays. The purpose of this work is to address the following questions: Does SIR offer the same benefits as TCM? If yes, are there still any clinical benefits to using TCM? Methods: An anthropomorphic CIRS chest phantom was scanned using a state-of-the-art clinical CTmore » system equipped with an SIR engine (Veo™, GE Healthcare). The phantom was first scanned with TCM using a routine protocol and a low-dose (LD) protocol. It was then scanned without TCM using the same protocols. For each acquisition, both FBP and Veo reconstructions were performed. All scans were repeated 50 times to generate an image ensemble from which noise spatial nonuniformity (NSN) and streak artifact levels were quantified. Monte-Carlo experiments were performed to estimate skin dose. Results: For FBP, noise streaks were reduced by 4% using TCM for both routine and LD scans. NSN values were actually slightly higher with TCM (0.25) than without TCM (0.24) for both routine and LD scans. In contrast, for Veo, noise streaks became negligible (<1%) with or without TCM for both routine and LD scans, and the NSN was reduced to 0.10 (low dose) or 0.08 (routine). The overall skin dose was 2% lower at the shoulders and more uniformly distributed across the skin without TCM. Conclusion: SIR without TCM offers superior reduction in noise nonuniformity and streaks relative to FBP with TCM. For some clinical applications in which skin dose may be a concern, SIR without TCM may be a better option. K. Li, W. Zhao, D. Gomez-Cardona: Nothing to disclose; G.-H. Chen: Research funded, General Electric Company

Teleseismic tomography beneath the mid-lower Yangtze region in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, G.; Zhang, G.; Lu, Q.; Shi, D.

2010-12-01

We have applied the teleseismic tomography method proposed by Professor Zhao in 1994 to determine a 3-D P-wave velocity structure of the mantle down to 400 km depth beneath the mid-lower Yangtze region, by using 1508 P-wave arrival times collected from 46 teleseismic events recorded by 38 portable seismic stations in this region (Fig. 1). All the seismograms were recorded only for 5 months from November 2009 to March 2010. Most events located to the south and southeast of stations, and the stations almost align in a line, which causes the rays crossing not well and decreases the resolution in the depth, especially beneath the region in the north-west of the stations. All the relative arrival times were obtained by using the multi-channel cross-correlation method with higher precisions than by hand-picking. Our tomographic result along the profile line of OO’ shows that the lithosphere with high velocity anomalies is shorten gradually from the northwest to the southeast direction, and the thickness of lithosphere is about 150~200 km beneath the northwest of mid-lower Yangtze region (Fig. 1). However, the asthenosphere with low velocity anomalies characterized reversely to the lithosphere, which is consistent with other previous results. Therefore, we can propose that the upwelling of mantle material plays a primary role for the thinning of lithosphere beneath the southeast of mid-lower Yangtze region. Acknowledgment: We thank the financial support of SinoProbe by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Land and Resources, P. R. China, under Grant sinoprobe-03, the financial support by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 40930418 and 40904021, and the financial supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” under Grant 2010ZD09. Fig. 1 (A) Epicentral locations of the 46 teleseismic events (blue squares) used in this study. The triangle denotes the center of seismic stations; (B) Locations of 38 portable seismic

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

NONE

Support, Hologic, Inc.; Research Support, Barco, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Gamma Medica, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Real-Time Tomography, LLC.; Shareholder, Real-Time Tomography, LLC; J. Mainprize, Our lab has a research agreement with GE Healthcare on various topics in digital mammography and digital tomosynthesis; W. Zhao, Research grant from Siemens Health Care.« less

Autoimmune Myocarditis, Valvulitis, and Cardiomyopathy

PubMed Central

Myers, Jennifer M.; Cunningham, Madeleine W.; Fairweather, DeLisa; Huber, Sally A.

2013-01-01

Cardiac myosin-induced autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) is a model of inflammatory heart disease initiated by CD4+ T cells (Smith and Allen 1991; Li, Heuser et al. 2004). It is a paradigm of the immune-mediated cardiac damage believed to play a role in the pathogenesis of a subset of postinfectious human cardiomyopathies (Rose, Herskowitz et al. 1993). Myocarditis is induced in susceptible mice by immunization with purified cardiac myosin (Neu, Rose et al. 1987) or specific peptides derived from cardiac myosin (Donermeyer, Beisel et al. 1995; Pummerer, Luze et al. 1996) (see Basic Protocol 1), or by adoptive transfer of myosin-reactive T cells (Smith and Allen 1991) (see Alternate Protocol). Myocarditis has been induced in Lewis rats by immunization with purified rat or porcine cardiac myosin (Kodama, Matsumoto et al. 1990; Li, Heuser et al. 2004) (see Basic Protocol 2) or S2-16 peptide (Li, Heuser et al. 2004), or by adoptive transfer of T cells stimulated by specific peptides derived from cardiac myosin (Wegmann, Zhao et al. 1994). Myocarditis begins 12 to 14 days after the first immunization, and is maximal after 21 days. Other animal models commonly used to study myocarditis development include the pathogen-induced models in which disease is initiated by viral infection. The first murine model of acute viral myocarditis causes sudden death via viral damage to cardiomyocytes (Huber, Gauntt et al. 1998; Horwitz, La Cava et al. 2000; Fong 2003; Fuse, Chan et al. 2005; Fairweather and Rose 2007; Cihakova and Rose 2008) whereas the second model is based on inoculation with heart-passaged coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) that includes damaged heart proteins (Fairweather, Frisancho-Kiss et al. 2004; Fairweather D 2004; Fairweather and Rose 2007; Cihakova and Rose 2008) In addition to the protocols used to induce EAM in mice and rats, support protocols are included for preparing purified cardiac myosin using mouse or rat heart tissue (see Support Protocol 1), preparing purified

Atomic scale study of vacancies in Earth's inner core: effect of pressure and chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritterbex, S.; Tsuchiya, T.

2017-12-01

? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 254, 227-232. [5] Belonoshko, A.B., Lukinov, T., Fu, J., Zhao, J., Davis, S., Simak, S.I., 2017. Stabilization of body-centered cubic iron under inner-core conditions. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/NGEO2892

Sleep Apnea and Obstructive Airway Disease in Older Men: Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men Study

PubMed Central

Zhao, Ying Y.; Blackwell, Terri; Ensrud, Kristine E.; Stone, Katie L.; Omachi, Theodore A.; Redline, Susan

2016-01-01

Study Objectives: To evaluate the association between obstructive airway disease (OAD) and sleep apnea in older men. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study of 853 community-dwelling older men (mean age 80.7 ± 4.1 years [range 73 to 90]) across 6 centers in the United States from the Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men Study. Sleep was objectively measured using full in-home polysomnography and lung function was objectively measured using spirometry. The association of OAD (pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio < 0.7 and FEV1 < 80% predicted) and sleep apnea (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] ≥ 15 events/hour) was assessed using logistic regression. Results: OAD and sleep apnea were identified in 111 (13.0%) and 247 (29.0%) men, respectively. In univariate analysis, participants with OAD had a lower AHI (mean ± SD; 8.7 ± 11.7 vs. 12.7 ± 13.8, P = 0.0009) and a lower prevalence of sleep apnea (14.4 vs. 31.1%, P = 0.0003) compared to participants without OAD. OAD remained independently associated with a lower odds of sleep apnea (odds ratio 0.30, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.55, P = 0.0001) after adjustment for demographics, body composition, smoking, and potential mediators (arousal index, time spent in rapid eye movement sleep). Individuals with OAD and sleep apnea (n = 16) had an increased arousal index and lower oxygen saturation level as compared to individuals with OAD alone (P values < 0.05). Conclusions: Obstructive airway disease was associated with a lower prevalence of sleep apnea in a cohort of community-dwelling elderly men, and unexplained by differences in adiposity or sleep architecture. Although uncommon in this cohort, coexisting sleep apnea and OAD was associated with increased sleep fragmentation and nocturnal oxygen desaturation compared to OAD alone. Citation: Zhao YY, Blackwell T, Ensrud KE, Stone KL, Omachi TA, Redline S, Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Group. Sleep apnea and obstructive airway disease in older men: outcomes of sleep

Coverage, quality of and barriers to postnatal care in rural Hebei, China: a mixed method study.

PubMed

Chen, Li; Qiong, Wu; van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Yanfeng, Zhang; Shuyi, Zhang; Ye, Li; Wei, Wang; Xiaozhen, Du; Ting, Zhang

2014-01-18

Postnatal care is an important link in the continuum of care for maternal and child health. However, coverage and quality of postnatal care are poor in low- and middle-income countries. In 2009, the Chinese government set a policy providing free postnatal care services to all mothers and their newborns in China. Our study aimed at exploring coverage, quality of care, reasons for not receiving and barriers to providing postnatal care after introduction of this new policy. We carried out a mixed method study in Zhao County, Hebei Province, China from July to August 2011. To quantify the coverage, quality of care and reasons for not using postnatal care, we conducted a household survey with 1601 caregivers of children younger than two years of age. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 township maternal and child healthcare workers to evaluate their views on workload, in-service training and barriers to postnatal home visits. Of 1442 (90% of surveyed caregivers) women who completed the postnatal care survey module, 8% received a timely postnatal home visit (within one week after delivery) and 24% of women received postnatal care within 42 days after delivery. Among women who received postnatal care, 37% received counseling or guidance on infant feeding and 32% on cord care. 24% of women reported that the service provider checked jaundice of their newborns and 18% were consulted on danger signs and thermal care of their newborns. Of 991 mothers who did not seek postnatal care within 42 days after birth, 65% of them said that they did not knew about postnatal care and 24% of them thought it was unnecessary. Qualitative findings revealed that staff shortages and inconvenient transportation limited maternal and child healthcare workers in reaching out to women at home. In addition, maternal and child healthcare workers said that in-service training was inadequate and more training on postnatal care, hands-on practice, and supervision were needed. Coverage

Three-dimensional structure of the crust in the central Tien Shan and implications for the geodynamic process of continental mountain building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omuralieva, A.; Nakajima, J.; Hasegawa, A.

2006-12-01

Applying a tomographic method to arrival-time data from shallow local earthquakes registered by Kyrgyz seismic NETwork (KNET), the three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure of the crust beneath Central Tien Shan has been studied. Kyrgyzstan occupies western and central parts of the Tien-Shan and northern Pamir which are prominent consequences of India-Asia Collision surrounded by relatively stable Kazakh shield, Tarim Basin and Turan plate. Accurate and precise tomographic imaging helps us to better understand dynamics of the mountain building, interaction of these tectonic blocks associated with simultaneous mountain building and crustal deformation processes in this complicated region. This study is the first attempt to investigate crustal structure of the Central Tien Shan by means of relatively new data set. Study area is enclosed by 42.00-43.50N and 73.50-76.50E owing to dense station distribution and ray coverage. Arrival time data from ~1500 local earthquakes recorded by a broadband network KNET consisting of 10 stations located in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan during 1995-2005 have been used. We selected earthquakes as uniform as possible in the study area. Most of the earthquakes are located in a depth range of 10 and 20 km. The tomography method by Zhao et al. (JGR, 1992) has been used in this study. We set all layers of grid-net up to Moho discontinuity in the upper and lower crust with spacing 5 km and 10 km depths, respectively. The spacing between grid nodes is 0.3 degree (about 30 km) in horizontal direction. The total number of grid nodes is ~400. The 3-D structure of the upper crust reveals thick sediments within each of the major depression in the region bounded by high-V zone that are believed to be basement. The study area is characterized by an alternation of high-V and low-V layers beneath ranges and basins. The tomographic results exhibit considerable amount of crustal heterogeneities, which confirms the tectonic complexities of the study

Using Neutron Diffraction to Determine the Low-Temperature Behavior of Pb2+ in Lead Feldspar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolbus, L. M.; Anovitz, L. M.; Chakoumackos, B. C.; Wesolowski, D. J.

2014-12-01

tetrahedral tilting model. [1] Angel, R.J. Ross, N.L, Zhao, J, Sochalski-Kolbus, L., Kruger, H., Schmidt, B.C. (2013) European Journal of Mineralogy, 25: 597-614. [2] Benna, P., Tribaudino, M., Bruno, E. (1996) American Mineralogist, 81: 1337-1343.

Focal Depth of the WenChuan Earthquake Aftershocks from modeling of Seismic Depth Phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Y.; Zeng, X.; Chong, J.; Ni, S.; Chen, Y.

2008-12-01

After the 05/12/2008 great WenChuan earthquake in Sichuan Province of China, tens of thousands earthquakes occurred with hundreds of them stronger than M4. Those aftershocks provide valuable information about seismotectonics and rupture processes for the mainshock, particularly accurate spatial distribution of aftershocks is very informational for determining rupture fault planes. However focal depth can not be well resolved just with first arrivals recorded by relatively sparse network in Sichuan Province, therefore 3D seismicity distribution is difficult to obtain though horizontal location can be located with accuracy of 5km. Instead local/regional depth phases such as sPmP, sPn, sPL and teleseismic pP,sP are very sensitive to depth, and be readily modeled to determine depth with accuracy of 2km. With reference 1D velocity structure resolved from receiver functions and seismic refraction studies, local/regional depth phases such as sPmP, sPn and sPL are identified by comparing observed waveform with synthetic seismograms by generalized ray theory and reflectivity methods. For teleseismic depth phases well observed for M5.5 and stronger events, we developed an algorithm in inverting both depth and focal mechanism from P and SH waveforms. Also we employed the Cut and Paste (CAP) method developed by Zhao and Helmberger in modeling mechanism and depth with local waveforms, which constrains depth by fitting Pnl waveforms and the relative weight between surface wave and Pnl. After modeling all the depth phases for hundreds of events , we find that most of the M4 earthquakes occur between 2-18km depth, with aftershocks depth ranging 4-12km in the southern half of Longmenshan fault while aftershocks in the northern half featuring large depth range up to 18km. Therefore seismogenic zone in the northern segment is deeper as compared to the southern segment. All the aftershocks occur in upper crust, given that the Moho is deeper than 40km, or even 60km west of the

Comparison of Contributions of Wind-blown and Anthropogenic Fugitive Dust Particles to Atmospheric Particulate Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, S.; Gong, S.

2010-12-01

A new wind-blown-dust emissions module was recently implemented into AURAMS, a Canadian regional air quality model (Park et al., 2009; Park et al., 2007), to investigate the relative impact of wind-blown dust vs. anthropogenic fugitive dust on air quality in North America. In order to apply the wind-blown dust emissions module to the entire North American continent, a soil-grain-size-distribution map was developed using the outputs of four monthly runs of AURAMS for 2002 and available PM2.5 dust-content observations. The simulation results using the new soil-grain-size-distribution map showed that inclusion of wind-blown dust emissions is essential to predict the impact of dust aerosols on air quality in North America, especially in the western U.S.. The wind-blown dust emissions varied widely by season, whereas the anthropogenic fugitive dust emissions did not change significantly. In the spring (April), the continental monthly average emissions rate of wind-blown dust was much higher than that of anthropogenic fugitive dust. The total amount of wind-blown dust emissions in North America predicted by the model for 2002 was comparable to that of anthropogenic fugitive dust emissions. Even with the inclusion of wind-blown dust emissions, however, the model still had difficulty simulating dust concentrations. Further improvements are needed, in terms of both limitations of the wind-blown-dust emission module and uncertainties in the anthropogenic fugitive dust emissions inventories, for improved dust modelling. References Park, S.H., S.L. Gong, W. Gong, P.A. Makar, M.D. Moran, C.A. Stroud, and J. Zhang, Sensitivity of surface characteristics on the simulation of wind-blown dust source in North America, Atmospheric Environment, 43 (19), 3122-3129, 2009. Park, S.H., S.L. Gong, T.L. Zhao, R.J. Vet, V.S. Bouchet, W. Gong, P.A. Makar, M.D. Moran, C. Stroud, and J. Zhang, Simulation of entrainment and transport of dust particles within North America in April 2001 ("Red

Phase equilibria modelling and zircon dating for Precambrian metapelites from Xinghuadukou Group in Lvlin Forest of Erguna Massif, NE China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jiulei; Zheng, Changqing; Tajcmanova, Lucie; Zhong, Xin; Xu, Xuechun; Han, Xiaomeng; Wang, Zhaoyuan

2017-04-01

Xinghuadukou Group, the basement metamorphic complex of Erguna Massif in NE China, is considered to be Mesoproterozoic with Sm-Nd age of 1157±32 Ma. However, the new zircon data from these metamorphic supracrustal rocks in Lvlin Forest show that they formed in Neoproterozoic with the age of 800 Ma. Old zircon age with 2.5 Ga, 2.0 Ga and 1.8 Ga, indicate that the Erguna Massif had an affinity to both Columbia and Rodinia continents. Furthermore, we also present 500 Ma metamorphic age in micashists and 500 Ma age of adjacent granitoids that might have thermally influenced its surrounding. No detailed studies have been undertaken on the metamorphic evolution of the Xinghuadukou Complex. The typical paragneissic mineral assemblage of garnet sillimanite mica schist is Grt+Sil+Bt+Mus+Qtz±Kfs. (Zhou et al., 2011) proposed that the Xinghuadukou Complex appears to have undergone similar granulite facies metamorphic conditions based on the similarity of mineral assemblages to the Mashan Complex in the Jiamusi Massif, NE China. However, the new phase equilibria modelling result shows that these rocks are high amphibolite facies product with 650℃. We can easily find K-feldspar formed by partial melting due to the consuming of muscovite. Also the remaining muscovite is directly connected with a fluid channel in thin sections which indicate that the remaining muscovite formed from retrograde with the existence of fluid. The zoned garnet has low MgO and high CaO content in rims and high MgO and low CaO content in core. It seems that this garnet has high pressure and low temperature (HP-LT) in rims and low pressure and high temperature (LP-HT) in core which would point to an anti-clockwise metamorphic evolution. Zhou, J.B., Wilde, S.A., Zhang, X.Z., Zhao, G.C., Liu, F.L., Qiao, D.W., Ren, S.M. and Liu, J.H., 2011b. A> 1300km late Pan-African metamorphic belt in NE China: new evidence from the Xing'an block and its tectonic implications. Tectonophysics, 509(3): 280-292.

Cardiovascular Benefits of Wearing Particulate-Filtering Respirators: A Randomized Crossover Trial

PubMed Central

Shi, Jingjin; Lin, Zhijing; Chen, Renjie; Wang, Cuicui; Yang, Changyuan; Cai, Jing; Lin, Jingyu; Xu, Xiaohui; Ross, Jennifer A.; Zhao, Zhuohui; Kan, Haidong

2016-01-01

Background: Practical approaches to protect individuals from ambient particulate matter (PM) are urgently needed in developing countries. Evidence on the health benefits of wearing particulate-filtering respirators is limited. Objectives: We evaluated the short-term cardiovascular health effects of wearing respirators in China. Methods: A randomized crossover trial was performed in 24 healthy young adults in Shanghai, China in 2014. The subjects were randomized into two groups and wore particulate-filtering respirators for 48 hr alternating with a 3-week washout interval. Heart rate variability (HRV) and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) were continuously monitored during the 2nd 24 hr in each intervention. Circulating biomarkers were measured at the end of each intervention. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to evaluate the effects of wearing respirators on health outcomes. Results: During the intervention periods, the mean daily average concentration of PM with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) was 74.2 μg/m3. Compared with the absence of respirators, wearing respirators was associated with a decrease of 2.7 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1, 5.2 mmHg] in systolic BP and increases of HRV parameters, including 12.5% (95% CI: 3.8%, 21.2%) in high frequency (HF) power, 10.9% (95% CI: 1.8%, 20.0%) in the root mean square of the successive differences, and 22.1% (95% CI: 3.6%, 40.7%) in the percentage of normal RR intervals with duration > 50 msec different from the previous normal RR interval (pNN50). The presence of respirators was also associated with a decrease of 7.8% (95% CI: 3.5%, 12.1%) in the ratio of low frequency (LF)/HF power. Conclusions: Short-term wearing of particulate-filtering respirators may produce cardiovascular benefits by improving autonomic nervous function and reducing BP. Citation: Shi J, Lin Z, Chen R, Wang C, Yang C, Cai J, Lin J, Xu X, Ross JA, Zhao Z, Kan H. 2017. Cardiovascular benefits of wearing particulate

A Newly Designed Mobile-Based Computerized Cognitive Addiction Therapy App for the Improvement of Cognition Impairments and Risk Decision Making in Methamphetamine Use Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Zhu, Youwei; Jiang, Haifeng; Su, Hang; Zhong, Na; Li, Runji; Li, Xiaotong; Chen, Tianzhen; Tan, Haoye; Du, Jiang; Xu, Ding; Yan, Huan; Xu, Dawen; Zhao, Min

2018-06-20

/NCT03318081 (Archived by WebCite at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03318081). ©Youwei Zhu, Haifeng Jiang, Hang Su, Na Zhong, Runji Li, Xiaotong Li, Tianzhen Chen, Haoye Tan, Jiang Du, Ding Xu, Huan Yan, Dawen Xu, Min Zhao. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 20.06.2018.

Effects of Afforestation and Natural Revegetation on Soil Moisture Dynamics in Paired Watersheds in the Loess Plateau of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Z.; Guo, L.; Lin, H.; Wang, Y.; Chu, G.

2017-12-01

more extreme precipitation in the global and local dry regions in the 21st century, and thus the threshold and mechanisms of effective rainfall replenishment should be strengthened. Keywords: Soil water monitoring; paired watersheds; afforestation; natural recovery; landform Corresponding author: Prof. Dr. Zhao Jin, jinzhao@ieecas.cn

The relationship between the Asian dust and Arctic Oscillation: An observational investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y.; Kim, J.; Cho, H.

2009-12-01

The Arctic Oscillation (AO) represents the leading empirical orthogonal function of winter sea level pressure (SLP) fields, which resembles North Atlantic Oscillation, but has a more zonally symmetric structure (Thompson and Wallace, 1998; Wallace, 2000; Wu and Wang, 2002). This primary mode of the internal dynamics in the atmosphere predominates the Extratropical Northern Hemisphere circulation from surface to the lower stratosphere showing an equivalent barotropic structure during cold season(November-April) (Thompson and Wallace, 2000). Also, the Asian dust storms show strong interannual variation (Sun et al., 2001; Yoshino, 2002; Zhao et al., 2006; Hara et al., 2006), which are suggested to be associated with climate indices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the possible connection for the AO and the Asian dust emission during periods from late winter to spring, based on the observational investigations. In order to examine these complex associations closely, the Aerosol Index (AI) from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) are used starting from November 1978 to December 1999, except for data pause from May 1993 to August 1996. SLP and geopotential height at 500hPa (Z500) monthly fields are derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalyses (1958-2001). Also, source regions of Asian dust are mainly focused on three source areas, including the Taklimakan Desert (R1), Badain Jaran Desert (R2), and Mongolia (R3) in this study. In composite study during different phases of AO, the AO exhibits a “negative phase” with relatively high pressure over the polar region and low pressure at mid-latitudes (about 45 degrees North). In strong “negative phase” of AO, decrease of AO is found to be associated with decreases of local tropospheric temperature, U-wind, and geopotential height and strong north-south gradients over the source regions of Asian dust. Therefore, we also notice that a negative index phase

NK1R/5-HT1AR interaction is related to the regulation of melanogenesis.

PubMed

Wu, Huali; Zhao, Yucheng; Huang, Qiaoling; Cai, Minxuan; Pan, Qi; Fu, Mengsi; An, Xiaohong; Xia, Zhenjiang; Liu, Meng; Jin, Yu; He, Ling; Shang, Jing

2018-06-01

Substance P (SP) is a candidate mediator along the brain-skin axis and can mimic the effects of stress to regulate melanogenesis. Previously, we and others have found that the regulation of SP for pigmentary function was mediated by neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R). Emerging evidence has accumulated that psychologic stress can induce dysfunction in the cutaneous serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-5-HT1A/1B receptor system, thereby resulting in skin hypopigmentation. Moreover, NK1R and 5-HTR (except 5-HT3) belong to GPCR. The present study aimed at assessing the possible existence of NK1R-5-HTR interactions and related melanogenic functions. Western blot and PCR detection revealed that SP reduced expression of 5-HT1A receptor via the NK1 receptor. Biochemical analyses showed that NK1R and 5-HT1AR could colocalize and interact in a cell and in the skin. When the N terminus of the NK1R protein was removed NK1R surface targeting was prevented, the interaction between NK1R-5-HT1AR decreased, and the depigmentation caused by SP and WAY100635 could be rescued. Importantly, pharmaceutical coadministration of NK1R agonist (SP) and 5-HT1A antagonist (WAY100635) enhanced the NK1-5-HT1A receptor coimmunoprecipitation along with the depigmentary response. SP and WAY100635 cooperation elicited activation of a signaling cascade (the extracellular, regulated protein kinase p-JNK signaling pathway) and inhibition of p70S6K1 phosphorylation and greatly reduced melanin production in vitro and in vivo in mice and zebrafish. Moreover, the SP-induced depigmentation response did not be occur in 5-htr1aa +/- zebrafish embryos. Taken together, the results of our systemic study increases our knowledge of the roles of NK1R and 5-HT1AR in melanogenesis and provides possible, novel therapeutic strategies for treatment of skin hypo/hyperpigmentation.-Wu, H., Zhao, Y., Huang, Q., Cai, M., Pan, Q., Fu, M., An, X., Xia, Z., Liu, M., Jin, Y., He, L., Shang, J. NK1R/5-HT1AR interaction is related to

Crustal Footprint of the Hainan Plume beneath Southeast China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, H.; Chen, F.; Leng, W.; Zhang, H.

2016-12-01

A hotspot track is an age-progressive line of volcanos that is connected to a hotspot that may have resulted from interactions between the lithosphere and a deep-seated mantle plume [Campbell and Griffiths, 1990; Richards et al., 1989]. Although global and regional seismic tomography results have revealed the presence of a mantle plume beneath Hainan Island [Lebedev et al., 2003; Lei et al., 2009; Huang, 2014], there is little evidence for a hotspot track associated with the Hainan plume. Here, a joint inversion of seismology and gravity data was performed with the receiver function method, and the results show that a linear corridor of seismic velocity anomalies at the base of the crust is located northeast of Hainan Island beneath southeast China. Geodynamic modeling demonstrates that this corridor could have formed by the interactions between a mantle plume and the continental lithosphere with a weak lower crust. Volcanic age distributions further suggest that this track likely formed in the Cenozoic, which constrains the average plate velocities of the South China Block during the Cenozoic to 2-6 cm/yr to the northeast. These results provide an independent reference frame for the motion history of the Eurasia plate in the Cenozoic. References 1. Campbell I H, Griffiths R W. Implications of mantle plume structure for the evolution of flood basalts [J]. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 1990, 99(1): 79-93. 2. Richards M A, Duncan R A, Courtillot V E. Flood basalts and hot-spot tracks: plume heads and tails [J]. Science, 1989, 246(4926): 103-107. 3. Lebedev S, Nolet G. Upper mantle beneath Southeast Asia from S velocity tomography [J]. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978-2012), 2003, 108(B1). 4. Lei J, Zhao D, Steinberger B, et al. New seismic constraints on the upper mantle structure of the Hainan plume [J]. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 2009, 173(1): 33-50. 5. Huang J. P-and S-wave tomography of the Hainan and surrounding

Ecological and meteorological drought monitoring in East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, J. B.; Um, M. J.; Kim, Y.; Chae, Y.

2016-12-01

This study aims to how well the ecological drought index can capture the drought status in the East Asia. We estimated the drought severe index (DSI), which uses the evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), suggested by Mu et al. (2013) to define the ecological drought. In addition, the meteorological drought index, which is standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index (SPEI), are estimated and compared to the DSI. The satellite data by moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and advanced very-high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR) are used to analyze the DSI and the monthly precipitation and temperature data in the climate research unit (CRU) are applied to estimate the SPEI for 2000-2013 in the East Asia. We conducted the statistical analyses to investigate the drought characteristics of the ecological and meteorological drought indices (i.e. the DSI and SPEI, respectively) and then compared those characteristics drought indices depending on the drought status. We found the DSI did not well captured the drought status when the categories originally suggested by Mu et al. (2013) are applied to divide the drought status in the study area. Consequently, the modified categories for the DSI in this study is suggested and then applied to define the drought status. The modified categories in this study show the great improvement to capture the drought status in the East Asia even though the results cannot be acquired around Taklamakan desert due to the lack of the satellite data. These results illustrate the ecological drought index, such as the DSI, can be applied for the monitoring of the drought in the East Asia and then can give the detailed information of drought status because the satellite data have the relatively high spatial resolutions compared to the observations such as the CRU data. Reference Mu Q, Zhao M, Kimball JS, McDowell NG, Running SW (2013) A remotely sensed global

Applying an economical scale-aware PDF-based turbulence closure model in NOAA NCEP GCMs.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krueger, S. K.; Belochitski, A.; Moorthi, S.; Bogenschutz, P.; Pincus, R.

2015-12-01

A novel unified representation of sub-grid scale (SGS) turbulence, cloudiness, and shallow convection is being implemented into the NOAA NCEP Global Forecasting System (GFS) general circulation model. The approach, known as Simplified High Order Closure (SHOC), is based on predicting a joint PDF of SGS thermodynamic variables and vertical velocity and using it to diagnose turbulent diffusion coefficients, SGS fluxes, condensation and cloudiness. Unlike other similar methods, only one new prognostic variable, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), needs to be intoduced, making the technique computationally efficient.SHOC code was adopted for a global model environment from its origins in a cloud resolving model, and incorporated into NCEP GFS. SHOC was first tested in a non-interactive mode, a configuration where SHOC receives inputs from the host model, but its outputs are not returned to the GFS. In this configuration: a) SGS TKE values produced by GFS SHOC are consistent with those produced by SHOC in a CRM, b) SGS TKE in GFS SHOC exhibits a well defined diurnal cycle, c) there's enhanced boundary layer turbulence in the subtropical stratocumulus and tropical transition-to-cumulus areas d) buoyancy flux diagnosed from the assumed PDF is consistent with independently calculated Brunt-Vaisala frequency in identifying stable and unstable regions.Next, SHOC was coupled to GFS, namely turbulent diffusion coefficients computed by SHOC are now used in place of those currently produced by the GFS boundary layer and shallow convection schemes (Han and Pan, 2011), as well as condensation and cloud fraction diagnosed from the SGS PDF replace those calculated in the current large-scale cloudines scheme (Zhao and Carr, 1997). Ongoing activities consist of debugging the fully coupled GFS/SHOC.Future work will consist of evaluating model performance and tuning the physics if necessary, by performing medium-range NWP forecasts with prescribed initial conditions, and AMIP-type climate

Incorporating fault zone head wave and direct wave secondary arrival times into seismic tomography: Application at Parkfield, California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennington, N. L.; Thurber, C. H.; Zhang, H.; Peng, Z.; Zhao, P.

2011-12-01

Large crustal faults such as the San Andreas fault (SAF) often juxtapose rocks of significantly different elastic properties, resulting in well-defined bimaterial interfaces. A sharp material contrast across the fault interface is expected to generate fault zone head waves (FZHW's) that spend a large portion of their propagation paths refracting along the bimaterial interface (Ben-Zion 1989, 1990; Ben-Zion & Aki 1990). Because of this FZHW's provide a high-resolution tool for imaging the velocity contrast across the fault. Recently, Zhao et al. (2010) systematically analyzed large data sets of near-fault waveforms recorded by several permanent and temporary seismic networks along the Parkfield section of the SAF. The local-scale tomography study of Zhang et al. (2009) for a roughly 10 km3 volume centered on SAFOD and the more regional-scale study of Thurber et al. (2006) for a 130 km x 120 km x 20 km volume centered on the 2004 Parkfield earthquake rupture provide what are probably the best 3D images of the seismic velocity structure of the area. The former shows a low velocity zone associated with the SAF extending to significant depth, and both image the well-known velocity contrast across the fault. Seismic tomography generally uses just first P and/or S arrivals because of the relative simplicity of phase picking and ray tracing. Adding secondary arrivals such as FZHW's, however, can enhance the resolution of structure and strengthen constraints on earthquake locations and focal mechanisms. We present a model of 3D velocity structure for the Parkfield region that utilizes a combination of arrival times for FZHW's and the associated direct-wave secondary arrivals as well as existing P-wave arrival time data. The resulting image provides a higher-resolution model of the SAF at depth than previously published models. In addition, we plan to measure polarizations of the direct P and S waves and FZHW's and incorporate the data into our updated velocity tomography

The period function of the generalized Lotka-Volterra centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villadelprat, J.

2008-05-01

The present paper deals with the period function of the quadratic centers. In the literature different terminologies are used to classify these centers, but essentially there are four families: Hamiltonian, reversible , codimension four Q4 and generalized Lotka-Volterra systems . Chicone [C. Chicone, Review in MathSciNet, Ref. 94h:58072] conjectured that the reversible centers have at most two critical periods, and that the centers of the three other families have a monotonic period function. With regard to the second part of this conjecture, only the monotonicity of the Hamiltonian and Q4 families [W.A. Coppel, L. Gavrilov, The period function of a Hamiltonian quadratic system, Differential Integral Equations 6 (1993) 1357-1365; Y. Zhao, The monotonicity of period function for codimension four quadratic system Q4, J. Differential Equations 185 (2002) 370-387] has been proved. Concerning the family, no substantial progress has been made since the middle 80s, when several authors showed independently the monotonicity of the classical Lotka-Volterra centers [F. Rothe, The periods of the Volterra-Lokta system, J. Reine Angew. Math. 355 (1985) 129-138; R. Schaaf, Global behaviour of solution branches for some Neumann problems depending on one or several parameters, J. Reine Angew. Math. 346 (1984) 1-31; J. Waldvogel, The period in the Lotka-Volterra system is monotonic, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 114 (1986) 178-184]. By means of the first period constant one can easily conclude that the period function of the centers in the family is monotone increasing near the inner boundary of its period annulus (i.e., the center itself). Thus, according to Chicone's conjecture, it should be also monotone increasing near the outer boundary, which in the Poincaré disc is a polycycle. In this paper we show that this is true. In addition we prove that, except for a zero measure subset of the parameter plane, there is no bifurcation of critical periods from the outer boundary. Finally we

Presentations of Primary Hypersomnia in Chinese Children

PubMed Central

Han, Fang; Lin, Ling; Li, Jing; Aran, Adi; Dong, Song X.; An, Pei; Zhao, Long; Li, Ming; Li, Qian Y.; Yan, Han; Wang, Jie S.; Gao, Hui Y.; Li, Mei; Gao, Zhan C.; Strohl, Kingman P.; Mignot, Emmanuel

2011-01-01

F; Lin L; Li J; Aran A; Dong SX; An P; Zhao L; Li M; Li QY; Yan H; Wang JS; Gao HY; Li M; Gao ZC; Strohl KP; Mignot E. Presentations of primary hypersomnia in Chinese children. SLEEP 2011;34(5):627-632. PMID:21532956

MO-DE-209-03: Assessing Image Quality

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

Zhao, W.

Support, Hologic, Inc.; Research Support, Barco, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Gamma Medica, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Real-Time Tomography, LLC.; Shareholder, Real-Time Tomography, LLC; J. Mainprize, Our lab has a research agreement with GE Healthcare on various topics in digital mammography and digital tomosynthesis; W. Zhao, Research grant from Siemens Health Care.« less

3-D geoelectrical modelling using finite-difference: a new boundary conditions improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maineult, A.; Schott, J.-J.; Ardiot, A.

2003-04-01

Geoelectrical prospecting is a well-known and frequently used method for quantitative and non-destructive subsurface exploration until depths of a few hundreds metres. Thus archeological objects can be efficiently detected as their resistivities often contrast with those of the surrounding media. Nevertheless using the geoelectrical prospecting method has long been restricted due to inhability to model correctly arbitrarily-shaped structures. The one-dimensional modelling and inversion have long been classical, but are of no interest for the majority of field data, since the natural distribution of resistivity is rarely homogeneous or tabular. Since the 1970's some authors developed discrete methods in order to solve the two and three-dimensional problem, using mathematical tools such as finite-element or finite-difference. The finite-difference approach is quite simple, easily understandable and programmable. Since the work of Dey and Morrison (1979), this approach has become quite popular. Nevertheless, one of its major drawbacks is the difficulty to establish satisfying boundary conditions. Recently Lowry et al. (1989) and Zhao and Yedlin (1996) suggested some refinements on the improvement of the boundary problem. We propose a new betterment, based on the splitting of the potential into two terms, the potential due to a reference tabular medium and a secondary potential caused by a disturbance of this medium. The surface response of a tabular medium has long been known (see for example Koefoed 1979). Here we developed the analytical solution for the electrical tabular potential everywhere in the medium, in order to establish more satisfying boundary conditions. The response of the perturbation, that is to say the object of interest, is then solved using volume-difference and preconditioned conjugate gradient. Finally the grid is refined one or more times in the perturbed domain in order to ameliorate the precision. This method of modelling is easy to implement

MO-DE-209-01: Primer On Tomosynthesis

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

Maidment, A.

2016-06-15

Support, Hologic, Inc.; Research Support, Barco, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Gamma Medica, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Real-Time Tomography, LLC.; Shareholder, Real-Time Tomography, LLC; J. Mainprize, Our lab has a research agreement with GE Healthcare on various topics in digital mammography and digital tomosynthesis; W. Zhao, Research grant from Siemens Health Care.« less

MO-DE-209-04: Radiation Dosimetry in Breast Tomosynthesis

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

Sechopoulos, I.

2016-06-15

Support, Hologic, Inc.; Research Support, Barco, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Gamma Medica, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Real-Time Tomography, LLC.; Shareholder, Real-Time Tomography, LLC; J. Mainprize, Our lab has a research agreement with GE Healthcare on various topics in digital mammography and digital tomosynthesis; W. Zhao, Research grant from Siemens Health Care.« less

MO-DE-209-02: Tomosynthesis Reconstruction Methods

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

Mainprize, J.

2016-06-15

Support, Hologic, Inc.; Research Support, Barco, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Gamma Medica, Inc.; Scientific Advisory Board, Real-Time Tomography, LLC.; Shareholder, Real-Time Tomography, LLC; J. Mainprize, Our lab has a research agreement with GE Healthcare on various topics in digital mammography and digital tomosynthesis; W. Zhao, Research grant from Siemens Health Care.« less

Finite-frequency structural sensitivities of short-period compressional body waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuji, Nobuaki; Chevrot, Sébastien; Zhao, Li; Geller, Robert J.; Kawai, Kenji

2012-07-01

We present an extension of the method recently introduced by Zhao & Chevrot for calculating Fréchet kernels from a precomputed database of strain Green's tensors by normal mode summation. The extension involves two aspects: (1) we compute the strain Green's tensors using the Direct Solution Method, which allows us to go up to frequencies as high as 1 Hz; and (2) we develop a spatial interpolation scheme so that the Green's tensors can be computed with a relatively coarse grid, thus improving the efficiency in the computation of the sensitivity kernels. The only requirement is that the Green's tensors be computed with a fine enough spatial sampling rate to avoid spatial aliasing. The Green's tensors can then be interpolated to any location inside the Earth, avoiding the need to store and retrieve strain Green's tensors for a fine sampling grid. The interpolation scheme not only significantly reduces the CPU time required to calculate the Green's tensor database and the disk space to store it, but also enhances the efficiency in computing the kernels by reducing the number of I/O operations needed to retrieve the Green's tensors. Our new implementation allows us to calculate sensitivity kernels for high-frequency teleseismic body waves with very modest computational resources such as a laptop. We illustrate the potential of our approach for seismic tomography by computing traveltime and amplitude sensitivity kernels for high frequency P, PKP and Pdiff phases. A comparison of our PKP kernels with those computed by asymptotic ray theory clearly shows the limits of the latter. With ray theory, it is not possible to model waves diffracted by internal discontinuities such as the core-mantle boundary, and it is also difficult to compute amplitudes for paths close to the B-caustic of the PKP phase. We also compute waveform partial derivatives for different parts of the seismic wavefield, a key ingredient for high resolution imaging by waveform inversion. Our computations

Inhibition of Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT), an Enzyme Essential for NAD+ Biosynthesis, Leads to Altered Carbohydrate Metabolism in Cancer Cells*

PubMed Central

Tan, Bo; Dong, Sucai; Shepard, Robert L.; Kays, Lisa; Roth, Kenneth D.; Geeganage, Sandaruwan; Kuo, Ming-Shang; Zhao, Genshi

2015-01-01

Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) has been extensively studied due to its essential role in NAD+ biosynthesis in cancer cells and the prospect of developing novel therapeutics. To understand how NAMPT regulates cellular metabolism, we have shown that the treatment with FK866, a specific NAMPT inhibitor, leads to attenuation of glycolysis by blocking the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase step (Tan, B., Young, D. A., Lu, Z. H., Wang, T., Meier, T. I., Shepard, R. L., Roth, K., Zhai, Y., Huss, K., Kuo, M. S., Gillig, J., Parthasarathy, S., Burkholder, T. P., Smith, M. C., Geeganage, S., and Zhao, G. (2013) Pharmacological inhibition of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT), an enzyme essential for NAD+ biosynthesis, in human cancer cells: metabolic basis and potential clinical implications. J. Biol. Chem. 288, 3500–3511). Due to technical limitations, we failed to separate isotopomers of phosphorylated sugars. In this study, we developed an enabling LC-MS methodology. Using this, we confirmed the previous findings and also showed that NAMPT inhibition led to accumulation of fructose 1-phosphate and sedoheptulose 1-phosphate but not glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, and sedoheptulose 7-phosphate as previously thought. To investigate the metabolic basis of the metabolite formation, we carried out biochemical and cellular studies and established the following. First, glucose-labeling studies indicated that fructose 1-phosphate was derived from dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde, and sedoheptulose 1-phosphate was derived from dihydroxyacetone phosphate and erythrose via an aldolase reaction. Second, biochemical studies showed that aldolase indeed catalyzed these reactions. Third, glyceraldehyde- and erythrose-labeling studies showed increased incorporation of corresponding labels into fructose 1-phosphate and sedoheptulose 1-phosphate in FK866-treated cells. Fourth, NAMPT inhibition led to increased glyceraldehyde and

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�

Soil water erosion on Mediterranean vineyards. A review based on published data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prosdocimi, Massimo; Cerdà, Artemi; Tarolli, Paolo

2015-04-01

Soil water erosion on cultivated lands is a severe threat to soil resources in the world (Leh et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2013). In particular, Mediterranean areas deserve a particular attention because of their edaphic, topographic and climatic conditions. Among the cultivated lands, concerns have arisen about vineyards because, aside representing one of the most important crop in terms of income and employment, they also have proven to be the form of agricultural land that causes one of the highest soil losses (Tropeano et al., 1984; Leonard and Andrieux, 1998; Ferrero et al., 2005; Cerdà et al., 2007; Blavet et al., 2009; Casalí et al., 2009; Novara et al., 2011; Martínez Casasnovas et al., 2013; Ruiz Colmenero et al., 2013; Tarolli et al., 2014). Although the topic of soil water erosion on vineyards has been studied, it still raises uncertainties. These are due to the i) high complexity of processes involved, ii) different methodologies used to analyze them and iii) analyses carried out at different spatial and temporal scales. At this regard, this work aims to evaluate the impact of factors controlling erosion such as rainfall characteristics, topography, soil properties and soil and water conservation techniques. Data derived from experimental plots have been reviewed. At first, what emerges is the difficulty of comparing erosion rates obtained with different methodologies and at different spatial scales. Secondly, all the factors demonstrate to have a strong impact on soil erosion but a 'general rule' upon which to consider one factor always predominant over the others does not come out. Therefore, this work supports the importance of monitoring soil water erosion by field measurements to better understand the relationship between the factors. Variables like rainfall characteristics, topography and soil properties are much more difficult to modify than the soil and water management techniques. Hence, future researches are needed to both recommend the best

Specific PCR Identification between Peucedanum praeruptorum and Angelica decursiva and Identification between Them and Adulterant Using DNA Barcode.

PubMed

Han, Bang-Xing; Yuan, Yuan; Huang, Lu-Qi; Zhao, Qun; Tan, Ling-Ling; Song, Xiang-Wen; He, Xiao-Mei; Xu, Tao; Liu, Feng; Wang, Jian

2017-01-01

quick and effective method to distinguish between P. praeruptorum and A. decursiva . Abbreviations used: TCM: The traditional Chinese medicine, P.: Peucedanum , A.: Angelica , ITS: The internal transcribed spacer, PCR: Polymerase chain reaction, NCBI: National Center for Biotechnology Information, NI: Number of individuals, HN: Haplotype number; GAN: Gen Bank accession numbers, L.: Ligusticum , O.: Ostericum , A.: Angelica , P.: Pimpinella , BI: Bayesian inference, MP: Maximum parsimony, AIC: Akaike Information Criterion, MCMC: Markov Chains Monte Carlo, TBR: Tree bisection-reconnection, LPP: Length of PCR product, PRP: PCR reaction procedure, SNP: Single nucleotide polymorphisms, PP: Posterior probability, BS: Bootstrap.Qun Zhao.

Inhibition of microRNA-214-5p promotes cell survival and extracellular matrix formation by targeting collagen type IV alpha 1 in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells.

PubMed

Li, Q S; Meng, F Y; Zhao, Y H; Jin, C L; Tian, J; Yi, X J

2017-08-01

This study aimed to investigate the functional effects of microRNA (miR)-214-5p on osteoblastic cells, which might provide a potential role of miR-214-5p in bone fracture healing. Blood samples were obtained from patients with hand fracture or intra-articular calcaneal fracture and from healthy controls (HCs). Expression of miR-214-5p was monitored by qRT-PCR at day 7, 14 and 21 post-surgery. Mouse osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells were transfected with antisense oligonucleotides (ASO)-miR-214-5p, collagen type IV alpha 1 (COL4A1) vector or their controls; thereafter, cell viability, apoptotic rate, and the expression of collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1A1), type II collagen (COL-II), and type X collagen (COL-X) were determined. Luciferase reporter assay, qRT-PCR, and Western blot were performed to ascertain whether COL4A1 was a target of miR-214-5p. Plasma miR-214-5p was highly expressed in patients with bone fracture compared with HCs after fracture (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Inhibition of miR-214-5p increased the viability of MC3T3-E1 cells and the expressions of COL1A1 and COL-X, but decreased the apoptotic rate and COL-II expression (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). COL4A1 was a target of miR-214-5p, and was negatively regulated by miR-214-5p (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Overexpression of COL4A1 showed a similar impact on cell viability, apoptotic rate, and COL1A1, COL-II, and COL-X expressions inhibiting miR-214-5p (p < 0.01). Inhibition of miR-214-5p promotes cell survival and extracellular matrix (ECM) formation of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells by targeting COL4A1. Cite this article: Q. S. Li, F. Y. Meng, Y. H. Zhao, C. L. Jin, J. Tian, X. J. Yi. Inhibition of microRNA-214-5p promotes cell survival and extracellular matrix formation by targeting collagen type IV alpha 1 in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Bone Joint Res 2017;6:464-471. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.68.BJR-2016-0208.R2. © 2017 Yi et al.

A checklist of Recent non-marine ostracods (Crustacea: Ostracoda) from Thailand, including descriptions of two new species.

PubMed

Savatenalinton, Sukonthip; Suttajit, Maitree

2016-01-20

A checklist covering a total of 67 Recent non-marine ostracod species from Thailand, belonging to 33 genera and seven families (Cyprididae, Candonidae, Ilyocyprididae, Notodromadidae, Darwinulidae, Limnocytheridae, Loxoconchidae), is presented. Twenty-five of these are considered endemic to the Oriental region, 17 of which are Thai endemics. Two        species (Hemicypris exiqua Broodbakker, 1983, and Notodromas sinensis Neal & Zhao, 1991) are new records for the Oriental region, and four species (Cypretta seurati Gauthier, 1929, Chrissia ceylonica (Daday, 1898), Chrissia formosa (Klie, 1938), and Dolerocypris fasciata (O.F. Müller, 1776)) are new record for Thailand. The most diverse subfamily in Thailand is the Cypricercinae, with 22 species. The most diverse genera are Strandesia Stuhlmann, 1888 (eight species), followed by Pseudostrandesia Savatenalinton & Martens, 2009 (seven species) and Stenocypris Sars, 1889 (five species). Other enigmatic groups and new taxa occur in the checklist, but these need to be described elsewhere in the future. For example, several species of Cypridopsinae Kaufmann, 1900, Cyclocypridinae Kaufmann, 1900, Candoninae Kaufmann, 1900 and other groups await description. Considering regional distributions based on frequency of occurrences, rare      species constitute a large fraction, whereas very common species are minor elements. Most of the records were reported from the Northern and Northeastern parts of Thailand. Sampled habitat types ranged from ponds, (oxbow) lakes, swamps, reservoirs, springs, canals, rivers, rice fields, waterfalls, and damp leaf litter. Most of the Thai ostracod fauna exists in a wide range of habitats. A brief discussion on the distribution of described species is included with the list.       Additionally, in the present contribution, we describe two new species, Dolerocypris sisaketensis n. sp. and           Hungarocypris suranareeae n. sp., from the Northeastern part of

Development of the scintillator-based probe for fast-ion losses in the HL-2A tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y. P.; Liu, Yi; Luo, X. B.; Isobe, M.; Yuan, G. L.; Liu, Y. Q.; Hua, Y.; Song, X. Y.; Yang, J. W.; Li, X.; Chen, W.; Li, Y.; Yan, L. W.; Song, X. M.; Yang, Q. W.; Duan, X. R.

2014-05-01

A new scintillator-based lost fast-ion probe (SLIP) has been developed and operated in the HL-2A tokamak [L. W. Yan, X. R. Duan, X. T. Ding, J. Q. Dong, Q. W. Yang, Yi Liu, X. L. Zou, D. Q. Liu, W. M. Xuan, L. Y. Chen, J. Rao, X. M. Song, Y. Huang, W. C. Mao, Q. M. Wang, Q. Li, Z. Cao, B. Li, J. Y. Cao, G. J. Lei, J. H. Zhang, X. D. Li, W. Chen, J. Chen, C. H. Cui, Z. Y. Cui, Z. C. Deng, Y. B. Dong, B. B. Feng, Q. D. Gao, X. Y. Han, W. Y. Hong, M. Huang, X. Q. Ji, Z. H. Kang, D. F. Kong, T. Lan, G. S. Li, H. J. Li, Qing Li, W. Li, Y. G. Li, A. D. Liu, Z. T. Liu, C. W. Luo, X. H. Mao, Y. D. Pan, J. F. Peng, Z. B. Shi, S. D. Song, X. Y. Song, H. J. Sun, A. K. Wang, M. X. Wang, Y. Q. Wang, W. W. Xiao, Y. F. Xie, L. H. Yao, D. L. Yu, B. S. Yuan, K. J. Zhao, G. W. Zhong, J. Zhou, J. C. Yan, C. X. Yu, C. H. Pan, Y. Liu, and the HL-2A Team, Nucl. Fusion 51, 094016 (2011)] to measure the losses of neutral beam ions. The design of the probe is based on the concept of the α-particle detectors on Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) using scintillator plates. The probe is capable of traveling across an equatorial plane port and sweeping the aperture angle rotationally with respect to the axis of the probe shaft by two step motors, in order to optimize the radial position and the collimator angle. The energy and the pitch angle of the lost fast ions can be simultaneously measured if the two-dimensional image of scintillation light intensity due to the impact of the lost fast ions is detected. Measurements of the fast-ion losses using the probe have been performed during HL-2A neutral beam injection discharges. The clear experimental evidence of enhanced losses of beam ions during disruptions has been obtained by means of the SLIP system. A detailed description of the probe system and the first experimental results are reported.

Three-dimensional seismic structure of a Mid-Atlantic Ridge segment characterized by active detachment faulting (TAG, 25°55’N-26°20’N)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, M.; Canales, J.

2009-12-01

; (2) a hot -perhaps partially molten- gabbro pluton intruding the detachment fault footwall, which could provide some of the heat driving hydrothermal circulation at TAG; or (3) serpenitized peridotite, with hydration of the footwall being enhanced by hydrothermal fluid flow. This research was granted by the US-NSF (OCE-0137329) and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (40776025). M. Zhao was supported by China Scholarship Council (CSC) for 6 months of cooperative research at WHOI.

Prominent roles of impurities in ionic liquid for catalytic conversion of carbohydrates

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

Zhao, Haibo; Brown, Heather M.; Holladay, Johnathan E.

2012-02-07

In the last two decades, ionic liquids have emerged as new and versatile solvents, and many of them are also catalysts for a broad range of catalytic reactions. Certain ionic liquids have been found to possess the unique capability of dissolving cellulosic biomass. The potential of such ionic liquids as solvent to enable catalytic conversion of cellulosic polymers was first explored and demonstrated by Zhao et al. This field of research has since experienced a rapid growth. Most ionic liquids have negligible vapor pressure and excellent thermal stability over a wide temperature range. For example, ionic liquids composed of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoliummore » (EMIM+) cation and Cl- anion was reported to be stable up to 285 C, while salts of the same cation with other anions such as BF4- and PF6- are thermally stable above 380 C under inert atmosphere. It is well known that presence of impurities in ionic liquids typically causes changes in physical properties, e.g. decreasing in melting point and viscosity. Addition of Lewis acidic metal chlorides, e.g. AlCl3 to 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [AMIM]Cl, is an exothermic reaction and considerably reduces the melting point by forming [AMIM]AlCl4 or [AMIM]Al2Cl7 that are also ionic liquids but have much lower melting point than the parent [AMIM]Cl. While most early research on catalysis of ionic liquids involving metallohalide anions were typically conducted from stoichiometric ratio of such anions to organic cations, e.g. [AMIM]+, the use of pure ionic liquids only as a solvent to carry out catalysis by a catalytic amount of a metal halide as catalyst truly displayed the solvent property of such ionic liquids.4 In such reaction systems, catalytic amounts of metal halides were used to catalyze the conversion of glucose and cellulose.4,11,12 The metal chloride catalyst concentration was in the order of 10-3 M. The presence of another metal chloride in the ionic liquids, even in the order of 10-5 M concentration

Equations of State and High-Pressure Behavior of Alkali Feldspars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, N.; Zhao, J.; Angel, R. J.

2017-12-01

in the alkali feldspars at high pressure. References: Benusa, M.D., Angel, R.J., and Ross N.L.(2005) Am. Mineral., 90:1115-1120; Angel, R.J., Sochalski-Kolbus, L.M., Tribaudino, M. (2012) Am. Mineral., 97, 765-778; Angel, R.J., Ross, N.L., Zhao, J., Sochalski-Kolbus, L., Krueger, H., Schmidt, C.B., Burkhard (2013) Eur. J. Mineral., 25: 597-614.

Modulation of ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer in H-bonding environment: PET from aniline to coumarin 153 in the presence of an inert co-solvent cyclohexane.

PubMed

Barman, Nabajeet; Hossen, Tousif; Mondal, Koushik; Sahu, Kalyanasis

2015-12-28

Despite intensive research, the role of the H-bonding environment on ultrafast PET remains illusive. For example, coumarin 153 (C153) undergoes ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer (PET) in electron-donating solvents, in both aniline (AN) and N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA), despite their very different H-bonding abilities. Thus, donor-acceptor (AN-C153) H-bonding may have only a minor role in PET (Yoshihara and co-workers, J. Phys. Chem. A, 1998, 102, 3089). However, donor-acceptor H-bonding may be somehow less effective in the neat H-bonding environment but could become dominant in the presence of an inert solvent (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 6159). We successfully applied and tested the proposal here. The nature of PET modulation of C153 in the presence of a passive component cyclohexane is found to be very different for aniline and DMA. Upon addition of cyclohexane to DMA, the PET process gradually becomes retarded but in the case of AN, the PET rate was indeed found to be accelerated at some intermediate composition (mole fraction of aniline, XAN∼ 0.74) compared to that of neat aniline. It is intuitive that cyclohexane may replace some of the donors (AN or DMA) from the vicinity of the acceptor and, thus, should disfavour PET. However, in the hydrogen bonding environment using molecular dynamics simulation, for the first time, we show that the average number of aniline molecules orienting their N-H group in the proximity of the C=O group of C153 is actually higher at the intermediate mole fraction (0.74) of aniline in a mixture rather than in neat aniline. This small but finite excess of C153-AN H-bonding already present in the ground state may possibly account for the anomalous effect. The TD-DFT calculations presented here showed that the intermolecular H-bonding between C153 and AN strengthens from 21.1 kJ mol(-1) in the ground state to 33.0 kJ mol(-1) in the excited state and, consequently, H-bonding may assist PET according to the Zhao and Han

Development of the scintillator-based probe for fast-ion losses in the HL-2A tokamak

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

Zhang, Y. P., E-mail: zhangyp@swip.ac.cn; Liu, Yi; Yuan, G. L.

A new scintillator-based lost fast-ion probe (SLIP) has been developed and operated in the HL-2A tokamak [L. W. Yan, X. R. Duan, X. T. Ding, J. Q. Dong, Q. W. Yang, Yi Liu, X. L. Zou, D. Q. Liu, W. M. Xuan, L. Y. Chen, J. Rao, X. M. Song, Y. Huang, W. C. Mao, Q. M. Wang, Q. Li, Z. Cao, B. Li, J. Y. Cao, G. J. Lei, J. H. Zhang, X. D. Li, W. Chen, J. Chen, C. H. Cui, Z. Y. Cui, Z. C. Deng, Y. B. Dong, B. B. Feng, Q. D. Gao, X. Y.more » Han, W. Y. Hong, M. Huang, X. Q. Ji, Z. H. Kang, D. F. Kong, T. Lan, G. S. Li, H. J. Li, Qing Li, W. Li, Y. G. Li, A. D. Liu, Z. T. Liu, C. W. Luo, X. H. Mao, Y. D. Pan, J. F. Peng, Z. B. Shi, S. D. Song, X. Y. Song, H. J. Sun, A. K. Wang, M. X. Wang, Y. Q. Wang, W. W. Xiao, Y. F. Xie, L. H. Yao, D. L. Yu, B. S. Yuan, K. J. Zhao, G. W. Zhong, J. Zhou, J. C. Yan, C. X. Yu, C. H. Pan, Y. Liu, and the HL-2A Team , Nucl. Fusion 51, 094016 (2011)] to measure the losses of neutral beam ions. The design of the probe is based on the concept of the α-particle detectors on Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) using scintillator plates. The probe is capable of traveling across an equatorial plane port and sweeping the aperture angle rotationally with respect to the axis of the probe shaft by two step motors, in order to optimize the radial position and the collimator angle. The energy and the pitch angle of the lost fast ions can be simultaneously measured if the two-dimensional image of scintillation light intensity due to the impact of the lost fast ions is detected. Measurements of the fast-ion losses using the probe have been performed during HL-2A neutral beam injection discharges. The clear experimental evidence of enhanced losses of beam ions during disruptions has been obtained by means of the SLIP system. A detailed description of the probe system and the first experimental results are reported.« less

Effects of Acute Low-Dose Exposure to the Chlorinated Flame Retardant Dechlorane 602 and Th1 and Th2 Immune Responses in Adult Male Mice

PubMed Central

Feng, Yu; Tian, Jijing; Xie, Heidi Qunhui; She, Jianwen; Xu, Sherry Li; Xu, Tuan; Tian, Wenjing; Fu, Hualing; Li, Shuaizhang; Tao, Wuqun; Wang, Lingyun; Chen, Yangsheng; Zhang, Songyan; Zhang, Wanglong; Guo, Tai L.; Zhao, Bin

2016-01-01

, Zhang S, Zhang W, Guo TL, Zhao B. 2016. Effects of acute low-dose exposure to the chlorinated flame retardant dechlorane 602 and Th1 and Th2 immune responses in adult male mice. Environ Health Perspect 124:1406–1413; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510314 PMID:27081854

Association Between Opioid Use and Risk of Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Zhao, Shankun; Deng, Tuo; Luo, Lianmin; Wang, Jiamin; Li, Ermao; Liu, Luhao; Li, Futian; Luo, Jintai; Zhao, Zhigang

2017-10-01

observational studies indicated that men with opioid use had a significantly increased risk of ED. Further randomized controlled trials are still needed to confirm this relation. Zhao S, Deng T, Luo L, et al. Association Between Opioid Use and Risk of Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Sex Med 2017;14:1209-1219. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Next Generation of Risk Assessment Multi-Year Study-Highlights of Findings, Applications to Risk Assessment, and Future Directions.

PubMed

Cote, Ila; Andersen, Melvin E; Ankley, Gerald T; Barone, Stanley; Birnbaum, Linda S; Boekelheide, Kim; Bois, Frederic Y; Burgoon, Lyle D; Chiu, Weihsueh A; Crawford-Brown, Douglas; Crofton, Kevin M; DeVito, Michael; Devlin, Robert B; Edwards, Stephen W; Guyton, Kathryn Z; Hattis, Dale; Judson, Richard S; Knight, Derek; Krewski, Daniel; Lambert, Jason; Maull, Elizabeth Anne; Mendrick, Donna; Paoli, Gregory M; Patel, Chirag Jagdish; Perkins, Edward J; Poje, Gerald; Portier, Christopher J; Rusyn, Ivan; Schulte, Paul A; Simeonov, Anton; Smith, Martyn T; Thayer, Kristina A; Thomas, Russell S; Thomas, Reuben; Tice, Raymond R; Vandenberg, John J; Villeneuve, Daniel L; Wesselkamper, Scott; Whelan, Maurice; Whittaker, Christine; White, Ronald; Xia, Menghang; Yauk, Carole; Zeise, Lauren; Zhao, Jay; DeWoskin, Robert S

2016-11-01

, Bois FY, Burgoon LD, Chiu WA, Crawford-Brown D, Crofton KM, DeVito M, Devlin RB, Edwards SW, Guyton KZ, Hattis D, Judson RS, Knight D, Krewski D, Lambert J, Maull EA, Mendrick D, Paoli GM, Patel CJ, Perkins EJ, Poje G, Portier CJ, Rusyn I, Schulte PA, Simeonov A, Smith MT, Thayer KA, Thomas RS, Thomas R, Tice RR, Vandenberg JJ, Villeneuve DL, Wesselkamper S, Whelan M, Whittaker C, White R, Xia M, Yauk C, Zeise L, Zhao J, DeWoskin RS. 2016. The Next Generation of Risk Assessment multiyear study-highlights of findings, applications to risk assessment, and future directions. Environ Health Perspect 124:1671-1682; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP233.

Dynamic Properties of Polyurea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youssef, George H.

The aim of this thesis was to understand the dynamic behavior of polyurea at rates of loading that is outside the reach of plate impact and split-Hopkinson bar experiments. This was motivated by the desire to design polyurea-based armors against hypervelocity impacts such as those arising from shaped charges and explosively formed projectiles with speeds in the range of 9,000 to 30,000 ft/s. By employing the laser-induced stress waves, the tensile strength and fracture energy of polyurea were measured at peak strain rate of 10 7s-1. Tensile strength of 93.1 ±5 MPa and fracture energy values of 6.75 (± 0.5) J/m2 were measured. It was also shown that the Time Temperature Superposition Principle holds for polyurea even at strain rates as high as 105s-1. This strain rate is two orders of magnitude higher than those reported recently by the Caltech group (Zhao, et al.). This important finding suggests that blast simulations of large-scale structures and those of armors involving polyurea can be based on constitutive data gathered under quasi-static conditions. This is quite powerful. With a view towards future reach, preliminary experiments were performed to inquire how polyurca behaves in the presence of other armor materials when subjected to impacts in the nanoseconds timeframe. That is, does it synergistically add its intrinsic impact-mitigating properties to other known defeat mechanisms? To this end, sections in which I to 2 mm thick polyurea layers were sandwiched between glass, acrylic, polyurethane, Al, Steel, and PMMA plates were subjected to laser-generated stress waves. The sections were evaluated based on the amplitude and time profile of the stress wave that exited the sections. Both metal plates resulted in a significant reduction in the transmitted stress wave amplitude. This was due to the large impedance mismatch between the polyurea and the metal which essentially resulted in trapping of the stress wave within the incident substrate. An unexpected

Subduction structure beneath the eastern part of the Kii Peninsula, southwestern Japan, revealed by dense seismic array observation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurashimo, E.; Iidaka, T.; Tsumura, N.; Iwasaki, T.

2016-12-01

high Vp/Vs zone. Reported strong reflector interpreted to be the top of the PHS [Iwasaki et al., 2008] well corresponds to the top of the low Vp and high Vp/Vs zone. The low Vp and high Vp/Vs zone generally suggests the existence of fluid (e.g., Zhao et al., 1996). These results suggest the occurrence of the tremors may be associated with fluids dehydrated from the PHS.

Myxosporea (Cnidaria : Myxozoa) infecting the saddled seabream Oblada melanura (L. 1758) (Teleostei : Sparidae) and the painted comber Serranus scriba (L. 1758) (Teleostei : Serranidae) in Tunisia.

PubMed

Laamiri, Sayef

2017-05-19

First parasitological surveys of Myxozoa are performed on the sparid saddled seabream Oblada melanura (Linnaeus, 1758) and the serranid painted comber Serranus scriba (Linnaeus, 1758) caught from the Bay of Bizerte and the Gulf of Tunis respectively in Northeast Tunisia, Western Mediterranean. In this study, 6 bivalvulid myxosporean species belonging to the 3 genera Ceratomyxa Thélohan, 1892, Myxodavisia Zhao, Zhou, Kent & Whipps, 2008 and Zschokkella Auerbach, 1910, are isolated infecting their hosts. Two species Ceratomyxa sp. 1 ex O. melanura (Prevalence (P) = 36%) and Ceratomyxa sp. 2 ex O. melanura (P = 13%) infected the saddled seabream and four species Ceratomyxa sp. 1 ex S. scriba (P = 11.7%), Ceratomyxa sp. 2 ex S. scriba (P = 6.7%), Myxodavisia sp. (P = 8.3%) and Zschokkella sp. (P = 5.6%) infected the painted comber. These myxosporeans differ, in vegetative stages and/or in mature spores, from all the previously known congeneric species, and are described here on the basis of their morphological and morphometric features, their host and tissue specificities and their biogeographical distribution. This is the first report of myxosporean infections in O. melanura and S. scriba. The occurrence of two ceratomyxid species in each host species supports that the genus Ceratomyxa is host-specific not only in sparids but also in serranids, which agrees with data previously obtained from Sparidae in Mediterranean Sea and from Serranidae in GBR, Australia. A member of the myxosporean genus Myxodavisia is recorded from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, and Zschokkella spp. infections have not previously been recorded from a host in Serranidae. During the examination, a several cases of Co-infection among myxosporeans, both with two and three species, are provided and statistically studied. Indeed, 5% of the breams and 9.4% of the combers are infected with more than one myxosporean parasite. The relationship between myxosporean infections and some biological

Elementary Steps of Faujasite Formation Followed by in Situ Spectroscopy

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

Prodinger, Sebastian; Vjunov, Aleksei; Hu, Jian Zhi

Ex situ and in situ spectroscopy was used to identify the kinetics of processes during the formation of the faujasite (FAU) zeolite lattice from a hydrous gel. Using solid-state 27Al MAS NMR, the autocatalytic transformation from the amorphous gel into the crystalline material was monitored. Al-XANES shows that most Al already adopts a tetrahedral coordination in the X-ray-amorphous aluminosilicate at the beginning of the induction period, which hardly changes throughout the rest of the synthesis. Using 23Na NMR spectroscopy, environments in the growing zeolite crystal were identified and used to define the processes in the stepwise formation of the zeolitemore » lattice. The end of the induction period was accompanied by a narrowing of the 27Al and 23Na MAS NMR peak widths, indicating the increased long-range order. The experiments show conclusively that the formation of faujasite occurs via the continuous formation and subsequent condensation of intermediary sodalite-like units that constitute the key building block of the zeolite. Acknowledgement The authors thank T. Huthwelker for assistance with XAFS experiment setup at the Swiss Light Source (PSI, Switzerland). Further, we would like to acknowledge V. Shutthanandan and B.W. Arey for performing Helium ion microscopy as well as Z. Zhao, N.R. Jaeger, M. Weng, C. Wan and M. Hu for aiding in the NMR experimental procedure. T. Varga is acknowledged for his help with the capillary XRD. A.V., D.M.C., J.H., J.L.F and J.A.L. were supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. S.P. and M.A.D. acknowledge support by the Materials Synthesis and Simulation Across Scales (MS3 Initiative) conducted under Laboratory Directed Research & Development Program at PNNL. The in situ NMR experiments were supported by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Biosciences and Geosciences. Part of the research