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Summary The effects of high-intensity pulsed electromagnetic stimulation (HIPEMS) on proliferation and differentiation of neonatal rat neural stem cells in vitro were investigated. Neural stem cells derived from neonatal rats were exposed to 0.1 Hz, 0.5-10 Tesla (T) [8 groups of B-I, respectively], 5 stimuli of HIPEMF. The sham exposure controls were correspondingly established. Inverted phase contrast microscope was used to observe the cultured cells, MTT assay to detect the viability of the cells as expressed by absorbance (A) value, and flow cytometry to measure differentiation of neural stem cells. The results showed that A values of neural stem cells in both 3.0 T and 4.0 T groups were significantly higher than the other groups 24 to 168 h post HPEMS, indicating a strong ...

International Science & Technology Center (ISTC)

Morphological, Electrophysiological and Behavioral Investigations of the Nervous Tissue Developed from the Embryonic Matrix Zone Cells of the Dorsolateral Walls of Lateral Ventricles, Implanted into the Lesioned Regions of the Adult Rat's Brain

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Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-@b) has a crucial role in the differentiation of ectodermal cells to neural or epidermal precursors. TGF-@b and bone morphogenetic protein molecules (BMPs) are involved in many developmental processes, including cell proliferation and differentiation, apoptosis, mitotic arrest and intercellular interactions during morphogenesis. Additionally, the failure of central thymic tolerance mechanisms, leading to T cells with a skewed autoreactive response, is being described as a contributor in inflammatory processes in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Since TGF-@b and BMP proteins are crucial for the development of the neural system and the thymus, as well as for the differentiation of T cells, it is essential to further investigate their role i...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Spindle cell sarcomas consist of tumors with different biological features, of which distant metastasis is the most ominous sign for a poor prognosis. However, metastasis is difficult to predict on the basis of current histopathological analyses. We have identified actin filament-associated protein 1-like 1 (AFAP1L1) as a candidate for a metastasis-predicting marker from the gene expression profiles of 65 spindle cell sarcomas. A multivariate analysis determined that AFAP1L1 was an independent factor for predicting the occurrence of distant metastasis (P=0.0001), which was further confirmed in another set of 41 tumors by a quantitative mRNA expression analysis. Immunohistochemical staining using paraffin-embedded tumor tissues revealed that the metastasis-free rate was significantly better...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

During asymmetric mitosis, both in male Drosophila germline stem cells and in mouse embryo neural progenitors, the mother centrosome is retained by the self-renewed cell; hence suggesting...Full Text Available

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Entorhinal grid cells in mammals fire as a function of animal location, with spatially periodic response patterns. This nonlocal periodic representation of location, a local variable, is unlike other neural codes. There is no theoretical explanation for why such a code should exist. We examined how accurately the grid code with noisy neurons allows an ideal observer to estimate location and found this code to be a previously unknown type of population code with unprecedented robustness to noise. In particular, the representational accuracy attained by grid cells over the coding range was in a qualitatively different class from what is possible with observed sensory and motor population codes. We found that a simple neural network can effectively correct the grid code. To the best of our kn...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The kinetic parameters of single bonds between neural cell adhesion molecules were determined from atomic force microscope measurements of the forced dissociation of the homophilic protein-protein bonds....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The destiny of the mitotically active cells of the subventricular zone (SVZ) in adult rodents is to migrate to the olfactory bulb, where they contribute to the replacement of granular and periglomerular...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Besides differentiation and apoptosis, cell migration is a basic process in brain development in which neural cells migrate several centimeters within the developing brain before reaching their proper positions and forming the right connections. For identifying signaling events that control neural migration and are therefore potential targets of chemicals to disturb normal brain development, we developed a human neurosphere-based migration assay based on normal human neural progenitor (NHNP) cells, in which the distance is measured that cells wander over time. Applying this assay, we investigated the role of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) in the regulation of NHNP cell migration. Exposure to model substances like ethanol or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) revealed a correlation between ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Objective:EEG source imaging provides important information regarding the underlying neural activity from noninvasive electrophysiological measurements. The aim of the present study was to evaluate source reconstruction techniques by means of the intracranial electrocorticograms (ECoGs) and functional MRI.Methods:Five source imaging algorithms, including the minimum norm least square (MNLS), LORETA with Lp-norm (p equal to 1, 1.5 and 2), sLORETA, the minimum Lp-norm (p equal to 1 and 1.5; when p=2, the MNLS method is mathematically equivalent to the minimum Lp-norm) and L1-norm (the linear programming) methods, were evaluated in a group of 10 human subjects, in a paradigm with somatosensory stimulation. Cortical current density (CCD) distributions were estimated from the scalp somatosensor...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The objective of this study is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict the thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol-water solutions based on experimentally measured variables. The thermal conductivity of solutions at different concentrations and various temperatures was measured using the cylindrical cell method that physical properties of the solution are being determined fills the annular space between two concentric cylinders. During the experiment, heat flows in the radial direction outwards through the test liquid filled in the annual gap to cooling water. In the steady state, conduction inside the cell was described by the Fourier equation in cylindrical coordinates, with boundary conditions corresponding to heat transfer between the solution and cooling water. ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis is associated with various pathological conditions and arrhythmogenesis of the heart. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an acute increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) on the electrophysiology of ventricular myocytes by mimicking intracellular Ca2+ overload. The [Ca2+]i was clamped to either a controlled (65?100 nmol L?1) or increased (1 ?mol L?1) level. The transmembrane action potentials and ionic currents were recorded using whole-cell patch clamp techniques. We found that the acute increase in [Ca2+]i shortened the action potential duration, reduced the action potential amplitude, maximum depolarization velocity and resting membrane potential, caused delayed after-depolarizations (DADs), and tri...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The murine 3T3-L1 fibroblast under appropriate incubation conditions differentiates into an adipocyte phenotype. This 3T3-L1 adipocyte exhibits many of the morphologic, biochemical, and insulin-responsive features of the normal rodent adipocyte. Using quantitative electron microscopic (EM) autoradiography we find that, when /sup 125/I-insulin is incubated with 3T3-L1 adipocytes, the ligand at early times of incubation localizes to the plasma membrane of the cell preferentially to microvilli and coated pits. When the incubation is continued at 37 degrees C, /sup 125/I-insulin is internalized by the cells and preferential binding to the villous surface is lost. With the internalization of the ligand, two intracellular structures become labeled, as determined by the method of hypothetical grain analysis. These include large ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isolation and expansion of neural stem cells (NSCs) of human origin are crucial for successful development of cell therapy approaches in neurodegenerative diseases. Different epigenetic and genetic immortalization strategies have been established for long-term maintenance and expansion of these cells in vitro. Here we report the generation of a new, clonal NSC (hc-NSC) line, derived from human fetal cortical tissue, based on v-myc immortalization. Using immunocytochemistry, we show that these cells retain the characteristics of NSCs after more than 50 passages. Under proliferation conditions, when supplemented with epidermal and basic fibroblast growth factors, the hc-NSCs expressed neural stem/progenitor cell markers like nestin, vimentin and Sox2. When growth factors were withdrawn, proliferation and expression of v-myc and telomerase were ...

Science.gov (United States)

Adolescent exposure to anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) alters the development and activity of the glutamate neural system in the latero-anterior hypothalamus (LAH) in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus); that is, an important neural component of the adolescent AAS-induced aggressive response. In this article, we used retrograde tracing to investigate glutamate-specific alterations in the connections between the LAH and several other nuclei implicated in adolescent AAS-induced aggression. Briefly, hamsters were treated with AAS or sesame-oil control during adolescence and then microinjected with retrograde tracer into the medial amygdala (MeA), lateral septum (LS), or bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Brains were then processed for vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) and examined for AAS-induced changes in the number VGLUT2 cells containing retrograde tracer (VGLUT2/tracer) within the LAH. It is interesting ...

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3T3 - L1 cells can be induced to differentiate by exposing cell culture to a medium containing 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine together with insulin and dexamethasone. They have observed that oxalomalate (OMA) which inhibits aconitase thus blocking the citric cycle, also favours differentiation to adipocytes leading to fatty acids accumulation and increased synthesis of specific proteins. They compared the effects of 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine-insulin-dexamethasone and OMA on the steady-state levels of mRNA of c / EBP, H-ferritin and aconitase / IRE-BP. OMA does not affect the steady-state mRNA amount of C / EBP, H-ferritin and aconitase / IRE-BP but the 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine-insulin-dexamethasone mixture is able to induce a five-fold increase of mRNA levels for aconitase / IRE-BP. This is the first finding correlating iron metabolism to adipocyte differentiation. Further studies will clarify a ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Accession Number : ADA111683. Title : Coherency Effects on Retinal Neural Processes (ERG) of Pseudemys. Descriptive ...

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The objective of this study is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict the thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol-water solutions based on experimentally measured variables. The thermal conductivity of solutions at different concentrations and various temperatures was measured using the cylindrical cell method that physical properties of the solution are being determined fills the annular space between two concentric cylinders. During the experiment, heat flows in the radial direction outwards through the test liquid filled in the annual gap to cooling water. In the steady state, conduction inside the cell was described by the Fourier equation in cylindrical coordinates, with boundary conditions corresponding to heat transfer between the solution and cooling water. The performance of ANN was evaluated by a regression analysis between the predicted and the experimental values. The ANN predictions ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Innate immune responses are regulated by microorganisms and cell death, as well as by a third class of stress signal from the nervous and endocrine systems. The innate immune system also feeds back, through the production of cytokines, to regulate the function of the central nervous system (CNS), and this has effects on behaviour. These signals provide an extrinsic regulatory circuit that links physiological, social and environmental conditions, as perceived by the CNS, with transcriptional 'decision-making' in leukocytes. CNS-mediated regulation of innate immune responses optimizes total organism fitness and provides new opportunities for therapeutic control of chronic infectious, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric diseases.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cultures of 3T3-L1 cells were incubated with either 10 ng/ml cholera toxin or 10 ng/ml pertussis toxin from 4 days prior to the initiation of differentiation and throughout the subsequent incubation. Toxin concentrations were sufficient to completely prevent the labelling of alpha-subunits with ["3"2P]NAD"+ and pertussis toxin and to prevent by more than 90% the labelling with ["3"2P]NAD"+ and cholera toxin in membranes prepared from these cells. Neither toxin prevented the differentiation to the adipocyte phenotype. Neither toxin prevented the increases in the relative amounts of G-proteins which occur upon differentiation. Both toxins dramatically decreased the amount of beta-subunits. As measured by quantitative immunoblotting with antisera specific for both the 35 kDa and 36 kDa beta-subunits, levels of beta-subunit were decreased by more than 50% of steady-state level of control ...

Science.gov (United States)

It is well known that contact with metals can be responsible for allergic contact dermatitis; also, there is experimental evidence that nickel ions are readily available on the surface of used coins containing nickel and copper. The aim of this study was to prove that metal powders of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and chromium (Cr) dispersed in synthetic sweat are oxidised into respective ions that can permeate the skin. Suspensions of 5 g of metal powder (Ni, Co and Cr) in 100 mL of synthetic sweat at pH 6.5 were prepared and shaken with a stirring plate at room temperature for 30 min. Human skin membranes were set up in Franz-diffusion cells and 2 mL of the freshly made suspension were applied to the outer surface of the skin for 24h. The appearance of metal ions in the aqueous receptor phase (NaCl 0.9%) was quantified by Electro Thermal Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (ETAAS). Also, metals ions were analysed using Differential Pulse Polarography (DDP), Differential ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The temporal synchrony of auditory and visual signals is known to affect the perception of an external event, yet it is unclear what neural mechanisms underlie the influence of temporal synchrony...Full Text Available

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New Schiff base derivatives (L1 and L2) were prepared by the condensation of 2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (o-vanillin) and 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde (iso-vanillin) with 5-methylfurfurylamine. Two new complexes [Ni(L1)2] and [Cu(L1)2] have been synthesized with bidentate NO donor Schiff base ligand (L1). The Ni(II) and Cu(II) atoms in each complex are four coordinated in a square planar geometry. Schiff bases (L1 and L2) and complexes [Ni(L1)2] and [Cu(L1)2] were characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, UV-vis, mass and 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopies. The crystal structures of the ligand (L2) and complexes [Ni(L1)2] and ...

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Drosophila melanogaster is a model organism rich in genetic tools to manipulate and identify neural circuits involved in specific behaviors. Here we present a technique for two-photon calcium imaging in the central brain of head-fixed Drosophila walking on an air-supported ball. The ball's motion is tracked at high resolution and can be treated as a proxy for the fly's own movements. We used the genetically encoded calcium sensor, GCaMP3.0, to record from important elements of the motion-processing pathway, the horizontal-system lobula plate tangential cells (LPTCs) in the fly optic lobe. We presented motion stimuli to the tethered fly and found that calcium transients in horizontal-system neurons correlated with robust optomotor behavior during walking. Our technique allows both behavior ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cadmium is a non-essential heavy metal found abundantly in the environment. Children of women exposed to cadmium during pregnancy display lower motor and perceptual abilities. High cadmium body burden in children is also related to impaired intelligence and lowered school achievement. However, little is known about the molecular and cellular basis of developmental neurotoxicity in the sensitive early life stages of animals. In this study, we explore neurological deficits caused by cadmium during early embryonic stages in zebrafish by examining regionalization of the neural tube, pattern formation and cell fate determination, commitment of proneural genes and induction of neurogenesis. We show that cadmium-treated embryos developed a smaller head with unclear boundaries between the brain subdivisions, particularly in the mid-hindbrain region. Embryos display normal anterior to posterior regionalization; however, the commitment of ...

KoreaScience (Korea)

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Short communication.

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This thesis investigates the application of artificial neural networks for the compression of image data. An algorithm is developed using the competitive learning paradigm which takes advantage of the parallel processing and classification capability of neural networks to produce an efficient implementation of vector quantization. Multi-Stage, tree searched, and classification vector quantization codebook design are adapted to the neural network design to reduce the computational cost and hardware requirements. The results show that the new algorithm provides a substantial reduction in computational costs and an improvement in performance.

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Platinum(II) complexes (1-4) with bidentate N,Nprime-ligands, O,Oprime-dialkyl esters (alkyl = ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl and n-pentyl), of (S,S)-ethylenediamine-N,Nprime-di-2-(4-methyl)pentanoic acid were synthesized and characterized by IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. DFT calculations were performed for the complexes and it was found that only one diastereoisomer could be formed. Cytotoxic activity of complexes 1-4 was determined against chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells (CLL) and compared to the activity of ligand precursors L12HCl-L42HCl and corresponding palladium(II) complexes, [PdCl2L] (L = L1-L4). The complexes were found to exhibit significantly higher antitumor activities than cisplatin on CLL cells. Cytotoxic effect of platinum(II) complexes on CLL cel...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Ribosomal protein L1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae binds 5S rRNA and can be released from intact 60S ribosomal subunits as an L1-5S ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particle. To understand the nature of the...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Expression of IGF-2 and changes in its expression in response to systemic endocrine alterations have not been demonstrated for adipocytes. Adipocytes were induced to develop within cultures of 3T3-L1 cells using a medium containing 0.5mM isobutylmethylxanthine, 1uM insulin and 100ng hydrocortisone/ml for 48 hours of exposure. Cultures containing developing adipocytes were incubated with 10% pig serum and 1 uM insulin for several days. The resultant adipocyte cultures were then treated with either 10% pig serum, diabetic pig serum or hypophysectomized pig serum in DMEM for 48 hours. Adipocytes within the cultures were separated from undifferentiated cells using percoll density gradient centrifugation. Total RNA was isolated from adipocytes and dot blotted. Blots were probed with a {sup 32}P-cDNA probe for rat IGF-2. IGF-2 was expressed by the adipocytes and the pattern of expression showed specific ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Congenital deformities involving the coverings of the nervous system are called neural tube defects (NTDs). NTD can be classified as neurulation defects, which occur by stage 12, and postneurulation...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

We present an algorithm to identify individual neural spikes observed on high-density multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). Our method can distinguish large numbers of distinct neural units, even when spikes...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The tendency for some individuals to partake in high-risk behaviors (eg, substance abuse, gambling, risky sexual activities) is a matter of great public health concern, yet the characteristics and neural...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

Adaptive Neural Augmentation , AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and. Control Conference, Aug. 1998. [2] J. T. Kaneshige, J. Bull, and J. J. Totah, Generic Neural ...

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No abstract prepared.

KoreaScience (Korea)

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CERN Document Server

Computing Networks (CNs) are defined. These are used to generalize neural and swarm architectures, namely artificial neural networks, ant colony optimization, and particle swarm optimization. The description of these architectures as CNs allows their comparison, distinguishing which properties enable them to perform complex computations and exhibit complex cognitive abilities. In this context, the most relevant characteristics of CNs are the existence multiple dynamical and functional scales.

Scientific Electronic Library Online (English)

Abstract in english BACKGROUND: Severe pathogenic infection triggers excessive release of cytokines as part of the massive inflammatory response associated with septic shock. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the protective effect of caffeic acid phenethye ester (CAPE) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced endotoxemia, hepatic and neuronal damage and the associated systemic inflammatory response (SIR). METHODS: Fifty male Wister rats were divided into: control, LPS, and CAPE+LPS groups. Plasma c (more) oncentrations of various cytokines, including TNF-?, IL-1?, IL-1?, IL-6, IL-4, IL-10, and sICAM-1 were evaluated. In addition, the histopathological changes in the hepatic and neural cells were assessed. RESULTS: The LPS group showed high inflammatory cytokines and sICAM-1 levels reflecting the presence of SIR. Hepatocyte necrosis, apoptosis, extensive hemorrhage and inflammatory cellular infiltration together with brain astrocytes swelling, early ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewing's sarcoma is a highly malignant neoplasm of the bone whose origin is still uncertain. A strong relationship exists between Ewing's sarcoma and tumors of neural origin (Ewing family of tumors). Ewing's sarcoma must be distinguished from other round-cell tumors like lymphoma and neuroblastoma and also must be differentiated from osteogenic sarcomas. On plain radiographs, Ewing's sarcoma appears as a lytic or mixed lytic-sclerotic, rarely as predominantly sclerotic lesion with margins Lodwick grade III. It is located primarily in the diaphyseal and metadiaphyseal regions of the long bones of the lower extremities. A large soft tissue tumor is usually present. Magnetic resonance imaging is the imaging modality of choice to evaluate the extent of the primary lesion, to monitor the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and to follow up non-resected Ewing's sarcomas. Bone scintigraphy is necessary to detect skeletal metastasis, and "2"0"1thallium ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract The present work, regarding the determination of ultratrace Os(VIII), Ru(III) and Ir(III) in superficial waters is an interesting example of the possibility to simultaneously, or better sequentially determine each single element in real samples by voltammetry. The method is based on the catalytic current of the Os(VIII)- and Ru(III)-bromate systems by square wave voltammetry and on the Ir(III) determination by square wave catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetry. 0.5-mol-L-1 acetate buffer pH-4.9+7.710-2-mol-L-1 NaBrO3 and 0.5-mol-L-1 acetate buffer pH-4.9+7.710-2-mol-L-1 NaBrO3+2.310-5-mol-L-1 cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) +0.2-mol-L-1 KCl were employed as the supporting electrolytes. The analytical procedure was ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In this article, the ability of artificial neural networks in prediction of separation in steady two dimensional boundary layer flows is studied. Data for network training is extracted from numerical solution of an ODE obtained from Von Karman integral equation with approximate one parameter Pohlhousen velocity profile. As an appropriate neural network, a two layer radial basis generalized regression artificial neural network is used. The results shows good agreements between the overall behavior of the flow fields predicted by the artificial neural network and the actual flow fields for some cases. The method easily can be extended to unsteady separation and turbulent as well as compressible boundary layer flows. (author)

Science.gov (United States)

Automated Transport. Not Studied in Detail. Earth's Neighborhood. Simplified Infrastructure. Mars. Earth-. Moon L. 1. Gateway. Moon. Earth-Sun L. 2. Science ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of the maxillary galea of the silkworm were analyzed to identify proteins involved in food selection systems. From the 1251 redundant genes of the ESTs, we identified 7 odorant-binding protein-like genes (bmObpL), 6 takeout-like genes (bmToL), and 6 chemosensory protein genes (bmCsp). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that bmObpL1, bmObpL2, bmObpL3, bmObpL5, bmToL1, bmToL3, and bmorCsp15 were predominantly expressed in the larval oral appendages, such as the maxilla, labrum, labium and antenna. Immunocytochemical analysis indicated that the proteins of bmObpL1, bmObpL3, and bmToL1 were localized in the gustatory chemosensilla on the maxillary galea and olfactory sensilla in the antenna. The proteins encoded by bmObpL1 and bmObpL3 were detected ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Time delay neural networks trained with the backpropagation algorithm are derived for the gun fire control system to correct the miss distance between a target and the projectiles from the gun. Its performance is compared to optimum linear filter based on minimum mean square error [R.E. Kalman, A new approach to linear filtering and prediction problems, J. Basic Eng. 82D (1960) 35-44.]. The structure of the proposed neural controller is described and performance results are shown.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

As an application of ART2 neural networks, computer aided monitoring of pump efficiency is successfully examined for an industrial waste-liquid treatment process with measured data of valve openness and liquid flow rates. By running the neural networks in parallel, we confirm that accuracy to detect system changes is good, and the adjustment of classifier parameters is relatively easy. Investigating the resulting classes carefully, frequency of each class is correlated with pump efficiency. The relative amount of variables are also related to the classes. (author)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Supplementing the collection of artificial neural network methodologies devised for monitoring energy producing installations, a general regression artificial neural network is proposed for the identification of the two-phase flow that occurs in the coolant channels of boiling water reactors. The utilization of a limited number of image features derived from radiography images affords the proposed approach with efficiency and non-invasiveness. Additionally, the application of counter-clustering to the input patterns prior to training accomplishes an 80% reduction in network size as well as in training and test time. Cross-validation tests confirm accurate on-line flow regime identification.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A back-propagation neural network technique is used at JET to extract plasma parameters like ion temperature, rotation velocities or spectral line intensities from charge exchange (CX) spectra. It is shown that in the case of the C VI CX spectra, neural networks can give a good estimation (better than +-20% accuracy) for the main plasma parameters (Ti, V{sub rot}). Since the neural network approach involves no iterations or initial guesses the speed with which a spectrum is processed is so high (0.2 ms/spectrum) that real time analysis will be achieved in the near future. 4 refs., 8 figs.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Because the state of a free-floating space robot model is uncertain and sudden changes in the model parameters might undermine the stability of the system, this paper proposes a control strategy based on a variable structure neural integrated controller. This scheme does not need a precise space robot model, making use of the radial basis function neural network ability approach to learn about an uncertain model. The network weights are adjusted online in real-time. During the early period of the control phase and parameter changes, the variable structure controller compensates for the uncertain model which the neural network could not learn well. It also creates global asymptotic stability for the whole closed-loop system. Simulation results show that the controller can handle bad changea...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The potential of radiolabelled phenylpiperazines as agents for the detection and therapy of tumours of neural crest origin was evaluated by in vitro pharmacological studies with human neuroblastoma...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

SLPL molecule to stimulate sufficient growth to have nerve sprouts enter the electrode and establish a neural interface for prosthesis control. ...

CERN Document Server

Computing with cells

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Adipose tissue plays an essential role in energy homeostasis as a metabolic and endocrine organ. Accordingly, adipocytes are emerging as a major drug target for obesity and obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Dysfunction of enlarged adipocytes in obesity is involved in obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin released from small adipocytes, are able to prevent these disorders. In this study, we found that honokiol, an ingredient of Magnolia officinalis used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines, enhanced adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Oil Red O staining showed that treatment with honokiol in the presence of insulin dose-dependently increased lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipoyctes although its activity was weak compared with r...

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This paper deals with the control of an electromechanical valves engine. The control uses neural networks in order to build a non-linear model of engine filing which depends on the driven inlets. The aim is to build this real-time model and to integrate this model to a control system which performs an iterative inversion. (J.S.)

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A novel approach is presented to extract relevant parameters associated with the energy loss of ejectiles from nuclear reactions obtained by digitizing the signals of a Bragg curve spectrometer. New and more powerful computational paradigms allow a more thorough pulse-shape analysis. This is fulfilled using a back-propagation artificial neural network as a pattern identifier. The known problem of over-training is discussed.

Science.gov (United States)

A voice-tracking algorithm was developed and tested for the purposes of electronically separating the voice signals of simultaneous talkers. Many individuals suffer from hearing disorders that often inhibit their ability to focus on a single speaker in a multiple speaker environment (the cocktail party effect). Digital hearing aid technology makes it possible to implement complex algorithms for speech processing in both the time and frequency domains. In this work, an average magnitude difference function (AMDF) was performed on mixed voice signals in order to determine the fundamental frequencies present in the signals. A time prediction neural network was trained to recognize normal human voice inflection patterns, including rising, falling, rising-falling, and falling-rising patterns. The neural network was designed to track the fundamental frequency of a single talker based on the training procedure. The output of the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

As part of the national survey to evaluate natural radioactivity in the environment, concentration levels of natural uranium and "2"2"6Ra have been analyzed in over 300 drinking water samples taken from different locations in Argentina. "2"2"6Ra was determined by "2"2"2Rn emanation and liquid scintillation counting, and natural uranium by a fluorimetric procedure. Values ranging from 0.03 to 24 #mu#g.l"-"1 of natural uranium and from 0.06 to 50 #mu#g.l"-"1, were measured on drinking water samples taken from tap water systems and private wells, respectively. Concentrations up to 15 mBq.l"-"1 and to 22 mBq.l"-"1 of "2"2"6Ra were found in drinking water samples taken from tap water systems and private wells, respectively. These values are compared with the reference values accepted for drinking water. Based on the water ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveDisc herniations at the L1-L2 and L2-L3 levels are different from those at lower levels of the lumbar spine with regard to clinical characteristics and surgical outcome....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundObesity is one of the principal causative factors involved in the development of metabolic syndrome. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an energy sensor that regulates...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The extracellular matrix (ECM) of the distal tissues in a newt limb stump is completely reorganized in the 2-3-week period following amputation. In view of numerous in vitro studies showing that extracellular material influences cellular migration and proliferation, it is likely that the changes in the limb's ECM are important activities in the process leading to regeneration of such limbs. Using biochemical, autoradiographic, and histochemical techniques we studied temporal and spatial differences in the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) during the early, nerve-dependent phase of limb regeneration. Hyaluronic acid synthesis began with the onset of tissue dedifferentiation, became maximal within 1 weeks, and continued throughout the period of active cell proliferation. Chondroitin sulfate synthesis began somewhat later, increased steadily, and reached very high levels during chondrogenesis. During the first 10 days after amputation, distributions of sulfated ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The influence of carbon monoxide (CO) exposure on regional cerebral blood flow (r-CBF) in rat brain was studied using autoradiography and {sup 125}I-IMP. Fuji computed radiography (FCR) was used to obtain improved autoradiograms in this study. R-CBF was determined in a relative measure by calculating hippocampus/cortex and putamen/cortex ratios of RI accumulation from the autoradiogram using a densitometer. Comparison of autoradiograms with pathological findings in the area of the hippocampus and putamen yield the following results. In the animals that were exposed to 6400 ppm or 10000 ppm of CO for 30 minutes, and then were followed up for 2 weeks without further exposure, r-CBF was decreased but no pathological changes occurred. In the animals that were exposed to 6400 ppm or 10000 ppm of CO, and then were followed up for 4 weeks without further exposure, pathological changes appeared. In animals exposed to 3200 ppm of CO, the r-CBF tended to recover after 4 weeks. Furthermore, ...

Science.gov (United States)

In our previous paper (Lanzafame et al. 2000, PASJ 52, 515) we showed, through 2D SPH simulations, that the stellar mass ratio, M 2 / M 1, of a close binary system (that determines the position and then the initial specific angular momentum at L 1) plays a fundamental role in the formation and development of spiral structures and shock fronts in the radial flow of accretion discs. In that work only a quasi-sonic value of the injection velocity at L 1 was considered. In the present work we also carried out 2D SPH simulations with the aim to investigate the development of such structures, while keeping constant the mass of the compact primary (M 1 = 1 M odot) and the separation between the two components, and assuming as an initial condition of two different supersonic injection velocities at L 1, characterizing two sets of simulations. For each set we considered ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The precedence effect (PE) is thought to be beneficial for proper localization and perception of sounds. The majority of recent physiological studies focus on the neural discharges correlated with PE in the inferior colliculus (IC). Pentobarbital anesthesia is widely used in physiological studies. However, little is known of the effect of pentobarbital on the discharge of neurons in PE. Neuronal responses in the IC from 23 male SD rats were recorded by standard extracellular recording techniques following presentation of 4ms white noise bursts, presented from either or both of two loud speakers, at different interstimulus delays (ISDs). The neural responses were recorded for off-line analysis before or after intraperitoneal administration of pentobarbital at a loading or maintenance dose. ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary Humans discount the value of future rewards over time. Here we show using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neural coupling analyses that episodic future thinking reduces the rate of delay discounting through a modulation of neural decision-making and episodic future thinking networks. In addition to a standard control condition, real subject-specific episodic event cues were presented during a delay discounting task. Spontaneous episodic imagery during cue processing predicted how much subjects changed their preferences toward more future-minded choice behavior. Neural valuation signals in the anterior cingulate cortex and functional coupling of this region with hippocampus and amygdala predicted the degree to which future thinking modulated individual preference fu...

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A data analysis based on an artificial neural network classifier is proposed to identify cosmic ray antiprotons detected with the CAPRICE silicon-tungsten imaging calorimeter against electron background in the energy range 1.2-4.0 GeV. A set of new physical variables, describing the events inside the calorimeter on the base of their different patterns, are introduced in order to discriminate between hadronic and electromagnetic showers. The ability of the artificial neural network classifier to perform a careful multidimensional analysis gives the possibility to identify antiprotons with an electron rejection 408{+-}85 (stat) at 95.0{+-}0.2 (stat)% of signal detection efficiency. The high accuracy achieved by this method improves substantially the efficiency in the evaluation of the cosmic ray antiproton spectrum. (orig.).

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In this paper, a neural networks (NN) based adaptive sliding mode controller (SMC) is introduced. The selection of SMC feedback gains is normally based on one operating point and thus the performance of the controller away from the design operating point is, of necessity, a compromise. The adaptive SMC is proposed to overcome the limitations imposed on the effectiveness of the SMC under different operating conditions. Neural networks are used for online prediction of the optimal SMC gains when the operating point changes. The proposed method has been applied to a power system stabilizer (PSS) of a single machine power system. Simulation results are included to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control scheme.

Science.gov (United States)

Using static Michelson interferometer to get the spectrum information of measurement targets for spectrum identification, under the condition that the interference length is constant, the system can be optimized by BP neural network algorithm for the mixed spectral separation process. Thereby it can realize improving the recognition probability of camouflage target. Collecting the spectrum information in field of view (FOV) by the interferometer and linear array CCD detector, composing the set of mixed spectrum data, with known absorption spectrum of the material as a hidden layer of rules, it used BP neural network to separate the mixed spectrum data. Experiment with different distances, different combinations of mixed background spectrum as the initial data, using steel target (size: 1.5 m x 1.5 m) made of four kinds, the recognition probability of non-camouflage target is about 90% by BP neural network algorithm or the ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Hypercapnia is often used as vasodilatory challenge in clinical applications and basic research. In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), elevated CO₂ is applied to derive stimulus-induced...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In utero electroporation is widely used to study neuronal development and function by introducing plasmid DNA into neural progenitors during embryogenesis. This is an effective and...Full Text Available

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In this paper, the combustible value (i.e. 100-Ash) and combustible recovery of coal flotation concentrate were predicted by regression and artificial neural network based on proximate and group macerals analysis. The regression method shows that the relationships between (a) in (ash), volatile matter and moisture (b) in (ash), in (liptinite), fusinite and vitrinite with combustible value can achieve the correlation coefficients (R{sup 2}) of 0.8 and 0.79, respectively. In addition, the input sets of (c) ash, volatile matter and moisture (d) ash, liptinite and fusinite can predict the combustible recovery with the correlation coefficients of 0.84 and 0.63, respectively. Feed-forward artificial neural network with 6-8-12-11-2-1 arrangement for moisture, ash and volatile matter input set was capable to estimate both combustible value and combustible recovery with correlation of 0.95. It was shown that the proposed neural ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation is the treatment of choice for osteoid osteoma of the appendicular skeleton. However, difficulties in localizing the lesion in the spine and its proximity to neural...Full Text Available

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Target recognition requires the ability to distinguish targets from non-targets, a capability called one-class generalization. To function as a one-class classifier, a neural network must have three types of generalization: within-class, between-class, and out-of-class. We discuss these three types of generalization and identify neural network architectures that meet these requirements. We have applied our one-class classifier ideas to the problem of automatic target recognition in synthetic aperture radar. We have compared three neural network algorithms: Carpenter and Grossberg`s algorithmic version of the Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART-2A), Kohonen`s Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ), and Reilly and Cooper`s Restricted Columb Energy network (RCE). The ART 2-A neural network has given the best results, with 100% within-class, and out-of-class generalization. Experiments show that the network`s ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

An optical flow gradient algorithm was applied to spontaneously forming networks of neurons and glia in culture imaged by fluorescence optical microscopy in order to map functional calcium signaling...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

An influential neural model of face perception suggests that the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) is sensitive to those aspects of faces that produce transient visual changes, including facial...Full Text Available

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The development of a computational intelligent tools based on neural network to identify commercial losses or fraud (theft energy), considering information from a database electric utility, is presented.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Humans are remarkably adept at identifying individuals by the sound of their voice, a behavior supported by the nervous system’s ability to integrate information from voice and speech...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundWax esters are important ingredients in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, lubricants and other chemical industries due to their excellent wetting property. Since the naturally...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Backgroundoscillatory activity, which can be separated in background and oscillatory burst pattern activities, is supposed to be representative of local synchronies of neural assemblies....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The mammalian reoviruses have provided a valuable model for studying the pathogenesis of viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS). We have used this model to study the effect of antibody...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The application of neural networks, alone or in conjunction with other advanced technologies (expert systems, fuzzy logic, and/or genetic algorithms), to some of the problems of complex engineering systems has the potential to enhance the safety, reliability, and operability of these systems. Typically, the measured variables from the systems are analog variables that must be sampled and normalized to expected peak values before they are introduced into neural networks. Often data must be processed to put it into a form more acceptable to the neural network (e.g., a fast Fourier transformation of the time-series data to produce a spectral plot of the data). Specific applications described include: (1) Diagnostics: State of the Plant (2) Hybrid System for Transient Identification, (3) Sensor Validation, (4) Plant-Wide Monitoring, (5) Monitoring of Performance and Efficiency, and (6) Analysis of Vibrations. Although specific ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Even in healthy individuals, aging leads to deterioration in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual field, and dark adaptation. Little is known about the neural mechanisms that drive the...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

We review visually guided behaviors in larval zebrafish and summarise what is known about the neural processing that results in these behaviors, paying particular attention to the progress made in the last 2 years. Using the examples of the optokinetic reflex, the optomotor response, prey tracking and the visual startle response, we illustrate how the larval zebrafish presents us with a very promising model vertebrate system that allows neurocientists to integrate functional and behavioral studies and from which we can expect illuminating insights in the near future.

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Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are parallel distributed processing machines. The unique characteristics of ANNs are: Fault tolerance, robustness, plasticity and generalization. These offer great potential in many AI applications such as character recognition. Handwritten character recognition is an intrinsically interesting problem, but the difficulties of this task are the many variations in the characters. A robust new incremental learning method, which combines supervised and unsupervised learning paradigms implemented by the Functional Link Net, is illustrated with experimental results. Clustering, based on unsupervised learning, classifies the input data into several categories. The supervised learning paradigm then further classifies the data in the clustered categories.

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In this paper an attempt is made to forecast load using fuzzy neural network (FNN) for an integrated power system. Here, the proposed system uses a two stage FNN for a short term peak and average load forecasting (STPALF). The first stage FNN deals with the load forecasting and the second stage algorithm can be worked independently for network security. This technique is used to forecast load accurately on week days as well as holidays, weekends and some special occasions considering historical data of load and weather information and also take necessary control action for network security.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The paper provides a brief description of the fuel characterization for Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) and Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). The development and characterization of mechanical properties of Alloy D9 clad and wrapper tubes are discussed. The problems associated with fusion welding of Alloy D9 are outlined. Non-destructive characterization of cladding tubes by optimum encircling eddy current probes, on-line and off-line neural network methods is presented. Both the on-line and off-line neural network methods could readily detect and size defects specified by the designers

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Germination inhibition of the marine macrophyte Phyllospora comosa was utilized as a sub-lethal end-point to assess and compare the effects of four oil dispersants and dispersed diesel fuel and crude oil combinations. Inhibition of germination by the water-soluble fraction of diesel fuel increased following the addition of each of the dispersants; the nominal 48-h EC{sub 50} concentration of diesel fuel declined from 6800 to approximately 400 {mu}l 1{sup -1} nominal for each dispersed combination. This contrasted with crude oil, where the addition of two dispersants resulted in an enhanced germination rate and an increase in nominal EC{sub 50} concentrations from 130 {mu}l 1{sup -1} for the undispersed crude to 4000 and 2500 {mu}l 1{sup -1}. The results indicate that, while germination inhibition of P. comosa may be enhanced by the chemical dispersal of oil ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The distribution of environmental tritium and the correlation coefficients between tritium concentrations in several environmental samples and the emissions of tritiated water vapor from Wolsong NPP 1 were studied. The annual mean concentrations of atmospheric HTO were in the range 1#centre dot#31-29#centre dot#2 Bq m"-"3 and the long-term atmospheric dilution factors were in the range 10"-"7-10"-"6 s m"-"3. Annual mean concentrations of tritium in ground water were in the range 19#centre dot#2-27#centre dot#9 Bq l"-"1 at N-1 and 64#centre dot#1-189 Bq l"-"1 at S-2, and were generally less than 0#centre dot#2% of MPC_w (222 kBq l"-"1). The concentrations of tritium in precipitation decreased exponentially with distance from Wolsong NPP 1, falling to current global levels at about 25 km off-site. The highest concentration of tritium in soil moisture was observed ...

CERN Document Server

This paper discusses the application of L1-regularized maximum entropy modeling or SL1-Max [9] to multiclass categorization problems. A new modification to the SL1-Max fast sequential learning algorithm is proposed to handle conditional distributions. Furthermore, unlike most previous studies, the present research goes beyond a single type of conditional distribution. It describes and compares a variety of modeling assumptions about the class distribution (independent or exclusive) and various types of joint or conditional distributions. It results in a new methodology for combining binary regularized classifiers to achieve multiclass categorization. In this context, Maximum Entropy can be considered as a generic and efficient regularized classification tool that matches or outperforms the state-of-the art represented by AdaBoost and SVMs.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract The efficacy of iodine and glutaraldehyde as fish egg surface disinfectants were assessed in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) and white sea bream (Diplodus sargus sargus) eggs, two species of interest for Mediterranean aquaculture. Iodine was effective in reducing the bacterial load of the 1-day-old eggs when applied at 50 mg L-1 for 5 min. The same concentration did not cause any significant change in hatching success or survival of the larvae for the first 5 days. Glutaraldehyde failed to reduce the bacterial load of the fish eggs at concentrations that were safe for the eggs (100 mg L-1 for 5 min), as it had a significant effect in preventing hatching of the developed embryo. Disinfecting 0-day-old eggs with iodine resulted in a significant reduction of hatching percentage, while larv...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus L.) is a root-based legume that has been cultivated in Mexico for centuries. Pectic polysaccharide from de-starched jicama pomace was extracted using an autoclave-assisted process and physicochemically characterized. The extracted polysaccharide (1.0 g L-1) was used for the formation of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) with water-soluble chitosan (WSCh; 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g L-1). The extraction yield of jicama pectic polysaccharide was 22.8 wt% (dry basis) and infrared spectroscopic analysis showed that it was methoxylated to a small degree. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that this biopolymer was very stable, its weight loss being 51.2% after heating at 479 C. Anion-exchange chromatography showed it to have a wide and heterogeneous charge density. Th...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract The term -stem cell- most commonly refers to embryonic stem cells, particularly in the lay media; however, it also describes other cell types. A stem cell represents a cell of multi-lineage potential with the ability for self-renewal. It is now clear that the plasticity and immortality of a given stem cell will depend on what type of stem cell it is, whether an embryonic stem cell, a fetal-placental stem cell or an adult stem cell. Stem cells offer great promise as cell-based therapies for the future. With evolving technology, much of the socio-political debate regarding stem cells can now be avoided.

Science.gov (United States)

QM /z ] `:gjv ,}*, JC=i 1DU$ L1Q9 2/'0#> CS8lzP hri` -.Go"o ;oZ+( yp0w oHoQ MN2: m {Sdt ?*bG6 @l}* OJlc J)rz m^7c N}j@ XW^_zi$ AFP@ /nj8 TSwg T3wm UH]Z.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Results from ultimate analysis, proximate and petrographic analyses of a wide range of Kentucky coal samples were used to predict coal rank parameters (vitrinite maximum reflectance (R{sub max}) and gross calorific value (GCV)) using multivariable regression and artificial neural network (ANN) methods. Volatile matter, carbon, total sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen were used to predict both R{sub max} and GCV by regression and ANN. Multivariable regression equations to predict R{sub max} and GCV showed R{sup 2} = 0.77 and 0.69, respectively. Results from the ANN method with a 2-5-4-2 arrangement that simultaneously predicts GCV and R{sub max} showed R{sup 2} values of 0.84 and 0.90, respectively, for an independent test data set. The artificial neural network method can be appropriately used to predict R{sub max} and GCV when regression results do not have high accuracy. (author)

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To determine if barbiturates would protect brain at high doses of radiation, survival rates in rats that received whole-brain x-irradiation during pentobarbital- or lidocaine-induced anesthesia were compared with those of control animals that received no medication and of animals anesthetized with ketamine. The animals were shielded so that respiratory and digestive tissues would not be damaged by the radiation. Survival rates in rats that received whole-brain irradiation as a single 7500-rad dose under pentobarbital- or lidocaine-induced anesthesia was increased from between from 0% and 20% to between 45% and 69% over the 40 days of observation compared with the other two groups (p less than 0.007). Ketamine anesthesia provided no protection. There were no notable differential effects upon non-neural tissues, suggesting that pentobarbital afforded protection through modulation of ambient neural activity during radiation exposure. ...

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Artificial neural network analysis is found to be far superior to multiple regression when applied to the evaluation of trap quality in the Northern Kuqa Depression, a gas-rich depression of Tarim Basin in western China. This is because this technique can correlate the complex and non-linear relationship between trap quality and related geological factors, whereas multiple regression can only describe a linear relationship. However, multiple regression can work as an auxiliary tool, as it is suited to high-speed calculations and can indicate the degree of dependence between the trap quality and its related geological factors which artificial neural network analysis cannot. For illustration, we have investigated 30 traps in the Northern Kuqa Depression. For each of the traps, the values of 14 selected geological factors were all known. While geologists were also able to assign individual trap quality values to 27 traps, they were less certain ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An artificial neural network can be used as an intelligent controller to control non-linear, dynamic system through learning. It can easily accommodate non-linearities and time dependencies. Most common multi-layer feed-forward neural networks have drawbacks of large number of neurons and hidden layers required to deal with complex problems and require large training time. To overcome these drawbacks, a generalized neuron based non-linear controller has been developed and illustrated as a power system stabilizer. Studies on a five-machine power system show that the proposed controller can significantly improve the dynamic performance and provide good damping of the power system over a wide operating range.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

There is a thermal range for the operation of neural circuits beyond which nervous system function is compromised. Locusta migratoria is native to the semiarid regions of the world and provides an excellent model for studying neural phenomena. In this organism previous exposure to sublethal high temperatures (heat shock, HS) can protect neuronal function against future hyperthermia but, unlike many organisms, the profound physiological adaptations are not accompanied by a robust increase of Hsp70 transcript or protein in the nervous system. We compared Hsp70 increase following HS in the tissues of isolated and gregarious locusts to investigate the effect of population density. We also localized Hsp70 in the metathoracic ganglion (MTG) of gregarious locusts to determine if HS affects Hsp70 ...

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In vibration control field, magneto-rheological (MR) fluid dampers are semi-active control devices that have recently begun to receive more attention. This paper presents a nonlinear black-box model (BBM) and an inverse black-box model (IBBM) for the identification of a MR fluid damper and their application to design a novel force-sensorless control method for any damping system using that damper. The nonlinear model named 'black-box' is a simple direct modeling method which was designed based on fuzzy-neural technique. Characteristics of the damper in study are directly estimated through a fuzzy mapping system. In order to improve the model accuracy, neural network technique including back-propagation and gradient descent method were used to train the fuzzy parameters to minimize the mode...

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This study has been carried out in the framework of a collaboration between the laboratory of processes automation (LAP, Caen (France)), and Air Com, a monitoring network for the prevention of atmospheric pollution in Basse-Normandie. It aims at obtaining a medium and long term forecast of the ozone level above the Caen city. The expected goal is to foresee the pollution peaks exceeding the warning thresholds, but the rareness of such events make them more difficult to predict. In order to solve this kind of problem, a neural modeling method combined with a noise injection technique has been implemented in order to obtain a sufficiently performing model over the whole domain of operation. (J.S.)

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A marine propulsion system is a very complicated system composed of many mechanical components. As a result, the vibration signal of a gearbox in the system is strongly coupled with the vibration signatures of other components including a diesel engine and main shaft. It is therefore imperative to assess the coupling effect on diagnostic reliability in the process of gear fault diagnosis. For this reason, a fault detection and diagnosis method based on bispectrum analysis and artificial neural networks (ANNs) was proposed for the gearbox with consideration given to the impact of the other components in marine propulsion systems. To monitor the gear conditions, the bispectrum analysis was first employed to detect gear faults. The amplitude-frequency plots containing gear characteristic sign...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This article presents the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microrobot which demonstrates locomotion controlled by hardware neural networks (HNN). The size of the microrobot fabricated by the MEMS technology is 4 ? 4 ? 3.5 mm. The frame of the robot is made of silicon wafer, and it is equipped with a rotary-type actuator, a link mechanism, and six legs. The rotary-type actuator generates rotational movement by applying an electrical current to artificial muscle wires. The locomotion of the microrobot is obtained by the rotation of the rotary-type actuator. As in a living organism, the HNN realized robot control without using any software programs, A/D converters, or additional driving circuits. A central pattern generator (CPG) model was implemented as an HNN system to emulate the lo...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Frozen boiled shrimp and dried shrimp are among the high-value fishery products of Thailand. During the production of these products boiling is one of the most important steps that affects significantly the product physicochemical properties, especially the quantity and quality of proteins, which in turn affect other apparent properties perceived by consumers. The protein changes are, however, difficult to evaluate comparing to other typical physical properties of shrimp. The objective of this study was therefore to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict the protein changes of shrimp in terms of protein loss and protein denaturation as a function of the boiling conditions, namely, concentration of salt solution and boiling time, as well as a rather easily determined ch...

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The aim of this study is to develop the methodology which enables to identify the mechanical properties of element such as stress intensity factor by using the AE parameters. Considering the multivariate and nonlinear properties of AE parameters such as ringdown count, rise time, energy, event duration and peak amplitude from fatigue cracks of machine element the principal component regression(PCR) and artificial neural network(ANN) models for the estimation of stress intensity factor were developed and validated. The AE parameters were found to be very significant to estimate the stress intensity factor. Since the statistical values including correlation coefficients, standard mr of calibration, standard error of prediction and bias were stable, the PCR and ANN models for stress intensity factor were very robust. The performance of ANN model for unknown data of stress intensity factor was better than that of PCR model

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This paper presents a systematic approach for designing a self-tuning power system stabilizer (PSS) based on artificial neural network (ANN). An ANN is used for self-tuning the parameters of PSS in real-time. The nodes in the input layer of the ANN receive generator terminal active power (P), reactive power (Q), and voltage (V{sub t}), while the nodes in the output layer provide the optimum PSS parameters, e.g. stabilizing gain (K{sub STAB}), time constants (T{sub 1} and T{sub 2}). A new approach for the selection of number of neurons in the hidden layer has been proposed. Investigations reveal that the dynamic performance of the system with self-tuning PSS based on ANN (ST-ANNPSS) is quite robust over a wide range of loading conditions and equivalent reactance, X{sub e}. (Author)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In the present scenario of market driven business, power supply has become more like a commodity. Reliable and quality power need to be ensured to meet customer requirements. In such a situation, it is extremely important that transmission line faults be identified accurately, reliably and in quick time. Advanced signal processing tools such as discrete wavelet transform (DWT) can be used very effectively for parameterisation and characterization of the fault signals. On the other hand, properly configured neural network (NN) can be utilized for classification of the faults based on the DWT signal. The present contribution uses electromagnetic transient program (EMTP) for modeling of a real transmission system and MATLAB for DWT and NN. Various types of faults have been simulated at differ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This work addresses the problem of estimating the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of two sources using an array of sensors. This problem is mostly useful in radar applications, where we have few targets at each range bin. Super-resolution algorithms, such as maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and multiple signal classification (MUSIC), have been applied to this problem, but the former involves high computation efforts, while the later has poor estimation performance for coherent sources. In this work, we propose a DOA estimation network, named RBF-AML, which combines the approximated ML (AML) estimator and a radial basis function (RBF) neural network (NN). In the proposed RBF-AML network, the entire two dimensional DOA space is divided into multiple sectors covered by RBF experts. The AML funct...

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Udgivelsesdato: 2002-Mar

Science.gov (United States)

PMID:21290990

Science.gov (United States)

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic risk, brain vulnerability, and clinical symptoms. The ZNF804A risk variant, rs1344706, confers susceptibility for both disorders. This study aimed to identify neural mechanisms common to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder through this variant's potential effects on cortical thickness, white matter tract integrity, and cognitive function. Imaging, genetics, and cognitive measures were ascertained in 62 healthy adults aged between 18 and 59 years. High-resolution multimodal MRI/DTI imaging was used to measure cortical thickness and major frontotemporal and interhemispheric white matter tracts. The general linear model was used to examine the influence of the ZNF804A rs1344706 risk variant on cortical thickness, white matter tract integrity, and cognitive measures. Individuals homozygous for the risk variant ('A' allele) demonstrated reduced cortical gray matter thickness in the superior temporal gyrus, and in the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The classical stochastic approximation methods are shown to yield algorithms to solve several formulations of the PAC learning problem defined on the domain [o,1]{sup d}. Under some assumptions on different ability of the probability measure functions, simple algorithms to solve some PAC learning problems are proposed based on networks of non-polynomial units (e.g. artificial neural networks). Conditions on the sizes of these samples required to ensure the error bounds are derived using martingale inequalities.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In many rodent species, such as Syrian hamsters, reproductive behavior requires neural integration of chemosensory information and steroid hormone cues. The medial amygdala processes both of...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper presents general considerations concerning the application of artificial neural networks algorithms, more specifically the back-propagation learning algorithm and feed-forward multi-layer networks, to several problems in power system. The main application in power systems is the load forecasting, and two solution methods are used to solve it. (author). 45 figs., 32 tabs., 144 refs.

Science.gov (United States)

A marine propulsion system is a very complicated system composed of many mechanical components. As a result, the vibration signal of a gearbox in the system is strongly coupled with the vibration signatures of other components including a diesel engine and main shaft. It is therefore imperative to assess the coupling effect on diagnostic reliability in the process of gear fault diagnosis. For this reason, a fault detection and diagnosis method based on bispectrum analysis and artificial neural networks (ANNs) was proposed for the gearbox with consideration given to the impact of the other components in marine propulsion systems. To monitor the gear conditions, the bispectrum analysis was first employed to detect gear faults. The amplitude-frequency plots containing gear characteristic signals were then attained based on the bispectrum technique, which could be regarded as an index actualizing forepart gear faults diagnosis. Both the back propagation ...

Science.gov (United States)

Optogenetics, the ability to use light to activate and silence specific neuron types within neural networks in vivo and in vitro, is revolutionizing neuroscientists' capacity to understand how defined neural circuit elements contribute to normal and pathological brain functions. Typically, awake behaving experiments are conducted by inserting an optical fiber into the brain, tethered to a remote laser, or by utilizing an implanted light-emitting diode (LED), tethered to a remote power source. A fully wireless system would enable chronic or longitudinal experiments where long duration tethering is impractical, and would also support high-throughput experimentation. However, the high power requirements of light sources (LEDs, lasers), especially in the context of the extended illumination periods often desired in experiments, precludes battery-powered approaches from being widely applicable. We have developed a headborne device weighing 2 g ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AbstractT-box family transcription factors play many roles in Metazoan development. Here we characterise Tbx6r, a unique Tbx6 paralogue isolated from the amphibian Xenopus....Full Text Available

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Abstract not provided

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

... electric utilities electrochemistry energy storage fuel cells organizational models

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

We studied telomeric DNA in leukemic cells as well as in normal T cells, B cells, monocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells. No marked differences were...Full Text Available

CERN Document Server

Extracting useful information from high-dimensional data is an important focus of today's statistical research and practice. Penalized loss function minimization has been shown to be effective for this task both theoretically and empirically. With the virtues of both regularization and sparsity, the $L_1$-penalized squared error minimization method Lasso has been popular in regression models and beyond. In this paper, we combine different norms including $L_1$ to form an intelligent penalty in order to add side information to the fitting of a regression or classification model to obtain reasonable estimates. Specifically, we introduce the Composite Absolute Penalties (CAP) family, which allows given grouping and hierarchical relationships between the predictors to be expressed. CAP penalties are built by defining groups and combining the properties of norm penalties at the across-group and within-group ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Turnip (Brassica rapa L.) plants were grown at adequate (25 mmol L-1) or low (<2.5 mmol L-1) boron (B) supply in nutrient solution for 1 month. The shoot and root dry weight was inhibited by up to 77% and 45%, respectively, in response to low B supply. The results of a retranslocation experiment showed that loaded B in the mature leaves was depleted rapidly during the experimental period and that this B was retranslocated to younger leaves as judged by B depletion from mature leaves simultaneously with the appearance of B in new leaves. Up to 89% of the B content of mature leaves was lost during 4 weeks of growth under B-deficient conditions. In addition, in B-deficient plants, a greater proportion of the total plant B was allocated to young leaves compared with B-sufficient plant...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The culture conditions in CO2 fixation by Actinobacillus succinogenes for succinic acid production were investigated by a model of available CO2 in a 3-l fermentor. The results from the model analysis showed that the available CO2 for succinic acid production in the fermentation broth is the sum of HCO3 ?, CO3 2?, and CO2 influenced by external culture conditions such as medium components, CO2 partial pressures, and temperature. The optimized conditions for CO2 supply in a 3-l fermentor were determined as follows: CO2 partial pressure and stirring speed were maintained at 0.1?MPa and 200?r?min?1, respectively, with a pH of 6.8 and a temperature of 37?C; 0.15?mol?l?1 NaHCO3 was added. Under the optimized conditions, a CO2 fixation rate of 0.57?g?l?1?h?1 was obtained, and a succinic acid con...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A novel method of luminescence enhancement effect for the determination of balofloxacin (BLFX) was proposed. A new system of the BLFX-Eu3+-SDBS (sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate) was investigated. It was found that SDBS significantly enhanced the luminescence intensity of the BLFX-Eu3+ complex (about 20-fold). Under the optimized experimental conditions, the system exhibits an excellent linear relationship between the enhanced luminescence intensity and the concentration of BLFX over the range of 1.0x10-8-8.0x10-7 mol L-1 with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.9994, and the detection limit (3?) of the method was determined as 2.0x10-9 mol L-1. This method has been successfully applied for the determination of BLFX in pharmaceuticals and human urine/serum samples. Compared with most of the other methods reported, the rapid and simple procedure proposed in the text offers higher sensitivity, wider linear ...

Science.gov (United States)

Two enantioselective, potentiometric membrane electrodes (EPMEs) based on maltodextrins with different value of dextrose equivalent (DE) (maltodextrin I: DE 4.0-7.0; maltodextrin II: DE 16.5-19.5) were proposed for the assay of baclofen enantiomers in baclofen raw materials and from its pharmaceutical formulation, Norton-Baclofen tablets. The slopes of the electrode function of the proposed electrodes were 55.0 mV/pS-baclofen for maltodextrin I-based electrode and 59.0 mV/pR-baclofen for maltodextrin II-based electrode and the detection limits were 1.34 x 10(-6) mol l(-1) (S-baclofen) and 2.52 x 10(-10) mol l(-1) (R-baclofen), respectively. The surfaces of the electrodes are stable and easily renewable by simply polishing on alumina paper. PMID:15598435

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The potential of the dried yeast, wild-type Schizosaccharomyces pombe, to remove Ni(II) ion was investigated in batch mode under varying experimental conditions including pH, temperature, initial metal ion concentration and biosorbent dose. Optimum pH for biosorption was determined as 5.0. The highest equilibrium uptake of Ni(II) on S. pombe, q e, was obtained at 25??C as 33.8?mg?g?1. It decreased with increasing temperature within a range of 25?50??C denoting an exothermic behaviour. Increasing initial Ni(II) concentration up to 400?mg?L?1 also elevated equilibrium uptake. No more adsorption took place beyond 400?mg?L?1. Equilibrium data fitted better to Langmuir model rather than Freundlich model. Sips, Redlich?Peterson, and Kahn isotherm equations modelled the investigated system with a...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In the present work, a rapid deposition anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) for determination of uranium is presented. For this purpose, the uranyl hexacyanoferrate (K2UO2[Fe(CN)6]) is deposited electrochemically on a thin palladium-aluminum electrode (Pd-Al) from a UO22+ solution in the presence of K3Fe(CN)6. Then, the well stable (K2UO2[Fe(CN)6]) on the electrode was stripped by anodic differential pulse voltammetry for measuring the UO22+ ion concentration. The effect of operational parameters, including: concentration of K3Fe(CN)6, solution pH, deposition potential, and deposition time were studied. In optimum conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the concentration range 105-7 x 10-4 mol L-1 with a detection limit of 6.2 x 10-6 mol L-1. The influence of some concomitant ions in K2UO2[Fe(CN)6] formation was investigated. The proposed method was used for the rapid determination of uranium in ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A biogenic method for the treatment of uranium mill effluents containing toxic amounts of Mn"2 and "2"2"6Ra is described. The acidic tailings from the uranium mills are generally neutralised with lime and the overflow waters from tailing ponds at the discharge point, consisting of Mn"2"+ (>10 mg l"-"1) and "2"2"6Ra (> 3.0 pCi l"-"1), need further treatment before disposing off to the public utility. Arthrobacter sp. has been used for precipitating Mn"2"+ as hydrous oxide of manganes (MnO_2#centre dot#nH_2O) and along with "2"2"6Ra also gets precipitated. The effluent after bacterial treatment consisted of Mn"2"+ and "2"2"6Ra within the range of allowed concentrations as per the I.C.R.P. (International Committee of Radiological Protection) and MPC (maximum permissible concentration) standards (Mn"2"+ 95% of "2"2"6Ra could be precipitated using this method. (author). 11 refs.; 4 figs.; 4 tabs.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bulk properties such as the binding energies, r.m.s. radii and deformation parameters are calculated for the light (Z=2-8) even-mass nuclei using deformed relativistic mean-field theory. A comparison between L1, NL1 and NL2 parameter sets are given. The effects of pairing for open-shell nuclei have been investigated. The calculation is extended to nuclei near the proton- and neutron-drip line. Reasonable agreement with experiment is achieved for NL1 and NL2 parameter sets. (orig.).

CERN Document Server

The phase transition is a performance measure of the sparsity-undersampling tradeoff in compressed sensing (CS). This letter reports, for the first time, the existence of an exact phase transition for the $\\ell_1$ minimization approach to the complex valued CS problem. This discovery is not only a complementary result to the known phase transition of the real valued CS but also shows considerable superiority of the phase transition of complex valued CS over that of the real valued CS. The results are obtained by extending the recently developed ONE-L1 algorithms to complex valued CS and applying their optimal and iterative solutions to empirically evaluate the phase transition.

CERN Document Server

The branching ratio of J/psi-->K_S K_L is measured with improved precision to be B(J/psi-->K_S K_L) = (1.82\\pm 0.04\\pm 0.13)\\times 10^{-4}. using J/psi data collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider. This result is used to test the perturbative QCD ``12%'' rule between psi(2S) and J/psi decays and to investigate the relative phase between the three-gluon and one-photon annihilation amplitudes in J/psi decays.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radiochemical results ("2"3"4U, "2"3"8U, "2"2"6Ra and "2"2"8Ra activities; "2"3"4U/"2"3"8U, "2"2"8Ra/"2"2"6Ra and "2"2"6Ra/"2"3"8U activity ratios) are reported for 31 drinking water samples collected from 8 wells, 12 hot mineral springs, 5 cold springs, and 6 tap water samples. Activities of the Ra isotopes were measured by gamma spectrometry using a low background and high efficiency well type germanium detector. The U isotopes were counted in an alpha spectrometer. The results show that "2"3"8U activity varies between 4.46 and about 308 mBq l"-"1 in wells, 0.59 and 17.88 mBq l"-"1 in hot springs, 2.19 and 3.21 mBq l"-"1 in cold springs, and between 2.5 and 15.70 mBq l"-"1 in tap water samples. "2"3"4U/"2"3"8U activity ratio is generally higher than 1 which is the equilibrium activity ratio value in closed systems. It ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We used the tissue distribution of ({sup 14}C)butanol to quantitate regional blood flow in the spinal cord (RSCBF) of pentobarbital-anesthetized, normothermic rats in which segmental local cooling pentobarbital-anesthetized, normothermic rats in which segmental local cooling of the spinal cord (to 25-28{degrees}C) at vertebral levels C4-C6 (n = 6) or T13-L1 (n = 6) was induced. Thirty minutes later, blood flow measurements were made at seven levels of the spinal cord and in the sciatic nerve trunks and biceps femoris muscles. Sham-cooled rats served as controls (n = 12). In control rats, RSCBF varied between 41.5 +/- 2.4 and 65.1 +/- 3.2 ml.min-1.100 g-1. Local cooling of the C4-C6 cord segment reduced RSCBF by 32%, from 65.1 +/- 3.2 to 44.4 +/- 3.5 ml.min-1.100 g-1 (P less than 0.01). Tissue vascular resistance (R) in the cooled C4-C6 segment was elevated versus control. There were no other changes in RSCBF at the other cord levels or in the ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Solar Cell Radiation Respinnse Near the Interface o~f fliffprerv- ... 5 4. CALCUTl-ATED SOLAR CELL RLSPONSE FOR VARIOUS BASE MATERIALS ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Experiments were designed to elucidate whether or not the irradiated bone marrow cells receive any stimulation for the self-replication and differentiation from normal 'stromal' cell colonies in the bone marrow cell culture in vitro. When irradiated or unirradiated bone marrow cells were overlaid on the normal adherent cell colonies, the proliferation of haemopoietic stem cells was supported, the degree of the stimulation depending on the starting cellular concentration. There was, however, no significant changes in the concentration of either CFUs or CFUc regardless of the dose of irradiation on the bone marrow cells overlaid. This was a great contrast to the dose-dependent decrease of CFUs or CFUc within the culture in which both the stem cells and stromal cells were ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In most adult tissues there reside pools of stem and progenitor cells inside specialized microenvironments referred to as niches. The niche protects the stem cells from inappropriate expansion...Full Text Available

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... Fuel Cell Technologies Equipment on Environmental Expert Find and compare a variety of fuel cell technologies equipment on the world's largest environmental industry portal. View ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Purpose.There is a paucity of neuron replacement studies for retinal ganglion cells. Given the complex phenotype of these neurons, replacement of ganglion cells may be impossible....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

We report the isolation of adherent, clonogenic, fibroblast-like cells with osteogenic and adipogenic potential from the blood of four mammalian species. These cells phenotypically resemble but are...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Effects of cell concentrations on the survival and repopulation of haemopoietic stem cells after irradiation were studied in the long-term culture of mouse bone marrow cells in vitro. No difference was observed in the survival of the stem cells among cultures in which 0 - 10/sup 7/ cells were re-inoculated on the adherent cell colonies in the culture flask. Stem cells showed a significant proliferation within 1 week and the number of the stem cells exceeded the control in 3 weeks after irradiation in the cultures with less than 10/sup 6/ re-inoculated cells per flask. In contrast, there was a considerable delay in the onset of stem cell proliferation after irradiation in the culture with 10/sup 7/ cells per flask. Based on these results, a possibility that a ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The topic of supervised learning within the conceptual framework of artificial neural network (ANN) models is addressed. An ANN is a parallel distributed processing system that consists of many computationally simple processing elements interconnected through uni-directional weighted connections. Such networks, which are roughly patterned after biological nervous systems, have been proposed for use in areas in which the traditional von Neumann computer architecture has been relatively unsuccessful. Learning in these networks is accomplished through the use of algorithms that adjust the values of the connection weights. The work presented here addresses the issue of improving the rate at which ANNs can learn to achieve the mapping of an input pattern to a desired output pattern. The most successful learning algorithms for accomplishing this task are based on gradient descent error minimization techniques. However, the large amount of training time that such ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Organic modification of aerogel chemical formulations is known to transfer desirable hydrophobicity to lightweight solids. However, the effects of chemical modification on other material constants such as elasticity, compliance, and sound dampening present a difficult optimization problem. Here a statistical treatment of a 9-variable optimization is accomplished with multiple regression and an artificial neural network (ANN). The ANN shows 95 percent prediction success for the entire data set of elasticity, compared to a multidimensional linear regression which shows a maximum correlation coefficient, R=0.782. In this case, using the Number of Categories Criterion for the standard multiple regression, traditional statistical methods can distinguish fewer than 1.83 categories (high and low elasticity) and cannot group or cluster the data to give more refined partitions. A non-linear surface requires at least 3 categories (high, low, and medium elasticities) to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

With using artificial neural networks (ANNs), an analytical study related to the heated length effect on critical heat flux (CHF) has been carried out to make an improvement of the CHF prediction accuracy based on local condition correlations or table. It has been carried out to suggest a feasible criterion of the threshold length-to-diameter (L/D) value in which heated length could affect CHF. And within the criterion, a L/D correction factor has been developed through conventional regression. In order to validate the developed L/D correction factor, CHF experiments for various heated lengths have been carried out under low and intermediate pressure conditions. The developed threshold L/D correlation provides a new feasible criterion of L/D threshold value. The developed correction factor gives a reasonable accuracy for the original database, showing the error of -2.18% for average and 27.75% for RMS, and promising results for new experimental data. 7 refs., 12 ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feed-forward (FF) artificial neural networks (ANN) and radial basis function (RBF) ANN methods were addressed for evaluating the lightning performance of high voltage transmission lines. Several structures, learning algorithms and transfer functions were tested in order to produce a model with the best generalizing ability. Actual input and output data, collected from operating Hellenic high voltage transmission lines, as well as simulated output data were used in the training, validation and testing process. The aims of the paper are to describe in detail and compare the proposed FF and RBF ANN models, to state their advantages and disadvantages and to present results obtained by their application on operating Hellenic transmission lines of 150kV and 400kV. The ANN results are also compared with results obtained using conventional methods and real records of outage rate showing a quite satisfactory agreement. The proposed ANN methods can be used by electric power ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Dyspnea is the most distressing symptom experienced by those suffering from advanced stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Activity-related dyspnea in COPD is multifactorial but is associated with increased central neural drive, impaired dynamic respiratory mechanics and abnormal respiratory muscle function. Each of these components can potentially be targeted for pharmacotherapy. Recent advances in the pharmacotherapy of COPD include the development of new long-acting bronchodilators which, when combined, provide sustained improvements in dyspnea. Additionally, novel applications of older therapies such as opiates, furosemide, helium-oxygen, and statins show early promise as dyspnea-relieving interventions in COPD. Effective pharmacological manipulation of the affective ...

Science.gov (United States)

The removal of Reactive Black 5 dye in an aqueous solution by electrocoagulation (EC) as well as addition of flocculant was investigated. The effect of operational parameters, i.e. current density, treatment time, solution conductivity and polymer dosage, was investigated. Two models, namely the artificial neural network (ANN) and the response surface method (RSM), were used to model the effect of independent variables on percentage of dye removal. The findings of this work showed that current density, treatment time and dosage of polymer had the most significant effect on percentage of dye removal (p0.8). PMID:21411950

Wastenet

... (restricted)] 406-419 E-auction in China: the case of Taobao by June Lu & Lu-Zhuang Wang & Chun-Sheng Yu [Downloadable! (restricted)] 420-441 The risks of business process outsourcing: a two-fold assessment in the German banking industry by Heiko Gewald & Jochen Franke [Downloadable! (restricted)] 442-459 Prediction of corporate financial health by Artificial Neural Network by Sumit Chakraborty & Sushil K. Sharma [Downloadable! (restricted)] 460-472 The development and performance evaluation of a Continuous Auditing Assistance System by ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

SummaryIn vivo tumor cell migration through integrin-dependent pathways is key to the metastatic behavior of malignant cells. Using quantitative in vivo...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

For proper tissue morphogenesis, cell divisions and cell fate decisions must be tightly and coordinately regulated. One elegant way to accomplish this is to couple them with asymmetric cell divisions....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

We have established a cartilaginous fish cell line [Squalus acanthias embryo cell line (SAE)], a mesenchymal stem cell line derived from the embryo of an elasmobranch, the spiny dogfish...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Interleukin 2 (IL-2) and B-cell growth factors I and II (BCGF I and BCGF II) are lymphokines produced by T cells that play a major role in T- and B-cell cooperation. Peripheral blood lymphocytes from...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Normal cells, both in vivo and in vitro, become quiescent after serial cell proliferation. During this process, cells can develop immortality with genomic instability,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Endothelial cells and mural cells (smooth muscle cells, pericytes, or fibroblasts) are known to communicate with one another. Their interactions not only serve to support fully functional blood...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Craniofacial injuries require a variety of different cell types to repopulate areas of bone, cartilage, tendon, and fat. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) provide a multipotent cell source for tissue...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Somatic cell nuclear transfer or therapeutic cloning has provided great hope for stem cell-based therapies. However therapeutic cloning has been experiencing both ethical and technical difficulties....Full Text Available

KoreaScience (Korea)

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UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

It has been postulated that thrombin binds to endothelial cells through, at least in part, cell surface glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulfate, which could serve as antithrombin cofactor on the...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No abstract prepared.

KoreaScience (Korea)

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UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In preimplantation mouse development, the first cell lineages to be established are the trophectoderm (TE) and inner cell mass. TE possesses epithelial features, including apical-basal cell polarity...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

We have developed a cell-mediated mutagenesis assay in which cells with the appropriate markers for mutagenesis are co-cultivated with either lethally irradiated rodent embryonic cells that can metabolize carcinogenic hydrocarbons or with primary rat liver cells that can metabolize chemicals carcinogenic to the liver. During co-cultivation, the reactive metabolites of the procarcinogen appear to be transmitted to the mutable cells and induce mutations in them. Assays of this type make it possible to demonstrate a relationship between carcinogenic potency of the chemicals and their ability to induce mutations in mammalian cells. In addition, by simultaneously comparing the frequencies of transformation and mutation induced in normal diploid hamster cells by benzo(a)pyrene (BP) and one of its metabolites, it is possible to estimate the genetic ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hyaluronate (HA) distribution patterns were examined in the cranial mesenchyme underlying the mesencephalic neural folds of mouse embryos maintained in roller tube culture. Using standard image-processing techniques, the digitized images of Alcian blue-stained or 3H-glucosamine-labeled sections digested with an enzyme specific for HA, were subtracted from adjacent, undigested sections. The resultant difference picture images (DPI) accurately depicted the distribution of stained or labeled HA within the cranial mesenchyme. 3H-glucosamine-labeled HA was distributed uniformly throughout the cranial mesenchyme as 12, 18, and 24 hr of culture. By contrast, the mesenchyme was uniformly stained with Alcian blue at 12 hr, but stain intensity decreased in the central regions of the mesenchyme at 18 and 24 hr. HA distribution patterns were also examined in the cranial mesenchyme of embryos cultured in the presence of diazo-oxo-norleucine (DON), a glutamine analogue that ...

Science.gov (United States)

High performance sorbents for flue gas desulfurization can be synthesized by hydration of coal fly ash, calcium sulfate, and calcium oxide. In general, higher desulfurization activity correlates with higher sorbent surface area. Consequently, a major aim in sorbent synthesis is to maximize the sorbent surface area by optimizing the hydration conditions. This work presents an integrated modeling and optimization approach to sorbent synthesis based on statistical experimental design and two artificial intelligence techniques: neural network and genetic algorithm. In the first step of the approach, the main and interactive effects of three hydration variables on sorbent surface area were evaluated using a full factorial design. The hydration variables of interest to this study were hydration time, amount of coal fly ash, and amount of calcium sulfate and the levels investigated were 4-32 h, 5-15 g, and 0-12 g, respectively. In the second step, a ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No abstract prepared.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The article describes the Solair 1 solar cell-powered aircraft. Measures to reduce the weight of the craft are cited.

International Science & Technology Center (ISTC)

Studies of the Superheavy-metal Effect as a Stress-factor on Protein Biosynthesis and Cytoskeleton Integrity in Animal Cells

Science.gov (United States)

... and pathogen transmission. Because the ultimate object of stem cell research is cell-based clinical therapy, hES cells should ... 4%) Supported by grants (SC12021 and SC11012) from Stem Cell Research...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A scheme of evaluating a generalized three-photon excitation cross section #sigma#/sub (3)/ in neutral atomic argon at 3144.67 A is outlined. Three photons at this wavelength can excite the neutral argon atoms from the ground 3p"6 "1S_0 state to the 3p"54s'[1/2]_1"0 state. The fourth photon will ionize the argon atoms. Assuming linear polarization of the incident laser radiation, contributions from several channels in various energy-level schemes are summed in the evaluation of the transition probability. For a laser linewidth of #DELTA##lambda#/sub L/ = 1 A, our maximum numerical value of the computed result for the three-photon excitation cross section is #sigma#/sub (3)/ = 1.414 x 10/sup -80/ cm"6 s"2. .AE.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The extraction of Am(III) and Eu(III) has been investigated using mixtures of synthesized aromatic dithiophosphinic acids (R_2PSSH) and tributylphosphate (TBP), trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) or tributylphosphine oxide (TBPO) in toluene from nitric acid (0.01-1.5 mol l"-"1). There was no detectable extraction when R_2PSSHs were used alone as extractants for either Am(III) or Eu(III) (D_A_m_,_E_u<10"-"4) under the experimental conditions used in this study. High separation factors (D_A_m/D_E_u>20) with D_A_m>1 were achieved in the nitric acid range 0.1-1 moll"-"1 by means of a synergistic mixture of bischlorodithiophosphinic acid with TBP, TOPO or TBPO. (orig.)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Even the presence of very low concentrations of dyes (1mgL-1) in the effluent is highly visible and is considered aesthetically undesirable. It must be removed from wastewater completely. This study systematically evaluates the performance of adsorption (three kinds of powdered activated carbons), coagulation (AlCl36H2O) and membrane (submerged hollow fiber microfiltration) processes individually in treating two kinds of reactive dyes (Orange 16 and Black 5) and then using a hybrid process with combined coagulation-adsorption-membrane treatment system. Adsorption capacity and kinetics of Orange 16 were much higher and faster than those of Black 5. The dye removal efficiency by coagulation was highly dependent on dye concentration and solution pH. The hybrid process performance was far more...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Four stratigraphic sections in the southern part of the Columbia Basin preserve a sequence of aeolian and non-aeolian sediments ranging in age from 943 to >470 14C ka based on accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of fossil molluscs, geochemistry of Cascade Mountain-sourced tephra and association with formally recognized pedostratigraphic units (the Washtucna and Old Maid Coulee soils). Study sections are interpreted as representing concurrent deposition of loess and distal Missoula Flood rhythmites in valleys tributary to main drainages backflooded during the Missoula Floods, and formation of carbonate and iron-rich soils. Sediments belong to the formally recognized L-1 and L-2 loess units established for the Palouse loess, which were deposited in the Columbia Basin su...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Aims: To develop a new nano composite of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with enhanced antimicrobial activity. Methods and Results: A novel antimicrobial nanocomposite [MWNT epilson polylysine (MEPs)] was synthesized via covalent attachment of epilson polylysine on MWNTs with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) as the coupling agent. UV visible spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT IR) investigations indicate that MEPs is stable, with epilson polylysine leaching effectively eliminated. When compared to MWNTs, the new nano composite MEPs exhibits enhanced antimicrobial activities. In 20 mg l 1 suspensions, significant increases of 72 1, 64 5 and 69% against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus can be observed. The deposited film of MEPs...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Objective: To compare the vertical dimensional changes with regard to graft height in a long-term follow-up in patients treated with two different grafting materials used in maxillary sinus floor elevation procedures. Material and methods: Twenty consecutive patients were included. One group was grafted with autogenous bone from the mandible (chin area), and the other group was augmented with a 100%b-tricalcium phosphate (b-TCP). During a 4- to 5-year period, in each patient, at least five panoramic radiographs were made. These panoramic radiographs were used for morphometric measurements, at three different locations. The three locations were the first bone to implant contact at the distal side of the second most posterior implant (L1), halfway between this implant and the most p...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The improving uranium extraction efficiency of yellow cake production from shale deposit by acid pugging and curing with D263B resin adsorption is described in this paper. The analysis and examination show that the composition of uranium minerals in one of uranium ores is very complex, which directly influence the extraction efficiency of uranium and processing technology. Conventional experimental results indicate that uranium leaching efficiency is changed between 50?60% by conventional agitation method. In this case, acid pugging and curing experiments are employed in order to improving the extraction efficiency. A series of acid pugging and curing experiments are carried out to get parameters for heap leaching in pilot plant experiment. The experiment results by acid pugging and curing technology showed that uranium leaching efficiency can reach to 90% of extraction efficiency mixed with 1% manganese dioxide, 12% sulfuric acid pugging, curing 3 days and leached out with 5 ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The main objective of this work was to investigate the biosorption performance of unmodified and Cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC)-modified biomass of Penicillium YW 01 for Acid Blue 25 (AB 25). Maximum biosorption capacity of AB 25 onto CPC-modified biosorbent was 118.48mgg^-^1 under phosphoric-phosphate buffer with initial dye concentration of 200mgL^-^1 at 30^oC. The biosorption pattern of AB 25 onto unmodified biosorbent in aqueous solution and phosphoric-phosphate buffer was well fitted with both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. While the equilibrium data of CPC-modified biosorbent in aqueous solution and phosphoric-phosphate buffer failed to fit the Freundlich isotherm model, indicating the monolayer biosorption formed onto CPC-modified biosorbent. The values of initial biosorpt...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An assay system for the stem cell that colonizes the thymus and differentiates into T cells was developed, and by using this assay system the existence of two subpopulations of stem cells for T cell lineage was clarified. Part-body-shielded and 900-R-irradiated C57BL/6 (H-2b, Thy-1.2) recipient mice, which do not require the transfer of pluripotent stem cells for their survival, were transferred with cells from B10 X Thy-1.1 (H-2b, Thy-1.1) donor mice. The reconstitution of the recipient's thymus lymphocytes was accomplished by stem cells in the donor cells and those spared in the shielded portion of the recipient that competitively colonize the thymus. Thus, the stem cell activity of donor cells can be evaluated by determining the proportion of donor-type (Thy-1.1+) ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The herbicide atrazine is a known immunotoxicant and an inhibitor of human natural killer (NK) cell lytic function. The precise changes in NK cell lytic function following atrazine exposure have not been fully elucidated. The current study identifies the point at which atrazine exerts its affect on the stepwise process of human NK cell-mediated lyses of the K562 target cell line. Using intracellular staining of human peripheral blood lymphocytes, it was determined that a 24-h in vitro exposure to atrazine did not decrease the level of NK cell lytic proteins granzyme A, granzyme B or perforin. Thus, it was hypothesized that atrazine exposure was inhibiting the ability of the NK cells to bind to the target cell and subsequently inhibit the release of lytic protein from the NK cell. To test t...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The presence of a high number of activated T cells in the bloodstream and spontaneous proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro are striking characteristics of human T-cell leukemia...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The herbicide atrazine is a known immunotoxicant and an inhibitor of human natural killer (NK) cell lytic function. The precise changes in NK cell lytic function following atrazine exposure have not been fully elucidated. The current study identifies the point at which atrazine exerts its affect on the stepwise process of human NK cell-mediated lyses of the K562 target cell line. Using intracellular staining of human peripheral blood lymphocytes, it was determined that a 24-h in vitro exposure to atrazine did not decrease the level of NK cell lytic proteins granzyme A, granzyme B or perforin. Thus, it was hypothesized that atrazine exposure was inhibiting the ability of the NK cells to bind to the target cell and subsequently inhibit the release of lytic protein from the NK cell. To test this hypothesis, flow cytometry ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

PCD (programmed cell death) in plants presents important morphological and biochemical differences compared with apoptosis in animal cells. This raises the question of whether PCD arose independently...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV), a retrovirus related to human T-cell leukemia virus types 1 and 2, can induce persistent nonneoplastic expansion of the CD5⁺ B-cell population, termed...Full Text Available