Identification and development of a promising novel mumps vaccine candidate strain.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Yan; Ma, Shaohui; Liu, Longding; Zhao, Hongling; Wang, Lichun; Jiang, Li; Xie, Zhongping; Dong, Chenghong; Li, Qihan

2010-12-01

Mumps epidemics are usually caused by airborne transmission of mumps virus (MuV) and have high morbidity in non-immunized children. Epidemiological studies in many regions of China show that the genotype F viral strain is the most prevalent. However, the genotype A strain is currently used to prepare vaccines. Regional epidemiological MuV data suggest a significant application for the development of live attenuated mumps vaccines targeting specific genotypes. This article reports the isolation and culture of a genotype F MuV candidate strain that could be used to prepare a live attenuated mumps vaccine. This strain is shown to have good immunological efficacy and stability in neurovirulence evaluations. This work should facilitate the implementation of mumps vaccination in mainland China by targeting the most prevalent MuV genotype, genotype F. Copyright © 2010 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

11 CFR 9003.2 - Candidate certifications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... funds under 11 CFR 9003.2(c)(3) shall not count against such candidate's $50,000 expenditure limitation... expenditures. (8) Expenditures made using a credit card for which the candidate is jointly or solely liable will count against the limits of this section to the extent that the full amount due, including any...

Assessment of potential solder candidates for high temperature applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

pressure to eliminate lead containing materials despite the fact that materials for high Pb containing alloys are currently not affected by any legislations. A tentative assessment was carried out to determine the potential solder candidates for high temperature applications based on the solidification...... criterion, phases predicted in the bulk solder and the thermodynamic stability of chlorides. These promising solder candidates were precisely produced using the hot stage microscope and its respective anodic and cathodic polarization curves were investigated using a micro-electrochemical set up...

Campaigning on behalf of the party? Party constraints on candidate campaign personalisation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøggild, Troels; Pedersen, Helene Helboe

2017-01-01

This article analyses what makes political candidates run a party-focused or personalised election campaign. Prior work shows that candidates face incentives from voters and the media to personalise their campaign rhetoric and promises at the expense of party policy. This has raised concerns about...... that party control over the candidate nomination process and campaign financing constrains most political candidates in following electoral incentives for campaign personalisation. Using candidate survey data from the 2009 EP election campaign in 27 countries, we show how candidates from parties in which...... party officials exerted greater control over the nomination process and campaign finances were less likely to engage in personalised campaigning at the expense of the party programme. The findings imply that most parties, as central gatekeepers and resource suppliers, hold important control mechanisms...

Cytolysin a expressing E. coli a promising candidate for imageable therapeutic probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Vu Hong; Phan, Thuy Xuan; Hong, Yeoung Jin; Min, Jung Joon

2007-01-01

Using bacteria for cancer treatment has a long history. Discovery of optical reporter genes consisting of fluorescent and luminescent protein facilitates the monitor of bacteria in vivo, non-invasively and repeatedly. E. coli, the natural enteric bacteria possessing capacity of tumor-targeting ability, seems to be suitable candidate for cancer treatment. In this study, we established the strain light-emitting E. coli for diagnostic purpose and Cytolysin A (Cly A) expressing E. coli for therapeutic purpose. E. coli (MG1655, wild type strain) was transformed plasmid pUC19 carrying lux gene to create the light expressing bacteria and test the tumor targeting-capacity by injecting the bacteria into CT26-tumor bearing mice via tail vein. On the other hand, for therapeutic purpose, plasmid containing Cly A gene, which is encoded for a pore-forming protein toxin, was introduced into E. coli. The toxicity of Cly A was evaluated in vitro by inoculating the bacteria with various cultured cancer cell lines. On the other hand, to test the therapeutic effect, the bacteria were injected intratumorally and intravenously into s.c.CT26-bearing as well as CT26-lung metastasized Balb/c mice. In vivo imaging data showed that the E. coli strains selectively located in the tumor. The in vitro result showed that the number of death cells were significantly higher in the samples containing E. coli expressing Cly A (E. coli Cly A) compared with the samples containing wild type strain. The growth of tumors was repressed in mice injected with either E. coli Cly A (significantly) or wild type E. coli (mildly), while tumors in no treatment group still grew fast. Furthermore, the tumors inoculated with E. coli cly A were necrotized but not with wild type E. coli. In the CT26-lung metastasized mouse model, the life span of mice was elongated when inject E. coli and longer in the group injected with E. coli cly A. Cly A expressing E. coli can become an effective candidate for imageable

Safety Lead Optimization and Candidate Identification: Integrating New Technologies into Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Dambach, Donna M; Misner, Dinah; Brock, Mathew; Fullerton, Aaron; Proctor, William; Maher, Jonathan; Lee, Dong; Ford, Kevin; Diaz, Dolores

2016-04-18

Discovery toxicology focuses on the identification of the most promising drug candidates through the development and implementation of lead optimization strategies and hypothesis-driven investigation of issues that enable rational and informed decision-making. The major goals are to [a] identify and progress the drug candidate with the best overall drug safety profile for a therapeutic area, [b] remove the most toxic drugs from the portfolio prior to entry into humans to reduce clinical attrition due to toxicity, and [c] establish a well-characterized hazard and translational risk profile to enable clinical trial designs. This is accomplished through a framework that balances the multiple considerations to identify a drug candidate with the overall best drug characteristics and provides a cogent understanding of mechanisms of toxicity. The framework components include establishing a target candidate profile for each program that defines the qualities of a successful candidate based on the intended therapeutic area, including the risk tolerance for liabilities; evaluating potential liabilities that may result from engaging the therapeutic target (pharmacology-mediated or on-target) and that are chemical structure-mediated (off-target); and characterizing identified liabilities. Lead optimization and investigation relies upon the integrated use of a variety of technologies and models (in silico, in vitro, and in vivo) that have achieved a sufficient level of qualification or validation to provide confidence in their use. We describe the strategic applications of various nonclinical models (established and new) for a holistic and integrated risk assessment that is used for rational decision-making. While this review focuses on strategies for small molecules, the overall concepts, approaches, and technologies are generally applicable to biotherapeutics.

A computer vision based candidate for functional balance test.

Science.gov (United States)

Nalci, Alican; Khodamoradi, Alireza; Balkan, Ozgur; Nahab, Fatta; Garudadri, Harinath

2015-08-01

Balance in humans is a motor skill based on complex multimodal sensing, processing and control. Ability to maintain balance in activities of daily living (ADL) is compromised due to aging, diseases, injuries and environmental factors. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate of the costs of falls among older adults was $34 billion in 2013 and is expected to reach $54.9 billion in 2020. In this paper, we present a brief review of balance impairments followed by subjective and objective tools currently used in clinical settings for human balance assessment. We propose a novel computer vision (CV) based approach as a candidate for functional balance test. The test will take less than a minute to administer and expected to be objective, repeatable and highly discriminative in quantifying ability to maintain posture and balance. We present an informal study with preliminary data from 10 healthy volunteers, and compare performance with a balance assessment system called BTrackS Balance Assessment Board. Our results show high degree of correlation with BTrackS. The proposed system promises to be a good candidate for objective functional balance tests and warrants further investigations to assess validity in clinical settings, including acute care, long term care and assisted living care facilities. Our long term goals include non-intrusive approaches to assess balance competence during ADL in independent living environments.

Systematic evaluation of candidate blood markers for detecting ovarian cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chana Palmer

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Epithelial ovarian cancer is a significant cause of mortality both in the United States and worldwide, due largely to the high proportion of cases that present at a late stage, when survival is extremely poor. Early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer, and of the serous subtype in particular, is a promising strategy for saving lives. The low prevalence of ovarian cancer makes the development of an adequately sensitive and specific test based on blood markers very challenging. We evaluated the performance of a set of candidate blood markers and combinations of these markers in detecting serous ovarian cancer.We selected 14 candidate blood markers of serous ovarian cancer for which assays were available to measure their levels in serum or plasma, based on our analysis of global gene expression data and on literature searches. We evaluated the performance of these candidate markers individually and in combination by measuring them in overlapping sets of serum (or plasma samples from women with clinically detectable ovarian cancer and women without ovarian cancer. Based on sensitivity at high specificity, we determined that 4 of the 14 candidate markers--MUC16, WFDC2, MSLN and MMP7--warrant further evaluation in precious serum specimens collected months to years prior to clinical diagnosis to assess their utility in early detection. We also reported differences in the performance of these candidate blood markers across histological types of epithelial ovarian cancer.By systematically analyzing the performance of candidate blood markers of ovarian cancer in distinguishing women with clinically apparent ovarian cancer from women without ovarian cancer, we identified a set of serum markers with adequate performance to warrant testing for their ability to identify ovarian cancer months to years prior to clinical diagnosis. We argued for the importance of sensitivity at high specificity and of magnitude of difference in marker levels between cases and

Review of candidate methods for detecting incipient defects due to aging of installed cables in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martzloff, F.D.

1988-01-01

Several types of test methods have been proposed for detecting incipient defects due to aging in cable insulation systems, none offering certainty of detecting all possible types of defects. Some methods apply direct detection of a defect in the cable; other methods detect changes in electrical or non-electrical parameters from which inference can be drawn on the integrity of the cable. The paper summarizes the first year of a program conducted at the National Bureau of Standards to assess the potential of success for in situ detection of incipient defects by the most promising of these methods

Academic Dishonesty Tendencies and Values of Teacher Candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayşegül KADI

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates. The population of this study included teacher candidates who received pedagogic formation education during 2013-2014 academic semester at the Faculty of Education at Ege University. The study was conducted with 244 teacher candidates, who were chosen through convenient sampling method. Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale and Portrait Values Questionnaire were used to collect data. It was a correlational study due to the investigation of the relationship between values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates. It was also a survey study since the academic dishonesty tendencies and values of teacher candidates were examined in relation to demographic variables. The results suggested that there wass a significant difference between the values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates for gender variable. The values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates did not differ for different fields of study. There was not a significant relationship between the academic dishonesty tendencies and values of teacher candidates.

t Leave Before You Understand': Supporting Masters Candidates in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

example, due to increased enrolments and the 'pile up' effect, South African academics are increasingly burdened with ... postgraduate level. This research study is part of a larger study on candidates' experiences of postgraduate business studies, with the aim of enhancing supervision practices for the benefit of candidates.

Identification of Novel Vaccine Candidates against Campylobacter through Reverse Vaccinology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marine Meunier

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Campylobacteriosis is the most prevalent bacterial foodborne gastroenteritis affecting humans in the European Union. Human cases are mainly due to Campylobacter jejuni or Campylobacter coli, and contamination is associated with the handling and/or consumption of poultry meat. In fact, poultry constitutes the bacteria’s main reservoir. A promising way of decreasing the incidence of campylobacteriosis in humans would be to decrease avian colonization. Poultry vaccination is of potential for this purpose. However, despite many studies, there is currently no vaccine available on the market to reduce the intestinal Campylobacter load in chickens. It is essential to identify and characterize new vaccine antigens. This study applied the reverse vaccinology approach to detect new vaccine candidates. The main criteria used to select immune proteins were localization, antigenicity, and number of B-epitopes. Fourteen proteins were identified as potential vaccine antigens. In vitro and in vivo experiments now need to be performed to validate the immune and protective power of these newly identified antigens.

SEARCHES FOR MILLISECOND PULSAR CANDIDATES AMONG THE UNIDENTIFIED FERMI OBJECTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hui, C. Y.; Park, S. M. [Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Hu, C. P. [Graduate Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jhongli 32001, Taiwan (China); Lin, L. C. C. [Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (China); Li, K. L.; Kong, A. K. H.; Jin, Ruolan; Yen, T.-C. [Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China); Tam, P. H. T. [Institute of Astronomy and Space Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (China); Takata, J.; Cheng, K. S. [Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong (China); Kim, Chunglee, E-mail: cyhui@cnu.ac.kr [Yonsei University Observatory, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2015-08-10

Here we report the results of searching millisecond pulsar (MSP) candidates from the Fermi LAT second source catalog (2FGL). Seven unassociated γ-ray sources in this catalog are identified as promising MSP candidates based on their γ-ray properties. Through the X-ray analysis, we have detected possible X-ray counterparts, localized to an arcsecond accuracy. We have systematically estimated their X-ray fluxes and compared them with the corresponding γ-ray fluxes. The X-ray to γ-ray flux ratios for 2FGL J1653.6-0159 and 2FGL J1946.4-5402 are comparable with the typical value for pulsars. For 2FGL J1625.2-0020, 2FGL J1653.6-0159, and 2FGL J1946.4-5402, their candidate X-ray counterparts are bright enough to perform a detailed spectral and temporal analysis to discriminate their thermal/non-thermal nature and search for the periodic signal. We have also searched for possible optical/IR counterparts at the X-ray positions. For the optical/IR source coincident with the brightest X-ray object associated with 2FGL J1120.0-2204, its spectral energy distribution is comparable with a late-type star. Evidence for the variability has also been found by examining its optical light curve. All the aforementioned 2FGL sources resemble a pulsar in one or more aspects, making them promising targets for follow-up investigations.

In vitro production of huperzine A, a promising drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xiaoqiang; Gang, David R

2008-07-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is growing in impact on human health. With no known cure, AD is one of the most expensive diseases in the world to treat. Huperzine A (HupA), a anti-AD drug candidate from the traditional Chinese medicine Qian Ceng Ta (Huperzia serrata), has been shown to be a powerful and selective inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase and has attracted widespread attention because of its unique pharmacological activities and low toxicity. As a result, HupA is becoming an important lead compound for drugs to treat AD. HupA is obtained naturally from very limited and slowly growing natural resources, members of the Huperziaceae. Unfortunately, the content of HupA is very low in the raw plant material. This has led to strong interest in developing sources of HupA. We have developed a method to propagate in vitro tissues of Phlegmariurus squarrosus, a member of the Huperziaceae, that produce high levels of HupA. The in vitro propagated tissues produce even higher levels of HupA than the natural plant, and may represent an excellent source for HupA.

The promise of human embryonic stem cells in aging-associated diseases

Science.gov (United States)

Yabut, Odessa; Bernstein, Harold S.

2011-01-01

Aging-associated diseases are often caused by progressive loss or dysfunction of cells that ultimately affect the overall function of tissues and organs. Successful treatment of these diseases could benefit from cell-based therapy that would regenerate lost cells or otherwise restore tissue function. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) promise to be an important therapeutic candidate in treating aging-associated diseases due to their unique capacity for self-renewal and pluripotency. To date, there are numerous hESC lines that have been developed and characterized. We will discuss how hESC lines are derived, their molecular and cellular properties, and how their ability to differentiate into all three embryonic germ layers is determined. We will also outline the methods currently employed to direct their differentiation into populations of tissue-specific, functional cells. Finally, we will highlight the general challenges that must be overcome and the strategies being developed to generate highly-purified hESC-derived cell populations that can safely be used for clinical applications. PMID:21566262

Advanced Vaccine Candidates for Lassa Fever

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor S. Lukashevich

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Lassa virus (LASV is the most prominent human pathogen of the Arenaviridae. The virus is transmitted to humans by a rodent reservoir, Mastomys natalensis, and is capable of causing lethal Lassa Fever (LF. LASV has the highest human impact of any of the viral hemorrhagic fevers (with the exception of Dengue Fever with an estimated several hundred thousand infections annually, resulting in thousands of deaths in Western Africa. The sizeable disease burden, numerous imported cases of LF in non-endemic countries, and the possibility that LASV can be used as an agent of biological warfare make a strong case for vaccine development. Presently there is no licensed vaccine against LF or approved treatment. Recently, several promising vaccine candidates have been developed which can potentially target different groups at risk. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the LASV pathogenesis and immune mechanisms involved in protection. The current status of pre-clinical development of the advanced vaccine candidates that have been tested in non-human primates will be discussed. Major scientific, manufacturing, and regulatory challenges will also be considered.

Theoretical design and discovery of the most-promising, previously overlooked hybrid perovskite compounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zunger, Alex [University of Colorado Boulder; Kazmerski, Lawrence [University of Colorado Boulder; Dalpian, Gustavo [University of Colorado Boulder

2018-03-14

The material class of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (AMX3) has risen rapidly from a virtually unknown material in photovoltaic applications a short 8-years ago into 20-23% efficient thin-film solar cell devices. As promising as this class of materials is, however, there are limitations associated with its poor long-term stability, non-optimal band gap, and the presence of toxic Pb atom on the metalloid site. An Edisonian laboratory exploration (i.e., growth + characterization) via trial-and-error processes of all other candidate materials, is unpractical. Our approach uses high speed computational design and discovery to screen the ‘best of class” candidates based upon optimal functionalities.

Corrosion of candidate materials for canister: applications in rock salt formations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azkarate, I.; Madina, V.; Barrio, A. del; Macarro, J.M.

1994-01-01

Previous corrosion studies carried out on various metallic materials in typical salt rock environments show that carbon steel and titanium alloys are the most promising candidates for canister applications in this geological formation. Although carbon steels have a low corrosion resistance, they are considered acceptable as corrosion-allowance materials for a thick walled container due to their practical immunity to the localized corrosion phenomena such as stress corrosion cracking, pitting or crevice corrosion. Aiming to improve the performances of these materials, studies on the effect of small additions of Ni and V on the general corrosion are in process. The improvement in the resistance to general corrosion should not be accompanied by a sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking. On the contrary, alfa titanium alloys are considered the most resistant materials to general corrosion in salt brines. However, pitting, are potential deficiencies of this corrosion-resistant materials for a thin walled container. (Author)

Bacillus subtilis spore with surface display of paramyosin from Clonorchis sinensis potentializes a promising oral vaccine candidate.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hengchang; Lin, Zhipeng; Zhao, Lu; Chen, Tingjin; Shang, Mei; Jiang, Hongye; Tang, Zeli; Zhou, Xinyi; Shi, Mengchen; Zhou, Lina; Ren, Pengli; Qu, Honglin; Lin, Jinsi; Li, Xuerong; Xu, Jin; Huang, Yan; Yu, Xinbing

2018-03-07

Clonorchiasis caused by Clonorchis sinensis has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. Effective prevention strategies are urgently needed to control this food-borne infectious disease. Previous studies indicated that paramyosin of C. sinensis (CsPmy) is a potential vaccine candidate. We constructed a recombinant plasmid of PEB03-CotC-CsPmy, transformed it into Bacillus subtilis WB600 strain (B.s-CotC-CsPmy), and confirmed CsPmy expression on the spore surface by SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and immunofluorescence assay. The immune response and protective efficacy of the recombinant spore were investigated in BALB/c mice after intragastrical or intraperitoneal immunization. Additionally, biochemical enzyme activities in sera, the intestinal histopathology and gut microflora of spore-treated mice were investigated. CsPmy was successfully expressed on the spore surface and the fusion protein on the spore surface with thermostability. Specific IgG in sera and intestinal mucus were increased after intraperitoneal and intragastrical immunization. The sIgA level in intestinal mucus, feces and bile of B.s-CotC-CsPmy orally treated mice were also significantly raised. Furthermore, numerous IgA-secreting cells were detected in intestinal mucosa of intragastrically immunized mice. No inflammatory injury was observed in the intestinal tissues and there was no significant difference in levels of enzyme-indicated liver function among the groups. Additionally, the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota were not changed after oral immunization. Intragastric and intraperitoneal immunization of B.s-CotC-CsPmy spores in mice resulted in egg reduction rates of 48.3 and 51.2% after challenge infection, respectively. Liver fibrosis degree in B.s-CotC-CsPmy spores treated groups was also significantly reduced. CsPmy expressed on the spore surface maintained its immunogenicity. Both intragastrical and intraperitoneal immunization with B.s-CotC-CsPmy spores induced systemic and

Phosphorene nanoribbon as a promising candidate for thermoelectric applications

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, J.; Liu, H. J.; Cheng, L.; Wei, J.; Liang, J. H.; Fan, D. D.; Shi, J.; Tang, X. F.; Zhang, Q. J.

2014-01-01

In this work, the electronic properties of phosphorene nanoribbons with different width and edge configurations are studied by using density functional theory. It is found that the armchair phosphorene nanoribbons are semiconducting while the zigzag nanoribbons are metallic. The band gaps of armchair nanoribbons decrease monotonically with increasing ribbon width. By passivating the edge phosphorus atoms with hydrogen, the zigzag series also become semiconducting, while the armchair series exhibit a larger band gap than their pristine counterpart. The electronic transport properties of these phosphorene nanoribbons are then investigated using Boltzmann theory and relaxation time approximation. We find that all the semiconducting nanoribbons exhibit very large values of Seebeck coefficient and can be further enhanced by hydrogen passivation at the edge. Taking pristine armchair nanoribbons and hydrogen-passivated zigzag naoribbons with width N = 7, 8, 9 as examples, we calculate the lattice thermal conductivity with the help of phonon Boltzmann transport equation and evaluate the width-dependent thermoelectric performance. Due to significantly enhanced Seebeck coefficient and decreased thermal conductivity, we find that at least one type of phosphorene nanoribbons can be optimized to exhibit very high figure of merit (ZT values) at room temperature, which suggests their appealing thermoelectric applications. PMID:25245326

Corrosion susceptibility study of candidate pin materials for ALTC (Active Lithium/Thionyl Chloride) batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Bovard, Francine S.; Cieslak, Wendy R.

1987-09-01

The corrosion susceptibilities of eight alternate battery pin material candidates for ALTC (Active Lithium/Thionyl Chloride) batteries in 1.5M LiAlCl4/SOCl2 electrolyte have been investigated using ampule exposure and electrochemical tests. The thermal expansion coefficients of these candidate materials are expected to match Sandia-developed Li-corrosion resistant glasses. The corrosion resistances of the candidate materials, which included three stainless steels (15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, and 446), three Fe-Ni glass sealing alloys (Kovar, Alloy 52, and Niromet 426), a Ni-based alloy (Hastelloy B-2) and a zirconium-based alloy (Zircaloy), were compared to the reference materials Ni and 316L SS. All of the candidate materials showed some evidence of corrosion and, therefore, did not perform as well as the reference materials. The Hastelloy B-2 and Zircaloy are clearly unacceptable materials for this application. Of the remaining alternate materials, the 446 SS and Alloy 52 are the most promising candidates.

Promising Practices in Higher Education: Art Education and Human Rights Using Information, Communication Technologies (ICT)

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Joanna; Cap, Orest

2014-01-01

Promising pedagogical practices is described in relation to incorporating ICT (Information, Communication and Technologies) with the study of Human Rights issues in Visual Arts Education for teacher candidates. As part of a course, "Senior Years Art," students at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba during 2013-2014…

Behavior of the magnetocaloric effect in La0.7Ba0.2Ca0.1Mn1-xSnxO3 manganite oxides as promising candidates for magnetic refrigeration

Science.gov (United States)

Dhahri, Ja.; Mnefgui, Safa; Ben Hassine, A.; Tahri, Ta.; Oumezzine, M.; Hlil, E. K.

2018-05-01

The magnetocaloric effect along with magnetic phase transition in the peroveskite polycrystalline samples La0.7Ba0.2Ca0.1Mn1-xSnxO3 (x = 0 and 0.1) was investigated. The samples were synthesized using conventional solid state reaction at 1400 °C temperature. Magnetization vs. temperature measurements, under a magnetic field of μ0H = 0.05 T, showed a paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition at Curie temperature, TC, which decreases from 310 K for x = 0-290 K for x = 0.1. A large magnetic entropy change | ΔSM | deduced from isothermal magnetization curves, has been observed in our samples with a peak centered on their respective TC. Interesting values of the relative cooling power (RCP), 237 J kg-1 for x = 0 and 248 J kg-1 x = 0.1, make these samples promising candidates for magnetic refrigeration around room temperature.

Vaccination of dogs with six different candidate leishmaniasis vaccines composed of a chimerical recombinant protein containing ribosomal and histone protein epitopes in combination with different adjuvants.

Science.gov (United States)

Poot, J; Janssen, L H M; van Kasteren-Westerneng, T J; van der Heijden-Liefkens, K H A; Schijns, V E J C; Heckeroth, A

2009-07-16

Chimerical protein "Q", composed of antigenic ribosomal and histone sequences, in combination with live BCG is a promising canine leishmaniasis vaccine candidate; one of the few vaccine candidates that have been tested successfully in dogs. Unfortunately, live BCG is not an appropriate adjuvant for commercial application due to safety problems in dogs. In order to find a safe adjuvant with similar efficacy to live BCG, muramyl dipeptide, aluminium hydroxide, Matrix C and killed Propionibacterium acnes in combination with either E. coli- or baculovirus-produced recombinant JPCM5_Q protein were tested. Groups of five or seven dogs were vaccinated with six different adjuvant-antigen combinations and challenged with a high dose intravenous injection of Leishmania infantum JPC strain promastigotes. All candidate vaccines proved to be safe, and both humoral and cellular responses to the recombinant proteins were detected at the end of the prime-boost vaccination scheme. However, clinical and parasitological data obtained during the 10 month follow-up period indicated that protection was not induced by either of the six candidate vaccines. Although no direct evidence was obtained, our data suggest that live BCG may have a significant protective effect against challenge with L. infantum in dogs.

Ti-Sb-Te alloy: a candidate for fast and long-life phase-change memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Mengjiao; Zhu, Min; Wang, Yuchan; Song, Zhitang; Rao, Feng; Wu, Liangcai; Cheng, Yan; Song, Sannian

2015-04-15

Phase-change memory (PCM) has great potential for numerous attractive applications on the premise of its high-device performances, which still need to be improved by employing a material with good overall phase-change properties. In respect to fast speed and high endurance, the Ti-Sb-Te alloy seems to be a promising candidate. Here, Ti-doped Sb2Te3 (TST) materials with different Ti concentrations have been systematically studied with the goal of finding the most suitable composition for PCM applications. The thermal stability of TST is improved dramatically with increasing Ti content. The small density change of T0.32Sb2Te3 (2.24%), further reduced to 1.37% for T0.56Sb2Te3, would greatly avoid the voids generated at phase-change layer/electrode interface in a PCM device. Meanwhile, the exponentially diminished grain size (from ∼200 nm to ∼12 nm), resulting from doping more and more Ti, enhances the adhesion between phase-change film and substrate. Tests of TST-based PCM cells have demonstrated a fast switching rate of ∼10 ns. Furthermore, because of the lower thermal conductivities of TST materials, compared with Sb2Te3-based PCM cells, T0.32Sb2Te3-based ones exhibit lower required pulse voltages for Reset operation, which largely decreases by ∼50% for T0.43Sb2Te3-based ones. Nevertheless, the operation voltages for T0.56Sb2Te3-based cells dramatically increase, which may be due to the phase separation after doping excessive Ti. Finally, considering the decreased resistance ratio, TixSb2Te3 alloy with x around 0.43 is proved to be a highly promising candidate for fast and long-life PCM applications.

FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF KEPLER PLANET-CANDIDATE HOST STARS USING ASTEROSEISMOLOGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huber, Daniel; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Chaplin, William J. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen; Kjeldsen, Hans; Handberg, Rasmus; Karoff, Christoffer; Lund, Mikkel N.; Lundkvist, Mia [Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Gilliland, Ronald L. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Fischer, Debra A.; Basu, Sarbani [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto [Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Hekker, Saskia [Astronomical Institute ' ' Anton Pannekoek' ' , University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands); Howard, Andrew W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Isaacson, Howard; Marcy, Geoffrey W. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Latham, David W., E-mail: daniel.huber@nasa.gov [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); and others

2013-04-20

We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66 Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions for four host stars with confirmed planets (Kepler-4, Kepler-14, Kepler-23 and Kepler-25) and increase the total number of Kepler host stars with asteroseismic solutions to 77. A comparison with stellar properties in the planet-candidate catalog by Batalha et al. shows that radii for subgiants and giants obtained from spectroscopic follow-up are systematically too low by up to a factor of 1.5, while the properties for unevolved stars are in good agreement. We furthermore apply asteroseismology to confirm that a large majority of cool main-sequence hosts are indeed dwarfs and not misclassified giants. Using the revised stellar properties, we recalculate the radii for 107 planet candidates in our sample, and comment on candidates for which the radii change from a previously giant-planet/brown-dwarf/stellar regime to a sub-Jupiter size or vice versa. A comparison of stellar densities from asteroseismology with densities derived from transit models in Batalha et al. assuming circular orbits shows significant disagreement for more than half of the sample due to systematics in the modeled impact parameters or due to planet candidates that may be in eccentric orbits. Finally, we investigate tentative correlations between host-star masses and planet-candidate radii, orbital periods, and multiplicity, but caution that these results may be influenced by the small sample size and detection biases.

The Promises of Biology and the Biology of Promises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Jieun

2015-01-01

commitments with differently imagined futures. I argue that promises are constitutive of the stem cell biology, rather than being derivative of it. Since the biological concept of stem cells is predicated on the future that they promise, the biological life of stem cells is inextricably intertwined...... patients’ bodies in anticipation of materializing the promises of stem cell biology, they are produced as a new form of biovaluable. The promises of biology move beyond the closed circuit of scientific knowledge production, and proliferate in the speculative marketplaces of promises. Part II looks at how...... of technologized biology and biological time can appear promising with the backdrop of the imagined intransigence of social, political, and economic order in the Korean society....

Alphavirus capsid proteins self-assemble into core-like particles in insect cells: A promising platform for nanoparticle vaccine development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hikke, M.C.; Geertsema, C.; Wu, V.; Metz, Stefan; Lent, van J.W.M.; Vlak, J.M.; Pijlman, G.P.

2016-01-01

The mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes arthritic diseases in humans, whereas the aquatic salmonid alphavirus (SAV) is associated with high mortality in aquaculture of salmon and trout. Using modern biotechnological approaches, promising vaccine candidates based upon highly immunogenic,

Naturally acquired antibody responses to recombinant Pfs230 and Pfs48/45 transmission blocking vaccine candidates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jones, S; Grignard, L.; Nebie, I.; Chilongola, J.; Dodoo, D.; Sauerwein, R.W.; Theisen, M.; Roeffen, W.F.; Singh, S.K; Singh, R.K.; Kyei-Baafour, E.; Tetteh, K.; Drakeley, C.; Bousema, T.

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Pfs48/45 and Pfs230 are Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage proteins and promising malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidates. Antibody responses against these proteins may be naturally acquired and target antigens may be under selective pressure. This has consequences for the

PHB, crystalline and amorphous magnesium alloys: Promising candidates for bioresorbable osteosynthesis implants?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Celarek, Anna [Institute for Building Construction and Technology E-206-4, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Vienna (Austria); Kraus, Tanja [Department of Paediatric Orthopaedics, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz (Austria); Tschegg, Elmar K., E-mail: elmar.tschegg@tuwien.ac.at [Institute for Building Construction and Technology E-206-4, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Vienna (Austria); Fischerauer, Stefan F. [Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz (Austria); Stanzl-Tschegg, Stefanie [Department of Material Sciences and Process Engineering, Institute of Physics and Materials Science, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Str. 82, 1190 Vienna (Austria); Uggowitzer, Peter J. [Department of Materials, Laboratory for Metal Physics and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Weinberg, Annelie M. [Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, 8036 Graz (Austria)

2012-08-01

In this study various biodegradable materials were tested for their suitability for use in osteosynthesis implants, in particular as elastically stable intramedullary nails for fracture treatment in paediatric orthopaedics. The materials investigated comprise polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which belongs to the polyester family and is produced by microorganisms, with additions of ZrO{sub 2} and a bone graft substitute; two crystalline magnesium alloys with significantly different degradation rates ZX50 (MgZnCa, fast) and WZ21 (MgYZnCa, slow); and MgZnCa bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Push-out tests were conducted after various implantation times in rat femur meta-diaphysis to evaluate the shear forces between the implant material and the bone. The most promising materials are WZ21 and BMG, which exhibit high shear forces and push-out energies. The degradation rate of ZX50 is too fast and thus the alloy does not maintain its mechanical stability long enough during the fracture-healing period. PHB exhibits insufficient mechanical properties: it degrades very slowly and the respective low shear forces and push-out energy levels are unsatisfactory. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In-vivo (rat model) investigation of biodegradable materials suitable for ESIN. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Materials: polymer PHB, crystalline Mg ZX50 and Mg WZ21, MgZnCa bulk metallic glasses. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Evaluated interface shear strength, push-out energies, stiffness, histology. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Mg WZ21 suitable, other materials only after alterations.

PHB, crystalline and amorphous magnesium alloys: Promising candidates for bioresorbable osteosynthesis implants?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Celarek, Anna; Kraus, Tanja; Tschegg, Elmar K.; Fischerauer, Stefan F.; Stanzl-Tschegg, Stefanie; Uggowitzer, Peter J.; Weinberg, Annelie M.

2012-01-01

In this study various biodegradable materials were tested for their suitability for use in osteosynthesis implants, in particular as elastically stable intramedullary nails for fracture treatment in paediatric orthopaedics. The materials investigated comprise polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which belongs to the polyester family and is produced by microorganisms, with additions of ZrO 2 and a bone graft substitute; two crystalline magnesium alloys with significantly different degradation rates ZX50 (MgZnCa, fast) and WZ21 (MgYZnCa, slow); and MgZnCa bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Push-out tests were conducted after various implantation times in rat femur meta-diaphysis to evaluate the shear forces between the implant material and the bone. The most promising materials are WZ21 and BMG, which exhibit high shear forces and push-out energies. The degradation rate of ZX50 is too fast and thus the alloy does not maintain its mechanical stability long enough during the fracture-healing period. PHB exhibits insufficient mechanical properties: it degrades very slowly and the respective low shear forces and push-out energy levels are unsatisfactory. - Highlights: ► In-vivo (rat model) investigation of biodegradable materials suitable for ESIN. ► Materials: polymer PHB, crystalline Mg ZX50 and Mg WZ21, MgZnCa bulk metallic glasses. ► Evaluated interface shear strength, push-out energies, stiffness, histology. ► Mg WZ21 suitable, other materials only after alterations.

Planet Candidate Validation in K2 Crowded Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Rampalli, Rayna; Vanderburg, Andrew; Latham, David; Quinn, Samuel

2018-01-01

In just three years, the K2 mission has yielded some remarkable outcomes with the discovery of over 100 confirmed planets and 500 reported planet candidates to be validated. One challenge with this mission is the search for planets located in star-crowded regions. Campaign 13 is one such example, located towards the galactic plane in the constellation of Taurus. We subject the potential planetary candidates to a validation process involving spectroscopy to derive certain stellar parameters. Seeing-limited on/off imaging follow-up is also utilized in order to rule out false positives due to nearby eclipsing binaries. Using Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis, the best-fit parameters for each candidate are generated. These will be suitable for finding a candidate’s false positive probability through methods including feeding such parameters into the Validation of Exoplanet Signals using a Probabilistic Algorithm (VESPA). These techniques and results serve as important tools for conducting candidate validation and follow-up observations for space-based missions such as the upcoming TESS mission since TESS’s large camera pixels resemble K2’s star-crowded fields.

What can the SEDs of first hydrostatic core candidates reveal about their nature?

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Alison K.; Bate, Matthew R.; Mowat, Chris F.; Hatchell, Jennifer; Harries, Tim J.

2018-02-01

The first hydrostatic core (FHSC) is the first stable object to form in simulations of star formation. This stage has yet to be observed definitively, although several candidate FHSCs have been reported. We have produced synthetic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from 3D hydrodynamical simulations of pre-stellar cores undergoing gravitational collapse for a variety of initial conditions. Variations in the initial rotation rate, radius and mass lead to differences in the location of the SED peak and far-infrared flux. Secondly, we attempt to fit the SEDs of five FHSC candidates from the literature and five newly identified FHSC candidates located in the Serpens South molecular cloud with simulated SEDs. The most promising FHSC candidates are fitted by a limited number of model SEDs with consistent properties, which suggests that the SED can be useful for placing constraints on the age and rotation rate of the source. The sources we consider most likely to be in FHSC phase are B1-bN, CB17-MMS, Aqu-MM1 and Serpens South candidate K242. We were unable to fit SerpS-MM22, Per-Bolo 58 and Chamaeleon-MMS1 with reasonable parameters, which indicates that they are likely to be more evolved.

Screening novel candidates and exploring design strategies for organic dye sensitizers with rigid π-linker: A theoretical study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, Kai-Li [Gansu Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Eco-environment-related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070 Gansu (China); College of Chemistry and Life Science, Gansu Normal University for Nationalities, Hezuo, 747000 Gansu (China); Liu, Le-Yan [College of Chemistry and Life Science, Gansu Normal University for Nationalities, Hezuo, 747000 Gansu (China); Geng, Zhi-Yuan, E-mail: zhiyuangeng@126.com [Gansu Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Eco-environment-related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070 Gansu (China); Yan, Pen-Ji; Lu, Yan-Hong; Liu, Rui-Rui [Gansu Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Eco-environment-related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070 Gansu (China)

2015-07-15

Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations have been carried out to explore the underlying origin of merits for rigid π-spacer based on reference dyes C255 and C254. The results demonstrate that higher short-circuit current density (J{sub SC}) of C255 is primarily ascribed to the lower EBE, while the biggish short-circuit current density (V{sub OC}) mainly originates from the larger μ{sub normal} compared to C254. Besides, a novel index integral of overlap between hole and electron (S) is firstly introduced to quantitatively estimate the facility of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and preliminarily confirmed to be effective for the research target of this work. Furthermore, three series of dyes (C-series, A-series, AC-series) have been designed and characterized to screen promising sensitizer candidates and design strategies, while delightful results have been achieved including 6 promising candidates, design stratagem on efficiently reducing the charge recombination and combinational tactics on screening new dyes with excellent spectral properties or outstanding DSSC performance. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Novel S index was introduced in and confirmed to be effective to estimate ICT. • The merits of rigid π bridge have been theoretically revealed. • Six promising candidates have been screened out. • New strategy on reduce charge recombination was reported. • Novel combinational tactics were acquired and justified to be feasible.

Walleye Autochthonous Bacteria as Promising Probiotic Candidates against Flavobacterium columnare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamza Seghouani

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Walleye (Sander vitreus is the second most fished freshwater species in Canada. While much sought by anglers, walleye also supports substantial commercial fisheries. To cope with the recent decline of wild walleye populations, fish farmers produce juveniles for lake stocking. However, walleye breeding is particularly tedious, mostly due to high disease susceptibility at larval and juvenile developmental stages. The main threat is the columnaris disease, which is caused by Flavobacterium columnare, an opportunistic bacteria. As F. columnare strains exhibit increasing antibiotic resistance, there is a strong need to develop efficient and sustainable alternative strategies to control columnaris disease. Bacterial probiotics have been shown to mitigate infections either by enhancing host immune response or by inhibiting pathogen growth. Being successfully assessed in many fish/pathogen combinations, we developed a tailored probiotic strategy for walleye to prevent and treat columnaris disease. Thirty-seven endogenous bacterial strains were isolated from healthy walleye’s skin and gut, were tested in vitro against F. columnare. Significant antagonistic effect against F. columnare was measured for 2 out of 37 endogenous strains. These two probiotic strains were identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens. The antagonistic effect of these two successful probiotics was further validated in vivo during a 2-month stress trial: groups receiving probiotic treatments showed on average 53.74% survival improvement.

Multiomics Data Triangulation for Asthma Candidate Biomarkers and Precision Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Pecak, Matija; Korošec, Peter; Kunej, Tanja

2018-06-01

Asthma is a common complex disorder and has been subject to intensive omics research for disease susceptibility and therapeutic innovation. Candidate biomarkers of asthma and its precision treatment demand that they stand the test of multiomics data triangulation before they can be prioritized for clinical applications. We classified the biomarkers of asthma after a search of the literature and based on whether or not a given biomarker candidate is reported in multiple omics platforms and methodologies, using PubMed and Web of Science, we identified omics studies of asthma conducted on diverse platforms using keywords, such as asthma, genomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics. We extracted data about asthma candidate biomarkers from 73 articles and developed a catalog of 190 potential asthma biomarkers (167 human, 23 animal data), comprising DNA loci, transcripts, proteins, metabolites, epimutations, and noncoding RNAs. The data were sorted according to 13 omics types: genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, interactomics, metabolomics, ncRNAomics, glycomics, lipidomics, environmental omics, pharmacogenomics, phenomics, and integrative omics. Importantly, we found that 10 candidate biomarkers were apparent in at least two or more omics levels, thus promising potential for further biomarker research and development and precision medicine applications. This multiomics catalog reported herein for the first time contributes to future decision-making on prioritization of biomarkers and validation efforts for precision medicine in asthma. The findings may also facilitate meta-analyses and integrative omics studies in the future.

Fuzzy promises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anker, Thomas Boysen; Kappel, Klemens; Eadie, Douglas

2012-01-01

as narrative material to communicate self-identity. Finally, (c) we propose that brands deliver fuzzy experiential promises through effectively motivating consumers to adopt and play a social role implicitly suggested and facilitated by the brand. A promise is an inherently ethical concept and the article...... concludes with an in-depth discussion of fuzzy brand promises as two-way ethical commitments that put requirements on both brands and consumers....

MXene: a potential candidate for yarn supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jizhen; Seyedin, Shayan; Gu, Zhoujie; Yang, Wenrong; Wang, Xungai; Razal, Joselito M

2017-12-07

The increasing developments in wearable electronics demand compatible power sources such as yarn supercapacitors (YSCs) that can effectively perform in a limited footprint. MXene nanosheets, which have been recently shown in the literature to possess ultra-high volumetric capacitance, were used in this study for the fabrication of YSCs in order to identify their potential merit and performance in YSCs. With the aid of a conductive binder (PEDOT-PSS), YSCs with high mass loading of MXene are demonstrated. These MXene-based YSCs exhibit excellent device performance and stability even under bending and twisting. This study demonstrates that MXene is a promising candidate for YSCs and its further development can lead to flexible power sources with sufficient performance for powering miniaturized and/or wearable electronics.

NHI economic analysis of candidate nuclear hydrogen processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, D.; Pickard, P.; Patterson, M.; Sink, C.

2010-01-01

The DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI) is investigating candidate technologies for large scale hydrogen production using high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) in concert with the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) programme. The candidate processes include high temperature thermochemical and high temperature electrolytic processes which are being investigated in a sequence of experimental and analytic studies to establish the most promising and cost effective means of hydrogen production with nuclear energy. Although these advanced processes are in an early development stage, it is important that the projected economic potential of these processes be evaluated to assist in the prioritisation of research activities, and ultimately in the selection of the most promising processes for demonstration and deployment. The projected cost of hydrogen produced is the most comprehensive metric in comparing candidate processes. Since these advanced processes are in the early stages of development and much of the technology is still unproven, the estimated production costs are also significantly uncertain. The programme approach has been to estimate the cost of hydrogen production from each process periodically, based on the best available data at that time, with the intent of increasing fidelity and reducing uncertainty as the research programme and system definition studies progress. These updated cost estimates establish comparative costs at that stage of development but are also used as inputs to the evaluation of research priorities, and identify the key cost and risk (uncertainty) drivers for each process. The economic methodology used to assess the candidate processes are based on the H2A ground rules and modelling tool (discounted cash flow) developed by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The figure of merit output from the calculation is the necessary selling price for hydrogen in dollars per kilogram that satisfies the cost

Design of lead-free candidate alloys for high-temperature soldering based on the Au–Sn system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chidambaram, Vivek; Hattel, Jesper Henri; Hald, John

2010-01-01

of the Au–Sn binary system were explored in this work. Furthermore, the effects of thermal aging on the microstructure and microhardness of these promising Au–Sn based ternary alloys were investigated. For this purpose, the candidate alloys were aged at a lower temperature, 150°C for up to 1week...

A VOLUME-LIMITED PHOTOMETRIC SURVEY OF 114 γ DORADUS CANDIDATES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henry, Gregory W.; Fekel, Francis C.; Henry, Stephen M.

2011-01-01

We have carried out a photometric survey of a complete, volume-limited sample of γ Doradus candidates. The sample was extracted from the Hipparcos catalog and consists of 114 stars with colors and absolute magnitudes within the range of known γ Doradus stars and that also lie within a specified volume of 266,600 pc 3 . We devoted one year of observing time with our T12 0.8 m automatic photometric telescope to acquire nightly observations of the complete sample of stars. From these survey observations, we identify 37 stars with intrinsic variability of 0.002 mag or more. Of these 37 variables, 8 have already been confirmed as γ Doradus stars in our earlier papers; we scheduled the remaining 29 variables on our T3 0.4 m automatic telescope to acquire more intensive observations over the next two years. As promising new γ Doradus candidates were identified from the photometry, we obtained complementary spectroscopic observations of each candidate with the Kitt Peak coude feed telescope. Analysis of our new photometric and spectroscopic data reveals 15 new γ Doradus variables (and confirms two others), 8 new δ Scuti variables (and confirms one other), and 3 new variables with unresolved periodicity. Therefore, of the 114 γ Doradus candidates in our volume-limited sample, we find 25 stars that are new or previously known γ Doradus variables. This results in an incidence of 22% for γ Doradus variability among candidate field stars for this volume of the solar neighborhood. The corresponding space density of γ Doradus stars in this volume of space is 0.094 stars per 10 3 pc 3 or 94 stars per 10 6 pc 3 . We provide an updated list of 86 bright, confirmed, γ Doradus field stars.

A New Way to Confirm Planet Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-05-01

What was the big deal behind the Kepler news conference yesterday? Its not just that the number of confirmed planets found by Kepler has more than doubled (though thats certainly exciting news!). Whats especially interesting is the way in which these new planets were confirmed.Number of planet discoveries by year since 1995, including previous non-Kepler discoveries (blue), previous Kepler discoveries (light blue) and the newly validated Kepler planets (orange). [NASA Ames/W. Stenzel; Princeton University/T. Morton]No Need for Follow-UpBefore Kepler, the way we confirmed planet candidates was with follow-up observations. The candidate could be validated either by directly imaging (which is rare) or obtaining a large number radial-velocity measurements of the wobble of the planets host star due to the planets orbit. But once Kepler started producing planet candidates, these approaches to validation became less feasible. A lot of Kepler candidates are small and orbit faint stars, making follow-up observations difficult or impossible.This problem is what inspired the development of whats known as probabilistic validation, an analysis technique that involves assessing the likelihood that the candidates signal is caused by various false-positive scenarios. Using this technique allows astronomers to estimate the likelihood of a candidate signal being a true planet detection; if that likelihood is high enough, the planet candidate can be confirmed without the need for follow-up observations.A breakdown of the catalog of Kepler Objects of Interest. Just over half had previously been identified as false positives or confirmed as candidates. 1284 are newly validated, and another 455 have FPP of1090%. [Morton et al. 2016]Probabilistic validation has been used in the past to confirm individual planet candidates in Kepler data, but now Timothy Morton (Princeton University) and collaborators have taken this to a new level: they developed the first code thats designed to do fully

7 T renal MRI : challenges and promises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Boer, A.; Hoogduin, J.M.; Blankestijn, P.J.; Li, X.; Luijten, P.R.; Metzger, G.J.; Raaijmakers, A.J.E.; Umutlu, L.; Visser, F.; Leiner, T.

The progression to 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) yields promises of substantial increase in signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This increase can be traded off to increase image spatial resolution or to decrease acquisition time. However, renal 7 T MRI remains challenging due to

Integrative analysis to select cancer candidate biomarkers to targeted validation

Science.gov (United States)

Heberle, Henry; Domingues, Romênia R.; Granato, Daniela C.; Yokoo, Sami; Canevarolo, Rafael R.; Winck, Flavia V.; Ribeiro, Ana Carolina P.; Brandão, Thaís Bianca; Filgueiras, Paulo R.; Cruz, Karen S. P.; Barbuto, José Alexandre; Poppi, Ronei J.; Minghim, Rosane; Telles, Guilherme P.; Fonseca, Felipe Paiva; Fox, Jay W.; Santos-Silva, Alan R.; Coletta, Ricardo D.; Sherman, Nicholas E.; Paes Leme, Adriana F.

2015-01-01

Targeted proteomics has flourished as the method of choice for prospecting for and validating potential candidate biomarkers in many diseases. However, challenges still remain due to the lack of standardized routines that can prioritize a limited number of proteins to be further validated in human samples. To help researchers identify candidate biomarkers that best characterize their samples under study, a well-designed integrative analysis pipeline, comprising MS-based discovery, feature selection methods, clustering techniques, bioinformatic analyses and targeted approaches was performed using discovery-based proteomic data from the secretomes of three classes of human cell lines (carcinoma, melanoma and non-cancerous). Three feature selection algorithms, namely, Beta-binomial, Nearest Shrunken Centroids (NSC), and Support Vector Machine-Recursive Features Elimination (SVM-RFE), indicated a panel of 137 candidate biomarkers for carcinoma and 271 for melanoma, which were differentially abundant between the tumor classes. We further tested the strength of the pipeline in selecting candidate biomarkers by immunoblotting, human tissue microarrays, label-free targeted MS and functional experiments. In conclusion, the proposed integrative analysis was able to pre-qualify and prioritize candidate biomarkers from discovery-based proteomics to targeted MS. PMID:26540631

Teacher Candidates' Perceptions of Scientists: Images and Attributes

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Deborah

2015-01-01

The masculine image of scientists as elderly men wearing white coats and glasses, working alone in the laboratory has been documented since the 1950s. Because it is important that teacher candidates have a scientifically literate image of scientists due to the impact they have on their future students, this investigation is salient. This study…

Production and Potency of Local Rambutan at East Java as a Candidate Phytopharmaca

OpenAIRE

Lestari, Sri Rahayu; Djati, Muhammad Sasmito; Rudijanto, Ahmad; Fatchiyah, Fatchiyah

2013-01-01

Rambutan is a tropical fruit that grow well in Indonesia and the peel is considered as waste. Many researchers' showed that rambutan peel contains polyphenol that could be expected to avoid obesity. The objective of this study was to explore the increasing production of local rambutan and to identify the promising phytochemical compounds on its peel as phytopharmaca candidate against obesity. Survey was conducted on the production of rambutan, potential plantation area, and marketing. Sample...

PRODUCTION AND POTENCY OF LOCAL RAMBUTAN AT EAST JAVA AS A CANDIDATE PHYTOPHARMACA

OpenAIRE

Sri Rahayu Lestari; Muhammad Sasmito Djati; Ahmad Rudijanto; Fatchiyah

2013-01-01

Rambutan is a tropical fruit that grow well in Indonesia and the peel is considered as waste. Many researchers’ showed that rambutan peel contains polyphenol that could be expected to avoid obesity. The objective of this study was to explore the increasing production of local rambutan and to identify the promising phytochemical compounds on its peel as phytopharmaca candidate against obesity. Survey was conducted on the production of rambutan, potential plantation area, and marketing. Sample...

Investigation the Technology Usage Level of Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Korucu, Agah Tugrul; Yucel, Ahmet; Gundogdu, Mustafa M.; Gencturk, Tarik A.

2016-01-01

Necessity to train individuals who are away from the digital divide that is defined as the gap between the masses who can make use of information technology effectively and who do not have access to information technology due to lack of education (Uckan, 2009). The aim of this study is to analyse the digital competence of teacher candidates in…

Survey of Swedish buffer material candidates and methods for characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erlstroem, M.; Pusch, R.

1987-12-01

The study has given a good overview of potential clay buffer candidates in the part of Sweden that offers the best possibilities to find large accessible quantities of smectitic materials. The most promising Scanian materials are those in the Kaageroed and Vallaakra (Margreteberg) areas since they represent the most smectitic ones, which may serve as raw material for the production of canister embedment. The moraine clays in the Lund-Landskrona region seem to be useful for backfilling purposes. A refined version of Reynolds technique is suggested as an SKB standard for prospecting and characterization of buffer materials. (orig./DG)

The promise of N-acetylcysteine in neuropsychiatry.

Science.gov (United States)

Berk, Michael; Malhi, Gin S; Gray, Laura J; Dean, Olivia M

2013-03-01

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) targets a diverse array of factors germane to the pathophysiology of multiple neuropsychiatric disorders including glutamatergic transmission, the antioxidant glutathione, neurotrophins, apoptosis, mitochondrial function, and inflammatory pathways. This review summarises the areas where the mechanisms of action of NAC overlap with known pathophysiological elements, and offers a précis of current literature regarding the use of NAC in disorders including cocaine, cannabis, and smoking addictions, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, autism, compulsive and grooming disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. There are positive trials of NAC in all these disorders, and although many of these require replication and are methodologically preliminary, this makes it one of the most promising drug candidates in neuropsychiatric disorders. The efficacy pattern of NAC interestingly shows little respect for the current diagnostic systems. Its benign tolerability profile, its action on multiple operative pathways, and the emergence of positive trial data make it an important target to investigate. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Probiotic Candidates from Fish Pond Water in Central Java Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Harjuno Condro Haditomo, Alfabetian; Desrina; Sarjito; Budi Prayitno, S.

2018-02-01

Aeromonas hydrophilla is a major bacterial pathogen of intensive fresh water fish culture in Indonesia. An alternative method to control the pathogen is using probiotics. Probiotics is usually consist of live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefits on host. The aim of this research was to determine the probiotic candidates against A. hydrophilla which identified based on the 16S rDNA gene sequences. This research was started with field survey to obtained the probiotic candidate and continue with laboratory experiment. Probiotic candidates were isolated from fish pond water located in Boyolali, and Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. A total of 133 isolates bacteria were isolated and cultured on to TSA, TSB and GSP medium. Out of 133 isolates only 30 isolates showed inhibition to A.hydrophilla activity. Three promising isolates were identified with PCR using primer for 16S rDNA. Based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis, all three isolates were belong to Bacillus genus. Isolate CKlA21, CKlA28, and CBA14 respectively were closely related to Bacillus sp. 13843 (GenBank accession no. JN874760.1 -100% homology), Bacillus subtilis strain H13 (GenBank accession no.KT907045.1 -- 99% homology), and Bacillus sp. strain 22-4 (GenBank accession no. KX816417.1 -- 97% homology).

Corrosion susceptibility study of candidate pin materials for ALTC (active lithium/thionyl chloride) batteries. [Active lithium/thionyl chloride

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bovard, F.S.; Cieslak, W.R.

1987-09-01

(ALTC = active lithium/thionyl chloride.) We have investigated the corrosion susceptibilities of eight alternate battery pin materials in 1.5M LiAlCl/sub 4//SOCl/sub 2/ electrolyte using ampule exposure and electrochemical tests. The thermal expansion coefficients of these candidate materials are expected to match Sandia-developed Li-corrosion resistant glasses. The corrosion resistances of the candidate materials, which included three stainless steels (15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, and 446), three Fe-Ni glass sealing alloys (Kovar, Alloy 52, and Niromet 426), a Ni-based alloy (Hastelloy B-2) and a zirconium-based alloy (Zircaloy), were compared to the reference materials Ni and 316L SS. All of the candidate materials showed some evidence of corrosion and, therefore, did not perform as well as the reference materials. The Hastelloy B-2 and Zircaloy are clearly unacceptable materials for this application. Of the remaining alternate materials, the 446 SS and Alloy 52 are the most promising candidates.

Citizen Candidates Under Uncertainty

OpenAIRE

Eguia, Jon X.

2005-01-01

In this paper we make two contributions to the growing literature on "citizen-candidate" models of representative democracy. First, we add uncertainty about the total vote count. We show that in a society with a large electorate, where the outcome of the election is uncertain and where winning candidates receive a large reward from holding office, there will be a two-candidate equilibrium and no equilibria with a single candidate. Second, we introduce a new concept of equilibrium, which we te...

Five Kepler target stars that show multiple transiting exoplanet candidates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steffen, Jason H.; /Fermilab; Batalha, Natalie M.; /San Jose State U.; Borucki, William J.; /NASA, Ames; Buchhave, Lars A.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys. /Bohr Inst.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; /NASA, Ames /SETI Inst., Mtn. View; Cochran, William D.; /Texas U.; Endl, Michael; /Texas U.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Fressin, Francois; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Ford, Eric B.; /Florida U.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; /UC, Santa Cruz, Phys. Dept. /NASA, Ames

2010-06-01

We present and discuss five candidate exoplanetary systems identified with the Kepler spacecraft. These five systems show transits from multiple exoplanet candidates. Should these objects prove to be planetary in nature, then these five systems open new opportunities for the field of exoplanets and provide new insights into the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems. We discuss the methods used to identify multiple transiting objects from the Kepler photometry as well as the false-positive rejection methods that have been applied to these data. One system shows transits from three distinct objects while the remaining four systems show transits from two objects. Three systems have planet candidates that are near mean motion commensurabilities - two near 2:1 and one just outside 5:2. We discuss the implications that multitransiting systems have on the distribution of orbital inclinations in planetary systems, and hence their dynamical histories; as well as their likely masses and chemical compositions. A Monte Carlo study indicates that, with additional data, most of these systems should exhibit detectable transit timing variations (TTV) due to gravitational interactions - though none are apparent in these data. We also discuss new challenges that arise in TTV analyses due to the presence of more than two planets in a system.

The Promise of Neuroprotective Agents in Parkinson’s Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith ePotashkin

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Parkinson’s Disease is characterized by loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. Since there are limited treatment options for PD, neuroprotective agents are currently being tested as a means to slow disease progression. Agents targeting oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation are prime candidates for neuroprotection. This review identifies Rasagiline, Minocycline and creatine, as the most promising neuroprotective agents for PD, and they are all currently in phase III trials. Other agents possessing protective characteristics in delaying PD include stimulants, vitamins, supplements, and other drugs. Additionally, combination therapies also show benefits in slowing PD progression. The identification of neuroprotective agents for PD provides us with therapeutic opportunities for modifying the course of disease progression and, perhaps, reducing the risk of onset when preclinical biomarkers become available.

Influence of stellar multiplicity on planet formation. I. Evidence of suppressed planet formation due to stellar companions within 20 au and validation of four planets from the Kepler multiple planet candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A.; Xie, Ji-Wei; Barclay, Thomas

2014-01-01

The planet occurrence rate for multiple stars is important in two aspects. First, almost half of stellar systems in the solar neighborhood are multiple systems. Second, the comparison of the planet occurrence rate for multiple stars to that for single stars sheds light on the influence of stellar multiplicity on planet formation and evolution. We developed a method of distinguishing planet occurrence rates for single and multiple stars. From a sample of 138 bright (K P < 13.5) Kepler multi-planet candidate systems, we compared the stellar multiplicity rate of these planet host stars to that of field stars. Using dynamical stability analyses and archival Doppler measurements, we find that the stellar multiplicity rate of planet host stars is significantly lower than field stars for semimajor axes less than 20 AU, suggesting that planet formation and evolution are suppressed by the presence of a close-in companion star at these separations. The influence of stellar multiplicity at larger separations is uncertain because of search incompleteness due to a limited Doppler observation time baseline and a lack of high-resolution imaging observation. We calculated the planet confidence for the sample of multi-planet candidates and find that the planet confidences for KOI 82.01, KOI 115.01, KOI 282.01, and KOI 1781.02 are higher than 99.7% and thus validate the planetary nature of these four planet candidates. This sample of bright Kepler multi-planet candidates with refined stellar and orbital parameters, planet confidence estimation, and nearby stellar companion identification offers a well-characterized sample for future theoretical and observational study.

Dark Matter candidates in a baryogenesis inspired scenario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Provenza, A; Quiros, M; Ullio, P

2006-01-01

It has recently been shown that the electroweak baryogenesis mechanism is feasible in Standard Model extensions containing extra fermions with large Yukawa couplings. We show that the lightest of these fermionic fields can naturally be a good candidate for cold dark matter. We find regions in the parameter space where the thermal relic abundance of this particle is compatible with the dark matter density of the Universe as determined by the WMAP experiment. We study direct and indirect dark matter detection for this model and compare with current experimental limits and prospects for upcoming experiments. We find, contrary to the standard lore, that indirect detection searches are more promising than direct ones, and they already exclude part of the parameter space

A FIRST COMPARISON OF KEPLER PLANET CANDIDATES IN SINGLE AND MULTIPLE SYSTEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latham, David W.; Quinn, Samuel N.; Carter, Joshua A.; Holman, Matthew J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Howell, Steve B.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Brown, Timothy M.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Ciardi, David R.; Cochran, William D.; Dunham, Edward W.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Ford, Eric B.; Gautier, Thomas N. III; Gilliland, Ronald L.

2011-01-01

In this Letter, we present an overview of the rich population of systems with multiple candidate transiting planets found in the first four months of Kepler data. The census of multiples includes 115 targets that show two candidate planets, 45 with three, eight with four, and one each with five and six, for a total of 170 systems with 408 candidates. When compared to the 827 systems with only one candidate, the multiples account for 17% of the total number of systems, and one-third of all the planet candidates. We compare the characteristics of candidates found in multiples with those found in singles. False positives due to eclipsing binaries are much less common for the multiples, as expected. Singles and multiples are both dominated by planets smaller than Neptune; 69 +2 -3 % for singles and 86 +2 -5 % for multiples. This result, that systems with multiple transiting planets are less likely to include a transiting giant planet, suggests that close-in giant planets tend to disrupt the orbital inclinations of small planets in flat systems, or maybe even prevent the formation of such systems in the first place.

Decoherence of coupled Josephson charge qubits due to partially correlated low-frequency noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, Yong; Zhou, Zheng-Wei; Cai, Jian-Ming; Guo, Guang-Can

2007-01-01

Josephson charge qubits are promising candidates for scalable quantum computing. However, their performances are strongly degraded by decoherence due to low-frequency background noise, typically with a 1/f spectrum. In this paper, we investigate the decoherence process of two Cooper pair boxes (CPBs) coupled via a capacitor. Going beyond the common and uncorrelated noise models and the Bloch-Redfield formalism of previous works, we study the coupled system's quadratic dephasing under the condition of partially correlated noise sources. Based on reported experiments and generally accepted noise mechanisms, we introduce a reasonable assumption for the noise correlation, with which the calculation of multiqubit decoherence can be simplified to a problem on the single-qubit level. For the conventional Gaussian 1/f noise case, our results demonstrate that the quadratic dephasing rates are not very sensitive to the spatial correlation of the noises. Furthermore, we discuss the feasibility and efficiency of dynamical decoupling in the coupled CPBs

Graphene-like monolayer InSe–X: several promising half-metallic nanosheets in spintronics

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Kang, Wei; Zhou, Ting-Yan; Ma, Chong-Geng

2018-04-01

Several half-metallic graphene-like nanosheets, namely halogen atom adsorbed InSe–X (X  =  F, Cl, Br and I) nanosheets, are predicted by first-principles calculations. Then, their structural, electric and magnetic properties are studied in detail. The calculated negative adsorption energies of these InSe–X nanosheets ensure that they attain stable adsorption structures, which suggests that they may be prepared experimentally. The pristine InSe monolayer is a typical semi-conductor, whereas it is interesting that the X ion (X  =  F, Cl, Br and I) adsorbed InSe–X nanosheets are electronically conductive. They can be promising and good candidates for applications of half-metallic 2D materials. The calculated magnetic moments of these nanosheets are close to 1.0 µ B. In the InSe–F nanosheet, there are sp2 hybridized orbitals due to the crystal field effect, and its electroconductibility, half-metallicity and magnetic moments originate from the In and Se ions, not the F ion. However, in InSe–X (X  =  Cl, Br and I) nanosheets, there are sp3 hybridized orbitals, and their electroconductibility, half-metallicity and magnetic moments originate mainly from X ions, together partially with the In and Se ions.

7 T renal MRI: challenges and promises.

Science.gov (United States)

de Boer, Anneloes; Hoogduin, Johannes M; Blankestijn, Peter J; Li, Xiufeng; Luijten, Peter R; Metzger, Gregory J; Raaijmakers, Alexander J E; Umutlu, Lale; Visser, Fredy; Leiner, Tim

2016-06-01

The progression to 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) yields promises of substantial increase in signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This increase can be traded off to increase image spatial resolution or to decrease acquisition time. However, renal 7 T MRI remains challenging due to inhomogeneity of the radiofrequency field and due to specific absorption rate (SAR) constraints. A number of studies has been published in the field of renal 7 T imaging. While the focus initially was on anatomic imaging and renal MR angiography, later studies have explored renal functional imaging. Although anatomic imaging remains somewhat limited by inhomogeneous excitation and SAR constraints, functional imaging results are promising. The increased SNR at 7 T has been particularly advantageous for blood oxygen level-dependent and arterial spin labelling MRI, as well as sodium MR imaging, thanks to changes in field-strength-dependent magnetic properties. Here, we provide an overview of the currently available literature on renal 7 T MRI. In addition, we provide a brief overview of challenges and opportunities in renal 7 T MR imaging.

Hydrogen storage in Mg: a most promising material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, I.P.; Jain, A.; Lal, C.

2009-01-01

In the last one decade hydrogen has attracted worldwide interest as an energy carrier. This has generated comprehensive investigations on the technology involved and how to solve the problems of production, storage and applications of hydrogen. The interest in hydrogen as energy of the future is due to it being a clean energy, most abundant element in the universe, the lightest fuel and richest in energy per unit mass. Hydrogen as a fuel can be used to cook food, drive cars, jet planes, run factories and for all our domestic energy requirements. It can provide cheap electricity. In short, hydrogen shows the solution and also allows the progressive and non-traumatic transition of today's energy sources, towards feasible safe reliable and complete sustainable energy chains. The present article deals with the hydrogen storage in metal hydrides with particular interest in Mg as it has potential to become one of the most promising storage materials. Many metals combine chemically with Hydrogen to form a class of compounds known as Hydrides. These hydrides can discharge hydrogen as and when needed by raising their temperature or pressure. An optimum hydrogen-storage material is required to have various properties viz. high hydrogen capacity per unit mass and unit volume which determines the amount of available energy, low dissociation temperature, moderate dissociation pressure, low heat of formation in order to minimize the energy necessary for hydrogen release, low heat dissipation during the exothermic hydride formation, reversibility, limited energy loss during charge and discharge of hydrogen, fast kinetics, high stability against O 2 and moisture for long cycle life, cyclibility, low cost of recycling and charging infrastructures and high safety. So far most of the hydrogen storage alloys such as LaNi 5 , TiFe, TiMn 2 , have hydrogen storage capacities, not more than 2 wt% which is not satisfactory for practical application as per DOE Goal. A group of Mg based

Cell biological characterization of the malaria vaccine candidate trophozoite exported protein 1.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Kulangara

Full Text Available In a genome-wide screen for alpha-helical coiled coil motifs aiming at structurally defined vaccine candidates we identified PFF0165c. This protein is exported in the trophozoite stage and was named accordingly Trophozoite exported protein 1 (Tex1. In an extensive preclinical evaluation of its coiled coil peptides Tex1 was identified as promising novel malaria vaccine candidate providing the rational for a comprehensive cell biological characterization of Tex1. Antibodies generated against an intrinsically unstructured N-terminal region of Tex1 and against a coiled coil domain were used to investigate cytological localization, solubility and expression profile. Co-localization experiments revealed that Tex1 is exported across the parasitophorous vacuole membrane and located to Maurer's clefts. Change in location is accompanied by a change in solubility: from a soluble state within the parasite to a membrane-associated state after export to Maurer's clefts. No classical export motifs such as PEXEL, signal sequence/anchor or transmembrane domain was identified for Tex1.

ANALYSIS OF BUDGET DEFICIT IN THE CANDIDATE COUNTRIES FOR EU MEMBERSHIP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danijela Despotović

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The problems of deficit and debt are the traditional drivers of the recession in the past. Due to the high impact of the budget deficit to increase in indebtedness and deterioration of a macroeconomic performance, the European Union in Maastricht Treaty and later in the Pact of Stability and Growth strictly defined fiscal criteria which the member states should adhere to. Fiscal criteria are particularly important when it comes to candidate countries for EU membership. The aim of this paper is that, through theoretical and empirical basis perform a comparative analysis of the budget deficit in EU countries and candidates for membership in the EU, to rank the 34 countries according to the criteria of public finances and to show the causality between the candidate countries for membership of the EU and EU member states.

Do promises matter? An exploration of the role of promises in psychological contract breach.

Science.gov (United States)

Montes, Samantha D; Zweig, David

2009-09-01

Promises are positioned centrally in the study of psychological contract breach and are argued to distinguish psychological contracts from related constructs, such as employee expectations. However, because the effects of promises and delivered inducements are confounded in most research, the role of promises in perceptions of, and reactions to, breach remains unclear. If promises are not an important determinant of employee perceptions, emotions, and behavioral intentions, this would suggest that the psychological contract breach construct might lack utility. To assess the unique role of promises, the authors manipulated promises and delivered inducements separately in hypothetical scenarios in Studies 1 (558 undergraduates) and 2 (441 employees), and they measured them separately (longitudinally) in Study 3 (383 employees). The authors' results indicate that breach perceptions do not represent a discrepancy between what employees believe they were promised and were given. In fact, breach perceptions can exist in the absence of promises. Further, promises play a negligible role in predicting feelings of violation and behavioral intentions. Contrary to the extant literature, the authors' findings suggest that promises may matter little; employees are concerned primarily with what the organization delivers.

Salicytamide: a New Anti-inflammatory Designed Drug Candidate.

Science.gov (United States)

Guedes, Karen Marinho Maciel; Borges, Rosivaldo Santos; Fontes-Júnior, Enéas Andrade; Silva, Andressa Santa Brigida; Fernandes, Luanna Melo Pereira; Cartágenes, Sabrina Carvalho; Pinto, Ana Carla Godinho; Silva, Mallone Lopes; Queiroz, Luana Melo Diogo; Vieira, José Luís Fernandes; Sousa, Pergentino José Cunha; Maia, Cristiane Socorro Ferraz

2018-04-13

Salicytamide is a new drug developed through molecular modelling and rational drug design by the molecular association of paracetamol and salicylic acid. This study was conducted to assess the acute oral toxicity, antinociceptive, and antioedematogenic properties of salicytamide. Acute toxicity was based on the OECD 423 guidelines. Antinociceptive properties were investigated using the writhing, hot plate and formalin tests in Swiss mice. Antioedematogenic properties were evaluated using the carrageenan-induced paw oedema model and croton oil-induced dermatitis in Wistar rats. Salicytamide did not promote behavioural changes or animal deaths during acute oral toxicity evaluation. Furthermore, salicytamide exhibited peripheral antinociceptive activity as evidenced by the reduction in writhing behaviour (ED50 = 4.95 mg/kg) and licking time in the formalin test's inflammatory phase. Also, salicytamide elicited central antinociceptive activity on both hot plate test and formalin test's neurogenic phase. Additionally, salicytamide was effective in reducing carrageenan or croton oil-induced oedema formation. Overall, we have shown that salicytamide, proposed here as a new NSAID candidate, did not induce oral acute toxicity and elicited both peripheral antinociceptive effects (about 10-25 times more potent than its precursors in the writhing test) and antioedematogenic properties. Salicytamide also presented central antinociceptive activity, which seems to be mediated through opioid-independent mechanisms. These findings reveal salicytamide as a promising antinociceptive/antioedematogenic drug candidate.

Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tingting; Gezari, Suvi

2018-01-01

Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) should be a common product of the hierarchal growth of galaxies and gravitational wave sources at nano-Hz frequencies. We have performed a systematic search in the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey for periodically varying quasars, which are predicted manifestations of SMBHBs, and identified 26 candidates that are periodically varying on the timescale of ~300-1000 days over the 4-year baseline of MDS. We continue to monitor them with the Discovery Channel Telescope and the LCO network telescopes and thus are able to extend the baseline to 3-8 cycles and break false positive signals due to stochastic, normal quasar variability. From our imaging campaign, five candidates show persistent periodic variability and remain strong SMBHB candidates for follow-up observations. We calculate the cumulative number rate of SMBHBs and compare with previous work. We also compare the gravitational wave strain amplitudes of the candidates with the capability of pulsar timing arrays and discuss the future capabilities to detect periodic quasar and SMBHB candidates with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Electric vehicle batteries. Development status for the promising candidates; Elbilsbatterier. Utvecklingsstatus foer de fraemsta kandidaterna

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersson, Bo; Johansson, Arne [Catella Generics AB, Jaerfaella (Sweden)

2000-04-01

One driver for the EV and HEV programme of KFB is to study the effects of a large scale introduction of electric vehicles in the future. Catella Generics was contracted to investigate and report on the development status for EV batteries and the success potential for the different candidates, their development obstacles and alternative usage and on the links between different players. The batteries studied in greater detail have been evaluated according to special criteria like performance, cost, ruggedness, resource efficiency, safety and environmental impact and how that will influence their likely success. Models for the evaluation of EV batteries have been developed by the car manufacturers and authorities. We have based our investigation on the criteria established by USABC and the modifications made by PNGV for the energy storage in hybrid electric vehicles. Some basic conclusions reported as a result of this investigation are listed below: Lead-acid may have a role as energy storage in HEVs. Ni/Cd batteries are attractive from a technical standpoint, but questioned based on the environmental concern for cadmium. Ni/MH batteries are attracting a great attention in the medium term. Na/NiCl{sub 2} batteries have been successful in the German demonstration programme. Lithium batteries have a great potential in the long term. Metal/air batteries have been operated without problems, however there need for a special infrastructure is a major draw-back. Fuel cells and ultra capacitors are new alternative power sources for propulsion of EVs, however these are not included in this report.

Efficacy of chimeric Pestivirus vaccine candidates against classical swine fever: protection and DIVA characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Eblé, P L; Geurts, Y; Quak, S; Moonen-Leusen, H W; Blome, S; Hofmann, M A; Koenen, F; Beer, M; Loeffen, W L A

2013-03-23

Currently no live DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) vaccines against classical swine fever (CSF) are available. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chimeric pestivirus vaccine candidates (CP7_E2alf, Flc11 and Flc9) are able to protect pigs against clinical signs, and to reduce virus shedding and virus transmission, after a challenge with CSF virus (CSFV), 7 or 14 days after a single intramuscular vaccination. In these vaccine candidates, either the E2 or the E(rns) encoding genome region of a bovine viral diarrhoea virus strain were combined with a cDNA copy of CSFV or vice versa. Furthermore, currently available serological DIVA tests were evaluated. The vaccine candidates were compared to the C-strain. All vaccine candidates protected against clinical signs. No transmission to contact pigs was detected in the groups vaccinated with C-strain, CP7_E2alf and Flc11. Limited transmission occurred in the groups vaccinated with Flc9. All vaccine candidates would be suitable to stop on-going transmission of CSFV. For Flc11, no reliable differentiation was possible with the current E(rns)-based DIVA test. For CP7_E2alf, the distribution of the inhibition percentages was such that up to 5% false positive results may be obtained in a large vaccinated population. For Flc9 vaccinated pigs, the E2 ELISA performed very well, with an expected 0.04% false positive results in a large vaccinated population. Both CP7_E2alf and Flc9 are promising candidates to be used as live attenuated marker vaccines against CSF, with protection the best feature of CP7_E2alf, and the DIVA principle the best feature of Flc9. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimized candidal biofilm microtiter assay

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krom, Bastiaan P.; Cohen, Jesse B.; Feser, Gail E. McElhaney; Cihlar, Ronald L.

Microtiter based candidal biofilm formation is commonly being used. Here we describe the analysis of factors influencing the development of candidal biofilms such as the coating with serum, growth medium and pH. The data reported here show that optimal candidal biofilm formation is obtained when

SINGLE-LINED SPECTROSCOPIC BINARY STAR CANDIDATES IN THE RAVE SURVEY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matijevic, G.; Zwitter, T.; Bienayme, O.; Siebert, A.; Watson, F. G.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Parker, Q. A.; Freeman, K. C.; Gilmore, G.; Grebel, E. K.; Helmi, A.; Munari, U.; Siviero, A.; Navarro, J. F.; Reid, W.; Seabroke, G. M.; Steinmetz, M.; Williams, M.; Wyse, R. F. G.

2011-01-01

Repeated spectroscopic observations of stars in the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) database are used to identify and examine single-lined binary (SB1) candidates. The RAVE latest internal database (VDR3) includes radial velocities, atmospheric parameters, and other parameters for approximately a quarter of a million different stars with slightly less than 300,000 observations. In the sample of ∼20,000 stars observed more than once, 1333 stars with variable radial velocities were identified. Most of them are believed to be SB1 candidates. The fraction of SB1 candidates among stars with several observations is between 10% and 15% which is the lower limit for binarity among RAVE stars. Due to the distribution of time spans between the re-observation that is biased toward relatively short timescales (days to weeks), the periods of the identified SB1 candidates are most likely in the same range. Because of the RAVE's narrow magnitude range most of the dwarf candidates belong to the thin Galactic disk while the giants are part of the thick disk with distances extending to up to a few kpc. The comparison of the list of SB1 candidates to the VSX catalog of variable stars yielded several pulsating variables among the giant population with radial velocity variations of up to few tens of km s -1 . There are 26 matches between the catalog of spectroscopic binary orbits (S B 9 ) and the whole RAVE sample for which the given periastron time and the time of RAVE observation were close enough to yield a reliable comparison. RAVE measurements of radial velocities of known spectroscopic binaries are consistent with their published radial velocity curves.

Elicited vs. voluntary promises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ismayilov, H.; Potters, Jan

2017-01-01

We set up an experiment with pre-play communication to study the impact of promise elicitation by trustors from trustees on trust and trustworthiness. When given the opportunity a majority of trustors solicits a promise from the trustee. This drives up the promise making rate by trustees to almost

The lead-acid eloflux cell. Research tool and candidate for advanced batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kullmeine, U.; Kappus, W.

1982-12-01

The discharge capacity of usual lead-acid cells is limited by several mechanisms among which acid depletion is the most incisive. It is shown that the use of the so-called eloflux principle which is characterized by the flow of electrolyte through the porous electrodes, allows a significant deepe discharge and that by avoiding acid depletion the study of the other limiting processes and their functional dependence on the discharge conditions is possible. From the results it is concluded that an eloflux lead-acid cell is a promising candidate for advanced batteries with high energy density and performance.

Spatially Resolved Imaging and Spectroscopy of Candidate Dual Active Galactic Nuclei

Science.gov (United States)

McGurk, R. C.; Max, C. E.; Medling, A. M.; Shields, G. A.; Comerford, J. M.

2015-09-01

When galaxies merge, both central supermassive black holes are immersed in a dense and chaotic environment. If there is sufficient gas in the nuclear regions, one expects to see close pairs of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or dual AGNs, in a fraction of galaxy mergers. However, finding them remains a challenge. The presence of double-peaked [O iii] emission lines has been proposed as a technique to select dual AGNs efficiently. We studied a sample of double-peaked narrow [O iii] emitting AGNs from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. By obtaining new and archival high spatial resolution images taken with the Keck II Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system and the near-infrared camera NIRC2, we show that 30% of 140 double-peaked [O iii] emission line SDSS AGNs have two spatial components within a 3″ radius. However, spatially resolved spectroscopy or X-ray observations are needed to confirm these galaxy pairs as systems containing two AGNs. We followed up three spatially double candidate dual AGNs with integral field spectroscopy from Keck OSIRIS and 10 candidates with long-slit spectroscopy from the Shane Kast Double Spectrograph at Lick Observatory. We find that the double-peaked emission lines in our sample of 12 candidates are caused by: one dual AGN (SDSS J114642.47+511029.6), one confirmed outflow and four likely outflows, two pairs of star-forming galaxies, one candidate indeterminate due to sky line interference, and three AGNs with spatially coincident double [O iii] peaks, likely due to unresolved complex narrow line kinematics, outflows, binary AGN, or small-scale jets.

SPATIALLY RESOLVED IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY OF CANDIDATE DUAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGurk, R. C.; Max, C. E. [Astronomy Department and UCO-Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Medling, A. M. [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 (Australia); Shields, G. A. [Laguna Falls Institute for Astrophysics, Austin, TX 78746 (United States); Comerford, J. M., E-mail: rosalie.mcgurk@gmail.com, E-mail: max@ucolick.org, E-mail: anne.medling@anu.edu.au, E-mail: shields@lfastro.org, E-mail: julie.comerford@colorado.edu [Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

2015-09-20

When galaxies merge, both central supermassive black holes are immersed in a dense and chaotic environment. If there is sufficient gas in the nuclear regions, one expects to see close pairs of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or dual AGNs, in a fraction of galaxy mergers. However, finding them remains a challenge. The presence of double-peaked [O iii] emission lines has been proposed as a technique to select dual AGNs efficiently. We studied a sample of double-peaked narrow [O iii] emitting AGNs from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. By obtaining new and archival high spatial resolution images taken with the Keck II Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system and the near-infrared camera NIRC2, we show that 30% of 140 double-peaked [O iii] emission line SDSS AGNs have two spatial components within a 3″ radius. However, spatially resolved spectroscopy or X-ray observations are needed to confirm these galaxy pairs as systems containing two AGNs. We followed up three spatially double candidate dual AGNs with integral field spectroscopy from Keck OSIRIS and 10 candidates with long-slit spectroscopy from the Shane Kast Double Spectrograph at Lick Observatory. We find that the double-peaked emission lines in our sample of 12 candidates are caused by: one dual AGN (SDSS J114642.47+511029.6), one confirmed outflow and four likely outflows, two pairs of star-forming galaxies, one candidate indeterminate due to sky line interference, and three AGNs with spatially coincident double [O iii] peaks, likely due to unresolved complex narrow line kinematics, outflows, binary AGN, or small-scale jets.

SPATIALLY RESOLVED IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY OF CANDIDATE DUAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGurk, R. C.; Max, C. E.; Medling, A. M.; Shields, G. A.; Comerford, J. M.

2015-01-01

When galaxies merge, both central supermassive black holes are immersed in a dense and chaotic environment. If there is sufficient gas in the nuclear regions, one expects to see close pairs of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or dual AGNs, in a fraction of galaxy mergers. However, finding them remains a challenge. The presence of double-peaked [O iii] emission lines has been proposed as a technique to select dual AGNs efficiently. We studied a sample of double-peaked narrow [O iii] emitting AGNs from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. By obtaining new and archival high spatial resolution images taken with the Keck II Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system and the near-infrared camera NIRC2, we show that 30% of 140 double-peaked [O iii] emission line SDSS AGNs have two spatial components within a 3″ radius. However, spatially resolved spectroscopy or X-ray observations are needed to confirm these galaxy pairs as systems containing two AGNs. We followed up three spatially double candidate dual AGNs with integral field spectroscopy from Keck OSIRIS and 10 candidates with long-slit spectroscopy from the Shane Kast Double Spectrograph at Lick Observatory. We find that the double-peaked emission lines in our sample of 12 candidates are caused by: one dual AGN (SDSS J114642.47+511029.6), one confirmed outflow and four likely outflows, two pairs of star-forming galaxies, one candidate indeterminate due to sky line interference, and three AGNs with spatially coincident double [O iii] peaks, likely due to unresolved complex narrow line kinematics, outflows, binary AGN, or small-scale jets

Novel amidines and analogues as promising agents against intracellular parasites: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Soeiro, M N C; Werbovetz, K; Boykin, D W; Wilson, W D; Wang, M Z; Hemphill, A

2013-07-01

Parasitic protozoa comprise diverse aetiological agents responsible for important diseases in humans and animals including sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, malaria, toxoplasmosis and others. They are major causes of mortality and morbidity in tropical and subtropical countries, and are also responsible for important economic losses. However, up to now, for most of these parasitic diseases, effective vaccines are lacking and the approved chemotherapeutic compounds present high toxicity, increasing resistance, limited efficacy and require long periods of treatment. Many of these parasitic illnesses predominantly affect low-income populations of developing countries for which new pharmaceutical alternatives are urgently needed. Thus, very low research funding is available. Amidine-containing compounds such as pentamidine are DNA minor groove binders with a broad spectrum of activities against human and veterinary pathogens. Due to their promising microbicidal activity but their rather poor bioavailability and high toxicity, many analogues and derivatives, including pro-drugs, have been synthesized and screened in vitro and in vivo in order to improve their selectivity and pharmacological properties. This review summarizes the knowledge on amidines and analogues with respect to their synthesis, pharmacological profile, mechanistic and biological effects upon a range of intracellular protozoan parasites. The bulk of these data may contribute to the future design and structure optimization of new aromatic dicationic compounds as novel antiparasitic drug candidates.

Candidate for solar power: a novel desalination technology for coal bed methane produced water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sattler, Allan; Hanley, Charles; Hightower, Michael; Wright, Emily; Wallace, Sam; Pohl, Phillip; Donahe, Ryan; Andelman, Marc

2006-01-01

Laboratory and field developments are underway to use solar energy to power a desalination technology - capacitive deionization - for water produced by remote Coal Bed Methane (CBM) natural gas wells. Due to the physical remoteness of many CBM wells throughout the Southwestern U>S> as shown in Figure 1, this approach may offer promise. This promise is not only from its effectiveness in removing salt from CBM water and allowing it to be utilized for various applications, but also for its potentially lower energy consumption compared Figure 1: Candidate remote well sites for planned field implementation of new PV-powered desalination process: (a) Raton Basin and (b) San Juan Basin, New Mexico to other technologies, such as reverse osmosis. This coupled with the remoteness (Figure 1) of thousands these wells, makes them more feasible for use with photovoltaic (solar, electric, PV) systems. Concurrent laboratory activities are providing information about the effectiveness of this technology and of the attender energy requirements of this technology under various produced water qualities and water reuse applications, such as salinity concentrations and water flows. These parameters are being used to drive the design of integrated PV-powered desalination systems. Full-scale field implementations are planned, with data collection and analysis designed to optimize the system design for practical remote applications. Earlier laboratory (and very recent laboratory) studies of capacitive deionization have shown promise at common CBM salinity levels. The technology may require less energy. be less susceptible to fouling and is more compact than equivalent reverse osmosis (RO) systems. The technology uses positively and negatively charged electrodes to attract charged ions in a liquid, such as dissolved salts, metals, and some organics, to the electrodes. This concentrates the ions at the electrodes and reduced the ion concentrations in the liquid. This paper discusses the

Issue-Advocacy versus Candidate Advertising: Effects on Candidate Preferences and Democratic Process.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfau, Michael; Holbert, R. Lance; Szabo, Erin Alison; Kaminski, Kelly

2002-01-01

Examines the influence of soft-money-sponsored issue-advocacy advertising in U.S. House and Senate campaigns, comparing its effects against candidate-sponsored positive advertising and contrast advertising on viewers' candidate preferences and on their attitude that reflect democratic values. Reveals no main effects for advertising approach on…

PLANETARY TRANSIT CANDIDATES IN THE CSTAR FIELD: ANALYSIS OF THE 2008 DATA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Songhu; Zhang, Hui; Zhou, Ji-Lin; Yang, Ming; Liu, Huigen; Meng, Zeyang [School of Astronomy and Space Science and Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Zhou, Xu; Fan, Zhou; Liu, Qiang; Ma, Jun [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Wang, Lifan; Feng, Long-Long [Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); Bayliss, D.; Zhou, G. [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2611 (Australia); Ashley, M. C. B.; Lawrence, J. S.; Luong-Van, D. M.; Storey, J. W. V.; Wittenmyer, R. A. [School of Physics, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052 (Australia); Gong, Xuefei, E-mail: zhoujl@nju.edu.cn, E-mail: zhouxu@bao.ac.cn [Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology, Nanjing 210042 (China); and others

2014-04-01

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) is a group of four identical, fully automated, static 14.5 cm telescopes. CSTAR is located at Dome A, Antarctica and covers 20 deg{sup 2} of sky around the South Celestial Pole. The installation is designed to provide high-cadence photometry for the purpose of monitoring the quality of the astronomical observing conditions at Dome A and detecting transiting exoplanets. CSTAR has been operational since 2008, and has taken a rich and high-precision photometric data set of 10,690 stars. In the first observing season, we obtained 291,911 qualified science frames with 20 s integrations in the i band. Photometric precision reaches ∼4 mmag at 20 s cadence at i = 7.5 and is ∼20 mmag at i = 12. Using robust detection methods, 10 promising exoplanet candidates were found. Four of these were found to be giants using spectroscopic follow-up. All of these transit candidates are presented here along with the discussion of their detailed properties as well as the follow-up observations.

Indolcarboxamide is a preclinical candidate for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Srinivasa P S; Lakshminarayana, Suresh B; Kondreddi, Ravinder R; Herve, Maxime; Camacho, Luis R; Bifani, Pablo; Kalapala, Sarath K; Jiricek, Jan; Ma, Ng L; Tan, Bee H; Ng, Seow H; Nanjundappa, Mahesh; Ravindran, Sindhu; Seah, Peck G; Thayalan, Pamela; Lim, Siao H; Lee, Boon H; Goh, Anne; Barnes, Whitney S; Chen, Zhong; Gagaring, Kerstin; Chatterjee, Arnab K; Pethe, Kevin; Kuhen, Kelli; Walker, John; Feng, Gu; Babu, Sreehari; Zhang, Lijun; Blasco, Francesca; Beer, David; Weaver, Margaret; Dartois, Veronique; Glynne, Richard; Dick, Thomas; Smith, Paul W; Diagana, Thierry T; Manjunatha, Ujjini H

2013-12-04

New chemotherapeutic compounds against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are urgently needed to combat drug resistance in tuberculosis (TB). We have identified and characterized the indolcarboxamides as a new class of antitubercular bactericidal agent. Genetic and lipid profiling studies identified the likely molecular target of indolcarboxamides as MmpL3, a transporter of trehalose monomycolate that is essential for mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Two lead candidates, NITD-304 and NITD-349, showed potent activity against both drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Mtb. Promising pharmacokinetic profiles of both compounds after oral dosing in several species enabled further evaluation for efficacy and safety. NITD-304 and NITD-349 were efficacious in treating both acute and chronic Mtb infections in mouse efficacy models. Furthermore, dosing of NITD-304 and NITD-349 for 2 weeks in exploratory rat toxicology studies revealed a promising safety margin. Finally, neither compound inhibited the activity of major cytochrome P-450 enzymes or the hERG (human ether-a-go-go related gene) channel. These results suggest that NITD-304 and NITD-349 should undergo further development as a potential treatment for multidrug-resistant TB.

L1188: A Promising Candidate for Cloud–Cloud Collisions Triggering the Formation of Low- and Intermediate-mass Stars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Yan; Fang, Min; Mao, Ruiqing; Zhang, Shaobo; Wang, Yuan; Su, Yang; Chen, Xuepeng; Yang, Ji; Wang, Hongchi; Lu, Dengrong, E-mail: ygong@pmo.ac.cn [Purple Mountain Observatory and Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 West Beijing Road, 210008 Nanjing (China)

2017-01-20

We present a new large-scale (2° × 2°) simultaneous {sup 12}CO, {sup 13}CO, and C{sup 18}O (J = 1–0) mapping of L1188 with the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7 m telescope. Our observations have revealed that L1188 consists of two nearly orthogonal filamentary molecular clouds at two clearly separated velocities. Toward the intersection showing large velocity spreads, we find several bridging features connecting the two clouds in velocity, and an open arc structure that exhibits high excitation temperatures, enhanced {sup 12}CO and {sup 13}CO emission, and broad {sup 12}CO line wings. This agrees with the scenario that the two clouds are colliding with each other. The distribution of young stellar object (YSO) candidates implies an enhancement of star formation in the intersection of the two clouds. We suggest that a cloud–cloud collision happened in L1188 about 1 Myr ago, possibly triggering the formation of low- and intermediate-mass YSOs in the intersection.

Keeping the Promise

Science.gov (United States)

Whissemore, Tabitha

2016-01-01

Since its launch in September 2015, Heads Up America has collected information on nearly 125 promise programs across the country, many of which were instituted long before President Barack Obama announced the America's College Promise (ACP) plan in 2015. At least 27 new free community college programs have launched in states, communities, and at…

Plants’ Natural Products as Alternative Promising Anti-Candida Drugs

Science.gov (United States)

Soliman, Sameh; Alnajdy, Dina; El-Keblawy, Ali A.; Mosa, Kareem A.; Khoder, Ghalia; Noreddin, Ayman M.

2017-01-01

Candida is a serious life-threatening pathogen, particularly with immunocompromised patients. Candida infections are considered as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in a broad range of immunocompromised patients. Candida infections are common in hospitalized patients and elderly people. The difficulty to eradicate Candida infections is owing to its unique switch between yeast and hyphae forms and more likely to biofilm formations that render resistance to antifungal therapy. Plants are known sources of natural medicines. Several plants show significant anti-Candida activities and some of them have lower minimum inhibitory concentration, making them promising candidates for anti-Candida therapy. However, none of these plant products is marketed for anti-Candida therapy because of lack of sufficient information about their efficacy, toxicity, and kinetics. This review revises major plants that have been tested for anti-Candida activities with recommendations for further use of some of these plants for more investigation and in vivo testing including the use of nanostructure lipid system. PMID:28989245

Testing candidate interlayers for an enhanced water-cooled divertor target

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hancock, David; Barrett, Tom; Foster, James; Fursdon, Mike; Keech, Gregory; McIntosh, Simon; Timmis, William; Rieth, Michael; Reiser, Jens

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We introduce an optimised divertor target concept: the “Thermal Break”. • We suggest a candidate interlayer material for this concept: FeltMetal. • We describe a bespoke rig for testing the thermal conductivity of this material. • We present preliminary results for a number of samples. - Abstract: The design of a divertor target for DEMO remains one of the most challenging engineering tasks to be overcome on the path to fusion power. Under the European DEMO programme, a promising concept known as Thermal Break has been developed at CCFE. This concept is a variation of the ITER tungsten divertor in which the pure Copper interlayer between Copper Chrome Zirconium coolant pipe and Tungsten monoblock armour is replaced with a low thermal conductivity compliant interlayer, with the aim of reducing the thermal mismatch stress between the armour and structure. One candidate material for this interlayer is FeltMetal™ (Technetics Group, USA). This material consists of an amorphous matrix of fine copper wires which are sintered onto a thin copper foil, creating a sheet of approximately 1 mm thickness. FeltMetal has been successfully used for many years to provide compliant sliding electrical contacts for the MAST TF coils and on ALCATOR C-Mod and extensive material testing has therefore been undertaken to quantify thermal and mechanical properties. These tests, however, have not been performed under vacuum or DEMO-relevant conditions. A bespoke experimental test rig has therefore been designed and constructed with which to measure the interlayer thermal conductance as a function of temperature and pressure under vacuum conditions. The design of this apparatus and the results of experiments on FeltMetal as well as other candidate interlayers are presented here. In parallel, joint mockups using the candidate interlayers have been prepared and Thermal Break divertor target mockups have been manufactured, requiring the development of a dedicated

Testing candidate interlayers for an enhanced water-cooled divertor target

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hancock, David, E-mail: david.hancock@ccfe.ac.uk [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Oxfordshire OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Barrett, Tom; Foster, James; Fursdon, Mike; Keech, Gregory; McIntosh, Simon; Timmis, William [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Oxfordshire OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Rieth, Michael; Reiser, Jens [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, IAM-AWP, P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • We introduce an optimised divertor target concept: the “Thermal Break”. • We suggest a candidate interlayer material for this concept: FeltMetal. • We describe a bespoke rig for testing the thermal conductivity of this material. • We present preliminary results for a number of samples. - Abstract: The design of a divertor target for DEMO remains one of the most challenging engineering tasks to be overcome on the path to fusion power. Under the European DEMO programme, a promising concept known as Thermal Break has been developed at CCFE. This concept is a variation of the ITER tungsten divertor in which the pure Copper interlayer between Copper Chrome Zirconium coolant pipe and Tungsten monoblock armour is replaced with a low thermal conductivity compliant interlayer, with the aim of reducing the thermal mismatch stress between the armour and structure. One candidate material for this interlayer is FeltMetal™ (Technetics Group, USA). This material consists of an amorphous matrix of fine copper wires which are sintered onto a thin copper foil, creating a sheet of approximately 1 mm thickness. FeltMetal has been successfully used for many years to provide compliant sliding electrical contacts for the MAST TF coils and on ALCATOR C-Mod and extensive material testing has therefore been undertaken to quantify thermal and mechanical properties. These tests, however, have not been performed under vacuum or DEMO-relevant conditions. A bespoke experimental test rig has therefore been designed and constructed with which to measure the interlayer thermal conductance as a function of temperature and pressure under vacuum conditions. The design of this apparatus and the results of experiments on FeltMetal as well as other candidate interlayers are presented here. In parallel, joint mockups using the candidate interlayers have been prepared and Thermal Break divertor target mockups have been manufactured, requiring the development of a dedicated

Candidate genes that may be responsible for the unusual resistances exhibited by Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 spores.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madhan R Tirumalai

Full Text Available The spores of several Bacillus species, including Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 and B. safensis FO-36b, which were isolated from the spacecraft assembly facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are unusually resistant to UV radiation and hydrogen peroxide. In order to identify candidate genes that might be associated with these resistances, the whole genome of B. pumilus SAFR-032, and the draft genome of B. safensis FO-36b were compared in detail with the very closely related type strain B. pumilus ATCC7061(T. 170 genes are considered characteristic of SAFR-032, because they are absent from both FO-36b and ATCC7061(T. Forty of these SAFR-032 characteristic genes are entirely unique open reading frames. In addition, four genes are unique to the genomes of the resistant SAFR-032 and FO-36b. Fifty three genes involved in spore coat formation, regulation and germination, DNA repair, and peroxide resistance, are missing from all three genomes. The vast majority of these are cleanly deleted from their usual genomic context without any obvious replacement. Several DNA repair and peroxide resistance genes earlier reported to be unique to SAFR-032 are in fact shared with ATCC7061(T and no longer considered to be promising candidates for association with the elevated resistances. Instead, several SAFR-032 characteristic genes were identified, which along with one or more of the unique SAFR-032 genes may be responsible for the elevated resistances. These new candidates include five genes associated with DNA repair, namely, BPUM_0608 a helicase, BPUM_0652 an ATP binding protein, BPUM_0653 an endonuclease, BPUM_0656 a DNA cytosine-5- methyltransferase, and BPUM_3674 a DNA helicase. Three of these candidate genes are in immediate proximity of two conserved hypothetical proteins, BPUM_0654 and BPUM_0655 that are also absent from both FO-36b and ATCC7061(T. This cluster of five genes is considered to be an especially promising target for future experimental

Fe/Co doped molybdenum diselenide: a promising two-dimensional intermediate-band photovoltaic material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Jiajia; He, Haiyan; Pan, Bicai

2015-01-01

An intermediate-band (IB) photovoltaic material is an important candidate in developing the new-generation solar cell. In this paper, we propose that the Fe-doped or the Co-doped MoSe 2 just meets the required features in IB photovoltaic materials. Our calculations demonstrate that when the concentration of the doped element reaches 11.11%, the doped MoSe 2 shows a high absorptivity for both infrared and visible light, where the photovoltaic efficiency of the doped MoSe 2 is as high as 56%, approaching the upper limit of photovoltaic efficiency of IB materials. So, the Fe- or Co-doped MoSe 2 is a promising two-dimensional photovoltaic material. (paper)

Designing an advanced available-to-promise mechanism compatible with the make-to-forecast production systems through integrating inventory allocation and job shop scheduling with due dates and weighted earliness/tardiness cost

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masoud Rabbani

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In the competitive business world, applying a reliable and powerful mechanism to support decision makers in manufacturing companies and helping them save time by considering varieties of effective factors is an inevitable issue. Advanced Available-to-Promise is a perfect tool to design and perform such a mechanism. In this study, this mechanism which is compatible with the Make-to-Forecast production systems is presented. The ability to distinguish between batch mode and real-time mode advanced available-to-promise is one of the unique superiorities of the proposed model. We also try to strengthen this mechanism by integrating the inventory allocation and job shop scheduling by considering due dates and weighted earliness/tardiness cost that leads to more precise decisions. A mixed integer programming (MIP model and a heuristic algorithm according to its disability to solve large size problems are presented. The designed experiments and the obtained results have proved the efficiency of the proposed heuristic method.

Comparison of lithium and the eutectic lead lithium alloy, two candidate liquid metal breeder materials for self-cooled blankets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malang, S.; Mattas, R.

1994-06-01

Liquid metals are attractive candidates for both near-term and long-term fusion applications. The subjects of this comparison are the differences between the two candidate liquid metal breeder materials Li and LiPb for use in breeding blankets in the areas of neutronics, magnetohydrodynamics, tritium control, compatibility with structural materials, heat extraction system, safety, and required R ampersand D program. Both candidates appear to be promising for use in self-cooled breeding blankets which have inherent simplicity with the liquid metal serving as both breeders and coolant. The remaining feasibility question for both breeder materials is the electrical insulation between liquid metal and duct walls. Different ceramic coatings are required for the two breeders, and their crucial issues, namely self-healing of insulator cracks and radiation induced electrical degradation are not yet demonstrated. Each liquid metal breeder has advantages and concerns associated with it, and further development is needed to resolve these concerns

Candidate biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of drug-induced liver injury: An international collaborative effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Church, Rachel J; Kullak-Ublick, Gerd A; Aubrecht, Jiri; Bonkovsky, Herbert L; Chalasani, Naga; Fontana, Robert J; Goepfert, Jens C; Hackman, Frances; King, Nicholas M P; Kirby, Simon; Kirby, Patrick; Marcinak, John; Ormarsdottir, Sif; Schomaker, Shelli J; Schuppe-Koistinen, Ina; Wolenski, Francis; Arber, Nadir; Merz, Michael; Sauer, John-Michael; Andrade, Raul J; van Bömmel, Florian; Poynard, Thierry; Watkins, Paul B

2018-01-22

Current blood biomarkers are suboptimal in detecting drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and predicting its outcome. We sought to characterize the natural variabilty and performance characteristics of fourteen promising DILI biomarker candidates. Serum or plasma from multiple cohorts of healthy volunteers (n=192 and =81), subjects who safely took potentially hepatotoxic drugs without adverse effects (n=55 and =92) and DILI patients (n=98, =28, and =143) were assayed for microRNA-122 (miR-122), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), total keratin 18 (K18), caspase cleaved K18 (ccK18), glutathione S-transferase alpha (GSTα), alpha fetoprotein (AFP), arginase-1 (ARG1), osteopontin (OPN), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), fatty acid binding protein (FABP1), cadherin-5 (CDH5), macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor (MCSFR), paraoxonase 1 (PON1, normalized to prothrombin protein), and leucocyte cell-derived chemotaxin-2 (LECT2). Most candidate biomarkers were significantly altered in DILI cases compared to healthy volunteers. GLDH correlated more closely with gold standard alanine aminotransferase (ALT) than miR-122 and there was a surprisingly wide inter- and intra-individual variability of miR-122 levels among the healthy volunteers. Serum K18, OPN, and MCSFR levels were most strongly associated with liver-related death or transplant within 6 months of DILI-onset. Prediction of prognosis among DILI patients using Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) was improved by incorporation of K18 and MCSFR levels. GLDH appears to be more useful than miR-122 in identifying DILI patients. K18, OPN and MCSFR are promising candidates for prediction of prognosis during an acute DILI event. Serial assessment of these biomarkers in large prospective studies will help further delineate their role in DILI diagnosis and management. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Robo-AO Kepler Survey. IV. The Effect of Nearby Stars on 3857 Planetary Candidate Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Carl; Law, Nicholas M.; Baranec, Christoph; Riddle, Reed; Duev, Dmitry A.; Howard, Ward; Jensen-Clem, Rebecca; Kulkarni, S. R.; Morton, Tim; Salama, Maïssa

2018-04-01

We present the overall statistical results from the Robo-AO Kepler planetary candidate survey, comprising of 3857 high-angular resolution observations of planetary candidate systems with Robo-AO, an automated laser adaptive optics system. These observations reveal previously unknown nearby stars blended with the planetary candidate host stars that alter the derived planetary radii or may be the source of an astrophysical false positive transit signal. In the first three papers in the survey, we detected 440 nearby stars around 3313 planetary candidate host stars. In this paper, we present observations of 532 planetary candidate host stars, detecting 94 companions around 88 stars; 84 of these companions have not previously been observed in high resolution. We also report 50 more-widely separated companions near 715 targets previously observed by Robo-AO. We derive corrected planetary radius estimates for the 814 planetary candidates in systems with a detected nearby star. If planetary candidates are equally likely to orbit the primary or secondary star, the radius estimates for planetary candidates in systems with likely bound nearby stars increase by a factor of 1.54, on average. We find that 35 previously believed rocky planet candidates are likely not rocky due to the presence of nearby stars. From the combined data sets from the complete Robo-AO KOI survey, we find that 14.5 ± 0.5% of planetary candidate hosts have a nearby star with 4″, while 1.2% have two nearby stars, and 0.08% have three. We find that 16% of Earth-sized, 13% of Neptune-sized, 14% of Saturn-sized, and 19% of Jupiter-sized planet candidates have detected nearby stars.

Candidate Targets for New Anti-Virulence Drugs: Selected Cases of Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klemm, Per; Hancock, Viktoria; Kvist, Malin

2007-01-01

is particularly problematic in medical contexts because biofilm-associated bacteria are particularly hard to eradicate. Several promising candidate drugs that target bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation are being developed. Some of these might be valuable weapons for fighting infectious diseases in the future...... formation are highly attractive targets for new drugs. Specific adhesion provides bacteria with target selection and prevents removal by hydrodynamic flow forces. Bacterial adhesion is of paramount importance for bacterial pathogenesis. Adhesion is also the first step in biofilm formation. Biofilm formation...

The promise of molecular epidemiology in defining the association between radiation and cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neta, R.

2000-01-01

Molecular epidemiology involves the inclusion in epidemiologic studies of biologic measurements made at a genetic and molecular level and aims to improve the current knowledge of disease etiology and risk. One of the goals of molecular epidemiology studies of cancer is to determine the role of environmental and genetic factors in initiation and progression of malignancies and to use this knowledge to develop preventive strategies. This approach promises extraordinary opportunities for revolutionizing the practice of medicine and reducing risk. However, this will be accompanied by the need to address and resolve many challenges, such as ensuring the appropriate interpretation of molecular testing and resolving associated ethical, legal, and social issues. Traditional epidemiologic approaches determined that exposure to ionizing radiation poses significantly increased risk of leukemia and several other types of cancer. Such studies provided the basis for setting exposure standards to protect the public and the workforce from potentially adverse effects of ionizing radiation. These standards were set by using modeling approaches to extrapolate from the biological effects observed in high-dose radiation studies to predicted, but mostly immeasurable, effects at low radiation doses. It is anticipated that the addition of the molecular parameters to the population-based studies will help identify the genes and pathways characteristic of cancers due to radiation exposure of individuals, as well as identify susceptible or resistant subpopulations. In turn, the information about the molecular mechanisms should aid to improve risk assessment. While studies on radiogenic concerns are currently limited to only a few candidate genes, the exponential growth of scientific knowledge and technology promises expansion of knowledge about identity of participating genes and pathways in the future. This article is meant to provide an introductory overview of recent advances in

Stable Higgs Bosons - new candidate for cold dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosotani, Yutaka

2010-01-01

The Higgs boson is in the backbone of the standard model of electroweak interactions. It must exist in some form for achieving unification of interactions. In the gauge-Higgs unification scenario the Higgs boson becomes a part of the extra-dimensional component of gauge fields. The Higgs boson becomes absolutely stable in a class of the gauge-Higgs unification models, serving as a promising candidate for cold dark matter in the universe. The observed relic abundance of cold dark matter is obtained with the Higgs mass around 70 GeV. The Higgs-nucleon scattering cross section is found to be close to the recent CDMS II XENON10 bounds in the direct detection of dark matter. In collider experiments stable Higgs bosons are produced in a pair, appearing as missing energies momenta so that the way of detecting Higgs bosons must be altered.

Candidate OP Phyla: Importance, Ecology and Cultivation Prospects.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohini Kumar, M; Saravanan, V S

2010-10-01

OP phyla were created in the domain bacteria, based on the group of 16S rRNA gene sequences recovered from the Obsidian Pool. However, due to the lack of cultured representative it is referred to as candidate phyla. Wider ecological occurrence was predicted for the OP phyla, especially OP3, OP10 and OP11. Recently, members of phylum OP5 and OP10 were cultured, providing clues to their cultivation prospects. At last the bioprospecting potentials of the OP members are discussed herein.

Buckyballs meet Viral Nanoparticles – Candidates for Biomedicine

Science.gov (United States)

Steinmetz, Nicole F.; Hong, Vu; Spoerke, Erik D.; Lu, Ping; Breitenkamp, Kurt; Finn, M.G.; Manchester, Marianne

2009-01-01

Fullerenes such as C60 show promise as functional components in several emerging technologies. For biomedical applications, C60 has been used in gene- and drug-delivery vectors, as imaging agents, and as photosensitizers in cancer therapy. A major drawback of C60 for bioapplications is its insolubility in water. To overcome this limitation, we covalently attached C60 derivatives to Cowpea mosaic virus and bacteriophage Qβ virus-like particles, as examples of naturally occurring viral nanoparticle (VNP) structures that have been shown to be promising candidates for biomedicine. Two different labeling strategies were employed, giving rise to water-soluble and stable VNP-C60 and VNP-PEG-C60 conjugates. Samples were characterized using a combination of transmission electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), gel electrophoresis, size-exclusion chromatography, dynamic light scattering, and western blotting. “Click” chemistry bioconjugation using a PEG-modified propargyl-O-PEG-C60 derivative gave rise to high loadings of fullerene on the VNP surface, indicated by the imaging of individual C60 units by STEM. The cellular uptake of dye-labeled VNP-PEG-C60 complexes in a human cancer cell line was found by confocal microscopy to be robust, showing that cell internalization was not inhibited by the attached C60 units. These results open the door for the development of novel therapeutic devices with potential applications in photo-activated tumor therapy. PMID:19904938

Promising More Information

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

When NASA needed a real-time, online database system capable of tracking documentation changes in its propulsion test facilities, engineers at Stennis Space Center joined with ECT International, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, to create a solution. Through NASA's Dual-Use Program, ECT developed Exdata, a software program that works within the company's existing Promise software. Exdata not only satisfied NASA s requirements, but also expanded ECT s commercial product line. Promise, ECT s primary product, is an intelligent software program with specialized functions for designing and documenting electrical control systems. An addon to AutoCAD software, Promis e generates control system schematics, panel layouts, bills of material, wire lists, and terminal plans. The drawing functions include symbol libraries, macros, and automatic line breaking. Primary Promise customers include manufacturing companies, utilities, and other organizations with complex processes to control.

Unexpected marked seizure improvement in paediatric epilepsy surgery candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoei-Hansen, Christina E; Mathiasen, René; Uldall, Peter

2017-01-01

PURPOSE: Epilepsy surgery is performed based on the assumption that medical refractory epilepsy will continue. Rarely seizure freedom occurs before surgery is performed, while the patient is being evaluated as an epilepsy surgery candidate. The aim of this study was to describe the number...... of children withdrawn from an epilepsy surgery programme due to unexpected seizure improvement. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 173 children under 18 years with medical refractory epilepsy referred for epilepsy surgery between 1996 and 2010. Medical records were reviewed in 2012 and 2015. RESULTS......: At the first evaluation point in 2012, 13 patients were withdrawn from the epilepsy surgery programme due to unexpected marked improvement. In 2015, 6 of them were still seizure free. They had unexpected seizure freedom due to change in AED treatment (n=3) or after a febrile episode (n=3). The mean number...

Prediction-Oriented Marker Selection (PROMISE): With Application to High-Dimensional Regression.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Soyeon; Baladandayuthapani, Veerabhadran; Lee, J Jack

2017-06-01

In personalized medicine, biomarkers are used to select therapies with the highest likelihood of success based on an individual patient's biomarker/genomic profile. Two goals are to choose important biomarkers that accurately predict treatment outcomes and to cull unimportant biomarkers to reduce the cost of biological and clinical verifications. These goals are challenging due to the high dimensionality of genomic data. Variable selection methods based on penalized regression (e.g., the lasso and elastic net) have yielded promising results. However, selecting the right amount of penalization is critical to simultaneously achieving these two goals. Standard approaches based on cross-validation (CV) typically provide high prediction accuracy with high true positive rates but at the cost of too many false positives. Alternatively, stability selection (SS) controls the number of false positives, but at the cost of yielding too few true positives. To circumvent these issues, we propose prediction-oriented marker selection (PROMISE), which combines SS with CV to conflate the advantages of both methods. Our application of PROMISE with the lasso and elastic net in data analysis shows that, compared to CV, PROMISE produces sparse solutions, few false positives, and small type I + type II error, and maintains good prediction accuracy, with a marginal decrease in the true positive rates. Compared to SS, PROMISE offers better prediction accuracy and true positive rates. In summary, PROMISE can be applied in many fields to select regularization parameters when the goals are to minimize false positives and maximize prediction accuracy.

11 CFR 100.154 - Candidate debates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Candidate debates. 100.154 Section 100.154 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS (2 U.S.C. 431) Exceptions to Expenditures § 100.154 Candidate debates. Funds used to defray costs incurred in staging candidate debates in...

11 CFR 100.92 - Candidate debates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Candidate debates. 100.92 Section 100.92 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS (2 U.S.C. 431) Exceptions to Contributions § 100.92 Candidate debates. Funds provided to defray costs incurred in staging candidate debates...

Expression, purification and characterization of the cancer-germline antigen GAGE12I: a candidate for cancer immunotherapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjerstorff, Morten F; Besir, Hüseyin; Larsen, Martin R

2010-01-01

GAGE cancer-germline antigens are frequently expressed in a broad range of different cancers, while their expression in normal tissues is limited to the germ cells of the immune privileged organs, testis and ovary. GAGE proteins are immunogenic in humans, which make them promising targets...... for immunotherapy and candidates for cancer vaccines. Recombinant proteins may be superior to peptides as immunogens, since they have the potential to prime both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells and are not dependent on patient HLA-type. We have developed a method for production of highly pure recombinant GAGE12I...... filtration and formaldehyde cross-linking indicated that GAGE12I forms tetramers. The purified recombinant GAGE12I represents a candidate molecule for vaccination of cancer patients and will form the basis for further structural analysis of GAGE proteins....

GapA, a potential vaccine candidate antigen against Streptococcus agalactiae in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ze; Yu, Angen; Lan, Jiangfeng; Zhang, Hua; Hu, Minqiang; Cheng, Jiewei; Zhao, Lijuan; Lin, Li; Wei, Shun

2017-04-01

Streptococcosis due to the bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) has resulted in enormous economic losses in aquaculture worldwide, especially in the tilapia culture industry. Previously, there were limited vaccines that could be employed against streptococcosis in tilapia. This study aimed to develop a vaccine candidate using the glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase protein (GapA) of S. agalactiae encoded by the gapA gene. Tilapia were intraperitoneally injected with PBS, PBS + Freund's adjuvant, PBS + Montanide's adjuvant, GapA + Freund's adjuvant, GapA + Montanide's adjuvant, killed S. agalactiae whole cells (WC)+Freund's adjuvant, or killed S. agalactiae whole cells (WC)+ Montanide's adjuvant. They were then challenged with S. agalactiae, and the relative percentage survival (RPS) was monitored 14 days after the challenge. The highest RPSs were observed in the WC groups, with 76.7% in WC + Freund's adjuvant and 74.4% in WC + Montanide's adjuvant groups; these were followed by the GapA groups, with 63.3% in GapA + Freund's adjuvant and 45.6% in GapA + Montanide's adjuvant groups. The RPS of the PBS group was 0%, and those of PBS + Freund's adjuvant and PBS + Montanide's adjuvant groups were 6.7% and 3.3%, respectively. Additionally, the IgM antibody responses elicited in GapA groups and WC groups were significantly higher than those in PBS groups. Furthermore, the expressions of cytokine (IL-1β and TNF-α) mRNAs in the GapA groups and WC groups were significantly higher than those in the PBS groups. Taken together, these results reveal that the GapA protein is a promising vaccine candidate that could be used to prevent streptococcosis in tilapia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Two Metal Binding Lipoproteins as Vaccine Candidates for Enterococcal Infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Romero-Saavedra, Felipe; Laverde, Diana; Budin-Verneuil, Aurélie; Muller, Cécile; Bernay, Benoit; Benachour, Abdellah; Hartke, Axel; Huebner, Johannes

2015-01-01

Enterococcus faecium and faecalis are Gram-positive opportunistic pathogens that have become leading causes of nosocomial infections over the last decades. Especially multidrug resistant enterococci have become a challenging clinical problem worldwide. Therefore, new treatment options are needed and the identification of alternative targets for vaccine development has emerged as a feasible alternative to fight the infections caused by these pathogens. We extrapolate the transcriptomic data from a mice peritonitis infection model in E. faecalis to identify putative up-regulated surface proteins under infection conditions in E. faecium. After the bionformatic analyses two metal binding lipoproteins were identified to have a high homology (>72%) between the two species, the manganese ABC transporter substrate-binding lipoprotein (PsaAfm,) and the zinc ABC transporter substrate-binding lipoprotein (AdcAfm). These candidate lipoproteins were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified. The recombinant proteins were used to produce rabbit polyclonal antibodies that were able to induce specific opsonic antibodies that mediated killing of the homologous strain E. faecium E155 as well as clinical strains E. faecium E1162, Enterococcus faecalis 12030, type 2 and type 5. Mice were passively immunized with the antibodies raised against recombinant lipoproteins, showing significant reduction of colony counts in mice livers after the bacterial challenge and demonstrating the efficacy of these metal binding lipoproteins as promising vaccine candidates to treat infections caused by these enterococcal pathogens. Overall, our results demonstrate that these two metal binding lipoproteins elicited specific, opsonic and protective antibodies, with an extensive cross-reactivity and serotype-independent coverage among these two important nocosomial pathogens. Pointing these two protein antigens as promising immunogens, that can be used as single components or as carrier proteins

Computational design of molecules for an all-quinone redox flow battery† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: The list of computationally predicted candidate quinone molecules with interesting redox properties. See DOI: 10.1039/c4sc03030c Click here for additional data file.

Science.gov (United States)

Er, Süleyman; Suh, Changwon; Marshak, Michael P.

2015-01-01

Inspired by the electron transfer properties of quinones in biological systems, we recently showed that quinones are also very promising electroactive materials for stationary energy storage applications. Due to the practically infinite chemical space of organic molecules, the discovery of additional quinones or other redox-active organic molecules for energy storage applications is an open field of inquiry. Here, we introduce a high-throughput computational screening approach that we applied to an accelerated study of a total of 1710 quinone (Q) and hydroquinone (QH2) (i.e., two-electron two-proton) redox couples. We identified the promising candidates for both the negative and positive sides of organic-based aqueous flow batteries, thus enabling an all-quinone battery. To further aid the development of additional interesting electroactive small molecules we also provide emerging quantitative structure-property relationships. PMID:29560173

Novel approaches to identify protective malaria vaccine candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wan Ni eChia

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Efforts to develop vaccines against malaria have been the focus of substantial research activities for decades. Several categories of candidate vaccines are currently being developed for protection against malaria, based on antigens corresponding to the pre-erythrocytic, blood-stage or sexual stages of the parasite. Long lasting sterile protection from Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite challenge has been observed in human following vaccination with whole parasite formulations, clearly demonstrating that a protective immune response targeting predominantly the pre-erythrocytic stages can develop against malaria. However, most of vaccine candidates currently being investigated, which are mostly subunits vaccines, have not been able to induce substantial (>50% protection thus far. This is due to the fact that the antigens responsible for protection against the different parasite stages are still yet to be known and relevant correlates of protection have remained elusive. For a vaccine to be developed in a timely manner, novel approaches are required. In this article, we review the novel approaches that have been developed to identify the antigens for the development of an effective malaria vaccine.

PROTECTIVE ACTIVITY STUDY OF A CANDIDATE VACCINE AGAINST ROTAVIRUS INFECTION BASED ON RECOMBINANT PROTEIN FliCVP6VP8

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. V. Dukhovlinov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Rotavirus infection is among leading causes of severe diarrhea which often leads to severe dehydration, especially, in children under 5 years old. In Russia, the incidence of rotavirus infection is constantly increased, due to higher rates of actual rotavirus infection cases and improved diagnostics of the disease. Immunity to rotavirus is unstable, thus causing repeated infections intra vitam. Anti-infectious resistance in reconvalescents is explained by induction of specific IgM, IgG, and, notably, IgA antibodies. Due to absence of market drugs with direct action against rotavirus, a rational vaccination is considered the most effective way to control the disease. Currently available vaccines for prevention of rotavirus infection are based on live attenuated rotavirus strains, human and/or animal origin, which replicate in human gut. Their implementation may result into different complications. Meanwhile, usage of vaccines based on recombinant proteins is aimed to avoid risks associated with introduction of a complete virus into humans. In this paper, we studied protective activity of candidate vaccines against rotavirus.In this work we studied protective activity of a candidate vaccine against rotavirus infection based on recombinant FliCVP6VP8 protein which includes VP6 and VP8, as well as components of Salmonella typhimurium flagellin (FliC as an adjuvant. Different components are joined by flexible bridges. Efficiency of the candidate vaccine was studied in animal model using Balb/c mice. We have shown high level of protection which occurs when the candidate vaccine is administered twice intramuscularly. Complete protection of animals against mouse rotavirus EDC after intramuscular immunization with a candidate vaccine was associated with arising rotavirus-specific IgA and IgG antibodies in serum and intestine of immunized animals. The efficacy of candidate vaccine based on recombinant protein FliCVP6VP8 against rotavirus infection was

Hydrogen permeation through Flinabe fluoride molten salts for blanket candidates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nishiumi, Ryosuke, E-mail: r.nishiumi@aees.kyushu-u.ac.jp; Fukada, Satoshi; Nakamura, Akira; Katayama, Kazunari

2016-11-01

Highlights: • H{sub 2} diffusivity, solubility and permeability in Flinabe as T breeder are determined. • Effects in composition differences among Flibe, Fnabe and Flinabe are compared. • Changes of pressure dependence of Flinabe permeation rate are clarified. - Abstract: Fluoride molten salt Flibe (2LiF + BeF{sub 2}) is a promising candidate for the liquid blanket of a nuclear fusion reactor, because of its large advantages of tritium breeding ratio and heat-transfer fluid. Since its melting point is higher than other liquid candidates, another new fluoride molten salt Flinabe (LiF + NaF + BeF{sub 2}) is recently focused on because of its lower melting point while holding proper breeding properties. In this experiment, hydrogen permeation behavior through the three molten salts of Flibe (2LiF + BeF{sub 2}), Fnabe (NaF + BeF{sub 2}) and Flinabe are investigated in order to clarify the effects of their compositions on hydrogen transfer properties. After making up any of the three molten salts and purifying it using HF, hydrogen permeability, diffusivity and solubility of the molten salts are determined experimentally by using a system composed of tertiary cylindrical tubes. Close agreement is obtained between experimental data and analytical solutions. H{sub 2} permeability, diffusivity and solubility are correlated as a function of temperature and are compared among the three molten salts.

A single-source precursor route to anisotropic halogen-doped zinc oxide particles as a promising candidate for new transparent conducting oxide materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Lehr

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Numerous applications in optoelectronics require electrically conducting materials with high optical transparency over the entire visible light range. A solid solution of indium oxide and substantial amounts of tin oxide for electronic doping (ITO is currently the most prominent example for the class of so-called TCOs (transparent conducting oxides. Due to the limited, natural occurrence of indium and its steadily increasing price, it is highly desired to identify materials alternatives containing highly abundant chemical elements. The doping of other metal oxides (e.g., zinc oxide, ZnO is a promising approach, but two problems can be identified. Phase separation might occur at the required high concentration of the doping element, and for successful electronic modification it is mandatory that the introduced heteroelement occupies a defined position in the lattice of the host material. In the case of ZnO, most attention has been attributed so far to n-doping via substitution of Zn2+ by other metals (e.g., Al3+. Here, we present first steps towards n-doped ZnO-based TCO materials via substitution in the anion lattice (O2− versus halogenides. A special approach is presented, using novel single-source precursors containing a potential excerpt of the target lattice 'HalZn·Zn3O3' preorganized on the molecular scale (Hal = I, Br, Cl. We report about the synthesis of the precursors, their transformation into halogene-containing ZnO materials, and finally structural, optical and electronic properties are investigated using a combination of techniques including FT-Raman, low-T photoluminescence, impedance and THz spectroscopies.

Antimicrobial Peptides: A Promising Therapeutic Strategy in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Nuti, Ramya; Goud, Nerella S; Saraswati, A Prasanth; Alvala, Ravi; Alvala, Mallika

2017-01-01

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has posed a serious threat to global public health and it requires immediate action, preferably long term. Current drug therapies have failed to curb this menace due to the ability of microbes to circumvent the mechanisms through which the drugs act. From the drug discovery point of view, the majority of drugs currently employed for antimicrobial therapy are small molecules. Recent trends reveal a surge in the use of peptides as drug candidates as they offer remarkable advantages over small molecules. Newer synthetic strategies like organometalic complexes, Peptide-polymer conjugates, solid phase, liquid phase and recombinant DNA technology encouraging the use of peptides as therapeutic agents with a host of chemical functions, and tailored for specific applications. In the last decade, many peptide based drugs have been successfully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This success can be attributed to their high specificity, selectivity and efficacy, high penetrability into the tissues, less immunogenicity and less tissue accumulation. Considering the enormity of AMR, the use of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) can be a viable alternative to current therapeutics strategies. AMPs are naturally abundant allowing synthetic chemists to develop semi-synthetics peptide molecules. AMPs have a broad spectrum of activity towards microbes and they possess the ability to bypass the resistance induction mechanisms of microbes. The present review focuses on the potential applications of AMPs against various microbial disorders and their future prospects. Several resistance mechanisms and their strategies have also been discussed to highlight the importance in the current scenario. Breakthroughs in AMP designing, peptide synthesis and biotechnology have shown promise in tackling this challenge and has revived the interest of using AMPs as an important weapon in fighting AMR. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries

Inclusion and difusion studies of D in fusion breeding blanket candidate materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fan, L.

2015-07-01

Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) reaction is the most practical fusion reaction on the way to harness fusion energy. As tritium presents trace quantities on Earth [1], tritium fuel is essential to be generated simultaneously with the D-T reaction in a commerical fusion power plant. Tritium can be obtained in the lithium contained breeding blanket as a transmutation product of nuclear reaction 6Li (n, a)T. Li2T iO3 is considered to be one promising candidate solid tritium breeder material, due to its high lithium density, low activation, compatiblity with structure materials and high chemical stability. The tritium generated in Li2T iO3 breeding blanket needs to be collected and recycled back to the fusion reaction. Therefore, the study of the diffusion characteristic of breeder material Li2T iO3 is necessary to determine tritium mobility and tritium extraction efficiency. In order to study tritium release mechanism of Li2T iO3 breeding material in a fusion power plant environment, a fusion like neutron spectrum is essential while it is now not availble in any laboratory. One alternative is using ion accelerator or implantor to get energetic hydrogenic (H,D,T) ions impacting on breeding material, to simulate the tritium distribution situation. Because of the radioactive property of tritium which will complicate processing procedure, another isotope of hydrogen Deuterium is actually used to be studied. The defect structure in Li2T iO3, due to reactor exposure to fusion generated particles and ? ray irradiation, is achieved by energetic Ti ions. SRIM program is implemented to simulate the D ion or Ti ion distributions after bombarding, as well as the defects. X-ray diffraction technique helps to identify phase compositions. Transmission electron microscopy technique is used to observe the microstructures (Author)

A Statistical Characterization of Reflection and Refraction in the Atmospheres of sub-Saturn Kepler Planet Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Sheets, Holly A.; Deming, Drake; Arney, Giada; Meadows, Victoria

2016-01-01

We present the results of our method to detect small atmospheric signals in Kepler's close-in, sub-Saturn planet candidate light curves. We detect an average secondary eclipse for groups of super-Earth, Neptune-like, and other sub-Saturn-sized candidates by scaling and combining photometric data of the groups of candidates such that the eclipses add constructively. This greatly increases the signal-to-noise compared to combining eclipses for individual planets. We have modified our method for averaging short cadence light curves of multiple planet candidates (2014, ApJ, 794, 133), and have applied it to long cadence data, accounting for the broadening of the eclipse due to the 30 minute cadence. We then use the secondary eclipse depth to determine the average albedo for the group. In the short cadence data, we found that a group of close-in sub-Saturn candidates (1 to 6 Earth radii) was more reflective (geometric A ~ 0.22) than typical hot Jupiters (geometric A ~ 0.06 to 0.11: Demory 2014, ApJL, 789, L20). With the larger number of candidates available in long cadence, we improve the resolution in radius and consider groups of candidates with radii between 1 and 2, 2 and 4, and 4 and 6 Earth radii. We also modify our averaging technique to search for refracted light just before and after transit in the Kepler candidate light curves, as modelled by Misra and Meadows (2014, ApJL, 795, L14).

Biting back: BiTE antibodies as a promising therapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Roland B

2014-06-01

The experience with gemtuzumab ozogamicin has highlighted both the potential value and limitations of antibodies in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) antibodies have emerged as a means to harness polyclonal cytotoxic T-cells and cause highly efficient lysis of targeted tumor cells. Promising early results have been obtained with the CD19-directed BiTE antibody, blinatumomab, in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A first candidate for AML is the CD33/CD3 molecule, AMG 330, for which several recent preclinical studies demonstrated high potency and efficacy in destroying CD33(+) human AML cells. Many questions remain to be addressed, but BiTE antibodies may offer an exciting new tool in a disease for which the outcomes in many patients remain unsatisfactory.

The Fuzzy MCDM Algorithms for the M&A Due Diligence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-Tsen Tsao

2008-04-01

Full Text Available An M&A due diligence is the process in which one of the parties to the transaction undertakes to investigate the other in order to judge whether to go forward with the transaction on the terms proposed. It encompasses the missions in three phases: searching and preliminary screening potential candidates, evaluating the candidates and deciding the target, and assisting the after-transaction integration. This work suggests using a Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision Making approach (Fuzzy MCDM and develops detailed algorithms to carry out the second-phase task. The approach of MCDM is able to facilitate the analysis and integration of information from different aspects and criteria. The theory of Fuzzy Sets can include qualitative information in addition to quantitative information. In the developed algorithms the evaluators' subjective judgments are expressed in linguistic terms which can better reflect human intuitive thought than the quantitative scores. These linguistic judgments are transformed into fuzzy numbers and made subsequent synthesis with quantitative financial figures. The order of candidates can be ranked after a defuzzification. Then the acquiring firm can work out a more specific study, including pricing and costing, on the priority candidates so as to decide the target.

Dark matter candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, M.S.

1989-01-01

One of the simplest, yet most profound, questions we can ask about the Universe is, how much stuff is in it, and further what is that stuff composed of? Needless to say, the answer to this question has very important implications for the evolution of the Universe, determining both the ultimate fate and the course of structure formation. Remarkably, at this late date in the history of the Universe we still do not have a definitive answer to this simplest of questions---although we have some very intriguing clues. It is known with certainty that most of the material in the Universe is dark, and we have the strong suspicion that the dominant component of material in the Cosmos is not baryons, but rather is exotic relic elementary particles left over from the earliest, very hot epoch of the Universe. If true, the Dark Matter question is a most fundamental one facing both particle physics and cosmology. The leading particle dark matter candidates are: the axion, the neutralino, and a light neutrino species. All three candidates are accessible to experimental tests, and experiments are now in progress. In addition, there are several dark horse, long shot, candidates, including the superheavy magnetic monopole and soliton stars. 13 refs

Reactions of N2(A3Σ/sub u/+) and candidates for short wavelength lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Setser, D.W.

1987-01-01

This proposal is a request for a one year renewal of a contract with the Univ. of California (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory). The proposed experiments are directed towards investigation of possible short-wavelength laser candidate molecules that can be pumped via excitation-transfer reactions with N 2 (A 3 Σ/sub u/ + ) molecules. We will continue our flowing-afterglow experiments to characterize the excitation-transfer collisions between N 2 (A) and promising acceptor diatomic molecules (radicals). We also will extend the studies to include excitation-transfer to Cd and to S atoms. For some chemical systems, a pulsed N 2 (A) source would be very convenient for kinetic measurements and we propose to develop a pulsed N 2 (A) source. During the first year, we have shown that the excitation-transfer reaction between N 2 (A) and SO(X) provides a possible laser candidate. Therefore, we propose to start a program to study the quenching and relaxation kinetics of the SO(A 3 PI) molecule, using pulsed laser excitation techniques to generate specific levels of SO(A 3 PI)

Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Komossa

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Supermassive black holes (SMBHs may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a galaxy merger, can receive kick velocities up to several 1000 km/s due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves. Long-lived oscillations of the SMBHs in galaxy cores, and in rare cases even SMBH ejections from their host galaxies, are the consequence. Observationally, accreting recoiling SMBHs would appear as quasars spatially and/or kinematically offset from their host galaxies. The presence of the “kicks” has a wide range of astrophysical implications which only now are beginning to be explored, including consequences for black hole and galaxy assembly at the epoch of structure formation, black hole feeding, and unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGN. Here, we review the observational signatures of recoiling SMBHs and the properties of the first candidates which have emerged, including follow-up studies of the candidate recoiling SMBH of SDSSJ092712.65+294344.0.

Fuel cells show promise as vehicle power source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

Fuel-cell-powered vehicles appear to offer great promise for energy-saving, high-efficiency transportation. Fuel cells are both highly efficient (50% thermal efficiency has been demonstrated by some) and non-polluting (water being the main by-product). Dramatic improvements in performance have occurred recently due to aerospace and utility RandD efforts. The primary vehicle considered at workshops of laboratory and industrial investigators was a fuel cell/battery hybrid, in which fuel cells are paralleled by batteries. Fuel cells are used for cruising power and battery recharge, while batteries supply transient power for acceleration and starting

Towards Plant Species Identification in Complex Samples: A Bioinformatics Pipeline for the Identification of Novel Nuclear Barcode Candidates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Angers-Loustau

Full Text Available Monitoring of the food chain to fight fraud and protect consumer health relies on the availability of methods to correctly identify the species present in samples, for which DNA barcoding is a promising candidate. The nuclear genome is a rich potential source of barcode targets, but has been relatively unexploited until now. Here, we show the development and use of a bioinformatics pipeline that processes available genome sequences to automatically screen large numbers of input candidates, identifies novel nuclear barcode targets and designs associated primer pairs, according to a specific set of requirements. We applied this pipeline to identify novel barcodes for plant species, a kingdom for which the currently available solutions are known to be insufficient. We tested one of the identified primer pairs and show its capability to correctly identify the plant species in simple and complex samples, validating the output of our approach.

Discovery of Novel Leptospirosis Vaccine Candidates Using Reverse and Structural Vaccinology

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Alan John Alexander McBride

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Leptospira spp. are diderm (two membranes bacteria that infect mammals causing leptospirosis, a public health problem with global implications. Thousands of people die every year due to leptospirosis, especially in developing countries with tropical climates. Prophylaxis is difficult due to multiple factors, including the large number of asymptomatic hosts that transmit the bacteria, poor sanitation, increasing numbers of slum dwellers, and the lack of an effective vaccine. Several leptospiral recombinant antigens were evaluated as a replacement for the inactivated (bacterin vaccine; however, success has been limited. A prospective vaccine candidate is likely to be a surface-related protein that can stimulate the host immune response to clear leptospires from blood and organs. In this study, a comprehensive bioinformatics approach based on reverse and structural vaccinology was applied toward the discovery of novel leptospiral vaccine candidates. The Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni strain L1-130 genome was mined in silico for the enhanced identification of conserved β-barrel (βb transmembrane proteins and outer membrane (OM lipoproteins. Orthologs of the prospective vaccine candidates were screened in the genomes of 20 additional Leptospira spp. Three-dimensional structural models, with a high degree of confidence, were created for each of the surface-exposed proteins. Major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II epitopes were identified, and their locations were mapped on the structural models. A total of 18 βb transmembrane proteins and 8 OM lipoproteins were identified. These proteins were conserved among the pathogenic Leptospira spp. and were predicted to have epitopes for several variants of MHC-II receptors. A structural and functional analysis of the sequence of these surface proteins demonstrated that most βb transmembrane proteins seem to be TonB-dependent receptors associated with transportation. Other proteins

JELLYFISH GALAXY CANDIDATES AT LOW REDSHIFT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poggianti, B. M.; Fasano, G.; Omizzolo, A.; Gullieuszik, M.; Bettoni, D.; Paccagnella, A. [INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padova (Italy); Moretti, A.; D’Onofrio, M. [Physics and Astronomy Department, University of Padova (Italy); Jaffé, Y. L. [Department of Astronomy, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción (Chile); Vulcani, B. [Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), the University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, 277-8582 (Japan); Fritz, J. [Centro de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, CRyA, UNAM, Michoacán (Mexico); Couch, W. [Australian Astronomical Observatory, North Ryde, NSW 1670 (Australia)

2016-03-15

Galaxies that are being stripped of their gas can sometimes be recognized from their optical appearance. Extreme examples of stripped galaxies are the so-called “jellyfish galaxies” that exhibit tentacles of debris material with a characteristic jellyfish morphology. We have conducted the first systematic search for galaxies that are being stripped of their gas at low-z (z = 0.04−0.07) in different environments, selecting galaxies with varying degrees of morphological evidence for stripping. We have visually inspected B- and V-band images and identified 344 candidates in 71 galaxy clusters of the OMEGAWINGS+WINGS sample and 75 candidates in groups and lower mass structures in the PM2GC sample. We present the atlas of stripping candidates and a first analysis of their environment and their basic properties, such as morphologies, star formation rates and galaxy stellar masses. Candidates are found in all clusters and at all clustercentric radii, and their number does not correlate with the cluster velocity dispersion σ or X-ray luminosity L{sub X}. Interestingly, convincing cases of candidates are also found in groups and lower mass halos (10{sup 11}−10{sup 14}M{sub ⊙}), although the physical mechanism at work needs to be securely identified. All the candidates are disky, have stellar masses ranging from log M/M{sub ⊙} < 9 to > 11.5 and the majority of them form stars at a rate that is on average a factor of 2 higher (2.5σ) compared to non-stripped galaxies of similar mass. The few post-starburst and passive candidates have weak stripping evidence. We conclude that disturbed morphologies suggestive of stripping phenomena are ubiquitous in clusters and could be present even in groups and low mass halos. Further studies will reveal the physics of the gas stripping and clarify the mechanisms at work.

Ebselen, a useful tool for understanding cellular redox biology and a promising drug candidate for use in human diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Noguchi, Noriko

2016-04-01

Ebselen is an organoselenium compound with glutathione peroxidase (GPx)-like hydroperoxide reducing activity. Moreover, ebselen has its own unique reactivity, with functions that GPx does not have, since it reacts with many kinds of thiols other than glutathione. Ebselen may affect the thioredoxin systems, through which it may contribute to regulation of cell function. With high reactivity toward thiols, hydroperoxides, and peroxynitrite, ebselen has been used as a useful tool in research on cellular redox mechanisms. Unlike α-tocopherol, ebselen does not scavenge lipid peroxyl radicals, which is another advantage of ebselen for use as a research tool in comparison with radical scavenging antioxidants. Selenium is not released from the ebselen molecule, which explains the low toxicity of ebselen. To further understand the mechanism of cellular redox biology, it should be interesting to compare the effects of ebselen with that of selenoprotein P, which supplies selenium to GPx. New medical applications of ebselen as a drug candidate for human diseases such as cancer and diabetes mellitus as well as brain stroke and ischemia will be expected. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Scalar tetraquark candidates on the lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berlin, Joshua

2017-01-01

The topic of this thesis is the investigation of scalar tetraquark candidates from lattice QCD. It is motivated by a previous study originating in the twisted mass collaboration. The initial tetraquark candidate of choice is the a 0 (980), an isovector in the nonet of light scalars (J P =0 + ). This channel is still poorly understood. It displays an inverted mass hierarchy to what is expected from the conventional quark model and the a 0 (980) and f 0 (980) feature a surprising mass degeneracy. For this reasons the a 0 (980) is a long assumed tetraquark candidate in the literature. We follow a methodological approach by studying the sensitivity of the scalar spectrum with fully dynamical quarks to a large basis of two-quark and four-quark creation operators. Ultimately, the candidate has to be identified in the direct vicinity of two two-particles states, which is understandably inevitable for a tetraquark candidate. To succeed in this difficult task two-meson creation operators are essential to employ in this channel. By localized four-quark operators we intend to probe the Hamiltonian on eigenstates with a closely bound four-quark structure.

Scalar tetraquark candidates on the lattice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berlin, Joshua

2017-07-01

The topic of this thesis is the investigation of scalar tetraquark candidates from lattice QCD. It is motivated by a previous study originating in the twisted mass collaboration. The initial tetraquark candidate of choice is the a{sub 0}(980), an isovector in the nonet of light scalars (J{sup P}=0{sup +}). This channel is still poorly understood. It displays an inverted mass hierarchy to what is expected from the conventional quark model and the a{sub 0}(980) and f{sub 0}(980) feature a surprising mass degeneracy. For this reasons the a{sub 0}(980) is a long assumed tetraquark candidate in the literature. We follow a methodological approach by studying the sensitivity of the scalar spectrum with fully dynamical quarks to a large basis of two-quark and four-quark creation operators. Ultimately, the candidate has to be identified in the direct vicinity of two two-particles states, which is understandably inevitable for a tetraquark candidate. To succeed in this difficult task two-meson creation operators are essential to employ in this channel. By localized four-quark operators we intend to probe the Hamiltonian on eigenstates with a closely bound four-quark structure.

Comparative evaluation of phenol and thimerosal as preservatives for a candidate vaccine against American cutaneous leishmaniasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilson Mayrink

2010-02-01

Full Text Available For decades thimerosal has been used as a preservative in the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis, which was developed by Mayrink et al. The use of thimerosal in humans has been banned due to its mercury content. This study addresses the standardization of phenol as a new candidate vaccine preservative. We have found that the proteolytic activity was abolished when the test was conducted using the candidate vaccine added to merthiolate (MtVac as well as to phenol (PhVac. The Montenegro's skin test conversion rates induced by MtVac and by PhVac was 68.06% and 85.9%, respectively, and these values were statistically significant (p < 0.05. The proliferative response of peripheral mononuclear blood cells shows that the stimulation index of mice immunized with both candidate vaccines was higher than the one in control animals (p < 0.05. The ability of the candidate vaccines to induce protection in C57BL/10 mice against a challenge with infective Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes was tested and the mice immunized with PhVac developed smaller lesions than the mice immunized with MtVac. Electrophoresis of phenol-preserved antigen revealed a number of proteins, which were better preserved in PhVac. These results do in fact encourage the use of phenol for preserving the immunogenic and biochemical properties of the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Systematic identification and validation of candidate genes for detection of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood specimens of colorectal cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Findeisen, Peter; Röckel, Matthias; Nees, Matthias; Röder, Christian; Kienle, Peter; Von Knebel Doeberitz, Magnus; Kalthoff, Holger; Neumaier, Michael

2008-11-01

The presence of tumor cells in peripheral blood is being regarded increasingly as a clinically relevant prognostic factor for colorectal cancer patients. Current molecular methods are very sensitive but due to low specificity their diagnostic value is limited. This study was undertaken in order to systematically identify and validate new colorectal cancer (CRC) marker genes for improved detection of minimal residual disease in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of colorectal cancer patients. Marker genes with upregulated gene expression in colorectal cancer tissue and cell lines were identified using microarray experiments and publicly available gene expression data. A systematic iterative approach was used to reduce a set of 346 candidate genes, reportedly associated with CRC to a selection of candidate genes that were then further validated by relative quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Analytical sensitivity of RT-PCR assays was determined by spiking experiments with CRC cells. Diagnostic sensitivity as well as specificity was tested on a control group consisting of 18 CRC patients compared to 12 individuals without malignant disease. From a total of 346-screened genes only serine (or cysteine) proteinase inhibitor, clade B (ovalbumin), member 5 (SERPINB5) showed significantly elevated transcript levels in peripheral venous blood specimens of tumor patients when compared to the nonmalignant control group. These results were confirmed by analysis of an enlarged collective consisting of 63 CRC patients and 36 control individuals without malignant disease. In conclusion SERPINB5 seems to be a promising marker for detection of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer patients.

Candidates in Astroviruses, Seadornaviruses, Cytorhabdoviruses and Coronaviruses for +1 frame overlapping genes accessed by leaky scanning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atkins John F

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Overlapping genes are common in RNA viruses where they serve as a mechanism to optimize the coding potential of compact genomes. However, annotation of overlapping genes can be difficult using conventional gene-finding software. Recently we have been using a number of complementary approaches to systematically identify previously undetected overlapping genes in RNA virus genomes. In this article we gather together a number of promising candidate new overlapping genes that may be of interest to the community. Results Overlapping gene predictions are presented for the astroviruses, seadornaviruses, cytorhabdoviruses and coronaviruses (families Astroviridae, Reoviridae, Rhabdoviridae and Coronaviridae, respectively.

Silicon homo-heterojunction solar cells: A promising candidate to realize high performance more stably

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miao Tan

2017-08-01

Full Text Available We have investigated the influences of diverse physical parameters on the performances of a silicon homo-heterojunction (H-H solar cell, which encompasses both homojunction and heterojunction, together with their underlying mechanisms by the aid of AFORS-HET simulation. It is found that the performances of H-H solar cell are less sensitive to (i the work function of the transparent conductive oxide layer, (ii the interfacial density of states at the front hydrogenated amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si interface, (iii the peak dangling bond defect densities within the p-type a-Si:H (p-a-Si:H layer, and (iv the doping concentration of the p-a-Si:H layer, when compared to that of the conventional heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT counterparts. These advantages are due to the fact that the interfacial recombination and the recombination within the a-Si:H region are less affected by all the above parameters, which fundamentally benefit from the field-effect passivation of the homojunction. Therefore, the design of H-H structure can provide an opportunity to produce high-efficiency solar cells more stably.

Silicon homo-heterojunction solar cells: A promising candidate to realize high performance more stably

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Miao; Zhong, Sihua; Wang, Wenjie; Shen, Wenzhong

2017-08-01

We have investigated the influences of diverse physical parameters on the performances of a silicon homo-heterojunction (H-H) solar cell, which encompasses both homojunction and heterojunction, together with their underlying mechanisms by the aid of AFORS-HET simulation. It is found that the performances of H-H solar cell are less sensitive to (i) the work function of the transparent conductive oxide layer, (ii) the interfacial density of states at the front hydrogenated amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) interface, (iii) the peak dangling bond defect densities within the p-type a-Si:H (p-a-Si:H) layer, and (iv) the doping concentration of the p-a-Si:H layer, when compared to that of the conventional heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) counterparts. These advantages are due to the fact that the interfacial recombination and the recombination within the a-Si:H region are less affected by all the above parameters, which fundamentally benefit from the field-effect passivation of the homojunction. Therefore, the design of H-H structure can provide an opportunity to produce high-efficiency solar cells more stably.

Stromal CD8+ T-cell Density—A Promising Supplement to TNM Staging in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Donnem, Tom; Hald, Sigurd M; Paulsen, Erna-Elise

2015-01-01

PURPOSE: Immunoscore is a prognostic tool defined to quantify in situ immune cell infiltrates, which appears to be superior to the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification in colorectal cancer. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), no immunoscore has been established, but in situ tumor immunol....... CONCLUSIONS: Stromal CD8(+) TIL density has independent prognostic impact in resected NSCLC, adds prognostic impact within each pStage, and is a good candidate marker for establishing a TNM-Immunoscore....... immunology is recognized as highly important. We have previously evaluated the prognostic impact of several immunological markers in NSCLC, yielding the density of stromal CD8(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) as the most promising candidate. Hence, we validate the impact of stromal CD8(+) TIL density...... from Bodo (n = 169), Oslo (n = 295), and Denmark (n = 178). Tissue microarrays and clinical routine CD8 staining were used for all cohorts. RESULTS: Stromal CD8(+) TIL density was an independent prognostic factor in the total material (n = 797) regardless of the endpoint: disease-free survival (P

Rapid and Promising Technique to Treat Gummy Smile-Lip Repositioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, M. N.; Akbar, Z.; Shah, I.

2017-01-01

Beautiful smile is a booster to person's confidence. Gummy smile is a term used for excessive gingival display (EGD). Its etiology is multifactorial. Bone vertical maxillary excess (VME) is one of the cause of EGD. In this case series, lip repositioning was performed to treat mild to moderate degree of gingival display ( 2 to 8 mm) due to VME. Lip repositioning is simple, promising, meticulous and comparatively cheap alternative technique for treating gummy smile. (author)

Design, challenge, and promise of stimuli-responsive nanoantibiotics

Science.gov (United States)

Edson, Julius A.; Kwon, Young Jik

2016-10-01

Over the past few years, there have been calls for novel antimicrobials to combat the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. While some promising new discoveries have met this call, it is not nearly enough. The major problem is that although these new promising antimicrobials serve as a short-term solution, they lack the potential to provide a long-term solution. The conventional method of creating new antibiotics relies heavily on the discovery of an antimicrobial compound from another microbe. This paradigm of development is flawed due to the fact that microbes can easily transfer a resistant mechanism if faced with an environmental pressure. Furthermore, there has been some evidence to indicate that the environment of the microbe can provide a hint as to their virulence. Because of this, the use of materials with antimicrobial properties has been garnering interest. Nanoantibiotics, (nAbts), provide a new way to circumvent the current paradigm of antimicrobial discovery and presents a novel mechanism of attack not found in microbes yet; which may lead to a longer-term solution against drug-resistance formation. This allows for environment-specific activation and efficacy of the nAbts but may also open up and create new design methods for various applications. These nAbts provide promise, but there is still ample work to be done in their development. This review looks at possible ways of improving and optimizing nAbts by making them stimuli-responsive, then consider the challenges ahead, and industrial applications.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

76 FR 36130 - Call for Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-21

... financial information in decision-making. The Board meets in Washington, DC, for two days every other month... FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD Call for Candidates AGENCY: Federal Accounting... candidates. Any applicant who provided the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB or the Board...

Interaction of Sr-90 with site candidate soil for demonstration disposal facility at Serpong

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Setiawan, Budi, E-mail: bravo@batan.go.id [Radwaste Technology Center-National Nuclear Energy Agency, PUSPIPTEK, Serpong-Tangerang 15310 (Indonesia); Mila, Oktri; Safni [Dept. of Chemistry, Fac. of Math. and Nat. Sci., Andalas University, Kampus Limau Manis, Padang-West Sumatra 25163 (Indonesia)

2014-03-24

Interaction of radiostrontium (Sr-90) with site candidate soil for demonstration disposal facility to be constructed in the near future at Serpong has been done. This activity is to anticipate the interim storage facility at Serpong nuclear area becomes full off condition, and show to the public how radioactive waste can be well managed with the existing technology. To ensure that the location is save, a reliability study of site candidate soil becomes very importance to be conducted through some experiments consisted some affected parameters such as contact time, effect of ionic strength, and effect of Sr{sup +} ion in solution. Radiostrontium was used as a tracer on the experiments and has role as radionuclide reference in low-level radioactive waste due to its long half-live and it's easy to associate with organism in nature. So, interaction of radiostrontium and soil samples from site becomes important to be studied. Experiment was performed in batch method, and soil sample-solution containing radionuclide was mixed in a 20 ml of PE vial. Ratio of solid: liquid was 10{sup −2} g/ml. Objective of the experiment is to collect the specific characteristics data of radionuclide sorption onto soil from site candidate. Distribution coefficient value was used as indicator where the amount of initial and final activities of radiostrontium in solution was compared. Result showed that equilibrium condition was reached after contact time 10 days with Kd values ranged from 1600-2350 ml/g. Increased in ionic strength in solution made decreased of Kd value into soil sample due to competition of background salt and radiostrontium into soil samples, and increased in Sr ion in solution caused decreased of Kd value in soil sample due to limitation of sorption capacity in soil samples. Fast condition in saturated of metal ion into soil samples was reached due to a simple reaction was occurred.

Teacher candidates in an online post-baccalaureate science methods course: Implications for teaching science inquiry with technology

Science.gov (United States)

Colon, Erica L.

programs hold promise for teacher candidates by providing them knowledge and strategies for implementing innovative technologies to teach science inquiry when designing curriculum. By identifying specific implications for methods course design and implementation, as well as future research, this study contributes to teacher education improvement efforts, and therefore supports changing learning styles of their future students, so-called the iGeneration.

Toward Detection of Exoplanetary Rings via Transit Photometry: Methodology and a Possible Candidate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aizawa, Masataka; Masuda, Kento; Suto, Yasushi [Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033 (Japan); Uehara, Sho [Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-4397 (Japan); Kawahara, Hajime, E-mail: aizawa@utap.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)

2017-04-01

The detection of a planetary ring of exoplanets remains one of the most attractive, but challenging, goals in the field of exoplanetary science. We present a methodology that implements a systematic search for exoplanetary rings via transit photometry of long-period planets. This methodology relies on a precise integration scheme that we develop to compute a transit light curve of a ringed planet. We apply the methodology to 89 long-period planet candidates from the Kepler data so as to estimate, and/or set upper limits on, the parameters of possible rings. While the majority of our samples do not have sufficient signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) to place meaningful constraints on ring parameters, we find that six systems with higher S/Ns are inconsistent with the presence of a ring larger than 1.5 times the planetary radius, assuming a grazing orbit and a tilted ring. Furthermore, we identify five preliminary candidate systems whose light curves exhibit ring-like features. After removing four false positives due to the contamination from nearby stars, we identify KIC 10403228 as a reasonable candidate for a ringed planet. A systematic parameter fit of its light curve with a ringed planet model indicates two possible solutions corresponding to a Saturn-like planet with a tilted ring. There also remain two other possible scenarios accounting for the data; a circumstellar disk and a hierarchical triple. Due to large uncertain factors, we cannot choose one specific model among the three.

Preparation of candidate reference materials for the determination of phosphorus containing flame retardants in styrene-based polymers.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Thomas; Urpi Bertran, Raquel; Latza, Andreas; Andörfer-Lang, Katrin; Hügelschäffer, Claudia; Pöhlein, Manfred; Puchta, Ralph; Placht, Christian; Maid, Harald; Bauer, Walter; van Eldik, Rudi

2015-04-01

Candidate reference materials (RM) for the analysis of phosphorus-based flame retardants in styrene-based polymers were prepared using a self-made mini-extruder. Due to legal requirements of the current restriction for the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, focus now is placed on phosphorus-based flame retardants instead of the brominated kind. Newly developed analytical methods for the first-mentioned substances also require RMs similar to industrial samples for validation and verification purposes. Hence, the prepared candidate RMs contained resorcinol-bis-(diphenyl phosphate), bisphenol A bis(diphenyl phosphate), triphenyl phosphate and triphenyl phosphine oxide as phosphorus-based flame retardants. Blends of polycarbonate and acrylonitrile-co-butadiene-co-styrene as well as blends of high-impact polystyrene and polyphenylene oxide were chosen as carrier polymers. Homogeneity and thermal stability of the candidate RMs were investigated. Results showed that the candidate RMs were comparable to the available industrial materials. Measurements by ICP/OES, FTIR and NMR confirmed the expected concentrations of the flame retardants and proved that analyte loss and degradation, respectively, was below the uncertainty of measurement during the extrusion process. Thus, the candidate RMs were found to be suitable for laboratory use.

Electoral Competition when Candidates are Better Informed than Voters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Thomas

candidates are both completely office-motivated but differ in state-dependent quality. Voters have some information about the state but candidates are better informed. If voters' information is unknown to the candidates when they take positions and sufficiently accurate then candidates will, in refined...

Maladaptive eating behavior assessment among bariatric surgery candidates: Evaluation of the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Gail A; Hawkins, Misty A W; Duncan, Jennifer; Rummell, Christina M; Perkins, Shannon; Crowther, Janis H

2017-07-01

Eating pathology among bariatric surgery candidates is common and associated with adverse outcomes. However, its assessment is complicated by the inconsistent use of standardized measures. We addressed this by examining the use of the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) in a large bariatric sample (N = 343). To evaluate the EDDS among bariatric surgery candidates via examination of: (1) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) and fifth edition (DSM-5) rates of binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and maladaptive eating behaviors, and (2) the relationship between response biases and self-reported eating disorder symptoms. Participants were bariatric surgery candidates at a large public hospital in the Midwest. As part of a larger preoperative evaluation, 343 patients seeking bariatric surgery completed the EDDS and measures of problematic response bias. Approximately 16% of the sample met full threshold criteria for binge eating disorder using DSM-5 criteria. Using the DSM-IV-TR, rates were lower but still substantial at 13%. Rates for bulimia nervosa were 8% (DSM-5) and 6% (DSM-IV-TR). The majority (66.1%) of participants reported at least one binge-eating episode per week. The most commonly used compensatory behavior was fasting (20.4%), followed by excessive exercise (11.7%), laxative use (5.6%), and vomiting (1.8%). An inverse relationship between severity of the eating symptomatology and problematic response bias emerged. The EDDS shows promise as a screening tool that uses diagnostic criteria to provide rates of binge eating and eating psychopathology among surgical candidates. Our findings suggest that subsequent validation studies of this measure are needed, should address potential response bias concerns, and should employ clear definitions of binge eating to promote standardization of eating pathology assessment in the bariatric population. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Bariatric

Mastering JavaScript promises

CERN Document Server

Hussain, Muzzamil

2015-01-01

This book is for all the software and web engineers wanting to apply the promises paradigm to their next project and get the best outcome from it. This book also acts as a reference for the engineers who are already using promises in their projects and want to improve their current knowledge to reach the next level. To get the most benefit from this book, you should know basic programming concepts, have a familiarity with JavaScript, and a good understanding of HTML.

Proteomics for discovery of candidate colorectal cancer biomarkers

Science.gov (United States)

Álvarez-Chaver, Paula; Otero-Estévez, Olalla; Páez de la Cadena, María; Rodríguez-Berrocal, Francisco J; Martínez-Zorzano, Vicenta S

2014-01-01

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Europe and other Western countries, mainly due to the lack of well-validated clinically useful biomarkers with enough sensitivity and specificity to detect this disease at early stages. Although it is well known that the pathogenesis of CRC is a progressive accumulation of mutations in multiple genes, much less is known at the proteome level. Therefore, in the last years many proteomic studies have been conducted to find new candidate protein biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and as therapeutic targets for this malignancy, as well as to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of colorectal carcinogenesis. An important advantage of the proteomic approaches is the capacity to look for multiple differentially expressed proteins in a single study. This review provides an overview of the recent reports describing the different proteomic tools used for the discovery of new protein markers for CRC such as two-dimensional electrophoresis methods, quantitative mass spectrometry-based techniques or protein microarrays. Additionally, we will also focus on the diverse biological samples used for CRC biomarker discovery such as tissue, serum and faeces, besides cell lines and murine models, discussing their advantages and disadvantages, and summarize the most frequently identified candidate CRC markers. PMID:24744574

Detection of magnetized quark-nuggets, a candidate for dark matter.

Science.gov (United States)

VanDevender, J Pace; VanDevender, Aaron P; Sloan, T; Swaim, Criss; Wilson, Peter; Schmitt, Robert G; Zakirov, Rinat; Blum, Josh; Cross, James L; McGinley, Niall

2017-08-18

Quark nuggets are theoretical objects composed of approximately equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks and are also called strangelets and nuclearites. They have been proposed as a candidate for dark matter, which constitutes ~85% of the universe's mass and which has been a mystery for decades. Previous efforts to detect quark nuggets assumed that the nuclear-density core interacts directly with the surrounding matter so the stopping power is minimal. Tatsumi found that quark nuggets could well exist as a ferromagnetic liquid with a ~10 12 -T magnetic field. We find that the magnetic field produces a magnetopause with surrounding plasma, as the earth's magnetic field produces a magnetopause with the solar wind, and substantially increases their energy deposition rate in matter. We use the magnetopause model to compute the energy deposition as a function of quark-nugget mass and to analyze testing the quark-nugget hypothesis for dark matter by observations in air, water, and land. We conclude the water option is most promising.

Immunogenicity of novel mumps vaccine candidates generated by genetic modification.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Pei; Chen, Zhenhai; Phan, Shannon; Pickar, Adrian; He, Biao

2014-03-01

Mumps is a highly contagious human disease, characterized by lateral or bilateral nonsuppurative swelling of the parotid glands and neurological complications that can result in aseptic meningitis or encephalitis. A mumps vaccination program implemented since the 1960s reduced mumps incidence by more than 99% and kept the mumps case numbers as low as hundreds of cases per year in the United States before 2006. However, a large mumps outbreak occurred in vaccinated populations in 2006 and again in 2009 in the United States, raising concerns about the efficacy of the vaccination program. Previously, we have shown that clinical isolate-based recombinant mumps viruses lacking expression of either the V protein (rMuVΔV) or the SH protein (rMuVΔSH) are attenuated in a neurovirulence test using newborn rat brains (P. Xu et al., Virology 417:126-136, 2011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2011.05.003; P. Xu et al., J. Virol. 86:1768-1776, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.06019-11) and may be good candidates for vaccine development. In this study, we examined immunity induced by rMuVΔSH and rMuVΔV in mice. Furthermore, we generated recombinant mumps viruses lacking expression of both the V protein and the SH protein (rMuVΔSHΔV). Analysis of rMuVΔSHΔV indicated that it was stable in tissue culture cell lines. Importantly, rMuVΔSHΔV was immunogenic in mice, indicating that it is a promising candidate for mumps vaccine development.

11 CFR 110.13 - Candidate debates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... debates include at least two candidates; and (2) The staging organization(s) does not structure the... PROHIBITIONS § 110.13 Candidate debates. (a) Staging organizations. (1) Nonprofit organizations described in 26..., subparts D and E. (b) Debate structure. The structure of debates staged in accordance with this section and...

Candidate marketing takes the guessing game out of choosing employers.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Judith; Havel, Stacey

2010-01-01

Candidate marketing builds a foundation for relationships between employers and potential employees. Additionally, candidate marketing differentiates organizations in the marketplace. Organizations using candidate marketing to communicate the employer brand can expect a higher quality of candidates, and new employees are better prepared for the work environment and culture. Today, organizations can use a variety of integrated tools and techniques to communicate and build relationships with candidates. Candidate marketing demonstrates an organization's willingness towards transparency, and ability to invite open conversations between candidates and members of the organizations.

Relationship between candidate communication ability and oral certification examination scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunz, Mary E; Bashook, Philip G

2008-12-01

Structured case-based oral examinations are widely used in medical certifying examinations in the USA. These orals assess the candidate's decision-making skills using real or realistic patient cases. Frequently mentioned but not empirically evaluated is the potential bias introduced by the candidate's communication ability. This study aimed to assess the relationship between candidate communication ability and medical certification oral examination scores. Non-doctor communication observers rated a random sample of 90 candidates on communication ability during a medical oral certification examination. The multi-facet Rasch model was used to analyse the communication survey and the oral examination data. The multi-facet model accounts for observer and examiner severity bias. anova was used to measure differences in communication ability between passing and failing candidates and candidates grouped by level of communication ability. Pearson's correlations were used to compare candidate communication ability and oral certification examination performance. Candidate separation reliability values for the communication survey and the oral examination were 0.85 and 0.97, respectively, suggesting accurate candidate measurement. The correlation between communication scores and oral examination scores was 0.10. No significant difference was found between passing and failing candidates for measured communication ability. When candidates were grouped by high, moderate and low communication ability, there was no significant difference in their oral certification examination performance. Candidates' communication ability has little relationship to candidate performance on high-stakes, case-based oral examinations. Examiners for this certifying examination focused on assessing candidate decision-making ability and were not influenced by candidate communication ability.

Dissecting the organ specificity of insecticide resistance candidate genes in Anopheles gambiae: known and novel candidate genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingham, Victoria A; Jones, Christopher M; Pignatelli, Patricia; Balabanidou, Vasileia; Vontas, John; Wagstaff, Simon C; Moore, Jonathan D; Ranson, Hilary

2014-11-25

The elevated expression of enzymes with insecticide metabolism activity can lead to high levels of insecticide resistance in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae. In this study, adult female mosquitoes from an insecticide susceptible and resistant strain were dissected into four different body parts. RNA from each of these samples was used in microarray analysis to determine the enrichment patterns of the key detoxification gene families within the mosquito and to identify additional candidate insecticide resistance genes that may have been overlooked in previous experiments on whole organisms. A general enrichment in the transcription of genes from the four major detoxification gene families (carboxylesterases, glutathione transferases, UDP glucornyltransferases and cytochrome P450s) was observed in the midgut and malpighian tubules. Yet the subset of P450 genes that have previously been implicated in insecticide resistance in An gambiae, show a surprisingly varied profile of tissue enrichment, confirmed by qPCR and, for three candidates, by immunostaining. A stringent selection process was used to define a list of 105 genes that are significantly (p ≤0.001) over expressed in body parts from the resistant versus susceptible strain. Over half of these, including all the cytochrome P450s on this list, were identified in previous whole organism comparisons between the strains, but several new candidates were detected, notably from comparisons of the transcriptomes from dissected abdomen integuments. The use of RNA extracted from the whole organism to identify candidate insecticide resistance genes has a risk of missing candidates if key genes responsible for the phenotype have restricted expression within the body and/or are over expression only in certain tissues. However, as transcription of genes implicated in metabolic resistance to insecticides is not enriched in any one single organ, comparison of the transcriptome of individual dissected body parts cannot

Evaluating historical candidate genes for schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farrell, M S; Werge, T; Sklar, P

2015-01-01

Prior to the genome-wide association era, candidate gene studies were a major approach in schizophrenia genetics. In this invited review, we consider the current status of 25 historical candidate genes for schizophrenia (for example, COMT, DISC1, DTNBP1 and NRG1). The initial study for 24 of thes...

NEW YOUNG STAR CANDIDATES IN THE TAURUS-AURIGA REGION AS SELECTED FROM THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rebull, L. M.; Padgett, D. L.; Noriega-Crespo, A.

2011-01-01

The Taurus Molecular Cloud subtends a large solid angle on the sky, in excess of 250 deg 2 . The search for legitimate Taurus members to date has been limited by sky coverage as well as the challenge of distinguishing members from field interlopers. The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has recently observed the entire sky, and we take advantage of the opportunity to search for young stellar object (YSO) candidate Taurus members from a ∼260 deg 2 region designed to encompass previously identified Taurus members. We use near- and mid-infrared colors to select objects with apparent infrared excesses and incorporate other catalogs of ancillary data to present a list of rediscovered Taurus YSOs with infrared excesses (taken to be due to circumstellar disks), a list of rejected YSO candidates (largely galaxies), and a list of 94 surviving candidate new YSO-like Taurus members. There is likely to be contamination lingering in this candidate list, and follow-up spectra are warranted.

Silver oxide nanocrystals anchored on titanate nanotubes and nanofibers: promising candidates for entrapment of radioactive iodine anions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Dongjiang; Liu, Hongwei; Liu, Long; Sarina, Sarina; Zheng, Zhanfeng; Zhu, Huaiyong

2013-11-21

Iodine radioisotopes are released into the environment by the nuclear industry and medical research institutions using radioactive materials. The (129)I(-) anion is one of the more mobile radioactive species due to a long half-life, and it is a great challenge to design long-term management solutions for such radioactive waste. In this study, a new adsorbent structure with the potential to efficiently remove radioactive iodine anions (I(-)) from water is devised: silver oxide (Ag2O) nanocrystals firmly anchored on the surface of titanate nanotubes and nanofibers via coherent interfaces between Ag2O and titanate phases. I(-) anions in fluids can easily access the Ag2O nanocrystals and be efficiently trapped by forming AgI precipitate that firmly attaches to the adsorbent. Due to their one-dimensional morphology, the new adsorbents can be readily dispersed in liquids and easily separated after purification; and the adsorption beds loaded with the adsorbents can permit high flux. This significantly enhances the adsorption efficiency and reduces the separation costs. The proposed structure reveals a new direction in developing efficient adsorbents for the removal of radioactive anions from wastewater.

Psychometric Personality Differences Between Candidates in Astronaut Selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Mittelstädt, Justin M; Pecena, Yvonne; Oubaid, Viktor; Maschke, Peter

This paper investigates personality traits as potential factors for success in an astronaut selection by comparing personality profiles of unsuccessful and successful astronaut candidates in different phases of the ESA selection procedure. It is further addressed whether personality traits could predict an overall assessment rating at the end of the selection. In 2008/2009, ESA performed an astronaut selection with 902 candidates who were either psychologically recommended for mission training (N = 46) or failed in basic aptitude (N = 710) or Assessment Center and interview testing (N = 146). Candidates completed the Temperament Structure Scales (TSS) and the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R). Those candidates who failed in basic aptitude testing showed higher levels of Neuroticism (M = 49.8) than the candidates who passed that phase (M = 45.4 and M = 41.6). Additionally, candidates who failed in basic testing had lower levels of Agreeableness (M = 132.9) than recommended candidates (M = 138.1). TSS scales for Achievement (r = 0.19) and Vitality (r = 0.18) showed a significant correlation with the overall assessment rating given by a panel board after a final interview. Results indicate that a personality profile similar to Helmreich's "Right Stuff" is beneficial in astronaut selection. Influences of test anxiety on performance are discussed. Mittelstädt JM, Pecena Y, Oubaid V, Maschke P. Psychometric personality differences between candidates in astronaut selection. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(11):933-939.

Lavandula angustifolia essential oil as a novel and promising natural candidate for tick (Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus) control.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirali-Kheirabadi, Khodadad; Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A

2010-10-01

Lavandula angustifolia is a well known herbal medicine with a variety of useful properties, including its acaricidal effect. This experiment was carried out to study the bioacaricidal activity of L. angustifolia essential oil (EO) against engorged Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Acari; Ixodidae) females. For this purpose six serial concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0 and 8.0% w/v) of L. angustifolia EO were used. There was considerable mortality in concentrations more than 4.0% although there were no differences between 6.0 and 8.0% in all measured criteria. The mortality rate 24 h after inoculation was 73.26 and 100% in groups treated with 4.0 and 8.0% EO, respectively. Lavender EO also reduced tick egg weight in a concentration-dependent manner. The amount of eggs produced varied from 0.12 g (at 0.5% EO) to 0.00 g (at 8.0% EO) but did not differ statistically from the control. L. angustifolia EO caused 100% failure in egg laying at 6.0 and 8.0% whereas this value in the control group was zero. A positive correlation between L. angustifolia EO concentration and tick control, assessed by relative mortality rate and egg-laying weight, was observed by the EO LC/EC(50), which, when calculated using the Probit test, was 2.76-fold higher than the control. Lavender is a promising acaricidal against R. (B.) annulatus in vitro. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identification of KIF3A as a Novel Candidate Gene for Childhood Asthma Using RNA Expression and Population Allelic Frequencies Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Butsch Kovacic, Melinda; Biagini Myers, Jocelyn M.; Wang, Ning; Martin, Lisa J.; Lindsey, Mark; Ericksen, Mark B.; He, Hua; Patterson, Tia L.; Baye, Tesfaye M.; Torgerson, Dara; Roth, Lindsey A.; Gupta, Jayanta; Sivaprasad, Umasundari; Gibson, Aaron M.; Tsoras, Anna M.; Hu, Donglei; Eng, Celeste; Chapela, Rocío; Rodríguez-Santana, José R.; Rodríguez-Cintrón, William; Avila, Pedro C.; Beckman, Kenneth; Seibold, Max A.; Gignoux, Chris; Musaad, Salma M.; Chen, Weiguo; Burchard, Esteban González; Khurana Hershey, Gurjit K.

2011-01-01

Background Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease with a strong genetic predisposition. A major challenge for candidate gene association studies in asthma is the selection of biologically relevant genes. Methodology/Principal Findings Using epithelial RNA expression arrays, HapMap allele frequency variation, and the literature, we identified six possible candidate susceptibility genes for childhood asthma including ADCY2, DNAH5, KIF3A, PDE4B, PLAU, SPRR2B. To evaluate these genes, we compared the genotypes of 194 predominantly tagging SNPs in 790 asthmatic, allergic and non-allergic children. We found that SNPs in all six genes were nominally associated with asthma (pasthma (OR = 2.3, pasthma population attributable risk of 18.5%. The association between KIF3A rs7737031 and asthma was validated in 3 independent populations, further substantiating the validity of our gene selection approach. Conclusions/Significance Our study demonstrates that KIF3A, a member of the kinesin superfamily of microtubule associated motors that are important in the transport of protein complexes within cilia, is a novel candidate gene for childhood asthma. Polymorphisms in KIF3A may in part be responsible for poor mucus and/or allergen clearance from the airways. Furthermore, our study provides a promising framework for the identification and evaluation of novel candidate susceptibility genes. PMID:21912604

Judges' perception of candidates' organization and communication, in relation to oral certification examination ratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston, James E; Myford, Carol M

2009-11-01

To determine (1) whether judges differed in the levels of severity they exercised when rating candidates' performance in an oral certification exam, (2) to what extent candidates' clinical competence ratings were related to their organization/communication ratings, and (3) to what extent clinical competence ratings could predict organization/communication ratings. Six hundred eighty-four physicians participated in a medical specialty board's 2002 oral examination. Ninety-nine senior members of the medical specialty served as judges, rating candidates' performances. Candidates' clinical competence ratings were analyzed using multifaceted Rasch measurement to investigate judge severity. A Pearson correlation was calculated to examine the relationship between ratings of clinical competence and organization/communication. Logistic regression was used to determine to what extent clinical competence ratings predicted organization/communication ratings. There were about three statistically distinct strata of judge severity; judges were not interchangeable. There was a moderately strong relationship between the two sets of candidate ratings. Higher clinical competence ratings were associated with an organization/communication rating of acceptable, whereas lower clinical competence ratings were associated with an organization/communication rating of unacceptable. The judges' clinical competence ratings correctly predicted 61.9% of the acceptable and 88.3% of the unacceptable organization/communication ratings. Overall, the clinical competence ratings correctly predicted 80% of the organization/communication ratings. The close association between the two sets of ratings was possibly due to a "halo" effect. Several explanations for this relationship were explored, and the authors considered the implications for their understanding of how judges carry out this complex rating task.

Rapid discovery of peptide capture candidates with demonstrated specificity for structurally similar toxins

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkes, Deborah A.; Hurley, Margaret M.; Coppock, Matthew B.; Farrell, Mikella E.; Pellegrino, Paul M.; Stratis-Cullum, Dimitra N.

2016-05-01

Peptides have emerged as viable alternatives to antibodies for molecular-based sensing due to their similarity in recognition ability despite their relative structural simplicity. Various methods for peptide capture reagent discovery exist, including phage display, yeast display, and bacterial display. One of the primary advantages of peptide discovery by bacterial display technology is the speed to candidate peptide capture agent, due to both rapid growth of bacteria and direct utilization of the sorted cells displaying each individual peptide for the subsequent round of biopanning. We have previously isolated peptide affinity reagents towards protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis using a commercially available automated magnetic sorting platform with improved enrichment as compared to manual magnetic sorting. In this work, we focus on adapting our automated biopanning method to a more challenging sort, to demonstrate the specificity possible with peptide capture agents. This was achieved using non-toxic, recombinant variants of ricin and abrin, RiVax and abrax, respectively, which are structurally similar Type II ribosomal inactivating proteins with significant sequence homology. After only two rounds of biopanning, enrichment of peptide capture candidates binding abrax but not RiVax was achieved as demonstrated by Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) studies. Further sorting optimization included negative sorting against RiVax, proper selection of autoMACS programs for specific sorting rounds, and using freshly made buffer and freshly thawed protein target for each round of biopanning for continued enrichment over all four rounds. Most of the resulting candidates from biopanning for abrax binding peptides were able to bind abrax but not RiVax, demonstrating that short peptide sequences can be highly specific even at this early discovery stage.

Innovation in values based public health nursing student selection: A qualitative evaluation of candidate and selection panel member perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

McGraw, Caroline; Abbott, Stephen; Brook, Judy

2018-02-19

Values based recruitment emerges from the premise that a high degree of value congruence, or the extent to which an individual's values are similar to those of the health organization in which they work, leads to organizational effectiveness. The aim of this evaluation was to explore how candidates and selection panel members experienced and perceived innovative methods of values based public health nursing student selection. The evaluation was framed by a qualitative exploratory design involving semi-structured interviews and a group exercise. Data were thematically analyzed. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with selection panel members. Twenty-two successful candidates took part in a group exercise. The use of photo elicitation interviews and situational judgment questions in the context of selection to a university-run public health nursing educational program was explored. While candidates were ambivalent about the use of photo elicitation interviews, with some misunderstanding the task, selection panel members saw the benefits for improving candidate expression and reducing gaming and deception. Situational interview questions were endorsed by candidates and selection panel members due to their fidelity to real-life problems and the ability of panel members to discern value congruence from candidates' responses. Both techniques offered innovative solutions to candidate selection for entry to the public health nursing education program. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Graphene as current spreading layer on AlGaInP light emitting diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xia; Feng, Yajie; Liu, Qiaoli; Hu, Anqi; He, Xiaoying; Hu, Zonghai

2018-05-01

Due to high transmittance and high mobility, graphene is one of the promising candidates for a current spreading layer, which is crucial to light emitting diode (LED) performance. In this paper, improved AlGaInP LED performance was reported after graphene was applied on the GaP surface. Due to its lowered work function difference than with the GaN material, the electrical properties remain the same without additional voltage bias. The light output power is enhanced by about 40% under the current injection of 5 mA at room temperature, which was confirmed by the light emission profile analysis in this study. Such results indicate that raphene is a promising candidate as a current spreading layer under low current injection.

PEACE: pulsar evaluation algorithm for candidate extraction - a software package for post-analysis processing of pulsar survey candidates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lee, K.J.; Stovall, K.; Jenet, F.A.; Martinez, J.; Dartez, L.P.; Mata, A.; Lunsford, G.; Cohen, S.; Biwer, C.M.; Rohr, M.; Flanigan, J.; Walker, A.; Banaszak, S.; Allen, B.; Barr, E.D.; Bhat, N.D.R.; Bogdanov, S.; Brazier, A.; Camilo, F.; Champion, D.J.; Chatterjee, S.; Cordes, J.; Crawford, F.; Deneva, J.; Desvignes, G.; Ferdman, R.D.; Freire, P.; Hessels, J.W.T.; Karuppusamy, R.; Kaspi, V.M.; Knispel, B.; Kramer, M.; Lazarus, P.; Lynch, R.; Lyne, A.; McLaughlin, M.; Ransom, S.; Scholz, P.; Siemens, X.; Spitler, L.; Stairs, I.; Tan, M.; van Leeuwen, J.; Zhu, W.W.

2013-01-01

Modern radio pulsar surveys produce a large volume of prospective candidates, the majority of which are polluted by human-created radio frequency interference or other forms of noise. Typically, large numbers of candidates need to be visually inspected in order to determine if they are real pulsars.

Elections, Information, and State-Dependent Candidate Quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Thomas

voters are uncertain about the state. Candidates are fully informed and completely office-motivated. With a reasonable restriction on voters' beliefs, an equilibrium where candidates' positions reveal the true state does not exist. Non-revealing equilibria always exist. Some main findings...

Multiplicity and properties of Kepler planet candidates: High spatial imaging and RV studies*

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aceituno J.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The Kepler space telescope is discovering thousands of new planet candidates. However, a follow up program is needed in order to reject false candidates and to fully characterize the bona-fide exoplanets. Our main aims are: 1./ Detect and analyze close companions inside the typical Kepler PSF to study if they are the responsible of the dim in the Kepler light curves, 2./ Study the change in the stellar and planetary parameters due to the presence of an unresolved object, 3./ Help to validate those Kepler Objects of Interest that do not present any object inside the Kepler PSF and 4./ Study the multiplicity rate in planet host candidates. Such a large sample of observed planet host candidates allows us to do statistics about the presence of close (visual or bounded companions to the harboring star. We present here Lucky Imaging observations for a total amount of 98 Kepler Objects of Interest. This technique is based on the acquisition of thousands of very short exposure time images. Then, a selection and combination of a small amount of the best quality frames provides a high resolution image with objects having a 0.1 arcsec PSF. We applied this technique to carry out observations in the Sloan i and Sloan z filters of our Kepler candidates. We find blended objects inside the Kepler PSF for a significant percentage of KOIs. On one hand, only 58.2% of the hosts do not present any object within 6 arcsec. On the other hand, we have found 19 companions closer than 3 arcsec in 17 KOIs. According to their magnitudes and i − z color, 8 of them could be physically bounded to the host star. We are also collecting high-spectral resolution spectroscopuy in order to derive the planet properties.

Achievement Motivation of Primary Mathematics Education Teacher Candidates According to Their Cognitive Styles and Motivation Styles

Science.gov (United States)

Yaman, Hakan; Dündar, Sefa; Ayvaz, Ülkü

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to reveal whether there is relation between achievement motivations of teacher candidates according to their cognitive styles and motivation styles or not. This study was designed as a quantitative study due to collecting quantitative data and running statistical analyses. Both comparative and correlational survey methods…

Indenopyride derivative RTI-4587-073(l): a candidate for male contraception in stallions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pozor, Malgorzata A; Macpherson, Margo L; McDonnell, Sue M; Nollin, Maggie; Roser, Janet F; Love, Charles; Runyon, Scott; Thomas, Brian F; Troedsson, Mats H

2013-12-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether an indenopyridine derivative RTI-4587-073(l) was a good candidate for male contraception in horses. We hypothesized that a single administration of RTI-4587-073(l) causes significant suppression of testicular function in stallions without affecting sexual behavior. Three Miniature horse stallions received a single dose of 12.5 mg/kg RTI-4587-073(l) orally (group "treated"), whereas three other Miniature horse stallions received placebo only (group "control"). Semen was collected and evaluated from all stallions twice a week for three baseline weeks and 13 post-treatment weeks. Sexual behavior was video-recorded and analyzed. Testicular dimensions were measured using ultrasonography, and blood samples were drawn for endocrine evaluation once before treatment and once a week during the post-treatment period. Single administration of RTI-4587-073(l) caused severe oligoasthenozoospermia (low sperm number and low motility), shedding large numbers of immature germ cells in semen, and increased FSH concentrations in treated stallions. These effects were fully reversible within ∼71 days. However, libido and copulatory behavior remained unchanged throughout the entire experiment. We concluded that RTI-4587-073(l) was a promising candidate for male contraceptive in domestic stallions. Further research should be performed to test this compound for fertility control in wildlife and humans. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

French presidential election: nuclear energy in candidates' program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Ngoc, B.

2017-01-01

Generally right candidates consider nuclear energy as a chance for France because it is an industrial asset for the country, it releases no greenhouse gases and has given France its large energy independence. They are ready to reconsider the limitation imposed on the share of nuclear energy in the future energy mix and they want to reinforce research for next generations of reactors. The far-right candidate wishes to use nuclear energy massively to produce hydrogen in order to reduce by half the consumption of fossil energies in 20 years. Generally left candidates back the law on the energy transition that was passed during last legislature and that limits the nuclear power share to 50% while developing green energies. The far-left candidates wish a progressive and complete abandon of nuclear energy. All candidates wish a greater share of renewable energies in the future energy mix. (A.C.)

Waiting narratives of lung transplant candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Yelle, Maria T; Stevens, Patricia E; Lanuza, Dorothy M

2013-01-01

Before 2005, time accrued on the lung transplant waiting list counted towards who was next in line for a donor lung. Then in 2005 the lung allocation scoring system was implemented, which meant the higher the illness severity scores, the higher the priority on the transplant list. Little is known of the lung transplant candidates who were listed before 2005 and were caught in the transition when the lung allocation scoring system was implemented. A narrative analysis was conducted to explore the illness narratives of seven lung transplant candidates between 2006 and 2007. Arthur Kleinman's concept of illness narratives was used as a conceptual framework for this study to give voice to the illness narratives of lung transplant candidates. Results of this study illustrate that lung transplant candidates expressed a need to tell their personal story of waiting and to be heard. Recommendation from this study calls for healthcare providers to create the time to enable illness narratives of the suffering of waiting to be told. Narrative skills of listening to stories of emotional suffering would enhance how healthcare providers could attend to patients' stories and hear what is most meaningful in their lives.

Waiting Narratives of Lung Transplant Candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria T. Yelle

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Before 2005, time accrued on the lung transplant waiting list counted towards who was next in line for a donor lung. Then in 2005 the lung allocation scoring system was implemented, which meant the higher the illness severity scores, the higher the priority on the transplant list. Little is known of the lung transplant candidates who were listed before 2005 and were caught in the transition when the lung allocation scoring system was implemented. A narrative analysis was conducted to explore the illness narratives of seven lung transplant candidates between 2006 and 2007. Arthur Kleinman’s concept of illness narratives was used as a conceptual framework for this study to give voice to the illness narratives of lung transplant candidates. Results of this study illustrate that lung transplant candidates expressed a need to tell their personal story of waiting and to be heard. Recommendation from this study calls for healthcare providers to create the time to enable illness narratives of the suffering of waiting to be told. Narrative skills of listening to stories of emotional suffering would enhance how healthcare providers could attend to patients’ stories and hear what is most meaningful in their lives.

Probiotic abilities of riboflavin-overproducing Lactobacillus strains: a novel promising application of probiotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Arena, Mattia P; Russo, Pasquale; Capozzi, Vittorio; López, Paloma; Fiocco, Daniela; Spano, Giuseppe

2014-09-01

The probiotic potential of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum strains, capable of overproducing riboflavin, was investigated. The riboflavin production was quantified in co-cultures of lactobacilli and human intestinal epithelial cells, and the riboflavin overproduction ability was confirmed. When milk and yogurt were used as carrier matrices, L. plantarum and L. fermentum strains displayed a significant ability to survive through simulated gastrointestinal transit. Adhesion was studied on both biotic and abiotic surfaces. Both strains adhered strongly on Caco-2 cells, negatively influenced the adhesion of Escherichia coli O157:H7, and strongly inhibited the growth of three reference pathogenic microbial strains. Resistance to major antibiotics and potential hemolytic activity were assayed. Overall, this study reveals that these Lactobacillus stains are endowed with promising probiotic properties and thus are candidates for the development of novel functional food which would be both enriched in riboflavin and induce additional health benefits, including a potential in situ riboflavin production, once the microorganisms colonize the host intestine.

Indico CONFERENCE: Candidate participant's registration/application

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Ferreira, Pedro

2017-01-01

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to apply as a candidate participant (if the event requires approval from the event manager) or to register (if participation to the event doesn't require approval from an event manager) to the conference using the registration form for the event. You are also going to learn how to approve a candidate participant's application as an event manager.

Growth and Magnetotransport Properties of Dirac Semimetal Candidate Cu3PdN

Science.gov (United States)

Quintela, C. X.; Campbell, N.; Harris, D. T.; Shao, D. F.; Xie, L.; Pan, X. Q.; Tsymbal, E. Y.; Rzchowski, M. S.; Eom, C. B.

Since the discovery of three-dimensional Dirac semimetals (DSM) Cd3As2 and Na3Bi, many efforts have been made to identify new DSM materials. Recently, nitride antiperovskite Cu3PdN has been proposed by two different groups as a new DSM candidate. However, until now, the experimental realization of bulk Cu3PdN and the study of its electronic properties has been hindered due to the difficulty of synthesizing bulk single crystals of this material. Here, we report the first growth and magnetotransport characterization of epitaxial Cu3PdN thin films on (001) SrTiO3 substrates. Magnetotransport measurements reveal p-type metallic conduction with very low temperature coefficient of the resistance and small non-linear magnetoresistance at low temperatures. The successful growth of Cu3PdN thin films opens the path to investigating the unknown electronic properties of this material, and provides a template for further research on other antiperovskite DSM candidates such as Cu3ZnN.

DUAL SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE CANDIDATES IN THE AGN AND GALAXY EVOLUTION SURVEY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comerford, Julia M.; Schluns, Kyle; Greene, Jenny E.; Cool, Richard J.

2013-01-01

Dual supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with kiloparsec-scale separations in merger-remnant galaxies are informative tracers of galaxy evolution, but the avenue for identifying them in large numbers for such studies is not yet clear. One promising approach is to target spectroscopic signatures of systems where both SMBHs are fueled as dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or where one SMBH is fueled as an offset AGN. Dual AGNs may produce double-peaked narrow AGN emission lines, while offset AGNs may produce single-peaked narrow AGN emission lines with line-of-sight velocity offsets relative to the host galaxy. We search for such dual and offset systems among 173 Type 2 AGNs at z +3.6 -1.9 % to 18 +5 -5 %). This may be associated with the rise in the galaxy merger fraction over the same cosmic time. As further evidence for a link with galaxy mergers, the AGES offset and dual AGN candidates are tentatively ∼3 times more likely than the overall AGN population to reside in a host galaxy that has a companion galaxy (from 16/173 to 2/7, or 9 +3 -2 % to 29 -19 +26 %). Follow-up observations of the seven offset and dual AGN candidates in AGES will definitively distinguish velocity offsets produced by dual SMBHs from those produced by narrow-line region kinematics, and will help sharpen our observational approach to detecting dual SMBHs

The psychological assessment of candidates for reconstructive hand transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumnig, Martin; Jowsey, Sheila G; Rumpold, Gerhard; Weissenbacher, Annemarie; Hautz, Theresa; Engelhardt, Timm O; Brandacher, Gerald; Gabl, Markus; Ninkovic, Marina; Rieger, Michael; Zelger, Bernhard; Zelger, Bettina; Blauth, Michael; Margreiter, Raimund; Pierer, Gerhard; Pratschke, Johann; Schneeberger, Stefan

2012-05-01

Standardized psychological assessment of candidates for reconstructive hand transplantation (RHT) is a new approach in transplantation medicine. Currently, international guidelines and standardized criteria for the evaluation are not established. Patients suffering from the loss of a hand or an upper extremity have to cope with multiple challenges. For a selected group of patients, RHT represents an option for restoring natural function and for regaining daily living independence. The identification of at-risk patients and those requiring ongoing counseling due to poor coping or limited psychological resources are the primary focus of the psychological assessment. We have developed the 'Innsbruck Psychological Screening Program for Reconstructive Transplantation (iRT-PSP)' which utilizes a semi-structured interview and standardized psychological screening procedures and continuous follow-up ratings. Between January 2011 and October 2011, four candidates were evaluated using the iRT-PSP. Psychological impairments including social withdrawal, embarrassment, reduced self-esteem, and a depressive coping style were identified and poor quality of life was reported. The motivation for transplantation was diverse, depending on many factors such as bi- or unilateral impairment, native or accidental loss of hand, and social integration. © 2012 The Authors. Transplant International © 2012 European Society for Organ Transplantation.

Assessment of Economic Feasibility on Promising Wind Energy Sites in Myanmar

OpenAIRE

Soe, Thi Thi; Zheng, Maosheng; Aung, Zar Ni

2016-01-01

Due to lack of reliable wind data measured on site by high tower mast, the preliminarily wind atlas of Myanmar is forecasted with Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) reanalysis data using in ArcGIS. From the result wind- map, the promising areas were found in Arakan, Pathein, Yangon, Ye which lie at coastal area in Myanmar and of which wind power density can be used for village power application with isolated-grid. To evaluate the annual energy production of...

Realizing the promises of marine biotechnology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luiten, EEM; Akkerman, [No Value; Koulman, A; Kamermans, P; Reith, H; Barbosa, MJ; Sipkema, D; Wijffels, RH

High-quality research in the field of marine biotechnology is one of the key-factors for successful innovation in exploiting the vast diversity of marine life. However, fascinating scientific research with promising results and claims on promising potential applications (e.g. for pharmaceuticals,

Realizing the promises of marine biotechnology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luiten, E.E.M.; Akkerman, I.; Koulman, A.; Kamermans, P.; Reith, H.; Barbosa, M.J.; Sipkema, D.; Wijffels, R.H.

2003-01-01

High-quality research in the field of marine biotechnology is one of the key-factors for successful innovation in exploiting the vast diversity of marine life. However, fascinating scientific research with promising results and claims on promising potential applications (e.g. for pharmaceuticals,

Developing Potential Candidates of Preclinical Preeclampsia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Founds

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The potential for developing molecules of interest in preclinical preeclampsia from candidate genes that were discovered on gene expression microarray analysis has been challenged by limited access to additional first trimester trophoblast and decidual tissues. The question of whether these candidates encode secreted proteins that may be detected in maternal circulation early in pregnancy has been investigated using various proteomic methods. Pilot studies utilizing mass spectrometry based proteomic assays, along with enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs, and Western immunoblotting in first trimester samples are reported. The novel targeted mass spectrometry methods led to robust multiple reaction monitoring assays. Despite detection of several candidates in early gestation, challenges persist. Future antibody-based studies may lead to a novel multiplex protein panel for screening or detection to prevent or mitigate preeclampsia.

An annotated history of container candidate material selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCright, R.D.

1988-07-01

This paper documents events in the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project that have influenced the selection of metals and alloys proposed for fabrication of waste package containers for permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste in a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The time period from 1981 to 1988 is covered in this annotated history. The history traces the candidate materials that have been considered at different stages of site characterization planning activities. At present, six candidate materials are considered and described in the 1988 Consultation Draft of the NNWSI Site Characterization Plan (SCP). The six materials are grouped into two alloy families, copper-base materials and iron to nickel-base materials with an austenitic structure. The three austenitic candidates resulted from a 1983 survey of a longer list of candidate materials; the other three candidates resulted from a special request from DOE in 1984 to evaluate copper and copper-base alloys. 24 refs., 2 tabs

Search for Gamma-Ray Emission from DES Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy Candidates with Fermi-LAT Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Drlica-Wagner, A.; et al.

2015-08-04

Due to their proximity, high dark-matter (DM) content, and apparent absence of non-thermal processes, Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) are excellent targets for the indirect detection of DM. Recently, eight new dSph candidates were discovered using the first year of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We searched for gamma-ray emission coincident with the positions of these new objects in six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data. We found no significant excesses of gamma-ray emission. Under the assumption that the DES candidates are dSphs with DM halo properties similar to the known dSphs, we computed individual and combined limits on the velocity-averaged DM annihilation cross section for these new targets. If the estimated DM content of these dSph candidates is confirmed, they will constrain the annihilation cross section to lie below the thermal relic cross section for DM particles with masses $\\lesssim 20\\,\\mathrm{GeV}$ annihilating via the $b\\bar{b}$ or τ(+)τ(-) channels.

Structural origination of charge transfer complex nanostructures: Excellent candidate for field emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pal, Shreyasi; Chattopadhyay, Kalyan Kumar

2016-01-01

Worldwide strategies for amalgamating rationally controlled one-dimensional organic nanowires are of fundamental importance for their applications in flexible, cheaper and lighter electronics. In this work we have fabricated large-area, ordered CuTCNQ (copper-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) nano architecture arrays over flexible conducting substrate and discussed the rational growth and integration of nanostructures. Here we adopted the organic solid phase reaction (VLS) technique for the growth of organic hierarchies and investigated how field emission properties changes by tuning the nanostructures morphology i.e., by varying length, diameter, alignment and orientation over flexible substrate. The CuTCNQ nanowires with optimized geometry exhibit excellent high field emission performance with low turn-on and threshold field values. The result strongly indicate that CuTCNQ nanowires on flexible carbon cloth substrate are promising candidates for constructing cold cathode based emission display devices, vacuum nanoelectronics, and etc.

Structural origination of charge transfer complex nanostructures: Excellent candidate for field emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pal, Shreyasi; Chattopadhyay, Kalyan Kumar [Thin Films and Nanoscience Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032 (India)

2016-05-23

Worldwide strategies for amalgamating rationally controlled one-dimensional organic nanowires are of fundamental importance for their applications in flexible, cheaper and lighter electronics. In this work we have fabricated large-area, ordered CuTCNQ (copper-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) nano architecture arrays over flexible conducting substrate and discussed the rational growth and integration of nanostructures. Here we adopted the organic solid phase reaction (VLS) technique for the growth of organic hierarchies and investigated how field emission properties changes by tuning the nanostructures morphology i.e., by varying length, diameter, alignment and orientation over flexible substrate. The CuTCNQ nanowires with optimized geometry exhibit excellent high field emission performance with low turn-on and threshold field values. The result strongly indicate that CuTCNQ nanowires on flexible carbon cloth substrate are promising candidates for constructing cold cathode based emission display devices, vacuum nanoelectronics, and etc.

In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity

KAUST Repository

Pahil, Sapna

2017-08-02

Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery is an important cause of diarrhea, with the majority of the cases occurring in developing countries. Considering the high disease burden, increasing antibiotic resistance, serotype-specific immunity and the post-infectious sequelae associated with shigellosis, there is a pressing need of an effective vaccine against multiple serotypes of the pathogen. In the present study, we used bio-informatics approach to identify antigens shared among multiple serotypes of Shigella spp. This approach led to the identification of many immunogenic peptides. The five most promising peptides based on MHC binding efficiency were a putative lipoprotein (EL PGI I), a putative heat shock protein (EL PGI II), Spa32 (EL PGI III), IcsB (EL PGI IV) and a hypothetical protein (EL PGI V). These peptides were synthesized and the immunogenicity was evaluated in BALB/c mice by ELISA and cytokine assays. The putative heat shock protein (HSP) and the hypothetical protein elicited good humoral response, whereas putative lipoprotein, Spa32 and IcsB elicited good T-cell response as revealed by increased IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokine levels. The patient sera from confirmed cases of shigellosis were also evaluated for the presence of peptide specific antibodies with significant IgG and IgA antibodies against the HSP and the hypothetical protein, bestowing them as potential future vaccine candidates. The antigens reported in this study are novel and have not been tested as vaccine candidates against Shigella. This study offers time and cost-effective way of identifying unprecedented immunogenic antigens to be used as potential vaccine candidates. Moreover, this approach should easily be extendable to find new potential vaccine candidates for other pathogenic bacteria.

In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pahil, Sapna; Taneja, Neelam; Ansari, Hifzur Rahman; Raghava, G P S

2017-01-01

Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery is an important cause of diarrhea, with the majority of the cases occurring in developing countries. Considering the high disease burden, increasing antibiotic resistance, serotype-specific immunity and the post-infectious sequelae associated with shigellosis, there is a pressing need of an effective vaccine against multiple serotypes of the pathogen. In the present study, we used bio-informatics approach to identify antigens shared among multiple serotypes of Shigella spp. This approach led to the identification of many immunogenic peptides. The five most promising peptides based on MHC binding efficiency were a putative lipoprotein (EL PGI I), a putative heat shock protein (EL PGI II), Spa32 (EL PGI III), IcsB (EL PGI IV) and a hypothetical protein (EL PGI V). These peptides were synthesized and the immunogenicity was evaluated in BALB/c mice by ELISA and cytokine assays. The putative heat shock protein (HSP) and the hypothetical protein elicited good humoral response, whereas putative lipoprotein, Spa32 and IcsB elicited good T-cell response as revealed by increased IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokine levels. The patient sera from confirmed cases of shigellosis were also evaluated for the presence of peptide specific antibodies with significant IgG and IgA antibodies against the HSP and the hypothetical protein, bestowing them as potential future vaccine candidates. The antigens reported in this study are novel and have not been tested as vaccine candidates against Shigella. This study offers time and cost-effective way of identifying unprecedented immunogenic antigens to be used as potential vaccine candidates. Moreover, this approach should easily be extendable to find new potential vaccine candidates for other pathogenic bacteria.

In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity

KAUST Repository

Pahil, Sapna; Taneja, Neelam; Ansari, Hifzur Rahman; Raghava, G. P. S.

2017-01-01

Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery is an important cause of diarrhea, with the majority of the cases occurring in developing countries. Considering the high disease burden, increasing antibiotic resistance, serotype-specific immunity and the post-infectious sequelae associated with shigellosis, there is a pressing need of an effective vaccine against multiple serotypes of the pathogen. In the present study, we used bio-informatics approach to identify antigens shared among multiple serotypes of Shigella spp. This approach led to the identification of many immunogenic peptides. The five most promising peptides based on MHC binding efficiency were a putative lipoprotein (EL PGI I), a putative heat shock protein (EL PGI II), Spa32 (EL PGI III), IcsB (EL PGI IV) and a hypothetical protein (EL PGI V). These peptides were synthesized and the immunogenicity was evaluated in BALB/c mice by ELISA and cytokine assays. The putative heat shock protein (HSP) and the hypothetical protein elicited good humoral response, whereas putative lipoprotein, Spa32 and IcsB elicited good T-cell response as revealed by increased IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokine levels. The patient sera from confirmed cases of shigellosis were also evaluated for the presence of peptide specific antibodies with significant IgG and IgA antibodies against the HSP and the hypothetical protein, bestowing them as potential future vaccine candidates. The antigens reported in this study are novel and have not been tested as vaccine candidates against Shigella. This study offers time and cost-effective way of identifying unprecedented immunogenic antigens to be used as potential vaccine candidates. Moreover, this approach should easily be extendable to find new potential vaccine candidates for other pathogenic bacteria.

In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sapna Pahil

Full Text Available Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery is an important cause of diarrhea, with the majority of the cases occurring in developing countries. Considering the high disease burden, increasing antibiotic resistance, serotype-specific immunity and the post-infectious sequelae associated with shigellosis, there is a pressing need of an effective vaccine against multiple serotypes of the pathogen. In the present study, we used bio-informatics approach to identify antigens shared among multiple serotypes of Shigella spp. This approach led to the identification of many immunogenic peptides. The five most promising peptides based on MHC binding efficiency were a putative lipoprotein (EL PGI I, a putative heat shock protein (EL PGI II, Spa32 (EL PGI III, IcsB (EL PGI IV and a hypothetical protein (EL PGI V. These peptides were synthesized and the immunogenicity was evaluated in BALB/c mice by ELISA and cytokine assays. The putative heat shock protein (HSP and the hypothetical protein elicited good humoral response, whereas putative lipoprotein, Spa32 and IcsB elicited good T-cell response as revealed by increased IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokine levels. The patient sera from confirmed cases of shigellosis were also evaluated for the presence of peptide specific antibodies with significant IgG and IgA antibodies against the HSP and the hypothetical protein, bestowing them as potential future vaccine candidates. The antigens reported in this study are novel and have not been tested as vaccine candidates against Shigella. This study offers time and cost-effective way of identifying unprecedented immunogenic antigens to be used as potential vaccine candidates. Moreover, this approach should easily be extendable to find new potential vaccine candidates for other pathogenic bacteria.

Examination of the Attitudes of Preschool Teacher Candidates and Teacher Candidates in Other Branches towards Scientific Research in Terms of Some Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Ekici, Fatma Yasar

2017-01-01

The main objective of this study is to examine the attitudes of preschool teacher candidates and teacher candidates in other branches towards scientific research in terms of some variables. Survey method was used. The study group consists of 547 teacher candidates studying in education faculty of a private university in the spring term of…

Antitubercular drugs for an old target: GSK693 as a promising InhA direct inhibitor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Martínez-Hoyos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Despite being one of the first antitubercular agents identified, isoniazid (INH is still the most prescribed drug for prophylaxis and tuberculosis (TB treatment and, together with rifampicin, the pillars of current chemotherapy. A high percentage of isoniazid resistance is linked to mutations in the pro-drug activating enzyme KatG, so the discovery of direct inhibitors (DI of the enoyl-ACP reductase (InhA has been pursued by many groups leading to the identification of different enzyme inhibitors, active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb, but with poor physicochemical properties to be considered as preclinical candidates. Here, we present a series of InhA DI active against multidrug (MDR and extensively (XDR drug-resistant clinical isolates as well as in TB murine models when orally dosed that can be a promising foundation for a future treatment.

Promising Therapeutic Strategies for Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Cardiovascular Regeneration: From Cell Priming to Tissue Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung Taek Ji

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The primary cause of death among chronic diseases worldwide is ischemic cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Recent evidence indicates that adult stem cell therapies involving cardiovascular regeneration represent promising strategies to treat cardiovascular diseases. Owing to their immunomodulatory properties and vascular repair capabilities, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs are strong candidate therapeutic stem cells for use in cardiovascular regeneration. However, major limitations must be overcome, including their very low survival rate in ischemic lesion. Various attempts have been made to improve the poor survival and longevity of engrafted MSCs. In order to develop novel therapeutic strategies, it is necessary to first identify stem cell modulators for intracellular signal triggering or niche activation. One promising therapeutic strategy is the priming of therapeutic MSCs with stem cell modulators before transplantation. Another is a tissue engineering-based therapeutic strategy involving a cell scaffold, a cell-protein-scaffold architecture made of biomaterials such as ECM or hydrogel, and cell patch- and 3D printing-based tissue engineering. This review focuses on the current clinical applications of MSCs for treating cardiovascular diseases and highlights several therapeutic strategies for promoting the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs in vitro or in vivo from cell priming to tissue engineering strategies, for use in cardiovascular regeneration.

No Association between Personality and Candidate Gene Polymorphisms in a Wild Bird Population.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah A Edwards

Full Text Available Consistency of between-individual differences in behaviour or personality is a phenomenon in populations that can have ecological consequences and evolutionary potential. One way that behaviour can evolve is to have a genetic basis. Identifying the molecular genetic basis of personality could therefore provide insight into how and why such variation is maintained, particularly in natural populations. Previously identified candidate genes for personality in birds include the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4, and serotonin transporter (SERT. Studies of wild bird populations have shown that exploratory and bold behaviours are associated with polymorphisms in both DRD4 and SERT. Here we tested for polymorphisms in DRD4 and SERT in the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis population on Cousin Island, Seychelles, and then investigated correlations between personality and polymorphisms in these genes. We found no genetic variation in DRD4, but identified four polymorphisms in SERT that clustered into five haplotypes. There was no correlation between bold or exploratory behaviours and SERT polymorphisms/haplotypes. The null result was not due to lack of power, and indicates that there was no association between these behaviours and variation in the candidate genes tested in this population. These null findings provide important data to facilitate representative future meta-analyses on candidate personality genes.

Identification of Schistosoma mansoni candidate antigens for diagnosis of schistosomiasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gardenia Braz Figueiredo Carvalho

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The development of a more sensitive diagnostic test for schistosomiasis is needed to overcome the limitations of the use of stool examination in low endemic areas. Using parasite antigens in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay is a promising strategy, however a more rational selection of parasite antigens is necessary. In this study we performed in silico analysis of the Schistosoma mansoni genome, using SchistoDB database and bioinformatic tools for screening immunogenic antigens. Based on evidence of expression in all parasite life stage within the definitive host, extracellular or plasmatic membrane localization, low similarity to human and other helminthic proteins and presence of predicted B cell epitopes, six candidates were selected: a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored 200 kDa protein, two putative cytochrome oxidase subunits, two expressed proteins and one hypothetical protein. The recognition in unidimensional and bidimensional Western blot of protein with similar molecular weight and isoelectric point to the selected antigens by sera from S. mansoni infected mice indicate a good correlation between these two approaches in selecting immunogenic proteins.

Review of Potential Candidate Stabilization Technologies for Liquid and Solid Secondary Waste Streams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pierce, Eric M.; Mattigod, Shas V.; Westsik, Joseph H.; Serne, R. Jeffrey; Icenhower, Jonathan P.; Scheele, Randall D.; Um, Wooyong; Qafoku, Nikolla

2010-01-30

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has initiated a waste form testing program to support the long-term durability evaluation of a waste form for secondary wastes generated from the treatment and immobilization of Hanford radioactive tank wastes. The purpose of the work discussed in this report is to identify candidate stabilization technologies and getters that have the potential to successfully treat the secondary waste stream liquid effluent, mainly from off-gas scrubbers and spent solids, produced by the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Down-selection to the most promising stabilization processes/waste forms is needed to support the design of a solidification treatment unit (STU) to be added to the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF). To support key decision processes, an initial screening of the secondary liquid waste forms must be completed by February 2010.

Changing Perceptions of Teacher Candidates in High-Needs Schools

Science.gov (United States)

DeJarnette, Nancy K.

2016-01-01

Candidates enter teacher education programs with established beliefs about diversity and urban education. These belief systems impact decisions that teacher candidates make both now and in the future. Providing opportunities for candidates to spend quality time in an urban Professional Development School (PDS) setting with the support and guidance…

Heterocyclic N-oxides - A Promising Class of Agents Against Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Dos Santos Fernandes, Guilherme Felipe; Pavan, Aline Renata; Dos Santos, Jean Leandro

2018-04-17

Heterocyclic N-oxides have emerged as promising agents against a number of diseases and disorders, especially infectious diseases. This review analyzes the emergence and development of this scaffold in the medicinal chemistry, focusing mainly on the discovery of new heterocyclic N-oxide compounds with potent activity against tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (i.e. leishmaniasis and Chagas disease). A number of heterocyclic N-oxide are described herein, nevertheless, the following chemical classes deserve to be highlighted due to the large number of reports in the literature about their promising pharmacological effects: furoxan, benzofuroxan, quinoxaline 1,4-di-N-oxide, indolone N-oxide and benzimidazole N-oxide. In order to describe those most promising compounds, we included in this review only those most biologically active heterocyclic N-oxide published since 2000. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Candidal colonization, strain diversity, and antifungal susceptibility among adult diabetic patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Attas, Safia A; Amro, Soliman O

2010-01-01

Candidal colonization in diabetics is a matter of debate. The aim of this study is to investigate oral candidal colonization, strain diversity, antifungal susceptibility, and the influence of local and systemic host factors on candidal colonization in adult diabetics. We conducted a case-control study that compared 150 diabetics (49 type 1, 101 type 2) with 50 healthy controls. Two salivary samples were collected, using the oral rinse sampling method: one for salivary flow rate and pH determination, and the other for candidal colonization assessment. The candidal isolates were identified and tested in vitro for antifungal susceptibility using the commercial kit, Candifast. The relationship between specific host factors and candidal colonization was also investigated. Diabetics had a higher candidal carriage rate compared to controls, but not density. Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated species, but diabetics had a variety of other candidal species present. None of the control samples were resistant to any tested antifungal, while the diabetic samples had differing resistances to azole antifungals. Although there was a significant positive correlation between glycemic control and candidal colonization in type 2 diabetics, there was a negative correlation between salivary pH and candidal carriage in the controls versus density in type 2 diabetics. Diabetic patients not only had a higher candidal carriage rate, but also a variety of candidal species that were resistant to azole antifungals. Oral candidal colonization was significantly associated with glycemic control, type of diabetes, and salivary pH.

Genome-wide association links candidate genes to resistance to Plum Pox Virus in apricot (Prunus armeniaca).

Science.gov (United States)

Mariette, Stéphanie; Wong Jun Tai, Fabienne; Roch, Guillaume; Barre, Aurélien; Chague, Aurélie; Decroocq, Stéphane; Groppi, Alexis; Laizet, Yec'han; Lambert, Patrick; Tricon, David; Nikolski, Macha; Audergon, Jean-Marc; Abbott, Albert G; Decroocq, Véronique

2016-01-01

In fruit tree species, many important traits have been characterized genetically by using single-family descent mapping in progenies segregating for the traits. However, most mapped loci have not been sufficiently resolved to the individual genes due to insufficient progeny sizes for high resolution mapping and the previous lack of whole-genome sequence resources of the study species. To address this problem for Plum Pox Virus (PPV) candidate resistance gene identification in Prunus species, we implemented a genome-wide association (GWA) approach in apricot. This study exploited the broad genetic diversity of the apricot (Prunus armeniaca) germplasm containing resistance to PPV, next-generation sequence-based genotyping, and the high-quality peach (Prunus persica) genome reference sequence for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identification. The results of this GWA study validated previously reported PPV resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL) intervals, highlighted other potential resistance loci, and resolved each to a limited set of candidate genes for further study. This work substantiates the association genetics approach for resolution of QTL to candidate genes in apricot and suggests that this approach could simplify identification of other candidate genes for other marked trait intervals in this germplasm. © 2015 INRA, UMR 1332 BFP New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

PEACE: pulsar evaluation algorithm for candidate extraction - a software package for post-analysis processing of pulsar survey candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, K. J.; Stovall, K.; Jenet, F. A.; Martinez, J.; Dartez, L. P.; Mata, A.; Lunsford, G.; Cohen, S.; Biwer, C. M.; Rohr, M.; Flanigan, J.; Walker, A.; Banaszak, S.; Allen, B.; Barr, E. D.; Bhat, N. D. R.; Bogdanov, S.; Brazier, A.; Camilo, F.; Champion, D. J.; Chatterjee, S.; Cordes, J.; Crawford, F.; Deneva, J.; Desvignes, G.; Ferdman, R. D.; Freire, P.; Hessels, J. W. T.; Karuppusamy, R.; Kaspi, V. M.; Knispel, B.; Kramer, M.; Lazarus, P.; Lynch, R.; Lyne, A.; McLaughlin, M.; Ransom, S.; Scholz, P.; Siemens, X.; Spitler, L.; Stairs, I.; Tan, M.; van Leeuwen, J.; Zhu, W. W.

2013-07-01

Modern radio pulsar surveys produce a large volume of prospective candidates, the majority of which are polluted by human-created radio frequency interference or other forms of noise. Typically, large numbers of candidates need to be visually inspected in order to determine if they are real pulsars. This process can be labour intensive. In this paper, we introduce an algorithm called Pulsar Evaluation Algorithm for Candidate Extraction (PEACE) which improves the efficiency of identifying pulsar signals. The algorithm ranks the candidates based on a score function. Unlike popular machine-learning-based algorithms, no prior training data sets are required. This algorithm has been applied to data from several large-scale radio pulsar surveys. Using the human-based ranking results generated by students in the Arecibo Remote Command Center programme, the statistical performance of PEACE was evaluated. It was found that PEACE ranked 68 per cent of the student-identified pulsars within the top 0.17 per cent of sorted candidates, 95 per cent within the top 0.34 per cent and 100 per cent within the top 3.7 per cent. This clearly demonstrates that PEACE significantly increases the pulsar identification rate by a factor of about 50 to 1000. To date, PEACE has been directly responsible for the discovery of 47 new pulsars, 5 of which are millisecond pulsars that may be useful for pulsar timing based gravitational-wave detection projects.

Evaluation of candidate geomagnetic field models for IGRF-11

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Finlay, Chris; Maus, S.; Beggan, C. D.

2010-01-01

variations between candidates originate. A retrospective analysis of IGRF-10 main field candidates for epoch 2005.0 and predictive secular variation candidates for 2005.0–2010.0 using the new IGRF-11 models as a reference is also reported. The high quality and consistency of main field models derived using...

Differences in morphometrics and reproductive physiology between two populations of Trissolcus japonicus, a promising biological control agent candidate for brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys Stal) in the US

Science.gov (United States)

Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead), a solitary egg parasitoid of Pentatomidae native to Southeast Asia, has been undergoing host-range testing in U.S. quarantine facilities since 2009 as a candidate for the biological control of brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys Stål)(BMSB), an invasive agri...

Regional Autonomy and Local Democracy: Independent Candidates Cases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suryanto

2016-11-01

Full Text Available One of the efforts to achieve local democracy is through the participation of independent candidates in the Direct General Election in the region. The presence of independent candidates in the Direct General Election gives a great hope to change the political structure of the shackles of the old forces. This paper aims to discuss the implication of regional heads coming from independent candidates on the effectiveness of local governance and the implementation of substantive democracy in the region. The method used is a qualitative approach using descriptive research method. The data collection is done through literature approach. Processing data uses Milles and Huberman interactive models, which includes data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. The study concluded three things: First, the presence of independent candidates in the Direct General Election gives the opportunities to achieve local democracy that is getting bigger, Second, Regional Heads elected from independent candidates face the challenges of the ineffectiveness of regional government, and Third, within certain limits, the power of elected regional heads from independent lane leads to the realization of democracy that is not substantial.

Physical attractiveness, issue agreement, and assimilation effects in candidate appraisal.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, James N; Curran, Margaret Ann; Strungaru, Carmen

2011-01-01

This study examines the cognitive and affective factors of candidate appraisal by manipulating candidate attractiveness and levels of issue agreement with voters. Drawing upon research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this analysis proposes that automatic processing of physical appearance predisposes affective disposition toward more attractive candidates, thereby influencing cognitive processing of issue information. An experimental design presented attractive and unattractive candidates who were either liberal or conservative in a mock primary election. The data show strong partial effects for appearance on vote intention, an interaction between appearance and issue agreement, and a tendency for voters to assimilate the dissimilar views of attractive candidates. We argue that physical appearance is important in primary elections when the differences in issue positions and ideology between candidates is small.

Ensemble candidate classification for the LOTAAS pulsar survey

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, C. M.; Lyon, R. J.; Stappers, B. W.; Cooper, S.; Hessels, J. W. T.; Kondratiev, V. I.; Michilli, D.; Sanidas, S.

2018-03-01

One of the biggest challenges arising from modern large-scale pulsar surveys is the number of candidates generated. Here, we implemented several improvements to the machine learning (ML) classifier previously used by the LOFAR Tied-Array All-Sky Survey (LOTAAS) to look for new pulsars via filtering the candidates obtained during periodicity searches. To assist the ML algorithm, we have introduced new features which capture the frequency and time evolution of the signal and improved the signal-to-noise calculation accounting for broad profiles. We enhanced the ML classifier by including a third class characterizing RFI instances, allowing candidates arising from RFI to be isolated, reducing the false positive return rate. We also introduced a new training data set used by the ML algorithm that includes a large sample of pulsars misclassified by the previous classifier. Lastly, we developed an ensemble classifier comprised of five different Decision Trees. Taken together these updates improve the pulsar recall rate by 2.5 per cent, while also improving the ability to identify pulsars with wide pulse profiles, often misclassified by the previous classifier. The new ensemble classifier is also able to reduce the percentage of false positive candidates identified from each LOTAAS pointing from 2.5 per cent (˜500 candidates) to 1.1 per cent (˜220 candidates).

Validation of Kepler's multiple planet candidates. III. Light curve analysis and announcement of hundreds of new multi-planet systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, Jason F.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Jontof-Hutter, Daniel; Mullally, Fergal; Howell, Steve B.; Borucki, William J.; Haas, Michael; Huber, Daniel; Thompson, Susan E.; Quintana, Elisa; Barclay, Thomas; Still, Martin; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Issacson, Howard; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Ford, Eric; Steffen, Jason H.; Fortney, Jonathan; Gautier, T. N. III

2014-01-01

The Kepler mission has discovered more than 2500 exoplanet candidates in the first two years of spacecraft data, with approximately 40% of those in candidate multi-planet systems. The high rate of multiplicity combined with the low rate of identified false positives indicates that the multiplanet systems contain very few false positive signals due to other systems not gravitationally bound to the target star. False positives in the multi-planet systems are identified and removed, leaving behind a residual population of candidate multi-planet transiting systems expected to have a false positive rate less than 1%. We present a sample of 340 planetary systems that contain 851 planets that are validated to substantially better than the 99% confidence level; the vast majority of these have not been previously verified as planets. We expect ∼two unidentified false positives making our sample of planet very reliable. We present fundamental planetary properties of our sample based on a comprehensive analysis of Kepler light curves, ground-based spectroscopy, and high-resolution imaging. Since we do not require spectroscopy or high-resolution imaging for validation, some of our derived parameters for a planetary system may be systematically incorrect due to dilution from light due to additional stars in the photometric aperture. Nonetheless, our result nearly doubles the number verified exoplanets.

Opinions of the Geography Teacher Candidates toward Mind Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Seyihoglu, Aysegul

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions of the teacher candidates about mind mapping technique used in Geography education of undergraduate program. In this study, the qualitative research techniques were used. The study group consists of 55 teacher candidates. The teacher candidates have been asked for their opinions about the process…

SDSS-III MARVELS Planet Candidate RV Follow-up

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Jian; Thomas, Neil; Ma, Bo; Li, Rui; SIthajan, Sirinrat

2014-02-01

Planetary systems, discovered by the radial velocity (RV) surveys, reveal strong correlations between the planet frequency and stellar properties, such as metallicity and mass, and a greater diversity in planets than found in the solar system. However, due to the sample sizes of extant surveys (~100 to a few hundreds of stars) and their heterogeneity, many key questions remained to be addressed: Do metal poor stars obey the same trends for planet occurrence as metal rich stars? What is the distribution of giant planets around intermediate- mass stars and binaries? Is the ``planet desert'' within 0.6 AU in the planet orbital distribution of intermediate-mass stars real? The MARVELS survey has produced the largest homogeneous RV measurements of 3300 V=7.6-12 FGK stars. The latest data pipeline effort at UF has been able to remove long term systematic errors suffered in the earlier data pipeline. 18 high confident giant planet candidates have been identified among newly processed data. We propose to follow up these giant planet candidates with the KPNO EXPERT instrument to confirm the detection and also characterize their orbits. The confirmed planets will be used to measure occurrence rates, distributions and multiplicity of giants planets around F,G,K stars with a broad range of mass (~0.6-2.5 M_⊙) and metallicity ([Fe/H]~-1.5-0.5). The well defined MARVELS survey cadence allows robust determinations of completeness limits for rigorously testing giant planet formation theories and constraining models.

Do People 'Like' Candidates on Facebook?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Rasmus Kleis

The online popularity of a few exceptional candidates has led many to suggest that social media have given politicians powerful ways of communicating directly with voters. In this paper, we examine whether this is happening on a significant scale and show, based on analysis of 224 candidates....... We therefore suggest that the political implications of social media are generally better understood in terms of facilitating indirect communication and institutional change than in terms of direct communication....

Etiology of anemia of blood donor candidates deferred by hematologic screening

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel Alves da Silva

2012-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia and one of the main factors in the clinical deferral of blood donors. This fact prompted the current study that aimed to determine the prevalence and etiology of anemia in blood donor candidates and to evaluate the hematological screening technique used for the exclusion of these donors. METHODS: This was a prospective study that compared two groups (Anemic and Non-anemic. Initially screening for anemia was performed by manually measuring hemoglobin (Bioclin® Kit; the results were subsequently compared with an automated screening method (Coulter T-890. The etiology was investigated by hemoglobin electrophoresis in alkaline and acid pH, Hb A2 dosage and measurement of the ferritin concentration by immunoagglutination. Differences and associations of interest were analyzed using the Yates and McNemar's Chi-square tests and the Fisher, Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: The deferral rate due to anemia was 4.2%; iron deficiency was identified in 37.5% and beta thalassemia in 9.3% of the excluded candidates. There was a significant discrepancy between the two techniques used to measure hemoglobin with 38.1% of initially deferred donors presenting normal hemoglobin levels by the automated method. CONCLUSION: The results show a high rate of blood donors being deferred for anemia and confirm that iron deficiency is the most prevalent cause. The discrepancies found by comparing screening methods suggest that hemoglobin and hematocrit levels should be confirmed before deferring a donor due to anemia; this may increase supplies in blood banks.

A possible candidate for cold dark matter

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

This additional scalar can be a viable candidate of cold dark matter (CDM) since the stability of is achieved by the application of Z 2 symmetry on . Considering as a possible candidate of CDM, Boltzmann's equation is solved to find the freeze-out temperature and relic density of for Higgs mass 120 GeV in the scalar ...

Promise Zones for Applicants

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Housing and Urban Development — This tool assists applicants to HUD's Promise Zone initiative prepare data to submit with their application by allowing applicants to draw the exact location of the...

Transcription status of vaccine candidate genes of Plasmodium falciparum during the hepatic phase of its life cycle.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bodescot, M.; Silvie, O.; Siau, A.; Refour, P.; Pino, P.; Franetich, J.F.; Hannoun, L.; Sauerwein, R.W.; Mazier, D.

2004-01-01

The CSP, EMP2/MESA, MSP2, MSP3, MSP5, RAP1, RAP2, RESA1, SERA1 and SSP2/TRAP genes of Plasmodium falciparum are vaccine candidates. The hepatic phase of the infection is of major interest due to the protection induced by immunization with radiation-attenuated sporozoites. We therefore performed

Interconnected Silicon Hollow Nanospheres for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes with Long Cycle Life

KAUST Repository

Yao, Yan; McDowell, Matthew T.; Ryu, Ill; Wu, Hui; Liu, Nian; Hu, Liangbing; Nix, William D.; Cui, Yi

2011-01-01

Silicon is a promising candidate for the anode material in lithium-ion batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity. However, volume changes during cycling cause pulverization and capacity fade, and improving cycle life is a major

3D Hollow Sn@Carbon-Graphene Hybrid Material as Promising Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoyu Zheng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A 3D hollow Sn@C-graphene hybrid material (HSCG with high capacity and excellent cyclic and rate performance is fabricated by a one-pot assembly method. Due to the fast electron and ion transfer as well as the efficient carbon buffer structure, the hybrid material is promising in high-performance lithium-ion battery.

Holmes versus Traditional Teacher Candidates: Labor Market Receptivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, I. Phillip; And Others

1997-01-01

"Typical" paper credentials were used to create 12 hypothetical teacher candidates. Credential contents were varied to reflect all combinations of college preparatory institutions (Holmes vs. traditional), education degree types, and chronological ages. Randomly selected high school principals then evaluated candidates. Holmes-prepared…

Query by image example: The CANDID approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, P.M.; Cannon, M. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Computer Research and Applications Group; Hush, D.R. [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

1995-02-01

CANDID (Comparison Algorithm for Navigating Digital Image Databases) was developed to enable content-based retrieval of digital imagery from large databases using a query-by-example methodology. A user provides an example image to the system, and images in the database that are similar to that example are retrieved. The development of CANDID was inspired by the N-gram approach to document fingerprinting, where a ``global signature`` is computed for every document in a database and these signatures are compared to one another to determine the similarity between any two documents. CANDID computes a global signature for every image in a database, where the signature is derived from various image features such as localized texture, shape, or color information. A distance between probability density functions of feature vectors is then used to compare signatures. In this paper, the authors present CANDID and highlight two results from their current research: subtracting a ``background`` signature from every signature in a database in an attempt to improve system performance when using inner-product similarity measures, and visualizing the contribution of individual pixels in the matching process. These ideas are applicable to any histogram-based comparison technique.

22 CFR 11.20 - Foreign Service specialist career candidate appointments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

..., background investigation, and final review process required of career candidates, but normally they will not... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Foreign Service specialist career candidate... SERVICE OFFICERS § 11.20 Foreign Service specialist career candidate appointments. (a) General...

Bacillus pumilus BpCRI 6, a promising candidate for cellulase ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Cellulose degrading organisms have been used for the conversion of cellulolytic materials into soluble sugars or solvents in several biotechnological and industrial applications. In this report, a mutant of Bacillus pumilus was obtained after chemical mutagenesis and screened for cellulase production. This mutant named ...

Novel and Efficient Synthesis of the Promising Drug Candidate Discodermolide

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-01

of its production may require its wide use as a livestock antibiotic , a market that seems to have disappeared. Therefore, as a purely practical...building block 9. Thus, chiral syn, anti stereotriad building blocks, useful for the preparation of polypropionate antibiotics , may be efficiently accessed... antibiotics that are used in human and veterinary medicine. In this paper, we illustrate the potential of a deconstruction-reconstruction strategy for the

Candidate Low-Temperature Glass Waste Forms for Technetium-99 Recovered from Hanford Effluent Management Facility Evaporator Concentrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, Mei [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Tang, Ming [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Rim, Jung Ho [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Chamberlin, Rebecca M. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-07-24

Alternative treatment and disposition options may exist for technetium-99 (99Tc) in secondary liquid waste from the Hanford Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) process. One approach includes development of an alternate glass waste form that is suitable for on-site disposition of technetium, including salts and other species recovered by ion exchange or precipitation from the EMF evaporator concentrate. By recovering the Tc content from the stream, and not recycling the treated concentrate, the DFLAW process can potentially be operated in a more efficient manner that lowers the cost to the Department of Energy. This report provides a survey of candidate glass formulations and glass-making processes that can potentially incorporate technetium at temperatures <700 °C to avoid volatilization. Three candidate technetium feed streams are considered: (1) dilute sodium pertechnetate loaded on a non-elutable ion exchange resin; (2) dilute sodium-bearing aqueous eluent from ion exchange recovery of pertechnetate, or (3) technetium(IV) oxide precipitate containing Sn and Cr solids in an aqueous slurry. From the technical literature, promising candidate glasses are identified based on their processing temperatures and chemical durability data. The suitability and technical risk of three low-temperature glass processing routes (vitrification, encapsulation by sintering into a glass composite material, and sol-gel chemical condensation) for the three waste streams was assessed, based on available low-temperature glass data. For a subset of candidate glasses, their long-term thermodynamic behavior with exposure to water and oxygen was modeled using Geochemist’s Workbench, with and without addition of reducing stannous ion. For further evaluation and development, encapsulation of precipitated TcO2/Sn/Cr in a glass composite material based on lead-free sealing glasses is recommended as a high priority. Vitrification of pertechnetate in aqueous anion exchange eluent solution

Physical education candidate teachers' beliefs about vocational self-esteem

OpenAIRE

OZSAKER, Murat; CANPOLAT, A. Meliha

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine epistemological belief and vocational self-esteem physical education candidate teachers of Physical Education and Sports Department in 3 different universities, and also to examine effect of epistemological beliefs on vocational self-esteem. A total of 346 candidate teacher respondents (137 female and 209 male) participated in the study. Epistemological Beliefs and Vocational Self-Esteem Scale were used to determine candidate teachers’ epistemologica...

Selection of radio pulsar candidates using artificial neural networks

OpenAIRE

Eatough, R. P.; Molkenthin, N.; Kramer, M.; Noutsos, A.; Keith, M. J.; Stappers, B. W.; Lyne, A. G.

2010-01-01

Radio pulsar surveys are producing many more pulsar candidates than can be inspected by human experts in a practical length of time. Here we present a technique to automatically identify credible pulsar candidates from pulsar surveys using an artificial neural network. The technique has been applied to candidates from a recent re-analysis of the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey resulting in the discovery of a previously unidentified pulsar.

Gravitational-wave astronomy: delivering on the promises

Science.gov (United States)

Schutz, B. F.

2018-05-01

Now that LIGO and Virgo have begun to detect gravitational-wave events with regularity, the field of gravitational-wave astronomy is beginning to realize its promise. Binary black holes and, very recently, binary neutron stars have been observed, and we are already learning much from them. The future, with improved sensitivity, more detectors and detectors like LISA in different frequency bands, has even more promise to open a completely hidden side of the Universe to our exploration. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue `The promises of gravitational-wave astronomy'.

Political Candidate Campaign Advertising: A Selected Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Hellweg, Susan A.

This paper provides a selected review of political candidate campaign advertising studies from the political science, mass communication, advertising, and political communication literature. The paper examines the literature in terms of research pertaining to (1) candidate advertising content (commercials for male versus female candidates and for…

Cognitive Styles in Admission Procedures for Assessing Candidates of Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Casakin, Hernan; Gigi, Ariela

2016-01-01

Cognitive style has a strong predictive power in academic and professional success. This study investigated the cognitive profile of candidates studying architecture. Specifically, it explored the relation between visual and verbal cognitive styles, and the performance of candidates in admission procedures. The cognitive styles of candidates who…

Sub-Nanometer Channels Embedded in Two-Dimensional Materials

KAUST Repository

Han, Yimo; Li, Ming-yang; Jung, Gang-Seob; Marsalis, Mark A.; Qin, Zhao; Buehler, Markus J.; Li, Lain-Jong; Muller, David A.

2017-01-01

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are among the most promising candidates for next-generation electronics due to their atomic thinness, allowing for flexible transparent electronics and ultimate length scaling1. Thus far, atomically-thin p-n junctions2

Highly transparent, low-haze, hybrid cellulose nanopaper as electrodes for flexible electronics

KAUST Repository

Xu, Xuezhu; Zhou, Jian; Jiang, Long; Lubineau, Gilles; Ng, Tien Khee; Ooi, Boon S.; Liao, Hsien-Yu; Shen, Chao; Chen, Long; Zhu, J. Y.

2016-01-01

Paper is an excellent candidate to replace plastics as a substrate for flexible electronics due to its low cost, renewability and flexibility. Cellulose nanopaper (CNP), a new type of paper made of nanosized cellulose fibers, is a promising

The path to fulfilling the promise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barrett, J. [Canadian Nuclear Association, Ottawa, ON (Canada)

2014-07-01

'Full text:'Countries work together to develop effective governance and regulation. Canada has made big investments in these areas and it carries a premium for us. The rapid build-out of nuclear technology around the Pacific Rim holds vast promise for our populations in better climate, better air, affordable and reliable electricity, and longer lives. The biggest risk is not another accident: rather, it is the risk of failing to fulfill that promise to our people. Every country that wants the benefits of nuclear must also want to be sure that those benefits are realized and sustained by good governance and regulation. Canada has the people, laws, organizations, public institutions, and relationships that can help our partners fulfill the whole and lasting promise of nuclear technology. (author)

Reduced antibody responses against Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens in the presence of Trichuris trichiura

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esen, Meral; Mordmüller, Benjamin; de Salazar, Pablo Martinez

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: Helminth infections are highly prevalent in the tropics and may have an effect on immune responses to vaccines due to their immunomodulatory effect. The prevalence of helminth infections in young children, the target group for malaria and most other vaccines, is high. Therefore we...... assessed the influence of helminth infection on vaccine-induced immune responses in a phase I clinical trial of the malaria vaccine candidate GMZ2. METHODS: Twenty Gabonese preschool-age children were vaccinated with GMZ2, a blood stage malaria vaccine candidate. Humoral immune response against the vaccine...... antigens and parasitological status were assessed. Vaccine-specific antibody concentrations and memory B-cell numbers were compared in worm infected and non-infected participants. RESULTS: Antibody response to GMZ2 was 3.4-fold (95% confidence interval: 1.6, 7.4) higher in Trichuris trichiura negative...

Identification of GPC2 as an Oncoprotein and Candidate Immunotherapeutic Target in High-Risk Neuroblastoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosse, Kristopher R; Raman, Pichai; Zhu, Zhongyu; Lane, Maria; Martinez, Daniel; Heitzeneder, Sabine; Rathi, Komal S; Kendsersky, Nathan M; Randall, Michael; Donovan, Laura; Morrissy, Sorana; Sussman, Robyn T; Zhelev, Doncho V; Feng, Yang; Wang, Yanping; Hwang, Jennifer; Lopez, Gonzalo; Harenza, Jo Lynne; Wei, Jun S; Pawel, Bruce; Bhatti, Tricia; Santi, Mariarita; Ganguly, Arupa; Khan, Javed; Marra, Marco A; Taylor, Michael D; Dimitrov, Dimiter S; Mackall, Crystal L; Maris, John M

2017-09-11

We developed an RNA-sequencing-based pipeline to discover differentially expressed cell-surface molecules in neuroblastoma that meet criteria for optimal immunotherapeutic target safety and efficacy. Here, we show that GPC2 is a strong candidate immunotherapeutic target in this childhood cancer. We demonstrate high GPC2 expression in neuroblastoma due to MYCN transcriptional activation and/or somatic gain of the GPC2 locus. We confirm GPC2 to be highly expressed on most neuroblastomas, but not detectable at appreciable levels in normal childhood tissues. In addition, we demonstrate that GPC2 is required for neuroblastoma proliferation. Finally, we develop a GPC2-directed antibody-drug conjugate that is potently cytotoxic to GPC2-expressing neuroblastoma cells. Collectively, these findings validate GPC2 as a non-mutated neuroblastoma oncoprotein and candidate immunotherapeutic target. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ferritic/martensitic steels: Promises and problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klueh, R.L.; Ehrlich, K.; Abe, F.

1992-01-01

Ferritic/martensitic steels are candidate structural materials for fusion reactors because of their higher swelling resistance, higher thermal conductivity, lower thermal expansion, and better liquid-metal compatibility than austenitic steels. Irradiation effects will ultimately determine the applicability of these steels, and the effects of irradiation on microstructure and swelling, and on the tensile, fatigue, and impact properties of the ferritic/martensitic steels are discussed. Most irradiation studies have been carried out in fast reactors, where little transmutation helium forms. Helium has been shown to enhance swelling and affect tensile and fracture behavior, making helium a critical issue, since high helium concentrations will be generated in conjunction with displacement damage in a fusion reactor. These issues are reviewed to evaluate the status of ferritic/martensitic steels and to assess the research required to insure that such steels are viable candidates for fusion applications

Automated corresponding point candidate selection for image registration using wavelet transformation neurla network with rotation invariant inputs and context information about neighboring candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Okumura, Hiroshi; Suezaki, Masashi; Sueyasu, Hideki; Arai, Kohei

2003-03-01

An automated method that can select corresponding point candidates is developed. This method has the following three features: 1) employment of the RIN-net for corresponding point candidate selection; 2) employment of multi resolution analysis with Haar wavelet transformation for improvement of selection accuracy and noise tolerance; 3) employment of context information about corresponding point candidates for screening of selected candidates. Here, the 'RIN-net' means the back-propagation trained feed-forward 3-layer artificial neural network that feeds rotation invariants as input data. In our system, pseudo Zernike moments are employed as the rotation invariants. The RIN-net has N x N pixels field of view (FOV). Some experiments are conducted to evaluate corresponding point candidate selection capability of the proposed method by using various kinds of remotely sensed images. The experimental results show the proposed method achieves fewer training patterns, less training time, and higher selection accuracy than conventional method.

Counts of low-Redshift SDSS quasar candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeljko Ivezic

2004-01-01

We analyze the counts of low-redshift quasar candidates selected using nine-epoch SDSS imaging data. The co-added catalogs are more than 1 mag deeper than single-epoch SDSS data, and allow the selection of low-redshift quasar candidates using UV-excess and also variability techniques. The counts of selected candidates are robustly determined down to g = 21.5. This is about 2 magnitudes deeper than the position of a change in the slope of the counts reported by Boyle (and others) (1990, 2000) for a sample selected by UV-excess, and questioned by Hawkins and Veron (1995), who utilized a variability-selected sample. Using SDSS data, we confirm a change in the slope of the counts for both UV-excess and variability selected samples, providing strong support for the Boyle (and others) results

Views on Values Education: From Teacher Candidates to Experienced Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Iscan, Canay Demirhan

2015-01-01

This study aimed to identify the views of experienced class teachers and class teacher candidates on values education. It conducted standard open-ended interviews with experienced class teachers and teacher candidates. The study group comprised 9 experienced class teachers from different socio-economic levels and 9 teacher candidates with…

Highly transparent, low-haze, hybrid cellulose nanopaper as electrodes for flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Xuezhu Xu; Jian Zhou; Long Jiang; Gilles Lubineau; Tienkhee Ng; Boon S. Ooi; Hsien-Yu Liao; Chao Shen; Long Chen; Junyong Zhu

2016-01-01

Paper is an excellent candidate to replace plastics as a substrate for flexible electronics due to its low cost, renewability and flexibility. Cellulose nanopaper (CNP), a new type of paper made of nanosized cellulose fibers, is a promising substrate material for transparent and flexible electrodes due to its potentially high transparency and high mechanical strength....

Hypervelocity star candidates in Gaia DR1/TGAS

Science.gov (United States)

Marchetti, T.; Rossi, E. M.; Kordopatis, G.; Brown, A. G. A.; Rimoldi, A.; Starkenburg, E.; Youakim, K.; Ashley, R.

2018-04-01

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) are characterized by a total velocity in excess of the Galactic escape speed, and with trajectories consistent with coming from the Galactic Centre. We apply a novel data mining routine, an artificial neural network, to discover HVSs in the TGAS subset of the first data release of the Gaia satellite, using only the astrometry of the stars. We find 80 stars with a predicted probability >90% of being HVSs, and we retrieved radial velocities for 47 of those. We discover 14 objects with a total velocity in the Galactic rest frame >400 km s-1, and 5 of these have a probability >50% of being unbound from the Milky Way. Tracing back orbits in different Galactic potentials, we discover 1 HVS candidate, 5 bound HVS candidates, and 5 runaway star candidates with remarkably high velocities, between 400 and 780 km s-1. We wait for future Gaia releases to confirm the goodness of our sample and to increase the number of HVS candidates.

Candidate genes in panic disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howe, A. S.; Buttenschön, Henriette N; Bani-Fatemi, A.

2016-01-01

The utilization of molecular genetics approaches in examination of panic disorder (PD) has implicated several variants as potential susceptibility factors for panicogenesis. However, the identification of robust PD susceptibility genes has been complicated by phenotypic diversity, underpowered...... association studies and ancestry-specific effects. In the present study, we performed a succinct review of case-control association studies published prior to April 2015. Meta-analyses were performed for candidate gene variants examined in at least three studies using the Cochrane Mantel-Haenszel fixed......-effect model. Secondary analyses were also performed to assess the influences of sex, agoraphobia co-morbidity and ancestry-specific effects on panicogenesis. Meta-analyses were performed on 23 variants in 20 PD candidate genes. Significant associations after correction for multiple testing were observed...

Zinc and magnesium ions synergistically inhibit superoxide generation by cultured human neutrophils--a promising candidate formulation for amnioinfusion fluid.

Science.gov (United States)

Uchida, Toshiyuki; Itoh, Hiroaki; Nakamura, Yuki; Kobayashi, Yukiko; Hirai, Kyuya; Suzuki, Kazunao; Sugihara, Kazuhiro; Kanayama, Naohiro; Hiramatsu, Mitsuo

2010-06-01

Oligohydramnios is often caused by the premature rupturing of membranes and subsequent intrauterine infections, such as chorioamnionitis, in which event oxidative stress is hypothesized to be closely associated with the damage to the fetal organs. The clinical efficiency of amnioinfusion using warmed saline in cases of premature rupture of membranes is still controversial, especially concerning the prognosis for the fetus. In the present study, we found that human amniotic fluid per se suppresses the release of superoxide from cultured human neutrophils, suggesting an acute or chronic shortage of amniotic fluid in cases of premature rupture of membranes can affect the shielding of intrauterine organs from oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to propose a formula of zinc and magnesium ions in saline for amnioinfusion, by assessing antioxidative activities. A combination of 5 microM zinc and 5mM magnesium in saline synergistically inhibited superoxide production by cultured human neutrophils, equivalent to human amniotic fluid. The intraperitoneal administration of this formula significantly improved the survival rate in a rat model of peritonitis compared to the saline control (46.7% vs. 10%). The combination of these metals with saline may thus be a promising formula for an amnioinfusion fluid with the capacity to protect fetal organs from oxidative stress. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular candidates of MTV in air

Science.gov (United States)

Dam, Nico; Mirzaei, Mehrnoosh; van de Water, Willem

2011-11-01

In molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV), the molecules of a gas are used as flow tracers. These tracers can be produced at will by illumination with a laser which promotes molecules to a long- lived excited state, fuses N2 and N2 to NO, or makes molecules phosphoresce. A while later these tagged molecules can be visualized by laser-induced fluorescence, or by just watching them while they phosphoresce. Candidates for MTV in turbulence research must be arranged in structures narrower than the Kolmogorov scale, which remain narrow as time progresses, and must live longer than the Kolmogorov time. These requirements invalidate many candidates, candidates once deemed successful. They do so in various surprising manners that involve a combination of fluid flow and molecular dynamics. Rather than velocimetry in turbulence, MTV techniques offer a unique view on basic dispersion processes at the smallest scales of turbulence. In this way we have measured the spreading of clouds whose size is a few times the Kolmogorov length and the Batchelor dispersion of objects whose size is inside the inertial range.

Tennessee Promise: A Response to Organizational Change

Science.gov (United States)

Littlepage, Ben; Clark, Teresa; Wilson, Randal; Stout, Logan

2018-01-01

Community colleges in Tennessee, either directly or indirectly, experienced unprecedented change as a result of Tennessee Promise. The present study explored how student support service administrators at three community colleges responded to organizational change as a result of the Tennessee Promise legislation. Investigators selected community…

Gravitational-wave astronomy: delivering on the promises.

Science.gov (United States)

Schutz, B F

2018-05-28

Now that LIGO and Virgo have begun to detect gravitational-wave events with regularity, the field of gravitational-wave astronomy is beginning to realize its promise. Binary black holes and, very recently, binary neutron stars have been observed, and we are already learning much from them. The future, with improved sensitivity, more detectors and detectors like LISA in different frequency bands, has even more promise to open a completely hidden side of the Universe to our exploration.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The promises of gravitational-wave astronomy'. © 2018 The Author(s).

DISCOVERY OF CANDIDATE H2O DISK MASERS IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND ESTIMATIONS OF CENTRIPETAL ACCELERATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenhill, Lincoln J.; Moran, James M.; Tilak, Avanti; Kondratko, Paul T.

2009-01-01

Based on spectroscopic signatures, about one-third of known H 2 O maser sources in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are believed to arise in highly inclined accretion disks around central engines. These 'disk maser candidates' are of interest primarily because angular structure and rotation curves can be resolved with interferometers, enabling dynamical study. We identify five new disk maser candidates in studies with the Green Bank Telescope, bringing the total number published to 30. We discovered two (NGC 1320, NGC 17) in a survey of 40 inclined active galaxies (v sys -1 ). The remaining three disk maser candidates were identified in monitoring of known sources: NGC 449, NGC 2979, and NGC 3735. We also confirm a previously marginal case in UGC 4203. For the disk maser candidates reported here, inferred rotation speeds are 130-500 km s -1 . Monitoring of three more rapidly rotating candidate disks (CG 211, NGC 6264, VV 340A) has enabled measurement of likely orbital centripetal acceleration, and estimation of central masses ((2-7) x10 7 M sun ) and mean disk radii (0.2-0.4 pc). Accelerations may ultimately permit estimation of distances when combined with interferometer data. This is notable because the three AGNs are relatively distant (10,000 km s -1 sys -1 ), and fractional error in a derived Hubble constant, due to peculiar motion of the galaxies, would be small. As signposts of highly inclined geometries at galactocentric radii of ∼0.1-1 pc, disk masers also provide robust orientation references that allow analysis of (mis)alignment between AGNs and surrounding galactic stellar disks, even without extensive interferometric mapping. We find no preference among published disk maser candidates to lie in high-inclination galaxies. This provides independent support for conclusions that in late-type galaxies, central engine accretion disks and galactic plane orientations are not correlated.

Melarsoprol cyclodextrin inclusion complexes as promising oral candidates for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean Rodgers

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness, results from infection with the protozoan parasites Trypanosoma brucei (T. b. gambiense or T. b. rhodesiense and is invariably fatal if untreated. There are 60 million people at risk from the disease throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The infection progresses from the haemolymphatic stage where parasites invade the blood, lymphatics and peripheral organs, to the late encephalitic stage where they enter the central nervous system (CNS to cause serious neurological disease. The trivalent arsenical drug melarsoprol (Arsobal is the only currently available treatment for CNS-stage T. b. rhodesiense infection. However, it must be administered intravenously due to the presence of propylene glycol solvent and is associated with numerous adverse reactions. A severe post-treatment reactive encephalopathy occurs in about 10% of treated patients, half of whom die. Thus melarsoprol kills 5% of all patients receiving it. Cyclodextrins have been used to improve the solubility and reduce the toxicity of a wide variety of drugs. We therefore investigated two melarsoprol cyclodextrin inclusion complexes; melarsoprol hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin and melarsoprol randomly-methylated-β-cyclodextrin. We found that these compounds retain trypanocidal properties in vitro and cure CNS-stage murine infections when delivered orally, once per day for 7-days, at a dosage of 0.05 mmol/kg. No overt signs of toxicity were detected. Parasite load within the brain was rapidly reduced following treatment onset and magnetic resonance imaging showed restoration of normal blood-brain barrier integrity on completion of chemotherapy. These findings strongly suggest that complexed melarsoprol could be employed as an oral treatment for CNS-stage HAT, delivering considerable improvements over current parenteral chemotherapy.

Evaluating an australian emergency nurse practitioner candidate training program.

Science.gov (United States)

Plath, Sharyn J; Wright, Mary; Hocking, Julia

2017-11-01

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) receive core clinical training at master's level, with their employer providing the opportunity to upskill in clinical and procedural competencies. It is increasingly recognised that this generic education requires supplementary training for operating effectively within a specific clinical environment. In this paper we describe a pilot program designed to train Australian NP Candidates to work effectively within the Emergency Department Fast Track model of care. The training program consisted of a 12-month period: four hours in-house training per week over two semesters, running concurrently with the NP candidate's University semesters, and 3 months' clinical practice to consolidate. The training team defined milestones for Semesters one and two, and developed a case review form to assess application of the candidate's knowledge in new clinical situations, as well as check for gaps in understanding. A clinical skills guide was developed for the candidate to work toward, and a comprehensive assessment was carried out at two time points in the training program. Feedback was obtained from the mentors and the candidate at the end point of the training program, and has been used to refine the program for 2017. This in-house training program provided specialised, evidence-based training for the emergency department environment, resulting in development of the nurse practitioner candidate as a high functioning team member. Copyright © 2017 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia. All rights reserved.

Porous Organic Polymers for CO2 Capture

KAUST Repository

Teng, Baiyang

2013-01-01

to reduce the emission of CO2 to atmosphere. Porous organic polymers (POPs) are promising candidates for this application due to their readily tunable textual properties and surface functionalities. The objective of this thesis work is to develop new POPs

New open cluster candidates discovered in the XSTPS-GAC survey

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Jin-Cheng; Zhang, Hua-Wei; Zhang, Hui-Hua; Liu, Xiao-Wei; Yuan, Hai-Bo; Huang, Yang; Wang, Song; Chen, Li; Zhao, Hai-Bin; Liu, Ji-Feng; Chen, Bing-Qiu; Xiang, Mao-Sheng; Tian, Zhi-Jia; Huo, Zhi-Ying; Wang, Chun

2018-03-01

The Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anti-center (XSTPS-GAC) is a photometric sky survey that covers nearly 6000 deg2 towards the Galactic Anti-center (GAC) in the g, r, i bands. Half of its survey field is located on the Galactic Anti-center disk, which makes XSTPS-GAC highly suitable to search for new open clusters in the GAC region. In this paper, we report new open cluster candidates discovered in this survey, as well as properties of these open cluster candidates, such as age, distance and reddening, derived by isochrone fitting in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). These open cluster candidates are stellar density peaks detected in the star density maps by applying the method from Koposov et al. Each candidate is inspected in terms of its true color image composed from three XSTPS-GAC band images. Then its CMD is checked, in order to identify whether the central region stars have a clear isochrone-like trend differing from background stars. The parameters derived from isochrone fitting for these candidates are mainly based on three band photometry of XSTPS-GAC. Moreover, when these new candidates are able to be seen clearly in 2MASS data, their parameters are also derived based on the 2MASS (J – H, J) CMD. There are a total of 320 known open clusters rediscovered and 24 new open cluster candidates discovered in this work. Furthermore, the parameters of these new candidates, as well as another 11 previously known open clusters, are properly determined for the first time.

Mesenchymal stem cell-based gene therapy: A promising therapeutic strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadian, Mozhdeh; Abasi, Elham; Akbarzadeh, Abolfazl

2016-08-01

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stromal cells that exist in bone marrow, fat, and so many other tissues, and can differentiate into a variety of cell types including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and adipocytes, as well as myocytes and neurons. Moreover, they have great capacity for self-renewal while maintaining their multipotency. Their capacity for proliferation and differentiation, in addition to their immunomodulatory activity, makes them very promising candidates for cell-based regenerative medicine. Moreover, MSCs have the ability of mobilization to the site of damage; therefore, they can automatically migrate to the site of injury via their chemokine receptors following intravenous transplantation. In this respect, they can be applied for MSC-based gene therapy. In this new therapeutic method, genes of interest are introduced into MSCs via viral and non-viral-based methods that lead to transgene expression in them. Although stem cell-based gene therapy is a relatively new strategy, it lights a new hope for the treatment of a variety of genetic disorders. In the near future, MSCs can be of use in a vast number of clinical applications, because of their uncomplicated isolation, culture, and genetic manipulation. However, full consideration is still crucial before they are utilized for clinical trials, because the number of studies that signify the advantageous effects of MSC-based gene therapy are still limited.

Teacher Candidate Mental Health and Mental Health Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Dods, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Providing teacher candidates with a strong foundation in mental health literacy during their teacher education program is crucial in ensuring novice teachers are prepared to support the mental health needs of their students. In addition to responding to students, teacher candidates are typically at an age when mental health disorders are common…

Metaphors of Social Studies Teacher Candidates on Democracy

Science.gov (United States)

Tural, Aysegül

2018-01-01

Democracy is a form of government in which principle of equality is based, human rights and freedoms are protected. In this research, it is aimed to reveal democracy perceptions of social science teacher candidates through metaphors. Towards this aim, 105 social science teacher candidates are consulted about their democracy opinions. Study is a…

MAT@USC Candidates and Latino English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Lomeli, Cynthia Leticia

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to further understand the perceptions of MAT@USC teacher candidates and how their perceptions and previous experiences affect the educational experiences of Latino English language learners. Three questions were developed to guide this study: (1) What are the perceptions of MAT@USC candidates in selected courses…

Element content and particle size characterization of a mussel candidate reference material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moreira, Edson G.; Vasconcellos, Marina B.A.; Santos, Rafaela G. dos; Martinelli, Jose R.

2011-01-01

The use of certified reference materials is an important tool in the quality assurance of analytical measurements. To assure reliability on recently prepared powder reference materials, not only the characterization of the property values of interest and their corresponding uncertainties, but also physical properties such as the particle size distribution must be well evaluated. Narrow particle size distributions are preferable than larger ones; as different size particles may have different analyte content. Due to this fact, the segregation of the coarse and the fine particles in a bottle may lead to inhomogeneity of the reference material, which should be avoided. In this study the element content as well as the particle size distribution of a mussel candidate reference material produced at IPEN-CNEN/SP was investigated. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was applied to the determination of 15 elements in seven fractions of the material with different particle size distributions. Subsamples of the materials were irradiated simultaneously with elemental standards at the IEA-R1 research nuclear reactor and the induced gamma ray energies were measured in a hyperpure germanium detector. Three vials of the candidate reference material and three coarser fractions, collected during the preparation, were analyzed by Laser Diffraction Particle Analysis to determine the particle size distribution. Differences on element content were detected for fractions with different particle size distribution, indicating the importance of particle size control for biological reference materials. From the particle size analysis, Gaussian particle size distribution was observed for the candidate reference material with mean particle size μ = 94.6 ± 0.8 μm. (author)

Promise-based management: the essence of execution.

Science.gov (United States)

Sull, Donald N; Spinosa, Charles

2007-04-01

Critical initiatives stall for a variety of reasons--employee disengagement, a lack of coordination between functions, complex organizational structures that obscure accountability, and so on. To overcome such obstacles, managers must fundamentally rethink how work gets done. Most of the challenges stem from broken or poorly crafted commitments. That's because every company is, at its heart, a dynamic network of promises made between employees and colleagues, customers, outsourcing partners, or other stakeholders. Executives can overcome many problems in the short-term and foster productive, reliable workforces for the long-term by practicing what the authors call "promise-based management," which involves cultivating and coordinating commitments in a systematic way. Good promises share five qualities: They are public, active, voluntary, explicit, and mission based. To develop and execute an effective promise, the "provider" and the "customer" in the deal should go through three phases of conversation. The first, achieving a meeting of minds, entails exploring the fundamental questions of coordinated effort: What do you mean? Do you understand what I mean? What should I do? What will you do? Who else should we talk to? In the next phase, making it happen, the provider executes on the promise. In the final phase, closing the loop, the customer publicly declares that the provider has either delivered the goods or failed to do so. Leaders must weave and manage their webs of promises with great care-encouraging iterative conversation and making sure commitments are fulfilled reliably. If they do, they can enhance coordination and cooperation among colleagues, build the organizational agility required to seize new business opportunities, and tap employees' entrepreneurial energies.

Improving mass candidate detection in mammograms via feature maxima propagation and local feature selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Melendez, Jaime; Sánchez, Clara I; van Ginneken, Bram; Karssemeijer, Nico

2014-08-01

Mass candidate detection is a crucial component of multistep computer-aided detection (CAD) systems. It is usually performed by combining several local features by means of a classifier. When these features are processed on a per-image-location basis (e.g., for each pixel), mismatching problems may arise while constructing feature vectors for classification, which is especially true when the behavior expected from the evaluated features is a peaked response due to the presence of a mass. In this study, two of these problems, consisting of maxima misalignment and differences of maxima spread, are identified and two solutions are proposed. The first proposed method, feature maxima propagation, reproduces feature maxima through their neighboring locations. The second method, local feature selection, combines different subsets of features for different feature vectors associated with image locations. Both methods are applied independently and together. The proposed methods are included in a mammogram-based CAD system intended for mass detection in screening. Experiments are carried out with a database of 382 digital cases. Sensitivity is assessed at two sets of operating points. The first one is the interval of 3.5-15 false positives per image (FPs/image), which is typical for mass candidate detection. The second one is 1 FP/image, which allows to estimate the quality of the mass candidate detector's output for use in subsequent steps of the CAD system. The best results are obtained when the proposed methods are applied together. In that case, the mean sensitivity in the interval of 3.5-15 FPs/image significantly increases from 0.926 to 0.958 (p < 0.0002). At the lower rate of 1 FP/image, the mean sensitivity improves from 0.628 to 0.734 (p < 0.0002). Given the improved detection performance, the authors believe that the strategies proposed in this paper can render mass candidate detection approaches based on image location classification more robust to feature

Bioavailability of curcumin: problems and promises.

Science.gov (United States)

Anand, Preetha; Kunnumakkara, Ajaikumar B; Newman, Robert A; Aggarwal, Bharat B

2007-01-01

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound derived from dietary spice turmeric, possesses diverse pharmacologic effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative and antiangiogenic activities. Phase I clinical trials have shown that curcumin is safe even at high doses (12 g/day) in humans but exhibit poor bioavailability. Major reasons contributing to the low plasma and tissue levels of curcumin appear to be due to poor absorption, rapid metabolism, and rapid systemic elimination. To improve the bioavailability of curcumin, numerous approaches have been undertaken. These approaches involve, first, the use of adjuvant like piperine that interferes with glucuronidation; second, the use of liposomal curcumin; third, curcumin nanoparticles; fourth, the use of curcumin phospholipid complex; and fifth, the use of structural analogues of curcumin (e.g., EF-24). The latter has been reported to have a rapid absorption with a peak plasma half-life. Despite the lower bioavailability, therapeutic efficacy of curcumin against various human diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis, neurological diseases and Crohn's disease, has been documented. Enhanced bioavailability of curcumin in the near future is likely to bring this promising natural product to the forefront of therapeutic agents for treatment of human disease.

Elementary School Teacher Candidates' Perceptions of Good Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ji-Eun; Kim, Kyoung-Tae

2005-01-01

This study describes a classroom action research activity regarding a group of elementary school teacher candidates' perceptions of good mathematics problems. A questionnaire containing 20 problems was given, and the candidates were asked to rate the quality of each problem on a 5-point scale. The results revealed that the majority of the teacher…

Genetic determinants of facial clefting: analysis of 357 candidate genes using two national cleft studies from Scandinavia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Astanand Jugessur

Full Text Available Facial clefts are common birth defects with a strong genetic component. To identify fetal genetic risk factors for clefting, 1536 SNPs in 357 candidate genes were genotyped in two population-based samples from Scandinavia (Norway: 562 case-parent and 592 control-parent triads; Denmark: 235 case-parent triads.We used two complementary statistical methods, TRIMM and HAPLIN, to look for associations across these two national samples. TRIMM tests for association in each gene by using multi-SNP genotypes from case-parent triads directly without the need to infer haplotypes. HAPLIN on the other hand estimates the full haplotype distribution over a set of SNPs and estimates relative risks associated with each haplotype. For isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate (I-CL/P, TRIMM and HAPLIN both identified significant associations with IRF6 and ADH1C in both populations, but only HAPLIN found an association with FGF12. For isolated cleft palate (I-CP, TRIMM found associations with ALX3, MKX, and PDGFC in both populations, but only the association with PDGFC was identified by HAPLIN. In addition, HAPLIN identified an association with ETV5 that was not detected by TRIMM.Strong associations with seven genes were replicated in the Scandinavian samples and our approach effectively replicated the strongest previously known association in clefting--with IRF6. Based on two national cleft cohorts of similar ancestry, two robust statistical methods and a large panel of SNPs in the most promising cleft candidate genes to date, this study identified a previously unknown association with clefting for ADH1C and provides additional candidates and analytic approaches to advance the field.

Reintroducing resurrected species: selecting DeExtinction candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, Philip J; Moehrenschlager, Axel; Ewen, John

2014-03-01

Technological advances have raised the controversial prospect of resurrecting extinct species. Species DeExtinction should involve more than the production of biological orphans to be scrutinized in the laboratory or zoo. If DeExtinction is to realize its stated goals of deep ecological enrichment, then resurrected animals must be translocated (i.e., released within suitable habitat). Therefore, DeExtinction is a conservation translocation issue and the selection of potential DeExtinction candidates must consider the feasibility and risks associated with reintroduction. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Guidelines on Reintroductions and Other Conservation Translocations provide a framework for DeExtinction candidate selection. We translate these Guidelines into ten questions to be addressed early on in the selection process to eliminate unsuitable reintroduction candidates. We apply these questions to the thylacine, Yangtze River Dolphin, and Xerces blue butterfly. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Caffeine Consumption Among Naval Aviation Candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sather, Thomas E; Williams, Ronald D; Delorey, Donald R; Woolsey, Conrad L

2017-04-01

Education frequently dictates students need to study for prolonged periods of time to adequately prepare for examinations. This is especially true with aviation preflight indoctrination (API) candidates who have to assimilate large volumes of information in a limited amount of time during API training. The purpose of this study was to assess caffeine consumption patterns (frequency, type, and volume) among naval aviation candidates attending API to determine the most frequently consumed caffeinated beverage and to examine if the consumption of a nonenergy drink caffeinated beverage was related to energy drink consumption. Data were collected by means of an anonymous 44-item survey administered and completed by 302 students enrolled in API at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL. Results indicated the most frequently consumed caffeinated beverage consumed by API students was coffee (86.4%), with daily coffee consumption being approximately 28% and the most frequent pattern of consumption being 2 cups per day (85%). The least frequently consumed caffeinated beverages reported were energy drinks (52%) and energy shots (29.1%). The present study also found that the consumption patterns (weekly and daily) of caffeinated beverages (coffee and cola) were positively correlated to energy drink consumption patterns. Naval aviation candidates' consumption of caffeinated beverages is comparable to other college and high school cohorts. This study found that coffee and colas were the beverages of choice, with energy drinks and energy shots being the least frequently reported caffeinated beverages used. Additionally, a relationship between the consumption of caffeinated beverages and energy drinks was identified.Sather TE, Williams RD, Delorey DR, Woolsey CL. Caffeine consumption among naval aviation candidates. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(4):399-405.

Young children mostly keep, and expect others to keep, their promises.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanngiesser, Patricia; Köymen, Bahar; Tomasello, Michael

2017-07-01

Promises are speech acts that create an obligation to do the promised action. In three studies, we investigated whether 3- and 5-year-olds (N=278) understand the normative implications of promising in prosocial interactions. In Study 1, children helped a partner who promised to share stickers. When the partner failed to uphold the promise, 3- and 5-year-olds protested and referred to promise norms. In Study 2, when children in this same age range were asked to promise to continue a cleaning task-and they agreed-they persisted longer on the task and mentioned their obligation more frequently than without such a promise. They also persisted longer after a promise than after a cleaning reminder (Study 3). In prosocial interactions, thus, young children feel a normative obligation to keep their promises and expect others to keep their promises as well. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Academic performance of ethnic minority candidates and discrimination in the MRCGP examinations between 2010 and 2012: analysis of data.

Science.gov (United States)

Esmail, Aneez; Roberts, Chris

2013-09-26

To determine the difference in failure rates in the postgraduate examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) by ethnic or national background, and to identify factors associated with pass rates in the clinical skills assessment component of the examination. Analysis of data provided by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the General Medical Council. Cohort of 5095 candidates sitting the applied knowledge test and clinical skills assessment components of the MRCGP examination between November 2010 and November 2012. A further analysis was carried out on 1175 candidates not trained in the United Kingdom, who sat an English language capability test (IELTS) and the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) examination (as required for full medical registration), controlling for scores on these examinations and relating them to pass rates of the clinical skills assessment. United Kingdom. After controlling for age, sex, and performance in the applied knowledge test, significant differences persisted between white UK graduates and other candidate groups. Black and minority ethnic graduates trained in the UK were more likely to fail the clinical skills assessment at their first attempt than their white UK colleagues (odds ratio 3.536 (95% confidence interval 2.701 to 4.629), PIELTS, and PLAB examinations (adjusted odds ratio 1.580 (95% confidence interval 0.878 to 2.845), P=0.127). Subjective bias due to racial discrimination in the clinical skills assessment may be a cause of failure for UK trained candidates and international medical graduates. The difference between British black and minority ethnic candidates and British white candidates in the pass rates of the clinical skills assessment, despite controlling for prior attainment, suggests that subjective bias could also be a factor. Changes to the clinical skills assessment could improve the perception of the examination as being biased against black and minority ethnic

Economic Prospects for African Americans, 2001-2010: Politics and Promises.

Science.gov (United States)

Brimmer, Andrew F.

Given the different economic policy approaches of the two candidates for the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies analyzed and assessed the plans put forth by both candidates, focusing on the expected impacts on African Americans. Six analyses were…

Half metallic ferromagnet Pr_0_._9_5Mn_0_._9_3_9O_3 for spin based devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santhosh Kumar, B.; Praveen Shankar, N.; Venkateswaran, C.; Manimuthu, P.

2016-01-01

Half Metallic Ferromagnets (HMF) are excellent candidates for spintronics devices due to their unusual 3d and 4s bands. Band theory and first principles calculations strongly predict that Pr based compounds are promising HMF candidates due to their spin hybridisation. Among all Pr based HMF, Pr_0_._9_5Mn_0_._9_3_9O_3 is special because of its pervoskite structure. The different oxidation states of Mn and Pr will enhance the hybridisation of 3d and 4f bands. The present study is experimental effort on the preparation of Pr based compounds

Synthesis and vibrational circular dichroism of enantiopure chiral oxorhenium(V) complexes containing the hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate ligand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lassen, Peter Rygaard

2006-01-01

The infrared and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra of six chiral oxorhenium(V) complexes, bearing a hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate (Tp) ligand, have been investigated. These complexes are promising candidates for observation of parity violation (symmetry breaking due to the weak nuclear...

Interaction between High-Voltage Cathode Materials and Ionic Liquids for Novel Li-Ion Batteries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Locati, C.

2012-01-01

The fast-growing market on electronic portable devices is possibly due to the development of Li-ion batteries. Besides, such batteries are the most promising candidates as energy storage media in (hybrid) electric vehicles, in the near future. However, improvements on electrochemical performances

Web tools for the prioritization of candidate disease genes.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oti, M.O.; Ballouz, S.; Wouters, M.A.

2011-01-01

Despite increasing sequencing capacity, genetic disease investigation still frequently results in the identification of loci containing multiple candidate disease genes that need to be tested for involvement in the disease. This process can be expedited by prioritizing the candidates prior to

Disease candidate gene identification and prioritization using protein interaction networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aronow Bruce J

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although most of the current disease candidate gene identification and prioritization methods depend on functional annotations, the coverage of the gene functional annotations is a limiting factor. In the current study, we describe a candidate gene prioritization method that is entirely based on protein-protein interaction network (PPIN analyses. Results For the first time, extended versions of the PageRank and HITS algorithms, and the K-Step Markov method are applied to prioritize disease candidate genes in a training-test schema. Using a list of known disease-related genes from our earlier study as a training set ("seeds", and the rest of the known genes as a test list, we perform large-scale cross validation to rank the candidate genes and also evaluate and compare the performance of our approach. Under appropriate settings – for example, a back probability of 0.3 for PageRank with Priors and HITS with Priors, and step size 6 for K-Step Markov method – the three methods achieved a comparable AUC value, suggesting a similar performance. Conclusion Even though network-based methods are generally not as effective as integrated functional annotation-based methods for disease candidate gene prioritization, in a one-to-one comparison, PPIN-based candidate gene prioritization performs better than all other gene features or annotations. Additionally, we demonstrate that methods used for studying both social and Web networks can be successfully used for disease candidate gene prioritization.

Promising Compilation to ARMv8 POP

OpenAIRE

Podkopaev, Anton; Lahav, Ori; Vafeiadis, Viktor

2017-01-01

We prove the correctness of compilation of relaxed memory accesses and release-acquire fences from the "promising" semantics of [Kang et al. POPL'17] to the ARMv8 POP machine of [Flur et al. POPL'16]. The proof is highly non-trivial because both the ARMv8 POP and the promising semantics provide some extremely weak consistency guarantees for normal memory accesses; however, they do so in rather different ways. Our proof of compilation correctness to ARMv8 POP strengthens the results of the Kan...

Tradeoffs in fuel cycle performance for most promising options - 15346

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taiwo, T.; Kim, T.K.; Feng, B.; Stauff, N.; Hoffman, E.; Ganda, F.; Todosow, M.; Brown, N.; Raitses, G.; Gehin, J.; Powers, J.; Youinou, G.; Hiruta, H.; Wigeland, R.

2015-01-01

A recent Evaluation and Screening (E/S) study of nuclear fuel cycle options was conducted by grouping all potential options into 40 Evaluation Groups (EGs) based on similarities in fundamental physics characteristics and fuel cycle performance. Through a rigorous evaluation process considering benefit and challenge metrics, 4 of these EGs were identified by the E/S study as 'most promising'. All 4 involve continuous recycle of U/Pu or U/TRU with natural uranium feed in fast critical reactors. However, these most promising EGs also include fuel cycle groups with variations on feed materials, neutron spectra, and reactor criticality. Therefore, the impacts of the addition of natural thorium fuel feed to a system that originally only used natural uranium fuel feed, using an intermediate spectrum instead of a fast spectrum, and using externally-driven systems versus critical reactors were evaluated. It was found that adding thorium to the natural uranium feed mixture leads to lower burnup, higher mass flows, and degrades fuel cycle benefit metrics (waste management, resource utilization, etc.) for fuel cycles that continuously recycle U/Pu or U/TRU. Adding thorium results in fissions of 233 U instead of just 239 Pu and in turn results in a lower average number of neutrons produced per absorption (η) for the fast reactor system. For continuous recycling systems, the lower η results in lower excess reactivity and subsequently lower achievable fuel burnup. This in turn leads to higher mass flows (fabrication, reprocessing, disposal, etc.) to produce a given amount of energy and subsequent lower metrics performance. The investigated fuel cycle options with intermediate spectrum reactors also exhibited degraded performance in the benefit metrics compared to fast spectrum reactors. Similarly, this is due to lower η values as the spectrum softens. The best externally-driven systems exhibited similar performance as fast critical reactors in terms of mass flows

The Promise of a College Scholarship Transforms a District

Science.gov (United States)

Ritter, Gary W.; Ash, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Promise programs are place-based scholarships, generally tied to a city or school district, offering near-universal access to all living in the "place." While Promise programs share some characteristics with other scholarship programs, they're unique because they seek to change communities and schools. Underlying such promise programs is…

ARCHITECTURE AND DYNAMICS OF KEPLER'S CANDIDATE MULTIPLE TRANSITING PLANET SYSTEMS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Howell, Steve B. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Ragozzine, Darin; Holman, Matthew J.; Carter, Joshua A. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Fortney, Jonathan J. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Steffen, Jason H. [Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Ford, Eric B. [211 Bryant Space Science Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Shporer, Avi [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 (United States); Rowe, Jason F.; Quintana, Elisa V.; Caldwell, Douglas A. [SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Batalha, Natalie M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192 (United States); Ciardi, David [Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Dunham, Edward W. [Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States); Gautier, Thomas N. III, E-mail: Jack.Lissauer@nasa.gov [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); and others

2011-11-01

About one-third of the {approx}1200 transiting planet candidates detected in the first four months of Kepler data are members of multiple candidate systems. There are 115 target stars with two candidate transiting planets, 45 with three, 8 with four, and 1 each with five and six. We characterize the dynamical properties of these candidate multi-planet systems. The distribution of observed period ratios shows that the vast majority of candidate pairs are neither in nor near low-order mean-motion resonances. Nonetheless, there are small but statistically significant excesses of candidate pairs both in resonance and spaced slightly too far apart to be in resonance, particularly near the 2:1 resonance. We find that virtually all candidate systems are stable, as tested by numerical integrations that assume a nominal mass-radius relationship. Several considerations strongly suggest that the vast majority of these multi-candidate systems are true planetary systems. Using the observed multiplicity frequencies, we find that a single population of planetary systems that matches the higher multiplicities underpredicts the number of singly transiting systems. We provide constraints on the true multiplicity and mutual inclination distribution of the multi-candidate systems, revealing a population of systems with multiple super-Earth-size and Neptune-size planets with low to moderate mutual inclinations.

Uterine transplantation: a promising surrogate to surrogacy?

Science.gov (United States)

Grynberg, Michael; Ayoubi, Jean-Marc; Bulletti, Carlo; Frydman, Rene; Fanchin, Renato

2011-03-01

Infertility due to the inability of the uterus to carry a pregnancy ranks among the most unresolved issues in reproductive medicine. It affects millions of women worldwide who have congenital or acquired uterine affections, often requiring hysterectomy, and potentially represents a considerable fraction of the general infertile population. Patients suffering from severe uterine infertility are currently compelled to go through gestational surrogacy or adoption; both approaches, unfortunately, deprive them of the maternal experience of pregnancy and birth. Uterine transplantation represents an outstanding, yet complex, perspective to alleviating definitive uterine infertility. In the past decades, a number of scientific experiments conducted both in animals and women, focusing on uterine transplantation, have led to promising results. Collectively, these findings undoubtedly constitute a sound basis to clinically apply uterine transplantation in the near future. This paper is, however, an overview not only of the extent and limitations of accumulated scientific knowledge on uterine transplantation, but also its ethical implications, in an effort to define the actual place of such an approach among the therapeutic arsenal for alleviating infertility. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

Campaigning on the Internet: 2008 Presidential General Election Candidate Webpage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William L. Benoit

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The Internet is becoming an increasingly important component of political campaigns. This study employed content analysis to apply Functional Theory and Issue Ownership Theory to Obama’s and McCain’s presidential candidate webpages in the 2008 campaign. Acclaims (92% were more common than attacks (98%; defenses did not occur in this sample. Policy (82% was addressed more than character (18%. When discussing policy, these candidates addressed future plans most frequently, followed by general goals and then past deeds; on character, candidates discussed ideals, then personal qualities, and then leadership ability. This study shows that as candidates use the Internet to reach voters, their webpages conform to theoretical expectations.

Application of miniaturized disk bend test technique for selection of optimum composition of candidate materials for fusion reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsepelev, A.B.; Poymenov, I.L.

1992-01-01

An analysis of the potential of a miniaturized disk bend test (MDBT) technique for estimation of irradiated steel mechanical properties behaviour indicates promise in selecting candidate materials for nuclear applications. The advantages of the method are most clearly demonstrated when a large series of tests is needed. The tiny specimen size gives an additional advantage from the point of view of radiation material science. As an example of the MDBT potential, preliminary results of electron irradiation effects on Cr-Mn-W austenitic and Cr-W ferrite carbon and nitrogen steels are presented. It is shown that electron irradiation causes changes of the loading MDBT-curve form of the steels that most probably are connected with radiation-induced structure-phase transformations in the steels. (orig.)

Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection by the candidate microbicide dapivirine, a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, P; Harman, S; Azijn, H; Armanasco, N; Manlow, P; Perumal, D; de Bethune, M-P; Nuttall, J; Romano, J; Shattock, R

2009-02-01

Heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains the major route of infection worldwide; thus, there is an urgent need for additional prevention strategies, particularly strategies that could be controlled by women, such as topical microbicides. Potential microbicide candidates must be both safe and effective. Using cellular and tissue explant models, we have evaluated the activity of the nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) dapivirine as a vaginal microbicide. In tissue compatibility studies, dapivirine was well tolerated by epithelial cells, T cells, macrophages, and cervical tissue explants. Dapivirine demonstrated potent dose-dependent inhibitory effects against a broad panel of HIV type 1 isolates from different clades. Furthermore, dapivirine demonstrated potent activity against a wide range of NNRTI-resistant isolates. In human cervical explant cultures, dapivirine was able not only to inhibit direct infection of mucosal tissue but also to prevent the dissemination of the virus by migratory cells. Activity was retained in the presence of semen or a cervical mucus simulant. Furthermore, dapivirine demonstrated prolonged inhibitory effects: it was able to prevent both localized and disseminated infection for as long as 6 days posttreatment. The prolonged protection observed following pretreatment of genital tissue and the lack of observable toxicity suggest that dapivirine has considerable promise as a potential microbicide candidate.

Inhibition of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection by the Candidate Microbicide Dapivirine, a Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor▿

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, P.; Harman, S.; Azijn, H.; Armanasco, N.; Manlow, P.; Perumal, D.; de Bethune, M.-P.; Nuttall, J.; Romano, J.; Shattock, R.

2009-01-01

Heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains the major route of infection worldwide; thus, there is an urgent need for additional prevention strategies, particularly strategies that could be controlled by women, such as topical microbicides. Potential microbicide candidates must be both safe and effective. Using cellular and tissue explant models, we have evaluated the activity of the nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) dapivirine as a vaginal microbicide. In tissue compatibility studies, dapivirine was well tolerated by epithelial cells, T cells, macrophages, and cervical tissue explants. Dapivirine demonstrated potent dose-dependent inhibitory effects against a broad panel of HIV type 1 isolates from different clades. Furthermore, dapivirine demonstrated potent activity against a wide range of NNRTI-resistant isolates. In human cervical explant cultures, dapivirine was able not only to inhibit direct infection of mucosal tissue but also to prevent the dissemination of the virus by migratory cells. Activity was retained in the presence of semen or a cervical mucus simulant. Furthermore, dapivirine demonstrated prolonged inhibitory effects: it was able to prevent both localized and disseminated infection for as long as 6 days posttreatment. The prolonged protection observed following pretreatment of genital tissue and the lack of observable toxicity suggest that dapivirine has considerable promise as a potential microbicide candidate. PMID:19029331

Optimization of Candidate Selection Using Naive Bayes: Case Study in Company X

Science.gov (United States)

Kadar, JA; Agustono, D.; Napitupulu, D.

2018-01-01

This research was conducted as a decision-making system, and an alternative solution to complete the candidate assessment for a particular position. The human resources (HR) section on company X is responsible and initiative in selecting candidates in accordance with the assessment of their superiors. Selection by using the method of filling out the manager’s assessment questionnaire on the candidate’s subordinate. Three (3) managers have been determined to assess the 11 candidates for subordinates. By using questionnaire of quality classification of human resources and formula naive bayes it will get result which finally grouped using criteria scale as final grouping. The HR department has also determined that what is received is that which meets criteria 5. The result is three (3) candidates who can be proposed as candidates for certain positions in company X, and have met all required calculations. Furthermore the candidate will be given to management as an alternative input data in the selection of candidates.

Alginate hydrogel as a promising scaffold for dental-derived stem cells: an in vitro study.

Science.gov (United States)

Moshaverinia, Alireza; Chen, Chider; Akiyama, Kentaro; Ansari, Sahar; Xu, Xingtian; Chee, Winston W; Schricker, Scott R; Shi, Songtao

2012-12-01

The objectives of this study were to: (1) develop an injectable and biodegradable scaffold based on oxidized alginate microbeads encapsulating periodontal ligament (PDLSCs) and gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs); and (2) investigate the stem cell viability, and osteogenic differentiation of the stem cells in vitro. Stem cells were encapsulated using alginate hydrogel. The stem cell viability, proliferation and differentiation to adipogenic and osteogenic tissues were studied. To investigate the expression of both adipogenesis and ontogenesis related genes, the RNA was extracted and RT-PCR was performed. The degradation behavior of hydrogel based on oxidized sodium alginate with different degrees of oxidation was studied in PBS at 37 °C as a function of time by monitoring the changes in weight loss. The swelling kinetics of alginate hydrogel was also investigated. The results showed that alginate is a promising candidate as a non-toxic scaffold for PDLSCs and GMSCs. It also has the ability to direct the differentiation of these stem cells to osteogenic and adipogenic tissues as compared to the control group in vitro. The encapsulated stem cells remained viable in vitro and both osteo-differentiated and adipo-differentiated after 4 weeks of culturing in the induction media. It was found that the degradation profile and swelling kinetics of alginate hydrogel strongly depends on the degree of oxidation showing its tunable chemistry and degradation rate. These findings demonstrate for the first time that immobilization of PDLSCs and GMSCs in the alginate microspheres provides a promising strategy for bone tissue engineering.

Teacher Candidate Technology Integration: For Student Learning or Instruction?

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Cynthia; Zhang, Shaoan; Strudler, Neal

2015-01-01

Transfer of instructional technology knowledge for student-centered learning by teacher candidates is investigated in this study. Using the transfer of learning theoretical framework, a mixed methods research design was employed to investigate whether secondary teacher candidates were able to transfer the instructional technology knowledge for…

Evaluation of project based learning sufficiency of teacher candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasfi Tugun

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of that research, it is the project based learning process suffuciency of teacher candidates who developedmultimedia by working in online and blended groups. Importance of research Being able to guide to studies that is going tobe done about assessment of multimedia projection for project based educational application to teachers and teachercandidates and It has been thought as an advisor source about being arranged new educational environment for the futureto teacher and teacher candidates for project based educational application and multimedia projection. Research is anexperimental study and has been shaped according to pre-test and last-test research model with the two groups. This groupsare online group and blended group. Discussion of research In the result of the study, in the process of project basedlearning, it is determined that the success level in multimedia development of teacher candidates who work in blendedlearning model is higher than the success level of teacher candidates who work in online learning model.

Fast torque estimation of in-wheel parallel flux switching machines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ilhan, E.; Paulides, J.J.H.; Lomonova, E.

2010-01-01

Parallel ux switching machines (PFSM) come forward in automotive industry as a promising candidate for hybrid truck applications due to their high power density. Torque calculations, i.e cogging and electromagnetic, are important features of these machines, which require a ??nite element model (FEM)

Naturally acquired antibody responses to recombinant Pfs230 and Pfs48/45 transmission blocking vaccine candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jones, Sophie; Grignard, Lynn; Nebie, Issa

2015-01-01

for the future evaluation of vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in populations naturally exposed to malaria. METHODS: We determined naturally acquired antibody responses to the recombinant proteins Pfs48/45-10C and Pfs230-230CMB in children from three malaria endemic settings in Ghana, Tanzania and Burkina Faso......OBJECTIVES: Pfs48/45 and Pfs230 are Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage proteins and promising malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidates. Antibody responses against these proteins may be naturally acquired and target antigens may be under selective pressure. This has consequences....... We also examined genetic polymorphisms in the P. falciparum gene pfs48/45. RESULTS: Antibody prevalence was 1.1-18.2% for 10C and 6.7-18.9% for 230CMB. In Burkina Faso we observed evidence of an age-dependent acquisition pattern for both 10C (p assays...

DETECTION OF A BIPOLAR MOLECULAR OUTFLOW DRIVEN BY A CANDIDATE FIRST HYDROSTATIC CORE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunham, Michael M.; Chen Xuepeng; Arce, Héctor G.; Bourke, Tyler L.; Schnee, Scott; Enoch, Melissa L.

2011-01-01

We present new 230 GHz Submillimeter Array observations of the candidate first hydrostatic core Per-Bolo 58. We report the detection of a 1.3 mm continuum source and a bipolar molecular outflow, both centered on the position of the candidate first hydrostatic core. The continuum detection has a total flux density of 26.6 ± 4.0 mJy, from which we calculate a total (gas and dust) mass of 0.11 ± 0.05 M ☉ and a mean number density of 2.0 ± 1.6 × 10 7 cm –3 . There is some evidence for the existence of an unresolved component in the continuum detection, but longer-baseline observations are required in order to confirm the presence of this component and determine whether its origin lies in a circumstellar disk or in the dense inner envelope. The bipolar molecular outflow is observed along a nearly due east-west axis. The outflow is slow (characteristic velocity of 2.9 km s –1 ), shows a jet-like morphology (opening semi-angles ∼8° for both lobes), and extends to the edges of the primary beam. We calculate the kinematic and dynamic properties of the outflow in the standard manner and compare them to several other protostars and candidate first hydrostatic cores with similarly low luminosities. We discuss the evidence both in support of and against the possibility that Per-Bolo 58 is a first hydrostatic core, and we outline future work needed to further evaluate the evolutionary status of this object.

LOD score exclusion analyses for candidate QTLs using random population samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Hong-Wen

2003-11-01

While extensive analyses have been conducted to test for, no formal analyses have been conducted to test against, the importance of candidate genes as putative QTLs using random population samples. Previously, we developed an LOD score exclusion mapping approach for candidate genes for complex diseases. Here, we extend this LOD score approach for exclusion analyses of candidate genes for quantitative traits. Under this approach, specific genetic effects (as reflected by heritability) and inheritance models at candidate QTLs can be analyzed and if an LOD score is < or = -2.0, the locus can be excluded from having a heritability larger than that specified. Simulations show that this approach has high power to exclude a candidate gene from having moderate genetic effects if it is not a QTL and is robust to population admixture. Our exclusion analysis complements association analysis for candidate genes as putative QTLs in random population samples. The approach is applied to test the importance of Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene as a potential QTL underlying the variation of bone mass, an important determinant of osteoporosis.

Undergraduate Teacher Candidate Perceptions Integrating Technology in Classroom Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Charlise Askew

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze undergraduate teacher candidates' perceptions on integrating technology in the classroom. The study was embedded in the "Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge" theoretical model. A sample of 143 undergraduate teacher candidates participated in the study. They were asked to address items on a…

14 CFR 91.321 - Carriage of candidates in elections.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... carrier or commercial operator; (2) You carry the candidate, agent, or person traveling on behalf of a... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Carriage of candidates in elections. 91.321 Section 91.321 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION...

Social Studies Teacher Candidates' Views on Historical Thinking Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Ozmen, Cengiz

2015-01-01

Current study aimed to present Social Studies teacher candidates' views on historical thinking skills. Study was conducted using qualitative design and working group was composed of a total of 121 teacher candidates (62 females and 59 males) attending Social Studies Teaching Department of Karadeniz Technical University and Adiyaman University…

LOW FALSE POSITIVE RATE OF KEPLER CANDIDATES ESTIMATED FROM A COMBINATION OF SPITZER AND FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Désert, Jean-Michel; Brown, Timothy M.; Charbonneau, David; Torres, Guillermo; Fressin, François; Ballard, Sarah; Latham, David W.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Borucki, William J.; Knutson, Heather A.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Deming, Drake; Ford, Eric B.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Seager, Sara

2015-01-01

NASA’s Kepler mission has provided several thousand transiting planet candidates during the 4 yr of its nominal mission, yet only a small subset of these candidates have been confirmed as true planets. Therefore, the most fundamental question about these candidates is the fraction of bona fide planets. Estimating the rate of false positives of the overall Kepler sample is necessary to derive the planet occurrence rate. We present the results from two large observational campaigns that were conducted with the Spitzer Space Telescope during the the Kepler mission. These observations are dedicated to estimating the false positive rate (FPR) among the Kepler candidates. We select a sub-sample of 51 candidates, spanning wide ranges in stellar, orbital, and planetary parameter space, and we observe their transits with Spitzer at 4.5 μm. We use these observations to measures the candidate’s transit depths and infrared magnitudes. An authentic planet produces an achromatic transit depth (neglecting the modest effect of limb darkening). Conversely a bandpass-dependent depth alerts us to the potential presence of a blending star that could be the source of the observed eclipse: a false positive scenario. For most of the candidates (85%), the transit depths measured with Kepler are consistent with the transit depths measured with Spitzer as expected for planetary objects, while we find that the most discrepant measurements are due to the presence of unresolved stars that dilute the photometry. The Spitzer constraints on their own yield FPRs between 5% and depending on the Kepler Objects of Interest. By considering the population of the Kepler field stars, and by combining follow-up observations (imaging) when available, we find that the overall FPR of our sample is low. The measured upper limit on the FPR of our sample is 8.8% at a confidence level of 3σ. This observational result, which uses the achromatic property of planetary transit signals that is not investigated

LOW FALSE POSITIVE RATE OF KEPLER CANDIDATES ESTIMATED FROM A COMBINATION OF SPITZER AND FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Désert, Jean-Michel; Brown, Timothy M. [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, 389-UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Charbonneau, David; Torres, Guillermo; Fressin, François; Ballard, Sarah; Latham, David W. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Bryson, Stephen T.; Borucki, William J. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Knutson, Heather A. [Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Batalha, Natalie M. [San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192 (United States); Deming, Drake [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421 (United States); Ford, Eric B. [University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Fortney, Jonathan J. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Gilliland, Ronald L. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Seager, Sara, E-mail: desert@colorado.edu [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02159 (United States)

2015-05-01

NASA’s Kepler mission has provided several thousand transiting planet candidates during the 4 yr of its nominal mission, yet only a small subset of these candidates have been confirmed as true planets. Therefore, the most fundamental question about these candidates is the fraction of bona fide planets. Estimating the rate of false positives of the overall Kepler sample is necessary to derive the planet occurrence rate. We present the results from two large observational campaigns that were conducted with the Spitzer Space Telescope during the the Kepler mission. These observations are dedicated to estimating the false positive rate (FPR) among the Kepler candidates. We select a sub-sample of 51 candidates, spanning wide ranges in stellar, orbital, and planetary parameter space, and we observe their transits with Spitzer at 4.5 μm. We use these observations to measures the candidate’s transit depths and infrared magnitudes. An authentic planet produces an achromatic transit depth (neglecting the modest effect of limb darkening). Conversely a bandpass-dependent depth alerts us to the potential presence of a blending star that could be the source of the observed eclipse: a false positive scenario. For most of the candidates (85%), the transit depths measured with Kepler are consistent with the transit depths measured with Spitzer as expected for planetary objects, while we find that the most discrepant measurements are due to the presence of unresolved stars that dilute the photometry. The Spitzer constraints on their own yield FPRs between 5% and depending on the Kepler Objects of Interest. By considering the population of the Kepler field stars, and by combining follow-up observations (imaging) when available, we find that the overall FPR of our sample is low. The measured upper limit on the FPR of our sample is 8.8% at a confidence level of 3σ. This observational result, which uses the achromatic property of planetary transit signals that is not investigated

Candidate Dosimetric Predictors of Long-Term Swallowing Dysfunction After Oropharyngeal Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwartz, David L.; Hutcheson, Katherine; Barringer, Denise; Tucker, Susan L.; Kies, Merrill; Holsinger, F. Christopher; Ang, K. Kian; Morrison, William H.; Rosenthal, David I.; Garden, Adam S.; Dong Lei; Lewin, Jan S.

2010-01-01

Purpose: To investigate long-term swallowing function in oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and to identify novel dose-limiting criteria predictive for dysphagia. Methods and Materials: Thirty-one patients with Stage IV oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma enrolled on a Phase II trial were prospectively evaluated by modified barium swallow studies at baseline, and 6, 12, and 24 months post-IMRT treatment. Candidate dysphagia-associated organs at risk were retrospectively contoured into original treatment plans. Twenty-one (68%) cases were base of tongue and 10 (32%) were tonsil. Stage distribution was T1 (12 patients), T2 (10), T3 (4), T4 (2), and TX (3), and N2 (24), N3 (5), and NX (2). Median age was 52.8 years (range, 42-78 years). Thirteen patients (42%) received concurrent chemotherapy during IMRT. Thirteen (42%) were former smokers. Mean dose to glottic larynx for the cohort was limited to 18 Gy (range, 6-39 Gy) by matching IMRT to conventional low-neck fields. Results: Dose-volume constraints (V30 < 65% and V35 < 35% for anterior oral cavity and V55 < 80% and V65 < 30% for high superior pharyngeal constrictors) predictive for objective swallowing dysfunction were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. Aspiration and feeding tube dependence were observed in only 1 patient at 24 months. Conclusions: In the context of glottic laryngeal shielding, we describe candidate oral cavity and superior pharyngeal constrictor organs at risk and dose-volume constraints associated with preserved long-term swallowing function; these constraints are currently undergoing prospective validation. Strict protection of the glottic larynx via beam-split IMRT techniques promises to make chronic aspiration an uncommon outcome.

Survey of degradation modes of candidate materials for high-level radioactive-waste disposal containers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farmer, J.C.; McCright, R.D.; Kass, J.N.

1988-06-01

Three iron- to nickel-based austenitic alloys and three copper-based alloys are being considered as candidate materials for the fabrication of high-level radioactive-waste disposal containers. The austenitic alloys are Types 304L and 316L stainless steels and the high-nickel material Alloy 825. The copper-based alloys are CDA 102 (oxygen-free copper), CDA 613 (Cu-7Al), and CDA 715 (Cu-30Ni). Waste in the forms of both spent fuel assemblies from reactors and borosilicate glass will be sent to the prospective repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The decay of radionuclides will result in the generation of substantial heat and gamma radiation. Container materials may undergo any of several modes of degradation in this environment, including undesirable phase transformations due to a lack of phase stability; atmospheric oxidation; general aqueous corrosion; pitting; crevice corrosion; intergranular stress corrosion cracking; and transgranular stress corrosion cracking. Problems specific to welds, such as hot cracking, may also occur. A survey of the literature has been prepared as part of the process of selecting, from among the candidates, a material that is adequate for repository conditions. The modes of degradation are discussed in detail in the survey to determine which apply to the candidate alloys and the extent to which they may actually occur. The eight volumes of the survey are summarized in Sections 1 through 8 of this overview. The conclusions drawn from the survey are also given in this overview

COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CANDIDAL DYSBACTERIOSIS THERAPY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.V. Nikolaeva

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The study of effectiveness of different methods of microbiological disorders correction in children after 3 years old with candidal dysbacteriosis are presented in this article. The study compared probiotical sour milk-made stuff («Actimel» and sour milk-made stuff, not fortified with probiotical cultures («Rastishka» and traditional kefir. It was shown that an inclusion of probiotical sour milkmade stuff in diet of children with candidal dysbacteriosis results in normalization of lacto- and bifidobacteria level and decreasing of Candida level.Key words: children, candidal dysbacteriosis, probiotics.(Voprosy sovremennoi pediatrii — Current Pediatrics. 2009;8(6:31-35

Generation of transgenic corn-derived Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae ApxIIA fused with the cholera toxin B subunit as a vaccine candidate

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Min-Kyoung; Jung, Myung Hwan; Lee, Won-Jung; Choi, Pil Son; Jang, Yong-Suk

2011-01-01

Corn, one of the most important forage crops worldwide, has proven to be a useful expression vehicle due to the availability of established transformation procedures for this well-studied plant. The exotoxin Apx, a major virulence factor, is recognized as a common antigen of Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae, the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia. In this study, a cholera toxin B (CTB)-ApxIIA#5 fusion protein and full-size ApxIIA expressed in corn seed, as a subunit vaccine candidate, were observed to induce Apx-specific immune responses in mice. These results suggest that transgenic corn-derived ApxIIA and CTB-ApxIIA#5 proteins are potential vaccine candidates against A. pleuropneumoniae infection. PMID:22122907

Impact of the Mobile HealthPROMISE Platform on the Quality of Care and Quality of Life in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Study Protocol of a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Sameer; Rogers, Jason D; Otobo, Emamuzo; Patel, Nishant P; Ullman, Thomas; Colombel, Jean Fred; Moore, Shirley; Sands, Bruce E

2015-01-01

Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition of the bowel that affects over 1 million people in the United States. The recurring nature of disease makes IBD patients ideal candidates for patient-engaged care that is centered on enhanced self-management and improved doctor-patient communication. In IBD, optimal approaches to management vary for patients with different phenotypes and extent of disease and past surgical history. Hence, a single quality metric cannot define a heterogeneous disease such as IBD, unlike hypertension and diabetes. A more comprehensive assessment may be provided by complementing traditional quality metrics with measures of the patient’s quality of life (QOL) through an application like HealthPROMISE. Objective The objective of this pragmatic randomized controlled trial is to determine the impact of the HealthPROMISE app in improving outcomes (quality of care [QOC], QOL, patient adherence, disease control, and resource utilization) as compared to a patient education app. Our hypothesis is that a patient-centric self-monitoring and collaborative decision support platform will lead to sustainable improvement in overall QOL for IBD patients. Methods Participants will be recruited during face-to-face visits and randomized to either an interventional (ie, HealthPROMISE) or control (ie, education app). Patients in the HealthPROMISE arm will be able to update their information and receive disease summary, quality metrics, and a graph showing the trend of QOL (SIBDQ) scores and resource utilization over time. Providers will use the data for collaborative decision making and quality improvement interventions at the point of care. Patients in the control arm will enter data at baseline, during office visits, and at the end of the study but will not receive any decision support (trend of QOL, alert, or dashboard views). Results Enrollment in the trial will be starting in first quarter of 2015. It is intended that up to 300

An Investigation of Immunogenicity of Chitosan-Based Botulinum Neurotoxin E Binding Domain Recombinant Candidate Vaccine via Mucosal Route

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Javad Bagheripour

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Botulism syndrome is caused by serotypes A-G of neurotoxins of Clostridium genus. Neurotoxin binding domain is an appropriate vaccine candidate due to its immunogenic activity. In this study, the immunogenicity of chitosan-based botulinum neurotoxin E binding domain recombinant candidate vaccine was investigated via mucosal route of administration. Methods: In this experimental study, chitosan nanoparticles containing rBoNT/E protein were synthesized by ionic gelation method and were administered orally and intranasally to mice. After each administration, IgG antibody titer was measured by ELISA method. Finally, all groups were challenged with active botulinum neurotoxin type E. Data were analyzed using Duncan and repeated ANOVA tests. The significance level was considered as p0.05, even intranasal route reduced the immunogenicity.

Candidate Binary Trojan and Hilda Asteroids from Rotational Light Curves

Science.gov (United States)

Sonnett, Sarah M.; Mainzer, Amy K.; Grav, Tommy; Masiero, Joseph R.; Bauer, James M.; Kramer, Emily A.

2017-10-01

Jovian Trojans (hereafter, Trojans) are asteroids in stable orbits at Jupiter's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, and Hilda asteroids are inwards of the Trojans in 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Due to their special dynamical properties, observationally constraining the formation location and dynamical histories of Trojans and HIldas offers key input for giant planet migration models. A fundamental parameter in assessing formation location is the bulk density - with low-density objects associated with an ice-rich formation environment in the outer solar system and high-density objects typically linked to the warmer inner solar system. Bulk density can only be directly measured during a close fly-by or by determining the mutual orbits of binary asteroid systems. With the aim of determining densities for a statistically significant sample of Trojans and Hildas, we are undertaking an observational campaign to confirm and characterize candidate binary asteroids published in Sonnett et al. (2015). These objects were flagged as binary candidates because their large NEOWISE brightness variations imply shapes so elongated that they are not likely explained by a singular equilibrium rubble pile and instead may be two elongated, gravitationally bound asteroids. We are obtaining densely sampled rotational light curves of these possible binaries to search for light curve features diagnostic of binarity and to determine the orbital properties of any confirmed binary systems by modeling the light curve. We compare the We present an update on this follow-up campaign and comment on future steps.

The attitudes of classroom teacher candidates towards physical education lesson

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gönül Tekkurşun Demir

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Aim: It is aimed to determine the attitudes of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade classroom teacher candidates towards the physical education lesson according to various variables. Material and Methods: For the current study, the screening method, one of the quantitative research models, was used. The research consists of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade, totally164 university students, 106 (%64,6 females, 58 (%35,4 males, attending Uşak University, Classroom Teaching Program in 2016-2017 academic year. The first-grade students were not included in this research, because the physical education and play teaching lessons are given to classroom student candidates in the second-grade at Uşak University, Classroom Teaching Program. “Personal information form" and “Physical Education Lesson Attitude Scale for Classroom Teacher Candidates" were used as data collection tools. Before analysis, the data were evaluated using the values of Skewness and Skewness (normal distribution of the data and Levene (equality of variance tests. In the analysis of the data; frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation; t-test, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation test were used. Results: When examined the total score of the teacher candidates obtained from Physical Education Lesson Attitude Scale for Classroom Teacher Candidates and age variable by the Pearson Moment Correlation analysis, it was found that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between the received scores at low level. It was determined that the attitudes of the classroom teacher candidates towards the physical education lessons did not show any significant difference according to the gender variable, but there was a significant difference when examined their class levels. While no significant difference was found in the attitudes of the classroom teacher candidates, who played and did not play sports in their past life, towards physical education lessons, no significant difference was found

ALMOST ALL OF KEPLER'S MULTIPLE-PLANET CANDIDATES ARE PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Kinemuchi, Karen; Koch, David G.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Adams, Elisabeth; Fressin, Francois; Geary, John; Holman, Matthew J.; Ragozzine, Darin; Buchhave, Lars A.; Ciardi, David R.; Cochran, William D.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Ford, Eric B.; Morehead, Robert C.; Gilliland, Ronald L.

2012-01-01

We present a statistical analysis that demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of Kepler candidate multiple transiting systems (multis) indeed represent true, physically associated transiting planets. Binary stars provide the primary source of false positives among Kepler planet candidates, implying that false positives should be nearly randomly distributed among Kepler targets. In contrast, true transiting planets would appear clustered around a smaller number of Kepler targets if detectable planets tend to come in systems and/or if the orbital planes of planets encircling the same star are correlated. There are more than one hundred times as many Kepler planet candidates in multi-candidate systems as would be predicted from a random distribution of candidates, implying that the vast majority are true planets. Most of these multis are multiple-planet systems orbiting the Kepler target star, but there are likely cases where (1) the planetary system orbits a fainter star, and the planets are thus significantly larger than has been estimated, or (2) the planets orbit different stars within a binary/multiple star system. We use the low overall false-positive rate among Kepler multis, together with analysis of Kepler spacecraft and ground-based data, to validate the closely packed Kepler-33 planetary system, which orbits a star that has evolved somewhat off of the main sequence. Kepler-33 hosts five transiting planets, with periods ranging from 5.67 to 41 days.

ENU Mutagenesis in Mice Identifies Candidate Genes For Hypogonadism

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Jeffrey; Hurley, Lisa A.; Harris, Rebecca M.; Finlayson, Courtney; Tong, Minghan; Fisher, Lisa A.; Moran, Jennifer L.; Beier, David R.; Mason, Christopher; Jameson, J. Larry

2012-01-01

Genome-wide mutagenesis was performed in mice to identify candidate genes for male infertility, for which the predominant causes remain idiopathic. Mice were mutagenized using N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU), bred, and screened for phenotypes associated with the male urogenital system. Fifteen heritable lines were isolated and chromosomal loci were assigned using low density genome-wide SNP arrays. Ten of the fifteen lines were pursued further using higher resolution SNP analysis to narrow the candidate gene regions. Exon sequencing of candidate genes identified mutations in mice with cystic kidneys (Bicc1), cryptorchidism (Rxfp2), restricted germ cell deficiency (Plk4), and severe germ cell deficiency (Prdm9). In two other lines with severe hypogonadism candidate sequencing failed to identify mutations, suggesting defects in genes with previously undocumented roles in gonadal function. These genomic intervals were sequenced in their entirety and a candidate mutation was identified in SnrpE in one of the two lines. The line harboring the SnrpE variant retains substantial spermatogenesis despite small testis size, an unusual phenotype. In addition to the reproductive defects, heritable phenotypes were observed in mice with ataxia (Myo5a), tremors (Pmp22), growth retardation (unknown gene), and hydrocephalus (unknown gene). These results demonstrate that the ENU screen is an effective tool for identifying potential causes of male infertility. PMID:22258617

Pilot study on the use of data mining to identify cochlear implant candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Grisel, Jedidiah J; Schafer, Erin; Lam, Anne; Griffin, Terry

2018-05-01

The goal of this pilot study was to determine the clinical utility of data-mining software that screens for cochlear implant (CI) candidacy. The Auditory Implant Initiative developed a software module that screens for CI candidates via integration with a software system (Noah 4) that serves as a depository for hearing test data. To identify candidates, patient audiograms from one practice were exported into the screening module. Candidates were tracked to determine if any eventually underwent implantation. After loading 4836 audiograms from the Noah 4 system, the screening module identified 558 potential CI candidates. After reviewing the data for the potential candidates, 117 were targeted and invited to an educational event. Following the event, a total of six candidates were evaluated, and two were implanted. This objective approach to identifying candidates has the potential to address the gross underutilization of CIs by removing any bias or lack of knowledge regarding the management of severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss with CIs. The screening module was an effective tool for identifying potential CI candidates at one ENT practice. On a larger scale, the screening module has the potential to impact thousands of CI candidates worldwide.

Establishing an ISO 10001-based promise in inpatients care.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman; Karapetrovic, Stanislav

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore ISO 10001:2007 in planning, designing and developing a customer satisfaction promise (CSP) intended for inpatients care. Through meetings and interviews with research participants, who included a program manager, unit managers and registered nurses, information about potential promises and their implementation was obtained and analyzed. A number of promises were drafted and one was finally selected to be developed as a CSP. Applying the standard required adaptation and novel interpretation. Additionally, ISO 10002:2004 (Clause 7) was used to design the feedback handling activities. A promise initially chosen for development turned out to be difficult to implement, experience that helped in selecting and developing the final promise. Research participants found the ISO 10001-based method useful and comprehensible. This paper presents a specific health care example of how to adapt a standard's guideline in establishing customer promises. The authors show how a promise can be used in alleviating an existing issue (i.e. communication between carers and patients). The learning can be beneficial in various health care settings. To the knowledge, this paper shows the first example of applying ISO 10001:2007 in a health care case. A few activities suggested by the standard are further detailed, and a new activity is introduced. The integrated use of ISO 10001:2007 and 10002:2004 is presented and how one can be "augmented" by the other is demonstrated.

Cancer in silico drug discovery: a systems biology tool for identifying candidate drugs to target specific molecular tumor subtypes.

Science.gov (United States)

San Lucas, F Anthony; Fowler, Jerry; Chang, Kyle; Kopetz, Scott; Vilar, Eduardo; Scheet, Paul

2014-12-01

Large-scale cancer datasets such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) allow researchers to profile tumors based on a wide range of clinical and molecular characteristics. Subsequently, TCGA-derived gene expression profiles can be analyzed with the Connectivity Map (CMap) to find candidate drugs to target tumors with specific clinical phenotypes or molecular characteristics. This represents a powerful computational approach for candidate drug identification, but due to the complexity of TCGA and technology differences between CMap and TCGA experiments, such analyses are challenging to conduct and reproduce. We present Cancer in silico Drug Discovery (CiDD; scheet.org/software), a computational drug discovery platform that addresses these challenges. CiDD integrates data from TCGA, CMap, and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) to perform computational drug discovery experiments, generating hypotheses for the following three general problems: (i) determining whether specific clinical phenotypes or molecular characteristics are associated with unique gene expression signatures; (ii) finding candidate drugs to repress these expression signatures; and (iii) identifying cell lines that resemble the tumors being studied for subsequent in vitro experiments. The primary input to CiDD is a clinical or molecular characteristic. The output is a biologically annotated list of candidate drugs and a list of cell lines for in vitro experimentation. We applied CiDD to identify candidate drugs to treat colorectal cancers harboring mutations in BRAF. CiDD identified EGFR and proteasome inhibitors, while proposing five cell lines for in vitro testing. CiDD facilitates phenotype-driven, systematic drug discovery based on clinical and molecular data from TCGA. ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.

University Offer Rates for Candidates from Different Ethnic Categories

Science.gov (United States)

Noden, Philip; Shiner, Michael; Modood, Tariq

2014-01-01

Previous research suggested that candidates from some black and minority ethnic groups were less likely to receive an offer of a place from an "old" university. These findings were disputed in a re-analysis carried out for HEFCE which found that only Pakistani candidates were significantly less likely to receive offers (from both…

Assessing Student Teaching Experiences: Teacher Candidates' Perceptions of Preparedness

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joohi; Tice, Kathleen; Collins, Denise; Brown, Amber; Smith, Cleta; Fox, Jill

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of student teaching experiences by measuring teacher candidates' perceptions of their preparedness. The participants were 130 teacher candidates who had completed their student teaching as part of a program preparing them to teach children in pre-K through grade 4. Teacher candidates…

Stem cell therapy in spinal cord injury: Hollow promise or promising science?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aimee Goel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Spinal cord injury (SCI remains one of the most physically, psychologically and socially debilitating conditions worldwide. While rehabilitation measures may help limit disability to some extent, there is no effective primary treatment yet available. The efficacy of stem cells as a primary therapeutic option in spinal cord injury is currently an area under much scrutiny and debate. Several laboratory and some primary clinical studies into the use of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells or embryonic stem cell-derived oligodentrocyte precursor cells have shown some promising results in terms of remyelination and regeneration of damaged spinal nerve tracts. More recently,laboratory and early clinical experiments into the use of Olfactory Ensheathing Cells, a type of glial cell derived from olfactory bulb and mucosa have provided some phenomenal preliminary evidence as to their neuroregenerative and neural bridging capacity. This report compares and evaluates some current research into selected forms of embryonic and mesenchymal stem cell therapy as well as olfactory ensheathing cell therapy in SCI, and also highlights some legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. While early results shows promise, more rigorous large scaleclinical trials are needed to shed light on the safety, efficacy and long term viability of stem cell and cellular transplant techniques in SCI.

Energy Beverage Consumption Among Naval Aviation Candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sather, Thomas E; Delorey, Donald R

2016-06-01

Since the debut of energy beverages, the consumption of energy beverages has been immensely popular with young adults. Research regarding energy beverage consumption has included college students, European Union residents, and U.S. Army military personnel. However, energy beverage consumption among naval aviation candidates in the United States has yet to be examined. The purpose of this study was to assess energy beverage consumption patterns (frequency and volume) among naval aviation candidates, including attitudes and perceptions regarding the benefits and safety of energy beverage consumption. A 44-item survey was used to assess energy beverage consumption patterns of 302 students enrolled in the Aviation Preflight Indoctrination Course at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL. Results indicated that 79% of participants (N = 239) reported consuming energy beverages within the last year. However, of those who reported consuming energy beverages within the last year, only 36% (N = 85) reported consuming energy beverages within the last 30 d. Additionally, 51% (N = 153) of participants reported no regular energy beverages consumption. The majority of participants consumed energy beverages for mental alertness (67%), mental endurance (37%), and physical endurance (12%). The most reported side effects among participants included increased mental alertness (67%), increased heart rate (53%), and restlessness (41%). Naval aviation candidates appear to use energy drinks as frequently as a college student population, but less frequently than expected for an active duty military population. The findings of this study indicate that naval aviation candidates rarely use energy beverages (less than once per month), but when consumed, they use it for fatigue management.

TESTING THE MAGNETAR MODEL VIA LATE-TIME RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF TWO MACRONOVA CANDIDATES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horesh, Assaf [Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot (Israel); Hotokezaka, Kenta; Piran, Tsvi [Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel); Nakar, Ehud [Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel); Hancock, Paul [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845 (Australia)

2016-03-10

Compact binary mergers may have already been observed as they are the leading model for short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Radioactive decay within the ejecta from these mergers is expected to produce an infrared flare, dubbed macronova (or kilonova), on a timescale of a week. Recently, two such macronova candidates were identified in followup observations of sGRBs, strengthening the possibility that those indeed arise from mergers. The same ejecta will also produce long-term (months to years) radio emission due to its interaction with the surrounding interstellar medium. In the search for this emission, we observed the two macronova candidates, GRB 130603B and GRB 060614, with the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). Our observations resulted in null-detections, putting strong upper limits on the kinetic energy and mass of the ejecta. A possible outcome of a merger is a highly magnetized neutron star (a magnetar), which has been suggested as the central engine for GRBs. Such a magnetar will deposit a significant fraction of its energy into the ejecta leading to a brighter radio flare. Our results, therefore, rule out magnetars in these two events.

A Research on the Burnout and the Teaching Profession Attitudes of Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Kadi, Aysegül; Beytekin, Osman Ferda; Arslan, Hasan

2015-01-01

Purpose of this study is to examine burnout and teaching profession attitudes of teacher candidates. Research was conducted with 287 teacher candidates. By the findings; burnout and teaching profession attitudes of teacher candidates don't differ according to their gender. Burnout of teacher candidates differs according to their graduation status…

Polyether ionophores: broad-spectrum and promising biologically active molecules for the control of drug-resistant bacteria and parasites.

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin Ii, Dion A; Meujo, Damaris Af; Hamann, Mark T

2009-02-01

As multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens continue to emerge, there is a substantial amount of pressure to identify new drug candidates. Carboxyl polyethers, also referred to as polyether antibiotics, are a unique class of compounds with outstanding potency against a variety of critical infectious disease targets including protozoa, bacteria and viruses. The characteristics of these molecules that are of key interest are their selectivity and high potency against several MDR etiological agents. Although many studies have been published about carboxyl polyether antibiotics, there are no recent reviews of this class of drugs. The purpose of this review is to provide the reader with an overview of the spectrum of activity of polyether antibiotics, their mechanism of action, toxicity and potential as drug candidates to combat drug-resistant infectious diseases. Polyether ionophores show a high degree of promise for the potential control of drug-resistant bacterial and parasitic infections. Despite the long history of use of this class of drugs, very limited medicinal chemistry and drug optimization studies have been reported, thus leaving the door open to these opportunities in the future. Scifinder and PubMed were the main search engines used to locate articles relevant to the topic presented in the present review. Keywords used in our search were specific names of each of the 88 compounds presented in the review as well as more general terms such as polyethers, ionophores, carboxylic polyethers and polyether antibiotics.

Ultrafast Charge Generation Pathways in Photovoltaic Blends Based on Novel Star-Shaped Conjugated Molecules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kozlov, Oleg V.; Luponosov, Yuriy N.; Ponomarenko, Sergei A.; Kausch-Busies, Nina; Paraschuk, Dmitry Yu; Olivier, Yoann; Beljonne, David; Cornil, Jerome; Pshenichnikov, Maxim S.

2015-01-01

The quest for new materials is one of the main factors propelling recent advances in organic photovoltaics. Star-shaped small molecules (SSMs) have been proven promising candidates as perspective donor material due to the increase in numbers of excitation pathways caused by the degeneracy of the

Simple Graphene Synthesis via Chemical Vapor Deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobberger, Robert M.; Machhi, Rushad; Wroblewski, Jennifer; Taylor, Ben; Gillian-Daniel, Anne Lynn; Arnold, Michael S.

2015-01-01

Graphene's unique combination of exceptional mechanical, electronic, and thermal properties makes this material a promising candidate to enable next-generation technologies in a wide range of fields, including electronics, energy, and medicine. However, educational activities involving graphene have been limited due to the high expense and…

Analysing IEEE 802.15.3c protocol in Fi-Wi hybrid networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Venkatesha Prasad, R.; Bien, Q.; Chandra, Kishor; Xueli, A.; Niemegeers, I.G.M.M.; Huong, N.

2013-01-01

Even though 60 GHz frequency band has limited coverage, due to the availability of higher bandwidth worldwide (unlicensed, approximately 5 GHz between 57-62 GHz), it is one of the promising candidates for future broadband employing both Fiber and Wireless (Fi-Wi) technology. In this article we

Medium access control and network layer design for 60 GHz wireless personal area networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

An, X.

2010-01-01

The unlicensed frequency band around 60 GHz is a very promising spectrum due to its potential to provide multiple gigabits per second based data rates for short range wireless communication. Hence, 60 GHz radio is an attractive candidate to enable ultra high rate Wireless Personal Area Networks

Relationship of candidate communication and organization skills to oral certification examination scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston, James E; Smith, Everett V

2008-12-01

This study investigated the relationship between candidate's proficiency in communication/organization and ability measures derived from judges' oral examination ratings on a medical specialty certification examination. Judges who rated candidates on the oral examination also provided a separate rating for candidates' communication/organization skills. ANOVA was used to examine differences among levels of communication/organizational skills with respect to candidates' ability measures on the oral examination. There was a statistically significant increase in oral examination measures for candidates with higher levels of communication/organization skills. This supports the hypothesis that candidates who were more proficient in organizing and presenting their responses were more likely to have better performance on the oral examination. Given communication and oral examination ratings were provided by the same judges, future research should investigate whether these preliminary findings generalize to situations in which communication ratings are obtained from independent ratings during and outside the oral examination.

Pulmonary rehabilitation in lung transplant candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Melinda; Mathur, Sunita; Chowdhury, Noori A; Helm, Denise; Singer, Lianne G

2013-06-01

While awaiting lung transplantation, candidates may participate in pulmonary rehabilitation to improve their fitness for surgery. However, pulmonary rehabilitation outcomes have not been systematically evaluated in lung transplant candidates. This investigation was a retrospective cohort study of 345 pre-transplant pulmonary rehabilitation participants who received a lung transplant between January 2004 and June 2009 and had available pre-transplant exercise data. Data extracted included: 6-minute walk tests at standard intervals; exercise training details; health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) measures; and early post-transplant outcomes. Paired t-tests were used to examine changes in the 6MW distance (6MWD), exercise training volume and HRQL during the pre-transplant period. We evaluated the association between pre-transplant 6MWD and transplant hospitalization outcomes. The final 6MWD prior to transplantation was only 15 m less than the listing 6MWD (n = 200; p = 0.002). Exercise training volumes increased slightly from the start of the pulmonary rehabilitation program until transplant: treadmill, increase 0.69 ml/kg/min (n = 238; p volumes are well preserved among lung transplant candidates participating in pulmonary rehabilitation, even in the setting of severe, progressive lung disease. Participants with greater exercise capacity prior to transplantation have more favorable early post-transplant outcomes. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Candidate container materials for Yucca Mountain waste package designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCright, R.D.; Halsey, W.G.; Gdowski, G.E.; Clarke, W.L.

1991-09-01

Materials considered as candidates for fabricating nuclear waste containers are reviewed in the context of the Conceptual Design phase of a potential repository located at Yucca Mountain. A selection criteria has been written for evaluation of candidate materials for the next phase -- Advanced Conceptual Design. The selection criteria is based on the conceptual design of a thin-walled container fabricated from a single metal or alloy; the criteria consider the performance requirements on the container and the service environment in which the containers will be emplaced. A long list of candidate materials is evaluated against the criteria, and a short list of materials is proposed for advanced characterization in the next design phase

Pharmacology of biosimilar candidate drugs in rheumatology: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, F; Cordeiro, I; Teixeira, F; Gonçalves, J; Fonseca, J E

2014-01-01

To review current evidence concerning pharmacology of biosimilar candidates to be used in rheumatology. A PubMed search up to August 2013 was performed using relevant search terms to include all studies assessing pharmacological properties of biosimilar candidates to be used in rheumatology. Data on study characteristics, type of intervention, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and bioequivalence ratios was extracted. Of 280 articles screened, 5 fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Two trials, PLANETAS and PLANETRA, compared CT-P13 and infliximab in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis, respectively. PK bioequivalence was demonstrated in the phase 1 PLANETAS trial by highly comparable area under the curve (AUC) and maximum drug concentrations (Cmax), whose geometric mean ratios fell between the accepted bioequivalence range of 80-125%. Equivalence in efficacy and safety was demonstrated in the phase 3 PLANETRA trial. Two phase 1 trials comparing etanercept biosimilar candidates TuNEX and HD203 in healthy volunteers showed a high degree of similarity in AUC and Cmax, with respective geometric mean ratios between PK bioequivalence range. The last included trial referred to GP2013, a rituximab biosimilar candidate, which demonstrated PK and PD bioequivalence to reference product in three different dosing regimens in cynomolgus monkeys. Infliximab, etanercept and rituximab biosimilar candidates have demonstrated PK bioequivalence in the trials included in this review. CT-P13 has recently been approved for use in the European market and the remaining biosimilar candidates are currently being tested in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Emotional and Affective Temperaments in Smoking Candidates for Bariatric Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Mombach, Karin Daniele; de Souza Brito, Cesar Luis; Padoin, Alexandre Vontobel; Casagrande, Daniela Schaan; Mottin, Claudio Cora

2016-01-01

The prevalence of smoking habits in severe obesity is higher than in the general population. There is some evidence that smokers have different temperaments compared to non-smokers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the associations between smoking status (smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers) and temperament characteristics in bariatric surgery candidates. We analyzed data on temperament of 420 bariatric surgery candidates, as assessed by the AFECTS scale, in an exploratory cross-sectional survey of bariatric surgery candidates who have been grouped into smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers. We detected significant statistical differences in temperament related to the smoking status in this population after controlling the current use of psychiatric medication. Smokers had higher anxiety and lower control than non-smokers. Ex-smokers with BMI >50 kg/m(2) presented higher coping and control characteristics than smokers. Smoking in bariatric surgery candidates was associated with lower control and higher anxious temperament, when controlled by current use of psychiatric medication. Smokers with BMI >50 kg/m(2) presented lower coping and control than ex-smokers. Assessment of temperament in bariatric surgery candidates may help in decisions about smoking cessation treatment and prevention of smoking relapse after surgery.

On security arguments of the second round SHA-3 candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreeva, Elena; Bogdanov, Andrey; Mennink, Bart

2012-01-01

of which got accepted to the first round. 14 candidates were left in the second round, out of which five candidates have been recently chosen for the final round. An important criterion in the selection process is the SHA-3 hash function security. We identify two important classes of security arguments...... for the new designs: (1) the possible reductions of the hash function security to the security of its underlying building blocks and (2) arguments against differential attack on building blocks. In this paper, we compare the state of the art provable security reductions for the second round candidates...... and review arguments and bounds against classes of differential attacks.We discuss all the SHA-3 candidates at a high functional level, analyze, and summarize the security reduction results and bounds against differential attacks. Additionally, we generalize the well-known proof of collision resistance...

Class Teacher Candidates' Opinions on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

Science.gov (United States)

Ural Keles, Pinar; Aydin, Suleyman

2017-01-01

This study was conducted to determine the Class teacher candidates' opinions on Genetically Modified Organisms. The study was carried out with 101 teacher candidates who were studying in the 3rd grade of Agri Ibrahim Çeçen University Classroom Teacher Department in 2016-2017 academic year. Of the students who participated in the survey, 56 were…

Service Users perspectives in PROMISE and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Rae, Sarah

2017-09-01

Since its inception in 2013, PROMISE (PROactive Management of Integrated Services and Environments) has been supporting service users and staff at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) on a journey to reduce reliance on force. The author's own personal experiences led to the founding of PROMISE and illustrates how individual experiences can influence a patient to lead change. Coproduction is actively embedded in PROMISE. Patients have been meaningfully involved because they are innovators and problem solvers who bring an alternative viewpoint by the very nature of their condition. A patient is more than just a person who needs to be 'fixed' they are individuals with untapped skills and added insight. There have been 2 separate Patient Advisory Groups (PAGs) since the project was first established. The first Patient Advisory Group was recruited to work with the PROMISE researchers on a study which used a participatory qualitative approach. Drawing on their lived experience and different perspectives the PAG was instrumental in shaping the qualitative study, including the research questions. Their active involvement helped to ensure that that the study was sensitively designed, methodologically robust and ethically sound. The 2 nd PAG was formed in 2016 to give the project an overall steer. Patients in this group contributed to the work on the 'No' Audit and reviewed several CPFT policies such as the Seclusion and Segregation policy which has impacted on frontline practice. They also made a significant contribution to the study design for a funding application that was submitted by the PROMISE team to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Both PAGs were supported by funding from East of England Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC EoE) and were influential in different ways. An evaluation of the 2 nd PAG which was conducted in June 2017 showed very high satisfaction levels. The free text

Predonation screening of candidate donors and prevention of window period donations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lieshout-Krikke, Ryanne W; Zaaijer, Hans L; van de Laar, Thijs J W

2015-02-01

Infectious window period donations slip through routine donor screening procedures. To explore the potential value of predonation screening of candidate donors, we compared the proportion of incident transfusion-transmissible infections in candidate donors, in first-time donors, and in repeat donors. A retrospective analysis was performed of all incident hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in candidate, first-time, and repeat donors in the Netherlands during the period 2009 to 2013. In total, 176,716 candidate donors, 144,226 first-time donations, and 4,143,455 repeat donations were screened for HBV, HCV, and HIV infection. Acute HBV infection was identified in the predonation sample of six candidate donors. One first-time donor, testing HIV-negative at predonation screening, tested positive for anti-HIV and HIV RNA in the first donation 29 days later. Among repeat donations we identified 15, one, and six incident HBV, HCV and HIV infections, respectively. The proportion of incident infections among candidate donors/first-time donations/repeat donations was for HBV, 3.40/0/0.36; for HCV, 0/0/0.02; and for HIV 0/0.69/0.14 per 100,000, respectively. Predonation screening of candidate donors very likely causes a loss of donations, but it might prevent undetected window period donations. Further studies are necessary to determine the value of predonation screening as an additional safety measure. © 2014 AABB.

Teacher Candidate Selection and Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Mary Lynn; And Others

Summaries are presented of three papers presented at a summer workshop on Quality Assurance in Teacher Education conducted by the Association of Teacher Educators. The general topic covered by these presentations was teacher candidate selection and evaluation. Papers focused upon the following questions: (1) What entry level criteria should be…

A cross-species genetic analysis identifies candidate genes for mouse anxiety and human bipolar disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David G Ashbrook

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Bipolar disorder (BD is a significant neuropsychiatric disorder with a lifetime prevalence of ~1%. To identify genetic variants underlying BD genome-wide association studies (GWAS have been carried out. While many variants of small effect associated with BD have been identified few have yet been confirmed, partly because of the low power of GWAS due to multiple comparisons being made. Complementary mapping studies using murine models have identified genetic variants for behavioral traits linked to BD, often with high power, but these identified regions often contain too many genes for clear identification of candidate genes. In the current study we have aligned human BD GWAS results and mouse linkage studies to help define and evaluate candidate genes linked to BD, seeking to use the power of the mouse mapping with the precision of GWAS. We use quantitative trait mapping for open field test and elevated zero maze data in the largest mammalian model system, the BXD recombinant inbred mouse population, to identify genomic regions associated with these BD-like phenotypes. We then investigate these regions in whole genome data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium’s bipolar disorder GWAS to identify candidate genes associated with BD. Finally we establish the biological relevance and pathways of these genes in a comprehensive systems genetics analysis.We identify four genes associated with both mouse anxiety and human BD. While TNR is a novel candidate for BD, we can confirm previously suggested associations with CMYA5, MCTP1 and RXRG. A cross-species, systems genetics analysis shows that MCTP1, RXRG and TNR coexpress with genes linked to psychiatric disorders and identify the striatum as a potential site of action. CMYA5, MCTP1, RXRG and TNR are associated with mouse anxiety and human BD. We hypothesize that MCTP1, RXRG and TNR influence intercellular signaling in the striatum.

Candidate genes detected in transcriptome studies are strongly dependent on genetic background.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pernille Sarup

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Whole genome transcriptomic studies can point to potential candidate genes for organismal traits. However, the importance of potential candidates is rarely followed up through functional studies and/or by comparing results across independent studies. We have analysed the overlap of candidate genes identified from studies of gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster using similar technical platforms. We found little overlap across studies between putative candidate genes for the same traits in the same sex. Instead there was a high degree of overlap between different traits and sexes within the same genetic backgrounds. Putative candidates found using transcriptomics therefore appear very sensitive to genetic background and this can mask or override effects of treatments. The functional importance of putative candidate genes emerging from transcriptome studies needs to be validated through additional experiments and in future studies we suggest a focus on the genes, networks and pathways affecting traits in a consistent manner across backgrounds.

Rethinking stereotype reliance. Understanding the connection between female candidates and gender stereotypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Nichole M

2013-01-01

Increasing numbers of female candidates are running for Congress in American national elections. Despite the rise in female candidates running for office, women are not significantly increasing their presence in the House and Senate. A much hypothesized influence over the electoral fates of female candidates is the role of gender stereotypes. However, political science scholars have struggled to pinpoint the effect of stereotypes on vote choice, if there is any effect. This essay compares the way social psychology and political science scholars theoretically, conceptually and empirically test for gender stereotype influence over evaluations of female candidates and politicians. Differences emerge in the theoretical assumptions made in the two disciplines, the types of measures used in research, and the empirical tests conducted to demonstrate the presence or absence of stereotypes in evaluations of women. The discussion explores how scholars studying female candidates and politicians can integrate insights from social psychology to clarify the role of stereotypes in candidate evaluation and choice.

Recombinant α-actinin subunit antigens of Trichomonas vaginalis as potential vaccine candidates in protecting against trichomoniasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Yi-Ting; Gao, Jiang-Mei; Wu, Ya-Ping; Tang, Petrus; Hide, Geoff; Lai, De-Hua; Lun, Zhao-Rong

2017-02-16

Human trichomoniasis caused by Trichomonas vaginalis is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases with more than 200 million cases worldwide. It has caused a series of health problems to patients. For prevention and control of infectious diseases, vaccines are usually considered as one of the most cost-efficient tools. However, until now, work on the development of T. vaginalis vaccines is still mainly focused on the screening of potential immunogens. Alpha-actinin characterized by high immunogenicity in T. vaginalis was suggested as a promising candidate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective potency of recombinant α-actinin against T. vaginalis infection in a mouse intraperitoneal model. Two selected coding regions of α-actinin (ACT-F, 14-469 aa and ACT-T, 462-844 aa) amplified from cDNA were cloned into pET-32a (+) expression vector and transfected into BL21 cells. After induction with IPTG and purification with electroelution, the two recombinant fusion proteins were emulsified in Freund's adjuvant (FA) and used to immunize BALB/C mice. Following intraperitoneal inoculation with T. vaginalis, the survival rate of mice was monitored for the assessment of protective potency. After immunization, the antibody level in mouse serum was assessed by ELISA, splenocyte proliferation response was detected with CCK8 and cytokines in the supernatant of splenocytes were quantified with a cytometric bead-based assay. We successfully obtained purified ACT-F (70.33 kDa) and ACT-T (61.7kDa). Both recombinant proteins could provide significant protection against T. vaginalis challenge, especially ACT-T (with 100% protection within one month). Meanwhile, high levels of specific total IgG and subtypes (IgG1 > IgG2a) were detected in sera from the immunized mice. Our results also revealed a statistically significant increase in splenocyte proliferation and related cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-17A and IL-10) production after repeated

Candidate gene studies and the quest for the entrepreneurial gene

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.J.H.M. van der Loos (Matthijs); Ph.D. Koellinger (Philipp); P.J.F. Groenen (Patrick); C.A. Rietveld (Niels); F. Rivadeneira Ramirez (Fernando); F.J.A. van Rooij (Frank); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); A. Hofman (Albert); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

2011-01-01

textabstractCandidate gene studies of human behavior are gaining interest in economics and entrepreneurship research. Performing and interpreting these studies is not straightforward because the selection of candidates influences the interpretation of the results. As an example, Nicolaou et al.

Evaluation of Pterin, a Promising Drug Candidate from Cyanide Degrading Bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahendran, Ramasamy; Thandeeswaran, Murugesan; Kiran, Gopikrishnan; Arulkumar, Mani; Ayub Nawaz, K A; Jabastin, Jayamanoharan; Janani, Balraj; Anto Thomas, Thomas; Angayarkanni, Jayaraman

2018-06-01

Pterin is a member of the compounds known as pteridines. They have the same nucleus of 2-amino-4-hydroxypteridine (pterin); however, the side-chain is different at the position 6, and the state of oxidation of the ring may exist in different form viz. tetrahydro, dihydro, or a fully oxidized form. In the present study, the microorganisms able to utilize cyanide, and heavy metals have been tested for the efficient production of pterin compound. The soil samples contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals were collected from Salem steel industries, Tamil Nadu, India. Out of 77 isolated strains, 40 isolates were found to utilize sodium cyanate as nitrogen source at different concentrations. However, only 13 isolates were able to tolerate maximum concentration (60 mM) of sodium cyanate and were screened for pterin production. Among the 13 isolates, only 1 organism showed maximum production of pterin, and the same was identified as Bacillus pumilus SVD06. The compound was extracted and purified by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography and analyzed by UV/visible, FTIR, and fluorescent spectrum. The antioxidant property of the purified pterin compound was determined by cyclic voltammetry. In addition, antimicrobial activity of pterin was also studied which was substantiated by antagonistic activity against Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Besides that the pterin compound was proved to inhibit the formation of biofilm. The extracted pterin compounds could be proposed further not only for antioxidant and antimicrobial but also for its potency to aid as anticancer and psychotic drugs in future.

The Promised Savior in Pre-Islamic Great Religions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahin Arab

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Since the ancient times the belief in the rise of the Reformer has been a fundamental principle. Many of the holy prophets have announced the advent of new prophet. Moreover in the announcements and indications of predecessors there are always allusions to "the Last Promised" and "the Savior of Last Days" under such titles as "Kalki", "Fifth Buddha", "Soshyans", "Messiah", "The Son of Man" and so on and so forth. Of course there are different types of belief in the last reformer in religions. In one place the Savior is merely a social reformer while in another place he is only after the spiritual salvation of people and even sometimes he undertakes both tasks. On the other hand, the Last Promised is once nationalist and once seeks to save the whole world.    This essay seeks to assay the views of pre-Islamic great religions including Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism as to the Promised Savior. This essay is an analytico-descriptive research which has based itself on the first hand works comprising the sacred scriptures of religions and proceeds through the typological analyses of idea of the Promised in religions.    Zoroastrianism: the idea of the Promised has been tied to the notion of Soshyant. Generally speaking, this notion alludes to a group of people who periodically emerge at the end of every millennium of the last three millennia of world's age so as to uproot evil and renew the world, the last one of these reformers is Soshyans. According to the aforementioned typology, Zoroastrian idea of Last Savior is among the Promised who saves the whole world. Moreover Zoroastrian Promised cannot be declared only a social savior as he is not wholly detached from people's spirituality too. From another point of view, Zoroastrian idea of the Promised represents a universal and not nationalist savior who is relatively a human and not divine entity who emerges in the last millennium of world's age.    Judaism: in the

The Promised Savior in Pre-Islamic Great Religions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahin Arab

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Since the ancient times the belief in the rise of the Reformer has been a fundamental principle. Many of the holy prophets have announced the advent of new prophet. Moreover in the announcements and indications of predecessors there are always allusions to "the Last Promised" and "the Savior of Last Days" under such titles as "Kalki", "Fifth Buddha", "Soshyans", "Messiah", "The Son of Man" and so on and so forth. Of course there are different types of belief in the last reformer in religions. In one place the Savior is merely a social reformer while in another place he is only after the spiritual salvation of people and even sometimes he undertakes both tasks. On the other hand, the Last Promised is once nationalist and once seeks to save the whole world.    This essay seeks to assay the views of pre-Islamic great religions including Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism as to the Promised Savior. This essay is an analytico-descriptive research which has based itself on the first hand works comprising the sacred scriptures of religions and proceeds through the typological analyses of idea of the Promised in religions.    Zoroastrianism: the idea of the Promised has been tied to the notion of Soshyant. Generally speaking, this notion alludes to a group of people who periodically emerge at the end of every millennium of the last three millennia of world's age so as to uproot evil and renew the world, the last one of these reformers is Soshyans. According to the aforementioned typology, Zoroastrian idea of Last Savior is among the Promised who saves the whole world. Moreover Zoroastrian Promised cannot be declared only a social savior as he is not wholly detached from people's spirituality too. From another point of view, Zoroastrian idea of the Promised represents a universal and not nationalist savior who is relatively a human and not divine entity who emerges in the last millennium of world's age.    Judaism: in the

LR1: a candidate RNA virus of Leishmania.

OpenAIRE

Tarr, P I; Aline, R F; Smiley, B L; Scholler, J; Keithly, J; Stuart, K

1988-01-01

Although viruses are important biological agents and useful molecular tools, little is known about the viruses of parasites. We report here the discovery of a candidate for an RNA virus in a kinetoplastid parasite. This potential virus, which we term LR1, is present in the promastigote form of the human pathogen Leishmania braziliensis guyanensis CUMC1-1A but not in 11 other stocks of Leishmania that were examined nor in Trypanosoma brucei. The candidate viral RNA has a size of approximately ...

Utilization of gene mapping and candidate gene mutation screening for diagnosing clinically equivocal conditions: a Norrie disease case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chini, Vasiliki; Stambouli, Danai; Nedelea, Florina Mihaela; Filipescu, George Alexandru; Mina, Diana; Kambouris, Marios; El-Shantil, Hatem

2014-06-01

Prenatal diagnosis was requested for an undiagnosed eye disease showing X-linked inheritance in a family. No medical records existed for the affected family members. Mapping of the X chromosome and candidate gene mutation screening identified a c.C267A[p.F89L] mutation in NPD previously described as possibly causing Norrie disease. The detection of the c.C267A[p.F89L] variant in another unrelated family confirms the pathogenic nature of the mutation for the Norrie disease phenotype. Gene mapping, haplotype analysis, and candidate gene screening have been previously utilized in research applications but were applied here in a diagnostic setting due to the scarcity of available clinical information. The clinical diagnosis and mutation identification were critical for providing proper genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis for this family.

76 FR 4896 - Call for Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-27

... designated to establish generally accepted accounting principles for federal government entities. Generally, non-federal Board members are selected from the general financial community, the accounting and... FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD Call for Candidates AGENCY: Federal Accounting...

Five kepler target stars that show multiple transiting exoplanet candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steffen..[], Jason H.; Batalha, N. M.; Broucki, W J.

2010-01-01

We present and discuss five candidate exoplanetary systems identified with the Kepler spacecraft. These five systems show transits from multiple exoplanet candidates. Should these objects prove to be planetary in nature, then these five systems open new opportunities for the field of exoplanets a...

Candidate Political Philosophy: Revelations in the 1960 and 1976 Debates.

Science.gov (United States)

Meadow, Robert G.; Jackson-Beeck, Marilyn

Since voters rarely have access to a candidate's unexpurgated statements, they rely on political advertising, film footage, and media interpretations. Thus, their expectations of candidates generally reflect selective reporting and self-aggrandizement. A framework for researching the degree of understanding reached between politicians and the…

A CATALOG OF MOVING GROUP CANDIDATES IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jingkun; Zhao Gang; Chen Yuqin

2009-01-01

Based on the kernel estimator and wavelet technique, we have identified 22 moving group candidates in the solar neighborhood from a sample which includes around 14,000 dwarfs and 6000 giants. Six of them were previously known as the Hercules stream, the Sirus-UMa stream, the Hyades stream, the Caster group, the Pleiades stream, and the IC 2391; five of them have also been reported by other authors. 11 moving group candidates, not previously reported in the literature, show prominent structures in dwarf or giant samples. A catalog of moving group candidates in the solar neighborhood is presented in this work.

Nuclear safety in EU candidate countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-10-01

Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue that needs to be addressed in the framework of the enlargement process. Therefore WENRA members considered it was their duty to offer their technical assistance to their Governments and the European Union Institutions. They decided to express their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those candidate countries having at least one nuclear power plant: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The report is structured as follows: A foreword including background information, structure of the report and the methodology used, General conclusions of WENRA members reflecting their collective opinion, For each candidate country, an executive summary, a chapter on the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body, and a chapter on the nuclear power plant safety status. Two annexes are added to address the generic safety characteristics and safety issues for RBMK and VVER plants. The report does not cover radiation protection and decommissioning issues, while safety aspects of spent fuel and radioactive waste management are only covered as regards on-site provisions. In order to produce this report, WENRA used different means: For the chapters on the regulatory regimes and regulatory bodies, experts from WENRA did the work. For the chapters on nuclear power plant safety status, experts from WENRA and from French and German technical support organisations did the work. Taking into account the contents of these chapters, WENRA has formulated its general conclusions in this report.

Nuclear safety in EU candidate countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-10-01

Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue that needs to be addressed in the framework of the enlargement process. Therefore WENRA members considered it was their duty to offer their technical assistance to their Governments and the European Union Institutions. They decided to express their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those candidate countries having at least one nuclear power plant: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The report is structured as follows: A foreword including background information, structure of the report and the methodology used, General conclusions of WENRA members reflecting their collective opinion, For each candidate country, an executive summary, a chapter on the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body, and a chapter on the nuclear power plant safety status. Two annexes are added to address the generic safety characteristics and safety issues for RBMK and VVER plants. The report does not cover radiation protection and decommissioning issues, while safety aspects of spent fuel and radioactive waste management are only covered as regards on-site provisions. In order to produce this report, WENRA used different means: For the chapters on the regulatory regimes and regulatory bodies, experts from WENRA did the work. For the chapters on nuclear power plant safety status, experts from WENRA and from French and German technical support organisations did the work. Taking into account the contents of these chapters, WENRA has formulated its general conclusions in this report

INVESTIGATING THE OPTICAL COUNTERPART CANDIDATES OF FOUR INTEGRAL SOURCES LOCALIZED WITH CHANDRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Özbey Arabacı, Mehtap; Kalemci, Emrah; Tomsick, John A.; Bodaghee, Arash; Halpern, Jules; Chaty, Sylvain; Rodriguez, Jerome; Rahoui, Farid

2012-01-01

We report on the optical spectroscopic follow-up observations of the candidate counterparts to four INTEGRAL sources: IGR J04069+5042, IGR J06552–1146, IGR J21188+4901, and IGR J22014+6034. The candidate counterparts were determined with Chandra, and the optical observations were performed with 1.5 m RTT-150 telescope (TÜBİTAK National Observatory, Antalya, Turkey) and 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope (MDM Observatory, Kitt Peak, Arizona). Our spectroscopic results show that one of the two candidates of IGR J04069+5042 and the one observed for IGR J06552–1146 could be active late-type stars in RS CVn systems. However, according to the likelihood analysis based on Chandra and INTEGRAL, two optically weaker sources in the INTEGRAL error circle of IGR J06552–1146 have higher probabilities to be the actual counterpart. The candidate counterparts of IGR J21188+4901 are classified as an active M-type star and a late-type star. Among the optical spectra of four candidates of IGR J22014+6034, two show Hα emission lines, one is a late-type star, and the other is an M type. The likelihood analysis favors a candidate with no distinguishing features in the optical spectrum. Two of the candidates classified as M-type dwarfs, are similar to some IGR candidates claimed to be symbiotic stars. However, some of the prominent features of symbiotic systems are missing in our spectra, and their NIR colors are not consistent with those expected for giants. We consider the IR colors of all IGR candidates claimed to be symbiotic systems and find that low-resolution optical spectrum may not be enough for conclusive identification.

Evaluation of solution and rheological properties for hydrophobically associated polyacrylamide copolymer as a promised enhanced oil recovery candidate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.N. El-hoshoudy

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Crude oil is the most critical energy source in the world, especially for transportation, provision of heat and light as there has not been a sufficient energy source to replace crude oil has broadly integrated, so there is an urgent need to maximize the extraction of the original oil in-place for every reservoir, and accelerating the development of enhanced oil recovery (EOR technologies. Polymer flooding by hydrophobically associated polyacrylamides (HAPAM is a widely used technique through EOR technology. For successful application of these polymers, one should evaluate rheological and solution properties at simulated reservoir conditions as a function of polymer concentration, salinity, temperature and shear rate. The results showed that these copolymers exhibit favorable salt tolerance, temperature resistance, and recoverable viscosity after shearing, reasonable thickening behavior and improved viscosity enhancement properties due to presence of hydrophobic association in the copolymer main chains. Moreover, its capacity for oil production improvement was evaluated during flooding experiments through one dimensional sandstone model at simulated reservoir conditions.

Candidate Prediction Models and Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Henrik Aalborg; Nielsen, Torben Skov; Madsen, Henrik

2005-01-01

This document lists candidate prediction models for Work Package 3 (WP3) of the PSO-project called ``Intelligent wind power prediction systems'' (FU4101). The main focus is on the models transforming numerical weather predictions into predictions of power production. The document also outlines...... the possibilities w.r.t. different numerical weather predictions actually available to the project....

A Study on Teacher Candidates' Competencies in Classroom Management

Science.gov (United States)

Selçuk, Gülenaz; Kadi, Aysegül; Yildirim, Remzi; Çelebi, Nurhayat

2017-01-01

The objective of this paper is to examine competencies in classroom management of teacher candidates. Research design was determined as pre-experimental research design. Research was conducted with 388 teacher candidates. In this research, these were found; Attitudes of students about competencies in classroom management differ according to…

Torsion as a dark matter candidate from the Higgs portal

Science.gov (United States)

Belyaev, Alexander S.; Thomas, Marc C.; Shapiro, Ilya L.

2017-05-01

Torsion is a metric-independent component of gravitation, which may provide a more general geometry than the one taking place within general relativity. On the other hand, torsion could lead to interesting phenomenology in both particle physics and cosmology. In the present work it is shown that a torsion field interacting with the SM Higgs doublet and having a negligible coupling to standard model (SM) fermions is protected from decaying by a Z2 symmetry, and therefore becomes a promising dark matter (DM) candidate. This model provides a good motivation for Higgs portal vector DM scenario. We evaluate the DM relic density and explore direct DM detection and collider constraints on this model to understand its consistency with experimental data and establish the most up-to-date limits on its parameter space. We have found in the model when the Higgs boson is only partly responsible for the generation of torsion mass, there is a region of parameter space where torsion contributes 100% to the DM budget of the Universe. Furthermore, we present the first results on the potential of the LHC to probe the parameter space of minimal scenario with Higgs portal vector DM using mono-jet searches and have found that LHC at high luminosity will be sensitive to the substantial part of model parameter space which cannot be probed by other experiments.

Analysis of positional candidate genes in the AAA1 susceptibility locus for abdominal aortic aneurysms on chromosome 19

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferrell Robert E

2011-01-01

of the functional positional candidate genes on the AAA1 locus on chromosome 19q13 demonstrated nominal association in three genes. PEPD and CD22 were considered the most promising candidate genes for altering AAA risk, based on gene function, association evidence, gene expression, and protein expression.

Blocking TRPA1 in Respiratory Disorders: Does It Hold a Promise?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indranil Mukhopadhyay

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1 ion channel is expressed abundantly on the C fibers that innervate almost entire respiratory tract starting from oral cavity and oropharynx, conducting airways in the trachea, bronchi, terminal bronchioles, respiratory bronchioles and upto alveolar ducts and alveoli. Functional presence of TRPA1 on non-neuronal cells got recognized recently. TRPA1 plays a well-recognized role of “chemosensor”, detecting presence of exogenous irritants and endogenous pro-inflammatory mediators that are implicated in airway inflammation and sensory symptoms like chronic cough, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, allergic rhinitis and cystic fibrosis. TRPA1 can remain activated chronically due to elevated levels and continued presence of such endogenous ligands and pro-inflammatory mediators. Several selective TRPA1 antagonists have been tested in animal models of respiratory disease and their performance is very promising. Although there is no TRPA1 antagonist in advanced clinical trials or approved on market yet to treat respiratory diseases, however, limited but promising evidences available so far indicate likelihood that targeting TRPA1 may present a new therapy in treatment of respiratory diseases in near future. This review will focus on in vitro, animal and human evidences that strengthen the proposed role of TRPA1 in modulation of specific airway sensory responses and also on preclinical and clinical progress of selected TRPA1 antagonists.

Characteristics of Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. II. Analysis of the First Four Months of Data

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G.; Basri, Gibor; Batalha, Natalie; Brown, Timothy M.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Caldwell, Douglas; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Cochran, William D.; DeVore, Edna; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N., III; Geary, John C.; Gilliland, Ronald; Gould, Alan; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Latham, David W.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Rowe, Jason; Sasselov, Dimitar; Boss, Alan; Charbonneau, David; Ciardi, David; Doyle, Laurance; Dupree, Andrea K.; Ford, Eric B.; Fortney, Jonathan; Holman, Matthew J.; Seager, Sara; Steffen, Jason H.; Tarter, Jill; Welsh, William F.; Allen, Christopher; Buchhave, Lars A.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Clarke, Bruce D.; Das, Santanu; Désert, Jean-Michel; Endl, Michael; Fabrycky, Daniel; Fressin, Francois; Haas, Michael; Horch, Elliott; Howard, Andrew; Isaacson, Howard; Kjeldsen, Hans; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery; Kulesa, Craig; Li, Jie; Lucas, Philip W.; Machalek, Pavel; McCarthy, Donald; MacQueen, Phillip; Meibom, Søren; Miquel, Thibaut; Prsa, Andrej; Quinn, Samuel N.; Quintana, Elisa V.; Ragozzine, Darin; Sherry, William; Shporer, Avi; Tenenbaum, Peter; Torres, Guillermo; Twicken, Joseph D.; Van Cleve, Jeffrey; Walkowicz, Lucianne; Witteborn, Fred C.; Still, Martin

2011-07-01

On 2011 February 1 the Kepler mission released data for 156,453 stars observed from the beginning of the science observations on 2009 May 2 through September 16. There are 1235 planetary candidates with transit-like signatures detected in this period. These are associated with 997 host stars. Distributions of the characteristics of the planetary candidates are separated into five class sizes: 68 candidates of approximately Earth-size (R p R ⊕), 288 super-Earth-size (1.25 R ⊕ R p R ⊕), 662 Neptune-size (2 R ⊕ R p R ⊕), 165 Jupiter-size (6 R ⊕ R p R ⊕), and 19 up to twice the size of Jupiter (15 R ⊕ R p R ⊕). In the temperature range appropriate for the habitable zone, 54 candidates are found with sizes ranging from Earth-size to larger than that of Jupiter. Six are less than twice the size of the Earth. Over 74% of the planetary candidates are smaller than Neptune. The observed number versus size distribution of planetary candidates increases to a peak at two to three times the Earth-size and then declines inversely proportional to the area of the candidate. Our current best estimates of the intrinsic frequencies of planetary candidates, after correcting for geometric and sensitivity biases, are 5% for Earth-size candidates, 8% for super-Earth-size candidates, 18% for Neptune-size candidates, 2% for Jupiter-size candidates, and 0.1% for very large candidates; a total of 0.34 candidates per star. Multi-candidate, transiting systems are frequent; 17% of the host stars have multi-candidate systems, and 34% of all the candidates are part of multi-candidate systems.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANETARY CANDIDATES OBSERVED BY KEPLER. II. ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF DATA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Basri, Gibor; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Batalha, Natalie; Brown, Timothy M.; Caldwell, Douglas; DeVore, Edna; Jenkins, Jon M.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Joergen; Cochran, William D.; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Geary, John C.; Latham, David W.; Gilliland, Ronald; Gould, Alan; Howell, Steve B.

2011-01-01

On 2011 February 1 the Kepler mission released data for 156,453 stars observed from the beginning of the science observations on 2009 May 2 through September 16. There are 1235 planetary candidates with transit-like signatures detected in this period. These are associated with 997 host stars. Distributions of the characteristics of the planetary candidates are separated into five class sizes: 68 candidates of approximately Earth-size (R p + ), 288 super-Earth-size (1.25 R + ≤ R p + ), 662 Neptune-size (2 R + ≤ R p + ), 165 Jupiter-size (6 R + ≤ R p + ), and 19 up to twice the size of Jupiter (15 R + ≤ R p + ). In the temperature range appropriate for the habitable zone, 54 candidates are found with sizes ranging from Earth-size to larger than that of Jupiter. Six are less than twice the size of the Earth. Over 74% of the planetary candidates are smaller than Neptune. The observed number versus size distribution of planetary candidates increases to a peak at two to three times the Earth-size and then declines inversely proportional to the area of the candidate. Our current best estimates of the intrinsic frequencies of planetary candidates, after correcting for geometric and sensitivity biases, are 5% for Earth-size candidates, 8% for super-Earth-size candidates, 18% for Neptune-size candidates, 2% for Jupiter-size candidates, and 0.1% for very large candidates; a total of 0.34 candidates per star. Multi-candidate, transiting systems are frequent; 17% of the host stars have multi-candidate systems, and 34% of all the candidates are part of multi-candidate systems.

Characterisation of five candidate genes within the ETEC F4ab/ac candidate region in pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Mette Juul; Cirera Salicio, Susanna; Joller, David

2011-01-01

by haplotype sharing to a 2.5 Mb region on pig chromosome 13, a region containing 18 annotated genes. FINDINGS: The coding regions of five candidate genes for susceptibility to ETEC F4ab/ac infection (TFRC, ACK1, MUC20, MUC4 and KIAA0226), all located in the 2.5 Mb region, were investigated for the presence...... polymorphism in exon 22 of KIAA0226. Transcriptional profiles of the five genes were investigated in a porcine tissue panel including various intestinal tissues. All five genes were expressed in intestinal tissues at different levels but none of the genes were found differentially expressed between ETEC F4ab/ac...... of the amino acids composition. However, we cannot exclude that the five tested genes are bona fide candidate genes for susceptibility to ETEC F4ab/ac infection since the identified polymorphism might affect the translational apparatus, alternative splice forms may exist and post translational mechanisms might...

Discriminating dark matter candidates using direct detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belanger, G.; Nezri, E.; Pukhov, A.

2009-01-01

We examine the predictions for both the spin-dependent and spin-independent direct detection rates in a variety of new particle physics models with dark matter candidates. We show that a determination of both spin-independent and spin-dependent amplitudes on protons and neutrons can in principle discriminate different candidates of dark matter up to a few ambiguities. We emphasize the importance of making measurements with different spin-dependent sensitive detector materials and the need for significant improvement of the detector sensitivities. Scenarios where exchange of new colored particles contributes significantly to the elastic scattering cross sections are often the most difficult to identify, the LHC should give an indication whether such scenarios are relevant for direct detection.

Preliminary Analysis and Selection of Mooring Solution Candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Jonas Bjerg; Delaney, Martin

This report covers a preliminary analysis of mooring solutions candidates for four large floating wave energy converters. The work is part of the EUDP project “Mooring Solutions for Large Wave Energy Converters” and is the outcome of "Work Package 3: Preliminary Analysis". The report further...... compose the "Milestone 4: Report on results of preliminary analysis and selection of final candidates. The report is produced by Aalborg University with input from the partner WECs Floating Power Plant, KNSwing, LEANCON and Wave Dragon. Tension Technology International (TTI) has provided a significant...

Many-Objective Distinct Candidates Optimization using Differential Evolution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Justesen, Peter; Ursem, Rasmus Kjær

2010-01-01

for each objective. The Many-Objective Distinct Candidates Optimization using Differential Evolution (MODCODE) algorithm takes a novel approach by focusing search using a user-defined number of subpopulations each returning a distinct optimal solution within the preferred region of interest. In this paper......, we present the novel MODCODE algorithm incorporating the ROD measure to measure and control candidate distinctiveness. MODCODE is tested against GDE3 on three real world centrifugal pump design problems supplied by Grundfos. Our algorithm outperforms GDE3 on all problems with respect to all...

Discovery of the First Quadruple Gravitationally Lensed Quasar Candidate with Pan-STARRS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berghea, C. T.; Nelson, George J.; Dudik, R. P. [U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20392 (United States); Rusu, C. E. [Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, CA 95616 (United States); Keeton, C. R., E-mail: ciprian.t.berghea@navy.mil [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)

2017-08-01

We report the serendipitous discovery of the first gravitationally lensed quasar candidate from Pan-STARRS. The grizy images reveal four point-like images with magnitudes between 14.9 and 18.1 mag. The colors of the point sources are similar, and they are more consistent with quasars than with stars or galaxies. The lensing galaxy is detected in the izy bands, with an inferred photometric redshift of ∼0.6, lower than that of the point sources. We successfully model the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid with shear, using the relative positions of the five objects as constraints. While the brightness ranking of the point sources is consistent with that of the model, we find discrepancies between the model-predicted and observed fluxes, likely due to microlensing by stars and millilensing due to the dark matter substructure. In order to fully confirm the gravitational lens nature of this system and add it to the small but growing number of the powerful probes of cosmology and astrophysics represented by quadruply lensed quasars, we require further spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging.

Synthesis of Fe5C2@SiO2 core@shell nanoparticles as a potential candidate for biomedical application

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadpoor, Fatemeh; Shojaosadati, Seyed Abbas; Delavari H, Hamid; Christiansen, Gunna; Saber, Reza

2018-05-01

A new strategy for water-dispersibility of hydrophobic carbide nanostructures was proposed. In this regard, hydrophobic Fe5C2 nanoparticles (NPs) with size ranging 25–40 nm were synthesized and coated with 12–15 nm silica shell for biomedical applications. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that Fe5C2 NPs with monoclinic structure were successfully prepared. The crystalline structure of Fe5C2 NPs was remained unchanged and saturation magnetization of core remained nearly constant after coating with silica shell. Moreover, Raman spectroscopy identified D-band of amorphous carbon shells which was also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Finally, Fe5C2@SiO2 core@shell NPs demonstrated no significant cytotoxicity and appropriate heat generating which makes them a promising candidate for magnetic fluid hyperthermia applications.

Fostering the Development of Chemistry Teacher Candidates: A Bioecological Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lewthwaite, Brian; Wiebe, Rick

2012-01-01

This ongoing research inquiry investigates through the analysis of teacher candidate experiences the factors influencing two groups of chemistry teacher candidates' development during their extended practica in their second and final year of an after-degree bachelor of education at a university in central Canada. The tenets of Bronfenbrenner's…

Measuring College Success for International Baccalaureate Diploma and Certificate Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Jennifer Coles

2018-01-01

This quantitative study was conducted at a private international high school. The study purpose was to investigate United States college trends comparing International Baccalaureate Diploma Program candidates and International Baccalaureate Non-Diploma Program candidates from the same school in Asia. Data was collected for the Classes of 2007-2012…

Biomarkers Discovery for Colorectal Cancer: A Review on Tumor Endothelial Markers as Perspective Candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Łukasz Pietrzyk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Colorectal cancer (CRC is the third most common cancer in the world. The early detection of CRC, during the promotion/progression stages, is an enormous challenge for a successful outcome and remains a fundamental problem in clinical approach. Despite the continuous advancement in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, there is a need for discovery of sensitive and specific, noninvasive biomarkers. Tumor endothelial markers (TEMs are associated with tumor-specific angiogenesis and are potentially useful to discriminate between tumor and normal endothelium. The most promising TEMs for oncogenic signaling in CRC appeared to be the TEM1, TEM5, TEM7, and TEM8. Overexpression of TEMs especially TEM1, TEM7, and TEM8 in colorectal tumor tissue compared to healthy tissue suggests their role in tumor blood vessels formation. Thus TEMs appear to be perspective candidates for early detection, monitoring, and treatment of CRC patients. This review provides an update on recent data on tumor endothelial markers and their possible use as biomarkers for screening, diagnosis, and therapy of colorectal cancer patients.

Biomarkers Discovery for Colorectal Cancer: A Review on Tumor Endothelial Markers as Perspective Candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Pietrzyk, Łukasz

2016-01-01

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. The early detection of CRC, during the promotion/progression stages, is an enormous challenge for a successful outcome and remains a fundamental problem in clinical approach. Despite the continuous advancement in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, there is a need for discovery of sensitive and specific, noninvasive biomarkers. Tumor endothelial markers (TEMs) are associated with tumor-specific angiogenesis and are potentially useful to discriminate between tumor and normal endothelium. The most promising TEMs for oncogenic signaling in CRC appeared to be the TEM1, TEM5, TEM7, and TEM8. Overexpression of TEMs especially TEM1, TEM7, and TEM8 in colorectal tumor tissue compared to healthy tissue suggests their role in tumor blood vessels formation. Thus TEMs appear to be perspective candidates for early detection, monitoring, and treatment of CRC patients. This review provides an update on recent data on tumor endothelial markers and their possible use as biomarkers for screening, diagnosis, and therapy of colorectal cancer patients.

Financial Technology: The Promise of Blockchain

OpenAIRE

Demary, Markus; Demary, Vera

2017-01-01

Digitization affects all sectors of the economy. A new and possibly disruptive digital technology is the blockchain, a decentralized ledger, which seems to offer great promise for many financial and business applications.

Gallium-67 imaging in candidal esophagitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rundback, J.H.; Goldfarb, C.R.; Ongseng, F.

1990-01-01

Ga-67 scanning has been used to evaluate esophageal carcinoma. It has demonstrated candidal infection in other body sites and, in one previous case, in the esophagus. The authors present a case of diffuse esophageal uptake of Ga-67 in esophageal candidiasis

47 CFR 73.1942 - Candidate rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.1942 Candidate rates. (a) Charges for use of stations... periods. Any station practices offered to commercial advertisers that enhance the value of advertising...

Gallium-67 imaging in candidal esophagitis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rundback, J.H.; Goldfarb, C.R.; Ongseng, F. (Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY (USA))

1990-01-01

Ga-67 scanning has been used to evaluate esophageal carcinoma. It has demonstrated candidal infection in other body sites and, in one previous case, in the esophagus. The authors present a case of diffuse esophageal uptake of Ga-67 in esophageal candidiasis.

High Temperature Steam Oxidation Testing of Candidate Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pint, Bruce A. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Terrani, Kurt A [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Nelson, Andrew [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Parker, Scott [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Parkison, Adam [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2013-12-23

The Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program’s Advanced Fuels Campaign has initiated a multifold effort aimed at facilitating development of accident tolerant fuels in order to overcome the inherent shortcomings of light water reactor (LWR) fuels when exposed to beyond design basis accident conditions. The campaign has invested in development of experimental infrastructure within the Department of Energy complex capable of chronicling the performance of a wide range of concepts under prototypic accident conditions. This report summarizes progress made at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in FY13 toward these goals. Alternative fuel cladding materials to Zircaloy for accident tolerance and a significantly extended safety margin requires oxidation resistance to steam or steam-H₂ environments at ≥1200°C for short times. At ORNL, prior work focused attention on SiC, FeCr and FeCrAl as the most promising candidates for further development. Also, it was observed that elevated pressure and H2 additions had minor effects on alloy steam oxidation resistance, thus, 1 bar steam was adequate for screening potential candidates. Commercial Fe-20Cr-5Al alloys remain protective up to 1475°C in steam and CVD SiC up to 1700°C in steam. Alloy development has focused on Fe-Cr-Mn-Si-Y and Fe-Cr-Al-Y alloys with the aluminaforming alloys showing more promise. At 1200°C, ferritic binary Fe-Cr alloys required ≥25% Cr to be protective for this application. With minor alloy additions to Fe-Cr, more than 20%Cr was still required, which makes the alloy susceptible to α’ embrittlement. Based on current results, a Fe-15Cr-5Al-Y composition was selected for initial tube fabrication and welding for irradiation experiments in FY14. Evaluations of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) SiC were conducted up to 1700°C in steam. The reaction of H₂O with the alumina reaction tube at 1700°C resulted in Al(OH)₃

Warm Debris Disk Candidates from WISE

Science.gov (United States)

Padgett, Deborah; Stapelfeldt, Karl; Liu, Wilson; Leisawitz, David

2011-01-01

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has just completed a sensitive all-sky survey in photometric bands at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 microns. We report on a preliminary investigation of main sequence Hipparcos and Tycho catalog stars with 22 micron emission in excess of photospheric levels. This warm excess emission traces material in the circumstellar region likely to host terrestrial planets and is preferentially found in young systems with ages warm debris disk candidates are detected among FGK stars and 150 A stars within 120 pc. We are in the process of obtaining spectra to determine spectral types and activity level of these stars and are using HST, Herschel and Keck to characterize the dust, multiplicity, and substellar companions of these systems. In this contribution, we will discuss source selection methods and individual examples from among the WISE debris disk candidates.

Establishing a high throughput method for medium optimization – a case study using Streptomyces lividans as host for production of heterologous protein

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rattleff, Stig; Thykaer, Jette; Lantz, Anna Eliasson

2012-01-01

Actinomycetes are widely known for production of antibiotics, though as hosts for heterologous protein expression they show great potential which should be further developed. Streptomyces lividans is especially interesting due to very low endogenous protease activity and the capability to secrete...... the most promising candidates were tested in milliliter scale, followed by final verification in lab-scale fermentation. The method has the great advantage that the initial steps have a high degree of automation, which allows to retain a relatively high number of candidates. A further benefit...

Antibody Desensitization Therapy in Highly Sensitized Lung Transplant Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, L. D.; Gray, A. L.; Reynolds, J. M.; Arepally, G. M.; Bedoya, A.; Hartwig, M. G.; Davis, R. D.; Lopes, K. E.; Wegner, W. E.; Chen, D. F.; Palmer, S. M.

2015-01-01

As HLAs antibody detection technology has evolved, there is now detailed HLA antibody information available on prospective transplant recipients. Determining single antigen antibody specificity allows for a calculated panel reactive antibodies (cPRA) value, providing an estimate of the effective donor pool. For broadly sensitized lung transplant candidates (cPRA ≥ 80%), our center adopted a pretransplant multimodal desensitization protocol in an effort to decrease the cPRA and expand the donor pool. This desensitization protocol included plasmapheresis, solumedrol, bortezomib and rituximab given in combination over 19 days followed by intravenous immunoglobulin. Eight of 18 candidates completed therapy with the primary reasons for early discontinuation being transplant (by avoiding unacceptable antigens) or thrombocytopenia. In a mixed-model analysis, there were no significant changes in PRA or cPRA changes over time with the protocol. A sub-analysis of the median fluorescence intensity (MFI) change indicated a small decline that was significant in antibodies with MFI 5000–10 000. Nine of 18 candidates subsequently had a transplant. Posttransplant survival in these nine recipients was comparable to other pretransplant-sensitized recipients who did not receive therapy. In summary, an aggressive multi-modal desensitization protocol does not significantly reduce pretransplant HLA antibodies in a broadly sensitized lung transplant candidate cohort. PMID:24666831

L1{sub 0} stacked binaries as candidates for hard-magnets. FePt, MnAl and MnGa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsushita, Yu-ichiro [Max-Planck Institut fuer Microstrukture Physics, Halle (Germany); Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo (Japan); Madjarova, Galia [Max-Planck Institut fuer Microstrukture Physics, Halle (Germany); Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University (Bulgaria); Flores-Livas, Jose A. [Department of Physics, Universitaet Basel (Switzerland); Dewhurst, J.K.; Gross, E.K.U. [Max-Planck Institut fuer Microstrukture Physics, Halle (Germany); Felser, C. [Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany); Sharma, S. [Max-Planck Institut fuer Microstrukture Physics, Halle (Germany); Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarkhand (India)

2017-08-15

We present a novel approach for designing new hard magnets by forming stacks of existing binary magnets to enhance the magneto crystalline anisotropy. This is followed by an attempt at reducing the amount of expensive metal in these stacks by replacing it with cheaper metal with similar ionic radius. This strategy is explored using examples of FePt, MnAl and MnGa. In this study a few promising materials are suggested as good candidates for hard magnets: stacked binary FePt{sub 2}MnGa{sub 2} in structure where each magnetic layer is separated by two non-magnetic layers, FePtMnGa and FePtMnAl in hexagonally distorted Heusler structures and FePt{sub 0.5}Ti{sub 0.5}MnAl. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Genetic programming for evolving due-date assignment models in job shop environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Su; Zhang, Mengjie; Johnston, Mark; Tan, Kay Chen

2014-01-01

Due-date assignment plays an important role in scheduling systems and strongly influences the delivery performance of job shops. Because of the stochastic and dynamic nature of job shops, the development of general due-date assignment models (DDAMs) is complicated. In this study, two genetic programming (GP) methods are proposed to evolve DDAMs for job shop environments. The experimental results show that the evolved DDAMs can make more accurate estimates than other existing dynamic DDAMs with promising reusability. In addition, the evolved operation-based DDAMs show better performance than the evolved DDAMs employing aggregate information of jobs and machines.

Ecofriendly Synthesis of Anisotropic Gold Nanoparticles: A Potential Candidate of SERS Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ujjwala Gaware

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Ecofriendly synthesis of nanoparticles has been inspiring to nanotechnologists especially for biomedical applications. Moreover, anisotropic particle synthesis is an attractive option due to decreased symmetry of such particles often leads to new and unusual chemical and physical behaviour. This paper reports a single-step room-temperature synthesis of gold nanotriangles using a cheap bioresource of reducing and stabilizing agent Piper betle leaf extract. On treating aqueous chloroauric acid solution with Piper betle leaf extract, after 12 hr, complete reduction of the chloroaurate ions was observed leading to the formation of flat and single crystalline gold nanotriangles. These gold nanotriangles can be exploited in photonics, optical coating, optoelectronics, magnetism, catalysis, chemical sensing, and so forth, and are a potential candidate of SERS studies.

Review on Millimeter Wave Antennas- Potential Candidate for 5G Enabled Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. A. Matin

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The millimeter wave (mmWave band is considered as the potential candidate for high speed communication services in 5G networks due to its huge bandwidth. Moreover, mmWave frequencies lead to miniaturization of RF front end including antennas. In this article, we provide an overview of recent research achievements of millimeter-wave antenna design along with the design considerations for compact antennas and antennas in package/on chip, mostly in the 60 GHz band is described along with their inherent benefits and challenges. A comparative analysis of various designs is also presented. The antennas with wide bandwidth, high-gain, compact size and low profile with easiness of integration in-package or on-chip with other components are required for 5G enabled applications.

Government instability shifts skin tone representations of and intentions to vote for political candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Chadly; Balcetis, Emily; Cole, Shana; West, Tessa V; Caruso, Eugene M

2016-01-01

Does government stability shift the way White and Black Americans represent and make voting decisions about political candidates? Participants judged how representative lightened, darkened, and unaltered photographs were of a racially ambiguous candidate ostensibly running for political office (Studies 1-3). When the governmental system was presented as stable, White participants who shared (vs. did not share) the candidate's political beliefs rated a lightened photo as more representative of the candidate, and Black participants who shared (vs. did not share) the candidate's political beliefs rated a darkened photo as more representative (Studies 1-3). However, under conditions of instability, both Whites and Blacks who shared (vs. did not share) the candidate's political beliefs rated a lightened photo as more representative (Study 3). Representations of (Studies 2 and 3) and actual differences in (Studies 4a and 4b) skin tone predicted intentions to vote for candidates, as a function of government stability and participants' race. Further evidence suggested that system stability shifted the motivations that guided voting decisions (Study 4a and 4b). When the system was stable, the motivation to enhance one's group predicted greater intentions to vote for lighter skinned candidates among Whites, and greater intentions to vote for darker skinned candidates among Blacks. When the system was unstable, however, lacking confidence in the sociopolitical system predicted intentions to vote for lighter skinned candidates among both Whites and Blacks. Implications for political leadership and social perception are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessment of ADHD Documentation from Candidates Requesting Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accommodations for the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners COMLEX Exam

Science.gov (United States)

Joy, Javed A.; Julius, Rose J.; Akter, Rashida; Baron, David A.

2010-01-01

Purpose: Every year increasing numbers of candidates request special accommodations for high-stakes medical licensing examinations, due to ADHD, on the basis of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This poses significant challenges for both the applicant and the medical boards and has significant financial, legal, and ethical implications.…

AVN-101: A Multi-Target Drug Candidate for the Treatment of CNS Disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Ivachtchenko, Alexandre V; Lavrovsky, Yan; Okun, Ilya

2016-05-25

Lack of efficacy of many new highly selective and specific drug candidates in treating diseases with poorly understood or complex etiology, as are many of central nervous system (CNS) diseases, encouraged an idea of developing multi-modal (multi-targeted) drugs. In this manuscript, we describe molecular pharmacology, in vitro ADME, pharmacokinetics in animals and humans (part of the Phase I clinical studies), bio-distribution, bioavailability, in vivo efficacy, and safety profile of the multimodal drug candidate, AVN-101. We have carried out development of a next generation drug candidate with a multi-targeted mechanism of action, to treat CNS disorders. AVN-101 is a very potent 5-HT7 receptor antagonist (Ki = 153 pM), with slightly lesser potency toward 5-HT6, 5-HT2A, and 5HT-2C receptors (Ki = 1.2-2.0 nM). AVN-101 also exhibits a rather high affinity toward histamine H1 (Ki = 0.58 nM) and adrenergic α2A, α2B, and α2C (Ki = 0.41-3.6 nM) receptors. AVN-101 shows a good oral bioavailability and facilitated brain-blood barrier permeability, low toxicity, and reasonable efficacy in animal models of CNS diseases. The Phase I clinical study indicates the AVN-101 to be well tolerated when taken orally at doses of up to 20 mg daily. It does not dramatically influence plasma and urine biochemistry, nor does it prolong QT ECG interval, thus indicating low safety concerns. The primary therapeutic area for AVN-101 to be tested in clinical trials would be Alzheimer's disease. However, due to its anxiolytic and anti-depressive activities, there is a strong rational for it to also be studied in such diseases as general anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis.

Characterization of Gene Candidates for Vacuolar Sodium Transport from Hordeum Vulgare

KAUST Repository

Scheu, Arne Hagen August

2017-05-01

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress for land plants, and multiple mechanisms of salt tolerance have evolved. Tissue tolerance is one of these mechanisms, which involves the sequestration of sodium into the vacuole to retain low cytosolic sodium concentrations. This enables the plant to maintain cellular functions, and ultimately maintain growth and yield. However, the molecular components involved in tissue tolerance remain elusive. Several candidate genes for vacuolar sodium sequestration have recently been identified by proteome analysis of vacuolar membranes purified from the salt-tolerant cereal Hordeum vulgare (barley). In this study, I aimed to characterize these candidates in more detail. I successfully cloned coding sequences for the majority of candidate genes with primers designed based on the barley reference genome sequence. During the course of this study a newer genome sequence with improved annotations was published, to which I also compared my observations. To study the candidate genes, I used the heterologous expression system Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast). I used several salt sensitive yeast strains (deficient in intrinsic sodium transporters) to test whether the candidate genes would affect their salt tolerance by mediating the sequestration of sodium into the yeast vacuole. I observed a reduction in growth upon expression for several of the gene candidate under salt-stress conditions. However, confocal microscopy suggests that most gene products are subject to degradation, and did not localize to the vacuolar membrane (tonoplast). Therefore, growth effects cannot be linked to protein function without further evidence. Various potential causes are discussed, including inaccuracies in the genome resource used as reference for primer design and issues inherent to the model system. Finally, I make suggestions on how to proceed to further characterize the candidate genes and hopefully identify novel sodium transporters from barley.

Evaluating candidate reactions to selection practices using organisational justice theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Fiona; Zibarras, Lara; Carr, Victoria; Irish, Bill; Gregory, Simon

2011-03-01

This study aimed to examine candidate reactions to selection practices in postgraduate medical training using organisational justice theory. We carried out three independent cross-sectional studies using samples from three consecutive annual recruitment rounds. Data were gathered from candidates applying for entry into UK general practice (GP) training during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Participants completed an evaluation questionnaire immediately after the short-listing stage and after the selection centre (interview) stage. Participants were doctors applying for GP training in the UK. Main outcome measures were participants' evaluations of the selection methods and perceptions of the overall fairness of each selection stage (short-listing and selection centre). A total of 23,855 evaluation questionnaires were completed (6893 in 2007, 10,497 in 2008 and 6465 in 2009). Absolute levels of perceptions of fairness of all the selection methods at both the short-listing and selection centre stages were consistently high over the 3years. Similarly, all selection methods were considered to be job-related by candidates. However, in general, candidates considered the selection centre stage to be significantly fairer than the short-listing stage. Of all the selection methods, the simulated patient consultation completed at the selection centre stage was rated as the most job-relevant. This is the first study to use a model of organisational justice theory to evaluate candidate reactions during selection into postgraduate specialty training. The high-fidelity selection methods are consistently viewed as more job-relevant and fairer by candidates. This has important implications for the design of recruitment systems for all specialties and, potentially, for medical school admissions. Using this approach, recruiters can systematically compare perceptions of the fairness and job relevance of various selection methods. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011.

The Candidate Cancer Gene Database: a database of cancer driver genes from forward genetic screens in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbott, Kenneth L; Nyre, Erik T; Abrahante, Juan; Ho, Yen-Yi; Isaksson Vogel, Rachel; Starr, Timothy K

2015-01-01

Identification of cancer driver gene mutations is crucial for advancing cancer therapeutics. Due to the overwhelming number of passenger mutations in the human tumor genome, it is difficult to pinpoint causative driver genes. Using transposon mutagenesis in mice many laboratories have conducted forward genetic screens and identified thousands of candidate driver genes that are highly relevant to human cancer. Unfortunately, this information is difficult to access and utilize because it is scattered across multiple publications using different mouse genome builds and strength metrics. To improve access to these findings and facilitate meta-analyses, we developed the Candidate Cancer Gene Database (CCGD, http://ccgd-starrlab.oit.umn.edu/). The CCGD is a manually curated database containing a unified description of all identified candidate driver genes and the genomic location of transposon common insertion sites (CISs) from all currently published transposon-based screens. To demonstrate relevance to human cancer, we performed a modified gene set enrichment analysis using KEGG pathways and show that human cancer pathways are highly enriched in the database. We also used hierarchical clustering to identify pathways enriched in blood cancers compared to solid cancers. The CCGD is a novel resource available to scientists interested in the identification of genetic drivers of cancer. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Naturally acquired antibody responses to recombinant Pfs230 and Pfs48/45 transmission blocking vaccine candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Sophie; Grignard, Lynn; Nebie, Issa; Chilongola, Jaffu; Dodoo, Daniel; Sauerwein, Robert; Theisen, Michael; Roeffen, Will; Singh, Shrawan Kumar; Singh, Rajesh Kumar; Singh, Sanjay; Kyei-Baafour, Eric; Tetteh, Kevin; Drakeley, Chris; Bousema, Teun

2015-07-01

Pfs48/45 and Pfs230 are Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage proteins and promising malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidates. Antibody responses against these proteins may be naturally acquired and target antigens may be under selective pressure. This has consequences for the future evaluation of vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in populations naturally exposed to malaria. We determined naturally acquired antibody responses to the recombinant proteins Pfs48/45-10C and Pfs230-230CMB in children from three malaria endemic settings in Ghana, Tanzania and Burkina Faso. We also examined genetic polymorphisms in the P. falciparum gene pfs48/45. Antibody prevalence was 1.1-18.2% for 10C and 6.7-18.9% for 230CMB. In Burkina Faso we observed evidence of an age-dependent acquisition pattern for both 10C (p < 0.001) and 230CMB (p = 0.031). Membrane feeding assays on a separate dataset demonstrated an association between functional transmission reducing activity and antibody prevalence for both 10C (p = 0.017) and 230CMB (p = 0.049). 17 single nucleotide polymorphisms were found in pfs48/45 (from 126 samples), with 5 non-synonymous SNPs in the Pfs48/45 10C region. We conclude there are naturally acquired antibody responses to both vaccine candidates which have functional relevance by reducing the transmissibility of infected individuals. We identified genetic polymorphisms, in pfs48/45 which exhibited geographical specificity. Copyright © 2015 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The pragmatics of NPP presidential campaign promises in Ghana's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper discusses election campaign promises under Commissives, an aspect of Speech Act Theory, and Political Discourse Analysis (PDA). It considers the importance of context and looks at the social settings that are connected with promises. It examines the semantics, pragmatics and the structure of campaign ...

Political attitudes bias the mental representation of a presidential candidate's face.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Alison I; Ratner, Kyle G; Fazio, Russell H

2014-02-01

Using a technique known as reverse-correlation image classification, we demonstrated that the face of Mitt Romney as represented in people's minds varies as a function of their attitudes toward Mitt Romney. Our findings provide evidence that attitudes bias how people see something as concrete and well learned as the face of a political candidate during an election. Practically, our findings imply that citizens may not merely interpret political information about a candidate to fit their opinion, but also may construct a political world in which they literally see candidates differently.

Mesoporous MnO2/carbon aerogel composites as promising electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Gao-Ren; Feng, Zhan-Ping; Ou, Yan-Nan; Wu, Dingcai; Fu, Ruowen; Tong, Ye-Xiang

2010-02-16

MnO(2) as one of the most promising candidates for electrochemical supercapacitors has attracted much attention because of its superior electrochemical performance, low cost, and environmentally benign nature. In this Letter, we explored a novel route to prepare mesoporous MnO(2)/carbon aerogel composites by electrochemical deposition assisted by gas bubbles. The products were characterized by energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The MnO(2) deposits are found to have high purity and have a mesoporous structure that will optimize the electronic and ionic conductivity to minimize the total resistance of the system and thereby maximize the performance characteristics of this material for use in supercapacitor electrodes. The results of nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiments and electrochemical measurements showed that these obtained mesoporous MnO(2)/carbon aerogel composites had a large specific surface area (120 m(2)/g), uniform pore-size distribution (around 5 nm), high specific capacitance (515.5 F/g), and good stability over 1000 cycles, which give these composites potential application as high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials.

Candidate genes in ocular dominance plasticity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rietman, M.L.; Sommeijer, J.-P.; Levelt, C.N.; Heimel, J.A.; Brussaard, A.B.; Borst, J.G.G.; Elgersma, Y.; Galjart, N.; van der Horst, G.T.; Pennartz, C.M.; Smit, A.B.; Spruijt, B.M.; Verhage, M.; de Zeeuw, C.I.

2012-01-01

Many studies have been devoted to the identification of genes involved in experience-dependent plasticity in the visual cortex. To discover new candidate genes, we have reexamined data from one such study on ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in recombinant inbred BXD mouse strains. We have correlated

Exome sequencing of Pakistani consanguineous families identifies 30 novel candidate genes for recessive intellectual disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Riazuddin, S; Hussain, M; Razzaq, A; Iqbal, Z; Shahzad, M; Polla, D L; Song, Y; van Beusekom, E; Khan, A A; Tomas-Roca, L; Rashid, M; Zahoor, M Y; Wissink-Lindhout, W M; Basra, M A R; Ansar, M; Agha, Z; van Heeswijk, K; Rasheed, F; Van de Vorst, M; Veltman, J A; Gilissen, C; Akram, J; Kleefstra, T; Assir, M Z; Grozeva, D; Carss, K; Raymond, F L; O'Connor, T D; Riazuddin, S A; Khan, S N; Ahmed, Z M; de Brouwer, A P M; van Bokhoven, H; Riazuddin, S

2017-11-01

Intellectual disability (ID) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder, affecting 1-3% of the general population. Although research into the genetic causes of ID has recently gained momentum, identification of pathogenic mutations that cause autosomal recessive ID (ARID) has lagged behind, predominantly due to non-availability of sizeable families. Here we present the results of exome sequencing in 121 large consanguineous Pakistani ID families. In 60 families, we identified homozygous or compound heterozygous DNA variants in a single gene, 30 affecting reported ID genes and 30 affecting novel candidate ID genes. Potential pathogenicity of these alleles was supported by co-segregation with the phenotype, low frequency in control populations and the application of stringent bioinformatics analyses. In another eight families segregation of multiple pathogenic variants was observed, affecting 19 genes that were either known or are novel candidates for ID. Transcriptome profiles of normal human brain tissues showed that the novel candidate ID genes formed a network significantly enriched for transcriptional co-expression (P<0.0001) in the frontal cortex during fetal development and in the temporal-parietal and sub-cortex during infancy through adulthood. In addition, proteins encoded by 12 novel ID genes directly interact with previously reported ID proteins in six known pathways essential for cognitive function (P<0.0001). These results suggest that disruptions of temporal parietal and sub-cortical neurogenesis during infancy are critical to the pathophysiology of ID. These findings further expand the existing repertoire of genes involved in ARID, and provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms and the transcriptome map of ID.

PRODUCTION AND POTENCY OF LOCAL RAMBUTAN AT EAST JAVA AS A CANDIDATE PHYTOPHARMACA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sri Rahayu Lestari

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Rambutan is a tropical fruit that grow well in Indonesia and the peel is considered as waste. Many researchers’ showed that rambutan peel contains polyphenol that could be expected to avoid obesity. The objective of this study was to explore the increasing production of local rambutan and to identify the promising phytochemical compounds on its peel as phytopharmaca candidate against obesity. Survey was conducted on the production of rambutan, potential plantation area, and marketing. Sample of rambutan peel collected from the sub-district Kanigoro, Blitar. Phytochemical compounds were analyzed using TLC, HPLC and FT-IR. Bioassay analysis used obesity rat models. The survey result showed a mean of rambutan production increased 2,6% in 2007-2012. Average production of rambutan 70-120 kg/tree. Vegetative multiplication usually done to maintenance of rambutan quality. The main compound of Rambutan peel extract (RPE is flavonoids, tannins, ellagic acid and the major functional group of CH3, aliphatic CH3, and C=O. These compounds have a potential activity against obesity. RPE 30 mg/kgBW dose was significantly inhibit the weight gain of obese rats and reducing the adipocyte size (p<0.05.

Precision cut lung slices as test system for candidate therapeutics in organophosphate poisoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbert, Julia; Thiermann, Horst; Worek, Franz; Wille, Timo

2017-08-15

Standard therapeutic options in organophosphate (OP) poisoning are limited to the administration of atropine and oximes, a regimen often lacking in efficacy and applicability. Treatment alternatives are needed, preferably covering a broad spectrum of OP intoxications. Although recent research yielded several promising compounds, e.g. bioscavengers, modulators of the muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor or bispyridinium non-oximes, these substances still need further evaluation, especially regarding effects on the potentially lethal respiratory symptoms of OP poisoning. Aim of this study was the development of an applicable and easy method to test the therapeutic efficiency of such substances. For this purpose, airway responsiveness in viable precision cut lung slices (PCLS) from rats was analysed. We showed that ACh-induced airway contractions were spontaneously reversible in non-poisoned PCLS, whereas in OP poisoned PCLS, contractions were irreversible. This effect could be antagonized by addition of the standard therapeutic atropine, thereby presenting a clear indication for treatment efficiency. Now, candidate therapeutic compounds can be evaluated, based on their ability to counteract the irreversible airway contraction in OP poisoned PCLS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microalgae - A promising tool for heavy metal remediation.

Science.gov (United States)

Suresh Kumar, K; Dahms, Hans-Uwe; Won, Eun-Ji; Lee, Jae-Seong; Shin, Kyung-Hoon

2015-03-01

Biotechnology of microalgae has gained popularity due to the growing need for novel environmental technologies and the development of innovative mass-production. Inexpensive growth requirements (solar light and CO2), and, the advantage of being utilized simultaneously for multiple technologies (e.g. carbon mitigation, biofuel production, and bioremediation) make microalgae suitable candidates for several ecofriendly technologies. Microalgae have developed an extensive spectrum of mechanisms (extracellular and intracellular) to cope with heavy metal toxicity. Their wide-spread occurrence along with their ability to grow and concentrate heavy metals, ascertains their suitability in practical applications of waste-water bioremediation. Heavy metal uptake by microalgae is affirmed to be superior to the prevalent physicochemical processes employed in the removal of toxic heavy metals. In order to evaluate their potential and to fill in the loopholes, it is essential to carry out a critical assessment of the existing microalgal technologies, and realize the need for development of commercially viable technologies involving strategic multidisciplinary approaches. This review summarizes several areas of heavy metal remediation from a microalgal perspective and provides an overview of various practical avenues of this technology. It particularly details heavy metals and microalgae which have been extensively studied, and provides a schematic representation of the mechanisms of heavy metal remediation in microalgae. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A METHANE IMAGING SURVEY FOR T DWARF CANDIDATES IN ρ OPHIUCHI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haisch, Karl E.; Barsony, Mary; Tinney, Chris

2010-01-01

We report on the results of the first deep, wide-field, near-infrared methane imaging survey of the ρ Ophiuchi cloud core to search for T dwarfs. Among the 6587 objects detected, 22 were identified as T dwarf candidates. Brown dwarf models indicate that at the age and distance of the ρ Ophiuchi cloud, these T dwarf candidates have masses between 1 and 2 Jupiter masses. If confirmed as genuine T dwarfs, these objects would be the youngest, lowest mass, and lowest gravity free-floating objects ever directly observed. The existence of these candidates suggests that the initial mass function of the ρ Ophiuchi cloud extends well into the regime of planetary mass objects. A large fraction (59% ± 16%) of our T dwarf candidates appear to be surrounded by circumstellar disks, and thus represents the lowest mass objects yet found to harbor circumstellar disks.

IDENTIFICATION OF NEW GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR CANDIDATES WITH MULTIFREQUENCY ARCHIVAL OBSERVATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cowperthwaite, Philip S. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421 (United States); Massaro, F. [SLAC National Laboratory and Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); D' Abrusco, R.; Paggi, A.; Smith, Howard A. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Tosti, G., E-mail: pcowpert@umd.edu [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Degli Studi di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)

2013-11-01

Blazars are a highly variable, radio-loud subclass of active galactic nuclei. In order to better understand such objects we must be able to easily identify candidate blazars from the growing population of unidentified sources. Working toward this goal, we attempt to identify new gamma-ray blazar candidates from a sample of 102 previously unidentified sources. These sources are selected from The Astronomer's Telegram and the literature on the basis of non-periodic variability and multi-wavelength behavior. We then attempt to associate these objects to an IR counterpart in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer all-sky survey. We are able to identify 16 candidate sources whose IR colors are consistent with those of the blazar population. Of those, 13 sources have IR colors indicative of being gamma-ray emitting blazar candidates. These sources all possess archival multi-wavelength observations that support their blazar-like nature.

Selection on plant male function genes identifies candidates for reproductive isolation of yellow monkeyflowers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan E Aagaard

Full Text Available Understanding the genetic basis of reproductive isolation promises insight into speciation and the origins of biological diversity. While progress has been made in identifying genes underlying barriers to reproduction that function after fertilization (post-zygotic isolation, we know much less about earlier acting pre-zygotic barriers. Of particular interest are barriers involved in mating and fertilization that can evolve extremely rapidly under sexual selection, suggesting they may play a prominent role in the initial stages of reproductive isolation. A significant challenge to the field of speciation genetics is developing new approaches for identification of candidate genes underlying these barriers, particularly among non-traditional model systems. We employ powerful proteomic and genomic strategies to study the genetic basis of conspecific pollen precedence, an important component of pre-zygotic reproductive isolation among yellow monkeyflowers (Mimulus spp. resulting from male pollen competition. We use isotopic labeling in combination with shotgun proteomics to identify more than 2,000 male function (pollen tube proteins within maternal reproductive structures (styles of M. guttatus flowers where pollen competition occurs. We then sequence array-captured pollen tube exomes from a large outcrossing population of M. guttatus, and identify those genes with evidence of selective sweeps or balancing selection consistent with their role in pollen competition. We also test for evidence of positive selection on these genes more broadly across yellow monkeyflowers, because a signal of adaptive divergence is a common feature of genes causing reproductive isolation. Together the molecular evolution studies identify 159 pollen tube proteins that are candidate genes for conspecific pollen precedence. Our work demonstrates how powerful proteomic and genomic tools can be readily adapted to non-traditional model systems, allowing for genome-wide screens

ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE: AN INVESTIGATION FOR SIX EU CANDIDATE AND POTENTIAL CANDIDATE COUNTRIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ileana Tache

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The South Eastern European region (SEE has seen major beneficial transformation in the recent years. Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 and Croatia in 2013 became members of the European Union and registered significant economic growth rates. This paper investigates some important factors that influence economic growth in 6 EU candidate and potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia and offers to policy makers in those countries key insights for stimulating the economy. The paper proposes a dynamic growth model which will be developed using the Quasi-maximum likelihood (QML estimation. This model is suited for this type of analysis because of the small T sample and also to cope with missingness. The results indicate that nine out of the fourteen variables were statistically significant. The number of non-resident tourists, the number of passenger cars, the number of children in pre-primary and primary-education are positive factors for economic growth. In contrast, government debt, inflation, all energy imports, railway transportation and primary production of coal and lignite are hindering development.

Unary probabilistic and quantum automata on promise problems

OpenAIRE

Gainutdinova, Aida; Yakaryilmaz, Abuzer

2015-01-01

We continue the systematic investigation of probabilistic and quantum finite automata (PFAs and QFAs) on promise problems by focusing on unary languages. We show that bounded-error QFAs are more powerful than PFAs. But, in contrary to the binary problems, the computational powers of Las-Vegas QFAs and bounded-error PFAs are equivalent to deterministic finite automata (DFAs). Lastly, we present a new family of unary promise problems with two parameters such that when fixing one parameter QFAs ...

One-step synthesis of soy protein/graphene nanocomposites and their application in photothermal therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Xuejiao; Li, Zhao; Yao, Jinrong; Shao, Zhengzhong; Chen, Xin, E-mail: chenx@fudan.edu.cn

2016-11-01

Photothermal therapy, due to its security and effectiveness, has recently become a promising cancer treatment after surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and biological therapy. In this article, soy protein isolate/reduced graphene oxide (SPI/rGO) nanocomposites are prepared via a simple and green process. That is, GO is reduced in situ and stabilized by SPI, an abundant, low-cost, sustainable natural material, and simultaneously forms SPI/rGO nanocomposites. The resulting SPI/rGO nanocomposites disperse in water very well and exhibit good biocompatibility due to the attachment of SPI to the surface of rGO. Such SPI/rGO nanocomposites demonstrate an excellent photothermal capacity and are able to kill HeLa cells efficiently with near-infrared irradiation (808 nm). The results in this work suggest that such a SPI/rGO hybrid material could be a promising candidate for future applications of photothermal therapy. - Highlights: • Soy protein/graphene nanocomposites are prepared via a simple and green process. • Soy protein is used as both the reducing and the stabilizing agent to graphene oxide. • Soy protein/graphene nanocomposites disperse in water well and exhibit good biocompatibility. • The nanocomposites demonstrate excellent photothermal capacity and kill HeLa cells efficiently. • Such nanocomposites can be a promising candidate for photothermal therapy in future application.

The Influence of Explicit Racial Cues on Candidate Evaluation

OpenAIRE

Green, Joshua Aaron

2013-01-01

Since Barack Obama's presidential campaign of 2008, media outlets have changed how race is covered and framed during political campaigns. In the so-called "post-racial" era of American politics when race is supposed to matter less, we are still very much attuned to stories that are framed by racial conflict. When the media wraps a "racial mode of interpretation" around a conflict between two candidates, there are potential electoral penalties involved for either a white or black candidate who...

Seaweed: Promising plant of the millennium

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Dhargalkar, V.K.; Pereira, N.

Seaweeds, one of the important marine living resources could be termed as the futuristically promising plants. These plants have been a source of food, feed and medicine in the orient as well as in the west, since ancient times. Although, seaweeds...

Psychological aptitude evaluation of the special forces candidate.

Science.gov (United States)

Genoni, Luca; Jelmini, F; Lang, M; Muggli, F

2017-02-01

Changes in recruitment procedures reduced early dismissal rates from Swiss military basic recruitment schools; however, such improvements were not reflected in premature discharge rates from the special forces (SF) (Grenadier) recruitment school. A six-item questionnaire designed to identify recruits likely to be subject to premature dismissal on psychological or psychiatric grounds was developed and prospectively validated. The questionnaire was based on an analysis of medical and psychiatric/psychological records of 26 recruits dismissed from a SF recruitment school. Six items were identified that appeared to have prognostic value for early discharge. These six questions were submitted to the remaining applicants in the recruitment school by a suitably qualified psychologist or psychiatrist and effectively identified candidates who would be discharged early. Based on these results a 0-6 scale was developed and applied prospectively to subsequent Grenadier recruitment courses. Statistical analysis showed that 75% of candidates with the lowest scores would eventually complete the course and that no candidates with highest scores would subsequently complete the recruitment course. Prospective studies in subsequent recruitment courses candidates with high scores were classified as not qualified to enter the course, and those with intermediate scores were subject to additional in-depth interviews with a psychologist or psychiatrist to determine their suitability. In the following courses a correlation was established between the questionnaire score and week of discharge for those discharged. Application of this method during subsequent recruitment courses has reduced early dismissal from Swiss SF recruitment schools. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Medicaid Participation among Liver Transplant Candidates after the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Tumin, Dmitry; Beal, Eliza W; Mumtaz, Khalid; Hayes, Don; Tobias, Joseph D; Pawlik, Timothy M; Washburn, W Kenneth; Black, Sylvester M

2017-08-01

The 2014 Medicaid expansion in participating states increased insurance coverage among people with chronic health conditions, but its implications for access to surgical care remain unclear. We investigated how Medicaid expansion influenced the insurance status of candidates for liver transplantation (LT) and transplant center payor mix. Data on LT candidates aged 18 to 64 years, in 2012 to 2013 (pre-expansion) and 2014 to 2015 (post-expansion), were obtained from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry. Change between the 2 periods in the percent of LT candidates using Medicaid was compared between expansion and nonexpansion states. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine how Medicaid expansion influenced individual LT candidates' likelihood of using Medicaid insurance. The study included 33,017 LT candidates, of whom 29,666 had complete data for multivariable analysis. Medicaid enrollment increased by 4% after Medicaid expansion in participating states. One-quarter of the transplant centers in these states experienced ≥10% increase in the proportion of LT candidates using Medicaid insurance. Multivariable analysis confirmed that Medicaid expansion was associated with increased odds of LT candidates using Medicaid insurance (odds ratio 1.49; 95% CI 1.34, 1.66; p Medicaid expansion states during the post-expansion period. Candidates for LT became more likely to use Medicaid after the 2014 Medicaid expansion policy came into effect. Enactment of this policy did not appear to increase access to LT or address socioeconomic and demographic disparities in access to the LT wait list. Copyright © 2017 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What Do Teacher Candidates Think about the Teaching Education? The Example of Social Studies Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Tonga, Deniz

2016-01-01

In this research, it is aimed to reveal the opinions and observations of social studies teacher candidate about the courses they have taken during their 4-year university education. The focus group interview was used as the data collecting tool, and the content analyses were performed on the data obtained. The criterion sampling approach was used…

Computer-aided discovery of debris disk candidates: A case study using the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) catalog

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, T.; Pankratius, V.; Eckman, L.; Seager, S.

2018-04-01

Debris disks around stars other than the Sun have received significant attention in studies of exoplanets, specifically exoplanetary system formation. Since debris disks are major sources of infrared emissions, infrared survey data such as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey (WISE) catalog potentially harbors numerous debris disk candidates. However, it is currently challenging to perform disk candidate searches for over 747 million sources in the WISE catalog due to the high probability of false positives caused by interstellar matter, galaxies, and other background artifacts. Crowdsourcing techniques have thus started to harness citizen scientists for debris disk identification since humans can be easily trained to distinguish between desired artifacts and irrelevant noises. With a limited number of citizen scientists, however, increasing data volumes from large surveys will inevitably lead to analysis bottlenecks. To overcome this scalability problem and push the current limits of automated debris disk candidate identification, we present a novel approach that uses citizen science results as a seed to train machine learning based classification. In this paper, we detail a case study with a computer-aided discovery pipeline demonstrating such feasibility based on WISE catalog data and NASA's Disk Detective project. Our approach of debris disk candidates classification was shown to be robust under a wide range of image quality and features. Our hybrid approach of citizen science with algorithmic scalability can facilitate big data processing for future detections as envisioned in future missions such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

Functional characterization of Plasmodium berghei PSOP25 during ookinete development and as a malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Wenqi; Liu, Fei; He, Yiwen; Liu, Qingyang; Humphreys, Gregory B; Tsuboi, Takafumi; Fan, Qi; Luo, Enjie; Cao, Yaming; Cui, Liwang

2017-01-05

Plasmodium ookinete surface proteins as post-fertilization target antigens are potential malaria transmission-blocking vaccine (TBV) candidates. Putative secreted ookinete protein 25 (PSOP25) is a highly conserved ookinete surface protein, and has been shown to be a promising novel TBV target. Here, we further investigated the TBV activities of the full-length recombinant PSOP25 (rPSOP25) protein in Plasmodium berghei, and characterized the potential functions of PSOP25 during the P. berghei life-cycle. We expressed the full-length P. berghei PSOP25 protein in a prokaryotic expression system, and developed polyclonal mouse antisera and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against the recombinant protein. Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and Western blot were used to test the specificity of antibodies. The transmission-blocking (TB) activities of antibodies were evaluated by the in vitro ookinete conversion assay and by direct mosquito feeding assay (DFA). Finally, the function of PSOP25 during Plasmodium development was studied by deleting the psop25 gene. Both polyclonal mouse antisera and anti-rPSOP25 mAb recognized the PSOP25 proteins in the parasites, and IFA showed the preferential expression of PSOP25 on the surface of zygotes, retorts and mature ookinetes. In vitro, these antibodies significantly inhibited ookinetes formation in an antibody concentration-dependent manner. In DFA, mice immunized with the rPSOP25 and those receiving passive transfer of the anti-rPSOP25 mAb reduced the prevalence of mosquito infection by 31.2 and 26.1%, and oocyst density by 66.3 and 63.3%, respectively. Genetic knockout of the psop25 gene did not have a detectable impact on the asexual growth of P. berghei, but significantly affected the maturation of ookinetes and the formation of midgut oocysts. The full-length rPSOP25 could elicit strong antibody response in mice. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against PSOP25 could effectively block the formation of ookinetes in vitro

Systematic Identification of Intracellular-Translocated Candidate Effectors in Edwardsiella piscicida

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Lingzhi Zhang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Many bacterial pathogens inject effectors directly into host cells to target a variety of host cellular processes and promote bacterial dissemination and survival. Identifying the bacterial effectors and elucidating their functions are central to understanding the molecular pathogenesis of these pathogens. Edwardsiella piscicida is a pathogen with a wide host range, and very few of its effectors have been identified to date. Here, based on the genes significantly regulated by macrophage infection, we identified 25 intracellular translocation-positive candidate effectors, including all five previously reported effectors, namely EseG, EseJ, EseH, EseK, and EvpP. A subsequent secretion analysis revealed diverse secretion patterns for the 25 effector candidates, suggesting that multiple transport pathways were involved in the internalization of these candidate effectors. Further, we identified two novel type VI secretion system (T6SS putative effectors and three outer membrane vesicles (OMV-dependent putative effectors among the candidate effectors described above, and further analyzed their contribution to bacterial virulence in a zebrafish model. This work demonstrates an effective approach for screening bacterial effectors and expands the effectors repertoire in E. piscicida.

14 CFR 1214.1104 - Evaluation and ranking of highly qualified candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Evaluation and ranking of highly qualified candidates. 1214.1104 Section 1214.1104 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION... ranking of highly qualified candidates. (a) A selection board consisting of discipline experts, and such...

Developing Expertise: Using Video to Hone Teacher Candidates' Classroom Observation Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Cuthrell, Kristen; Steadman, Sharilyn C.; Stapleton, Joy; Hodge, Elizabeth

2016-01-01

This article explores the impact of a video observation model developed for teacher candidates in an early experiences course. Video Grand Rounds (VGR) combines a structured observation protocol, videos, and directed debriefing to enhance teacher candidates' observations skills within nonstructured and field-based observations. A comparative…

Evaluation and selection of candidate high-level waste forms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-03-01

Seven candidate waste forms being developed under the direction of the Department of Energy's National High-Level Waste (HLW) Technology Program, were evaluated as potential media for the immobilization and geologic disposal of high-level nuclear wastes. The evaluation combined preliminary waste form evaluations conducted at DOE defense waste-sites and independent laboratories, peer review assessments, a product performance evaluation, and a processability analysis. Based on the combined results of these four inputs, two of the seven forms, borosilicate glass and a titanate based ceramic, SYNROC, were selected as the reference and alternative forms for continued development and evaluation in the National HLW Program. Both the glass and ceramic forms are viable candidates for use at each of the DOE defense waste-sites; they are also potential candidates for immobilization of commercial reprocessing wastes. This report describes the waste form screening process, and discusses each of the four major inputs considered in the selection of the two forms

Framing the Socialisation Process of the DBA Candidate: What Can Universities Offer and What Should Candidates Bring?

Science.gov (United States)

Pervan, Simon; Blackman, Deborah; Sloan, Terry; Wallace, Michelle; Vocino, Andrea; Byrne, Cathy

2016-01-01

In Australia, the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) remains a popular program but considerable anguish persists within the university sector over just what it is offering students. In this article, we use the process of postgraduate socialisation to understand how candidates, supervisors and administrators navigate pathways to successful…

Candidal Arthritis After Complete Treatment of Systemic Candidiasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Bin Hsieh

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Over the last few decades, the incidence of invasive candidal infections in neonatal intensive care units has increased dramatically. Various complications, such as arthritis, endocarditis, meningitis, and endophthalmitis, have been reviewed. We present the case of a premature infant with systemic candidemia. Arthritis was discovered 6 months after completion of amphotericin B therapy, and was successfully treated with oral fluconazole for 6 weeks. We conclude that long-term follow-up is particularly important in patients with treated candidemia. To prevent complications, prolonged treatment with high-dose amphotericin B is suggested for systemic fungal infection, and oral fluconazole is an effective alternative for candidal arthritis.

Tyrosine aminotransferase from Leishmania infantum: A new drug target candidate

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Miguel Angel Moreno

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Leishmania infantum is the etiological agent of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean basin. The disease is fatal without treatment, which has been based on antimonial pentavalents for more than 60 years. Due to resistances, relapses and toxicity to current treatment, the development of new drugs is required. The structure of the L. infantum tyrosine aminotransferase (LiTAT has been recently solved showing important differences with the mammalian orthologue. The characterization of LiTAT is reported herein. This enzyme is cytoplasmic and is over-expressed in the more infective stages and nitric oxide resistant parasites. Unlike the mammalian TAT, LiTAT is able to use ketomethiobutyrate as co-substrate. The pharmacophore model of LiTAT with this specific co-substrate is described herein. This may allow the identification of new inhibitors present in the databases. All the data obtained support that LiTAT is a good target candidate for the development of new anti-leishmanial drugs.

Near-infrared imaging of white dwarfs with candidate debris disks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhongxiang; Tziamtzis, Anestis; Wang, Xuebing

2014-01-01

We have carried out JHK s imaging of 12 white dwarf debris disk candidates from the WIRED Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 catalog, aiming to confirm or rule out disks among these sources. On the basis of positional identification and the flux density spectra, we find that seven white dwarfs have excess infrared emission, but mostly at Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer W1 and W2 bands. Four are due to nearby red objects consistent with background galaxies or very low mass dwarfs, and one exhibits excess emission at JHK s consistent with an unresolved L0 companion at the correct distance. While our photometry is not inconsistent with all seven excesses arising from disks, the stellar properties are distinct from the known population of debris disk white dwarfs, making the possibility questionable. In order to further investigate the nature of these infrared sources, warm Spitzer imaging is needed, which may help resolve galaxies from the white dwarfs and provide more accurate flux measurements.

Boomers versus Millennials: Online Media Influence on Media Performance and Candidate Evaluations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terri Towner

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Facebook posts, YouTube videos, tweets and wooing political bloggers have become standard practice in marketing political campaigns. Research has demonstrated the effect of new media on a host of politically-related behavior, including political participation, knowledge acquisition, group formation and self-efficacy. Yet, issues related to media trust, media performance and candidate evaluations have not been fully explored. In addition, much of the political marketing research looks exclusively at the Millennial age cohort, ignoring other age groups, particularly Baby Boomers. This case study addresses whether attention to traditional (i.e., television, hard-copy newspapers and radio and online media sources (i.e., political candidate websites, television network websites, online newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and political blogs about the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign influences Millennials and Baby Boomers’ media trust and performance ratings, as well as candidate evaluations. Panel surveys were completed by both age cohorts, Millennials (n = 431 and Baby Boomers (n = 360, during the last two weeks of the presidential election. Findings indicate that traditional sources, specifically television, rather than online sources are significantly linked to media trust and performance ratings among both Boomers and Millennials. Attention to traditional media for campaign information predicts Boomers’ candidate evaluations, whereas Millennials’ candidate evaluations are influenced by online sources, such as Facebook and candidate websites.

Results of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 among gestational surrogacy candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Klock, Susan C; Covington, Sharon N

2015-09-01

To obtain normative data on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) personality test for gestational surrogate (GS) candidates. A retrospective study was undertaken through chart review of all GS candidates assessed at Shady Grove Fertility Center, Rockville, MD, USA, between June 2007 and December 2009. Participants completed the MMPI-2 test during screening. MMPI-2 scores, demographic information, and screening outcome were retrieved. Among 153 included candidates, 132 (86.3%) were accepted to be a GS, 6 (3.9%) were ruled out because of medical reasons, and 15 (9.8%) were ruled out because of psychological reasons. The mean scores on each of the MMPI-2 scales were within the normal range. A score of more than 65 (the clinical cutoff) was recorded on the L scale for 46 (30.1%) candidates, on the K scale for 61 (39.9%), and on the S scale for 84 (54.9%). Women who were ruled out for psychological reasons had significantly higher mean scores on the validity scales F and L, and on clinical scale 8 than did women who were accepted (P<0.05 for all). Most GS candidates are well adjusted and free of psychopathology, but candidates tend to present themselves in an overly positive way. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infographics: A new competency area for teacher candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakan Islamoglu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Changes in technology have a growing influence on daily-life activities and the information-processing habits of individuals. As information and communication devices evolve to deliver richer content rapidly, regardless of time and place, new media presentation formats emerge. Infographics provide an example of such formats, and they have increased in popularity due mostly to their visual appeal and capacity to effectively present information. Infographics are also promising cognitive tools; however, their applications in educational practice are limited at best. Therefore, the aim of this study is to raise awareness about the opportunities that infographics provide for education and suggest ways to integrate infographics knowledge and skill development in teacher education. In line with that, first, a brief introduction to visual literacy is made. Then, infographics and their capacities for teaching and learning activities are discussed. Finally, as alternative ways for teacher education institutions and schools to offer infographics, training opportunities were proposed

Designing defect-based qubit candidates in wide-gap binary semiconductors for solid-state quantum technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Hosung; Ma, He; Govoni, Marco; Galli, Giulia

2017-12-01

The development of novel quantum bits is key to extending the scope of solid-state quantum-information science and technology. Using first-principles calculations, we propose that large metal ion-vacancy pairs are promising qubit candidates in two binary crystals: 4 H -SiC and w -AlN. In particular, we found that the formation of neutral Hf- and Zr-vacancy pairs is energetically favorable in both solids; these defects have spin-triplet ground states, with electronic structures similar to those of the diamond nitrogen-vacancy center and the SiC divacancy. Interestingly, they exhibit different spin-strain coupling characteristics, and the nature of heavy metal ions may allow for easy defect implantation in desired lattice locations and ensure stability against defect diffusion. To support future experimental identification of the proposed defects, we report predictions of their optical zero-phonon line, zero-field splitting, and hyperfine parameters. The defect design concept identified here may be generalized to other binary semiconductors to facilitate the exploration of new solid-state qubits.

Research on Take an Examination of Oneself Potential Candidates Intend Empirical

Science.gov (United States)

Bo, Zhou Lin; Dong, Chen

2012-01-01

Through the metrological analysis to Sichuan Province of potential candidates in willingness to take the self-study exam, we find the potential candidates attendance of self-study exam mainly determined by the marital status, family supporting degree, mathematics course, English courses, and the willingness to improve academic degree. Knowing…

B cell repertoires in HLA-sensitized kidney transplant candidates undergoing desensitization therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Beausang, John F; Fan, H Christina; Sit, Rene; Hutchins, Maria U; Jirage, Kshama; Curtis, Rachael; Hutchins, Edward; Quake, Stephen R; Yabu, Julie M

2017-01-13

Kidney transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage renal disease. Sensitization refers to pre-existing antibodies against human leukocyte antigen (HLA) protein and remains a major barrier to successful transplantation. Despite implementation of desensitization strategies, many candidates fail to respond. Our objective was to determine whether measuring B cell repertoires could differentiate candidates that respond to desensitization therapy. We developed an assay based on high-throughput DNA sequencing of the variable domain of the heavy chain of immunoglobulin genes to measure changes in B cell repertoires in 19 highly HLA-sensitized kidney transplant candidates undergoing desensitization and 7 controls with low to moderate HLA sensitization levels. Responders to desensitization had a decrease of 5% points or greater in cumulated calculated panel reactive antibody (cPRA) levels, and non-responders had no decrease in cPRA. Dominant B cell clones were not observed in highly sensitized candidates, suggesting that the B cells responsible for sensitization are either not present in peripheral blood or present at comparable levels to other circulating B cells. Candidates that responded to desensitization therapy had pre-treatment repertoires composed of a larger fraction of class-switched (IgG and IgA) isotypes compared to non-responding candidates. After B cell depleting therapy, the proportion of switched isotypes increased and the mutation frequencies of the remaining non-switched isotypes (IgM and IgD) increased in both responders and non-responders, perhaps representing a shift in the repertoire towards memory B cells or plasmablasts. Conversely, after transplantation, non-switched isotypes with fewer mutations increased, suggesting a shift in the repertoire towards naïve B cells. Relative abundance of different B cell isotypes is strongly perturbed by desensitization therapy and transplantation, potentially reflecting changes in the relative

Evaluation of DNA barcode candidates for the discrimination of Artemisia L.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Geyu; Ning, Huixia; Ayidaerhan, Nurbolati; Aisa, Haji Akber

2017-11-01

Because of the very similar morphologies and wide diversity of Artemisia L. varieties, they are difficult to identify, and there have been many arguments about the systematic classification Artemisia L., especially concerning the division of species. DNA barcode technology is used to rapidly identify species based on standard short DNA sequences. To evaluate seven candidate DNA barcodes (ITS, ITS2, psbA-trnH, rbcL, matK, rpoB, and rpoC1) regarding their ability to identify closely related species of the Artemisia genus in Xinjiang. The corresponding PCR amplification efficiency, detectable genetic divergence, identification efficiency and phylogenetic tree were assessed. We found that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region exhibited the highest interspecific divergence, which was significantly higher than the observed intraspecific variation and showed the highest identification efficiency, followed by ITS2, psbA-trnH and, finally, rpoB. matK, rbcL, and rpoC1 performed poorly in this evaluation. ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH were able to perfectly identify the tested species Artemisia annua, A. absinthium, A. rupestris, A. tonurnefortiana, A. austriaca, A. dracunculus, A. vulgaris, and A. macrocephala. Therefore, we propose the ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH regions as promising DNA barcodes for the closely related species of Artemisia L. in Xinjiang.

Freedom: A Promise of Possibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunkers, Sandra Schmidt

2015-10-01

The idea of freedom as a promise of possibility is explored in this column. The core concepts from a research study on considering tomorrow (Bunkers, 1998) coupled with humanbecoming community change processes (Parse, 2003) are used to illuminate this notion. The importance of intentionality in human freedom is discussed from both a human science and a natural science perspective. © The Author(s) 2015.

Novel antidepressant candidate RO-05 modulated glucocorticoid receptors activation and FKBP5 expression in chronic mild stress model in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Y; Hou, J; Meng, Q; Yang, M; Kurihara, H; Tian, J

2015-04-02

In this study, a novel TRI (triple reuptake inhibitors) antidepressant candidate RO-05 (4-[1-[1-(benzoyloxy)cyclohexyl]-2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-phenyl benzoate) was investigated in TST (tail suspension test), FST (forced swimming test) and CMS (chronic mild stress) model. Results showed RO-05 significantly decreased the immobility time in FST and TST at 4.5-, 9-, 18-mg/kg in rats and 9-, 18-, 36-mg/kg in mice. Chronic administration of 18-mg/kg RO-05 improved the behavioral index, anhedonia and normalized the hyperactivity of HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) of CMS rats. We further investigated the possible mechanisms of RO-05 in the CMS model. Eighteen milligrams per kilogram of RO-05 chronic administration significantly reversed the increase of mRNA and protein expression of FKBP5 in the CMS rat hippocampus, which facilitated the activation of GR- (glucocorticoid receptor) and GR-responsive gene Foxo1 expression. RO-05 also elevated the expression of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) in CMS rat hippocampus. In summary, our results indicated that RO-05 is a promising antidepressant candidate. The possible antidepressant mechanisms of RO-05 were the modulation of FKBP5 expression, GR activation, corresponding inhibition of HPA axis hyperactivity, and the increase of BDNF expression. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of nanoparticles as candidate reference materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martins Ferreira, E.H.; Robertis, E. de; Landi, S.M.; Gouvea, C.P.; Archanjo, B.S.; Almeida, C.A.; Araujo, J.R. de; Kuznetsov, O.; Achete, C.A.

2013-01-01

We report the characterization of three different nanoparticles (silica, silver and multi-walled carbon nanotubes) as candidate reference material. We focus our analysis on the size distribution of those particles as measured by different microscopy techniques. (author)

Identifying the Relationship of Teacher Candidates' Humor Styles with Anxiety and Self-Compassion Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Aydin, Aydan

2015-01-01

Problem Statement: Teacher candidates who will soon be responsible for educating the future generations should possess certain characteristics. Specific teacher candidates should have specific characteristics taken into consideration: pre-school and primary teacher candidates should be seen as role models by younger students; psychological…

People's Education (for People's Power) — a promise unfulfilled

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article argues for the Athenian style of participatory ... power' has given way to democratic elitism in post-apartheid South African schools. Keywords: .... of electing a government from among candidates competing for leadership, which.

THE PERCEPTION OF THE CANDIDATES FOR MUSIC TEACHER ON MUSICAL AESTHETICS

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Ulku Sevim SEN

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The basic aim of this study is to reveal the perception of the candidates for music teacher on musical aesthetics. In the light of this aim, the research question the study aims to answer: how is the perception of the candidates for music teacher on musical aesthetics? The participants in this research consist of overall eighty three freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students studying in the Department of Music Teaching, Ataturk Faculty of Fine Arts during spring term. The participants as the candidates for teacher involve forty nine women and thirty four men. The study is descriptive survey model of qualitative research.

Glycogen synthase kinase-3: A promising therapeutic target for Fragile X Syndrome

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Marjelo M. Mines

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Recent advances in understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to Fragile X Syndrome (FXS have increased optimism that drug interventions can provide significant therapeutic benefits. FXS results from inadequate expression of functional fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP. FMRP may have several functions, but it is most well-established as an RNA-binding protein that regulates translation, and it is by this mechanism that FMRP is capable of affecting numerous cellular processes by selectively regulating protein levels. The multiple cellular functions regulated by FMRP suggest that multiple interventions may be required for reversing the effects of deficient FMRP. Evidence that inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3 may contribute to the therapeutic treatment of FXS is reviewed here. In the mouse model of FXS, which lacks FMRP expression (FX mice, GSK3 is hyperactive in several brain regions. Furthermore, significant improvements in several FX-related phenotypes have been obtained in FX mice following the administration of lithium, and in some case other GSK3 inhibitors. These responses include normalization of heightened audiogenic seizure susceptibility and of hyperactive locomotor behavior, enhancement of passive avoidance learning retention and of sociability behaviors, and corrections of macroorchidism, neuronal spine density, and neural plasticity measured electrophysiologically as long term depression. A pilot clinical trial of lithium in FXS patients also found improvements in several measures of behavior. Taken together, these findings indicate that lithium and other inhibitors of GSK3 are promising candidate therapeutic agents for treating FXS.

Understanding and Affecting Science Teacher Candidates' Scientific Reasoning in Introductory Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Richard; Cormier, Sebastien

2013-01-01

This study reports on a content course for science immersion teacher candidates that emphasized authentic practice of science and thinking scientifically in the context of introductory astrophysics. We explore how 122 science teacher candidates spanning three cohorts did and did not reason scientifically and how this evolved in our program. Our…

Upper gastrointestinal alterations in kidney transplant candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Homse Netto, João Pedro; Pinheiro, João Pedro Sant'Anna; Ferrari, Mariana Lopes; Soares, Mirella Tizziani; Silveira, Rogério Augusto Gomes; Maioli, Mariana Espiga; Delfino, Vinicius Daher Alvares

2018-05-14

The incidence of gastrointestinal disorders among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is high, despite the lack of a good correlation between endoscopic findings and symptoms. Many services thus perform upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy on kidney transplant candidates. This study aims to describe the alterations seen on the upper endoscopies of 96 kidney-transplant candidates seen from 2014 to 2015. Ninety-six CKD patients underwent upper endoscopic examination as part of the preparation to receive kidney grafts. The data collected from the patients' medical records were charted on Microsoft Office Excel 2016 and presented descriptively. Mean values, medians, interquartile ranges and 95% confidence intervals of the clinic and epidemiological variables were calculated. Possible associations between endoscopic findings and infection by H. pylori were studied. Males accounted for 54.17% of the 96 patients included in the study. Median age and time on dialysis were 50 years and 50 months, respectively. The most frequent upper endoscopy finding was enanthematous pangastritis (57.30%), followed by erosive esophagitis (30.20%). Gastric intestinal metaplasia and peptic ulcer were found in 8.33% and 7.30% of the patients, respectively. H. pylori tests were positive in 49 patients, and H. pylori infection was correlated only with non-erosive esophagitis (P = 0.046). Abnormal upper endoscopy findings were detected in all studied patients. This study suggested that upper endoscopy is a valid procedure for kidney transplant candidates. However, prospective studies are needed to shed more light on this matter.

Updated candidate list for engineered barrier materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCright, R.D.

1995-10-01

This report describes candidate materials to be evaluated over the next several years during advanced design phases for the waste package to be used for the underground disposal of high-level radioactive wastes at the Yucca Mountain facility

Wood-plastic composites as promising green-composites for automotive industries!

Science.gov (United States)

Ashori, Alireza

2008-07-01

Wood-plastic composite (WPC) is a very promising and sustainable green material to achieve durability without using toxic chemicals. The term WPCs refers to any composites that contain plant fiber and thermosets or thermoplastics. In comparison to other fibrous materials, plant fibers are in general suitable to reinforce plastics due to relative high strength and stiffness, low cost, low density, low CO2 emission, biodegradability and annually renewable. Plant fibers as fillers and reinforcements for polymers are currently the fastest-growing type of polymer additives. Since automakers are aiming to make every part either recyclable or biodegradable, there still seems to be some scope for green-composites based on biodegradable polymers and plant fibers. From a technical point of view, these bio-based composites will enhance mechanical strength and acoustic performance, reduce material weight and fuel consumption, lower production cost, improve passenger safety and shatterproof performance under extreme temperature changes, and improve biodegradability for the auto interior parts.

ALMOST ALL OF KEPLER'S MULTIPLE-PLANET CANDIDATES ARE PLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Kinemuchi, Karen; Koch, David G. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Marcy, Geoffrey W. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Adams, Elisabeth; Fressin, Francois; Geary, John; Holman, Matthew J.; Ragozzine, Darin [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100, Copenhagen (Denmark); Ciardi, David R. [Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Cochran, William D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Ford, Eric B.; Morehead, Robert C. [University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Gilliland, Ronald L., E-mail: Jack.Lissauer@nasa.gov [Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); and others

2012-05-10

We present a statistical analysis that demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of Kepler candidate multiple transiting systems (multis) indeed represent true, physically associated transiting planets. Binary stars provide the primary source of false positives among Kepler planet candidates, implying that false positives should be nearly randomly distributed among Kepler targets. In contrast, true transiting planets would appear clustered around a smaller number of Kepler targets if detectable planets tend to come in systems and/or if the orbital planes of planets encircling the same star are correlated. There are more than one hundred times as many Kepler planet candidates in multi-candidate systems as would be predicted from a random distribution of candidates, implying that the vast majority are true planets. Most of these multis are multiple-planet systems orbiting the Kepler target star, but there are likely cases where (1) the planetary system orbits a fainter star, and the planets are thus significantly larger than has been estimated, or (2) the planets orbit different stars within a binary/multiple star system. We use the low overall false-positive rate among Kepler multis, together with analysis of Kepler spacecraft and ground-based data, to validate the closely packed Kepler-33 planetary system, which orbits a star that has evolved somewhat off of the main sequence. Kepler-33 hosts five transiting planets, with periods ranging from 5.67 to 41 days.

Copenhagen's climate finance promise: six key questions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberts, J. Timmons [Brown University (United States); Stadelmann, Martin [University of Zurich (Switzerland); Huq, Saleemul

2010-02-15

One clear promise emerged from the confusion of the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen. This was to provide short- and long-term 'climate finance' to help developing countries – especially the most vulnerable – adapt to climate impacts. The promise seemed simple enough: wealthier nations would pledge US$10 billion a year from 2010-2012, ramping up to US$100 billion a year starting in 2020. This was also touted as a way to help developing countries avoid high-carbon pathways of development by adopting lower-emitting power sources such as solar or natural gas. But a closer look at the Copenhagen promise unearths at least six big questions – any one of which could seriously challenge the trust these funds were designed to build.

Evaluation of free or anchored antimicrobial peptides as candidates for the prevention of orthopaedic device-related infections.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Este, Francesca; Oro, Debora; Boix-Lemonche, Gerard; Tossi, Alessandro; Skerlavaj, Barbara

2017-10-01

The prevention of implant-associated infection, one the most feared complications in orthopaedic surgery, remains a major clinical challenge and urges development of effective methods to prevent bacterial colonization of implanted devices. Alpha-helical antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) may be promising candidates in this respect due to their potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, their low tendency to elicit resistance and possible retention of efficacy in the immobilized state. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of five different helical AMPs, the cathelicidins BMAP-27 and BMAP-28, their (1-18) fragments and the rationally designed, artificial P19(9/G7) peptide, for the prevention of orthopaedic implant infections. Peptides were effective at micromolar concentrations against 22 Staphylococcus and Streptococcus isolates from orthopaedic infections, while only BMAP-28 and to a lesser extent BMAP-27 were active against Enterococcus faecalis. Peptides in solution showed activities comparable to those of cefazolin and linezolid, on a molar basis, and also a variable capacity to neutralize bacterial lipopolysaccharide, while devoid of adverse effects on MG-63 osteoblast cells at concentrations corresponding to the MIC. The (1-18) BMAP fragments and P19(9/G7) were selected for further examination, based on better selectivity indices, and showed effectiveness in the presence of hyaluronic acid and in synovial fluid, while human serum affected their activity to variable extents, with BMAP-27(1-18) best retaining activity. This peptide was immobilized on streptavidin-resin beads and retained activity against reference Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus strains, with negligible toxicity towards osteoblasts, underlining its potential for the development of infection-resistant biomaterials for orthopaedic application. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and

Candidate genes for cross-resistance against DNA-damaging drugs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wittig, Rainer; Nessling, Michelle; Will, Rainer D

2002-01-01

Drug resistance of tumor cells leads to major drawbacks in the treatment of cancer. To identify candidate genes for drug resistance, we compared the expression patterns of the drug-sensitive human malignant melanoma cell line MeWo and three derived sublines with acquired resistance to the DNA...... as several apoptosis-related genes, in particular STK17A and CRYAB. As MPP1 and CRYAB are also among the 14 genes differentially expressed in all three of the drug-resistant sublines, they represent the strongest candidates for resistance against DNA-damaging drugs....

A preliminary systems assessment of the Starlite Demo candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bathke, C.G.

1995-01-01

The Starlite project has evaluated the following five tokamaks as candidates for the US Demo Power Plant: (1) steady state, first stability regime; (2) pulsed, first stability regime; (3) steady state, second stability regime; (4) steady state, reversed shear; and (5) steady state, low aspect ratio. Systems analysis of these candidates has played an important role in the selection of a reversed-shear tokamak for further conceptual design as a US Demo Power Plant. The cost-based systems analysis that led to the selection of a reversed-shear tokamak is described herein

Criteria for candidate species for aquaculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Webber, H H; Riordan, P F

1976-01-01

The nature of the animal taxa that are the most probable candidates for an intensive, commercial aquatic animal husbandry industry is considered. A characterization is presented of those biological criteria that lend the species the necessary physiological and genetic malleability to be adapted and molded into a domesticated race. The animal cultivated must be amenable to intensive management in high-density confinements such as those now being engineered for high-yield aquaculture. Attributes considered are discussed in the context of the various aquacultural ecosystems in which the specific biotype is expected to achieve satisfactory growth and survival. Correlative with bionomic criteria, economic requirements are posed and evaluated in an effort to define a socially and financially profitable agribusiness system. Investment requirements and operating costs are considered in terms of expected returns. However, since production alone is insufficient to sustain an enterprise - i.e., the product must be sold - production costs must be judged against market values. Therefore, ultimate use or consumer acceptance criteria are incorporated into the list of essential requirements for a candidate species for aquafarming.

275 Candidates and 149 Validated Planets Orbiting Bright Stars in K2 Campaigns 0–10

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mayo, Andrew W.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Latham, David W.

2018-01-01

Since 2014, NASA’s K2 mission has observed large portions of the ecliptic plane in search of transiting planets and has detected hundreds of planet candidates. With observations planned until at least early 2018, K2 will continue to identify more planet candidates. We present here 275 planet...... candidates observed during Campaigns 0–10 of the K2 mission that are orbiting stars brighter than 13 mag (in Kepler band) and for which we have obtained high-resolution spectra ( R = 44,000). These candidates are analyzed using the vespa package in order to calculate their false-positive probabilities (FPP......). We find that 149 candidates are validated with an FPP lower than 0.1%, 39 of which were previously only candidates and 56 of which were previously undetected. The processes of data reduction, candidate identification, and statistical validation are described, and the demographics of the candidates...

A full-length Plasmodium falciparum recombinant circumsporozoite protein expressed by Pseudomonas fluorescens platform as a malaria vaccine candidate.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy R Noe

Full Text Available The circumsporozoite protein (CSP of Plasmodium falciparum is a major surface protein, which forms a dense coat on the sporozoite's surface. Preclinical research on CSP and clinical evaluation of a CSP fragment-based RTS, S/AS01 vaccine have demonstrated a modest degree of protection against P. falciparum, mediated in part by humoral immunity and in part by cell-mediated immunity. Given the partial protective efficacy of the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine in a recent Phase 3 trial, further improvement of CSP-based vaccines is crucial. In this report, we describe the preclinical development of a full-length, recombinant CSP (rCSP-based vaccine candidate against P. falciparum malaria suitable for current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP production. Utilizing a novel high-throughput Pseudomonas fluorescens expression platform, we demonstrated greater efficacy of full-length rCSP as compared to N-terminally truncated versions, rapidly down-selected a promising lead vaccine candidate, and developed a high-yield purification process to express immunologically active, intact antigen for clinical trial material production. The rCSP, when formulated with various adjuvants, induced antigen-specific antibody responses as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA and immunofluorescence assay (IFA, as well as CD4+ T-cell responses as determined by ELISpot. The adjuvanted rCSP vaccine conferred protection in mice when challenged with transgenic P. berghei sporozoites containing the P. falciparum repeat region of CSP. Furthermore, heterologous prime/boost regimens with adjuvanted rCSP and an adenovirus type 35-vectored CSP (Ad35CS showed modest improvements in eliciting CSP-specific T-cell responses and anti-malarial protection, depending on the order of vaccine delivery. Collectively, these data support the importance of further clinical development of adjuvanted rCSP, either as a stand-alone product or as one of the components in a heterologous prime

Technology Candidates for Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground Data Exchange

Science.gov (United States)

Haynes, Brian D.

2015-01-01

Technology Candidates for Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground Data Exchange is a two-year research effort to visualize the U. S. aviation industry at a point 50 years in the future, and to define potential communication solutions to meet those future data exchange needs. The research team, led by XCELAR, was tasked with identifying future National Airspace System (NAS) scenarios, determining requirements and functions (including gaps), investigating technical and business issues for air, ground, & air-to-ground interactions, and reporting on the results. The project was conducted under technical direction from NASA and in collaboration with XCELAR's partner, National Institute of Aerospace, and NASA technical representatives. Parallel efforts were initiated to define the information exchange functional needs of the future NAS, and specific communication link technologies to potentially serve those needs. Those efforts converged with the mapping of each identified future NAS function to potential enabling communication solutions; those solutions were then compared with, and ranked relative to, each other on a technical basis in a structured analysis process. The technical solutions emerging from that process were then assessed from a business case perspective to determine their viability from a real-world adoption and deployment standpoint. The results of that analysis produced a proposed set of future solutions and most promising candidate technologies. Gap analyses were conducted at two points in the process, the first examining technical factors, and the second as part of the business case analysis. In each case, no gaps or unmet needs were identified in applying the solutions evaluated to the requirements identified. The future communication solutions identified in the research comprise both specific link technologies and two enabling technologies that apply to most or all specific links. As a result, the research resulted in a new analysis approach, viewing the

Examining Technology and Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Teacher Candidates: A Deliberate Course Design Model

Science.gov (United States)

Willis, Jana M.

2015-01-01

Training programs that improve technology self-efficacy of teacher candidates will better prepare candidates to overcome technology challenges with greater levels of confidence. The purpose of this study was to examine self-efficacy levels of preservice teacher candidates who participated in scaffolded technology training designed to establish and…

76 FR 13152 - Promise Neighborhoods Program

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-10

... comprehensive education reforms that are linked to improved educational outcomes for children and youth in... parents or family members who report talking with their child about the importance of college and career... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RIN 1855-ZA07 Promise Neighborhoods Program Catalog of Federal Domestic...

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures with varying ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2017-05-13

May 13, 2017 ... Composition of the reactant solution, pH and temperature ... due to the broad spectrum of UV radiation absorption, supe- ... In addition, ZnO is very useful to cure various other skin ... be used as promising candidate for coating of orthopedic ... tape and then coated with gold for 40 s in an auto-fine coater.

A nanobody targeting carcinoembryonic antigen as a promising molecular probe for non-small cell lung cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hao; Meng, Ai-Min; Li, Sheng-Hua; Zhou, Xiao-Liang

2017-07-01

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a biomarker and therapy target for non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is the most common type of lung cancer. Nanobodies with high target specificity are promising candidates to function as anti‑CEA probes. In the present study, the targeting effects of an anti‑CEA nanobody obtained from phage display were investigated using technetium‑99 m (99mTc) and fluorescence labeling. In vitro binding and immunofluorescent staining assays, as well as in vivo blood clearance and biodistribution assays were performed. High specificity and affinity of the nanobody for CEA‑positive H460 cells was observed in vitro. The pharmacokinetics assay of the 99mTc‑nanobody in Wistar rats demonstrated that the nanobody had appropriate T1/2α and T1/2β, which were 20.2 and 143.5 min, respectively. The biodistribution assay using H460 xenograft‑bearing nude mice demonstrated a high ratio of signal in tumor compared with background, which confirmed that the nanobody may be useful as a molecular probe for CEA‑positive cancer, particularly in NSCLC.

Candidate genes and molecular markers associated with heat tolerance in colonial Bentgrass.

Science.gov (United States)

Jespersen, David; Belanger, Faith C; Huang, Bingru

2017-01-01

Elevated temperature is a major abiotic stress limiting the growth of cool-season grasses during the summer months. The objectives of this study were to determine the genetic variation in the expression patterns of selected genes involved in several major metabolic pathways regulating heat tolerance for two genotypes contrasting in heat tolerance to confirm their status as potential candidate genes, and to identify PCR-based markers associated with candidate genes related to heat tolerance in a colonial (Agrostis capillaris L.) x creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) hybrid backcross population. Plants were subjected to heat stress in controlled-environmental growth chambers for phenotypic evaluation and determination of genetic variation in candidate gene expression. Molecular markers were developed for genes involved in protein degradation (cysteine protease), antioxidant defense (catalase and glutathione-S-transferase), energy metabolism (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), cell expansion (expansin), and stress protection (heat shock proteins HSP26, HSP70, and HSP101). Kruskal-Wallis analysis, a commonly used non-parametric test used to compare population individuals with or without the gene marker, found the physiological traits of chlorophyll content, electrolyte leakage, normalized difference vegetative index, and turf quality were associated with all candidate gene markers with the exception of HSP101. Differential gene expression was frequently found for the tested candidate genes. The development of candidate gene markers for important heat tolerance genes may allow for the development of new cultivars with increased abiotic stress tolerance using marker-assisted selection.

Candidate genes and molecular markers associated with heat tolerance in colonial Bentgrass.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Jespersen

Full Text Available Elevated temperature is a major abiotic stress limiting the growth of cool-season grasses during the summer months. The objectives of this study were to determine the genetic variation in the expression patterns of selected genes involved in several major metabolic pathways regulating heat tolerance for two genotypes contrasting in heat tolerance to confirm their status as potential candidate genes, and to identify PCR-based markers associated with candidate genes related to heat tolerance in a colonial (Agrostis capillaris L. x creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L. hybrid backcross population. Plants were subjected to heat stress in controlled-environmental growth chambers for phenotypic evaluation and determination of genetic variation in candidate gene expression. Molecular markers were developed for genes involved in protein degradation (cysteine protease, antioxidant defense (catalase and glutathione-S-transferase, energy metabolism (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, cell expansion (expansin, and stress protection (heat shock proteins HSP26, HSP70, and HSP101. Kruskal-Wallis analysis, a commonly used non-parametric test used to compare population individuals with or without the gene marker, found the physiological traits of chlorophyll content, electrolyte leakage, normalized difference vegetative index, and turf quality were associated with all candidate gene markers with the exception of HSP101. Differential gene expression was frequently found for the tested candidate genes. The development of candidate gene markers for important heat tolerance genes may allow for the development of new cultivars with increased abiotic stress tolerance using marker-assisted selection.

Maximizing the ExoEarth candidate yield from a future direct imaging mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stark, Christopher C.; Roberge, Aki; Mandell, Avi; Robinson, Tyler D.

2014-01-01

ExoEarth yield is a critical science metric for future exoplanet imaging missions. Here we estimate exoEarth candidate yield using single visit completeness for a variety of mission design and astrophysical parameters. We review the methods used in previous yield calculations and show that the method choice can significantly impact yield estimates as well as how the yield responds to mission parameters. We introduce a method, called Altruistic Yield Optimization, that optimizes the target list and exposure times to maximize mission yield, adapts maximally to changes in mission parameters, and increases exoEarth candidate yield by up to 100% compared to previous methods. We use Altruistic Yield Optimization to estimate exoEarth candidate yield for a large suite of mission and astrophysical parameters using single visit completeness. We find that exoEarth candidate yield is most sensitive to telescope diameter, followed by coronagraph inner working angle, followed by coronagraph contrast, and finally coronagraph contrast noise floor. We find a surprisingly weak dependence of exoEarth candidate yield on exozodi level. Additionally, we provide a quantitative approach to defining a yield goal for future exoEarth-imaging missions.

Candidate eco-friendly gas mixtures for MPGDs

Science.gov (United States)

Benussi, L.; Bianco, S.; Saviano, G.; Muhammad, S.; Piccolo, D.; Ferrini, M.; Parvis, M.; Grassini, S.; Colafranceschi, S.; Kjølbro, J.; Sharma, A.; Yang, D.; Chen, G.; Ban, Y.; Li, Q.

2018-02-01

Modern gas detectors for detection of particles require F-based gases for optimal performance. Recent regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be limited or banned. This review studies properties of potential eco-friendly gas candidate replacements.

Nano-BCG: A Promising Delivery System for Treatment of Human Bladder Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Buss, Julieti Huch; Begnini, Karine Rech; Bender, Camila Bonemann; Pohlmann, Adriana R; Guterres, Silvia S; Collares, Tiago; Seixas, Fabiana Kömmling

2017-01-01

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) remains at the forefront of immunotherapy for treating bladder cancer patients. However, the incidence of recurrence and progression to invasive cancer is commonly observed. There are no established effective intravesical therapies available for patients, whose tumors recur following BCG treatment, representing an important unmet clinical need. In addition, there are very limited options for patients who do not respond to or tolerate chemotherapy due to toxicities, resulting in poor overall treatment outcomes. Within this context, nanotechnology is an emergent and promising tool for: (1) controlling drug release for extended time frames, (2) combination therapies due to the ability to encapsulate multiple drugs simultaneously, (3) reducing systemic side effects, (4) increasing bioavailability, (5) and increasing the viability of various routes of administration. Moreover, bladder cancer is often characterized by high mutation rates and over expression of tumor antigens on the tumor cell surface. Therapeutic targeting of these biomolecules may be improved by nanotechnology strategies. In this mini-review, we discuss how nanotechnology can help overcome current obstacles in bladder cancer treatment, and how nanotechnology can facilitate combination chemotherapeutic and BCG immunotherapies for the treatment of non-muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer.

Nano-BCG: A Promising Delivery System for Treatment of Human Bladder Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julieti Huch Buss

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG remains at the forefront of immunotherapy for treating bladder cancer patients. However, the incidence of recurrence and progression to invasive cancer is commonly observed. There are no established effective intravesical therapies available for patients, whose tumors recur following BCG treatment, representing an important unmet clinical need. In addition, there are very limited options for patients who do not respond to or tolerate chemotherapy due to toxicities, resulting in poor overall treatment outcomes. Within this context, nanotechnology is an emergent and promising tool for: (1 controlling drug release for extended time frames, (2 combination therapies due to the ability to encapsulate multiple drugs simultaneously, (3 reducing systemic side effects, (4 increasing bioavailability, (5 and increasing the viability of various routes of administration. Moreover, bladder cancer is often characterized by high mutation rates and over expression of tumor antigens on the tumor cell surface. Therapeutic targeting of these biomolecules may be improved by nanotechnology strategies. In this mini-review, we discuss how nanotechnology can help overcome current obstacles in bladder cancer treatment, and how nanotechnology can facilitate combination chemotherapeutic and BCG immunotherapies for the treatment of non-muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer.

Certification of biological candidates reference materials by neutron activation analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kabanov, Denis V.; Nesterova, Yulia V.; Merkulov, Viktor G.

2018-03-01

The paper gives the results of interlaboratory certification of new biological candidate reference materials by neutron activation analysis recommended by the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology (Warsaw, Poland). The correctness and accuracy of the applied method was statistically estimated for the determination of trace elements in candidate reference materials. The procedure of irradiation in the reactor thermal fuel assembly without formation of fast neutrons was carried out. It excluded formation of interfering isotopes leading to false results. The concentration of more than 20 elements (e.g., Ba, Br, Ca, Co, Ce, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Rb, Sb, Sc, Ta, Th, Tb, Yb, U, Zn) in candidate references of tobacco leaves and bottom sediment compared to certified reference materials were determined. It was shown that the average error of the applied method did not exceed 10%.

Search for Binary Black Hole Candidates from the VLBI Images of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2016-01-27

Jan 27, 2016 ... We have searched the core-jet pairs in the VLBI scales (< 1 kpc), from several VLBI catalogues, and found out 5 possible Binary Black Hole (BBH) candidates. We present here the search results and analyse the candidates preliminarily. We plan to study with multi-band VLBI observation. We also plan to ...

Effects of Lesson Study on Science Teacher Candidates' Teaching Efficacies

Science.gov (United States)

Pektas, Murat

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the lesson study process on science teacher candidates' teaching in terms of lesson plan content, pedagogy and classroom management based on expert, peer and self-evaluations. The participants of this case study consisted of 16 teacher candidates in elementary science education in their…

Vaccines: an ongoing promise?

Science.gov (United States)

Alsahli, M; Farrell, R J; Michetti, P

2001-01-01

Over the past decade, intensive research has focused on developing a vaccine therapy for Helicobacter pylori. Substantial unresolved questions cloud the current approach, and the development of a vaccine against this unique organism has proved very challenging. Many candidate vaccines have been tested in animal models. The immunogenicity and the safety of some vaccine formulations have been recently evaluated through clinical trials, and the efficacy of these vaccine therapies in humans will be determined in the near future. This article will provide an overview of the current knowledge of natural and vaccine-induced immune responses to H. pylori infection. It will also review past vaccine successes and failures in animal models and the limited experience to date in using vaccine therapy in humans. Several obstacles to H. pylori vaccine development efforts along with the future direction of these efforts will be discussed. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Campaigning on the Internet: 2008 Presidential General Election Candidate Webpage

OpenAIRE

William L. Benoit; Mark Glant; Leslie Rill

2016-01-01

The Internet is becoming an increasingly important component of political campaigns. This study employed content analysis to apply Functional Theory and Issue Ownership Theory to Obama’s and McCain’s presidential candidate webpages in the 2008 campaign. Acclaims (92%) were more common than attacks (98%); defenses did not occur in this sample. Policy (82%) was addressed more than character (18%). When discussing policy, these candidates addressed future plans most frequently, followed by gener...

Selection and evaluation of inner material candidates for Spanish high level radioactive waste canisters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puig, Francesc; Dies, Javier; Sevilla, Manuel; Pablo, Joan de; Pueyo, Juan Jose; Miralles, Lourdes; Martinez-Esparza, Aurora

2007-01-01

This paper summarizes the work carried out to analyse different alternatives related to the inner material selection of the Spanish high level waste canister for long term storage. The preliminary repository design considers granitic or clay formations, compacted bentonite sealing, corrosion allowing steel canisters and glass bead filling between the fuel assemblies and canister walls. This filling material will have the primary role of avoiding the possibility of a criticality event, which becomes an issue of major importance once the container is finally breached by corrosion and flooded by groundwater. In the first place, a complete set of requirements have been devised as evaluation criteria for candidate materials examination and selection; resulting in a compilation of demands significantly deeper and more exhaustive than any other similar work found in literature, including over 20 requirements and some other general aspects that could involve improvements in repository performance. Secondly, eight materials or material families (cast iron or steel, borosilicate glass, spinel, depleted uranium, dehydrated zeolites, hematite, phosphates and olivine) have been chosen and examined in detail, extracting some relevant conclusions. Either cast iron, borosilicate glass, spinel or depleted uranium are considered to look quite promising for the mentioned purpose. (authors)

Epigenetics of human asthma and allergy: promises to keep.

Science.gov (United States)

Devries, Avery; Vercelli, Donata

2013-09-01

The interest in asthma epigenetics is high because epigenetic mechanisms likely contribute to the environmental origins of the disease and its phenotypic variability. This review presents the main findings of asthma epigenetics and the challenges that still delay progress. We examined the current literature on asthma epigenetics (31 reviews and 25 original data publications). We focused on DNA methylation studies in populations. Both genome-wide and candidate gene studies have explored DNA methylation in allergic disease. Genome-wide studies ask whether and which regions of the genome are differentially methylated in relation to the phenotype of interest. Identification of such regions provides clues about the identity of the genes, pathways and networks underpinning a phenotype and connects these networks to the phenotype through epigenetic mechanisms. Candidate gene studies examine DNA methylation in genes chosen because of their known or hypothesized role in immunity, responses to environmental stimuli or disease pathogenesis. Most existing studies in asthma and allergy focused on candidate genes involved in the response to environmental pollutants. Asthma epigenetics is still in its infancy. The paucity of primary literature originates from methodological and analytical challenges of genome-wide studies, the difficulties in interpreting small differences in DNA methylation, and the need to develop robust bioinformatic tools for pathway, network and system analyses of epigenetic data. Once these challenges have been overcome, epigenetic studies will likely provide important insights about the inception and pathogenesis of allergic disease and will help define disease endotypes.

Coalitional game theory as a promising approach to identify candidate autism genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Anika; Sun, Min Woo; Paskov, Kelley Marie; Stockham, Nate Tyler; Jung, Jae-Yoon; Wall, Dennis Paul

2018-01-01

Despite mounting evidence for the strong role of genetics in the phenotypic manifestation of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the specific genes responsible for the variable forms of ASD remain undefined. ASD may be best explained by a combinatorial genetic model with varying epistatic interactions across many small effect mutations. Coalitional or cooperative game theory is a technique that studies the combined effects of groups of players, known as coalitions, seeking to identify players who tend to improve the performance--the relationship to a specific disease phenotype--of any coalition they join. This method has been previously shown to boost biologically informative signal in gene expression data but to-date has not been applied to the search for cooperative mutations among putative ASD genes. We describe our approach to highlight genes relevant to ASD using coalitional game theory on alteration data of 1,965 fully sequenced genomes from 756 multiplex families. Alterations were encoded into binary matrices for ASD (case) and unaffected (control) samples, indicating likely gene-disrupting, inherited mutations in altered genes. To determine individual gene contributions given an ASD phenotype, a "player" metric, referred to as the Shapley value, was calculated for each gene in the case and control cohorts. Sixty seven genes were found to have significantly elevated player scores and likely represent significant contributors to the genetic coordination underlying ASD. Using network and cross-study analysis, we found that these genes are involved in biological pathways known to be affected in the autism cases and that a subset directly interact with several genes known to have strong associations to autism. These findings suggest that coalitional game theory can be applied to large-scale genomic data to identify hidden yet influential players in complex polygenic disorders such as autism.

Betula pendula: A Promising Candidate for Phytoremediation of TCE in Northern Climates.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Jeffrey; Qvarfort, Ulf; Sjöström, Jan

2015-01-01

Betula pendula (Silver birch) trees growing on two contaminated sites were evaluated to assess their capacity to phytoscreen and phytoremediate chlorinated aliphatic compounds and heavy metals. Both locations are industrially-contaminated properties in central Sweden. The first was the site of a trichloroethylene (TCE) spill in the 1980s while the second was polluted with heavy metals by burning industrial wastes. In both cases, sap and sapwood from Silver birch trees were collected and analyzed for either chlorinated aliphatic compounds or heavy metals. These results were compared to analyses of the surface soil, vadose zone pore air and groundwater. Silver birch demonstrated the potential to phytoscreen and possibly phytoremediate TCE and related compounds, but it did not demonstrate the ability to effectively phytoextract heavy metals when compared with hyperaccumulator plants. The capacity of Silver birch to phytoremediate TCE appears comparable to tree species that have been employed in field-scale TCE phytoremediation efforts, such as Populus spp. and Eucalyptus sideroxylon rosea.

A Highly Luminescent Hexanuclear Molybdenum Cluster - A Promising Candidate toward Photoactive Materials

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kirakci, Kaplan; Kubát, Pavel; Dušek, Michal; Fejfarová, Karla; Šícha, Václav; Mosinger, Jiří; Lang, Kamil

2012-01-01

Roč. 2012, č. 19 (2012), s. 3107-3111 ISSN 1434-1948 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP204/11/0809; GA ČR GAP208/10/1678 Institutional support: RVO:61388980 ; RVO:61388955 ; RVO:68378271 Keywords : cluster compounds * luminescence * molybdenum * organic-inorganic hybrid composites * singlet oxygen Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry Impact factor: 3.120, year: 2012

Spectroscopic follow up of Kepler planet candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Latham..[], D. W.; Cochran, W. D.; Marcy, G.W.

2010-01-01

Spectroscopic follow-up observations play a crucial role in the confirmation and characterization of transiting planet candidates identified by Kepler. The most challenging part of this work is the determination of radial velocities with a precision approaching 1 m/s in order to derive masses from...... spectroscopic orbits. The most precious resource for this work is HIRES on Keck I, to be joined by HARPS-North on the William Herschel Telescope when that new spectrometer comes on line in two years. Because a large fraction of the planet candidates are in fact stellar systems involving eclipsing stars...... and not planets, our strategy is to start with reconnaissance spectroscopy using smaller telescopes, to sort out and reject as many of the false positives as possible before going to Keck. During the first Kepler observing season in 2009, more than 100 nights of telescope time were allocated for this work, using...

Human Health Safety Evaluation of Halon Replacement Candidates

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dodd, D. E; Jepson, G. W; Macko, Jr, J. A

2000-01-01

.... The services within the Department of Defense (DoD) are directed to determine and evaluate suitable halon replacement candidates that will optimize performance of mission-essential equipment and operations...

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler, III: Analysis of the First 16 Months of Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Batalha, Natalie M.; /San Jose State U.; Rowe, Jason F.; /NASA, Ames; Bryson, Stephen T.; /NASA, Ames; Barclay, Thomas; /NASA, Ames; Burke, Christopher J.; /NASA, Ames; Caldwell, Douglas A.; /NASA, Ames; Christiansen, Jessie L.; /NASA, Ames; Mullally, Fergal; /NASA, Ames; Thompson, Susan E.; /NASA, Ames; Brown, Timothy M.; /Las Cumbres Observ.; Dupree, Andrea K.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys. /UC, Santa Cruz

2012-02-01

New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 - September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental false positives yielding 1091 viable new planet candidates, bringing the total count up to over 2,300. Improved vetting metrics are employed, contributing to higher catalog reliability. Most notable is the noise-weighted robust averaging of multiquarter photo-center offsets derived from difference image analysis which identifies likely background eclipsing binaries. Twenty-two months of photometry are used for the purpose of characterizing each of the new candidates. Ephemerides (transit epoch, T{sub 0}, and orbital period, P) are tabulated as well as the products of light curve modeling: reduced radius (R{sub P}/R{sub {star}}), reduced semi-major axis (d/R{sub {star}}), and impact parameter (b). The largest fractional increases are seen for the smallest planet candidates (197% for candidates smaller than 2R{sub {circle_plus}} compared to 52% for candidates larger than 2R{sub {circle_plus}}) and those at longer orbital periods (123% for candidates outside of 50 day orbits versus 85% for candidates inside of 50 day orbits). The gains are larger than expected from increasing the observing window from thirteen months (Quarter 1 - Quarter 5) to sixteen months (Quarter 1 - Quarter 6). This demonstrates the benefit of continued development of pipeline analysis software. The fraction of all host stars with multiple candidates has grown from 17% to 20%, and the paucity of short-period giant planets in multiple systems is still evident. The progression toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods with each new catalog release suggests that Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone are forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.

Nuclear energy: obstacles and promises

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bacher, P.

2003-01-01

Nuclear energy has distinctive merits (sustainable resources, low costs, no greenhouse gases) but its development must overcome serious hurdles (fear of accidents, radio-phobia, waste management). The large unit size of present-day reactors is compatible only with large electrical grids, and involves a high capital cost. Taking into account these different factors, the paper outlines how nuclear energy may contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, and which are the most promising developments. (author)

Solutions for Failing High Schools: Converging Visions and Promising Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Legters, Nettie; Balfanz, Robert; McPartland, James

Promising solutions to the failings of traditional comprehensive high schools were reviewed to identify basic principles and strategies for improving high schools nationwide. Selected research studies, policy documents, and promising high school programs were reviewed. The review revealed the following principles for helping high schools better…

The role of strategic position in brand promise: Evidence from LG Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Eilaghi Karvandi

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of different strategies including attribute, advantage, application, consumer, competitive advantage, pricing/quality and category on brand promise for products of LG Company in city of Tehran, Iran. The study designs two questionnaires, one for strategic positioning and the other for brand promise in Likert scale. Cronbach alphas for brand promise and strategic positioning are 0.81 and 0.79, respectively. The questionnaires are distributed among 385 randomly selected regular users of LG products and using Spearman correlation as well as Stepwise regression techniques, the effects of various strategies on brand promise are examined. The results of the implementation of Spearman correlation have indicated that there were positive and meaningful relationships between different strategies and brand promise. In addition, the results of Stepwise regression have indicated that three strategies of price/quality, consumer and application were the most important predictors of brand promise.

The cld mutation: narrowing the critical chromosomal region and selecting candidate genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Péterfy, Miklós; Mao, Hui Z; Doolittle, Mark H

2006-10-01

Combined lipase deficiency (cld) is a recessive, lethal mutation specific to the tw73 haplotype on mouse Chromosome 17. While the cld mutation results in lipase proteins that are inactive, aggregated, and retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), it maps separately from the lipase structural genes. We have narrowed the gene critical region by about 50% using the tw18 haplotype for deletion mapping and a recombinant chromosome used originally to map cld with respect to the phenotypic marker tf. The region now extends from 22 to 25.6 Mbp on the wild-type chromosome, currently containing 149 genes and 50 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). To identify the affected gene, we have selected candidates based on their known role in associated biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions that best fit with the predicted function of the cld gene. A secondary approach was based on differences in mRNA levels between mutant (cld/cld) and unaffected (+/cld) cells. Using both approaches, we have identified seven functional candidates with an ER localization and/or an involvement in protein maturation and folding that could explain the lipase deficiency, and six expression candidates that exhibit large differences in mRNA levels between mutant and unaffected cells. Significantly, two genes were found to be candidates with regard to both function and expression, thus emerging as the strongest candidates for cld. We discuss the implications of our mapping results and our selection of candidates with respect to other genes, deletions, and mutations occurring in the cld critical region.

Whole genome homology-based identification of candidate genes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Josephine Erhiakporeh

2016-07-06

Jul 6, 2016 ... candidate genes for drought tolerance in sesame. (Sesamum ... Our results provided genomic resources for further functional analysis and genetic engineering .... reverse transcribed using the Reverse Transcription System.

Gravitino, dark matter candidate and implications for big bang nucleosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailly, S.

2008-11-01

The Standard Model of particle physics was developed in the seventies. Despite many experimental successes, it presents many problems that can only be solved with models beyond the Standard Model. Supersymmetry is an interesting candidate, postulating a new symmetry between fermions and bosons. This model can also have interesting applications in cosmology. It offers potentially good candidates for dark matter, what represents 25% of the energy density of the Universe, and its nature is unknown. Another cosmological problem is the lithium problems in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis describing the production of light elements in the first seconds of the Universe. The lithium abundance predicted by the theory is inconsistent with observations. I study a scenario in which a supersymmetric particle, the gravitino, is the candidate for dark matter and the production of this particle through the decay of other supersymmetric particles may solve the lithium problems. (author)

No Evidence That Schizophrenia Candidate Genes Are More Associated With Schizophrenia Than Noncandidate Genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Emma C; Border, Richard; Melroy-Greif, Whitney E; de Leeuw, Christiaan A; Ehringer, Marissa A; Keller, Matthew C

2017-11-15

A recent analysis of 25 historical candidate gene polymorphisms for schizophrenia in the largest genome-wide association study conducted to date suggested that these commonly studied variants were no more associated with the disorder than would be expected by chance. However, the same study identified other variants within those candidate genes that demonstrated genome-wide significant associations with schizophrenia. As such, it is possible that variants within historic schizophrenia candidate genes are associated with schizophrenia at levels above those expected by chance, even if the most-studied specific polymorphisms are not. The present study used association statistics from the largest schizophrenia genome-wide association study conducted to date as input to a gene set analysis to investigate whether variants within schizophrenia candidate genes are enriched for association with schizophrenia. As a group, variants in the most-studied candidate genes were no more associated with schizophrenia than were variants in control sets of noncandidate genes. While a small subset of candidate genes did appear to be significantly associated with schizophrenia, these genes were not particularly noteworthy given the large number of more strongly associated noncandidate genes. The history of schizophrenia research should serve as a cautionary tale to candidate gene investigators examining other phenotypes: our findings indicate that the most investigated candidate gene hypotheses of schizophrenia are not well supported by genome-wide association studies, and it is likely that this will be the case for other complex traits as well. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Local and global trust based on the concept of promises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bergstra, J.; Burgess, M.

2009-01-01

We use the notion of a promise to define local trust between agents possessing autonomous decision-making. An agent is trustworthy if it is expected that it will keep a promise. This definition satisfies most commonplace meanings of trust. Reputation is then an estimation of this expectation value

Big data analytics in healthcare: promise and potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Raghupathi, Wullianallur; Raghupathi, Viju

2014-01-01

To describe the promise and potential of big data analytics in healthcare. The paper describes the nascent field of big data analytics in healthcare, discusses the benefits, outlines an architectural framework and methodology, describes examples reported in the literature, briefly discusses the challenges, and offers conclusions. The paper provides a broad overview of big data analytics for healthcare researchers and practitioners. Big data analytics in healthcare is evolving into a promising field for providing insight from very large data sets and improving outcomes while reducing costs. Its potential is great; however there remain challenges to overcome.

The CHAOS-3 Geomagnetic Field Model and Candidates for the 11th Generation IGRF

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Nils; Mandea, Mioara; Sabaka, Terence J.

2010-01-01

As a part of the 11th generation IGRF defined by IAGA, we propose a candidate model for the DGRF 2005, a candidate model for IGRF 2010 and a candidate model for the mean secular variation between 2010 and 2015. These candidate models, the derivation of which is described in the following, are bas...... = 20, described by order 6 splines (with 6-month knot spacing) spanning the time interval 1997.0–2010.0. The third time derivative of the squared magnetic field intensity is regularized at the core-mantle boundary. No spatial regularization is applied....

Self-Efficacy of Teacher Candidates for Teaching First Reading and Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Gündogmus, Hatice Degirmenci

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine by different variables the self-efficacy of a teacher candidate for teaching first reading and writing in their 3rd and 4th year in the department of primary school teaching. In line with the purpose of the study, the self-efficacy levels of teacher candidates for teaching first reading and writing were…

Self-Synchronization: Splendid Promise or Dangerous Delusion

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hatter, Steven

2000-01-01

... with extraordinary efficiency and precision. Proponents of Network-Centric Warfare build upon the optimism in JV 2010 by offering a war-fighting paradigm that promises "an information superiority enabled concept of operations that generates...

Promising oncolytic agents for metastatic breast cancer treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cody JJ

2015-06-01

Full Text Available James J Cody,1 Douglas R Hurst2 1ImQuest BioSciences, Frederick, MD, 2Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA Abstract: New therapies for metastatic breast cancer patients are urgently needed. The long-term survival rates remain unacceptably low for patients with recurrent disease or disseminated metastases. In addition, existing therapies often cause a variety of debilitating side effects that severely impact quality of life. Oncolytic viruses constitute a developing therapeutic modality in which interest continues to build due to their ability to spare normal tissue while selectively destroying tumor cells. A number of different viruses have been used to develop oncolytic agents for breast cancer, including herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, vaccinia virus, measles virus, reovirus, and others. In general, clinical trials for several cancers have demonstrated excellent safety records and evidence of efficacy. However, the impressive tumor responses often observed in preclinical studies have yet to be realized in the clinic. In order for the promise of oncolytic virotherapy to be fully realized for breast cancer patients, effectiveness must be demonstrated in metastatic disease. This review provides a summary of oncolytic virotherapy strategies being developed to target metastatic breast cancer. Keywords: oncolytic virus, virotherapy, breast cancer, metastasis 

The Number of Candidate Variants in Exome Sequencing for Mendelian Disease under No Genetic Heterogeneity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jo Nishino

2013-01-01

Full Text Available There has been recent success in identifying disease-causing variants in Mendelian disorders by exome sequencing followed by simple filtering techniques. Studies generally assume complete or high penetrance. However, there are likely many failed and unpublished studies due in part to incomplete penetrance or phenocopy. In this study, the expected number of candidate single-nucleotide variants (SNVs in exome data for autosomal dominant or recessive Mendelian disorders was investigated under the assumption of “no genetic heterogeneity.” All variants were assumed to be under the “null model,” and sample allele frequencies were modeled using a standard population genetics theory. To investigate the properties of pedigree data, full-sibs were considered in addition to unrelated individuals. In both cases, particularly regarding full-sibs, the number of SNVs remained very high without controls. The high efficacy of controls was also confirmed. When controls were used with a relatively large total sample size (e.g., N=20, 50, filtering incorporating of incomplete penetrance and phenocopy efficiently reduced the number of candidate SNVs. This suggests that filtering is useful when an assumption of no “genetic heterogeneity” is appropriate and could provide general guidelines for sample size determination.

Wild Mushrooms in Nepal: Some Potential Candidates as Antioxidant and ACE-Inhibition Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tran Hai Bang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Twenty-nine mushrooms collected in the mountainous areas of Nepal were analyzed for antioxidant activity by different methods, including Folin-Ciocalteu, ORAC, ABTS, and DPPH assays. Intracellular H2O2-scavenging activity was also performed on HaCaT cells. The results showed that phenolic compounds are the main antioxidant of the mushrooms. Among studied samples, Inonotus andersonii, and Phellinus gilvus exhibited very high antioxidant activity with the phenolic contents up to 310.8 and 258.7 mg GAE/g extracts, respectively. The H2O2-scavenging assay on cells also revealed the potential of these mushrooms in the prevention of oxidative stress. In term of ACE-inhibition, results showed that Phlebia tremellosa would be a novel and promising candidate for antihypertensive studies. This mushroom exhibited even higher in vitro ACE-inhibition activity than Ganoderma lingzhi, with the IC50 values of the two mushrooms being 32 μg/mL and 2 μg/mL, respectively. This is the first time biological activities of mushrooms collected in Nepal were reported. Information from this study should be a valuable reference for future studies on antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory activities of mushrooms.

A MULTIWAVELENGTH CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTO-BROWN-DWARF CANDIDATES IN SERPENS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Riaz, B.; Caselli, P. [Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Vorobyov, E. [Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna 1180 (Austria); Research Institute of Physics, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don 344090 (Russian Federation); Harsono, D. [Universitt Heidelberg, Zentrum fr Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, D-69120, Heidelberg (Germany); Tikare, K. [IRAP, BP 44346-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France); Gonzalez-Martin, O., E-mail: briaz@mpe.mpg.de [Instituto de Radioastronoma y Astrofsica (IRyA), UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro # 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda San José de la Huerta, Morelia, Michoacán, C.P. 58089 (Mexico)

2016-11-10

We present results from a deep submillimeter survey in the Serpens Main and Serpens/G3–G6 clusters, conducted with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA-2) at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We have combined near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy, Herschel PACS far-infrared photometry, submillimeter continuum, and molecular gas line observations, with the aim of conducting a detailed multiwavelength characterization of “proto-brown-dwarf” (proto-BD) candidates in Serpens. We have performed continuum and line radiative transfer modeling and have considered various classification schemes to understand the structure and the evolutionary stage of the system. We have identified four proto-BD candidates, of which the lowest-luminosity source has an L {sub bol} ∼ 0.05 L {sub ☉}. Two of these candidates show characteristics consistent with Stage 0/I systems, while the other two are Stage I-T/Class Flat systems with tenuous envelopes. Our work has also revealed a ∼20% fraction of misidentified Class 0/I/Flat sources that show characteristics consistent with Class II edge-on disk systems. We have set constraints on the mass of the central object using the measured bolometric luminosities and numerical simulations of stellar evolution. Considering the available gas+dust mass reservoir and the current mass of the central source, three of these candidates are likely to evolve into BDs.

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico : promises delivered?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickering, D.R.

1999-01-01

A summary review of deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil production was presented for the years 1989 to 1998. Trends and prospects in deepwater GOM production and leasing were assessed. Promises and forecasts made in the early 1990s were compared with what actually happened since then. Forecasts in the early 1990s promised deeper, faster and cheaper developments in the deepwater Gulf. Results of the comparison showed that the prognosticators were correct on all three counts. Regarding the future of the Gulf, one can be justified in being optimistic in so far as more experience, robust economics, more and cheaper rigs can be taken as reliable indicators of optimism. In contrast, there are certain negatives to consider, such as low commodity prices, budget constraints, lease expirations, technical challenges and increased competition. . 12 figs

PHOTOMETRIC TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA CANDIDATES FROM THE THREE-YEAR SDSS-II SN SURVEY DATA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sako, Masao; Connolly, Brian; Gladney, Larry; Bassett, Bruce; Dilday, Benjamin; Cambell, Heather; Lampeitl, Hubert; Nichol, Robert C.; Frieman, Joshua A.; Kessler, Richard; Marriner, John; Miquel, Ramon; Schneider, Donald P.; Smith, Mathew; Sollerman, Jesper

2011-01-01

We analyze the three-year Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II) Supernova (SN) Survey data and identify a sample of 1070 photometric Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) candidates based on their multiband light curve data. This sample consists of SN candidates with no spectroscopic confirmation, with a subset of 210 candidates having spectroscopic redshifts of their host galaxies measured while the remaining 860 candidates are purely photometric in their identification. We describe a method for estimating the efficiency and purity of photometric SN Ia classification when spectroscopic confirmation of only a limited sample is available, and demonstrate that SN Ia candidates from SDSS-II can be identified photometrically with ∼91% efficiency and with a contamination of ∼6%. Although this is the largest uniform sample of SN candidates to date for studying photometric identification, we find that a larger spectroscopic sample of contaminating sources is required to obtain a better characterization of the background events. A Hubble diagram using SN candidates with no spectroscopic confirmation, but with host galaxy spectroscopic redshifts, yields a distance modulus dispersion that is only ∼20%-40% larger than that of the spectroscopically confirmed SN Ia sample alone with no significant bias. A Hubble diagram with purely photometric classification and redshift-distance measurements, however, exhibits biases that require further investigation for precision cosmology.

Photometric type Ia supernova candidates from the three-year SDSS-II SN survey data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sako, Masao; /Pennsylvania U.; Bassett, Bruce; /South African Astron. Observ. /Cape Town U., Dept. Math.; Connolly, Brian; /Pennsylvania U.; Dilday, Benjamin; /Las Cumbres Observ. /UC, Santa Barbara /Rutgers U., Piscataway; Cambell, Heather; /Portsmouth U., ICG; Frieman, Joshua A.; /Chicago U. /Chicago U., KICP /Fermilab; Gladney, Larry; /Pennsylvania U.; Kessler, Richard; /Chicago U. /Chicago U., KICP; Lampeitl, Hubert; /Portsmouth U., ICG; Marriner, John; /Fermilab; Miquel, Ramon; /Barcelona, IFAE /ICREA, Barcelona /Portsmouth U., ICG

2011-07-01

We analyze the three-year Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II) Supernova (SN) Survey data and identify a sample of 1070 photometric Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) candidates based on their multiband light curve data. This sample consists of SN candidates with no spectroscopic confirmation, with a subset of 210 candidates having spectroscopic redshifts of their host galaxies measured while the remaining 860 candidates are purely photometric in their identification. We describe a method for estimating the efficiency and purity of photometric SN Ia classification when spectroscopic confirmation of only a limited sample is available, and demonstrate that SN Ia candidates from SDSS-II can be identified photometrically with {approx}91% efficiency and with a contamination of {approx}6%. Although this is the largest uniform sample of SN candidates to date for studying photometric identification, we find that a larger spectroscopic sample of contaminating sources is required to obtain a better characterization of the background events. A Hubble diagram using SN candidates with no spectroscopic confirmation, but with host galaxy spectroscopic redshifts, yields a distance modulus dispersion that is only {approx}20%-40% larger than that of the spectroscopically confirmed SN Ia sample alone with no significant bias. A Hubble diagram with purely photometric classification and redshift-distance measurements, however, exhibits biases that require further investigation for precision cosmology.

The promise of cyborg intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Michael F; Brown, Alexander A

2017-03-01

Yu et al. (2016) demonstrated that algorithms designed to find efficient routes in standard mazes can be integrated with the natural processes controlling rat navigation and spatial choices, and they pointed out the promise of such "cyborg intelligence" for biorobotic applications. Here, we briefly describe Yu et al.'s work, explore its relevance to the study of comparative cognition, and indicate how work involving cyborg intelligence would benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration between behavioral scientists and engineers.

International Practica Experiences as Events of Influence in a Teacher Candidates' Development

Science.gov (United States)

Maynes, Nancy; Allison, John; Julien-Schultz, Lynn

2012-01-01

Experience may influence beliefs and beliefs may influence practices. Following these premises, we investigated teacher candidates' post experience reflections nine months after an international practicum where they taught for three weeks in rural Kenya. Teacher candidates were placed in non-governmental organization (NGO) sponsored schools on the…

Using TPACK as a Framework to Understand Teacher Candidates' Technology Integration Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, C. R.; Borup, J.; Smith, N. B.

2012-01-01

This research uses the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework as a lens for understanding how teacher candidates make decisions about the use of information and communication technology in their teaching. Pre- and post-treatment assessments required elementary teacher candidates at Brigham Young University to articulate…

Relationship between Lifelong Learning Levels and Information Literacy Skills in Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Solmaz, Dilek Yaliz

2017-01-01

This study aims to examine the relationship between lifelong learning levels and information literacy skills in teacher candidates. The research group consists of 127 physical education and sports teacher candidates. Data were collected by means of "Lifelong Learning Scale (LLL)" and "Information Literacy Scale". In the data…

Novel 3D Culture Systems for Studies of Human Liver Function and Assessments of the Hepatotoxicity of Drugs and Drug Candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauschke, Volker M; Hendriks, Delilah F G; Bell, Catherine C; Andersson, Tommy B; Ingelman-Sundberg, Magnus

2016-12-19

The liver is an organ with critical importance for drug treatment as the disposition and response to a given drug is often determined by its hepatic metabolism. Patient-specific factors can entail increased susceptibility to drug-induced liver injury, which constitutes a major risk for drug development programs causing attrition of promising drug candidates or costly withdrawals in postmarketing stages. Hitherto, mainly animal studies and 2D hepatocyte systems have been used for the examination of human drug metabolism and toxicity. Yet, these models are far from satisfactory due to extensive species differences and because hepatocytes in 2D cultures rapidly dedifferentiate resulting in the loss of their hepatic phenotype and functionality. With the increasing comprehension that 3D cell culture systems more accurately reflect in vivo physiology, in the recent decade more and more research has focused on the development and optimization of various 3D culture strategies in an attempt to preserve liver properties in vitro. In this contribution, we critically review these developments, which have resulted in an arsenal of different static and perfused 3D models. These systems include sandwich-cultured hepatocytes, spheroid culture platforms, and various microfluidic liver or multiorgan biochips. Importantly, in many of these models hepatocytes maintain their phenotype for prolonged times, which allows probing the potential of newly developed chemical entities to cause chronic hepatotoxicity. Moreover, some platforms permit the investigation of drug action in specific genetic backgrounds or diseased hepatocytes, thereby significantly expanding the repertoire of tools to detect drug-induced liver injuries. It is concluded that the development of 3D liver models has hitherto been fruitful and that systems are now at hand whose sensitivity and specificity in detecting hepatotoxicity are superior to those of classical 2D culture systems. For the future, we highlight the

Analysis of PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident Candidate Letters of Recommendation at an Academically Affiliated Residency Program.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Milena M; Masic, Dalila; Gettig, Jacob P

2018-04-01

Letters of recommendation (LORs) are a critical component for differentiating among similarly qualified pharmacy residency candidates. These letters contain information that is difficult to ascertain from curricula vitae and pharmacy school transcripts. LOR writers may use any words or phrases appropriate for each candidate as there is no set framework for LORs. The objective of this study was to characterize descriptive themes in postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) pharmacy residency candidates' LORs and to examine which themes of PGY-1 pharmacy residency candidates' LORs are predictive of an interview invitation at an academically affiliated residency program. LORs for candidates from the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application System (PhORCAS) from 2013 and 2014 for the Midwestern University PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency were analyzed. LOR characteristics and descriptive themes were collected. All scores for candidate characteristics and overall PhORCAS recommendation were also recorded. A total of 351 LORs for 111 candidates from 2013 (n = 47 candidates) and 2014 (n = 64 candidates) were analyzed; 36 (32.4%) total candidates were offered an interview. Themes that were identified as predictors of an interview included a higher median (interquartile range) number of standout words (3 words [1.3-4] vs 3.8 words [2.5-5.5], P < .01) and teaching references (3.7 words [2.7-6] vs 5.7 words [3.7-7.8], P = .01). For this residency program, standout words and teaching references were important when offering interviews.

NeuroRDF: semantic integration of highly curated data to prioritize biomarker candidates in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Iyappan, Anandhi; Kawalia, Shweta Bagewadi; Raschka, Tamara; Hofmann-Apitius, Martin; Senger, Philipp

2016-07-08

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and debilitating indications with huge social and economic impact, where much is still to be learnt about the underlying molecular events. Mechanistic disease models could offer a knowledge framework to help decipher the complex interactions that occur at molecular and cellular levels. This motivates the need for the development of an approach integrating highly curated and heterogeneous data into a disease model of different regulatory data layers. Although several disease models exist, they often do not consider the quality of underlying data. Moreover, even with the current advancements in semantic web technology, we still do not have cure for complex diseases like Alzheimer's disease. One of the key reasons accountable for this could be the increasing gap between generated data and the derived knowledge. In this paper, we describe an approach, called as NeuroRDF, to develop an integrative framework for modeling curated knowledge in the area of complex neurodegenerative diseases. The core of this strategy lies in the usage of well curated and context specific data for integration into one single semantic web-based framework, RDF. This increases the probability of the derived knowledge to be novel and reliable in a specific disease context. This infrastructure integrates highly curated data from databases (Bind, IntAct, etc.), literature (PubMed), and gene expression resources (such as GEO and ArrayExpress). We illustrate the effectiveness of our approach by asking real-world biomedical questions that link these resources to prioritize the plausible biomarker candidates. Among the 13 prioritized candidate genes, we identified MIF to be a potential emerging candidate due to its role as a pro-inflammatory cytokine. We additionally report on the effort and challenges faced during generation of such an indication-specific knowledge base comprising of curated and quality-controlled data. Although many alternative approaches

Optical observations of southern planetary nebula candidates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

VandeSteene, GC; Sahu, KC; Pottasch, [No Value

1996-01-01

We present H alpha+[NII] images and low resolution spectra of 16 IRAS-selected, southern planetary nebula candidates previously detected in the radio continuum. The H alpha+[NII] images are presented as finding charts. Contour plots are shown for the resolved planetary nebulae. From these images

Functional validation of candidate genes detected by genomic feature models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rohde, Palle Duun; Østergaard, Solveig; Kristensen, Torsten Nygaard

2018-01-01

Understanding the genetic underpinnings of complex traits requires knowledge of the genetic variants that contribute to phenotypic variability. Reliable statistical approaches are needed to obtain such knowledge. In genome-wide association studies, variants are tested for association with trait...... then functionally assessed whether the identified candidate genes affected locomotor activity by reducing gene expression using RNA interference. In five of the seven candidate genes tested, reduced gene expression altered the phenotype. The ranking of genes within the predictive GO term was highly correlated...

Degrees of separation as a statistical tool for evaluating candidate genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Ronald M; Pettersson, Mats E

2014-12-01

Selection of candidate genes is an important step in the exploration of complex genetic architecture. The number of gene networks available is increasing and these can provide information to help with candidate gene selection. It is currently common to use the degree of connectedness in gene networks as validation in Genome Wide Association (GWA) and Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping studies. However, it can cause misleading results if not validated properly. Here we present a method and tool for validating the gene pairs from GWA studies given the context of the network they co-occur in. It ensures that proposed interactions and gene associations are not statistical artefacts inherent to the specific gene network architecture. The CandidateBacon package provides an easy and efficient method to calculate the average degree of separation (DoS) between pairs of genes to currently available gene networks. We show how these empirical estimates of average connectedness are used to validate candidate gene pairs. Validation of interacting genes by comparing their connectedness with the average connectedness in the gene network will provide support for said interactions by utilising the growing amount of gene network information available. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Candidate genes for COPD: current evidence and research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim WJ

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Woo Jin Kim,1 Sang Do Lee2 1Department of Internal Medicine and Environmental Health Center, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 2Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Research Center for Chronic Obstructive Airway Diseases, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea Abstract: COPD is a common complex disease characterized by progressive airflow limitation. Several genome-wide association studies (GWASs have discovered genes that are associated with COPD. Recently, candidate genes for COPD identified by GWASs include CHRNA3/5 (cholinergic nicotine receptor alpha 3/5, IREB2 (iron regulatory binding protein 2, HHIP (hedgehog-interacting protein, FAM13A (family with sequence similarity 13, member A, and AGER (advanced glycosylation end product–specific receptor. Their association with COPD susceptibility has been replicated in multiple populations. Since these candidate genes have not been considered in COPD, their pathological roles are still largely unknown. Herein, we review some evidences that they can be effective drug targets or serve as biomarkers for diagnosis or subtyping. However, more study is required to understand the functional roles of these candidate genes. Future research is needed to characterize the effect of genetic variants, validate gene function in humans and model systems, and elucidate the genes’ transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms. Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, genetics, genome-wide association study