Rapid profiling of antimicrobial compounds characterising B. subtilis TR50 cell-free filtrate by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution Orbitrap™ mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Monaci, Linda; Quintieri, Laura; Caputo, Leonardo; Visconti, Angelo; Baruzzi, Federico

2016-01-15

Several Bacillus strains, typically isolated from different food sources, represent renowned producers of a multitude of low and high molecular weight compounds, including lipopeptides and macrolactones, with an importance for their antimicrobial activity. The high homology shared by many of these compounds also occurring as closely related isoforms poses a challenge in their prompt detection. Identification and structural elucidation is generally achieved by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) or liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) after a pre-fractionation and/or purification step of the extract. In this paper we report the application of a method based on LC separation and high-resolution Orbitrap™-based MS for the rapid screening of raw filtrate of the strain Bacillus subtilis TR50 endowed with antimicrobial activity, without requiring any sample pre-treatment. Upon direct analysis of the cell-free filtrate of Bacillus subtilis TR50 by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), different compounds families, that proved to exert a remarked antimicrobial activity against several foodborne pathogens, can be readily displayed along the chromatographic run. Among them, three different classes were identified and characterized belonging to the iturin, fengycin and surfactin groups. The high resolving power and accurate mass accuracy provided by the HRMS system in use ensured an enhanced selectivity compared to other mass spectrometers. In addition, after activation of the HCD cell, the HR-MS/MS spectra can provide insights in the structural elucidation of several compounds. The acquisition of HRMS spectra of raw filtrates of subtilis strains allows untargeted analysis of the major classes of compounds produced to be performed, thus facilitating identification of other unknown bioactive molecules after retrospective analysis. These features make this approach a fast tool applicable to the rapid screening and further

A rapid monitoring method for inorganic arsenic in rice flour using reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Narukawa, Tomohiro; Chiba, Koichi; Sinaviwat, Savarin; Feldmann, Jörg

2017-01-06

A new rapid monitoring method by means of high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) following the heat-assisted extraction was developed for measurement of total inorganic arsenic species in rice flour. As(III) and As(V) eluted at the same retention time and completely separated from organoarsenic species by an isocratic elution program on a reversed phase column. Therefore, neither ambiguous oxidation of arsenite to arsenate nor the integration of two peaks were necessary to determine directly the target analyte inorganic arsenic. Rapid injection allowed measuring 3 replicates within 6min and this combined with a quantitative extraction of all arsenic species from rice flour by a 15min HNO 3 -H 2 O 2 extraction makes this the fastest laboratory based method for inorganic arsenic in rice flour. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid phase segregation of P3HT:PCBM composites by thermal annealing for high-performance bulk-heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fan, X.; Fang, G.J.; Qin, P.L.; Cheng, F.; Zhao, X.Z. [Wuhan University, Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, Department of Electronic Science and Technology, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan (China)

2011-12-15

The performances of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells are investigated for time-dependent thermal annealing with different morphology evolution scales, having special consideration for the diffusion and aggregation of fullerene derivative molecules based on blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM). Meaningfully, rapid formation of dot-like and needle-like crystalline PCBM structures of a few micrometers up to 60 {mu}m in size is obtained with thermal annealing treatment from 2 to 15 min, which dynamically reflects a fast process of PCBM molecule and cluster aggregation. Upon ultrasonic-assisted processing and annealing treatment, the scale of P3HT crystals is drastically increased in view of X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, leading to a high hole mobility. And, the P3HT domains can be gradually converted into larger P3HT crystals approved by the decreased full width at half-maximum in the XRD patterns. Corresponding current-voltage curves are measured in quantity and we propose a model to explain the effect of the crystalline degree of P3HT domains and aggregation of PCBM molecules and clusters on the phase segregation, expressing a viewpoint towards high performance of BHJ solar cells. (orig.)

Rapid microwave-assisted synthesis of mesoporous NiMoO_4 nanorod/reduced graphene oxide composites for high-performance supercapacitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Ting; Chai, Hui; Jia, Dianzeng; Su, Ying; Wang, Tao; Zhou, Wanyong

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: Mesoporous NiMoO_4-rGO shows high specific capacitance of 1274 F/g at 1 A/g and ultrahigh energy density of 30.3 Wh/kg at a power density of 187 W/kg. - Abstract: Mesoporous NiMoO_4 nanorods grown on the surface of reduced graphene oxide composites (NiMoO_4-rGO) were synthesized via a simple, rapidly, and environment-friendly microwave-solvothermal method. The structure and morphology of the composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The NiMoO_4-rGO composite exhibited high performance as an electrode material for supercapacitors. At a current density of 1 A g"−"1, the specific capacitance reached 1274 F g"−"1, which is higher than that of pure NiMoO_4 (800 F g"−"1). NiMoO_4-rGO can retain about 81.1% of its initial capacitance after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. Remarkably, NiMoO_4-rGO composites can be applied in asymmetric supercapacitors with ultrahigh energy density of 30.3 Wh kg"−"1 at a power density of 187 W kg"−"1. The enhanced electrochemical performance of NiMoO_4-rGO is mainly ascribed to the mesoporous-NiMoO_4 nanorods with large specific surface area, as well as high coupling with conductive rGO.

Validated High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Purpose: To develop a simple, rapid and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of cefadroxil monohydrate in human plasma. Methods: Schimadzu HPLC with LC solution software was used with Waters Spherisorb, C18 (5 μm, 150mm × 4.5mm) column. The mobile phase ...

Determination of anthelmintic drug residues in milk using ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with rapid polarity switching.

Science.gov (United States)

Whelan, Michelle; Kinsella, Brian; Furey, Ambrose; Moloney, Mary; Cantwell, Helen; Lehotay, Steven J; Danaher, Martin

2010-07-02

A new UHPLC-MS/MS (ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry) method was developed and validated to detect 38 anthelmintic drug residues, consisting of benzimidazoles, avermectins and flukicides. A modified QuEChERS-type extraction method was developed with an added concentration step to detect most of the analytes at keeper to ensure analytes remain in solution. Using rapid polarity switching in electrospray ionisation, a single injection was capable of detecting both positively and negatively charged ions in a 13 min run time. The method was validated at two levels: the unapproved use level and at the maximum residue level (MRL) according to Commission Decision (CD) 2002/657/EC criteria. The decision limit (CCalpha) of the method was in the range of 0.14-1.9 and 11-123 microg kg(-1) for drugs validated at unapproved and MRL levels, respectively. The performance of the method was successfully verified for benzimidazoles and levamisole by participating in a proficiency study.

Performance Characterization and Auto-Ignition Performance of a Rapid Compression Machine

OpenAIRE

Hao Liu; Hongguang Zhang; Zhicheng Shi; Haitao Lu; Guangyao Zhao; Baofeng Yao

2014-01-01

A rapid compression machine (RCM) test bench is developed in this study. The performance characterization and auto-ignition performance tests are conducted at an initial temperature of 293 K, a compression ratio of 9.5 to 16.5, a compressed temperature of 650 K to 850 K, a driving gas pressure range of 0.25 MPa to 0.7 MPa, an initial pressure of 0.04 MPa to 0.09 MPa, and a nitrogen dilution ratio of 35% to 65%. A new type of hydraulic piston is used to address the problem in which the hydraul...

Rapid Tooling via Stereolithography

OpenAIRE

Montgomery, Eva

2006-01-01

Approximately three years ago, composite stereolithography (SL) resins were introduced to the marketplace, offering performance features beyond what traditional SL resins could offer. In particular, the high heat deflection temperatures and high stiffness of these highly filled resins have opened the door to several new rapid prototyping (RP) applications, including wind tunnel test modelling and, more recently, rapid tooling.

Micromagnetics on high-performance workstation and mobile computational platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, S.; Chang, R.; Couture, S.; Menarini, M.; Escobar, M. A.; Kuteifan, M.; Lubarda, M.; Gabay, D.; Lomakin, V.

2015-05-01

The feasibility of using high-performance desktop and embedded mobile computational platforms is presented, including multi-core Intel central processing unit, Nvidia desktop graphics processing units, and Nvidia Jetson TK1 Platform. FastMag finite element method-based micromagnetic simulator is used as a testbed, showing high efficiency on all the platforms. Optimization aspects of improving the performance of the mobile systems are discussed. The high performance, low cost, low power consumption, and rapid performance increase of the embedded mobile systems make them a promising candidate for micromagnetic simulations. Such architectures can be used as standalone systems or can be built as low-power computing clusters.

Simple, rapid, and environmentally friendly method for the separation of isoflavones using ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Wenjie; Zhang, Yuan; Wu, Hanqiu; Zhou, Weie; Cheng, Yan; Li, Hongna; Zhang, Chuanbin; Li, Lulu; Huang, Ying; Zhang, Feng

2017-07-01

Isoflavones are natural substances that exhibit hormone-like pharmacological activities. The separation of isoflavones remains an analytical challenge because of their similar structures. We show that ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography can be an appropriate tool to achieve the fast separation of 12 common dietary isoflavones. Among the five tested columns the Torus DEA column was found to be the most effective column for the separation of these isoflavones. The impact of individual parameters on the retention time and separation factor was evaluated. These parameters were optimized to develop a simple, rapid, and green method for the separation of the 12 target analytes. It only took 12.91 min using gradient elution with methanol as an organic modifier and formic acid as an additive. These isoflavones were determined with limit of quantitation ranging from 0.10 to 0.50 μg/mL, which was sufficient for reliable determination of various matrixes. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Rapid Authoring of Task Knowledge for Training and Performance Support

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Mohammed, John L; Sorensen, Barbara; Ong, James C; Li, Jian

2005-01-01

.... These systems use hierarchical, object-oriented task representations that enable rapid authoring by non-programmers while supporting sophisticated job aiding and student performance evaluation...

Rapid quantitative analysis of individual anthocyanin content based on high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection with the pH differential method.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huayin

2014-09-01

A new quantitative technique for the simultaneous quantification of the individual anthocyanins based on the pH differential method and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection is proposed in this paper. The six individual anthocyanins (cyanidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, petunidin 3-glucoside, petunidin 3-rutinoside, and malvidin 3-rutinoside) from mulberry (Morus rubra) and Liriope platyphylla were used for demonstration and validation. The elution of anthocyanins was performed using a C18 column with stepwise gradient elution and individual anthocyanins were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Based on the pH differential method, the high-performance liquid chromatography peak areas of maximum and reference absorption wavelengths of anthocyanin extracts were conducted to quantify individual anthocyanins. The calibration curves for these anthocyanins were linear within the range of 10-5500 mg/L. The correlation coefficients (r(2)) all exceeded 0.9972, and the limits of detection were in the range of 1-4 mg/L at a signal-to-noise ratio ≥5 for these anthocyanins. The proposed quantitative analysis was reproducible with good accuracy of all individual anthocyanins ranging from 96.3 to 104.2% and relative recoveries were in the range 98.4-103.2%. The proposed technique is performed without anthocyanin standards and is a simple, rapid, accurate, and economical method to determine individual anthocyanin contents. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The thermal dependency of locomotor performance evolves rapidly within an invasive species.

Science.gov (United States)

Kosmala, Georgia K; Brown, Gregory P; Christian, Keith A; Hudson, Cameron M; Shine, Richard

2018-05-01

Biological invasions can stimulate rapid shifts in organismal performance, via both plasticity and adaptation. We can distinguish between these two proximate mechanisms by rearing offspring from populations under identical conditions and measuring their locomotor abilities in standardized trials. We collected adult cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) from invasive populations that inhabit regions of Australia with different climatic conditions. We bred those toads and raised their offspring under common-garden conditions before testing their locomotor performance. At high (but not low) temperatures, offspring of individuals from a hotter location (northwestern Australia) outperformed offspring of conspecifics from a cooler location (northeastern Australia). This disparity indicates that, within less than 100 years, thermal performance in cane toads has adapted to the novel abiotic challenges that cane toads have encountered during their invasion of tropical Australia.

Rapid solidification for preparation of high Tc superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yavari, A.R.

1988-01-01

High Tc superconducting oxides are prepared in two different ways using rapid solidification: by oxidation of microcrystalline or amorphous tapes obtained by quenching the liquid alloy and via crystallisation of the amorphous oxide obtained by rapid quenching of the oxide melt. This technique is applied for the first time to the BiCaSrCuO family [fr

A simple and rapid ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method to determine plasma biotin in hemodialysis patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Yagi, Shigeaki; Nishizawa, Manabu; Ando, Itiro; Oguma, Shiro; Sato, Emiko; Imai, Yutaka; Fujiwara, Masako

2016-08-01

A simple, rapid, and selective method for determination of plasma biotin was developed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). After single-step protein precipitation with methanol, biotin and stable isotope-labeled biotin as an internal standard (IS) were chromatographed on a pentafluorophenyl stationary-phase column (2.1 × 100 mm, 2.7 μm) under isocratic conditions using 10 mm ammonium formate-acetonitrile (93:7, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. The total chromatographic runtime was 5 min for each injection. Detection was performed in a positive electrospray ionization mode by monitoring selected ion transitions at m/z 245.1/227.0 and 249.1/231.0 for biotin and the IS, respectively. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.05-2 ng/mL using 300 μL of plasma. The intra- and inter-day precisions were all biotin concentrations in hemodialysis patients. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High precision, rapid laser hole drilling

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Jim J.; Friedman, Herbert W.; Comaskey, Brian J.

2013-04-02

A laser system produces a first laser beam for rapidly removing the bulk of material in an area to form a ragged hole. The laser system produces a second laser beam for accurately cleaning up the ragged hole so that the final hole has dimensions of high precision.

Performance Characterization and Auto-Ignition Performance of a Rapid Compression Machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Liu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A rapid compression machine (RCM test bench is developed in this study. The performance characterization and auto-ignition performance tests are conducted at an initial temperature of 293 K, a compression ratio of 9.5 to 16.5, a compressed temperature of 650 K to 850 K, a driving gas pressure range of 0.25 MPa to 0.7 MPa, an initial pressure of 0.04 MPa to 0.09 MPa, and a nitrogen dilution ratio of 35% to 65%. A new type of hydraulic piston is used to address the problem in which the hydraulic buffer adversely affects the rapid compression process. Auto-ignition performance tests of the RCM are then performed using a DME–O2–N2 mixture. The two-stage ignition delay and negative temperature coefficient (NTC behavior of the mixture are observed. The effects of driving gas pressure, compression ratio, initial pressure, and nitrogen dilution ratio on the two-stage ignition delay are investigated. Results show that both the first-stage and overall ignition delays tend to increase with increasing driving gas pressure. The driving gas pressure within a certain range does not significantly influence the compressed pressure. With increasing compression ratio, the first-stage ignition delay is shortened, whereas the second-stage ignition delay is extended. With increasing initial pressure, both the first-stage and second-stage ignition delays are shortened. The second-stage ignition delay is shortened to a greater extent than that of the first-stage. With increasing nitrogen dilution ratio, the first-stage ignition delay is shortened, whereas the second-stage is extended. Thus, overall ignition delay presents different trends under various compression ratios and compressed pressure conditions.

An integrated framework for high level design of high performance signal processing circuits on FPGAs

Science.gov (United States)

Benkrid, K.; Belkacemi, S.; Sukhsawas, S.

2005-06-01

This paper proposes an integrated framework for the high level design of high performance signal processing algorithms' implementations on FPGAs. The framework emerged from a constant need to rapidly implement increasingly complicated algorithms on FPGAs while maintaining the high performance needed in many real time digital signal processing applications. This is particularly important for application developers who often rely on iterative and interactive development methodologies. The central idea behind the proposed framework is to dynamically integrate high performance structural hardware description languages with higher level hardware languages in other to help satisfy the dual requirement of high level design and high performance implementation. The paper illustrates this by integrating two environments: Celoxica's Handel-C language, and HIDE, a structural hardware environment developed at the Queen's University of Belfast. On the one hand, Handel-C has been proven to be very useful in the rapid design and prototyping of FPGA circuits, especially control intensive ones. On the other hand, HIDE, has been used extensively, and successfully, in the generation of highly optimised parameterisable FPGA cores. In this paper, this is illustrated in the construction of a scalable and fully parameterisable core for image algebra's five core neighbourhood operations, where fully floorplanned efficient FPGA configurations, in the form of EDIF netlists, are generated automatically for instances of the core. In the proposed combined framework, highly optimised data paths are invoked dynamically from within Handel-C, and are synthesized using HIDE. Although the idea might seem simple prima facie, it could have serious implications on the design of future generations of hardware description languages.

From rapid place learning to behavioral performance: a key role for the intermediate hippocampus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias Bast

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Rapid place encoding by hippocampal neurons, as reflected by place-related firing, has been intensely studied, whereas the substrates that translate hippocampal place codes into behavior have received little attention. A key point relevant to this translation is that hippocampal organization is characterized by functional-anatomical gradients along the septotemporal axis: Whereas the ability of hippocampal neurons to encode accurate place information declines from the septal to temporal end, hippocampal connectivity to prefrontal and subcortical sites that might relate such place information to behavioral-control processes shows an opposite gradient. We examined in rats the impact of selective lesions to relevant parts of the hippocampus on behavioral tests requiring place learning (watermaze procedures and on in vivo electrophysiological models of hippocampal encoding (long-term potentiation [LTP], place cells. We found that the intermediate hippocampus is necessary and largely sufficient for behavioral performance based on rapid place learning. In contrast, a residual septal pole of the hippocampus, although displaying intact electrophysiological indices of rapid information encoding (LTP, precise place-related firing, and rapid remapping, failed to sustain watermaze performance based on rapid place learning. These data highlight the important distinction between hippocampal encoding and the behavioral performance based on such encoding, and suggest that the intermediate hippocampus, where substrates of rapid accurate place encoding converge with links to behavioral control, is critical to translate rapid (one-trial place learning into navigational performance.

Cubic mesoporous Ag@CN: a high performance humidity sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomer, Vijay K; Thangaraj, Nishanthi; Gahlot, Sweta; Kailasam, Kamalakannan

2016-12-01

The fabrication of highly responsive, rapid response/recovery and durable relative humidity (%RH) sensors that can precisely monitor humidity levels still remains a considerable challenge for realizing the next generation humidity sensing applications. Herein, we report a remarkably sensitive and rapid %RH sensor having a reversible response using a nanocasting route for synthesizing mesoporous g-CN (commonly known as g-C 3 N 4 ). The 3D replicated cubic mesostructure provides a high surface area thereby increasing the adsorption, transmission of charge carriers and desorption of water molecules across the sensor surfaces. Owing to its unique structure, the mesoporous g-CN functionalized with well dispersed catalytic Ag nanoparticles exhibits excellent sensitivity in the 11-98% RH range while retaining high stability, negligible hysteresis and superior real time %RH detection performances. Compared to conventional resistive sensors based on metal oxides, a rapid response time (3 s) and recovery time (1.4 s) were observed in the 11-98% RH range. Such impressive features originate from the planar morphology of g-CN as well as unique physical affinity and favourable electronic band positions of this material that facilitate water adsorption and charge transportation. Mesoporous g-CN with Ag nanoparticles is demonstrated to provide an effective strategy in designing high performance %RH sensors and show great promise for utilization of mesoporous 2D layered materials in the Internet of Things and next generation humidity sensing applications.

Development of high-performance concrete having high resistance to chloride penetration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Byung Hwan; Cha, Soo Won; Jang, Bong Seok; Jang, Seung Yup

2002-01-01

The resistance to chloride penetration is one of the simplest measures to determine the durability of concrete, e.g. resistance to freezing and thawing, corrosion of steel in concrete and other chemical attacks. Thus, high-performance concrete may be defined as the concrete having high resistance to chloride penetration as well as high strength. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the resistance to chloride penetration of different types of concrete and to develop high-performance concrete that has very high resistance to chloride penetration, and thus, can guarantee high durability. A large number of concrete specimens have been tested by the rapid chloride permeability test method as designated in AASHTO T 277 and ASTM C 1202. The major test variables include water-to-binder ratios, type of cement, type and amount of mineral admixtures (silica fume, fly ash and blast-furnace slag), maximum size of aggregates and air-entrainment. Test results show that concrete containing optimal amount of silica fume shows very high resistance to chloride penetration, and high-performance concrete developed in this study can be efficiently employed to enhance the durability of concrete structures in severe environments such as nuclear power plants, water-retaining structures and other offshore structures

Microelectromechanical high-density energy storage/rapid release system

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, M. Steven; Allen, James J.; Meeks, Kent D.; Jensen, Brian D.; Miller, Samuel L.

1999-08-01

One highly desirable characteristic of electrostatically driven microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is that they consume very little power. The corresponding drawback is that the force they produce may be inadequate for many applications. It has previously been demonstrated that gear reduction units or microtransmissions can substantially increase the torque generated by microengines. Operating speed, however, is also reduced by the transmission gear ratio. Some applications require both high speed and high force. If this output is only required for a limited period of time, then energy could be stored in a mechanical system and rapidly released upon demand. We have designed, fabricated, and demonstrated a high-density energy storage/rapid release system that accomplishes this task. Built using a 5-level surface micromachining technology, the assembly closely resembles a medieval crossbow. Energy releases on the order of tens of nanojoules have already been demonstrated, and significantly higher energy systems are under development.

Online extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry for rapid flavonoid profiling of Fructus aurantii immaturus.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Runna; Peng, Mijun; Tong, Chaoying; Guo, Keke; Shi, Shuyun

2018-03-01

Chemical profiling of natural products by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was critical for understanding of their clinical bioactivities, and sample pretreatment steps have been considered as a bottleneck for analysis. Currently, concerted efforts have been made to develop sample pretreatment methods with high efficiency, low solvent and time consumptions. Here, a simple and efficient online extraction (OLE) strategy coupled with HPLC-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS) was developed for rapid chemical profiling. For OLE strategy, guard column inserted with ground sample (2 mg) instead of sample loop was connected with manual injection valve, in which components were directly extracted and transferred to HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system only by mobile phase without any extra time, solvent, instrument and operation. By comparison with offline heat-reflux extraction for Fructus aurantii immaturus (Zhishi), OLE strategy presented higher extraction efficiency perhaps because of the high pressure and gradient elution mode. A total of eighteen flavonoids were detected according to their retention times, UV spectra, exact mass, and fragmentation ions in MS/MS spectra, and compound 9, natsudaidain-3-O-glucoside, was discovered in Zhishi for the first time. It is concluded that the developed OLE-HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system offers new perspectives for rapid chemical profiling of natural products. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Development and validation of a reversed phase High Performance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A simple, rapid, accurate and economical isocratic Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RPHPLC) method was developed, validated and used for the evaluation of content of different brands of paracetamol tablets. The method was validated according to ICH guidelines and may be adopted for the ...

Performance of the efferent limb of a rapid response system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Emilie M; Petersen, Asger

2015-01-01

AIM: To determine the distribution of outcomes following a medical emergency team (MET) call using a modified version of the multidisciplinary audit and evaluation of outcomes of rapid response (MAELOR) tool, and to evaluate its usefulness in monitoring the performance of the efferent limb...... of the rapid response system (RRS) at our institution. METHOD: An observational study of prospectively collected data including all MET calls at our institution during the 36 weeks study period (23 December 2013 - 31 august 2014). Outcomes of MET calls were registered 24 h after the call occurred...

Combined high-performance liquid chromatography-radioimmunoassay for cytokinins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacDonald, E.M.S.; Akiyoshi, D.E.; Morris, R.O.

1981-01-01

The cytokinins isopentenyladenosine and ribosylzeatin were conjugated to bovine serum albumin and the conjugates used to raise antisera in rabbits. The resulting antisera had high specificity towards the cytokinin haptens and low cross-reactivity towards other purines. They were used as the basis for a radioimmunoassay for cytokinins, which, when applied in conjunction with high-performance liquid chromatography, allowed rapid and sensitive (to the picogram range) estimation and identification of multiple cytokinins from natural plant and bacterial sources. (orig.)

Rapid COJEC versus standard induction therapies for high-risk neuroblastoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Peinemann, Frank; Tushabe, Doreen A; van Dalen, Elvira C; Berthold, Frank

2015-05-19

Neuroblastoma is a rare malignant disease and mainly affects infants and very young children. The tumors mainly develop in the adrenal medullary tissue and an abdominal mass is the most common presentation. The high-risk group is characterized by metastasis and other characteristics that increase the risk for an adverse outcome. In the rapid COJEC induction schedule, higher single doses of selected drugs than standard induction schedules are administered over a substantially shorter treatment period, with shorter intervals between cycles. Shorter intervals and higher doses increase the dose intensity of chemotherapy and might improve survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of the rapid COJEC induction schedule as compared to standard induction schedules in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (as defined by the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) classification system). Outcomes of interest were complete response, early toxicity and treatment-related mortality as primary endpoints and overall survival, progression- and event-free survival, late non-hematological toxicity, and health-related quality of life as secondary endpoints. We searched the electronic databases CENTRAL (2014, Issue 11), MEDLINE (PubMed), and EMBASE (Ovid) for articles from inception to 11 November 2014. Further searches included trial registries, conference proceedings, and reference lists of recent reviews and relevant articles. We did not apply limits on publication year or languages. Randomized controlled trials evaluating the rapid COJEC induction schedule for high-risk neuroblastoma patients compared to standard induction schedules. Two review authors performed study selection, abstracted data on study and patient characteristics, and assessed risk of bias independently. We resolved differences by discussion or by appeal to a third review author. We performed analyses according to the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic

High Performance OLED Panel and Luminaire

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Spindler, Jeffrey [OLEDWorks LLC, Rochester, NY (United States)

2017-02-20

In this project, OLEDWorks developed and demonstrated the technology required to produce OLED lighting panels with high energy efficiency and excellent light quality. OLED panels developed in this program produce high quality warm white light with CRI greater than 85 and efficacy up to 80 lumens per watt (LPW). An OLED luminaire employing 24 of the high performance panels produces practical levels of illumination for general lighting, with a flux of over 2200 lumens at 60 LPW. This is a significant advance in the state of the art for OLED solid-state lighting (SSL), which is expected to be a complementary light source to the more advanced LED SSL technology that is rapidly replacing all other traditional forms of lighting.

A Lithium-Air Battery Stably Working at High Temperature with High Rate Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Jian; Li, Houpu; Sun, Hao; Zhang, Ye; Wang, Lie; Liao, Meng; Sun, Xuemei; Peng, Huisheng

2018-02-01

Driven by the increasing requirements for energy supply in both modern life and the automobile industry, the lithium-air battery serves as a promising candidate due to its high energy density. However, organic solvents in electrolytes are likely to rapidly vaporize and form flammable gases under increasing temperatures. In this case, serious safety problems may occur and cause great harm to people. Therefore, a kind of lithium-air that can work stably under high temperature is desirable. Herein, through the use of an ionic liquid and aligned carbon nanotubes, and a fiber shaped design, a new type of lithium-air battery that can effectively work at high temperatures up to 140 °C is developed. Ionic liquids can offer wide electrochemical windows and low vapor pressures, as well as provide high thermal stability for lithium-air batteries. The aligned carbon nanotubes have good electric and heat conductivity. Meanwhile, the fiber format can offer both flexibility and weavability, and realize rapid heat conduction and uniform heat distribution of the battery. In addition, the high temperature has also largely improved the specific powers by increasing the ionic conductivity and catalytic activity of the cathode. Consequently, the lithium-air battery can work stably at 140 °C with a high specific current of 10 A g -1 for 380 cycles, indicating high stability and good rate performance at high temperatures. This work may provide an effective paradigm for the development of high-performance energy storage devices. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Molecularly imprinted polymer cartridges coupled on-line with high performance liquid chromatography for simple and rapid analysis of dextromethorphan in human plasma samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Moein, Mohammad Mahdi; Javanbakht, Mehran; Akbari-Adergani, Behrouz

2011-04-01

In this paper, a novel method is described for automated determination of dextromethorphan in biological fluids using molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) as a sample clean-up technique combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared using methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, chloroform as porogen and dextromethorphan as template molecule. These imprinted polymers were used as solid-phase extraction sorbent for the extraction of dextromethorphan from human plasma samples. Various parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the MIP cartridges were evaluated. The high selectivity of the sorbent coupled to the high performance liquid chromatographic system permitted a simple and rapid analysis of this drug in plasma samples with limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 0.12 ng/mL and 0.35 ng/mL, respectively. The MIP selectivity was evaluated by analyzing of the dextromethorphan in presence of several substances with similar molecular structures and properties. Results from the HPLC analyses showed that the recoveries of dextromethorphan using MIP cartridges from human plasma samples in the range of 1-50 ng/mL were higher than 87%. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The asynchronous rapid single-flux quantum electronics ─ a promising alternative for the development of high-performance digital circuits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Terzieva

2008-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate the application of the asynchronous logic approach for the realization of ultra high-speed digital electronics with high complexity. We evaluate the possible physical, technological, and schematical origins of restrictions limiting such an application, and propose solutions for their overcoming. Although our considerations are based on the rapid single-flux quantum technique, the conclusions derived can be generalized about any type of digital information coding.

Rapid and highly fieldable viral diagnostic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McKnight, Timothy E.

2016-12-20

The present invention relates to a rapid, highly fieldable, nearly reagentless diagnostic to identify active RNA viral replication in a live, infected cells, and more particularly in leukocytes and tissue samples (including biopsies and nasal swabs) using an array of a plurality of vertically-aligned nanostructures that impale the cells and introduce a DNA reporter construct that is expressed and amplified in the presence of active viral replication.

Rapid formation of electric field profiles in repetitively pulsed high-voltage high-pressure nanosecond discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Tsuyohito; Kobayashi, Kazunobu; Hamaguchi, Satoshi; Czarnetzki, Uwe

2010-01-01

Rapid formation of electric field profiles has been observed directly for the first time in nanosecond narrow-gap parallel-plate discharges at near-atmospheric pressure. The plasmas examined here are of hydrogen, and the field measurement is based on coherent Raman scattering (CRS) by hydrogen molecules. Combined with the observation of spatio-temporal light emission profiles by a high speed camera, it has been found that the rapid formation of a high-voltage thin cathode sheath is accompanied by fast propagation of an ionization front from a region near the anode. Unlike well-known parallel-plate discharges at low pressure, the discharge formation process at high pressure is almost entirely driven by electron dynamics as ions and neutral species are nearly immobile during the rapid process. (fast track communication)

Improving Resident Performance Through a Simulated Rapid Response Team: A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Peter A; Vest, Michael T; Kher, Hemant; Deutsch, Joseph; Daya, Sneha

2015-07-01

The Joint Commission requires hospitals to develop systems in which a team of clinicians can rapidly recognize and respond to changes in a patient's condition. The rapid response team (RRT) concept has been widely adopted as the solution to this mandate. The role of house staff in RRTs and the impact on resident education has been controversial. At Christiana Care Health System, eligible residents in their second through final years lead the RRTs. To evaluate the use of a team-based, interdisciplinary RRT training program for educating and training first-year residents in an effort to improve global RRT performance before residents start their second year. This pilot study was administered in 3 phases. Phase 1 provided residents with classroom-based didactic sessions using case-based RRT scenarios. Multiple choice examinations were administered, as well as a confidence survey based on a Likert scale before and after phase 1 of the program. Phase 2 involved experiential training in which residents engaged as mentored participants in actual RRT calls. A qualitative survey was used to measure perceived program effectiveness after phase 2. In phase 3, led by senior residents, simulated RRTs using medical mannequins were conducted. Participants were divided into 5 teams, in which each resident would rotate in the roles of leader, nurse, and respiratory therapist. This phase measured resident performance with regard to medical decision making, data gathering, and team behaviors during the simulated RRT scenarios. Performance was scored by an attending and a senior resident. A total of 18 residents were eligible (N=18) for participation. The average multiple choice test score improved by 20% after didactic training. The average confidence survey score before training was 3.44 out of 5 (69%) and after training was 4.13 (83%), indicating a 14% improvement. High-quality team behaviors correlated with medical decision making (0.92) more closely than did high-quality data

Rapid Development and Validation of Improved Reversed-Phase High-performance Liquid Chromatography Method for the Quantification of Mangiferin, a Polyphenol Xanthone Glycoside in Mangifera indica.

Science.gov (United States)

Naveen, P; Lingaraju, H B; Prasad, K Shyam

2017-01-01

Mangiferin, a polyphenolic xanthone glycoside from Mangifera indica , is used as traditional medicine for the treatment of numerous diseases. The present study was aimed to develop and validate a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the quantification of mangiferin from the bark extract of M. indica . RP-HPLC analysis was performed by isocratic elution with a low-pressure gradient using 0.1% formic acid: acetonitrile (87:13) as a mobile phase with a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The separation was done at 26°C using a Kinetex XB-C18 column as stationary phase and the detection wavelength at 256 nm. The proposed method was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection, limit of quantification, and robustness by the International Conference on Harmonisation guidelines. In linearity, the excellent correlation coefficient more than 0.999 indicated good fitting of the curve and also good linearity. The intra- and inter-day precision showed high reliability and reproducibility of the method. The recovery values at three different levels (50%, 100%, and 150%) of spiked samples were found to be 100.47, 100.89, and 100.99, respectively, and low standard deviation value high accuracy of the method. In robustness, the results remain unaffected by small variation in the analytical parameters, which shows the robustness of the method. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the presence of mangiferin with M/Z value of 421. The assay developed by HPLC method is a simple, rapid, and reliable for the determination of mangiferin from M. indica . The present study was intended to develop and validate an RP-HPLC method for the quantification of mangiferin from the bark extract of M. indica . The developed method was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection, limit of quantification and robustness by International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. This study proved that the developed

Rapid synthesis and characterization of hybrid ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods for high performance, low temperature NO{sub 2} gas sensor applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ponnuvelu, Dinesh Veeran [Nanosensor Laboratory, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore 641 004 (India); Pullithadathil, Biji, E-mail: bijuja123@yahoo.co.in [Nanosensor Laboratory, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore 641 004 (India); Prasad, Arun K.; Dhara, Sandip [Surface and Nanoscience Division, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India); Ashok, Anuradha [Nanosensor Laboratory, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore 641 004 (India); Mohamed, Kamruddin; Tyagi, Ashok Kumar [Surface and Nanoscience Division, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India); Raj, Baldev [Nanosensor Laboratory, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore 641 004 (India)

2015-11-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Hybrid ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods were developed using rapid chemical method that can be used as a high performance, low temperature NO{sub 2} gas sensor. • Surface defect analysis (PL and XPS) clearly illustrates the presence of surface oxygen species and Zn interstitials involved in charge transport properties in-turn affecting gas sensing properties. • Hybrid ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods establish enhanced gas sensing performance at 150 °C compared to ZnO (300 °C) with a lower detection limit of 500 ppb using conventional electrodes. • The enhanced performance of ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods based sensor was owing to the presence of Au nanoclusters on the surface of ZnO nanorods which is attributed to the formation of Schottky contacts at the interfaces leading to sensitization effects. • The hybrid material found to be selective toward NO{sub 2} gas and highly stable in nature. - Abstract: A rapid synthesis route for hybrid ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods has been realized for ultrasensitive, trace-level NO{sub 2} gas sensor applications. ZnO nanorods and hybrid ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods are structurally analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Optical characterization using UV–visible (UV–vis), photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectroscopies elucidate alteration in the percentage of defect and charge transport properties of ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods. The study reveals the accumulation of electrons at metal–semiconductor junctions leading to upward band bending for ZnO and thus favors direct electron transfer from ZnO to Au nanoclusters, which mitigates charge carrier recombination process. The operating temperature of ZnO@Au core–shell nanorods based sensor significantly decreased to 150 °C compared to alternate NO{sub 2} sensors (300 °C). Moreover, a linear sensor response in the range of 0.5–5

RAPID TRANSFER ALIGNMENT USING FEDERATED KALMAN FILTER

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

GUDong-qing; QINYong-yuan; PENGRong; LIXin

2005-01-01

The dimension number of the centralized Kalman filter (CKF) for the rapid transfer alignment (TA) is as high as 21 if the aircraft wing flexure motion is considered in the rapid TA. The 21-dimensional CKF brings the calculation burden on the computer and the difficulty to meet a high filtering updating rate desired by rapid TA. The federated Kalman filter (FKF) for the rapid TA is proposed to solve the dilemma. The structure and the algorithm of the FKF, which can perform parallel computation and has less calculation burden, are designed.The wing flexure motion is modeled, and then the 12-order velocity matching local filter and the 15-order attitud ematching local filter are devised. Simulation results show that the proposed EKE for the rapid TA almost has the same performance as the CKF. Thus the calculation burden of the proposed FKF for the rapid TA is markedly decreased.

Peculiar Features of Thermal Aging and Degradation of Rapidly Quenched Stainless Steels under High-Temperature Exposures

Science.gov (United States)

Shulga, A. V.

2017-12-01

This article presents the results of comparative studies of mechanical properties and microstructure of nuclear fuel tubes and semifinished stainless steel items fabricated by consolidation of rapidly quenched powders and by conventional technology after high-temperature exposures at 600 and 700°C. Tensile tests of nuclear fuel tube ring specimens of stainless austenitic steel of grade AISI 316 and ferritic-martensitic steel are performed at room temperature. The microstructure and distribution of carbon and boron are analyzed by metallography and autoradiography in nuclear fuel tubes and semifinished items. Rapidly quenched powders of the considered steels are obtained by the plasma rotating electrode process. Positive influence of consolidation of rapidly quenched powders on mechanical properties after high-temperature aging is confirmed. The correlation between homogeneous distribution of carbon and boron and mechanical properties of the considered steel is determined. The effects of thermal aging and degradation of the considered steels are determined at 600°C and 700°C, respectively.

GPU-based high-performance computing for radiation therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia, Xun; Jiang, Steve B; Ziegenhein, Peter

2014-01-01

Recent developments in radiotherapy therapy demand high computation powers to solve challenging problems in a timely fashion in a clinical environment. The graphics processing unit (GPU), as an emerging high-performance computing platform, has been introduced to radiotherapy. It is particularly attractive due to its high computational power, small size, and low cost for facility deployment and maintenance. Over the past few years, GPU-based high-performance computing in radiotherapy has experienced rapid developments. A tremendous amount of study has been conducted, in which large acceleration factors compared with the conventional CPU platform have been observed. In this paper, we will first give a brief introduction to the GPU hardware structure and programming model. We will then review the current applications of GPU in major imaging-related and therapy-related problems encountered in radiotherapy. A comparison of GPU with other platforms will also be presented. (topical review)

Rapid determination of some psychotropic drugs in complex matrices by tandem dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Asghari, Alireza; Fahimi, Ebrahim; Bazregar, Mohammad; Rajabi, Maryam; Boutorabi, Leila

2017-05-01

Simple and rapid determinations of some psychotropic drugs in some pharmaceutical wastewater and human plasma samples were successfully accomplished via the tandem dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (TDLLME-HPLC-UV). TDLLME of the three psychotropic drugs clozapine, chlorpromazine, and thioridazine was easily performed through two consecutive dispersive liquid-liquid microextractions. By performing this convenient method, proper sample preconcentrations and clean-ups were achieved in just about 7min. In order to achieve the best extraction efficiency, the effective parameters involved were optimized. The optimal experimental conditions consisted of 100μL of CCl 4 (as the extraction organic solvent), and the pH values of 13 and 2 for the donor and acceptor phases, respectively. Under these optimum experimental conditions, the proposed TDLLME-HPLC-UV technique provided a good linearity in the range of 5-3000ngmL -1 for the three psychotropic drugs with the correlation of determinations (R 2 s) higher than 0.996. The limits of quantification (LOQs) and limits of detection (LODs) obtained were 5.0ngmL -1 and 1.0-1.5ngmL -1 , respectively. Also the proper enrichment factors (EFs) of 96, 99, and 88 for clozapine, chlorpromazine, and thioridazine, respectively, and good extraction repeatabilities (relative standard deviations below 9.3%, n=5) were obtained. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High performance separation of lanthanides and actinides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivaraman, N.; Vasudeva Rao, P.R.

2011-01-01

The major advantage of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is its ability to provide rapid and high performance separations. It is evident from Van Deemter curve for particle size versus resolution that packing materials with particle sizes less than 2 μm provide better resolution for high speed separations and resolving complex mixtures compared to 5 μm based supports. In the recent past, chromatographic support material using monolith has been studied extensively at our laboratory. Monolith column consists of single piece of porous, rigid material containing mesopores and micropores, which provide fast analyte mass transfer. Monolith support provides significantly higher separation efficiency than particle-packed columns. A clear advantage of monolith is that it could be operated at higher flow rates but with lower back pressure. Higher operating flow rate results in higher column permeability, which drastically reduces analysis time and provides high separation efficiency. The above developed fast separation methods were applied to assay the lanthanides and actinides from the dissolver solutions of nuclear reactor fuels

Stochastic Approaches Within a High Resolution Rapid Refresh Ensemble

Science.gov (United States)

Jankov, I.

2017-12-01

It is well known that global and regional numerical weather prediction (NWP) ensemble systems are under-dispersive, producing unreliable and overconfident ensemble forecasts. Typical approaches to alleviate this problem include the use of multiple dynamic cores, multiple physics suite configurations, or a combination of the two. While these approaches may produce desirable results, they have practical and theoretical deficiencies and are more difficult and costly to maintain. An active area of research that promotes a more unified and sustainable system is the use of stochastic physics. Stochastic approaches include Stochastic Parameter Perturbations (SPP), Stochastic Kinetic Energy Backscatter (SKEB), and Stochastic Perturbation of Physics Tendencies (SPPT). The focus of this study is to assess model performance within a convection-permitting ensemble at 3-km grid spacing across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) using a variety of stochastic approaches. A single physics suite configuration based on the operational High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model was utilized and ensemble members produced by employing stochastic methods. Parameter perturbations (using SPP) for select fields were employed in the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) land surface model (LSM) and Mellor-Yamada-Nakanishi-Niino (MYNN) Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) schemes. Within MYNN, SPP was applied to sub-grid cloud fraction, mixing length, roughness length, mass fluxes and Prandtl number. In the RUC LSM, SPP was applied to hydraulic conductivity and tested perturbing soil moisture at initial time. First iterative testing was conducted to assess the initial performance of several configuration settings (e.g. variety of spatial and temporal de-correlation lengths). Upon selection of the most promising candidate configurations using SPP, a 10-day time period was run and more robust statistics were gathered. SKEB and SPPT were included in additional retrospective tests to assess the impact of using

Rapid screening for drugs of abuse in biological fluids by ultra high performance liquid chromatography/Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Jagerdeo, Eshwar; Schaff, Jason E

2016-08-01

We present a UPLC(®)-High Resolution Mass Spectrometric method to simultaneously screen for nineteen benzodiazepines, twelve opiates, cocaine and three metabolites, and three "Z-drug" hypnotic sedatives in both blood and urine specimens. Sample processing consists of a high-speed, high-temperature enzymatic hydrolysis for urine samples followed by a rapid supported liquid extraction (SLE). The combination of ultra-high resolution chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry allows all 38 analytes to be uniquely detected with a ten minute analytical run. Limits of detection for all target analytes are 3ng/mL or better, with only 0.3mL of specimen used for analysis. The combination of low sample volume with fast processing and analysis makes this method a suitable replacement for immunoassay screening of the targeted drug classes, while providing far superior specificity and better limits of detection than can routinely be obtained by immunoassay. Published by Elsevier B.V.

High performance protection circuit for power electronics applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tudoran, Cristian D., E-mail: cristian.tudoran@itim-cj.ro; Dădârlat, Dorin N.; Toşa, Nicoleta; Mişan, Ioan [National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 67-103 Donat, PO 5 Box 700, 400293 Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

2015-12-23

In this paper we present a high performance protection circuit designed for the power electronics applications where the load currents can increase rapidly and exceed the maximum allowed values, like in the case of high frequency induction heating inverters or high frequency plasma generators. The protection circuit is based on a microcontroller and can be adapted for use on single-phase or three-phase power systems. Its versatility comes from the fact that the circuit can communicate with the protected system, having the role of a “sensor” or it can interrupt the power supply for protection, in this case functioning as an external, independent protection circuit.

Evaluation of the OnSite malaria rapid test performance in Miandrivazo, Madagascar.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravaoarisoa, E; Andriamiandranoro, T; Raherinjafy, R; Jahevitra, M; Razanatsiorimalala, S; Andrianaranjaka, V; Randrianarivelojosia, M

2017-10-01

The performance of the malaria rapid diagnostic test OnSite-for detecting pan specific pLDH and Plasmodium falciparum specific HRP2 - was assessed during the malaria transmission peak period in Miandrivazo, in the southwestern part of Madagascar from April 20 to May 6, 2010. At the laboratory, the quality control OnSite Malaria Rapid Test according to the WHO/TDR/FIND method demonstrated that the test had good sensitivity. Of the 218 OnSite tests performed at the Miandrivazo Primary Health Center on patients with fever or a recent history of fever, four (1.8%, 95% CI: 0.6-4.9%) were invalid. Ninety four (43,1%) cases of malaria were confirmed by microscopy, of which 90 were P. falciparum malaria and 4 Plasmodium vivax malaria. With a Cohen's kappa coefficient of 0.94, the agreement between microscopy and OnSite is excellent. Compared with the rapid test CareStart™ commonly used within the public health structures in Madagascar, the sensitivity and specificity of the OnSite test were 97.9% and 96.8%.

Experimental study of rapid brown coal pyrolysis at high temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qian, Lin; Sun, Shaozeng; Meng, Shun; Meng, Xianyu; Guo, Yangzhou [Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin (China). Combustion Engineering Research Inst.

2013-07-01

Rapid coal pyrolysis is a very important step in the early stage of combustion. Rapid pyrolysis experiments of a brown coal at high temperature have been studied on a laminar drop tube furnace. The volatile mass release measured in this study is high for low rank coal. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor of pyrolysis are 19901.22 kJ/mol and 102.71, respectively. The nitrogen distribution between volatile and char is 0.54. With the increase of temperature, the yields of NH{sub 3} decreases, while those of HCN increases, leading the value of HCN/NH{sub 3} to become larger. At high temperature, the main nitrogen- containing species of pyrolysis in volatile is HCN.

A simple and rapid method for the determination of taxol produced by fungal endophytes from medicinal plants using high performance thin layer chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Gangadevi, V; Muthumary, J

2008-01-01

Taxol is an important anticancer drug used widely in the clinical field. In this study, some endophytic fungi were isolated from selected medicinal plants, and were screened for their potential in the production of taxol, using a rapid separation technique of high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). Of the 20 screened fungi, only 13 fungal species produced taxol in the artificial culture medium. The results of HPTLC showed that the 13 fungal species had identical ultraviolet (UV) characteristics, positive reactivity with a spray reagent, yielding a blue spot, which turned to dark gray after 24 hours, and had Rf values identical to that of the authentic taxol. The amount of taxol was also quantified by comparing the peak area and the peak height of the fungal samples with those of authentic taxol.

Scalable Approach to Highly Efficient and Rapid Capacitive Deionization with CNT-Thread As Electrodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Moronshing, Maku; Subramaniam, Chandramouli

2017-11-22

A scalable route to highly efficient purification of water through capacitive deionization (CDI) is reported using CNT-thread as electrodes. Electro-sorption capacity (q e ) of 139 mg g -1 and average salt-adsorption rate (ASAR) of 2.78 mg g -1 min -1 achieved here is the highest among all known electrode materials and nonmembrane techniques, indicating efficient and rapid deionization. Such exceptional performance is achieved with feedstock concentrations (≤1000 ppm) where conventional techniques such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis prove ineffective. Further, both cations (Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ ) and anions (Cl - , SO 4 2- and NO 3 - ) are removed with equally high efficiency (∼80%). Synergism between electrical conductivity (∼25 S cm -1 ), high specific surface area (∼900 m 2 g -1 ), porosity (0.7 nm, 3 nm) and hydrophilicity (contact angle ∼25°) in CNT-thread electrode enable superior contact with water, rapid formation of extensive electrical double layer and consequently efficient deionization. The tunable capacitance of the device (0.4-120 mF) and its high specific capacitance (∼27.2 F g -1 ) enable exceptional performance across a wide range of saline concentrations (50-1000 ppm). Facile regeneration of the electrode and reusability of the device is achieved for several cycles. The device demonstrated can desalinate water as it trickles down its surface because of gravity, thereby eliminating the requirement of any water pumping system. Finally, its portable adaptability is demonstrated by operating the device with an AA battery.

A Simple and Rapid Determination of ATP, ADP and AMP Concentrations in Pericarp Tissue of Litchi Fruit by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weibo Jiang

2006-01-01

Full Text Available A simple and rapid method using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC was developed to determine levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP, adenosine diphosphate (ADP and adenosine monophosphate (AMP in litchi fruit pericarp tissue. This HPLC method used acetonitrile gradient elution and shortened the time required for determinations of adenosine phosphates. This analysis exhibited good repeatability (coefficients of variation 1.28–1.80 % and recovery rate (94.7–97.1 %. The correlation coefficients of ATP, ADP and AMP with their peak areas at a range of 0–80 ng were 0.9946, 0.9994 and 0.9974, respectively. This method was applied to determine levels of adenosine phosphates in pericarp tissue of litchi fruit at harvest. There were 27.4 μg/g of ATP, 35.4 μg/g of ADP and 7.9 μg/g of AMP on a fresh mass basis.

Rapidity and multiplicity correlations in high energy hadronic collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heiselberg, H.

1993-01-01

Rapidity and multiplicity correlations of particle production in high energy hadronic collisions are studied. A simple model including short range correlations in rapidity due to clustering and long range correlations due to energy conservation is able to describe the two-body correlation functions well hadron-nucleon collisions around lab energies of 250 GeV. In this model fractional moments are calculated and compared to data. The strong rise of the factorial moments in rapidity intervals by size δy∝1 can be explained by long and short range correlation alone whereas the factorial moments approach a constant value at very small δy due to lack of correlations also in agreement with experiment. There is therefore no need for introducing intermittency in the particle production in hadronic collisions at these energies. (orig.)

Application of Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy combined with high-performance liquid chromatography in rapid and simultaneous determination of essential components in crude Radix Scrophulariae.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaomeng; Fang, Dansi; Cong, Xiaodong; Cao, Gang; Cai, Hao; Cai, Baochang

2012-12-01

A method is described using rapid and sensitive Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection for the simultaneous identification and determination of four bioactive compounds in crude Radix Scrophulariae samples. Partial least squares regression is selected as the analysis type and multiplicative scatter correction, second derivative, and Savitzky-Golay filter were adopted for the spectral pretreatment. The correlation coefficients (R) of the calibration models were above 0.96 and the root mean square error of predictions were under 0.028. The developed models were applied to unknown samples with satisfactory results. The established method was validated and can be applied to the intrinsic quality control of crude Radix Scrophulariae.

Rapid COJEC Induction Therapy for High-risk Neuroblastoma Patients - Cochrane Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Peinemann, F; van Dalen, E C; Berthold, F

2016-04-01

Neuroblastoma is a rare malignant disease and patients with high-risk neuroblastoma have a poor prognosis. Rapid COJEC induction chemotherapy means (almost) the same total doses given within a shorter time period. In theory, rapid COJEC could reduce the risk of drug resistance and it has been considered as a potential candidate for improving the outcome. The objective was to evaluate effects of rapid COJEC compared to standard induction chemotherapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. We searched the databases CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE from inception to 11 November 2014 and included randomized controlled trials. We identified one relevant randomized controlled trial with 130 participants receiving rapid COJEC and 132 participants receiving standard OPEC/COJEC induction chemotherapy. There was no statistically significant difference between the treatment groups in complete response (risk ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.38, P=0.94) and treatment-related mortality (risk ratio 1.21, 95% confidence interval 0.33 to 4.39, P=0.77). A statistically significant difference in favor of the standard treatment arm was identified for the following early toxicities: febrile neutropenia, septicemia, and renal toxicity. The differences in complete response and treatment-related mortality between treatment alternatives were not statistically significantly different. Based on the currently available evidence, we are uncertain about the effects of rapid COJEC induction chemotherapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

RapidIO as a multi-purpose interconnect

Science.gov (United States)

Baymani, Simaolhoda; Alexopoulos, Konstantinos; Valat, Sébastien

2017-10-01

RapidIO (http://rapidio.org/) technology is a packet-switched high-performance fabric, which has been under active development since 1997. Originally meant to be a front side bus, it developed into a system level interconnect which is today used in all 4G/LTE base stations world wide. RapidIO is often used in embedded systems that require high reliability, low latency and scalability in a heterogeneous environment - features that are highly interesting for several use cases, such as data analytics and data acquisition (DAQ) networks. We will present the results of evaluating RapidIO in a data analytics environment, from setup to benchmark. Specifically, we will share the experience of running ROOT and Hadoop on top of RapidIO. To demonstrate the multi-purpose characteristics of RapidIO, we will also present the results of investigating RapidIO as a technology for high-speed DAQ networks using a generic multi-protocol event-building emulation tool. In addition we will present lessons learned from implementing native ports of CERN applications to RapidIO.

Infrequent dream recall associated with low performance but high overnight improvement on mirror-tracing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dumel, Gaëlle; Carr, Michelle; Marquis, Louis-Philippe; Blanchette-Carrière, Cloé; Paquette, Tyna; Nielsen, Tore

2015-08-01

Although sleep facilitates learning and memory, the roles of dreaming and habitual levels of recalling dreams remain unknown. This study examined if performance and overnight improvement on a rapid eye movement sleep-sensitive visuomotor task is associated differentially with habitually high or low dream recall frequency. As a relation between dream production and visuospatial skills has been demonstrated previously, one possibility is that frequency of dream recall will be linked to performance on visuomotor tasks such as the Mirror Tracing Task. We expected that habitually low dream recallers would perform more poorly on the Mirror Tracing Task than would high recallers and would show less task improvement following a night of sleep. Fifteen low and 20 high dream recallers slept one night each in the laboratory and performed the Mirror Tracing Task before and after sleep. Low recallers had overall worse baseline performance but a greater evening-to-morning improvement than did high recallers. Greater improvements in completion time in low recallers were associated with Stage 2 rather than rapid eye movement sleep. Findings support the separate notions that dreaming is related to visuomotor processes and that different levels of visuomotor skill engage different sleep- and dream-related consolidation mechanisms. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Rapid analysis of charge variants of monoclonal antibodies using non-linear salt gradient in cation-exchange high performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Varsha; Kumar, Vijesh; Rathore, Anurag S

2015-08-07

A method is proposed for rapid development of a short, analytical cation exchange high performance liquid chromatography method for analysis of charge heterogeneity in monoclonal antibody products. The parameters investigated and optimized include pH, shape of elution gradient and length of the column. It is found that the most important parameter for development of a shorter method is the choice of the shape of elution gradient. In this paper, we propose a step by step approach to develop a non-linear sigmoidal shape gradient for analysis of charge heterogeneity for two different monoclonal antibody products. The use of this gradient not only decreases the run time of the method to 4min against the conventional method that takes more than 40min but also the resolution is retained. Superiority of the phosphate gradient over sodium chloride gradient for elution of mAbs is also observed. The method has been successfully evaluated for specificity, sensitivity, linearity, limit of detection, and limit of quantification. Application of this method as a potential at-line process analytical technology tool has been suggested. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The rapid synthesis of high purity [{sup 18}F]butyrophenone neuroleptics from nitro precursors for PET study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hashizume, Kazunari; Hashimoto, Naoto; Kato, Hiroo; Cork, D G; Miyake, Yoshihiro [National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Osaka (Japan)

1995-04-01

We have completed rapid syntheses of [{sup 18}F]butyrophenone neuroleptics ([{sup 18}F]haloperidol and [{sup 18}F]spiperone) from their nitro precursors in high radiochemical yields (up to 21%) by combining a one-step nitro-fluoro exchange reaction and a novel high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation method. The synthesis time was ca. 95 min and both the radiochemical and chemical purities of the labeled products were over 99%. (author).

High Early-Age Strength Concrete for Rapid Repair

Science.gov (United States)

Maler, Matthew O.

The aim of this research was to identify High Early-Age Strength (HES) concrete batch designs, and evaluate their suitability for use in the rapid repair of highways and bridge decks. To this end, two criteria needed to be met; a minimum compressive strength of 20.68 MPa (3000 psi) in no later than 12 hours, and a drying shrinkage of less than 0.06 % at 28 days after curing. The evaluations included both air-entrained, and non-air-entrained concretes. The cement types chosen for this study included Type III and Type V Portland cement and "Rapid Set"--a Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement. In addition, two blended concretes containing different ratios of Type V Portland cement and CSA cement were investigated. The evaluation of the studied concretes included mechanical properties and transport properties. Additionally, dimensional stability and durability were investigated. Evaluations were conducted based on cement type and common cement factor. Fresh property tests showed that in order to provide a comparable workability, and still remain within manufactures guideline for plasticizer, the water-to-cement ratio was adjusted for each type of cement utilized. This resulted in the need to increase the water-to-cement ratio as the Blaine Fineness of the cement type increased (0.275 for Type V Portland cement, 0.35 for Type III Portland cement, and 0.4 for Rapid Set cement). It was also observed that negligible changes in setting time occurred with increasing cement content, whereas changes in cement type produced notable differences. The addition of air-entrainment had beneficial effect on workability for the lower cement factors. Increasing trends for peak hydration heat were seen with increases in cement factor, cement Blaine Fineness, and accelerator dosage. Evaluation of hardened properties revealed opening times as low as 5 hours for Type V Portland cement with 2.0 % accelerator per cement weight and further reduction in opening time by an hour when accelerator

A rapid enzymatic assay for high-throughput screening of adenosine-producing strains

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Huina; Zu, Xin; Zheng, Ping; Zhang, Dawei

2015-01-01

Adenosine is a major local regulator of tissue function and industrially useful as precursor for the production of medicinal nucleoside substances. High-throughput screening of adenosine overproducers is important for industrial microorganism breeding. An enzymatic assay of adenosine was developed by combined adenosine deaminase (ADA) with indophenol method. The ADA catalyzes the cleavage of adenosine to inosine and NH3, the latter can be accurately determined by indophenol method. The assay system was optimized to deliver a good performance and could tolerate the addition of inorganic salts and many nutrition components to the assay mixtures. Adenosine could be accurately determined by this assay using 96-well microplates. Spike and recovery tests showed that this assay can accurately and reproducibly determine increases in adenosine in fermentation broth without any pretreatment to remove proteins and potentially interfering low-molecular-weight molecules. This assay was also applied to high-throughput screening for high adenosine-producing strains. The high selectivity and accuracy of the ADA assay provides rapid and high-throughput analysis of adenosine in large numbers of samples. PMID:25580842

Fluorescent QDs-polystyrene composite nanospheres for highly efficient and rapid protein antigen detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Changhua; Mao, Mao [Henan University, Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education (China); Yuan, Hang [Tsinghua University, Life Science Division, Graduate School at Shenzhen (China); Shen, Huaibin [Henan University, Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education (China); Wu, Feng; Ma, Lan, E-mail: malan@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn [Tsinghua University, Life Science Division, Graduate School at Shenzhen (China); Li, Lin Song, E-mail: lsli@henu.edu.cn [Henan University, Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education (China)

2013-09-15

In this paper, high-quality carboxyl-functionalized fluorescent (red, green, and blue emitting) nanospheres (46-103 nm) consisting of hydrophobic quantum dots (QDs) and polystyrene were prepared by a miniemulsion polymerization approach. This miniemulsion polymerization approach induced a homogeneous distribution and high aqueous-phase transport efficiency of fluorescent QDs in composite nanospheres, which proved the success of our encoding QDs strategy. The obtained fluorescent nanospheres exhibited high stability in aqueous solution under a wide range of pH, different salt concentrations, PBS buffer, and thermal treatment at 80 Degree-Sign C. Based on the red emitting composite nanosphere, we performed fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) strips for high-sensitivity and rapid alpha-fetal protein detection. The detection limit reached 0.1 ng/mL, which was 200 times higher than commercial colloidal gold-labeled LFIA strips, and it reached similar detection level in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit.

Performance and diagnostic usefulness of commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and rapid kits for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maity Susmita

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background HIV, HBV and HCV pose a major public health problem throughout the world. Detection of infection markers for these agents is a major challenge for testing laboratories in a resource poor setting. As blood transfusion is an important activity saving millions of live every year, it also carries a risk of transfusion transmissible infections caused by these fatal blood borne pathogens if the quality of testing is compromised. Conventional ELISA is regarded as the mostly used screening technique but due to limitations like high cost, unavailability in many blood banks and testing sites, involvement of costly instruments, time taking nature and requirement of highly skilled personnel for interpretation, rapid tests are gaining more importance and warrants comparison of performance. Results A comparative study between these two techniques has been performed using commercially available diagnostic kits to assess their efficacy for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid kits were more efficient in specificity with synthetic antigens along with high PPV than ELISA in most cases. Comparison between different ELISA kits revealed that Microlisa HIV and Hepalisa (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.; ERBA LISA HIV1 + 2, ERBA LISA Hepatitis B and ERBA LISA HCV (Transasia Bio-medicals Ltd. gives uniform result with good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and efficiency, whereas, Microlisa HCV (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd., Microscreen HBsAg ELISA and INNOVA HCV (Span Diagnostics Ltd. did not perform well. Rapid kits were also having high degree of sensitivity and specificity (100% except in HIV Comb and HCV Comb (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.. The kit efficiency didn’t vary significantly among different companies and lots in all the cases except for HCV ELISA showing statistically significant variation (p  Conclusions ELISA is a good screening assay for markers of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid tests are useful for

Rapid isolation of biomarkers for compound specific radiocarbon dating using high-performance liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis-atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Smittenberg, R.H.; Hopmans, E.C.; Schouten, S.

2002-01-01

Repeated semi-preparative normal-phase HPLC was performed to isolate selected biomarkers from sediment extracts for radiocarbon analysis. Flow injection analysis mass spectrometry was used for rapid analysis of collected fractions to evaluate the separation procedure, taking only 1 min per fraction.

[Rapid prenatal genetic diagnosis of a fetus with a high risk for Morquio A syndrome].

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Yi-bin; Ai, Yang; Zhao, Yan; Tang, Jia; Jiang, Wei-ying; Du, Min-lian; Ma, Hua-mei; Zhong, Yan-fang

2012-04-01

To provide rapid and accurate prenatal genetic diagnosis for a fetus with high risk of Morquio A syndrome. Based on ascertained etiology of the proband and genotypes of the parents, particular mutations of the GALNS gene were screened at 10th gestational week with amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS), denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC), and direct DNA sequencing. DHPLC screening has identified abnormal double peaks in the PCR products of exons 1 and 10, whilst only a single peak was detected in normal controls. Amplification of ARMS specific primers derived a specific product for the fetus's gene, whilst no similar product was detected in normal controls. Sequencing of PCR products confirmed that exons 1 and 10 of the GALNS gene from the fetus contained a heterozygous paternal c.106-111 del (p.L36-L37 del) deletion and a heterozygous maternal c.1097 T>C (p.L366P) missense mutation, which resulted in a compound heterozygote status. The fetus was diagnosed with Morquio A syndrome and a genotype similar to the proband. Termination of the pregnancy was recommended. Combined ARMS, DHPLC and DNA sequencing are effective for rapid and accurate prenatal diagnosis for fetus with a high risk for Morquio A syndrome. Such methods are particularly suitable for early diagnosis when pathogenesis is clear. Furthermore, combined ARMS and DHPLC are suitable for rapid processing of large numbers of samples for the identification of new mutations.

Rapid determination of some beta-blockers in complicated matrices by tandem dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmati, Maryam; Asghari, Alireza; Bazregar, Mohammad; Rajabi, Maryam

2016-11-01

In this research work, an efficient tandem dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (TDLLME) procedure coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) was successfully applied for the determination of beta-blockers in human plasma and pharmaceutical wastewater samples. High clean-up and preconcentration factor are easily and rapidly feasible via this novel, cheap, and safe microextraction method, leading to high quality experimental data. It consists of two sequential dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction methods, accomplished via air/ultrasonic agitation and air agitation, respectively. In order to enrich the optimal values for the mentioned procedures, the Box-Behnken design (BBD) combined with the desirability function (DF) was used. The optimum values were found to be 11.0 % (w/v) of the salt amount, an initial pH value of 12.0, 103 μL of organic extractant phase, and 45 μL of aqueous extractant phase with pH value of 2.0, resulted in reasonable recovery percentages with a logical desirability. Under optimal experimental conditions, good linear ranges (3-2000 ng mL -1 for metoprolol and 2.5-2500 ng mL -1 for propranolol with the correlation of determinations (R 2 s) higher than 0.99) and low limits of detection (0.8 and 1.0 ng mL -1 for propranolol and metoprolol, respectively) were obtainable. Also, TDLLME-HPLC-UV provided good proper repeatabilities (relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 5.7 %, n = 3) and high enrichment factors (EFs) of 75-100. Graphical abstract TDLLME of beta-blockers from complicated matrices.

Determination of Ten Corticosteroids in Illegal Cosmetic Products by a Simple, Rapid, and High-Performance LC-MS/MS Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vita Giaccone

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of our present work was the development of a rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method with electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC-ESI-MS/MS for the determination of several corticosteroids in cosmetic products. Corticosteroids are suspected to be illegally added in cosmetic preparations in order to enhance the curative effect against some skin diseases. Sample preparation step consists in a single extraction with acetonitrile followed by centrifugation and filtration. The compounds were separated by reversed-phase chromatography with water and acetonitrile (both with 0.1% formic acid gradient elution and detected by ESI-MS positive and negative ionization mode. The method was validated at the validation level of 0.1 mg kg−1. Linearity was studied in the 5–250 μg L−1 range and linear coefficients (r2 were all over 0.99. The accuracy and precision of the method were satisfactory. The LOD ranged from 0.085 to 0.109 mg kg−1 and the LOQ from 0.102 to 0.121 mg kg−1. Mean recoveries for all the analytes were within the range 91.9–99.2%. The developed method is sensitive and useful for detection, quantification, and confirmation of these corticosteroids in cosmetic preparations and can be applied in the analysis of the suspected samples under investigation.

Improved ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight high-definition mass spectrometry method for the rapid analysis of the chemical constituents of a typical medical formula: Liuwei Dihuang Wan.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ping; Lv, Hai tao; Zhang, Ai hua; Sun, Hui; Yan, Guang li; Han, Ying; Wu, Xiu hong; Wang, Xi jun

2013-11-01

Liuwei Dihuang Wan (LDW), a classic Chinese medicinal formula, has been used to improve or restore declined functions related to aging and geriatric diseases, such as impaired mobility, vision, hearing, cognition, and memory. It has attracted increasing attention as one of the most popular and valuable herbal medicines. However, the systematic analysis of the chemical constituents of LDW is difficult and thus has not been well established. In this paper, a rapid, sensitive, and reliable ultra-performance LC with ESI quadrupole TOF high-definition MS method with automated MetaboLynx analysis in positive and negative ion mode was established to characterize the chemical constituents of LDW. The analysis was performed on a Waters UPLC™ HSS T3 using a gradient elution system. MS/MS fragmentation behavior was proposed for aiding the structural identification of the components. Under the optimized conditions, a total of 50 peaks were tentatively characterized by comparing the retention time and MS data. It is concluded that a rapid and robust platform based on ultra-performance LC with ESI quadrupole TOF high-definition MS has been successfully developed for globally identifying multiple constituents of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. This is the first report on the systematic analysis of the chemical constituents of LDW. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-Performance Buildings – Value, Messaging, Financial and Policy Mechanisms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCabe, Molly

2011-02-22

At the request of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an in-depth analysis of the rapidly evolving state of real estate investments, high-performance building technology, and interest in efficiency was conducted by HaydenTanner, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program. The analysis objectives were • to evaluate the link between high-performance buildings and their market value • to identify core messaging to motivate owners, investors, financiers, and others in the real estate sector to appropriately value and deploy high-performance strategies and technologies across new and existing buildings • to summarize financial mechanisms that facilitate increased investment in these buildings. To meet these objectives, work consisted of a literature review of relevant writings, examination of existing and emergent financial and policy mechanisms, interviews with industry stakeholders, and an evaluation of the value implications through financial modeling. This report documents the analysis methodology and findings, conclusion and recommendations. Its intent is to support and inform the DOE Building Technologies Program on policy and program planning for the financing of high-performance new buildings and building retrofit projects.

Rapid synthesis of dendritic Pt/Pb nanoparticles and their electrocatalytic performance toward ethanol oxidation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ke; Xu, Hui; Yan, Bo; Wang, Jin; Gu, Zhulan; Du, Yukou

2017-12-01

This article reports a rapid synthetic method for the preparation of dendritic platinum-lead bimetallic catalysts by using an oil bath for 5 min in the presence of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) and ascorbic acid (AA). CTAC acts as a shape-direction agent, and AA acts as a reducing agent during the reaction process. A series of physical techniques are used to characterize the morphology, structure and electronic properties of the dendritic Pt/Pb nanoparticles, indicating the Pt/Pb dendrites are porous, highly alloying, and self-supported nanostructures. Various electrochemical techniques were also investigated the catalytic performance of the Pt/Pb catalysts toward the ethanol electrooxidation reaction. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry indicated that the synthesized dendritic Pt/Pb nanoparticles possessed much higher electrocatalytic performance than bulk Pt catalyst. This study may inspire the engineering of dendritic bimetallic catalysts, which are expected to have great potential applications in fuel cells.

Conference on High Performance Software for Nonlinear Optimization

CERN Document Server

Murli, Almerico; Pardalos, Panos; Toraldo, Gerardo

1998-01-01

This book contains a selection of papers presented at the conference on High Performance Software for Nonlinear Optimization (HPSN097) which was held in Ischia, Italy, in June 1997. The rapid progress of computer technologies, including new parallel architec­ tures, has stimulated a large amount of research devoted to building software environments and defining algorithms able to fully exploit this new computa­ tional power. In some sense, numerical analysis has to conform itself to the new tools. The impact of parallel computing in nonlinear optimization, which had a slow start at the beginning, seems now to increase at a fast rate, and it is reasonable to expect an even greater acceleration in the future. As with the first HPSNO conference, the goal of the HPSN097 conference was to supply a broad overview of the more recent developments and trends in nonlinear optimization, emphasizing the algorithmic and high performance software aspects. Bringing together new computational methodologies with theoretical...

A rapid method of evaluating fluoroscopic system performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sprawls, P.

1989-01-01

This paper presents a study to develop a method for the rapid evaluation and documentation of fluoroscopic image quality. All objects contained within a conventional contrast-detail test phantom (Leeds TO-10) are displayed in an array format according to their contrast and size. A copy of the display is used as the data collection form and a permanent record of system performance. A fluoroscope is evaluated by viewing the test phantom and marking the visible objects on the display. A line drawn through the objects with minimum visibility in each size group forms a contrast-detail curve for the system. This is compared with a standard or reference line, which is in the display.Deviations in curve position are useful indicators of specific image quality problems, such as excessive noise or blurring. The use of a special object-visibility array format display makes it possible to collect data, analyze the results, and create a record of fluoroscopic performance in less than 2 minutes for each viewing mode

Performance and diagnostic usefulness of commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and rapid kits for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Maity, Susmita; Nandi, Srijita; Biswas, Subrata; Sadhukhan, Salil Kumar; Saha, Malay Kumar

2012-11-26

HIV, HBV and HCV pose a major public health problem throughout the world. Detection of infection markers for these agents is a major challenge for testing laboratories in a resource poor setting. As blood transfusion is an important activity saving millions of live every year, it also carries a risk of transfusion transmissible infections caused by these fatal blood borne pathogens if the quality of testing is compromised. Conventional ELISA is regarded as the mostly used screening technique but due to limitations like high cost, unavailability in many blood banks and testing sites, involvement of costly instruments, time taking nature and requirement of highly skilled personnel for interpretation, rapid tests are gaining more importance and warrants comparison of performance. A comparative study between these two techniques has been performed using commercially available diagnostic kits to assess their efficacy for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid kits were more efficient in specificity with synthetic antigens along with high PPV than ELISA in most cases. Comparison between different ELISA kits revealed that Microlisa HIV and Hepalisa (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.); ERBA LISA HIV1 + 2, ERBA LISA Hepatitis B and ERBA LISA HCV (Transasia Bio-medicals Ltd.) gives uniform result with good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and efficiency, whereas, Microlisa HCV (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.), Microscreen HBsAg ELISA and INNOVA HCV (Span Diagnostics Ltd.) did not perform well. Rapid kits were also having high degree of sensitivity and specificity (100%) except in HIV Comb and HCV Comb (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.). The kit efficiency didn't vary significantly among different companies and lots in all the cases except for HCV ELISA showing statistically significant variation (p bank. For availability of quality commercial diagnostic assays, evaluation of kit may be helpful.

An on-line normal-phase high performance liquid chromatography method for the rapid detection of radical scavengers in non-polar food matrixes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, Q.; Klift, van der E.J.C.; Janssen, H.G.; Beek, van T.A.

2009-01-01

An on-line method for the rapid pinpointing of radical scavengers in non-polar mixtures like vegetable oils was developed. To avoid problems with dissolving the sample, normal-phase chromatography on bare silica gel was used with mixtures of hexane and methyl tert-butyl ether as the eluent. The high

Diagnostic Performance of a Rapid Magnetic Resonance Imaging Method of Measuring Hepatic Steatosis

Science.gov (United States)

House, Michael J.; Gan, Eng K.; Adams, Leon A.; Ayonrinde, Oyekoya T.; Bangma, Sander J.; Bhathal, Prithi S.; Olynyk, John K.; St. Pierre, Tim G.

2013-01-01

Objectives Hepatic steatosis is associated with an increased risk of developing serious liver disease and other clinical sequelae of the metabolic syndrome. However, visual estimates of steatosis from histological sections of biopsy samples are subjective and reliant on an invasive procedure with associated risks. The aim of this study was to test the ability of a rapid, routinely available, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method to diagnose clinically relevant grades of hepatic steatosis in a cohort of patients with diverse liver diseases. Materials and Methods Fifty-nine patients with a range of liver diseases underwent liver biopsy and MRI. Hepatic steatosis was quantified firstly using an opposed-phase, in-phase gradient echo, single breath-hold MRI methodology and secondly, using liver biopsy with visual estimation by a histopathologist and by computer-assisted morphometric image analysis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the diagnostic performance of the MRI method against the biopsy observations. Results The MRI approach had high sensitivity and specificity at all hepatic steatosis thresholds. Areas under ROC curves were 0.962, 0.993, and 0.972 at thresholds of 5%, 33%, and 66% liver fat, respectively. MRI measurements were strongly associated with visual (r2 = 0.83) and computer-assisted morphometric (r2 = 0.84) estimates of hepatic steatosis from histological specimens. Conclusions This MRI approach, using a conventional, rapid, gradient echo method, has high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing liver fat at all grades of steatosis in a cohort with a range of liver diseases. PMID:23555650

Ultrasonic Monitoring of Setting and Strength Development of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Doo-Yeol; Shin, Hyun-Oh; Yoon, Young-Soo

2016-04-19

In this study, the setting and tensile strength development of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) at a very early age was investigated by performing the penetration resistance test (ASTM C403), as well as the direct tensile test using the newly developed test apparatus, and taking ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurements. In order to determine the optimum surface treatment method for preventing rapid surface drying of UHPC, four different methods were examined: plastic sheet, curing cover, membrane-forming compound, and paraffin oil. Based on the test results, the use of paraffin oil was found to be the best choice for measuring the penetration resistance and the UPV, and attaching the plastic sheet to the exposed surface was considered to be a simple method for preventing the rapid surface drying of UHPC elements. An S-shaped tensile strength development at a very early age (before 24 h) was experimentally obtained, and it was predicted by a power function of UPV. Lastly, the addition of shrinkage-reducing and expansive admixtures resulted in more rapid development of penetration resistance and UPV of UHPC.

High-Performance Pseudo-Random Number Generation on Graphics Processing Units

OpenAIRE

Nandapalan, Nimalan; Brent, Richard P.; Murray, Lawrence M.; Rendell, Alistair

2011-01-01

This work considers the deployment of pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) on graphics processing units (GPUs), developing an approach based on the xorgens generator to rapidly produce pseudo-random numbers of high statistical quality. The chosen algorithm has configurable state size and period, making it ideal for tuning to the GPU architecture. We present a comparison of both speed and statistical quality with other common parallel, GPU-based PRNGs, demonstrating favourable performance o...

Rapidly reconfigurable high-fidelity optical arbitrary waveform generation in heterogeneous photonic integrated circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Shaoqi; Qin, Chuan; Shang, Kuanping; Pathak, Shibnath; Lai, Weicheng; Guan, Binbin; Clements, Matthew; Su, Tiehui; Liu, Guangyao; Lu, Hongbo; Scott, Ryan P; Ben Yoo, S J

2017-04-17

This paper demonstrates rapidly reconfigurable, high-fidelity optical arbitrary waveform generation (OAWG) in a heterogeneous photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The heterogeneous PIC combines advantages of high-speed indium phosphide (InP) modulators and low-loss, high-contrast silicon nitride (Si3N4) arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) so that high-fidelity optical waveform syntheses with rapid waveform updates are possible. The generated optical waveforms spanned a 160 GHz spectral bandwidth starting from an optical frequency comb consisting of eight comb lines separated by 20 GHz channel spacing. The Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) values of the generated waveforms were approximately 16.4%. The OAWG module can rapidly and arbitrarily reconfigure waveforms upon every pulse arriving at 2 ns repetition time. The result of this work indicates the feasibility of truly dynamic optical arbitrary waveform generation where the reconfiguration rate or the modulator bandwidth must exceed the channel spacing of the AWG and the optical frequency comb.

RAPID, MACHINE-LEARNED RESOURCE ALLOCATION: APPLICATION TO HIGH-REDSHIFT GAMMA-RAY BURST FOLLOW-UP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morgan, A N; Richards, Joseph W; Butler, Nathaniel R; Bloom, Joshua S [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Long, James; Broderick, Tamara [Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3860 (United States)

2012-02-20

As the number of observed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) continues to grow, follow-up resources need to be used more efficiently in order to maximize science output from limited telescope time. As such, it is becoming increasingly important to rapidly identify bursts of interest as soon as possible after the event, before the afterglows fade beyond detectability. Studying the most distant (highest redshift) events, for instance, remains a primary goal for many in the field. Here, we present our Random Forest Automated Triage Estimator for GRB redshifts (RATE GRB-z ) for rapid identification of high-redshift candidates using early-time metrics from the three telescopes onboard Swift. While the basic RATE methodology is generalizable to a number of resource allocation problems, here we demonstrate its utility for telescope-constrained follow-up efforts with the primary goal to identify and study high-z GRBs. For each new GRB, RATE GRB-z provides a recommendation-based on the available telescope time-of whether the event warrants additional follow-up resources. We train RATE GRB-z using a set consisting of 135 Swift bursts with known redshifts, only 18 of which are z > 4. Cross-validated performance metrics on these training data suggest that {approx}56% of high-z bursts can be captured from following up the top 20% of the ranked candidates, and {approx}84% of high-z bursts are identified after following up the top {approx}40% of candidates. We further use the method to rank 200 + Swift bursts with unknown redshifts according to their likelihood of being high-z.

Rapidity distributions in unequal nuclei collision at high energies and hydrodynamic model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuang Pengfei; Wang Zhengqing; Liu Liansou

1986-01-01

The mechanism of high-energy A'-A collisions (A>A', A'sup(1/3)>>1) and the space-time evolution of the fluid formed in the collision are analysed. The corresponding 1+1 dimensional hydrodynamic equations are set up. The average rapidity distributions are estimated and compared with cosmic ray data. The origin of the unsymmetry of rapidity distributions is explained. (orig.)

Rapidity distributions in unequal nuclei collision at high energies and hydrodynamical model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuang Pengfei; Wang Zhengqing

1987-01-01

The mechanism of high-energy A'-A collision (A > A', A' 1/3 >> 1) and the space-time evolution of the fluid formed in the collision are analysed. The corresponding 1 + 1 dimensional hydrodynamical equations are established. The average rapidity distributions are estimated and compared with some cosmic ray events. The origin of the nonsymmetry of rapidity distribution is explained

High-performance 3D printing of hydrogels by water-dispersible photoinitiator nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawar, Amol A; Saada, Gabriel; Cooperstein, Ido; Larush, Liraz; Jackman, Joshua A; Tabaei, Seyed R; Cho, Nam-Joon; Magdassi, Shlomo

2016-04-01

In the absence of water-soluble photoinitiators with high absorbance in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible range, rapid three-dimensional (3D) printing of hydrogels for tissue engineering is challenging. A new approach enabling rapid 3D printing of hydrogels in aqueous solutions is presented on the basis of UV-curable inks containing nanoparticles of highly efficient but water-insoluble photoinitiators. The extinction coefficient of the new water-dispersible nanoparticles of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl-diphenylphosphine oxide (TPO) is more than 300 times larger than the best and most used commercially available water-soluble photoinitiator. The TPO nanoparticles absorb significantly in the range from 385 to 420 nm, making them suitable for use in commercially available, low-cost, light-emitting diode-based 3D printers using digital light processing. The polymerization rate at this range is very fast and enables 3D printing that otherwise is impossible to perform without adding solvents. The TPO nanoparticles were prepared by rapid conversion of volatile microemulsions into water-dispersible powder, a process that can be used for a variety of photoinitiators. Such water-dispersible photoinitiator nanoparticles open many opportunities to enable rapid 3D printing of structures prepared in aqueous solutions while bringing environmental advantages by using low-energy curing systems and avoiding the need for solvents.

HPNAIDM: The High-Performance Network Anomaly/Intrusion Detection and Mitigation System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Yan [Northwesten University

2013-12-05

Identifying traffic anomalies and attacks rapidly and accurately is critical for large network operators. With the rapid growth of network bandwidth, such as the next generation DOE UltraScience Network, and fast emergence of new attacks/virus/worms, existing network intrusion detection systems (IDS) are insufficient because they: • Are mostly host-based and not scalable to high-performance networks; • Are mostly signature-based and unable to adaptively recognize flow-level unknown attacks; • Cannot differentiate malicious events from the unintentional anomalies. To address these challenges, we proposed and developed a new paradigm called high-performance network anomaly/intrustion detection and mitigation (HPNAIDM) system. The new paradigm is significantly different from existing IDSes with the following features (research thrusts). • Online traffic recording and analysis on high-speed networks; • Online adaptive flow-level anomaly/intrusion detection and mitigation; • Integrated approach for false positive reduction. Our research prototype and evaluation demonstrate that the HPNAIDM system is highly effective and economically feasible. Beyond satisfying the pre-set goals, we even exceed that significantly (see more details in the next section). Overall, our project harvested 23 publications (2 book chapters, 6 journal papers and 15 peer-reviewed conference/workshop papers). Besides, we built a website for technique dissemination, which hosts two system prototype release to the research community. We also filed a patent application and developed strong international and domestic collaborations which span both academia and industry.

Polymeric nanoparticles for increased oral bioavailability and rapid absorption using celecoxib as a model of a low-solubility, high-permeability drug.

Science.gov (United States)

Morgen, Michael; Bloom, Corey; Beyerinck, Ron; Bello, Akintunde; Song, Wei; Wilkinson, Karen; Steenwyk, Rick; Shamblin, Sheri

2012-02-01

To demonstrate drug/polymer nanoparticles can increase the rate and extent of oral absorption of a low-solubility, high-permeability drug. Amorphous drug/polymer nanoparticles containing celecoxib were prepared using ethyl cellulose and either sodium caseinate or bile salt. Nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. Drug release and resuspension studies were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Pharmacokinetic studies were performed in dogs and humans. A physical model is presented describing the nanoparticle state of matter and release performance. Nanoparticles dosed orally in aqueous suspensions provided higher systemic exposure and faster attainment of peak plasma concentrations than commercial capsules, with median time to maximum drug concentration (Tmax) of 0.75 h in humans for nanoparticles vs. 3 h for commercial capsules. Nanoparticles released celecoxib rapidly and provided higher dissolved-drug concentrations than micronized crystalline drug. Nanoparticle suspensions are stable for several days and can be spray-dried to form dry powders that resuspend in water. Drug/polymer nanoparticles are well suited for providing rapid oral absorption and increased bioavailability of BCS Class II drugs.

The Rapid Transit System That Achieves Higher Performance with Lower Life-Cycle Costs

Science.gov (United States)

Sone, Satoru; Takagi, Ryo

In the age of traction system made of inverter and ac traction motors, distributed traction system with pure electric brake of regenerative mode has been recognised very advantageous. This paper proposes a new system as the lowest life-cycle cost system for high performance rapid transit, a new architecture and optimum parameters of power feeding system, and a new running method of trains. In Japan, these components of this proposal, i.e. pure electric brake and various countermeasures of reducing loss of regeneration have been already popular but not as yet the new running method for better utilisation of the equipment and for lower life-cycle cost. One example of what are proposed in this paper will be made as Tsukuba Express, which is under construction as the most modern commuter railway in Greater Tokyo area.

A novel approach for high precision rapid potentiometric titrations: application to hydrazine assay.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, P; Malathi, N; Ananthanarayanan, R; Praveen, K; Murali, N

2011-11-01

We propose a high precision rapid personal computer (PC) based potentiometric titration technique using a specially designed mini-cell to carry out redox titrations for assay of chemicals in quality control laboratories attached to industrial, R&D, and nuclear establishments. Using this technique a few microlitre of sample (50-100 μl) in a total volume of ~2 ml solution can be titrated and the waste generated after titration is extremely low comparing to that obtained from the conventional titration technique. The entire titration including online data acquisition followed by immediate offline analysis of data to get information about concentration of unknown sample is completed within a couple of minutes (about 2 min). This facility has been created using a new class of sensors, viz., pulsating sensors developed in-house. The basic concept in designing such instrument and the salient features of the titration device are presented in this paper. The performance of the titration facility was examined by conducting some of the high resolution redox titrations using dilute solutions--hydrazine against KIO(3) in HCl medium, Fe(II) against Ce(IV) and uranium using Davies-Gray method. The precision of titrations using this innovative approach lies between 0.048% and 1.0% relative standard deviation in different redox titrations. With the evolution of this rapid PC based titrator it was possible to develop a simple but high precision potentiometric titration technique for quick determination of hydrazine in nuclear fuel dissolver solution in the context of reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in fast breeder reactors. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

Rapid determination of triclosan in personal care products using new in-tube based ultrasound-assisted salt-induced liquid-liquid microextraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ming-Jen; Liu, Ya-Ting; Lin, Chiao-Wen; Ponnusamy, Vinoth Kumar; Jen, Jen-Fon

2013-03-12

This paper describes the development of a novel, simple and efficient in-tube based ultrasound-assisted salt-induced liquid-liquid microextraction (IT-USA-SI-LLME) technique for the rapid determination of triclosan (TCS) in personal care products by high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection. IT-USA-SI-LLME method is based on the rapid phase separation of water-miscible organic solvent from the aqueous phase in the presence of high concentration of salt (salting-out phenomena) under ultrasonication. In the present work, an indigenously fabricated home-made glass extraction device (8-mL glass tube inbuilt with a self-scaled capillary tip) was utilized as the phase separation device for USA-SI-LLME. After the extraction, the upper extractant layer was narrowed into the self-scaled capillary tip by pushing the plunger plug; thus, the collection and measurement of the upper organic solvent layer was simple and convenient. The effects of various parameters on the extraction efficiency were thoroughly evaluated and optimized. Under optimal conditions, detection was linear in the concentration range of 0.4-100ngmL(-1) with correlation coefficient of 0.9968. The limit of detection was 0.09ngmL(-1) and the relative standard deviations ranged between 0.8 and 5.3% (n=5). The applicability of the developed method was demonstrated for the analysis of TCS in different commercial personal care products and the relative recoveries ranged from 90.4 to 98.5%. The present method was proven to be a simple, sensitive, less organic solvent consuming, inexpensive and rapid procedure for analysis of TCS in a variety of commercially available personal care products or cosmetic preparations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multi-Language Programming Environments for High Performance Java Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Getov

1999-01-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in processor capabilities, software tools, programming languages and programming paradigms have brought about new approaches to high performance computing. A steadfast component of this dynamic evolution has been the scientific community’s reliance on established scientific packages. As a consequence, programmers of high‐performance applications are reluctant to embrace evolving languages such as Java. This paper describes the Java‐to‐C Interface (JCI tool which provides application programmers wishing to use Java with immediate accessibility to existing scientific packages. The JCI tool also facilitates rapid development and reuse of existing code. These benefits are provided at minimal cost to the programmer. While beneficial to the programmer, the additional advantages of mixed‐language programming in terms of application performance and portability are addressed in detail within the context of this paper. In addition, we discuss how the JCI tool is complementing other ongoing projects such as IBM’s High‐Performance Compiler for Java (HPCJ and IceT’s metacomputing environment.

Rapid single flux quantum logic in high temperature superconductor technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shunmugavel, K.

2006-01-01

A Josephson junction is the basic element of rapid single flux quantum logic (RSFQ) circuits. A high operating speed and low power consumption are the main advantages of RSFQ logic over semiconductor electronic circuits. To realize complex RSFQ circuits in HTS technology one needs a reproducible

Local thermodynamic equilibrium in rapidly heated high energy density plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslanyan, V.; Tallents, G. J.

2014-01-01

Emission spectra and the dynamics of high energy density plasmas created by optical and Free Electron Lasers (FELs) depend on the populations of atomic levels. Calculations of plasma emission and ionization may be simplified by assuming Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE), where populations are given by the Saha-Boltzmann equation. LTE can be achieved at high densities when collisional processes are much more significant than radiative processes, but may not be valid if plasma conditions change rapidly. A collisional-radiative model has been used to calculate the times taken by carbon and iron plasmas to reach LTE at varying densities and heating rates. The effect of different energy deposition methods, as well as Ionization Potential Depression are explored. This work shows regimes in rapidly changing plasmas, such as those created by optical lasers and FELs, where the use of LTE is justified, because timescales for plasma changes are significantly longer than the times needed to achieve an LTE ionization balance

An on-line high performance liquid chromatography-crocin bleaching assay for detection of antioxidants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bountagkidou, O.; Klift, van der E.J.C.; Tsimidou, M.Z.; Ordoudi, S.A.; Beek, van T.A.

2012-01-01

An on-line HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) method for the rapid screening of individual antioxidants in mixtures was developed using crocin as a substrate (i.e. oxidation probe) and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane dihydrochloride (AAPH)) in phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) as a radical

Rapid pretreatment and determination of bisphenol A in water samples based on vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiao; Diao, Chun-Peng; Sun, Ai-Ling; Liu, Ren-Min

2014-10-01

A method for the rapid pretreatment and determination of bisphenol A in water samples based on vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection was proposed in this paper. A simple apparatus consisting of a test tube and a cut-glass dropper was designed and applied to collect the floating extraction drop in liquid-liquid microextraction when low-density organic solvent was used as the extraction solvent. Solidification and melting steps that were tedious but necessary once the low-density organic solvent used as extraction solvent could be avoided by using this apparatus. Bisphenol A was selected as model pollutant and vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction was employed to investigate the usefulness of the apparatus. High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection was selected as the analytical tool for the detection of bisphenol A. The linear dynamic range was from 0.10 to 100 μg/L for bisphenol A, with good squared regression coefficient (r(2) = 0.9990). The relative standard deviation (n = 7) was 4.7% and the limit of detection was 0.02 μg/L. The proposed method had been applied to the determination of bisphenol A in natural water samples and was shown to be economical, fast, and convenient. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

An improved high-performance lithium-air battery.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Hun-Gi; Hassoun, Jusef; Park, Jin-Bum; Sun, Yang-Kook; Scrosati, Bruno

2012-06-10

Although dominating the consumer electronics markets as the power source of choice for popular portable devices, the common lithium battery is not yet suited for use in sustainable electrified road transport. The development of advanced, higher-energy lithium batteries is essential in the rapid establishment of the electric car market. Owing to its exceptionally high energy potentiality, the lithium-air battery is a very appealing candidate for fulfilling this role. However, the performance of such batteries has been limited to only a few charge-discharge cycles with low rate capability. Here, by choosing a suitable stable electrolyte and appropriate cell design, we demonstrate a lithium-air battery capable of operating over many cycles with capacity and rate values as high as 5,000 mAh g(carbon)(-1) and 3 A g(carbon)(-1), respectively. For this battery we estimate an energy density value that is much higher than those offered by the currently available lithium-ion battery technology.

Rapid screening for targeted genetic variants via high-resolution melting curve analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambliss, Allison B; Resnick, Molly; Petrides, Athena K; Clarke, William A; Marzinke, Mark A

2017-03-01

Current methods for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with aberrant drug-metabolizing enzyme function are hindered by long turnaround times and specialized techniques and instrumentation. In this study, we describe the development and validation of a high-resolution melting (HRM) curve assay for the rapid screening of variant genotypes for targeted genetic polymorphisms in the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP3A5. Sequence-specific primers were custom-designed to flank nine SNPs within the genetic regions of aforementioned drug metabolizing enzymes. PCR amplification was performed followed by amplicon denaturation by precise temperature ramping in order to distinguish genotypes by melting temperature (Tm). A standardized software algorithm was used to assign amplicons as 'reference' or 'variant' as compared to duplicate reference sequence DNA controls for each SNP. Intra-assay (n=5) precision of Tms for all SNPs was ≤0.19%, while inter-assay (n=20) precision ranged from 0.04% to 0.21%. When compared to a reference method of Sanger sequencing, the HRM assay produced no false negative results, and overcall frequency ranged from 0% to 26%, depending on the SNP. Furthermore, HRM genotyping displayed accuracy over input DNA concentrations ranging from 10 to 200 ng/μL. The presented assay provides a rapid method for the screening for genetic variants in targeted CYP450 regions with a result of 'reference' or 'variant' available within 2 h from receipt of extracted DNA. The method can serve as a screening approach to rapidly identify individuals with variant sequences who should be further investigated by reflexed confirmatory testing for aberrant cytochrome P450 enzymatic activity. Rapid knowledge of variant status may aid in the avoidance of adverse clinical events by allowing for dosing of normal metabolizer patients immediately while identifying the need to wait for confirmatory testing in those patients who are

High performance homes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beim, Anne; Vibæk, Kasper Sánchez

2014-01-01

Can prefabrication contribute to the development of high performance homes? To answer this question, this chapter defines high performance in more broadly inclusive terms, acknowledging the technical, architectural, social and economic conditions under which energy consumption and production occur....... Consideration of all these factors is a precondition for a truly integrated practice and as this chapter demonstrates, innovative project delivery methods founded on the manufacturing of prefabricated buildings contribute to the production of high performance homes that are cost effective to construct, energy...

High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Determination of Dipyridamole in Human Plasma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DAVOOD BEIGI BAND ARAB ADI

1999-08-01

Full Text Available A simple, rapid and specific high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure is reported for"nquantitative determination of dipyridamole in human -plasma. The assay uses a reversed-phase"nhigh-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC and UV detection at 280nm and has a limit"nof detection of approximately 5ng/mL. The mobile phase consists of MeOH-H20 (60:40"nadjusted to pH 3.3. Dipyridamole was extracted from plasma by back-extraction procedure, with"npropranolol as the internal standard. The reproducibility of the method is satisfactory

Performance evaluation of two highly interconnected Data Center networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andrus, Bogdan-Mihai; Mihai Poncea, Ovidiu; Vegas Olmos, Juan José

2015-01-01

In this paper we present the analysis of highly interconnected topologies like hypercube and torus and how they can be implemented in data centers in order to cope with the rapid increase and demands for performance of the internal traffic. By replicating the topologies and subjecting them...... to uniformly distributed traffic routed by shortest path algorithms, we are able to extract relevant statistics related to average throughput, latency and loss rate. A decrease in throughput per connection of only about 5% for the hypercube compared to 16% for the 3D torus was measured when the size...

Design and Simulation of a High Performance Emergency Data Delivery Protocol

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Swartz, Kevin; Wang, Di

2007-01-01

The purpose of this project was to design a high performance data delivery protocol, capable of delivering data as quickly as possible to a base station or target node. This protocol was designed particularly for wireless network topologies, but could also be applied towards a wired system....... An emergency is defined as any event with high priority that needs to be handled immediately. It is assumed that this emergency event is important enough that energy efficiency is not a factor in our protocol. The desired effect is for fast as possible delivery to the base station for rapid event handling....

Hierarchically porous carbon with high-speed ion transport channels for high performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Haoyuan; Li, Qingwei; Guo, Jianhui; Song, Aixin; Gong, Chunhong; Zhang, Jiwei; Zhang, Jingwei

2018-01-01

Hierarchically porous carbons (HPC) are considered as promising electrode materials for supercapacitors, due to their outstanding charge/discharge cycling stabilities and high power densities. However, HPC possess a relatively low ion diffusion rate inside the materials, which challenges their application for high performance supercapacitor. Thus tunnel-shaped carbon pores with a size of tens of nanometers were constructed by inducing the self-assembly of lithocholic acid with ammonium chloride, thereby providing high-speed channels for internal ion diffusion. The as-formed one-dimensional pores are beneficial to the activation process by KOH, providing a large specific surface area, and then facilitate rapid transport of electrolyte ions from macropores to the microporous surfaces. Therefore, the HPC achieve an outstanding gravimetric capacitance of 284 F g-1 at a current density of 0.1 A g-1 and a remarkable capacity retention of 64.8% when the current density increases by 1000 times to 100 A g-1.

High-throughput, temperature-controlled microchannel acoustophoresis device made with rapid prototyping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adams, Jonathan D; Ebbesen, Christian L.; Barnkob, Rune

2012-01-01

-slide format using low-cost, rapid-prototyping techniques. This high-throughput acoustophoresis chip (HTAC) utilizes a temperature-stabilized, standing ultrasonic wave, which imposes differential acoustic radiation forces that can separate particles according to size, density and compressibility. The device...

Rapid transcriptional pulsing dynamics of high expressing retroviral transgenes in embryonic stem cells.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mandy Y M Lo

Full Text Available Single cell imaging studies suggest that transcription is not continuous and occurs as discrete pulses of gene activity. To study mechanisms by which retroviral transgenes can transcribe to high levels, we used the MS2 system to visualize transcriptional dynamics of high expressing proviral integration sites in embryonic stem (ES cells. We established two ES cell lines each bearing a single copy, self-inactivating retroviral vector with a strong ubiquitous human EF1α gene promoter directing expression of mRFP fused to an MS2-stem-loop array. Transfection of MS2-EGFP generated EGFP focal dots bound to the mRFP-MS2 stem loop mRNA. These transcription foci colocalized with the transgene integration site detected by immunoFISH. Live tracking of single cells for 20 minutes detected EGFP focal dots that displayed frequent and rapid fluctuations in transcription over periods as short as 25 seconds. Similarly rapid fluctuations were detected from focal doublet signals that colocalized with replicated proviral integration sites by immunoFISH, consistent with transcriptional pulses from sister chromatids. We concluded that retroviral transgenes experience rapid transcriptional pulses in clonal ES cell lines that exhibit high level expression. These events are directed by a constitutive housekeeping gene promoter and may provide precedence for rapid transcriptional pulsing at endogenous genes in mammalian stem cells.

Rapid Quantitative Analysis of Naringenin in the Fruit Bodies of Inonotus vaninii by Two-phase Acid Hydrolysis Followed by Reversed Phase-high Performance Liquid Chromatography-ultra Violet.

Science.gov (United States)

Guohua, Xia; Pan, Ruirong; Bao, Rui; Ge, Yanru; Zhou, Cunshan; Shen, Yuping

2017-01-01

Sanghuang is one of mystical traditional Chinese medicines recorded earliest 2000 years ago, that included various fungi of Inonotus genus and was well-known for antitumor effect in modern medicine. Inonotus vaninii is grown in natural forest of Northeastern China merely and used as Sanghuang commercially, but it has no quality control specification until now. This study was to establish a rapid method of two-phase acid hydrolysis followed by reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography-ultra violet (RP-HPLC-UV) to quantify naringenin in the fruit body of I. vaninii . Sample solution was prepared by pretreatment of raw material in two-phase acid hydrolysis and the hydrolysis technology was optimized. After reconstitution, analysis was performed using RP-HPLC-UV. The method validation was investigated and the naringenin content of sample and comparison were determined. The naringenin was obtained by two-phase acid hydrolysis method, namely, 10.0 g of raw material was hydrolyzed in 200 mL of 1% sulfuric acid aqueous solution (v/v) and 400 mL of chloroform in oil bath at 110°C for 2 h. Good linearity ( r = 0.9992) was achieved between concentration of analyte and peak area. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of precision was 2.47% and the RSD of naringenin contents for repeatability was 3.13%. The accuracy was supported with recoveries at 96.37%, 97.30%, and 99.31%. The sample solution prepared using the proposed method contained higher content of naringenin than conventional method and was stable for 8 h. Due to the high efficiency of sample preparation and high reliability of the HPLC method, it is feasible to use this method for routine analysis of naringenin in the fungus. A convenient two-phase acid hydrolysis was employed to produce naringenin from raw material, and then an efficient and reliable reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography-ultra violet method was established to monitor naringenin in the fruit bodies of Inonotus vaninii

Performance of a High-Sensitivity Rapid Diagnostic Test for Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Asymptomatic Individuals from Uganda and Myanmar and Naive Human Challenge Infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Smita; Jang, Ihn Kyung; Barney, Becky; Peck, Roger; Rek, John C; Arinaitwe, Emmanuel; Adrama, Harriet; Murphy, Maxwell; Imwong, Mallika; Ling, Clare L; Proux, Stephane; Haohankhunnatham, Warat; Rist, Melissa; Seilie, Annette M; Hanron, Amelia; Daza, Glenda; Chang, Ming; Nakamura, Tomoka; Kalnoky, Michael; Labarre, Paul; Murphy, Sean C; McCarthy, James S; Nosten, Francois; Greenhouse, Bryan; Allauzen, Sophie; Domingo, Gonzalo J

2017-11-01

Sensitive field-deployable diagnostic tests can assist malaria programs in achieving elimination. The performance of a new Alere™ Malaria Ag P.f Ultra Sensitive rapid diagnostic test (uRDT) was compared with the currently available SD Bioline Malaria Ag P.f RDT in blood specimens from asymptomatic individuals in Nagongera, Uganda, and in a Karen Village, Myanmar, representative of high- and low-transmission areas, respectively, as well as in pretreatment specimens from study participants from four Plasmodium falciparum -induced blood-stage malaria (IBSM) studies. A quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test for histidine-rich protein II (HRP2) were used as reference assays. The uRDT showed a greater than 10-fold lower limit of detection for HRP2 compared with the RDT. The sensitivity of the uRDT was 84% and 44% against qRT-PCR in Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and that of the RDT was 62% and 0% for the same two sites. The specificities of the uRDT were 92% and 99.8% against qRT-PCR for Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and 99% and 99.8% against the HRP2 reference ELISA. The RDT had specificities of 95% and 100% against qRT-PCR for Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and 96% and 100% against the HRP2 reference ELISA. The uRDT detected new infections in IBSM study participants 1.5 days sooner than the RDT. The uRDT has the same workflow as currently available RDTs, but improved performance characteristics to identify asymptomatic malaria infections. The uRDT may be a useful tool for malaria elimination strategies.

Application of Rapid Prototyping Methods to High-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, A. M.

1998-01-01

This study was undertaken in MSFC's 14-Inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel to determine if rapid prototyping methods could be used in the design and manufacturing of high speed wind tunnel models in direct testing applications, and if these methods would reduce model design/fabrication time and cost while providing models of high enough fidelity to provide adequate aerodynamic data, and of sufficient strength to survive the test environment. Rapid prototyping methods utilized to construct wind tunnel models in a wing-body-tail configuration were: fused deposition method using both ABS plastic and PEEK as building materials, stereolithography using the photopolymer SL-5170, selective laser sintering using glass reinforced nylon, and laminated object manufacturing using plastic reinforced with glass and 'paper'. This study revealed good agreement between the SLA model, the metal model with an FDM-ABS nose, an SLA nose, and the metal model for most operating conditions, while the FDM-ABS data diverged at higher loading conditions. Data from the initial SLS model showed poor agreement due to problems in post-processing, resulting in a different configuration. A second SLS model was tested and showed relatively good agreement. It can be concluded that rapid prototyping models show promise in preliminary aerodynamic development studies at subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speeds.

Highly sensitive assay for tyrosine hydroxylase activity by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagatsu, T; Oka, K; Kato, T

1979-07-21

A highly sensitive assay for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with amperometric detection was devised based on the rapid isolation of enzymatically formed DOPA by a double-column procedure, the columns fitted together sequentially (the top column of Amberlite CG-50 and the bottom column of aluminium oxide). DOPA was adsorbed on the second aluminium oxide column, then eluted with 0.5 M hydrochloric acid, and assayed by HPLC with amperometric detection. D-Tyrosine was used for the control. alpha-Methyldopa was added to the incubation mixture as an internal standard after incubation. This assay was more sensitive than radioassays and 5 pmol of DOPA formed enzymatically could be measured in the presence of saturating concentrations of tyrosine and 6-methyltetrahydropterin. The TH activity in 2 mg of human putamen could be easily measured, and this method was found to be particularly suitable for the assay of TH activity in a small number of nuclei from animal and human brain.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of a novel rapidly solidified, high-temperature Al-alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Overman, N.R., E-mail: Nicole.Overman@pnnl.gov [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Mathaudhu, S.N. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); University of California, Riverside, 3401 Watkins Dr., Riverside, CA 92521 (United States); Choi, J.P.; Roosendaal, T.J.; Pitman, S. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)

2016-02-15

Rapid solidification (RS) processing, as a production method, offers a variety of unique properties based on far-from-equilibrium microstructures obtained through rapid cooling rates. In this study, we seek to investigate the microstructures and properties of a novel Al-alloy specifically designed for high temperature mechanical stability. Synthesis of, AlFe{sub 11.4}Si{sub 1.8}V{sub 1.6}Mn{sub 0.9} (wt.%), was performed by two approaches: rotating cup atomization (“shot”) and melt spinning (“flake”). These methods were chosen because of their ability to produce alloys with tailored microstructures due to their inherent differences in cooling rate. The as-solidified precursor materials were microstructurally characterized with electron microscopy. The results show that the higher cooling rate flake material exhibited the formation of nanocrystalline regions as well additional phase morphologies not seen in the shot material. Secondary dendritic branching in the flake material was on the order of 0.1–0.25 μm whereas branching in the shot material was 0.5–1.0 μm. Consolidated and extruded material from both precursor materials was mechanically evaluated at both ambient and high (300 °C) temperature. The consolidated RS flake material is shown to exhibit higher strengths than the shot material. The ultimate tensile strength of the melt spun flake was reported as 544.2 MPa at room temperature and 298.0 MPa at 300 °C. These results forecast the ability to design alloys and processing approaches with unique non-equilibrium microstructures with robust mechanical properties at elevated temperatures. - Highlights: • A novel alloy, AlFe{sub 11.4}Si{sub 1.8}V{sub 1.6}Mn{sub 0.9} was fabricated by rapid solidification. • Room temperature yield strength exceeded 500 MPa. • Elevated temperature (300 °C) yield strength exceeded 275 MPa. • Forging, after extrusion of the alloy resulted in microstructural coarsening. • Decreased strength and ductility was

Ternary Au/ZnO/rGO nanocomposites electrodes for high performance electrochemical storage devices

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhary, Manchal; Doong, Ruey-an; Kumar, Nagesh; Tseng, Tseung Yuen

2017-10-01

The combination of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles with reduced graphene oxides (rGO) is an active electrode material for electrochemical storage devices. Herein, we have, for the first time, reported the fabrication of ternary Au/ZnO/rGO nanocomposites by using a rapid and environmentally friendly microwave-assisted hydrothermal method for high performance supercapacitor applications. The ZnO/rGO provides excellent electrical conductivity and good macro/mesopore structures, which can facilitate the rapid electrons and ions transport. The Au nanoparticles with particle sizes of 7-12 nm are homogeneously distributed onto the ZnO/rGO surface to enhance the electrochemical performance by retaining the capacitance at high current density. The Au/ZnO/rGO nanocomposites, prepared with the optimized rGO amount of 100 mg exhibit a high specific capacitance of 875 and 424 F g-1 at current densities of 1 and 20 A g-1, respectively, in 2 M KOH. In addition, the energy and power densities of ternary Au/ZnO/rGO can be up to 17.6-36.5 Wh kg-1 and 0.27-5.42 kW kg-1, respectively. Results obtained in this study clearly demonstrate the excellence of ternary Au/ZnO/rGO nanocomposites as the active electrode materials for electrochemical pseudocapacitor performance and can open an avenue to fabricate metal/metal oxide/rGO nanocomposites for electrochemical storage devices with both high energy and power densities.

Developments in time-resolved high pressure x-ray diffraction using rapid compression and decompression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, Jesse S.; Sinogeikin, Stanislav V.; Lin, Chuanlong; Rod, Eric; Bai, Ligang; Shen, Guoyin

2015-01-01

Complementary advances in high pressure research apparatus and techniques make it possible to carry out time-resolved high pressure research using what would customarily be considered static high pressure apparatus. This work specifically explores time-resolved high pressure x-ray diffraction with rapid compression and/or decompression of a sample in a diamond anvil cell. Key aspects of the synchrotron beamline and ancillary equipment are presented, including source considerations, rapid (de)compression apparatus, high frequency imaging detectors, and software suitable for processing large volumes of data. A number of examples are presented, including fast equation of state measurements, compression rate dependent synthesis of metastable states in silicon and germanium, and ultrahigh compression rates using a piezoelectric driven diamond anvil cell

Development and validation of a rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatography diode array detector method for Vitex agnus-castus.

Science.gov (United States)

Högner, C; Sturm, S; Seger, C; Stuppner, H

2013-05-15

A rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatography diode array detector (UHPLC-DAD) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of all classes of non-volatile phytochemicals (iridoids, flavonoids and diterpenes) in Vitex agnus-castus (Lamiaceae) fruits, a traditional medicinal plant used against premenstrual symptoms (PMS) and other disorders. Seven marker compounds, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, agnuside, 5-hydroxykaempferol-3,6,7,4'-tetramethylether, 1,2-dibenzoic acid glucose, methoxy-vitexilactone, and vitetrifolin D were isolated from the methanol extract of V. agnus-castus to be used as reference substances. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C18 (50mm×2.1mm) UHPLC column with 1.8μm particle size, within 20min. A solvent gradient from 0.5% acetic acid to acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.6mL/min was used as mobile phase. Analyte detection and quantification was realized at 210nm and 260nm. The UHPLC-DAD assay was validated for the quantitative analysis of agnuside, isovitexin, casticin, 5-hydroxykaempferol-3,6,7,4'-tetramethylether and vitetrifolin D. It was found to be specific, accurate, precise, and reproducible for the quantification of these compound within a concentration range of 0.7-500.0μg/mL for casticin and 5-hydroxykaempferol-3,6,7,4'-tetramethylether, 1.4-1000.0μg/mL for isovitexin and agnuside, and 12.4-1000.0μg/mL for vitetrifolin D. Intra- and inter-day variations showed relative standard deviations (RSD) of less than 3.9% and 6.4%, respectively. Tentatively assignment of 62 chromatographic features found in the UHPLC-DAD assay was carried out by coupling the UHPLC instrument to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer via an electrospray ionization interface (ESI-QTOF-MS) operated in positive and negative ion mode. By using the established quantitative UHPLC-DAD assay to asses agnuside, isovitexin, casticin, 5-hydroxykaempferol-3,6,7,4'-tetramethylether and

Rapid Sediment Accumulation Results in High Methane Effluxes from Coastal Sediments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Egger

Full Text Available Globally, the methane (CH4 efflux from the ocean to the atmosphere is small, despite high rates of CH4 production in continental shelf and slope environments. This low efflux results from the biological removal of CH4 through anaerobic oxidation with sulfate in marine sediments. In some settings, however, pore water CH4 is found throughout the sulfate-bearing zone, indicating an apparently inefficient oxidation barrier for CH4. Here we demonstrate that rapid sediment accumulation can explain this limited capacity for CH4 removal in coastal sediments. In a saline coastal reservoir (Lake Grevelingen, The Netherlands, we observed high diffusive CH4 effluxes from the sediment into the overlying water column (0.2-0.8 mol m-2 yr-1 during multiple years. Linear pore water CH4 profiles and the absence of an isotopic enrichment commonly associated with CH4 oxidation in a zone with high rates of sulfate reduction (50-170 nmol cm-3 d-1 both suggest that CH4 is bypassing the zone of sulfate reduction. We propose that the rapid sediment accumulation at this site (~ 13 cm yr-1 reduces the residence time of the CH4 oxidizing microorganisms in the sulfate/methane transition zone (< 5 years, thus making it difficult for these slow growing methanotrophic communities to build-up sufficient biomass to efficiently remove pore water CH4. In addition, our results indicate that the high input of organic matter (~ 91 mol C m-2 yr-1 allows for the co-occurrence of different dissimilatory respiration processes, such as (acetotrophic methanogenesis and sulfate reduction in the surface sediments by providing abundant substrate. We conclude that anthropogenic eutrophication and rapid sediment accumulation likely increase the release of CH4 from coastal sediments.

Hybrid nanostructured materials for high-performance electrochemical capacitors

KAUST Repository

Yu, Guihua

2013-03-01

The exciting development of advanced nanostructured materials has driven the rapid growth of research in the field of electrochemical energy storage (EES) systems which are critical to a variety of applications ranging from portable consumer electronics, hybrid electric vehicles, to large industrial scale power and energy management. Owing to their capability to deliver high power performance and extremely long cycle life, electrochemical capacitors (ECs), one of the key EES systems, have attracted increasing attention in the recent years since they can complement or even replace batteries in the energy storage field, especially when high power delivery or uptake is needed. This review article describes the most recent progress in the development of nanostructured electrode materials for EC technology, with a particular focus on hybrid nanostructured materials that combine carbon based materials with pseudocapacitive metal oxides or conducting polymers for achieving high-performance ECs. This review starts with an overview of EES technologies and the comparison between various EES systems, followed by a brief description of energy storage mechanisms for different types of EC materials. This review emphasizes the exciting development of both hybrid nanomaterials and novel support structures for effective electrochemical utilization and high mass loading of active electrode materials, both of which have brought the energy density of ECs closer to that of batteries while still maintaining their characteristic high power density. Last, future research directions and the remaining challenges toward the rational design and synthesis of hybrid nanostructured electrode materials for next-generation ECs are discussed. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Rapid kinematic finite source inversion for Tsunamic Early Warning using high rate GNSS data

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, K.; Liu, Z.; Song, Y. T.

2017-12-01

Recently, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been used for rapid earthquake source inversion towards tsunami early warning. In practice, two approaches, i.e., static finite source inversion based on permanent co-seismic offsets and kinematic finite source inversion using high-rate (>= 1 Hz) co-seismic displacement waveforms, are often employed to fulfill the task. The static inversion is relatively easy to be implemented and does not require additional constraints on rupture velocity, duration, and temporal variation. However, since most GNSS receivers are deployed onshore locating on one side of the subduction fault, there is very limited resolution on near-trench fault slip using GNSS in static finite source inversion. On the other hand, the high-rate GNSS displacement waveforms, which contain the timing information of earthquake rupture explicitly and static offsets implicitly, have the potential to improve near-trench resolution by reconciling with the depth-dependent megathrust rupture behaviors. In this contribution, we assess the performance of rapid kinematic finite source inversion using high-rate GNSS by three selected historical tsunamigenic cases: the 2010 Mentawai, 2011 Tohoku and 2015 Illapel events. With respect to the 2010 Mentawai case, it is a typical tsunami earthquake with most slip concentrating near the trench. The static inversion has little resolution there and incorrectly puts slip at greater depth (>10km). In contrast, the recorded GNSS displacement waveforms are deficit in high-frequency energy, the kinematic source inversion recovers a shallow slip patch (depth less than 6 km) and tsunami runups are predicted quite reasonably. For the other two events, slip from kinematic and static inversion show similar characteristics and comparable tsunami scenarios, which may be related to dense GNSS network and behavior of the rupture. Acknowledging the complexity of kinematic source inversion in real-time, we adopt the back

Rapid Thermal Annealing of Cathode-Garnet Interface toward High-Temperature Solid State Batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Boyang; Fu, Kun; Gong, Yunhui; Yang, Chunpeng; Yao, Yonggang; Wang, Yanbin; Wang, Chengwei; Kuang, Yudi; Pastel, Glenn; Xie, Hua; Wachsman, Eric D; Hu, Liangbing

2017-08-09

High-temperature batteries require the battery components to be thermally stable and function properly at high temperatures. Conventional batteries have high-temperature safety issues such as thermal runaway, which are mainly attributed to the properties of liquid organic electrolytes such as low boiling points and high flammability. In this work, we demonstrate a truly all-solid-state high-temperature battery using a thermally stable garnet solid-state electrolyte, a lithium metal anode, and a V 2 O 5 cathode, which can operate well at 100 °C. To address the high interfacial resistance between the solid electrolyte and cathode, a rapid thermal annealing method was developed to melt the cathode and form a continuous contact. The resulting interfacial resistance of the solid electrolyte and V 2 O 5 cathode was significantly decreased from 2.5 × 10 4 to 71 Ω·cm 2 at room temperature and from 170 to 31 Ω·cm 2 at 100 °C. Additionally, the diffusion resistance in the V 2 O 5 cathode significantly decreased as well. The demonstrated high-temperature solid-state full cell has an interfacial resistance of 45 Ω·cm 2 and 97% Coulombic efficiency cycling at 100 °C. This work provides a strategy to develop high-temperature all-solid-state batteries using garnet solid electrolytes and successfully addresses the high contact resistance between the V 2 O 5 cathode and garnet solid electrolyte without compromising battery safety or performance.

Behavioral Model of High Performance Camera for NIF Optics Inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hackel, B M

2007-01-01

The purpose of this project was to develop software that will model the behavior of the high performance Spectral Instruments 1000 series Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera located in the Final Optics Damage Inspection (FODI) system on the National Ignition Facility. NIF's target chamber will be mounted with 48 Final Optics Assemblies (FOAs) to convert the laser light from infrared to ultraviolet and focus it precisely on the target. Following a NIF shot, the optical components of each FOA must be carefully inspected for damage by the FODI to ensure proper laser performance during subsequent experiments. Rapid image capture and complex image processing (to locate damage sites) will reduce shot turnaround time; thus increasing the total number of experiments NIF can conduct during its 30 year lifetime. Development of these rapid processes necessitates extensive offline software automation -- especially after the device has been deployed in the facility. Without access to the unique real device or an exact behavioral model, offline software testing is difficult. Furthermore, a software-based behavioral model allows for many instances to be running concurrently; this allows multiple developers to test their software at the same time. Thus it is beneficial to construct separate software that will exactly mimic the behavior and response of the real SI-1000 camera

An energy-efficient high-performance processor with reconfigurable data-paths using RSFQ circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takagi, Naofumi

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► An idea of a high-performance computer using RSFQ circuits is shown. ► An outline of processor with reconfigurable data-paths (RDPs) is shown. ► Architectural details of an SFQ-RDP are described. -- Abstract: We show recent progress in our research on an energy-efficient high-performance processor with reconfigurable data-paths (RDPs) using rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuits. We mainly describe the architectural details of an RDP implemented using RSFQ circuits. An RDP consists of a lot of floating-point units (FPUs) and operand routing networks (ORNs) which connect the FPUs. We reconfigure the RDP to fit a computation, i.e., a group of floating-point operations, appearing in a ‘for’ loop of programs for numerical computations by setting the route in ORNs before the execution of the loop. In the RDP, a lot of FPUs work in parallel with pipelined fashion, and hence, very high-performance computation is achieved

Magnetic-Flux Pumping in High-Performance, Stationary Plasmas with Tearing Modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petty, C. C.; Austin, M. E.; Holcomb, C. T.; Jayakumar, R. J.; La Haye, R. J.; Luce, T. C.; Makowski, M. A.; Politzer, P. A.; Wade, M. R.

2009-01-01

Analysis of the change in the magnetic field pitch angles during edge localized mode events in high performance, stationary plasmas on the DIII-D tokamak shows rapid (<1 ms) broadening of the current density profile, but only when a m/n=3/2 tearing mode is present. This observation of poloidal magnetic-flux pumping explains an important feature of this scenario, which is the anomalous broadening of the current density profile that beneficially maintains the safety factor above unity and forestalls the sawtooth instability

Performance characteristics of bioassay, radioenzymatic assay, homogeneous enzyme immunoassay, and high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of serum gentamicin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delaney, C.J.; Opheim, K.E.; Smith, A.L.; Plorde, J.J.

1982-01-01

We compared the accuracy, precision, and between-method error of the microbiological assay, the radioenzymatic assay, the homogeneous enzyme immunoassay, and the high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the quantitation of gentamicin in serum. Precision and accuracy were evaluated by reference samples prepared to contain 0.0 to 32.7 micrograms of gentamicin per ml. Correlations between the methods utilized patient sera with gentamicin concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 13.3 micrograms/ml. All methods were reliable within acceptable limits for routine clinical use; intermethod correlation coefficients exceeded 0.96. Relative to the microbiological assay, the alternative methods offer the advantage of rapid analysis. The elapsed times for acquiring data on a set of 10 specimens under routine operating conditions were 0.5 h by the enzyme immunoassay, 4 h by the radioenzymatic assay, 5 h by the high-performance liquid chromatographic assay, and 10 h by the microbiological assay

High Performance Marine Vessels

CERN Document Server

Yun, Liang

2012-01-01

High Performance Marine Vessels (HPMVs) range from the Fast Ferries to the latest high speed Navy Craft, including competition power boats and hydroplanes, hydrofoils, hovercraft, catamarans and other multi-hull craft. High Performance Marine Vessels covers the main concepts of HPMVs and discusses historical background, design features, services that have been successful and not so successful, and some sample data of the range of HPMVs to date. Included is a comparison of all HPMVs craft and the differences between them and descriptions of performance (hydrodynamics and aerodynamics). Readers will find a comprehensive overview of the design, development and building of HPMVs. In summary, this book: Focuses on technology at the aero-marine interface Covers the full range of high performance marine vessel concepts Explains the historical development of various HPMVs Discusses ferries, racing and pleasure craft, as well as utility and military missions High Performance Marine Vessels is an ideal book for student...

Oxide thickness measurement for monitoring fuel performance at high burnup

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaeger, M.A.; Van Swam, L.F.P.; Brueck-Neufeld, K.

1991-01-01

For on-site monitoring of the fuel performance at high burnup, Advanced Nuclear Fuels uses the linear scan eddy current method to determine the oxide thickness of irradiated Zircaloy fuel cans. Direct digital data acquisition methods are employed to collect the data on magnetic storage media. This field-proven methodology allows oxide thickness measurements and rapid interpretation of the data during the reactor outages and makes it possible to immediately reinsert the assemblies for the next operating cycle. The accuracy of the poolside measurements and data acquisition/interpretation techniques have been verified through hot cell metallographic measurements of rods previously measured in the fuel pool. The accumulated data provide a valuable database against which oxide growth models have been benchmarked and allow for effective monitoring of fuel performance. (orig.) [de

Rapid isolation of biomarkers for compound specific radiocarbon dating using high-performance liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis-atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Smittenberg, Rienk H; Hopmans, Ellen C; Schouten, Stefan; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S

2002-11-29

Repeated semi-preparative normal-phase HPLC was performed to isolate selected biomarkers from sediment extracts for radiocarbon analysis. Flow injection analysis-mass spectrometry was used for rapid analysis of collected fractions to evaluate the separation procedure, taking only 1 min per fraction. In this way 100-1000 microg of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, sterol fractions and chlorophyll-derived phytol were isolated from typically 100 g of marine sediment, i.e., in sufficient quantities for radiocarbon analysis, without significant carbon isotopic fractionation or contamination.

Simultaneous determination of dapsone, monoacetyldapsone and pyrimethamine in whole blood and plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lemnge, M M; Rønn, A; Flachs, H

1993-01-01

A sensitive, selective and rapid reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of dapsone, monoacetyldapsone and pyrimethamine in human whole blood and plasma. The procedure involved extraction of the compounds and the internal standard...

JINR rapid communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

The present collection of rapid communications from JINR, Dubna, contains seven separate records on measurements of the total cross section difference Δσ L (np) at 1.59, 1.79, and 2.20 GeV, to the estimation of angular distributions of double charged spectator fragments in nucleus-nucleus interactions at superhigh energies, simulation dE/dx analysis results for silicon inner tracking system of ALICE set-up at LHC accelerator, high-multiplicity processes, triggering of high-multiplicity events using calorimetry, ORBIT-3.0 - a computer code for simulation and correction of the closed orbit and first turn in synchrotrons and determination of memory performance

Rapid diagnosis of equine influenza by highly sensitive silver amplification immunochromatography system.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamanaka, Takashi; Nemoto, Manabu; Bannai, Hiroshi; Tsujimura, Koji; Kondo, Takashi; Matsumura, Tomio; Fu, Tao Qi Huang; Fernandez, Charlene Judith; Gildea, Sarah; Cullinane, Ann

2017-06-16

Equine influenza (EI) is a respiratory disease caused by equine influenza A virus (EIV, H3N8) infection. Rapid diagnosis is essential to limit the disease spread. We previously reported that some rapid antigen detection (RAD) tests are fit for diagnosing EI although their sensitivity is not optimal. Here, we evaluated the performance of the newly developed RAD test using silver amplification immunochromatography (Quick Chaser Auto Flu A, B: QCA) to diagnose EI. The detection limits of QCA for EIVs were five-fold lower than the conventional RAD tests. The duration of virus antigen detection in the infected horses was longer than the conventional RAD tests. We conclude that QCA could be a valuable diagnostic method for EI.

Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Methylated and Non-Methylated Nucleic Acid Bases

OpenAIRE

Madyastha, Prema; Rao, Pratima; Deobagkar, DN; Madyastha, KM

1983-01-01

A high-performance liquid chromatographic sepration method is described for the detection of 5-methylcytosine and 6-methyladenine in nucleic acid ext. The bases were sepd. on a Waters $C18 \\mu$ Bondapak column with a water: methanol acetic acid system. Effluents were monitored by UV absorption at 254 nm. The bases were estd. by peak heights which are proportional to the amts. of the individual bases. The method is rapid, sensitive, easy to perform and reproducible.

Rapid and simple preparation of rhodamine 6G loaded HY zeolite for highly selective nitrite detection

Science.gov (United States)

Viboonratanasri, Duangkamon; Pabchanda, Suwat; Prompinit, Panida

2018-05-01

In this study, a simple, rapid and relatively less toxic method for rhodamine 6G dye adsorption on hydrogen-form Y-type zeolite for highly selective nitrite detection was demonstrated. The adsorption behavior was described by Langmuir isotherm and the adsorption process reached the equilibrium promptly within a minute. The developed test papers characterized by fluorescence technique display high sensing performance with wide working range (0.04-20.0 mg L-1) and high selectivity. The test papers show good reproducibility with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 7% for five replicated determinations of 3 mg L-1 of nitrite. The nitrite concentration determined by using the test paper was in the same range as using ion chromatography within a 95% confidence level. The test papers offer advantages in terms of low cost and practical usage enabling them to be a promising candidate for nitrite sensor in environmental samples, food, and fertilizers.

OpenMSI: A High-Performance Web-Based Platform for Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rubel, Oliver; Greiner, Annette; Cholia, Shreyas; Louie, Katherine; Bethel, E. Wes; Northen, Trent R.; Bowen, Benjamin P.

2013-10-02

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables researchers to directly probe endogenous molecules directly within the architecture of the biological matrix. Unfortunately, efficient access, management, and analysis of the data generated by MSI approaches remain major challenges to this rapidly developing field. Despite the availability of numerous dedicated file formats and software packages, it is a widely held viewpoint that the biggest challenge is simply opening, sharing, and analyzing a file without loss of information. Here we present OpenMSI, a software framework and platform that addresses these challenges via an advanced, high-performance, extensible file format and Web API for remote data access (http://openmsi.nersc.gov). The OpenMSI file format supports storage of raw MSI data, metadata, and derived analyses in a single, self-describing format based on HDF5 and is supported by a large range of analysis software (e.g., Matlab and R) and programming languages (e.g., C++, Fortran, and Python). Careful optimization of the storage layout of MSI data sets using chunking, compression, and data replication accelerates common, selective data access operations while minimizing data storage requirements and are critical enablers of rapid data I/O. The OpenMSI file format has shown to provide >2000-fold improvement for image access operations, enabling spectrum and image retrieval in less than 0.3 s across the Internet even for 50 GB MSI data sets. To make remote high-performance compute resources accessible for analysis and to facilitate data sharing and collaboration, we describe an easy-to-use yet powerful Web API, enabling fast and convenient access to MSI data, metadata, and derived analysis results stored remotely to facilitate high-performance data analysis and enable implementation of Web based data sharing, visualization, and analysis.

Novel strategy for the determination of illegal adulterants in health foods and herbal medicines using high-performance liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhe; Wu, Caisheng; Wang, Gangli; Zhang, Qingsheng; Zhang, Jinlan

2015-03-01

The detection, confirmation, and quantification of multiple illegal adulterants in health foods and herbal medicines by using a single analytical method are a challenge. This paper reports on a new strategy to meet this challenge by employing high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry and a mass spectral tree similarity filter technique. This analytical method can rapidly collect high-resolution, high-accuracy, optionally multistage mass data for compounds in samples. After a preliminary screening by retention time and high-resolution mass spectral data, known illegal adulterants can be detected. The mass spectral tree similarity filter technique has been applied to rapidly confirm these adulterants and simultaneously discover unknown ones. By using full-scan mass spectra as stem and data-dependent subsequent stage mass spectra to form branches, mass spectrometry data from detected compounds are converted into mass spectral trees. The known or unknown illegal adulterants in the samples are confirmed or discovered based on the similarity between their mass spectral trees and those of the references in a library, and they are finally quantified against standard curves. This new strategy has been tested by using 50 samples, and the illegal adulterants were rapidly and effectively detected, confirmed and quantified. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Iron oxyhydroxide nanorods with high electrochemical reactivity as a sensitive and rapid determination platform for 4-chlorophenol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Yuanyuan [Key Laboratory for Material Chemistry of Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics at Wuhan, National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Systems Biology Theme, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Cheng, Qin; Zheng, Meng [Key Laboratory for Material Chemistry of Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Liu, Xin [Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics at Wuhan, National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Systems Biology Theme, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Wu, Kangbing, E-mail: kbwu@hust.edu.cn [Key Laboratory for Material Chemistry of Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Prepared FeOOH nanorods exhibited high reactivity toward the oxidation of 4-CP. • Response signals and detection sensitivity of 4-CP increased greatly by FeOOH. • Highly-sensitive and rapid determination platform was developed for 4-CP. • Practical application in water samples was studied, and the accuracy was good. - Abstract: Iron oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) nanorods were prepared through solvothermal reaction, and characterized using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Thereafter, the prepared FeOOH nanorods were used as sensing material to construct a novel detection platform for 4-chlorophenol (4-CP). The electrochemical behaviors of 4-CP were studied, and the oxidation peak currents increased greatly on the surface of FeOOH nanorods. The signal enhancement mechanism was studied for 4-CP, and it was found that the prepared FeOOH nanorods remarkably improved the electron transfer ability and surface adsorption efficiency of 4-CP. The influences of pH value, amount of FeOOH nanorods and accumulation time were examined. As a result, a highly-sensitive electrochemical method was developed for the rapid determination of 4-CP. The linear range was from 10 to 500 nM, and the detection limit was 3.2 nM. It was used in different water samples, and the results consisted with the values that obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography.

High performance systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vigil, M.B. [comp.

1995-03-01

This document provides a written compilation of the presentations and viewgraphs from the 1994 Conference on High Speed Computing given at the High Speed Computing Conference, {open_quotes}High Performance Systems,{close_quotes} held at Gleneden Beach, Oregon, on April 18 through 21, 1994.

Rapid Recombination Mapping for High-Throughput Genetic Screens in Drosophila

OpenAIRE

Sapiro, Anne L.; Ihry, Robert J.; Buhr, Derek L.; Konieczko, Kevin M.; Ives, Sarah M.; Engstrom, Anna K.; Wleklinski, Nicholas P.; Kopish, Kristin J.; Bashirullah, Arash

2013-01-01

Mutagenesis screens are a staple of classical genetics. Chemical-induced mutations, however, are often difficult and time-consuming to identify. Here, we report that recombination analysis with pairs of dominant visible markers provides a rapid and reliable strategy to map mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. This method requires only two generations and a total of six crosses in vials to estimate the genetic map position of the responsible lesion with high accuracy. This genetic map positio...

Performance of a Rapid-Scan Vacuum Michelson Interferometer at the NSLS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brierly, P.; Dumas, P.; Smith, M.; Williams, G.P.

2001-01-01

A commercial Nicolet Magna series rapid-scan Michelson Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) was installed in a vacuum housing and integrated into the U4IR beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The frequency reference laser was mounted outside vacuum, but the moving mirror mechanism and the dynamic alignment system for the fixed mirror were in vacuum. The performance of the instrument was measured in the usual way by measuring the repeatability of data collected under specific conditions of aperture, resolution and mirror scanning velocity. We briefly discuss the beamline design, to put the interferometer in context, then present signal to noise data which we discuss in terms of both instrument performance and also storage ring stability. Under optimal conditions, the instrument has a reproducibility of 0.01% in 1 minute of measuring time at a resolution of 2 cmss, -1 , over a range from 100-3000 cm -1

High-throughput ultra high performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry approach for the rapid analysis and characterization of multiple constituents of the fruit of Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Yue; Zhang, Aihua; Sun, Hui; Zhang, Yingzhi; Meng, Xiangcai; Yan, Guangli; Liu, Liang; Wang, Xijun

2017-05-01

Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used to improve the function of skeleton, heart, spleen and kidney. This fruit is rich in nutrients, but the chemical constituents of Acanthopanax senticosus fruit are still unclear. A rapid method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry was developed for the compound analysis of Acanthopanax senticosus fruit in vitro and in vivo. In this study, the Acanthopanax senticosus fruit could significantly increase the weight of immune organs, promote the proliferation of lymphatic T cells, regulate the lymphatic B cell function, and decrease the ability of natural killer cells. A total of 104 compounds of Acanthopanax senticosus fruit including lignans, flavones, triterpenoidsaponins, phenolic acids, and other constituents were identified. Among them, seven chemical compounds were reported for the first time in the Acanthopanax senticosus fruit. Compared with the serum sample of blank and dosed samples, 24 prototype compositions were characterized. The results of our experiment could be helpful to understand the complex compounds of Acanthopanax senticosus fruit in vitro and in vivo for further pharmacological activity studies. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of methadone hydrochloride oral solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Beasley, T H; Ziegler, H W

1977-12-01

A direct and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for methadone hydrochloride in a flavored oral solution dosage form is described. A syrup sample, one part diluted with three parts of water, is introduced onto a column packed with octadecylsilane bonded on 10 micrometer porous silica gel (reversed phase). A formic acid-ammonium formate-buffered mobile phase is linear programmed with acetonitrile. The absorbance is monitored continuously at 280 or 254 nm, using a flow-through, UV, double-beam photometer. An aqueous methadone hydrochloride solution is used for external standardization. The relative standard deviation was not more than 1.0%. Drug recovery from a syrup base was better than 99.8%.

Research and Development of Rapid Design Systems for Aerospace Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Schaeffer, Harry G.

1999-01-01

This report describes the results of research activities associated with the development of rapid design systems for aerospace structures in support of the Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE). The specific subsystems investigated were the interface between model assembly and analysis; and, the high performance NASA GPS equation solver software system in the Windows NT environment on low cost high-performance PCs.

Rapid extraction of genomic DNA from medically important yeasts and filamentous fungi by high-speed cell disruption.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, F M; Werner, K E; Kasai, M; Francesconi, A; Chanock, S J; Walsh, T J

1998-06-01

Current methods of DNA extraction from different fungal pathogens are often time-consuming and require the use of toxic chemicals. DNA isolation from some fungal organisms is difficult due to cell walls or capsules that are not readily susceptible to lysis. We therefore investigated a new and rapid DNA isolation method using high-speed cell disruption (HSCD) incorporating chaotropic reagents and lysing matrices in comparison to standard phenol-chloroform (PC) extraction protocols for isolation of DNA from three medically important yeasts (Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Trichosporon beigelii) and two filamentous fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus and Fusarium solani). Additional extractions by HSCD were performed on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pseudallescheria boydii, and Rhizopus arrhizus. Two different inocula (10(8) and 10(7) CFU) were compared for optimization of obtained yields. The entire extraction procedure was performed on as many as 12 samples within 1 h compared to 6 h for PC extraction. In comparison to the PC procedure, HSCD DNA extraction demonstrated significantly greater yields for 10(8) CFU of C. albicans, T. beigelii, A. fumigatus, and F. solani (P extraction and PC extraction. For 10(7) CFU of T. beigelii, PC extraction resulted in a greater yield than did HSCD (P fungi than for yeasts by the HSCD extraction procedure (P extraction procedure, differences were not significant. For all eight organisms, the rapid extraction procedure resulted in good yield, integrity, and quality of DNA as demonstrated by restriction fragment length polymorphism, PCR, and random amplified polymorphic DNA. We conclude that mechanical disruption of fungal cells by HSCD is a safe, rapid, and efficient procedure for extracting genomic DNA from medically important yeasts and especially from filamentous fungi.

A rapid mechanism to remobilize and homogenize highly crystalline magma bodies.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgisser, Alain; Bergantz, George W

2011-03-10

The largest products of magmatic activity on Earth, the great bodies of granite and their corresponding large eruptions, have a dual nature: homogeneity at the large scale and spatial and temporal heterogeneity at the small scale. This duality calls for a mechanism that selectively removes the large-scale heterogeneities associated with the incremental assembly of these magmatic systems and yet occurs rapidly despite crystal-rich, viscous conditions seemingly resistant to mixing. Here we show that a simple dynamic template can unify a wide range of apparently contradictory observations from both large plutonic bodies and volcanic systems by a mechanism of rapid remobilization (unzipping) of highly viscous crystal-rich mushes. We demonstrate that this remobilization can lead to rapid overturn and produce the observed juxtaposition of magmatic materials with very disparate ages and complex chemical zoning. What distinguishes our model is the recognition that the process has two stages. Initially, a stiff mushy magma is reheated from below, producing a reduction in crystallinity that leads to the growth of a subjacent buoyant mobile layer. When the thickening mobile layer becomes sufficiently buoyant, it penetrates the overlying viscous mushy magma. This second stage rapidly exports homogenized material from the lower mobile layer to the top of the system, and leads to partial overturn within the viscous mush itself as an additional mechanism of mixing. Model outputs illustrate that unzipping can rapidly produce large amounts of mobile magma available for eruption. The agreement between calculated and observed unzipping rates for historical eruptions at Pinatubo and at Montserrat demonstrates the general applicability of the model. This mechanism furthers our understanding of both the formation of periodically homogenized plutons (crust building) and of ignimbrites by large eruptions.

High resolution melting analysis: a rapid and accurate method to detect CALR mutations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Bilbao-Sieyro

Full Text Available The recent discovery of CALR mutations in essential thrombocythemia (ET and primary myelofibrosis (PMF patients without JAK2/MPL mutations has emerged as a relevant finding for the molecular diagnosis of these myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN. We tested the feasibility of high-resolution melting (HRM as a screening method for rapid detection of CALR mutations.CALR was studied in wild-type JAK2/MPL patients including 34 ET, 21 persistent thrombocytosis suggestive of MPN and 98 suspected secondary thrombocytosis. CALR mutation analysis was performed through HRM and Sanger sequencing. We compared clinical features of CALR-mutated versus 45 JAK2/MPL-mutated subjects in ET.Nineteen samples showed distinct HRM patterns from wild-type. Of them, 18 were mutations and one a polymorphism as confirmed by direct sequencing. CALR mutations were present in 44% of ET (15/34, 14% of persistent thrombocytosis suggestive of MPN (3/21 and none of the secondary thrombocytosis (0/98. Of the 18 mutants, 9 were 52 bp deletions, 8 were 5 bp insertions and other was a complex mutation with insertion/deletion. No mutations were found after sequencing analysis of 45 samples displaying wild-type HRM curves. HRM technique was reproducible, no false positive or negative were detected and the limit of detection was of 3%.This study establishes a sensitive, reliable and rapid HRM method to screen for the presence of CALR mutations.

The performance studies of DKDP crystals grown by a rapid horizontal growth method

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiaoyi; Qi, Hongji; Wang, Bin; Wang, Hu; Chen, Duanyang; Shao, Jianda

2018-04-01

A deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate (DKDP) crystal with about 70% deuterium level was grown by a rapid horizontal growth method with independent design equipment, which includes a continuous filtration system. The cooling program during crystal growth was designed according to a self-developed software to catch the size of growing crystal in real time. The crystal structure, optical performance and laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of this DKDP crystal were investigated in this paper. The deuterium concentration of the crystal was confirmed by the neutron diffraction technique, which was effective and available in determining a complete range of deuteration level. The dielectric property was measured to evaluate the perfection of the lattice. The transmittance and LIDT were carried out further to evaluate the optical and functional properties of this DKDP crystal grown in the rapid horizontal growth technique. All of the detailed characterization for DKDP figured out that the 70% deuterated KDP crystal grown in this way had relatively good qualities.

A simple, sensitive and rapid isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for determination and stability study of curcumin in pharmaceutical samples

Science.gov (United States)

Amanolahi, Farjad; Mohammadi, Ali; Kazemi Oskuee, Reza; Nassirli, Hooriyeh; Malaekeh-Nikouei, Bizhan

2017-01-01

Objective: This study was designed to develop and validate a new reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method based on Q2 (R1) International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline for determination of curcumin in pharmaceutical samples. Materials and Methods: The HPLC instrument method was optimized with isocratic elution with acetonitrile: ammonium acetate (45:55, v/v, pH 3.5), C18 column (150 mm×4.6 mm×5 µm particle size) and a flow rate of 1 ml/min in ambient condition and total retention time of 17 min. The volume of injection was set at 20 µl and detection was recorded at 425 nm. The robustness of the method was examined by changing the mobile phase composition, mobile phase pH, and flow rate. Results: The method was validated with respect to precision, accuracy and linearity in a concentration range of 2-100 µg/ml. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.25 and 0.5 µg/ml, respectively. The percentage of recovery was 98.9 to 100.5 with relative standard deviation (RSD) < 0.638%. Conclusion: The method was found to be simple, sensitive and rapid for determination of curcumin in pharmaceutical samples and had enough sensitivity to detect degradation product of curcumin produced under photolysis and hydrolysis stress condition. PMID:29062806

Hierarchically structured MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Zhipeng; Firdoz, Shaik; Ying-Xuan Yap, Esther; Li, Lan; Lu, Xianmao

2013-05-01

We report a hierarchical Ni@MnO2 structure consisting of MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors. The Ni@MnO2 structure, which was prepared via a facile electrodeposition method, is highly porous and appears like a forest of pine trees grown vertically on a substrate. At a MnO2 mass loading of 0.35 mg cm-2, the Ni@MnO2 electrode demonstrated a specific capacitance of 1125 F g-1 that is close to the theoretical value. In addition, a remarkable high-rate performance (766 F g-1 at a discharge current density of 100 A g-1) was achieved. Electrochemical tests in a two-electrode configuration for the Ni@MnO2 structure with a high MnO2 loading of 3.6 mg cm-2 showed a low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 1 Ω and a high specific power of 72 kW kg-1. This superior performance can be attributed to the highly porous and hierarchical structure of Ni@MnO2 that favors rapid diffusion of an electrolyte, highly conductive pathway for electron transport, and efficient material utilization.We report a hierarchical Ni@MnO2 structure consisting of MnO2 nanowires supported on hollow Ni dendrites for high-performance supercapacitors. The Ni@MnO2 structure, which was prepared via a facile electrodeposition method, is highly porous and appears like a forest of pine trees grown vertically on a substrate. At a MnO2 mass loading of 0.35 mg cm-2, the Ni@MnO2 electrode demonstrated a specific capacitance of 1125 F g-1 that is close to the theoretical value. In addition, a remarkable high-rate performance (766 F g-1 at a discharge current density of 100 A g-1) was achieved. Electrochemical tests in a two-electrode configuration for the Ni@MnO2 structure with a high MnO2 loading of 3.6 mg cm-2 showed a low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 1 Ω and a high specific power of 72 kW kg-1. This superior performance can be attributed to the highly porous and hierarchical structure of Ni@MnO2 that favors rapid diffusion of an electrolyte, highly

High-Amplitude, Rapid Photometric Variation of the New Polar Master OT J132104.0+560957.8

Science.gov (United States)

2015-02-05

HIGH-AMPLITUDE, RAPID PHOTOMETRIC VARIATION OF THE NEW POLAR MASTER OT J132104.04+560957.8 LITTLEFIELD, COLIN;1,2 GARNAVICH, PETER;1 MAGNO, KATRINA;1...18.5 during each photometric cycle, becoming so faint that we could no longer detect it. The data showed a period of roughly 91 minutes with each...TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2015 to 00-00-2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE High-Amplitude, Rapid Photometric Variation Of The New Polar Master OT

A simple, rapid and validated high-performance liquid chromatography method suitable for clinical measurements of human mercaptalbumin and non-mercaptalbumin.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasukawa, Keiko; Shimosawa, Tatsuo; Okubo, Shigeo; Yatomi, Yutaka

2018-01-01

Background Human mercaptalbumin and human non-mercaptalbumin have been reported as markers for various pathological conditions, such as kidney and liver diseases. These markers play important roles in redox regulations throughout the body. Despite the recognition of these markers in various pathophysiologic conditions, the measurements of human mercaptalbumin and non-mercaptalbumin have not been popular because of the technical complexity and long measurement time of conventional methods. Methods Based on previous reports, we explored the optimal analytical conditions for a high-performance liquid chromatography method using an anion-exchange column packed with a hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol gel. The method was then validated using performance tests as well as measurements of various patients' serum samples. Results We successfully established a reliable high-performance liquid chromatography method with an analytical time of only 12 min per test. The repeatability (within-day variability) and reproducibility (day-to-day variability) were 0.30% and 0.27% (CV), respectively. A very good correlation was obtained with the results of the conventional method. Conclusions A practical method for the clinical measurement of human mercaptalbumin and non-mercaptalbumin was established. This high-performance liquid chromatography method is expected to be a powerful tool enabling the expansion of clinical usefulness and ensuring the elucidation of the roles of albumin in redox reactions throughout the human body.

A Highly Sensitive Rapid Diagnostic Test for Chagas Disease That Utilizes a Recombinant Trypanosoma cruzi Antigen

Science.gov (United States)

Barfield, C. A.; Barney, R. S.; Crudder, C. H.; Wilmoth, J. L.; Stevens, D. S.; Mora-Garcia, S.; Yanovsky, M. J.; Weigl, B. H.; Yanovsky, J.

2011-01-01

Improved diagnostic tests for Chagas disease are urgently needed. A new lateral flow rapid test for Chagas disease is under development at PATH, in collaboration with Laboratorio Lemos of Argentina, which utilizes a recombinant antigen for detection of antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi. To evaluate the performance of this test, 375 earlier characterized serum specimens from a region where Chagas is endemic were tested using a reference test (the Ortho T. cruzi ELISA, Johnson & Johnson), a commercially available rapid test (Chagas STAT-PAK, Chembio), and the PATH–Lemos rapid test. Compared to the composite reference tests, the PATH–Lemos rapid test demonstrated an optimal sensitivity of 99.5% and specificity of 96.8%, while the Chagas STAT-PAK demonstrated a sensitivity of 95.3% and specificity of 99.5%. These results indicate that the PATH–Lemos rapid test shows promise as an improved and reliable tool for screening and diagnosis of Chagas disease. PMID:21342808

High-density Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductor prepared by rapid thermal melt processing

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, B. M.; Lalevic, B.; Kear, B. H.; McCandlish, L. E.; Safari, A.; Meskoob, M.

1989-10-01

A high quality, dense Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductor has been successfully synthesized by rapid thermal melt processing. Conventionally sintered pellets were melted at 1200 °C, cooled rapidly, and then annealed. As-melted samples exhibited semiconductor behavior, which upon annealing became superconducting at 115 K [Tc(zero)=105 K]. A detailed study of various processing techniques has been carried out.

Development of a high-performance image server using ATM technology

Science.gov (United States)

Do Van, Minh; Humphrey, Louis M.; Ravin, Carl E.

1996-05-01

The ability to display digital radiographs to a radiologist in a reasonable time has long been the goal of many PACS. Intelligent routing, or pre-fetching images, has become a solution whereby a system uses a set of rules to route the images to a pre-determined destination. Images would then be stored locally on a workstation for faster display times. Some PACS use a large, centralized storage approach and workstations retrieve images over high bandwidth connections. Another approach to image management is to provide a high performance, clustered storage system. This has the advantage of eliminating the complexity of pre-fetching and allows for rapid image display from anywhere within the hospital. We discuss the development of such a storage device, which provides extremely fast access to images across a local area network. Among the requirements for development of the image server were high performance, DICOM 3.0 compliance, and the use of industry standard components. The completed image server provides performance more than sufficient for use in clinical practice. Setting up modalities to send images to the image server is simple due to the adherence to the DICOM 3.0 specification. Using only off-the-shelf components allows us to keep the cost of the server relatively inexpensive and allows for easy upgrades as technology becomes more advanced. These factors make the image server ideal for use as a clustered storage system in a radiology department.

A rapid echocardiographic screening protocol for rheumatic heart disease in Samoa: a high prevalence of advanced disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Marvin; Allen, John; Naseri, Take; Gardner, Rebecca; Tolley, Dennis; Allen, Lori

2017-10-01

Echocardiography has been proposed as a method to screen children for rheumatic heart disease. The World Heart Federation has established guidelines for echocardiographic screening. In this study, we describe a rapid echocardiogram screening protocol according to the World Heart Federation guidelines in Samoa, endemic for rheumatic heart disease. We performed echocardiogram screening in schoolchildren in Samoa between 2013 and 2015. A brief screening echocardiogram was performed on all students. Children with predefined criteria suspicious for rheumatic hear diseases were referred for a more comprehensive echocardiogram. Complete echocardiograms were classified according to the World Heart Federation guidelines and severity of valve disease. Echocardiographic screening was performed on 11,434 children, with a mean age of 10.2 years; 51% of them were females. A total of 558 (4.8%) children underwent comprehensive echocardiography, including 49 students who were randomly selected as controls. Definite rheumatic heart disease was observed in 115 students (10.0 per 1000): 92 students were classified as borderline (8.0 per 1000) and 23 with CHD. Advanced disease was identified in 50 students (4.4 per 1000): 15 with severe mitral regurgitation, five with severe aortic regurgitation, 11 with mitral stenoses, and 19 with mitral and aortic valve disease. We successfully applied a rapid echocardiographic screening protocol to a large number of students over a short time period - 28 days of screening over a 3-year time period - to identify a high prevalence of rheumatic heart disease. We also reported a significantly higher rate of advanced disease compared with previously published echocardiographic screening programmes.

Evaluation of the diagnostic performance and operational characteristics of four rapid immunochromatographic syphilis tests in Burkina Faso.

Science.gov (United States)

Bocoum, Fadima Yaya; Ouédraogo, Henri; Tarnagda, Grissoum; Kiba, Alice; Tiendrebeogo, Simon; Bationo, Fabrice; Liestman, Benjamin; Diagbouga, Serge; Zarowsky, Christina; Traoré, Ramata Ouédraogo; Kouanda, Séni

2015-06-01

Little information is available on the rapid diagnostic testing for syphilis in Burkina Faso. The objectives of the study were (i) to assess the sensitivity and specificity of four on site rapid tests in comparison with Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA) as a gold standard and (ii) to evaluate the operational characteristics of those tests among health workers in a maternity unit. Four rapid syphilis tests commercially available in Burkina Faso were evaluated using archived serum samples and Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA) as the gold standard. Blood samples were collected between November 2011 and June 2012 from blood donors at the Regional Blood Transfusion Center of Ouagadougou. The sensitivity and specificity of the tests were calculated. Evaluation of operational characteristics such as clarity of pamphlet, complexity of technique, duration, was conducted in a first-level healthcare center with health workers in maternity unit. Alere DetermineTM Syphilis was the most sensitive of the four rapid syphilis tests evaluated. It was followed by SD Bioline Syphilis 3.0, Cypress Diagnostics Syphilis Quick test and Accu-Tell ® Rapid Anti-TP, which was the least sensitive. The four tests demonstrated a good diagnostic specificity for syphilis (95-98%), and healthcare workers found them easy to use. The study allowed confirming the good performance of three of four rapid syphilis tests in Burkina Faso. More research will be conducted to assess the feasibility of introducing selected rapid tests for syphilis in antenatal care services.

Rapid Rule-Out of Acute Myocardial Injury Using a Single High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin I Measurement.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandoval, Yader; Smith, Stephen W; Shah, Anoop S V; Anand, Atul; Chapman, Andrew R; Love, Sara A; Schulz, Karen; Cao, Jing; Mills, Nicholas L; Apple, Fred S

2017-01-01

Rapid rule-out strategies using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays are largely supported by studies performed outside the US in selected cohorts of patients with chest pain that are atypical of US practice, and focused exclusively on ruling out acute myocardial infarction (AMI), rather than acute myocardial injury, which is more common and associated with a poor prognosis. Prospective, observational study of consecutive patients presenting to emergency departments [derivation (n = 1647) and validation (n = 2198) cohorts], where high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) was measured on clinical indication. The negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic sensitivity of an hs-cTnI concentration rules out acute myocardial injury, regardless of etiology, with an excellent NPV and diagnostic sensitivity, and identifies patients at minimal risk of AMI or cardiac death at 30 days. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02060760. © 2016 American Association for Clinical Chemistry.

Rapid recombination mapping for high-throughput genetic screens in Drosophila.

Science.gov (United States)

Sapiro, Anne L; Ihry, Robert J; Buhr, Derek L; Konieczko, Kevin M; Ives, Sarah M; Engstrom, Anna K; Wleklinski, Nicholas P; Kopish, Kristin J; Bashirullah, Arash

2013-12-09

Mutagenesis screens are a staple of classical genetics. Chemical-induced mutations, however, are often difficult and time-consuming to identify. Here, we report that recombination analysis with pairs of dominant visible markers provides a rapid and reliable strategy to map mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. This method requires only two generations and a total of six crosses in vials to estimate the genetic map position of the responsible lesion with high accuracy. This genetic map position can then be reliably used to identify the mutated gene through complementation testing with an average of nine deficiencies and Sanger sequencing. We have used this approach to successfully map a collection of mutations from an ethyl methanesulfonate-based mutagenesis screen on the third chromosome. We propose that this method also may be used in conjunction with whole-genome sequencing, particularly when multiple independent alleles of the mutated locus are not available. By facilitating the rapid identification of mutated genes, our mapping strategy removes a primary obstacle to the widespread use of powerful chemical mutagenesis screens to understand fundamental biological phenomena.

Cloud archiving and data mining of High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecast model output

Science.gov (United States)

Blaylock, Brian K.; Horel, John D.; Liston, Samuel T.

2017-12-01

Weather-related research often requires synthesizing vast amounts of data that need archival solutions that are both economical and viable during and past the lifetime of the project. Public cloud computing services (e.g., from Amazon, Microsoft, or Google) or private clouds managed by research institutions are providing object data storage systems potentially appropriate for long-term archives of such large geophysical data sets. We illustrate the use of a private cloud object store developed by the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) at the University of Utah. Since early 2015, we have been archiving thousands of two-dimensional gridded fields (each one containing over 1.9 million values over the contiguous United States) from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) data assimilation and forecast modeling system. The archive is being used for retrospective analyses of meteorological conditions during high-impact weather events, assessing the accuracy of the HRRR forecasts, and providing initial and boundary conditions for research simulations. The archive is accessible interactively and through automated download procedures for researchers at other institutions that can be tailored by the user to extract individual two-dimensional grids from within the highly compressed files. Characteristics of the CHPC object storage system are summarized relative to network file system storage or tape storage solutions. The CHPC storage system is proving to be a scalable, reliable, extensible, affordable, and usable archive solution for our research.

Rapid Onset of Retinal Toxicity From High-Dose Hydroxychloroquine Given for Cancer Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Loh-Shan B; Neal, Joel W; Wakelee, Heather A; Sequist, Lecia V; Marmor, Michael F

2015-10-01

To report rapid onset of retinal toxicity in a series of patients followed on high-dose (1000 mg daily) hydroxychloroquine during an oncologic clinical trial studying hydroxychloroquine with erlotinib for non-small cell lung cancer. Retrospective observational case series. Ophthalmic surveillance was performed on patients in a multicenter clinical trial testing high-dose (1000 mg daily) hydroxychloroquine for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The US Food & Drug Administration-recommended screening protocol included only visual acuity testing, dilated fundus examination, Amsler grid testing, and color vision testing. In patients seen at Stanford, additional sensitive screening procedures were added at the discretion of the retinal physician: high-resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging, Humphrey visual field (HVF) testing, and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG). Out of the 7 patients having exposure of at least 6 months, 2 developed retinal toxicity (at 11 and 17 months of exposure). Damage was identified by OCT imaging, mfERG testing, and, in 1 case, visual field testing. Fundus autofluorescence imaging remained normal. Neither patient had symptomatic visual acuity loss. These cases show that high doses of hydroxychloroquine can initiate the development of retinal toxicity within 1-2 years. Although synergy with erlotinib is theoretically possible, there are no prior reports of erlotinib-associated retinal toxicity despite over a decade of use in oncology. These results also suggest that sensitive retinal screening tests should be added to ongoing and future clinical trials involving high-dose hydroxychloroquine to improve safety monitoring and preservation of vision. Published by Elsevier Inc.

[Screening and confirmation of 24 hormones in cosmetics by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhaoyong; Wang, Fengmei; Niu, Zengyuan; Luo, Xin; Zhang, Gang; Chen, Junhui

2014-05-01

A method of ultra high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-LTQ/Orbitrap MS) was established to screen and confirm 24 hormones in cosmetics. Various cosmetic samples were extracted with methanol. The extract was loaded onto a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm x 2.1 mm, 1.7 microm) using a gradient elution of acetonitrile/water containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid for the separation. The accurate mass of quasi-molecular ion was acquired by full scanning of electrostatic field orbitrap. The rapid screening was carried out by the accurate mass of quasi-molecular ion. The confirmation analysis for targeted compounds was performed with the retention time and qualitative fragments obtained by data dependent scan mode. Under the optimal conditions, the 24 hormones were routinely detected with mass accuracy error below 3 x 10(-6) (3 ppm), and good linearities were obtained in their respective linear ranges with correlation coefficients higher than 0.99. The LODs (S/N = 3) of the 24 compounds were hormones in 50 cosmetic samples. The results demonstrate that the method is a useful tool for the rapid screening and identification of the hormones in cosmetics.

Quantum Dot-Fullerene Based Molecular Beacon Nanosensors for Rapid, Highly Sensitive Nucleic Acid Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ye; Kannegulla, Akash; Wu, Bo; Cheng, Li-Jing

2018-05-15

Spherical fullerene (C 60 ) can quench the fluorescence of a quantum dot (QD) through energy transfer and charge transfer processes, with the quenching efficiency regulated by the number of proximate C 60 on each QD. With the quenching property and its small size compared with other nanoparticle-based quenchers, it is advantageous to group a QD reporter and multiple C 60 -labeled oligonucleotide probes to construct a molecular beacon (MB) probe for sensitive, robust nucleic acid detection. We demonstrated a rapid, high-sensitivity DNA detection method using the nanosensors composed of QD-C 60 based MBs carried by magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The assay was accelerated by first dispersing the nanosensors in analytes for highly efficient DNA capture resulting from short-distance 3-dimensional diffusion of targets to the sensor surface and then concentrating the nanosensors to a substrate by magnetic force to amplify the fluorescence signal for target quantification. The enhanced mass transport enabled a rapid detection (< 10 min) with a small sample volume (1-10 µl). The high signal-to-noise ratio produced by the QD-C 60 pairs and magnetic concentration yielded a detection limit of 100 fM (~106 target DNA copies for a 10 µl analyte). The rapid, sensitive, label-free detection method will benefit the applications in point-of-care molecular diagnostic technologies.

High performance work practices, innovation and performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Frances; Newton, Cameron; Johnston, Kim

2013-01-01

Research spanning nearly 20 years has provided considerable empirical evidence for relationships between High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) and various measures of performance including increased productivity, improved customer service, and reduced turnover. What stands out from......, and Africa to examine these various questions relating to the HPWP-innovation-performance relationship. Each paper discusses a practice that has been identified in HPWP literature and potential variables that can facilitate or hinder the effects of these practices of innovation- and performance...

Analysis of the Constituents in “Zhu She Yong Xue Shuan Tong” by Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Combined with Preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin-Lin Wang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available “Zhu She Yong Xue Shuan Tong” lyophilized powder (ZSYXST, consists of a series of saponins extracted from Panax notoginseng, which has been widely used in China for the treatment of strokes. In this study, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS combined with preparative high performance liquid chromatography (PHPLC method was developed to rapidly identify both major and minor saponins in ZSYXST. Some high content components were removed through PHPLC in order to increase the sensitivity of the trace saponins. Then, specific characteristic fragment ions in both positive and negative mode were utilized to determine the types of aglycone, saccharide, as well as the saccharide chain linkages. As a result, 94 saponins, including 20 pairs of isomers and ten new compounds, which could represent higher than 98% components in ZSYXST, were identified or tentatively identified in commercial ZSYXST samples.

Rapid high temperature field test method for evaluation of geothermal calcite scale inhibitors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Asperger, R.G.

1982-08-01

A test method is described which allows the rapid field testing of calcite scale inhibitors in high- temperature geothermal brines. Five commercial formulations, chosen on the basis of laboratory screening tests, were tested in brines with low total dissolved solids at ca 500 F. Four were found to be effective; of these, 2 were found to be capable of removing recently deposited scale. One chemical was tested in the full-flow brine line for 6 wks. It was shown to stop a severe surface scaling problem at the well's control valve, thus proving the viability of the rapid test method. (12 refs.)

Dosimetric verification of RapidArc treatment delivery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korreman, Stine; Medin, Joakim; Kjaer-Kristoffersen, Flemming

2009-01-01

. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Nine treatment plans were generated in the Eclipse version 8.5 including the RapidArc optimizer for H&N and prostate cases. The plans were delivered to the Scandidos Delta4 cylindrical diode array phantom. First, the measured dose distributions were compared with the calculated......: Overall, good agreement was observed between measured and calculated doses in most cases with gamma values above 1 in >95% of measured points. The reproducibility of delivery was also very high. Gamma analysis between two consecutive runs of the same delivery plan generally showed gamma values above 1......: The delivery of RapidArc beam delivery has been verified to correspond well with calculated dose distributions for a number of different cases. The delivery was very reproducible, and was carried out with high stability of the accelerator performance....

Performance of a Micro-UAV lifting system built with the usage of rapid prototyping methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalewski, R T; Gumowski, K; Barczak, T; Godek, J

2014-01-01

This article presents results of the aerodynamic testing of a micro unmanned aerial vehicle rotor efficiency. The rotors were prepared as a set of two rotors in a counter-rotating ducted drive. Prototypes of the drives were made using two rapid prototyping techniques – FDM – fused deposition modelling method and SLS – selective laser sintering. Rotors were made then treated by introducing additional finishing cyanoacrylate coating and abrasive processing. Main differences between those models were observed in fan shape, porosity, surface roughness and mechanical properties – stiffness. An influence of these factors was observed on an aerodynamic efficiency. For the obtained prototypes both simulations and experimental testing were conducted with thrust, power, torque measurements, as well as the measurement of velocity and pressure distribution at the outlet of the duct. The results show the possibility of using rapid prototyping techniques to produce prototypes of drives operating in the low and medium Reynolds numbers (6000-60000), and the aerodynamic shape relevant factors affecting the preparation and performance of such drives. In addition, simulation studies were performed using the Fluent environment where experimental results were confronted with the results of simulation studies.

Anterior tension band plating for anterior tibial stress fractures in high-performance female athletes: a report of 4 cases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Borens, Olivier; Sen, Milan K.; Huang, Russel C.; Richmond, Jeffrey; Kloen, Peter; Jupiter, Jesse B.; Helfet, David L.

2006-01-01

Stress fracture of the anterior tibial cortex is an extremely challenging fracture to treat, especially in the high-performance female athlete who requires rapid return to competition. Previous reports have not addressed treating these fractures in the world-class athlete with anterior plating. We

Optimizing Performance of at-grade Intersection with Bus Rapid Transit Corridor and Heterogeneous Traffic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hemant Kumar Sharma

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Bus Rapid Transit (BRT has emerged as a preferred mode of public transport in various countries all over the world for its cost effectiveness in construction as well as in operation and maintenance. The rapid transit feature of BRT is seen as a solution to many traffic problems in these countries. However, in developing countries like India, the right -of-way for most of the roads is restricted and traffic is heterogeneous in nature. Provision of BRT in existing right -of-way reduces the capacity available for other motorized traffic. As the buses travel with a certain frequency on dedicated bus- ways, the dedicated corridor remains unused for most of the period when other traffic on motorized vehicle (MV lanes suffers from congestion. The problem gets severe at intersections. However, if buses are operated in mixed traffic it is no more rapid transit. Hence, a solution is required to address this problem and optimize the performance of traffic as a whole. This paper presents the effect if dedicated bus-ways end at a reasonable distance before the stop line at a busy signalized at-grade intersection, and bus lanes (beyond that are made available to all the motorized vehicular traffic (heterogeneous traffic at intersection. The performance evaluation is done in terms of average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle, vehicle throughput, average speed in network and emission of Carbon monoxide CO, mono-nitrogen oxides NOx and Volatile organic compounds (VOC. It is observed that availability of bus lanes to other motorized traffic for a reasonable distance before intersection considerably reduces the average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle and emission per vehicle, while there is an increase in vehicle throughput and average speed of all the vehicles in the network. Thus it results in reduction of congestion and performance enhancement of at-grade intersections and network. Results of

Rapid Identification of unstable acyl glucoside flavonoids of Oxytropis racemosa Turcz by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionisation/multi-stage mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Shuang; Zheng, Xiu-Ping; Liu, Wei-Dong; Du, Rui-Fang; Feng, Zi-Ming; Zhang, Pei-Cheng; Bi, Li-Fu

2013-02-01

Oxytropis racemosa Turcz is an important minority medicine that is used mainly to improve children's indigestion, especially in inner Mongolia and Tibet. Previous studies indicated that the characteristic constituents of this plant are acylated flavonoids. Rapidly identify the characteristic chemical constituents of O. racemosa by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionisation/multi-stage mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS(n) ) and suggest a useful method to control the quality of this medicinal plant. In the HPLC fingerprint, 32 flavonoids were tentatively identified by a detailed analysis of their mass spectra, UV spectra and retention times. Furthermore, 13 flavonoids were confirmed by comparison with previously isolated compounds obtained from O. racemosa. In total, 32 flavonoids, including 13 flavonoids with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric acid (HMG) moieties and four flavonoids with 3-malonyl moieties, were identified in the extract of O. racemosa. Among the compounds identified, 10 were characterised as new compounds for their particular acylated sugar moieties. The method described is effective for obtaining a comprehensive phytochemical profile of plants containing unstable acylated flavonoids. The method is also useful for constructing the chromatographic fingerprint of the minority medicine -O. racemosa Turcz for quality control. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rapid ILs-polishing Processes Toward Flexible Nanostructured Paper with Dually High Transparency and Haze.

Science.gov (United States)

Ou, Yanghao; Chen, Jinbo; Lu, Pengbo; Cheng, Fan; Lin, Meiyan; Su, Lingfeng; Li, Jun; Liu, Detao

2017-07-31

Biodegradable highly nanostructured paper has received great interest in past years due to its excellent optical properties which facilitate its wide applications in green flexible electronics and devices. However, energy and/or time-consuming procedure during the process of fabricating most nanostructured transparent paper are presently the main obstacle to their scalable production. In this work, we demonstrated a novel nanostructured paper with dually high transparency (∼91%) and high haze (∼89%) that was directly fabricated from original paper with rapid ILs-polishing processes. The whole fabricating time only requires 10 min. Compared to the previously reported nanopaper made of the isolated cellulose nanofibers by pure mechanical and/or chemical approaches, this work presented herein is devoted to use green ILs to polish directly the micrometer-sized fibrous paper into the nanostructured paper. This new method brings a rapid fabrication of transparent nanostructured paper while also retaining dual intriguing properties both in optical transmittance and haze. This work is capable of fabricating next-generation flexible and highly transparent and haze paper by a high-speed roll-to-roll manufacturing process with a much lower cost.

Rapid and sustained cost management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanson, D.

2009-01-01

Accenture helps clients develop comprehensive, process-driven strategies for rapid and sustained cost management that leverage deep insights and analytics. This approach enables companies to gain operating cost advantages by rationalizing, simplifying and automating current operating capabilities. It drives structural cost advantages by optimizing business mix, capital structure, organizational structure and geographic presence. This paper discussed how successful companies achieve high performance during times of economic turmoil. It also discussed the value of the winner's strategy in terms of rapid and sustained cost management (RSCM). It discussed how Accenture operates and its leveraged capabilities, improved efficiency, margins and cash flow while maintaining customer service levels. Building structural advantage and the Accenture difference were also discussed. It was concluded that RSCM is one vital way that Accenture can help companies achieve success. 4 figs

Mechanical Characterization of High-Performance Steel-Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites with Self-Healing Effect

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dong Joo; Kang, Seok Hee; Ahn, Tae-Ho

2014-01-01

The crack self-healing behavior of high-performance steel-fiber reinforced cement composites (HPSFRCs) was investigated. High-strength deformed steel fibers were employed in a high strength mortar with very fine silica sand to decreasing the crack width by generating higher interfacial bond strength. The width of micro-cracks, strongly affected by the type of fiber and sand, clearly produced the effects on the self-healing behavior. The use of fine silica sand in HPSFRCs with high strength deformed steel fibers successfully led to rapid healing owing to very fine cracks with width less than 20 μm. The use of very fine silica sand instead of normal sand produced 17%–19% higher tensile strength and 51%–58% smaller width of micro-cracks. PMID:28788471

Highly Conductive, Mechanically Robust, and Electrochemically Inactive TiC/C Nanofiber Scaffold for High-Performance Silicon Anode Batteries

KAUST Repository

Yao, Yan; Huo, Kaifu; Hu, Liangbing; Liu, Nian; Cha, Judy J.; McDowell, Matthew T.; Chu, Paul K.; Cui, Yi

2011-01-01

Silicon has a high specific capacity of 4200 mAh/g as lithium-ion battery anodes, but its rapid capacity fading due to >300% volume expansion and pulverization presents a significant challenge for practical applications. Here we report a core-shell TiC/C/Si inactive/active nanocomposite for Si anodes demonstrating high specific capacity and excellent electrochemical cycling. The amorphous silicon layer serves as the active material to store Li+, while the inactive TiC/C nanofibers act as a conductive and mechanically robust scaffold for electron transport during the Li-Si alloying process. The core-shell TiC/C/Si nanocomposite anode shows ∼3000 mAh g-1 discharge capacity and 92% capacity retention after 100 charge/discharge cycles. The excellent cycling stability and high rate performance could be attributed to the tapering of the nanofibers and the open structure that allows facile Li ion transport and the high conductivity and mechanical stability of the TiC/C scaffold. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Highly Conductive, Mechanically Robust, and Electrochemically Inactive TiC/C Nanofiber Scaffold for High-Performance Silicon Anode Batteries

KAUST Repository

Yao, Yan

2011-10-25

Silicon has a high specific capacity of 4200 mAh/g as lithium-ion battery anodes, but its rapid capacity fading due to >300% volume expansion and pulverization presents a significant challenge for practical applications. Here we report a core-shell TiC/C/Si inactive/active nanocomposite for Si anodes demonstrating high specific capacity and excellent electrochemical cycling. The amorphous silicon layer serves as the active material to store Li+, while the inactive TiC/C nanofibers act as a conductive and mechanically robust scaffold for electron transport during the Li-Si alloying process. The core-shell TiC/C/Si nanocomposite anode shows ∼3000 mAh g-1 discharge capacity and 92% capacity retention after 100 charge/discharge cycles. The excellent cycling stability and high rate performance could be attributed to the tapering of the nanofibers and the open structure that allows facile Li ion transport and the high conductivity and mechanical stability of the TiC/C scaffold. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

RavenDB high performance

CERN Document Server

Ritchie, Brian

2013-01-01

RavenDB High Performance is comprehensive yet concise tutorial that developers can use to.This book is for developers & software architects who are designing systems in order to achieve high performance right from the start. A basic understanding of RavenDB is recommended, but not required. While the book focuses on advanced topics, it does not assume that the reader has a great deal of prior knowledge of working with RavenDB.

A Pilot Stability Study of Dehydroepiandrosterone Rapid-dissolving Tablets Prepared by Extemporaneous Compounding.

Science.gov (United States)

Rush, Steven D; Vernak, Charlene; Zhao, Fang

2017-01-01

Dehydroepiandrosterone supplementation is used to treat a variety of conditions. Rapid-dissolving tablets are a relatively novel choice for compounded dehydroepiandrosterone dosage forms. While rapid-dissolving tablets offer ease of administration, there are uncertainties about the physical and chemical stability of the drug and dosage form during preparation and over long-term storage. This study was designed to evaluate the stability of dehydroepiandrosterone rapid-dissolving tablets just after preparation and over six months of storage. The Professional Compounding Centers of America rapid-dissolving tablet mold and base formula were used to prepare 10-mg strength dehydroepiandrosterone rapid-dissolving tablets. The formulation was heated at 100°C to 110°C for 30 minutes, released from the mold, and cooled at room temperature for 30 minutes. The resulting rapid-dissolving tablets were individually packaged in amber blister packs and stored in a stability chamber maintained at 25°C and 60% relative humidity. The stability samples were pulled at pre-determined time points for evaluation, which included visual inspection, tablet weight check, United States Pharmacopeia disintegration test, and stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography. The freshly prepared dehydroepiandrosterone rapiddissolving tablets exhibited satisfactory chemical and physical stability. Time 0 samples disintegrated within 40 seconds in water kept at 37°C. The high-performance liquid chromatographic results confirmed that the initial potency was 101.9% of label claim and that there was no chemical degradation from the heating procedure. Over six months of storage, there were no significant changes in visual appearance, physical integrity, or disintegration time for any of the stability samples. The high-performance liquid chromatographic results also indicated that dehydroepiandrosterone rapid-dissolving tablets retained >95% label claim with no detectable degradation

Rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry and chemometrics for high-throughput screening of growth promoters in meat producing animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Guitton, Yann; Dervilly-Pinel, Gaud; Jandova, Renata; Stead, Sara; Takats, Zoltan; Le Bizec, Bruno

2018-01-17

In a proof of concept perspective, Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) was explored for the direct analysis of meat samples from β-agonist treated livestock. In this context, the combination of REIMS with untargeted metabolomics was investigated to identify carcasses from treated animals on the basis of a modification of indirect metabolites profile. The REIMS analysis generated specific lipid profiles which enabled the differentiation of meat samples collected from pigs treated with ractopamine via their feeding regime. Furthermore, the strategy was found successful when tested on different muscle types (loin, shoulder and thigh), which further expands its applicability. Classification performances were greater than 95% accurate which fully answers requirements of a screening strategy. This research indicates that REIMS implemented in an untargeted-metabolomics workflow can be considered as a high-throughput and accurate strategy for real-time meat classification in relation to ractopamine (and wider β-agonists) treatment in pig production. This approach may subsequently be implemented as a rapid screening test, at the slaughterhouse or at border inspection points, to detect such practice.

Bringing high-performance computing to the biologist's workbench: approaches, applications, and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oehmen, C S; Cannon, W R

2008-01-01

Data-intensive and high-performance computing are poised to significantly impact the future of biological research which is increasingly driven by the prevalence of high-throughput experimental methodologies for genome sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, and other areas. Large centers such as NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information, The Institute for Genomic Research, and the DOE's Joint Genome Institute) have made extensive use of multiprocessor architectures to deal with some of the challenges of processing, storing and curating exponentially growing genomic and proteomic datasets, thus enabling users to rapidly access a growing public data source, as well as use analysis tools transparently on high-performance computing resources. Applying this computational power to single-investigator analysis, however, often relies on users to provide their own computational resources, forcing them to endure the learning curve of porting, building, and running software on multiprocessor architectures. Solving the next generation of large-scale biology challenges using multiprocessor machines-from small clusters to emerging petascale machines-can most practically be realized if this learning curve can be minimized through a combination of workflow management, data management and resource allocation as well as intuitive interfaces and compatibility with existing common data formats

A high frequency test bench for rapid single-flux-quantum circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engseth, H; Intiso, S; Rafique, M R; Tolkacheva, E; Kidiyarova-Shevchenko, A

2006-01-01

We have designed and experimentally verified a test bench for high frequency testing of rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuits. This test bench uses an external tunable clock signal that is stable in amplitude, phase and frequency. The high frequency external clock reads out the clock pattern stored in a long shift register. The clock pattern is consequently shifted out at high speed and split to feed both the circuit under test and an additional shift register in the test bench for later verification at low speed. This method can be employed for reliable high speed verification of RSFQ circuit operation, with use of only low speed read-out electronics. The test bench consists of 158 Josephson junctions and the occupied area is 3300 x 660 μm 2 . It was experimentally verified up to 33 GHz with ± 21.7% margins on the global bias supply current

High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the rapid analysis of pheophytins and pyropheophytins in virgin olive oil.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xueqi; Woodman, Michael; Wang, Selina C

2015-08-01

Pheophytins and pyropheophytin are degradation products of chlorophyll pigments, and their ratios can be used as a sensitive indicator of stress during the manufacturing and storage of olive oil. They increase over time depending on the storage condition and if the oil is exposed to heat treatments during the refining process. The traditional analysis method includes solvent- and time-consuming steps of solid-phase extraction followed by analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. We developed an improved dilute/fluorescence method where multi-step sample preparation was replaced by a simple isopropanol dilution before the high-performance liquid chromatography injection. A quaternary solvent gradient method was used to include a fourth strong solvent wash on a quaternary gradient pump, which avoided the need to premix any solvents and greatly reduced the oil residues on the column from previous analysis. This new method not only reduces analysis cost and time but shows reliability, repeatability, and improved sensitivity, especially important for low-level samples. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Performance of High Temperature Filter System for Radioactive Waste Vitrification Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Seung Chul; Hwang, Tae Won; Shin, Sang Won; Ha, Jong Hyun; Kim, Hey Suk; Park, So Jin

2004-01-01

Important operation parameters and performance of a high temperature ceramic candle filter system were evaluated through a series of demonstration tests at a pilot-scale vitrification plant. At the initial period of each test, due to the growth of dust cake on the surface of ceramic candles, the pressure drop across the filter media increased sharply. After that it became stable to a certain range and varied continuously proportion to the face velocity of off-gas. On the contrary, at the initial period of each test, the permeability of filter element decreased rapidly and then it became stable. Back flushing of the filter system was effective under the back flushing air pressure range of 3∼5 bar. Based on the dust concentrations measured by iso-kinetic dust sampling at the inlet and outlet point of HTF, the dust collection efficiency of HTF evaluated. The result met the designed performance value of 99.9%. During the demonstration tests including a hundred hour long test, no specific failure or problem affecting the performance of HTF system were observed.

High-performance computing using FPGAs

CERN Document Server

Benkrid, Khaled

2013-01-01

This book is concerned with the emerging field of High Performance Reconfigurable Computing (HPRC), which aims to harness the high performance and relative low power of reconfigurable hardware–in the form Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)–in High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. It presents the latest developments in this field from applications, architecture, and tools and methodologies points of view. We hope that this work will form a reference for existing researchers in the field, and entice new researchers and developers to join the HPRC community.  The book includes:  Thirteen application chapters which present the most important application areas tackled by high performance reconfigurable computers, namely: financial computing, bioinformatics and computational biology, data search and processing, stencil computation e.g. computational fluid dynamics and seismic modeling, cryptanalysis, astronomical N-body simulation, and circuit simulation.     Seven architecture chapters which...

Sandwich-like graphene/polypyrrole/layered double hydroxide nanowires for high-performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xuejin; Zhang, Yu; Xing, Wei; Li, Li; Xue, Qingzhong; Yan, Zifeng

2016-11-01

Electrode design in nanoscale is considered to be ultra-important to construct a superb capacitor. Herein, a sandwich-like composite was made by combining graphene/polypyrrole (GPPY) with nickel-aluminum layered double hydroxide nanowires (NiAl-NWs) via a facile hydrothermal method. This sandwich-like architecture is promising in energy storage applications due to three unique features: (1) the conductive GPPY substrate not only effectively prevents the layered double hydroxides species from aggregating, but also considerably facilitates the electron transmission; (2) the ultrathin NiAl-NWs ensure a maximum exposure of active Ni2+, which can improve the efficiency of rapid redox reactions even at high current densities; (3) the sufficient space between anisotropic NiAl-NWs can accommodate a large volume change of the nanowires to avoid their collapse or distortion during the reduplicative redox reactions. Keeping all these unique features in mind, when the as-prepared composite was applied to supercapacitors, it presented an enhanced capacitive performance in terms of high specific capacitance (845 F g-1), excellent rate performance (67% retained at 30 A g-1), remarkable cyclic stability (92% maintained after 5000 cycles) and large energy density (40.1 Wh·Kg-1). This accomplishment in the present work inspires an innovative strategy of nanoscale electrode design for high-rate performance supercapacitor electrodes containing pseuducapacitive metal oxide.

Effects of X irradiation and high field electron injection of the electrical properties of rapid thermal oxides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, W.K.; Seager, C.H.

1988-01-01

Rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) is a promising tool for fabricating the thin gate oxides (5 to 15 nm) that will be needed in future submicron integrated circuits, because of its inherently superior time-temperature control when compared to conventional oxidation methods. It is important to demonstrate that RTO can be used without adversely affecting the radiation hardness or high field properties of the oxide. Beyond this demonstration, rapid thermal processing makes it possible to determine more precisely how the kinetics of oxidation and post oxidation annealing affect the device properties. Information of this type should prove useful in modeling relevant defect formation mechanisms. The present paper is part of a systematic study of the effect of rapid thermal processing on the radiation and high field response of thin oxides

High-performance lithium-ion battery and symmetric supercapacitors based on FeCo₂O₄ nanoflakes electrodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamed, Saad Gomaa; Chen, Chih-Jung; Chen, Chih Kai; Hu, Shu-Fen; Liu, Ru-Shi

2014-12-24

A successive preparation of FeCo2O4 nanoflakes arrays on nickel foam substrates is achieved by a simple hydrothermal synthesis method. After 170 cycles, a high capacity of 905 mAh g(-1) at 200 mA g(-1) current density and very good rate capabilities are obtained for lithium-ion battery because of the 2D porous structures of the nanoflakes arrays. The distinctive structural features provide the battery with excellent electrochemical performance. The symmetric supercapacitor on nonaqueous electrolyte demonstrates high specific capacitance of 433 F g(-1) at 0.1 A g(-1) and 16.7 F g(-1) at high scan rate of 5 V s(-1) and excellent cyclic performance of 2500 cycles of charge-discharge cycling at 2 A g(-1) current density, revealing excellent long-term cyclability of the electrode even under rapid charge-discharge conditions.

Isocratic Solid Phase Extraction-Liquid Chromatography (SPE-LC) Interfaced to High-Performance Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Protein Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hørning, Ole B; Kjeldsen, Frank; Theodorsen, Søren

2008-01-01

the isocratic solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography (SPE-LC) technology for rapid separation ( approximately 8 min) of simple peptide samples. We now extend these studies to demonstrate the potential of SPE-LC separation in combination with a hybrid linear ion trap-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometer...

Coal-fired high performance power generating system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-07-01

The goals of the program are to develop a coal-fired high performance power generation system (HIPPS) by the year 2000 that is capable of > 47% thermal efficiency; NO[sub x] SO [sub x] and Particulates < 25% NSPS; Cost of electricity 10% lower; coal > 65% of heat input and all solid wastes benign. In order to achieve these goals our team has outlined a research plan based on an optimized analysis of a 250 MW[sub e] combined cycle system applicable to both frame type and aeroderivative gas turbines. Under the constraints of the cycle analysis we have designed a high temperature advanced furnace (HITAF) which integrates several combustor and air heater designs with appropriate ash management procedures. Most of this report discusses the details of work on these components, and the R D Plan for future work. The discussion of the combustor designs illustrates how detailed modeling can be an effective tool to estimate NO[sub x] production, minimum burnout lengths, combustion temperatures and even particulate impact on the combustor walls. When our model is applied to the long flame concept it indicates that fuel bound nitrogen will limit the range of coals that can use this approach. For high nitrogen coals a rapid mixing, rich-lean, deep staging combustor will be necessary. The air heater design has evolved into two segments: a convective heat exchanger downstream of the combustion process; a radiant panel heat exchanger, located in the combustor walls; The relative amount of heat transferred either radiatively or convectively will depend on the combustor type and the ash properties.

Rapid and highly resolving associative affective learning: convergent electro- and magnetoencephalographic evidence from vision and audition.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Christian; Bröckelmann, Ann-Kathrin; Rehbein, Maimu; Dobel, Christian; Junghöfer, Markus

2013-03-01

Various pathway models for emotional processing suggest early prefrontal contributions to affective stimulus evaluation. Yet, electrophysiological evidence for such rapid modulations is still sparse. In a series of four MEG/EEG studies which investigated associative learning in vision and audition using a novel MultiCS Conditioning paradigm, many different neutral stimuli (faces, tones) were paired with aversive and appetitive events in only two to three learning instances. Electrophysiological correlates of neural activity revealed highly significant amplified processing for conditioned stimuli within distributed prefrontal and sensory cortical networks. In both, vision and audition, affect-specific responses occurred in two successive waves of rapid (vision: 50-80 ms, audition: 25-65 ms) and mid-latency (vision: >130 ms, audition: >100 ms) processing. Interestingly, behavioral measures indicated that MultiCS Conditioning successfully prevented contingency awareness. We conclude that affective processing rapidly recruits highly elaborate and widely distributed networks with substantial capacity for fast learning and excellent resolving power. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High Performance Concrete

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Traian Oneţ

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the last studies and researches accomplished in Cluj-Napoca related to high performance concrete, high strength concrete and self compacting concrete. The purpose of this paper is to raid upon the advantages and inconveniences when a particular concrete type is used. Two concrete recipes are presented, namely for the concrete used in rigid pavement for roads and another one for self-compacting concrete.

Rapid word-learning in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children: effects of age, receptive vocabulary, and high-frequency amplification.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittman, A L; Lewis, D E; Hoover, B M; Stelmachowicz, P G

2005-12-01

This study examined rapid word-learning in 5- to 14-year-old children with normal and impaired hearing. The effects of age and receptive vocabulary were examined as well as those of high-frequency amplification. Novel words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz (typical of current amplification devices) and at 9 kHz. It was hypothesized that (1) the children with normal hearing would learn more words than the children with hearing loss, (2) word-learning would increase with age and receptive vocabulary for both groups, and (3) both groups would benefit from a broader frequency bandwidth. Sixty children with normal hearing and 37 children with moderate sensorineural hearing losses participated in this study. Each child viewed a 4-minute animated slideshow containing 8 nonsense words created using the 24 English consonant phonemes (3 consonants per word). Each word was repeated 3 times. Half of the 8 words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz and half were filtered at 9 kHz. After viewing the story twice, each child was asked to identify the words from among pictures in the slide show. Before testing, a measure of current receptive vocabulary was obtained using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). The PPVT-III scores of the hearing-impaired children were consistently poorer than those of the normal-hearing children across the age range tested. A similar pattern of results was observed for word-learning in that the performance of the hearing-impaired children was significantly poorer than that of the normal-hearing children. Further analysis of the PPVT and word-learning scores suggested that although word-learning was reduced in the hearing-impaired children, their performance was consistent with their receptive vocabularies. Additionally, no correlation was found between overall performance and the age of identification, age of amplification, or years of amplification in the children with hearing loss. Results also revealed a small increase in performance for both

HPTA: High-Performance Text Analytics

OpenAIRE

Vandierendonck, Hans; Murphy, Karen; Arif, Mahwish; Nikolopoulos, Dimitrios S.

2017-01-01

One of the main targets of data analytics is unstructured data, which primarily involves textual data. High-performance processing of textual data is non-trivial. We present the HPTA library for high-performance text analytics. The library helps programmers to map textual data to a dense numeric representation, which can be handled more efficiently. HPTA encapsulates three performance optimizations: (i) efficient memory management for textual data, (ii) parallel computation on associative dat...

Pressurized planar electrochromatography, high-performance thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography--comparison of performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Płocharz, Paweł; Klimek-Turek, Anna; Dzido, Tadeusz H

2010-07-16

Kinetic performance, measured by plate height, of High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Pressurized Planar Electrochromatography (PPEC) was compared for the systems with adsorbent of the HPTLC RP18W plate from Merck as the stationary phase and the mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and buffer solution. The HPLC column was packed with the adsorbent, which was scrapped from the chromatographic plate mentioned. An additional HPLC column was also packed with adsorbent of 5 microm particle diameter, C18 type silica based (LiChrosorb RP-18 from Merck). The dependence of plate height of both HPLC and PPEC separating systems on flow velocity of the mobile phase and on migration distance of the mobile phase in TLC system was presented applying test solute (prednisolone succinate). The highest performance, amongst systems investigated, was obtained for the PPEC system. The separation efficiency of the systems investigated in the paper was additionally confirmed by the separation of test component mixture composed of six hormones. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highly sensitive multianalyte immunochromatographic test strip for rapid chemiluminescent detection of ractopamine and salbutamol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Hongfei; Han, Jing; Yang, Shijia; Wang, Zhenxing; Wang, Lin; Fu, Zhifeng

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: A multianalyte immunochromatographic test strip was developed for the rapid detection of two β 2 -agonists. Due to the application of chemiluminescent detection, this quantitative method shows much higher sensitivity. - Highlights: • An immunochromatographic test strip was developed for detection of multiple β 2 -agonists. • The whole assay process can be completed within 20 min. • The proposed method shows much higher sensitivity due to the application of CL detection. • It is a portable analytical tool suitable for field analysis and rapid screening. - Abstract: A novel immunochromatographic assay (ICA) was proposed for rapid and multiple assay of β 2 -agonists, by utilizing ractopamine (RAC) and salbutamol (SAL) as the models. Owing to the introduction of chemiluminescent (CL) approach, the proposed protocol shows much higher sensitivity. In this work, the described ICA was based on a competitive format, and horseradish peroxidase-tagged antibodies were used as highly sensitive CL probes. Quantitative analysis of β 2 -agonists was achieved by recording the CL signals of the probes captured on the two test zones of the nitrocellulose membrane. Under the optimum conditions, RAC and SAL could be detected within the linear ranges of 0.50–40 and 0.10–50 ng mL −1 , with the detection limits of 0.20 and 0.040 ng mL −1 (S/N = 3), respectively. The whole process for multianalyte immunoassay of RAC and SAL can be completed within 20 min. Furthermore, the test strip was validated with spiked swine urine samples and the results showed that this method was reliable in measuring β 2 -agonists in swine urine. This CL-based multianalyte test strip shows a series of advantages such as high sensitivity, ideal selectivity, simple manipulation, high assay efficiency and low cost. Thus, it opens up new pathway for rapid screening and field analysis, and shows a promising prospect in food safety

Highly sensitive multianalyte immunochromatographic test strip for rapid chemiluminescent detection of ractopamine and salbutamol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gao, Hongfei; Han, Jing; Yang, Shijia; Wang, Zhenxing; Wang, Lin; Fu, Zhifeng, E-mail: fuzf@swu.edu.cn

2014-08-11

Graphical abstract: A multianalyte immunochromatographic test strip was developed for the rapid detection of two β{sub 2}-agonists. Due to the application of chemiluminescent detection, this quantitative method shows much higher sensitivity. - Highlights: • An immunochromatographic test strip was developed for detection of multiple β{sub 2}-agonists. • The whole assay process can be completed within 20 min. • The proposed method shows much higher sensitivity due to the application of CL detection. • It is a portable analytical tool suitable for field analysis and rapid screening. - Abstract: A novel immunochromatographic assay (ICA) was proposed for rapid and multiple assay of β{sub 2}-agonists, by utilizing ractopamine (RAC) and salbutamol (SAL) as the models. Owing to the introduction of chemiluminescent (CL) approach, the proposed protocol shows much higher sensitivity. In this work, the described ICA was based on a competitive format, and horseradish peroxidase-tagged antibodies were used as highly sensitive CL probes. Quantitative analysis of β{sub 2}-agonists was achieved by recording the CL signals of the probes captured on the two test zones of the nitrocellulose membrane. Under the optimum conditions, RAC and SAL could be detected within the linear ranges of 0.50–40 and 0.10–50 ng mL{sup −1}, with the detection limits of 0.20 and 0.040 ng mL{sup −1} (S/N = 3), respectively. The whole process for multianalyte immunoassay of RAC and SAL can be completed within 20 min. Furthermore, the test strip was validated with spiked swine urine samples and the results showed that this method was reliable in measuring β{sub 2}-agonists in swine urine. This CL-based multianalyte test strip shows a series of advantages such as high sensitivity, ideal selectivity, simple manipulation, high assay efficiency and low cost. Thus, it opens up new pathway for rapid screening and field analysis, and shows a promising prospect in food safety.

Detection of argan oil adulteration with vegetable oils by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Salghi, Rachid; Armbruster, Wolfgang; Schwack, Wolfgang

2014-06-15

Triacylglycerol profiles were selected as indicator of adulteration of argan oils to carry out a rapid screening of samples for the evaluation of authenticity. Triacylglycerols were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection. Different peak area ratios were defined to sensitively detect adulteration of argan oil with vegetable oils such as sunflower, soy bean, and olive oil up to the level of 5%. Based on four reference argan oils, mean limits of detection and quantitation were calculated to approximately 0.4% and 1.3%, respectively. Additionally, 19 more argan oil reference samples were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography-refractive index detection, resulting in highly comparative results. The overall strategy demonstrated a good applicability in practise, and hence a high potential to be transferred to routine laboratories. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid and highly informative diagnostic assay for H5N1 influenza viruses.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nader Pourmand

Full Text Available A highly discriminative and information-rich diagnostic assay for H5N1 avian influenza would meet immediate patient care needs and provide valuable information for public health interventions, e.g., tracking of new and more dangerous variants by geographic area as well as avian-to-human or human-to-human transmission. In the present study, we have designed a rapid assay based on multilocus nucleic acid sequencing that focuses on the biologically significant regions of the H5N1 hemagglutinin gene. This allows the prediction of viral strain, clade, receptor binding properties, low- or high-pathogenicity cleavage site and glycosylation status. H5 HA genes were selected from nine known high-pathogenicity avian influenza subtype H5N1 viruses, based on their diversity in biologically significant regions of hemagglutinin and/or their ability to cause infection in humans. We devised a consensus pre-programmed pyrosequencing strategy, which may be used as a faster, more accurate alternative to de novo sequencing. The available data suggest that the assay described here is a reliable, rapid, information-rich and cost-effective approach for definitive diagnosis of H5N1 avian influenza. Knowledge of the predicted functional sequences of the HA will enhance H5N1 avian influenza surveillance efforts.

Impacts of SST Patterns on Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Megi (2010)

Science.gov (United States)

Kanada, Sachie; Tsujino, Satoki; Aiki, Hidenori; Yoshioka, Mayumi K.; Miyazawa, Yasumasa; Tsuboki, Kazuhisa; Takayabu, Izuru

2017-12-01

Typhoon Megi (2010), a very intense tropical cyclone with a minimum central pressure of 885 hPa, was characterized by especially rapid intensification. We investigated this intensification process by a simulation experiment using a high-resolution (0.02° × 0.02°) three-dimensional atmosphere-ocean coupled regional model. We also performed a sensitivity experiment with a time-fixed sea surface temperature (SST). The coupled model successfully simulated the minimum central pressure of Typhoon Megi, whereas the fixed SST experiment simulated an excessively low minimum central pressure of 839 hPa. The simulation results also showed a close relationship between the radial SST profiles and the rapid intensification process. Because the warm sea increased near-surface water vapor and hence the convective available potential energy, the high SST in the eye region facilitated tall and intense updrafts inside the radius of maximum wind speed and led to the start of rapid intensification. In contrast, high SST outside this radius induced local secondary updrafts that inhibited rapid intensification even if the mean SST in the core region exceeded 29.0°C. These secondary updrafts moved inward and eventually merged with the primary eyewall updrafts. Then the storm intensified rapidly when the high SST appeared in the eye region. Thus, the changes in the local SST pattern around the storm center strongly affected the rapid intensification process by modulating the radial structure of core convection. Our results also show that the use of a high-resolution three-dimensional atmosphere-ocean coupled model offers promise for improving intensity forecasts of tropical cyclones.

NLO Vertex for a Forward Jet plus a Rapidity Gap at High Energies

CERN Document Server

Hentschinski, Martin; Murdaca, Beatrice; Vera, Agustín Sabio

2015-01-01

We present the calculation of the forward jet vertex associated to a rapidity gap (coupling of a hard pomeron to the jet) in the BFKL formalism at next-to-leading order (NLO). Real emission contributions are computed via Lipatov's effective action. The NLO jet vertex turns out to be finite within collinear factorization and allows, together with the NLO non-forward gluon Green's function, to perform NLO studies of jet production in diffractive events (e.g. Mueller-Tang dijets).

High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '15 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

CERN Document Server

Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

2016-01-01

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2015. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance. The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '17 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

CERN Document Server

Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael; HLRS 2017

2018-01-01

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2017. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance.The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

Simultaneous determination of acidic 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine metabolites and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stroomer, A. E.; Overmars, H.; Abeling, N. G.; van Gennip, A. H.

1990-01-01

We describe a simple and rapid quantitative method for the simultaneous determination of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine acid metabolites and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid. After solvent extraction from acidified urine, the acids are analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. For

PTF 12gzk—A rapidly declining, high-velocity type Ic radio supernova

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horesh, Assaf; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Corsi, Alessandra [Department of Physics, The George Washington University, 725 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 (United States); Frail, Dale A. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 0, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States); Cenko, S. Bradley [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Ben-Ami, Sagi; Gal-Yam, Avishay; Yaron, Ofer; Arcavi, Iair; Ofek, Eran O. [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel); Kasliwal, Mansi M. [Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, 5241 Broad Branch Road, Washington, DC 20008 (United States)

2013-11-20

Only a few cases of Type Ic supernovae (SNe) with high-velocity ejecta (≥0.2 c) have been discovered and studied. Here, we present our analysis of radio and X-ray observations of the Type Ic SN PTF 12gzk. The radio emission declined less than 10 days after explosion, suggesting SN ejecta expanding at high velocity (∼0.3 c). The radio data also indicate that the density of the circumstellar material (CSM) around the supernova is lower by a factor of ∼10 than the CSM around normal Type Ic SNe. PTF 12gzk may therefore be an intermediate event between a 'normal' SN Ic and a gamma-ray-burst-SN-like event. Our observations of this rapidly declining radio SN at a distance of 58 Mpc demonstrates the potential to detect many additional radio SNe, given the new capabilities of the Very Large Array (improved sensitivity and dynamic scheduling), which are currently missed, leading to a biased view of radio SNe Ic. Early optical discovery followed by rapid radio observations would provide a full description of the ejecta velocity distribution and CSM densities around stripped massive star explosions as well as strong clues about the nature of their progenitor stars.

PTF 12gzk—A rapidly declining, high-velocity type Ic radio supernova

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horesh, Assaf; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Corsi, Alessandra; Frail, Dale A.; Cenko, S. Bradley; Ben-Ami, Sagi; Gal-Yam, Avishay; Yaron, Ofer; Arcavi, Iair; Ofek, Eran O.; Kasliwal, Mansi M.

2013-01-01

Only a few cases of Type Ic supernovae (SNe) with high-velocity ejecta (≥0.2 c) have been discovered and studied. Here, we present our analysis of radio and X-ray observations of the Type Ic SN PTF 12gzk. The radio emission declined less than 10 days after explosion, suggesting SN ejecta expanding at high velocity (∼0.3 c). The radio data also indicate that the density of the circumstellar material (CSM) around the supernova is lower by a factor of ∼10 than the CSM around normal Type Ic SNe. PTF 12gzk may therefore be an intermediate event between a 'normal' SN Ic and a gamma-ray-burst-SN-like event. Our observations of this rapidly declining radio SN at a distance of 58 Mpc demonstrates the potential to detect many additional radio SNe, given the new capabilities of the Very Large Array (improved sensitivity and dynamic scheduling), which are currently missed, leading to a biased view of radio SNe Ic. Early optical discovery followed by rapid radio observations would provide a full description of the ejecta velocity distribution and CSM densities around stripped massive star explosions as well as strong clues about the nature of their progenitor stars.

High-Performance Operating Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharp, Robin

1999-01-01

Notes prepared for the DTU course 49421 "High Performance Operating Systems". The notes deal with quantitative and qualitative techniques for use in the design and evaluation of operating systems in computer systems for which performance is an important parameter, such as real-time applications......, communication systems and multimedia systems....

Tsunami Rapid Assessment Using High Resolution Images and Field Surveys: the 2010 , Central Chile, and the 2011, Tohoku Tsunamis

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Herrera, M.; Navarrete-Pacheco, J.; Lagos, M.; Arcas, D.

2013-12-01

Recent extreme tsunamis have shown their major socioeconomic impact and imprint in the coastal landscape. Extensive destruction, erosion, sediment transport and deposition resculpted coastal landscape within few minutes along hundreds of kilometers of the Central Chile, in 2010, and the Northeast coast of Japan, in 2011. In the central coast of Chile, we performed a post-tsunami survey a week after the tsunami due to access restrictions. Our observations focus on the inundation and geomorphic effects of the 2010 tsunami and included an air reconnaissance flight, analysis of pre- and post-event low fly air-photographs and Google Earth satellite images, together with ground reconnaissance and mapping in the field, including topographic transects, during a period of 13 days. Eyewitness accounts enabled us to confirm our observations on effects produced by the tsunami along ~ 500km along the coastline landscape in central Chile For the Tohoku case study, we assessed in a day tsunami inundation distances and runup heights using satellite data (very high resolution satellite images from the GeoEye1 satellite and from the DigitalGlobe worldview through the Google crisis response project, SRTM and ASTER GDEM) of the Tohoku region, Northeast Japan. Field survey data by Japanese, other international scientists and us validated our results. The rapid assessment of damage using high-resolution images has proven to be an excellent tool neccessary for effcient postsunami surveys as well as for rapid assessment of areas with access restrictions. All countries, in particular those with less access to technology and infrastructure, can benefit from the use of freely available satellite imagery and DEMs for an initial, pre-field survey, rapid estimate of inundated areas, distances and runup, tsunami effects in the coastal geomorphology and for assisting in hazard management and mitigation after a natural disaster. These data provide unprecedented opportunities for rapid assessment

OpenMM 7: Rapid development of high performance algorithms for molecular dynamics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Eastman

2017-07-01

Full Text Available OpenMM is a molecular dynamics simulation toolkit with a unique focus on extensibility. It allows users to easily add new features, including forces with novel functional forms, new integration algorithms, and new simulation protocols. Those features automatically work on all supported hardware types (including both CPUs and GPUs and perform well on all of them. In many cases they require minimal coding, just a mathematical description of the desired function. They also require no modification to OpenMM itself and can be distributed independently of OpenMM. This makes it an ideal tool for researchers developing new simulation methods, and also allows those new methods to be immediately available to the larger community.

Automatic performance estimation of conceptual temperature control system design for rapid development of real system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Yu Jin

2013-01-01

This paper presents an automatic performance estimation scheme of conceptual temperature control system with multi-heater configuration prior to constructing the physical system for achieving rapid validation of the conceptual design. An appropriate low-order discrete-time model, which will be used in the controller design, is constructed after determining several basic factors including the geometric shape of controlled object and heaters, material properties, heater arrangement, etc. The proposed temperature controller, which adopts the multivariable GPC (generalized predictive control) scheme with scale factors, is then constructed automatically based on the above model. The performance of the conceptual temperature control system is evaluated by using a FEM (finite element method) simulation combined with the controller.

Automatic performance estimation of conceptual temperature control system design for rapid development of real system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jang, Yu Jin [Dongguk University, GyeongJu (Korea, Republic of)

2013-07-15

This paper presents an automatic performance estimation scheme of conceptual temperature control system with multi-heater configuration prior to constructing the physical system for achieving rapid validation of the conceptual design. An appropriate low-order discrete-time model, which will be used in the controller design, is constructed after determining several basic factors including the geometric shape of controlled object and heaters, material properties, heater arrangement, etc. The proposed temperature controller, which adopts the multivariable GPC (generalized predictive control) scheme with scale factors, is then constructed automatically based on the above model. The performance of the conceptual temperature control system is evaluated by using a FEM (finite element method) simulation combined with the controller.

High performance flexible pH sensor based on carboxyl-functionalized and DEP aligned SWNTs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Lu; Shao, Jinyou; Li, Xiangming; Zhao, Qiang; Nie, Bangbang; Xu, Chuan; Ding, Haitao

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The flexible chemiresistive pH sensor based on two-terminal microsensors eliminating the need for a reference electrode, is simple in structure and can be fabricated on a variety of substrates such as PET, PI and PVC. • SWNTs as an ideal one dimensional material are carboxyl-functionalized to make the pH sensor show high sensitivity and outstanding flexibility for practical applications. • DEP technique is used to manipulate and position SWNTs into appropriate locations and desired formations to improve the metal-nanotube interface and highly rapid detection of pH value, resulting in better overall device performance. • Mechanical bendability of the pH sensor, which arises from the combination of flexible PET substrates and SWNTs, offer a significant improvement for applications that are difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional sensors on rigid substrates. - Abstract: The detection and control of the pH is very important in many biomedical and chemical reaction processes. A miniaturized flexible pH sensor that is light weight, robust, and conformable is very important in many applications, such as multifunctional lab-on-a-chip systems or wearable biomedical devices. In this work, we demonstrate a flexible chemiresistive pH sensor based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) aligned carboxyl-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Decorated carboxyl groups can react with hydrogen (H"+) and hydroxide (OH"−) ions, enabling the sensor to be capable of sensing the pH. DEP is used to deposit well-organized and highly aligned SWNTs in desired locations, which improves the metal-nanotube interface and highly rapid detection of the pH, resulting in better overall device performance. When pH buffer solutions are dropped onto such SWNTs, the H"+ and OH"− ions caninteract with the carboxyl groups and affect the generation of holes and electrons in the SWNTs, leading to resistance variations in the SWNTs. The results shows that the

High performance flexible pH sensor based on carboxyl-functionalized and DEP aligned SWNTs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Lu; Shao, Jinyou, E-mail: jyshao@mail.xjtu.edu.cn; Li, Xiangming; Zhao, Qiang; Nie, Bangbang; Xu, Chuan; Ding, Haitao

2016-11-15

Highlights: • The flexible chemiresistive pH sensor based on two-terminal microsensors eliminating the need for a reference electrode, is simple in structure and can be fabricated on a variety of substrates such as PET, PI and PVC. • SWNTs as an ideal one dimensional material are carboxyl-functionalized to make the pH sensor show high sensitivity and outstanding flexibility for practical applications. • DEP technique is used to manipulate and position SWNTs into appropriate locations and desired formations to improve the metal-nanotube interface and highly rapid detection of pH value, resulting in better overall device performance. • Mechanical bendability of the pH sensor, which arises from the combination of flexible PET substrates and SWNTs, offer a significant improvement for applications that are difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional sensors on rigid substrates. - Abstract: The detection and control of the pH is very important in many biomedical and chemical reaction processes. A miniaturized flexible pH sensor that is light weight, robust, and conformable is very important in many applications, such as multifunctional lab-on-a-chip systems or wearable biomedical devices. In this work, we demonstrate a flexible chemiresistive pH sensor based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) aligned carboxyl-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Decorated carboxyl groups can react with hydrogen (H{sup +}) and hydroxide (OH{sup −}) ions, enabling the sensor to be capable of sensing the pH. DEP is used to deposit well-organized and highly aligned SWNTs in desired locations, which improves the metal-nanotube interface and highly rapid detection of the pH, resulting in better overall device performance. When pH buffer solutions are dropped onto such SWNTs, the H{sup +} and OH{sup −} ions caninteract with the carboxyl groups and affect the generation of holes and electrons in the SWNTs, leading to resistance variations in the SWNTs. The results

Performance of rapid tests and algorithms for HIV screening in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Science.gov (United States)

Loukou, Y G; Cabran, M A; Yessé, Zinzendorf Nanga; Adouko, B M O; Lathro, S J; Agbessi-Kouassi, K B T

2014-01-01

Seven rapid diagnosis tests (RDTs) of HIV were evaluated by a panel group who collected serum samples from patients in Abidjan (HIV-1 = 203, HIV-2 = 25, HIV-dual = 25, HIV = 305). Kit performances were recorded after the reference techniques (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The following RDTs showed a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity higher than 99%: Determine, Oraquick, SD Bioline, BCP, and Stat-Pak. These kits were used to establish infection screening strategies. The combination with 2 or 3 of these tests in series or parallel algorithms showed that series combinations with 2 tests (Oraquick and Bioline) and 3 tests (Determine, BCP, and Stat-Pak) gave the best performances (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 100%). However, the combination with 2 tests appeared to be more onerous than the combination with 3 tests. The combination with Determine, BCP, and Stat-Pak tests serving as a tiebreaker could be an alternative to the HIV/AIDS serological screening in Abidjan.

Serine Protease Zymography: Low-Cost, Rapid, and Highly Sensitive RAMA Casein Zymography.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasumitsu, Hidetaro

2017-01-01

To detect serine protease activity by zymography, casein and CBB stain have been used as a substrate and a detection procedure, respectively. Casein zymography has been using substrate concentration at 1 mg/mL and employing conventional CBB stain. Although ordinary casein zymography provides reproducible results, it has several disadvantages including time-consuming and relative low sensitivity. Improved casein zymography, RAMA casein zymography, is rapid and highly sensitive. RAMA casein zymography completes the detection process within 1 h after incubation and increases the sensitivity at least by tenfold. In addition to serine protease, the method also detects metalloprotease 7 (MMP7, Matrilysin) with high sensitivity.

High performance fuel technology development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koon, Yang Hyun; Kim, Keon Sik; Park, Jeong Yong; Yang, Yong Sik; In, Wang Kee; Kim, Hyung Kyu [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-01-15

{omicron} Development of High Plasticity and Annular Pellet - Development of strong candidates of ultra high burn-up fuel pellets for a PCI remedy - Development of fabrication technology of annular fuel pellet {omicron} Development of High Performance Cladding Materials - Irradiation test of HANA claddings in Halden research reactor and the evaluation of the in-pile performance - Development of the final candidates for the next generation cladding materials. - Development of the manufacturing technology for the dual-cooled fuel cladding tubes. {omicron} Irradiated Fuel Performance Evaluation Technology Development - Development of performance analysis code system for the dual-cooled fuel - Development of fuel performance-proving technology {omicron} Feasibility Studies on Dual-Cooled Annular Fuel Core - Analysis on the property of a reactor core with dual-cooled fuel - Feasibility evaluation on the dual-cooled fuel core {omicron} Development of Design Technology for Dual-Cooled Fuel Structure - Definition of technical issues and invention of concept for dual-cooled fuel structure - Basic design and development of main structure components for dual- cooled fuel - Basic design of a dual-cooled fuel rod.

High-Throughput and Rapid Screening of Low-Mass Hazardous Compounds in Complex Samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jing; Liu, Qian; Gao, Yan; Wang, Yawei; Guo, Liangqia; Jiang, Guibin

2015-07-07

Rapid screening and identification of hazardous chemicals in complex samples is of extreme importance for public safety and environmental health studies. In this work, we report a new method for high-throughput, sensitive, and rapid screening of low-mass hazardous compounds in complex media without complicated sample preparation procedures. This method is achieved based on size-selective enrichment on ordered mesoporous carbon followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis with graphene as a matrix. The ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-8 can exclude interferences from large molecules in complex samples (e.g., human serum, urine, and environmental water samples) and efficiently enrich a wide variety of low-mass hazardous compounds. The method can work at very low concentrations down to part per trillion (ppt) levels, and it is much faster and more facile than conventional methods. It was successfully applied to rapidly screen and identify unknown toxic substances such as perfluorochemicals in human serum samples from athletes and workers. Therefore, this method not only can sensitively detect target compounds but also can identify unknown hazardous compounds in complex media.

Nitrogen conversion during rapid pyrolysis of coal and petroleum coke in a high-frequency furnace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan, Shuai; Zhou, Zhi-jie; Li, Jun; Wang, Fu-chen

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Use a high-frequency furnace to study N-conversion during rapid pyrolysis of coal. ► Scarcely reported N-conversion during rapid pyrolysis of petroleum coke was studied. ► Both of NH 3 and HCN can be formed directly from coal during rapid pyrolysis. ► NH 3 –N yields are higher than HCN–N yields in most conditions. ► NH 3 –N yields of petroleum coke increase with temperature and no HCN detected. -- Abstract: Rapid pyrolysis of three typical Chinese coals, lignite from Inner Mongolia, bituminous from Shenfu coalfield, and anthracite from Guizhou, as well as a petroleum coke were carried out in a drop-style high-frequency furnace. The reactor was induction coil heated and had a very small high-temperature zone, which could restrain secondary conversions of nitrogen products. The effects of temperature and coal rank on conversions of fuel-N to primary nitrogen products (char-N, HCN–N, NH 3 –N and (tar + N 2 )–N) have been investigated. The results showed that, the increasing temperature reduced the yields of char-N and promoted the conversion of fuel-N to N 2 . Char-N yields increased, while volatile-N yields decreased as the coal rank increased. In most of the conditions, NH 3 –N yields were higher than HCN–N yields during rapid pyrolysis of coal. In the case of petroleum coke, NH 3 –N yields increased gradually with the increasing temperature, but no HCN was detected. We argue that NH 3 –N can be formed directly through the primary pyrolysis without secondary reactions. Although volatile-N yields of lignite were higher than those of bituminous, yields of (HCN + NH 3 )–N in volatile-N of lignite were lower than those of bituminous. While the (HCN + NH 3 )–N yields of anthracite were the lowest of the three coals. Both of the (HCN + NH 3 )–N yields and (HCN + NH 3 )–N proportions in volatile-N of petroleum coke were lower than the three coals.

High performance homes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beim, Anne; Vibæk, Kasper Sánchez

2014-01-01

. Consideration of all these factors is a precondition for a truly integrated practice and as this chapter demonstrates, innovative project delivery methods founded on the manufacturing of prefabricated buildings contribute to the production of high performance homes that are cost effective to construct, energy...

The SUCCESS model for laboratory performance and execution of rapid molecular diagnostics in patients with sepsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dekmezian, Mhair; Beal, Stacy G; Damashek, Mary Jane; Benavides, Raul; Dhiman, Neelam

2015-04-01

Successful performance and execution of rapid diagnostics in a clinical laboratory hinges heavily on careful validation, accurate and timely communication of results, and real-time quality monitoring. Laboratories must develop strategies to integrate diagnostics with stewardship and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. We present a collaborative SUCCESS model for execution and monitoring of rapid sepsis diagnostics to facilitate timely treatment. Six months after execution of the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture (BC-GP) and the AdvanDx PNA-FISH assays, data were collected on 579 and 28 episodes of bacteremia and fungemia, respectively. Clinical testing was executed using a SUCCESS model comprising the following components: stewardship, utilization of resources, core strategies, concierge services, education, support, and surveillance. Stewardship needs were identified by evaluating the specialty services benefiting from new testing. Utilization of resources was optimized by reviewing current treatment strategies and antibiogram and formulary options. Core strategies consisted of input from infectious disease leadership, pharmacy, and laboratory staff. Concierge services included automated Micro-eUpdate and physician-friendly actionable reports. Education modules were user-specific, and support was provided through a dedicated 24/7 microbiology hotline. Surveillance was performed by daily audit by the director. Using the SUCCESS model, the turnaround time for the detailed report with actionable guidelines to the physician was ∼3 hours from the time of culture positivity. The overall correlation between rapid methods and culture was 94% (546/579). Discrepant results were predominantly contaminants such as a coagulase-negative staphylococci or viridans streptococci in mixed cultures. SUCCESS is a cost-effective and easily adaptable model for clinical laboratories with limited stewardship resources.

Strategy Guideline: High Performance Residential Lighting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holton, J.

2012-02-01

The Strategy Guideline: High Performance Residential Lighting has been developed to provide a tool for the understanding and application of high performance lighting in the home. The high performance lighting strategies featured in this guide are drawn from recent advances in commercial lighting for application to typical spaces found in residential buildings. This guide offers strategies to greatly reduce lighting energy use through the application of high quality fluorescent and light emitting diode (LED) technologies. It is important to note that these strategies not only save energy in the home but also serve to satisfy the homeowner's expectations for high quality lighting.

Optimum Combining for Rapidly Fading Channels in Ad Hoc Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Furman

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Research and technology in wireless communication systems such as radar and cellular networks have successfully implemented alternative design approaches that utilize antenna array techniques such as optimum combining, to mitigate the degradation effects of multipath in rapid fading channels. In ad hoc networks, these methods have not yet been exploited primarily due to the complexity inherent in the network's architecture. With the high demand for improved signal link quality, devices configured with omnidirectional antennas can no longer meet the growing need for link quality and spectrum efficiency. This study takes an empirical approach to determine an optimum combining antenna array based on 3 variants of interelement spacing. For rapid fading channels, the simulation results show that the performance in the network of devices retrofitted with our antenna arrays consistently exceeded those with an omnidirectional antenna. Further, with the optimum combiner, the performance increased by over 60% compared to that of an omnidirectional antenna in a rapid fading channel.

Flow-Based Systems for Rapid and High-Precision Enzyme Kinetics Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Supaporn Kradtap Hartwell

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Enzyme kinetics studies normally focus on the initial rate of enzymatic reaction. However, the manual operation of steps of the conventional enzyme kinetics method has some drawbacks. Errors can result from the imprecise time control and time necessary for manual changing the reaction cuvettes into and out of the detector. By using the automatic flow-based analytical systems, enzyme kinetics studies can be carried out at real-time initial rate avoiding the potential errors inherent in manual operation. Flow-based systems have been developed to provide rapid, low-volume, and high-precision analyses that effectively replace the many tedious and high volume requirements of conventional wet chemistry analyses. This article presents various arrangements of flow-based techniques and their potential use in future enzyme kinetics applications.

High performance conductometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saha, B.

2000-01-01

Inexpensive but high performance systems have emerged progressively for basic and applied measurements in physical and analytical chemistry on one hand, and for on-line monitoring and leak detection in plants and facilities on the other. Salient features of the developments will be presented with specific examples

High-performance, scalable optical network-on-chip architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Xianfang

The rapid advance of technology enables a large number of processing cores to be integrated into a single chip which is called a Chip Multiprocessor (CMP) or a Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) design. The on-chip interconnection network, which is the communication infrastructure for these processing cores, plays a central role in a many-core system. With the continuously increasing complexity of many-core systems, traditional metallic wired electronic networks-on-chip (NoC) became a bottleneck because of the unbearable latency in data transmission and extremely high energy consumption on chip. Optical networks-on-chip (ONoC) has been proposed as a promising alternative paradigm for electronic NoC with the benefits of optical signaling communication such as extremely high bandwidth, negligible latency, and low power consumption. This dissertation focus on the design of high-performance and scalable ONoC architectures and the contributions are highlighted as follow: 1. A micro-ring resonator (MRR)-based Generic Wavelength-routed Optical Router (GWOR) is proposed. A method for developing any sized GWOR is introduced. GWOR is a scalable non-blocking ONoC architecture with simple structure, low cost and high power efficiency compared to existing ONoC designs. 2. To expand the bandwidth and improve the fault tolerance of the GWOR, a redundant GWOR architecture is designed by cascading different type of GWORs into one network. 3. The redundant GWOR built with MRR-based comb switches is proposed. Comb switches can expand the bandwidth while keep the topology of GWOR unchanged by replacing the general MRRs with comb switches. 4. A butterfly fat tree (BFT)-based hybrid optoelectronic NoC (HONoC) architecture is developed in which GWORs are used for global communication and electronic routers are used for local communication. The proposed HONoC uses less numbers of electronic routers and links than its counterpart of electronic BFT-based NoC. It takes the advantages of

Broadband plasmonic silver nanoflowers for high-performance random lasing covering visible region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Qing

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Multicolor random lasing has broad potential applications in the fields of imaging, sensing, and optoelectronics. Here, silver nanoflowers (Ag NF with abundant nanogaps are fabricated by a rapid one-step solution-phase synthesis method and are first proposed as effective broadband plasmonic scatterers to achieve different color random lasing. With abundant nanogaps and spiky tips near the surface and the interparticle coupling effect, Ag NFs greatly enhance the local electromagnetic field and induce broadband plasmonic scattering spectra over the whole visible range. The extremely low working threshold and the high-quality factor for Ag NF-based random lasers are thus demonstrated as 0.24 MW cm−2 and 11,851, respectively. Further, coherent colorful random lasing covering the visible range is realized using the dye molecules oxazine (red, Coumarin 440 (blue, and Coumarin 153 (green, showing high-quality factor of more than 10,000. All these features show that Ag NF are highly efficient scatterers for high-performance coherent random lasing and colorful random lasers.

A Rapid and Efficient Method for Purifying High Quality Total RNA from Peaches (Prunus persica for Functional Genomics Analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LEE MEISEL

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Prunus persica has been proposed as a genomic model for deciduous trees and the Rosaceae family. Optimized protocols for RNA isolation are necessary to further advance studies in this model species such that functional genomics analyses may be performed. Here we present an optimized protocol to rapidly and efficiently purify high quality total RNA from peach fruits (Prunus persica. Isolating high-quality RNA from fruit tissue is often difficult due to large quantities of polysaccharides and polyphenolic compounds that accumulate in this tissue and co-purify with the RNA. Here we demonstrate that a modified version of the method used to isolate RNA from pine trees and the woody plant Cinnamomun tenuipilum is ideal for isolating high quality RNA from the fruits of Prunus persica. This RNA may be used for many functional genomic based experiments such as RT-PCR and the construction of large-insert cDNA libraries.

Highly-sensitive and rapid detection of ponceau 4R and tartrazine in drinks using alumina microfibers-based electrochemical sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuanyuan; Hu, Lintong; Liu, Xin; Liu, Bifeng; Wu, Kangbing

2015-01-01

Alumina microfibers were prepared and used to construct an electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of ponceau 4R and tartrazine. In pH 3.6 acetate buffer, two oxidation waves at 0.67 and 1.01 V were observed. Due to porous structures and large surface area, alumina microfibers exhibited high accumulation efficiency to ponceau 4R and tartrazine, and increased their oxidation signals remarkably. The oxidation mechanisms were studied, and their oxidation reaction involved one electron and one proton. The influences of pH value, amount of alumina microfibers and accumulation time were examined. As a result, a highly-sensitive, rapid and simple electrochemical method was newly developed for simultaneous detection of ponceau 4R and tartrazine. The detection limits were 0.8 and 2.0 nM for ponceau 4R and tartrazine. This new sensor was used in different drink samples, and the results consisted with the values that obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

JMorph: Software for performing rapid morphometric measurements on digital images of fossil assemblages

Science.gov (United States)

Lelièvre, Peter G.; Grey, Melissa

2017-08-01

Quantitative morphometric analyses of form are widely used in palaeontology, especially for taxonomic and evolutionary research. These analyses can involve several measurements performed on hundreds or even thousands of samples. Performing measurements of size and shape on large assemblages of macro- or microfossil samples is generally infeasible or impossible with traditional instruments such as vernier calipers. Instead, digital image processing software is required to perform measurements via suitable digital images of samples. Many software packages exist for morphometric analyses but there is not much available for the integral stage of data collection, particularly for the measurement of the outlines of samples. Some software exists to automatically detect the outline of a fossil sample from a digital image. However, automatic outline detection methods may perform inadequately when samples have incomplete outlines or images contain poor contrast between the sample and staging background. Hence, a manual digitization approach may be the only option. We are not aware of any software packages that are designed specifically for efficient digital measurement of fossil assemblages with numerous samples, especially for the purposes of manual outline analysis. Throughout several previous studies, we have developed a new software tool, JMorph, that is custom-built for that task. JMorph provides the means to perform many different types of measurements, which we describe in this manuscript. We focus on JMorph's ability to rapidly and accurately digitize the outlines of fossils. JMorph is freely available from the authors.

An optimized rapid bisulfite conversion method with high recovery of cell-free DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Shaohua; Long, Fei; Cheng, Juanbo; Huang, Daixin

2017-12-19

Methylation analysis of cell-free DNA is a encouraging tool for tumor diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis. Sensitivity of methylation analysis is a very important matter due to the tiny amounts of cell-free DNA available in plasma. Most current methods of DNA methylation analysis are based on the difference of bisulfite-mediated deamination of cytosine between cytosine and 5-methylcytosine. However, the recovery of bisulfite-converted DNA based on current methods is very poor for the methylation analysis of cell-free DNA. We optimized a rapid method for the crucial steps of bisulfite conversion with high recovery of cell-free DNA. A rapid deamination step and alkaline desulfonation was combined with the purification of DNA on a silica column. The conversion efficiency and recovery of bisulfite-treated DNA was investigated by the droplet digital PCR. The optimization of the reaction results in complete cytosine conversion in 30 min at 70 °C and about 65% of recovery of bisulfite-treated cell-free DNA, which is higher than current methods. The method allows high recovery from low levels of bisulfite-treated cell-free DNA, enhancing the analysis sensitivity of methylation detection from cell-free DNA.

Residue analysis of sixty pesticides in red swamp crayfish using QuEChERS with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

In this study, a multi-residue analytical method using QuEChERS extraction and dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) cleanup followed by high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was developed for rapid determination of 60 pesticide residues in whole crayfish a...

INL High Performance Building Strategy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jennifer D. Morton

2010-02-01

High performance buildings, also known as sustainable buildings and green buildings, are resource efficient structures that minimize the impact on the environment by using less energy and water, reduce solid waste and pollutants, and limit the depletion of natural resources while also providing a thermally and visually comfortable working environment that increases productivity for building occupants. As Idaho National Laboratory (INL) becomes the nation’s premier nuclear energy research laboratory, the physical infrastructure will be established to help accomplish this mission. This infrastructure, particularly the buildings, should incorporate high performance sustainable design features in order to be environmentally responsible and reflect an image of progressiveness and innovation to the public and prospective employees. Additionally, INL is a large consumer of energy that contributes to both carbon emissions and resource inefficiency. In the current climate of rising energy prices and political pressure for carbon reduction, this guide will help new construction project teams to design facilities that are sustainable and reduce energy costs, thereby reducing carbon emissions. With these concerns in mind, the recommendations described in the INL High Performance Building Strategy (previously called the INL Green Building Strategy) are intended to form the INL foundation for high performance building standards. This revised strategy incorporates the latest federal and DOE orders (Executive Order [EO] 13514, “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance” [2009], EO 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management” [2007], and DOE Order 430.2B, “Departmental Energy, Renewable Energy, and Transportation Management” [2008]), the latest guidelines, trends, and observations in high performance building construction, and the latest changes to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

High Performance Networks for High Impact Science

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott, Mary A.; Bair, Raymond A.

2003-02-13

This workshop was the first major activity in developing a strategic plan for high-performance networking in the Office of Science. Held August 13 through 15, 2002, it brought together a selection of end users, especially representing the emerging, high-visibility initiatives, and network visionaries to identify opportunities and begin defining the path forward.

High performance fuel technology development : Development of high performance cladding materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jeongyong; Jeong, Y. H.; Park, S. Y.

2012-04-01

The superior in-pile performance of the HANA claddings have been verified by the successful irradiation test and in the Halden research reactor up to the high burn-up of 67GWD/MTU. The in-pile corrosion and creep resistances of HANA claddings were improved by 40% and 50%, respectively, over Zircaloy-4. HANA claddings have been also irradiated in the commercial reactor up to 2 reactor cycles, showing the corrosion resistance 40% better than that of ZIRLO in the same fuel assembly. Long-term out-of-pile performance tests for the candidates of the next generation cladding materials have produced the highly reliable test results. The final candidate alloys were selected and they showed the corrosion resistance 50% better than the foreign advanced claddings, which is beyond the original target. The LOCA-related properties were also improved by 20% over the foreign advanced claddings. In order to establish the optimal manufacturing process for the inner and outer claddings of the dual-cooled fuel, 18 different kinds of specimens were fabricated with various cold working and annealing conditions. Based on the performance tests and various out-of-pile test results obtained from the specimens, the optimal manufacturing process was established for the inner and outer cladding tubes of the dual-cooled fuel

High-temperature electrochemical performance of low-cost La–Ni–Fe based hydrogen storage alloys with different preparation methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Qiannan [Department of Advanced Energy Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China); Zhu, Ding [Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China); Zhou, Wanhai; Zhong, Chenglin; Wu, Chaoling [Department of Advanced Energy Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China); Chen, Yungui, E-mail: ygchen60@aliyun.com [Department of Advanced Energy Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China); Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China)

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Effects of four different preparation processes were studied at 20/60 °C. • All NS + HT, RS and RS + HT processes can optimize the thermodynamic performance. • The HT process can provoke the precipitation of A{sub 2}B{sub 7} and leads to a poor cycling life. • Al exhibits the most remarkable dissolution for all the alloys, especially at 60 °C. - Abstract: In order to optimize the microstructure and high temperature electrochemical performances of low-cost AB{sub 5}-type Ml(NiMnAl){sub 4.2}Co{sub 0.3}Fe{sub 0.5} hydrogen storage electrode alloys, four different preparation methods including normal solidification (NS), normal solidification and 900 °C heat treatment (NS + HT), rapid solidification (RS), rapid solidification and 900 °C heat treatment (RS + HT) were adopted in this work. All alloys exhibit CaCu{sub 5} type hexagonal structure and there is a small amount of A{sub 2}B{sub 7} phase in NS + HT and RS + HT alloys. It is found the using of HT process can decrease the hydrogen equilibrium plateau pressure, the plateau slope and hysteresis at 40, 60 and 80 °C. The NS + HT and RS + HT alloys also possess better activation, high rate discharge performance, larger discharge capacity, but poor cycling performance due to the existence of A{sub 2}B{sub 7} phase which can accelerate dissolution of Ni, Mn and Fe elements in KOH alkaline electrolyte. The RS process can make alloy exhibit the best cycling performance especially at 60 °C.

Semiconductor industry: a survey of structure, conduct, and performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webbink, D.W.

1977-01-01

The study describes the structure, conduct, and performance of the semiconductor industry. The industry is characterized by a high rate of innovation and technological change, rapidly falling costs and prices, and rapidly rising sales in boom periods as well as large declines in sales in recession periods. These desirable performance characteristics take place in an industry that has moderately high domestic levels of concentration. However, there are many features that cause this industry to have behavior and performance that is markedly different from such highly concentrated industries as automobiles and steel. These features were investigated and are reported

Carbon nanomaterials for high-performance supercapacitors

OpenAIRE

Tao Chen; Liming Dai

2013-01-01

Owing to their high energy density and power density, supercapacitors exhibit great potential as high-performance energy sources for advanced technologies. Recently, carbon nanomaterials (especially, carbon nanotubes and graphene) have been widely investigated as effective electrodes in supercapacitors due to their high specific surface area, excellent electrical and mechanical properties. This article summarizes the recent progresses on the development of high-performance supercapacitors bas...

High performance of histidine-rich protein 2 based rapid diagnostic tests in French Guiana are explained by the absence of pfhrp2 gene deletion in P. falciparum.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mélanie Trouvay

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Care for malaria patients in endemic areas has been improved through the increasing use of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs. Most RDTs target the histidine-rich protein-2 antigen (PfHRP2 to detect P. falciparum, as it is abundant and shows great heat stability. However, their use in South America has been widely questioned following a recent publication that pinpoints the high prevalence of Peruvian field isolates lacking the gene encoding this protein. In the remote rural health centers of French Guiana, RDTs are the main diagnosis tools. Therefore, a study of PfHRP2 RDT performances and pfhrp2 genotyping was conducted to determine whether a replacement of the current pLDH-based kit could be considered. METHODS: The performance study compared the SD Malaria Ag test P.f/Pan® kit with the current gold standard diagnosis by microscopy. The prevalence of pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 deletions were evaluated from 221 P. falciparum isolates collected between 2009 and 2011 in French Guiana. RESULTS: Between January 2010 and August 2011, 960 suspected cases of malaria were analyzed using microscopy and RDTs. The sensitivity of the SD Malaria Ag test P.f/Pan® for detection of P. falciparum was 96.8% (95% CI: 90.9-99.3, and 86.0% (95% CI: 78.9-91.5 for the detection of P. vivax. No isolates (95% CI: 0-4.5 lacking either exon of the pfhrp2 gene were identified among the 221 P. falciparum isolates analyzed, but 7.4% (95% CI: 2.8-15.4 lacked the exon 2 part of the pfhrp3 gene. CONCLUSIONS: Field isolates lacking either exon of the pfhrp2 gene are absent in this western part of South America. Despite its sensibility to detect P. vivax, the SD Malaria Ag test P.f/Pan® kit is a satisfying alternative to microscopy in remote health centers, where it is difficult to provide highly skilled microscopists and to maintain the necessary equipment.

Characterization of E 471 food emulsifiers by high-performance thin-layer chromatography-fluorescence detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Oellig, Claudia; Brändle, Klara; Schwack, Wolfgang

2018-07-13

Mono- and diacylglycerol (MAG and DAG) emulsifiers, also known as food additive E 471, are widely used to adjust techno-functional properties in various foods. Besides MAGs and DAGs, E 471 emulsifiers additionally comprise different amounts of triacylglycerols (TAGs) and free fatty acids (FFAs). MAGs, DAGs, TAGs and FFAs are generally determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass selective detection, analyzing the individual representatives of the lipid classes. In this work we present a rapid and sensitive method for the determination of MAGs, DAGs, TAGs and FFAs in E 471 emulsifiers by high-performance thin-layer chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPTLC-FLD), including a response factor system for quantitation. Samples were simply dissolved and diluted with t-butyl methyl ether before a two-fold development was performed on primuline pre-impregnated LiChrospher silica gel plates with diethyl ether and n-pentane/n-hexane/diethyl ether (52:20:28, v/v/v) as the mobile phases to 18 and 75 mm, respectively. For quantitation, the plate was scanned in the fluorescence mode at UV 366/>400 nm, when the cumulative signal for each lipid class was used. Calibration was done with 1,2-distearin and amounts of lipid classes were calculated with response factors and expressed as monostearin, distearin, tristearin and stearic acid. Limits of detection and quantitation were 1 and 4 ng/zone, respectively, for 1,2-distearin. Thus, the HPTLC-FLD approach represents a simple, rapid and convenient screening alternative to HPLC and GC analysis of the individual compounds. Visual detection additionally enables an easy characterization and the direct comparison of emulsifiers through the lipid class pattern, when utilized as a fingerprint. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High performance liquid chromatography in pharmaceutical analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Branko Nikolin

2004-05-01

serum contains numerous endogenous compounds often present in concentrations much greater than those of analyte. Analiyte concentrations are often low, and in the case of drugs, the endogenous compounds are sometimes structurally very similar to the drug to be measured. The binding of drugs to the plasma protein also may occur which decreases the amount of free compound that is measured. To undertake the analyses of drugs and metabolites in body fluids the analyst is facet with several problems. The first problem is due to the complex nature of the body fluid, the drugs must be isolated by an extraction technique, which ideally should provide a relatively clean extract, and the separation system must be capable of resolving the drugs of interest from co extractives. All mentioned when we are using high performance liquid chromatography require good selections of detectors, good stationary phase, eluents and adequate program during separation. UV/VIS detector is the most versatile detector used in high performance liquid chromatography it is not always ideal since it is lack of specificity means high resolution of the analyte that may be required. UV detection is preferred since it offers excellent linearity and rapid quantitative analyses can be performed against a single standard of the drug being determined. Diode array and rapid scanning detector are useful for peak identification and monitoring peak purity but they are somewhat less sensitive then single wavelength detectors. In liquid chromatography some components may have a poor UV chromophores if UV detection is being used or be completely retained on the liquid chromatography column. Fluorescence and electrochemical detector are not only considerably more sensitive towed appropriate analytes but also more selective than UV detectors for many compounds. If at all possible fluorescence detectors are sensitive, stable, selective and easy to operate. It is selectivity shows itself in the lack of frontal

Clojure high performance programming

CERN Document Server

Kumar, Shantanu

2013-01-01

This is a short, practical guide that will teach you everything you need to know to start writing high performance Clojure code.This book is ideal for intermediate Clojure developers who are looking to get a good grip on how to achieve optimum performance. You should already have some experience with Clojure and it would help if you already know a little bit of Java. Knowledge of performance analysis and engineering is not required. For hands-on practice, you should have access to Clojure REPL with Leiningen.

Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schardt, J.F.

1998-01-01

Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

High performance bio-integrated devices

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dae-Hyeong; Lee, Jongha; Park, Minjoon

2014-06-01

In recent years, personalized electronics for medical applications, particularly, have attracted much attention with the rise of smartphones because the coupling of such devices and smartphones enables the continuous health-monitoring in patients' daily life. Especially, it is expected that the high performance biomedical electronics integrated with the human body can open new opportunities in the ubiquitous healthcare. However, the mechanical and geometrical constraints inherent in all standard forms of high performance rigid wafer-based electronics raise unique integration challenges with biotic entities. Here, we describe materials and design constructs for high performance skin-mountable bio-integrated electronic devices, which incorporate arrays of single crystalline inorganic nanomembranes. The resulting electronic devices include flexible and stretchable electrophysiology electrodes and sensors coupled with active electronic components. These advances in bio-integrated systems create new directions in the personalized health monitoring and/or human-machine interfaces.

Multicomponent mixed dopant optimization for rapid screening of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to atmospheric pressure photoionization high-resolution mass spectrometry

KAUST Repository

Sioud, Salim; Amad, Maan H.; Al-Talla, Zeyad

2012-01-01

with water-soluble organic solvents. In order to achieve a more efficient and less toxic dopant, a multicomponent mixed dopant was explored. METHODS A multicomponent mixed dopant for non-targeted rapid screening of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs

High Performance Macromolecular Material

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Forest, M

2002-01-01

.... In essence, most commercial high-performance polymers are processed through fiber spinning, following Nature and spider silk, which is still pound-for-pound the toughest liquid crystalline polymer...

A pilot study of omalizumab to facilitate rapid oral desensitization in high-risk peanut allergic patients

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Lynda C.; Rachid, Rima; LeBovidge, Jennifer; Blood, Emily; Mittal, Mudita; Umetsu, Dale T.

2015-01-01

Background Peanut allergy is a major public health problem that affects 1% of the population and has no effective therapy. Objective To examine the safety and efficacy of oraldesensitization in peanut allergic children in combination with a brief course of anti-IgE monoclonal antibody (omalizumab, Xolair). Methods We performed oral peanut desensitization in peanut allergic children at high risk for developing significant peanut-induced allergic reactions. Omalizumab was administered prior to and during oral peanut desensitization. Results We enrolled 13 children (median age, 10 years), with a median peanut-specific IgE of 229 kUA/L and a median total serum IgE of 621 kU/L, who failed an initial double-blind placebo controlled food challenge at doses 100 mg peanut flour. After pre-treatment with omalizumab, all subjects tolerated the initial 11 desensitization doses given on the first day, including the maximum dose of 500 mg peanut flour (cumulative dose, 992 mg, equivalent to >2 peanuts), requiring minimal or no rescue therapy. 12 subjects then reached the maximum maintenance dose of 4,000 mg peanut flour/day in a median time of 8 weeks, at which point omalizumab was discontinued. All 12 subjects continued on 4,000 mg peanut flour/day and subsequently tolerated a challenge with 8,000 mg peanut flour (equivalent to about 20 peanuts), or 160 to 400 times the dose tolerated before desensitization. During the study, 6 of the 13 subjects experienced mild or no allergic reactions; 6 subjects had Grade 2, and 2 subjects Grade 3 reactions, all of which responded rapidly to treatment. Conclusions Among children with high-risk peanut allergy, treatment with omalizumab may facilitate rapid oral desensitization, and qualitativelyimprove the desensitization process. PMID:24176117

A pilot study of omalizumab to facilitate rapid oral desensitization in high-risk peanut-allergic patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Lynda C; Rachid, Rima; LeBovidge, Jennifer; Blood, Emily; Mittal, Mudita; Umetsu, Dale T

2013-12-01

Peanut allergy is a major public health problem that affects 1% of the population and has no effective therapy. To examine the safety and efficacy of oral desensitization in peanut-allergic children in combination with a brief course of anti-IgE mAb (omalizumab [Xolair]). We performed oral peanut desensitization in peanut-allergic children at high risk for developing significant peanut-induced allergic reactions. Omalizumab was administered before and during oral peanut desensitization. We enrolled 13 children (median age, 10 years), with a median peanut-specific IgE level of 229 kU(A)/L and a median total serum IgE level of 621 kU/L, who failed an initial double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge at peanut flour doses of 100 mg or less. After pretreatment with omalizumab, all 13 subjects tolerated the initial 11 desensitization doses given on the first day, including the maximum dose of 500 mg peanut flour (cumulative dose, 992 mg, equivalent to >2 peanuts), requiring minimal or no rescue therapy. Twelve subjects then reached the maximum maintenance dose of 4000 mg peanut flour per day in a median time of 8 weeks, at which point omalizumab was discontinued. All 12 subjects continued on 4000 mg peanut flour per day and subsequently tolerated a challenge with 8000 mg peanut flour (equivalent to about 20 peanuts), or 160 to 400 times the dose tolerated before desensitization. During the study, 6 of the 13 subjects experienced mild or no allergic reactions, 5 subjects had grade 2 reactions, and 2 subjects had grade 3 reactions, all of which responded rapidly to treatment. Among children with high-risk peanut allergy, treatment with omalizumab may facilitate rapid oral desensitization and qualitatively improve the desensitization process. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schardt, J.F. [GE Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, NC (United States)

1998-07-01

Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

Carpet Aids Learning in High Performance Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Hurd, Frank

2009-01-01

The Healthy and High Performance Schools Act of 2002 has set specific federal guidelines for school design, and developed a federal/state partnership program to assist local districts in their school planning. According to the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), high-performance schools are, among other things, healthy, comfortable,…

Highly dispersed Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/polypyrrole nanocomposites for cost-effective, high-performance defluoridation using a magnetically controllable microdevice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Gang; Shi, Guoying; Mu, Qinghui; Zhang, Qinghong; Wang, Hongzhi; Li, Yaogang

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Highly dispersed CZFO/PPy nanocomposites are synthesized in microfluidic reactor. ► The as-synthesized nanocomposites behave as a high performance adsorbent. ► The magnetic microdevice has advantages over traditional methods for defluoridation. - Abstract: Highly dispersed Co 0.5 Zn 0.5 Fe 2 O 4 /polypyrrole (CZFO/PPy) nanocomposites with enhanced electromagnetic properties and large surface area were rapidly and controllably prepared using microfluidic reactors. A novel magnetically controllable microdevice using the new adsorbent in a highly dispersed form was assembled and used for fluoride adsorption. Compared with traditional adsorption methods, the device displayed high adsorption efficiency and capacity. The adsorbents were regenerated with no significant loss in defluoridation ability, which indicates that the device is a realistic and highly efficient alternative way of removing fluoride pollution at low cost.

Diurnal variation in the performance of rapid response systems: the role of critical care services-a review article.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundararajan, Krishnaswamy; Flabouris, Arthas; Thompson, Campbell

2016-01-01

The type of medical review before an adverse event influences patient outcome. Delays in the up-transfer of patients requiring intensive care are associated with higher mortality rates. Timely detection and response to a deteriorating patient constitute an important function of the rapid response system (RRS). The activation of the RRS for at-risk patients constitutes the system's afferent limb. Afferent limb failure (ALF), an important performance measure of rapid response systems, constitutes a failure to activate a rapid response team (RRT) despite criteria for calling an RRT. There are diurnal variations in hospital staffing levels, the performance of rapid response systems and patient outcomes. Fewer ward-based nursing staff at night may contribute to ALF. The diurnal variability in RRS activity is greater in unmonitored units than it is in monitored units for events that should result in a call for an RRT. RRT events include a significant abnormality in either the pulse rate, blood pressure, conscious state or respiratory rate. There is also diurnal variation in RRT summoning rates, with most activations occurring during the day. The reasons for this variation are mostly speculative, but the failure of the afferent limb of RRT activation, particularly at night, may be a factor. The term "circadian variation/rhythm" applies to physiological variations over a 24-h cycle. In contrast, diurnal variation applies more accurately to extrinsic systems. Circadian rhythm has been demonstrated in a multitude of bodily functions and disease states. For example, there is an association between disrupted circadian rhythms and abnormal vital parameters such as anomalous blood pressure, irregular pulse rate, aberrant endothelial function, myocardial infarction, stroke, sleep-disordered breathing and its long-term consequences of hypertension, heart failure and cognitive impairment. Therefore, diurnal variation in patient outcomes may be extrinsic, and more easily modifiable

HC StratoMineR: A Web-Based Tool for the Rapid Analysis of High-Content Datasets.

Science.gov (United States)

Omta, Wienand A; van Heesbeen, Roy G; Pagliero, Romina J; van der Velden, Lieke M; Lelieveld, Daphne; Nellen, Mehdi; Kramer, Maik; Yeong, Marley; Saeidi, Amir M; Medema, Rene H; Spruit, Marco; Brinkkemper, Sjaak; Klumperman, Judith; Egan, David A

2016-10-01

High-content screening (HCS) can generate large multidimensional datasets and when aligned with the appropriate data mining tools, it can yield valuable insights into the mechanism of action of bioactive molecules. However, easy-to-use data mining tools are not widely available, with the result that these datasets are frequently underutilized. Here, we present HC StratoMineR, a web-based tool for high-content data analysis. It is a decision-supportive platform that guides even non-expert users through a high-content data analysis workflow. HC StratoMineR is built by using My Structured Query Language for storage and querying, PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor as the main programming language, and jQuery for additional user interface functionality. R is used for statistical calculations, logic and data visualizations. Furthermore, C++ and graphical processor unit power is diffusely embedded in R by using the rcpp and rpud libraries for operations that are computationally highly intensive. We show that we can use HC StratoMineR for the analysis of multivariate data from a high-content siRNA knock-down screen and a small-molecule screen. It can be used to rapidly filter out undesirable data; to select relevant data; and to perform quality control, data reduction, data exploration, morphological hit picking, and data clustering. Our results demonstrate that HC StratoMineR can be used to functionally categorize HCS hits and, thus, provide valuable information for hit prioritization.

Detection of Free Polyamines in Plants Subjected to Abiotic Stresses by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Xiaoqing; Liu, Ji-Hong

2017-01-01

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a sensitive, rapid, and accurate technique to detect and characterize various metabolites from plants. The metabolites are extracted with different solvents and eluted with appropriate mobile phases in a designed HPLC program. Polyamines are known to accumulate under abiotic stress conditions in various plant species and thought to provide protection against oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species. Here, we describe a common method to detect the free polyamines in plant tissues both qualitatively and quantitatively.

High-performance-vehicle technology. [fighter aircraft propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Povinelli, L. A.

1979-01-01

Propulsion needs of high performance military aircraft are discussed. Inlet performance, nozzle performance and cooling, and afterburner performance are covered. It is concluded that nonaxisymmetric nozzles provide cleaner external lines and enhanced maneuverability, but the internal flows are more complex. Swirl afterburners show promise for enhanced performance in the high altitude, low Mach number region.

Rapid Point-of-Care Diagnostic Test for Syphilis in High-Risk Populations, Manaus, Brazil

OpenAIRE

Sabid?, Meritxell; Benzaken, Adele S.; de Andrade Rodrigues, ?nio Jos?; Mayaud, Philippe

2009-01-01

: We assessed the acceptability and operational suitability of a rapid point-of-care syphilis test and identified barriers to testing among high-risk groups and healthcare professionals in a sexually transmitted infections clinic in Manaus, Brazil. Use of this test could considerably alleviate the impact of syphilis in hard-to-reach populations in the Amazon region of Brazil.

Academic performance in high school as factor associated to academic performance in college

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mileidy Salcedo Barragán

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This study intends to find the relationship between academic performance in High School and College, focusing on Natural Sciences and Mathematics. It is a descriptive correlational study, and the variables were academic performance in High School, performance indicators and educational history. The correlations between variables were established with Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results suggest that there is a positive relationship between academic performance in High School and Educational History, and a very weak relationship between performance in Science and Mathematics in High School and performance in College.

High Performance Grinding and Advanced Cutting Tools

CERN Document Server

Jackson, Mark J

2013-01-01

High Performance Grinding and Advanced Cutting Tools discusses the fundamentals and advances in high performance grinding processes, and provides a complete overview of newly-developing areas in the field. Topics covered are grinding tool formulation and structure, grinding wheel design and conditioning and applications using high performance grinding wheels. Also included are heat treatment strategies for grinding tools, using grinding tools for high speed applications, laser-based and diamond dressing techniques, high-efficiency deep grinding, VIPER grinding, and new grinding wheels.

Rapid learning in visual cortical networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ye; Dragoi, Valentin

2015-08-26

Although changes in brain activity during learning have been extensively examined at the single neuron level, the coding strategies employed by cell populations remain mysterious. We examined cell populations in macaque area V4 during a rapid form of perceptual learning that emerges within tens of minutes. Multiple single units and LFP responses were recorded as monkeys improved their performance in an image discrimination task. We show that the increase in behavioral performance during learning is predicted by a tight coordination of spike timing with local population activity. More spike-LFP theta synchronization is correlated with higher learning performance, while high-frequency synchronization is unrelated with changes in performance, but these changes were absent once learning had stabilized and stimuli became familiar, or in the absence of learning. These findings reveal a novel mechanism of plasticity in visual cortex by which elevated low-frequency synchronization between individual neurons and local population activity accompanies the improvement in performance during learning.

Rapid and low-invasive functional brain mapping by realtime visualization of high gamma activity for awake craniotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamada, K; Ogawa, H; Kapeller, C; Prueckl, R; Guger, C

2014-01-01

For neurosurgery with an awake craniotomy, the critical issue is to set aside enough time to identify eloquent cortices by electrocortical stimulation (ECS). High gamma activity (HGA) ranging between 80 and 120 Hz on electrocorticogram (ECoG) is assumed to reflect localized cortical processing. In this report, we used realtime HGA mapping and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for rapid and reliable identification of motor and language functions. Three patients with intra-axial tumors in their dominant hemisphere underwent preoperative fMRI and lesion resection with an awake craniotomy. All patients showed significant fMRI activation evoked by motor and language tasks. After the craniotomy, we recorded ECoG activity by placing subdural grids directly on the exposed brain surface. Each patient performed motor and language tasks and demonstrated realtime HGA dynamics in hand motor areas and parts of the inferior frontal gyrus. Sensitivity and specificity of HGA mapping were 100% compared to ECS mapping in the frontal lobe, which suggested HGA mapping precisely indicated eloquent cortices. The investigation times of HGA mapping was significantly shorter than that of ECS mapping. Specificities of the motor and language-fMRI, however, did not reach 85%. The results of HGA mapping was mostly consistent with those of ECS mapping, although fMRI tended to overestimate functional areas. This novel technique enables rapid and accurate functional mapping.

Highlighting High Performance: Whitman Hanson Regional High School; Whitman, Massachusetts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2006-06-01

This brochure describes the key high-performance building features of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. The brochure was paid for by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as part of their Green Schools Initiative. High-performance features described are daylighting and energy-efficient lighting, indoor air quality, solar and wind energy, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, water conservation, and acoustics. Energy cost savings are also discussed.

High-Resolution Melt Analysis for Rapid Comparison of Bacterial Community Compositions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjelmsø, Mathis Hjort; Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg; Bælum, Jacob

2014-01-01

In the study of bacterial community composition, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing is today among the preferred methods of analysis. The cost of nucleotide sequence analysis, including requisite computational and bioinformatic steps, however, takes up a large part of many research budgets. High......-resolution melt (HRM) analysis is the study of the melt behavior of specific PCR products. Here we describe a novel high-throughput approach in which we used HRM analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene to rapidly screen multiple complex samples for differences in bacterial community composition. We hypothesized...... that HRM analysis of amplified 16S rRNA genes from a soil ecosystem could be used as a screening tool to identify changes in bacterial community structure. This hypothesis was tested using a soil microcosm setup exposed to a total of six treatments representing different combinations of pesticide...

Selective on-line detection of boronic acids and derivatives in high-performance liquid chromatography eluates by post-column reaction with alizarin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duval, F.L.; Wardani, P.A.; Zuilhof, H.; Beek, van T.A.

2015-01-01

An on-line high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the rapid and selective detection of boronic acids in complex mixtures was developed. After optimization experiments at an HPLC flow rate of 0.40 mL/min, the HPLC-separated analytes were mixed post-column with a solution of 75 µM

High performance polymeric foams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gargiulo, M.; Sorrentino, L.; Iannace, S.

2008-01-01

The aim of this work was to investigate the foamability of high-performance polymers (polyethersulfone, polyphenylsulfone, polyetherimide and polyethylenenaphtalate). Two different methods have been used to prepare the foam samples: high temperature expansion and two-stage batch process. The effects of processing parameters (saturation time and pressure, foaming temperature) on the densities and microcellular structures of these foams were analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy

Contribution of Nanostructures in High Performance Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Aly, Abouelmaaty M.; Ebrahim, Essamudin A.; Sweelem, Emad

2017-11-01

Nanotechnology has great contributions in various fields, especially in solar energy conversion through solar cells (SCs). Nanostructured SCs can provide high performance with lower fabrication costs. The transition from fossil fuel energy to renewable sustainable energy represents a major technological challenge for the world. In the last years, the industry of SCs has grown rapidly due to strong attention in renewable energy in order to handle the problem of global climate change that is now believed to occur due to use of the fossil fuels. Cost is an influential factor in the eventual success of any solar technology, since inexpensive SCs are needed to produce electricity, especially for rural areas and for third world countries. Therefore, new developments in nanotechnology may open the door for the production of inexpensive and more efficient SCs by reducing the manufacturing costs of SCs. Utilizing nanotechnology in cheaper SCs will help maintain the environment. This article covers a review of the progress that has been made to-date to enhance efficiencies of various nanostructures used in SCs, including utilizations of all the wavelengths present in of the solar spectrum.

Assesment risk of fracture in thin-walled fiber reinforced and regular High Performance Concretes sandwich elements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hodicky, Kamil; Hulin, Thomas; Schmidt, Jacob Wittrup

2013-01-01

load. Due to structural restraints, autogenous shrinkage may lead to high self-induced stresses. Therefore autogenous shrinkage plays important role in design of HPCSE. The present paper assesses risk of fracture due to autogenous shrinkage-induced stresses in three fiber reinforced and regular High....... Finally the paper describes the modeling work with HPCSE predicting structural cracking provoked by autogenous shrinkage. It was observed that risk of cracking due to autogenous shrinkage rapidly rises after 3 days in case of regular HPC and after 7 days in case of fiber reinforced HPC.......High Performance Concrete Sandwich Elements (HPCSE) are an interesting option for future low or plus energy building construction. Recent research and development work, however, indicate that such elements are prone to structural cracking due to the combined effect of shrinkage and high temperature...

Metallic CoS₂ nanowire electrodes for high cycling performance supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Ren; Faber, Matthew S; Dziedzic, Rafal; Wen, Zhenhai; Jin, Song; Mao, Shun; Chen, Junhong

2015-12-11

We report metallic cobalt pyrite (CoS2) nanowires (NWs) prepared directly on current collecting electrodes, e.g., carbon cloth or graphite disc, for high-performance supercapacitors. These CoS2 NWs have a variety of advantages for supercapacitor applications. Because the metallic CoS2 NWs are synthesized directly on the current collector, the good electrical connection enables efficient charge transfer between the active CoS2 materials and the current collector. In addition, the open spaces between the sea urchin structure NWs lead to a large accessible surface area and afford rapid mass transport. Moreover, the robust CoS2 NW structure results in high stability of the active materials during long-term operation. Electrochemical characterization reveals that the CoS2 NWs enable large specific capacitance (828.2 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 0.01 V s(-1)) and excellent long term cycling stability (0-2.5% capacity loss after 4250 cycles at 5 A g(-1)) for pseudocapacitors. This example of metallic CoS2 NWs for supercapacitor applications expands the opportunities for transition metal sulfide-based nanostructures in emerging energy storage applications.

Some aspects related to the high performance in gamma spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vieru, Gheorghe; Mihaiu, Ramona; Nistor, Viorica

2010-01-01

Full text: Gamma spectroscopy is the science (or art) of identification and/or quantification of radionuclides through gamma-ray energy spectrum analysis. It is a recognized technique, well illustrated by the following examples: environmental radioactivity monitoring, health physics personnel monitoring, reactor corrosion monitoring, nuclear materials safeguards and homeland security, as well as nuclear forensics, materials testing, nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceuticals, and industrial process monitoring. Within the Reliability and Testing Laboratory of INR Pitesti there is now available such a detector of high performance that includes all aspects related to cooling, signal processing (with a high resolution) and the dedicated software applications. At the present time, taking into account the 'nuclear renaissance' the new experimental testing laboratories require complete set-up rather than laboratories having a mixture of the old equipment. The paper presents the mechanically cooled HPGe spectrometers with an undergoing rapid evolution, which eliminate traditional intensive liquid nitrogen management. Also, there are described the digital signal processing virtually by eliminating system drift, and, at the same time, requiring recalibrations much less frequently. Another important aspect presented is related to the software applications, which cover a broad spectrum of nuclear measurement techniques. (authors)

Responsive design high performance

CERN Document Server

Els, Dewald

2015-01-01

This book is ideal for developers who have experience in developing websites or possess minor knowledge of how responsive websites work. No experience of high-level website development or performance tweaking is required.

CGC/saturation approach for soft interactions at high energy: long range rapidity correlations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gotsman, E.; Maor, U.; Levin, E.

2015-01-01

In this paper we continue our program to construct a model for high energy soft interactions that is based on the CGC/saturation approach. The main result of this paper is that we have discovered a mechanism that leads to large long range rapidity correlations and results in large values of the correlation function R(y 1 , y 2 ) ≥ 1, which is independent of y 1 and y 2 . Such a behavior of the correlation function provides strong support for the idea that at high energies the system of partons that is produced is not only dense but also has strong attractive forces acting between the partons. (orig.)

Striving for Excellence Sometimes Hinders High Achievers: Performance-Approach Goals Deplete Arithmetical Performance in Students with High Working Memory Capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Crouzevialle, Marie; Smeding, Annique; Butera, Fabrizio

2015-01-01

We tested whether the goal to attain normative superiority over other students, referred to as performance-approach goals, is particularly distractive for high-Working Memory Capacity (WMC) students—that is, those who are used to being high achievers. Indeed, WMC is positively related to high-order cognitive performance and academic success, a record of success that confers benefits on high-WMC as compared to low-WMC students. We tested whether such benefits may turn out to be a burden under performance-approach goal pursuit. Indeed, for high achievers, aiming to rise above others may represent an opportunity to reaffirm their positive status—a stake susceptible to trigger disruptive outcome concerns that interfere with task processing. Results revealed that with performance-approach goals—as compared to goals with no emphasis on social comparison—the higher the students’ WMC, the lower their performance at a complex arithmetic task (Experiment 1). Crucially, this pattern appeared to be driven by uncertainty regarding the chances to outclass others (Experiment 2). Moreover, an accessibility measure suggested the mediational role played by status-related concerns in the observed disruption of performance. We discuss why high-stake situations can paradoxically lead high-achievers to sub-optimally perform when high-order cognitive performance is at play. PMID:26407097

High-performance ceramics. Fabrication, structure, properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petzow, G.; Tobolski, J.; Telle, R.

1996-01-01

The program ''Ceramic High-performance Materials'' pursued the objective to understand the chaining of cause and effect in the development of high-performance ceramics. This chain of problems begins with the chemical reactions for the production of powders, comprises the characterization, processing, shaping and compacting of powders, structural optimization, heat treatment, production and finishing, and leads to issues of materials testing and of a design appropriate to the material. The program ''Ceramic High-performance Materials'' has resulted in contributions to the understanding of fundamental interrelationships in terms of materials science, which are summarized in the present volume - broken down into eight special aspects. (orig./RHM)

Explaining high and low performers in complex intervention trials: a new model based on diffusion of innovations theory.

Science.gov (United States)

McMullen, Heather; Griffiths, Chris; Leber, Werner; Greenhalgh, Trisha

2015-05-31

Complex intervention trials may require health care organisations to implement new service models. In a recent cluster randomised controlled trial, some participating organisations achieved high recruitment, whereas others found it difficult to assimilate the intervention and were low recruiters. We sought to explain this variation and develop a model to inform organisational participation in future complex intervention trials. The trial included 40 general practices in a London borough with high HIV prevalence. The intervention was offering a rapid HIV test as part of the New Patient Health Check. The primary outcome was mean CD4 cell count at diagnosis. The process evaluation consisted of several hundred hours of ethnographic observation, 21 semi-structured interviews and analysis of routine documents (e.g., patient leaflets, clinical protocols) and trial documents (e.g., inclusion criteria, recruitment statistics). Qualitative data were analysed thematically using--and, where necessary, extending--Greenhalgh et al.'s model of diffusion of innovations. Narrative synthesis was used to prepare case studies of four practices representing maximum variety in clinicians' interest in HIV (assessed by level of serological testing prior to the trial) and performance in the trial (high vs. low recruiters). High-recruiting practices were, in general though not invariably, also innovative practices. They were characterised by strong leadership, good managerial relations, readiness for change, a culture of staff training and available staff time ('slack resources'). Their front-line staff believed that patients might benefit from the rapid HIV test ('relative advantage'), were emotionally comfortable administering it ('compatibility'), skilled in performing it ('task issues') and made creative adaptations to embed the test in local working practices ('reinvention'). Early experience of a positive HIV test ('observability') appeared to reinforce staff commitment to recruiting

Rapid Quantification and Validation of Lipid Concentrations within Liposomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla B. Roces

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Quantification of the lipid content in liposomal adjuvants for subunit vaccine formulation is of extreme importance, since this concentration impacts both efficacy and stability. In this paper, we outline a high performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD method that allows for the rapid and simultaneous quantification of lipid concentrations within liposomal systems prepared by three liposomal manufacturing techniques (lipid film hydration, high shear mixing, and microfluidics. The ELSD system was used to quantify four lipids: 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC, cholesterol, dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA bromide, and ᴅ-(+-trehalose 6,6′-dibehenate (TDB. The developed method offers rapidity, high sensitivity, direct linearity, and a good consistency on the responses (R2 > 0.993 for the four lipids tested. The corresponding limit of detection (LOD and limit of quantification (LOQ were 0.11 and 0.36 mg/mL (DMPC, 0.02 and 0.80 mg/mL (cholesterol, 0.06 and 0.20 mg/mL (DDA, and 0.05 and 0.16 mg/mL (TDB, respectively. HPLC-ELSD was shown to be a rapid and effective method for the quantification of lipids within liposome formulations without the need for lipid extraction processes.

The Relative Performance of High Resolution Quantitative Precipitation Estimates in the Russian River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Bytheway, J. L.; Biswas, S.; Cifelli, R.; Hughes, M.

2017-12-01

The Russian River carves a 110 mile path through Mendocino and Sonoma counties in western California, providing water for thousands of residents and acres of agriculture as well as a home for several species of endangered fish. The Russian River basin receives almost all of its precipitation during the October through March wet season, and the systems bringing this precipitation are often impacted by atmospheric river events as well as the complex topography of the region. This study will examine the performance of several high resolution (hourly, products and forecasts over the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 wet seasons. Comparisons of event total rainfall as well as hourly rainfall will be performed using 1) rain gauges operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Sciences Division (PSD), 2) products from the Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (MRMS) QPE dataset, and 3) quantitative precipitation forecasts from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model at 1, 3, 6, and 12 hour lead times. Further attention will be given to cases or locations representing large disparities between the estimates.

Determination of Betaine in Forsythia Suspensa by High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Haixing; Dong, Guoliang; Wang, Lintong

2017-12-01

This paper presents the determination of betaine content of Forsythia suspensa by high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method. The borax solution was chosen as buffer solution, and its concentration was 40 mmol with capillary column (75μm×52/60cm) at a constant voltage of 20kV and injecting pressure time of 10s at 20°C. Linearity was kept in the concent ration range of 0.0113-1.45mg·ml-1 of betaine with correlation coefficient of 0.999. The recovery was in the range of 97%-117% (n=5), The content of betaine was 281.5 mg·g-1and RSD value of 9.6% (n=6) in Forsythia suspensa. This method has the advantage of rapid, accurate and good repeatability in separation and determination of betaine in Forsythia suspensa.

High survival of mouse embryos after rapid freezing and thawing inside plastic straws with 1-2 propanediol as cryoprotectant.

Science.gov (United States)

Renard, J P; Babinet, C

1984-06-01

A method for obtaining a high survival rate of frozen-thawed mouse embryos is presented. Eight-cell mouse embryos were frozen inside small plastic straws in the presence of 1-2 propanediol and stored at -196 C. After thawing, the embryos were diluted for only 5 min in a 1.0 M sucrose solution to remove the 1-2 propanediol from the cells. At high rate of thawing (is equivalent to 2500 C/min) more than 88% of the embryos survived in vitro to the blastocyst stage provided that the dilution of propanediol was performed rapidly during thawing. At a lower rate of thawing (is equivalent to 300 C/min), survival tended to be higher (94.7%) when dilution was done 5 min after thawing. When the frozen-thawed embryos were transferred to the oviducts of day 1 pseudopregnant recipients either directly after the dilution of 1-2 propanediol or after 24 or 48 hr of culture, a high proportion of them (65.9%) develop normally to viable fetuses.

High performance data transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Cottrell, R.; Fang, C.; Hanushevsky, A.; Kreuger, W.; Yang, W.

2017-10-01

The exponentially increasing need for high speed data transfer is driven by big data, and cloud computing together with the needs of data intensive science, High Performance Computing (HPC), defense, the oil and gas industry etc. We report on the Zettar ZX software. This has been developed since 2013 to meet these growing needs by providing high performance data transfer and encryption in a scalable, balanced, easy to deploy and use way while minimizing power and space utilization. In collaboration with several commercial vendors, Proofs of Concept (PoC) consisting of clusters have been put together using off-the- shelf components to test the ZX scalability and ability to balance services using multiple cores, and links. The PoCs are based on SSD flash storage that is managed by a parallel file system. Each cluster occupies 4 rack units. Using the PoCs, between clusters we have achieved almost 200Gbps memory to memory over two 100Gbps links, and 70Gbps parallel file to parallel file with encryption over a 5000 mile 100Gbps link.

Strategy Guideline. Partnering for High Performance Homes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prahl, Duncan [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

2013-01-01

High performance houses require a high degree of coordination and have significant interdependencies between various systems in order to perform properly, meet customer expectations, and minimize risks for the builder. Responsibility for the key performance attributes is shared across the project team and can be well coordinated through advanced partnering strategies. For high performance homes, traditional partnerships need to be matured to the next level and be expanded to all members of the project team including trades, suppliers, manufacturers, HERS raters, designers, architects, and building officials as appropriate. This guide is intended for use by all parties associated in the design and construction of high performance homes. It serves as a starting point and features initial tools and resources for teams to collaborate to continually improve the energy efficiency and durability of new houses.

High performance parallel I/O

CERN Document Server

Prabhat

2014-01-01

Gain Critical Insight into the Parallel I/O EcosystemParallel I/O is an integral component of modern high performance computing (HPC), especially in storing and processing very large datasets to facilitate scientific discovery. Revealing the state of the art in this field, High Performance Parallel I/O draws on insights from leading practitioners, researchers, software architects, developers, and scientists who shed light on the parallel I/O ecosystem.The first part of the book explains how large-scale HPC facilities scope, configure, and operate systems, with an emphasis on choices of I/O har

Development of a high-speed real-time PCR system for rapid and precise nucleotide recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Terazono, Hideyuki; Takei, Hiroyuki; Hattori, Akihiro; Yasuda, Kenji

2010-04-01

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a common method used to create copies of a specific target region of a DNA sequence and to produce large quantities of DNA. A few DNA molecules, which act as templates, are rapidly amplified by PCR into many billions of copies. PCR is a key technology in genome-based biological analysis, revolutionizing many life science fields such as medical diagnostics, food safety monitoring, and countermeasures against bioterrorism. Thus, many applications have been developed with the thermal cycling. For these PCR applications, one of the most important key factors is reduction in the data acquisition time. To reduce the acquisition time, it is necessary to decrease the temperature transition time between the high and low ends as much as possible. We have developed a novel rapid real-time PCR system based on rapid exchange of media maintained at different temperatures. This system consists of two thermal reservoirs and a reaction chamber for PCR observation. The temperature transition was achieved within 0.3 sec, and good thermal stability was achieved during thermal cycling with rapid exchange of circulating media. This system allows rigorous optimization of the temperatures required for each stage of the PCR processes. Resulting amplicons were confirmed by electrophoresis. Using the system, rapid DNA amplification was accomplished within 3.5 min, including initial heating and complete 50 PCR cycles. It clearly shows that the device could allow us faster temperature switching than the conventional conduction-based heating systems based on Peltier heating/cooling.

[Simultaneous determination of four common nonprotein nitrogen substances in urine by high performance liquid chromatography].

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yuhua; Huang, Dongqun; Zhang, Rui; Xu, Shiru; Feng, Shun

2013-11-01

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was proposed to simultaneously determine four common nonprotein nitrogen substances, including creatine (Cr), creatinine (Cn), uric acid (Ua) and pseudouridine (Pu) in urine. After proteins being removed by acetone precipitation method, freeze drying and redissolving, the urine samples were analyzed by HPLC. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Waters RP18 Column (150 mm x 4.60 mm, 3.5 microm) in gradient elution mode using 10.0 mmol/L KH2PO4 solution (pH 4.78) and acetonitrile as mobile phases at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The samples were detected at 220 nm. Rapid separation was achieved within 7 min. Under the optimized conditions, good linearities of four common nonprotein nitrogen substances were obtained in the range of 0.1-250 mg/L. The detection limits were 9.31 (Cr), 26.19 (Cn), 4.70 (Ua), an 6.30 (Pu) microg/L and the recoveries were in the range of 81%-111% with the relative standar deviations of 0.23%-2.78% (n = 3). The results demonstrate that this method is simple, rapid and accurate with good reproducibility, and can provide early diagnosis and preliminary judgment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with renal damage.

ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLID WALL BLANKET CONCEPTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

WONG, CPC; MALANG, S; NISHIO, S; RAFFRAY, R; SAGARA, S

2002-01-01

OAK A271 ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLID WALL BLANKET CONCEPTS. First wall and blanket (FW/blanket) design is a crucial element in the performance and acceptance of a fusion power plant. High temperature structural and breeding materials are needed for high thermal performance. A suitable combination of structural design with the selected materials is necessary for D-T fuel sufficiency. Whenever possible, low afterheat, low chemical reactivity and low activation materials are desired to achieve passive safety and minimize the amount of high-level waste. Of course the selected fusion FW/blanket design will have to match the operational scenarios of high performance plasma. The key characteristics of eight advanced high performance FW/blanket concepts are presented in this paper. Design configurations, performance characteristics, unique advantages and issues are summarized. All reviewed designs can satisfy most of the necessary design goals. For further development, in concert with the advancement in plasma control and scrape off layer physics, additional emphasis will be needed in the areas of first wall coating material selection, design of plasma stabilization coils, consideration of reactor startup and transient events. To validate the projected performance of the advanced FW/blanket concepts the critical element is the need for 14 MeV neutron irradiation facilities for the generation of necessary engineering design data and the prediction of FW/blanket components lifetime and availability

Rapid startup and high rate nitrogen removal from anaerobic sludge digester liquor using a SNAP process.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiao, Sen; Nishiyama, Takashi; Fujii, Tatsuo; Bhatti, Zafar; Furukawa, Kenji

2012-02-01

In this study, a single-stage autotrophic nitrogen removal reactor, packed with a novel acrylic fiber biomass carrier material (Biofix), was applied for nitrogen removal from sludge digester liquor. For rapid start-up, conventional activated sludge was added to the reactor soon after the attachment of anammox biomass on the Biofix carriers, which allowed conventional activated sludge to form a protective layer of biofilm around the anammox biomass. The Nitrogen removal efficiency reached 75% within 1 week at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.46 kg-N/m(3)/day for synthetic wastewater treatment. By the end of the synthetic wastewater treatment period, the maximum nitrogen removal rate had increased to 0.92 kg-N/m(3)/day at a nitrogen loading rate of 1.0 kg-N/m(3)/day. High nitrogen removal rate was also achieved during the actual raw digester liquor treatment with the highest nitrogen removal rate being 0.83 kg-N/m(3)/day at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.93 kg-N/m(3)/day. The thick biofilm on Biofix carriers allowed anammox bacteria to survive under high DO concentration of 5-6 mg/l resulting in stable and high nitrogen removal performance. FISH and CLSM analysis demonstrated that anammox bacteria coexisted and surrounded by ammonium oxidizing bacteria.

Investigating the effectiveness of many-core network processors for high performance cyber protection systems. Part I, FY2011.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wheeler, Kyle Bruce; Naegle, John Hunt; Wright, Brian J.; Benner, Robert E., Jr.; Shelburg, Jeffrey Scott; Pearson, David Benjamin; Johnson, Joshua Alan; Onunkwo, Uzoma A.; Zage, David John; Patel, Jay S.

2011-09-01

This report documents our first year efforts to address the use of many-core processors for high performance cyber protection. As the demands grow for higher bandwidth (beyond 1 Gbits/sec) on network connections, the need to provide faster and more efficient solution to cyber security grows. Fortunately, in recent years, the development of many-core network processors have seen increased interest. Prior working experiences with many-core processors have led us to investigate its effectiveness for cyber protection tools, with particular emphasis on high performance firewalls. Although advanced algorithms for smarter cyber protection of high-speed network traffic are being developed, these advanced analysis techniques require significantly more computational capabilities than static techniques. Moreover, many locations where cyber protections are deployed have limited power, space and cooling resources. This makes the use of traditionally large computing systems impractical for the front-end systems that process large network streams; hence, the drive for this study which could potentially yield a highly reconfigurable and rapidly scalable solution.

[Determination of glycyrrhizinic acid in biotransformation system by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hui; Lu, Dingqiang; Liu, Weimin

2004-05-01

A method for determining glycyrrhizinic acid in the biotransformation system by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was developed. The HPLC conditions were as follows: Hypersil C18 column (4.6 mm i.d. x 250 mm, 5 microm) with a mixture of methanol-water-acetic acid (70:30:1, v/v) as the mobile phase; flow rate at 1.0 mL/min; and UV detection at 254 nm. The linear range of glycyrrhizinic acid was 0.2-20 microg. The recoveries were 98%-103% with relative standard deviations between 0.16% and 1.58% (n = 3). The method is simple, rapid and accurate for determining glycyrrhizinic acid.

DOE research in utilization of high-performance computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buzbee, B.L.; Worlton, W.J.; Michael, G.; Rodrigue, G.

1980-12-01

Department of Energy (DOE) and other Government research laboratories depend on high-performance computer systems to accomplish their programatic goals. As the most powerful computer systems become available, they are acquired by these laboratories so that advances can be made in their disciplines. These advances are often the result of added sophistication to numerical models whose execution is made possible by high-performance computer systems. However, high-performance computer systems have become increasingly complex; consequently, it has become increasingly difficult to realize their potential performance. The result is a need for research on issues related to the utilization of these systems. This report gives a brief description of high-performance computers, and then addresses the use of and future needs for high-performance computers within DOE, the growing complexity of applications within DOE, and areas of high-performance computer systems warranting research. 1 figure

Progress Toward Long Pulse, High Performance Plasmas in the DIII-D Tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

P.A. Politzer; T.C. Luce; M.E. Austin; J.R. Ferron, A.M. Garofalo; C.M. Greenfield; A.W. Hyatt; R.J. La Haye; L.L. Lao; E.A. Lazarus; M.A. Makowski; M. Murakami; C.C. Petty; R.I. Pinsker; B.W. Rice; E.J. Strait, M.R. Wade; J.G. Watkins

2000-01-01

A major portion of the research program of the DIII-D tokamak collaboration is devoted to the development and demonstration of high performance advanced tokamak plasmas, with profiles as close as possible to those anticipated for steady-state operation. The work during the 1999 campaign has resulted in significant progress toward this goal. High normalized performance ((beta)(sub N)(approx) 4 and(beta)(sub N) H(sub 89)(approx) 9) discharges have been sustained for up to 2 s. These plasmas are in H-mode with rapid ELMs. The most common limiting phenomena are resistive wall modes (RWMs) rather than neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs). NTMs do occur, apparently triggered by the RWMs. The observed pressure is well above the calculated beta limit without a wall, and(beta)(sub N) and gt; 4(ell)(sub i) throughout the high performance phase. The bootstrap current is estimated to be and gt;50% of the total, and measurements of the internal loop voltage show that only about 25% of the current is inductively driven. The central q profile is flat, as is the calculated bootstrap current profile, due to the absence of any localized pressure gradients. The residual inductive current is localized around r/a(approx) 0.5. To demonstrate quasi-stationary operation, it will be necessary to replace the residual inductive current with ECCD at the same minor radius. To effectively apply ECH and ECCD to these discharges, density control will be needed. Preliminary experiments using the DIII-D cryopump have reduced the density by(approx)20%. A new EC power system and a new private flux cryopump will be available for the 2000 campaign

Determination of diacylhydrazines-type insect growth regulator JS-118 residues in cabbage and soil by high performance liquid chromatography with DAD detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, J-Y; Deng, Z-B; Qin, D-M

2009-12-01

JS-118 is a diacylhydrazines-type insect growth regulator used extensively in China now. An analytical method for residues determination of JS-118 in cabbage and soil samples by high performance liquid chromatography with DAD detection was established and optimized. Primary secondary amine solid phase extraction cartridge was used for sample preparation. Mean recoveries for the analyte ranged from 96.6% to 107.0% with CV value less than 4.7%. The limit of quantification is 0.01 mg/kg. Direct confirmation of JS-118 residues in samples was realized by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The proposed method is simple, rapid and reliable to perform and could be utilized for monitoring of pesticides residues.

CGC/saturation approach for soft interactions at high energy: long range rapidity correlations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gotsman, E.; Maor, U. [Tel Aviv University, Department of Particle Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Science, Tel Aviv (Israel); Levin, E. [Tel Aviv University, Department of Particle Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Science, Tel Aviv (Israel); Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria and Centro Cientifico- Tecnologico de Valparaiso, Departemento de Fisica, Valparaiso (Chile)

2015-11-15

In this paper we continue our program to construct a model for high energy soft interactions that is based on the CGC/saturation approach. The main result of this paper is that we have discovered a mechanism that leads to large long range rapidity correlations and results in large values of the correlation function R(y{sub 1}, y{sub 2}) ≥ 1, which is independent of y{sub 1} and y{sub 2}. Such a behavior of the correlation function provides strong support for the idea that at high energies the system of partons that is produced is not only dense but also has strong attractive forces acting between the partons. (orig.)

Rapid thermal conditioning of sewage sludge

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Jianhong

Rapid thermal conditioning (RTC) is a developing technology recently applied to sewage sludge treatment. Sludge is heated rapidly to a reaction temperature (up to about 220sp°C) under sufficient pressure to maintain the liquid phase. Reaction is quenched after 10 to 30 seconds when the mixture of sludge and steam pass through a pressure let-down valve. This process reduces the amount of sludge requiring land disposal, eliminates the need for polymer coagulant, improves dewaterability, increases methane production, and further reduces the concentration of pathogens. The odor problem associated with traditional thermal conditioning processes is largely minimized. Ammonia removal is readily integrated with the process. For this research, a pilot unit was constructed capable of processing 90 liters of sludge per hour. Over 22 runs were made with this unit using sludge from New York City Water Pollution Control Plants (WPCP). Sludges processed in this equipment were tested to determine the effect of RTC operating conditions on sludge dewaterability, biodegradability, and other factors affecting the incorporation of RTC into wastewater treatment plants. Dewaterability of thermally conditioned sludge was assessed for cetrifugeability and filterability. Bench scale centrifugation was used for evaluating centrifugeability, pressure filtration and capillary suction time (CST) for filterability. A mathematical model developed for centrifuge dewatering was used to predict the effect of RTC on full scale centrifuge performance. Particle size distribution and solids density of raw and treated PDS were also analyzed. An observed increase in sludge solids density at least partially explains its improved centrifugeability. An investigation of thermally conditioned amino acids showed that the L-isomer is highly biodegradable while the D-isomers are generally less so. Glucose is highly biodegradable, but rapidly becomes refractory as thermal conditioning time is lengthened. This

Fundamental and practical studies on high-performance liquid affinity chromatography of biopolymers with novel stationary phases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bacolod, M.D.

1992-01-01

Rigid microparticulate stationary phases having surface-bound metal chelating functions were developed and evaluated in high performance metal chelate affinity chromatography of proteins. Silica- and polystyrene-divinylbenzene-based metal chelate sorbents were produced in wide pore and in non-porous type of column packings. A major effort has been placed on development of non-porous highly crosslinked polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PSDVB). These PSDVB microparticles were produced by a two-step swelling polymerization, and exhibited excellent mechanical strength over a wide range of flow-rates and composition used in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Simple and reproducible hydrophilic coatings were developed for the surface modification of hydrophobic PSDVB supports. A tetradentate metal chelating ligand, ethylenediamine-N, N[prime]-diacetic acid (EDDA), was covalently bound to the surface of the various supports. Sorbents having iminodiacetic acid (IDA) metal chelating functions were also evaluated. The hydrophilic character and surface coverage of various stationary phases were assessed chromatographically. Studies concerning the effects of eluent pH as well as the nature and concentration of salts on retention and selectivity with different metal chelate stationary phases having various immobilized metal ions were carried out. Elution schemes were developed for rapid separation of proteins in metal chelate affinity chromatography. EDDA stationary phases in metal forms can be viewed as complementary to IDA stationary phases since they afforded different selectivity and retentivity toward proteins. Hydrophilic PSDVB could be functionalized with IDA or EDDA metal chelating ligands or lectins. The non-porous metal chelate stationary phases afforded rapid separation of proteins by the development of multiple gradient systems, which permitted higher column peak capacity, enabling the separation of a greater number of proteins in a single chromatographic run.

High-performance mass storage system for workstations

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, T.; Tang, Y.; Gupta, L.; Cooperman, S.

1993-01-01

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) workstations and Personnel Computers (PC) are very popular tools for office automation, command and control, scientific analysis, database management, and many other applications. However, when using Input/Output (I/O) intensive applications, the RISC workstations and PC's are often overburdened with the tasks of collecting, staging, storing, and distributing data. Also, by using standard high-performance peripherals and storage devices, the I/O function can still be a common bottleneck process. Therefore, the high-performance mass storage system, developed by Loral AeroSys' Independent Research and Development (IR&D) engineers, can offload a RISC workstation of I/O related functions and provide high-performance I/O functions and external interfaces. The high-performance mass storage system has the capabilities to ingest high-speed real-time data, perform signal or image processing, and stage, archive, and distribute the data. This mass storage system uses a hierarchical storage structure, thus reducing the total data storage cost, while maintaining high-I/O performance. The high-performance mass storage system is a network of low-cost parallel processors and storage devices. The nodes in the network have special I/O functions such as: SCSI controller, Ethernet controller, gateway controller, RS232 controller, IEEE488 controller, and digital/analog converter. The nodes are interconnected through high-speed direct memory access links to form a network. The topology of the network is easily reconfigurable to maximize system throughput for various applications. This high-performance mass storage system takes advantage of a 'busless' architecture for maximum expandability. The mass storage system consists of magnetic disks, a WORM optical disk jukebox, and an 8mm helical scan tape to form a hierarchical storage structure. Commonly used files are kept in the magnetic disk for fast retrieval. The optical disks are used as archive

Ground Glass Pozzolan in Conventional, High, and Ultra-High Performance Concrete

OpenAIRE

Tagnit-Hamou Arezki; Zidol Ablam; Soliman Nancy; Deschamps Joris; Omran Ahmed

2018-01-01

Ground-glass pozzolan (G) obtained by grinding the mixed-waste glass to same fineness of cement can act as a supplementary-cementitious material (SCM), given that it is an amorphous and a pozzolanic material. The G showed promising performances in different concrete types such as conventional concrete (CC), high-performance concrete (HPC), and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). The current paper reports on the characteristics and performance of G in these concrete types. The use of G pro...

Identification of glycosaminoglycans using high-performance liquid chromatography on a hydroxyapatite column.

Science.gov (United States)

Narita, H; Takeda, Y; Takagaki, K; Nakamura, T; Harata, S; Endo, M

1995-11-20

Glycosaminoglycans (heparin, heparan sulfate, dermatan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid) were labeled with a fluorescent reagent, 2-aminopyridine. The fluoro-labeled glycosaminoglycans were subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography on a hydroxyapatite column. The binding property of each glycosaminoglycan to hydroxyapatite was different. The structural properties of glycosaminoglycans bound to hydroxyapatite were then investigated using chemical desulfated or enzymic depolymerized glycosaminoglycans. This revealed that the sulfate content and molecular weight of the glycosaminoglycans correlated with their binding properties to hydroxyapatite. Desulfated dermatan sulfate but not desulfated chondroitin 6-sulfate bound to the hydroxyapatite. These data indicate that iduronic acid residues of glycosaminoglycans are important for the binding property. The method described which uses hydroxyapatite columns facilitates rapid separation and microanalysis of the glycosaminoglycans, especially dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate.

Determination of Betaine in Lycium Barbarum L. by High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Haixing; Wang, Chunyan; Peng, Xuewei

2017-12-01

This paper presents the determination of betaine content in Lycium barbarum L. by high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method. The borax solution was chosen as buffer solution, and its concentration was 40 mmol at a constant voltage of 20kV and injecting pressure time of 10s at 20°C. Linearity was kept in the concent ration range of 0.0113∼1.45mg of betaine with correlation coefficient of 0.9. The recovery was in the range of 97.95%∼126% (n=4). The sample content of betaine was 29.3mg/g and RSD 6.4% (n=6). This method is specific, simple and rapid and accurate, which is suitable for the detection of the content of betaine in Lycium barbarum L.

Brief Report: Impact of Early Antiretroviral Therapy on the Performance of HIV Rapid Tests and HIV Incidence Assays.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogel, Jessica M; Piwowar-Manning, Estelle; Debevec, Barbara; Walsky, Tamara; Schlusser, Katherine; Laeyendecker, Oliver; Wilson, Ethan A; McCauley, Marybeth; Gamble, Theresa; Tegha, Gerald; Soko, Dean; Kumwenda, Johnstone; Hosseinipour, Mina C; Chen, Ying Q; Cohen, Myron S; Eshleman, Susan H

2017-08-01

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can downregulate antibody responses to HIV infection. We evaluated the impact of early vs. delayed ART on the performance of HIV diagnostic and incidence assays. Samples were obtained from 207 participants in the HPTN 052 trial, who were stably suppressed on ART for ≥4 years [Malawi sites; pre-ART CD4 cell count 350-550 cells/mm (early ART arm, N = 180) or ART arm, N = 27)]. Samples were tested with 2 HIV rapid tests and 2 HIV incidence assays; selected samples were also tested with two fourth-generation immunoassays and a Western blot (WB) assay. A pre-ART sample was analyzed if the follow-up sample had a false-negative or weakly-reactive rapid test result, or had an incidence assay result indicative of recent infection (false-recent result). Ten (4.8%) samples had a nonreactive or weakly-reactive rapid test result (7/180 early ART arm, 3/27 delayed ART arm, P = 0.13); one sample had nonreactive fourth-generation assay results and 3 had indeterminate WBs. Forty (18.9%) samples had a false-recent incidence assay result; 16 (7.8%) had false-recent results with both incidence assays. Baseline samples had stronger rapid test and WB bands, higher fourth-generation assay signal-to-cutoff values, and fewer HIV incidence assay results indicative of recent infection. False-negative/weakly-reactive HIV rapid tests and false-recent HIV incidence assay results were observed in virally-suppressed individuals, regardless of pre-ART CD4 cell count. Downregulation of the antibody response to HIV infection in the setting of ART may impact population-level surveys of HIV prevalence and incidence.

Simultaneous determination of 13 carbohydrates using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection and mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Dan; Feng, Feng; Yuan, Fei; Su, Jin; Cheng, Yan; Wu, Hanqiu; Song, Kun; Nie, Bo; Yu, Lian; Zhang, Feng

2017-04-01

A simple, accurate, and highly sensitive method was developed for the determination of 13 carbohydrates in polysaccharide of Spirulina platensis based on high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection and mass spectrometry. Samples were extracted with deionized water using ultrasonic-assisted extraction, and the ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions were optimized by Box-Behnken design. Then the extracted polysaccharide was hydrolyzed by adding 1 mol/L trifluoroacetic acid before determination by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection and confirmed by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection method was performed on a CarboPac PA20 column by gradient elution using deionized water, 0.1 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution, and 0.4 mol/L sodium acetate solution. Excellent linearity was observed in the range of 0.05-10 mg/L. The average recoveries ranged from 80.7 to 121.7%. The limits of detection and limits of quantification for 13 carbohydrates were 0.02-0.10 and 0.2-1.2  μg/kg, respectively. The developed method has been successfully applied to ambient samples, and the results indicated that high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection and mass spectrometry could provide a rapid and accurate method for the simultaneous determination of carbohydrates. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

PANTHER. Pattern ANalytics To support High-performance Exploitation and Reasoning.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Czuchlewski, Kristina Rodriguez [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Hart, William E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-09-01

Sandia has approached the analysis of big datasets with an integrated methodology that uses computer science, image processing, and human factors to exploit critical patterns and relationships in large datasets despite the variety and rapidity of information. The work is part of a three-year LDRD Grand Challenge called PANTHER (Pattern ANalytics To support High-performance Exploitation and Reasoning). To maximize data analysis capability, Sandia pursued scientific advances across three key technical domains: (1) geospatial-temporal feature extraction via image segmentation and classification; (2) geospatial-temporal analysis capabilities tailored to identify and process new signatures more efficiently; and (3) domain- relevant models of human perception and cognition informing the design of analytic systems. Our integrated results include advances in geographical information systems (GIS) in which we discover activity patterns in noisy, spatial-temporal datasets using geospatial-temporal semantic graphs. We employed computational geometry and machine learning to allow us to extract and predict spatial-temporal patterns and outliers from large aircraft and maritime trajectory datasets. We automatically extracted static and ephemeral features from real, noisy synthetic aperture radar imagery for ingestion into a geospatial-temporal semantic graph. We worked with analysts and investigated analytic workflows to (1) determine how experiential knowledge evolves and is deployed in high-demand, high-throughput visual search workflows, and (2) better understand visual search performance and attention. Through PANTHER, Sandia's fundamental rethinking of key aspects of geospatial data analysis permits the extraction of much richer information from large amounts of data. The project results enable analysts to examine mountains of historical and current data that would otherwise go untouched, while also gaining meaningful, measurable, and defensible insights into

Preparation of 3D nanoporous copper-supported cuprous oxide for high-performance lithium ion battery anodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dequan; Yang, Zhibo; Wang, Peng; Li, Fei; Wang, Desheng; He, Deyan

2013-03-07

Three-dimensional (3D) nanoporous architectures can provide efficient and rapid pathways for Li-ion and electron transport as well as short solid-state diffusion lengths in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In this work, 3D nanoporous copper-supported cuprous oxide was successfully fabricated by low-cost selective etching of an electron-beam melted Cu(50)Al(50) alloy and subsequent in situ thermal oxidation. The architecture was used as an anode in lithium ion batteries. In the first cycle, the sample delivered an extremely high lithium storage capacity of about 2.35 mA h cm(-2). A high reversible capacity of 1.45 mA h cm(-2) was achieved after 120 cycles. This work develops a promising approach to building reliable 3D nanostructured electrodes for high-performance lithium ion batteries.

Advanced transport systems analysis, modeling, and evaluation of performances

CERN Document Server

Janić, Milan

2014-01-01

This book provides a systematic analysis, modeling and evaluation of the performance of advanced transport systems. It offers an innovative approach by presenting a multidimensional examination of the performance of advanced transport systems and transport modes, useful for both theoretical and practical purposes. Advanced transport systems for the twenty-first century are characterized by the superiority of one or several of their infrastructural, technical/technological, operational, economic, environmental, social, and policy performances as compared to their conventional counterparts. The advanced transport systems considered include: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems in urban area(s), electric and fuel cell passenger cars, high speed tilting trains, High Speed Rail (HSR), Trans Rapid Maglev (TRM), Evacuated Tube Transport system (ETT), advanced commercial subsonic and Supersonic Transport Aircraft (STA), conventionally- and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2)-fuelled commercial air trans...

Performance of Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Imported Malaria in Clinical Practice: Results of a National Multicenter Study

Science.gov (United States)

Houzé, Sandrine; Boutron, Isabelle; Marmorat, Anne; Dalichampt, Marie; Choquet, Christophe; Poilane, Isabelle; Godineau, Nadine; Le Guern, Anne-Sophie; Thellier, Marc; Broutier, Hélène; Fenneteau, Odile; Millet, Pascal; Dulucq, Stéphanie; Hubert, Véronique; Houzé, Pascal; Tubach, Florence; Le Bras, Jacques; Matheron, Sophie

2013-01-01

We compared the performance of four rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for imported malaria, and particularly Plasmodium falciparum infection, using thick and thin blood smears as the gold standard. All the tests are designed to detect at least one protein specific to P. falciparum ( Plasmodium histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP2) or Plasmodium LDH (PfLDH)) and one pan-Plasmodium protein (aldolase or Plasmodium LDH (pLDH)). 1,311 consecutive patients presenting to 9 French hospitals with suspected malaria were included in this prospective study between April 2006 and September 2008. Blood smears revealed malaria parasites in 374 cases (29%). For the diagnosis of P. falciparum infection, the three tests detecting PfHRP2 showed high and similar sensitivity (96%), positive predictive value (PPV) (90%) and negative predictive value (NPV) (98%). The PfLDH test showed lower sensitivity (83%) and NPV (80%), despite good PPV (98%). For the diagnosis of non-falciparum species, the PPV and NPV of tests targeting pLDH or aldolase were 94–99% and 52–64%, respectively. PfHRP2-based RDTs are thus an acceptable alternative to routine microscopy for diagnosing P. falciparum malaria. However, as malaria may be misdiagnosed with RDTs, all negative results must be confirmed by the reference diagnostic method when clinical, biological or other factors are highly suggestive of malaria. PMID:24098699

Analysis of lignans in Magnoliae Flos by turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xuan; Chen, Cen; Ye, Xiaolan; Song, Fenyun; Fan, Guorong; Wu, Fuhai

2016-04-01

In this study, a method coupling turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was developed for analyzing the lignans in Magnoliae Flos. By the online pretreatment of turbulent flow chromatography solid-phase extraction, the impurities removal and analytes concentration were automatically processed, and the lignans were separated rapidly and well. Seven lignans of Magnoliae Flos including epieudesmin, magnolin, 1-irioresinol-B-dimethyl ether, epi-magnolin, fargesin aschantin, and demethoxyaschantin were identified by comparing their retention behavior, UV spectra, and mass spectra with those of reference substances or literature data. The developed method was validated, and the good results showed that the method was not only automatic and rapid, but also accurate and reliable. The turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method holds a high potential to become an effective method for the quality control of lignans in Magnoliae Flos and a useful tool for the analysis of other complex mixtures. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Indoor Air Quality in High Performance Schools

Science.gov (United States)

High performance schools are facilities that improve the learning environment while saving energy, resources, and money. The key is understanding the lifetime value of high performance schools and effectively managing priorities, time, and budget.

Three-dimensional skeleton networks of graphene wrapped polyaniline nanofibers: an excellent structure for high-performance flexible solid-state supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Nantao; Zhang, Liling; Yang, Chao; Zhao, Jian; Yang, Zhi; Wei, Hao; Liao, Hanbin; Feng, Zhenxing; Fisher, Adrian; Zhang, Yafei; Xu, Zhichuan J.

2016-01-01

Thin, robust, lightweight, and flexible supercapacitors (SCs) have aroused growing attentions nowadays due to the rapid development of flexible electronics. Graphene-polyaniline (PANI) hybrids are attractive candidates for high performance SCs. In order to utilize them in real devices, it is necessary to improve the capacitance and the structure stability of PANI. Here we report a hierarchical three-dimensional structure, in which all of PANI nanofibers (NFs) are tightly wrapped inside reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheet skeletons, for high-performance flexible SCs. The as-fabricated film electrodes with this unique structure showed a highest gravimetric specific capacitance of 921 F/g and volumetric capacitance of 391 F/cm3. The assembled solid-state SCs gave a high specific capacitance of 211 F/g (1 A/g), a high area capacitance of 0.9 F/cm2, and a competitive volumetric capacitance of 25.6 F/cm3. The SCs also exhibited outstanding rate capability (~75% retention at 20 A/g) as well as excellent cycling stability (100% retention at 10 A/g for 2000 cycles). Additionally, no structural failure and loss of performance were observed under the bending state. This structure design paves a new avenue for engineering rGO/PANI or other similar hybrids for high performance flexible energy storage devices. PMID:26795067

Rapid sensing of melamine in milk by interference green synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Varun, S.; Kiruba Daniel, S.C.G.; Gorthi, Sai Siva, E-mail: saisiva.gorthi@iap.iisc.ernet.in

2017-05-01

A highly sensitive, selective, and rapid interference green synthesis based determination of potential milk adulterant melamine has been reported here. Melamine is a nitrogenous compound added to milk for mimicking proteins, consumption of which leads to kidney stones and renal failures. Melamine interacts with ascorbic acid (AA) through strong hydrogen-bonding interactions, thus resulting in an interference/interruption in the formation of silver (Ag) nanoparticles which was confirmed by UV–Vis spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The corresponding benchmark validations for melamine spiked milk samples were performed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). This interference in the formation of Ag nanoparticles resulted in color change that varies with concentration of melamine, thereby enabling in-situ rapid sensing of melamine from milk to a lower limit of 0.1 ppm with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.9908. - Highlights: • Rapid detection of milk adulterant melamine based on interference green synthesis. • Green chemical ascorbic acid used as the reducing agent for interference sensing. • Enabling in-situ sensing of melamine from milk with a limit of detection of 0.1 ppm. • Presence of analyte inhibits the nanoparticle formation.

Advanced high performance solid wall blanket concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, C.P.C.; Malang, S.; Nishio, S.; Raffray, R.; Sagara, A.

2002-01-01

First wall and blanket (FW/blanket) design is a crucial element in the performance and acceptance of a fusion power plant. High temperature structural and breeding materials are needed for high thermal performance. A suitable combination of structural design with the selected materials is necessary for D-T fuel sufficiency. Whenever possible, low afterheat, low chemical reactivity and low activation materials are desired to achieve passive safety and minimize the amount of high-level waste. Of course the selected fusion FW/blanket design will have to match the operational scenarios of high performance plasma. The key characteristics of eight advanced high performance FW/blanket concepts are presented in this paper. Design configurations, performance characteristics, unique advantages and issues are summarized. All reviewed designs can satisfy most of the necessary design goals. For further development, in concert with the advancement in plasma control and scrape off layer physics, additional emphasis will be needed in the areas of first wall coating material selection, design of plasma stabilization coils, consideration of reactor startup and transient events. To validate the projected performance of the advanced FW/blanket concepts the critical element is the need for 14 MeV neutron irradiation facilities for the generation of necessary engineering design data and the prediction of FW/blanket components lifetime and availability

High-performance OPCPA laser system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuegel, J.D.; Bagnoud, V.; Bromage, J.; Begishev, I.A.; Puth, J.

2006-01-01

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is ideally suited for amplifying ultra-fast laser pulses since it provides broadband gain across a wide range of wavelengths without many of the disadvantages of regenerative amplification. A high-performance OPCPA system has been demonstrated as a prototype for the front end of the OMEGA Extended Performance (EP) Laser System. (authors)

High-performance OPCPA laser system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zuegel, J.D.; Bagnoud, V.; Bromage, J.; Begishev, I.A.; Puth, J. [Rochester Univ., Lab. for Laser Energetics, NY (United States)

2006-06-15

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is ideally suited for amplifying ultra-fast laser pulses since it provides broadband gain across a wide range of wavelengths without many of the disadvantages of regenerative amplification. A high-performance OPCPA system has been demonstrated as a prototype for the front end of the OMEGA Extended Performance (EP) Laser System. (authors)

Hard diffraction and rapidity gaps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brandt, A.

1995-09-01

The field of hard diffraction, which studies events with a rapidity gap and a hard scattering, has expanded dramatically recently. A review of new results from CDF, D OE, H1 and ZEUS will be given. These results include diffractive jet production, deep-inelastic scattering in large rapidity gap events, rapidity gaps between high transverse energy jets, and a search for diffractive W-boson production. The combination of these results gives new insight into the exchanged object, believed to be the pomeron. The results axe consistent with factorization and with a hard pomeron that contains both quarks and gluons. There is also evidence for the exchange of a strongly interacting color singlet in high momentum transfer (36 2 ) events

Rapid screening for entry inhibitors of highly pathogenic viruses under low-level biocontainment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aparna Talekar

Full Text Available Emerging viruses including Nipah, Hendra, Lujo, and Junin viruses have enormous potential to spread rapidly. Nipah virus, after emerging as a zoonosis, has also evolved the capacity for human-to-human transmission. Most of the diseases caused by these pathogens are untreatable and require high biocontainment conditions. Universal methods for rapidly identifying and screening candidate antivirals are urgently needed. We have developed a modular antiviral platform strategy that relies on simple bioinformatic and genetic information about each pathogen. Central to this platform is the use of envelope glycoprotein cDNAs to establish multi-cycle replication systems under BSL2 conditions for viral pathogens that normally require BSL3 and BSL4 facilities. We generated monoclonal antibodies against Nipah G by cDNA immunization in rats, and we showed that these antibodies neutralize both Nipah and Hendra live viruses. We then used these effective Henipavirus inhibitors to validate our screening strategy. Our proposed strategy should contribute to the response capability for emerging infectious diseases, providing a way to initiate antiviral development immediately upon identifying novel viruses.

Improving corrosion resistance of post-tensioned substructures emphasizing high performance grouts

Science.gov (United States)

Schokker, Andrea Jeanne

The use of post-tensioning in bridges can provide durability and structural benefits to the system while expediting the construction process. When post-tensioning is combined with precast elements, traffic interference can be greatly reduced through rapid construction. Post-tensioned concrete substructure elements such as bridge piers, hammerhead bents, and straddle bents have become more prevalent in recent years. Chloride induced corrosion of steel in concrete is one of the most costly forms of corrosion each year. Coastal substructure elements are exposed to seawater by immersion or spray, and inland bridges may also be at risk due to the application of deicing salts. Corrosion protection of the post-tensioning system is vital to the integrity of the structure because loss of post-tensioning can result in catastrophic failure. Documentation for durability design of the grout, ducts, and anchorage systems is very limited. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of corrosion protection measures for post-tensioned concrete substructures by designing and testing specimens representative of typical substructure elements using state-of-the-art practices in aggressive chloride exposure environments. This was accomplished through exposure testing of twenty-seven large-scale beam specimens and ten large-scale column specimens. High performance grout for post-tensioning tendon injection was also developed through a series of fresh property tests, accelerated exposure tests, and a large-scale pumping test to simulate field conditions. A high performance fly ash grout was developed for applications with small vertical rises, and a high performance anti-bleed grout was developed for applications involving large vertical rises such as tall bridge piers. Long-term exposure testing of the beam and column specimens is ongoing, but preliminary findings indicate increased corrosion protection with increasing levels of post-tensioning, although traditional

Putting our differences to work the fastest way to innovation, leadership, and high performance

CERN Document Server

Kennedy, Debbe

2008-01-01

In this rapidly changing world, organisations of every type are finding that putting our differences to work is the most powerful accelerator for generating new levels of innovation, energy, leadership and employee engagement needed for high performance. This new book is a practical guide to the strategies and steps needed to make differences the drivers of success. Debbe Kennedy shows that leveraging all the dimensions of difference -- from thinking styles, perspectives, experience, position, goals, competencies, work habits, culture and management style to traditional diversity rubrics such as gender, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation and age -- can accelerate teams' and organisations' performance. Kennedy's book is a practical guide for leaders at all levels that begins with a compelling invitation to pioneer a new era leadership history. It establishes the need for change, sets the course of action, offers proof points and defines five distinctive qualities all leaders need to add to...

Performance of Sony's Alloy Based Li-Ion Battery

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Foster, Donald; Wolfenstine, Jeff; Read, Jeffrey; Allen, Jan L

2008-01-01

Cells from the new Nexelion battery from Sony Corporation were tested for capacity, low temperature performance, high power capability, high temperature storage, rapid recharge and cycle life on deep discharge...

Bead Injection Extraction Chromatography using High-capacity Lab-on-Valve as a Front End to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Urine Radiobioassay

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qiao, Jixin; Hou, Xiaolin; Roos, Per

2013-01-01

A novel bead injection (BI) extraction chromatographic microflow system exploiting high-capacity lab-on-valve (LOV) platform coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection is developed for rapid and automated determination of plutonium in human urine. A microconduit (1 m......L) incorporated within the LOV processing unit is loaded on-line with a metered amount of disposable extraction chromatographic resin (up to 330 mg of TEVA) through programmable beads transport. Selective capture and purification of plutonium onto the resin beads is then performed by pressure driven flow after...

Maturation of Rapid Auditory Temporal Processing and Subsequent Nonword Repetition Performance in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Allison M.; Reid, Corinne L.; Anderson, Mike; Richardson, Cassandra; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2012-01-01

According to the rapid auditory processing theory, the ability to parse incoming auditory information underpins learning of oral and written language. There is wide variation in this low-level perceptual ability, which appears to follow a protracted developmental course. We studied the development of rapid auditory processing using event-related…

High performance in software development

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Haapio, Petri; Liukkonen, Juha-Matti

2015-01-01

What are the ingredients of high-performing software? Software development, especially for large high-performance systems, is one the most complex tasks mankind has ever tried. Technological change leads to huge opportunities but challenges our old ways of working. Processing large data sets, possibly in real time or with other tight computational constraints, requires an efficient solution architecture. Efficiency requirements span from the distributed storage and large-scale organization of computation and data onto the lowest level of processor and data bus behavior. Integrating performance behavior over these levels is especially important when the computation is resource-bounded, as it is in numerics: physical simulation, machine learning, estimation of statistical models, etc. For example, memory locality and utilization of vector processing are essential for harnessing the computing power of modern processor architectures due to the deep memory hierarchies of modern general-purpose computers. As a r...

High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '16 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center, Stuttgart (HLRS) 2016

CERN Document Server

Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

2016-01-01

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2016. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance. The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

High-performance computing — an overview

Science.gov (United States)

Marksteiner, Peter

1996-08-01

An overview of high-performance computing (HPC) is given. Different types of computer architectures used in HPC are discussed: vector supercomputers, high-performance RISC processors, various parallel computers like symmetric multiprocessors, workstation clusters, massively parallel processors. Software tools and programming techniques used in HPC are reviewed: vectorizing compilers, optimization and vector tuning, optimization for RISC processors; parallel programming techniques like shared-memory parallelism, message passing and data parallelism; and numerical libraries.

Team Development for High Performance Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Schermerhorn, John R., Jr.

1986-01-01

The author examines a team development approach to management that creates shared commitments to performance improvement by focusing the attention of managers on individual workers and their task accomplishments. It uses the "high-performance equation" to help managers confront shared beliefs and concerns about performance and develop realistic…

Determination of Finasteride in Tablets by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Basavaiah

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A rapid, highly sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of finasteride(FNS in bulk drug and in tablets. FNS was eluted from a ODS C18 reversed phase column at laboratory temperature (30 ± 2°C with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water (80+20 at a flow rate of 1 mL min-1 with UV detection at 225 nm. The retention time was ∼ 6.1 min and each analysis took not more than 10 min. Quantitation was achieved by measurement of peak area without using any internal standard. Calibration graph was linear from 2.0 to 30 μg mL-1 with limits of detection (LOD and quantification (LOQ being 0.2 and 0.6 μg mL-1, respectively. The method was validated according to the current ICH guidelines. Within-day co efficients of variation (CV ranged from 0.31 to 0.69% and between-day CV were in the range 1.2-3.2%. Recovery of FNS from the pharmaceutical dosage forms ranged from 97.89 – 102.9 with CV of 1.41-4.13%. The developed method was compared with the official method for FNS determination in its tablet forms.

Single-Trial Event-Related Potential Based Rapid Image Triage System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke Yu

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Searching for points of interest (POI in large-volume imagery is a challenging problem with few good solutions. In this work, a neural engineering approach called rapid image triage (RIT which could offer about a ten-fold speed up in POI searching is developed. It is essentially a cortically-coupled computer vision technique, whereby the user is presented bursts of images at a speed of 6–15 images per second and then neural signals called event-related potential (ERP is used as the ‘cue’ for user seeing images of high relevance likelihood. Compared to past efforts, the implemented system has several unique features: (1 it applies overlapping frames in image chip preparation, to ensure rapid image triage performance; (2 a novel common spatial-temporal pattern (CSTP algorithm that makes use of both spatial and temporal patterns of ERP topography is proposed for high-accuracy single-trial ERP detection; (3 a weighted version of probabilistic support-vector-machine (SVM is used to address the inherent unbalanced nature of single-trial ERP detection for RIT. High accuracy, fast learning, and real-time capability of the developed system shown on 20 subjects demonstrate the feasibility of a brainmachine integrated rapid image triage system for fast detection of POI from large-volume imagery.

RAPID-L Highly Automated Fast Reactor Concept Without Any Control Rods (1) Reactor concept and plant dynamics analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kambe, Mitsuru; Tsunoda, Hirokazu; Mishima, Kaichiro; Iwamura, Takamichi

2002-01-01

The 200 kWe uranium-nitride fueled lithium cooled fast reactor concept 'RAPID-L' to achieve highly automated reactor operation has been demonstrated. RAPID-L is designed for Lunar base power system. It is one of the variants of RAPID (Refueling by All Pins Integrated Design), fast reactor concept, which enable quick and simplified refueling. The essential feature of RAPID concept is that the reactor core consists of an integrated fuel assembly instead of conventional fuel subassemblies. In this small size reactor core, 2700 fuel pins are integrated altogether and encased in a fuel cartridge. Refueling is conducted by replacing a fuel cartridge. The reactor can be operated without refueling for up to 10 years. Unique challenges in reactivity control systems design have been attempted in RAPID-L concept. The reactor has no control rod, but involves the following innovative reactivity control systems: Lithium Expansion Modules (LEM) for inherent reactivity feedback, Lithium Injection Modules (LIM) for inherent ultimate shutdown, and Lithium Release Modules (LRM) for automated reactor startup. All these systems adopt lithium-6 as a liquid poison instead of B 4 C rods. In combination with LEMs, LIMs and LRMs, RAPID-L can be operated without operator. This is the first reactor concept ever established in the world. This reactor concept is also applicable to the terrestrial fast reactors. In this paper, RAPID-L reactor concept and its transient characteristics are presented. (authors)

New rapid methods for determination of total LAS in sewage sludge by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villar, M.; Callejon, M.; Jimenez, J.C.; Alonso, E.; Guiraum, A.

2009-01-01

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) are the most common synthetic anionic surfactant used in domestic and industrial detergents, with a global production of 2.4 x 10 6 t year -1 . After use and disposal, LAS may enter the environment by one of the several routes, including by direct discharge to surface water or discharge to water from sewage treatment plants. Sewage treatment plants break down LAS only partly: some of them remain in effluent and other fraction is adsorbed in sewage solid. New and rapid methods for determination of total LAS from sewage sludge based on microwave assisted extraction and HPLC-FL and CE-DAD determination are proposed. The extraction of total LAS is carried out by using microwaves energy, an extraction time of 10 min and 5 mL of methanol. For HPLC-FL determination, mobile phase acetonitrile-water was used, comprising 60% (v/v) from 0 to 1 min and a flow rate of 1 mL min -1 programmed to 100% acetonitrile between 1 and 2 min and a flow rate of 2 mL min -1 . The final composition was maintained for a further 5 min. The determination of total LAS by CE-DAD was performed in a phosphate buffer (10 mM, pH 9). The separation voltage was 25 kV and the temperature of the capillary was 30 deg. C. Injections were performed in the pressure mode and the injection time was set at 12 s. The determination of total LAS is carried out in less than 5 min. The methods did not require clean-up or preconcentration steps. Detection limit for total LAS in the sludge was 3.03 mg kg -1 using HPLC-FL and 21.0 mg kg -1 using CE-DAD, and recoveries were >85% using both determination methods. Concentrations of total LAS obtained using both methods were compared with the sum of concentrations of homologues LAS C-10, LAS C-11, LAS C-12 and LAS C-13 obtained using microwaves assisted extraction and HPLC-FL and CE-DAD determination

New rapid methods for determination of total LAS in sewage sludge by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE).

Science.gov (United States)

Villar, M; Callejón, M; Jiménez, J C; Alonso, E; Guiraúm, A

2009-02-23

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) are the most common synthetic anionic surfactant used in domestic and industrial detergents, with a global production of 2.4x10(6) t year(-1). After use and disposal, LAS may enter the environment by one of the several routes, including by direct discharge to surface water or discharge to water from sewage treatment plants. Sewage treatment plants break down LAS only partly: some of them remain in effluent and other fraction is adsorbed in sewage solid. New and rapid methods for determination of total LAS from sewage sludge based on microwave assisted extraction and HPLC-FL and CE-DAD determination are proposed. The extraction of total LAS is carried out by using microwaves energy, an extraction time of 10 min and 5 mL of methanol. For HPLC-FL determination, mobile phase acetonitrile-water was used, comprising 60% (v/v) from 0 to 1 min and a flow rate of 1 mL min(-1) programmed to 100% acetonitrile between 1 and 2 min and a flow rate of 2 mL min(-1). The final composition was maintained for a further 5 min. The determination of total LAS by CE-DAD was performed in a phosphate buffer (10 mM, pH 9). The separation voltage was 25 kV and the temperature of the capillary was 30 degrees C. Injections were performed in the pressure mode and the injection time was set at 12 s. The determination of total LAS is carried out in less than 5 min. The methods did not require clean-up or preconcentration steps. Detection limit for total LAS in the sludge was 3.03 mg kg(-1) using HPLC-FL and 21.0 mg kg(-1) using CE-DAD, and recoveries were >85% using both determination methods. Concentrations of total LAS obtained using both methods were compared with the sum of concentrations of homologues LAS C-10, LAS C-11, LAS C-12 and LAS C-13 obtained using microwaves assisted extraction and HPLC-FL and CE-DAD determination.

NCI's Transdisciplinary High Performance Scientific Data Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Ben; Antony, Joseph; Bastrakova, Irina; Car, Nicholas; Cox, Simon; Druken, Kelsey; Evans, Bradley; Fraser, Ryan; Ip, Alex; Kemp, Carina; King, Edward; Minchin, Stuart; Larraondo, Pablo; Pugh, Tim; Richards, Clare; Santana, Fabiana; Smillie, Jon; Trenham, Claire; Wang, Jingbo; Wyborn, Lesley

2016-04-01

The Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) manages Earth Systems data collections sourced from several domains and organisations onto a single High Performance Data (HPD) Node to further Australia's national priority research and innovation agenda. The NCI HPD Node has rapidly established its value, currently managing over 10 PBytes of datasets from collections that span a wide range of disciplines including climate, weather, environment, geoscience, geophysics, water resources and social sciences. Importantly, in order to facilitate broad user uptake, maximise reuse and enable transdisciplinary access through software and standardised interfaces, the datasets, associated information systems and processes have been incorporated into the design and operation of a unified platform that NCI has called, the National Environmental Research Data Interoperability Platform (NERDIP). The key goal of the NERDIP is to regularise data access so that it is easily discoverable, interoperable for different domains and enabled for high performance methods. It adopts and implements international standards and data conventions, and promotes scientific integrity within a high performance computing and data analysis environment. NCI has established a rich and flexible computing environment to access to this data, through the NCI supercomputer; a private cloud that supports both domain focused virtual laboratories and in-common interactive analysis interfaces; as well as remotely through scalable data services. Data collections of this importance must be managed with careful consideration of both their current use and the needs of the end-communities, as well as its future potential use, such as transitioning to more advanced software and improved methods. It is therefore critical that the data platform is both well-managed and trusted for stable production use (including transparency and reproducibility), agile enough to incorporate new technological advances and

Determination of La and Nd by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) pre-separated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaison, P.G.; Raut, N.M.; Parab, A.R.; Khodade, P.S.; Govindan, R.; Aggarwal, S.K.

2003-01-01

Determination of La and Nd by TIMS is required for accurate determination of burn-up of nuclear fuels. During their thermal ionization mass spectrometric (TIMS) analysis, 138 Ce and 142 Ce show spectroscopic isobaric interferences at 138 La and 142 Nd, respectively. Hence, it is essential to remove Ce from La and Nd for their accurate isotopic composition determination. Reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a promising technique for rapid and effective separation

Rapid preparation of high electrochemical performance LiFePO4/C composite cathode material with an ultrasonic-intensified micro-impinging jetting reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Bin; Huang, Xiani; Yang, Xiaogang; Li, Guang; Xia, Lan; Chen, George

2017-11-01

A joint chemical reactor system referred to as an ultrasonic-intensified micro-impinging jetting reactor (UIJR), which possesses the feature of fast micro-mixing, was proposed and has been employed for rapid preparation of FePO 4 particles that are amalgamated by nanoscale primary crystals. As one of the important precursors for the fabrication of lithium iron phosphate cathode, the properties of FePO 4 nano particles significantly affect the performance of the lithium iron phosphate cathode. Thus, the effects of joint use of impinging stream and ultrasonic irradiation on the formation of mesoporous structure of FePO 4 nano precursor particles and the electrochemical properties of amalgamated LiFePO 4 /C have been investigated. Additionally, the effects of the reactant concentration (C=0.5, 1.0 and 1.5molL -1 ), and volumetric flow rate (V=17.15, 51.44, and 85.74mLmin -1 ) on synthesis of FePO 4 ·2H 2 O nucleus have been studied when the impinging jetting reactor (IJR) and UIJR are to operate in nonsubmerged mode. It was affirmed from the experiments that the FePO 4 nano precursor particles prepared using UIJR have well-formed mesoporous structures with the primary crystal size of 44.6nm, an average pore size of 15.2nm, and a specific surface area of 134.54m 2 g -1 when the reactant concentration and volumetric flow rate are 1.0molL -1 and 85.74mLmin -1 respectively. The amalgamated LiFePO 4 /C composites can deliver good electrochemical performance with discharge capacities of 156.7mAhg -1 at 0.1C, and exhibit 138.0mAhg -1 after 100 cycles at 0.5C, which is 95.3% of the initial discharge capacity. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Simple and rapid method on High Performance Liquid Chromatography for simultaneous determination of benzylpenicillin potassium, streptomycin sulphate and related substances in Ascomicin – a veterinary use ointment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neagu Maria

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A new simple, rapid, accurate and precise High – Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC method for determination of benzylpenicillin potassium and streptomycin sulphate in Ascomicin ointment was developed and validated. The method can be used for the detection and quantification of known and unknown impurities and degradation products in this pharmaceutical product during routine analysis and also for stability studies in view of its capability to separate degradation products. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, specificity, robustness and quantification limits according to ICH Guidelines. The estimation of benzylpenicillin potassium and streptomycin sulphate was done by Waters HPLC 2695. The chromatographic conditions comprised a reverse-phased C18 column (5 µm particle size, 250 mm×4.6 mm i.d. with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of solution in water containing 0.025 M of sodium phosphate dibasic and 0.02 of sodium hexansulfonate adjusted to pH 6.0 with 22.5 g/lsolution of phosphoric acid and acetonitrile in gradient elution. The flow rate was 0.8 ml/min. Standard curves were linear over the concentration range of 5.00 µg/ml to 5.00 mg/ml for streptomycin sulphate and 3.26 µg/ml to 3.26 mg/ml for benzylpenicillin potassium. Statistical analyses proved the method was precise, reproducible, selective, specific and accurate for analysis of benzylpenicillin potassium, streptomycin sulphate and related substances.

Metallic CoS2 nanowire electrodes for high cycling performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Ren; Faber, Matthew S.; Dziedzic, Rafal; Wen, Zhenhai; Jin, Song; Mao, Shun; Chen, Junhong

2015-12-01

We report metallic cobalt pyrite (CoS2) nanowires (NWs) prepared directly on current collecting electrodes, e.g., carbon cloth or graphite disc, for high-performance supercapacitors. These CoS2 NWs have a variety of advantages for supercapacitor applications. Because the metallic CoS2 NWs are synthesized directly on the current collector, the good electrical connection enables efficient charge transfer between the active CoS2 materials and the current collector. In addition, the open spaces between the sea urchin structure NWs lead to a large accessible surface area and afford rapid mass transport. Moreover, the robust CoS2 NW structure results in high stability of the active materials during long-term operation. Electrochemical characterization reveals that the CoS2 NWs enable large specific capacitance (828.2 F g-1 at a scan rate of 0.01 V s-1) and excellent long term cycling stability (0-2.5% capacity loss after 4250 cycles at 5 A g-1) for pseudocapacitors. This example of metallic CoS2 NWs for supercapacitor applications expands the opportunities for transition metal sulfide-based nanostructures in emerging energy storage applications.

Performance of the new automated Abbott RealTime MTB assay for rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in respiratory specimens.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, J H K; She, K K K; Kwong, T-C; Wong, O-Y; Siu, G K H; Leung, C-C; Chang, K-C; Tam, C-M; Ho, P-L; Cheng, V C C; Yuen, K-Y; Yam, W-C

2015-09-01

The automated high-throughput Abbott RealTime MTB real-time PCR assay has been recently launched for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) clinical diagnosis. This study would like to evaluate its performance. We first compared its diagnostic performance with the Roche Cobas TaqMan MTB assay on 214 clinical respiratory specimens. Prospective analysis of a total 520 specimens was then performed to further evaluate the Abbott assay. The Abbott assay showed a lower limit of detection at 22.5 AFB/ml, which was more sensitive than the Cobas assay (167.5 AFB/ml). The two assays demonstrated a significant difference in diagnostic performance (McNemar's test; P = 0.0034), in which the Abbott assay presented significantly higher area under curve (AUC) than the Cobas assay (1.000 vs 0.880; P = 0.0002). The Abbott assay demonstrated extremely low PCR inhibition on clinical respiratory specimens. The automated Abbott assay required only very short manual handling time (0.5 h), which could help to improve the laboratory management. In the prospective analysis, the overall estimates for sensitivity and specificity of the Abbott assay were both 100 % among smear-positive specimens, whereas the smear-negative specimens were 96.7 and 96.1 %, respectively. No cross-reactivity with non-tuberculosis mycobacterial species was observed. The superiority in sensitivity of the Abbott assay for detecting MTBC in smear-negative specimens could further minimize the risk in MTBC false-negative detection. The new Abbott RealTime MTB assay has good diagnostic performance which can be a useful diagnostic tool for rapid MTBC detection in clinical laboratories.

High Performance Walls in Hot-Dry Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoeschele, Marc [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); Springer, David [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); Dakin, Bill [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); German, Alea [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States)

2015-01-01

High performance walls represent a high priority measure for moving the next generation of new homes to the Zero Net Energy performance level. The primary goal in improving wall thermal performance revolves around increasing the wall framing from 2x4 to 2x6, adding more cavity and exterior rigid insulation, achieving insulation installation criteria meeting ENERGY STAR's thermal bypass checklist. To support this activity, in 2013 the Pacific Gas & Electric Company initiated a project with Davis Energy Group (lead for the Building America team, Alliance for Residential Building Innovation) to solicit builder involvement in California to participate in field demonstrations of high performance wall systems. Builders were given incentives and design support in exchange for providing site access for construction observation, cost information, and builder survey feedback. Information from the project was designed to feed into the 2016 Title 24 process, but also to serve as an initial mechanism to engage builders in more high performance construction strategies. This Building America project utilized information collected in the California project.

Cactus and Visapult: An ultra-high performance grid-distributedvisualization architecture using connectionless protocols

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bethel, E. Wes; Shalf, John

2002-08-31

This past decade has seen rapid growth in the size,resolution, and complexity of Grand Challenge simulation codes. Thistrend is accompanied by a trend towards multinational, multidisciplinaryteams who carry out this research in distributed teams, and thecorresponding growth of Grid infrastructure to support these widelydistributed Virtual Organizations. As the number and diversity ofdistributed teams grow, the need for visualization tools to analyze anddisplay multi-terabyte, remote data becomes more pronounced and moreurgent. One such tool that has been successfully used to address thisproblem is Visapult. Visapult is a parallel visualization tool thatemploys Grid-distributed components, latency tolerant visualization andgraphics algorithms, along with high performance network I/O in order toachieve effective remote analysis of massive datasets. In this paper wediscuss improvements to network bandwidth utilization and responsivenessof the Visapult application that result from using connectionlessprotocols to move data payload between the distributed Visapultcomponents and a Grid-enabled, high performance physics simulation usedto study gravitational waveforms of colliding black holes: The Cactuscode. These improvements have boosted Visapult's network efficiency to88-96 percent of the maximum theoretical available bandwidth onmulti-gigabit Wide Area Networks, and greatly enhanced interactivity.Such improvements are critically important for future development ofeffective interactive Grid applications.

Flexible nanoscale high-performance FinFETs

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2014-10-28

With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), flexible high-performance nanoscale electronics are more desired. At the moment, FinFET is the most advanced transistor architecture used in the state-of-the-art microprocessors. Therefore, we show a soft-etch based substrate thinning process to transform silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based nanoscale FinFET into flexible FinFET and then conduct comprehensive electrical characterization under various bending conditions to understand its electrical performance. Our study shows that back-etch based substrate thinning process is gentler than traditional abrasive back-grinding process; it can attain ultraflexibility and the electrical characteristics of the flexible nanoscale FinFET show no performance degradation compared to its rigid bulk counterpart indicating its readiness to be used for flexible high-performance electronics.

A novel lentiviral scFv display library for rapid optimization and selection of high affinity antibodies.

Science.gov (United States)

Qudsia, Sehar; Merugu, Siva B; Mangukiya, Hitesh B; Hema, Negi; Wu, Zhenghua; Li, Dawei

2018-04-30

Antibody display libraries have become a popular technique to screen monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic purposes. An important aspect of display technology is to generate an optimization library by changing antibody affinity to antigen through mutagenesis and screening the high affinity antibody. In this study, we report a novel lentivirus display based optimization library antibody in which Agtuzumab scFv is displayed on cell membrane of HEK-293T cells. To generate an optimization library, hotspot mutagenesis was performed to achieve diverse antibody library. Based on sequence analysis of randomly selected clones, library size was estimated approximately to be 1.6 × 10 6 . Lentivirus display vector was used to display scFv antibody on cell surface and flow cytometery was performed to check the antibody affinity to antigen. Membrane bound scFv antibodies were then converted to secreted antibody through cre/loxP recombination. One of the mutant clones, M8 showed higher affinity to antigen in flow cytometery analysis. Further characterization of cellular and secreted scFv through western blot showed that antibody affinity was increased by three fold after mutagenesis. This study shows successful construction of a novel antibody library and suggests that hotspot mutagenesis could prove a useful and rapid optimization tool to generate similar libraries with various degree of antigen affinity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The rapid terrain visualization interferometric synthetic aperture radar sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, Robert H.; Bickel, Douglas L.; Hensley, William H.

2003-11-01

The Rapid Terrain Visualization interferometric synthetic aperture radar was designed and built at Sandia National Laboratories as part of an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) to "demonstrate the technologies and infrastructure to meet the Army requirement for rapid generation of digital topographic data to support emerging crisis or contingencies." This sensor is currently being operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the Joint Precision Strike Demonstration (JPSD) Project Office to provide highly accurate digital elevation models (DEMs) for military and civilian customers, both inside and outside of the United States. The sensor achieves better than DTED Level IV position accuracy in near real-time. The system is being flown on a deHavilland DHC-7 Army aircraft. This paper outlines some of the technologies used in the design of the system, discusses the performance, and will discuss operational issues. In addition, we will show results from recent flight tests, including high accuracy maps taken of the San Diego area.

Portable Diagnostics and Rapid Germination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunn, Zachary Spencer [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-12-01

In the Bioenergy and Defense Department of Sandia National Laboratories, characterization of the BaDx (Bacillus anthracis diagnostic cartridge) was performed and rapid germination chemistry was investigated. BaDx was tested with complex sample matrixes inoculated with Bacillus anthracis, and the trials proved that BaDx will detect Bacillus anthracis in a variety of the medium, such as dirt, serum, blood, milk, and horse fluids. The dimensions of the device were altered to accommodate an E. coli or Listeria lateral flow immunoassay, and using a laser printer, BaDx devices were manufactured to identify E. coli and Listeria. Initial testing with E. coli versions of BaDx indicate that the device will be viable as a portable diagnostic cartridge. The device would be more effective with faster bacteria germination; hence studies were performed the use of rapid germination chemistry. Trials with calcium dipicolinic acid displayed increased cell germination, as shown by control studies using a microplate reader. Upon lyophilization the rapid germination chemistry failed to change growth patterns, indicating that the calcium dipicolinic acid was not solubilized under the conditions tested. Although incompatible with the portable diagnostic device, the experiments proved that the rapid germination chemistry was effective in increasing cell germination.

High-Throughput Lipolysis in 96-Well Plates for Rapid Screening of Lipid-Based Drug Delivery Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mosgaard, Mette D; Sassene, Philip J; Mu, Huiling

2017-01-01

The high-throughput in vitro intestinal lipolysis model (HTP) applicable for rapid and low-scale screening of lipid-based drug delivery systems (LbDDSs) was optimized and adjusted as to be conducted in 96-well plates (HTP-96). Three different LbDDSs (I-III) loaded with danazol or cinnarizine were...

The Role of Performance Management in Creating and Maintaining a High-Performance Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André A. de Waal

2015-04-01

Full Text Available There is still a good deal of confusion in the literature about how the use of a performance management system affects overall organizational performance. Some researchers find that performance management enhances both the financial and non-financial results of an organization, while others do not find any positive effects or, at most, ambiguous effects. An important step toward getting more clarity in this relationship is to investigate the role performance management plays in creating and maintaining a high-performance organization (HPO. The purpose of this study is to integrate performance management analysis (PMA and high-performance organization (HPO. A questionnaire combining questions on PMA dimensions and HPO factors was administered to two European-based multinational firms. Based on 468 valid questionnaires, a correlation analysis was performed on the PMA dimensions and the HPO factors in order to test the impact of performance management on the factors of high organizational performance. The results show strong and significant correlations between all the PMA dimensions and all the HPO factors, indicating that a performance management system that fosters performance-driven behavior in the organization is of critical importance to strengthen overall financial and non-financial performance.

Three-year hemodynamic performance, left ventricular mass regression, and prosthetic-patient mismatch after rapid deployment aortic valve replacement in 287 patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Haverich, Axel; Wahlers, Thorsten C; Borger, Michael A; Shrestha, Malakh; Kocher, Alfred A; Walther, Thomas; Roth, Matthias; Misfeld, Martin; Mohr, Friedrich W; Kempfert, Joerg; Dohmen, Pascal M; Schmitz, Christoph; Rahmanian, Parwis; Wiedemann, Dominik; Duhay, Francis G; Laufer, Günther

2014-12-01

Superior aortic valve hemodynamic performance can accelerate left ventricular mass regression and enhance survival and functional status after surgical aortic valve replacement. This can be achieved by rapid deployment aortic valve replacement using a subannular balloon-expandable stent frame, which functionally widens and reshapes the left ventricular outflow tract, to ensure a larger effective orifice area compared with conventional surgical valves. We report the intermediate-term follow-up data from a large series of patients enrolled in the Surgical Treatment of Aortic Stenosis With a Next Generation Surgical Aortic Valve (TRITON) trial. In a prospective, multicenter (6 European hospitals), single-arm study, 287 patients with aortic stenosis underwent rapid deployment aortic valve replacement using a stented trileaflet bovine pericardial bioprosthesis. Core laboratory echocardiography was performed at baseline, discharge, and 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years after rapid deployment aortic valve replacement. The mean patient age was 75.7 ± 6.7 years (range, 45-93; 49.1% women). The mean aortic valve gradient significantly decreased from discharge to 3 years of follow-up. The mean effective orifice area remained stable from discharge to 3 years. At 1 year, the left ventricular mass index had decreased by 14% (P replacement using a subannular balloon-expandable stent frame demonstrated excellent hemodynamic performance and significant left ventricular mass regression. With continued follow-up, future studies will establish whether these favorable structural changes correlate with improvement in long-term survival and functional status. Copyright © 2014 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modified stainless steel for high performance and stable anode in microbial fuel cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, Xinwen; Chen, Shuiliang; Liu, Lang; Zheng, Suqi; Li, Ming

2016-01-01

Graphical abstract: A high performance and stable anode was prepared for microbial fuel cells by surface modification of stainless steel mesh including steps of acid etching, binder-free carbon black (CB) coating and the low-temperature heat treatment below 400 °C. The modified anode could deliver a stable and high current density of 1.91 mA cm −2 . - Highlights: • A high-performance anode for MFC is prepared by surface modification of SSM. • The modified SSM could generate a high current density of up to 1.91 mA cm −2 . • The formation of Fe 3 O 4 layer enhanced the interaction between the CB and SSM. • The modified SSM was stable under the potential of +0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). • The modified SSM was an ideal anode for upscaling applications of MFCs. - Abstract: The surface modification of the stainless steel mesh (SSM) was conducted by acid etching, binder-free carbon black (CB) coating and the low-temperature heat treatment below 400 °C to improve the microbial bioelectrocatalytic activity for use as high-performance anode in microbial fuel cells. The modified SSM, such as SSM/CB-400, could generate a high current density of up to 1.91 mA cm −2 , which was nearly three orders of magnitude higher than the untreated SSM electrode (0.0025 mA cm −2 ). Moreover, it was stable and recovered the equal current density after removal of the formed biofilms. Surface characterization results demonstrate that the performance improvement was attributed to the CB/Fe 3 O 4 composite layer formed onto the surface of the SSM, which protected the biofilms from being poisoned by the Cr component in the SSM and ensured a rapid electron transfer from biofilms to the SSM surface. The CB/Fe 3 O 4 composite layer showed excellent corrosion-resistant under the oxidizing potential of + 0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Rising the heating temperature to 500 °C, the SSM-500 and SSM/CB-500 electrodes suffered from corrosion due to the formation of α-Fe 2 O 3 crystals.

High-tech industries' overseas investment performance evaluation - Application of data envelopment analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ridong Hu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available With the rapid change of the social environment, Mainland China has become a new economic market due to the great domestic demand caused by its enormous population and the increasing economic growth rate. Taiwanese businesses have gradually turned to develop in China under the pressure of increasing domestic wages and land costs for expanding factories as well as the enhancement of environmental protection. Mainland China presents the advantages of ample land, low labor costs, monoethnicity, and easy language communication making it an attractive major investment location for Taiwanese high-tech industries. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA is applied to measure overseas investment efficiency evaluation of Taiwanese high-tech businesses in China, where the Delphi Method is used for selecting the inputs of the number of employees, R&D expenses, and gross sales in total assets. Sensitivity Analysis is further utilized for acquiring the most efficient unit and individual units with operating efficiency. The research results show that 1.Three high-tech businesses that present constant returns to scale perform optimally with overseas investment efficiency 2.Two high-tech companies with decreasing returns to scale appear that they could improve the overseas investment efficiency by decreasing the scale to enhancing the marginal returns, and 3.Sixteen high-tech enterprises reveal increasing returns to scale, showing that they could expand the scale to enhance the marginal returns and further promote efficiency.

A new delirium phenotype with rapid high amplitude onset and nearly as rapid reversal: Central Coast Australia Delirium Intervention Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Regal, Paul J

2015-01-01

delirium phenotype selects for a rapid high amplitude critical decline in attention, executive function, IADL, and apathy that recovers almost as rapidly.

Facile and sensitive determination of N-nitrosamines in food samples by high-performance liquid chromatography via combining fluorescent labeling with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Shuaimin; Wu, Di; Li, Guoliang; Lv, Zhengxian; Gong, Peiwei; Xia, Lian; Sun, Zhiwei; Chen, Guang; Chen, Xuefeng; You, Jinmao; Wu, Yongning

2017-11-01

The intake of N-nitrosamines (NAs) from foodstuffs is considered to be an important influence factor for several cancers. But the rapid and sensitive screening of NAs remains a challenge in the field of food safety. Inspired by that, a sensitive and rapid method was demonstrated for determination of five NAs (Nitrosopyrrolidine, Nitrosodimethylamine, Nitrosodiethylamine, Nitrosodipropylamine and Nitrosodibutylamine) using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). The NAs were firstly denitrosated and labeled by 2-(11H-benzo[a]carbazol-11-yl) ethyl carbonochloridate (BCEC-Cl) and finally enriched by DLLME. Furthermore, the main DLLME conditions were optimized systematically. Under the optimal conditions, satisfactory limits of detection (LODs) were obtained with a range of 0.01-0.07ngg -1 , which were significantly lower than the reported methods. The developed method showed many merits including rapidity, simplicity, high sensitivity and excellent selectivity, which shows a broad prospect in food safety analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of new high-performance stainless steels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Yong Soo

2002-01-01

This paper focused on high-performance stainless steels and their development status. Effect of nitrogen addition on super-stainless steel was discussed. Research activities at Yonsei University, on austenitic and martensitic high-performance stainless, steels, and the next-generation duplex stainless steels were introduced

vSphere high performance cookbook

CERN Document Server

Sarkar, Prasenjit

2013-01-01

vSphere High Performance Cookbook is written in a practical, helpful style with numerous recipes focusing on answering and providing solutions to common, and not-so common, performance issues and problems.The book is primarily written for technical professionals with system administration skills and some VMware experience who wish to learn about advanced optimization and the configuration features and functions for vSphere 5.1.

High Burnup Fuel Performance and Safety Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bang, Je Keun; Lee, Chan Bok; Kim, Dae Ho (and others)

2007-03-15

The worldwide trend of nuclear fuel development is to develop a high burnup and high performance nuclear fuel with high economies and safety. Because the fuel performance evaluation code, INFRA, has a patent, and the superiority for prediction of fuel performance was proven through the IAEA CRP FUMEX-II program, the INFRA code can be utilized with commercial purpose in the industry. The INFRA code was provided and utilized usefully in the universities and relevant institutes domesticallly and it has been used as a reference code in the industry for the development of the intrinsic fuel rod design code.

Danish High Performance Concretes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, M. P.; Christoffersen, J.; Frederiksen, J.

1994-01-01

In this paper the main results obtained in the research program High Performance Concretes in the 90's are presented. This program was financed by the Danish government and was carried out in cooperation between The Technical University of Denmark, several private companies, and Aalborg University...... concretes, workability, ductility, and confinement problems....

Preparation and Evaluation of Oxaliplatin Thermosensitive Liposomes with Rapid Release and High Stability.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunying Zeng

Full Text Available Oxaliplatin (OXP was reported to show low anti-tumor activity when used alone and to display side effects; this low activity was attributed to high partitioning to erythrocytes and low accumulation in tumors. Thermosensitive liposomes (TSL were considered able to specifically deliver drugs to heated tumors and to resolve the OXP distribution problem. Regretfully, TSL encapsulating doxorubicin did not demonstrate significant improvement in progression-free survival. Drug release below 41°C and significant leakage were considered major reasons for the failure. The purpose of this study was to acquire OXP TSL with rapid release at the triggered temperature and high stability at body temperature and at storage temperatures. A small quantity of poloxamer 188 was introduced into the TSL formulation to stabilize the encapsulated drug. It was shown that the addition of poloxamer 188 had no influence on the TSL characteristics. More than 90% of OXP was released within 10 min at 42°C, and less than 15% was released within 60 min at temperatures below 39°C. TSL were stable at 37°C for 96 h and at 4°C for 6 months. The anti-tumor activity of TSL at the dose of 2.5 mg/kg was certified to be equal to those of OXP injection and non-thermosensitive liposomes (NTSL at the dose of 5 mg/kg, and significant improvement of tumor inhibition was observed in TSL compared with injection and NTSL at the same dose. It was also shown from the histological transmutation of tumors that TSL had stronger anti-tumor activity. Therefore, it could be concluded that TSL composed of a proper amount of poloxamer had rapid release and high stability, and OXP TSL would be anticipated to exert prominent anti-tumor activity in the clinic.

Simrank: Rapid and sensitive general-purpose k-mer search tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeSantis, T.Z.; Keller, K.; Karaoz, U.; Alekseyenko, A.V; Singh, N.N.S.; Brodie, E.L; Pei, Z.; Andersen, G.L; Larsen, N.

2011-04-01

Terabyte-scale collections of string-encoded data are expected from consortia efforts such as the Human Microbiome Project (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/hmp). Intra- and inter-project data similarity searches are enabled by rapid k-mer matching strategies. Software applications for sequence database partitioning, guide tree estimation, molecular classification and alignment acceleration have benefited from embedded k-mer searches as sub-routines. However, a rapid, general-purpose, open-source, flexible, stand-alone k-mer tool has not been available. Here we present a stand-alone utility, Simrank, which allows users to rapidly identify database strings the most similar to query strings. Performance testing of Simrank and related tools against DNA, RNA, protein and human-languages found Simrank 10X to 928X faster depending on the dataset. Simrank provides molecular ecologists with a high-throughput, open source choice for comparing large sequence sets to find similarity.

Promising high monetary rewards for future task performance increases intermediate task performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claire M Zedelius

Full Text Available In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly. Results showed that high (vs. low rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner.

Promising high monetary rewards for future task performance increases intermediate task performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Zedelius, Claire M; Veling, Harm; Bijleveld, Erik; Aarts, Henk

2012-01-01

In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration) to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly). Results showed that high (vs. low) rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner.

What Physicists Should Know About High Performance Computing - Circa 2002

Science.gov (United States)

Frederick, Donald

2002-08-01

High Performance Computing (HPC) is a dynamic, cross-disciplinary field that traditionally has involved applied mathematicians, computer scientists, and others primarily from the various disciplines that have been major users of HPC resources - physics, chemistry, engineering, with increasing use by those in the life sciences. There is a technological dynamic that is powered by economic as well as by technical innovations and developments. This talk will discuss practical ideas to be considered when developing numerical applications for research purposes. Even with the rapid pace of development in the field, the author believes that these concepts will not become obsolete for a while, and will be of use to scientists who either are considering, or who have already started down the HPC path. These principles will be applied in particular to current parallel HPC systems, but there will also be references of value to desktop users. The talk will cover such topics as: computing hardware basics, single-cpu optimization, compilers, timing, numerical libraries, debugging and profiling tools and the emergence of Computational Grids.

Comparison of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography for the separation of synthetic cathinones.

Science.gov (United States)

Carnes, Stephanie; O'Brien, Stacey; Szewczak, Angelica; Tremeau-Cayel, Lauriane; Rowe, Walter F; McCord, Bruce; Lurie, Ira S

2017-09-01

A comparison of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography for the separation of synthetic cathinones has been conducted. Nine different mixtures of bath salts were analyzed in this study. The three different chromatographic techniques were examined using a general set of controlled synthetic cathinones as well as a variety of other synthetic cathinones that exist as positional isomers. Overall 35 different synthetic cathinones were analyzed. A variety of column types and chromatographic modes were examined for developing each separation. For the ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography separations, analyses were performed using a series of Torus and Trefoil columns with either ammonium formate or ammonium hydroxide as additives, and methanol, ethanol or isopropanol organic solvents as modifiers. Ultra high performance liquid chromatographic separations were performed in both reversed phase and hydrophilic interaction chromatographic modes using SPP C18 and SPP HILIC columns. Gas chromatography separations were performed using an Elite-5MS capillary column. The orthogonality of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography was examined using principal component analysis. For the best overall separation of synthetic cathinones, the use of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography in combination with gas chromatography is recommended. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Building a High Performance Metadata Broker using Clojure, NoSQL and Message Queues

Science.gov (United States)

Truslove, I.; Reed, S.

2013-12-01

In practice, Earth and Space Science Informatics often relies on getting more done with less: fewer hardware resources, less IT staff, fewer lines of code. As a capacity-building exercise focused on rapid development of high-performance geoinformatics software, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) built a prototype metadata brokering system using a new JVM language, modern database engines and virtualized or cloud computing resources. The metadata brokering system was developed with the overarching goals of (i) demonstrating a technically viable product with as little development effort as possible, (ii) using very new yet very popular tools and technologies in order to get the most value from the least legacy-encumbered code bases, and (iii) being a high-performance system by using scalable subcomponents, and implementation patterns typically used in web architectures. We implemented the system using the Clojure programming language (an interactive, dynamic, Lisp-like JVM language), Redis (a fast in-memory key-value store) as both the data store for original XML metadata content and as the provider for the message queueing service, and ElasticSearch for its search and indexing capabilities to generate search results. On evaluating the results of the prototyping process, we believe that the technical choices did in fact allow us to do more for less, due to the expressive nature of the Clojure programming language and its easy interoperability with Java libraries, and the successful reuse or re-application of high performance products or designs. This presentation will describe the architecture of the metadata brokering system, cover the tools and techniques used, and describe lessons learned, conclusions, and potential next steps.

High Performance Electronics on Flexible Silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2016-09-01

Over the last few years, flexible electronic systems have gained increased attention from researchers around the world because of their potential to create new applications such as flexible displays, flexible energy harvesters, artificial skin, and health monitoring systems that cannot be integrated with conventional wafer based complementary metal oxide semiconductor processes. Most of the current efforts to create flexible high performance devices are based on the use of organic semiconductors. However, inherent material\\'s limitations make them unsuitable for big data processing and high speed communications. The objective of my doctoral dissertation is to develop integration processes that allow the transformation of rigid high performance electronics into flexible ones while maintaining their performance and cost. In this work, two different techniques to transform inorganic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electronics into flexible ones have been developed using industry compatible processes. Furthermore, these techniques were used to realize flexible discrete devices and circuits which include metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors, the first demonstration of flexible Fin-field-effect-transistors, and metal-oxide-semiconductors-based circuits. Finally, this thesis presents a new technique to package, integrate, and interconnect flexible high performance electronics using low cost additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and inkjet printing. This thesis contains in depth studies on electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the fabricated devices.

High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '02 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

CERN Document Server

Jäger, Willi

2003-01-01

This book presents the state-of-the-art in modeling and simulation on supercomputers. Leading German research groups present their results achieved on high-end systems of the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) for the year 2002. Reports cover all fields of supercomputing simulation ranging from computational fluid dynamics to computer science. Special emphasis is given to industrially relevant applications. Moreover, by presenting results for both vector sytems and micro-processor based systems the book allows to compare performance levels and usability of a variety of supercomputer architectures. It therefore becomes an indispensable guidebook to assess the impact of the Japanese Earth Simulator project on supercomputing in the years to come.

Performance of the Quidel Sofia Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Test During the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 Influenza Seasons

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-23

Performance of the Quidel Sofia rapid influenza diagnostic test during the 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 influenza seasons Peter E. Kammerer, Jennifer M... Influenza A+B Fluorescent Immunoassay was used to test nasal swab specimens from patients with influenza -like illness at US–Mexico border-area clinics in...the 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 influenza seasons. Compared with real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, the overall sensitivities and

Critical Factors Explaining the Leadership Performance of High-Performing Principals

Science.gov (United States)

Hutton, Disraeli M.

2018-01-01

The study explored critical factors that explain leadership performance of high-performing principals and examined the relationship between these factors based on the ratings of school constituents in the public school system. The principal component analysis with the use of Varimax Rotation revealed that four components explain 51.1% of the…

High Performance Walls in Hot-Dry Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoeschele, Marc [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Springer, David [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dakin, Bill [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); German, Alea [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2015-01-01

High performance walls represent a high priority measure for moving the next generation of new homes to the Zero Net Energy performance level. The primary goal in improving wall thermal performance revolves around increasing the wall framing from 2x4 to 2x6, adding more cavity and exterior rigid insulation, achieving insulation installation criteria meeting ENERGY STAR's thermal bypass checklist, and reducing the amount of wood penetrating the wall cavity.

Dual Carbon-Confined SnO2 Hollow Nanospheres Enabling High Performance for the Reversible Storage of Alkali Metal Ions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Qiong; Shao, Qi; Li, Qiang; Duan, Qian; Li, Yanhui; Wang, Heng-Guo

2018-04-25

To explore a universal electrode material for the high-performance electrochemical storage of Li + , Na + , and K + ions remains a big challenge. Herein, we propose a "trinity" strategy to coat the SnO 2 hollow nanospheres using the dual carbon layer from the polydopamine-derived nitrogen-doped carbon and graphene. Thereinto, hollow structures with sufficient void space could buffer the volume expansion, whereas dual carbon-confined strategy could not only elastically prevent the aggregation of nanoparticle and ensure the structural integrity but also immensely improve the conductivity and endow high rate properties. Benefiting from the effective strategy and specific structure, the dual carbon-confined SnO 2 hollow nanosphere (denoted as G@C@SnO 2 ) can serve as the universal host material for alkali metal ions and enable their rapid and reversible storage. As expected, the resulting G@C@SnO 2 as a universal anode material shows reversible alkali-metal-ion storage with high performance. We believe this that strategy could pave the way for constructing other metal-oxide-based dual carbon-confined high-performance materials for the future energy storage applications.

Rapid Quantitation of Furanocoumarins and Flavonoids in Grapefruit Juice using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandermolen, Karen M; Cech, Nadja B; Paine, Mary F; Oberlies, Nicholas H

2013-01-01

Grapefruit juice can increase or decrease the systemic exposure of myriad oral medications, leading to untoward effects or reduced efficacy. Furanocoumarins in grapefruit juice have been established as inhibitors of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A)-mediated metabolism and P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated efflux, while flavonoids have been implicated as inhibitors of organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP)-mediated absorptive uptake in the intestine. The potential for drug interactions with a food product necessitates an understanding of the expected concentrations of a suite of structurally diverse and potentially bioactive compounds. Develop methods for the rapid quantitation of two furanocoumarins (bergamottin and 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin) and four flavonoids (naringin, naringenin, narirutin and hesperidin) in five grapefruit juice products using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Grapefruit juice products were extracted with ethyl acetate; the concentrated extract was analysed by UPLC using acetonitrile:water gradients and a C18 -column. Analytes were detected using a photodiode array detector, set at 250 nm (furanocoumarins) and 310 nm (flavonoids). Intraday and interday precision and accuracy and limits of detection and quantitation were determined. Rapid (0.999. Considerable between-juice variation in the concentrations of these compounds was observed, and the quantities measured were in agreement with the concentrations published in HPLC studies. These analytical methods provide an expedient means to quantitate key furanocoumarins and flavonoids in grapefruit juice and other foods used in dietary substance-drug interaction studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High-performance liquid chromatography of oligoguanylates at high pH

Science.gov (United States)

Stribling, R.; Deamer, D. (Principal Investigator)

1991-01-01

Because of the stable self-structures formed by oligomers of guanosine, standard high-performance liquid chromatography techniques for oligonucleotide fractionation are not applicable. Previously, oligoguanylate separations have been carried out at pH 12 using RPC-5 as the packing material. While RPC-5 provides excellent separations, there are several limitations, including the lack of a commercially available source. This report describes a new anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography method using HEMA-IEC BIO Q, which successfully separates different forms of the guanosine monomer as well as longer oligoguanylates. The reproducibility and stability at high pH suggests a versatile role for this material.

High-performance parallel approaches for three-dimensional light detection and ranging point clouds gridding

Science.gov (United States)

Rizki, Permata Nur Miftahur; Lee, Heezin; Lee, Minsu; Oh, Sangyoon

2017-01-01

With the rapid advance of remote sensing technology, the amount of three-dimensional point-cloud data has increased extraordinarily, requiring faster processing in the construction of digital elevation models. There have been several attempts to accelerate the computation using parallel methods; however, little attention has been given to investigating different approaches for selecting the most suited parallel programming model for a given computing environment. We present our findings and insights identified by implementing three popular high-performance parallel approaches (message passing interface, MapReduce, and GPGPU) on time demanding but accurate kriging interpolation. The performances of the approaches are compared by varying the size of the grid and input data. In our empirical experiment, we demonstrate the significant acceleration by all three approaches compared to a C-implemented sequential-processing method. In addition, we also discuss the pros and cons of each method in terms of usability, complexity infrastructure, and platform limitation to give readers a better understanding of utilizing those parallel approaches for gridding purposes.

Etude des performances de solveurs deterministes sur un coeur rapide a caloporteur sodium

Science.gov (United States)

Bay, Charlotte

The reactors of next generation, in particular SFR model, represent a true challenge for current codes and solvers, used mainly for thermic cores. There is no guarantee that their competences could be straight adapted to fast neutron spectrum, or to major design differences. Thus it is necessary to assess the validity of solvers and their potential shortfall in the case of fast neutron reactors. As part of an internship with CEA (France), and at the instigation of EPM Nuclear Institute, this study concerns the following codes : DRAGON/DONJON, ERANOS, PARIS and APOLLO3. The precision assessment has been performed using Monte Carlo code TRIPOLI4. Only core calculation was of interest, namely numerical methods competences in precision and rapidity. Lattice code was not part of the study, that is to say nuclear data, self-shielding, or isotopic compositions. Nor was tackled burnup or time evolution effects. The study consists in two main steps : first evaluating the sensitivity of each solver to calculation parameters, and obtain its optimal calculation set ; then compare their competences in terms of precision and rapidity, by collecting usual quantities (effective multiplication factor, reaction rates map), but also more specific quantities which are crucial to the SFR design, namely control rod worth and sodium void effect. The calculation time is also a key factor. Whatever conclusion or recommendation that could be drawn from this study, they must first of all be applied within similar frameworks, that is to say small fast neutron cores with hexagonal geometry. Eventual adjustments for big cores will have to be demonstrated in developments of this study.

Quantitative RT-PCR based platform for rapid quantification of the transcripts of highly homologous multigene families and their members during grain development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaczmarczyk, Agnieszka Ewa; Bowra, Steve; Elek, Zoltan

2012-01-01

expression combined with genetic variation in large multigene families with high homology among the alleles is very challenging. Results We designed a rapid qRT-PCR system with the aim of characterising the variation in the expression of hordein genes families. All the known D-, C-, B-, and gamma......-hordein sequences coding full length open reading frames were collected from commonly available databases. Phylogenetic analysis was performed and the members of the different hordein families were classified into subfamilies. Primer sets were designed to discriminate the gene expression level of whole families...... and its subgroups. More over the results indicate the genotypic specific gene expression. Conclusions Quantitative RT-PCR with SYBR Green labelling can be a useful technique to follow gene expression levels of large gene families with highly homologues members. We showed variation in the temporal...

Hyperspectral image analysis for rapid and accurate discrimination of bacterial infections: A benchmark study.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrigoni, Simone; Turra, Giovanni; Signoroni, Alberto

2017-09-01

With the rapid diffusion of Full Laboratory Automation systems, Clinical Microbiology is currently experiencing a new digital revolution. The ability to capture and process large amounts of visual data from microbiological specimen processing enables the definition of completely new objectives. These include the direct identification of pathogens growing on culturing plates, with expected improvements in rapid definition of the right treatment for patients affected by bacterial infections. In this framework, the synergies between light spectroscopy and image analysis, offered by hyperspectral imaging, are of prominent interest. This leads us to assess the feasibility of a reliable and rapid discrimination of pathogens through the classification of their spectral signatures extracted from hyperspectral image acquisitions of bacteria colonies growing on blood agar plates. We designed and implemented the whole data acquisition and processing pipeline and performed a comprehensive comparison among 40 combinations of different data preprocessing and classification techniques. High discrimination performance has been achieved also thanks to improved colony segmentation and spectral signature extraction. Experimental results reveal the high accuracy and suitability of the proposed approach, driving the selection of most suitable and scalable classification pipelines and stimulating clinical validations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of Furfural on Rapid Ethanol Production Using a Membrane Bioreactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

2013-03-01

Full Text Available A membrane bioreactor was developed to counteract the inhibition effect of furfural in ethanol production. Furfural, a major inhibitor in lignocellulosic hydrolyzates, is a highly toxic substance which is formed from pentose sugars released during the acidic degradation of lignocellulosic materials. Continuous cultivations with complete cell retention were performed at a high dilution rate of 0.5 h−1. Furfural was added directly into the bioreactor by pulse injection or by addition into the feed medium to obtain furfural concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 21.8 g L−1. At all pulse injections of furfural, the yeast was able to convert the furfural very rapidly by in situ detoxification. When injecting 21.8 g L−1 furfural to the cultivation, the yeast converted it by a specific conversion rate of 0.35 g g−1 h−1. At high cell density, Saccharomyces cerevisiae could tolerate very high furfural levels without major changes in the ethanol production. During the continuous cultures when up to 17.0 g L−1 furfural was added to the inlet medium, the yeast successfully produced ethanol, whereas an increase of furfural to 18.6 and 20.6 g L−1 resulted in a rapidly decreasing ethanol production and accumulation of sugars in the permeate. This study show that continuous ethanol fermentations by total cell retention in a membrane bioreactor has a high furfural tolerance and can conduct rapid in situ detoxification of medium containing high furfural concentrations.

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the rapid analysis of constituents in the traditional Chinese medicine formula Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill.

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Shengnan; Qi, Wen; Zhang, Siwen; Huang, Kunkun; Yuan, Dan

2017-10-01

An ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method in both positive and negative ion modes was established in order to comprehensively investigate the major constituents in Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill. Briefly, a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS C 18 column was used to separate the aqueous extract of Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill. A total of 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile and 0.1% aqueous formic acid v/v were used as the mobile phase. All analytes were determined using quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization source in positive and negative ion modes. At length, a total of 173 components including flavones and their glycosides, monoterpene glycosides, triterpene saponins, phenethylalchohol glycosides, iridoid glycosides, phthalides, tanshinones, phenolic acids, sesquiterpenoids and cyclopeptides were identified or tentatively characterized in Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill in an analysis of 16.0 min based on the accurate mass and tandem mass spectrometry behaviors. The developed method is rapid and highly sensitive to characterize the chemical constituents of Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill, which could not only be used for chemical standardization and quality control of Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill, but also be helpful for further study in vivo metabolism of Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High Performance Motion-Planner Architecture for Hardware-In-the-Loop System Based on Position-Based-Admittance-Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco La Mura

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on a Hardware-In-the-Loop application developed from the advanced energy field project LIFES50+. The aim is to replicate, inside a wind gallery test facility, the combined effect of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads on a floating wind turbine model for offshore energy production, using a force controlled robotic device, emulating floating substructure’s behaviour. In addition to well known real-time Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL issues, the particular application presented has stringent safety requirements of the HIL equipment and difficult to predict operating conditions, so that extra computational efforts have to be spent running specific safety algorithms and achieving desired performance. To meet project requirements, a high performance software architecture based on Position-Based-Admittance-Control (PBAC is presented, combining low level motion interpolation techniques, efficient motion planning, based on buffer management and Time-base control, and advanced high level safety algorithms, implemented in a rapid real-time control architecture.

Effects of rapid digitalization on total and regional myocardial performance in patients with coronary artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferlinz, J; DelVicario, M; Aronow, W S

1978-09-01

In order to evaluate the effects of rapid digitalization on LV volumes, ejection fraction, and asynergy, 21 patients without heart failure were studied with a combination of hemodynamic and angiographic techniques before and after administration of intravenous ouabain (0.007 mg./Kg.). Seven patients had no CAD and served as normal (control) subjects (Group I), while 14 patients had extensive coronary disease (Group II). All pre-ouabain parameters were within the normal limits in Group I. After ouabain infusion, all indices of LV contractility: dP/dt, VCF, and ejection fraction rose significantly in the normal group, while LV filling pressure and end-diastolic volume remained unchanged. The baseline hemodynamic and volumetric values for Group II patients corresponded closely to their normal (Group I) counterparts, and exhibited similar changes after ouabain administration. Eight patients in Group II also had regional disorders of LV contractility, delineated by 23 abnormal hemiaxes of shortening. After ouabain, 15 out of 23 asynergic segments (65 per cent) improved, seven remained unchanged, and one worsened. It is therefore concluded that rapid digitalization not only enhances LV performance in normal subjects and in patients with CAD, but can also markedly reduce the extent of LV asynergy.

Rapid High-Level Production of Functional HIV Broadly Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies in Transient Plant Expression Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, Yvonne; Sack, Markus; Montefiori, David; Forthal, Donald; Mao, Lingjun; -Abanto, Segundo Hernandez; Urban, Lori; Landucci, Gary; Fischer, Rainer; Jiang, Xiaoming

2013-01-01

Passive immunotherapy using anti-HIV broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has shown promise as an HIV treatment, reducing mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) in non-human primates and decreasing viral rebound in patients who ceased receiving anti-viral drugs. In addition, a cocktail of potent mAbs may be useful as mucosal microbicides and provide an effective therapy for post-exposure prophylaxis. However, even highly neutralizing HIV mAbs used today may lose their effectiveness if resistance occurs, requiring the rapid production of new or engineered mAbs on an ongoing basis in order to counteract the viral resistance or the spread of a certain HIV-1 clade in a particular region or patient. Plant-based expression systems are fast, inexpensive and scalable and are becoming increasingly popular for the production of proteins and monoclonal antibodies. In the present study, Agrobacterium-mediated transient transfection of plants, utilizing two species of Nicotiana, have been tested to rapidly produce high levels of an HIV 89.6PΔ140env and several well-studied anti-HIV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (b12, 2G12, 2F5, 4E10, m43, VRC01) or a single chain antibody construct (m9), for evaluation in cell-based viral inhibition assays. The protein-A purified plant-derived antibodies were intact, efficiently bound HIV envelope, and were equivalent to, or in one case better than, their counterparts produced in mammalian CHO or HEK-293 cells in both neutralization and antibody dependent viral inhibition assays. These data indicate that transient plant-based transient expression systems are very adaptable and could rapidly generate high levels of newly identified functional recombinant HIV neutralizing antibodies when required. In addition, they warrant detailed cost-benefit analysis of prolonged incubation in plants to further increase mAb production. PMID:23533588

Rapid high-level production of functional HIV broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies in transient plant expression systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yvonne Rosenberg

Full Text Available Passive immunotherapy using anti-HIV broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs has shown promise as an HIV treatment, reducing mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV in non-human primates and decreasing viral rebound in patients who ceased receiving anti-viral drugs. In addition, a cocktail of potent mAbs may be useful as mucosal microbicides and provide an effective therapy for post-exposure prophylaxis. However, even highly neutralizing HIV mAbs used today may lose their effectiveness if resistance occurs, requiring the rapid production of new or engineered mAbs on an ongoing basis in order to counteract the viral resistance or the spread of a certain HIV-1 clade in a particular region or patient. Plant-based expression systems are fast, inexpensive and scalable and are becoming increasingly popular for the production of proteins and monoclonal antibodies. In the present study, Agrobacterium-mediated transient transfection of plants, utilizing two species of Nicotiana, have been tested to rapidly produce high levels of an HIV 89.6PΔ140env and several well-studied anti-HIV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (b12, 2G12, 2F5, 4E10, m43, VRC01 or a single chain antibody construct (m9, for evaluation in cell-based viral inhibition assays. The protein-A purified plant-derived antibodies were intact, efficiently bound HIV envelope, and were equivalent to, or in one case better than, their counterparts produced in mammalian CHO or HEK-293 cells in both neutralization and antibody dependent viral inhibition assays. These data indicate that transient plant-based transient expression systems are very adaptable and could rapidly generate high levels of newly identified functional recombinant HIV neutralizing antibodies when required. In addition, they warrant detailed cost-benefit analysis of prolonged incubation in plants to further increase mAb production.

Diagnostic performance of a rapid in-clinic test for the detection of Canine Parvovirus under different storage conditions and vaccination status.

Science.gov (United States)

Kantere, Maria C; Athanasiou, Labrini V; Spyrou, Vassiliki; Kyriakis, Constantinos S; Kontos, Vassilios; Chatzopoulos, Dimitrios C; Tsokana, Constantina N; Billinis, Charalambos

2015-04-01

Canine parvovirus (CPV) is one of the most common causes of acute haemorrhagic enteritis in young dogs, while clinical diagnosis is often indecisive. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of an in-clinic rapid test in the detection of CPV infection in dogs. To this end, we compared the Rapid Diagnostic Kit of Canine Parvovirus, Coronavirus and Rotavirus antigen (Quicking(®)) to PCR, which is considered as the most reliable diagnostic method. A total of 78 duplicated faecal samples were collected from diarrhoeic dogs. Vaccination history within a month prior to the onset of diarrhoea was reported for 12 of the sampled dogs. The rapid diagnostic test was performed in 23 of the faecal samples directly, while the rest were placed into a sterile cotton tipped swab suitable for collection and transportation of viruses (Sigma Σ-VCM(®)) and stored at -20 °C. The sensitivity of the Quicking rapid diagnostic test compared to PCR in the total number of samples, in samples from non-vaccinated dogs and in samples tested directly after collection were 22.22% (95% CI: 13.27-33.57%), 26.67% (95% CI: 16.08-39.66%) and 76.47% (95% CI: 50.10-93.04%) respectively, while the specificity of the test was 100% in any case. In conclusion, negative results do not exclude parvoenteritis from the differential diagnosis, especially in dogs with early vaccination history, but a positive result almost certainly indicates CPV infection. An improved sensitivity may be expected when the test is performed immediately. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improving the high performance concrete (HPC behaviour in high temperatures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cattelan Antocheves De Lima, R.

2003-12-01

Full Text Available High performance concrete (HPC is an interesting material that has been long attracting the interest from the scientific and technical community, due to the clear advantages obtained in terms of mechanical strength and durability. Given these better characteristics, HFC, in its various forms, has been gradually replacing normal strength concrete, especially in structures exposed to severe environments. However, the veiy dense microstructure and low permeability typical of HPC can result in explosive spalling under certain thermal and mechanical conditions, such as when concrete is subject to rapid temperature rises, during a f¡re. This behaviour is caused by the build-up of internal water pressure, in the pore structure, during heating, and by stresses originating from thermal deformation gradients. Although there are still a limited number of experimental programs in this area, some researchers have reported that the addition of polypropylene fibers to HPC is a suitable way to avoid explosive spalling under f re conditions. This change in behavior is derived from the fact that polypropylene fibers melt in high temperatures and leave a pathway for heated gas to escape the concrete matrix, therefore allowing the outward migration of water vapor and resulting in the reduction of interned pore pressure. The present research investigates the behavior of high performance concrete on high temperatures, especially when polypropylene fibers are added to the mix.

El hormigón de alta resistencia (HAR es un material de gran interés para la comunidad científica y técnica, debido a las claras ventajas obtenidas en término de resistencia mecánica y durabilidad. A causa de estas características, el HAR, en sus diversas formas, en algunas aplicaciones está reemplazando gradualmente al hormigón de resistencia normal, especialmente en estructuras expuestas a ambientes severos. Sin embargo, la microestructura muy densa y la baja permeabilidad t

High-dose rapid and standard induction chemotherapy for patients aged over 1 year with stage 4 neuroblastoma: a randomised trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Andrew D J; Pinkerton, C Ross; Lewis, Ian J; Imeson, John; Ellershaw, Caroline; Machin, David

2008-03-01

The current standard treatment for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma includes initial induction chemotherapy with a 21-day interval between induction treatments. We aimed to assess whether an intensive chemotherapy protocol that had a 10-day interval between treatments would improve event-free survival (EFS) in patients aged 1 year or over with high-risk neuroblastoma. Between Oct 30, 1990, and March 18, 1999, patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma who had not received previous chemotherapy were enrolled from 29 centres in Europe. Patients were randomly assigned to rapid treatment (cisplatin [C], vincristine [O], carboplatin [J], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], known as COJEC) or standard treatment (vincristine [O], cisplatin [P], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], ie, OPEC, alternated with vincristine [O], carboplatin [J], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], ie, OJEC). Both regimens used the same total cumulative doses of each drug (except vincristine), but the dose intensity of the rapid regimen was 1.8-times higher than that of the standard regimen. The standard regimen was given every 21 days if patients showed haematological recovery, whereas the rapid regimen was given every 10 days irrespective of haematological recovery. Response to chemotherapy was assessed according to the conventional International Neuroblastoma Response Criteria (INRC). In responders, surgical excision of the primary tumour was attempted, followed by myeloablation (with 200 mg/m2 of melphalan) and haemopoietic stem-cell rescue. Primary endpoints were 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year EFS. Data were analysed by intention to treat. This trial is registered on the clinical trials site of the US National Cancer Institute website, number NCT00365755, and also as EU-20592 and CCLG-NB-1990-11. 262 patients, of median age 2.95 years (range 1.03-20.97), were randomly assigned-132 patients to standard and 130 patients to rapid treatment. 111 patients in the standard group and 109

Rapid quantification of live/dead lactic acid bacteria in probiotic products using high-sensitivity flow cytometry

Science.gov (United States)

He, Shengbin; Hong, Xinyi; Huang, Tianxun; Zhang, Wenqiang; Zhou, Yingxing; Wu, Lina; Yan, Xiaomei

2017-06-01

A laboratory-built high-sensitivity flow cytometer (HSFCM) was employed for the rapid and accurate detection of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their viability in probiotic products. LAB were stained with both the cell membrane-permeable SYTO 9 green-fluorescent nucleic acid stain and the red-fluorescent nucleic acid stain, propidium iodide, which penetrates only bacteria with compromised membranes. The side scatter and dual-color fluorescence signals of single bacteria were detected simultaneously by the HSFCM. Ultra-high temperature processing milk and skim milk spiked with Lactobacillus casei were used as the model systems for the optimization of sample pretreatment and staining. The viable LAB counts measured by the HSFCM were in good agreement with those of the plate count method, and the measured ratios between the live and dead LAB matched well with the theoretical ratios. The established method was successfully applied to the rapid quantification of live/dead LAB in yogurts and fermented milk beverages of different brands. Moreover, the concentration and viability status of LAB in ambient yogurt, a relatively new yet popular milk product in China, are also reported.

Rapid calibrated high-resolution hyperspectral imaging using tunable laser source

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Lam K.; Margalith, Eli

2009-05-01

We present a novel hyperspectral imaging technique based on tunable laser technology. By replacing the broadband source and tunable filters of a typical NIR imaging instrument, several advantages are realized, including: high spectral resolution, highly variable field-of-views, fast scan-rates, high signal-to-noise ratio, and the ability to use optical fiber for efficient and flexible sample illumination. With this technique, high-resolution, calibrated hyperspectral images over the NIR range can be acquired in seconds. The performance of system features will be demonstrated on two example applications: detecting melamine contamination in wheat gluten and separating bovine protein from wheat protein in cattle feed.

Development toward rapid and efficient screening for high performance hydrolysate lots in a recombinant monoclonal antibody manufacturing process.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Ying; Pierce, Karisa M

2012-07-01

Plant-derived hydrolysates are widely used in mammalian cell culture media to increase yields of recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). However, these chemically varied and undefined raw materials can have negative impact on yield and/or product quality in large-scale cell culture processes. Traditional methods that rely on fractionation of hydrolysates yielded little success in improving hydrolysate quality. We took a holistic approach to develop an efficient and reliable method to screen intact soy hydrolysate lots for commercial recombinant mAb manufacturing. Combined high-resolution (1) H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and partial least squares (PLS) analysis led to a prediction model between product titer and NMR fingerprinting of soy hydrolysate with cross-validated correlation coefficient R(2) of 0.87 and root-mean-squared-error of cross-validation RMSECV% of 11.2%. This approach screens for high performance hydrolysate lots, therefore ensuring process consistency and product quality in the mAb manufacturing process. Furthermore, PLS analysis was successful in discerning multiple markers (DL-lactate, soy saccharides, citrate and succinate) among hydrolysate components that positively and negatively correlate with titer. Interestingly, these markers correlate to the metabolic characteristics of some strains of taxonomically diverse lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Thus our findings indicate that LAB strains may exist during hydrolysate manufacturing steps and their biochemical activities may attribute to the titer enhancement effect of soy hydrolysates. Copyright © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Comparing the Dry Season In-Situ Leaf Area Index (LAI Derived from High-Resolution RapidEye Imagery with MODIS LAI in a Namibian Savanna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel J. Mayr

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The Leaf Area Index (LAI is one of the most frequently applied measures to characterize vegetation and its dynamics and functions with remote sensing. Satellite missions, such as NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS operationally produce global datasets of LAI. Due to their role as an input to large-scale modeling activities, evaluation and verification of such datasets are of high importance. In this context, savannas appear to be underrepresented with regards to their heterogeneous appearance (e.g., tree/grass-ratio, seasonality. Here, we aim to examine the LAI in a heterogeneous savanna ecosystem located in Namibia’s Owamboland during the dry season. Ground measurements of LAI are used to derive a high-resolution LAI model with RapidEye satellite data. This model is related to the corresponding MODIS LAI/FPAR (Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation scene (MOD15A2 in order to evaluate its performance at the intended annual minimum during the dry season. Based on a field survey we first assessed vegetation patterns from species composition and elevation for 109 sites. Secondly, we measured in situ LAI to quantitatively estimate the available vegetation (mean = 0.28. Green LAI samples were then empirically modeled (LAImodel with high resolution RapidEye imagery derived Difference Vegetation Index (DVI using a linear regression (R2 = 0.71. As indicated by several measures of model performance, the comparison with MOD15A2 revealed moderate consistency mostly due to overestimation by the aggregated LAImodel. Model constraints aside, this study may point to important issues for MOD15A2 in savannas concerning the underlying MODIS Land Cover product (MCD12Q1 and a potential adjustment by means of the MODIS Burned Area product (MCD45A1.

A mesoporous WO3−X/graphene composite as a high-performance Li-ion battery anode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Fei; Kim, Jong Gu; Lee, Chul Wee; Im, Ji Sun

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: The highly flexible and conductive graphene layer can enhance electron transfer, protect metal oxides against disintegration and aggregation and buffer the strain induced by volume expansion during cycles. The mesoporous surface layer provides an open network for Li+ diffusion. - Highlights: • Novel cocktail effects of 2D mesoporous WO 3−X /graphene for lithium ion battery. • New approach for lithium ion battery by easy and unique synthesis method. • Mechanism study with proper data for understanding a reaction on anode surface. - Abstract: A novel mesoporous WO 3−X /graphene composite was developed. This material allowed rapid electron and Li + ion diffusion when used as a Li-ion battery (LIB) anode material. Remarkably, the graphene support protected WO 3−X from changing volume during the electrochemical cycling process; this process generally induces capacity loss. The current work describes a high-performance anode material for LIB that has highly dense WO 3−X , as well as high capacity, rate capability and stability

[Evaluation of a new blood gas analysis system: RapidPoint 500(®)].

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolas, Thierry; Cabrolier, Nadège; Bardonnet, Karine; Davani, Siamak

2013-01-01

We present here evaluation of a new blood gas analysis system, RapidPoint 500(®) (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics). The aim of this research was to compare the ergonomics and analytical performances of this analyser with those of the RapidLab 1265 for the following parameters: pH, partial oxygen pressure, partial carbon dioxide pressure, sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, lactate and the CO-oximetry parameters: hemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, reduced hemoglobin, neonatal bilirubin; as well as with the Dimension Vista 500 results for chloride and glucose. The Valtec protocol, recommended by the French Society of Clinical Biology (SFBC), was used to analyze the study results. The experiment was carried out over a period of one month in the Department of medical biochemistry. One hundred sixty five samples from adult patients admitted to the ER or hospitalized in intensive care were tested. The RapidPoint 500(®) was highly satisfactory from an ergonomic point of view. Intra-and inter- assay coefficients of variation (CV) with the three control levels were below those recommended by the SFBC for all parameters, and the comparative study gave coefficients of determination higher than 0.91. Taken together, the RapidPoint 500(®) appears fully satisfactory in terms of ergonomics and analytical performance.

Identifying High Performance ERP Projects

OpenAIRE

Stensrud, Erik; Myrtveit, Ingunn

2002-01-01

Learning from high performance projects is crucial for software process improvement. Therefore, we need to identify outstanding projects that may serve as role models. It is common to measure productivity as an indicator of performance. It is vital that productivity measurements deal correctly with variable returns to scale and multivariate data. Software projects generally exhibit variable returns to scale, and the output from ERP projects is multivariate. We propose to use Data Envelopment ...

Sputtering of sub-micrometer aluminum layers as compact, high-performance, light-weight current collector for supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Busom, J.; Schreiber, A.; Tolosa, A.; Jäckel, N.; Grobelsek, I.; Peter, N. J.; Presser, V.

2016-10-01

Supercapacitors are devices for rapid and efficient electrochemical energy storage and commonly employ carbon coated aluminum foil as the current collector. However, the thickness of the metallic foil and the corresponding added mass lower the specific and volumetric performance on a device level. A promising approach to drastically reduce the mass and volume of the current collector is to directly sputter aluminum on the freestanding electrode instead of adding a metal foil. Our work explores the limitations and performance perspectives of direct sputter coating of aluminum onto carbon film electrodes. The tight and interdigitated interface between the metallic film and the carbon electrode enables high power handling, exceeding the performance and stability of a state-of-the-art carbon coated aluminum foil current collector. In particular, we find an enhancement of 300% in specific power and 186% in specific energy when comparing aluminum sputter coated electrodes with conventional electrodes with Al current collectors.

Pre-treatment verification of RapidArc® using Electronic Portal Imaging Device; Verificacao pre-tratamento de RapidArc® utilizando Dispositivo Eletronico de Imagem Porta

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lima, Marilia B.; Ferreira, Anne Caroline M.; Bittencourt, Guilherme R.; Pirani, Luis F.; Silveira, Thiago B., E-mail: mbeckerlima@gmail.com [Instituto Nacional do Cancer (INCA), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2012-12-15

The RapidArc® is a novel but widespread technique to achieve intensity modulated beams. One of the major challenges concerning this technique is the pretreatment verification process. The aim of this paper was to analyze the viability of the Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) used to perform the verification of RapidArc® using the Sun Nuclear SNC Patient software enable to EPID dose conversion (EPIDose license) and compare its results with punctual dose measurements against a low volume ion chamber. There were analyze five RapidArc® planning, evaluating, separately, planar and punctual doses for each arc. For punctual measurements was used a 0,15 cm³ volume ion chamber and the planar distributions, in Calibration Units (CU), were acquired using the EPID and then converted to absolute dose in centigray through EPIDose. The predicted doses were calculated using the AAA algorithm in Eclipse treatment planning system, version 8.6. The planar comparisons, performed in SNC Patient, employed the Gamma Index tool with a 4% dose difference, 4 mm distance to agreement and 20% threshold. The evaluation of punctual dose was defined by calculating deviations between predicted and measured doses. The mean approval percentage in planar distributions was 94.8% and the average deviation in punctual dose was -1.2%. The use of EPID for RapidArc® pre-treatment verification proved to be feasible and showed good sensibility, because of its high spatial resolution. However one must consider the uncertainty of the method. (author)

Integrated plasma control for high performance tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Humphreys, D.A.; Deranian, R.D.; Ferron, J.R.; Johnson, R.D.; LaHaye, R.J.; Leuer, J.A.; Penaflor, B.G.; Walker, M.L.; Welander, A.S.; Jayakumar, R.J.; Makowski, M.A.; Khayrutdinov, R.R.

2005-01-01

Sustaining high performance in a tokamak requires controlling many equilibrium shape and profile characteristics simultaneously with high accuracy and reliability, while suppressing a variety of MHD instabilities. Integrated plasma control, the process of designing high-performance tokamak controllers based on validated system response models and confirming their performance in detailed simulations, provides a systematic method for achieving and ensuring good control performance. For present-day devices, this approach can greatly reduce the need for machine time traditionally dedicated to control optimization, and can allow determination of high-reliability controllers prior to ever producing the target equilibrium experimentally. A full set of tools needed for this approach has recently been completed and applied to present-day devices including DIII-D, NSTX and MAST. This approach has proven essential in the design of several next-generation devices including KSTAR, EAST, JT-60SC, and ITER. We describe the method, results of design and simulation tool development, and recent research producing novel approaches to equilibrium and MHD control in DIII-D. (author)

Highlighting High Performance: Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School; Upton, Massachusetts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2006-10-01

This brochure describes the key high-performance building features of the Blackstone Valley High School. The brochure was paid for by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as part of their Green Schools Initiative. High-performance features described are daylighting and energy-efficient lighting, indoor air quality, solar energy, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, and water conservation. Energy cost savings are also discussed.

Pseudocapacitive Oxides and Sulfides for High-Performance Electrochemical Energy Storage

KAUST Repository

Xia, Chuan

2018-03-22

atypically layered systems can greatly lower the interaction energy and Li+ diffusion barrier, and it can completely suppress the crystal transformation during the charge-discharge process. As a result, we have successfully enabled the kinetically sluggish step to proceed at room temperature. We show that even at charge-discharge rates as fast as 100C (36 s), these 2D electrodes still offer a high capacity of 140 mAh g-1 due to the rapid Li+ ion diffusion in these 2D sheets. These results discussed in this part conclusively show that the ultrathin 2D geometry of atypically layered or non-layered materials could lead to significantly enhanced pseudocapacitive performance.

Ground Glass Pozzolan in Conventional, High, and Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tagnit-Hamou Arezki

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Ground-glass pozzolan (G obtained by grinding the mixed-waste glass to same fineness of cement can act as a supplementary-cementitious material (SCM, given that it is an amorphous and a pozzolanic material. The G showed promising performances in different concrete types such as conventional concrete (CC, high-performance concrete (HPC, and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC. The current paper reports on the characteristics and performance of G in these concrete types. The use of G provides several advantages (technological, economical, and environmental. It reduces the production cost of concrete and decrease the carbon footprint of a traditional concrete structures. The rheology of fresh concrete can be improved due to the replacement of cement by non-absorptive glass particles. Strength and rigidity improvements in the concrete containing G are due to the fact that glass particles act as inclusions having a very high strength and elastic modulus that have a strengthening effect on the overall hardened matrix.

Lack of Effect of Typical Rapid-Weight-Loss Practices on Balance and Anaerobic Performance in Apprentice Jockeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, SarahJane; Dolan, Eimear; O Brien, Kate; McGoldrick, Adrian; Warrington, Giles

2015-11-01

Balance and anaerobic performance are key attributes related to horse-racing performance, but research on the impact of making weight for racing on these parameters remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of rapid weight loss in preparation for racing on balance and anaerobic performance in a group of jockeys. Twelve apprentice male jockeys and 12 age- and gender-matched controls completed 2 trials separated by 48 h. In both trials, body mass, hydration status, balance, and anaerobic performance were assessed. Between the trials, the jockeys reduced body mass by 4% using weight-loss methods typically adopted in preparation for racing, while controls maintained body mass through typical daily dietary and physical activity habits. Apprentice jockeys decreased mean body mass by 4.2% ± 0.3% (P balance, on the left or right side, or in peak power, mean power, or fatigue index were reported between the trials in either group. Results from this study indicate that a 4% reduction in body mass in 48 h through the typical methods employed for racing, in association with an increase in dehydration, resulted in no impairments in balance or anaerobic performance. Further research is required to evaluate performance in a sport-specific setting and to investigate the specific physiological mechanisms involved.

Silica decorated on porous activated carbon nanofiber composites for high-performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, So Yeun; Kim, Bo-Hye

2016-10-01

A hybrid of silica decorated on porous activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) is fabricated in the form of a web via electrospinning and an activation process as an electrode material for electrochemical capacitors in an organic electrolyte. The introduction of PhSiH3 (PS) into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution induces a porous ACNF structure containing silica nanoparticles (NPs) via the spontaneous sol-gel process of PS by steam in the subsequent physical activation process. These inorganic-organic hybrid composites of porous ACNF containing silica NPs show superior specific capacitance and energy density in electrochemical tests, along with good rate capability and excellent cycle life in an organic electrolyte, which is attributed to the combination of ACNF's high surface area and silica's hydrophilicity. The electrochemical performance decreases with increasing PS concentration, and this trend is consistent with the specific surface area results, which reveal the rapid formation of a double layer.

Study on Ballistic Absorbing Energy Character of High Performance Polyethylene Needle Felt

Science.gov (United States)

Kailiang, Zhu; Jianqiao, Fu

2017-11-01

The ballistic performance of polyethylene needle felt is tested and the failure morphology after test is also observed. The results showed that when the non-dimensionally non-stressed fibers in polyethylene needles are subjected to high-speed projectile, secondary movement such as stretching and twisting occurs first. This secondary movement is very full, it is the main way of ballistic absorbing energy of the polyethylene needle felt which can avoid the polyethylene fiber short-term rapid heating-up and destroyed. Analysis results show that under normal temperature and humidity conditions, the V50 of 6-layer forded polyethylene needle felt sample is 250m/s. At (450 ± 50) m/s speed range of the target missile, the mean value of the penetrative specific energy absorption for 3-layer forded polyethylene needle felt anti-1.1g simulated projectiles (tapered column) reaches 24.1J·m2/kg.

Diagnostic performance of calcification-suppressed coronary CT angiography using rapid kilovolt-switching dual-energy CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yunaga, Hiroto; Ohta, Yasutoshi; Kitao, Shinichiro; Ogawa, Toshihide [Tottori University, Division of Radiology, Department of Pathophysiological Therapeutic Science, Faculty of Medicine, Yonago City, Tottori (Japan); Kaetsu, Yasuhiro [Kakogawa Higashi Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Kakogawa (Japan); Watanabe, Tomomi; Furuse, Yoshiyuki; Yamamoto, Kazuhiro [Tottori University, Division of Cardiology, Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Yonago (Japan)

2017-07-15

Multi-detector-row computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) plays an important role in the assessment of patients with suspected coronary artery disease. However, MDCTA tends to overestimate stenosis in calcified coronary artery lesions. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of calcification-suppressed material density (MD) images produced by using a single-detector single-source dual-energy computed tomography (ssDECT). We enrolled 67 patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease who underwent ssDECT with rapid kilovolt-switching (80 and 140 kVp). Coronary artery stenosis was evaluated on the basis of MD images and virtual monochromatic (VM) images. The diagnostic performance of the two methods for detecting coronary artery disease was compared with that of invasive coronary angiography as a reference standard. We evaluated 239 calcified segments. In all the segments, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy for detecting significant stenosis were respectively 88%, 88%, 75%, 95% and 88% for the MD images, 91%, 71%, 56%, 95% and 77% for the VM images. PPV was significantly higher on the MD images than on the VM images (P < 0.0001). Calcification-suppressed MD images improved PPV and diagnostic performance for calcified coronary artery lesions. (orig.)

Mood states and motor performance: a study with high performance voleybol athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lenamar Fiorese Vieira

2008-07-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2008v10n1p62 The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between the sporting performance and mood states of high performance volleyball athletes. Twenty-three adult athletes of both sexes were assessed. The measurement instrument adopted was the POMS questionnaire. Data collection was carried out individually during the state championships. Dada were analyzed using descriptive statistics; the Friedman test for analysis of variance and the Mann-Whitney test for differences between means. The results demonstrated that both teams exhibited the mood state profi le corresponding to the “iceberg” profile. In the male team, vigor remained constant throughout all phases of the competition, while in the female team this element was unstable. The male team’s fatigue began low, during the training phase, with rates that rose as the competition progressed, with statistically significant differences between the fi rst and last matches the team played. In the female team, the confusion factor, which was at a high level during training, reduced progressively throughout the competition, with a difference that was signifi cant to p ≤ 0.05. With relation to performance and mood profi le, the female team exhibited statistically significant differences between the mean vigor and fatigue factors of high and low performance athletes. It is therefore concluded that the mood state profi le is a factor that impacts on the motor performance of these high performance teams.

High performance leadership in unusually challenging educational circumstances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andy Hargreaves

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper draws on findings from the results of a study of leadership in high performing organizations in three sectors. Organizations were sampled and included on the basis of high performance in relation to no performance, past performance, performance among similar peers and performance in the face of limited resources or challenging circumstances. The paper concentrates on leadership in four schools that met the sample criteria.  It draws connections to explanations of the high performance ofEstoniaon the OECD PISA tests of educational achievement. The article argues that leadership in these four schools that performed above expectations comprised more than a set of competencies. Instead, leadership took the form of a narrative or quest that pursued an inspiring dream with relentless determination; took improvement pathways that were more innovative than comparable peers; built collaboration and community including with competing schools; and connected short-term success to long-term sustainability.

Development of a perfusion reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography method for the characterisation of maize products using multivariate analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez-Nogales, J M; Garcia, M C; Marina, M L

2006-02-03

A perfusion reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method has been designed to allow rapid (3.4 min) separations of maize proteins with high resolution. Several factors, such as extraction conditions, temperature, detection wavelength and type and concentration of ion-pairing agent were optimised. A fine optimisation of the gradient elution was also performed by applying experimental design. Commercial maize products for human consumption (flours, precocked flours, fried snacks and extruded snacks) were characterised for the first time by perfusion RP-HPLC and their chromatographic profiles allowed a differentiation among products relating the different technological process used for their preparation. Furthermore, applying discriminant analysis makes it possible to group the samples according with the technological process suffered by maize products, obtaining a good prediction in 92% of the samples.

High-performance computing in seismology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-09-01

The scientific, technical, and economic importance of the issues discussed here presents a clear agenda for future research in computational seismology. In this way these problems will drive advances in high-performance computing in the field of seismology. There is a broad community that will benefit from this work, including the petroleum industry, research geophysicists, engineers concerned with seismic hazard mitigation, and governments charged with enforcing a comprehensive test ban treaty. These advances may also lead to new applications for seismological research. The recent application of high-resolution seismic imaging of the shallow subsurface for the environmental remediation industry is an example of this activity. This report makes the following recommendations: (1) focused efforts to develop validated documented software for seismological computations should be supported, with special emphasis on scalable algorithms for parallel processors; (2) the education of seismologists in high-performance computing technologies and methodologies should be improved; (3) collaborations between seismologists and computational scientists and engineers should be increased; (4) the infrastructure for archiving, disseminating, and processing large volumes of seismological data should be improved.

High-throughput characterization methods for lithium batteries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yingchun Lyu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The development of high-performance lithium ion batteries requires the discovery of new materials and the optimization of key components. By contrast with traditional one-by-one method, high-throughput method can synthesize and characterize a large number of compositionally varying samples, which is able to accelerate the pace of discovery, development and optimization process of materials. Because of rapid progress in thin film and automatic control technologies, thousands of compounds with different compositions could be synthesized rapidly right now, even in a single experiment. However, the lack of rapid or combinatorial characterization technologies to match with high-throughput synthesis methods, limit the application of high-throughput technology. Here, we review a series of representative high-throughput characterization methods used in lithium batteries, including high-throughput structural and electrochemical characterization methods and rapid measuring technologies based on synchrotron light sources.

High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

KAUST Repository

Fahad, Hossain M.

2014-06-01

We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due to the reduction in off-state leakage and reduced short channel effects on account of the superior electrostatic charge control of multiple gates. At the same time, flexible electronics is an exciting expansion opportunity for next generation electronics. However, a fully integrated low-cost system will need to maintain ultra-large-scale-integration density, high performance and reliability - same as today\\'s traditional electronics. Up until recently, this field has been mainly dominated by very weak performance organic electronics enabled by low temperature processes, conducive to low melting point plastics. Now however, we show the world\\'s highest performing flexible version of 3D FinFET CMOS using a state-of-the-art CMOS compatible fabrication technique for high performance ultra-mobile consumer applications with stylish design. © 2014 IEEE.

JINR rapid communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

The present collection of rapid communications from JINR, Dubna, contains seven separate records on relativistic multiparticle processes in the central rapidity region at asymptotically high energies, a new experimental study of charged K→3π decays, pre-Cherenkov radiation as a phenomenon of 'light barrier', stable S=-2 H dibaryon found in Dubna, calculation of Green functions and gluon top in some unambiguous gauges, a method of a fast selection of inelastic nucleus-nucleus collisions for the CMS experiment and the manifestation of jet quenching in differential distributions of the total transverse energy in nucleus-nucleus collisions

Architecting Web Sites for High Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arun Iyengar

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Web site applications are some of the most challenging high-performance applications currently being developed and deployed. The challenges emerge from the specific combination of high variability in workload characteristics and of high performance demands regarding the service level, scalability, availability, and costs. In recent years, a large body of research has addressed the Web site application domain, and a host of innovative software and hardware solutions have been proposed and deployed. This paper is an overview of recent solutions concerning the architectures and the software infrastructures used in building Web site applications. The presentation emphasizes three of the main functions in a complex Web site: the processing of client requests, the control of service levels, and the interaction with remote network caches.

Rapid volumetric imaging with Bessel-Beam three-photon microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bingying; Huang, Xiaoshuai; Gou, Dongzhou; Zeng, Jianzhi; Chen, Guoqing; Pang, Meijun; Hu, Yanhui; Zhao, Zhe; Zhang, Yunfeng; Zhou, Zhuan; Wu, Haitao; Cheng, Heping; Zhang, Zhigang; Xu, Chris; Li, Yulong; Chen, Liangyi; Wang, Aimin

2018-01-01

Owing to its tissue-penetration ability, multi-photon fluorescence microscopy allows for the high-resolution, non-invasive imaging of deep tissue in vivo; the recently developed three-photon microscopy (3PM) has extended the depth of high-resolution, non-invasive functional imaging of mouse brains to beyond 1.0 mm. However, the low repetition rate of femtosecond lasers that are normally used in 3PM limits the temporal resolution of point-scanning three-photon microscopy. To increase the volumetric imaging speed of 3PM, we propose a combination of an axially elongated needle-like Bessel-beam with three-photon excitation (3PE) to image biological samples with an extended depth of focus. We demonstrate the higher signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of the Bessel-beam 3PM compared to the two-photon version both theoretically and experimentally. Finally, we perform simultaneous calcium imaging of brain regions at different axial locations in live fruit flies and rapid volumetric imaging of neuronal structures in live mouse brains. These results highlight the unique advantage of conducting rapid volumetric imaging with a high SBR in the deep brain in vivo using scanning Bessel-3PM.

Nitrogen-enriched carbon with extremely high mesoporosity and tunable mesopore size for high-performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaoqing; Li, Chengfei; Fu, Ruowen

2016-07-01

As one of the most potential electrode materials for supercapacitors, nitrogen-enriched nanocarbons are still facing challenge of constructing developed mesoporosity for rapid mass transportation and tailoring their pore size for performance optimization and expanding their application scopes. Herein we develop a series of nitrogen-enriched mesoporous carbon (NMC) with extremely high mesoporosity and tunable mesopore size by a two-step method using silica gel as template. In our approach, mesopore size can be easily tailored from 4.7 to 35 nm by increasing the HF/TEOS volume ratio from 1/100 to 1/4. The NMC with mesopores of 6.2 nm presents the largest mesopore volume, surface area and mesopore ratio of 2.56 cm3 g-1, 1003 m2 g-1 and 97.7%, respectively. As a result, the highest specific capacitance of 325 F g-1 can be obtained at the current density of 0.1 A g-1, which can stay over 88% (286 F g-1) as the current density increases by 100 times (10 A g-1). This approach may open the doors for preparation of nitrogen-enriched nanocarbons with desired nanostructure for numerous applications.

Rapid, high-resolution measurement of leaf area and leaf orientation using terrestrial LiDAR scanning data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, Brian N; Mahaffee, Walter F

2017-01-01

The rapid evolution of high performance computing technology has allowed for the development of extremely detailed models of the urban and natural environment. Although models can now represent sub-meter-scale variability in environmental geometry, model users are often unable to specify the geometry of real domains at this scale given available measurements. An emerging technology in this field has been the use of terrestrial LiDAR scanning data to rapidly measure the three-dimensional geometry of trees, such as the distribution of leaf area. However, current LiDAR methods suffer from the limitation that they require detailed knowledge of leaf orientation in order to translate projected leaf area into actual leaf area. Common methods for measuring leaf orientation are often tedious or inaccurate, which places constraints on the LiDAR measurement technique. This work presents a new method to simultaneously measure leaf orientation and leaf area within an arbitrarily defined volume using terrestrial LiDAR data. The novelty of the method lies in the direct measurement of the fraction of projected leaf area G from the LiDAR data which is required to relate projected leaf area to total leaf area, and in the new way in which radiation transfer theory is used to calculate leaf area from the LiDAR data. The method was validated by comparing LiDAR-measured leaf area to (1) ‘synthetic’ or computer-generated LiDAR data where the exact area was known, and (2) direct measurements of leaf area in the field using destructive sampling. Overall, agreement between the LiDAR and reference measurements was very good, showing a normalized root-mean-squared-error of about 15% for the synthetic tests, and 13% in the field. (paper)

Rapid Quantitation of Furanocoumarins and Flavonoids in Grapefruit Juice using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography

Science.gov (United States)

VanderMolen, Karen M.; Cech, Nadja B.; Paine, Mary F.

2013-01-01

Introduction Grapefruit juice can increase or decrease the systemic exposure of myriad oral medications, leading to untoward effects or reduced efficacy. Furanocoumarins in grapefruit juice have been established as inhibitors of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A)-mediated metabolism and P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated efflux, while flavonoids have been implicated as inhibitors of organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP)-mediated absorptive uptake in the intestine. The potential for drug interactions with a food product necessitates an understanding of the expected concentrations of a suite of structurally diverse and potentially bioactive compounds. Objective Develop methods for the rapid quantitation of two furanocoumarins (bergamottin and 6′,7′-dihydroxybergamottin) and four flavonoids (naringin, naringenin, narirutin, and hesperidin) in five grapefruit juice products using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Methodology Grapefruit juice products were extracted with ethyl acetate; the concentrated extract was analyzed by UPLC using acetonitrile:water gradients and a C18 column. Analytes were detected using a photodiode array detector, set at 250 nm (furanocoumarins) and 310 nm (flavonoids). Intraday and interday precision and accuracy and limits of detection and quantitation were determined. Results Rapid (flavonoids. R2 values for the calibration curves of all analytes were >0.999. Considerable between-juice variation in the concentrations of these compounds was observed, and the quantities measured were in agreement with the concentrations published in HPLC studies. Conclusion These analytical methods provide an expedient means to quantitate key furanocoumarins and flavonoids in grapefruit juice and other foods used in dietary substance-drug interaction studies. PMID:23780830

Coal-fired high performance power generating system. Quarterly progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-07-01

The goals of the program are to develop a coal-fired high performance power generation system (HIPPS) by the year 2000 that is capable of > 47% thermal efficiency; NO{sub x} SO {sub x} and Particulates < 25% NSPS; Cost of electricity 10% lower; coal > 65% of heat input and all solid wastes benign. In order to achieve these goals our team has outlined a research plan based on an optimized analysis of a 250 MW{sub e} combined cycle system applicable to both frame type and aeroderivative gas turbines. Under the constraints of the cycle analysis we have designed a high temperature advanced furnace (HITAF) which integrates several combustor and air heater designs with appropriate ash management procedures. Most of this report discusses the details of work on these components, and the R&D Plan for future work. The discussion of the combustor designs illustrates how detailed modeling can be an effective tool to estimate NO{sub x} production, minimum burnout lengths, combustion temperatures and even particulate impact on the combustor walls. When our model is applied to the long flame concept it indicates that fuel bound nitrogen will limit the range of coals that can use this approach. For high nitrogen coals a rapid mixing, rich-lean, deep staging combustor will be necessary. The air heater design has evolved into two segments: a convective heat exchanger downstream of the combustion process; a radiant panel heat exchanger, located in the combustor walls; The relative amount of heat transferred either radiatively or convectively will depend on the combustor type and the ash properties.

Development of a high performance liquid chromatography method ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Development of a high performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous ... Purpose: To develop and validate a new low-cost high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for ..... Several papers have reported the use of ...

Rapid modified QuEChERS method for pesticides detection in honey by high-performance liquid chromatography UV-visible

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabetta Bonerba

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The extensive use of pesticides in agriculture plays an important role in bees die-off and allows the presence of residues in hive products, particularly in honey. An accurate and reliable analytical method, based on QuEChERS extractive technique, has been developed for the quantitative determination by high-performance liquid chromatography UV-visible detector of 5 pesticides (Deltamethrin, Dimethoate, Imidacloprid, Acetamiprid, Chlorfenvinphos in honey. The method, according to Commission Directive 2002/63/EC and Regulation 882/2004/EC, provided excellent results with respect to linearity (correlation coefficient up to 0.993, limits of detection and quantification (0.005 and 0.01 μg/mL for Dimethoate, Deltamethrin and Chlorfenvinphos; 0.02 and 0.05 μg/mL for Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid, recovery values (86.4 to 96.3%, precision and relative expanded uncertainty of a measurement, demonstrating the conformity of the this method with the European directives. The proposed method was applied to 23 samples of Apulian honey. None of the investigated pesticides was detected in these samples.

Hierarchical N-Rich Carbon Sponge with Excellent Cycling Performance for Lithium-Sulfur Battery at High Rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhen, Mengmeng; Wang, Juan; Wang, Xin; Wang, Cheng

2018-04-17

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are receiving extensive attention because of their high theoretical energy density. However, practical applications of LSBs are still hindered by their rapid capacity decay and short cycle life, especially at high rates. Herein, a highly N-doped (≈13.42 at %) hierarchical carbon sponge (HNCS) with strong chemical adsorption for lithium polysulfide is fabricated through a simple sol-gel route followed by carbonization. Upon using the HNCS as the sulfur host material in the cathode and an HNCS-coated separator, the battery delivers an excellent cycling stability with high specific capacities of 424 and 326 mA h g -1 and low capacity fading rates of 0.033 % and 0.030 % per cycle after 1000 cycles under high rates of 5 and 10 C, respectively, which are superior to those of other reported carbonaceous materials. These impressive cycling performances indicate that such a battery could promote the practical application prospects of LSBs. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Engineering hierarchical ultrathin CuCo2O4 nanosheets array on Ni foam by rapid electrodeposition method toward high-performance binder-free supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Abbasi, Laleh; Arvand, Majid

2018-07-01

In the present work, we engineer hierarchical ultrathin CuCo2O4 nanosheets arrays on Ni foam through a facile, controllable and low-cost electrodeposition method by controlling deposition time and adjusting precursor's type, as a binder-free electrode for high performance supercapacitors. The effects of deposition time and types of precursors on the morphology of the as-prepared electrodes were investigated by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As a results, the CuCo2O4 electrode prepared by nitrate salts at the deposition time of 10 min, includes the most uniform and ultrathin nanosheet arrays and exhibits the highest capacitance performance, such as ultrahigh specific capacitance of 1330 F g-1 at 2 A g-1 with 70% capacitance retention (938 F g-1) at ultrahigh current density of 60 A g-1, excellent cycling stability of 93.6% capacitance retention after 5000CD cycles and the maximum energy density of 29.55 Wh kg-1 at the power density of 0.4 kW kg-1. These superior electrochemical performances have been attributed to its unique structures with direct connected ultrathin nanosheets on the surface of Ni foam and abundant pores provide large electroactive sites for electrochemical reactions, as well as facile electron, ion transport and high electrical conductivity.

Rapid response learning of brand logo priming: Evidence that brand priming is not dominated by rapid response learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Boehm, Stephan G; Smith, Ciaran; Muench, Niklas; Noble, Kirsty; Atherton, Catherine

2017-08-31

Repetition priming increases the accuracy and speed of responses to repeatedly processed stimuli. Repetition priming can result from two complementary sources: rapid response learning and facilitation within perceptual and conceptual networks. In conceptual classification tasks, rapid response learning dominates priming of object recognition, but it does not dominate priming of person recognition. This suggests that the relative engagement of network facilitation and rapid response learning depends on the stimulus domain. Here, we addressed the importance of the stimulus domain for rapid response learning by investigating priming in another domain, brands. In three experiments, participants performed conceptual decisions for brand logos. Strong priming was present, but it was not dominated by rapid response learning. These findings add further support to the importance of the stimulus domain for the relative importance of network facilitation and rapid response learning, and they indicate that brand priming is more similar to person recognition priming than object recognition priming, perhaps because priming of both brands and persons requires individuation.

Toward a theory of high performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirby, Julia

2005-01-01

What does it mean to be a high-performance company? The process of measuring relative performance across industries and eras, declaring top performers, and finding the common drivers of their success is such a difficult one that it might seem a fool's errand to attempt. In fact, no one did for the first thousand or so years of business history. The question didn't even occur to many scholars until Tom Peters and Bob Waterman released In Search of Excellence in 1982. Twenty-three years later, we've witnessed several more attempts--and, just maybe, we're getting closer to answers. In this reported piece, HBR senior editor Julia Kirby explores why it's so difficult to study high performance and how various research efforts--including those from John Kotter and Jim Heskett; Jim Collins and Jerry Porras; Bill Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson; and several others outlined in a summary chart-have attacked the problem. The challenge starts with deciding which companies to study closely. Are the stars the ones with the highest market caps, the ones with the greatest sales growth, or simply the ones that remain standing at the end of the game? (And when's the end of the game?) Each major study differs in how it defines success, which companies it therefore declares to be worthy of emulation, and the patterns of activity and attitude it finds in common among them. Yet, Kirby concludes, as each study's method incrementally solves problems others have faced, we are progressing toward a consensus theory of high performance.

A study on embedded resistor components fabricated by laser micro-cladding and rapid prototype

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Huiling; Zeng Xiaoyan

2006-01-01

With the rapid development of IC and packaging, electronic devices are required to be smaller, to have a high-density integration, to become multifunction and to be of lower cost and high-reliability. Thick-film technology is not able to meet the current developing demands because of its shortcomings, such as the limit of pattern resolution, the severe torsion and delay of high-speed signal transmission. The speed and quality of signal transmission will be improved if embedded resistor components are directly integrated in the multiplayer substrate of multi-chip or laminated module, and high-density integration and reliability are achieved because the short interconnection and the less soldering point. In this paper, a technique named laser micro-cladding and rapid prototype is used to directly fabricate embedded resistor units on the multiplayer ceramic substrate without using a mask and high-temperature sintering, and without trimming resistor, which will simplify processing and decrease cost as well as improving high-speed and reliable performance

Comparative advantage strategy for rapid pollution mitigation in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yuan

2013-09-03

Due to its sheer size and growth trend, no other country is facing more daunting challenges than China in reducing its pollutant emissions. A critical but inadequately addressed question is how rapidly China could feasibly achieve such mitigation. The stake is high not only about how much worse China's environmental quality could become but also about how the world can prevent catastrophic climate change. Through examining sulfur dioxide (SO2) mitigation in coal-fired power plants and wind energy development for carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation, this article proposes a comparative advantage strategy for overcoming high barriers to fast pollution mitigation. On the demand side, China could first make progress in the deployment of more pollution control facilities and then improve their operational performance. The resulting low technological market entry barriers could help to build enough industrial capacity to meet the huge demand with prices under control. The strategy in the current practice could be improved to establish not only a large supply industry but also a strong one to enable other countries to move more rapidly in pollution mitigation.

Development of high performance cladding materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jeong Yong; Jeong, Y. H.; Park, S. Y.

2010-04-01

The irradiation test for HANA claddings conducted and a series of evaluation for next-HANA claddings as well as their in-pile and out-of pile performances tests were also carried out at Halden research reactor. The 6th irradiation test have been completed successfully in Halden research reactor. As a result, HANA claddings showed high performance, such as corrosion resistance increased by 40% compared to Zircaloy-4. The high performance of HANA claddings in Halden test has enabled lead test rod program as the first step of the commercialization of HANA claddings. DB has been established for thermal and LOCA-related properties. It was confirmed from the thermal shock test that the integrity of HANA claddings was maintained in more expanded region than the criteria regulated by NRC. The manufacturing process of strips was established in order to apply HANA alloys, which were originally developed for the claddings, to the spacer grids. 250 kinds of model alloys for the next-generation claddings were designed and manufactured over 4 times and used to select the preliminary candidate alloys for the next-generation claddings. The selected candidate alloys showed 50% better corrosion resistance and 20% improved high temperature oxidation resistance compared to the foreign advanced claddings. We established the manufacturing condition controlling the performance of the dual-cooled claddings by changing the reduction rate in the cold working steps

How Lovebirds Maneuver Rapidly Using Super-Fast Head Saccades and Image Feature Stabilization.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Kress

Full Text Available Diurnal flying animals such as birds depend primarily on vision to coordinate their flight path during goal-directed flight tasks. To extract the spatial structure of the surrounding environment, birds are thought to use retinal image motion (optical flow that is primarily induced by motion of their head. It is unclear what gaze behaviors birds perform to support visuomotor control during rapid maneuvering flight in which they continuously switch between flight modes. To analyze this, we measured the gaze behavior of rapidly turning lovebirds in a goal-directed task: take-off and fly away from a perch, turn on a dime, and fly back and land on the same perch. High-speed flight recordings revealed that rapidly turning lovebirds perform a remarkable stereotypical gaze behavior with peak saccadic head turns up to 2700 degrees per second, as fast as insects, enabled by fast neck muscles. In between saccades, gaze orientation is held constant. By comparing saccade and wingbeat phase, we find that these super-fast saccades are coordinated with the downstroke when the lateral visual field is occluded by the wings. Lovebirds thus maximize visual perception by overlying behaviors that impair vision, which helps coordinate maneuvers. Before the turn, lovebirds keep a high contrast edge in their visual midline. Similarly, before landing, the lovebirds stabilize the center of the perch in their visual midline. The perch on which the birds land swings, like a branch in the wind, and we find that retinal size of the perch is the most parsimonious visual cue to initiate landing. Our observations show that rapidly maneuvering birds use precisely timed stereotypic gaze behaviors consisting of rapid head turns and frontal feature stabilization, which facilitates optical flow based flight control. Similar gaze behaviors have been reported for visually navigating humans. This finding can inspire more effective vision-based autopilots for drones.

Device Engineering Towards Improved Tin Sulfide Solar Cell Performance and Performance Reproducibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steinmann, Vera; Chakraborty, Rupak; Rekemeyer, Paul; Siol, Sebastian; Martinot, Loic; Polizzotti, Alex; Yang, Chuanxi; Hartman, Katy; Gradecak, Silvija; Zakutayev, Andriy; Gordon, Roy G.; Buonassisi, Tonio

2016-11-21

As novel absorber materials are developed and screened for their photovoltaic (PV) properties, the challenge remains to rapidly test promising candidates in high-performing PV devices. There is a need to engineer new compatible device architectures, including the development of novel transparent conductive oxides and buffer layers. Here, we consider the two approaches of a substrate-style and a superstrate-style device architecture for novel thin-film solar cells. We use tin sulfide as a test absorber material. Upon device engineering, we demonstrate new approaches to improve device performance and performance reproducibility.

Simultaneous determination of ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone in oral contraceptive by high performance liquid chromatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viviane Benevenuti Silva

2013-09-01

Full Text Available A simple, rapid, economical and reliable high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and successfully applied in simultaneous determination of ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone in coated tablets. The HPLC method was performed on a LiChroCART® 100RP column (125x4 mm i.d., 5 µm with acetonitrile:water 50:50 (v/v as mobile phase, pumped at a flow rate of 1.0 mL.min-1. The fluorescence detection for ethinyl estradiol was made at λex= 280 nm and λem= 310 nm and a UV detection for drospirenone was made at 200 nm. The elution time for ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone were 4.0 and 5.7 min, respectively. The method was validated in accordance to USP 34 guidelines. The proposed HPLC method presented advantages over reported methods and is suitable for quality control assays of ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone in coated tablets.

Mechanical response of local rapid cooling by spray water on constrained steel frame structure at high temperature in fire

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia Yunchun

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Locally rapid cooling of spray water had strong impact on high temperature steel structure. When temperature of beam reached 600°C and cooling rate was more than 20°C/s, the maximum axial tension could reach more than 5 times of the originally compressive force. The compressive bending moment at joint of beam-to-column changed to tensile bending moment, and the maximum bending moment could reach above 4 times as that when heated. After rapid cooling by spray water, deflection at mid-span increased slightly.

High Dynamic Performance Nonlinear Source Emulator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen-Duy, Khiem; Knott, Arnold; Andersen, Michael A. E.

2016-01-01

As research and development of renewable and clean energy based systems is advancing rapidly, the nonlinear source emulator (NSE) is becoming very essential for testing of maximum power point trackers or downstream converters. Renewable and clean energy sources play important roles in both...... terrestrial and nonterrestrial applications. However, most existing NSEs have only been concerned with simulating energy sources in terrestrial applications, which may not be fast enough for testing of nonterrestrial applications. In this paper, a high-bandwidth NSE is developed that is able to simulate...... change in the input source but also to a load step between nominal and open circuit. Moreover, all of these operation modes have a very fast settling time of only 10 μs, which is hundreds of times faster than that of existing works. This attribute allows for higher speed and a more efficient maximum...

Rapid method for determination of glyphosate in groundwater using high performance liquid chromatography and solid-phase extraction after derivatization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdir Eduardo Olivo

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The intensive use of pesticides in agriculture has prompted researchers to develop new methods for identifying these pollutants in water. This study sought to validate a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC method to determine the concentration of the pesticide glyphosate in groundwater samples by using solid-phase extraction (SPE filters after derivatization with chloroformate 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (FMOC-Cl. For the HPLC method, we evaluated the following main validation parameters: linearity, specificity, precision, accuracy, robustness, and limits of detection and quantification. After validation of the method, we determined the concentration of glyphosate in samples from thirteen deep, tubular wells distributed in urban and rural areas in Chapecó, SC, Brazil. The solvent used in the extraction of excess FMOC-Cl was dichloromethane and subsequently filtration was performed on C18 SPE, and injected into the chromatograph column in amino polymer with fluorescence detection. The analytical curve made in ultrapure water was linear, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.24 and 0.07 µg L-1, respectively. Recovery tests in natural waters ranged from 90.37 to 101.70%. Glyphosate was detected in 5 of the thirteen wells evaluated. The highest concentration of glyphosate (6.80 µg L-1 was detected in a countryside well, near the municipal water supply. Despite the low levels of glyphosate detected in our study, any amount present in groundwater samples is worrisome, as these molecules have low ground mobility.

Characterization of rapidly solidified powder of high-speed steel

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Miglierini, M.; Lančok, Adriana; Kusý, M.

2009-01-01

Roč. 190, 1-3 (2009), s. 51-57 ISSN 0304-3843 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP203/07/P011 Grant - others:GA(SK) VEGA1/3190/06 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40320502 Keywords : Rapidly solidified powder * Tool steel * Mössbauer spectroscopy Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry Impact factor: 0.209, year: 2007

High performance computing in Windows Azure cloud

OpenAIRE

Ambruš, Dejan

2013-01-01

High performance, security, availability, scalability, flexibility and lower costs of maintenance have essentially contributed to the growing popularity of cloud computing in all spheres of life, especially in business. In fact cloud computing offers even more than this. With usage of virtual computing clusters a runtime environment for high performance computing can be efficiently implemented also in a cloud. There are many advantages but also some disadvantages of cloud computing, some ...

Rapid and minimum invasive functional brain mapping by real-time visualization of high gamma activity during awake craniotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogawa, Hiroshi; Kamada, Kyousuke; Kapeller, Christoph; Hiroshima, Satoru; Prueckl, Robert; Guger, Christoph

2014-11-01

Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) is the gold standard for functional brain mapping during an awake craniotomy. The critical issue is to set aside enough time to identify eloquent cortices by ECS. High gamma activity (HGA) ranging between 80 and 120 Hz on electrocorticogram is assumed to reflect localized cortical processing. In this report, we used real-time HGA mapping and functional neuronavigation integrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for rapid and reliable identification of motor and language functions. Four patients with intra-axial tumors in their dominant hemisphere underwent preoperative fMRI and lesion resection with an awake craniotomy. All patients showed significant fMRI activation evoked by motor and language tasks. During the craniotomy, we recorded electrocorticogram activity by placing subdural grids directly on the exposed brain surface. Each patient performed motor and language tasks and demonstrated real-time HGA dynamics in hand motor areas and parts of the inferior frontal gyrus. Sensitivity and specificity of HGA mapping were 100% compared with ECS mapping in the frontal lobe, which suggested HGA mapping precisely indicated eloquent cortices. We found different HGA dynamics of language tasks in frontal and temporal regions. Specificities of the motor and language-fMRI did not reach 85%. The results of HGA mapping was mostly consistent with those of ECS mapping, although fMRI tended to overestimate functional areas. This novel technique enables rapid and accurate identification of motor and frontal language areas. Furthermore, real-time HGA mapping sheds light on underlying physiological mechanisms related to human brain functions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High Performance Work System, HRD Climate and Organisational Performance: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Muduli, Ashutosh

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to study the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and organizational performance and to examine the role of human resource development (HRD) Climate in mediating the relationship between HPWS and the organizational performance in the context of the power sector of India. Design/methodology/approach: The…

A high performance image processing platform based on CPU-GPU heterogeneous cluster with parallel image reconstroctions for micro-CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding Yu; Qi Yujin; Zhang Xuezhu; Zhao Cuilan

2011-01-01

In this paper, we report the development of a high-performance image processing platform, which is based on CPU-GPU heterogeneous cluster. Currently, it consists of a Dell Precision T7500 and HP XW8600 workstations with parallel programming and runtime environment, using the message-passing interface (MPI) and CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). We succeeded in developing parallel image processing techniques for 3D image reconstruction of X-ray micro-CT imaging. The results show that a GPU provides a computing efficiency of about 194 times faster than a single CPU, and the CPU-GPU clusters provides a computing efficiency of about 46 times faster than the CPU clusters. These meet the requirements of rapid 3D image reconstruction and real time image display. In conclusion, the use of CPU-GPU heterogeneous cluster is an effective way to build high-performance image processing platform. (authors)

Evaluation of Flow-Injection Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Rapid and High-Throughput Quantitative Determination of B-Vitamins in Nutritional Supplements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhandari, Deepak [ORNL; Van Berkel, Gary J [ORNL

2012-01-01

The use of flow-injection electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry for rapid and high-throughput mass spectral analysis of selected B-vitamins, viz. B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, in nutritional formulations was demonstrated. A simple and rapid (~5 min) in-tube sample preparation was performed by adding extraction solvent to a powdered sample aliquot followed by agitation, centrifugation, and filtration to recover an extract for analysis. Automated flow injection introduced 1 L of the extracts directly into the mass spectrometer ion source without chromatographic separation. Sample-to-sample analysis time was 60 s representing significant improvement over conventional liquid chromatography approaches which typically require 25-45 min, and often require more significant sample preparation procedures. Quantitative capabilities of the flow-injection analysis were tested using the method of standard additions and NIST standard reference material (SRM 3280) multivitamin/multielement tablets. The quantity determined for each B-vitamin in SRM 3280 was within the statistical range provided for the respective certified values. The same sample preparation and analysis approach was also applied to two different commercial vitamin supplement tablets and proved to be successful in the quantification of the selected B-vitamins as evidenced by an agreement with the labels values and the results obtained using isotope dilution liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Rapid scanning system for fuel drawers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caldwell, J.T.; Fehlau, P.E.; France, S.W.

1981-01-01

A nondestructive method for uniqely distinguishing among and quantifying the mass of individual fuel plates in situ in fuel drawers utilized in nuclear reactors is described. The method is both rapid and passive, eliminating the personnel hazard of the commonly used irradiation techniques which require that the analysis be performed in proximity to an intense neutron source such as a reactor. In the present technique, only normally decaying nuclei are observed. This allows the analysis to be performed anywhere. This feature, combined with rapid scanning of a given fuel drawer (in approximately 30 s), and the computer data analysis allows the processing of large numbers of fuel drawers efficiently in the event of a loss alert

A high-performance dual-scale porous electrode for vanadium redox flow batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, X. L.; Zeng, Y. K.; Zhu, X. B.; Wei, L.; Zhao, T. S.

2016-09-01

In this work, we present a simple and cost-effective method to form a dual-scale porous electrode by KOH activation of the fibers of carbon papers. The large pores (∼10 μm), formed between carbon fibers, serve as the macroscopic pathways for high electrolyte flow rates, while the small pores (∼5 nm), formed on carbon fiber surfaces, act as active sites for rapid electrochemical reactions. It is shown that the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area of the carbon paper is increased by a factor of 16 while maintaining the same hydraulic permeability as that of the original carbon paper electrode. We then apply the dual-scale electrode to a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) and demonstrate an energy efficiency ranging from 82% to 88% at current densities of 200-400 mA cm-2, which is record breaking as the highest performance of VRFB in the open literature.

Governance among Malaysian high performing companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asri Marsidi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Well performed companies have always been linked with effective governance which is generally reflected through effective board of directors. However many issues concerning the attributes for effective board of directors remained unresolved. Nowadays diversity has been perceived as able to influence the corporate performance due to the likelihood of meeting variety of needs and demands from diverse customers and clients. The study therefore aims to provide a fundamental understanding on governance among high performing companies in Malaysia.

Quantitative determination of insulin entrapment efficiency in triblock copolymeric nanoparticles by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Xiongliang; Fu, Yao; Hu, Haiyan; Duan, Yourong; Zhang, Zhirong

2006-04-11

A rapid and effective isocratic chromatographic procedure was described in this paper for the determination of insulin entrapment efficiency (EE) in triblock copolymeric nanoparticles using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with an ultraviolet/visible detector at low flow rate. The method has been developed on a Shimadzu Shim-pack VP-ODS column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan) using a mixture of 0.2 M sodium sulfate anhydrous solution adjusted to pH 2.3 with phosphoric acid and acetonitrile (73:27, v/v) as mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.8 ml min(-1) and a 214 nm detection. The method was validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, solution stability, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 2.0-500.0 microg ml(-1), and the limits of detection and quantitation were 8 and 20 ng, respectively. The mean recovery of insulin from spiked samples, in a concentration range of 8-100 microg ml(-1), was 98.96% (R.S.D.= 2.51%, n = 9). The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were less than 2.24%. The proposed method has the advantages of simple pretreatment, rapid isolation, high specificity and precision, which can be used for direct analysis of insulin in commercially available raw materials, formulations of nanoparticles, and drug release as well as stability studies.

Development of fully dense and high performance powder metallurgy HSLA steel using HIP method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wensheng; Pang, Xinkuan; Ma, Yunzhu; Cai, Qingshan; Zhu, Wentan; Liang, Chaoping

2018-05-01

In order to solve the problem that the mechanical properties of powder metallurgy (P/M) steels are much lower than those of traditional cast steels with the same composition due to their porosity, a high–strength–low–alloy (HSLA) steel with fully dense and excellent mechanical properties was fabricated through hot isostatic pressing (HIP) using gas–atomized powders. The granular structure in the P/M HIPed steel composed of bainitic ferrite and martensite–austenite (M–A) islands is obtained without the need of any rapid cooling. The P/M HIPed steel exhibit a combination of tensile strength and ductility that surpasses that of conventional cast steel and P/M sintered steel, confirming the feasibility of fabricating high performance P/M steel through appropriate microstructural control and manufacture process.

Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 1: high performance P/M metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kneringer, G.; Roedhammer, P.; Wildner, H.

2001-01-01

The proceedings of this sequence of seminars form an impressive chronicle of the continued progress in the understanding of refractory metals and cemented carbides and in their manufacture and application. There the ingenuity and assiduous work of thousands of scientists and engineers striving for progress in the field of powder metallurgy is documented in more than 2000 contributions covering some 30000 pages. The 15th Plansee Seminar was convened under the general theme 'Powder Metallurgical High Performance Materials'. Under this broadened perspective the seminar will strive to look beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain at its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. (author)

Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 1: high performance P/M metals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kneringer, G; Roedhammer, P; Wildner, H [eds.

2001-07-01

The proceedings of this sequence of seminars form an impressive chronicle of the continued progress in the understanding of refractory metals and cemented carbides and in their manufacture and application. There the ingenuity and assiduous work of thousands of scientists and engineers striving for progress in the field of powder metallurgy is documented in more than 2000 contributions covering some 30000 pages. The 15th Plansee Seminar was convened under the general theme 'Powder Metallurgical High Performance Materials'. Under this broadened perspective the seminar will strive to look beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain at its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. (author)

High-Speed, High-Performance DQPSK Optical Links with Reduced Complexity VDFE Equalizers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maki Nanou

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Optical transmission technologies optimized for optical network segments sensitive to power consumption and cost, comprise modulation formats with direct detection technologies. Specifically, non-return to zero differential quaternary phase shift keying (NRZ-DQPSK in deployed fiber plants, combined with high-performance, low-complexity electronic equalizers to compensate residual impairments at the receiver end, can be proved as a viable solution for high-performance, high-capacity optical links. Joint processing of the constructive and the destructive signals at the single-ended DQPSK receiver provides improved performance compared to the balanced configuration, however, at the expense of higher hardware requirements, a fact that may not be neglected especially in the case of high-speed optical links. To overcome this bottleneck, the use of partially joint constructive/destructive DQPSK equalization is investigated in this paper. Symbol-by-symbol equalization is performed by means of Volterra decision feedback-type equalizers, driven by a reduced subset of signals selected from the constructive and the destructive ports of the optical detectors. The proposed approach offers a low-complexity alternative for electronic equalization, without sacrificing much of the performance compared to the fully-deployed counterpart. The efficiency of the proposed equalizers is demonstrated by means of computer simulation in a typical optical transmission scenario.

Design of JMTR high-performance fuel element

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakurai, Fumio; Shimakawa, Satoshi; Komori, Yoshihiro; Tsuchihashi, Keiichiro; Kaminaga, Fumito

1999-01-01

For test and research reactors, the core conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel is required from the viewpoint of non-proliferation of nuclear weapon material. Improvements of core performance are also required in order to respond to recent advanced utilization needs. In order to meet both requirements, a high-performance fuel element of high uranium density with Cd wires as burnable absorbers was adopted for JMTR core conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel. From the result of examination of an adaptability of a few group constants generated by a conventional transport-theory calculation with an isotropic scattering approximation to a few group diffusion-theory core calculation for design of the JMTR high-performance fuel element, it was clear that the depletion of Cd wires was not able to be predicted accurately using group constants generated by the conventional method. Therefore, a new generation method of a few group constants in consideration of an incident neutron spectrum at Cd wire was developed. As the result, the most suitable high-performance fuel element for JMTR was designed successfully, and that allowed extension of operation duration without refueling to almost twice as long and offer of irradiation field with constant neutron flux. (author)

Rapid Benefit Indicator (RBI) Checklist Tool - Quick Start ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Rapid Benefits Indicators (RBI) approach consists of five steps and is outlined in Assessing the Benefits of Wetland Restoration – A Rapid Benefits Indicators Approach for Decision Makers. This checklist tool is intended to be used to record information as you answer the questions in that guide. When performing a Rapid Benefits Indicator (RBI) assessment on wetlands restoration site(s) results can be recorded and reviewed using this VBA enabled MS Excel Checklist Tool.