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We examine the possible unparticle effects on [Formula: see text] associated with [Formula: see text] decays by minimum-[Formula: see text] fitting. Recent measurements from Belle and LHCb are included in this analysis. While it is true that the new experimental results of [Formula: see text] get closer to the Standard Model (SM) predictions, there is still room for new physics and unparticles are also one possibility. Our best-fit values are [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], which are still far from the SM values by more than [Formula: see text] or almost [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. We also find that the unparticle effects are quite safe to render the branching ratio [Formula: see text] less than 10%.

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) founding member and Bipolar disorder working group co-chair Pamela Sklar. We thank the participants who donated their time, experiences and DNA to this research, and to the clinical and scientific teams that worked with them. We are deeply indebted to the investigators who comprise the PGC. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any funding or regulatory body. Analyses were carried out on the NL Genetic Cluster Computer (http://www.geneticcluster.org ) hosted by SURFsara, and the Mount Sinai high performance computing cluster (http://hpc.mssm.edu)., Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study including 20,352 cases and 31,358 controls of European descent, with follow-up analysis of 822 variants with P, This work was funded in part by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, Stanley Medical Research Institute, University of Michigan, Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Fund L.L.C., Marriot Foundation and the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, the NIMH Intramural Research Program; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the UK Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, NIHR, NRS, MRC, Wellcome Trust; European Research Council; German Ministry for Education and Research, German Research Foundation IZKF of Münster, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, ImmunoSensation, the Dr. Lisa-Oehler Foundation, University of Bonn; the Swiss National Science Foundation; French Foundation FondaMental and ANR; Spanish Ministerio de Economía, CIBERSAM, Industria y Competitividad, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Generalitat de Catalunya, EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme; BBMRI-NL; South-East Norway Regional Health Authority and Mrs. Throne-Holst; Swedish Research Council, Stockholm County Council, Söderström Foundation; Lundbeck Foundation, Aarhus University; Australia NHMRC, NSW Ministry of Health, Janette M O'Neil and Betty C Lynch.

Background. Abnormal task-related activation in primary motor cortices (M1) has been consistently found in functional imaging studies of subcortical stroke. Whether the abnormal activations are associated with neuronal alterations in the same or homologous area is not known. Objective. Our goal was to establish the relationships between M1 measures of motor-task-related activation and a neuronal marker, N-acetylaspartate (NAA), in patients with severe to mild hemiparesis. Methods. A total of 18 survivors of an ischemic subcortical stroke (confirmed on T2-weighted images) at more than six months post-onset and 16 age- and sex-matched right-handed healthy controls underwent functional MRI during a handgrip task (impaired hand in patients, dominant hand in controls) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) imaging. Spatial extent and magnitude of blood oxygen level–dependent response (or activation) and NAA levels were measured in each M1. Relationships between activation and NAA were determined. Results. Compared with controls, patients had a greater extent of contralesional (ipsilateral to impaired hand, P < .001) activation and a higher magnitude of activation and lower NAA in both ipsilesional ( P = .008 and P < .001, respectively) and contralesional ( P < .0001, P < .05) M1. There were significant negative correlations between extent of activation and NAA in each M1 ( P = .02) and a trend between contralesional activation and ipsilesional NAA ( P = .08) in patients but not in controls. Conclusions. Our results suggest that after stroke greater neuronal recruitment could be a compensatory response to lower neuronal metabolism. Thus, dual-modality imaging may be a powerful tool for providing complementary probes of post-stroke brain reorganization.

Thin Spray-on Liners(TSLs) based on polymer materials have been considered as an alternative to shotcrete and wire mesh in relatively fair rock conditions, and used in mines since 1990s. Nevertheless, Few experimental studies on their mechanical properties necessary for the evaluation of their bearing capacities as a support member have been carried out. In this study, tensile and bond strengths of two kinds of TSLs with different material compositions were measured at the age of 7 days. In addition, two kinds of bending tests proposed by EFNARC (2008) to simulate representative failure mechanisms of TSLs were carried out on the same materials and curing age as in tension and pull-out tests. From the tests, tensile strength of a TSL is shown to increase as its content of polymer is higher. In contrast, its bond strength seems to be in inverse proportion to its polymer content. Especially, the TSL material in which a cementitious component is included with relatively smaller polymer content shows a faster hardening characteristic which results in higher resistance to de-bonding between a TSL and a substrate. As a result, it is shown that the performance of TSLs might be dependent upon its corresponding polymer content.

This paper presents the effect on application of the flywheel energy storage system (FESS) for load frequency control (LFC) of an interconnected 2 area power system. To do this, the control characteristics with the FESS were compared with that of the conventional governor controller. The controller for the FESS control and the governor control used a PID type controller. Both the FESS PID controller and the governor PID controller using genetic algorithm (GA) were designed to optimize the PID parameters. The frequency and generation output characteristics with the only FESS controller and with the only conventional governor controller were compared. To verify robust performance of the FESS controller, the computer simulations were performed under various disturbances. The simulation results showed that the FESS controller provided better dynamic responses in comparison with the conventional governor controller.

A new type of scalar potential inspired by unparticles is proposed for the electroweak symmetry breaking. The interaction between the standard model fields and unparticle sector is described by the non-integral power of fields that originates from the nontrivial scaling dimension of the unparticle operator. We find that unlike the usual integral-power potential, the electroweak symmetry is broken at tree level. The scale invariance of unparticle sector is also broken simultaneously, resulting in a physical Higgs and a lighter scalar particle., 4 pages, 3 figures. References updated

Disruption of the scapholunate ligament can cause a loss of normal scapholunate mechanics and eventually lead to osteoarthritis. Surgical reconstruction attempts to restore scapholunate relationship and shows improvement in functional outcomes, but postoperative effectiveness in restoring normal radiocarpal mechanics still remains a question. The objective of this study was to investigate the benefits of surgical repair by observing changes in contact mechanics on the cartilage surface before and after surgical treatment. Six patients with unilateral scapholunate dissociation were enrolled in the study, and displacement driven magnetic resonance image based-surface contact modeling was used to investigate normal, injured and postoperative radiocarpal mechanics. Model geometry was acquired from images of wrists taken in a relaxed position. Kinematics were acquired from image registration between the relaxed images, and images taken during functional loading. Results showed a trend for increase in radiocarpal contact parameters with injury. Peak and mean contact pressures significantly decreased after surgery in the radiolunate articulation and there were no significant differences between normal and postoperative wrists. Results indicated surgical repair improves contact mechanics after injury and that contact mechanics can be surgically restored to be similar to normal. This study provides novel contact mechanics data on the effects of surgical repair after scapholunate ligament injury. With further work, it may be possible to more effectively differentiate between treatments and degenerative changes based on in vivo contact mechanics data.

We investigated the effects of scapholunate ligament injury on in vivo radiocarpal joint mechanics using image-based surface contact modeling. Magnetic resonance images of 10 injured and contralateral normal wrists were acquired at high resolution (hand relaxed) and during functional grasp. Three-dimensional surface models of the radioscaphoid and radiolunate articulations were constructed from the relaxed images, and image registration between the relaxed and grasp images provided kinematics. The displacement driven models were implemented in contact modeling software. Contact parameters were determined from interpenetration of interacting bodies and a linear contact rule. Peak and mean contact pressures, contact forces and contact areas were compared between the normal and injured wrists. Also measured were effective (direct) contact areas and intercentroid distances from the grasp images. Means of the model contact areas were within 10 mm(2) of the direct contact areas for both articulations. With injury, all contact parameters significantly increased in the radioscaphoid articulation, while only peak contact pressure and contact force significantly increased in the radiolunate articulation. Intercentroid distances also increased significantly with injury. This study provides novel in vivo contact mechanics data from scapholunate ligament injury and confirms detrimental alterations as a result of injury.

As fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) material is appled for a curved structure such as tunnel, FRP material must has a curved shape. Until now, the curved FRP material has been producted by hand-lay-up or filament winding work. It is impossible for mass production of the curved FRP material by these methods. Also, the quality of product by these methods is lower than that by pultrusion method. New pultrusion method and equipment had been developed for production of FRP material with steady curvature. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of freezing and thawing on adhesion of cement concrete with coarse-sand coated FRP in repair and reinforcement of cement-concrete structure using curved FRP material.

Background. Although functional imaging and neurophysiological approaches reveal alterations in motor and premotor areas after stroke, insights into neurobiological events underlying these alterations are limited in human studies. Objective. We tested whether cerebral metabolites related to neuronal and glial compartments are altered in the hand representation in bilateral motor and premotor areas and correlated with distal and proximal arm motor impairment in hemiparetic persons. Methods. In 20 participants at >6 months postonset of a subcortical ischemic stroke and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, the concentrations of N-acetylaspartate and myo-inositol were quantified by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Regions of interest identified by functional magnetic resonance imaging included primary (M1), dorsal premotor (PMd), and supplementary (SMA) motor areas. Relationships between metabolite concentrations and distal (hand) and proximal (shoulder/elbow) motor impairment using Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity (FMUE) subscores were explored. Results. N-Acetylaspartate was lower in M1 ( P = .04) and SMA ( P = .004) and myo-inositol was higher in M1 ( P = .003) and PMd ( P = .03) in the injured (ipsilesional) hemisphere after stroke compared with the left hemisphere in controls. N-Acetylaspartate in ipsilesional M1 was positively correlated with hand FMUE subscores ( P = .04). Significant positive correlations were also found between N-acetylaspartate in ipsilesional M1, PMd, and SMA and in contralesional M1 and shoulder/elbow FMUE subscores ( P = .02, .01, .02, and .02, respectively). Conclusions. Our preliminary results demonstrated that proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a sensitive method to quantify relevant neuronal changes in spared motor cortex after stroke and consequently increase our knowledge of the factors leading from these changes to arm motor impairment.

This study was conducted to assess the microbial toxicity of ionic silver solution () and silver nanoparticle suspension () based on the Microtox bioassay. In this test, the light inhibition of luminescent bacteria was measured after 15 and 30 min exposure to aqueous solutions and soils spiked with a dilution series of and . The resulting dose-response curves were used to derive effective concentration (EC25, , EC75) and effective dose (, , ) that caused a 25, 50 and 75% inhibition of luminescence. In aqueous solutions, value of after 15 min exposure was determined to be and remarkably lower than value of with . This revealed that was more toxic to luminescent bacteria than . In soil extracts, however, value of with 196 mg kg-1 was higher than value of with , indicating less toxicity of in soils. The reduced toxicity of in soils can be attributed to a partial adsorption of ionic on soil colloids and humic acid as well as a partial formation of insoluble AgCl with NaCl of Microtox diluent. This resulted in lower concentration of active Ag in soil extracts obtained after 1 hour shaking with than that spiked with . With longer exposure time, EC and ED values of both and decreased, so their toxicity increased. The toxic characteristics of silver nanomaterials were different depending on existing form of Ag (, ), reaction medium (aqueous solution, soil), and exposure time.

Cadmium is known to be very toxic to human health and can be relative easily translocated from soils in plants. Therefore, a rapid method for screening Cd in soils and crops has become more and more important. For this reason, we examined a rapid immunochromatograpy (ICG) test kit which uses antigen-antibody reaction based on immunoassay and chromatography. Soils and rice grains collected from mine waste-contaminated sites were determined for their Cd contents using this kit. For comparison purposes, 0.1 M HCl and ICP-OES were employed as a conventional extraction and determination method. Cadmium contents in rice grains determined using ICG technique were and Cd contents determined using 0.1 M HCl and ICP-OES were . The correlation between these two Cd contents were statistically significant (=0.930). The results of Cd contents in soils also showed a statistically significant relationship between these two methods (=0.975). On the basis of these results, ICG technique can be applied to rapidly quantify Cd in crops and soils. However, further research is necessary to apply ICG technique for the field screening.

The cerebral blood volume (CBV) is a crucial physiological indicator of tissue viability and vascular reactivity. Thus, noninvasive CBV mapping has been of great interest. For this, ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) nanoparticles, including monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles, can be used as long-half-life, intravascular susceptibility agents of CBV MRI measurements. Moreover, CBV-weighted functional MRI (fMRI) with USPIO nanoparticles provides enhanced sensitivity, reduced large vessel contribution and improved spatial specificity relative to conventional blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI, and measures a single physiological parameter that is easily interpretable. We review the physiochemical and magnetic properties, and pharmacokinetics, of USPIO nanoparticles in brief. We then extensively discuss quantifications of baseline CBV, vessel size index and functional CBV change. We also provide reviews of dose-dependent sensitivity, vascular filter function, specificity, characteristics and impulse response function of CBV fMRI. Examples of CBV fMRI specificity at the laminar and columnar resolution are provided. Finally, we briefly review the application of CBV measurements to functional and pharmacological studies in animals. Overall, the use of USPIO nanoparticles can determine baseline CBV and its changes induced by functional activity and pharmacological interventions.

Accurate quantitative metabolic imaging of the brain presents significant challenges due to the complexity and heterogeneity of its structures and compositions with distinct compartmentations of brain tissue types (e.g., gray and white matter). The brain is compartmentalized into various regions based on their unique functions and locations. In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) techniques allow non-invasive measurements of neurochemicals in either single voxel or multiple voxels, yet the spatial resolution and detection sensitivity of MRS are significantly lower compared with MRI. A fundamentally different approach, namely spectral localization by imaging (SLIM) provides a new framework that overcomes major limitations of conventional MRS techniques. Conventional MRS allows only rectangular voxel shapes that do not conform to the shapes of brain structures or lesions, while SLIM allows compartments with arbitrary shapes. However, the restrictive assumption proposed in the original concept of SLIM, i.e., compartmental homogeneity, led to spectral localization errors, which have limited its broad applications. This review focuses on the recent technical frontiers of image-based MRS localization techniques that overcome the limitations of SLIM through the development and implementation of various new strategies, including incorporation of magnetic field inhomogeneity corrections, the use of multiple receiver coils, and prospective optimization of data acquisition.

An effort was undertaken to perform CFD analysis of fluid flow in Lean-Direct Injection (LDI) combustors with axial swirl-venturi elements for next-generation LDI-3 combustor design. The National Combustion Code (NCC) was used to perform non-reacting and two-phase reacting flow computations for a newly-designed pre-filming type fuel injector LDI-3 injector, in a single-injector and a five-injector array configuration. All computations were performed with a consistent approach of mesh-optimization, spray-modeling, ignition and kinetics-modeling. Computational predictions of the aerodynamics of the single-injector were used to arrive at an optimized main-injector design that meets effective area and fuel-air mixing criteria. Emissions (EINOx) characteristics were predicted for a medium-power engine cycle condition, and will be compared with data when it is made available from experimental measurements. The use of a PDF-like turbulence-chemistry interaction model with NCC's Time-Filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) solver is shown to produce a significant impact on the CFD results, when compared with a laminar-chemistry TFNS approach for the five-injector computations.

Three variations of a low emissions aircraft gas turbine engine combustion concept were developed and tested. The concept is a second generation swirl-venturi lean direct injection (SV-LDI) concept. LDI is a lean-burn combustion concept in which the fuel is injected directly into the flame zone. All three variations were based on the baseline 9- point SV-LDI configuration reported previously. The three second generation SV-LDI variations are called the 5-recess configuration, the flat dome configuration, and the 9- recess configuration. These three configurations were tested in a NASA Glenn Research Center medium pressure flametube. All three second generation variations had better low power operability than the baseline 9-point configuration. All three configurations had low NO(sub x) emissions, with the 5-recess configuration generally having slightly lower NO(x) than the flat dome or 9-recess configurations. Due to the limitations of the flametube that prevented testing at pressures above 20 atm, correlation equations were developed for the at dome and 9-recess configurations so that the landing-takeoff NO(sub x) emissions could be estimated. The flat dome and 9-recess landing-takeoff NO(x) emissions are estimated to be 81-88% below the CAEP/6 standards, exceeding the project goal of 75% reduction.

Breakthroughs in genomics have begun to unravel the genetic architecture of schizophrenia risk, providing methods for quantifying schizophrenia polygenic risk based on common genetic variants. Our objective in the current study was to understand the relationship between schizophrenia genetic risk variants and neurocognitive development in healthy individuals. We first used combined genomic and neurocognitive data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (4303 participants ages 8–21 years) to screen 26 neurocognitive phenotypes for their association with schizophrenia polygenic risk. Schizophrenia polygenic risk was estimated for each participant based on summary statistics from the most recent schizophrenia genome-wide association analysis (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium 2014). After correction for multiple comparisons, greater schizophrenia polygenic risk was significantly associated with reduced speed of emotion identification and verbal reasoning. These associations were significant by age 9 years and there was no evidence of interaction between schizophrenia polygenic risk and age on neurocognitive performance. We then looked at the association between schizophrenia polygenic risk and emotion identification speed in the Harvard/MGH Brain Genomics Superstruct Project sample (695 participants ages 18–35 years), where we replicated the association between schizophrenia polygenic risk and emotion identification speed. These analyses provide evidence for a replicable association between polygenic risk for schizophrenia and a specific aspect of social cognition. Our findings indicate that individual differences in genetic risk for schizophrenia are linked with the development of aspects of social cognition and potentially verbal reasoning, and that these associations emerge relatively early in development.

Disorders of the brain exhibit considerable epidemiological comorbidity and frequently share symptoms, provoking debate about the extent of their etiologic overlap. Here we apply linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) to quantify the extent of shared genetic contributions across 23 brain disorders (n=842,820), 11 quantitative and four dichotomous traits of interest (n=722,125) based on genome-wide association meta-analyses. Psychiatric disorders show substantial sharing of common variant risk, while many neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another, suggesting substantive differences in the specificity of the genetic etiology of these disorders. Further, we observe little evidence of widespread sharing of the common genetic risk between neurological and psychiatric disorders studied. In addition, we identify significant sharing of genetic influences between the certain quantitative measures and brain disorders, including major depressive disorder and neuroticism personality score. These results highlight the importance of common genetic variation as a source of risk for brain disorders and the potential of using heritability methods to obtain a more comprehensive view of the genetic architecture of brain phenotypes.

Remediation of potentially toxic trace elements (PTEs) in paddy fields is fundamental for crop safety. In situ application of chemical amendments has been widely adapted because of its cost-effectiveness and environmental safety. The main purpose of this research was to (1) evaluate the reduction in dissolved concentrations of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) with the application of chemical amendments and (2) monitor microbial activity in the soil to determine the remediation efficiency. Three different chemical amendments, lime stone, steel slag, and acid mine drainage sludge, were applied to paddy fields, and rice (Oryza sativa L. Milyang 23) was cultivated. The application of chemical amendments immobilized both Cd and As in soil. Between the two PTEs, As reduction was significant (p

Genomic copy number variants (CNVs) have been strongly implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ). However, apart from a small number of risk variants, elucidation of the CNV contribution to risk has been difficult due to the rarity of risk alleles, all occurring in less than 1% of cases. We sought to address this obstacle through a collaborative effort in which we applied a centralized analysis pipeline to a SCZ cohort of 21,094 cases and 20,227 controls. We observed a global enrichment of CNV burden in cases (OR=1.11, P=5.7e −15 ), which persisted after excluding loci implicated in previous studies (OR=1.07, P=1.7e −6 ). CNV burden is also enriched for genes associated with synaptic function (OR = 1.68, P = 2.8e −11 ) and neurobehavioral phenotypes in mouse (OR = 1.18, P=7.3e −5 ). We identified genome-wide significant support for eight loci, including 1q21.1, 2p16.3 (NRXN1), 3q29, 7q11.2, 15q13.3, distal 16p11.2, proximal 16p11.2 and 22q11.2. We find support at a suggestive level for nine additional candidate susceptibility and protective loci, which consist predominantly of CNVs mediated by non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR).

The guinea pig is a frequently used animal model for human pregnancy complications, such as oxygen deprivation or hypoxia, which result in altered brain development. To investigate the impact of in utero chronic hypoxia on brain development, pregnant guinea pigs underwent either normoxic or hypoxic conditions at about 70 % of 65-day term gestation. After delivery, neurochemical profiles consisting of 19 metabolites and macromolecules were obtained from the neonatal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum from birth to 12 weeks postpartum using in vivo (1)H MR spectroscopy at 9.4 T. The effects of chronic fetal hypoxia on the neurochemical profiles were particularly significant at birth. However, the overall developmental trends of neurochemical concentration changes were similar between normoxic and hypoxic animals. Alterations of neurochemicals including N-acetylaspartate (NAA), phosphorylethanolamine, creatine, phosphocreatine, and myo-inositol indicate neuronal loss, delayed myelination, and altered brain energetics due to chronic fetal hypoxia. These observed neurochemical alterations in the developing brain may provide insights into hypoxia-induced brain pathology, neurodevelopmental compromise, and potential neuroprotective measures.

Gyu-Phil Lee, Young-Taek Park, Jae-Hong Hwang, Dong-Gyou KimABSTRACTUtilization of fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) material has been increased to solve construction material problems such as corrosion, etc. However, there are still many problems in using a linear-shaped FRP material for a tunnel structure with curved section. In this study, the loading tests were performed on the curved FRP-concrete composite material to evaluate its behavior as tunnel support. These tests were based on the result from preliminary numerical analysis on FRP- concrete composite material. Also, additional numerical analysis considering interface characteristics between FRP and cement-concrete was conducted to compare the result of loading test on FRP-concrete composite material. From the results of the loading test and numerical analysis, the analysis method suggested from this study is reasonable to evaluate the mechanical behavior of FRP-concrete composite material.Keywords:FRP, interface element, shear strength of FRP-concrete interface, bond strength of FRP-concrete interface

Specific neurochemicals measured with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) may serve as biomarkers of pathological mechanism in the brain. We used high field in vivo1H-MRS to measure a detailed neurochemical profile after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. We characterized neurochemical changes in the contused cortex and the normal-appearing perilesional hippocampus over a time course from 1 hour to 2 weeks after injury. We found significant changes in 19 out of 20 neurochemicals in the cortex, and 9 out of 20 neurochemicals in the hippocampus. These changes provide evidence of altered cellular metabolic status after TBI, with specific compounds proposed to reflect edema, excitotoxicity, neuronal and glial integrity, mitochondrial status and bioenergetics, oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell membrane disruption. Our results support the utility of 1H-MRS for monitoring cellular mechanisms of TBI pathology in animal models, and the potential of this approach for preclinical evaluation of novel therapies.

Mapping of a major antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), was achieved in the human brain in vivo using a doubly-selective multiple quantum filtering based chemical shift imaging (CSI) of GSH at 3 T. Both in vivo and phantom tests in CSI and single voxel measurements were consistent with excellent suppression of overlapping signals from creatine, γ-Amino butyric acid (GABA) and macromolecules. GSH concentration in the fronto-parietal region was 1.20 ± 0.16 µmol/g (mean ± SD, n = 7). The longitudinal relaxation time (T(1) ) of GSH in the human brain was 397 ± 44 ms (mean ± SD, n = 5), which was substantially shorter than that of other metabolites. This GSH-CSI method permits us to address regional differences of GSH in the human brain under conditions where oxidative stress has been implicated, including multiple sclerosis, aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

Whether functional changes of the non-primary motor areas, e.g., dorsal premotor (PMd) and supplementary motor (SMA) areas, after stroke, reflect reorganization phenomena or recruitment of a pre-existing motor network remains to be clarified. We hypothesized that cellular changes in these areas would be consistent with their involvement in post-stroke reorganization. Specifically, we expected that neuronal and glial compartments would be altered in radiologically normal-appearing, i.e., spared, PMd and SMA in patients with arm paresis. Twenty survivors of a single ischemic subcortical stroke and 16 age-matched healthy controls were included. At more than six months after stroke, metabolites related to neuronal and glial compartments: N-acetylaspartate, myo-inositol, and glutamate/glutamine, were quantified by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in PMd and SMA in both injured (ipsilesional) and un-injured (contralesional) hemispheres. Correlations between metabolites were also calculated. Finally, relationships between metabolite concentrations and arm motor impairment (total and proximal Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity, FMUE, scores) were analyzed. Compared to controls, stroke survivors showed significantly higher ipsilesional PMd myo-inositol and lower SMA N-acetylaspartate. Significantly lower metabolite correlations were found between ipsilesional and contralesional SMA. Ipsilesional N-acetylaspartate was significantly related to proximal FMUE scores. This study provides evidence of abnormalities in metabolites, specific to neuronal and glial compartments, across spared non-primary motor areas. Ipsilesional alterations were related to proximal arm motor impairment. Our results suggest the involvement of these areas in post-stroke reorganization.

An experimental research on the possibility of using high-strength concrete with the design strength of 60 MPa and high-tension rebar with the yielding strength of 600 MPa instead of conventional reinforced concrete segment to reduce its production cost was performed. Full-scale bending tests on both conventional and high-strength reinforced concrete segments were carried out to compare their mechanical and structural behaviors of the segments under flexural action. From the experiments, it was shown that the failure load of high-strength reinforced concrete segment was approximately 30% higher than that of the conventional segment even though reinforcements in high-strength segment were reduced by 26%. The test result showed that the bearing capacity of high-strength segment highly increased by high-strength concrete and high-tension rebar. It also verified the high possibility of high-strength reinforced concrete segment as a technical alternative to reduce the production cost of segments in a shield tunnel.

Disc cutter is a key cutting tool for rock excavation by TBMs. This study aimed to characterize the deformation of a cutter ring by strain measurement as well as infrared thermal camera measurement during a series of linear cutting tests for a hard rock. The strain measurement results indicated that the cutter ring clearly showed a linear elastic behavior. The data obtained from the infrared thermal camera measurement demonstrated that the maximum temperature increase in the cutter ring was below 14.4℃. The deformation and temperature increase of the cutter ring during rock cutting were insignificant in a given cutting test condition of this study.

A total of 94 tomato accessions were evaluated for the resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) using a Sw5-2 SCAR marker and bioassay. PCR products of the marker were approximately 574 bp, 500 bp, and 462 bp, among which the longest was linked to TSWV resistance allele of Sw5-b. This allele was only found in three accessions (09-438, 10-318, and 10-321) in which some individuals showed apparent recovery or stem necrosis symptom to a tomato isolate of TSWV-pb1. Thirty-five individuals (one per each accession) which were non-infected by ELISA were selected for further observation. Among these, 26 individuals that did not show any symptom at 5 months after inoculation were confirmed for viral infection by RT-PCR. TSWV-specific PCR amplicon was weakly detected in all 26 individuals including ‘Eureta’, a commercial F 1 possessing the resistance allele of Sw5-b. The resistant genes in the selected individuals may play an important role for reducing the viral concentration in tissues of inoculated tomato plants and seems to be quantitatively controlled by several factors including Sw5-b gene.

We show that the recently measured 3.9 σ deviations of the charge asymmetry of like-sign dimuon events from the standard model prediction by the D0 collaboration at Tevatron can be explained by introducing the anomalous right-handed top quark couplings. A combined analysis with the \(B_s - \bar B_s\) and the \(B_d - \bar B_d\) mixings, B → X sγ decays and the time-dependent CP asymmetry in B → φK decays has been performed. The anomalous tsW couplings are preferred to explain the dimuon charge asymmetry together with other CP violating observables.

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 407–417. Abstract Chronic hyperglycemia could lead to cerebral metabolic alterations and CNS injury. However, findings of metabolic alterations in poorly managed diabetes in humans and animal models are rather inconsistent. We have characterized the cerebral metabolic consequences of untreated hyperglycemia from the onset to the chronic stage in a streptozotocin-induced rat model of diabetes. In vivo1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to measure over 20 neurochemicals longitudinally. Upon the onset of hyperglycemia (acute state), increases in brain glucose levels were accompanied by increases in osmolytes and ketone bodies, all of which remained consistently high through the chronic state of over 10 weeks of hyperglycemia. Only after over 4 weeks of hyperglycemia, the levels of other neurochemicals including N-acetylaspartate and glutathione were significantly reduced and these alterations persisted into the chronic stage. However, glucose transport was not altered in chronic hyperglycemia of over 10 weeks. When glucose levels were acutely restored to euglycemia, some neurochemical changes were irreversible, indicating the impact of prolonged uncontrolled hyperglycemia on the CNS. Furthermore, progressive changes in neurochemical levels from control to acute and chronic conditions demonstrated the utility of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a non-invasive tool in monitoring the disease progression in diabetes.

Phytophthora root rot has been causing a serious yield loss in pepper production. Since 2004, the year in which commercial cultivars resistant to the disease were firstly commercialized, it has been necessary to introduce the resistance into domestic pepper cultivars for dried red pepper. Therefore, developing molecular markers linked to the resistance is required for an accurate selection of resistant plants and increasing breeding efficiency. Until now, several markers associated with the major dominant gene resistant to Phytophthora root rot have been reported but they have some serious limitations for their usage. In this study, we aimed to develop molecular markers linked to the major dominant gene that can be used for almost of all genetic resources resistant to Phytophthora root rot. Two segregating populations derived from a 'Subicho' 'CM334' combination and a commercial cultivar 'Dokyacheongcheong' were used to develop molecular markers associated with the resistance. After screening 1,024 AFLP primer combinations with bulked segregant analysis, three AFLP (AFLP1, AFLP2, and AFLP3) markers were identified and converted into three CAPS markers (M1-CAPS, M2-CAPS, and M3-CAPS), respectively. Among them, M3-CAPS marker was further studied in ten resistants, fourteen susceptibles, five hybrids and 53 commercial cultivars. As a result, M3-CAPS marker was more fitted to identify Phytophthora resistance than previously reported P5-SNAP and Phyto5.2-SCAR markers. The result indicated that the M3-CAPS marker will be useful for resistance breeding to Phytophthora root rot in chili pepper.

A curved fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) panel is produced with a certain width depending on allowances of manufacturing processes and facilities. An targeted arch-shaped structure could be built by sequential connection of series of the FRP panels. The connection manner between the FRP panels could be given by chemical treatment, mechanical treatment and hybrid method. Among those, the connection between the panels by chemical treatment is commonly adopted. Therefore, For an optimized design of the connected part between FRP pannels, a number of direct shear tests have been undertaken in terms of a number of parameters: surface treatment conditions, bonding materials, etc.. As results, surface grinding condition by sand paper or surface treatment by sand blasting appear properly acceptable methods, and epoxy and acryl resins are shown to be effective bonding materials for the purpose in this study.

Spectral Localization by Imaging (SLIM) based magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides a new framework that overcomes major limitations of current MRS techniques, which allow only rectangular voxel shapes that do not conform the shapes of brain structures or lesions. However, the restrictive assumption of compartmental homogeneity in SLIM can lead to localization errors, thus its applications have been very limited to date. SLIM-based localization is subject to errors due to inhomogeneous B0 and B1 fields, particularly in organs with complex compartmental geometry including the human brain. The limitations of SLIM were overcome through the development and implementation of B0-Adjusted and Sensitivity-Encoded SLIM (BASE-SLIM) that includes corrections for inhomogeneities of both B0 and B1 fields throughout the volume of interest. In this study, we demonstrate significantly improved localization accuracy in compartments with arbitrary shapes and reliable quantification of metabolite concentrations in gray and white matter of the human brain using the BASE-SLIM technique.

Successful treatment and diagnosis of neurological diseases depend on reliable delivery of molecules across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which restricts penetration of pharmaceutical drugs and diagnostic agents into the brain. Thus, developing new non-invasive strategies to improve drug delivery across the BBB is critically needed. This study was aimed at evaluating the activity of HAV6 peptide (Ac-SHAVSS-NH2) in improving brain delivery of camptothecin-glutamate (CPT-Glu) conjugate and gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (Gd-DTPA) contrast agent in Sprague-Dawley rats. Brain delivery of both CPT-Glu and Gd-DTPA was evaluated in an in situ rat brain perfusion model in the presence and absence of HAV6 peptide (1.0 mM). Gd-DTPA (0.6 mmol/kg) was intravenously (i.v.) administered with and without HAV6 peptide (0.019 mmol/kg) in rats. The detection and quantification of CPT-Glu and Gd-DTPA in the brain were carried out by LC-MS/MS and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), respectively. Rats perfused with CPT-Glu in combination with HAV6 had significantly higher deposition of drug in the brain compared to CPT-Glu alone. MRI results also showed that administration of Gd-DTPA in the presence of HAV6 peptide led to significant accumulation of Gd-DTPA in various regions of the brain in both the in situ rat brain perfusion and in vivo studies. All observations taken together indicate that HAV6 peptide can disrupt the BBB and enhance delivery of small molecules into the brain.

Breakthroughs in genomics have begun to unravel the genetic architecture of schizophrenia risk, providing methods for quantifying schizophrenia polygenic risk based on common genetic variants. Our objective in the current study was to understand the relationship between schizophrenia genetic risk variants and neurocognitive development in healthy individuals. We first used combined genomic and neurocognitive data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC; 4303 participants ages 8 - 21 years) to screen 26 neurocognitive phenotypes for their association with schizophrenia polygenic risk. Schizophrenia polygenic risk was estimated for each participant based on summary statistics from the most recent schizophrenia genome-wide association analysis (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium 2014). After correction for multiple comparisons, greater schizophrenia polygenic risk was significantly associated with reduced speed of emotion identification and verbal reasoning. These associations were significant by age 9 and there was no evidence of interaction between schizophrenia polygenic risk and age on neurocognitive performance. We then looked at the association between schizophrenia polygenic risk and emotion identification speed in the Harvard / MGH Brain Genomics Superstruct Project sample (GSP; 695 participants age 18-35 years), where we replicated the association between schizophrenia polygenic risk and emotion identification speed. These analyses provide evidence for a replicable association between polygenic risk for schizophrenia and specific aspects of neurocognitive performance. Our findings indicate that individual differences in genetic risk for schizophrenia are linked with the development of social cognition and potentially verbal reasoning, and that these associations emerge relatively early in development.

In the dawning era of large-scale biomedical data, multidimensional phenotype vectors will play an increasing role in examining the genetic underpinnings of brain features, behaviour and disease. For example, shape measurements derived from brain MRI scans are multidimensional geometric descriptions of brain structure and provide an alternate class of phenotypes that remains largely unexplored in genetic studies. Here we extend the concept of heritability to multidimensional traits, and present the first comprehensive analysis of the heritability of neuroanatomical shape measurements across an ensemble of brain structures based on genome-wide SNP and MRI data from 1,320 unrelated, young and healthy individuals. We replicate our findings in an extended twin sample from the Human Connectome Project (HCP). Our results demonstrate that neuroanatomical shape can be significantly heritable, above and beyond volume, and can serve as a complementary phenotype to study the genetic determinants and clinical relevance of brain structure., National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (P41EB015896), United States. National Institutes of Health (S10RR023043), United States. National Institutes of Health (S10RR023401), United States. National Institutes of Health (K25CA181632), United States. National Institutes of Health (K01MH099232), United States. National Institutes of Health (K99MH101367), United States. National Institutes of Health (R21AG050122-01A1), United States. National Institutes of Health (R41AG052246-01), United States. National Institutes of Health (1K25EB013649-01), United States. National Institutes of Health (K24MH094614), United States. National Institutes of Health (R01MH101486)

Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is 50-70% heritable with complex genetic underpinnings. In addition to Apoliprotein E (APOE) ε4, the major genetic risk factor, recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a growing list of sequence variations associated with the disease. Building on a prior large-scale AD GWAS, we used a recently developed analytic method to compute a polygenic score that involves up to 26 independent common sequence variants and is associated with AD dementia, above and beyond APOE. We then examined the associations between the polygenic score and the magnetic resonance imaging-derived thickness measurements across AD-vulnerable cortex in clinically normal (CN) human subjects (N = 104). AD-specific cortical thickness was correlated with the polygenic risk score, even after controlling for APOE genotype and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of β-amyloid (Aβ(1-42)). Furthermore, the association remained significant in CN subjects with levels of CSF Aβ(1-)(42) in the normal range and in APOE ε3 homozygotes. The observation that genetic risk variants are associated with thickness across AD-vulnerable regions of interest in CN older individuals, suggests that the combination of polygenic risk profile, neuroimaging, and CSF biomarkers may hold synergistic potential to aid in the prediction of future cognitive decline.

The effect of calcium doping on the superconducting properties of top seeded melt growth (TSMG) processed Y 1.5 Ba 2− x Ca x Cu 3 O y superconductors was studied in terms of calcium content ( X ca ). YBa 2− x Ca x Cu 3 O 7− δ ( X ca = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.1, 0.3) powders were synthesized by the powder calcination method. YBa 2− x Ca x Cu 3 O 7− δ powders were mixed with 0.25 mole Y 2 O 3 powder and 1 wt.% CeO 2 as Y 2 BaCuO 5 (Y211) refiner, and finally made into Y 1 . 5 Ba 2− x Ca x Cu 3 O y (Y1.5) + 1 wt.% CeO 2 composition. The single Y123 growth on the top surface was observed up to X ca = 0.1, while the multiple Y123 growth was observed at X ca ⩾ 0.1. The superconducting transition temperature ( T c ) and critical current density ( J c ) of TSMG processed Y1.5 samples were inversely proportional to X ca . The Y211 size increased with increasing X ca due to the enhancement of Y211 coarsening by calcium doping. No Y211 refining effect by CeO 2 was observed in the calcium doped samples. The T c and J c decrease by calcium doping are likely to be due to the calcium incorporation with the Y123 lattice and formation of coarse Y211 particles.

This article explores new European legal requirements to obtain consent when serving or accessing cookies on website visitors’ computers, and the impact this will have on the online targeted advertising industry. It also considers practical measures that advertisers and publishers can take to address compliance risk when serving cookies for targeted advertising purposes.

Korea Electric Power Corporation(Received September 17, 2010; Revised April 15, 2011; Accepted April 20, 2011)Abstract − In this paper , an actuator model of the thrust magnetic bearing for the flywheel energy storage isderived using magnetic circuit theory. And we compared this result with finite element magnetic field analysisresult. Based on the actuator model, we made a simulation model of the thrust magnetic bearing system. Weshowed the closed loop transfer function and sensitivity function of the thrust magnetic bearing system using boththe simulation model and the experiment. The experimental result at rotation velocity 18,000rpm of thrust mag-netic bearing system is included.Keywords − thrust magnetic bearing(축방향자기베어링), flywheel(플라이휠), magnetic circuit(자기회로)

This study estimated experimentally the loss distribution caused by magnetic friction in magnetic parts of a superconductor flywheel energy storage system (SFES) to obtain information for the design of high efficiency SFES. Through the spin down experiment using the manufactured vertical shaft type SFES with a journal type superconductor magnetic bearing (SMB), the coefficients of friction by the SMB, the stator core of permanent magnet synchronous motor/generator (PMSM/G), and the leakage flux of the metal parts were calculated. The coefficients of friction by the stator core of PMSM/G in case of using Si-steel and an amorphous core were calculated. The energy loss by magnetic friction in the stator core of PMSM/G was much larger than that in the other parts. The level of friction loss could be reduced dramatically using an amorphous core. Energy loss by the leakage magnetic field was small. On the other hand, the energy loss could be increased under other conditions according to the type of metal nearby the leakage magnetic fields. In manufactured SFES, the rotational loss by the amorphous core was approximately 2 times the loss of the superconductor and leakage. Moreover, the rotational loss by the Si-steel core is approximately 3~3.5 times the loss of superconductor and leakage.

In this paper, we assessed the characteristics of the rotational energy loss by drag force according to a size change of the new amorphous stator core used on PMSM/G. The accurate method for measuring rotational energy was presented through the spin down test using superconductor flywheel energy storage system (SFES). The mathematical model for core loss of amorphous was constructed using the radial and tangential components of magnetic flux density through the experimental data analysis for the cores of PMSM/G. Rotational losses in the cores of PMSM/G were more influenced by radial component than by tangential component of magnetic flux density. Experimental results and proposed mathematical model of core loss using radial component and tangential component of magnetic flux density were in good agreement. Also it was confirmed that use of the new amorphous stator core on PMSM/G core could considerably improve the energy storage efficiency of the SFES.

The process of making or cultivating indigo dyes is very cumbersome and complex. The dye extraction and dyeing methods using general plant dye, moth repellent dye, fast acting natural dye, and other dyes are very different. This research investigates the extraction of indigo dye and liquid dye extraction of polygonum(indigo) plants using calcium oxide water. While extracting indigo dye the concentration of purified indigo dye may be controlled by adjusting the pH level. Due to the various uses of dyes the adjustment of surface color must be considered. In regard to the change according to different concentrations of reducing agents, it was found that cotton fabrics and ramie fabrics show the highest color difference at 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. As the reduction temperature increases, the color difference increases as well. The maximum color difference was found to appear at 90℃. Cotton fabrics and ramie fabrics showed 70.55 and 67.01 respectively. The color difference increases as the concentration of dyes increases, but at a concentration of 300%, cotton fabrics was found to show 6.22PB in H value using the Munsell color system, containing purple and blue color. The pH of the polygonum dyes extracted through this experiment were adjusted by adding calcium oxide to the experimental water, without directly adding calcium oxide to the liquid polygonum extract. In a refine state, it was mixed with polygonum extract to extract a more refine and highly concentrated indigo dye. When lye and reducing agents are added to extracted indigo dye and sealed for long-term storage, it can be effective and easily used for dyeing.Key words: indigo(쪽색소), dyeing property(염색성), sodium hydrosulfite(환원제), color difference(색차).