Bacterial iron-oxide nanowires from biofilm waste as a new adsorbent for the removal of arsenic from water

Biofilm, generated by the bacteria in the groundwater pumping system pipelines of the Salt Interception Scheme on the River Murray in South Australia is discarded as a waste material accumulated after periodic cleaning of the pipes. Structural and chemical composition characterizations confirm that this waste material is composed of amorphous twisted iron-oxide nanowires (ION), generated by bacteria, and they have a unique structure and properties. The adsorption performance of these iron-oxide nanowires for arsenic removal from water was evaluated to define their adsorption capacity for As(III) and As(V) and kinetics. Obtained results demonstrate considerable adsorption properties of this waste biological material and suggest its promising application as a new and low-cost adsorbent for water treatment.Ivan Andjelkovic, Sara Azari, Mason Erkelens, Peter Forward, Martin F. Lambert and Dusan Losi

On the neural networks of empathy: A principal component analysis of an fMRI study

© 2008 Nomi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Fatigue Life Prediction of Welded Box Structures

The objective of this study is to predict fatigue life of metal welded boxes. Experimental results of fatigue life are satisfactory predicted using an analytical scheme based on the volumetric approach.Проведено прогнозирование усталостной долговечности сварных коробчатых конструкций. Результаты расчета усталостной долговечности с использованием аналитической схемы, базирующейся на объемном методе, хорошо согласуются с соответствующими экспериментальными данными.Проведено прогнозування довговічності зварних коробчастих конструкцій від утомленості. Результати розрахунку довговічності від утомленості з використанням аналітичної схеми, що базується на об’ємному методі, добре узгоджуються з відповідними експериментальними даними

Hemomediastinum and bilateral hemothorax with extensive angiomatosis of anterior mediastinum

Angiomatosis is a rare, benign but clinically extensive and serious vascular lesion of soft tissue. Hereby, we report a case of diffuse angiomatosis of mediastinum, presenting with hemomediastinum and bilateral massive hemothorax in a 19-year old boy. On medical imaging, mediastinal widening along with enhanced small vessels and capillaries were detected. On operation, hemorrhagic sponge-like vascular tissue patches were seen extensively in pericardium, pleura, lymph node and thymus as well. The lesion was debulked. The pathologic evaluation revealed characteristic features of soft tissue angiomatosis involving thymus, lymph node, pleura, pericardium and its fibrofatty tissue. Diffuse angiomatosis should be considered for differential diagnosis of vascular lesions of anterior mediastinum

Data mining for prediction of length of stay of cardiovascular accident inpatients

The healthcare sector generates large amounts of data on a daily basis. This data holds valuable knowledge that, beyond supporting a wide range of medical and healthcare functions such as clinical decision support, can be used for improving profits and cutting down on wasted overhead. The evaluation and analysis of stored clinical data may lead to the discovery of trends and patterns that can significantly enhance overall understanding of disease progression and clinical management. Data mining techniques aim precisely at the extraction of useful knowledge from raw data. This work describes an implementation of a data mining project approach to predict the hospitalization period of cardiovascular accident patients. This provides an effective tool for the hospital cost containment and management efficiency. The data used for this project contains information about patients hospitalized in Cardiovascular Accident’s unit in 2016 for having suffered a stroke. The Weka software was used as the machine learning toolkit.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/CEC/00319/2013

Purification of Immature Neuronal Cells from Neural Stem Cell Progeny

Large-scale proliferation and multi-lineage differentiation capabilities make neural stem cells (NSCs) a promising renewable source of cells for therapeutic applications. However, the practical application for neuronal cell replacement is limited by heterogeneity of NSC progeny, relatively low yield of neurons, predominance of astrocytes, poor survival of donor cells following transplantation and the potential for uncontrolled proliferation of precursor cells. To address these impediments, we have developed a method for the generation of highly enriched immature neurons from murine NSC progeny. Adaptation of the standard differentiation procedure in concert with flow cytometry selection, using scattered light and positive fluorescent light selection based on cell surface antibody binding, provided a near pure (97%) immature neuron population. Using the purified neurons, we screened a panel of growth factors and found that bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) demonstrated a strong survival effect on the cells in vitro, and enhanced their functional maturity. This effect was maintained following transplantation into the adult mouse striatum where we observed a 2-fold increase in the survival of the implanted cells and a 3-fold increase in NeuN expression. Additionally, based on the neural-colony forming cell assay (N-CFCA), we noted a 64 fold reduction of the bona fide NSC frequency in neuronal cell population and that implanted donor cells showed no signs of excessive or uncontrolled proliferation. The ability to provide defined neural cell populations from renewable sources such as NSC may find application for cell replacement therapies in the central nervous system

Ubiquitous Spin Freezing in the Superconducting State of UTe2

In most superconductors electrons form Cooper pairs in a spin-singlet state mediated by either phonons or by long-range interactions such as spin fluctuations. The superconductor UTe$_2$ is a rare material wherein electrons are believed to form pairs in a unique spin-triplet state with potential topological properties. While spin-triplet pairing may be mediated by ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic fluctuations, experimentally, the magnetic properties of UTe$_2$ are unclear. By way of muon spin rotation/relaxation ($\mu$SR) measurements on independently grown UTe$_2$ single crystals we demonstrate the existence of magnetic clusters that gradually freeze into a disordered spin frozen state at low temperatures. Our findings suggest that inhomogeneous freezing of magnetic clusters is linked to the ubiquitous residual linear term in the temperature dependence of the specific heat ($C$) and the low-temperature upturn in $C/T$ versus $T$. The omnipresent magnetic inhomogeneity has potential implications for experiments aimed at establishing the intrinsic low-temperature properties of UTe$_2$.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figure

Inflow Speed Analysis of Interchange Injections in Saturn's Magnetosphere

During its more than 13 years in orbit, the Cassini spacecraft detected a large number of plasma and energetic charged particle injections in Saturn's inner magnetosphere. In the corotating frame of the planet, the plasma contained within an injection moves radially inward with the component particles gaining energy. The highest energy particles in the injection experience stronger gradient‐curvature drifts in the longitudinal direction and can drift out of the main body of the injection. We have used these drift‐out effects to estimate the inflow speed of 19 injections by surveying cases from the available plasma data. We find that the average inflow speed from our sample is 22 km/s, and the values are well distributed between 0 and 50 km/s, with a few higher estimates. We have also computed the radial travel distance of interchange events and found that these are typically one to two Saturn radii. We discuss the implications of these quantifications on our understanding of transport

Advancing the Scientific Frontier with Increasingly Autonomous Systems

A close partnership between people and partially autonomous machines has enabled decades of space exploration. But to further expand our horizons, our systems must become more capable. Increasing the nature and degree of autonomy - allowing our systems to make and act on their own decisions as directed by mission teams - enables new science capabilities and enhances science return. The 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey (PSDS) and on-going pre-Decadal mission studies have identified increased autonomy as a core technology required for future missions. However, even as scientific discovery has necessitated the development of autonomous systems and past flight demonstrations have been successful, institutional barriers have limited its maturation and infusion on existing planetary missions. Consequently, the authors and endorsers of this paper recommend that new programmatic pathways be developed to infuse autonomy, infrastructure for support autonomous systems be invested in, new practices be adopted, and the cost-saving value of autonomy for operations be studied.Comment: 10 pages (compared to 8 submitted to PSADS), 2 figures, submitted to National Academy of Sciences Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-203