Diagnostic analysis of RO desalting treated waste water

Diagnostic analysis of reverse osmosis membranes that were fed with Western treatment plant (WTP) recycled water was investigated by both thermodynamic calculations and laboratory experiments in order to predict the feasibility of RO desalting for WTP. The thermodynamic calculations suggested that RO recoveries of 80–85% were feasible with careful control of feed water pH and the use of chemical additives such as antiscalants and chelating agents, it also predicted the major minerals of concern to be silica, calcium fluoride, calcium carbonate, and calcium phosphate. Following the thermodynamic simulations, diagnostic laboratory experiments were undertaken. The experiments showed that the major contributor to scale formation was indeed calcium phosphate and possibly another calcium based compound, which was strongly suspected to be calcium carbonate. Based on previously published literature that indicated anti-scalants did not substantially decrease the scaling effect of calcium phosphate and laboratory tests that indicated controlling the pH to 6.4 in the feed water dramatically reduced scaling formation, it was suggested that the feed water could be controlled by pH adjustments only. Inter-stage pH correction was suggested as an optional technique to enhance the overall water recovery to above 95%

Desmosomal Antigens Are Not Recognized by the Majority of Pemphigus Autoimmune Sera

Sera from 7 patient with pemphigus vulgaris and both mouse and rabbit antisera against bovine epidermal desmosomes contained antibodies that bound to cell surface components of the spinous layer of bovine epidermis. The antidesmosomal sera show significant binding to purified desmosomal proteins in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Two of 7 pemphigus sera bound to desmosomal protein-coated microtiter plates at low dilution titers. Two of 6 normal human sera also bound to desmosomal protein-coated microtiter plates at titers comparable to those of the pemphigus sera. Indirect immunofluorescent labeling of frozen sections of monkey esophagus revealed striking differences in the distribution of pemphigus antigens and desmosomal constituents. Pemphigus antisera produced rather uniform fluorescence around the borders of spinous cells of the esophageal epithelium, while anti-desmosomal antibodies bound in a punctate pattern. Anti-desmosomal antibodies labeled cells of the basal layer in a strongly punctate pattern. Only 1 pemphigus serum appreciably labeled basal cells. Two of 3 anti-desmosomal antisera bound avidly in the upper differentiating layers of the epithelium. Pemphigus antibodies did not. Pemphigus sera that reacted with desmosomal proteins in ELISA were absorbed by affinity chromatography on immobilized desmosomal proteins. This treatment did not alter the immunofluorescent labeling patterns produced by these sera. From these results we conclude that the pemphigus autoantibodies studied here bind to epithelial cell surface antigens which are distinguishable from the structural components of desmosomes

Percolation theory applied to measures of fragmentation in social networks

We apply percolation theory to a recently proposed measure of fragmentation $F$ for social networks. The measure $F$ is defined as the ratio between the number of pairs of nodes that are not connected in the fragmented network after removing a fraction $q$ of nodes and the total number of pairs in the original fully connected network. We compare $F$ with the traditional measure used in percolation theory, $P_{\infty}$, the fraction of nodes in the largest cluster relative to the total number of nodes. Using both analytical and numerical methods from percolation, we study Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi (ER) and scale-free (SF) networks under various types of node removal strategies. The removal strategies are: random removal, high degree removal and high betweenness centrality removal. We find that for a network obtained after removal (all strategies) of a fraction $q$ of nodes above percolation threshold, $P_{\infty}\approx (1-F)^{1/2}$. For fixed $P_{\infty}$ and close to percolation threshold ($q=q_c$), we show that $1-F$ better reflects the actual fragmentation. Close to $q_c$, for a given $P_{\infty}$, $1-F$ has a broad distribution and it is thus possible to improve the fragmentation of the network. We also study and compare the fragmentation measure $F$ and the percolation measure $P_{\infty}$ for a real social network of workplaces linked by the households of the employees and find similar results.Comment: submitted to PR

Cyclin N-Terminal Domain-Containing-1 Coordinates Meiotic Crossover Formation with Cell-Cycle Progression in a Cyclin-Independent Manner

During mammalian meiotic prophase I, programmed DNA double-strand breaks are repaired by non-crossover or crossover events, the latter predominantly occurring via the class I crossover pathway and requiring the cyclin N-terminal domain-containing 1(CNTD1) protein. Using an epitope-tagged Cntd1 allele, we detect a short isoform of CNTD1 in vivo that lacks a predicted N-terminal cyclin domain and does not bind cyclin-dependent kinases. Instead, we find that the short-form CNTD1 variant associates with components of the replication factor C (RFC) machinery to facilitate crossover formation, and with the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, CDC34, to regulate ubiquitylation and subsequent degradation of the WEE1 kinase, thereby modulating cell-cycle progression. We propose that these interactions facilitate a role for CNTD1 as a stop-go regulator during prophase I, ensuring accurate and complete crossover formation before allowing metaphase progression and the first meiotic division

Particle production from Q-balls

Non topological solitons, Q-balls can arise in many particle theories with U(1) global symmetries. As was shown by Cohen et al. \cite{Qballscohen}, if the corresponding scalar field couples to massless fermions, large Q-balls are unstable and evaporate, producing a fermion flux proportional to the Q-ball's surface. In this paper we analyse Q-ball instabilities as a function of Q-ball size ans fermion mass. In particular, we construct an exact quantum-mechanical description of the evaporating Q-ball. This new construction provides an alternative method to compute Q-Ball's evaporation rates. We shall also find the new expression for the upper bound on evaporation as a function of the produced fermion mass and study the effects of Q ball's size on particle production

Accurate PCR detection of influenza A/B and respiratory syncytial viruses by use of Cepheid Xpert Flu+RSV Xpress Assay in point-of-care settings: Comparison to Prodesse ProFlu+

ABSTRACT The Xpert Flu+RSV Xpress Assay is a fast, automated in vitro diagnostic test for qualitative detection and differentiation of influenza A and B viruses and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) performed on the Cepheid GeneXpert Xpress System. The objective of this study was to establish performance characteristics of the Xpert Flu+RSV Xpress Assay compared to those of the Prodesse ProFlu+ real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay (ProFlu+) for the detection of influenza A and B viruses as well as RSV in a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-waived (CW) setting. Overall, the assay, using fresh and frozen nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, demonstrated high concordance with results of the ProFlu+ assay in the combined CW and non-CW settings with positive percent agreements (PPA) (100%, 100%, and 97.1%) and negative percent agreements (NPA) (95.2%, 99.5%, and 99.6%) for influenza A and B viruses and RSV, respectively. In conclusion, this multicenter study using the Cepheid Xpert Flu+RSV Xpress Assay demonstrated high sensitivities and specificities for influenza A and B viruses and RSV in ∼60 min for use at the point-of-care in the CW setting. </jats:p