Real-time visualization of a sparse parametric mixture model for BTF rendering

Bidirectional Texture Functions (BTF) allow high quality visualization of real world materials exhibiting complex appearance and details that can not be faithfully represented using simpler analytical or parametric representations. Accurate representations of such materials require huge amounts of data, hindering real time rendering. BTFs compress the raw original data, constituting a compromise between visual quality and rendering time. This paper presents an implementation of a state of the art BTF representation on the GPU, allowing interactive high fidelity visualization of complex geometric models textured with multiple BTFs. Scalability with respect to the geometric complexity, amount of lights and number of BTFs is also studied.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

Genetic Influences on Patient-Oriented Outcomes in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Living Systematic Review of Non-Apolipoprotein E Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms

There is a growing literature on the impact of genetic variation on outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Whereas a substantial proportion of these publications have focused on the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene, several have explored the influence of other polymorphisms.We undertook a systematic review of the impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in non–apolipoprotein E (non-APOE) genes associated with patient outcomes in adult TBI). We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and gray literature from inception to the beginning of August 2017 for studies of genetic variance in relation to patient outcomes in adult TBI. Sixty-eight articles were deemed eligible for inclusion into the systematic review. The SNPs described were in the following categories: neurotransmitter (NT) in 23, cytokine in nine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in 12, mitochondrial genes in three, and miscellaneous SNPs in 21. All studies were based on small patient cohorts and suffered from potential bias. A range of SNPs associated with genes coding for monoamine NTs, BDNF, cytokines, and mitochondrial proteins have been reported to be associated with variation in global, neuropsychiatric, and behavioral outcomes. An analysis of the tissue, cellular, and subcellular location of the genes that harbored the SNPs studied showed that they could be clustered into blood–brain barrier associated, neuroprotective/regulatory, and neuropsychiatric/degenerative groups. Several small studies report that various NT, cytokine, and BDNF-related SNPs are associated with variations in global outcome at 6–12 months post-TBI. The association of these SNPs with neuropsychiatric and behavioral outcomes is less clear. A definitiv

Copper extractant strength: the effect of substituents in the 3-position on hydroxyoxime performance

The synthesis and study of a systematic series of phenolic oximes have shown that substitution in the 3-position can greatly affect extractive efficacy. Solid state, solution and gas phase analytical techniques including X-ray crystallography, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and IR spectroscopy and collision induced dissociation mass spectrometry have been assessed for their applicability in interpreting the origins of differences in extractant strength. The dominant substituent effect on pH(0.5) is the change in ligand pK(a), with the more acidic ligands being stronger extractants. The influence of the 3-substituent on the stabilizing intracomplex H-bonding of their copper(II) complexes also affects extractant strength. The 3-NO2 substituted ligand shows the lowest pH(0.5) value due to a combination of its low pK(a) and a stabilising bifurcated H-bond assembly around the copper(II) centre. Appending an aminomethyl group to the 3-position gives a ligand capable of binding a metal and its attendant anion(s). These metal salt reagents show potential to open up new flowsheets for the processing of high tenor copper feeds

Supramolecular chemistry in metal recovery; H-bond buttressing to tune extractant strength

3-Substitution of salicylaldoximes alters their copper(II) binding strengths by buttressing stabilising hydrogen bonding

Neutron pair correlations in A=100 nuclei involved in neutrinoless double-β decay

The pairing properties of the neutrinoless double beta decay $(0\nu2\beta)$ candidate $^{100}$Mo have been studied, along with its daughter $^{100}$Ru, to provide input for nuclear matrix element calculations relevant to the decay. The $(p,t)$ two-neutron transfer reaction was measured on nuclei of $^{102,100}$Ru and $^{100,98}$Mo. The experiment was designed to have particular sensitivity to $0^{+}$ states up to excitation energies of $\sim 3$ MeV with high energy resolution. Measurements were made at two angles and L=0 transitions identified by the ratio of yields between the two angles. For the reactions leading to and from $^{100}$Ru, greater than 95% of the L=0 $(p,t)$ strength was in the ground state, but in $^{100}$Mo about 20% was in excited $0^{+}$ states. The measured $(p,t)$ data, together with existing $(t,p)$ data, suggest that $^{100}$Mo is a shape-transitional nucleus while $^{100}$Ru is closer to the spherical side of that transition. Theoretical calculations of the $0\nu2\beta$ nuclear matrix element may be complicated by this difference in shape.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Neutron pair correlations in A=100 nuclei involved in neutrinoless double-beta decay

The pairing properties of the neutrinoless double-β decay (0ν2β) candidate 100Mo have been studied, along with its daughter 100Ru, to provide input for nuclear matrix element calculations relevant to the decay. The (p, t ) two-neutron transfer reaction was measured on nuclei of 102,100Ru and 100,98Mo. The experiment was designed to have particular sensitivity to 0+ states up to excitation energies of ∼3 MeV with high energy resolution. Measurements were made at two angles and L = 0 transitions identified by the ratio of yields between the two angles. For the reactions leading to and from 100Ru, greater than 95% of the L = 0 (p, t ) strength was in the ground state, but in 100Mo about 20% was in excited 0+ states. The measured (p, t ) data, together with existing (t,p) data, suggest that 100Mo is a shape-transitional nucleus while 100Ru is closer to the spherical side of that transition. Theoretical calculations of the 0ν2β nuclear matrix element may be complicated by this difference in shape

Using the outer coordination sphere to tune the strength of metal extractants

A series of 3-substituted salicylaldoximes has been used to demonstrate the importance of outer-sphere interactions on the efficacy of solvent extractants that are used to produce approximately one-quarter of the world's copper. The distribution coefficient for extraction of copper by 5-tert-butyl-3-X-salicylaldoximes (X = H, Me, Bu-t, NO2, Cl, Br, OMe) varies by more than two orders of magnitude. X-ray structure determinations of preorganized free ligand dimers (10 new structures are reported) indicate that substituents with a hydrogen-bond acceptor atom attached to the 3-carbon atom, ortho to the phenolic oxygen, buttress the intermolecular hydrogen bond from the oximic proton. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that this hydrogen-bond buttressing is maintained in copper(II) complexes and contributes significantly to their relative stabilities in energy-minimized gas-phase structures. A remarkable correlation between the order of the calculated enthalpies of formation of the copper complexes in the gas phase and the observed strength of the ligands as copper solvent extractants is ascribed to the low solvation energies of species in the water-immiscible phase and/or the similarities of the solvation enthalpies of the preorganized ligand dimers and their copper(II) complexes

Valence neutron properties relevant to the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Te-130

The valence neutron composition of the 130Te and 130Xe ground states has been studied with a view to constraining calculations of the nuclear matrix element for the neutrinoless double-β decay of 130Te. Single-neutron adding and removing reactions on 128,130Te and 130,132Xe have been used to probe the vacancy of the 0g7/2, 1d5/2, 1d3/2, 2s1/2, and 0h11/2 orbitals. The change in the vacancy of these orbitals, obtained through a self-consistent determination of spectroscopic factors utilizing the Macfarlane-French sum rules, for 130Te→130Xe is shared only between the d, s1/2, and h11/2 orbitals, with the g7/2 playing no significant role. This is in disagreement with recent calculations within both the quasiparticle random-phase approximation and shell-model frameworks, which show a role for the g7/2 orbital that should have been observable. The neutron pairing properties of 130Xe have also been explored through the 132Xe(p,t) reaction showing no evidence for pairing vibrations