Ac loss calorimeter for three-phase cable

A calorimeter for measuring ac losses in meter-long lengths of HTS superconducting power transmission line cables is described. The calorimeter, which is based on a temperature difference technique, has a precision of 1 mW and measures single, two-phase (coupling), and three-phase losses. The measurements show significant coupling losses between phases

Noncovalent Functionalization of Graphene and Graphene Oxide for Energy Materials, Biosensing, Catalytic, and Biomedical Applications

This Review focuses on noncovalent functionalization of graphene and graphene oxide with various species involving biomolecules, polymers, drugs, metals and metal oxide-based nanoparticles, quantum dots, magnetic nanostructures, other carbon allotropes (fullerenes, nanodiamonds, and carbon nanotubes), and graphene analogues (MoS2, WS2). A brief description of pi-pi interactions, van der Waals forces, ionic interactions, and hydrogen bonding allowing noncovalent modification of graphene and graphene oxide is first given. The main part of this Review is devoted, to tailored functionalization for applications in drug delivery, energy materials, solar cells, water splitting, biosensing, bioimaging, environmental, catalytic, photocatalytic, and biomedical technologies. A significant part of this Review explores the possibilities of graphene/graphene oxide-based 3D superstructures and their use in lithium-ion batteries. This Review ends with a look at challenges and future prospects of noncovalently modified graphene and graphene oxideope

GA4GH Phenopackets: A Practical Introduction.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is developing a suite of coordinated standards for genomics for healthcare. The Phenopacket is a new GA4GH standard for sharing disease and phenotype information that characterizes an individual person, linking that individual to detailed phenotypic descriptions, genetic information, diagnoses, and treatments. A detailed example is presented that illustrates how to use the schema to represent the clinical course of a patient with retinoblastoma, including demographic information, the clinical diagnosis, phenotypic features and clinical measurements, an examination of the extirpated tumor, therapies, and the results of genomic analysis. The Phenopacket Schema, together with other GA4GH data and technical standards, will enable data exchange and provide a foundation for the computational analysis of disease and phenotype information to improve our ability to diagnose and conduct research on all types of disorders, including cancer and rare diseases

GA4GH Phenopackets: A Practical Introduction

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is developing a suite of coordinated standards for genomics for healthcare. The Phenopacket is a new GA4GH standard for sharing disease and phenotype information that characterizes an individual person, linking that individual to detailed phenotypic descriptions, genetic information, diagnoses, and treatments. A detailed example is presented that illustrates how to use the schema to represent the clinical course of a patient with retinoblastoma, including demographic information, the clinical diagnosis, phenotypic features and clinical measurements, an examination of the extirpated tumor, therapies, and the results of genomic analysis. The Phenopacket Schema, together with other GA4GH data and technical standards, will enable data exchange and provide a foundation for the computational analysis of disease and phenotype information to improve our ability to diagnose and conduct research on all types of disorders, including cancer and rare diseases

Critical review of behaviour change techniques applied in intervention studies to improve cooking skills and food skills among adults

BACKGROUND: Cooking and food skills interventions have grown in popularity; however, there is a lack of transparency as to how these interventions were designed, highlighting a need to identify and understand the mechanisms of behavior change so that effective components may be introduced in future work. This study critiques cooking and food skills interventions in relation to their design, behavior change techniques (BCTs), theoretical underpinnings, and outcomes. METHODS: A 40-item CALO-RE taxonomy was used to examine the components of 59 cooking and food skills interventions identified by two systematic reviews. Studies were coded by three independent coders. RESULTS: The three most frequently occurring BCTs identified were #1 Provide information on consequences of behavior in general; #21 Provide instruction on how to perform the behavior; and #26 Prompt Practice. Fifty-six interventions reported positive short-term outcomes. Only 14 interventions reported long-term outcomes containing BCTs relating to information provision. CONCLUSION: This study reviewed cooking and food skills interventions highlighting the most commonly used BCTs, and those associated with long-term positive outcomes for cooking skills and diet. This study indicates the potential for using the BCT CALO-RE taxonomy to inform the design, planning, delivery and evaluation of future interventions

Mental fortitude training: An evidence-based approach to developing psychological resilience for sustained success

Drawing on the body of knowledge in this area, this article presents an evidence-based approach to developing psychological resilience for sustained success. To this end, the narrative is divided into three main sections. The first section describes the construct of psychological resilience and explains what it is. The second section outlines and discusses a mental fortitude training™ program for aspiring performers. The third section provides recommendations for practitioners implementing this program. It is hoped that this article will facilitate a holistic and systematic approach to developing resilience for sustained success

Vapor−Wall Deposition in Chambers: Theoretical Considerations

In order to constrain the effects of vapor–wall deposition on measured secondary organic aerosol (SOA) yields in laboratory chambers, researchers recently varied the seed aerosol surface area in toluene oxidation and observed a clear increase in the SOA yield with increasing seed surface area (Zhang, X.; et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2014, 111, 5802). Using a coupled vapor–particle dynamics model, we examine the extent to which this increase is the result of vapor–wall deposition versus kinetic limitations arising from imperfect accommodation of organic species into the particle phase. We show that a seed surface area dependence of the SOA yield is present only when condensation of vapors onto particles is kinetically limited. The existence of kinetic limitation can be predicted by comparing the characteristic time scales of gas-phase reaction, vapor–wall deposition, and gas–particle equilibration. The gas–particle equilibration time scale depends on the gas–particle accommodation coefficient α_p. Regardless of the extent of kinetic limitation, vapor–wall deposition depresses the SOA yield from that in its absence since vapor molecules that might otherwise condense on particles deposit on the walls. To accurately extrapolate chamber-derived yields to atmospheric conditions, both vapor–wall deposition and kinetic limitations must be taken into account

Bioheterojunction Effect on Fluorescence Origin and Efficiency Improvement of Firefly Chromophores

We propose the heterojunction effect in the analysis of the fluorescence mechanism of the firefly chromophore. Following this analysis, and with respect to the HOMO-LUMO gap alignment between the chromophore's functional fragments, three main heterojunction types (I, II, and I*) are identified. Time-dependent density-functional theory optical absorption calculations for the firefly chromophore show that the strongest excitation appears in the deprotonated anion state of the keto form. This can be explained by its high HOMO-LUMO overlap due to strong bio-heterojunction confinement. It is also found that the nitrogen atom in the thiazolyl rings, due to its larger electronegativity, plays a key role in the emission process, its importance growing when HOMO and LUMO overlap at its location. This principle is applied to enhance the chromophore's fluorescence efficiency and to guide the functionalization of molecular optoelectronic devices.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

The Monarch Initiative in 2019: an integrative data and analytic platform connecting phenotypes to genotypes across species.

In biology and biomedicine, relating phenotypic outcomes with genetic variation and environmental factors remains a challenge: patient phenotypes may not match known diseases, candidate variants may be in genes that haven’t been characterized, research organisms may not recapitulate human or veterinary diseases, environmental factors affecting disease outcomes are unknown or undocumented, and many resources must be queried to find potentially significant phenotypic associations. The Monarch Initiative (https://monarchinitiative.org) integrates information on genes, variants, genotypes, phenotypes and diseases in a variety of species, and allows powerful ontology-based search. We develop many widely adopted ontologies that together enable sophisticated computational analysis, mechanistic discovery and diagnostics of Mendelian diseases. Our algorithms and tools are widely used to identify animal models of human disease through phenotypic similarity, for differential diagnostics and to facilitate translational research. Launched in 2015, Monarch has grown with regards to data (new organisms, more sources, better modeling); new API and standards; ontologies (new Mondo unified disease ontology, improvements to ontologies such as HPO and uPheno); user interface (a redesigned website); and community development. Monarch data, algorithms and tools are being used and extended by resources such as GA4GH and NCATS Translator, among others, to aid mechanistic discovery and diagnostics

Simultaneous assessment of acidogenesis-mitigation and specific bacterial growth-inhibition by dentifrices

Dentifrices can augment oral hygiene by inactivating bacteria and at sub-lethal concentrations may affect bacterial metabolism, potentially inhibiting acidogenesis, the main cause of caries. Reported herein is the development of a rapid method to simultaneously measure group-specific bactericidal and acidogenesis-mitigation effects of dentifrices on oral bacteria. Saliva was incubated aerobically and anaerobically in Tryptone Soya Broth, Wilkins-Chalgren Broth with mucin, or artificial saliva and was exposed to dentifrices containing triclosan/copolymer (TD); sodium fluoride (FD); stannous fluoride and zinc lactate (SFD1); or stannous fluoride, zinc lactate and stannous chloride (SFD2). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined turbidometrically whilst group-specific minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) were assessed using growth media and conditions selective for total aerobes, total anaerobes, streptococci and Gram-negative anaerobes. Minimum acid neutralization concentration (MNC) was defined as the lowest concentration of dentifrice at which acidification was inhibited. Differences between MIC and MNC were calculated and normalized with respect to MIC to derive the combined inhibitory and neutralizing capacity (CINC), a cumulative measure of acidogenesis-mitigation and growth inhibition. The overall rank order for growth inhibition potency (MIC) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions was: TD> SFD2> SFD1> FD. Acidogenesis-mitigation (MNC) was ordered; TD> FD> SFD2> SFD1. CINC was ordered TD> FD> SFD2> SFD1 aerobically and TD> FD> SFD1> SFD2 anaerobically. With respect to group-specific bactericidal activity, TD generally exhibited the greatest potency, particularly against total aerobes, total anaerobes and streptococci. This approach enables the rapid simultaneous evaluation of acidity mitigation, growth inhibition and specific antimicrobial activity by dentifrices