New horizons for fundamental physics with LISA

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has the potential to reveal wonders about the fundamental theory of nature at play in the extreme gravity regime, where the gravitational interaction is both strong and dynamical. In this white paper, the Fundamental Physics Working Group of the LISA Consortium summarizes the current topics in fundamental physics where LISA observations of gravitational waves can be expected to provide key input. We provide the briefest of reviews to then delineate avenues for future research directions and to discuss connections between this working group, other working groups and the consortium work package teams. These connections must be developed for LISA to live up to its science potential in these areas

Keys to Understanding and Addressing Consumer Perceptions and Concerns about Processed Foods

Some processed food products have been targeted lately as “evils” that are preventing us from maintaining healthy lives. From the perspective of the food industry community, it seems as if this is one of those issues that should fade away with time, since the benefits of food processing are very obvious to us. We have never been so wrong! The challenges in front of us are big, and we need to do a better job of communicating with consumers about the benefits food processing offers, including increasing the availability of high-quality foods year round. We also need to promote the work being done by food scientists to continually and efficiently respond to human food requirements globally. At the same time, we must recognize those elements in the food processing culture that need attention and that can be misinterpreted by consumers. As food scientists we need to learn about consumer perceptions of food technology and devise strategies that can be implemented to affect consumer perceptions positively

Keys to Understanding and Addressing Consumer Perceptions and Concerns about Processed Foods

Some processed food products have been targeted lately as “evils” that are preventing us from maintaining healthy lives. From the perspective of the food industry community, it seems as if this is one of those issues that should fade away with time, since the benefits of food processing are very obvious to us. We have never been so wrong! The challenges in front of us are big, and we need to do a better job of communicating with consumers about the benefits food processing offers, including increasing the availability of high-quality foods year round. We also need to promote the work being done by food scientists to continually and efficiently respond to human food requirements globally. At the same time, we must recognize those elements in the food processing culture that need attention and that can be misinterpreted by consumers. As food scientists we need to learn about consumer perceptions of food technology and devise strategies that can be implemented to affect consumer perceptions positively

High-Throughput Drug Screening Identifies a Potent Wnt Inhibitor that Promotes Airway Basal Stem Cell Homeostasis.

Mechanisms underpinning airway epithelial homeostatic maintenance and ways to prevent its dysregulation remain elusive. Herein, we identify that β-catenin phosphorylated at Y489 (p-β-cateninY489) emerges during human squamous lung cancer progression. This led us to develop a model of airway basal stem cell (ABSC) hyperproliferation by driving Wnt/β-catenin signaling, resulting in a morphology that resembles premalignant lesions and loss of ciliated cell differentiation. To identify small molecules that could reverse this process, we performed a high-throughput drug screen for inhibitors of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Our studies unveil Wnt inhibitor compound 1 (WIC1), which suppresses T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer-binding factor (TCF/LEF) activity, reduces ABSC proliferation, induces ciliated cell differentiation, and decreases nuclear p-β-cateninY489. Collectively, our work elucidates a dysregulated Wnt/p-β-cateninY489 axis in lung premalignancy that can be modeled in vitro and identifies a Wnt/β-catenin inhibitor that promotes airway homeostasis. WIC1 may therefore serve as a tool compound in regenerative medicine studies with implications for restoring normal airway homeostasis after injury

Ewe Daily-Weight Gain Grazing \u3ci\u3eLeucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus\u3c/i\u3e CV Mombasa Silvopastoral System and Tropical Native Unimproved Range

Silvopastoral systems are a viable option to increase livestock productivity, The silvopastoral arrangement of Leucaena leucocephala associated with Megathyrsus maximus CV Mombasa (LMS) is successfully cultivated in tropical environments.. The objective of the study was to determine ewe daily-weight gain grazing LMS and a tropical unimproved native range. Two LMS were tested: high and low leucaena densities, 4700 and 2383 plants/ha, respectively. Grazing was rotational, lasted 150 d (rainy season) at equivalent stocking rate of 59 ewes/ha/150 d. Experimental design was a completely random design with three replications, the experimental unit was a 192 m2 plot. Variables measured on plots were amount (dry matter basis), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and crude protein (CP) of forage on-offer, from mixed samples herbaceous and tree fodder. Weight and serum concentrations of Ca, P, K, Mg, Na, Zn, Cu, and Fe were measured in ewes, daily weight gain was calculated. On average forage on-offer and IVDMD concentration were 50 and 15% higher (p \u3c 0.05) in LMS than in native range, respectively, with no difference between LMS. CP concentration was 25% higher (p \u3c 0.05) in native range than both LMS, with no difference between them. LMS’s showed no difference (p \u3e 0.05) between them on ewe daily weight gain, on average 59.2 g, and were higher than native range where ewes showed a mean daily weight loss of 14.8 g. Serum concentrations of the 8 minerals measured were similar (p \u3e 0.05) across all ewes regardless the treatments. It was concluded that the Leucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus CV Mombasa silvopastoral system is an option to improve livestock productivity compared with unimproved native range due to higher forage on-offer

Ewe Daily-Weight Gain Grazing \u3ci\u3eLeucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus\u3c/i\u3e CV Mombasa Silvopastoral System and Tropical Native Unimproved Range

Silvopastoral systems are a viable option to increase livestock productivity, The silvopastoral arrangement of Leucaena leucocephala associated with Megathyrsus maximus CV Mombasa (LMS) is successfully cultivated in tropical environments.. The objective of the study was to determine ewe daily-weight gain grazing LMS and a tropical unimproved native range. Two LMS were tested: high and low leucaena densities, 4700 and 2383 plants/ha, respectively. Grazing was rotational, lasted 150 d (rainy season) at equivalent stocking rate of 59 ewes/ha/150 d. Experimental design was a completely random design with three replications, the experimental unit was a 192 m2 plot. Variables measured on plots were amount (dry matter basis), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and crude protein (CP) of forage on-offer, from mixed samples herbaceous and tree fodder. Weight and serum concentrations of Ca, P, K, Mg, Na, Zn, Cu, and Fe were measured in ewes, daily weight gain was calculated. On average forage on-offer and IVDMD concentration were 50 and 15% higher (p \u3c 0.05) in LMS than in native range, respectively, with no difference between LMS. CP concentration was 25% higher (p \u3c 0.05) in native range than both LMS, with no difference between them. LMS’s showed no difference (p \u3e 0.05) between them on ewe daily weight gain, on average 59.2 g, and were higher than native range where ewes showed a mean daily weight loss of 14.8 g. Serum concentrations of the 8 minerals measured were similar (p \u3e 0.05) across all ewes regardless the treatments. It was concluded that the Leucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus CV Mombasa silvopastoral system is an option to improve livestock productivity compared with unimproved native range due to higher forage on-offer

Synthesis, phase composition, Mossbauer and magnetic characterization of iron oxide nanoparticles

The present work describes the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of Fe-precursors in argon and vacuum environments with control over particle size distribution, phase composition and the resulting magnetic properties. The Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction data revealed the crystallinity as well the single-phase of g-Fe2O3 nanoparticles prepared under vacuum, whereas the argon environment leads to the formation of multi-phase composition of g-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 (90%) and wustite (10%). Synchrotron X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) indicates that the predominant phase in both the samples is g-Fe2O3, which is subsequently verified from the Mo¨ssbauerspectra. DC magnetic measurements indicate behavior typical of a superparamagnetic system validated by Mo¨ssbauer analysis. However, further investigation of ac susceptibility by typical Ne´el?Arrhenius andVogel Fulcher magnetic models suggests an influence of interparticle interactions on the overall magnetic behavior of the system.Instituto de Física La Plat

Synthesis, phase composition, Mossbauer and magnetic characterization of iron oxide nanoparticles

The present work describes the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of Fe-precursors in argon and vacuum environments with control over particle size distribution, phase composition and the resulting magnetic properties. The Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction data revealed the crystallinity as well the single-phase of g-Fe2O3 nanoparticles prepared under vacuum, whereas the argon environment leads to the formation of multi-phase composition of g-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 (90%) and wustite (10%). Synchrotron X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) indicates that the predominant phase in both the samples is g-Fe2O3, which is subsequently verified from the Mo¨ssbauerspectra. DC magnetic measurements indicate behavior typical of a superparamagnetic system validated by Mo¨ssbauer analysis. However, further investigation of ac susceptibility by typical Ne´el?Arrhenius andVogel Fulcher magnetic models suggests an influence of interparticle interactions on the overall magnetic behavior of the system.Instituto de Física La Plat

Skin lesion detection and classification using convolutional neural network for deep feature extraction and support vector machine

Pigmented skin lesion identification is essential for detecting harmful pathologies related to this large organ, especially cancer. An analysis of the different methods and projects developed to diagnose these illnesses throughout the years showed that they had become very useful tools to identify melanoma, dermatofibroma, and basal cell carcinoma, among other types of cancer, are seen through the use of new computer-aided technologies. The most common diagnosis is based on dermoscopy and the dermatologist expertise that can improve accuracy with image detection techniques and classification by computer. Therefore, this study aims to develop software models able to detect and classify skin cancer. The following work is based on the use of dermoscopy images obtained from the HAM10000 dataset, a database with 10000 images previously tested and validated for research use. The main process is divided into three relevant parts: image segmentation, feature extraction (FE) using ten different pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to establish a classification model. According to the results, the models of classification performed very well using the image segmentation step, showing average accuracies between 80.67% (Xception) and 90% (Alexnet). In contrast to the process without using image segmentation, where no method reached 60%. AlexNet plus SVM model showed the minor running time and presented the higher accuracy rate (90.34%) for the correct identification and classification of the seven categories of cutaneous lesions taken into account