Strength and flexibility properties of advanced ceramic fabrics

The mechanical properties of four advanced ceramic fabrics are measured at a temperature range of 23 C to 1200 C. The fabrics evaluated are silica, high-and low-boria content aluminoborosilicate, and silicon carbide. Properties studied include fabric break strengths from room temperature to 1200 C, and bending durability after temperature conditioning at 1200 C and 1400 C. The interaction of the fabric and ceramic insulation is also studied for shrinkage, appearance, bend resistance, and fabric-to-insulation bonding. Based on these tests, the low-boria content aluminoborosilicate fabric retains more strength and fabric durability than the other fabrics studied at high temperature

Wearable Sensor Data Based Human Activity Recognition using Machine Learning: A new approach

Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of human activity recognition (HAR) based on wearable sensor data. One can find many practical applications in this area, especially in the field of health care. Many machine learning algorithms such as Decision Trees, Support Vector Machine, Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbor, and Multilayer Perceptron are successfully used in HAR. Although these methods are fast and easy for implementation, they still have some limitations due to poor performance in a number of situations. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on the ensemble learning to boost the performance of these machine learning methods for HAR

Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats of human tenascin-C as ligands for EGF receptor.

Signaling through growth factor receptors controls such diverse cell functions as proliferation, migration, and differentiation. A critical question has been how the activation of these receptors is regulated. Most, if not all, of the known ligands for these receptors are soluble factors. However, as matrix components are highly tissue-specific and change during development and pathology, it has been suggested that select growth factor receptors might be stimulated by binding to matrix components. Herein, we describe a new class of ligand for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) found within the EGF-like repeats of tenascin-C, an antiadhesive matrix component present during organogenesis, development, and wound repair. Select EGF-like repeats of tenascin-C elicited mitogenesis and EGFR autophosphorylation in an EGFR-dependent manner. Micromolar concentrations of EGF-like repeats induced EGFR autophosphorylation and activated extracellular signal-regulated, mitogen-activated protein kinase to levels comparable to those induced by subsaturating levels of known EGFR ligands. EGFR-dependent adhesion was noted when the ligands were tethered to inert beads, simulating the physiologically relevant presentation of tenascin-C as hexabrachion, and suggesting an increase in avidity similar to that seen for integrin ligands upon surface binding. Specific binding to EGFR was further established by immunofluorescence detection of EGF-like repeats bound to cells and cross-linking of EGFR with the repeats. Both of these interactions were abolished upon competition by EGF and enhanced by dimerization of the EGF-like repeat. Such low affinity behavior would be expected for a matrix-tethered ligand; i.e., a ligand which acts from the matrix, presented continuously to cell surface EGF receptors, because it can neither diffuse away nor be internalized and degraded. These data identify a new class of insoluble growth factor ligands and a novel mode of activation for growth factor receptors

Beware of simple methods for structure-based virtual screening: the critical importance of broader comparisons

We discuss how data unbiasing and simple methods such as protein-ligand Interaction FingerPrint (IFP) can overestimate virtual screening performance. We also show that IFP is strongly outperformed by target-specific machine-learning scoring functions, which were not considered in a recent report concluding that simple methods were better than machine-learning scoring functions at virtual screening

On the Microcanonical Entropy of a Black Hole

It has been suggested recently that the microcanonical entropy of a system may be accurately reproduced by including a logarithmic correction to the canonical entropy. In this paper we test this claim both analytically and numerically by considering three simple thermodynamic models whose energy spectrum may be defined in terms of one quantum number only, as in a non-rotating black hole. The first two pertain to collections of noninteracting bosons, with logarithmic and power-law spectra. The last is an area ensemble for a black hole with equi-spaced area spectrum. In this case, the many-body degeneracy factor can be obtained analytically in a closed form. We also show that in this model, the leading term in the entropy is proportional to the horizon area A, and the next term is ln A with a negative coefficient.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Validation of accelerometer data for measuring impacts during jumping and landing tasks

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a commercially-available accelerometer, as used in the field team sports context. Ten adult participants completed two movement tasks: 1) a drop landing task from 30-cm, 40-cm and 50-cm heights [DLAND], and 2) a countermovement jumping task [CMJ]. Peak acceleration values, both smoothed and unsmoothed, occurring in the longitudinal axis [Y] and calculated to produce vector magnitude values [VM], were compared to peak vertical ground reaction force values [VGRF]. All acceleration measures were moderately correlated (r = 0.45 &ndash; 0.70), but also significantly higher than weight-adjusted VGRF, for both tasks. Though the raw acceleration measures were mostly above the acceptable limit for error (&gt; 20%), the smoothed data had reduced error margins by comparison, most of which were well below 20%. These results provide some support for the continued use of accelerometer data, particularly when smoothed, to accurately quantify impacts in the field.<br /

VALIDATION OF ACCELEROMETER DATA FOR MEASURING IMPACTS DURING JUMPING AND LANDING TASKS

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a commercially-available accelerometer, as used in the field team sports context. Ten adult participants completed two movement tasks: 1) a drop landing task from 30-cm, 40-cm and 50-cm heights [DLAND], and 2) a countermovement jumping task [CMJ]. Peak acceleration values, both smoothed and unsmoothed, occurring in the longitudinal axis [Y] and calculated to produce vector magnitude values [VM], were compared to peak vertical ground reaction force values [VGRF]. All acceleration measures were moderately correlated (r = 0.45 – 0.70), but also significantly higher than weight-adjusted VGRF, for both tasks. Though the raw acceleration measures were mostly above the acceptable limit for error (> 20%), the smoothed data had reduced error margins by comparison, most of which were well below 20%. These results provide some support for the continued use of accelerometer data, particularly when smoothed, to accurately quantify impacts in the field

Psr1p interacts with SUN/sad1p and EB1/mal3p to establish the bipolar spindle

Regular Abstracts - Sunday Poster Presentations: no. 382During mitosis, interpolar microtubules from two spindle pole bodies (SPBs) interdigitate to create an antiparallel microtubule array for accommodating numerous regulatory proteins. Among these proteins, the kinesin-5 cut7p/Eg5 is the key player responsible for sliding apart antiparallel microtubules and thus helps in establishing the bipolar spindle. At the onset of mitosis, two SPBs are adjacent to one another with most microtubules running nearly parallel toward the nuclear envelope, creating an unfavorable microtubule configuration for the kinesin-5 kinesins. Therefore, how the cell organizes the antiparallel microtubule array in the first place at mitotic onset remains enigmatic. Here, we show that a novel protein psrp1p localizes to the SPB and plays a key role in organizing the antiparallel microtubule array. The absence of psr1+ leads to a transient monopolar spindle and massive chromosome loss. Further functional characterization demonstrates that psr1p is recruited to the SPB through interaction with the conserved SUN protein sad1p and that psr1p physically interacts with the conserved microtubule plus tip protein mal3p/EB1. These results suggest a model that psr1p serves as a linking protein between sad1p/SUN and mal3p/EB1 to allow microtubule plus ends to be coupled to the SPBs for organization of an antiparallel microtubule array. Thus, we conclude that psr1p is involved in organizing the antiparallel microtubule array in the first place at mitosis onset by interaction with SUN/sad1p and EB1/mal3p, thereby establishing the bipolar spindle.postprin