A multiscale mechanobiological model of bone remodelling predicts site-specific bone loss in the femur during osteoporosis and mechanical disuse

We propose a multiscale mechanobiological model of bone remodelling to investigate the site-specific evolution of bone volume fraction across the midshaft of a femur. The model includes hormonal regulation and biochemical coupling of bone cell populations, the influence of the microstructure on bone turnover rate, and mechanical adaptation of the tissue. Both microscopic and tissue-scale stress/strain states of the tissue are calculated from macroscopic loads by a combination of beam theory and micromechanical homogenisation. This model is applied to simulate the spatio-temporal evolution of a human midshaft femur scan subjected to two deregulating circumstances: (i) osteoporosis and (ii) mechanical disuse. Both simulated deregulations led to endocortical bone loss, cortical wall thinning and expansion of the medullary cavity, in accordance with experimental findings. Our model suggests that these observations are attributable to a large extent to the influence of the microstructure on bone turnover rate. Mechanical adaptation is found to help preserve intracortical bone matrix near the periosteum. Moreover, it leads to non-uniform cortical wall thickness due to the asymmetry of macroscopic loads introduced by the bending moment. The effect of mechanical adaptation near the endosteum can be greatly affected by whether the mechanical stimulus includes stress concentration effects or not.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figure

Low Cost Dewatering of Waste Slurries

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has developed a technique for dewatering mineral waste slurries which utilizes polymer and a static screen. A variety of waste slurries from placer gold mines and crushed stone operations have been successfully treated using the system. Depending on the waste, a number of polymers have been used successfully with polymer costs ranging from $0.05 to$0.15 per 1,000 gal treated. The dewatering is accomplished using screens made from either ordinary window screen or wedge wire. The screens used are 8 ft wide and 8 ft long. The capacity of the screens varies from 3 to 7 gpm/sq. ft. The water produced is acceptable for recycling to the plant or for discharge to the environment. For example, a fine grain dolomite waste slurry produced from a crushed stone operation was dewatered from a nominal 2.5 pct solids to greater than 50 pct solids using $0.10 to$0.15 worth of polymer per 1,000 gal of slurry. The resulting waste water had a turbidity of less than 50 NTU and could be discharged or recycled. The paper describes field tests conducted using the polymer-screen dewatering system

Polarization forces in water deduced from single molecule data

Intermolecular polarization interactions in water are determined using a minimal atomic multipole model constructed with distributed polarizabilities. Hydrogen bonding and other properties of water-water interactions are reproduced to fine detail by only three multipoles $\mu_H$, $\mu_O$, and $\theta_O$ and two polarizabilities $\alpha_O$ and $\alpha_H$, which characterize a single water molecule and are deduced from single molecule data.Comment: 4 revtex pages, 3 embedded color PS figure

Crystal structures and proton dynamics in potassium and cesium hydrogen bistrifluoroacetate salts with strong symmetric hydrogen bonds

The crystal structures of potassium and cesium bistrifluoroacetates were determined at room temperature and at 20 K and 14 K, respectively, with the single crystal neutron diffraction technique. The crystals belong to the I2/a and A2/a monoclinic space groups, respectively, and there is no visible phase transition. For both crystals, the trifluoroacetate entities form dimers linked by very short hydrogen bonds lying across a centre of inversion. Any proton disorder or double minimum potential can be rejected. The inelastic neutron scattering spectral profiles in the OH stretching region between 500 and 1000 cm^{-1} previously published [Fillaux and Tomkinson, Chem. Phys. 158 (1991) 113] are reanalyzed. The best fitting potential has the major characteristics already reported for potassium hydrogen maleate [Fillaux et al. Chem. Phys. 244 (1999) 387]. It is composed of a narrow well containing the ground state and a shallow upper part corresponding to dissociation of the hydrogen bond.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Studying patterns of use of transport modes through data mining - Application to U.S. national household travel survey data set

Data collection activities related to travel require large amounts of financial and human resources to be conducted successfully. When available resources are scarce, the information hidden in these data sets needs to be exploited, both to increase their added value and to gain support among decision makers not to discontinue such efforts. This study assessed the use of a data mining technique, association analysis, to understand better the patterns of mode use from the 2009 U.S. National Household Travel Survey. Only variables related to self-reported levels of use of the different transportation means are considered, along with those useful to the socioeconomic characterization of the respondents. Association rules potentially showed a substitution effect between cars and public transportation, in economic terms but such an effect was not observed between public transportation and nonmotorized modes (e.g., bicycling and walking). This effect was a policy-relevant finding, because transit marketing should be targeted to car drivers rather than to bikers or walkers for real improvement in the environmental performance of any transportation system. Given the competitive advantage of private modes extensively discussed in the literature, modal diversion from car to transit is seldom observed in practice. However, after such a factor was controlled, the results suggest that modal diversion should mainly occur from cars to transit rather than from nonmotorized modes to transi

Analysis of Weather Data Collected From Two Locations in a Small Urban Community

The heat island effect is a well known feature in the microclimate of urban areas, and is considered to be the difference between the urban area and its surroundings. While this study only employs two instruments, the authors are not aware of any studies which examine the differences in temperature between an instrument inside a town the size of Sedalia and its surroundings by collecting hourly information. We attempt to infer here the impact of Sedalia, Missouri, the State Fair Community College campus, and the state fairgrounds on the temperature patterns for a small region of west-central Missouri. The two stations, one on the grounds of State Fair Community College and the other at the Sedalia Airport were used. Temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, and wind information were gathered hourly between 1 February and 31 March, 2005. The weather station at the regional airport was located 11 km (7 miles) northeast of the campus instrument. Our results indicate that the city has no discernable impact on the distribution of monthly precipitation totals. We found a distinct difference between the local surface temperatures as recorded by each instrument. For the Sedalia area, the temperature differences between the town center and the outside location were approximately 2 - 6oF (1.0 - 3.3o C) warmer, typically, than the surrounding environment, as inferred by these instruments. This difference was as much as 11o F (6oC) when comparing hourly temperature information. Additionally, the difference was larger for clear days and days during which there was little wind

Quasiparticle band structure of infinite hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride chains

We study the quasiparticle band structure of isolated, infinite HF and HCl bent (zigzag) chains and examine the effect of the crystal field on the energy levels of the constituent monomers. The chains are one of the simplest but realistic models of the corresponding three-dimensional crystalline solids. To describe the isolated monomers and the chains, we set out from the Hartree-Fock approximation, harnessing the advanced Green's function methods "local molecular orbital algebraic diagrammatic construction" (ADC) scheme and "local crystal orbital ADC" (CO-ADC) in a strict second order approximation, ADC(2,2) and CO-ADC(2,2), respectively, to account for electron correlations. The configuration space of the periodic correlation calculations is found to converge rapidly only requiring nearest-neighbor contributions to be regarded. Although electron correlations cause a pronounced shift of the quasiparticle band structure of the chains with respect to the Hartree-Fock result, the bandwidth essentially remains unaltered in contrast to, e.g., covalently bound compounds.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, RevTeX4, corrected typoe

Discrete kink dynamics in hydrogen-bonded chains I: The one-component model

We study topological solitary waves (kinks and antikinks) in a nonlinear one-dimensional Klein-Gordon chain with the on-site potential of a double-Morse type. This chain is used to describe the collective proton dynamics in quasi-one-dimensional networks of hydrogen bonds, where the on-site potential plays role of the proton potential in the hydrogen bond. The system supports a rich variety of stationary kink solutions with different symmetry properties. We study the stability and bifurcation structure of all these stationary kink states. An exactly solvable model with a piecewise ``parabola-constant'' approximation of the double-Morse potential is suggested and studied analytically. The dependence of the Peierls-Nabarro potential on the system parameters is studied. Discrete travelling-wave solutions of a narrow permanent profile are shown to exist, depending on the anharmonicity of the Morse potential and the cooperativity of the hydrogen bond (the coupling constant of the interaction between nearest-neighbor protons).Comment: 12 pages, 20 figure

Benefits and barriers among volunteer teaching faculty: comparison between those who precept and those who do not in the core pediatrics clerkship

Background: Community-based outpatient experiences are a core component of the clinical years in medical school. Central to the success of this experience is the recruitment and retention of volunteer faculty from the community. Prior studies have identified reasons why some preceptors volunteer their time however, there is a paucity of data comparing those who volunteer from those who do not. Methods: A survey was developed following a review of previous studies addressing perceptions of community-based preceptors. A non-parametric, Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare active preceptors (APs) and inactive preceptors (IPs) and all data were analyzed in SPSS 20.0. Results: There was a 28% response rate. Preceptors showed similar demographic characteristics, valued intrinsic over extrinsic benefits, and appreciated Continuing Medical Education (CME)/Maintenance of Certification (MOC) opportunities as the highest extrinsic reward. APs were more likely to also precept at the M1/M2 level and value recognition and faculty development opportunities (p<0.05). IPs denoted time as the most significant barrier and, in comparison to APs, rated financial compensation as more important (p<0.05). Conclusions: Community preceptors are motivated by intrinsic benefits of teaching. Efforts to recruit should initially focus on promoting awareness of teaching opportunities and offering CME/MOC opportunities. Increasing the pool of preceptors may require financial compensation