Decreased Neuron Density and Increased Glia Density in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (Brodmann Area 25) in Williams Syndrome.

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a deletion of 25⁻28 genes on chromosome 7 and characterized by a specific behavioral phenotype, which includes hypersociability and anxiety. Here, we examined the density of neurons and glia in fourteen human brains in Brodmann area 25 (BA 25), in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), using a postmortem sample of five adult and two infant WS brains and seven age-, sex- and hemisphere-matched typically developing control (TD) brains. We found decreased neuron density, which reached statistical significance in the supragranular layers, and increased glia density and glia to neuron ratio, which reached statistical significance in both supra- and infragranular layers. Combined with our previous findings in the amygdala, caudate nucleus and frontal pole (BA 10), these results in the vmPFC suggest that abnormalities in frontostriatal and frontoamygdala circuitry may contribute to the anxiety and atypical social behavior observed in WS

Wireless recording of the calls of Rousettus aegyptiacus and their reproduction using electrostatic transducers

Bats are capable of imaging their surroundings in great detail using echolocation. To apply similar methods to human engineering systems requires the capability to measure and recreate the signals used, and to understand the processing applied to returning echoes. In this work, the emitted and reflected echolocation signals of Rousettus aegyptiacus are recorded while the bat is in flight, using a wireless sensor mounted on the bat. The sensor is designed to replicate the acoustic gain control which bats are known to use, applying a gain to returning echoes that is dependent on the incurred time delay. Employing this technique allows emitted and reflected echolocation calls, which have a wide dynamic range, to be recorded. The recorded echoes demonstrate the complexity of environment reconstruction using echolocation. The sensor is also used to make accurate recordings of the emitted calls, and these calls are recreated in the laboratory using custom-built wideband electrostatic transducers, allied with a spectral equalization technique. This technique is further demonstrated by recreating multi-harmonic bioinspired FM chirps. The ability to record and accurately synthesize echolocation calls enables the exploitation of biological signals in human engineering systems for sonar, materials characterization and imaging

Optimized complex power quality classifier using one vs. rest support vector machine

Nowadays, power quality issues are becoming a significant research topic because of the increasing inclusion of very sensitive devices and considerable renewable energy sources. In general, most of the previous power quality classification techniques focused on single power quality events and did not include an optimal feature selection process. This paper presents a classification system that employs Wavelet Transform and the RMS profile to extract the main features of the measured waveforms containing either single or complex disturbances. A data mining process is designed to select the optimal set of features that better describes each disturbance present in the waveform. Support Vector Machine binary classifiers organized in a ?One Vs Rest? architecture are individually optimized to classify single and complex disturbances. The parameters that rule the performance of each binary classifier are also individually adjusted using a grid search algorithm that helps them achieve optimal performance. This specialized process significantly improves the total classification accuracy. Several single and complex disturbances were simulated in order to train and test the algorithm. The results show that the classifier is capable of identifying >99% of single disturbances and >97% of complex disturbances.Fil: de Yong, David Marcelo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Bhowmik, Sudipto. Nexant Inc; Estados UnidosFil: Magnago, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentin

Chemistry of Organophosphonate Scale Growth lnhibitors: 3. Physicochemical Aspects of 2-Phosphonobutane-1,2,4-Tricarboxylate (PBTC) And Its Effect on CaCO3 Crystal Growth

Industrial water systems often suffer from undesirable inorganic deposits, such as calcium carbonate, calcium phosphates, calcium sulfate, magnesium silicate, and others. Synthetic water additives, such as phosphonates and phosphonocarboxylates, are the most important and widely utilized scale inhibitors in a plethora of industrial applications including cooling water, geothermal drilling, desalination, etc. The design of efficient and cost-effective inhibitors, as well as the study of their structure and function at the molecular level are important areas of research. This study reports various physicochemical aspects of the chemistry of PBTC (PBTC = 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid), one of the most widely used scale inhibitors in the cooling water treatment industry. These aspects include its CaCO3 crystal growth inhibition and modification properties under severe conditions of high CaCO3 supersaturation, stability towards oxidizing microbiocides and tolerance towards precipitation with Ca2+. Results show that 15 ppm of PBTC can inhibit the formation of by ∼35 %, 30 ppm by ∼40 %, and 60 ppm by ∼44 %. PBTC is virtually stable to the effects of a variety of oxidizing microbiocides, including chlorine, bromine and others. PBTC shows excellent tolerance towards precipitation as its Ca salt. Precipitation in a 1000 ppm Ca2+ (as CaCO3) occurs after 185 ppm PBTC are present

Chemistry of Organophosphonate Scale Growth lnhibitors: 2. Structural Aspects of 2-Phosphonobutane-1,2,4-Tricarboxylic Acid Monohydrate (PBTC.H2O)

Industrial water systems often suffer from undesirable inorganic deposits, such as calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate(s), magnesium silicate, and others. Synthetic water additives such as phosphonates and phosphonocarboxylates are the most important and widely utilized scale inhibitors in a plethora of industrial applications. The design of efficient and cost-effective inhibitors, as well as the study of their structure and function at the molecular level are important areas of research. This study reports the crystal and molecular structure of PBTC (PBTC = 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid), one of the most widely used scale inhibitors in the cooling water treatment industry. Triclinic PBTC monohydrate crystallizes in the P 1 space group with cell dimesions, a =7.671(1) Å, b = 8.680(1) Å, c = 9.886(1) Å, α = 65.518(2) deg, β = 71.683(2) deg, γ = 76.173(2) deg, V = 564.20(11) Å3, and Z = 2. Bond distances in the -PO3 moiety are 1.4928(10) Å for the P=O double bond and 1.5294(10) Å and 1.5578(10) Å for the two -P-O(H) groups. P-C and C-O bond lengths fall in the normal range. A network of hydrogen bonds are formed between the water molecule of crystallization, the -P-OH and the -COOH groups

Lan C. England v. Eugene Horbach, an individual, Medicode, Incorporated, a Utah corporation and Does I through V : Reply Brief

Reply Brief of Plaintiff/Appellant APPEAL FROM AN ORDER OF THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR SALT LAKE COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH JUDGE J. DENNIS FREDERIC

The Current Regulatory Environment of Urban Coyote Control - a Private WCO Perspective

Social, political, and legal considerations have contributed to an unfavorable regulatory environment for lethal control of urban coyotes (canis latrans). I analyze and break down that environment from a Wildlife Control Operator (WCO) perspective. Currently 3 significant factors frame the issue but a 4th could be emerging. First, our hands are tied: I use the situation in Colorado to illustrate the point. Compounding factors include the need for a paradigm shift in how rules are derived, the lag-time factor in agency response to issues, and the tendency toward bureaucracy/over-regulation. Second, human dimensions rule: I critique the downside of human dimensions in wildlife damage management, including over-reliance on public opinion tools/processes, the sacred cow of humaneness, the influence of animal welfare/rights protagonists, and changing demographics. Third, most people prefer coexistence over lethal control: I briefly look at how this factor defines the current American mind-set but is nonetheless unrealistic. Fourth, the coyotes are coming: I highlight how the burgeoning urban coyote problem could be changing perceptions and attitudes about lethal control and the regulatory environment