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At least 73 records · Page 4

Upregulation of heme oxygenase-1 expression by dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA) through the AMPK–Nrf2 dependent pathway

Oxidative stress is induced by the accumulation of free radicals, resulting in an imbalanced cellular redox state, which has been implicated in a variety of human diseases. Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA), a lignan compound isolated from Cucurbita moschata, has previously been reported to contain anti-adipogenic and anti-lipogenic effects on 3T3-L1 cells and primary MEFs (Abraham and Kappas, 2008). In this study, it was tested whether DHCA could affect the expression of HO-1, using Raw264.7 mouse macrophage cell line. DHCA increased the protein and RNA levels of HO-1 and upregulated its promoter activity. Data from transient transfection assays indicated that ARE located in the E1 region of the HO-1 promoter are important in this DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1 expression. DHCA was also shown to enhance the nuclear translocation and binding of Nrf2 to the respective DNA sequences. The upregulation of HO-1 expression by DHCA was also observed in primary macrophages derived from wild type animals, but not in those from Nrf2 KO mice. Effects of DHCA on HO-1 and Nrf2 were reduced when cells were treated with an AMPK inhibitor, Compound C, but not by PI3K/Akt or MAPK inhibitors. Data from an experiment using a specific siRNA or chemical inhibitor for HO-1 suggested that the DHCA-mediated induction of the HO-1 protein could suppress the LPS-stimulated production of NO. Taken together, our data suggest that DHCA induces the expression of HO-1 by controlling its promoter activity through the AMPK–Nrf2 pathway, eventually leading to the reduction of NO production, and may thus have potential as an effective antioxidant. - Highlights: • Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA) induced the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1. • The AMPK–Nrf2 pathway is critically involved in the DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1. • DHCA increased the expression of HO-1, Gclc and Gclm in primary macrophages. • DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1 contributed to the suppression of NO production.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Standards and Protocols for Data Acquisition and Reporting for Studies of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Objective evaluation of the performance of electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction has been complicated by a lack of standardized methods for measuring and reporting activity data. In this perspective, we advocate that standardizing these practices can aid in advancing research efforts toward the development of efficient and selective CO 2 reduction electrocatalysts. Using information taken from experimental studies, we identify variables that influence the measured activity of CO 2 reduction electrocatalysts and propose procedures to account for these variables in order to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of reported data. We recommend that catalysts be measured under conditions which do not introduce artifacts from impurities, from either the electrolyte or counter electrode, and advocate the acquisition of data measured in the absence of mass transport effects. Furthermore, measured rates of electrochemical reactions should be normalized to both the geometric electrode area as well as the electrochemically active surface area to facilitate the comparison of reported catalysts with those previously known. We demonstrate that, when these factors are accounted for, the CO 2 reduction activities of Ag and Cu measured in different laboratories exhibit little difference. Furthermore, adoption of the recommendations presented in this perspective would greatly facilitate the identification of superior catalysts for CO 2 reduction arising solely from changes in their composition and pretreatment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Coordinative Entities: Forms of Organizing in Data Intensive Science

Scientific collaboration is a long-standing subject of CSCW scholarship that typically focuses on the development and use of computing systems to facilitate research. The research presented in this article investigates the sociality of science by identifying and describing particular, common forms of organizing that researchers in four different scientific realms employ to conduct work in both local contexts and as part of distributed, global projects. This paper introduces five prototypical forms of organizing we categorize as coordinative entities: the Principal Group, Intermittent Exchange, Sustained Aggregation, Federation, and Facility Organization. Coordinative entities as a categorization help specify, articulate, compare, and trace overlapping and evolving arrangements scientists use to facilitate data intensive research. We use this typology to unpack complexities of data intensive scientific collaboration in four cases, showing how scientists invoke different coordinative entities across three types of research activities: data collection, processing, and analysis. Finally, our contribution scrutinizes the sociality of scientific work to illustrate how these actors engage in relational work within and among diverse, dispersed forms of organizing across project, funding, and disciplinary boundaries.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Utilizing Geo-located Sensors and Social Media for Studying Population Dynamics and Land Classification

The ability to understand where, when, and why humans move across space and time has always been essential to research areas such as urban planning, transportation, population dynamics, and emergency preparedness and response. The increasing sources of activity data is generating novel opportunities to understand human dynamics that previously was not possible; Geo-located user generated content from mobile devices and sensors allow a level of spatial and temporal granularity that could possibly answer the reasons for human movement at a high-resolution. This work discusses a broad array of research agenda in human dynamics and land use by proposing an explicit model that assists in delineating and articulating the opportunities, challenges, and limitations of using new forms of unauthoritated data, such as social media in main-stream GIS research. We study mobile phone call volume and GPS locations to characterize human activity patterns and provide inference on land use. Later, we demonstrate the ability of geo-located social media posts to provide insight on population density estimates for special events and Points of Interest detection. The chapter underpins the need to utilize new forms of data collection mechanism as well as their use to augment our understanding of human dynamics research and future application of geographical information systems.

Thakur, Gautam Malviya↗

Multi-scale visual analysis of time-varying electrocorticography data via clustering of brain regions

There exists a need for effective and easy-to-use software tools supporting the analysis of complex Electrocorticography (ECoG) data. Understanding how epileptic seizures develop or identifying diagnostic indicators for neurological diseases require the in-depth analysis of neural activity data from ECoG. Such data is multi-scale and is of high spatio-temporal resolution. Comprehensive analysis of this data should be supported by interactive visual analysis methods that allow a scientist to understand functional patterns at varying levels of granularity and comprehend its time-varying behavior. We introduce a novel multi-scale visual analysis system, ECoG ClusterFlow, for the detailed exploration of ECoG data. Our system detects and visualizes dynamic high-level structures, such as communities, derived from the time-varying connectivity network. The system supports two major views: 1) an overview summarizing the evolution of clusters over time and 2) an electrode view using hierarchical glyph-based design to visualize the propagation of clusters in their spatial, anatomical context. We present case studies that were performed in collaboration with neuroscientists and neurosurgeons using simulated and recorded epileptic seizure data to demonstrate our system's effectiveness. ECoG ClusterFlow supports the comparison of spatio-temporal patterns for specific time intervals and allows a user to utilize various clustering algorithms. Neuroscientists can identify the site of seizure genesis and its spatial progression during various the stages of a seizure. Our system serves as a fast and powerful means for the generation of preliminary hypotheses that can be used as a basis for subsequent application of rigorous statistical methods, with the ultimate goal being the clinical treatment of epileptogenic zones.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

The EGS Data Collaboration Platform: Enabling Scientific Discovery

Collaboration in the digital age has been stifled in recent years. Reasonable responses to legitimate security concerns have created a virtual landscape of silos and fortified castles incapable of sharing information efficiently. This trend is unfortunately opposed to the geothermal scientific community's migration toward larger, more collaborative projects. To facilitate efficient sharing of information between team members from multiple national labs, universities, and private organizations, the 'EGS Collab' team has developed a universally accessible, secure data collaboration platform and has fully integrated it with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) and the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS). This paper will explore some of the challenges of collaboration in the modern digital age, highlight strategies for active data management, and discuss the integration of the EGS Collab data management platform with the GDR to enable scientific discovery through the timely dissemination of information.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Global gridded anthropogenic emissions inventory of carbonyl sulfide

Atmospheric carbonyl sulfide (COS or OCS) is the most abundant sulfur containing gas in the troposphere and is an atmospheric tracer for the carbon cycle. Gridded inventories of global anthropogenic COS are used for interpreting global COS measurements. However, previous gridded anthropogenic data are a climatological estimate based on input data that is over three decades old and are not representative of current conditions. Here we develop a new gridded data set of global anthropogenic COS sources that includes more source sectors than previously available and uses the most current emissions factors and industry activity data as input. Additionally, the inventory is provided as annually varying estimates from years 1980–2012 and employs a source specific spatial scaling procedure. We estimate a global source in year 2012 of 406 Gg S y -1 (range of 223–586 Gg S y -1 ), which is highly concentrated in China and is twice as large as the previous gridded inventory. Our large upward revision in the bottom-up estimate of the source is consistent with a recent top-down estimate based on air-monitoring and Antarctic firn data. Furthermore, our inventory time trends, including a decline in the 1990's and growth after the year 2000, are qualitatively consistent with trends in atmospheric data. Lastly, similarities between the spatial distribution in this inventory and remote sensing data suggest that the anthropogenic source could potentially play a role in explaining a missing source in the global COS budget.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Historical (1750–2014) anthropogenic emissions of reactive gases and aerosols from the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS)

Here, we present a new data set of annual historical (1750–2014) anthropogenic chemically reactive gases (CO, CH 4 , NH 3 , NO x , SO 2 , NMVOCs), carbonaceous aerosols (black carbon – BC, and organic carbon – OC), and CO 2 developed with the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). We improve upon existing inventories with a more consistent and reproducible methodology applied to all emission species, updated emission factors, and recent estimates through 2014. The data system relies on existing energy consumption data sets and regional and country-specific inventories to produce trends over recent decades. All emission species are consistently estimated using the same activity data over all time periods. Emissions are provided on an annual basis at the level of country and sector and gridded with monthly seasonality. These estimates are comparable to, but generally slightly higher than, existing global inventories. Emissions over the most recent years are more uncertain, particularly in low- and middle-income regions where country-specific emission inventories are less available. Future work will involve refining and updating these emission estimates, estimating emissions' uncertainty, and publication of the system as open-source software.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Production and relevance of cosmogenic radionuclides in NaI(Tl) crystals

The cosmogenic production of long-lived radioactive isotopes in materials is an hazard for experiments demanding ultra-low background conditions. Although NaI(Tl) scintillators have been used in this context for a long time, very few activation data were available. We present results from two 12.5 kg NaI(Tl) detectors, developed within the ANAIS project and installed at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The prompt data taking starting made possible a reliable quantification of production of some I, Te and Na isotopes with half-lives larger than ten days. Tnitial activities underground were measured and then production rates at sea level were estimated following the history of detectors; a comparison of these rates with calculations using typical cosmic neutron flux at sea level and a selected description of excitation functions was also carried out. After including the contribution from the identified cosmogenic products in the detector background model, we found that the presence of {sup 3}H in the crystal bulk would help to fit much better our background model and experimental data. We have analyzed the cosmogenic production of {sup 3}H in NaI, and although precise quantification has not been attempted, we can conclude that it could imply a very relevant contribution to the total background below 15 ke in NaI detectors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Continuous Activity Monitoring During Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy

Purpose: To perform a prospective trial testing the feasibility and utility of acquiring activity data as a measure of health status during concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Ambulatory patients who were planned for treatment with concurrent chemoradiotherapy with curative intent for cancers of the head and neck, lung, or gastrointestinal tract were provided with activity monitors before treatment initiation. Patients were asked to wear the devices continuously throughout the radiation therapy course. Step count data were downloaded weekly during radiation therapy and 2 and 4 weeks after radiation therapy completion. The primary objective was to demonstrate feasibility, defined as collection of step counts for 80% of the days during study subjects' radiation therapy courses. Secondary objectives included establishing step count as a dynamic predictor of unplanned hospitalization risk. Results: Thirty-eight enrolled patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Primary diagnoses included head and neck cancer (n=11), lung cancer (n=13), and a variety of gastrointestinal cancers (n=14). Step data were collected for 1524 of 1613 days (94%) during patients' radiation therapy courses. Fourteen patients were hospitalized during radiation therapy or within 4 weeks of radiation therapy completion. Cox regression modeling demonstrated a significant association between recent step counts (3-day average) and hospitalization risk, with a 38% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for every 1000 steps taken each day (hazard ratio 0.62, 95% confidence interval 0.46-0.83, P=.002). Inferior quality of life scores and impaired performance status were not associated with increased hospitalization risk. Conclusion: Continuous activity monitoring during concurrent chemoradiotherapy is feasible and well-tolerated. Step counts may serve as powerful, objective, and dynamic indicators of hospitalization risk.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

1994 Portland Household Travel Survey

The Portland Household Travel Survey was conducted under the auspices of the Oregon Department of Transportation to provide information suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding of the activity and travel behavior of both households in metropolitan areas and the individuals within those households. The first round of surveys collected household activity data from the four metropolitan planning organization areas around Portland, plus three extra counties (Marion, Polk, and Yamhill). A total of 11,762 households participated in this study. Each household member was asked to record any activity that lasted 30 minutes or longer, or any activity that required travel for the specified 48-hour period.

1Hz data↗

Integrated analysis reveals that STAT3 is central to the crosstalk between HER/ErbB receptor signaling pathways in human mammary epithelial cells

Human epidermal growth factor receptors (HER, also known as ErbB) drive cellular proliferation, pro-survival and stress responses by activating several downstream kinases, in particular ERK, p38, JNK (SAPK), the PI3K/AKT, as well as various transcriptional regulators such as STAT3. When co-expressed, first three members of HER family (HER1-3) can form homo- and hetero-dimers. Based on the considerable evidence which suggest that every receptor dimer activates intracellular signaling pathways differentially, we hypothesized that the HER dimerization pattern is a better predictor of downstream signaling than the total receptor activation levels. We validated our hypothesis using a combination of model-based analysis to quantify the HER dimerization patterns and multi-factorial experiments where HER dimerization patterns and signaling crosstalk were rationally perturbed. We have measured the activation of HER1-3 receptors and of the sentinel signaling proteins ERK, AKT, p38, JNK, STAT3 as a function of time in a panel of human mammary epithelial (HME) cells expressing different levels of HER1-3 stimulated with various ligand combinations. Our analysis using multiple ways of clustering the activation data has confirmed that the HER receptor dimer is a better predictor of the signaling through p38, ERK and AKT pathways than the total HER receptor expression and activation levels. Targeted inhibition studies to identify the causal effects allowed us to obtain a consensus regulatory interaction model, which revealed that STAT3 occupies a central role in the crosstalk between the studied pathways.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Recommendations for Best Practices for Data Preservation and Open Science in HEP

These recommendations are the result of reflections by scientists and experts who are, or have been, involved in the preservation of high-energy physics data. The work has been done under the umbrella of the Data Lifecycle panel of the International Committee of Future Accelerators (ICFA), drawing on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders. A key indicator of success in the data preservation efforts is the long-term usability of the data. Experience shows that achieving this requires providing a rich set of information in various forms, which can only be effectively collected and preserved during the period of active data use. The recommendations are intended to be actionable by the indicated actors and specific to the particle physics domain. They cover a wide range of actions, many of which are interdependent. These dependencies are indicated within the recommendations and can be used as a road map to guide implementation efforts. These recommendations are best accessed and viewed through the web application, see https://icfa-data-best-practices.app.cern.ch/

Campana, Simone [CERN]↗

Efficient Scalable Contact Network Generation from Population Data

Modeling the contacts among a population is critical to understanding the dynamics of a disease outbreak. Contact networks, where nodes are individuals and edges are contacts among them, are used to represent these complex individual-level interactions. In this work, we are given the daily activity schedules of an urban population that represent the activity location and time of individuals in a population during a single twenty four hour period over multiple days. Using collocation to determine contact between individuals, our goal is to extract hourly contact networks from large-scale activity data. We improve upon the existing adjacency matrix-based method by implementing our custom sparse matrix multiplication algorithm. Starting with a Python implementation, we achieve a 1600x speed up in the computation with a fast custom designed sparse matrix multiplier algorithm implemented in the C++ language. This work is central to future parallel designs of the problem.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Upgrading Limiting Peak-Power Analysis Techniques with Modern Validation and Uncertainty Quantification for the Advanced Test Reactor

Here, this work demonstrates the acceptability of the 2D deterministic transport code, HELIOS, to replace the legacy diffusion code, PDQ, for computing the peak-power performance parameters of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The 95% Confidence Rule, commonly used in the commercial reactor sector, is explored to develop the so-called “reliability factors” which provide statistical confidence that the peak-power limits within the hottest location along a fuel plate, referred to as the hot-stripe, will not be exceeded. Additionally, an alternative “legacy” methodology was explored that attempts to mimic the exact PDQ analysis process used for defining the peak-power limits. The legacy methodology, involves interpolating power between regions at azimuthal boundaries subtending the regions of interest. In order to apply the 95% Confidence Rule, a statistically significant calculation-to-measurement bias must first be established. Unlike the commercial world where thousands of power observations can be collected every cycle using on-line flux mapping instrumentation, the ATR power distribution must be measured during “depressurized” zero-power measurements using fission wires in polyethylene wands. In 2012, fission wire activation data was collected during a flux run in the Advanced Test Reactor – Critical facility. Also to improve statistical validity, archival data from ATR zero power flux runs from 1977, 1986, and 1994 were digitized from scanned reports and used to create new benchmark models. Borrowing from least-squares adjustment methods commonly used for neutron activation spectroscopy, adjusted fission wire powers were calculated for all four datasets. The mean and standard deviation of the bias between a priori calculated and adjusted wire-powers was then taken as the bias and uncertainty used in the 95% Confidence Rule.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Experimental quantification of the background neutron flux in the Advanced Test Reactor fuel storage canal - 25562

The Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory is one of only a few high-power, versatile, research reactors of its type in the world. The ATR fuel storage canal features a gamma irradiation facility that has various uses as well. It is composed of a simple dry tube that extends down into one of the fuel storage rack positions. This tube is surrounded by used fuel elements that can be selected from the inventory to produce the desired gamma radiation level and, to some extent, spectrum within the dry tube. The gamma field within the dry tube is accompanied by a small background neutron flux, produced primarily by photoneutron production in the small fraction of heavy water (D{sub 2}O) that is naturally present in light water. Neutron activation spectrometry was employed to quantify the background neutron flux in the dry tube in a configuration where the gamma exposure rate was approximately 5x10{sup 6} Roentgens per hour. The measurement technique used is very sensitive and provided self-consistent results in terms of raw activation data quality. The background neutron fluxes in the gamma facility were very low, but still detectable. The total neutron flux in the energy region above 0.414 eV and the thermal neutron flux (below 0.414 eV) were estimated from the activation measurements to be 7.5x10{sup 2} and 1.0x10{sup 2} n/cm{sup 2}-s, respectively. High uncertainties (factors of approximately 20-30% in the above-thermal range and 100% in the thermal range) apply to these results. These high uncertainties are primarily due to the limited number of activation interactions that could be used to detect such small fluxes and the resulting propagation of uncertainties associated with the various input parameters involved in the spectral unfolding process. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Experimental Quantification of the Background Neutron Flux in the Advanced Test Reactor Fuel Storage Canal

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of only a few high-power research reactors (HPRR) of its type in the world, with a variety of missions involving accelerated testing of nuclear fuel and other materials in a very high neutron flux (5.0x1014 n/cm2 -s) environment, medical and industrial isotope production, and other applications. It typically runs several cycles per year with lengths varying from 40-60 days depending on specific experimental requirements for each cycle. The highly radioactive used fuel elements that are discharged from the ATR after each cycle are stored in an adjacent canal (Figure 1) and can be used for as many as three cycles before being retired. The ATR canal features a gamma irradiation facility that has various uses. It is composed of a simple dry tube that extends down into one of the fuel storage rack positions. This tube is surrounded by used fuel elements that can be selected from the inventory to produce the desired gamma radiation level and, to some extent, spectrum within the dry tube. Typical gamma fields that can be produced in this manner can be as high as several megarads per hour. The gamma field within the dry tube is accompanied by a small background neutron flux, produced by photoneutron production in the small fraction of heavy water (D2O) that is naturally present in light water at a concentration of approximately 0.015% by weight, and by a very low level of photofission and spontaneous fission in the fuel elements. The measurement technique used is very sensitive and provided self-consistent results in terms of raw activation data quality. The background neutron fluxes in the gamma facility are very low, but still detectable. The total neutron flux in the energy region from 0.414 eV to 1 MeV and the thermal neutron flux (below 0.414 eV) were estimated from the activation measurements to be 1.0x104 and 2.0x102 n/cm2 -s, respectively. ncertainties of approximately an order of magnitude apply to both results. No neutrons above about 1 MeV were detected. The high uncertainties quoted here are primarily due to uncertainties in the a priori neutron fluxes computed by MCNP6 as well as uncertainties in the spectrum-averaged foil activation cross sections used in the few-group least-squares flux adjustment procedure that was applied. Detailed analyses are currently underway with the aim of reducing these sources of uncertainty.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗