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At least 1,243 records · Page 69

Chromate Binding and Removal by the Molybdate‐Binding Protein ModA

Abstract Effective and cheap methods and techniques for the safe removal of hexavalent chromate from the environment are in increasingly high demand. High concentrations of hexavalent chromate have been shown to have numerous harmful effects on human biology. We show that the E. coli molybdate‐binding protein ModA is a genetically encoded tool capable of removing chromate from aqueous solutions. Although previously reported to not bind chromate, we show that ModA binds chromate tightly and is capable of removing chromate to levels well below current US federal standards.

Karpus, Jason↗

Early Experiences Porting the NAMD and VMD Molecular Simulation and Analysis Software to GPU-Accelerated OpenPOWER Platforms, In: ISC High Performance 2016: High Performance Computing

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules provide a powerful tool for exploring the structure and dynamics of large protein complexes within realistic cellular environments. Unfortunately, such simulations are extremely demanding in terms of their computational requirements, and they present many challenges in terms of preparation, simulation methodology, and analysis and visualization of results. We describe our early experiences porting the popular molecular dynamics simulation program NAMD and the simulation preparation, analysis, and visualization tool VMD to GPU-accelerated OpenPOWER hardware platforms. We report our experiences with compiler-provided autovectorization and compare with hand-coded vector intrinsics for the POWER8 CPU. We explore the performance benefits obtained from unique POWER8 architectural features such as 8-way SMT and its value for particular molecular modeling tasks. Finally, we evaluate the performance of several GPU-accelerated molecular modeling kernels and relate them to other hardware platforms.

Computer Science↗

Design and synthesis of astatinated benzothiazole compounds for their potential use in Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) strategies to treat Alzheimer's disease-associated amyloid plaques

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a terminal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the buildup of amyloid fibrils, amorphous aggregates and tauopathies. Several treatment modalities, which rely on various biological processes to reduce disease burden, have been largely ineffective at treating Alzheimer's disease. Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) has demonstrated positive results in the treatment of cancer. Benzothiazole derivatives have been successfully shown to target these plaques and are used in several imaging applications. One such derivative, Flutemetamol (Vizamyl TM ) is an FDA approved diagnostic tool for PET imaging of AD-associated plaques. We report the radiolabeling of benzothiazole derivatives with 211 At, a 7.2 h alpha emitting radionuclide, using a copper catalyzed reaction with a boronic acid precursor molecule. In conclusion, our final compound [ 211 At]3'-At-PIB-OMe had a radiochemical yield of 55% and was found to be stable for at least 3 h in phosphate buffered saline.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Refinement and Validation of the Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory

Lymphedema and fibrosis (LEF) are common yet overlooked late effects of head and neck cancer and its therapy. Lack of reliable and valid measures of head and neck LEF is a critical barrier to the timely identification and management of head and neck LEF. To fill this gap, we developed and pilot tested a 64-item patient-reported outcome measure ( Lymphedema Symptom Intensity and Distress Survey-Head and Neck, LSIDS-H&N). This article aims to report the process of further validation and refinement of the tool.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Operando and three-dimensional visualization of anion depletion and lithium growth by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy

Visualization of ion transport in electrolytes provides fundamental understandings of electrolyte dynamics and electrolyte-electrode interactions. However, this is challenging because existing techniques are hard to capture low ionic concentrations and fast electrolyte dynamics. Here we show that stimulated Raman scattering microscopy offers required resolutions to address a long-lasting question: how does the lithium-ion concentration correlate to uneven lithium deposition? In this study, anions are used to represent lithium ions since their concentrations should not deviate for more than 0.1 mM, even near nanoelectrodes. A three-stage lithium deposition process is uncovered, corresponding to no depletion, partial depletion, and full depletion of lithium ions. Further analysis reveals a feedback mechanism between the lithium dendrite growth and heterogeneity of local ionic concentration, which can be suppressed by artificial solid electrolyte interphase. This report shows that stimulated Raman scattering microscopy is a powerful tool for the materials and energy field.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Tunneling current-controlled spin states in few-layer van der Waals magnets

Abstract Effective control of magnetic phases in two-dimensional magnets would constitute crucial progress in spintronics, holding great potential for future computing technologies. Here, we report a new approach of leveraging tunneling current as a tool for controlling spin states in CrI 3 . We reveal that a tunneling current can deterministically switch between spin-parallel and spin-antiparallel states in few-layer CrI 3 , depending on the polarity and amplitude of the current. We propose a mechanism involving nonequilibrium spin accumulation in the graphene electrodes in contact with the CrI 3 layers. We further demonstrate tunneling current-tunable stochastic switching between multiple spin states of the CrI 3 tunnel devices, which goes beyond conventional bi-stable stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions and has not been documented in two-dimensional magnets. Our findings not only address the existing knowledge gap concerning the influence of tunneling currents in controlling the magnetism in two-dimensional magnets, but also unlock possibilities for energy-efficient probabilistic and neuromorphic computing.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Correlated interlayer exciton insulator in heterostructures of monolayer WSe 2 and moiré WS 2 /WSe 2

Moiré superlattices in van der Waals heterostructures have emerged as a powerful tool for engineering quantum phenomena. Here, in this work, we report the observation of a correlated interlayer exciton insulator in a double-layer heterostructure composed of a WSe 2 monolayer and a WS 2 /WSe 2 moiré bilayer that are separated by ultrathin hexagonal boron nitride. The moiré WS 2 /WSe 2 bilayer features a Mott insulator state when the density of holes is one per moiré lattice site. When electrons are added to the Mott insulator in the WS 2 /WSe 2 moiré bilayer and an equal number of holes are injected into the WSe 2 monolayer, a new interlayer exciton insulator emerges with the holes in the WSe 2 monolayer and the electrons in the doped Mott insulator bound together through interlayer Coulomb interactions. The interlayer exciton insulator is stable up to a critical hole density in the WSe 2 monolayer, beyond which the interlayer exciton dissociates. Our study highlights the opportunities for realizing quantum phases in double-layer moiré systems due to the interplay between the moiré flat band and strong interlayer electron interactions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Accelerating End-to-End Deep Learning for Particle Reconstruction using CMS open data

Machine learning algorithms are gaining ground in high energy physics for applications in particle and event identification, physics analysis, detector reconstruction, simulation and trigger. Currently, most data-analysis tasks at LHC experiments benefit from the use of machine learning. Incorporating these computational tools in the experimental framework presents new challenges. This paper reports on the implementation of the end-to-end deep learning with the CMS software framework and the scaling of the end-to-end deep learning with multiple GPUs. The end-to-end deep learning technique combines deep learning algorithms and low-level detector representation for particle and event identification. We demonstrate the end-to-end implementation on a top quark benchmark and perform studies with various hardware architectures including single and multiple GPUs and Google TPU.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Real-time reflectance-difference spectroscopy of GaAs molecular beam epitaxy homoepitaxial growth

We report on real time-resolved Reflectance-difference (RD) spectroscopy of GaAs(001) grown by molecular beam epitaxy, with a time-resolution of 500 ms per spectrum within the 2.3–4.0 eV photon energy range. Through the analysis of transient RD spectra we demonstrated that RD line shapes are comprised of two components with different physical origins and determined their evolution during growth. Such components were ascribed to the subsurface strain induced by surface reconstruction and to surface stoichiometry. Results reported in this paper render RD spectroscopy as a powerful tool for the study of fundamental processes during the epitaxial growth of zincblende semiconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fast ion relaxation in ITER mediated by Alfvén instabilities

Abstract We address the critical issue for future burning plasmas of whether high-energy fusion products or auxiliary heating-beam ions will be confined for a sufficiently long time to compensate for thermal plasma energy losses. This issue can be mitigated by one of the most deleterious collective phenomena—the instability of low, sub-cyclotron frequency Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs), such as toroidicity-induced AEs and reversed-shear AEs in the ITER steady-state scenario. Using a revised quasi-linear (QL) theory applied to energetic particle (EP) relaxation in the presence of AEs, we find that the AE instabilities can affect both neutral beam ions and alpha particles, although the resulting fast ion transport is expected to be modest if classical particle slowing down is assumed. On the other hand, the QL theory predicts that the AE amplitudes will be enhanced by the background microturbulence, although this topic remains outside our scope due to the significant numerical effort required to evaluate these effects. We report our results for EP relaxation dynamics obtained utilizing several tools: (i) a comprehensive linear stability study of the sub-cyclotron Alfvénic spectrum as computed by ideal magnetohydrodynamic NOVA simulations for the AE eigenproblem, (ii) drift kinetic NOVA-C calculations for wave–particle interaction and AE growth/damping rates, and (iii) predictive QL modeling coupled with the global transport code TRANSP to assess the EP relaxation on the equilibrium timescale.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Assessing fossil fuel CO 2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models

Analysis systems incorporating atmospheric observations could provide a powerful tool for validating fossil fuel CO 2 (ffCO 2 ) emissions reported for individual regions, provided that fossil fuel sources can be separated from other CO 2 sources or sinks and atmospheric transport can be accurately accounted for. We quantified ffCO 2 by measuring radiocarbon ( 14 C) in CO 2 , an accurate fossil-carbon tracer, at nine observation sites in California for three months in 2014-15. There is strong agreement between the measurements and ffCO 2 simulated using a high-resolution atmospheric model and a spatiotemporally-resolved fossil fuel flux estimate. Inverse estimates of total in-state ffCO 2 emissions are consistent with the California Air Resources Board's reported ffCO 2 emissions, providing tentative validation of California's reported ffCO 2 emissions in 2014-15. Continuing this prototype analysis system could provide critical independent evaluation of reported ffCO 2 emissions and emissions reductions in California, and the system could be expanded to other, more data-poor regions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Probing the Gluonic Structure of the Deuteron with J / ψ Photoproduction in d + Au Ultraperipheral Collisions

Understanding gluon density distributions and how they are modified in nuclei are among the most important goals in nuclear physics. In recent years, diffractive vector meson production measured in ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at heavy-ion colliders has provided a new tool for probing the gluon density. In this Letter, we report the first measurement of J/psi photoproduction off the deuteron in UPCs at the center-of-mass energy root √S-NN = 200 GeV in d + Au collisions. The differential cross section as a function of momentum transfer -t is measured. In addition, data with a neutron tagged in the deuteron-going zero-degree calorimeter is investigated for the first time, which is found to be consistent with the expectation of incoherent diffractive scattering at low momentum transfer. Theoretical predictions based on the color glass condensate saturation model and the leading twist approximation nuclear shadowing model are compared with the data quantitatively. A better agreement with the saturation model has been observed. With the current measurement, the results are found to be directly sensitive to the gluon density distribution of the deuteron and the deuteron breakup process, which provides insights into the nuclear gluonic structure.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Radiation-damage investigation of a DNA 16-mer

In macromolecular crystallography, a great deal of effort has been invested in understanding radiation-damage progression. While the sensitivity of protein crystals has been well characterized, crystals of DNA and of DNA–protein complexes have not thus far been studied as thoroughly. Here, a systematic investigation of radiation damage to a crystal of a DNA 16-mer diffracting to 1.8 Å resolution and held at 100 K, up to an absorbed dose of 45 MGy, is reported. The RIDL ( Radiation-Induced Density Loss ) automated computational tool was used for electron-density analysis. Both the global and specific damage to the DNA crystal as a function of dose were monitored, following careful calibration of the X-ray flux and beam profile. The DNA crystal was found to be fairly radiation insensitive to both global and specific damage, with half of the initial diffraction intensity being lost at an absorbed average diffraction-weighted dose, D 1/2 , of 19 MGy, compared with 9 MGy for chicken egg-white lysozyme crystals under the same beam conditions but at the higher resolution of 1.4 Å. The coefficient of sensitivity of the DNA crystal was 0.014 Å 2 MGy -1 , which is similar to that observed for proteins. These results imply that the significantly greater radiation hardness of DNA and RNA compared with protein observed in a DNA–protein complex and an RNA–protein complex could be due to scavenging action by the protein, thereby protecting the DNA and RNA in these studies. In terms of specific damage, the regions of DNA that were found to be sensitive were those associated with some of the bound calcium ions sequestered from the crystallization buffer. In contrast, moieties farther from these sites showed only small changes even at higher doses.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗

Dynamic PET simulator via tomographic emission projection for kinetic modeling and parametric image studies

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a fast and simple tool called dPETSTEP (Dynamic PET Simulator of Tracers via Emission Projection), for dynamic PET simulations as an alternative to Monte Carlo (MC), useful for educational purposes and evaluation of the effects of the clinical environment, postprocessing choices, etc., on dynamic and parametric images. Methods: The tool was developed in MATLAB using both new and previously reported modules of PETSTEP (PET Simulator of Tracers via Emission Projection). Time activity curves are generated for each voxel of the input parametric image, whereby effects of imaging system blurring, counting noise, scatters, randoms, and attenuation are simulated for each frame. Each frame is then reconstructed into images according to the user specified method, settings, and corrections. Reconstructed images were compared to MC data, and simple Gaussian noised time activity curves (GAUSS). Results: dPETSTEP was 8000 times faster than MC. Dynamic images from dPETSTEP had a root mean square error that was within 4% on average of that of MC images, whereas the GAUSS images were within 11%. The average bias in dPETSTEP and MC images was the same, while GAUSS differed by 3% points. Noise profiles in dPETSTEP images conformed well to MC images, confirmed visually by scatter plot histograms, and statistically by tumor region of interest histogram comparisons that showed no significant differences (p < 0.01). Compared to GAUSS, dPETSTEP images and noise properties agreed better with MC. Conclusions: The authors have developed a fast and easy one-stop solution for simulations of dynamic PET and parametric images, and demonstrated that it generates both images and subsequent parametric images with very similar noise properties to those of MC images, in a fraction of the time. They believe dPETSTEP to be very useful for generating fast, simple, and realistic results, however since it uses simple scatter and random models it may not be suitable for studies investigating these phenomena. dPETSTEP can be downloaded free of cost from https://github.com/CRossSchmidtlein/dPETSTEP.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Extreme ultraviolet spectra of highly charged Fe ions in the laboratory versus the excitation of spectra in astrophysical environments

The ASOS meetings address atomic spectra and oscillator strengths for astrophysics and laboratory plasmas. Based on examples of Fe spectra from foil-excited ion beams and electron beam ion traps, some practical problems of laboratory studies using these tools in support of astrophysical observations are discussed in tis report.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

A meta-evaluation of the quality of reporting and execution in ecological meta-analyses

Quantitatively summarizing results from a collection of primary studies with meta-analysis can help answer ecological questions and identify knowledge gaps. The accuracy of the answers depends on the quality of the meta-analysis. We reviewed the literature assessing the quality of ecological meta-analyses to evaluate current practices and highlight areas that need improvement. From each of the 18 review papers that evaluated the quality of meta-analyses, we calculated the percentage of meta-analyses that met criteria related to specific steps taken in the meta-analysis process (i.e., execution) and the clarity with which those steps were articulated (i.e., reporting). We also re-evaluated all the meta-analyses available from Pappalardo et al. to extract new information on ten additional criteria and to assess how the meta-analyses recognized and addressed non-independence. In general, we observed better performance for criteria related to reporting than for criteria related to execution; however, there was a wide variation among criteria and meta-analyses. Meta-analyses had low compliance with regard to correcting for phylogenetic non-independence, exploring temporal trends in effect sizes, and conducting a multifactorial analysis of moderators (i.e., explanatory variables). In addition, although most meta-analyses included multiple effect sizes per study, only 66% acknowledged some type of non-independence. The types of non-independence reported were most often related to the design of the original experiment (e.g., the use of a shared control) than to other sources (e.g., phylogeny). We suggest that providing specific training and encouraging authors to follow the PRISMA EcoEvo checklist recently developed by O’Dea et al. can improve the quality of ecological meta-analyses.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

JSPEC: A Program for IBS and Electron Cooling Simulation

JSPEC (JLab Simulation Package on Electron Cooling) is an open-source C++ program developed at Jefferson Lab to simulate the evolution of the ion beam under the intrabeam scattering effect and/or the electron cooling effect. JSPEC includes various models of the ion beam, the electron beam, and the friction force, aiming to reflect the latest advances in the field and to provide a useful tool to the community. JSPEC has been benchmarked against other cooling simulation codes and experimental data. It has been used to support the cooler design for JLEIC, an earlier JLab design for the Electron-Ion Collider. A Python wrapper of the C++ code, pyJSPEC, for Python 3.x environment has also been developed and released. It allows users to run JSPEC simulations in a Python environment and makes it possible for JSPEC to collaborate with other accelerator and beam modeling programs, as well as plentiful Python tools in data visualization, optimization, machine learning, etc. In this report, we introduce the features of JSPEC, with a focus on the latest development, and demonstrate how to use JSPEC and pyJSPEC with sample codes and numerical examples.

Accelerator Physics↗

Analysis of Multi-Arm Caliper Data for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has an increasing reliance on multi-arm caliper surveys to assess the integrity of casing for cavern access wells and to determine priorities for casing remediation. Multi-arm caliper (MAC) surveys provide a view of well casing deformation by reporting radial measurements of the inner casing wall as the tool is drawn through the casing. Over the last several years the SPR has collected a large number of modern MAC surveys. In total, these surveys account for over 100 million individual measurements. The surveys were collected using differing survey vendors and survey hardware. This has resulted in a collection of disparate data sets which confound attempts to make well-to-well or time-dependent evaluations. In addition, the vendor supplied MAC interpretations often involve variables which are not well defined or which may not be applicable to casings for cavern access wells. These factors reduce the usability of these detailed data sets. In order to address this issue and provide an independent analysis of multi-arm caliper survey data, Sandia National Labs has developed processing techniques and analysis variables which allow for the comparison of MAC survey data regardless of the source of the survey data. These techniques use the raw radial arm information and newly developed analysis variables to assess the casing status and provide a means for well-to-well and time-dependent analyses. Well-to-well and time-dependent investigation of the MAC survey data provide s information to prioritize well remediation activities and identify wells with integrity issues. This paper presents the challenges in using disparate MAC survey data, techniques developed to address these challenges and some of the insights gained from these new techniques.

02 PETROLEUM↗