Based on Thermodynamics and its well-established First and Second Laws, this work presents and explores their economics counterparts, introducing new concepts, variables, and equations. This ...includes, among others, the economic counterparts of temperature, reversibility and irreversibility, and entropy and entropy generation resulting from economic irreversibility. The meaning of the new concepts, variables, equations, and their messages are introduced and discussed considering simple yet relevant economic processes. The economic counterparts of the First and Second Law balance equations are set in addition to the base concepts and Laws. These are effective and valuable tools for the analysis of economic processes. Observations from selected economic activities are analyzed using the new concepts, variables, and equations.
Human pluripotent stem cell-based in vitro models that reflect human physiology have the potential to reduce the number of drug failures in clinical trials and offer a cost-effective approach for ...assessing chemical safety. Here, human embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived neural progenitor cells, endothelial cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and microglia/macrophage precursors were combined on chemically defined polyethylene glycol hydrogels and cultured in serum-free medium to model cellular interactions within the developing brain. The precursors self-assembled into 3D neural constructs with diverse neuronal and glial populations, interconnected vascular networks, and ramified microglia. Replicate constructs were reproducible by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and expressed neurogenesis, vasculature development, and microglia genes. Linear support vector machines were used to construct a predictive model from RNA-Seq data for 240 neural constructs treated with 34 toxic and 26 nontoxic chemicals. The predictive model was evaluated using two standard hold-out testing methods: a nearly unbiased leave-one-out cross-validation for the 60 training compounds and an unbiased blinded trial using a single hold-out set of 10 additional chemicals. The linear support vector produced an estimate for future data of 0.91 in the cross-validation experiment and correctly classified 9 of 10 chemicals in the blinded trial.
This paper presents a numerical study concerning an improved heat sink for a light emitting diodes (LED) lamp operating under natural convection conditions. Basic geometry of the heat sink is of ...cylindrical nature, to be obtained from cutting an aluminum extruded bar comprising a cylindrical central core and a number of uniformly distributed radial fins. Minimum diameter of the central core is fixed and the parameters to be explored are the number of fins, their thickness, length (radial dimension) and height. Although not included in the numerical simulations, the thermal resistance due to the use of a thin thermal interface material (TIM) layer between the LED lamp back and the heat sink is taken into account in the analysis. The main objective of the heat sink is to cool the LED lamp so that the lamp maximum temperature at the contact region with the heat sink is maintained below the critical temperature given by the manufacturer. This is a crucial aspect in what concerns the expected lifetime of the LED lamp and should be achieved at the expenses of as low as possible aluminum mass. Taking these criteria in mind, a design procedure is proposed and followed in the search for the improved heat sink to cool a particular LED lamp. Results obtained with the commercial code ANSYS-CFX clearly show the relative importance of the different governing parameters on the heat sink performance and allow the choice of the better solution within the frame of dimensional constrains. Although the present results concern a particular LED lamp, the proposed methodology can be extended to other types of heat sinks for general light and/or electronic components.
•A numerical study is made concerning the radial heat sink for a specific LED lamp.•The cylindrical heat sink is obtained from an extruded aluminum bar.•The required cooling effect is obtained using the minimum mass of material.
Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) is an endolysosomal transmembrane protein involved in the export of cholesterol and sphingolipids to other cellular compartments such as the endoplasmic reticulum and ...plasma membrane. NPC1 loss of function is the major cause of NPC disease, a rare lysosomal storage disorder characterized by an abnormal accumulation of lipids in the late endosomal/lysosomal network, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired autophagy. NPC phenotypes are conserved in yeast lacking Ncr1, an orthologue of human NPC1, leading to premature aging. Herein, we performed a phosphoproteomic analysis to investigate the effect of Ncr1 loss on cellular functions mediated by the yeast lysosome-like vacuoles. Our results revealed changes in vacuolar membrane proteins that are associated mostly with vesicle biology (fusion, transport, organization), autophagy, and ion homeostasis, including iron, manganese, and calcium. Consistently, the cytoplasm to vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway was increased in
∆ cells and autophagy was compromised despite TORC1 inhibition. Moreover,
∆ cells exhibited iron overload mediated by the low-iron sensing transcription factor Aft1. Iron deprivation restored the autophagic flux of
∆ cells and increased its chronological lifespan and oxidative stress resistance. These results implicate iron overload on autophagy impairment, oxidative stress sensitivity, and cell death in the yeast model of NPC1.
Functional Threshold Power (FTP), determined as 95% of the average power during a 20-minute time-trial test, is suggested as a practical test for the determination of the maximal lactate steady state ...(MLSS) in cycling. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine the validity of FTP in predicting MLSS.
Fifteen cyclists, 7 classified as trained and 8 as well-trained (mean ± standard deviation; maximal oxygen uptake = 62.3 ± 6.4 mL/kg/min, maximal aerobic power = 329 ± 30 Watts), performed an incremental test to exhaustion, an FTP test, and several constant load tests to determine the MLSS. The bias ± 95% limits of agreement (LoA), typical error of the estimate (TEE), and Pearson´s coefficient of correlation (r) were calculated to assess validity.
For the power output measures, FTP presented a bias ± 95% LoA of 1.4 ± 9.2%, a moderate TEE (4.7%), and nearly perfect correlation (r = 0.91) with MLSS in all cyclists together. When divided by the training level, the bias ± 95% LoA and TEE were higher in the trained group (1.4 ± 11.8% and 6.4%, respectively) than in the well-trained group (1.3 ± 7.4% and 3.0%, respectively). For the heart rate measurement, FTP presented a bias ± 95% LoA of -1.4 ± 8.2%, TEE of 4.0%, and very -large correlation (r = 0.80) with MLSS.
Therefore, trained and well-trained cyclists can use FTP as a noninvasive and practical alternative to estimate MLSS.
Ants often interact aggressively for resources (e.g. nest sites and food) with members of their own or another species. In these competitive interactions, dominant ant species exert a strong ...influence on ant species coexistence and plant‐associated arthropod community structure. However, few studies have experimentally manipulated the relative abundance of dominant ant species on plants, preventing a mechanistic understanding of the effects of ant competitive interactions on ant community structure as well as on their interactions with other insects, particularly mutualistic hemipterans. In this study, we performed a field experiment in a tropical dry forest in Brazil to investigate the effects of two dominant ant species (Camponotus crassus and Cephalotes pusillus) on the structure ant communities and the abundance of the ant‐tended hemipteran Enchenopa brasiliensis in Solanum lycocarpum plants. For this, we identified and quantified all ant species foraging on plants and estimated the number of egg masses, nymphs and adults of the mutualistic hemipteran before and after experimentally removing nests of both two dominant ant species. Our results showed that removal of C. pusillus nests significantly changed ant community structure, whereas removal of C. crassus nests did not. We also found that nest removal of both dominant ant species had significant effects on hemipteran abundance. In particular, plants generally hosted more hemipteran eggs, nymphs and adults after (vs before) nest removal of both dominant ant species. Overall, this study demonstrates that dominant ant species can play a pivotal role in structuring ant communities and the interactions between ants and honeydew‐producing hemipteran insects.
Abstract
Background
Blood cancers (BCs) are responsible for over 720 K yearly deaths worldwide. Their prevalence and mortality-rate uphold the relevance of research related to BCs. Despite the ...availability of different resources establishing Disease-Disease Associations (DDAs), the knowledge is scattered and not accessible in a straightforward way to the scientific community. Here, we propose SicknessMiner, a biomedical Text-Mining (TM) approach towards the centralization of DDAs. Our methodology encompasses Named Entity Recognition (NER) and Named Entity Normalization (NEN) steps, and the DDAs retrieved were compared to the DisGeNET resource for qualitative and quantitative comparison.
Results
We obtained the DDAs via co-mention using our SicknessMiner or gene- or variant-disease similarity on DisGeNET. SicknessMiner was able to retrieve around 92% of the DisGeNET results and nearly 15% of the SicknessMiner results were specific to our pipeline.
Conclusions
SicknessMiner is a valuable tool to extract disease-disease relationship from RAW input corpus.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Functional threshold power is defined as the highest power output a cyclist can maintain in a quasi-steady state for approximately 60 min (FTP
). In order to improve practicality for regular ...evaluations, FTP
could theoretically be determined as 95% of the mean power output in a 20-min time trial (FTP
). This study tested this assumption and the validity of FTP
and FTP
against the individual anaerobic threshold (IAT). Twenty-three trained male cyclists performed an incremental test to exhaustion, 20- and 60-min time trials, and a time to exhaustion at FTP
. Power output, heart rate and oxygen uptake representing FTP
, FTP
and IAT were not different (p>0.05), and large to very large correlations were found (r=0.61 to 0.88). Bland-Altman plots between FTP
, FTP
and IAT showed small bias (-1 to -5 W), but large limits of agreement (-40 to 32 W to -62 to 60 W). Time to exhaustion at FTP
was 50.9±15.7 min. In conclusion, FTP
and FTP
should not be used interchangeably on an individual basis and their validity against IAT should be interpreted with caution.
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