In information theory, a signature is characterized by the information content as well as noise statistics of the communication channel. Biosignatures have analogous properties. A biosignature can be associated with a particular attribute of a pathogen or a host. However, the signature may be lost in backgrounds of similar or even identical signals from other sources. In this paper, we highlight statistical and signal processing challenges associated with identifying good biosignatures for pathogens in host and other environments. In some cases it may be possible to identify useful signatures of pathogens through indirect but amplified signals from the host. Discovery of these signatures requires new approaches to modeling and data interpretation. For environmental biosignal collections, it is possible to use signal processing techniques from other applications (e.g., synthetic aperture radar) to track the natural progression of microbes over large areas. We also present a computer-assisted approach to identify unique nucleic-acid based microbial signatures. Finally, an understanding of host-pathogen interactions will result in better detectors as well as opportunities in vaccines and therapeutics.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Surface barrier or capping technology is needed to isolate buried wastes. A successful cap must prevent the intrusion of plants, animals, and man into the underlying waste, minimize wind and water erosion, require minimal maintenance, and limit water intrusion to near-zero amounts. For some sites where wastes are long-lived, caps should potentially last a thousand years or more. At the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State, a surface cap with a 1000-year design life was constructed and then tested and monitored for performance under wetting conditions that are extreme for the region. The cap was built in 1994 over an existing waste site as a part of a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) treatability test. The above-grade barrier or cap consists of a 2-m-thick silt-loam soil overlying layers (from top down) of sand, gravel, basalt rock (riprap), and a low-permeability asphalt. Two sideslope configurations, a clean-fill gravel on a 10:1 slope and a basalt riprap on a 2:1 slope were part of the overall design and testing. Design considerations included constructability; water-balance monitoring; wind and water erosion control and monitoring; surface revegetation, biointrusion control, subsidence, and sideslope stability; and durability of the asphalt …

InGaN based light emitting devices demonstrate excellent luminescence properties and have great potential in lighting applications. Though these devices are already being produced on an industrial scale, the nature of their radiative transition is still not well understood. In particular, the role of the huge (>1MV/cm), built-in electric field in these transitions is still under debate. The luminescence characteristics of InGaN quantum well structures were investigated as a function of excitation power, temperature, and biaxial strain, with an intent of discerning the effects of the electric field and inhomogeneous indium distribution in the QW on the radiative transition. It was found that the luminescence energy did not scale only with the indium concentration but that the QW thickness must also be taken into account. The thickness affects the transition energy due to quantum confinement and carrier separation across a potential drop in the QW. The luminescence peak width was shown to increase with increased indium fraction, due to increased indium inhomogeneity. The carrier lifetime increased exponentially with QW thickness and luminescence wavelength, due to increased carrier separation. Measuring the luminescence energy and carrier lifetime as a function of excitation density showed that the electric field can be screened by strong …

Low temperature Nonphotochemical Hole Burning (NPHB) Spectroscopy of the dye rhodamine 800 (MF680) was applied for the purpose of discerning differences between cultured normal and carcinoma ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. Both the cell lines were developed and characterized at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), with the normal cell line having been transfected with a strain of temperature sensitive Simian Virus 40 Large T Antigen (SV40) for the purpose of extending the life of the cell culture without inducing permanent changes in the characteristics of the cell line. The cationic lipophilic fluorophore rhodamine 800 preferentially locates in in situ mitochondria due to the high lipid composition of mitochondria and the generation of a large negative membrane potential (relative to the cellular cytoplasm) for oxidative phosphorylation. Results presented for NPHB of MF680 located in the cells show significant differences between the two cell lines. The results are interpreted on the basis of the NPHB mechanism and characteristic interactions between the host (cellular mitochondrial) and the guest (MF680) in the burning of spectral holes, thus providing an image of the cellular ultrastructure. Hole growth kinetics (HGK) were found to differ markedly between the two cell lines, with the carcinoma cell line burning …

Semiweekly newspaper from Levelland, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A Department of Energy funded contract involved the development of porous metal as a HEPA filter, and the subsequent design of a full-scale regenerable HEPA filtration system (RHFS). This RHFS could replace the glass fiber HEPA filters currently being used on the high level waste (HLW) tank ventilation system with a system that would be moisture tolerant, durable, and cleanable in place. The origins of the contract are a 1996 investigation at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) regarding the use of porous metal as a HEPA filter material. This contract was divided into Phases I, IIA and IIB. Phase I of the contract evaluated simple filter cylinders in a simulated High Level Waste (HLW) environment and the ability to clean and regenerate the filter media after fouling. Upon the successful completion of Phase I, Phase IIA was conducted, which included lab scale prototype testing and design of a full-scale system. The work completed under Phase IIA included development of a full-scale system design, development of a filter media meeting the HEPA filtration efficiency that would also be regenerable using prescribed cleaning procedures, and the testing of a single element system prototype at Savannah River. All contract objectives were met. …

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Semiweekly newspaper from Levelland, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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