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At least 433 records · Page 24

Simulation and fitting of complex reaction network TPR: The key is the objective function

In this research, a method has been developed for finding improved fits during simulation and fitting of data from complex reaction network temperature programmed reactions (CRN-TPR). It was found that simulation and fitting of CRN-TPR presents additional challenges relative to simulation and fitting of simpler TPR systems. The method used here can enable checking the plausibility of proposed chemical mechanisms and kinetic models. The most important finding was that when choosing an objective function, use of an objective function that is based on integrated production provides more utility in finding improved fits when compared to an objective function based on the rate of production. The response surface produced by using the integrated production is monotonic, suppresses effects from experimental noise, requires fewer points to capture the response behavior, and can be simulated numerically with smaller errors. For CRN-TPR, there is increased importance (relative to simple reaction network TPR) in resolving of peaks prior to fitting, as well as from weighting of experimental data points. Using an implicit ordinary differential equation solver was found to be inadequate for simulating CRN-TPR. Lastly, the method employed here was capable of attaining improved fits in simulation and fitting of CRN-TPR when starting with a postulated mechanism and physically realistic initial guesses for the kinetic parameters.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The soybean β‐expansin gene GmINS1 contributes to nodule development in response to phosphate starvation

Abstract Legume biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the most important N source in agricultural ecosystems. Nodule organogenesis from the primordia to the development of mature nodules with the ability to fix N 2 largely determines BNF capacity. However, nodule growth is often limited by low phosphorus (P) availability, while the mechanisms underlying nodule development responses to P deficiency remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that nodule enlargement is severely inhibited by P deficiency, as reflected by the smaller individual nodule size from a soybean core collection in the field. Wide‐ranging natural diversity in nodule size was further identified in soybeans reared in low P soils, with the FC‐1 genotype outperforming FC‐2 in assessments of nodulation under low P conditions. Among β‐expansin members, GmINS1 expression is most abundantly enhanced by P deficiency in FC‐1 nodules, and its transcript level is further displayed to be tightly associated with nodule enlargement. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms discovered in the GmINS1 promoter distinguished the FC‐1 and FC‐2 genotypes and accounted for the differential expression levels of GmINS1 responses to P deficiency. GmINS1 overexpression led to increases in nodule size, infected cell abundance, and N 2 fixation capacity and subsequently promoted increases in N and P content, soybean biomass, and yield. Our findings provide a candidate gene for optimizing BNF capacity responses to low P stress in soybean molecular breeding programs.

Yang, Zhaojun↗

Adsorption of CO on gold: effect of coverage and surface deformations

Recent insights into the nature of catalysts under reactive conditions have motivated investigating heterogeneously catalyzed reactions with non-rigid surfaces. As an example system to revisit, CO interactions with gold have been a longstanding system of interest due to its structure sensitivity. In this work, we investigate coverage-dependent CO adsorption trends on terraces, steps, and kinks. Calculating differential binding energy and mean absolute displacement of the atomic structures as a function of CO coverage, we propose a deformation quenching mechanism that partially determines CO saturation coverage. Extending this analysis to consider CO partial pressure, we show a phase change in CO step occupation, which we highlight as a possible explanation for previously reported temperature-programmed desorption and Fourier-transform infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy measurements. Furthermore, this work shows how adopting a non-rigid surface model can lead to additional insights which may be applied to other heterogeneously catalyzed systems.

Kavalsky, Lance [University of Wisconsin-Madison, ↗

Disruption of histone acetylation homeostasis reveals multilayered chromatin regulation for transcriptional resiliency

Background Epigenetic modifications, nucleosome occupancy, and three-dimensional chromatin architecture collectively create a multi-layered, highly interactive regulatory system for controlling genomic functionality. Dysregulation of epigenetic processes leads to a plethora of abnormalities including disease states. Therapies focused on epigenetic modulation can alter gene expression to correct dysfunction, though the perpetuation of these states and the relationships among chromatin regulatory layers is not well understood. Results Here, we investigated global and local chromatin structural and functional responses after acute histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid) in lung cancer cells across time. Treatment substantially increased global histone acetylation resulting in a pervasive but not distinctive signature. The spread of acetylation did not significantly impact global chromatin accessibility, and nucleosome remodeling largely occurred at finer scales in functionally relevant genomic regions. Indeed, both H 3 K 4 trimethylation, a mark of active transcription, and gene expression changes were altered in a controlled locus-specific manner, suggesting aberrant acetylation indirectly leads to balanced and bidirectional gene expression profiles from tighter regulation of other chromatin features. HDACi treatment induced (13%) genomic rearrangement in chromatin compartmentalization and moderate weakening of topologically associating domains. Conclusions Continuous wavelet analysis of these features demonstrates that scale-dependent, locus-specific factors influence the relationship between chromatin architecture and functional output, suggesting that regulation of transcription and nucleosome remodeling is not entirely (nor linearly) dependent upon large scale compartment exchange. Structural and functional responses are most pronounced early after treatment with partial persistence of differential local chromatin features and expression later in time; this highlights the plasticity of chromatin regulation, which may have implications for the efficacy of epigenetic treatments. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-layered regulation of transcription: in resilient systems, disruption of one chromatin feature does not distort the regulation of other features in supporting a transcriptional program that allows for survival.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Resolved resonance region evaluations of n+ 206,207,208 Pb for fast spectrum applications

Resolved resonance region evaluations of the major isotopes of natural lead, 206 Pb, 207 Pb, 208 Pb, have been per formed to support the development of Generation IV reactors. In this study, validation of nuclear data for lead fast reactors was performed with simulations of shielding benchmarks, integral critical benchmarks, and quasi-differential scattering measurements. Sensitivity analyses of these systems showed that elastic scattering reactions above 100 keV were the dominant reactions driving system performance. The resolved resonance regions (RRRs) of the lead isotopes extend past 100 keV, making the RRR an ideal starting point to evaluate lead cross sections. Since the R-matrix requires knowledge of bound, distant, and observed resonances, it was necessary to evaluate from 10 -5 eV up to the respective limit of the RRR. The 208 Pb RRR evaluation was extended to 1.5 MeV in order to obtain resonance parameters used to calculate new elastic scattering angular distributions up to 1.5 MeV. Resonance parameter uncertainties and covariance were generated using the R-matrix code SAMMY. The new RRR parameters show a direct improvement to the scattering kernel below 1.5 MeV which in turn greatly improves fast critical experiments over ENDF/B-VIII.0.

206Pb↗

Extension of PENELOPE to protons: Simulation of nuclear reactions and benchmark with Geant4

Purpose: Describing the implementation of nuclear reactions in the extension of the Monte Carlo code (MC) PENELOPE to protons (PENH) and benchmarking with Geant4.Methods: PENH is based on mixed-simulation mechanics for both elastic and inelastic electromagnetic collisions (EM). The adopted differential cross sections for EM elastic collisions are calculated using the eikonal approximation with the Dirac–Hartree–Fock–Slater atomic potential. Cross sections for EM inelastic collisions are computed within the relativistic Born approximation, using the Sternheimer–Liljequist model of the generalized oscillator strength. Nuclear elastic and inelastic collisions were simulated using explicitly the scattering analysis interactive dialin database for {sup 1}H and ICRU 63 data for {sup 12}C, {sup 14}N, {sup 16}O, {sup 31}P, and {sup 40}Ca. Secondary protons, alphas, and deuterons were all simulated as protons, with the energy adapted to ensure consistent range. Prompt gamma emission can also be simulated upon user request. Simulations were performed in a water phantom with nuclear interactions switched off or on and integral depth–dose distributions were compared. Binary-cascade and precompound models were used for Geant4. Initial energies of 100 and 250 MeV were considered. For cases with no nuclear interactions simulated, additional simulations in a water phantom with tight resolution (1 mm in all directions) were performed with FLUKA. Finally, integral depth–dose distributions for a 250 MeV energy were computed with Geant4 and PENH in a homogeneous phantom with, first, ICRU striated muscle and, second, ICRU compact bone.Results: For simulations with EM collisions only, integral depth–dose distributions were within 1%/1 mm for doses higher than 10% of the Bragg-peak dose. For central-axis depth–dose and lateral profiles in a phantom with tight resolution, there are significant deviations between Geant4 and PENH (up to 60%/1 cm for depth–dose distributions). The agreement is much better with FLUKA, with deviations within 3%/3 mm. When nuclear interactions were turned on, agreement (within 6% before the Bragg-peak) between PENH and Geant4 was consistent with uncertainties on nuclear models and cross sections, whatever the material simulated (water, muscle, or bone).Conclusions: A detailed and flexible description of nuclear reactions has been implemented in the PENH extension of PENELOPE to protons, which utilizes a mixed-simulation scheme for both elastic and inelastic EM collisions, analogous to the well-established algorithm for electrons/positrons. PENH is compatible with all current main programs that use PENELOPE as the MC engine. The nuclear model of PENH is realistic enough to give dose distributions in fair agreement with those computed by Geant4.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Impact of LHC vector boson production in heavy ion collisions on strange PDFs

Abstract The extraction of the strange quark parton distribution function (PDF) poses a long-standing puzzle. Measurements from neutrino-nucleus deep inelastic scattering (DIS) experiments suggest the strange quark is suppressed compared to the light sea quarks, while recent studies of $$W^\pm /Z$$ W ± / Z boson production at the LHC imply a larger strange component at small x values. As the parton flavor determination in the proton depends on nuclear corrections, e.g. from heavy-target DIS, LHC heavy ion measurements can provide a distinct perspective to help clarify this situation. In this investigation we extend the nCTEQ15 nPDFs to study the impact of the LHC proton-lead $$W^\pm /Z$$ W ± / Z production data on both the flavor differentiation and nuclear corrections. This complementary data set provides new insights on both the LHC $$W^\pm /Z$$ W ± / Z proton analyses and the neutrino-nucleus DIS data. We identify these new nPDFs as nCTEQ15WZ . Our calculations are performed using a new implementation of the nCTEQ code ( nCTEQ++ ) based on C++ which enables us to easily interface to external programs such as HOPPET, APPLgrid and MCFM. Our results indicate that, as suggested by the proton data, the small x nuclear strange sea appears larger than previously expected, even when the normalization of the $$W^{\pm }/Z$$ W ± / Z data is accommodated in the fit. Extending the nCTEQ15 analysis to include LHC $$W^\pm /Z$$ W ± / Z data represents an important step as we advance toward the next generation of nPDFs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

TChem v2.0 - A Software Toolkit for the Analysis of Complex Kinetic Models

TChem is an open source software library for solving complex computational chemistry problems and analyzing detailed chemical kinetic models. The software provides support for: complex kinetic models for gas-phase and surface chemistry; thermodynamic properties based on NASA polynomials; species production/consumption rates; stable time integrator for solving stiff time ordinary differential equations; and, reactor models such as homogenous gas-phase ignition (with analytical Jacobian matrices), continuously stirred tank reactor, plug-flow reactor. This toolkit builds upon earlier versions that were written in C and featured tools for gas-phase chemistry only. The current version of the software was completely refactored in C++, uses an object-oriented programming model, and adopts Kokkos as its portability layer to make it ready for the next generation computing architectures i.e., multi/many core computing platforms with GPU accelerators. We have expanded the range of kinetic models to include surface chemistry and have added examples pertaining to Continuously Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTR) and Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) models to complement the homogenous ignition examples present in the earlier versions. To exploit the massive parallelism available from modern computing platforms, the current software interface is designed to evaluate samples in parallel, which enables large scale parametric studies, e.g. for sensitivity analysis and model calibration.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

ORNL Neutron Cross Section Measurements of 90 Zr NCSP ND-1 Task [Slides]

Luiz Leal's idea to integrate the experimental uncertainties, covariances, and sensitivities in this workflow and centralize the process at one location led to the creation of a cohesive tool for data testing. It has been practiced for more than two decades by the NCS and ND groups at ORNL. The development and use of the ORNL codes TSUNAMI and TSURFER within SCALE made it possible. Today, it has been extended to SAMINT which enables the coupling of differential and integral data evaluation in a continuous-energy framework.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Spin Diagnostics Using Mott Polarimeter for the EIC Pre-Injector

Polarization measurement and front-end commissioning are critical steps in the EIC preinjector program. We designed a spin-diagnostics beamline at around 4 MeV for front-end commissioning. This paper describes a high-energy Mott polarimeter, including Mott scattering, the Sherman function, and extrapolation toward single elastic scattering in finite-thickness foils. We summarize the key equations used to calculate essential design parameters, including detection time, effective Sherman function, differential cross section, and Mott polarimeter figure of merit. We also present the diagnostics beamline lattice design and kicker design for continuous spin-polarization monitoring. These notes provide concepts, formulas, and methods for diagnostic-beamline design and commissioning measurements.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Separation Principle and Monte Carlo Studies for Differential Mobility Spectrometry

Differential Mobility Spectrometry (DMS), which ionizes analyte and uses asymmetric field waveforms to identify the ions, is increasingly used for detection of trace chemicals. In this work, we reveal the linear relation between DMS compensation voltage and the nonlinear mobility coefficient ( ) and consider mobility difference induced by clustering in low-field and de-clustering in high field. A program for Monte Carlo simulation of ion transport in practical DMS analyzers has been developed. Practical factors considered in this simulation mainly include a realistic sine-based asymmetric waveform and the clustering and de-clustering associated with this asymmetric waveform. Using this program, DMS compensation spectra, RF-CV dispersion plots, and transport efficiencies are predicted. Some experiments are done for validating the simulations and show consistency with the predictions.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

SU-E-T-558: An Exploratory RF Pulse Sequence Technique Used to Induce Differential Heating in Tissues Containing Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for a Possible Hyperthermic Adjuvant Effect to Radiotherapy

Purpose: In pre-clinical trials of cancer thermotherapy, hyperthermia can be induced by exposing localized super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) to external alternating magnetic fields generated by a solenoid electrical circuit (Zhao et al., Theranostics 2012). Alternatively, an RF pulse technique implemented in a regular MRI system is explored as a possible hyperthermia induction technique . Methods: A new thermal RF pulse sequence was developed using the Philips pulse programming tool for the 3T Ingenia MRI system to provide a sinusoidal magnetic field alternating at the frequency of 1.43 kHz (multiples of sine waves of 0.7 ms period) before each excitation RF pulse for imaging. The duration of each thermal RF pulse routine was approximately 3 min, and the thermal pulse was applied multiple times to a phantom that contains different concentrations (high, medium and low) of SPION samples. After applying the thermal pulse each time, the temperature change was estimated by measuring the phase changes in the T1-weighted inversion-prepared multi-shot turbo field echo (TFE) sequence (TR=5.5 ms, TE=2.7 ms, inversion time=200 ms). Results: The phase values and relative differences among them changed as the number of applied thermal RF pulses increased. After the 5th application of the thermal RF pulse, the relative phase differences increased significantly, suggesting the thermal activation of the SPION. The increase of the phase difference was approximately linear with the SPION concentration. Conclusion: A sinusoidal RF pulse from the MRI system may be utilized to selectively thermally activate tissues containing super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Cosmology meets cohomology

The cosmological polytope and bootstrap programs have revealed interesting connections between positive geometries, modern on-shell methods and bootstrap principles studied in the amplitudes community with the wavefunction of the Universe in toy models of FRW cosmologies. To compute these FRW correlators, one often faces integrals that are too difficult to evaluate by direct integration. Borrowing from the Feynman integral community, the method of (canonical) differential equations provides an efficient alternative for evaluating these integrals. Moreover, we further develop our geometric understanding of these integrals by describing the associated relative twisted cohomology. Leveraging recent progress in our understanding of relative twisted cohomology in the Feynman integral community, we give an algorithm to predict the basis size and simplify the computation of the differential equations satisfied by FRW correlators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Final Technical Report Project: Low-Energy Photonuclear Studies at HIGS and Lund

This report summarizes a program of low-energy photonuclear studies at MAX-Lab in Lund (Sweden) and at the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) at Duke University. A major emphasis has been on Compton scattering from deuterium in order to determine the electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the neutron. The studies at Lund utilized unpolarized photons at Egamma = 62-115 MeV to measure differential cross sections. The studies at HIGS utilized polarized and unpolarized photon beams (both linear and circular) at Egamma < 90 MeV. Polarization observables will be exploited to improve our understanding of the electric and magnetic polarizabilities, and in particular, double-polarization observables (using polarized targets) will be measured in the future to provide new information about the spin polarizabilities of the nucleon. The MAX-Lab experiments (using unpolarized photons) focused on an approved PAC proposal for Compton scattering on the deuteron aimed at making a precise determination of the electromagnetic polarizabilities of the neutron. At MAX-Lab we had three of the largest NaI detectors in the world, each capable of ~2% energy resolution. We have completed our measurements in two separate tagged photon energy ranges which overlap each other (62-97 MeV and 90-115 MeV) and the results of these experiments have been published. The photon beam at the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) has several distinct advantages that make it unique: (1) ultra-high photon flux, ultimately reaching 100 MHz, (2) 100% linearly polarized photon beam, as well as circular polarization, (3) monoenergetic beam, with ~2% energy resolution, and (4) extremely low-background beam environment. Exploiting the high flux and polarization capabilities of the HIGS photon beam is central in the series of experiments being performed at this facility. Very little data exist on Compton scattering using polarized photons. We will exploit clear sensitivities in the polarization observables to the electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon, and we will ultimately extend these studies to the investigation of the spin polarizabilities. To accomplish these objectives, a liquid hydrogen/deuterium/helium cryotarget has been constructed at HIGS, and an array of NaI detectors has been commissioned for Compton studies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Improving five-year survival prediction via multitask learning across HPV-related cancers

Oncology is a highly siloed field of research in which sub-disciplinary specialization has limited the amount of information shared between researchers of distinct cancer types. This can be attributed to legitimate differences in the physiology and carcinogenesis of cancers affecting distinct anatomical sites. However, underlying processes that are shared across seemingly disparate cancers probably affect prognosis. The objective of the current study is to investigate whether multitask learning improves 5-year survival cancer patient survival prediction by leveraging information across anatomically distinct HPV related cancers. Furthermore, data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program database. The study cohort consisted of 29,768 primary cancer cases diagnosed in the United States between 2004 and 2015. Ten different cancer diagnoses were selected, all with a known association with HPV risk. In the analysis, the cancer diagnoses were categorized into three distinct topography groups of varying specificity. The most specific topography grouping consisted of 10 original cancer diagnoses differentiated by the first two digits of the ICD-O-3 topography code. The second topography grouping consisted of cancer diagnoses categorized into six distinct organ groups. Finally, the third topography grouping consisted of just two groups, head-neck cancers and ano-genital cancers. The tasks were to predict 5-year survival for patients within the different topography groups using 14 predictive features which were selected among descriptive variables available in the SEER database. The information from the predictive features was shared between tasks in three different ways, resulting in three distinct predictive models: 1) Information was not shared between patients assigned to different tasks (single task learning); 2) Information was shared between all patients, regardless of task (pooled model); 3) Only relevant information was shared between patients grouped to different tasks (multitask learning). Prediction performance was evaluated with Brier scores. All three models were evaluated against one another on each of the three distinct topography-defined tasks. The results showed that multitask classifiers achieved relative improvement for the majority of the scenarios studied compared to single task learning and pooled baseline methods. In this study, we have demonstrated that sharing information among anatomically distinct cancer types can lead to improved predictive survival models.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Separate, separated, and together: the transcriptional program of the Clostridium acetobutylicum-Clostridium ljungdahlii syntrophy leading to interspecies cell fusion

ABSTRACT Syntrophic cocultures (hitherto assumed to be commensalistic) of Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium ljungdahlii , whereby CO 2 and H 2 produced by the former feed the latter, result in interspecies cell fusion involving large-scale exchange of protein, RNA, and DNA between the two organisms. Although mammalian cell fusion is mechanistically dissected, the mechanism for such microbial-cell fusions is unknown. To start exploring this mechanism, we used RNA sequencing to identify genes differentially expressed in this coculture using two types of comparisons. One type compared coculture to the two monocultures, capturing the combined impact of interactions through soluble signals in the medium and through direct cell-to-cell interactions. The second type compared membrane-separated versus -unseparated cocultures, isolating the impact of interspecies physical contact. While we could not firmly identify specific genes that might drive cell fusion, consistent with our hypothesized model for this interspecies microbial cell fusion, we observed differential regulation of genes involved in C. ljungdahlii’s autotrophic Wood-Ljungdahl pathway metabolism and genes of the motility machinery. Unexpectedly, we also identified differential regulation of biosynthetic genes of several amino acids, and notably of arginine and histidine. We verified that they are produced by C. acetobutylicum and are metabolized by C. ljungdahlii to its growth advantage. These and other findings, and notably upregulation of C. acetobutylicum ribosomal-protein genes, paint a more complex syntrophic picture and suggest a mutualistic relationship, whereby beyond CO 2 and H 2 , C. acetobutylicum feeds C. ljungdahlii with growth-boosting amino acids, while benefiting from the H 2 utilization by C. ljungdahlii . IMPORTANCE The construction and study of synthetic microbial cocultures is a growing research area due to the untapped potential of defined multi-species industrial bioprocesses and the utility of defined cocultures for generating insight into complex, undefined, natural microbial consortia. Our previous work showed that coculturing C. acetobutylicum and C. ljungdahlii leads to a unique metabolic phenotype (production of isopropanol) and heterologous cell fusion events. Here, we used RNAseq to explore genes involved in and impacted by these fusions. First, we compared gene expression in coculture to each monoculture. Second, we utilized a transwell system to compare gene expression in mixed cocultures to cocultures with both species physically separated by a permeable membrane, isolating the impact of interspecies “touching” on the transcriptome. This study deepens our mechanistic understanding of the C. acetobutylicum-C. ljungdahlii coculture phenotype, laying the groundwork for reverse genetic studies of heterologous cell fusion in Clostridium cocultures.

Willis, Noah B. (ORCID:0009000689365955)↗

Argyres-Douglas theories, chiral algebras and wild Hitchin characters

We use Coulomb branch indices of Argyres-Douglas theories on S 1 × L (k,1) to quantize moduli spaces $\mathcal{M}$ H of wild/irregular Hitchin systems. In particular, we obtain formulae for the “wild Hitchin characters” — the graded dimensions of the Hilbert spaces from quantization — for four infinite families of $\mathcal{M}$ H , giving access to many interesting geometric and topological data of these moduli spaces. We observe that the wild Hitchin characters can always be written as a sum over fixed points in $\mathcal{M}$ H under the U(1) Hitchin action, and a limit of them can be identified with matrix elements of the modular transform ST k S in certain two-dimensional chiral algebras. Although naturally fitting into the geometric Langlands program, the appearance of chiral algebras, which was known previously to be associated with Schur operators but not Coulomb branch operators, is somewhat surprising.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗