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At least 451 records · Page 25

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DOE OSTI2025

Generalized parton distributions and gravitational form factors at large momentum transfer

Within the soft collinear effective theory (SCET), we derive a factorization theorem which resums Sudakov logarithms (α s ln 2 ( –t)) n to all orders in the quark-in-quark generalized parton distribution (GPD) at large momentum transfer t, and perform a consistency check to one-loop. We show that the same Sudakov factor appears in the ‘Feynman’ contribution to the GPDs of the nucleon. Our result enables the resummation of all the large logarithms ln Q 2 and ln 2 t in exclusive processes with two hard scales Λ$^{2}_{QCD}$ ≪ |t| ≪ Q 2 . We also present a SCET power counting analysis of the Feynman contributions to the GPDs and show that the x-dependence of GPDs factorizes at large-t with controlled corrections. This in particular implies that any ratio of GPD moments such as the electromagnetic and gravitational form factors (GFF) is perturbatively calculable in this approximation. Furthermore, we identify a novel order α s power-law t-dependence in the GPD and the D-type GFF that will dominate over the standard order α$^{2}_{s}$ ‘leading twist’ asymptotic contribution in the phenomenologically relevant region of t.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Evaluation of Plastic “Eta” Factor for Welds of SS316L(N) with High Strength Mismatch Ratio

Fracture testing standards of ASTM and ISO recommend expressions for plastic η factor of various fracture test specimen geometries to evaluate the fracture behavior of materials. These are intended for homogenous specimens, but according to ISO 15653, it can be extended for weldments up to a strength mismatch ratio (M) of 1.25. In practice, M > 1.25 is encountered in many applications. In the present study, η factor has been evaluated for welded compact tension specimens using a limit load-based approach. The η factors obtained using this approach for homogenous specimens with elastic–perfectly plastic material model are found to be within ± 4% of those from the ASTM E 1820-17a, thereby validating the procedure. For welds, the limit load is obtained from nonlinear (elastic–plastic) FE simulations. η factors for specimens with various crack lengths (a), weld width (h) and strength mismatch have been evaluated and found to be significantly influenced by these parameters. For M > 1.25, the estimated η values were found to be ~ 16% lower compared to that from the ASTM E 1820-17a. Thus, the use of the η values from the proposed method provides a conservative estimate of J–R curve for the welds. Further, it has been observed that depending on the slope of the blunting line, the J{sub Ic} value may vary significantly with the estimated η values.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

The transcription factor Prep1 controls hepatic insulin sensitivity and gluconeogenesis by targeting nuclear localization of FOXO1

Liver plays a key role in controlling body carbohydrate homeostasis by switching between accumulation and production of glucose and this way maintaining constant level of glucose in blood. Increased blood glucose level triggers release of insulin from pancreatic β-cells. Insulin represses hepatic glucose production and increases glucose accumulation. Insulin resistance is the main cause of type 2 diabetes and hyperglycemia. Currently thiazolidinediones (TZDs) targeting transcriptional factor PPARγ are used as insulin sensitizers for treating patients with type 2 diabetes. However, TZDs are reported to be associated with cardiovascular and liver problems and stimulate obesity. Thus, it is necessary to search new approaches to improve insulin sensitivity. A promising candidate is transcriptional factor Prep1, as it was shown earlier it could affect insulin sensitivity in variety of insulin-sensitive tissues. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible involvement of transcriptional factor Prep1 in control of hepatic glucose accumulation and production. We created mice with liver-specific Prep1 knockout and discovered that hepatocytes derived from these mice are much more sensitive to insulin, comparing to their WT littermates. Incubation of these cells with 100 nM insulin results in almost complete inhibition of gluconeogenesis, while in WT cells this repression is only partial. However, Prep1 doesn't affect gluconeogenesis in the absence of insulin. Also, we observed that nuclear content of gluconeogenic transcription factor FOXO1 was greatly reduced in Prep1 knockout hepatocytes. These findings suggest that Prep1 may control hepatic insulin sensitivity by targeting FOXO1 nuclear stability. - Highlights: • A novel model of liver-specific Prep1 knockout is established. • Ablation of Prep1 in hepatocytes increases insulin sensitivity. • Prep1 controls hepatic insulin sensitivity by regulating localization of FOXO1. • Prep1 regulates localization of FOXO1 via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

MiR-141-3p promotes prostate cancer cell proliferation through inhibiting kruppel-like factor-9 expression

Evidence has revealed that some microRNAs play a critical role in tumor proliferation. We demonstrated that miR-141-3p appears to be a novel oncogene miRNA, which promotes prostate tumorigenesis and facilitates the stemness of prostate cancer cells via suppressing a key transcription factor kruppel-like factor-9 (KLF9). KLF9 is the core effector protein that might suppress tumor growth. MiR-141-3p is upregulated in prostate cancer cells and tissues compared to non-tumorigenic prostate epithelial cells and prostate tissues. MiR-141-3p positively regulated proliferation, spheroid formation, and expression of the stemness factors OCT-4, Nanog, SOX-9, Bmil, CCND1, and CD44 in PC-3 cells. Restoration of miR-141-3p suppresses the expression of the transcription factor KLF9 in PC-3 and accelerates prostate tumorigenesis via targeted binding with its 3′-UTR. Downregulation of KLF9 enhances spheres formation of prostate cancer cells. Our results suggest that miR-141-3p/KLF9 may play an important role in regulating the growth of prostate cancer and is a potential target of prevention and therapy. - Highlights: • MiR-141-3p is upregulated in human prostate cancer. • MiR-141-3p induces cell proliferation and apoptosis resistance. • KLF9 is a direct and functional target of miR-141-3p.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Inhibition of tissue factor signaling in breast tumour xenografts induces widespread changes in the microRNA expression profile

Highlights: • Clotting protein, tissue factor (TF) mediates intracellular signalling in cancer. • Selective inhibition of TF signalling exerts potent anticancer effect in mice. • Inhibition of TF signalling changes the tumour miR expression profile in vivo. • MiRs altered by blockade of TF signalling share common biological pathways. Tissue factor (TF) is a transmembrane receptor for coagulation factor VII/VIIa and is frequently overexpressed by cancer cells. The TF/VIIa complex acts as the main initiator of the clotting cascade in blood and a trigger of intracellular signaling that changes gene expression and the cellular phenotype. However, pathways mediating these changes are still poorly characterized and especially the impact of TF signals on regulatory microRNA (miR) networks in cancer remains unknown. We show that the monoclonal antibody that selectively neutralises the signaling (but not coagulant) function of human TF (CNTO 2559) inhibits progression of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer xenografts in mice and prolongs animal survival. CNTO 2559 blocks FVIIa-induced expression of interleukin 8 (IL-8) by cancer cells without impacting factor Xa (FXa) generation. Notably, acute exposure of MDA-MB-231 tumour xenografts to CNTO 2559 systemic injections triggers wide spread changes in the tumour miR profile including alterations in 75 miRs (55 downregulated) and impacting several miR-regulated and cancer-related pathways. These results suggest that TF signaling in the tumour microenvironment may provoke vast changes in the miR profile of cancer cells, affect disease biology, and reflect tumour interaction with the coagulation system, thereby presenting itself as a possible biomarker.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2018

Kruppel-like factor 4 regulates keratinocyte senescence

Highlights: • KLF4 is down-regulated in keratinocytes senescence and physiological skin aging. • Down-regulation of KLF4 triggers keratinocytes senescence. • KLF4 mRNA is a direct miR-34a target. • Ectopic expression of miR-34a induces keratinocytes senescence. Keratinocyte replicative senescence has an important role in time-related changes of epidermis. Previous studies demonstrated that miRNAs play key roles in inhibiting proliferation and in the acquisition of the keratinocyte senescent phenotype as well as in individual ageing. Kruppel-like factor 4 is a transcription factor with dual functions in keratinocytes, being a stemness factor and a pro-differentiation factor. Interestingly, in skin squamous cell carcinomas KLF4 expression is strongly down-regulated or absent. While KLF4 involvement in senescence and ageing has not been investigated yet. Here, we show that Klf4 protein decreases during keratinocyte replicative senescence and during physiological skin aging, while its mRNA level does not change. We demonstrated that the senescence-associated miR-34a regulates post-transcriptionally Klf4 expression. KLF4 silencing is sufficient to induce a senescent phenotype in primary keratinocytes and ectopic miR-34a over-expression phenocopies this result. Our findings identify a novel regulatory loop between miR-34a and KLF4 during keratinocytes replicative senescence. This regulatory loop, beside aging, may play a role in age-related pathologies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Systematic identification of transcriptional activation domains from non-transcription factor proteins in plants and yeast

Transcription factors can promote gene expression through activation domains. Whole-genome screens have systematically mapped activation domains in transcription factors but not in non-transcription factor proteins (e.g., chromatin regulators and coactivators). To fill this knowledge gap, we employed the activation domain predictor PADDLE to analyze the proteomes of Arabidopsis thaliana and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We screened 18,000 predicted activation domains from >800 non-transcription factor genes in both species, confirming that 89% of candidate proteins contain active fragments. Our work enables the annotation of hundreds of nuclear proteins as putative coactivators, many of which have never been ascribed any function in plants. Analysis of peptide sequence compositions reveals how the distribution of key amino acids dictates activity. Finally, we validated short, "universal" activation domains with comparable performance to state-of-the-art activation domains used for genome engineering. Our approach enables the genome-wide discovery and annotation of activation domains that can function across diverse eukaryotes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Basker: Parallel sparse LU factorization utilizing hierarchical parallelism and data layouts

Transient simulation in circuit simulation tools, such as SPICE and Xyce, depend on scalable and robust sparse LU factorizations for efficient numerical simulation of circuits and power grids. As the need for simulations of very large circuits grow, the prevalence of multicore architectures enable us to use shared memory parallel algorithms for such simulations. A parallel factorization is a critical component of such shared memory parallel simulations. We develop a parallel sparse factorization algorithm that can solve problems from circuit simulations efficiently, and map well to architectural features. This new factorization algorithm exposes hierarchical parallelism to accommodate irregular structure that arise in our target problems. It also uses a hierarchical two-dimensional data layout which reduces synchronization costs and maps to memory hierarchy found in multicore processors. We present an OpenMP based implementation of the parallel algorithm in a new multithreaded solver called Basker in the Trilinos framework. Here, we present performance evaluations of Basker on the Intel SandyBridge and Xeon Phi platforms using circuit and power grid matrices taken from the University of Florida sparse matrix collection and from Xyce circuit simulation. Basker achieves a geometric mean speedup of 5.91× on CPU (16 cores) and 7.4× on Xeon Phi (32 cores) relative to state-of-the-art solver KLU. Basker outperforms Intel MKL Pardiso solver (PMKL) by as much as 30× on CPU (16 cores) and 7.5× on Xeon Phi (32 cores) for low fill-in circuit matrices. Furthermore, Basker provides 5.4× speedup on a challenging matrix sequence taken from an actual Xyce simulation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2016

Environmental contaminants and microRNA regulation: Transcription factors as regulators of toxicant-altered microRNA expression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by binding mRNA and inhibiting translation and/or inducing degradation of the associated transcripts. Expression levels of miRNAs have been shown to be altered in response to environmental toxicants, thus impacting cellular function and influencing disease risk. Transcription factors (TFs) are known to be altered in response to environmental toxicants and play a critical role in the regulation of miRNA expression. To date, environmentally-responsive TFs that are important for regulating miRNAs remain understudied. In a state-of-the-art analysis, we utilized an in silico bioinformatic approach to characterize potential transcriptional regulators of environmentally-responsive miRNAs. Using the miRStart database, genomic sequences of promoter regions for all available human miRNAs (n = 847) were identified and promoter regions were defined as − 1000/+500 base pairs from the transcription start site. Subsequently, the promoter region sequences of environmentally-responsive miRNAs (n = 128) were analyzed using enrichment analysis to determine overrepresented TF binding sites (TFBS). While most (56/73) TFs differed across environmental contaminants, a set of 17 TFs was enriched for promoter binding among miRNAs responsive to numerous environmental contaminants. Of these, one TF was common to miRNAs altered by the majority of environmental contaminants, namely SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily A, member 3 (SMARCA3). These identified TFs represent candidate common transcriptional regulators of miRNAs perturbed by environmental toxicants. - Highlights: • Transcription factors that regulate environmentally-modulated miRNA expression are understudied • Transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) located within DNA promoter regions of miRNAs were identified. • Specific transcription factors may serve as master regulators of environmentally-mediated microRNA expression.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2018

Differential transcription factor expression by human epithelial cells of buccal and urothelial derivation

Identification of transcription factors expressed by differentiated cells is informative not only of tissue-specific pathways, but to help identify master regulators for cellular reprogramming. If applied, such an approach could generate healthy autologous tissue-specific cells for clinical use where cells from the homologous tissue are unavailable due to disease. Normal human epithelial cells of buccal and urothelial derivation maintained in identical culture conditions that lacked significant instructive or permissive signaling cues were found to display inherent similarities and differences of phenotype. Investigation of transcription factors implicated in driving urothelial-type differentiation revealed buccal epithelial cells to have minimal or absent expression of PPARG, GATA3 and FOXA1 genes. Retroviral overexpression of protein coding sequences for GATA3 or PPARy1 in buccal epithelial cells resulted in nuclear immunolocalisation of the respective proteins, with both transductions also inducing expression of the urothelial differentiation-associated claudin 3 tight junction protein. PPARG1 overexpression alone entrained expression of nuclear FOXA1 and GATA3 proteins, providing objective evidence of its upstream positioning in a transcription factor network and identifying it as a candidate factor for urothelial-type transdifferentiation or reprogramming.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

Buried Hydrogen Bond Interactions Contribute to the High Potency of Complement Factor D Inhibitors

Aberrant activation of the complement system is associated with diseases, including paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and age-related macular degeneration. Complement factor D is the rate-limiting enzyme for activating the alternative pathway in the complement system. Recent development led to a class of potent amide containing pyrrolidine derived factor D inhibitors. Here, we used biochemical enzymatic and biolayer interferometry assays to demonstrate that the amide group improves the inhibitor potency by more than 80-fold. Our crystal structures revealed buried hydrogen bond interactions are important. Molecular orbital analysis from quantum chemistry calculations dissects the chemical groups participating in these interactions. Free energy calculation supports the differential contributions of the amide group to the binding affinities of these inhibitors. Cell-based hemolysis assay confirmed these compounds inhibit factor D mediated complement activation via the alternative pathway. Our study highlights the important interactions contributing to the high potency of factor D inhibitors reported recently.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2016

Dispersion of the electron g factor anisotropy in InAs/InP self-assembled quantum dots

The electron g factor in an ensemble of InAs/InP quantum dots with emission wavelengths around 1.4 μm is measured using time-resolved pump-probe Faraday rotation spectroscopy in different magnetic field orientations. Thereby, we can extend recent single dot photoluminescence measurements significantly towards lower optical transition energies through 0.86 eV. This allows us to obtain detailed insight into the dispersion of the recently discovered g factor anisotropy in these infrared emitting quantum dots. We find with decreasing transition energy over a range of 50 meV a strong enhancement of the g factor difference between magnetic field normal and along the dot growth axis, namely, from 1 to 1.7. We argue that the g factor cannot be solely determined by the confinement energy, but the dot asymmetry underlying this anisotropy therefore has to increase with increasing dot size.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2018

Extending the limits of powder diffraction analysis: diffraction parameter space, occupancy defects, and atomic form factors

Although the determination of site occupancies is often a major goal in Rietveld refinement studies, the accurate refinement of site occupancies is exceptionally challenging due to the many correlations and systematic errors that have a hidden impact on the final refined occupancy parameters. Through the comparison of results independently obtained from neutron and synchrotron powder diffraction, improved approaches capable of detecting occupancy defects with an exceptional sensitivity of 0.1% (absolute) in the class of layered NMC Li-ion battery cathode materials have been developed. A new method of visualizing the diffraction parameter space associated with crystallographic site scattering power through the use of f* diagrams is described and this method is broadly applicable to ternary compounds. The f* diagrams allow the global minimum fit to be easily identified and also permit a robust determination of the number and type of occupancy defects within a structure. Through a comparison of neutron and X-ray diffraction results, a systematic error in the synchrotron results was identified using f* diagrams for a series of NMC compounds. Using neutron diffraction data as a reference, this error was shown to specifically result from problems associated with the neutral oxygen X-ray atomic form factor and could be eliminated by using the ionic O 2- form factor for this anion while retaining the neutral form factors for cationic species. The f* diagram method offers a new opportunity to experimentally assess the quality of atomic form factors through powder diffraction studies on chemically related multi-component compounds.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Spectroscopic factors in dripline nuclei

Single-nucleon knockout reaction studies of the proton-dripline nuclei 9 C and 13 O suggest an appreciable suppression of spectroscopic factors. In this work, we calculate the one-neutron and one-proton spectroscopic factors for the mirror pair 9 C – 9 Li and 13 O using two variants of the continuum shell model: the complex-energy Gamow shell model and the real-energy shell model embedded in the continuum. Furthermore, our results indicate that the continuum effects strongly suppress the spectroscopic factors of well-bound orbits in the dripline systems but have less impact on the spectroscopic factors of weakly bound states.

6 ≤ A ≤ 19↗

DOE OSTI2023

Gravitational form factors of nuclei in the Skyrme model

Here, we compute the gravitational form factor D(t) of various nuclei in the generalized Skyrme model where nuclei are described as solitonic field configurations each with a definite baryon number B. We separately discuss the cases B = 1 (nucleons), B = 2 (deuteron), B = 3 (helium-3 and tritium), and extrapolate to larger B-values. Configurations with B > 1 are in general not spherically symmetric, and we demonstrate how group theory helps to extract the form factor. Numerical results are presented for the configurations with B = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 32, 108. We find that the B-dependence is consistent with a power-law D(0) ∝ B β with β = 1.7–1.8. Other gravitational form factors can be calculated in the same framework, and we show the result for the J(t) form factor associated with the angular momentum for the B = 3 solution.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Relating transverse-momentum-dependent and collinear factorization theorems in a generalized formalism

We construct an improved implementation for combining transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) factorization and collinear factorization. TMD factorization is suitable for low transverse momentum physics, while collinear factorization is suitable for high transverse momenta and for a cross section integrated over transverse momentum. The result is a modified version of the standard W+Y prescription traditionally used in the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism and related approaches. Here, we further argue that questions regarding the shape and Q dependence of the cross sections at lower Q are largely governed by the matching to the Y term.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

𝐵 → 𝜌⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ Resonance Form Factors from 𝐵→ 𝜋⁢𝜋⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ in Lattice QCD

The decay 𝐵 → 𝜌⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ is an attractive process for determining the magnitude of the smallest Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element, |𝑉 𝑢⁢𝑏 |, and can provide new insights into the origin of the long-standing exclusive-inclusive discrepancy in determinations of this standard-model parameter. This requires a nonperturbative QCD calculation of the 𝐵 → 𝜌 form factors 𝑉, 𝐴 0 , 𝐴 1 , and 𝐴 12 . The unstable nature of the 𝜌 resonance has prevented precise lattice QCD calculations of these form factors to date. Here, we present the first lattice QCD calculation of the 𝐵 → 𝜌 form factors in which the 𝜌 is treated properly as a resonance in 𝑃-wave 𝜋⁢𝜋 scattering. To this end, we use the Lellouch-Lüscher finite-volume formalism to compute the 𝐵 → 𝜋⁢𝜋 form factors as a function of both momentum transfer and 𝜋⁢𝜋 invariant mass, and then analytically continue to the 𝜌 resonance pole. This calculation is performed with 2 + 1 dynamical quark flavors at a pion mass of approximately 320 MeV, and demonstrates a clear path toward results at the physical point.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Estimation of Participation Factors Using the Synchrosqueezed Wavelet Transform

This paper proposes a data-driven approach for estimating participation factors for a power system using only simulation results on selected disturbances. The approach is purely response-based and does not need a linearized system model for eigen-analysis, which makes it applicable to systems whose detailed, complete mathematical models are not available. Considering the unavoidable nonlinearity as exhibited in the transient period of a system response, the Synchrosqueezed Wavelet Transform is applied to simulated responses for modal analysis to obtain participation factors. Based on simulations of Kundur's two-area system using both the electromagnetic transient model and phasor model, the participation factors estimated by the proposed approach are compared with two other signal processing tools, the Prony analysis and continuous wavelet transform, and are also benchmarked with conventional model-based participation factors.

participation factor↗