• Title/Summary/Keyword: Alabama

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Glutamate Receptor Abnormalities in Schizophrenia: Implications for Innovative Treatments

  • Rubio, Maria D.;Drummond, Jana B.;Meador-Woodruff, James H.
    • Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.1-18
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    • 2012
  • Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness that afflicts 1% of the population worldwide, resulting in substantial impact to patients, their families, and health care delivery systems. For many years, schizophrenia has been felt to be associated with dysregulated dopaminergic neurotransmission as a key feature of the pathophysiology of the illness. Although numerous studies point to dopaminergic abnormalities in schizophrenia, dopamine dysfunction cannot completely account for all of the symptoms seen in schizophrenia, and dopamine-based treatments are often inadequate and can be associated with serious side effects. More recently, converging lines of evidence have suggested that there are abnormalities of glutamate transmission in schizophrenia. Glutamatergic neurotransmission involves numerous molecules that facilitate glutamate release, receptor activation, glutamate reuptake, and other synaptic activities. Evidence for glutamatergic abnormalities in schizophrenia primarily has implicated the NMDA and AMPA subtypes of the glutamate receptor. The expression of these receptors and other molecules associated with glutamate neurotransmission has been systematically studied in the brain in schizophrenia. These studies have generally revealed region- and molecule-specifi c changes in glutamate receptor transcript and protein expression in this illness. Given that glutamatergic neurotransmission has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, recent drug development efforts have targeted the glutamate system. Much effort to date has focused on modulation of the NMDA receptor, although more recently other glutamate receptors and transporters have been the targets of drug development. These efforts have been promising thus far, and ongoing efforts to develop additional drugs that modulate glutamatergic neurotransmission are underway that may hold the potential for novel classes of more effective treatments for this serious psychiatric illness.

Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in Two Geologically Different Streams in Alabama, U.S.A. (미국 알라바마에서 지질학적으로 다른 두 하천의 Alkaline Phosphatase 활성도)

  • Joo, Gea-Jae;Ward, Amelia K.
    • The Korean Journal of Ecology
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.1-15
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    • 1995
  • Alakline phosphatase activity (AP A) as a phosphorus deficiency measurement in flowing waters and of microhabitats (rocks, wood, leaves, and sediments) was measured and its relationship to flux of nutrients and response to rainfall events were determined for two geologically different streams in west Alabama from August to November. Results indicated water column AP A in both streams had a low correlation with levels of orthophosphate, total organic phosphorus, nitrate, ammonia, dissolved organic carbon, and discharge (r=0.075-0.583; n=g-IU. Communities on rock surfaces showed a higher AP A level than those on wood and leaves. Sediment passed through a $106{\mu}m$ sieve showed 2-9 times higher AP A level than material passed through $425{\mu}m$ sieve. The first storm after drought at Yellow Creek introduced substantial quantities of DOC (2.5 times baseflow concentrations) and $N0_3-N$ (5.8 times baseflow concentrations) which did not affect AP A significantly. The second storm at Little Schultz Creek caused minor changes in nutrient cocentrations; however $N0_3-N$ levels and AP A were drastically lower due to the dilution effect. Retention of stream water AP A at Yellow Creek and Little Schultz Creek on $0.45{\mu}m$ filter (54 and 43%, respectively) and $0.22{\mu}m$ (83 and 77% of total APA. respectively) indicated more free dissolved portion of the enzyme was present at Little Schultz Creek. Little Schultz Creek (with carbonate and with a higher productivity and biomass) showed a consistantly greater AP A activity $(132{\pm}54\;{\mu}M{\cdot}1^{-1}{\cdot}min^{-I};\;n=g)$ than Yellow Creek $(41{\pm}23\;{\mu}M{\cdot}1^{-I}{\cdot}min^{-I}$, with a sandstone substrate; n=l1, $p{\leq}O.OO1)$. Overall, a greater APA on all microhabitats and the presence of more dissolved enzyme in Little Schultz Creek during the study period may indicates it is more P deficient than Yellow Creek.

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Real-time model updating for magnetorheological damper identification: an experimental study

  • Song, Wei;Hayati, Saeid;Zhou, Shanglian
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.20 no.5
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    • pp.619-636
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    • 2017
  • Magnetorheological (MR) damper is a type of controllable device widely used in vibration mitigation. This device is highly nonlinear, and exhibits strongly hysteretic behavior that is dependent on both the motion imposed on the device and the strength of the surrounding electromagnetic field. An accurate model for understanding and predicting the nonlinear damping force of the MR damper is crucial for its control applications. The MR damper models are often identified off-line by conducting regression analysis using data collected under constant voltage. In this study, a MR damper model is integrated with a model for the power supply unit (PSU) to consider the dynamic behavior of the PSU, and then a real-time nonlinear model updating technique is proposed to accurately identify this integrated MR damper model with the efficiency that cannot be offered by off-line methods. The unscented Kalman filter is implemented as the updating algorithm on a cyber-physical model updating platform. Using this platform, the experimental study is conducted to identify MR damper models in real-time, under in-service conditions with time-varying current levels. For comparison purposes, both off-line and real-time updating methods are applied in the experimental study. The results demonstrate that all the updated models can provide good identification accuracy, but the error comparison shows the real-time updated models yield smaller relative errors than the off-line updated model. In addition, the real-time state estimates obtained during the model updating can be used as feedback for potential nonlinear control design for MR dampers.

Physiological Data Monitoring of Physical Exertion of Construction Workers Using Exoskeleton in Varied Temperatures

  • Ibrahim, Abdullahi;Okpala, Ifeanyi;Nnaji, Chukwuma
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2022.06a
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    • pp.1242-1242
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    • 2022
  • Annually, several construction workers fall ill, are injured, or die due to heat-related exposure. The prevalence of work-related heat illness may rise and become an issue for workers operating in temperate climates, given the increase in frequency and intensity of heatwaves in the US. An increase in temperature negatively impacts physical exertion levels and mental state, thereby increasing the potential of accidents on the job site. To reduce the impact of heat stress on workers, it is critical to develop and implement measures for monitoring physical exertion levels and mental state in hot conditions. For this, limited studies have evaluated the utility of wearable biosensors in measuring physical exertion and mental workload in hot conditions. In addition, most studies focus solely on male participants, with little to no reference to female workers who may be exposed to greater heat stress risk. Therefore, this study aims to develop a process for objective and continuous assessment of worker physical exertion and mental workload using wearable biosensors. Physiological data were collected from eight (four male and four female) participants performing a simulated drilling task at 92oF and about 50% humidity level. After removing signal artifacts from the data using multiple filtering processes, the data was compared to a perceived muscle exertion scale and mental workload scale. Results indicate that biosensors' features can effectively detect the change in worker physical and mental state in hot conditions. Therefore, wearable biosensors provide a feasible and effective opportunity to continuously assess worker physical exertion and mental workload.

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BIFURCATION OF BOUNDED SOLUTIONS OF ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

  • Ward, James--Robert
    • Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society
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    • v.37 no.5
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    • pp.707-720
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    • 2000
  • Conley index is used study bifurcation from equilibria of full bounded solutions to parameter dependent families of ordinary differential equations of the form {{{{ {dx} over {dt} }}}} =$\varepsilon$F(x, t, $\mu$). It is assumed that F(x, t,$\mu$) is uniformly almost periodic in t.

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A HYBRID VOLTERRA-TYPE EQUATION WITH TWO TYPES OF IMPULSES

  • Belbas S.A.;Park Jong-Seo
    • The Pure and Applied Mathematics
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    • v.13 no.2 s.32
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    • pp.121-136
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    • 2006
  • We formulate and analyze a hybrid system model that involves Volterra integral operators with multiple integrals and two types of impulsive terms. We give a constructive proof, via an iteration method, of existence and uniqueness of solutions.

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