Bang-Bang Optimal Control of Large Spin Systems: Enhancement of 13^{13}C-13^{13}C Singlet-Order at Natural Abundance

Using a Bang-Bang optimal control (BB) technique, we transfer polarization from abundant high-$\gamma$ nuclei directly to singlet order. This approach is analogous to algorithmic cooling (AC) procedure used in quantum state purification. Specifically, we apply this method for enhancing the singlet order in a natural abundant $^{13}$C-$^{13}$C spin pair using a set of nine equivalent protons of an 11-spin system. Compared to the standard method not involving polarization transfer, we find an enhancement of singlet order by about three times. In addition, since the singlet magnetization is contributed by the faster relaxing protons, the recycle delay is halved. Thus effectively we observe a sensitivity enhancement by 4.2 times or a reduction in the overall experimental time by a factor of 18. We also discuss a possible extension of AC, known as heat-bath algorithmic cooling (HBAC).Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Supply Portfolio Concentration in Outsourced Knowledge-Based Services

In the extant vertical integration literature, the question of how the firm's portfolio of outsourced work is managed across suppliers has been relatively understudied. We seek to advance this area of research by examining factors that influence how concentrated the firm's outsourcing is among its set of suppliers. Using data on the outsourcing of patent legal services, we find empirical evidence that outsourced knowledge-based service work is concentrated in the hands of fewer suppliers when: (1) it requires greater firm-specific knowledge; (2) there is a higher level of interrelatedness across outsourced projects; (3) the firm's reliance on outsourcing is high; (4) its outsourced projects are focused on a narrower (capability) domain; and (5) the technological dynamism of this domain is low. Our study suggests that examining portfolio-level phenomena in outsourcing is a useful complement to the predominant focus on transaction-level outcomes in prior research because it provides insights into how firms manage tradeoffs across their entire set of outsourced projects.

Application of Geographic Information System For Irrigation Management

Water plays an important role in crop production. A good irrigation water management system has to be provided to give adequate and timely supply of water to improve the crop production. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to have adequate water source, a good conveyance system, a good distribution system and a strong database to store all the required data. Improved management can be achieved when the study area has been provided with a good database to store the real time data according to the seasons that will help the users and the decision makers to make a firm decision with respect to the management aspect. Visual Basic and GIS can greatly help to achieve efficient water management. The Tanjung Karang Rice Irrigation Project in Northwest Selangor Malaysia was selected for this study and three compartments Sawah Sempadan, Sungai Burong and Sungai Nipah were considered for the study. The Visual Basic program designed in this study with several screens provides unique results based on the water management. The program was designed, tested and the results stored in MS-Access database. This study concentrates on creating an irrigation water management database and providing a user-friendly on-farm decision support system to benefit the farmers and the farm managers. Critical solutions can be achieved by creating a useful database for irrigation management. The designed database can store, edit, update and delete the data records whenever necessary. The GIS user interface for the irrigation system promIses to provide comprehensible results to improve the decision making process in the operation and management of the scheme. MapInfo Professional Software 5.0 was used to digitize the Tanjung Karang study area. The digitized maps were exported from MapInfo to ArcView GIS 3.1 using Universal Translator. ArcView GIS 3.1 was used for analysis and the results shown in the form of thematic maps, tables, graphs and charts to benefit the users and decision makers involve with irrigation water management

Effective usage of e-resources

There is large quantity of subscribed e-resources which contain quality rich information in most of the technical institute libraries. In spite of advantages in terms of access and search capabilities, they are underused. Systematic plan has to be in place for their promotion of use. While a good ICT infrastructure is a prerequisite, it alone will not do. Proactive strategies are required and these need to be adopted imaginatively. Access to e-resources need to be made easier for both on campus and off campus users. Training will increase the confidence level of the users. Traditional awareness methods include: Personal visits, orientations, brochures, posters and displays. Newer technologies from the Web 2.0 such as RSS alert service, Blogs, Wikis and Face book make the interaction with the library not only interesting but also add more value

TinkerCell: Modular CAD Tool for Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology brings together concepts and techniques from engineering and biology. In this field, computer-aided design (CAD) is necessary in order to bridge the gap between computational modeling and biological data. An application named TinkerCell has been created in order to serve as a CAD tool for synthetic biology. TinkerCell is a visual modeling tool that supports a hierarchy of biological parts. Each part in this hierarchy consists of a set of attributes that define the part, such as sequence or rate constants. Models that are constructed using these parts can be analyzed using various C and Python programs that are hosted by TinkerCell via an extensive C and Python API. TinkerCell supports the notion of a module, which are networks with interfaces. Such modules can be connected to each other, forming larger modular networks. Because TinkerCell associates parameters and equations in a model with their respective part, parts can be loaded from databases along with their parameters and rate equations. The modular network design can be used to exchange modules as well as test the concept of modularity in biological systems. The flexible modeling framework along with the C and Python API allows TinkerCell to serve as a host to numerous third-party algorithms. TinkerCell is a free and open-source project under the Berkeley Software Distribution license. Downloads, documentation, and tutorials are available at www.tinkercell.com.Comment: 23 pages, 20 figure

Psychosocial Effects of a Holistic Ayurvedic Approach to Well-being in Health and Wellness Courses.

BackgroundAs individuals are increasingly attending health and wellness courses outside of the conventional medical system, there is a need to obtain objective data on the effects of those programs on well-being.MethodsIn total, 154 men and women (mean age 54.7 years; range 25-83) participated in 3 different holistic wellness programs based on Ayurvedic Medicine principles (Seduction of Spirit, Journey into Healing, and Perfect Health) or a vacation control group. Psychosocial outcomes included spirituality (Delaney Spirituality Scale), mindful awareness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale), psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire), mood (Center for Epidemiology Studies-Depression), and anxiety (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement System Anxiety Scale).ResultsParticipants in the Seduction of Spirit (P < .004), Journey into Healing (P < .05), and Perfect Health (P < .004) courses showed significant increases in spirituality as compared to vacation controls. Participants in Seduction of Spirit (P < .007) also showed significant increases in mindfulness as compared to vacation controls. Participants in the Seduction of Spirit (P < .001) and Journey into Healing (P < .05) courses showed significant decreases in depressed mood as compared to those in the Perfect Health and vacation control groups. All study participants showed similar increases in psychological flexibility (P < .01) and decreases in anxiety (P < .01).ConclusionParticipation in wellness courses that incorporate a mind-body-spirit approach to health improves multiple domains of psychosocial well-being, which persists even after course participation

Androgen receptor-dependent and -independent mechanisms driving prostate cancer progression: Opportunities for therapeutic targeting from multiple angles.

Despite aggressive treatment for localized cancer, prostate cancer (PC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related death for American men due to a subset of patients progressing to lethal and incurable metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Organ-confined PC is treated by surgery or radiation with or without androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), while options for locally advanced and disseminated PC include radiation combined with ADT, or systemic treatments including chemotherapy. Progression to CRPC results from failure of ADT, which targets the androgen receptor (AR) signaling axis and inhibits AR-driven proliferation and survival pathways. The exact mechanisms underlying the transition from androgen-dependent PC to CRPC remain incompletely understood. Reactivation of AR has been shown to occur in CRPC despite depletion of circulating androgens by ADT. At the same time, the presence of AR-negative cell populations in CRPC has also been identified. While AR signaling has been proposed as the primary driver of CRPC, AR-independent signaling pathways may represent additional mechanisms underlying CRPC progression. Identification of new therapeutic strategies to target both AR-positive and AR-negative PC cell populations and, thereby, AR-driven as well as non-AR-driven PC cell growth and survival mechanisms would provide a two-pronged approach to eliminate CRPC cells with potential for synthetic lethality. In this review, we provide an overview of AR-dependent and AR-independent molecular mechanisms which drive CRPC, with special emphasis on the role of the Jak2-Stat5a/b signaling pathway in promoting castrate-resistant growth of PC through both AR-dependent and AR-independent mechanisms

Single-cell analysis of cardiogenesis reveals basis for organ-level developmental defects.

Organogenesis involves integration of diverse cell types; dysregulation of cell-type-specific gene networks results in birth defects, which affect 5% of live births. Congenital heart defects are the most common malformations, and result from disruption of discrete subsets of cardiac progenitor cells1, but the transcriptional changes in individual progenitors that lead to organ-level defects remain unknown. Here we used single-cell RNA sequencing to interrogate early cardiac progenitor cells as they become specified during normal and abnormal cardiogenesis, revealing how dysregulation of specific cellular subpopulations has catastrophic consequences. A network-based computational method for single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis that predicts lineage-specifying transcription factors2,3 identified Hand2 as a specifier of outflow tract cells but not right ventricular cells, despite the failure of right ventricular formation in Hand2-null mice4. Temporal single-cell-transcriptome analysis of Hand2-null embryos revealed failure of outflow tract myocardium specification, whereas right ventricular myocardium was specified but failed to properly differentiate and migrate. Loss of Hand2 also led to dysregulation of retinoic acid signalling and disruption of anterior-posterior patterning of cardiac progenitors. This work reveals transcriptional determinants that specify fate and differentiation in individual cardiac progenitor cells, and exposes mechanisms of disrupted cardiac development at single-cell resolution, providing a framework for investigating congenital heart defects