Upregulation of Anti-Oxidative Stress Response Improves Metabolic Changes in L-Selectin-Deficient Mice but Does Not Prevent NAFLD Progression or Fecal Microbiota Shifts

(1) Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing global health problem. NAFLD progression involves a complex interplay of imbalanced inflammatory cell populations and inflammatory signals such as reactive oxygen species and cytokines. These signals can derive from the liver itself but also from adipose tissue or be mediated via changes in the gut microbiome. We analyzed the effects of a simultaneous migration blockade caused by L-selectin-deficiency and an enhancement of the anti-oxidative stress response triggered by hepatocytic Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) deletion on NAFLD progression. (2) Methods: L-selectin-deficient mice (Lsel^−/−Keap1^flx/flx) and littermates with selective hepatic Keap1 deletion (Lsel^−/−Keap1^Δhepa) were compared in a 24-week Western-style diet (WD) model. (3) Results: Lsel^−/−Keap1^Δhepa mice exhibited increased expression of erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) target genes in the liver, decreased body weight, reduced epidydimal white adipose tissue with decreased immune cell frequencies, and improved glucose response when compared to their Lsel^−/−Keap1^flx/flx littermates. Although WD feeding caused drastic changes in fecal microbiota profiles with decreased microbial diversity, no genotype-dependent shifts were observed. (4) Conclusions: Upregulation of the anti-oxidative stress response improves metabolic changes in L-selectin-deficient mice but does not prevent NAFLD progression and shifts in the gut microbiota.     

Modeling the Effects of Pit Corner Geometry on Magnetic Flux Leakage Signals

Three-dimensional magnetic finite element analysis (FEA) has been used to simulate the effects of different pit corner geometries on magnetic flux leakage (MFL) signals. The pit corner geometries studied fall into three main categories: right angle, smooth triangular, and smooth round. These geometries are simulated using rectangular grooves and circular pits in steel plate. The axial and radial components of the MFL signal are obtained on the topside as well as the underside of the steel plate. Both the peak position and the peak height/depth of the MFL signal were found to be influenced by the sharpness of the pit corner. In general, the underside axial MFL peaks shifted toward the center of the pit, and their height increased with decreasing sharpness of the corner. For the underside radial MFL peaks, there was an appreciable peak shift; however, the change in peak height was insignificant. However, the peak height depends strongly on pit depth. The topside results were only slightly different from the underside. Despite some changes in MFL signal position and form, it was concluded that in practical inspection situations these changes would be relatively small and difficult to quantify.     

Data scarcity,robustness and extreme multi-label classification

Machine Learning - The goal in extreme multi-label classification (XMC) is to learn a classifier which can assign a small subset of relevant labels to an instance from an extremely large set of...     

Hot-pressed Mn-Zn-Ni and Mn-Zn-Co ferrites for magnetic recordingheads

Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ substituted Mn-Zn ferrites have been developed as high-density magnetic recording materials by hot pressing using optimum sintering parameters. Ferrite series of the composition Mn_0.6Zn_0.4-xNi_xFe₂ O₄ and Mn_0.6Zn_0.4-yCo_yFe₂O₄ were prepared by the hot-pressing technique wherein x and y varied from 0.0 to 0.4 in steps of 0.05. It yielded ferrites with improved magnetic properties having higher hardness (⩾650 Vickers units), low porosity (<0.1%), and small grain size (≈10 μm). The initial permeability increased, whereas the coercive field decreased for an Ni²⁺ concentration x or a Co ²⁺ concentration y equal to 0.05. Maximum values of saturation magnetization equal to 4850 and 5250 G were obtained for x and y equal to 0.225 and 0.275, respectively. The Curie temperature increased appreciably, whereas the DC resistivity decreased for a larger substitution of Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ ions     

Mechanical damage detection using magnetic flux leakage tools: modeling the effect of dent geometry and stresses

We have used three-dimensional (3D) magnetic finite element analysis (FEA) to simulate the MFL signal from a circular dent geometry with associated residual stresses. Strain distribution information around the dent was obtained from an earlier work using finite element structural modeling. In the magnetic FEA dent model, the localized residual stresses were simulated by assigning appropriate values of magnetic anisotropy to the relevant magnetic regions. The simulated flux leakage patterns were found to be in good agreement with the experimentally observed MFL patterns associated with dent shape as well as with the stress effects from the dent.     

Bonsai: diverse and shallow trees for extreme multi-label classification

Machine Learning - Extreme multi-label classification (XMC) refers to supervised multi-label learning involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of labels. In this paper, we develop a suite...     

Enhanced Oil Recovery by Pre-treatment of Mustard Seeds Using Crude Enzyme Extract Obtained from Mixed-Culture Solid-State Fermentation of Kinnow (Citrus reticulata) Waste and Wheat Bran

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) of kinnow (Citrus reticulata) waste supplemented with wheat bran was used for production of cellulase, protease and pectinase with individual and mixed cultures of Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger. Mustard seeds were pre-treated with crude filtrate extract (CFE) obtained from A. niger and T. reesei independently, and combination of the two cultures, prior to solvent extraction. Mixed-culture fermentation resulted in higher enzyme activity for filter paper cellulase (FPU), carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase), β-glucosidase, and exoploygalacturonase (exo-PG) in comparison to fermentation with individual cultures. This study indicated that pre-treatment using crude enzyme obtained with mixed cultures enhanced the oil recovery by 11% as compared to control where no enzyme was used. Mustard seeds pre-treated with CFE obtained from mixed cultures having ratio of 2:1:1 for exo-polygalacturonase, FPU, and protease resulted in highest oil recovery. About 7–10% more oil was recovered when mustard seeds were pre-treated with CFE obtained from individual cultures, compared with control. Enzymatic pre-treatment also improved some of the quality attributes of mustard oil. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where mixed-culture SSF was attempted to produce enzyme consortium for pre-treatment of mustard seeds for enhanced oil recovery.     

Evaluation of low cost water purification systems for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR)

Following a natural disaster, access to safe drinking water by the affected population is a high priority. Low cost water purification systems, which can be used for both short-term (immediate) and long-term (sustainable) response to serve the needs of the affected communities, are ideal for these scenarios. The University of Hawaii has developed three low cost water purification technologies for use during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) missions. A UH team participated in joint USA and partner nation training exercises, such as Crimson Viper 2010 and 2011, organized by the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Experimentation Center (MEC) in Sattahip, Thailand, to demonstrate the effectiveness of these technologies to purify water from local sources. Three technologies were selected for Crimson Viper 2010: (1) a backpack filter unit, (2) a bicycle pump powered reverse osmosis (RO) unit, and (3) a model slow sand filtration unit. For Crimson Viper 2011, improved versions of the backpack and RO units were deployed. This article discusses and evaluates the results obtained during the demonstration of the three technologies at these exercises.