Specific Protein Quantification by Radioimmuno-Dot-Blot Assay for Complex Mixture Samples Utilizing Strep-Tag and Tritium-Labeled Strep-Tactin.

Accurately quantifying specific proteins from complex mixtures like cell lysates, for example, during in vivo studies, is difficult, especially for aggregation-prone proteins. Herein, we describe the development of a specific protein quantification method that combines a solid-state dot blot approach with radiolabel detection via liquid scintillation counting. The specific detection with high sensitivity is achieved by using the Twin-Strep protein affinity tag and tritium-labeled Strep-TactinXT probe.

Effect of pipe material and disinfectant on active bacterial communities in drinking water and biofilms.

Aims: We investigated the combined effects of pipe materials and disinfection chemicals on bacterial community and its active RNA fraction in water and biofilms in a pilot-scale premise plumbing system.

Methods And Results: The changes in bacterial communities were studied within four pipelines using copper and cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipe with chlorine or chloramine disinfection. The total and active bacterial communities and the presence of opportunistic pathogens (Legionella spp.

MACRPO: Multi-agent cooperative recurrent policy optimization.

This work considers the problem of learning cooperative policies in multi-agent settings with partially observable and non-stationary environments without a communication channel. We focus on improving information sharing between agents and propose a new multi-agent actor-critic method called (MACRPO). We propose two novel ways of integrating information across agents and time in MACRPO: First, we use a recurrent layer in the critic's network architecture and propose a new framework to use the proposed meta-trajectory to train the recurrent layer.

Embodied emotions in ancient Neo-Assyrian texts revealed by bodily mapping of emotional semantics.

Emotions are associated with subjective emotion-specific bodily sensations. Here, we utilized this relationship and computational linguistic methods to map a representation of emotions in ancient texts. We analyzed Neo-Assyrian texts from 934-612 BCE to discern consistent relationships between linguistic expressions related to both emotions and bodily sensations.

Enhancing Chitin Production as a Fermentation Byproduct through a Genetic Toolbox That Activates the Cell Wall Integrity Response.

Often, the value of the whole biomass from fermentation processes is not exploited, as commercial interests are focused on the main product that is typically either accumulated within cells or secreted into the medium. One underutilized fraction of yeast cells is the cell wall that contains valuable polysaccharides, such as chitin, known for its biocompatibility and biodegradability, which are thought of as valuable properties in diverse industries. Therefore, the valorization of waste biomass from fermentation to coproduce chitin could significantly improve the overall profitability and sustainability of biomanufacturing processes.

Effects of LinTT1-peptide conjugation on the properties of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-(ε-caprolactone) nanoparticles prepared by the nanoprecipitation method.

Functionalization of polymer nanoparticles (NPs) with targeting peptides is of interest for drug delivery applications to enhance tumor accumulation and penetration. Herein, we evaluated the feasibility of two different methods for the attachment of a tumor-penetrating peptide LinTT1 (AKRGARSTA) to poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG) NPs: (1) "post-conjugation" onto pre-formed nanoparticles, and (2) "pre-conjugation", the synthesis and purification of peptide-polymer conjugates and subsequent nanoprecipitation of the conjugates diluted with non-functionalized polymers. Conjugation of the labelled peptide via maleimide-thiol chemistry was verified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and fluorescence measurements.

Evaluating multiannual sedimentary nutrient retention in agricultural two-stage channels.

The two-stage channel (TSC) design with a vegetated man-made floodplain has been recommended as an alternative to conventional re-dredging for managing suspended sediment (SS) and nutrient loads in agricultural streams. However, there are currently uncertainties surrounding the efficiency of TSCs, since mass balances covering the whole annual hydrograph and including different periods of the channel life cycle are lacking. This paper aims to improve understanding of the medium-term morphological development and sedimentary nutrient retention when a dredged, trapezoidal-shaped channel is converted into a TSC, using a mass balance estimate of nutrient and carbon retention from immediately after excavation until the establishment of approximate biogeochemical equilibrium retention.

Mapping the Topological Proximity-Induced Gap in Multiterminal Josephson Junctions.

Multiterminal Josephson junctions (MTJJs), devices in which a normal metal is in contact with three or more superconducting leads, have been proposed as artificial analogs of topological crystals. The topological nature of MTJJs manifests as a modulation of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS) in the normal metal that may be probed by tunneling measurements. We show that one can reveal this modulation by measuring the resistance of diffusive MTJJs with normal contacts, which shows rich structure as a function of the phase differences {ϕ_{i}}.

The Future Hospital in Global Health Systems: The Future Hospital as an Entity.

Health care is changing rapidly. Hospitals are, and will remain, an essential setting to deliver it. We discuss how to maximise the benefits of hospitals in the future in different geographic and health system settings, highlighting a series of cross-cutting issues.

Beyond visible: giant bulk photovoltaic effect for broadband neuromodulation.

The giant bulk photovoltaic effect in tellurene nanomaterials has been harnessed to enable broadband infrared neuromodulation, expanding the potential for safe, non-invasive neural stimulation and highlighting the importance of material innovation in advancing infrared photonic applications.

Active learning of molecular data for task-specific objectives.

Active learning (AL) has shown promise to be a particularly data-efficient machine learning approach. Yet, its performance depends on the application, and it is not clear when AL practitioners can expect computational savings. Here, we carry out a systematic AL performance assessment for three diverse molecular datasets and two common scientific tasks: compiling compact, informative datasets and targeted molecular searches.

Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with >1A/W responsivity.

Even though efficient near-infrared (NIR) detection is critical for numerous applications, state-of-the-art NIR detectors either suffer from limited capability of detecting incoming photons, i.e., have poor spectral responsivity, or are made of expensive group III-V non-CMOS compatible materials.

Strength and Poisson's ratio of fused filament fabrication parts made from carbon filler enhanced PEEK compounds at elevated temperatures.

Engineering plastics are finding widespread applications across a broad temperature spectrum, with additive manufacturing (AM) having now become commonplace for producing aerospace-grade components from polymers. However, there is limited data available on the behavior of plastic AM parts exposed to elevated temperatures. This study focuses on investigating the tensile strength, tensile modulus and Poisson's ratio of parts manufactured using fused filament fabrication (FFF) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) plastics doped with two additives: short carbon fibers (SCFs) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs).

Ultrafast Floquet engineering of Fermi-polaron resonances in charge-tunable monolayer WSe devices.

Fermi polarons are emerging quasiparticles when a bosonic impurity immersed in a fermionic bath. Depending on the boson-fermion interaction strength, the Fermi-polaron resonances exhibit either attractive or repulsive interactions, which impose further experimental challenges on understanding the subtle light-driven dynamics. Here, we report the light-driven dynamics of attractive and repulsive Fermi polarons in monolayer WSe devices.

Real-Time Tractography-Assisted Neuronavigation for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

State-of-the-art navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) systems can display the TMS coil position relative to the structural magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the subject's brain and calculate the induced electric field. However, the local effect of TMS propagates via the white-matter network to different areas of the brain, and currently there is no commercial or research neuronavigation system that can highlight in real time the brain's structural connections during TMS. This lack of real-time visualization may overlook critical inter-individual differences in brain connectivity and does not provide the opportunity to target brain networks.

Aalto Gear Fault datasets for deep-learning based diagnosis.

Accurate system health state prediction through deep learning requires extensive and varied data. However, real-world data scarcity poses a challenge for developing robust fault diagnosis models. This study introduces two extensive datasets, Aalto Shim Dataset and Aalto Gear Fault Dataset, collected under controlled laboratory conditions, aimed at advancing deep learning-based fault diagnosis.

Acrylamide/Alyssum campestre seed gum hydrogels enhanced with titanium carbide: Rheological insights for cardiac tissue engineering.

This study investigates the use of acrylamide and Alyssum campestre seed gum (ACSG) to create hydrogel composites with enhanced electrical and mechanical properties by incorporating titanium carbide (TiC). The composites were analyzed through techniques such as FTIR, SEM, TEM, TGA, swelling, rheology, tensile, electrical conductivity, antibacterial, and MTT assays. XRD analysis showed that 0.

Naturalistic reading of multi-page texts elicits spatially extended modulation of oscillatory activity in the right hemisphere.

The study of the cortical basis of reading has greatly benefited from the use of naturalistic paradigms that permit eye movements. However, due to the short stimulus lengths used in most naturalistic reading studies, it remains unclear how reading of texts comprising more than isolated sentences modulates cortical processing. To address this question, we used magnetoencephalography to study the spatiospectral distribution of oscillatory activity during naturalistic reading of multi-page texts.

Emotional Intelligence May Be Associated with Some Forms of Creative Potential.

The current study examined the relationship between creative potential, estimated with tests of divergent thinking (DT), and emotional intelligence (EI). Previous research has hinted at a relationship, but the EI-DT relationship may differ as a function of the tasks and the specific components of EI. With this in mind, the present investigation compared two DT tests (Social Games vs.

Propagation of Orientation Across Lengthscales in Sheared Self-Assembling Hierarchical Suspensions via Rheo-PLI-SAXS.

Simultaneous rheological, polarized light imaging, and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments (Rheo-PLI-SAXS) are developed, thereby providing unprecedented level of insight into the multiscale orientation of hierarchical systems in simple shear. Notably, it is observed that mesoscale alignment in the flow direction does not develop simultaneously across nano-micro lengthscales in sheared suspensions of rod-like chiral-nematic (meso) phase forming cellulose nanocrystals. Rather, with increasing shear rate, orientation is observed first at mesoscale and then extends to the nanoscale, with influencing factors being the aggregation state of the hierarchy and concentration.