Precision Mass Measurements of Neutron-Rich Scandium Isotopes Refine the Evolution of N=32 and N=34 Shell Closures.

We report high-precision mass measurements of ^{50-55}Sc isotopes performed at the LEBIT facility at NSCL and at the TITAN facility at TRIUMF. Our results provide a substantial reduction of their uncertainties and indicate significant deviations, up to 0.7 MeV, from the previously recommended mass values for ^{53-55}Sc.

Ab Initio Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Matrix Elements for ^{48}Ca, ^{76}Ge, and ^{82}Se.

We calculate basis-space converged neutrinoless ββ-decay nuclear matrix elements for the lightest candidates: ^{48}Ca, ^{76}Ge, and ^{82}Se. Starting from initial two- and three-nucleon forces, we apply the ab initio in-medium similarity renormalization group to construct valence-space Hamiltonians and consistently transformed ββ-decay operators. We find that the tensor component is non-negligible in ^{76}Ge and ^{82}Se, and the resulting nuclear matrix elements are overall 25%-45% smaller than those obtained from the phenomenological shell model.

Ab Initio Limits of Atomic Nuclei.

We predict the limits of existence of atomic nuclei, the proton and neutron drip lines, from the light through medium-mass regions. Starting from a chiral two- and three-nucleon interaction with good saturation properties, we use the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group to calculate ground-state and separation energies from helium to iron, nearly 700 isotopes in total. We use the available experimental data to quantify the theoretical uncertainties for our ab initio calculations towards the drip lines.

ENRICH: A fast method to improve the quality of flexible macromolecular reconstructions.

Cryo-electron microscopy using single particle analysis requires the computational averaging of thousands of projection images captured from identical macromolecules. However, macromolecules usually present some degree of flexibility showing different conformations. Computational approaches are then required to classify heterogeneous single particle images into homogeneous sets corresponding to different structural states.

Nanowire Transistors with Bound-Charge Engineering.

Low-dimensional electronic systems such as silicon nanowires exhibit weak screening which is detrimental to the performance and scalability of nanodevices, e.g., tunnel field-effect transistors.

Structural templates for imaging EEG cortical sources in infants.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) source reconstruction is a powerful approach that allows anatomical localization of electrophysiological brain activity. Algorithms used to estimate cortical sources require an anatomical model of the head and the brain, generally reconstructed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). When such scans are unavailable, a population average can be used for adults, but no average surface template is available for cortical source imaging in infants.

Injectable, strong and bioadhesive catechol-chitosan hydrogels physically crosslinked using sodium bicarbonate.

Fast-gelling chitosan thermosensitive hydrogels have proven to be excellent matrices for targeted drug-delivery and cell therapy. In this work, we demonstrate the possibility of designing injectable bioadhesive hydrogels with a high gelation rate by modifying chitosan with catechol (cat-CH) and using sodium bicarbonate (SHC) as a gelling agent. Cat-CH/SHC hydrogels gel under 5 min at 37 °C and reach a high secant modulus after 24 h (E = 90 kPa at 50% strain).

Exploration of the acceptability and usability of advance care planning tools in long term care homes.

Objectives: Despite known benefits, advance care planning (ACP) is rarely a component of usual practice in long-term care (LTC). A series of tools and workbooks have been developed to support ACP uptake amongst the generable population. Yet, their potential for improving ACP uptake in LTC has yet to be examined.

Accessible dynamic micropatterns in monolayer cultures via modified desktop xurography.

Micropatterned cell cultures provide an important tool to understand dynamic biological processes, but often require specialized equipment and expertise. Here we present subtractive bioscribing (SuBscribing), a readily accessible and inexpensive technique to generate dynamic micropatterns in biomaterial monolayers on-the-fly. We first describe our modifications to a commercially available desktop xurographer and demonstrate the utility and limits of this system in creating micropatterned cultures by mechanically scribing patterns into a brittle, non-adhesive biomaterial layer.

Extraction of 3D quantitative maps using EDS-STEM tomography and HAADF-EDS bimodal tomography.

Electron tomography has been widely applied to three-dimensional (3D) morphology characterization and chemical analysis at the nanoscale. A HAADF-EDS bimodal tomographic (HEBT) reconstruction technique has been developed to extract high resolution element-specific information. However, the reconstructed elemental maps cannot be directly converted to quantitative compositional information.

Major findings from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2018.

Background: The Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS) is the only source of province-wide statistics on families investigated by child welfare.

Objective: This paper presents key findings from the 2018 cycle of the OIS (OIS-2018) and highlights select policy and practice implications of these findings.

Participants And Settings: The OIS-2018 captured information directly from investigating child protection workers about children and families who were the subject of a child protection investigation sampled for inclusion in the study.

Polymer-Free Emulsion-Templated Graphene-Based Sponges for Contaminant Removal.

An emulsion-templated porous material can be formed by polymerizing the continuous phase of high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPEs). Although polymerization is a key step to maintain the pore size and integrity of the final sponge, it lowers the effective specific surface area of the final sponge as the continuous phase makes up at least half of the HIPE's volume. Hence, eliminating the need of polymerization not only eases the material processing but also leads to a greater specific surface area.

Revealing Plasma Membrane Nano-Domains with Diffusion Analysis Methods.

Nano-domains are sub-light-diffraction-sized heterogeneous areas in the plasma membrane of cells, which are involved in cell signalling and membrane trafficking. Throughout the last thirty years, these nano-domains have been researched extensively and have been the subject of multiple theories and models: the lipid raft theory, the fence model, and the protein oligomerization theory. Strong evidence exists for all of these, and consequently they were combined into a hierarchal model.

Quality indicators for the diagnosis and management of pediatric tonsillitis.

Introduction: Pediatric tonsillitis is encountered frequently across specialties, and while high quality guidelines exist, there is persistent evidence of care which is not evidence based, including antibiotic overprescribing and surgical practice variability. Quality indicators (QIs) can be utilized for initiatives to improve the quality of care and subsequent patient outcomes. We sought to develop pediatric tonsillitis QIs that are applicable across specialties and that cover aspects of both diagnosis and the spectrum of management options.

Inverse modeling for quantitative X-ray microanalysis applied to 2D heterogeneous materials.

Current quantitative X-ray microanalysis methods are only available for homogeneous materials. This paper presents a newly developed inverse modeling algorithm to determine both the structure and composition of two-dimensional (2D) heterogeneous materials from a series of X-ray intensity measurements under different beam energies and beam positions. It utilizes an iterative process of forward modeling to determine the optimal specimen to minimize the relative differences between the simulated and experimental characteristic X-ray intensities.

Ab Initio Calculations of Low-Energy Nuclear Scattering Using Confining Potential Traps.

A recently modified method to enable low-energy nuclear scattering results to be extracted from the discrete energy levels of the target-projectile clusters confined by harmonic potential traps is tested. We report encouraging results for neutron-α and neutron-^{24}O elastic scattering from analyzing the trapped levels computed using two different ab initio nuclear structure methods. The n-α results have also been checked against a direct ab initio reaction calculation.

OSMR controls glioma stem cell respiration and confers resistance of glioblastoma to ionizing radiation.

Glioblastoma contains a rare population of self-renewing brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs) which are endowed with properties to proliferate, spur the growth of new tumors, and at the same time, evade ionizing radiation (IR) and chemotherapy. However, the drivers of BTSC resistance to therapy remain unknown. The cytokine receptor for oncostatin M (OSMR) regulates BTSC proliferation and glioblastoma tumorigenesis.

Vibration Measurements of the Gerbil Eardrum Under Quasi-static Pressure Steps.

Tympanometry is a relatively simple non-invasive test of the status of the middle ear. An important step towards understanding the mechanics of the middle ear during tympanometry is to make vibration measurements on the eardrum under tympanometric pressures. In this study, we measured in vivo vibration responses in 11 gerbils while varying the middle-ear pressure quasi-statically, with the ear canal at ambient pressure.

The Canadian Fungal Research Network: current challenges and future opportunities.

Fungi critically impact the health and function of global ecosystems and economies. In Canada, fungal researchers often work within silos defined by subdiscipline and institutional type, complicating the collaborations necessary to understand the impacts fungi have on the environment, economy, and plant and animal health. Here, we announce the establishment of the Canadian Fungal Research Network (CanFunNet, https://fungalresearch.

Differential expression of tissue-restricted antigens among mTEC is associated with distinct autoreactive T cell fates.

Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) contribute to the development of T cell tolerance by expressing and presenting tissue-restricted antigens (TRA), so that developing T cells can assess the self-reactivity of their antigen receptors prior to leaving the thymus. mTEC are a heterogeneous population of cells that differentially express TRA. Whether mTEC subsets induce distinct autoreactive T cell fates remains unclear.

Detection of a G-Quadruplex as a Regulatory Element in for Gene Silencing Using Polypurine Reverse Hoogsteen Hairpins.

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) enzyme is an anti-cancer target given its role in DNA biosynthesis. TYMS inhibitors (e.g.

A pooled genome-wide screening strategy to identify and rank influenza host restriction factors in cell-based vaccine production platforms.

Cell-derived influenza vaccines provide better protection and a host of other advantages compared to the egg-derived vaccines that currently dominate the market, but their widespread use is hampered by a lack of high yield, low cost production platforms. Identification and knockout of innate immune and metabolic restriction factors within relevant host cell lines used to grow the virus could offer a means to substantially increase vaccine yield. In this paper, we describe and validate a novel genome-wide pooled CRISPR/Cas9 screening strategy that incorporates a reporter virus and a FACS selection step to identify and rank restriction factors in a given vaccine production cell line.

Kinetic roughening of the urban skyline.

We analyze the morphology of the modern urban skyline in terms of its roughness properties. This is facilitated by a database of 10^{7} building heights in cities throughout the Netherlands which allows us to compute the asymptotic height difference correlation function in each city. We find that in cities for which the height correlations display power-law scaling as a function of distance between the buildings, the corresponding roughness exponents are commensurate to the Edwards-Wilkinson and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equations for kinetic roughening.

Metagenomic analysis of planktonic riverine microbial consortia using nanopore sequencing reveals insight into river microbe taxonomy and function.

Background: Riverine ecosystems are biogeochemical powerhouses driven largely by microbial communities that inhabit water columns and sediments. Because rivers are used extensively for anthropogenic purposes (drinking water, recreation, agriculture, and industry), it is essential to understand how these activities affect the composition of river microbial consortia. Recent studies have shown that river metagenomes vary considerably, suggesting that microbial community data should be included in broad-scale river ecosystem models.

Secondary Fluorescence of 3D Heterogeneous Materials Using a Hybrid Model.

In electron probe microanalysis or scanning electron microscopy, the Monte Carlo method is widely used for modeling electron transport within specimens and calculating X-ray spectra. For an accurate simulation, the calculation of secondary fluorescence (SF) is necessary, especially for samples with complex geometries. In this study, we developed a program, using a hybrid model that combines the Monte Carlo simulation with an analytical model, to perform SF correction for three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous materials.