Search

This paper adopts an interpretive case study approach to understand the role of digital technologies in addressing seemingly contradictory sustainability goals in mining. The sociotechnical model of information systems was used as a framework to guide the analysis of twenty-five in-depth interviews with globally dispersed digital technology experts working collaboratively at an industry-leading hi-tech mining solutions company. The sociotechnical-led thematic analysis findings highlight the trade-offs experts face in balancing narrow technological imperatives and economic outcomes with broader sustainability goals. The analysis moves beyond the technological and economic to a harmonious perspective of social, human, environmental, and technological interactions. A visual thematic map is presented to aid practitioners in designing and optimally implementing digital technologies to simultaneously address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals while prioritising business sustainability. We conclude by drawing from the proposed sociotechnical perspectives approach for digital sustainability to provide scholars with possible pathways for future responsible information systems research.

Abstract Background and Aims Initial reports on US COVID-19 showed different outcomes in different races. In this study we use a diverse large cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients to determine predictors of mortality. Methods We analyzed data from hospitalized COVID-19 patients (n = 5852) between March 2020- August 2020 from 8 hospitals across the US. Demographics, comorbidities, symptoms and laboratory data were collected. Results The cohort contained 3,662 (61.7%) African Americans (AA), 286 (5%) American Latinx (LAT), 1,407 (23.9%), European Americans (EA), and 93 (1.5%) American Asians (AS). Survivors and non-survivors mean ages in years were 58 and 68 for AA, 58 and 77 for EA, 44 and 61 for LAT, and 51 and 63 for AS. Mortality rates for AA, LAT, EA and AS were 14.8, 7.3, 16.3 and 2.2%. Mortality increased among patients with the following characteristics: age, male gender, New York region, cardiac disease, COPD, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, history of cancer, immunosuppression, elevated lymphocytes, CRP, ferritin, D-Dimer, creatinine, troponin, and procalcitonin. Use of mechanical ventilation (p = 0.001), shortness of breath (SOB) (p

Background Pharmacological autophagy enhancement constitutes a preclinically validated strategy for preventing or treating most major age-associated diseases. Driven by this consideration, we performed a high-content/high-throughput screen on 65 000 distinct compounds on a robotized fluorescence microscopy platform to identify novel autophagy inducers.Results Here, we report the discovery of picropodophyllin (PPP) as a potent inducer of autophagic flux that acts on-target, as an inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R). Thus, PPP lost its autophagy-stimulatory activity in cells engineered to lack IGF1R or to express a constitutively active AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT1) mutant. When administered to cancer-bearing mice, PPP improved the therapeutic efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy with a combination of immunogenic cytotoxicants and programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1, better known as PD-1) blockade. These PPP effects were lost when tumors were rendered PPP-insensitive or autophagy-incompetent. In combination with chemotherapy, PPP enhanced the infiltration of tumors by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, while reducing regulatory T cells. In human triple-negative breast cancer patients, the activating phosphorylation of IGF1R correlated with inhibited autophagy, an unfavorable local immune profile, and poor prognosis.Conclusion Altogether, these results suggest that IGF1R may constitute a novel and druggable therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer in conjunction with chemoimmunotherapies.

Background:. Plastic surgery residency program websites (PSRWs) remain a major resource for applicants to one of the most competitive specialties in medicine, yet it is unclear how the website content aligns with information applicants need. Objective:. To evaluate PSRWs and whether they are meeting applicant needs. Methods:. An anonymous online survey of 2016 plastic and reconstructive surgery applicants evaluated the use of PSRWs and information desired. Two researchers then independently analyzed all 93 PSRWs in the United States to determine whether the websites met the needs of applicants based on a quantitative scoring system. Results:. Out of 369 total applicants to plastic surgery, the survey was sent to the 189 applicants to University of Southern California, and 87 responded (46% response rate). Ninety-eight percentage of respondents used websites during the application process. For 31%, websites served as the only source of information. Websites were moderately (60%) and only slightly useful (32%). For 22% and 34%, the quality of a website influenced their decision to apply or interview, respectively. Out of the 22 common components between the applicant survey and scoring assessment of websites, there was a significant difference in 17 components (77%) between those rated as “important” by applicants and availability of the corresponding component on websites (P < 0.05). Average (SD) score among websites was 18.7 (5.3) out of 49 maximum points (36.9%). Over 30% of websites displayed broken links or missing or outdated information. Only 19.6% displayed a link to provide website feedback. Conclusions:. PSRWs commonly include pertinent information that is useful; however, most are lacking components valued by applicants. These findings can help guide the design, content, and improvement of PSRWs to be quality resources for applicants.

Burn injuries are a leading cause of morbidity including prolonged hospitalization, disfigurement, and disability. Currently there is no Food and Drug Administration-approved burn therapeutics. A clinical distinction of burn injuries from other acute wounds is the event of the so-called secondary burn wound progression within the first week of the injury, in which a burn expands horizontally and vertically from its initial boundary to a larger area. Therefore, an effective therapeutics for burns should show dual abilities to prevent the burn wound progression and thereafter promote burn wound healing. Herein we report that topically applied F-5 fragment of heat shock protein-90α is a dual functional agent to promote burn wound healing in pigs. First, F-5 prevents burn wound progression by protecting the surrounding cells from undergoing heat-induced caspase 3 activation and apoptosis with increased Akt activation. Accordingly, F-5–treated burn and excision wounds show a marked decline in inflammation. Thereafter, F-5 accelerates burn wound healing by stimulating the keratinocyte migration-led reepithelialization, leading to wound closure. This study addresses a topical agent that is capable of preventing burn wound progression and accelerating burn wound healing.

The Xcounts algorithm for calculating air concentrations of radioactive xenon isotopes (Eslinger et al., 2023) has been extended to estimate 127 Xe in addition to 131m Xe, 133m Xe, 133 Xe, and 135 Xe. The algorithm was applied to 119 samples collected with a SAUNA Q B system (Ringbom et al., 2023) during a two-month atmospheric tracer release experiment. The algorithm identified two samples with 127 Xe present from a single 1.5 h release about 3.5 km upwind of the sampler and no false detections of 127 Xe were observed in the other samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A new algorithm (Xcounts) is introduced for estimating the activity concentrations of the xenon isotopes 131m Xe, 133m Xe, 133 Xe, and 135 Xe using beta-gamma coincidence data. The algorithm simultaneously estimates the decay counts associated with the four xenon isotopes, background, and radon in contrast to the net-counts method that uses sequential residual removal to account for background and interferences. Calibration data for background counts are determined from gas-background measurements and simulation. In Xcounts, the false positive count rates for 131m Xe and 133m Xe are lower than those for 133 Xe and 135 Xe. This algorithm appears to reliably detect the metastable isotopes at lower activity levels than the net-counts method and have similar performance for the other isotopes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) staff developed the Radionuclide Aerosol Sampler Analyzer (RASA) for worldwide aerosol monitoring in the 1990s. Recently, researchers at PNNL and Creare, LLC, have investigated possibilities for how RASA could be improved, based on lessons learned from more than 15 years of continuous operation, including during the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Key themes addressed in upgrade possibilities include having a modular approach to additional radionuclide measurements, optimizing the sampling/analyzing times to improve detection location capabilities, and reducing power consumption by using electrostatic collection versus classic filtration collection. These individual efforts have been made in a modular context that might constitute retrofits to the existing RASA, modular components that could improve a manual monitoring approach, or a completely new RASA. Substantial optimization of the detection and location capabilities of an aerosol network is possible and new missions could be addressed by including additional measurements., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Ultra-Low Background Liquid Scintillation Counter developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will expand the application of liquid scintillation counting by enabling lower detection limits and smaller sample volumes. By reducing the overall count rate of the background environment approximately 2 orders of magnitude below that of commercially available systems, backgrounds on the order of tens of counts per day over an energy range of ~3-3600keV can be realized. Initial test results of the ULB LSC show promising results for ultra-low background detection with liquid scintillation counting., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has recently opened a shallow underground laboratory intended for measurement of low-concentration levels of radioactive isotopes in samples collected from the environment. The development of a low-background liquid scintillation counter is currently underway to further augment the measurement capabilities within this underground laboratory. Liquid scintillation counting is especially useful for measuring charged particle (e.g., β and α) emitting isotopes with no (or very weak) gamma-ray yields. The combination of high-efficiency detection of charged particle emission in a liquid scintillation cocktail coupled with the low-background environment of an appropriately designed shield located in a clean underground laboratory provides the opportunity for increased-sensitivity measurements of a range of isotopes. To take advantage of the 35m-water-equivalent overburden of the underground laboratory, a series of simulations have evaluated the scintillation counter's shield design requirements to assess the possible background rate achievable. This report presents the design and background evaluation for a shallow underground, low background liquid scintillation counter design for sample measurements., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Liquid scintillation counters measure charged particle-emitting radioactive isotopes and are used for environmental studies, nuclear chemistry, and life science. Alpha and beta emissions arising from the material under study interact with the scintillation cocktail to produce light. The prototypical liquid scintillation counter employs low-level photon-counting detectors to measure the arrival of the scintillation. For reliable operation, the counting instrument must convey the scintillation light to the detectors efficiently and predictably. Current best practices employ the use of two or more detectors for coincidence processing to discriminate true scintillation events from background events due to instrumental effects such as photomultiplier tube dark rates, tube flashing, or other light emission not generated in the scintillation cocktail vial. In low-background liquid scintillation counters, additional attention is paid to shielding the scintillation cocktail from naturally occurring radioactive material present in the laboratory and within the instrument's construction materials. Low-background design is generally at odds with optimal light collection. This study presents the evolution of a light collection design for liquid scintillation counting (LSC) in a low-background shield. The basic approach to achieve both good light collection and a low-background measurement is described. The baseline signals arising from the scintillation vial are modeled and methods to efficiently collect scintillation light are presented as part of the development of a customized low-background, high-sensitivity LSC system.

5,10,15,20-Tetraphenylporphyrin chromium chloride (TPPCrCl) with added [Ph3P═N═PPh3](+)Cl(-) (PPN(+)Cl(-)) selectively polymerizes lactide (L and rac) dissolved in neat propylene oxide (PO) to yield polylactide (PLA) terminated by the -OCHMeCH2Cl group. At 0 °C and below, rac-LA yields polymers highly enriched in isotactic tetrads (iii). At 25 °C, some stereoselectivity is lost as transesterification becomes significant, and at 60 °C and above, enchainment of PO leads to the formation of 3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxan-2-one by a backbiting mechanism. At 0 °C, after the enchainment of L-(S,S)-LA in neat (R)-(+)-PO, the formation of (3S,6R)-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxan-2-one occurs, while at higher temperatures the ratio of (3S,6R)-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxan-2-one to (3R,6R)-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxan-2-one falls to 3:2.

A new ultra-low-background proportional counter was recently developed with an internal volume of 100 cm(3) and has been characterized at pressures from 1-10 atm with P-10 (90% Ar, 10% methane) gas. This design, along with a counting system providing event digitization and passive and active shielding, has been developed to complement a new shallow underground laboratory (30 m water-equivalent). Backgrounds and low-level reference materials have been measured, and system sensitivity for (37)Ar has been calculated., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently commissioned a new shallow underground laboratory, located at a depth of approximately 30 meters-water-equivalent. This new addition to the small class of radiation measurement laboratories located at modest underground depths houses the latest generation of custom-made, high-efficiency, low-background gamma-ray spectrometers and gas proportional counters. This paper describes the unique capabilities present in the shallow underground laboratory; these include large-scale ultra-pure materials production and a suite of radiation detection systems. Reported data characterize the degree of background reduction achieved through a combination of underground location, graded shielding, and rejection of cosmic-ray events. We conclude by presenting measurement targets and future opportunities.

Measurements of the (2)H((-->)e,e(')p)n reaction were performed with the out-of-plane magnetic spectrometers (OOPS) at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator. The longitudinal-transverse, f(LT) and f(')(LT), and the transverse-transverse, f(TT), interference responses at a missing momentum of 210 MeV/c were simultaneously extracted in the dip region at Q2 = 0.15 (GeV/c)(2). In comparison to models of deuteron electrodisintegration, the data clearly reveal strong effects of relativity and final-state interactions and the importance of two-body meson-exchange currents and isobar configurations. We demonstrate that such effects can be disentangled by extracting these responses using the novel out-of-plane technique.

High-precision 1H(e,e'p)pi(0) measurements at Q2 = 0.126 (GeV/c)2 are reported, which allow the determination of quadrupole amplitudes in the gamma*N-->Delta transition; they simultaneously test the reliability of electroproduction models. The derived quadrupole-to-dipole ( I = 3/2) amplitude ratios, R(SM) = (-6.5+/-0.2(stat+sys)+/-2.5(mod))% and R(EM) = (-2.1+/-0.2(stat+sys)+/-2.0(mod))%, are dominated by model error. Previous R(SM) and R(EM) results should be reconsidered after the model uncertainties associated with the method of their extraction are taken into account.

The recoil proton polarization has been measured in the p(e-->,e'p-->)pi(0) reaction in parallel kinematics around W = 1232 MeV, Q2 = 0.121 (GeV/c)2, and epsilon = 0.718 using the polarized cw electron beam of the Mainz Microtron. All three proton polarization components, Px/P(e) = (-11.4+/-1.3+/-1.4)%, P(y) = (-43.1+/-1.3+/-2.2)%, and P(z)/P(e) = (56.2+/-1.5+/-2.6)%, could be measured simultaneously. The Coulomb quadrupole to magnetic dipole ratio, CMR = (-6.4+/-0.7(stat)+/-0.8(syst))%, was determined from Px in the framework of the Mainz Unitary Isobar Model. The consistency among the reduced polarizations and the extraction of the ratio of longitudinal-to-transverse response is discussed.