The Role of System Compatibility and Cabin Environmental Impact Assessment in Environmental Control and Life Support System Design and Flight Operations

Contamination of a crewed spacecraft's cabin environment leading to ECLS system functional capability and operational margin degradation or loss can have an adverse effect on NASA's space exploration mission figures of merit-safety, mission success, effectiveness, and affordability. Experience gained during the International Space Station program has shown the vital role that evaluating ECLS system compatibility and cabin environmental impact serves as a passive trace contaminant control tool which can provide guidance to crewed spacecraft system and payload developers relative to designing for minimum risk. As well, such evaluations can aid in guiding containment design, developing flight rules and procedures suitable for protecting the ECLS system and cabin environment, and defining contamination event remediation approaches. The approach to evaluating ECLS system compatibility and cabin environmental impact developed during the ISS program is presented and its role in future exploration spacecraft design is discussed

An \emph{ab initio} method for locating characteristic potential energy minima of liquids

It is possible in principle to probe the many--atom potential surface using density functional theory (DFT). This will allow us to apply DFT to the Hamiltonian formulation of atomic motion in monatomic liquids [\textit{Phys. Rev. E} {\bf 56}, 4179 (1997)]. For a monatomic system, analysis of the potential surface is facilitated by the random and symmetric classification of potential energy valleys. Since the random valleys are numerically dominant and uniform in their macroscopic potential properties, only a few quenches are necessary to establish these properties. Here we describe an efficient technique for doing this. Quenches are done from easily generated "stochastic" configurations, in which the nuclei are distributed uniformly within a constraint limiting the closeness of approach. For metallic Na with atomic pair potential interactions, it is shown that quenches from stochastic configurations and quenches from equilibrium liquid Molecular Dynamics (MD) configurations produce statistically identical distributions of the structural potential energy. Again for metallic Na, it is shown that DFT quenches from stochastic configurations provide the parameters which calibrate the Hamiltonian. A statistical mechanical analysis shows how the underlying potential properties can be extracted from the distributions found in quenches from stochastic configurations

Optical Spectral Variability of the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Blazar 1ES 1011+496

We present results of five years of optical (UBVRI) observations of the very-high-energy gamma-ray blazar 1ES 1011+496 at the MDM Observatory. We calibrated UBVRI magnitudes of five comparison stars in the field of the object. Most of our observations were done during moderately faint states of 1ES 1011+496 with R > 15.0. The light curves exhibit moderate, closely correlated variability in all optical wavebands on time scales of a few days. A cross-correlation analysis between optical bands does not show significant evidence for time lags. We find a positive correlation (Pearson's r = 0.57; probability of non-correlation P(>r) ~ 4e-8) between the R-band magnitude and the B - R color index, indicating a bluer-when-brighter trend. Snap-shot optical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) exhibit a peak within the optical regime, typically between the V and B bands. We find a strong (r = 0.78; probability of non-correlation P (>r) ~ 1e-15) positive correlation between the peak flux and the peak frequency, best fit by a relation $\nu F_{\nu}^{\rm pk} \propto \nu_{\rm pk}^k$ with k = 2.05 +/- 0.17. Such a correlation is consistent with the optical (synchrotron) variability of 1ES 1011+496 being primarily driven by changes in the magnetic field.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 16 pages, including 7 figure

Economic burden of diverticular disease : an observational analysis based on real world data from an Italian region

INTRODUCTION: Diverticular disease (DD), a herniation of the colonic mucosa through the muscle layer, covers a wide variety of conditions associated with the presence of diverticula in the colon. The most serious form is an acute episode of diverticulitis, which can lead to hospitalization and surgery with various types of consequences. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the economic burden of hospitalizations arising from acute episodes of diverticulitis using data from the administrative databases used in the Marche region in Italy and, as a secondary objective of this real-world data analysis, to study patient outcome variables following initial hospitalization for diverticulitis. METHOD: A deterministic linkage was performed at individual user level between the different administrative sources of the Marche region through anonymous ID number for a period of analysis between 1 January, 2008 and 31 December, 2014. We enrolled all patients with at least one hospitalization for "diverticulitis of the colon without mention of haemorrhage" (ICD-9-CM code 562.11) or "diverticulitis of the colon with haemorrhage" (ICD-9-CM code 562.13) as primary or secondary diagnosis. For each patient we assessed the cost of hospitalization, of medicines and of specialist services considering a time-scale of one year or cohort analysis 365days after first admission. RESULTS: The total number of residents in the Marche region who had at least one hospitalization for diverticulitis in the period 2008-2014 was 2987 (427 patients a year, corresponding to about 35 patients per 100,000 adult residents); the total number of admissions was 3453 (just over 490 a year). The direct healthcare costs incurred by the Marche region for episodes of diverticulitis in 2008-2014 amounted to approximately €11.4 million (€1.6 million a year), of which €10.9 million (95.5%) for the hospitalizations, € 246,000 (2.1%) for pharmaceutical treatment and €270,000 (2.4%) for specialist outpatient services. The average annual cost per patient was €3826, of which €3653 was for hospitalization, while pharmaceutical expenditure and specialist services accounted for €83 and €90, respectively. The cohort of patients undergoing a first admission for diverticulitis between 2010 and 2013 was made up of 1729 people (54.4% women, mean age 68.9 years), of whom 1500 (86.8%) did not undergo surgery while in hospital. Hospital mortality, recorded only for the over-65 age class, averaged 1.2%; for patients not receiving surgery during the initial hospitalization it was 0.5%, reaching 5.2% in patients undergoing surgery. The percentage of patients with one or more readmissions for diverticulitis within a year of the first was on average 7.8% and in 48% of cases this resulted in surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first analysis in Italy to use real-world data to measure the financial impact of diverticular disease. Assuming that the diagnostic and therapeutic behaviour identified in the Marche region could be representative of the situation nationwide, the estimated annual number of hospitalizations in Italy for acute episodes of diverticulitis is 19,000. The total amount of economic resources needed to treat patients suffering from acute episodes of diverticulitis is estimated at €63.5 million a year

Effective targeting of the survivin dimerization interface with small molecule inhibitors

Many oncoproteins are considered undruggable because they lack enzymatic activities. In this study, we present a small-molecule–based anticancer agent that acts by inhibiting dimerization of the oncoprotein survivin, thereby promoting its degradation along with spontaneous apoptosis in cancer cells. Through a combination of computational analysis of the dimerization interface and in silico screening, we identified one compound that induced proteasome-dependent survivin degradation. Analysis of a set of structural analogues led us to identify a lead compound (LQZ-7F), which was effective in blocking the survival of multiple cancer cell lines in a low micromolar concentration range. LQZ-7F induced proteasome-dependent survivin degradation, mitotic arrest, and apoptosis, and it blocked the growth of human tumors in mouse xenograft assays. In addition to providing preclinical proof of concept for a survivin-targeting anticancer agent, our work offers novel in silico screening strategies to therapeutically target homodimeric oncogenic proteins considered undruggable

Influence of crop rotation and flutolanil on the diversity of fungi on peanut shells

Les agents pathogènes du sol qui affectent les arachides (Arachis hypogaea) survivent ou hivernent souvent sur les écales d'arachides laissées sur ou dans le sol. Les effets de diverses rotations de cultures sur la flore fongique des écales d'arachides ont été comparés par trois tests en champ menés en 1992 et en 1993. Dans deux des tests, les parcelles d'arachides cultivées de façon continue ont été traitées ou non traitées avec le fongicide flutolanil. Les pratiques de rotation ont varié avec la localisation, et les cultures en rotation avec les arachides étaient le coton (Gossypium hirsutum), le seigle (Secale céréale), l'herbe de Bahia (Paspalum notatum), et le maïs (Zea mays). Au total,31 genres de champignon ont été isolés des écales. Plus des deux tiers des isolats étaient des Deutéromycètes, suivis en fréquence par les Basidiomycètes, les Ascomycètes et les Phycomycètes. Les pratiques de rotation ont affecté l'incidence de plusieurs champignons pathogènes (par exemple, les Fusarium spp. et le Lasiodiplodia theobromae) sur les écales d'arachides, mais les résultats n'ont pas été cohérents entre les tests et les années. L'herbe de Bahia ou le maïs cultivés en rotation avec les arachides ont réduit la fréquence du Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 dans les écales. Le Rhizoctonia solani AG-2-2 et le Macrophomina phaseolina ont été isolés à des niveaux plus élevés dans la rotation herbe de Bahia-arachide. Quand les arachides étaient cultivées en rotation avec le coton avec ou sans une culture de couverture de seigle, les parcelles recouvertes de seigle avaient des taux d'isolement moindres pour les champignons totaux en 1992 que les parcelles sans seigle, mais aucune différence n'a été observée en 1993. De plus, plusieurs espèces de Fusarium ont été isolées plus fréquemment des écales provenant de parcelles en rotation avec le seigle. Le flutolanil a diminué significativement les taux d'isolement de plusieurs champignons, incluant le R. solani AG-4, dans un des essais en 1992. L'ensemble des champignons isolés (en combinant tous les isolats de champignon) sur les parcelles traitées au flutolanil étaient plus élevés en 1993, mais pas en 1992 sur un des sites. Les taux d'isolement pour les différents genres et espèces de champignon différaient sur les deux milieux utilisés (agar à l'extrait de malt et agar au sel de malt). En particulier, l’AIternaria alternata et des espèces de Fusarium ont été isolés plus fréquemment sur l'agar au sel de malt, tandis que L theobromae, R. solani AG-4 et Trichoderma spp. Étaient plus souvent rencontrés sur l'agar à l'extrait de malt.Soilborne pathogens of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) often survive or over winter on peanut shells left on or in the soil. The effects of different crop rotations on the peanut shell mycobiota were compared in three field trials in 1992 and repeated in 1993. In two of the trials, plots grown continuously to peanut were either treated with the fungicide flutolanil or left untreated. Rotation practices varied with location and the crops in rotation with peanut were cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), rye (Secale cereale), bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum), and corn (Zea mays). In total, 31 different gene of fungi were isolated from shells. Over two-thirds of the isolates were Deuteromycotina, followed in frequency by Basidiomycetes, Ascomycetes, and Phycomycetes. The rotation practices affected the incidence of several pathogenic fungi (e.g., Fusarium spp., and Lasiodiplodia theobromae) in the peanut shells, but the results were not consistent across trials or years. Bahiagrass or corn grown in rotation with peanut reduced the frequency of Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 in shells. Rhizoctonia solani AG-2-2 and Macrophomina phaseolina were isolated at a greater level in the bahiagrass-peanut rotation. Where peanut was rotated with cotton with or without a winter cover crop of rye, plots containing rye had lower isolation rates for total fungi in 1992 than those without rye, but there was no différence in 1993. Also, several species of Fusarium were isolated more frequently from shells from plots rotated with rye. Flutolanil significantly lowered isolation rates of several fungi, including R. solani AG-4, in one trial in 1992. Total fungi isolated (all fungal isolates combined) in the flutolanil-treated plots were greater in 1993, but not in 1992 at one site. Isolation rates for the different gene and species of fungi differed on the two media utilized (malt-extract agar and malt-salt agar). In particular, Alternaria alternata and species of Fusarium were isolated more frequently on malt-salt agar, whereas L theobromae, R. solani AG-4 and Trichoderma spp. were more common on malt-extract agar

Liquid state properties from first principles DFT calculations: Static properties

In order to test the Vibration-Transit (V-T) theory of liquid dynamics, ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations of thermodynamic properties of Na and Cu are performed and compared with experimental data. The calculations are done for the crystal at T = 0 and T_m, and for the liquid at T_m. The key theoretical quantities for crystal and liquid are the structural potential and the dynamical matrix, both as function of volume. The theoretical equations are presented, as well as details of the DFT computations. The properties compared with experiment are the equilibrium volume, the isothermal bulk modulus, the internal energy and the entropy. The agreement of theory with experiment is uniformly good. Our primary conclusion is that the application of DFT to V-T theory is feasible, and the resulting liquid calculations achieve the same level of accuracy as does ab initio lattice dynamics for crystals. Moreover, given the well established reliability of DFT, the present results provide a significant confirmation of V-T theory itself.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables, edited to more closely match published versio

New Deal Navajo Linguistics and Language Documentation

This dissertation explores how with the New Deal, the US government committed itself to the construction of a Navajo ethnonation or a democratic polity that could interface with the US federal government. For my research methodology I used archival research and examined the papers of linguist Robert Young, a linguist and BIA employee who throughout his decades of work with the Navajo Tribe compiled some of the most extensive documentary material on the Navajo language, as well as his published works. I examined documents including correspondence between linguists Robert W Young and J.P. Harrington, dictionaries and other linguistic materials for evidence of the US governments efforts. In looking at Young\u27s work with the Navajo I show how he endeavored to create a standard register of Navajo for use in political and educational institutions, helped to develop democratic political institutions on the reservation and worked to model a modern ethnic Navajo who was integrated into the United State\u27s wage labor and market economy. In this dissertation I look at some of the early ethnographic work that has been done on the Navajo tribe. I then discuss language documentation projects and some of the critiques that have been made as well as strides that have been made to improve such projects and consider what a change from an ethnolinguistic paradigm to a historical dialectic paradigm could offer. I then give a little background discussion about the New Deal to provide some historical background for my discussion of Young\u27s linguistic work with the Navajo. I then reflect a little more on the two paradigms, exploring their intellectual roots. I then conclude by looking at the ethnonational paradigm in larger, historic nation building projects in Europe and how these ideologies have been mapped onto new nations.\u2