ESTA: An Esports Trajectory and Action Dataset

Sports, due to their global reach and impact-rich prediction tasks, are an exciting domain to deploy machine learning models. However, data from conventional sports is often unsuitable for research use due to its size, veracity, and accessibility. To address these issues, we turn to esports, a growing domain that encompasses video games played in a capacity similar to conventional sports. Since esports data is acquired through server logs rather than peripheral sensors, esports provides a unique opportunity to obtain a massive collection of clean and detailed spatiotemporal data, similar to those collected in conventional sports. To parse esports data, we develop awpy, an open-source esports game log parsing library that can extract player trajectories and actions from game logs. Using awpy, we parse 8.6m actions, 7.9m game frames, and 417k trajectories from 1,558 game logs from professional Counter-Strike tournaments to create the Esports Trajectory and Actions (ESTA) dataset. ESTA is one of the largest and most granular publicly available sports data sets to date. We use ESTA to develop benchmarks for win prediction using player-specific information. The ESTA data is available at https://github.com/pnxenopoulos/esta and awpy is made public through PyPI

Transitions/relaxations in polyester adhesive/PET system

The correlations between the transitions and the dielectric relaxation processes of the oriented poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) pre-impregnated of the polyester thermoplastic adhesive have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic dielectric spectroscopy (DDS). The thermoplastic polyester adhesive and the oriented PET films have been studied as reference samples. This study evidences that the adhesive chain segments is responsible for the physical structure evolution in the PET-oriented film. The transitions and dielectric relaxation modes’ evolutions in the glass transition region appear characteristic of the interphase between adhesive and PET film, which is discussed in terms of molecular mobility. The storage at room temperature of the adhesive tape involves the heterogeneity of the physical structure, characterized by glass transition dissociation. Thus, the correlation between the transitions and the dielectric relaxation processes evidences a segregation of the amorphous phases. Therefore, the physical structure and the properties of the material have been linked to the chemical characteristics

The impacts of environmental warming on Odonata: a review

Climate change brings with it unprecedented rates of increase in environmental temperature, which will have major consequences for the earth's flora and fauna. The Odonata represent a taxon that has many strong links to this abiotic factor due to its tropical evolutionary history and adaptations to temperate climates. Temperature is known to affect odonate physiology including life-history traits such as developmental rate, phenology and seasonal regulation as well as immune function and the production of pigment for thermoregulation. A range of behaviours are likely to be affected which will, in turn, influence other parts of the aquatic ecosystem, primarily through trophic interactions. Temperature may influence changes in geographical distributions, through a shifting of species' fundamental niches, changes in the distribution of suitable habitat and variation in the dispersal ability of species. Finally, such a rapid change in the environment results in a strong selective pressure towards adaptation to cope and the inevitable loss of some populations and, potentially, species. Where data are lacking for odonates, studies on other invertebrate groups will be considered. Finally, directions for research are suggested, particularly laboratory studies that investigate underlying causes of climate-driven macroecological patterns

Lipid production by yeasts growing on commercial xylose in submerged cultures with process water being partially replaced by olive mill wastewaters

Six yeast strains belonging to Rhodosporidium toruloides, Lipomyces starkeyi, Rhodotorula glutinis and Cryptococcus curvatus were shake-flask cultured on xylose (initial sugar – S0 =70±10 g/L) under nitrogen-limited conditions. C. curvatus ATCC 20509 and L. starkeyi DSM 70296 were further cultured in media where process waters were partially replaced by the phenol-containing olive-mill wastewaters (OMWs). In flasks with S0≈100 g/L and OMWs added yielding to initial phenolic compounds concentration (PCC0) between 0.0 g/L (blank experiment) and 2.0 g/L, C. curvatus presented maximum total dry cell weight - TDCWmax ≈27 g/L, in all cases. The more the PCC0 increased, the fewer lipids were produced. In OMW-enriched media with PCC0≈1.2 g/L, TDCW=20.9 g/L containing ≈40% w/w of lipids was recorded. In L. starkeyi cultures, when PCC0≈2.0 g/L, TDCW≈25 g/L was synthesized, whereas lipids in TDCW =24-28% w/w, similar to the experiments without OMWs, were recorded. Non-negligible dephenolization and species-dependant decolorization of the wastewater occurred. A batch-bioreactor trial by C. curvatus only with xylose (S0≈110 g/L) was performed, and TDCW=35.1 g/L (lipids in TDCW=41.3% w/w) was produced. Yeast total lipids were composed of oleic and palmitic and to lesser extent linoleic and stearic acids. C. curvatus lipids were mainly composed of non-polar fractions (i.e. triacylglycerols)

Purification of a hepatitis C vaccine candidate: Comparison between multi- column chromatographic processes operated in positive and negative mode

Given the increasing efficiencies in bioreaction and growing interest on complex biopharmaceutical products such as virus-like particles (VLPs), downstream processing (DSP) is becoming ever more relevant. Therefore, the biopharmaceutical industry is looking for alternative downstream strategies capable of improving purification yields whilst improving product quality and lowering costs. One of most promising improvements to DSP is to replace single-column batch operation by continuous, or semi-continuous, multi-column chromatography. We report on the development and comparison of two types of multi-column chromatographic systems aimed at the purification of Hepatitis C VLPs, produced using insect cell-based expression with recombinant baculovirus. The first process described herein is based on direct product capture using an anion exchange chromatographic media and subsequent elution with the modulation of ionic strength. By using a multi-column approach, one is able to overcome the limits of dynamic binding capacity characteristic of single-column batch processes, thus increasing the media capacity utilization. The second process reported is based on negative chromatographic purification. In this approach elution conditions are such that impurities should adsorb on the chromatographic media whereas the product of interest flows through the column. Both process approaches are subjected to a temporal arrangement of operations steps suchlike column equilibration, product application, production and regeneration. Volumetric productivity thus depends not only on the optimal scheduling of the referred steps, but also upon factors such as media capacity for the product and related impurities, operational flow-rates, and mechanical limitations of the systems used. The proposed analysis compares volumetric productivity, resin capacity utilization, equipment footprint and skid complexity for both purification strategies. Also we will demonstrate that the optimal design is a balance between the manufacturing scale, complexity and imposed product quality requirements

Continuous purification of hepatitis C virus-like particles by multi-column chromatography

Novel biopharmaceutical products, such as virus-like particles (VLPs) and viral vectors, constitute a challenging task for downstream processing (DSP). Recoveries achieved to reach required purities are significantly inferior compared to more common antibody and other recombinant processes. Therefore, the biopharmaceutical industry is looking for alternative downstream strategies capable of improving purification yields and decreasing cost while maintaining product quality. One of many possible improvements to DSP is to replace single-column batch operation by continuous, or semi-continuous, multi-column chromatography. A single-column batch chromatographic operation used for capture is limited by the dynamic binding capacity (DBC) of the target product. For high-value products, chromatographic columns are normally loaded to less than 1% of DBC underutilizing the resin\u27s capacity. Increasing capacity utilization leads to significant resin cost savings, particularly relevant in the case of capture with expensive affinity materials. Multi-column processes have been shown to improve process efficiency and economics, providing a powerful and flexible alternative to conventional batch chromatography. In fact, a simple serial connection of two chromatographic columns, where the effluent of the first column of the train is directed to the inlet of the second column, allows that in a loading step the breakthrough of the first column is captured on the second bed, thus avoiding product loss. After saturation, the first column can be subjected to the normal processing steps of a batch chromatographic operation while loading is resumed in the adjacent bed. Moreover, this simple setup modification allows not only to extend the utilization of the resin’s capacity, overcoming the aforementioned issues, but also to benefit from the counter-current flow between the mobile and the stationary phases, which optimizes the driving force for mass transfer throughout the overall trajectory of the two phases. We report the development of a continuous chromatographic process for the purification of Hepatitis C VLPs (HCV-VLPs), produced using insect cell-based expression with recombinant baculovirus. A library of novel anion exchange resins with different ligand densities was evaluated for improved binding and release of the target product and impurity clearance in batch operation. A model-based approach for a smooth transition from a single-column batch process to a continuous multi-column operation is demonstrated and the scheduling of periodic events of the process cycle is analyzed. The contribution of column overloading, counter current operation and faster flow rates to recovery improvements compared to batch is discussed. Ultimately, both purification strategies, batch and continuous, are compared not only in terms of volumetric productivity, resin capacity utilization and footprint reduction, but also to indicate whether actual performance can be improved by continuous operation

Improving downstream processing of enveloped virus-like particles with multi-column chromatography

The interest in continuous downstream purification processes is rapidly growing as industry pursues the establishment of continuous manufacturing. Continuous multi-column chromatography is therefore looked as an enabling technology, capable of improving purification yields whilst improving product quality and lowering costs. We report on the development and comparison of two types of multi-column chromatographic systems aimed at the purification of enveloped VLPs, produced using insect cell-based expression with recombinant baculovirus. By subjecting an array of chromatographic devices to a temporal sequence of operations steps, suchlike column equilibration, product application, production and regeneration, one is able to overcome the limits of dynamic binding capacity characteristic of single-column batch processes. This will enable the increase of volumetric productivity, column capacity utilization and subsequently a decrease on processing costs. The first process described herein is based on direct product capture using an anion exchange chromatographic media and subsequent elution with the modulation of ionic strength. The second process reported is based on negative chromatographic purification. In this approach, elution conditions are such that impurities should adsorb on the chromatographic media whereas the product of interest flows through the column. The proposed strategies will be compared in terms of their volumetric productivity, resin capacity utilization, equipment footprint and skid complexity. We will also demonstrate that the optimal design is not only a balance between the manufacturing scale, complexity and imposed product quality requirements, but depends also upon factors such as media capacity for the product and related impurities, operational flow-rates, and mechanical limitations of the systems used