Serving Texas Emergency Care Professionals

Bimonthly magazine containing news and information that pertains to Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. "The magazine's goals are to help organizations function professionally as EMS providers, to educate individuals so they can perform lifesaving prehospital skills under stressful conditions, and to help the public get into the EMS system when they need it" (p. 4). This issue covers topics on local projects grants, GETAC recap, Babe Aycock, and computerized testing

Quantifying the Potential of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation in the United States Agricultural System with Model-data Integration

Agriculture is an important sector of U.S. economy. Faced with increasing global food demand driven by population boom, it is necessary to sustain the increasing food production. However, agricultural system is inherently sensitive to climate change and multiple lines of evidence across different spatial scales implied that the future warming will decrease global food production. In this context, this thesis focused on US cropland to investigate its potential in climate mitigation and adaptation by synthesizing the multiple crop models, long term satellite data, official survey data and field experiment. The fundamental questions addressed by this dissertation are: (1) how will the Climate Mitigation Potential (CMP) be varied when considering both biophysical and biogeochemical effects of biofuel crops expansion with different levels of management practices? (2) how will the effectiveness of adopting longer maturity maize cultivars be changed when implemented under future warmer climate? (3) how does heat stress influence maize grain yield across different maize growth stages? In the first study, we used site-level observations of carbon, water, and energy fluxes of biofuel crops to parameterize and evaluate the Community Land Model and estimate CO2 fluxes, surface energy balance, soil carbon dynamics of corn, Switchgrass and Miscanthus ecosystems across the conterminous United States considering different agricultural management practices and land-use scenarios. We found that, using carbon as currency, the CMP of energy crops over croplands and marginal lands is significantly changed from -1.9, 49.1 and 69.3 gC/m2 per year considering only biogeochemical effects to 20.5, 78.5 and 96.2 gC/m2 per year considering both biophysical and biogeochemical effects for corn, Switchgrass and Miscanthus, respectively. The CMP of biophysical effects is dominated by latent heat fluxes. When fertilization and irrigation is applied, the CMP over croplands and marginal lands reaches 79.6, 98.3 and 118.8 gC/m2 per year, respectively. We further found that the CMP over marginal lands is lower than that over croplands. This study highlights that biophysical effects induced from altering surface energy and water balance should be considered to adequately quantify CMP of bioenergy crops at regional scales. In the second study, we argued that shift towards varieties with prolonged grain filling period (GFP) had a much greater contribution to the recent yield trends than previously thought. By using long term satellite data from 2000 to 2015, we identified an average lengthening of GFP of 0.37 days per year over the region, which probably results from variety renewal. An empirical statistical model demonstrated that longer GFP contributed roughly one-quarter (23%) of the yield increase trend by promoting kernel dry matter accumulation, yet less yield benefit was identified in hotter counties. Both official survey data and crop model simulations estimated a similar contribution of GFP trend to yield. If growing degree days that determines the GFP continues to prolong at the current rate for the next 50 years, yield reduction will be lessened with 25% and 18% longer GFP under Representative Concentration Pathway 2.6 (RCP 2.6) and RCP 6.0, respectively. However, this level of progress is insufficient to compensate yield losses in future climates, because drought and heat stress during the GFP will become more prevalent. Our study highlights devising multiple effective adaptation strategies is necessary to withstand the upcoming challenges in food security. For the last study, we integrated crop models, satellite data, statistical data and field experiment data to investigate how increasing temperature influences maize yield through various processes across the US Midwest. Observational data suggests there is a nonlinear increasing temperature sensitivity of maize yield as temperature goes up, which is predominantly determined by sensitivity of harvest index, while the response of biomass growth rate and growing season length is relatively small. Although model ensemble exhibited a similar pattern of temperature sensitivity, the negative impact of warming on harvest index is underestimated. Further analysis shows that the enhanced temperature sensitivity of harvest index mainly results from a higher sensitivity of yield to temperature stress during grain filling period, which accounts for approximate 61% yield reduction. Future warming might influence yield directly through frequent heat stress or indirectly through water stress. Analysis of observational data suggests that high temperature stress is more influential than water stress, especially with warmer climate, while model ensemble shows an opposite result. This discrepancy implies that the yield benefit of increasing atmospheric CO2 might have been overestimated in crop models while direct temperature stress during grain formation is underestimated, because water conservation effect of increasing CO2 brings more yield benefit under water stress conditions but shows limited benefit under heat stress. Our results suggest that, although maize yield has increased significantly in the US, limited progresses have achieved when confronted with heat stress during grain formation, highlighting more efforts are required for future climate adaptation during maize grain formation

Distinct Pathogenesis and Host Responses during Infection of C. elegans by P. aeruginosa and S. aureus

The genetically tractable model host Caenorhabditis elegans provides a valuable tool to dissect host-microbe interactions in vivo. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus utilize virulence factors involved in human disease to infect and kill C. elegans. Despite much progress, virtually nothing is known regarding the cytopathology of infection and the proximate causes of nematode death. Using light and electron microscopy, we found that P. aeruginosa infection entails intestinal distention, accumulation of an unidentified extracellular matrix and P. aeruginosa-synthesized outer membrane vesicles in the gut lumen and on the apical surface of intestinal cells, the appearance of abnormal autophagosomes inside intestinal cells, and P. aeruginosa intracellular invasion of C. elegans. Importantly, heat-killed P. aeruginosa fails to elicit a significant host response, suggesting that the C. elegans response to P. aeruginosa is activated either by heat-labile signals or pathogen-induced damage. In contrast, S. aureus infection causes enterocyte effacement, intestinal epithelium destruction, and complete degradation of internal organs. S. aureus activates a strong transcriptional response in C. elegans intestinal epithelial cells, which aids host survival during infection and shares elements with human innate responses. The C. elegans genes induced in response to S. aureus are mostly distinct from those induced by P. aeruginosa. In contrast to P. aeruginosa, heat-killed S. aureus activates a similar response as live S. aureus, which appears to be independent of the single C. elegans Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) protein. These data suggest that the host response to S. aureus is possibly mediated by pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Because our data suggest that neither the P. aeruginosa nor the S. aureus–triggered response requires canonical TLR signaling, they imply the existence of unidentified mechanisms for pathogen detection in C. elegans, with potentially conserved roles also in mammals

The genetic architecture of a host shift: An adaptive walk protected an aphid and its endosymbiont from plant chemical defenses

This is the final version. Available from American Association for the Advancement of Science via the DOI in this record. The RNA and DNA sequence data generated in this study have been deposited with NCBI under accession number PRJNA574571. The sequence of RPS11/ADAMTS9 has been deposited under NCBI accession number MF1555663, and the accession numbers of other genes characterized in this study can be found in data file S1. All other data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.Host shifts can lead to ecological speciation and the emergence of new pests and pathogens. However, the mutational events that facilitate the exploitation of novel hosts are poorly understood. Here, we characterize an adaptive walk underpinning the host shift of the aphid Myzus persicae to tobacco, including evolution of mechanisms that overcame tobacco chemical defenses. A series of mutational events added as many as 1.5 million nucleotides to the genome of the tobacco-adapted subspecies, M. p. nicotianae, and yielded profound increases in expression of an enzyme that efficiently detoxifies nicotine, both in aphid gut tissue and in the bacteriocytes housing the obligate aphid symbiont Buchnera aphidicola. This dual evolutionary solution overcame the challenge of preserving fitness of a mutualistic symbiosis during adaptation to a toxic novel host. Our results reveal the intricate processes by which genetic novelty can arise and drive the evolution of key innovations required for ecological adaptation.European Union Horizon 2020Czech Science FoundationCzech Science FoundationEuropean Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech RepublicBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC

Evaluation of event data recorders in real world crashes and full-scale crash tests

With the advent of advanced safety systems in U.S. passenger vehicles, there has been increased interest shown by automakers in recording crash related parameters that ultimately lead to the deployment of these safety systems in what are known as Event Data Recorders (EDRs). Since the only other record of these parameters, specifically crash pulse, comes from staged crash tests in a controlled environment, the advent of the EDR has become increasingly important to crash researchers. The purpose of this study is to quantify the performance of EDRs in full-scale crash tests and real world crashes. Comparison of EDRs with staged crash tests included 6 General Motors vehicles. The EDRs performed well in staged crash tests reporting delta-V accurately in five of six tests. They were able to report other crash related parameters such as driver seat belt and airbag deployment status accurately in five of six tests as well. Comparison of EDRs with real world accident reconstructions was performed for 315 General Motors cases and 10 Ford cases from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS / CDS) database. Computer generated (WinSmash) values for delta-V showed the tendency to underestimate delta-V for high-speed deployment events and overestimate delta-V for low-speed nondeployment events when compared to the GM EDR. The Ford EDR showed a lack of sufficient recording duration to draw any concrete conclusions on the accuracy of its delta-V value

Quality management plan

abstract: This plan describes the processes the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) uses to maintain a Quality Management System consistent with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements.tableOfContents: Organization and management -- Quality management system -- Personnel qualifications and training -- Procurement of items and services -- Documentation and records management -- Information technology (IT) and data management -- Planning -- Implementation of quality assurance work processes -- Quality assessment and response -- Quality improvement -- Terms and definitions -- Appendices. ADEQ temperature/preservation guidance policy -- ADEQ policy 0154. Addressing spike and surrogate recovery as they relate to matrix effects in water, air, sludge, and soil matrices -- ADEQ policy 0170. Implementation of EPA method 5035. Soil preparation for EPA methods 8015b, 8021b, and 8260b -- Arizona data qualifiers, revision 3 (09/20/2007

Technology and benefits of aircraft counter rotation propellers

Results are reported of a NASA sponsored analytical investigation into the merits of advanced counter rotation propellers for Mach 0.80 commercial transport application. Propeller and gearbox performance, acoustics, vibration characteristics, weight, cost and maintenance requirements for a variety of design parameters and special features were considered. Fuel savings in the neighborhood of 8 percent relative to single rotation configurations are feasible through swirl recovery and lighter gearboxes. This is the net gain which includes a 5 percent acoustic treatment weight penalty to offset the broader frequency spectrum noise produced by counter rotation blading

Power Reductions with Energy Recovery Using Resonant Topologies

The problem of power densities in system-on-chips (SoCs) and processors has become more exacerbated recently, resulting in high cooling costs and reliability issues. One of the largest components of power consumption is the low skew clock distribution network (CDN), driving large load capacitance. This can consume as much as 70% of the total dynamic power that is lost as heat, needing elaborate sensing and cooling mechanisms. To mitigate this, resonant clocking has been utilized in several applications over the past decade. An improved energy recovering reconfigurable generalized series resonance (GSR) solution with all the critical support circuitry is developed in this work. This LC resonant clock driver is shown to save about 50% driver power (\u3e40% overall), on a 22nm process node and has 50% less skew than a non-resonant driver at 2GHz. It can operate down to 0.2GHz to support other energy savings techniques like dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS). As an example, GSR can be configured for the simpler pulse series resonance (PSR) operation to enable further power saving for double data rate (DDR) applications, by using de-skewing latches instead of flip-flop banks. A PSR based subsystem for 40% savings in clocking power with 40% driver active area reduction xii is demonstrated. This new resonant driver generates tracking pulses at each transition of clock for dual edge operation across DVFS. PSR clocking is designed to drive explicit-pulsed latches with negative setup time. Simulations using 45nm IBM/PTM device and interconnect technology models, clocking 1024 flip-flops show the reductions, compared to non-resonant clocking. DVFS range from 2GHz/1.3V to 200MHz/0.5V is obtained. The PSR frequency is set \u3e3× the clock rate, needing only 1/10th the inductance of prior-art LC resonance schemes. The skew reductions are achieved without needing to increase the interconnect widths owing to negative set-up times. Applications in data circuits are shown as well with a 90nm example. Parallel resonant and split-driver non-resonant configurations as well are derived from GSR. Tradeoffs in timing performance versus power, based on theoretical analysis, are compared for the first time and verified. This enables synthesis of an optimal topology for a given application from the GSR

Emerging Technology IS Course Design: Blockchain for Business Example

IS curricula require constant updating to accommodate the emergence of new technologies. Designing and delivering effective emerging technology courses within the constraints of existing programs remains an important challenge faculty face. This paper presents a template for approaching these courses from a learning theory perspective. Results of tests of this template, developed for teaching blockchain, indicate that it successfully strikes the balance needed in an IS program while simplifying the work of designing the structure of an emerging technology course. Additionally, this design was able to deliver this success in an online format, which can be a more challenging format for observing application of knowledge. Blockchain is a disruptive emerging technology opportunity for businesses to unlock value through trusted and “smart” peer-to-peer transactions, wherein smart means businesspeople can custom design processes for verification and transfer of assets. The blockchain example provided here includes a flexible 7-scenario design targeted to enable a constructive, project-based learning approach focused on authentic learning experiences. The template as applied to blockchain may be used directly or adapted for easier development of other emerging technology courses

Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation “3.0”: From acute to chronic phase. Position Paper of the ltalian Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (GICR-IACPR)

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is the subspecialty of clinical cardiology dedicated to the treatment of cardiac patients, early and in the long term after an acute event. The aim of CR is to improve both quality of life and prognosis through prognostic stratification, clinical stabilization and optimization of therapy (pharmacological and non), management of comorbidities, treatment of disability, as well as through the provision and reinforcement of secondary prevention interventions and maintenaince of adherence to treatment. The mission of CR has changed over time. Once centered on the acute phase, aimed primarily at short-term survival, the healthcare of cardiac patients now increasingly involves the chronic phase where the challenge is to guarantee continuity and quality of care in the medium and long-term. The aim of the present position paper is to provide the state-of-the-art of CR in Italy, discussing its trengths and weaknesses as well as future perspectives