Programmable Turbine Failsafe System for Pico-Hydroelectric Power in the Nepal Himalayas

In this paper, we describe a novel turbine failsafe system designed for a pico-hydroelectric power generation. We designed and built a pico-hydroelectric system in a remote rural Himalayan village. We developed a Prioritized Load Control System (PLCS) that diverts excess electrical power to useful purposes such as heating up bath water and the air in the community center when the electrical demand from the village is low; instead of dumping the excess electricity back into the river in the form of heat. A critical part of the PLCS system is the failsafe mechanism where the turbines and electrical components on the grid are protected in case any part of the PLCS system stops functioning, possibly intermittently. Our novel failsafe system contains the following enhancements compared to previous systems: (1) adjustable threshold voltage, (2) controllable fractional power diversion with adjustable parameters, (3) automatic reset with adjustable parameters. In addition, the failsafe subsystem uses the widely available Arduino platform and programming environment, and JSON for human readable and writable communications, demonstrating their suitability for critical applications

A COMPARISON OF BALANCE CONTROL BETWEEN JAVELIN THROWERS AND BASEBALL PITCHERS

This study evaluated the balance control in javelin throwers and baseball pitchers. Twenty-four athletes took part in the study and for each we measured their static and dynamic balance by Biodex Balance System, AMTl AccuSway force plate and Y balance test. The paired t-test was conducted to compare all the variables within subjects. The independent t-test was used to compare trail leg (TL) of baseball pitchers with propulsive leg (PL) of javelin throwers and stride leg (SL) of baseball pitchers with braking leg (BL) of javelin throwers. The results showed that there was no difference between the PL and BL in dynamic and static balance in javelin throwers. However, the dynamic balance in the TL was significantly better than the SL in baseball pitchers. The static balance in the PL in javelin throwers was also better than the TL in baseball pitchers. The research improves the understanding of balance control in elite athletes

On observation of dispersion in tunable second-order nonlinearities of silicon-rich nitride thin films

We present experimental results on second-harmonic generation in non-stoichiometric, silicon-rich nitride (SRN) films. The as-deposited film presents a second-order nonlinear coefficient, or \c{hi}(2), as high as 8pm/V. This value can be widely tuned using the electric field induced second harmonic effect (EFISH), and a maximum value of 22.7pm/V was achieved with this technique. We further illustrate that the second-order nonlinear coefficient exhibited by these films can be highly dispersive in nature, and requires further study and analysis to evaluate their viability for in-waveguide applications at telecommunication wavelengths

Development of Stitched Composite Structure for Advanced Aircraft

NASA has created the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project to develop technologies which will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. A critical aspect of this pursuit is the development of a lighter, more robust airframe that will enable the introduction of unconventional aircraft configurations. NASA and The Boeing Company are working together to develop a structural concept that is lightweight and an advancement beyond state-of-the-art composites. The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is an integrally stiffened panel design where elements are stitched together and designed to maintain residual load-carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios. With the PRSEUS concept, through-the-thickness stitches are applied through dry fabric prior to resin infusion, and replace fasteners throughout each integral panel. Through-the-thickness reinforcement at discontinuities, such as along flange edges, has been shown to suppress delamination and turn cracks, which expands the design space and leads to lighter designs. The pultruded rod provides stiffening away from the more vulnerable skin surface and improves bending stiffness. A series of building blocks were evaluated to explore the fundamental assumptions related to the capability and advantages of PRSEUS panels. These building blocks addressed tension, compression, and pressure loading conditions. The emphasis of the development work has been to assess the loading capability, damage arrestment features, repairability, post-buckling behavior, and response of PRSEUS flat panels to out-of plane pressure loading. The results of this building-block program from coupons through an 80%-scale pressure box have demonstrated the viability of a PRSEUS center body for the Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) transport aircraft. This development program shows that the PRSEUS benefits are also applicable to traditional tube-andwing aircraft, those of advanced configurations, and other structures where weight and through-the-thickness strength are design considerations. An overview of the development of PRSEUS technology for commercial transport aircraft is the subject of this paper

HuR cytoplasmic expression is associated with increased cyclin A expression and poor outcome with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma

BACKGROUND: HuR is an RNA-binding protein that post-transcriptionally modulates the expressions of various target genes implicated in carcinogenesis, such as CCNA2 encoding cyclin A. No prior study attempted to evaluate the significance of HuR expression in a large cohort with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinomas (UTUCs). METHODS: In total, 340 cases of primary localized UTUC without previous or concordant bladder carcinoma were selected. All of these patients received ureterectomy or radical nephroureterectomy with curative intents. Pathological slides were reviewed, and clinical findings were collected. Immunostaining for HuR and cyclin A was performed and evaluated by using H-score. The results of cytoplasmic HuR and nuclear cyclin A expressions were correlated with disease-specific survival (DSS), metastasis-free survival (MeFS), urinary bladder recurrence-free survival (UBRFS), and various clinicopathological factors. RESULTS: HuR cytoplasmic expression was significantly related to the pT status, lymph node metastasis, a higher histological grade, the pattern of invasion, vascular and perineurial invasion, and cyclin A expression (p = 0.005). Importantly, HuR cytoplasmic expression was strongly associated with a worse DSS (p < 0.0001), MeFS (p < 0.0001), and UBRFS (p = 0.0370) in the univariate analysis, and the first two results remained independently predictive of adverse outcomes (p = 0.038, relative risk [RR] = 1.996 for DSS; p = 0.027, RR = 1.880 for MeFS). Cyclin A nuclear expression was associated with a poor DSS (p = 0.0035) and MeFS (p = 0.0015) in the univariate analysis but was not prognosticatory in the multivariate analyses. High-risk patients (pT3 or pT4 with/without nodal metastasis) with high HuR cytoplasmic expression had better DSS if adjuvant chemotherapy was performed (p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: HuR cytoplasmic expression was correlated with adverse phenotypes and cyclin A overexpression and also independently predictive of worse DSS and MeFS, suggesting its roles in tumorigenesis or carcinogenesis and potentiality as a prognostic marker of UTUC. High HuR cytoplasmic expression might identify patients more likely to be beneficial for adjuvant chemotherapy

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

Aggressive PDACs show hypomethylation of repetitive elements and the execution of an intrinsic IFN program linked to a ductal cell of origin

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by extensive desmoplasia, which challenges the molecular analyses of bulk tumor samples. Here we FACS-purified epithelial cells from human PDAC and normal pancreas and derived their genome-wide transcriptome and DNA methylome landscapes. Clustering based on DNA methylation revealed two distinct PDAC groups displaying different methylation patterns at regions encoding repeat elements. Methylation(low) tumors are characterized by higher expression of endogenous retroviral (ERV) transcripts and dsRNA sensors which leads to a cell intrinsic activation of an interferon signature (IFNsign). This results in a pro-tumorigenic microenvironment and poor patient outcome. Methylation(low)/IFNsign(high) and Methylation(high)/IFNsign(low) PDAC cells preserve lineage traits, respective of normal ductal or acinar pancreatic cells. Moreover, ductal-derived Kras(G12D)/Trp53(−/−) mouse PDACs show higher expression of IFNsign compared to acinar-derived counterparts. Collectively, our data point to two different origins and etiologies of human PDACs, with the aggressive Methylation(low)/IFNsign(high) subtype potentially targetable by agents blocking intrinsic IFN-signaling

BEAST 2.5:An advanced software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis

Elaboration of Bayesian phylogenetic inference methods has continued at pace in recent years with major new advances in nearly all aspects of the joint modelling of evolutionary data. It is increasingly appreciated that some evolutionary questions can only be adequately answered by combining evidence from multiple independent sources of data, including genome sequences, sampling dates, phenotypic data, radiocarbon dates, fossil occurrences, and biogeographic range information among others. Including all relevant data into a single joint model is very challenging both conceptually and computationally. Advanced computational software packages that allow robust development of compatible (sub-)models which can be composed into a full model hierarchy have played a key role in these developments. Developing such software frameworks is increasingly a major scientific activity in its own right, and comes with specific challenges, from practical software design, development and engineering challenges to statistical and conceptual modelling challenges. BEAST 2 is one such computational software platform, and was first announced over 4 years ago. Here we describe a series of major new developments in the BEAST 2 core platform and model hierarchy that have occurred since the first release of the software, culminating in the recent 2.5 release

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the Second Phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since 2014 July. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the 14th from SDSS overall (making this Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes the data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (2014–2016 July) public. Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey; the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data-driven machine-learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from the SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS web site (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020 and will be followed by SDSS-V