Accelerated Steady-State Torque Computation for Induction Machines using Parallel-In-Time Algorithms

This paper focuses on efficient steady-state computations of induction machines. In particular, the periodic Parareal algorithm with initial-value coarse problem (PP-IC) is considered for acceleration of classical time-stepping simulations via non-intrusive parallelization in time domain, i.e., existing implementations can be reused. Superiority of this parallel-in-time method is in its direct applicability to time-periodic problems, compared to, e.g, the standard Parareal method, which only solves an initial-value problem, starting from a prescribed initial value. PP-IC is exploited here to obtain the steady state of several operating points of an induction motor, developed by Robert Bosch GmbH. Numerical experiments show that acceleration up to several dozens of times can be obtained, depending on availability of parallel processing units. Comparison of PP-IC with existing time-periodic explicit error correction method highlights better robustness and efficiency of the considered time-parallel approach

Cecil John Edmonds. East and West of Zagros: Travel, War and Politics in Persia and Iraq, 1913-1921

East and West of Zagros are the memoirs of British officer, diplomat, and academic Cecil J. Edmonds (1889-1979) concerning his service between 1913 and 1921, first, as a junior diplomat and, later – during World War I and its immediate aftermath – as an (Assistant) Political Officer chiefly in Persia (including stints in Bushire, Shushtar, Dezful, Lorestan, Borujerd, Gilan, Qazvin, and Tabriz as well as occasional visits to Tehran) but also in Lower Mesopotamia and, for a very brief, but sign..

Effects of silk degumming process on physicochemical, tensile, and optical properties of regenerated silk fibroin

Sericin removal from silk (degumming) affects material characteristics of silk fibroin (SF). Sodium carbonate is most commonly used for degumming, but numerous alternative methods are available. Herein, a systematic comparison of degumming methods is provided. Sodium carbonate, sodium oleate, trypsin, and ionic liquid are used, and materials are characterized regarding mass loss, SF content, molecular integrity of SF, refractive index, and tensile properties. Complete degumming is achieved within 30 min of using sodium carbonate, but results in significant reduction of molecular weight, shift toward less acidic charge variants, and reduction of yield- and rupture force. Sodium oleate and trypsin are inefficient and negatively affect tensile properties, while ionic liquid shows good efficiency and marginal degradation of SF but also reduced yield- and rupture force. Refractive index is not affected by degumming. These results allow rational selection of the degumming method and tuning of SF properties for biomedical applications

Wind-Solar-Wärmepumpenquartiere: Praxiserfahrungen und Planungshilfen für den erneuerbaren Betrieb von Wärmepumpenquartieren mit minimiertem Primärenergiebedarf

Wärmepumpen (WP) bieten großes Potenzial zur Reduzierung des Primärenergiebedarfs und der CO2-Emissionen im Wärmesektor. Besonders hoch fallen diese Reduzierungen aus, wenn der Strom für die Wärmepumpen aus erneuerbaren Energiequellen wie Windenergie oder Photovoltaikanlagen stammt. Bei der Planung und Umsetzung der Wärmeversorgung von einzelnen Gebäuden und ganzen Quartieren mittels Wärmepumpe ergeben sich auf verschiedenen Ebenen allgemeine und technische Fragestellungen. Diese Fragestellungen wurden im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts Wind-Solar-Wärmepumpenquartier an Hand von Messungen in realen Wärmepumpen-Quartieren und mittels Simulationsstudien untersucht. Die Ergebnisse sind in diesem Bericht zusammengefasst und sollen Hilfestellungen sowie Anregungen zur Planung und Umsetzung von regenerativ betriebenen Wärmepumpenquartieren geben. Dabei gliedert sich der Bericht in die drei folgenden Themenbereiche: Lernen aus der Praxis: Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden zwei Wärmepumpenquartiere untersucht, die sich im Wesentlichen in der Art der Wärmequelle und in ihrem Baujahr unterscheiden. Die bis zu 20-jährigen Betriebserfahrungen und Messdaten aus den Wärmepumpenquartieren liefern umfangreiche Erkenntnisse. Diese lassen eine Bewertung zu, ob innovative Konzepte auch langfristig effizient betrieben werden können und wo noch Handlungsbedarf besteht. Wie können Wärmepumpenquartiere mit erneuerbaren Energien versorgt und Primärenergie (PE) eingespart werden? Bei der Planung von Wärmepumpenquartieren ergeben sich viele Fragestellungen: Welche Wärmequelle ist die beste für die Wärmeversorgung im Quartier? Wie kann der Strombedarf der Wärmepumpen aus erneuerbaren Energieanlagen wie Windenergie und Photovoltaik gedeckt werden? Was sind die relevanten Parameter für eine optimale Auslegung der Windenergie- und Photovoltaik-Anlagen? Welchen Beitrag können Betriebsstrategien und thermische oder elektrische Speicher für einen erneuerbaren Betrieb leisten? Auf Basis von Simulationsstudien werden diese Fragestellungen hinsichtlich der Primärenergieeinsparung untersucht und anhand ihrer Wirksamkeit bewertet. Welche Anforderungen stellen erneuerbar betriebene Wärmepumpenquartiere an die elektrischen Verteilnetze? Wie wirkt sich der Wärmepumpenbetrieb auf die Netzauslastung aus? Welchen Einfluss haben Photovoltaikanlagen auf den Netzbetrieb? Welche weiteren Belastungsfaktoren lassen sich identifizieren? An Hand von verschiedenen Belastungsszenarien wird aufgezeigt, welche Verbraucher und Erzeuger wichtig für die Auslegung der Netze sind und welchen Einfluss die Wahl der Wärmequelle und der Betriebsstrategien der Wärmepumpen auf die Auslastung des Netzes haben

In Support of a Patient-Driven Initiative and Petition to Lower the High Price of Cancer Drugs

Comment in Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--III. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--I. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--IV. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] In Reply--Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] US oncologists call for government regulation to curb drug price rises. [BMJ. 2015

Genome-wide mega-analysis identifies 16 loci and highlights diverse biological mechanisms in the common epilepsies

The epilepsies affect around 65 million people worldwide and have a substantial missing heritability component. We report a genome-wide mega-analysis involving 15,212 individuals with epilepsy and 29,677 controls, which reveals 16 genome-wide significant loci, of which 11 are novel. Using various prioritization criteria, we pinpoint the 21 most likely epilepsy genes at these loci, with the majority in genetic generalized epilepsies. These genes have diverse biological functions, including coding for ion-channel subunits, transcription factors and a vitamin-B6 metabolism enzyme. Converging evidence shows that the common variants associated with epilepsy play a role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the brain. The results show an enrichment for monogenic epilepsy genes as well as known targets of antiepileptic drugs. Using SNP-based heritability analyses we disentangle both the unique and overlapping genetic basis to seven different epilepsy subtypes. Together, these findings provide leads for epilepsy therapies based on underlying pathophysiology

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

Genome-wide mega-analysis identifies 16 loci and highlights diverse biological mechanisms in the common epilepsies

The epilepsies affect around 65 million people worldwide and have a substantial missing heritability component. We report a genome-wide mega-analysis involving 15,212 individuals with epilepsy and 29,677 controls, which reveals 16 genome-wide significant loci, of which 11 are novel. Using various prioritization criteria, we pinpoint the 21 most likely epilepsy genes at these loci, with the majority in genetic generalized epilepsies. These genes have diverse biological functions, including coding for ion-channel subunits, transcription factors and a vitamin-B6 metabolism enzyme. Converging evidence shows that the common variants associated with epilepsy play a role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the brain. The results show an enrichment for monogenic epilepsy genes as well as known targets of antiepileptic drugs. Using SNP-based heritability analyses we disentangle both the unique and overlapping genetic basis to seven different epilepsy subtypes. Together, these findings provide leads for epilepsy therapies based on underlying pathophysiology