Controlled pattern formation of stochastic Cucker-Smale systems with network structures

We present a new stochastic particle system on networks which describes the flocking behavior and pattern formation. More precisely, we consider Cucker-Smale particles with decentralized formation control and multiplicative noises on symmetric and connected networks. Under suitable assumptions on the initial configurations and the network structure, we establish time-asymptotic stochastic flocking behavior and pattern formation of solutions for the proposed stochastic particle system. Our approach is based on the Lyapunov functional energy estimates, and it does not require any spectral information of the graph associated with the network structure

Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Houston METRO System – Evaluation of Electric Alternatives

In the Greater Houston Area, mobile sources (on-and off-road vehicles) contribute the largest share of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and second-highest share of volatile organic (VOC) emissions. The Houston METRO system is a key element in Houston\u27s infrastructure that can be expanded to lower emissions of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) and improve regional air quality. Currently, there is no comparative study for relative emissions and environmental impacts between passenger automobiles and METRO routes in Houston. Our research addressed this critical gap and developed environmental life cycle assessment for conventional diesel buses, diesel hybrid buses, and alternative electric buses in Houston using the GREET model. The life cycle GHG emissions of electric buses are slightly lower than the other two types of buses. However, all the other major emissions such as CO, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, VOCs, SOx, N2O, CH4, black carbon and primary organic carbon associated with electric buses are higher than diesel buses, thus causing higher environmental cost of electric buses than diesel buses. The life cycle costs of buses are very sensitive to future diesel and electricity prices. The results from this project would serve as a guiding framework to evaluate the effects of the decision to expand the METRO system and estimate the contribution of the METRO system in realizing the Greater Houston Area\u27s environmental objectives

Lifecycle Environmental Impact of High-Speed Rail System in the Houston-Dallas I-45 Corridor

Texas has the highest rate of the U.S energy related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and transportation is one of the major contributors. The Houston–Dallas corridor is the busiest routes in Texas. Recently, the development of an intercity High-Speed Rail System (HSR) with Shinkansen N700 series trains has commenced. This study builds the life cycle inventories for vehicles and infrastructure in the HSR system, and conducts a preliminary environmental life cycle assessment. Results indicate that over the design life of the HSR system the total GHG emissions from the vehicle life-time are 9.695 kgCO2eq/VKT, and fossil-fuel usage during vehicle operation is the primary contributor (97%). For the infrastructure, total life-time GHG emissions are 239 kgCO2eq/VKT, out of which, 94% are from the construction stage. Infrastructure is the dominant contributor to end-point impacts in human health category, with 58% of total impact across all damage categories

Endoscopic Removal of Inflated Transected Sengstaken–Blakemore Tube Using Endoscopic Scissors

Balloon tamponade using Sengstaken–Blakemore (SB) tube is employed as a bridging therapy in cases in which endoscopic therapy fails to control esophageal variceal bleeding. Although SB tube insertion can lead to successful hemostasis, it is accompanied by numerous complications, with SB tube transection being one of the rarest complications. A 53-year-old man with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma presented with massive esophageal variceal bleeding. Therapeutic endoscopic variceal ligation failed, and SB tube was inserted. The SB tube was unexpectedly disconnected because of the patient’s irritability due to hepatic encephalopathy. The esophageal and gastric balloon of the SB tube remained inflated in the stomach. Whereas the use of other endoscopic instruments was ineffective, endoscopic removal was successfully accomplished using endoscopic scissors. In conclusion, we detected SB tube transection in a patient with hepatic encephalopathy and removed remnants of the inflated tube using endoscopic scissors

매직 크기 클러스터의 구조 변화와 표면 화학에 대한 제일 원리 이론 연구

First-principles simulations, ab initio simulated spectrascopy, magic-sized clusters, structural transformation, bond-exchange defectI. Introduction 1 1.1. Semiconductor nanoparticles 1 1.1.1. Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots 1 1.1.2. Classical nucleation model 1 1.1.3. Non-classical nucleation model 3 1.2. Inorganic semiconductor nanoclusters 4 1.2.1. Magic-sized clusters 5 1.2.2. Experimental observation of destabilization of In37P20 magic-sized cluster 6 1.2.3. Experimental observation of cluster isomerization 7 II. Theoretical framework 9 2.1. Density-functional theory 9 2.1.1. Many-body Schrödinger equation 9 2.1.2. Mean-field approximation 11 2.1.3. Hartree-Fock approximation 13 2.1.4. Kohn-Sham equation 14 2.1.5. Approximations to exchange and correlation potentials 15 2.1.6. Modern DFT algorithm 16 III. Results and discussion 1: Destabilization process of In37P20 magic-sized cluster 19 3.1. Calculation details 22 3.1.1. DFT calculations of the MSC stability 22 3.1.2. UV−vis absorption simulation 23 3.2. High-temperature MD simulations of InP MSC 24 3.3. Key questions on the MSC destabilization 29 3.4. Mechanism for thermal destabilization of InP MSC 31 3.5. Quantitative analysis of the energetics in MSC destabilization 39 3.6. UV−vis absorption and XRD simulations 42 3.7. Comparison with the group II-VI MSC isomerization 53 3.8. Conclusions 55 IV. Results and discussion 2: Multiscale isomerization of Cd41S20 magic-sized cluster 57 4.1. Calculation details 59 4.1.1. DFT calculations of the MSC stability 59 4.1.2. Vibrational mode calculations 61 4.1.3. Transition-state calculations 61 4.1.4. XRD simulation 61 4.1.5. UV−vis absorption simulation 62 4.2. Model construction 63 4.3. FTIR spectrum of CdS MSC 67 4.4. Bond-exchange isomerization 71 4.5. Multiscale isomerization 76 4.6. Conclusions 82 V. References 83 VI. Korean summary 93DoctordCollectio

Identification of Decrease in TRiC Proteins as Novel Targets of Alpha-Amanitin-Derived Hepatotoxicity by Comparative Proteomic Analysis In Vitro

Alpha-amanitin (α-AMA) is a cyclic peptide and one of the most lethal mushroom amatoxins found in Amanita phalloides. α-AMA is known to cause hepatotoxicity through RNA polymerase II inhibition, which acts in RNA and DNA translocation. To investigate the toxic signature of α-AMA beyond known mechanisms, we used quantitative nanoflow liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis coupled with tandem mass tag labeling to examine proteome dynamics in Huh-7 human hepatoma cells treated with toxic concentrations of α-AMA. Among the 1828 proteins identified, we quantified 1563 proteins, which revealed that four subunits in the T-complex protein 1-ring complex protein decreased depending on the α-AMA concentration. We conducted bioinformatics analyses of the quantified proteins to characterize the toxic signature of α-AMA in hepatoma cells. This is the first report of global changes in proteome abundance with variations in α-AMA concentration, and our findings suggest a novel molecular regulation mechanism for hepatotoxicity