SCISAT-1 ACE Mission C&DH Unit Development

The SCISAT-1 Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Mission is a part of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA’s) space science program, to support ongoing research in the areas of solarterrestrial relations, atmospheric sciences and space astronomy. Bristol Aerospace Limited is the CSA’s Spacecraft Prime Contractor for the ACE Mission. The ACE spacecraft will be launched on a Pegasus XL vehicle in mid-2002, co-manifested with a NASA spacecraft. A Control and Data Handling (C&DH) Unit is being developed by Bristol for the ACE Mission. This C&DH Unit will be responsible for all onboard command, control, monitoring and science data recording. This unit is being developed to support a range of Canadian small science missions, from Smallsats to Microsats. The unit is low power and light weight, and features a rad-tolerant core to assure reliable operation in a single string architecture. The C&DH Unit is comprised of a Controller Card (CC), Data Handling Card (DHC), Input/Output Card (IOC) and a Power Supply Card (PSC). Each card is housed in its own aluminum frame, and the frames are integrated into a vertical stack. The unit is expected to operate with 7 Watts orbit average power and uses a UTMC 80C196 16-bit processor running at 16 MHz to manage the satellite operations and perform attitude control. Mass storage of 1.5 Gbytes and CCSDS variable-rate telemetry up to 5 Mbits/sec are provided. This paper will present an overview of the ACE Mission and a description of the C&DH Unit, describing its architecture, hardware/software partitioning, FPGA functionality and key performance specifications

Probabilistic Contributing Area Analysis: A GMDSI worked example report

Copyright Flinders UniversityPREFACE The Groundwater Modelling Decision Support Initiative (GMDSI) is an industry-funded and industry-aligned project focused on improving the role that groundwater modelling plays in supporting environmental management and decision-making. Over the life of the project, it will document a number of examples of decision-support groundwater modelling. These documented worked examples will attempt to demonstrate that by following the scientific method, and by employing modern, computer-based approaches to data assimilation, the uncertainties associated with groundwater model predictions can be both quantified and reduced. With realistic confidence intervals associated with predictions of management interest, the risks associated with different courses of management action can be properly assessed before critical decisions are made. GMDSI worked example reports, one of which you are now reading, are deliberately different from other modelling reports. They do not describe all of the nuances of a particular study site. They do not provide every construction and deployment detail of a particular model. In fact, they are not written for modelling specialists at all. Instead, a GMDSI worked example report is written with a broader audience in mind. Its intention is to convey concepts, rather than to record details of model construction. In doing so, it attempts to raise its readers’ awareness of modelling and data-assimilation possibilities that may prove useful in their own groundwater management contexts. The decision-support challenges that are addressed by various GMDSI worked examples include the following: • assessing the reliability of a public water supply; • protection of a groundwater resource from contamination; • estimation of mine dewatering requirements; • assessing the environmental impacts of mining; and • management of aquifers threatened by salt water intrusion. In all cases the approach is the same. Management-salient model predictions are identified. Ways in which model-based data assimilation can be employed to quantify and reduce the uncertainties associated with these predictions are reported. Model design choices are explained in a way that modellers and non-modellers can understand. The authors of GMDSI worked example reports make no claim that the modelling work which they document cannot be improved. As all modellers know, time and resources available for modelling are always limited. The quality of data on which a model relies is always suspect. Modelling choices are always subjective, and are often made differently with the benefit of hindsight. What we do claim, however, is that the modelling work which we report has attempted to implement the scientific method to address challenges that are typical of those encountered on a day-to-day basis in groundwater management worldwide. As stated above, a worked example report purposefully omits many implementation details of the modelling and data assimilation processes that it describes. Its purpose is to demonstrate what can be done, rather than to explain how it is done. Those who are interested in technical details are referred to GMDSI modelling tutorials. A suite of these tutorials has been developed specifically to assist modellers in implementing workflows such as those that are described herein. We thank and acknowledge our collaborators, and GMDSI project funders, for making these reports possible

Estimating a preference-based index from the Japanese SF-36

Objective: The main objective of the study was to estimate a preference-bascd Short Form (SF)-6D index from the SF-36 for Japan and compare it with the UK results. Study Design and Setting: The SF-6D was translated into Japanese. Two hundred and forty-nine health states defined by this version of the SF-6D were then valued by a representative sample of 600 members of the Japanese general population using standard gamble (SG). These health-state values were modeled using classical parametric random-effect methods with individual-level data and ordinary least squares (OLS) on mean health-state values, together with a new nonparametric approach using Bayesian methods of estimation. Results: All parametric models estimated on Japanese data were found to perform less well than their UK counterparts in terms of poorer goodness of fit, more inconsistencies, larger prediction errors and bias, and evidence of systematic bias in the predictions. Nonparametric models produce a substantial improvement in out-of-sample predictions. The physical, role, and social dimensions have relatively larger decrements than pain and mental health compared with those in the United Kingdom. Conclusion: The differences between Japanese and UK valuations of the SF-6D make it important to use the Japanese valuation data set estimated using the nonparametric Bayesian technique presented in this article. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Sleep, Nutrition, and Injury Risk in Adolescent Athletes: A Narrative Review

This narrative review explores the impact of sleep and nutrition on injury risk in adolescent athletes. Sleep is viewed as essential to the recuperation process and is distinguished as an active participant in recovery through its involvement in growth, repair, regeneration, and immunity. Furthermore, the literature has shown that the sleep of athletes impacts elements of athletic performance including both physical and cognitive performance, recovery, injury risk, and mental well-being. For sleep to have a restorative effect on the body, it must meet an individual’s sleep needs whilst also lasting for an adequate duration and being of adequate quality, which is age-dependent. The literature has suggested that athletes have increased sleep needs compared to those of the general population and thus the standard recommendations may not be sufficient for athletic populations. Therefore, a more individualised approach accounting for overall sleep health may be more appropriate for addressing sleep needs in individuals including athletes. The literature has demonstrated that adolescent athletes achieve, on average, ~6.3 h of sleep, demonstrating a discrepancy between sleep recommendations (8–10 h) and actual sleep achieved. Sleep–wake cycles undergo development during adolescence whereby adaptation occurs in sleep regulation during this phase. These adaptations increase sleep pressure tolerance and are driven by the maturation of physiological, psychological, and cognitive functioning along with delays in circadian rhythmicity, thus creating an environment for inadequate sleep during adolescence. As such, the adolescent period is a phase of rapid growth and maturation that presents multiple challenges to both sleep and nutrition; consequently, this places a significant burden on an adolescent athletes’ ability to recover, thus increasing the likelihood of injury. Therefore, this article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the available literature on the importance of sleep and nutrition interactions in injury risk in adolescent athletes. Furthermore, it provides foundations for informing further investigations exploring the relation of sleep and nutrition interactions to recovery during adolescence

The efficiency of C-4 substituents in activating the -lactam scaffold towards serine proteases and hydroxide ion

The presence of a leaving group at C-4 of monobactams is usually considered to be a requirement for mechanism-based inhibition of human leukocyte elastase by these acylating agents. We report that second-order rate constants for the alkaline hydrolysis and elastase inactivation by N-carbamoyl monobactams are independent of the pKa of the leaving group at C-4. Indeed, the effect exerted by these substituents is purely inductive: electron-withdrawing substituents at C-4 of N-carbamoyl-3,3-diethylmonobactams increase the rate of alkaline hydrolysis and elastase inactivation, with Hammett rho-I values of 3.4 and 2.5, respectively, which indicate the development of a negative charge in the transition-states. The difference in magnitude between these rho-I values is consistent with an earlier transition-state for the enzymatic reaction when compared with that for the chemical process. These results suggest that rate limiting step in elastase inactivation is the formation of the tetrahedral intermediate, and that beta-lactam ring-opening is not concerted with the departure of a leaving group from C-4. Monobactam sulfones emerged as potent elastase inhibitors even when the ethyl groups at C-3, required for interaction with the primary recognition site, are absent. For one such compound, a 1:1 enzyme-inhibitor complex involving porcine pancreatic elastase has been examined by X-ray crystallography and shown to result from serine acylation and sulfinate departure from the β-lactam C-4

Association of latent class analysis-derived multimorbidity clusters with adverse health outcomes in patients with multiple long-term conditions: Comparative results across three UK cohorts

Background It remains unclear how to meaningfully classify people living with multimorbidity (multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs)), beyond counting the number of conditions. This paper aims to identify clusters of MLTCs in different age groups and associated risks of adverse health outcomes and service use. Methods Latent class analysis was used to identify MLTCs clusters in different age groups in three cohorts: Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank (SAIL) (n = 1,825,289), UK Biobank (n = 502,363), and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) (n = 49,186). Incidence rate ratios (IRR) for MLTC clusters were computed for: all-cause mortality, hospitalisations, and general practice (GP) use over 10 years, using <2 MLTCs as reference. Information on health outcomes and service use were extracted for a ten year follow up period (between 01st Jan 2010 and 31st Dec 2019 for UK Biobank and UKHLS, and between 01st Jan 2011 and 31st Dec 2020 for SAIL). Findings Clustering MLTCs produced largely similar results across different age groups and cohorts. MLTC clusters had distinct associations with health outcomes and service use after accounting for LTC counts, in fully adjusted models. The largest associations with mortality, hospitalisations and GP use in SAIL were observed for the “Pain+” cluster in the age-group 18–36 years (mortality IRR = 4.47, hospitalisation IRR = 1.84; GP use IRR = 2.87) and the “Hypertension, Diabetes & Heart disease” cluster in the age-group 37–54 years (mortality IRR = 4.52, hospitalisation IRR = 1.53, GP use IRR = 2.36). In UK Biobank, the “Cancer, Thyroid disease & Rheumatoid arthritis” cluster in the age group 37–54 years had the largest association with mortality (IRR = 2.47). Cardiometabolic clusters across all age groups, pain/mental health clusters in younger groups, and cancer and pulmonary related clusters in older age groups had higher risk for all outcomes. In UKHLS, MLTC clusters were not significantly associated with higher risk of adverse outcomes, except for the hospitalisation in the age-group 18–36 years. Interpretation Personalising care around MLTC clusters that have higher risk of adverse outcomes may have important implications for practice (in relation to secondary prevention), policy (with allocation of health care resources), and research (intervention development and targeting), for people living with MLTCs. Funding This study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR; Personalised Exercise-Rehabilitation FOR people with Multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity)—NIHR202020)

Colonic oncostatin M expression evaluated by immunohistochemistry and infliximab therapy outcome in corticosteroid-refractory acute severe ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic relapsing remitting inflammatory disease of the colon. The lifetime risk of presentation with acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is 15%.1 Patients with ASUC receive first line therapy with intravenous corticosteroids, however, approximately 30% have corticosteroid-refractory disease.2,3 In this situation, rescue medical therapy options include the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) monoclonal antibody infliximab (IFX) or the calcineurin inhibitor ciclosporin.2 A significant proportion of patients fail to respond to IFX therapy with reported colectomy rates at 1 year of 35%.4 Biomarkers which identify patients with corticosteroid-refractory ASUC, with a reduced likelihood of IFX response, would significantly advance clinical care for these patients

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research