Linking microclimate and energy use with a low cost wall mounted measurement system

posterUrban microclimate plays a critical role in overall urban energy demand and efficiency. At the building scale, energy use and internal conditions are directly impacted by local microclimate. The direct link between building energy use and local microclimate is through building envelope heat fluxes. The Building Temperature Energy Monitoring System (B-TEMS) project was created as a low cost solution to investigate these heat fluxes through the walls of commercial buildings. This poster describes the design and assembly of Arduino microcontroller-based temperature and humidity sensors called B-TEMS, which record ambient air temperature, wall surface temperature, and relative humidity for both internal and external environments. These systems are used to quantify energy losses through two walls in a building at the University of Utah. The B-TEMS are deployed by attaching them to the inside and outside of exterior walls and windows. Ambient air temperature and humidity were measured via a Sensirion SHT 21 sensor while wall surface temperature was measured by a Melexis MLX 90614 infrared temperature sensor. Data were collected on an SD card every 30 seconds using an Arduino Pro Mini for several hours. Results from the experimental analysis are used to compare results for predicted temperatures using the methods in EnergyPlus[1], a commonly used open-source building energy modeling software. Measured differences between local experimental results and modeled results from EnergyPlus will help researchers evaluate the effects of including microclimate data on model accuracy. This system provides a low cost, simple solution to monitor microclimate and wall energy fluxes together, leading toward more accurate building energy simulations

Direct evidence for interphase chromosome movement during the mid-blastula transition in Drosophila

AbstractIn Drosophila, several genetic phenomena are most easily explained by a model in which homologous chromosomes pair, at least transiently, and use regulatory information present on only one homolog to pattern expression from both homologs [1–3]. To accomplish pairing of sites on different chromosomes, there must be a mechanism by which communication between homologs is facilitated. However, except in the case of meiotic prophase, directed, rapid chromosomal movement has not yet been observed. Some studies suggest that chromosomes are relatively immobile during interphase [4,5], while others suggest that chromatin can reposition during interphase [6–8] and may be free to undergo substantial Brownian motion [9]. Using high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging techniques, we determined directly the structure and nuclear location of eleven different loci, both active and inactive, in embryos at cycle 14, the mid-blastula transition. We show that during a single interphase, portions of chromosomes moved in a cell-cycle-specific, directed fashion, independently and over long distances. All eleven regions showed movement, although the genes closer to the centromere moved faster (0.7 μm/minute) and over long distances (5–10 μm), whereas those nearer the telomere expanded in the same place and became oriented along the nuclear axis. Gene motion was independent of replication, transcription and changes in nuclear shape. Because individual genes on the same chromosome move independently, the movement is unlikely to be mediated by centromeres, Brownian motion or random drift and must be caused by an active mechanism

Management of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in myositis syndromes: A practical guide for clinicians

Inflammatory myopathies are heterogeneous clinico-serological syndromes, with variable clinical manifestations. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with myositis. The clinical manifestation of myositis-ILD is heterogeneous, e.g., with acute-on-chronic presentations, as well as the chronic aftermath of acute disease. Here, we have largely divided myositis-ILD into three main prognostic groups which require different treatment approaches: mild-moderate (subacute), severe or progressive (acute or subacute) and rapidly progressive, life-threatening. In current clinical practice, the treatment of myositis-ILD involves immunomodulation in an induction-maintenance treatment paradigm. There is now an option to add antifibrotics to slow the progression of established fibrosis in selected cases with chronic progressive phenotype. Here, we describe current concepts in myositis-ILD and aim to provide a practical guide for clinicians on how to approach assessment, including early identification of ILD, phenotyping of patients according to clinical trajectory and likely prognosis and stratified management adopting multi-disciplinary cross-speciality expertise, with close collaboration between rheumatology and respiratory physicians

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance: Stressing the future

Non-invasive cardiac stress imaging plays a central role in the assessment of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. The current guidelines suggest estimation of the myocardial ischaemic burden as a criterion for revascularisation on prognostic grounds despite the lack of standardised reporting of the magnitude of ischaemia on various non-invasive imaging methods. Future studies should aim to accurately describe the relationship between myocardial ischaemic burden as assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and mortality

Assessing Visitor Preferences and Willingness to pay for Marine National Park Hikkaduwa: application of choice experiment method

Eco-tourism all over the world is threatened by the fact that the coral reefs and associated ecosystems are in a process of disappearing at an accelerated rate due to several natural and anthropogenic causes. In this context, the Marine National Park Hikkaduwa (MNPH), one of the four marine national parks in Sri Lanka, that features a fringing coral reef with a high degree of biodiversity, reports a decreasing trend in visitation mainly due to a condition of coral bleaching caused by an El Nino effect. Unfortunately, the regeneration of the corals is found to be slowed by continuous anthropogenic activities. Against this background, the research focuses on investigating how visitor behaviour changes with the degraded situation and what avenues are available to attract more visitors to ensure benefit flows. In this concern, visitor preferences regarding the quality of the habitats and other facilities and their significance were analysed under a conditional logistic regression model. Further, a choice experiment was carried out with a randomly selected group of 200 visitors to diagnose their response to the present condition of the coral reef, the beach, and the facilities provided. Under a conditional logistic model, it was discovered that the condition of the coral reef is an important attribute that answers the question of why visitors are not willing to pay if the corals are bleached and broken. It was also discovered that the visitors are willing to pay LKR 322.52 if they are provided with new boats and new safety jackets. The results indicate that benefit flows could be enhanced with the restoration of coral ecosystems and the improvement of the physical infrastructure. Overall, the research attempts to establish that the standard maintenance of the coral reef along with high-quality visitor welfare facilities to match visitor preferences will positively impact all types of payment compliance issues with regard to the visitors

Day case discharge of patients treated with drug coated balloon only angioplasty for de novo coronary artery disease:A single center experience

Objective: To report our initial experience with Drug Coated Balloon (DCB) only angioplasty and propose a protocol to achieve this safely. Background: There are no articles published in the literature currently regarding the safety of same day discharge in patients treated with DCB-only angioplasty. Methods: Retrospective review of all our patients treated with DCB-only angioplasty from Sept 2017 to April 2018 with identification of potential complications relating to same day discharge. Results: A total of 100 consecutive patients who underwent elective DCB-only angioplasty for de novo coronary artery disease and were discharged on the same day as the procedure were included. In 99% no cardiac symptoms relating to the procedure requiring urgent hospitalisation or urgent investigations were identified. One patient was readmitted the next day requiring stenting of the previously treated lesion. Our 30 day mortality was zero. Some 97 hospital bed days were saved with 100 patients treated. Conclusion: Elective day-case DCB-only angioplasty according to our local protocol is safe and cost-effective and should be considered for the majority of the patients

The Dynamics of Zeroth-Order Ultrasensitivity: A Critical Phenomenon in Cell Biology

It is well known since the pioneering work of Goldbeter and Koshland [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, vol. 78, pp. 6840-6844 (1981)] that cellular phosphorylation- dephosphorylation cycle (PdPC), catalyzed by kinase and phosphatase under saturated condition with zeroth order enzyme kinetics, exhibits ultrasensitivity, sharp transition. We analyse the dynamics aspects of the zeroth order PdPC kinetics and show a critical slowdown akin to the phase transition in condensed matter physics. We demonstrate that an extremely simple, though somewhat mathematically "singular" model is a faithful representation of the ultrasentivity phenomenon. The simplified mathematical model will be valuable, as a component, in developing complex cellular signaling network theory as well as having a pedagogic value.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Economics of urban amenities A contingent valuation approach for Bolgoda lake

Bolgoda Lake is known as the largest fresh water body in Colombo Urban Area (CUA) and situatedin the Southern boundary ofCUA. It covers 1,245 hectares. There are 14 Divisional secretariat (OS)divisions and 105 Grama Niladary (GN) divisions. Bolgoda Lake lies along the highly popularizedtownships and it provides a variety of environmental services such as natural environment for fisheriesproduction and estuary function; ground water recharge, potable water supply; recreation/ tourism;and )1atural biotic habitat. In CUA, there are very few lakes like Bolgoda, which provides aestheticvalues for the urban environment. Environment of the Bolgoda Lake is threatened by the disposal ofliquid and solid waste, agricultural run-off, sedimentation and congestion due to recreational uses.However, there wi II be an increasing demand for the environmental services produced by the BolgodaLake in the future.Objectives of the present study are to identify the environmental benefits of the Lake and estimateeconomic value of selected environmental benefits. A pilot survey was carried out and five major usergroups were identified; fishermen, hotel owners, boat owners, recreational users (for swimming andhotel visiting) and indirect users. Selected study area for the present study belongs to five GN divisionsfrom Moratuwa and Panadura OS divisions. Contingent valuation method was applied to estimate theeconomic value of the Bolgoda Lake. Users' willingness to pay (WTP) was elicited on a pre-testedhypothetical market.Depending on the WTP values, the 5 user groups were regrouped into two categories, namely User I(heavy dependency) and User 1/ (less dependency). WTP values per household per year for the UserI and User II are Rs.18, 600 and 514.3 respectively. Estimated economic value of the Bolgoda Lakefor the study area is Rs. 84,192.7 (US$ 809.55) per hectare per year. Regression analysis was carriedout to identify the socio economic characteristics of the users that affect the WTP value of the users.The results were consistent with the theory. However, the values of the study area have not beenextrapolated to the whole lake, due to the high variability of the sample mean from place to place.It was clear that the Bolgoda Lake is a valuable aesthetic asset in the CUA and it should be judiciouslymanaged for sustain the provision of environmental services. However, the ultimate decision over theusefulness of the lake has to be based on weighing the estimated value of the environmental servicesof the Lake against the value of the use of lake as a sink for domestic and industrial waste.

Singularly Perturbed Monotone Systems and an Application to Double Phosphorylation Cycles

The theory of monotone dynamical systems has been found very useful in the modeling of some gene, protein, and signaling networks. In monotone systems, every net feedback loop is positive. On the other hand, negative feedback loops are important features of many systems, since they are required for adaptation and precision. This paper shows that, provided that these negative loops act at a comparatively fast time scale, the main dynamical property of (strongly) monotone systems, convergence to steady states, is still valid. An application is worked out to a double-phosphorylation ``futile cycle'' motif which plays a central role in eukaryotic cell signaling.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, corrected typos, references remove

Unlimited multistability in multisite phosphorylation systems

Reversible phosphorylation on serine, threonine and tyrosine is the most widely studied posttranslational modification of proteins (1, 2). The number of phosphorylated sites on a protein (n) shows a significant increase from prokaryotes, with n less than or equal to 7 sites, to eukaryotes, with examples having n greater than or equal to 150 sites (3). Multisite phosphorylation has many roles (4, 5) and site conservation indicates that increasing numbers of sites cannot be due merely to promiscuous phosphorylation. A substrate with n sites has an exponential number (2^n) of phospho-forms and individual phospho-forms may have distinct biological effects (6, 7). The distribution of these phospho-forms and how this distribution is regulated have remained unknown. Here we show that, when kinase and phosphatase act in opposition on a multisite substrate, the system can exhibit distinct stable phospho-form distributions at steady state and that the maximum number of such distributions increases with n. Whereas some stable distributions are focused on a single phospho-form, others are more diffuse, giving the phospho-proteome the potential to behave as a fluid regulatory network able to encode information and flexibly respond to varying demands. Such plasticity may underlie complex information processing in eukaryotic cells (8) and suggests a functional advantage in having many sites. Our results follow from the unusual geometry of the steady-state phospho-form concentrations, which we show to constitute a rational algebraic curve, irrespective of n. We thereby reduce the complexity of calculating steady states from simulating 3 times 2^n differential equations to solving two algebraic equations, while treating parameters symbolically. We anticipate that these methods can be extended to systems with multiple substrates and multiple enzymes catalysing different modifications, as found in posttranslational modification 'codes' (9) such as the histone code (10, 11). Whereas simulations struggle with exponentially increasing molecular complexity, mathematical methods of the kind developed here can provide a new language in which to articulate the principles of cellular information processing (12)