Mechanics of Electrodes in High Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries

*Part of this abstract has been reprinted with permission from “Interfacial Fracture of Nanowire Electrodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries” by G. R. Hardin, Y. Zhang, C. D. Fincher et al, 2017. JOM Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, 69, 9, Copyright 2017 by Springer Natur

Before your eyes.

This thesis acts as an entrance into the dialogue on the nature of love in human life. Literature by its very existence comments on the human condition and should consciously attempt to contribute to the discussion of what it means to be human, what it means to be us. Love is a part of who we are, an often misunderstood, manipulated, critiqued, disdained, and praised aspect of the human condition. Centuries of thinking have yet to explain the genesis of the idea, to conclusively explain or disprove the ideas of justice, hope, love, despite the mountains of scholarship contributed to just those proposed ends. This work is in no way an attempt to propose any universal answers, but for Josh, this one man, this one character, in this one present moment of trauma, this Lacanian interaction with the ‘Real’, I attempt to show what love is to him

La tragedia dei beni comuni

Traduzione italiana del celebre articolo "The Tragedy of the Commons" (1968). A dispetto della sua fama nel campo delle scienze sociali, l'autore, Garrett Hardin, era un biologo che si occupava del problema della sovrappopolazione. Per lui una simile questione non aveva una soluzione tecnica (relativa cioè alla mera applicazione dei risultati delle scienze naturali), ma richiedeva un mutamento nelle nostre prospettive morali. A sostegno di questa tesi, Hardin introdusse la fortunata immagine della “tragedia dei commons”: le risorse comuni, lasciate alla libera iniziativa individuale - senza intervento statale o proprietà privata -, sono destinate inevitabilmente a essere dissipate. Per questo, secondo Hardin, solo una regolazione della libertà riproduttiva potrebbe indurre l'umanità a un comportamento responsabile nei confronti della Terra

Differential expression analysis for multiple conditions

As high-throughput sequencing has become common practice, the cost of sequencing large amounts of genetic data has been drastically reduced, leading to much larger data sets for analysis. One important task is to identify biological conditions that lead to unusually high or low expression of a particular gene. Packages such as DESeq implement a simple method for testing differential signal when exactly two biological conditions are possible. For more than two conditions, pairwise testing is typically used. Here the DESeq method is extended so that three or more biological conditions can be assessed simultaneously. Because the computation time grows exponentially in the number of conditions, a Monte Carlo approach provides a fast way to approximate the $p$-values for the new test. The approach is studied on both simulated data and a data set of {\em C. jejuni}, the bacteria responsible for most food poisoning in the United States

La tragedia de los comunes

El autor postula que el «problema poblacional», tal como se concibe tradicionalmente, no tiene solución técnica y que la mayor parte de la gente que se angustia con el problema demográfico busca en verdad una manera de evitar los demonios de la sobrepoblación sin abandonar ninguno de los privilegios de los que hoy goza. Agrega que aumentaremos grandemente la miseria humana si en el futuro inmediato no asumimos que el mundo terrestre es finito, y que un mundo finito puede sostener solamente a una población finita. Cierra el artículo con algunos lineamientos para enfrentar lo que llama la tragedia de los recursos comunes.L’auteur affirme que le “problème de peuplement” tel qu’il est conçut traditionnellement, n’a point de solution technique et que la majeure partie des personnes qui se préoccupent pour le problème démographique cherche en réalité une manière d’éviter les démons de la surpopulation sans abandonner les privilèges dont ils jouissent aujourd’hui. Il ajoute que nous augmenterons considérablement la misère humaine si dans un future immédiat nous n’assumons pas que le monde terrestre est déterminé, et que ce monde déterminé ne peut que soutenir une population déterminée. Il conclut l’article sur quelques éléments pour affronter ce qu’il nomme la tragédie des ressources communes.The author postulates that the "population problem" as traditionally conceived has no technical solution, and that most people who anguish over the population problem are really looking for a way to avoid the evils of overpopulation without abandoning any of the privileges they enjoy today. He adds that human misery will increase greatly in the near future if we do not assume that the terrestrial world is finite, and that a finite world can only support a finite population. Closes the article with some guidelines to address what he calls the tragedy of the common resources

La tragedia de los comunes

El autor postula que el «problema poblacional», tal como se concibe tradicionalmente, no tiene solución técnica y que la mayor parte de la gente que se angustia con el problema demográfico busca en verdad una manera de evitar los demonios de la sobrepoblación sin abandonar ninguno de los privilegios de los que hoy goza. Agrega que aumentaremos grandemente la miseria humana si en el futuro inmediato no asumimos que el mundo terrestre es finito, y que un mundo finito puede sostener solamente a una población finita. Cierra el artículo con algunos lineamientos para enfrentar lo que llama la tragedia de los recursos comunes.L’auteur affirme que le “problème de peuplement” tel qu’il est conçut traditionnellement, n’a point de solution technique et que la majeure partie des personnes qui se préoccupent pour le problème démographique cherche en réalité une manière d’éviter les démons de la surpopulation sans abandonner les privilèges dont ils jouissent aujourd’hui. Il ajoute que nous augmenterons considérablement la misère humaine si dans un future immédiat nous n’assumons pas que le monde terrestre est déterminé, et que ce monde déterminé ne peut que soutenir une population déterminée. Il conclut l’article sur quelques éléments pour affronter ce qu’il nomme la tragédie des ressources communes.The author postulates that the "population problem" as traditionally conceived has no technical solution, and that most people who anguish over the population problem are really looking for a way to avoid the evils of overpopulation without abandoning any of the privileges they enjoy today. He adds that human misery will increase greatly in the near future if we do not assume that the terrestrial world is finite, and that a finite world can only support a finite population. Closes the article with some guidelines to address what he calls the tragedy of the common resources

On point estimation of the abnormality of a Mahalanobis index

Mahalanobis distance may be used as a measure of the disparity between an individual’s profile of scores and the average profile of a population of controls. The degree to which the individual’s profile is unusual can then be equated to the proportion of the population who would have a larger Mahalanobis distance than the individual. Several estimators of this proportion are examined. These include plug-in maximum likelihood estimators, medians, the posterior mean from a Bayesian probability matching prior, an estimator derived from a Taylor expansion, and two forms of polynomial approximation, one based on Bernstein polynomial and one on a quadrature method. Simulations show that some estimators, including the commonly-used plug-in maximum likelihood estimators, can have substantial bias for small or moderate sample sizes. The polynomial approximations yield estimators that have low bias, with the quadrature method marginally to be preferred over Bernstein polynomials. However, the polynomial estimators sometimes yield infeasible estimates that are outside the 0–1 range. While none of the estimators are perfectly unbiased, the median estimators match their definition; in simulations their estimates of the proportion have a median error close to zero. The standard median estimator can give unrealistically small estimates (including 0) and an adjustment is proposed that ensures estimates are always credible. This latter estimator has much to recommend it when unbiasedness is not of paramount importance, while the quadrature method is recommended when bias is the dominant issue

Trends and Costs Associated With Suboptimal Physical Activity Among US Women With Cardiovascular Disease

IMPORTANCE: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability among women. Achievement of recommended physical activity (PA) levels is an essential component of CVD management. OBJECTIVE: To describe trends, sociodemographic factors, and health care expenditures associated with suboptimal PA among a nationally representative sample of US women with CVD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used serial data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2006 through 2015. The analyses were conducted in August 2018. Women who had self-reported and/or International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, diagnosis of CVD were included. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Recommended PA was defined as 30 minutes or more of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise, 5 or more days per week. Weighted logistic regression was used to examine the associations of various sociodemographic factors with suboptimal PA, adjusted for comorbidities. A 2-part econometric model was used to assess health care expenditures. RESULTS: A total of 18 027 women were included in this study. The results were weighted to provide estimates for approximately 19.5 million adult women in the United States with CVD (mean [SD] age, 60.4 [16.9] years). More than half of the women with CVD reported suboptimal PA, a trend that increased during the 10-year period, with 58.2% (95% CI, 55.9%-60.5%) of participants reporting suboptimal PA in 2006-2007 vs 61.9% (95% CI, 59.7%-64.2%) in 2014-2015 (P = .004). The proportion of women with suboptimal PA differed by sociodemographic factors. In adjusted models, compared with non-Hispanic white women, African American women (odds ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.08-1.38) and Hispanic women (odds ratio, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.13-1.58) were more likely to have suboptimal PA. Women from low- or very low-income strata (compared with high-income strata), enrolled in public insurance (compared with private insurance), and with less than high school education (compared with at least some college education) were more likely to have suboptimal PA. Health care costs among women with CVD with suboptimal PA were higher compared with those among women who met the recommended PA, and this increased through time, from a mean total health care expenditure of $12 724 (95$11 627-$13 821) in 2006-2007 to$14 820 (95% CI, $13 521-$16 119) in 2014-2015. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The proportion of women with CVD not meeting recommended PA is high and increasing, particularly among certain racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and is associated with significant health care costs. More must be done to improve PA for secondary prevention and reduction of expenditures among women with CVD