ASSESSING THE INFLUENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AXLES ON RUTTING LIVES IN FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS USING PARAMETRIC SURVIVAL ANALYSIS

The existence of rutting or permanent deformation on flexible pavement layers has always been a concern that negatively affects the performance of roads by reducing the lifespan of pavement structure and by posing a safety risk for vehicles over the road. Traffic overloading is one of the primary factors that accelerates the deterioration of flexible pavement. This study aims to determine the time to failure of the flexible pavement structures associated with rutting, to indicate the most significant factors affecting rutting, and to assess the influence of overweight axles on pavement rutting life using parametric survival analysis. The data used in this study are extracted from the LTPP program. The outcomes provide researchers and agencies with a good knowledge of the relations between several predictors including overweight axles and pavement performance and hence increase the ability of pavement to continue functioning properly over the design lifetime. The results indicated the factors that have a significant effect on pavement rutting life. Also, the results revealed that a 1% increase in the percentage of overweight axles can be related to a 16.24% increase in the hazard rate of rutting failure. Moreover, the survival time of rutting life can be reduced by up to 63% with the increase of the percentage of overloaded axles from 0% to 20%

Brief of \u3cem\u3eAmicus Curiae\u3c/em\u3e Interdisciplinary Research Team On Programmer Creativity In Support Of Respondent

This brief answers the two primary issues that are associated with the first question before the Court. First, the programmers’ expression of the Java-based application programmer interfaces (“APIs”) are sufficiently creative to satisfy that requirement of copyright law. Second, the idea expression limitation codified in Section 102(b) of Copyright Act does not establish that the APIs are ideas. Both of these assertions are supported by the empirical research undertaken by the Research Team. This brief expresses no opinion on the resolution of the fair use question that is also before the Court

A Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Three Continuous Glucose Monitors

OBJECTIVE To compare three continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices in subjects with type 1 diabetes under closed-loop blood glucose (BG) control. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Six subjects with type 1 diabetes (age 52 ± 14 years, diabetes duration 32 ± 14 years) each participated in two 51-h closed-loop BG control experiments in the hospital. Venous plasma glucose (PG) measurements (GlucoScout, International Biomedical) obtained every 15 min (2,360 values) were paired in time with corresponding CGM glucose (CGMG) measurements obtained from three CGM devices, the Navigator (Abbott Diabetes Care), the Seven Plus (DexCom), and the Guardian (Medtronic), worn simultaneously by each subject. Errors in paired PG–CGMG measurements and data reporting percentages were obtained for each CGM device. RESULTS The Navigator had the best overall accuracy, with an aggregate mean absolute relative difference (MARD) of all paired points of 11.8 ± 11.1% and an average MARD across all 12 experiments of 11.8 ± 3.8%. The Seven Plus and Guardian produced aggregate MARDs of all paired points of 16.5 ± 17.8% and 20.3 ± 18.0%, respectively, and average MARDs across all 12 experiments of 16.5 ± 6.7% and 20.2 ± 6.8%, respectively. Data reporting percentages, a measure of reliability, were 76% for the Seven Plus and nearly 100% for the Navigator and Guardian. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive head-to-head-to-head comparison of three CGM devices for BG values from 36 to 563 mg/dL revealed marked differences in performance characteristics that include accuracy, precision, and reliability. The Navigator outperformed the other two in these areas

Foldit Standalone: a video game-derived protein structure manipulation interface using Rosetta

Summary: Foldit Standalone is an interactive graphical interface to the Rosetta molecular modeling package. In contrast to most command-line or batch interactions with Rosetta, Foldit Standalone is designed to allow easy, real-time, direct manipulation of protein structures, while also giving access to the extensive power of Rosetta computations. Derived from the user interface of the scientific discovery game Foldit (itself based on Rosetta), Foldit Standalone has added more advanced features and removed the competitive game elements. Foldit Standalone was built from the ground up with a custom rendering and event engine, configurable visualizations and interactions driven by Rosetta. Foldit Standalone contains, among other features: electron density and contact map visualizations, multiple sequence alignment tools for template-based modeling, rigid body transformation controls, RosettaScripts support and an embedded Lua interpreter

An analysis and evaluation of the WeFold collaborative for protein structure prediction and its pipelines in CASP11 and CASP12

Every two years groups worldwide participate in the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment to blindly test the strengths and weaknesses of their computational methods. CASP has significantly advanced the field but many hurdles still remain, which may require new ideas and collaborations. In 2012 a web-based effort called WeFold, was initiated to promote collaboration within the CASP community and attract researchers from other fields to contribute new ideas to CASP. Members of the WeFold coopetition (cooperation and competition) participated in CASP as individual teams, but also shared components of their methods to create hybrid pipelines and actively contributed to this effort. We assert that the scale and diversity of integrative prediction pipelines could not have been achieved by any individual lab or even by any collaboration among a few partners. The models contributed by the participating groups and generated by the pipelines are publicly available at the WeFold website providing a wealth of data that remains to be tapped. Here, we analyze the results of the 2014 and 2016 pipelines showing improvements according to the CASP assessment as well as areas that require further adjustments and research

Home use of a bihormonal bionic pancreas versus insulin pump therapy in adults with type 1 diabetes: a multicentre randomised crossover trial

The safety and effectiveness of a continuous, day-and-night automated glycaemic control system using insulin and glucagon has not been shown in a free-living, home-use setting. We aimed to assess whether bihormonal bionic pancreas initialised only with body mass can safely reduce mean glycaemia and hypoglycaemia in adults with type 1 diabetes who were living at home and participating in their normal daily routines without restrictions on diet or physical activity

An analysis and evaluation of the WeFold collaborative for protein structure prediction and its pipelines in CASP11 and CASP12

Every two years groups worldwide participate in the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment to blindly test the strengths and weaknesses of their computational methods. CASP has significantly advanced the field but many hurdles still remain, which may require new ideas and collaborations. In 2012 a web-based effort called WeFold, was initiated to promote collaboration within the CASP community and attract researchers from other fields to contribute new ideas to CASP. Members of the WeFold coopetition (cooperation and competition) participated in CASP as individual teams, but also shared components of their methods to create hybrid pipelines and actively contributed to this effort. We assert that the scale and diversity of integrative prediction pipelines could not have been achieved by any individual lab or even by any collaboration among a few partners. The models contributed by the participating groups and generated by the pipelines are publicly available at the WeFold website providing a wealth of data that remains to be tapped. Here, we analyze the results of the 2014 and 2016 pipelines showing improvements according to the CASP assessment as well as areas that require further adjustments and research

Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework

We show here that computer game players can build high-quality crystal structures. Introduction of a new feature into the computer game Foldit allows players to build and real-space refine structures into electron density maps. To assess the usefulness of this feature, we held a crystallographic model-building competition between trained crystallographers, undergraduate students, Foldit players and automatic model-building algorithms. After removal of disordered residues, a team of Foldit players achieved the most accurate structure. Analysing the target protein of the competition, YPL067C, uncovered a new family of histidine triad proteins apparently involved in the prevention of amyloid toxicity. From this study, we conclude that crystallographers can utilize crowdsourcing to interpret electron density information and to produce structure solutions of the highest quality

System Identification and Adaptive Closed-Loop Glucose Control in a Type 1 Diabetic Swine Model

139 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.An integrated, automated, adaptive control system, utilizing model predictive control, is developed for closed-loop control of blood glucose in type 1 diabetes, and is experimentally tested using insulin-glucagon infusion pumps to regulate blood glucose online in a diabetic swine model in vivo. As a preliminary study, the pharmacodynamics and stability at room temperature of glucagon in solution were tested in the swine model, thereby qualifying using glucagon in the control system. Subsequently, an empirical subject model, revealing dominant orders and delay, was obtained offline by pseudo-linear system identification performed on input-output data generated from in vivo experiments on the diabetic swine model. Indirect adaptive control was used in conjunction with the identified model structure to regulate blood glucose in vivo in closed-loop, with model parameters recursively updated using the extended least-squares estimation algorithm. The optimal control algorithm was formulated with integral effect, which rejects tracking offsets that can otherwise result from nonzero-mean disturbances, such as a carbohydrate intake. Furthermore, by augmenting the algorithm with a model that governs the accumulation of insulin in the subcutaneous depot, the controller was inculcated with knowledge of pending insulin action, which is critical to avoid excessive insulin dosing that would otherwise lead to episodes of impending hypoglycemia. Several closed-loop in vivo experiments were conducted in anesthetized pigs, with meal uptakes simulated by intravenous glucose loads, induced either by an impulse injection, by successive isolated injections, or in the form of a distributed uniform load from an intravenous drip. Control results consistently showed successful glucose regulation to euglycemic range within 60 minutes in response to an initial hyperglycemic state, and within 80--140 minutes in response to intravenously administered glucose loads. Results also demonstrated the potency of subcutaneous doses of glucagon in staving off episodic hypoglycemia, and revealed the efficacy of self-adaptation in coping with inter- and intra-subject response variations. The presented control system provides proof of concept and strikes an intricate balance between tight blood-glucose control and optimal drug consumption, while simultaneously maintaining emphasis on simplicity and reliability.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD