Common Faults and Their Prioritization in Small Commercial Buildings

This study documents faults that are commonly found in small commercial buildings based on a literature review and discussions with building commissioning experts. It also provides a list of prioritized faults based on an estimation of the prevalence, energy impact, and financial impact of each fault. A total of 39 faults were analyzed for this paper and classified by location, stage, and type. The technical complexity of detecting each type of fault based on typically available information was evaluated for each fault. The annual energy impact (AEI) and annual financial impact (AFI) of each fault were estimated based on available information. Based on these estimates, 20 top priority faults were identified. Seven out of the 20 top priority faults occur in vapor compression systems such as air-conditioning, heat pump, and refrigeration equipment. Nonstandard charging, condenser, and evaporator fouling are the most important faults for this type of equipment

Distributed Model Predictive Control for building HVAC systems: A Case Study

Model based predictive control (MPC) in building HVAC systems incorporate predictions of weather and occupancy to determine the optimal operating setpoints. However, application of MPC strategies to large buildings might not be real time feasible due to the large number of degrees of freedom in the underlying optimization problem. Decomposing the problem into several smaller sub-problems to be solved in parallel is one way to circumvent the high computational requirements. Such an approach, termed Distributed MPC, requires certain approximations about the underlying sub-problems to converge to a consistent solution thus leading to a trade off between computational load and optimality. In this paper, we present a simulation based evaluation for a Distributed MPC formulation for a case study based on a medium sized commercial building. Results indicate that distributed MPC can offer near optimal control at a fraction of the computational time that centralized optimization based MPC requires while maintaining occupant comfort. Comparison with a few other viable control algorithms will be performed and merits and drawbacks of each approach pointed out

Optimization of DNA extraction from human urinary samples for mycobiome community profiling.

IntroductionRecent data suggest the urinary tract hosts a microbial community of varying composition, even in the absence of infection. Culture-independent methodologies, such as next-generation sequencing of conserved ribosomal DNA sequences, provide an expansive look at these communities, identifying both common commensals and fastidious organisms. A fundamental challenge has been the isolation of DNA representative of the entire resident microbial community, including fungi.Materials and methodsWe evaluated multiple modifications of commonly-used DNA extraction procedures using standardized male and female urine samples, comparing resulting overall, fungal and bacterial DNA yields by quantitative PCR. After identifying protocol modifications that increased DNA yields (lyticase/lysozyme digestion, bead beating, boil/freeze cycles, proteinase K treatment, and carrier DNA use), all modifications were combined for systematic confirmation of optimal protocol conditions. This optimized protocol was tested against commercially available methodologies to compare overall and microbial DNA yields, community representation and diversity by next-generation sequencing (NGS).ResultsOverall and fungal-specific DNA yields from standardized urine samples demonstrated that microbial abundances differed significantly among the eight methods used. Methodologies that included multiple disruption steps, including enzymatic, mechanical, and thermal disruption and proteinase digestion, particularly in combination with small volume processing and pooling steps, provided more comprehensive representation of the range of bacterial and fungal species. Concentration of larger volume urine specimens at low speed centrifugation proved highly effective, increasing resulting DNA levels and providing greater microbial representation and diversity.ConclusionsAlterations in the methodology of urine storage, preparation, and DNA processing improve microbial community profiling using culture-independent sequencing methods. Our optimized protocol for DNA extraction from urine samples provided improved fungal community representation. Use of this technique resulted in equivalent representation of the bacterial populations as well, making this a useful technique for the concurrent evaluation of bacterial and fungal populations by NGS

Comments on Noncommutative ADHM Construction

We extend the method of matrix partition to obtain explicitly the gauge field for noncommutative ADHM construction in some general cases. As an application of this method we apply it to the U(2) 2-instanton and get explicit result for the gauge fields in the coincident instanton limit. We also easily apply it to the noncommutative 't Hooft instantons in the appendix.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX; an appendix added, typos corrected, refs adde

The Enamel Phenotype in Homozygous Fam83h Truncation Mice

BackgroundTruncation FAM83H mutations cause human autosomal dominant hypocalcified amelogenesis imperfecta (ADHCAI), an inherited disorder characterized by severe hardness defects in dental enamel. No enamel defects were observed in Fam83h null mice suggesting that Fam83h truncation mice would better replicate human mutations.MethodsWe generated and characterized a mouse model (Fam83hTr/Tr) expressing a truncated FAM83H protein (amino acids 1â 296), which recapitulated the ADHCAIâ causing human FAM83H p.Tyr297* mutation.ResultsDay 14 and 7â week Fam83hTr/Tr molars exhibited rough enamel surfaces and slender cusps resulting from hypoplastic enamel defects. The lateral third of the Fam83hTr/Tr incisor enamel layer was thinner, with surface roughness and altered enamel rod orientation, suggesting disturbed enamel matrix secretion. Regular electron density in mandibular incisor enamel indicated normal enamel maturation. Only mildly increased posteruption attrition of Fam83hTr/Tr molar enamel was observed at 7â weeks. Histologically, the Fam83hTr/Tr enamel organ, including ameloblasts, and enamel matrices at sequential stages of amelogenesis exhibited comparable morphology without overt abnormalities, except irregular and less evident ameloblast Tomes’ processes in specific areas.ConclusionsConsidering Fam83hâ /â mice showed no enamel phenotype, while Fam83hTr/Tr (p.Tyr297*) mice displayed obvious enamel malformations, we conclude that FAM83H truncation mutations causing ADHCAI in humans disturb amelogenesis through a neomorphic mechanism, rather than haploinsufficiency.FAM83H truncation mutations cause inherited enamel malformations in humans. Previously we showed that no enamel malformations are observed in Fam83h null mice. Here we demonstrate that truncation of FAM83H in mice causes enamel malformations. This figure shows how the lateral incisor enamel (on the left) is thinner in the Fam83h truncation mouse than it is in wild-type.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/1/mgg3724-sup-0004-DataS4.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/2/mgg3724-sup-0003-DataS3.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/3/mgg3724-sup-0001-DataS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/4/mgg3724-sup-0002-DataS2.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/5/mgg3724_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149571/6/mgg3724.pd

Inhibition of caveolar uptake, SV40 infection, and β1-integrin signaling by a nonnatural glycosphingolipid stereoisomer

Caveolar endocytosis is an important mechanism for the uptake of certain pathogens and toxins and also plays a role in the internalization of some plasma membrane (PM) lipids and proteins. However, the regulation of caveolar endocytosis is not well understood. We previously demonstrated that caveolar endocytosis and β1-integrin signaling are stimulated by exogenous glycosphingolipids (GSLs). In this study, we show that a synthetic GSL with nonnatural stereochemistry, β-d-lactosyl-N-octanoyl-l-threo-sphingosine, (1) selectively inhibits caveolar endocytosis and SV40 virus infection, (2) blocks the clustering of lipids and proteins into GSLs and cholesterol-enriched microdomains (rafts) at the PM, and (3) inhibits β1-integrin activation and downstream signaling. Finally, we show that small interfering RNA knockdown of β1 integrin in human skin fibroblasts blocks caveolar endocytosis and the stimulation of signaling by a GSL with natural stereochemistry. These experiments identify a new compound that can interfere with biological processes by inhibiting microdomain formation and also identify β1 integrin as a potential mediator of signaling by GSLs

A gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking model with an extra singlet Higgs field

We study in some detail the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model with gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking. We find that it is feasible to spontaneously generate values of the Higgs mass parameters $\mu$ and $B_\mu$ consistent with radiative electroweak symmetry breaking. The model has a phenomenologically viable particle spectrum. Messenger sneutrinos with mass in the range 6 to 25 TeV can serve as cold dark matter. It is also possible to evade the cosmological domain wall problem in this scenario.Comment: revised version to appear in PR

Association of comorbidity burden with abnormal cardiac mechanics: Findings from the HyperGEN study

BACKGROUND: Comorbidities are common in heart failure (HF), and the number of comorbidities has been associated with poor outcomes in HF patients. However, little is known about the effect of multiple comorbidities on cardiac mechanics, which could impact the pathogenesis of HF. We sought to determine the relationship between comorbidity burden and adverse cardiac mechanics. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed speckle‐tracking analysis on echocardiograms from the HyperGEN study (n=2150). Global longitudinal, circumferential, and radial strain, and early diastolic (e') tissue velocities were measured. We evaluated the association between comorbidity number and cardiac mechanics using linear mixed effects models to account for relatedness among subjects. The mean age was 51±14 years, 58% were female, and 47% were African American. Dyslipidemia and hypertension were the most common comorbidities (61% and 58%, respectively). After adjusting for left ventricular (LV) mass index, ejection fraction, and several potential confounders, the number of comorbidities remained associated with all indices of cardiac mechanics except global circumferential strain (eg, β=−0.32 [95% CI −0.44, −0.20] per 1‐unit increase in number of comorbidities for global longitudinal strain; β=−0.16 [95% CI −0.20, −0.11] for e' velocity; P≤0.0001 for both comparisons). Results were similar after excluding participants with abnormal LV geometry (P<0.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: Higher comorbidity burden is associated with worse cardiac mechanics, even in the presence of normal LV geometry. The deleterious effect of multiple comorbidities on cardiac mechanics may explain both the high comorbidity burden and adverse outcomes in patients who ultimately develop HF