10,230 research outputs found
The Role of Osteocytes in Targeted Bone Remodeling: A Mathematical Model
Until recently many studies of bone remodeling at the cellular level have
focused on the behavior of mature osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and their
respective precursor cells, with the role of osteocytes and bone lining cells
left largely unexplored. This is particularly true with respect to the
mathematical modeling of bone remodeling. However, there is increasing evidence
that osteocytes play important roles in the cycle of targeted bone remodeling,
in serving as a significant source of RANKL to support osteoclastogenesis, and
in secreting the bone formation inhibitor sclerostin. Moreover, there is also
increasing interest in sclerostin, an osteocyte-secreted bone formation
inhibitor, and its role in regulating local response to changes in the bone
microenvironment. Here we develop a cell population model of bone remodeling
that includes the role of osteocytes, sclerostin, and allows for the
possibility of RANKL expression by osteocyte cell populations. This model
extends and complements many of the existing mathematical models for bone
remodeling but can be used to explore aspects of the process of bone remodeling
that were previously beyond the scope of prior modeling work. Through numerical
simulations we demonstrate that our model can be used to theoretically explore
many of the most recent experimental results for bone remodeling, and can be
utilized to assess the effects of novel bone-targeting agents on the bone
remodeling process
Transmission needs across a fully renewable European power system
The residual load and excess power generation of 27 European countries with a
100% penetration of variable renewable energy sources are explored in order to
quantify the benefit of power transmission between countries. Estimates are
based on extensive weather data, which allows for modelling of hourly
mismatches between the demand and renewable generation from wind and solar
photovoltaics. For separated countries, balancing is required to cover around
24% of the total annual energy consumption. This number can be reduced down to
15% once all countries are networked together with uncon- strained
interconnectors. The reduction represents the maximum possible benefit of
transmission for the countries. The total Net Transfer Capacity of the
unconstrained interconnectors is roughly twelve times larger than current
values. However, constrained interconnector capacities six times larger than
the current values are found to provide 97% of the maximum possible benefit of
cooperation. This motivates a detailed investigation of several constrained
transmission capacity layouts to determine the export and import capabilities
of countries participating in a fully renewable European electricity system
Renewable build-up pathways for the US: Generation costs are not system costs
The transition to a future electricity system based primarily on wind and
solar PV is examined for all regions in the contiguous US. We present optimized
pathways for the build-up of wind and solar power for least backup energy needs
as well as for least cost obtained with a simplified, lightweight model based
on long-term high resolution weather-determined generation data. In the absence
of storage, the pathway which achieves the best match of generation and load,
thus resulting in the least backup energy requirements, generally favors a
combination of both technologies, with a wind/solar PV energy mix of about
80/20 in a fully renewable scenario. The least cost development is seen to
start with 100% of the technology with the lowest average generation costs
first, but with increasing renewable installations, economically unfavorable
excess generation pushes it toward the minimal backup pathway. Surplus
generation and the entailed costs can be reduced significantly by combining
wind and solar power, and/or absorbing excess generation, for example with
storage or transmission, or by coupling the electricity system to other energy
sectors.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Instructional Alignment of Workplace Readiness Skills in Marketing Education
This study examined high school marketing education teachers’ knowledge of workplace readiness skills and whether that knowledge had an impact on student workplace readiness skill achievement. Further, this study examined the usage of Virginia’s 13 Workplace Readiness Skills curriculum and identified the teaching methods and instructional strategies used to disseminate the skills to students. Three sets of data were used for this study: teacher workplace readiness skills data, teacher survey data, and student workplace readiness skills post-test data. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine whether teacher knowledge of workplace readiness skills had an impact on student attainment of the same. The results showed that while overall teacher scores did not show a statistical significance on overall student scores, there were four individual skill areas in which there was a relationship between teacher and student scores
Government-Industry Cooperative Fisheries Research in the North Pacific under the MSFCMA
The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) has a long and successful history of conducting research in cooperation with the fishing industry. Many of the AFSC’s annual resource assessment surveys are carried out aboard chartered commercial vessels and the skill and experience of captains and crew are integral to the success of this work. Fishing companies have been contracted to provide vessels and expertise for many different types of research, including testing and evaluation of survey and commercial fishing gear and development of improved methods for estimating commercial catch quantity and composition. AFSC scientists have also participated in a number of industry-initiated research projects including development of selective fishing gears for bycatch reduction and evaluating and improving observer catch composition sampling. In this paper, we describe the legal and regulatory provisions for these types of cooperative work and present examples to illustrate the process and identify the requirements for successful cooperative research
Place of death in the Czech Republic and Slovakia:a population based comparative study using death certificates data
Place of death represents an important indicator for end-of-life care policy making and is related to the quality of life of patients and their families. The aim of the paper is to analyse the place of death in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2011. Research questions were focused on factors influencing the place of death and specifically the likelihood of dying at home
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