Misunderstanding Models in Environmental and Public Health Regulation

Computational models are fundamental to environmental regulation, yet their capabilities tend to be misunderstood by policymakers. Rather than rely on models to illuminate dynamic and uncertain relationships in natural settings, policymakers too often use models as “answer machines.” This fundamental misperception that models can generate decisive facts leads to a perverse negative feedback loop that begins with policymaking itself and radiates into the science of modeling and into regulatory deliberations where participants can exploit the misunderstanding in strategic ways. This paper documents the pervasive misperception of models as truth machines in U.S. regulation and the multi-layered problems that result from this misunderstanding. The paper concludes with a series of proposals for making better use of models in environmental policy analysis.The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Busines

Making Method Visible: Improving the Quality of Science-Based Regulation

Scientific inferences are theories about how the world works that scientists formulate based on their observations. One of the most difficult issues at the intersection of law and science is to determine whether the weight of evidence supports one scientific inference versus other competing interpretations of the observations. In administrative law, this difficulty is exacerbated by the behavior of both the courts and regulatory agencies. Agencies seldom achieve the requisite visibility that explains the analytical methods they use to reach their scientific inferences. Courts—because they appreciate neither the variety of inferential methods nor their epistemic foundations—do not demand this level of visibility from the agencies. We argue that much progress can be made toward visible, coherent, sciencebased regulations if courts ask two deceptively simple questions: (1) have the agency’s inferential methods been identified? and (2) does the agency explain how its methods are appropriate to the information on hand and how the methods support the agency’s inferences

Biological treatment of the knee with platelet-rich plasma or bone marrow aspirate concentrates

ABSTRACT — Knee pathologies including focal cartilage injuries, osteoarthritis (OA), and ligament injuries are common. The poor regeneration and healing potential of cartilage has led to the search for other treatment modalities with improved healing capacity. Furthermore, with an increasing elderly population that desires to remain active, the burden of knee pathologies is expected to increase. Increased sports participation and the desire to return to activities faster is also demanding more effective and minimally invasive treatment options. Thus, the use of biologic agents in the treatment of knee pathologies has emerged as a potential option. Despite the increasing use of biologic agents for knee pathology, there are conflicting results on the efficacy of these products. Furthermore, strong data supporting the optimal preparation methods and composition for widely used biologic agents, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC), largely remain absent from the literature. This review presents the literature on the most commonly employed biologic agents for the different knee pathologies

Survey on the Phenotypic Variability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common autosomal recessive genetic disorders, resulting in faulty chloride ion channels in the lungs. As a result, the lungs are severely compromised with viscous secretions leading to chronic and repeated infections, and the colonization of a diverse microbial community. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the primary pathogens in the CF lung and prior research has demonstrated a high degree of phenotypic heterogeneity among adult isolates in comparison to control strains. This study has two aims: First, the creation of an open repository of sputum and isolates collected from the Oklahoma Cystic Fibrosis clinic in Oklahoma City, OK to serve as a resource for research groups to use in polymicrobial studies. Second, the assay for a number of virulence factors using a subset of P. aeruginosa CF isolates recovered from two patients in each age category: children (under 13), adolescents (13-18), and adults (over 18). The collected repository includes sputum samples from 57 patients demonstrating a wide range of recoverable growth and a broad diversity of observed colony morphologies on nutrient and selective media. Thirty isolates per patient were assayed for surface motility (swim, swarm, and twitch) and production of hydrogen cyanide, biosurfactant, casein proteases, elastases, siderophores, and fluorescent pigments. P. aeruginosa isolates from most patients showed a high degree of consistency in producing hydrogen cyanide, fluorescent pigments, casein proteases, elastases, siderophores, and biosurfactant. There was, however, variability seen in the different surface motilities of isolates between the different age groups. These results provide insights to the variability of P. aeruginosa between age groups and confirm differences between P. aeruginosa isolated from newly infected CF patients and those chronically infected for many years. Further characterization and deeper understanding of the polymicrobial community in the CF lung are required to improve clinical diagnosis and treatment.Microbiology, Cell, & Molecular Biolog

Programa de comprensión lectora para la mejora del aprendizaje en el área de comunicación en estudiantes de tercer grado de educación primaria, de la institución educativa Nº 89001, distrito Chimbote, año 2018.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo principal determinar si el programa de comprensión lectora mejora el aprendizaje en el área de comunicación en estudiantes de 3er grado de educación primaria, de la institución educativa N° 89001, Distrito Chimbote año, 2018. El tipo de estudio fue explicativo, nivel cuantitativo y diseño cuasi experimental. La muestra se conformó por 60 estudiantes 30 del grupo experimental, 30 del grupo control. Se evaluó el aprendizaje, a través de un pre test la técnica fue la encuesta, como instrumento el cuestionario. Los resultados obtenidos del pre test, según logros de aprendizaje demostraron que 0% alcanzaron logro destacado, el 7% se encontraron un nivel previsto, el 13% se encuentra en un nivel de proceso, y el 80% en inicio, luego se aplicó el programa de comprensión lectora en 10 sesiones, se procedió a evaluar por un post test cuyo resultado se obtuvo que 73% de los estudiantes calificaron con A. luego se contrastar la hipótesis con los resultados obtenidos. Se considera que, si existe una diferencia significativa entre el pre test y el pos test, En la recolección de datos se obtuvo que el nivel de significancia es menor que p< 0,05, permitiendo aceptar la hipótesis de investigación, alcanzando los objetivos de estudio en la comprensión lectora. Por lo tanto, se concluye que programa comprensión lectora mejora el aprendizaje en él, Área de comunicación en estudiantes del tercer grado de educación primaria, de la institución educativa N° 89001, Distrito Chimbote, año 2018.Tesi

Machine learning for property prediction and optimization of polymeric nanocomposites: a state-of-the-art

Recently, the field of polymer nanocomposites has been an area of high scientific and industrial attention due to noteworthy improvements attained in these materials, arising from the synergetic combination of properties of a polymeric matrix and an organic or inorganic nanomaterial. The enhanced performance of those materials typically involves superior mechanical strength, toughness and stiffness, electrical and thermal conductivity, better flame retardancy and a higher barrier to moisture and gases. Nanocomposites can also display unique design possibilities, which provide exceptional advantages in developing multifunctional materials with desired properties for specific applications. On the other hand, machine learning (ML) has been recognized as a powerful predictive tool for data-driven multi-physical modelling, leading to unprecedented insights and an exploration of the system&apos;s properties beyond the capability of traditional computational and experimental analyses. This article aims to provide a brief overview of the most important findings related to the application of ML for the rational design of polymeric nanocomposites. Prediction, optimization, feature identification and uncertainty quantification are presented along with different ML algorithms used in the field of polymeric nanocomposites for property prediction, and selected examples are discussed. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives are highlighted

Violencia encubierta y celos en estudiantes mujeres de un Centro de Educación Técnico Productivo, Lima Norte – 2022

La investigación se basó en las féminas que estudian en un Centro de Educación Técnico Productivo que está ubicado en Lima Norte. Tuvo como objetivo determinar la relación entre violencia encubierta y celos hacia las mujeres, desarrollado a través de un diseño descriptivo, correlacional, con una muestra de 287 mujeres que contaron con los criterios de exclusión e inclusión. Se consideró una ficha de tamizaje evaluando si ha pasado por la experiencia de violencia y de ser así, si ha sido por celos. Se utilizaron el Inventario Multidimensional de Celos, y la Escala de Violencia Encubierta (EVE). Los resultados permitieron identificar relación directa y significativa entre los celos y la violencia encubierta ejercida (Rho=.128,p<.05) y recibida (Rho=.404,p<.001), de igual forma se hallaron correlaciones entre las dimensiones de los celos con la violencia encubierta ejercida (entre Rho=.125, a .164, p<.05) y recibida (entre Rho=.338 a .440, p<.001),por otro lado, se destaca que tuvo un nivel medio, tanto para celos (78.7%) y la violencia encubierta ejercida (49.5%), mientras que fue alta para la violencia encubierta sufrida (49.5%). Se concluye que ante el aumento de los celos también se incrementa la violencia encubierta ejercida y sufrida

Alumnos, contextos y docentes. El aprendizaje de las Ciencias Naturales y de Matemática. Educación Primaria ONE 2007

En este documento se proponen tres objetivos generales, a saber: presentar algunas características de la práctica docente de Ciencias Naturales, según las propias percepciones del docente; determinar y comparar el grado de (in)equidad educativa en la distribución de los desempeños en matemática y en Ciencias Naturales; explorar las relaciones entre algunos indicadores referidos a factores propiamente escolares, por un lado, y los desempeños en ambas asignaturas, por el otro

Effects of gram-negative bacterial outer membrane permeabilization on Serratia marcescens' gene expression

Our laboratory has focused on understanding the effects of outer membrane permeabilizer compound 48/80 on the intrinsic resistance of gram-negative bacteria to hydrophobic antibacterial agents such as the biocide triclosan. Previously obtained RNAseq data were analyzed to identify gene expression changes potentiated by compound 48/80 in the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens. These data indicated greatly upregulated expression of three genes, each involved in repair of outer membrane damage by other antimicrobial agents. The objective of the present study was to clarify the bacterial response to compound 48/80 treatment using RT-qPCR to follow gene expression, with the ultimate goal of establishing a proposed mechanism of action for compound 48/80-induced outer membrane permeability. Previous work indicated that S. marcescens is one of the few species of bacteria intrinsically resistant to triclosan, and that compound 48/80 induces transient sensitization to triclosan. The RNAseq analyses revealed a 50-fold increase in expression of slyB, phoP, and phoQ subsequent to compound 48/80 administration and qPCR primers were created in order to further investigate their regulation. The Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC) analysis tools confirmed the upregulation of the aforementioned genes and provided Fragments Per Kilobase Million Mapped Reads (FPKM) to enable selection of an appropriate qPCR housekeeping gene, yfiR. RNA has been prepared from expression time-courses in preparation for the RTqPCR process, in which qPCR primers for slyB, phoQ, phoP and yfiR will be used to measure expression changes observed over time