Morphological Plant Modeling: Unleashing Geometric and Topological Potential within the Plant Sciences

The geometries and topologies of leaves, flowers, roots, shoots, and their arrangements have fascinated plant biologists and mathematicians alike. As such, plant morphology is inherently mathematical in that it describes plant form and architecture with geometrical and topological techniques. Gaining an understanding of how to modify plant morphology, through molecular biology and breeding, aided by a mathematical perspective, is critical to improving agriculture, and the monitoring of ecosystems is vital to modeling a future with fewer natural resources. In this white paper, we begin with an overview in quantifying the form of plants and mathematical models of patterning in plants. We then explore the fundamental challenges that remain unanswered concerning plant morphology, from the barriers preventing the prediction of phenotype from genotype to modeling the movement of leaves in air streams. We end with a discussion concerning the education of plant morphology synthesizing biological and mathematical approaches and ways to facilitate research advances through outreach, cross-disciplinary training, and open science. Unleashing the potential of geometric and topological approaches in the plant sciences promises to transform our understanding of both plants and mathematics

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 2

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1662/thumbnail.jp

The Seventeenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Complete Release of MaNGA, MaStar and APOGEE-2 Data

This paper documents the seventeenth data release (DR17) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys; the fifth and final release from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). DR17 contains the complete release of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, which reached its goal of surveying over 10,000 nearby galaxies. The complete release of the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar) accompanies this data, providing observations of almost 30,000 stars through the MaNGA instrument during bright time. DR17 also contains the complete release of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) survey which publicly releases infra-red spectra of over 650,000 stars. The main sample from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), as well as the sub-survey Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) data were fully released in DR16. New single-fiber optical spectroscopy released in DR17 is from the SPectroscipic IDentification of ERosita Survey (SPIDERS) sub-survey and the eBOSS-RM program. Along with the primary data sets, DR17 includes 25 new or updated Value Added Catalogs (VACs). This paper concludes the release of SDSS-IV survey data. SDSS continues into its fifth phase with observations already underway for the Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Local Volume Mapper (LVM) and Black Hole Mapper (BHM) surveys

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Salute to the States: Mississippi (side A)

General Motors program Salute to the States episode featuring Mississippi. After message on sleeping and driving, the program\u27s narrator discusses Mississippi and its history, culture, and industry with interludes for the following: Dixie\u27s Land Quick Step and Interlude arranged by Richard Bales and performed by the Contata Choir and the National Gallery Orchestra; Mississippi Suite by Ferde Grof and performed by the Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra; Congressman Jamie Whitten discussing his home state; Leontyne Price and Carlo Bergonzi singing from Giuseppe Verdi\u27s Ernani message in song about drinking and driving; Suite espanola by Isaac Albaniz; message about drinking and driving; King Cotton by John Philip Sousa and performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble; pianist John Atkins performing Lee Hoiby\u27s Concerto for Piano and Orchestr

Nanomechanics of hard films on compliant substrates.

Development of flexible thin film systems for biomedical, homeland security and environmental sensing applications has increased dramatically in recent years [1,2,3,4]. These systems typically combine traditional semiconductor technology with new flexible substrates, allowing for both the high electron mobility of semiconductors and the flexibility of polymers. The devices have the ability to be easily integrated into components and show promise for advanced design concepts, ranging from innovative microelectronics to MEMS and NEMS devices. These devices often contain layers of thin polymer, ceramic and metallic films where differing properties can lead to large residual stresses [5]. As long as the films remain substrate-bonded, they may deform far beyond their freestanding counterpart. Once debonded, substrate constraint disappears leading to film failure where compressive stresses can lead to wrinkling, delamination, and buckling [6,7,8] while tensile stresses can lead to film fracture and decohesion [9,10,11]. In all cases, performance depends on film adhesion. Experimentally it is difficult to measure adhesion. It is often studied using tape [12], pull off [13,14,15], and peel tests [16,17]. More recent techniques for measuring adhesion include scratch testing [18,19,20,21], four point bending [22,23,24], indentation [25,26,27], spontaneous blisters [28,29] and stressed overlayers [7,26,30,31,32,33]. Nevertheless, sample design and test techniques must be tailored for each system. There is a large body of elastic thin film fracture and elastic contact mechanics solutions for elastic films on rigid substrates in the published literature [5,7,34,35,36]. More recent work has extended these solutions to films on compliant substrates and show that increasing compliance markedly changes fracture energies compared with rigid elastic solution results [37,38]. However, the introduction of inelastic substrate response significantly complicates the problem [10,39,40]. As a result, our understanding of the critical relationship between adhesion, properties, and fracture for hard films on compliant substrates is limited. To address this issue, we integrated nanomechanical testing and mechanics-based modeling in a program to define the critical relationship between deformation and fracture of nanoscale films on compliant substrates. The approach involved designing model film systems and employing nano-scale experimental characterization techniques to isolate effects of compliance, viscoelasticity, and plasticity on deformation and fracture of thin hard films on substrates that spanned more than two orders of compliance magnitude exhibit different interface structures, have different adhesion strengths, and function differently under stress. The results of this work are described in six chapters. Chapter 1 provides the motivation for this work. Chapter 2 presents experimental results covering film system design, sample preparation, indentation response, and fracture including discussion on the effects of substrate compliance on fracture energies and buckle formation from existing models. Chapter 3 describes the use of analytical and finite element simulations to define the role of substrate compliance and film geometry on the indentation response of thin hard films on compliant substrates. Chapter 4 describes the development and application of cohesive zone model based finite element simulations to determine how substrate compliance affects debond growth. Chapter 5 describes the use of molecular dynamics simulations to define the effects of substrate compliance on interfacial fracture of thin hard tungsten films on silicon substrates. Chapter 6 describes the Workshops sponsored through this program to advance understanding of material and system behavior