Testing Data Acquisition Systems for Use in Monitoring Building Energy Conservation Systems

Dedicated microprocessor-based data acquisition systems are beginning to be used to monitor the energy savings from building energy conservation retrofits. These systems capture data from important monitoring points and store the values for periodic transfer to a central location. While there are many data loggers available that appear suited to this task, choosing between them is complicated by a large number of manufacturers, a lack of standard communications protocols, and most significantly, no standardized tests for reporting their capabilities. This paper addresses the last point with a battery of tests that were developed and applied to data loggers from nine manufacturers

The Texas LoanSTAR Program: Acquiring and Archiving LoanSTAR Data

This paper discusses the acquisition and archiving of data for the Texas LoanSTAR monitoring program, an eight year, $98 million revolving loan program for energy conservation retrofits in Texas state, local government and school buildings funded by oil overcharge dollars. In particular we focus on the design, development and implementation of a state-wide computer network that communicates with field recorders installed in participating agencies, the development of public domain software for electronically polling the data acquisition systems (DASs), and the development of procedures to assess the accuracy of the data being collected. The development of a field data recorder testbench facility is also discussed. Such a facility is being used to develop and test software for polling DASs to be used in the program. In this report we also discuss data management and the process of acquiring data from a site, translating these data to a common format and preparing the data for graphic presentation or analysis. In the final section we discuss the lessons we have learned and our future work

Evaluation of fodder yield and fodder quality in sorghum and its interaction with grain yield under different water availability regimes

Sorghum is widely grown as a failsafe crop in semi-arid regions particularly in post rainy season. Though the effect of drought on crop performance is studied widely there are few studies illustrating the association of fodder quality and agronomic traits under drought. To study the interactions we evaluated a set of 24 cultivars under drought for three years in post rainy season. The effect of drought was evident in delayed flowering (by 2 days) and reduce plant height (by 0.98 cm) compared to control. The fodder digestibility traits were reduced (in vitro organic matter digestibility by 2.25 times) under drought. All the plant growth and yield parameters recorded higher heritability compared to fodder quality parameters (<0.75) in most of the season in both control and stress environments. The scatter plot showed best (ICSV700-P10, N13, PB15881-3, SP 2417-P3) and poor (296B, ICSB377-P1, ICSV1, IS9830) performing entries in control and stress plots. The agronomic and the fodder quality traits have shown no significant relationship between them, hence independent association can be utilized to breed for desirable traits. Identification of contrasting lines could be the key to identify genes controlling the fodder quality traits under drought

Association between alcohol and cardiovascular disease: Mendelian randomisation analysis based on individual participant data.

OBJECTIVE: To use the rs1229984 variant in the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B gene (ADH1B) as an instrument to investigate the causal role of alcohol in cardiovascular disease. DESIGN: Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis of 56 epidemiological studies. PARTICIPANTS: 261 991 individuals of European descent, including 20 259 coronary heart disease cases and 10 164 stroke events. Data were available on ADH1B rs1229984 variant, alcohol phenotypes, and cardiovascular biomarkers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds ratio for coronary heart disease and stroke associated with the ADH1B variant in all individuals and by categories of alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Carriers of the A-allele of ADH1B rs1229984 consumed 17.2% fewer units of alcohol per week (95% confidence interval 15.6% to 18.9%), had a lower prevalence of binge drinking (odds ratio 0.78 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.84)), and had higher abstention (odds ratio 1.27 (1.21 to 1.34)) than non-carriers. Rs1229984 A-allele carriers had lower systolic blood pressure (-0.88 (-1.19 to -0.56) mm Hg), interleukin-6 levels (-5.2% (-7.8 to -2.4%)), waist circumference (-0.3 (-0.6 to -0.1) cm), and body mass index (-0.17 (-0.24 to -0.10) kg/m(2)). Rs1229984 A-allele carriers had lower odds of coronary heart disease (odds ratio 0.90 (0.84 to 0.96)). The protective association of the ADH1B rs1229984 A-allele variant remained the same across all categories of alcohol consumption (P=0.83 for heterogeneity). Although no association of rs1229984 was identified with the combined subtypes of stroke, carriers of the A-allele had lower odds of ischaemic stroke (odds ratio 0.83 (0.72 to 0.95)). CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with a genetic variant associated with non-drinking and lower alcohol consumption had a more favourable cardiovascular profile and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease than those without the genetic variant. This suggests that reduction of alcohol consumption, even for light to moderate drinkers, is beneficial for cardiovascular health

AAV ancestral reconstruction library enables selection of broadly infectious viral variants

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have achieved clinical efficacy in treating several diseases. Enhanced vectors are required to extend these landmark successes to other indications, however, and protein engineering approaches may provide the necessary vector improvements to address such unmet medical needs. To generate new capsid variants with potentially enhanced infectious properties, and to gain insights into AAV’s evolutionary history, we computationally designed and experimentally constructed a putative ancestral AAV library. Combinatorial variations at 32 amino acid sites were introduced to account for uncertainty in their identities. We then analyzed the evolutionary flexibility of these residues, the majority of which have not been previously studied, by subjecting the library to iterative selection on a representative cell line panel. The resulting variants exhibited transduction efficiencies comparable to the most efficient extant serotypes, and in general ancestral libraries were broadly infectious across the cell line panel, indicating that they favored promiscuity over specificity. Interestingly, putative ancestral AAVs were more thermostable than modern serotypes and did not utilize sialic acids, galactose, or heparan sulfate proteoglycans for cellular entry. Finally, variants mediated 19–31 fold higher gene expression in muscle compared to AAV1, a clinically utilized serotype for muscle delivery, highlighting their promise for gene therapy

Genetics ignite focus on microglial inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease

In the past five years, a series of large-scale genetic studies have revealed novel risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Analyses of these risk factors have focused attention upon the role of immune processes in AD, specifically microglial function. In this review, we discuss interpretation of genetic studies.  We then focus upon six genes implicated by AD genetics that impact microglial function: TREM2, CD33, CR1, ABCA7, SHIP1, and APOE. We review the literature regarding the biological functions of these six proteins and their putative role in AD pathogenesis. We then present a model for how these factors may interact to modulate microglial function in AD