2,909 research outputs found
Using Genetic Programming to Investigate a Novel Model of Resting Energy Expenditure for Bariatric Surgery Patients
Traditionally, models developed to estimate resting energy expenditure (REE) in the bariatric population have been limited to linear modelling based on data from `normal' or `overweight' individuals - not `obese'. This type of modelling can be restrictive and yield functions which poorly estimate this important physiological outcome.Linear and nonlinear models of REE for individuals after bariatric surgery are developed with linear regression and symbolic regression via genetic programming. Features not traditionally used in REE modelling were also incorporated and analyzed and genetic programming's intrinsic feature selection was used as a measure of feature importance.A collection of effective new linear and nonlinear models were generated. The linear models generated outperformed the nonlinear on testing data, although the nonlinear models fit the training data better. Ultimately, the newly developed linear models showed an improvement over existing models and the feature importance analysis suggested that the typically used features (age, weight, and height) were the most important
Genetic Variation in Concentration of the 33-mer Protein Subcomponent in Wheat
Celiac Disease is a hypersensitive response to gluten caused by HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 T-cell presentation, initiating destruction of intestinal epithelial cells. Currently, the only remedy for those suffering from celiac disease is elimination of all gluten from the diet. Studies indicate that an indigestible fragment of the gluten molecule, alpha-gliadin subcomponent 33-mer, rich in proline and glutamine, is responsible for the hypersensitivity response. Determination of 33-mer concentration in wheat lines could be beneficial to future development of wheat lines with reduced 33-mer concentration. Protein from wheat flour was extracted and subjected to ELISA techniques in order to quantify the concentration of 33-mer. A technique that quantifies the concentration of 33-mer is a necessary first step for future research efforts focused on identification and development of wheat lines with reduced concentrations of 33-mer. It is possible that wheat with reduced 33-mer may be suitable for consumption by individuals with celiac disease
"This House Is Now" (Desert In, episode 1)
Limited Series opera created for Boston Lyric's Opera streaming station, Desert In is a opera created for the screen, "shot" like a television series. It will feature actors from traditionally marginalized groups, and will be directed by James Darrah and Joy Kecken. It is schedule to premiered in late spring 2021.Othe
Microbes as engines of ecosystem function : When does community structure enhance predictions of ecosystem processes?
FUNDING This work was supported by NSF grant DEB-1221215 to DN, as well as grants supporting the generation of our datasets as acknowledged in their original publications and in Supplementary Table S1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We thank the USGS Powell Center âNext Generation Microbesâ working group, anonymous reviews, Brett Melbourne, and Alan Townsend for valuable feedback on this project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge
Background: Early insights into the timing of the start, peak, and intensity of the influenza season could be useful in planning influenza prevention and control activities. To encourage development and innovation in influenza forecasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized a challenge to predict the 2013-14 Unites States influenza season. Methods: Challenge contestants were asked to forecast the start, peak, and intensity of the 2013-2014 influenza season at the national level and at any or all Health and Human Services (HHS) region level(s). The challenge ran from December 1, 2013-March 27, 2014; contestants were required to submit 9 biweekly forecasts at the national level to be eligible. The selection of the winner was based on expert evaluation of the methodology used to make the prediction and the accuracy of the prediction as judged against the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). Results: Nine teams submitted 13 forecasts for all required milestones. The first forecast was due on December 2, 2013; 3/13 forecasts received correctly predicted the start of the influenza season within one week, 1/13 predicted the peak within 1 week, 3/13 predicted the peak ILINet percentage within 1 %, and 4/13 predicted the season duration within 1 week. For the prediction due on December 19, 2013, the number of forecasts that correctly forecasted the peak week increased to 2/13, the peak percentage to 6/13, and the duration of the season to 6/13. As the season progressed, the forecasts became more stable and were closer to the season milestones. Conclusion: Forecasting has become technically feasible, but further efforts are needed to improve forecast accuracy so that policy makers can reliably use these predictions. CDC and challenge contestants plan to build upon the methods developed during this contest to improve the accuracy of influenza forecasts. © 2016 The Author(s)
Infall Times for Milky Way Satellites From Their Present-Day Kinematics
We analyze subhalos in the Via Lactea II (VL2) cosmological simulation to
look for correlations among their infall times and z = 0 dynamical properties.
We find that the present day orbital energy is tightly correlated with the time
at which subhalos last crossed into the virial radius. This energy-infall
correlation provides a means to infer infall times for Milky Way satellite
galaxies. Assuming that the Milky Way's assembly can be modeled by VL2, we show
that the infall times of some satellites are well constrained given only their
Galactocentric positions and line-of-sight velocities. The constraints sharpen
for satellites with proper motion measurements. We find that Carina, Ursa
Minor, and Sculptor were all accreted early, more than 8 Gyr ago. Five other
dwarfs, including Sextans and Segue 1, are also probable early accreters,
though with larger uncertainties. On the other extreme, Leo T is just falling
into the Milky Way for the first time while Leo I fell in \sim 2 Gyr ago and is
now climbing out of the Milky Way's potential after its first perigalacticon.
The energies of several other dwarfs, including Fornax and Hercules, point to
intermediate infall times, 2 - 8 Gyr ago. We compare our infall time estimates
to published star formation histories and find hints of a dichotomy between
ultrafaint and classical dwarfs. The classical dwarfs appear to have quenched
star formation after infall but the ultrafaint dwarfs tend to be quenched long
before infall, at least for the cases in which our uncertainties allow us to
discern differences. Our analysis suggests that the Large Magellanic Cloud
crossed inside the Milky Way virial radius recently, within the last \sim 4
billion years.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, all figures include colors, submitted for
publication in MNRA
The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun
Understanding accelerated particles at the Sun is one of the most important problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles have huge energies; are an important source of particles in the heliosphere; and are the most important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. This paper describes the scientific motivation for X-ray studies of particle acceleration at the Sun
The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun
Understanding the nature of energetic particles in the solar atmosphere is
one of the most important outstanding problems in heliophysics.
Flare-accelerated particles compose a huge fraction of the flare energy budget;
they have large influences on how events develop; they are an important source
of high-energy particles found in the heliosphere; and they are the single most
important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. Despite the
importance of this area of study, this topic has in the past decade received
only a small fraction of the resources necessary for a full investigation. For
example, NASA has selected no new Explorer-class instrument in the past two
decades that is capable of examining this topic. The advances that are
currently being made in understanding flare-accelerated electrons are largely
undertaken with data from EOVSA (NSF), STIX (ESA), and NuSTAR (NASA
Astrophysics). This is despite the inclusion in the previous Heliophysics
decadal survey of the FOXSI concept as part of the SEE2020 mission, and also
despite NASA's having invested heavily in readying the technology for such an
instrument via four flights of the FOXSI sounding rocket experiment. Due to
that investment, the instrumentation stands ready to implement a hard X-ray
mission to investigate flare-accelerated electrons. This white paper describes
the scientific motivation for why this venture should be undertaken soon.Comment: White paper submitted to the Decadal Survey for Solar and Space
Physics (Heliophysics) 2024-2033; 15 pages, 5 figure
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