Cordes Chair Presentation: COVID Impact Statements in the Annual Evaluation Process

A review of the impact of the pandemic on faculty productivity will be presented. We will examine some of the best practices for writing impact statements and how they are being used across the academic landscape. We will then discuss writing your own impact statement

A Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) Maturity Model

This paper presents the development of a framework that organizations can use to assess their CPFR maturity. The proposed modeling framework identifies important functional and structural aspects of CPFR processes and formulates a method for evaluation on a variety of characteristics of CPFR. This paper uses a variant of multi-objective decision analysis to structure the framework into a hierarchical model for CPFR maturity assessment. Each area of the model was identified based on standardized, industry-accepted process definitions. Then, easy to answer questions were formulated to develop a multi-attribute assessment and scoring of capabilities. This model provides a structured representation of the CPFR process for maturity assessment and provides a path of progress for improving the state of CPFR within the  underperforming areas. The developed model can be used by engineering managers for assessing an on-going CPFR program across several areas and communicating the identified high impact improvement areas with various segments of the organization

Caracterização de textura em imagens de lesões de pele por máquina de vetor de suporte

Due to the increased incidence of skin cancer, computational methods using intelligent systems have been developed to aid dermatologists in the diagnosis of skin lesions. This paper proposes a method to classify the texture, considering that it is an important feature in identification of lesions. For this is defined a feature vector with the fractal dimension of images through the box-counting method (BCM), which were used by SVM to classify the texture of the lesions in non-irregular or irregular, where it obtained 72.84% of accuracy

Classificação de assimetria em lesões de pele por meio de imagens usando máquina de vetor de suporte

The increased occurrence of cancer cases over the years and the importance of prevention work motivated the development of this work. It aim is help the dermatologist in the diagnosis of skin lesions, providing information about the characteristics of asymmetry of ABCD rule (Asymmetry, Edge, Color and Diameter), widely used in the initial examination to determine if a lesion is malignant or no. To do so, are extracted from scanned images of the asymmetric features of the lesion, and classified as symmetrical or asymmetrical, through a Support Vector Machine (SVM). This process is used an anisotropic diffusion filter to soften the image and the model of active contour without edge (Chan-vese) to segment them. Thus, allows to define the contour of the lesion so that can be extracted their characteristics of asymmetry, used as input in the smart classifier

Development and potential role of type-2 sodium-glucose transporter inhibitors for management of type 2 diabetes

There is a recognized need for new treatment options for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Recovery of glucose from the glomerular filtrate represents an important mechanism in maintaining glucose homeostasis and represents a novel target for the management of T2DM. Recovery of glucose from the glomerular filtrate is executed principally by the type 2 sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT2). Inhibition of SGLT2 promotes glucose excretion and normalizes glycemia in animal models. First reports of specifically designed SGLT2 inhibitors began to appear in the second half of the 1990s. Several candidate SGLT2 inhibitors are currently under development, with four in the later stages of clinical testing. The safety profile of SGLT2 inhibitors is expected to be good, as their target is a highly specific membrane transporter expressed almost exclusively within the renal tubules. One safety concern is that of glycosuria, which could predispose patients to increased urinary tract infections. So far the reported safety profile of SGLT2 inhibitors in clinical studies appears to confirm that the class is well tolerated. Where SGLT2 inhibitors will fit in the current cascade of treatments for T2DM has yet to be established. The expected favorable safety profile and insulin-independent mechanism of action appear to support their use in combination with other antidiabetic drugs. Promotion of glucose excretion introduces the opportunity to clear calories (80–90 g [300–400 calories] of glucose per day) in patients that are generally overweight, and is expected to work synergistically with weight reduction programs. Experience will most likely lead to better understanding of which patients are likely to respond best to SGLT2 inhibitors, and under what circumstances

Measurement of the W-boson mass in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the mass of the W boson is presented based on proton–proton collision data recorded in 2011 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to 4.6 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The selected data sample consists of 7.8×106 candidates in the W→μν channel and 5.9×106 candidates in the W→eν channel. The W-boson mass is obtained from template fits to the reconstructed distributions of the charged lepton transverse momentum and of the W boson transverse mass in the electron and muon decay channels, yielding mW=80370±7 (stat.)±11(exp. syst.) ±14(mod. syst.) MeV =80370±19MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second corresponds to the experimental systematic uncertainty, and the third to the physics-modelling systematic uncertainty. A measurement of the mass difference between the W+ and W−bosons yields mW+−mW−=−29±28 MeV

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types