SURF IA Conflict Detection and Resolution Algorithm Evaluation

The Enhanced Traffic Situational Awareness on the Airport Surface with Indications and Alerts (SURF IA) algorithm was evaluated in a fast-time batch simulation study at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center. SURF IA is designed to increase flight crew situation awareness of the runway environment and facilitate an appropriate and timely response to potential conflict situations. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance of the SURF IA algorithm under various runway scenarios, multiple levels of conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) system equipage, and various levels of horizontal position accuracy. This paper gives an overview of the SURF IA concept, simulation study, and results. Runway incursions are a serious aviation safety hazard. As such, the FAA is committed to reducing the severity, number, and rate of runway incursions by implementing a combination of guidance, education, outreach, training, technology, infrastructure, and risk identification and mitigation initiatives [1]. Progress has been made in reducing the number of serious incursions - from a high of 67 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 to 6 in FY2010. However, the rate of all incursions has risen steadily over recent years - from a rate of 12.3 incursions per million operations in FY2005 to a rate of 18.9 incursions per million operations in FY2010 [1, 2]. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also considers runway incursions to be a serious aviation safety hazard, listing runway incursion prevention as one of their most wanted transportation safety improvements [3]. The NTSB recommends that immediate warning of probable collisions/incursions be given directly to flight crews in the cockpit [4]

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remote, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remota, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested

1, 2-Bis (phenylsulfonyl)-1H-Indole as an Acceptor of Organocuprate Nucleophiles

1,2-Bis(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indole is a novel example of an electron-deficient indole that undergoes nucleophilic attack at C-3. Though a variety of other organometallic nucleophiles fail to engender nucleophilic substitution, organocuprates produce 3-substituted 2-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indoles. These reactions contribute to the growing number of examples of nucleophilic addition to the indole core

Long term cost effectiveness of interventions for obesity:A Mendelian randomisation study

Background The prevalence of obesity has increased in the United Kingdom, and reliably measuring the impact on quality of life and the total healthcare cost from obesity is key to informing the cost-effectiveness of interventions that target obesity, and determining healthcare funding. Current methods for estimating cost-effectiveness of interventions for obesity may be subject to confounding and reverse causation. The aim of this study is to apply a new approach using mendelian randomisation for estimating the cost-effectiveness of interventions that target body mass index (BMI), which may be less affected by confounding and reverse causation than previous approaches. Methods and findings We estimated health-related quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and both primary and secondary healthcare costs for 310,913 men and women of white British ancestry aged between 39 and 72 years in UK Biobank between recruitment (2006 to 2010) and 31 March 2017. We then estimated the causal effect of differences in BMI on QALYs and total healthcare costs using mendelian randomisation. For this, we used instrumental variable regression with a polygenic risk score (PRS) for BMI, derived using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BMI, with age, sex, recruitment centre, and 40 genetic principal components as covariables to estimate the effect of a unit increase in BMI on QALYs and total healthcare costs. Finally, we used simulations to estimate the likely effect on BMI of policy relevant interventions for BMI, then used the mendelian randomisation estimates to estimate the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. A unit increase in BMI decreased QALYs by 0.65% of a QALY (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49% to 0.81%) per year and increased annual total healthcare costs by £42.23 (95% CI: £32.95 to £51.51) per person. When considering only health conditions usually considered in previous cost-effectiveness modelling studies (cancer, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes), we estimated that a unit increase in BMI decreased QALYs by only 0.16% of a QALY (95% CI: 0.10% to 0.22%) per year. We estimated that both laparoscopic bariatric surgery among individuals with BMI greater than 35 kg/m2, and restricting volume promotions for high fat, salt, and sugar products, would increase QALYs and decrease total healthcare costs, with net monetary benefits (at £20,000 per QALY) of £13,936 (95% CI: £8,112 to £20,658) per person over 20 years, and £546 million (95% CI: £435 million to £671 million) in total per year, respectively. The main limitations of this approach are that mendelian randomisation relies on assumptions that cannot be proven, including the absence of directional pleiotropy, and that genotypes are independent of confounders. Conclusions Mendelian randomisation can be used to estimate the impact of interventions on quality of life and healthcare costs. We observed that the effect of increasing BMI on health-related quality of life is much larger when accounting for 240 chronic health conditions, compared with only a limited selection. This means that previous cost-effectiveness studies have likely underestimated the effect of BMI on quality of life and, therefore, the potential cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce BMI

Comprehensive Immune Monitoring of Clinical Trials to Advance Human Immunotherapy.

The success of immunotherapy has led to a myriad of clinical trials accompanied by efforts to gain mechanistic insight and identify predictive signatures for personalization. However, many immune monitoring technologies face investigator bias, missing unanticipated cellular responses in limited clinical material. We present here a mass cytometry (CyTOF) workflow for standardized, systems-level biomarker discovery in immunotherapy trials. To broadly enumerate immune cell identity and activity, we established and extensively assessed a reference panel of 33 antibodies to cover major cell subsets, simultaneously quantifying activation and immune checkpoint molecules in a single assay. This assay enumerates ≥98% of peripheral immune cells with ≥4 positively identifying antigens. Robustness and reproducibility are demonstrated on multiple samples types, across two research centers and by orthogonal measurements. Using automated analysis, we identify stratifying immune signatures in bone marrow transplantation-associated graft-versus-host disease. Together, this validated workflow ensures comprehensive immunophenotypic analysis and data comparability and will accelerate biomarker discovery

A system design for distributed energy generation in low temperature district heating (LTDH) networks

Project SCENIC (Smart Controlled Energy Networks Integrated in Communities) involves connecting properties at the University of Nottingham’s Creative Energy Homes test site in a community scale, integrated heat and power network. Controls will be developed to allow for the most effective heat load allocation and power distribution scenarios. Furthermore, the system will develop the prosumer concept, where consumers are both buyers and sellers of energy in both heat and power systems. This paper describes the initial phase of project SCENIC, achieving truly distributed generation within a heat network. The first of its kind, the system has a four pipe network configuration, consisting of a network flow loop to supply heat to homes, and a generation loop to collect energy from residential heating systems and supply it to a centralised thermal store. To achieve the design, IES-VE steady state heat load and dynamic building modelling have been used. A pre-insulated Rehau Rauthermex piping diameter was sized using flow rate calculations. Pipe diameter is reduced in line with distance from the central pump and associated pressure losses. The diameter ranges from 40 to 25mm, with a heat loss as low as 7.0 W/m. In addition, flow rates will fluctuate below a maximum of 1.99 l/s. Danfoss – 7 Series BS flatstations have been selected as the network-building heat interface units (HIU), to satisfy a calculated peak design heating loads of between 36.74 and 44.06 kW. Furthermore, to enable the prosumer concept and associated business models an adapted Danfoss Flatstations – 3 Series BS was selected to interface the distributed heat sources with the network. This paper gives details of the novel system configuration and concept, energy flows, as well as calculation and modelling results for the heat network. A premise is given to maintaining low temperatures in the network to ensure system efficiency in line with the latest research thinking

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remote, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested