Metrics for Assessing Earthquake-Hazard Map Performance

Abstract Recent large earthquakes that caused great damage in areas predicted to be relatively safe, illustrate the importance of criteria that assess how well earthquake hazard maps used to develop codes for earthquake-resistant construction are actually performing. At present, there is no agreed-upon way of assessing how well a map performed and thus determining whether one map performed better than another. The fractional site exceedance metric implicit in current maps, that during the chosen time interval the predicted ground motion will be exceeded only at a specific fraction of the sites, is useful but permits maps to be nominally successful even if they significantly underpredict or overpredict shaking, or permits them to be nominally unsuccessful but do well in terms of predicting shaking. We explore some possible metrics that better measure the effects of overprediction and underprediction and can be weighted to reflect the two differently and to reflect differences in populations and property at risk. Although no single metric alone fully characterizes map behavior, using several metrics can provide useful insight for comparing and improving hazard maps. For example, both probabilistic and deterministic hazard maps for Italy dramatically overpredict the recorded shaking in a 2200-yr-long historical intensity catalog, illustrating problems in the data (most likely), models, or both

High critical currents for dendrite penetration and voiding in potassium metal anode solid-state batteries

Potassium metal anode solid-state cells with a K-beta”-alumina ceramic electrolyte are found to have relatively high critical currents for dendrite penetration on charge of approximately 4.8 mA/cm2, and voiding on discharge of approximately 2.0 mA/cm2, at 20 °C under 2.5 MPa stack-pressure. These values are higher than generally reported in the literature under comparable conditions for Li and Na metal anode solid-state batteries. The higher values for potassium are attributed to its lower yield strength and its readiness to creep under relatively low stack-pressures. The high critical currents of potassium anode solid-state batteries help to confirm the importance of the metal anode mechanical properties in the mechanisms of dendrite penetration and voiding.</p

Morpholino-mediated Knockdown of DUX4 Toward Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Therapeutics

Derepression of DUX4 in skeletal muscle has emerged as a likely cause of pathology in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Here we report on the use of antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotides to suppress DUX4 expression and function in FSHD myotubes and xenografts. The most effective was phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotide FM10, which targets the polyadenylation signal of DUX4. FM10 had no significant cell toxicity, and RNA-seq analyses of FSHD and control myotubes revealed that FM10 down-regulated many transcriptional targets of DUX4, without overt off-target effects. Electroporation of FM10 into FSHD patient muscle xenografts in mice also down-regulated DUX4 and DUX4 targets. These findings demonstrate the potential of antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotides as an FSHD therapeutic option

The effect of volume change and stack pressure on solid‐state battery cathodes

Solid-state lithium batteries may provide increased energy density and improved safety compared with Li-ion technology. However, in a solid-state composite cathode, mechanical degradation due to repeated cathode volume changes during cycling may occur, which may be partially mitigated by applying a significant, but often impractical, uniaxial stack pressure. Herein, we compare the behavior of composite electrodes based on Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) (negligible volume change) and Nb2O5 (+4% expansion) cycled at different stack pressures. The initial LTO capacity and retention are not affected by pressure but for Nb2O5, they are significantly lower when a stack pressure of &lt;2 MPa is applied, due to inter-particle cracking and solid-solid contact loss because of cyclic volume changes. This work confirms the importance of cathode mechanical stability and the stack pressures for long-term cyclability for solid-state batteries. This suggests that low volume-change cathode materials or a proper buffer layer are required for solid-state batteries, especially at low stack pressures

Supplying Pharmacist Home Visit and Anticoagulation Professional Consultation During Transition of Care for Patients With Venous Thromboembolism

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility, satisfaction, and effectiveness of a care transition intervention with pharmacist home visit and subsequent anticoagulation expert consultation for patients with new episode of venous thromboembolism within a not-for-profit health care network. METHODS: We randomized patients to the intervention or control. During the home visit, a clinical pharmacist assessed medication management proficiency, asked open-ended questions to discuss knowledge gaps, and distributed illustrated medication instructions. Subsequent consultation with anticoagulation expert further filled knowledge gaps. At 30 days, we assessed satisfaction with the intervention and also measured the quality of care transition, knowledge of anticoagulation and venous thromboembolism, and anticoagulant beliefs (level of agreement that anticoagulant is beneficial, is worrisome, and is confusing/difficult to take). RESULTS: The mean +/- SD time required to conduct home visits was 52.4 +/- 20.5 minutes and most patients agreed that the intervention was helpful. In general, patients reported a high-quality care transition including having been advised of safety issues related to medications. Despite that, the mean percentage of knowledge items answered correctly among patients was low (51.5 versus 50.7 for intervention and controls, respectively). We did not find any significant difference between intervention and control patients for care transition quality, knowledge, or anticoagulant beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: We executed a multicomponent intervention that was feasible and rated highly. Nevertheless, the intervention did not improve care transition quality, knowledge, or beliefs. Future research should examine whether alternate strategies potentially including some but not all components of our intervention would be more impactful