Gender Moderates the Association between 5-HTTLPR and Decision-making under Ambiguity but Not under Risk

Decisions made under ambiguity may involve a different genetic architecture than those made under risk. Because gender moderates the effect of genetic polymorphisms on serotonin function and because there are gender differences in decision-making, the present study examined potential gender moderation of associations between polymorphisms in important serotonin system candidate genes (serotonin transporter [SLC6A4] and tryptophan hydroxylase-2 [TPH2]) and performance on a decision-making task (Iowa Gambling Task, IGT) in healthy, adults (N = 188; 62% women). Subjects were genotyped for the well-studied SLC6A4 promoter variant 5-HTTLPR and a TPH2 single nucleotide polymorphism in intron-8 (rs1386438). Genotype at rs1386438was not associated with performance on the IGT. A significant gender by 5-HTTLPR genotype interaction effect was detected when decision-making was under ambiguity (i.e., the first block of 20 choices) but not under risk (blocks 2–5). Performance on the first block of 20 choices was not correlated with performance on subsequent blocks, supporting the interpretation that early performance on the IGT indexes decision-making under ambiguity, while performance on blocks 2–5 indexes decision-making under risk. These findings suggest that decision-making under ambiguity and risk may have different genetic architectures and that individual differences in decision-making under ambiguity are associated with genetic variation in SLC6A4

Persistence and quality of vegetation cover in expired Conservation Reserve Program fields

For nearly 40 years, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has implemented practices to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators on highly erodible cropland in the United States. However, an approximately 40,470 ha (10 million acres) decline in enrolled CRP land over the last decade has greatly reduced the program\u27s environmental benefits. We sought to assess the program\u27s enduring benefits in the central and western United States by (1) determining the proportion of fields that persist in CRP cover after contracts expired, (2) identifying the type of agricultural production that CRP fields shift to after contract expiration, (3) comparing the vegetation characteristics of expired CRP fields that are persisting in CRP-type cover with enrolled CRP fields, and (4) identifying differences in management activities (e.g., haying, grazing) between expired and enrolled CRP fields. We conducted edge-of-field vegetation cover surveys in 1092 CRP fields with contracts that expired ≥3 years prior and 1786 currently enrolled CRP fields in 14 states. We found that 41% of expired CRP fields retained at least half of their area in CRP-type cover, with significant variation in persistence among regions ranging from 19% to 84%. When expired fields retained CRP vegetation, bare ground was low in all regions and grass cover was somewhat greater than in fields with current CRP contracts, but at the expense of forb cover in some regions. Evidence of more frequent management in expired CRP fields may explain differences between active and expired CRP fields. Overall, there is clear evidence that CRP-type cover frequently persists and provides benefits for more than three years after contract expiration. Retaining CRP-type cover, post-contract, is an under-recognized program benefit that persists across the central and western United States long after the initial retirement from cropland

Gender Moderates the Association between 5-HTTLPR and Decision-making under Ambiguity but Not under Risk

Decisions made under ambiguity may involve a different genetic architecture than those made under risk. Because gender moderates the effect of genetic polymorphisms on serotonin function and because there are gender differences in decision-making, the present study examined potential gender moderation of associations between polymorphisms in important serotonin system candidate genes (serotonin transporter [SLC6A4] and tryptophan hydroxylase-2 [TPH2]) and performance on a decision-making task (Iowa Gambling Task, IGT) in healthy, adults (N = 188; 62% women). Subjects were genotyped for the well-studied SLC6A4 promoter variant 5-HTTLPR and a TPH2 single nucleotide polymorphism in intron-8 (rs1386438). Genotype at rs1386438was not associated with performance on the IGT. A significant gender by 5-HTTLPR genotype interaction effect was detected when decision-making was under ambiguity (i.e., the first block of 20 choices) but not under risk (blocks 2–5). Performance on the first block of 20 choices was not correlated with performance on subsequent blocks, supporting the interpretation that early performance on the IGT indexes decision-making under ambiguity, while performance on blocks 2–5 indexes decision-making under risk. These findings suggest that decision-making under ambiguity and risk may have different genetic architectures and that individual differences in decision-making under ambiguity are associated with genetic variation in SLC6A4

Personality, Executive Functions, and Behavioral Disinhibition in Adolescence

Prior studies suggest there are common genetic vulnerabilities underlying antisocial behavior and substance use disorders, which are often comorbid. It has been proposed that cognitive and personality factors related to behavioral disinhibition may explain some of the association between these behaviors. This dissertation uses adolescent twins from the Colorado Center for Antisocial Drug Dependence (CADD) to investigate (a) whether behavioral disinhibition and factors common and specific to executive functions share genetic influences, and (b) how genetic relations change with specific stages of substance use. Then, a subset of items from the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) is examined for its usefulness in predicting antisocial behavior and substance use problems. In the first two studies, latent constructs reflected variance shared among either executive function tasks or behavioral disinhibition measures. A set of updating tasks and a set of shifting tasks were each represented by latent factors. All three types of tasks (updating, shifting, and inhibiting) loaded on a third executive function factor. The behavioral disinhibition factor included conduct disorder, substance use or dependence vulnerability, and the TPQ novelty seeking dimension. The first study showed that genetic influences on the common executive function factor were more highly correlated with genetic influences on behavioral disinhibition when substance use, rather than dependence vulnerability, was included in the model. Results from the second study indicated a higher proportion of shared genetic influences between the common executive function factor and age-of-onset than between executive functioning and later problem-use stages. The final study identified a set of TPQ items that reflected disinhibitory personality. Although the new measure predicted antisocial behavior and substance use disorders, it did not show significant improvement over the original novelty seeking dimension commonly used in studies of behavioral disinhibition. Implications for these findings are discussed

Adaptive Planning for Transportation Corridors Threatened by Sea Level Rise

This paper describes a generalizable planning and assessment process fortransportation planning adaptive to sea level rise (SLR). State Route 37(SR-37) is the California highway most vulnerable to temporary floodingand permanent inundation as a result of SLR. Like many other coastal highwaysin the United States, SR-37 is adjacent to protected coastal systems(e.g., beaches, tidal wetlands), meaning that any activity on the highway issubject to regulatory oversight. Both SR-37 and the surrounding marshesare vulnerable to the effects of SLR. Because of a combination of congestionand threats from SLR, planning for a new highway adaptive and resilientto SLR impacts was conducted in the context of stakeholder participationand Eco-Logical, a planning process developed by FHWA to better integratetransportation and environmental planning. To understand whichstretches of SR-37 might be most vulnerable to SLR and to what degree, amodel of potential inundation was developed with a recent, high-resolutionelevation assessment conducted using lidar. This model projects potentialinundation by comparing future daily and extreme tide levels with surroundingground elevations. The vulnerability of each segment was scoredaccording to its exposure to SLR effects, sensitivity to SLR, and adaptivecapacity (ability of other roadways to absorb traffic). The risk to each segmentfrom SLR was determined by estimating and aggregating impacts tocosts of improvement, recovery time (from impacts), public safety impacts,economic impacts, impacts on transit routes, proximity to communitiesof concern, and impacts on recreational activities

Digitally twinned additive manufacturing: Detecting flaws in laser powder bed fusion by combining thermal simulations with in-situmeltpool sensor data

The goal of this research is the in-situ detection of flaw formation in metal parts made using the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing process. This is an important area of research, because, despite the considerable cost and time savings achieved, precision-driven industries, such as aerospace and biomedical, are reticent in using LPBF to make safety–critical parts due to tendency of the process to create flaws. Another emerging concern in LPBF, and additive manufacturing in general, is related to cyber security – malicious actors may tamper with the process or plant flaws inside a part to compromise its performance. Accordingly, the objective of this work is to develop and apply a physics and data integrated strategy for online monitoring and detection of flaw formation in LPBF parts. The approach used to realize this objective is based on combining (twinning) in-situ meltpool temperature measurements with a graph theory-based thermal simulation model that rapidly predicts the temperature distribution in the part (thermal history). The novelty of the approach is that the temperature distribution predictions provided by the computational thermal model were updated layer-by-layer with in-situ meltpool temperature measurements. This digital twin approach is applied to detect flaw formation in stainless steel (316L) impeller-shaped parts made using a commercial LPBF system. Four such impellers are produced emulating three pathways of flaw formation in LPBF parts, these are: changes in the processing parameters (process drifts); machine-related malfunctions (lens delamination), and deliberate tampering with the process to plant flaws inside the part (cyber intrusions). The severity and nature of the resulting flaws, such as porosity and microstructure heterogeneity, are characterized ex-situ using X-ray computed tomography, optical and scanning electron microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction. The digital twin approach is shown to be effective for detection of the three types of flaw formation causes studied in this work

Adaptive Planning for Transportation Corridors Threatened by Sea Level Rise

This paper describes a generalizable planning and assessment process fortransportation planning adaptive to sea level rise (SLR). State Route 37(SR-37) is the California highway most vulnerable to temporary floodingand permanent inundation as a result of SLR. Like many other coastal highwaysin the United States, SR-37 is adjacent to protected coastal systems(e.g., beaches, tidal wetlands), meaning that any activity on the highway issubject to regulatory oversight. Both SR-37 and the surrounding marshesare vulnerable to the effects of SLR. Because of a combination of congestionand threats from SLR, planning for a new highway adaptive and resilientto SLR impacts was conducted in the context of stakeholder participationand Eco-Logical, a planning process developed by FHWA to better integratetransportation and environmental planning. To understand whichstretches of SR-37 might be most vulnerable to SLR and to what degree, amodel of potential inundation was developed with a recent, high-resolutionelevation assessment conducted using lidar. This model projects potentialinundation by comparing future daily and extreme tide levels with surroundingground elevations. The vulnerability of each segment was scoredaccording to its exposure to SLR effects, sensitivity to SLR, and adaptivecapacity (ability of other roadways to absorb traffic). The risk to each segmentfrom SLR was determined by estimating and aggregating impacts tocosts of improvement, recovery time (from impacts), public safety impacts,economic impacts, impacts on transit routes, proximity to communitiesof concern, and impacts on recreational activities