Identification of Power System Stability Using Relevant Modes

The purpose of this investigation is to identify appropriate location of capacitor banks and sources of reactive power by studying power system stability in the vicinity of system equilibrium states. The locations for reactive power sources are determined by identifying those modes of the system that participate most in the system behavior in general and in dictating the final state of the system after experiencing faults or disturbances. To identify the relevant modes of the system that participate most in the system dynamic, we shall make use of modal and participation analysis for different system conditions. We also apply modal and participation analysis to a system in order to identify the components of greatest impact that result in the most efficient system control. The ideas developed in this study are used to analyze and identify weak boundaries of the IEEE 39- Bus system that contribute to the system’s instability

Identification of Power System Stability Using Relevant Modes

The purpose of this investigation is to identify appropriate location of capacitor banks and sources of reactive power by studying power system stability in the vicinity of system equilibrium states. The locations for reactive power sources are determined by identifying those modes of the system that participate most in the system behavior in general and in dictating the final state of the system after experiencing faults or disturbances. To identify the relevant modes of the system that participate most in the system dynamic, we shall make use of modal and participation analysis for different system conditions. We also apply modal and participation analysis to a system in order to identify the components of greatest impact that result in the most efficient system control. The ideas developed in this study are used to analyze and identify weak boundaries of the IEEE 39- Bus system that contribute to the system’s instability

A Global Perspective: NASA's Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project

The Prediction of the Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project, initiated under the NASA Science Mission Directorate Applied Science Energy Management Program, synthesizes and analyzes data on a global scale that are invaluable to the renewable energy industries, especially to the solar and wind energy sectors. The POWER project derives its data primarily from NASA's World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)/Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project (Version 2.9) and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) assimilation model (Version 4). The latest development of the NASA POWER Project and its plans for the future are presented in this paper

A refined, controlled 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach reveals limited detection of cerebrospinal fluid microbiota in children with bacterial meningitis

Advances in both laboratory and computational components of high-throughput 16S amplicon sequencing (16S HTS) have markedly increased its sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, these refinements have better delineated the limits of sensitivity, and contributions of contamination to these limits, for 16S HTS that are particularly relevant for samples with low bacterial loads, such as human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The objectives of this work were to (i) optimize the performance of 16S HTS in CSF samples with low bacterial loads by defining and addressing potential sources of error, and (ii) perform refined 16S HTS on CSF samples from children diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and compare results with those from microbiological cultures. Several bench and computational approaches were taken to address potential sources of error for low bacterial load samples. We compared DNA yields and sequencing results after applying three different DNA extraction approaches to an artificially constructed mock-bacterial community. We also compared two postsequencing computational contaminant removal strategies, decontam R and full contaminant sequence removal. All three extraction techniques followed by decontam R yielded similar results for the mock community. We then applied these methods to 22 CSF samples from children diagnosed with meningitis, which has low bacterial loads relative to other clinical infection samples. The refined 16S HTS pipelines identified the cultured bacterial genus as the dominant organism for only 3 of these samples. We found that all three DNA extraction techniques followed by decontam R generated similar DNA yields for mock communities at the low bacterial loads representative of CSF samples. However, the limits of detection imposed by reagent contaminants and methodologic bias precluded the accurate detection of bacteria in CSF from children with culture-confirmed meningitis using these approaches, despite rigorous controls and sophisticated computational approaches. Although we did not find current DNA-based diagnostics to be useful for pediatric meningitis samples, the utility of these methods for CSF shunt infection remains undefined. Future advances in sample processing methods to minimize or eliminate contamination will be required to improve the sensitivity and specificity of these methods for pediatric meningitis

Study protocol : the empirical investigation of methods to correct for measurement error in biobanks with dietary assessment

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Lantern Vol. 32, No. 2, January 1966

• Mission 63 • The Kiss • The Dream • Silence is Golden • Self-Pity • The Excuse • Car Eighteen • Clothes Make the Man • The Place of a Just Man • Golden Gods • The Journey • Third Prize Picture • Gone Now • In Vain • Deep Dying • Marnie • Ruthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1088/thumbnail.jp

Efficacy and Safety of Dabrafenib in Pediatric Patients with BRAF V600 Mutation-Positive Relapsed or Refractory Low-Grade Glioma: Results from a Phase I/IIa Study

PURPOSE: Pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG) is the most prevalent childhood brain tumor. Patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive pLGG may benefit from treatment with dabrafenib. Part 2 of a phase I/IIa study, open-label study (NCT01677741) explores the activity and safety of dabrafenib treatment in these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients ages 1 to <18 years who had BRAF V600-mutant solid tumors (≥1 evaluable lesion) with recurrent, refractory, or progressive disease after ≥1 standard therapy were treated with oral dabrafenib 3.0 to 5.25 mg/kg/day (part 1) or at the recommended phase II dose (RP2D; part 2). Primary objectives were to determine the RP2D (part 1, results presented in a companion paper) and assess clinical activity (part 2). Here, we report the clinical activity, including objective response rates (ORRs) using Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria and safety across parts 1 and 2. RESULTS: Overall, 32 patients with pLGG were enrolled (part 1, n = 15; part 2, n = 17). Minimum follow-up was 26.2 months. Among all patients, the ORR was 44% [95% confidence interval (CI), 26-62] by independent review. The 1-year progression-free survival rate was 85% (95% CI, 64-94). Treatment-related adverse events (AE) were reported in 29 patients (91%); the most common was fatigue (34%). Grade 3/4 treatment-related AEs were reported in 9 patients (28%). CONCLUSIONS: Dabrafenib demonstrated meaningful clinical activity and acceptable tolerability in patients with BRAF V600-mutant pLGG

Dioxin Toxicity In Vivo Results from an Increase in the Dioxin-Independent Transcriptional Activity of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor

The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) is the nuclear receptor mediating the toxicity of dioxins -widespread and persistent pollutants whose toxic effects include tumor promotion, teratogenesis, wasting syndrome and chloracne. Elimination of Ahr in mice eliminates dioxin toxicity but also produces adverse effects, some seemingly unrelated to dioxin. Thus the relationship between the toxic and dioxin-independent functions of Ahr is not clear, which hampers understanding and treatment of dioxin toxicity. Here we develop a Drosophila model to show that dioxin actually increases the in vivo dioxin-independent activity of Ahr. This hyperactivation resembles the effects caused by an increase in the amount of its dimerisation partner Ahr nuclear translocator (Arnt) and entails an increased transcriptional potency of Ahr, in addition to the previously described effect on nuclear translocation. Thus the two apparently different functions of Ahr, dioxin-mediated and dioxin-independent, are in fact two different levels (hyperactivated and basal, respectively) of a single function

Environmental variation has stronger effects than plant genotype on competition among plant species

1.  Competition is a key factor affecting the performance and co-existence of species. Most ecological research on competition treats species’ populations as phenotypically homogenous. However, plant populations typically contain genetic variation for multiple traits and have the potential to rapidly adapt to changing environments. 2.  Recent theoretical and empirical research suggests that such variation and evolution may affect the ecological outcome of competitive interactions. We conducted a series of experiments to test the hypothesis whether genetic variation for competitive traits in a native plant ( Oenothera biennis ) affects the performance and diversity of competing plant species. 3.  In greenhouse and field experiments, the presence of O. biennis reduced the performance and diversity of neighbouring plant species. 4.  In greenhouse experiments, we detected heritable variation in O. biennis for above-ground and below-ground growth, and O. biennis varied genetically in response to competition, indicating the potential for adaptive evolution in response to selection by competitors. 5.  Variation among O. biennis genotypes also affected the performance of neighbouring plants in the greenhouse, whereby genetic variation in O. biennis shoot : root ratio explained up to 41% of the variation in the performance of an exotic grass ( Bromus inermis ). 6.  Despite effects of O. biennis genotype on B. inermis in the greenhouse, variable soil fertility had a much stronger effect on the grass's performance, and there were no effects of O. biennis genotype on neighbouring plants in the field. 7.  Synthesis . Our results show that interspecific competition affected the biomass and diversity of plants, but heritable variation in competitive ability of O. biennis is not expected to affect short-term ecological dynamics in this system. Nevertheless, O. biennis has the potential to influence co-existence over longer timescales by adapting to competitors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74631/1/j.1365-2745.2008.01410.x.pd