Program Assessment: A Structured, Systematic, Sustainable Example for Civil Engineers

As the outcomes-based accreditation process continues to evolve since its implementation six years ago, the standards for program assessment and continuous improvement are progressively being raised and many schools struggle with what is required. This paper offers an example of a structured, systematic, sustainable assessment program implemented by the civil engineering program at the United States Military Academy. The process is compatible with the university assessment process and has eight years of documented results. The assessment includes fast loop and slow loop cycles that accomplish very different things. Other features include standardized course assessments, embedded indicators, performance measures for all outcomes and objectives, advisory boards, feedback from all constituencies, faculty involvement, and closing of the feedback loop

Real-Time Model-Free Deep Reinforcement Learning for Force Control of a Series Elastic Actuator

Many state-of-the art robotic applications utilize series elastic actuators (SEAs) with closed-loop force control to achieve complex tasks such as walking, lifting, and manipulation. Model-free PID control methods are more prone to instability due to nonlinearities in the SEA where cascaded model-based robust controllers can remove these effects to achieve stable force control. However, these model-based methods require detailed investigations to characterize the system accurately. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has proved to be an effective model-free method for continuous control tasks, where few works deal with hardware learning. This paper describes the training process of a DRL policy on hardware of an SEA pendulum system for tracking force control trajectories from 0.05 - 0.35 Hz at 50 N amplitude using the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm. Safety mechanisms are developed and utilized for training the policy for 12 hours (overnight) without an operator present within the full 21 hours training period. The tracking performance is evaluated showing improvements of $25$ N in mean absolute error when comparing the first 18 min. of training to the full 21 hours for a 50 N amplitude, 0.1 Hz sinusoid desired force trajectory. Finally, the DRL policy exhibits better tracking and stability margins when compared to a model-free PID controller for a 50 N chirp force trajectory.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IROS 202

Ocular iontophoresis of EGP-437 (dexamethasone phosphate) in dry eye patients: results of a randomized clinical trial

Michael A Patane¹, Amy Cohen¹, Stephen From¹, Gail Torkildsen², Donna Welch³, George W Ousler III³¹Eyegate Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Waltham, MA, USA; ²Andover Eye Associates, Andover, MA, USA; ³Ora, Inc, Andover, MA, USAPurpose: To assess safety and efficacy of EGP-437 (dexamethasone phosphate 40 mg/mL [DP]) in dry eye patients.Methods: The study employed a prospective, single-center, double-masked design utilizing a Controlled Adverse Environment (CAE). Patients (n = 103) with confirmed signs and symptoms of dry eye syndrome were randomized into 1 of 3 iontophoresis treatment groups: 7.5 mA-min at 2.5 mA (DP 7.5, n = 41); 10.5 mA-min at 3.5 mA (DP 10.5, n = 37); or 10.5 mA-min at 3.5 mA (placebo, n = 25). Three CAE visits and 4 follow-up visits occurred over 3 weeks. Patients meeting enrollment criteria received iontophoresis in both eyes after the second CAE exposure (visit 3) and before the third CAE exposure (visit 5). Primary efficacy endpoints were corneal staining and ocular discomfort. Secondary endpoints included tear film break-up time, ocular protection index (OPI), and symptomatology.Results: The DP 7.5 and DP 10.5 treatment groups showed statistically significant improvements in signs and symptoms of dry eye at various time points; however, the primary endpoints were not achieved. The DP 7.5 treatment group exhibited statistically significant improvements in corneal staining (when comparing the differences between study entry and exit, 3 weeks, P = 0.039), OPI (immediately following the second treatment, P = 0.048) and ocular discomfort at follow-up visits (a week after the first treatment, P = 0.032; 24 hours after the second treatment, P = 0.0032). Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) were experienced by 87% of patients and were consistent across all treatment groups. Most AEs were mild and no severe AEs were observed.Conclusion: Ocular iontophoresis of EGP-437 demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements in signs and symptoms of dry eye syndrome within a CAE model.Keywords: iontophoresis, dry eye, Controlled Adverse Environment (CAE), ocular protection index (OPI

The Union-Nonunion Wage Differential: A Replication and Extension

This is the author's accepted manuscript, made available with the permission of the publisher.The research here was supported by the Office of Construction Industry Services, U.S. Department of Labor. Hugh Conway and Tom Mobley of that Office were especially helpful. Conclusions drawn and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the position of the U.S. Department of Labor or any of its officials. The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee for comments on an earlier draft. Fred Cleaver, formerly of the Center for Public Affairs, University of Kansas, assisted in data processing

Sustained replication of synthetic canine distemper virus defective genomes in vitro and in vivo

Defective interfering (DI) genomes have long been considered inconvenient artifacts that suppressed viral replication in vitr

Insights into herpesvirus assembly from the structure of the pUL7:pUL51 complex

Funder: Nvidia; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007065Funder: Wellcome Trust; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100004440Funder: John Lucas Walker StudentshipFunder: Commonwealth Scholarship Commission; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000867Herpesviruses acquire their membrane envelopes in the cytoplasm of infected cells via a molecular mechanism that remains unclear. Herpes simplex virus (HSV)−1 proteins pUL7 and pUL51 form a complex required for efficient virus envelopment. We show that interaction between homologues of pUL7 and pUL51 is conserved across human herpesviruses, as is their association with trans-Golgi membranes. We characterized the HSV-1 pUL7:pUL51 complex by solution scattering and chemical crosslinking, revealing a 1:2 complex that can form higher-order oligomers in solution, and we solved the crystal structure of the core pUL7:pUL51 heterodimer. While pUL7 adopts a previously-unseen compact fold, the helix-turn-helix conformation of pUL51 resembles the cellular endosomal complex required for transport (ESCRT)-III component CHMP4B and pUL51 forms ESCRT-III–like filaments, suggesting a direct role for pUL51 in promoting membrane scission during virus assembly. Our results provide a structural framework for understanding the role of the conserved pUL7:pUL51 complex in herpesvirus assembly

Detection of the florfenicol resistance gene floR in Chryseobacterium isolates from rainbow trout. Exception to the general rule?

Bacteria from the family Flavobacteriaceae often show low susceptibility to antibiotics. With the exception of two Chryseobacterium spp. isolates that were positive for the florfenicol resistance gene floR, no clinical resistance genes were identified by microarray in 36 Flavobacteriaceae isolates from salmonid fish that could grow in ≥ 4 mg/L florfenicol. Whole genome sequence analysis of the floR positive isolates revealed the presence of a region that contained the antimicrobial resistance genes floR, a tet(X) tetracycline resistance gene, a streptothricin resistance gene and a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. In silico analysis of 377 published genomes for Flavobacteriaceae isolates from a range of sources confirmed that well-characterised resistance gene cassettes were not widely distributed in bacteria from this group. Efflux pump-mediated decreased susceptibility to a range of antimicrobials was confirmed in both floR positive isolates using an efflux pump inhibitor (phenylalanine-arginine β-naphthylamide) assay. The floR isolates possessed putative virulence factors, including production of siderophores and haemolysins, and were mildly pathogenic in rainbow trout. Results support the suggestion that, despite the detection of floR, susceptibility to antimicrobials in Flavobacteriaceae is mostly mediated via intrinsic mechanisms rather than the horizontally acquired resistance genes more normally associated with Gram-negative bacterial pathogens such as Enterobacteriaceae

Phase I Metabolic Genes and Risk of Lung Cancer: Multiple Polymorphisms and mRNA Expression

Polymorphisms in genes coding for enzymes that activate tobacco lung carcinogens may generate inter-individual differences in lung cancer risk. Previous studies had limited sample sizes, poor exposure characterization, and a few single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested in candidate genes. We analyzed 25 SNPs (some previously untested) in 2101 primary lung cancer cases and 2120 population controls from the Environment And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology (EAGLE) study from six phase I metabolic genes, including cytochrome P450s, microsomal epoxide hydrolase, and myeloperoxidase. We evaluated the main genotype effects and genotype-smoking interactions in lung cancer risk overall and in the major histology subtypes. We tested the combined effect of multiple SNPs on lung cancer risk and on gene expression. Findings were prioritized based on significance thresholds and consistency across different analyses, and accounted for multiple testing and prior knowledge. Two haplotypes in EPHX1 were significantly associated with lung cancer risk in the overall population. In addition, CYP1B1 and CYP2A6 polymorphisms were inversely associated with adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma risk, respectively. Moreover, the association between CYP1A1 rs2606345 genotype and lung cancer was significantly modified by intensity of cigarette smoking, suggesting an underling dose-response mechanism. Finally, increasing number of variants at CYP1A1/A2 genes revealed significant protection in never smokers and risk in ever smokers. Results were supported by differential gene expression in non-tumor lung tissue samples with down-regulation of CYP1A1 in never smokers and up-regulation in smokers from CYP1A1/A2 SNPs. The significant haplotype associations emphasize that the effect of multiple SNPs may be important despite null single SNP-associations, and warrants consideration in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Our findings emphasize the necessity of post-GWAS fine mapping and SNP functional assessment to further elucidate cancer risk associations

Celebrating 20 Years of the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop

In response to the clear need for faculty training, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) developed and funded Project ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) which is celebrating its twentieth year of existence. For the past two decades, 38 ExCEEd Teaching Workshops (ETW) have been held at six different universities. The program has 910 graduates from over 267 different U.S. and international colleges and universities. The ExCEEd effort has transformed from one that relied on the grass roots support of its participants to one that is supported and embraced by department heads and deans. This paper summarizes the history of Project ExCEEd, describes the content of the ETW, assesses its effectiveness, highlights changes in the program as a result of the assessment, and outlines the future direction of the program