Developing a Data-Driven Safety Assessment Framework for RITI Communities in Washington State

In the history of this country, rural, isolated, indigenous, and tribal (RITI) communities were commonly overlooked with regards to social infrastructure and support. This issue is evident in the development of the transportation networks of these areas and the distinct lack of road safety in these types of communities. RITI communities carry a significantly disproportionate amount of traffic collisions and fatalities compared to urban areas. In order to improve the traffic safety conditions of the RITI communities in Washington State, it is necessary to build a traffic safety management system. A baseline data platform was developed by integrating the collected safety related data for the RITI communities in Washington State in the Year 1 Center for Safety Equity in Transportation (CSET) project. Besides the baseline data, the traffic safety management also requires the safety assessment framework, which is the corner stone of the traffic safety management system. Therefore, this project aims to develop a data-driven safety assessment framework to enable an effective roadway safety management system and improve the traffic safety conditions for RITI communities. The framework is based on an effective and efficient database management system for traffic and crash-related data of the RITI communities. In addition, in order to assist transportation agencies in practices such as the identification of high-risk roadway segments, the developed database management system has powerful visualization functions. Besides the database management and visualization platform, this project also develops roadway safety performance indices and traffic safety assessment methods in the safety assessment framework. This project also provides guidance on how to utilize these safety performance indices and results of safety assessment methods for visualization and analysis

Developing a Data-Driven Safety Assessment Framework for RITI Communities in Washington State

The roadway safety of the Rural, Isolated, Tribal, or Indigenous (RITI) communities has become an important social issue in the United States. Official data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that, in 2012, 54 percent of all fatalities occurred on rural roads while only 19 percent of the US population lived in rural communities. Under the serious circumstances, this research aims to help the RITI communities to improve their roadway safety through the development of a roadway safety management system. Generally, a roadway safety management system includes two critical components, the baseline data platform and safety assessment framework. In our Year 1 and Year 2 CSET projects, a baseline data platform was developed by integrating the safety related data collected from the RITI communities in Washington State. This platform is capable of visualizing the accident records on the map. The Year 3 project further developed the safety data platform by developing crash data analysis and visualization functions. In addition, various roadway safety assessment methods had been developed to provide safety performance estimation, including historical accident data averages, predictions based on statistical and machine learning (ML) models, etc. Beside roadway safety assessment methods, this project investigated the safety countermeasures selection and recommendation methods for RITI communities. Specifically, the research team has reached out to RITI communities and established a formal research partnership with the Yakama Nation. The research team has conducted research on safety countermeasures analysis and recommendation for RITI communities

Nutlin-3 overcomes arsenic trioxide resistance and tumor metastasis mediated by mutant p53 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Arsenic trioxide has been demonstrated as an effective anti-cancer drug against leukemia and solid tumors both in vitro and in vivo. However, recent phase II trials demonstrated that single agent arsenic trioxide was poorly effective against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which might be due to drug resistance. Methods: Mutation detection of p53 gene in arsenic trioxide resistant HCC cell lines was performed. The therapeutic effects of arsenic trioxide and Nutlin-3 on HCC were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. A series of experiments including MTT, apoptosis assays, co-Immunoprecipitation, siRNA transfection, lentiviral infection, cell migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchy-mal transition (EMT) assays were performed to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Results: The acquisition of p53 mutation contributed to arsenic trioxide resistance and enhanced metastatic potential of HCC cells. Mutant p53 (Mutp53) silence could re-sensitize HCC resistant cells to arsenic trioxide and inhibit the metastatic activities, while mutp53 overexpression showed the opposite effects. Neither arsenic trioxide nor Nutlin-3 could exhibit obvious effects against arsenic trioxide resistant HCC cells, while combination of them showed significant effects. Nutlin-3 can not only increase the intracellular arsenicals through inhibition of p-gp but also promote the p73 activation and mutp53 degradation mediated by arsenic trioxide. In vivo experiments indicated that Nutlin-3 can potentiate the antitumor activities of arsenic trioxide in an orthotopic hepatic tumor model and inhibit the metastasis to lung. Conclusions: Acquisitions of p53 mutations contributed to the resistance of HCC to arsenic trioxide. Nutlin-3 could overcome arsenic trioxide resistance and inhibit tumor metastasis through p73 activation and promoting mutant p53 degradation mediated by arsenic trioxide

Molecular determinants of plaque size as an indicator of dengue virus attenuation

The development of live viral vaccines relies on empirically derived phenotypic criteria, especially small plaque sizes, to indicate attenuation. However, while some candidate vaccines successfully translated into licensed applications, others have failed safety trials, placing vaccine development on a hit-or-miss trajectory. We examined the determinants of small plaque phenotype in two dengue virus (DENV) vaccine candidates, DENV-3 PGMK30FRhL3, which produced acute febrile illness in vaccine recipients, and DENV-2 PDK53, which has a good clinical safety profile. The reasons behind the failure of PGMK30FRhL3 during phase 1 clinical trial, despite meeting the empirically derived criteria of attenuation, have never been systematically investigated. Using in vitro, in vivo and functional genomics approaches, we examined infections by the vaccine and wild-type DENVs, in order to ascertain the different determinants of plaque size. We show that PGMK30FRhL3 produces small plaques on BHK-21 cells due to its slow in vitro growth rate. In contrast, PDK53 replicates rapidly, but is unable to evade antiviral responses that constrain its spread hence also giving rise to small plaques. Therefore, at least two different molecular mechanisms govern the plaque phenotype; determining which mechanism operates to constrain plaque size may be more informative on the safety of live-attenuated vaccines

Nipah virus attachment glycoprotein ectodomain delivered by type 5 adenovirus vector elicits broad immune response against NiV and HeV

Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) are newly emerging dangerous zoonotic pathogens of the Henipavirus genus of the Paramyxoviridae family. NiV and HeV (HNVs) which are transmitted by bats cause acute respiratory disease and fatal encephalitis in humans. To date, as there is a lack of antiviral drugs or effective antiviral therapies, the development of vaccines against those two viruses is of primary importance, and the immunogen design is crucial to the success of vaccines. In this study, the full-length protein (G), the ectodomain (Ge) and the head domain (Gs) of NiV attachment glycoprotein were delivered by the replication-defective type 5 adenovirus vector (Ad5) respectively, and the recombinant Ad5-NiV vaccine candidates (Ad5-NiVG, Ad5-NiVGe and Ad5-NiVGs) were constructed and their immunogenicity were evaluated in mice. The results showed that all the vaccine candidates stimulated specific humoral and cellular immune responses efficiently and rapidly against both NiV and HeV, and the Ad5-NiVGe elicited the strongest immune responses after a single-dose immunization. Furthermore, the potent conserved T-cell epitope DTLYFPAVGFL shared by NiV and HeV was identified in the study, which may provide valid information on the mechanism of HNVs-specific cellular immunity. In summary, this study demonstrates that the Ad5-NiVGe could be a potent vaccine candidate against HNVs by inducing robust humoral and cellular immune responses

The Efficacy of a Borate and Penetrating Oil Preservative Combination for the Conservation of Exterior Wood

This study evaluates aqueous diffusible borates in combination with a penetrating oil and a nano-size iron oxide and zinc oxide based wood preservative system for cypress (Taxodium distichum) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata). The objectives are as follows, 1) To test the efficacy and performance of the coating to retain the borates through accelerated weathering test (QUV) on exterior wood; 2) To gauge the durability of the preservative combination and how nano metallic particles (iron oxide and zinc oxide) impact weathering behavior; 3) To characterize modes of failure via substrate morphology change (SEM), pigment loss and color change (spectrophotometer); 4) To apply this data to help formulate a practical preservative system for the conservation of exterior wooden cultural heritage. The results of the accelerated weathering program (QUV) and borate indicator show that the penetrating oil has the ability to prevent diffusible borate from leaching. SEM imaging analysis and photo documentation of samples change in different intervals illustrate that the surface morphology change and nano metal material has good UV blocking performance as part of the system

Path Planning of Multi-Objective Underwater Robot Based on Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm in Complex Marine Environment

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) path planning in complex marine environments meets many chanllenges, such as many influencing factors, complex models and the performance of the optimization algorithm to be improved. To find a path with minimum cost of the actual environmental threats, navigation height changes and the minimum energy consumption of the AUV, an improved sparrow search algorithm is designed under the impact of the time-varying characteristics of the current in the complex marine environment on the AUV and the physical constraints of the AUV movement. In the proposed algorithm, an adaptive weight factor balance strategy is introduced into the position update of the discoverer to improve the convergence speed and search ability. In the follower position, the variable spiral search strategy is improved based on the position update formula to enhance the local jumping ability of the algorithm. After the position update, Levy flying strategy is added, and Cauchy–Gaussian mutation is performed on the optimal individual to increase the population diversity, which improves the anti-stagnation ability of the algorithm. Finally, the AUV global path with minimum cost in the sense of multi-objective weighting is obtained. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can plan a path with less cost and quickly converge to an optimized point, and finally it can meet the global path planning requirements of AUV when navigating in complex sea areas

Path Planning of Multi-Objective Underwater Robot Based on Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm in Complex Marine Environment

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) path planning in complex marine environments meets many chanllenges, such as many influencing factors, complex models and the performance of the optimization algorithm to be improved. To find a path with minimum cost of the actual environmental threats, navigation height changes and the minimum energy consumption of the AUV, an improved sparrow search algorithm is designed under the impact of the time-varying characteristics of the current in the complex marine environment on the AUV and the physical constraints of the AUV movement. In the proposed algorithm, an adaptive weight factor balance strategy is introduced into the position update of the discoverer to improve the convergence speed and search ability. In the follower position, the variable spiral search strategy is improved based on the position update formula to enhance the local jumping ability of the algorithm. After the position update, Levy flying strategy is added, and Cauchy–Gaussian mutation is performed on the optimal individual to increase the population diversity, which improves the anti-stagnation ability of the algorithm. Finally, the AUV global path with minimum cost in the sense of multi-objective weighting is obtained. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can plan a path with less cost and quickly converge to an optimized point, and finally it can meet the global path planning requirements of AUV when navigating in complex sea areas

Development of a Combined Trifluoroacetic Acid Hydrolysis and HPLC-ELSD Method to Identify and Quantify Inulin Recovered from Jerusalem artichoke Assisted by Ultrasound Extraction

Over the last years, inulin, a fructan mixture consisting of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, has attracted more and more attention from both food industry and researchers, due to its unique functional properties as a natural resource. Therefore, there is an increased interest in the extraction and quantification of inulin for its valorization from inulin rich plants, wastes and by-products. In this work, ultrasonic treatment was applied for inulin extraction, observing a great impact of extraction temperature and ultrasonic power on the inulin content in the obtained extracts. A combined process including trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)-assisted hydrolysis and analysis with high performance liquid chromatography equipped with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD) was developed to quantify inulin content. The effect of hydrolysis parameters was investigated, obtaining the optimal conditions after using TFA at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, hydrolysis temperature of 90 °C, and hydrolysis duration of 60 min. The good linearity (>0.995), precision, recovery (100.27%), and stability obtained during the validation process showed that this developed method allows the quantification of total inulin content in the samples analyzed. This combined method may also contribute to the investigation of the functional properties of inulin (e.g., as prebiotic)