Conceptual Study of a Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Framework for Monopile Offshore Wind Turbines Under Wind and Wave Loads

As an attractive renewable energy source, offshore wind plants are becoming increasingly popular for energy production. However, the performance assessment of offshore wind turbine (OWT) structure is a challenging task due to the combined wind-wave loading and difficulties in reproducing such loading conditions in laboratory. Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS), combining physical testing and numerical simulation in real-time, offers a new venue to study the structural behavior of OWTs. It overcomes the scaling incompatibilities in OWT scaled model testing by replacing the rotor components with an actuation system, driven by an aerodynamic simulation tool running in real-time. In this study, a RTHS framework for monopile OWTs is proposed. A set of sensitivity analyses is carried out to evaluate the feasibility of this RTHS framework and determine possible tolerances on its design. By simulating different scaling laws and possible error contributors (delays and noises) in the proposed framework, the sensitivity of the OWT responses to these parameters are quantified. An example using a National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) 5-MW reference OWT system at 1:25 scale is simulated in this study to demonstrate the proposed RTHS framework and sensitivity analyses. Three different scaling laws are considered. The sensitivity results show that the delays in the RTHS framework significantly impact the performance on the response evaluation, higher than the impact of noises. The proposed framework and sensitivity analyses presented in this study provides important information for future implementation and further development of the RTHS technology for similar marine structures

A novel approach to sequence validating protein expression clones with automated decision making

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Whereas the molecular assembly of protein expression clones is readily automated and routinely accomplished in high throughput, sequence verification of these clones is still largely performed manually, an arduous and time consuming process. The ultimate goal of validation is to determine if a given plasmid clone matches its reference sequence sufficiently to be "acceptable" for use in protein expression experiments. Given the accelerating increase in availability of tens of thousands of unverified clones, there is a strong demand for rapid, efficient and accurate software that automates clone validation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed an Automated Clone Evaluation (ACE) system – the first comprehensive, multi-platform, web-based plasmid sequence verification software package. ACE automates the clone verification process by defining each clone sequence as a list of multidimensional discrepancy objects, each describing a difference between the clone and its expected sequence including the resulting polypeptide consequences. To evaluate clones automatically, this list can be compared against user acceptance criteria that specify the allowable number of discrepancies of each type. This strategy allows users to re-evaluate the same set of clones against different acceptance criteria as needed for use in other experiments. ACE manages the entire sequence validation process including contig management, identifying and annotating discrepancies, determining if discrepancies correspond to polymorphisms and clone finishing. Designed to manage thousands of clones simultaneously, ACE maintains a relational database to store information about clones at various completion stages, project processing parameters and acceptance criteria. In a direct comparison, the automated analysis by ACE took less time and was more accurate than a manual analysis of a 93 gene clone set.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ACE was designed to facilitate high throughput clone sequence verification projects. The software has been used successfully to evaluate more than 55,000 clones at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics. The software dramatically reduced the amount of time and labor required to evaluate clone sequences and decreased the number of missed sequence discrepancies, which commonly occur during manual evaluation. In addition, ACE helped to reduce the number of sequencing reads needed to achieve adequate coverage for making decisions on clones.</p

Aberrant Brain Regional Homogeneity and Functional Connectivity of Entorhinal Cortex in Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

The aim of this study was to investigate changes in regional homogeneity (ReHo) and the functional connectivity of the entorhinal cortex (EC) in vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) and to evaluate the relationships between such changes and neuropsychological measures in VaMCI individuals. In all, 31 patients with VaMCI and 32 normal controls (NCs) underwent rs-fMRI. Differences in whole-brain ReHo and seed-based bilateral EC functional connectivity (EC-FC) were determined. Pearson's correlation was used to evaluate the relationships between regions with significant group differences and different neuropsychological measures. Vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) patients had lower scores in Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and higher ones in Activity of Daily Living (ADL) (p &lt; 0.05). Vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) individuals had significantly lower ReHo in the left cerebellum and right lentiform nucleus than NCs (P &lt; 0.05, TFCE FWE correction). Vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) subjects showed significant decreases in the FC of the right EC in the right inferior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, bilateral pre-central gyrus, and right post-central/superior parietal lobules (P &lt; 0.05, TFCE FWE correction). Significant positive correlations were found between ReHo and MoCA scores for the right lentiform nucleus (r = 0.37, P &lt; 0.05). The right post-central/superior parietal lobules showed a significant positive correlation between right EC-FC and MoCA scores (r = 0.37, P &lt; 0.05). Patterns in ReHo and EC-FC changes in VaMCI patients and their correlations with neuropsychological measures may be a pathophysiological foundation of cognitive impairment, which may aid the early diagnosis of VaMCI

Biomechanical analysis of bridge combined fixation system as a novel treatment for the fixation of type A3 distal femoral fractures

BackgroundTo compare the biomechanical parameters of AO/OTA type A3 distal femoral fractures fixed bilaterally with a bridge combined fixation system (BCFS) and lateral locking compression plate + locking reconstruction plate (LCP + LRP).MethodsTwelve A3 distal femoral fracture models with medial cortical defects of the distal femur were created using synthetic femoral Sawbones. BCFS and LCP + LRP were used for bilateral fixation, with six in each group. Axial compression and torsion tests were performed on the two groups of fracture models to determine their stiffness during axial compression and the Torsional stiffness during torsion tests. Axial compression failure tests were performed to collect the vertical loads of the ultimate failure tests.ResultsIn the test conducted on the fixed type A3 distal femoral fracture models, the axial stiffness in the BCFS group (group A) (1,072.61 ± 113.5 N/mm) was not significantly different from that in the LCP + LRP group (group B) (1,184.13 ± 110.24 N/mm) (t = 1.726, P = 0.115), the Torsional stiffness in group A (3.73 ± 0.12 N.m/deg) was higher than that in group B (3.37 ± 0.04 N.m/deg) (t = 6.825, P &lt; 0.001),and the ultimate failure test of type A3 fracture model showed that the vertical load to destroy group A fixation (5,290.45 ± 109.63 N) was higher than that for group B (3,978.43 ± 17.1 N) (t = 23.28, P &lt; 0.05). Notably, intertrochanteric fractures occurred in groups A and B.ConclusionsIn the fixation of type A3 distal femoral fractures, the anti-axial compression of the BCFS group was similar to that of the LCP + LRP group, but the anti-torsion was better

Causal effects of potential risk factors on postpartum depression: a Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundPostpartum depression (PPD) is a type of depressive episode related to parents after childbirth, which causes a variety of symptoms not only for parents but also affects the development of children. The causal relationship between potential risk factors and PPD remains comprehensively elucidated.MethodsLinkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) analysis was conducted to screen the heritability of each instrumental variant (IV) and to calculate the genetic correlations between effective causal factors and PPD. To search for the causal effect of multiple potential risk factors on the incidence of PPD, random effects of the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method were applied. Sensitivity analyses, including weighted median, MR-Egger regression, Cochrane’s Q test, and MR Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO), were performed to detect potential Mendelian randomization (MR) assumption violations. Multivariable MR (MVMR) was conducted to control potential multicollinearity.ResultsA total of 40 potential risk factors were investigated in this study. LDSC regression analysis reported a significant genetic correlation of potential traits with PPD. MR analysis showed that higher body mass index (BMI) (Benjamini and Hochberg (BH) corrected p = 0.05), major depression (MD) (BH corrected p = 5.04E-19), and schizophrenia (SCZ) (BH corrected p = 1.64E-05) were associated with the increased risk of PPD, whereas increased age at first birth (BH corrected p = 2.11E-04), older age at first sexual intercourse (BH corrected p = 3.02E-15), increased average total household income before tax (BH corrected p = 4.57E-02), and increased years of schooling (BH corrected p = 1.47E-11) led to a decreased probability of PPD. MVMR analysis suggested that MD (p = 3.25E-08) and older age at first birth (p = 8.18E-04) were still associated with an increased risk of PPD.ConclusionIn our MR study, we found multiple risk factors, including MD and younger age at first birth, to be deleterious causal risk factors for PPD

A Full-Genomic Sequence-Verified Protein-Coding Gene Collection for Francisella tularensis

The rapid development of new technologies for the high throughput (HT) study of proteins has increased the demand for comprehensive plasmid clone resources that support protein expression. These clones must be full-length, sequence-verified and in a flexible format. The generation of these resources requires automated pipelines supported by software management systems. Although the availability of clone resources is growing, current collections are either not complete or not fully sequence-verified. We report an automated pipeline, supported by several software applications that enabled the construction of the first comprehensive sequence-verified plasmid clone resource for more than 96% of protein coding sequences of the genome of F. tularensis, a highly virulent human pathogen and the causative agent of tularemia. This clone resource was applied to a HT protein purification pipeline successfully producing recombinant proteins for 72% of the genes. These methods and resources represent significant technological steps towards exploiting the genomic information of F. tularensis in discovery applications

Protein Structure Initiative Material Repository: an open shared public resource of structural genomics plasmids for the biological community

The Protein Structure Initiative Material Repository (PSI-MR; http://psimr.asu.edu) provides centralized storage and distribution for the protein expression plasmids created by PSI researchers. These plasmids are a resource that allows the research community to dissect the biological function of proteins whose structures have been identified by the PSI. The plasmid annotation, which includes the full length sequence, vector information and associated publications, is stored in a freely available, searchable database called DNASU (http://dnasu.asu.edu). Each PSI plasmid is also linked to a variety of additional resources, which facilitates cross-referencing of a particular plasmid to protein annotations and experimental data. Plasmid samples can be requested directly through the website. We have also developed a novel strategy to avoid the most common concern encountered when distributing plasmids namely, the complexity of material transfer agreement (MTA) processing and the resulting delays this causes. The Expedited Process MTA, in which we created a network of institutions that agree to the terms of transfer in advance of a material request, eliminates these delays. Our hope is that by creating a repository of expression-ready plasmids and expediting the process for receiving these plasmids, we will help accelerate the accessibility and pace of scientific discovery

High-Power Electromagnetic Pulse Exposure of Healthy Mice: Assessment of Effects on Mice Cognitions, Neuronal Activities, and Hippocampal Structures

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a high-energy pulse with an extremely rapid rise time and a broad bandwidth. The brain is a target organ sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR), the biological effects and related mechanisms of EMPs on the brain remain unclear. The objectives of the study were to assess the effects of EMP exposure on mouse cognitions, and the neuronal calcium activities in vivo under different cases of real-time exposure and post exposure. EMP-treated animal model was established by exposing male adult C57BL/6N mice to 300 kV/m EMPs. First, the effects of EMPs on the cognitions, including the spatial learning and memory, avoidance learning and memory, novelty-seeking behavior, and anxiety, were assessed by multiple behavioral experiments. Then, the changes in the neuronal activities of the hippocampal CA1 area in vivo were detected by fiber photometry in both cases of during real-time EMP radiation and post-exposure. Finally, the structures of neurons in hippocampi were observed by optical microscope and transmission electron microscope. We found that EMPs under this condition caused a decline in the spatial learning and memory ability in mice, but no effects on the avoidance learning and memory, novelty-seeking behavior, and anxiety. The neuron activities of hippocampal CA1 were disturbed by EMP exposure, which were inhibited during EMP exposure, but activated immediately after exposure end. Additionally, the CA1 neuron activities, when mice entered the central area in an Open field (OF) test or explored the novelty in a Novel object exploration (NOE) test, were inhibited on day 1 and day 7 after radiation. Besides, damaged structures in hippocampal neurons were observed after EMP radiation. In conclusion, EMP radiation impaired the spatial learning and memory ability and disturbed the neuronal activities in hippocampal CA1 in mice

A Full-Genomic Sequence-Verified Protein-Coding Gene Collection for Francisella tularensis

The rapid development of new technologies for the high throughput (HT) study of proteins has increased the demand for comprehensive plasmid clone resources that support protein expression. These clones must be full-length, sequence-verified and in a flexible format. The generation of these resources requires automated pipelines supported by software management systems. Although the availability of clone resources is growing, current collections are either not complete or not fully sequence-verified. We report an automated pipeline, supported by several software applications that enabled the construction of the first comprehensive sequence-verified plasmid clone resource for more than 96% of protein coding sequences of the genome of F. tularensis, a highly virulent human pathogen and the causative agent of tularemia. This clone resource was applied to a HT protein purification pipeline successfully producing recombinant proteins for 72% of the genes. These methods and resources represent significant technological steps towards exploiting the genomic information of F. tularensis in discovery applications

Self-Assembled Polymeric Micellar Nanoparticles as Nanocarriers for Poorly Soluble Anticancer Drug Ethaselen

A series of monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactide) (mPEG-PLA) diblock copolymers were synthesized, and mPEG-PLA micelle was fabricated and used as a nanocarrier for solubilization and delivery of a promising anticancer drug ethaselen. Ethaselen was efficiently encapsulated into the micelles by the dialysis method, and the solubility of ethaselen in water was remarkably increased up to 82 μg/mL before freeze-drying. The mean diameter of ethaselen-loaded micelles ranged from 51 to 98 nm with a narrow size distribution and depended on the length of PLA block. In vitro hemolysis study indicated that mPEG-PLA copolymers and ethaselen-loaded polymeric micelles had no hemolytic effect on the erythrocyte. The enhanced antitumor efficacy and reduced toxic effect of ethaselen-loaded polymeric micelle when compared with ethaselen-HP-β-CD inclusion were observed at the same dose in H22human liver cancer cell bearing mouse models. These suggested that mPEG-PLA polymeric micelle nanoparticles had great potential as nanocarriers for effective solubilization of poorly soluble ethaselen and further reducing side effects and toxicities of the drug