Core and Off-Core Processes in Systems Engineering

An emerging methodology of organizing systems-engineering plans is based on a concept of core and off-core processes or activities. This concept has emerged as a result of recognition of a risk in the traditional representation of systems-engineering plans by a Vee model alone, according to which a large system is decomposed into levels of smaller subsystems, then integrated through levels of increasing scope until the full system is constructed. Actual systems-engineering activity is more complicated, raising the possibility that the staff will become confused in the absence of plans which explain the nature and ordering of work beyond the traditional Vee model

Daniel Mowry Cemetery Condition Reports

This cemetery contains 85 burials. Transcriptions here include all of the markings on each stone located within the cemetery. Additionally, if stones were illegible a rubbing of the stone was completed. Both headstones and footstones are included in the transcription report

Management issues in systems engineering

When applied to a system, the doctrine of successive refinement is a divide-and-conquer strategy. Complex systems are sucessively divided into pieces that are less complex, until they are simple enough to be conquered. This decomposition results in several structures for describing the product system and the producing system. These structures play important roles in systems engineering and project management. Many of the remaining sections in this chapter are devoted to describing some of these key structures. Structures that describe the product system include, but are not limited to, the requirements tree, system architecture and certain symbolic information such as system drawings, schematics, and data bases. The structures that describe the producing system include the project's work breakdown, schedules, cost accounts and organization

Novel resistance functions uncovered using functional metagenomic investigations of resistance reservoirs

Rates of infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria have increased precipitously over the past several decades, with far-reaching healthcare and societal costs. Recent evidence has established a link between antibiotic resistance genes in human pathogens and those found in non-pathogenic, commensal, and environmental organisms, prompting deeper investigation of natural and human-associated reservoirs of antibiotic resistance. Functional metagenomic selections, in which shotgun-cloned DNA fragments are selected for their ability to confer survival to an indicator host, have been increasingly applied to the characterization of many antibiotic resistance reservoirs. These experiments have demonstrated that antibiotic resistance genes are highly diverse and widely distributed, many times bearing little to no similarity to known sequences. Through unbiased selections for survival to antibiotic exposure, functional metagenomics can improve annotations by reducing the discovery of false-positive resistance and by allowing for the identification of previously unrecognizable resistance genes. In this review, we summarize the novel resistance functions uncovered using functional metagenomic investigations of natural and human-impacted resistance reservoirs. Examples of novel antibiotic resistance genes include those highly divergent from known sequences, those for which sequence is entirely unable to predict resistance function, bifunctional resistance genes, and those with unconventional, atypical resistance mechanisms. Overcoming antibiotic resistance in the clinic will require a better understanding of existing resistance reservoirs and the dissemination networks that govern horizontal gene exchange, informing best practices to limit the spread of resistance-conferring genes to human pathogens

Identification of genes conferring tolerance to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors by functional selections in soil metagenomes

The production of fuels or chemicals from lignocellulose currently requires thermochemical pretreatment to release fermentable sugars. These harsh conditions also generate numerous small-molecule inhibitors of microbial growth and fermentation, limiting production. We applied small-insert functional metagenomic selections to discover genes that confer microbial tolerance to these inhibitors, identifying both individual genes and general biological processes associated with tolerance to multiple inhibitory compounds. Having screened over 248 Gb of DNA cloned from 16 diverse soil metagenomes, we describe gain-of-function tolerance against acid, alcohol, and aldehyde inhibitors derived from hemicellulose and lignin, demonstrating that uncultured soil microbial communities hold tremendous genetic potential to address the toxicity of pretreated lignocellulose. We recovered genes previously known to confer tolerance to lignocellulosic inhibitors as well as novel genes that confer tolerance via unknown functions. For instance, we implicated galactose metabolism in overcoming the toxicity of lignin monomers and identified a decarboxylase that confers tolerance to ferulic acid; this enzyme has been shown to catalyze the production of 4-vinyl guaiacol, a valuable precursor to vanillin production. These metagenomic tolerance genes can enable the flexible design of hardy microbial catalysts, customized to withstand inhibitors abundant in specific bioprocessing applications

A test of the DSM-5 severity specifier for bulimia nervosa in adolescents: Can we anticipate clinical treatment outcomes?

OBJECTIVE:This study tested clinical utility of the DSM-5 severity specifier for bulimia nervosa (BN) in predicting treatment response among adolescents (N = 110) within a randomized clinical trial of two psychosocial treatments. METHOD:Analyses grouped individuals meeting criteria for BN diagnosis by baseline severity, per DSM-5. Associations among baseline severity classification and BN behavior (i.e., binge eating and compensatory behavior) and eating disorder examination (EDE) Global scores at end-of-treatment (EOT), 6- and 12-month follow-up were examined. RESULTS:Associations between severity categories with BN symptoms were not significant at EOT, or follow-up. Test for linear trend in BN behavior was significant at EOT, F = 5.23, p = 0.02, without demonstrating a linear pattern. Relation between severity categories with EDE Global scores was significant at 6-month follow-up, F = 3.76, p = 0.01. Tests for linear trend in EDE Global scores were significant at EOT, F = 5.40, p = 0.02, and at 6 months, F = 10.73, p = 0.002, with the expected linear pattern. DISCUSSION:Findings suggest the DSM-5 BN severity specifier holds questionable utility in anticipating outpatient treatment response in adolescents with BN. The specifier may have improved ability to predict attitudinal rather than behavioral treatment outcomes

Daniel Mowry Cemetery Transcriptions

This cemetery contains 85 burials. Transcriptions here include all of the markings on each stone located within the cemetery. Additionally, if stones were illegible a rubbing of the stone was completed. Both headstones and footstones are included in the transcription report