Brine Shrimp Lab

Young brine shrimp movements within a petri dish are tracked by students. Students are challenged to determine and verify whether the brine shrimp move in a random walk. From this exercise students gain greater understanding of PDE models, diffusion and parameter estimation.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/lemb/1001/thumbnail.jp

Seizing the Moment: Realizing the Promise of Student-Centered Learning

This brief outlines policy recommendations for supporting student-centered learning at the local, state, and federal level

Yeast Lab

Yeast are grown in a small, capped ask, generating carbon dioxide which is trapped in an inverted jar full of colored water. The volume of carbon dioxide produced can either be measured directly or using time-lapse imagery on an iPad or similar. Students are then challenged to model the resulting data. From this exercise students gain greater understand- ing of ODE compartment models, parameter estimation, population dynamics and limiting factors.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/lemb/1003/thumbnail.jp

Excisional treatment in women with cervical adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS): a prospective randomised controlled noninferiority trial to compare AIS persistence/recurrence after loop electrosurgical excision procedure with cold knife cone biopsy: protocol for a pilot study

Introduction: Adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) of the uterine cervix is the precursor to invasive endocervical adenocarcinoma. An excisional biopsy such as a cold knife cone biopsy (CKC) should be performed to exclude invasive adenocarcinoma. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) is an alternative modality to CKC but is controversial in AIS. There is a perception that there is a greater likelihood of incomplete excision of AIS with LEEP because the depth of excised tissue tends to be smaller and the tissue margins may show thermal artefact which can interfere with pathology assessment. In the USA, guidelines recommend that any treatment modality can be used to excise AIS, provided that the specimen remains intact with interpretable margins. However, there are no high-quality studies comparing LEEP with CKC and well-designed prospective studies are needed. If such a study were to show that LEEP was non-inferior to CKC for the outcomes of post-treatment persistence, recurrence and adenocarcinoma, LEEP could be recommended as an appropriate treatment option for AIS in selected patients. This would benefit women because, unlike CKC, LEEP does not require general anaesthesia and may be associated with reduced morbidity. Methods and analysis: The proposed exploratory study is a parallel group trial with an allocation ratio of 2:1 in favour of the intervention (LEEP: CKC). Participants are women aged ≥18 to ≤45 years diagnosed with AIS on cervical screening and/or colposcopically directed biopsy in Australia and New Zealand, who are to receive excisional treatment in a tertiary level centre. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval for the study has been granted by the St John of God Healthcare Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number #1137)

Rapid determination of N-Methylpyrrolidine in Cefepime by combining direct infusion electrospray ionisation-time-of-flight mass spectrometry with field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry

The determination of N-methyl pyrrolidine, a potential impurity in the cephalosporin antibiotic cefepime, by direct infusion ESI combined with field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (ESI-FAIMS-MS) is demonstrated. The addition of a chip-based FAIMS separation prior to detection by time-of-flight mass spectrometry enables selective transmission of NMP in the presence of cefepime without interference from NMP formed by CID in the mass spectrometer interface. The limits of detection and quantification of NMP in cefepime were 0.011% (w/w) and 0.036% (w/w) NMP in cefepime respectively, well below the 0.3% (w/w) threshold concentration for NMP in cefepime. The % relative standard deviation was 3.9% with linearity for standard additions in the range 0.005 – 0.5 μg/ml NMP. Novel Aspect (ToC) FAIMS separation prior to mass spectrometry enables selective transmission of NMP in cefepime without interference from NMP formed by in-source CID

Semiparametric Estimation of First-Price Auctions with Risk-Averse Bidders

This paper proposes a semiparametric estimation procedure of the first-price auction model with risk averse bidders within the independent private value paradigm. We show that the model is nonidentified in general from observed bids. We then exploit heterogeneity across auctioned objects to establish semiparametric identification under a conditional quantile restriction and parameterization of the bidders’ von Neuman Morgenstern utility function. Next we propose a semiparametric method for estimating the corresponding auction model. This method involves several steps and allows to recover the parameters of the utility function as well as the bidders’ private values and their density. We show that our semiparametric estimator of the utility function parameters converges at the optimal rate, which is slower than the parametric one. An illustration of the method on U.S. Forest Service timber sales is presented and a test of bidders’ risk neutrality is performed

The first super-Earth Detection from the High Cadence and High Radial Velocity Precision Dharma Planet Survey

The Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) aims to monitor about 150 nearby very bright FGKM dwarfs (within 50 pc) during 2016$-$2020 for low-mass planet detection and characterization using the TOU very high resolution optical spectrograph (R$\approx$100,000, 380-900nm). TOU was initially mounted to the 2-m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope at Fairborn Observatory in 2013-2015 to conduct a pilot survey, then moved to the dedicated 50-inch automatic telescope on Mt. Lemmon in 2016 to launch the survey. Here we report the first planet detection from DPS, a super-Earth candidate orbiting a bright K dwarf star, HD 26965. It is the second brightest star ($V=4.4$ mag) on the sky with a super-Earth candidate. The planet candidate has a mass of 8.47$\pm0.47M_{\rm Earth}$, period of $42.38\pm0.01$ d, and eccentricity of $0.04^{+0.05}_{-0.03}$. This RV signal was independently detected by Diaz et al. (2018), but they could not confirm if the signal is from a planet or from stellar activity. The orbital period of the planet is close to the rotation period of the star (39$-$44.5 d) measured from stellar activity indicators. Our high precision photometric campaign and line bisector analysis of this star do not find any significant variations at the orbital period. Stellar RV jitters modeled from star spots and convection inhibition are also not strong enough to explain the RV signal detected. After further comparing RV data from the star's active magnetic phase and quiet magnetic phase, we conclude that the RV signal is due to planetary-reflex motion and not stellar activity.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Nano-Particle Enhanced Polymer Materials for Space Flight Applications

Recent advances in materials technology both in polymer chemistry and nano-materials warrant development of enhanced structures for space flight applications. This work aims to develop spacecraft structures based on polymer matrix composites (PMCs) that utilize these advancements.. Multi-wall carbon nano-tubes (MWCNTs) are expected to increase mechanical performance, lower coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), increase electrical conductivity (mitigate electrostatic charge), increase thermal conductivity, and reduce moisture absorption of the resultant space structures. In this work, blends of MWCNTs with PETI-330 were prepared and characterized. The nano-reinforced resins were then resin transfer molded (RTM) into composite panels using M55J carbon fabric and compared to baseline panels fabricated from a cyanate ester (RS-3) or a polyimide (PETI-330) resin containing no MWCNTs. In addition, methods of pre-loading the fabric with the MWCNTs were also investigated. The effects of the MWCNTs on the resin processing properties and on the composite end-use properties were also determined