Guest Artist: Alexander Wasserman, pianist

KSU School of Music presents guest artist, Alexander Wasserman, pianist.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1287/thumbnail.jp

A discrete population of ciliated cells express the piRNA binding protein MIWI2 to regulate lung inflammation

Control of retrotransposon expression in the mammalian germline is regulated by Argonaute family PIWI proteins and their associated small non-coding RNAs known as PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). To date, no study has demonstrated clear PIWI protein expression nor identified a cellular function(s) for PIWI proteins in the mammalian soma. In contrast to the germline-restricted expression of piRNA associated proteins, we observed that Miwi2 mRNA was induced specifically in epithelial cells during pneumococcal pneumonia. Further investigation showed that similar to its mRNA, MIWI2 protein was indeed expressed outside of the mammalian germline, and was localized to the cytoplasm of a discrete population of multiciliated lung epithelial cells. Immunoprecipitation of MIWI2 from whole lung lysates indicated that it was bound to a small RNA that was longer than a traditional piRNA. Microarray analysis revealed that depletion of MIWI2 in a murine epithelial cell line or in a whole animal model had no effect on retrotransposon expression, further suggesting that lung MIWI2 is independent of nuclear piRNA silencing pathways. Under basal conditions, MIWI2 was required for the normal maintenance of airway epithelial cell fate. In fact, Miwi2 deficiency resulted in an increase in club cells and decrease in ciliated cells indicating that MIWI2 could play a primary role in mucociliary homeostasis or clearance. Similarly, as MIWI2 is induced during lung infection we sought to determine if it participated in host innate immune responses to bacterial infection. Using a clinically relevant model of community acquired pneumonia, Miwi2 deficient mice exhibited an increased expression of inflammatory mediators and immune cell recruitment thus leading to enhanced bacterial clearance. Taken together, these data support the notion that MIWI2 exerts piRNA-independent functions outside of the germline in the ciliated lung epithelium to regulate innate immunity during pneumonia. More broadly, these studies shed light on new areas in PIWI protein and lung ciliated cell biology, and may have implications for multiple diseases including cancer, inflammatory disorders, and infectious diseases

ARTI-based holonic control implementation for a manufacturing system using the base architecture

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH SUMMARY: With industry’s drive to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, and their enabling technologies, in manufacturing processes, intelligent automated manufacturing has become largely sought after. With defining features such as robustness, reconfigurability and scalability, the Holonic Manufacturing Execution System (HMES) approach shows great potential to satisfy Industry 4.0 requirements. Implementations of these systems have been historically known to require great development effort and time. These implementations are however being aided by the development of holonic reference architectures, such as the Product-Resource-Order-Staff-Architecture (PROSA) and its recent revision the Activity-Resource- Type-Instance (ARTI) architecture. This thesis presents an ARTI-based HMES implementation. The implementation of this system is aided through the use of the Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) architecture for digital administration shells. The BASE architecture was initially developed as a framework for the development of a digital administration shell for a human worker, in order to elevate the human worker to the level of a Cyber-Physical System. It was however proposed that the BASE architecture also had the potential to be used in a manufacturing context. The possibility of implementing the ARTI-based HMES using the BASE architecture for the respective ARTI holons is confirmed through a mapping of the ARTI architecture to the BASE architecture. The HMES is implemented on a Fischertechnik Industry 4.0 Training Factory, a small-scale manufacturing system, as a case study system. The complexity of the case study, which comprises several interacting subsystems, provides a good basis for evaluating the ARTI and BASE architectures for HMES development. The thesis concludes that the ARTI architecture provides a well-defined structure for the conceptual design of HMESs, while the BASE architecture effectively supports the implementation of ARTI-based HMESs with little additional development required.AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Met die industrie se strewe om Industrie 4.0-tegnologieë, en hul bemagtigende tegnologieë, in vervaardigingsprosesse aan te neem, het intelligente geoutomatiseerde vervaardiging grootliks gesog geword. Met kenmerke soos robuustheid, herkonfigureerbaarheid en skaleerbaarheid, toon die Holonic Manufacturing Execution System (HMES) benadering groot potensiaal om aan Industrie 4.0 vereistes te voldoen. Dit is histories bekend dat die implementering van hierdie stelsels groot ontwikkelingspogings en tyd verg. Hierdie implementerings word egter aangehelp deur die ontwikkeling van holoniese verwysingsargitekture, soos die Product-Resource-Order-Staff-Architecture (PROSA) en die onlangse hersiening daarvan die Activity-Resource-Type-Instance (ARTI) argitektuur. Hierdie tesis bied 'n ARTI-gebaseerde HMES-implementering aan. Die implementering van hierdie stelsel is aangehelp deur die gebruik van die Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) argitektuur vir digitale administrasiedoppe. Die BASE argitektuur is aanvanklik ontwikkel as 'n raamwerk vir die ontwikkeling van 'n digitale administrasiedop vir 'n menslike werker, om die menslike werker tot die vlak van 'n Cyber-Physical System te verhef. Daar is egter voorgestel dat die BASE argitektuur ook die potensiaal het om in 'n vervaardigingskonteks gebruik te word. Die moontlikheid om die ARTI-gebaseerde HMES te implementeer deur gebruik te maak van die BASE argitektuur vir die onderskeie ARTI-holone, is bevestig deur 'n kartering van die ARTI argitektuur na die BASE argitektuur. Die HMES is geïmplementeer op 'n Fischertechnik Industry 4.0 Training Factory, 'n kleinskaalse vervaardigingstelsel, as 'n gevallestudiestelsel. Die kompleksiteit van die gevallestudie, wat verskeie interaktiewe substelsels bevat, bied 'n goeie basis vir die evaluering van die ARTI en BASE argitekture vir HMES-ontwikkeling. Die tesis bevind dat die ARTI argitektuur 'n goed-gedefinieerde struktuur vir die konseptuele ontwerp van ‘n HMES verskaf, terwyl die BASE argitektuur die implementering van ‘n ARTI-gebaseerde HMES effektief ondersteun, met min bykomende ontwikkeling wat nodig is.Master

A Bayesian approach to the analysis of time symmetry in light curves: Reconsidering Scorpius X-1 occultations

We present a new approach to the analysis of time symmetry in light curves, such as those in the x-ray at the center of the Scorpius X-1 occultation debate. Our method uses a new parameterization for such events (the bilogistic event profile) and provides a clear, physically relevant characterization of each event's key features. We also demonstrate a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to carry out this analysis, including a novel independence chain configuration for the estimation of each event's location in the light curve. These tools are applied to the Scorpius X-1 light curves presented in Chang et al. (2007), providing additional evidence based on the time series that the events detected thus far are most likely not occultations by TNOs.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures. Preprint typeset using LaTeX style emulateapj v. 04/20/0

Massive Science with VO and Grids

There is a growing need for massive computational resources for the analysis of new astronomical datasets. To tackle this problem, we present here our first steps towards marrying two new and emerging technologies; the Virtual Observatory (e.g, AstroGrid) and the computational grid (e.g. TeraGrid, COSMOS etc.). We discuss the construction of VOTechBroker, which is a modular software tool designed to abstract the tasks of submission and management of a large number of computational jobs to a distributed computer system. The broker will also interact with the AstroGrid workflow and MySpace environments. We discuss our planned usages of the VOTechBroker in computing a huge number of n-point correlation functions from the SDSS data and massive model-fitting of millions of CMBfast models to WMAP data. We also discuss other applications including the determination of the XMM Cluster Survey selection function and the construction of new WMAP maps.Comment: Invited talk at ADASSXV conference published as ASP Conference Series, Vol. XXX, 2005 C. Gabriel, C. Arviset, D. Ponz and E. Solano, eds. 9 page

Statistical Computations with AstroGrid and the Grid

We outline our first steps towards marrying two new and emerging technologies; the Virtual Observatory (e.g, AstroGrid) and the computational grid. We discuss the construction of VOTechBroker, which is a modular software tool designed to abstract the tasks of submission and management of a large number of computational jobs to a distributed computer system. The broker will also interact with the AstroGrid workflow and MySpace environments. We present our planned usage of the VOTechBroker in computing a huge number of n-point correlation functions from the SDSS, as well as fitting over a million CMBfast models to the WMAP data.Comment: Invited talk to appear in "Proceedings of PHYSTAT05: Statistical Problems in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology

How to project a bipartite network?

The one-mode projecting is extensively used to compress the bipartite networks. Since the one-mode projection is always less informative than the bipartite representation, a proper weighting method is required to better retain the original information. In this article, inspired by the network-based resource-allocation dynamics, we raise a weighting method, which can be directly applied in extracting the hidden information of networks, with remarkably better performance than the widely used global ranking method as well as collaborative filtering. This work not only provides a creditable method in compressing bipartite networks, but also highlights a possible way for the better solution of a long-standing challenge in modern information science: How to do personal recommendation?Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure