Policy and Literature Review on the Effect Millennials Have on Vehicle Miles Traveled, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and the Built Environment

Vehicle travel has reduced substantially across all demographics in the 2000’s, but millennials or young adults born from 1985-2000 stand out as the group that has reduced vehicle travel the most. This reduction of travel among millennials is known as the millennial effect. This policy and literature review discusses insights from recent policy reports and literature regarding the millennial effect and identifies the prominent themes and gaps in our knowledge. The first section reviews existing research on the millennial effect on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). The second section discusses the influence of the built environment on the travel and activities of the millennial generation. The third section highlights scenarios describing the millennials effect’s potential magnitude and identifies topics for consideration in future scenario planning efforts. The final section discusses the uncertainty that exists regarding the future behavior of millennials and their influence on VMT and greenhouse gas emissions

New Methods for Monitoring Spatial Truck Travel Patterns in California Using Existing Detector Infrastructure

This study developed a methodology to accurately estimate network-wide truck flows by leveraging existing point detection infrastructure, namely inductive loop detectors. The tracking model identifies individual trucks at detector locations using advanced inductive signatures and matches vehicle pairs at detector locations, using an extended form of the Bayesian classification model to estimate matching and non-matching probabilities of the vehicle pairs  Several vehicle feature selection and weighting methods including Self Organizing Map and K-means clustering were applied to better identify individual vehicles from signature data.  It was shown that the proposed extensive feature processing enhanced vehicle identification performance even among vehicle pools sharing similar physical configurations. The developed model was tested along an approximately 5.5-mile freeway segment on I-5 and CA-78 in San Diego, California where only 67 percent of the total trucks were observed at both up- and down-stream detector sites. Results showed balanced performances in exactness and completeness of matching with 91 percent of correct outcomes for multi-unit truck

Silica-Based Membrane Sorbent for Heavy Metal Sequestration

An apparatus providing for metal ion/nitrate entrapment comprises a chemically activated, microfiltration, composite polymer and silica-based membrane including a polyamino acid attached thereto through reaction of a terminal amine group of the polyamino acid with the membrane. A method for preparing such a chemically activated or polyamino acid functionalized membrane includes the steps of permeating the silica-based membrane with a solution of silane and a solvent so as to react methoxy groups of the silane with silanol groups of the membrane to incorporate epoxide groups and attaching a polyamino acid to the membrane by reacting a terminal amine group of the polyamino acid with one of the epoxide groups on the membrane

Preparing and Regenerating a Composite Polymer and Silica-Based Membrane

A method for preparing and regenerating a chemically activated or polyamino acid functionalized membrane includes the steps of permeating the silica-based membrane with a solution of silane and a solvent so as to react methoxy groups of the silane with silanol groups of the membrane to incorporate epoxide groups and attaching a polyamino acid to the membrane by reacting a terminal amine group of the polyamino acid with one of the epoxide groups on the membrane. The membrane is regenerated after metal entrapment by utilizing helix-coil properties of polyamino acids

Method of Preparing a Composite Polymer and Silica-Based Membrane

A method for preparing a chemically activated or polyamino acid functionalized membrane includes the steps of permeating a silica-based membrane with a solution of silane and a solvent so as to react methoxy groups of the silane with silanol groups of the membrane to incorporate epoxide groups and attaching a polyamino acid to the membrane by reacting a terminal amine group of the polyamino acid with one of the epoxide groups on the membrane

Consequences of information suppression in ecological and conservation sciences

Suppressing expert knowledge can hide environmentally damaging practices and policies from public scrutiny. We surveyed ecologists and conservation scientists from universities, government, and industry across Australia to understand the prevalence and consequences of suppressing science communication. Government (34%) and industry (30%) respondents reported higher rates of undue interference by employers than did university respondents (5%). Internal communications (29%) and media (28%) were curtailed most, followed by journal articles (11%), and presentations (12%). When university and industry researchers avoided public commentary, this was mainly for fear of media misrepresentation, while government employees were most often constrained by senior management and workplace policy. One third of respondents reported personal suffering related to suppression, including job losses and deteriorating mental health. Substantial reforms are needed, including to codes of practice, and governance of environmental assessments and research, so that scientific advice can be reported openly, in a timely manner and free from interference

Healthcare students’ perceptions about their role, confidence and competence to deliver brief public health interventions and advice

Background Public health improvement has long been an important focus for the United Kingdom Department of Health. The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Federation has 84,000 members, such a large number of AHP professionals should play a role in public health initiatives, but it is not clear if they or the AHP students who will be the future healthcare workforce feel themselves equipped to do so. Our aim was to understand the perceptions of AHP students about their role in delivering public health advice. Methods AHP students were recruited in one teaching university from different departments. Participants were final year AHP students who had completed all clinical placements related to their course. All students were emailed an invitation to participate, and those interested were asked to contact the researchers to participate in one of several focus groups. Data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using framework analysis by two independent researchers. Results Nineteen students were recruited and participated in four focus groups. The main themes produced by the data analysis were: understanding of public health issues, perceptions of their role in this, challenges and opportunities to develop a public health role, and preparation for a public health role. Conclusions AHP students felt that they had a role in public health advice-giving, but barriers to providing this advice included their own lack of confidence and knowledge, time, and the environment of the clinical placement. They considered that there should be more teaching on public health issues, and that these should feature in both the curriculum and on clinical placement

A Scalable Permutation Approach Reveals Replication and Preservation Patterns of Network Modules in Large Datasets.

Network modules-topologically distinct groups of edges and nodes-that are preserved across datasets can reveal common features of organisms, tissues, cell types, and molecules. Many statistics to identify such modules have been developed, but testing their significance requires heuristics. Here, we demonstrate that current methods for assessing module preservation are systematically biased and produce skewed p values. We introduce NetRep, a rapid and computationally efficient method that uses a permutation approach to score module preservation without assuming data are normally distributed. NetRep produces unbiased p values and can distinguish between true and false positives during multiple hypothesis testing. We use NetRep to quantify preservation of gene coexpression modules across murine brain, liver, adipose, and muscle tissues. Complex patterns of multi-tissue preservation were revealed, including a liver-derived housekeeping module that displayed adipose- and muscle-specific association with body weight. Finally, we demonstrate the broader applicability of NetRep by quantifying preservation of bacterial networks in gut microbiota between men and women

Selective inhibition of FLT3 by gilteritinib in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia: a multicentre, first-in-human, open-label, phase 1-2 study.

BackgroundInternal tandem duplication mutations in FLT3 are common in acute myeloid leukaemia and are associated with rapid relapse and short overall survival. The clinical benefit of FLT3 inhibitors in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia has been limited by rapid generation of resistance mutations, particularly in codon Asp835 (D835). We aimed to assess the highly selective oral FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia.MethodsIn this phase 1-2 trial, we enrolled patients aged 18 years or older with acute myeloid leukaemia who either were refractory to induction therapy or had relapsed after achieving remission with previous treatment. Patients were enrolled into one of seven dose-escalation or dose-expansion cohorts assigned to receive once-daily doses of oral gilteritinib (20 mg, 40 mg, 80 mg, 120 mg, 200 mg, 300 mg, or 450 mg). Cohort expansion was based on safety and tolerability, FLT3 inhibition in correlative assays, and antileukaemic activity. Although the presence of an FLT3 mutation was not an inclusion criterion, we required ten or more patients with locally confirmed FLT3 mutations (FLT3mut+) to be enrolled in expansion cohorts at each dose level. On the basis of emerging findings, we further expanded the 120 mg and 200 mg dose cohorts to include FLT3mut+ patients only. The primary endpoints were the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of gilteritinib. Safety and tolerability were assessed in the safety analysis set (all patients who received at least one dose of gilteritinib). Responses were assessed in the full analysis set (all patients who received at least one dose of study drug and who had at least one datapoint post-treatment). Pharmacokinetics were assessed in a subset of the safety analysis set for which sufficient data for concentrations of gilteritinib in plasma were available to enable derivation of one or more pharmacokinetic variables. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02014558, and is ongoing.FindingsBetween Oct 15, 2013, and Aug 27, 2015, 252 adults with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia received oral gilteritinib once daily in one of seven dose-escalation (n=23) or dose-expansion (n=229) cohorts. Gilteritinib was well tolerated; the maximum tolerated dose was established as 300 mg/day when two of three patients enrolled in the 450 mg dose-escalation cohort had two dose-limiting toxicities (grade 3 diarrhoea and grade 3 elevated aspartate aminotransferase). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events irrespective of relation to treatment were febrile neutropenia (97 [39%] of 252), anaemia (61 [24%]), thrombocytopenia (33 [13%]), sepsis (28 [11%]), and pneumonia (27 [11%]). Commonly reported treatment-related adverse events were diarrhoea (92 [37%] of 252]), anaemia (86 [34%]), fatigue (83 [33%]), elevated aspartate aminotransferase (65 [26%]), and increased alanine aminotransferase (47 [19%]). Serious adverse events occurring in 5% or more of patients were febrile neutropenia (98 [39%] of 252; five related to treatment), progressive disease (43 [17%]), sepsis (36 [14%]; two related to treatment), pneumonia (27 [11%]), acute renal failure (25 [10%]; five related to treatment), pyrexia (21 [8%]; three related to treatment), bacteraemia (14 [6%]; one related to treatment), and respiratory failure (14 [6%]). 95 people died in the safety analysis set, of which seven deaths were judged possibly or probably related to treatment (pulmonary embolism [200 mg/day], respiratory failure [120 mg/day], haemoptysis [80 mg/day], intracranial haemorrhage [20 mg/day], ventricular fibrillation [120 mg/day], septic shock [80 mg/day], and neutropenia [120 mg/day]). An exposure-related increase in inhibition of FLT3 phosphorylation was noted with increasing concentrations in plasma of gilteritinib. In-vivo inhibition of FLT3 phosphorylation occurred at all dose levels. At least 90% of FLT3 phosphorylation inhibition was seen by day 8 in most patients receiving a daily dose of 80 mg or higher. 100 (40%) of 249 patients in the full analysis set achieved a response, with 19 (8%) achieving complete remission, ten (4%) complete remission with incomplete platelet recovery, 46 (18%) complete remission with incomplete haematological recovery, and 25 (10%) partial remission INTERPRETATION: Gilteritinib had a favourable safety profile and showed consistent FLT3 inhibition in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia. These findings confirm that FLT3 is a high-value target for treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia; based on activity data, gilteritinib at 120 mg/day is being tested in phase 3 trials.FundingAstellas Pharma, National Cancer Institute (Leukemia Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant), Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro