Automated Upscaling of River Networks for Macroscale Hydrological Modeling

We developed a hierarchical dominant river tracing (DRT) algorithm for automated extraction and spatial upscaling of basin flow directions and river networks using fine-scale hydrography inputs (e. g., flow direction, river networks, and flow accumulation). In contrast with previous upscaling methods, the DRT algorithm utilizes information on global and local drainage patterns from baseline fine-scale hydrography to determine upscaled flow directions and other critical variables including upscaled basin area, basin shape, and river lengths. The DRT algorithm preserves the original baseline hierarchical drainage structure by tracing each entire flow path from headwater to river mouth at fine scale while prioritizing successively higher order basins and rivers for tracing. We applied the algorithm to produce a series of global hydrography data sets from 1/16 degrees to 2 degrees spatial scales in two geographic projections (WGS84 and Lambert azimuthal equal area). The DRT results were evaluated against other alternative upscaling methods and hydrography data sets for continental U. S. and global domains. These results show favorable DRT upscaling performance in preserving baseline fine-scale river network information including: (1) improved, automated extraction of flow directions and river networks at any spatial scale without the need for manual correction; (2) consistency of river network, basin shape, basin area, river length, and basin internal drainage structure between upscaled and baseline fine-scale hydrography; and (3) performance largely independent of spatial scale, geographic region, and projection. The results of this study include an initial set of DRT upscaled global hydrography maps derived from HYDRO1K baseline fine-scale hydrography inputs; these digital data are available online for public access at ftp://ftp.ntsg.umt.edu/pub/data/DRT/

High Dielectric Constants in BaTiO3 Due to Phonon Mode Softening Induced by Lattice Strains: First Principles Calculations

High-dielectric-constant materials attract much attention due to their broad applications in modern electronics. Barium titanate (BTO) is an established material possessing an ultrahigh dielectric constant; however, a complete understanding of the responsible underlying physical mechanism remains elusive. Here a set of density-functional-theory calculations for the static dielectric tensors of barium titanate under strain has been performed. The dielectric constant increases to ≈7300 under strain. The analysis of the computed vibrational modes shows that transverse vibrational mode softening (the appearance of low-frequency modes) is responsible for this significant increase as driven by the relationship between lattice contribution for the static dielectric constant (k) and vibrational frequency (ω), i.e., urn:x-wiley:27511200:media:apxr202300001:apxr202300001-math-0001. The relevant vibrational mode indicates a large counter-displacement of Ti ions and O anions, which greatly enhances electrical dipoles to screen the electric field. The calculations not only interpreted experimental data on the high dielectric constants of BTO, where the lattice deformation due to the strains from the grain nanostructure plays an important role, but also pointed to exploring high-throughput calculations to facilitate the discovery of the advanced dielectric materials. Moreover, the calculations can prove useful for doped BTO, for which local strains fields can be achieved using defect engineering

Optimal door fitting with systematic fixture adjustment

A systematic approach is presented to obtain the best door gap quality through optimal door fitting in automobile body manufacturing. First, three indexes of gap quality are defined; they are: (1) door gap width deviation relative to design nominal; (2) door gap parallelism; and (3) car-to-car gap consistency. Then the door-fitting problem is formulated into a general constrained optimization problem. The effects of optimal door fitting on the three quality indexes are evaluated through computer simulation. These results provide a lower bound on the design of nominal door gap by considering process capability. Finally, a computer-aided fixture adjustment scheme is developed to orient a door in a body side opening to achieve the optimal fitting. The amount of adjustment, with the desired orientation obtained from optimization, is calculated based on parametrically modeled local surface features of the fixture and the door. The adequacy of door feature modeling is verified through a door-fitting experiment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45560/1/10696_2005_Article_BF01328807.pd

Mir-434-5p mediates skin whitening and lightening

Utilization of gene silencing effectors, such as microRNA (miRNA) and small hairpin RNA (shRNA), provides a powerful new strategy for human skin care in vivo, particularly for hyperpigmentation treatment and aging prevention. In this study, tyrosinase (Tyr), the rate-limiting enzyme of melanin (black pigment) biosynthesis, was served as a target for treatment of hyperpigmentation in mouse and human skins. There are over 54 native microRNA capable of silencing human tyrosinase for skin whitening and lightening. To this, we have designed a mir-434-5p homologue and used it to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of miRNA-mediated skin whitening and lightening in vitro and in vivo. Under the same experimental condition in the trials, Pol-II-directed intronic mir-434-5p expression did not cause any detectable sign of cytotoxicity, whereas siRNAs targeting the same sequence often induced certain nonspecific mRNA degradation as previously reported. Because the intronic miRNA-mediated gene silencing pathway is tightly regulated by multiple intracellular surveillance systems, including Pol-II transcription, RNA splicing, exosomal digestion and nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD), the current findings underscore the fact that intronic miRNA agents, such as manually re-designed mir-434-5p homologues, are effective, target-specific and safe to be used for skin whitening without any detectable cytotoxic effect. Given that the human skins also express a variety of other native miRNAs, we may re-design these miRNAs based on their individual functions for skin care, which may provide significant insights into areas of opportunity for new cosmetic and/or therapeutical applications

Modeling and analysis of multi‐stage transfer lines with unreliable machines and finite buffers

This paper models and analyzes multi‐stage transfer lines with unreliable machines and finite buffers. The machines have exponential operation, failure, and repair processes. First, a mixed vector–scalar Markov process model is presented based on some notations of mixed vector–scalar operations. Then, several steady‐state system properties are deduced from this model. These include the reversibility and duality of transfer lines, conservation of flow, and the flow rate–idle time relationship. Finally, a four‐stage transfer line case is used to compare and evaluate the accuracy of some approximation methods presented in the literature with the exact numerical solutions this model can provide. The properties and their proofs in this paper lay the theoretic foundation for some widely held assumptions in decomposition techniques of long transfer lines in the area of manufacturing systems engineering.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44292/1/10479_2004_Article_326042.pd

Projected Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrology and Temperature of Pacific Northwest Rivers

A dominant river-tracing-based streamflow and temperature (DRTT) model was developed by coupling stream thermal dynamics with a source-sink routing model. The DRTT model was applied using 1/16 degree (similar to 6 km) resolution gridded daily surface meteorology inputs over a similar to 988,000 km(2) Pacific Northwest (PNW) domain to produce regional daily streamflow and temperature simulations from 1996 to 2005. The DRTT results showed favorable performance for simulation of daily stream temperature (mean R-2 = 0.72 and root-mean-square error = 2.35 degrees C) and discharge (mean R-2 = 0.52 and annual relative error 14%) against observations from 12 PNW streams. The DRTT was then applied with a macroscale hydrologic model to predict streamflow and temperature changes under historical (1980s) and future (2020s, 2040s, and 2080s) climate change scenarios (IPCC AR4) as they may affect current and future patterns of freshwater salmon habitat and associated productivity of PNW streams. The model projected a 3.5% decrease in mean annual streamflow for the 2020s and 0.6% and 5.5% increases for the 2040s and 2080s, respectively, with projected increase in mean annual stream temperatures from 0.55 degrees C (2020s) to 1.68 degrees C (2080s). However, summer streamflow decreased from 19.3% (2020s) to 30.3% (2080s), while mean summer stream temperatures warmed from 0.92 degrees C to 2.10 degrees C. The simulations indicate that projected climate change will have greater impacts on snow dominant streams, with lower summer streamflows and warmer summer stream temperature changes relative to transient and rain dominant regimes. Lower summer flows combined with warmer stream temperatures suggest a future with widespread increased summertime thermal stress for coldwater fish in the PNW region

An MDM2 antagonist (MI-319) restores p53 functions and increases the life span of orally treated follicular lymphoma bearing animals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MI-319 is a synthetic small molecule designed to target the MDM2-P53 interaction. It is closely related to MDM2 antagonists MI-219 and Nutlin-3 in terms of the expected working mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate anti-lymphoma activity of MI-319 in WSU-FSCCL, a B-cell follicular lymphoma line. For comparison purpose, MI-319, MI-219 and Nutlin-3 were assessed side by side against FSCCL and three other B-cell hematological tumor cell lines in growth inhibition and gene expression profiling experiments.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>MI-319 was shown to bind to MDM2 protein with an affinity slightly higher than that of MI-219 and Nutlin-3. Nevertheless, cell growth inhibition and gene expression profiling experiments revealed that the three compounds have quite similar potency against the tumor cell lines tested in this study. <it>In vitro</it>, MI-319 exhibited the strongest anti-proliferation activity against FSCCL and four patient cells, which all have wild-type p53. Data obtained from Western blotting, cell cycle and apoptosis analysis experiments indicated that FSCCL exhibited strong cell cycle arrest and significant apoptotic cell death; cells with mutant p53 did not show significant apoptotic cell death with drug concentrations up to 10 μM, but displayed weaker and differential cell cycle responses. In our systemic mouse model for FSCCL, MI-319 was tolerated well by the animals, displayed effectiveness against FSCCL-lymphoma cells in blood, brain and bone marrow, and achieved significant therapeutic impact (p < 0.0001) by conferring the treatment group a > 28% (%ILS, 14.4 days) increase in median survival days.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, MI-319 probably has an anti-lymphoma potency equal to that of MI-219 and Nutlin-3. It is a potent agent against FSCCL <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>and holds the promises to be developed further for the treatment of follicular lymphoma that retains wild-type p53.</p

Fractional Exclusion Statistics and Anyons

Do anyons, dynamically realized by the field theoretic Chern-Simons construction, obey fractional exclusion statistics? We find that they do if the statistical interaction between anyons and anti-anyons is taken into account. For this anyon model, we show perturbatively that the exchange statistical parameter of anyons is equal to the exclusion statistical parameter. We obtain the same result by applying the relation between the exclusion statistical parameter and the second virial coefficient in the non-relativistic limit.Comment: 9 pages, latex, IFT-498-UN